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1
4
4
THE
MIDDLE KINGDOM;
A survey OF tiie
GEOGRAPHY, GOVERNMENT, EDUCATION, SOCIAL LIFE,
ARTS, RELIGION, &c.,
OF
THE CHINESE EMPIRE
AND
ITS INHABITANTS.
WITH A NEW MAP OF THE EMPIRE.
BY S. WELLS WJLLIAMS,
AUTHOR OF "EASY LESSONS IN CHINESE," " ENGLISH AND CHINESE VOCABULARY," "TONKJ
DICTIONARY OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE," &C.
FOUETII EDITION.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
N EW Y O R K :
JOHN WILEY & SON, PUBLISHERS,
15 Astoii Place.
1871.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1817, by
S. WELLS WILLIAMS,
in the Clerk's office of the District Court for the Southern District of New York.
TO
GIDEON NYE, JR.,
©£ Canton, ©Ijtna:
A
TESTIMONIAL OP THE
RESPECT AND FRIENDSHIP
OF THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS OF VOL. i.
CHAPTER I.
0
general divisions and features of the empire.
PAG ■
Names given to China—Area, divisions, and boundaries—Mountain
ranges around and in the Empire—Desert of Gobi—Yellow river,
Yangtsz' kiang; and other rivers—La^es and islands—Coast line—
Great Wall and Canal—Five races within the Empire .... 1
CHAPTER II.
geographical description' of the eastern provinces.
Climate of the provinces—Table of their divisions—Chihli ; the city
of Peking, its divisions and municipality—Gardens near it—Tien¬
tsin—Shantung; its coast and capital—Shansj ; Honan; its
capital—Kiangsu ; its cities Nanking, Suchau, Shanghai, &c.—
Nganhwui ;—Kiangsi ; its rivers and towns—Chehiciang; its
cities Hangchau, Ningpo, &c.; the Chusan islands—Fuhkien; its
capital Fuhchau, Amoy, Changchau, &c. ; Formosa. . . 43
CHAPTER III.
geographical description of the western provinces.
Hupeh ; its capital Wuchang—Hunan;—Shensi—Kansuh—Sz'-
chuen—Kwangtung ; its capital Canton, Macao, Hongkong—
Hainan I.—Kwangsi—Yunnan 120
CHAPTER IV.
geographical description of colonies.
Their subdivisions—Manchuria; its climate, area, provinces, and
productions—Moukden—River Sagalien—Island of Tarakai—Inner
Mongolia—Outer Mongolia ; its khanates; Kiakhta and Kurun—
Cobdo—Koko-nor—fi,i; its two Circuits—Tarbagatai and Kur-Kara
usu—The capital Kuldsha—Eight Mohammedan cities—History of
111 and Khoten—Tibet; its divisions, chief towns, inhabitants, and
history—Ladak ; its capital Leh. . . . 151
via
CONTENTS.
I A.OH
CHAPTER V.
POPULATION AND STATISTICS
Comparison of censuses—Reasons for admitting and doubting them—
Revenue and disbursements—Salaries . 206
CHAPTER VI
NATURAL, HISTORY OF CHINA.
Minerals gems, and metals—Zoology; wild animals—Domesticated
animals, birds, water-fowl, and birds reared for show—Reptiles—
Fishes—Insects—Botany, trees, flowers, bamboo, &c.—Researches
of the Chinese in Natural History. . 240
CHAPTER VII.
LAWS OF CHINA AND PLAN OF GOVERNMENT.
Theory of the Chinese polity, its features of responsibility and
espionage—Code of laws—Emperor of China, his power, charac¬
ter, name, &c.—Orders of nobility and classes of society—Branches
of central government—Cabinet and General council; six Boards—
Colonial Office ; Censorate—Judiciary, and Imperial Academy—
Minor bureaus—Provincial government.' .... . . 29fl
CHAPTER VIII.
ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.
Cnaiacter and position of the high officers in the government, Chang-
ling, Ho, Sung, Lin, Kiying, &c.—Emperor's responsibility—Edicts
of officers—Their agents and modes of extortion—Village elder¬
ship—Evils of clans—Popular manifestoes—Prevalence of banditti—
Judicial proceedings--Punishments and tortures—Style of officers. 353
CHAPTER IX.
EDUCATION AND LITERARY EXAMINATIONS.
Nature of Chinese education—Schools and schoolbooks—Primary
books—Deficiencies and results of education—Examinations for
literary degrees—Mode of conducting them—Effects and objects of
this competition—Influence of the Chinese literary gentry—Extent
and objects (4" female education 42]
CONTENTS.
U
CHAPTER X.
STRUCTURE OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE.
Origin of this language—Six classes of characters—Modes of arrang¬
ing them—The two hundred and fourteen radicals—Six styles of
writing—Mode of printing—Metallic types—Sounds of the Chinese
language—Three dialects and their peculiarities—Grammar of the
Chinese—Mode of studying the language 45S
CHAPTER XL
CLASSICAL LITERATURE OF THE CHINESE.
Catalogue of the imperial library—Five Classics ; their names and
character—Filial duty, and examples of it—Four Books ; their
authors and character—Notice of Mencius—Confucius, his life and
writings ; interview with a boy—Dictionaries of the language. . 502
CHAPTER XII.
POLITE LITERATURE OF THE CHINESE.
Historical works—Sz'ma Kwang, a historian—History of the Three
States—Philosophical writings—Chu Hi and his disquisitions—
Sacred Commands of Kanghi; and versification of it—Stories of
the Rationalists—Novels—Story of Li Taipeh—Poetry of the
Chinese—Ballads, pasquinades, and dramas—Proverbs. . 549
ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOL. I.
Portrait of Iviying. . .
Title Page—representing an honorary portal. The two characters
Shing chi, upon the top, show that it is erected by imperial command
The four characters underneath in the panel, Chung Kwoh Tsutig-
lun, are the name of the work in Chinese, " A General Account of the
Middle Kingdom." The inscription on the right is Gin chi ngaijin yu
tsin kill so, i. e. He who is benevolent loves those near, and then those
who are remote. Tnat on the left is an expression attribute:1 to Confu¬
cius; SI fang chi jin yu shing chi yi, i. e. The people of the west
have sages.
Plan of Peking, ... 5"7
View of a street in Canton, . . . 135
Yak or Grunting Ox, .... 192
The Chinese Hog, . 254
Mode of carrying Pigs, ... 255
Different styi.es of Official Caps, .... 323
Mode of carrying high officers in Sedans, . 401
Prisoner suffering torture, ... . 405
Mode of exposure in the Cangue, . . . 411
Publicly whipping a Thief through the street^ . 113
Different forms of Chinese characters, 473
PREFACE
TO A HEW ISSUE.
The recent events which have taken place in China, have drawa
public attention to that empire more than ever before; and thin
interest will doubtless increase in proportion to the accurate
knowledge which will be obtained of the resources, condition, and
policy of the country and its inhabitants. The changes now
initiated in the external relations of China, will ere long compel
her rulers to fall in with the demands of foreign powers, or else
they will gradually be driven away, and give place to others more
in unison with the new order of things. The internal state of the
empire is likely, under the pressure of these external forces, to
become more and more disorganized and weak, requiring the
strong arm of a new administration to" rescue the people from
sedition, rapine, and utter anarchy. There is, however, great vitality
and self-support in the democratic institutions and peaceful in¬
dustry of the mass of the Chinese people, and these features of
their personal and national character furnish grounds of hope that
they will adapt themselves to the new influences coming upon them.
To furnish intelligent persons with an aid to become acquainted
with the condition of that large portion of their fellow-men com¬
prised within the Chinese Empire, induces the re-issue of the
Middle Kingdom. Since its publication, the several portions of
the book have been closely examined in China, and found to be
generally correct: so that the work is again presented to the public
with the conviction that its statements will be found reliable, and
the reader put in possession of information enabling him to form
a judgment upon the state and prospects of the Chinese.
4
TKEFACE.
The map lias been corrected to sliow the extent of territory
annexed to Russia in the northeast of Manchuria, and the
topography of the ports opened to commerce has been im¬
proved. Since the book was written some important events
have transpired, both in the internal and external relations of
China, which may be here very briefly referred to in the order of
their occurrence.
After the promulgation of the French treaty of Whampoa in
1845, the French embassador, M. de Lagrene, obtained a partial
recognition of the Christian faith from the Emperor, and a quali¬
fied assent to the rights of its professors scattered throughout the
empire ; which served at least to bring this important subject
distinctly before the officers of government, even if it did not
always control their conduct towards converts. In 1847, the
governor of Hongkong, Sir John F. Davis, under direction from
the Foreign Office, made a demand upon the governor-general at
Canton to open that city to the ingress of foreigners, as was the
case at all the other open ports, and forcibly occupied the forts at
the mouth of the river and near the city, to add strength to the
demand; but the popular excitement was so great that he waived
the fulfilment of the engagement on the part of Kiying, that access
should be opened to it, for two years. The right of entrance into
the walled cities at the ports opened to commerce, was not clearly
expressed in any of the treaties, and the people of Canton were
supported in their resistance to this demand by their local rulers.
At the expiration of the stipulated period in April 1849, their
determination was stronger than before, and the English authori¬
ties, having found that practically it was a point of less import¬
ance, indefinitely adjourned the arrangement with Kiying. The
Court of Peking had decided to place the management of foreign
affairs in the hands of the governor-general at Canton, and the
interposition of a stone wall around his palace enabled him to
delay public affairs, and weary out the foreign ministers, which he
could not so easily have done had he been obliged to gram
them personal interviews. This shortsighted policy worked out
rrjfiwcE.
5
its evil consequences in a few years, and was one of the leading
causes which brought about the troubles of 185C.
The insurgents under Tai-ping Wang, which have since attained
so much notoriety, commenced their career about 1849 ; and soon
became a formidable enemy to the Manclms. Their partial adop¬
tion of Christianity as a principle of action has attracted much
attention towards them in western countries, but it seems from the
first to have been subordinate to their political designs ; and the
examples in the Bible were regarded rather as countenancing the
destruction of their enemies, than its tenets commanding them to
do them good. In the providence of God, it is often seen that
such imperfectly instructed people are used to further His plans
bv their fanatical spirit and cruel excesses; and when they have
fulfilled their mission of punishment, and prepared the way, are
removed to give place to a higher and purer agency : and such
may be the position of the Nanking insurgents. Their present
leader, named Hung Siu-tsiuen, was associated at first with another
one, called Fung Yun-slian, who early disappeared from the scene.
The former obtained some knowledge of Christianity from tracts
given him in 1833 by the native Evangelist Liang Afah, and
increased it by studying a few months in ] 846 with Rev. I. J.
Roberts, an American missionary in Canton. It seems probable,
that as he found his early confused notions of the Shang-ti of the
Confucian classics assuming a definite shape by the perusal of the
Bible, where that term was employed to designate the true God,
he conceived the idea of adopting it as his standard of authority,
and following its principles as far as they would further his designs.
He began to teach his newly discovered doctrines to his friends,
and gathered around him a party, which was soon known as the
Shangti Ilwui, i.e. the Association of the Supreme Ruler; and by
this name attracted the attention and persecution of the rulers,
who saw in it the germ of a conspiracy to overthrow the dynasty.
They, as well as the Chinese generally, regard the worship of
Shangti as a prerogative of the Emperor, and an association with
such a name was indicative of treasonable designs. Hung had
6
miei^CE.
now joined to himself several determined coadjutors, and their
forces were strong enough to stand a siege of many months against
the Imperialist forces, in Yung-ngan chau, a city near the east¬
ern frontier of Kwangsi province. They left this place with a
great decrease of their strength, and proceeded northward in
1852 towards Kwei-lin, the capital of the province. Being unable
to capture this city, they advanced through the province of
Ilunan till they reached the Yangtse-kiang, increasing in numbers
and power, and marking their path with rapine and slaughter of
their foes. They went down the Great River to Nanking, which
fell into their hands in December, 1852, and has since remained
their headquarters. In the spring of 1853, foreign vessels visited
them at Nanking, and their recognition as an independent power
was urged by enthusiastic persons, who saw in them an important
agency in evangelizing the empire.
The degree to which these insurgents have really adopted
Christianity is still a matter of doubt, for the publications of their
leaders must not be taken as an index of the belief and practice of
the mass of followers. The chiefs most known at this date were
five kings, called the Eastern, Northern, Western, and Southern
kings, with an Assistant king. Of these, Yang, the Eastern king,
was apparently the most crafty; he was recognised also as the
younger brother of Jesus, through whom the Iloly Ghost made
known the divine will respecting the operations of the expedition.
These revelations began at an early period, and the account given
of them bears a strong resemblance to those described by Moham¬
med. The leaders substituted the Bible for the Confucian classics,
but do not seem to have done much to teach it, though many
copies of portions of it were circulated, with digests of their own
views of its doctrines. The idols in all the temples were destroyed,
as being a violation of the second commandment; the seventh
day of rest was observed by religious services; and a ritual for
worship was promulgated. The practice of opium smoking, and
all licentious conduct, were prohibited, and for a while were
repressed to a considerable extent; but as polygamy was allowed,
PREFACE.
1
and the moral sense of the body was not very strong, both these
prohibitions erelong proved powerless. The worship of ancestors
was allowed, and there was little mention in their writings of the
atonement of Jesus, and faith in his death, as a means of salva¬
tion ; still less were the vital truths of the New Testament promi¬
nently urged. The book of Joshua was often referred to in them,
as if the Manchus were to be regarded in the same light as the
old Canaanites, and these insurgents as the appointed means of
their destruction.
In 1854, the whole force moved upon Peking, but were repulsed
with great slaughter, and returned to Nanking. The struggle left
the interjacent region in a dreadful condition of ruin and distress,-
for it is hard to say whether of the two bodies, the insurgents or
the imperialists, harass and plunder the people the most. In 1856,
a feud arose between the leaders, which resulted in the destruction
of all the kings, except General Shih Tah-kai, the Assistant king,
and of many thousands of their followers ; but the particulars and
causes of this struggle are not well known, though it consolidated
the power in the hands of Hung or Taiping Wang. In 1S59,
they were reduced so low by the persevering assaults of IIo, the
active governor-general of Kiangnan, that their extinction seemed
probable; but in the spring of 18G0, they were unexpectedly rein¬
forced by the whole army of the imperialists joining them, owing
to the inability of IIo to pay their rations. They soon swept the
provinces of Iviangsu and Chehkiang, captured Su-cliau and Ilang-
chau, their rich and populous capitals, and drove all the Emperor's
officers to Shanghai. Large bodies also proceeded up the Yangtse
kiang to Sz'chuen, so that they now command that river, and
have control of the girdle of China.
The cohesion of the main body of the insurgents for so many
years indicates a vitality and energy of principle among them,
which shows that their leaders have a following they can depend
on to some degree; but our knowledge of the intelligence or vir¬
tue of this rank and file is still too imperfect to enable us to draw
any conclusions. Their adoption of any feature of Christianity,
8
PREFACE.
even if it is only an external rite like a day of rest, or abstaining
from the worship of idols, is favorable to the reception of a higher
and purer style of belief; and opens the way for the full accept¬
ance and teaching of evangelical faith. If the sacred Scriptures
have been circulated to any considerable extent by them during
the last ten years, the volumes have doubtless attracted the seri¬
ous attention of thousands of the most cultivated minds among
the literary aristocracy of China, to a degree that their mere dis¬
tribution by the hands of a missionary would never have done ;
and the results of such a preparatory work must be great and
beneficial, though no estimate of their extent or degree can be
made. It is very doubtful whether the insurgents could now
rule the empire with their present ideas, for the changes they pro¬
pose are too radical and extensive to obtain the cooperation of
the gentry, who are not yet prepared to discard Confucius. The
preparatory steps in such a vast work as the evangelization of the
Chinese people, are perhaps not less important than the final ones,
which they usher in; and to make ready the way seems to be the
position of the party and principles of Tai-ping Wang.
The weakness of the central government encouraged others to
raise the standard of rebellion. Shanghai and Amoy were cap¬
tured by bands of rovers in 1853, Canton was beleaguered by large
bodies, and the provinces were generally in a disturbed state.
These risings were gradually put down by the authorities, aided by
the inherent weakness of the insurgents, whose followers dispersed at
the first reverse. The flame of rebellion in the vicinity of Canton
was quenched in the blood of fully half a million of human beings,
over eighty thousand of whom perished by the executioner's hand
in the city itself. Large numbers of men emigrated to California
and Melbourne, and this exodus gave great stimulus to the coolie
trade, which had assumed the form of a regular traffic in 1850.
In October 185G, the affair of the lorcha Arrow at Canton, com¬
plicated matters with the English government. Sir John Bowring
demanded an apology for Chinese soldiers having boarded this
vessel off the city, but Yell refused to give it, though he sent hey
PREFACE.
9
:rew to the English consulate to be examined. The dispute went
on, until Admiral Sir Michael Seymour, changing the ground
of debate, demanded a personal interview with the governor-gene¬
ral, and bombarded the city wall opposite his palace, into which
he forced an entrance. The Chinese soon after fired into an Ame¬
rican boat coming from Whampoa, and refused to apologize for
the unprovoked outrage ; Commodore Armstrong in consequence
attacked and destroyed the Barrier Forts with the force under his
command. In December 185G, the Chinese burned the foreign
residences at Canton, and gradually compelled all foreigners to
withdraw from the city and river. These events were carefully
discussed in the British Parliament, and the Ministry appealed to
the country in the spring of 1857, on an adverse vote of the Com¬
mons to carry on a war with China in consequence ; they were sus¬
tained by the new House, and decided to resort to arms.
The French government also had causes of grievance, one of
which was the murder in Kwangsi of a Roman Catholic mission¬
ary, Rev. M. Cliapdelaine, under circumstances of peculiar bar¬
barity. Conferences were held between the courts of London
and Paris in reference to these matters, and they agreed on an
armed remonstrance with the Imperial Government. The United
States and Russia were invited to join, but declined furnishing
any troops, or cooperating in the plan so as to use their forces.
The special ministers from these four powerful nations arrived in
China in the year 1857, and the first step of the belligerents was
the capture of Canton in December. Yell was taken prisoner
and sent to Calcutta, where he died. After they had arranged
the local administration of the city, Lord Elgin and Baron Gros
invited Mr. Reed and Admiral Count Putiatine to join them in a
full representation and remonstrance to the Court of Peking, in
the hope that these simultaneous statements from four western
nations would have a beneficial effect. .They willingly did so,
and in pursuance of their plans met off the mouth of the Pei-ho
in April 1858, their united squadrons amounting to nearly forty
vessels.
10
PREFACE.
A second series of four letters was forwarded by tliem from
this point to the prime minister Yu-ching; and Tan, the governor-
general of Chihli, accordingly came down to open negotiations.
Many conferences were held with him at Taku by the Russians
and Americans, but the belligerents regarded his powers as inade¬
quate to settle all the points, and decided to take the forts and go
to Tientsin. This was done May 20th, and several steamers pro¬
ceeded about sixty miles without much opposition up to that city.
Soon after reaching it, two high officers, Kwei-liang and Hwa-
sha-na, came down from Peking, invested with full powers to treat
with the foreign ministers. The first was now prime minister (Yu-
ching having died), and the other was the President of the Board
of Civil Office ; both of them were well acquainted with the
policy of their own government.
The negotiations were now opened between the Imperial Com¬
missioners and their foreign visitors, each party employing their
subordinates in arranging the details of the treaties; but as the
action of the latter was quite independent, the result was that
their several treaties, when compared, were found to differ some¬
what, though they were all linked together by what are called
"favored nation" clauses. The negotiations of Tientsin formed
an interesting epoch in the history of Eastern Asia. "When the
four greatest western powers there stood vis-a-vis with the greatest
of pagan powers, in the persons of their representatives, it was the
beginning of a new order of influences with the latter. Among
other new points, an article allowing the profession of Christianity
by the natives of China was introduced into each treatv, and
their stipulations may often prove a defence to converts against
the rage of unbelievers.
On the return of the foreign ministers to Shanghai, the tariff
and commercial relations underwent a thorough revision. The
two Imperial Commissioners came overland to that city, and saw
more of the position and manners of foreigners, and the extent
of their trade, than they had learned before. They agreed to a
plan which had already been in operation in that port four years,
PREFACE.
11
by which the customs were managed by foreign clerks under tha
control of the native collector; this had proved on the whole so
beneficial, that they were ready gradually to extend it to all the
ports open to foreign trade. These had been increased, by the
new treaties, to thirteen. The five old ones were Canton, Amoy,
Fuhchau, Ningpo, and Shanghai; the eight new ones were Kiung-
chau in Hainan I.; Swat.au ; Taiwan and Tanshwui in Formosa;
Tangcliau and Niuchwang in the northeast provinces; and Ilankau
and another not yet specified, on the Yangtse kiang.
The exchange of the ratifications of the treaties was to take
place in June, 1859. The Hon. F. Bruce, M. Bourboulon, and Hon.
J. E. Ward, the English, French, and American ministers, met in
Shanghai in that month. The Imperial Commissioners had
tarried there during the winter, for the purpose of conferring with
the first-named upon some unsettled points. He declined to see
them, however, and soon after all parties proceeded towards
Peking, the Chinese preferring to go by land. The passage by
the Pei-ho to Tientsin was found to be obstructed at the mouth by
a barrier of beams and stakes, defended by new forts on shore ; in
endeavoring to remove these obstacles, the English and French
forces suffered a defeat, which compelled them to return to
Shanghai. The American minister proceeded on to Peking by
way of Pehtang, where he arrived July 28th. A discussion there
ensued with Kweiliang respecting the ceremonies to be observed
at an audience with the Emperor, who required the American
minister to kneel in his presence; but this obeisance being refused,
the audience was not granted. The ratifications were exchanged
at Tehtang, and the treaty went into effect in January, 1860.
The repulse of the English and French forces at Taku led those
nations to send out a large allied force to demand and exact repa¬
ration of the Emperor. Their ultimatum having been refused,
they landed about eighteen thousand men at Pehtang, dispersed
the Chinese army and captured the forts on the Pei-ho, from
whence they gradually advanced on Peking. Lord Elgin and
Baron Gros, their plenipotentiaries, were again met at Tientsin by
12
PREFACE.
Ivvveiliang (Hwasliana had killed himself), about two years after
they had parted with him, and there resumed negotiations, lie
was not prepared to assent to their demands, and the forces moved
up the river, taking one town after another, and meeting with
no serious opposition until near Tung-chau. A body of Chinese
and Tartar soldiers here made resistance, but were completely
dispersed, and the metropolis of China lay defenceless before
the invading army. The summer palace of Yuen-ming Yuen out¬
side of the walls was pillaged, and in consequence of the rough
treatment and death of a score of prisoners, who had been
captured and taken there by the Chinese, the whole vast establish¬
ment was burned by the English—a harsh act, which it is to be
hoped will at least effect their object in doing it, and compel the
Chinese to treat prisoners more kindly. The treaties with Eng¬
land and France were exchanged with Prince Kung, one of the
imperial family, the Emperor himself having early fled to the
northward. An indemnity of about twenty millions of dollars was
exacted by the allies, to be paid in instalments, and the army
returned to the mouth of the river. Tientsin and Canton are to
be retained for a while as guaranties for the payment of the money,
and complete fulfilment of the treaties.
China may therefore now be regarded as opened to full inter¬
course with foreign nations. The future of her political history
looks dark and disastrous. Her former isolation was one of her
strong defences. Her inhabitants are ignorant and poor, ill fitted
to cope with the science and power of western nations, while the
dreadful evils caused by the use of opium are continually increas¬
ing with the enlarged supply from India and native growth. Torn
by internal factions, harassed by banditti, misgoverned and
oppressed by venial and cruel officials, and too weak or disunited
to remedy their wrongs, even if they knew the best means of doino-
so, the people of China present a melancholy spectacle of a great
nation in decrepitude. On the other hand, their industry, thrift,
peaceful education, and habits of self-government in all their local
matters, are powerful and permanent preservatives against anarchy
PREFACE.
13
and dissolution ; and wlien the purifying, elevating, and regene¬
rating influences of true Christianity come to their aid, certainly a
new era in the history of the Middle Kingdom will begin. Her
inhabitants are already beginning to mix among their fellow-men,
either as laborers or emigrants, and this dispersion will doubtless
rapidly increase; its benefits will more or less relict upon the
masses left in their own homes. The contingencies of the con
tinuance of the present central government, or the inauguration
of a new dynasty, with the bloodshed and misery necessarily
attendant on such changes, are still obscure ; but we are encouraged
to hope for the best solution of the dark future in the Divine
promises on record relating to the prevalence of truth in the land
of Sinim.
^KEFACE.
On my return to the United States from China, I found an unex.
pected degree of interest in the community regarding the pios-
pects in that empire for the extension of traffic and intercourse ;
and in many circles, a still greater desire to know how far the
recent changes and openings were likely to advance the intro¬
duction and diffusion of Christianity among its inhabitants. A
residence at Canton and Macao of twelve years in daily and fa¬
miliar contact with the people, speaking their language and study¬
ing their books, it was supposed might enable me to explain parts
of their polity and character not commonly understood here, and
give such views of their condition as would illustrate their social
state, and encourage to greater efforts in evangelizing them. To
reply to these, and other inquiries respecting their geography,
population, arts, customs, and science of the Chinese, I delivered
a series of lectures in Utica, Cleveland, Buffalo, New York, and
other cities, the proceeds of which were devoted to the manufac¬
ture of a fount of Chinese type then making for the missions.
Having gone to China under the patronage of the American
Board of Foreign Missions as a printer, this object in lecturing
was in keeping both with my station in the mission, and the gene¬
ral subjects of the lectures, in which I endeavored to take a sur¬
vey of the empire and its inhabitants. The inquiries made by
intelligent persons guided me in the topics chosen for lecturing.
The sequel need hardly be told, nor are the lectures here referred
to as an apology fir these vwlumes. Others, far better able tc
XIV
PREFACE.
judge of the necessity and usefulness of such a work than 1 am.
strongly recommended their publication ; and one pastor said that
if I would write them out he would get his church to publish
them.
Two objects have been kept in view while preparing them
One has been to embody all the topics treated of in the lectures,
amplifying and illustrating some of them more than was expedi¬
ent or useful in a discourse ; so that those who heard the lectures
will find the same subjects referred to here. In arranging them,
the same order has been preserved ; and in discussing them, care
lias been taken to select whatever information was most authentic,
important, and recent; trying to reach that difficult medium be¬
tween an essay on each head, which would tire the general reader,
and could be found elsewhere by all who wished to investigate it,
and an unsatisfactory abridgment, too meagre to gratify rational
inquiry, and too short even to induce further research ; but whe¬
ther I have attained this chvvg ynvg, as the Chinese call it, I am
not a judge. If on the one hand the volumes seem too bulky for
a general inquirer to undertake to peruse, as containing more
upon such a subject than he cares about reading, let him remem¬
ber the vastness of the Chinese Empire, much larger than his own
Republic in its widest bounds, and whose races number nearly as
many scores, as his own country has units, of millions, and he
will not, perhaps, deem them too large for the subject. On the
other hand, those who feel greater interest in the character, his¬
tory, and institutions of the Sons of Han, will pursue their in¬
vestigations in the works of the French missionaries and savants,
and those few English writers who have entered into this branch
of knowledge.
Another object aimed at. has been to divest the Chinese people
and civilization of that peculiar and almost undefinable impres¬
sion of ridicule which is so generally given them; as if they
were the apes of Europeans, and their social state, arts, and
government, the burlesques of the same tilings in Christen join.
It may be excusable for the Chinese to have erroneous and con.
freface.
XV
temptuous notions concerning lands and people of whom they
have had little desire and less opportunity to learn wnat they
really are; but such ideas entertained concerning them by those
who have made greater attainments in morality, arts, and learn-
ing, greatly enfeebles the desire, and tends to excuse the duty, to
impart these blessings to them. The names she has given her
towns, the physiognomy God has marked upon the features of her
people, the dress and fashions those people have chosen to adopt,
their mechanical utensils, their religious festivals, their social
usages; in short, almost every lineament of China and her in¬
habitants, has been the object of a laugh or the subject of a pun.
Travellers who visit them are expected to give an account of
" Mandarins with yellow buttons, handing you conserves of snails;
Smart young men about Canton in nankeen tights and peacocks' tails.
With many rare and dreadful dainties, kitten cutlets, puppy pies;
Birdsnest soup which (so convenient!) every bush around supplies."
Manners and customs, such as met the eye, and attracted atten¬
tion by their newness and oddity, first found a place in their jour¬
nals, and combined to continue the impression generally enter¬
tained, that the Chinese were on the whole an uninteresting,
grotesque, and uncivilized " pig-eyed" people, whom one run no
risk in laughing at; an " umbrella race," " long-tailed celestials,"
at once conceited, ignorant, and almost unimprovable.
If this attempt, therefore, to set them in a fair position by a
plain account of their government and its principles of action, a
synopsis of their literature and literary examinations, and a de¬
tail of their social, industrial, and religious state, just as other
nations are described, tend to correct or enlarge the views of
any, it will not have failed of its object. I have called it the
Middle Kingdom, chiefly from that being the meaning of the
most common name for the country among the people themselves ;
and also, from the Chinese holding a middle place between civili¬
zation and barbarism,—China being the most civilized pagan
nation in her institutions and literature now existing.
Besides these objects, I wish also to increase the interest felt in
<vl FREFACE.
the Christian community ftr the spread of the Gospel among the
Chinese by showing how well they are likely to reward mission¬
ary labors, when once they have taken root among them. In
order to this I have gone somewhat fully into the nature of the
government and its principles of conservatism and disorganiza¬
tion ; and the religious opinions of the people. The geography
of the whole empire has been carefully examined, and the grounds
for believing that the largest estimated population is both probable
and possible, and its proofs the most credible of any, investigated.
The sources of almost every part of the work are personal ob¬
servation and study of native authorities, and the successive
volumes of the Chinese Repository published at Canton, and edit¬
ed by Dr. Bridgman. Some may think it unnecessary to issue
another general account of China so soon after the methodical
and able digest of Sir John Davis ; and I have thought I could
not pay his work a higher compliment than to refrain from quot¬
ing it frequently, or even going into many details upon points fully
illustrated in it. Ten years have elapsed since " The Chinese"
was published, however, and the public in this country will, even
if they have read it, take a deeper interest in that people, now
that they are more accessible than when that was written, and be
glad to learn the causes and results of that remarkable contest
which compelled them to open their long closed gates. Other
works consulted are usually quoted in their place, but the Re¬
pository is often the source of many statements not distinctly
marked. The illustrations have been selected with reference to
their accuracy, from various sources, chiefly from La Chine
Ouverte, a French work of considerable research and vivacity.
In concluding this prefatory note respecting the origin, plan,
and design of the present work, I may be allowed to express the
humble hope that it will aid a little in advancing the cause of
Christian civilization among the Chinese, and do its part in dif¬
fusing a juster knowledge of their state and nation in this country.
If that knowledge shall further tend to induce in any one the
desire to diffuse among them an acquaintance with the chief
PREFACE.
xvii
source of our own civil and religious liberties, and encourage
those now engaged to greater efforts, then will the pains taken in
its preparation be increasingly rewarded. To the many kind
friends in this country who have looked upon the attempt with
favor, and especially those who have aided me in carrying it
through the press, I can only return that acknowledgment which
they so well deserve, but which 1 have not their permission more
explicitly to give. S. W. W.
New York, Dec. 1st, 1847.
NOTE RESPECTING THE MAP,
AND THE
SYSTEM OF PRONUNCIATION
adopted in this work.
The Map of the Empire has been drawn from the best authorities
accessible. The coast is delineated from the recent surveys of
the English naval officers, and the provinces from the old surveys
of the Jesuits, corrected in their division^ from a large map of
the empire published by the Chinese government, which measures
nearly ninety square feet, and has been referred to in making the
boundaries and divisions of Mongolia, Manchuria, and III. The
towns and principalities in Japan are placed according to Sieboid's
recent map; those of Annam according to Bp. Taberd's large
map ; while Moorcroft has been consulted for the divisions of
Ladak, Klaproth for those in Tibet, and the maps of the Useful
Knowledge Society for Itussia, Songaria, Turkestan, &c. In
writing the towns and rivers in the Eighteen Provinces, great
care has been taken to compare every name with the Chinese
map, so that 110 mistake should be made in confounding words
nearly alike, and it is believed that few errors will be found in
this part of it. No pains have been spared to make it as accu¬
rate as the extent of our topographical information concerning
the vast regions it embraces enables it to be drawn, though much
of our present delineation of those parts lying north of the Great
Wall rests upon doubtful authority.
The system of pronunciation adopted in the map and book is
nearly the same as that followed in the works published by the
American mission in China. The powers of the letters are as
fellows :
1. a as in fatner, far ; never like a in hat; e. g. cliang, hang
to be sounded almost as if written dialing, hahng
not flat, like the English words sang, hang, <Jv\
XX
SYSTEM OF PRONUNCIATION.
2. 4 as in .American, but, summer, mother ; e. g. pan, tang
to be pronounced as pun, tongue.
3. e as in men, dead, said ; as leh, shen, yen.
4. 6 as in they, neigh, pray; as clit, y£, pronounced chay,
yay'
5. i as in pin, finish; as sing, Jin, CliihU.
6. % as in machine, believe, feel, me ; as U, Kislien, Kanghi.
7. o as in long, \awn ; never like no, crow ; as to, soli, po.
8. u as in rule, too, fool; as Turk, Belur, ku, sung ; pro¬
nounced Toork, Beloor, koo, soong. This sound is
heard less full in full, tsun, and a few other words.
9. ii nearly as in l'ane (French), or anion, rheum; as hu, tsii.
10. ai as in aisle, high, or longer than i in pine; as Shanghai,
Hainan. The combination ei is more slender than
ai, though the difference is slight ; e. g. Kwei-chau.
11. an as in round, oiTr, how ; as Fulicliau, Shauchau, Taukwang.
12. 6u as in the colloquial phrase say 'em/ e. g. clitung. This
diphthong is heard in the Canton dialect.
13. ia as in yard ; e. g. hia, kiang ; not to be sounded as if writ-
ten high-a, kigh-ang, but like hca, kedng.
14. iau is made by joining Nos. 5 and 11 ; hiau, Liautung.
15. ie as in sierra (Spanish), Rienzi; e. g. hien, kien.
16. iu as in pew, pure, lengthened to a diphthong; kiu, siun.
17. iue is made by adding a short e to the preceding • kiuen,
hiuen.
18. ui as in Louisiana, suicide ; e. g. sui, chui.
The consonants are sounded generally as they are in the Eng¬
lish alphabet. Ch as in church ; hw as in when ; j is soft, as s
in pleasure ; kw as in awkward ; ng, as an initial, as in singing,
leaving off the first two letters ; sz' and tsz' are to be sounded full
with one breathing, but none of the English vowels are heard in
it; the sound stops at the z ; Dr. Morrison wrote these sounds
tsze and sze. Urh or Wli, as in purr, omitting the p.
All these, except No. 12, are heard in the court dialect, ac¬
cording as that is sounded by the French missionaries, by Morri¬
son, Medhurst, Goncalves, and many others, and which has
thereby become the most common mode of writing the names of
places and persons in China. Though these authors have em¬
ployed different letters, they have all intended to write the same
SYSTEM OF PRONUNCIATION.
xxi
sound ; thus chan, shan, and xan, are only different ways of
writing ]!fj • and tsse, isze, tsz\ and tzu, of Such is not the
case, nowever, with such names as Macao, Hongkong, Amoy,
Whampoa, and others along the coast, which are sounded accord¬
ing to the local patois, and not the court pronunciation, Ma-ngau,
Hiangkiang, Hiamun, Hwangpu, &c. Many of the discrepancies
seen in the works of travellers and writers are owing to some fol¬
lowing the former, and some the latter. It would be desirable to*
follow the latter in all cases, and not call places, or people, in
foreign books by their local pronunciation; but uniformity is
almost unattainable in this matter. Even, too, in what is called
the Court dialect, there is a great diversity among educated Chi¬
nese, owing to the traditional way all learn the sounds of the
characters. In this work, and on the map, the sounds are writ¬
ten uniformly according to the pronunciation given in Morrison's
Dictionary, but not according to his orthography. Almost every
writer upon the Chinese language seems dispo^d to propose a
new system, and the result is a great confusion in writing the
same name ; for instance, cull, olr. nl, ulh, 111, urh, 'rh, %. e, lur,
nge, ngi, je, ji, are different ways of writing the sounds given to
a single character. Amid these discrepancies, both among the
Chinese themselves, and those who endeavor to catch their pro¬
nunciation, it is almost impossible to settle upon one mode of
writing the names of places. That which offers the easiest pro-
punciation, and has become the best known, has been adopted in
this work. It may, perhaps, be regarded as an unimportant mat¬
ter, so long as the place is known, but to one living abroad, and
unacquainted with the language, the discrepancy is a source of
great confusion. He is unable to decide, for instance, whether
Tung-ngan, Tungon him, Tang-onne, and Tungao, refer to the
same place or not.
In writing Chinese proper names, authors differ greatly as to
the style of p acing them ; thus, Fuhchaufu, Fuh-chau-fu, Fuh
Chau Fu, Fuh-Chau fu, &c., are all seen. Analogy affords little
guide ht. "e, for New York, Philadelphia, and Cambridge, are
several]} inlike in the principle of writing them : the first being
really formed of an adjective and a noun, yet not in this case
united to the latter, as it is in Newport, Newtown, &c. ; the
second is like the generality of Chinese towns, and while it is
now written as one word, it would be written as two if the name
xxii
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Were translated, Brotherly Love ; the third Cambridge is never
written Cam Bridge, and many of the Chinese names are like it
in their origin. The same rules apply in writing Chinese names
as in English, and in this work, the proper names of places
have been written as one word, Suchau, Peking, Hongkong, with a
.yphen inserted in some cases to avoid mispronunciation, as
Hiau-i, Chau-ngan, &c. It is not supposed that the system of
writing them here adopted will alter such names as are commonly
written otherwise, but the principle on which they are constructed
will be shown. The additions, fu, chau, ting, and Men, being
classifying terms, should form a separate word, and not be incor¬
porated into the name, as Ningpofu. It has not been possible to
reduce the names of towns in other parts of the Empire, and in
Japan, to the same system of pronunciation, though they have
heen written as nearly like it as they could be.
*
» '
THE
MIDDLE KINGDOM
CHAPTER L
General Divisions and Features of the Empire.
The possessions of the ruling dynasty of China,—that portion
of the Asiatic continent which is usually called by geographers
the Chinese Empire,—form one of the most extensive dominions
ever swayed by a single power in any age, or any part of the
world. Comprising within its limits every variety of soil and
climate ; watered by large rivers, which serve not only to irri¬
gate and drain it, but, by means of their size and the course
of their tributaries, also afford unusual facilities for intercom¬
munication, it produces within its own borders everything
necessary for the comfort, support, and delight of its inhabitants;
who have depended very slightly upon the assistance of other
climes and nations for satisfying their own wants. Its civiliza¬
tion has been developed under its own institutions ; its government
has been modelled without knowledge or reference to that of any
other kingdom ; its literature has borrowed nothing from the
genius.or research of the scholars of other lands ; its language
is unique in its symbols, its structure, and its antiquity ; and its
people are remarkable for their industry, peacefulness, numbers,
ar.d peculiar habits. The examination of such a people, and
so extensive a country, can hardly fail of being both instructive
and entertaining ; and if rightly pursued, lead to a stronger
conviction of the need of the precepts and sanctions of the Bible
to the highest development of mankind, in their personal, social,
and political relations in this world, as well as to their individual
happiness in another. It is tc be hoped, too, that at this day in
2
2
the middle kingdom.
\he world's history, there are many more than formerly, who
desire to learn the condition and wants of others, not entirely
for their own amusement and congratulation at their superior
knowledge and advantages, hut also to do their fellow-men good,
and impart to them liberally of the gifts they themselves enjoy.
Those who desire to do this, will find that few families of man-
kind are more worthy of their greatest efforts than those
comprised within the limits of the Chinese Empire ; while none
stand in more need of the purifying, ennobling, and invigorating
principles of our holy religion to develope and enforce their own
theories of social improvement.
The origin of the name China, by which the most ancient
and important part of the present empire is known abroad, has
given rise to some discussion. The people themselves have now
no such name for their country, nor is there much evidence that
they ever did apply the term to the whole land. The most
probable account ascribes its origin to the family of Tsin, whose
chief first obtained complete sway, about b. c. 250, over all the
other feudal principalities in the land, and whose exploits ren¬
dered him famous in India, Persia, and other Asiatic states.
This family had, however, long been famous in Chinese history,
and previous to this subjugation, had made itself widely known,
not only in China, but in other countries. Its territories lay in
the north-western parts of the empire, and according to Visdelou,
who has carefully examined the subject, the family was illus¬
trious by its nobility and power. " Its founder was Taye, son
of the emperor Chuen Hu. It existed in great splendor more
than a thousand years ago, and was only inferior to the royal
dignity. Feitsz', a prince of this family, had the superintendence
of the stud of the emperor Hiau-wang, and as a mark of favor
his majesty conferred on him the sovereignty of the city of
Tsinchau in mesne tenure, with the title of sub-tributary kino-.
One hundred and twenty-two years afterwards (about b. c. 770),
Siangkwan, petit roi of Tsinchau (having by his bravery revenged
the insults offered to the emperor Ping by the Tartars, who slew
his father Yu), was created king in full tenure, and without
limitation or exception. The same monarch, abandoning Si-ngan
fu, the capital of his empire, to transport his seat to Lohyanf
(now called Honan fu), rendered him master of the large province
of Shensi, which had composed the proper kingdom t,f the
emperor. He thus became very powerful, but though his for.
NAMES FOR CHINA.
3
tune changed, he did not change his title, retaining always that
of the city of Tsinchau, which had been the foundation of his
elevation. The kingdom of Tsin soon became celebrated, and
being the place of the first, arrival of the people from the western
countiies, it seems probable that those who saw no more of China
than the realm of Tsin, extended this name to all the rest; and
called the whole empire Tsin or Chin."*
This extract refers to periods long before the dethronement of
the family of Chau by princes of Tsin ; and it is plain, that the
position of this principality, contiguous to the desert, and holding
the passes leading from the valley of the Yarkand across the
desert eastward to China, renders the supposition of the learned
Jesuit highly probable. The possession of the old imperial capi¬
tal would strengthen this idea in the minds of the traders resort¬
ing to China from the west; and when the same family did ob¬
tain paramount sway over the whole empire, and its head render
himself so celebrated wherever the country was known by his
conquests over Tungking, Annam, and the neighboring countries,
by his cruelty over the literati, and by building the Great Wall,
the name Tsin was still more widely diffused, and regarded as the
name of the country. The Malays, Hindus, Persians, Arabians,
and other nations of Asia, have Known the country or its people
by no other terms than Jin, Chin, Sin, Since., Tzinistce, or others
similar. These investigations derive additional importance from
the light they throw upon the prophecy in Isaiah xlix., 12,
and the aid they give in determining what country is intended by
the " land of Sinim," and what people are there specifically
pointed out, as finally to be brought into the pale of the church.f
The Chinese have many names to designate themselves and
the land they inhabit. One of the most ancient is Tien Hia,
meaning Beneath the Sky, and denoting the World ; another,
almost as ancient, is Sz' Hai, i. e. [all within] the Four Seas ; a
third, now more common than either, is Cliung Kwoli, or Middle
Kingdom, given to it from an idea that it is situated in the centre
of the earth; Chung Kwohjin, or men of the Middle Kingdom,
denotes the Chinese. All these names indicate the vanity and
the ignorance of the people respecting their geographical posi¬
tion and their rank among the nations, but they have not been
alone in this foible ; the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, all had
* D'TIerbelot, Bibliotheque Orient , tome IV., p. 8.
t Chinese Repository, Vol. XIII., page 113, pasirim.
4
the middle kingiluxu.
terms fo.' their possessions which intimated their own ideas of
their superiority ; while, too, the area of none of those monarch¬
ies, in their widest extent, greatly exceeded that of China Proper.
The family of Tsin also established the custom, since continued,
of calling the country by the name of the dynasty then reigning ;
but, while the brief duration of that house of only forty-four
years was not long enough to give it much currency or favor
among the people, succeeding dynasties, by their talents and
prowess, imparted their own as permanent appellations to the
people and country. The terms Han-jin and Han-tsz' (i. e. men
of Han or sons of Han) are now in common use by the people
to denote themselves; the last also means a " brave man."
Tang-jin, or Men of Tang, is quite as frequently heard among
the natives ; and the phrase Tang Shan, or Hills of Tang, de¬
notes the whole country. The Han dynasty sat upon the throne
from b. c. 202 to a. d. 220 ; and the Tang from a. d. 620 to 907 ;
their sway is regarded by the Chinese as the most glorious pe¬
riods of their national history.
The present dynasty Tsing calls the empire Ta Tsing Kwoh,
or Great Pure Kingdom ; but the people themselves have refused
the corresponding term of Tsing-jin, or Men of Tsing. Klaproth
must therefore have been misinformed when he says the Chinese
call themselves Tstng-jin ; it is not unlikely, liowevei, that the
Manchus and Mongols so designate themselves, and he perhaps
inferred from this that the Chinese do so too. The empire is
also sometimes Tsing Chau, i. e. [land of the] Pure Dynasty, by
metonymy for the family which rules it. The term so fre¬
quently heard in western countries for China,—the Celestial
Empire,—is derived from Tien Chau, i. e. Heavenly Dynasty ;
meaning the kingdom which the dynasty appointed bv heaven
rules over ; but the term Celestials, for the people of that king¬
dom, is entirely of foreign manufacture, and their language could
with difficulty be made to express such a patronymic. Besides
the common terms Iian-jin and Tang-jin to denote the people,
they have some others of a descriptive nature. The phrase Li
Min, or Black-haired Race, is a common appellation ; the ex¬
pressions Hwa Yen, the Flowery Language, and Chung Hwa
Kwoh. the Middle Flowery Kingdom, are also frequently used
for the written language and the country; because tl:° Chinese
consider themselves to be among the most polished and civozed
of all nations,—which is the sense of hwa in these phrases. The
LIMITS OF THE COUNTRY.
O
phrase JNui Ti, or Inner Land, is often employed to distinguish il
from countries beyond their borders, which constitute the deso¬
late and barbarous regions of the earth. Hwa Hia (the Glorious
Ilia) is another ancient term for China, the Hia dynasty being
the first which sat on the throne ; but these, and a few others like
them, are not in common use among the people.
The present ruling dynasty has extended the limits of the
empire far beyond what they were under former princes, and
its dimensions and limits are given by McCulloch from careful
examinations of many maps. The peninsula of Luichau, in the
province of Kwangtung, the most southerly portion of its conti¬
nental dominions, is in lat. 20° N. ; but if the island of Haitian
be included, the most southern point will be the bay of Yulin, in
lat. 18° 1(K N. The most northerly portion is the north-eastern
part of Manchuria, lying on the Russian frontier, in lat. 56° 10'
N., along the rnnge of the Outer Hing-an or Yablonoi mountains.
This boundary is nearly as far north as the utmost north-eastern
corner above the mouth of the Amour river, in lat. 56° 30/ N.,
and long. 143° SO7 E. The island of Sagalien or Tarakai is
included among the possessions of the present dynasty on the
largest maps of the empire, but it is very doubtful whether the
Chinese have any officers there, or exercise the least sway over
the inhabitants. If it be included, Cape Patience, in lat. 48° 10'
N., and long. 144° 50' E., will be the most eastern point of the
empire. The western frontier is not well defined, but Cashgar
is the largest town of importance on that side ; it lies in the
province of lli, in long. 73° 55/ E. ; but the western bend of the
Belur tag, in long. 70° E., is usually regarded as the frontier
between China and the states of Kokand and the Kirghfs stepp.
The longest line which can be drawn in it from the south-western
part of llf bordering on Kokand north-easterly to the sea of
Okhotsk, is 3350 miles ; its greatest breadth is 2100 miles from
the Outer Hing-an south-westerly to the peninsula of Luichau.
The length is about seventy-seven degrees of longitude, and the
breadth about forty of latitude. The area of this vast region is
estimated by McCulloch, after the most careful examination, at
5,300,000 sq. m., and this is evidently much nearer the truth
than the usual sum of 3,010,400 sq. m.
The form of the empire approaches a rectangle. It is bounded
on the east and south-east by various arms and portions of the
Pacific ocean, called on Euroje.an maps sea of Okhotsk, gulf
6
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
of Tartary, sea of Japan, gulfs of Lia.itung and Pechele, Yel¬
low sea, channel of Formosa, China sea, and gulf of Tonquiu,
The peninsula of Corea lies south of Liautung, separated from
it by a chain of low mountains, and forms the only interruption
to the maritime frontier. Cochinchina and Burmah border on
the provinces of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Yunnan, in the
south-west; but most of the region near that frontier is inhabited
by half-independent tribes of Laos, Singphos, and others. The
high ranges of the Himalaya separate Assam, Bootan, Nipal,
and states in India from Tibet, whose western border is bounded
by the nominally dependent country of Ladak, or if that be ex¬
cluded, by the Karakorum mountains. The kingdoms or states
of Lahore, Cashmere, Badakshan, Kokand, and the Kirghis stepp,
lie upon the western frontiers of Little Tibet, Ladak, and l\i, as
far north as the Russian border ; the high range of the Belur-
tag or Tsung-ling separates the former countries from the Chi¬
nese territory in this quarter. Russia is conterminous with
China from the Ivirghis stepp along the Altai chain and Daourian
mountains for 3,300 miles to the sea of Okhotsk. The circuit
of the whole empire is 12,550 miles, or about half the circum¬
ference of the globe. The coast line from the mouth of the
Amur to Hainan is 3350 miles. This immense country com¬
prises about one-third of the continent, and nearly one-tenth of
the habitable part of the globe ; and, next to R-ussia, is the largest
empire which has existed on the earth.
It will, perhaps, contribute to a better comprehension of the
area of the Chinese empire to compare it with some other coun¬
tries. Russia is nearly 6000 miles in its greatest length, and
about 1500 in its average breadth, and measures 7,725,000 sq. m.,
or one-seventh of the land on the globe. The United States of
America extends about 3000 miles from the Pacific in a north¬
easterly direction to Maine, and about 1700 from Lake of the
Woods to Florida. The area of this territory is now estimated
at 2,620,000 sq. m. The area of the British Empire is not far
from 6,890,000 sq. m., but the boundaries of some of the colo¬
nies in Hindostan and South Africa are not very definitely laid
down; the superficies of the two colonies of Australia and New
Zealand is nearly equal to that of all the other possessions of the
British crown. A great portion of the Russian, English, and
Chinese empires is uninhabitable, or so situated as never to be
capable of supporting a very large population, while the greater
DIVISIONS OF THE EMPIRE.
7
part of the territory of the United States is susceptible of culti-
vution, and capable of subsisting a dense population.
The Chinese themselves divide their empire into three princi¬
pal parts, rather by the difFerent form of government which they
adopt in each, than by any geographical arrangement.
I. The Eighteen Provinces, or that which is more strictly
called China, or China Proper; it is, with trivial additions, the
country which was conquered by the Manchus in 1664. »
II. Manchuria, or the native country of the Manchus, lying
north of the gulf of Liautung and east of the Inner Daourian
mountains to the Pai ific.
III. Colonial Possessions, including Mongolia, 111 (comprising
Sungaria and Eastern Turkestan), Koko-nor, and Tibet.
The first of these divisions alone is that to which other nations
have given the name of China, and is the only part which is
settled by the Chinese. It lies on the eastern slope of the high
table land of Central Asia, in the south-eastern angle of the con¬
tinent ; and for beauty of scenery, fertility of soil, salubrity of
climate, magnificent and navigable rivers, and variety and
abundance of its productions, will compare with any portion of
the globe. The common name for this portion of the empire, as
distinguished from the rest, is Shih-pah Sang or the Eighteen Pro¬
vinces, but the people themselves most usually mean this par
alone by the term Middle Kingdom. The area of the Eighteen
Provinces is estimated by McCulloch at 1,348,870 sq. m., but
if the full area of the provinces of Kansuh and Chihli be included,
this sum is not large enough ; the usual estimate is 1,297,999
sq. m.; Malte Brun reckons it at 1,482,091 sq. m.; but the
entire dimensions of the Eighteen Provinces, as the Chinese
define them, cannot be much under 2,000,000 sq. m., the excess
lying in the extension of the two mentioned above. This part,
consequently, is rather more than two-fifths of the area of the.
whole empire.
The old limits are, however, more natural, and being better
known may still be retained. They give nearly a square form
to the provinces, the length from north to south being 1474 miles,
and the breadth 1355 miles ; but the diagonal line from the
north-east corner to Yunnan is 1669 miles, and that from Amoy
to the north-western part of Kansuh is 1557 miles. The coast¬
line from Hainan to Liautung is more than 2500 miles, and the
ft
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
line of land frontier 4400 miles. Thus China Proper is about
seven times the size of France, and fifteen times that of the
United Kingdom; it is nearly half as large as all Europe, which
is 3,650,000 sq. m. The area of China Proper is, however,
nearer that of the twenty-eight states of the American Union,
which is reckoned to be 1,265,000 sq. m., the superficies of
Texas being about the same as those of Iowa and Wisconsin com-
bined, or 320,000 sq. m. The geographical position of the two
countries on the western borders of the two great oceans is
another point of likeness, which involves considerable similarity
in climate ; there is moreover a further resemblance between the
size of the provinces in China and those of the newer states.
Before proceeding to define the three great basins into which
China may be divided, it will give a better idea of the whole
subject to speak of the mountain ranges which lie within, and
those which define the limits of the whole empire. The latter
in themselves form almost an entire wall around the empire,
inclosing and defining it; the principal exceptions being the west¬
ern boundaries of Yunnan, and the border between 111 and the
Kirghis stepp.
Commencing at the north-eastern corner of Manchuria, above
the mouth of the Amour, about latitude 56° N., are the first sum¬
mits of the Altai range, which during its long course of 2000 miles
takes several names ; this range forms the northern limit of the
table land of Central Asia, as well as the boundary between
China and Russia. At its eastern part, the range is called
Yablonoi-Khrebet by the Russians, and the Outer Hing-an by
the Chinese ; the first name is applied as far west as the conflu¬
ence of the Songari with the Amour, beyond which, north-west
as far as lake Baikal, the Russians call it the Daourian mount-
ains. The distance from the lake to the ocean is about 600 miles.
Beyond lake Baikal, westward, the chain is called the Altai, i. e.
Golden Mountains, and sometimes Kin slum, meaning the same
thing; and as far as the Tshulyshman river, separates into two
chains, near the Selenga river, running nearly east and west.
The southern one, which lies mostly in Mongolia, is called the
Tangnu, and rises to a much higher elevation than the northern
spur. The Tangnu mountains continue under that name in the
Chinese maps in a south-westerly direction, but this chain pro-
perly joins the Tien shan, or Celestial mountains, in the province
BOUNDARIES OF THE EMPIRE.
9
of Cobdo, and continues on until it again unites with the A tai
further west, near the junction of the Kirgh, _ stepp with China
and Russia, where the range ends. The length of the whole
chain is not far from 2500 miles, and except near the Tshulysh-
man river, does not, so far as is known, rise to the snow line,
except in detached peaks. The average elevation is supposed
to be not far from 7000 feet, and most of it lies between latitudes
47° and 52° N., forming the longest mountain boundary between
any two countries.
The next chain is the Belur-tag, Tartash ling, or Onion
mountains (Tsung ling), which lies in the south-west of Songaria,
separating it from Badakshan ; this range commences about
latitude 50° N., nearly at right angles with the Tien shan, and
extends southerly, rising to a great height, though little is known
of it. It may be considered as the connecting link between the
Tien shan and the Kwanlun or Koulkun ; or rather, both this
and the latter may be considered as proceeding from a mountain
knot in the south-western part of Turkestan called Pushtikhur,
the Belur-tag coming from its northern side, while the Kwanlun
or Koulkun range issues from its eastern side, and extends
across the middle of the table land to the Azure sea, where it
diverges into two branches. This mountain knot lies between
latitudes 30° and 37° N., and longitudes 70° and 74° E. The
Himalaya range proceeds from it south-easterly, along the south¬
ern frontier of Tibet, till it breaks up near the headwaters of the
Yangtsz' kiang, Sal ween, and other rivers between Tibet, Bur-
mah, and Yunnan, thus nearly completing the circuit of the
empire. A small spur from the Yun ling, in the west of Yun¬
nan, in the country of the Singphos and borders of Assam, may
also be regarded as forming part of the boundary line. The
coast line from Corea, north-easterly to near the mouth of the
Amour, is likewise girded by a range of mountains, called
Sih-hih-tih on Chinese maps.
Within the confines of the empire are four large chains, some
of the peaks in their course rising to stupendous elevations, but
the ridges generally falling under the snow line. The first is
the Tien shan or Celestial mountains, called Tengkiri by the
Mongols, and sometimes erroneously Alak mountains. This
chain begins at the northern extremity of the Belur-tag in 40°
N., or more prop' rly comes in from the west, and extends from
2*
10
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
west to east between longitudes 76° and 90° E., and generally
along the 22° of north la-iitude, dividing 111 into Songaria and
Turkestan, or Northern and Southern Circuits. Its western por¬
tion is called Muz-tag; and the Muz-daban, about longitude 79°
E., between Gouldja and Oksu, is where the road from north to
south runs across, leading over a high glacier above the snow
line. East of this occurs a mass of peaks among the highest
in Central Asia, called Bogdo-ula; and at the eastern end, as it
declines to the desert, are traces of volcanic action, but no active
volcanoes are now known. The volcano of PI shan is between
the glacier and the Bogdo-ula ; it is the only one known in conti¬
nental China. The Celestial mountains end abruptly at their
eastern point, where the ridge meets the desert, not far from the
meridian of Barkoul in Ivansuh, though Humboldt considers the
hills in Mongolia a continuation of the range eastward, as far as
the Inner Hing-an. The space between the Altai and Tien shan
is very much broken up by mountainous spurs, which may be
considered as connecting links of them both, though nothing like
a regular chain exists. The western prolongation of the Tien
shan, under the name of the Muz-tag, extends from the high pass
only as far as the junction of the Belur-tag, beyond which, and
out of the Chinese Empire, it continues nearly west, south of
the river Sihon towards Kodjend, under the names of Ak-tag
and Asferah-tag; this part is covered with perpetual snow.
Nearly parallel with the Celestial mountains in part of its
course is the Nan Shan, Kwanlun or Ivoulkun range of moun¬
tains, of which less is known than of the other three great systems.
The Koulkun starts from the Pushtikhur knot in latitude 36° N.,
and runs along easterly in nearly that parallel through the whole
breadth of the table land, dividing Tibet from the desert of Gobi
in part of its course. About the middle of its extent, not far from
longitude 92° E., it divides into two ranges ; one of these declines
to the south-east through Koko-nor and Sz'chuen, under the name
of the Bayan-kara mountains or Siueh ling (i. e. Snow moun¬
tains), and unites with the Yun ling (i. e. Cloudy mountains),
about latitude 33° N. The other branch bends northerly not far
from the source of the Yellow river, and under the names of
Kihlien shan or Nan shan, In shan, and Ala shan, passes through
Kansuh and Shensx to join the Inner Hing-an, not far from the
great bend of the Yellow river. Some pon on of the country
MOUNTAIN RANGES.
11
between the extremities of these two ranges is less elevated, hut
no plains occur, though the northern parts of Kansuh, where the
Great Wall runs, are rugged and not very fertile. The large
tract between the Tien shan and Koulkun is mostly occupied by
the desert of Gobi, but on the southern declivities of the former
many large towns are found, and agricultural labors are well
repaid. The mineral treasures of the Koulkun are probably
great, judging from the many precious stones brought from there,
and this desolate region is the favorite locality for the monsters,
fairies, genii, and other beings of Chinese legendary lore.
The region of Koko-nor is exceedingly rough, forming a moun¬
tain knot, like Pushtikhur, some of the peaks of it rising far above
the snow line. From near the headwaters of the Yellow river,
there are four small ridges running south-easterly, which con¬
verge so near each other at the confines of Burmah and Yun¬
nan, that they are not more than one hundred miles in breadth.
The Yun ling constitutes the western frontier of Sz'chuen, and
going south-east into Yunnan, thence turns eastward, under the
names of Nan ling, Mei ling, Wu-I shan, and other local terms,
passing through Kweichau, Hunan, and dividing Kwangtung and
Fuhkien from Kiangsi and Chehkiang, bends north-east till it
reaches the sea opposite Chusan. One or two spurs branch off
north from this range through Hunan and Kiangsi, as far as the
Yangtsz' kiang, but they are all of moderate elevation, covered
with forests, and susceptible of cultivation. The descent from the
Siueh ling or Bayan-kara mountains, and the western part of the
Yun ling, to the Pacific, is very gradual, and few peaks which rise
above the snow line are known to occur within the provinces.
Another less extensive ridge branches off nearly due east from
the Bayan-kara mountains in Koko-nor, and forms a moderately
high range of mountains between the Yellow river and Yangtsz'
kiang as far as longitude 112° E., on the western borders of
Nganhwui; this range is called Ko-tsing shan, and Peh ling (i. e.
Northern mountains), on European maps. These two chains, viz.
the Yun ling with its continuation of the Mei ling and the Peh
ling, with their numerous offsets, render the whole of the western
part of China very uneven, and the people there are more hardy
and less polished than their countrymen in the Great Plain.
On the east of Mongolia, and commencing near the bend of
the Yellow river, or rather forming a continuation of the range
12
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
in Shansi, is the Inner Hing-an ling or Sialkoi, called also Soyorti,
which runs north-east on the west side of the basin of the A mour,
till it reaches the Outer Hing-an or Yablonoi-Krebet, in latitude
56° N. The sides of the ridge towards the desert are nearly
naked, but the eastern acclivities are well wooded and fertile.
Another ridge commences near the mouth of the Amour, and
runs along south-westerly very near the coast till it terminates at
the south end of the Corean peninsula ; it is called the Sih-hih-tih.
At its entrance into Corea, a spur strikes off westward through
Shingking, called Kolmin-shanguin alin by the Manchus, and
Chang-peh shan (i. e. Long White mountains), by the Chinese.
Between the Sialkoi and Sih-hih-tih are two smaller ridges defin¬
ing the basin of the Nonni river on the east and west. Little is
o
known of the elevation of these chains, and some of them have
never been described by European travellers.
The fourth system of mountains is the Himalaya, which bounds
Tibet on the south, while the Kwanlun defines it on the north.
The ancient country of Tangout occupies the present residency
of Koko-nor, and is not included within the limits of Tibet. A
small range runs through it from west to east, connected with the
Himalaya by a high table land, which surrounds the lakes Man-
asa-rowa and Ravan-hrad, and near or in which are the sources
of the Indus, Ganges, and Yaru-tsangbu. This range is called
Gang-dis-ri and Zang, and also Kailasa in Dr. Buchanan's map,
and its eastern end is separated from the Yun ling by the narrow
valley of the Yangtsz' kiang, which here flows from north to
south ; little or nothing is known of this range, but most of the
peaks are probably above the snow line. The country north of
the Gang-dis-ri is divided into two portions by a spur which ex¬
tends in a north-west direction as far as the Koulkun, called the
Karakorum mountains. On the western side of this range lies
the spacious country of Ladak, drained by one of the largest
branches of the Indus; and although included in the imperial
domains on Chinese maps, yet now sends no tribute to his ma-
jesty. The Karakorum mountains may therefore be taken aa
forming part of the boundary of the empire; Chinese geogra¬
phers regard them as forming a continuation of the Tsung lino-.
That part of Tibet lying east of them is called Katshe, and con-
sists of a succession of plains of greater or less extent, but or
whose productions, topography, and people, very little is certainly
DESERT OF GOBI.
13
known. The regions lying west of the Karakorum mountains
have been visited by many travellers, and frequently described.
This outline of the mountain chains around and within the
Chinese Empire, describes their prir.cipal features sufficiently to
give an idea of the arrangement of the country. The proportion
which is either mountainous or hilly is nearly four-fifths of the
empire (if the vast desert of Gobi be left out of the estimate),
and most of it will repay the husbandman, some parts of the hilly
region in the provinces being among the most populous and fertile
districts.
Between the Celestial mountains and the Kwanlun range on
the south-west, and reaching to the Sialkoi on the north-east, in
an oblique direction, lies the great desert of Gobi or Sha-moh,
both words signifying desert or sandy sea. The entire length of
this waste is more than 1800 miles, but if its limits are extended
to the Belur-tag and the Sialkoi, at its western and eastern ex-
tremity, it will reach 2200 miles ; the average breadth is be¬
tween 350 and 400 miles, subject however to great variations.
The area within the mountain ranges which define it is about
1,200,000 square miles, and few of the streams occurring in it
find their way to the ocean. The whole of this tract is not a
desert, though no part of it can lay claim to more than compara¬
tive fertility ; and the great altitude of most portions seems to be
as much the cause of its sterility as the nature of the soil.
The western portions of Gobi, lying east of the Tsung ling
and north of the Koulkun, between long. 72° and 96° E., and
in lat. 36° and 37° N., is about 1200 miles in length, and be¬
tween 300 and 400 across. Along the southern side of the Ce¬
lestial mountains extends a strip of arable land from 50 to 80
miles in width, producing grain, pasturage, cotton, and other
things, and in which lie nearly all the Mohammedan cities and
forts of the Nan Lu or Southern Circuit, as Kashgar, Oksu,
Hami, and others. The Tarim or 1 arkand river and its branches
flows westward into Lop nor, through the best part of this tract,
from 72° to 86° E. ; and along the banks of the Ivoten river, a
road runs from Yarkand to that city, and thence to H'lassa ;
here the desert is comparatively narrow. This part is called
Han hai, or Mirage sea, by the Chinese, and is sometimes known
as the desert of Lop nor. The remainder of this region is an
almost unmitignted waste, and north of Koko-nor assumes its
14
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
most terrific appearance, being covered with dazzling stones, and
rendered insufferably hot by the reflection of the sun's rays from
these and numerous mountains of sand, which are said to move like
waves of the sea. One Chinese author says, " There is neither
water, herb, man, nor smoke ;—if there is no smoke, there is ab¬
solutely nothing." The limits of the western portion of the
Desert are not easily defined, for near the base of the mountain
ranges, streams and vegetation are usually found.
Near the meridian of Hami, long. 96° E., the desert is nar¬
rowed to about 150 miles, and this portion is also less level,
more stony, and possesses some tracts affording pasturage. The
road from Iviayii kwan to Hami runs across this narrow part, and
travellers find water at various places in their route. It in fact
divides Gobi into two parts, the desert of Lop nor and the Ta
Gobi, the former being about 4500 feet elevation, and the eastern
not usually rising as high as 4000 feet. The province of Kan-
suh has been extended quite across this tract to the foot of the
Tien shan.
The eastern part of it or Great Gobi stretches from the east¬
ern declivity of the Celestial mountains, in long. 96° to 120°
E., and about lat. 40° N., as far as the Inner Hing-an ; and its
width between the Altai and the In shan range varies from 500
to 700 miles. Through the middle of this tract extends the de¬
pressed valley properly called Sha-moh (i. e. Sandy floats), from
150 to 200 miles across, and whose lowest depression is from
2600 to 3000 feet above the sea. Sand almost entirely covers
the surface of this valley, generally level, but sometimes rising
into low hills. Such vegetation as occurs is scanty and stunted,
affording indifferent pasture, and the water in the numerous small
streams and lakes is brackish and unpotable. North and south
of the Sha-moh, the surface is gravelly and sometimes rocky, the
vegetation more vigorous, and in many places affords good pas¬
turages for the herds of the Kalkas tribes. In those portions
bordering on or included in Chihlx province, among the Tsak-
hars, agricultural labors are repaid, and millet, wheat, and barley
are produced, though not to a great extent. Trees are met with
on the water courses, but they do not form forests. There are
no large inland streams in the part of Gobi north of China, but
on its north-eastern borders are some large tributaries of the
Amour. On the south of the Sialkoi range, the desert lands
RIVERS OF CHINA.
15
reach nearly to the Chang-peh shan north of Liautung, about
five degrees beyond those mountains. The general features of
this portion of the earth's surface are less forbidding than Sahara*
bat more so than the stepps of Siberia or the pampas of Buenos
Ayres.
The rivers of China are her glory, and no country can com¬
pare with her for natural facilities of inland navigation, and the
people themselves consider that portion of geography relating to
their rivers as the most interesting, and give it the greatest atten¬
tion. The four largest rivers in the empire are the Yellow
river, the Yangtsz' kiang, the Hehlung kiang or Amour, and
the Tarim or Yarkand ; the Yaru-tsangbu also runs more than a
thousand miles within its borders. Of these magnificent streams,
the Yellow river is the most celebrated, though the Yangtsz'
kiang is the largest and most useful.
The Hwang ho, or Yellow river, rises in the Singsuh hai or
Ilotun nor (i. e. sea of Constellations), a marshy plain lying
between the Bayan-kara and Kwanlun mountains, in which a
great number of springs or lakelets unite in two larger ones
called Ala nor, in latitude 35£° N., and about longitude 96° E.
Its course is so crooked after it leaves Ala nor, that it turns first
south 30 miles, then east 160, then nearly west about 120, wind¬
ing about the gorges of the Kwanlun; and lastly flows north-east
and east to Lanchau fu in Ivansuh, having gone about 700 miles
in its devious line. From Lanchau fu, it turns northward along
the Great Wall for 430 miles, till it is bent eastward by the In
shan, on the edge of the table \uiid, and incloses the country of
the Ortous Mongols within this great bend. A spur of the Peh
ling deflects it south, about longitude 110° E., between Shansi
and Shensi for about 500 miles till it enters the Great Plain, hav¬
ing run 1130 miles from Lanchau fu. In this part of its course
it becomes tinged with the clay which imparts both color and
name to it; at the northern bend it separates in several small
lakes and branches, and during this part of its course, for more
than 500 miles, receives not a single stream of any size, while
it is still so large and rapid in Shansi as to demand great pre¬
cautions when crossing it by boats. At the south-western corner
of Shansi, the Yellow river receives its largest tributary, the river
Wei, which comes in from the westward after a course of 400
miles, and is more available, so far as means of navigation are now
16
THE MIDLLE KINGDOM.
had among the Chinese, than the whole of its mighty competit n.
From this angular turn, the main stream flows on eastward about
650 miles, in some parts of Honan above the plain on its sides,
and finally disembogues itself in solitude about latitude 34°,—
bearing the character of a mighty, impracticable, turbid, furious
stream throughout most of its long route. The area of its basin
is estimated at 700,000 sq. m., and although its source is only
1290 miles in a direct line from its mouth, its numerous windings
prolong its course to nearly double that distance. It is but little
used by the Chinese for navigation, and the cities on its banks
are in constant jeopardy of being submerged. Foreign skill and
science are necessary to teach the people how to restrain its fury,
and western steamers alone can stem its impetuous current, and
make it a channel for commerce. In its progress, the Yellow
river receives fewer important tributaries than any other large
river in the world, except the Nile. The principal are the Wei
and Lu in SliensI, and the Fan in ShansI, and the waters of
lake Hungtsih in Kiangsu.
Far more tranquil and useful is its rival, the Yangtsz' kiang
(i. e. Son of the Ocean), called also simply Kiang or Ta kiang,
the River, or Great river ; it is often erroneously named on west¬
ern maps, " Kyang Ku," which merely means " mouth of the
river." The sources of the Kiang are not well known, partly
owing to the difficulty of ascertaining which of its numerous
branches is the principal. So far as can be ascertained, three
small streams on the south-western side of the Bayan-kara, in
the meridian of Tengkiri nor in Tibet, longitude 89° E., and
about 200 miles west of the Singsuh hai, unite to form the Murus-
ussu (in Chinese, Muhlusu), which is soon after joined by three
other streams, all of which may be considered its headwaters.
There is no authentic account of its course from this union till
it joins the Yahlung kiang in Yunnan, a distance of nearly 1300
miles ; but Chinese maps indicate a south-westerly direction,
through the gorges of the Bayan-kara and Yun ling, till it bursts
out from the mountains in latitude 26° N., where it turns north¬
east. During much of this distance it bears the name of the
Po-lai-tsz'. The Yahlung river rises very near the Yellow
river, and runs parallel with the Kiang in a valley further east,
flowing upwards of 600 miles before they join. Large rafts of
timber are floated down both these streams, for sale at the towns
RIVERS OF CHINA.
n
further east, but no boats of any size are seen on them before
they leave the mountains. The town of Batang, in latitude 29°
N., is the first large place on the river, the region beyond that
being almost uninhabitable. The main trunk is called Kinsha
kiang (i. e. Golden-sand River), until it receives the Yahlung
kiang in the southern part of Sz'chuen, which the Chinese
there regard as the principal stream of the two ; beyond the
junction, the united river is called Ta kiang, or Great river, as
far as Wuchang fu, the capital of Hupeh, where it takes its best
known name of Yangtsz' kiang. Its general course from this
point is easterly, receiving various tributaries on both shores, and
passing through several lakes, until it discharges its waters at
Tsungming island, by two mouths, in latitude 32° N., more than
1850 miles from its mouth in a direct line, but flowing nearly
3000 mile* in all its windings.
One of tne largest and most useful of all the tributaries it
receives in its lower course is the Kan kiang in Kiangsi, which
empties through the Poyang lake, and continues the transverse
communication across the provinces from north to south, con¬
necting with the Grand Canal. The Tungting lake receives
two large rivers, the Siang and Yuen, which drain the northern
sides of the Nan ling in Hunan. These are on the south; the
[Ian kiang in Hupeh, and the Kialing in Sz'chuen, are the main
affluents on the north, contributing the drainings of the country
south of the Peh ling. . The Grand Canal comes in at Chinkiang
fu, and from thence the deep channel of the Son of the Ocean,
able to carry the largest men-of-war on its bosom, finds its way
to the Pacific. Much of the silt brought down by this and the
Yellow river is carried across to the Japanese coast, and is no
doubt gradually filling up the Yellow sea. No two rivers can
be more unlike in their general featui'es than these two mighty
streams. While the Yellow river is unsteady, the Yangtsz' is
uniform and deep in its lower course, and available for rafts
from Batang in the western confines of Sz'chuen, and for boats
from beyond Tungchuen fu in Yunnan, more than 1700 miles
from its mouth. Its great body and depth afford ample room for
the largest ships 200 miles, as far as Nanking, and probably
scores of miles beyond that city, where in some places no bot¬
tom could be found at twenty fathoms, and ships anchored in ten
fathoms almost among the rushes; while the banks are not so low
18
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
as to be injured or overflown to any great extent by the freshes.
The tides are perceptible 400 miles to Kiukiang at the embou¬
chure cf the Poyang lake, in Kiangsl. No river in the world
exceeds this for the arrangement of its subsidiary streams, which
render the whole basin accessible, and no interruption of import¬
ance is experienced by waterfalls. The basin drained by the
Yangtsz' kiang is estimated at 750,000 sq. m., and from its
almost central course, and the number of provinces through
which it passes, it has been termed the Girdle of China; and has
given rise, among the people, to the expressions " south and north
of the river," and " beyond the river," to designate those living
on its further banks.*
Besides these two principal rivers and their large branches,
numerous others empty into the ocean along the coast from Hai¬
nan to Sagalien, three of which are some hundreds of miles in
length, draining large tracts of country, and affording access to
many populous cities and districts. The third basin is that south
of the Nan ling to the ocean, and is drained chiefly by the Chu
kiang, though its form is much less regular than those of the
Yellow river and Yangtsz' kiang. The Chu kiang, like most of
the rivers in China, has many names during its course, and is
formed by three principal branches, respectively called East,
North, and West rivers, according to the quarter from whence
they come. The last is by far the largest, and all of them are
navigable most of their distances. They all disembogue at Can¬
ton, and drain a region of not much less than 200,000 sq. m.,
being all the country east of the Yun ling and south of the Nan
ling ranges. The rivers in Yunnan, for the most part, empty into
the Saigon, Meikom, and other streams in Cochinchina. The
Min river, which flows by Fuhchau fu, the Tsih, upon which
Ningpo lies, the Tsientang leading up to Hangcbau fu, and the
Pei ho, or White river, emptying into the gulf of Pechele,
are the most considerable among these lesser outlets in the pro¬
vinces; while the Liau ho and Yahyuen kiang, discharging into
the gulf of Liautung, are the only two that deserve mention in
southern Manchuria. The difference in this respect between the
Chinese coast and that of the United States is very striking,
* Penny Cyclopaedia, Arts. Yellow River and Yang-tse kiang. Ch.'nesa
Repository, vol. II., page 316
LAKES OF CHINA.
19
resulting from the different direction of the mountain chains in
the interior.
The lakes of China are comparatively few and small, and all
in the provinces of any size lie within the Plain, and are con¬
nected with the two great rivers. The largest is the Tungting
hu in Hunan, about 220 miles in circumference, which receives
the waters of the Siang and Yuen rivers, and furnishes an im¬
portant affluent to the Yangtsz' kiang. This lake is situated in
the south-western part of an extensive depression in Hupeh, lying
on both sides of this river, in which are many smaller lakes con¬
necting with it, the whole area being about 200 miles long and
80 broad. About 320 miles eastward, lies the Poyang lake in
Kiangsf, which also discharges the surplus waters of the basin
of the Kan kiang into the Yangtsz'. It is nearly 90 miles long,
and about 20 in breadth, inclosing within its bosom many beau¬
tiful and populous islets. The scenery around this lake is highly
picturesque, and its trade and fisheries are more important than
those of the Tungting lake. The Yangtsz' receives the waters
of several other lakes as it approaches the ocean, the largest of
which are the Great lake near Suchau fu, and the Tsau hu
lying on the northern bank, between Nganking fu and Nanking;
both these lakes join the river by navigable streams, and the
former is connected with the ocean by more than one channel.
The only lake of any size 'connected with the Yellow river is
the Hungtsih hu in Kiangsu, situated near the junction of that
river and the Grand Canal, into which it discharges the drainings
of the Hwai river; it is more remarkable for the fleets of boats
upon it than for the scenery around it. Most of the whole country
between the mouths of the two rivers is so marshy and full of
lakes, as to suggest the idea that the whole was once an enor¬
mous estuary where their waters joined, or else that their deposits
have filled up a large lake which once occupied this tract, leav¬
ing only a number of lesser sheets. Besides these, there are
other lakes in Chihli and Shantung, and one or two of consider¬
able extent in Yunnan; all of them support an aquatic popula¬
tion, who subsist principally on the fish found in their waters.
The largest lake in Manchuria is the Hinkai nor in Ivirin, near
the source of the Osouri ; the two lakes Hurun and Pir, in the
basin of the Nonni river, give their name to Hurun-pir, the
western district of Tsitsihar ; but of the extent and productions
20
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
of these sheets of water there is little kpow-. A small one in
Shingking on the Chang-pill shan is celebrated among the Manchus
from its connection with the legend concerning the celestial ori¬
gin of the present reigning family :—Three divine females were
bathing in this lake, when a magpie brought the youngest of them
a fruit, which she ate and became the mother of a son, the ances¬
tor of the reigning Manchu monarchs.
The regions lying on the north and south of Gobi are remark •
able for their inland salt lakes, none of them individually com
paring with the Aral sea, but collectively covering a much
larger extent, and most of them receiving the waters of the
streams which drain their own isolated basins. The peculiarities
of these little known parts, especially the depression on each side
of the Celestial mountains, are such as to render them among
the most interesting fields for geographical research in the world,
and it is highly probable that erelong they will be more fully
explored. The largest one in Turkestan is Lop nor, stated to be
about 70 miles long and 30 wide ; Bostang nor, north of it about
30 miles, and connecting with it, is nearly as large. North of the
Celestial mountains, the lakes are larger and more numerous;
the Dzaisang, Kisil-bash and Issikul are the most important. So
far as is known all these lakes are salt, and it would be an inte¬
resting question to solve by their examination whether any in¬
closed sheet of water receiving a river necessarily becomes salt
by evaporation; no region could afford so satisfactory a solution
as Songaria.
The whole region of Koko-nor is a country of lakes. The
Oling and Dzaring are among the sources of the Yellow river;
and the Tsing hai or Azure sea, better known as Koko-nor, gives its
name to the province. The notion, that the Azure sea is the
source of the Yangtsz' kiang, was the origin of the term Blue river,
applied to that stream. The Tengkiri nor in Tibet lies to the
north of H'lassa, and is one of the largest out of the provinces;
in its neighborhood are numerous small lakes extending north¬
ward into Koko-nor. The Palti or Yamorouk is shaped like a
ring, the island in its centre occupying nearly the whole surface.
Ulterior Tibet possesses many lakes on both sides of the Gang-dis-ri
range ; the Yik and Paha, near Gobi, are the largest. Tengkiii
nor is the largest within the frontiers of the Chir .ese emoire.
BOUNDARIES OF THE PROVINCES.
21
The Eighteen Provinces are bounded on the north-east by
Liautung and Inner Mongolia as far as Kalgan in Chihli ; west
of this mart, the Great Wall divides the northern provinces from
.he Mongolian deserts as far as the Kiayii pass in Kansuh, beyond
which the desert of Gobi lies on the north of that province. On
the east, lie the gulf of Pechele or Peh hai (i. e. North sea), and
the Yellow sea or Tung hai (i. e. Eastern sea), as far south as
the channel of Formosa. This channel and the China sea lie on
the south-east and south, as far as the gulf of Tongking and the
confines of Annam. The south-east is bounded by portions of
Assam and Tibet, but nearly the whole south-west and western
frontiers beyond Yunnan and Sz'chuen, are possessed by small
tribes of uncivilized people, over whom neither the Chinese nor
Burmese have much real control. Those living in Koko-nor
belong to the Mongol race, and that province bounds Sz'chuen and
Kansuh on their western and south-western sides.
This whole country is at. present divided into eighteen pro¬
vinces, the emperor Kienlung having subdivided three of the
largest, which are usually arranged by the Chinese in the follow
ing order : Chihli, Shantung, ShansI, and Honan, on the north ;
Kiangsu, Nganhwui, Iviangsi, Chehkiang, and Fuhkien, on the
east ; Hupeh and Ilunan, in the centre ; Shensi, Kansuh, and
Sz'chuen, on the west; and Kwangtung, Kwangsi, Yunnan, and
Kweichau, on the south. Of these, Kiangsu and Nganhwui were
formerly united under the name of Iviangnan; Ilupeh and
Hunan under that of Hukwang ; and Kansuh once formed part
of Shensi, but has since been detached and made to include the
region across the desert towards Hami and the confines of Son-
jjaria. The island of Hainan forms one department in the pro¬
vince of Kwangtung, the western half of Formosa a department
of Fuhkien, and the Chusan archipelago a single district in tho
department of Ningpo in Chehkiang.
The coast of China is lined throughout the whole extent, from
Hainan to the mouth of the Yangtsz' kiang, with multitudes of
islands and rocky islets; from that point northward to Liautung,
the shores are low, and the coast rendered dangerous to vessels
by shoals. The western shores of Corea are high and bold,
guarded with numerous groups of small islands ; but from the
peninsula called the Regent's Sword, northward and westward
22
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
around the shores of the gulfs of Liautung and Pechele, dowj; tc
the promontory of Shantung, the coast is low and shallow ; a
chain of islets and reefs extends across the gulf from the penin¬
sula to the promontory. Near the mouth of Pei ho, the shores
are so low as with difficulty to be distinguished from the distant
anchorage, where the shallowness of the water obliges ships to
lie. The bay of Tungtsz' kau, on the west of the peninsula,
marks the termination of the Great Wall, and so distinct and high
are its course and towers to be seen from the anchorage 15 miles
off, that it forms a conspicuous mark for the guidance of ships.
South of the embouchure of the Pei ho., extending to the ex¬
tremity of Shantung promontory, the coast is somewhat bolder, in¬
creasing in height after passing the Miautau islands, though neither
side of the promontory presents any point of remarkable elevation;
cape Macartney, at the eastern end, is a conspicuous bluff when
approaching it from sea. From this cape to the mouth of the
Tsientang near Cbapu, a distance of about 400 miles, the coast
is for the most part low, especially between the mouths of the
Yangtsz'kiang and Yellow river, and has but few good harbors.
Owing to the quicksands in the regions near these rivers, the
navigation is very dangerous to native junks, and by no means
without hazard to foreign vessels. South of Kitto point neai
Ningpo, as far down as Hongkong, the shores assume a much
bolder aspect, and numerous small bays occur among the islands
affording safe refuge for vessels plying up and down the coast,
when the tempests and currents of the Formosa channel force
them to seek shelter. The aspect of the shores in this part is
uninviting in the extreme, consisting principally of a succession
of cliffs and headlands of a clayey color, and giving little promise
of the highly cultivated country beyond them. This bleak
appearance is in many places caused by the rains washing the
decomposed soil off the surface, the rock being granite or disin¬
tegrated feldspar and quartz with little adhesion, so that the loose
soil is easily carried down into the intervales. Another reason
for its uninviting appearance, is owing to the practice of the in¬
habitants of this part of the coast, of annually cutting the coarse
grass, growing on the hills for fuel, and after the crop is gathered,
setting the stubble on fire in order to manure the soil for the
coming year; the fire and thinness of the soil together, com-
CHARACTER OF THE COAST.
23
pletely prevent any large growth of trees or shrubbery upo-i the
hills.
The estuary of the Pearl river from the Bocca Tigris
down to the Grand Lad rones, a distance of 70 miles, and from
Hongkong on the east to the island of Tungku on the west, about
100 miles, is interspersed with islands of greater or lesser size.
Proceeding westward from the neighborhood of Macao, the coast
rs not much known to foreigners, except by the numerous ship¬
wrecks in one part and another of it, especially on the shoals and
reefs lining the southern shores of Hainan, which have given it
a melancholy notoriety. In its general aspect, this part of the
coast resembles that between Hongkong and Amoy. The narrow
strait which separates Hainan from the peninsula of Luichau,
has been supposed to be the place called by Arabian travellers
in the 9th century, the Gates of China, but that channel was
Drobably near the Chusan archipelago.
In this rapid survey of the coast-line, only the principal features
nave been noticed. The Chusan archipelago otF the coast of
Chehkiang, does not properly belong to the long chain of islands
which borders the eastern shores of Asia, from Behring's strait
lo the Indian archipelago ; it is rather a detached group form-
ng the termination of the mountain chain which passes through
Chehkiang. The island of Formosa, or Taiwan, forms a large
link in that chain, connecting the islands of Japan and Lewchew
with Luconia. Between Formosa and the coast, lie the Pesca¬
dores or Panghu islands, but this group is much less in extent
and number than the Chusan islands, and the harbors are few.
The whole coast, indeed, has comparatively few excellent harbors,
but the number of refuges from the tempest of greater or less
security is great, and most of them are easily entered ; the in¬
terval between Chapu and the promontory of Shantung, and the
whole circuit of the gulf of Pechele, present fewer of them than
the other parts. The recent examinations by the English sur
veying ships, under the command of captains Collinson, Kellett
and others, of the coast between Hongkong and Shanghai, and ot
the Pescadore and Chusan archipelagoes, have added so much
to previous knowledge, that the navigator can now avail himself
of all the havens. The Chinese have prepared itineraries of all
the places, headlands, islands, &c., along the entire coast for the
24
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
use of junks, but they do not afford much valuable information,
except with regard to the names of positions.*
The first objects that invite attention in the general aspect of
China are the great plains in the north-east, and the three longi¬
tudinal basins into which the country is divided by the two lead¬
ing mountain chains. The three great rivers which drain these
basins flow through them very irregularly, but by means of their
main trunks and the tributaries, water communication is easily
kept up, not only from west to east along the great courses, but
also across the country. These natural facilities for inland na¬
vigation have been greatly improved by the people, but they still
need the aim of steam to assist them in stemming the rapid cur¬
rents of some of their rivers, and bringing distant places into more
frequent communication.
The whole surface of China may be conveniently divided into
the mountainous and hilly country, and the Great Plain. The
mountainous country comprehends more than half of the whole,
lying west of the meridian of 112° or 114° (nearly that of
Canton), quite to the borders of Tibet. The hilly portion is that
south of the Yangtsz' kiang and east of this meridian, compris¬
ing the provinces of Fuhkicn, Kiangsi, Ivwangtung, and parts of
Hunan and Hupeh. The Great Plain lies in the north-east, and
forms the richest part of the empire.
This Plain extends in length 700 miles from the Great Wall
north of Peking to the confluence of the river Kan with the
Yangtsz' kiang in Kiangsi, lat. 30° N. The latter river may be
considered as its southern boundary as far down as Nganking fu,
the capital of Nganhwiu. in lat. 30° 27' N., whence to the sea it
is formed by a line drawn nearly east through Hangchau fu.
The western boundary may be marked by a line drawn from
Kingchau fu in Hupeh (lat. 30° 36'), nearly due north to Hwai-
king fu on the Yellow river, and thence due north to the Great
Wall about 50 miles north-west of Peking. The breadth of the
Plain varies. North of lat. 35°, where it partly extends to the
Yellow sea, and partly borders on the western side of the moun¬
tains in Shantung promontory, its width varies between 150 and
250 miles; stating the average at 200 miles, this portion of the
* Chinese Repository, vol. V., p. 337; vo1. X. pp. 351, 371 Chinese
Commercial Guide, chap. 1.
THK GREAT WALL.
25
plain covers an area of 70,000 square mi es. Between 34° and
35°, the Plain enlarges, and in the parallel of the Yellow river
it extends more than 300 miles from east to west; while further
south, along the course of the Yangtsz' kiang, it reaches nearly
400 miles inland. Estimating the mean breadth of this portion
at 400 miles, there are 140,000 square miles ; which, with the
northern part, make an area of 210,000 square miles—a surface
seven times as large as that of Lombardy, and about the same
area as the plain of Bengal drained by the Ganges. The north¬
ern portion towards the Great Wall is dry and sandy, destitute
of trees, but producing millet, wheat, and vegetables in abun¬
dance ; that lying near the coast in Kiangsu, south of lat. 35°
X., is low and swampy, covered by numerous lakes, and inter
sected by many water courses. This portion of the plain is ex¬
tremely fertile, and furnishes large quantities of silk, tea, cotton,
grain, and tobacco, for the consumption of other provinces. Pro¬
ceeding inland, the soil becomes more firm, and produces these
articles in great abundance. The eastern portion of the Plain is
traversed by the Grand Canal, which not only serves to facilitate
communication, but also to drain some of the elevated swampy
portions. The most interesting feature of this Plain is the enor¬
mous population it supports, which is, according to the census of
1812, not less than 177 millions of human beings, if the whole
number of inhabitants contained in the six provinces which lie
wholly or partly in it be included ; making it by far the most
densely settled of any part of the world of the same size, and
amounting to nearly two-thirds of the whole population of
Europe.*
The public works of China are probably unequalled in any
land or by any people, for the amount of human labor bestowed
upon them ; the natural aspect of the country has been mate¬
rially changed by them ; and it has been remarked that the Great
Wall is the only artificial structure which would arrest attention
in a hasty survey of the surface of the globe. But their use¬
fulness, or the science exhibited in their construction, is far in¬
ferior to their extent. The Gree t Wall, called Wan-1% Chang
(i. e. Myriad-milo Wall) by the Chinese, was built by Tsin Chi-
* Penny Cyclopaedia, Vol. VII., page 74 ; McCulloch's Geographical Dic¬
tionary, Vol. I., page 596.
3
26
j he middle kingdom.
hwangti about b. c. 220, in order to protect his dominions from
the incursions of the northern tribes. It is sufficient evidence ol
the solidity of its original construction, that it has remained so
well preserved in a region of frosts and moisture. The ships of
the English Expedition visited the point on the coast of Liautung,
at Shanhai wei, latitude 40° 4/ N., longitude 120° '2/ E., where
it commences its course, and which is described as a place o.
considerable trade ; the gate here is called Shanhai kwan or Hill-
sea barrier. Lord Jocelyn describes it, when observed from the
ships, as " scaling the precipices and topping the craggy hills of the
country, which have along this coast a most desolate appearance."
It runs along the shore for several miles, and terminates on the
beach near a long reef. Its course from this point is west, a little
northerly, along the old frontiers of the province of Chihli, and
then in Shansi, till it strikes the Yellow river, in latitude 39^-° N.,
and longitude 111£° E. This is the best built part, and contains
the most important gates, where garrisons and trading marts are
established. Within the province of Chihli there are two walls,
inclosing a good part of the basin of the Hang ho west of Peking ;
the inner one was built by one of the emperors of the Ming dy¬
nasty. From the point where it strikes the Yellow river it forms
the northern boundary of Shensi, till it touches that stream again
in latitude 37° N., inclosing the country of the Ortous Mongols.
Its direction from this point is north-west along the northern fron¬
tier of Kansuh to its termination near Kiayii kwan, through which
the great road passes leading across Central Asia, in about lon¬
gitude 99° E., and latitude 40° N.
From near the eastern extremity of the Wall in the province of
Chihli, extending in a north-easterly direction, is a wooden stock¬
ade or palisade, which forms the boundary between Liautung and
Kirin, and has been often taken from its representation on maps as
a continuation of the Great Wall. It was erected by the Man-
chus, and garrisons are placed at the twelve gates through which
the roads pass leading from Shingking into Mongolia.
The entire length of the Great Wall, includ;ng all the doublings,
is estimated by McCulloch at 1250 miles. The construction of
this gigantic work is somewhat adapted .o the nature of the
country it traverses. In the western part of its course, it is less
substantially built than in the eastern, being in some places merely
a mud or gravel wall, and in others earth cased with brick.
TIIE GRAND CAN.-' L.
27
The eastern part is generally composed of a mound )f earth and
pebbles, faced with masonry, supported on a coping of stone, the
whole being about 25 feet thick at the base, and 15 feet at thp
top, and varying from 15 to 30 feet high ; the top is terraced
with tiles, and defended by a slight parapet, the thinness of which
has been taken as proof that cannon were unknown at the time
it was erected. There are brick towers upon it at different inter¬
vals, some of them more than 40 feet high, but the usual height is
a little under that elevation. They are not built upon the Wall,
but are independent structures, usually about forty feet square at
the base, diminishing to thirty at the top ; at particular spots the
towers are of two stories, when they are nearly fifty feet in height.
This remarkable structure did, no doubt, in some degree, serve
as a barrier against the incursions of the nomadic tribes near it
for many ages after its erection, though it is plain from the facts
of history that it availed but little against the attacks of their
enterprising chieftains. At present it is simply a geographical
boundary, and, except at the passes, nothing is done to keep it in
repair; most of the garrisons are located at these points. Be¬
yond the Yellow river to its western extremity, the Great Wall,
according to Gerbillon, is chiefly a mound of earth or gravel,
about fifteen feet in height, with only occasional towers of brick,
or gateways made of stone. A structure of this sort, in such a
climate, must of course soon be overgrown with trees of greater
or less size, but none of those who mention having crossed it
speak of this circumstance, from which it might be inferred that
care was taken to prevent the growth of plants upon it.
The other great public work is the Grand Canal, or Chah ho
(i. e. river of Flood-gates) called also Yun ho (i. e. Transit
river),—an enterprise which reflects far more credit upon the
Mongol monarch who devised and executed it, than the Great
Wall does to the Chinese conqueror; and if the .ime in which it
was dug, and the character of the princes who planned it, be
considered, few works can be mentioned in the history of any
country more creditable and useful. By means of its connection
with the rivers which flow into it, an almost entire water com¬
munication across the country from Peking to Canton is com¬
pleted ; and, through the two great rivers, goods and passengers
can pass from the capital to nearly every large town in their
basins. The canal properly commences at Lintsing chau in Shan.
28
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
iung, in about latitude 37° N., and longitude 116° E., though its
northern termination is generally placed at Tientsin fu near f (y
king. An abridged account of Davis's remarks (Sketches, vol. i.,
p. 245) will afford a good idea of its construction and appearance.
" Early on the 23d September, we entered the canal through two
stone piers and between very high banks. The mounds of earth
in the immediate vicinity were evidently for the purpose of effect¬
ing repairs, which, to judge from the vestiges of inundation on
either side, could not be infrequent. The canal joins the Yu ho
which we had just quitted, on its eastern bank, as that river
flows towards the Pei ho. One of the most striking features of
the canal is the comparative clearness of its waters, when con¬
trasted with that of the two rivers on which we had hitherto tra¬
velled ; a circumstance reasonably attributable to the depositions
occasioned by the greater stillness of its contents. The course
of the canal at this point was evidently in the bed of a natural
river, as might be perceived from its winding course, and the
irregularity and inartificial appearance of its banks.* The stone
abutments and floodgates are for the purpose of regulating its
waters, which at present were in excess and flowing out of it.
As we proceeded on the canal, the stone floodgates or sluices oc¬
curred at the rate of three or four a day, sometimes oftener, ac¬
cording as the inequalities in the surface of the country rendered
them necessary.
"As we advanced, the canal in some parts became narrower,
nnd the banks had rather more of an artificial appearance than
where we first entered it, being occasionally pretty high ; but
still the winding course led to the inference, that as yet the canal
was for the most part only a natural river, modified and regu¬
lated by sluices and embankments. The distance between the
stone piers in some of the floodgates was apparently so narrow as
only just to admit the passage of our largest boats. The con-
trivance for arresting the course of the water through them was
extremely simple ; stout boards, with ropes fastened to each end,
were let down edgewise over each other through grooves in the
stone piers. A number of soldiers and workmen always attended
* This is supposed, with a great degree of probability, to have been
once the bed of the Yellow river, or of one of its mouths, whose waters
found their way north-eastward through the marshes near Kaifun-J- fu in
Honan. Biot has written a memoir UDon the subject.
THE GRAND CANAL.
29
at the sluices, and the danger to the boats was diminished by
coils of rope being hung down at the sides to break the force of
blows. The slowness of our progress, which for the last week
averaged only twenty miles a day, gave us abundant leisure to ob¬
serve the country
" We now began to make better progress on the canal than
we had hitherto done. The stream, though against us, was not
strong, except near the sluices, where it was confined. In the
afternoon we stopped at Kai-ho chin (i. e. River-opening mart),
so called, perhaps, because the canal was commenced near here.
On the 28th, we arrived at the influx of the Yun ho, where the
stream turned in our favor, and flowed to the southward, being
the highest point of the canal, and a place of some note. The
Yun ho flows into the canal on its eastern side nearly at right
angles, and a part of its waters flow north and part south, while
a strong; facing of stone on the western bank sustains the force
O O
of the influx. At this point is the temple of the Dragon King,
or genius of the watery element, who is supposed to have the
canal in his special keeping. This enterprise of leading in this
river seems to have been the work of Sung Li, who lived under
Hungwu, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty, about 1375. In
his time, a part of the canal in Shantung became so impassable
that the coasting passage by sea began to be most used. This
was the very thing the canal had been intended to prevent;
Sung accordingly adopted the plan of an old man named Plying,
to concentrate the waters of the Yun ho and neighboring streams,
and bring them down upon the canal as they are at present.
History states that Sung employed 300,000 men to carry the
plan into operation, and that the work was completed in seven
months. On both sides of us, nearly level with the canal, were
extensive swamps with a shallow covering of water, planted with
the Nelumbium ; they were occasionally separated by narrow
banks, along which the trackers walked, and the width of tiie
canal sometimes did not exceed 25 yards. On reaching the part
which skirts the Tu-shan lake, the left bank was entirely sub¬
merged, and the canal confounded with the lake. All within
sight was swamp, coldness, and desolation—in fact, a vast inland
sea, as many of the large boats at a distance were hull down.
The swamps on the following day were kept out of sight by some
30
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
decent villages on the high banks, which from perpetual accumu¬
lation, assumed in some places the aspect of hills.
" A part of our journey on the first of October lay along a
portion of the canal where the banks, particularly to the right,
were elaborately and thoroughly faced with stone ; a precaution
which seemed to imply a greater than ordinary danger from
inundations. In fact, the lakes or rather floods seemed to extend
at present nearly to the feet of the mountains which lay at a dis¬
tance on our left. We were now approaching that part of China
which is exposed to the disastrous overflowings of the Yellow
river, a perpetual source of wasteful expenditure to the govern¬
ment, and of peril and calamity to the people ; it well deserves
the name of China's Sorrow. We observed the repairs of the
banks diligently proceeding under the superintendence of the
proper officer. For this purpose they use the natural soil in
combination with the'thick stalks of the gigantic millet."
The Canal crosses the Yellow river about 70 miles from its
mouth, or rather flows into it, for the artificial level on both sides
is much above the natural. When it leaves the lakes in the
southern part of Shantung, the canal runs nearly parallel with
the Hwang ho for more than a hundred miles, and between it
and the New Salt river for a good part of this distance. The
crossing of this rapid stream is a matter of some difficulty if the
weather be boisterous, but when Amherst's embassy passed, the
boats struck right across the stream without observing any order,
and gained the opposite bank, about three quarters of a mile dis¬
tant, in less than an hour. Barrow says the boatmen in every
barge sacrificed a fowl and a pig, or some other animals, and
daubed the blood and hair upon the principal parts of the vessel;
on the bow was placed an oblation of spirits, oil, salt, rice, meats,
&c., and when the boat reached the middle of the stream, the
captain poured the cups of liquids into the water, while a man
at his side beat a gong violently, and others burned a quantity
of fire-crackers and gilt paper. On safely reaching the opposite
bank, the Dragon King was again addressed in a volley of crack¬
ers, as a token of thanks for his propitious aid ; and the captain
and crew feasted on the offerings. The ceremonies observed
when the second English embassy crossed were less formal.
The boats were drifted about two miles down the river, and then
slowly brought up against the purrent to the spot where the canal
THE GRAND CANAL.
31
entered. This opening was a sluice nearly a nundred yarda
across, and through it the waters rushed into the river like a mi'1
race ; the banks were constructed of earth, intermingled and
strengthened with straw and reeds of millet, and strongly bound
with cordage. Numerous boats were anchored on the banks of
the river, laden with the stalks of plants ready to be carried to
every part. The boats are dragged through and up the sluice
close to the bank by means of ropes communicating with large
windlasses worked on the bank, which safely, though slowly,
bring them into still water. This was not, however, the canal,
but an outlet of the Hungtsih lake, which emptied itself both
into the Hwang ho and Canal. The entrance of the southern divi¬
sion of the canal is further south, and a good deal of contrivance
has been employed in constructing the embankments and regu¬
lating the course of the waters. Artificial basins have been hol¬
lowed out in the banks of the river, where the boats can securely
anchor, and between them are other embankments and sluices
similar to the one leading into the river, up or down which the
boats are taken by ropes worked by windlasses. These basins
and sluices serve the same purposes as locks in western canals.
The distance between the Hwang ho and Yangtsz' kiang is
about 90 miles, and the canal is carried through the whole space
upon a mound of earth kept together by retaining walls of stone,
and not less than twenty feet above the surrounding country in
some parts; this sheet of water is about 200 feet wide, and its
current about three miles an hour. It is, however, carried gene¬
rally through the lowest levels, and serves as a drain to large
tracts of marshy country north of the Yellow river. South of
that stream, several large towns stand near its banks, below
their level, whose safety wholly depends upon the care taken of
the banks of the canal. The city of Hwai-ngan fu, and town
of Pauying, stand below and near its banks in such a position as
to cause an involuntary shudder at the thought of the destruction
which would take place if the banks should give way. The
level descends from these towns to the Yangtsz' kiang, and at
Yangchau fu the canal is much below the houses on its sides ; it
also connects with every stream or lake in its progress, whose
waters can be led into it. The repair of the embankments annu¬
ally demands vast sums, but the outlay for this line is but a small
oart of the total expenditures for this purpose. There are two
32
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
or three inlets into the Yangtsz' kiang, where the canal joins its
northern bank, but Chinkiang fu on the southern shore is legarded
as the principal defence and post of its crossing. The canal
leaves the river east of that city, and proceeds south-easterly t">
Suchau fu, and thence southerly on the eastern side of lake Tai}
with which it communicates, to Hangchau in Chehkiang. This
portion is by far the most interesting and picturesque of the whole
line for the rich and populous cities the traveller passes, the fer-
tility and high cultivation of the banks, and the lively aspect the
multitude of boats gives to the canal. The channel between the
two great rivers was made in the seventh century by princes of
the Tang dynasty ; that from Lintsing chau, or the Yu ho, to
the Yellow river, was dug by the Mongols in the thirteenth cen¬
tury ; and the southern part, to Hangchau fu, was completed by
the Chinese, under the Ming dynasty in the fourteenth century.
Its entire length is about 650 miles, or not quite twice that of the
Erie Canal, but it varies in its breadth and depth more than any
European canal.
As a work of art, compared with canals now existing in west¬
ern countries, the Transit river does not rank high; but even at
this day there is no work of the kind in Asia which can compare
with it, and there was none in the world equal to it when it was
first put in full operation. It passes through alluvial soil in every
part of its course, and the chief labor was expended in construct¬
ing embankments, and not in digging a deep channel. The
junction of the Yun ho, about latitude 36° N.. was probably
taken as the summit level; from this point northward, the trench
was dug through to Lintsing to join the Yu ho, and embankments
thrown up from the same place southward to the Yellow river,
the whole being a line of two hundred miles. In some places the
bed is cut down thirty, forty, and even seventy feet, but it passes
through no material obstacle ; the banks are sometimes twenty
feet above the surrounding country, and a hundred thick. The
sluices which keep the necessary level are of rude construction,
and thick planks, sliding in grooves formed by stone buttresses,
form the only locks. Still, the objects intended are all fully
gained, and the simplicity of the means certainly does not derogate
from the merit and execution of the plan.
There are some other canals in the empire, but none of them
at all equalling this in importance or extent. Kienlung con.
PUBLIC ROADS.
33
structed a waste-weir for carrying off the waters of the Yellow
river of about a hundred miles in length, by cutting a canal
from ffung hien in Honan, to one of the principal affluents of
lake Hungtsih ; but whether it is now in good repair, or has
been stopped up, is not known. It also served as a drain for the
marshy land in that part of the Plain. In the vicinity of Canton,
there are many ditches and channels cut through the lowlands,
which serve both for irrigation and navigation, but they are not
worthy the name of canals ; similar conveniences exist more or
less in all parts of the provinces.
The public roads, in a country so well provided with naviga¬
ble streams, are of minor consequence, but these media of travel
have by no means been neglected. De Guignes, speaking of
them, says, " I have travelled near 600 leagues by land in
China, and have found many good roads, most of them wide and
planted with trees ; they are not usually paved, and consequently
in rainy weather are either channelled by the water or covered
with mud, and in dry weather so dusty that travellers are obliged
to wear spectacles to protect their eyes. In Kwangtung, trans¬
portation is performed almost wholly by water, the only roads
being across the lines of navigation. The pass across the
ling is paved or filled up with stones ; at Kih-ngan fu in Kiangsi,
are paved roads in good condition, but beyond the Yangtsz' kiang,
in Nganhwui, they were almost impracticable, but became better
as we proceeded northward, and in many places had trees on
both sides. Beyond the Hwang ho they were broader, and we
saw crowds of travellers, carts, mules, and horses. In Shantung
and Chihlx, they were generally broad and shaded, and very dusty ;
this is no doubt disagreeable, but we went smoothly over these
places, while in the villages and towns we were miserably jolted
on the pavements. I hope, for the sake of those who may come
after me, that the Chinese will not pave their roads before they
improve their carriages. The thoroughfares about. Peking are
paved with slabs of stone, and kept in good repair. Those near
Hangchau, and the great road leading from Chehldang into
Kiangsi, are all in good condition. Generally speaking, however,
as is the case with most things in China, the roads are not well re¬
paired, and large holes are frequently allowed to remain unfilled
in the path, to the great danger of those who travel by night."*
* Voyages a Peking, vol. II., page 214.
3#
34
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Mountain passes have been cut for facilitating the transit of
goods and people over the high ranges in many parts of China
The great road leading from Peking south-west through Shensi
and Sz'chuen, is carried across the Peh ling and the valley of the
fiver Hwai by a mountain road, " which, for the difficulties it
presents, and the art and labor with which they have been over¬
come, does not appear to be inferior to the road over the Sim-
plon."* At one place on this route, called Li-nai, a passage has
been cut through the rock, and steps hewn on both sides of the
mountain from its base to the summit. The passage across the
peak being only wide enough for one sedan, the guards are
perched in little houses placed on poles over the pass. This road
was in ancient times the path to the metropolis, and these im¬
mense excavations were made from time to time, by different
monarchs. The pass over the Mei ling, at Nan-ngan, is a work
of later date, and so are most of the other roads across this range,
in Fuhkien and Kwangtung.
The general aspect of the country is perhaos as much modi¬
fied by labor of man in China as in England, but the appearance
of a landscape in the two kingdoms is unlike. Whenever water
is available, canals and streams are dug, or led upon the rice-
fields, and this kind of grain allows few or no trees to grow in the
plats; such fields are divided by raised banks, which serve for
pathways across the marshy inclosure, and assist in confining the
water when let in upon the growing crop. The bounds of other
fields are denoted by stones or other landmarks ; and the entire
absence of walls, fences, or hedgerows, makes a cultivated plain
appear like a vast garden, in which the plats seem to be mere
beds.
The greatest sameness exists in all the cities. A stone wall
incloses all towns of any size, and the suburbs are not unfre-
quently larger than their enceinte ; most of the streets are paved,
and the sewers run under the slabs, which reach across, and
what filth is not in them is generally in the street, as they often
become choked. The streets are not usually over eight feet
wide, but the lowness of the houses makes them appear less like
alleys than they would in western cities. Villages have a pleas¬
ant appearance at a distance, usually embowered among trees,
♦ Penny Cyclopedia, Vol. XXVII., page 656.
ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY.
35
between which the whitewashed houses look prettily ; but on
entering them, one is disappointed at their irregularity, dirtiness,
and general decayed look—for a Chinese seldom repairs his house
before it is dilapidated. The gardens and best houses are mostly
walled in from sight, while the precincts of temples are the resort
of idlers, beggars, and children, with a proportion of pigs and
dogs.
Elegance or ornament, orderly arrangement or grandeur of
design, cleanliness, or comfort, are almost unknown in Chinese
houses, cities, or gardens. Commanding or agreeable situations
are chosen for temples and pagodas, which are not only the abode
of priests and senseless idols, but serve for inns, theatres, and
other purposes.. The terrace cultivation sometimes renders the
acclivities of hills beautiful in the highest degree, but it does not
often impact a distinguishing feature to the landscape. A lofty
solitary pagoda, an extensive temple shaded by trees in the open¬
ing of a vale or on a hill side, or boats moving in every direction
through narrow creeks or on broad streams, are some of the
peculiar lineaments of Chinese scenery. No imposing mansions
are found on the skirts of a town, for the people huddle together
in hamlets and villages for mutual aid and security ; no tapering
spires pointing out the rural church, nor towers, pillars, domes,
or steeples, in the cities, indicating buildings of public utility, rise
above the low level of dun tiled roofs. No meadows or pastures,
containing herds and flocks, are visible from the hill-tops in China ;
nor are coaches, steamers, or railroad cars, ever observed hurry¬
ing across its landscapes.
The condition and characteristics of the various families of
man inhabiting this great empire, render its study far more
interesting than anything relating to its physical geography or
public works. The Chinese are the leading family, but the
Miautsz', or the still independent aborigines in the southern pro¬
vinces, the Manchus, the Mongols, and other Tartar tribes, the
Tibetans, and some other races in Hainan, Kirin, and Formosa,
must not be overlooked. The sons of Han are indeed a remark¬
able race, whether regard 6e had to their antiquity, their num¬
bers, their government, or their literature, and on these accounts
deserve the study and respect of every intelligent student of man¬
kind ; while their unwearied industry, their general peaceable-
ness and good humor, and their attainments in domestic order and
36
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
mechanical arts, commend them to the notice of every one who
sees in these points of character indications favorable to the per¬
manence of Christian institutions, when once established.
The physical traits of the Chinese race may be described as
being between the light and agile Hindu, and the muscular,
fleshy European ; their form is well built and symmetrical. Their
color is a brunette or sickly white, rather approaching to a yel¬
lowish tint than to a florid, but this yellow hue has been much
exaggerated ; in the south they are swarthy but not black, never
becoming as dark even as the Portuguese, whose fifth or sixth
ancestors dwelt on the Tagus. It is almost unnecessary to add,
that the shades of complexion differ very much according to the
latitude, and degree of exposure to the weather, especially in the
female sex. The hair of the head is lank, black, coarse, and
glossy ; beard always black, thin, and deficient ; no whiskers ;
and very little hair on the body. Eyes invariably black, and
apparently oblique ; this is owing to the slight degree in which the
inner angles of the eyelids open, the internal canthi being more
acute than in western races, and not allowing the whole iris to
be seen ; this peculiarity in the eye distinguishes the eastern
races of Asia from all other families of man. The hair and
eyes being always black, a European with blue eyes and ligh
hair appears very strange to them ; and one reason given by the
people of Canton, for having called foreigners fan kwei, or "for¬
eign devils," is, that they had deep sunken blue eyes, and red
hair like demons.
The cheek-bones are high, and the outline of the face remark,
ably round. The nose is rather small, much depressed, and
nearly even with the face at the root, and wide at the extremity;
there is, however, considerable difference in this respect, but no
aquiline noses are seen. Lips thicker than among Europeans,
but not at all approaching those of the negro. The hands are
small, and the lower limbs better proportioned than among any
other Asiatics. The height is about the same as that of Euro¬
peans, and a thousand men taken as they come in the streets of
Canton, will probably equal in stature and weight the same num.
ber in Rome or New Orleans ; their muscular power would prob¬
ably be less.
In size, the women are disproportionately small, when com.
pared with European females ; and in the eyes of those accus-
CHINESE AND MIAUTSz'.
37
tomed to the European style of beauty, the Chinese women pos¬
sess little, the broad upper face, low nose, and linear eyes, being
quite the contrary of handsome. But still the Chinese face is
not destitute of some beauty, and when animated with good
humor and an expressive eye, and lighted by the glow of youth
and health, the displeasing features lose much of their repulsive-
ness. Nor do they fade so soon as has been represented, and
look as ugly and withered when old as some travellers say, but
are in respect to bearing children and keeping their vigor, more
like Europeans than the Hindus or Persians.
The mountainous regions of the Nan ling and Mei ling,
between Kwangsi and Kweichau, give lodgment to many clans
of the Miautsz' or " children of the soil," as the words may be
rendered, and which they no doubt are. It is singular that any
of these people should have maintained their independence so long,
when so large a portion of them have partially submitted to
Chinese rule ; those who will not are called sung Miautsz'', i. e.
wild or unsubdued, while the others are termed shuh or subdued.
This race presents so many physical points of difference, as to
lead one to infer that they are a more ancient race than the
Chinese around them, and the aborigines of southern China.
They are rather smaller in size and stature, have shorter necks,
and their features are somewhat more angular. The degree of
civilization they have attained is much below that of the Chinese.
It is not known what language they speak, but the names given
to parts of the body and the common articles about their boats by
some boatmen who visited Canton in 1833, showed that it was
essentially different from Chinese. An aboriginal race is said
to exist in the centre of Hainan island, but little or nothing is
known of them. The natives of Formosa are allied to the inha¬
bitants of the Madjicosima group, and belong to the Japanese
race, but their language is indigenous. The Chinese from
Fuhkien have either subdued or driven them off from the western
half of the island, across the mountains. The only person in
modern times who has described them, is Count Benyowsky.
The Mongol and Manchu races have been considered as the
same, but even if they were originally from the same stock, they
now present many important differences. The Mongols are
essentially a nomadic race, while the Manchus are an agricul¬
tural or a hunting people, according to the part of their country
39
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
they inhabit. The Manchus are of a lighter complexion and
slightly heavier build than the Chinese, have the same confor¬
mation of the eyelids, but rather more beard, and their counte¬
nances present greater intellectual capacity. They seem to par¬
take of both the Mongol and Chinese character, possessing more
determination and largeness of plan than the latter, with much
of the rudeness and haughtiness of the former. Barrow says,
some of those whom he saw at Peking classed among the Manchus,
had fair and florid complexions, a few had blue eyes, straight or
aquiline noses, brown hair and heavy beards ; the emperor
Kienlung himself had some of these characteristics. They are
evidently a mixed people, but have more affinities with the Chi¬
nese than the Mongolian race, though great pains have been
taken to keep them distinct from both since the conquest of the
country. The climate of Manchuria is milder than that of Mon.
golia, and the inhabitants of Liautung are more stationary and
civilized than those 011 the stepps; literary pursuits are more
esteemed, and they are not so much under the power of the
priesthood. The Manchus, in short, may be regarded as the
most improvable race in Central Asia, if not on the continent,
and the skill with which they have governed the Chinese empire,
and the improvement they have made in their own condition
during the same time, give promise of still further advances, when
they become familiar with the civilization of Christian lands.
Under the term Mongols or Moguls, a great number of tribes
occupying the valleys and stepps of Central Asia, are comprised.
They extend from the borders of the Kirghis stepp and Kokand,
eastward to the Sialkoi mountains ; and it is particularly to this
race that the name Tartars or Tatars is applicable. This latter
term has been used as vaguely as the word Indian in America,
and the designation Cherokee or Carib Indians is quite analogous
to that of Usbeck or Kalkas Tartars. No such word as Tartar
is now known among the people, and the use in European books
of Tartars and Tartary should be discontinued. Klaproth con¬
fines the appellation of Tartars to the Mongols, Kalmucks, Kal¬
kas, Eleuths, and Buriats, while the Kirghis, Usbecks, Cossacks,
and Turks are of Kurdish and Turkoman origin : neither Tartars
nor Turks have many points of similarity with the Manchus.
The Kalkas tribes constitute the majority of the Mongols at pre-
sent under Chinese sway.
MANCHUS AND MONGOLS.
39
The Mongol tribes generally are a stout, squat, swarthy,
ill-favored race of men, having high and broad shoulders, short,
broad noses, pointed and prominent chins, long teeth distant from
each other,—eyes black, elliptical, and unsteady,—thick, short
necks, extremities bony and nervous, muscular thighs, but short
logs, with a stature nearly or quite equal to the European.
They are nomadic in their habits, and subsist on animal food, de¬
rived chiefly from their flocks and herds. They have a written
language, but their literature is limited and mostly religious ; the
same language is spoken by all the tribes, with slight variations
and only a small admixture of foreign words. Most of the ac¬
counts Europeans possess of their origin, their wars, and their
habits, were written by foreigners living or travelling among
them ; but they themselves, as McCulloch remarks, know as little
of these things as rats or marmots do of their descent. The fate
of the vast swarms of this race which have descended from the
table land of Central Asia, and overrun the plains of India,
China, Syria, Egypt, and Eastern Europe in different ages, and
the rise and fall of the gigantic empire they themselves erected
under Genghis in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, are among
the most remarkable episodes in the world's history. They have
always maintained the same character in their native wilds, and
their conquests have been exterminations rather than subjuga¬
tions. The number of petty tribes and families of this race
within the limits of the Chinese empire is not known. In Innei
Mongolia, there are twenty-four aimaks or tribes, arranged under
six chalkans ; in Outer Mongolia, the Kalkas are governed by
four khans. The Ortous, Tsakhars, Eleuths, and Kortchin, are
the largest tribes, next to the Kalkas. The Tourgouths, Ho-
shoits, Tourbeths, Choros, and Khoits, are among the tribes dwell¬
ing in Koko-nor. In 111, the Mongols are mixed up with and
subordinate to tribes of Turkish origin ; the former are mostly
Budhists, while the latter are bigoted Mohammedans.
The last of the five races is the Tibetans, who partake of the
physical characteristics of the Mongols and Hindus. They are
described as short, squat, and broad-shouldered in body, with an¬
gular faces, wide, high cheek bones, small black eyes, and little
beard. They are mild in disposition, have a stronger religious
feeling than the Chinese, and have never left their own highlands
either for emigration or conquest. Their civilization is fully
40
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
equal to that of the Siamese and Burmese, and life and property
are more secure than among their turbulent neighbors in Butan,
Lahore, or Caubul. There are, no doubt, other variations
in the language, habits, and features of the inhabitants of this
vast region extending over thirty degrees of longitude and nine
of latitude, but they are not important enough to be particularly
noticed.
It will be seen from this brief survey, that a full account of
the geography, government, manners, literature, and civilization
of so large a part of the world and its inhabitants, requires the
combined labors of many observers, all of them well acquainted
with the languages and institutions of the people whom they de¬
scribe. No one will look, therefore, for more than a brief outline
of these subjects in the present work—minute enough, however,
to enable them to form a fair opinion of the people. The indus¬
try of the Chinese has given them their commanding place
among the nations of the earth, and their superiority over all
their neighbors is owing chiefly to this virtue. Not only has the
indigenous vegetation been superseded wherever culture would
remunerate their toil, but high hills have been tilled and terraced
almost to their tops ; cities have been built upon them, and ex-
tensive ranges of wall erected along their summits. They prac¬
tise upon a vast scale all the industrial arts, whether rural or
manufacturing, and maintain the largest population ever united
under one system of rule. Ten centuries ago they were the
most civilized nation on earth, and the incredulity manifested in
Europe, five hundred years ago, at the recitals of Marco Polo,
regarding their condition, is the counterpart of the sentiments
now expressed by the Chinese when they hear of the power and
grandeur of western nations.
Their civilization has been developed under peculiar forms and
influences, and must be compared to, rather than judged of, by
European ; the dissimilarity is as wide, perhaps, as can possibly
exist between two races of beings, having the same common
nature and wants. A people, from whom some of the most dis¬
tinguishing inventions of modern Europe came (such as the
compass, porcelain, gunpowder, and printing), and were known
and practised many centuries earlier,—who probably amount to
more than three hundred millions, united in one system of man¬
ners, letters, and polity,—whose cities and capitals rival in nunv
ATTAINMENTS IN CIVILIZATION.
41
bers the greatest metropoles of any age,—who have not only
covered the earth but the waters with towns and streets:—such
a nation must occupy a conspicuous place in tlie history of man¬
kind, and the study of their character and condition commend
itself to every well-wisher of his race.
It has been too much the custom of writers to overlook the in¬
fluence of the Bible upon modern civilization ; but when a com¬
parison is to be drawn between European and Asiatic civilization,
this element forces itself upon the attention as the main cause of
the superiority of the former. It is not the civilization of luxury
or of letters, of arts or of priestcraft; it is not the spirit of war,
the passion for money, nor the application of machinery, that
render a nation permanently great and prosperous. " Christianity
is the summary of all civilization," says Chenevix ; " it contains
every argument which could be urged in its support, and every
precept which explains its nature. Former systems of religion
were in conformity with luxury, but this alone seems to have
been conceived for the regior.3 of civilization. It has flourished
in Europe, while it has decayed in Asia, and the most civilized
nations are the most purely Christian." Christianity is essen¬
tially the religion of the people, and when it is covered over with
forms and contracted into a priesthood, its vitality goes out; this
is one reason why it has declined in Asia. The attainments of
the Chinese in the arts of life are perhaps as great as they can
be without this spring of action, without any other motives to in¬
dustry, obedience, and morality, than the commands or demands
of the present life.
A general survey of the world and its various races in succes¬
sive ages leads one to infer, that God has some plan of national
character; and that one nation exhibits the development of one
trait, while another race gives prominence to another, and subor¬
dinates the first. Thus the Egyptian people were eminently a
priestly race, a vast body of undertakers; the Greeks developed the
imaginative powers, excelling all others in sculpture, poetry, and
art; the Romans were warlike ; the Babylonians and Persians
magnificent, like the head of gold in the vision ; the Arabs pre¬
dacious, volatile, and imaginative ; the Turks stolid, bigoted, and
impassible ; the Hindus arc contemplative, religious, and meta¬
physical ; the Chinese industrious, peaceful, literary, atheistic,
and conceited. The same religion, and constant intercommuni-
42
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
cation among European nations, assimilates them more than other
races ever were before ; but every one knows the national pecu¬
liarities of the Spaniards, Italians, French, English, &c., and how
they are maintained, notwithstanding the motives to imitation an<?
coalescence. The comparison of national character and civili¬
zation, with the view cf ascertaining such a plan, is a subject
worthy the profound study of any scholar, and one which would
offer new views of the human race. The Chinese would be found
to have attained, it is believed, a higher position in general secu¬
rity of life and property, and in the arts of domestic life and
comfort among the mass, and a greater degree of general literary
intelligence, than any other heathen or Mohammedan nation
that ever existed,—or indeed than some now calling themselves
Christian, as Abyssinia. They have, however, probably done all
they can do, reached as high a point as they can without the
Gospel ; and its introduction, with its attendant influences, will
erelong change their political and social system. The progress
of this revolution among so mighty a mass of human beings will
form one of the most interesting parts of the history of the world
during the nineteenth century, and solve the problem, whether it
be possible to elevate a race without the intermediate steps of
disorganization and reconstruction.
CHAPTER II
Geographical Description of the Eastern Provinces.
The Chinese empire is everywhere subdivided into sang, fu,
chan, Men and sz\ or provinces, departments, districts, hundreds
and tithings, of greater or less size, according to their position,
population, and mode of government; but in the regions beyond
the borders of the Eighteen Provinces, although arranged on the
same plan, these divisions are considerably modified by the cha¬
racter of the inhabitants and their mode of living. In the wilds
of Manchuria, which are considered as the patrimony of the
reigning family, the scanty population is ruled by a more simple
military organization than any other portion of the empire, the
higher departments being appointed by his majesty himself.
The khans of the Mongols in Mongolia and 111, the Mohammedan
begs in Turkestan, and the lamas in Tibet, are overseen and
assisted in their rule by Chinese residents and generals appointed
to direct and uphold the government of those distant regions.
The geography of foreign countries has not been studied by
the Chinese themselves ; and such have been the restrictions
imposed upon the emigration of the people, and so few have been
the educated men who have travelled even into the islands of the
Indian Archipelago, or the contiguous kingdoms of Siam, Corea,
or Burmah, that there have been few opportunities for the people
to become acquainted with the countries lying on their borders,
much less with those in remoter parts, whose names, even, they
hardly know. A few native works exist on foreign geography,
among which four may be here noticed. " 1. Researches in the
East and West, 6 vols. 8vo. It was written about two centuries
ago ; the first volume contains some rude charts intended to show
the situation and form of foreign countries. 2. Notices of the
Seas, 1 vol. Its author, Yang Pingnan, obtained his information
from a townsman, who, being wrecked at sea, was picked up
oy a foreign ship, and travelled abroad from country to country
44
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
for fourteen years ; on his return to China he became bl.nd, and
was engaged as an interpreter in Macao. 3. Notices of Things
heard and seen in Foreign Countries, 2 vols. 12mo., written
about a century ago, contains among other things a chart of the
whole Chinese coast. 4. The Memoranda of Foreign Tribes, 4
vols. 8vo., were published in the reign of Kienlung."* Besides
these, which contain so little correct information that they are
not worth reading, a still more methodical work is lhat of Li
Tsinglai, a native of Canton, called Plates Illustrative of the
Heavens, being an astronomical and geographical work, mun
of whose contents were obtained from Europeans residing in the
country. Bat even if the Chinese had better treatises on these
subjects, the information contained in them would be of little use
until it was taught to the youth in their schools. The high officers
in the government begin now to see the importance of a better
acquaintance with general geography, and commissioner Lin has
lately published a partial translation of Murray's Cyclopcedia of
Geography, made by two Chinese who had obtained a knowledge
of English in American schools. This translation has been pub-
lished in twenty volumes by Lin under his own name.
But if the Chinese have few geographical works upon foreign
countries, those delineating the topography of their own are
hardly equalled in number and minuteness in any language :
every district and town in the empire of any importance, as well
as every department and province, has a local geography of its
own. It may with truth be said that the topographical and
statistical works form the most valuable portion, after the ethi¬
cal, of Chinese literature. It would not be difficult to collect a
library of 10,000 volumes of such works alone ; the topography
of the city of Suchau, and of the province of Chehkiang, are
each in 40 vols., while the Kwangtung Tung Clii, an Historical
and Statistical Account of the province of Kwangtung, is in 182
volumes. None of these works, however, would bear to be
translated entire, such is the amount of legendary and unimpor¬
tant matter contained in them ; but they contain many data not
to be overlooked by any one who undertakes to write a geogra¬
phy of China.
The Climate, of the Eighteen Provinces, although it has not yet
* Chinese Chrestornathy, page 420.
CLIMATE OF PEKING.
45
been represented in meteorological tables, has still been suffi¬
ciently observed to ascertain its general salubrity. Pestilences
do not frequently visit the land, nor, as in Southern India, are the
people deluged with rain during one monsoon, and parched with
drought during the other. The inhabitants everywhere enjoy
as good health, and are as well developed, and attain as great an
age, as in other countries. The cutaneous diseases which pre¬
vail are owing to the dirty habits of the people, and not to the
climate. The average temperature of the whole empire is lower
than that of any other country on the same latitude, and the coast
is subject to the same extremes as that of the Atlantic States in
America. The climate of Peking, though subject to extremes,
is salubrious; epidemics are rare, and the plague unknown there
or anywhere else in China. The water is frozen from December
to March ; in the spring, violent storms and whirlwinds occur;
the winters of the capital are like those of Stockholm or Boston,
ranging from 10° to 25° F. ; but the summers are those of
Naples or Washington, the temperature sometimes rising to 95°
and 105°, but more usually from 75° to 90° F. Autumn is the
most pleasant part of the year, the air is then mild, the sky
serene, and the weather calm. It is probable that the position of
Peking, in a wide and poorly sheltered plain at the foot of moun¬
tains and high table land, increases both the heat in summer and
cold in winter. This remark is still more applicable to the towns
on the gulf of Pechele, and Gutzlaff describes in his journal the
paralysing effects of the cold upon his shipmates at Kaichau, as
depriving them of all energy.
The climate of the Plain is generally good, but near the rivers
and marshy grounds is prejudicial to robust health. Foreigners
suffer from fevers and agues, which open the way for diseases
more dangerous ; the English forces, in 1842, did not recover
from the maladies which attacked them in their passage up to
Nanking until their return to Hongkong. A resident in that city
speaks of the bad influences of the temperature of Nanking and
the region around it: " This vast Plain being only a marsh half
drained, the moisture is excessive, giving rise to many strange
diseases, all of them serious, and not unfrequently mortal. The
climate affects the natives from other provinces, and Europeans ;
I have not known one of the latter who was not sick for six
months or a year after his arrival. Every one who comes here
16
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
must prepare himself for a tertian or quotidian. For myself
after suffering two months from a malignant fever, I had ten
attacks of a malady the Chinese here call the sand, from the
skin being covered with little blackish pimples resembling grains
of dust. It is prompt and violent in its progress, and corrupts
the blood so rapidly, that in a few minutes it stagnates and coagu¬
lates in the veins. The best remedy the people have is to cica¬
trize the least fleshy parts of the body with a copper cash. The
first attack I experienced rendered all my limbs insensible in
two minutes, and I expected to die before I could receive ex¬
treme unction. After recovering a little, great lassitude suc¬
ceeded."* Those parts of the Plain which are hilly do not suf¬
fer from these complaints, nor are they prevalent where the
drainage is good.
The inhabitants of Shanghai, latitude 31° 24' N., suffer from
the rapid changes in the autumn and spring months, and pulmo¬
nary and rheumatic complaints are common. According to Dr.
Lockhart's hospital report, the maximum of heat is 100° F., and
the minimum 24°, but ice is not common, nor does snow remain
on the ground very long. The average temperature of the sum¬
mer is from 80° to 93° F. by day, and from 60° to 75° by night;
the thermometer in the winter months ranges from 45° to 60° F.
by day, and from 36° to 45° by night. The limits in a single
day are about 20°, rarely over 25°, and the effects of the vicissi¬
tudes depend more upon the winds and humidity than upon the
heat. The east winds are unusually chilly from the proximity
of the high mountains in Japan, and shallow water in the Yellow
sea.
The climate of Ningpo and Chusan is pleasanter than Shang¬
hai, owing in some degree to the hills in their vicinity.' The
thermometer ranges from 24° to 107° during the twelvemonth,
and changes of 20° in the course of two hours are not unusual,
which the openness of the houses renders still more disagreeable.
The cold is such as to require fires in winter, but the natives
content themselves with additional clothing, and the large forms
of mason-work used for cooking and for sleeping, so common in
Chihli, are not often seen. The river is never frozen, but ice
forms in pools. Snow frequently falls, but does not remain long.
* Annates de la Propagation de la Foi, tome XVI., page 293.
CLIMATE OF CANTON.
47
Ningpo and Fuhchau are healthy residences, being neither so
hot as Canton for many months, nor so changeable as Shanghai.
The climate of Amoy is delightful, but its insular position ren¬
ders a residence there perhaps a little less agreeable than on the
main; the city is built only a few feet above high water, and
high barren hills are in the rear. The thermometer ranges from
40° to 96°, throughout the year, without those rapid changes
which are experienced at Ningpo ; but the heat continues longer,
though assuaged by breezes from the sea. Much rain falls in
the spring, and tyfoons occur in August; but the air is clear and
bracing from November to March, when woollen clothing is
necessary.
The climate of Canton and its vicinity is much better known
than that of the other ports; and the observation, " that, on the
whole, the climate of Canton, but more especially of Macao, may
be considered superior to that of most other places situated
between the tropics," is corroborated by the experience of almost
every resident. The thermometer, during, the months of July
and August, stands on an average at 80° to 88°, and in January
and February at 50° to 60°; the highest recorded observation in
1831 was 94° in July, and the lowest 29° in January. Ice some¬
times forms at Canton in shallow vessels a line or two in thick¬
ness, but no use is made of it by the natives, nor is it ever
brought by them from the north. A fall of snow, nearly two
inches deep, occurred at Canton in February, 1835, which
remained on the ground three hours; but it was such an unusuaJ
event that the citizens hardly knew what was its proper name,
some calling it falling cotton, and every one endeavoring to pre¬
serve it as a febrifuge. Fogs are common during February and
March, and the heat sometimes renders them very disagreeable,
it being necessary to keep up a little fire to dry the house, which
is not wanted for warmth. During May and June, most of the
rain falls, but there is nothing like a rainy season as at Calcutta
and Manilla. July, August, and September, are the regular
monsoon months, the wind coming from the south-west, with fre¬
quent showers to allay the heat.
In the close streets and creeks of Canton, reeking with offal of
every description, the heat is aggravated by radiation from the
wails, and by vile smells urged forth by the sun ; but in the
country, and towards the sea-coast, the winds cool it. In the
48
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
succeeding months, the northerly winds commence with seme
interruptions at first, but from October to January the tempera-
ture is agreeable, the sky clear, and the air invigorating. Few
targe cities are more healthy than Canton, no epidemics nor ma¬
laria prevail there, notwithstanding much of the town is built
upon piles. Foreigners residing there generally enjoy good
health, if they abstain from ardent spirits, and do not expose them¬
selves to the sun, notwithstanding the confined limits into which
they are crowded. Woollen clothes are worn, and fires are com¬
fortable during the months of January and February, but the
Chinese do not warm their houses. The monsoons do not blow
regularly northeast of Canton near the coast, and can hardly be
said to extend above 25° N., except with many interruptions.
The climate of Macao and Hongkong has not so great a range
as Canton, from their proximity to the sea; still both of them are
healthy residences. Few cities in Asia exceed Macao in respect
to climate, though it has been remarked that few of the natives
attain a great age. The maximum at Macao is 90°, and the
average summer heat 84° ; the minimum is 50°, and average
winter weather 68°, with almost uninterrupted sunshine. Fogs
are not of very long continuation at Macao, but on the river they
prevail, and at Whampoa are more frequent than at Canton.
North-easterly gales are common in the spring and autumn,
often continuing to blow three days. The vegetation in this part
of the country does not change its general aspect during the win¬
ter, the trees cease to grow, and the grass becomes brownish ; but
the stimulus of the warm moisture in March and April soon
makes a sensible difference in the appearance of the landscape,
and bright green leaves soon take the place of the old. The
insalubrity of Hongkong has been chiefly owing to other causes
than the climate, and when it becomes a well built, well drained
town, there is every probability of its being a healthy one. The
rains are more abundant there than in Macao, owing to the
attraction of the high peaks on the island and in the neighbor¬
hood. During the rainy and foggy weather of March and
April, the walls of houses become damp, and if newly plastered,
drip with moisture. Silken and woollen dresses mildew, and
great care is required to prevent them, and books, cutlery, and
paper from spoiling. Tinned boxes are considered as the besl
preservatives.
RAINS AND WINDS.
49
The provinces of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Yunnan, are con¬
sidered the most unhealthy of the eighteen, and on this account
are employed as places of banishment for criminals from the
north-eastern districts. The central portions of the country are
on some accounts the most healthy, not so liable to sudden
changes as the coast, nor so cold as the western and northern
districts. Sz'chuen and Kweichau are colder than Fuhkien and
Chchkiang from the mountains in and upon their borders.
The fall of rain in China is estimated by Humboldt at 70 in.
annually, but he does not state where he derived this average ;
whatever it may be for the whole country, this amount is the
mean of sixteen years' observation at Canton. During four
years, there were only fifteen rainy days from October to Feb¬
ruary in each year. Thunder storms are not remarkably com¬
mon or severe, but not a year passes without some deaths occur¬
ring from lightning.
The increased temperature on the southern coast during the
months of June and July operates, with other causes, to produce
violent storms along the seaboard, called lyfoons, from the Chi¬
nese la-fung, or " great wind." These destructive tornadoes occur
from Hainan to Chusan, between July and October, gradually
progressing northward as the season advances, and diminishing
in fury in the higher latitudes. They annually occasion great
losses to the native and foreign shipping in the Chinese waters,
and more than half the ships lost on that coast have suffered
in them. One of the most melancholy was the loss of the
British transport Golconda in 1840, with about 650 souls on
board, officers and sipahis; also the merchantmen Hamoody,
Marg. Graham and Hormusjee Bomanjee, in one gale, and Earl
of Moira in another ; not a trace of them was ever seen. The
bark Kent, about 350 tons, dragged her anchors in one of these
storms, and was carried nearly a mile from low water mark,
and left high and dry : she was afterwards floated by digging a
trench.
Tyfoons are now ascertained to be whirlwinds, whose fury
is exhausted within a narrow track, which, in such cases as have
been registered, lies in no uniform direction, other than from
south to north at a greater or less angle. The principal phe¬
nomena indicating the approach of these hurricanes are the
direction of the wind, which commences to blow in soft zephyrs
4
50
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
from the north, without assuaging the heat or disturbing the
calmness of the atmosphere, and the sinking of the barometer.
The glass usually begins to fall several hours before it com¬
mences, and the rarefaction of the. air is further shown Ly the
heavy swell rolling in upon the beach, though the sea is smooth.
The wind increases as it veers to the north-east, and from that
point to south-east blows with the greatest force in fitful gusts.
There is little or no rain until towards the close of the gale,
when the glass begins to rise ; the barometer not unfrequently
falls below 28 in., and Krusenstern, the Russian navigator, was
not a little surprised to see the mercury sink out of sight.
The Chinese dread these gales, and in Hainan have erected
temples to the Tyfoon Mother, a goddess whom they supplicate
for protection against them. They say, " that a few days before
a tyfoon comes on, a slight noise is heard at intervals, whirling
round and then stopping, sometimes impetuous and sometimes
slow; this is a 'tyfoon brewing.' Then fiery clouds collect in
thick masses, the thunder sounds deep and heavy ; rainbows
appear, now forming an unbroken curve and again separating,
and the ends of the bow dip into the sea. The sea sends back
a bellowing sound, and boils with angry surges; the loose rocks
dash against each other, and detached seaweed covers the
water ; there is a thick murky atmosphere, the water-fowl fly
about affrighted, the trees and leaves bend to the south—the
tyfoon has commenced. When to it is superadded a violent rain
and a frightful surf, the force of the tempest is let loose, and
away fly the houses up to the hills, and the ships and boats are
removed to the dry land ; horses and cattle are turned heels
over head, trees are torn up by the roots, and the sea boils up
twenty or thirty feet, inundating the fields and destroying vege¬
tation : this is called an iron whirlwind
The Chinese are the only people who have, by means of
terms added to the name of a place, endeavored to designate its
relative rank. Three of the words used for this purpose, viz.
fu, chau, and Men, have been translated, and the towns classed by
Du Halde and others, as of the first, second, or third rank ; but
this gradation is not quite correct, and the terms do not apply to
the city or town alone, but to the portions of country of which
* Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., page 230; Vol. IV., page 197.
TOPOGRAPHICAL DIVISIONS.
ft
they ar. the capital An extract from the Repository will ex
plain the nature of these and other terms, and the divisions
intended by them.
" The Eighteen Provinces are divided into fu, ting,chau, and Men. A
fa is a large portion or department of a province, under the general con¬
trol of one civil officer immediately subordinate to the heads of the pro¬
vincial government. A ling is a division of a province smaller than a
fu, and either like it governed by an officer immediately subject to the
heads of the provincial government, or else forming a subordinate part
of a fu. In the former case it is called chih-U, i. e. under the ' direct
rule' of the provincial government; in the latter case it is simply called
ting. A chau is a division similar to a ting, and like it either independ¬
ent of any other division, or forming part of a fu. The difference be¬
tween the two consists in the government of a ting resembling that of a
fu more nearly than that of a cliau does : that of the chau is less expen¬
sive. The ling and chau of the class to which the term chih-U is
attached, may be denominated in common with the fu, departments or
prefectures ; and the term chih-U ma.y be rendered by the word independent.
The subordinate ting and chau may both be called districts. A hien,
which is also a district, is a small division or subordinate part of a de¬
partment, whether of a fu, or of an independent chau or ting.
" Each fu, ting, chau, and hien, possesses at least one walled town, the
seat of its government, which bears the same name as the department or
district to which it pertains. Thus Hiangshan is the chief town of the
district Hiangshan hien ; and Shauking, that of the department Shau-
king fu. By European writers, tne chief towns of the fu or depart¬
ments have been called cities of the first order; those of the chau, cities
of the second order ; and those of the Men, cities of the third order.
The division called ting, being rarely met with, has been left out of the
arrangement—an arrangement not recognised in China. It must be
observed that the chief town of a fu is always also the chief town of a
Men district; and sometimes, when of considerable size and importance,
it and the country around are divided into two Men districts, both of
which have the seat of their government within the same walls : but
this is not the case with the ting and chau departments. A district is
not always subdivided ; instances may occur of a whole district possess¬
ing but one important town. But as there are often large, and even
walled towns not included in the number of chief or of district towns,
consequently not the seat of a regular chau or hien magistracy, a subdi¬
vision of a district is therefore frequently rendered necessary ; and for
the l)etter government of such towns and the towns surrounding them,
magistrates are appointed to them, secondary to the magistrates of the
departments or the districts in which they are comprised. Thus Fuhshan
52
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
is a very lar je commercial town in the district of Nanhai, of the de«
partment of Kwangchau, situated about twelve miles distant from Can¬
ton. The chief officer of the depai .ment has therefore an assistant resid¬
ing there, and the town is partly under his government and partly under
that of the Nanhai magistrate, within whose district it is included, but
who resides at Canton. Macao affords another instance : being a place
of some importance, both from its size and as the residence of foreign¬
ers, an assistant to the Hiangshan hien magistrate is placed over it, and
it is also under the control of an assistant to the chief magistrate of the
fu. Of these assistant magistrates, there are two ranks secondary to
the chief magistrate of a fu, two secondary to the magistrate of a chau,
and two also secondary to the magistrate of a hien. The places under
the rule of these assistant magistrates are called by various names, most
frequently chin and so, and sometimes also chai and wei. These names
do not appear to have reference to any particular form of municipal go¬
vernment existing in them ; but the chai and the wei are often military
posts ; and sometimes a place is, with respect to its civil government,
the chief city of a fu, while with respect to its military position it is
called wei. There are other towns of still smaller importance ; these
are under the government of inferior magistrates who are called siun
kien: a division of country under such a magistrate is called a sz\
The town of Whampoa and country around it form one such division,
called Kiautang sz', belonging to the district of Pvvanyu, in the depart¬
ment of Kwangchau.
"In the mountainous districts of Kwangsi, Yunnan, K wei chau, and
Sz'chuen, and in some other places, there are districts called tu sz\
Among these, the same distinctions of fu, chau, and hien exist, together
with the minor division sz\ The magistrates of these departments and
districts are hereditary in their succession, being the only hereditary
local officers acknowledged by the supreme government.
" There is a larger division than any of the above, but as it does not
prevail universally, it was not mentioned in the first instance. It is
called tau, a course or circuit, and comprises two or more departments
of a province, whether fu, or independent ting or chau. These circuits
are subject to the government of officers called taulai or intendants of
circuit, w'10 often combine with political and judicial powers a military
authority md various duties relating to the territory or to the revenue."*
The eighteen provinces received their present boundaries and
divisions in the reign of Kienlung; and the little advance which
has been made abroad in the geography of China is shown by the
fact, that although these divisions were established eighty yeara
* Chinese Rep' iitory, Vol. IV., page 54.
trovince of chili.
53
ago, the o J demarkations, existing at the time of the survey
under Kanghi, in 1710, are still found in many modern Europear
geographies and maps. The opposite table shows their preseni
divisions and government. The three columns under the head
of Departments contain tliefu, cliihli ting, and chihli chau, all of
which are properly prefectures; the three columns under the
head of Districts contain the ting, chau, and Men.
The province of Chihli is the most important of the whole. Op
foreign maps it is usually written Pechele (i. e. North Chihli),
a name formerly given it in order to distinguish it from Kiangnan,
in which the seat of government had heforetime been located ;
but among the people it is at present only called Chihli. This
name is descriptive, rather than technical, and literally means
Direct rule, denoting that from this province the supreme power
which governs the empire emanates; any province, therefore,
in which the emperor and court should be fixed, would be termed
Chihli, and its chief city King, " capital," or Ring-sz" court of
the capital." The surface of this province is level, there being
a few ridges of hills in the west and north, while the eastern parts
along the gulf of Pechele, and those south of the capital, are
among the flattest portions of the Great Plain.
It is bounded on the north-east by Liautung, where for a short
distance the Great Wall is the frontier line ; on the east by
the gulf of Pechele ; on the south-east and south by Shantung ;
on the south-west by Honan ; on the west by Shansi ; and north
by Inner Mongolia, where the Hwang ho forms the boundary.
The extensive region lying north of Chihli, occupied by the Tsak-
har Mongols, is now included within the jurisdiction of the pro¬
vince, and placed under the administration of officers residing at
one of the garrisoned gates of the Great Wall ; the area of this
part beyond the Great Wall is about half of the whole province,
which is now nearly double what it was in Kangln's time. The
chief department in the province, that of Shuntien fu, being both
large and important, as containing the imperial metropolis, is
divided into four circuits, each under the rule of a sub-prefect,
who is subordinate to the prefect living at Peking.
Peking* (i. e. Northern Capital) is situated in this province in
* This word should not be written Pekin ; it is pronounced Pt i-ching bv
the citizens, and by most of the people north of the Great liver, with
whom the initial It is frequently softened into ch, as Chiangnan for Kiang-
PROVINCES.
Northern Provinces.
Chihli,
Shantung,
Shansi, . . .
Honan
Eastern Provinces.
Kiangsu, .
Nganhwui, .
Kiangsi, .
Chehkiang, .
Fuhkien, .
Central Provinces.
Hupeh,
Hunan,
Southern Provincbs.
Kwangtung, .
Kwangsi, .
Yunnan, .
Kweichau
Western Provinces.
Shensi,
Kansuh,
Sz'chuen,
CAPITAL.
GOVERNMENT.
cn
rfk
Pauting fu.
Tsinan fu.
Taiyuen fu.
Kaii'ung fu.
Kiangning fu.
Nganking fu.
Nanchang fu.
Hangchau fu.
Fuhchau fu.
Wuchang fu.
Changsha fu.
Kwangchau fu,
or Canton.
Kweilin fu.
Yunnan fu.
Kweiyang fu.
Singan fu.
Lanchau fu.
Chingtu fu.
Ruled by a gov.-genera] or tsungtuh
Each separately ruled by a lieuten¬
ant-governor or fuyue.n
Each under a lieutenant-governor,
subordinate to one governor-gene¬
ral, called Liang Kiang tsungtuh.
Each under a lieutenant-governor,
subordinate to a governor-general,
called JSIin Cheh tsungtuh.
Each under a lieut.-governor, subordi¬
nate to a governor-general, called
Liang Uu tsungtuh.
Two lieutenant-governors, subordi¬
nate to a governor general, called
Liang Kwang tsungtuh.
Two lieutenant-governors, subordi¬
nate to a governor-general, called
Van Kind tsungtuh.
Under a governor-general, called
Hhcn Kan tsungtuh, and one lien-
tenant-governor over Shensi.
Ruled by a governor-general.
POSITION OF PEKING.
55
l sandy plain, about twelve miles south-west of the Pei ho and
about a hundred miles west-north-west of its mouth, in latitude
39° 54' 13" N., and longitude 116° 277 E., or nearly on the
parallel of Samarkand, Erzroom, Naples, and Philadelphia.
A small branch of this river, called Tung-hwui ho, enters the
city on the north-west, and supplies it with water, before empty¬
ing into the Pei ho. The entire circuit of the walls and suburbs
is reckoned by Father Hyacinthe, who resided there many years,'
at twenty-five miles, and its area at twenty-seven square miles.
This estimate probably includes the suburbs, as Barrow (page
581) puts it down at fourteen square miles. Like Canton and
other cities, which have overpassed the limits of their walls, it is
not easy to separate the city from the suburbs ; and this consti¬
tutes the chief difficulty in estimating the population. Du Halde
reckons it to be about 3,000,000, and Klaproth 1,300,000 ; others
place it between these extremes; but comparing it with London,
whose circuit is about eighteen miles, and population 1,800,000,
there seems to be no insuperable objection at stating that of Pe¬
king at two millions. The broad streets, the river, parks and
squares of the former, are probably equal to the waste ground
and gardens of the latter.
Peking is regarded by the Chinese as one of their most ancient
cities, but it was not made the capital of the country until its
conquest by the Mongols, when Kublai, about 1282, established
his court first at this spot, then called Shuntien fu (i. e. city
Obedient to Heaven), and afterwards removed it to Hangchau.
The native emperors who succeeded the Mongols held their court
at Kiangning fu or Nanking, until Yungloh, the third monarch of
the Ming dynasty, who as prince of Yen had reigned at the for¬
mer capital, transferred the seat of government there in 1411,
where it has ever since remained. Under the Mongols, the city
was called Khan-palik (i. e. city of the Khan), changed into
Cambalu in the accounts of those times; on the Chinese maps it
is usually called King-sz' (i. e. Capital of the Court).
It was at first surrounded by a single wall pierced by nine
gates, whence it is sometimes called the City of Nine Gates.
A part of the southern suburbs has since been inclosed, and the
city now consists of two portions, the northern or Tartar city,
called Nui ching, containing about twelve square miles, where
are the palace, government buildings, and troops; and the south-
56
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
em, cai.ea Wai ching, or Outer city, where the Chinese live. Tft*
wall of the city is thirty feet high, twenty-five thick at the base,
and the inner face slopes in so much that it is only twelve
feet wide across the terre-plein upon which the parapet is erected.
Near the gates, of which there are sixteen in all, the walls are
faced with stone, but in other places with large bricks, laid in
a mortar of lime and clay, which in process of time becomes
almost as durable as stone. The intermediate space between the
facings is filled up with the earth taken from the ditch which
surrounds the city. Square towers, projecting fifty feet from
the outer side of the walls, occur at intervals of about sixty
yards, and one of these buttress-like defences stands on each
side of every gate, connected in front by a semi-circular fort;
the entrance into the area is at the side and not directly in front.
The arches of the gateways are strong, and each gate is sur¬
mounted by a wooden building several stories high, with painted
port-holes for cannon.
At the sides of the gates, and also between them, are espla¬
nades for mounting to the top ; the ditch around the city is fed
from the Tunghwui river, which also supplies all the other ditches
leading across or through the city. The approach to Peking
from Tung chau is by a well paved road, but little or nothing of
the buildings inside the walls is seen; and were it not for the
high lookout towers over the gates, it would more resemble an
encampment inclosed by a massive wall than a large metropolis.
