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<^h        i(,if_  o^. 


FROM  THE  FUND  BEQUEATHED  B'H 
ARCHIBALD  GARY  COOLIDGE 
ABI887  PROFESSOR  OF  HISTORY 
1908-1928    DIRECTOR  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY  UBRARY  1910-1928 


r 


THE  CHINESE 


JOHN  STUART  THOMSON 


ILLUSTRATED  FROU  PHOTOORArHS 


"OiM  MdB(,  however,  te  better  dua 
m  thoqemcl  people  telling  jtm  at  h." 


INDIANAPOLIS 

THE  BOBBS-MERRILL  COMPANY 

PUBUSHERS 


Copyright  1909 
The  Bobbs-Merrill  Company 

October 


r< 


k.i  ( 


^tsL^  (L  ^jC- 


mess  OF 

BRAUNWORTH  A  Oa 

BOOKBINDERS  AND  PRINTBRB 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


THE  CHINESE 


&V.   I  (d^  .  09  •  3 


*. 


Copyright  1909 
Thb  Bobbs-Mbmliu.  Company 

OCTOBBR 


Ulo, 


r 


PRCMOP 

BRAUNWORTH  A  00. 

BOOKBINDCRS  AND  PRIHTERS 

BROOKLYN,  N.  Y. 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  3 

bamboo  paraiiol  —  to  urge  iheir  htimtin  slc«hi  (not  native 
coolies  this  itine.  kit  English  gentlemen)  to  win.  The 
Engliih  gentlemen  jockies  go  to  Ihe  post  in  the  hard  sun, 
with  wet  bamboo  or  plantain  leaves  packed  under  their 
bclfneti,  but  they  arc  game  enougli  (as  the  world  may 
always  expect  of  our  European  Ulysses)  to  throw  these 
away  a.i  the  race  reaches  Ihe  keen  stretch,  As  the 
Jockey  Dub  of  Kombay  permits  the  women  from  Granl 
Road  to  attend  unescorted,  so  the  Hong-Kong  Jodcey 
Qubs  permits  the  denizens  of  Lyndhurst  Terrace  to 
watch  the  xene  from  a  remote  corner  of  the  stands.  It 
would  not  be  that  "  East  of  Suea  "  if  excliwiveness  had 
not  Its  Btanling  tnctHuistencies.  At  Peking,  the  foreign- 
ers do  not  adjourn  to  the  famous  old  cimrM  outside  the 
o<mhwe*l  g;itc,  beneath  ihe  Taoist  and  Buddhist  temples, 
«it3  May. 

Tbey  tell  tales  that  at  Mirs  Bay  and  other  practice 
waters,  the  mess  of  the  war-ship  lands,  sets  cups  into  the 
ChioeM  hois  and  tees  off  the  first  horseshoe  gravestone 
for  an  impromptu  game  of  golf.  I  know  the  courses 
winch  are  laid  among  the  native  gsaves  outside  the  Porta 
Ceico  of  Portugtiese  Macao,  in  the  Heungshan  district  of 
China,  and  at  Ichang  are  not  much  improved  on  this. 
Hoi^-Kong  boasts  of  two  courses.  That  at  Wong  Nei 
Cbong  is  level,  over  a  race-track  twice,  one  swamp,  and 
made  bonkers.  Pulling  the  stroke  is  costly,  because 
moat  of  the  greens  lie  parallel  with  the  trade  and  ditch, 
which  penalize  the  player  if  driven  into.  The  other 
coarse  at  Deep  Bay  on  the  south  side  of  the  island  is 
reached  by  climbing  over  four  miles  of  hills,  or  by  a 
launch  sail  of  nine  mites.  The  wooded  hills  are  lofty,  and 
the  joy  of  contemplating  that  you  are  playing  in  view  of 
the  combing  surf  of  the  limitless  Pacific  is  sublime.     Yoa 


r^idSI.'  i^r...'< 


i.'Umnnmihlmiui. 