No spires or towers of churches, no pillars or monuments, no
domes or minarets, nor even many dwellings of superior eleva¬
tion, break the dull uniformity of this or any Chinese city. In
Peking, the different colored tiles, yellow, green, and dun red,
upon the roofs, impart a variety of colors to the scene, but the
only objects to relieve the monotony are usually large clumps of
trees, and the flag-staffs in pairs before every official residence.
A towering pagoda is usually the only building which claims the
pre-eminence. It is no doubt, in a social point of view, far
better that all the people should have decently comfortable tene¬
ments, than that the mud hovels of the wretched poor should
only look the more forlorn beside the magnificent palace <91* the
nabob ; still, the mere scenery, as at Calcutta or Tabriz, is more
picturesque than in Chinese cities.
The plan of the city he/ e given is abridged from a large Chi«
MAP AND PLACES IN PEKING.
A. The Meridian Gate.
B Gate of Extensive Peace.
C. Hall of Perfect Peace.
D. Hull of Secure Peace.
E. Palace of Heaven—tlie Emperor's.
F. Palace of Earth's Repose-—the Empress'.
G. Gate to Earth's Repose, leads to a Garden.
U. Ching-hwang miau.
f. Temple of Great Happiness.
1. Northern gate of Forbidden City.
K. Nui Koh, or Privy Council chamber, lies
within lh- wall.
K. Gate of Heavenly Rest.
L. Hall of Intense Mental Exercises.
M. Library, or Hall of Literary Abyss.
N. Imperial Ancestral lj-.11.
(). Ilull of National Portraits
P. Printing Office.
CI Court of Co".trailers of Imperial Clan.
R. Marble Isle ; a niarlle bridge leads to it
S. Five Dragon Pavilion.
T. Great Ancestral Temple.
U. Altar to the Gods of Land and Grain.
V. Artific.al Mountain. The Russian school
lies just north of the Eastern gate near N
W A summer-house.
X. Military Examination Hall.
Y Plantain Garden, or Conservatory.
Z. A Pavilion.
4*
a. Medical College.
b. Astronomical Bonrd.
c. Five of the Six Boards. The Hanlin Yuen
lies just above them.
d. House of the Russian Mission.
e. Colonial Office.
/. Temple for Imperial worship.
g. Imperial Observatory, partly on the wall.
A. Hull of Literary Examination,
t. Russian Churfh of the Assumption.
j. Temple of Eternal Peace of the lamas.
k. Kvvoh Tsz* Kien, a Manchu College.
Temple of the God of the North Star.
m. High Watch-tower and V lx" Office.
71. Board of Punishments.
o. Censorite.
j). Mohammedan Mosque.
q. Portuguese Church,
r. Elephant's Inclosure.
s. Principal Ching-hwang miau.
t. Temple of Deceased Emperors of all ages.
u. Obelisk covering a scab of Budha.
v. Altar to Heaven.—Altar to Earth is on tli«
north of the City.
w. Altar to Agriculture.
x. Black Dragon Pool, and Temple of God of
Rain.
y. Altar to the Moon.
t. Altar to the Sun.
58
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
nese map. The northern portion was taken possession of ly the
Manchus in 1644, for barracks and residences, and the govern
ment purchased the buildings of the Chinese and gave them to
their officers, but necessity soon obliged these men, less frugal
and thrifty than the natives, to sell them, and content themselves
with humbler abodes; consequently, the greater part of the
northern part is now tenanted by Chinese. This division consists
of three inclosures, one within the other, each surrounded by its
own wall. The innermost contains the imperial palace and its
surrounding buildings ; the second is occupied by the several
offices appertaining to the government, and by many private
residences; the outer one, for the most part, consists of dwelling,
houses, with shops in the large avenues. The inner area is
called Kin Ching, or Prohibited City, and its circumference is
about two miles; the wall is nearly as solid as that around the
city, faced with glazed bricks, and covered with yellow tiles,
which at a distance, and in the sunshine, look brilliantly. A
gate on each side of this area gives access to its buildings, and
the space and rooms appertaining to them furnish lodgment to the
guard which defends the approach to the Dragon's Throne ; a
tower at each corner, and one over each gateway, also afford
accommodation to other troops. The interior of this inclosure
is divided into three parts by two walls running from south to
north, and the whole is occupied by a suite of court-yards and
apartments, which, in their arrangement and architecture, far
exceed any other specimens of the kind in China. According to
the notions of a Chinese, all here is gold and silver; " he will
tell you of gold and silver pillars, gold and silver roofs, and gold
and silver vases, in which swim gold and silver fishes."
The southern gate, called the Meridian gate, leads into the
middle division, in which are the imperial buildings ; it is espe¬
cially appropriated to the emperor, and whenever he passes
through it, a bell and gong, placed in the tower above, are struck ;
when his troops return in triumph, the prisoners they bring are
here presented to him ; and here the presents he confers on vas¬
sals and ambassadors are pompously bestowed. Passing through
this gate into a large court, over a small creek spanned by five
marble bridges, which are ornamented with sculptures, the visitor
is led into a second court paved with marble, and terminated on
PROHIBITED CITY.
59
the sides by gates, porticoes, and pillared corridors. The next
building of importance is at the head of this court, called the
gate of Extensive Peace, and is a superb marble structure;
one hundred and ten feet high. It is a sort of balcony where
the emperor, on newyear's day, his birthday, and other occa¬
sions, receives the homage of his courtiers assembled in the court
below; five flights of stairs, decorated with balustrades and
sculptures, lead up to it, and five gates open through it into the
next court-yard.
Beyond it are two halls, one called that of Perfect Peace, where
his majesty examines the implements used in the annual plough¬
ing ; the other that of Secure Peace, where he banquets his
foreign guests and other distinguished persons on newyear's
day. After ascending a stairway and passing another gate, the
visitor reaches the Kien Tsing kung or Tranquil Palace of Hea¬
ven, into which no one can enter without special license. In it
is the council-chamber, and here candidates for office are pre¬
sented to their sovereign. The building is described as the
loftiest, richest, and most magnificent of all the palaces. In the
court before it is a small tower of gilt copper, adorned with a
great number of figures, and on each side are large incense
vases, the uses of which are no doubt religious. It was in this
palace that Kanglu celebrated a singular and unique festival, in
1722, for all the men in the empire over sixty years, that being
the sixtieth year of his reign. His grandson Kienlung, in 1785,
in the fiftieth year of his reign, repeated the same ceremony, on
which occasion the number of guests was about three thousand.*
This building is considered by the Chinese as the most important
of all the imperial edifices. Beyond it stands the Palace of
Earth's Repose, where the empress, or " heaven's consort," rules
her miniature court in the imperial hareem; and between which
and the northern wall of the Forbidden City is the imperial
Flower Garden, designed for the use of its inmates. The gar¬
dens are adorned with elegant pavilions, temples, and groves, and
interspersed with canals, fountains, pools, and flower-beds. Twc
groves rising from the bosoms of small lakes, and another crown¬
ing the summit of an artificial mountain, add to the beauty of
die scene, and afford the inmates of the palace an agreeable
variety.
* Chinese Repository, vol. IX , page 259.
00
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
In the eastern division of the Prohibited City are the offices of
the Cabinet, where its members hold their sessions, and the trea¬
sury of the palace. North of it lies the Hall of Intense Thought,
where sacrifices are presented to Confucius and other sages.
Not far from this hall stands the Hall of the Literary Abyss,
or the Library, the catalogue of whose contents is published from
time to time, forming an admirable synopsis of Chinese literature.
At the northern end of the eastern division are numerous palaces
and buildings occupied by princes of the blood, and those con¬
nected with them ; and in this quarter is placed the Fung Sien
tien, a small temple where the emperor comes to. "bless hi»
ancestors." Here the emperor and his family perform theii
devotions before the tablets of their departed progenitors ; when¬
ever he leaves or returns to his palace, the first day of a season,
and on other occasions, the monarch goes through his devotions
in this hall.
The western division contains a great variety of edifices de¬
voted to public and private purposes, among which may be men¬
tioned the hall of distinguished sovereigns, statesmen, and literati,
the printing-office, the Court of Controllers for the regulation of
the receipts and disbursements of the court, and the Ching-hwang
miau, or Guardian Temple of the city. The number of people
residing within the Prohibited City cannot be stated, but it is not
probably very great; most of them are Manchus.
The second inclosure, which surrounds the imperial palaces, is
called Hwang Clung, or Imperial City, and is an oblong square
about six miles in circuit corresponding in form to the northern
city, and inclosed by a wall about twenty feet high. There is a
gate in each face of the wall, and none but authorized personj
are permitted to enter them. From the southern gate, called the
gate of Heavenly Rest, a broad avenue leads up to the Kin
Ching ; and before it, outside of the wall, is an extensive space
walled in, and having one entrance on the south, called the gate
of Great Purity, which no one is allowed to enter except on foot,
unless by special permission. On the right of the avenue within
the wall, is a gateway leading to the Tai Miau, or Great Temple
of the imperial ancestors, a large collection of buildings inclosed
by a wall 3000 feet in circuit. Here offerings are presented be¬
fore the tablets of deceased emperors and empresses, and worship
performed by the members of the imperial family and clan to
IMPERIAL CITY.
61
their departed forefathers. Across the avenue from this temple
is a gateway leading to the Shie-Tsih tan, or altar of the gods of
Land and Grain, where sacrifices are offered in spring and au¬
tumn by the emperor alone to these divinities, who are supposed
to have originally been men. This altar consists of two stories,
each five feet high, the upper one being fifty-eight feet square ;
no other altar of the kind is found in the empire, and it would
be tantamount to high treason to erect one and worship upon it.
The north, east, south, and west altar are respectively black,
green, red, and white, and the top yellow; the ceremonies con¬
nected with the worship held here are among the most ancient in
China.
On the eastern side of the Imperial City, north of the Great
Temple, and not far from the eastern gate of the Prohibited City,
is a depository of military stores, and workshops for their manu¬
facture. The establishment of the Russian college lies north of
the gate; and in the north-eastern part of this side is the loca¬
tion of the Lamas, with numerous temples, monasteries, and
other religious edifices. Much of this quarter of the Imperial
City is occupied by dwelling-houses and by temples dedicated to
various inferior gods in Chinese mythology.
On the northern side, surrounded by a wall more than half a
mile in circuit, is the King Shan, or Artificial Mountain, nearly
150 feet high, and having five summits, crowned with as many
pavilions. Trees of various kinds border its base, and line the
paths leading to the tops, while animals and birds in great num¬
bers occupy and enliven the whole inclosure. Its height allows
the spectator to overlook the whole city, while too it is itself a
conspicuous object from every direction. The earth and stone
to erect this mountain were taken from the ditches and pools dug
in and around the city, and near its base are many tanks of pic¬
turesque shape and appearance ; so that altogether it forms a
great ornament to the city. The western part of this inclosure
is chiefly occupied by the Si Yuen, or Western Park, in and
around which are found some of the most beautiful objects and
spots in the metropolis. An artificial lake, more than a mile
long, and averaging a furlong in breadth, occupies the centre ; it
is supplied by the Tunghwui river, and its waters are adorned
with the splendid lotus. A marble bridge of nine arches crosses
it, and its banks are shaded by groves of trees, under which are
62
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
well paved walks. On its south-eastern side is a large summer
house, consisting of several edifices partly in or over the water
and inclosing a number of gardens and walks, in and around
which are many artificial hills of rock-work beautifully alternat¬
ing or supporting groves of trees and parterres of flowers.
On the western side is the hall for the examination of mili¬
tary candidates, and where his majesty in person sees them
exhibit their prowess in equestrian archery. At the north end
of the lake, is a bridge leading to an islet in its centre, which
presents the aspect of a hill of gentle ascent covered with
groves, temples, and summer-houses, and surmounted with a
tower, from which an extensive view can be taken. Near the
north-east of the Si Yuen is a temple dedicated to Yuenfi, the
reputed discoverer of the silk-worm, where the empress annually
offers sacrifices to her, and near which a plantation of mulberry
trees and a cocoonery are maintained for the preparation of silk.
Near the temple of Great Happiness, not far distant from the
preceding, on the borders of the lake, is a gilded copper statue
of Budha, sixty feet high, with a hundred arms ; and Timkow-
ski, who furnishes this statement, says the temple itself is one
of the greatest ornaments of the Park. The object kept in view
in the arrangement of these gardens and grounds, has been to
make them an epitome of nature, and then furnish every part
with commodious buildings. But however elegant the palaces
and grounds may have appeared when new, it is to be feared
that his majesty has no higher ideas of cleanliness and order
than his subjects, and that the various public and private edifices
and gardens in these two inclosures are despoiled of half their
beauty by dirt and neglect. The number of the palaces in them
both is estimated to be over two hundred, " each of which," says
Attinet, in vague terms, " is sufficiently large to accommodate
the greatest of European noblemen, with all his retinue."
Along the avenue leading southerly from the imperial city
through the Tartar city to the division wall, are found the prin¬
cipal government offices. Five of the Six Boards have their
bureaus on the east side, and the Board of Punishments with its
subordinate departments, has its courts on the west side; and
just south of it is the Censorate. The office attached to the
Board of Rites, for the preparation of the Calendar, commonly
called the Astronomical Board, stands directly east of it; and
TARTAR CITY.
.he Medical College, or body of physicians employed in the ser¬
vice of government, has its hall not far off. The Hanlin yuen,
or National Academy, and the Colonial Office, are also on the
eastern side of the avenue near the south-eastern corner of the
Imperial City. Near the Colonial Office is the temple where the
nearest ancestors of the reigning family are worshipped by his
majesty and the princes of his family on the first day of every
month, when they come in procession to this temple in their state
dresses, and his majesty, as high priest of the family, performs
the highest religious ceremony before his deified ancestors, viz.
three kneelings and nine knockings. After he has completed his
devotions, the attendant grandees go through the same ceremo¬
nies. The temple itself is pleasantly situated in the midst of a
grove of fir and other trees, and the large inclosure around it is
prettily laid out with trees and shrubbery. There are many
other public buildings in this part of the Tartar City, between
the division wall and the Imperial City, besides numerous privato
residences of great extent.
In the south-eastern part of the Tartar City, built partly upon
the wall, is the Observatory, which was placed under the super-
intendence of the Romish missionaries by Kanghi, but is now
confided to the care of Chinese astronomers ; it is an elevated
building, and is seen on the left as the visitor enters the eastern
gate of the city. Nearly opposite to it stands the hall for literary
examinations, where the candidates of the province assemble to
write their essays. In the north-eastern part of the city, about
half a mile west of the Russian church of the Assumption, is
the Temple of Eternal Peace, belonging to the lamas, and
described as the largest and most splendid temple in Peking.
The lamas have about two hundred Chinese and Manchu neo¬
phytes and pupils under their care, who learn the Tibetan lan¬
guage, probably with a view to political service in that country.
A similar college for learning Chinese and Manchu stands west
of this temple, where students of both races are respectively
taug'it each other's languages, to prepare them for the service of
government.
The superintendence of the Tartar city is under the control
of the general of the Nine Gates, whose headquarters lie about
half-way between the Imperial City and the northern wall, and
who is made especially responsible for the pence and good order
M
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
of the Tartar city ; the post is conferred only on Manchus, and
is regarded as a high office, somewhat like that of Constable ot
the Tower in England. Near his establishment, standing in the
avenue leading to the north gate, is a high tower containing an
immense bell and drum, which are struck to announce the night
watches; this edifice is one of the most conspicuous objects seen
in approaching the capital, being higher than the towers over the
gateways. The dimensions of this bell are 12-f- cubits high,
and nearly a cubit thick ; it weighs 120,000 lbs.*
Near the south-western angle of the Imperial City stands the
Mohammedan mosque, and a large number of Turks live in its
vicinity, whose ancestors were brought from Turkestan abou*
a century ago; this part of the city is consequently the chiei
resort of all Mohammedans coming D the capital from llf. South
of the mosque, near the division wall, stands the spacious church
of Heaven's Lord, and a convent attached to it, which the Jesuits
and Portuguese built in the times of their influence ; it was the
finest specimen of architecture in Peking, but is now going to
decay. There are religious edifices in the Chinese metropolis
appropriated to many forms of religion, viz. the Greek and Latin
churches, Islamism, Budhism in its two principal forms, Ration¬
alism, ancestral worship, state worship, and temples dedicated to
Confucius and other deified mortals, besides a great number in
which the popular idols of the country are adored. Among them
is the temple where the tablets of the kings and emperors of
former dynasties are collectively worshipped, except a few who
have been rejected as unworthy of this honor on account of their
wickedness—a feature which recalls to mind the custom in
ancient Jerusalem of not burying wicked princes in the sepul¬
chres of the kings. Distinguished statesmen of all ages, called
by the Chinese kwoh chu, or " pillars of state," are associated
with their masters in this temple, as not unworthy to receive
equal honors. A little west of this remarkable temple is the
White Pagoda temple, so called from a costly obelisk near it
erected by Kublai in the 13th century, and rebuilt in 1819.
P6re Hyacinthe says the corners are covered with jasper, and
the projecting parts of the roof with ornaments of exquisite work¬
manship tastefully arranged. Around this edifice, which contains
* Magaillans' History rtf ChiDa, page 123.
OUTER, OK CHINESE CITY.
65
a scab taken from the forehead of Budlia, caused by his constantly
knocking his head on the ground in worship, are one hundretf
and eight small pillars on which lamps are burned in its honor
These are the principal buildings and establishments worth)
of note in Peking. Outside of the city, on the east, is the Tem¬
ple of Heaven, situated in a large area and surrounded with
many spacious buildings ; on the west of the city is a correspond-
ing structure called the Temple of Earth, both of them con¬
nected with the state religion. The southern and most populous
portion of the city contains no edifices of any importance, nor is
the Chinese part as well built as the Tartar city; the walls are
not as solid, and it resembles ordinary Chinese towns. It is not
subject to the same rigid military rule as the northern half, and
is consequently the resort of many persons in quest of relaxation
and dissipation. The areas of the two are nearly the same, but
a large portion of the southern is occupied by the immense court¬
yards connected with the temples of Heaven and Earth.
The first of these edifices stands east of the avenue leading
from the southern gate to the Tartar city, in an inclosure mea¬
suring three miles around. The Tien tan, or altar to Heaven, is
a round terrace consisting of three stages, each ten feet high,
respectively 120, 90, and 60 feet in diameter, paved with marble,
and protected by balustrades. A square wall surrounds this
altar, beyond which is the palace of Abstinence, where the
emperor fasts three days preparatory to offering the annual sacri¬
fice to heaven at the winter solstice. Some other buildings, and
a few statues, are connected with this place, but no priests live
in the inclosure, the emperor himself, as vicegerent of heaven,
being the pontifex maximus. On the western side of the avenue,
over against the Tien tan, is the Sien JSung tan, or altar to Earth,
as it may be translated, though it is professedly dedicated to the
deified monarch Shinnung. the supposed inventor of agriculture.
This altar stands in an inclosure about two miles in circum¬
ference, and really consists of four separate altars : to the spirits
j/ tne heavens, those of the earth, to the planet Jupiter, and to
Shinnung The worship at this eltar is performed at the veinal
equinox, at whicn time the ceremony of ploughing a part of the
inclosure is performed b}" the emperor, assisted by members of
the Board of Rites. A little west of this inclosure is an artificial
pool, dug in 1771, called the Hell Lung tan or Black Dragop
66
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
pool, dedicated to the spirits of the waters, where his majesty
performs special supplications whenever the country suffers from
drought or deluge. These three areas occupy a large part of
the southern city, and east of the altar to Heaven, is an extensive
space devoted to the rearing of -v egetables. These chasms in
the settled portions of Peking, including that part of the Imperial
city occupied by the Western Park, render it improbable that the
population of the Chinese metropolis much exceeds two millions,
including those dwelling in the suburbs around each gate.
The park of Yuen Ming yvcn (i. e. Round and Splendid gar¬
dens), so celebrated in the history of the foreign embassies to
Peking, lies about eight miles north-west of the city, and is esti¬
mated to contain twelve square miles. The country in this
direction rises into gentle hills, and advantage has been taken of
the natural surface in the arrangement of the different parts of
the ground, so that the whole presents every variety of hill and
dale, woodlands and lawns, interspersed with canals, pools, rivu¬
lets, and lakes, the banks of which have been thrown up or diver¬
sified in imitation of the free hand of nature. Some parts are
tilled, groves and tangled thickets occur here and there, and
places are purposely left wild in order to contrast the better with
the highly cultivated precincts of a palace, or to form a rural path¬
way to a retired summer-house. Barrow says there are no less
than thirty distinct places of residence for the emperor or his minis¬
ters within this park, around which are many houses occupied by
eunuchs and servants, each constituting a little village. The
principal hall of audience stands upon a granite platform, and is
surrounded by a peristyle of wooden columns upon which the
roof rests; the length is one hundred and ten feet, the breadth
forty-two, and the height twenty. Within the outer colonnade is
another serving for the walls of the room, having intercolumnia-
tions of brick-work about four feet high, and lattice-work covered
with oiled paper, so contrived as to be thrown open in pleasant
weather. Above the lattices, but between the top of the columns
and g)ing around the hall, is an elaborately carved frieze gaily
decorated ; the ceiling, also, is whimsically painted, and cor¬
responds to the inclination of the roof. The throne stands in a
rec3ss at the head of the hall, and is made of wood beautifully
carved. The general appearance of this and other buildings in
this inclosure is shabby, and neglect in so changeable a clii.ate
GARDENS OF YUEN MING YUEN.
67
soon destroys all the varnish and wood work upon which the
Chinese bestow their chief pains.*
" It was at a place called Hai-tien," says Davis, " in the
immediate vicinity of these gardens, that the strange scene
occurred which terminated in the dismissal of the embassy of
1816. On his arrival there, about daylight in the morning, with
the commissioners and a few other gentlemen, the ambassador
was drawn to one of the emperor's temporary residences by an
invitation from Duke Ho, as he was called, the imperial rela¬
tive charged with the conduct of the negotiations. After passing
through an open court, where were assembled a vast number of
grandees in their dresses of ceremony, they were shown into a
wretched room, and soon encompassed by a well-dressed crowd,
among whom were princes of the blood by dozens, wearing yel¬
low girdles. With a childish and unmannerly curiosity, con¬
sistent enough with the idle and disorderly life which many of
them are said to lead, they examined the persons and dress of the
gentlemen without ceremony ; while these, tired with their sleep¬
less journey, and disgusted at the behavior of the celestials,
turned their backs upon them, and laid themselves down to rest.
Duke Ho soon appeared, and surprised the ambassador by urging
him to proceed directly to an audience of the emperor, who was
waiting for him. His lordship in vain remonstrated that to¬
morrow had been fixed for the first audience, and that tired and
dusty as they all were at present, it would be worthy neither of
the emperor nor of himself to wait on his majesty in a manner
so unprepared. He urged, too, that he was unwell, and required
immediate rest. Duke Ho vecame more and more pressing, and
at length forgot himself so far as to grasp the ambassador's arm
violently, and one of the others stepped up at the same time.
His lordship immediately shook them ofF, and the gentlemen
crowded about him ; while the highest indignation was expressed
at such treatment, and a determined resolution to proceed to no
audience this morning. The ambassador at length retired, with
the appearance of satisfaction on the part of Duke Ho, that the
audience should take place to-morrow. There is every reason,
however, to suppose that this person had been largely bribed by
* Chinese Repository, Vol. II., pp. 432, 4S1. Hyacinthe, Ville de Pekin
Barrow's Travels. Magaillans.
68
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
the heads of the Canton local government to frustiate the views
of the embassy, and prevent an audience of the emperor. The
mission, at least, was on Its way back in the afternoon of the
same day."*
The principal part of the provisions required for the supply of
this immense city comes from the southern provinces, or from the
flocks reared in the northern part of Chihli. It has no manufac¬
tures or trade, and the adjacent plain produces but a small
amount of the food required. The government of Peking differs
from that of other cities in the empire, the affairs of the depart¬
ment being separated from it, and administered by officers resid¬
ing in the four circuits into which it is divided. " A minister of
one of the Boards is appointed superintendent of the city, and
subordinate to him is a fuyin or mayor. Their duties consist in
having charge of the metropolitan domain, for the purpose of ex¬
tending good government to its four divisions. They have under
them two distinct magistrates, each of whom rules half the city ;
none of these officers are subordinate to the provincial governor
but carry affairs, which they cannot determine, to the emperor
They preside or assist at many of the festivals observed in the
capital, superintend the military police, and hold the courts
which take cognisance of the offences committed there."f
The thoroughfares leading across Peking, from one gate to the
other, are broad, unpaved avenues, more than a hundred feet
wide, and which appear still wider from the little elevation of the
buildings ; the side streets are narrow lanes, as is the case with
most of the streets in Chinese cities. The inhabitants of the
avenues are required to keep them well sprinkled in summer;
but in rainy weather they are almost impassable from the mud,
the level surface of the ground preventing rapid drainage. The
crowds which throng these avenues, some engaged in various
callings, along the sides or in the middle of the way, and others
Dusily passing and repassing, together with the gay appearance
of the sign-boards, and an air of business in the shops, render
the great streets of the Chinese metropolis very bustling, and to
a foreigner, a very interesting scene. The buildings in the ave¬
nues are shops, whose fronts are so contrived as to be entirely
opened when necessary; they are constru 3ted of panels or
* The Chinese, Vol. I., page 367.
f Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., page 181.
STREE TS OF PEKING.
69
shutters fih.ing into grooves, and secured to a row of strong posts
on the inside, which set into mortices. At night, when the shop
is closed, nothing is seen from without; but in the day-time,
when this movable front is taken away, and the goods exposed
in the entrance, the scene becomes more animated. The sign¬
boards are broad planks, fixed in stone bases on each side of the
shop-front, and reaching to the eaves, or above them ; the cha¬
racters are large and of different colors, and in order to attract
more notice, the signs are often hung with various colored flags,
bearing inscriptions setting forth the excellence of the goods.
The appearance of a street thus trimmed is very gay, and the
sides of the houses themselves are not less brilliant, being painted
blue or green, mixed with gold. At the intersection of the ave¬
nues are placed honorary portals or tablets, called pc« lit, erected
in memory of distinguished persons.
The police of the city is materially assisted in its duties by the
gates, which arc placed at the heads of the streets. During the
night the great thoroughfares are usually quiet; they are lighted
a little by the lanterns which hang before the doors of the houses,
but generally are dark and cheerless. In the metropolis, as in
all Chinese cities, the air in the lanes and streets is constantly
polluted by the stench arising from private vessels and public
reservoirs for urine and all kinds of offal, which is all carefully
collected by scavengers, and carried out of the gates in the same
boxed carts they bring their vegetables to market. By this ex¬
change of raw material for the manufactured article, although
the streets are kept clean, they are never sweet; but habit ren¬
ders the people almost insensible to this as well as many other
nuisances. Carriages, or rather carts, sedans, and horses, are
all used for locomotion, and are to be hired in all the thorough¬
fares ; the Manchu women ride astride, and their number in the
streets, both riding and walking, imparts a peculiarity to the
crowd, which is not seen in cities farther south.
The various tribes in Central Asia have representatives among
the throng, and their different costumes add to the liveliness ot
;he scene. The environs beyond the suburbs are occupied with
groves, private mansions, hamlets, and cultivated fields, in or
near which are trees, so that the city, viewed from a distance,
appears as if situated in a thick forest. It is colder in winter
than any other place in the same latitude, and the poor, who re.
70
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
sort thither from other parts of the province, form a very needy
and troublesome part of the population, sometimes rising in large
mobs and pillaging the granaries to supply themselves with food,
but more commonly perishing in great numbers from cold and
hunger. Its peace is always an object of considerable solicitude
with the imperial government, not only as it may involve the
personal safety of the emperor, but still more from the disquieting
effect it may have upon the administration of the empire, in im¬
peding the. efficiency of its orders. The possession of this capital
by an invading force is more nearly equivalent to the control of
the country than it would be in most European kingdoms, but not
as much as it would be in Siam, Burmah and other native Asiatic
states. The good influences which may be exerted upon the na¬
tion from the metropolis are likewise correspondingly great, and
the purification of this source of contamination, and liberalizing
this centre of power, will confer a vast benefit upon the Chinese
people.
Besides the capital, Chihli contains several other large cities,
among which Pauting fu, the residence of the governor of the
province, and Tientsin fu, the entrepot of the trade which comes
through the Pei ho coastwise, are the most important. The for¬
mer lies about eighty miles south-west of the capital, on the
great road leading to Shansi. The whole department is described
as a pleasant, well cultivated, and populous region; it is well
watered by various tributaries of the Pei ho, and possesses two or
three small lakes.
Tientsin fu is the largest port on the coast above Shanghai, and
the only one of importance not open to foreign trade. Owing,
however, to the shallowness of the gulf of Pechele towards its
western shores, and to a bar at the mouth of the Pei ho, over
which at neap tide only three or four feet of water flow, the
port is rendered almost inaccessible to foreign vessels, and would
be of little avail for trade if it was thrown open. Its size and im¬
portance are owing more to its being the terminus of the Grtnd
Canal, where all the produce and taxes for the use of the capital
are brought, than to the extent of its maritime trade. Mr. Gutzlaff,
who visited Tientsin in 1831, describes it as a bur,tling place.
" All the avenues were thronged, and in the shops—generally
well filled with Chinese, but sometimes also with European com¬
modities—trade seemed to be brisk. Ihe town, which stretches
TIENTSIN FU AND THE PEI HO
71
8cver< 1 miles along the banks of the river, equals Canton in the
bustle of its busy population, and surpasses it in the importance
of its native trade. The streets are unpaved, and the houses are
built of mud, but within they are furnished with accommodations
in the best Chinese style. The trade is quite extensive ; more
than five hundred junks arrive annually from the southern porta
of China, and from Cochinchina and Siam. The river is so
thronged with junks, and the mercantile transactions give such
life and motion to the scene, as strongly to remind one of Liver¬
pool. As the land in this vicinity yields few productions, and
the capital swallows up immense stores, the importations required
to supply the wants of the people must be very great."* The
approach to this city from the eastward indicates its importance,
and the change from the sparsely populated country lying along
the banks of the Pei ho, to the dense crowds on shore, and the
fleets of boats before the city, adds greatly to the vivacity of the
scene. " If fine buildings and striking localities are required to
give interest to a scene," remarks Mr. Ellis, " this has no claims ;
but, on the other hand, if the gradual crowding of junks till
they become innumerable, a vast population, buildings, though
not elegant, yet regular and peculiar, careful and successful cul¬
tivation, can supply these deficiencies, the entrance to Tientsin
will not be without attractions to the traveller." The stacks of
salt near the city along the river arrest the attention of the voy¬
ager, and it is not improbable that the immense quantity of this
article collected at this city is furnished as a tax. The barges
of the English embassy were two hours in passing the town, and
the observers judged it to extend a mile or more back from the
river ; it probably contains nearly half a million of inhabitants,
and its position renders it one of the most important cities in the
empire, and the key of the capital.
The banks of the Pei ho, near the ocean, are flat and sterile,
their inhabitants poor and squalid, and their habitations mean,
dirty, and dilapidated. The scenery and people improve as one
advances up the meandering channel and approaches Tientsin,
which is still further bettered from thence up to Tung chau.
In some parts of its course the Pei ho is higher than the adjacent
country, which is also true of some of the other streams thai
* Chinese Repository, Vol. I., page 185.
72
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
cross the Plain. Near the embouchure of the river is Ta-ku, a
small town, chiefly noticeable as the spot where the first inter¬
view between the Chinese and English plenipotentiaries was held,
on the breaking out of the war in 1840 ; but the village at the
mouth of the river is Tungku, and between the two is St-ku. The
general aspect of this province is cheerless, and the soil, between
Peking and the ocean, so poor as barely to support its inhabitants.
In the southern and western sections it is less monotonous and
more fertile.
One of the towns of note, in the journey from Tungku to the
capital, a distance of 120 miles in a direct line, but 182 if all
the sinuosities of the river be followed, is Tung chau, where all
boats unload their passengers and cargoes, and proceed by a
broad avenue twelve miles long to the capital. The streets of
Tung chau are straight and paved, with a raised foot-path on their
sides, but for size and importance the town is inferior to Tientsin
fu. Another city of note in Chihli is Siuenhwa fu, situated be¬
tween the branches of the Great Wall. This town was visited
by Timkowski in 1820, who remarks, " the crenated wall which
surrounds it is thirty feet high, and puts one in mind of that of
the Kremlin, and resembles those of several towns in Russia; it
consists of two thin parallel brick walls, the intermediate space
being filled with clay and sand. The wall is flanked with towers.
We passed through three gates to enter the city; the first is
covered with iron nails ; at the second is the guard-house ; we
thence proceeded along a broad street, bordered with shops of
hardware; we went through several large and small streets,
which are broad and clean ; but, considering its extent, the city
is thinly peopled."
The department of Chahar, or Tsakhar, lies beyond the Great
Wall, north and west of the province, a wild, mountainous and
thinly settled country, chiefly inhabited by Mongol shepherds of
the Tsakhar tribe, who keep the flocks and herds of the empe¬
ror, and who are considered as among his most faithful subjects.
These shepherds supply a great part of the animal food consumed
at Peking.
There are several lakes in this province, the largest of which,
the Peh hu in the south-western part, connects with the Pei ho
through the river Hu-to. The various branches of the former
stream afford water communication through most parts of Chihli,
province of shantung.
73
and lead into the adjacent provinces of Shansi and Honan. The
Pei ho, or White river, is the largest stream between the Yellow
river and tht Great Wall, and drains all that part of the plain
east of Shansi and south of the edge of the table land. It enters
the sea by two channels, which do not unite until above Tientsin,
and the principal part of the trade is on the southern branch ;
this diversion of the waters greatly interferes with the naviga¬
tion, while the little impetus they receive in their course through
the plain is insufficient to carry the silt far beyond the mouth of
the river. On one of the northern rivers, called the Jell ho, or
Hot stream, which flows south from Chahar into the gulf of
Pechele, is the emperor's summer retreat; it lies nearly due
north of Taku about 170 miles. The route there from Peking,
and the various objects of interest to be seen at that place, are
familiar to the readers of Staunton, and the chief interest con¬
nected with it is associated with Macartney's visit in 1793.*
The principal productions of Chihll are millet and wheat,
many kinds of pulse and fruits, and a little rice. One cause of
the poverty of the soil in the eastern portion is probably owing
to the " nitrous exhalations" which Du Halde speaks of. Coal
is found in the province, and among Qther modes of using it in
the capital, that of mixing the dust with a small proportion of
clay, and working it into cakes, is common. Among the mineral
productions, marble and granite occur, both of which are used
for architectural purposes ; also some kinds of precious stones,
and clay suitable for bricks and chinaware.
The province of Shantung (i. e. East of the Hills) has a
longer coast-line than Chihll, its maritime border being more
than half its whole circuit. It lies south of the gulf of Pechele,
south-east of Chihll, north of Kiangsu, and borders on Honan,
where the Yellow river divides the two. Most of its area is
level, the only hilly part being the peninsular portion, where the
highest points rise too high to admit of cultivation. Its area is
65,184 square miles, or about the same as that of the states of
Georgia or Missouri; the population is 28,958,764, which is an
average of 444 to a square mile ; the United Kingdom contains
27£ millions, and Scotland, Ireland and Wales together equal the
area of Shantung. The Grand Canal traverses this province
* Chinese Repository, Vol XI., pp. 92, 438.
fi
74
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
from Lintsing chau in the north-wes;, in a south-easterly direc*
tion through the western districts, and adds greatly to its import¬
ance. The peninsular shores are generally bold, and full of inden¬
tations, some of which are excellent harbors, but there is no sea¬
port town of any importance along the entire coast; no river
of any size disembogues within the province, and on each side
of the peninsula the waters are shallow. Tangchau fu, on the
northern shores, is the largest. Barrow says, the hills along the
shore have a remarkably uniform, conical shape, resembling the
bonnets worn by officers. The hilly regions of this part are fer¬
tile and well watered, but not as thickly settled as those of the
plain.
Speaking of the appearance of the country, coming from the
north, Davis says, " The flat country through which we had
hitherto journeyed all the way from Peking, at this autumnal
season, had proved very unhealthy to many of our number; but
we were soon to perceive an alteration at the point where the
Chali ho, i. e. river of Flood-gates—the Grand Canal—com¬
mences its course through a region where the inequalities of
surface render those artificial aids necessary. Everything ap¬
peared to wear a more prosperous and wealthy aspect as we
advanced into Shantung, and upon the whole a marked improve¬
ment took place generally as we proceeded southward." This
province is one of the most celebrated in Chinese history, partly
from its having been the scene of many remarkable events in
their annals, but more particularly from its containing the birth¬
place of the sage Confucius, and his disciple Mencius, whose
fame has gone over the earth. The tomb of the former, who
died B. c. 479, at Kiuhfau, is a majestic monument, embosomed
in a forest of oaks, whose gloomy shades are well fitted for nou¬
rishing the respect and homage paid his memory. In an account
of a missionary voyage along the promontory, in 1835, Mr. Ste¬
vens* remarks that on one occasion he and his companion met,
at the entrance of a village, two elders who declined to receive
their tracts, saying, "We have seen your books, and neither
desire nor approve of them. In the instructions of our sage
we have sufficient, and they are far superior to any foreign
doctrines you can bring." The inhabitants of the province are
* Chinese -eposit^ry, Vol. IV., page 317
MOUNTAINS AND CITIES OF SHANTUNG.
75
proim of their nativity on this score, much as the woman of Sa¬
maria was because Jacob's cattle had drunk water at the well
of Sychar.
One of the highest mountains in China, called Tai shan,
or Great mount, is situated in this province ; it is the great ren¬
dezvous of devotees, and every sect has there its temples and
idols, scattered everywhere up and down its sides, in which
priests chant their prayers, and practise a thousand superstitions
to attract pilgrims to their shrines. During the spring, the roads
leading to the Tai shan are obstructed with long caravans of
people coming to accomplish their vows, to supplicate the dei¬
ties for health or riches, or to solicit the joys of heaven in ex¬
change for the woes of earth. A missionary mentions having
met with pilgrims going to it, one party of whom consisted
of old dames, who had with infinite fatigue and discomfort come
from the south of Honan, about three hundred miles, to " remind
their god of the long abstinence from flesh and fish they had ob¬
served during the course of their lives, and solicit, as a recom¬
pense, a happy transmigration for their souls." The youngest
of this party was 78, and the oldest 90 years.*
The capital of the province is Tsinan fu, but it has not lately
been visited by foreigners—it lying off the great route of travel
on the canal. Its manufactures are coarse fabrics made of wild
silk, and ornaments of liu-K, a kind of vitreous compound made
to resemble serpentine, jade, ice, and other things. The capital
of Tsining chau lies on the canal, and is described by Davis as
an opulent and flourishing place, judging from the gilded and
carved shops, temples, and public offices in the suburbs, which
stretch along the eastern banks of the canal ; just beyond the
town, the canal is only a little raised above the level of the ex¬
tensive marshes on each side, and further south the swamps
increase rapidly : when Amherst's embassy passed, the whole
country, as far as the eye could reach, displayed the effects of
a most extensive recent inundation. Davis adds, " The waters
I 1
were on a level with those of the canal, and there was no need
of dams, which were themselves nearly under water, and sluices
for discharging the superfluous water were occasionally observed.
Clumps of large trees, cottages, and towers, were to be seen on
* Annales, IS44, t jme XVI., page 421.
76
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
all sides half under water, and deserted by the inhabitants ; the
number of the latter led to the inference that they were pro¬
vided as places of refuge in case of inundation, which must be
here very frequent. Wretched villages occurred frequently on
the right hand bank, along which the tracking path was in some
places so completely undermined as to give way at every step,
obliging them to lay down hurdles of reeds to afford a passage."*
One of the most important towns is Lint-sing chau, on the Yu
ho, at its junction with the canal, lying in the midst of a beauti¬
ful country, full of gardens and cultivated grounds, interspersed
with buildings. This place is the depot for much of the produce
brought on the canal, and is consequently a rendezvous for large
fleets of boats and barges. Near it is a pagoda in good repair,
about 150 feet high, the basement of which is built of granite,
and the other stories of glazed bricks. The city of Tangchau
fu, lying on the northern shore of the promontory, has some
trade with Liautung and Corea, but the commerce of Shantung
is less than any of the other maritime provinces.
The harbor was visited by Lord Macartney in 1793, when the
prefect of the city came off to the Lion ; and again by Capt.
Elliot in 1840, to procure a supply of provisions for the ships of
war. The officers of the place were much alarmed, lest his
visit was a hostile one, and preparations had been made to resist
an attack by collecting troops and building forts. The build¬
ings do not occupy half the space inclosed by the walls ; and
the harbor can be entered only at high water.f The shores east
of Tangchau fu, near Weihai wei, were visited by Messrs. Med-
hurst and Stevens in 1835, and the country described as delight¬
ful, affording a pleasing succession of hill and dale, fertilized
with streams, and densely inhabited. The soil in many places
poorly repaid the labor of tillage, but wherever the travellers
passed evinced the diligence of the peasantry ; who, on their part,
presented, amidst all their wretchedness, many pleasing traits,
good-humoredly offering to divide their scanty meals with the
travellers, and receiving the books offered them. The account
of their rambles over the country between Weihai wei and Kf-
shan so, and of the treatment they received in Shantung
generally, is highly interesting.
* Sketches of China, Vol. I., page 257.
f Bingham's Expedition to China, Vol. I., pages 255-279.
CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.
77
Mr. Stevens observes, speaking of the towns, "that all things
mark decay rather than growth; everywhere there are lookou*
towers on the hills fallen to ruins, forts dismantled, or nearly so;
and long lines of mud fortifications inclosing many acres of land,
some of which are now turned to cultivated fields without a
building, and others inclose a hamlet, the miserable remnant of
a fortress." This shows rather the peaceful state of the coun¬
try, while the cultivation indicates that the neglect is not owing
to a decrease of population. The remarks of Mr. Stevens, on
his visit to this province, give a lively description of the condi¬
tion of the people. " These poor people know nothing, from
youth to old age, but the same monotonous round of toils for a
subsistence, and never see, never hear anything of the world
around them. Improvements in the useful arts and sciences,
and an increase of the conveniences of life, are never known
among them. In the place where their fathers lived and died,
do they live, and toil, and die, to be succeeded by another gene¬
ration in the same manner. Few of the comforts of life can be
found among them ; their houses consisted in general of granite
and thatched roofs, but neither table, chair, nor floor, nor any arti¬
cle of furniture could be seen in the houses of the poorest. Every
man had his pipe, and tea was in most dwellings. They were
industriously engaged, some in ploughing, others in reaping, some
carrying out manure, and others bringing home produce; num¬
bers were collected on the thrashing-floors, winnowing, sifting
and packing wheat, rice, millet, peas, and in drying maize, all
with the greatest diligence. Here, too, were their teams for
ploughing yoked together in all possible ludicrous combinations ;
sometimes a cow and an ass ; or a cow, an ox and an ass ; or a
cow and two asses ; or four asses ; and all yoked abreast. All
the women had small feet, and wore a pale and sallow aspect, and
their miserable, squalid appearance excited an indelible feeling
of compassion for their helpless lot. They were not always shy,
but were generally ill clad and ugly, apparently laboring in the
fields like the men. But on several occasions, young ladies
clothed in gay silks and satins, riding astride upon bags on don¬
keys, were seen. No prospect of melioration for either men or
women appears but in the liberalizinc; and happy influences of
Christianity."*
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp., 30S-335. Mfdhurst"? China,
Chaps. XV.-XIX.
78
tiie middle kingdom.
Shantung is well watered ; numerous small streams run sea«
ivards from the hills in the east, and tributaries of the Yellow
and White rivers flow through the western and southern parts.
Coal is abundant, and largely exported ; iron mines are worked
to a considerable extent. Among other productions are natural
calculi obtained from the stomachs of cows and goats, which are
highly prized in Chinese pharmacy. Millet, rice, wheat, and
maize—the former of which furnishes the principal article of
food—are abundant; water-fowl and fish plentiful, and the
fruits numerous : the pears are largely exported, but their
flavor is inferior to their size, which is said to reach the weight
of eight or ten pounds. Hams made from dogs are extensively
cured in Shantung, and form an article of export.*
The province of Shansi (i. e. West of the Hills) lies between
Chilli 1 and Shensi, and north of Honan ; the Yellow river bounds
it on the west and partly on the south, and the Great Wall forms
most of the northern frontier. This province is the original seat
of the Chinese people ; and many of the places mentioned and
scenes recorded in their ancient annals, occurred within its bor¬
ders. It lies on the western limits of the Plain, and its rugged
surface presents a striking contrast, to the level tracts in Chihli
and Shantung, although most of the lowlands are represented as
being well cultivated and terraced. The northern and southern
districts exhibit great diversity in their animal, mineral, and vege¬
table productions. Some of the favorite imperial hunting-grounds
are in the north ; and in the coal, iron, cinnabar, copper, marble,
lapis-lazuli, jasper, salt, and other minerals which it affords, the
inhabitants find sources of wealth. The principal grains are
wheat and millet, besides a large variety of vegetables and fruits,
including grapes. The rivers are numerous, but not large, and
almost every one of them is a tributary of the Yellow river.
The Fan lio, about 300 miles long, is the largest, and empties
into it near the south-western corner of the province, after drain¬
ing the central part.
The capital, Taiyuen fu, lies on the eastern bank of the Fan
ho; and though the palaces of the princes who formerly swayed
their sceptre here are fallen into decay, the city is still populous,
and contains manufactures of felt carpets. There is little to re«
* Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., page 557.
province of hon-ant
79
mark respecting this province, and much of the information pos¬
sessed concerning it has been derved from the letters of Romish
missionaries, who have a seminary in its borders. They describe
some of the passes among the mountains as truiy dangerous, ano
the nature of the country generally such as might be expected
on tht ascent to the high table land of Mongolia. The charac¬
ter of the inhabitants partakes somewhat of the roughness of
their country ; and in their manners, dwellings, and dress, they
are less polished and comfortable than the lowlanders of Kiangsu
or Honan. The great roads from Peking to the south-west and
west pass through most of the large towns in this province.
The province of Honan (i. e. South of the River) comprises
some of the most fertile parts of the Plain, and, on account of its
abundance and central position, is sometimes called Chung Hwa or
the Middle Flower. It is bounded north by Shensi and Chihli,
east by Nganhwui, south and south-west by Hupeh, and west by
Shensi. The Yellow river flows through the northern side of it,
and all the other streams within its borders are branches of that
river, or of the Han ltiang, a tributary of the Great river. The
surface of the country is level. A range of low hills runs
through it in a south-easterly direction, forming the water shed
of these streams; and in the western part some points rise to
high peaks. Honan produces food for the support of its own
population, and large quantities for exportation to the capital and
elsewhere, besides silk, cotton, hemp or flax, tutcnague, cinnabar,
mica, and oilier minerals. There are no lakes in the province,
and almost every part of it is susceptible of cultivation ; exten¬
sive forests in the western districts supply timber for building
and other purposes.
Kaifung fu, the capital, is situated about a league from the
southern bank of the Yellow river, whose bed is here elevated
above the adjacent country, and consequently in danger from the
freshes and bursting away of the river's banks. It is an ancient
city, and the efforts to protect it from the waters of the river by
strengthening the banks have no doubt contributed, during a
succession of ages, to elevate the whole bed to its present danger¬
ous height. The dykes in the vicinity of the city extend many
leagues, and are under the superintendence of the governor of
the rivers. During the period of the Manchu conquest, Kaifung
was defended by a loyal general, who, seeing no other resource
80
lliK MIDDLE KINGDOM.
against the invaders, broke down the embankments to drown
them, by which manoeuvre upwards of 300,000 of the inhabitants
perished. The city has since been rebuilt, but has not attained
to its ancient splendor, if credit can be given to the Statistics of
Kaifung, in which it is described as having been six leagues
in circuit in the twelfth century, approached by five roads,
and containing numerous palaces, gardens, and government
houses. It has undergone various fortunes, having been over¬
flown fifteen times, and sustained eleven sieges ; a repetition of
the former calamity occurred two or three years since, which
destroyed part of the city, and dispersed the inhabitants ; some
of them begged their way as far as Canton, travelling in small
parties, and obtaining a precarious living by exhibiting monkeys
and performing curious tricks. Kaifung is noted as the principal
scat of the Jews in China, of whose present condition and num¬
bers little is known, and also as the capital of Fuhhi, the founder
of the Chinese monarchy.
The province of Iviangsu is named from the first syllable of
the capital, Iviangning fu, joined to Su, part of the name of the
richest city, Suchau fu. It lies along the seacoast, in a north¬
westerly direction, having Shantung on the north, Nganhwui on
the west, and Chehkiang on the south. The area is about 45,000
sq. m., consisting, with little interruption, of level tracts inter¬
spersed with lakes and marshes, through which flow their two
noble rivers, which as they are the source of the extraordinary
fertility of this region, so also render it obnoxious to destructive
inundations, or cover the low portions with irreclaimable marshes.
The region of Kiangnan, as this and the next province are still
called, is where the beauty and riches of China are most amply
displayed ; " and whether we consider," remarks GutzlaiT, " their
agricultural resources, their great manufactures, their various
productions, their excellent situation on the banks of these two
large streams, their many canals and tributary rivers, these two
provinces doubtless constitute the best territory of China." The
staple productions are grain, cotton, tea, silk, and rice, and most
kinds of manufactures are here carried to the greatest perfection.
The people have the reputation of possessing the greatest intelli¬
gence, and although the province has long ceased to possess a
court, its cities still present a gayer aspect, and are adorned with
better structures than a ay others in the empire.
PROVINCE OF vIANGSU.
81
Probably 110 other country of equal extent is better watered
than Kiangsu. The Great river, the Yellow river, the Grand
canal, with many smaller streams and canals, and a succession
of lakes along the line of the canal, afford easy communication
through every part. The sea-coast, between the rivers, is low,
and is rendered arable by constructing dykes, to prevent she
overflow of the ocean. There are no hills of consequence in the
province. The largest lake is the Hungtsih, about 200 miles in
circumference. South of it is the Kauyu lake, and on the east¬
ern side of the canal opposite is Pauying lake, both of them
broad sheets of water. Numerous small lakes lie around them.
Tai hu, or Great lake, on the south, lies partly in Kiangsu and
partly in Chehkiang, and is the largest body of water in the
provinces, next to Tungting hu. Its borders are skirted by
romantic scenery, and its bosom broken by numerous islets,
affording convenient resort to the fishermen who get their subsist¬
ence from its waters.
Kiangning fu, better known abroad as Nanking, is the capital
of the province, and well situated for the metropolis of a kingdom ;
it was once the most celebrated city in the empire, whether
regard be had to its extent, its buildings, its manufactures, or the
character of its inhabitants. It has again been rendered famous
from its being the place where the English compelled the Chi¬
nese to submit to their terms of peace in August, 1842. Every
opportunity of examining the place and its environs was improved
by the officers of the Expedition, and from their observations it
is evident that its ancient size and influence have much dimi¬
nished ; and had it not been well situated for trade it would pro¬
bably ere this have dwindled to decay. One of them says,
" There are remains of an ancient or outer wall which can be
traced for about thirty-five miles, but how much of this immense
space was formerly occupied by houses cannot now well be
determined. The walls of the present city are not nearly so
great, and of the space inclosed within them perhaps not more
than one-eighth is actually occupied by the town."* Davis
remarks the striking resemblance between Rome and Nanking,
the area within the walls of both being partially inhabited, and
rui'ns of buildings lying here and there among the cultivated
fields, he melancholy remains of departed glory.
* Voyages of the Nemesis, page 444.
82
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The part occupied by the Manchus is separated by a cross
wall from the Chinese town. The great extent of the wall ren¬
ders the defence of the city difficult, besides which it is over¬
looked from the hills on the east, from one of which, the Chung
shan, a wide view of the surrounding country can be obtained.
On this eastern face are three gates; the land near the two
towards the river is marshy, and the gates are approached on
stone causeys. A deep canal or ditch runs up from the river
directly under the walls on the west, serving to strengthen the
approaches on that side. According to Ellis, who rather under¬
estimates its population at 400,000, Nanking consists of four
rather wide and parallel avenues intersected by others of less
width. The avenues are not so broad as those of Peking, but
are on the whole clean, well-paved, and bordered with hand¬
somely furnished shops.
The ancient palaces have nearly disappeared, the only remark¬
able monuments of royalty, which remain being some sepulchral
statues situated not far from the walls. These statues are
near an ancient cemetery, which the visitors called the Tombs
of the Kings, and formed an avenue leading up to the sepulchres ;
they consisted of " gigantic figures like-warriors cased in a kind
of armor, standing on either side of the road, across which at
intervals large stone tablets are extended, supported by large
blocks of stone instead of pillars." Situated at some distance
from these statues are a number of rude colossal figures of
horses, elephants, and other animals, placed without any distinct
arrangement, whose purpose may have been originally to orna¬
ment particular tombs, but which have been scattered by other
hands. There is a peculiar antique Egyptian cast about them
all, and at the time of the visit, the high grass which grew around
added still further an appearance of venerable age.*
Nothing has made Nanking more celebrated abroad than the
Porcelain Tower, called by the Chinese the Recompensing Favor
Monastery, which stands pre-eminent above all other similar
buildings in China for its completeness and elegance, the quality
of the material of which it is built, and the quantity of gilding
with which its interior is embellished. Its form is octagonal,
divided into nine equal stories, the circumference of the lowei
* Voyages of the Nemesis, page 452.
porcelain tower at nanking.
83
story being one hundred and twenty feet, decreasing gradually
to the top. Its base rests upon a solid foundation of brickwork
ten feet high, up which a flight of twelve steps leads into the
tower, whence a spiral staircase of one hundred and ninety
steps carries the visitor to the summit, two hundred and sixty-one
feet from the ground. The outer face is covered with slabs of
glazed porcelain of various colors, principally green, red, yellow,
and white ; the body of the edifice is brick. At every story
there is a projecting roof, covered with green tiles, and a bell
suspended from each corner. The saloons are more gaud)- than
elegant, and are filled with a great number of little gilded images
placed in niches. This unique structure was completed a. d.
1430, having been nineteen years building.
According to the Chinese account, one of their princes erected
a monastery on this spot in the second century, and that having
been demolished, the emperor Kienwan rebuilt it about a. d. 372,
and deposited a precious relic of Budha within it. In the seventh
century, it was again enlarged, and called the monastery of Ce¬
lestial Felicity, but was destroyed by fire when the Mongols
reigned over China. At length Yungloh, who moved his court
from Nanking to Peking in 1411, recommenced its erection, "in
order to recompense the great favor of her majesty, the august
empress," but did not live to finish it; his son, when it was done,
called it the First Pagoda. Its roof was overlaid with copper ;
152 bells, in all, were suspended from the top and corners, and
128 lamps hung on the outside. The entire cost is stated at
$3,313,978. In the top were suspended a number of pearls,
books, money, and pieces of silk, to ward off evil influences. In
1801, " the god of Thunder, while expelling a strange monster,
chased him to this place, when instantly three parts of the nine
stories of the pagoda were demolished ; but the strength of the
god was so awfully stern, and the influence of the Bjdhistic doc-
trines was so boundless, that the whole building was not de¬
stroyed." The damages done by the "god of Tnundor" were
repaired by government. From the summit, a mast rises thirty
feet, which is surrounded by an immense iron coil, appearing
like rings from below ; a gilded ball rests upon the peak.
It is situated beyond the southern wall of the city, in the midst
of the grounds attached to the monastery, which are about three
miles in circuit, and the view from the summit amply repays the
«4
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
labor of the ascent.* The country around is beautifully diver,
sified by hill and dale, hamlets and fields, while yet in some
parts within the walls it looks partially deserted. The enter¬
prise and resources of Hungwu, the founder of this city, must
have been great, to have enabled him to lay out and build a city
of the size of Nanking, and impart to it the reputation it has
since had ; for it was the metropolis only half a century.
Nanking has extensive manufactories of fine satin and crape,
and the cotton cloth which foreigners call Nankeen derives its
name from this city ; paper and ink of fine quality, and beauti¬
ful artificial flowers of pith paper, are produced here. In distant
parts of the empire, any fabric or article which is superior to the
common run of workmanship, is said to be from Nanking, though
the speaker means only that the thing in question is made in that
region. Nanking is renowned, too, for its scholars and literary
character, as well as manufactures, and in this particular it stands
among the first places of learning in the country. It is the resi¬
dence of the governor-general of three provinces, and conse¬
quently the centre of a large concourse of officials, educated
men, and students seeking for promotion ; which, with its large
libraries and bookstores, all indicating and assisting literary pur¬
suits, and the superior accuracy and elegance of the editions
published here, combine to give it this distinguished place. In
the monastery on Golden island, near Chinkiang fu, a very ex¬
tensive library was found by the English officers, but there was
no haste in examining its contents, as they intended to have car¬
ried off the whole collection with them, had not the peace pre¬
vented.
The city of Suchau now exceeds Nanking in size and riches.
It is situated on islands lying in Great lake, and this sheet of
water is of such extent as to afford water communication along its
shores to most parts of the department. The walls of the city
'are about ten miles in circumference ; outside of them are four
suburbs, one of which is said to extend ten miles each way, be¬
sides which there is an immense floating population. The whole
space includes so many canals and pools connected with the
Grand canal and the lake, that it is hard to say whether the land
* Voyages of the Nemesis, page 450. Chinese Repository, Vols. XIII.,
page 261 ; and I , page 257.
SUCHAU FU AND CHINKIANG FU.
65
or the water predominates. The whole population cannot be fal
from two millions, including all that live in what is called the
city of Suchau. It lies north-west of Shanghai, the way lying
through a continual range of villages and cities ; the environs
are highly cultivated, producing cotton, silk, rice, wheat, fruits,
and vegetables.
The Chinese regard it as one of their most beautiful and rich¬
est cities, and have a saying, " that to be happy on earth, one
must be born in Suchau, live in Canton, and die in Liauchau
for in the first are the handsomest people, in the second the rich¬
est luxuries, and in the third the best coffins. It has a high
reputation for the splendor of its buildings, the elegance of its
tombs, the picturesque scenery of its waters and gardens, the
politeness and intelligence of its inhabitants, and the beauty of
its women. Its manufactures of silk, linen and cotton fabrics,
and works in iron, ivory, wood, horn, glass, lackered-ware, paper,
and other articles, are the chief sources of its wealth and pros¬
perity ; the kinds of silk goods produced here surpass in variety
and richness those woven in any other place. Vessels can pro¬
ceed up to the city by several channels from the Yangtsz' kiang,
but all those of large burden anchor at Shanghai, or proceed up
the Wusung to Sungkiang fu, from whence there is a direct pas¬
sage to Suchau through the lake.
The whole country between the Great river and lake Tai is sa
cut up by natural and artificial channels, that it is not easy for
large craft to reach the city ; and Admiral Parker, who recon¬
noitred the passages leading to it in the steamer Medusa, lost so
much time from having taken a wrong channel, that he did not
reach the city, though the smoke of the steamer was descried
from the walls, causing no little consternation to its inhabitants.*
The rich city of Chinkiang fu, situated at the junction of the
Grand canal with the Yangtsz' kiang, has lately become well
known from its unhappy fate during the late war. Its position
renders it the key of the country, in respect to the transport of
taxes and provisions for Peking, for when the river and canal are
both blockaded, the supplies for the north and south are to a great
extent intercepted. The largest part of the supplies for the capi-
fal had passed across the river before the arrival of the English.
* Chinese Repository, Vols. XI., page 21G ; XIV., page 584.
80
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
In Limes of peace, the scenes at tljunction afford a good exhi¬
bition of the industry and trade of ti e people. Barrow describe?
" the multitude of ships of war, of burden and of pleasure, some
gliding down the stream, others sailing against it ; some moving
by oars, and others lying at anchor; the banks on either side
covered with towns and houses as far as the eye could reach; as
presenting a prospect more varied and cheerful than any that
had hitherto occurred. Nor was the canal, on the opposite side,
less lively. For two whole days we were continually passing
among fleets of vessels of different construction and dimensions."
The country in the vicinity is well cultivated, and described
by Capt. Loch as presenting a pleasing variety. " On the south¬
east, the hills broke into an undulating country clothed with ver¬
dure, and firs bordering upon small lakes. Beyond, stretched the
vast river we had just ascended. In the other direction, the land
in the foreground continued a low and swampy flat, leaving it
difficult at a little distance to determine which of the serpentine
channels was the main branch ; there were innumerable sheets
of water, separated by narrow mounds, so that the whole resem¬
bled a vast lake, intersected by causeways. Willows grew along
their sides, and dwellings were erected on small patches some¬
what higher than the common surface."* The battle at Chin-
kiang fu occurred the 21st July, 1842, and the resistance on the
part of the Manchu garrison showed that during two centuries of
peace they had not altogether lost their courage. The general
in command, Hailing, finding the city taken, seated himself in
',-iis office, in the midst of his papers, and set fire to the house,
making it his funeral pyre. His ashes, and those of his wife and
grandson, were afterwards collected, and an honorary fane or¬
dered to be erected to his memory at public expense.
Near the mouth of the Grand canal is Kin slum, or Golden I.,
a beautiful spot, covered with temples and monastic establish¬
ments. A pagoda crowns the summit, and there are many
pavilions and halls, of various sizes and degrees of elegance, on
its sides and at the base ; but latterly, the whole establishment
has considerably fallen to decay, from the withdrawal of govern¬
mental patronage. A similar establishment is found at Siung
than, or Silver I., below Chinkiang fu, but it is on a less exten«
* Events in China, p. 74.
POSITION OF SHANGHAI.
87
sive scale, though a beautiful spot. Priests are the only occu¬
pants ; temples and palaces the principal buildings, surrounded
by gardens and bowers. Massive granite terraces, decorated
with huge stone monsters, are reached from the water by broad
flights of steps; fine temples, placed to be seen, and yet shaded
by trees, open pavilions, and secluded summer-houses, give it a
delightful air of retreat and comfort, which a nearer inspection
sadly disappoints. Kin shan, or Golden I., is smaller, and has
more of a toy-shop appearance, from the crowd of temples, pago¬
das, and palaces, which cover its sides, and glitter with yellow
and green glazed porcelain roofs.
The banks of the Yangtsz' kiang are described by travellers
as not so populous and well cultivated as might be supposed in a
region said to be so densely inhabited. This absence of large
cities between the embouchure and Nanking, may perhaps be
owing to the danger they would be in from the freshes, inducing
the inhabitants to remove from the banks, as is the case along the
shores of the Yellow and Pearl rivers.
The largest seaport in Kiangsu is Shanghai hien (i. e. Ap¬
proaching the Sea), and it is likely erelong to become one of the
leading emporia in Asia. It lies on the north shore of the Wu-
sung river, about fourteen miles from its mouth, in latitude 31°
1(K N., and longitude 121° 30/ E., at the junction of the Hwang-
pu with it, and by means of both streams communicates with
Suchau, Sungkiang, and other large cities on the Grand canal;
while by the Yangtsz' kiang it receives produce from Yunnan
and Sz'chuen. In these respects its position resembles that of
New Orleans.
The town of Wusung is placed at the mouth of that river,
here about a mile wide ; and two miles beyond lies the district
town of Paushan. Shanghai is a walled town, three miles in
circuit, through which six gates open into extensive suburbs,
the two being divided from each other by a canal twenty feet
wide. The city stands in a wide plain of extraordinary fertility,
and intersected by numerous streamlets, affording the means of
navigation and communication ; its population is estimated to be
over 225,000 inhabitants. The banks of the river are covered
with dwellings, temples, shops, &c., among which a temple to
the Queen of Heaven, near the landing-place, is a conspicuous
object. The native trade here is probably larger than at any
33
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
other city in the empire ; nearly a thousand junks have been
counted lying in the Hwangpu, east of the town. The foreign
trade will probably soon surpass the native in value and variety.
Shanghai is a dirty place, and poorly built compared with some
other towns in the province ; the houses are mostly of brick.
The streets, as usual, are narrow, and in the daytime crowded
with people. The merchandise which most attracts the notice of
a stranger is the silk and embroidery, cotton, and cotton goods,
porcelain, ready-made clothes, lined with beautiful skins and furs,
bamboo pipes six feet long, and numerous shops for selling bam¬
boo ornaments, pictures, bronzes, specimens of old porcelain, and
other curiosities, to which the Chinese attach great value. But
articles of food form the most extensive trade of all; and it is
sometimes a difficult matter to get through the streets, owing to
the immense quantities of fish, pork, fruit, and vegetables, which
crowd the stands in front of the shops. Dining-rooms, tea-houses,
and bakers' shops, are met with at every step, from the poor man
who carries around his kitchen or bakehouse, altogether hardly
worth a dollar, to the most extensive tavern or tea-house, crowded
with customers. For a few cash, a Chinese can dine upon rice,
fish, vegetables, and tea ; nor docs it matter much to him, whether
his table is set in the streets or on the ground, in a house or on
a deck, he makes himself merry with his chopsticks, and eats
what is before him.* The buildings composing the Ching-hwang
miau, and the grounds attached to this establishment, present a
good instance of Chinese style and taste in architecture. Large
warehouses for storing goods, ice-houses, granaries, and temples,
are common ; but neither these, nor the public buildings, present
any distinguishing features to attract notice.
The remaining cities and districts of Kiangsu present nothing
worthy of special remark. No towns of note occur on the Yellow
river, when proceeding up its stream, before reaching Hwai-ngan
fu, on its southern shore, six miles distant; and this city, like
Kaifung fu, in Honan, " is in imminent danger of being drowned,
for the ground on which it stands is lower than the canal, which,
111 several places, is supported only by banks of earth."
The island of Tsungming, at the mouth of the Yangtsz' kiang,
constitutes a single district. It is about sixty miles long, and six-
* Fortune's Wanderings in China, page 190.
province of nganhwui.
89
teen wide, containing over 900 square miles, and is supposed to
have been gradually enlarged by the constant deposits from the
river; it is flat, but contains fresh water, and trenches are dug
to assist in irrigation. It is highly cultivated and populous,
though some places on the northern side are so impregnated with
salt, and others so marshy, as to be useless for raising food. It
possesses no harbor, nor any place of size besides the district
town of the same name. During the examination and blockade
of the river by H. B. M. ship Conway, in 1840, a foraging party
landed on the southern shore of the island, and were attacked by
the inhabitants, and loss sustained on both sides. Pt. Harvey i*
named after a midshipman who lost his life on this occasion.*
The province of Nganhwui was so named bj. combining the
first words in its two largest cities, Nganking fu and Hwuichau
fu, and forms the south-western half of Kiangnan ; it is rather
larger than Kiangsu, and less of its surface is covered with
water. It lies north of Kiangsi, west of Kiangsu and Cheh-
kiang, and between them and Ilonan and Hupeh, on its west.
Its productions and manufactures, the surface and high cultiva¬
tion of the country, and character of the people, are very simi¬
lar to those of Kiangsu, but the cities are less celebrated.
The Great river passes through the south of Nganhwui from
south-west to north-east ; several small tributaries flow into it on
both banks, one of which connects with Chau ku, or Nest lake,
in Luchau fu, the largest sheet of water in the province. The
largest part of the province is drained by the river Hwai and its
branches, which flow into Hungtsih lake ; and most of them are
navigable quite across to Ilonan. There are several small lakes
near the Yangtsz' kiang, and the southern part of the province is
the most fertile and populous. The productions comprise every
kind of grain, vegetables, and fruit known in the Plain ; most of
the green tea districts lie in the south-eastern parts, particularly
in the Sunglo range of hills in Hwuichau fu, but the shrub is
cultivated in the whole province. Silk, cotton, and hemp are
also extensively raised ; and gold, silver, and copper, and other
metals, dug from the mines. The southern and western sections
arc agreeably diversified with ranges of low hills, one of which,
north of Nest lake, forms the water-shed between the basin of the
great rivers.
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 541; Vol. XI., p. 210.
90
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The provincial capital, Nganking fu, lies on the northern
shores of the Kiang. Davis describes the streets as very narrow,
and the shops as unattractive ; the courts and gateways of many
good dwelling-houses presented themselves as he passed along
the streets. " The palace of the lieutenant-governor we first
took for a temple, but were soon undeceived by the.inscriptions
on the huge lanterns at the gateway. These official residences
seldom display any magnificence. The pride of a Chinese
officer of rank consists in his power and station, and as the dis¬
play of mere wealth attracts little respect, it is neglected more
than in any country of the world. The best shops that we saw
were for the sale of horn lanterns and porcelain. They possess
the art of softening horn by the application of a very high degree
of moist heat, and extending it into thin laminas of any shape.
These lamps are about as transparent as ground-glass, and,
when ornamented with silken hangings, have an elegant appear¬
ance."
The banks of the river, between Nanking and Nganking fu,
a distance of 300 miles, are described by him as being well cul¬
tivated, and containing towns and villages at short intervals. As
the party' advanced slowly up the river, " they found a climate
and a country which could yield to none in the world, and
equalled by very few. The landscape, consisting of the finest
combination of hill and dale, with high mountains in the dis¬
tance, was variegated at this time in the most beautiful manner,
with the red and yellow tints of autumn." The travellers daily
walked on shore, and everywhere found the country well culti¬
vated, peaceful, and populous.
Hwuichau fu, in the south-eastern part of the province, is
celebrated for its excellent manufactures of ink and lackered-
ware, which are sent to all parts of the empire. Fungyang fu
(i. e. the Rising Phcenix), a town lying north-west of Nanking,
on the river Hwai, was intended by Hungwu, the founder of the
Ming dynasty, to have been the capital of the empire instead
of Nanking, and was thus named in anticipation of its future
splendor.
The district town of Wuhu, in Taiping fu, about a hundred
miles beyond Nanking, is said by Mr. Davis to be the largest of
its class in China ; if so, its population cannot be much short of
half a million. It stands on the south side of the river, near the
province of kiangsl.
91
junction of several streams coming in from the south, and its size
and importance are owing to the extensive inland trade which
centres here. The streets are large, and lined with shops well
stocked with a great variety of goods, some of which had been
brought overland from Canton, a distance of 600 miles.*
The province of KiangsI (i. e. West of the River) lies south
of Nganhwui and Hupeh, between Chehkiang and Fuhkien, on
the east, and Hunan on the west, reaching from the Yangtsz' kiang
to the Mei ling on the south. Its form is oblong, and its entire
area is made up of the beautiful basin of the Kan kiang ; a spur
of the Nan ling, running north, divides it on the west from
Hunan and the basin of the Hang ho, while the eastern frontier
is marked by the main ridge passing north-easterly through Fuh¬
kien to the ocean. It is a little larger than all New England,
about the size of Virginia, or twice that of Portugal, but, in
population, vastly exceeds these countries. The surface of the
country is rugged, and the character of the inhabitants partakes
in some respects of the roughness of their native hills. It is well
watered and drained by the river Kan and its tributaries, most
of which rise within the province ; the main trunk empties into
the Poyang lake by numerous mouths, and the high level of that
sheet of water renders the country around it swampy. For
many miles on its eastern and southern banks extends an almost
uninhabitable marsh, presenting to the voyager a most dreary
appearance. The soil, generally, is productive, and large quan¬
tities of rice, wheat, silk, cotton, indigo, tea, and sugar, are
grown and exported. It shares, in some degree, the manufac¬
tures of the neighboring provinces, especially in Nankeen cloth,
vast quantities of which are woven here, but excels them all in
the quality and amount of its porcelain. The mountains in the
south and south-east produce camphor, varnish, oak, banian, fir,
and other trees; those on the west are well wooded, but much
of the timber is unattainable by Chinese ingenuity.
Nanchang fu, the provincial capital, lies near the southern
shore of the Poyang lake ; the city walls are six miles in circuit,
and accessible by water from all sides. It suffered, at the time
of the Manchu conquest, by fire, but has since been rebuilt,
• Davis's Sketches of China, Vol. II., pp. 27, 42. Chinese Repository
Vol. XI., p. 307.
92
the middle kingdom.
though Davis noticed that considerable portions of the inclosure
were still vacant. Barrow estimated that there were, indepen¬
dent of innumerable small craft, 100,000 tons of shipping lying
before the place. The banks of the Kan kiang, near the lake,
are flat, and not highly cultivated, but the scenery becomes moi'e
varied and agreeable the further one ascends it; towns and vil¬
lages constantly come in sight, and the cultivation, though not
universal, is more extended. As the voyager ascends the river,
several large cities are passed, as Linkiang, Kih-ngan, Kanchau,
and Nan-ngan, all capitals of departments, besides numerous
towns and villages: so that if the extent of this river and the
area of the valley it drains be considered, it will probably bear
comparison with that of any valley in the world for populous-
ness, amount and variety of productions, and diligence of cultiva¬
tion.
Beyond Kihngan fu are the Shihpah tan or Eighteen Rapids,
which are torrents formed by ledges of rocks running across the
river, but not of such height or roughness as to seriously obstruct
the navigation except at low water. The shores in their vicinage
are described as exceedingly beautiful: " The transparency of the
stream, the bold rocks fringed with wood, and the varied forms of
the mountains, call to mind those delightful streams that are dis
charged from the lakes and north counties of England." The
hilly banks are in many places covered with the Camellia
oleifera, whose white blossoms give them the appearance of
snow, when the plant is in flower. Kanchau fu is a place of
great trade, where large boats are obliged to stop; but Nan-ngan
fu is at the head of navigation, about three hundred miles from
the lake, where all goods for the south are debarked to be carried
across the mountains.
Within the department of Jauchau in Fauliang hien, east of
Poyang lake, are the celebrated porcelain manufactories of
Kingteh chin, named after an emperor of the Sung dynasty, in
whose reign, a. d. 1004, they were established. This mart still
supplies all the fine porcelain used in the country, and the small
amount of fancy ware now exported to Europe and America.
Upwards of a million of workmen are said to be employed ; the
approach to the town is announced by the smoke, and at night it
appears like a town on fire, or a vast furnace emitting flames
from numerous vents, there being, it is said, five hundred kilna
PROVINCE OF CHEHKIANG.
93
constantly burning. Places called chin, as this one is, are com¬
mon in China; the word means mart, and the town, whatever be
its size, is not inclosed by walls; Kingteh chin stands on the
river Chang in a plain flanked by high mountains, about forty
miles north-east from Jauchau, through which its ware is distri¬
buted over the whole empire.
Genius in China, as elsewhere, renders a place illustrious, and
few spots are more celebrated among the Chinese than the vale
of the White Deer in the Lii hills, near Nankang fu on the west
side of the Poyang, where Chu Hf, the great disciple and com¬
mentator of Confucius, lived and taught, in the 12th century.
It is a secluded valley about seven miles from the city, situated
in a nook by the side of a rivulet. The unpretending buildings
are comprised in a number of different courts, evidently intended
for use rather than show. In one of the halls, the White Deer
is represented, and near by a tree is pointed out, said to have
been planted by the philosopher's own hand. This spot is a
place of pilgrimage to Chinese literati at the present day, for the
writings of Chu are prized by them next to their classics. The
beauty and sublimity of this region are lauded by Mr. Davis, and
its praises are frequent themes for poetical celebration among
native scholars.*
The maritime province of Cheiikiang, the smallest of the
eighteen, lies eastward of Iviangsi and Nganhwui, and between
Kiangsu and Fuhkien north and south, and derives its name
from the river Cheh or Crooked, which runs across its southern
part. Its area is about the same as Kentucky ; it lies in the
southern portion of the Plain, and for fertility, numerous water¬
courses, rich and populous cities, variety of productions, and
excellence of manufactures, is not at all inferior to the larger
provinces. The Nan ling chain, under many local names,
borders and ends near its southern frontier, and renders this
part hilly and rough. The whole province produces cotton,
silk, tea, rice, and other grains in abundance, and is regarded
by the people as possessing within its limits every requisite for
the food and clothing of its inhabitants, while the excellence of
its manufactures insures it in exchange, a supply of the luxuries
of ether regions. The native topographical works upon this
* Davis's Sketches, Vol. II., page 55.
94
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
province are voluminous, and the maps correspond with those
of the Jesuits, showing the source whence they were derived.
The information obtained from the surveys of its islands and
coasts, and the recent operations in its eastern parts by the
English Expedition, have added largely to our previous know¬
ledge.
The rivers in Chehkiang, like those in Kiangsi, have their
rise in the province ; and, as might be inferred from the position
of the hills, their course is generally short and their currents
rapid. Fourteen principal streams are enumerated, of which
the Tsientang is the most important. It rises in the hills near
Kiangsi, and flows about 150 miles north-easterly by Hangchau
into the ocean near Chapu. The western branch of the river
was ascended to its source by Macartney, as far as Changshan
hien, from whence he crossed the hills into Kiangsi, by a very
fine causeway of 24 miles, judiciously led through the defiles of
the mountains. Some parts of the scenery along this river ex¬
hibit the contrast of an extensive plain on one bank, richly and
variously cultivated, while high mountains, " apparently higher
than any in Great Britain," rise suddenly on the other. The
other rivers empty into the ocean south of the Tsientang.
The forest and fruit trees of Chehkiang comprise almost every
valuable species known in the eastern provinces. The larch,
camphor, tallow, banian, fir, dryandra, mulberry, varnish, and
others, are common, and prove sources of wealth in their timber
and products. The climate is om of the most salubrious; the
grains, vegetables, and animals, including a long list of fishes,
furnish food ; while its beautiful manufactures of silk are unri¬
valled in the world, and have found their way to most parts of it.
Besides silken goods, cotton and linen fabrics are woven; lack-
ered-ware, tea, crockery, paper, ink, and other articles, are also
exported.
The inhabitants of this province are considered equal to these
in the neighboring regions for wealth, learning, and refinements;
with the exception of the hilly districts in the south bordering on
Kiangsi and Fuhkien, where they are less civilized. In these
parts, the cultivation of the mountain lands is interdicted, and a
line of military posts, thirty-four in all, extends around them in
the three provinces, in order to prevent the people from settling
HANGCHAU FU IN CHEHKIANG.
95
in their limits ; though the interdiction does not forbid cutting the
timber growing there.*
Hangchau fu, the capital of the province, lies in the northern
part, about two miles from the Tsientang, on a plain, and forty or
fifty miles from the mouth of the river. The velocitv of this
stream indicates a rapid descent of the country from the hills
which supply its headwaters ; the tide rises six or seven feet %>-
posite the city, and nearly thirty at the mouth. Capt. Collinson
of the English Expedition, when making some explorations of its
mouth, in order to ascertain the practicability of an approach to
Hangchau, found the tide to run 11^ knots an hour, and " although
the steamer had an anchor down with a whole cable, having pre¬
viously lost an anchor and cable when she endeavored to bring
up, and was under her full power of steam with sails set, she
was still driving."
Only a moiety of the inhabitants reside within the walls of the
city, the suburbs and the waters around them supporting a large
population. A portion of the space within the walls is divided
off for the accommodation of the Manchu garrison, which con¬
sists of 7000 troops. The governor-general of Chehkiang and
Fuhkien resides in this city, and also the governor of the pro¬
vince, which, with their courts and troops, in addition to the great
trade passing through, render it one of the most important and
richest cities in the empire. The celebrated traveller Marco
Polo, when he held the office of lieutenant-governor of Kiangnan,
at the end of the thirteenth century, repeatedly visited Hangchau,
and describes it as " pre-eminent above all other cities in the
world in point of grandeur and beauty, as well as from its
abundant delights, which might lead an inhabitant to imagine
himself in paradise." The Chinese have a proverb—SJiang yu
lien tang : Hia yu Su Hang—the purport of which is that Hang¬
chau and Suchau are fully equal to paradise ; but the comparison
of the Venetian traveller gives one a poorer idea of the Euro¬
pean cities of his day, than it does of the magnificence of the
Chinese to Ihose who have seen them. The streets are well-
paved, ornamented with numerous honorary tablets erected to the
memory of distinguished individuals, and agreeably interrupting
the passage through them. Travellers say that the shops and
• Chinese Repository V I. IV., page 4SS.
96
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
warehouses in point of size, and stock of goods contained in them
might vie with the best in London. In its population, luxury
wealth, and influence, Hangchau rivals Suchau ; and, for excel-
lence of manufactures and beauty of position, probably exceeds
it. This city was the metropolis of the country during the latter
princes of the Sung dynasty, when the northern parts were
under the Kin Tartars. It maintained its splendor during the
sway of the Mongols, but began to decline when Hungwu made
Nanking his capital.
One cause of the celebrity of this city is found in the beauty
of its environs, especially those near the West lake. Barrow ob¬
serves that " the natural and artificial beauties of this lake fa"
exceeded anything we had hitherto had an opportunity of seeing in
China. The mountains surrounding it were lofty, and broken
into a variety of forms that were highly picturesque ; and the
valleys were richly clothed with trees of different kinds, among
which three species were remarkably striking, not only by their
intrinsic beauty, but also by the contrast they formed with them¬
selves and the rest of the trees of the forest. These were the
camphor and tallow trees, and the arbor vilse. The bright, shin¬
ing green foliage of the first, mingled with the purple leaves of
the second, and over-topped by the stately tree of life of the
deepest green, produced a pleasing effect to the eye ; and the
landscape was rendered still more interesting to the mind by the
very singular and diversified appearance of several thousand
repositories of the dead upon the sloping sides of the inferior
hills. Here, as well as elsewhere, the sombre and UDright cy¬
press was destined to be the melancholy companion of the tombs.
" Higher still, among the woods, avenues had been opehed to
admit of rows of small blue houses, exposed on white colonnades,
which, on examination, were also found to be mansions of the
dead. Naked coffins, of extraordinary thickness, were every¬
where lying on the surface of the ground. The margins of the
lake were studded with light aerial buildings, among which one
of more solidity and greater extent than the rest was said to be¬
long to the emperor. The grounds were inclosed with brick
walls, and mostly planted with vegetables and fruit-trees ; but in
some there appeared to be collections of such shrubs and flowers
as are most esteemed in the country."*
* Travels in China, page 522.
ENVIRONS OF HANGCHAU.
97
Staunton speaks of the lake as a beautiful sheet of water, per¬
fectly pellucid, full of fish, in most places shallow, and ornamented
with a great number of light, and fanciful stone bridges, thrown
across the arms of the lake as it runs up into the hills. A stone
tower on the summit of a projecting headland attracted attention,
from its presenting a different architecture from that usually-
seen in Chinese buildings. This tower, called the Lui Fung tali,
or tower of the Thundering Winds, was four stories, and about
one hundred and twenty feet high, and though ruined at the top,
something like a regular order was still discernible in the moul¬
dering cornices that projected in a kind of double curve.
An interesting corroboration of this account is given by Polo,
who says, tha^ all around the lake " are beautiful palaces and
houses, so vv in-derfuliy built that nothing can possibly surpass
them; they belong to the great and noble men of the city.
There are also abbeys and monasteries of idolators in great num¬
bers. In the middle of the lake are two islands, on one of which
stands a palace, so wonderfully adorned that it seems worthy of
belonging to the emperor." The barracks of the Manchu gar¬
rison are in the north-western pai-t of the city, inclosed by a wall,
separated, as is usually the case, from the rest of the inhabitants
ard city. The shape of the city is oblong, but the walls had
fallen into decay when De Guignes was there.
This traveller describes the shape of the tombs and mausolea
in the environs of Hangchau, as differing from those elsewhere.
One of an officer unjustly executed was the most remarkable.
It was composed of two courts ; along the walls of the first were
four bronze statues of his accusers, one of whom was a woman,
on their knees, with their hands bound behind them. Beyond
them are stone figures of three officers, a tiger, bull, and horse,
placed in front of the doors leading to the second court, where
are placed the sepulchres of the deceased officer and his son,
built in a conical form. In a temple, called Ting-tsz' sz', not
far from the city, the party of the Dutch embassy were well
lodged, and attended by three hundred priests. The establish¬
ment was in good repair, and besides two guardian monsters near
the entrance more than thirty feet high, contained about five
hundred images, with miniature pagodas of bronze, of beautiful
workmanship.
Hangchau is more known abroad or its manufactures of silk
6
98
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
than for any other fabrics, but its position at the termination of
the canal may perhaps give the name of the city to many articles
which are not actually made there. In the northern suburbs lies
an irregular basin, forming the southern extreme of the canal;
but between the river Tsientang and this basin there is no com¬
munication, so that all goods brought hither must be landed.
The city contains, among other public buildings, a mosque, bear¬
ing an inscription in Arabic, stating that it is a " temple for Mus-
sulmen, when travelling, who wish to consult the Koran."* It is
higher than the adjacent buildings, and adorned with a cupola,
pierced with holes at short intervals. There are also several
others in the city, it being the stronghold of Islamism in China.
There is a water communication between Hangchau and Yiiyau,
south-east through Shauhing fu, and thence to Ningpo, by which
goods find their way to and from the capital. A good road also
exists between the two former cities, and elsewhere in the pro¬
vince the thoroughfares are passably good.
Ningpo fa (Peaceful Wave city) is the most important city in
Chehkiang, next to Hangchau, in consequence of its foreign rela¬
tions. It is admirably situated for trade and influence, at the
junction of three streams, in lat. 29° 55' N., and long. 121° 22'
E. ; the united river flows on to the ocean, eleven and a half
miles distant, under the name of the Tatsieh, sometimes errone¬
ously written Tahiah. Opposite the city itself, there are but two
streams, but the southern branch again subdivides a few miles
south-west of Ningpo. Its population has been variously esti¬
mated from one-fourth to one-third of a million, and even more,
including all the suburban and floating inhabitants. It is, more¬
over, an ancient city, and its Annals afford very full information
upon every point interesting to a Chinese antiquarian, though a
foreigner soon tires of the many insignificant details mixed up
with a few valuable statements.
" The plain in which Ningpo lies is a magnificent amphithea¬
tre, stretching away from twelve to eighteen miles on one side
to the base of the distant hills, and on the other to the verge of
the ocean. As the eye travels along, it catches many a pleasing
object. Turn landward, it will see canals and water-courses,
fields and snug farm-houses, smiling cottages, family residences,
* Vnyages a Poking, Vol. II., pages 65-77
SITUATION OF NINGPO.
99
namlets and villagt s, family tombs, monasteries and temples.
Turn in the opposite direction, and you perceive a plain country
descending towards the ocean ; but the river alive with all kinds
of boats, and the banks studded with ice-houses, most of al)
attract the attention. From without the city, and while still upon
the ramparts, look within its walls, you will be no less gratified.
Here there is nothing European, little to remind you of what
you have seen in the west. The single-storied and the double-
storied houses, the heavy prison-like family mansions, the family
vaults and graveyards, the glittering roofs of the temples, the
dilapidated official residences, the deserted literary and examina¬
tion halls, and the prominent sombre Tower of Ningpo, are en¬
tirely Chinese. The attention is also arrested for a moment or
two by ditches, canals, and reservoirs of water, with their wooden
bridges and stone arches."* One serious drawback to a resi-
dence in so beautiful a place is the heat of summer and the bad
quality of the drinking water.
The circumference of the walls does not exceed five miles;
they are about twenty-five feet high, fifteen feet wide at the top,
and twenty-two at the base, built solidly, though at present some¬
what dilapidated, and overgrown with grass. The houses are
not built upon or adjoining the wall, as in Canton, and a deep
moat partly surrounds them ; it commences at the north-gate,
and runs on the west, south, and south-east side as far as Bridge
gate, a distance of nearly three miles, and in some places is forty
yards wide. Its constant use as a thoroughfare for boats insures
its repair and proper depth ; the other faces of the city are de¬
fended by the river. There arc six gates, besides two sally-ports
near the south and west gates intended for the passage of the
boats that ply on the city canals.
On the east is Bridge gate, within which, and near the walls,
the English factory was once situated. This gate leads out to
the floating bridge which crosses the river ; this structure is two
hundred yards long and five broad, made of planks firmly lashed,
and laid upon sixteen lighters closely linked and chained toge¬
ther, but which can be opened to allow passage to large boats
plying up and down the river. A. busy market is held on the
bridge, and the visitor following the bustling crowd finds his way
* Milne, in Chinese Repository, Vol. XIII., page 22.
100
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
to an extensive subu rb on the opposite side. Ferry boats ply
across both streams .n great numbers, adding greatly tc the viva¬
city of the scene. The custom-house is situated beyond the
bridge, and this eastern suburb contains several buildings of a
religious and public character, lumber-yards, dock-yards, and
rows of ice-houses, inviting the notice of the traveller. The
environs beyond the north gate are not so thickly settled as those
across the rivers ; and the well cultivated fields, divided and irri¬
gated by numerous water courses, with scattered hamlets, be¬
guile the visitor in his rambles, and lead him onward.
There are numerous temples and monasteries in Ningpo, toge¬
ther with a large variety of assembly-halls, governmental offices,
and educational establishments, but none of these edifices are
remarkable in an architectural point of view. The assembly-
halls or club-houses, found in this as in all Chinese towns and
cities, are numerous, and in their internal arrangements form a
curious feature of native society. It is the practice among resi¬
dents or merchants from other provinces, to subscribe and erect
sn the spot where they are engaged in business, a temple, dedi¬
cated to the patron deity of their native province, in which a few
priests are supported, and plays acted in its honor. Sometimes
the building is put in charge of a layman, called a " master of
ceremonies," and the current expenses defrayed by a voluntary
subscription. These club-houses are places of resort for travel¬
lers from the several provinces or districts, and answer, moreover,
to European coffee-houses, in being points to hear news and prices
from abroad.
The streets are well paved, and interrupted here and there
by honorary portals of considerable size and solidity, which also
give variety to an otherwise dull succession of shops and sign¬
boards, or dead walls. Two small lagoons afford space for some
aquatic amusements to the citizens. One called Sun lake lies
between Bridge gate and South gate, and is only a thousand
yards in circuit; the other, called Moon lake, is near the West
gate, and three times its perimeter. Both are supplied by sluices
passing through the gates of the city, while many canals are
filled from them, which aid in irrigating the suburbs. Nume¬
rous aqueducts, passing through the city, are also supplied from
them, but their beauty and usefulness are much impaired by th
filth thrown into their waters. Some of the pleasantest resi.
POSITION OF CHINHAI.
101
deuces occur on their banks. The government of the city is
under a prefect, who also oversees the whole department. An
intendant of circuit, superior to the prefect, has an office in
Ningpo; but the immediate superintendence of the city is in the
hands of a district magistrate, the Kin Men, assisted by a pc^ice
and military force. During the occupation of the city by the
English in 1841-42, the governmental buildings were used as
barracks for their troops, and some of them considerably defaced
and injured. The prefect's residence is entered by a fine arched
gateway, and the path up to it shaded with trees.
The most striking building in Ningpo is the Tien-fung tah
(i. e. Heaven-conferred pagoda), or Tower of Ningpo, a hexa¬
gonal seven-storied building upwards of 160 feet high, which,
according to the Annals of the city, was first erected 1100 years
ago, though during that period it has been destroyed and rebuilt
several times. According to this authority, the Tower was con.
structed before the city itself, and its preservation is considered
as connected with the good luck of the place. The visitor mounts
to the summit by a flight of narrow stone steps, ascending spirally
within the walls.
The most elegantly furnished building in the city lies on the
water's edge outside the walls, between the East and Bridge
gates; it is a temple dedicated to the popular goddess Ma Tsupu,
and was founded by Fuhkien men in the 12th century, but the
present structure was erected in 1680, and largely endowed
through the liberality of its patrons. Its walls are solid, its
ornaments elaborate and rich, and its appearance on festival
days, gay and animated in an unusual degree. The lanterns
and scrolls hanging from the ceiling attract attention by the
curious devices and beautiful characters written and drawn on
them in bright colors, while the nakedness of the walls is con¬
cealed by innumerable drawings.
Chinhai is a district town at the mouth of the river, and is so
situated by nature and fortified by art, that it completely com¬
mands the passage. Its environs were the scene of a severe
engagement between the Chinese and English in Oct. 1841, on
which occasion great slaughter was committed upon the imperial
troops. Chinhai is the place where merchant ships report when
proceeding up the river, and between it and Ningpo, the scenery
is diversified, and the water, as usual in China, presents a lively
102
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
scene. On its banks arr- numerous ice-houses constructe J of
thick stone walls twelve feet high, having a door on one side and
a slope on the other for the removal and introduction of the ice,
and protected by straw laid on it, and a thick thatched roof. It
is used for preserving fish.
The town lies at the foot of a hill on a tongue of land on the.
northern bank of the river, and is partly protected from the sea
on the north by a dyke about three miles long, composed entirely
of large blocks of hewn granite, and proving a good defence from
the waves. Its walls are twenty feet high and three miles in
circumference, but the suburbs extend along the water, attracted
by, and for the convenience of, the shipping. The defences of
the place consist of two batteries on the river side, and a well built
citadel placed on a precipitous cliff two hundred and fifty feet
high, at the end of the tongue on which the town is built. On
the south side of the river, is a range of steep hills, overlooking
the citadel and the city opposite. During the war, the Chinese
did everything in their power to strengthen these heights, and
defend the passage up the river, by establishing intrenched
camps, and building linos of wall at every defensible point.
The Chusan archipelago belongs to the department of Ningpo,
and forms a single district of which Tinghai is the capital; it is
divided into thirty-four chwang or townships, whose officers are
responsible to the district magistrate. The southern limit of the
whole group is Quesan or Kiu shan islands, in lat. 29° 21/ N., and
long. 121° 10' E., consisting of eleven islets; the northernmost
island is False Saddle island, lying in lat. 30° 50/ N., and long.
122° 41/ E. The total number of islands in the archipelago is
over a hundred. The town of Tinghai lies on the southern side
of Chau shan or Boat island, the largest of them all, and which
gives its name on foreign maps to the whole group. It is twenty
miles long, from six to ten wide, and fifty-one and a half in cir¬
cumference.
The general aspect of this and the neighboring islands and
coasts, is that of ridges of hills, steep, and occasionally running
into peaks; between these ridges in Chusan, are fertile, and well
watered valleys, most of which run to the sea, and contain a small
stream in their bosoms. The mouths of these valleys have a dyke
along the beach, which converts them into plains of greater or less
extent, through which canals run, used both for irrigation and
CHUSAN ARCHIPELAGO.
10S
navigation. Rice and barley are the produce of the plains and
beans, yams, and sweet potatoes, &c., are grown on the tides
of the hills; every spot of arable soil being cultivated, and ter¬
races constructed on most of the slopes. The view from the tops
of the ridges, looking athwart them, or adown their valleys, or to
seaward, is highly picturesque. The prevailing rocks on Chusan
belong to the ancient volcanic class, comprising many varieties,
but principally clay-stone, trachyte, and compact and porphyritic
felspar. The former affords good material for building and paving,
and is extensively quarried by the inhabitants. The geological
character of the whole group is similar to that of this island.*
The domestic animals reared are those used for food, as pigs,
geese, ducks, and fowls ; the horned cattle are few in number,
and employed in agriculture, but sheep and goats are seldom
seen.
Timber trees are scarce, a kind of fir being the common cover¬
ing of the untilled hills ; nor are fruit trees plentiful; most of the
wood used in domestic and naval architecture is brought from the
mainland. The only roads are paved footpaths, and as there are
no carriages or beasts of burden, every article, even the most
weighty, is transported by men,—for the largest stream or canal
on the island hardly allows a boat to ascend above the plain on
the seaside. The population of Chusan, according to the census,
is about 200,000 persons, and that of the whole group has been
estimated at 300,000 ; Tinghai itself does not contain over 30,000
inhabitants.
The district town of Tinghai lies in lat. 30° N., and long.
122° 5^ E., in the valley of Yungtung, half a mile from the
beach; it is connected with the shipping by a causey running
from the gate to the suburb of Ta Tautau, where is the custom¬
house and principal landing-place, and by two canals deep enough
for boats. The city is of an irregular pentagonal shape, sur¬
rounded by a solid wall nearly three miles in circuit, upon
which are several small towers ; there are four gates, each sup¬
ported by an outer gate and defences at right angles to the inner
gate, and distant from it about twenty yards ; a canal thirty-three
feet wide and three deep, nearly encircles them, and enters the
town near the south gate. The streets are not more than twelve
* Chinese Repository, Vol. X., pages 32S, 426.
104
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
or fifteen feet wide, and are paved with granite. Sewers ruu
underneath, and as the descent towards the canal is slight, they
are seldom clean; the offensive smell proceeding from them is
aggravated by the effluvia from the stagnant pools in the canal,
and the large jars at the corners of the streets full of putrescent
animal and vegetable filth, collected for manuring purposes.
The houses are mostly built of wood, but all those of any pre¬
tensions are constructed of brick.
The plain of Tinghai is about 2J miles from east to west, and
the ridges of the hills which define it are from 450 to 650 feet high.
The embankments along the beach throw the water back, so
that the country is marshy, and impassable except by means of
the raised foot-paths between the fields. This mode of irrigating
rice-fields is common throughout China wherever the water¬
courses will allow, and the ingenuity of the husbandman is often
strikingly exhibited in the mode he economizes the water, and
leads it from one plat to another. The suburb of Tautau runs
along the beach, forming a long street, off which the shipping
lies; on the east end is a small hill surmounted by a temple.
The harbor of Tinghai is one of the best on the coast, and
accessible by three or four passages. The tides rise and fall
12| feet, but ordinarily 6 or 7 feet. The island of Chusan con¬
tains eighteen of the twenty-four chivavg, or townships, in the
district, each of which is under the direction of constables,
policemen, village elders, and assessors of taxes, who are respon¬
sible to the district magistrate. There are three small towns
along the shores of the island, of which Shinkia-mun, or Sinka-
mong,on the south-east, is the largest; Chinkiang or Singkong, and
Shau, are the others.*
The other islands of the archipelago compose nineteen cliwang,
of which Luhwang and Silver islands form four. The island of
Puto and a few smaller ones are independent of the jurisdiction
of the magistrate of Tinghai, being ruled by the abbot of the
head monastery. This establishment, and that on Gold-en island
in the Yangtsz' kiang, are among the richest and most exten¬
sively patronized of all the monasteries belonging to the Budhists
in China; both of them have been largely favored by empercra
at different periods.
* Chinese Repository, Vol. X., pages 264, 328.
PUTO I. AND ITS TEMPLES.
105
The island of Puto has been repeatedly -visited by foreigners
d iring the last few years, and has become better known than
Golden island. It is a narrow islet, 3^ miles long, and lies 1^
miles from the eastern point of Chusan. Its surface is covered
with sixty monasteries, pavilions, temples, and other buildings
appropriated to religious uses, besides grottoes and other monu¬
ments of superstition, in which at least 2000 idle priests chant
the praises of their gods. One visitor describes his landing and
ascending " a broad and well beaten pathway which led to the
top of one of the hills, at every crag and turn of which we en-
countered a temple or a grotto, an inscription or an image, with
here and there a garden tastefully laid out, and walks lined with
aromatic shrubs, which diffused a grateful fragrance through the
air. The prospect from these heights was extremely delightful;
numerous islands, far and near, bestudded the main, rocks and
precipices above and below, here and there a mountain monas¬
tery rearing its head, and in the valley the great temple, with its
yellow tiles indicative of imperial distinction, basked like a basi¬
lisk in the noonday-sun. All the aid that could be collected from
nature and from Chinese art, were here concentrated to render
the scene enchanting. But to the eye of the Christian philan¬
thropist it presented a melancholy picture of moral and spiritual
death. The only thing we heard out of the mouths of the priests
was Ometo Fuh (i. e. Amida Budha) ; to every observation that
was made, re-echoed Ometo Fuh ; and the reply to every inquiry
was Ometo Fuh. Each priest was furnished with a rosary which
he was constantly counting, and as he counted repeated the same
senseless, monotonous exclamation. These characters met the
eye at every turn of the road, at every corner of the temples,
and on every scrap of paper ; on the bells, on the gate-ways,
and on the walls, the same words presented themselves ; indeed
the whole island seemed to be under the spell of this talismanic
phrase, and devoted to recording and re-echoing Ometo Fuh."*
From recent accounts, it seems that the pristine glory of these
temples is dimmed, many of the buildings presenting marks of
decay, and some of the priesthood being obliged to resort to
honest labor to get a living. Deaths in their number are sup¬
plied by purchasing youths, who are taught nothing but religious
* China, its State and Prospects, page 393
6*
106
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
literature, a fit training to stunt their minds to pursue the dull
mummery of singing Ometo Fuh. The two imperial temples
present good specimens of Chinese architecture ; but they and
all other things to be seen at Puto are dilapidated, effete, and it
is to be hoped will soon vanish away, or be applied to better
purposes.
Temples were erected on this island as early as A. D. 550, and
since it became a resort for priests it seems to have enjoyed the
patronage of the government. The goddess of Mercy is said to
have visited this island, and her image is the principal object of
worship. No females are allowed to live on the island, nor any
besides priests unless in their employ. The revenues are derived
from the rent of the lands belonging to the temples, from the col¬
lection of those priests who go on begging excursions to the main,
and from the alms of pilgrims who resort to this agreeable spot,
and who are well lodged and attended during their stay. It
appears like one of the most beautiful spots on the earth when
the traveller lands, just such a place as his imagination had pic¬
tured as exclusively belonging to the sunny East, and so far as
nature and art can combine, it is really so : but here the illusion
ends. Idleness and ignorance, celibacy and idolatry, vice, dirt,
and dilapidation, in the inmates or in their habitations, form a
poor back-ground for the well dressed community, and gay,
variegated prospect seen when stepping ashore.
The other departments and districts in the province of Cheb-
kiang have not been much visited by foreigners. The district
towns of Funghwa and Tsz'kx, lying westward of Ningpo, were
the scenes of skirmishes between the English and Chinese in
December, 1841, where large bodies of the imperialists were
routed, and driven back upon Hangchau fu. The country lying
along the banks of the two rivers leading from Ningpo up to
these towns, is undulating and highly cultivated. A town of
considerable importance in this province is Chapu in the depart¬
ment of Kiahing ; it lies about fifty miles up the coast, north¬
west from Chinhai, across Hangchau bay, and is connected with
that city through a luxuriant plain by a well paved causeway
about thirty miles long. Chapu is the port of Hangchau, and
the only one in China whence trade is carried on with Japan.
Its full name is Chapu chin, or the mart of Chapu, and it is one
of the largest on the coast next to Shanghai and Tientsin. The
cities of chapu and canfu.
107
Awn lies at the bottom of a bay on the western face of the hills
forming its eastern point, and at low tide the mud runs offa long
way from the low land lying between these and some distant
hills, whose tops are covered with buildings. The suburbs are
situated near the western extremity of a small headland, which
runs back four or five miles, and lines the beach on both sides,
the central part being hilly; the walled town stands about half
a mile behind. It was attacked and much injured by the British
forces in May, 1842, but abandoned immediately after the
engagement. The walls were found in poor condition, but the
Manchu garrison stationed here upheld their ancient reputation
for bravery. This body of troops occupies a separate division
of the city, and their cantonment is planned on the model of a
camp. The outer defences of the city are numerous, but at the
time of the attack, most of the old fortifications were found to be
considerably decayed. The country in the vicinity is highly cul¬
tivated, and more than usually adorned with well built houses,
which extend more or less to Hangchau.*
South-west from Chapu lies the old town of Canfu, called
Kanpu by the Chinese, which was once the port of Hangchau,
but now deserted, from the stream running by it having become
choked with sand. This place is mentioned in the voyages of
two Arabian travellers in the ninth century, as the chief port of
China, where all shipping centred. The narrow entrance be¬
tween Buffalo island and Kitto point is probably the Gates of
China mentioned by them ; and Marco Polo, in 1290, speaks of
Ganpu, an extremely fine port twenty-five miles from Hangchau,
frequented by all the ships that bring merchandise from India.
Marsden erroneously supposes Canpu to he Ningpo.f If this
was in fact the only port allowed to be opened for foreign trade,
it shows that, even in the Tang dynasty, the same system of ex¬
clusion was maintained that has so recently been broken up.
Canfu was destroyed by insurrectionists, which catastrophe drove
away the foreign trade from it to Canton, where it afterwards
remained ; and what trade has since arisen, has gone to Chapu.
The province of Fuhkien (i. e. Happily Established) is
bounded on the north by Chehkiang, north-west and west by
* Chinese Repository, Vol. XI , page 425 ; Vol. XII., page 2'18.
f Travels of Marco Polo, page 1S5.
108
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Kiarigsf, south-west by Kwangtung, and south and east by the chan«
nel of Formosa. Its northern and north-western borders are de¬
fined by the high range of the Nan ling, which render this part
of the province, and also the adjacent districts of Kwangtung,
very rugged. The line of seacoast is bold, and bordered with
a great number of islands, whose lofty granitic or trappean peaks
extend in precipitous, barren headlands from Namoh as far as
the Chusan archipelago. In the general features of its surface,
the islands on its coasts, and its position with reference to the
ocean, it resembles the region lying east of New Hampshire.
The river Min is formed by the union of three large streams
at Yenping fu ; it drains all the country lying east of the Wu-i
hills, or about three-fourths of the province, and empties into the
ocean by several mouths. It is more than three hundred miles
long, and owing to its regular depth, is one of the most useful
streams in China ; twenty-seven walled towns stand on its banks.
The tide rises eighteen or twenty feet at the entranoe, and this,
with the many islands and reefs, renders the approach difficult in
hazy or heavy weather. At Min-ngan hien, about fourteen miles
from the mouth, the stream is contracted to less than half a mile
for about three miles, the water being from twelve to twenty-five
fathoms deep; the hills on each side rise from fifteen hundred to
two thousand feet, and are defended by forts and batteries. One
traveller speaks of the walls of these defences as affording a sort
of stairs for the more convenient ascent of the hills on which
they are situated. From the top, " the view embraces a beauti¬
ful scene ; nothing can be more picturesque than the little plats
of wheat and barley intermixing their yellow crops on the accli¬
vities with bristling pines and arid rooks, and crowned wita gar¬
den spots, or surrounded with rice fields and orchards of oranges.
The valley of the Min, viewed from the summit of the fortress,
is truly a beautiful sight."* The scenery on this river, though
of a different character, will bear comparison with that c£ the
Hudson for sublimity and beauty ; the hills are, however, much
higher, and the country less fruitful, on the Min.
The passage up to Fuhchau for large vessels is difficult, and
presents a serious obstacle in the way of the city ever becoming
a place of commerce ccnv.nensurate with its size and geographic
* Chine Ouverte, page 127.
PROVINCE OF FUHJHEN.
109
cal advantages. Only one or two foreign merchants reside there,
and not over a dozen merchantmen have as yet entered the port,
three of which were American. From Fuhchau upwards, the
river is partially obstructed with rocks and banks, rendering the
navigation troublesome as far as Mintsing liien, about thirty miles
above it, beyond which no foreign traveller has described it.
Mr. Stevens says of this river, that " bold, high, and romantic
hills give a uniform yet ever varying aspect to the country ; but
it partakes so much of the mountainous character, that it may be
truly said that beyond the capital we saw not one plain even of
small extent. Every hill was covered with verdure from the
base to the summit. The less rugged were laid out in terraces,
rising above each other sometimes to the number of thirty or
forty. On these the yellow barley and wheat were waving over
our heads. Here and there a laborer, with a bundle of grain
which he had reaped, was bringing it down on his shoulder to
thrash out. Orange, lemon, and mulberry, or other trees, some¬
times shaded a narrow strip along the banks, half concealing
the cottages of the inhabitants."*
Next in size to the river Min is the Lung kiang, or Dragon
river, which flows by Changchau fu, and disembogues near
Amoy, in the south-western part of the province ; it is about two
hundred miles long. The number of islands along the coast of
Fuhkien is great, but none of them are of large size. The first
on the west, within the limits of the province, is Namoh or
Nan-au, about thirteen miles long and three wide, well known
as a principal depot for the sale of opium. Amoy and Quemoy
are the largest islands of a group lying off the entrance of the
Dragon river. Chimmo bay is north-east of Amoy, and is the
entrance of the passage up to Chinchew, or Tsiuenchau fu, cele¬
brated for the commercial enterprise of its inhabitants. Between
this bay and the mouth of the Min, the Lamyit islands, Ockseu,
.ind Ilaitan, are the largest; c-ff that river are the White Dog
group, Ma-tsu shan and ChangchI shan. Between this part and
Chehkiang, only Tungyung, Pihsiang shan, Fuhyau, and Pih-
kwan need be mentioned ; some of their peaks are 1500 to
1700 feet high. The harbors and creeks along their shores are
infested with numerous fleets of pirates, which " sneak about
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., page 92.
110
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
like rats," and prey upon the peaceful traders. Mr. Fortuna
had a narrow escape from them in a small junk,*when going up
the coast, but they seldom attack foreign vessels.*
The grain raised in Fuhkien is hardly enough to support its
population, especially on the sea-loard, and large quantities of
rice are brought from Siam, Formosa, and elsewhere. Black
tea, camphorand other woods, sugar, chinaware, and grass-cloth,
are the principal exports.
The city of Fuhchau fu (i. e. Happy City), or Hokchiu hu, as
it is called by the inhabitants, is situated in latitude '26° 5/ north,
and longitude 119° 21/ east, on the northern side of the Min,
thirty-four miles from its mouth, and nine from Pagoda island,
where the ships anchor. The city lies in a plain, through which
the river runs, about three miles from its banks ; this plain is
surrounded by hills, forming a natural and most magnificent
amphitheatre of vast dimensions, whose fertility quite equals its
beauty. Suburbs extend from the walls three miles to the banks,
and stretch along on both sides the stream. They are connected
with each other, and a small islet in the river, by a stone bridge
four hundred and twenty paces long, reposing on forty solid
stone piers on the northern side, and on nine similar ones on
the south. The bridge is lined with shops. The scenery is bold,
and such parts of the surrounding hills as are not cultivated or
used for graves, are covered with pines; some of the hills below
the city are three thousand feet high. Opposite Fuhchau the
land is lower, and the suburb is built upon an island formed by
the division of the main channel, seven miles above the city ;
the branches reunite again at Pagoda island. This island, and
the plain on each side, forms a large basin, about twenty miles
long by fifteen wide. The islet, between the two parts of the
bridge, again subdivides the channel opposite the city. The river
is crowded with floating habitations, ferry-boats, and trading craft,
rendering its surface an animated and noisy scene. Each boat
is furnished with flower-pots, and the boatwomen wear natural
flowers in their hair, which impart a pleasing aspect both to the
boats and their inmates.
Proceeding through the suburb of Nantai, by a single street,
the visitor reaches the city. Its walls are about thirty feet high,
* Wanderings in Chin i, page 388.
DESCRIPTION OF FUHCHAU FIT.
Ill
and twelve wide at the top, and overgrown with grass. The
gates are seven in number, and overlooked by high towers;
smaller guard-houses stand upon the walls at short intervals, in
which a few soldiers lodge, and where two or three cannon indi¬
cate their object. The city is divided into wards and neighbor¬
hoods, each of which is under its own police and headmen, who
are responsible for the peace of their respective districts. The
British Consulate is situated south of the city, on the Wu-shih
slum, or Black-stone hills, in a beautifully wooded spot, elevated
about two hundred and fifty feet above the plain, where many
temples and pavilions have been built. Some of these the priests
leased out to the British consul, themselves assisting to remove
the images and make the necessary alterations.
From this eminence the view is extensive, and presents a great
diversity of pleasing objects. The square battlements of the
wall are seen extending in a devious and irregular circuit foi
more than eight miles, and inclosing most of the buildings, excep'
on the south. On the south-east, a hill rises abruptly more than
two hundred feet, its sides built up with interspersed dwellings;
and another on the extreme north of the city, surmounted by a
watch-tower, closes the prospect in that direction. Two pagodas
within, and fantastic looking watch-towers upon the walls, large,
regular built granaries, and a great number of flag-staffs in pairs
before temples and offices, contribute to relieve the otherwise dull
monotony of low tiled roofs, which is still further diversified by
many large trees. Several lookout houses are placed over the
streets, or upon the roofs of buildings, for the accommodation of
watchmen, one of which immediately attracts the attention of the
visitor, from its height, and its clock-dial with Roman letters.
Few vacant spaces occur within the walls of the city, which is
everywhere equally well built.
Serpentine canals divide the country around into plats of greater
or less extent, of every form and hue, and help to drain the city
as well as provide channels for boats to come up from the river.
These parts of the landscape are dotted with hamlets and cottages,
or, where the ground is higher, with graves and tombstones. To
one seated on this eminence, the confused hum of mingling cries
ascending up from the town below,—the beating of gongs, crack¬
ling of fireworks, reports of guns, vociferous cries of hucksters
and coolies, combining with the barking of dogs and other domes-
112
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
tic sounds, as well as those from the crows, fish-hawks, and mag,
pies nearer by,—inform him in the liveliest manner that the
beautiful panorama he is looking down upon is filled with teeming
multitudes in all the tide of life. Their moral condition and
ignorance, also, suggest melancholy reflections to the Christian
spectator, and prompt the wish, that they may be speedily en¬
lightened by the gospel of truth and purity. On the western side
of the city is a sheet of water, called Si hu, or West lake, with
a series of unpretending buildings and temples lying along its
margin, a bridge crossing its expanse, and fishing-nets and boats
floating upon its bosom. The watch-tower, on the hill in the
northern part of the city, is upon the wall, which here runs near
a precipice two hundred feet high; it is the most conspicuous
object when approaching the place.
The Manchus occupy the eastern side of the city, which, as
usual, is walled off*. They number altogether about 8,000 per¬
sons, and the natives generally are not allowed to enter their
precincts. They live under their own officers, in much the same
style as the Chinese, and, not having any regular occupation,
give no little trouble to the provincial authorities. The number
of temples and well built private residences in Fuhchau is much
less than in Ningpo, and as a whole it is a poorer built city. The
streets are full of abominations, for which the people seem to
care very little. The shops are well stored with goods, but for
the most part of a poor quality. Paper money is issued by the
leading mercantile firms in the city, varying in value from forty
cents to a thousand dollars, and supplying all the advantages with
few of the dangers of bank notes. The blue, red, and black
colors, which are blended together on these promissory bills, pre¬
sent a gay appearance of signatures and endorsings. The name
of the issuing house, and a number of characters traced around
the page, in bright blue ink, form the original impression. The
date of issue, and some ingeniously wrought cyphers, fcr the
reception of signatures and prevention of forgeries, are of a deep
red ; while the entry of the sum, and names of the partners and
receiver, stand forth in large black characters. On the back are
the endorsements of various individuals, through whose handa
the bill has passed, in order to facilitate the detection of forgeries,
but not rendering them at all liable.* The streets are crowded
* Smith's China, page 364.
ITS BUILDINGS AND INHABITANTS.
113
with craftsmen and hucksters, in the usual style of Chinese towns,
where the shopmen, in their desire to attract custom, seem to
imagine, that the more they get in their customers' way, the more
likely they are to sell them something. The shops are thrown
open so widely, and display such a variety of articles, or expose
the workmen so plainly, that the whole street seems to be rather
the stalls of a market, or the aisle in a manufactory, than the
thoroughfare of a town.
The official residences are numerous, the chief civil and mili¬
tary dignitaries of the province residing here, besides the prefect
and the two magistrates of Min and Haukwan districts. Their
establishments, however, are neither better built, nor more ele¬
gantly furnished than those of the better class of shopmen, while
most of the out-buildings are dirty, and ill-fitted for living in.
The Ching-Jiwcing miau is one of the largest religious edifices in
the place, and the temples of the goddess of Mercy, and god of
War, the most frequented. The Kiu Sien shan, or hill of the
Nine Genii, on the southern side of the town, is a pretty object.
The city wall runs over it, and on its sides little houses are built
on the rocky steps ; numerous inscriptions are carved in the face
of the rocks. Near the eastern gate, called Tang mun, or Bath
gate, there is a small suburb, where the Chinese and Manchus
live together, and where are numerous public hot baths, the
waters of which proceed from springs near by. Four or five
wells, each six feet across, and four deep, are filled with the
water, and for two cash any one may bathe; they are much fre¬
quented, and the accommodation is so inadequate that the bathers
are obliged to pack themselves into the reservoirs as closely as
possible.
The citizens of Fuhchau bear the character of a reserved,
gloomy, turbulent people, very unlike the polite, affable natives
further north. Theii dialect is harsh and guttural, contrasting
strongly with the nasal tones of the patois of Amov, and the mel¬
lifluous sounds heard at Ningpo. There are few manufactures
of importance in the city, and its commerce and resources ares
sensibly declining, under the drain of the precious metals, and
other sad results of the traffic and use of opium. More culprits
wearing the cangue are to be seen in the streets than at the other
ports, and in passing along the way none of the hilarious merri¬
ment which is heard elsewhere greets the ear. There is also a
114
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
general lack of courtesy in passing by each other quite unusaa'
in China, no one seeming to mind whether he runs against another
or not. Beggars of the most loathsome aspect crowd the tho¬
roughfares, showing both the poverty and the callousness of the
inhabitants. One half the population is supposed to be addicted
to the opium pipe, and annually expend two millions of dollars
for this noxious gratification. The population of Fuhchau and
its suburbs is reckoned, by those who have visited the place, at
rather over than under 600,000 souls.
The island in the river is densely settled by a trading popula¬
tion of 20,000, a great part of whom consist of sailors and boat¬
men. The country women, who bring vegetables and poultry to
market in the suburbs, are a robust race, and contrast strikingly
with the sickly-looking, little-footed ladies of the city. Fishing-
boats are numerous in the river, many of which are furnished
with cormorants, trained to assist their masters in procuring fish.
The neighboring villages are entirely agricultural; but neither
they nor the district towns in the department, present any points
of interest. Min-ngan is the only town on the river below Full-
chau of any consideration.*
Amoy or Hiamun (i. e. the Gate or Harbor of Hia) is the
most important and best known port in the province, and 150
years ago the scat of a large foreign commerce. It is a mart in
the district of Tung-ngan, belonging to the department of Tsiuen-
chau, situated in lat. 24° 40/N., and long. 118° 20' E., upon
the south-western corner of the island of Amoy, at the mouth of
the Dragon river leading up to Changchau fu. The island itself
is about forty miles in circumference, and contains scores of
large villages besides the city. The scenery within the bay is
picturesque, caused partly by the numerous islands which define
it, some of them surmounted by pagodas or temples, and partly
by the high barren hills behind the city, and the bustling crowds
of vessels in the harbor before it. There is an outer and inner
city, as one approaches it seaward—or more properly a citadel
and a city—divided by a high ridge of rocky hills having a forti¬
fied wall running along the top. A paved road connects the two,
which is concealed from the view of the beholder as he comes in
from sea by the ridge, until he has entered the Inner harbor.
* Chinese Repository, Vol. XV., pages 185, 225.
HARBORS AND "!ITY OF AMOY.
115
The entire circuit of the city and suburbs is about eight miles,
containing a population of 300,000, while that of Ihe island is
estimated at 100,000 more.
Amoy is further divided by the Inner harbor, which extends
in front, and joins a large estuary running up some distance into
the island, and skirting the northern side of the city. Thus
it, in fact, lies upon a tongue of land, having only one-third
of its circuit defended by walls, and these are overlooked by the
hills in its rear. These hills contain some ancient tombs and
sepulchres of great solidity, part of them being excavated out of
the rocks and ornamented with inscriptions and epitaphs ;—a
mode of interment by no means common in China, nor even here
used at present. Few cities are more favorably situated for ac¬
cess than Amoy, but its water communication with the interior
is not equal to those of the other four ports. The two rivers
which disembogue into the bay are small, the one leading north¬
east to Tung-ngan liien is sometimes almost dry at low tide, even
within three miles of the town.
The harbor of Amoy is one of the best on the coast ; there is
good holding ground in the Outer harbor, and vessels can
anchor in the Inner, within a short distance of the beach,
and be perfectly secure ; the tide, rises and fulls from fourteen
to sixteen feet. The western side of the harbor, here from
six hundred and seventy-five to eight hundred and forty yards
wide, is formed by the island of Ivulang su ; the batteries
on this island completely command the city. It is about a mile
long and two and three-quarters around, and maintains a rural
population of 3500 people, scattered among four or five hamlets
This island was occupied by the English troops after the capture
of the city in September, 1841, until it was restored to the Chi¬
nese in December, 1845. Eastward of Amoy is the island of
Queinoy or Kinmun (i. e. Golden harbor), presenting a striking
contrast in the low, rice grounds on its south-west shore, to the
high land on Amoy ; its population is much less than that of
Amoy.
The country in this part of Fuhkien is thickly settled and highly
cultivated. Mr. Abeel, describing a trip towards Tung-ngan,
says, " For a few miles up, the hills wore the same rugged,
barren aspect which is so common on the southern coast of China,
but fertility and cultivation grew upon us as we advanced ; ,he
116
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM,
mountains on the east became hills, and these were adorned with
fields. The villages were numerous at intervals ; many of them
were indicated in the distance by large groves of trees, but gene¬
rally the landscape looked naked. Well-sweeps were scattered
over the cultivated hills, affording evidence of the need and the
means of irrigation."* Within the district of Nganki, east of
Tsiuenchau fu, lie the hills where the Ankoi teas are grown, a
class of black teas of peculiar taste. These hills were visited
in 1836 by a party of foreigners, and found to be well culti¬
vated.
In the other direction towards Changchau fu, the traveller, be¬
yond Pagoda island, enters an oval bay ten or twelve miles long,
bounded by numerous plains rising in the distance into steep
barren mountains, and upon which numerous villages are found ;
twenty-three were counted at once by Mr. Abeel, and the boat¬
men said that all could not be seen. About fifteen miles west
of Amoy is the entrance of the river; on its banks are several
large towns, and " villages uncounted " are to be seen in every
direction. Changchau fu lies about thirty-five miles from Amoy,
and is described as well built, the streets paved with granite,
some of them twelve feet wide, and as usual intolerably offen¬
sive. A bridge, about eight hundred feet long, spans the river,
consisting of beams stretching from one abutment to another,
covered with cross pieces. From the top of the hills behind a
temple at the north-western corner of the city, the prospect is
charming.
" Imagine an amphitheatre," says Mr. Lowrie, " thirty miles
in length and twenty in breadth, hemmed in on all sides by bare
pointed hills, a river running through it, an immense city at our
feet, with fields of rice and sugar-cane, noble trees and numerous
villages stretching away in every direction. It was grand and
beautiful beyond every conception we had ever formed of Chi¬
nese scenery. Beneath us lay the city, its shape nearly square,
curving a little on the river's banks, closely built, and having an
amazing number of very large trees within and around. The
guide said that in the last dynasty it had numbered 700,000
inhabitants, and now he thought it contained a million—probably
a large allowance. The villages around also attracted our atten.
• Chinese Repository, Vol. XI., page 506.
POSITION OF CIIANGCHAU FU.
117
tion. I tried to enumerate them, but after counting thirty-nine
of large size distinctly visible in less than half the field before
us, I gave over the attempt. It is certainly within the mark to
say that within the circuit of this immense plain there are at
least one hundred villages, some of them small, but many num¬
bering hundreds and even thousands of inhabitants."*
Changchau was again visited in 1846 by Rev. Mr. Pohlman
and Isidore Iledde, who were received with civility by the author¬
ities, and with great cordiality by the citizens. M. Hedde's object
was to examine the silk-dyeing, and other manufactures of the
place, and he received the permission of the officers to do so ; Mr.
Pohlman improved the opportunity to make the acquaintance of
the people, and distribute Christian books among them.
A town on the river, called Shihma or Chiohbe, is a place of
some trade, extending a mile along the shore, and larger than
Haitang hien, a district town between it and Amoy. Large
numbers of people dwell in boats on this river near the towns,
rendering a voyage up its channel somewhat like going through
a street, for the bustle and noise.
The cities in the interior of the province have not been often
visited by foreigners. The department of Hinghwa, situate on the
coast between Tsiuenchau and Fuhchau, is described as exceed-
ingly populous ; the horrid crime of female infanticide is, so far
is now known, more prevalent from the borders of Kwangtung
to the river Min than in any other part of China. It is said that
at Yenping fu on the Min river, the people speak the dialect of
Nanking, which is so unlike the local patois as to lead to the
inference that it was settled by a colony from that region. Much
of the tea and camphor produced on the Wu-f hills in the west¬
ern part of the province is carried over the frontier through
Kiangsi to the Kan kiang, and thence to Canton.f
The island of Formosa and the group called the Pescadore
islands, lying between it and Amoy, together form a department
of this province. The limits of Chinese jurisdiction on Formosa,
according to native maps, extend over half the island, reaching
no further east than the Muh kan shan, a ridge of mountains
running through the middle of the island. The island is called
• Chinese Repository, Vol. XII., page 530.
I Ibid., Vol. XI., page 651.
118
the middle kingdom.
Taiwan (i. e. Terrace Beach) by the Chinese, but this name is
applied more accurately only to the department, and not to it
as an island ; the Chinese portion is about 250 miles long, and
80 broad, inclosing an area of from 12 to 15,000 square miles.
The population is perhaps 2,500,000 ; the prisoners captured
from the British ship Ann, in 1842, represent that part of the
island which they passed through as being well cultivated. It is
fertile, possesses a salubrious climate, and is well watered, in
every respect meriting the name of Formosa. The rice trade
alone between it and the maritime provinces employs about
three hundred vessels ; other products give rise to a large trade,
of which camphor, salt, sulphur, maize, fruits, and timber are
the principal.
The city of Taiwan lies in the south-western part, and is
described as a large place. The western coast presents no har¬
bors, and vessels lie a long distance off the shore, exposed to great
inconveniences when lading. Kilung at its northern extremity
is the only good port, but on the eastern shore Benyowsky found
several secure harbors. Some of the aboriginal inhabitants have
been driven or have removed east of the mountains, but most of
them have become partly incorporated with the Chinese settlers,
or live in villages of their own, under the general supervision of
Chinese officers. A still greater proportion of the aborigines pay
no allegiance to the Chinese, and many of their villages are still
found west of the mountains. They are divided into numerous
clans or tribes, like the North American Indians, and strifes
among themselves prevent all systematic opposition to the en¬
croachments of the Chinese. So far as is known these aborigines
have no written language, and no other religion than the respect
paid to sorcerers and demons ; the Chinese represent them as being
free from theft and deceptidl*, and just in their mutual dealings,
but revengeful when provoked. They are of a slender shape,
olive complexion, wear long hair, and blacken their teeth ; some
suppose them to be of Malayan or Polynesian origin, though
further investigation will probably show that they are allied to
the Lewchewans. The Chinese had no knowledge of Formosa
until a. d. 1403, and their sway was not established over it until
1683. It has always been a misgoverned, turbulent region,
owing to a variety of causes, among which no doubt the intermix¬
ture of the half civilized natives with the restless Fuhkienese,
FORMOSA AND PESCADORE ISLANDS.
119
and their insubordination developed by the extortion and cruelty
of the imperial officers, are the principal ; a great emigration is
constantly going on from the main, and lands arc taken up by
capitalists, who not only encourage the people to go over, but
actually purchase large numbers of poor people to occupy their
lands.*
About twenty-five miles west of Formosa, and attached to
Taiwan fu, is the district of Panghu ting or Pescadore islands,
consisting of a group of twenty-one inhabited islets, the largest
of which, called Panghu, is eighty-four miles in circumference;
none of them rise three hundred feet above the sea. The two
largest are situated near the centre of the cluster, and have an
excellent harbor between them. The want of trees, and the
absence of sheltered valleys, give these islands a barren appear
ance. Millet, ground-nuts, pine-apples, sweet potatoes, and vege¬
tables are grown, but for most of their supplies they depend upon
Formosa. The population of the group is estimated at 8000, of
whom a large part are fishermen. The Dutch seized these
islands in 1622, but removed to Formosa two years after at the
instance of the governor of Fuhkien, since which time they have
hardly been visited by foreigners, until they were surveyed by
Capt. Collinson in 1845.
* Chinese Repository, Vol. II., page 40S; Vol. V., page 480.
CHAPTER III.
Geographical Description of the Western Provinces.
The central provinces of Hupeh and Hunan formerly constituted
a single one under the name of Hukvvang (i. e. Broad Lakes),
and they are still commonly known by this appellation. Hupeh
(i. e. North of the Lakes) is the smallest of the two, but contains
the most arable land. It is bounded north by Honan, east by
Nganhwui and Kiangsi, south by Hunan, and west by Sz'chuen
and Shensf. Its area is about 70,000 square miles, or equal to
New England and New Jersey united.
The Great river flows through the south of the province, where
it connects with all the lakes on both its shores, and nearly doubles
its volume of water. The Han kiang, or Han sliwui, is its largest
tributary on the north. This river rises in the south-west of Shensi,
between the Peh ling and Tapa ling, and drains the south of that
province and nearly the whole of Hupeh, and joins the Yangtsz'
kiang at Wuchang fu, after a course of more than five hundred
miles. The area of its basin cannot be * ft.r from a hundred
thousand square miles. The south-eastern part of Hupeh is
occupied by an extensive depression filled with a succession of
lakes. The length and breadth of this plain are not far from two
hundred miles, and it is considered the most fertile part of China,
not being subject to overflows like the shores of the Yellow river,
while the descent of the land allows its abundance of water to be
readily distributed. Every spot is cultivated, and the surplus of
productions is easily transported wherever there is a demand.
The Ax lake, Millet lake, Red Horse lake, and Mienyang lake,
are the largest in the province. The remaining parts of both the
Lake provinces are hilly and mountainous ; the high range of the
Tapa ling lies on the west of Hupeh, and separates the basins of
the Great river and its tributary, the Han kiang, from each other,
some of its peaks rising to the snow line. The productions of
PROVINCE OF HUPEH.
121
Ilupeh are bread-stuffs, silk, cotton, tea, fisn, and timber; ita
manufactures are paper, wax, and cloth. The climate is tem¬
perate and healthy.
The capital of Hupeh, Wuchang fu, lies on the Yangtsz' kiang,
where the river Han joins it, and opposite to Hanyang fu. These
two cities, together with the suburb of Hankau, below the latter,
probably present, in addition to the shipping before them, one of the
largest assemblages of houses and vessels, inhabitants and sailors,
to be found anywhere in the world ; London and Yedo alone can
compete with it. A fire broke out in Hankau in 1833, which
burned seven days, destroying a great amount of merchandise
with the wooden dwellings. The number of vessels of the largest
size exceeds ten thousand, while the multitude of small craft and
ferry-boats moving about is much greater. The Yangtsz' kiang,
nearly five hundred miles from the sea, is here a league broad,
with depth sufficient for the largest ships.
A traveller thus speaks of the approach to Wuchang fu : " The
night had already closed in when we reached the place where the
river is entirely covered with vessels, of all sizes and forms, con¬
gregated here from all parts. I hardly think there is another
port in the world so frequented as this, which passes, too, as
among the most commercial in the empire. We entered one of
the open ways, a sort of a street having each side defined by
floating shops, and after four hours toilsome navigation through
this difficult labyrinth, arrived at the place of debarkation." He
further remarks, that " for the space of five leagues, one can only
see houses along the shore, and an infinitude of beautiful and
strange looking vessels in the river, some at anchor and others
passing up and down at all hours."*
The coup d'oeil of these three cities is beautiful, their environs
being highly cultivated and interspersed with the mansions of the
great ; but he adds, " If you draw near, you will find on the
margin of the river only a shapeless bank worn away with
freshes, and in the streets stalls surmounted with palisades, and
workshops undermined by the waters or tumbling to pieces
from age. The open spots between these ruins are filled with
abominations which diffuse around a suffocating odor. No
regulations respecting the location of the dwellings, no side-
• Annales de h Propagation de la Foi, 1S45, tome XVII., pages 287, 290
122
the middle kingdom.
walks, no place to avoid the crowd which presses upon ont
elbowing and disputing the passage, but all get along pell-mek
in the midst of cattle, hogs, and other domestic animals, each
protecting himself as he best can from the filth in his way, which
the Chinese collect with care for agricultural uses, and carry
along in little open buckets through the crowd." These cities
are obnoxious to freshes, and are occasionally injured by the rise
of the waters, their advantageous position being thus also the
source of their greatest danger.
Among the other cities in this province is Kinchau fu, one of
the most important from its position upon the Yangtsz' kiang,
where it enters the lake country ; a large garrison is maintained
here. Siangyang fu on the river Han is celebrated in ancient
Chinese history.
The province of Hunan (i. e. South of the Lakes) is bounded
north by Hupeh, east by Kiangsi, south by Kwangtung and
Kwangsi, and west by Ivweichau. The surface of the country
is much more hilly than Hupeh, rising into mountains on the
south, where a hardy, sparse population find their subsistence.
Tungting hu, the largest lake in China, lies in the north; the
country around it is extremely fertile, yielding two crops annu¬
ally. Three large streams, which take their rise in the Nan
ling, pour their waters into it; these are the Siang, which drains
the eastern part of the province, the Tsz' and the Yuen, which
communicate with the districts bordering on Kweichau.* They
drain a country equal in area to Great Britain, and through the
Tungting hu, convey its produce to all parts of the land; few
provinces, therefore, exceed this in facilities for internal naviga¬
tion. The productions of Hunan are such as an agricultural
country furnishes, rice being the principal grain. The moun¬
tains produce pine, cassia, and other timber, which are floated
down in rafts to the Great river; malachite, iron, lead, and coal,
are also obtained from their bowels.
The capital, Changsha fu, lies in the north-east on the river
Siang, and every prefecture in the province is accessible by
water from it through the lake. Yohchau fu, on the eastern side
of the lake at the junction with this river, is the thoroughfare for
* The Siang is called the Htng kiang, and the Tsz' bears the name of Lo
viang, in Du Halde.butthe names here given are those inserted in Chincaa
maps.
PROVINCES OF HUNAN AT 1) ^'HENSf.
123
all goods passing up anrl down the Kiang. The surface of this
and other lakes is enlivened by fishing-boats of various forms,
some of them carrying cormorants ; by large rafts, carrying
houses upon them, in which numerous families find a home; and
by odd shaped vessels transporting passengers and merchandise
in different directions. Pirates infest both the lakes and streams,
who do not confine themselves to depredations upon the water,
but land and levy black-mail upon the villages. The city of
Changsha is said to have been the place where the festival of
Dragon Boats originated. In the south-western part of the pro¬
vince aboriginal hill-tribes exist, who not seldom prove a source
of trouble to the imperial government. An insurrection broke
out in that region and Kwangtung, in 1832, which caused the
governors of the two provinces great trouble to quell, and cost
the governor-general of Kwangtung his office.
The province of Shensi (i. e. Western Defiles) is bounded
north by Inner Mongolia, from which the Great Wall divides
it, east by Shansi and Honan, south-east by Hupeh, south by
Sz'chuen, and west by Kansuh. Its area .s not far from 70,000
square miles. Shensi is a hilly region, diversified by many
well watered tracts, and subsisting a hardy and industrious
population.
On the north, the Great Wall separates it from the country of
the Ortous Mongols. The road leading from Shansi to Kansuh,
through Shensi, and that going south into Sz'chuen, are among
the most expensive works of the kind in China. The mountains
in this province form part of the Peh ling range, running across
its southern districts, and dividing the two basins of the Yellow
and Great rivers. North of the Wei ho, the whole country
gradually declines to the eastward, and although hilly does not
rise into any high peaks.
The rivers north of the Wei all run south-east into the Yellow
river ; some of them are over 350 miles long, taking their rise
in Kansuh, but their channels are in many places unnaviga-
ble on account of rapids and falls; the Loh and Wu-ting are
ihe largest. The Wei ho is the most considerable of all its afflu¬
ents, and joins it at the place where it enters the Plain. This
spot is well known in Chinese history as the Tungkwan pass, the
rivers bursting through high cliffs in Shansi on the north-east
and on the south. The basin of the Wei ho is equally fertile
124
THE MIDDLE KIN'tDOM.
and populous w*,h the other great internal basins in China; the
course of the river itself is not short of 400 miles, and its basin
probably comprises an area of 60,000 sq. m. This region is the
most ancient part of China, and Sx-ngan fu was the metropolis
for many centuries.
Gold mines occur in Shensi, and gold is collected in some
of the streams; other metals also are worked. The climate is
too cold for rice and silk; wheat, millet, and cotton supply their
places ; rhubarb, musk, wax, red-lead, coal, and nephrite are
exported. Wild animals still inhabit the northern parts, and the
number of horses, sheep, goats, and cattle raised for food and
service is large, compared with the eastern provinces.
The capital, Singan fu, is renowned as the metropolis of the
empire in the Tang dynasty, and is still much the largest city in
this part of the country, containing some remains of its former
grandeur, though from its position on the river Wei it could not
become a commercial emporium like Nanking or Hangchau.
This city is somewhat celebrated abroad as the place where an
ancient monument of the Nestorian missionaries in China was
discovered. The governor-general of this and the adjoining pro¬
vince resides here, having under his control a large body of
troops. There are some other towns of note in this province,
of which Hanchung fu in the west, on the Han river, where the
great road from Singan fu strikes that stream, is the largest.
The city of Yiilin fu is the station of a force to overrule the Mon¬
gols beyond the Great Wall, and receive the peltry brought in
from that region.
The immense province of Kansuh (i. e. Voluntary Re¬
verence) formerly belonged to Shensi, and extended no further
west than the pass called Kiayii kwan in the Great Wall near
Suh chau, but since the division, its limits have been extended
across the desert of Gobi to the confines of Songaria on the
north-west, and to the borders of Tibet on the west. Its name is
formed by joining the names of two large towns, Kanchau fu and
Suh chau. It is bounded north and north-east by Gobi and the
country of the Mongols, east by Shensi, south by Sz'chuen,
south-west by Koko-nor and the desert, and north-west by Cobdo
and lli. Its entire area cannot be much under 400,000 sq. m.,
the greater part of which is a howling desert; it extends acrosa
provinces of kanstjh and sz CHUEN.
125
twelve degrees of latitude and twenty-one degrees of longitude,
and comprises a large part of the ancient kingdom of Tangut.
The country is mountainous, some of the peaks rising over
10,000 feet; the principal chain is a spur from the Peh ling,
called Lung mountains on some maps, which running north¬
easterly bounds the valley of the Yel.ow river on its east, and
forces its waters northward; it also forms the east water-shed of
the Wei and other tributaries of the Yellow river in Shensi.
The Yellow river flows through the province in a north-east
direction, and receives a few large affluents in its course, as the
Ta-tung ho and Chau ho, both of which join it near Lanchau fu.
Near the termination of the Great Wall, a range of hills called
KMien shan, forms the water-shed between the valley of the
Ta-tung and a number of small rivers which flow northward into
the desert.
The climate of Kansuh is colder than Shensi, and its inhabit,
ants make much use of skins and furs in their clothing. The
country east of the Yellow river is fertile, and produces wheat,
barley, millet, and other edible plants. Wild animals are fre¬
quent, whose chase affords both food and peltry ; large flocks and
herds are also maintained by Tartars living within the province.
The mountains produce metals and minerals, among which are
copper, almagatholite, jade, gold, and silver. The capital of the
province is Lanchau fu, which lies on the south side of the Yel¬
low river, where it turns north-east ; the valley is narrow, and
defended on the west by a pass, through which the road goes
westward. At Sx-ning fu, about two hundred miles east of Tsing
hai, the superintendent of Koko-nor resides ; its political import¬
ance has largely increased its trade within the last few years.
Ninghia fu in the north-east of the province is the largest town
on the borders of the desert. The pass called Kiayii kwan is
gradually rising in importance from its being the first settlement
when coming in from the desert; duties are levied here, and a
garrison maintained. West of this pass lie the towns of Barkoul,
Hami, Turfan, and Oroumtsi, with other settlements, and ruled
partly by Chinese officers, and partly by the chieftains of the
various tribes. Oroumtsi is more than two thousand miles from
Peking, and the communication between them is constant.
The province of Sz'chuen (;. e. Four Streams) is ihe largest
of the eighteen, being double the size of most cif them ; it ia
126
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
bounded north by Kansuh and Shensf, east by Hupeh, south by
Kweichau and Yunnan, and west by Tibet, and north-west by
Koko-nor. Its area equals all the Eastern and Middle States ex¬
cluding Maryland. Its topography partakes of that of the adjoin¬
ing provinces, rugged and full of defiles ; the Yun ling stretches
across its western side, and sends off branches to the south and
north-east. There is one plain of considerable extent around the
capital, and the bottoms of the Yangtsz' kiang and its tributaries
are level and well cultivated. The Yangtsz' kiang flows along
a crooked channel in a north-easterly course through the south¬
eastern part of the province, receiving some of its largest tribu¬
taries. The Yahlung in the west, the Min in the centre, and the
Kialing near Hupeh, are its chief affluents in Sz'chuen. The
first is about six hundred miles long, and serves but little for
navigation compared with its length. The Min kiang is more
useful, and affords passage for boats up to Chingtu fu, if not be¬
yond ; the city of Siichau stands at the junction. The Kialing
drains a wide region, its branches extending over all the eastern
third of Sz'chuen and into the adjacent provinces; Chungking
fu stands at its entrance, and receives the timber and boats which
come down from Pauning fu and other towns on its banks.
The whole province is well watered, and produces grain, silk,
tea, horses, metals in abundance, rnusk, rhubarb, and skins.
The climate is good; the people are of a mixed race, and in
many places are governed with an imperfect rule. This pro¬
vince and Kansuh frequently suffer from famine (which, how¬
ever, is a calamity common enough everywhere in China), at
which times the most horrible excesses and misery are endured,
people resorting to brigandage to supply their wants, seizing and
devouring one another, drowning themselves and exposing their
children, and sometimes rising upon their rulers and destroying
all government and subordination. If the internal commerce of
the whole country was more secure, these dreadful calamities
would be greatly alleviated, if not altogether removed. Insur.
rections are frequent among the half-subdued tribes on the west-
ern frontier, which are quelled partly by force and partly by
bribes and concessions, though it is impossible to learn from the
Chinese accounts how they arise.
Chingtu fu, the capital, lies on the Min river, near the centre
of the province, in a well watered plain. It was once a city of
province of kwangtung.
127
note, but suffered so much at the Manchu conquest that it lias
not regained its former splendor. The trade of Sz'chuen i-s by
no means proportionate to its size or capabilities ; the inhabitants
cause their rulers much trouble, and are to a great degree theirs
selves the source of most of the commotions and distress that pre¬
vail. The mineral productions of this region are great, but not
availed of to the extent they might be; silk, tea, rhubarb, and
grain also form articles of exportation.
The province of Kwangtung (i. e. Broad East), from its h^, .
ing been for a long time the only one of the eighteen to which
foreigners have had access, has almost become synonymous with
China, although but little more is really known of it than of the
others, except in the vicinage of Canton, and along the course
of the Peh kiang, from Nanhiung chau to that city. It is
bounded north by Kiangsf and Hunan, north-east by Fuhkien,
south by the ocean, and west and north-west by Kwangsi. Its
area is about the same as that of the United Kingdom, and its
natural facilities for internal navigation and an extensive coasting
trade, are unusually great; for while its long line of coast, nearly
a thousand miles in length, affords many excellent harbors, its
rivers communicate with the regions on the west, north, and east
beyond its borders.
The Nan ling runs along the north, between it and Kiangsf
and Hunan, rendering that portion of the province mountainous.
The chain takes forty or fifty names in its course from Kwangsi
to Fuhkien, but no part of it is so well known as the road,
twenty-four miles in length, which crosses the Mei ling (i, e,
Plum ridge), between Nan-ngan and Nanhiung. The elevation
here is about a thousand feet, and none of the peaks in this part
of the range exceed two thousand. Towards Kwangsi they be¬
come more elevated. Their summits are limestone, with gra¬
nite underlying ; granite is also the prevailing rock along the
coast. The Li-mu ridge in Hainan has some peaks reaching
nearly to the snow-line. The bottoms of the rivers are wide,
and their fertility amply repays the husbandman. Fruits, rice,
silk, sugar, tobacco, and vegetables, constitute the greater part
of the productions. Lead, iron, and coal, are abundant.
The Chu kiang. or Pearl river, which flows past Canton,
is formed by the union of three rivers, the West, North, and East
rivers, the two first of which unite at Sanshwui, west of the city,
128
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
and the East river joins them at Whampoa. The Si kiang, o:
West river, is by far the largest of the branches : it rises in the
eastern part of Yunnan, and receives tributaries throughout tho
whole of Kwangsi, along the southern acclivities of the Nan
ling, and after a course of 500 miles, passes out to sea through
numerous mouths, the best known of which is the Bocca Tigris.
The Peh kiang, or North river, joins it after a course of 200
miles, and the East river is nearly the same length ; these two
streams discharge the surplus waters of all the northern parts of
Kwangtung. The country drained by the three cannot be much
less than 150,000 square miles, and most of their channels are
navigable for boats to all the large towns in this and the province
of Kwangsi. The Han kiang in the eastern end of Kwangtung
is the only other river of importance ; the large town of Cha'i-
chau fu, or Tie-chiu, lies near its mouth.
The coast-line of Kwangtung extends from Namoh island to
Cochinchina, a distance of more than 600 miles in a south-west-
jrly direction, deeply indented with bays and estuaries, and pre¬
senting two remarkable exceptions to the general uniformity of
the whole coast—.viz. the large delta of the Pearl river, and the
peninsula of Luichau opposite Hainan. The number of islands
scattered along this line is unknown, but if all are included, there
can hardly be less than 300, of which nearly one-third belong to
the department of Kwangchau,
Canton, or Kwangohau fu (i. e. Broad City), the provincial
capital, lies on the north bank of the Pearl river in lat. 23° 7'
10" N., and long. 113° 14' 30" E., nearly parallel with Havana,
Muskat, and Calcutta; its climate is, however, colder than either
of those cities. The word Canton is a corruption of Kwangtung,
derived in English from Kamtojn, the Portuguese mode of writ¬
ing it; the citizens themselves usually call it Kwangtung sang
ching, i. e. the provincial capital of Kwangtung, or simply sang
clung. Another name is the City of Rams, and a third the City
of Genii, both derived from ancient legends. It lies at the foct
of the White Cloud hills, along the low banks of the rivei
about seventy miles north of Macao in a direct line, and ninety
north-west of Hongkong; these distances are further by tN
river.
The delta into which the West, North, and East rivers fall
might be called a gulf, if the islands in it did not occupy so niucn
POSITION AND SIZE OF CANTON.
129
of the area. The whole forms one of the most fertile parts of
the province, and one of the most extensive estuaries of any river
in the world,—being a rough triangle about a hundred miles long
each side. The bay of Lintin—so called from the islet of that,
name, where the opium and other store ships formerly anchored
—is the largest sheet of water within the estuary, and lies below
the principal embouchure of the river, called Fu Mun, i. e.
Bocca Tigris, or Bogue. Few rivers can be more completely
protected than this; but their defences of walls and guns at thi?
spot availed the Chinese but little against the skill and power of
their enemies in the last war ; they were all, ten in number,
levelled with the ground. Ships pass through the Bogue, and
thence up to the anchorage at Whampoa, about thirty miles;
from whence Canton lies twelve miles nearly due west. The
approach to it is indicated by two lofty pagodas within the walls,
and the multitude of boats and junks thronging the river, amidst
which the most pleasing object to the " far-travelled stranger " is
the glimpse he gets through their masts of the foreign factories,
and the flagstaff's bearing the English, American, and other
ensigns.
The part of Canton inclosed by walls is about six miles in cir¬
cumference ;—having a partition wall running east and west,
which divides it into two unequal parts. The entire circuit, in¬
cluding the suburbs, is not far fiom ten miles. The population
on land and water, so far as the best data enable one to judge, is
not far from a million of inhabitants. This estimate has been
doubted; and certainty upon the subject cannot be attained, for
the census affords no aid in determining this point, owing to the
fact that it is set down by districts, and Canton lies partly in two
districts, Nanhai and Pwanyu, which extend beyond the walls
many miles. Mr. Davis says, " the whole circuit of the city has
been compassed within two hours by persons on foot, and cannot
exceed six or seven miles;" which is true, but he means only
that portion inclosed within the walls; and there are at least as
many houses without the walls as within them, besides the boats.
The city is constantly increasing, and the western suburbs pre.
sent many new streets entirely built up within the last ten years.
The houses stretch along the river from opposite the Fa It or Flow,
er grounds to French Folly, a distance of four miles, and the
banks are everywhere nearly concealed by the boats and rafts.
7*
130
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The situation of Canton is one which would naturally soon
attract settlers. The earliest notices of the city date back two
centuries before Christ, but traders were doubtless located here
prior to that time. It grew in importance as the country became
better settled, and in A. D. 700, a regular market was opened,
and a collector of customs appointed. When the Manchus over,
ran the country, this city resisted their utmost efforts to reduce
it for the space of eleven months, and was finally carried by
treachery. Martini says a hundred thousand men were killed at
its sack ; and the whole number who lost their lives at the final
assault and during the siege was 700,000—if the native accounts
are trustworthy. Since then, it has been rebuilt, and has in¬
creased in prosperity until it is regarded as the fourth city in the
empire for numbers, and probably next to Peking for wealth.
The foundations of the city walls are of sandstone, and their
upper part brick ; they are about twenty feet thick, and from
twenty-five to forty feet high, having an esplanade on the inside,
and pathways leading to the rampart, on three sides. The houses
are built very near the wall on both sides of it, so that one hardly
sees it when walking around the city, except on the north.
There are twelve outer gates, four in the partition wall, and two
water gates, through which boats pass from east to west across
the New city. A ditch once encompassed the walls, but is now
dry on the northern side ; on the other three, and within the city,
it and most of the canals are filled by the tide, and present a re¬
volting mass of reeking filth when the retiring waters expose the
bottoms. The inhabitants are supplied with water for washing
from these canals and the river ; and tolerable drinking water ia
plentifully furnished from many springs and wells. The gates
of the city are all shut at night, and a guard is constantly sta¬
tioned at them to preserve order, but the idle soldiers them¬
selves cause at times no little disturbance. Among the names
of the gates are Great-Peace gate, Eternal-Rest gate, Five-Genii
gate, Bamboo-Wicket gate, &c.
The appearance of the city when viewed from the hills on the
north is insipid and uninviting, compared with western cities,
being an expanse of reddish roofs relieved by a few large trees,
and interspersed with pairs of high red poles used for flag-staffs.
Two pagodas shoot up within the walls, far above the watch.
APPEARANCE OF CANTON.
131
lowers on them, and with the five-storied tower near the northern
gate, form the most conspicuous objects in the prospect.
To a spectator at this elevation, the river is a prominent feature
in the landscape, covered with a great diversity of boats of differ¬
ent colors and sizes, some stationary and others moving, and all
resounding with the mingled hum of laborers, sailors, musicians,
marketers, children, and boatwomen, pursuing their several
sports and occupations. A fort, called Dutch Folly, or Sea Pearl
by the Chinese, is built on a little island in the river, its fanciful
buildings and beautiful trees, with the quietude reigning within
its walls, agreeably contrasting with the liveliness of the waters
around. Beyond, on its southern shore, lies the suburb and island
of Honam, and green fields and low hills are seen still further in
the distance j at the western angle of this island, the Pearl R.
divides, the greatest body of water flowing south, and leaving
a comparatively narrow channel before the city. The hills north
of the city rise twelve hundred feet above the river ; their ac¬
clivities for miles are covered with graves and tombs, the necro¬
polis of this vast city: little or no vegetation is seen upon them.
Three or four forts are built on the points nearest the northern
walls.
The streets are too narrow to be seen from such a spot.
Among their names, amounting in all to more than six hun¬
dred, are Dragon street, Martial Dragon street, Pearl street,
Golden Flower street, New Green Pea street, Physic street, Spec¬
tacle street, Flower street, &c. They are not as dirty as those
of some other cities in the empire, and on the whole, considering
the habits of the people and surveillance of the government, which
prevents almost everything like public spirit, Canton has been a
well governed, cleanly city. In these respects it is not now as
well kept, perhaps, as it was before the war, nor was it ever com¬
parable to modern cities in the West, nor should it be likened to
them : without a corporation to attend to its condition, or having
power to levy taxes to defray its unavoidable expenses, it cannot
be expected that it should be as wholesome. It is more surprising,
rather, that it is no dirtier and no sicklier than it is. The houses
along the water are built upon piles driven into the ground, and
many portions of the city are subject to inundations when the
waters increase. On the edge of the stream, the vater percolates
the soil, and spoils all the wells
132
THE MIDDLE KINGIOM.