.uiudmnmmmww  -' 


\   Kcm   "f  riiincM-   rirchilcilurf:      l.ount;   Uitli   tL-mi-k'.   Taiii-   Fc: 


^m       FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  5 

I  to  lodge  compl.iint  in  a  British  court.  Juries  con- 
of  jeven  men,  because  of  the  scarcity  of  Europeans 
iccablc  la  Singapore,  natives  are  mixed  with  the 
3f>cans  to  bring  the  jur)-  up  to  twelve.  A  nefarious 
imuttng  trick  of  the  tight-fingercO  natives  who  oper- 
on  the  crow(lc<I  steamer  wharves,  is  to  expectorate 
beir  victim's  left  shuulder  and  then  call  his  attention 
:.  While  he  excitedly  removes  the  heathen  affront, 
rascal,  whose  ways  are  saffron,  quickly  goes  through 
nctim's  right  podcet.  Natives  imprisutied  on  grave 
ges  have  to  submit  to  their  queues  being  cut,  as  for- 
1/  iDany  excited  prisoners  hung  themselves  thcfcby 
idr  cells. 

[Gag-Kong's  bustling  port  is  peculiar  in  that  there 
no  wharves.  Moreover,  the  anchorage,  instead  of 
g  wdl  spread  oitt  from  Causeway  Bay  to  Kennedjr- 
ti,  is  all  crowded  before  the  center  of  Victoriatown. 
ry  piece  of  freight  is  li^^tered,  and  every  passenger 
ETfied.  British  Hong-Koag  is  really  Chinese  Can- 
I  seaport  Two  million  passengers  pass  between  the 
ports  annually. 

he  picture  of  her  tonnage  can  perhaps  best  be  quickly 
m  by  comparative  figures;  London  thirteen  million 
;  Hong-Kong  twelve  million ;  New  York  eleven  mil- 
tons  armually.  Hong-Kong's  growth  to  be  the  sec- 
port  in  the  world  is  in  some  quarters  credited  to  the 
that  she  imposes  only  one  charge  on  shipping,  viz. : 
insignificant  Lighthouse  tax  of  one  cent  Mexican  sil- 
a  ton:  but  Manila,  which  imposes  no  tonnage  taxes, 
lins  stagnant  at  a  small  tonnage.  Shanghai,  which 
Mes  the  highest  tax  in  the  Orient  of  twenty-nine  cents 
m,  continues  to  cnjuy  a  large  share  of  shipping, 
ohania    ini|KKes   seven   and    one-lialf   cents   a    ton. 


i 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA 


Bndc  Wlwmpoa  (or  the  present.  This  railwajr  of 
eighty  miln,  trestlcd  acioss  jwampy  country,  will  end  at 
Kowloon,  the  British  settlement  on  the  mainland,  from 
which  Hong-Komg  Island  lies  one  mile  distant.  With 
railways  ooniing  through  from  Calaitta.  Mandalay,  Bang- 
kok and  Hanoi,  centering  at  Yunnan,  and  thence  turning 
to  Canton,  and  with  ratts  from  Han-kau  and  Amoy, 
Hong-Kong  is  dreaming  of  the  time  when  she  may  be 
the  largest  trans-shijiping  port  in  the  world.  Land  is  at 
steeple  prices,  and  living  more  costly  than  in  New  York 
G^.  Tenure  is  ba&ed  on  crown  rentals,  the  same  as  the 
ChmcK  system. 

This  wonderful  island,  which  is  distant  seven  thouvind 
mtlci  from  San  Francisco,  supplies  the  Pacific  coast  of 
.America  with  half  of  its  refined  sugar.  The  raw  mate- 
ria] oomes  principally  frun  Java,  but  also  from  the  Pbil- 
ipiniei  and  Chinese  Swatow.  The  largest  cane  r^nery 
m  die  world  is  the  noted  Taikoo  at  Quarry  Bay, 
ovaed  by  ButterBeld  and  Swire.  There  is  also  the 
dan  Sugar  Refinery  at  Wong  Nei  Chong,  owned  by  the 
UMoric  bouse  of  Jardine,  Matheson  and  Company. 
CfciMse  labor  refines  two  hundred  thousand  tons  a  year 
at  tlvec  and  tme-half  cents  a  pound.  The  coal  is  brought 
fram  Moji.  JapaiL  It  will  before  long  come  over  the 
Hao-kan-Canton  Railway  from  Fa- Yuen  and  elsewhere 
ia  the  heart  of  plethoric  China.  Up  to  the  present  these 
two  refineries  have  supplied  China  and  Japan.  Japan  has 
DOW  pat  up  a  tariff  wall  of  six-tenths  cent  a  pound,  and 
is  manufacturing  her  own  sugar.  She  subsidizes  steam- 
ers to  bring  the  raw  product,  and  threatens  to  subsidize 
■fatpt  to  carry  the  manufactured  article  to  China.  Hong- 
Kong,  with  cheap  labor  and  a  nearer  location  to  the  raw 
froduct,  it  holding  the  fort  so  far  against  subsidy,  and 


8  THE  CHINESE 

is  supplying  China.  For  po-po  or  sweetmeat-making, 
however,  the  Chinese  prefer  their  own  hand-refined 
Swatow  sugar,  which  goes  half  as  far  again  as  the 
cheaper  imported  brands. 

The  Taikoo  refinery  is  a  marvelous  study  in  Scotch 
sociology.  There  is  a  Company  reservoir  and  hospital  in 
the  hills;  a  cable  to  carry  the  European  overseers  five 
hundred  feet  over  the  gullies  to  the  fever-free  Company 
bungalows  on  the  cliffs ;  Company  model  tenements  at  in- 
expensive i*ents;  a  Company  loan  fund  for  overseers  to 
bring  out  Scotch  wives;  running  track;  athletic  associ- 
ations, medals  and  baths;  launches  for  picnics,  and  a 
seven-hundred- foot  graving-dock  and  repair  yard  for 
Company  ships.  Employees  are  encouraged  to  join 
yacht,  golf,  water  polo,  gunning,  cricket  and  riding  clubs, 
so  as  to  be  athletically  happy  even  in  enervating  South 
China.  You  will  notice  that  nothing  indoors,  such  as 
billiards,  has  been  provided.  One  looks  in  vain  for  the 
great  American  firms  of  forty  years  ago.  Russell  and 
Company,  of  clipper-ship  fame,  as  well  as  the  Heard, 
Oliphant,  Bull  and  Archer  hongs,  have  ceased  to  exist, 
and  the  historic  hong  of  Dent  and  Company,  at  Macao, 
has  shrunk  to  an  unpretentious  and  seldom-visited  build- 
ing, hid  behind  an  ancient  wall.  Kee  Chung,  the  old 
princely  house  with  its  tropical  garden,  where  Russell  and 
Company  once  entertained  Secretary  W.  H.  Seward,  is 
one  of  the  show  places  of  Wanchai,  an  eastern  part  ol 
Hong-Kong,  now  overrun  with  Chinese  coal-carriers. 

The  disintegrating  granite  peaks  of  Hong-Kong  maj 
some  day  furnish  ping  tu  or  porcelain  powder  as  gCKxi 
as  that  of  the  Kiang-si  Hills.  Cement  works  have  al 
ready  raised  their  chimneys  over  the  famous  land-lockec 
Kowloon  Bay,  where  Admiral  Keppel  won  Hong-Kong 