The temples and public buildings of Canton are numerous, but
none of them offer much worthy of special remark. There are
two pagodas near the west gate of the old city, and one hundred
and twenty-four temples, pavilions, halls, and other religious
edifices within the circuit of the city. One of the pagodas, called
the Kwang tali or Plain pagoda, was erected by the Moham¬
medans, who still reside near it, about ten centuries ago, and is
rather a minaret than a pagoda, though quite unlike those struc¬
tures in Turkey in its style of architecture : it shoots up in an an-
gular, tapering tower, to the height of one hundred and sixty feet.
The other is an octagonal pagoda, of nine stories, one hundred
and seventy feet high, and was first erected more than thirteen
hundred years ago. The geomancers say that the whole city
is like a junk, these two pagodas are her masts, and the five storied
tower on the northern wall, her stern sheets.
The Hai-chwang sz\ a Budhist temple at Honam opposite the
foreign factories, and usually known as the Honam Joss-house, is
one of the largest in Canton, and has been frequently described.
Its grounds cover about seven acres, surrounded by a wall, and
divided into courts, garden-spots, and a burial-ground, where are
deposited the ashes of priests whose bodies are burned. The
buildings present nothing worthy of note in an architectural
point, consisting mostly of cloisters or apartments surrounding a
court, within which is a temple, a pavillion, or a hall; these
courts are overshadowed by large trees, the resort of thousands
of birds. The outer gateway opens upon the street on the river
banks, and leads up a gravelled walk to a high portico guarded
by two huge demoniac figures, through which the visitor enters
a small inclosure, separated from the largest one by anothei
spacious porch, in which are four huge statues. This conducts
him to the main temple, a low building one hundred feet square,
and surrounded by pillars; it contains three wooden gilded
images, in a sitting posture, called Sa?i Pau Fuh, or the Past,
Present, and Future Budha, each of them about twenty-five feet
high, and surrounded by numerous altars and attendant images.
Daily prayers are chanted before them by a large chapter, all of
whom are dressed in their yellow canonicals, and go through the
liturgy with great regularity. Beyond this a smaller building
eontains a marble repository somewhat resembling a pagoda, un¬
der which is preserved a relic of Budha, said to be one of his
BUDHIST TEMPLES IN CANTON.
133
toe-nails. This court contains other shrines, and many offices
for the accommodation of the priests, among which are the print¬
ing-office and library, both of them respectable for size, though
the books are little calculated to instruct or entertain either priest
or people.
There are about one hundred and seventy-five priests con¬
nected with the establishment, only a portion of whom can read.
Among the buildings within the walls are several small tem¬
ples dedicated to national deities whom the Budhists have taken
into their mythology, for they have no scruples in worshipping
whatever will bring devotees to their shrines. One of the apart¬
ments is appropriated to the reception of hogs (not lugs, as was
stated in one work) offered by worshippers, which are fed here
as long as they live.
Besides the Honam temple, there are two others in the Old
city belonging to the Budhists, both of them, like that, well en¬
dowed. One of them, called Kwang-hiau sz\ or temple of Glo¬
rious Filial Duty, contains two hundred priests, who are sup¬
ported from the lands belonging to the establishment, which
are estimated at three thousand five hundred acres. The num¬
ber of priests and nuns in Canton is not exactly known, but they
probably exceed two thousand, nine-tenths of whom are Bud-
nists. There are only three temples of the Rationalists, and
their numbers and influence are far less than those of the Bud-
nists.
The Ching-hwang miau is one of the most important religious
institutions in every Chinese city, it being a sort of palladium,
in which both rulers and people offer their devotions for the wel¬
fare of the city. The superintendent of that in Canton pays
$4000 for his situation, which sum, with a large profit, is ob¬
tained again in a few years, by the sale of candles, incense, &c.,
to the worshippers. The temples in Canton are cheerless,
gloomy abodes, well enough fitted, however, for the residence of
inanimate idols and the performance of unsatisfying ceremo¬
nies. The areas in front of them are usually oocupied by huck¬
sters, beggars, and idlers, who are occasionally driven off to give
room for the mat-sheds in which theatrical performances, got up
by the priests, are acted. The principal hall, where the idol sits
enshrined, is lighted only in front, and the altar, drums, bells,
and other furniture of the temple, are little calculated to enliven
134
the middle kingdom.
it; the cells and inner apartments are xnhabited by men almost
as senseless as the idols they serve, miserable beings, who, hav.
ing abandoned society and their better reason too, here drag out
a vicious, idle, misanthropic life.
The residences of the high officers of government, are all situ-
ated within the walls, part of them in the Old, and part in the New
city. The proper residence of the governor-general is Shauking
fu, but in consequence of the importance of Canton he is allowed
to reside there, though to prevent illegal combinations or exac¬
tions, his official guard of 5000 troops is kept at the former place
His office is situated in the south-western corner of the New city,
and comprises a large number of buildings for the accommoda¬
tion of himself and attendants. The collector of customs, styled
the Grand Hoppo by foreigners, lives a little east of the governor-
general, and these two are the only high officers who reside in
the New city. The fuyuen, commander-in-chief, provincial trea¬
surer, judge, literary chancellor, commissioner of the gabel and
grain departments, and prefect, all live in different parts of the
Old city. The residence of the tsiangkiun, or commander-in-
chief, is said to be one of the best built houses in the city ; it wa5
erected for the King of the South, as the son of Kanghi was
called, who was sent by his father, about a. d. 1700, to subjugate
this region. The Kung yuen, or hall of Literary Examination, in
the south-eastern corner of the Old city, is a spacious edifice,
containing several thousand cells for the reception of the students
who assemble at the examinations held in it.
There are four prisons in the city, and all of them large esta¬
blishments ; all the capital offenders in the province are brought
to Canton for trial before the provincial officers, and this regula¬
tion makes it necessary to provide spacious accommodations for
them. The execution-ground is a small yard near a pottery
manufacture between the southern gate and the river side, and
unless the ground is newly stained with blood, or cages contain¬
ing the heads of the criminals are hung around it, has nothing
about it to attract the attention. Another public building, situ¬
ated near the governor's palace, is the Wan-sliau kung, or Impe¬
rial Presence hall, where three days before and after his majesty's
birthday, the officers and citizens assemble to pay him adoration.
The various guilds and associations among the people, and the
merchants from other provinces, have, each of them, public halls
View of a Street in Canton.
FOREIGN FACTORIES.
137
for their particular use, which are usual.1}7 called .onsoo houses
by foreigners, from a corruption of the native term kung-sz', i. e.
public hall ; the total number of these buildings is not less than
one hundred and fifty, and some of them are not destitute of ele¬
gance.*
The foreign factories in the western suburbs, for a long time
the only residences allowed to foreign merchants in China, are
far more showy in point of architectural display than any other
buildings in Canton ; and, as a block of buildings, are said by the
natives to exceed any other in the empire, not even excepting
the imperial palaces themselves, though they would not attract
attention in western cities as extraordinary for either magnifi¬
cence or convenience. Their river frontage is between seven
and eight hundred feet in length, and the area before them is
partly occupied with an inclosed garden, about a hundred and
twenty feet in depth; the buildings at the western end of the
garden reach to the water's edge. The factories are built of
brick stuccoed, with granite foundations; some of them are three
stories high, but most of them only two. They occupy, with the
gardens in front, an area about sixty rods long by forty deep, or
a little more than fifteen square acres, which is only three more
than the base of the pyramid of Suph is at Gizeh. This small
space is still further reduced by three streets lined with Chinese
shops and one large native hong| (Mingqua's), which run quite
through to the back street, so that the space actually occupied by
the whole foreign community in Canton is hardly equal to the
base of the great pyramid.
The separate houses composing each hong lie one behind the
other, so that the facade of the front ones is seen from the river;
those in the rear are reached by an alley passing through the
middle of the ground story, the rooms on each side being occu¬
pied vith offices and servants' apartments. Some of the hongs
contain four, and a few seven or eight houses, separated from
each other by small intervals, quite inadequate for sufficient light
* Chinese Repository, Vol. II., pp. 145, 191, &c.
t This word is derived from the Chinese hong or hang, meaning i row
or series, and is applied to warehouses because these consist of a succrssion
of rooms. The foreign factories are built in this manner, and theiefore
the Chinese caLed each block a hong; the old security-merchants were
called hong-merchants, because they lived in such establishments.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
and air to penetrate into some of the retire'' apartments. Each
hong adjoins those next to it, the only latera* Hvision being the
three Chinese streets, so that there are, in all, four nearly solid
blocks of buildings, placed together almost as close as books in
a library. These streets are lined with Chinese shops appropri¬
ated to the sale of articles intended for foreign lparkets ; one
called by the Chinese Siti-tau lan, i. e. Green Pea street, or Hog
lane by foreigners, is chiefly occupied with slop and spirit shops,
and frequented by lascars and other sailors from the shipping.
The factories are so called from their being the residence of
factors ; there is no handicraft carried on in them, nor are many
goods stored in them. They were entirely destroyed by fire in
1822, and soon after rebuilt by the hong-merchants, though a
few of the mercantile firms erected their own dwellings. The
ground is owned by the hong-merchants. The three eastern
hongs (viz. the Creek, Dutch, and Company's) were pillaged and
burnt during the war; they have been since rebuilt under the
direction of the British consul for the accommodation of the Con¬
sulate, on a somewhat different plan. A narrow creek separates
the easternmost hong from the warehouses of the hong-merchants,
and offers some protection against fires among the adjacent shops
and workhouses. The next six hongs constitute a solid mass of
houses, about thirty in all ; they are called the Chowchow, Old
English, Swedish, Imperial, Pau-shun, and American ; a small
garden, reaching to the river, occupies the entire area in their
front. They are divided by a broad street, called Old China
street, from Mingqua's, and the French and Spanish hongs on
the west; and these two last are separated by another street,
called New China street, from the thirteenth and last, called the
Danish hong. The Danish and Spanish hongs were burnt in
1843, but have been rebuilt in a much less commodious style,
and extended down to the river side. The rents paid for the
factories vary from $1200 to $3000 for each establishment.
The trades and manufactories at Canton are all more or less
connected with the foreign commerce. Many of the silk fabrics
exported are woven at Fuhshan or Fatshan, a large town situated
about ten miles west of the city ; fire-crackers, paper, mat-sails,
cotton cloth, and other articles, are also made there for exporta¬
tion.^ The number of persons engaged in weaving cloth in Can¬
ton is about 50,000, including the embroiderers ; about 7000
ANCHORAGE OF WHAMPOA.
139
harbors and 4200 shoemakers are stated as the number licensed
to shave the crowns and shoe the soles of their fellow-citizens.
The suburb of Honam opposite Canton offers a few walks for
recreation, and the citizens are in the habit of going over the
river to saunter in its fields, or in the cool grounds of the great
temple. A couple of miles up the river are the Fa ti or Flower
gardens, which supply the plants carried out of the country, and
are resorted to by pleasure parties ; but to one accustomed to the
squares, gardens, and esplanades of western cities, these grounds
appear mean in the extreme. Foreigners ramble into the coun¬
try a little, but rowing upon the river is their favorite and safest
recreation. Like Europeans in all parts of the East, they retain
their own costume and modes of living, and do not adopt the
native styles ; though if it were not for the shaven crown, it is
not unlikely many of them would have adopted the Chinese dress.
The position of the residents in Canton is far more confined and
irksome than at the other four ports, and years must elapse be¬
fore the ill will and contempt now felt by the people will be
changed. There have been many causes long in operation to
bring about and confirm this unpleasant state of feeling, but they
were developed and aggravated by the war, and by demagogues
who then stirred up all the worst passions of the populace.
The citizens of this city enumerate eight remarkable localities
called pah king, which they consider worthy the attention of the
stranger. The first is the peak of Yuehsiu, just within the walls
on the north of the city, which commands a fine view of the sur¬
rounding country. The Lyre pagoda at Whampoa, and tho
Eastern sea Fish-pearl, or the Dutch Folly, are two more ; the
pavilion of the Five Genii, with the five stone rams, and print of
a man's foot in the rock, " always filled with water," near by ;
the rocks of Yu-shan ; the lucky wells of Faukiu in the western
suburbs ; cascade of Sf-tsiau, forty miles west of the city ; and
a famous red building in the city, complete the eight "lions."
The foreign shipping lies at Whampoa (pronounced Wompoo,
i. e. the Yellow Anchorage), a reach in the river four miles in
length, above which it is impossible for large ships to go. FT. B.
M. ship Blenheim, 74, came up within four miles of the city in
May, 1841, along the south side of Honam island, but that chan¬
nel has since been blocked up by the Chinese. There are two
islands on the south side of the anchorage, called French and
140
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Danes' i. lands, on which foreigners and sailors are buried, and
where persons from the shipping are allowed to ramble. The
prospect from the summit of the hills hereabouts is picturesque
and charming, giving the spectator a high idea of the fertility
and industry of the land and its people. Large herds of cattle
are reared on these and other islands for supplying the shipping
with beef, but the people themselves do not use it. The town
of Whampoa and its pagoda lies on the island north of the
anchorage ; between it and Canton is another called Lob creek
pagoda, both of them uninhabited and decaying.
Macao (pronounced Macoio) is a Portuguese settlement on a
small peninsula projecting from the south-eastern end of the
large island of Hiangshan. Its Chinese inhabitants are governed
by a tsotang or lieutenant of the district magistrate of the town
of Hiangshan, aided by a sub-prefect, called the kiun-min fu, who
resides at Tsienshan or Casa Branca, a few miles from Macao.
The circuit of this settlement is about eight miles, and its limits
landward are defined by a Barrier wall running across the
isthmus, where a small guard of Chinese troops is stationed to
prevent foreigners from trespassing upon the Inner Land. The
position of Macao is very agreeable ; nearly surrounded with
water, and open to the sea breezes on every side, having a good
variety of hill and plain even in its little territory, and a large
island on the west called Tui-mien shan or Lapa island, on which
are pleasant rambles, to be reached by equally pleasant boat
excursions, it is also one of the healthiest residences in south¬
eastern Asia. The principal drawbacks upon its advantages so
far as a residence for foreigners goes, are the want of carriage
roads, and a choice of society—for the Portuguese and foreign
population, generally speaking, are debarred from mutual inter¬
course by their ignorance of each other's language.
The population of the peninsula is not far from 30,000, of whom
more than 5,000 are Portuguese and other foreigners, living
under the control of the Portuguese authorities, and the Chinese
under the rule of their own magistrates. The Portuguese pay
an annual ground rent for the settlement, and are not allowed to
build dwelling-houses without the walls of the town ; the houses
occupied by the foreign population are built on the plan of those
in other eastern cities, large, roomy, and open, and from the rising
nature of the ground on which they stand, present an imposing
SETTLEMENT OF MACAO.
141
appearance to the visitor coming in from the sea. Since the con-
elusion of the war, the Portuguese have obtained some additional
unimportant privileges from the Chinese, but their own bigoted,
short-sighted policy, and narrow-minded regulations, are the chief
obstacles in the way of the town again becoming the place of
wealth and trade it was one hundred and fifty years ago, when it
was incomparably the richest mart in Eastern Asia.
There are a few good buildings in the settlement; the most
imposing edifice, St. Paul's church, was burned in 1835. Three
forts on commanding eminences protect the town, and others out¬
side of the walls defend its waters; the governor takes the oaths
of office in the Monte fort; but the government offices are mostly
in the Senate house, situated in the middle of the town. Macao
has been the usual residence for the families of merchants trading
at Canton, and during the war most of the business was conducted
there; since the peace, the trade has returned to the city, and
many of the families have moved to Hongkong, but the authorities
are doing what they can to revive the prosperity of the place, by
making it a free port. The Typa anchorage lies between the
islands Mackerara and Typa, about three miles off the southern
end of the peninsula ; all small vessels go into the Inner harbor
on the west side of the town. Ships anchoring in the Roads, on
the east, are obliged to lie about three miles off the Praya Grande
or key, in consequence of shallow water, and large ones cannot
come nearer than six miles.
Eastward from Macao, about forty miles, lies the newly
acquired English colony of Hongkong, an island in latitude
22° 16£' N., and longitude 114° 8y E., on the eastern part of
the estuary of the Pearl river. The island of Hongkong, or
Hiangkiang (i. e. the Fragrant Streams), is nine miles long,
eight broad, and twenty-six in circumference, presenting an
exceedingly uneven, barren surface, consisting for the most part
of ranges of hills, with narrow intervales, and a little level beach
land. The highest peak is 1825 feet. Probably not one twen¬
tieth of the surface is available for agricultural purposes. The
island and harbor were first ceded to the Crown of England by
the treaty made between Captain Elliot and Kishen, in January,
1841, and again by the treaty of Nanking, in August, 1842.
It had been extensively colonized previous to the ratified cession,
both b} foreigners and Chinese. The town of Victoria lies on
142
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
the north of the island, and extends nearly three miles along the
shore, occupying all the land between the water and the ascent of
the hills, and rising up the latter wherever the acclivity is not too
steep. The secure and convenient harbor, which induced the
English plenipotentiary to select this island as the British settle¬
ment, has attracted the chief town to its shores, though the uneven
nature of the ground, ill calculated for a compact settlement,
compels the inhabitants to stretch their warehouses and dwellings
along the beach. In this respect Macao is better situated than
Victoria, but that town has no good harbor.
The architecture of most of the buildings erected in Victoria
is superior to anything heretofore seen in China. Its population
in June, 1845, was estimated at *25,000, of whom about 20,000
were Chinese laborers, shopkeepers, and boatmen, of low cha¬
racter, very few of whom had immigrated with their families.
The government of the colony is vested in a governor, lieutenant-
governor (who is likewise the commandant), chief-justice, and a
legislative council of five, assisted by various subordinate officers
and secretaries, the whole forming a cumbrous and expensive
machinery, compared with the needs and resources of the colony.
The governor has also the office of superintendent of British
trade at the five ports, and exercises a general control over all
British ships and subjects resorting to China.
The climate of Hongkong, like that of Macao, is generally
healthy to most foreigners, but it has obtained a bad celebrity
from the numerous deaths which occurred in 1842 and 1843,
though these to a good degree resulted from other causes than
the climate, aided no doubt by local predisposing causes existing
at the time. Subsequent years have shown, however, that with
proper attention to regimen, avoiding the sun, and living in dry,
well ventilated houses, as good a degree of health can be enjoyed
as at Macao or Canton. The peninsula of Chekchu on the south¬
western point, Shek-pai wan on the wesf, and the bay of Tytam
on the eastern end of the island, are eligible positions for resi¬
dences, but hitherto few of the inhabitants have erected dwelling-
houses out of Victoria. The supplies of the island are chiefly
brought from the mainland opposite, where an increasing popula¬
tion of Chinese, under the control of the magistrate of Kailung,
find ample demand for all the provisions they can furnish. The
population of Hongkong before its cession was about 2000, a
COLONY OF HONGKONG.
143
poor and ignorant race, subsisting by fishing and agriculture ;
or the cutting and sale of building stone.
Three newspapers are published in Hongkong, all of which have
a remunerating patronage. The school of the Morrison Education
Society, the hospital of the Medical Missionary Society, the Sea¬
men's and Military hospitals, the chapel and school of the London
Missionary Society, the government house, the magistracy, jail,
the ordnance and engineer departments, Exchange, and the Club
house, are among the principal edifices in the town. The amount
of money expended in buildings in this colony since its cession is
enormous, perhaps over two millions of dollars, and most of them
are substantial stone or brick houses.
The places just mentioned, and others intermediate in the
vicinity of Canton, comprise nearly all those which have been
visited by foreigners, except when the officers and crew of a
wrecked vessel have been forwarded by the authorities overland
from the coast of Canton ; but the close manner in which such
parties are kept during their journey, has prevented much
observation of the country through which they passed. Fatshan
has been represented as eight or ten miles in circumference, but
it has not been visited by travellers for a long time, and little or
nothing is actually known concerning its extent. The island of
Shangchuen or Sancian, where Xavier died, belongs to this
province ; it lies south-west of Macao about thirty miles, and is
sometimes visited by devout persons from that place to reverence
his tomb.
The city of Shauchau fu in the northern part of the province,
and Shauking fu on the Pearl river west of Canton, are among
the most important cities after the capital ; the latter was
formerly the seat of the provincial authorities, till they were
ordered to remove to Canton to keep the foreigners under con¬
trol. It is said to be one of the best built cities in the southern
part of the empire, and its position beautiful. Some of its dis¬
tricts furnish large quantities of tea, and grass suitable for
matting. Among other towns of note is Nanhiung chau, situated
at the head of navigation on the North river, where goods cross
the Mei ling. It is said that fifty thousand porters obtain a live-
lihood by transporting packages, passengers, and merchandise
over the pas3j to and from this town and Nan-ngan fu in
Kiangsi. It is a bustling place, and the restless habits of these
144
THE M'DDLE KINGDOM.
Industrious carriers give its population somewhat of a turbulent
character.
The scenery along the river, between Nanhiung and Shauchau
fu, is described as wild, mountainous, and barren in the extreme ;
the summits of the mountains seem to touch each other across
the river, and the massive fragments fallen from their sides, in and
along the river, indicate that the passage is not altogether free
from danger. In tliis mountainous region coal is procured, by
opening horizontal shafts to the mines, and bringing it down to
the river as it is dug. Ellis says, it was brought some distance
to the place where he saw it, to be used in the manufacture of
green vitriol. One of the most conspicuous objects in this part
of the river are five rocks, which rise abruptly from the banks,
and fancifully called Wu-ma tau, or Five-horses' heads. The
formation of this part of the province consists of compact, dark-
colored limestone, overlying sandstone and breccia. Nearly
halfway between Shauchau fu and Canton is a celebrated moun¬
tain and cavern temple, dedicated to Kwanyin, the goddess of
Mercy, which is much resorted to by devotees and travellers.
The cliff is nearly five hundred feet high; the temple is in a
fissure, about a hundred feet above the water, and consists of two
stories; the steps leading up to them, the rooms, walls, and cells,
are all cut out of the rock. Inscriptions and scrolls hide the
naked walls, and a few inane priests live in this gloomy abode,
fit hierophants to hideous idols, worshipped by devotees scarcely
less senseless. Mr. Barrow draws a fitting comparison between
these men and the inmates of the Cork Convent in Portugal, or
the Franciscan convent in Madeira, who had likewise " chained
themselves to a rock, to be gnawed by the vultures of superstition
and fanaticism."
The island of Hainan constitutes a single department, called
Kiungchau, by which name the Chinese generally know it. It is
about one hundred and fifty miles long and one hundred broad,
being in extent nearly twice the size of Sicily. It is separated
from the main by a narrow strait, filled with shoals and reefs,
which render its passage difficult. The interior of the island is
mountainous, and the inhabitants give but a partial submission to
the Chinese ; they are said to resemble the mountaineers in Kwei-
chau. This ridge is called Li-mu ling ; a remarkable peak on
the west is named Wu-chi sJian, or Five-finger mountain. The
PROVINCE OF KWANGSf.
145
Chinese inhabitants are mostly descendants of emigrants from
Fuhkien, and are either trading, agricultural, marine, or piratical
in their vocation, as they can make most money. The lands
along the coast are fertile, producing areca-nuts, cocoa-nuts, and
other tropical fruits, which arc not found on the main. Kiung-
chau fu, the capital, lies at the mouth of the Limu river, opposite
Luichau, and possesses a good harbor; there are several other
fine harbors on the southern coast. All the thirteen district towns
lie 011 the coast, and within their circuit, on the Chinese maps, a
line is drawn, inclosing the centre of the island, within which the
Li jnin, or Li people live, some of whom are acknowledged to be
independent. The population of the island is about 1,500,000.
Its productions are rice, sweet potatoe, sugar, tobacco, fruits, tim¬
ber, and wax ; the last is obtained from an insect, called peh-lah
chung, or white-wax insect, which deposits it when layin-r its
eggs. The bay of Tonquin, lying north-east of Hainan, is but
little known. It is the resort of pirates, whose depredations have
probably nearly destroyed what they lived upon. The seas
around Hainan are notorious for the hurricanes, which occur
during the summer months.
The province of Kwangsi (i. e. Broad West) extends west¬
ward of Kwangtung to the borders of Annam, occupying the
region on the south-west of the Nan ling, and constitutes a moun¬
tainous and thinly settled part of the empire. The banks of the
rivers sometimes spread out into plains, more in the eastern parts
than elsewhere, on which abundance of rice is grown. There
are mines of gold, silver, quicksilver, and other metals, in this
province, most of which arc worked under the superintendence
of government, but no data are accessible from which to ascer¬
tain the produce. Among the principal productions of Kwangsi,
besides provisions, are cassia, cassia-oil, ink-stones, and cabinet
woods ; its natural resources supply the principal articles ot
trade, for there are no manufactures of importance. Many par¬
tially subdued tribes are found within the limits of this province,
who are ruled by their own hereditary governors, under the
supervision of the Chinese authorities ; there are twenty-four
chau districts occupied by these people, the names of whose head¬
men are given in the Red Book, and their position marked in the
statistical maps of the empire, but no information is given in
either, concerning the numbers, language, or occupations, of the
8
146
the middle kingdom.
inhabitants. Ivwangsi is well watered by the West iver and
branches, which enable it to convey its timber and surplus pro
duce to Canton, and receive from thence salt and other articles
The mountains rise to the snow-line on the north-west, and mucl>
of the province is uncultivable.
The capital, Kweilin fu (i. e. Cassia Forest), lies on the Cassia
river, a branch of the West river, in the north-east part of the
province ; it is described as a poorly built city, surrounded b*
canals and branches of tne river, destitute of any edifices worthy
of notice, and having no great amount of trade ; which, indeed,
its situation, in the most rugged part of the province, would lead
one to infer.
Wuchau fu, on the same river, at its junction with the Lung
kiang, or Dragon river, where they unite and form the West
river, is the largest trading town in the province ; all the export
and import trade of the province passes through it. The inde¬
pendent chau districts are scattered over the south-west near the
frontiers of Annam, and if anything could be inferred from their
position, it might be thought that they were settled by Laos
tribes, who had been induced, by the comparative security of life
and property within the frontiers, to acknowledge the Chinese
sway. The unsubdued Miautsz' are probably altogether distinct
from these races; they occupy the north-east portion of the pro¬
vince, in the mountain fastnesses between it and Kweichau.
The province of Kweichau (i. e. Noble Region) lies in the
mountainous regions of the Nan ling, between Kwangsf and
Sz'chuen, bounded north by Sz'chuen, east by Hunan, south by
Ivwangsi, and west by Yunnan. Its productions consist of rice,
wheat, musk, tobacco, timber, and cassia, with lead, copper,
quicksilver, and iron. Horses and other domestic animals are
reared in larger quantities than in the eastern provinces. It is a
poor province, and its inhabitants are rude and illiterate. During
the last war, bodies of troops from Kweichau came down to
Canton, and by their lawless conduct and uncouth manners,
excited the strongest disgust and contempt of the citizens, who
used to mock them with the cry of " kwei tszJ lai /"—" the devils
(i. e. foreigners) are after you !"—in order to see them run. The
largest river is the Wu, which drains the central and northern
parts of the province, and empties into the Yangtsz' kiang.
Other tributaries of that river and West river, also have their
PROVINCE OF KWEiCHAU.
147
sources in this province, but its surface is so uneven that none of
them are available for navigation far from their mouths.
The capital of the province, Kweiyang fu, is situated near its
centre; it is the smallest provincial capital of the eighteen, its
walls not being more than two miles in circumference. The
other chief towns or departments are all of them of inferior note.
There are many military stations in the southern portions of
Kweichau at the foot of the mountains, intended to restrain the
unsubdued tribes of Miautsz' who inhabit them.
This name is used among the Chinese as a general term for
all the dwellers upon these mountains, but is not applied to every
tribe by the people themselves. They consist of forty-one
tribes in all, found scattered over the mountains in Kwangtung,
Hunan, and Kwangsi, as well as in Kweichau, speaking several
dialects, and differing among themselves in their customs, go¬
vernment, and dress. The Chinese have several books describing
these people, but the notices are confined to a list of their divi¬
sions, and an account of their most striking peculiarities. Their
language differs entirely from the Chinese, but too little is
known of it to ascertain its analogies to other tongues ; its affini¬
ties are most likely with the Laos, and other tribes between
Burmah, Siam, and China. One tribe, inhabiting Lipo hien, is
called Yau-jin, and although they occasionally come down to
Canton to trade, the citizens of that place firmly believe them to
be furnished with short tails like monkeys. They carry arms,
and are inclined to live at peace with the lowlanders, but resist
every attempt to penetrate into their fastnesses. The Yau-jin
first settled in Kwangsi, and thence passed over into Lien chau
about the twelfth century, where they have since maintained
their footing. Both sexes wear their hair braided in a tuft on
the top of the head, but never shaven and tressed as the Chi¬
nese, and dress in loose garments of cotton and linen; ear¬
rings are in universal use among them. They live at strife
among themselves, which becomes a source of safety to the
Chinese, who are willing enough to harass and oppress, but are
ill able to resist, these hardy mountaineers. In 1832, they broke
out in active hostilities against the Chinese, and destroyed nu¬
merous parties of troops sent to subdue them, but were finally
induced to ret rn to their retreats by offers of pardon and lar¬
gesses granted to those who submitted.
148
the middle kingdom.
A Chinese traveller among the Miautsz' says that some of them
live in huts constructed upon the branches of trees, others in
mud hovels. Their agriculture is rude, and their garments are
obtained by barter from the lowlanders in exchange for metals
and grain, or woven by themselves. The religious observances
of these tribes are carefully noted, and whatever is connected
with marriages and funerals. In one tribe, it is this custom for
the father of a new-born child, as soon as its mother has become
strong enough to leave her couch, to get into bed himself and
there receive the congratulations of his acquaintances, as he
exhibits his offspring. Another class has the counterpart of the
mav-pole and its jocund dance, which, like its corresponding
game, is availed of by young men to select their mates. It is
said there are more than fifty tribes in all of the Miautsz', but
no estimate can be made of their numbers. Many vigorous
efforts have been made by the monarchs of the present dynasty
to subdue these hardy tribes, but they have all failed ; and the
general government now contents itself with keeping them in
check, or in efforts to induce them, by kind treatment, to settle
on the plains.*
The province of Yunnan (i. e. Cloudy South—south of the
Yun ling, or Cloudy mountains) is in the south-west of the
empire, bounded north by Sz'chuen, east by Kweichau and
Kvvangsl, south by Annam, Laos, and Siam, and west by Bur-
mah. The whole province forms an extensive uneven table¬
land, with numerous deep defiles between the ridges, and some
fertile plains inclosing lakes of considerable extent. The peaks
of the Yun ling in the north rise above the snow-line, but towards
the southern frontiers the land subsides into undulating tracts,
which increase in extent and levelness to the gulf of Siam and
bay of Bengal.
The Yangtsz' kiang enters the province on the north-west for
a short distance ; but the greatest river in the province is the
Lan-tsan kiang, which rises in Tibet, and runs for a long dis¬
tance parallel with the Yangtsz' kiang and Nu kiang between
them, till the three break through the mountains not far from
each other, and take different courses,—the largest turning to
* Chinese Repository, Vol. I., p 29; Vol. XIV., p. 105-117. Chinese
as Tliey Are, p. 316.
PROVINCE OF YUNNAN.
14*
the eastward across China, the Lantsan south-east through Yun.
nan to the gulf of Siam, under the name of the Meikon or rivei
of Cambodia, and the third, or Sahveen, westerly through Bur-
mah. The Meikon receives many large tributaries in its course
across the province, and its entire length is not less than 1500
miles. The Lungchuen, a large afiluent of the Irrawadi, runs a
little west of the Sahveen. The Meinam rises in Yunnan, and
flows south into Siam under the name of the Nanting, and after
a course of nearly eight hundred miles, empties into the sea
below Bangkok. East of the Lantsan are several important
streams, of which three that unite in Annam to form the Sang-
koi, are the largest. The general course of these rivers is
south-easterly, and their upper waters are separated by mountain
ridges, between which the valleys are often reduced to very
narrow limits. There are two lakes in the eastern part of the
province, south of the capital, called Sien and Chin; the latter
is about seventy miles long by twenty wide, and the Sien hu (i. e.
Fairy lake) about two-thirds as large. There is another sheet
of water in the north-west, near Tali fu, communicating with
the Yangtsz' kiang, called TJrh hai or Urh sea, which is more
than a hundred miles long, and about twenty wide.
The capital, Yunnan fu, lies upon the north shore of lake
Chin, and is a town of note, besides its political importance from
its trade with other parts of the country through the Yangtsz'
kiang, and with Burmah. The trade between this province and
Burmah centres at the fortified post of Tsantah, in the district
of Tangyueh, both of them situated on a branch of the Irrawadi.
The principal part of the commodities is transported upon ani¬
mals from these depots to Bamo, in Burmah, which stands upon
the Irrawadi, and is the largest mar ket-town in this part of Chin-
India. The Chinese participate largely in this trade, which
consists of raw and manufactured silk to the amount of £31,000
annually, lea, copper, carpets, orpiment, quicksilver, vermilion,
drugs, fruits, and other things, carried from their country in
exchange for raw cotton to the amount of £228,000 annually,
ivory, wax, rhinoceros and deer's horns, precious stones, birds'
nests, peacocks' feathers, and foreign articles. The entire traf¬
fic is probably £">00,000 annually, and for a few years past has
neen regularly increasing.
There is considerable intercourse and trade on the southern
150
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
frontiers with the Laos and Annamese, partly by means of the
headwaters of the Meinam and Meikon, which are supposed to
communicate with each other by a natural canal, and partly by
caravans over the mountains. Yunnan fu was the capital of
a Chinese prince about the time cf the decadence of the Ming
dynasty, who had rendered himself independent in this part of
their empire by the overthrow of the rebel Li, but having linked
his fortunes with an imbecile scion of that house, he displeased
his officers, and his territories gradually fell under the sway of
the conquering Manchus. The southern and western districts
of the province are inhabited by half-subdued tribes of Laos
origin, who are governed by their own rulers, under the nominal
sway of the Chinese, and pass and repass across the frontiers in
pursuit of trade or occupation. The productions of Yunnan
are chiefly mineral, but no data are accessible as to the amount
obtained from the mines. The elephant, rhinoceros, tapir, tiger,
wild boar, and other wiH animals occur in its jungles, and birds
of brilliant plumage inhibit the Crests.
CHAPTER IV.
/ ^
Geographical Description of Manchuria, Mongolia, 111, and Tibet.
The portions of the Chinese Empire beyond the limits of the
Eighteen Provinces, though of far greater extent, are compara¬
tively of minor importance. Their vast regions are peopled by
different races, whose languages are mutually unintelligible, and
whose tribes are held together under the Chinese sway rather
by interest and reciprocal hostilities or dislike, than by force.
European geographers have termed all that space lying north of
Tibet to Siberia, and east of the Tsung ling to the Pacific, Chinese
Tartary ; while the countries west of the Tsung ling or Belur tag,
to the Aral sea, have been collectively called Independent Tartary.
Both these names should be erased from all maps of those regions,
both because their inhabitants are neither all Tartars or Mongols,
nor Turks, and because the native names and divisions are more
definite than a single comprehensive one. Such names as
Manchuria, Mongolia, Songaria, and Turkestan, derived from
the leading tribes dwelling in those countries, are more defi¬
nite, though these are not permanent, owing to the migratory,
changeable habits of the people. From their ignorance of scien¬
tific geography, the Chinese have no general designations for
extensive countries, long chains of mountains, or devious rivers,
but apply many names where, if they knew more, they would be
content with one.
The following tablt, presents a general view of these countries,
giving their leading divisions and forms of government. They
cannot be classed, however, in the same manner as the provinces,
nor are the divisions and capitals here given to be regarded as
definitely settled. Their united area is 3,951,130 sq. m., or a
little more than all Europe ; their separate areas cannot be exactly
given. Manchuria contains about 700,000 sq. m. ; Mongolia
betweefi 1,300,000 and 1,500,000 sq. m. ; 1\\ about 1,070,000
m.; and Tibet from 500,000 to 700,000 sq. m.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE COLONIES AND THEIR SUBDIVISIONS. m
CJt
COLONIES.
PROVINCES.
DIVISIONS.
CAPITALS.
FORMS OF GOVERNMENT.
Shingking.
Two fu departments and 15 districts; and
13 garrisons.
Moukden.
All Manchuria is ruled by Boards, and
generals at the garrisons.
Manchuria.
Kirin.
Three ting departments, or 8 garrisoned posts.
Kirin ula hotun.
Under three generals at the prefectures.
Tsitsihar.
Six commanderies.
Tsitsihar hotun.
Under six generals.
'Inner Mongolia.
Six corps subdivided into 24 tribes, and 49
standards.
No common capital.
Each tribe has its own chieftain or
general.
Mongolia.
•
Outer Mongolia.
j Four khanates, viz. Tuch6tu, Sainnoin,
( Tsetscn, and Dzassaktu.
Urga or Kurun.
Four khans under the kutuktu.
Koko-nor.
One residency, having 29 standards.
Sining fu in Kansuh.
Under a Manchu residency. ^
. Uliasutai.
( Cobdo, having 11 tribes and 31 standards. )
( Ulianghai tribes under 21 tso-ling. J
Uliasutai.
By an amban over the chieftains.
IiA.
'Northern Circuit or
Songaria.
C Nine garrisoned towns,
< Kur-kara usu,
( Tarbagatai.
Hwui-yuen ching.
Kur-kara usu.
Sui-tsing ching.
Ruled by a military governor, 2 council¬
lors, and 34 residents in the cities.
Under residents subordinate to the
governor.
Southern Circuit or
Eastern Turkestan.
(Ten cities, viz. Harashar, Kuch6, Sairim, 1
< Bai, Ushi, Oksu, Khoten, Cashgar, Ying- >
( keshar, and Yarkand. )
Yarkand.
Each city under a resident amenable to
the governor at Ili, and native begs.
Tibet.
Anterior Tibet.
Ulterior Tibet.
J Wei and Kham, divided into eight cantons
( and 39 feudal townships.
Tsang and Ari, divided into six cantons.
h'lassa.
Teshu-h'lumbu.
Ruled by the dalai-lama and his hie¬
rarchy, overseen by Chinese residents.
Ruled by the teshu-lama, assisted by a
resident from Peking.
. LadaK.
Four districts.
Leh.
Not subject to China.
extent of manchuria.
153
Manchuria comprises all the most eastern portion of the high
table land of Central Asia, and lies between latitudes 42° and 58°
N., and longitudes 120° to 142° E. It is bounded on the north by
the Yablonoi-Khrebet or Outer Hing-an mountains, which separate
it from the Russian province of Yakoutsk ; east by the channel of
Tartary, and sea of Japan ; south by Coroa and gulf of Pechele ;
south-west by the Great Wall ; west by Mongolia and the Inner
Iling-an or Sialkoi mountains; and north-west by the Kerlon
river and Daourian mountains. The area of this vast region is
probably 700,000 square miles. The limits between it and
Mongolia commence at the Great Wall, and are marked by a
palisade running north-east for more than two degrees to the
Songari river, and down that stream to latitude 40°, and thence
by its branch the Khailar, north-westerly to the Sialkoi, and north
to the Daourian ranges.
Only a small portion of this vast region has ever been traversed
by Europeans, and most of it is a wilderness. The entire popula¬
tion is not stated in the census of 1812, and from the nature of
the country and wandering habits of the people, many tribes of
whom render no allegiance to the emperor, it would be impossi¬
ble to take a regular census; there are probably more than
2,000,000 in all. Parts of Manchuria, as here defined, have
been known under many names at. different periods. Liautung
(i. e. East of the river Liau) has been applied to the country
between that river, Corea, and the sea of Japan ; Tungldng
(Eastern Capital) referred to the chief town of that region, under
the Ming dynasty; and Kicaniuvg (East of the Pass) denoted the
same country.
Manchuria is comprised mostly in the valleys of the Songari
and Sagalien rivers and their tributaries in the north, and the
Liau river in the south. There are three principal mountain
chains. The Sih-hih-tih mountains extend from the boundary
of Corea, in latitude 40° in a north-eastern direction alon^ the
sea-coast to the mouth of the Sagalien in 52° N., rising on an
average 4500 feet, and covered with forests. Its eastern declivi¬
ties are so near the ocean, that only a narrow strip of arable land
is left, which is inhabited by a race allied to the Ainos or natives
of Yeso, and having little intercourse with the Manchus. The
southern extremity of this range from about latitude 43°, bears
the Manchu name of Kolmin-shanguin alin, and the Chinese
8*
154
THE M DDLE KINGDOM.
name of Changpeh shan, or Long White mountains, extending
across Liautung to the north of the Liau ho and other rivers.
This part of the range bears ten or twelve names on Chinese
maps. One spur called Little White mountains reaches north to
43° near Kirin hotun, and is distinguished by a peak called
Pecha, supposed to be 15,000 feet high.
The second range is separated from the Sih-hih-tih on the north
only by the valley of the Sagalien. It is the Yablonoi-Khrebet
and its spurs, which extend under a variety of names into Tsitsi-
har ; there are two principal spurs, one north of the great bend
of the Sagalien, and the other between it and the Chikiri, one of
its affluents. The Inner Hingan, or Sialkoi range, extends over
a great part of Mongolia, commencing near the bend of the Yel¬
low river, and reaching in a north-easterly direction, forms in
Manchuria three sides of the extensive valley of the Nonni,
ending between the Sagalien and Songari at their junction. Most
of these ranges are covered with forests, but of their height, pro¬
ductions, and climate, little is known.
The whole country north of the Long White mountains is
drained by one river, viz. the Sagalien, Amur, Kwantung, or
Hehlung kiang (for it is known by all these names), and its afflu¬
ents ; Sagalien ula in Manchu, and Hehlung kiang in Chinese,
both mean Black or Black Dragon river ; the name Kwantung
is given to the stream on Chinese maps when it enters the ocean.
The Sagalien drains the eastern slope of Central Asia by a cir¬
cuitous course, aided by many large tributaries. Its source is in
latitude 50° N., and longitude 110° E., in a spur of the Daourian
mountains called Kenteh, where it is called the Onon, and on
whose banks Genghis first distinguished himself. After an east
and north-east course of nearly five hundred miles, the Onon is
joined by the Ingoda in longitude 115° E., a stream rising east of
lake Baikal, beyond which point, under the Russian name of
Shilka, it flows about two hundred and sixty miles north-east till it
meets the Argun coming from the south at Ft. Baklanova. The
Argun is fully as long as the upper stream. It rises about three
degrees south of the Onon, on the south side of the Kenteh, and
under the name of Kerlon runs in a general north-east course
for four hundred and thirty miles across the country of the Kal-
kas, receiving few tributaries, to lake Hurun ; a large stream,
called the Kalka, here comes in from lake Pir or Puyur, and
RIVERS AND LAKES OF MANCHURIA.
155
heir waters leave lake Ilurun under the name of the Argun, and
run northerly nearly four hundred miles to the union with the
Shilka in latitude 53°, forming the boundary between Manchuria
and Russia. The remainder of its course lies in Manchuria.
Beyond fort Baklanova, the river, now called the Amur (i. e.
Great river), or Sagalien by the Manchus, flows easterly near the
north bend of the Sialkoi, but soon turns south-easterly, forcing
its way by a succession of rapids through a narrow valley be¬
tween the Sialkoi and a spur of the Hingan as far south as lati¬
tude 47-2°, where it receives the Songari. This tributary rises
in the Long White mountains in latitude 42°, and flows north¬
westerly as far as Petune in latitude 45°, along the edge of the
desert; at this place it is joined by the Nonni from the plain of
Tsitsihar east of the Sialkoi, and thence runs E. N. E. till it
joins the Sagalien. In this part it receives the Hourha, a large
affluent which carries otF the surplus waters of the valley of
Ningouta, the original territory of the Manchus. After their
junction, the Chinese call the river Kwantung ; it runs nearly
north-east to its embouchure in latitude 53° N., and longitude
143° E., receiving many small, and one large stream, called the
Usuri ; this is nearly as long as the Songari, and drains the
western side of the Sih-hih-tih range. Its entire length is nearly
two thousand two hundred miles, and the area of the country
drained by it about 900,000 square miles.
There are three considerable lakes in Manchuria ; the Hurun
and Pir on the west of the Sialkoi, and the Hinkai nor in the
valley of the Usuri. The first is about two hundred miles in
circuit, but nothing is known of it. The Hinkai is about forty
miles long, and situated near the headwaters of the Usuri in
latitude 44° N., not more than seventy miles from the sea, from
which it is separated by a low range. The region between the
Songari and the sea of Japan is almost as much unknown to
Europeans as the centre of Africa.* The country south-east of
the desert, and north of the Great Wall, is drained and fertilized
by the Sira-muren, or Liau river, the largest branch of which,
the Hwang ho, flows through Chaliar in a south-easterly course,
taking its rise near the Pecha peak, and joins the Liau in Shing-
king, under which name it empties into the gulf of Liautung,
* Penny Cyclopaedia, Art. jAjmur.
156
the middle kingdom.
after a course of four hundred miles. The Yahluh kiang, nearly
three hundred miles long, runs in a very crooked channel along
the northern frontiers of Corea.
The greatest part of Manchuria is covered by forests, the abode
of wild animals, whose capture affords employment, clothing,
and food, to their hunters. The rivers and coasts abound in
fish ; among which carp, sturgeon, salmon, pike, and other spe¬
cies, as well as shell-fish, are plenty; the pearl fishery is carried
on by government, which sends its soldiers to the mouth of the
Sagalien to procure the pearls. The argali and jiggetai are two
species of deer peculiar to this part of Asia ; bears, wolves,
tigers, deer, and numerous fur-bearing animals are hunted for
their pelage. The troops are required to furnish 2400 stags
annually to the emperor, who reserves for his own use only the
fleshy part of the tail as a delicacy. The condor is the largest
bird of prey, and for its size and fierceness rivals its congener of
the Andes.
The greatest part of Shingking and the south of Kirin is culti¬
vated ; wheat, barley, pulse, millet, and buckwheat are the prin¬
cipal crops. Ginseng and rhubarb are collected by troops sent
out in detachments under the charge of their proper officers.
These portions support large herds of various domestic animals.
The immense quantities of timber which cover the mountains
will perhaps prove a source of wealth when the Sagalien and its
tributaries are traversed by Europeans. La Peyrouse coasted
along the eastern shores of Manchuria, but saw no sign of any
inhabitants most of the distance between lats. 43° and 50°.
Manchuria is divided into three provinces, Shingking, Kirin,
and Tsiisihar, or Hehlung kiang. The province of Shingking
includes within its limits the ancient Liautung. It is bounded
north by Mongolia; north-east and east by Kirin; south by Corea,
from which the Yahluh river divides it, and the gulf of Liautung ;
and west by Chahar in Chihli. It contains two departments,
viz. Fungtien fu and Kinchau fu, subdivided into fifteen districts;
there are also twelve garrisoned posts at the twelve gates in the
palisade, whose troops are under the direction of a general living
at Moukden. Manchuria is under a more strictly military go
vernment than any part of the eig'iteen provinces, every male
above eighteen being liable to be called on for military service,
and in fact is enrolled under that one of the eight standards to
CITIES IN MANCHURIA.
157
which by birth he belongs. The administration >f Shingking is
partly civil and partly military, that of Kirin a id Tsitsihar is
entirely military.
The capital of Shingking is usually known as Moukden from
its Manchu name ; its Chinese name is Fungtien fu. As tha
metropolis of Manchuria, it is also known as Shingking (the
Ailluent capital), distinguished from the name of the province by
the addition of pun-clung, or head garrison. It lies in latitude
41° 50-g'N., and longitude 123° 37'E., on the banks of a branch
of the Liau, about five hundred miles north-east from Peking.
The town is surrounded by a wall about ten miles in circuit,
inclosing another wall which separates the emperor's residence
from the town ; this part of the city is three miles in circum¬
ference. The palace, and the buildings connected with it, the
government offices and courts, and the grounds within it, are all
arranged on a plan similar to those at Peking. It was called
Moukden, which signifies flourishing, by the Manchu monarchs
in 1631, when they made it the seat of their government, and
the emperors have since done everything in their power to enlarge
and beautify it, but with only partial success.
The town of Hingking, sixty miles east of Moukden, is one
of the favored places in Shingking, from its being th« family
residence of the Manchu monarchs, and the burial-ground of
their ancestors. It is pleasantly situated in a mountain valley,
and the tombs are upon a mountain three miles north of it called
Tsz'yun shan. The circuit of the walls is about three miles.
Hingking is situated near the palisade which separates the pro¬
vince from Kirin, and its officers have the rule over the sur¬
rounding country, and the entrances into that province ; a large
garrison is maintained there, which, with the salubrity of the air,
has attracted a considerable population. The emperor Kienlung
rendered himself celebrated among his subjects, and the city of
Moukden better known abroad, by a poetical eulogy upon the
city and province, which was printed in sixty-four different forma
of Chinese writing. This curious piece of imperii vanity and
literary effort was translated into French by Amyot.
Kinchau is the port of Moukden, fifteen leagues from it, and
carries on considerable trade in cattle, pulse, and drugs. Gutz-
laff describes the harbor as shallow, and exposed to southern
gales ; the houses in the town are built of stone, the environs
158
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
well cultivated and settled by Chinese from Shantung, while the
natives of Fuhkien carry cn the trade. The Manchus lead an
idle life, but keep on good terms with the Chinese who frequent
the place. When he was there in 1832, the authorities had
ordered all the females to seclude themselves in order to put a
stop to debauchery among the sailors. Horses and camels are
numerous and cheap, but the carriages are clumsy. The houses
are warmed by large forms of masonry, under which the fire is
kindled, and in which the cooking is done ; the inmates sleep
upon it by night and lounge on it by day. This mode of
warming dwellings prevails also in the northern provinces, modi¬
fied in its comfort and extent according to the means of the
householder. Kaichau, another port lying on the east side of the
gulf, possesses a better harbor, but is not so much frequented.
Most of the other towns in Shingking have no claim to any
higher appellation than garrisons or hamlets. Fung-hwang ting
is the frontier town on the east, lying near the Yahluh kiang,
and commanding all the trade with Corea, which must pass
through it. There- are many restrictions upon this intercourse
by both governments, which forbid their subjects passing and
repassing the frontiers. The trade is conducted at fairs, under
the supervision of officers and soldiers, and the short time allowed
for concluding the bargains, and the great numbers resorting to
them, render them more like the frays of opposing clans than the
scenes of peaceable trade. There is a market-town in Corea
itself, called Ki-iu wan, about four leagues from the frontier,
where the Chinese " supply the Coreans with dogs, cats, pipes,
leather, stags' horns, copper, horses, mules, and asses • and
receive in exchange, baskets, kitchen utensils, rice, corn, swine,
paper, mats, oxen, furs, and small horses." Only four or five
hours are allowed to conduct this fair, and the Corean officers
under whose charge it is placed, drive all the strangers back to
the frontier as soon as the day closes.*
The department of Kinchau lies along the gulf of Liautung,
between the Palisade and the sea, and contains four small dis¬
trict towns, with forts, whose garrisons of agricultural troops
have collected around them a few settlers. On the south,
towards Chihlx and the Wall, the country is better cultivated.
* Annales de la Propagation, 1S46, page 55
:limate and trade.
159
The northern shores of the gulf are described by Lord Jocelyn as
presenting an agreeable surface; the hills terraced, and resem¬
bling in general appearance the western coast of Scotland.
Great encouragement is held out to the Chinese to settle in these
parts, but the bleak climate, joined to the difficulty of under¬
standing another language, and dislike of the rude Manchus,
disheartens them from extensive immigration.
The climate of Manchuria is such as to prevent the country
from being thickly settled. One traveller describes it as being
colder than Moscow, while the dwellings are not secured so as to
insure warmth to their inmates. A resident there says :—" Al¬
though it is uncertain where God placed paradise, we may be
sure that he chose some other country than Liautung ; for of all
savage regions, this takes a distinguished rank for tiie aridity of
the soil and rigor of the climate. On his entrance, the traveller
remarks the barren aspect of most of the hills, and the naked¬
ness of the plains, where not a tree nor a thicket, and hardly a
slip of a herb is to be seen. The natives are superior to
any Europeans I have ever seen for their powers of eating ;
beef and pork abound on their tables, and I think dogs and
horses too under some other name ; rich people eat rice, the
poor are content with boiled millet, or with another grain called
hac-bam, about thrice the size of millet and tasting like wheat,
which I never saw elsewhere. The vine is cultivated, but must
be covered from October to April ; the grapes are so watery that
a hundred litres of juice produce by distillation only forty of
poor spirit. The mulberry does not grow here, but the leaves
of a tree resembling an oak are used to rear wild silkworms,
and this is a considerable branch of industry. The people relish
the worms as food after the cocoons have been boiled, drawing
them out with a pin, and sucking the whole until nothing but
the pellicle is left.';* Another says, the ground freezes seven
feet in Kirin, and about three in Shingking ; the thermometer in
winter is thirty degrees below zero. The snow is raised into
the air by the north-east winds, and becomes so fine that it pene¬
trates the clothes, houses, and enters even the lungs. When
travelling, the eyebrows become a mass of ice, the beard a large
flake, and the eyelashes are frozen together; the wind cuts and
* Aunales de la Foi, tome XVI., page 359.
160
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
pierces the skin like razors or needles. The earth is frozen
during eight months, but vegetation is rapid during the summer,
and the streams are swollen by the thawing drifts of snow.
The province of Kirin, or Girin, comprises all the country
north-east of Shingking, bordering on the sea of Japan and gulf
of Tartary. It is bounded north by the Hingan ling, separating
it from Russia, east by the ocean, south-east by Corea and Shing¬
king from which a palisade partly divides it, and west by Mon¬
golia and Tsitsihar ; extending through nearly twelve degrees
of latitude, and twenty of longitude. This extensive region is
thinly inhabited by Manchus settled in garrisons along the bot¬
toms of the rivers, and by tribes having affinity with them,
who subsist principally by hunting and fishing, and acknow¬
ledge their fealty by a tribute of peltry, but who have no officers
of government placed over them. They have been called
Etching Tatse and Yupf Tatse and other names, by Du Halde,
which seem indeed to have been their ancient designations, but
which no longer appear on good Chinese maps. The Ghailaks
and other tribes on the coast are hardly known to the Chinese
geographers, and all are completely independent. The words
Yu-pi Tahtst, or Fish-skin Tartars, are evidently descriptive and
not technical. This tribe inhabit the extensive valley of the Usuri,
and do not allow the subjects of the emperor to live among them.
In winter they nestle together in kraals like the Bushmen, having
cut down fuel enough to last them till warm weather, and sub¬
sist upon the products of their summer's fishing.
Kirin is divided into three ruling ting departments or com-
manderies, viz. Kirin ula, or the garrison of Kirin, Petun6 or
Pedne, and Changchun ting. Kirin is the largest of the three
commanderies, and is subdivided into eight garrison districts.
The town itself is situated on the Songai'i, in latitude 43° 45'
N., and longitude 12G° 25' E., and is a mere collection of huts,
with a few better built houses for the accommodation of the
officers. Ninguta is the largest town in the province ; it lies
east of it, and its officers have the direction of all the region
lying along the sea of Japan. The district extends more than
a thousand miles from east to west, and about four hundred north
to south, and is inhabited by fishermen and hunters. The town
lies upon the river Hourha, which is described as running
hrough a fine vallev; it is surrounded by a stockade, within
PROVINCE OF KIRIN.
161
which are two smaller inclosures. Near it is a subterianean
body of water, from which large fish are procured. The officers
at Sansing at the junction of the Hourha with the Songari, have
rule over all the country along the banks of the Sagalien to the
ocean, including, according to Chinese maps, the large island
of Tarakai. Many villages and posts are marked in the maps
on the banks of the rivers, but all of them are small.
The island of Tarakai, or Sagalien, lies off the mouth of the
Kwantung, extending about six hundred miles from latitude 46°
to 54°, and varying from twenty-five to one hundred miles in
width ; its area is about 30,000 sq. m. The strait on its west¬
ern shore has never been sailed through, and some doubt exists
as to the accessibility of the mouth of the Sagalien by large
vessels. A bay about fifty miles wide lies off the embouchure,
and receives the waters of this majestic stream, which all flow
north into the sea of Okhotsk, with a very rapid current. The
southern half of the island is mountainous, and the inhabitants
there are apparently governed by the Japanese from Yeso ; they
call themselves Ainos, but the Chinese call them Orun-chun,
Kuyih, and Fiyak. They subsist by fishing, dwell in huts, and
manufacture a cloth from willow bark ; their average height is
7 O o
five feet three inches, and their physiognomy approaches to that
of the Kurile islanders. Their dress, and some of their customs,
show that the Chinese and Manchus frequently visit them, and
there is probably considerable intercourse with those living on
the shores opposite the main. Krusenstern found the inhabitants
of two villages on the north-west coast to consist entirely of
Manchus. The number of articles of cutlery, arms, cloth,
lackered ware, &c., of Chinese and Japanese manufacture, in¬
dicated that they carry on some traffic. So far as the observations
of voyagers have gone, they do not cultivate the soil; and roots,
fruit, and berries, supply all their vegetable diet.
The chief town in the second commandery of Petune lies on
the Songari, near its junction with the Sagalien, in lat. 45° 10'
N., and long. 124° 40' E. It is inhabited by troops, and persons
banished from China to these remote parts for their crimes. Its
favorable position renders it a place of considerable trade and
importance, and during the summer months it is a busy mart for
these thinly peopled regions. The third commandery of Chang,
chun is small; it lies west of Kirin and south of Petune, jus)
162
the middle kingdom.
beyond the Palisade. Altchoucu and Larin are two other ga.rru
soned towns in Kirin, which have attracted some of the trade on
the Songari and Amur.
Little or nothing is known concerning the languages spoken
by the tribes in Kirin, their numbers, or their internal govern¬
ment ; for native statistical writers content themselves with giving
a bare list of names and divisions, and let the reader infer that
all the inhabitants are obedient subjects to the gentle sway of the
son of heaven. Like true Chinese, they give no account of any
but those who will bring tribute, and " range themselves under
the renovating influence of the glorious sun of the celestial em¬
pire."
The province of Tsi-tsi-har, or Ilehlung kiang, comprises the
north-west of Manchuria, extending four hundred miles from east
to west, and about twelve hundred from north to south. It is
bounded north by the Hingan ling; east and south-east by San-
sing and Kirin ula, from which the Songari partly separates it;
and south and west by Mongolia. The greatest part of it is oc¬
cupied by the valley of the Nonni river, and its area of about
200,000 sq. miles is mostly an uninhabited mountainous wilder¬
ness. It is divided into six commanderies, viz. Tsitsihar, Hulan,
Putek, Merguen, Sagalien ula, and Hurun-pir, whose officers have
control over the tribes within their limits ; of these, Sagalien
ula, or Ilehlung kiang ching, on the river of that name, is the
chief town in the north-east districts, and is used by the govern¬
ment of Peking as a penal settlement.
Tsi-tsi-har, the capital of the province, lies on the river Nonni,
in lat. 47°, and long. 1232° E., and is a place of some trade, re¬
sorted to by the tribes near the river. Merguen, Hurun-pir, and
Hulan, are situated upon rivers, and accessible when the waters
are free from ice. They are smaller than the posts in Kirin, and
most of them have never been described by Europeans. In fact,
few of the towns in Manchuria have been visited since the sur¬
veys and journeys of the Jesuits in Kangln's time, and the infor¬
mation possessed of them is scanty and imperfect. Tsitsihar
was built in 1692 by Kanglu to overawe the neighboring tribes.
It is inclosed by a stockade and a ditch. Amyot gives a list of
twenty-two towns in the whole of this vas-t region, but this pro¬
bably comprises only those in which officers reside. The val¬
ley of the Nonni is cultivated by the Taguri Manehus, among
province of tsitsihar.
163
whom six thousand six hundred families of Yakutes settled in
1G87, when they emigrated from Siberia. The Korchin Mon¬
gols occupy the country south and west of this valley. Some of
its streams produce large pearls. The part of Tsitsihar south
of the Sialkoi mountains, is level, and most of it has been consi¬
dered an extension of the great desert; though susceptible of
cultivation and receiving some, the rigor of the climate seems to
be one of the strongest reasons why it remains desolate. One
of the most marked distinctions between the Mongols and Man-
chus is seen in the agricultural labors of the latter, so opposed to
the nomadic habits of the former.
The administration of Manchuria consists of a supreme civil
government at Moukden, and three provincial military ones,
though Shingking is both civil and military. There are five
Boards, each under a president, whose duties are analogous to
those at Peking, but on a greatly reduced scale. The oversight
of the city itself, like that of Peking, is under a fuyin or mayor,
superior to the prefect. The three provinces are under as man}
marshals, whose subordinates rule the commanderies, and these
last have garrison officers subject to them, whose rank and
power correspond to the size and importance of their districts.
These delegate part of their power to " assistant directors," or
residents, who are stationed in every town ; on the frontier posts,
the officers have a higher grade, and report directly to the mar¬
shals or their lieutenants. All the officers, both civil and mili¬
tary, are Manchus, and a great portion of them belong to the
imperial clan, or are intimately connected with it. By this ar¬
rangement, the Manchus are in a measure disconnected with the
general government of the provinces, furnished with offices and
titles, and induced to recommend themselves for promotion in the
empire by their zeal and fidelity in their distant posts.
Mongolia is the first in order of the colonics, by which are
meant those parts of the empire under the control of the Li-fan
xuen, or Foreign Office. According to the statistics of the em¬
pire, it comprises the region lying between lats. 35° and 52°
N., from long. 82° to 123° E. ; bounded north by the Russian
government of Irkutsk ; north-east and east by Manchuria; south
by the provinces of Chihli and Shanst, and the Yellow river;
south-west by Kansuh ; and west by Cobdo and 111. Its length
164
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
from east to west is about seventeen hundred miles and one
thousand in its greatest breadth, inclosing an area of 1,400,000
sq. miles, supporting an estimated population of two millions.
McCulloch describes this extensive region " as an elevated plain
almost destitute of either wood or water, inclosed southward by
the mountains of Tibet, and northward by offsets from the Altai
range. The central part is occupied by the great sandy desert
of Gobi, which stretches in a north-east direction about twelve
hundred miles with a breadth varying from five hundred to seven
hundred miles, a barren stepp having comparatively few fertile
tracts and stunted trees, and destitute for the most part of
water. The chief mountains of this region are, 1. The Altai,
and its various subordinate chains, extending eastward under the
names of Tangnu, Khangai, and Kenteh, as far as the banks of
the Sagalien, where the range is deflected northward and joins
the Yablonoi-Khrebet. 2. The Ala shan and In shan ranges which
commence in lat. 42° N. and long. 107° E., and curve N.N.E.,
and northward as far as the Amur in lat. 53° N., where they
ioin the Altai."*
The rivers of Mongolia are numerous chiefly in the north, be¬
longing to the basins either of the Irtish or Sagalien. Connected
with the former are the Selenga, Orkhon, and Tola, which unite
their streams and flow into lake Baikal. The Kerlon and Onon,
tributaries of the Sagalien, rise near each other, on opposite sides
of the Kenteh range, and flow in a north-east direction through
Mongolia. In the south are the Sira-muren, and its branches,
which unite in the Liau river, and several rivers in the region of
Koko-nor, some pouring their waters into isolated lakes, and
others bearing their tribute to the Yellow river. The chief lakes
south of the desert are Koko-nor, or the Azure sea, and the Oling
and Dzaring, near the sources of the Yellow river. Inner Mon¬
golia has no lakes of any importance, and those in the Kalkas
khanates are small; but Cobdo, in the north-west, is a country
of lakes, the principal being the Upsa nor and Altai nor, on the
east, Alak nor, on the south, and the Iki-aral, near which lies the
town of Cobdo.
The climate of Mongolia is excessively cold, arising partly
from its great elevation and dry atmosphere, and on the stepps to
* Geographical Dictionary, Vol. II., page 340
rOTJR divisions of mongolia.
165
the want of shelter from the winds. In the parts bordering on
Chihlt, the people make their houses partly under ground, to avoid
the inclemency of the season. The soil in and upon the confines
of this high land is poor, and unfit for agricultural purposes, on
account of the want of moisture, neither snow nor rain falling in
sufficient quantities except on the acclivities of the mountain
ranges; but millet, barley, and wheat might be raised north and
south of it, if the people were not averse to an agricultural life.
They rejoice in their freedom from such occupations, and move
about with their herds and possessions within the limits the Chi¬
nese have marked out for each tribe to occupy.
The space on the north of Gobi to the confines of Russia, about
one hundred and fifty miles wide, is warmer than the desert, and
supports a greater population than the southern sides. Cattle are
numerous on the hilly tracts, but none are found in the desert,
where wild animals and birds hold undisputed possession. The
thermometer in winter falls thirty and forty degrees below zero,
and sudden and great changes are frequent. No month in the
year is free from snow and frost ; but on the stepps, the heat in
summer is almost intolerable, owing to the radiation from the
sandy or stony surface. The snow does not fall very deep, and
even in cold weather the cattle find food under it; the flocks and
herds arc not, however, very large.
The principal divisions of Mongolia are four, viz. : 1. Innei
Mongolia, lying between the Wall and south of the desert; 2.
Outer Mongolia, between the desert and the Altai mountains,
and reaching from the Inner Hingan to the Tien shan ; 3. the
country about Koko-nor, between Kansuh, Sz'chuen, and Tibet;
and, 4. the dependencies of Uliasutai, lying north-westward oi
the Kalkas khanates. The whole of this region has been in-
eluded under the comprehensive name of Tartary, and if the
limits of Inner and Outer Mongolia had been the bounds of Tar-
.ary, the appellation would have been somewhat appropriate.
But when Genghis arose to power, he called his own tribe Kulcat
Mongol, meaning Celestial People, and designated all the other
tribes Tatars, that is, tributaries. The three tribes of Kalkas,
Tsakhars, and Sunnites, now constitute the great body of Mongols
under Chinese rule.
Inner Mongolia, or Nui Munghi, is bounded north by Tsitsi-
har, the Tsetsen khanate, and Gobi; east by Kirin and Shing
166
the middle kingdom.
king, from which a palisade divides it; south by Chi/ill and
Shansi; and west by Kansuh. The country is divided into six
corps, and twenty-four tribes, which are again placed under forty
nine standards or khochoun, each of which generally includes
about two thousand families, commanded by hereditary princes,
or dzassaks. The principal tribes are the Kortchin and Ortous.
The large tribe of the Tsakhars, which occupies the region north
of the Wall, is governed by a tutung, or general, residing at Kal-
gan, at the Changkia gate, and their pasture-grounds are now
included in the province of Chihli. The province of Shansi in
like manner includes the lands occupied by the Toumets, who
are under the control of a general stationed at Suiyuen, beyond
the Yellow river.
Most of the smaller tribes, except the Ortous, who occupy the
country between the bend of the Yellow river and the Great
Wall, live between the western frontiers of Manchuria, and the
stepps reaching north to the Sialkoi range, and south to Chahar.
These tribes are peculiarly favored by the Manchus, from their
having joined them in their conquest of China, and their leading
men are often promoted to high stations in the government c f the
country. The whole of Inner Mongolia is gradually improving
under the industry of Chinese settlers and exiles, and the foster¬
ing care of the imperial government.
Outer Mongolia, or Wai Mungku, is an extensive tract lying
north of Inner Mongolia as far as Russia ; it is bounded north by
Russia, east by Tsitsihar, south-east and south by Inner Mon¬
golia, south-west by Barkoul in Kansuh, west by Tarbagatai, and
north-west by Cobdo and Uliasutai. The desert of Gobi occu¬
pies the southern half of the region. It is divided into four lu,
or circuits, each of which is governed by a khan or prince,
claiming direct descent from Genghis, and superintending the in¬
ternal management of his own khanate. The Tsetsen khanate
lies west of Hurun-pir in Tsitsihar, extending from Russia on the
north to Inner Mongolia on the south. West of it, reaching from
Siberia across the desert to Inner Mongolia, lies the Tuchetu
khanate, the most considerable of the four; the road from
Kiakhta to Kalgan and Peking across the desert lies within its
borders. West of the last, and bounded south by Gobi, and
north-east by Uliasutai, .lies the region of the Kalkas of Sain-
noin; and on its north-west lies the Dzassaktu khanate, south of
INNER AND OUTER MONGOLIA.
16"
Uliasutai, and reaching to Barkoul and Cobdo on the south and
west. All of them arc politically under the control of two
Manchu residents at Urga or Kurun, who direct the mutual
interests of the Mongols, Chinese, and Russians.
Most of the real power over the Kalkas is in the hands of a
kind of high-priest called kutuklu, living at Kurun, the largest
town in Mongolia, situated in the Tuchetu khanate in latitude
48° 20' N., and longitude 107-£° E., 011 the Tola river, a branch
of the Selenga. The four khanates constitute one aimak or tribe,
subdivided into eighty-six standards, each of which is restricted
to a certain territory, within which it wanders about at pleasure.
There are altogether one hundred and thirty-five standards of the
Mongols. The Kalkas chiefly live in the country between the
Altai mountains and Gobi, but do not cultivate the soil to any
great extent. They are devoted to Budhism, and the lamas hold
most of the power in their hands through the kutuktu. They
render an annual tribute to the emperor of horses, camels, sheep,
and other animals or their skins, and receive presents in return
of many times its value, so that they are kept in subjection by
constant bribing ; the least restiveness on their part is visited by
a reduction of presents and other penalties. An energetic
government, however, is not wanting in addition. The supreme
tribunal is at Urga ; it is called the yamoun, and has the civil
and military jurisdiction, and administers justice. The decisions
of the tribunal are subject to the revision of Chinese residents,
and sentences are usually carried into execution after their con¬
firmation. The punishments are horribly severe ; sometimes
the criminal is broken on the wheel, sometimes quartered, at
others torn in pieces by horses, or the feet held in boiling
water.
Letters are encouraged among them by the Manchus, but with
little success. Their tents are made of a frame-work of osier
covered with layers of felt; the hearths are in the centre, and
few of them have more than two apartments. The lodges of the
rich Kalkas have several apartments, and are elegantly furnished,
but destitute of cleanliness, comfort, or airiness. Most of their
cloths, utensils, and arms are procured from the Chinese. The
Sunnites .ire fewer than the Kalkas, and roam the sterile wastes
of Gobi in the manner of the Bedaween. Both derive some
revenue from conducting caravans aci )ss their country, but de
168
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
pcnd for their livelihood chiefly upon tne oroduco of their herds
and hunting. Their princes are obliged to reside in Kurun, oi
keep hostages there, in order that the residents may direct and
restrain their conduct; but their devotion to the kutuktu, and the
easy life they lead, are the strongest inducements to remain.
The trade with Russia is carried on at Kiakhta, a hamlet on a
creek of the same name, in latitude 50° 21' N., and longitude
106° 28' E., flowing into the Selenga, close to the border,
boundary line, marked by granite columns; running between it
and Mai-mai chin on the Chinese side. The trade is carried on
between a small suburb of Kiakhta, consisting of fifty houses, and
Maimai chin, and when the goods are entered they pay duty at
the custom-house in the Russian city. The Chinese town con-
sists entirely of men engaged in traffic, no women being allowed
in the place, from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred in number,
under the superintendence of Manchu officers appointed from
Peking. The trade is conducted by six commissioners appointed
on each side, who fix the price of every article of import, and
of the tea exchanged for it, and the proportion of each sort to be
exchanged. The imports consist of Russian habit-cloths, velvet¬
eens, camlets, linen, leather, skins, and furs; fire-arms, cutlery,
mirrors, watches, and other fancy articles. The numbers of these
commodities in 1843 were, habit-cloths and other woollens,
20,439 ps. ; Russian and Dutch camlets, 26,178 ps. ; linens,
567,012 ps.; velveteens, 1,167,138 ps. ; goat-skins tanned,
52,605 skins ; furs, consisting of cat, squirrel, otter, lynx, and
musquash, 1,011,177 skins ; and 180,345 fine lamb-skins from
Bokhara and the Ukraine. These goods are always exchanged at
a fixed valuation for tea and preserves, lackered-ware, nankeens,
and silks, but no data are obtainable of the amount and value ;
in 1834, the average amount of tea for the two or three years
preceding was nearly eight millions of pounds; there were
120,000 chests in 1843, all black.* Brick tea forms a considera¬
ble part of the whole ; it is'ilsed by the Mongols in Siberia;
opium is introduced in small quantities. The total trade is stated
by Cottrell at a hundred millions of rubles annually (over
£4,166,000), and the import duty paid by Russians in 1836 was
* Chinese Repository, Vol. XIV., page 2S0.
trade at kiakhta cobdo.
169
£496,275 ; but from the monopoly enjoyed by th; commissioners
on both sides, it is not very profitable to the private traders.
Others place it much less than this.
Maimai chin (i. e. Buying-Sellin^ mart) is a small hamlet,
having two streets crossing at right angles, and gates at the four
ends, in the wooden wall which surrounds it. The streets barely
allow two camels to pass, and are badly paved. The one-stoned
houses are constructed of wood, roofed with turf or boards, and
consist of two small rooms, one used as a shop and the other as
a bed-room. The windows in the rear apartment are made of
oiled paper or mica, but the door is the only opening in the shop.
The dwellings arc kept clean, the furniture is of a superior
description, and considerable taste and show are seen in display¬
ing the goods. The traders live luxuriously, and attract a great
crowd there during the fair in February, when the goods are
exchanged. They are under the control of a Manchu called the
dzargucln, who is appointed for three years, and superintends the
police of the settlement as well as the commercial proceedings.
There are two Budhist temples in it served by lamas, and con¬
taining five colossal images sitting cross-legged, and numerous
smaller idols.*
The western portion of Mongolia between the meridians of 84°
and 96° E., extending from near the western extremity of Kan-
suh province to the confines of Russia, comprising Uliasutai and
its dependencies, Cobdo, and the Kalkas and Tourgouths of the
Tangnu mountains, is less known than any other part of it. The
residence of the superintending officer of this province is at
Uliasutai, or Poplar Grove, a town lying north-west of the Selen-
ga, in the khanate of Sain-noin, in a well cultivated and pleasant
valley.
Cobdo, according to the Chinese maps, lies in the north-wes«
of Mongolia ; it is bounded north and west by the government of
Ycnissei, north-east by Ulianghai, and south-east by the Dzas
saktu khanate, south by Kansuh, and west by Tarbaga'si. The
part occupied by the Ulianghai tribes of the Tangnu mountains
lies north-east of Kobdo, and north of the Sain-noin and Dzas-
saktu khanates, and separated from Russia by the Altai. The
government of the Ulianghai tribes is administered by twenty.
* Cottrell's Re -.ollortinns of Siberia, Chap. IX , pa^e 314.
9
17C
THE MIDDLE KINGLOM.
five subordinate military officers, subject to the resident at tJlia-
sutai. This city is said to contain about two thousand houses, ia
regularly built, and carries on some trade with Kurun ; it lies
on the Iro, a tributary of the Djabkan. Cobdo comprises eleven
tribes of Kalkas divided into thirty-one standards, whose princes
obey an amban at Cobdo city, himself subordinate to the iesidei;t
at Uliasutai. The Chinese rule over these tribes is conducted
on the same principles as that over the other Mongols, and they
all render fealty to the emperor through the chief resident at
Uliasutai, but how much obedience is really paid his orders is
not known. The Kalkas submitted to the emperor in 1688 to
avoid extinction in their war with the Eleuths, by whom they
had been defeated.
Cobdo contains several lakes, many of which receive rivers
without having any outlet, but it is not known whether they are
all salt. The largest is Upsa nor, which receives from the east
the river Tes, and the Iki-aral nor into which the Djabkan falls.
The river Irtish falls into lake Dzaisang. The existence of so
many rivers indicates a more fertile country north of the Altai
or Ektag mountains, but no bounties of nature would avail to
induce the inhabitants to adopt settled modes of living and culti¬
vate the soil, if such a clannish state of society exists among them
as is described by M. Levchine to be the case among their neigh¬
bors, the Kirghis. The tribes in Cobdo resemble the American
Indians in their habits, disputes, and modes of life, more than the
eastern Kalkas, who approximate in their migratory character to
the Arabs.
The province of Tsing hai, or Koko-nor, is not included in
Mongolia by European geographers, nor in the Chinese statistical
works is it comprised within its limits ; the inhabitants are, how¬
ever, mostly Mongols, and the government is conducted on the
same plan as that over the Kalkas tribes further north. This
region is known in the histories of Central Asia under the names
of Tangout, Sifan, Turfan, &c. On Chinese maps it is called
Tsing hai, but in their books is named Si Yu or Si Yih, i. e.
Western Limits. The borders are now limited on the north by
Kansuh, south-east by Sz'chuen; south by Anterior Tibet, and
west by the desert, comprising abcut six degrees of latitude and
longitude.
PROVINCE OF KOKO-NOR.
171
It includes within its limits several large lakes, which receive
rivers into their bosoms, and many of them having no outlets ;
the Azure sea is the largest, but it has not been visited by travel
lers, and nothing is known of its character. Chinese maps deli¬
neate it as about one hundred and ninety miles long by sixty
wide, and its borders level and settled. This extensive province
is occupied by Tourgouths, Hoshoits, Kalkas, and other tribes,
who are arranged under twenty-nine standards, and governed by
a Manchu general residing at Sfning fu in Kansuh ; many of
them are clustered around the shores of the Azure sea. West
of Koko-nor, extending across Gobi to Turkestan, tribes of Eleuths,
Tourbeths, and others find pasturage, the whole of them arranged
under thirty-four standards. The habits of these nomads, wan¬
dering at their pleasure and making it difficult to restrain them,
renders it almost impossible, with the little authentic information
now possessed, to define their limits or ascertain their numbers.
The Chinese maps are filled with the names of the tribes, but
their statistical accounts are as meagre of information as the
maps are deficient in accurate and satisfactory delineations.
The topographical features of this region are high mountain
masses with narrow valleys between them, and a few large de¬
pressions containing lakes ; the country lying south of the Azure
sea, as far as Burmah, is exceedingly mountainous. The south¬
ern range which separates the headwaters of the Yellow river
and Yangtsz' kiang, is called the Bayan kara mountains;
that north-west of this is called Kilien shan and Nan shan,
and bounds the desert on the south; between them rises
the Siuoh shan, or Snowy mountains, much higher than
either. On the northern declivities of the Kxlien range are
several towns lying on or near the great western road leading
across Central Asia, which leaves the valley of the Yel¬
low river at Lanchau fu, in Kansuh, and runs N.N.W. over a
rough country to Liangchau fu, a town of some importance situ¬
ated in a fertile and populous district. From this place it goes
N.W. to Kanchau fu, noted for its manufactures of felted cloths
which are in demand among the Mongol tribes of Koko-nor, and
where large quantities of rhubarb are procured, besides horses,
sheep, and other commodities. Going still north-west, the travel¬
ler reaches Suh chau, the last _arge place before passing the
Great Wall and entering the desert road, which renders it a mart
172
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
for provisions and all articles brought fror 1 tne west in exchange
for the manufactures of China. Alout fifty miles from this town
is the pass of Kiayii, beyond which the road to Hami, Oroumtsi,
and 111, leads directly across the desert, here about three hun¬
dred miles wide. This route has been for ages the line of inter¬
nal communication between the west of China and the regions
lying around and in the basins of the Yarkand river and the Cas¬
pian. A better idea of the comparative security of traffic and
caravans within the empire, and consequently of the goodness of
the Chinese ru.e, is obtained by comparing the travel on this road
with the hazards, robberies, and poverty met on the great roads
in Bokhara, and the regions south and west of the Belur tag.
The productions of Tsing hai consist of grain and other vege¬
tables raised along the bottoms of the rivers and margins of the
lakes, sheep, cattle, horses, camels, and other animals. The
yak is used extensively for carrying burdens. The Chinese
have settled among the tribes, and Mohammedans of Turkish
origin are found in the large towns. There are eight corps be¬
tween Tsing hai and Uliasutai, comprising all the tribes and
banners, and over which are placed as many supreme generals or
commanders appointed from Peking. The leading tribes in
Tsing hai are Eleuths and Tourbeths, the former of whom are
the remnants of one of the most powerful tribes in Central Asia.
Tangout submitted to the emperor in 1690, and its population since
the incorporation has greatly increased. The trade at Sfning fu
is large, but not equal to that between Yunnan and Burmah at
Bamo ; dates, rhubarb, chowries, precious stones, felts, cloths,
&c., are among the commodities seen in the bazaar. This city
lies in lat. 30° 39' N. and long. 100° 48' E., about a hundred
miles east of the sea; the department of which it is the capi¬
tal comprises many small detached tribes within its limits, who
are. ruled by their own authorities, and not under such direct
military sway as those living further west.*
The town^ lying between the Great Wall and 111, though be¬
longing to Kansuh, are more connected with the colonies in their
form of government than with the Eighteen Provinces. The first
town beyond the Kiayii pass is YiJi-mun hien, distant about
ninety miles, and is the residence of officers, who attend to the
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 113; Vol. I p. 1 IS. Penny Cyclo-
paadia, Arts. Bayan Kara, Tangut
HAMI, BARKOUL, AND OROUMTSI.
173
caravans going to and from the pass. It is represented as lying
near the junction of two streams, which flow northerly into the
Pu-run-ki. The other district town of Tunhwang lies across a
mountainous country, upwards of two hundred miles distant.
The city of Ngansf chau has been built for facilitating the com¬
munication across the desert to Hami or Kamil, the first town in
Songaria, and the dep6t of troops, arms, and munitions of war.
There is a large trade at Kami, and the country around it is cul¬
tivated by poor Mongols. Barkoul, or Chinsx fu, in latitude
43° 40' N., and longitude 94° E., is the most important place in
the department; the district is called Iho hien. A thousand
Manchus, and three thousand Chinese, guard the post. The town
is situated on the south of lake Barkoul, and the vicinity receives
some cultivation. Hami andTurfan each form a ting district, in
the south-east and west of the department. The trade at all
these places consists mostly of articles of food and clothing.
Oroumtsi, or Tih-hwa chau, in latitude 43° 457 N., and longi¬
tude 89° E., is the westernmost department of Kansuh, divided
into three districts, and containing many posts and settlements.
In the war with the Eleuths in 1770, the inhabitants around this
place were exterminated, and the country afterwards repeopled
by upwards of ten thousand troops, with their families, and by
exiles ; emigrants from Kansuh were also induced to settle there.
The Chinese accounts speak of a high mountain near the city,
always covered with ice and snow, whose base is wooded, and
abounding with pheasants ; coal is also obtained in this region.
The cold is great, and snow falls as late as July. Many parts
produce grain and vegetables. All this department formerly
constituted a portion of Songaria. The policy of the Chinese
government is to induce the tribes to settle, by placing large
bodies of troops with their families at all important points, and
sending their exiled criminals to till the soil ; the Mongols then
find an increasing demand for their cattle and other products, and
are induced to become stationary to meet it. So far as is known,
this policy has succeeded well in the regions beyond the Wall,
now joined to Kansuh, and those around Koko-nor.
That part of the empire called tiA, is a vast region lying on
each side of the Celestial mountains, and including a tract nearly
as large as Mongolia, and not much mere susceptible of cultiva-
174
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
lion. Its limits may be stated as extending from latitude 36° to
49° N., and from longitude 71° t> 96° E., and its entire area,
although difficult to estimate from its irregularity, can hardly be
less than 900,000 square miles, of which Songaria occupies
rather more than one third. It is divided by the Tien shan into
two parts, called Lu, or Circuits, viz. the Tien-shan Peh Lu, and
Tien-shan Nan Lu, or the circuits north and south of the Celestial
mountains. The former is commonly designated Songaria, from
the Songares or Eleuths, who ruled it till a few scores of years
past, and the latter is known as Little Bokhara, or Eastern
Turkestan.
Ill is bounded north by the Altai range, separating it from the
Kirghis; north-east by the Irtish river, and Outer Mongolia;
east and south-east by Oroumtsi and Barkoul in Kansuh ; south
by the desert and the Ivwanlun range; and west by the Belur
mountains, dividing it from Kokand and Badakshan. In length,
the Northern Circuit extends about nine hundred miles, and the
width on an average is three hundred miles. The Southern Cir¬
cuit reaches nearly twelve hundred and fifty miles from west to
east, and varies from three hundred to five hundred in breadth,
as it extends to the Koulkun range on the south. There is pro.
bably most arable land in the Northern Circuit.
tli, taken as a whole, may be regarded as an inland isthmus,
extending south-west from the south of Siberia, off between the
Gobi and Caspian deserts, till it reaches the Hindu Kush, leading
down to the valley of the Indus. The former of these deserts
incloses it on the east and south, the other on the west and north¬
west, separated from each other by the Belur and Muz tag ranges,
which join with the Celestial mountains that divide the isthmus
itself into two parts. These deserts united are equal in extent
to the Sahara, but are not as arid and tenantless.
This part of the world has some peculiar features which dis¬
tinguish it from all others, among which its great elevation, its
isolation in respect to its water courses, and the character of its
vegetation, are the most remarkable. Songaria is especially
noticeable for the many closed river basins which occur between
the Altai and Celestial mountains, among the various minor
ranges of hills, each of which is entirely isolated, and containing
a lake, the receptacle of its drainage. The largest of these sin¬
gular basins is that of the river fli, or Djabkan, which runs
EXTENT OF 1L1. SONGARIA.
175
about three hundred miles westward, from its ri&D m the Celestial
mountains till it falls into la'ke Balkash, which also receives some
other streams ; the superficies of the whole basin is about forty
thousand square miles, not far from the area of Tennessee. The
other lakes lie north-eastward of Balkash ; the largest of them
are the Dzaisang, which receives the Irtish, the Kisilbash, into
which the Urungu flows, and four or five smaller ones between
them, lying north of the city of 111. The basin of lake Temurtu,
or Issikul, lies in the south-western part of this Circuit; this
sheet of water is fresh, about one hundred miles long, and thirty-
five wide ; its superabundant waters flow off through the Chui ho
into the Kirglns stepp.
Little is known concerning the topography, the productions, or
the civilization of the tribes who inhabit much of Songaria, but
the efforts of the Chinese government have been systematically
directed to developing its agricultural resources, by stationing
bodies of troops in every part, who cultivate the soil, and banish¬
ing criminals there, who are obliged to work for and assist the
troops. It gives one a higher idea of the rulers of China, them¬
selves wandering nomads originally, when they are seen carrying
on such a plan for developing the capabilities of these remote
parts of their empire, and teaching, partly by force, partly by
bribes, and partly by example, the Mongol tribes under them the
advantages of a settled life.
The productions of Songaria are numerous. Wheat, barley,
rice, and millet, are the chief corn stuffs ; tobacco, cotton, melons,
and some fruits, are grown; herds of horses, camels, cattle, and
sheep, afford means of locomotion and food to the people, while
the mountains and lakes supply-game and fish. The inhabitants
are composed mostly of Eleuths, with a tribe of Tourgouths,
and remnants of the Songares, together with Mongols, Manchus,
and Chinese troops, settlers and criminals.
Tien-shan Peh Lu is divided by the Chinese into three com-
manderies, I'll on the west, Tarbagatai on the north, and Kur-kara
usu on the east between 111 and Uroumtsi, in Kansuh. The go¬
vernment of the North and South Circuits is under the control
of Manchu military officers residing at 111. This city, called
by the Chinese Ilwuiyuen ching, and Gouldja or Kuldsha, and
Kura by the natives, lies on the north bank of the lli river, in
latitude 43° 46' N. and longitude 82£° E. ; it contains about
176
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
fifty thousand inhabitants, and carries on considerable trade w.tli
China through the cities in Kansuh and also with otl er towns.
It is inclosed by a stone wall, and contains barracks, forts, gra¬
naries, and public offices for the use of government. It is stated
in Chxese works that when Amursana, the discontented chief of
the Songares, applied in 1775 to Kienlung for assistance against
his rival Tavvats or Duvatsi, and was sent back with a Chinese
army, in the engagements which ensued, more than a million of
people were destroyed, and the whole country depopulated. Al
that time, Kuldsha was built by Kienlung, and soon became a
place of note. Outside of the town are the barracks for the
troops, which consist of Eleuths and Mohammedans as well as
Manchus and Chinese. Coal is found in this region, and most
of the inland rivers produce abundance of fish, while wild ani-
mals and birds are numerous. The resources of the country
are, however, insufficient to meet the expenses of the military
establishment and the presents made to the begs, and the deficit
is supplied from China.
Subordinate to the control of the commandant at Kuldsha are
nine garrisoned places situated in the same valley, at each of
which are bodies of Chinese convicts. The two remaining dis¬
tricts of Tarbagatai and Kur-kara usu are small compared with
111 ; the first lies between Cobdo and the Kirglns stepp, and
is inhabited mostly by emigrants from the stepps of the
latter, who render merely a nominal subjection to the gar¬
risons placed over them. The Tourgouths, who emigrated
from Russia in 1772 into China are located in this district
and Cobdo. In the war with the Songares, many of the people
fled from the valley of tli to this region, and after that country
was settled, they submitted to the emperor, and partly returned
to t\i. The chief town, called Tuguchuk by the Kirghfs, and
Suitsing ching by the Chinese, is situated not far from the south,
ern base of the Tarbagatai mountains, and contains about six
hundred houses, half of which belong to the garrison. It is one
of the nine fortified towns under the control of the commandant
at Kuldsha, and a place of some trade with the Kirghfs. There
are two residents stationed here with high powers to oversee the
trade and intercourse across the frontier, but their duties are
inferior in importance to those atKurun. There are about 250C
Manchu and Chinese troops at this post, and since the conques
tarbagata and kult-kara usu. j 71
of the country in 1772 by Kienlung, its agricultural products
have gradually increased under the industry of '.he Chinese.
The tribes dwelling in this distant province are restricted within
certain limits, and their obedience secured by presents. The
climate of Tarbagatai is changeable, and the cold weather com¬
prises more than half the year. The basin of la_ke Alakul,
or Alaktukul, occupies the south-west, and part of the Irtish and
lake Dzaisang the north-east, so that it is well watered. The
trade consists chiefly of domestic animals and cloths.
Kur-kara usu lies on the river Kur, north-east from Kuldsha,
and on the road between it and Uroumtsi; it is called Kingsui
ching by the Chinese. The number of troops stationed at all
these posts is estimated at sixty thousand, and the total population
of Songaria under two millions.
The Tien-shan Nan Lit, or Southern Circuit of lli, the territory
of the eight Mohammedan cities," was named Si?i Kiang (or
New Frontier) by Kienlung, and has been called Little Bokhara
and Chinese or Eastern Turkestan, by foreigners. It is less
fertile than the Northern Circuit, the greatest part of its area
consisting of rugged mountains or barren wastes, barely afford¬
ing subsistence for herds of cattle and goats. The principal
boundaries are the Kwanlun mountains, and the desert, separat¬
ing it from Tibet on the south; Ladak lies on the south-west,
and Badakshan and Kokand are separated from it on the west
and north-west by the Belur tag.
The greater part of this Circuit is occupied with the basin of
the Tarim, which flows from the Belur range in four principal
branches, called from the towns lying upon their banks the
Yarkand, Ivashgar, Oksu, and Khoten rivers, and running east¬
ward, receives several affluents from the north and south, and
falls into lake Lop, in longitude 38° E., after a course, including
windings, of between 1300 and 1500 miles. This lake lies on
the edge of the desert, in an uninhabited region, and surrounded
by extensive swamps, which extend also west along the Tarim
to its junction with the Kaidu. No other river basins of any
size are found within the Circuit, except a large tributary called
the Kaidu, which, draining a parallel valley north of Lop nor,
two hundred m'les long, runs into a lake nearly as large, called
Bostang nor, from which an outlet on tl e south continues I
into th,' Tarim, about eighty miles from its mouth. The tribu
9*
178
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
taries of this river are represented as much more serviceable foi
agricultural purposes than the main trunk is for navigation.
Thrt plain through which the Tarim flows is about two hundred
miles broad and not far from nine hundred miles long, most of
it unfit for cultivation or pasturage. The desert extends con
siderably west of the two lakes. The climate of this region is
exceedingly dry, and its barrenness is owing, apparently, more
to the want of moisture than to the nature of the soil. The
western parts are much colder than those towards Kansuh, the
river being passable on ice at Yarkand, in latitude 38°, for three
months, while frost is hardly known at Hami, in latitude 42°.
The productions of the valley of the Tarim comprise most
of the grains and fruits found in southern Europe; the sesa-
mum is cultivated for oil instead of the olive. Few trees or
shrubs cover the mountain acclivities or plains. All the domes¬
tic animals abound, except the hog, which is reared in small
numbers by the Chinese. The camel and yak are raised for
food and service, and their pelage affords both skins and hair for
garments. The horse, camel, black cattle, ass, and sheep, are
found wild on the edge of the desert, where they procure a pre¬
carious subsistence. The mountains and marshes contain
jackals, tigers, bears, wolves, lynxes, and deer, together with some
large species of birds of prey. Gold, copper, and iron are brought
from this region, but the amount is not large, and as articles of
trade they are less important than the sal-ammoniac, saltpetre,
sulphur, and asbestos obtained from the volcanic region in the
east of the Celestial mountains. The best specimens of the yuh
or nephrite, so highly prized by the Chinese, are obtained in the
Southern Circuit.
The present divisions of this Circuit are regulated by the
position of the eight Mohammedan cities. The western depart¬
ments of Kansuh naturally belong to the same region, and the
cities now pertaining to that province are inhabited by much
the same races, and governed in the same feudal manner, with
some advantages in consideration of their early submission to
Kienlung. The first town on the road, of note, is Hami; Turfar
and Pidshan are less important as trading posts than as garri¬
sons. The eight cities are named in the Statistics of the Em¬
pire in the following order, beginning at the east: Harashar,
Kuche, Ushi (including Sairim and Bai), Oksu, Khoten, Yarkand,
CITIES IN TIIE SOUTHERN CIRCUIT.
179
Cashgar, and Yingkeshar. The superior officers live at Yarkand,
but the Southern Circuit is divided into four minor governments
at Harashar, Uslri, Yarkand, and Khoten, each of whose residents
reports both to Kuldsha and Peking.
Harashar lies on the Kaidu river, not far from lake Bostang,
about two hundred and ninety miles west of Turfan, in lat. 4'2°
15' N., and long. 87° E. It is a large district, and has two towns
of some note within the :urisdiction of its officers,—namely,
Kurli and Bukur. Harashar is fortified, and from its being a
secure position, and the seat of the chief resident, attracts con¬
siderable trade. The embroidery is superior; but the tribes
living in the district are more addicted to hunting than disposed
to sedentary trades. Kurli lies south-west of Harashar on the
Kaidu, between lakes Bostang and Lop, and the productions of
the town and its vicinity indicate a fertile soil; the Chinese say
the Mohammedans who live here are fond of singing, but have
no ideas of ceremony or urbanity. Bukur lies two hundred
miles west of Kurli, and " might be a rich and delicious coun¬
try," says the Chinese account, " but those idle, vagrant Mo¬
hammedans only use their strength in theft and plunder • the
women blush at nothing." The town formerly contained up¬
wards of ten thousand inhabitants, but Kienlung nearly destroyed
it; the district has been since resettled by Hoshoits, Tourbeths,
and Turks, and the people carry on some trade in the produce
of their herds, lynx skins and other peltry, copper, and agates.
Kuch6, about one hundred miles west from Bukur, lat. 41°
37' N., and long. 82° 55' E., is a larger and more important city
than that or Harashar, for the road which crosses the Tien
shan by the pass Muz-daban to lli, here joins that coming
from Oksu on the west and Hami on the east. It is three
miles in circuit, and is defended by ten forts and three hundred
troops. The bazaars contain grain, fruits, and vegetables, raised
in the vicinity by great labor, for the land requires to be irri¬
gated by hand from wells, pools, and streams. Copper, sulphur,
and saltpetre are carried across to 111, for use of government as
well as traffic, being partly levied from the inhabitants as taxes ;
linen is manufactured in tne town, and sal ammoniac, cinna¬
bar, and quicksilver are procured from the mountains. Kuche
is considered the gate of Turkestan, and is the chief town, poli¬
tically speaking, between Hami and Yarkand. The distric'
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
and town of Shayar lie south of Kuche, in a marshy valley pro.
ducing abundance of rice, melons, and fruit; the pears are par.
ticularly good. The population is about four thousand, ruled
by begs subordinate to the general at Kuche.
The valley of the Oksu contains two large towns, Oksu and
Ushi, besides several posts and villages. Between the former
and Kuche, lie the small garrisons and districts of Bai and Sai-
rim. The first contain,j from four to five hundred families, ruled
by their own chiefs. Sairim or Hanlemuh is subordinate to Ushi
in some degree, but its productions, climate, and inhabitants are
like those of Kuche. " Their manners are simple," remarks a
Chinese writer, speaking of the people ; " they are neither cow¬
ards nor rogues like the other Mohammedans ; they are fond of
singing, drinking, and dancing, like those of Kuche." Oksu is a
large commercial and manufacturing town, containing twenty
thousand inhabitants, situated, like Kuche, at the termination of
a road leading across the Tien shan to til, and attracting to its
market traders from Siberia, Bokhara, and Kokand, as well as
along the groat road. Its manufactures of cotton, silk, leather,
harnesses, crockery, precious stones, and metals are good, and
sent abroad in great numbers. The country produces grain,
fruits, vegetables, and cattle in perfection, and the people are
more civilized than those on the east and north ; " they are gene¬
rous and noble, and both sing and ridicule the oddities and nig¬
gardliness of the other Mohammedans." The Chinese garrison
consists of three thousand soldiers, and the officers are account¬
able to those at Uslu.
Ushi lies higher up the valley, in lat. 41° 35/ N. and long.
77° 50' E., and is stated to contain ten thousand inhabitants. It
is called Yungning ching (i. e. city of Eternal Tranquillity) in
Chinese, a name given it by Kienlung. The officers stationed
here report to the commandant at 111, but they communicate
directly with Peking, and receive the emperor's sanction to their
choice of begs, and to the envoys to be sent to the capital with
tribute. Copper money is cast here in ingots, somewhat like the
ingots of sycee in the provinces. There are six forts attached
to Ushi, to keep in order the wandering tribes of the Kirghis,
called Pruth Kirghis, which roam over the frontier regions be¬
tween Ushi and Yarkand. They pay homage to the officers at
Ushi, but give no tribute. Those who do pay tribute are taxed
usui, kashgar, and yarkand.
181
a tenth, but the Kirghis on this frontier arc usually allowed to
roam where they like, provided they keep the peace. This re¬
gion was nearly depopulated by Ivienlung's generals, and at pre¬
sent supports a sparse population compared with its fertility
and resources.
The large town of Kashgar is situated at the north-western
angle of the Southern Circuit, on the Kashgar river, in latitude
39° 25' N. and longitude 75° E., at the extreme west of the
empire. Several roads meet here. Going in a north-west
direction, one leads over the Celestial mountains to Kokand ; a
second passes south, through Yarkand and Khoten, to Cell and
Cashmere ; a third, the great caravan route, from China through
Usln, may be said to end here ; and the fourth and most fre-
qnented, leads off north-east over the Tien shan through the Rowat
pass, and along the western banks of lake Issikul to 111. The
trade thus concentrated here renders Kashgar the emporium of
the commerce of Central Asia ; its population is estimated at
eighty thousand, consisting of representatives from all parts of
the empire and the valley of the Caspian, Russians, Tibetans,
Affghans, and Sikhs.
In the middle of the town is a large square, and four bazaars
branch from it through to the gates ; the garrison is placed with¬
out the walls. The manufactures of Kashgar excel those of
any other town in the two Circuits, especially in jade, gold, silk,
cotton, gold and silver cloths, and carpets. The taxes are sent
to 111. The country around produces fruit and grain in abun¬
dance ; " the manners of the people have an appearance of
elegance and politeness," says the Chinese geographer; "the
women dance and sing in family parties ; they fear and respect
the officers, and have not the wild uncultivated aspect of those
in Uslri." Several towns were formerly subordinate to Kashgar,
but since the rebellion of 1827, its political importance has gone,
and with that much of the trade, to Yarkand. South-west from it
is Tashbalig, and on the road leading to Yarkand, is Yengi hissar
or Yingkeshar, both of them towns of some importance ; the
latter contains a garrison.
Yarkand, or Yerkiang, may be termed the capital of the South¬
ern Circuit, as the highest military officers and strongest force
are stationed here. It lies on that river in latitude 38° 19' N..
and longitude 70° 10/ E., and its streets and environs are abun
182
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
dantly supplied with water by canals. The stone walls are
three miles in circumference, but the suburbs are much larger;
the houses are built of dried bricks, and the town has a more
substantial appearance than others in 111. There are many
mosques and colleges, which, with the public buildings occupied
by the government and troops, add to its consideration. The
troops, seven thousand in number, are under the control of the
commandant, and are scattered in detachments in and around the
city ; the population is unknown, but doubtless exceeds 200,000.
The principal articles of trade are horses, silk, and wool, and
fabrics made from them ; but everything found at Kashgar is
sold also at Yarkand. Many merchants from Shensi, Kansuh,
and Sz'chuen, are established in both places, and the convicts
sent to 111 usually settle in the trading towns as craftsmen or
agriculturists.
In a Chinese notice of the city, the customs at Yarkand are
stated to yield over $45,000 annually ; the taxes are 35,400
sacks of grain, 57,569 pieces of linen, 15,000 lbs. of copper,
besides gold, silk, varnish, and hemp, part of which are carried to
111. Jade is obtained from the river in large pieces, yellow, white,
black, and reddish, and the articles made from it are carried to
China. The Chinese authorities stationed here are very careful
not to admit Europeans, but seem to have no objection to the
resort of natives of Kokand, Cashmere, and other neighboring
states, many of whom settle and marry. The contrast be¬
tween the turbulence and insecurity of those countries, and the
comparative quiet, efficient government of the Chinese, bad as
their rule is generally, is not lost upon the natives of the Mo¬
hammedan states, and the great mass of their people would be
glad to become subjects of Taukwang.
Khoten is situated on the southern side of the desert, and the
district embraces all the country south of Oksu and Yarkand,
along the northern base of the Koulkun mountains, for more than
three hundred miles from east to west. The town is called
llcln on Chinese maps, and lies in an extensive plain on the
Khoten river in latitude 37° N., and longitude 80° 35/ E. The
town of Karakash lies a few miles north-west in the same valley,
and is said by traders to be the capital rather than llchl; it lies
on the road to Yarkand, distant twelve days' journey. The
town of Gumnri is also placed on this road, whose chief had in
K1I0TEN AND ITS CITIES.
183
his possession a stone supposed to have the power of causing
rain. The town of Kirrea lies live days' journey east of flclri,
near the pass across the mountains into Tibet and Ladak ; a
gold mine is worked near this place, the produce of which is
monopolized by the Chinese. The three towns of Karakash,
llclri, and Kirrea, are the only places of importance between the
valley of the Tarim and Tibet, but none of them have been
visited for a long time by Europeans. The population of the
town or district is unknown; one notice* gives it a very large
number, approaching three millions and even more, which at
any rate indicates a more fertile soil and genial climate than the
regions north and south of it. Dr. Morrison, in his View of
China, puts it at 44,630 inhabitants ; and although the former
includes the whole district and is probably too large, the second
seems to be much too small.
The eastern part of Khoten is marshy, but the whole country
must have a high elevation, from the fact that the river which
drains and connects it with the Tarim runs quite across the
desert in its course. The country is governed by two high
officers and a detachment of troops; there are six towns under
their jurisdiction, the inhabitants of which are ruled in the same
manner as the other Mohammedan cities. The people, how¬
ever, are said to be mostly of the Budhist faith, and the Chinese
give a good account of their peacefulness and industry. The
trade with Leh and H'lassa is carried on by a road crossing the
Koulkun by the Kirrea pass, beyond which it divides. The
productions of Khoten are fine linen and cotton stuffs, jade orna¬
ments, copper, grain, fruits, and vegetables ; the former for
exportation, the latter for use. It is supposed that the English
word cotton is derived from the name of this city.
Remusat published an account of this country in 1820, drawn
from Chinese books, in which the principal events in its history
are stated, commencing with the Han dynasty before the Chris¬
tian era down to the Manchu conquest. In the early part of its
history, Khoten was the resort of many priests from India, and
the Budhist faith was early established there. It was an inde¬
pendent kingdom most of the time from its earliest mention to
the era of Genghis khan, the princes sometimes extending their
* Penny Cyclopaedia, Art. Thian sh \n nan lu.
134
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
sway from the Iviayu pass and Koko-nor to the Tsung ling, and
then obliged to contract to the valley now designated as Khoten.
After the expulsion of the Mongols from China, Khoten assert¬
ed its independence, but afterwards fell under the sway of the
Songares and Eleuths, and lost many of its inhabitants. The
Manchus conquered it in 1770, when the rest of the region be.
tween the Tien shan and Kwanlun fell under their sway, bul
they have not settled in it to the same extent, or made it a penal
settlement as they have other parts of 111.
The government of 111 differs in some respects from that of
Mongolia, where religion is partly called in to aid the state. In
the Northern Circuit, the authority is strictly military, exercised
by means of residents and generals, with bodies of troops under
their control. The supreme command of all tli is intrusted by
the Colonial Office to a Manchu tsiangkiun or military governor-
general at Kuldsha, who has under him two councillors to take
cognisance of civil cases, and thirty-four residents scattered
about in both Circuits. This governor has also the control of the
oops stationed in the three western departments of Kansuh, but
nas nothing to do with the civil jurisdiction of those towns. The
entire number of troops under his hand is stated at 60,000, most
of whom have families, and add agricultural, mechanical, or
other labors to the profession of arms. The councillors are noi
altogether subordinate to the generol, but report to the Colonial
Office.
In the Northern Circuit, there is a deputy appointed for every
village and town, invested with military powers over the troops
and convicts, and civil supervision over the native piko or chief¬
tains, who are the real rulers acknowledged by the clans. The
character of the inhabitants north of the Tien shan is rendered
unlike that of those dwelling in the Southern Circuit, not more
by the diversity in their language and nomadic habits, than by
the sway religious rites and allegiance have over them. Through
this latter motive, the government of Mongolia and the Northern
Circuit is rendered far easier and more effectual for the distant
court of Peking than it otherwise would be. The appointment
of the native chieftains is first announced to the general at Kuld¬
sha and the Colonial Office, and they succeed to their post when
confirmed, which, as the station is in a measure hereditary, usu
ally follows in course.
GOVERNMENT OF 1L1.
18?
The inhabitants of the Southern Circuit are Mohammedans
and acknowledge a less willing subjection to the emperor than
those in the Northern ; the differences in religion and language
are probably the leading reasons. The government of the whole
region is divided among the Manchu residents or ambans at the
. <
eight cities, who arc nominally responsible to the general at 111,
and independent of each other, but there seems to be a gradation
in their rank and power, the one at Yarkand having the priority.
The begs are chosen by the tribes themselves, and exercise
authority in all petty cases arising among the people, without the
interference of the Chinese. The troops are all Manchu or
Chinese, none of the Turks being enrolled in separate bodies,
though individuals are employed with safety. There is con¬
siderable difference in the rank and influence of the begs, which
is upheld and respected by the ambans. The allowances and
style granted them are regulated in a measure by their feudal
;/importance. The revenue is derived from a monthly capitation
tax on each man of about half a dollar, and tithes on the pro¬
duce ; there are no transit duties as in China, but custom-houses
are established at the frontier trading town?.. The language
generally used in the Southern Circuit is the Jaghatai Turki of
the Kalmucks ; the Usbecks constitute the majority of the peo¬
ple, but Eleuths and Kalmucks are everywhere intermixed.
The Tibetans have settled in Khoten, or more probably, rem¬
nants still exist there of the former inhabitants.
The history of the vast region constituting the present govern¬
ment of 111 early attracted the attention of oriental scholars, and
few portions of the world have had a more exciting history.
After the expulsion of the Mongols from China by Hungwu, A.
D. 1366, they found that they, as a tribe, were inferior in power
to the western tribes, but it was not till about 1G80 that the
Eleuths, north of the Tien shan under the Galdan, began to
attack the Kalkas, and drive them eastward. The Sunnites,
Tsakhars, and Solons, portions of the Eastern Mongols, had
already joined the Manchus; and the Kalkas, to avoid extcrmi.
nation, submitted to them also, and besought their assistance
against the Eleuths. Kanglri received their allegiance, and triea
to settle the difficulties peaceably, but was obliged to send his
troops against the Galdan, and drive him from the territory of
the Kalkas to the westward of Lop nor and Barkoul. The em-
186
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
peror was materially aided in this enterprise by the secession
from the Eleuths of the Songares, whose khan had taken offence,
and drawn his hordes off to the south. The khans of the Kalkas
and their vast territory, thus became subject to the Chinese.
The Galdan lost all his forces, and died by poison, in 1697, his
power dying with him, and his tribe having already become too
weak to resist.
Upon the ruins of his power arose that of Arabdan, the khan
of the Songares. He subjugated the Northern Circuit, passed
over into Turkestan, Tangout, and Khoten, and gradually re¬
duced to his sway nearly all the elevated region of Central Asia
west of Kansuh. He expelled the Tourgouths from their pos¬
sessions in Cobdo, and compelled them to retreat to the banks of
the Wolga. Kanghl expelled the Songares from the districts
about Koko-nor, but made no impression upon their authority in
Songaria. After the death of Arabdan, about 1720, his throne
was disputed, and the power weakened by dissensions among
his sons, so that it was seized by two usurpers, Amursana and
Tawats, who also fell out after their object was gained. Amur¬
sana repaired to Peking for assistance, and with the aid of a
Chinese army expelled Tawats, and took possession of the throne
of Arabdan. But he had no intention of becoming a vassal to
Kienlung, and was no sooner reinstated than he resisted him ;
he defeated two Chinese armies sent against him, but succumbed
on the third attack, and fled to Tobolsk, where he died in 1757.
The territory of Arabdan then fell to Kienlung, and he pursueA
his successes with such cruelty that the Northern Circuit was
nearly depopulated, and the Songares and Eleuths became almost
extinct as distinct tribes. The banished tribe of Tourgouths was
then invited by the emperor to return from Russian sway to their
ancient possessions, which they accepted in 1772 ; the history of
the Chinese embassy to them, and their disastrous journey back
to Cobdo over the Kir gins stepp, and through the midst of their
enemies, is one of the meet remarkable instances of nomadic
wanderings in modern times. Chinese troops, emigrants, exiles,
and nomadic tribes and families, were sent and encouraged to
come into the vacant territory, so that erelong it began to resume
its former importance. In the period which has since elapsed,
the Manchus have been enabled to prevent any combination
among the tribes, and maintain their own authority by a mixed
HISTORY AND CONQUEST OF 1L1.
3 57
system of coercion and coaxing which they well know how to
practise. The agricultural and mineral resources of the country
have been developed, many of the nomads induced to attend to
agriculture by making their chieftains emulous of each other's
prosperity, and by exciting a spirit of traffic among all.
There have been some disturbances from time to time, but no
master spirit has arisen who has been able to unite the tribes
against the Chinese. In 1825, there was an attempt made from
Kokand by Jehangir, grandson of the kojeh or prince of Kashgar,
to regain possession of Turkestan; the khan of Kokand assisted
him with a small army, and such was their dislike of the Chinese,
that as soon as Jehangir appeared, the Mohammedans arose and
drove the Chinese troops away or put them to death, opening the
gates to the invader. He took possession of Yarkand and
Kashgar, and advanced to Oksu, where the winter put a stop to
the campaign. In the next year, the khan of Kokand, seeing the
disposition of the people, thought he would embark himself in
the same cause, and made an incursion as far as Oksu and
Khoten, reducing more than half the Southern Circuit to himself,
but ostensibly in aid of Jehangir. The kojeh, beginning to fear
his aid, withdrew ; and the khan, having suffered some reverses
from the Chinese troops, made his peace on very favorable terms,
and returned to his own country. Jehangir went to Khoten from
Yarkand, but his conduct there displeasing the people, the Chinese
troops, about 60,000 in number, had no difficulty in dispersing his
force, and resuming their sway. The adherents of the kojeh
fled towards Badakshan, while he himself repaired to Isaac, the
newly appointed kojeh of Kashgar, by whom he was delivered up
to the Chinese with his family, and all of them most barbarously
destroyed.
The kojeh was rewarded with the office of prince of Kashgar,
but having been accused of treasonable designs he was ordered to
come to Peking for trial; the charges were all disproved, and he
returned to Kashgar after several years' residence at the capital.
The country was gradually reduced by Changling, the general
at lit, but Kashgar suffered so much by the war and removal of
the chief authority to Yarkand, that it has not since regained its
importance. During this war, the dislike of the Mohammedans
to the Chinese sway was exhibited in the large forces Jehangir
brought into the field ; and if he had been a popu.'ar spirited
188
the middle kingdom.
leader, there is reason for supposing he might have finally
wrested these cities from the Chinese. The joy of Taukwang
at the successful termination of the expedition and capture of the
rebel, was so extravagant as to appear childish; and when
Jehangir was executed at Peking, he ordered the sons of two
officers who had been reported killed, " to witness his execution,
in order to give expansion to the indignation which had accumu¬
lated in their breasts ; and let the rebel's heart be torn out and
given to them to sacrifice it at the tombs of their fathers, and
thus console their faithful spirits." Honors were heaped upon
Changling at his return to Peking, and rewards and titles
showered upon all the troops engaged in the war.
Since this insurrection, the frontiers of Kashgar and Kokand
have been passed and repassed by the Pruth Kirghis ; and in
1830, they excited so much trouble because their trade was
restricted, that a large force was called out to restrain them, and
many lives were lost before the rising was subdued. The causes
of the dispute were then examined, and the trade allowed to go
on as before. The oppressions of the residents sometimes goad
on the Mohammedans to rise against the Chinese, but the policy
of the emperor is conciliatory, and the complaints of the people
are listened to. The visits of the begs and princes to Peking
with tribute affords them an opportunity to state their grievances,
while it also prevents them from caballing among themselves.
The salaries of the governor-general and his councillors, and the
residents, are small, and they are all obliged to resort to illegal
means to reimburse their outlays. The highest officer receives
about $5200 annually, and his councillors about $2000 ; the
residents from $2300 down to $500 and less. These sums do
not, probably, constitute one tenth of the receipts of their
situations.*
The third great division of the colonial part of the Chinese
empire, that of Tibet, is less known than 111, though its area is
hardly less extensive. It constitutes the most southern of the
three great table lands of Central Asia, and is surrounded with
high mountains which separate it from all the contiguous regions.
The name Tibet or Tubet is corrupted from Tu po, the country
* Chinese Repository, Vol. V., pages 2G7, 316, 351, &c. ; "Vol. IX., page
113. Penny Cyclopaedia, Art. Soivgarja.
NAMES AND EXTENT OF TIBET.
189
>f the Tu, a race which overran it in the sixth century ; another
.lame, according to Turner, is Pue-koachhn, signifying the
'snowy country of the north;" but Csoma, who lived there
some years, says the people call it Pot or Bod, or Bod yul,—"the
(and of Bod." The Chinese call the whole country Si Tsang,
and divide it into Tsicn Tsang or Anterior Tibet, and Hau Tsang
or Ulterior Tibet. It is bounded north-east by Koko-nor ; east by
Sz'chuen and Yunnan; south by Assam, Butan, Nipal, Delhi, and
Lahore ; west by Ladak, BadaKshan, and Bokhara ; and north by
Gobi and Khoten. The southern frontier curves considerably in
its course, but is not less than 1500 miles from the western
extremity of Nipal to the province of Yunnan; the northern
border is about 1300 miles ; the eastern and western frontiers
cannot be accurately calculated, but are not less than 300 miles.
Beltistan, Little Tibet, and Ladak, although included in its limits
on Chinese maps, have too little subjection or connexion with the
court of Peking, to be reckoned among its dependencies.
Tibet, in its largest limits, is a table land, the highest plains of
which are about 10,000 feet high, and divided by mountain
chains into three distinct parts. The western one consists of the
valley of the Indus, until it breaks through into Cashmere and the
plains of the Punjab. It begins near Mt. Kailasa, and stretches
north-west between the Hindu Kush and Himalaya, comprising
the whole of Beltistan and Ladak ; the Tsung ling defines it on the
north-east. The second part consists of an extensive desert land,
commencing at mount Kailasa, and having the Tsung ling on the
west, the Koulkun on the north, which separates it from Khoten,
and the high watershed of the Yangtsz' kiang, Salween, and
other rivers, and lake Tengkiri, on the east; the Himalaya con.
stitutes its southern boundary. This high region, called Katshe
or Kor-kachi, has never been traversed by intelligent travellers.
Mountains stretch across it, and many rivers and lakes are found
within their defiles. It is so cold that few inhabitants can live
in its northern portions.
The eastern part consists of the valley of the Yaru-tsangbu,
which commencing in Ari about 80° E., gradually widens as it
go?s eastward, containing in its plains most of the towns in Tibet,
until it reaches the alpine region which lies between Butan,
Burmah, and Yunnan. This part of the country consists of a
succession of ridges and peaks, some of which are among the
190
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
highest in the world, and the traveller crosses the i arrow valleyt
by ropes and bridges enveloped in the clouds. Mount Kailasa,
one of the highest peaks, lying in the north-eastern part of Ari,
is not far from 26,000 feet high. The number of peaks covered
with perpetual snow is not known, but exceeds that of any other
part of the world of the same extent.
The road from Sz'chuen to H'lassa strikes the Yahlung kiang,
in the district of Ta-tsien-lu, and then goes south-westerly to
Patang on the Yangtsz' kiang ; crossing the river it proceeds up
the narrow valley a short distance, and then crosses over the
mountains north-west to the Lantsan kiang or Meikon, by a
series of pathways leading over the gorges, till it reaches
Tsiamdo ; from this point, the road turns gradually south-west,
following the valleys when practicable till it ends at H'lassa.
The largest river in Tibet is the Dzangbu, Erechumbu, or Yaru-
tsangbu. It rises in the Tamchuk hills in Ari, not more than a
hundred miles east of the headwaters of the Indus, and flows a
little south of east for about seven hundred miles, through the
whole of southern Tibet, between the Himalaya and Dzang
mountains, as far as latitude 28° N. Its tributaries on the north
are numerous, and among them the Nauk-tsangbu and Dzangtsu
are the largest. The volume of water which flows through the
mountains into Assam by this river, is equal to that by the Indus
into Scinde. It is still a disputed question, whether the Yaru-
tsangbu joins the Brahmaputra or Irrawaddy, but the weight of
geographical evidence, and the size of the rivers, is greatly in
favor of the former. This will make the Brahmaputra the largest
and longest river in southern Asia; its passage into Assam is
near 95° E. longitude.
The eastern part of Tibet, beyond this meridian, is traversed
by numerous ranges of lofty mountains, having no separate
names, the direction of which is from west to east, and from
north-west to south-east. From these ranges, lateral branches
lun out in different directions, containing deep valleys between
them. In proportion as the principal chains advance towards the
south-east they converge towards one another, and thus the valleys
between them gradually become narrower, until at last, on the
frontiers of Yunnan and Burmah, they ai'e mere mountain passes,
whose entire breadth does not much exceed a hundred miles,
having four streams flowing through them. In fact, Tibet in-
RIVERS AND LAKES OF TIBET.
191
closes the fountain heads of all the large rivers of southern and
eastern Asia ; and, besides them, the Indus and its greatest
branch, the Satlej, the Ganges and Brahmaputra, the Yellow
river and some of their largest tributaries, also have their sources
in its borders. The names and courses of all the rivers in east¬
ern Tibet are known chiefly from Chinese maps, but others have
described them after their entrance into the lowlands.
Tibet, especially the central part, is a country of lakes, in this
respect resembling Cobdo. The largest isTengkiri nor, situated
in the midst of stupendous mountains, about one hundred and ten
miles north-west of H'lassa. It receives a small river on the
west called Tarku ; this lake is over a hundred miles long and
about thirty wide. The region north of it contains many isolated
lakes, and Chinese maps place the headwaters of the Nu kiang
in the mountains on its east. Two of the largest, the Bouka and
Kara, are represented as connected with that stream. Most of
the isolated lakes are salt. The Yamorouk or Yarbrokyu, some¬
times called Palti from a town on its northern shore, is a large
lake south of H'lassa, remarkable for its ring shape, the centre
being filled by a large island, around which its waters flow in
a channel thirty miles or more in width. On the island is a nun¬
nery, called the Palace of the Holy Sow, said to be the finest in
the country. In Little Tibet, south of Khoten, are many lakes,
the largest of which, the Yik and Paha, are connected by a river
flowing through a marshy country. The sacred lakes of Manasa-
rowa and Ravan-hrad, or Mapam-dalai and Langga nor, of the
Chinese, form the headwaters of the Indus ; they lie near each
other, and their outlet unites with two other streams to form that
river. The Manasa-rowa is said to be next in size to lake
Tengkiri, but is probably inferior to lakes Paha orYih.
The climate of Tibet is characterized by its purity and exces¬
sive dryness. The valleys are hot, notwithstanding their prox¬
imity to snow-capped mountains; from May to October the sky
is clear in the table lands, and in the valleys the moisture and
temperature are favorable to vegetation, the harvest being ga¬
thered before the gales and snows set in, which are after October.
The effects of the air resemble or are worse than those of the
kamsin in Egypt. The trees wither, and their leaves may be
ground to powder between the fingers; planks and beams break,
and the inhabitants cover the timbers and wood-work of their
92
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
houses with coarse cottons, in order to preserve them against the
destructive saccidity. The timber neither rots nor is worm-eaten.
Mutton, exposed to the open air, becomes so dry that it may be
powdered like bread ; when once dried it is preserved during
years. This flesh-bread is a common food in Tibet. The car¬
case of the animal, divested of its skin and viscera, is placed where
the frosty air will have free access to it, until all the juices of the
body dry up, and the whole becomes one stiffened mass. No salt
is used, nor does it ever become tainted, and is eaten without any
further dressing or cooking ; the natives eat it at all periods after
it is frozen, and prefer the fresh to that which has been kept some
months.
The productions of Tibet consist principally of domestic tiid
wild animals, and few plants or forests, presenting a strong con¬
trast with Nipal and Butan, where vegetable life flourishes more
luxuriantly. Sheep and goats are reared in immense flocks, for
their flesh, hair, and coats; the yak, or grunting ox, is used for
carriage, and its milk and flesh reward the care of its owners;
all other domestic animals, including neat cattle, horses, buffaloes,
etc., arc common.
Yak; or, Grunting Ox.
PRODUCTIONS OF TIBET.
193
There is comparatively little agriculture; flocks ard herds
supply more food than the farm. The variety of wild animals,
birds, and fishes, is very great; among them the musk deer,
feline animals, eagles, and wild sheep, arc objects of the chase.
The brute creation are generally clothed with an abundance of
fine hair or wool ; even the horses have a more shaggy coat
than is granted to bears in more genial climes. The musk deer
is clothed with a thick covering of hair two or three inches long,
standing erect over the whole body; the animal resembles a
hog in size and form, but the legs are slender. The Tibetan
goat affords the shawl wool, which is so highly prized for the
manufacture of garments, and exported to China and India.
Fruits are common; pomegranates, peaches, oranges, figs,
grapes, apples, and nuts, constitute the limited variety. Barley
is raised more than any other grain, and the principal part of
agricultural labors is performed by the women. Peas and other
pulse and wheat are cultivated, but no rice west of H'lassa;
this grain can only be raised along the bottoms. Rhubarb, assa-
fsetida, ginger, madder, and safllower are collected or prepared,
but most of the medicines come from China and Butan. Tur¬
nips, onions, and melons are raised in small quantities. The
trees are few in number and small in height, rarely rising into
forests. The mineral productions are exceedingly rich. Gold
is found in the beds of streams, and forms a constant article of
export ; lead, silver, copper, and cinnabar are also dug out of the
ground, but iron has not been found to much extent. The
great difficulty in the way ^f the inhabitants availing themselves
of their metallic wealth, apart from their ignorance of the best
modes of mining, is the want of fuel to smelt the ore. Tincal
or crude borax is gathered on the borders of a small lake in
the neighborhood of Tengkiri lake, where also rock salt can be
obtained to any extent. Precious stones are found, most of which
find their way to China.
The present divisions of Tibet, according to the Chinese sta¬
tistical works* arc Tsicn Tsang, or Anterior Tibet, and Hau
Tsang, or Ulterior Tibet. Anterior Tibet is also called Wei or
Wei Tsang, and was formerly divided into Kham and Wei, the
first being called Anterior and the second Central Tibet. Ulte¬
rior Tibet is also divided into Tsang and Ari.* These divisions
* Chinese Repository, Vol. XIII.. na^e 50.">
10
194
THE MIDDLE KINGDCKt
are usually found on European maps ; Csoma says the country
is divided by the inhabitants into Kham-yul or Eastern Tibet,
called also Pot-chen or Great Tibet, WeiTsang or Tibet Proper,
and Ari or Nari, including north-western Tibet. The Chinese
books mention eight cantons in Anterior Tibet, five of them lying
east of H'lassa, added to which are thirty-nine feudal townships
in the north called lu-sz\ bordering on similar townships in Kokc-
nor and Sz'chuen. Csoma de Koros mentions several small
principalities in Kham, and describes the inhabitants as ditfering
very much from the rest of the Tibetans in appearance and lan¬
guage ; they assimilate probably with the characteristics of the
tribes on the Burman and Chinese frontiers.
H'lassa, the capital of Tibet, is situated on the Dzangtsu,
about twelve leagues from its junction with the Yaru-tsangbu, in
lat. 29° 30' N., and long. 91° 40' E., and is the largest town in
this part of Asia. It is famous for the convents in and near it,
composing the ecclesiastical establishments of the dalai-lama,
whose personal residence is in the convent of Pobrang-marbu
(i. e. Red town) on mount Botala. The principal building of
this establishment is three hundred and sixty-seven feet high,
and it contains, as the Chinese expression is, " a myriad of
rooms." This city is the head-quarters of Budhism, and the
hierarchy of lamas, who, by means of the dalai-lama, and his
subordinate the kutuktu, exercise priestly control over nearly
all Mongolia as well as Tibet. The city lies in a fertile plain
extending about twelve miles from north to south, and about
one hundred and twenty-five in length. Mountains and hills en¬
circle it; Botala is the western one, and the river runs near its
base, so that a wall has been built to preserve the buildings from
the rise of the waters. The Chinese garrison is quartered about
two miles north of this mount, and two large temples called
H7assa tso-ka?ig and Ramotsie tso-kang, resplendent with gold and
precious stones, stand very near it. The four monasteries, Sera,
Brebung, Samye, and Galdan, constitute as many separate esta¬
blishments.* During the sway of the Songares in '111, heir prince
Arabdan made a descent upon H'lassa, and the lamb tvas killed.
Kanghi placed a new one upon the see, and reinstated him at
Botala in 1720, appointing six of the leading officers of the old
* Klaproth's Description du Tubet page 246.
TWO CAPITALS O*
195
lama to assist hi n in the government. Three of these joined in
an insurrection, and in the conflicts which succeeded, H'lassa
suffered considerably. Since the expulsion of the Nipalese
in 1792, no foreigners are allowed entrance from the south,
the Chinese hav.'ng established a line of posts along the whole
of the southern frontier towards Nipal and Butan. The popu¬
lation of H'lassa is conjectured to be 24,009 ; that of the pro¬
vince is reckoned by Csoma at about 650,000.
The capital of Tsang or Ulterior Tibet is Zhikatse-jung or
Teshu-h'lumbu, twenty-six miles west of H'lassa, the monastic
residence of the teshu-lama or banchin-erdeni, a town of three
or four hundred houses, convents, and palaces, built on an ele¬
vated plain. It contains, among other buildings, the mausoleum
of the teshu-lama, who died in Peking in 1781, which is de¬
scribed by Turner as a beautiful specimen of Tibetan sculpture.
The plain between this town and H'lassa is a fertile tract, and
judging from the number of towns in the valleys of the basin
of the Yaru-tsangbu, its productive powers are comparatively
great. Ulterior Tibet is divided into six other cantons, besides
the territory under the jurisdiction of the chief town, most of
their fortified capitals lying westward of Zhikatse, in the
basin of the Yaru-tsangbu. The last of the sixth, Ari or Nari,
is an extensive region, described by Csoma as stretching from
Tsang to Ladak, but very thinly settled, its population not ex¬
ceeding 50,000 families, on an area, judging from Chinese and
other maps, of at least five times that number of square miles ;
he speaks, however, of tracts of desert land within its limits.
The degree of skill the Tibetans have attained in manufac¬
tures, mechanical arts, and general civilization, is less than that
of the Chinese, but superior to the Mongols. They appear to be
a mild and humane people, and possess more of a religious sense
than the Chinese. They belong to the Mongol race, with slight
intermixture of their southern neighbors ; no two people or coun¬
tries widely separated present a stronger contrast than the stout,
tall, muscular, and florid Butias, upon their fertile fields and
wooded hills, do with the squat, puny, sluggish, and swarthy
Tibetans in their lugged barren mountains. They distinguish
five sorts of people among themselves, the last of whom are the
Butias ; the others ; .re the inhabitants of Ivham, or Anterior Tibet
those in Tsang, the nomads of Kor-katshe, and the people of Lit
196
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
tie Tibet. All of them speak Tibetan with some variations. The
Tibetans are clad with woollens and furs to such a degret that
they appear to emulate the animals they derive them from in
their weight and warmth ; and with this clothing is found no
small quantity of dirt. The dress of the sexes varies slightly
in its shape ; yellow and red are the predominant colors. Large
bulgar boots of hide are worn by all persons ; the remainder of
the dress consists of woollen robes and furs like those of the
Chinese. The women wear many jewels, and adorn their hair
with pearls. Girls braid their hair in three tresses, married
women in two. The head is protected by high velvet caps;
the men wear broad-brimmed coverings of various materials.
The two sects of religious are distinguished by yellow and
red caps • the latter are comparatively few, allow marriage to
the lamas, but do not differ materially in their ritual or tenets.
There is no country where so large a proportion of the people
are devoted to religious service as in Tibet, nor one where the
secular part of the inhabitants pay such implicit deference to the
clergy. The food of the Tibetans is taken at all hours, there
being no stated times for eating. Mutton, barley, and tea con¬
stitute the staple articles of food. Tea is not drunk clear, but
when the infusion is drawn off, barley meal is stirred up in the
cup, making a thin gruel. A strange mixture of water, flour,
butter, and salt, boiled together with the tea, and drawn off in
cups as tea or gruel, is also used to some extent. On all visits
tea is presented, and the cup replenished as often as it is drained.
Spirits and beer, both made from barley, are common beverages.
On every visit of ceremony, and whenever a letter is sent from
one person to another, it is necessary to connect a silk scarf with
it, the size and texture being proportioned to the rank and condi¬
tion of the parties. The sentence Om mani fed (or pad) mi om,
an invocation in universal use among the people, is woven upon
each end. In reverential salutations, the cap is removed by
the inferior, and the arms hang by the side.
The bodies of the dead are placed in an open inclosure, in the
same manner as practised by the Parsees, where birds and beasts
of prey devour them, or they are dismembered in an exposed
place. Lamas are burned, and their ashes collected into urns.
As soon as the breath has departed, the body is seated in the
same attitude as Budha is represented, with the legs bent before,
CUSTOMS OF THE TIBETANS.
197
and the so>.5s of the feet turned upwards. The right hand rests
upon the thigh, the left turns up near the body, the thumb touch¬
ing the shoulder. In this attitude of contemplation, the corpse
is burned.
In Tibet, as in Butan, the custom of polyandry prevails.
The choice of a wife lies with the eldest son, who having made
known his intentions to his parents sends a matchmaker to pro.
pose the matter to the parents of the girl. The sexes are not
kept apart as in China, and the youth makes his own selection.
The consent of the parents being obtained, the matchmaker
places an ornament of a jewel set in gold, called sedzia, upon
the head of the damsel, and gives her presents of jewels, dresses,
cattle, &.c., according to the means of the young man. The
guests invited on the day of the marriage bring presents of such
things as they choose, which augments the dowry. A tent is set
up before the bride's house, in which are placed three or four
square cushions, and the ground around sprinkled with wheat;
the bride is seated on the highest cushion, her parents and friends
standing near her according to their rank, and the assembled
party there partake of a feast. The bride is then conducted to
the house of her lover by the friends present, her person being
sprinkled with wheat or barley as she goes along, and there
placed by his side, and both of them served with tea and spirits.
Soon after, the groom seats himself apart, and every one present
gives them a scarf, those of superior rank binding them around
their necks, equals and inferiors laying them by their sides.
The next day, a procession is formed of the relatives of the newly
married pair, which visits all the friends, and the marriage
s completed. The girl thus becomes the wife of all the bro¬
thers, and manages the domestic concerns of their household.
Priests have nothing to do with marriages in this or any other
part of the Chinese empire, their office being associated with
funereal rites. Almost every family furnishes one or two mem¬
bers to the priesthood. A closer acquaintance with a society so
singularly constituted would no doubt disclose the fact that these
families were either unhappily joined, or that the marriage tie
was not very strictly kept. Population is constantly kept down
by the united effects of religious celibacy and polyandry. The
climate of this elevated region probably has its effects in continu¬
ing such a custom, and maintaining the purity of society.
k98
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The dwellings of the poor are built of unhewn stones, rudely
piled upon each other without cement, two stories high, and
resembling brick-kilns in shape and size ; the windows are small
in order not to weaken the structure ; the roof is flat, defended
by a brushwood parapet, and protected from the molestation of
evil spirits by flags, strips of paper tied to strings, or branches ol
trees. Timber is little used, for it does not grow in the country ;
the floors are of marble or tiles, and the furniture consists of but
little else than mats and cushions. The temples and convents
are more imposing and commodious structures; some of those at
H'lassa are among the best specimens of architecture in Central
Asia.
The mausoleum of the teshu-lama at Teshu-h'lumbu, built to¬
wards the end of the last century, resembles a plain square watch-
tower surmounted by a double Chinese canopy roof, the eaves
of which are hung with bells, on which the breeze plays a
ceaseless dirge. The body of the lama reposes in a coffin of
gold, and his effigy, also of gold, is placed within the concavity
of a large shell upon the top of the pyramidal structure which
contains it. The sides of the pyramid are silver plates, and on
the steps are deposited the jewels and other costly articles which
once appertained to him. An altar in front receives the obla¬
tions and incense daily presented before the tomb, and near by is
a second statue of the deceased as large as life in the attitude
of reading. Scrolls and pennons of silk hang from the ceiling,
and the walls are adorned with paintings of priests engaged in
prayer. The whole structure is substantially built, and its rich
ornaments are placed there not less for security than to do honor
to the revered person deposited beneath. The other buildings in
this town, consisting of upwards of three hundred monasteries,
temples, &c., are noticeable rather for their solidity than elegance.
The windows are closed with mohair curtains, and a skylight in
the upper story serves for lighting the room, and for passing out
upon the roof. The roof or parapet is ornamented with cylin¬
ders of copper or other materials, which imparts a brilliant
appearance to the edifices. The fortress of Zhikatse stands at
the entrance into the valley, and in the hands of a valiant people,
would easily afford full protection to its inhabitants.
The manufactures of Tibet consist of woollens made from the
covering of the shawl goat, and jewelry. Their lapidaries cut
COMMERCE AND LANGUAGE U IBfci.
199
every kind of orname it in superior style, and gold and silvel
ware forms a considerable article of trade to China. These and
other crafts must necessarily languish, however, from the im¬
mense proportion of men who are withdrawn from labor into
monasteries, compelling the residue to devote most of their
strength to tillage. The most important exports to China consist
of gold dust, precious stones, bezoars, assafaetida, musk, wool¬
lens, and skins; for which the people receive silks, teas, china-
ware, tobacco, musical instruments, and metals. The trade is
carried on through Sining fu in Kansuh, and Patang in Sz'chuen.
Tincal, rock-salt, and shawl wool, are additional articles sent to
Ladak, Butan, and India, but the trade towards the south is far
less productive than it would be if unrestricted.
The common diseases in Tibet are dropsy, rheumatism, small¬
pox, and syphilis ; the last two are much feared, and the patient
upon whom the pustules are seen is instantly abandoned and left
to starve, if the disease does not kill him. Syphilis is cured in
some degree by mercurial preparations. The medicinal pre¬
parations are put up by the people, but most of the drugs come
from China. Music is studied by the priesthood for their cere¬
monies, and with much better effect than among the Chinese
priests. Their amusements consist in archery, dancing, and
observance of many festivals connected with the worship of the
dead or of the living. Dram-drinking is common, but the peo¬
ple cannot be called a drunken race, nor does the habit of opium
eating or smoking, so fatally prevalent in Assam on their south,
prevail.
Education is confined to the priesthood, but the women, who
conduct much of the traffic, also learn arithmetic and writing.
The language is alphabetical, and reads from left to right ; there
are two forms of the character, the uchen used for books, and
the vmin employed in writing, which do not differ more than the
Roman and the running-hand in English. The form of the
O o
characters shows their Sanscrit original, but there are many
consonants in the language not found in that tongue, and silent
letters are not unfrequent in the written words. There are
thirty consonants in the alphabet, distributed into eight classes,
with four additional vowel signs ; each of them ends in a short
a, as ka, nga, cha, wh Ich can be lengthened by a diacritical mark
placed underneath. The syllables are separated from each
200
the middle kingdom.
other by a point; the accented consonant is that which follows
the vowel, and the others, w hether before or after it, are pro¬
nounced as rapidly as possible, and not unfrequently omitted
altogether in speaking. The variations in this respect constitute
the chief features of the patois found in different parts where
Tibetan is spoken. A dictionary and grammar of this language
have been published in Calcutta by Csoma de Koros, a Hunga¬
rian who formerly resided among the priests near Ladak. The
literature is almost wholly theological, as far as it has been
examined, and such works as are not of this character, have
probably been introduced from China. Their divisions of time,
numeration, chronology, and weights, have also been adopted
from that country with a few alterations.
The history of Tibet has been made known to Europe through
the Mongol Sanang Setsen, but if free access could be had to
their annals, it is probable that a methodical history could be ex¬
tracted, reaching back at least three centuries before Christ.
Tibet was ruled by its own princes till the rise of Genghis ; the
first monarch, who united the various tribes under his sway B. c.
313, was Seger-Sandilutu-Kagan-Tiil-Esen; and from the fact
that Budhism was introduced during his reign, it might be
inferred that he came from the south. H'lassa was founded by
Srongzan-Gambo about a. d. 630, after which time Tibetan his¬
tory becomes more authentic, inasmuch as this king introduced
the alphabet. The Tang dynasty carried their arms into Tibet
from Khoten, but the people threw off their yoke during the de¬
cline of that family. Mohammedanism also disturbed the supre¬
macy of the Budhist faith, and severe persecutions followed about
the beginning of the tenth century by an Islam prince Darma,
but it was repelled at his death, and has never since made the
least impression upon the people. Genghis reduced Tangout, one
of the principalities, about 1200, and soon after brought the whole
country under his sway, which Kublai still further settled as a
dependency of his empire. The people recovered their indepen¬
dence on the expulsion of the Mongols from China, and under
the Ming dynasty formed several small kingdoms, among which
were Ladak and Rodok in the west towards Cashmere, both of
them still existing.
From a short resume of letters written from Tibet in 1626, by
Romish missionaries living there, it appears, that the kingdom of
HISTORICAL NOTICES OF TIBET.
201
Sopo was the most powerful in the north, and Cogue, U-tsang,
and Moriul, were three southern principalities. The king of
Cogue allowed them to reside in his territories, and took pleasure
in hearing them converse and dispute with the lamas. The
dalai-lama at this time was the king's brother, and possessed sub¬
ordinate influence in the state, but the priests were numerous
and influential. The conquest of Mongolia and Tangout opened
the way for Kangln to enter Tibet, but the intercourse between
the emperor and dalai-lama was chiefly connected with religion
and carrying tribute. The lamas held the supreme power until
towards the end of his reign, when Chinese influence became
paramount. The country had already been conquered by the
Songar chieftain, so that on his defeat it could offer little resist¬
ance. Kanglu appointed six of the highest princes or gialbo
over the provinces; but soon after his death, in 1727, three of
them conspired against Yungching, and were not subdued with¬
out considerable resistance. The emperor then appointed the
loyal prince or gialbo as governor-general, and he remained in his
vice-regal office till his death, about 1750. Kienlung, finding
that his son was endeavoring to make himself fully independent,
executed him as a rebel, suppressed the office, and appointed
two Chinese generals to be associated with the dalai-lama and his
coadjutor, in the administration of the country. The troops
were increased and forts erected in all parts of the country to
awe the people and facilitate trade.
The present government of Tibet is superintended by two ta
chin, or great ministers, residing at H'lassa, who act conjointly,
while they serve as checks upon each other ; they do not hold
their office for a long time. They have absolute control over all
the troops in the country, and the military are generally confined
to the garrisons, and do not cultivate the soil. The collection of
revenue, transmission of tribute to Peking, and direction of the
persons who carry it, and those who conduct the trade at Patang
and SIning fu, are all under their control. The dalai-lama at
H'lassn, in Anterior Tibet, and the teshu-lama or banchin-erdeni
at Zhikatse, in Ulterior Tibet, are the high religious officers
of the country, each of them independent in his own province,
but the former holding the highest place in the hierarchy. The
Chinese residents confer with each concerning the direction of
nis own province. All their appointments to office or nobility
10*
202
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
must be sanctioned by the residents before they are valid, but
merely religious officers are not under this surveillance. In the
villages, the authority is administered by secular deputy lamas
called deha, and by commandants called karpon, who are sent
from the capital. Each deha is assisted by a native vazir of the
place, who, with the chief lama, form the local government,
amenable to the supreme magistracy. The western province of
Ari is peopled by nomads, who wander over the regions north of
Ravan-hrad, and are under the authority of karpons sent from
H'lassa, without the assistance of lamas. The two high-priesta
themselves are likewise assisted by councillors. One of these,
called Soopoon Choomboo, who held the office of sadeek or ad¬
viser when Turner visited Teshu-h'lumbu, was a Manchu by birth,
but had long lived in Tibet.
The nomadic clans of Dam Mongols and other tribes occupy
ing the thirty-nine feudal townships or tu-sz' in Anterior Tibet,
are governed by the residents without the intervention of the
lamas. The disturbances in Ulterior Tibet in 1792, resulting
from the irruption of the Nipalese and sack of Teshu-h'lumbu,
were speedily quelled by the energy of Kienlung's governmen',
and the invaders forced to sue for mercy. The southern fron¬
tier was, in consequence of this inroad, strongly fortified by a
chain of posts, and the communication with the states between
Tibet and India strictly forbidden and watched. It gave the
Chinese an opportunity to strengthen their rule in Ulterior Tibet,
and extend their influence north to Khoten and into Ladak. The
natural mildness of character of the Tibetans renders them much
easier under the Chinese yoke, than the Mohammedans of the
Southern Circuit; they are represented as contented and indus¬
trious by those who have seen them. Although their form of
government is more liberal than other parts of the empire, too
little is known of its practice to be able to judge whether the
mass of people really enjoy any greater privileges or more free¬
dom ; but it is little likely that the frivolities of Budhism would
tend to teach the rulers equity or liberality, or the people a just
knowledge of their rights.
The large map of the empire, which is regarded by the Chi.
nese as the best delineation of the extent and divisions of their
possessions, includes within its limits two other countries besides
ladak and its t '.visions.
203
those now described, but over which their influence is altogethel
nominal. These are Corea and Ladak. The former was pro¬
bably placed in the map from its proximity to the capital, and its
peninsular form naturally connecting it with the neighboring dis¬
tricts. But national vanity alone can be the motive for includ¬
ing the remote principality of Ladak within the imperial fron¬
tiers, for its ruler has almost no connexion at all with Peking,
and has never received troops into his borders. The utter inac¬
curacy of the map in this portion of it is another proof of
the ignorance of the draftsman, for Leh is placed in lat. 30°
on the map, instead of 34°, and the sources of the Indus run
south of it in three parallel streams due west, without any obstruc¬
tion. The rajah of Ladak, however, is not so independent as to
be able to contemn the advice of the Chinese officers stationed on
his eastern frontier at Rod ok, Teshigang, Gug6, and other places.
Ladak and Little Tibet or Beltistan, comprise the north-western
part of Tibet. The former may be said to consist of the upper¬
most valley of the Indus, here called Sinka-bab, and the latter
the same river near its confluence with the Shayuk.
Ladak, formerly called Mar-yul, is bounded north by the
Tsung ling, which divide it from Yarkand; east by Rodok and
Gardok, along the Sinka-bab, which separate it from Ari; south
and south-west by the Himalaya, separating it from Cashmere ; and
north-west by Beltistan. Its area is about 30,000 square miles,
and population between 150,000 and 200,000, who speak Tibe¬
tan, and are Mohammedans as well as Budhists. It is divided
into four districts, Leh, Nubra, Zanskar, and Pitti or Purak.
The country is an inhospitable, bleak region, consisting of a
succession of ridges, between which narrow valleys, presenting
small inducements to the farmer, offer the only arable ground.
The main river is the Indus, which receives several considerable
streams within the limits of Ladak, and some others beyond the
borders ; few of them are available for navigation or tillage.
The climate is clear and cold in winter, seldom above 15° F.
from December to February ; in summer the heat is 135° F.,
and even higher. There is little rain, but grain ripens rapidly
during the summer, being ready for the sickle in eight or nine
weeks after sowing. The frost and rain decompose the sides of
the hills, which form the only soil at their bottoms ; the inhabit¬
ants terrace the base, and raise large crops upon the ground thus
204
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
gained, leading the mountain streams from one level to llie
other.
The people have many resemblances to the Tibetans. They
are mild, industrious, and peaceful, and carry on a large manu¬
facture of shawls and other articles from the wool of the goat.
Leh, the capital of the country, is situated in lat. 44° 10' N. and
long. 77° 45/ E., about two miles from the Indus, in a well cul¬
tivated plain. The city is surrounded by a wall defended by
towers, and the houses, about seven hundred in all, are built of
stone or unburnt brick two and three stories high, in such a con¬
fused manner, and with such a want of arrangement in their
position, as to resemble a burrow more than a city. The roofs
and floors are composed of layers of earth upon willow or poplar
trunks, covered with thatch, and during the rains, the soil pours
down into the apartments ; the mud thus formed is carefully used
for manure. Little furniture is seen in these dwellings. The
most considerable building is the palace, which is two hundred
and fifty feet long, in front, and several stories high. The inha¬
bitants dress in woollens and skins, and are uncleanly in their
persons and houses. The productions consist of three kinds of
wheat, buckwheat, and two kinds of barley. Kitchen vegetables
are not much known, onions, carrots, turnips, and cabbages, com¬
prising the greatest part. Apples and apricots are the common
fruits, but melons, grapes, and other kinds are brought from
Cashmere. The cattle are the yak, the cow, and a hybrid be¬
tween them, horses, sheep, and goats. Wild animals and birds
of many sorts are numerous, and supply both peltry and food to
some extent.
The trade of Ladak is extensive, and a source of profit to the
people, for Leh is the great thoroughfare of the caravan trade
from Yarkand, H'lassa, and Russia, to Cashmere, Lahore, and
India. The principal article of trade, is goat's wool, supplied
partly from Rodok and Tibet, and sent to the amount of eight
hundred camel-loads annually. Much of the transportation
over the mountains of Little Tibet is done upon sheep, each
carrying twenty to twenty-five pounds weight. Tea, tincal,
silks, and Chinese manufactures come from Tibet, but the
largest trade is with Yarkand. The government of Ladak is in
the hands of a rajah, but most of the real power lies in the priest¬
hood, who monopolize the profits upon the trade. The peaceful
LEH, THE CAPITAL OF LADAK.
205
disposition of the Ladakese is in strong contrast to their tu:bulent
neighbors on the west and south, in Lahore, Cashmere, and
Badakshan ; and it is somewhat remarkable that amidst so many
unscrupulous rulers they have been permitted to remain so long
unmolested. Ranjit Singh partially extended his dominion over
them, but after his death, they regained their independence, but
have since been again reduced to vassalage. The rajah annually
sends presents to the rulers of Cashmere, Gartcpe, and H'lassa in
Tibet, as a kind of acknowledgment of the trade passing from
their possessions through his states. Polyandry exists in Ladak
as well as Tibet, but not to so great an extent, so far as has been
ascertained. The effects of this singular custom upon the pro¬
gress and happiness of society have never been examined by
observers who have had opportunity to reside in families so con¬
stituted, but so far as the reports of the inhabitants to travellers
can assist in forming an opinion, it does not appear to materially
interfere with the harmony of the household. The excess of
females is sold to the people living south in Lahore, Rajast'han,
and other states near the Indus. There is little wealth in the
country, but the great body of the people have a sufficiency of
food and clothing. They are addicted to drunkenness, and spend
much of their time in amuser.jents.*
* Moorcroft's Travels, Turners Embassy, Klaproth's Tibet, Chines#
Repository, Vols. I. and XIII.
206
the middle kingdom.
CHAPTER V.
Population and Statistics.
Much of the interest appertaining to the country and people here
treated of, in the minds of philanthropic and intelligent men, has
arisen from the impression they have received of its vast popula¬
tion. A country twice the size of the Chinese empire would
present few attractions to the Christian, the merchant, or the eth¬
nologist, if it was no better inhabited than Sahara, or Oregon:
a people might possess most admirable institutions, and a match¬
less form of government, but these excellences would lose their
interest, when we heard that it is the duchy of Modena, or on the
Angola coast, where they are found. The population of few
countries in the world has been accurately ascertained, and pro¬
bably that of China is less satisfactory than most European or
American states. It is far easier to take a census among a peo¬
ple who understand its object, and will honestly assist in its exe¬
cution, than in a despotic, half-civilized country, where the mass
of people are afraid of contact or intercourse with their rulers;
in most of such states, as Abyssinia, Turkey, Persia, &c., there
is either no census at all, or merely a general estimate, far dif¬
ferent from an intelligible enumeration of the people.
The subject of the population of China has engaged the atten-
tion of the monarchs of the present dynasty, and their censuses
have been the best sources of information in making up an opi¬
nion upon the matter, by those writers who have examined the
question. Whatever may be our views of the actual population
of China, it is plain that these censuses, with all their discrepan¬
cies and inaccuracies, are the sources of information upon which
the most dependance can be placed. The conflicting opinions
and conclusions of writers neither give any additional weight to
them, nor detract at all from their credibility. As the question
stands at present, they can be doubted, but cannot be denied; it
is impossible to prove them, while there are many grounds for
DIFFICULTIES OF THE SUBJECT.
207
believing them ; the enormous population which they exhibit can
be declared to be improbable, but not shown to be impossible.
No one who has been in China can hesitate to acknowledge,
that there are some strong grounds for giving credit to the cen¬
suses, but the total goes so far beyond his calculations, that he
defers his entire belief till some new data have been furnished.
There are, perhaps, more peculiar encouragements in China to
the increase of population than in any other country. Among
the most powerful are the desire for sons to continue the worship
in the ancestral hall, and to assist in maintaining the parents when
old. In Japan, India, and Persia, these causes have less influ¬
ence ; in Tibet, they are almost powerless ; in Siam and Burmah,
they are weak. Security of life and property, continuance o!
peace, and minuteness of tillage, have also aided to produce the
same result.
At this point every one must rest, as the result of an examina¬
tion into the population of the Chinese empire ; though, from the
survey of its principal divisions, made in the preceding chapters,
its capability of maintaining a dense population needs no addi¬
tional evidence. The mind, however, is bewildered in some
degree by the contemplation of millions upon millions of human
beings collected in this manner under one government; and it
almost wishes there might be grounds for disbelieving the enor¬
mous total, from the dreadful results that might follow the tyran¬
nical caprice or unrestrained fury of their rulers, or the still
more shocking scenes of rapine and famine, which a bad harvest
and insufficient food would necessarily cause.
Before entering upon the examination of this question, it will
be well to bring together in a tabular form the various estimates
taken of the population during the present dynasty. No entire
census of the empire has been published for thirty-five years,
and, therefore, only an approximation can be made of the present
amount; for, if the number given in 1812 be considered worthy
of credence, it is highly probable that there has been an increase
during the interval. In the city and vicinity of Canton and
Macao, it is certain the population has become more dense during
this period, to an extent quite evident to many foreigners who
have resided there. The details given in this table have been
taken from the best sources accessible to foreigners, and are as
good as the people at large themselves possess.
TABLE OF THE DIFFERENT CENSUSES OF THE EIGHTEEN PROVINCES.