r 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA 


An  Engltsliman  ( few  as  there  an:  in  the  East  3s  com< 
pared  with  the  Scotch),  brings  all  his  sporting  and  club 
tmpedimenia  lo  the  Orient.  In  a  little  vale  at  Hottg- 
Kong.  between  Mts.  Kellett  and  Googh,  sixteen  hundred 
feet  above  the  water,  they  have  placed  a  bungalow  club. 
which  has  a  marvelous  view  of  peaks,  seas  and  land- 
locked bayi.  Tliere  is  nothing  like  this  view  at  those 
ocber  famous  oriental  mountain  retreats  from  the  beat, 
such  as  Simla.  Darjceling  atul  Namhaii.  The  luxurious 
and  hospitable  Hong-Kong  Club,  where  I  had  the 
pteasure  of  staying  for  a  year  and  a  half,  would  be  hard 
to  flurpau  on  Fifth  Avenue  or  Pall  Mall  for  accommoda- 
tions and  appearance.  It  is  situated  on  the  Praya  Grande 
CcntnU,  in  the  heart  of  Victoria  City  and  at  the  bay's 
edge.  The  irmpemr  of  Oiina  conM  not  Iw  maJr  a  mem- 
ber oa  account  of  his  color,  but  I  have  heard  of  one 
^riee  getting  in  through  the  eye  of  a  needle,  and  it 
was  aid  the  needle  was  threaded  by  the  English  king. 
Thcfc  win,  however,  never  be  another  such  contretemps. 
The  question  of  eligibility  for  this  club  is  about  the  hot- 
tett  qpestion  in  Hong-Kong.  Imperial  politics  and 
never  wonders  are  taken  as  a  matter  of  course  in 
oooipuison,  by  these  widely  traveled  Hong-Kongites. 
To  be  sent  into  Coventry  by  the  membership  com- 
BHttee  is  a  quietus  on  the  most  persistent  aspirations, 
in  m  colony  where  life  is  in  the  balance  between 
gratt  todal  happiness  and  keen  social  misery,  made 
the  more  poignant  by  the  feeling  that  you  are  so 
remote  from  home  that  you  could  not  go  farther 
on  this  globe  without  getting  nearer.  Porcelain  baths; 
electric  fans ;  Amoy  oysters  in  season ;  mango  ice- 
craun;  curries  made  opiate  with  powdered  poppy  seeds, 
md  tbc  noblest  wines  of  Europe,  minus  export  reduc- 


lo  THE  CHINESE 

tions,  but  plus  a  little  salicylic  acid,  are  certainly  luxu- 
ries, to  which  a  bouquet  is  added  because  it  is  all  enjoyed 
in  the  alien  and  uncomfortable  tropics,  where  miseries 
and  privations  are  supposed  to  reign.     The  Japanese  add 
their  most  famous  brand  of  beer,  which  they  humorously 
call   Peace,  and   which  name  was  suggested  by  their 
richest  magnate.  Baron  Mitsui.     Perhaps  the  cuisine  has 
its  wearinesses  in  the  endless  repetition  of  stewed  cucum- 
bers, sickly  petsai,  and  tough  fried  brinjals,  but  never  a 
mortal  tasted  a  richer  dish  than  vegetable  marrow  when 
served  hot.     Add  some  golden  Dutch  butter,  which  by 
the  way  is  unsalted,  to  the  golden  meat,  and  you  despise 
the  namby-pamby  "  stay-at-home."    Then  the  Australian 
steamer  arrives  once  a  week  with  Queensland  mutton  and 
beef,  to  take  the  place  of  the  Chinese  water-buffalo  and 
humped  cattle  from  the  West  River  hills.     The  Chinese 
also  offer  you  a  turkey,  which  if  lacking  in  gameness  and 
color,  supplies  a  soft  delicacy  of  flesh  which  is  a  wel- 
come substitute  for  our  bird.     The  furniture,  paneling 
and  flooring  of  this  club,  like  in  the  other  fine  buildings 
of  luxuriant  Hong-Kong,  is  all  of  Siamese  or  Javanese 
teak,  which  is  the  most  durable,  hardest  to  carve  and 
costliest  of  woods.     It  has  a  close  grain  and  is  polished 
in  its  natural  color,  which  is  red.    This  is  the  wood  whicl 
is  brought  at  great  cost  to  America,  to  undersheathe  th( 
armor  of  battleships.     The  fine  carving  is  done  by  Can 
tonese  in  those  wonderful  shops  of  scented  chips  along  th 
narrow  Sun  Tau  Lan,  Yuck  Tsze,  Tai  Sun,  and  Ol 
Factory  Streets.     The  beautiful  new  Hotel  Mansions,  a 
the  water's  edge ;  the  King  Edward ;  the  famous  old  brie 
^nn,  the  Hong-Kong,  with  its  roster  of  ten  thousan 
world's  notables ;  and  the  unique  Peak  Hotel,  nursed  nej 
the  summit  above  the  clouds  in  Victoria  Gap,  are  a 