PROVINCES.
Area in
English
square
miles.
Av. pop. to a sq.
m. according to
last census.
Census in
1710, or
before.
Census of
1711.
Census of
1753.
Last
census of
1812.
Estimate in
1792, given
Macartney.
Census in
1762 or 1765,
by Alier-
stein.
Census of
1743, from
DeGuignes.
Revenue in
taels of
$1,33 each.
Chilill,
58,949
475
3,260,075
3,274,870
9,374,217
27,990,871
38,000,000
15,222,940
16,702,765
3,942,000
Shantung,
65,] 04
444
2,278,595
12,769,872
28,958,764
24.000,0(H)
25,180,734
12,159,680
6,344,000
Shans«,
55,2(>8
252
1,792,329
1,727,144
5,162,351
14.004,210
27,000,000
9,768,189
8,969,475
6,313,000
Honan,
Kiangsu,
65,104
420
2,005,088
3,094,150
7,114,346
23,037,171
25,000,000
16,332,507
12,637,280
5,651,008
44,500
850
3,917,707
2,656,465
12,618,987
37,843,501
| 32,000,000
23,161,409
| 26,766,365
11,733,000
Nganhwui, .
48,461
705
1,350,131
1,357,829
12,435,361
34,168,059
22,761.030
Kiangsi,
72,176
320
5,528,499
2,172,587
5,055,251
23,046,999
19,000,000
11,006,640
6,681,350
3,744.000
Chehkiang, .
39,150
671
2,710,649
2,710,312
8,662,808
26,256,784
21,000,000
15,429,690
15,623,990
5,856,000
Fuhkien.
53,480
276
1,468,145
706,311
4,710.399
14,777,410
15,000,000
8,063,671
7,643,035
2,344,000
Hupeh,
70,450
389
469,927
433,943
4,568,860
27,370,098
14,000,000
8,080,603
| 4,264,850
2,091,000
Hunan, . .
74,320
251
375,782
335,034
4,336,332
18,652.507
13,000,000
8,829,320
1,905,000
Shensi,
67,400
153
240,809
2,150,696
3,851,043
10,207.256
18,000,000
7,287,443
| 14,804,035
3,042,000
Kansuh,
86,608
175
311,972
368,525
2,133,222
15,193,125
12,000,000
7,812,014
563,000
Sz'chuen,
166,800
128
144,154
3,802,689
1,368,496
21,435,678
27,000,000
2,782,976
15,181,710
968,000
Kwangtung, .
79,456
241
1,148,918
1,142,747
3,969,248
19,174,030
21,000,000
6,797,597
6,006,600
2,193,000
Kwangsi,
78,250
93
205,995
210,674
1,975,619
7,313,895
10,000,000
3,947.414
1,143,450
794,000
Kvveichau, .
64,554
82
51,089
37,731
1,718,848
5,288,219
9,000,000
3,402,722
255,445
185,000
Yunnan,
107,969
51
2,255,666
145,414
1,003,058
5,561,320
8,000,000
2,078,802
1,189,825
432,000
Shingking, .
4,194
221,742
2,167,286
668,852
235,620
1,207,999
268
27,241,129
28,605,716
103,050,060
362,447,183
333,000,000
198,214,553
150,265,475
58,097,000
i
TABLE OF VARIOUS CENSUSES.
209
Besides these detailed accounts, there have been several aggre.
gates of the whole country given by Chinese authors, and some
by foreigners, professedly drawn from original sources, but who
have not stated their authorities. The most trustworthy, together
with those given in the preceding table, are here placed in chro¬
nological order.
Reign of Monarch.
1. Ilungwu, 2Gth year,
2. Ilungchi, 4lh year,
3. Wanleih, Gth year,
4. Shunchi, 18th year,
5. Kanglii, 6th year,
6. " 49th year,
7.
a. d. Population.
1393
1492
]57'J
1662
1668
1710 ?
60,545,811
53,281,158
GO,092,856
21,068,000
25,386,209
23,312,200
49th year, 17101 27,241,129
50th year, 1711
9. Kienlung.
10.
11.
12.
13. "
14. "
15.
16. "
17.
18.
19.
1st year,
8th year,
8th year,
8th year,
18th year,
25th year,
25th year,
26th year,
27 th year,
55th year,
57th ye;ir,
1736
1743
1743
1743
1753
1760'?
17G0 1
1761
1762
1790
1792
28,605,716
125,046,245
157,343,975
149,332,730
150,205,475
103,050,060
143,125,225
203,916,477
205,293,053
198,214,553
155,249,897
307,467,200
20. " 57th year, 1792 333,000,000
21. Kiaking, 17th year, 1812 3G2,4G7,183
Authorities.
(Mirror of History ; Chinese Repo-
( sitory, Vol. X., page 156.
i General Statistics of the Empire;
r Medhurst's China, page 53.
i Yih Tung Chi, a Statistical work;
( Morrison's View of China,
j General Statistics ; Chinese Repo-
) sitory, Vol. I., page 359.
IMemoires sur les Cliinois, torn. VI.,
quoted by Grosier; and by De
Guignes, Voyages a Peking, torn.
III., page 72.
I "Les Mission aires," De Guignes,
( torn. III., page 67.
i General Statistics, Chinese Repo-
} sitory, Vol. I., p. 359.
i Yih Tung Chi, a Statistical work;
J Morrison's View of China,
j M6moires sur les Chinois, tom.VI.
( De Guignes, torn. III., page 72. j
) Aller.itain ; Grosier ; De Guignes,
( tome III., page 67.
j Z. of Berlin, in Chinese Reposi-
? tory, Vol. I., page 361.
j General Statistics ; Dr. Morrison,
( Anglo-Chinese Coll. report, 1829.
| Statement made to Lord Macart-
< ney.
J General Stitistics; Chinese Repo-
( sitory, Vol. I., page 359.
Seven of these censuses, viz. the 7th, 8th, 12th, 13th, 17th,
20th, and 21st, are given in detail in the preceding table. The
first three belong to the Ming dynasty, and are taken from the
Kang Ivien 1 Chi, or Mirror of History, where these amounts
are simply inserted, without giving any details of the population
of each province. The same work also contains one census taken
previous to these, about a. d. 1000, when the population is
set down at 9,955,729. During the Ming dynasty, a part of the
country now called the Eighteen Provinces, was not under the
control of Hungwu and his descendants. The mode of taking
° O
the census in those days is not stated very definitely, but if the
three are equally trustworthy, it is evident that there was no in¬
crease for more than 1 50 years. The wars with the Japanese,
and with tribes on the north and west, together with the civil
210
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
wars and struggles between the Chinese, and tb.e Kin in Manchu¬
ria, must have somewhat decreased the population.
The first census of 1662 (No. 4) is incidentally mentioned by
Kienlung in 1791, as having been taken at that time, from his
making some observations upon the increase of the population,
and comparing the early censuses with the one he had recently
ordered. This sum of 21,068,600, does not, however, include
all the inhabitants of China at that time ; tor the Manchus com¬
menced their sway in 1644, and did not exercise full authority
over all the provinces much before 1700; Canton was taken in
1650, Formosa in 1683.
The census of 1668 (No. 5) shows a little increase over that
of 1662, but is likewise confined to the conquered portions; and
in those provinces which had been subdued, there were extensive
tracts which had been almost depopulated at the conquest. Any
one who will read the recitals of Semedo, Martini, Trigault, and
others, concerning the massacres and destruction of life both by
the Manchus and by Chinese bandits, between 1630 and 1650,
will feel no loss in accounting for the diminution of numbers,
down to 1710. But the chief explanation of the decrease from
sixty to twenty-seven millions, is to be found in the object of
taking the census, viz. to levy a poll tax, and get at the number
of men fit for the army—two reasons for most men to avoid the
registration.
The census of 1711 (No. 8) is the first one on record which
bears the appearance of credibility, when its several parts are
compared with each other. The dates of the preceding (Nos.
6 and 7) are rather uncertain ; the last was extracted by Dr.
Morrison from a book published in 1790, and he thought it was
probably taken as early as 1650, though that is improbable. The
other is given by Dr. Medhurst without any explanation, and
their great disparity leads us to think both are dated wrongly.
The census of 1711 is much more consistent in itself, though there
are some reasons for supposing that neither did it include all the
population then in China. The census was still taken for
enrolment in the army, and to levy a capitation tax upon all
males between the ages of sixteen and sixty. But this tax and
registration were evaded and resisted by the indignant Chinese,
who had never been chronicled in this way by their own princes,
and the emperor Kanghl, therefore, abolished the capitation tax.
COMPARISON OF FIRST THREE CENSUSES. 211
It was not till abcut this time that the Manchus had subdued and
pacified the southern provinces, and it is not improbable that this
census, and the survey taken by the Jesuits, were among their
acts of sovereignty. Finding the people unwilling to be regis¬
tered, the poll tax was merged in the land tax, and no census
ordered during the reign of Yungching, till Kienlung revived it
in order to have some guide in apportioning relief during seasons
of distress and scarcity, establishing granaries, and aiding the
police in their duties. Many, therefore, who would do all in
their power to prevent their names being taken, when they were
liable to be taxed or called on to do military service, could have
no objection to come forward, when the design of the census was
to benefit themselves. It matters very little, however, for what
object the census was taken if there is reason to be/eve it to be
accurate. It might indeed act as a stimulus to multiply name?
and figures whom there were no people to represent, as the wa)
of paying the marshals a percentage on the numbers they
reported, did in some parts of New York in 1840.
The three next numbers (9, 10, and 11) are taken from De
Guignes, who quotes Amiot, but gives no Chinese authorities.
The last is given in full by De Guignes, and both this and that
of Allerstain, dated twenty years after, are introduced into the
table. There are some discrepancies between these two and the
census of 1753, taken from the General Statistics, which cannot
easily be reconciled. The internal evidence is in favor of the
latter, over the census of 1743; it is taken from a new edition
of the Ta Tsing Hund Tien, or General Statistics of the Empire,
and the increase during the forty-two years which had elapsed
since the last census is regular in all the provinces, with the
exception of Shantung and Kiangnan. The extraordinary fer¬
tility of these provinces would easily induce immigration, while
in the war of conquest, their populousness and wealth attracted
the armies of the Manchus, and the destruction of life was dis¬
proportion ably great. The smaller numbers given to the western
and southern provinces correspond moreover to the opposition
experienced in those regions, still partially subdued. On the
whole, the census taken in 1753 corresponds very well with that
of 1711, and both of them bear an aspect of verity, which does
not belong to the table quoted by De Guignes, dated in 1743.
From 1711 to 1753, the population doubled itself in about
212
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
twenty-two years, premising that the whole country was faith«
fully registered at the first census. For instance, the province
of Kweichau, in 1711, presents a mere fraction on the average,
of a little more than a single person to two square miles; while
in 1753 it had increased in the unexampled ratio of three to a
square mile, which is doubling its population every seven years;
Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and Kansuh (all of them containing to this
day, partially subdued tribes), had also multiplied their numbers
in nearly the same proportion, owing in great measure, proba¬
bly, to the more extended census than to the mere increase of
population.
The amounts for 1736, three of 1743, and those of 1760, 1761,
and 1762 (Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, and 17), are all extracted
from De Guignes, who took them from the Memoires sur les
Chinois. The last, that of 1762, is given in detail in the table.
The discrepancy of sixty millions between that given by Amiot
for 1760, and that by Dr. Morrison for the same year, is owing,
there can be little doubt, to foreigners, and not to an error of the
Chinese. The work from which Dr. Morrison extracted his
estimate for that year was published in 1790, but the census was
taken between 1760 and 1765. The same work contains the
census of 1711 (No. 8), quoted by him, and there is good reason
for believing that Amiot's or Grosier's estimate of 157,343,975
for 1743, is the very same census, he having multiplied the
number 28,605,716 by five, supposing them to have been
families and not individuals. The three ascribed to the year
1743, are probably all derived from the same native authorities
by different individuals.
The three dated in 1760, 1761, and 1762, are harmonious with
each other; but if they are taken, those of 1753 and 1760, extracted
from the Yih Tung Chi by Dr. Morrison, must be rejected, which are
far more reasonable, and correspond better with the preceding one
of 1711. It may be remarked, that by reckoning five persons to
a family in calculating the census of 1753, as Amiot does for 1743,
the population would be 189,223,820 instead of 103,050,060, as
given in the table. This explains the apparent decrease of fifty
millions. All the discrepancies between these various tables and
censuses must not be charged upon the Chinese, for where we
find that an author like Grosier has made the glaring mistake of
calling jin-ting families instead of persons, and then multiplying
COMPARISON OF LATER CENSUSES.
213
this amount by five to ascertain the real population, it throws a
shade of doubt over other estimates. The Chinese take their
census by families, and it has been usual to allow five persons to
a family, which may or may not be too much.
The amount for 1736 corresponds sufficiently well with that
for 1743 ; and reckoning the same number of persons in a fa¬
mily in 1753, that tallies well enough with those for 1760, 1761,
and 1762, the whole showing a gradual increase for twenty-five
years. But we think all of them, except that of 1753, are rated
too high. That for 1762 (No. 17), given by Allerstain and othp^s,
has been considered usually as one of the most authentic state¬
ments on this subject.
The amount given by Z. of Berlin (No. 18), of 155J millions
for 1790, is quoted in the Chinese Repository, but the writer
states no authorities, was probably never in China, and as it ap¬
pears at present, is undeserving the least notice. That given by
Dr. Morrison for 1792 (No. 19), as having been taken the year
before Lord Macartney's embassy, is extracted from Chinese
works, but lie did not publish it in detail. It is probably much
nearer the truth than the amount of 333 millions, given by the
commissioner Chau to the English ambassador. This estimate
has had much more respect paid to it as an authentic document
than it deserved. The Chinese commissioner would naturally
wish to exalt his country in the eyes of its far-travelled visitors,
and not having the official returns to refer to, would not be likely
to state them less than they were. He gave the population of
the provinces in round numbers, and perhaps altogether from
memory, with the impression upon his mind that his hearers
would never be able to refer to the original details. It can only
be taken as the off-hand remembrance of an intelligent native,
but by no means worthy of the same credence as an extract from
a statistical work.
The last one quoted (No. 21) is the most definite and satisfac¬
tory of all the censuses in Chinese works, and was considered by
both the Morrisons and by Dr. Bridgman, in the Chinese Repo¬
sitory, as " the most accurate that has yet been given of the
population."
In questions of this nature, one well authenticated table is
worth a hundred of doubtful origin ; and it has been shown how
apocryphal are many of the statements given in books, but less
214
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
so with the census of 1812, the last one published by the Chi.
nese government ; and the source of error which is chiefly to be
guarded against in that, is the average given to a family. This is
done by the Chinese themselves on no uniform plan, and it may
be the case that the estimate of individuals from the number of
families is done in separate towns, from an intimate acquaint¬
ance with the particular district, which would be less liable to
error than a general average. The number of families given in
the census of 1753, is 37,785,552, which is more than one-third
of the population. The number of persons in a household in
England at the census of 1840 was, on an average, 4| individuals.
The four censuses which deserve the most credit, so far as the
sources are considered, are those of 1711, 1753, 1792, and 1812
(i. e. Nos. 8, 13, 19, and 21); these, when compared, show the
following rate of increase :
From 1711 to 1753, the population increased 74,222,602,
which was an annual advance of 1,764,824 inhabitants, or a little
more than six per cent, per annum for forty-two years. This
high rate, it must be remembered, does not take into account
the more thorough subjugation of the south and west at the later
date, when the Manchus could safely enrol large districts, where
in 1711 they would not have been permitted to enter for such a
purpose.
From 1753 to 1792 the increase was 104,636,882, or an an¬
nual advance of 2,682,997 inhabitants, or about 2| per cent,
per annum for thirty-nine years. During this period, the coun¬
try enjoyed almost uninterrupted peace under the vigorous sway
of Kienlung, and the unsettled regions of the south and west
rapidly filled up.
From 1792 to 1812, the increase was 54,126,679, or an annual
advance of 2,706,333—not quite one per cent, per annum—for
twenty years. At the same rate, the present population is over
four hundred and fifty millions; but no one supposes there has
been that increase, nor are there any data from which to make
even the least guess of the present population of the whole em¬
pire. The Chinese have overflowed the bounds of their posses,
sions on all sides under the patronizing policy of their monarchs,
especially in Manchuria, Mongolia, 111, and towa?ds Tibet, while
the emigration towards the Indian Archipelago is also large.
COMPARATIVE RATE OF INCREASE.
215
It is very easy for foreigners to say they do not believe ihese
censuses, and that the population does not at all equal their im¬
mense numbers. " Cool and impartial men rate the population
of China, properly so called, at one hundred and fifty millions,"
says Malte-Brun in 1800; but what advance does he make in
statistical knowledge by thus contemptuously rejecting, in his
study in France, the researches and investigations of the Chi¬
nese ? So with the compilers of the Encyclopaedia Americana,
who say " that China Proper has only 146,280,000" (only four¬
teen more on a square mile than Massachusetts), " but the tri¬
butary states and those under its protection swell the total to
two hundred and forty millions but who give no authorities for
their assertions. It is far better to say that the whole subject
rests on no credible data, and that we know nothing about the
matter, than perpetuate such erroneous ideas and statements. Jf
the Chinese censuses are worth but little, compared with those
taken in European states, they are better than the guesses of
foreigners who have never been in the country, or who have tra¬
velled only partially in it.
The Chinese people are doubtl-oso one of the most conceited
nations on the earth, but with all their vanity, they have never
bethought themselves of rating their population twenty-five or
thirty per cent, higher than they suppose it to be, for the purpose
of exalting themselves in the eyes of foreigners or in their own.
Except in the case of the commissioner who informed Lord Ma¬
cartney, none of the estimates were made for, or intended to be
known by foreigners. The distances in miles between places
given in Chinese itineraries correspond very well with the real
distances ; the number of districts, towns, and villages in the de¬
partments and provinces, as stated in their local and general
topographical works, agree with the actual examination, so far as
it can be made : why should their censuses be charged with false¬
hood and gross error, when, however much we may doubt them,
we cannot disprove them, and the weight of evidence derived
from actual observation rather confirms them than otherwise ;
and while their account, of towns, villages, distances, &c., are
unhesitatingly adopted until better can be obtained ? Some of
the glaring discrepancies in the various tables are ascribable to
foreigners, and some of the Chinese censuses are incomplete, of
216
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
the year cannot be precisely fixed, both of which vitiate the
deductions made from them as to the rate of increase.
Some reasons for believing that the highest population ascribed
to the Chinese empire is not greater than the country can sup-
port, will first be stated ; and the objections against receiving
their censuses then considered. This interesting subject can
then only be left with the reader to form his own opinion.
The area of the eighteen provinces is 1,348,870 sq. m., and the
average population, therefore, for the whole in 1812, was 268
persons on every square mile ; that of the nine eastern provinces
in and near the Great Plain, comprising 502,192 sq. m., or two-
fifths of the whole, is 458 persons, and the nine southern and
western provinces, constituting the other three-fifths, is 154 to a
square mile. The surface and fertility of the country in these
two portions differ so greatly, as to lead one to look for results
like these. Taking McCulloch for a guide, it appears that the
whole area of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
is 119,926 sq. miles, and the total population in 1831, was
24,410,429, or 212 on a square mile over the whole; the ave¬
rage in England and Wales is 241, in Scotland 78, and in
Ireland 249 persons on each square mile. The areas of these
three divisions of the United Kingdom given in the Penny Cyclo¬
paedia are 115,227 sq. m., but the former is near enough for
comparison. The areas of some other European states an<3 their
population, are added to assist in this comparison.
States.
Area.
Population.
Average Popula¬
tion to a sq. m.
France . .
203,736 sq. m.
45,400,487 in 184(3
223
Prussia . .
107,937 "
14,157,573 in 1S37
132
Sp-ain . .
182,7-58 "
12,163,774 in 1837
67
Holland . .
13,598 "
2,915,398 in 1838
214
Lombnrdy .
18,003 "
4,707,630 in 1S39
260
Belgium . .
13,214 "
4,242,600 in 1836
321
Lucca . .
420 "
168,198 in 1839
400
All these are regarded as well settled countries, with the
exception of Spain, but the two last in the list are the only ones
which exceed that of China taken as a whole, while none of
them comes up to the average of the eastern provinces. All of
them, China included, fall far short, however, of the average
COMPARISON WITH OTHER COUNTRIES.
217
population on a square mile of the kingdoms of Judah and Israel
in the reignrs of Ahijah and Jeroboam, if the 1,200,000 men
brought into the field by them can be taken as a ratio of the
whole number of inhabitants. In estimating the capabilities of
these European countries to support a dense population, great
allowances must be made for roads and pasture-lands for horses,
and the parks or grounds of noblemen, which afford very little or
no food.
In England and Wales, there are nearly twenty-nine millions
of acres under cultivation, seventeen millions of which are
pasture-lands, and only ten millions devoted to grain and vege¬
tables ; the other two millions consist of fallow-ground, hop-beds,
&.c. There are, then, on the average about two acres of land
for the support of each individual, or rather less than this, if the
land required for the food of horses be subtracted. It has been
calculated that eight men can be fed on the same amount of land
one horse requires; and that four acres of pasture-land will
furnish no more food for man than one of ploughed land. The
introduction of railroads has superseded the use of horses for
transportation to such an extent that it is estimated there are
only 200,000 horses now in England, instead of a million in
1830. If, therefore, one half the land appropriated to pasture
should be devoted to grain, and no more horses and dogs raised
than a million of acres could support, England and Wales could
easily maintain a population of more than four hundred to a
square mile, supposing them to be willing to live on what the
land can furnish.
The Irish consume a far greater proportion of vegetables than
the English, and it is estimated that of their eight millions of
people, five principally depend upon the potatoe, and two and a
half on oats, leaving only half a million who regularly use meat.
Many of these live a beggarly life upon half an acre, and even
less, and seldom taste meat or animal food ; but the average of
the whole country, including tillage only, is a little over two
persons to an acre. The quantity of land under cultivation in
Belgium is about fifteen-seventeenths of the whole, which gives
an average of about two acres to each person, or the same as in
England. In these two countries, the people consume far more
meat than in Ireland, and the amount of land occupied for
oasturage is in nearly equal proportions in Belgium and Eng-
213
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
land. In France, the average of cultivated land is acres*,
in Holland, 1| acres to each person.
If the same proportion between the arable and uncultivated
land exists in China as in England, namely one fourth, there are
about 650 millions of acres under cultivation in China ; and we
are not left to conjecture in this case, for by a report made to
Kienlung in 1745, it appears that the area of the land under
cultivation was 595,598,221 acres; a subsequent calculation
places it at 640,579,381 acres, which is almost the same propor¬
tion as in England.
Estimating it at six hundred and fifty millions, for it has since
increased rather than diminished, it gives one acre and four-fifths
to every person, which is by no means a small supply for the
Chinese, considering that there are no pastures or meadows for
horses, sheep, or oxen in the country.
In comparing the population of different countries, the manner
of living and the articles of food in use among their inhabitants,
form such important elements of the calculation, in ascertaining
whether the country be overstocked or not, that a mere tabular
view of the number of persons on a square mile is no criterion
of the amount of inhabitants the land would maintain if they
consumed the same food, and lived in the same manner in all of
them. Living as the Chinese, Hindus, Javanese, and other
Asiatics do, chiefly upon vegetables, the country can hardly be
said to maintain more than one half or one third, or even one
fourth as many people on a square mile as it might do, if
their energies were developed as those of the English and Bel¬
gians are, and their food remain the same. The population of
these eastern regions lias been repressed by the combined
influences of ignorance, insecurity of life and property, religious
prejudices, vice, and wars, so that the land has never maintained
nearly as many inhabitants as it might have done.
The greatest part of the cultivated soil in China is employed
in raising food for man. Woollen garments and leather are little
used, and cotton and mulberry occupy but a small proportion of
the soil. There is not, so far as is known, a single acre of land
in the empire sown with grass-seed, though the sedge in the
marshes and grass on the hills are collected for fodder or fuel,
and therefore almost no human labor is employed in raising food
for animals, which will not also serve to sustain man. Horses
SOURCES OF FOOD IN CHINA.
219
arc seldom used for pomp or war, for travelling or carrying bur
dens, but mules, asses, and goats are employed for t ransporta.
tion and other purposes in the north-west. Horses are fed on
cooked rice, or chopped straw and beans, and in Kirin on oats.
In the southern and caster 1 provinces, all these animals are rare,
the transport of goods and passengers being done by boats or by
men. The natives make almost no use of butter, cheese, or
milk, and the few cattle they employ in agriculture easily find
their living on the waste ground around the fields and villages.
In the south, the buffalo is used more than the ox for ploughing
the rice fields, and the habits of this animal make it cheaper to
keep him in good liking, while he can also do more work. The
winter stock is grass cut upon the hills, straw, bean stalks, and
vegetables. No wool being wanted for making cloth, flocks of
sheep and goats are seldom seen—it may almost be said are
unknown in the east and south.
The common viands are pork, ducks, geese, poultry, and fish,
all of which are raised cheaply. In the houses and boats of the
poor, it is not uncommon to see a pig, or two or three ducks, kept
in a pen or cage, and living upon the refuse of the family. No
animal is reared cheaper than the Chinese hog, and the hatching
and raising of ducks affords employment to thousands of people,
each of whom can easily attend to hundreds. Geese and poul¬
try are abundant, but fish forms a far larger part of the common
food of all classes than birds, being not only caught in seas,
lakes, and running waters, but reai'ed in pools and tanks, to an
extent hardly conceivable by those who have not seen it. All
these sources require but little more than the mere labor and
implements for catching and keeping, to have their full benefit;
in fishing, no pasture-grounds, no manuring, no barns, are needed,
ncr taxes paid by the cultivator and consumer.
While animal food is thus provided for the people, its prepara¬
tion takes away the least possible amount of cultivated soil. The
space occupied for roads and pleasure-grounds is insignificant,
but there is perhaps* an amount appropriated for burial-places
quite equal to the area used for those purposes in European coun¬
tries ; it is, however, less valuabl| land, and much of it would
be useless for culture, even if thus unoccupied. Graves are
usually dug on the sides and tops of hills, in ravines and copses
and wherever thev will be retired and dry. Moreover, it is very
220
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
common to preserve the coffin in tempfes and cemeteries until it
is decayed, partly in order to save the expense of a grave, and
partly to worship the remains, or preserve them until they car
be gathered to their fathers, in their distant native places. On
the north of Canton are scores of buildings filled with coffins,
before which incense is daily burned, and similar depositories are
found near all cities.
Near Shanghai, Hangchau fu, Ningpo, and in Chusan, coffins
are seen piled in the corners of the fields, or under precipices
where they remain till dust returns to dust, and the bones are
thrown into common receptacles. When the family burying,
ground is full, it is a common custom for the owners to take up
the ashes, and deposit them in urns, all in one pit, and occupy
the vacant graves with other tenants. These customs limit the
consumption of land for graves much more than one would sup¬
pose when he sees, as at Macao, almost as much space occupied
by the dead for a grave as by the living for a hut. The necro¬
polis of Canton occupies the hills north of the city, of which not
one fiftieth part could ever have been used for agriculture, but
where cattle are allowed to graze, as much as if there were no
tombs.
The honor put upon agricultural pursuits has its effect in in¬
creasing the cultivation of the land, while the principle on which
land is rented and taxed, viz. that of paying a proportion of the
crop, always remunerates the culiivator according to his indus¬
try. Much of the land in the south and east of China Proper
produces two crops annually. In Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and
Fuhkien, two crops of rice are taken year after year from the
low lands; and in the winter season, in the neighborhood of
towns, a crop of sweet potatoes, cabbages, turnips, or some other
vegetable is grown, making a third crop. De Guignes estimates
the returns of a rice crop at ten for one, which, with the vegeta¬
bles, will give full 25 fold from an acre in a year; few parts,
however, give this increase. Little or no land lies fallow, for
constant manuring and minute subdivision'of the soil prevents
the necessity of repose. The diligence of the Chinese husband¬
men in collecting and applying manure is well known, nor is
their industry less in turning up the soil ; which, if it result in
the production of two crops instead of one, really doubles the
area of land under cultivation, when its superficies are com
ENCOURAGEMENTS TO POPULATION.
221
pared with those of other countries. If the amount of land which
produce® two crops be estimated at one fourth of the whole (and
it is perhaps as near one third), it makes the area of arable land
in the provinces upwards of 612 millions of acres, or 2§ acres to
an individual. The land is not, however, cut up into such small
farms as to prevent its being managed as well as the people know
how to stock and cultivate it; for manual labor is the chief de¬
pendence of the landlord or farmer, and fewer cattle, carts,
ploughs, and other instruments are used than in any other
country. In the cultivation of rice, there is no need of animals
after the wet land has been ploughed and harrowed, the labor of
transplanting, weeding, and reaping being done by men.
In no other country is so much food derived from the water.
Not only are the coasts, estuaries, rivers, and lakes, covered with
fishing-boats of various sizes, which are provided with nets,
dredges, and tackle of different forms and uses, for the capture
of whatever lives in the waters, but the spawn of fish is collected
from the shallow waters of the rivers and carried wherever it
can be reared. Rice fields are often converted into pools in the
winter season, and stocked with carp, mullet, and other fish ; and
the tanks dug in the fields for retaining the rain needed in irri¬
gation usually contain fish. By all these means, an immense
supply of food is obtained at a cheap rate, which is eaten fresh
or preserved with or without salt, and sent over the whole em¬
pire, at a rate which places it within the reach of all above beg¬
gary. Other articles of food, besides those here mentioned, both
animal and vegetable, such as dogs, cats, game, worms, birds-
nests, tripang, leaves, &c., do indeed compose part of the meals
among the Chinese, but it is comparatively an inconsiderable
part, and need not enter into the calculation. Enough has been
stated to show that the land is abundantly able to support the
population ascribed to it, even with all the drawbacks known to
exist ; and that, taking the highest estimate to be true, and con¬
sidering the mode of living, the average population on a square
mile or a square acre in China is less than in most European
countries.
The political and social causes which tend to multiply the in
habitants of China are more numerous and powerful than in most
countries. The failure of male posterity to continue the succes¬
sion of the family, and worship at the tombs of the deceased pa-
222
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
rents, is considered by all classes of people as one of the most
afflictive misfortunes of life ; and the laws allow unlimited faci¬
lities of adoption, and secure the rights of such as are taken
into the family in this way. The custom of betrothing children
when young, and the obligation society imposes upon the youth
when arrived at maturity, to fulfil the contracts entered into by
their parents, acts favorably to the establishment of families and
the nurture of children, and prevents polygamy. Parents desire
children also for a support in their old age, as there is no legal
provision for aged povei'ty, and public opinion brands with infa¬
my the man who allows his aged or infirm parents to suffer when
he can help them. The law requires the owners of domestic
slaves to provide husbands for their females, and prohibits that
execrable feature of American slavery, the involuntary or forci¬
ble separation of husband and wife, or parents and children,
when the latter are of tender age. All these causes and influ¬
ences tend to increase population, and equalize the consumption
and use of property more, perhaps, than in any other country.
The custom of families remaining on the patrimonial estates,
tends to the same result. The local importance of a large family
in the country is weakened by its male members removing to
town, or emigrating ; consequently, the patriarch of three or four
generations endeavors to collect his sons and grandsons around
him on his estate, their houses joining his, and they and their
families all eating at a common table, or from a common stock.
Such cases as those mentioned in the Sacred Commands are oi
course rare, where nine generations of the family of Chang Kung-i
inhabited one house, or of Chin, at whose table seven hundred
mouths were daily fed,* but it is the tendency of society. Fami¬
lies are supported on a more economical plan, the claims of kin¬
dred are better enforced, the land is cultivated with more care,
and the local importance of the family perpetuated. This is,
however, a very different system from that advocated by Fourier
in France, or Greeley in America, for these little communities
are placed under one natural head, whose authority is acknow¬
ledged and upheld, and his punishments feared. Still, it has the
result of supporting a large number of persons in comfort and
respectability, at a small exDense, so that no prudential scruples
* Sacred Edict, pages 51, GO
OBSTACLFS TO EMIGRATION.
need deter any member of the household from marrying. Work¬
men of the same profession form themselves into associations for
mutual assistance in case of sickness, each person contributing a
certain sum monthly, on the promise of assistance when sick or
disabled ; and this laudable custom prevents and alleviates avast
amount of poverty.
The obstacles put in the way of emigrating beyond sea, both
in law and prejudice, operate to deter respectable persons from
leaving their native land. Necessity, indeed, makes the law a
dead letter, and compels thousands annually to leave their homes
to avoid starvation ; and no bettev evidence of the dense popu¬
lation can be offered to those well acquainted with Chinese
feelings and character, than the extent of emigration. " What
stronger proof," observes Medhurst, " of the dense population of
China could be afforded than the fact, that emigration is going on
in spite of restrictions and disabilities, from a country where
learning and civilization reign, and where all the dearest interests
and prejudices of the emigrants are found, to lands like Burmah,
Siam, Cambodia, Tibet, Manchuria, and the Indian Archipelago,
where comparative ignorance and barbarity prevail, and where
lhe extremes of a tropical or frozen region are to be exchanged
for a mild and salubrious climate ? Add to these discommodities,
he fact, that not a single female is permitted or ventures to leave
/he country, and consequently, all the tender attachments that
bind heart to heart must be burst asunder, and, in most cases, for
ever." None but the most indigent or desperate, therefore,
leave the country to seek their livelihood in less populous regions,
and with such restrictions, few besides these would be inclined
to do so.
Moreover, if they return with wealth enough to live upon,
which all of them wish to do, they are liable to the vexatious
extortions of needy relatives, sharpers, and police, who have a
handle for their fleecing whip in the well-known law (Code, sec.
225) against leaving the country. A case occurred in 1832, at
Canton, where the son of a Chinese living in Calcutta, who had
been sent home by his parent with his mother, to perform the
usual ceremonies to his deceased grandparents, was seized by his
uncle as he was about to be married, on the pretext that his
father had unequally divided the paternal inheritance; he was
obliged to pay a thousand dollars to free himself. Soon after his
224
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
marriage, a few sharpers seized him and carried him o(F m a
sedan, as he was walking near his house, but his cries attracted
the police, who carried them all to the magistrates, where he was
liberated ; he was, however, obliged to fee his deliverers.* An¬
other case occurred in Macao, in 1838, which resulted in the
death of the man. He had been living several years in Singa¬
pore as a merchant, and still kept up an interest in the trade
with that place when he settled in Macao. Accounts of his great
wealth became generally rumored abroad, and he was very seri¬
ously annoyed by his relatives. One night, a number of thieves,
dressed like police-runners, came to his house to search for opium,
and the boisterous manner of their entrance terrified him to such
a degree, that he jumped from the terrace upon the hard gravelled
court-yard to escape, and broke his leg, of which he shortly after
died. A third case is mentioned, where the returned emigrants,
consisting of a man and his wife, who was a Malay, and two
children, were rescued from extortion, when before the magis¬
trate, by the kindness of his wife and mother, who wished to see
the foreign woman.j- These cases are constantly occurring, and
tend very materially to restrain emigration in those who can stay
at home, and to prevent the emigrants from returning when they
have gone.
The anxiety of the government to provide stores of food for the
necessities of the people in times of scarcity, shows rather the
fear of the disastrous results usually following a short crop, such
as the gathering of clamorous crowds of starving poor, and the
consequent increase of bandits and disorganization of society,
than any peculiar care of the rulers for their subjects, or that
these storehouses really supply deficiencies. The evil conse¬
quences resulting from an overgrown population are experienced
in one or another part of the provinces almost every year; and
drought, inundations, locusts, mildew, or other natural causes,
give rise to nearly all the insurrections and disturbances which
occur. The inference from such events, as well as from the
prevalence of infanticide, the custom of selling the poor into
domestic slavery, the existence of swarms of beggars among
a generally industrious community, and the bounty paid on tha
importation of rice, is confirmatory pf a superabundant popula-
* Chinese Repository, Vol. I., page 332.
} Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., page 503; Vol. II., page K'.
THE CENSUSES CANNOT BE VERIFIED.
225
tion. There can be no doubt, however, that, without, adding a
single acre to the area of arable land, these evils would be mate¬
rially alleviated, if the intercommunication of traders and their
goods, between distant par's of the country, were more frequent
and safe ; but this is not likely to be the case until both rulers
and ruled make greater advances in just government, obedience,
and regard for each other's welfare.
It would be a satisfaction in regard to this subject, if foreign¬
ers could verify any part of the census. But this is, at present,
impossible. They cannot examine the original records in the
office of the Board of Revenue, nor can they ascertain the
amount of population in a given district from the archives in the
hands of the local authorities. Neither can they become ac-
quainted with the actual mode of enumeration so as to ascertain
the degree of credibility to be attached to it, or the character of
those who take it. Still less can they go through a village or
town, and count the number of houses and their inhabitants, and
calculate from actual examinations of a few parts what the whole
would be. Wherever foreigners have gone, there has appeared
much the same succession of waste land, hilly regions, cultivated
plains, and wooded heights, as in other countries, with an abun¬
dance of people, but not more than the land could support, if
properly tilled. Most of their travels, however, have been along
the great water-courses and thoroughfares, and not so much
through the secluded agricultural districts, though perhaps this
would not make much difference in the general impression of the
amount of population.
It is perhaps as easy to take a census in China as in most
European countries, from the manner in which the people are
grouped into hamlets and villages, called hiang, each of which
is under the control of village elders and officers. In the dis¬
trict of Nanhai, which forms the western part of the city of Can¬
ton, and the surrounding country for more than a hundred square
miles, there are one hundred and eighty hiang ; the population
of each hiang varies from two hundred to one hundred thousand,
but ordinarily ranges between three hundred and thirty-five bun-
dred. If each of the eighty-eight districts in the province of
Kwangtung contain the same number of hiang, there will be,
including the district towns, 15,928 villages, towns, and cities in
all, with an average population of twelve hundred inhabitants to
11*
226
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
each. From the top of the hills on Dane's island at Whampoa,
thirty-six towns and villages can be counted, of which Canton is
one ; and four of these contain from twelve to fifteen hundred
houses. The vicinity of Macao, and the whole district of Hiang.
shan in which that settlement lies, is also well covered with vil¬
lages, though their exact number is not known. The island of
Amoy contains more than fourscore villages and towns, and this
island forms only a part of the district of Tung-ngan. The banks
of the river leading from Amoy up to Cbangchau fu, are likewise
well peopled. The environs of Ningpo and Shanghai are well
settled, though that is no more than one always expects of the
country around large cities, where the demand for food in the
city itself causes the vicinity to be well peopled and well tilled.
In a notice of an irruption of the sea in 1819, along the coast of
Shantung, it was reported that a hundred and forty villages were
laid under water, which irdicates a well peopled country.
The law respecting the enrolment of the people is contained
in Sees. lxxv. and lxxvi. of the statutes.* It enacts various pe¬
nalties for not registering the members of a family, and its pro¬
visions all go to show that the people are desirous rather of evad¬
ing the census than of exaggerating it. When a family has
omitted to make any entry, the head of it is liable to be pu¬
nished with one hundred blows if he is a freeholder, and with
eighty if he is not. If the master of a family has among his
household another distinct family whom he omits to register, the
punishment is the same as in the last clause, with a modification,
according as the unregistered persons and family are relatives
or strangers. Persons in the employ of government omitting to
register their families, are less severely punished. A master of
family failing to register all the males in his household who are
liable to public service, shall be punished from sixty to one hun¬
dred blows, according to the demerits of the offence ; this clause
was in effect repealed, when the land tax was substituted for the
capitation tax. Omissions, from neglect or inadvertency, to
register all the individuals and families in a village or town, on
the part of the headmen or government clerks, are punishable
with different degrees of severity. All persons whatsoever are
to be registered according to their accustomed occupations ol
* fena! Code, page 79.
MODE OF TAKING THE CENSUS.
221
professions, whether civil or military, whether couriers artisans,
physicians, astrologers, laborers, musicians, or of any .ther de¬
nomination whatever ; and subterfuges in representing oneself
as belonging to a profession not liable to public service, are
visited as usual with the bamboo; and persons falsely describing
themselves as belonging to the army in order to evade public
service are banished as well as beaten.
" In the Chinese government," observes Dr. Morrison, "there
appears great regularity and system. Every district has its ap¬
propriate officers, every street its constable, and every ten houses
their tything-man. Thus they have all the requisite means of
ascertaining the population with considerable accuracy. Every
family is required to have a board always hanging up in the
house, and ready for the inspection of authorized officers, on
which the names of all persons, men, women, and children, in the
house are inscribed. This board is called mun-pai or door-tablet,
because when there are women and children within, the officers
are expected to take the account from the board at the door.
Were all the inmates of a family faithfully inserted, the amount
of the population would, of course, be ascertained with great
accuracy. But it is said that names are sometimes omitted
through neglect or design ; others think that the account of per¬
sons given in is generally correct." Both Dr. Morrison and his
son, than whom no one has had better opportunities to know the
true state of the case, or been more desirous of dealing fairly
with the Chinese, regarded the censuses given in the General
Statistics as more trustworthy than any other documents availa¬
ble. A writer in the Repository says (Vol. I., p. 383), that
a native tells him that the local officers are in the habit of making
a lumping addition to the last census, and sending that in as the
actual amount of population, without troubling themselves whe¬
ther it be true or not. He says also that Chinese books, and
above all Chinese state documents, are little to be trusted. This
is indeed true, when compared with similar documents in Euro¬
pean countries, but this person at the same time considers the
native with whom he conversed, who had probably never exa¬
mined the records of his own government for himself, as better
authority than the state documents prepared by the most intelli¬
gent men in the service of the government.
The internal evidences of the .ruth of these estimates of tho
228
THE M/DDLE KINGD ,M.
population of the Chinese empire are partly circumstantial and
partly inferential. The purpose of taking the census is to ap¬
portion the due amount of government officers and police to each
district, and make suitable provision for the necessities of the
people in case of famine. The equal levying of land taxes and
collection of other revenues, also forms part of the design in
ascertaining the population ; which is done, in short, for much
the same purposes as it is in all countries.
In conclusion, it may be asked, are the results of the enume¬
ration of the people as contained in the statistical works published
by the government, to be rejected or doubted, therefore, because
the Chinese officers do not wish to ascertain the exact population ;
or because they are not capable of doing it; or, lastly, because
they wish to impose upon and terrify foreign powers by an arith¬
metical array of millions they do not possess ? The question
seems to hang upon this trilemma. It is acknowledged that thoy
falsify and garble statements in a manner calculated to throw
doubt upon everything they write, as in the reports of victories
and battles sent to the emperor during the last war, in the memo
rials upon the opium trade, in their descriptions of natural ob¬
jects in books of medicine, and in many other things. But the
question is as applicable to China as to France: is the estimated
population of France in 1801 to be called in question, because
the Moniteur gave false accounts of Napoleon's battles in 1813?
It would be a strange instance of national conceit and folly, for
a ministry composed of men fully able to carry on all the details
of a complicated government like that of China, to systematically
exaggerate the population, and then proceed, for more than a
century, with taxation, disbursements, and official appointments,
founded upon these censuses. Somebody at least must know
them to be utterly worthless, and the proof that they were so,
must, one would think, ere long be apparent. The provinces and
departments have been divided and subdivided since the Jesuits
made their survey, because they were becoming too densely set¬
tled for the same officers to rule over them.
Still less will any one assert that the Chinese are not capable
of taking as accurate a census, as they are of measuring dis¬
tances, or laying out districts and townships Errors may be
found in the former as well as in the latter, and doubtless are so;
for il is not contended that the four censuses of 1711, 1753, 1792,
PROBABILITIES OF ERROR IN CENSUS.
229
and 1812 arc as accurate as those taken in England, France, or
the United States, but that they are the best data that we have,
and that if they are rejected we leave tolerable evidence and
take up with doubtful and suppositive ;—with what cool and im
partial men, like Malte-Brun and the editor of the Encyclopaedia
Americana, give instead. Nor does it seem likely that, con¬
sidering the objects for which the census is now taken, that it has
been exaggerated to impose upon themselves or upon foreigners.
There is no sufficient motive for doing so ; and Mr. Morrison
says, " We know from several authorities that the people are in
the habit of diminishing rather than increasing their numbers in
their reports to government." One reason, among others, for
doing so is that the local officers may pocket the difference in the
taxes assessed for collection from their districts.
It is not improbable there may be an error of fifteen or twenty
millions, or four or five per cent, in excess in the last census,
but we have no means of proving it. On the other hand, it may
be stated that in the last census, the entire population of Man
churia, Koko-nor, l\i, and Mongolia, is estimated at only 2,167,286
persons, and nearly all the inhabitants of those vast regions are
subject to the emperor. The entire population of Tibet has
never been included in any census, and it is very doubtful if an
accurate enumeration of any part of the extra-provincial terri¬
tory has ever been taken ; but the Chinese cannot be charged
with exaggeration, when good judges, as Klaproth and others,
reckon the whole at between six and seven millions. Khoten
alone, one writer states at three and a half millions. No writer
of importance estimates the inhabitants of these vast regions as
high as thirty millions, as Mont. Martin docs, which would be
more than ten to a square mile, excluding Gobi; while Siberia,
though not so well peopled, has only 3,611,300 persons on an
area of 2,649,600 sq. m., or l£ to each square mile.
The reasons given on a preceding page, why the Chinese
desire posterity, and do all they can to build up their families,
are not all those which have favored the increase of the nation.
The long peace which the country at large has enjoyed since
1700 has operated to develope its resources. Every encourage,
ment has been given to all classes to multiply and fill the land.
Polygamy, slavery, and prostitution, three social evils which
check the increc se of the species, have been circumscribed in
230
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
their effects. Early betrothment and poverty do much to pre¬
vent the first; female slaves can be and are usually married ;
and public prostitution is reduced by a separation of the sexes,
and early marriages. No fears of overpassing the supply of
food restrain the people from rearing families, but the emperor
Kienlung issued a proclamation in 1793, calling upon all ranka
of his subjects to economize the gifts of heaven, lest, ere long,
the people exceed the means of subsistence.
McCulloch doubts the accuracy of the Chinese censuses, and
the increase of population they exhibit, because China had been
long settled and civilized, her public works had been undertaken
and completed at a remote period, the arts have been stationary
for ages among her people, and because the Manchus imparted
nothing that was new, and could give them no instruction in sci¬
ence or arts : for these reasons, the official accounts have been
grossly exaggerated, and he submits, " that the rate of increase
is such as could have been realized only in an unoccupied and
very fertile country, colonized by a people far advanced in the
arts, and that it is all but absurd to suppose that it should be
realized in an old settled country, with stationary arts like
China." Now Ireland has lived next door to England since the
days of the conquest by Henry II. in 1171, participating in all
the arts, knowledge, inventions, and commerce of the latter for
more than six centuries. Yet it was only till 1785 that her
population began to increase, and at a rate which quite outstrips
the Chinese estimate, for in fifty-six years, from 1785 to 1841,
the population had advanced from 2,845,932 to 8,466,000, or
about 5| per cent, per annum, while England did not increase
half as fast. Still in 1785, England had nothing new to commu¬
nicate, no new invention or art to favor the increase of the popu¬
lation was introduced ; and yet the people have multiplied even
in that island, far more civilized, well settled, and better governed
than China. A priori, we might also submit that this unexam¬
pled increase in Ireland was likewise absurd, if it was not known
to be the fact. Again, the population of France has increased
since 1841, from thirty-four to forty-five millions, or about two
millions per annum, which is a rate of increase far exceeding
anything existing in China.
In all these cases it is difficult to see what reasoning has to do
with the subject, except where the laws of progression deduced
DENSITY IN CHINA COMPARED WITH OTHER COUNTRIES. 231
from a number of examples are totally set at defiance, which
is not the case in China. Food and work, peace and security,
not universities or steamboats, are the encouragements needed
for the multiplication of the species ; though they do not have
that effect in all countries, as in Mexico and Brazil, it is no reason
why they should not in others. There are good grounds for
believing that not more than two-thirds of the whole population
of China were included in the census of 1711, but that allow¬
ance cannot be made for Ireland in 1785 ; and consequently, her
annual percentage of increase, up to 1841, would then be greater
than China, during the forty-two years up to 1753. McCul-
loch quotes De Guignes with great approbation, but the French¬
man takes the rough estimate of 333,000,000 given to Macartney,
which is less trustworthy than that of 307,467,200, and compares
it with Grosier's of 157,343,975, which is certainly wrong through
his misinterpretation. De Guignes proceeds from the data in his
possession in 1802 (which were less than those now available),
and from his own observations in travelling through the country
in 1796, to show the improbability of the estimated population.
But the observations made in journeys, taken as were those of
the English and Dutch embassies, though they passed through
some of the best provinces, cannot be regarded as decisive evi¬
dence against official statistics.
Would any one suppose, in travelling from Boston to Chatham,
and then from Albany to Buffalo, along the railroad, that Mas¬
sachusetts contained almost double the population on a square
mile of New York ? So, in going from Peking to Canton, the
judgment six intelligent travellers formed of the population of
China might differ as much as one half. De Guignes says, after
comparing China with Holland and France, "All these reasons
clearly demonstrate, that the population of China does not exceed
that of other countries and such is in truth the case, if the
kind of food and materials of dress be taken into account. His
remarks on the population and productiveness of the country arc,
like his whole work, replete with good sense and candor ; but
some of his deductions would have been different, if he had been
in possession of all the data since obtained.* The discrepancies
between the different censuses have been usually considered a
* Voyages a Peking, torn. III., pages £5—'S6.
232
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
strong internal evidence against them, especially by De Guignes.
They are of considerable weight, but the question resolves itself
partly into an inquiry regarding the sources whence they were
all taken, and partly into the manner of taking them.
After all these reasons for receiving the highest estimate as the
true one, there are, on the other hand, two principal objections
against taking the Chinese census as altogether trustworthy. The
first is the enormous averages of 850, 705, and 671 inhabitants
on a square mile, severally apportioned to Kiangsu, Nganhwui,
and Chehkiang, or, what is perhaps a fairer calculation, of 458
persons to the nine eastern provinces. Whatever amount of cir¬
cumstantial evidence may be brought forward in confirmation of
the census as a whole, and explanation of the mode of taking it,
the most positive proof is necessary before giving implicit cre¬
dence to this astounding result. Such a population on such an
extensive area is unparalleled, notwithstanding the fertility of the
soil, facilities of navigation, and salubrity of the climate of these
regions, although acknowledged to be almost unequalled. While
we admit the full force of all that has been urged in support of
the census, and are willing to take it as the best document on the
subject extant, it is desirable to have some additional proofs de¬
rived from personal observation, and to defer the settlement of
this interesting question until such opportunities are afforded.
Such an average is, indeed, not without example. Captain
Wilkes, in his exploring expedition, ascertained that one of the
islands of the Fiji group supported a population of over a thou¬
sand on a square mile. On Lord North's island, one of the
Pelew group, the crew of the American whaler Mentor ascer¬
tained there were four hundred inhabitants living on half a square
mile. These, and many other islands in that genial clime, con¬
tain a population far exceeding that of any large country, and
each separate community is obliged to depend wholly on its own
labor. They cannot, however, be cited as altogether parallel
cases, though if it be true, as Barrow says, " that an acre of
cotton will clothe two or three hundred persons," not much more
land need be occupied with cotton or mulberry plants, for cloth,
ing in China, than in the South Sea islands.
The second objection against receiving the result of the census
as stated is, that we are not well informed as to the mode of enu¬
merating the people by families, and the manner of taking the
TWO OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE LAST CENSUS. 283
account, when the patriarch of two or three generations lives in
a hamlet, with all his children and domestics around him. Two
of the provisions in Sec. xxvth of the Code, seem expressly de¬
signed for some such state of society ; and the liability to under¬
rate the males fit for public service, when a capitation tax was
ordered, and to overrate the inmates of such a house, when the
head of it might suppose he would thereby receive increased
aid from government when calamity overtook him, are equally
apparent. The door-tablet is also liable to mistake, and in shops
and work-houses, where the clerks and workmen live and sleep
on the premises, it is not known what kind of report of families
the assessors make. On these important points our present in¬
formation is imperfect, while the evident liability to serious error
in the ultimate results, makes one hesitate. The Chinese may have
taken a census sufficient for their purposes, showing the number
of families, and the average of persons in a family, while they
may have greatly erred in deducing the number of individuals.
The point of this objection is, that we do not know how the fami¬
lies are enumerated, nor with what degree of accuracy the indi¬
viduals are counted, or calculated from the number of families.
The average of persons in a household in England, in 1831, was
4.7, but it is probably less than that in a thickly settled country,
if every married couple and their children be taken as a family,
whether living by themselves, or grouped in patriarchal hamlets.
The whole subject must remain an open one, therefore, until
further statistics are obtained. No one doubts that the population
is enormous, constituting by far the greatest assemblage of human
beings using one speech ever congregated under one monarch.
To the merchants and manufacturers of the West, who hope to
make them customers for the goods they can make and bring
them, the determination of this question is of some importance,
and through them to their governments. The political economist
and philologist, the naturalist and geographer, have also greater
or less degrees of interest in the contemplation of such a people,
inhabiting so beautiful and fertile a country. But the Christian
philanthropist turns to the consideration of this subject with the
liveliest solicitude ; for if the weight of evidence is in favor of
the highest estimate, he feels his responsibility increase to a pain¬
ful degree. lie knows, by the express declaration of the Bible,
that no idolator, or liar, can ever reach heaven, and cannot, there-
234
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
fore, escape the conclusion, that this huge concourse is going ts
eternal death in one unbroken mass, with perhaps a few isolated
exceptions not affecting the general statement. Their danger is
furthermore greatly enhanced by the opium traffic,—a trade
which, as if the rivers Phlegethon and Lethe were united in it,
carries fire and destruction wherever it flows, and leaves a deadly
forgetfulness wherever it has passed. Oh ! for an appeal of urgent
intreaty, a voice of loud expostulation, to all calling themselves
Christians, to send the antidote to this baleful drug, and diffuse a
knowledge of the principles of the Gospel among them, thereby
placing life as well as death before them. If the population of China
be as the census represents it, and their condition, with relation to
their God, be as the Bible declares it to be, the conclusion is in¬
evitable, that there will be more among the lost from the Chinese
than any other nation. Cannot as much be done to save and
elevate, as there is now doing to impoverish and destroy them ?
If the population of the empire is not easily ascertained, a satis¬
factory account of the public revenue and expenditures is still
more difficult to obtain ; it possesses far less interest, of course, in
itself, and in such a country as China is subject to many varia¬
tions. The market value of the grain, silk, and other products
in which a large proportion of the taxes are paid, varies from
year to year ; and although this does not materially affect the
government which receives these articles, it complicates the sub¬
ject very much when attempting to ascertain the real taxation.
Statistics on these subjects are only of recent date in Europe,
and should not yet be looked for in China drawn up with much
regard to truth. The central government requires each province
to support itself, and furnish a certain surplusage for the main¬
tenance of the emperor and his court; but it is well known that
his majesty is continually embarrassed for the want of funds, and
that all the provinces do not supply enough revenue to meet their
own outlays. There is no doubt, moreover, that the precious
metals are less abundant now in the provinces than they were
thirty years ago; and this is a serious matter to a government
without national credit, or any well understood means of sup¬
plying the deficiency.
The amounts given by various authors as the revenue of China
at different times, are so discordant, that a single glance suffices
REVENUE 01? THE EMPIRE.
235
lo show that they were obtained from partial or incomplete retuuis,
or else refer only to the surplusage sent to the capital. De Guignes
remarks very truly, that the Chinese are so fully persuaded of the
riches, power, and resources of their country, that a foreigner is
likely to receive different accounts from every native he asks ;
but there appears to be no good reason why the government
should falsify or abridge their fiscal accounts. In 1587, Trigault,
one of the French missionaries, stated the revenue at only twenty
millions of taels. In 1C55, Nieuhoff reckoned it at one hundred
and eight millions. About twelve years after, Magalhaens gave
the treasures of the emperor at 20,423,962 dollars ; and Le Comte
about the same time placed the revenue at twenty-two millions
of dollars, and both of.them estimated the receipts from rice, silk,
&c., at thirty millions, making the whole revenue previous to
Kanghl's death, in 1721, between fifty and seventy millions of
dollars. Barrow reckoned the receipts from all sources in 1793
at one hundred and ninety-eight millions of taels, derived from a
rough estimate given by the commissioner who accompanied
the embassy. Sir George Staunton places the total sum at
j£60,000,000 ; of which twelve millions only were transmitted
to Peking. Dr. Medhurst, drawing his information from original
sources, thus states the principal items of the receipts.
Land tnxes in money, 1 Tuels 33,745,906 valued at $42,327,954
Land tuxes in grain, > sent to Peking, Shih 4,230,957 " 12,092,871
Custom and transit duties, ) Taels 1,480,997 ' 1,974,002
Lund tuxes in money, . . ■ Taels 28,705,125 " 38,273,500
Gnun, ( cpl ln p ' Shih 31,590,509 " 105,089,707
$200,958,094
The shih of rice is estimated at $3, but this does not include
the cost of transportation to the capital on that sent hither. At
two hundred millions of dollars, the tax received by government
from each person on an average is about sixty cents; Barrow
estimates the capitation at about ninety cents. The account of
the revenue in taels from each province given in the table of
population on page 198, is extracted from the Red Book for
1840 ;* the account of the revenue in rice, as stated in the
official documents for that year, is 4,114,000 shih, or about five
hundred and fifty millions of pounds, calling each shih a pecuL
The manner in which the various items of the revenue are
divided is thus stated for Kwangtung, in the Red Book for 1842:
* Annates de la Foi, tome XVI., page -MO.
236
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Land tax in monev,
Pawr. brokers'taxes,
5,990
Taxes at the frontier and on transportation,
719,307
Retained, ........
. 339,143
Miscellaneous sources, ....
59,530
Salt department and gabel, ....
47,510
Revenue from customs at Canton,
43,750
Other stations in the province,
53,670
2,533,204
This is evidently merely the sum sent to the capital from this
province, ostensibly as the revenue, and which the provincial
treasury must collect. The real receipts from this province or
any other cannot well be ascertained by foreigners; it is, how¬
ever, known, that in former years, the collector of customs at
Canton was obliged to remit annually from 800,000 to 1,300,000
taels, and the gross receipts of his office were not far from
three millions of taels.* This was well known to be the best
collectorate in the empire, but the difference between the sum
mentioned in the Red Book of 43,750 taels, and the actual
receipts, is so great as to show that the whole system of revenue
is imperfect in practice so far as Chinese statistical accounta
furnish us with means of judging.
De Guignes has examined the subject of the revenue with his
usual caution, and bases his calculations on a proclamation of
Kienlung in 1777, in which it was stated that the total income in
bullion at that period was 27,967,000 taels.
Income in money as above, ..... taels, 27,967,000
Fqual revenue in kind from grain, 27,967,000
Tax on the second crop in the southern provinces, . . . 21,800,000
Gabel, coal, transit duties, &c., ...... 6,479,100
Customs at Canton, ......... 800,000
Revenue from silk, porcelain, varnish, and other manufactures, . 7,000,000
Adding house and shop taxes, licenses, tonnage duties, &c., . 4,000,000
Total revenue, . . taels, S9,713,400
The difference of about eighty millions of dollars between this
amount and that given by Dr. Medhurst, will not surprise any
one. All these calculations are based on approximations, which,
although easily made up, cannot be verified in any degree of
* Chinese Commercial Guide, 2d edition, page 143.
SOURCES AND AMOUNT OF REVENUE.
237
manner ; but all agree in placing the total amount of reve nue
below that of any European government in proportion to the
population. The sagacity of the Manchu monarchs has been
remarkably exhibited in this important part of their system ; and,
far from desiring to extort as much revenue as possible from their
subjects, they soon laid down well understood rates of taxation,
from which there has not since been any material deviation.
The extraordinary sources of revenue which are resorted to in
time of war or bad harvests, are sale of office and honors, tem¬
porary increase of duties, and demands for contributions from
wealthy merchants and landholders. The first is the most fruit¬
ful source, and may be regarded rather as a permanent than a
temporary expediency employed to make up deficiencies. The
mines of gold and silver, pearl fisheries in Manchuria and else¬
where, precious stones brought from 111 and Khoten, and other
similar sources, furnish several millions.
The expenditures, almost every year, exceed the revenue, but
how the deficit is supplied does not clearly appear. In 1832, the
emperor said the excess of disbursements was 28 millions of
taels ;* and, in 1836, the defalcation was still greater, and offi¬
ces and titles to the amount of ten millions of taels were put up
for sale to supply it. This deficiency has become more and
more alarming since the great drain of specie annually sent
abroad in payment for opium lias attained its present amount,
and the shifts of the government to provide for its ordinary ex¬
penses have been more varied and oftener resorted to. The prin¬
cipal items of the expenditure are thus stated by De Guignes.
Salary of civil and military officers, a tithe of the impost on
lands, 7,773,500
Pay of 000,000 infantry, three taels per month, half in money
and half in rations, . 21,GOO,000
Pay of 212,000 cavalry, at four taels per month, . . 11,616,000
Mounting the cavalry, 20 taels each, 4,840,000
Uniforms for both arms of the seivice, 4 taels .... 3,368,000
Arms and ammunition, 812,000
Navy, revenue cutters, &c., 13,500,000
Canals and transportation of revenue, 4,000,000
Forts, artillery, and munitions of war, ..... 3,800,000
Taels, . 71,339,500
Chinese Repository, Vol I., page 159.
233
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
This, according to his calculation, shows a surplus of nearly
2D millions of taels every year. But the outlays for quelling
insurrections and transporting troops, deficiency from bad har¬
vests, defalcation of officers, payments to the tribes and princes
in Mongolia and 111, and other unusual demands, more than ex¬
ceed this surplus. In 1833, the Peking Gazette contained an
elaborate paper on the revenue by Na, a Manchu censor in
Kiangsi, proposing various ways and means for increasing it.
He says the income from land-tax, the gabel, customs and transit
duty, does not altogether exceed forty millions of taels, while the
expenditures should not much exceed thirty in years of peace.*
This places the budget much lower than other authorities, and
this censor perhaps includes only the imperial resources, though
the estimate then would be too high. The pay and equipment
of the troops is the largest item of expenditure, and it is proba¬
ble that here the apparent force and pay are far too great, and
that reductions are constantly made in this department by com¬
pelling the soldiers to depend more and more for support upon
the plats of land belonging to them. It is considered the best
evidence of good government on "the part of an officer to render
his account of the revenue satisfactorily, but from the injudicious
system which exists of combining fiscal, legislative, and judicial
functions and control in the same person, the temptations to de¬
fraud are strong, and the peculations proportionably great.
The salaries of the provincial officers are not high. That of a
governor-general is 20,000 taels ; a lieutenant-governor, 16,000 ;
a treasurer, 9000 ; provincial judge, 6000 ; prefect, 3000 ; dis¬
trict magistrates from 2000 clown to 800, according to the size
of the district; literary chancellor, 3000; commander-in-chief,
4000 ; general, 2400 ; colonels, 1300 ; and gradually decreas¬
ing according to rank down to 130 taels per annum. The per¬
quisites of the highest and lowest officers are disproportionate,
for the people prefer to lay their important cases before the high¬
est courts at once, in order to avoid the expense of passing
through those of a lower grade. The personal disposition of the
functionary modifies the exactions he makes upon the people so
much, that no guess can be made as to the amount.
The land-tax is the principal resource for the revenue in rural
* Chinese Repository, Vol. II., page 431
SALARIES OF OFFICERS AND RATE OF TAXATION. 239
districts, and this is well understood by all parties, so that Jiere
is little room for exactions. The land-tax is from l£ to 10 cents
a mau, or from 10 to 60 cents an acre, according to the quality
of the land, and difficulty of tillage ; taking the average at 25
cents an acre, the income from this source would be upwards of
150 millions of dollars. The clerks, constables, lictors, and un¬
derlings of the courts and prisons, are the "claws" of their
superiors, as the Chinese aptly call them, and perform most of
their extortions, and are correspondingly detested by the people.
In towns and trading places, it is easier for the officers to exact
in various ways from wealthy people, than in the country, where
rich people often hire bodies of retainers to defy the police, and
practise extortion and robbery themselves. Like other Asiatic
governments, China suffers from the consequences of bribery,
peculation, extortion, and poorly-paid officers, but she has no
powerful aristocracy to retain the money thus squeezed out of the
people, and erelong it finds its way out of the hoards of empe¬
rors and ministers back into the mass of the people. The Chi¬
nese believe, however, that the emperor annually remits such
amounts as he is able to collect into Moukden, placing them there
as a resource in case of need ; these probably consist of precious
stones and regalia rather than bullion or stores ; and it is not
likely that the value of the articles thus stored away at present
amounts to nearly as much as it once did, or was ever as
great as has been represented. The portion of the revenue ap¬
plied to filling the granaries is much larger, but this popular
provision in case of need is really a light draft upon the re¬
sources of the country, as it is usually managed. In Canton,
there are only fourteen buildings appropriated to this purpose,
few of them more than thirty feet square, and none of triem fuu.
CHAPTER VI.
Natural History of China.
The s accinct account of the natural history of China given by
Davis, contains nearly all the popular notices of much value al
present known, collected by him from the writings of travellers
and his own observations. A few additional items of information
derived from other sources, will comprise most that is worth re¬
peating on this subject. Malte-Brun observed long ago, " That
of even the more general, and according to the usual estimate,
the more important features of that vast sovereignty, we owe
whatever knowledge we have obtained to some ambassadors who
have seen the courts and the great roads,—to certain merchants
who have inhabited a suburb of a frontier town,—and to several
missionaries, who, generally more credulous than discriminating,
have contrived to penetrate in various directions into the interior."
The compilers of the work upon China in the Edinburgh Cabinet
Library, have brought together a great number of facts relating
to the botany and zoology of China, the list of plants given in
the Vllth chapter being the best heretofore published. The col¬
lections of Mr. Fortune, who was sent out by the Horticultural
Society during the years 1844 and 1845, to the vicinity of the
five ports, when described, will probably enlarge our present in¬
formation on these topics more than anything which has yet been
written. The opportunities which will be offered for examining
the productions of the country in the vicinity of those newl>
opened places, will no doubt gradually increase until our know¬
ledge of the natural history of China is somewhat comparable to
its extent and variety.
Personal investigation is particularly necessary in all that re¬
lates to the geology and fossils of a country, and the knowledge
possessed on these heads is consequently exceedingly meagre ;
confined for the most part to desultory notices of the coasts and
waters through which the embassies passed, or description of de
COAL ABUNDANT IN CHINA.
241
tached specimens. The vast stepps of Mongolia and wilds of
Manchuria, with the mountainous ranges of Tibet, Songaria,
and the western provinces of Sz'chuen and Kansuh, and the salt
lake regions in and along the great Desert, are consequently utter¬
ly unknown, except a few notices of the most general character.
It cannot be doubted that so peculiar a part of the world as the
table land of Central Asia will, when thoroughly examined, solve
many problems relating to geology, and disclose many important
tacts to illustrate the obscure phenomena of other parts of the
world.
The few notices of the geological formations which are fur¬
nished in the writings of travellers, have already been given to
a considerable extent in the geographical account of the pro¬
vinces. The summary given by Sir John Davis is a well digest¬
ed survey of the observations collected by the gentlemen attach¬
ed to the embassies, and need not be repeated.* The metal¬
lic and mineral productions of China used in the arts, comprise
nearly everything found in other countries, and they are furnished
vi such abundance, and at such rates, as conclusively show that
they are plenty and easily worked. Coal is generally used for
fuel in all those places which have been visited, and the supply
might probably be greatly increased by introducing European
machinery and modes of working it. The boats on the North
river, below Nanhiung, lie near the mouth of a horizontal shaft
worked into the mine, above which the cliffs are scarped down
as the shaft advances. The ignorance of the Chinese of the
best modes of draining and ventilating mines, must necessarily
prevent working many of them beyond a certain depth and
extent.
The mountains of Shansi and Chihli supply large quantities
of this valuable mineral, and many boats find constant employ¬
ment in bringing a coarse anthracite from Kaichau in Liautung
to Tientsin. One locality of the mine in Liautung is about lat.
89° 10' N., and long. 121° 25' E."j* Several kinds, both of an¬
thracite and bituminous, have been seen in marts at the north ;
and coal dust and refuse is mixed with a little moistened clay at
Peking, and made into cakes for the fires of the poor. That
which is brought to Canton is hard, and leaves a large proportion
* The Chinese, Vol. II., pages 333-343.
f Chinese Repository, Vol. X., page 427
12
242
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
of ashes after combustion ; during ignition, it throws off a suffo¬
cating sulphureous smoke, which prevents the natives using it
for cooking. It is employed in the manufacture of copperas from
hepatic iron pyrites, according to Du Halde, but is less frequently
employed in the arts than it would be if the people knew better
how to use it.
Crystallized gypsum is abundant at Canton, brought from the
north-west of the province, and is ground to powder in mills
similar to that used for making flour. It is not used as a manure
by the Chinese, but mixed with oil to form a cement for paying
the seams of boats after they have been caulked. Tho powder
is employed as a dentifrice, a cosmetic, and a medicine, and
sometimes, also, is boiled to make a gruel in fevers, under the
idea that it is cooling. The bakers who supplied the English
troops at Amoy, in 1843, occasionally put it into the bread to
make it heavier, but not, as was erroneously charged upon them,
with any design of poisoning their customers, for they do not
think it noxious; its employment in coloring tea, and adulterat¬
ing the ping-fa, or powdered sugar, is also attributable to other
..lotives than a wish to injure the consumers.
Limestone is abundant at Canton, both the common clouded
marble and the blue transition limestone ; the last is extensively
used in the artificial rockwork of gardens. Even if the Chinese
knew of the existence of lime in limestone, which they generally
do not, the expense of fuel for calcining it would be such as to
prevent their obtaining lime from it. The marble commonly
used for floors is fissile crystallized limestone, unsusceptible of
polish ; no statues or ornaments are sculptured from this mineral,
but ornamental slabs are sometimes wrought out, and the sides
curiously stained and corroded with acids, forming rude repre¬
sentations of animals or other figures, so as to convey the appear¬
ance of their being natural markings. Some of these simulated
petrifactions are exceedingly well done. Slabs of argillaceous
slate are also chosen with reference to their layers, and
treated in the same manner. The stone used about Canton and
Amoy for building is granite, and no people exceed the Chinese in
cutting it. Large slabs are split out by wooden wedges, and cut
for basements and foundations, and laid in a beautiful manner;
pillars are cut from single stones of different shapes, though of no
extraordinary dimensions, and their shafts ornamented with in-
BUILDING STONE AND GEMS.
scriptions. Ornamental walls are frequently formed of large
slabs secure il by posts, the outer faces of which are beautifully
carved with figures in deep intaglio, representing a landscape or
procession. Sandstone, mica slate, and other species of rock, are
also worked for pavements and walls.
The nitre obtained in Chihli by lixiviating the soil undei
houses, furnishes a large part of that used in the manufacture of
gunpowder. A ley is obtained from lixiviating ashes, which
partially serves the purposes of soap; but the Chinese are igno¬
rant of the processes necessary for forming that substance.
Alum is extensively used for settling water when turbid, as
well as in dyeing cloth and whitening paper ; large quantities are
annually carried to India. It is obtained by lixiviation from
shale. Other metallic or earthy salts are known and used, as
sal-ammoniac, which is collected in Mongolia and tli from lakes
and the vicinity of extinct volcanoes, and blue and white vitriol,
which are obtained by roasting pyrites. Common salt is all pro¬
cured by evaporating seawater, rock salt not having been noticed.
At Chusan, the seawater is so turbid that the inhabitants are
obliged to filter it through clay, and then evaporate the water to
dryness in order to obtain pure salt.
The minerals heretofore found in China have for the most part
J)een such as have attracted the attention of the natives, and be^n
collected by them for curiosity or sale. The skilful manner in
which their lapidaries cut crystal, agate, serpentine, and other
quartzose minerals, is well known. The corundum used in these
operations occurs in granitic rocks, but some of the crystals are
brought from Borneo ; it is used in the form of a powder. The
vih or yu is a species of prehnite, or according to others of ne¬
phrite, and its value in the eyes of the Chinese depends chiefly
upon its sonorousness and color. The most valued specimens
are brought from Yunnan and Khoten ; a greenish-white color is
the most highly prized, but a plain color of any shade is not
much esteemed. A cargo of this mineral was imported into
Canton from New Holland not long ago, but the Chinese would
not purcnase it, owing to a fancy taken against its origin and
color. The patient toil of the workers in this hard and lustreless
mineral, is only equalled by the prodigious admiration it is held
in ; and botli fairly exhibit the singular taste and skill of the
Chinese. " Its color is usually a greenish-white, passing into a
214
TIIE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
greyish-green and dark grass-green ; internally it is scarcely
glimmering. Its fracture is splintery; splinters white; mas3
semi-transparent and cloudy ; it scratches glass strongly, but rock
crystal does not scratch it. Specific gravity from 2*9 to 3-3."*
The ruby, diamond, amethyst, garnet, opal, agate, and other
stones, are known among the Chinese, but whether they are all
found in the country itself or imported is not known. The seals
of the Boards are in many instances cut on valuable stones.
Malachite is common, and is used for paint and set as a jewel;
jet is likewise employed for the same purpose.
All the common metals, except platina, are found in China,
and the supply would no doubt be sufficient for all the purposes
of the inhabitants, if they could avail themselves of the improve-
ments adopted in other countries in blasting, mining, &c. The
importations of iron, lead, tin, and quicksilver, are gradually
increasing at Canton, but they probably form only a small pro¬
portion of the amount used throughout the empire, especially of
the two first named. Their precise localities, the nature of the
ores containing them, and the processes by which they are ex¬
tracted, are hardly known, and only the most vague and unsatisfac¬
tory accounts have been obtained. It is almost useless to inquire
of the people themselves on such points. A native dealer in iron
at Canton, for instance, has not, generally speaking, the least
knowledge of the mode of manufacturing the metal, or whence
it is brought; it is enough for him that it sells. Consequently, it
is almost impossible to obtain any satisfactory information with¬
out an actual examination of the mines, and observing the vari¬
ous manipulations employed in the preparation of the ores, which
hitherto has not been done by scientific persons.
Gold is collected in the sands of the rivers in Yunnan and
Sz'chuen, especially from the upper branch of the Yangtsz' kiang,
called Kinslia kiang, or Golden Sanded river, from this product.
The largest amount is said by Davis to come from Likiang fu,
near that river, and from Yungchang fu on the borders of Bur-
mah. It is wrought into personal ornaments and knobs for
official caps, and beaten into leaf for gilding, but is not used as a
coin, nor is much found in market as bullion. Silver is brought
Wi Yunnan near the borders of Cochinchina, and the mines in
* Murray's China, Vol. III., p. 276.
METALS, AND MODE OF PROCURING THEM. 245
tiat region must be both extensive and easily worked ;o afford
such large quantities as have been exported during the last five
years. The working of both gold and silver mines lias been
said to be prohibited by the rulers, but this prohibition is rather
a government monopoly of the mines than an injunction upon
working those which are known. The importation of this metal
into China during the two centuries the trade has been opened,
will hardly equal the exportation which has taken place since
the commencement of the opium trade. It is altogether impro¬
bable that the Chinese are acquainted with the properties of
quicksilver in separating these two metals from their ores, though
the great consumption of the former is hardly accounted for by
its use in medicine, or the manufacture of vermilion and look¬
ing-glasses. Cinnabar occurs copiously in Shensf, and all the
shwui yin, "water silver," i. e. hydrargyrum, not imported, is
obtained from this ore, it is said, by a rude process of burning
brushwood in the wells, and then collecting the metal after con¬
densation.
Copper is used chiefly for manufacturing coin, bells, and bronze
articles of various sorts. It is found pure in some instances,
whence it is named tsz' lai, or natural; and the sulphuret of cop¬
per is known to occur in some places as well as malachite. The
ores of zinc and copper which furnish the spelter and the white
copper, are obtained from Yunnan, and the mines must be very
rich, judging from the immense amounts used. Block tin is not
common, most of that used being imported into Canton from the
Indian Archipelago. Lead is obtained from the sulphuret, but
not so cheaply as to be brought to market at the price it can be
imported from the United States. It is a singular instance of the
results of commerce that the lead which lines a tea-chest first
opened at St. Louis, should have been smelted at Galena, and
arrive there by way of China. Several ores of lead, copper, and
zinc are known to exist in the country, and the botryoidal and
hfematitic ores of iron, as well as the carbonate and earthy oxide,
have been seen.
The sulphuret of arsenic is sometimes cut into ornamental
figures in the same manner as prehnite and almagatholite. The
lapis-lazuli is employed in making ultramarine blue for painting
upon copper and porcelain ware; this mineral is obtained in
Hainan. A few minerals and fossils have been noticed in the
246
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
vicinity and shops of Canton, but none of them of muc} interest.
Coarse epidote occurs at Macao, and tungstate of iron has been
noticed in the quartz rocks at Hongkong. Some petrifactions
have been brought to Canton, especially petrified crabs from
Hainan, which are considered very curious, and prized by the
natives for their supposed medicinal qualities. Orthoceratites and
shells of various kinds are noticed in Chinese books as bein«
D
found in rocks, and fossil bones of huge size in caves and river
banks.
There are many hot springs and other indications of volcanic
action along the southern acclivities of the table land in the
provinces of Shensi and Sz'chuen ; and in Chihll, near the em¬
peror's summer palace at Jeh-ho in Chahar, there are thermal
springs which are resorted to from a distance by invalids; and
similar phenomena occur elsewhere in that region. One of the
French missionaries in Sz'chuen describes the Ho tsing or Fire
wells, in that province, " as apertures resembling Artesian
springs, sunk in the rock to a depth of 1500 or 1800 feet, whilst
their breadth does not exceed five or six inches. This is a work
of great difficulty, and requires in some cases the labor of two or
three years. The water procured from them contains a fifth
part of salt, which is very acrid, and mixed with much nitre.
When a lighted torch is applied to the mouth of some of those
which have no water, fire is produced with great violence and a
noise like thunder, bursting out into a flame twenty or thirty feet
high, and which cannot be extinguished without great danger and
expense. The gas has a bituminous smell, and burns with a
bluish flame and a quantity of thick, black smoke. It is con¬
ducted under boilers in bamboos, and employed in evaporating
the salt water from the other springs."* Besides the gaseous
and aqueous springs in these provinces, there are others possess¬
ing different qualities, some sulphurous and others chalybeate,
found in Shansi and along the banks of the Yellow river. Of
these interesting phenomena, the authentic information now pos¬
sessed is just enough to excite a strong desire to become better
acquainted with every fact relating to them.
The animal and vegetable productions of the extensive domains
under the sway of the emperor of China include a great variety
* Murray's China, Vol. III., page 281
ANIMALS FOUND IN CHINA—MONKEYS.
247
of types of different families in both these kingdoms. On the
south the islands of Hainan and Formosa, and parts of the adja¬
cent coasts, slightly partake of a tropical character, exhibiting
in the cocoanuts, plantains, and peppers, the parrots and mon¬
keys, decided indications of an equatorial climate. From the
eastern coast through the country to the north-west provinces,
occur mountain ranges of gradually increasing elevation, inter¬
spersed with intervales and alluvial plains and bottoms, lakes
and rivers, plains and hills, each presenting its own peculiar
productions, both wild and cultivated, in great variety and abun¬
dance. The southern ascent of the high land of Mongolia beyond
the Great Wall, the uninhabited, uncultivated wilds of Manchu¬
ria, the barren wastes of the desert of Gobi, with its salt lakes,
extinct volcanoes, and isolated mountain ranges; and lastly, the
stupendous chains and valleys of Tibet and northern Songaria,
all differ from each other in the character of their productions
and climate. In one or the other division, nearly every variety
of soil, position, and temperature occur which are known on the
globe.
A few notices of the zoology of these extensive regions, taken
chiefly from the laborious digest given by Mr. Burnet,* will
afford sufficient data for enumerating the principal animals,
birds, and fishes occurring therein. Of the quadrumanous order
of animals, there are several species. The Chinese are skilful
in teaching the smaller kinds of monkeys various tricks, and
persons carrying them around the country to entertain the popu¬
lace with their antics, are often met. M. Breton gives one
picture of their adroitness and usefulness in picking tea in Shan¬
tung from plants growing on otherwise inaccessible acclivities,
which, if not misrepresented, rests on doubtful authority. One
of the most remarkable animals of this tribe is the douc or Co-
chinchinese monkey (Simia ncmccus), which is said to occur also
in Kwangsi. It is a large species of great rarity, and remark¬
able fir the variety of colors with which it is adorned. Its body
is about two feet long, and when standing in an upright position
its height is considerably greater. The face is of an orange
color, and flattened in its form. A dark band runs across the
front of the forehead, and the sides of the countenance are
* Murray's China, Vol. III., Chap. IX
248
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
bounded by long spreading yellowish tufts of hair. The body
and upper parts of the forearms are brownish grey, the lowei
portions of the arms, from the elbows to the wrists, being white ,
its hands and thighs are black, and the legs of a bright red color;
while the tail and a large triangular spot above it are pure
white." Such a creature matches well, for its grotesque and
variegated appearance, with the mandarin duck and gold fish,
also peculiar to China.
Chinese books speak of two large animals of this family under
the names offi-fi and sing-sing. The former is said to have a
long mane covering its back, and almost prehensile lips ; the
sing-sing is smaller, and more nearly resembles a man in its erect
gait. Perhaps the latter is allied to the chimpanze, and the for¬
mer to the orang-outang of Borneo. The singular proboscis
monkey of Cochinchina, called khi-doc in that country and hai-
tuh by the Chinese, exhibits a strange profile, part man and part
beast, reminding one of the fabulous combinations in Cruik-
shanks' or H. B.'s caricatures. It is about three feet high, of a
reddish brown color, and the nose of a stuffed specimen brought
to Macao was four inches and a half long, and roundish like a
proboscis. The Chinese account says, " its nose is turned up¬
wards, and the tail very long and forked at the end, and that
whenever it rains, the animal thrusts the forks into its nose. It
goes in herds, and lives in friendship ; when one dies, the rest
accompany it to burial. Its activity is so great that it runs its
head against the trees ; its fur is soft and grey, and the face
black."* Native authors speak of some other quadrumanous
animals, but none of them are described with sufficient accuracy
to identify them, as the above quotation fully shows.
The Chinese Herbal, from which the preceding extract is
taken, describes the bat under various names, such as " heavenly
vat," " fairy rat," "flying rat," " night swallow," and "belly
wings ;" it also details the various uses made of the animal in
medicine, and the extraordinary longevity some of the white
species attain. "The bat," says the author, " is in form like a
mouse; its body is of an ashy black color; and it has thin
fleshy wings, which join the four legs and tail into one. It ap¬
pears in the summer, but becomes torpid in the winter; on
* Chinese Chrestomathy, p. 469
BATS, BEARS, LIONS, TIGERS, ETC.
249
which account, as it oats nothing during that season, and because
it has the habit of swallowing its breath, it attains a great age.
[t has the character of a night-rover, not on account of any
inability to fly in the day, but it dares not go abroad at that time
because it fears a kind of hawk. It subsists on mosquitoes and
gnats. It flies with its head downwards, because the brain is
heavy."* This quotation is among the best Chinese descriptions
of objects in natural history, and shows how little there is to
reward their perusal. Bats, with an expanse of eighteen inches
aoross the wings, are frequent in the southern provinces, and a
large species, found in Sz'chuen, is used for food.
Frequent mention is made of bears, and their paws are regard¬
ed by the Chinese as a delicate dish, though perhaps not the most
so which can be eaten, as is remarked by Mr. Gutzlaff. The
polar bear is said to have been seen in Liautung ; a small species
of brown bear is sometimes brought to Canton in cages from the
western provinces, and they are not uncommon in the mountains
of Kweichau. The Eighteen Provinces are now too well culti¬
vated and thickly peopled to afford safe retreats for the larger
wild animals, however numerous they may have been originally ;
the only places at all likely to harbor them are the jungles of
Yunnan, and the mountains on the west and south-west. The
forests of Manchuria, however, still afford many fur bearing and
carnivorous animals, whose capture gives employment to thou¬
sands of hunters. The lion and tiger are among the most com.
mon animals delineated by Chinese painters, but the figures are
so far from the truth as to prove that the living animals are sel¬
dom seen in the country, while the rampant sculptured lions
placed near the gates of temples are even still greater bur¬
lesques on that noble animal. The lion has been brought to
court from India as a present to the emperor, but it is never seen
now. The last instance was in the reign of Hientsung about
1470. The tiger and elephant probably still frequent the bor¬
ders of Burmah, and a small species of the former is peculiar
to the Altai mountains. Hunting leopards and tigers were used
in the days of Marco Polo by Kublai khan, but the manly pas¬
time of the chase, on the magnificent scale then practised, has
fallen into disuse with the present princes. A small and fierce
* Chinese Repository, Vol, VII., p 90
12*
250
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
species of wild-cat occurs in the province of Kwangtung, which
is sought for as game, and is served at tables after proper feed¬
ing, as an expensive delicacy. Lynxes are also found in the
country.
The domestic animals used by the Chinese offer few pecu¬
liarities. The cat, or " household fox," is a favorite inmate of
families, and the ladies of Peking are fond of a variety of the
Angora cat, provided with long hair and hanging ears, which
they carry about in the same way western ladies do their
poodles. The common species is usually grey or black, many
of them destitute of a tail, and when reared for food, it is fed
on rice and vegetables.
The dog and hog are the most common domestic animals. The
first differs but little from its congener among the Esquimaux,
and along the northern shores of the American and Asiatic con¬
tinents, and is perhaps the original of the species. There is but
little difference in their size, which is about a foot high, and two
feet in length ; the color is a pale yellow or black, and always
plain, with coarse bristling hair, and tails curling up high over
the back, and rising so abruptly from the insertion that it has
been humorously remarked, they almost assist in lifting the legs
from the ground. The hind legs are unusually straight, which
gives them an awkward look, and perhaps prevents them running
very rapidly. The eyes are jet black, small and piercing, and
the insides of their lips and mouths, and the tongue, are of the
same color, or a blue black. The bitch has a dew-claw on each
hind leg, but the dog has none. The ears are sharp and upright,
the head quite peaked, and the bark very unlike the deep
sonorous baying of our mastiffs, but a short thick snap. One
item in the Chinese description of the dog is that it " can go on
three legs a gait that is often exhibited by them. They are
used as guards to houses, but are by no means as intelligent or
faithful as the animal in western lands.
The dogs about Canton are often diseased with the mange, and
present hideous spectacles ; some ascribe its prevalence to their
vegetable diet. They are not so wild and voracious as the
dogs in Syria and Egypt, but still they roam about seeking for
food. One writer says, speaking of the worship offered at the
tombs, on one occasion, " That hardly had the hillock been
abandoned by the worshippers, when packs of hungry dogs came
DOMESTIC ANIMALS, DOG, BUFFALO, ETC.
251
run.ling up to devour the part of the offerings left for the dead,
or to lick up the grease on the ground. Those who came first
held up their heads, bristled their hair, and showed a proud and
satisfied demeanor, curling and moving their tails with an inso¬
lent air ; while the late comers, tails between their legs, held
their heads and cars down. There was one of them, however,
which, grudging the fare, held his nose to the wind as if snuffing
l<>r better luck ; but one lean, old, and ugly beast, with a flayed
back and hairless tail, was seen gradually separating himself
from the band, though without seeming to hurry himself, making
a thousand doublings and windings, all the while looking back to
see if he was noticed. But the old sharper knew what he was
about, and as soon as he thought himself at a safe distance,
away he went like an arrow, the whole pack after him, to some
other feast and some other tomb."*
The breed of cattle and horses is smaller than the European,
and nothing is done to improve the race. The oxen are some¬
times not larger than an ass, and have a small hump between the
shoulders ; the dewlap is large, and the contour remarkably neat
and symmetrical. The forehead is round, the horns small and
irregularly curved, and the general color dun red ; the hump
is often entirely wanting. They are reared about Whampoa and
Macao, for supplying foreigners with beef and milk, though
occasionally seen in the harness. The buffalo, or " water ox,"
as the Chinese call it, is not as large as the Indian or Egyptian
animal, but much the largest beast used in agriculture, ft is
very docile, and about the size of an English ox ; the hairless
hide is a light black color, and the animal seeks refuge from the
gnat, and coolness for itself in muddy pools, dug for its conve¬
nience near villages, where it wallows in the ooze with its nose
just above the surface. Each horn is nearly semicircular, and
bends downwards, while the head is turned up so much that the
nose is nearly horizontal. This animal must not be confounded
with the buffalo or bison of the western prairies of America, for
no two quadrupeds of the same genus can be more unlike in
their habits. The herdboys who drive the buffalo usually ride
it, and the metaphor of a country lad astride a buffalo's back,
blowing the flute, usually enters into a Chinese description of
* La Chine Ouvorte, p:iy;e 1 17.
252
THE .MIDDLE KINGDOM.
rural scenery. The yak or grunting ox of Tibet is employed
in that country and the whole region of the Himalayas, as a
beast of burden, and to furnish food and raiment. It is covered
with a mantle of hair reaching nearly to the ground, somewhat
like the musk ox of North America, and the soft pelage is used
for making standards among the Persians, and its tail as fly-flaps
or chowries in India ; the hair is woven into carpets, and also
dyed red for a covering to official caps in China. The wild
buffalo of India is noticed in Chinese authors, but it is doubtful
whether it now exists in the country.
The domestic sheep is the broad-tailed species, and furnishes
excellent mutton ; it is not so common as the goat in the north¬
ern provinces. The tail is sometimes ten inches long, and
three or four thick; and the size of this fatty member does not
appear to be much affected by the temperature, nor to deteriorate
the quality of the mutton.
There are many kinds of deer in the country, and the wealthy
often keep a species of spotted deer or axis in their grounds, re¬
sembling the gazelle in its light form and expressive eyes ; it is
called kin-tsien luh, or money deer, from the white spots on its
sides. A beautiful species of mouse deer, with very long hind
legs, is found in the south, which is also kept in paddocks and
gardens. One of the most common species of this family is the
dzeren or hwang yang (Antelope gutturosa), met with in many
parts of the country, but especially on the borders of the desert
between Tibet and Turkestan. This Chinese antelope is some¬
what heavy in body, its horns short and thick, about nine inches
long, annulated to the very tips, reclining backwards, divergent,
wavy, and the points turned inwards. The nose is blunt, the
lips surrounded with long hairs, ears small and pointed. The
most remarkable feature is a large movable protuberance in the
throat, occasioned by the dilatation of the larynx, and appearing
externally with long stiff hairs pointing forwards; in the old
males it is monstrously enlarged. Like its congener, the spring¬
bok in Southern Africa, it avoids woody places, and frequents
open plains and barren mountains. It is very swift, and takes
surprising bounds when running, and is usually seen in herds.*
The musk deer (Moschus moschiferus), called she or hiang
* Murray's China, Vol. III., page 40S. Penny Cyclopaedia, Vo] II
page 73.
ANTELOPE, MUSK DEER, HORSE, ETC.
253
chavg, is much more celebrated than the Chinese antelope This
animal roams over a vast extent of alpine territory, from Tibet
and ShensI to lake Baikal, and is everywhere an object of eager
chase on account of the odorous substance it produces, and which
has long been an article of commerce among Asiatic and Euro-
Dean nations. Like the chamois, the musk deer inhabits the
oftiest clifls and defiles, and makes its way over rugged moun¬
tains with great rapidity. It has no horns, and is not unlike the
roe in general appearance, though the projecting teeth make
the upper lip look broad. Its color is greyish brown, and its
limbs slight. The musk is contained in a pouch beneath the
tail on the male, and is most abundant during the rutting season.
It is taken in nets or shot, and the hunters are said to allure it to
its destruction by secreting themselves and playing the flute,
though some would say the animal showed very little taste in
attending to such sounds as Chinese flutes usually produce. The
musk is often adulterated with clay by the hunters or traders,
or when used, is mixed with other substances to moderate its
powerful odor. The argali and jiggetai roam over the ranges
of the Hingan ling, and their flesh and skins are sought after.
The horse commonly seen in China is a mere pony, not much
larger than the Shetland pony ; it is bony and strong, but kept
with little care, and presents a worse appearance than it would
if its hair were trimmed, its fetlocks shorn, and its tail untied.
This custom of knotting the tail is an ancient practice, and the
sculptures at Persepolis show that the same fashion prevailed
among the Persians. The Chinese language possesses a great
variety of terms to designate the horse; the difference of age,
sex, color, and disposition, are all denoted by particular charac¬
ters. Piebald and mottled white and bay horses are not uncom¬
mon ; but in China the improvement of this noble animal is
altogether neglected, and he looks sorry enough compared with
the coursers of India. He is principally used for carrying the
post, or for military services; asses and mules being more em.
ployed for draught in the eastern provinces, and camels in Centra]
Asia. The Chinese books speak of a mule of a cow and horse,
as well as from the ass and horse, though it is well known nc
such hybrid as the former ever existed.
The elephant is kept at Peking for show, but it is likely that
the sixty animals there in the days of Kienlung, when Bell saw
254
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
them, have since dwindled to less than half that nuvnoer. Van
Braam says he met six going into Peking, sent thither by an
officer from Yunnan. The deep forests of that province also
harbor ihe rhinoceros and tapir. The horn of the former is
much sought after as medicine, and the best pieces are carved
into drinking cups, which are supposed to sweat whenever any
poisonous liquid is put into them. The tapir is the white and
brown animal found in the Malacca peninsula, and strange stories
are told of its eating stones and copper. The wild boar occurs
in the same extensive region, lying between Siam and China, and
also in the mountains in the provinces. They are quite nume¬
rous in the hills of Chehkiang, and seriously annoy the husband¬
men in the lowlands, by their depredations upon the fields. Deep
pits are dug near the base of the hills, and covered with a bait
of fresh grass, and many are annually captured or drowned in
them. They are fond of the tender shoots of bamboo, and per¬
sons are stationed near the groves to frighten them away by
striking pieces of wood together with a loud noise.
The Chinese Pig.
The Chinese pig is well known for its short legs, round body,
crooked back, and abundance of flit. Its introduction into the
stys of western farmyards has greatly improved the European
breed. The black Chinese breed, as it is called in England, is
considered the best pork raised in that country. The Chinese
WILD BOAR AND DOMESTIC HOG.
255
art fully aware of the perverse disposition of the hop: when
driven, and find it much more expeditious to carry instead of
driving him through their narrow streets. So uniformly is this
done, that loose cylindrical baskets of bamboo, open at both ends,
are made for this purpose, in which the hog can easily be carried.
In order to capture the obstinate brute, the basket is secured
just outside the half opened gate of the pen, and the men seize
him by the tail and pull it lustily ; his rage is roused by the
pain, and he struggles ; they let go their hold, whereupon he
darts out of the gate to escape, and finds himself snugly caught.
A pole is then thrust through the basket lengthwise, on which
he is lifted up and unresistingly carried off.
Mode of carrying Pigs.
The Quarterly Journal of Agriculture (Vol. III., p. 42) quoted
by Mr. Burnet, describes several varieties of the hog known in
Europe, among which are the cochon de Siam and the pore die no-
lies, which have evidently been derived from and improved by
the Chinese animal. The cheapness with which pork is fat¬
tened, and the usefulness of the hog os a scavenger, make it one
of the most profitable animals for the Chinese to rear, though the
miscellaneous garbage composing its food deteriorates the flesh.
The camel is employed in the caravans which cross the desert,
256
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
between Kiakhta and Kalgan, and westward from Kansuh to
Hami, l\i, and the Caspian, but it is rarely seen south of Peking,
nor very frequently in that city. Du Halde describes them ag
having two humps, "covered with thick hair as long as goats;
some of them are of a yellowish dun color, others are reddish or
ash colored ; the legs are not so slender as those of the common
camel, and seem better fitted for carrying burdens." The
Chinese have employed the camel in war, and trained it to carry
small swivels on its back ; one sort is called fung-kioh to, or
wind-footed camel, on account of its swiftness, it being employed
in carrying light burdens and messengers across the desert.
The smaller tribes of animals have their representatives in
China, and among them many which are interesting to the sports¬
man. Staunton speaks of a species of hare which was abun¬
dant in the valleys beyond the Great Wall towards Jeh ho. It
resembled the species known in Northern Europe in that it
changed its color during winter from brown to white, but was
remarkable for the great length of its feet, which formed a broad
support in scampering over the snow. Hares, rabbits, squirrels,
deer, and other game, are not chased by dogs trained for the
purpose, but when the emperor or his grandees engage in the
sport, a large space is surrounded, and all the animals in it
driven to the centre. Game is brought to Peking in great abun¬
dance in the winter in a frozen state, and the list, according to
Du Halde, includes bucks, does, wild-boars, goats, hares, rabbits,
squirrels, cats, field rats, geese, ducks, woodcocks, pheasants,
quails, and several others not met with in Europe. The fox is
not unusual; it is a raccoon faced animal, and has been named
the Canisprocyonoides, from its resemblance. Both the Chinese
and Japanese entertain singular superstitions regarding this ani¬
mal, believing it to be frequently possessed by evil spirits for the
purpose of tormenting mankind, and that fairies, gnomes, ogres,
and goblins transform themselves into it for the purpose of
executing their spite. The wolf partakes somewhat of the same
supernatural character. The pelage of the fox, hare, wolf, wild¬
cat, and other fur-bearing animals, furnishes the hair used in the
manufacture of writing pencils. Besides these, the martin, er¬
mine, silver fox, rate!, wolverine, sea and land otter, and proba¬
bly many others, are sought for by hunters through the forests
and waters of Manchuria.
ANT-EATER AND SMALL WILD ANIMALS. 257
No animals have puzzled the Chinese more than the scaly ant-
eater, manis, or pangolin, and the flying squirrel. The former
is regarded as a fish out of water, and is hence called ling-It or
hill carp • also dragon carp, and the " scaly hill-borer." " Its
form resembles a crocodile," says one author; " it can go in
dry paths as well as in water ; it has four legs. In the daytime,
it ascends the banks of the stream, and lying down on the
ground, opens its scales wide, and puts on the appearance of
death, which induces the ants to enter between the scales. As
soon as they have done so, the animal closes its scales and re¬
enters the water, and then opens them, when all the insects float
out dead, and he devours them at leisure." Another and better
observer says it continually protrudes its tongue to entice ants,
on which it feeds ; and, true to Chinese physiological deduction,
he accordingly recommends the scales as a remedy for all antish
swellings. The manis is quite common in the southern provin¬
ces, and the Chinese employ parts of it for medicinal purposes ;
they have observed that the scales consist of the agglutinated
hair of the body, and are not bony scales.
The flying-squirrel is classed among birds, and one name
given it signifies that it is the only bird which suckles its young
when it flies. The skin held in the hand during parturition will
render delivery easier, " because the animal is of a remarkably
lively disposition."*
The porcupine, hedgehog, marmot, weasel, and many species
of rats and mice, are known to occur in various parts of the
country. The Chinese bamboo rat, or chuli shu (Rhyzomys
Chinensis), is found in the western part of Kwangtung. The
common Norway water rat has found its way to Canton, where
it infests the river banks. The sea-otter has been seen near
Macao. The estuary of the Pearl river contains a large species
of white dolphin or porpoise, which the fishermen there call pak
H, and regard with great reverence, always setting it at liberty
whenever entangled in their nets. It is perhaps allied to the
Delphinapterus ; the snout is sharp, the body thick and clumsy,
from six to eight feet long, and the color a dun white. Porpoises
occur in the Yangtsz' kiang, where they are called " river pigs."
Whales are found ofF the coast of Hainan, and gulf of Tonquin,
* Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., pages IS, "*1.
258
THE MIDDLE KIN3D0M.
where they are caught by the fishermen, who go out in fleets of
small, boats from three to twenty-five tons burden each, fifty
boats going together. The line is about 350 feet long, made of
native hemp, and fastened to the mast, the end leading over the
bow. The harpoon has one barb, and is attached to a wooden
handle ; through an eye near the socket, the line is so fastened
along the handle, that when the whale begins to strain upon it,
the handle draws out upon the line, leaving only the barb buried
in the skin. The boat is sailed directly upon the fish, and the
harpooner strikes from the bow just behind the blow-hole. As
soon as the fish is struck, the sail is lowered, the rudder un¬
shipped, and the boat allowed to drag stern foremost until the
prey is exhausted. Other boats come up to assist, and half a
dozen harpoons soon dispatch it. The species most common
there is the right whale, and yield about 50 Ibis, each ; the oil,
flesh, and bone are all used for food or in manufactures. The fish
resort to the shallow waters in those seas for food, and to roll and
rub themselves on the banks and reefs to get rid of the barnacles
and insects which torment them ; they are often seen leaping
entirely out of water, and falling back perpendicularly against
the hard bottom.*
The Yellow sea affords a species of cow-fish, or round-headed
cachalot (Globicephalus JRissii), which the Japanese capture ;f
and other species of whales resort to the waters east of Manchu¬
ria. Seals have been observed on the coasts of Liautung, but no¬
thing is known of their species or habits.
The birds of China are less known than the mammiferse,
though some of the more splendid species have long been sought
after. The emperors of the Mongol dynasty were very fond of
the chase, and famous for their love of the noble amusement of
falconry, and Marco Polo says Kublai employed no less than
seventy thousand attendants in his hawking excursions. Fal¬
cons, kites, and other birds of prey were taught to pursue their
quarry, and the Venetian speaks of eagles trained to stoop at
wolves, and of such size and strength that none could escape
their talons. Ranking has collected a great number of notices
of the mode and sumptuousness of the field sports of the Mongols
ia China and India, but they convey little more information to
* Chinese Repository,Vol. XII., page 608.
f Ibid., Vol. VI., page 411.
BIRDS REARED FOR SONGSTERS.
259
the nat sralist, than that the game was abundant and comprised
a vast variety. Many species of accipitrine birds are described
in Chinese books, but they are spoken of so vaguely that nothing
definite can be learned from the notices. It is in the forests and
mountains of Manchuria that beasts and birds of prey find food
and shelter, and not in the cultivated regions of the south, and
Chinese naturalists have not explored those wilds. None of them
are now trained for sport by the Chinese, though hawking is still
a favorite pastime for the princes of the Japanese isles. Owls
of several species are common, and are sometimes exposed for
sale in the markets of Canton, though not intended for the table.
The butcher-bird, or an allied species, is a native of China, and
the books notice its habit, of impaling small birds and grasshop¬
pers on thorns, before devouring them.
The tribes of fly-catchers, grackles, thrushes, and goatsuckers,
all have numerous representatives in China, and some of them
are of great beauty. A kind of thrush, called hwa mi, or " pic¬
tured eyebrow," of a greyish yellow color, is often kept in cages
as a song-bird, and when well trained, bears a high price. There
is a variety called jjeh hwa mi, from the predominance of white
in the plumage. Another species of thrush of a dark plumage,
called icu ski kill, is likewise reared as a songster ; it is larger
than the hwa mi, and often carried out upon a perch by native
gentlemen in their strolls. There is a species of thrush (Tardus
violaceus), " with the feathers of the head, neck, breast, and wing-
coverts steel-blue, and a white spot 011 the wings which is also
an attendant of their leisure hours. A party of Chinese gentle¬
men are not unfrequently seen, each with a cage or perch in his
hands, seated on the grass, or rambling over the fields actively
engaged in catching grasshoppers for their pets. The spectacle
thrush, so designated " because its eyes are surrounded bv a
black circle bearing a fancied resemblance to a pair of specta¬
cles," is also reared in captivity. But the favorite song-bird is
the lark, of which there are three sorts reared for sale ; it is
called peh liner, i. e. " hundred-spirit bird," from its activity and
melody. Twenty-five or thirty dollars is not an uncommon
price to pay for a famous songster.
The mino-bird, or Indian grackle, is sometimes brought to Can¬
ton, but has not been seen wild in that region. It is remarkable for
the yehow caruncles which extend from the back of the eve to-
260
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
wai is the occiput, and look somewhat like ears. The swallow
h a favorite with the Chinese, and builds its nest unmolested in
their dwellings under the unceiled roofs. Sparrows and crows
are common about Canton ; the former are exceedingly abundant
and troublesome from their depredations in gardens. The crow
is larger than the common species, and remarkable for a white
ring about the neck ; he is regarded as a sacred bird, either from
a service rendered by one of his race to the ancestors of the pre¬
sent monarchs, like that given by the spider to Mohammed, or
because he is an emblem of filial duty, from a notion that the
young assist their parents when disabled. Two or three species
of warblers or robins are domesticated for their musical powers,
and the Java sparrow is taught to perform many tricks, one of
which is often exhibited by the bird-fanciers at Canton, who shuf¬
fle a pack of cards, and then present them to the bird to pick out
the one previously shown it.
The red-billed magpie is a beautiful bird. " Its size exceeds
the common English bird, and the great length of its tail bestows
upon it a more slender and elegant aspect. The prevailing co¬
lors are blue, with bars of black and white. When seen amid
the foliage of trees, it forms an ornamental and conspicuous ob¬
ject, flitting from bough to bough with its long and flowing tail,
its whole form full of grace, and vivacity in every movement."*
There are also several other species of crows, jays, and magpies,
one of which is the blue crow observed by Pallas in Siberia.
The habits of the cuckoo of laying its eggs in the nests of other
birds, and thus avoiding all maternal cares of its own, are known
to the Chinese; it is called kuku as with us, in imitation of its
note. In the fens and rice-grounds of the south, a beautifully
variegated kind of kingfisher, not much larger than a sparrow,
called fi tsui by the Chinese, builds its nest; the plumage is red
and green mixed with blue on the breast. It is much sought af¬
ter for its feathers, which are employed for many ornamental
purposes. A very tasteful specimen of art is sometimes made
by first forming a miniature landscape within a box of wood and
pasteboard, and then covering the houses, fields, and other parts
with these lustrous feathers, placing a few figures of men and
cattle to fill up the scene. The tools employed in this beautiful
kind of Mosaic are merely two or three chisels and knives, and a
* Gould's Century of Birds; Murray's China, Vol. II., page 417
MANY SPECIES OF PHEASANTS.
261
brush filled with gum or glue. The vane of the plumes o. par¬
rots is too coarse for this purpose, but that of the tiny avedavat
is ofte : employed, as well as the kingfisher.
The parrot is a native of China, but the birds of this tribe sold
in the streets of Canton, as macaws, cockatoos, loris, and parro-
keets, are mostly brought from the Archipelago. Not so the
magnificent species of pheasants, which have so long been the
ornament of aviaries, most of which come from China. The
gold and silver pheasants are now so extensively reared that it is
doubtful if they are found wild, though it is not improbable that
the latter still frequent the woods of the central provinces. The
prevailing colors of the golden pheasant arc yellow and red, fine¬
ly blending with each other in different shades. The silver
pheasant is larger than its rival, and more stately in its gait. Its
silvery back and tail only show the more beautifully in contrast
with the steel blue of the breast and belly, rendering the peh
hi.cn, as it is called by the Chinese, one of the most splendid birds
known. The females of both species present a remarkable con¬
trast by their plainness and humble bearing. The Pliasianus
superbus, or barred-tailed pheasant, is another magnificent mem¬
ber of this genus, remarkable for the great length of its tail fea¬
thers, some of which have been seen seven feet long, though com¬
monly not over four. They are barred with alternate white and
yellowish bands, and arc often seen in the caps of performers
acting the brave hero on the theatre. Its body is not so large or
showy as the silver pheasant, nor is the bird so graceful in its
movements. The first specimen was procured by the late Mr.
Beale in 1808, and four other cocks were purchased by him in
1831, of which part were taken to England by Mr. Reeves in
1832, and first made known to the naturalists there, and thence
called Reeves' pheasant. The female has not been described.
China also affords the argus pheasant, or a species allied to it,
for the natives have founded their fung-hwang or phcenix upon
it. It is called the argus pheasant from the great number of
eyes on its tail and wing feathers, and its plumage gives it a
much larger size than any others of the family. " This great
apparent size arises chiefly from the peculiar formation of the
wings, of which the secondaries arc three times the length of the
quill-feathers, being nearly three feet long. In consequence of
this unwieldy extent of that portion of the wing which is not un<
262
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
der the power of much muscular action, the bird is alleged to be
almost entirely destitute of the power of flight. Its pace, how.
ever, when running on the ground, is greatly accelerated, the
expanded secondaries acting as powerful sails, and furnishing a
very fleet and effectual mode of transportation. In its plumy
state, it measures about five feet three inches, the tail being
nearly four feet long." This description is taken from the Ja¬
vanese bird, but is also nearly applicable to the Chinese species.
The peacock pheasant is the only bird which can compete with
it for gaiety of apparel, but this is a much smaller kind, though
exceedingly beautiful. The medallion pheasant, sometimes
called the iris peacock, is another elegant bird, " so called from
a beautiful membrane of resplendent colors on the neck, which
is displayed or contracted according as the cock is more or less
roused. The hues are chiefly purple, with bright red and green
spots, which vary in intensity according to the degree of excite¬
ment, and become developed during the early spring months or
pairing season." It has tufts of feathers near the ears, whence
it is also called the horned pheasant. It freely breeds in cap¬
tivity, but is kept only for its beauty.
The peacock is reared in many parts of China, and has long
been known to the people, though it is not a native of the country.
The use of the tail feathers to designate official rank, which pro¬
bably causes a large consumption of them annually, does not
date previous to the last dynasty. Poultry is reared in immense
quantities, and its flesh at Canton is of a poor quality. There
is one variety, called the silken cock, which has the vane of the
feathers so minutely divided that it resembles curly hair rather
than feathers; the color is generally a plain black. This is
probably the same variety described by some writers as having
wool like sheep. The other wild fowl of the gallinaceous order,
as partridges, francolins, quails, woodcocks, &c., are plenty in
most parts of China; and are captured both for sale and for the
table. The turkey has been introduced about Canton, but is not
reared to any great extent. The Chinese quail is brown above,
sprinkled with black spots and white lines; the throat black, with
a white arch, and the central part of the abdomen chestnut. It
is reared for fighting, as cocks are in other countries, as well as
eaten. Doves are domesticated, but not to a very great extent;
pigeons, turtles, and ring-doves, are commor in most parts of the
GAME BIRDS AND WATER FOWL.
263
provinces; one of the most beautiful species of this family is the
rose pigeon ; the Surat turtle is also found in the southern part
of the country.
Snipes, and many species of the extensive family of waders,
are among the most common of the feathered race in China. The
plover, or Goa lapwing, enjoys a very extensive range from India
to the shores of the Yellow sea. A delicate species of ortolan or
rice bird is common in the markets of Canton, in the month of
October. Ilerons, egrets, storks, paddy birds, cranes, curlews,
and most of the long legged waders, or grallatores, are sought
after for food in the marshes and upon banks of rivers in the
eastern and southern provinces. Two elegant species of crane of
a slender contour and pure white plumage, are common in the
markets of Canton, where they are exposed for sale on stands
with their eyelids sewed together. The singular jacana is also
a native of China, " distinguished not less by the grace of its form
than its adaptation to the localities which nature has allotted it.
Formed for traversing the morass and lotus-covered surface of the
water, it supports itself upon the floating weeds and leaves by
the extraordinary span of the toes, aided by the unusual lightness
of its body. Like the moor-hen, of whose habits and manners it
largely partakes, it is doubtless capable of swimming, the long
and pendent tail feathers being elevated so as not to dip in the
water. In powers of flight it appears deficient, the wings being
short, and the quills terminated by a slender appendage proceed¬
ing from the tip of the shafts."* The stork is considered to be,
with the tortoise and fir tree, one of the emblems of longevity,
and the three are grouped together on visiting cards at newyear
in a pretty picture, implying the wish that there may be many
happy returns of the season.
The fenny margins of lakes and rivers, and the marshes on the
sea-coasts, afford both food and shelter to innumerable flocks of
water-fowl. The banks along the wide delta of the Pearl river,
and the islands in it, are frequented by immense flocks of geese,
teal, ducks, and other birds ; and they are likewise very abun¬
dant and tame along the inland water-courses. Ducks arc some¬
times caught by persons who first cover their heads with a gourd
r»ierced with holes, and then wade into the water where the birds
" Gould's Century of Birds.
264
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
are feeding ; these, previously accustomed to empty calabashes
floating about on the water, allow the fowler to approach, and are
pulled under without difficulty. The wild goose caught on the
shores of the Pearl river, and the common goose of Chinese farm
yards, do not differ much, both of them being a plain ashy grey
color, with a large knob at the base of the upper mandible ; the
domesticated species is almost too gross for the table, from the
ease with which it fattens. This bird and the mandarin duck are
both considered as emblems of conjugal fidelity, and a pair of one
or the other usually form part of wedding processions. The
epithet mandarin is applied to this beautiful fowl, and also to a
species of orange, simply because of their excellence and beauty
over other species of the same genus, and not, as some writers
have inferred, because they are appropriated to officers of
government.
The yuen-yang, as the Chinese call this duck, is a native
of the central provinces, and is reared chiefly for its beauty. It
is one of the most variegated birds known, vying with the hum¬
ming birds and parrots in the diversified tints of its plumage, if it
does not equal them for brilliancy. The drake is the object of
admiration, his partner being remarkably plain and unpretending,
but during the summer season he also loses much of his gay ves¬
ture. Mr. Bennet tells a pleasant story in proof of the conjugal
fidelity of these birds, the incidents of which occurred in Mr.
Beale's aviary at Macao. A drake was stolen one night, and
the duck displayed the strongest marks of despair at her loss,
retiring into a corner, and refusing all nourishment, as if deter-
mined to starve herself to death from grief. Another drake
undertook to comfort the disconsolate widow, but she declined
his attentions, and was fast becoming a martyr to her attachment,
when her mate was recovered and restored to her. Their reunion
was celebrated by the noisiest demonstrations of joy, and the duck
soon informed her lord of the gallant proposals made to her during
his absence; in high dudgeon, he instantly attacked the luckless
bird who would have supplanted him, and so maltreated him as to
cause his death.
The aviary here mentioned was for many years one of the
principal attractions of Macao. Its owner, Mr. Thomas Beale,
had erected a wire cage on one side of his house, having two
apartments, each of them about fifty feet high, and containing
MANDARIN DUCK AND BEALE's AVIARY.
265
several large trees ; small cages and roosts were placed on the
side of the house under shelter, and in one corner a pool afforded
bathing conveniences to the water-fowl. The genial climate of
the place obviated the necessity of any covering over the aviary,
and only those species which would agree to live quietly together
were allowed the free range of the two apartments. The great
attraction of the collection was a living bird of paradise, which, at
the time of the owner's death, in 1840, had been in his possession
eighteen years, and enjoyed good health at that time. The col¬
lection at one time contained nearly thirty specimens of the dif¬
ferent species of pheasants, and besides these splendid birds,
there were upwards of one hundred and fifty others, of different
sorts, some in cages, or on perches, and the rest loose in the
aviary. In one corner, a large cat had a hole, where she reared
a litter of yoang; her business was to guard it from the de¬
predations of rats. A magnificent peacock from Damaun, a
large assortment of macaws and cockatoos, a pair of magpies,
two of the superb crowned pigeons from Amboyna, one of whom
moaned itself to death on the decease of its mate, and several of
the Nicobar ground pigeons, were also among the attractions of
this curious and valuable collection. On the melancholy death
of its proprietor, it passed into the hands of those who could not
afford the leisure necessary to keep it up, and the birds gradually
died out, or were scattered.
The other birds which demand notice in this sketch, for their
elegance or rarity, arc few. A pretty species of grebe, called
shwui nu, or " water slave," is common around Macao. The same
region affords sustenance to the pelican, which is sometimes seen
standing motionless for hours on the rocks, or sailing on easy wing
over the shallows in search of food. Its plumage is nearly a
pure white, except the black tips of the wings ; its height is about
four feet, and the expanse of the wings more than eight feet.
The bill is flexible like whalebone, and the pouch susceptible of
great dilatation. Gulls, fish-hawks, and other sea-fowl, are abun¬
dant on the coasts, while the cormorant is extensively used in
the eastern provinces for catching fish.
There are four fabulous animals spoken of by the Chinese,
which are so often referred to by them as to demand a passing
notice. The unicorn, or ki-lin, is one of these, and is placed at
the head of all hairy animals ; as the fung-hwang, or phoenix, is
13
266
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
pre-eminent among the feathered races ; the dragon and tortoise
among the scaly and shelly tribes; and man among naked ani-
mals! The naked, hairy, feathered, shelly, and scaly tribes,
constitute the quinary system of ancient Chinese naturalists.
The kilin is described as resembling a stag in its body, and a
horse in its hoofs, but possessing the tail of an ox, and a parti¬
colored skin. A single horn proceeds out of the forehead, having
a fleshy tip. Besides these external marks of beauty, it exhibits
great benevolence of disposition towards other living animals,
and appears only when wise and just kings, like Yau and Shun,
or sages like Confucius, are born, to govern and teach mankind.
The Chinese description of the kilin presents many resemblances
to the popular notices of the unicorn, and the independent origin
of their account adds something to the probability, that a single
horned equine or cervine animal has once existed.*
The phoenix of Arabian story is a kind of eagle, but thefung.
hwang of Chinese legends is a sort of pheasant, adorned with
every color, and combining in its form and motions whatever is
elegant and graceful, as well as possessing such a benevolent
disposition, that it will not peck or injure living insects, nor tread
on growing herbs. It has not been seen since the halcyon days
of Confucius, and from the account given of it seems to have
been entirely fabulous, though bearing a greater resemblance to
the argus pheasant than any other bird. The etymology of the
name implies, that it is the emperor of all birds ; and as is the
unicorn among quadrupeds, so is the phoenix the most honorable
among the feathered tribes. One Chinese author describes it
" as resembling a wild swan before, and a unicorn behind ; it has
the throat of a swallow, the bill of a fowl, the neck of a snake,
the tail of a fish, the forehead of a crane, the crown of a man¬
darin drake, the stripes of a dragon, and the vaulted back of a
tortoise. The feathers have five colors, which are named after
the five cardinal virtues, and it is five cubits in height; the tail
is graduated like Pandean pipes, and its song resembles the music
of that instrument, having five modulations." A beautiful orna¬
ment for a lady's head-dress is sometimes made in the shape of
the fung-hwang, and somewhat resembles a similar ornament,
imitating the vulture, worn by the ladies of ancient Egypt.
* Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., page 213.
FOUR FABULOUS ANIMALS OF CHINESE.
267
The lung or dragon is a familiar object on articles made by
the Chinese, and furnishes a comparison among them for every¬
thing terrible, imposing, and powerful ; and being taken as the
imperial coat of arms, consequently imparts these ideas to his
person and state. The type of the dragon is probably the boa
constrictor or sea-serpent, or some other similar monster, though
the researches of geology have brought to light such an exact
counterpart of the lung of the Chinese, in the iguanadon, as to
tempt one to believe that that might have been the prototype.
There are three dragons, the lung in the sky, the li in the sea,
and the kiau in the marshes. The first is the only authentic spe¬
cies, according to the Chinese : it has the head of a camel, the
horns of a deer, eyes of a rabbit, ears of a cow, neck of a snake,
belly of a frog, scales of a carp, claws of a hawk, and palm of
a tiger. On each side of the mouth are whiskers, and its beard
contains a bright pearl ; the breath is sometimes changed into
water and sometimes into fire, and its voice is like the jingling of
copper pans. The dragon of the sea occasionally ascends to
heaven in water-spouts, and is the ruler of all oceanic phenome¬
na.* The dragon is worshipped and feared by Chinese fisher¬
men, and the superstition of all classes towards it is probably a
modified relic of the wide-spread serpent worship of ancient
times. The Chinese suppose that elfs, demons, and other super¬
natural beings often transform themselves into snakes ; and M.
Julien has translated a fairy story of this sort, called Blanche et
Bleue. The tortoise has so few fabulous qualities attributed to
it, that it hardly comes into the list; it was, according to the
story, an attendant on Pwanku when he chiselled out the world.
A celebrated book in Chinese literature, called the Slian-hai
King, or Memoirs upon the Mountains and Seas, contains pictures
and descriptions of these and kindred monsters, from which the
people now derive most of their notions respecting them, the
book having served to embody and fix for the whole nation what
the writer found floating about in the popular legends of particu.
lar localities.
The larger lizards have not been noticed in China, though the
crocodile is found both in India and Siam, on nearly the same
latitude as Kwangtung. It may however once have inhabited
* Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., page 250.
213S
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
the rivers of the Middle Kingdom, for the character ngoli is evi
dently an original word, and Marco Palo describes a huge ser¬
pent which he had not seen himself, but which seems to have
been intended for the crocodile. Small lizards abound in the
southern parts, and the variety and numbers of serpents, both
land and water, found in the maritime provinces are hardly ex¬
ceeded in any country in the world ; very few of them are poi¬
sonous. A species of Naja is the only venomous snake yet ob¬
served at Chusan, and there are only two commonly regarded as
such at Canton. One of these frequents the banks, and is driven
out of the drains and creeks near the river by high water into
the houses, when its bite not unfrequently proves fatal. A case
is mentioned by Bennet of a Chinese who was bitten by one and
died in a few hours ; the mashed head of the reptile had been
applied as a poultice to the wound, a mode of treatment which
had probably accelerated his death by mixing more of the poison
diluted in the animal's blood with the blood of the man. It is,
however, rare to hear of casualties from this source. This
snake is called " black and white," from being marked along its
body in alternate-bands of those two colors. A species of Acro-
chordon, remarkable for its abrupt short tail, has been noticed
near Macao.
All the forms of reptiles hitherto observed are tropical, except
the common frog, which, as might be supposed, is taken in great
numbers in the fields for food. Tortoises and turtles from fresh
and salt water, are plenty along the coast, and furnish food to
many people. Species of Emys and Trionyx are kept in tubs
in the streets, where they grow to a large size. The tortoise-
shell turtle is not found in the Chinese seas, and the shell worked
up by the clever carvers at Canton into such a variety of beau¬
tiful objects, is brought from the Archipelago.
The ichthyology of China is one of the richest in the world,
though it may be so, however, more from the greater proportion
of food furnished by the waters than from any real superabun¬
dance of the finny tribes. The offal thrown out from the boats
near cities must tend to attract some kinds of fish to those places.
Several large collections of preserved fishes have been made in
Canton, and Mr. Reeves has deposited one of the richest in the
British Museum, together with a series of drawings made by
native artists from living specimens ; they have been described
REPTILES AND CARTILAGINOUS FISHES.
268
by Dr. John Richardson in the Report of the British Association
ft r the Advancement of Science for 1845. The variety of fish
is so great in Macao, that if one is willing to eat all that are
brought to market, as the Chinese do, including the sharks, tor¬
pedoes, rays, gudgeons, &c., he can have a different species every
day in the year. It may with truth be said, that the Chinese eat
nearly every living thing found in the water, some of the hideous
fishing frogs or gurnards alone excepted.
The cartilaginous fishes, including many genera of sharks,
rays, and sturgeons, are abundant on the sea-coast. The stur¬
geon is not common at the south, but is highly prized by Chinese
epicures for its gelatinous nature, and the stew made from its
flesh is very palatable. The hammer-headed shark (Sphyrna
zygocna), and the zebra shark (Cestracion zebra), are seen in the
markets at the south; and also immense skates, some of them
measuring five feet across ; their viviparous young are regarded
as a delicacy. A member of the family of torpedoes (Narcir.8
lingula) is not uncommon in the seas on the southern coast, but
the natives do not seem to be aware of its electrical properties.
It is said the fishermen off Macao sometimes destroy the shark
by boiling a melon, and throwing it out as a bait; when swal¬
lowed, the heat is so great as to kill the fish. The true cod has
not been observed on the Chinese coast, but several species of
Serrani (as Plectropoma susuki, Serranus shihpan, mcgachir, &c.),
generally called shili-pan by the natives, and garoupa by foreign¬
ers, are common about Macao, and considered the most delicate
flavored of any in the markets. Another common and delicious
fish is the Polynemus tetradactylus or bynni-carp, usually called
salmon by foreigners ; isinglass is prepared from its skin. The
pomfret, or tsang yu of the natives (Stromateus argenteus), is a
good pan-fish, but not so delicate as the sole fish, many species
of which abound in the shallows off the Bogue. Two or three
species of mackerel, the Scicena lucida, an ophicephalus, the
mullet, the " white rice fish," and a kind of shad, complete the
list of good table fish found in the markets of Canton.
The family of the carps (Cyprinidce) is very abundant in the
rivers and lakes of China, and some species are reared in fish-
pools and tubs to a monstrous size ; fifty-two species are men¬
tioned in Richardson's list. The gold fish is the most celebrated
of this family, and has been introduced from Chma into Europe,
270
THE MIEILE KINGDOM.
where it was first seen towards the end of the seventeenth cen¬
tury. The effects of culture and domestication in changing the
natural form of this fish are as great as is sometimes seen in ani¬
mals ; specimens are often seen without any dorsal fin, and the
tail and other fins tufted and lobed to such a degree as to resem¬
ble artificial appendages or wings rather than natural organs.
The eyes are developed till the globe projects beyond the socket
like goggles, presenting an extraordinary appearance. Som > of
them are so fantastic, indeed, that they would be regarded as
lusus natura3, were they not so common. The usual color is a
ruddy golden hue, but both sexes exhibit a silvery or blackish
tint at certain stages of their growth ; and one variety, called the
silver fish, has this shade all its life. The Chinese keep this
beautiful fish in ponds in their gardens, or in large earthenware
jars, in which are placed rocks covered with moss, and over¬
grown with tufts of ferns, to afford them a retreat from the light.
When the females spawn, the eggs must be removed, lest the
males devour them, to a shallow vessel, until the heat of the sun
hatches them ; the young are nearly black, but gradually become
whitish or reddish, and at last assume a golden or silvery hue.
They are taken out of the water in a dish or shell, as handling
soon destroys them, nor do the persons who rear them place them
in glass vases. Specimens upwards of two feet long have been
noticed, but they are usually no longer in China than in Europe.
The rearing of fish is an important pursuit, and the spawn is
sometimes deposited in proper vessels, and placed in favorable
positions for hatching. The Bulletin Universel for 1829 asserts,
that in some part of China, the spawn so taken is carefully
placed in an empty egg-shell, and the hole closed; the egg is
then replaced in the nest, and after the hen has sat a few days
upon it, re-opened, and the spawn placed ia vessels of water
warmed by the sun, where it soon hatches.
One large species of fish, called hwang yil, or yellow fish, is
found in the Yangtsz' kiang, which is said to attain the extraor¬
dinary size of eight hundred pounds. The immense fleets of
fishing boats on this great stream and its tributaries indicate the
finny supplies its waters afford. A species of pipe fish (Fistula-
via immaculata), of a red color, and the gar pike, with green
bones, are found about Canton ; as are also numerous beautiful
chastodons, or sun-fish. An ingenious mode of taking its prey is
GOLD FISH AND OTHER KINDS REARED.
271
biuetised by a sort of chsetodon or chelmon ; it darts a drop cr
water at the flies or other insects lighting on the bank near the
edge, in such a manner as to knock them off, when they are
instantly devoured. Another common freshwater fish is the
Oplucephalus maculatus, or sang yu (i. e. living fish), remarkable
for its tenacity of life ; it is reared in pools, and carried about for
sale in shallow tubs, and cut up while still alive.
Eels, mullets, alewives or file-fish, gurnards, gudgeons, and
many other kinds, are seen in the markets, the recapitulation of
whose names would afford little information of a popular kind.
Few things eaten by the Chinese look more repulsive than the
gudgeons, or gobies, as they lie wriggling in the slime which
keeps them alive. One species (Trypauchen vagina) called cliu
pill yu,, or vermilion pencil fish, by the Chinese, is a cylindrical
fish, six or eight inches long, of a dark red color, which inhabits
the muddy banks of the rivers. Some kinds of gobies construct
little hillocks in the ooze, with a depression on the top, in which
they remain as if watching for their prey ; at low tide they are
seen skipping about 011 the banks with great vigor, and are easily
captured with the hand. A delicious tasted species of carp, or
Salmo (Lcucosoma Ckinensis), called pill fan yu, or white rice
fish, is abundant at Canton in the winter. The body is scaleless
and transparent, so that the muscles, intestines, and spinal column
can be seen without dissection ; the bones of the head are thin,
flexible, and diaphanous. It grows six or eight inches long, and
is eaten whole, after simple evisceration. Many species of file-
fish, sole-fish, anchovy, and eels, are captured on the coasts oft*
the Canton river.
Shell-fish and mollusks, both fresh and salt, are abundant in
the market, but they have not been examined scientifically.
Oysters of a good quality are common along the coast, and a
species of Mactra, or sand clam, is fished up near Macao. The
Pearl river affords two or three kinds of freshwater shell-fish,
of the genus My til us, which are obtained by dredging. The
prawns, shrimps, crabs, craw-fish, and other kinds of crustacea
met with, are not less abundant than palatable ; one species of
craw-fish, as large, but not taking the place of the lobster, called
Jung hai, or dragon crab, cuttle-fish of three or four kinds, and
the large king-crab (Polyphemus), are all eaten by the natives,
though not relished by others. The inland waters produce
272
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
many species of shells, and the new genus Theliclerma, allied to
the Unio, was formed by Mr. Benson of Calcutta, from speci¬
mens obtained of a shopkeeper at Canton. The land shells are
abundant, especially various kinds of snails, and are not alto¬
gether unknown as articles of food. A catalogue of nearly
sixty shells obtained in Canton, is given in Murray's China
(Vol. iii., page 445), but it is doubtful whether more than a
majority of them are found in the country, as the shops at Can¬
ton are supplied in a great degree from the Indian Archipelago.
Shells are common along the coast ; Doct. Cantor mentions
eighty-eight genera occurring between Canton and Chusan.
Pearls are found in China, and Marco Polo speaks of a salt
lake, supposed now to be in Yunnan, which produced them in
such quantity that the fishery in his day was farmed out and
restricted lest they should become too cheap and common ; but
such is not now the case, judging from the numbers annually
imported from India. The Quarterly Review speaks of an arti¬
ficial mode practised by the Chinese, of making pearls by drop¬
ping a string of small mother-of-pearl beads into the shell, which
in a year are covered with the pearly crust. Leeches are very
common, and much used by native physicians ; the hammer
headed leech has been noticed at Chusan.
The insects of China are equally unknown to the naturalist,
with the molluscous and crustaceous tribes. In Dr. Cantor's
collection, made at Chusan in 1840, there are fifty-nine genera
mentioned, among which tropical forms prevail; there are alsa
six genera of Arachnidse, and the list of spiders could easily be
multiplied to hundreds; among them are many of the most
splendid coloring. There is one so large and strong as to suc¬
cessfully attack small birds on the trees. Locusts sometimes
commit extensive ravages, and no part of the country is free
from their presence, though their depredations do not usually
reach over a great extent of country, or often for two years suc¬
cessively. They are, however, sufficiently troublesome to
attract the notice of the government, as the edict against them,
inserted in another chapter, proves. Centipedes, scorpions, and
some other species in the same order, are known in China, but
except the first, none of them give the inhabitants any trouble.
The most valuable insect to the Chinese is the silkworm,
which is extensively reared in nearly every province. There
MANY SPECIES OF SHELLS AND INSECTS.
273
are many other insects of the same order (Lepidoplerce), com-
mon, but those sent abroad have been mostly from the province
of Ivwangtung. Eastward of the city of Canton, on a range of
hills called Lofau shan, there are butterflies of large size, and
night moths of immense size and brilliant coloring, which are
captured for transmission to court, and for sale. One of these
insects (Bombyx atlas), " measures about nine inches across ;
the ground color is a rich and varied orange brown, and in the
centre of each wing there is a triangular transparent spot,
resembling a piece of mica." Sphinxes of great beauty and
size, though not so large as this, are common around Canton,
and in their splendid coloring, rapid noiseless flight from flower
to flower, at the close of the day, remind one of the humming¬
bird.
Many tribes of coleopterous insects are abundant in China, but
the number of species identified is hitherto very trifling. Seve¬
ral species of water beetles, and others included under the same
general designation, frequently occur in the collections sold at
Canton, but owing to the oareless manner in which those boxes
are made and filled, very few of the specimens contained in them
are perfect, the antennae or tarsi being in most cases broken.
The mole cricket occurs everywhere, and its stridulous chirp is
often heard from its burrow in the grass. The common cricket
is caught and sold in the markets for gambling, and persons of
high rank, as well as the vulgar, amuse themselves by irritating
two of these insects in a bowl, and betting upon the prowess of
their favorites. The cicada or broad locust is abundant about
Canton in summer, and its stridulous sound is heard from the
trees and groves with deafening loudness. Boys often capture the
male, and tie a straw around the abdomen so as to irritate the
sounding apparatus, and carry it through the streets in this pre¬
dicament, to the great annoyance of every one. This insect was
well known to the Greeks, and one distich of ancient date,
which runs,
" Happy the cicadas' lives,
For they all have voiceless wives,"
shows their knowledge of this sexual difference, as well as inti¬
mates their opinion of domestic quiet. It also forms the subject
of Meleager's invocation :
274
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
" 0 shrill-voiced insect! that with dew-drops meet,
Inebriate, dost in desert woodlands sing ;
Perch'd on the spray top with indented feet,
Thy dusky body's echoings harp-like ring."
The lantern-fly (Fulgora) is less common than the cicacla al
Canton, but more abundant further north. It is easily recognised
by its long cylindrical snout, arched in an upward direction, its
greenish reticulated elytra, and orange-yellow wings with black
extremities. Its appearance when seen flitting through the skirts
of a thicket or grove, in the summer evenings, is very luminous,
imparting a brilliant aspect to the shades of evening. The peh
lah situ, or white wax tree, affords nourishment to an insect of
this order called Cicada limbala. " It is the larvce which furnish
the wax ; the fly was first observed by Staunton on the coast of
Cochinchina ; it has curious pectinated appendages on the back,
and the whole insect is covered with a white powder, which is
imparted to the stems of the plants it inhabits, and from whose
bark it is collected by the natives; hot vegetable oil is next ap¬
plied, and the whole when cold coagulates, and becomes as firm
as beeswax. It is used as a medicine, as well as made into can¬
dles. Wax is also made from wild and domestic bees, but honey
is not much used ; a casing of wax, colored with vermilion, is
used to inclose the tallow in a candle.
The Chinese Herbal contains a singular notion, prevalent also
in India, concerning the generation of the Sphex, or solitary
wasp. When the female lays her eggs in the clayey nidus she
makes in houses, she incloses the dead body of a caterpillar in
it for the subsistence of the worms when they are hatched.
Those who have observed her entombing the caterpillar, did not
look for the eggs, and immediately concluded that the Sphex took
the worm for her progeny, and say, that as she plastered up
the hole of the nest, she hummed a constant song over it, saying,
" Class with me! Class with me /"—and the transformation gra¬
dually took place, and was perfected in its silent grave by the
next spring, when a winged wasp emerged to continue its poste¬
rity tnc coming autumn, in the same mysterious way.
White ants are troublesome in the south, but they are not so
large as in Java, and their depredations are less extensive. They
form passages under ground, and penetrate upwards into the
woodwork of houses wherever it comes to the earth, and the
USES OF SEAWEEI* AND FUCI.
275
whole building may become infested with them almost before
their existence is suspected. They will eat their way into fruit
trees, cabbages, and other plants, destroying them while in full
vigor. Many of the internal arrangements of the nests of bees
and ants, and their peculiar instincts, have been described by
the Chinese writers with considerable accuracy. The composi¬
tion of the characters for the bee, ant, and musquito, respectively,
denote the awl insect, the righteous insect, and the lettered insect;
referring thereby to the sting of the first, the orderly marching
and subordination of the second, and the letter-like markings on
the wings of the last. Musquitoes are plenty in all parts of China,
and gauze curtains are considered by the people as a more ne¬
cessary part of bed furniture than a mattress.
The botany of China is rather better known than its zoology,
though compared with what has been ascertained of the flora of
other countries, it is nearly undescribed. Two or three species of
pine are floated down the Pearl river to Canton, in rafts, taken
from the Mei ling, or brought from Kwangsl; the timber is used
for fuel, and the rafters and pillars in buildings. The wood of
the Melia, or pride of India, is commonly employed for cabinet¬
work in Canton ; there arc also many kinds of fancy wood seen
in the markets, some of which are imported, but most of them
indigenous. A kind of cedar, called nan muh, or southern wood,
which resists time and insects, is considered peculiarly valuable,
and especially reserved for imperial use and buildings. The
rose wood and aigle wood, and the timber of' the bastard banian,
are also serviceable for various purposes in carpentry.
The people collect seaweed on the coast to a great extent,
using it in the arts and also for food. Among these the Gigar-
tina tcnax is mentioned as affording an excellent material for
glues and varnishes. It is simply boiled, and the transparent
glue obtained is brushed upon a porous kind of paper called sha
clii, which it renders nearly transparent. It is also used as a
size for stiffening silks and gauze, and extensively employed in
the manufacture of lanterns, and in the preparation of paper for
lattices and windows. This and other kinds of fuci, are boiled
down to a jelly by the islanders on the south, and extensively
used for food ; it is known in commerce under the name of agar-
agar. Among other cryptogamous plants from China, the Tarta¬
rean lamb (Aspidium barometz), so enthusiastically described by
2/6
TIIE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Darwin in his Botanic Garden, has long been celebratec ; it ia
partly an artificial production of the ingenuity of Chinese gar.
deners taking advantage of the natural habits of the plant, to
form it into a shape resembling a sheep, or other object.
The list of gramineous plants cultivated for food is large, of
which the common sorts include both upland and aquatic rice,
wheat, barley, and oats, the Barbadoes millet, and panicled millet,
of which several varieties are noticed by the Chinese, and sugar
cane. There is a kind of grass (Coix lachryma) extensively cul¬
tivated in the south for weaving floor-matting of various degrees
of fineness, the coarser kinds of which are used also for con¬
structing sheds to screen workmen when building houses, and
even the walls of the huts tenanted by the poor ; the best comes
from Lientan, west of Canton. No grasses are cultivated foi
food for animals, but the country produces many species fitted
for rearing flocks and herds. A species of Andropogon and one
of Arundo, grow upon the hills around Canton, which are cu
every autumn by the poor for fuel ; when the hills are wel
sheared of their grassy covering, the stubble is set on fire, itt
order to supply ashes for manuring the next crop,—an operation
which tends to keep the hills bare of all shrubbery and trees.
The bamboo is cultivated about villages for its pleasant shade ana
beauty, and a grove furnishes from year to year culms of all
sizes for the various uses to which it is applied. No plant im¬
parts so oriental and rural an aspect to a garden or village as the
clumps of this graceful and stately grass ; the stalks shoot up
their wavy plumes to the height of fifty feet and upward, and
swaying themselves to every breeze, form an object of great
elegance, well befitting so useful a plant.
This plant may well be called useful, for it is applied by the
Chinese to such a vast variety of purposes, some of them indeed
better accomplished elsewhere by different materials, that it may
justly be ca led their national plant. It is reared from shoots
and suckers, but after it has once rooted, is not much attended
to , the common yellow species extends over all the southern and
eastern provinces, but the varieties mentioned by Chinese writers
amount to sixty, of which the black skinned sort used in making
furniture, and the low, fine branched one affording the slender
twigs employed in the manufacture of writing pencils, are the best
known. The tender shoots are cultivated for food, and are, when
MANY USES MADE OF THE BAMBOO.
27?
four or five inches high, boiled, pickled, and comfited, but not
the " tender buds and flowers, cut like asparagus," as repre¬
sented by Murray. The roots are carved into fantastic images
of men, birds, monkeys, or monstrous perversions of animated
nature ; cut into lantern-handles and canes, or turned into oval
sticks for worshippers to divine whether the gods will hear or
refuse their petitions. The tapering culms are used for all pur.
poses that poles can be applied to in carrying, supporting, pro¬
pelling, and measuring, by the porter, the carpenter, and the
boatman ; foi the joists of houses and the ribs of sails ; the
shafts of spears and the wattles of hurdles ; the tubes of aque¬
ducts, and the handles and ribs of umbrellas and fans.
The leaves are sewed upon cords to make rain cloaks, swept
into heaps to form manure, and matted into thatches to cover
houses. Cut into splinths and slivers of various sizes, the wood
is worked into baskets and trays of every form and fancy,
twisted into cables, plaited into awnings, and woven into mats for
scenery of the theatre, the roofs of boats, and the casing of
goods. The shavings, even, are picked into oakum, and mixed
with those of rattan, to be stuffed into mattresses. The bamboo
furnishes the bed for sleeping, and the couch for reclining; the
chopsticks for eating, the pipe for smoking, and the flute for en¬
tertaining ; a curtain to hang before the door, and a broom to
sweep around it; together with screens, stools, stands, and sofas
for various uses of convenience and luxury in the house. The
mattress to lie upon, the chair to sit upon, the table to dine from,
food to eat, and fuel to cook it with, are alike derived from it:—•
the ferule to govern the scholar, and the book he studies, both
originate here. The tapering barrels of the sang, or organ, and
the dreaded instrument of the lictor—one to make harmony and
the other to strike dread ; the skewer to pin the hair, and the hat
to screen the head ; the paper to write on, the pencil-handle to
write with, and the cup to hold the pencils; the rule to measure
lengths, the cup to gauge quantities, and the bucket to draw
water; the bellows to blow the fire, and the bottle to retain the
match; the bird-cage and crab-net, the fish-pole and sumpitan,
the water-wheel and eave-duct, wheelbarrow and hand-cart, &c.,
&c., are one and all furnished or completed by this magnificent
grass, whose graceful beauty when growing is comparable to its
varied usefulness when cut down.
278
THE MI-DLE KINGDOM.
China could hardly be governed without the constant applic.a
tion of the bamboo, nor the people get along in their daily pur.
suits without it. It serves to embellish the garden of the prince,
and shade the hamlets of the peasant, compose the hedge which
separates their grounds, assist in constructing the tools to work
their lands, and feed the cattle which labor upon them; anl
lastly, as the Chinese verily believe, brings forth its seeds in
years of famine to supply the deficiencies of other crops. There
is nothing they paint and draw so well, and its siliceous tubes
furnish an admirable material for the display of their skill in
carving and writing.*
O o
Palms are not abundant in southern China, although many spe¬
cies have been noticed. The cocoanut flourishes in Hainan and
the adjacent coast; and the fan-leaf palm (Raphis) is cultivated
for its leaves. The rattan has been said to be a native of China,
but this requires proof; all that used at Canton for manufac¬
turing purposes is brought, together with the betel-nut, also the
fruit of a palm, from Borneo and the Archipelago. The date
palm is not known in China. The pandanus, or screw-pine, is
common along the southern coasts, extending north as far as Lew-
chew. The Chinese occasionally eat its cones, and plant it for
hedges—the singular fructification, shooting out roots along the
ground wherever moisture and soil favor their development, and
its spinous rough leaves, growing upwards in clumps, adapting it
for this purpose. The wiry fibres of the bracts of the Raphis
are separated into threads and used largely for making ropes,
cables, twine, brooms, hats, sandals, and even dresses or cloaks
for rainy weather.
Several species of the Aroidece are cultivated for food, among
which the Caladium ciiculatum, Arum esculentum and Indicum, are
the most common. The tuberous roots of the Sagittaria Sinen¬
sis also contain much farinaceous matter, and are esteemed for
their food ; the taste resembles that of the preceding, and all
grow in marshy lands. The roots of these plants, and of the
water-chestnut, are manufactured into a powder resembling
arrow-root, much in request among the people. The sweet-flag
(Calamus) is used in medicine to a great extent for its spicy
warmth. The stems of a small species of Juncus are collected
* Chinese Commercial Guide, 2d edition, page 132. Chinese Repository,
Vol. III., page 201
PALMS, YAM, PLANTAIN, ETC.
279
from the swampy grounds, and the pith carefully taken out and
used by the poor for " lamp-hearts," or lampwicks.
The extensive group of Liliales or lilies contains many splen¬
did ornaments of the conservatory and garden, natives of China,
besides some which are articles of food. The Agapanthus or
blue African lily, four species of Ilemerocallis or day lily, and
the fragrant tuberose, are all common about Canton ; the latter
is cultivated in large patches to supply the demand for its fra¬
grant blossoms. Eight or ten species of Lilium, among which
the speckled tiger lily and the unsullied white are conspicuous,
also add their gay beauties to the gardens ; while the modest
Commelina, with its delicate blue blossoms, ornaments the hedges
and walks. Many alliaceous plants, including the onion, cives,
garlic, &c., belong to this group • and the Chinese relish them
for the table as much as they admire the flowers of their beau¬
teous and fragrant congeners for bouquets. The singular red-
leaved iron-wood (Dracana) is a member of this group ; it is
chiefly noticeable for its long red leaves. The aloe is common
near Canton, but little or no cordage is obtained from its leaves.
The yam is not much raised in China, though its wholesome
qualities as an article of food are well understood ; its native
name is ta shu, meaning the great potatoe. The same group
(Musales) to which the yam belongs, furnishes the custard-apple,
one of the few fruits which have been introduced into China from
abroad ; the people call it fan lichi, or foreign h'chl, and are
irobably indebted to the Portuguese for it. The family of the
Amaryllidce is represented by many pretty species of Crinum,
Nerine, and Amaryllis; all of which are common in gardens.
Their useless beauty is compensated by the plain but useful
plantain, said to stand next to the sago-palm, as producing the
greatest amount of wholesome food in proportion to its size, of
any cultivated plant. The plantain does not, however, furnish the
Chinese so great a proportion of food as it does the inhabitants of
the Archipelago or South America, though it is the common sum¬
mer fruit in Canton.
That pleasant stomachic, ginger, is cultivated through all the
interior, and exposed for sale in the streets as a green vegetable;
it is employed when fresh, to spice dishes, besides being made
into a preserve for exportation. The Alpinia and Canna, or
Indian shot, both belonging to the same family as the ginger, are
280
THE M.DDLE KINGDOM.
common garden flowers. The large group of Orchidese has no
less than nineteen genera known to be natives of China, among
which the air plants (Vanda and JErides) are great favorites.
They are suspended in baskets under the trees, and continue to
unfold their blossoms in gradual succession for many weeks, all
the care necessary being to sprinkle them daily. The true
species of iErides are among the most beautiful productions of
the vegetable world, their flowers being arrayed in long racemes
of delicate colors and delicious fragrance. The beautiful
Bletia, Arundina, Spathoglottis, and Cymbidium, are common in
damp and elevated places about the islands near Macao and
Hongkong.
Many species of the pine, cypress, and yew, forming the three
subdivisions of conebearing plants, exist in China, and furnish a
large proportion of the timber and fuel. The larch was observed
by the embassies, and also the Prims massoniana, to be common
on the hills; the pines about Canton seldom attain their full
growth. The juniper and thuja are often selected by gardeners
to try their skill in forcing them to grow into rude representa¬
tions of birds and animals, the price of these curiosities being
proportioned to their grotesqueness and difficulty. The seeds of
the maiden-hair tree (Salisburia adiantifolia) form one of the
most common nuts in the north, and the leaves are sometimes
put into books as a preservative against insects.
The willow is a favorite and common plant in all parts of China
and grows to a great size, Staunton mentioning some which were
fifteen feet in girth ; he says they shaded the roads near the capi
tal, and it is well known they are seldom wanting from gardens
and sides of water-courses. Their leaves, foliage, and habits,
afford many metaphors and illustrations to poets and writers,
much more use being made of the tree in this way, it might
almost be said, than any other. The oak is less patronized by
fine writers, but the value of its wood and bark is well under¬
stood ; the country affords several species, some of which are
cultivated for burning into charcoal, and for fruit. The galls
are used for dyeing and in medicine, and the acorns of some
kinds, after cleaning off the husks, are ground in mills, and the
flour soaked in water and made into a farinaceous paste. Some
of the missionaries speak of oaks a hundred feet high, but those
hitherto observed have been under fifty. " One of the largest
FOKEST TREES, MULBERRY, HEMP, ETC.
281
and most interesting of these trees, which," writes Abel, " I have
called Quercus densifolia, resembled a laurel in its shining green
foliage. It bore branches and leaves in a thick head, crowning
a naked and straight stem ; its fruit grew along upright spikes
terminating the branches. Another species, growing to the height
of fifty feet, bore them in long pendulous spikes." The central
provinces produce these plants in the greatest abundance.
The chestnut, walnut, and hazelnut, are all natives of China;
their fruit is tolerable. The Tack-fruit (Artocarpus) is not un¬
known in the markets of Canton, but it is not much used. There
are many species of the banian or fig, but none of them produce
fruit worth plucking; the Portuguese have introduced the brown
fig into Macao, where it flourishes; it is called wu hwa kwo,
meaning flowerless fruit. The bastard banian is a magnificent
shade tree, its branches sometimes overspreading an area a hun¬
dred or more feet across. The walls of cities and dwellings are
soon covered with the Ficus repens, and if left unmolested, its
roots gradually demolish them. One species of the mulberry
(Broussonetia) furnishes a good material for paper in the albur¬
num, which is carefully separated from the bark, and beaten to
a pulp, and when mixed with rice sizing, formed into sheets by
moulds. The largest portion of the paper used in Japan is manu¬
factured from this substance, but the Chinese usually employ
bamboo and cotton ; some of it is very fine and silky. The
leaf of the common mulberry is the principal , object of its cul¬
ture, but the fruit is eaten, and the wood burned for lampblack
used in making ink.
Ilemp is cultivated for its fibres, and the seeds furnish an oil
used for household purposes, and medicinal preparations ; but the
intoxicating substance called hang, made from it in India, is un¬
known in China. The family Proteaceoe contains the Dryandra
cordata, or wu-tung, one of the favorite trees of the Chinese, for its
beauty, the hard wood it furnishes, and the oil extracted from its
seeds. The nuts of the Jatropha and Croton, belonging to the
family of Euphorbiacetc, produce more oil than the seeds of the
Dryandra. Some is also obtained from the Sterculia, but tha
nuts of this splendid tree are not noxious like those of the Croton.
The celebrated tallow tree ( Slillingia) belongs to the same family ,
this symmetrical shaped tree is a native of all the eastern pro¬
vinces, and resembles the aspen in the form and color of the leaf,
28*2
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
and in its general contour. The castor-oil plant is cultivated iof
use, both in the kitchen and apothecaries' shop.
The order Hippurinse furnishes the water caltrops (Trapa),
the seeds of which are vended in the streets as a fruit, after boil¬
ing ; the native name is bujfatc-head fruit, which the unopened
nuts strikingly resemble. Black pepper is not a native of China,
but it is imported, not for a spice, but for the infusion, to be ad¬
ministered in fevers. The betel pepper is extensively cultivated
for its leaves, which are chewed with the betel-nut. Another
plant of the same tribe as pepper, viz. the cliulan (Chlornnt'lius
inconspicuus), furnishes the flowers which serve to scent some
sorts of tea. The pitcher plant (Nepenthes), called pig-basket
plant by the Chinese, is not unfrequent near Canton ; the leaves,
or ascidia, bear no small resemblance to the open baskets employed
for carrying hogs.
Many species of the tribe Rumicince are cultivated for their
leaves or seeds, as esculent vegetables, among which may be
enumerated spinach, green basil, beet, amaranthus, cockscomb,
buckwheat, &c. Two species of Polygonum are cultivated for
the blue dye furnished by the leaves, which is extracted like
indigo by maceration. Buckwheat is prepared for food by boiling
it like millet; its Chinese name means " triangular wheat."
The flour is also employed in pastry at Peking. The cockscomb
is much admired by the Chinese, whose gardens furnish several
splendid varieties. The rhubarb is a member of this useful tribe,
and large quantities are brought to Canton from the northern
provinces. The Chinese consider the rest of the world dependent
on them for tea and rhubarb, and their inhabitants forced to
resort thither to procure means to relieve themselves of an other¬
wise irremediable costiveness. This argument was actually
once made use of by Commissioner Lin, when recommending
certain restrictive regulations to be imposed upon the foreign
trade, because he supposed merchants from abroad would be
compelled to purchase them at any price.
The order Iliciiice, or holly, furnishes several genera of Rham-
neae, whose fruits are often seen on tables. The Zizyphus
produces the Chinese dates, and the fleshy peduncles of the
Hovenia are eaten ; the latter is quite common on Hongkong.
The leaves of the Rliamnus theezans are among the many plants
collected by the poorer Chinese, as a substitute for the true tea-
FRUIT TREES AND LEGUMES.
283
The Chinese olive is obtained from the Pimela, but it is a poor
substitute for the rich olive of Syria.
The widely diffused and extensive tribe of Leguminosce holds
an important place in Chinese botany, affording many esculent
vegetables and valuable products. Peas and beans form impor¬
tant objects of culture, and the condiment called soy (a word
derived from the Japanese soya), is prepared chiefly from a spe¬
cies of Doliclios. One of the commonest modes of making this
condiment is to skin the beans, and grind them to flour, which
is mixed with water and powdered gypsum, or turmeric. The
common Chinese eat few meals, without the addition of one form
or other of the bean curd or bean jelly. One genus of this tribe
affords indigo, and from the buds and leaves of a species of Colu-
tea a kind of green dye is said to be obtained. Liquorice is
highly esteemed in medicine; and the red seeds of the Abrus
precatorius are gathered for ornaments. The Poinciana and
Bauhinia are cultivated for their flowers, and the Erythrina and
Cassia are among the most magnificent flowering trees in the
country. The Arachis, or ground nut, is extensively cultivated
for its edible and oily seeds.
The fruits of the Chinese are, on the whole, inferior in flavor
and size to those of the same names at the west. The pears,
peaches, plums, and apricots, are all susceptible of great im¬
provement. There are several species of Amygdalus cultivated
for their flowers ; and at newyear in Canton, the budding stems
of the flowering almond, narcissus, plum, peach, and the Enld-
antlius rcticulatus, or bell-flower, are forced into blossom to exhibit,
as indicating good luck the coming year. The pears, apples,
and quinces, are generally destitute of that flavor looked for in
them elsewhere, but the loquat is a pleasant acid spring fruit.
The pomegranate is chiefly cultivated for its beauty as a flower¬
ing plant, and not as a fruit for the table; but the guava, and
Eugenia, or rose-apple, both of which belong to the same exten.
6ive tribe of Myrtince, are sold in the market, and made into
jellies. The rose is as great a favorite among the Chinese as
with other nations, and is extensively cultivated ; twenty species
are mentioned, together with many varieties, as natives of the
country ; one common at Amoy produces double flowers, desti¬
tute of perfume. The Spiraea or privet, myrtle, Quisqualis,
Lawsjnia or henna, white, purple, and red varieties of Lager-
J84
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
strcemia, Hydrangea, the passion-flower, and the house-lee.t, are
also among the ornamental plants found in gardens. Few trees
in any country present a more elegant appearance, when in full
flower, than the Lagerstroemias. The pride of India, and Chi¬
nese tamarix, are also beautiful flowering trees. The Cactus
and Cereus are grown in the south, and specimens of the latter,
containing fifty or more splendid flowers in full bloom, are not
unusual at Macao in the nights of August.
The watermelon, cucumber, squash, tomato, brinjal or egg.
plant, and other garden vegetables, are abundant; one of them,
the Benincasa cer fera, is the tallow-gourd, remarkable for having
its surface, when ripe, covered with a waxy exudation, which
smells like rosin. The dried bottle-gourd (Cucurbita lagenaria)
is tied to the backs of children on board the boats to assist them
in floating if they should unluckily fall overboard. The fruit
and leaves of the papaw, or mull kwa, " tree melon," are eaten,
after being cooked ; the Chinese are aware of the intenerating
property of the exhalations from the leaves of this tree, and
make use of them sometimes to soften the flesh of ancient hens
and cocks, by hanging the newly killed birds in the tree, or by
feeding them upon the fruit beforehand. The papaw tree seldom
attains its greatest size about Canton, on account of its slender
trunk being unable to resist the strong winds. The carambola
or tree gooseberry is much eaten by the Chinese, but is not
relished by foreigners ; the tree itself is of little use.
Ginseng is found wild in the forests of Liautung and Manchu¬
ria, where it is collected by detachments of soldiers and camp-
followers, specially detailed for this purpose ; the regions where
it grows are regarded as imperial preserves, and the medicine
itself is held as a governmental monopoly. The importation of
the American root at Canton does not interfere to a very serious
degree with the imperial sales at the north, as the Chinese are
fully convinced that their own plant is far superior, and its high
price prevents much of it coming south. Among numerous
plan's of the malvaceous and pink tribes (DianthacecB) remarka¬
ble for their beauty or use, the Lychnis cot mat,a, five sorts of
pink, the Althcua Chinensis, eight species of Hibiscus, and othef
malvaceou? flowers, may be mentioned ; the cotton tree (Bombax
ceiba) is common at Canton, and the fleshy petals of the flowers
arc so'^times prepared as food. The Gossypium hcrbaceum and
CAMELLIA AND OTHER FLOWERING PLANTS.
2S5
Sida tiliafolia afford the materials for cotton and g asscloth ;
both of them are cultivated in the eastern provinces, as far north
as Peking. The petals of the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis are used in
some cases to furnish a black liquid to dye the eyebrows, and at
Batavia they are employed to polish shoes. The seed vessels of
the Hibiscus ochra or okers are prepared for the table in a variety
of ways.
The Camcl/ia Japonica is a member of the same g.eat tribe as
the Hibiscus, and its elegant flowers are as much admired by
the people of its native country as by florists abroad ; they enu¬
merate thirty or forty varieties, for each of which they have a
separate name ; many of these varieties are unknown out of
China, and Chinese gardeners are likewise ignorant of a large
proportion of those found in our conservatories. This elegant
flower is cultivated solely for its beauty, but there are other spe¬
cies of Camellia raised for their seeds, the oil expressed from
them being serviceable for many household and mechanical pur¬
poses. The Camellia bears the same name that the tea plant
does, and the term cha is likewise employed, as tea is with our¬
selves, to designate any infusion. From the fibres of a species
of Waltheria, a plant of the same tribe, a fine cloth is made ;
and the Pentapeies Phoenicia, or " noon flower," as the Chinese
call it, is a common ornament of gardens.
The widely diffused tribe Ranunculincs has many representa¬
tives in China, some of them profitable for their timber, others
sought after for their fruit, or admired for their beauty, and a
few prized for their healing properties. There are eight species
of Magnolia, all of them splendid flowering plants ; the bark of
the Magnolia yulan is employed as a febrifuge. The seed ves¬
sels of the Ilicium anisatum, or star-aniseed, are brought to mar¬
ket as an article of exportation as well as domestic consumption,
on account of their spicy warmth and fragrance. The custard
apple is a pleasant fruit, while the flowers of the Artabotrys odo-
ratissimus and Unona odorata are extensively cultivated for their
perfume. Another member of this tribe is the mowtan or tree
pseony, which is reared for its large and variegated flowers ; it
bears the name of hwa wang, or king of flowers, to indicate the
estimation in which it is held. The skill of the native garden¬
ers has made many varieties, but the difficulty of perpetuating
'hem may be one reason for their high price. Good imitations
286
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
of full grown plants in flower are sometimes made of pith paper
for ornaments. The Clematis or virgin's bower, the fox-glove,
the Berberis Chinensis, and the magnificent lotus, or Nelumbium,
all belong to this tribe ; the latter, one of the most celebrated
plants in Asia, is more esteemed by the Chinese for its edible
roots, than reverenced for its religious associations. The Actcea
aspera is sometimes collected, as the scouring rush is, for clean¬
ing pewter vessels, for which its hispid leaves well fit it.
The group Papaveracese includes the poppy, and Cruciferae
the mustard, cress, cabbage, kale, &c., besides many ornamental
flowers. The extent to which the poppy is cultivated bears
about as great a disproportion to the consumption of opium, as
the growth of tea abroad does to its use ; the provinces of Yun¬
nan and Kwangsi are said to produce the greater part of the
native article. A plant allied to the poppy, Argemone Mexicana.,
is a weed about Macao, and is sometimes collected for medicinal
purposes. The leaves of many cruciferous plants are eaten,
whether cultivated or wild ; and the variety and amount of such
food consumed by the Chinese, probably exceeds that of any
other people. Another tribe, Rutinoe, contains the oranges and
shaddocks, and some very fragrant shrubs, as the Murraya exo¬
tica and paniculata, and the Ag/aia odorata. The hwangpi, or
whanrpe, i. e. yellow skin (Cookia punctata), is a common and
superior fruit. The seeds of the Sapindus, besides their value
in cleansing, are worn as beads, " because," say the Budhists,
" all demons are afraid of the wood one native name means
" preventative of evil." The two native fruits, the HcM and
lungan, are allied to the Sapindus in their affinities ; while the
fung shu, or plane tree, and two sorts of maple, with the PittO'
sporum fobira, an ornamental shrub often seen, may be mentioned
among plants used for food, or sought after for timber.
These brief notices of Chinese plants may be concluded by
mentioning some of the most ornamental not before spoken of;
for where the flower or the fruit has no common English name,
either for the family or the species, a Chinese or a scientific term
does not usually convey any satisfactory information. In the
extensive tribe of Rubiacince, are found several beautiful species
of honeysuckle, and a fragrant Viburnum closely resembling the
snowball. The Serissa is cultivated around beds and parterres
like the box ; and the Ixora coccinea, and other species of thaf
PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR LEAVES.
287
genus, are among the most common shiubs in gardens. There
are many other plants in this tribe less known abroad, and that
is the case likewise with those constituting the Composite, of
which the China aster is a conspicuous member. The seeds of
two or three species of Artemisia are collected for medicinal
purposes, being dried and reduced to a down, to be burned on the
affected part of the body, as an actual cautery. From the Car-
thamus tinclorius a fine red dye is prepared. The succory, let¬
tuce, dandelion, and other cichoraceous plants, either wild or
cultivated, furnish food for the poor ; while innumerable varieties
of Chrysanthemums and Asters are reared for their beauty.
Some of the species are trained over frames like a vine, produc¬
ing a very elegant appearance when in full blossom.
The Labiate, or mints, afford many genera, some of them
cultivated; and the Solanacea), or nightshades, contain the
tomato and common potatoe, tobacco, stramony, and several spe¬
cies of Capsicum, or red pepper. It has been disputed whether
tobacco is native or foreign in China, but the philological argu¬
ment is in favor of its having been introduced, since the only
name for the plant or the prepared leaf, is yen or smoke, by a
natural metonymy from its use ; the Japanese call it tabago,
which also bespeaks its foreign origin, and they date its intro¬
duction about two centuries ago. The Chinese simply dry the
leaves, and cut them into shreds for smoking ; the snuff made
from it is coarser and less pungent than the Scotch. It is said
that powdered cinnabar is sometimes mixed with snuff, but this
practice must be rare, from the cost of that mineral.
The large family of Convolvulacese contains many beautiful
species of Ipomea, cultivated for their flowers, especially the
Ipomea quamoclit, found about the houses even of the poorest
people. The Ipomea mariti.ma is a plant of extensive range,
trailing over the sandy beaches along the coast from Hainan to
the Chusan archipelago. The Convolvulus reptans is often plant¬
ed around the edges of tanks and pools on the confines of the
villages and fields, for the sake of its succulent leaves. The
narcotic family of Apocynea? contains several beautiful flower¬
ing plants, two of which, the oleander and Plumeria, are highly
prized for their fragrance ; while the yellow milkweed (Asclepias
curassavica), and the Vinca rosea, or red periwinkle, are les»
conspicuous,, but not unattractive, members of the same group,
288
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The jasmine is a deserved favorite with the Chinese, its clusters
and twigs being often wound in their hair by the women, and
planted in pots in their houses. The Olea fragrans, or kwei hwa,
is largely cultivated for scenting tea.
In the north-eastern provinces, the hills are adorned with
azaleas of gorgeous hue, especially around Ningpo and in
Chusan. " Few," says Mr. Fortune, "can form any idea of the
gorgeous beauty of these azalea-clad hills, where, on every
side, the eye rests on masses of flowers of dazzling brightness
and surpassing beauty. Nor is it the azalea alone, which claims
our admiration; clematises, wild roses, honeysuckles, and a
hundred others, mingle their flowers with them, and make us
confess that China is indeed the ' central flowery land.' " The
azalea is a great favorite, and the skill of gardeners has multi¬
plied the varieties almost as numerously as the Camellia. Wild
flowers of considerable beauty will no doubt be added to the list
of cultivated ones, when naturalists are permitted to roam the
hills and glens of China, but the number yet collected is small.
Few unexplored parts of the earth promise more to repay the
labors and zeal of the naturalist, whatever department of nature
he might investigate, than the vast dominions under the sway of
the emperor of China.
A few notices of the advance made by the Chinese themselves
in the study of natural history, taken from their great work on
materia medica, the Pun Tsau or Herbal, will form an appropri¬
ate conclusion to this chapter. This work is usually bound up
in forty octavo volumes, divided into fifty-two chapters, and con¬
tains many observations of value mixed up with a deal of incor¬
rect and useless matter; and as those who read the book have not
sufficient knowledge to discriminate between what is true and
what is partly or wholly wrong, its reputation tends greatly to
perpetuate its errors. The compiler of the Pun Tsau is Ll Shi-
chin, who lived during the Ming dynasty, and collected all the
information on these subjects extant in his time, and arranged it
in a methodical manner for popular use, adding his own observa¬
tions. The work was well received and attracted the notice of
the emperor, who ordered several succeeding editions to be pub¬
lished at the expense of the state.
The first two volumes contain a large collection of prefaces
and indices, together with manv notices of the theory of anatomy
MINERALOGY OF THE CHINESE HERBAL.
289
and medicine. Chapters i. and n. consist of introductory ob.
servations upon the practice of medicine, and an index of the
recipes contained in the work, called the Sure Guide to a
Myriad of Recipes; the whole filling the first seven volumes.
Chapters iii. and iv. contain lists of medicines for the cure of
all diseases, which fill three volumes and a half, and comprise
the therapeutical portion of the work, except a treatise on the
pulse in the last volume.
In the subsequent chapters, the author goes over the entire
range of nature in a descriptive, medical, and pharmaceutical
manner, each article being treated in all its branches in a most
methodical manner. All sorts of waters, fires, and earths are
treated of in the next three chapters, and chapters vra.-xi. de¬
scribe metals, gems, and stones; the whole comprising all inor¬
ganic substances. Water is divided into aerial and terrestrial,
or that from the clouds, and that from springs, the ocean, &c.
Fire is considered under eleven species, among which are the
flames of coal, bamboo, moxa, &c. The chapter on earth com¬
prises the secretions from various animals, as well as soot, ink,
&c.; that on metals includes metallic substances and their com¬
mon oxides ; and gems are spoken of in the next division. The
eleventh chapter, in true Chinese style, groups together what
could not be placed in the preceding sections, including salts,
minerals, &c. In looking at this arrangement, one is struck
with the similarity between it and the classification of characters
in the language itself, showing the influence that has had upon
it: thus, ho, shwui, lu, kin, yuh, shih, and la, or fire, water, earth,
metals, gems, stones, and salts, are the seven radicals under
which the names of inorganic substances are classified in the
imperial dictionary. The same similarity runs through other
parts of the Herbal.
Chapters xn. to xxxvu., inclusive, treat of the vegetable
kingdom, under five jm or divisions, viz. herbs, grains, vegeta¬
bles, fruits, and trees; which are again subdivided into lui or
families, though the members of these families have no more
relationship to each other than the heterogeneous family of an
Egyptian slave dealer. The lowest term in the Chinese scien¬
tific scale is cluing, which sometimes includes a genus, but
oftener corresponds to a species or even a variety, as Linnaean
botanists understand those terms.
14
290
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The first division of herbs cuntains nine families: viz. hill
plants, odoriferous, marshy, noxious, creeping and climbing,
aquatic, stony, and mossy plants, and a ninth of miscellaneous
plants not used in medicine ; there are 590 species described in
them all. In this classification, the habitat is the most influential
principle of arrangement for the families, while the term tsau
denotes whatever is not eaten or used in the arts, or which does
not attain to the magnitude of a tree.
The second division of grains contains four families: viz. 1.
That of hemp, wheat, rice, &c.; 2. The family of millet, maize,
&c.; 3. That of leguminous plants; and 4. The family of fer¬
mentable things, as bean curd, boiled rice, wine, yeast, congee,
bread, &c., which, as they are used in medicine, and produced
from vegetables, seem most naturally to come in this place.
The first three families contain forty-four species, and the last
twenty-nine articles.
The third division of kitchen herbs contains five families: 1.
Offensive pungent plants, as leeks, mustard, ginger; 2. Soft and
smooth plants, as dandelions, lilies, bamboo sprouts; 3. Vegeta¬
bles producing fruit on the ground, as tomatoes, melons; 4.
Aquatic vegetables ; and 5. Mushrooms and fungi. The number
of species is ninety-five, and some part of each of them is eaten
The fourth division of fruits contains six families: 1. The five
fruits, as the plum, peach, date (Rhamnus) ; 2. Hill fruits, as the
pear, citron, persimmon; 3. Foreign fruits, as the cocoanut,
lxchl, carambola; 4. Aromatic fruits, as pepper, tea; 5. Trail¬
ing fruits, as melons, grape, sugar-cane ; and 6. Aquatic fruits, as
water caltrops, water lily, water chestnuts, &c.; in all 129 species.
The fifth division of trees also has six families: 1. Aromatic
trees, as pine, cassia, aloes, camphor; 2. Stately trees, as the
willow, tamarix, elm, soapberry (Sapindus), rose ; 3. Luxuriant
growing trees, as mulberry, cotton tree, Cercis, Gardenia; 4.
Parasites or things attached to trees, as the misletoe and amber;
5. Flexible plants, as bamboo ; this family has only four species ;
6. Includes what the other five exclude, though it might have
been thought that the second and third families were sufficiently
comprehensive to contain almost all miscellaneous plants. The
number of species is 180. All botanical subjects are classified in
this manner under five divisions, thirty families, and 1094 species.
The arrangement of the botanical characters in the language
TTS ARRANGEMENT OF FLANTS AND ANIMALS. 291
does not correspond so well to this as that of inorganic substances.
Tne largest group in the language-system is tsau, which com¬
prises in general such herbaceous plants as are not used for food.
The second, mvh, includes all trees or shrubs; but the bamboo,
on account of its great usefulness, stands by itself, though most
of the characters under it denote names of articles made of bam¬
boo. No less than four separate radicals, viz. rice, wheat, millet,
and grain, serve as the heads under which the esculent grasses
arc arranged, and there are consequently many synonymes and
superfluous distinctions. One family includes beans, and another
legumes, one comprises cucurbitaceous plants, another the allia¬
ceous, and a fourth the hempen ; the importance of these plants as
articles of food or manufacture no doubt suggested their adoption
as types of their classes. Thus all vegetable substances are dis¬
tributed in the language under eleven different heads.
The grouping of animated beings in the Pun Tsau is as rude
and unscientific as that of plants. There are five pu or divi¬
sions in zoology, namely, insect, scaly, shelly, feathered, and
hairy animals. The first division contains four families : 1. and
2. Insects born from eggs, as bees and silkworms, butterflies
and spiders ; 3. Insects produced by metamorphosis, as glow¬
worms, mole-crickets, bugs; and 4. Water insects, as toads,
centipedes, &c. The second division of scaly animals has four
families: 1. The dragons, including the scaly ant-eater, "the
only fish that has legs ;" 2. Snakes ; 3. Fishes having scales ;
and 4. Scaleless fishes, as the eel, cuttle-fish, prawn. The
third division of shelly animals is classified under the two heads
of tortoises or turtles and mollusks, including the star-fish, echi¬
nus, hermit-crab, &c. The fourth division contains birds, ar¬
ranged under four families : 1. Water-fowl, as herons, king¬
fishers, &c.; 2. Ileath-fowl, sparrows, and pheasants; 3. Forest
birds, as magpies, crows ; and 4. Mountain birds, as eagles and
hawks. Beasts form the fifth division, which likewise contains
four families: 1. The nine domesticated animals and their
products; 2. Wild animals, as lions, deers, otters; 3. Roden-
tia, as the squirrel, hedgehog, rat; and 4. Monkeys and fairies.
The number of chung or species in these five divisions is 391,
bat there are only 320 different objects described, as the roe, fat,
bair, exuviae, &c., of animals are separately noticed.
The sixteen zoological characters in the language are not quito
292
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
so far astray from being typos of classes, as the eleven botanical
ones. Nine of them are mammiferous, viz. the tiger, dog, and
leopard, which stand for the carnivora ; the rat for rodentia;
the ox, sheep, and deer for ruminants ; and the horse and hog for
pachydermatous. Birds are chiefly comprised under one radi¬
cal niau, but there is a sub-family of short tailed gallinaceous
fowls, though much confusion exists in the arrangement. Fishes
form one group, and improperly include crabs, lizards, whales,
and snakes, though most of the latter are placed along with in¬
sects, or else under the dragons. The tortoise, toad, and dragon,
are the types of three small collections, and insects are comprised
in the sixteenth and last. These groups, although they contain
many anomalies, as might be expected, are still sufficiently natu¬
ral to teach those who write the language something of the
world around them. Thus, when one sees that a new character
contains the radical dog in composition, he will be sure that it is
neither fowl, fish, nor bug, nor any animal of the pachydermatous,
cervine, or ruminant tribes, although he may have never seen
the animal, nor heard its name. This peculiarity runs through
the whole language, indeed, but in other groups, as for instance,
those under the radicals man, woman, and child, or heart, hand,
leg, &c., the characters include mental and passionate emo¬
tions, as well as actions and names, so that the type is not suffi¬
ciently indicative to convey a definite idea of the words included
under it; the names of natural objects are, evidently, more
easily arranged in this manner than other words. Tf the lan¬
guage is capable of a strictly scientific arrangement on this prin¬
ciple, and if the characters had been actually so formed, the
people would almost necessarily become somewhat acquainted
with the differences in natural objects.
Between the account of plants and animals, the Herbal has
one chapter on garments and domestic utensils, for such
things " are used in medicine, and are made out of plants."
The remaining chapters, xxxix.-lii., treat of animals, as noticed
above. The properties of the objects spoken of are discussed in
a very methodical manner, so that a student can immediately
turn to a plant or mineral, and ascertain its virtue. For instance,
the information relative to the history and uses of the horse is
contained in twenty-four sections. The first explains the cha¬
racter, ma, which was originally intended to represent the out
ITS MEDICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE HORSE.
293
line of the animal. The second describes the varieties of horses\
the best kinds for medical use, and gives brief descriptions
of them, for the guidance of the practitioner. " The pure white
are the best for medicine. Those found in the south and east
are small and weak. The age is known by the teeth. The
eye reflects the full image of a man. If he eats rice, his feet
will become heavy; if rat's dung, his belly will grow long; if
his teeth be rubbed with dead silkworms, or black plums, he will
not eat, nor if the skin of a rat or wolf be hung in his manger.
He should not be allowed to eat from a hog's trough, lest he
contract disease; and if a monkey is kept in the stable, he will
not fall sick."
The third section goes on to speak of the flesh, which is
an article of food ; that of a pure white stallion is the most
wholesome. One author recommends " eating almonds, and
taking a rush broth, if the person feel uncomfortable after a
meal of horse-flesh. It should be roasted and eaten with gingei
and pork ; and to eat the flesh of a black horse, and not drink
wine with it, will surely produce death." The fourth describes
the crown of the horse, the "fat of which is sweet, and good to make
the hair grow, and the face to shine." The fifth and succeeding
sections to the twenty-fourth, treat of the sanative properties and
mode of exhibiting the milk, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, pla¬
centa, teeth, bones, skin, mane, tail, brains, blood, perspiration,
and excrements.
Some of the directions are dietetic, and others arc prescriptive.
"When eating horse-flesh do not cat the liver," is one of the former,
given because of the absence of a gall-bladder in the liver, which
imports its poisonous qualities. " The heart of a white horse,
or that of a hog, cow, or hen, when dried and rasped into spirit
and so taken, cures forgetfulness; if the patient hears one thing,
he knows ten." "Above the knees the horse has night-eyes
(warts), which enable him to go in the night; they are useful
in the toothache ;" these sections partake both of the descriptive
and prescriptive. Another medical one, is, " If a man be rest¬
less and hysterical, when he wishes to sleep, and it is requisite
to put him to rest, let tie ashes of a skull be mingled with watei
and given him, and let Mm have a skull for a pillow, and it will
cure him." The same preservative virtues appear to be as.
cribed to a horse's hoof hung in a house, as are upposed by some
294
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM..
who should know better, to belong to a horseshoe when nailed
upon the door.* The whole of this extensive work is liberally
sprinkled with such whimsies, but the practice of medicine
among the Chinese is usually better than their theories ; for as
Remusat justly observes, "to see well and reason falsely are
not wholly incompatible, and the naturalists of China, as well as
the chemists and physicians of our ancient schools, have some¬
times tried to reconcile them."
That able French scholar Remusat read a paper in 1828, On
the state of the Natural Sciences among the Orientals, in which
he indicates the position which the Chinese have attained in their
researches into the nature and kinds of objects around them.
After speaking of the adaptation the language possesses, from
its construction, to impart some general notions of animated and
vegetable nature, he goes on to remark upon the theorizing pro¬
pensities of their writers instead of contenting themselves with
examining and recording facts. " In place of studying the or¬
ganization of bodies, they undertake to determine by reasoning
how it should be,—an aim which has not seldom led them far
from the end they proposed. One of the strangest errors among
them relates to the transformation of beings into each other,
which have arisen from popular stories or badly-conducted ob¬
servations on the metamorphoses of insects. Learned absurdities
have been added to puerile prejudices ; that which the vulgar
have believed, the philosophers have attempted to explain, and
nothing can be easier according to the oriental systems of cos¬
mogony, in which a simple matter, infinitely diversified, shows
itself in all beings. Changes affect only the apparent properties
of bodies, or rather the bodies themselves have only appear¬
ances ; according to these principles, they are not astonished at
seeing the electric fluid or even the stars converted into stones,
as happens when aerolites fall. That animated beings become
inanimate is proven by fossils and petrifactions. Ice, inclosed in
the earth for a millennium, becomes rock crystal ; and it is only
necessary that lead, the father of all metals (as Saturn, its alche-
mistic type, was of gods), pass through four periods of two centu¬
ries each, to become successively cinnabar, .in, and silver. In
spring, the rat changes into a quail, and qiails into rats again
during the eighth month.
O O
* Chinese Repository, Vol. VII., p. 393.
INACCURACY OF CHINESE RESEARCHES.
295
" The style in which these marvels is related is now and then
a little equivocal ; but if they believe part of them proved, they
can see nothing really impossible in the others. One naturalist,
loss credulous than his fellows, rather smiles at another author
who reported the metamorphosis of an oriole into a mole, and of
rice into a carp ; ' it is a ridiculous story,' says he ; 'there is
proof only of the change of rats into quails, which is reported in
the almanac, and which I have often seen myself, for there are
constant rules for transformations as well as generations.' Ani¬
mals, according to the Chinese, are viviparous as quadrupeds, or
oviparous as birds ; they grow by transformations, as insects, or
by the effect of humidity, as snails, slugs, and centipedes. . . .
. . . The success of such systems is almost always sure, not in
China alone either, because it is easier to put words in place of
things, to stop at nothing, and to have formulas ready for solving
all questions. It is thus that they have formed a scientific jar¬
gon, which one might almost think had been borrowed from our
dark ages, and which has powerfully contributed to retain know¬
ledge in China in the swaddling-clothes we now find it. Expe¬
rience teaches that when the human mind is once drawn into a
false way, the lapse of ages and the help of a man of genius are
necessary to draw it out. Ages have not been wanting in Chi¬
na, but the man whose superior enlightenment might dissipate
these deceitful glimmerings, would find it very difficult to exer¬
cise this happy influence as long as their political institutions
attract all their inquiring minds or vigorous intellects far away
from scientific researches into the literary examinations, or put
before them the honors and employments which the functions
and details of magisterial appointments bring with them."*
This last observation indicates the reason to a great degree,
for the fixedness of the Chinese in all departments of learned in¬
quiry ; hard labor employs the energy and time of the ignorant
mass, and emulation in the strife to reach official dignities con¬
sumes the talents of the learned. When the enlarging truths of
revelation shall be taught to the Chinese, and its principles acted
upon among them, we may expect more vigor in their minds,
and their investigations into the wonders of nature conducted
with more profit.
* Melanges Orientales, Posthumes, page 215.
CHAPTER VII.
Laws of China, and Plan of its Government.
The consideration of the theory and practice of the C linese
government recommends itself to the attention of the intelli
gent student of man by several peculiar reasons, among which
are its acknowledged antiquity, the multitudes of people it
rules, and the comparative quiet enjoyed by the inhabitants.
The government of a heathen nation is so greatly modified bv
the personal character of the executive, and the people are so
liable to confound institutions with men, either from imperfect
acquaintance with the nature of those institutions, or from being,
through necessity or habit, easily guided and swayed by design¬
ing and powerful men, that the long continuance of the Chinese
polity is a proof both of its adaptation to the habits and condition
of the people, and of its general good management. The anti¬
quity and excellence of such a government, and its orderly ad¬
ministration, might, however, be far greater than it is in China,
without oelng invested with the interest which attaches to it in
that empire in consequence of the immense population, whose
lives and property, food and security, depend to so great a degree
upon it. What was at first rather a feeling of curiosity, gradu¬
ally become sone of awe, when the evil results of misgovern-
ment, or the beneficent effects of equitable rule, are seen to be so
momentous.
The theory of the Chinese government is undoubtedly the pa¬
triarchal ; the emperor is the sire, his officers are the responsible
elders of its provinces, departments, and districts, as every father
of a household is of its inmates. This may, to be sure, be the
theory of most governments, but nowhere has it been systema¬
tized so thoroughly, and acted upon so consistently and for so
long a period, as in China. Two causes, mutually acting upon
each other, have more than anything else, combined to give effi.
eiency to this theory. The ancient rule of Yau and Shun waa
theory of the chinese government.
297
stricll}' so far as the details are known, a patriarchal chieftain,
ship, conferred upon them on account of their excellent charac¬
ter ; and their successors under Yu of the Hia dynasty were con-
sidered as deriving their power from heaven, to whom they were
amenable for its good use. When Chingtang, founder of the
Shang dynasty, b. c. 170G, and Wu wang of the Chau, b. c. 1122,
too* up arms against their sovereigns, the excuse given was that
they had not fulfilled the decrees of heaven, and had thereby for-
t'eited their claim to the throne.
When Confucius began to teach his principles of political
ethics, he referred to the conduct of those ancient kings both for
proof of the correctness of his instructions, and for arguments to
enforce them. It shows that his countrymen assented to their
propriety from the number of disciples he had in his lifetime, and
the high character he bore, but it was not apparently till after
two or three centuries had elapsed, that the rulers of China per¬
ceived the great security the adoption and diffusion of these doc¬
trines would give their sway. They therefore began to embody
them more and more into laws, and base the institutions of go¬
vernment upon them ; and through all the convulsions and wars
which have disturbed the country, and changed the reigning fa¬
milies, these writings have done more than any one thing else to
uphold the institutions of the Chinese, and give them a character
and a permanence which no other people have ever had. Edu¬
cation being founded on them, those who as students had been
taught to receive and reverence them as the oracles of political
wisdom, would, when they entered upon the duties of office, en¬
deavor to carry out, in some degree at least, their principles.
Thus the precept and the practice have mutually modified, sup¬
ported, and enforced each other.
But this civilization is Asiatic and not European, pagan and
not Christian. The institutions of China are despotic and defect¬
ive, and founded on wrong principles. They may have the
element of stability, but not of improvement. The patriarchal
theory does not make men honorable, truthful, or kind ; it does
not place woman in her right position, nor teach all classes their
obligations to their Maker; and the wonder is, to those who
know the power of evil passions in the human breast, that this
huge mass of mankind is no worse. Some other power, indeed,
\s absolutely necessary to be called in to add a sanction to
14*
298
TIIE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
the patriarchal theory, and in the absence of a standing arm)
fully able to enforce the commands of the sovereign, and a state
hierarchy to assist in compelling obedience by the terrors of
superstition, we must look into society itself to find some ade¬
quate causes for its continuance. A short inspection will show
that the great leading principles by which the present Chinese
government preserves its power over the people, consist in a
system of strict surveillance and mutual responsibility among all
classes. These are aided in their efficiency by the geographical
isolation of the country, by a difficult language, and a general
system of political education and official examinations.
They are enforced by such a minute gradation of rank and
subordination of officers, as to give the government more of a
military character than at first appears, and the whole system is
such as to make it one of the most unmixed despotisms now
existing. It is like a network extending over the whole face of
society, each individual being isolated in his own mesh, and
responsibly connected with all around him. The man who
knows that it is almost impossible, except by entire seclusion, to
escape from the company of secret or acknowledged emissaries
of government, will be cautious of offending the laws of the
country, knowing, as he must, that though he should himself
escape, yet his family, his kindred, or his neighbors, will suffer
for his offence ; that if unable to recompense the sufferers, it
will probably be dangerous for him to return home; or if he
does, it will be most likely to find his property in the possession
of neighbors or officers of the government, who feel conscious of
security in plundering one whose offences have for ever placed
him under the ban of the implacable law.
The effect of these two causes upon the mass of the people is
to imbue them with a great fear of the government, both of its
officers and its operations ; each man considers that safety is to
be found alone in absolute withdrawal. This mutual surveil¬
lance and responsibility, though only partially extended through¬
out the people, necessarily undermines every principle of confi¬
dence, and infuses universal distrust; and this object of complete
isolation, though at the expense af justice, truth, honesty, and
natural affection, is what the government strives to accomplish,
and actually does tc a wonderful degree. The idea of govern¬
ment in the minds iff the people, is like the sword of Damo-
THREE PRINCIPLES OF CONTROL.
299
cles ; and so far has this undefined fear of some untoward result
when connected with it counteracted the real vigor of the Chi-
nese, that much of their indifference to improvement, content¬
ment with what is already known and possessed, and submission
to petty spoliation of individuals, may be referred to it.
Men are deterred, too, by distrust of each other, as mucli as
by fear of the police, from combining in an intelligent manner
to resist governmental exactions because opposed to principles
of equity, or joining with their rulers to uphold good order; no
such men, and no such instances, as John Hampden going to
prison for refusing to contribute to a loan, or Ezekiel Williams
and his companions throwing the tea overboard in Boston harbor,
ever occurred in China or any other Asiatic country. They
dread illegal societies quite as much from the cruelties this same
principle induces the leaders to exercise over recreant or sus¬
pected members, as from apprehension of arrest and punishment
by the regular authorities. Thus, with a state of society at
times on the verge of insurrection, this mass of people is kept
in check by the threefold cord of responsibility, fear, and isolation,
each of them strengthening the other, and all of them depend¬
ing upon the character of the people for much of their efficiency.
Since all the officers of government received their intellectual
training when plebeians under these influences, it is easy to un¬
derstand why the supreme powers are so averse to improvement
and to foreign intercourse—from both which causes, in truth, the
state has the greatest reason to dread lest the charm of its power
be broken, and its sceptre pass away.
There is, it is true, a further explanation for the general peace
which prevails in China, to be found partly in the diffusion of a
political education among the people, teaching them the principles
on which the government is founded, and the reasons for those
principles flowing from the patriarchal theory ; and partly in their
plodding, peaceable, industrious character. Brief notices of the
construction and divisions of the central and provincial govern¬
ments, and their mutual relations, and the various duties devolv¬
ing upon the departments and officers, will exhibit more of the
operation of these principles.
Although the emperor is regarded as the head of this great
organization, as the fly-wheel which sets the other wheels of the
machine in motion, he is still considered as bound to rule it accord
300
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
ing to the published laws of the land ; and wh<;n there is a well
known law, though the source of law, he is expected to follow it
in his decrees. The laws of China form an edifice, the founda¬
tions of which were laid by Li Kwei twenty centuries ago. Sue-
cessive dynasties have been building thereon ever since, adding,
altering, pulling down, and building up, as circumstances seemed
to require. A history of the changes and additions they have
undergone, if there were materials for such an account, would
contribute much to show the progress of the race in civilization
and good government. The people have a high regard for the
Code, " and all they seem to desire is its just and impartial exe¬
cution, independent of caprice, and uninfluenced by corruption.
That the laws of China are, on the contrary, very frequently
violated by those who are their administrators and constitutional
guardians, there can, unfortunately, be no question ; but to what
extent, comparatively with the laws of other countries, must at
present be very much a matter of conjecture : at the same time
it may be observed, as something in favor of the Chinese system,
that there are substantial grounds for believing, that neither fla¬
grant nor repeated acts of injustice do, in point of fact, often, in
any rank or station, ultimately escape with impunity."* Sir
George Staunton is well qualified to decide on this point, and his
opinion has been corroborated by most of those who have had
similar opportunities of judging; while his translation of the
Code has given all persons interested in the question the means
of ascertaining the principles on which the government ostensi¬
bly acts.
This body of laws is called by the Chinese Ta Tsing Liuh Lu
i. e. Statutes and Rescripts of the Great Pure Dynasty, ana
contains all the laws of the empire. They are arranged under
seven leading heads, viz. General, Civil, Fiscal, Ritual, Military
and Criminal laws, and those relating to Public Works ; and
subdivided into four hundred and thirty-six sections, called liuh,
or statutes, to which the U, or modern clauses, to limit., explain, or
alter them, are added ; these are now much more numerous than
the original statutes. A new edition is published by authority
every five years; and the emperor ordered the Supreme Court,
in 1830j to make very few alterations in the edition then about to
* Penal Code. Introduction, page xxviii
PREFACE AND DIVISIONS OF THE CODE. 30*
appear, lest wily litigators took advantage of the discrepancies
between the new or old law, to suit their own purposes. The
edition of 1830 is in twenty-eight volumes, and is accessible to
every one. The clauses are attached to each statute, and have
the same force ; but there are no authorized reports of cases and
decisions, either of the provincial or supreme courts, published for
general use, though a record of them is kept in the court where
they are decided ; and the publication of such adjudged cases, as
a guide to officers, is not unknown. An extensive collection of
notes, comments, and cases, illustrating the practice and theory
of the laws, was appended to the edition of 1799.
A short extract from the original preface of the Code, pub¬
lished in 1647, will explain the principles on which it was drawn
up. After remarking upon the inconveniences arising from the
necessity of aggravating, or mitigating, the sentences of the
magistrates, who, previous to the re-establishment of a fixed code
of penal laws, were not in possession of any secure foundation,
upon which they could build a just decision, the emperor Shunchi
goes on to describe the manner of revising the code :
" A numerous body of magistrates was assembled at the capital,
at our command, for the purpose of revising the penal code for¬
merly in force under the late dynasty of Ming, and of digesting
the same into a new code, by the exclusion of such parts as were
exceptionable, and the introduction of others, which were likely
to contribute to the attainment of justice, and the general perfec¬
tion of the work. The result of their labors having been sub¬
mitted to our examination, we maturely weighed and considered
the various matters it contained, and then instructed a select
number of our great officers of state carefully to revise the
whole, for the purpose of making such alterations and emenda¬
tions as might still be found requisite. Wherefore, it being now
published, let it be your great care, officers and magistrates of
the interior and exterior departments of our empire, diligently to
observe the same, and to forbear in future to give any decision,
or to pass any sentence, according to your private sentiments, or
upon your unsupported authority. Thus shall the magistrates and
[?ople look up with awe and submission to the justice of these
institutions, as they find themselves respectively concerned in
them ; the transgressor will not fail to sutler a strict expiation ol
liis crimes, and will be the instrument of deterring "thers from
302
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
similar misconduct; and finally, both officers and people will be
equally secured for endless generations, in the enjoyment of the
happy effects of the great and noble virtues of our illustrious
progenitors."
Under the head of General Laws are forty-seven sections,
comprising principles and definitions applicable to the whole, and
containing some singular notions on equity and criminality. The
description of the five ordinary punishments, definition of the ten
treasonable offences, regulations for the eight privileged classes,
and general directions regarding the conduct of officers of go¬
vernment, are the matters treated of under this head. The title
of section xliv. is, " On the decision of cases not provided for
by law and the rule is, that " such cases may then be deter¬
mined by an accurate comparison with others which are already
provided for, and which approach most nearly to those under in¬
vestigation, in order to ascertain afterwards to what extent an
aggravation, or mitigation, of the punishment would be equitable,
A provisional sentence conformable thereto shall be laid before
the superior magistrates, and, after receiving their approbation,
be submitted to the emperor's final decision. Any erroneous
judgment which may be pronounced, in consequence of adopting
a more summary mode of proceeding, in cases of a doubtful
nature, shall be punished as wilful deviation from justice." This,
of course, gives great latitude to the magistrate, and as he is thus
allowed to decide and act before the new law can be confirmed
or annulled, the chief restraints to his injustice in such cases
(which, however, are not numerous), lie in the fear of an appeal,
and the consequences to himself, or of summary reprisals from
the suffering parties.
The six remaining divisions pertain to the six great adminis.
trative Boards of the government, in the order above stated.
The second contains Civil Laws, under twenty-eight sections,
divided into two books, one of them referring to the system of
government, and the other to the conduct of magistrates, &o.
The hereditary succession of rank and titles is regulated, and
punishments laid down for those who illegally assume these
honors. Most of the nobility of China are Manchus, and none
of the hereditary dignities existing previous to the conquest were
recognised, except those attached to the family of Confucius.
Improperly recommending unfit persons as deserving high honors,
GENERAL, CIVIL, AND FISCAL LAWS.
303
appointing and removing officers without the emperor's sanction,
and leaving stations without leave, are the principal subjects
regulated in the first book, The second book contains rules re¬
garding the interference of superior magistrates with the pro¬
ceedings of the lower courts, and prohibitions against cabals and
treasonable combinations among officers, which are of course
capital crimes ; all persons in the employ of the state are re¬
quired to make themselves acquainted with the laws, and even
private individuals, " who are found capable of explaining the
nature, and comprehending the objects of the laws, shall receive
pardon in all offences resulting purely from accident, or imputa¬
ble to them only from the guilt of others, provided it be the first
offence."
The third division of Fiscal Laws, under eighty-two sections,
contains rules for enrolling the people, and of succession and
inheritance ; with laws for regulating marriages between various
classes of society, for guarding granaries and treasuries, for pre¬
venting and punishing smuggling, for restraining usury, and for
overseeing shops. Section lxxvi. orders that persons and fami¬
lies truly represent their profession in life, and restrains them
from altering it; " generation after generation they must not
change or alter it." This rule is, however, constantly violated.
Section xc. exempts the buildings of literary and religious insti¬
tutions from taxation. The general aim of the laws relating to
holding real estate is to secure the cultivation of all the land
taken up, and the regular payment of the tax. The proprietor,
in some cases, can be deprived of his lands because he does not
till them, and though in fact owner in fee simple, he is re¬
stricted in the disposition of them by will in many ways, and
forfeits them if the taxes are not paid.
The fourth division of Ritual Laws, under twenty-six sections,
contains the regulations for state sacrifices and ceremonies, those
appertaining to the worship of ancestors, and whatever belongs
to heterodox and magical sects or teachers. The heavy penal¬
ties threatened in some of these sections against all illegal com¬
binations under the guise of a new form of worship, indicate the
fear of the authorities lest the people will in some way meet
together to resist them. Even processions in ho:;or of the gods
are forbidden, nor are the rites observed by the emperor to he
imitated by any unauthorized person ; women are not allowed
304
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
to congregate in the temples, nor magicians to perform anj
strange incantations. Few of these laws are carried into effect,
except those against illegal sects.
The fifth division of Military Laws, in seventy-one sections,
provides for the protection of the palace, and the government of
the army, for the guarding of frontier passes, management of
the imperial cattle, and forwarding of despatches by the couriers.
Some of the ordinances under this head lay down rules fur the
protection of the emperor's person, and the disposition of his
body-guard and troops in the palace, the capital, and over the
empire. The sections relating to the government of the army
include the rules for the police of cities ; and those designed to
secure the protection of the frontier comprise all the enactments
against foreign intercourse. The supply of cattle for the army
is a matter of some importance, and is accordingly regulated ;
one law orders all persons who possess vicious and dangerous
animals to restrain them, and if through neglect any person is
killed or wounded, the owner of the animal shall be obliged to
redeem himself from the punishment of manslaughter by paying
a fine.* There is no general post-office establishment in China,
but governmental couriers often take private letters ; the local
mails are carried by expresses. The required rate of travel foi
the official post is a hundred miles a day, but it does not ordina¬
rily go more than half that distance. Officers of government are
allowed ninety days to go from Peking to Canton, a distance of
1200 miles, but couriers often travel it in twelve days.
The sixth division on Criminal Laws is arranged into eleven
books, containing in all 170 sections, and is the most important
division of the whole Code. The clauses under some of the
sections are numerous, and show that it is not for want of proper
laws, or insufficient threatenings, that crimes go unpunished.
The eleven books of this division relate to robbery, in which is
included high treason and renunciation of allegiance ; to homi¬
cide and murder ; quarrelling and fighting ; abusive language :
indictments, disobedience to parents, and false accusations ; bri¬
bery and corruption ; forging and frauds ; incest and adultery ;
arrests and escapes of criminals ; their imprisonment and execu¬
tion j and lastly, miscellaneous offences.
* See Exodus xxi., 29, 30.
RITUAL, MILITARY, AXD CRIMINAL LAWS.
305
Under section cccxxix., it is ordered that any one who is guilty
of addressing abusive language to his or her father or mother,
or father's parents, or a wife who rails at her husband's parents
or grandparents, shall be strangled ; provided always Jiat the
persons so abused themselves complain to the magistrates, and
themselves had heard the language addressed to them. This
law is the same in regard to children that it was among the He¬
brews (Lev. xx., 9), and the power here given the parent does
not seem to be productive of evil. Section ccclxxxi. has refer¬
ence to " privately hushing up public crimes but its penalties
are for the most part a dead letter, and a full account of the
various modes adopted in Chinese courts of withdrawing cases
from the cognisance of superiors, would form a singular chapter
in general jurisprudence. Consequently those who refuse every
offer to hush up cases are highly lauded by the people. Another
section (38Gth) ordains that whoever is guilty of improper con¬
duct, contrary to the spirit of the laws, but not a breach of any
specific article, shall be punished at least with forty blows, and
with eighty when of a serious nature. Some of the provisions
of this part of the Code are praiseworthy, but no part of Chinese
legislation is so cruel and irregular as criminal jurisprudence.
The permission accorded to the judge to torture the criminals
opens the door for great cruelties.
The seventh division contains thirteen sections relating to
Public Works and Ways, such as the weaving of interdicted
patterns, repairing dikes, and constructing edifices for govern¬
ment. All public residences, granaries, treasuries and manu¬
factories, embankments and dikes of rivers and canals, forts,
walls, and mausolea, must be frequently examined, and kept in
repair. Poverty or peculation render many of these laws void,
and every subterfuge is practised by the superintending officer
to pocket as much of the funds as he can. One officer, when
ordered to repair a wall, made the workmen go over it and chip
off the faces of the stones still remaining, and plaster up the
holes.
Besides these laws and their numerous clauses, every high
provincial officer issues edicts upon such public matters as re-
quire regulation, some of them even affecting life and death,
either reviving some old law, or giving it an application to the
case before him, with such modifications as seem to be necessarv
306
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
He must report these acts to the supreme Board at Peking. No
such order, which for the time has the force of law, is formally
repealed, but gradually falls into oblivion, until circumstances
again require its reiteration. This mode of publishing statutes
gives rise to a sort of common and unwritten law in villages, to
which a council of elders sometimes compels individuals to sub¬
mit ; long usage is also another ground for enforcing them.
Still, with all the tortures and punishments allowed by the
law, and all the cruelties superadded upon the criminals by irri¬
tated officers, or rapacious underlings and jailors, a broad survey
of Chinese legislation, judged of by its results and the general
appearance of society, gives the impression of an administration
far superior to other Asiatic countries. Regarding the Code, a
favorable comparison has been made in a review of Staunton's
translation in the Edinburgh Review : " When we turn from the
ravings of the Zendavesta or the Puranas to the tone of sense
and business in this Chinese collection, it is like passing from
darkness to light; from the drivellings of dotage to the exercise
of an improved understanding ; and redundant and minute as
these laws are in many particulars, we scarcely know an Euro¬
pean code that is at once so copious and so consistent, or is
neariy so freed from intricacy, bigotry, and fiction."
This encomium is to a certain extent just, but the practice of
legislation in China has probably not been materially improved
by the mere possession of a reasonable code of laws, though some
melioration in jurisprudence has been effected.* The infliction
of barbarous punishments, such as blinding, cutting off noses,
ears, or other parts of the body, still not uncommon in Per¬
sia and Turkey, is not allowed or practised in China ; and the
government, in minor crimes, contents itself with but little more
than opprobrious exposure in the pillory, or castigation, which
carry with them no degradation.
The defects in this remarkable body of laws arise from several
sources. The degree of liberty that can safely be awarded to the
subject is not defined in it, and his rights are unknown in law
The government is despotic, but having no military power of any
efficiency in their hands, the lawgivers resort to a minuteness of
legislation upon the practice of social and relative virtues and
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pages 24-29.
DEFECTS IN THE CHINESE CODE.
307
duties, which interferes with their observance ; though it must
be remembered that thore is no pulpit or Sabbath School in
China to expound and enforce them from a higher code, and the
laws must be the chief guide in most cases. The code also
exhibits a minute attention to trifles, and an effort to legislate for
every possible contingency, which must perplex the judge when
dealing with the infinite shades of difference occurring in human
actions. There are now many vague and obsolete statutes, ready
to serve as a handle to prosecute offenders for the gratification of
private pique ; and although usage aiid precedent both combine
to prove their disuse, malice and bribery can easily effect their
reviviscence and application to the case.
Sheer cruelty, except in cases of treason against the emperor,
cannot be charged against this Code as a whole ; though many of
the laws seem designed to operate chiefly in terrorem, and the
penalty is placed higher than the punishment really intended to
be inflicted, that the emperor may have scope for mercy, or as he
says, " for leniency beyond the bounds of the law." The princi¬
ple on which this is done is evident, and the commonness of the
practice proves that such an exercise of mercy has its effect.
The laws of China are not altogether unmeaning words, though
the degree of efficiency in their execution is subject to endless
variations; some officers are lenient, others severe ; the people
in some provinces are industrious and peaceable, in others, tur¬
bulent and averse to quiet occupations, so that one is likely to
form a juster idea of their administration, by looking at the
results as seen in the general aspect of society, and judging of the
tree by its fruits, than by drawing inferences applicable to the
whole machine of state from particular instances of oppression
and insubordination, as is so frequently the case with travellers
and writers.
The general examination of the Chinese government here pro-
posed may be conveniently considered under the heads of the
emperor and his court, classes of society, the different branches
of the supreme administration, the provincial authorities, and the
execution of the laws.
The Emperor of China is at the head of the whole ; and if the
possession of great power, and being the object of almost un¬
bounded reverence, can impart happiness, he may safely be con¬
sidered as the happiest mortal living; thougl to his power there
308
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
are many checks, and the reverence paid him is proportioned
somewhat to the fidelity with which he administers the decrees
of heaven. " The emperor is the sole head of the Chinese con¬
stitution and government; he is regarded as the vicegerent of
heaven, especially chosen to govern all nations; and is supreme
in everything, holding at once the highest legislative and execu¬
tive powers, without limit or control." Both he and the pope
claim to he the vicegerent of heaven and interpreter of its decrees
to the whole world, and these two rulers have emulated each other
in the arrogant titles they have assumed. The most common
appellation employed to denote the emperor, in state papers and
among the people, is hwangtt, or august sovereign ; it is defined as
" the appellation of one possessing complete virtues, and able to
act on heavenly principles."* This title is further defined as
meaning heaven: " heaven speaks not, yet the four seasons fol¬
low in regular succession, and all things spring forth. So the
three august ones (Fuhhl, Shinnung, and Hwangti) descended
in state, and without even uttering a word, the people bowed to
their sway ; their virtue was inscrutable and boundless like
august heaven, and therefore were they called august ones."
Among the numerous titles given him, may be mentioned
liwang shang, the august lofty one ; tien liwang, celestial august
one ; slung liwang, the wise and august, i. e. infinite in know¬
ledge and comple e in virtue ; lien fi, celestial sovereign ; and
siting it, sacred sov ereign,—because he is able to act on heavenly
principles. He is also called tien tsz', son of heaven, because
heaven is his father and earth is his mother; and shing tien tsz',
wise son of heaven, as being born of heaven and having infinite
knowledge ;—terms which are given him as the ruler of the
world by the gift of heaven. He is even addressed and some¬
times refers to himself, under designations which pertain exclu¬
sively to heaven. Wan sui ye, " sire of ten thousand years," is
a term used when speaking of him or approaching him, like the
words O king live for ever! addressed to the ancient kings of
Persia. Pi hia, " beneath the footstool," is a sycophantic com-
pellation used by his courtiers, as if they were only worthy of
being at-the edge of his footstool.
The emperor usually designates himself by the terms chin,
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 12 ; Chinese Chrestomathy, p 558.
NAMES AND TITLES OF THE EMPEROR.
309
ourself; kwa jin, the solitary man, or the one man ; and Jcwa
kiwi, the solitary prince. He has been called by many ridicu¬
lous titles by foreign writers, as Brother of the Sun and Moon,
Grandson of the Stars, King of Kings, &c., but no such epithets
are known among the Chinese. His palace has various appella¬
tions, such as hall of audience, golden palace, the ninth entrance,
vermilion avenue, vermilion hall, rosy hall, forbidden pavilion,
the crimson and forbidden palace, gemmeous steps, golden steps,
meridian portal, gemmeous avenue, celestial steps, celestial court,
great interior, the maple pavilion, royal house, &c. To see him
is to see the dragon's face ; the throne is called the " dragon's
throne," and also the " divine utensil," i. e. the thing given him
bj> heaven to sit in when executing his divine mission ; his coat
of arms is a five-clawed dragon, and his person is styled the
dragon's body. Thus the Old Dragon, it might be almost said,
has coiled himself around the emperor of China, one of the
greatest upholders of his power in this world, and contrived to
get himself worshipped through him by one-third of mankind.
The emperor is the fountain of all power, rank, honor, and
privilege to all within his dominions, which are ignorantly sup¬
posed to comprise all the best parts of the globe ; and as there
can be but one sun in the heavens, so there can be but one
hwangti on earth, the source and dispenser of benefits to the
whole world. The same absolute executive power held by him
is placed in the hands of his deputies and governor-generals, to be
by them exercised within the limits of their jurisdiction. He is
the head of religion, and the only one qualified to adore heaven ;
he is the source of law, and dispenser of mercy ; no right can be
held in opposition to his pleasure, no claim maintained against
him, and no privilege protect from his wrath. All the forces
and revenues of the empire are his, and he has a claim to the
services of all males between sixteen and sixty, though he now
seldom tries to advance it. In short, the whole empire is his pro-
perty, and the only checks upon his despotism are public opinion,
the want of an efficient standing army, poverty, and the venality
of the agents of his power
The present emperor is the sixth of the Tsing or Pure dynasty,
who has reigned in China. He is the second son of his fathei
Kiaking, was born in October, 1781, and ascended the throno
in September, 1821 ; the present year is the 67th ?f his age-
310
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
and the 27th of his reign. The portraits circulated of him,
represent him as a mild, inefficient man, with a countenance indi¬
cating care and thoughtfulness, but presenting no traces of in¬
temperance. His physiognomy is not peculiarly Mongolian, the
thin features, large nose, and small lower face, likening him a
little to the Circassian. His private character is not so baa ag
his father's, without any very salient qualities—a man fitted for
peaceful times, but hardly equal to a desperate emergency. The
term Tsing, or Pure, was taken by the Manchus as a distinctive
term for their new dynasty, alluding to the purity of justice they
intended to maintain in their sway. Some of the founders of
the ancient dynasties derived their names from their patrimonial
estates, as the Chau, the Tsin, &c. ; others, as the Ming, or Illus¬
trious, the Yuen, or Original, intimated the vanity of the family.
On his accession to the throne, the emperor ordered that the
period of his reign should be called Taukwang, or Glory of
Reason ; and the words may without impropriety be considered,
and are so regarded by the people, as his personal name while on
the throne. The surname of the reigning family is Gioro, or
Golden, derived from their ancestral chief Aisin Gioro, whom
they feign to have been the son of a divine virgin. They are
doubtless descended from the Kin, or Golden, a people who sub¬
jugated much of northern China in the 11th and 12th centuries,
and were driven into Liautung by the Mongols. The given
name of the emperor has two syllables, but only one, Mien, is
generally known, because it is the name of all in the generation
to which his majesty belongs; his brothers' names are Mienkai,
and Mienyii. He has three sons, two of whom, Yihchu and
Yihtsung, are now 15 years old ; three sons have died.
The emperor Kanghi instituted a mode of naming the different
branches of his family, that every one might see at a glance
the generation to which each person belongs. He made out a list
of names, eight of which have been used for as many genera¬
tions ; these are Hiuen, Yun, Hung, Yung, Mien, Yih, Tsai,
and Fung, and the given name of every member of the same
generation contains the same word. Those most nearly allied in
blood, as sons, nephews, &c., are still further distinguished by
having the second syllables of their names written in compound
Chinese characters, whose radicals are alike ; thus Kiaking and
his brothers wrote theii names with Yung, and under the radical
coronation proclamation of taukwang. 311
gem ; Taukwang and his brothers and cousins, with Mien, and
under the radical heart. This peculiarity is easily represented
in the Chinese characters, but a comparison can be made in
English with the supposed names of a family of sons, as
Louis Edward, Louis Edwin, Louis Edwy, Louis Edgar, &c.,
the word Louis answering to Mien, and the syllable Ed to the
radical heart.
The title Taukwang is called in Chinese kwoh hau, or na¬
tional designation, and was first established by the Han dynasty,
about b. c. 200. Native historians have preferred to use the
miau hau, or ancestral name, as the most appropriate, and be¬
cause the kwoh hau, being sometimes changed by monarchs dur¬
ing their reigns, was liable to some confusion. The reason for
thus investing the sovereign with a title different from his real
o O
name is not fully apparent; it arose probably out of the vanity
of the monarch, who wished to glorify himself by a high sounding
title, and the custom was subsequently continued as part of the
system of surrounding him with whatever could enhance thr
awful respect attached to his position.
When his present majesty " received from heaven and revolv
ing nature, the government of the world," he issued the follow
ing inaugural proclamation, an extract from which will exhibi
something of the practice of the Chinese court on such occasions-
" Our Ta Tsing dynasty has received the most substantial
indication of heaven's kind care. Our ancestors, Taitsu and
Taitsung, began to lay the vast foundation [of our empire] ; and
Shitsu became the sole monarch of China. Our sacred ancestor
Kanghi, the emperor Yungching the glory of his age, and
Kienlung the eminent in honor, all abounded in virtue, were divine
in martial prowess, consolidated the glory of the empire, and
moulded the whole to peaceful harmony.
" His late majesty, who has now gone the great journey, go¬
verned all under heaven's canopy twenty-five years, exercising
the utmost caution and industry. Nor evening nor morning was
he ever idle. He assiduously aimed at the best possible rule,
and hence his government was excellent and illustrious ; the
court and the country felt the deepest reverence, and the stillness
of profound awe. A benevolent heart and a benevolent adminis¬
tration were universally diffused ; in China Proper, as well as
«12
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
beyond it, order and tranquillity prevailed, and the tens of thou,
sands of common people were all happy. But in the midst of a
hope that this glorious reign would be long protracted, and the
help of heaven would be received many days, unexpectedly, on
descending to bless, by his majesty's presence, Lwanyang, the
dragon charioteer (the holy emperor) became a guest on high.
" My sacred and indulgent father had, in the year that he
began to rule alone, silently settled that the divine utensil (the
throne) should devolve on my contemptible person. I, knowing
the feebleness of my virtue, at first felt much afraid I should not
be competent to the office; but on reflecting that the sages, my
ancestors, have left to posterity their plans; that his late majesty
has laid the duty on me—and heaven's throne should not be long
vacant—I have done violence to my feelings, and forced myself
to intermit awhile my heartfelt grief, that I may with reverence
obey the unalterable decree; and on the 27th of the 8th moon
(October 3d), I purpose devoutly to announce the event to heaven,
to earth, to my ancestors, and to the gods of the land and of the
grain, and shall then sit down on the imperial throne. Let the
next year be the first of Taukwang.
" I look upwards and hope to be able to continue former ex¬
cellences. I lay my hand on my heart with feelings of respect
and cautious awe.—When a new monarch addresses himself to
the empire, he ought to confer benefits on his kindred, and ex-
tensively bestow gracious favors: whatever is proper to be done
on this occasion is stated below."
Here follow twenty-two paragraphs, detailing the gifts to be
conferred, and promotions made of noblemen and officers, order¬
ing the restoration of suspended dignitaries to their full pay and
honors; and sacrifices to Confucius and the emperors of former
dynasties; pardons to be extended to criminals, and banished
convicts recalled ; governmental debts and arrearages to be for¬
given, and donations to be bestowed upon the aged.
" Lo ! now, on succeeding to the throne, I shall exercise myself
to give repose to the millions of my people. Assist me to sus¬
tain the burden laid on my shoulders ! With veneration I re¬
ceive charge of heaven's great concerns.—Ye kings and states¬
men, great and small, civil and military, every one be faithful
CEREMONIES OF THE CORONATION. 315
and devoted, and aid in supporting the vast affair, that our
family dominion may be preserved hundreds and tens of thou,
sands of years, in never ending tranquillity and glory ! Promul¬
gate this to all under heaven—cause every one to hear it ! "
The programme of ceremonies to be observed when the em-
peror " ascends the summit," and seats himself on the dragon's
throne, was published by the Board of Rites a few days after.
It details a long series of prostrations and bowings, leading out
and marshalling the various officers of the court, and members
of the imperial family. After they are all arranged in proper
precedence before the throne, " at the appointed hour, the presi¬
dent of the Board of Rites shall go and entreat his majesty to put
on his mourning, and come forth by the gate of the eastern
palace, and enter at the left door of the middle palace, where his
majesty, before the altar of his deceased imperial father, will
respectfully announce that he receives the decree—kneel thrice,
and bow nine times."
He then retires, and soon after a large deputation of palace
officers go and solicit his majesty to put on his imperial robes,
and proceed to the palace of his mother, the empress dowager,
to pay his respects. The empress dowager will put on her court
robes, and ascend her throne, before which his majesty shall
kneel thrice and bow nine times." After this filial ceremony is
over, the golden chariot is made ready, the officer of the Astro¬
nomical Board, whose business is to observe times, is stationed at
the palace gate, and when he announces the arrival of the chosen
and felicitous moment, his majesty comes forth and mounts the
golden chariot, and the procession proceeds to the Palace of
Protection and Peace. Here the great officers of the empire
are marshalled according to their rank, and when the emperor
sits down in the palace, they all kneel and bow nine times.
" This ceremony over, the president of the Board of Rites step¬
ping forward shall kneel down and beseech his majesty, saying,
4 Ascend the imperial throne.' The emperor shall then rise
from his seat, and the procession moving on in the same order to
the Palace of Peace, his majesty shall ascend the seat of gems,
and sit down on the imperial throne, with his face to the south."
All present come forward, and again make the nine prostrations,
after which the proclamation of coronation, as it would be called
15
814
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
in Europe, is formally sealed, and then annc unced to the empire
with similar ceremonies. There are many other lesser rites
observed on these occasions, some of them appropriate to such an
occasion, and others, according to our notions, bordering on the
ludicrous; the whole presenting a strange mixture of religion,
splendor, and farce, though as a whole calculated to impress all
with a sentiment of awe towards one, who gives to heaven, and
receives from man, such homage and worship.*
Nothing is omitted which can add to the dignity and sacredness
t>f the emperor's person or character. Almost everything used
Ly him, or in his service, is tabued from the common people, and
distinguished by some peculiar mark or color, so as to keep up
the impression of awe with which he is regarded, and which is so
powerful an auxiliary to his throne. The outer gate of the
palace must always be passed on foot, and the paved entrance
walk, leading up to it, can only be used by him. The vacant
throne, or even a screen of yellow silk thrown over a chair, is
worshipped equally with his actual presence, and a dispatch is
received in the provinces with incense and prostrations ; the
vessels on the canal, bearing articles for his special use, always
have the right of way. His birthday is celebrated over the
whole empire by official persons, and the account of the opening
ceremony, as witnessed by Macartney's embassy, shows how
skilfully every act tends to maintain his assumed character as
the son of heaven.
" The first day was consecrated to the purpose of rendering a
solemn, sacred, and devout homage to the supreme majesty ot
the emperor. The ceremony was no longer performed in a tent,
nor did it partake of the nature of a banquet. The princes, tri¬
butaries, ambassadors, and great officers of state, were assembled
in a vast hall ; and upon particular notice were introduced into
an inner building, bearing at least the semblance of a temple.
It was chiefly furnished with great instruments of music, among
which were sets of cylindrical bells, suspended in a line from
ornamental frames of wood, and gradually diminishing in size
from one extremity to the other, and also triangular pieces of
metal, arranged in the same order as the bells. To the sound of
these instruments, a slow and solemn hymn was sung by eunuchs,
* Chinese Repository, Vol. X., pages 87—98. Indc-Chinese Gleaner,
Felnary, 1821.
RESPECT AND AWE PAID THE EMPEROR. 31k
fcho had such a command over their voices, as to resemble the
effect of musical glasses at a distance. The performers were
directed, in the gliding from one tone to another, by the striking
of a shrill and sonorous cymbal; and the judges of music among
the gentlemen of the embassy, were much pleased with their
execution. The whole had, indeed, a grand effect. During the
performance, and at particular signals, nine times repeated, all
present prostrated themselves nine times, except the ambassador
and his suite, who made a profound obeisance. But he whom it
was meant to honor, continued, as if in imitation of the Deity,
invisible the whole time. The awful impression intended to be
made upon the minds of men, by this apparent worship of a fel¬
low-mortal, was not to be effaced by any immediate scenes of
sport or gaiety, which were postponed to the following day." *
The mass of the people are not admitted to participate in these
ceremonies ; they are kept at a distance, and care, in fact, very
little about them. In every provincial capital, there is a hall,
called Wan-shau hung, dedicated solely to the honor of the empe¬
ror, and where, three days before and after his birthday, all the
civil and military officers, and the most distinguished citizens,
assemble to do him the same homage as if he were present.
The walls and furniture of this hall are yellow.
The right of succession is by custom hereditary in the male
line, but it is always in the power of the sovereign to nominate
his successor, either from among his own children, or any of his
subjects. The heir-apparent is not always known during the
lifetime of the incumbent, though there is a titular office of guar¬
dian of the heir-apparent. In the reign of Kienlung, one of the
censors memorialized him upon the desirableness of announcing
his successor, in order to quiet men's minds, and repress intrigue,
but the suggestion cost the man his place. The emperor said that
the name of his successor, in case of his own sudden death, would
be found in a designated place, and that it was highly inexpedient
to mention him, lest intriguing men buzzed about him, forming
factions, and trying to elevate themselves. The soundness of
this policy cannot be doubted, and it is not unlikely Kienlung, or
some of his predecessors, knew the evils of an opposite course,
from an acquaintance with the history of some of the princes of
Central Asia or India. One good result of not indicating the
* Staunton's Embassy, Vol III., page 63.
316
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
heir-apparent to the throne is, that not only are no intrigues
formed by the crown-prince, but when he begins to reign, he is
seldom compelled, from fear of his own safety, to kill or imprison
his brothers or uncles, as was the case in India and Turkey; for
as they possess no power or party to render them formidable,
their personal ambition soon finds full scope for its exerche in
the wilds of Manchuria.
The management of the clan of imperial relatives appertains
entirely to the emperor, and has been conducted with considera¬
ble sagacity. All its members are under the control of the Tsung-
nnfu, a sort of clansmen's court, consisting of a presiding con¬
troller, two assistant directors, and two deputies of the family.
Their duties are to regulate whatever appertains to the govern¬
ment of the emperor's kindred, which is divided into two
branches, the direct and collateral, or the tsuvg-shih and Gioro:
The tsung-shih, or " imperial house," comprises only the lineal
descendants of Tienming's father, who first assumed the title of
emperor. The collateral branches, including the children of
his uncles and brothers, are collectively called Gioro abroad.
Their united number is unknown, but a minute genealogical
record of the whole is kept in the national archives at Peking
and Moukden. The tsung-sliih are distinguished by a yellow
girdle, and the Gioro by a red one; when degraded, the former
take a red, the latter a carnation girdle. A wang, or regulus of
the first rank, receives an annual salary of about $13,300, some
rations, and a retinue of three hundred and sixty servants, the
whole forming an annual tax upon the state of between $75,000
and $90,000. A prince of the second rank receives half that
sum ; of the third rank, one third, and so on, down to the simple
princes of the blood, who each receive four dollars a month, and
rations. Some of them are consequently reduced to very strait¬
ened circumstances, and most of the imperial connexions exhibit
the evils ensuent upon the system of education and surveillance
adopted towards them, in their low, vicious pursuits, and cring¬
ing imbecility of character. The sum of $133 is allowed when
they marry, and $150 to defray funeral expenses, which induces
some of them to maltreat their wives to death, in order to receive
the allowance and dowry as often as possible.
The titular nobilit :>f the empire, as a whole, is a body whose
members are without power, land, wealth, office, or influence.
ARRANGEMENT OF THE COURT AND NOBILITY. 317
Some of the titles are more or less hereditary, but the whole
system has been so devised, and the titles so conferred, as to
tickle the vanity of those who receive them, without granting
them any real power in virtue of the honor. The titles are not
derived from landed estates, but the rank is simply designated in
addition to the name. There are twelve orders of nobility con-
furred solely on the members of the imperial house and clan, all
of which are to some extent hereditary. 1. Tsin wang, ' kindred
prince,' or prince of the blood, conferred usually on his
majesty's brothers or sons. 2. Kiun wang, or ' prince of a prince¬
dom the eldest sons of the princes of these two degrees take a
definite rank during their father's lifetime, but the collateral
branches descend in precedence as the generations are more and
more remote from the direct imperial line, until the person is
known simply as member of the imperial clan. 3. Beile, and
4. Beitse, two orders of princes in collateral branches of the
family. 5. Guardian Duke, and 6. Sustaining Duke; the
7. and 8. are subordinates to them. The 9th to the 12th ranks
are respectively called Guardian, Sustaining, and Serving Gene¬
rals, and Brevet General. The number of persons in the lower
ranks is very great. Few of these men hold offices of any im¬
portance at the capital, and still more rarely are they placed in
responsible situations in the provinces, but the government of
Manchuria is chiefly in their hands. There are several classes
of the imperial princesses, whose tutelage and disposal is under
the control of the empress and the court.
Besides these, are the five ancient orders of nobility, kang,
hau, peh, isz', and nan, usually rendered duke, count, viscount,
baron, and baronet, which are conferred without distinction on
Manchus, Mongols, and Chinese, both civil and military, for such
reasons as are deemed sufficient. The three first take pre¬
cedence of the highest untitled civilians, but an appointment to
most of the high offices in the country carries with it an honorary
title. The direct descendant of Confucius is called yen-shng
kling, " the ever-sacred duke;" and of Koxinga, hai-cldng hung,
or " sea-quelling duke these are the only hereditary titles
among ihe Chinese. Besides the above-mentioned, there are
others, which are deemed even more honorable, either from their
rarity or peculiar privileges, and answer to membership of the
various orders of the Garter, Thistle, Bath, &c., in Europe.
318
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The internal arrangements of the court are modelled somewhat
after those of the Boards, the general supervision being under the
direction of a superior board, called the JSuiwu fucomposed of
a president and six assessors, under whom are seven subordinate
departments. It is the duty of these officers to attend upon the
emperor and empress at sacrifices, and conduct the ladies of the
hareem to and from the palace; they oversee the households of
the sons of the emperor, and direct, under his majesty, every,
thing belonging to the palace, and whatever appertains to ita
supplies and the care of the imperial guard. The seven depart,
ments are methodically arranged, the whole bearing no little
resemblance to a miniature state: one is for supplies of food and
raiment ; a second is for defence, to regulate the body-guard
when the emperor travels ; the third attends to the etiquette the
members of this great family must observe towards each other,
and brings forward the inmates of the hareem when the emperor,
seated in the inner hall of audience, receives their homage, led
by the empress herself; a fourth department selects ladies to fill
the hareem, and collects the revenue from crown lands; a fifth
superintends all repairs necessary in the palace, and sees that the
streets of the city be cleared whenever the emperor, empress,
or any of the women or children in the palace wish to go out; a
sixth department has in charge the herds and flocks of the em¬
peror; and the last is a court for punishing the crimes of soldiers,
eunuchs, and others attached to the palace.
About 5000 eunuchs are connected with the palace, but from
what stations in society they are taken is not specified. In 1829,
a supplementary clause was added to the law, ordering that the
sous of a murderer who had killed all the heirs of a family
should be given to the keeper of the hareem to be emasculated ;
but such a law would not do much towards supplying this part
of the household. The number of females attached to the hareem
is not accurately known; all of them are under the nominal
direction of the empress. Every third year, his majesty reviews
the daughters of the Manchu officers over twelve years of age,
and chooses such as he pleases for concubines ; there are only
seven legal concubines, but an unlimited number of illegal. The
latter are restored to liberty when they reach the age of 25,
unless they have borne children to his majesty. It is generally
considered an advantage to a family to have a daughter in the
POSITION OF THE EMPRESS DOWAGER.
31S
hareem, especially by the Manchus, who endeavor to rise by this
backstairs influence.*
In the 48th volume of the Hwui Tien, from which work most
of the details in this chapter are obtained, there is an account of
the supplies furnished his majesty and court. There should
daily be placed before the emperor, 30 lbs. of meat in a basin,
and 7 lbs. boiled into soup ; hog's fat and butter, of each 1^- lbs.,
two sheep, two fowls, and two ducks, the milk of eighty cows,*
and 75 parcels of tea. Her majesty receives 21 lbs. of meat
in platters, and 13 lbs. boiled with vegetables, one fowl, one
duck, twelve pitchers of water, the milk of 25 cows, and ten
parcels of tea. Her maids and the concubines receive their
rations according to a regular fare, which is minutely specified.
The empress-dowager is the most important person within the
palace, and his majesty does homage to her at frequent intervals,
by making the highest ceremony of nine prostrations before her.
The empress-dowager reached the age of sixty in 1836, on
which happy occasion many honors were conferred by the em¬
peror. An extract from the ordinance issued on this festival,
will exhibit the regard paid her by his majesty.
" Our extensive dominions have enjoyed the utmost prosperity,
under the shelter of a glorious and enduring state of felicity.
Our exalted race has become most illustrious, under the protec¬
tion of that honored relative to whom the whole court looks up.
To her happiness, already unalloyed, the highest degree of
felicity has been superadded, causing joy and gladness to every
inmate of the six palaces. The grand ceremonies of the occa¬
sion shall exceed in splendor the utmost requirements of the
ancients in regard to the human relations, calling forth the gra-
tulation of the whole empire. It is indispensable that the ob¬
servances of the occasion should be of an exceedingly unusual
nature, in order that our reverence for »u. august parent and
care of her, may both be equally and gloriously displayed. . . .
... In the first month of the present winter occurs the sixtieth
anniversary of her majesty's sacred natal day. At the opening
of the happy period, the sun and moon shed their united genial
influences on it. When commencing anew the revolution of ths
sexagenary cycle, the honor thei'eofadds increase to her felicity
* Chinese Reoository, Vol. XIV., page 521
320
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Looking upwards and beholding her glory, we repeat our gratu.
lations, and announce the event to heaven, to earth, to our ances¬
tors, and to the patron gods of the empire. On the nineteenth
day of the tenth moon in the fifteenth year of Taukwang, we
will conduct the princes, the nobles, and all the high officers,
both civil and military, into the presence of the great empress,
benign and dignified, universally placid, thoroughly virtuous,
tranquil and self-collected, in favors unbounded ; and we will
then present our congratulations on the glad occasion, the anni¬
versary of her natal day. The occasion yields a happiness
equal to what is enjoyed by goddesses in heaven ; and while an¬
nouncing it to the gods and to our people, we will tender to her
blessings unbounded."
Besides the usual tokens of favor, such as rations to soldiers,
pardon to offenders, promotion to the deserving, advance in offi¬
cial rank, &c., it was ordered in the 11th article, " That every
perfectly filial son or obedient grandson, every upright husband
or chaste wife, upon proofs being brought forward, shall have a
monument erected with an inscription in his or her honor."
Soldiers who had reached the age of 90 or 100, received money
to erect an honorary portal; and tombs, temples, bridges, and
roads were ordered to be repaired ; but how many of these
" exceedingly great and special favors " were actually carried
into effect cannot be stated.*
Princesses are given in marriage to the chieftains of the
Mongols, and leading statesmen among the Manehus, for all in¬
termarriages between these races and the Chinese are illegal.
The imperial body-guard is composed of picked Manchu troops,
about 700 to 800 in number, selected from a body of imperial
slaves or troops, who are under the control of high officers.
Some of the guard are always about the imperial person, while
other portions of the force are placed on the frontier.
Under the emperor is the whole body of the people, a great
family bound implicitly to obey his will as being that of heaven,
and possessing no right or property per se ; in fact, having nothing
but what has been derived from, or may at any time be reclaimed
by, him. The greatness of this family, and the absence of an
entaiied aristocracy to hold its members or their lands in serfdom,
* Chiuese Repository, Vol. IV., page 576.
divisions of the chinese people.
32.
ere partial safeguards against excess of oppression. Liberty-
is unknown among the people ; there i- not even a word for it in
the language. No acknowledgment on the part of the sovereign of
certain well understood rights belonging to the people has ever
been required, and is not likely to be demanded or given by
either party, until the Gospel shall teach them their respective
rights. Emigration abroad, and even removal from one part of
the empire to another, are prohibited or restrained, though neither
of these regulations offers much obstacle to changing one's place
of residence or occupation. Notwithstanding Chinese society is
so homogeneous when considered as distinct from the sovereign,
inequalities of many kinds are constantly met with, some grow¬
ing out of birth or property, others out of occupation or merit,
but most of them derived from official rank. There is no caste
as in India, although the ancient distinction of the people into
scholars, agriculturists, craftsmen, and tradesmen, has been sup¬
posed to be analogous ; one of the former emperors did, how¬
ever, endeavor unsuccessfully to introduce caste. This four¬
fold arrangement was perhaps made from a notion of the rela¬
tive usefulness of these classes, but there are local prejudices
against associating with some portions of the community, though
the people thus shut out are not remnants of old castes. The
tankia, or boat-people, at Canton form a class in some respects be¬
neath the other portions of the community, and have many customs
peculiar to themselves. At Ningpo, there is a still more degrad¬
ed class called to min, amounting to nearly 3000 persons, with
whom the people will not associate. The men are not allowed
to enter the examinations, or follow an honorable calling, but are
play-actors, musicians, or sedan-bearers; the women are match¬
makers or female barbers, and are obliged to wear a peculiar
dress, and usually go abroad carrying a bundle wrapped in a
checkered handkerchief. The tankia at Canton also wear a simi¬
lar handkerchief on their head, and do not cramp their feet. The
to min are supposed to be descendants of the Kin, who held north¬
ern China in a. d. 1100, or of native traitors, who aided the
Japanese, in 1555-1563, in their descent upon Chehkiang. Tha
tankia came from some of the Miautsz' tribes, so early that their
origin is unknown.*
* Missionary Chronicle, Vol. XIV., page 324.
15*
322
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The modern classifications of the people, recognised, ho vever,
more by law than custom, ai'e various and comprehensive. First
natives and aliens; the latter include the unsubdued mountain,
eers and aboriginal tribes still living in various parts of the em.
pire, races of boat-people on the coasts, and all foreigners residing
within its limits, each of whom are subject to particular iaws.
Second, conquerors and conquered ; having reference almost en-
tirely to a prohibition of intermarriages between Manchus and
Chinese. Third, freemen and slaves ; every native is allowed
to purchase slaves and retain their children in servitude, and freo
persons sometimes forfeit their freedom on account of their crimes,
or sell themselves into bondage. Fourth, the honorable and the
mean, who cannot intermarry without the former forfeiting their
privileges; the latter comprise, besides aliens and slaves, crimi¬
nals, executioners, police-runners, actors, jugglers, beggars, and
all other vagrant or vile persons, who are in general required to
pursue for three generations, some honorable and useful employ¬
ment before they are eligible to enter the literary examinations.
These four divisions extend over the whole body of the people,
but really affect only a small minority.
There are also eight privileged classes, of which the privileges
of imperial blood and connexions, and that of nobility, are the only
ones really available; this privilege affects merely the punish¬
ment of offenders belonging to either of the eight classes. The
privilege of imperial blood is extended to all the blood relations
of the emperor, all those of the empress mother and grandmother
within four degrees, of the empress within three, and of the con¬
sort of the crown prince within two. Privileged noblemen com¬
prise all officers of the first rank, all of the second holding office,
and all of the third whose office confers a command. These
ranks are entirely distinct from the titles of nobility, and are
much thought of by officers as honorary distinctions. There are
nine, each distinguished by a different colored ball placed on the
apex of the cap, by a peculiar emblazonry on the breast, and a
different clasp to the girdle.
Civilians of the first rank wear a precious ruby or transparent
red stone; a stork is embroidered on the back and breast ol
the robe, and the girdle clasp of prehnite set in rubies; military
men differ only in having a unicorn instead of a stork,
their buttons and clasps being the same as civilians.
EIGHT PRIVILEGED CLASSES AND NINE RANKS.
323
Civilians of the second rank wear a red coral button, a
robe embroidered with a golden pheasant, and a girdle clasp of
gol" set in rubies; the lion is emblazoned on the military.
Civilians of the third rank carry a sapphire, and one-eyed pea¬
cock's feather, a robe with a peacock worked on the breast, and
a clasp of worked gold ; military officers have a leopard instead
of a peacock.
Civilians of the fourth rank are distinguished by a blue
opaque stone, a crane on the breast, and a clasp of worked gold
with a silver button ; military officers carry a tiger instead of a
crane.
Civilians of the fifth rank are denoted by a crystal button, a
silver pheasant on the breast, and a clasp of plain gold with a
silver button ; the bear is the escutcheon of military men.
Civilians of the sixth rank wear an opaque white shell button,
a blue plume, an egret worked on the breast, and a mother-of-
pearl clasp; military men bear a pien, or little tiger.
Civilians of the seventh rank have a plain gold button, a par¬
tridge on the breast, and a clasp of silver; a rhinoceros desig¬
nates the military, as it also does in the next rank.
The eighth rank wear a worked gold button, a quail on the
breast, and a clasp of clear horn.
The ninth rank are distinguished by a worked silver button, a
sparrow on the breast, and a clasp of buffalo's horn; military
men are marked by a sea-horse embroidered on the robe.
Different Styles of Official Caps.
The mass of people, besides the legal distinctions here noticed,
are further subdivided into different clans, guilds, societies, pro.
324
the middle kingdom.
fessions, and communities, all of which s some degree assist
them in maintaining their rights, and give a power to publ.c
opinion it would not otherwise possess. Legally, every subject is
allowed access to the magistrates, secured protection from
oppression, and can appeal to the higher courts, but these privi¬
leges are of little avail if he is poor or unknown. He is too
deeply imbued with fear, and too ignorant of his rights, to think
of organized resistance; his mental independence has been
destroyed, his search after truth paralysed, his enterprise
checked, and his whole efforts directed into two channels, viz.
labor for bread, and study for office, by the operation of
this servile fear. The people of a village, for instance, will not
be quietly robbed of the fruits of their industry; but every indi¬
vidual submits to multiplied insults, oppressions, and cruelties,
without thinking of combining with his fellows to resist. Pro¬
perty is held by a tolerably secure tenure, but almost every
other right and privilege are shamefully trampled on.
Although there is nominally no deliberative or advisatory
body in the Chinese government, and nothing really analogous
to a congress, parliament, or tiers etat, still necessity compels the
emperor to consult and advise with some of his officers. There
are two imperial councils, which may be regarded as the organs
of communication between the imperial head and the body politic;
these are the Nui Koh or Cabinet, and the Kiun-H Chu or General
Council; the last being the most deliberative body of the two.
Subordinate to these two councils are the administrative parts of
the supreme government, consisting of the six Boards, the Colo¬
nial Office, Censorate, Courts of Representation and Appeal, and
the Imperial Academy; making in all thirteen principal depart¬
ments, each of which will require a short description. It need
hardly be added that there is nothing like an elective body in
any part of the system ; such a feature to a Chinese would be
almost as incongruous as the election of a father by his family.
The Nui Koh, or Cabinet, consists of four ta liioh-sz\ or prin¬
cipal, and two hiehpan ta hioh-sz', or joint assistant chancellors,
half of them Manchus, and half Chinese. Their duties, accord¬
ing to the Imperial Statutes, are to " deliberate on the govern¬
ment of the empire, proclaim abroad the imperial pleasure,
regulate the canons of state, together with the whole administra¬
tion of the great balance of power, thus aiding the emperor in
NUI KOH CR CABINET.
32*
directing the affairs of state." Subordinate to these six chan.
o
cellors, are six grades of officers amounting in all to upwards
of two hundred persons, of whom more than half are Manchus.
Immediately under the six chancellors, are ten assistants, called
liiohsz', " learned scholars some of the sixteen are constantly
absent in the provinces or colonies, when their places are sup¬
plied by substitutes. What in other countries is performed by
one person as prime minister, is in China performed by the four
chancellors, of whom the first in the list is usually considered
to be the premier, though perhaps the most influential man and
the real leader of government holds another station. The present
premier of China is Muchangah, a Manchu of great influence
and power, and probably an able man ; he has been president of
several Boards and of the Academy, and has filled his present high
station eleven years. It speaks something for the stability of this
government, that Taukwang has had only three premiers in
twenty-six years, Tohtsin, Changling, and Muchangah, all of
them Manchus.
The most prominent daily business of the Cabinet is to
receive imperial edicts and rescripts and present memorials, lay
before his majesty the affairs of the empire and receive his
orders thereon, and forward them to the appropriate office to
be copied and promulgated. In order to expedite business in
court, it is the custom, after the ministers have read and formed
an opinion upon each document, to fasten a slip of paper at the
foot, or more than one if elective answers are to be given, and
thus present the document to his majesty, in the presence-cham¬
ber, who, with a stroke of his pencil on the answer he chooses,
decides its fate. The papers having been examined and ar¬
ranged, are submitted to the sovereign at daylight on the follow¬
ing morning, in the daily audience; one of the six Manchu
hiohsz' first reads each document and hands it over to one of the
four Chinese hiohsz', who inscribes the answer dictated by the
sovereign, or hands it to him to perform that duty with the ver¬
milion pencil. By this arrangement, a large amount of business
can be summarily dispatched ; but it is also evident that no little
depends upon the manner in which the answer written upon the
slip is drawn up, as to the reception or rejection of the paper,
though care has been taken in this particular by requiring thai
codicils be prepared, showing the reasons for each answer. The
326
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
appointment, removal, and degradation of all office rs throughout
his vast dominions, orders respecting the apportionment or remit¬
tal of the revenue and taxes, disposition of the army, regulation
of the nomadic tribes,—in short, all concerns, from the highest
appointments and changes down to petty police cases of crime,
are brought to the notice and action of the emperor, through the
Cabinet.
Resides these daily duties, there are some additional functions
devolving upon the members of the Cabinet, such as presiding
on all state occasions and sacrifices, coronations, reception of
embassies, &c. ; these duties are fulfilled by the ten assistant
hiohsz', who are all vice-presidents of the Board of Rites. They
are the keepers of the 25 seals of government in the Palace of
Peace, each of which is of a different form, and used for differ¬
ent and special purposes, according to the custom of orientals, who
place so much dependence upon the sec.'! for vouching for the
authenticity of a document.* Attached to the Cabinet are ten
subordinate officers, one of which is for translating documents
into the various languages found in the empire. The higher
members of the Cabinet are familiarly called koh Ian, i. e. elders
of the council-room, from which the word colao, often met with
in books upon China, is derived.j"
2. The Kiun-ki Cepj, or General Council, is of recent organi¬
zation, but is probably the most influential body in the govern¬
ment ; and, though quite unKkein its construction, corresponds to
the ministry of western nations more than any other branch of
the Chinese system. It is composed of princes of the blood,
chancellors of the Cabinet, the presidents and vice-presidents of
the six Boards, and chief officers of all the other courts in the
capital, selected at the emperor's pleasure, who are unitedly
called " great ministers directing the machinery of the army,"—
the army being here taken to signify the nation. Its duties are
" to write imperial edicts and decisions, and determine such
* Chinese Chrestoinathy, page 570, chap, xvii., sect. 4.
f A still more common designation for officers of every rank in the em¬
ploy of the Chinese government, has net so good a parentage ; this is the
Word Mandarin, derived from the Portuguese mandar, to command, and
indiscriminately applied by foreigners to every grade from a premier to a
tide-waiter; it is not needed in English as a general term for officers, ana
ought to be disused, moreover, from its tendency to convey the impression
that they are in some way unlike their compeers elsewhere.
KIUN-KI CIIU OR GENERAL COUNCIL.
327
things as are of importance to the army and nation, in order to
aid the sovereign in regulating the machinery of affairs." Tha
number of members of the General Council probably varies ac¬
cording to his majesty's pleasure, but as no list of them is given
in the Red Book, it is impossible to tell the proportion of Chinese
and Manchu officers constituting this mainspring of the govern¬
ment, though nearly one-half are Manchus, and their relative
preponderance in the two great councils of the empire shows in
whose hands the real direction of the affairs of state lie.
The members of the General Council assemble daily in the
Forbidden Palace, between five and six in the morning, and there
transact the business before them ; when summoned by his ma¬
jesty into the council-chamber, they sit upon mats or low cush¬
ions, no person ever being permitted to sit on chairs in the real
or supposed presence of the emperor. His majesty's commands
being written down by them, are, if public, transmitted to the
Inner Council to be promulgated; but on any matter requiring
secresy or expedition, a dispatch is forthwith made up and sent
under cover to the Board of War to be forwarded. In all im¬
portant consultations or trials, this Council, either alone or in
connexion with the appropriate court, is called in ; and in time
of vvai it is formed into a committee of ways and means. Lists
of officers entitled to promotion are kept by it, and the names of
proper persons to supply vacancies furnished the emperor. Ma¬
ny of the residents in the colonies are members of the Council,
and communicate directly with his majesty through it, and re¬
ceive allowances and gifts with great formality from the throne,
—a device of statecraft designed to maintain an awe of the im¬
perial character and name as much as possible among the mixed
races under them.
From this account of its duties, the General Council evidently
fills an important station in the system, and tends greatly to con¬
solidate the various branches of government, and facilitate their
harmonious action, as well as to supply the deficiencies of an
imbecile, or restrain the acts of a tyrannical monarch. The
Statutes from which these notices are taken speak of various
record-books, both public and secret, kept by the members for
noting down the opinions of his majesty ; and add that there are
no fixed times for audiences, one or more sessions being held
daily, according to the exigencies of the state. Besides theso
328
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
functions, its members are further charged with certain literarj
matters, and three subordinate offices are attached to the Council
for their preparation. One is for drawing up narratives of im¬
portant transactions,—a few of those relating to the war with
England would be curious at this time; a second is for trans¬
lating documents ; and the third, entitled " an office for observing
that imperial edicts are carried into effect," must at times have
rather an arduous task, though probably its responsibility ends
when the dispatch goes forward. An office with this title shows
that the Chinese government, with all its business-like arrange¬
ments, is still an Asiatic one.*
The duties of these supreme counci'ls are general, comprising
matters relating to all departments of the government, and serve
to connect the head of the state with the subordinate bodies, not
only at the capital, but in all the provinces, so that he can, and
probably does to a very great degree, thereby maintain a gene¬
ral acquaintance with what is done in all parts, and sooner recti¬
fy disorders and malpractices. The rivalry between their mem¬
bers, and the dislike entertained by the three races composing
them, cause no doubt some trouble to his majesty, but they also
tend to prevent conspiracies and intrigues. It must not be sup¬
posed, however, that every high officer in the Chinese govern¬
ment is wholly unprincipled, venal, and intriguing ; most of
them desire to serve and maintain their country.
The King Cliau, i. e. Court Transcripts, usually called the
Peking Gazette, is compiled from the papers presented before the
General Council, and constitutes the principal source of informa¬
tion available to the people for ascertaining what is going on in
the empire. Every morning, ample extracts from the papers
decided upon or examined by the emperor, including his own or¬
ders and rescripts, are placarded upon boards in a court of the
palace, and form the materials for the annals of government and
the history of the empire. Couriers are dispatched to all parts
of the land, carrying copies of these papers to the high provincial
officers ; and persons are also permitted to print these documents
without note or change, and circulate them at their own charges
to their customers. This is the Peking Gazette, and such the
mode of its compilation. It is very generally read and talked
about by the gentry and educated people in cities, and tends to
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 138. Chinese Chrestomathy, page 573
THE SIX BOARDS. BOAKD OF CIVIL OFFICE. 329
keep them more acquainted with the character and proceedings
of their rulers, than the Romans were of their sovereigns and
senate. In the provinces, thousands of persons find employment
by copying and abridging the Gazettes for readers who cannot
allbrd to purchase the complete edition.
The principal executive bodies in the capital under these two
Councils are the Lull Pu, or Six Boards, which are departments of
long standing in the government, having been modelled on much
the same plan during the ancient dynasties. At the head of each
Board are two presidents, called shang-shu, and four vice-presi¬
dents, called shilang, alternately a Tartar and a Chinese; and
over three of them—those of Revenue, War, and Punishment—
are placed superintendents, who are frequently members of the
Cabinet; sometimes the president of one Board is superintendent
of another. There are three subordinate grades of officers in
each Board, who may be called directors, under-secretaries, and
controllers, with a great number of minor clerks, and their appro¬
priate departments for conducting the details of the general and
peculiar business coming under the cognisance of the Board,
the whole being arranged and subordinated in the most business¬
like style. The detail of all the departments in the general and
provincial governments is regulated to the minutest matter in the
same manner. For instance, each Board has a different style
of envelope in which to send its dispatches, and the papers in the
offices are filed away in them.
3. The Li Pu, or Board of Civil Office, " has the government
and direction of all the various officers in the civil service of the
empire, and thereby it assists the emperor to rule all people
and these duties are further defined, as including " whatever ap.
pertains to the plans of selecting rank and gradation, to the rules
of determining degradation and promotion, to the ordinances of
granting investitures and rewards, and the laws for fixing sche¬
dules and furloughs, that the civil service may be supplied." Ci¬
vilians are presented to the emperor, and all civil and literary
officers distributed throughout the empire by this Board.
There are four bureaus in this Board. The first attends to
the distinctions, precedence, promotion, exchanging, &c., of offi¬
cers. The second investigates their merits and worthiness to be
recorded and advanced, or contrariwise, ascertains the character
each officer bears, and the manner in which he fulfils his duties,
330
THE MIDDLE KliSGDOM.
and prescribes his furloughs. The third regulates retiren ent
from office on account of mourning or filial duties to sick parents,
and supervises the registration of official names ; it is through
this bureau that Hwang Ngantung, the governor of Kwangtung,
has lately been degraded for not resigning his office on the death
of his mother. The fourth regulates the distribution of titles,
patents, and posthumous honors. The Chinese is the only go¬
vernment that ennobles ancestors for the merits of their descend¬
ants ; the custom arose out of the worship paid them, in which
the rites are proportionate to the rank of the deceased, not of the
survivor ; and if the deceased parent or grandparent were com¬
moners, they receive proper titles in consequence of the eleva¬
tion of their son or grandson. This custom is not a trick of
state to get money, as has been said,* for commoners cannot buy
these posthumous titles ; they can only buy nominal titles for
themselves. The usage, however, offers an illustration of the
remark of Job, " His sons come to honor, and he knoweth it
not."
4. The Hu Pu, or Board of Revenue, " directs the territorial
government of the empire, and keeps the lists of population in
order to aid the emperor in nourishing all people ; whatever ap¬
pertains to the regulations for levying and collecting duties and
taxes, to the plans for distributing salaries and allowances, to the
rates for receipts and disbursements at the granaries and treasu¬
ries, and io the rights for transporting by land and water, are re¬
ported to this Board, that sufficient supplies for the country may
be provided." Besides these duties, it obtains the admeasure¬
ment of all lands in the empire, and proportions taxes and con¬
scriptions, according to the divisions, population, &c., regulates
the expenditure, and ascertains the latitude and longitude of
places. One minor office prepares lists of all the Manchu girls
fit to be introduced into the palace for selection as inmates of the
imperial hareem, a duty which seems somewhat incongruous, un¬
less these girls are regarded as the revenue from Manchuria.
The injudicious mode of collecting revenue common under the
Persian and Syrian kings, by which the sums obtained from sin¬
gle cities and provinces were apportioned among the royal fami¬
ly and favorites, and carried directly to them, has never been
practised by the Chinese.
* People of China, page 59.
BOARDS OF REVENUE AND RITES.
331
There are fourteen subordinate departments under this Board
to attend to the receipt of the revenue from each of the eighteen
provinces, each of which corresponds with the treasury depart¬
ment in its respective province. The revenue being paid in
various ways and articles, as money, grain, manufactures, &c.,
the receipt and distribution of the various articles require a large
number of assistants. This Board is moreover a court of appeal
on disputes respecting property, and superintends the mint in each
province ; one bureau is called the " great ministers of the Three
Treasurie," viz. of metals, silks and dye-stuffs, and stationery.
5. The Li Pu, or Board of Rites, " examines and directs con¬
cerning the performance of the five kinds of the ritual obser¬
vances, and makes proclamation thereof to the whole empire, thus
aiding the emperor in guiding all people. Whatever appertains
to the ordinances for regulating precedence and literary distinc¬
tions, to the canons for maintaining religious honor and fidelity, to
the orders respecting intercourse and tribute, and to the forms of
giving banquets and granting bounties, are reported to this Board
in order to promote national education." The five classes of
rit<\j are defined to be those of a propitious and those of a felicitous
nature, military and hospitable rites, and those of an infelicitous
nature. Among the subordinate departments is that of ceremonial
forms, which " has the regulation of the etiquette to be observed at
court on all occasions, on congratulatory attendances, in the per¬
formance of official duties, &c. ; also the regulation of dresses,
caps, &c. ; as to the figure, size, color, and nature of their fabrics
and ornaments, of carriages and riding accoutrements, their form,
&c., w:th the number of followers and insignia of rank. It has
also the direction of the entire ceremonial of personal intercourse
between the various ranks of peers, minutely defining the num¬
ber of bows and degree of attention which each is to pay to the
other when meeting in official capacities, according as they are
on terms of equality or otherwise, tt has also to direct the forms
of their written official intercourse, including those to be ob¬
served in addresses to and from foreign states. The regulation
of the literary examinations, the number of the graduates, the
distinction of their classes, the forms of their selection, and the
privileges of successful candidates, with the establishment of
governmental schools an 1 academies, are all under this depart-
ment."
332
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Another office superintends the rites to be observed in worship,
ping deities and spirits of departed monarchs, sages, and worthies,
and in " saving the sun and moon " when eclipsed. The third,
called " host and guest office," looks after tribute and tribute-
bearers, and takes the whole management of foreign embassies,
supplying not only provisions, but translators, and ordering the
mode of intercourse between China and other states. The fourth
oversees the supplial of food for banquets and sacrifices. The
details of all the multifarious ritual duties of this Board occupy
fourteen volumes of the Statutes. " Truly nothing is without its
ceremonies," as Confucius taught, and no nation has paid so much
attention to them in the ordering of its government as the Chinese.
The Book of Rites is the foundation of ceremonies, and the in¬
fallible standard as to their meaning, and the importance the
Chinese attach to them has had a powerful influence in forming
their national character.
Attached to the Board of Rites is a Board of Music, containing
an indefinite number of officers possessing musical talents, whose
duties " are to study the principles of harmony and melody, to
compose musical pieces and form instruments proper to play
them, and then suit both to the various occasions on which they
are required." Nor are the graces of dancing and posture-
making neglected by these ceremony-mongers ; but it may with
truth be said, that if no other nation ever had a Board of Music,
and required so much official music as the Chinese, certainly none
ever had less real melody.
6. The Ping Pu, or Board of War, "has the government and
direction of all the officers within and without the provinces em¬
ployed in the military service of the nation, for the purpose of
aiding the emperor in protecting all people. Whatever apper¬
tains to the ordinances for taking away, giving, and resuming
office or inheriting rank, to the plans of the post-office depart¬
ment, to the rules of military examination and discipline, and to
the rates and enrolment of actual service, are reported to this
Board, in order to regulate the hinge of state"—i. e. the main¬
spring in the whole machine, the army, on which the Manchus
depend for maintaining their supremacy. The navy is also
under the control of this Board, whose general functions are in¬
dicated by its title. The management of the post is confided to
a special department, and the transmission of official dvspatchea
B' ARDS OF WAR AND PUNISHMENTS.
333
is performed with great efficiency and regularity. A minor
bureau of the courier office is called " the office for the announce¬
ment of victories," which contrived, no doubt, to make itself
useful during the war with England, though from a recital of its
duties it appears to be rather an urgent express office, whose
couriers should hasten as if they announced a victory. The
examination of military candidates, providing all kinds of warlike
stores, animals, and chariots in camp, castle, and field ; determin¬
ing the number and overseeing the conduct of officers, positions
of the forces and garrisons, &c., naturally falls within the juris¬
diction of the Board of War.
The regulation of the entire army is committed to several de¬
partments, and the forces under each are kept distinct. The
imperial body-guard, as such, is directed by the Shi-wei cliu, or
Court of the Guards, and every precaution is taken to insure its
fidelity, and attach the officers and men to their master. The
Manchu army which effected the conquest in 1644 was assisted by
Mongols and Chinese, the three nations were divided into eight
corps or " banners," and still form the hereditary defence of the
conquerors. Each of the twenty-four corps are under a tutung,
or general, and two fu tutung, or lieutenant-generals, whose du¬
ties are " to sustain the regulations of the various corps, to keep
account of their instruction and maintenance, to arrange their
titles and honors, and to economize the expenditure upon them,
in order to aid the sovereign in regulating the affairs of the ' ban¬
nered force.' " Most of these troops remain at Peking or in
Liautung, and the smaller military bodies of Chinese in the
capital are connected with them. The detail of the subdivisions
and locations of this part of the army, and of the native troops in
the provinces, possesses a minor interest compared with the civil
service. The total number of troops of all arms and nations sta¬
tioned throughout the empire cannot be stated ; the Chinese
troops form the greater, and probably the least effective part.*
7. The Hing Pit, or Board of Punishments, " has the govern¬
ment and direction of punishment:* throughout the empire, for the
purpose of aiding the sovereign in correcting all people. What¬
ever appertains to measures of applying the laws with leniency
cr severity, to the task of hearing evidence and giving decisions,
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 188, 276-287 ; Vol. V., pp. 165-178.
the middle kingdom.
to the rights of granting pardons, reprieves, or otherwise, and to
the rate of fines and interest, are all reported to this Board, to aid
in giving dignity to national manners." The Hing Pu partakes
of the nature of both a criminal and civil court; its officers usu¬
ally meet with those of the Censorate and Tall Sz', the three
forming the San Fah Sz\ or Three Law Chambers, which decide
on capital cases brought before them. In the autumn, these three
unite with members from six other courts, forming collectively
a Court of Errors to revise the decisions of the provincial judges,
before reporting them to his majesty. These precautions are
taken to prevent injustice, when life is involved, and the system
shows an endeavor on the part of the Chinese to secure a full
and impartial consideration for all capital cases, which, although
it may signally fail of its full effect, does them high credit, when
the little value set upon life generally by Asiatic governments is
considered. These bodies are expected to conform their deci¬
sions to the law, nor are they permitted to cite the emperor's own
decisions as precedents, without the law on these decisions has
been expressly entered as a supplementary clause in the Code.
It also belongs to sub-officers in the Board of Punishments to
record all his majesty's decisions upon appeals from the provinces
at the autumnal assizes, when the entire list is presented for his
examination and ultimate decision, and see that these sentences
are transmitted to the provincial judges. Another office super¬
intends the publication of the quinquennial edition of the Code,
with all the changes and additions ; a third oversees jails and
jailers ; a fourth receives the fines levied by commutation of
punishments; and a fifth registers the receipts and expenditures
of the Board. If the administration of the law in China at all
corresponded with the equity of most of its enactments, or the
caution taken in preventing collusion, malversation, and haste on
the part of the judges, it would be incomparably the best govern¬
ed country out of Christendom ; but the painful contrast between
good laws and wicked rulers is such as to show the utter impos¬
sibility of securing the due administration of justice without
higher moral principles than heathenism can teach.
8. The Kung Pu, or Board of Works, " has the government
and direction of the public works throughout the empire, together
with the current expenses of the same, for the purpose of aiding
he emperor to keeD all people in a state of repose. Whatever
board of public works.
apper'aii & to pla .3 for buildings of wood or earth, to the forms of
useful instrument:;, to the laws for stopping up or opening chan¬
nels, and to the ordinances for constructing the mausolea and
temples, are reported to this Board in order to perfect national
works." The duties of the Board of Works are of a miscella¬
neous nature, and are performed in other countries by no one
department, though the plan adopted by the Chinese is not with
out its advantages. One bureau takes cognisance of the condi
tion of all city walls, palaces, temples, altars, and other public
structures ; sits as a prize-office, and furnishes tents for his ma
jesty's journeys, supplies timber for ships, and pottery and glass¬
ware for the court. A second attends to the manufacture of
military stores and utensils employed in the army, sorts the
pearls from the fisheries according to their value, regulates
weights and measures, furnishes " death-warrants " to governors
and generals, and lastly, takes charge of arsenals, stores, camp-
equipage, and other things appertaining to the army. A third
department has charge of all water-ways and dikes ; it also re¬
pairs and digs canals, erects bridges, oversees the banks of rivers
by means of deputies stationed at posts along their course, builds
vessels of war, collects tolls, mends roads, digs the sewers in Pe¬
king and cleans out its gutters, preserves ice, makes book-cases
for public records, and lastly, looks after the silks sent as taxes.
The fourth of these offices confines its attention chiefly to the
condition of the imperial mausolea, the erection of the sepulchres
and tablets of meritorious officers buried at public expense, and
the adornment of temples and palaces, as well as superintending
all workmen employed by the Board.
The mint is under the direction of two vice-presidents, and the
manufacture of gunpowder is specially intrusted to two great
ministers. One would think from this recital that the functions
of the Board of Works were so diverse, that it would be one of
the most efficient parts of government; but if the condition of
forts, ports, dikes, &c., in other parts of the country, corresponds
to those along the coast, there is, as his majesty said of the army,
4'the appearance of going to war, but not the reality,"—most of
the works being on record, and suffered to remain there, except
when danger threatens, or his majesty specially orders a public
work, and, what is more important, furnishes the money.
i). The Li Fan Yuen, i. e. Court for the Government of Fo-
336
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
reigners, commonly called the Colonial Office, " has the go.era
ment and direction of the external foreigners, orders their emolu¬
ments and honors, appoints their visits to court, and regulates
their punishments, in order to display the majesty and goodness
of the state." This is an important branch of the government,
and has the superintendence of all the wandering and settled
tribes in Mongolia, Cobdo, t\i, and Koko-nor. All these are
called wai fan, or " external foreigners,'' in distinction from the
tributary tribes in Sz'chuen and Formosa, who are termed nm
fan, or " internal foreigners." There are also nui i and wai », or
" internal and external barbarians," the former comprising the
unsubdued mountaineers of Kweiehau, and the latter the inhabit¬
ants of all foreign countries, who do not choose to range them¬
selves under the renovating influences of the Celestial empire.
The Colonial Office regulates the government of the nomads and
restricts their wanderings, lest they trespass on each other's
pasture-grounds. Its officers are all Manchus and Mongols,
having over them one president and two vice-presidents, Man¬
chus, and one Mongolian vice-president appointed for life.
Besides the usual secretariates for conducting its general
business, there are six departments, whose combined powers in¬
clude every detail of authority necessary for the management of
these clans. The first two have jurisdiction over the numerous
tribes and corps of the Inner Mongols, who are under more com¬
plete subjection than the others, and part have been placed un¬
der the control of officers in Chihli and Shansi. The appointment
of local officers, collecting taxes, allotting land to Chinese set¬
tlers, opening roads, paying salaries, arranging the marriages,
retinues, visits to court, and presents made by the princes, and
the review of the troops, all appertain to these two departments.
The third and fourth have a similar, but less effectual control
over the princes, lamas, and tribes of Outer Mongolia. At Ku-
run, in the Tuchetu khanate, reside two high ministers, organs
of communication with Russia, and general overseers of the
frontier. The oversight of the lama hierarchy in Mongolia is
now completely under the control of this office ; and in Tibet,
their power has been considerably abridged. The fifth depart¬
ment directs the actions, restrains the power, levies the taxes,
and orders the tributary visits of the Mohammedan begs in the
southern circuit of tl'i, who are quiet pretty much as they ara
colonial office and censorate.
337
paid by presents and flattered b\ honors. The sixth department
regulates the penal discipline of the tributary tribes. The sala¬
ries paid the Mongolian princes are distributed according to an
economical scale. A tsin wang, or " kindred prince," annually re¬
ceives only $2,600 and 25 pieces of silk ; a kiun wang, or " prince
of a princedom," receives about $1,666 and 15 pieces of silk ;
and so on through the ranks of Beile, Beitse, Duke, &c., the last
of whom receives a stipend of only $133 and four pieces of silk.
The internal organization of these tribes strikingly resembles the
feudal system, but the Chinese government is endeavoring to
reduce the influence and retinues of the khans and begs, and ele¬
vate the people to become independent owners and cultivators of
the soil.
10. The Tu-chah Yuen, or Censorate, i. e. "All-examining
Court," is intrusted with the " care of manners and customs, the
investigation of all public offices within and without the capital,
the discrimination between tl.e good and bad performance of their
business, and between the depravity and uprightness of the offi¬
cers employed in them ; taking the lead of other censors, and
uttenng each his sentiments and reproofs, in order to cause offi¬
cers to be diligent in attention to their daily duties, and to render
the government of the empire stable." The Censorate, when
joined with the Board of Punishments and Court of Appeal, forms
a high court for the revision of criminal cases, and hearing ap¬
peals from the provinces; and in connexion with the Six Boards
and the Court of .Representation and Appeal, makes one of 'he
Kiu King, or Nine Courts, which deliberate on important affairs
of government.
The officers are two censors and four deputy censors, besides
whom the governors, lieutenant-governors, and the governors of
rivers and inland navigation are pv-officio deputy censors. A
class of censors is placed over each of the Six Boards, whose du¬
ties are to supervise all their acts, to receive all public documents
from the Cabinet, and after classifying them, transmit them to
the several courts to which they belong, and to make a semi¬
monthly examination of the papers entered on the archives of
each court. All criminal cases in the provinces come under the
oversight of the censors at the capital, and the department which
superintends the affairs of the metropolis revises its municipal
acts, settles the quarrels, and represses the crimes of its inhabit-
16
838
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
ants. These are the duties of the Censorate, than which no
part of the Chinese government has attracted more attention from
foreigners. The privilege of reproof given by the law to the
office of censor has sometimes been exercised with remarkable
candor and plainness, and many cases are recorded in history of
these officers suffering for their fidelity, but such instances must
be few indeed in proportion to the failures.
The celebrated Sung, who was appointed commissioner to ac¬
company Lord Macartney, once remonstrated with the emperor
Kiaking upon his attachment to play-actors and strong drink,
which degraded him in the eyes of his people, and incapacitated
him from performing his duties. The emperor, highly irritated,
called him to his presence, and on his confessing to the authorship
of the memorial, asked him what punishment he deserved. He
answered " Quartering." He was told to select some other;
" Let me be beheaded;" and on a third command, he chose to
be strangled. He was then ordered to retire, and the next day
the emperor appointed him governor in tli, thus acknowledging
his rectitude, though unable to bear his censure.
History records the reply of another censor in the reign of an
emperor of the Tang dynasty, who, when his majesty once desired
to inspect the archives of the historiographer's office, in order to
learn what had been recorded concerning himself, under the
excuse that he must know his faults before he could well correct
them, was answered, " It is true your majesty has committed a
number of errors, and it has been the painful duty of our employ¬
ment to take notice of them ; a duty which further obliges us to
inform posterity of the conversation which your majesty has this
day, very improperly, held with us."
The censors usually attend on all state occasions by the side
of his majesty, and are frequently allowed to express their
opinions openly, but in a despotic government this is little else
than a fiction of state, for the fear of rffending the imperial ear,
and consequent disgrace, will usually prove stronger than the
consciousness of right, or the desires of a public fame and
martyrdom for the sake of principle. The usual mode of
advising is to send in a remonstrance against a proposed act,
as when one of the body in 1832 remonstrated against the
emperor paying attention to anonymous accusations ; or to suggest
a different procedure, as the memorials of Chu Tsun against
CONDUCT ANE DUTIES OF CENSORS.
339
legalizing opium. The number of these papers inserted in the
Peking Gazettes for the information of the empire, in many of
which the acts of officers are severely reprehended, shows that the
censors are not altogether idle. In 1833, a censor named Sii,
requested the emperor to interdict official persons at court from
writing private letters concerning public persons and affairs in the
provinces. lie stated, that when candidates left the capital for
their provincial stations, private letters were sent by them from
their friends to the provincial authorities, "sounding the voice
of influence and interest," by which means justice was perverted.
The emperor ordered the Cabinet to examine the censor, and get
his facts in proof of these statements, but on inquiry, he either
would not or could not bring forward any cases, and he himself
consequently received a reprimand from his majesty. " These
censors are allowed," says the emperor, " to tell me the reports
they hear, to inform me concerning courtiers and governors who
pervert the laws, and to speak plainly about any defect or impro¬
priety which they may observe in the monarch himself; but they
are not permitted to employ their pencils in writing memorials,
which are filled with vague surmises and mere probabilities or
suppositions. This would only fill my mind with doubts and
uncertainty, and I would not know what men to employ ; were
tins spirit indulged, the detriment of government would be most
serious. Let Sii be subjected to a court of inquiry."
The suspension or disgrace of censors for their freedom of
speech is a common occurrence, and among the forty or fifty
persons who have this privilege, a few are to be found who do not
hesitate to lift up their voice against what they deem to be wrong ;
and there is reason for supposing that only a small portion of
their remonstrances appears in the Gazettes. With regard to this
department of government, it may be observed, that although it
may tend only in a partial degree to check oppression and reform
abuses, and a close examination of its real operations and influ¬
ence, and the character of its members, may excite more con¬
tempt than respect, still the existence of such a body, and the
publication of its memorials, can hardly fail to rectify miscon¬
duct to some degree, and check mal-administration before it
results in widespread evil. The Censorate is, however, only
one of a number of checks upon the conduct of officers, and
perhaps by no means the strongest.
340
the middle kingdom.
11. The Tung-ching Sz', which may be called a Court of
Representation, consists of a small body of six officers, whose
duty is to receive memorials from the provincial authorities and
appeals from their judgment by the people, and present them to
the Cabinet. Attached to this Court is an office for attending at
the palace-gate to await the beating of a drum, which, in confor
mity with an ancient custom, is placed there that applicants
may by striking it obtain a hearing. It is also the channel
through which the people can directly appeal to his majesty,
and cases frequently occur of individuals, even women and girls,
travelling to the capital from remote places to present their
petitions for redress before the throne. The feeling of blood
revenge prevails among the Chinese, and impels many of these
weak and unprotected persons to undergo great hardships to
obtain legal redress, when the lives of their parents have been
unjustly taken by the powerful and rich.
12. The Ta-li Sz', or Court of Judicature, has the duty of
adjusting all the criminal courts in the empire, and forms the
nearest approach to a Supreme Court in the government, though
the cases brought before it are mostly criminal. When the
crimes involve life, this Court, with the Court of Representation
and Censorate, unite to form one court, and if the judges are not
unanimous in their decisions, they must report their reasons to
the emperor, who will pass judgment upon them. In a despotic
government, no one can expect that the executive officers of
courts will exercise their functions with that caution and equity
required in Christian countries, but considerable care has been
taken to obtain as great a degree of justice as possible.
14. The Hanlin Yuen, or Imperial Academy, is intrusted
" with the duty of drawing up governmental documents, histories,
and other works; its chief officers take the lead of the various
classes, and excite their exertions to advance in learning, in order
to prepare them for employments, and fit them for attending upon
the sovereign." This body has, it is highly probable, some simi¬
larity to the collection of learned men to whom the king of
Babylon intrusted the education of promising young men, for
although the members of the Hanlin Yuen do not, to any great
degree, educate persons, they are constantly referred to as the
Chaldeans were by Belshazzar. Sir John Davis likens it to the
Sorbonne, inasmuch as it expounds the sacred books of the Chi-
COURTS OF JUDICATURE AND IMPERIAL ACADEMY. 341
nese. Its chief officers are two presidents or senior members,
called cliwang yuen hiohszwho are usually appointed for life,
after a long course of study ; they attend upon the emperor in
the palace, superintend the studies of graduates, and furnish
semi-annual lists of persons to be " speakers," at the " classical
feasts," where the literary essays of his majesty are translated
from and into Manchu, and read before him.
Subordinate to the two senior members are four grades of offi
cers, five in each grade, together with an unlimited number of
senior graduates, each forming a sort of college, whose duties
are to prepare all works published under governmental sanction ;
these persons are subject from time to time to fresh examination,
and are liable to lose their degrees, or be altogether dismissed
from office, if found faulty or deficient. Subordinate to the
Hanlin Yuen is an office consisting of twenty-two selected mem¬
bers, who in rotation attend on the emperor, and make a record
of his words and actions. There is also an additional office for
the preparation of national histories.
The situation of a member of the Hanlin is one of considera¬
ble honor and literary ease, and scholars look forward to a sta¬
tion in it as one which confers dignity in a government where all
officers are appointed according to their literary merit, but much
more from its being the body from which the emperor selects his
most responsible officers. A graduate of this rank is most likely
to be nominated to a vacant office, though the possession of the
title does not of itself entitle him to a place.
Before proceeding to consider the provincial governments,
notices of some of the other departments, not connected with the
general machinery of the state, are here in place. The munici¬
pality of Peking has already been noticed when describing the
capital, but it is so intimately connected with the general govern¬
ment as to form an integral part of the machine. Among the
courts not connected with the municipal rule of the metropolis,
nor forming one of the great departments of state, is the Tax-
cluing SzJ or Sacrificial Court, whose officers "direct the sacrifi¬
cial observances, and distinguish the various instruments and the
quality of the sacrifices. Their duties are of importance in
connexion with the state religion, and they rank high among the
dignitaries of the empire, but as members of th'is possess no
power. The Tai-puh <Sz' or Superintendent of II. I. M.'s Stud
342
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
is an office for "reaiing horses, taking account of their increase
and regulating their training;" large tracts of land beyond the
Great Wall are appropriated to this purpose, and the clerks of
this office, under the direction of the Board of War, oversee the
herdsmen and grooms who have the rearing of the horses.
The Kwangluh Sz', or Banqueting House, has the charge of
"feasting the meritorious and banqueting the deservingit ia
somewhat subordinate to the Board of Rites, and provides what¬
ever is necessary for banquets given to literary graduates, foreign
ambassadors, &c. The Hunglu Sz\ or Ceremonial Court, regu¬
lates the forms to be observed at these banquets, which consist
in little else than marshalling the guests according to their pro¬
per ranks and directing them when to make the kotau, or well-
known ceremony of prostration, called also san kwei km kau,
"three kneelings and nine knockings." The Kwohtsz' Kien, or
National College, is a different institution from the Hanlin Yuen,
and intended for teaching graduates of the lower degrees; the
departments of study are the Chinese language, the classics and
mathematics, each branch having its appropriate teachers, with
some higher officers, both Chinese and Manchu.
The Kin Tien Kien, or Imperial Astronomical College, seems,
from the account given of its duties, to be full as much astrologi¬
cal as astronomical ; they are defined to be " to direct the ascer¬
tainment of times and the movements of the heavenly bodies in
order to attain conformity with the celestial periods, and to regu¬
late the notation of time among men; all things relating to divi¬
nation and the selection of days are under its charge.'" The
preparation of the almanac, in which, among other things, lucky
and unlucky days are marked for the performance of all the
important acts of 'life, and astrological and chiromantic absurdi¬
ties inserted for the amusement of fortune-tellers and othc-rs,
the instruction of a few pupils, and care of the observatory, oc¬
cupy most of the time of its officers, for the really scientific part
of their labors was long ago performed for them by foreigners.
It is now, probably, since the Europeans have been dismissed,
of little or no use to advance science or encourage the diffusion
of what is already known. The Tax VYuen, or Supreme Medi¬
cal Hall, is on a par for usefulness with the Astronomical Col¬
lege, for instruction in medicine does not appear to be its object;
it is rather a collective name for the court physicians.
OTHER MINOR COURTS AT PEKING.
343
The other local courts of the capital seem to have been subch.
vitled and multiplied to a great degree for the purpose of afford¬
ing employment to a larger number of persons, especially Man-
chus and graduates, so that the emperor can attach them to him¬
self and be surer of their support in case of any insurrection on
the part of the people, and also that he may have them more
under his control. The number of clerks and minor offices ir
all the general departments of state is doubtless more numerous
than it would be in a European government, from the habit
of Asiatics, to have many people to do little work. In the
mutual relations of the great departments of the Chinese
government, the principles of responsibility and surveillance
among the officers are plainly exhibited, while regard has been
paid to such a division and apportionment of labor as would
secure great efficiency and care, if every member of the machine
faithfully did his duty. Two presidents are stationed over each
Board to assist and watch each other, while the two presidents
oversee the four vice-presidents; the president of one Board is
sometimes the vice-president of another; and by means of the
Censorate and the General Council, every portion is brought
under the cognisance of several independent officers, whose
mutual jealousy and regard for their own advancement, or a par¬
tial desire for the well-being of the state, affords the emperor
some guarantee for their fidelity to him. The seclusion in which
he lives makes it difficult for any conspirator to approach his per¬
son, but his own fears regarding the management of such an
immense empire compel him to inform himself respecting the
actions of ministers, generals, and proconsular governors. The
conduct and devotion of hundreds of officers, both civil and mili¬
tary, during the late war with England, is proof enough that he
has attached his subordinates to his service by some other prin¬
ciple than fear. The total number of civilians holding office is
estimated at about fourteen thousand persons, but those depend¬
ent on the government are many times this amount.
The rulers of China have contrived the system of provincial
governments in an admirable manner, considering the character
of the people and the materials they had to work with in their
officers, and no better proof of their sagacity in this respect can
be required than the general degree of good order which haa
been maintained for near, y two centuries, and the great progress
344
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
the people have made in wealth, numbers, and power. By a well
arranged plan of checks and changes in the provincial authori.
ties, the chances of their abusing their position and power to
combine to overthrow the supreme government have been reduced
almost to an impossibility ; and the influence of mutual responsi¬
bility among them does a great deal to prevent outrageous oppres¬
sion of the people, by leading one to accuse another of high
crimes in order to exonerate himself or obtain his place. The
sons and relatives of the emperor being generally excluded from
civil office in the provinces, the high-spirited and talented native
Chinese do not feel inclined to cabal against the government,
because every avenue to emolument and power is filled anJ
closed against them by creatures and connexions of the sove.
reign ; nor when in office are they disposed to attempt the over¬
throw of the reigning family, lest they lose what has cost them
many years of toilsome study, and the wealth and influence of
friends to attain. The examination of these pashaliks is further¬
more entitled to notice from the degree of power delegated to
their highest officers, and the shrewd manner in which the exer¬
cise of this power has been circumscribed, and rendered amena¬
ble to its imperial source.
The highest officers in the provinces are a tsungtuh, " general-
director," or governor-general, and a fuyuen, soother, or lieuten¬
ant-governor. The former is often called a viceroy, but the term
governor-general, or proconsul, is more analogous to his duties,
the translation of these and many other titles, does not convey
their exact functions, and in some cases an equivalent is more
intelligible than a translation. The tsungtuh always has rule
over two provinces, or else fills two high offices in one province,
while the fuyuen is placed over one province, either independent
of, or in subordination to, a tsungtuh. The eighteen provinces
have been incorporated under eleven governments, over which
are placed eight tsungtuh and fifteen fuyuen, as enumerated in
the table on page 54.
According to the Red Book, there are 8 governor-generals, 15
lieut.-governors, 19 treasurers (two being placed in Kiangsu), 18
judges, 17 literary chancellors, 15 commanders of the forces,
including two admirals ; and if each department and district haa
a separate officer, 1740 prefects and district magistrates. A1
HIGH OFFICERS OF THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS. 345
those filling the high grades in this series, report themselves to
his majesty twice every month, by sending him a salutatory card
upon yellow paper, inclosed in a silken envelope ; stating, for
instance, that Hwang Ngantung, the treasurer of Kwangtung,
humbly presents his duty to the throne, wishing his majesty re¬
pose. The emperor, or his secretary, replies with the vermilion
pencil, Chin ngan, i. e. Oursclf is well.
The duties of the governor-general consist in the general con¬
trol of all affairs, civil and military, in the region under his
jurisdiction ; he occupies, in his sphere, under correction, the
same authority that the emperor does over the whole empire.
The fuyuen has a similar control, but in an inferior degree when
there is a tsungtuli, in the more special supervision of the admi¬
nistrative part of the civil government, as distinguished from the
revenue, gabel, or literary branches.
The departments of the civil government are five, viz. admi¬
nistrative, literary, gabel, commissariat, and excise ; the first
being also divided into the territorial and financial, and the judi¬
cial branches. At the head of the first branch is the pu-ching sz'
(i. e. regulating-government commissioner), who is usually call¬
ed the treasurer; the ngan-chah sz', or criminal judge, presides
over the second. These two officers often unite their delibera¬
tions in the direction of any territorial or financial business, or
the trial of important cases. The literary department is placed
under the direction of an officer selected from among the mem¬
bers of the Ilanlin Academy, called a hiohching, director of learn¬
ing, or literary chancellor; there are seventeen of them in the
provinces. The gabel and commissariat are mostly under the
direction of officers called tau, or tautai, sometimes termed in-
tendants of circuit, who have other functions in addition. The
excise, or commercial department, is under kientuh, or superin¬
tendents, but the details of these three branches vary considerably
in different provinces. The officers of the excise are appointed
wherever necessary, either in the interior or on the coast, and
are usually selected from among the members of the imperial
household, and are subject merely to the control of the governor-
generol.
The military government of a province includes both the land
and sea forces ; it is under a tituh, or commander-in-chief, of
'hich rank there are in all sixteen officers, twelve of them com
16*
346
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
manding one arm alone, and four controlling both land and sea
forces. In five provinces, the fuyuen is commander-in-chief,
and in Kansuh there are two. Above the Utah, in point of rank
but not of power, arc placed garrisons of Manchu troops, under
a tsiang-ldun, or general, whose office is conferred, and his actions
directly controlled, by the emperor; he has jurisdiction, usually,
only in the city itself, the principal object of the appointment
being to check any treasonable designs of the civil authorities.
The duties and relations of these various grades with one
another require some further explanation, however, to be under¬
stood. The three officers, Isungtuli, fuyuen, and tsiangJciun, if
there be one, form a supreme council, and unite in deliberating
upon a measure, calling in the subordinate officer to whose
department it particularly belongs, and to whom its execution is
to be committed, the whole forming a deliberative board, though
the responsibility of the act rests with the two highest officers.
By this means, the various members of the provincial govern¬
ment become better acquainted with each other's character and
plans, though their intercourse is much restricted by precedence
and rivalry. In the provincial courts, civilians always take
precedence of military officers: the governor-general and Tartar
commander, lieutenant-governor and major-general, the literary
chancellor and collector of customs, rank with each other ; then
follow the treasurer, the judge, and other civilians. The author¬
ity of the governor extends to life and death, to the temporary
appointment to all vacant offices in the province, to ordering the
troops to any part of it, issuing such laws and taking such mea¬
sures as are necessary for the security and peace of the region
committed to his care, or any other steps he sees necessary.
The fuyuen also has the power of life and death, and attends to
appeals of criminal cases; he also oversees the conduct of the
lower civilians.
Next in rank to the fuelling sz' and nganchah sz\ who reside in
the provincial capital, are the tautai, or intendants of circuit;
they are a kind of deputy of the governor-general and lieutenant-
governor, residing in the tan, or circuits, into which each province
is subdivided. The delegated power committed to them is the
same in kind with that belonging to their superiors, and includes,
very frequently, military as well as civil authority, for the exer¬
cise of which they are directly responsible to the heads of the
SUBORDINATE PROVINCIAL OFFICERS.
347
province ; the chief object of their appointment is to relieve and
assist those high functionaries in the discharge of their extensive
duties Some of the intendants are appointed merely to super¬
vise, on the part of the two governors, the proceedings of the
prefects and district magistrates ; others are stationed at important
posts to protect them. They are usually placed over two or
more departments, and take a general oversight of what is done
by the territorial, financial, judicial, and commissariat officers in
their circuit.
Subordinate to the governors, through the intendants of cir¬
cuits, are the prefects or head magistrates of departments, called
chtfu, chichau, and ting tungchi, i. e. " knowers" of them, according
as they are placed over fu, cliau, or ting departments. It is the
duty of these persons to make themselves acquainted with every¬
thing that takes place within their jurisdiction, and they are held
responsible for the full execution of whatever orders are trans¬
mitted to them, and all make their reports and receive their
orders through the intendants.
The subdivisional parts of departments, called ting, cliau, and
luen, have each their separate officers, who report to the clrifu
and chichau above them ; these are called tungchi, chichau, and
chihien, and may all be denominated district magistrates. The
parts of districts called sz\ are placed under the control of siun-
kien, circuit-restrainers, or hundreders, who form the last in the
regular series of descending rank,—the last of the " commis¬
sioned officers," as they might not improperly be called. The
prefects sometimes have deputies directly under them, as the go¬
vernor has his intendants, when their jurisdiction is very large
or important, who are called kiunmin fu and tungchi, i. e. joint-
knowers. The deputies of district magistrates are termed chau-
tung and chawpwan for the chichau, and hienching and chifu for
the chihien ; the last also have others called tso-tang and yutang,
i. e. left-tenants and right-tenants.
Besides these assistants, there are others, both in the depart¬
ments and districts, having the oversight of the police, collection
of the taxes and management of the revenue, care of water-ways,
and many other subdivisions of legislative duties, which it is un¬
necessary to particularize. They are appointed whenever and
wherever the territory is so large and the duties so onerous that
ne man cannot attend to all, or it is not safe to intrust him with
348
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
them. They have nearly as much power as their superiors in the
department intrusted to them, b it none of them have judicial or
legislative functions, and the routine of their offices affords them
less scope for oppression. Nor is it worth while to notice the
great number of clerks, registrars, and secretaries found in con¬
nexion with the various ranks of dignitaries here mentioned, or
the multitude of petty subordinates found in the provinces, and
placed over particular places or duties, as necessity may require.
Their number is very large, and the responsibility of their pro¬
ceedings devolves upon the higher officers, who receive their re¬
ports and direct their actions.
The common people suffer more from these "rats under the
altar," as a Chinese proverb calls them, than from their supe¬
riors, because, unlike them, they are usually natives of the place
and better acquainted with the condition of the inhabitants, and
are not so often removed. Each intendant, prefect, and district
magistrate has special secretaries in his office for filing papers,
writing and transmitting dispatches, investigating cases, record¬
ing evidence, keeping accounts, and performing other functions.
All above the chihien are allowed to keep private secretaries,
called sz'?/e, who are usually personal friends, and accompany
the officers wherever they go for the purpose of advising them
and preparing their official documents. The nganchah sz' have
iailors under their control, as have also the more important pre¬
fects.
The appointment of officers in China being theoretically found¬
ed on literary merit, the officers to whom is committed the
supervision of students and conferment of degrees, would natu¬
rally be of a high grade. The hiohching, or literary chancellor
of the province, therefore ranks next to the fuyuen, more because
he is specially appointed by his majesty, however, and oversees
this branch of the government, than from any remarkable degree
of power committed to his hands. Under him are head-teachers
of different degrees of authority, residirg in the chief towns of
departments and districts, the whole forming a similar series of
functionaries to what exists in the civil department. These sub-
ordinates have merely a greater or less degree of supervision
over the studies of students, and the colleges established for the
promotion of learning in the chief towns of departments. The
business of conferring the lower degrees appertains exclusively
LITERARY, GABEI , AiNJ REVENUE DEPARTMENTS. 349
to the chancellor, who makes an annual circuit through the pro.
vince for that purpose, and holds examinations in the chief towr
of each department of all the students residing within its limits.
The gabel, or salt department, is under the control of a special
officer, called a " commissioner for the transport of salt," and
forming in the five maritime provinces one of the san sz\ or three
commissioners, of which the pitching sz' and nganchah sz' are the
other two. There are above these commissioners eight directors of
the salt monopoly, stationed at the depots in Chihli and Shantung,
who, however, also fill other offices, and have rather a nominal
responsibility over the lower commissioners. The number and
rank of the officers connected with the salt monopoly show the
importance the supreme government attaches to the trade, and is
proof how large a revenue is derived from an article which will
bear such an expensive establishment.
The commissariat and revenue department is unusually large
in China compared with other countries, for the plan of collect¬
ing any part of the revenue in kind necessarily requires nume¬
rous vehicles for transporting and buildings for storing it, which
still further multiplies the number of clerks and hands employed
The transportation of grain along the Yangtsz' kiang is under the
control of a tsungfuh, or governor, who also oversees the disposal
and directs the collectors of it in eight of the provinces adjacent
to this river. The office of liang-clm tau, or commissioner to col¬
lect grain, is found in twelve provinces, the puching sz' attending
to this duty in six ; the supervision of the subordinate agents of
this department in the several districts is in the hands of the pre¬
fects and district magistrates. That feature of the Chinese sys¬
tem which makes officers mutually responsible, seems to lead
the superior powers to confer such various duties upon one func¬
tionary, in order that he may thus have a general knowledge of
what is going on about and under him, and report what he deems
amiss. It is not, indeed, likely that such was the original ar¬
rangement, for the Chinese government has come to its present
composition by slow degrees; but such is, so far as can be seen,
-he effect of it, and it serves in no little degree to accomplish the
lesigns of the present rulers to bind the main and lesser wheels
of the huge machine to themselves and to one another in a very
st. ong manner.
The customs and excise are under the management of differ
350
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
ent grades of officers according to the importance of their posts.
The collection of duties in the maritime provinces only, is undei
kienluh, or superintendents, who rank high in the grade of pro-
vincial officers because they are sent from court, and report di¬
rectly to his majesty through the Board of Revenue ; the col-
lector at Canton is a domestic of the emperor's, sent to this station
to amass as large a sum as he can, most of which goes directly
to his master. The transit duties levied at the excise stations
placed in every town, are collected by officers acting under the
local authorities, and have nothing to do with the collection of
maritime duties.
The military section of the provincial governments is under
the control of a Ulull, or major-general, who resides at a central
post, and in conjunction with the governor-general and lieutenant-
governor directs the movements of the forces, while these last
have also an independent control over a certain body of troops
belonging to them officially. The various grades of officers in
the native army, and the portion of troops under each of them,
stationed in the garrisons and forts in different parts of the pro¬
vinces, are all arranged in a methodical manner, which will bear
examination and comparison with the army of any country in
the world. The native force in each province is distinct from
the Manchu troops, and is divided somewhat according to the
Roman plan of legion, cohort, maniple, and century, over each
of which are officers, from colonel down to sergeant. Nothing
is wanting to the Chinese army to make it fully adequate to the
defence of the country but discipline and confidence in itself;
for want of practice and systematic drilling, it is an army of paper
warriors against an enemy, but a powerful engine of oppression
in the hands of local tyrants. Still it has no doubt been for the
good of the Chinese people and government—the advance of the
first in wealth, numbers, and security, and the consolidation and
efficiency of the latter—that they have cultivated letters rather
than arms, peace than war.
All the general officers in the army have fixed places of resi¬
dence, at which the larger portion of their respective brigades
remain, while detachments are stationed at various points within
their command. The governors, major-general, and Tartar com¬
mandant have commands independent of each other, but the
tituh, or major-general, exercises the principal military sway.
MILITARY AND NAVAL DEPARTMENTS.
351
The naval officers have the same names as those in the army,
and the two are interchanged and promoted from one service to
the other. The admirals and vice-admirals usually reside on
shore, and dispatch their subordinates in squadrons or single
vessels wherever occasion requires. Neither the officers nor
marines are skilled in navigation ; and the imperial navy is
almost as much the jest of natives as it is of foreigners.
The system of mutually checking the provincial officers is
also exhibited in their location. For example, in the city of
Canton, the governor-general is stationed in the New city near
the collector of customs, while the lieutenant-governor and Tar¬
tar general are so located in the Old city, that should circum¬
stances require they can act against the two first. The gover¬
nor has the general command of all the provincial troops, esti¬
mated to be 100,000 men, but the particular command of only
5000, and they are stationed fifty miles off at Shauking fu. The
Tartar general has 5000 men under him in the Old city, which,
in an extreme case, would make him master of the capital, while
his own allegiance is secured by the antipathy between the Man-
chus and Chinese, preventing him from combining with the
latter. Again, the governor has the power of condemning cer¬
tain criminals to death, but the wang-ming, or death-warrant, is
lodged with the fuyuen, and the order for execution must be
countersigned by him ; his dispatches to court must be also
countersigned by his coadjutor. The general absence of resist¬
ance to the imperial sway on the part of these high officers for
the two centuries the Manchus have held the reins, compared
with the multiplied intrigues and rebellions of the pashas in the
Turkish empire, prove how well the system is concocted.
In order to enable the superior officers to exercise greater
vigilance over their inferiors, they have the privilege of sending
special messengers, invested with full power, to every part of
their jurisdiction. The emperor himself never visits the pro¬
vinces judicially, nor has the present monarch or his father been
south of the capital ; he therefore constantly sends commission¬
ers or legates called kinchai to all parts of the empire, ostensibly
intrusted with the management of a particular business, but re¬
quired also to take a general surveillance of what is going on.
The ancient Persians had a.similar system of commissioners,
who were called the eyes and ears of the prince, and made the
352
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
circuit of the empire to oversee all that was done. There are
many points of resemblance between the structure of these two
ancient monarchies, the body of councillors, who assisted the
prince in his deliberations, the presidents over the provinces, the
satraps, &c. ; but the Persians had not the elements of perpe¬
tuity which the system of common schools and official examina¬
tions give to the Chinese government.*
Governors in like manner send their deputies and agents,
called weiyuen, over the province ; and even the prefects and in-
tendants despatch their messengers. All these functionaries,
during the time of their mission, take rank with the highest offi
cers according to the quality of their employers ; but the impe.
rial commissioners, who for one object or another are constantly
passing and repassing through the empire in every direction,
exercise great influence in the government, and are powerful
agents in the hands of the emperor for keeping his proconsuls at
their duty.
The extra provincial regions in Manchuria, Mongolia, and
elsewhere, are under a mixed government of generals and civi¬
lians, the former possessing the greatest power, but the latter
exercising as much influence as the people they rule will submit
to. The outlines of their governments have been described
when speaking of the topographical divisions of those countries,
and need not be repeated. There are also many military resi¬
dents stationed in the western provinces, who exercise the entire
supervision of the partly subdued tribes, and whose mismanage¬
ment and oppressive conduct over these aborigines give rise to
constant disturbances. In Yunnan and Kwangsi are many local
officers, who hold hereditary rule over small districts.
* Rollin's Ancient History, Chapter IV. Manners of the Assymns.
Keeren's Asiatic Researches, Vol. I., page 207.
CHAPTER VIII.
Administration of the Laws
The preceding chapter contains a general view of the plan upon
which the central and provincial governments of the empire are
constructed ; and if an examination of the conduct of officers
in every department shows their extortion, cruelty, and venality,
it will not, in the opinion of the liberal minded reader, detract
from the general excellence of the theory of the government,
and the sagacity exhibited in the system of checks designed to
restrain the various parts from interfering with the well-being of
the whole. In addition to the division of power and the checks
upon Chinese officers already mentioned, there are other means
adopted in their location and alternation to prevent combination
and resistance against the head of the state. One of them is the
law forbidding a man to hold office in his native province, which,
besides stopping all intrigue where it would best succeed, has
the further effect of congregating all asph'ants for office at
Peking, where they come in hope of obtaining some post, or
succeeding in the examination for literary degrees. The cen¬
tral government could not contrive a better plan for bringing all
the ambitious and talented men in the country under its observa¬
tion before appointing them to clerkships in the capital, or scat¬
tering them in the provinces.
Moreover, no officer is allowed to marry in the jurisdiction
under his control, nor own land in it, nor have a son, or brother,
or near relative holding office under him ; and he is seldom con¬
tinued in the same station or province for more than three
or four years. Manchus and Chinese are mingled together in
high stations, and obligations are imposed on them to inform the
emperor of each other's acts. Members of the imperial clan are
required to attend the meetings of the Boards at the capital, and
observe and report what they deem amiss or of interest to the
emperor and his council ; and in all the upper departments of
the general and provincial governments, a system of espionage
354
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
is carried out destructive of all principles of honorable fidelity,
but not altogether without some good efFects in a weak despotism
like China. There is, besides this constant surveillance, a
triennial catalogue made out of the merits and demerits of all the
officers in the empire, which is submitted to imperial inspection
by the Board of Civil Office. In order to collect the details for
this catalogue, it is incumbent upon every provincial officer,
to report upon the character and qualifications of all under him,
and the list, when made out, is forwarded by the governor to the
capital. The points of character are arranged under six differ¬
ent heads, viz. those who are not diligent, the inefficient, the
superficial, the untalented, superannuated, and diseased. Ac¬
cording to the opinion given in this report, officers are elevated
or degraded so many steps in the scale of merit, like boys in a
class, and whenever they issue an edict, are required to state
how many steps they have been advanced or degraded, and how
many times recorded. Officers are required to accuse them¬
selves, when guilty of crime, either in their own conduct or that
of their subordinates, and request punishment. The results of
this peculiar and patriarchal mode of teaching officers theii
duty, is better exhibited in an imperial edict issued after one of
the catalogues had been submitted to his majesty.
" The cabinet minister Changling has strenuously exerted himself
during a long lapse of years ; he has reached the eightieth year of his
age, yet his energies are still in full force. His colleagues Pwaji
Shi-ngan and Muchangah, as well as the assistant cabinet minister
Wang Ting, have invariably displayed diligence and attention, and have
not failed in yielding us assistance. Tang Kinchau, president of the
Board of Office, has knowledge and attainments of a respectable and
sterling character, and has shown himself public spirited and intelligent
in the performance of special duties assigned to him. Shi Chiyen,
president of the Board of Punishments, retains his usual strength and
energies, and in the performance of his judicial duties has displayed
perspicacity and circumspection. The assistant cabinet minister and
governor of Chihli province, Kishen, transacts the affairs of his govern¬
ment with faithfulness, and the military force under his control is well
disciplined. Husunge, the governor of Shensi and Kansuh provinces,
is cautious and prudent, and performs his duties with careful exactness,
/lipu, governor of Yunnan and Kvveichau, is well versed in the affairs
of his frontier government, and has fully succeeded in preserving it free
from disturbance. Linking, who is intrusted with the general charge
scale of officia: merits and demerits.
355
of the rivers in Kiangnan, has not failed in his care of the embank
ments, and has preserved the surrounding districts irom all disquietude.
To show our favor unto all these, let the Board of Office determine on
appropriate marks of distinction for them.
" Kweisan, subordinate minister of the Cabinet, is hasty, and deficient,
both in precision and capacity; he is incapable of moving and acting for
himself; let him take an inferior station, and receive an appointment in
the second class of the guards. Yihtsih, vice-president of the Board of
Works for Moukden, possesses but ordinary talents, and is incompetent
to the duties of his present office ; let him also take an inferior station,
and be appointed to a place in the first class of guards. Narkinge, the
governor of Hukwang, though having under him the whole civil and
military bodies of two provinces, has yet been unable, these many days,
to seize a few beggarly impish vagabonds: after having in the first
instance failed in prevention, he has followed up that failure by idleness
and remissness, and has fully proved himself inefficient. Let him take
the lower station of lieut.-governor in Ilunan, and within one year let
him, by the apprehension of Lan Chingtsun, show that he is aroused to
greater exertions.
" Let all our other servants retain their present appointments. Among
them Tau Shu, the governor of Kiangnan and Kiangsi, is bold and
determined in the transaction of affairs, but has not yet attained enlarged
views in regard to the salt department; Chung Tsiang, the governor of
Fuhkien and Chehkiang, finds his energies failing; Tang Tingching,
the governor of Ivwangtung and Kwangsx, possesses barely an adequate
degree of talent and knowledge ; and Shin Kihien, though faithful and
earnest in the performance of his duties, has in common with these
others, been not very long in office.
"That all ministers will act with purity and devotedness of purpose,
with public spirit and diligence, is our most fervent hope. A special
edict."*
The effect of such confessions and examination of character is
to repress and restrain the commission of outrageous acts of op¬
pression ; and it is still further enforced by the privilege both
censors and private subjects possess of complaining to the empe¬
ror of their misdeeds. Fear for their own security has suggested
this multiplicity of checks, but the emperor and his ministry have
no doubt thereby impeded the efficiency of their subordinates,
and compelled them to attend so much to their own standing, that
they care far less than they otherwise would for the prosperity of
the people.
* Chinese Repository, Vol. VI., page 48.
350
the middle kingdom.
The position of an officer in the Chinese government can hard
iy oe ascertained from the enumeration of his duties, nor his
temptations to oppress his inferiors and deceive his superiors in¬
ferred from a general account of the system. His duties, as in-
dicated in the Code, ai'e so minute, and often so contradictory, as
to make it impossible to fulfill them strictly ; it is found, accord
ingly, that few or none have ascended the slippery heights of
promotion without frequent relapses. Degradation, when to a
step or two and temporary, carries with it of course no moral
taint in a country where the award for bribery is graduated ac¬
cording to the amount received, without any reference to moral
violation ; where the bamboo-is the standard of punishment as well
for error in judgment or remissness as for crime, only commuted
to a fine in honor of official rank; where, as a distinction in fa¬
vor of the imperial race, the bamboo is softened to the whip, and
banishment mitigated to the pillory.* The highest officers have
of course the greatest opportunity to oppress, but their extortions
are limited by the venality and mendacity of the agents they are
compelled to employ. Inferiors also can carry on a system of
exactions if they keep on the right side with those above them.
The whole class form a body of men mutually jealous of each
other's advance, and one constantly endeavoring to supplant the
other; they all agree in regarding the people as the source of
their profits, the great spunge which all must squeeze, but differ
in the degree to which they should carry on the same plan with
each other. Although sprung from the mass of the people, the
welfare of the community has little place in their thoughts.
Their life is spent in ambitious efforts to rise upon the fall of
others, though they do not lose all sense of character, or become
reckless of the means of advance, for this would destroy their
chance of success. The game they play with each other and
their imperial master is, however, a harmless one compared with
that of the pashas and viziers of the sultans and shahs in West¬
ern Asia. To the honor of the Chinese, life is seldom sacrificed
for political crime or envious emulation ; no officer dreads a
bowstring or a poisoned cup from his lord paramount, nor is on
the watch against the dagger of an assassin hired b) a vindictive
competitor. "Whatever heights of favor or depths of frown he
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., page 59.
POSITION AND CHARACTER OF CHINESE OFFICIALS. 357
may experience, the servant of the emperor of China need not,
in unproved cases of delinquency, fear for his life ; but he not
unfrequently takes it himself from conscious guilt and dread of
the just punishment of the laws.
The names and standing of all officers are published
quarterly by permission of government in the Red Book
(which by an usual coincidence is bound in red), called the
Complete Book of the Girdle Wearers (Tsin Shin Tsiuen Shu\
comprised in four volumes 12mo., to which are occasionally
added two others of army and navy lists. In this book the native ^
province of each person is mentioned, whether he is a Chinese,
Manchu, Mongol, or naturalized Munchu, that is, a descendant of
those Chinese who aided the reigning family in the conquest;
and moreover describes the title of the office, its salary, and con¬
siderable other general information. The publishers of the book
expect that officers will inform them of the changes which take
place in their standing, and usually omit to mention those who
do not thus report themselves.
A memoir of the public life of some of the highest officers in
China, would present a singular picture of ups and downs, but on
account of their notorious disregard of truth, Chinese documents
are unsafe to trust entirely in drawing such a sketch. One of the
most conspicuous men in late times was Duke Ho of Macartney's
embassy, who for many years exercised a greater control over
the counsels of Kienlung than is recorded of any other man
during the present dynasty. This man was originally a private
person, and attracted the notice of the emperor by his comeli¬
ness, and secured it by his zeal in discharging the offices intrust¬
ed to him. With but few interruptions, he gradually mounted
the ladder of promotion, and for some years before Kienlung's
death was master of the country. Staunton describes him as
possessing eminent abilities ; " the manners of Hokwan were not
less pleasing than his understanding was penetrating and acute.
He seemed indeed to possess the qualities of a perfect statesman."
The favorite had gradually filled the highest posts with his
friends, and his wellwishers were so numerous in the general and
provincial governments, that some began to apprehend a rising
in his favor when the emperor died. Kiaking, on his accession,
began to take those cautious measures for his removal, which
showed the great influence he possessed ; one of these proceed-
358
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
ings was to appoint him superintendent of the rites of mourning,
in order probably, that his official duties might bring him often
to the palace. After four years, the emperor drew up sixteen
articles of impeachment against the favorite, most of them frivo¬
lous and vexatious, though of more consequence in the eyes of a
Chinese prince than they would have been at other courts. One
article alledged, that he had ridden on horseback up to the palace
gate; another, that he had appropriated to his own household the
females educated for the imperial hareem ; a third, that he had
detained the reports of officers in time of war from coming to the
emperor's eye, and had appointed his own retainers to office,
when they were notoriously incompetent; a fourth, that he had
built many apartments of wood exclusively appropriated to
majesty, and imitated regal style in his grounds and e< ablish-
ment. Fie was also accused of having pearls and jewels of
larger size than those even in the emperor's crown. But so for
as can be inferred from what was published, this Cardinal Wool-
sey of China, was, comparatively speaking, not cruel in the exer¬
cise of his power, and the real cause of his fall was evidently
his riches ; in the schedule of his confiscated property, it was
mentioned that besides houses, lands, and other immovable pro¬
perty to an amazing extent, not less than one hundred and five
millions of dollars in bullion and gems were found in his treasury.
A special tribunal was instituted for his trial, and he was allowed
to become his own executioner, while his constant associate was
condemned to decollation. These were the only deaths, the
remainder of his relatives and dependents being simply removed
and degraded. His power was no doubt too great for the safety
of his master if he had proved faithless ; but his wealth was too
vast for his own security, even had he been innocent. The emperor
in the edict which contains the sentence, cites as a precedent for
his own acts, similar condemnation of premiers by three of his
ancestors in the present dynasty, but nothing definite is known of
their crimes or trials.*
The present emperor was more clement, or more fortunate man
hi? father, and continued Tohtsin in power when he came to the
throne ; this statesman had held the premiership from 1815 to
1832, with but few interruptions, when he was allowed to retire
• Chinese Repository, Vol. III., page 241.
NOTICES OK DUKE HO, CHANGLING, AND SUNG. 355
at tiie age of seventy-five. He had served under three emperors;
having risen step by stop from the situation of clerk in one of
the offices. His successor Changling experienced a far more
checquered course, but remained in favor at last, and retired
from the premiership in 1836, aged about seventy-nine. He
became very popular with his master from his ability in quell¬
ing the insurrection of Jehangir in Turkestan in 1827. Few
Chinese statesmen have been oftener brought into notice than
Sung, one of the commissioners attached to Lord Macartney's
embassy, and a favorite of all its members. His lordship speaks
of him then, as a young man of high quality, possessing an ele¬
vated mind ; and adds, " that during the whole time of our con¬
nection with him, has on all occasions conducted himself towards
us, in the most friendly and gentlemanlike manner." This was
in 1793. In 1817, he is mentioned as one of the Cabinet, but
not long after; for some unknown reason, he was degraded by
Kiaking to the sixth rank, and appointed adjutant-general among
the Tsak! ars ; from thence he memorialized his master respecting
the ill conduct of some lamas, who had been robbing and murder¬
ing. Sung and his friends opposed the emperor's going to
Manchuria, and were involved in some trouble on this account,
the reasons of which it is difficult to understand. Sung was pro¬
moted, however, to be captain-general of Manchuria, but he
again fell under censure, and on his visit to his paternal estate at
Moukden, the emperor took him back to the capital, and appointed
him to some important office. He soon got into new trouble
with the emperor, who in a proclamation remarks, " that Sung
is inadequate to the duties of minister of the imperial presence ;
because, although he formerly officiated as such, he is now up¬
wards of seventy years of age, and rides badly on horseback
he is therefore sent to Manchuria to fill his old office of captain-
general. The next year, the ex-minister and his adherents were
involved in a long trial about the loss of a seal, and he was
deprived of his command, and directed to retire to his own tribe ;
the real merits of this disgrace were probably connected with the
change of parties ensuent upon the accession of Taukwang.