I 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA 


^iKMtelries  Mcellent  enough  to  grace  the  Slrand  or  Fifih 
Avenue.  The  Peak  Hotel  is  the  center  of  the  garrison 
«xia]  life,  and  every  dinner  ts  a  glitter  of  regalia,  braid, 
boTlOTu,  forgivable  swagger  and  afTccted  iiilonation. 
You  will  notice  the  mcnuii  have  numbers  opposite  each 
item;  brinjals  may  be  number  fourteen;  marmalade,  six- 
teen; vi^etabte  marrow,  eight,  and  likewiw  with  the 
wine  Iis< ;  the  boy  would  not  know  what  you  meant  by 
Sparkling  Moselle,  but  tell  him  number  six,  and  you 
will  have  your  wine.  The  little  cube  of  ice  is  re- 
nKn-ed  frocn  your  cocktail  after  it  has  chilled  it.  attd  U 
i»ed  to  perform  tlie  *anie  ser\-ice  in  your  neighbor's  glass. 
Torrid  as  b  the  climate,  fleeting  as  is  the  life  of  the  cube, 
its  service  is  a  remarkably  long  one,  for  at  the  bars  of 
thc«  Irealy  jx>rt8  of  the  Orient  ihc  line  of  customers  is 
wdl  6ned,  and  be  it  said  that  American  drinks  reign. 
Wben  ytm  pennanently  locate  at  a  hotel  or  club  you  are 
eqiected  to  bring  in  your  own  bouse  boy  to  wait  upon 
yon.  the  hotel  only  providing'  waiters  for  transients. 
How  one  gets  to  hate  the  hot  red  heathen  hills  where 
never  for  a  mcmient  in  the  long  exile  once  lies  the  famil- 
iar mow  lines  of  home,  and  the  first  sight  of  snow  on 
Ml  ^tna  fills  the  returning  wanderer  with  a  thrill  which 
can  only  be  understood  by  experietKing  it  You  believe 
then  that  snow  is  the  sign  of  the  Saxon  character. 

As  the  expatriated  Chinese  sighs  for  his  eel,  mullet 
and  native  qtuil,  to  be  brought  alive  to  him  across  the 
wide  Pacific,  a  thirty-days  voyage,  so  the  white  man  in 
China  longs  most  of  all  for  frozen  American  oysters.  It 
is  the  mess  of  pottage  for  which  he  endures  exile,  and 
with  a  tin  and  a  cronie,  he  is  able  to  knock  through  an- 
other  twenty  days  until  the  next  steamer,  with  a  cold  stor- 
age plant,  arrives,  when  he  forthwith  hails  a  sampan,  and 


12  THE  CHINESE 

with  a  Lucullian  smile,  sails  to  make  a  studied  flank  at- 
tack  on  the  steward. 