Sung was restored to favor soon after, and made adjutant at
Jeh ho, after having been president of the Censorate for a month.
He was allowed to remain there longer than usual, and employed
his spare time in writing a book upon the newly acquired terri-
360
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
tory in Turkestan. In 1824, he was reinstated as president of
the Censorate, with admonitions not to confuse and puzzle him¬
self with a multiplicity of extraneous matters. In 1826, he wag
sent on a special commission to Shansi, and when he returned,
was honored with a dinner at court on newyear's day. He
then appears as travelling tutor to the crown-prince, but where
his royal highness went for his education does not appear ; from
this post, we find him placed at the head of the Board of Rites,
and then appointed to inspect the victims for a state sacrifice, pro¬
bably in virtue of his official functions. He is then ordered to
Jeh ho, from whence, in a fit of penitence, or perhaps, from fear
of a dun, he memorialized the emperor about a debt of $52,000
he incurred nearly thirty years before, which he proposed to
liquidate by foregoing his salary of $1000 until the arrears were
paid up; the emperor was in good humor with the old man, and
forgave him the whole amount, being assured he says of Sung's
pure official character. In this memorial, when recounting his
services, he says he has been twice commander-in-chief and
governor of 111, governor-general of Nanking, Canton, &c., but
had never saved much.
Soon after, he is recalled from Jeh ho, and made governor of
Peking, then president of the Board of War ; and in a few
months he is ordered to proceed across the desert to Cobdo to in¬
vestigate some affair of importance,—a long and toilsome journey
of fifteen hundred miles for a man over seventy-five years old.
He returned the next year, and resumed his post as president of
the Board of War, in which capacity he acted as examiner of the
students in the Russian college. In 1831, he was made presi¬
dent of the Colonial Office; and shortly after, appointed superin¬
tendent of the Three Treasuries, but was obliged to resign
from ill health. A month's relaxation seems to have wonderfully
restored him, for the emperor, in reply to his petition for employ¬
ment, expresses surprise that he should so soon be fit for official
duties, and plainly intimates his opinion that the disease was all
sham, though he accedes to his request so far as to nominate him
commander of one of the eight banners. In 1832, Sung again
got involved in intrigues, and was reduced to the third degree of
rank ; the resignation of Tohtsin and the struggle for the vacant
premiership was probably the real reason of this new reverse,
though a frivolous accusation of two years' standing was
SKETCH OF COMMISSIONER LIN.
361
rum pod up against him. Ho was restored again ancr a few
months' disgrace, at the petition of a beg of a city in Turkestan;
which shows by the way the influence those princes exert. Old
ago now began to come upon the courtier in good earnest, and in
1833 he was ordered to retire with the rank and pay of adjutant,
which he lived to enjoy only two years. Much of the success
of Sung was said to be owing to his having had a daughter in the
seraglio, but his personal character and kindness was evidently the
iiiain source of his enduring influence among all ranks of people
and officers; one account says the Manchus almost worshipped
him, and beggars clung to his chair in the streets to ask alms.
It is worthy of notice that in all these reverses, there is no men¬
tion made of any severer punishment than degradation and ba¬
nishment, and in this particular, the political life of Sung is
probably a fair criterion of the usual fortune of high Chinese
statesmen. The leading events in the life of Changling, the
successor of Tohtsin, together with a few notices of the govern¬
or of Canton in 1833, Li Hungpin, are given in the same
volume of the Repository.*
Commissioners Lin and Kiying have lately become more
famous among foreigners than even the members of the Council,
from the parts they have acted in the late war with England,
but only a few notices of their lives are accessible. Lin Tsehsu
was born in 1785, in Fuhkien, and passed through the literary
examinations, becoming a graduate of the second rank at the
ago of nineteen, and of the third when twenty-six. After filling
an office or two in the Imperial Academy, in which he was em¬
ployed in compiling works and arranging papers, he was sent as
assistant literary examiner to Kiangsi in 1816, and during three
subsequent years acted as examiner and censor in various places.
In 1819, he filled the office of tautai, or intendant of circuit, in
Chehkiang ; and after temporary absence on account of his
health, he was, in 1823, appointed to fill the post of treasurer of
Kiangsu, in the absence of the incumbent. In 1826, he was
made governor of the rivers, but hearing of his mother's death,
resigned his office to go home and mourn for her. After the
period of mourning was finished, he went to Peking, and received
the office of judge in Shensf; but, before he had been in it a
•Chinese Repository, "Vol. IV., pp. 61-66
362
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
month, he was made treasurer of Kiangsu, and before he cc ilu
enter jpon this new office, he heard of his father's death, and
was obliged to resign to fulfill the prescribed term of mourning
for him. In 1832, he was nominated treasurer in Hupeh, and
five months after, transferred to the same office in Honan, and six
months after that sent to Kiangsu again. Three months after
this third transfer, he was reinstated governor of the Yellow
river, and within a short time elevated to be lieutenant-governor
of Kiangsi, which he retained three years, and acted as governor,
general of Liang Kiang two years more. In 1838, he was made
governor of Hukwang; and shortly after this, ordered to come to
Peking, to be admitted to an imperial audience, and by special
favor, permitted to ride on horseback within the palace.
He was at this audience appointed imperial commissioner to
put down the opium trade, and manage the affairs of the mari¬
time frontier of Kwangtung, receiving at the time such plenipo¬
tentiary powers to act for the emperor as had only once before
been committed to a subject since the present dynasty came
upon the throne, viz. when Changling was sent to Turkestan to
quell the insurrection. In Dect mber, 1839, he was appointed
governor of Kwangtung and Kvvangsi, but, in October, 1840, the
seals of office were taken away from him, and he was ordered to
return to Peking. He did not leave Canton immediately, but
remained till May of the next year to advise with Kishen in his
difficult negotiations with the English, after which he and Kishen,
and other high officers, went to the capital under arrest; Lin
was tried and banished to 111, but before he had set out, the
emperor partly restored him to favor, and appointed him, for the
third time, governor of the Yellow river. Since that time, we
have no definite account of his political life. A forged paper,
purporting to be an imperial rescript, was handed about in 1843,
stating his death to have occurred, and ordering sacrificial
honors to be paid his manes; such papers are not uncommon,
though it is not easy to trace their origin or understand their
object. Few Chinese statesmen have appeared of late who have
exceeded Lin in energy and integrity ; and he was, for these
qualities, a great favorite with the people of Canton. His figure
was well proportioned, somewhat inclined to embonpoint ; in
1839, a fair complexion and brilliant eye, added to an animated
carriage, made him altrgether a very good looking man. If
NOTICES OF KlYINfi.
363
Lin is s. ill alive, which there is reason to suppose, he will pro-
Dably be heard of again in the councils of his country. The
party of which he is a leading member is still powerful, and
more than ever desirous of humbling the English.
Much less is known of the official life of Kiying than of Lin,
but the Manchu has shown himself superior to the Chinese in
conducting the business committed to his care. The first that is
known of him was in 1835, when his name is mentioned as presi¬
dent of the Board of Revenue and controller of the imperial
household. He was retained at the capital as commander-in-
chief of the forces there until 1842, when his majesty sent him
to Canton to take the place of the despicable Yihshan, and his in¬
efficient colleagues. He was ordered to stop at Hangchau, how¬
ever, on his way, and make a report of the condition of affairs ;
his memorials seem to have had great influence at court, for he
was appointed joint-commissioner with fllpu, in April of that
year. At the negotiations of Nanking, Kiying acted as chief
commissioner, and was mainly instrumental in bringing the war
to a conclusion. He was ordered to proceed to Canton in May,
1843, to succeed the aged llipu, who had died, and there acted
as sole commissioner in negotiating the supplementary treaty
and the commercial regulations, after which he returned to the
capital, in December, 1843. His prudence and vigor had great
effect in calming the irritation of the people of Canton ; and, on
the arrival of Mr. Cushing, the American plenipotentiary, he
was nominated imperial commissioner to treat with him. The
powers at this time conferred on him made him, in fact, a minis¬
ter of foreign affairs. During the progress of these negotiations,
governor Ki Kung died, and Kiying succeeded him in the com¬
mand of the Liang Kwang, or the Two Broad provinces. Few
Chinese statesmen in modern times have borne a higher charac¬
ter for prudence, dignity, and intelligence than Kiying, and the
confidence reposed in him is creditable to his imperial master.
The portrait of him has been engraved from a native painting,
and is generally regarded as a good one. It was kindly fur¬
nished for this work by J. R. Peters, jun., from the Chinese
Museum, to which the original belongs.
One remarkable feature of the Chinese political world is the
great age of the high officers, and it is not easy to account for
their being kept in tl eir posts, when almost useless and worn out.
364
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
by a monarch who wished to have efficient men around him,
although it is not so strange that the holders of the stations should
cling to their offices, salaries anc influence. It is, perhaps,
explainable, in a measure, on the ground that, as long as the old
incumbents are alive, his majesty, being more habituated to their
company and advice, prefers to retain those of whose character
he has some knowledge. The patriarch, kept near the emperor,
is moreover a kind of hostage for the loyalty of his descendants
and clients ; and the latter, scattered throughout the provinces,
can be managed and moved about through him with less oppo¬
sition : he is, still further, a convenient medium through which
to receive the exactions of the younger members of the service,
and convey such intimations as are thought necessary. The
system of clientela, which existed among the Gauls and Franks,
is also found in China with some modifications, and has a tendency
to link officers to one another in parties of different degrees of
power. The emperor published an order in 1833 against this
system of patronage, and it is evident that he would find it
seriously interfering with his power, if it was not constantly
broken up by changing the relations of the parties, and sending
them away in different directions. Peking is no doubt almost
the only place where the " teacher and pupils," as the patron
and client call each other, could combine to much purpose ; and
the principal safeguard the throne seems to have against intrigues
and parties around it, lies in the conflicting interests arising
among themselves, though a long established favorite of the
crown, as in the case of Duke Ho, can sometimes manage to
engross the patronage.
Notwithstanding the heavy charges of oppression, cruelty,
bribery and mendacity, which are generally brought against
officers with more or less propriety, it must not be inferred that no
good qualities exist among them. Hundreds of them desire to
rule equitably, to clear the innocent and punish the guilty, and
exert all the knowledge and power they possess to discharge
their functions to the acceptance of their master and popularity
of the inhabitants. Such officers, too, generally rise, while the
cruelties of others are visited with degradation. The pasquinades
which the people stick up in the streets indicate their sentiments,
and receive much more attention than they would in other coun¬
tries, because it is almost the only way in which their opinions
FAREWELL ADDRHjS OF CIIU OF CAXTON.
365
can lie safely uttered. The popularity which upright officers
receive acts as an incentive toothers to follow in the same steps,
as well as a reward to the person himself. The fuyuen of
Kwangtung in 1833, Chu, was a very popular officer, and when
be obtained leave to resign his station on account of age, the
people vied with each other in showing their hearty regret af
losing him. The old custom was observed of retaining his boots,
and presenting him with a new pair at every city he passed
through, and many other testimonials of their regard were
adopted. On leaving the city of Canton, he circulated a few
verses, " to console the people and excite them to virtue," for he
heard that some of them wept on hearing of his departure.
" From ancient days, my fathers trod the path
Of literary fame, and placed their names
Among the wise ; two generations past,
Attendant on their patrons, they have come
To this provincial city.* Here this day,
'T is mine to be imperial envoy;
Thus has the memory of ancestral fame
Ceased not to stimulate this feeble frame.
My father held an office at Lungchau,f
And deep imprinted his memorial there ;—
He was the sure and generous friend
Of learning unencouraged and obscure.
When now I turn my head and travel back,
In thought to that domestic hall, it seems
As yesterday, those early happy scenes ;—
How was he pained, if forced to be severe !
' From times remote, Kwangtung has been renowned
For wise and mighty men ; but none can stand
Among them, or compare with Kiuh Kiang :—f
Three idle and inglorious years are passed,
And I have raised no monument of fame,
By shedding round the rays of light and truth,
* The Chinese have a great affection for the place of their nativity, and
consider being in any of the other provinces, like being in a foreign settle¬
ment. They always wish to return thither in life, or have their remains
carried and interred there after death.
f A district in the province of Kwangtung.
I Kiuh Kiang was an ancient minister of state during the Tang dynasty
His imperial master would not listen to his advice and he therefore retired
Rebellion and calamities arose. The emperor thought of hin faithful sei>
vant, and sent for him ; but he was already dead.
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
To give the people knowledge In this heart
I feel the shame, and cannot bear the thought.
" But now, in flowered pavilions, in street
Illuminations, gaudy shows, to praise
The gods and please themselves, from year to year
The modern people vie, and boast themselves,
And spend their hard-earned wealth,—and all in vain.
For what shall be the end ? Henceforth let all
Maintain an active and a useful life,
The sober husband and the frugal wife.
" The gracious statesman (gov. Loo), politic and wise,
Is my preceptor and my long tried friend ;
Called now to separate, spare our farewell,
The heart-rending words affection so well lovesi
That he may still continue to exhort
The people, and instruct them to be wise,
To practice virtue, and to keep the laws
Of ancient sages, is my constant hope.
" When I look backward o'er the field of fame
Where I have travelled a long fifty years,
The struggle for ambition and the sweat
For gain, seem altogether vanity.
Who knoweth not that heaven's toils are close,
Infinitely close ! Few can escape.
Ah ! how few great men reach a full old age !
How few unshorn of honors, end their days !
Inveterate disease has twined itself
Around me, and binds me in slavery.
The kindness of his majesty is high*
And liberal, admitting no return,
Unless a grateful heart; still, still my eyes
Will see the miseries of the people.—
Unlimited distresses, mournful, sad,
To the mere passer-by, awaking grief.
" Untalented, unworthy, I withdraw,
Bidding farewell to this windy, dusty world;
Upwards I look to the supremely good—
The emperor,—to choose a virtuous man
To follow me. Henceforth it will be well.—
The measures and the merits passing mine;
But I shall silent stund and see his grace
Diffusing blessings ike the genial spring."
In permitting Chu to retire from public life.
GREAT AGE OF HIGH OFFICERS.
367
Commissioner flipu, Ki Kung, the late governor-general of
Kivangtung, and Shu, the prefect of Ningpo in 184*2, are other
officers who have been popular in late years. When Lin passed
through Macao in 1839, the Chinese had in several places erected
Honorary portals adorned with festoons of silk and laudatory
scrolls ' and when he passed the doors of their houses and shops
they set out tables decorated with vases of flowers, " in order to
manifest their profound gratitude for his coming to save them
from a deadly vice, and for removing from them a dire calamity
by the destruction and severe interdiction of opium." Alas,
that his efforts and intentions should have been so fruitless !
The Peking Gazettes frequently contain petitions from old
officers describing their ailments, their fear lest they shall not
be able to perform their duties, the length of their official service,
and requesting leave of absence or permission to retire. It is
impossible to regard all the expressions of loyalty in these papers,
coming as they do from all classes of officers, as utterly heart¬
less and made out according to a prescribed form, but we are
rather inclined to take them, in many cases, as the honest senti¬
ments of their minds. Among many instances which might be
given, a memorial from Shi, a censor in 1824, is sufficient for an
example. In this, he says, " reflecting within myself, that
notwithstanding the decay of my strength, it has still pleased
the imperial goodness to employ me in a high office instead of
rejecting and discarding me at once, I have been most anxious
to effect a cure, in order that, a weak old horse as I am, it might
be still in my power, by the exertion of my whole strength, to
recompense a ten-thousandth part of the benevolence which
restored me to life."* The emperor sometimes is obliged to take
the other side, and order the octogenarians to resign and go home ;
that he does not displace them at once is one of those singular
anomalies constantly seen in this government, which in our
position cannot be accounted for satisfactorily ; the regard paid
to age, for which the Chinese are justly famed, may form one
reason for retaining them.
Connected with the triennial schedule of official merits and
demerits, is the necessity the high officers of state are under of
confessing their faults of government; and the two form a pecu*
*CJjinese Reposit *ry, Vol. IV., p. 71
368
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
liar and somewhat stringent check upon their intrigues and
malversation, making them, as Le Comte observes, " exceeding
circumspect and careful, and sometimes even virtuous against
their own inclinations." The confessions reported in the Peking
Gazettes are, however, by no means satisfactory as to the real
extent or nature of these acts ; most of the confessors are cen¬
sors, and perhaps it is in virtue of their office that they thus sit
in judgment upon themselves. Examples of the crimes men¬
tioned are not wanting. The governor-general of Chihli requested
severe punishment in 1832 for not having discovered a plotting
demagogue who had collected several thousand adherents in hia
and the next provinces; his request was granted. An admiral
in the same province requests punishment for not having properly
educated his son, as thereby he went rnad and wounded several
people. Another demanded a court upon himself because the
empress-dowager had been kept waiting at the palace gate by
the porters, when she paid her majesty a visit. One officer
accused himself for not being able to control the Yellow river ;
and his majesty's cook in 1830 requested punishment for being
too late in presenting his bill of fare, but was graciously forgiven.
The rarity of these confessions, compared with the actual sins,
shows either that they are, like a partridge's doublings, made to
draw off attention from the real nest of malversation, or that few
officers are willing to undergo the mortification.
The emperor, in his character of vicegerent of heaven, occa¬
sionally imposes the duty of self-confession upon himself. Kia-
king issued several public confessions during his reign, but the
Gazettes have not contained many such papers since the present
monarch took the sceptre. These confessions are drawn from
him more by natural calamities, such as drought, freshets, epi¬
demics, &c., than by political causes, though insurrections, fires,
ominous portents, &c., sometimes induce them. The personal
character of the monarch has much to do with their frequency
and phraseology. On occasion of a drought in 1817, the empe¬
ror Kiaking said, " The remissness and sloth of the officers of
government constitute an evil which has long been accumulating.
It is not the evil of a day; for several years I have given the
most pressing admonitions on the subject, and have punished
many cases which have been discovered, so that recently there
appears a little improvement, and for several seasons the weathe*
CONFESSION OF FAULTS BY OFFICERS.
309
has been favorable The drought this season is not perhaps
entirely on their (the officers') account. I have meditated upon
it, and am persuaded that the reason why the azure heavens
above manifest disapprobation by withholding rain for a few
hundred miles only around the capital, is, that the fifty and
more rebels who escaped, are secreted somewhere near Peking.
Hence it is that fertile vapors are fast bound, and the felicitous
harmony of the seasons interrupted." A hurricane of sand,
which arose in 1819 near the capital and darkened it at noontide,
puzzled this superstitious monarch, and he sent a commissioner
to ascertain where it originated, and what act of injustice on the
part of the local authorities had generated such a catastrophe.
Somebody must be found fault with, for somebody was of course
responsible, and the astronomer royal was accordingly repri¬
manded for not having predicted it, and others scolded for their
mismanagement.
One of the most remarkable specimens of these papers is a
prayer for rain issued by Taukwang in 1832, on occasion of a
severe drought at the capital. Before issuing this paper, he had
endeavored to mollify the anger and heat of heaven by ordering
all suspected and accused persons in the prisons of the metropo¬
lis to be tried, and their guilt or innocence established, in order
that the course of justice might not be delayed, and witnesses
be released from confinement. But these vicarious corrections
did not avail, and the drought continuing, he was obliged, as
high-priest of the empire, to show the people that he was mindful
of their sufferings, and would relieve them, if possible, by pre¬
senting the following memorial:
" Kneeling, a memorial is hereby presented, to cause affairs to be
heard.
" Oh, alas ! imperial Heaven, were not the world afflicted by extraor¬
dinary changes, I would not dare to present extraordinary services. But
this year the drought is most unusual. Summer is past, and no rain has
fallen. Not only do agriculture and human beings feel the dire calamity,
but also beasts and insects, herbs and trees, almost cease to live. I, the
minister of Heaven, am placed over mankind, and am responsible for
keeping the world in order, and tranquillizing the people. Although it
is now impossible for me to sleep or eat with composure; although I
am scorched with grief, and tremble with anxiety; still, after all, no
genial and copious showers have been obtained.
" Some days ago, I fasted, and offered rich sacrifices, on the altars o'
17*
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
the gods of the land and the grain ; and had to be thankful for gathering
clouds, and slight showers ; but not enough to cause gladness. Looking
up, I consider that Heaven's heart is benevolence and love. The sole
cause is the daily deeper atrocity of my sins: but little sincerity and
little devotion.—Hence I have been unable to move Heaven's heart, and
bring down abundant blessings.
" Having searched the records, I find, that, in the 24th year of Kien-
lung, my imperial grandfather, the high, honorable, and pure emperor
reverently performed a ' great snow service.' I feel impelled, by ten
thousand considerations, to look up and imitate the usage, and with
trembling anxiety, rashly assail Heaven, examine myself, and consider
my errors; looking up and hoping that I may obtain pardon. I ask
myself,—whether in sacrificial services I have been disrespectful ?
Whether or not pride and prodigality have had a place in my heart,
springing up there unobserved ? Whether, from the length of time, I
have become remiss in attending to the affairs of government; and have
been unable to attend to them with that serious diligence, and strenuous
effort, which I ought ? Whether I have uttered irreverent words, and
have deserved reprehension ? Whether perfect equity has been attained
in conferring rewards or inflicting punishments ? Whether in raising
mausolea and laying out gardens, I have distressed the people and
wasted property ? Whether in the appointment of officers I have failed
to obtain fit persons, and thereby the acts of government have been petty
and vexatious to the people ? Whether punishments have been unjustly
inflicted or not ? Whether the oppressed have found no means of appeal ?
Whether in persecuting heterodox sects, the innocent have not been in¬
volved ? Whether or not the magistrates have insulted the people, and
refused to listen to their affairs? Whether in the successive military
operations on the western frontiers, there may not have been the horrors
of human slaughter, for the sake of imperial rewards ? Whether the lar¬
gesses bestowed on the afflicted southern provinces were properly applied,
or the people were left to die in the ditches ? Whether the efforts to
exterminate or pacify the rebellious mountaineers of Hunan and Kwang-
tung, were properly conducted; or whether they led to the inhabitants
being trampled on as mire and ashes?—To all these topics, to which my
anxieties have been directed, I ought to lay the plumb-line, and strenu¬
ously endeavor to correct what is wrong; still recollecting that there
may be faults which have not occurred to me in my meditations.
" Prostrate I beg imperial Heaven, (Hwang Tien) to pardon my igno¬
rance and stupidity, and to grant me self-renovation ; for myriads of in¬
nocent people are involved by me, a single man. My sins are so nume¬
rous, it is difficult to escape from them. Summer is past, and autumn
arrived; to wait longer will really be impossible. Knocking head, I
piay, imperial Heaven, to hasten and confer gracious deliverance,—a
PRAYER OF THE EMPEROR TOUR WANG FOR RAIN. 371
epeedy and divinely beneficial rain; to save the people's lives; an i in
some degree redeem my iniquities. Oh, alas ! imperial Heaven, observe
these tilings. Oh, alas! imperial Heaven, be gracious to them. I
am inexpressibly grieved, alarmed, and frightened.—Reverently this me¬
morial is presented."—Repository, Vol. i., p. 236.
This paper apparently intimates some acknowledgment of a
ruling power above, and before a despot like the emperor of China
would place himself in such an equivocal posture before his peo¬
ple, he would assure himself very thoroughly of their sentiments;
for its effects as a state paper would be worse than null if the least
ridicule was likely to be thrown upon it. In this case, heavy
showers followed the imperial supplications the same evening,
and appropriate thanksgivings were ordered, and sacrifices pre¬
sented before the six altars of heaven, earth, land and grain, and
the gods of heaven, earth, and the revolving year.
The orders of the court, whether sent down by the emperor to
the high officers in the Boards, or directly to the provinces, are
usually in manuscript, except when some grand event or state
ceremony requires a general proclamation, in which cases, the
document is printed on yellow paper, and published in both the
Chinese and Manchu languages. The governors and their sub¬
ordinates, imperial commissioners, and collectors of customs,
are the principal officers in the provinces who publish their
orders to the people, consisting of admonitions, exhortations,
regulations, laws, special ordinances, threatenings, and munici¬
pal requirements. Standing laws and local regulations are often
carved very beautifully on black marble, and placed in the
streets to be " held in everlasting remembrance," so that no one
can plead ignorance :—a custom which recalls the mode of pub¬
lishing the Twelve Tables at Rome. Several of these legal
tablets, beautifully carved, are to be seen at Canton and Macao.
The common mode of publishing the commands of government
is to print the document in large characters, and stick up copies
at the door of the offices and in the streets in public places, with
the seal of the officer attached to authenticate them. The paper
0:1 which they are printed being only common Chinese paper,
and there being no protection from the weather, the sheets are
soon destroyed ; the people read them as they are thus exposed,
and copy them if they wish, but it is not uncommon, too, for the
magistrates to print important edicts in p imphlet form for circu
372
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
lation. The style adopted in these papers is the legal one, and
differs f; ©m common writing as much as that does in English, but
in Chinese it is not involved or obscure. A single specimen oi
an edict, out of many which could be given, will suffice to illus
trate the form of these papers, and moreover show upon whai
subjects a Chinese ruler sometimes legislates, and the care he u
expected to take of the people.
" Su and Hwang, by special appointment magistrates of the districts of
Nanhai and Pwanyu, raised ten steps and recorded ten times, Hereby dis¬
tinctly publish important rules for the capture of grasshoppers, that it
may be known how to guard against them, in order to ward off injury and
calamity. On the 7th day of the 8th month in the 13th year of Taukwang
(Sept. 20th, 1833), we received a communication from the prefect of the
[department of Kwangchau], transmitting a dispatch from their excellen¬
cies the governor and lieutenant-governor, as follows:
" 'During the fifth month of the present year, flights of grasshoppers
appeared in the limits of Kwangsi, in [the departments of] Liu, Tsin,
Kwei, and Wu, and their vicinage; which have already, according to
report, been clean destroyed and driven off. We have heard that in the
department of Kauchau and its neighborhood, conterminous to Kwangsi,
grasshoppers have appeared which multiply with extreme rapidity. At
this time, the second crop is in the blade (which if destroyed will endam¬
age the people), and it. is proper therefore immediately, wherever they are
found, to capture and drive them off, marshalling the troops to advance
and wholly exterminate them. But Kwangtung heretofore has never
experienced this calamity, and we apprehend the officers and people do not
understand the mode of capture; wherefore we now exhibit in order the
most important rules for catching grasshoppers. Let the governor's
combined forces be immediately instructed to capture them secundum
artem; at the same time let orders be issued for the villagers and farmers
at once to assemble and take them, and for the magistrates to establish
storehouses for their reception and purchase, thus without fail sweeping
them clean away. If you do not exert yourself to catch the grasshop¬
pers, your guilt will be very great; let it be done carefully, not clandes¬
tinely delaying, thus causing this misfortune to come upon yourselves,
transgressing the laws, and causing us again, according to the exigencies
of the case, to promulgate general orders, and make thorough examina¬
tion, &c., &c. Appended hereto are copies of the rules for catching
grasshoppers, which from the lieut.-governor must be sent to the treasurer,
who will enjoin it upon the magistrates of the departments, and he again
upon the district magistrates.'
"Having received the preceding, besides respectfully transmitting it to
the colonel of the department to be straightway forwarded to all the
EDICT FOR THE CAPTURE OF GRASSHOPPERS. O 73
troops under his authority, and also to all the district justices, that they
all with united purpose bend their energies to observe at the proper time,
that whenever the grasshoppers become numerous they join their forces
and extirpate them, thus removing calamity from the people; we also en¬
join upon whoever receives this that they catch the grasshoppers ac¬
cording to these several directions, which are therefore here arranged in
order as follows :
"' 1. When the grasshoppers first issue forth, they are to be seen on the
borders of large morasses, from whence they quickly multiply and fill
large tracts of land ; they produce their young in little hillocks of black
earth, using the tail to bore into the ground, not quite an inch in depth,
which still remain as open holes, the whole somewhat resembling a bee's
nest. One grasshopper drops ten or more pellets, in form like a pea,
each one containing a hundred or more young. For the young grasshop¬
pers fly and eat in swarms, and this laying of their young is done all at
once and in the same spot; the place resembles a hive of bees, and
therefore it is very easily sought and found.
"' 2. When the grasshoppers are in the fields of wheat and tender rice
and the thick grass, every day at early dawn they all alight on the leaves
of the grass, and their bodies being covered with dew are heavy and
they cannot fly or hop ; at noon, they begin to assemble for flight, and at
evening they collect in one spot. Thus each day there are three periods
when they can be caught, and the people and gentry will also have a
short respite. The mode of catching them is to dig a trench before
them, the broader and longer the better, on each side placing boards,
doors, screens and such like things, one stretched on after another, and
spreading open each side. The whole multitude must then cry aloud,
and holding boards in their hands, drive them all into the trench ; mean¬
while those on the opposite side, provided with brooms and rakes, on
seeing any leaping or crawling out, must sweep them back ; then cover¬
ing them with dry grass, burn them all up. Let the fire be first kindled
in the trench, and then drive them into it; for if they are only buried up,
then many of them will crawl out of the openings and so escape.
" '"3. When the swarms of grasshoppers see a row of trees, or a close
line of flags and streamers, they usually hover over and settle ; and the
farmers frequently suspend red and white clothes and petticoats on long
poles, or yake red and green paper flags, but they do not always settle
with great rapidity. Moreover, they dread the noise of gongs, match¬
locks, and guns, hearing which they fly away. If they come so as to
obscure the heavens, you must let off the guns and clang the gongs, or
tire the crackers ; it will strike the front ranks with dread, and flying
uway, the rest will follow them and depart.
"' 4. When the wings and legs of the grasshoppers are taken off, and
[their bodies] dried in the sun, the taste is like dried prawns, and more-
374
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
over they can be xept a long time without spoiling. Ducks can also be
reared upon the dried grasshoppers, and soon become large and fat.
Moreover, the hill people catch them to feed pigs ; these pigs, weighing
at first only twenty catties or so, in ten days' time grow to weigh more
than fifty catties; and in rearing all domestic animals they are of use.
Let all farmers exert themselves, and catch them alive, giving rice or
money according to the number taken. In order to remove this calamity
from your grain, what fear is there that you will not perform this ? Let
all these rules for catching the grasshoppers be diligently carried into
full effect.'
" Wherefore these commands are transcribed that all you soldiers and
people may be fully acquainted with them. Do you all then immediately
in obedience to them, when you see the proper time has come, sound the
gong; and when you see the grasshoppers and their young increasing,
straightway get ready, on the one hand seizing them, and on the other
announcing to the officers that they collect the troops, that with united
strength you may at once catch them, without fail making an utter ex¬
termination of them; thus calamity will be removed from the people.
We will also then confer rewards upon those of the farmers and people
who first announce to the magistrates their approach. Let every one
implicitly obey. A special command.
" Promulgated Taukwang, 13th year, 8th month, and 15th day."*
The effect of these orders on the grasshoppers did not equal
the zeal of the officers, but swarms of locusts are neither nume¬
rous nor devastating in China. The concluding part of an edict
affords some room for displaying the character of the promulgator.
Among other endings, are such as these: " Hasten! hasten ! a
special edict." " Tremble hereat intensely." " Lay not up for
yourselves future repentance by disobedience." " I will by no
means eat my words." " Earnestly observe these things." In
their state papers, Chinese officers are constantly referring to ul¬
timate truths and axioms, and deducing arguments therefrom in
a peculiarly national grandiloquent manner, though some of their
conclusions are tremendous non-sequiters. Commissioner Lin
addressed a letter to the Queen of England regarding the inter¬
diction of opium, which began with the following preamble:
" Whereas, the ways of heaven are without partiality, and no
sanction is allowed to injure others in order to benefit one's self,
and that men's natural feelings are not very diverse (for where
is he who does not abhor death and love life ?)—therefore your
* Easy Lessons in Chinese, pp. 2 >3-227.
CHARACTER AND PHRASEOLOGY OF THE EDICTS. 375
honorable nation, though beyond the wide ocean, at a distance of
twenty thousand K, also acknowledges the same ways of heaven,
the same human nature, and has the like perceptions of the dis¬
tinctions between life and death, benefit and injury. Our hea¬
venly court has for its family all that is within the four seas ; and
as to the great emperor's heaven-like benevolence—there is none
whom it does not overshadow ; even regions remote, desert, and
disconnected,have a part in his general care oflifeand well-beng."
The edicts furnish almost the only exponents of the inten¬
tions of government. They present several characteristic features
of the ignorant conceit and ridiculous assumptions of the Chinese,
while they betray the real weakness of the authorities in the
mixture of argument and command, coaxing and threatening,
pervading every paragraph. According to their phraseology,
there can possibly be no failure in the execution of every order;
if they are once made known, the obedience of the people follows
almost as a matter of course ; while at the same time, both the
writer and the people know that most of them are but little better
than waste paper. The responsibility of the writer in a measure
ceases with the promulgation of his orders, and when they reach
the last in the series, their efficiency has well nigh departed.
Expediency is the usual guide for obedience ; deceiving supe¬
riors and oppressing the people, the rule of action on the part of
officials ; and their orders do not more strikingly exhibit their
weakness and ignorance, than their mendacity and conceit.
It is not easy, without citing many examples accompanied with
particular explanations, to give a just idea of the actual execution
of the laws, and show how far the people are secured in life and
property by their rulers; and perhaps nothing has been the
source of such differing views regarding the Chinese among
writers, as the predominance they give either to the theory or
the practice of legislation. Old Magaillans (p. 250) has hit this
point pretty well, when he says, " It seems as if the legislators
had omitted nothing, and that they had foreseen all inconveniences
that were to be feared ; so that I am persuaded no kingdom in
the world could be better governed or more happy, if the conduct
and probity of the officers were but answerable to the institution
of the government. But in regard they have no knowledge of
the true God, nor of the eternal rewards and punishments of the
other world, they are subject to no remorses of conscience, they
376
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
place all their happiness in pleasure, in dignity and riches; and
therefore, to obtain these fading advantages, they violate all the
laws of God and man, trampling under foot religion, reason,
justice, honesty, and all the rights of consanguinity and friend¬
ship. The inferior officers mind nothing but how to defraud
their superiors, they the supreme tribunals, and all together how
to cheat the king ; which they know how to do with so much
cunning and address, making use in their memorials of words
and expressions so soft, so honest, so respectful, so humble and
full of adulation, and of reasons so plausible, that the deluded
prince frequently takes the greatest falsehoods for solemn truths.
So that the people, finding themselves continually oppressed and
overwhelmed without any reason, murmur and raise seditions
and revolts, which have caused so much ruin and so many changes
in the empire. Nevertheless, there is no reason that the excel¬
lency and perfection of the laws of China should suffer for the
depravity and wickedness of the magistrates."
Magaillans resided in China nearly forty years, and his opinion
may be considered on the whole as a fair judgment of the real
condition of the people and the policy of their rulers. When one
is living in the country itself, to hear the complaints of individuals
against the extortion and cruelty of their rulers, and to read the
reports of judicial murder, torture, and crime, in the Peking
Gazettes, are enough to cause one to wonder how such atrocities
and oppressions are endured from year to year, and why the
sufferers do not rise and throw aside the tyrannous power which
thus abuses them. But the people are generally sensible that
they would really gain nothing by such a procedure, and their
desire to maintain as great a degree of peace as possible, leads
them to submit to many evils, which in western countries would
soon be remedied or cause a revolution. In order to restrain
the officers in their misrule, Sect. ccx. of the Code ordains that
" If any officer of government, whose situation gives him power
and control over the people, not only does not conciliate them by
proper indulgence, but exercises his authority in a manner so
inconsistent with the established laws and approved usages of the
empire, that the sentiments of the once loyal subjects being
changed by his oppressive conduct, they assemble tumultuously
and openly rebel, and drive him at length from the capital city
and seat of his government; such officer shall suffer death."
EXTORTION OF MAGISTRATES.
377
By the laws of China, every officer of the nine ranks must be
previously qualified for duty by a degree; in the ninth are in-
eluded village magistrates, deputy treasurers, jailers, &c., but
the police, local interpreters, clerks, and other attendants on the
courts, are not considered as having any rank, and most of them
are natives of the place where they are employed. The only
degradation they can feel is to turn them out of their stations, but
this is hardly a palliative of the evils the people suffer from them ;
the new leech is more thirsty than the old. The cause of many
of the extortions the people suffer from their rulers is found in the
system of purchasing office, at all times practiced in one shape or
other, but occasionally publicly resorted to by the government
when the exchequer is unusually low. As the counterpart of
this system, that of receiving bribes must be expected therefore
to prevail, and being in fact practised by all grades of dignitaries,
and sometimes even upheld by them as a " necessary evil," it
adds still more to the bad consequences resulting from this mode
of obtaining office. Indeed so far is the practice of " covering
the eyes " carried in China, that the people seldom approach their
rulers without a gift to make way for them.
One mode taken by the highest ranks to obtain money is to
notify inferiors that there are certain days on which presents are
expected, and custom soon increases these as much as the case
will admit. Subscriptions for objects of public charity or dis¬
bursements, such as an inundation, a bad harvest, bursting of
dikes, and other similar things, which the government must look
after, are not unfrequently made a source of revenue to the
incumbents by requiring much more than is needed ; those who
subscribe are rewarded by an empty title, a peacock's feather, or
employment in some insignificant formality. The sale of titular
rank is a source of revenue, but the government understands the
importance of keeping the well-known channel of attaining office by
literary merit open to all, and it seldom confers much real power
for mere money, when unconnected with some degree of fitness.
The security of its own position is not to be risked for the sake
of an easy means of filling its exchequer, yet it is impossible to
say how far the sale of office and title is carried. The censors
inveigh against it, and the emperor almost apologises for resort¬
ing to it, but it is nevertheless constantly practised. The
government stocks of this description were opened during the late
378
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
war, as the necessities of the case were a sufficient excuse foi
the disreputable practice. In 1835, the sons of two of the lead-
ing hong-merchants were promoted, in consequence of their dona-
tions of $25,000 each, to repair the ravages of an inundation :
subscribers to the amount of $10,000 and upwards, were re¬
warded by an honorary title, whose only privilege is, that it
saves its possessor from a bambooing, it being the law that no
one holding any office can be personally chastised.
Besides the lower officers, the clerks in their employ, and the
police who are often taken from the garrison soldiery, are the
agents in the hands of the upper ranks to squeeze the people.
There are many clerks of various duties and grades about all
the offices who receive small salaries, and every application and
petition to their superiors, going through their hands, is attended
by a bribe to pass them up. The military police and servants
connected with the offices are not paid any regular salary, and
their number is great. In the large districts, like those of
Nanhai and Pwanyu, which compose the city of Canton and
suburbs, it is said there are about a thousand unpaid police;
in the middle sized ones between three and four hundred, and in
the smallest from one to two hundred. This number is increased
by the domestics attending high officers as part of their suite, and
by their old acquaintances who make themselves known when
there is any likelihood of being employed. Among other abuses
mentioned by the censors, is that of magistrates appointing their
own creatures to fill vacancies until those nominated by his
majesty arrive; like a poor man oppressing the poor, such
officers are a sweeping rain. A similar abuse is when country
magistrates leave their posts to go to the provincial capital to
dance attendance upon their superiors, and get nominated to a
higher place, or taken into their service as secretaries, because
they will work for nothing; the duties of their vacated offices are
meantime usually left undone, and underlings take advantage
of their absence to make new exactions. The governor fills
vacant offices with his own friends, and recommends them to his
majesty to be confirmed ; but this has little effect in consolidating
a system of oppression from the constant changes going on.
The retinues of high provincial officers contain many depen¬
dents and expectant supernumeraries all subservient to them;
among them are the descendants of poor officers ; the sons of bank
AGENTS AND MODES OF OFFICIAL EXACTION.
379
rupt merchants who once possessed influence; dissipated, well bred,
unscrupulous men, who lend themselves to everything flagitious;
and lastly, fortune-seekers without money, but possessing talents
of good order to be used by any one who will hire them. Such
Dersons are not peculiar to China, and their employment is
guarded against in the Code, but no law is more a dead letter.
Officers of government, too, conscious of their delinquencies, and
afraid their posts will soon be taken from them, of course endeavor
to make the most of their opportunities, and by means of such
persons, who are usually well acquainted with the leading in¬
habitants of the district, harrass and threaten such as are likely
to pay well for being left in quiet. It does them little or no good,
however, for if they are not removed, they must fee their supe¬
riors ; and if they are punished for their misdeeds, they are still
more certain of losing their wicked exactions.
Another common mode of plundering the people is for officers
to collude with bands of thieves, and allow them to escape for a
composition when arrested, or substitute other persons for the
guilty party in case the real offenders are likely to be con¬
demned. Sometimes these banditti are too strong even for an
upright magistrate, and he is obliged to overlook what he cannot
remedy ; for, however much he may wish to arrest and bring
them to justice, his policemen are too much afraid of their ven¬
geance to venture upon attacking them. An instance of this
occurred near Canton in 1839, when a boat, containing a clerk
of the court and three or four police, came into the fleet of
European opium-ships to hunt for some desperate opium smug¬
glers who had taken refuge there. The fellows, hearing of the
arrival of the boat, came in the night, and surrounding it, took
out the crew, bound their pursuers, and burned them alive with
the boat, in sight of the whole fleet, to whom they looked for pro¬
tection against their justly incensed countrymen.
A censor, in 1819, complaining of flagrant neglect in the
administration of justice in Chihll, says: "Among the magis¬
trates are many who, without fear or shame, connive at robbery
and deceit. Formerly, horse-stealers were wont to conceal
themselves in some secret place, but now they openly bring
their plunder to market for sale. When they perceive a person
to be weak, they are in the habit of stealing his property and
returning it to him for money, while the officers, on hearing it,
380
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
tieat it as a trivial matter, and blame the sufferer for not being
more cautious. Thieves are apprehended with warrants on
them, showing that when they were sent out to arrest thieves,
they availed of the opportunity to steal for themselves. And at
a village near the imperial residence are very many plunderers
concealed, who go out by night in companies of twenty or thirty
persons, carrying weapons with them ; they frequently call up
the inhabitants, break open the doors, and having satisfied them¬
selves with what food and wine they can obtain, they threaten
and extort money, which if they cannot procure, they seize their
clothes, ornaments, or cattle, and depart. They also frequently
go to shops, and having broken open the shutters, impudently
demand money, which if they do not get, they set fire to the shop
with the torches in their hands. If the master of the house
apprehends a few of them, and sends them to the magistrate, he
merely imprisons and beats them, and, before half a month,
allows them to run away."*
The unpaid retainers about the courts are very numerous, and
are more dreaded than the police ; one censor says they are
looked upon by the people as tigers and wolves ; he effected the
discharge of nearly 24,000 of them in the province of Chihli
alone. They are usually continued in their places by the head
magistrate, who, when he arrives, being ignorant of the charac¬
ters of those he must employ, continues such as are likely to
serve. In cases of serious accusation, the clerks frequently
subpcena all who are likely to be implicated, and demand a fee
for liberating them when their innocence is shown. These
myrmidons still fear the anger of their superiors, and a recoil of
the people so far as to endeavor to save appearances, by hush-
mg up the matter, and liberating those unjustly apprehended,
with great protestations of compassion. It may be added, that,
as life is not lightly taken, thieves are careful not to murder or
maltreat their victims dangerously, nor do the magistrates ven¬
ture to take life outright by torture, though their cruelties fre¬
quently result in death, by neglect or starvation. It is money
and goods both policemen and officials want, not blo)d and
revenge. Parties at strife with each other frequently resort to
legal implication to gratify their ill-will, and take a pitiful
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., p. 218.
VENALITV OF THK POLICE AND CLERKS.
381
revenge by egging on the police to pillage and vex their enemy,
though they themselves profit nowise thereby.
The evvils resulting to the Chinese from a half-paid and venal
magistracy are dreadful, and the prospects of their removal very
slight. The governor of ChihK, in 1829, memorialized the
emperor upon the state of the police, and pointed out a remedy
for many abuses, one of which was to pay them fair salaries out
of the public treasury ; but it is plain that this remedy must
begin with the monarch, for, until an officer is released from
sopping his superior, he will not cease exacting from his infe¬
riors. Experience has shown the authorities how far it can
safely be carried ; while many officers, seeing how useless it is
to irritate the people, so far as ultimately enriching themselves is
concerned, endeavor to restrain their policemen. One lieut.-
governor issued an edicJ, stating that none of his domestics were
allowed to browbeat shopmen, and thus get goods or eatables
below the market price ; and permits the seller to collar and
bring them to him for punishment when they did so. When an
officer of high rank, as a governor, treasurer, &c., takes the seals
of his post, he ofttimes issues a proclamation, exhorting the
subordinate ranks to do as he means to do,—" to look up and
embody the kindness of the high emperor," and attend to the
faithful discharge of their duties. The lower officers, in their
turn, join in the cry, and a series of proclamations, by turns
hortative and mandatory, are echoed from mastiff, spaniel, and
poodle, until the cry ends upon the police. Thus the prefect of
Canton says : " There are hard-hearted soldiers and gnawing
lictors who post themselves at ferries or markets, or rove about
the streets, to extort money under various pretexts ; or, being
intoxicated, they disturb and annoy the people in a hundred
ways. Since I came into office here I have repeatedly com-
manded the inferior magistrates to act faithfully and seize such
persons, but the depraved spirit still continues."
A censor, speaking of the police, says :—" They no sooner get
a warrant to bring up witnesses, than they assail both plaintiff*
and defendant for money to pay their expenses, from the amount
of ten taels to several scores. Then the clerks must have double
what the runners get, if their demands be not satisfied, they con.
trive every species of annoyance. T.ien, again, if there are peo.
pie of property in the neighborhood, they will implicate them.
382
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
They plot also with pettifogging lawyers to get up accusations
against people, and threaten and frighten them out of their
money."
One natural consequence of such a state of society, and such
a perversion of justice, is to render the people afraid of all con¬
tact with the officers of government, and exceedingly selfish in
all their intercourse, though the latter trait needs no particular
training to develop it in any heathen country. It also tends to
an inhuman disregard of the life of others, and chills every emo¬
tion of kindness which might otherwise arise ; for by making a
man responsible for the acts of his neighbors, or by involving a
whole village in the crimes of an individual, all sense of justice
is violated. The terror of being implicated in any evil that
takes place sometimes prevents the people from quenching fires
until the superior authorities be first informed, and from reliev¬
ing the distressed until it is often too late. Hence, too, it not
unfrequently happens that a man who has had the ill fortune to
be stabbed to death in the street, or who falls down from disease
and dies, remains on the spot till the putrescence obliges the
neighbors, for their own safety to remove the corpse. A dead
body floating down the river and washing ashore is likely to re¬
main on the banks until it again drifts away, or the authorities
get it buried, for no unofficial person would voluntarily run the
risk of being seen interring it. One censor reports, that when
he asked the people why they did not remove the loathsome ob¬
ject, they said, " we always let the bodies be either buried in
the bellies of fishes, or devoured by the dogs; for if we inform
the magistrates they are sure to make the owner of the ground
buy a coffin, and the clerks and assistants distress us in a hun¬
dred ways." The usual end of these memorials and remon¬
strances is that the police are ordered to behave better, the
clerks commanded to abstain from implicating innocent people
and retarding the course of justice, and their masters, the ma¬
gistrates, threatened with the emperor's displeasure in case the
grievance is not remedied :—after which all goes on as before,
and will go on as long as both rulers and ruled are what they
are. Christianity is the only remedy for the evils which afflict
both parties, the only code which will teach hem their rights,
and give the motive for upholding them.
The working out of the principle of responsibility accounts
EFFECT 0* MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY.
383
for many .hings in Chinese society and jurisprudence,, that other,
wise appear completely at variance with even common humanity.
It makes an officer careless of his duties, if he can shift the re¬
sponsibility of failure upon his inferiors, who, at the same time,
he knows can never execute his orders; it renders the people
dead to the impulses of relationship, lest they become involved
in what they cannot possibly control, and hardly know at the
time of its commission. Mr. Lindsay states that when he was
at Tsungming in 1832, the officers were very urgent that he
should go out of the river, and in order to show him the effect
of his non-compliance upon others, a degraded subaltern was
paraded in his sight. " His cap with its gold button was borne
before him, and he marched about blindfolded in procession be¬
tween two executioners, with a small flag on a bamboo pierced
through each ear. Before him was a placard, with the inscrip¬
tion, ' By orders of the general of Su and Sung : for a breach
of military discipline, his cars are pierced as a warning to the
multitude.' Ilis offence was having allowed our boat to pass
the fort without reporting it."
During the last war with England, fear of punishment in
duced many of the subordinates to commit suicide when unable
to execute their orders, and the same motive impelled their su¬
periors to avoid the wrath of the emperor in the same way.
The hong-merchants and linguists at Canton, during the old
regime, were constantly liable to exactions and punishments for
the acts of their foreign customers from the operation of this
principle. One of them, Sunshing, was put in prison and ruined
because Lord Napier came to Canton from YVhampoa in the
boat of a ship he had " secured " several weeks before, and the
linguist and pilot were banished, for allowing what they could
not possibly have hindered even if they had known it.
Having examined in this general manner every grade of offi-
cial rank, we come to the people ; and a close view will show
that this great mass of human beings exhibits many equally ob¬
jectionable traits, and that oppression, want, feudal rivalry, and
brigandige, combine to keep it in a constant state of tur¬
moil. The subdivisions into tithings and hundreds are much
better observed in rural districts than in cities, and the headmen
of those communities in their individual and collective charac¬
ter, possess great influence, from the fact that they represent the
3°4
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
popular feeling. In all parts of the country this popular organi
zation is found in some shape of other, though, as if everything
was somehow perverted, it not unfrequently is an instrument of
greater oppression than defence. The division of the people into
clans is perhaps the cause of much of this combination, and as
these clans ave probably remnants of the old feudal principali¬
ties anterior to the Christian era, resembling in many respects
the Scottish clans, so are the evils arising from their dissensions
and feuds comparable to those which history records of the
troubles excited among the Highlanders by the rivalry between
Campbells and Macgregors.
The eldership of villages has no necessary connexion with the
clans, for the latter is unacknowledged by the government, but
the clan having the majority in a village generally selects the
elder from among their number. In the vicinity of Canton, the
elder is elected by a sort of town meeting, and holds his office
during good behavior, receives such a salary as his fellow villa¬
gers give him, and may be removed to make way for another
whenever the principal persons in the village are displeased with
his conduct. His duties are limited to the supervision of the
police, and general oversight of what is done in the village, and to
be a sort of agent or spokesman between the villagers and higher
authorities; the duties, the power, and the rank of these officers
vary almost indefinitely. The preponderance of one clan pre¬
vents much strife in the selection of the elder, but the degree of
power reposed in his hand is so small that there is probably little
competition to obtain the dignity. A village police is maintained
by the inhabitants, under the authority of the elder; the village
of Whampoa, for instance, containing about 8,000 inhabitants,
pays the elder $300 salary, and employs fourteen watchmen.
His duties further consist in deciding upon the petty questions
arising between the villagers, and visiting the delinquents with
chasfisement, enforcing such regulations as are deemed necessary
regarding festivals, markets, tanks, streets, collection of taxes,
&c. The system of surveillance is, however, kept up by the
superior officers, who appoint excise officers, grain agents, tide-
waiters, or some other subordinate, as the case may require, to
exercise a general oversight of the headmen.
The district magistrate, with the siunkien and their deputies over
the hundred, are the officers to whom appeals are carried from
VII.LAGE ELDERS AND THEIR TOWERS.
385
the headmen , they also receive the reports of the elders respect¬
ing suspicious characters within their limits, or other matter?
which they deem worthy of reference or remonstrance. A simi¬
larity of interests leads the headmen of many villages to meet
together at times in a public hall for secret consultation upon
important matters, arid their united resolutions are generally acted
upon by themselves or the magistrates, as the case may be. This
system of eldership, and the influential position the headmen
occupy, is an important safeguard the people possess against the
extremity of oppressive extortion ; while too it upholds the go¬
vernment in strengthening the loyalty of those who feel that the
only security they possess against theft, and loss of all things
from their seditious countrymen, is to uphold the institutions of
the land ; and that to suffer the evils of a bad magistracy is less
d'Tadful than the horrors of a lawless brigandige.
The customs and laws of clanship perpetuate a sad state of
society, and render districts and villages, otherwise peaceful, the
scenes of unceasing turmoil and trouble. There are only about
four hundred clans in the whole of China, but inasmuch as all
of the same surname do not live in the same place, the separation
of a elan answers the same purpose as multiplying it. Clannish
feelings and feuds appear-to be much stronger in Kwangtung and
Fuhkien than in ofh,:>r provinces, but perhaps only because foreign¬
ers hear more of their outbreaks than elsewhere. As an instance
which may be mentioned, the Gazette contain." the petition of a
man from Chauchau fu in Kwangtung relating to a quarrel, stat¬
ing, " that fuui yet.rs before, his kindred having refused to assist
two oth?r clans in their feuds, had during that period suffered
most shocking cruelties. Ten persons had been killed, and
twenty men and women, taken captives, had had their eyes dug
out, their ears cut off, their feet maimed, and so rendered useless
for life. Thirty houses were laid in ruins, and three hundred
acre.-, of land seized, ten thousand taels plundered, ancestral
temples thrown down, graves dug up, dikes destroyed, and water
cut off from the fields. The governor had offered a reward ot
a thousand taels to any one who would apprehend these persons,
hut for the ten murders no one had been executed, for the police
dare not seize the offenders, whose numbers have largely
increased, and who set the laws at defiance." This region is
notoriou- for the turbulence of its inhabitants ; it adjoins the
18
38<J
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
province of Fuhkien, and the quiet people emigrate in large nun.
bers to the Indian Archipelago or to other provinces. The latei
Gazettes contain still more dreadful accounts of the contests of
the clans, and the great loss of life and property resulting from
their forays, no less than one hundred and twenty villages having
been attacked, and thousands of people killed. These battles
are constantly occurring, and the authorities feeling themselves
too weak to put them down, are obliged to connive at them, and
'»<t the clans fight it out.
Ill will is kept up between the clans, and private revenges
gratified, by every personal annoyance that malice can suggest or
opportunity tempt. If an unfortunate individual of one clan is
met alone by his enemy, he is sure to be robbed or beaten, or
both; the boats or the houses of each party are plundered or
burned, and legal redress is almost impossible. Graves are
defaced and tombstones injured, and on the annual visit to the
family sepulchre perhaps a putrid corpse is met, placed there
by the hostile clan ; this insult arouses all their ire, and they
vow deadly revenge. The villagers sally out with such arms as
they possess, and death and wounds are almost sure to resuk
before they separate. In Shunteh (a district between Canton and
Macao), upwards of a thousand men engaged with spears and
firearms on one of these occasions, and thirty-six lives were lost;
the military were called in to quell the riot. In Tungkwan dis¬
trict, near the Bogue, thirty-six ringleaders were apprehended,
and in 1831, it was reported that four hundred persons had been
killed in these raids; only twenty-seven of their kindred appealed
to government for redress.
When complaint is made to the prefect or governor, and inves¬
tigation becomes inevitable, the villagers have a provision to meet
the exigencies of the case, which puts the burden of the charges
as equally as possible upon the whole clan. A band of " devoted
men " are found,—persons who volunteer to assume such crimes
and run their chance for life—whose names are kept on a list,
and they come forward and surrender themselves to government
as the guilty persons. On the trial, their friends employ wit¬
nesses to prove it a justifiable homicide, and magnify the provoca¬
tion, and if there are several brought on the stand at once, they
try to get some of them clear by proving an alibi. It not unfre-
quenth happens that the accused are acquitted, and not very often
EVILS oF THE FEUDS BETWEEN JLANS.
387
lhat they are executed ; transportation or fine is the usual result.
The inducement for persons to run this risk of their lives, is security
from the clan of a maintenance for their families in case of
death, and a reward sometimes as high as $300 in land or
money when they return. This sum is raised by taxing the
clan or village, and the imposition falls heavily on the poorer
portion of it, who can neither avoid nor easily pay it. This
system of substitution pervades all parts of society, and for all
misdemeanors. A person was strangled in Macao in 1838, for
having been engaged in the opium trade, who had been hired by
the real criminal to answer to his name ; it is not known what
sum was paid him. Another mode of escape, sometimes tried in
such cases when the person has been condemned, is to bribe the
jailers to report him dead, and carry out his body in a coffin ;
but this device probably does not often answer the end, as the turn¬
keys require a larger bribe than can be raised. There can be
little doubt of the prevalence of the practice in all parts of China,
and for crimes of even minor penalty.
To increase the social evils of clanship and systematized
thieving, local tyrants occasionally spring up, persons who rob
and maltreat the villagers by means of their armed retainers, who
are in most cases, doubtless, members of the same clan. One
of these tyrants, named Yeh, or Leaf, became quite notorious in
the district of Tungkwan, near the Bogue, about fifteen years
since, setting at defiance all the power of the local authorities ;
and sending out his men to plunder and ravage whoever resisted
his demands, destroying their graves and grain, and particularly
molesting those who would not deliver up their wives or daugh
ters to gratify him. lie was arrested in an underhand way by
the district magistrate at Canton leaving his office, and inducing
him for old acquaintance sake to return with him to the provin¬
cial city ; he was there tried and executed by the lieutenant-
governor, although it was at the time reported that the Board of
Punishments endeavored to save his life, because he had been
in office at the capital. In order that no attempt should be made
to rescue him, he was left in ignorance of his sentence, until he
was put into the sedan to be carried to execution.
Clannish banditti often supply themselves with firearms, and
prowling the country to revenge themselves on their enemies,
Boon proceed o pillage every one; the government is sometimes
388
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
obliged to resort to ccjntemptible subterfuges in disarming them,
which conspicuously show its weakness, and encourages a repe¬
tition of the evil. Parties of poor persons, who call themselves
guests, are often seen squatting on the vacant places along the
shores, away from the villages, and forming small clannish com¬
munities ; as soon as they increase, occupying more and more
of the land, they begin to commit petty depredations upon the
crops of the inhabitants, and demand money for the privilege of
burying upon the unoccupied ground around them. The govern¬
ment are generally unwilling to drive them off by force, because
there is the alternative of making them robbers thereby, and
they arc invited to settle in other waste lands, which they can
have free of taxation, and leave those they have cultivated, if
strictly private property. This practice shows the populousness
of the country in a conspicuous manner. To these evils must be
also added the large bodies of floating banditti or dacoits, who rove
up and down all the water-courses " like sneaking rats," and
pounce upon defenceless boats. Hardly a river or estuary in
the land is free from these miscreants, and lives and property
are annually destroyed by them to a very great amount, especi¬
ally on the Yangtsz' kiang, the Pearl river, and other great
thoroughfares.
The popular associations in cities and towns are chiefly based
upon a community of interests, resulting either from a similarity
of occupation, when the leading persons of the same calling
form themselves into guilds, or from the municipal regulations
requiring the house holders living in the same street .to unite to
maintain a police, and keep the peace of their division. Each
guild has an assembly-hall, where its members meet to hold the
festival of their patron saint, to collect and appropriate the sub¬
scriptions of the members, and settle the rent or storage on the
rooms and goods in the hall, to discuss all public matters as well
as the good cheer they get on such occasions, and to confer with
other guilds. The members often go to a great expense in emu¬
lating each other in their processions, and some rivalry exists
regarding their rights, over which the government keeps a watch¬
ful eye, for all popular assemblies are its horror. The shop¬
keepers and householders in the same street are required to
have a headman, to superintend the police, watchmen, and beg¬
gars within his limits The rulers are sometimes thwarted in
POPULAR AND MUNICIPAL ASSOCIATIONS.
389
their designs by both these forms of popular assemblies, and they
110 doubt tend in many ways to keep up a degree of independence
and of mutual acquaintance, which compels the respect of the
government. The governor of Canton endeavored to search all
the shops in a particular street in the city in 1838 to ascertain if
there was opium in them; but the shopmen came in a body
at the head of the street, and told the policemen that they would
on no account permit their shops to be searched, and the governor
deemed it best to retire. Those who will not join or agree to
what the majority orders in these bodies, occasionally experience
petty tyranny, but in a city this must be comparatively trifling.
Several of the leading men in the city are known to hold meet¬
ings for consultation in still more popular assemblies for different
reasons of a public and pressing nature. There is a building
at Canton called the Ming-lun Tang, or Free Discussion Hall,
where political matters are discussed under the knowledge of
government, which rather tries to mould than put them down, for
the assistance of such bodies, rightly managed, in carrying out
their intentions, is considerable, while discontent would be roused
if they were forcibly suppressed. In Oct. 1842, meetings were
held in this hall, at one of which a public manifesto was issued,
here quoted entire as a specimen of the public appeals of Chinese
politicians and demagogues.
" We have been reverently consulting upon the empire—a vast and
undivided whole ! How can we permit it to be severed in order to give
it to others ! Yet we, the rustic people, can learn to practise a rude
loyalty; we too know to destroy the banditti, and thus requite his majesty.
Our Great Pure dynasty has cared for this country for more than two
hundred years, during which a succession of distinguished monarchs,
sage succeeding sage, has reigned; and we who eat the herb of the
field, and tread the soil, have for ages drank in the dew of imperial good¬
ness, and been imbued with its benevolence. The people in wilds far
remote beyond our influence, have also felt this goodness, comparable
to the heavens for height, and been upheld by this bounty, like the earth
for thickness. Wherefore peace being now settled in the country, ships
of all lands come, distant though they be from this for many a myriad
of miles; and of all the foreigners on the south and west there is not
one but what enjoys the highest peace and contentment, and entertains
the profoundest respect and submission.
" But there is that English nation : whose ruler is now a woman and
then a iran, its people at one time like birds and then like beasts, with
390
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
dispositions more fierce and furious than the tiger or wolf, and hearts
more greedy than the snake or hog,—this people has ever stealthily-
devoured all the southern barbarians, and like the demon of the night
they now suddenly exalt themselves. During the reigns of Kienlung
and Kiaking, these English barbarians humbly besought entrance and
permission to make a present; they also presumptuously requested to
have Chusan, but those divine personages, clearly perceiving their trai¬
torous designs, gave them a peremptory refusal. From that time, link¬
ing themselves in with traitorous traders, they have privily dwelt at
Macao, trading largely in opium and poisoning our brave people. They
have ruined lives,—how many millions none can tell; and wasted pro¬
perty—how many thousands of millions who can guess! They have
dared again and again to murder Chinese, and have secreted the murder¬
ers, whom they have refused to deliver up, at which the hearts of all men
grieved and their heads ached. Thus it has been that for many years
past, the English by their privily watching for opportunities in the coun¬
try have gradually brought things to the present crisis.
"In 1838, our great emperor having fully learned all the crimes of
the English, and the poisonous effects of opium, quickly wished to restore
the good condition of the country and compassionate the people. In con¬
sequence of the memorial of Hwang Tsiohsz', and in accordance to his
request, he specially deputed the public minded, upright, and clearheaded
minister Lin Tsehsii, to act as his imperial commissioner with plenipoten¬
tiary powers, and go to Canton to examine and regulate. He came and
took all the stored up opium and stopped the trade, in order to cleanse
the stream and cut off the fountain ; kindness was mixed with his severi¬
ty, and virtue was evident in his laws, yet still the English repented not
of their errors, and as the climax of their contumacy called troops to
their aid. The censor Hwang, by advising peace, threw down the bar¬
riers, and bands of audacious robbers, willingly did all kinds of disrepu¬
table and villainous deeds. During the past three years, these rebels,
depending upon their stout ships and effective cannon, from Canton went
to Fuhkien, thence to Chehkiang, and on to Kiangsu, seizing our terri¬
tory, destroying our civil and military authorities, ravishing our women,
capturing our property, and bringing upon the inhabitants of these four
provinces intolerable miseries. His imperial majesty was troubled and
afflicted, and this added to his grief and anxiety. If you wish to purify
their crimes, all the fuel in the empire will not suffice, nor would the
vast ocean be enough to wash out our resentment. Gods and men are
alike filled with indignation, and heaven and earth cannot permit them
to remain.
" Recently, those who have had the management of affairs in Kiang-
nan have been imitating those who were in Canton, and at the gates
of the city they have willingly made an agreement, peeling off* the fat
MANIFESTO ISSUED AGAINST THE ENGLISH.
391
of the people to the tune of hundreds of myriads, and all to sa\e the
precious lives of one or two useless officers ; in doing which they have
exactly verified what chancellor Kin Yinglin had before memorialized.
Now these English rebels are barbarians dwelling in a petty island
beyond our domains ; yet their coming throws myriads of miles of coun¬
try into turmoil, while their numbers do not exceed a few myriads.
What can be easier than for our celestial dynasty to exert its fullness
of power, and exterminate these contemptible sea-going imps, just as the
blast bends the pliant bamboo ! But our highest officers and ministers
cherish their precious lives, and civil and military men both dread a dog
as they would a tiger; regardless of the enemies of their country or the
griefs of the people, they have actually sundered the empire and granted
its wealth; acts more flagitious these than those of the traitors in the
days of the Southern Sung dynasty, and the reasons for which are
wholly beyond our comprehension. These English barbarians are at
bottom without ability, and yet we have all along seen in the memorials
that officers exalt and dilate upon their prowess and obstinacy; our
people are courageous and enthusiastic, but the officers on the contrary
say that they are dispirited and scattered: this is for no other reason
than to coerce our prince to make peace, and then they will luckily avoid
the penalty due for ' deceiving the prince and betraying the country.'
Do you doubt? Then look at the memorial of chancellor Kin Yinglin
which says,' They take the occasion of war to seek for self-aggrandize¬
ment;' every word of which directly points at such conduct as this.
" We have recently read in his majesty's lucid mandate, that, ' There
is no other way, and what is requested must be granted ;' and that, ' We
have conferred extraordinary powers upon the ministers, and they have
done nothing but deceive us.' Looking up we perceive his majesty's
clear discrimination and divine perception, and that he was fully aware
of the imbecility of his ministers; he remembers too the loyal anger of
his people. He has accordingly now temporarily settled all the present
difficulties, but it is that, having matured his plans, he may hereafter
manifest his indignation, and show to the empire that it had not fathomed
the divine awe-inspiring counsels.
" The dispositions of these rebellious English are like that of the dog
or sheep, whose desires can never be satisfied; and therefore we need
not inquire whether the peace now made be real or pretended. Remem¬
ber that when they last year made disturbance at Canton, they seized
the Square fort, and thereupon exhibited their audacity, everywhere plun¬
dering and ravishing. If it had not been that the patriotic inhabitants
dwelling in Hwaitsing and other hamlets, and those in Shingping, had
not killed their leader and destroyed their devilish soldiers, they would
have scrupled at nothing, taking and pillaging the city, and then firing it
in order to gratify their vengeance and greediness: can we imagine
392
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
that for the paltry sum of six millions of dollars they would, as they did,
have raised the seige and retired ? How to be regretted ! That w hen
the fish was in the frying-pan, the Kwangchau fu should come and pull
away the firewood, let loose the tiger to return to the mountains, and
disarm the people's indignation. Letting the enemy thus escape on one
occasion has successively brought misery upon many provinces : when¬
ever we speak of it, it wounds the heart, and causes the tears to flow.
" Last year when the treaty of peace was made, it was agreed that
the English should withdraw from beyond Lankeet, that they should give
back the forts near there, and dwell temporarily at Hongkong, and that
thenceforth all military operations were for ever to cease : who would
have supposed that before the time stipulated had passed away, they
would have turned their backs upon this agreement, taken violent pos¬
session of the forts at the Bogue with their ' wooden dragons ' (i.e. ships
of war),—and when they came upon the gates of the City of Rams
with their powerful forces, who was there to oppose them? During
these three years, we have not been able to restore things as at first,
and their deceptive craftiness then confined to these regions has rapidly
extended itself to Kiangnan. But our high and mighty emperor, preemi¬
nently intelligent and discerning (lit. grasping the golden mirror and
holding the gemmeous balances), consents to demean himself to adopt
soothing counsels of peace, and therefore submissively accords with the
decrees of heaven. Having a suspicion that these outlandish people
intended to incroach upon us, he has secretly arranged all things. We
have respectfully read through all his majesty's mandates, and they are
as clearsighted as the sun and moon ; but those who now manage affairs,
are like one who supposing the raging fire to be under, puts himself as
much at ease as swallows in a court; but who, if the calamity suddenly
reappears, would be as defenceless as a grampus in a fishmarket. The
[aw adjudges the penalty of death for betraying the country, but how
can even death atone for their crimes ? Those persons who have been
handed down to succeeding ages with honor, and those whose memories
have been execrated, are but little apart on the page of righteous history;
let our rulers but remember this, and we think they also must exert
themselves to recover their characters. We people have had our day
in times of great peace, and this age is one of abundant prosperity;
scholars are devising how to recompense the kindness of the govern¬
ment, nor can husbandmen think of forgetting his majesty's exertions
for them. Our indignation was early excited to join battle with the
enemy, and we then all urged one another to the firmest loyalty.
"We have heard the English intend to c^me into Pearl river and
make a settlement; this will not, however stop at Chinese and foreign¬
ers merely dwelling together, for men and beasts cannot endure each
other; it will be like opening the door and bowing in the thief, cr setting
MANIFESTO ISSUED AGAINST THE ENGLISH.
393
the gate ajar and letting1 the wolf in. While they were kept outside,
there were many traitors within ; how much more, when they incroach
even to our bedsides, will our troubles be augmented ? We cannot help
fearing it will eventuate in something strange, which words will be in
sufficient to express. If the rulers of other states wish to imitate thp
English, with what can their demands be waived ? Consequently, the
unreasonable demands of the English are going to bring great calamity
upon the people, and deep sorrow to the country. If we do not permit
them to dwell with us under the same heaven, our spirits will feel no
Bhame; but if we willingly consent to live with them, we may in truth
be deemed insensate.
" We have reverently read in the imperial mandate, 'There must in¬
deed be some persons among the people of extraordinary wisdom or
bravery, who can stir them up to loyalty and patriotism, or unite them in
self-defence; some who can assist the government and army to recover
the cities, or else defend passes of importance against the robbers; some
who can attack and burn their vessels, or seize and bring the heads of
their doltish leaders; or else some with divine prescience and wisdom,
who can disclose all their silly counsels, and get to themselves a name
of surpassing merit tmd ability, and receive the highest rewards. We
can confer, Sic., &c.' We, the people having received the imperial
words, have united ourselves together as troops, and practise the plan of
joining hamlets and villages till we have upwards of a million of troops,
whom we have provisioned according to the scale of estimating the
produce of respective farms; and now we are fully ready and quite at
ease as to the result. If nothing calls us, then each one will return to
his own occupation ; but if the summons come, joining our strength in
force, we will incite each other to effort; our brave sons and brothers
are all animated to deeds of arms, and even our wives and daughters,
finical and delicate as jewels, have learned to discourse of arms. At
first, alas, those who guarded the passes were at ease and careless, and
the robbers came unbidden and undesired; but now [if they come],
we have only zealously to appoint each other to stations, and suppress
the rising of the waves to the stillest calm (i. e. to exterminate them).
When the golden pool is fully restored to peace, and his majesty's
anxiety for the south relieved ; when leviathan has been driven away,
then will our anger, comparable to the broad ocean and high heavens,
be pacified.
•' Ah ! We here bind ourselves to vengeance, and express these oui
sincere intentions in order to exhibit great principles ; and also to mani¬
fest heaven's retribution and rejoice men's hearts, we now issue thia
patriotic declaration. The high gods clearly behold : do not lose your
first resolution."— Chi. Rep., Vol. xi., p. 630.
This spirited paper .vas subsequently answered by the party
394
THP MIDDLE KINGDOM.
desirous of peace, but the anti-English feeling prevailed, and the
committee appointed by the meeting, set the English consulate
on fire a few days after, to prevent it being occupied.
The many secret associations existing among the people are
mostly of a political character, but have creeds like religious
sects, and differ slightly in their tenets and objects of worship.
They are traceable to the system of clans, which giving the
people at once the habit and spirit for associations, are easily
made use of by clever men, for their own purposes of opposition
to government. Similar grievances, as local oppression, hatred
of the Manchus, or hope of advantage, add to their numbers and
strength, and were they founded on a full acquaintance with
the grounds of a just resistance to despotism, they would soon
overturn the government; but as out of an adder's egg only a
cockatrice can be hatched, so until the people are enlightened
with regard to their just rights, no permanent melioration can
be expected. It is against that leading feature in the Manchu
policy, isolation, that these societies sin, which further prompts
to the systematic efforts of the present dynasty to suppress them.
The only objection the supreme government seem to have against
the religion of the people, is that it brings them together ; they
may be Budhists, Rationalists, Jews, Mohammedans, or Chris¬
tians, apparently, if they will worship in secret and apart. On
the other hand, the people being excluded from the state religion,
naturally connect religion with opposition to the state, and base
the latter upon superstitions and secret rites, which will more
securely bind them together.
The name of the most powerful of these associations is men¬
tioned in Sect, clxii. of the Code for the purpose of interdicting
it; since then it has apparently changed its designation from the
Pih-lien, kiau or Water-lily sect, to the Tien-ti hwni or San-hoh
hwui, i. e. Triad society, though both names still exist; 'uie
former in the northern, the latter in the maritime provinces, and
Indian Archipelago; and their ramifications take also other
appellations. The object of these combinations is to overturn the
reigning dynasty, and in putting this prominently forward they
engage many to join them. About the beginning of the century,
a wide spread rebellion broke out in the north-western and middle
provinces, which was put down after eight years' war, attended
with desolation and bloodshed; since that time the Water-lily
SECRET SOCIETIES AND THEIR INFLUENCE
395
Beet lias not been so often spoken of. The Triad Society has
extended itself along the coasts, but it is not popular, owing more
than anything else to its illegality, and the intimidation and oppres¬
sion employed towards those who will not join it. The members
have secret regulations and signs, and uphold and assist each
other both in good and bad acts, but as might be inferred from
their character, screening evil doers from just punishment oftener
than relieving distressed members. The original designs of the
association may have been good, but what was allowable in them,
soon degenerated into a systematic plan for plunder and aim at
power. The English government of Hongkong, enacted in 1845,
that any Chinese living in that colony who was ascertained to
belong to the Triad society, should be declared guilty of felony,
be imprisoned for three years, and after branding expelled the
colony. These associations, if they cause the government much
trouble by interfering with its operations, in no little degree,
through the overbearing conduct of the leaders, uphold it by show,
ing the people what may be expected if they should ever get the
upper hand.
The evils of mal-administration are to be learned chiefly from
the memorials of censors, and although they may color their
statements a little, very gross inaccuracies would be availed of
to their own disadvantage, and contradicted by so many compe¬
titors, that most of their statements may be regarded as having
some foundation. An unknown person in Kwangtung memo¬
rialized the emperor in 1838 concerning the condition of that
province, and drew a picture of the extortions of the lower agents
of government that needs no illustrations to deepen its darkness,
or add force to its complaints. An extract from each of the six
heads into which the memorial is divided, will indicate the prin¬
cipal sources of popular insurrection in China, besides the
exhibition they give of the tyranny of the officers.
In his preface, after the usual laudation of the beneficence and
popularity of the monarch, the memorialist proceeds to express
his regret that the imperial desires for the welfare of his subjects
should be so grievously thwarted by the villainy of his officers.
After mentioning the calamities which had come upon the
province in the shape of freshets, insurrections, and conflagra¬
tions, he says that affairs generally had become so bad as to
compel his majesty to send commissioners to Canton repeatedly
896
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
in order to regulate them. " If such as this be indeed the state
of things,'-' he inquires, " what wonder is it if habits of plunder
characterize the people ; or the clerks and under-officers of the
public courts, as well as village pettifoggers, lay themselves out
on all occasions, to stir up quarrels and instigate false accusa-
tions against the good ?" He recommends reform in six depart¬
ments, under each of which he thus specifies the evils to be
remedied.
First.—In the department of police, there is great negligence,
and delay in the decision of judicial cases. Cases of plunder
are very common, most of which are committed by banditti,
under the designations of Triad societies, Heaven and Earth
brotherhoods, &c. These men carry off persons to extort a
ransom, falsely assume the character of policemen, and in simu¬
lated revenue-cutters pass up and down the rivers, plundering
the boats of travellers, and forcibly carrying off the women.
Husbandmen are obliged to pay these robbers an " indemnity,"
or else as soon as the crops are ripe, they come and carry off
the whole harvest. In the precincts of the metropolis, where
their contiguity to the tribunals prevents their committing violent
depredations in open day, they set fire to houses during the night,
and under the pretence of saving and defending the persons and
property, carry off both of them : hence, of late years, calami¬
tous fires have increased in frequency, and the bands of robbers
multiplied greatly. In cases of altercations among the villagers,
who can only use their local patois, it rests entirely with the
clerks to interpret the evidence ; and when the magistrate is lax
or pressed with business, they have the evidence pre-arranged,
and join with bullies and strife-makers to subvert right and
wrong, fattening themselves upon bribes extorted under the
names of " memoranda of complaints," " purchases of replies,"
&c., and retarding indefinitely the decision of cases. They also
instigate thieves to bring false accusations against the good, who
are thereby ruined by legal expenses. While the officers of the
government and the people are thus separated, how can it be
otherwise than that appeals to the higher tribunals should be
increased, and litigation and strife prevail ?
Sexond.—Magistrates overrate the taxes with a view to a
deduction for their own benefit, and excise officers connive at
Con-payment. The revenue of Kwangtung is paid entirely jp
MODES AND RESULTS OF OFFICIAL OPPRESSION.
397
money, and the magistrates instead of taking the commutation at
a regular price of about $5 for 150 lbs. of rice, have compelled
the people to pay $9 and over, because the inundation and bad
harvests had raised the price of grain. In order to avoid this
extortion, the police go to the villagers, and demand a douceur
when they will get them off from all payment. But the imperial
coffers are not filled by this means, and the people are by and by
forced to pay up their arrearages, even to the loss of most of their
possessions.
Third.—There is great mismanagement of the granaries, and
instead of being any assistance to the people in times of scarcity,
they are only a source of peculation for those who are charged
with their oversight.
Fourth.—The condition of the army and navy is a disgrace,
illicit traffic is not prevented, nor can insurrections be put down.
The only care of the officers is to obtain good appointments, and
reduce the actual number of soldiers below the register, in order
that they may appropriate the stores. The cruisers aim only to
get fees to allow the prosecution of the contraband traffic, nor
will the naval officers bestir themselves to recover the property
of plundered boats, but rather become the protectors of the law¬
less and partakers of their booty. Robberies are so common on
the rivers, that the traders from the island of Hainan, and Chau-
chau near Fuhkien, prefer to come by sea, but the revenue
cutters overhaul them under pretence of searching for contraband
articles, and practise many extortions.
Fifth.—The monopoly of salt needs to be guarded more strictly,
and the private manufacture of salt stopped, for thereby the
revenue from this source is materially diminished.
Sixth.—The increase of smuggling is so great, and the evils
flowing from it so multiplied, that strong measures must be taken
to repress it. Traitorous Chinese combine with depraved foreign¬
ers to set the laws at defiance, and dispose of theii opium and
other commodities for the pure silver. In this manner, the
country is impoverished and every evil arises, the revenues of
the customs are diminished by the unnecessary number of per.
sons employed, and by the fees they receive for connivance.
If all these abuses can be remedied, " it will be seen that when
here are men to rule well, nothing can be fou id beyond the
reach of their government."
393
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The chief effo/.s of the officers are directed to put down ban
di'tti, and maintain such a degree of peace as will enable them
to collect the revenue, and secure the people in the quiet posses-
sion of their property; but the lawless disposition of the people
themselves acting against the illegal demands of the rulers, brings
into operation a constant struggle of opposing desires; the peo
pie get into the habit of resisting even the proper requisitions of
the officers, who, on their part, endeavor in every way to reim¬
burse their outlay in bribes to their superiors; and the combined
action of the two proves an insurmountable impediment to the at¬
tainment of even that degree of security a Chinese officer wishes.
The general commission of robbery and dacoity, and the preva¬
lence of bands of thieves, therefore proves the weakness of the
government, not the insurrectionary disposition of the people.
In one district of Hupeh, the governor reported in 1828, " that
very few of the inhabitants have any regular occupation, and
their dispositions are exceedingly ferocious; they fight and kill
each other on every provocation. In their villages they harbor
thieves, who flee from other districts, and sally forth again to
plunder." In the northern parts of Kwangtung, the people have
erected high and strongly built houses to which they flee for
safety from the attacks of robbers. These bands sometimes fall
upon each other, and the feudal animosities of clanship adding
fuel and rage to the rivalry of partisan warfare, the destruction
of life and property is great. Occasionally the people zealously
assist their rulers to apprehend them, though their exertions de¬
pend altogether upon the energy of the incumbent; an officer in
Fuhkien is recommended for promotion because he had appre¬
hended 173 persons, part of a band of robbers which had infested
the department for years, and tried and convicted 1160 criminals,
most or all of whom were probably executed.
In 18*21, there were four hundred robbers taken on the borders
of Fuhkien; in 1827, two hundred were seized in the south of
the province, and forty-one more brought to Canton from the
eastward. The governor offered $1000 reward, in 1828, for the
capture of one leader, and $3,000 for another. The judge of
the province put forth a proclamation upon the subject in the
same year, in which he says there wereTour hundred and thirty
undecided cases of robbery by brigands then on the calendar ;
and in 1846, there were upwards of two thousand waiting his
PREVALENCE OF BANDITTI
39S
decision, for each of which there were perhaps five or six per
sons waiting in prison or under constraint until the case was set.
tied. These bands prowl in the large cities, and commit great
cruelties. In 1830, a party of five hundred openly plundered a
rich man's house in the western suburbs of Canton; and in
Shunteh, south of the city, $600 were paid for the ransom of two
persons carried off by them. The ex-governor, in 1831, was
attacked by them near the Mei ling pass on his departure from
Canton, and plundered of about ten thousand dollars. The
magistrates of Hiangshan district, south of Canton, were ordered
by their superiors the same year to apprehend five hundred of
the robbers. Priests sometimes harbor gangs in their temples,
and divide the spoils with them, and occasionally go out them¬
selves on predatory excursions. No mercy is shown these mis¬
creants when they are taken, but the multiplication of executions
has no effect in deterring them from crime.
Cruelty to individual prisoners does not produce so much dis¬
turbance to the general peace of the community as the forcible
attempts of officers to collect taxes. The people have the im¬
pression that their rulers exact more than is legal, and conse¬
quently consider opposition to the demands of the tax-gatherer
as somewhat justifiable, which compels, of course, more stringent
measures on the part of the authorities, whose station depends
not a little on their punctuality in remitting the taxes. Bad
harvests, freshets, or other public calamities, render the people
still more disinclined to pay the assessments. In 1845, a serious
disturbance arose near Ningpo on this account, which with un¬
important differences, could probably be paralleled in every
department of the provinces. The people of Funghwa hien,
having refused to pay an onerous tax, the prefect of Ningpo,
seized three literary men of the place, who had been deputed to
collect it, and put them in prison ; this procedure so irritated the
gentry that the candidates at the literary examination which
occurred at Funghwa soon afterwards, on being assembled at the
public hall before the chihien, rose upon him and beat him
leverely. They were still further incensed against him from
inaving recently detected him in deceitful conduct regarding a
jjetition they had made at court to have their taxes lightened ;
ho had kept the answer, and pocketed the difference. He was
consequently superseded by another magistrate, and a deputy of
400
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
the intendan of circuit was sent with the new incumbent to
restore order. But the deputy, full of his importance, carried
himself so haughtily, .hat the excited populace treated him in
the same manner, and he narrowly escaped to Ningpo with his
life. The intendant and prefect, finding matters rising to such
a pitch, sent a detachment of twelve hundred troops to restore
order, but part of these were decoyed within the walls and
attacked with such vigor, that many of them were made prison,
ers, a colonel and a dozen privates killed, and two or three hun¬
dred wounded or beaten, and all deprived of their arms. In this
plight they returned to Ningpo, and as the distance is not great,
apprehensions were entertained lest the insurgents should follow
up their advantage by organizing themselves, and marching upon
the city to seize the prefect. The officers sent immediately to
Hangchau for assistance, from whence the lieutenant-governor
sent a strong force of ten thousand men to restore order, and soon
after arrived himself. He demanded three persons to be given
up, who had been active in fomenting the resistance, threatening
in case of non-compliance that he would destroy the town ; the
prefect and his deputy from the intendant's office were suspended,
and removed to another post. These measures restored quiet to
a considerable extent.*
The existence of such evils in Chinese society would rapidly
disorganize it, if it was not for the conservative influence of early
education and training in industry, which forms a public opinion
in favor of good order, and a basis of action on the part of the
government, of which it can avail. But this, and ten thousand
similar instances, only exhibit more strongly how great a work
there is to be done before the Chinese will understand their own
rights; before they will, on the one hand, pay that regard to the
authority of their rulers which is necessary for the maintenance
of good order, and on the other, resist official tyranny in preserv¬
ing their own liberties. Nothing but the Gospel is able to do
this ; and the leaven of Christian principles will, it is to be hoped,
diffuse itself through the mass when once Ae people perceive
their tendency. Chinese society is like a stagnant pool ferment¬
ing in its own feculence, whose torpor is disturbed by the mon-
strous things its own heat brings forth, and becoming mora
* Missionary Chron'cle, Vol. XIV., page 140. Smith's China, page 250
CHARACTER OF JUDICIAL PROCEEDINGS. 401
and more polluted, casting up mire and dirt, by its own ii.ternaJ
commoiions : and until the river, whose streams maketh glad tht?
city of God, shall flow through this rotting marsh, there is no
hope of any permanent improvement,—the clear waters of peace,
good order, purity, and liberty, flow from no other fountain than
the Gospel.
If the character of officers, therefore, be such as has been
briefly shown,—open to bribery, colluding with criminals, syco¬
phantic towards superiors, and cruel to the people ; and the con¬
stituents of society present so many repulsive features,—opposing
clans engaged in deadly feuds, bandits scouring the country to
rob, policemen joining to oppress, truth universally disregarded,
selfishness the main principle of action, and almost every disor¬
ganizing element but imperfectly restrained from violent out¬
breaks and convulsions : it will not be expected that the regular
proceedings of the courts, and the execution of the laws, will
prove on examination to be any better than the materials of which
they are composed. As all cases, both civil and criminal, are
judged by one officer, there is but one court to try nearly all the
questions which may arise. A single exception is provided for
in the Code, wherein it is ordered " that in all cases of adultery,
robbery, fraud, assaults, breach of laws concerning marriage,
landed property or pecuniary contracts, or any other like offences,
committed by or against individuals in the military class ; if
any of the people are implicated or concerned, the military com-
tnanding officer and the civil magistrate shall have a concurrent
jurisdiction."
At the bottom of the judicial scale are the village elders, who
probably settle a large proportion of the disputes among the
people, but the Code provides that all persons having complaints
and informations address themselves in the first instance to the
lowest tribunal of justice in the district, from which the cogni¬
zance of the affair may be transferred to the superior tribunals.
The statement of the case is made in writing, and the officer is
required to act upon it immediately ; if the parties are dissatis¬
fied with the award, the judgments of the lower courts are car¬
ried up with the case to the superior ones. No cases can be
carried directly to the emperor, but they must go through the
Board of Punishments ; old men and women, however, sometimes
present petitions to him on his journeys, but such cases seldom
402
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
occur, owing to the difficulty of access. The captains in charge
of tne gates of Peking, in 1831, presented a memorial upon the
subject, in which they attribute the number of appeals to the
obstinacy of many persons in pressing their cases and the remiss¬
ness of local officers, so that even women and girls of ten years
of age take long journeys to Peking to state their cases. The
memorialists recommend that an order be issued requiring the
two high provincial officers to adjudicate all cases, either them¬
selves or by a court of errors, and not send the complainants
back to the district magistrates. These official porters must
have been much troubled with young ladies coming to see his
majesty, or perhaps were advised to present such a paper to
afford a text for the emperor to preach from ; for, to confer such
power upon the governor and his associates, would almost make
them the irresponsible sovereigns of the provinces. Appeals
frequently arise out of delay in obtaining justice, owing to the
amount of business in the courts ; for the calender may be
expected to increase when the magistrate leaves his post to curry
favor with his superiors. The almost utter impossibility of
learning the truth of the case brought before them, either from
the principal parties or the witnesses, must be borne in mind
when deciding upon the oppressive proceedings of the magistrates
to elicit the truth. Mention is made of one officer being promoted
tor deciding three hundred cases in a year ; and another, a dis¬
trict magistrate, had tried upwards of a thousand within the
same period ; while a third revised and decided more than six
hundred in which the parties had appealed. What becomes of
the appeals in such cases, or whose decision stands, does not
appear; but if such proceedings are common, it accounts for the
constant practice of sending appeals back to be revised, probably
after a change in the incumbent.
Few or no civil cases are reported in the Gazettes as being
carried up to higher courts, and it is likely that only a small
proportion of them are brought before the authorities, the rest
Being settled by reference. Appeals to court receive attention,
and it may be inferred, too, that many of them are mentioned in
the Gazette, in order that the carefulness of the supreme govern¬
ment in revising the unjust decrees against the people should be
known through the country, and this additional check to malver¬
sation on the part of the lower courts be of some use. Many cases
APPEALS RETURNED TO THE LOWER COURTS.
403
are reported of widows and daughters, sons and nephews, of mur.
dered persons, to whom the revenge of kindred rightly belongs,
appealing against the wicked decrees of the local magistrates,
and then sent back to the place they came from, which, of course,
was tantamount to a nolle prosequi. At other times, the unjust
judges have been degraded and banished. One case is reported
of a man who found his way to the capital from Fuhkien to com¬
plain against the magistracy and police, who protected a clan by
whom his only son had been shot, in consideration of a bribe of
$2,000. His case could not be understood at Peking in conse¬
quence of his local pronunciation, which indicates that all cases
are not reported in writing. One appeal is reported against the
governor of a province for not carrying into execution the sen¬
tence of death passed on two convicted murderers ; and another
appellant requests that two persons, who were bribed to undergo
the sentence of the law instead of the real murderers, might not
be substituted—he, perhaps, fearing their subsequent vengeance.
All officers of government are supposed to be accessible at any
time, and the door of justice to be open to all who claim a hear¬
ing ; and in fact, courts are held at all hours of night and day,
though the regular time is from sunrise to noonday. The style
of address varies according to the rank; tajin, or magnate, for
the highest, la lauye, or great Sir, and luuye, Sir, for the lower
grade, are the most common. A drum is said to be placed at the
inferior tribunals, as well as before the Court of Representation
in Peking, which the plaintiff' strikes in order to make his pre¬
sence known, though from the number of hangers-on about the
doors of official residences, the necessity of employing this mode
of attracting notice is rare. At the gate of the governor's palace
are placed six tablets, having appropriate inscriptions for those
who have been wronged by wicked officers ; for those who have
suffered from thieves ; for persons falsely accused ; for those
who have been swindled ; for such as have been grieved by
other parties ; and lastly, for those who have secret information
to impart. The people seldom inscribe their appeals upon these
tablets, but draw them out in writing, and carry them up to his
excellency; the same mode is adopted also, when approaching
the lieutenant-governor and judge.
Magistrates are not allowed to go abroad in ordinary dress,
and without their official retinue, which varies for the different
404
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
grat.es of rank. The usual attendants of the district magistrates
consist of lictors with whips and chains, significant of the punish¬
ments they inflict; they are preceded by two gong-bearers, who
every few moments strike a certain number of raps to intimate
their master's rank, and by two avant-couriers who howl out an
order for all to make room for the great man. A clerk runs by
the side of his sedan, and his secretary and messengers, seated
in more ordinary chairs or following on foot, make up the cortege.
Mode of carrying high officers in sedan
The highest officers are carried by eight bearers, others by four,
and the lowest by two ; this and every other particular being
regulated by laws. Lanterns are used at night, and red tablets
in the daytime, to show his rank. Officers of higher ranks are
attended by a few soldiers in addition. The number and attire
of these various attendants are regulated by sumptuary laws.
When in court, the officer sits behind a desk with writing mate,
rials before him, his secretaries, clerks, and interpreters, being
in waiting, and the lictors with their instruments of punishment
and torture, standing around. Persons who are brought before
him kneel in front of' the tribunal. His official seal, and cups
containing tallies which are thrown down to indicate the number
of blows to be given the culprits, stand upon the table, and behind
his seat, a kilin or unicorn, is depicted on the wall. There are
inscriptions hanging around the room, one of which exhorts him
to be merciful. There is little pomp or show, either in the office
or attendants, compared with our notions of what is usual in sucb
style of official establishments.
407
matters among Asiatics. The former is a dirty, unswept, tavr.
dry room, and the latter are beggarly and impertinent.
No counsel is allowed to plead, but the written accusations,
pleas, or statements required, must be prepared by licensed nota¬
ries, who may also read them in court, and who, no doubt, take
opportunity to explain circumstances in favor of their client.
These notaries buy their situations, and repay themselves by a
fee upon the documents; they are the only persons in Chinese
courts analogous to the lawyers in western countries, and most
of them have the reputation of extorting largely for their servi¬
ces. Of course, there is no such thing as a jury, or the chief
justice stating the case to his associate judges to learn their
opinion ; nor is anything like an oath required of the witnesses.
The presiding officer can call in others to assist him in the
trial, to any extent he pleases. In one Canton court circular, it
is stated that no less than sixteen officers assisted the governor
and fuyuen in the trial of one criminal. The report of the trial
is as summary as the recital of the bench of judges is minute.
' EI. E. gov. Tang arrived to join the fuyuen in examining a
criminal ; and at 8 a.m., under a salute of guns the doors of the
great hall of audience were thrown open, and their excellencies
took their seats, supported by all the other functionaries assem¬
bled for the occasion. The police officers of the judge were
then directed to bring forward the prisoner Yeh Ashun, a native
of Tsingyuen hien ; he was forthwith brought in, tried, and led
out. The fuyuen then requested the imperial death-warrant,
and sent a deputation of officers to conduct the criminal to the
market-place, and there decapitate him. Soon after the officers
returned, restored the death-warrant to its place, and reported
that they had executed the criminal." The prisoner, or his
friends for him, are allowed to appear in every step of the in¬
quiry prior to laying the case before the emperor, and punish¬
ment is threatened to all the magistrates through whose hands it
passes if they neglect the appeal ; but this extract shows the
practice of the courts.
The general policy of officers is to quash cases and repress
appeals, and probably they do so to a great degree, by bringing
extorted confession of the accused party and the witnesses in
proof of the verdict. Governor Li of Canton issued a prohibition
in 1834, against old men and women presenting petitions, com-
THE MIDDLE KITS JDOM.
p aining of the nuisance of having his chair stopped in order 'o
force a petition into it, and threatening to seize and punish tne
presumptuous intruders if they persisted in it. He instructs the
district magistrates to examine such persons, to ascertain who
pushed them forward, and punish the instigators, observing, " if
the people are impressed with a due dread of punishment, they
will return to respectful habits." It seems to be the constant
effort on the part of the officers to evade the importunities of the
injured, and shove by justice, and were it not owing to the per
severance of the people, a system of irremediable oppression
would soon be induced. But the poor have little chance of being
heard against the rich, and if they do appeal, they are in most
cases remanded to the second judgment of the very officer against
whom they complain ; and of course as this is equivalent to a refu¬
sal from the high grades to right them at all, commotions gradu¬
ally grow out of it, which are managed according to the exigen¬
cies of the case by those who are likely to be involved in their
responsibility. The want of an irresistible police to compe.
obedience curbs the oppression of the rulers, knowing as they do
that Lynch law may perhaps be retaliated upon them, if they
exasperate the people too far. Amidst such enormities, it is no
wonder if the peaceably disposed part of the community prefer to
submit in silence to petty extortions and robberies, than risk the
loss of all by unavailing complaints.
The Code contains many sections regulating the proceedings
of courts, and provides heavy punishments for such officers as
are guilty of illegalities or cruelty in their decisions, but the re¬
corded cases prove that most of these laws are dead letters.
Section ccccxvi. ordains "that after a prisoner has been tried and
convicted of any offence punishable with temporary or perpetual
banishment or death, he shall, in the last place, be brought be¬
fore the magistrate, together with his nearest relations and fami¬
ly, and informed of the offence whereof he stands convicted, and
of the sentence intended to be pronounced upon him in conse¬
quence ; their acknowledgment of its justice or protest against
its injustice, as the case may be, shall then be taken down in
writing : and in every case of their refusing to admit the justice
of the sentence, their protest shall be made the ground of another
and more particular investigation." All capital cases are re-
quired to be reviewed by the highest authorities at the metropo-
MODES AND EXTENT OF TORTURE.
409
lis and in the provinces, and a final report of the case and deci¬
sion submitted to the emperor's notice. Section cccexv. requires
that the law be quoted when deciding. The numerous wise
and merciful provisions in the Code for the due administration of
justice only place the conduct of its authorized executives in a
less excusable light, and prove how impossible it is to procure an
equitable magistracy by mere legal requirements and penalties.
The confusion of the civil and penal laws in the Code, and the
union of both functions in the same person, together with the
torture and imprisonment employed to elicit a confession, serve
as an indication of the state of legislation and jurisprudence.
The common sense of a truthful people would revolt against the
infliction of torture to get out the true deposition of a witness,
and their sense of horror would resist the disgraceful exposure
of the cangue for not paying debts. As the want of truth among
a people indicates a want of honor, the necessity of more strin¬
gent modes of procedure suggests the practice of torturing ; its
application is allowed and restricted by several sections of the
Code, but in China, as elsewhere, it has always been abused.
Further investigation is necessary to obtain a complete account
of the extent of torture, but the universal dread among the people
of coming before courts, and having anything to do with their
magistrates, is owing in great measure to the illegal sufferings they
endure in court and in prison. Neither imprisonment nor tor
ture are ranked among the five punishments, but they cause more
deaths, probably, among arrested persons, than all other means.
Among the modes of torture employed in court, and reported
in the Gazette, are some revolting to humanity, but which of
them ttre legal does not appear. The clauses under Section i.
in the Code describe the legal instruments of torture ; they con¬
sist of three boards with proper grooves for compressing the
ankles, and five round sticks for squeezing the fingers, to which
may be added the bamboo ; besides these no instruments of
torture are legally allowed, though other ways of putting the
question are so common as to give the impression that some
of them at least are sanctioned. Pulling or twisting the ears
with roughened fingers, and keeping them in a bent position,
while making the prisoner kneel on chains ; or making him
kneel for a long time, are among the illegal modes of torture.
Striking the lips with sticks until they are nearly jellied, putting
19
410
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
the hands in stocks before or behind the back, suspending the
body by the thumbs and fingers, tying the hands to a bar under
the knees, so as to bend the body double, and chaining by the
neck close to a stone, are resorted to when the prisoner is con¬
tumacious. One magistrate is accused in the Gazette of havim?
o o
fastened up two criminals to boards by nails driven through their
palms; one of them tore his hands loose, and was nailed up
again, which caused his death ; using beds of iron, boiling water,
red hot spikes, and cutting the tendon Achilles, are also charged
against him, but the emperor exonerated him on account of the
atrocious character of the criminals. Compelling them to kneel
upon pounded glass, sand, and salt mixed together, until the knees
become excoriated, or simply kneeling upon chains, is a lighter
mode of the same infliction. Mr. Milne mentions seeing a wretch
undergoing this torture, his hands tied behind his back to a stake
held in its position by two policemen; if he swerved to relieve
the agony of his position, a blow on his head compelled him to
resume it. The agonies of the poor creature were evident from
his quivering lips, his pallid and senseless countenance, and his
tremulous voice imploring relief, which was refused with a cold
mocking command, " Suffer or confess."
Flogging is one of the five authorized punishments, but it is
used more than almost any other means to elicit confession ; the
bamboo, rattan, cudgel, and whip, are all employed. When
death ensues from these tortures, the magistrate reports that the
criminal died of sickness, or hushes it up by bribing his friends,
few of whom are ever allowed access within the walls of the
prison to see and comfort the sufferers. From the manner in
which such a result is spoken of, it may be inferred that imme¬
diate death does not often take place from torture. A magistrate
in Sz'chuen being abused by a man in court, who also struck
the attendants, ordered him to be put into a coffin which happen¬
ed to be near, when suffocation ensued ; he was in consequence
dismissed the service, punished one hundred blows, and trans¬
ported three years. One check on outrageous torture is the feaf
that the report of their cruelty will come to the ears of theil
superiors, who are usually ready to avail of any mal-administra-
tion to get an officer removed, in order to fill the post with their
own friends. In this case, as in other parts of Chinese govern¬
ment, the dread of one evil prevents the commission of another.
r.'Vti LEGAL I'UNISHMLKTS.
411
Tho fiv#» kinds of punishment mentioned in the Code, are,
from ten to fifty blows with the lesser bamboo, from fifty to one
hundred with the greater, transportation, perpetual banishment,
and death, each of them modified in various ways. The small
bamboo weighs about 2 lbs., the larger 2§ lbs. Public exposure
in the kia, or cangue, is considered rather a kind of censure or
reprimand than a punishment, and carries no disgrace with it,
nor comparatively much bodily suffering, if the person be fed
and screened from the sun. The frame weighs between twenty
and thirty pounds, and is so made as to rest upon the shoulders,
without chafing the neck, but so broad as to prevent the person
feeding himself. The name, residence, and offence of the delin¬
quent are written upon it, for the information of every passer by.
Mode of exposure in the Cangue.
and a policeman is stationed over him to prevent escape. Brand¬
ing is applied to deserters and banished persons. Imprisonment,
and fines are not regarded as legal punishments, but rather cor-
rectives; and flogging, as Le Comte says, is never wanting,
412
THE JiIDDLE KINGDOM.
there being no condemnation in China without this previous d &•
position, so that it is unnecessary to mention it in their condem¬
nation ; this being always understood to be their first dish."
When a man is arrested, he is effectually prevented from break
ing loose by putting a chain around his neck, and tying his hands.
Most punishments are redeemable by the payment of money,
if the criminal is under fifteen, or over seventy years of age,
and a table is given in the Code for the guidance of the magis¬
trate in such coses. An act of grace enables a criminal con¬
demned even to capital punishment to redeem himself, if the
offence be not one of wilful malignity ; but better legislation
would have shown the good effects of not making the punishments
so severe. It is also ordered in Section xviii, " that any offender
under sentence of death for a crime not excluded from the con¬
tingent benefit of an act of grace, who shall have infirm parents
or grandparents alive, over seventy years of age, and no other
male child over sixteen to support them, shall be recommended
to the mercy of his majesty ; and if only condemned to banish¬
ment, shall receive one hundred blows and redeem himself by a
fine." Many atrocious laws in the Chinese Code may be forgiven
for one such exhibition of regard for thfe care of decrepid
parents. Few governments exhibit such opposing principles of
actions as the Chinese : a strange blending of cruelty to prisoners
with a maudlin consideration of their condition, and a constant
effort to coax the4? people to obedience, while exercising great
oppression upon individuals, are everywhere manifest.
Banishment and slavery are punishments for minor official
delinquencies, and few officers who live long in the emperor's
employ, do not take an involuntary journey to Mongolia, Tur¬
kestan, or elsewhere, in the course of their lives. The fates and
conduct of banished criminals are widely unlike; some doggedly
serve out their time, others try to ingratiate themselves with their
masters, in order to alleviate or shorten the time of service, while
hundreds contrive to escape and return to their homes, though
this subjects them to increased suffering and punishment. Per-
sons banished for treason are severely dealt with if they return
without leave and those convicted of crime in their place of
banishment are increasingly punished ; one man was sentenced
to be outlawed for an offence at his place of banishment, but see¬
ing that his aged mother had no other support than his labor, the
CORRECTION OF MINOR OFFENCES.
413
emperor ordered that a small sum should be paid for her living
out of the public treasury. Whipping a man through the streets
as a public example to others is frequently practised upon persons
detected in robbery, assault, or some other minor offences. The
man is manacled, and one policeman goes before him carrying a
tablet, on which are written his name, crime, and punishment,
accompanied by another holding a gong. In some cases, little
sticks bearing (lags are thrust through his ears as an additional
punishment. The officer appointed to oversee the fulfilment of
the sentence follows the executioner, who strikes the criminal
with his whip as the rap on the gong denotes that the appoint¬
ed number is not yet complete.
Publicly whipping a thief through the streets.
Decapitation and strangling are the legal modes of executing
criminals, though Ivi Kung, the governor-general of Canton,
having taken several incendiaries in 1843, who were convicted
of firing the city for purposes of plunder, starved them to death
in the public squares of the city. The least disgraceful mode of
execution is strangulation, which is performed by tying a man
to a post, and tightening the cord which goes round his neck, by
414
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
a winch ; the infliction is very speedy, and apparently less painful
than hanging. The least crime for which death is awarded, ap.
pears to he a third and aggravated theft, and defacing the brand
ing inflicted for former offences. Decollation is considered more
disgraceful than strangling, owing to the dislike the Chinese have
of dissevering the bodies which their parents gave them entire.
There are two modes of decapitation, that of simple decollation
being considered, again, as less disgraceful than being " cut into
ten thousand pieces," as the phrase ling chili has been rendered.
The military officer who superintends the execution is attended
by a guard, to keep the populace from crowding upon the limits,
and prevent resistance on the part of the prisoners. The bodies
are given up to the friends, except when the head is exposed in
a cage where the crime was committed, as a warning. If no
one is present to claim the corpse, it is buried at public expense.
The criminals are generally so far exhausted with the tortures
and privations they have suffered, that they make no resistance,
and submit to their fate without a groan ;—much more, without a
dying speech to the spectators. In ordinary cases, the executions
are postponed until the autumnal assize, when the emperor re¬
vises and confirms the sentences of the provincial governors;
criminals guilty of extraordinary offences, as robbery attended
with murder, arson, rape, breaking into fortifications, highway
robbery, and piracy, may be immediately beheaded without re¬
ference to court, and it is probable that criminals condemned for
one or other of these crimes comprise the greater part of the unre-
ferred executions in the provinces.
It is impossible to ascertain the number of persons executed in
China, for the life of a condemned criminal is thought little of ;
in the court circular it is merely reported, that " the execution
of the criminals was completed," without mentioning their crimes,
residences, or names. At the autumnal revises at Peking, the
number sentenced is given in the Gazettes; 935 were sentenced
in 1917, of which 133 were from the province of Kwangtung;
in 1826, there were 581 ; in 1828, the number was 789, and in
the next year, 579 names were marked off, none of whose crimes
it is inferrible, are included in the list of offences mentioned
above. The condemnations are sent from the capital by express,
and the executions take place immediately. Most of the persons
condemned in a province are executed in its capital, and to hear
MANNER OF PUBLIC EXECUTIONS.
415
of the death of a score or more of felons on a single chy is no
uncommon thing. The trials are more summary than comports
with our notions of justice, and the executions are performed in
the most revolting manner ; brutes could not be slaughtered with
more indifference. It is reported on one occasion, that the go¬
vernor of Canton ascended his judgment-seat, examined three
prisoners brought before him, and having found them guilty,
condemned them, asked himself for the death-warrant (for h*.
temporarily filled the office of lieut.-governor), and having receiv¬
ed it, had ihe three men carried away to execution in about two
hours after they were first brought before him. A few days
after, he granted the warrant to execute a hundred bandits in
prison.
When led out to execution, the prisoners are clothed in new,
clean clothes, and persons who commit suicide also dress them¬
selves in their best, under the idea that in the next world they
will always wear the same dress they died in. The number of
persons annually executed in Kwangtung is reckoned at between
one and five hundred, but the data are very incomplete. A mili¬
tary officer is present; and the criminals are brought on the
ground in cages hardly large enough to hold them, and obliged to
kneel towards the emperor's residence, or towards the death-war-
/ant, which indioaies his presence, as if thanking their sovereign
for his care, when with a single stroke, the head is severed from
the trunk. In the slow and ignominious execution, or ling chili,
the criminal is tied to a post, and hacked to pieces, though the
executioner is commonly hired to give the coup-de-grace at the
first blow. It is not uncommon for him to cut out the gall-blad¬
der of notorious robbers, and sell it, to be eaten as a specific for
courage. There is an official executioner besides the real one,
the latter being frequently a criminal taken out of the prisons.
Probably the number of persons who suffer by the sword of the
executioner _s not. one half of those who die from the effects of
torture and privations in prison. Not much is known of the
internal arrangement of the liclls, as prisons are called ; they seem
to be managed with a degree of kindness and attention to the com¬
fort of the prisoners, so far as the intcnlions of government are
concerned, but the cruelties of the turnkeys and older prisoners to
exact money from the new comers are terrible. In Canton, there
are jails in tie city, under the control uf four different officers.
416
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
the largest covering about an acre, and capable of holding
upwards of five hundred prisoners. Since it is the practice of
distant magistrates to send their worst prisoners up to the capital,
these are not large enough, and jail distempers arise from over¬
crowding ; two hundred deaths were reported in 1826, from this
and other causes, and one hundred and seventeen cases in 1831.
Private jails were hired to accommodate the number, and one
lieut.-governor reports having found twenty-two such places in
Canton, where every kind of cruelty was practised. The
< "'nesses and accusers concerned in appellate causes had, he
says, also been brought up to the city, and imprisoned along with
the guilty party, where they were kept months, without any just
reason. In one case, where a defendant and plaintiff were
imprisoned together, the accuser fell upon the other and mur¬
dered him. Sometimes the officer is unable from press of
business to attend to a case, and confines all the principals and
witnesses concerned until he can examine them, but the govern¬
ment takes no means to provide for them during the interval,
and many of the poorer ones die. No bail is obtainable on the
word of a witness or his friends, so that if unable to fee the
jailers, he is in nearly as bad a case as the criminal. Extend¬
ing bail to an accused criminal is nearly unknown, but female
prisoners are put in charge of their husbands or parents, who are
held responsible for their appearance. The constant succession
of criminals in the provincial head prison, renders the posts of
jailers and turnkeys very lucrative.
The prisons are arranged somewhat on the plan of a large
stable, having an open central court occupying nearly one fourth
of the area, and small cribs or stalls covered by a roof extending
nearly around it, so contrived that each company of prisoners
shall be separated from each other night and day, though more
by night than by day. The prisoners cook for themselves in the
court, and are secured by manacles and gyves, and a chain join¬
ing the hands to the neck ; one hand is liberated in the daytime
in order to allow them to take care of themselves. Heinous
criminals are more heavily ironed, and those in the prison
attached to the judge's office are worse treated than the others.
Each criminal should receive a daily ration of two pounds of rice,
and about two cent 3 to buy fuel, but the jailer starves them on
half this allowance if they are unable to fee him ; clothing is also
MANAGEMENT OF PRISONS.
417
scantily provided, but those who have money can procure almost
every convenience. Each crib full of criminals is under the
control of a turnkey, who with a few old offenders spend mucn
time torturing newly arrived persons to force money from them,
by which many lose their lives, and all suffer far more than they
do from the officers of government. Well may the people call
their prisons hells, and say, when a man falls into the clutches
of the jailers or police, "the flesh is under the cleaver."
There are many processes for the recovery of debts, and ful¬
filment of contracts, some legal and others customary • the latter
depending upon many circumstances irrelevant to the merits of
the case. The law allows that debtors be punished by bam-
booing according to the amount of the debt. A creditor often
resorts to illegal means to recover his claim, which give rise to
many excesses ; sometimes he quarters himself upon the debtor's
family or premises, at others seizes him or some of his family and
keeps them prisoners; and in extreme cases, sells them. Debtors
are liable, when three months have expired after the stipulated
time of payment, to be bambooed, and their property attached by
government. In most cases, however, disputes of this sort are
settled without recourse to government, and if the debtor is really
without property, he is not imprisoned till he can procure it.
The effects of absconding debtors are seized, and divided by
those who can get them. Long experience, moreover, of each
other's characters has taught them, in contracting debts to
have some security at the outset, and therefore in settling up,
there is not so much loss as might be supposed considering the
difficulty of collecting debts. Accusations for libel, slander,
breach of marriage contract, and other civil or less criminal
offences, are not all brought before the authorities, but are settled
by force or arbitration among the people themselves and their
elders.
The nominal salaries of Chinese officers have already been
stated (p. 238). It is a common opinion among the people, that
on an average they receive about ten times their salaries ; in
some cases they pay thirty, forty, and more thousand dollars
beforehand for the situation. One encouragement to the harass¬
ing vexations of the official secretaries and police is the dislike
of the people to carry their cases before officers whom they
know are almost compelled to fleece and peel them; they think
418
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
it cheaper and safer to bear a small exaction from an ui.derl'ng
than run the risk of a greater from his master. By degrees,
much of the money finds its way again into the community, for
the last spunge ere long sends it out into circulation in one shape
oi another.
If the preventatives against popular violence which the supreme
government lias placed around it, could be strengthened by an
efficient military force, its power would be well secured, and
become, by degrees, an intolerable tyranny. The troops are
everywhere present, indeed, ostensibly to support the laws,
protect the innocent, and punish the guilty ; but such of them as
are employed by the authorities as guards and policemen are
rather instruments of oppression than means of protection, while
the regiments in garrison are contemptible to both friend and foe.
They are not altogether inefficient in maintaining order in case
of commotion, for the people know that they must finally submit,
yet it is hard to say whether they do not cause more riots than
they quell.
The efficacy of the system of checks upon the high court and
provincial officers is increased by their intrigues and conflicting
ambition, and long experience has shown that the emperor's
power has little to fear from proconsular rebellion. The ineffi¬
ciency of the army is a serious evil to the people in one respect,
for more power in that arm would repress banditti and pirates ;
while the sober part of the community would cooperate in a
hearty effort to quell them. The greatest difficulty the emperor
finds in upholding his authority lies in the general want of inte¬
grity in the officers he employs to carry into effect his ordi¬
nances ; good laws may be made, but he has no upright agents
to execute them. This has been abundantly manifested in the
laws against opium and gambling ; no one could be found to
carry them into execution, though everybody assented to their
propriety.
The chief security the people have against an unmitigatea
oppression, such as now exists in Egypt, besides those already
pointed out, lies as much as anywhere in their general intelli¬
gence of the true principles on which the government is founded
and should be executed, With public opinion on its side, the
government is a strong one, but none is less able to execute its
designs when it runs counter to that opinion, although those
IMPERFECT ADMINISTRATION OF LAW.
4 f9
designs may be excellent and well-intended. Elements of dis¬
cord are found in the social system which would soon effect ita
ruin were they not counteracted by other influences, and the
body politic goes on like a heavy, shackly, lumbering van,
which every moment threatens a crashing, crumbling fall, yet
goes on still tottering, owing to the original goodness of its con¬
struction. From the enormous population of this ancient van, it
is evident that any attempt to remodel it must seriously affect
one or the other of its parts, and that when once upset, it may be
impossible to reconstruct it in its original form. There is encou¬
ragement to hope that the general intelligence and shrewdness
of the government and people o-f China, their language, institu¬
tions, industry, and love of peace, will all act as powerful con¬
servative influences in working out the changes which cannot
now be long delayed ; and that she will maintain her unity and
industry wiTile going through a thorough reform of her political,
social, and religious systems.
It is very difficult to convey to the reader a fair view of the
administration of the laws in China. Notwithstanding the cruelty
of officers to the criminals before them, they are not all to be
considered as tyrants ; because insurrections arise, attended with
great loss of life, it must not be supposed that society is every¬
where disorganized ; the Chinese are so prone to falsify, that it
is difficult to ascertain the truth, yet it must not be inferred that
every sentence is a lie ; selfishness is a prime motive for their
actions, yet charity, kindness, filial affection, and the unbought
courtesies of life, still exist among them. Although there is an
appaling amount of evil and crime in every shape, it is mixed
with some redeeming traits ; and in China, as elsewhere, good
and bad are intermingled. Some of the evils in the social system
arise from the operation of the principles of mutual responsibility,
while this very feature produces some good effects in restraining
people who have no higher motive than the fear of injuring the
innocent. We hear so much of the shocking cruelties of courts
and prisons, that the vast number of cases before the bench are
all supposed to exhibit the same fatiguing reiteration of suffering,
injustice, bribery and cruelty. One must live in the country to
see how the antagonistic principles found in Chinese society act
and react upon each other, and are affected by the wicked pas-
eions of the heart. Officers and people are bad almost beyond
420
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
belief to one conversant only with the courtesy, justice, purity,
and sincerity of Christian governments and society ; and yet we
think they are equal to the old Greeks and Romans, and havs
no more injustice or torture in their courts, nor impurity xf
mendacity in their lives.
CHAPTER IX.
Education and Literary Examinations.
Among the conservative influences in the Chinese system, the
general diffusion of education and respect paid to literary pursuits,
growing out of the mode of obtaining office by literary examina¬
tions, holds an important place. Although the powers of mind
exhibited by the greatest writers in China are confessedly inferior
to those of Greece and Rome for genius and original conceptions,
yet the good influence exerted by them over their countrymen is
far greater, even at this day, than was ever obtained by western
sages, as Plato, Seneca, or Aristotle. The thoroughness of Chi¬
nese education, the purity and effectiveness of the examinations,
or the accuracy and excellency of the literature, must not be
compared with those of modern Christian countries, for there is
really no common measure between the two; they must be taken
with other parts of Chinese character, and comparisons drawn, if
necessary, with nations possessing similar opportunities. The
importance of generally instructing the people was acknow¬
ledged even before the time of Confucius, and practised to a good
degree at an age when other nations in the world had no such
system ; and although in his day feudal institutions prevailed, and
offices and rank were not attainable in the same manner as at
present, yet magistrates and noblemen deemed it necessary to be
well acquainted with their ancient writings. In the Book of
Rites is said, " that for the purposes of education among the
ancients, villages had their schools, districts their academies,
departments their colleges, and principalities their universities."
This, so far as we know, was altogether superior to what obtained
among the Jews, Persians, and Syrians of the same period.
The great stimulus to literary pursuits among the people
generally is the hope thereby of obtaining office and honor, and the
only course of education followed is the classical and historical
422
the middle kingdom.
one prescribed by law. Owing to this undue attention to the
classics, the minds of the scholars are not symmetrically trained,
and they disparage other branches of literature which do not
directly advance this great end. Every department of letters,
except jurisprudence, history, and official statistics, is disesteemed
in comparison ; and the literary graduate of fourscore will be
found deficient in most branches of general learning, ignorant of
hundreds of common things and events in his national history,
which the merest schoolboy in the western world would be
ashamed not to know in his. This course of instruction does not
form well balanced minds, but it imbues the future rulers of the
land with a full understanding of the principles on which they
are to govern, and the policy of the supreme power in using those
principles to consolidate its own authority. The isolation of the
people, the nature of the language, and the want of an aristocracy,
combine to add efficiency to this system ; and when the peculiar¬
ities of Chinese character, and the nature of the class-books
which do so much to mould that character, are considered, it is
impossible to devise a better plan for insuring the perpetuity of
the government, or the contentment of the people under that
government.
It was about a. d. 600, that Taitsung of the Tang dynasty,
instituted the present plan of preparing and selecting civilians by
means of study and degrees, but education has always been
highly esteemed, and exerted a dominant influence on the man¬
ners and tastes of the people. According to native historians,
the rulers of ancient times made ample provision for the cultiva¬
tion of literature and promotion of education in all its branches.
They supply some details to enable us to understand the mode
and the materials of this instruction, and glorify it as they do
everything ancient, but probably from the want of authentic
accounts in their own hands, they do not clearly describe it. The
essays of M. Edouard Biot on the History of Public Instruction
in China, contains all the information extant on this interesting
subject, digested in a very lucid manner. Education is probably
as good now as it ever was, and its ability to maintain and deve¬
lop the character of the people as great as at any time ; and h
is remarkable how much it really has done to form, elevate, and
consolidate their national institutions. The present monarchs were
not at first favorably disposed to the system of examinations, and
PLAN AND OBJECTS OF EDUCATION.
423
frowned upon the literary hierarchy who claimed all honors as
their right; but the spirit of the people prevailed under Kienlung
to procure their restoration.
Boys commence their studies at the age of six or seven with a
teacher; for, even if the father be a literary man he seldom
instructs his sons, and very few mothers are able to teach their
offspring even to read. Maternal training is supposed to consist
in giving a right direction to the morals, and enforcing the
obedience of the child ; but as there are few mothers who do
more than compel obedience by commands, or by the rod, so
there are none who can teach the infantile mind to look up to
its God in prayer and praise. On the contrary, the example of
both parents is bad, and through the conversation of all around
it, the mind of the child is debilitated by the polluting influences
in which it grows up, and its heart and passions become
thoroughly debased.
The general plan and purposes of education may be learned
from the Book of Rites. There are many compilations and
treatises for the guidance of teachers and parents in the nurture
of youth, one of which, called the Siau Hioh, or Juvenile In¬
structor, has exerted almost as much influence as the classics
themselves. When establishing the first principles of education,
it is recommended to fathers to " choose from among their concu¬
bines those who are fit for nurses, seeking such as are mild,
indulgent, affectionate, benevolent, cheerful, kind, dignified, re¬
spectful, and reserved and careful in their conversation, and
make them governesses over their children. When able to
talk, lads must be instructed to answer in a quick, bold tone, and
girls in a slow and gentle one. At the age of seven, they
should be taught to count and name the cardinal points ; but at
this age, should not be allowed to sit on the same mat nor eat
from the same table. At eight, they must be taught to wait for
their superiors, and prefer others to themselves. At ten, the
boys must be sent abroad to private tutors, and there remain day
and night, studying writing and arithmetic, wearing plain ap¬
parel, learning to demean themselves in a manner becoming
their age, and acting with sincerity of purpose. At thirteen,
thov must attend .0 music and poetry ; at fifteen, they must
practise archery and charioteering. At the age of twenty, they
are in due form to be admitted to the rank of manhood, and learn
424
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
additional rules of propriety, be faithful in the performance of
filial and fraternal duties, and though they possess extensive
knowledge, must not affect to teach others. At thirty, they may
marry and commence the management of business. At forty,
they may enter the service of the state ; and if their prince
maintains the reign of reason, they must serve him, but other-
wise not. At fifty, they may be promoted to the rank of minis¬
ters ; and at seventy, they must retire from public life."
Another injunction is, " Let children always be taught to speak
the simple truth ; to stand erect and in their proper places,
and listen with respectful attention." The way to become a
student, " is, with gentleness and self-abasement, to receive im¬
plicitly every word the master utters. The pupil, when he sees
virtuous people, must follow them, when he hears good maxims,
conform to them. He must cherish no wicked designs, but
always act uprightly; whether at home or abroad, he must have
a fixed residence, and associate with the benevolent, carefully
regulating his personal deportment, and controlling the feelings
of his heart. He must keep his clothes in order. Every morn¬
ing he must learn something new, and rehearse the same every
evening." The great end of education, therefore, among the
ancient Chinese, was not so much to fill the head with knowledge,
as to discipline the heart and purify the affections. One of
their writers says, " Those who respect the virtuous and put
away unlawful pleasures, serve their parents and prince to the
utmost of their ability, and are faithful to their word;—these,
though they should be considered unlearned, we must pronounce
to be educated men." Although such terms as purity, filial
affection, learning, and truth, have higher meanings in a Chris¬
tian education than are given them by Chinese masters, the in¬
culcation of them in any degree certainly has no bad effects.
In their intercourse with their relatives, children are taught
to attend to the minutest points of good breeding ; and are in¬
structed in everything relating to their personal appearance,
making their toilet, saluting their parents, eating, visiting, and
other acts of life. Many of these directions are trivial even to
puerility, but they are perhaps none too minute for the Chinese,
since they now form the only basis of good manners, as much
as they did a score of centuries ago; and it can hardly be sup-
posed that Confucius would have risked his influence and popu-
RULES FOR CONDUCT AND STUDY.
425
larity upon the grave publication of such trifles, if he had not
been well acquainted with the character of his countrymen. If,
with all the mint, anise, and cummin he taught, this remarkable
man had known or inculcated the weightier matters of the law
founded on the beginning of wisdom—the fear of the Lord—•
China would perhaps have been now the leading Christian nation
in the world.*
Rules are laid down for students to observe in the prosecution
of their studies, which reflect credit on those who set so high a
standard for themselves. Dr. Morrison has given a synopsis of
a treatise of this sort, called the Complete Collection of Family
Jewels, in its general character like Watts' On the Mind, and
containing a minute specification of duties to be performed by all
who would be thorough students. The author directs the tyro
to form a fixed resolution to press forward in his studies, setting
his mark as high as possible, and thoroughly understanding
everything as he goes along. " I have always seen that a man
who covets much and devotes himself to universal knowledge,
when he reads, he presumes on the quickness and celerity of his
genius and perceptions, and chapters and volumes pass before
his eyes, and issue from his mouth as fluently as water rolls
away ; but when does he ever apply his mind to rub and educe
the essence of a subject ? In this manner, although much be
read, what is the use of it ? Better little and fine, than much
and coarse." He also advises persons to have two or three good
volumes lying on their tables, which they can take up at odd
moments, and to keep common-place books in which they can
jot down such things as occur to them. They should get rid of
distracting thoughts if they wish to advance in their studies ; as
" if a man's stomach has been filled by eating greens and other
vegetables, although the most precious dainties with exquisite
tastes should be given him, he cannot swallow them, he must
first get rid of a few portions of the greens : so in reading, the
same is true of the mixed thoughts which distract the mind,
which are about the dusty affairs of a vulgar world." The
rules given by these writers correspond remarkably to those laid
down among ourselves, and corroborate the truth of the adage
that there is no royal road to learning.f
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., pp. 83-87, 30G-316.
f Morrison's Chinese Dictionary, Vol. I., Part I., pp. 749-758.
426
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
For all grades of scholars, there is but one mode of study ,
and the imitative, unprogressive nature of Chinese mind is strik-
ingly apparent in the few attempts on the part of teachers to
improve upon the stereotyped practice of their predecessors, •
although persons of as original minds as the country affords arc-
constantly engaged in education. When the lad commences his
studies, an impressive ceremony takes place, or did formerly, for
it seems to have fallen into desuetude ; the father leads his son
to the teacher, who kneels down before the name or title of some
one or other of the ancient sages, and supplicates their blessing
upon his pupil; after which, seating himself, he receives the
homage and petition of the lad to guide him in his lessons. A
present is expected to accompany this introduction to literary pur¬
suits. The furniture of the school merely consists of a desk
and a stool for each pupil, and an elevated seat for the master;
upon each desk are implements for writing and a few books. In
one corner is placed a tablet or an inscription on the wall, dedi¬
cated to Confucius and the god of Letters ; the sage is called the
Teacher and Pattern for All Ages, and incense is constantly
burned in honor of them both.
The location of school-rooms is usually such as would be con¬
sidered bad elsewhere, but by comparison with other things in
China, is not so. A mat shed which barely protects from the
weather, the low, hot upper attic of a shop, a back-room in a
temple, and rarely a house specially built for the purpose, are all
used. The room is hired by the master, who regulates his ex¬
penses and furnishes his apartment according to the number and
condition of his pupils ; their average number is about twenty,
ranging between ten and forty in day schools, and in private
schools, seldom exceeding ten. The most thorough course of edu¬
cation is probably pursued in the latter, where a well qualified
teacher is hired by four or five persons living in the same street
or mutually related, to teach their children at a stipulated salary.
In such cases the lads are placed in well aired apartments, supe¬
rior to the common school-room. The majority of teachers are
unsuccessful students or candidates for literary degrees, who hav¬
ing spent the prime of their days in fruitless attempts to attain
office, or disliking manual labor, and unable to enter on mercantile
life, turn pedagogues. Their remuneration depends on a variety
of circumstances. In Canton, a teacher of twenty boys receives
mode of study and. kinds of schools. 427
from half a dollar to a dollar per month from each pupil ; in
country villages, three, four, or five dollars a year are given,
with the addition, in most cases, of a small present of eatables
from each scholar three or four times a year. Private tutors
receive from .$150 to $350 or more per annum, according to par¬
ticular engagement. There are no boarding-schools, nor any¬
thing answering to infant schools; nor are public or charity
schools established by government, or by private benevolence for
the education of the poor.
The hours of study are from sunrise till ten a. m., when the
boys go to breakfast; they reassemble in an hour or more, and
continue at their books till about five p. m., when they disperse
for the day. In summer, they have no lessons after dinner, but
an evening session is often held in the winter, and evening
schools are opened for mechanics and others who are occupied
during the day. AVhen a boy comes into school in the morning,
he bows first before the tablet of Confucius, as an act of worship,
and then salutes his teacher; after which he takes his seat.
There are no vacations during the year, except at newyear's, at
which time the engagement is completed, and the school closes,
to be reopened after the teacher and parents have made a new
arrangement. The common festivals, of which there are a dozen
or more, are regarded as holydays, and form very necessary re¬
laxations in a country destitute of the rest of the Sabbath. The
requisite qualifications of a teacher are gravity, severity, and
patience, and acquaintance with the classics; he has only to
teach the same series of books he learned himself, and keep a
good watch over his charge.
When the lads come together at the opening of the school,
their attainments are ascertained ; the teacher endeavors to have
his pupils nearly equal in this respect, but as they all study the
same books, a difference is not material. If the boys are begin¬
ners, they are brought up in a line before the desk, holding the
San-Liz' King, or Trimctrical Classic, in their hands, and taught to
read off the first lines after the teacher until they can repeat
them without help. The teacher, for instance, reads off the first
four lines as follows : Jin chi tsu, sing pun shcn ; Sing siang kin,
sih siang yuen; when all his pupils simultaneously cry out, Jin chi
tsu, sing pun shen ; Sing siang kin, sih siang yuen. Mispronun¬
ciations aie corrected until they can read the lesson accurately;
428
THE MIDDLE K.NGD0M.
they are then sent to their seats to commit the sounds to memory .
All the children study aloud, and when one is able to recite the
task, he is required to back it,—come up to the master's desk,
and stand with his back towards him while rehearsing it. In
this way, the whole of the Trimetrical Classic is backed, after
which the Millenary Classic, and parts of the Four Books and
Five Classics are conned.
This hornbook was compiled by Wang Pihhau of the Sung
dynasty for his private school, and from its great influence in
Chinese education, requires a more extended notice. It contains
in all 1068 words, and about half that number of separate cha¬
racters, arranged in 178 double lines, and has been commented
upon by several persons, one of whom calls it " a ford which the
youthful inquirer may readily pass, and thereby reach the foun¬
tain-head of the higher courses of learning, or a passport into the
regions of classical and historical literature." The worth of this
encomium can be better judged by a summary of its contents,
which, with a few extracts, are taken from Dr. Bridgman's trans¬
lation.
The book begins with the nature of man, and the necessity
and modes of education, and it is a little singular that the first
sentence, the one quoted above, which a Chinese learns at school,
contains one of the most disputed doctrines in the ancient heathen
world.
" Men at their birth, are by nature radically good ;
In this, all approximate, but in practice widely diverge.
If not educated, the natural character is changed;
A course of education is made valuable by close attention.
Of old, Mang's mother selected a residence,
And when her son did not learn, cut out the [half-wove] web.
To bring up and not educate is a father's error;
To educate without rigor shows a teacher's indolence.
That boys should not learn is an improper thing;
For if they do not learn in youth, what will they do when old ?
Gems unwrought can form nothing useful;
So men untaught can never know the proprieties."
The importance of filial and fraternal duties are ther incul-
cated by precept and example, to which succeeds a synopsis of
Jie various branches of learning in an ascending series, under
SAINTSz' KING, OR '1RIMETKICAL CLASSIC.
429
the several heads of numbers; the three great powers, the four
seasons and four cardinal points, the five elements and five con¬
stant virtues, the six kinds of grain and six domestic animals,
the seven passions, the eight notes of music, nine degrees of
kindred, and ten relative duties. A few extracts will exhibit the
mode in which these subjects are treated.
" There are three powers,—heaven, earth, and man. i
There are three lights,—the sun, moon, and stars.
There are three bonds,—between prince and minister, justice;
Between father and son, affection; between man and wife, concord
Humanity, justice, propriety, wisdom, and truth,—
These five cardinal virtues are not to be confused.
Rice, millet, pulse, wheat, rye, and barley,
Are six kinds of grain on which men subsist.
Mutual affection of father and son, concord of man and wife;
The older brother's kindness, and the younger one's respect;
Order between seniors and juniors, friendship among associates ;
On the prince's part regard, and on the minister's fidelity;—
These ten moral duties are invariably binding among men."
To this technical summary, which the commentary illustrates
ai.l explains a little, succeed rules for a course of academical
studies, with a list of the books to be used and a synopsis of the
general history of China, with an enumeration of the successive
dynasties. The work concludes with incidents and motives to
learning drawn from the conduct of ancient sages and states¬
men, and from considerations of interest and glory. The exam¬
ples cited are curious instances of pursuit of knowledge under
difficulties, and form the most inviting part of the treatise.
" Formerly Confucius had the young Iliang Toh for his teacher;
Even the sages of antiquity studied with diligence.
Chau, a minister of state, read the Confucian Dialogues,
And he too, though high in office, studied assiduously.
One copied lessons on reeds, another on slips of bamboo;
These, though destitute of books, eagerly sought knowledge.
[To vanquish sleep] one suspended his head [by the hair] from a beam,
and another pierced his thigh with an awl;
Though destitute of instruction, these were laborious in study.
One read by light of glowworms, another by reflection from snow;
These, though their families were poor, did not omit to study.
430
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
One carrying faggots, and another with his bouk tied to a cow's horn,
And while thus engaged in labor, studied with intensity.
So Lau'siuen, when he was twenty-seven years of age,
Commenced assiduous study, and applied his mind to books;
This man, when old, grieved that he commenced so late;
You who are young ought early to think of these things.
Behold Liang Hau, at the advanced age of eighty-two,
In the imperial hall, amongst many scholars, gains the first rank;
This he accomplished, and was by all regarded as a prodigy;
You youthful readers, should now resolve to be diligent.
Yung, when only eight years old, could recite the Odes;
And Pi, at the age of seven, understood the game of chess:
These displayed ability, and were by men deemed extraordinary;
And you my youthful scholars ought to imitate them.
Tsai Wanki could play upon stringed instruments ;
Sie Tauvvan, likewise, could sing and chant;
These two, though girls, were intelligent and well informed;
You, then, my lads, should surely rouse to diligence.
Liu Ngan of Tang, when only seven years old,
Showing himself a noble lad, was employed to correct writing:
He though very young, was thus highly promoted.
You, young learners should strive to follow his example,
And he who does so, will acquire similar honors.
" Dogs watch by night; the cock announces the morning;
If any refuse to learn, how can they be esteemed men ?
The silkworm spins silk, the bee gathers honey;
If men neglect to learn, they are inferior to brutes.
He who learns in youth, and acts when of mature age,
Extends his influence to the prince, benefits the people,
Makes his name renowned, renders illustrious his parents,
Reflects glory on his ancestors, and enriches his posterity.
Some for their offspring, leave coffers filled with gold;
While I to teach children, leave but one little book.
Diligence has merit; play yields no profit;
Be ever on your guard ! Rouse all your energies !"
Chi. Rep., vol. IV., pp. 105-118.
These quotations will illustrate the character of the Trimetri-
cal Classic, and show its unfitness as a book for beginners; i!
being rather a syllabus of studies, than a book itself to be
learned, and not at all calculated to encourage and instruct the
youthful mind in its uninviting task.
The tedium of learning the task of unknown sounds is re-
lisved by writing the characters on thin paper placed over copy
TiML SPEtfT AT SCHOOL.
431
slips. Ine writing and the reading lessons are the same, and
both are continued for a year or two until the forms and sounds
of a few thousand characters are made familiar, but no particular
effo?' is taken to teach their meanings. It is after this that the
teacher goes over the same ground, and with the help of the com¬
mentary, explains the meaning of the words and phrases one by
one, until they are all understood. It is not usual for the beginner
to attend at all to the meaning of what he is learning to read and
write, and where the labor of committing arbitrary characters is
so great and so irksome, experience has probably shown that it is
net wise to learn too many things at'once. No attempt, so far as
we know, has been made to facilitate the mere acquisition of the
characters by arranging them according to their component
parts; they are learned one by one, as boys are taught the
names and appearance of minerals in a cabinet, or as one would
learn a list of residents in a street. The effects of a course of
study like this, in which the powers of the tender mind are not
developed by their proper nourishment of truthful knowledge,
can hardly be otherwise than to stunt the genius, and drill the
faculties of the mind into a slavish adherence to venerated usage
and dictation, making the intellects of Chinese students like the
trees which their gardeners so toilsomely dwarf into pots and jars
—p]-ants, whose unnaturalness is congruous to the insipidity of
their fruit.
The number of years spent at school depends upon the position
and prospects of the parents. Tradesmen, mechanics, and country
gentlemen, endeavor to give their sons a competent knowledge
of the usual series of books, so that they can creditably manage
the common affairs of life. No other branches of study are pur¬
sued than the classics and histories, and practice in composing ;
no arithmetic or any department of mathematics, nothing of the
geography of their own or other countries, of natural philosophy,
natural history, or scientific arts, nor study of other languages,
are attended to. Consequently, persons in these classes of society
are obliged to put their sons into shops or counting-houses to obtain
the routine of business with a knowledge of figures and the style
of letter writing; they are not kept at school more than three or
four years, nor as long as that if the family be poor. Working
men, desirous of giving their sons at least a smattering, try to
keep them at their books a year or two, bu myriads of the poor
grow up in utter ignorance.
•*32
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Besiues the common schools, there are grammar or high schools
and colleges, but they are far less effective. In Canton, there are
fourteen grammar schools, but none of them are in good condition.
There are also thirty colleges, some of which are quite ancient,
but most of them are neglected. Three of the largest contain
each about two hundred students and two or three professors.
The chief object of these institutions is to instruct advanced
scholars in composition and elegant writing ; the tutors do a little
to turn their attention to general literature, but have neither the
genius nor the means to make many advances. In rural dis¬
tricts, students are encouraged to meet at stated times in the
town-hou^. where the headman or president of the sz' examines
them on themes previously proposed by him.* In large '(.owns,
too, the local officers, assisted by the gentry and graduates, hold
annual e-XarnixLatLoas of students in the place, at which premiums
are given to the best essayists. At such an examination in Amoy
in March, 1845, there were about a thousand candidates, forty of
whom received sums varying from sixty to sixteen cents. The
Kwoh-tsz' Kien, or National College at Peking, is regarded as the
nighest collegiate institution in the land, but we have few notices
of its actual condition. Officers of high rank are allowed to send
a son to it at the expense of the government, where they attend to
general literature and studies fitted for some particular service.
One of the acts of grace at the present emperor's coronation was
to extend this privilege to the sons of officers of the third and
fourth rank. There are stated examinations of the students
held, preparatory to their leaving the institution, but this does
not supersede the necessity of their competing at the regular
examinations.
How great a proportion of the people in China can read is a
difficult question to answer. More of the men in cities can read
than in the country, and more in some provinces than in others.
In the district of Nanhai, which forms part of the city of Canton,
an imperfect examination led to the belief that nearly all the
men are able to read, except gardeners, fishermen, agriculturists,
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IV., page 4J4. See also Vol. VI., pp. 22$>-
241; Vol. IV., pp. 1-10; Vol. XI., pp. 545-557; and Vol. XIII., pp. 626-
641, for further notices of the modes and objects of education ; and BiotV
Essai sur l'/Iistoire de l'Instruction Publique en Chine.
PROPORTION OF READERS IN CHINA. 433
coolies, boat-people, and fuelers, and two or three in ten devote
their lives to literary pursuits. In less thickly settled districts,
not more than four or five tenths, and even less, can read. In
Macao, perhaps half of the men can read. From an examination
of the patients in his hospital at Ningpo, one of the missionaries
there estimated the readers to form not more than five per cent,
of the men ; while another missionary at the same place, who
made inquiry in a higher grade of society, reckoned them at
twenty per cent. The villagers about Amoy have been found
to be deplorably ignorant ; and probably throughout the empire,
the ability to understand books is not commensurate with the
ability to read the sounds of their characters, and both have been
somewhat exaggerated. Owing to the manner in which educa¬
tion is commenced,—learning the form and names of characters
before their meaning and connexion are understood, it comes to
pass that many persons can run over the names of the characters
on a page while they do not comprehend the meaning of what
they read. They can pick out a word here and there which
they know, it may be a phrase or a sentence, but they derive no
clearer meaning from what they read than a lad who has just
learned to scan, and had proceeded half through the Latin
Reader, does from reading Virgil; while in both cases an intel¬
ligent audience, unacquainted with the circumstances, might
justly infer that the reader understood what he was reading as
well as his hearers did. Moreover, among the Chinese, different
subjects demand the use of different characters ; and although a
man may be well versed in the classics or in legal writings, he
may be easily posed by being asked to explain a simple treatise
in medicine or in mathematics, in consequence of the many new
or unfamiliar words on every page. This is a serious obstacle in
/he way of obtaining a general acquaintance with books. The
mind becomes weary with the labor of study where its toil is
neither rewarded by knowledge nor beguiled by wit; and there
are, consequently, few Chinese well read in their national litera¬
ture even among the most intelligent. Literature being generally
pursued as a means of attaining an end, not for the instruction
,'eceived or the pleasure conferred, or to maintain one's station
in society, a man is less disposed to attend to general reading or
turn author when he has in a measure attained the object he had
in view.
20
434
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Wealthy or official parents, who wish their sons tc compete lor
literary honors, give them the advantages of a full course in read-
ing and rhetoric under the best masters. Composition is the
most difficult part of the training of a Chinese student, and re¬
quires unwearied application, and a retentive memory. He who
can most readily quote the classics, and approach the nearest to
their terse, comprehensive, energetic diction and style, is, ceteris
'paribus, most likely to succeed ; while the man who can most
quickly throw olF well rhythmed verses takes the palm from all
competitors. In novels, the ability to compose elegant verses as
fast as the pencil can fly is usually ascribed to the hero of the
plot. Flow many of those who intend to compete for degrees
attend at the district colleges or high schools is not known, but
they are resorted to by students about the time of the examinations
in order to make the acquaintance of those who are to compete
with them. No public examinations take place in either day or
private schools, nor do parents often visit them, but rewards to
excite the ambition of the pupils are occasionally conferred.
There is little gradation of studies, nor are any diplomas con¬
ferred on students to show that they have gone through a certain
course. Punishments are severe, and the rattan or bamboo hanga
conspicuously near the master, and its liberal use is considered
necessary : " To educate without rigor, shows the teacher's indo¬
lence," is the doctrine, and by scolding, starving, castigation, and
imprisonment, the master tries to instil habits of obedience, and
compel his scholars to learn their distasteful task.
Notwithstanding the high opinion in which education is held,
and the diffusion of knowledge to a greater or less extent, and the
respect paid to learning in comparison with mere title and wealth,
the defects of the tuition here briefly described, in extent, means,
purposes, and results, are very great. Such, too, rnpst unavoid¬
ably be the case until new principles and new information are
fnfused into it. Considering it in its best point of view, this system
of education has effected all it can in enlarging the understand¬
ing, purifying the heart, and strengthening the minds of the
people ; but in none of these, nor in any of the essential points
which a sound education aims at, has it accomplished half that is
needed. The stream ne>er rises even as high as its source, and
the teachings of Confucius and Mencius have done all they coula
to make their countrymen thinking, useful, and intelligent men.
DEFICIENCIES OF CHINESE EDUCATION.
435
In comparison with other Asiatic nations, the Chinese have nade
distinguished attainments in general intelligence, and in good
government so far as security of life and property goes, and the
tone of public opinion is more in favor of morality and sobriety
than among their neighbors. The deficiencies consist mostly in
those tilings which Christianity alone can supply, and until that
comes to their aid they cannot be expected to advance. It is a
remarkable thing that the writings of Confucius and his disciples
should have been regarded with such reverence ; and we are dis¬
posed to look upon their teachings as sustained and invigorated
by the all-wise Governor of nations for his own gracious designs,
more directly than perhaps second causes would lead us to con¬
clude. " The Chinese student, not being secured from error by the
light of revealed religion, can only derive his moral precepts from
his school learning. lie is certainly therefore fortunate in the pos¬
session of a body of ancient national literature, which, while it cul¬
tivates his taste and improves his understanding, contains nothing
to influence his passions or corrupt his heart. The Chinese are
not compelled, as we are, upon the authority of great names, and
for the sake of the graces of style and language, to place in the
hands of their youth, works containing passages which put modesty
to the blush,—works in which the most admirable maxims of
morality are mixed and confounded together in the same page
with avowals and descriptions of the most disgusting licentious¬
ness. The writings which the Chinese put into the hands of
their youthful students are in this respect wholly unexception¬
able." This testimony is unimpeachable; but he who receives
the Bible as the only sure exposition of depraved human charac¬
ter, will still inquire, how is it that in China these writings have
exerted so commanding an influence, when those of Seneca, Plato,
Socrates, and others, decidedly superior to them for genius, and
fully equal in moral elevation, so slightly improved the mass of
their countrymen ? Human nature there is no less impure, irri¬
table, and debased than it was in Greece and Rome, and no answer
so satisfactory can be obtained, when seeking an explanation of
the influence these ancient works have exerted over the Chinese,
as by considering them to have been granted from the Source of
all wisdom for the end, by his blessing, of producing these effects.
Turn we now from this brief sketch of primary education
among the Chinese, to a description of the mode of examining
436
THE MIDDLfe KUiGDOM.
students and conferring the degree.- which have been made the
passport to office, and learn what are the real merits of the sys.
tem. Persons from almost every class of society may become
candidates for degrees under the certificates of securities, but
none are eligible for the second diploma who have not already
received the first. It therefore happens that the republican
license apparently allowed of almost every subject struggling for
these academic honors is really confined to a few, and those usu¬
ally the most talented or wealthy persons in the community. Most
of the clever, restless, ambitious, and intelligent spirits in the land
look forward to these examinations as the only field worthy of
their efforts, and where they are most likely to find their equals
and friends. How much better for the good of society, too, is
this arena than the camp or the feudal court, the tournament or
the monastery !
There are four literary degrees, the first of which is called
siu-tsai, meaning flowering talent, because of the promise held
out of the future success of the scholar. The examinations to
obtain it are held under the supervision of the chxhien in a pub¬
lic building erected in the district town ; and the chief literary
officer, called hiohching, " corrector of learning," or kiau-yu,
" teacher of the commands," has the immediate control. When
assembled at the hall of examination, the district magistrate se¬
lects the theme, and allows one day for writing the essays. The
number of candidates depends upon the population and literary
spirit of the district; in the districts of Nanhai and Pwanyu, up¬
wards of 2,000 persons competed for the prize in 1832, while in
Hiangshan not half of this number came together. When the
essays are handed in, they are looked over by the board of ex¬
aminers, and the names of the successful students entered on a
roll, and pasted upon the walls of the magistrate's hall; this
honor is called Men ming, i. e. " having a name in the village."
Out of the 4000 candidates referred to above, only thirteen in one
district, and fourteen in the other, obtained a name in the vil¬
lage ; the entire population of these two districts is not much
under a million and a half. Those who pass the first examina¬
tion are entered as candidates for the second, which takes place
in the chief town of the department before the literary chancellor
and the prefect, assisted by a literary magistrate called the fciati-
shaii, " giver of instructions ;" it is more rigorous than that held
EXAMINATION FOR SIUTSAI OR BACHELOR. 437
before the chihien, though similar to it in nature. If the pro¬
portion given above of successful candidates at the district exami¬
nations hold for each district, there would not be more than 200
students assembled at the prefect's hall, but the number is some¬
what increased by persons who have purchased the privilege ;
still the second trial is made among a small number in p"oportion
to the first, and still more trifling compared with the amount of
population. The names of the successful students at the second
trial are exposed on the walls of the office, which is called fa
jning, i. e. "having a name in the department," and these only
are eligible as candidates for the third trial before the literary
chancellor of the province. This dignitary exercises a superin-
tendance over the previous examinations, and makes the circuit
of the province to attend them in each department, twice in three
years. At the third trial in the provincial capital, he confers the
first degree of siutsai, which has been translated " bachelor of
arts," upon those who are chosen out of the whole list as the beat
scholars.
There are several classes of bachelors, depending somewhat
on the manner in which they obtained their degree ; those who
get it in the manner here described take the precedence. The
possession of this degree protects the person from corporeal pu¬
nishment, raises him above the common people, renders him a
conspicuous man in his native place, and eligible to enter the
triennial examination for the second decree. Those who have
more money than learning, purchase this degree for sums vary¬
ing from ^200 up to $1000, and even higher ; such are called
kiensang, and, as might be supposed, are looked upon somewhat
contemptuously by those who have passed through the regular
examinations, and " won the battle with their own lance." A
degree called kungsang is purchased by or bestawed upon the
siutsai, which does not entitle them to the full honors of a kujin.
What proportion of scholars are rewarded by degrees is not
known, but it is a small number compared with the candidates.
A graduate of considerable intelligence at Ningpo estimated the
number of siutsai in that city at 400, and in the department at
nearly a thousand. In Canton city, the number of shinkin, or
gentry, who are allowed to wear the sash of honor, and have
obtained literary degrees, is not over 300 ; but in the whole pro.
vince there are about 12,000 bachelors.
438
THE MIDDLE KING-OM.
The candidates for this degree are narrowly examined wher
they enter the ball, their pockets, shoes, wadded robes, and ink-
stones, all being searched, lest precomposed essays or other aids
to composition be smuggled in. When they are all seated in the
hall in their proper places, the wickets, doors, windows, and
other entrances are all guarded by men, and pasted over with
strips of paper. The room is filled with anxious competitors
arranged in long seats, pencil in hand, and ready to begin. The
theme is given out, and every one immediately writes off his
essay, carefully noting how many characters he erases in com¬
posing it, and hands it up to the board of examiners ; the whole
day is allotted to the task, and a signal-gun announces the hour
when the doors are thrown open, and the students can disperse.
The first two trials thin off the crowd amazingly, and the ex¬
aminers can easily reduce the number of hopeless competitors,
so that not one-tenth of those who appear at the first struggle ara
seen at the third. A man is constantly liable to lose his acquired
honor of siutsai, if at a subsequent inspection he is found to have
discarded his studies, and he is therefore impelled to pursue them
in order to escape disgrace, even if he does not reach the next
degree.*
Since the first degree is sometimes procured by influence and
money, it is the examination for the second, called ku-jin, or
" promoted men," held triennially in the provincial capitals be¬
fore two imperial commissioners, that separates the candidates
into students and officers, though all the students who receive a
diploma by no means become officers. This examination is held
at the same time in all the eighteen provincial capitals, viz. on
the 9th, 12th, and 15th days of the 8th moon, or about the
middle of September ; while it is going on, the city appears
exceedingly animated, in consequence of the great number of
relatives and friends assembled with the students. The persons
who preside at the examination, besides the imperial commission¬
ers, are ten provincial officers, with the fuyuen at their head,
who jointly form a board of examiners, and decide upon the
merits of the essays. The number of candidates who entered
the lists at Canton in the two years 1828 and 1831, was 4800;
in 1832, there were 6000, which is nearer the usual number. la
* Chinese Repository, Vol. II., p. 249; Vol. XVI., pp. 67-72.
SECOND DEGREE 01 LICENTIATES.
439
the largest provinces it reaches as many as 7000, 8000, and
upwards. The examinations are held in the Kung yuen, a
large and spacious building built expressly for this purpose, and
which contains a great number of cloisters and halls, where the
candidates can write their essays, and the examiners look at
them. The hall at Canton is capable of accommodating over
ten thousand persons, and in some of the northern cities they are
still larger, and generally filled with students, assistants, and
other persons connected with the examinations.