Nowhere  in  the  world  perhaps  are  lantern  illumina- 
tions more  indulged  in,  and  certainly  nowhere  so  effect- 
ively. The  terraced  homes  all  have  the  mountain  peak 
as  background,  and  whether  one  looks  from  the  bottom 
of  the  cup  up  the  illuminated  hills,  or  down  upon  the  mil- 
lion lights  which  no  factory  smoke  clouds,  to  the  water, 
and  the  fish  lantern  procession  passing  through  the  lower 
streets  and  prayas,  the  view  is  glittering  and  multi- 
colored. The  natives  are  especially  lavish  of  lanterns  in 
the  time  of  the  sixth  moon,  when  every  shop  is  radiant 
with  a  lighted  crab,  fish,  fowl,  or  dragon,  the  ingenuity 
in  design  surpassing  the  more  classic  Japanese  fashion  in 
lanterns. 

No  other  race  has  looked  upon  the  waters,  and  find- 
ing them  more  level  than  the  land,  with  quick  wit  and 
sense,  said  that  there  by  hundreds  of  thousands  they 
would  anchor  their  tax-free  homes.     Hong-Kong  anc! 
Canton  best  present  this  unique  spectacle,  and  the  mosi 
moving  sight,  emotionally  and  literally,  in  the  world,  \\ 
when  this  immense  populace  is  stirred  by  news  of  an  ap 
proaching  typhoon.     Sails  are  hoisted,  sculls  and  oar 
put  to  work,  and  a  dozen  times  a  year  a  vast  armad 
sweeps  like  the  scuds  of  clouds  along  the  harbor,  to  an 
other  place  of  safety  beneath  a  great  mountain  peak 
How,  on  their  return  to  the  accustomed  anchorage,  the 
settle  their  position  by  number  and  lane,  no  one  of  u 
Wai  I   (outer  barbarians)    has  ever  yet   been  able  t 
determine,  but  sampan  and  junk  certainly  drop  into  pos 
tion  as  quickly  as  if  drilled  by  a  fleet-captain.     Whid 
ever  foreigner  can  discover  the  key,  will  have  given  proc 
of  his  genius  to  camp  an  army  better  than  a  Cyrus,  c 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA 

ihall  we  uy  as  well  as  the  local  Yuan  Shi  Kai,  on  whose 
Idnd  tlie  bopet  of  militant  China  rc<it. 

The  exile's  solemnity  is  coaxed  with  the  superb  music 
on  the  Parade  Ground  three  times  a  week  ol  the  several 
military  bands,  and  indeed  one  hotel  makes  a  feature  o£ 
employtng  the  Baluchi's  Indian  band  and  pipers  during 
dinner.  If  nearly  everybody  else  loafs  on  foreign  duty, 
the  band  is  never  idle.  Too  often  it  is  Saul's  mardi  and 
extra  tlow  step,  along  (he  Wong  Nei  Cliong  Road  past 
the  monument,  (o  the  hill  side  cemetery,  for  too  many 
a  comrade  who  has  died  of  drink,  melancholy,  or  ma- 
laria. The  firing  party  loses  no  time  in  signaling  among 
the  peaki  that  another  of  the  king's  soldiers  has  been 
laid  to  hb  everlasting  rest  in  the  compulsory  land  of  his 
exile,  only  twelve  hour*  after  his  death.  Then  it  is  a  piji- 
togf  march  bade  to  the  barracks  at  quick  step,  for  the  of- 
ficera  greatly  fear  the  effect  upon  luiaroused  men.  A 
battle  is  less  depressing  to  them,  with  its  hastily  gathered 
dad  oo  the  field,  than  the  draped  gun-carriage  and  fu- 
nereal pomp  at  the  door  of  the  barracks  hospitaL  There 
ii,  besides,  playing  in  the  barracks  garden,  for  officers' 
gHcit  ni^it,  and  mtisic  for  the  theater,  all  crowded  into  a 
vecic,  together  with  countless  marches  to  be  played  from 
die  landing  wharf  to  Government  House  steps  for  many 
B  braided  Siamite,  Nipponite  and  other  Jcbiisite,  who,  by 
adopting  the  comity  of  nations,  has  perforce  bowed  to 
te  jroke  of  our  unpicturesque  tailors.  The  German  flag- 
ihqi  Hertha  drops  into  port,  and  in  an  evening  or 
two  afterward  the  German  Club,  established  in  a  beauti- 
ftd  Renaissance  building  on  Kennedy  Road,  announces 
that  the  warship's  splendid  string  band  will  give  a 
mnsicale,  which  is  more  clannishly  attended  than  the 
artistic  treat  warrants. 