Before a candidate can enter the hall, he must give in an
account of himself to the chancellor, stating all the particulars
of his lineage, residence, birthplace, age, &c., and where he
received his first degree. He enters the establishment the night
before, and is searched on entering, to see that no manuscript
essay, or miniature edition of the classics, is secreted on his
person, or anything which can assist in the task he is to under¬
take. If anything of the sort is discovered, he is punished with
the cangue, degraded from his first degree, and forbidden again
to compete at the examination ; his father and tutor are likewise
punished. The practice is, however, quite common, notwith¬
standing the penalties, and one censor requested a law to be
passed forbidding small editions to be printed, and booksellers'
shops to be searched for them.
The hall at Canton contains 7500 cells, measuring four feet
by three, and high enough to stand up in ; the furniture consists
of two boards, one for sitting, and the other contrived to serve
both for an eating-table and a writing-desk ; all these things,
as well as the writing materials, cooking apparatus, and every
officer, porter, and menial about the establishment, are carefully
searched. The cells are arranged around a number of open
courts, receiving all their light and air from the central area,
and exposed to the observation of the soldiers who guard the
place, and watch that no one has the least intercourse with the
imprisoned students. Confinement in this cramped position,
where it is impossible to lie down, is exceedingly irksome, and is
said to cause the death of many old students, who are unable to
go through the fatigue, but who still enter the arena in hopes of
at last succeeding. Cases have occurred where father, son, and
grandson, appeared at the same time to compete for the same
prize. The unpleasantness of the strait cell is much increased
440
THE M'DDLB KINGDOM.
by the smoke arising from the cooking, which is all done in the
court, and by the heat of the weather. Whenever a student
dies in his cell, the body is pulled through a hole made in the
wall, and left there for his friends to carry away. Whenever a
candidate breaks any of the prescribed regulations of the contest,
his name and offence are reported, and his name is "pasted out"
by placarding it on the outer door of the hall, after which he is
not allowed to enter until another examination comes around.
More than a hundred persons are thus " pasted out " each sea¬
son, but no heavy disgrace seems to attach to them in conse¬
quence.
There are four themes given out on the first day, selected
from the Four Books, one of which must be in poetry. The
minimum length of the compositions is a hundred characters,
and they must be written plainly and elegantly, and sent in
without any names attached. In 1828, the acumen of 4800
candidates was exercised on the first day on these themes:
"Tsangtsz' said, 'To possess ability, and yet ask of those
who do not; to know much, and yet inquire of those who know
little ; to possess, and yet appear not to possess ; to be full, and
yet appear empty.' "—" He took hold of things by the two ex¬
tremes, and in his treatment of the people maintained the golden
medium." "A man from his youth studies eight principles,
and when he arrives at manhood, he wishes to reduce them to
practice."—The fourth essay, to be written in pentameters, had
for its subject, " The sound of the oar, and the green of the
hills and water." Among the themes given out in 1843, were
these: " He who is sincere will be intelligent, and the intelli¬
gent man will be faithful."—"In carrying out benevolence,
there are no rules." In 1835, one was, " He acts as he ought,
both to the common people and official men, receives his revenue
from heaven, and by it is protected and highly esteemed."
The three or five themes (for the number seems to be optional),
selected from the Five Classics, are similar to these, but as those
works are regarded as more recondite than the Four Books, so
must the essayists try to take a higher style. An officer goes
around and collects the compositions, and the students are dis¬
missed the next morning till the second trial takes place. When
they reassemble for the last time, five topics concerning doubtful
matters of government, or upon such questions as might arise in
EXAMPLE OF AN FSSA}.
441
administering the affairs of state, are proposed by the examiners,
and more freedom of observation is allowed in illustrating them.
The questions proposed on this trial take a more extended
range, including topics relating to the laws, history, geography,
and customs of the empire in former times, doubtful points touch-
ing the classical works, and the interpretation of obscure pas¬
sages, and biographical notices of statesmen. It is forbidden,
however, to discuss any points relating to the policy of the pre.
sent family, or the character and learning of living statesmen ;
but the conduct of their rulers is now and then alluded to by the
candidates.
The manner in which these subjects are handled can be besl
illustrated by introducing a single essay written in 1818, upon
this theme : " When persons in high stations are sincere in the
performance of relative and domestic duties, the people generally
will be stimulated to the practice of virtue." It is a fair speci¬
men of the jejune style of Chinese essayists, and the mode of
reasoning in a circle which pervades their writings.
" When the upper classes are really virtuous, the common people will
inevitably become so. For, though the sincere performance of relative
duties by superiors does not originate in a wish to stimulate the people,
yet the people do become virtuous, which is a proof of the effect of sin¬
cerity. As benevolence is the radical principle of all good government
in the world, so also benevolence is the radical principle of relative duties
amongst the people. Traced back to its source, benevolent feeling refers
to a first progenitor; traced forwards, it branches out to a hundred gene¬
rations yet to come. The source of personal existence is one's parents,
the relations which originate from heaven are most intimate ; and that
in which natural feeling blends is felt most deeply. That which is given
by heaven and by natural feeling to all, is done without any distinction
between noble or ignoble. One feeling pervades all. My thoughts now
refer to him who is placed in a station of eminence, and who may be
called a good man. The good man who is placed in an eminent station,
ought to lead forward the practice of virtue ; but the way to do so is to
begin with his own relations, and perform his duties to them.
" In the middle ages of antiquity, the minds of the people were not
yet dissipated—how came it that they were not humble and observant
of relative duties, when they were taught the principles of the five social
relations ? This having been the case, makes it evident that the en¬
lightening of the people must depend entirely on the cordial performance
of immediate relative duties. The person in an eminent station who
20*
442
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
may be called a good man, is he who appears at the head of all others in
illustrating by his practice the relative duties. In ages nearer to our
own, the manners of the people were not far removed from the dutiful:
how came it that any were disobedient to parents, and without brotherly
affection, and that it was yet necessary to restrain men by inflicting the
eight forms of punishment ? This having been the case, shows that in
the various modes of obtaining promotion in the state, there is nothing
regarded of more importance than filial and fraternal duties. The per¬
son in an eminent station who may be called a good man, is he who
stands forth as an example of the performance of relative duties.
" The difference between a person filling a high station and one of the
common people, consists in the department assigned them, not in their
relation to heaven ; it consists in a difference of rank, not in a difference
of natural feeling ; but the common people constantly observe the sincere
performance of relative duties in people of high stations. In being at
the head of a family and preserving order amongst the persons of which
it is composed, there should be sincere attention to politeness and deco¬
rum. A good man placed in a high station says, ' Who of all these are
not related to me, and shall I receive them with mere external forms ?'
The elegant entertainment, the neatly arranged tables, and the exhilarat¬
ing song, some men esteem mere forms, but the good man esteems that
which dictates them as a divinely instilled feeling, and attends to it with
a truly benevolent heart. And who of the common people does not
feel a share of the delight arising from fathers, and brothers, and kin¬
dred ? Is this joy resigned entirely to princes and kings ?
" In favors conferred to display the benignity of a sovereign, there
should be sincerity in the kindness done. The good man says, ' Are
not all these persons whom I love, and shall I merely enrich them by
largesses ?' He gives a branch as the sceptre of authority to a delicate
younger brother, and to another he gives a kingdom with his best in¬
structions. Some men deem this as merely extraordinary good fortune,
but the good man esteems it the exercise of a virtue of the first order,
and the effort of inexpressible benevolence. But have the common
people no regard for the spring whence the water flows, nor for the root
which gives life to the tree and its branches ? Have they no regard
[or their kindred ? It is necessary both to reprehend and to urge them
to exercise these feelings. The good man in a high station is sincere
in the performance of relative duties, because to do so is virtuous, and
not on account of the common people. But the people, without know¬
ing whence the impulse comes, with joy and delight are influenced to
act with zeal in this career of virtue ; the moral distillation proceeds
with rapidity, and a vast change is effected.
" The rank of men is exceedingly different; some fill the imperial
throne, but every one equally wishes to do his utmost to accomplish his
TEDIUM OF EXAMINING THE ESSAYS.
443
duty; and success depends on every individual himself. The upper
classes begin and pour the wine into the rich goblet; the poor man sows
his grain to maintain his parents : the men in high stations grasp the
silver bowl, the poor present a pigeon; they rouse each other to un¬
wearied cheerful efforts, and the principles implanted by heaven are
moved to action. Some things are difficult to be done, except by those
who possess the glory of national rule ; but the kind feeling is what I
myself possess, and may increase to an unlimited degree. The prince
may write verses appropriate to his vine bower ; the poor man can
think of his gourd shelter : the prince may sing his classic odes on
fraternal regards; the poor man can muse on his more simple allusions
to the same subject, and asleep or awake indulge his recollections ; for
the feeling is instilled into his nature. When the people are aroused to
relative virtues, they will be sincere ; for where are there any of the
common people that do not desire to perform relative duties? But
without the upper classes performing relative duties, this virtuous desire
would have no point from which to originate, and therefore it is said,
' Good men in high stations, as a general at the head of his armies, will
lead forward the world to the practice of social virtues.' "
Twenty-five days are allowed for the examining board to look
over the essays ; and few tasks can be instanced more irksome
to a board of honest examiners than the perusal of between fifty
and seventy-five thousand papers on a dozen subjects, through
which the most monotonous uniformity must necessarily run,
and out of which they have to choose the seventy or eighty best
—for the number of successful candidates cannot vary far from
this, according to the size of the province. The examiners are
of different ranks, and those in the lower board throw aside many
of the essays, which consequently never reach the chancellors.
If the number of students be five thousand, and each writes thir¬
teen essays, there will be sixty-five thousand papers, which
ailots two hundred and sixty essays for each of the ten examiners
to peruse daily. One of them, in 1832, who sought to invigo¬
rate his nerves or clear his intellects for the task, by a pipe of
opium, fell asleep in consequence, and on awaking, found that
many of the essays had caught fire and been consumed. It is
generally supposed that hundreds of them are returned unread,
but the excitement of the occasion, and the dread on the part of
the examining board to irritate the body of students, acts as
checks against gross omissions. Very slight errors are enough
to condemn an essay, especially if the examiners have not been
444
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
gained to look upon it kindly. Section lii. of the Code regulate*
the conduct of the examiners, but the punishments are slight.
One candidate, whose essay had been condemned without being
read, printed it, which led to the punishment of the examiner,
degradation of the graduate, and promulgation of a law forbid¬
ding this mode of appealing to the public. Another essay was
rejected because the writer had abbreviated a single character,
When the graduates are decided upon, their names are pub¬
lished by a crier at midnight, on or before the 10th ol the 9th
moon ; he mounts the highest tower in the city, and, after a
salute, announces them to the expectant city; the next morning,
lists of the lucky scholars are hawked about the streets, and
rapidly sent to all parts of the province. The proclamation
which contains their names is pasted upon the fuyuen's office
under a salute of three guns ; his excellency comes out and
bows three times towards the names of the promoted men, and
retires under another salute. The disappointed multitude
must then rejoice in the success of the few, and solace them-
selves with the hope of better luck next time ; while the suc¬
cessful ones are honored and feasted in a very distinguished
manner, and are the objects of flattering attention from the
whole city. On an appointed day, the governors, commissioners,
and high provincial officers, banquet them all at the fuyuen's
palace ; inferior officers attend as servants, and two lads, fan.
tastically dressed, and holding olive branches in their hands,
grace the scene with this symbol of literary attainments. The
number of licentiates, or kujin, who triennially receive thei;
degrees in the empire, is upwards of thirteen hundred, and the
expense of the examinations to the government in various ways,
including the presents conferred on the graduates, can hardly
be less than a third of a million of taels. Besides the triennial
examination, special ones are held every ten years, and on extra¬
ordinary occasions ; one was granted in 1835 because the em¬
press dowager had reached her sixtieth year.
The third degree of Isinsz', " entered scholars," or doctors, is
conferred triennially at Peking upon the successful licentiates
who compete for it, and only those among the kujin, who have
not already taken office, are eligible as candidates. In some
cases, their travelling expenses to court are paid, but it doubtless
requires some interest to get the mileage granted, for many pool
THIRI AND FOURTH DEGREES OR DOCTORS. 445
scholars a.e detained from u.ie metropolitan examination, or must
beg or borrow to reach it. The procedure on this trial is the
same as in the provinces, but the examiners are of higher rank;
the themes are taken from the same works, and the essays are
but little else than repetitions of the same train of thought and
argument. After the degrees are conferred upon all who are
deemed worthy, which varies from 150 to 400 each time, the
doctors are introduced to the emperor, and do him reverence, the
three highest receiving rewards from him. At this examination,
candidates, instead of being promoted, are occasionally degraded
from their acquired standing for incompetency, and forbidden
to appear at them again. The graduates are all inscribed upon
the list of candidates for promotion by the Board of Civil Office,
to be appointed on the first vacancy; most of them do in fact
enter on official life in some way or other by attaching them¬
selves to high dignitaries, or getting employment in some of the
departments at the capital. One instance is recorded of a stu¬
dent taking all the degrees within nine months ; and some become
nanlin before entering office. Others try again and again, till
grey hairs compel them to retire. There are many subordinate
offices in the Academy, the Censorate, or the Boards, which
seem almost to have been instituted for the employment of gra¬
duates, whose success has given them a partial claim upon the
country. The emperor sometimes selects clever graduates to
prepare works for the use of government, or nominates them
upon special literary commissions ;* for it would cause heart¬
burnings among them, if, after all their efforts, they were ne¬
glected.
The fourth and highest degree of hanlin is rather an office
than a degree, for those who attain it are enrolled as members
of the Imperial Academy, and receive salaries. The triennial
examination for this distinction is held in the emperor's palace,
and is conducted on much the same plan as all preceding ones,
though being in the presence of the highest personages in the
empire, it exceeds them in honor.j" The Manchus and Mongols
compete at these trials with the Chinese, but many facts show
thai, they are generally favored at the expense of the latter; and
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., p. 541 ; Vol. III., p. 118.
t See Morrison's Chinese Dictionary, Vol. I., Part I., pp. 759-77i), foj
the laws an.l usages of the several trials.
446
THE MIDDLE KK 3DOM.
the large proportion of men belonging to these races filling high
offices indicates who are the rulers of the land. The candidates
are all examined at Peking, and one instance is recorded of a
Chinese who passed himself olf for a Manchu, but afterwards
confessed the dissimulation ; the head of the division was tried
in consequence of his oversight. It is the professed policy of the
government to discourage literary pursuits among them, in order
to maintain the ancient energy of the race ; but where the real
power is lodged in the hands of civilians, it is impossible to pre-
vent them striving for its possession.
The present dynasty introduced examinations and gradations
among the troops on the same principles as obtain in the civil
service ; being held in public they attract great crowds, though
the number of competitors is much less than for the civil degrees.
They consist in trials of skill in horsemanship, archery, and
strength, the last being shown by bending strong bows, wielding
heavy swords, and lifting weights. The competitors are mar¬
shalled on the parade-ground near the provincial capital, and go
through the prescribed exercises. The forty-nine successful
candidates out of several thousands at the triennial examination
for kiijin in Canton, Nov. 1832, all hit the target on foot six
times successively, and on horseback six times ; once with the
arrow they hit a ball lying on the ground as they passed it at a
gallop ; and all were of the first class in wielding the iron-han¬
dled battle-axe, and lifting the stone-loaded beam. The candi¬
dates are all persons of property, who find their own horses,
dresses, arms, &c. ; and Mr. Ellis, who describes one of the ex¬
aminations, says they were handsomely dressed, the horses,
trimmings, and accoutrements in good order, and the arrows
without barbs, to prevent accidents. He says, " the marks at
which they fired, covered with white paper, were about the height
of a man and somewhat wider, placed at intervals of fifty yards;
the object was to strike these marks successively with their three
arrows, the horses being kept at full speed. Although the bull's-
eye was not always hit,'the target was never missed : the dis¬
tance did not exceed fifteen or twenty feet."*
Since military honors depend so entirely on personal skill, it
may partly account for the inferior rank the graduates hold in
* Embassy to China, p 87 Chinese Repository, Vol. XVI., p. 62; Vol
IV , p. 125.
MILITARY EXAMINATIONS
447
comparison with civilians. No knowledge of tactics, gunnery,
engineering, fortifications, or even letters in general, seems to be
required of them ; and this explains at once the inefficiency of
the army, and the low estimation its officers are held in. Sir J.
Davis mentions one military officer of enormous size and strength,
whom he saw on the Pei ho, who had lately been promoted for
his personal prowess ; and speaks of another attached to the
guard on one of the boats, who was such a foolish fellow that
none of the civilians would associate with him.* All the classes
eligible to civil promotion can enter the lists for military honors;
the emperor is present at the examination for the highest, and
awards prizes, such as a cap decorated with a peacock's feather;
but no system of prizes or examinations can supply the want of
knowledge and courage, and military distinctions not being much
sought by the people, and conferring but little emolument or
power, do not stand as high in public estimation as the present
government wishes. The selection of officers for the naval ser¬
vice is made from the land force, and a man is considered quite
&.s fit for that branch after his feats of archery, as if the trials had
been in yacht-sailing or manning the yards.
Such is the outline of the remarkable system of examinations
through which the civil and military services of the Chinese go¬
vernment are supplied, and the only part of their system not to
be paralleled in one or other of the great monarchies of past
or present times; though the counterpart of this may have also
existed in ancient Egypt. " It is the only one of their inven¬
tions," as has been remarked, " which is perhaps worth preserv¬
ing, and has not been adopted by other countries, and carried to
greater perfection than they were equal to." But such a sys¬
tem would be unnecessary in an enlightened Christian country,
where the people, pursuing study for its own sake, are able and
willing to become as learned as their rulers desire without any
such inducement. Nor would they submit, except in a coun¬
try like China, to the trammels and trickery attendant on com¬
petition for office; and the ablest polfticians are by no means
found among the most learned scholars. The system could not
well be transplanted ; it is fitted for the genius of the Chinese,
and they have become well satisfied with its workings. Its
* Davis' Sketches, Vol. I., jp 99, 101.
448
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
purification would do great good, doubKess, if the mass of the
people are to be left in their present state of ignorance, but their
elevation in knowledge would, erelong, revolutionize the whole.
There can be no doubt as to the important and beneficial results
it has accomplished, with all its defects, in perpetuating and
strengthening the present government, and securing to the peo¬
ple a more equitable and vigorous body of magistrates than they
could get in any other way. Most of the real benefits of Chinese
education and this system of examinations, are reached before
the conferment of the degree of kujin. These consist in dif¬
fusing a general respect and taste for letters among the people;
in calling out the true talent of the country to the notice of the
rulers in an honorable path of effort; in making all persons so
thoroughly acquainted with the best moral books in the language
that they cannot fail to exercise some salutary restraint; in
elevating the general standard of education so much that every
man is almost compelled to give his son a little learning in order
that he may get along in life; and finally, through all these
influences, powerfully contributing to uphold the existing institu¬
tions of the empire. Educated men form the only aristocracy
in the land ; and the attainment of the first degree, by intro¬
ducing its owner into the class of gentry, is considered ample
compensation for all the expense and study spent in getting it.
On the whole, it may safely be asserted that these examinations
do more to maintain the stability, and explain the continuance,
of the Chinese government than any other single cause.
A few extracts from recorded documents and facts will exhibit
the principal defects and malversations in the system, and show
how China has stopped short of perfection in this as in all her
sciences and arts. One great difficulty in "the way of the gra¬
duated students attaining office according to their merits is the
favor shown to those who can buy nominal and real honors.
Two censors in 1822, laid a document before his majesty, in
which the evils attendant on selling office are shown ; viz.,
elevating priests, highwaymen, merchants, and other unworthy
or uneducated men, to responsible stations, and placing insur¬
mountable difficulties in the way of hard-working, worthy stu¬
dents attaining the reward of their toil. They state that the
plan of selling offices commenced during the Han dynasty, but
speak of the greater disgrace attendant upon the plan at the
EXCELLENCIES AND DEFECTS OF THE EXAMINATIONS. 449
present time, because tne avaih all go into the privy purse in.
stead of being applied to the public service ; they recommend,
therefore, a reduction in the disbursements of the imperial
establishment. Among the items mentioned by these oriental
Joseph Humes, which they consider extravagant, are a lac of
taels (100,000) for flowers and rouge in the seraglio, and 120,000
in salaries to waiting-boys ; two lacs were expended on the
gardens of Yuenming, and almost half a million of taels upon
the parks at Jeh ho, while the salaries to officers and presents to
women at Yuenming were over four lacs. " If these few items
of expense were abolished," they add, " there would be a saving
of more than a million of taels of useless expenditure ; talent
might be brought forward to the service of the country, and the
people's wealth be secured."
In consequence of the extensive sale of offices, they state that
more than five thousand tsinsz'' doctors, and more than twenty-
seven thousand kujin licentiates, are waiting for employment;
and those first on the list obtained their degrees thirty years
ago, so that the probability is that when at last employed, they
will be too old for service, and be declared superannuated in the
first examination of official merits and demerits. The rules to
be observed at the regular examinations are strict, but no ques¬
tions are asked the buyers of office ; and they enter too on their
duties as soon as the money is paid. The censors quote three
sales, whose united proceeds only amounted to a quarter of a
million of taels, and state that the whole income from this source
for twenty years was only a few lacs. Examples of the flagi¬
tious conduct of these purse-proud magistrates are quoted in
proof of the bad results of the plan. " Thus the priest Siang
Yang, prohibited from holding office, bought his way to one ;
the intendant at Ningpo, from being a mounted highwayman,
bought his way to office ; besides others of the vilest parentage.
But the covetousness and cruelty of these men are denominated
purity and intelligence ; they inflict severe punishments, which
make the people terrified, and their superiors point them out as
possessing decision : these are our able officers !"
After animadverting on the general practice " of all officers,
from governor-generals down to village magistrates, combining
to gain their purposes by hiding the truth from the sovereign,''"
and specifying the malversations of Tohtsin, the premier, in
450
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
particular, they close their paper with a protestation of theii
integrity : '• If your majesty deems what we have now stated
to be right, and will act thereon in the government, you will
realize the designs of the souls of your sacred ancestors ; and
the army, the nation, and the poor people, will have cause for
gladness of heart. Should we be subjected to the operation of
the hatchet, or suffer death in fjbe boiling caldron, we will not
decline it."
These censors place the proceeds of " button scrip " far too
low, for in 1826, the sale produced about six millions of taels,
and was continued at intervals during the three following years.
In 1831, one of the sons of Howqua was created a kujin by
patent for having subscribed nearly $50,000 to repair the dikes
near Canton ; and upon another was conferred the rank and
title of " director of the salt monopoly " for a lac of taels
towards the war in Turkestan. Neither of these persons ever
held any office of power, nor probably did they expect it ; and
such may be the case with many of those who are satisfied with
the titles and buttons, feathers and robes, which their money
procures. During the present dynasty, military men have been
frequently appointed to magistracies, and the detail of their
offices intrusted to needy scholars, which has tended, still further,
to disgust and dishearten the Chinese from resorting to the lite¬
rary arena.
Another evil which infects the system is the bribery practised
to attain the degrees. By certain signs placed on the essays, the
examiner can easily pick out those he is to approve ; eight thou¬
sand dollars was said to be the price of a bachelor's degree in
Canton, but this sum is within the reach of few out of the six
thousand candidates. The poor scholars sell their services to the
rich, and for a certain price will enter the hall of examination,
and personate their employer, running the risk and penalties of
a disgraceful exposure if detected ; for a less sum they will drill
them before examination, or write the essays entirely, which the
rich booby must commit to memory. The purchase of forged
diplomas is another mode of obtaining a graduate's honors, which,
from some discoveries made at Peking, is so extensively prac¬
tised, that when this and other corruptions are considered, it
is surprising that any person can be so eager in his studies, or con-
fident of his abilities, as ever to think he can get into office by iheiri
SALE OF DEGREES ANE FORGED DIPLOMAS. 45 .
alone. In 1830, the Gazettes contained some documents show-
ing that an inferior officer, aided by some of )he clerks in the
Boa.d of Revenue, during the successive superintendence of
twenty presidents of the Board had sold 20,419 forged diplomas ;
and in the province of Nganhwui, the writers in the office attached
to the Board of Revenue had carried on the same practice for
four years, and forty-six persons in that province were convicted
of possessing them. All the principal criminals convicted at this
time were sentenced to decapitation, but these cases are enough
to show that the real talent of the country doss not often find its
way into the magistrate's seat without the aid of money; nor is
it likely that the tales of such delinquencies often appear in
the Gazettes. Literary chancellors also sell bachelors' degrees
to the exclusion of deserving poor scholars; the office of the
hiohching of Kiangsi was searched in 1828 by a special commis¬
sion, and four lacs of taels found in it; he hung himself to avoid
further punishment, as did also the same dignitary in Canton in
1833, as was supposed, for a similar cause. It is in this way no
doubt that the ill-gotten gains of most officers return to the gene¬
ral circulation.
Notwithstanding these startling corruptions, which seem to
involve the principle on which the harmony and efficiency of the
whole machinery of state stand, it cannot be denied, judging from
the results, that the highest officers of the Chinese government do
possess a very respectable rank of talent and knowledge, and
carry on the unwieldy machine with a degree of integrity, patri¬
otism, industry, and good order, which shows that the leading
minds in it are well chosen. The person who has originally
obtained his rank by a forged diploma, or by direct purchase, can¬
not hope to rise or to maintain even his first standing, without
some knowledge and parts. One of the three commissioners
vhom Kiying associated with himself in his negotiations with the
American minister in 1844, was a supernumerary cMh/en of for¬
bidding appearance, who could hardly write a common document,
but it was easy to see the low estimation the ignoramus was held
in. It may therefore be fairly inferred that enough large prizes
are drawn to incite successive generations of scholars to compete
for them, and thus to maintain the literary spirit of the people.
Here too is a legitimate channel for the efforts and talents of every
person, while their development tends to consolidate and not dis-
452
THE MIDDLE KIN DOM.
turb or overturn the existing order of things. At these examina.
tions the superior minds of the country are brought together in
large bodies, and thus they learn each other's views, and are able
to check official oppressions with something like a public opinion.
The enjoyment of no small degree of power and influence in their
native village, is also to be considered in estimating the rewards
of studious toil, whether the student get a diploma or not; and
this local consideration is the most common reward attending the
life of a scholar. In those villages where no governmental officer
is specially appointed, such men are almost sure to become the
headmen and most influential persons in the very spot where a
Chinese loves to be distinguished. Graduates are likewise
allowed to have a red sign over the door of their houses showing
o O
the degree they have obtained, which is both a harmless and gra¬
tifying reward of study; like the additions of Cantab, or Oxon.,
D.D., or LL.D., in other lands.
The fortune attending the unsuccessful candidates is various.
Thousands of them get employment as school-teachers, pettifog¬
ging notaries, and clerks in the public offices, and others who
are rich return to their families. Some are reduced by degrees
to beggary, and resort to medicine, fortune-telling, letter-writing,
and other such shifts to eke out a living. Many turn their atten¬
tion to learning the modes of drawing up deeds and forms used
in dealings regarding property; others look to aiding military
men in their duties, and a few turn authors, and thus in one
way or another contrive to turn their learning to account.
During the period of the examinations, when the students are
assembled in the capital, the officers of government are careful
not to irritate them by punishment, or offend their esprit du
corps, but rather, by admonitions and warnings, induce them to set
a good example. The personal reputation of the officer himself
has much to do with the influence he exerts over the students,
and whether they will heed his caveats. One of the examinera
in Chehkiang, irritated by the impertinence of a bachelor, who
presumed upon his immunity from corporeal chastisement, twisted
his ears to teach him better manners ; soon after, the student and
two others of equal degree were accused before the same magis¬
trate for a libel, and one of them beaten forty strokes upon his
palms. At the ensuing examination, ten of the siutsai, indignant
at th's unauthorized treatment, refused to appear, and all the
SPIRIT OF AND RESPECT PA ID TO STUDENTS. 453
candidates, when they saw who was to preside, dispersed imme¬
diately. In his memorial upon the matter, the governor-general
recommends this officer, and another one who talked much about
the affair and produced a great effect upon the public mind, both
to be degraded, and the bachelors to be stripped of their honors.
A magistrate of Honan, having punished a student with twenty
blows, the assembled body of students rose and threw their caps
on the ground, and walked off leaving him alone. The prefect
of Canton in 1842, having become obnoxious to the citizens from
the part he took in ransoming the city, the students refused to
receive him as their examiner, and when he appeared in the hall
to take his seat, drove him out of the room by throwing their
ink-stones at him ; he soon after resigned his station. Perhaps
the si,utsai. are more impatient than the kiijin from being better
acquainted with each other, and being examined by local officers,
while the kiijin are overawed by the rank of the commissioners,
and, coming from distant parts of a large province, have little
mutual sympathy or acquaintance. The examining boards, how¬
ever, take pains to avoid displeasing any class of graduates,when
thus assembled.
With regard to female education, it is a singular anomaly
among Chinese writers, that while they lay great stress upon
maternal instruction in forming the infant mind, and leading it
on to excellence, no more of them should have turned their atten¬
tion to the preparation of books for girls, and the establishment
of female schools. There are some reasons for the absence of
the latter to be found in the state of society ; parents would feel
unwilling to put their daughters at any age under the care of a
male teacher, where they could not themselves exert a constant
supervision ; and it would be impossible to procure many quali¬
fied schoolmistresses. Added to this is the hazard of sending
girls out into the streets alone, where they would run some risk
of being stolen. The principal stimulus for boys to study—the
hope and prospect of office—is taken away from girls, and Chi¬
nese literature offers little to repay them for the labor of learning
it in addition to all the domestic duties which devolve upon them.
Still literary attainments are considered creditable to a woman,
more than is the case in India or Siam, and the names of au¬
thoresses mentioned in Chinese annals would make a long list.
Yuen Yuen, the governor-general of Canton, in 1820, while in
454
THE MIDDLE KING )M.
office, published a volume of his deceased daughter't poetical
effusions ; and literary men are usually desirous of having their
daughters accomplished in music and poetry, as well as in com¬
position and classical lore. Such an education is considered
befitting their station, and reflecting credit on the family.
One of the most celebrated female writers in China is Pan
Hwuipan, who flourished about A. D. 80; she wrote a work enti¬
tled F emale Precepts, which has formed the basis of many suc¬
ceeding books on female education. The aim of her writings
was to elevate female character, and make it virtuous. She
says, " The virtue of a female does not consist altogether in extra¬
ordinary abilities or intelligence, but in being modestly grave
and inviolably chaste, observing the requirements of virtuous
widowhood, and in being tidy in her person and everything about
her; in whatever she does to be unassuming, and whenever she
moves or sits to be decorous. This is female virtue." Instruc¬
tion in morals and the various branches of domestic economy are
more insisted upon in the writings of this and other authoresses,
than a knowledge of the classics or histories of the country.
One of the most distinguished Chinese essayists of modern
times, Luhchau, published a work for the benefit of the sex,
called the Female Instructor; an extract from his preface will
show what ideas are generally entertained on female education
by Chinese moralists.
" The basis of the government of the empire lies in the habits of the
people, and the surety that their usages will be correct is in the orderly
management of families, which last depends chiefly upon the females.
In the good old times of Chau, the virtuous women set such an excel¬
lent example, that it influenced the customs of the empire—an influence
that descended even to the times of the Ching and Wei states. If the
curtain of the inner apartment gets thin, or is hung awry (i. e. if the
sexes are not kept apart), disorder will enter the family, and ultimately
pervade the empire. Females are doubtless the sources of good man¬
ners ; from ancient times to the present this has been the case. The
inclination to virtue and vice in women differs exceedingly; their dispo¬
sitions incline contrary ways, and if it is wished to form them alike,
there is nothing like education. In ancient times, youth of both sexes
were instructed. According to the Ritual of Chau, ' the imperial wives
-egulated the law for educating females, in order to instruct the ladies
of the palace in morals, conversation, manners, and work; and each led
out their respective classes, at proper times, and arranged them ror
LUHCHAU ON FEMALE EDUCATION.
455
exrmination in the imperial presence.' But these treatises have not
reached us, and it cannot be distinctly ascertained what was their plan of
arrangement. *****
" The education of a woman and that of a man are very dissimilar.
Thus, a man can study during his whole life; whether he is abroad or
at home, he can always look into the classics and history, and become
thoroughly acquainted with the whole range of authors. But a woman
does not study more than ten years, when she takes upon her the ma*
nagement of a family, where a multiplicity of cares distract her attention,
and having no leisure for undisturbed study, she cannot easily under¬
stand learned authors; not having obtained a thorough acquaintance
with letters, she does not fully comprehend their principles; and like
water that has flowed from its fountain, she cannot regulate her conduct
by their guidance. How can it be said that a standard work on female
education is not wanted ! Every profession and trade has its appropriate
master; and ought not those also who possess such an influence over
manners [as females] to be taught their duties and their proper limits ?
It is a matter of regret, that in these books no extracts have been made
from the works of Confucius in order to make them introductory to the
writings on polite literature; and it is also to be regretted that selections
have not been made from the commentaries of Ching, Chu, and other
scholars, who have explained his writings clearly, as also from the whole
range of writers, gathering from them all that which was appropriate,
and omitting the rest. These are circulated among mankind, together
with such books as the Juvenile Instructor; yet if they are put into the
hands of females, they cause them to become like a blind man without
a guide, wandering hither and thither without knowing where he is
going. There has been this great deficiency from very remote times
until now.
"Woman's influence is according to her moral character, therefore
that point is largely explained. First, concerning her obedience to
her husband and to his parents; then in regard to her complaisance
to his brothers and sisters, and kindness to her sisters-in-law. If un¬
married, she has duties towards her parents, and to the wives of her
elder brothers; if a principal wife, a woman must have no jealous feel¬
ings; if in straitened circumstances, she must be contented with her
lot; if rich and honorable, she must avoid extravagance and haughtiness.
Then teach her, in times of trouble and in days of ease, how to main¬
tain her purity, how to give importance to right principles, how to
observe widowhood, and how to avenge the murder of a relative. Is she
a mother, let her teach her children; is she a step-mother, let her love
and cherish her husband's children; is her rank in life high, let her be
condescending to her inferiors; let her wholly discard all sorcerers
superstitious nuns, and witches ; in a word let her adhere to propriety
and avoid vice.
450
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
" In conversation, a female should not be froward and garrulous, but
observe strictly what is correct, whether in suggesting advice to her
husband, in remonstrating with him, or teaching her children; in main
taining etiquette, humbly imparting her experience, or in averting mis¬
fortune. The deportment of females should be strictly grave and sober,
and yet adapted to the occasion; whether in waiting on her parents,
receiving or reverencing her husband, rising up or sitting down, when
pregnant, in times of mourning, or when fleeing in war, she should be
perfectly decorous. Rearing the silkworm and working cloth are the
most important of the employments of a female; preparing and serving
up the food for the household, and setting in order the sacrifices, follow
next, each of which must be attended to ; after them, study and learning
can fill up the time."—Chi. Rep., vol. IX., p. 542.
The work thus prefaced, is a sort of Young Lady's Book, in¬
tended to be read rather than studied ; and the time allowed them
for literary pursuits, after other avocations have been attended
to, is small indeed. Happy would it be for the country, however,
it can be truly said, if the instructions given by this moralist
were followed ; and it is a credit to a pagan to write such senti¬
ments as the following : " During infancy, a child ardently loves
its mother, who knows all its traits of goodness ; while the father,
perhaps, cannot know about it, there is nothing which the mother
does not see. Wherefore the mother teaches more effectually,
and only by her unwise fondness does her son become more and
more proud (as must by age becomes sourer and stronger), and
is thereby nearly ruined."—" Heavenly order is to bless the good
and curse the vile; he who sins against it will certainly receive
his punishment sooner or later: from lucid instruction springs
the happiness of the world. If females are unlearned, they will
be like one looking at a wall, they will know nothing: if they
are taught, they will know, and knowing they will imitate their
examples."
It is vain to expect, however, that any change in the standing
of females, or extent of their education, will take place until in¬
fluences from abroad are brought to bear upon them, until the
same work that is elsewhere elevating them to their proper place
in society by teaching them the principles on which that eleva¬
tion is founded, and how they can themselves maintain it, is
begun. The Chinese do not, by any means, make slaves of their
fsmales and if a comparison be made between their condition
EXTENT OF FEMALE EDUCATION. 457
in China and other modern unevangelized countries, or even
with ancient ones, it will in many points acquit them of much
of the obloquy they have received on this behalf. There are
some things which tend to show that more of the sex read and
write sufficiently for the ord 'nary purposes of life, than a slight
examination would at first indicate. Among these may be men¬
tioned, the letter-writers compiled for their use, in which instruc¬
tions are given for every variety of note and epistle, except,
perhaps, love letters. The works just mentioned, intended for
their improvement, form an additional fact. The pride taken
by girls in showing their knowledge of letters is evidence that it
is not common, while the general respect in which literary ladies
are held, proves them not be so very rare ; though for all practi¬
cal good, it may be said that half of the Chinese people know
nothing of books. The fact that female education is so favor¬
ably regarded is encouraging to those philanthropic persons and
ladies who are endeavoring to establish female schools at the
mission stations, since they have not prejudice to contend with in
addition to ignorance,
21
CHAPTER X.
Structure of the Chinese Language.
T might reasonably be inferred, judging from the attention paid
to learning, and the honors conferred upon its successful votaries,
that the literature of the Chinese would contain much to repay
investigation. Such is not the case, however, to one already
acquainted with the treasures of western science, though it still
has claims to the regard of the general student, from its being the
literature of so vast a portion of the human species, and the re'
suit of the labors of its wisest and wittiest minds during many
successive ages. The fact that it has been developed under a
peculiar civilization, and breathes a spirit so totally different
from the writings of western sages and philosophers, perhaps
increases the curiosity to learn what are its excellences and
defects, and obtain some criteria by which to compare it with
the literature of other Asiatic or even European nations. The
language in which it is written—one peculiarly mystical and
diverse from all other media of thought—has also added to its
singular reputation, for it has been surmised that what ig
" wrapped up" in such complex characters must be preemi¬
nently valuable for matter or elegant for manner, and not less
curious than profound. Although a candid examination of it
will divest it of all its supposed extraordinary qualities, and
disclose its real mediocrity in points of research, learning, ana
genius, still there remains enough to render it worthy th.-
attention of the oriental or general student.
Some of its peculiarities are owing to the nature of the language,
and the mode of instruction, both which have affected the style and
the thoughts of writers: for, having, when young, been taught to
form their sentences upon the models of antiquity, their efforts
to do so have moulded their thoughts in the same channel.
Imitation, from being a duty, soon became a necessity ; and
the Chinese scholar, forsaking nature and the leadings of hii
ORIGINALITY OF CHINESE LITERATURE.
459
own genius, soon learned to regard his models much as the
schoolmen did the Bible and its scholiasts, as not only being all
truth themselves, but that everything not in them was vulgar or
doubtful. The intractable nature of the language, making it
diihcult to study other tongues through the medium of his own,
and to naturalize their words and expressions, moreover tended
to repress all desire to become acquainted with books in them ;
and as he knew nothing of them or their authors, it was easy to
conclude that there was nothing worth knowing in them, nothing
to repay the toil of study, or make amends for the condescension
of ascertaining. The neighbors of the Chinese have unques¬
tionably been their inferiors in civilization, good government,
learning, and wealth ; and this fact has nourished their conceit,
and repressed the wish to travel beyond them, and ascertain
what there was in remoter regions. In judging of the character
of Chinese literature, therefore, these circumstances among others
under which it has risen to its present bulk, must not be over¬
looked ; and we shall conclude that the uniformity running
through it is perhaps owing as much to the isolation of the peo¬
ple and servile imitation of their models, as to their genius : each
has, in fact, mutually acted upon and influenced the other.
In this short account of the Chinese tongue, it will be sufficient
to give such notices of the origin and construction of the charac¬
ters, and of the idioms and sounds of the written and spoken
language, as shall convey a general notion of all its parts, and
tend to remove the misapprehension regarding its structure, and
the difficulty attending its acquisition. Upon these points there
has, apparently, been a want of clearness, arising in some
measure from the different or imperfect sources of information,
available to those who have written upon the subject.
Chinese writers, unable to trace the gradual formation of their
characters (for, of course, there could be no intelligible histori¬
cal data until long after their formation), have ascribed them
to Ilwangti, one of their primeval monarchs, or to Tsangkieh,
a statesman of the same period, which according to Chinese
chronology was about 2700 years before Christ. He is said to
have derived the first ideas which led to this important invention
from careful observation of the varied forms in nature, which he
endeavored to imitate, in order to contrive a better mode of record¬
ing facts than the knotted cords then in use. At this crisis, when
400
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
a medium for conveying end giving permanency to ideas wag
formed, Chinese historians say, " the 1 eavens, the earth, and the
gods, were all agitated. The inhabitants of hades wept at
night; and the heavens, as an expression of joy, rained down
iipe grain. From the invention of writing, the machinations of
tiie human heart began to operate ; stories false and erroneous
daily increased, litigations and imprisonments sprang up; hence,
also, specious and artful language, which causes so much con¬
fusion in the world. It was for these reasons that the shades of
the departed wept at night. But from the invention of writing,
polite intercourse and music proceeded; reason and justice
were made manifest; the relations of social life were illustrated,
and laws became fixed. Governors had rules to refer to;
scholars had authorities to venerate ; and hence, the heavens, de¬
lighted, rained down ripe grain. The classical scholar, the his¬
torian, the mathematician, and the astronomer, can none of them
do without writing; were there no written language to afford
proof of passing events, the shades might weep at noonday, and
the heavens rain down blood."
The date of the origin of this language, like that of the letters
of western alphabets, is lost in the earliest periods of postdiluvian
history, but there can be no doubt that it is the most ancient
language now spoken, and perhaps, with the single exception of
the Hebrew, the oldest written language used by man. The
Ethiopic and Coptic, the Sanscrit and Pali, the Syriac and
Pehlvic, have all become dead languages; and the Greek,
Latin, and Persian, now spoken, differ so much from the ancient
style, as to require special study to understand the books in
them : while during successive eras, the written and spoken
language of the Chinese has undergone few alterations, and done
much to deepen the broad line of demarkation between them and
other branches of the human race. The languages abovemen-
tioned, although spoken by powerful and learned nations, and
containing treasures of learning and wit to attract admiring
students, were spoken simultaneously by only a few millions of
people ; but at a moderate estimate, the Chinese language is now
understood by all the learned men among four hundred millions
of people, including not only all the races subject to the emperor,
but also the Cochinchinese, Coreans, Lewchewans, and Japanese,
the former of whom have no othe* written medium.
ANTIQUITY AND ORIGIN OF THE CHARACTERS. 461
The primitive characters of the Chinese language are derived
from the natural or artificial objects, of which they were at first
the rude outlines. Most of the original forms are preserved in
the treatises of native philologists, where the changes they have
gradually undergone are shown. The number of objects chosen
at first was not great; among them were symbols for the sur.,
moon, hills, objects in nature, animals, parts of the body, &c.;
and in drawing them the limners seem to have proposed to them¬
selves nothing further than an outline sketch, which, by the aid of
a little explanation, would be intelligible. Thus the picture J)
would probably be recognised by all who saw it as representing
the moon ; that of ^ as a fish ; and so of others. It is apparent
that the number of pictures which could be made in this manner
would bear no proportion to the wants and uses of a language,
and therefore recourse must soon be had to more complicated
symbols, to combining those already understood, or to the adop¬
tion of arbitrary or phonetic signs. All these modes have been
more or less employed.
Chinese philologists arrange all the characters in their language
into six classes, called lull shu, or six writings. The first, called
siang king, or imitative symbols, are those in which a plain
resemblance can be traced between the original form and the
object represented ; they are among the first characters invented,
although the 608 placed in this class do not include all the
original symbols. These pristine forms have since been modified
so much that the resemblance has disappeared in most of them,
caused chiefly by the use of paper, ink, and pencils, for writing
instead of the iron style and bamboo tablets formerly in use; for
circular strokes can be more distinctly made with an iron point
upon the hard wood than they can with a hair pencil upon thir.
paper; angular strokes and square forms therefore gradually
took the place of round or curved ones, and contracted characters
came into use in place of the original imitative symbols. In
this class such characters as the following are given.
muli, the eye ; now written j5|
^ slian, a hill ; now written
^ tsz\ a child ; now written
c/i£. a chariot; now written ^
The second class, cnly 107 in number, is called c\i sz\ i. e.
462
THE MIDDLE iw.tGDOM.
symbols indicating thought; which differ from the preceding
chiefly in that the characters are formed by combining previously
formed symbols in such a way as to indicate some idea easily
deducible from their position or combination, and pointing out
some property or relative circumstance belonging to them. Chi-
nese philologists consider these two classes as comprising all the
ideographics in the language, that is, all those characters which
depict objects either in whole or in part, and whose meaning is
apparent from the resemblance to the object, or from the position
of the parts. Among those placed in this class are,
moon half appearing, signifies evening; now written ^
© sun above the horizon, denotes morning; now written
y something in the mouth, meaning sweet; now written H"
The third class, amounting to 740 characters, is called hwui t,
i. e. combined ideas, and comprises characters made up of two
or three symbols to form a single idea, whose meanings are dedu¬
cible either from their position, or supposed relative influence upon
each other. Thus the union of the sun and moon, Qfi ming,
expresses brightness; kien, a piece of wood in a doorway,
denotes obstruction ; two trees stand for a forest, as jWj tin;
and three for a thicket, as ^ san ; two men upon the ground
conveys the idea of sitting ; a mouth in a door signifies to ask ;
heart and death imports forgetfulness; dog and mouth means to
bark ; woman and Iroom denotes a wife, referring to her house¬
hold duties ; pencil and to speak is a book, or to write. But in
none of these compounded characters is there anything like that
perfection of picture writing stated by some writers to belong to
the Chinese language, which will enable one unacquainted with
the meaning of the separate symbols to decide upon the signifi¬
cation of the combined group. On the contrary, it is in most
cases certain that the third idea made by combining two already
known symbols, usually required more or less explanation to fix
its precise meaning, and remove the doubt which would otherwise
arise. For instance, the combination of the sun and moon miffht
' O
as readily mean a solar or lunar eclipse, or denote the idea of
time, as brightness. A piece of wood in a doorway would almost
as naturally suggest a threshold as an obs.ruction ; and so of
others. A bar or straight line in a doorway would more readily
suggest a closed or bolted door, which is the signification of
SIX CLASSES OF CHARACTERS.
4G3
than, anciently written jL^ ; but the idea intended to be con.
veyed by these combinations would need prior explanation as
much as the primitive symbol, though it would thenceforth readily
recur 'o mind when noticing the construction.
It ii somewhat singular that the opinion should have obtained
so much credence, that Du Ponceau deemed it worth while in an
elaborate dissertation to refute the idea that Chinese characters
addressed themselves so plainly to the eye that their meaning
was easily deducible from their shape and construction. It might
almost be said, that not a single character can be accurately
defined from a mere inspection of its parts ; and the meanings
now given of some of those which come under this class are so
arbitrary and far fetched, as to show that Chinese characters have
not been formed by rule and plummet more than words in other
languages. The mistake which Du Ponceau so learnedly com¬
bats arose, probably, from confounding sound with construction,
and inferring that because persons of different nations who used
this as their written language could understand it when written,
though mutually unintelligible when speaking, that it addressed
itself so entirely to the eye, as to need no previous explanation.
The fourth class, called chuen chu, " inverted significations,"
includes only 372 characters, being such as by some inversion,
contraction, or alteration of their parts, acquire different mean¬
ings. This class is not large, but these and other modifications
of the original symbols to express abstract and new ideas show
that those who used the Chinese language either soon saw how
cumbrous it would become if they went on forming imitative
signs, or else their invention failed, and they resorted to changes
more or less arbitrary in characters already known to furnish
distinctive signs for different ideas. Thus yu^ the hand turning
towards the right means the right; inclined in the other direction,
as tso ^ it means the left. The heart placed beneath slave, sig¬
nifies anger; threads obstructed, as ff, means to sunder; but
turned the other way, as [||, signifies continuous.
The fifth class, called kiai sliing, i. e. uniting sound sym¬
bols, contains 21,810 characters, or nearly all in the language.
They are formed of a picture or imitative symbol united to one
which merely imparts its sound to the compound ; the former
usually partakes more or less of the new idea, while the latter
464
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
loses its own meaning, and gives only its name. In this respect,
Chinese characters differ from, and are superior to the Arabic
numerals to which they have often been likened, for combina¬
tions like 25, 101, &c., although conveying the same meaning to
all nations using them, can never indicate sound. This plan
of forming new combinations by the union of symbols expressing
idea and sound, enables the Chinese to increase the number of
their characters to any extent, without multiplying the originaV
symbols ; and it is to this class that the term lexigraphic used by
Du Ponceau is properly applicable. The probable mode in
which this arose is easily explained. Supposing a new insect
was to be described, whose name had never yet been written
but which was well known in its native localities by the term
nan. It would be sufficient to designate this insect to all persons
living where it was found by selecting a well understood cha¬
racter, like ^ "south," but without reference to its meaning,
only having the exact sound nan, such as the insect itself was
called in that place, and joining it to the symbol cluing, ^
meaning insect ; it would then signify, to every one who knew
the sound and meaning of the component parts, the insect nan ;
and be read nan, meaning an insect. Some would perhaps call
it the insect south, i. e. the southern insect, but the design of the
new combination would be the guide, and the number of such
ideophonous compounds direct as to the mode of interpretation.
If this new combination of two known characters was carried to
a distant part of the country, where the insect itself was un¬
known, it would convey no more information to the Chinese who
saw the united symbol, than the sounds insect nan would to an
Englishman who heard them ; to both persons a meaning must
be given by describing the insect. If, however, the people
living in this region of the country called the phonetic part of
the new character by another sound, as nam, nem, or lam, they
would attach the same name to the whole combination when they
saw it ; and the people on the spot would, perhaps, not under¬
stand them when they spoke of it by that name, until they had
written it, when both would give it the same signification, but a
different sound. In this way, and the example of the insect nan
here cited is not a supposed case, most Chinese characters have
probably originated. This rule of sounding them according to
the phonetic part is not in all cases certain ; for in the lapse of
MODE OF COMBINING PHONETiC CHARACTERS. 465
time, the sounds of many characters have changed, while those
of the parts themselves have not altered ; in other cases, the parts
have altered, and the sounds remained ; so that now only a
great degree of probability as to the correct sound can be obtained
by inspecting the component parts. The similarity in sound
between most of the characters having the same phonetic part
or primitive is a great assistance in reading Chinese, though
very little in understanding it; while the large proportion
of characters formed on this principle has induced some sino¬
logues to arrange the whole language according to the phonetic
part, but there are too many exceptions to make it a very usefu?
arrangement in practice. The most elaborate work of the kin;
is the Systema Phoneticum of Callery. There are a few in-
stances of an almost inadvertent arrival at a true syllabic sys¬
tem, by which the initial consonant of one part when joined to
the final vowel of the other, gives the sound of the character ; as
ma and fx, in the character when united in this way, make
mi. The meanings of the components are liemp and not, that of
the compound is extravagant,, wasteful, &c., showing little or no
relation to the primary signification. The number of such cha¬
racters is very small, and the syllabic composition here noticed
is probably fortuitous, and not intentional.
The sixth class, called Ida tsiC, i. e. borrowed uses, includes
metaphoric symbols and combinations, in which the meaning is
deduced by a somewhat fanciful accommodation ; the total num¬
ber of such characters is 598. They differ but little from the
second class of indicative symbols. For instance, the symbol
'■i*- or meaning a written character, is composed of a child
under a shelter,—characters being considered as the well nur¬
tured offspring of hieroglyphics. The character for hall means
also mother, because she constantly abides there. The word for
mind or heart is sin djL>, originally intended to represent that
organ, but now used entirely in a metaphorical sense. Chinese
grammarians find abundant scope for the display of their fancy
in explaining the etymology and origin of the characters, but the
aid which their researches give towards understanding the lan¬
guage as at present used is small. This classification under six
heads is modern, and was devised as a means of arranging what
existed already, for they confess that their characters were not
21*
466
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
formed according to fixed rules, and have gradually undergone
many changes.
The total number in the six classes is 24,235, being many less
than are found in Kanghi's Dictionary, which amount to 44,449 ;
but in the larger sum are included the obsolete and synonymous
characters, which, if deducted, would reduce it to nearly the
same number. It is probable that the total of really different
characters in the language sanctioned by good usage, does not
vary greatly from 25,000, though authors have stated them at
from 54,409, as Magaillans docs, up to 260,899, as Montucci.
The Chinese editor of the large lexicon on which Dr. Morrison
founded his Dictionary, gives it as his opinion that there are fifty
thousand characters, including synonyms and different forms ;
and taking in every variety of tones given to the words, and
sounds for which no characters exist, that there are five thousand
different words. But even the sum of 25,000 different charac¬
ters contains thousands of unusual ones which are seldom met
with, and which, as is the case with old words in English, are
not often learned. The burden of remembering so many com¬
plicated symbols, whose form, sound, and meanings are all ne¬
cessary to enable the student to read and write intelligibly, is so
great that the literati have abridged those in common use, and
increased their meanings, by which they save no little toil. This
course of procedure really occurs in most languages, and in the
Chinese greatly reduces the labor of acquiring it, though it can¬
not be ascertained how many are indispensable to enable the
student to read common books. It may, however, be safely said
that a good knowledge of ten thousand characters will enable
one to read any work in Chinese, and write intelligibly on any
subject; and Premare says a good knowledge of four or five
thousand characters is sufficient for all common purposes, and
two thirds of that number might in fact suffice. The nine cano¬
nical works contain altogether only 4601 different characters,
while in the Five Classics alone there are over two hundred
thousand words. The entire number of different characters in
the code of laws translated by Staunton is under two thousand.
The invention of printing and the compilation of dictionaries
nave given to the form of modern characters a greater degree of
certainty than they had in ancient times. The variants of some
' f the most common ones were exceedingly numerous before this
MOUt-b OF ARRANGING 3HARACTt,"- 3.
467
period ; Callcry gives 42 different modes of writing pau, " pre¬
cious and 41 for writing tsun, " honorable this shows both the
absence of an acknowledged standard, and the slight intercourse
there was between learned men. The best mode of arranging:
O O
the characters so as to find them easily, has been a subject of
considerable trouble to Chinese lexicographers, and the various
methods they have adopted renders it somewhat difficult to con¬
sult their dictionaries without considerable previous knowledge
of the language. In some of them, those having the same sound
have been grouped together, so that it is necessary to know what
a character is called before it can be found ; and this arrange¬
ment has been followed in several small vocabularies designed
principally for the use of the common people. One well-known
vocabulary used at Canton, called the Fan Yun, or Divider of
Sounds, is arranged on this plan, the words being placed under
thirty-three orders, according to their terminations. Each order
is subdivided into three or four classes according to the tones,
and all the characters having the same tone and termination are
placed together, as kam, lam, tam, nam, &c. As might be readily
supposed, it requires considerable time to find a character whose
tone is not exactly known ; and even when the tone is known,
the uncertainty is equally troublesome if the termination is not
familiar: for singular as it may seem to those who are acquaint¬
ed with phonetic languages only, a Chinese can, if anything,
more readily distinguish between two words &ming and bming,
whose tones are unlike, than he can between Pining and %meng,
#ming or #ling, where the initial or final differs a little, and
the tones are the same.
An improvement on this plan of arrangement was made by
adopting the mode of expressing the sounds of Chinese charac¬
ters introduced by the Budhists, which was to take the initial of
the sound of one character and the final of another, and combine
them to indicate the sound of the given character ; as from li-en
and y-ing to form ling. The inhabitants of Arnoy use a small
lexicon called the Slvih-ivu Yin, or Fifteen Sounds, in which the
characters are ingeniously classified on this principle, by first
arranging them all under fiftj fina's, and then placing all those
having the same termination in a regular series under fifteen
initials. Common, well-known characters are selected to indi¬
cate both the initials and finals. Supposing a new character,
468
THE MIDDLE KINGI )M.
chien, is seen, whose sound is given, or the word i* heard in con-
versation and its meanings are wanted, the perso 1 turns to the
part of the book containing the final ien, which is designated per.
haps by the character kien, and looks along the initials until he
comes to ch, which is indicated by the character chang. In
this column, all the words in the book read or spoken cliien, of
whatever tone they may be, are placed together according to
their tones ; and a little practice readily enables a person speak¬
ing the dialect to use this manual. It is, however, of little or no
avail to persons speaking other dialects, or to those whose ver¬
nacular differs much from that of the compiler, whose own ear
was his only guide. Complete dictionaries have been published
on the phonetic plan, the largest of which, the Wu Ch£ Yun Fu,
is arranged with so much minuteness of intonation as to puzzle
even the best educated natives, and consequently abridge its use¬
fulness as an expounder of words.
The unfitness of either of these modes of arrangement to find
a new character, led to another classification according to their
composition, by selecting the most prominent parts of each cha¬
racter as its key, and placing those together in which the same
key occurred, totally irrespective of their sounds. It is not
certain that this plan was adopted subsequently to that of arrang¬
ing the characters according to the sounds, for the objects aimed
at are apparently unlike ; the latter being designed for the use
of natives speaking the language, while the classification under
keys is intended for the benefit of those who, like the Manchus,
are ignorant of its sounds. Lexicographers differ as to the num¬
ber of keys, some having more than 500, others about 300, but
the dictionary called Kanghi Tsz' Tien, arranges all charac¬
ters under 214 keys, or radicals. This number is entirely arbi¬
trary, and could have been advantageously reduced, as has been
shown by Goncalves ; but its universal adoption, more than any¬
thing else, renders it the best system now in use. All characters
found under the same radical are placed consecutively, according
to the number of strokes necessary to write them, but no regu¬
larity is observed in placing those having the same number of
strokes. The term primitive lias been technically applied to the
remaining part of the character, which, though perhaps no older
than the radical, is conveniently denoted by this word. The
characters selected for the 214 radicals are all common ones,
RADICALS AND PRIMIT 7ES COMPRISING CHAP > OTERS. 4'd9
and among the most ancici t in the language; they are here
grouped according to their meanings in order to show something
of the leading ideas followed in combination.
Parts of bodies.—Body, corpse, head, hair, down, whiskers, face, eye,
ear, nose, mouth, teeth, tusk, tongue, hand, heart, foot, hide, leather,
skin, wings, feathers, blood, flesh, talons, horn, bones.
Zoological radicals.—Man, woman, child ; horse, sheep, tiger, dog,
ox, hog, hog's head, deer ; tortoise, dragon, reptile, mouse, toad ; bird,
gallinaceous fowls ; fish ; insect.
Botanical.—Herb, grain, rice, wheat, millet, hemp, leeks, melon
pulse, bamboo, sacrificial herb ; wood, branch, sprout, petal.
Mineral.—Metal, stone, gems, salt, earth.
Meteorological.—Rain, wind, fire, water, icicle, vapor, sound; sun,
moon, evening; time.
Utensils.—A chest, a measure, a mortar, spoon, knife, bench, couch,
crockery, clothes, tiles, dishes, napkin, net, plough, vase, tripod, boat,
carriage, pencil; bow, halberd, arrow, dart, ax, musical reed, drum,
seal.
Qualities.—Black, white, yellow, azure, carnation, sombre ; color;
high, long, sweet, square, large, small, strong, lame, slender, old, fra¬
grant, acrid, perverse, base, opposed.
Actions.—To enter, to follow, to walk slowly, to arrive at, to stride, to
walk, to run, to reach to, to touch, to stop, to fly, to overspread, to en¬
velop, to encircle, to establish, to overshadow, to adjust, to distinguish,
to divine, to see, to eat, to speak, to kill, to fight, to oppose, to stop, to
embroider, to owe, to compare, to imitate, to bring forth, to use, to pre-
mulge.
Parts of the world, and dwellings; figures; miscellaneous.—A desert,
cave, field, den, mound, hill, valley, rivulet, cliff* retreat. A city ; roof,
gate, door, portico. One, two, eight, ten. Demon ; an inch, mile ; with¬
out, not, false ; a scholar, statesman, letters ; art, wealth ; motion; self,
myself, father ; a point ; again ; wine ; silk ; joined hands; a long
journey ; print of a bear's foot; a surname ; classifier of cloth.
The number of characters found under each of these radicals
in Kanglu's Dictionary varies from five up to 1354. The radical
is not uniformly placed in the character, but its usual position is
on the left of the primitive. Some radicals occur on the top,
others on the bottom ; some inclose the primitive, and many
have no fixed place, making it evident that no uniform plan was
adopted in the original construction. The 214 radicals must be
thoroughly learned before the dictionary can be readily used, and
470
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM
soms practice had before a character can quickly found, even
by this method.* This arrangement is not arbitrary, and the
groups found under a majority of the radicals are more or less
natural in their general meaning, a feature of the language
which has already been noticed (page 292). Some of the radi¬
cals are interchanged, and characters having the same meaning
sometimes occur under two or three different ones—variations
which seem to have arisen from the little importance which of
two or three similar radicals was taken. Thus the same word
tsien. " a small cup," is written under the three radicals gem,
■porcelain, and horn, originally, no doubt, referring to the material
for making it. This interchange of radicals adds greatly to the
number of duplicate forms, which are still farther increased by
a similar interchange of primitives having precisely the same
sound. These two changes very seldom occur in the same
character, but there are numerous instances of synonymous
forms under almost every radical, arising from an interchange
of primitives, and also under analogous radicals caused by their
reciprocal use. Thus, from both these causes, there are, under
the radical ma, " a horse," 118 duplicate forms, leaving 293 dif¬
ferent words ; of the 204 characters under niu, " an ox," 39 are
synonymous forms ; and so under other radicals. These charac¬
ters do not differ in meaning more than favor and favour, or lady
and ladye ; they are mere variations in the form of writing, and
though apparently adding greatly to the number of characters,
do not seriously increase the difficulty of learning the language.
Variants of other descriptions frequently occur in books,
which do, however, needlessly add to the labor of learning the
language. They arise from various causes. Ancient forms are
sometimes adopted by pedantic writers to show their learning,
while ignorant and careless writers use abridged or vulgar
forms, because they either do not know the correct form, or are
too heedless in using it. When such is the case, and the cha¬
racter cannot be found in the dictionary, the reader is entirely at
fault, especially if he be a foreigner, though in China itself he
would not experience much difficu cy where the natives were at
hand to refer to. Vulgar forms are very common in cheap
• Easy Lessons in Chirese, pp. 3-2 ■ Chinese Repository Vol III .
pp. 1-37.
VARIANTS AND UNAUTHORIZED CHARACTERS. 471
books and letters, which are as unsanctioned by the dictionaries
and good use, as cockney phrases or miner's slang are in pure
English. They arise, either from a desire on the part of the
writer to save time by making a contracted form of few strokes in¬
stead of the correct character of many strokes; or he uses com¬
mon words to express an energetic vulgar phrase, for which there
are no authorized characters, but which will be easily understood
phonetically by his readers. These characters would perchance
not be understood at all at a distance by any Chinese, because
the phrase itself was new ; their individual meaning, indeed, has
nothing to do with the sense of the sentence, for in this case they
are merely signs of sound, like words in other languages, and
lose their lexigraphic character. For instance, the words kia-fx
for colice, leap-tan for captain, mx-sz' for Mr., hum-pa-lang for all,
&c., however they were written at Canton, would be intelligible
to a native of that city if they expressed those sounds, because
he was familiar with the words themselves ; but a native of
ShensI would not understand them, because, not knowing the
things intended, he would naturally refer to the characters them¬
selves for the meaning of the phrase, and thus be wholly misled.
Thus kia-fi, or coffee, is usually written to mean a frame and not;
Mr., when analysed in this way, means leautiful scholar, neither
of which, of course, indicates the idea of those words. In such
cases, the characters become mere syllables of a phonetic
word. Purely phonetic phrases or characters are, however, sel¬
dom met with in other than the most common books, for the
language is fully competent to express all the ideas of its em¬
ployers ; when used they are frequently designated by adding the
radical mouth on the left side to show that their sounds only are
to be taken, and not their meanings.
In addition to the variations in the forms of characters, the
Chinese have six different styles of writing them, which cor¬
respond to black-letter, script, italic, roman, &c., in English,
but are much more unlike than those. The first is called Chuen
shu, from the name of the person who invented it, but foreigners
usually call it the seal character, from its most common use in
seals and ornamental inscriptions. It is the most ancient style of
writing next to the picture hieroglyphics, and has undergone
many changes in the course of ages. It is studied by those whe
out seals or inscriptions, but no books are ever printed in it
472
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The second is the li shu, or style of official attendants, which
was introduced about the Christian era, as an elegant style to be
employed in engrossing documents. It is now seen in prefaces
and formal inscriptions, though to a small extent, and requires
little or no special study to read it, as it differs but slightly from
the following.
The third is the kiai shu, or pattern style, and has been gradu¬
ally formed by the improvements in good writing. It is the usual
form of Chinese characters, and no one can claim a literary name
among his countrymen if he cannot write neatly and correctly in
this style ; books are sometimes printed in it.
The fourth is called lung shu, or running hand, and is the com¬
mon hand of a neat writer. It is frequently used in prefaces and
inscriptions, scrolls and tablets, and there are books prepared in
parallel columns having this and the pattern style arranged for
school-boys to learn to write both at the same time. The two
differ so much that the running hand cannot be read without a
special study ; and although this labor is not very serious when
the language of books is familiar, still to become well acquainted
with both of them withdraws many days and months of the pupil
from progress in acquiring knowledge to learning two modes of
writing the same word. Shopmen use the running hand, and
are sometimes better acquainted with its abridged forms than they
are with the fuller one of books.
The fifth style is called tsau tsz', or plant character, and is
a freer description of running hand than the preceding, being full
of abbreviations, and the pencil runs from character to character,
without taking it from the paper, almost at the writer's fancy. It
is more difficult to read than the preceding, but as the abbrevia¬
tions are somewhat optional, the tsau tsz' varies considerably, and
more or less resembles the running-hand according to the will of
the writer. The fancy of the Chinese for a " flowing pencil,"
and a mode of writing where the elegance and freedom of .'he
caligraphy can be admired as much or more than the style or
sentiment of the writing, as well as the desire to contract their
multangular characters as much as possible, has contributed to
introduce and perpetuate these two styles of writing. How much
all these varieties of form superadd to the difficulty of learning
the mere apparatus of knowledge need hardly be stared.
The sixth style is called Sung shu, and was introduced under
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SIX STYLES OF WRITING.
475
the Sung dynasty in the tenth century, soon after printing on
wooden blocks was invented, and still continues to be more used
than any other in well printed books. It differs from the kiai shu,
or pattern style, merely in a certain squareness of shape and
angularity of stroke, which transcribers for the press only are
obliged to learn. Of these six forms of writing, the pattern style
and running hand are the only two which the people learn to any
grea. extent, although many acquire the knowledge of some words
in the seal character, and the running hand of every person,
especially those engaged in business, approaches more or less to
the plant character. But it is not necessary to learn more than
one style of writing, to be able to read and communicate on all
occasions, and foreigners will seldom find it worth their while to
learn to write the liing shu.
Besides these six styles of characters, there are a few fanciful
forms, which are found in books and inscriptions, but are not
commonly learned. Kienlung brought together all the known
forms when printing his Eloge du Moukden, and that work pro¬
bably contains the most complete collection extant. No better
evidence of the effete condition of the national mind of China
could be demanded, than the toilsome study and childish paina
bestowed by her scholars upon the mere insignia and represen¬
tations of thought, instead of turning their attention to indepen¬
dent original investigation, and thus enlarging the bounds of
knowledge. If they had done so, the cumbrous vehicle they
now use to express their ideas would perhaps have been
materially modified and simplified, and the literature of other
tongues been studied and availed of to enrich it; nor is there
any means so likely to induce them to reduce the labor of
learning the characters as to teach them the treasures of thought
contained in other languages, now almost inaccessible to them.
The degree to which punning upon the forms, construction, and
sounds of characters is carried is very great, and is only another
exemplification of the same waste of mind and study.
The Chinese regard their characters as highly elegant, and
take unwearied pains to learn to write them in a beautiful,
uniform, well-proportioned manner. Students are generally
provided with a painted board upon which they practise with a
brush dipped in blackened water, until they acquire the easy
Uyle and symmetrical shape, so difficult to attain in writing
476
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Chinese. The articles used in writing, collectively called
wan fang sz' pau, or four precious things of the library, are
the pencil, ink, paper, and ink-stone. The best pencils are
made of the bristly hair of the sable and fox, and cheaper ones
from the deer, cat, wolf, and rabbit. A combination of softness
and elasticity is required in the pencils, and those who are
skilled in their use discern a difference and an excellence
altogether imperceptible to a novice. The hairs are laid in a
regular manner, and when tied up are brought to a delicate tip ;
the handle is made of the twigs of a bamboo cultivated for the
purpose. The ink, usually known as India ink, is made from
'.he soot of burning oil, pine, fir, and other substances, mixed
with glue or isinglass, and scented. It is cast or pressed into
small oblong cakes or cylinders, usually inscribed with a name
and advertisement, and the best kinds are put up in a very
tasteful manner. A singular error formerly obtained credence
regarding this ink, that it was inspissated from the fluid found in
the cuttle-fish. When used, the ink is rubbed with water upon
argillite, marble, or other stones, some of which are cut and
ground in a beautiful manner. Most of the paper used is made
from the bamboo, by triturating the woody fibre to a pulp in
"inortars after the pieces have been soaked in mud, and then
taking it up in moulds ; the pulp is sometimes mixed with a little
cotton fibre, and inferior sorts are made entirely from cotton or
from the bark of the paper tree (Broussonetia). The paper
made from bamboo is soft and thin, of a yellow tint, and when
wetted has little consistency; no sizing is put in it.
In the days of Confucius, pieces of bamboo pared thin, leaves,
and reeds, were all used for writing upon with a sharp stick or
stile. About the third century before Christ, silk and cloth
were employed, and hair pencils made for writing upon them.
Paper was invented about the first century, and India ink came
into use during the seventh; and the present mode of printing
upon blocks was adopted from the discovery of Fungtau in the
tenth century, of taking impressions from engraved stones. In
the style of their notes and letters, the Chinese show much neat¬
ness and elegance ; narrow slips of tinted paper are employed,
on which various emblematic designs are stamped in water lines,
and inclosed in fanciful envelops. It is common to affix a
cypher instead of the name, or to close with a periphrasis 01
ELEMENTARY STROKES OF THE CHARACTERS.
sentence well understood by the parties, and thereby avoid any
signature, this, which originated no doubt in a fear o: intercep¬
tion and unpleasant consequences, has gradually become a com.
mon mode of subscribing friendly epistles.
All the strokes in the characters are reduced to eight elemen-
tary ones by copy writers, which in their view are all contained
in the single character yungi eternal.
^ —* ! ) y
A dot, \ line, a perpendicular, a hook, a spike, a sweep, a stroke, a dash-line.
Each of these is subdivided into many forms in copy-books,
having particular names, with directions how to write them,
and numerous examples introduced under each stroke.*
The mode of printing first adopted by the Chinese was so well
fitted for their language that few improvements have since been
made in its manipulations, while the cheapness with which books
can be manufactured, brings them within reach of the poorest.
Cutting the blocks, and writing the characters, form two distinct
branches of the business, besides which, printing the sheets,
binding the volumes, and publishing the books, furnish employ¬
ment to other craftsmen. The first step in the manufacture is to
write the characters upon thin paper, ruled with lines for the sepa¬
ration of the columns and the division of the pages, two pages
always being cut upon one block, and a heavy double line sur¬
rounding them. The title of the work, chapter, and paging are
cut in a column between the pages, and when the leaf is printed
it is folded through this column so as to bring the characters on
the edge and partly on both pages, which renders it easy to
refer to a page or chapter. Marginal notes are placed on the top
of the page ; comments, when greatly extended, occupy the upper
part, separated from the text by a heavy line, or when mere
scholia, are interlined in the same column in characters of half
the size. Sometimes two works are printed together, one running
through the volume on the upper half of the leaves, and separated
* Chinese Clu estomathy, chap. I., Sects. 5 and 6, where the rules for
writing Chinese ire given in full with numerous examples; Easy Lessont
in Chinese, page C9; Chinese Repository, Vol. III., page 37
478
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
from that, occupying the lower half by a heavy linr lllustra
tions usually occupy separate pages at the commencen cnt of the
book, but there are a few works with wood cuts of a wretched
description, inserted in the body of the page. In books
printed by government, each page is sometimes surrounded with
dragons, or the title-page is surmounted by this emblem of imperial
authority.
When the leaf has been completely written out, just as it is to
be printed, it is turned over and pasted upon the block, face down¬
wards, to invert the whole page. The wood usually used by
blockcutters is pear or plum ; the boards are half or three-fourths
of an inch thick, and planed for cutting on both sides, of various
dimensions according to the size of the book. The paper, when
dried upon the board, is carefully rubbed off with the wetted
finger, leaving every character and stroke plainly delineated upon
the block. The cutter then, with his chisels, cuts away all the
blank spots in and around the characters, to the depth of a line
or more, after which the block is ready for the printer. This
new workman employs very simple machinery. Seated before a
bench, he lays the block carefully on a bed of paper so that it
will not move and chafe the under side. The pile of paper lies
on one side, the pot of ink before him, and the pressing brush on
the other. Taking the ink brush, he slightly rubs it across the
block twice in such a way as to lay the ink equably over the
whole surface ; he then places a sheet of paper upon it, and over
that another, which serves as a tympanum. The utensil with
which the impression is taken, is the fibrous bark of the gomuti
palm, and well fitted for the purpose ; one or two sweeps of it
across the block complete the impression, for only one side of the
paper is printed. Besides printing from wooden blocks, there is
also a cheaper way used for publishing slips of news, court cir¬
culars, &c., to cut the characters on hard wax, and print the
impressions as long as they are legible. The ink used in printing
is manufactured from lampblack mixed with cheap vegetable oil;
the printers grind it up for themselves; they also cut the paper
into such forms as they require from the long sheets obtained
from the paper-makers.
The sheets are taken from the printer by the binder, who folds
them through the middle by the line around the pages, and those
across the sheet between them, so that the columns shall register
PAPER, INK, AND MODE OF PRINTING.
479
with each other, and then collates them into volumes, placing the
leaves evenly in the book by their folded edge, when the whole
are arranged, and the covers laid on each side. Two pieces of
paper arc merely run through the back, the book is trimmed, and
sent forthwith to the bookseller. If required, it is stitched along
the back with thread, which holds the leaves firmly together, but
this part of the manufacture, as well as writing the title on the
lower end of the volume, and making the pasteboard wrapper,
are usually deferred till the taste of a purchaser is ascertained.
Books made of such materials are not as durable as European
books, and those who can afford the expense frequently have
their valuable works inclosed in wooden boxes. They are
printed of all sizes between small sleeve editions (as the Chinese
call 24 and 32 mos.) up to quartos, 12 or 14 in. square, larger
than which it is difficult to get blocks. The price varies accord¬
ing to the demand and character of the work, from twenty-five
or thirty pages for a single cent up to a dollar and more a volume.
The volumes seldom contain more than a hundred leaves, and
their thickness is increased in fine books by inserting an extra
sheet inside of each leaf. The San Kwoh Chi, or History of the
Three States, may be cited as a cheap book ; it is bound in twenty-
one volumes 12 mo., printed on white paper, and is usually sold for
seventy-five cents or a dollar. Kangln's Dictionary in twenty-
one volumes 8vo. on yellow paper sells for four dollars ; and all
the nine classics can be purchased for less than two. Books are
hawked about the streets, circulating libraries are carried from
nouse to house upon movable stands, and booksellers' shops are
frequent in large towns. No censorship, other than a prohibition
to write about the present dynasty, is exercised upon the press;
nor are authors protected by a copyright law. Men of wealth
sometimes show their literary taste by defraying the expense of
getting the blocks of extensive works cut, and publishing them.
Pwan Sz'ching, usually known by foreigners as Tingqua, lately
published an edition of the Pei Wan Yun Fu, a large thesaurus,
in one hundred and thirty thick octavo volumes, the blocks for
which must have cost him more than ten thousand dollars. The
blocks for a small edition of the Chinese New Testament cost
about $1100. The number of good impressions which can be
obtained from a set of blocks is about 16,000, and by re.
touching th 3 characters, ten thousand more can be struck off.
180
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The principal disadvantages of this mode of pi nting are that
other languages cannot easily be introduced into the page with
the Chinese characters; the blocks occupy much room, and are
easily spoiled or lost; and are incapable of correction without
much expense. It possesses some compensatory advantages
peculiar to the Chinese and its cognate languages, as Manchu,
Corean, Japanese, &c., all of which are written with a brush and
have few or no circular strokes; for these it is better fitted than
it would be for European languages, but even for them, it is not
so cheap in the long run as metallic movable types, and our com-
mon mode of printing by presses. At first, it requires a very
small outlay to publish a book by block cutting, yet a million of
volumes can be printed cheaper with types than by blocks, even
including all the initiatory expense of cutting punches, driving
matrices, casting type, and furnishing presses.
The experiment of printing Chinese books with metallic types
has been tried with complete success in the missions established
in the country, and there are now several fonts of type so far
completed as to be used in the manufacture of books. The first
font was made by Mr. P. P. Thoms, for printing Dr. Morrison's
Dictionary, by cutting every separate character upon blocks of
tin or lead with a chisel; the cost of the two sets he made in this
tedious manner would have furnished matrices for a complete
font far more uniform in style than it was possible to obtain in
this way, though the font has been of great use. A small one
was cast from matrices at Serampore, by Dr. Marshman, and is
still in use. Mr. Dyer of Malacca turned his attention to the
subject in 1833, and commenced the preparation of type from steel
punches, which he completed sufficiently to be able to print
simple tracts; he also undertook the manufacture of punches for
a smaller font, both of them much more elegant than anything
heretofore attempted, but his death suspended their completion
for a time. Previous to this, a font had been made in Paris by
casting a thick mass of metal from finely cut blocks, and then
sawing it into separate types ; the plan was a cheap one, but the
type were rough and inelegant. Another plan was also adopted
in that city of making divisible type for characters composed
of a radical and primitive, by which the number of punches
required is materially lessened; it is similar to that of making
logotypes in English of the Latin prefixes ad, con, dis, &c.3 and
MOVABLE TYPE FOR PRINTING CHINESE.
481
joining them to verbs, also cast solid, as cluce, vert, &c., forming
the words adduce, deduce, educe, reduce, conduce, subvert, pervert,
&c. This mode of making type has been found to combine
the qualities of cheapness and variety better than any other
plan; and although the parts of some combined characters
are so disproportionate as to be unseemly, still the number
of such appearing on a page of printed matter is so small
as not to detract at all from its general beauty. A second
font of larger size is now making on the same plan in Berlin,
under the direction of A. Beyerhaus. All these fonts, except
that made in Paris from blocks, have been planned or completed
by missionaries, and the type used chiefly in printing religious
or philological works under their direction.*
Nothing has conduced more to a misapprehension of the nature
of the Chinese language than the way in which its phonetic cha¬
racter has been spoken of by different authors. Some, describing
the ancient, primitive symbols, and the modifications they have
undergone, have conveyed the impression that the whole lan¬
guage consisted of hieroglyphic or ideographic signs, which de¬
picted ideas, and conveyed their meaning entirely to the eye,
irrespective of the sound. For instance, Ilemusat says, " The
character is not the delineation of the sound, nor the sound the
expression of the characterbut yet every character has a
sound as much as in alphabetic languages, and some have more
than one to express their different meanings ; so that although
the character was not originally intended to delineate the sound
of the thing it denoted, still the sound is the expression of the
character. Others, as Mr. Lay (Chinese as They Are, chap
xxxiv.), have dissected the characters as they are now found,
and endeavored to trace back some analogy in the meanings of
all those in which the same primitive is found, by a sort of
analysis, something like determining the amount of profit and loss
accruing to each individual stockholder in a bank or canal, to
find out how much of the signification of the radical was infused
into the primitive to form the present meaning. His plan, in
general terms, is to take all the characters in the language con¬
taining a certain primitive, and find out how much of the mean-
ing of that primitive is contained in each one; then he recon-
• Chinese Repository, Vol. III., pp. 246—252, 523 ; Vol. XIV., page 124
22
482
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
structs the series by defining the primitive, incidentally showing
the intention of the framers of the characters in choosing that
particular one, and apportioning so much of its aggregate mean¬
ing to each character as is needed, and adding the meaning of
the radical to form its whole signification. If we understand his
plan; he wishes to construct a formula for each group containing
the same primitive, in which the signification of the primitive is a
certain function in that of all the characters containing it; to add
up the total of their meanings, and divide the amount among the
characters, allotting a quotient to each one. Languages are not
so formed, however, and the Chinese is no exception. Some of
Mr. Lay's statements are correct, but his theory is unfounded.
It is impossible to decide now what proportion of the charac¬
ters were made by combining a radical and a primitive, with
reference entirely to their meanings, according to Mr. Lay's
theory, and how many of them are syllabic combinations, where
the sound and not the sense of the latter has guided in its selec¬
tion ; the probability is that most of the compound characters
have been constructed on the latter principle.
The fifth class of syllabic symbols were in most cases formed,
as has been stated, by combining the symbolic and syllabic sys¬
tems, so as to represent sound chiefly, but bearing in the con¬
struction of each one some reference to its general signification.
The original hieroglyphics contained no sound, i. e. were not
formed of phonetic constituents, though of course the object
depicted had a name ; but there was no clue to it. It was im¬
possible to do both—depict the object, and write its name in the
same character. At first, the number of people using these
ideographic symbols beisg probably small, every one called them
by the same name, as soon as he knew what they represented ;
but at no time could learning the name be dispensed with, any
more than the infant's learning the alphabet from its mother's
mouth. But when the ideas attempted to be written far ex¬
ceeded in number the symbols, or what is more likely, the inven¬
tion of the limners, recourse was had to the combination of the
s> mbols already understood to express the new idea. This was
done in several modes, as noticed above, but the syllabic system
needs further explanation, from the extent to which it has been
carried. The character nan, to denote the chrysalis of the
locust, has been adduced. The same principle would be applied
APPLICATION OF THE SOUNDS TO CHARACTERS. 483
in reading every new character, of which the phonetic primitive
merely was recognised, although its meaning might not be known.
Probably all the characters in the fifth class were sounded in
strict accordance with their phonetic primitives when constructed,
but usage has changed some of their sounds, and many cha¬
racters belonging toother classes, apparently containing the same
primitive, are sounded quite differently; this tends to mislead
those who infer the sound from the primitive. This mode ot
constructing and naming the characters also explains the reason
why there are so few sounds in the Chinese language, compared
with the number of characters ; the phonetic primitive perpe¬
tuated its name in all its progeny.
Nearly seven eighths of all the characters in the language have
been formed from less than 2000 symbols, and it is difficult to
imagine how it could have been used to the extent it has, and for
so long a period, without some such method to relieve the memo¬
ry of the burden of retaining thousands of arbitrary marks. But,
until the names and meanings of the original symbols are learned,
neither the sound nor sense of the compound characters will be
more apparent to a Chinese than they are to any one else ; until
those are known, their combinations cannot be understood, though
even then the meaning cannot be wholly deduced ; each charac¬
ter must be learned by itself, just as words in other languages.
The sounds given the original symbols doubtless began to vary
early after coming into use, although they have not, even to this
day, lost their monosyllabic nature. Intercommunication be¬
tween the people in different parts of the country was not so
frequent as to prevent local dialects from arising; but that no
character should have had a dissyllabic name is most probably
referrible to the already well-known monosyllabic name of the
primitive, contained in the character itself, and also the impossi¬
bility of joining two characters to make one word, even where
they conveyed but one idea. If the characters could have
coalesced, their names would soon have run together, and been
modified as they are in other languages. But the sounds of the
original must be learned by ear, and in this way the numerous
patois now existing arose. The classics and other books, dic¬
tionaries, and the endless uses of a written language, maintained
the same meaning to the characters, wherever these books were
used or the language written ; but as the sound must be learned
184
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
traditionally, endless variations gradually arose. Moreov3r, as
new circumstances and increasing knowledge give rise to new
words in all countries, so in China, new scenes and expression
would arise, requiring to be incorporated into the written language.
Originally they were unwritten though well understood sounds;
and when first written must be explained, as words like tabu,
ukase, vizier, &c., are when introduced into English. Different
writers might, however, employ different primitives to express
the sound, not aware that it had already been written, and hence
would arise synonyms ; they might use dissimilar radicals, and
this would also increase the modes of writing the sound. But the
inconvenience of multiplying characters in this way would be
soon perceived in the obscurity of the sentence, for if the new
character was not in the dictionary, its sound and composition
were not enough to explain the meaning. When the language
had attained a certain copiousness, the mode of education and
the style of literary works almost compelled scholars to employ
such characters only as were sanctioned by good use, or run the
risk of not being understood.
The unwritten sounds are, however, written by the people in
any and all ways they choose, as is seen at Canton in the various
modes of writing the names of foreigners, and of foreign coun¬
tries and imports; but scholars are fastidious as to the introduc¬
tion of merely phonetic words into their compositions, and pre¬
fer to translate everything they can. This is illustrated by the
common terms Hungmau jin, or Red Bristled men, for English¬
men ; Hwaki, or Flowery Flag, for Americans; Ilwangki, or
Yellow Flag, for Danes, used instead of the proper names of those
countries. Cause and effect have acted reciprocally upon each
other in this instance : the effect of using unsanctioned charac¬
ters to express unwritten sounds, would be to render a composi¬
tion obscure, while the restriction to a set of characters compels
their meaning to be sufficiently comprehensive to include all oc¬
casions. Local, unwritten phrases, and unauthorized characters,
are so common, however, owing to the partial communication
between distant parts of so great a country and mass of people,
that it is evident, if this bond of union was removed by the sub¬
stitution of an alphabetical language, the Chinese would soon be
split into many small nations, as is the case in India. However
desirable, therefore, the introduction of a medium of communica-
MODE OF A VOIDING MISAPPREHENSION.
485
lion less difficult of acquisition, and more flexible, might be, in
order to promote the diffusion of knowledge among the people,
there are some reasons for wishing it to be delayed until more
intelligence is diffused and juster principles of government obtain,
and the people themselves feel the need of it.
The monosyllabic sound of the primitive being, as has been
shown, imparted to the combined ideophonous compound, ex¬
plains the existence of so many characters having the same
sound. When these various characters were presented to the
eye of the scholar, no trouble was felt in recognising their sense
and sound, but confusion was experienced in speaking. This
has been obviated in two ways. One is by repeating a word, or
'oining two of similar meanings but of different sounds, to convey
a single idea ; or else by adding a classifying word to express
its nature. Both these modes do in fact form a real dissyllable,
and would appear so in an alphabetical language. The first
sort of these hien-hioh sz\ or clam-shell words as the Chinese
call them, are not unfrequent in books, but they are much more
common in conversation, and render the spoken more diffuse
than the written language,—more so, perhaps, than is the case
in other tongues. Similar combinations of three, four, and more
characters occur, especially where a foreign article or term is
translated, but the genius of the language is against the use of
polysyllables. Such combinations in English as household,
housewarming, housewife, houserooni, houseleeks, hot-house, wood-
house, household-stuff, &c., illustrate these dissyllables in Chi¬
nese ; but they are not so easily understood as those are, and
such terms as understand, courtship, withdraw, upright, &c.,
present better analogies to the Chinese compounds. In some
the real meaning is totally unlike either of the terms, as tungkia
(lit. east house), for master; tungs'i (lit. east west), for thing;
kungchu (lit. lord ruler), for princess, &c. The classifiers par¬
take of the nature of adjectives, and serve not only to sort differ¬
ent words, but the same word when used in different senses.
They correspond to such words in English as herd, Jleet, trocrp,
&c. ; and to say a fleet of cows, a troop of ships, or a herd of
soldiers, would be ridiculous only in English, while a similar
misapplication wou'ld confuse the sense in Chinese.
The other way of avoiding the confusion of homophonous mo¬
nosyllables, which, notwithstanding the " clam-shell words," and
136
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Lie extensive use of classifiers, are still liable to misapprehen¬
sion, is by accurately marking its right sound or tone. The
tones are eight, divided into an upper and lower series of four
each, but as nothing analogous to them is found in European
languages, it is rather difficult to describe them. In practice,
they are often reduced to five, but only four are ever in fact
marked, which is done by a semicircle attached to one corner of
the character ; this is, however, seldom seen in books, as every
one who can read is supposed to know how to speak, and conse¬
quently to be familiar with the right tone. These four tones are
called ping, shang, ku, and jih, meaning, respectively, the even,
ascending, departing, and entering tone. The ping is divided into
an upper and lower, making, with the other three, which are
collectively called tsih, or deflected tones, the five; or by some,
and more correctly, the upper and lower series of the four are
distinguished, making eight in all. These tones are applied to
every word, and have nothing to do either with accent or em¬
phasis ; in asking or answering, entreating or refusing, railing or
flattering, soothing or recriminating, they remain ever the same.
The unlettered natives, even children and females, who know
almost nothing of the learned distinctions into four, five, seven, or
eight tones, observe them closely in their speech, and detect a
mispronunciation as soon as the learned man. A single illustra¬
tion of them will suffice. The even tone is the natural expression
of the voice, and native writers consider it the most important.
In the sentence,
" When I asked him,' Will you let me see it ?' he said,' No, I'll dc
no such thing,'"
the different cadence of the question and reply illustrate the
upper and lower even tone. The ascending tone, or shang siting,
is heard in exclamatory words as all ! indeed ! It is a little like
the crescendo in music, while the departing tone, or kit siting, cor¬
responds in the same degree to the diminuendo. The drawling tone
of repressed discontent, grumbling and eking out a reply, is not
unlike the departing tone. The juh slung, or entering tone, is an
abrupt ending, in the same modulation that the even tone is, but
as if broken off; a man about to say lock, and taken with a hic¬
cup in the middle so that he leaves off the last two letters, or the
final consonant, pronounces ti -3 juh shing. The same character
NATURE OF THE TOXES.
487
frequently has >o tones, which give different meanings to it;
[he even tone often denotes the substantive, and the kiX shing, tho
verb, but there is no regularity in this respect.
The tones are observed by natives of all ranks, speaking all
patois and dialects, and on all occasions, but they are much more
marked in the dialects of Fuhkien and Canton than in other parts
of the country, or than in the court dialect, though not the lesa
important in this than in those. They present a serious difficult/
to the adult foreigner of preaching or speaking acceptably to the
natives, for although by a proper use of classifiers, observance
of idioms, and multiplication of synonyms, he may be understood,
his speech will be rude and his words distasteful, if he does not
learn the tones accurately. In Amoy and Fuhchau, he will also
run a risk of being wholly misunderstood. If the reader, in perus¬
ing the following sentence, will accent the italicized syllables,
he will have an imperfect illustration of the confusion a wrong
intonation produces. " The present of that object occasioned such
a transport as to abstract my mind from all around." In Chinese,
however, it is not accent upon one of two syllables which must be
learned, but the integral tone of a single sound, as much as in the
musical octave.
It is unnecessary here to enter into any detailed description or
enumeration of the words in the Chinese language. One remark¬
able feature is the frequency of the termination ng preceded by
all the vowels, which imparts a peculiar singing character to
Chinese speech, as Kwangtung, Yanglsz' kiang, &c. In a list
of sounds in the court dialect, about one-sixth of the syllables
have this termination, but a far larger proportion of characters
would be found under those syllables, than the mere list indicates.
The total number of sounds in the court dialect as given in Mor¬
rison's Dictionary is 411, but if the aspirated syllables be dis¬
tinguished, there are 533. In the Canton dialect, there are,
including aspirated words, 646 ; and in that spoken at Amoy,
according to Medhurst's Dictionary, 840. The largest part of
the sounds are common to the three dialects, but the distinctions
between them are such as to render it easy to detect each when
spoken ; the court dialect is the most mellifluous of the whole
and easiest to acquire, though the others are not without euphony.
For a comparative view of the sounds in the three dialects, see
Williams' English and Chinese Vocabulary. All the consonants
s88
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
in English ai'e found in one or other of the dialects, hesidea
many not occurring in that language, as bw, chw, gw, jw, Iw, mw,
nw, &c. There are also several imperfect vowel sounds not
known in any European language, which are consequently hard
to be expressed by Roman letters, as hm or'm, hn or 'n, nS (a
high nasal sound), sz\ 'rh, ch\ &c. The phrase 'm 'ngt&k in the
Canton dialect, meaning cannot be pushed, or chain mai'1 lang, " a
blind man," in the Fuhkien, cannot be so accurately expressed
by these or any other letters that one can learn the sound from
them. If it is difficult for us to express their sounds by Roman
letters, it is still stranger for the Chinese to write English words.
For instance, baptize in the Canton dialect becomes pa-pi-tai-sz\
flannel becomes fat-lan-yin ; stairs becomes sz'-ta-sz' ; impregna¬
ble becomes im-pi-luk-na-pu-li ; &c. Such words as Washing¬
ton, midshipman, tongue, &c., can be written nearer their true
sound, but the indivisible words of Chinese offer a serious obsta¬
cle in the way of introducing foreign words and knowledge into
the language.
The preceding observations explain how the numerous local
Variations from the general language found in all parts of China
have arisen. Difficult as the spoken language is for a foreigner
to acquire, from the brevity of the words and nicety of their
tones, the variety of the local pronunciations given to the same
character adds not a little to the labor, especially if the foreigner
be situated where he is likely to come in contact with persons
from different places. Amid such a diversity of pronunciation,
and where one sound is really as correct as another, it is not easy
to define what should constitute a dialect, a patois, or a corrup¬
tion. A dialect in other languages is usually described as a
local variation in pronunciation, or the use of peculiar words
and expressions, not affecting the idiom or grammar of the
tongue ; but in the Chinese, where the written character unites
the mass of people in one language, a dialect has been usually
regarded by those who have written on the subject, as extending
o variations in the idiom, and not restricted to differences in pro¬
nunciation and local expressions. According to this definition,
there are only three principal dialects, which would in fact be as
many languages if they were not united by the written character,
but an endless variety of patois or local pronunciations. So fax
as is known the Chinese have published books to illustrate only
THE COURT DIALECT.
489
three, viz. the court, Canton, and Fuhkien dialects. The differ¬
ences in the idioms and pronunciation are such as to render per¬
sons speaking them mutually unintelligible, but do not affect the
style of writing, whose idioms are founded upon the usage of the
best writers, and remain unchanged.
The court language, the kwan hwa, or mandarin dialect, is rathei
the proper language of the country, the Chinese language, than a
dialect. It is studied and spoken by all educated men, and no one
can make any pretence to learning or accomplishments who can¬
not converse in it in whatever part of the empire he may be born.
It is the common language throughout five or six of the north¬
eastern provinces, especially Honan, Shantung, and Nganhwui,
though presenting more or less variations even in them from the
standard of the court and capital. This speech is characterized
by its soft and mellifluous tones, the absence of all harsh, conso¬
nantal endings, and the prevalence of liquids and labials. In
parts of the provinces where it is spoken, as the eastern portions
of Chehkiang and Kiangsu, gutturals are common, and the initials
softened or changed.
This tongue is the most ancient speech now spoken in Asia, for
stanzas of poetry written twenty-five centuries ago in the times
previous to Confucius, are now read with the same rhymes as
when penned. The expressions of the kican hwa, although
resembling the written language more than the other dialects, are
still unlike it, being more diffuse and containing many synonyms
and particles, not required to make the sense clear when it is
addressed to the eye. The difference is such in this respect that
two well educated Chinese speaking in the terse style of books
would hardly understand each other, and be obliged to use more
words to convey their meaning when speaking than they would
consider elegant or necessary in an essay. This is, to be sure,
more or less the case in all languages, but from the small variety
of sounds and their monosyllabic brevity, it is unavoidable in
Chinese, though it must not be inferred that the language cannot
be written so as to be understood when read off; it can of courst
be written as diffusely as it is spoken, but such a style is not con
sidered very elegant. There are books written in the colloquialv
however, from which it is not difficult to learn the style of convex -
sation, and such books are among the best to put into the handi
of a foreigner when beginning the study.
22* .
490
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The local patois of a place is called tu tan jr hiang tan, i. «,
ocal or village brogue, and there is an interpreter of it attached
to almost every officer's court for the purpose of translating the
peculiar phrases of witnesses and others brought before him.
The term dialect cannot, strictly, in its previous definition, be ap¬
plied to the tu tan, though it is usually so called ; it is a patois
or brogue. The Canton dialect is called bv the citizens of that
city pak wa, " the plain speech," because it is more intelligible to
them than the court dialect. It is comparatively easy of acqui¬
sition, and differs less from the kwan luva, in its pronunciation and
idioms, than that of Amoy and its vicinity; but the diversity is
still enough to render it unintelligible to people from the north.
A very few books have been written in it, but none which can
afford much assistance in learning it. A native scholar would
consider his character for literary attainments almost degraded if
he should write books in the provincial dialects, and forsake the
style of the immortal classics. The principal feature in the pro¬
nunciation of the Canton dialect which distinguishes it from the
general language, is the change of the abrupt vowel terminations,
as loh, kiah, pih, into the well defined consonants k, p, and t, as
lok, kap, pit ; a change that considerably facilitates the discrimi¬
nation of the syllables. The idioms of the two cannot well be
illustrated without the help of the written character, but the dif¬
ferences between the sounds of two or three sentences can be
exhibited. The phrase, I do not understand what he says, is in
the
Court dialect. Wo minpuh tung tell ta kiang shim mo.
Canton dialect. Ngo 'm hiu kit kong mat y£.
The rice contains sand in it.
Court dialect. Na ko mi yu sha tsz\
Canton dialect. Ko Lik mai yau sha tsoi noi.
None of the provincial patois differ so much from the kivan
hwa, and afford so many peculiarities, as those spoken in the pro¬
vince of Fuhkien and eastern portions of Kwangtung, all of which
have been collectively called the Fuhkien dialect. All of them
are nasal, and compared with those spoken elsewhere, harsh and
rough, and more difficult to acquire. This difficulty is not owing,
however, so much to the nature and minute variations in the
spoken language as to the large number of unwritten sounds in
it, and to the different name given to the same character when it
CANTON AND FUHKEIN DIALECTS.
491
is read or spoken. The number of characters which are called
by one name when spoken, and by another when read, is but a
small proportion of the whole language, indeed, but they are all
in common use. This obstacle is, again, far less than that
resulting from the great dissimilarity between the colloquial and
the written languages in respect to their idioms, which is much
more than in the court or Canton dialects, and really forms
almost two distinct languages, requiring separate study. It is
necessary to translate constantly from one into the other, and the
foreigner is obliged to learn two parallel languages when study¬
ing this dialect, so intimate and yet so distinct are the two. The
difference between them will be more apparent by quoting a sen¬
tence : " He first performed that which was difficult, and after¬
wards imitated what was easier." The corresponding words of
the colloquial are placed underneath the reading sounds.
Sien k'i su chi si lan, ji ho k'i hau chi se tek.
Tai seng cho i e su e se oh, ji tuiau k'wlla t i hau gicm e se tit tidh.
The colloquial in the Fuhkien dialects cannot be written with
the character as the other two are, nor is a book when read off
in the hearing of an illiterate peasant intelligible without a run¬
ning translation into the colloquial. The changes from one into
the other are exceedingly various both in sound and idiom.
Thus, bien chicn, " before one's face," becomes bin chan when
spoken ; while in the phrase clieng jit, " a former day," the same
word chicn becomes clieng and not chan ; Ide chu, " pupil of the
eye," becomes ang a ; sit hwan, " to eat rice," becomes chiahpui'1.
These four phrases in the court dialect are read mien tsien, tsien
jih, mau tsz\ and chili hwan ; in the Canton, they are min tsin,
Istn yat, mau t.sz\ and shik fan. Their dialect, not less than
their trafficking spirit, point out the Fuhkienese wherever they
are met, and as they are usually found along the whole coast
and in the Archipelago, and are not understood except by their
provincial compatriots, they everywhere clan together, and form
separate communities. This peculiar speech is found chiefly
along the coast and in Formosa, for in the northern parts of Fuh¬
kien and Kwangtung, the colloquial approaches nearer the gene¬
ral language. Dr. Medhurst has published a dictionary of the
Fuhkien dialect, in which the sounds of the characters are given
as they are read, but the vast vocabulary of sounds and phrases,
both written and unwritten, used in the colloquial, has neve
492
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
been collected. If the universal written character should ba
discarded, the people of this province would have perhaps the
most extensive vocabulary of sounds, but they would also soon
have the greatest number of different languages.
The extent to which the three dialects are used has not been
ascertained, nor the degree of modification each undergoes in
those parts where it is spoken ; for villagers within a few miles,
although able to understand each other perfectly, still give differ,
ent sounds to a few characters, and have a few local phrases,
enough to distinguish their several inhabitants, while towns one
or two hundred miles apart are still more unlike. For instance,
the citizen of Canton always says shui for water, and tsz' for child,
but the native of Macao says sui and chi for these two words;
and if his life depended upon his uttering them as they are
spoken in Canton, they would prove a Shibboleth which he could
not possibly enunciate. Strong peculiarities of speech also exist
in the villages between Canton and Macao, which are found
in neither of those places. Yet whatever sound they give to a
character, these persons generally give it the same tone, and a
Chinese would be much less surprised to hear water called
#chwui, than he would to hear it called bskui in the lower even
tone, instead of its proper ascending tone. The Fuhkienese alsa
frequently interchange the initials /, m, and b, in their words, but
not the tones. It is by this nice discrimination, that the people
are able to understand each other with less difficulty than when
their pronunciation varies ; and herein too they can easily detect
a foreigner, for few adults can learn these delicate intonations so
accurately as to deceive a native ear.
This accurate discrimination in the vowel sounds, and compa¬
rative indifference to consonants, which characterize the Chinese
spoken languages, has arisen, no doubt, from the monosyllabic
nature, and the constant though slight variations the names of
characters undergo from the traditionary mode in which they
must be learned. There being no integral sound in any charac¬
ter, each and all of them are, of course, equally correct, per se,
though the Dictionary of Kanghf, the Divider of Sounds, and the
Fifteen Sounds, have each tended somewhat to fix the pronun¬
ciation in their respective dialects. But the Chinese, no more
than other nations, do not learn to pronounce their mother tongue
from dictionaries, and the variations are but partially restrained
PRINCIPfiE. OF CHINESE GRAMMAR.
493
Dy them ; the court dialect probably differs less than the others.
It may, however, be said, that no two Chinese speak all words
alike, while yet, through means of the universally understood
character, the greatest mass of human beings ever collected
under one government are enabled to express themselves without
difficulty, and carry on all the business and concerns of life.
The grammar of the Chinese language is unique, but those
writers who say it lias no grammar at all must have overlooked
the prime signification of the word ; since no language can be
understood without the interlocutors agree upon certain rules,
and those rules, inflections, and changes, constitute its grammar.
These rules the Chinese language possesses, and their right ap¬
plication, the proper collocation of words, and use of particles,
which supply the place of inflection, constitute a difficult part in
its acquisition. It has no etymology, properly speaking, for
neither the characters nor their names undergo any change;
whether used as verbs or nouns, adjectives or particles, they re¬
main the same ; number, gender, case, mood, tense, and voice, all
are indicated by adjuncts, the character itself and its sound
never alter. This imparts a peculiarity to the language, viz.
that the same word may be a noun, a verb, an adverb, or any
part of speech, nor can its character be certainly known till it is
placed in a sentence, when its meaning becomes as definite as
words in any language. Its grammar, therefore, is confined
chiefly to its syntax and prosody. This feature of the Chinese
language is paralleled in English by such words as light, used
as a noun, adjective, and verb; like, used as a verb, adjective,
and adverb; sheep and deer used both in the singular and plu¬
ral ; read used in the past, present, and future tenses; and in all
cases without undergoing any change. But what is occasional
and the exception in that tongue, becomes the rule in Chinese;
nor is there any more confusion in the last than in the first.
A good summary of the principles of Chinese grammar is given
by Remusat, who says that generally,
" In every Chinese sentence, in which nothing is understood, the ele¬
ments of which it is composed are arranged in the following order: the
subject, the verb, the complement direct, and the complement indirect.
"Modifying expressions precede those to which they belong: thus,
the adjective is placed before the substantive, subject, or complement ;
the substantive governed before the verb that governs it; the adverb
494
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
before the verb , .lie proposition incidental, circumstantial, or hypotheti¬
cal. before the principal proposition, to which it attaches itself by a con¬
junction expressed or understood.
" The relative position of words and phrases thus determined, supplies
the place often of every other mark intended to denote their mutual
dependence, their character whether adjective or adverbial, positive, con¬
ditional, or circumstantial.
" If the subject be understood, it is because it is a personal pronoun,
or that it is expressed above, and that the same substantive that is omit¬
ted is found in the preceding sentence, and in the same quality of sub¬
ject, and not in any other.
" If the verb be wanting, it is because it is the substantive verb, or
some other easily supplied, or one which has already found place in the
preceding sentences, with a subject or complement not the same.
" If several substantives follow each other, either they are in construc¬
tion with each other, or they form an enumeration, or they are synonyms
which explain and determine each other.
" If several verbs succeed each other, which are not synonymous and
are not employed as auxiliaries, the first ones should be taken as adverbs
or verbal nouns, the subjects of those which follow; or these latter as
verbal nouns, the complements of those which precede."
Chinese grammarians divide all words into skill Isx' and hutsz
i. e. essential words and particles. The former are subdivided
into sz' tsz' and hwoh lsz\ i. e. nouns and verbs; the latter into
initials or introductory words, conjunctions, exclamations, finals,
transitive particles, &c. They furnish examples under each,
and to assist the young student, there are model books, in which
the principles of the language and all rhetorical terms are ex¬
plained, which he is required to follow and observe in his exer¬
cises. The number and variety of grammatical and philological
works prove that they have not neglected the elucidation and ar¬
rangement of their mother tongue, though a cursory glance
plainly shows their ignorance of the general laws of language.
The rules above cited are applicable chiefly to the written lan¬
guage, and the native treatises also refer entirely to that; the
changes in the phraseology of the colloquial do not affect its
grammar, however, which is formed upon the same rules.
Although the characters are, when isolated, somewhat in¬
definite, there are many ways of defining them in sentei ces.
Nouns are often made by suffixing formative particles, as m ki,
"angry spirit," merely means anger; i k%, " righteous spirit," ia
PARTS OF SPEECH.
495
rectitude ; chin 'rh, " needle child," is a needle, &c. ; the suffix,
in these cases, simply materializing the word. These formatives
occur most frequently in works of light literature. Gender is
formed by distinctive particles, prefixed or suffixed by appropriate
words for each gender, or by denoting one gender always by a
dissyllabic compound ; as male-being, for the masculine ; horse-
sire, or horse-mother, for stallion or dam ; hero, heroine, emperor,
empress, &c.; and lastly as wang-hau, i. e. king-queen, for queen,
while wang alone means king. Number is formed by prefixing
a numeral, as "Yung, Tsin, two men by suffixing a formative,
mun, tang, and others, as Jin-tang, man-sort, or men ; ta-mun, he-i
or they ; by repeating the word, as jin-jin, man-man or men ; chu-
chu, place-place, or places, i. e. everywhere ; and lastly, by the
scope of the passage. The nominative, accusative, and vocative
cases are commonly known by their position ; the genitive, dative,
and ablative are formed by appropriate prepositions, expressed or
understood. The vocative is quite common in Chinese, espe
cially in light reading and historical stories.
Adjectives precede nouns, by which position they are usually
determined. Comparisons are made in many ways. Hau is
good, hang hau is better, and cht hau is best ; hau hau is vert
good ; hau hau till is pretty good, &c. The position of an adjec¬
tive determines its comparison, as chang yih chili means longer by
one cubit; yih chili chang is a cubit long. The comparison of
ideas is made by placing the two sentences parallel to each
other; for instance, " Entering the hills and seizing a tiger is
easy, opening the mouth and getting men to lean to is difficult,"
is the way of expressing the comparison, " It is easier to seize
a tiger in the hills, than to obtain the good offices of men." The
proper use of antithesis and parallelism is considered one of the
highest attainments in composition. The numerals are thirteen
in number, and all amounts are written just as they are to be
read, as yih peh sz' shih san, — T5 P9 jE *• e- one hundred
four tens three. They are here introduced with their pronuncia¬
tion in three dialects.
12 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100 1,000 10,000
D?«u"ct. 'rh san sz' wu luh tsili pah kiu shih peh tsien wan.
Duiect. yat % sam sz' ''ng luk is at pat kau shap pak tsin man,
wileit? j'L sam su ng0" liok chit pat kiu sip pek chien ban.
496
THE MID LE KINGDOM,
TLt Chinese, like the Greeks, enumerate only up to a myriad,
expressing sums higher than that by stating how many myriads
there are ; the notation of 362,447,180 is three myriads, si?
thousand, two hundred and forty-four myriads, seven thousand,
one hundred, and eighty. Pronouns are few in number, and
their use is avoided whenever the sense is clear without them.
The personal pronouns are three, wo, ni, and ta, but other pro¬
nouns can all be readily expressed by adjectives, by colloca¬
tion, and by participial phrases. The classifiers sometimes par¬
take of the nature of adjective pronouns, but usually are mere
distributive or numerical adjectives.
Verbs, or " living characters," constitute the most important
part of speech in the estimation of Chinese grammarians, and the
shun iuh, or easy flow of expression, in their use, is carefully
studied. The dissyllabic compounds, called dam-shell words, are
usually verbs, and are made in many ways; by uniting two
similar words, as kwei-kien (lit. peep-look), to spy; by doubling
the verb, as kien-kien, meaning to look earnestly • by prefixing
a formative denoting action, as ta shwui (lit. do sleep), to sleep;
by suffixing a modifying word, as grasp-halt, means to grasp
firmly; think-arise means to cogitate, &c. No part of the stud)-
of the language requires more attention than the right selection o
these formatives in both nouns and verbs, and perfection in the
shun lull and use of antitheses, is the result only of years of
study ; children at school are taught to learn antithetic words and
sentences in their copy-slips, and thus their style becomes formed
The various accidents of voice, mood, tense, number, and per
son, can all be expressed by corresponding particles, but the
genius of the language disfavors their frequent use. The pas¬
sive voice is formed by prefixing particles indicative of agency,
before the active verb, as " The villain received my sword's
cutting," for " The villain was wounded by my sword." The
imperative, potential, and subjunctive moods are formed by par,,
tides or adjuncts, but the indicative and infinitive are not de¬
signated nor are the number and person of verbs usually distin¬
guished. The number of auxiliaries, particles, adjuncts, and
suffixes of various kinds, employed to express what in other lan¬
guages is denoted by inflections, is great, and the nice discrimf.
nation exhibited in their use indicates the finished scholar.*
* Chinese Repository, Vol. VIII., p. 347.
DEFECTS OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE.
497
A defect in the Chinese language is the indistinct manner in
O o
which time is expressed ; not that there is any want of terms to
denote all its varieties, past, present, and future, but the terseness
of expression admired by Chinese writers, leads them to discard
every unessential word, and especially those relating to time.
This defect is more noticed by the foreigner than the native, who
has no knowledge of the precision of time expressed by inflec¬
tion in other languages. The past tense is usually expressed by
the suffix liau, as si-liau, wash-ed ; but if the connexion denotes
that the act is past by or wholly completed, no attention is paid
to this particular. Adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and inter¬
jections, are not distinguished by native grammarians ; the for¬
mer are classed with adjectives, of which indeed they are only
a subdivision, while the others are collectively called hu tsz\ i. e.
•'eanpty words," or particles.
No distinction is made between proper and common names in
writing Chinese, and as the number of strictly proper names is
very small, they become a source of confusion to the translator;
in some books a single line drawn on the side of characters de¬
notes the names of persons, and a double line the names of places ;
important words are denoted by commencing a new line with
them, raised one or two characters above the other columns,
which answers to capitalizing them. In most books an entire
absence of all marks of punctuation, and division into sentences
and paragraphs, causes needless doubt in the mind of the reader.
The great convenience experienced in European languages from
the use of capital letters, to designate proper names, marks of
punctuation, separation into sentences and paragraphs, and the
distinction of time, is more plainly seen when a translation is to
be made from languages like the Chinese and Japanese, in which
they are generally disregarded. The Chinese possess these fa¬
cilities, but a false taste prevents them from using them ; they
admire a page of plain characters so much that a student who
should punctuate his essay, would run a risk of being ridiculed
on that account.
The rules of syntax and prosody are taught solely by exam¬
ples, fir although native scholars have attentively studied their
language, they have not deduced the general rules which govern
it, nor philosophically classed the parts of speech which compose
it. There are several distinct styles recognised by ther ' the
498
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
ku wan, or the terse, antithetic style of the ancient c assies, is
considered as inimitable and unimprovable, and really possesses
the qualities of energy, vivacity, and brevity in a superior degree;
the ican chcing, or style of elevated composition, adopted in essays,
histories, and grave works ; and the siau shwoh, or colloquial style
used in stories.
If there are serious defects in Chinese, the language also pos¬
sesses some striking beauties. The expressive nature of the
characters, after their component parts have become familiar,
causes much of the meaning of a sentence to pass instantly be¬
fore the eye, while the energy and life arising from the brevity
attainable by the absence of all inflections and partial use of
particles, add a vigor to the style, that cannot be reached by any
alphabetic language. Dr. Morrison observes that " the Chinese
fine writing darts upon the mind with a vivid flash, a force and
a beauty, of which alphabetic language is incapable." It is
also better fitted than any other language for becoming a univer¬
sal medium of communication, and has actually become so to a
much greater extent than any other; but the history of its dif¬
fusion, and the modifications it has undergone among the five
nations who use it, though presenting a curious topic for philolo¬
gical inquiry, is one far too extensive to be discussed here. So
general a use of one language, however, affords some peculiar
facilities for the diffusion of knowledge by means of books as
introductory to the general elevation of the people using it, and
their preparation for substituting an alphabetic language for so
laborious and unwieldy a vehicle of thought, which it seems
impossible to avoid as Christian civilization and knowledge ex¬
tend.
It is often asked, is the Chinese language hard to learn ? The
preceding account of it shows that to become familiar with its
numerous characters, to be able to speak the delicately marked
tones of its short monosyllables, and to compose in it with per¬
spicuity and elegance, is the labor of years of close application.
To do so in Greek, Latin, English, or indeed any settled tongue,
is also a toilsome task, and excepting the barren labor of remem¬
bering so many different characters, it is not more so in Chinese
than in others. But a partial knowledge, sufficient to talk intel¬
ligibly, to write perspicuously, and read with considerable ease,
is not so herculean a task as some suppose, though this degree is
riODE OF STUDYING CHINESE.
499
not to be attained without much hard study. Assistance can
now be obtained from dictionaries, grammars, and translat ons,
which materially diminish the labor.
The rules for studying Chinese cannot be laid down so that
they will answer equally well for all persons. Some, having
good ears, readily catch the most delicate inflections of the voice,
and imitate and remember the words they hear without difficulty ;
such persons soon learn to speak and to preach to the people, and
can make themselves understood on almost any common subject
with merely the help of a vocabulary. Others prefer to sit
down with a teacher and learn to read, and for most persons this
is the best course at the commencement. At first, the principal
labor should be directed to the characters, reading them over
with a teacher and learning their form. Commence with the
214 radicals, and commit them to memory, so that they can be
repeated and written in their order; then learn the primitives, or
at least become familiar with the names and meaning of all the
common ones, as given by Callery. The aid this preliminary
study gives in remembering the composition of characters is
worth all the time it takes, and almost every character acquired
is in common use. Students, especially missionaries, make a
mistake in beginning with the Testament or a tract, and at once
proceeding to translate; they can learn more characters in the
same period, and lay a better foundation for acquiring others,
by commencing with the radicals and primitives. Meanwhile,
they will also be learning sounds and becoming familiar with the
tones, which should be most carefully attended to as a particular
study from the living voice.
When these characters are learned, short sentences or read¬
ing lessons selected from good Chinese authors, should be taken
up with a translation attached, and committed to memory.
Phrases may also be learned at the same time, for using in con¬
versation ; a good way to do this is to learn one or two hundred
common words, and then practise putting them together in sen-
.ences. The study of reading lessons and phrases, with practice
in speaking and writing them—such as are given in the. Chinese
Chrestomathy, Easy Lessons in Chinese, Notitia Lingua? Sinicae,
Chinese Dialogues, &c., will prepare the way for commencing
the regular study of the classics or other native authors; but
Chinese books written by foreigners should never be studied by
500
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
those who wish to make satisfactory progress in the language
By the time the student has reached this point, he needs no fur¬
ther directions; the path he wishes thenceforth to pursue can
easily be marked out by himself. It is not amiss here to remark
that many persons, ardently desirous of fitting themselves soon
for preaching or talking to the people, weary their minds and
hinder their ultimate progress, by too hard study at first upon
the dry characters ; the student, intent upon his final aim, forgets
that his mind requires variety in the subject of his pursuit, and
ere he is aware, he has become disgusted with the continuous
attention necessary to remember so many arbitrary signs. A
slower progress, in many cases, v\ ill conduce to greater ultimate
attainments.
Before translating into English, a knowledge of the principles
of Chinese grammar is indispensable. Chinese sentences do not
mean everything and anything, and in translating them but one
definite idea is to be derived from them, viz. that which the
author had in his mind when he wrote them. Translations from
Chinese have often been obnoxious to the charges of rudeness
and obscurity, owing partly to ignorance of the grammatical
construction of the original, and partly to too close an adherence
to its idiom. Knowledge of the meaning of the characters
merely, is not sufficient to make a person a good translator; he
must attend to the force of the word or phrase in its connexion,
so as to select an apt expression to render it; and give the author
an opportunity of appearing as well in his foreign garb as he
does in his native costume, so far as the nature of the two lan¬
guages will allow.
O o
It is to be hoped that the study of Chinese will receive more
attention than it has done, now that books to aid in learning it,
and opportunities for using it, have multiplied. The merchant
and the traveller, as well as the philologist and missionary,
should attend to it, if their pursuits call them to that country ;
and we hazard little in saying, that had this been done, most of
the ill-will between foreigners and natives, and many of the trou¬
bles which have jeoparded life and property at Canton, would have
been avoided ; and that the contempt which the people feel for their
visitors, and the restricted intercourse which nas been carried on
for the past century, have been mainly owing to an ignorance of
the Chinese language. The native traders there have managed to
ADVANTAGES 01 STUDYING CHINESE.
501
pick up a meagre jargon of uncouth words, and comparing ita
scantiness with their own copious vocabulary, have inferred thence
the ignorance and barbarism of those who use it, and judged of
their civilization by this wretched scantling of words.* The
writer once saw a good illustration of this feeling. He was return-
ing home one evening on a narrow causeway running across the
rice fields, when just ahead he saw an infant standing by the
side of his father. The child began to whimper on seeing the
ogre of a barbarian coming, but the parent instantly pacified i'
by saying, " Don't cry • he wo'nt hurt you, lie can talk Chi¬
nese."
A knowledge of their language is a passport to the confidence
of the people, and when foreigners generally learn it, the Chi
nese will begin to divest themselves of their prejudices and con
tempt. As an inducement to study it, the scholar and the phi¬
lanthropist have the prospect of benefiting and informing through
it vast numbers of their fellow-men, of imparting to them what
will elevate their minds, purify their hearts, instruct their under¬
standings, and strengthen their desire for more knowledge ; they
have an opportunity of doing much to counteract the tremen¬
dous evils of th« opium trade by teaching the Chinese the only
sure grounds on which they can be restrained, and at the same
time of making them acquainted with the discoveries in science,
medicine, and arts, among western nations. Far above all in
importance, the missionary can show them the secrets of another
world, and teach them their obligations to obey the commands
of their M?ker, and accept the proffered grace of their Redeem¬
er. There benefits will amply repay the labor of acquiring this
language to those who wish to aid in the Christianization of so
vast p people, and even a partial knowledge of the language
'"ill enable one to do great good.
* Chinese Repository, Vol. VII , page 199.
CHAPTER XI.
Classical Literature of the Chinese.
The literature contained in the language now briefly described,
is very ample and discursive, but wanting in truthfulness, and
unenlivened by genius. The books of the Chinese are the
transcripts of their national taste; everything has conspired tc
produce a tedious uniformity; while the unbounded admiration
felt for the classics and their immaculate authors, fostered by
the examinations, has further tended to this result; and caused
these writings, remarkable in many respects, considering the
times and their authors, to become still more famous from the
unequalled influence they have exerted.
In taking a general survey of this literature, the Sz' Fu Tsinen
Shu Tsung-muh, or Catalogue of all the Books in the Four Libra¬
ries, will be the best guide to follow, since it goes over the
whole range of letters, and affords a complete and succinct
synopsis of the contents of the best books in the language. It is
itself a valuable work, especially to a foreigner, and one whose
existence would hardly have been expected in a country so
despotic; it is comprised in one hundred and twelve octavo vo¬
lumes of about three hundred pages each, and probably contains
the names of upwards of twenty thousand works. The books
are arranged into four divisions, viz. Classical, Historical, and
Professional writings, and Belles-lettres.
The works in the first division are ranged under nine sections ;
one is devoted to each of the five Classics, and with a subsidiary
one on them as a whole, one to the memoir on Filial Duty, one
to the Four Books, one to musical works, and the ninth includes
treatises on education, dictionaries, &c.
At the head of the Wu King, or Five Classics, is placed the
Yih King, or Book of Changes, which is held by the Chinese in
great veneration for its antiquity and the occult wisdom, which
only sages can understand, supposed to be contained in its mys-
notice of the yih king or book of changes. 503
tic linos. It was composed in prison by Wan wang, " the Lite¬
rary prince," about b. c. 1150, and is doubtless one of the most
ancient books extant in any language. The Yih King treats of
general philosophy and the first cause as supposed to have been
taught by Fuh-hi, whose institutes were founded upon the pah
kwa, or eight diagrams, which he invented, and by subsequent
combinations increased to sixty-four. These diagrams are
merely trinities of straight lines, upon which have been found¬
ed a system of ethics, deduced by giving names to each dia¬
gram, and then associating the meanings of these names accord¬
ing to the changes which could be rung upon the sixty-four
combinations. The evolution of the eight diagrams from two
original principles is as follows:
Liang I, or Two Principles.
-Sz' Siang, or Four Figures.
Pah Kwa, or Eight Diagrams,
kitn tin Ii chin siiten kan kdn kwun
nw, w. s. k. sg. n. ne. sw.
1. Kien is the Yang or expanse, celestial matter, that prin¬
ciple of things which generates ; the fluid ether.
2. Tui. is vapor, the ascending influence from water; lakes,
fountains issuing from mountains.
3. Li, fire, the beautiful element light, heat; actuating power.
4. Chin, thunder, igneous exhalation or the mover of sound
and heat.
5. Siuen, wind, the moving action of wind.
3. Kan, the liquid element, water.
7. Kan, mountains, solidity, quiet, what sustains motion.
6. Kwan is the Yin or earth, terrestrial matter, the principle of
change in things by generation and corruption.
The appellations humid, light, hot, rigid, flexible, cold, heavy,
and dry, are also given to the eight diagrams, which, with the
application of the eight points of the compass, altogether form
the material for a cabalistic logomancy, peculiarly pleasing to
Chinese habits of thought. They have also supplied the basis
*>04
the middle kingdom.
for many species of divination by shells, lines, letters, &c., by
which the mass of people are deluded into the belief of pene-
I rating futurity, and still more wedded to their superstitions.
By uniting two of the diagrams and ringing the changes around,
sixty-four more are made, each of which has a name, and a
chapter in the work of six sections to explain it, showing how
principles of good and bad conduct are evolved from the original
dual powers. The leading idea of this curious relic of antiquity
seems to have been founded upon the Chinese notions of the cre¬
ation of the world, according to which all material things pro¬
ceeding from two great male and female vivifying elements, the
Yin and Yang, were made in harmony, because acted upon by
the same harmonious powers. Man being also formed by these
same powers, would naturally come under their influence, and
if nothing interfered, would likewise move in harmony, as did
nature around him, of which he was originally a part. The de¬
duction of principles of good action for human conduct, accord¬
ing to these notions, followed from observing the combinations
and successive evolutions of the Yin and Yang in nature; the
diagrams a»'e the symbols of these multiform changes. Of course
anything an.^ everything could be deduced from such a fanciful
groundwork, but the Chinese have taken up the discussion in
the most serious manner, and endeavored to find the hidden mean¬
ing of the diagrams. Confucius spent years in the vain search ;
his object was also more fully to explain Wan wang's commen¬
tary on them, and his observations, now incorporated with that
commentary, constitute the chief value of the work. Those
who study it depend entirely upon the explanations of Confucius
and Chu Hi, for the meaning of its aphoristic expressions ; about
1450 treatises on the Yih King alone, consisting of memoirs,
digests, expositions, &c., are enumerated in the Catalogue.
The second section contains the treatises upon the second of
the Five Classics, called the Shu King, or Book of Records. It
consists of a series of dialogues designed to give a brief history
of China from the times of Yau, about b. c. '2350, down to Ping
wang, of the Chau dynasty, b. c. 770, including some docu¬
ments explaining the principles upon which the early sovereigns
conducted the affairs of state, and proclamations and addresses
to the people. The internal evidence leads to the conclusion
that Confucius acted principally as editor of documents existing
NOTICE OF THE SHU KING OR BOOK OF RECORDS, 505
in his day, but the changes that this ancient work underwent in
his hands cannot now be ascertained. It contains six different
kinds of state papers, issued by the ancient monarchs, viz. im¬
perial ordinances regarded as unalterable, plans drawn up by
statesmen as guides for their sovereign, instructions prepared for
the guidance of the prince, imperial proclamations to admonish
the people, vows taken before Shangtl, the High Ruler, by the
monarch when going out to battle, and lastly, mandates sent
down from the throne to high ministers of state.
The morality of the Shu King, for a pagan work, is very good,
and the principles of administration laid down in it, founded on a
regard to the welfare of the people, would, if caiiied out, insure
universal prosperity. A quotation from the answer of Kauyau
o the monarch Yu, is expressive of a mild spirit: "If a prince
punishes, the punishment passes not from the parents to the
children, but if he bestow rewards, they reach to descendants.
In regard to involuntary faults, he pardons them without inquir¬
ing whether they be great or small, but wilful offences, although
apparently trifling, are punished. In the case of doubtful faults
the punishment is light, but a service rendered, though doubtful,
receives a large recompense. He will rather not execute the
laws against criminals than punish an innocent person. A virtue
that delights in preserving the lives of the subjects, gains the
hearts of the people."*
The answer of Yu to Shun partakes of patriarchal simplicity :
" Ah ! Prince, think carefully ! Virtue is the basis of good go¬
vernment : and this consists, first, in procuring to the people the
things necessary for preservation, i. e. water, fire, metals, wood,
and grain. The ruler must think also of rendering them virtu¬
ous, and preserving them from whatever can injure life and
health. These nine points ought to be the subject of songs ;
when you would teach, employ eulogium^ ; when you would go¬
vern, employ authority. These nine songs serve to animate, and
it is thus that the people are preserved."f
The Shu King contains the seeds of all things that are valua¬
ble in the estimation of the Chinese ; it is at once the foundation
of their political system, their history, and their religious rites,
the basis of their tactics, music, and astronomy. The knowledge
* Gaubil's Chou King, page 26.
23
f Chou King, page 24.
506
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
of the true God under the appellation of Shangti is not obscurely
intimated in this work, and the precepts for governing a country
scattered through its dialogues and proclamations do their writers
credit, however little they may have been followed in practice.
The astronomy of the Book of Records has attracted much inves¬
tigation, but whether the remarks of the commentators are to be
ascribed to the times they themselves flourished, or to the know¬
ledge they had of the ancient state of the science, is doubtful.*
The chronological series of kings is often interrupted in the Shw.
King, which has induced the belief that it has suffered muti¬
lation since the days of its editor.
A list of commentators upon the Sin King, or Book of Odes, is
contained in the third section ; this is one of the most ancient
collections of odes extant, though it is impossible to specify the
dates of the several parts. They are arranged under four heads,
viz. Kwoh Fung, or National Airs, Siau Ya and Ta Ya, or the
Lesser and Greater Eulogies, and Tsung, or Songs of Praises
used at the imperial sacrifices ; each head is subdivided into
canticles, with its appropriate name, and these again into stanzas.
There is nothing of an epic character in this work, nor even any
lengthened narrative ; it is rather a collection of sonnets on va¬
rious subjects, drawn either from the recesses of feeling, or de¬
scriptive of the state of public affairs. Many of the metaphors
and illustrations are unexpected, but there are no high or sus¬
tained flights of imagination in the odes, while some border on
puerility; their acknowledged antiquity is perhaps the most
interesting circumstance connected with them. In the seventh
ode of the third canticle in the National Airs, there seems to
be a refrain, as if intended to be sung by two voices.
" The bland south wind breathes upon and cherishes the heartwood of
these plants, hence the grove flourishes and seems renovated. But oil:
mother is environed with cares and distressed with labors.
" The bland south wind cherishes, by its breath, the wood of this
grove. Our mother excels in prudence and understanding, but we are
men of no estimation.
" The cool fountain welling forth, waters the lower part of the region
Tsun. We are seven sons, whose mother is burdened with varioua
cares and labors.
•Chinese Repository, Vol. IX , p. 573; Vol. VIII., p. 385.
CHARACTER OF THE SHI KING OR BOOK OF ODES. 507
" Sweetly, tunefully, and with unbroken voice, sings the saffron color
ed phceiix. We seven sons are no solace to our parent."*
In the Lesser Eulogies is a complaint of severed friendship,
similar in its construction.
" The soft and balmy wind brings with it the rain. I and thou were
sharers in labors and privations, when, in truth, our minds were closely
united , but after you became prosperous and happy, you changed your
mind and deserted me.
" The soft and balmy wind as it rises in the whirlwind gradually be¬
comes more vehement. When we shared our labors and poverty, you
cherished me in your bosom ; now, having become happy, you have left
me and I am lost to you.
" The wind is soft and balmy, but when it blows over the mountain
tops, no plant but withers, no tree but crackles. But you forget my ac¬
knowledged virtues, and remember my petty complaints."f
Many marriage songs are found in the collection, one of which
describes a king's daughter with somewhat different metaphors
than would occur in a Grecian epithalamium.
" Our high dame is of lofty stature, and wears splendid robes beneath
others of a darker color Her hands are like a budding and ten¬
der plant; the skin of her face resembles hardened lard. Her neck is
comparable to the white larva; of the sphinx; her teeth can be equalled
to the seeds of the gourd. The temples of her head are like the cicada,
her eyebrows to the winged silk-moth. She smiles most sweetly, and
her laugh is agreeable. The pupil of her eye is black, and how well are
the black and white distinguished.'^
The metre of these ancient sonnets varies, some of the lines
consisting of three, but most of them of four syllables. The fol¬
lowing tetrameter exhibits the rhyme.
Kien Ida tsang tsang, Su hwui tsung cki,
Pih lu wei shwang ; Tau tsu lsi£ chang;
So wei ijin, Su yu tsung chi,
Tsai shwui yih fang; Wan tsai shwui chung yang.
" Green yet are the reeds and rushes,
Though the white dew congeals in hoar-frost;
* Lacharme's Shi King, p. 13.
J Shi King, page 25.
f Lacharme's Shi King, page 113
508
the middle kingdom.
That man of whom I speak,
Is on the water's further shore ;
Up the stream have I followed him,
Long and harassed was the voyage ;
Down the river have I sought him,
Seeming to see him in the water's midst."
Most of them are remarkably simple in their construction, and
are rather of a plaintive character.
" Even the solitary larch
Has leaves to form a green shade ;
But I must wander alone and forlorn :
Do I say that there are no human beings ?
No, but none to me as kindred.
Ah ! ye who pass by,
Will none of you consort with me ?
A man bereft of his brothers,
Alas, will none assist him !"
Some are, however, of a more martial character, and not des¬
titute of animation corresponding to the subject.
" The royal legions, how numerous and ardent,
As if flying in winged crowds,
Or as the restless sea and bounding torrent;
They are firm as the mountain's base,
Resistless as the flowing stream.
In serried ranks they are marshalled well,
Their motions inscrutable, their prowess invincible;
Thus they passed over to conquer Sii."
The following refers to the queen of Yu wang, of the Ch&u
dynasty, who lived b. c. 780.
" A talented man builds up the city,
But a shrewd woman throws it in ruins ;
A beautiful and clever woman
Is like the owl and like the kite ;
Women with long tongues,
Are stepping stones to misery.
Commotions come not from heaven alone,
They are produced by women.
Tongues which neither teach nor reprove,
Are those of women and eunuchs."
ACCOUNT OF THE Ll Kl OR BOOK OF RITES. 509
One more extract of a rural nature will be sufficient to exhibit
the character of these odes.
" Crash, crash, resound the falling trees,
Chirp, chirp, respond the birds to their fellows.
They come from the shady dells,
Flitting upon the lofty trees,
Answering each other in their songs,
And seeking their friends with their notes:
Behold these songsters !
Like friends they ask for replies.
Shall it be then that men
Desire not their living friends ?
The gods listen to those
Who to the end are peaceful and united."
These quotations partially exhibit the parallelism so generally
observed in oriental poetry. Chinese scholars commit large
portions of the work to memory, and their writers are fond of
introducing its stanzas into their compositions, using them both
for argument and illustration, for the sentiments are considered
of much more weight with them than are the style and versifica¬
tion regarded as elegant. It is not unlikely, indeed, that the
rhythm and form of some of these canticles are owing to the edi¬
tor, or at least have been polished by him ; and that Confucius,
finding these expressions and sentiments current among his coun¬
trymen, collected and embellished or versified them, to a con¬
siderable extent.
The next section comprises writings upon the Li Kt, " Ritual
Remembrancer," or Book of Rites, the work which has perhaps
had the most practical effect upon Chinese manners and life. It is
the largest of tne Five Classics, and was partly written by Chau
kung, or lord Chau, the author of the Chau Ritual, upon which
two brothers called Tai commented ; the two form the present
Book of Rites, which for the most part doubtless contains the
teachings of Confucius. It gives directions for all actions of life,
forming a code of etiquette upon the polite behavior of men, their
sitting, standing, eating, sleeping, talking, weeping, walking, &c.,
in all circumstances and for all periods of life. These regula¬
tions do not refer only to the external conduct, but are inter¬
spersed with truly excellen observations regarding mutual
forbearance and kindness in society, which is regarded as the
510
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
true principle of etiquette. The Board of Rites at Peking is es«
tablished for the purpose of carrying out the instructions of this
work, and in it, too, are found the models for the Six Boards.
The religion of state is founded upon it, and children are early
instructed in all the details it contains respecting their conduct
towards parents. Reference has already been made to it (page
423), and one or two more extracts will suffice to exhibit the
spirit and style of this remarkable work, singular in its object
and scope among all the bequests of antiquit^.
Affection bet ween father and son.
In the Domestic Rules it is said, " Men in serving their parents, at
the first cock-crowing, must all wash their hands ; rinse their mouth ;
comb their hair; bind it together with a net; fasten it with a bodkin,
forming it into a tuft; brush off the dust; put on the hat, tying the
strings, ornamented with tassels ; also the waistcoat, frock, and girdle,
with the note-sticks placed in it, and the indispensables attached on the
right and left; bind on the greaves ; and put on the shoes, tying up the
strings. Wives must serve their husband's father and mother as their
own ; at the first cock-crowing, they must wash their hands ; rinse their
mouth ; comb their hair ; bind it together with a net; fasten it with a
bodkin, forming it into a tuft; put on their frocks and girdles, with the
indispensables attached on the right and left; fasten on their bags of
perfumery ; put on and tie up their shoes. Then go to the chamber of
their father and mother, and father-in-law and mother-in-law, and having
entered, in a low and placid tone, they must inquire whether their dress
is too warm or too cool; if the parents have pain or itching, themselves
must respectfully press or rub [the part affected] ; and if they enter or
leave the room, themselves either going before or following, must re¬
spectfully support them. In bringing the apparatus for washing, the
younger must present the bowl ; the elder, the water, begging them to
pour it and wash ; and after they have washed, hand them the towel.
In asking and respectfully presenting what they wish to eat, they must
cheer them by their mild manner ; and must wait till their father and
mother, and father-in-law and mother-in-law have eaten, and then retire.
Boys and girls, who have not arrived at the age of manhood and woman¬
hood, at the first cock-c rowing must wash their hands; rinse their
mouth; comb their hair ; bind it together with a net; and form it into a
tuft; brush off the dust, tie on their bags, having them well supplied
with perfumery: then hasten at early dawn to see their parents, and in¬
quire if they have eaten and drunk; if they have, they must immediate¬
ly retire ; but if not, they must assist their superiors in seeing that
everything is duly made ready."
REASONS FOR THE INFLUENCE OF THE CLASSICS. 51]
Of Reproving Parents.
" When his parents are in error, the son with a humble spirit, pleas¬
ing countenance, and gentle tone, must point it out to them. If they do
not receive his reproof, he must strive more and more to be dutiful and
respectful towards them till they are pleased, and then he must again
point out their error. But if he does not succeed in pleasing them, it is
better that he should continue to reiterate reproof, than permit them to
do injury to the whole department, district, village, or neighborhood.
And if the parents, irritated and displeased, chastise their son till the
blood flows from him, even then he must not dare to harbor the le2. 1
resentment; but, on the contrary, should treat them with increased re¬
spect and dutifulness."
Respect to be paid Parents in one's conduct.
" Although your father and mother are dead, if you propose to your¬
self any good work, only reflect how it will make their names illustrious,
and your purpose will be fixed. So if you propose to do what is not good,
only consider how it will disgrace the names of your father and mother,
and you will desist from your purpose."—Chi. Rep., Vol. V., pp. 306, 312.
These extracts are enough to show something of the moulding
principles which operate on Chinese youth from earliest years.
The lad is instructed in these precepts, and his parents, teachers,
and seniors, can all refer to what he is studying for reasons
for everything they may do in the way of education or coercion.
The position of females, too, in that country, has remained, under
these dogmas, much the same for hundreds of years. Nor is it
difficult to account for the influence which they have had.
Those who were most aware of their excellence, and had had some
experience in the tortuous dealings of the human heart, as hus¬
bands, fathers, mothers, officers, and seniors, were those who had
the power to enforce obedience upon wives, children, daughters,
subjects, and juniors, as well as teach it to them. These must
wait till increasing years brought about their turn to fill the
upper rank in the social system, by which time habit would lead
them to exercise their sway over the rising generation in the
same manner. Thus it would be perpetuated, for the man could
not depart from the way his childhood was trained ;—though if
the results had been different from what they are, it would have
been easy for us to explain why, amid the ignorance, craft, am¬
bition, and discontent found in a populous, uneducated, pagan
country, such formal rules had failed of benefiting society to any
512
the middle kingdom.
lasting extent. We must look higher for this result, and ao-
knowledge the degree of wholesome restraint upon the passions
of the Chinese which the Author of whatever is good in thest
tenets has seen fit to confer with them, in order to the preserva¬
tion of society.
The fifth section includes commentaries upon the last of the
Five Classics, the Chun Tsiu, or Spring and Autumn Annals, an
historical work of Confucius, so called because " their commen¬
dations are life-giving like spring, and the censures life-wither¬
ing like autumn." It contains a series of historical incidents
extending through 242 years, from the reign of Ping wang to
about b. c. 560, or near his own times ; they were compiled
from the records of his native state Lu, and the author intended
to complete the Shu King, which ended with the reign of that
monarch. It is but little better than a dry detail of facts, enli¬
vened by few incidents, but containing many of those practical
observations which distinguish the writings of the sage. His
principal object in writing it seems to have been to compare the
misgovernment and anarchy which characterized the feudal
times of the Chau dynasty, with the better rule of the ancient
kings, and thereby to enforce those principles of good govern¬
ment on which he considered the welfare of a state to depend.
This and the Book of Records are regarded as the most authen¬
tic works the Chinese have upon the history of the times prior to
Confucius, though the industry of subsequent historians has done
something to supply their deficiencies by an examination of an¬
cient inscriptions and records.
The seventh section in this division of the Catalogue contains
a list of works written to elucidate the Five Classics as a whole,
and if their character for originality of thought, variety of re¬
search, extent of illustration, and explanation of obscurities, was
comparable to their size and numbers, no books in any language
could boast of the aids possessed by the Wu King for their right
comprehension. Of these commentators, Chu Hi of Kiangsi,
who lived during the Sung dynasty, has so greatly exceeded all
others in illustrating and expounding them, that his explanations
are now considered of almost equal authority with the text, and
are always given to the beginner to assist him in ascertaining
its true meaning. The sixth section is devoid to works upon
the Hiau King, or Memoir on Filial Duty, a collection of eight
the hiatj king or memoir on filial duty. 513
een short chapters consisting of the apothegms of Confucius,
and his conversations with Tsang Tsan, his disciple, upon this
virtue. Its author is unknown, but it is highly reveled and
studied, and many commentators, among whom was the emperor
Yuentsung of the Tang dynasty (a.d. 700), have opened out its
meanings. A translation of it has been made by Dr. Bridg-
man,* from which one extract will suffice to show its character.
It is the first section On the origin and nature offilial duty.
" Confucius sitting at leisure, with his pupil Tsang Tsan by his side,
said to him, ' Do you understand how the ancient kings, who possessed
the greatest virtue and the best moral principles, rendered the whole
empire so obedient, that the people lived in peace and harmony, and no
ill will existed between superiors and inferiors ?' Tsang Tsan, rising
from his seat, replied, ' Destitute as I am of discernment, how can j
understand the subject ?' 'Filial duty,'said the sage, ' is the root of
virtue, and the stem from which instruction in moral principles springs
forth. Sit down and I will explain this to you. The first thing which
filial duty requires of us is, that we carefully preserve from all injury,
and in a perfect state, the bodies which we have received from our
parents. And when we acquire for ourselves a station in the world, we
should regulate our conduct by correct principles, so as to transmit our
names to future generations, and reflect glory on our parents : this is
the ultimate aim of filial duty. Thus it commences in attention to pa¬
rents ; is continued through a series of services rendered to the prince;
and is completed by the elevation of ourselves.' It is said in the Book
of Odes, ' Think always of your ancestors ;
Talk of and imitate their virtues.' "
The highest place in the list of virtues and obligations is ac¬
corded to filial duty, not only in this but in other writings of
Confucius and those of his school. " There are," to quote from
another section, " three thousand crimes to which one or the
other of the five kinds of punishment is attached as a penalty ;
and of these no one is greater than disobedience to parents.
When ministers exercise control over the monarch, then there is
no supremacy ; when the maxims of the sages are set aside,
then the law is abrogated; and so those who disregard filial
duty are as though they had no parents. These three evils
prepare the way for universal rebellion."
This social virtue has been highly lauded by all Chinese
* Chinere Repository, Vol. V., pp. 345-353,
23*
514
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
wiiters, and its observance inculcated upon youth and children
bj precept and example. Stories are written to show the good
eifects of obedience, and the bad results of its contrary sin,
which are put into their hands, and form also subjects for picto¬
rial illustration, stanzas for poetry, and materials for conversa¬
tion. The following examples are taken from a toy-book of
this sort, called the Twenty-four Filials, one of the most popu¬
lar collections on the subject.
" During the Chau dynasty there lived a lad named Tsang Tsan (also
called Tsz'yu), who served his mother very dutifully. Tsang was in
the habit of going to the hills to collect faggots ; and once, while he
was thus absent, many guests came to his house, towards whom his
mother was at a loss how to act. She, while expecting her son, who
delayed his return, began to gnaw her fingers. Tsang suddenly felt a
pain in his heart, and took up his bundle of faggots in order to return
home ; and when he saw his mother, he kneeled and begged to know
what was the cause of her anxiety. She replied, ' there have been
some guests here, who came from a great distance, and I bit my finger
in order to arouse you to return to me.'
"In the Chau dynasty lived Chung Yu, named also Tsz'lu, who,
because his family was poor, usually ate herbs and coarse pulse; and
he also went more than a hundred Li to procure rice for his parents.
Afterwards, when they were dead, he went south to the country of
Tsu, where he was made commander of a hundred companies of
chariots ; there he became rich, storing up grain in myriads of measures,
reclining upon cushions, and eating food served to him in numerous
dishes ; but sighing, he said, ' although I should now desire to eat coarse
herbs and bring rice for my parents, it cannot be!'
" In the Chau dynasty there flourished the venerable Lai, who was
very obedient and reverential towards his parents, manifesting hie
dutifulness by exerting himself to provide them with every delicacy.
Although upwards of seventy years of age, he declared that he was
not yet old; and usually dressed himself in party-colored embroidered
garments, and like a child would playfully stand by the side of his pa¬
rents. He would also take up buckets of water, and try to carry them
into the house; but feigning to slip, would fall to the ground, wailing
and crying like a child: and all these things he did in order to divert
his parents.
"During the Han dynasty lived Tung Yung, whose family was so
very poor, that when his father died he was obliged to sell himself in
order to procure money to bury his remains. After this he went to
another place to gain the means of redeeming himself; and on his way
he met a lady who desired to become his wife, and go with him to his
EXAMPLES OF FILIAL AFFECTION.
515
master's residence. She went with him, and wove three hundred
pieces of silk, which being completed in two months, they returned
home ; on the way, having reached the shade of the cassia tree where
they before met, the lady bowed and ascended upwards from his sight.
" During the Ilan dynasty lived Ting Lan, whose parents both died
when he was young, before he could obey and support them; and he
reflected that for all the trouble and anxiety he had caused them, no
recompense had yet been given. He then carved wooden images of
bis parents, and served them as if they had been alive. For a long time
his wife would not reverence them ; but one day, taking a bodkin, she
in derision pricked their fingers. Blood immediately flowed from the
wound ; and seeing Ting coming, the images wept. He examined into
the circumstances, and forthwith divorced his wife.
" In the days of the Han dynasty lived Koh Kii, who was very poor.
He had one child three years old; and such was his poverty that his
mother usually divided her portion of food with this little one. Koh says
to his wife, ' we are so poor that our mother cannot be supported, for
the child divides with her the portion of food that belongs to her. Why
not bury this child ? Another child may be born to us, but a mother
once gone will never return.' His wife did not venture to object to the
proposal; and Koh immediately dug a hole of about three cubits deep,
when suddenly he lighted upon a pot of gold, and on the metal read the
following inscription: ' Heaven bestows this treasure upon Koh Ku, the
dutitui son; the magistrate may not seize it, nor shall the neighbors
take it from him.'
" M&ng Tsung, who lived in the Tsin dynasty, when young lost his
father. His mother was very sick ; and one winter's day she longed to
taste a soup made of bamboo sprouts, but Mang could not procure any.
At last he went into the grove of bamboos, clasped the trees with his
hands, and wept bitterly. His filial affection moved nature, and the
ground slowly opened, sending forth several shoots, which he gathered
and carried home. He made a soup with them, of which his mother
ate and immediately recovered from her malady.
"Wu Mang, a lad eight years of age, who lived under the Tsin
dynasty, was very dutiful to his parents. They were so poor that they
could not afford to furnish their beds with mosquito-curtains ; and every
summer's night, myriads of mosquitoes attacked them uniestrainedly,
feasting upon their flesh and blood. Although there were so many,
yet Wu would not drive them away, lest they should go to ]lis parents,
and annoy them. Such was his affection."—Chi. Rep., Vol. VI., p. 131.
The eighth section of the Catalogue comprises memoirs and
comments upon the Sz' Shu, or Four Books, which have been
nearly as influential in forming Chinese mind as the Wu King
516
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
They are by different authors, and since their publication have
perhaps undergone a few alterations and interpolations, but the
changes either in these or the Five Classics cannot be very nu¬
merous or great, since the large body of disciples who followed
and admired Confucius, and had copies of his writings, would
carefully preserve uncorrupt those which he edited, and hand
down unimpaired those which contained his sayings. None of
the Four Books were actually written by Confucius himself, but
three of them are considered to be a digest of his sentiments ;
they were arranged in their present form by Ching futsz', who
flourished about eight centuries ago.
The first of the Four Books is the Ta Hioli, i. e. Superior
Lessons, or School of Adults, which originally formed one chap¬
ter of the comment of the brothers Tai upon the Ritual of
Chau, in the Book of Rites. It is now divided into eleven sec¬
tions, only the first of which is ascribed to the sage, and the
remainder form the comment upon them ; the whole does not con¬
tain two thousand words. The argument of the Superior Les¬
sons is briefly summed up in four heads, " the improvement of
one's self, the regulation of a family, the government of a state,
and the rule of an empire." In the first section, this idea is
thus developed in a circle peculiarly Chinese.
" The ancients, who wished to restore reason to its due lustre
throughout the empire, first regulated the province which they each go¬
verned ; desirous of governing well their own kingdoms, they previously
established order and virtue in their own houses; for the sake of esta¬
blishing domestic order, they began with self-renovation ; to renovate
their own minds, they first gave a right direction to their affections:
wishing to direct their passions aright, they previously corrected their
ideas and desires; and to rectify these, they enlarged their knowledge
to the utmost. Now this enlargement of knowledge consists in a most
thorough and minute acquaintance with the nature of things around us.
A. thorough acquaintance with the nature of things renders knowledge
deep and consummate ; from hence proceed just ideas and desires ;
erroneous ideas once corrected, the affections of the soul move in the
right direction ; the passions thus rectified, the mind naturally obeys
reason, and the empire of reason restored in the soul, domestic order
follows of course ; from hence flows order throughout the whole pro¬
vince ; and one province rightly governed may serve as a model for the
whole empire."*
* Marshman's Ta Hioh, p 4.
THE SUPERIOR LESSONS AND TRUE MEDIUM. 517
The subsequent sections consist of the recorded remarks of
ancient kings and statesmen upon this subject, most or all of
which must be regarded, like Livy's orations, as put into their
mouths. Among them is the following :—" The prince of Chin
said, Had I but one minister sincere and upright! Though he
possessed no other ability, yet did he possess a heart enlarged
and generous ; would he, when he found talents in another, regard
them with the same satisfaction as though possessed by himself;
if another manifest wisdom and ability, would he, not merely
expressing a favorable opinion with the lips, cordially esteem
him and employ him in affairs: such a minister might preserve
my posterity and my people for ages to come. But an able
minister, who, seeing a man of wisdom and integrity, would dis¬
like him through envy ; would prevent a man of known ability
and integrity rising into notice, nor employ him in any business
of importance : such a minister, however able, would be incapa¬
ble of protecting my children and my people." It will lje wil¬
lingly allowed, when reading these extracts, that, destitute as
they were of the high sanctions and animating hopes and pro¬
mises of the word of God, these Chinese moralists began at the
right place in their endeavors to reform and benefit their coun¬
trymen, and that they did not fully succeed was owing to causes
beyond their reforming power.
The second of the Four Books is called Chung Yung, or the
True Medium, and is, in some respects, the most elaborate trea¬
tise in the series. It was composed by Tsz'sz', the grandson of
Confucius, and originally formed part of the La Ki ; it consists
of thirty-three sections, and a great number of commentators
have spent much time in minute amplification of its pages. The
plan of the Chung Yung is to illustrate the nature of human
virtue, and to exhibit its conduct in the actions of an ideal Hun
tsz\ or " princely man " of immaculate propriety, who always
demeans himself correctly, without going to extremes. He
carries out the advice of Hesiod :
" Let every action prove a mean confess'd ;
A moderation is, in all, the best."
True virtue consists in never going to extremes, though it does
not appear that by this the sage meant to repress active benevo-
lence on the one hand, or encourage selfish stolidity on the other
518
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Ching, or uprightness, is said to be the basis of all things ; and
ho, harmony, the all-pervading principle of the universe ; " ex¬
tend uprightness and harmony to the utmost, and heaven and
earth will be at rest, and all things be produced and nourished
according to their nature." The general character of the work
is monotonous, but relieved with some animated passages, among
which the description of the kiwi tsz\ or princely man, is one.
" The princely man, in dealing with others, does not descend to
anything low or improper. How unbending his valor ! He
stands in the middle, and leans not to either side. The princely
man enters into no situation where he is not himself. If he
holds a high situation, he does not treat with contempt those
below him ; if he occupies an inferior station, he uses no mean
arts to gain the favor of his superiors. He corrects himself and
blames not others ; he feels no dissatisfaction. On the one hanc1.,
he murmurs not at heaven ; nor, on the other, does he feel
resentment towards man. Hence, the superior man dwells at
ease, entirely waiting the will of heaven."—Collie's Four Books,
pp. 6-10.
Chinese moralists divide mankind into three classes, on these
principles :—" Men of the highest order, as sages, worthies,
philanthropists, and heroes, are good without instruction ; men
of the middling classes are so after instruction, such as husband¬
men, physicians, astrologers, soldiers, &c. ; whilst those of the
lowest are bad in spite of instruction, as playactors, pettifoggers,
slaves, swindlers, &c." The first are the shing, or sages ; the
second are called Men, or worthies; the last are yu, or worthless;
and Davis notices the similarity of this triplicate classification
with that of Hesiod. The Just Medium thus describes the first
character:—
" It is only the sage who is possessed of that clear discrimination and
profound intelligence which fit him for filling' a high station ; who pos¬
sesses that enlarged liberality and mild benignity which fit him for bear¬
ing with others ; who manifests that firmness and magnanimity that
enable him to hold fast good principles ; who is actuated by that, bene¬
volence, justice, propriety, and knowledge, which command reverence;
and who is so deeply learned in polite learning and good principles, as to
qualify him rightly to discriminate. Vast and extensive are the effects
of his virtue ; it is like the deep and living stream which flows unceas¬
ingly ; :'t is substantial and extensive as heaven, and profound as tha
THE I,UN YU OR CONVERSATIONS OF CONFUCIUS. 519
great abyss. Wherever ships sail or chariots run ; wherever the heaven?
overshadow and the earth sustains ; wherever the sun and moon shine,
or frosts and dews fall, among all who have blood and breath, there is not
one who does not honor and love him."—Collie's Four Books, p. 28.
Sincerity holds a high place among the attributes of the supe¬
rior or princely man ; but in translating the Chinese terms into
English, it is sometimes puzzling enough to find those which will
exhibit the exact idea of the original. For instance, sincerity is
described " as the origin or consummation of all things ; without
it, there would be nothing. It is benevolence by which a man's
self is perfected, and knowledge by which he perfects others."
In another place, it is said " that one sincere wish would move
heaven and earth." The completely superior man is supposed
to possess these qualities. It is observable that Chinese moralists
have placed the standard of excellence so high as to be absolutely
unattainable without assistance from above, that they have invested
virtue in robes so white, and characters so inviting, that none can
unaided clothe themselves with the spotless mantle ; a proof that
they, like other men, knew better than they did.
The third of the Four Books called the Lun Yu, or Conversa¬
tions of Confucius, is divided into twenty chapters, in which the
collective body of his disciples recorded his words and actions,
much in the same way that Boswell did those of Johnson. It
has not however the merit of chronological arrangement, and
parts of it are so sententious as to be obscure, if not almost unin¬
telligible. The Lun Yu, however, contains many sayings which
teach morality, and which have had great effect upon the Chi¬
nese mind. It shows the shrewd insight Confucius had of the cha¬
racter of his countrymen, and knowledge of the manner in which
they could best be approached and influenced, when he began
as a reformer and teacher by reviving the instructions of the
ancients, and as he went on in his instructions, and found his in¬
fluence strengthening, ingrafting his own ideas and tenets upon
their authority. If propounded as his own, they would hardly
have been received in his day, and, perhaps, through the con¬
tempt felt for him by his contemporaries, have been lost entirely.
Perhaps the most remarkable passages of the Four Books are
the following. The first is the reply given to the question
whether any one word could express the conduct most fitting for
one's whole life, he replied, " Will not the word shu serve V
520
THE MIDDLE KimJOM.
which he explained as meaning, Do not unto others what yon
would not have them do to you. The other is quoted in the Im¬
perial Dictionary ; " The people of the west have sages," or
" There is a sage (or holy man) among the people of the west."
As Confucius was contemporary with Ezra, it is not impossible
that he had heard something of the history of the Israelites scat¬
tered throughout the 127 provinces of the Persian monarchy, or
of the writings of their prophets, though there is not the least
historical evidence that he knew anything of the countries in
western Asia, or of the books extant in their languages.
Some idea of the character of the Lun Yu may be gathered
from a few detached sentences, selected from Marshman's trans¬
lation.
" Grieve not that men know you not, but be grieved that you are igno¬
rant of men.
" Governing with equity resembles the north star, which is fixed, and
all the stars surround it.
" Have no friends unlike yourself.
" Learning without reflection will profit nothing; reflection without
learning will leave the mind uneasy and miserable.
" Knowledge produces pleasure clear as water ; complete virtue brings
happiness solid as a mountain : knowledge pervades all things ; virtue
is tranquil and happy : knowledge is delight; virtue is long life.
" Without virtue, both riches and honor seem to me like the passing
cloud.
" The sage's conduct is affection and benevolence in operation.
" The man who possesses complete virtue wishes to fix his own mind
tfterein, and also to fix the minds of others; he wishes to be wise him¬
self, and would fain render others equally wise.
" Those who, searching for virtue, refuse to stay among the virtuous,
how can they obtain knowledge ?
" The rich and honorable are those with whom men desire to asso¬
ciate ; not obtaining their company in the paths of virtue, however, do
not remain in it.
" In your appearance, to fall below decency would be to resemble a
savage rustic, to exceed it would be to resemble a fop; let your appear¬
ance be decent and moderate, then you will resemble the honorable man,
" When I first began with men, I heard words and gave credit for
conduct; now I hear words and observe conduct.
" I have found no man who esteems virtue, as men esteem pleasure.
" The perfect man loves all men ; he is not governed by private affec¬
tion or interest, but only regards the public good or right reason. The
WRITINGS OF MENCIUS.
521
wicked man, on the contrary, loves if you give, and likes if you commend
him.
" The perfect man is never satisfied with himself. He that is satisfied
with himself is not perfect.
" He that is sedulous and desires to improve in his studies, is not
ashamed to stoop to ask of others.
" Sin in a virtuous man is like an eclipse of the sun and moon, all
men gaze at and it passes away ; the virtuous man mends, and the world
stands in admiration of his fall.
" Patience is the most necessary thing to have in this world."
The Lun Yu furnishes many of the themes given at the ex¬
aminations, and in the numerous comments upon it, the essayists
have no lack of expressions to fill up their compositions. The
words of the sage stand for them as the acts of Yau and Shun,
and the sayings of king Wan and lord Chau, did for him,—the
embodiment of everything wise and good.
The last of the Four Books is nearly as large as the other
three united, and consists entirely of the writings of Mencius,
Mang tsz', or Mang futsz', as he is called by the Chinese. It may
here be remarked, that the terms tsz' or futsz' do not properly
form a part of the name, but are titles, meaning rabbi or eminent
teacher, and are added to the surnames of some of the most dis¬
tinguished writers, by way of peculiar distinction; and in the
names of Mencius and Confucius have been Latinized with the
names Mang and Kung of the persons themselves into one word.
The names of other distinguished scholars as Chu futsz', Chino-
o 7 O
futsz', &c., have not undergone this change into Chufucius, Ching-
fucius. Custom has now brought the compellation into univer¬
sal use as a distinctive title, somewhat like the term venerable
applied to Bede. Mencius flourished about 80 years after the
death of his master, and, although in estimating his character, it
must not be forgotten that he had the advantages of his example,
still in most respects he displayed an originality of thought, in¬
flexibility of purpose, and extensive views, superior to Confucius,
and must be regarded as one of the greatest men Asiatic nations
have ever produced. An account of his life and writings has
been drawn by Remusat, in his usual clear manner, which will
furnish all the data requisite.
Mencius was born about 400 b. c., in the city of Tsau, now in
the province of Shantung. His father died a short time after
522
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
his son's birth, and left the guardianship of the boy to his widov*
Changshi. " The care of this prudent and attentive mother," to
quote from Remusat, " has been cited as a model for all virtuous
parents. The house she occupied was near that of a butcher ;
she observed that at the first cry of the animals that were being
slaughtered, the little Mang ran to be present at the sight, and
that on his return he sought to imitate what he had seen. Fear-
ful that his heart might become hardened, and ȣeustomed to
the sight of blood, she removed to another house which was in
the neighborhood of a cemetery. The relations of those who
were buried there came often to weep upon their graves, and
make the customary libations; Mencius soon took pleasure in
their ceremonies, and amused himself in imitating them. This
was a new subject of uneasiness 10 Changshi; she feared her
son might come to consider as a jest what is of all things the
most serious, and that he would acquire a habit of performing
with levity, and as a matter of routine merely, ceremonies which
demand the most exact attention and respect. Again, therefore,
she anxiously changed her dwelling and went to live in the city,
opposite to a school, where her son found examples the most
worthy of imitation, and soon began to profit by them. I should
not have spoken of this trifling anecdote, but for the allusion
which the Chinese constantly make to it in the common proverb,
' Formerly the mother of Mencius chose out a neighborhood.' "
On another occasion, her son, seeing persons slaughtering pigs,
asked her why they did it. " To feed you," she replied, but
reflecting that this was teaching her son to lightly regard the
truth, went and bought some pork and gave him.
Mencius devoted himself early to the classics, and became the
disciple of Tsz'sz', the grandson and not unworthy imitator of
Confucius. After his studies were completed, he offered his
services to the feudal princes of the country, and was received
by Hvvui wang, king of Wei, but though much respected by this
ruler, his instructions were not regarded. He saw too, erelong,
that among the numerous petty rulers and intriguing statesmen
of the day, there was no prospect of restoring tranquillity to the
empire, and that discourses upon the mild government and
peaceful virtues of Yau and Shun, king Wan and Chingtang,
offered little to interest persons whose minds were engrossed with
schemes of conquest or pleasure. He therefore, at length, re-
education and character of mencius. 523
turned to his own country, and in concert with his disciples,
employed himself in composing the work which bears his name,
and in completing the editorial labors of his great predecessor.
He diea about 314 b. c., aged eighty-four years.
His own treatise on political morality is divided into two parts,
which together contain fourteen short chapters. After his death,
Mencius was honored, by public act, with the title of Holy Prince
of the country of Tsau, and in the temple of the literati he re¬
ceives the same honors as Confucius ; his descendants bear the
title of Masters of the Traditions concerning the Classics, and
he himself is called A-shing, which signifies the Second Saint,
Confucius being regarded as the first. His writings are in the
form of dialogues held with the great personages of his time,
and abound with irony and ridicule directed against vice and
oppression, which only make his praises of virtue and integrity
more weighty. He contests nothing with his adversaries, but
while he grants their premises, he seeks to draw from them
consequences the most absurd, which cover his opponents with
confusion.
The king of Wei, one of the turbulent princes of the time, was
complaining to Mencius how ill he succeeded in his endeavors to
make his people happy and his kingdom flourishing. " Prince,"
said the philosopher, " you love war ; permit me to draw a com¬
parison from thence ; two armies are in presence ; the charge is
sounded, the battle begins, one of the parties is conquered ; half
its soldiers have fled a hundred paces, the other half has stopped
at fifty. Will the last have any right to mock at those who have
fled further than themselves ?"
"No," said the king, "they have equally taken flight, and the
same disgrace must attend them both."
" Prince," says Mencius quickly, " cease then to boast of your
efforts as greater than your neighbors. You have all deserved
the same reproach, and not one has a right to take credit to him¬
self over another." Pursuing then his bitter interrogations, he
asked, " Is there a difference, O king! between killing a man
with a club or with a sword ?"—" No," said the prince.—" Be¬
tween him who kills with the sword, or destroys by an inhuman
tyranny?"—"No," again replied the prince.
" Well," said Mencius, " your kitchens are incumbered with
food, your sheds are full of horses, while your subjects, with
524
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
emaciated countenances, are worn down with misery, or found
dead of hunger in the middle of the fields or the deserts. What
is this but to breed animals to prey on men 1 And what is the
difference between destroying them by the sword or by unfeeling
conduct 1 If we detest those savage animals which mutually
tear and devour each other, how much more should we abhor
a prince who, instead of being a father to his people, does not
hesitate to rear animals to destroy them. What kind of fathei
to his people is he who treats his children so unfeelingly, and
has less care of them than of the wild beasts he provides for ?"
On one occasion, addressing the prince of Tsl, Mencius remark¬
ed, " It is not the ancient forests of a country which do it honor,
but its families devoted for many generations to the duties of the
magistracy. Oh king ! in all your service there are none such ;
those whom you yesterday raised to honor, what are they to¬
day ?"
" In what way," replied the king, " can I know beforehand
that they are without virtue, and remove them ?"
" In raising a sage to the highest dignities of the state," re.
plied the philosopher, " a king acts only as he is of necessity
bound to do. But to put a man of obscure condition over the
nobles of his kingdom, or one of his remote kindred over princes
more nearly connected with him, demands most careful delibera¬
tion. Do his courtiers unite in speaking of a man as wise: let
him distrust them. If all the magistrates of his kingdom concur
in the same assurance, let him not rest satisfied with their testi¬
mony, but if his subjects confirm the story, then let him con¬
vince himself; and if he finds that the individual is indeed a
sage, let him raise him to office and honor. So also, if all his
courtiers would oppose his placing confidence in a minister, !et
him not give heed to them ; and if all the magistrates are of this
opinion, let him be deaf to their solicitations ; but if the people
unite in the same request, then let him examine the object of
their ill-will, and if guilty, remove him. In short, if all the
courtiers think that a minister should suffer death, the prince
must not content himself with their opinion merely. If all the
high officers entertain the same sentiment, still he must not yield
to their convictions ; but if the people declare that such a man
is unfit to live, then the prince, inquiring himself, and being
satisfied that the charge is true, must condemn the guilty to
LEADING FEATURES OF MENCIUs' WRITINGS. 525
leath : in such a case, we may say that the people are hia
judges. In acting thus, a prince becomes the parent of his sub
jects."
The will of the people is always referred to as the supreme
power in the state, and Mencius warns princes that they must
both please and benefit their people, observing that " if the
country is not subdued in heart, there will be no such thing as
governing j(t ;" and also, " He who gains the hearts of the people
secures the throne, and he who loses the people's hearts loses
the throne." A prince should " give and take what is pleasing
to them, and not do that which they hate." " Good laws," he
further remarks, " are not equal to winning the people by good
instruction." Being consulted by a sovereign, whether he
ought to attempt the conquest of a neighboring territory, he
answered, "If the people of Yen are delighted, then take it;
but if otherwise, not.''" He also countenances the dethroning of
a king who does not rule his people with a regard to their happi¬
ness, and adduces the example of the founders of the Shang ana
Chau dynasties in proof of its propriety. " When the prince is
guilty of great errors," is his doctrine, " the minister should
reprove him ; if, after doing so again and again, he does not
listen, he ought to dethrone him, and put another in his place."
His estimate of human nature, like many of the Chinese
sages, is high, believing it to be originally good, and " that all
men are naturally virtuous, as all water flows downward. All
men have compassionate hearts, all feel ashamed of vice." But
he says also, " Shame is of great moment to men ; it is only the
designing and artful that find no use for shame." Yet human
nature must be tried by suffering, and to form an energetic and
virtuous character, a man must endure much; " when heaven
was about to place Shun and others in important trusts, it first
generally tried their minds, inured them to abstinence, exposed
them to poverty and adversity ; thus it moved their hearts and
taught them patience." His own character presents traits widely
differing from the servility and baseness usually ascribed to
Asiatics, and especially to the Chinese ; and he seems to have
been ready to sacrifice everything to his principles. " I love
life, and I love justice," he observes, " but if I cannot preserve
both, I would give up life and hold fast justice. Although I
leve life, there is that which I love more than life: although I
526
the middle kingdom.
hate death, there is that which I hate more than death." And
as if referring to his own integrity, he elsewhere says, " The
nature of the superior man is such that, although .n a high and
prosperous situation, it adds nothing to his virtue ; and although
in low and distressed circumstances, it impairs it in nothing."
In many points, especially in the importance he gives to filial
duty, his reverence for the ancient books and princes, and his
adherence to old usages, Mencius imitated and upheld Confu¬
cius ; in native vigor, and carelessness of the reproaches of his
compatriots, he exceeded him.
A few facts respecting the life, and observations on the cha¬
racter, of the great sage of Chinese letters, may here be added,
though the extracts already made from his writings, are sufficient
to show his style. Confucius was born about b. c. 549, during
the reign of Ling wang (the same year in which Cyrus became
king of Persia), in the petty kingdom of Lu, now included in
the province of Shantung. His father was a district magistrate,
and dying when he was only three years old, left his care and
education to his mother, who, although not so celebrated as the
mother of Mencius, seems to have nurtured in him a respect for
morality, and directed his studies. During his youth, he was
remarkable for a grave demeanor and knowledge of ancient
learning, which gained him the respect and admiration of his
townsmen, so that at the age of seventeen he was intrusted
with the duties of a subordinate office in the revenue depart¬
ment, and afterwards appointed a supervisor of fields and herds.
In his twenty-fourth year, he lost his mother by death, and in
conformity with the ancient usage, which had then fallen into
disuse, immediately resigned all his employments to mourn for
her three years, during which time he devoted himself to study.
This practice has continued to the present day.
His examination of the ancient writings led him to resolve upon
instructing his countrymen in them, and to revive the usages of
the former kings; he also visited one of the neighboring princes
by invitation, but declined remaining in his territories, and re¬
turned to Lu, where at the age of thirty he formally set himself
up as a teacher. His scholars and admirers increased in num¬
bers, and a corresponding extension of fame followed, so that
erelong he had an invitation to the court of the prince of Tsi,
but on arrival there, was mortified to learn that mere curiosity
NOTICES OF THE LIFE OF CONFUCIUS.
527
had been the prevailing cause of the invitation, and not a desire
to adopt his principles. He accordingly left him, and went else-
where, actuated, it would seem, as much by a wish to see other
countries and obtain office or extend his influence, as to propagate
his doctrines. Many years of his life were spent in this manner,
and about the age of forty-five he returned to his native country,
and went into retirement. His own prince, lately come to the
throne, at last afforded him the opportunity of carrying his prin¬
ciples of government into practice by appointing him to a judge¬
ship, from which he soon after raised him to the head of affairs,
lie was not, according to the records of his life, found wanting,
but administered the affairs of state with such a mixture of zeal,
prudence, severity, and careful regard for the wants of all, that
it soon bid fair to become the envy and dread of all other princi¬
palities. One, in particular, an usurper, excited by the advice
of Confucius to his own sovereign to take up arms and depose
him, sent an envoy and a conciliatory present to the king of Lu,
consisting of thirty horses beautifully caparisoned, and a number
of curious rarities, with a score of the most accomplished cour¬
tesans he could procure in his territories. This scheme of
gaining the favor of the youthful monarch and driving the
obnoxious cynic from his councils, succeeded, and Confucius
soon after retired by compulsion into private life. He moved
into the dominions of the prince of Wei, accompanied by such
of his disciples as chose to follow him, where he employed him¬
self in extending his doctrines, and travelling into the adjoining
states.
lie was at times applauded and patronized, but quite as often
the object of persecution and contumely ; more than once his life
was endangered. He compared himself to a dog driven from his
home ; " I have the fidelity of that animal, and I am treated like
it. But what matters the ingratitude of men ? They cannot
hinder me from doing all the good that has been appointed me.
If my precepts are disregarded, I have the consolation of know¬
ing in my own breast that I have faithfully performed my duty."
He sometimes spoke in a manner that showed his own impression
to be that heaven had conferred on him a special commission to
instruct the world. On one or two occasions, when he was in
jeopardy, he said, " If heaven means not to obliterate this doc-
trine from the earth, the men of Kwang can do nothing to me."
,589
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
And, " as heaven has produced such a degree of virtue in me,
what can Hwantui do to me ?"
In his instructions, he improved passing events to afford use¬
ful lessons, and some of those recorded are at least ingenious.
Observing a fowler one day sorting his birds into different cages,
he said, "I do not see any old birds here, where have you put
them ?" " The old birds," replied the fowler, " are too wary to
be caught; they are on the lookout, and if they see a net or cage,
far from falling into the snare, they escape and never return.
Those young ones which are in company with them likewise
escape, but only such as separate into a flock by themselves and
rashly approach are the birds I take. If perchance I catch an
old bird it is because he follows the young ones." "You have
heard him," observed the sage, turning to his disciples; " the
words of this fowler afford us matter for instruction. The young
birds escape the snare only when they keep with the old ones, the
old ones are taken when they follow the young: it is thus with
mankind. Presumption, hardihood, want of forethought and inat¬
tention, are the principal reasons why young people are led astray.
Inflated with their small attainments they have scarcely made a
commencement in learning, before they think they know every¬
thing ; they have scarcely performed a few common virtuous
acts, and straight they fancy themselves at the height of wis¬
dom. Under this false impression, they doubt nothing, hesitate
at nothing, pay attention to nothing; they rashly undertake acts
without consulting the aged and experienced, and thus securely
following their own notions, they are misled and fall into the first
snare laid for them. If you see an old man of sober years so
badly advised as to be taken with the sprightliness of a youth,
attached to him, and thinking and acting with him, he is led
astray by him and soon taken in the same snare. Do not forget
the answer of the fowler." Once, when looking at a stream, he
compared its ceaseless current to the transmission of good doc¬
trine through succeeding generations, and as one race had re¬
ceived it, they should hand it down to others. " Do not imitate
those isolated men (the Rationalists) who are wise only for them¬
selves ; to communicate the modicum of knowledge and virtue
we possess to others, will never impoverish ourselves." He
seems to have entertained only faint hopes of the general recep¬
tion of his doctrine, though towards the latter end of his life he
character of the instructions of conflcitts. 529
had as much encouragement in the respect paid him personally
and the increase of his scholars, as he could reasonably have
wished.
Confucius returned to his native country at the age of sixty-
eight, and devoted his time to the completion of his edition of the
classics, and in teaching his now large band of both esoteric and T
exoteric disciples. This work being done, he collected them
around him, and made a solemn dedication of his literary labors to
heaven, as the concluding act of his life. " lie assembled all
his disciples, and led them out of the town to one of the hills
where sacrifices had usually been offered for many years. Here
he erected a table or altar, upon which he placed the books ; and
then turning his face to the north, adored heaven, and returned
thanks upon his knees in a humble manner for having had life
and strength granted him to enable him to accomplish this labo¬
rious undertaking ; he implored heaven to grant that the benefit
to his countrymen from so arduous a labor might not be small.
He had prepared himself for this ceremony by privacy, fasting,
and prayer. Chinese pictures represent the sage in the attitude
of supplication, and a beam of light or a rainbow descending
from the sky upon the books, while his scholars stand around in
admiring wonder."*
A few days before his death he tottered about the house, sigh¬
ing out,
Tax shan, k% tui hu !—Liang mull, k% hwai hu !—Chi jin, ki wei hu f
The great mountain is broken!
The strong beam is thrown down !
The wise man is decayed !
He died soon after, b. c. 479, set. 73, leaving a single descendant,
his grandson Tsz'sz', through whom the succession has been
transmitted to the present day. During his life, the return of
the Jews from Babylon, the invasion of Greece by Xerxes, and
conquest of Egypt by the Persians, took place. Posthumous
honors in great variety amounting to idolatrous worship, have
been conferred upon him. His title is the most Holy Ancient
Teacher Kung tsz', and the Holy Duke. In the reign of KangM,
2150 years after his death, there were eleven thousand males
♦ Chinese Repository, Vol XF , p. 421. Pauthier's China, pp. 121-184.
24
530
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
alive bearing his name, and most of them of the 74th generation,
being undoubtedly one of the oldest families in the world. In
the Sacrificial Ritual a short account of his life is given, which
closes with the following paean.
Confucius ! Confucius ! How great is Confucius !
Before Confucius there never was a Confucius!
Since Confucius there never has been a Confucius!
Confucius ! Confucius ! How great is Confucius!
The leading features of the philosophy of Confucius are sub¬
ordination to superiors, and kind upright dealing with our fellow-
men ; destitute of all reference to an unseen Power to whom all
men are accountable, they look only to this world for their sanc¬
tions, and make the monarch himself only partially amenable to
a higher tribunal. From the duty, honor, and obedience owed by
a child to his parents, he proceeds to inculcate the obligations of
wives to their husbands, subjects to their prince, and ministers to
their king, together with all the obligations arising from the va¬
rious social relations. Political morality must be founded on pri¬
vate rectitude, and the beginning of all real advance in his
opinion was comprised in nosce teipsum. It cannot be denied that
among much that is commendable, there are a few exceptionable
dogmas among his tenets, but compared with the precepts of
Grecian and Roman sages, the general tendency of his writings
is good, while in their general adaptation to the society in which he
lived, and their eminently practical character, they exceed those
of western philosophers. He did not deal much in sublime and
unattainable descriptions of virtue, but rather taught how the
common intercourse of life was to be maintained, how children
should conduct themselves towards their parents, when a man
should enter on office, when to marry, &c., &c., which, although
they may seem somewhat trifling to us, were probably well
calculated for the times and people among whom he lived.
If Confucius had transmitted to posterity such works as the
Iliad, the De Officiis, or the Dialogues of Plato, he would no doubt
have taken a higher rank among the commanding intellects of
the world, but it may be reasonably doubted whether his influ¬
ence among his own countrymen would have been as good or as
lasting. The variety and minuteness of his instr ictions for the
PRACTICAL NATURE OF CONFUCIUS' WRITINGS. 531
nurture and education of children, the stress he lays upon filial
duty, the detail of etiquette and conduct he gives for the inter-
course of all classes and ranks in society, characterize his writ
ings from those of all philosophers in other countries, who, com¬
paratively speaking, gave small thought to the education of the
young. The Four Books and the Five Classics would not, so
far as regards their intrinsic character in comparison with other
productions, be considered as anything more than curiosities in
literature for their antiquity and language, were it not for the
incomparable influence they have exerted over so many millions
of minds; in this view they are invested with an interest which
no book, besides the Bible, can claim. In concluding this very
brief notice of the Chinese classics and their two principal authors,
one redeeming quality they possess compared with the classical
writings of Grecian and Roman genius must not be overlooked,
which is their freedom from descriptions of impurity and licen¬
tiousness, and allusions to whatever debases and vitiates the heart.
Chinese literature contains enough, indeed, to pollute even the
mind of a heathen, but its scum has become the sediment; and
little or nothing can be found in the writings which are most
highly prized, which will not bear perusal by any person in any
country. Every one in the least acquainted with the writings
of Hindu, Greek, and Roman poets, know sthe glowing descrip¬
tions of the amours and obscenities of gods and goddesses which
fill their pages, and the purity of the Chinese canonical books in
this respect must be considered as remarkable.
The hornbooks put into the hands of schoolboys consist chiefly
of digests of the classical writings, intermixed with exhortations
to observe their instructions, and enforced oy examples of emi¬
nent honors attained by persons who obeyed them and the bad
reputation left by those who disregarded them. These works,
though small and few in number, exert a powerful influence over
the people from their constituting the primary books in tuition,
hundreds and thousands of those who learn them by heart, never
having the opportunity of proceeding any further in their studies.
The one first put into the hands of children, the Trimetrical
Classic, has already been noticed (page 428), and a short extract
given from it. Next to it is the Pill Kia Sing, or Century of
Surnames, though in fact it contains 454, thirty of which are
double > The nature of the work forbids its being studied, for il
532
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
is a mere list of surnames, as Kung, Wei, Sz'ma, &c., like Lord^
Richards, Younghusband, &c., in English, and though the use¬
fulness of a list of the characters used for proper names, where
they are likely to be mistaken for others having the same sound,
is plain enough, it is not so easy to see why it should form one
of a series of schoolbooks.
The third in the list is the Tsien Tsz' Wan, or Millenary Clas¬
sic, unique among all books in the Chinese language, and whose
like could not probably be produced in any other, in that it con¬
sists of just a thousand characters, no two of which are alike in
form or meaning. The author, Chau Hingtsz', flourished about
A. p. 550, and according to an account given in the history of the
Liang dynasty, wrote it at the emperor's request, who had order¬
ed his minister Wang Hiclri to write out a thousand characters,
and give them to him, to see if he could make a connected ode
with them. This he did, and presented his performance to his
majesty, who rewarded him with rich presents in token of his
approval. Some accounts, in order that so singular a work might
not want for corresponding wonders, add that he did the task in
a single night, under the fear of condign punishment if he failed,
and the mental exertion was so great as to turn his hair white.
It consists of 250 lines, in which rhyme and rhythm are both
carefully observed, though there is no more poetry in it than in
a multiplication-table. The contents of the book are similar but
more discursive than those of the Trimetrical Classic. From the
1st to the 102d line, the productions of nature and virtues of the
early monarchs, the power and capacities of man, his social du¬
ties and mode of conduct, with instructions as to the manner of
living, are summarily treated. Thence to the 162d line, the
splendor of the palace, and its high dignitaries, with other illus¬
trious persons and places, are referred to. The last part of the
work treats of private and literary life, the pursuits of agricul¬
ture, household government, and education, interspersed with some
exhortations, and a few illustrations. A few disconnected extracts
from Dr. Bridgman's faithful translation will show the mode in
which these subjects are handled. The opening lines are,
" The heavens are of a sombre hue : the earth is yellow :
The whole universe [at the creation] was one wide waste
after which it takes a survey of the world and its products, and
THE THOUSAND CHARACTER CLASSIC.
533
Chinese history, in a very sententious manner, down to the 37th
line, which opens a new subject.
" Now this our human body is endowed
With four great powers and five cardinal virtues :
Preserve with reverence what your parents nourished,—
How can you dare to destroy or injure it ?
Let females guard their chastity and purity,
And let men imitate the talented and virtuous.
When you know your own errors then reform;
And when you have made acquisitions do not lose them.
Forbear to complain of the defects of other people,
And cease to rely [too much] on your own superiority.
Let your truth be such as may be verified,
Your capacities, as to be measured with difficulty.
" Observe and imitate the conduct of the virtuous,
And command your thoughts that you may be wise.
Your virtue once fixed, your reputation will be established;
Your habits once rectified, your example will be correct.
Sounds are reverberated in the deep valleys,
And are reechoed through the vacant halls :
Even so misery is the reward of accumulated vice,
And happiness the reward of illustrious virtue.
1A foot of precious jade stone is not to be valued,
But for an inch of time you ought earnestly to contend."
" Mencius esteemed plainness and simplicity ;
And Yu the historian held firmly to rectitude.
These nearly approached the golden medium,
Being laborious, humble, diligent, and moderate.
Listen to what is said, and investigate the principles explained :
Examine men's conduct, that you may distinguish their characters.
Leave behind you none but purposes of good ;
And strive to act in such a manner as to command respect.
When satirized and admonished examine yourself,
And do this more thoroughly when favors increase."
" Years fly away like arrows, one pushing on another;
The sun shines brightly through his whole course.
The planetarium where it is suspended constantly revolves ;
And the bright moon also repeats her revolutions.
To support fire, add fuel; so cultivate the root of happiness,
And you will obtain eternal peace and endless felicity."
The commentary on the Thousand Character Classic contains
many just observations and curious anecdotes in illustration of
534
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
the text, and if western scholars were as familiar with the acta
and sayings of king Wan, of Su Tsin, or of Kvvan Chung, as
they are with those of Sesostris, Pericles, or Horace, these inci¬
dents and places would be deemed more interesting than they
now are. But where the power of genius, or the vivid pictures
of a brilliant imagination, are wanting to illustrate or beautify a
subject, there is comparatively little to interest Europeans in the
authors and statesmen of a distant country and remote periods.
The fourth in this series, called the Odes for Children, is writ¬
ten in rhymed pentameters, and contains only thirty-four stanzas
of four lines. A single extract will be enough to show its
character, which is, in general, a brief description and praise of
literary life, and allusion to the changes of the seasons, and the
beauties of nature.
" It is of the utmost importance to educate children ;
Do not say that your families are poor,
For those who can handle well the pencil,
Go where they will need never ask for favors.
" One at the age of seven, showed himself a divinely endowed youth,
' Heaven,' said he,' gave me my intelligence :
Men of talent appear in the courts of the holy monarch,
Nor need they wait in attendance on lords and nobles.
" ' In the morning I was an humble cottager,
In the evening I entered the court of the son of heaven:
Civil and military offices are not hereditary,
Men must, therefore, rely on their own efforts.
"' A passage for the sea has been cut through mountains,
And stones have been melted to repair the heavens ;
In all the world there is nothing that is impossible;
It is the heart of man alone that is wanting resolution.
" Once I myself was a poor indigent scholar,
Now I ride mounted in my four-horse chariot,
And all my fellow-villagers exclaim with surprise,'
Let those who have children thoroughly educate them."
The examples of intelligent youth rising to the highest offices
of state are numerous in all the works designed for beginners,
and stories illustrative of their precocity are sometimes given in
toybooks and novels. One of the most common instances is here
EXTRACT FROJI THE ODES FOR CHILDREN. 535
quoted from the Eastern Garden's Miscellany, that of Confucius
and Hiang Toll, which is as well known to every Chinese as the
story of George Washington barking the cherry-tree with hia
hatchet is to American youth.
" The name of Confucius was Yu, and his style Chungni; he estab¬
lished himself as an instructor in the western part of the kingdom of
Lu. One day, followed by all his disciples, riding in a carriage, he
went out to ramble, and on the road, came across several children at
their sports ; among them was one who did not join in them. Confucius,
stopping his carriage, asked him, saying, ' Why is it that you alone do
not play?' The lad replied, 'All play is without any profit; one's
clothes get torn, and they are not easily mended ; above me, I disgrace
my father and mother ; below me, even to the lowest, there is fighting and
altercation ; so much toil and no reward, how can it be a good business ?
It is for these reasons that I do not play.' Then dropping his head, he
began making a city out of pieces of tile.
" Confucius, reproving him, said, ' Why do you not turn out for thf>
carriage ?' The boy replied, ' From ancient times till now it has always
been considered proper for a carriage to turn out for a city, and not for a
city to turn out for a carriage.' Confucius then stopped his vehicle in
order to discourse of reason. He got out of the carriage, and asked him,
' You are still young in years, how is it that you are so quick ?' The
boy replied, saying, ' A human being, at the age of three years, discrimi¬
nates between his father and his mother ; a hare, three days after it is
born, runs over the ground and furrows of the fields; fish, three days
after their birth, wander in rivers and lakes: what heaven thus pro¬
duces naturally, how can it be called brisk ?'
" Confucius added, ' In what village and neighborhood do you reside,
what is your surname and name, and what your style?' The boy an¬
swered, ' I live in a mean village and in an insignificant land ; my sur¬
name is Hiang, my name is Toh, and I have yet no style.'
" Confucius rejoined, ' I wish to have you come and ramble with me ;
what do you think of it?' The youth replied, ' A stern father is at
home, whom I am bound to serve ; an affectionate mother is there,
whom it is my duty to cherish ; a worthy elder brother is at home,
whom it is proper for me to obey, with a tender younger brother
whom I must teach ; and an intelligent teacher is there from whom I
am required to learn. How have I leisure to go a rambling with you ?'
" Confucius said,' I have in my carriage thirty-two chessmen ; what
do you say to having a game together ?' The lad answered, ' If the
emperor love gaming, the empire will not be governed ; if the nobles
love play, the government will be impcdeu ; if scholars love it, learning
and investigation will be lost and thrown by; if the lo.ver - lasses are
536
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
fond of gambling, they will utterly lose the support of their families •, if
servants and slaves love to game, they will get a cudgeling; if famer«
love it they miss the time for ploughing and sowing ; for these reasons I
shall not play with you.'
" Confucius rejoined,' I wish to have you go with me, and fully equal'
ize the empire ; what do you think of this ?' The lad replied,' The
empire cannot be equalized; here are high hills, there are lakes and
rivers ; either there are princes and nobles, or theTe are slaves and ser¬
vants. If the high hills be levelled, the birds and beasts will have no
resort; if the rivers and lakes be filled up, the fishes and the turtles will
have nowhere to go ; do away with kings and nobles, and the common
people will have much dispute about right and wrong; obliterate slaves
and servants, and who will there be to serve the prince! If the empire
be so vast and unsettled, how can it be equalized ?'
" Confucius again asked,' Can you tell, under the whole sky, what fire
has no smoke, what water no fish; what hill has no stones, what
tree no branches; what man has no wife, what woman no husband;
what cow has no calf, what mare no colt; what cock has no hen, what
hen no cock; what constitutes an excellent man, and what an infe¬
rior man ; what is that which has not enough, and what that which has
an overplus; what city is without a market, and who is the man without
a style ?'
" The boy replied,' A glowworm's fire has no smoke, and well-water
no fish ; a mound of earth has no stones, and a rotten tree no branches;
genii have no wives, and fairies no husbands; earthen cows have no
calves, nor wooden mares any colts; lonely cocks have no hens, and
widowed hens no cocks; he who is worthy is an excellent man, and a
fool is an inferior man ; a winter's day is not long enough, and a sum¬
mer's day is too long ; the imperial city has no market, and little folk?
have no style.'
" Confucius inquiring said, 'Do you know what are the connecting
bonds between heaven and earth, and what is the beginning and ending
of the dual powers ? What is left, and what is right; what is out, and
what is in ; who is father, and who is mother ; who is husband, and who
is wife ? [Do you know] where the wind comes from, and from
whence the rain ? From whence the clouds issue, and the dew arises ?
And for how many tens of thousands of miles the sky and earth go pa¬
rallel ?'
" The youth answering said, ' Nine multiplied nine times make
eighty-one, which is the controlling bond of heaven and earth; eight
multiplied into nine makes seventy-two, the beginning and end of the
dual powers. Heaven is father, and earth is mother; the sun is hus¬
band, and the moon is wife ; east is left, and west is right; without is
out, and inside is in: the winds come from Tsang-wu, and the rains
proceed from wastes and wilds; the clouds issue from the hills, and tha
STORY OF HIAN jf TOH AND CONFUCIUS.
531
dew rises from the ground. Sky and earth go parallel for ten thousand
times ten thousand miles, and the four points of the compass have each
their station.'
" Confucius asking, said, ' Which do you say is the nearest relation,
father and mother, or husband and wife ?' The boy responded,' One's
parents are near; husband and wife are not [so] near.'
" Confucius rejoined, ' While husband and wife are alive, they sleep
under the same coverlet; when they are dead they lie in the same
grave ; how then can you say that they are not near ?' The boy re¬
plied, ' A man without a wife is like a carriage without a wheel; if
there be no wheel, another one is made, for he can doubtless get a new
one ; so, if one's wife die, he seeks again, for he also can obtain a new
one. The daughter of a worthy family must certainly marry an honor¬
able husband ; a house having ten rooms always has a plate and a ridge¬
pole ; three windows and six lattices do not give the light of a single
door; the whole host of stars with all their sparkling brilliancy do not
equal the splendor of the solitary moon : the affection of a father and
mother—alas, if it be once lost!'
" Confucius sighing, said, ' How clever ! how worthy !' The boy
asking the sage said, ' You have just been giving me questions, which I
have answered one by one; I now wish to seek information; will the
teacher in one sentence afford me some plain instruction ? I shall be
much gratified if my request be not rejected.' He then said, ' Why is it
that mallards and ducks are able to swim ; how is it that wild geese and
cranes sing; and why are firs and pines green through the winter ?'
Confucius replied, ' Mallards and ducks can swim because their feet are
broad ; wild geese and cranes can sing because they have long necks ;
firs and pines remain green throughout the winter, because they have
strong hearts.' The youth rejoined, ' Not so ; fishes and turtles can
swim, is it because they all have broad feet ? Frogs and toads can
sing, is it because their necks are long ? The green bamboo keeps fresh
in winter, is it on account of its strong heart ?'
" Again interrogating, he said, ' How many stars are there altogether
in the sky ?' Confucius replied, ' At this time inquire about the earth;
how can we converse about the sky with certainty ?' The boy said,
' Then how many houses in all are there on the earth ?' The sage an¬
swered, ' Come now, speak about something that's before our eyes ; why
must you converse about heaven and earth V The lad resumed,' Well,
speak about what's before our eyes—how many hairs are there in your
eyebrows ?'
" Confucius smiled, but did not answer, and turning round to his dis¬
ciples called them and said, ' This boy is to be feared ; for it is easy to
eee that the subsequent man will not be Ike the child.' He then got
into his carriage and rode off."—Chi. Hep., \ ol. X., p. 614.
24*
538
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The exhortations and examples these primary works contain,
can hardly fail of powerfully impressing the youthful student
with a respect for literary pursuits which must tend to restrain
him somewhat from vicious habits, and implant a strong desire
to emulate the conduct of these ensamples, and attain the same
honorable stations they so worthily filled. Inculcated in every
possible way, it produces and accounts for the general prevalence
of literary habits among the Chinese, and the honorable preemi-
nance accorded to that class which is exclusively devoted to
literary pursuits. Amid all the alterations which have passed
upon the government, the revolutions which have dismembered
and reunited the empire, and changed the reigning families, and
the commotions caused throughout society by foreign invasion or
intestine strifes, the reverence of the government and people for
the name of Confucius, and the close study of his writings, have
survived every change. So deeply implanted in the minds and
habits of the people is the respect paid to letters, that everything
connected with or subservient to literary objects, is carried to a
degree of refinement, and blended with other concerns of life in
a way that seems extravagant or puerile, but which could hardly
exist, without some regard for knowledge itself. If we are some¬
times disposed to smile at the solemn nonsense and inconsequent
reasoning of Chinese literati of the present day, it should be re¬
membered that the same taste for reading and desire for know¬
ledge only requires the proper aliment which we can give them
to form intelligent and useful men ; and perhaps this devotion to
their classical works will incite them to give the same careful
study to the Sacred Scriptures when made known to them.
In addition to these books, and the nine classical works, there
is, besides the Hiau King already referred to, another work by
Chu Hi, which demands a passing notice. It is called Siau Hioh,
Primary Lessons or Juvenile Instructor, and was intended by its
compiler to be a counterpart to the Ta Hioh or Superior Lessons,
one of the Four Books. None of the works of later scholars are
so well calculated to show the ideas of the Chinese in all agei
upon the principles of education, intercourse of life, and rules of
conduct to be observed by all people as this ; precepts are illus¬
trated by examples, and the examples referred back to precepts
for their moving cause. One of its fifty commentators says,
ic We confide in the Siau Hioh as we do in the gods ; and revere
the siau hioh or juvenile instructor. 5353
it as we do our parents." It is divided into two books, the first
of which is the " fountain of learning,'"' and the latter " the stream
flowing from it." The first book is divided into four parts and
123 sections, and treats of the first principles of education; of
the duties we owe our kindred, rulers, and fellow-men ; of those
we owe ourselves in regard to study, demeanor, food, and dress;
and lastly gives numerous examples from ancient history confir¬
matory of the maxims inculcated, and the good effects resulting
from their observance. The second book contains, in its first
part, a collection of good sayings of eminent men who flourished
after b. c. 200, succeeded by a series of examples of distin¬
guished persons calculated to show the effects of good principles ;
these parts are designed to establish the truth of the teachings of
the first book. From, the celebrity of the compiler, and the
plainness of the style, it is probable that the precepts of the
higher classics have been more extensively diffused among the
lower classes through means of the Siau Hioh, than they would
otherwise have been. One or two quotations, themselves ex¬
tracted from other works, will suffice to show something of its
contents.
" Confucius said, ' Friends must sharply and frankly admonish each
other, and brothers must be gentle towards one another.'"
" Tsz'kung, asking about friendship, Confucius said, ' Faithfully to
inform and kindly to instruct another is the duty of a friend; if he is
not tractable, desist; do not disgrace yourself.' "
" Whoever enters with his guests, yields precedence to them at every
door ; when they reach the innermost one, he begs leave to go in and
arrange the seats, and then returns to receive the guests ; and after they
have repeatedly declined he bows to them and enters. He passes through
the right door, they through the left. He ascends the eastern, they the
western, steps. If a guest be of a lower grade, he must approach the
steps of the host, while the latter must repeatedly decline this attention;
then the guest may return to the western steps, he ascending, both host
and guest must mutually yield precedence: then the host must ascend
first, and the guests follow. From step to step they must bring their
feet together, gradually ascending,—those on the east moving the right
foot first, those on the west the left."
The examples of filial piety contained in it are more interest¬
ing to a foreigner than the minute directions about intercourse
and behavior. Still these last all go to form Chinese character,
540
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
and give it that development which makes it the strange com.
pound of ignorance and scholastic erudition, the union of cruelty
and politeness, of condescension and contempt, of civilization and
barbarism, which it really is. Their defect is in the absence of
those powerful motives which the Bible contains as the sanctions
of its precepts, and hence the result is such a medley as migh.
be expected from the training given the mind in such morala
under a despotic government, and where there was so little con¬
scientious restraint.
The ninth section of this division in the catalogue contains a
list of musical works, and a few on dancing or posture-making ;
they hold this distinguished place in the list from the importance
attached to music as a branch of learning. The tenth gives the
names of the principal grammars and dictionaries, most of them
confined to the Chinese language, though a few are in Manchu.
The Chinese government has excelled in the attention it has given
to the compilation of lexicons and encyclopaedias. The number
of works of this sort, and the extent of quotation in them ; the
variety of separate disquisitions upon the form, origin, and com¬
position of characters ; and treatises upon subjects connected
with the language, are very great, and indicate the careful labor
native scholars have bestowed upon the elucidation of their own
tongue.
One thesaurus, the Pei Wan Yun Fu, or Treasury of com¬
pared Characters and Sounds, is so extensive and profound, as to
deserve a short notice, which cannot be better made than by an
extract from the preface of M. Callery to his prospectus to a
translation of it. He says the emperor Kanghi, who planned
its preparation, " assembled in his palace the most distinguished
literati of the empire, and laying before them all the works that
could be got, whether ancient or modern, commanded them
carefully to collect all the words, allusions,'forms, and figures of
speech, of which examples might be found in the Chinese lan¬
guage of every style; to class the principal articles according to
the pronunciation of the words ; to devote a distinct paragraph to
each expression ; and to give in support of every paragraph
several quotations from the original works. Stimulated by the
munificence, as well as the example, of the emperor, who
reviewed the performances of every day, seventy-six literati
assembled at Peking, labored with such assiduity, and kept up
dictionaries of the chinese language. 541
such an active correspondence with the learned in all parts of
the empire, that at the end of eight years the work was com¬
pleted (1711), and printed at the public expense, in 130 thick
volumes." The somewhat peculiar nature of the Chinese lan¬
guage, in the formation of many dissyllabic compounds by com¬
bining two or more characters to express a third and new idea,
renders such a work as this Thesaurus more necessary and use¬
ful, perhaps, than it would be in any other language. Under
some of the common characters as many as 300, 400, and even
jp to 600 combinations are noticed, all of which modify its sense
more or less, and form a complete monograph of the character,
of the highest utility to the scholar in composing idiomatic
Chinese. This magnificent monument of literary labor reflects
great credit on the monarch who took so much interest in its
compilation, as he remarks in his preface, to devote the leisure
hours of every day, notwithstanding his manifold occupations,
for eight years, to overlooking the labors of the scholars engaged
upon it.
M. Caliery notices many other lexicons of high repute among
the Chinese,* one of which, the Shwoh Wan Kiai Tsz\ or Trea¬
tise on the Meaning of Words, was published a. d. 150, and is
still good authority. Two of them were issued under the Ming
dynasty, and the one published a. d. 1397, formed the basis of
Dr. Morrison's Syllabic Dictionary, printed 425 years after¬
wards ; no stronger proof of the fixedness of the Chinese lan
guage could be adduced.
* Sysfoma Phoneticum, Part I., p. 77 Chinese Repository, Vol. XII.
p. 302
CHAPTER XII.
Polite Literature of the Chinese.
The three remaining divisions of the Imperial Catalogue com.
prise lists of Historical, Professional, and Poetical works. With
regaid to their value it would be difficult to give a satisfactory
decision,- without furnishing very copious extracts ; but Remusat,
Staunton, the two Morrisons, and others who have studied them
the longest, speak of them with the most respect,—whether it
arose from a higher appreciation of their worth as they learned
more, or that the zealousness of their studies imparted a tinge of
enthusiasm to their descriptions. A writer in the Quarterly
Review places the polite literature of the Chinese first, for the
insight it is likely to give Europeans into their habits of thought.
" The Chinese stand eminently distinguished from other Asiatics,
by their early possession and extensive use of the important art
of printing,—of printing, too, in that particular shape, the stereo¬
type, which is best calculated, by multiplying the copies and
cheapening the price, to promote the circulation of every spe¬
cies of their literature. Hence they are, as might be expected,
a reading people; a certain degree of education is common
among even the lower classes, and among the higher it is super¬
fluous to insist on the great estimation in which letters must be
held under a system where learning forms the very threshold
of the gate that conducts to fame, honors, and civil employment.
Amid the vast mass of printed books, which is the natural off¬
spring of such a state of things, we make no scruple to avow that
the circle of their belles-lettres, comprised under the heads of
drama, poetry, and novels, has always possessed the highest
place in our esteem ; and we must say, that there appears no
readier or more agreeable mode of becoming intimately ac¬
quainted with a people from whom Europe can have so little to
learn on the score of either moral or physical science, than by
drawing largely on the inexhaustible stores of their ornamental
CHARACTER OF CHINESE HISTORICAL WRITINGS. 513
literature." This decision of the reviewer is equally applica
ble to the writings of all Asiatic nations, and although the histo¬
ries, laws, and ethical works of the Chinese are not destitute of
interest in illustrating their civilization, government, and religious
opinions, as the translations of Mailla, Staunton, and Remusat,
in each of these departments prove, still it is true that their
works of imagination are best fitted for showing their character.
The division of Sz' Pu, or Historical Writings, is subdivided
into fifteen sections. These writings are very extensive; even
their mere list conveys a high idea of the vast amount of
labor expended upon them ; and it is impossible to withhold
respect, at least, to the industry displayed in compilations like
ihe Seventeen Histories in two hundred and seventeen chapters,
or volumes, and its continuation, the Twenty-two Histories, a
still larger work. But the entertaining episodes and sketches of
character found in Herodotus and other ancient European histo¬
rians are wanting ; they are little else than barren annals of the
succession and demise of kings and emperors, stating the length
of their reigns, the wars they engaged in, and the various names
they took from their birth to their death. Instead of weighing
the testimony presented to them, and considering the rise and fall
of successive dynasties in a philosophical manner, and making
the exhibition of the faults and wickedness of past monarchs a means
of instruction to subsequent sovereigns, the majority of Chinese
historians content themselves with collecting the statements of
their predecessors, and placing them together in a chronological
series. With them the emperor is everything,"and common
mortals are his servants, soldiers, and subjects,—mere puppets
to be moved at the pleasure of the autocrat; the whole nation
is represented by and absorbed in him. Among the immense
mass of historical works, the Tung Kien Kang-muh, or Genera \
Mirror of History, and a compiled abridgment of it, the Kang
Kien / CM, or History made Easy, are the most useful.
The earliest historian among the Chinese is Sz'ma Tsien, who
flourished about B.C. 104, in which year he commenced the Sz'
Kl, or Historical Memoirs, in 130 chapters. In this great work,
which, like the Muses of Herodotus in Greek, forms the com¬
mencement of credible modern history witn the Chinese, the
author relates the actions of the emperors in regular succession
and the principal events which happened during their reigns
544
the middle kingdom.
together with details and essays respecting music, astroi-vimy,
religious ceremonies, weights, public works, &c., and the changes
they had undergone during the twenty-two centuries embraced
in his Memoirs. It is stated by Remusat that there are in the
whole work 526,500 characters, for the Chinese, like the ancient
Hebrews, number the words in their standard authors. The Sz'
Kt is in five parts, and its arrangement has served as a model
for subsequent historians, few of whom have equalled its author
in the vivacity of their s.yle, or carefulness of their research.
The General Mirror to aid in Governing, by Sz'ma Kwang of
the Sung dynasty, in 294 chapters, is one of the best digested
and most lucid annals that Chinese scholars have produced.
Both the historians, Sz'ma Tsien and Sz'ma Kwang, filled high
offices in the state, were both of them alternately disgraced and
honored, and were mixed up with all the political movements of
the day. Remusat speaks in terms of deserved commendation
of their writings, and to a notice of their works adds some account
of their lives. One or two incidents in the life of Sz'ma Kwang
exhibit a readiness of action, and freedom in expressing his sen¬
timents, which are more common among the Chinese than is
usually supposed. In his youth he was standing with some com¬
panions near a large vase used to rear gold fish, when one of
them fell in. Too terrified themselves to do anything, all but
young Kwang ran to seek succor; he looked around for a stone
with which to break the vase and let the water flow out, and thus
saved the life of his companion. In subsequent life, the same
common sense was joined with a boldness which led him to
declare his sentiments on all occasions. Some southern people
once sent a present to the emperor of a strange quadruped which
his flatterers said was the kilin. Sz'ma Kwang, being consulted
on the matter, replied, " I have never seen the kilin, therefore I
cannot tell whether this be one or not. What I do know is that
the real kilin could never be brought hither by foreigners; he
appears of himself when the state is well governed."*
Few works in Chinese literature are more famous than a histo¬
rical novel by Chin Shau, about a. d. 350, called the San Kwoh
Chi, or History of the Three States; its scenes are laid in the
northern parts of China, and include the period between a. d.
* Chinese Repository, Vol. IX., pages 210, 274.
Sz'MA KWANG, A CHINESE HISTORIAN.
545
170 to 317, when several ambitious chieftains conspired against
the imbecile princes of the once famous Han dynasty, and after
that was overthrown, fought among themselves, until the empire
was again reconsolidated under the Tsin dynasty. This perform-
ance, from its double character, and the long period over which it
extends, necessarily lacks that unity which a novel should have.
Its charms, to a Chinese, consist in the animated descriptions of
plots and counterplots, in the relations of battles, sieges, and
retreats, and the admirable manner in which the characters are
delineated, and their acts intermixed with entertaining episodes.
The work opens with describing the distracted state of the empire
under the misrule of Ling ti and Hiuen ti, the last two monarchs
of the house of Han, who were entirely swayed by eunuchs,
and left the administration of government to reckless oppressors,
until ambitious men, taking advantage of the general discontent,
raised the standard of rebellion. The leaders ordered their par¬
tisans to wear yellow headdresses, whence the rebellion was
called that of the Yellow Caps, and was suppressed only after
several years of hard struggle by a few distinguished generals
who upheld the throne. Among these was Tung Choh, who,
gradually drawing to himself all the power in the state, thereby
arrayed against himself others equally as ambitious and unscru¬
pulous. Disorganization had not yet proceeded so far that all
hope of supporting the rightful throne had left the minds of its
adherents, among whom was Wang Yun, a chancellor of the
empire, who, seeing the danger of the state, devised a scheme to
inveigle Tung Choh to his ruin, which is thus narrated :
" One day, Tung Choh gave a great entertainment to the officers of
government. When the wine had circulated several times, Lii Pu (his
adopted son) whispered something in his ear, whereupon he ordered the
attendants to take Chang Wan from the table into the hall below, and
presently one of them returned, handing up his head in a charger. The
spirits of all present left their bodies, but Tung, laughing, said, ' Pray,
sirs, do not be alarmed. Chang Wan has been leaguing with Yuen
Shuh how to destroy me ; a messenger just now brought a letter for
him, and inadvertently gave it to my son ; for which he has lost his life.
You, gentlemen, have no cause for dread.' All the officers replied,
Yes ! yes !' and immediately separated.
" Chancellor Wang Yun returned home in deep thought: ' The pro-
ceedings of this day's feast are enough to make my seat an uneasy
546
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
one and taking his cane late at night he walked out in the moonight
into his rear garden, when standing near a rose arbor and weeping as
he looked up, he heard a person sighing and groaning within the peony
pavilion. Carefully stepping and watching, he saw it was Tiau Chen,
a singing-girl belonging to the house, who had been taken into his
family in early youth and taught to sing and dance ; she was now six¬
teen, and both beautiful and accomplished, and Wang treated her as
if she had been his own daughter.
" Listening some time, he spoke out, ' What underhand plot are you
at now, insignificant menial ?' Tiau Chen, much alarmed, kneeling,
said, ' What treachery can your slave dare to devise ?'—' If you have
nothing secret, why then are you here late at night sighing in this
manner ?' Tiau replied, ' Permit your handmaid to declare her inmost
thoughts. I am very grateful for your excellency's kind nurture, for
teaching me singing and dancing, and for the treatment I have received.
If my body should be crushed to powder [in your service], I could not
requite a myriad to one [for these favors]. But lately I have seen your
eyebrows anxiously knit, doubtless from some state affairs, though I
presumed not to ask ; this evening, too, I saw you restless in your seat.
On this account I sighed, not imagining your honor was overlooking
me. If I can be of the least use, I would not decline the sacrifice of a
thousand lives.' Wang, striking his cane on the ground, exclaimed,
' Who would have thought the rule of Han was lodged in your hands!
Come with me into the picture-gallery.' Tiau Chen following in, he
ordered his females all to retire, and placing he? in a seat, turned him¬
self around and did her obeisance. She, much surprised, prostrated
herself before him, and asked the reason of such conduct, to which he
replied, ' You are able to compassionate all the people in the dominions
of Han.' His words ended, the tears gushed like a fountain. She
added, ' I just now said, if I can be of any service I will not decline,
though I should lose my life.'
" Wang, kneeling, rejoined, ' The people are in most imminent danger,
and the nobility in a hazard like that of eggs piled up ; neither can be
rescued without your assistance. The traitor Tung Choh wishes soon
to seize the throne, and none of the civil or military officers have any
practicable means of defence. He has an adopted son, Lii Pu, a re¬
markably daring and brave man, who, like himself, is the slave of lust.
Now I wish to contrive a scheme to inveigle them both, by first promising
to wed you to Lii, and then offering you to Tung, while you must seize
the opportunity to raise suspicions in them, and slander one to the other
so as to sever them, and cause Lu to kill Tung, whereby the present
great evils will be terminated, the throne upheld, and the government
re-established. All this is in your power, but I do not know how tne
p'au strikes you.' Tiau answered, ' I have promised your excellency
EXTRACT FROM THE SAN KWOH CHI.
547
my utmost service, and you may trust me that I will devise some good
Bcheme when I am offered to them.'
" ' You must be aware that if this design leaks out, we shall all be
utterly exterminated.'—' Your excellency need not be anxious, and if I
do not aid in accomplishing your patriotic designs, let me die a thousand
deaths.'
" Wang, bowing, thanked her. The next day, taking several of the
brilliant pearls preserved in the family, he ordered a skilful workman to
inlay them into a golden coronet, which he secretly sent as a present to
Lii Pu. Highly gratified, Lii himself went to Wang's house to thank him,
where a well prepared feast of viands and wine awaited his arrival.
Wang went out to meet him, and waiting upon him into the rear hall,
invited him to sit at the top of the table, but Lii objected ; 'I am only a
general in the prime minister's department, while your excellency is a
high minister in his majesty's court; why this mistaken respect ?'
" Wang rejoined, ' There is no hero in the country now besides you ;
I do not pay this honor to your office, but to your talents.' Lii was
excessively pleased. Wang ceased not in engaging him to drink, the
while speaking of Tung Choh's high qualities, and praising his guest's
virtues, who, on his side, wildly laughed for joy. Most of the attendants
were ordered to retire, a few waiting maids stopping to serve out wine,
when, being half drunk, he ordered them to tell the young child to come
in. Shortly after, two pages led in Tiau Chen gorgeously dressed, and
Lii, much astonished, asked, ' Who is this ?'
" ' It is my little daughter, Tiau Chen, whom I have ordered to come
in and see you, for I am very grateful for your honor's misapplied kind¬
ness to me, which has been like that to near relatives.' He then bade
her present a goblet of wine to him, and as she did so, their eyes glanced
to and from each other.
" Wang, feigning to be drunk, said, ' The child strongly requests
your honor to drink many cups ; my house entirely depends upon your
excellency.' Lii requested her to be seated, but she acting as if about
to retire, Wang remarked, ' The general is my intimate friend ; be
seated, my child ; what are you afraid of ?' She then sat down at his
side, while Lii's eyes never strayed from their gaze upon her, drinking
and looking.
" Wang, pointing to Tiau, said to Lii, ' I wish to give this girl to you
as a concubine, but know not whether you will receive her ?' Lii,
leaving the table to thank him, said, ' If I could obtain such a girl as
this, I would emulate the requital dogs and horses give for the care
taken of them.'
" Wang rejoined, ' I will immediately select a lucky day, and send
her to your house.' Lii was delighted beyond measure, and never
took his eyes off her, while Tiau herself, with ogling glances, intimated
her passion. The feast shortly after broke up, and Lii departed."
548
the middle kingdom.
The scheme here devised was successful, and Tung Choh was
assassinated by his son, when he was on his way to depose the
monarch, although many evil omens were granted to deter him
from his unlawful course. His death, however, brought no peace
to the country, and three chieftains, Tsau Tsau, Liu PI, and Sun
Kiuen, soon distinguished themselves in their struggles for power,
and afterwards divided the empire of the Han princes into the three
states of Wu, Shuh, and Wei, from which the work derives its
name. Many of the personages who figure in this work have
since been deified, among whom are Liu Pi's sworn brother Kwan
Yii, who is now the Mars, and Hvva To, since made the Escu-
lapius, of Chinese mythology. Its scenes and characters have
all been fruitful subjects for the pencil and the pen of artists
and poetasters, while all classes delight to dwell upon and recount
the exploits of its heroes. One commentator has thrown his re¬
marks between the text itself in the shape of such expressions
as " Wonderful speech ! What rhodomontade ! This man was
a fool before, and shows himself one now!" Davis very ap¬
positely likens this work to the Iliad for its general arrange¬
ment and blustering character of the heroes ; and like that work,
it was composed when the scenes described and their leading
actors existed chiefly in personal recollection, and the remem¬
brances of both were fading away in the twilight of popular
legends.
There are many other works catalogued in this division deserv¬
ing notice, only a few of which can be referred to, and their
names and design merely mentioned. Biographies of distin¬
guished men and women are numerous, and their preparation
forms a favorite branch of literary labor. - It is noticeable to
observe the consideration paid to literary women in these memoirs,
and the praises bestowed upon discreet mothers whose talented
children are considered to be the criteria of their careful training.
There is one biographical work in 120 volumes, called Sing Pu,
but it does not possess the incident and animation which are
found in some less formal biographical dictionaries. The Lieh
Nil Chuen, or Memoirs of Distinguished Ladies of ancient times
by Liu Hiang, b. c. 125, is often cited by writers on female edu¬
cation, who wish to show how women were anciently trained to
the practice of every virtue and accomplishment. If a Chi¬
nese author cannot quote a case to illustrate his position at least
ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCHES OF MA TWANLIN. 549
eight or ten centuries old, he thinks half its force abated by its
youth. Biographical works are almost as numerous as statistical,
and afford one of the best sources for studying the national cha¬
racter; some of them, like the lives of Washington or Cromwell
in our own literature, combine both history and biography.
Some of the statistical and geographical works mentioned in
this division are noticed on page 43. Among those on the Con-
stitution, is the Complete Antiquarian Researches of Ma Twanlin,
who lived A. D. 1275. It is in 348 chapters, and forms a most
extensive and profound work, containing researches upon every
matter relating to government, and extending through a series of
dynasties which held the throne nearly forty centuries. Remusat
goes so far as to say, " This excellent work is a library by itself,
and if Chinese literature possessed no other, the language would
be worth learning for the sake of reading this alone." No book has
been more drawn upon by Europeans for information concerning
matters relating to Eastern Asia than this; Visdelot and De
Guignes took from it much of their information relating to the
Tartars and Huns; and Pingse extracted his account of the
comets and aerolites from its pages, besides some geographical
and ethnographical papers. Remusat has drawn upon its stores,
and remarks that many parts of Ma Twanlin's work merit an
entire translation—which can be said, indeed, of few Chinese
authors. A supplement to it has been prepared and published by
the present dynasty, bringing it down to the present time.* It
elevates our opinion of a nation whose literature can boast of a
work like this, exhibiting such patient investigation and candid
comparison of authorities, such varied research and just discrimi¬
nation of what is truly important, and so extensive a mass of
facts and opinions upon every subject of historic interest.
Although there be no quotations in it from what we call classic
authors, and the ignorance of the compiler of what was known
upon the same subjects in other countries disqualified him from
giving his remarks the completeness they would otherwise have
had ; yet, when the stores of knowledge from western lands are
made known to a people whose scholars can produce such works
as this, the Memoirs of Sz'ma Tsien, and others equally aa
good, it may reasonably be expected that they will not lack in
industry or ability to carry on their researches.
* Melanges Asiatiques; Chinese Repository, Vol IX., p. 143.
550
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The third division ol" Tsz' Pu, Scholastic or Profess. v
Writings, is arranged under fourteen sections, viz. Philosi phi.
cal, Military, Legal, Agricultural, Medical, Mathematical, and
Magical writings, works on the Liberal Arts, Collections, Mis¬
cellanies, Encyclopaedias, Novels, and treatises on the tenets of
the Budhists and Rationalists. The first section is called Jil
Kia Lid, meaning the works of the Literary Family, under
which name is included schoolmen, or followers of Chu Hi, who
have specially treated upon mental and moral philosophy, and
discussed the cause and continuation of things. A few extracts
from a discussion by Chu Hi, the founder of the school, will
show the way in which he reasons on the primum mobile.
"Under the whole heaven there is no primary matter (li) without the
immaterial principle (/a), and no immaterial principle apart from the pri¬
mary matter. Subsequent to the existence of the immaterial principle
is produced primary matter, which is deducible from the axiom that the
one male and the one female principle of nature may be denominated
lau or logos (the active principle from which all things emanate) ; thus
nature is spontaneously possessed of benevolence and righteousness
(which are included in the idea of tau).
" First of all existed lien li (the celestial principle or soul of the uni¬
verse), and then came primary matter; primary matter accumulated
constituted chih (body, substance, or the accidents and qualities of mat¬
ter), and nature was arranged.
" Should any ask whether the immaterial principle or primary matter
existed first, I should say that fSe immaterial principle on assuming a
figure ascended, and primary matter on assuming form descended ; when
we come to speak of assuming form and ascending or descending, how
can we divest ourselves of the idea of priority and subsequence ? When
the immaterial principle does not assume a form, primary matter then
becomes coarse, and forms a sediment.
" Originally, however, no priority or subsequence can be predicated of
the immaterial principle and primary matter, and yet if you insist on
carrying out the reasoning to the question of their origin, then you must
say that the immaterial principle has the priority ; but it is not a sepa¬
rate and distinct thing; it is just contained in the centre of the primary
matter, so that were there no primary matter, then this immaterial prin¬
ciple would have no place of attachment. Primary matter consists, in
fact, of the four elements of metal, wood, water, and fire, while the im¬
material principle is no other than the four cardinal virtues of benevolencet
righteousness, propriety, and wisdom
" Should any one ask for an explanation of the assertion that the im«
REMARKS OF CHU Hi ON THE PR1MUM MOBILE. 551
material principle has first existence, and after that coines primary mat<
ter, I say, it is not necessary to speak thus : but when we know that
they are combined, is it that the immaterial principle holds the prece¬
dence, and the primary matter the subsequence : or is it that the immate¬
rial principle is subsequent to the primary matter ? VVe cannot thu3
carry our reasoning; but should we endeavor to form some idea of it,
then we may suppose that the primary matter relies on the immaterial
principle to come into action, and wherever the primary matter is coagu¬
lated, there the immaterial principle is present. Tor the primary matter
can concrete and coagulate, act and do, but the immaterial principle has
neither will nor wish, plan nor operation : but only where the primary
matter is collected and coagulated, then the immaterial principle is in the
midst of it. Just as in nature, men and things, grass and trees, birds
and beasts, in their propagation invariably require seed, and certainly
cannot without seed from nothingness produce anything; all this then
is the primary matter, but the immaterial principle is merely a pure,
empty, wide-stretched void, without form or footstep, and incapable of
action or creation; but the primary matter can ferment and coagulate,
collect and produce things
" Should any one ask, with regard to those expressions, ' The Supreme
Ruler confers the due medium on the people, and when Heaven is about
to send down a great trust upon men, out of regard to the people it sets
up princes over them and, ' Heaven in producing things treats them
according to their attainments; on those who do good, it sends down a
hundred blessings, and on those who do evil, a hundred calamities and,
' When Heaven is about to send down some uncommon calamity upon a
generation, it first produces some uncommon genius to determine it
do these and such like expressions imply that above the azure sky there
is a Lord and Ruler who acts thus ; or is it still true that heaven has no
mind, and men only carry out their reasonings in this style ? I reply,
these three things are but one idea; it is that the immaterial principle
of order is thus. The primary matter in its evolutions hitherto, after
one season of fulness has experienced one of decay ; and after a period
of decline it again flourishes ; just as if things were going on in a circle.
There never was a decay without a revival.
" When men blow out tLeir breath their bellies pufT out, and when
.hey inhale their bellies sink in, while we should have thought that at
each expiration the stomach would fall in and swell up at each inspi¬
ration ; but the reason of it is that when men expire, though the mouthful
of breath goes out, the second mouthful is again produced, therefore the
belly is pufled up ; and when men inspire, the breath which is introduced
from within, drives the other out, so that the belly sinks in. Lautsz' said,
nature is like an open pipe or bag ; it moves, and yet is not compelled
to stop, it is empty, and still more comes out; just like a fan-case open
at both ends
552
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
" The great extreme (tai kih) is merely the immaterial principle. I
is not an independent separate existence ; it is found in the male and fe¬
male principles of nature, in the five elements, in all things ; it is merely
an immaterial principle, and because of its extending to the extreme
limit, is therefore called the great extreme. If it were not for it, heaven
and earth would not have been set afloat From the time when
the great extreme came into operation, all things were produced by
transformation. This one doctrine includes the whole ; it was not be¬
cause this was first in existence and then that, but altogether there is
only one great origin, which from the substance extends to the use, and
from the subtle reaches to that which is manifest. Should one ask, be¬
cause all things partake of it, is the great extreme split up and divided ?
I should reply, that originally there is only one great extreme (anima
mundi) of which all things partake, so that each one is provided with a
great extreme ; just as the moon in the heavens is only one, and yet is
dispersed over the hills and lakes, being seen from every place in suc¬
cession ; still you cannot say that the moon is divided.
" The great extreme has neither residence, nor form, nor place which
you can assign to it. If you speak of it before its development, then pre¬
vious to that emanation it was perfect stillness ; motion and rest, with
the male and female principles of nature, are only the embodiment and
descent of this principle. Motion is the motion of the great extreme,
and rest is its rest, but these same motion and rest are not to be consi¬
dered the great extreme itself. Should any one ask, what is the-
great extreme ? I should say, it is simply the principle of extreme good¬
ness and extreme perfection. Every man has a great extreme, every¬
thing has one ; that which Chautsz' called the great extreme is the
exemplified virtue of everything that is extremely good and perfect in
heaven and earth, men and things.
" The great extreme is simply the extreme point, beyond which one
cannot go ; that which is most elevated, most mysterious, most subtle,
and most divine, beyond which there is no passing. Lienki was afraid
lest people should think that the great extreme possessed form, and there¬
fore called it the boundless extreme, a principle centred in nothing, and
having an infinite extent It is the immaterial principle of the two
powers, the four forms, and the eight changes of nature ; we cannot say
that it does not exist, and yet no form or corporeity can be ascribed to it.
From this point is produced the one male and the one female principles
of nature, which are called the dual powers ; the four forms and eight
changes also proceed from this, all according to a certain natural order,
irrespective of human strength in its arrangement. But from the time
of Confucius no one has been able to get hold of this idea."*
Chinese Repository, Vol. XIII., pages 552, 609, et seq.
plates and odes on tillage and weaving. o53
Aivi, it might be added, no one will ever be able to get Iiold
ol li: iumself. Such discussions as this have occupied the minds
and pens of Chinese metaphysicians for centuries, and in their
endeavors to explain the nonsensical notions of the Book of
Changes, they have wandered far away from the road which
would have led them in the path of true knowledge, namely, the
observation and record of the works and operations of nature
around them ; and one after another have continued to roll this
stone of Sisyphus until fatigue and bewilderment have come over
them all.
Some works on female education are found in this section,
which seems designed as much to include whatever philosophers
wrote, as all they wrote on philosophy. The work of Luhchau,
a modern writer on this subject, is noticed on page 454, and a
translation of his compilation would not be unreadable to a per¬
son curious to learn how a Chinese, who is supposed to look upon
woman as a mere slave to gratify the wants and appetites of
men, discusses such a subject.
The second and third sections, on military and legal subjects,
contain no books worthy of notice. Among the fourth, on Agri¬
cultural treatises, is the Kang Chili Tu Shi, or Plates and Odes
on Tillage and Weaving, in a thin quarto, which was written
during the Sung dynasty, and has been widely circulated by the
present government in order " to evince its regard for the peo¬
ple's support." The first half contains twenty-three plates on
the various processes to be followed in raising rice, the last of
which represents the husbandmen and their families returning
thanks to the gods of the land for a good harvest, and offering a
portion of the fruits of the earth ; the last plate in the second
part of the work, also represents a similar scene of returning
thanks for a good crop of silk, and presenting an offering to the
gods. The drawings in this work are among the best for per¬
spective and general composition which Chinese art has produced ;
and probably their merit was the chief inducement to publish the
work at governmental expense, for the odes are both too brief to
contain much information, and too difficult to be generally un¬
derstood.
Among all the numerous writings published for the improve¬
ment and instruction of the people by their rulers, none has been
bo celebrated as the Shing Yu, or Sacred Commands, a sort of
25
554
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
politico-moral treatise, which has been made known to English
readers by the translation of Dr. Milne. The groundwork of
the book consists of sixteen apothegms, written by the emperor
Kanghi, containing general rules for the peace, prosperity, and
wealth of all classes of his subjects. In order that none should
plead ignorance in excuse for not knowing the Sacred Com¬
mands, it is by law required that they be proclaimed throughout
the empire by the local officers on the first and fifteenth day of
every month in a public hall set apart for the purpose, where the
people are not only permitted, but requested and encouraged, to
attend. In point of fact, however, this political preaching, as it
has been called, is neglected except in large towns, though the
design is not the less commendable. It is a somewhat singular
fact, that monarchs, secure in their thrones as Kangh! and Yung-
ching were, should take upon themselves the character of writers
and tea-chers of morality to their subjects, and institute a special
service every fortnight to have their precepts communicated to
them. If too, it should soon be seen that their designs had
utterly failed of all real good results from the mendacity of their
officers and the ignorance or opposition of the people, still the
merit due them is not diminished. The sixteen apothegms are
as follows, each consisting of seven characters:—
1. Pay just regard to filial and fraternal duties, in order to
give due importance to the relations of life.
2. Respect kindred in order to display the excellence of har¬
mony.
3. Let concord abound among those who dwell in the same
neighborhood, theieby preventing litigations.
4. Give the chief place to husbandry and the culture of the
mulberry, that adequate supplies of food and raiment be secured.
5. Esteem economy, that money be not lavishly wasted.
6. Magnify academical learning, in order to direct the scholar's
progress.
7. Degrade strange religions, in order to exalt the orthodox
Goctrines.
8. Explain the laws, in order to warn the ignorant and obsti¬
nate.
9. illustrate the principles of a polite and yielding carriage,
in order to improve manners.
EXTRACT FROM THE SHING YU OR SACRED COMMANDS. 555
10. Attend to the essential employments, in order to gives
unvarying determination to the will of the people.
11. Instruct the youth, in order to restrain them from eviL
12. Suppress all false accusing, in order to secure protection
to the innocent.
13. Warn those who hide deserters, .hat they may not be
involved in their downfall.
14. Complete the payment of taxes in order to prevent frequent
urging.
15. Unite the pau and kia in order to extirpate robbery and
theft.
16. Settle animosities that lives may be duly valued.
The amplifications of these maxims by Yungching contain
much information respecting the theory of his government, and
the position of the writer entitles him to speak from knowledge;
his amplification of the 14th maxim shows their character.
" From of old the country was divided into districts, and a tribute paid
proportioned to the produce of the land. From hence arose revenues,
upon which the expense of the five It, and the whole charges of govern¬
ment depended. These expenses a prince must receive from the people,
and they are what inferiors should offer to superiors. Both in ancient
and modern times this principle has been the same and cannot be changed.
Again, the expenses of the salaries of magistrates that they may rule
our people ; of pay to the army that they may protect them ; of preparing
for years of scarcity that they may be fed; as all these are collected
from the empire, so they are all employed for its use. How then can it
be supposed that the granaries and treasury of the sovereign are intended
to injure the people that he may nourish himself? Since the establish¬
ment of our dynasty till now, the proportions of the revenue have been
fixed by an universally approved statute, and all unjust items completely
cancelled, not a thread or hair too much has been demanded from the
people. In the days of our sacred father, the emperor Pious, his abound¬
ing benevolence and liberal favor fed this people upwards of sixty years.
Daily desirous to promote their abundance and happiness, he greatly
diminished the revenue, not limiting the reduction to hundreds, thou¬
sands, myriads, or lacs of taels. The mean and the remote have experi¬
enced his favor; even now it enters the muscles, and penetrates to the
marrow. To exact with moderation, diminish the revenue, and confei
favors on the multitude, are the virtues of a prince: to serve superiors,
and to give the first place o public service and second to their own, are
Ihe duties of a people. S ldiers and people should all understand this
B50
THE MIDDLE KIN3I>"j
iiecome not lasy and trifling, nor prodigally throw away your property
Linger not to pay in the revenue, looking and hoping for some unusua.
occurrence to avoid it, nor intrust your imposts to others, lest bad men
appropriate them to their own use.
" Pay in at the terms, and wait not to be urged. Then with the over¬
plus, you can nourish your parents, complete the marriages of your
children, satisfy your daily wants, and provide for the annual feasts and
sacrifices. District officers may then sleep at ease in their public halls,
raid villagers will no longer be vexed in the night by calls from the tax-
gatherers; on neither hand will any be involved. Your wives and chil¬
dren will be easy and at rest, than which you have no greater joy. If
unaware of the importance of the revenue to government, and that the
laws must be enforced, perhaps you will positively refuse or deliberately
put off the payment, when the magistrates, obliged to balance their
accounts, and give in their reports at stated times, must be rigorously
severe. The assessors, suffering the pain of the whip, cannot help
indulging their rapacious demands on you ; knocking and pecking at your
doors like hungry hawks, they will devise numerous methods of getting
their wants supplied. These nameless ways of spending will probably
amount to more than the sum which ought to have been paid, and that
sum, after all, cannot be dispensed with.
" We know not what benefit can accrue from this. Rather than give
presents to satisfy the rapacity of policemen, how much better to clear
off the just assessments! Rather than prove an obstinate race and
refuse the payment of the revenue, would it not be better to keep the
law ? Every one, even the most stupid, knows this. Furthermore,
when superiors display benevolence, inferiors should manifest justice;
this belongs to the idea of their being one body. Reflect that the con¬
stant labors and cares of the palace are all to serve the people. When
freshes occur, dikes must be raised to restrain them ; if the demon of
drought appear, prayer must be offered for rain; when the locusts come,
they must be destroyed. If the calamities be averted, you reap the
advantage; but if they overwhelm you, your taxes are forborne, and
alms liberally expended for you. If it be thus, and the people still can
suffer themselves to evade the payment of taxes, and hinder the supply
of government, how, I ask, can you be easy ? Such conduct is like that
of an undutiful son. We use these repeated admonitions, only wishing
you, soldiers and people, to think of the army and nation, and also of
your persons and families. Then abroad you will have the fame of
faithfulness, and at home peacefully enjoy its fruits. Officers will not
trouble you, nor their clerks vex you—what joy equal to this ! O sol¬
diers and people, meditate on these things in the silent night, and let al.
accord with our wishes."—Sacred Edict, pn. 254-259.
Wang Yupi, a high officer under Yungcliir.g, paraphrased the
WA.NG yuri's RIDICULE OF BUVHiS.V.
55'.
amplifications in a colloquial manner. His remarks r a he doc.
trines of the Budhists and Rationalists show his style and matter
The quotation here given is found under the 7th maxim.
" You simple people know not how to discriminate ; for even accord*
ing to what the books of Budha say, he was the firstborn son of the
king- Fan; but retiring from the world he fied away alone to the top of
the Snowy mountains in order to cultivate virtue. If he regarded not
his own father, mother, wife, and children, are you such fools as to sup¬
pose that he regards the multitude of the living, or would deliver his
laws and doctrines to you ? The imperial residence, the queen's palace*
the dragon's chamber, and halls of state—if he rejected these, is it not
marvellous to suppose that he should delight in the nunneries, monas¬
teries, temples, and religious houses, which you can build for him ? As
to the Gemmeous Emperor, the most honorable in heaven, if there be
indeed such a god, it is strange to think he should not enjoy himself at
his own ease in the high heavens, but must have you to give him a
body of molten gold, and build him a house to dwell in!
" All these nonsensical tales about keeping fasts, collecting assemblies,
building temples, and fashioning images, are feigned by those sauntering,
worthless priests and monks to deceive you. Still you believe them,
and not only go yourselves to worship and burn incense in the temples,
but also suffer your wives and daughters to go. With their hair oiled,
and faces painted, dressed in scarlet and trimmed with green, they go
to burn incense in the temples, associating with the priests of Budha,
doctors of Reason, and barestick attorneys, touching shoulders, rubbing
arms, and pressed in the moving crowd. I see not where the good the*'
talk of doing is; on the contrary, they do many shameful things that
create vexation, and give people occasion for laughter and ridicule.
" Further, there are some persons, who, fearing that their good boys
and girls may not attain to maturity, take and give them to the temple?
to become priests and priestesses of Budha and Reason , supposing, that
after having removed them from their own houses, and placed t vem at
the foot of grandfather Fuh (Budha), they are thsn sur; of prolonging
life ! Now I would ask you, if those who in this age are priests of
these sects, all reach the age of 70 or 80, and that there is not a short¬
lived person among them ?
Again; there is another very stupid class of persons, who, Because
their parents are sick, pledge their ciwn persons by a vow before the
gods, that if their parents be restore J to health, they will worship and
burn incense on the hills, prostrating themselves at every step, till they
arrive at the summit, whence they will dash themselves down? If they
do not lose their lives, they are sure to break a leg or an arm. They
say themselves, ' To give up our own lives to save our parents ic the
558
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
highest display of filial duty.' Bystanders also pr.ise them as dutiful
children, but they do not consider that to slight the bodies received from
their parents, in this manner, discovers an extreme want of filial duty.
" Moreover, you say that serving Fuh is a profitable service ; that if
you burn paper money, present offerings, aw/J keep fasts before the face
of your god Fuh, he will dissipate calamities, blot out your sins, in¬
crease your happiness, and prolong your age ! Now reflect: from of
old it has been said, ' The gods are intelligent and just.' Were Budha
i god of this description, how could he avariciously desire your gilt pa¬
per, and your offerings to engage him to afford you protection ? If you
do not burn gilt paper to him, and spread offerings on his altar, the god
Fuh will be displeased with you, and send dowrv judgments on you!
Then your god Fuh is a scoundrel! Take, for example, the district
magistrate. Should you never go to compliment and flatter him, yet, il
you are good peopie and attend to your duty, he will pay marked atten¬
tion to you. But transgress the iaw, comics viclenoi, or usurp the
rights of others, and though you should use a thousand ways and meana
to flatter him, he will still be displeased with you, and will, without fai;
remove such pests from society.
"You say that worshipping Fuh atones for your sins. Suppose you
have violated the law, and are hauled to the judgment-seat to be punished ;
jf you should bawl out several thousand times, ' O your excellency ! G
your excellency !' do you think the magistrate would spare you ? iua
will, however, at all risks, invite several Budhist and Rationalist priests
to your houses to recite their canonical books and make confession, sup¬
posing that to chant their mummery drives away misery, secures peace
and prolongs happiness and life. But suppose you rest satisfied with
merely reding over the sections of these Sacred Commands several
thousands or myriads of times without acting conformably thereto;
would it not be vain to suppose that his imperial majesty should delight
in you, reward you with money, and promote you to office ?"—Sacred
Edicl, p. 146.
This ridicule of the popular supersJtions has no doubt haa
some effect, repeated as it is in all parts of the country, but since
the literati merely tear down and build up nothing, giving the
people no substitute for what they take away, it has not destroyed
the general respect. The Shing Yu has also been versified for
the benefit of children, and colloquial explanations added. The
paraphrase of the first maxim is thus rendered.
" The parents' tender care can be dispensed,
Not till three anxious years their child they've nursed;
A father's watchful toil, a mother's love—
E'en with high Heaven equality demand.
VERSIFICATION OF THE SHING YU.
559
" Let, then, the son his parents' board provide
With meat nutritious,—and from winter's cold
With warmest silk their feeble frames defend;
Nor with their downward years his efforts cease,
" When walking, let his arm their steps support;
When sitting, let him in attendance wait,
With tender care let him their comfort seek;
With fond affection all their wishes meet.
" When pain and sickness do their strength impair,
Be all his fears and all his love aroused;—
Let him with quickened steps good physic seek,
And the most skilled physicians' care invite.
"And when, at length, the great event doth come,
Be shroud and coffin carefully prepared.
Yea, throughout life, by offerings and by prayer,
Be parents present to his rev'rent thoughts.
"Ye children, who this Sacred Edict hear,
Obey its mandates, and your steps direct
Tow'rds duty's paths;—for whoso doth not thus,
How is he worthy of the name of man ?
" The senior brother first, the junior next,
Such is the order in which men are born;
Let then the junior, with sincere respect,
Obey the sage's rule,—the lower station keep.
u Let him, in walking, to the elder yield;
At festive boards, to th' elder give first place,
Whether at home he stay, or walk abroad,
Ne'er let him treat the elder with neglect.
"Should some slight cause occasion angry strife,
Let each recall his thoughts once and again;
Nor act till ev'ry point he thrice hath turned,
Remembering whence they both at first have sprung,
" Though, like two twigs which from one stem diverge,
Their growth perhaps doth tend tow'rd different points:
Yet search unto the root, they still are joined;
One sap pervades the twigs,—one blood the brothers' veins
560
the middle kingdom,
" In boyish sports, how often have they joined!
Or played together round their parents' knee!
And now, when old, shall love quick turn to hate,
While but few days are left them yet to love ?
" Hear, then, this Sacred Edict and obey;
Leave ev'ry unkind thought; what's past forge!.
While singing of fraternal union's joys,
Remember that there's pleasure yet behind."
Chi. Rep. Vol. I., p. i45.
In the fifth section on medical writings, separate works are
mentioned on the treatment of all domestic animals ; among theni
is one on veterinary surgery, whose writers have versified most
of their observations and prescriptions. Works on medicine and
surgery are numerous, in which the surface of the body is
minutely represented in pictures, together with drawings of the
mode of performing various operations. Works on judicial
astrology, chiromancy, and other modes of divination, on the rules
for finding lucky spots for houses, graves, and temples, are
3xceedingly numerous, a large number of them written by Ra-
ionalists.
In the ninth section, entitled Collections or Memoirs, are
found the names of books on natural history, among which are
the Herbal of Li Shichin, noticed on page 288, and mono-
graphs on tea, bamboo, wine, diet, &c. Under the head of ency¬
clopaedias, a list of summaries, compends, and treasuries of
knowledge is given, which for extent and bulkiness cannot be
equalled in any language. Among them is the Tai Tien, or
Great Classic of the emperor Yungloh of the Ming dynasty, a.d.
1403, in 22,877 chapters, and nearly that number of volumes.
The San Tsai Tu, or plates illustrative of the Three Powers
(i. e. heaven, earth, and man, by which is meant the entire
universe), in 130 vols., is one of the most valuable compilations,
by reason of the great number of plates it contains, which exhibit
the ideas of the compilers much better than their descriptions
These works are not much read, for their compilers, contenting
themselves with simply quoting the authors cited, have not
digested their remarks into an entertaining form.
The twelfth section, containing novels and tales, called Siau
Shtooh, or Trifling Talk, gives the titles of but few of the
STOEJES FEOM THE PASTIMES OF THE STUDY.
56 i
thousands and myriads of works of this class in the language,
Works of fiction are among the most popular and exceptionable
books the Chinese have, the larger part of them being more or
less demoralizing. The books on the stalls along the sides of the
streets are chiefly of this class of writings, consisting of tales and
stories generally destitute of all intricacy of plot, fertility of
illustration, or elevation of sentiment. They form the common
mental aliment of the lower classes, being read by those who are
able, and talked about by all, and consequently exert a great
influence. Many of them are written in the purest style, among
which a collection called Liau Chai, or Pastimes of the Study, in
16 vols., is preeminent for its variety and force of expressions,
and its perusal can be recommended to every one who wishes to
study the copiousness of the Chinese language. The preface is
dated in 1679; most of the tales are short, and few have any
ostensible moral to them, while those which are objectionable for
their immorality, or ridiculous from their magic whimsies, form
a large proportion. A quotation or two will illustrate the au¬
thor's invention:
" A villager was once selling plums in the market, which were rather
delicious and fragrant, and high in price ; and there was a Tau priest,
clad in ragged garments of coarse cotton, begging before his wagon.
The villager scolded him, but he would not go off; whereupon, becom¬
ing angry, he reviled and hooted at him. The priest said, ' The wagon
contains many hundred plums, and I have only begged one of them,
which, for you, respected sir, would certainly be no great loss ; why then
are you so angry ?' The spectators advised to give him a poor plum and
send him away, but the villager would not consent. The workmen in
the market disliking the noise and clamor, furnished a few coppers and
bought a plum, which they gave the priest. He bowing thanked them,
and turning to the crowd said, ' I do not wish to be stingy, and request
you, my friends, to partake with me of this delici.us plum.' One of
them replied, ' Now you have it, why do you not eat it yourself?' 'I
want only the stone to plant,' said he, eating it up at a munch. When
eaten, he held the stone in his hand, and taking a spade off his shoulder,
dug a hole in the ground several inches deep, into which he put it and
covered it with earth. Then turning to the market people, he procured
some broth with which he watered and fertilized it; and others, wishing
to see what would turn up, brought him boiling dregs from shops near
by, which he poured upon the hole jus1, dug. Every one's eyes being
fixed upon the spot, they saw a crooked shoot issuing forth, which gradu-
THE MIDDLE KINGDl M.
ally increased til. it became a tree, having branches and leaves; flowers
and then fruit si cceeded, large and very fragrant, which covered the
tree. The priest then approached the tree, plucked the fruit and gave
the beholders ; and when all were consumed, he felled the tree with a
colter,—chopping, chopping for a good while, until at last, having cut
it off, he shouldered the foliage in an easy manner, and leisurely walked
away.
" When first the priest began to perform his magic arts, the villager
was also among the crowd, with outstretched neck and gazing eyes, and
completely forgot his own business. When the priest had gone, he
began to look into his wagon, and lo ! it was empty of plums ; and for
the first time perceived that what had just been distributed were all his
own goods. Moreover, looking narrowly about his wagon, he saw that
the dashboard was gone, having just been cut off with a chisel. Much
excited and incensed he ran after him, and as he turned the corner of the
wall, he saw the board thrown down beneath the hedge, it being that
with which the plum-tree was felled. Nobody knew where the priest
had gone, and all the market folks laughed heartily."
The Rationalists are considered as the chief magicians among
the Chinese, and they figure in most of the tales in this work,
whose object probably was to exalt their craft, and add to their
reputation. Like the foregoing against hardheartedness, the
following contains a little sideway admonition against theft.
" On the west of the city in the hamlet of the White family lived a
rustic who stole his neighbor's duck and cooked it. At night, he felt his
skin itch, and on looking at it in the morning saw a thick growth of
duck's feathers, which, when irritated, pained him. He was much
alarmed, for he had no remedy to cure it; but, in a dream of the night,
a man informed him, 'Your disease is a judgment from heaven; you
must get the loser to reprimand you, and the feathers will fall off".' Now
this gentleman, his neighbor, was always liberal and courteous, nor dur¬
ing his wThole life, whenever he lost anything, had he even manifested
any displeasure in his countenance. The thief craftily told him, ' The
fellow who stole your duck is exceedingly afraid of a reprimand ; but
reprove him, and he will no doubt then fear in future.' He, laughing,
xeplied, 'Who has the time or disposition to scold wicked men,' and
altogether refused to do so: so the man, being hardly bestead, waa
obliged to tell the truth, upon which the gentleman gave him a scolding,
and his disorder was removed."
Remusat compares the construction of Chinese novels to those
of Richardson, in which the " authors render their characters
CHARACTER AND PLAN OF CHINESE NOVELS. 563
interesting and natural by reiterated strokes of the pencil, whicn
finally produce a high degree of illusion. The interest in their
pages arose precisely in proportion to the stage of my progress ;
and in approaching to the termination, I found myself about to
part with some agreeable people, just as I had duly learned tc
relish their society." He briefly describes the defects in Chinese
romances as principally consisting in long descriptions of trifling
particulars, and delineations of localities, and the characters anc-
circumstances of the interlocutors, while the thread of the narra
tive is carried on mostly in a conversational way, which, from
its minuteness, soon becomes tedious. The length of their poetic
descriptions and prolix display of the wonders of art or the beau¬
ties of nature, thrown in at the least hint in the narrative, or
moral reflections introduced in the most serious manner in the
midst of diverting incidents, like a long metre psalm in a come¬
dy, tend to confuse the main story, and dislocate the unity requi¬
site to produce an effect.
The greater part of Chinese novels contain more or less of a
plot, and the characters are sometimes well sustained. "Visits
and the formalities of polished statesmen ; assemblies, and above
all, the conversations which make them agreeable ; repasts, an .
the social amusements which prolong them; walks of the admirers
of beautiful nature; journeys ; the manoeuvres of adventurers ;
lawsuits; the literary examinations; and in the sequel, marriage;
form their most frequent episodes and ordinary conclusions." The
hero of these plots is usually a young academician, endowed with
an amiable disposition and devotedly attached to the study of
classic authors, who meets with every kind of obstacle and ill
luck in the way of attaining the literary honors he has set his
heart on. The heroine is also well acquainted with letters ; her
own inclinations and her father's desires, are that she may find a
man of suitable accomplishments, but after having heard of one,
every sort of difficulty is thrown in the way of getting him ;
which, of course, on the part of both are at last happily sur¬
mounted.
The adventures which distinguished persons meet in wander-
,'ng over the country incognito, and the happy denouement of
their interviews with some whom they have been able to elevate
when their real characters have been let out, form the plan of
other tales. There is little or nothing c high wrought descrip.
564
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Lon of passion, nor acts of atrociovv. vengeance introduced to
remove a troublesome person, but everything is kept within the
bounds of probability ; and at the end the vicious are punished
by seeing their bad designs fail of their end in the rewards and
success given those who have done well. In most of the stories,
whose length and style are such as to entitle them to the name
of novel, and which have attained any reputation, the story is not
disgraced by anything offensive ; it is rather in the shorter tales
that decency is violated. Among them the Hung Lau Mung, or
Dreams of the Red Chamber, is one of the most popular stories,
and open not a little to this objection.
The fourth division of the Catalogue is called Tsili Pu, or
Miscellanies, and the works mentioned in it are chiefly poems or
collections of songs, occupying nearly one third of the whole col-
,ection. They are arranged in five sections, namely, Poetry of
Tsu, Complete Works of Individuals, and General Collections, On
.he Art of Poetry,, and Odes and Songs. The most ancient poet
in the language is Yuh Yuen, a talented minister of state in the
Chu dynasty, who wrote the Dissipation of Sorrows; in memory
of his suicide by drowning the festival of dragon boats was insti¬
tuted. The two most celebrated poets in Chinese estimation
are Li Taipeh of the Tang dynasty, and Su Tungpo of the Sung,
both of whom combined the three leading traits of a bard, being
lovers of flowers, wine, and song, and attaining distinction in the
service of government. The incidents in the life of the former
of these bards were so varied, and his reckless love of drink
brought him into so many scrapes, that he is no less famed for
his adventures than for his sonnets. The following story is told
of him in the Remarkable Facts of all Times, which is here
abridged from the translation of T. Pavie.
" Li, called Taipeh, or Great-white, from the planet Venus, was
endowed with a beautiful countenance and a well made person, exhibit¬
ing in all his movements a gentle nobility which indicated a man des¬
tined to rise above his age. When only ten years old, he could read the
classics and histories, and his conversation showed the brilliancy of his
thoughts as well as purity of his diction. He was, in consequence of his
precocity, called the Exiled Immortal, but named himself the Retired
Scholar of the Blue Lotus. Some one having extolled the quality of
the wine of Niauching, he straightway went there, although more than
iren hundred miles distant, and abandoned himself to his appetite for
POETS AND POETRY OF CHINA.
565
liquor. While singing and carousing in a tavern, a military comman¬
dant passed, who hearing his song sent in to inquire who it was, and
carried the poet off to his own house. On departing, he urged Li to go
to the capital, and compete for literary honors, which he doubted not
could be easily attained, and at last induced him to bend /lis steps to the
capital. On his arrival there, he luckily met the academician Ho near
the palace, who invited him to an alehouse, and laying aside his robes
drank wine with him till night, and then carried him home. The two
were soon well acquainted, and discussed the merits of poetry and wine
till they were much charmed with each other.
" As the day of examination approached, Ho gave the poet some advice.
'The examiners for this spring are Yang and Kau, one a brother of the-
empress, the other commander of his majesty's body-guard ; both of them
love those who make them presents, aad if you have no means to buy
their favor, the road of promotion will be shut to you. I know them both
very well, and will write a note to each of them, which may perhaps
obtain you some favor.' In spite of his merit and high reputation, Li
found himself in such circumstances as to make it desirable to avail of
the goodwill of his friend Ho; but on perusing the notes he brought, the
examiners disdainfully exclaimed, ' After having fingered his protege's
money, the academician contents himself with sending us a billet which
merely rings its sound, and bespeaks our attention and favors towards an
upstart without degree or title. On the day of decision we will remem¬
ber the name of Li, and any composition signed by him shall be thrown
aside without further notice.' The day of examination came, and the
distinguished scholars of the empire assembled eager to hand in their
compositions. Li, fully capable to go through the trial, wrote oft' his
essay on a sheet without effort, and handed it in first. As soon as he
saw the name of Li, the examiner Yang did not even give himself time
to glance over the page, but with long strokes of his pencil erased the
composition, saying,' Such a sc.rawler as this is good for nothing but
to grind my ink !' ' To grind your ink!' interrupted the other examiner
Kau; ' say rather he is only fit to put on my stockings, and lace up my
buskins.'
" With these pleasantries, the essay of Li was rejected, but he, trans¬
ported with anger at such a contemptuous refusal at the public examina¬
tion, returned home, and exclaimed, ' I swear that if ever my wishes for
promotion are accomplished, I will order Yang to grind my ink, and Kau
to put on my stockings and lace up my buskins ; then my vows will be
accomplished.' Ho endeavored to calm the indignation of the poet)
4 Stay here with me till a new examination is ordered in three years, and
live in plenty; the examiners will not be the same then, and you w\L
surely succeed.' They therefore continued to live as they had done
drinking and making verses.
5b6
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
" After :r.any months had transpired, some foreign ambassadors came
to the capital charged with a letter from their sovereign, whom he was
ordered to receive and entertain in the hall of ambassadors. The next
day, the officers handed in their letter to his majesty's council, who or¬
dered the doctors to open and read it, but they could none of them decy-
pher a single word, humbly declaring it contained nothing but fly-tracks;
' your subjects,' they added, ' have only a Jimited knowledge, a shallow
acquaintance with things ; they are unable to read a word.' On hearing
this, the emperor turned to the examiner Yang and ordered him to read
the letter, but his eyes wandered over the characters as if he had been
blind, and he knew nothing of them. In vain did his majesty address
himself to the civil and military officers who filled the court, not one
among them could say whether the letter contained words of good or
evil i/ lport. Highly incensed, he broke out in reproaches against the
Tandees of his palace; ' What! among so many magistrates, so many
scnolars an^ warriors, cannot there be found a single one who knows
enough to i^lieve us of the vexation of this aft'air ? If this letter cannot
be read, how can it be answered ? If the ambassadors are dismissed in
this style, we shall be the ridicule of the barbarians, and foreign kings
will mock the court of Nanking, and doubtless fallow it up by seizing
Mieir lance and buckler and join to invade our frontiers. What then ?
if in three days, no one is able to decypher this letter, every one of your
appointments shall be suspended ; if in six days, you do not tell me what
it means, your offices shall every one be taken away; and death shall
execute justice on bitch ignorant men, if I wait nine days in vain for its
explanation, and others of our subjects shall be elevated to power whose
virtue and talents will render some service to their country.'
" Terrified by these words, the grandees kept a mournful silence, and
no one ventured a single reply, which only irritated the monarch the
more. On his return home, Ho related to his friend Li everything that
had transpired at court, who hearing him with a chilly smile, replied,
How to be regretted, how unlucky it is that I could not obtain a degree
at the examination last year, which would have given me a magistracy;
for now, alas, it is impossible for me to relieve his majesty of the chagrin
which troubles him.' ' But truly,' said Ho suddenly, ' I think you are
versed in more than one science, and will be able to read this unlucky
'?tter. I shall go to his majesty and propose you on my own responsi¬
bility.' The next day he went to the palace, and passing through the
crowd of courtiers, approached the throne, saying, ' Your subject pre-
cimes to announce to your majesty that there is a scholar of great merit
called Li, at his house, who is profound ly acquainted with more than one
pcience; command him to read this letter, for there is nothing of which
he is not capable.'
" This advice pleased the emperor, who presently sent a messenger to
STORY OF LI TAIPEH, THE POET.
56"
the house of the academician, ordering him to present himself at court.
But Li offered some objections : ' I am a man still without degree or title J
1 have neither talents nor information, while the court abounds in civi?
and military officers, all equally famous for their profound learning. How
then can you have recourse to such a contemptible and useless man as 11
If I presume to accept this behest, I fear that I shall deeply offend the
nobles of the palace'—referring especially to the premier Yang and the
general Kau. When his reply was announced to the emperor, he de¬
manded of Ho why his guest did not come when ordered. Ho replied,
' I can assure your majesty that Li is a man of parts beyond all those of
the age, one whose compositions astonish all who read them. At the
trial of last year, his essay was marked out and thrown aside by the
examiners, and he himself shamefully put out of the hall. Your majesty
now calling him to court, and he having neither title nor rank, his self-
love is touched ; but if your majesty would hear your minister's prayer,
and shed your favors upon his friend, and send a high officer to him, I
am sure he will hasten to obey the imperial will.' ' Let it be so,' re¬
joined the emperor; ' at the instance of our academician, we confer on
Li Peh the title of doctor of the first rank, with the purple robe, yellow
girdle, and silken bonnet; and herewith also issue an order for him to
present himself at court. Our academician Ho will charge himself with
carrying this order, and bring Li Peh to our presence without fail."
" Ho returned home to Li, and begged him to go to court to read the
letter, adding how his majesty depended on his help to relieve him from
his present embarrassment. As soon as he had put on his new robes,
which were those of a high examiner, he made his obeisance towards the
palace, and hasted to mount his horse and enter it, following after the
academician. Seated on his throne, Hwantsung impatiently awaited the
arrival of the poet, who, prostrating himself before its steps, went through
the ceremony of salutation and acknowledgment for the favors he had
received, and then stood in his place. The emperor, as soon as he saw
Li, rejoiced as poor men do on finding a treasure, or starvelings on sitting
at a loaded table; his heart was like dark clouds suddenly illuminated,
or parched and arid soil on the approach of rain. ' Some foreign ambas¬
sadors have brought us a letter which no one can read, and we have sent
for you, doctor, to relieve our anxiety.' ' Your minister's knowledge is
very limited,' politely replied Li, with a bow, ' for his essay was rejected
by the judges at the examination, and lord Kau turned him out of doors.
Now that he is called upon to read this letter from a foreign prince, how
is it that the examiners are not charged with the answer, since too, the
ambassadors have already been kept so long waiting ? Since, I, a student
turned off from the trial, could not satisfy the wishes of the examiners,
how can I hope to meet the expectation of your majesty ? ' We know
what you are good for,' said the emperor, ' a true? to your excuses,' put-
»QS
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
ting the letter into his hands. Running his eyes over it, he
gmiied, and standing before the throne, read off in Chinese the mysteri
ous letter, as follows.
" ' Letter from the mighty Ko To of the kingdom of Po Hai to the
prince of the dynasty of Tang : Since your usurpation of Corea, and
carrying your conquests to the frontiers of our states, your soldiers
have violated our territory in frequent raids. We trust you can fully
explain to us this matter, and as we cannot patiently bear such a state
of things, we have sent our ambassadors to announce to you that you
must give up the hundred and sixty-six towns of Corea into our hands.
We have some precious things to offer you in compensation, namely,
the medicinal plants from the mountains of Tai Peh, and the byssus
from the southern sea, gongs of Tsiching, stags from Fuyu, and horses
from Sopin, silk of Wuchau, black fish from the river Meito, prunes
from Kiutu, and building materials frorriLoyu; some of all these articles
shall be sent you. If you do not accept these propositions, we shall
raise troops and carry war and destruction into your borders, and then
see on whose side victory will remain.'
" After its perusal, to which they had given an attentive ear, the gran¬
dees were stupified with astonishment, and looked at each other, knowing
how improbable it was that the emperor would accept the propositions of
Ko To. Nor was the mind of his majesty by any means satisfied, and
alter remaining silent for some time, he turned himself to the civil and
military officers about him, and asked what means were available to re¬
pulse the attacks of the barbarians in case their forces invaded Corea.
Scholars and generals remained mute as idols of clay or statues of wood,
no one said a word, until Ho ventured to observe,' Your venerable grand¬
father Taitsung, in three expeditions against Corea, lost an untold num¬
ber of soldiers, without succeeding in his enterprise, and impoverished
his treasury. Thanks to heaven Kai-su-wan died, and profiting by the
dissensions between the usurper's sons, the glorious emperor Taitsung
confided the direction of a million of veterans to the old generals Li Sie
and Pi Jinkwei, who after a hundred engagements more or less impor¬
tant, finally conquered the kingdom. But now having been at peace
for a kng time, we have neither generals nor soldiers; if we seize
the buckler and lance, it will not be easy to resist, and our defeat will be
certain I a wait the wise determination of your majesty.'
"' Since such is the case, what answer shall we make to the ambas¬
sadors ?' said Hwantsung. ' Deign to ask Li,' said the doctor, ' he will
speak to the purpose.' On being interrogated by his sovereign, Li replied,
1 Let not this matter trouble your clear mind. Give orders for an audience
to the ambassadors, and I will speak to them face to face in their own
language. The terms of the answer will make the barba-jans blush, and
STORY OF LI TAIPEH, THE POET.
569
their Ko To will be obliged to make his respects at the foot of your
throne.' 'And who is this Ko To?'demanded Hwantsung. 'It is the
name the people of Po Hai give to their king after the usage of theii
country; just as the Hwui Hwui call theirs Kokan ; the Tibetans,
Tsingpo ; the Locbau, Chau; the Holing, Si-mo-wei: each one accord¬
ing to the custom of his nation.'
" At this rapid flood of explanations, the mind of the wise Hwantsung
experienced a lively joy, and the same day he honored Li with the title
of academician; a lodging was prepared for him in the palace of the
Golden Bell; musicians made the place reecho with their harmony;
women poured out the wine, and young girls handed him the goblets, and
celebrated the glory of Li with the same voices that lauded the emperor.
What a delicious, ravishing banquet! He could hardly keep within the
limits of propriety, but ate and drank until he was unconscious of any¬
thing, when the emperor ordered the attendants to carry him into the
palace, and lay him on a bad.
" The next morning, when the gong announced the fifth watch, the
emperor repaired to the hall of audience ; but Li's faculties, on awaking,
were not very clear, though the officers hastened to bring him. When
all had gone through their prostrations, Hwantsung called the poet near
him, but perceiving that the visage of the new-made doctor still bore the
marks of his debauch, and discovered the discomposure of his mind, he
sent into the kitchen for a little wine and some well spiced fish broth, to
arouse the sleepy bard. The servants presently sent it up on a golden
tray, and the emperor seeing the cup was fuming, condescended to stir
and cool the broth a long time with the ivory chopsticks, and served it
out himself to Li, who receiving it on his knees, ate and drank, while a
pleasing joy illumined his countenance. While this was going on, some
among the courtiers were much provoked and displeased at the strange
familiarity, while others rejoiced to see how well the emperor knew to
conciliate the goodwill of men. The two examiners Yang and Kan,
betrayed in their features the dislike they felt.
" At the command of the emperor, the ambassadors were introduced,
and saluted his majesty by acclamation, whilst Li Taipeh, clad in a pur¬
ple robe and silken bonnet, easy and gracious as an immortal, stood in
the historiographer's place before the left of the throne, holding the let¬
ter in his hand, and read it off in a clear tone, without mistaking a word.
Then turning towards the frightened envoys, he said, ' Your little pro¬
vince has failed in its etiquette, but our wise ruler, whose power is com¬
parable to the heavens for vastness, disdains to take advantage of it.
This is the answer which he grants you : hear and be silent.' The ter¬
rified ambassadors fell trembling at the foot of the throne. The emperor
had already prepared near him an ornamented cushion, and taking a jade
stone with which to rub the ink, a pencil of leveret's hair bound in an
570
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
ivory tube, a cake of perfumed ink, and a sheet of flowery paj er, gave
them to Lf. and seated him on the cushion ready to draw up the answer.
" 'May it please your majesty,' objected Li, 'my boots are not at all
suitable, for they were soiled at the banquet last evening, and 1 trusi
your majesty in your generosity will grant me some new buskins ana
stockings fit for ascending the platform.' The emperor acceded to his
request, and ordered a servant to procure them ; when Li resumed,
' Your minister has still a word to add, and begs beforehand that his un¬
toward conduct may be excused ; then he will prefer his request.' ' Your
notions are misplaced and useless, but I will not be offended at them; go on,
speak,' said Hwantsung; to which Li, nothing daunted, said,' At the last
examination, your minister was turned off by Yang, and put out of doors
by Kau. The sight of these persons here to-day at the head of the cour¬
tiers casts a certain discomposure over his spirits; let your voice deign
to command Yang to rub my ink, whilst Kau puts on my stockings and
laces up my buskins ; then will my mind and wits begin to recover their
energies, and my pencil can trace your answer in the language of the
foreigners. In transmitting the reply in the name of the son of heaven,
he will then not disappoint the confidence with which he is honored.'
Afraid to displease Li when he had need of him, the emperor gave the
strange order ; and while Yang rubbed the ink and Kau put on the bus¬
kins of the poet, they could not help reflecting, that this student, so badly
received and treated by them, only fit at the best to render such services
to them, availed himself now of the sudden favors of the emperor to take
their own words pronounced against him as a text, and revenge himself
upon them for past injuries. But what could they do ? They could not
oppose the sovereign will, and if they did feel chagrined, they did not
dare at least to express it. The proverb hath it true:
"' Do not draw upon you a person's enmity, for enmity is never ap¬
peased ; injury returns upon him who injures, and sharp words recoil
against him who says them.'
" The poet triumphed, and his oath was accomplished. Buskined as
he desired, he mounted the platform on the carpet and seated himself on
the cushion, while Yrang stood at his side and rubbed the ink. Of a
truth, the disparity was great between an ink-grinder and the magnate
who counselled the emperor. But why did the poet sit while the pre¬
mier stood like a servant at his side ? It was because Li was the organ
of the monarch'^ words, while Yang, reduced to act the part of an ink-
rubber, could not lequest permission to sit. With one hand Li stroked
his beard, and seizing his pencil in the other, applied it to the papar
which was soon covered with strange characters, well turned and even,
without a fault or rasure, and then laid upon the dragon's table. The
emperor gazed at in amaze, for it was identical with that of the barba-
.%:;ot a character in it resembled the Chinese; and as he handed
STORY OF Ll TAIPEH, THE POET.
571
it about among1 the nobles, their surprise was great. When requested
to read it, Li, placed before the throne, read in a clear loud tone the an*
ewer to the strangers:
"' The mighty emperor of the Tang dynasty, whose reign is called
Kiayuen, sends his instructions to Ko To of the Po Hai.
"' From ancient times the rock and the egg have not hit each other,
nor the serpent and dragon mafle war. Our dynasty, favored by fate,
extends its power, and reigns even to the four seas; it has under its or¬
ders brave generals and tried soldiers, solid bucklers and glittering
swords. Your neighbor, king Hiehli, who refused our alliance, was
taken prisoner; but the people of Putsau, after offering a present of a metal
bird, took an oath of obedience.
"' The Sinlo, at the southern end of Corea, have sent us praises written
on the finest tissues of silk ; Persia, serpents which can catch rats ; In¬
dia, birds that can speak; and Rome, dogs which lead horses, holding a
lantern in their mouth ; the white parrot is a present from the kingdom
of Koling, the carbuncle which illumines the night comes from Cambodia,
and famous horses are sent by the tribe of Koli, while precious vases are
brought from Nipal: in short, there is not a nation which does not re¬
spect our imposing power, and does not testify their regard for the virtue
which distinguishes us. Corea alone resisted the will of heaven, but
the divine vengeance has fallen heavily upon it, and a kingdom which
reckoned nine centuries of duration was overthrown as in a morning.
Why then do you not profit by the terrible prognostics heaven vouch¬
safes you as examples ? Would it not evince your sagacity ?
" ' Moreover, your little country, situated beyond the peninsula, is
little more than as a province of Corea, or as a principality to the Ce¬
lestial empire; your resources in men and horses are not a millionth
part those of China. You are like a chafed locust trying to stop a
chariot, like a stifTnecked goose which will not submit. Under the
arms of our warriors your blood will run a thousand It. You, prince,
resemble that audacious one who refused our alliance, and whose king¬
dom became annexed to Corea. The designs of our sage emperor are
vast as the ocean, and he now bears with your culpable and unreason¬
able conduct, but hasten to prevent misfortune by repentance, and
cheerfully pay the tribute of each year, and you will prevent the shame
and opprobrium which will cover you and expose you to the ridicule of
your neighbors. Reflect thi >ce on these instructii ns.'
" The reading of this answer filled the emperor with joy, who oidered
Li to make known its contents to the ambassadors ; he then sealed it
with the imperial seal. The poet called Kan to put on the boots which
he had taken off", and he then returned to the palace of Golden Bells to
inform the envoys concerning his sovereign's orders, reading the letter
572
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
to them in a loud tone, while they heard tremblingly. The academician
Ho reconducted them to the gates of the capital, and there the ambassa¬
dors asked who it was who had read the imperial instructions. ' He is
called Li, and has the title of doctor of the Hanlin.'—' But among so
many dignitaries, why did the first minister of state rub his ink, and the
general of the guards lace up his buskins ?' ' Hear,' added Ho ; ' those
two personages are indeed intimate ministers of his majesty, but they
arc only noble courtiers who do not transcend common humanity, while
Doctor Li, on the contrary, is an immortal descended from heaven on
the earth to aid the sovereign of the Celestial empire. How can any
one equal him ?' The ambassadors bowed the head and departed, and
on their return rendered an account of their mission to their sovereign.
On reading the answer of Li, the Ko To was terrified, and deliberated
with his counsellors ; ' The Celestial empire is upheld by an immortal
descended from the skies ! Is it possible to attack it ?' He thereupon
wrote a letter of submission, testifying his desire to send tribute each
year, which was thenceforth allowed.
" Lr Taipeh afterwards drowned himself from fear of the machina¬
tions of his enemies, exclaiming, as he leaped into the water, ' I'm going
to catch the moon in the midst of the sea !' "
The poetry of the Chinese has been investigated by Sir John
Davis, who notices the parallelisms which pervade it, as well as
the character of its versification in regard to rhymes, csesural
pauses, and length of lines ; but as the subject is one of con¬
siderable nicety, and cannot well be illustrated without intro¬
ducing the native character, the reader is referred to his work,
Vol. II., pages 189-195, for brief outlines of a longer paper in
the Royal Asiatic Society's Transactions. Artificial poetry,
where the sound and jingle is regarded more than the sense, is
not uncommon ; the great number of characters having the
same sound enables versifiers to do this with greater facility than
is possible in other languages. Such stanzas as the following
occur, where each word in the line ends alike.
Lictvg hang, .suing niang, yang hiang tsiang,
Ki ni, pi chi, It hi mi, &c.
Lines consisting of characters all containing the same radical
are also constructed in this manner, in which the sound is some¬
what subservient to the composition and meaning of the charac¬
ters. This kind of curious writing is, however, considered fit
only for pedants.
The Augustan age of po°try and letters was in the 9th and
CHARACTER OF CHINESE POETRY.
573
10th centuries, during the Tang dynasty, when the brightest day
of Clunefo civilization was the darkest one of European- N',
entire collection of poems has yet been translated into any
European language, and perhaps none would bear an entire
version. The poems of Li Taipeh form thirty volumes, and
tnose of Su Tungpo arc contained in 115 volumes, while the
collected poems of the times of the Tang dynasty have been
published by imperial authority in 900 volumes. The proportion
of descriptive poetry in it is small compared with the sentimental.
Probably the foreign sinologues, who should undertake to read
this immense mass, would soon find that only a small part of it
contained the spirit of poetry, or was aught else than prose cut
up into rhymes, according to certain rules. It is a common
pastime for literary gentlemen to try their skill in versification;
epigrams and pasquinades are usually put into metre, and at
the examinations, every candidate must hand in a sonnet. Con¬
sequently, much more attention is paid by such rhymesters to the
jingle of the words, and artificial structure of the lines, than
to the elevation of sentiment or copiousness of illustrations ;
and it is therefore as easy for them to write a sonnet on shipping
a cargo of tea as to indite a love-epistle to their mistress. Ex¬
temporaneous verses are made on every subject, and to illustrate
occurrences that elsewhere are regarded as rather too prosaic to
call upon the muse to describe. The following description of a
steamer »n pentameter was attached to drawings made by the
Chinese when the English attacked Canton in 1841.
" She's more than three hundred cubits long,
And thirty odd in height and breadth;
Iron is used to bend her stiff and stout,
And she's painted black all round about;
Like a weaver's shuttle is her shape ;
On both sides carriage wheels are fixed,
And, using fossil coal to make a fire,
They whirl around as the racehorse flies.
Of white cloth all the sails are made.
In winds both fair and foul she goes ;
On her bow is the god of the waves.
At stern and stern is a revolving gun;
Her form is truly terrific to men.
The god of the North displaying his sanctity,
574
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
The sunken rocks there shoaled the steamer ;
All who saw it witnessed to the justice of heav65.
None of the plans of the foreigners took effect,
Which greatly delighted the hearts of men."
Another extemporaneous sonnet, written by Ma, a gentleiran
of respectable literary attainments, who was successfully ope¬
rated upon for cataract in Dr. Parker's Ophthalmic Hospital at
Canton, which he presented his benefactor on leaving, is of a
higher order.
" A fluid, darksome and opaque, long time had dimmed my sight,
For seven revolving weary years one eye was lost to light;
The other darkened by a film, during three years saw no day,
High heaven's bright and gladd'ning light could not pierce it with its ray.
"Long, long, I sought the hoped relief, but still I sought in vain,
My treasures lavished in the search, bought no relief from pain;
Till, at length, I thought my garments I must either pawn or sell,
And plenty in my house I feared was never more to dwell.
" Then loudly did I ask, for what cause such pain I bore,—
For transgressions in a former life unatoned for before ?
But again came the reflection, how, of yore, oft, men of worth,
For slight errors had borne suffering great as drew my sorrow forth.
" ' And shall not one,' said I then,' whose worth is but as naught,
Bear patiently, as heaven's gift, what it ordains ?' The thought
Was scarce completely formed, when of a friend the footstep fell
On my threshold, and I breathed a hope he had words of joy to tell.
"' I've heard,' the friend who enter'd said,' there's come to us of late
A native of the " Flowery Flag's " far off and foreign state;
O'er tens of thousand miles of sea to the Inner Land he's come;
His hope and aim to heal men's pain, he leaves his native home.'
" I quick went forth, this man I sought, this gen'rous doctor found;
He gained my heart, he's kind and good ; for, high up from the ground
He gave a room, to which he came, at morn, at eve, at night,—
Words were but vain were I to try his kindness to recite.
' With needle argentine, he pierced the cradle of the tear.
What fears I felt! Su Tungpc's words rung threat'ning iii my ear:
Glass hung in mist,' the poet says, ' take heed you do no* chake '
he words ot fb<i.r rung in my ear); ' how if it chance to ureak!'
POEM BY MA ON REGAINING HIS SIGHT.
57&
" The fragile lens his needle pierceil: the dread, the sting, the pain,
I thought on these, and that the cup of sorrow I must drain;
But then my mem'ry faithful showed tha work of fell disease,
How long the orbs of sight were dark, and I deprived of ease.
" And thus I thought: ' if now, indeed, I were to find relief;
'T were not too much to bear the pain, to bear the present grief.'
Then the words of kindness which I heard, sunk deep into my sou?.
And free from fear I gave myself to the foreigner's control.
" His silver needle sought the lens, and quickly from it drew
The opaque and darksome fluid, whose effect so well I knew;
His golden probe soon clear'd the lens, and then my eyes he bound,
And laved with water sweet as is the dew to thirsty ground.
" Three days thus lay I, prostrate, still; no food then could I eat,
My limbs relax'd were stretched as though th' approach of death to meet
With thoughts astray—mind ill at ease—away from home and wife,
I often thought that by a thread was hung my precious life.
" Three days I lay, no food had I, and nothing did I feel;
Nor hunger, sorrow, pain, nor hope, nor thought of woe or weal;
My vigor fled, my life seemed gone, when, sudden, in my pain,
There came one ray—one glimm'ring ray, I see,—I live again!
" As starts from visions of the night, he who dreams a fearful dream,
As from the tomb, uprushing comes, one restored to day's bright beam,
Thus I, with gladness and surprise, with joy, with keen delight,
See friends and kindred crowd around; I hail the blessed light.
" With grateful heart, with heaving breast, with feelings flowing o'er,
I cried, ' O lead me quick to him who can the sight restore!'
To kneel I tried, but he forbade; and, forcing me to rise,
' To mortal man bend not the knee;' then pointing to the skies :—
" ' I'm but,' said he, ' the workman's tool, another's is the hand;
Before his might, and in his sight, men, feeble, helpless, stand:
Go, virtue learn to cultivate, and never thou forget
That for some work of future good thy life is spared thee yet!'
" The off'ring, token of my thanks, he refused; nor would he take
Silver or gold, they seemed as dust; 'tis but for virtue's sake
Ilis works are done. His skill divine I ever must adore,
Nor lose remembrance of his name till life's last day is o'er.
576
the middle kingdom.
" Thus have I told, in these brief words, this learned doctor's praise,
Well does his worth deserve that I should tablets to him raise."
This practice of versification being quite common, one or too
more specimens on different subjects may be quoted, inasmuch
us they also illustrate some of the better shades of feeling and
sentiment. One has already been given, written by Chu Kwei-
ehing (page 365). A more finished piece of poetry is one writ¬
ten b. c. 250, by Su Hwui, whose husband was banished. Its
authoress is considered as remarkably talented, and is said to
have written more than five thousand lines, and a curious
anagram of about eig-ht hundred characters, which was so dis-
© O 7
posed that when read up or down, crosswise, backward, or for¬
ward, it would make sense. Nothing from her pen remains
except this ode, interesting for its antiquity as well as sentiment.
" When you received his majesty's commands to quiet the distant frontier,
Going with you to the river's bridge we there bade our sad farewell:
Restraining my grief, and hiding my tears, I left with you this word,
' O do not forget my love and affection, nor tarry long away.'
Who would have guessed that since you left,not a word should I receive:
Have you thought that to your lone wi fe e'en the spring is bleak and
cold ?
At the foot of the gemmeous stairs, the greensward is left unmown,
And our nuptial chamber with dust and webs is all o'erstrown.
Even now, when I speak of our farewell, my soul with dread doth start,
And my mind revolves what I would be my lord again to see.
One time, to be the deep sea moon, I much desire,
And then to be the cloud upon the mountain's brow is my heart's wish:
For the giddy mountain clouds for aye my husband's face do meet,
And the deep sea moon year by year shines down upon the land abroad.
The first flying here and flying there, reach my beloved's place;
And in that, for thousand, thousand miles, we see each other's face.
Far, far along the distant road, the mountain pass while us dividing,
Do I bemoan my lord, so long beyond the marches, he's absent been.
When you left, as we bade good-by, the leaves of the reeds were yellow;
Who then would have thought, that the plum boughs would have blos¬
somed so oft ?
Each kind of flower, scattering its leaves abroad, has met the early
spring:
The genial spring urges men to commune : but to whom shall I turn?
The pendent willow's cover the ground, which for you I oft pull down,
The falling flowers bestrew the earth, which none do sweep away
MONODY BY SU HWUI ON HER HUSBAND'S ABSENCE. 577
Before the hall, the vernal herbage grows most rich and fragrant.
Taking the lute of Tsun in my arms I turn me to the pictured hall,
Where for your sake, I try to thrum the ballad of departed friends.
Sending my inmost thoughts away, they reach the northern bounds—■
The northern bounds—how far they are, o'erpassed the hills and streams
Along the drenry distant way, the word of a letter has ceased so long,
My silvery dre^s, upon my pillow, with my tears is deeply dyed,
And on my gilded robe and satin coat, the flowers are wholly spoiled.
The spring cry of the geese and storks, we heard in their passage north,
It seemed to me, whose friend is there, like tearing my heartstrings out.
The strings of my lute were whole, but my feelings were all subdued;
My grief was at its utmost bent, while my song was still unsung.
I feel that your present love for me is stable as the hills,
And my thoughts from you, my lord, for a moment never stray.
When I had woven but half my task, to my prince did I present it,
Wishing him to free my husband, that he may quick return to me.
A translation is given in the Chinese Repository (vol. IX., page
508), of a supposed complaint made by a cow of her sad lot in
being obliged to work hard and fare poorly during life, and then
be cut up and eaten when dead ; the ballad is arranged in the
form of the animal herself, and a herdboy leading her, who in his
own form praises the happiness of a rural life. This ballad is a
Budhist tractate, and that fraternity print many such on broad¬
sheets ; one common collection of prayers is arranged like a pagoda,
with images of Budha sitting in the windows of each story.
The ballads and songs of the Chinese have not often been
translated, nor apart from the works of their poets, have they
many popular songs. The art is cultivated, but the spirit of song
is hardly known ; perhaps the excitements of war or the blan¬
dishments of female society are wanted to stir up enthusiasm and
passion among them. Among their best ballads, if regard be had
to the harmony of the measure, and the character of the senti¬
ment and metaphors, is one on Picking Tea, which the girls and
women sing as they collect the leaves.
A Ballad on Picking Tea in the Gardens in Springtime
« Our household dwells amidst ten thousand hills,
Where the tea, north and south of the village, abundantly grows;
From chinsU to kuhyu, unceasingly hurried,
Every morning I must early rise to do my task of tea.
578
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
" By earliest dawn, I, at my toilet, only half-dress my hair,
And, seizing my basket, pass the door, while yet the mist is thick
The little maids and graver dames hand in hand winding along,
Ask me, ' which steep of Sunglo do you climb to-day ?'
" The sky is thick, and the dusky twilight hides the hill-tops;
The dewy leaves and cloudy buds cannot be easily plucked.
We know not for whom, their thirst to quench,
We're caused to toil and labor, and daily two by two to go.
" In social couples, each to aid her fellow, we seize the tea twigs,
And in low words urge one another, ' Don't delay,
Lest on the topmost bough, the bud has even now grown old,
And lest with the morrow come the drizzling, silky rain.'
" We've picked enough ; the topmost twigs are sparse of leaves}
We lift our baskets filled brimful, and talk of going home;
Laughing, we pass along; when just against the pool,
A pair of scared mallards rise and fly diverse away.
" This pool has limpid water, and there deep the lotus grows,
Its little leaves are round as coins, and only yet half-blown :
Going to the jutting verge, near a clear and shallow spot,
I try my present looks, mark how of late my face appears.
• My curls and hair are all awry, my face is quite begrim'd;
In whose house lives the girl so ugly as your slave ?
'Tis only because that ev'ry day the tea I'm forced to pick;
The soaking rains and driving winds have spoiled my early charms.
" With the morning comes the wind and rain, together fierce and high,
But the little hat and basket tall, still must I take along;
The tender leaflets fully picked, we to our homes return,
When each sees her fellow's dress, half-daubed with miry slime.
" This morn, without the door, I beheld a pleasant sky,
Quickly I comb'd my girlish tufts, and firmly set my pin;
With rapid steps away I speed toward the garden's path,
And forgetful of the muddy way, omit to change my shoes.
u When just within the garden bounds, I hear the thunder roll;
My bowing shoes are soak'd quite through, yet still I can't return,
I call my distant comrade, to send my message home,
And have my green umbrella-hat sent hither to me soon.
BALLAD ON PICKING TEA.
579
" The little hat, when on my head, does not protect my limbs,
My dress and gown are wet half-through, like some poor fisherman's
My green and fine meshed basket, I carry closely ii. my hand;
I only lack his tapering pole, his thin and slender line.
" The rain is pass'd, the outmost leallets show their greenish veins,
Pull down a branch, and the fragrant scent's diffused around.
Both high and low, the yellow golden threads are now quite culled;
And my clothes and frock arc dyed with odors through and through.
u The sweet and fragrant perfume's like that from the Aglaia;
In goodness and appearance, my tea'll be the best in Wuyuen,
When all are picked, the new buds, by next term, will again burst forth,
And this morning, the last third gathering is quite done.
" Each picking is with toilsome labor, but yet I shun it not,
My maiden curls are all askew, my pearly fingers all benumbed;
But I only wish our tea to be of a superfine kind,
To have it equal his ' sparrow's tongue,' and their ' dragon's pellet.'
" For a whole month, where can I catch a single leisure day ?
For at earliest dawn I go to pick, and not till dusk return;
Then the deep midnight sees me still before the firing pan;
Will not labor like this my pearly complexion deface ?
" But if my face is lank, my mind is firmly fixed,
So to fi>"e my golden buds that they shall excel all beside.
But how know I who'll put them in the jewelled cup ?
Whose taper fingers will leisurely give them to the maid to draw ?
" At a bright fire she makes the tea, her sorrows flee away ;
Where shall she learn our toil, who so tender picked it all ?
How that without a sign,"the fierce winds and rain did rise,
Drenching and soaking our persons, as if plunged into a bath.
" In driving rains and howling winds, the birds forsake their nests
Yet many a couple seem to linger upon the flowery boughs.
Why did my loving lord with pettish words drive me away ?
As my grief swells in my heart, my hands forget to pick.
" But though my heaving bosom, like a well-sweep rise and fall,
Still patient in my poverty and care, I'll never shun my usual toil;
My only thought shall be to have new tea well fired,
That the flag and awl* be well rolled, and show their whiten'd down,
* The Art, or " flag," is the term by which the leaflets are called when
they just begin to unroll; the tsiung, or " awl," designates those leavei
which are still wrapped up and somewhat sharp.
580
THE BIIDDLE KINGDOM.
" But my own toil and weary steps, how dare I mention them ?
Still I see that in our house is many a sort of work:
As soon as the tea is fired and dried, I must quickly go and pick;
This morning, even, must I reascend the steep Sunglo.
" My splint-basket slung on my arm, my hair adorn'd with flowers,
I go to the side of the Sunglo hills, and pick the mountain tea.
Amid the pathway going, we sisters one another rally,
And laughing, I point to yonder village—' there's our house !'
" Your handmaid's house and home is at the weeping willow's side,
In a place where the green shade the grassy dwelling hides ;
To-morrow, if you're content, come, be my boon companions,
Nearing the door, you'll know it by the fragrance of the firing tea.
* Awhile 'tis warm, and then 'tis cold, the weather's ever changing;
The sky how unsettled when one wants to fire good tea,
For as the sun hides in the west, o'er the eastern hills there's rain,
Promising much fair weather, yet in truth but little comes.
" But to-day, the tint of the western hills betokens fair :
Taking my basket, I wait for my fellow at the village stile.*
There the little lass is seen, the simple girl most tenderly brought up j
She's fast asleep, leaning on the rail; I call, but none awakes.
" When at length, to my loud call, she tries to answer me,
She half opes her pretty eyes, she's like one staggering;
Quick she starts, and in the op'ning path before her goes ;
Takes up her basket, and quite forgets to put its cover on.
" Together we trudge the sideway path, and pass the southern lodge,
By its side, the sea pomegranate displays its yellow flowers;
We'd like to stop and pluck them, for each to adorn her hair,
But the tree is high, and the outer boughs beyond our reach.
" The yellow birds, perched on the boughs, warble their sweetest songs;
The weather most grateful is when the sky's half cloud half clear,
While pulling down the twigs, each vents her troubled thoughts,
We talk till our hearts are wounded, and tears are not restrained.
* The ting is not exactly a stile, being a kind of shed, or four posts
supporting a roof, which is often erected by villagers for the con¬
venience of wayfarers, who can stop there and rest. It sometimes con¬
tains a bench or seat, and is usually over or near a spring of water.
DRAMAS OF THE CHINESE.
581
" Our task is done, but our baskets are not half filled ;
On the north the twigs are searched, we think we'll see the south
Just then I snapp'd a twig, whose leaves wore all in pairs,
And with my taper fingers. I fastened it upon my curls.
' Among the kind of teas, the bitter still exceeds the sweet,
But among them all, these tastes can both be found ;
We know not indeed for whom they may be sweet or bitter;
We've picked till the ends of our pearly fingers are quite marred.
" You, twittering swallows, may fly just as your wills incline.
Going to pluck new tea, I'll change to my old gown;
I'll grasp the cuff, and rolling it high up,
Will thus display my fine and slender arm."
Chin. Rep., Vol. VIII., p. 196.
In the department of plays and dramas, Chinese literature
shows a long list of names, few or none of which have ever been
heard of out of the Middle Kingdom. Some of their pieces have
been translated by Julien, Bazin, Davis, and other sinologues,
most of which were selected from the Hundred Plays of Yuen.
The origin of the present Chinese drama does not date back, ac¬
cording to M. Bazin aine, beyond the Tang dynasty, though
many performances designed to be played and sung in pan¬
tomime had been written before that epoch. He cites the names
of eighty-one persons, besides mentioning other plays of unknown
authors, whose combined writings amount to five hundred and
sixty-four separate plays ; all of whom flourished during the
Mongol dynasty. The plays that have been translated from this
collection give a tolerably good idea of Chinese talent in this dif
ficult department; and generally speaking, whatever strictures
may be made upon the management of the plot, exhibition of
character, unity of action, or illustration of manners, the ten¬
dency of the play is on the side of virtue and morality. The
first drama made known to Europeans was translated by P£re
Premare in 1731, under the title of the Orphan of Chau, and was
taken by Voltaire as the groundwork of one of his plays.
The Heir in Old Age, and the Sorrows of Han, are the names of
two translated by Sir J. F. Davis, and published by the Oriental
Translation Fund, in 1830. The Circle of Chalk, translated by
Julion, was also published by that society, while a volume,
the work of M. Bazin aine, containing four plays, the Intrigues
582
the middle kingdom.
of an Abigail, the Compared Tunic, the Songstress, and Resent
ment of Tau Ngo, was issued in 1838, at the Imprimerie Royale
in Paris. None of these pieces exhibit much intricacy of plot,
nor would the simple arrangements of Chinese theatres allow
much increase to the dramatis persona without confusion. M.
Bazin has also translated the Pipa Ki, or History of a Lute, a
drama in twenty-four acts of the Ming dynasty, of more pre¬
tensions, partaking of the novel as well as the drama.
Besides plays in the higher walks of the drama, which form
the principal part of the performances at theatres, there are
bye-plays or farces, which being confined to two or three
interlocutors, depend for their attractiveness upon the droll ges-
riculations, impromptu allusions to passing occurrences, and
excellent pantomimic action of the performers. They are
usually brought on at the conclusion of the bill, and from the
freedom given in them to an exhibition of the humor or wit of
the players, are much liked by the people. A single illustration
will exhibit the simple range and character of these burlettas.
The Mender of cracked Chinaware.
( Niu Chau, A wandering tinker.
dramatis ferson.e. < ■,xt xt. . . ,
( Wang Niang, . . A young girl.
Scene—A Street.
Niu Chau enters,—across his shoulder is a bamboo, to each end of tohich
are suspended boxes containing the various tools and implements of
his trade, and a small stool. He is dressed meanly, his face and head
are painted and decorated in a fantastic manner.
(Sings) Seeking a livelihood by the work of my hands,
Daily do I traverse the streets of the city.
(Speaks) Well, here I am, a mender of broken jars,
An unfortunate victim of ever changing plans.
To repair old fractured jars,
Is my sole occupation and support.
'T 's even so. I have no other employment.
(Takes his boxes from his shoulder, places them on the
ground, sits beside them, and drawing out his fan, con¬
tinues speaking—)
A disconsolate old man—I am a slave to inconveniences.
For several days past, I have been unable to go abroad,
But, observing this morning a clear sky and fine air,
I was induced to recommence my street wanderings.
FARCE OF THE MEM DER OF CHINA WARE.
583
(Sings) At dawn I left my home,
But as yet have had no job.
Hither and yon, and on all sides,
From the east gate to the west,
From the south gate to the north,
And all over within the walls,
Have I been, but no one has called
For the mender of cracked jars. Unfortunate man !
But this being my first visit to the city of Nanking,
Some extra exertion is necessary ;
Time is lost sitting idle here, and so to roam again I gc
(Shoulders his boxes and stool, and walks about, crying)—*
Plates mended ! Bowls mended !
Jars and pots neatly repair'd !
Lady TVang (heard within). Did I not hear the cry of the mender of
cracked jars ?
I'll open the door and look.—(She enters looking around.)
Yes, there comes the repairer of jars.
Niu Chau. Pray have you a jar to mend ?
I have long been seeking a job.
Did you not call ?
Lady W. What is your charge for a large jar—
And how much for a small one ?
A"iu Chau. For large jars, one mace five.
Lady W. And for small ones ?
Niu Chau. Fifty pair of cash.
Lady W. To one mace five, and fifty pair of cash,
Add nine candareens—and a new jar may be had.
Niu Chau. What then will you give ?
Lady W. I will give one candareen for either size.
Niu Chau. Well, lady, how many cash can I get for this candareen ?
Lady W. Why, if the price be high, you will get eight cash.
Niu Chau. And if low ?
Lady W. You will get but seven cash and a half.
Niu Chau. Oh, you wicked tantalizing thing !
(Sings) Since leaving home this morning,
I have met but with a trifler,
Who in the shape of an old wife,
Tortures and gives me no job ;
I '11 shoulder again my boxes, and continue my walk,
And never again will I return to the house of Wang.
(lie moves off slowly.)
Lady W. Jar-mender! return, quickly return ; with a loud voice, 1
entreat you : for I have something on which I wish to consult
with you.
584
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Niu Chau. What is it on which you wish to consult me ?
Lady W. I will give you a hundred cash to mend a large jar.
Niu Chau. And for mending a small one ?
Lady W. And for mending a small one, thirty pair of cash.
Niu Chau. One hundred, and thirty pair,—truly, lady, this is worth
consulting about.
Lady Wang, where shall I mend them ?
Lady W. Follow me. (They move towards the door of the house.)
(Sings) Before walks the lady Wang.
Niu Chau. And behind comes the pu-kang (or jar-mender).
Lady W. Here then is the place.
Niu Chau. Lady Wang, permit me to pay my respects.
(Bows repeatedly in a ridiculous manner.)
We can exchange civilities.
I congratulate you ; may you prosper—before and behind.
Lady IV. Here is the jar ; now go to work and mend it.
(Takes the jar in his hand, and losses it about examining it.)
Niu Chau. This jar has certainly a very appalling fracture.
Lady W. Therefore it requires the more care in mending.
Niu Chau. That is self evident.
Lady W. Now lady Wang will retire again to her dressing room,
And, after closing the doors, will resume her toilet,
Her appearance she will beautify,
On the left, her hair she will comb into a dragon's head tuft,
On the right, she will arrange it tastefully with flowers,
Her lips she will color with blood red vermillion,
And a gem of chrysoprase will she place in the dragon's
head tuft.
Then, having completed her toilet, she will return to the
door,
And sit down to look at the jar-mender. (Exit.)
Niu Chau sils down, straps the jar on his knee, and arranges his tools
before him, and as he drills holes for the clamps, sings,—■
Every hole drilled requires a pin,
And every two holes drilled require pins a pair,
As I raise my head and look around,
(At this moment lady Wang re-enters beautifully
dressed, and sils down by the door.)
There sits, I see, a delicate young lady ;
Before she had the appearance of an old wife,
Now she is transformed into a handsome young girl;
On the left, her hair is comb'd into a dragon's head tuft;
On the right it is adorn'd tastefully with flowers.
Her lips are like plums, her mouth is all smiles,
Her eyes are as brilliant as the ph^nix's ; and
DEFICIENCIES OF CHINESE LITERATURE.
585
She stands on golden lilies, but two inches ong.
I look again, another look,—down drops the jar.
( The jar at this moment falls, and is broken to pieces.}
(Speaks) Heigh-ya ! Here then is a dreadful smash !
Lady W. You have but to replace it with another, and do so quickly.
Niu Chau. For one that was broken, a good one must be given.
Had two been broken, then were a pair to be supplied ;
An old one being smashed, a new one must replace it.
Fiady IF. You have destroyed the jar, and return me nothing but
words.
Give me a new one, then you may return home,—not
before.
Niu Chau. Here on my knees upon the hard ground, I beg lady Wang,
while she sits above, to listen to a few words. Let me receive
pardon for the accident her beauty has occasioned, and I will at
once make her my wife.
Lady W. Impudent old man ! How presume to think
That I ever can become your wife !
Niu Chau. Yes, it is true, I am somewhat older than lady Wang,
Yet would I make her my wife.
Lady TV. No matter then for the accident, but leave me now at once.
Niu Chau. Since you have forgiven me, I again shoulder my boxes,
And I will go elsewhere in search of a wife.
And here, before high heaven, I swear never again to come
near the house of Wang.
You a great lady ! You are but a vile ragged girl,
And will yet be glad to take up with a much worse
companion ! (Going away, he suddenly throws
off his upper dress, and appears as a handsome young man.)
Lady W. Henceforth, give up your wandering profession,
And marrying me, quit the trade of a jar-mender.
With the lady Wang pass happily the remainder of your
life. ( They embrace, and exeunt.)
— Chi. Rep. Vol. VI., p. 576.
Such is the general range and survey of Chinese literature,
according to the catalogue of the Imperial Libraries. It is,
take it in a mass, a stupendous monument of human toil, fitly
compared, so far as it is calculated to instruct its readers in
useful knowledge, to their GJreat Wall, which can neither pro¬
tect from its enemies, nor lie of any real use to its makers.
Its deficiencies are glaring. No treatises jn the geography of
foreign countries, nor truthful narratives of travels abroad, are
contained in it, nor any account of the languages of their in.
586
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
habitants, their history, or their governments. Philologiea.
works in other languages than those spoken within the empire
are almost unknown, and will remain so until foreigners prepare
them. Works on natural history, medicine, and physiology are
few and useless, while those on mathematics and the exact
sciences are much less popular and useful than they might be ;
and in the great range of theology, founded on the true basis
of the Bible, there is almost nothing. The character of the
people has been greatly modified by their ancient books, and
this correlate influence has tended to repress independent inves¬
tigation in the pursuit of truth, though not to destroy it. A new
infusion of science will perhaps bring it out to the great good of
the whole race.
A survey of this body of literature shows the effect of govern¬
mental patronage, in keeping the minds of the people in the
same unvarying channel. If the scholar knows that the goal he
strives for is to be attained by proficiency in the single channel
of classical knowledge, he cannot be expected to attend to other
studies until he has secured the prize. A knowledge of medi¬
cine, mathematics, geography, or foreign languages, might,
indeed, do the candidate much more good than all he gets out of
the classics, but knowledge is not his object; and where all run
the same race, all must study the same works. But let there be
a different programme of themes and essays, and a wider range
of subjects required of the students, and the present system of
governmental examinations in China, with all its imperfections,
can be made of great benefit to the people.
The Chinese are fond of proverbs and aphorisms, and employ
them in their writings and conversation as much as any people,
and surpass them in adorning their houses by copying them
upon elegant scrolls, carving them upon pillars, and embroider¬
ing them upon banners. A complete collection of the proverbs
of the Chinese has never been made, even among the people
themselves, and would be almost impossible, as many of them
are local and unwritten. Davis has given a collection of ninety-
five, and some years since he published a volume called Moral
Maxims, containing 200 aphorisms, with the text and a verbal
translation. He quotes the Ming Sin Pau Kien, or Jewelled Mir¬
ror for Illumining the Mind, as containing a large number of
proverbs ; it is used to a great extent by writers of scrolls and
CHINESE PROVERBS.
587
copyists who furnish those ornaments. The Ku Sz' Kiting Lin,
or Coral Forest of Ancient Matters, is a similar collection ; but
if that be compared to a dictionary of quotations, this is better
likened to a classical dictionary, and the notes which follow the
sentences leave the reader in no doubt as to their meaning. A
few from the latter collection are here given, together with
several from other sources.
Not to distinguish properly between the beautiful and ugly, is like
attaching a dog's tail to a squirrel's body.
An avaricious man, who can never have enough, is as a serpent
wishing to swallow an elephant.
While one misfortune is going, to have another coming, is like
driving a tiger out of the front door, while a wolf is entering the back.
The tiger's cub cannot be caught without going into his den.
To paint a snake and add legs. (Exaggeration.)
To sketch a tiger and make it a dog, is to imitate a work of genius
and spoil it.
A fierce wolfish man is like the scathed branchless trunk of a tree.
To ride a tierce dog to catch a lame rabbit. (Useless power over a
contemptible enemy.)
To attack a thousand tigers with ten men ; (to attempt a difficulty
with incommensurate means).
To cut off a hen's head with a battle-axe ; (unnecessary valor.)
To cherish a bad man is like nourishing a tiger; if not well fed
he will devour you : or like rearing a hawk ; if hungry he will stay by
you, but fly away when fed.
Human joys are like the skippings of a sparrow.
To instigate a villain to do wrong, is like teaching a monkey to
climb trees.
To catch a fish and throw away the net;—not to requite benefits.
To take a locust's shank for the shaft of a carriage;—an inefficient
person doing important work.
A pigeon sneering at a roc ;—a mean man despising a prince.
To climb a tree to catch a fish, is to talk much and get nothing.
To test one good horse by judging the portrait of another.
As a fish out of water so is a poor homeless man.
A fish sports in the kettle, but his life will not be long.
Like a swallow building her nest on a hut, is an anxious statesman.
Like a frog in a well is a man of small thoughts.
Like a crane among hens is a man of parts among fools.
Like a sheep dressed in a tiger's skin is a superficial scholar.
Like 3 cuckoo in a magpie's nest, is one who enjoys another •
labor.
588
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
To hang on the tail of a beautiful horse ; (to seek promotion.)
Do not pull up your stockings in a melon field, or arrange your hat
under a peach tree, lest people think you are stealing.
An old man marrying a young wife is like a withered willow
sprouting.
By a long journey we know a horse's strength ; so length of days
shows a man's heart.
Let us get drunk to-day while wTe have wine ; the sorrows of to¬
morrow may be borne to-morrow.
If the blind lead the blind, they will both go to the pit.
Good iron is not used for nails, nor are soldiers made of good men.
A fair wind raises no storm.
A little impatience subverts great undertakings.
Vast chasms can be filled, but the heart of man is never satisfied.
The body may be healed, but the mind is incurable.
When the tree falls the monkeys flee.
The tiger does not walk with the hind.
Trouble neglected becomes still more troublesome.
Wood is not sold in the forest, nor fish at the pool.
He who looks at the sun is dazzled, he who hears the thunder is
deafened. (Not come too near the powerful.)
He desires to hide his tracks, and walks 011 the snow.
He seeks the ass, and lo ! he sits upon him.
An illiterate person is like a dry inkstone.
Speak not of others, but convict yourself.
A man who has a tongue may go to Rome.
A man is not always known by his looks, nor the sea measured by a
bushel.
\A. gem is not polished without rubbing, nor is a man perfected without
trials.
Ivory does not come from a rat's mouth.
If a chattering bird be not placed in the mouth, vexation will not sit
between the eyebrows.
Prevention is better than cure.
For the emperor to break the laws is one with the people's
doing so.
Doubt and distraction are on earth, the brightness of truth in heaven.
Punishment can oppose a barrier to open crime, laws cannot reach
to secret oflences.
Wine and good dinners make abundance of friends, but in time of
adversity not one is to be found.
Let every man sweep the <snow from before his own doors, and
not trouble himself about the hoarfrost on his neighbor's tiles.
Better be upright with poverty than depraved with abundance. He
CHINESE PROVERBS.
589
whose virtue exceeds his talents is the good man; he whose talents
exceed his virtues is the fool.
Though a man may be utterly stupid, he is very perspicuous when
reprehending the bad actions of others ; though he may be very intelli¬
gent, he is dull enough when excusing his own faults : do you only cor¬
rect yourselves on the same principle that you correct others, and excuse
others on the same principles you excuse yourselves.
In making a candle we seek for light, in reading a book we seek
for reason ; light to illuminate a dark chamber, reason to enlighten men'?
hearts.
If I do not debauch other men's wives, my own will not be polluted.
Better not be than be nothing.
The egg fights with the rock;—hopeless resistance.
One thread does not make a rope ; one swallow does not make a
summer.
To be fully fed and warmly clothed, and dwell at ease without learn¬
ing, is little better than a bestial state.
A woman in one house cannot eat the rice of two. (A wise woman
does not marry again.)
Though the sword be sharp, it will not wound the innocent.
Sensuality is the chief of sins, filial duty the best of acts.
Prosperity is a blessing to the good, but to the evil it is a curse.
Instruction pervades the heart of the wise, but cannot penetrate the ears
of a fool.
The straightest trees are first felled ; the cleanest wells first drunk up-
The yielding tongue endures; the stubborn teeth perish.
Old age is like a candle in the wind, easily blown out.
The blind have the best ears, and the deaf the sharpest eyes.
The horse's back is not so safe as the buffalo's. (The politician is
not so secure as the husbandman.)
A wife should excel in four things, virtue, speech, person, and
needlework.
He who is willing to inquire will excel, but the self-sufficient man
will fail.
Anger is like a little fire, which if not timely checked may burn down
a lofty pile.
Every day cannot be a feast of lanterns.
Too much lenity multiplies crime.
If you love your son, give him plenty of the cudgel; if you hata
him cram him with dainties.
When the mirror is highly polished, the dust will not defile it;
when the heart is enlightened with wisdom, impure thoughts will not
arise in it.
5^0
THE MIDDLE KINGDOM.
Do not consider any vice as trivial, and therefore practise it; (M
any virtue as unimportant and therefore omit it.
A stubborn wife and stiffnecked son no laws can govern.
He is my teacher who tells me my faults, my enemy who speaks
my virtues.
He has little courage who knows the right and does it not.
To sue a flea, and catch a bite ;—the results of litigation.
Would you understand the character of a prince, look at his ministers ;
or the disposition of a man, observe his companions; or that of a
father, first mark his son.
The fame of good deeds does not leave a man's door, but his evil
acts are known a thousand miles off.
The advantages of good laws are to be found only in their strict
observance.
A virtuous woman is a source of honor to her husband, a vicious
one disgraces him.
The original tendency of man's heart is to do right, and if well
ordered will not of itself be mistaken.
They who respect themselves will be honored, but disesteemmg
ourselves we shall be despised.
The light of one star illumines the mountains of many regions, M
one unguarded expression injures a whole life of virtue.
UID or \ QL. t.
New York, February, 1871.
Offered at Wholesale and Retail at greatly reduced pricks,
THE COMMENTARY WHOLLY BIBLICAL.
CONTENTS :—The Commentary : an Exposition of the Old and New Testaments in the very words of Scripture.
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the Third Century, a. d. VII. A complete Series of illustrative Maps. IX. A Chronological Arrangement of the Old
and New Testaments. X. An Index to Doctrines and Subjects, with numerous Selected Passages, quoted in full.
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Scripture. XIII. The Names, Titles, and Characters of Jesus Christ our Lord, as revealed in the Scriptures, methodically
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suggesting parallels that would otherwise escape his notice, showing the harmony which runs through all Scripture," &c.
SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS, 15, P AJT ERNOSTER ROW, LONDON.
JOHN WILEY AND SON, 15 ASTOR PLACE, NEW YORK.
Specimen pages gratis.
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