14  THE  CHINESE 

And  whenever  Neptune  and  Mars  meet  and  kowtow, 
as  they  are  always  doing  here,  the  gunners  may  be  asleep 
and  the  muzzles  may  be  capped,  but  the  Tommies  who 
"  blow  their  lives  out  in  China  "  in  more  ways  than  this 
particular  one,  must  ever  be  on  hand  with  cornet  and 
trombone  to  make  admiral  and  general  extra-congratu- 
latory. The  philosophizing  Chinese  tax-payer,  who 
comes  down  from  Canton  on  these  occasions,  again 
shakes  hands  with  himself,  and  explains  that  he  insti- 
tuted the  custom  of  skimping  on  public  works  and  being 
lavish  in  imposing  taxes  for  ceremonies'  sake.  None 
of  the  treaty  ports  equals  Hong-Kong  in  musical  lux- 
uries. Manila  has  one  famous  Filipino  band  and  Sir 
Robert  Bredon  at  Peking  has  a  Chinese  band,  both  trained 
by  occidental  masters. 

It  is  an  English  colony,  this  island  which  dropped 
as  a  first  fruit  from  the  folds  of  the  flag  of  the  Opium 
War,   but   Englishmen  rule  by  suggestion  more  than 
compulsion.     They   endow,   of   course,   but  they  have 
elasticity  of  judgment  enough  to  adopt,  and  this  is  wh) 
they  are   successful  colonial   rulers.     The  water   iron 
they  have  called  a  Praya,  from  the  custom  at  famow 
old  Portuguese  Macao,  forty  miles  away.     A  walk  her 
(and  every  one  walks  on  the  street  instead  of  the  side 
walk)    is   a   kaleidoscope  of  dress   and   a   College  o 
Languages.     Here  are  good  Scotch  names  like  Mathic 
son;  Japanese  like  Mitsui;  German  like  Melchers;  Poi 
tuguese  like   De    Mello;   Netherlands   like   Stoomvaa] 
Maatschappij ;  Parsees  like  Cawasjee  Moosa;  and  Ii 
dian  like   Matab.     A   European   has   just  got   out  i 
a  Sedan  chair,  which,  as  rain  is  threatening,  has  the  cu 
tains  down.     They  are  dyed  in  the  familiar  yin-chi,  ( 
Chinese  red.    The  Hok-Lo  bearers  are  ringing  the  co 


lossnatSKS  im  chma         is 

t  to  He  U  k  k  teat  mtHn  Oifi*  Up 
■  aot  |iTCn  hmid  tbtyfncMci  to  Hnte  fbt  wuoMftixuf 
yMMmcr  in  tlieir  tmiicy  dUiet  As  die  ooolia  wiBe 
oi^  bt  nre  to  notiee  if  tht  right  kf  of  tfie  tromen  is 
foBed  «p  and  the  left  down.  It  k  %  fnqpeat  rifpi  at 
acflbnUp  III  u  ladHljnntie  toeieQr.  iocfa  as  the  TriuL 
Tbht  tfOMcn  sn  oi  hud  Himkifn  douit  wnkn  hss  Meil 
flQnd  lihcfc  with  0nUtttt  Bsn  m  Kocctne  vitfi  tiiQr 
MMfcliswIinn-asr  hm,  perched  on  thdr  rolled  up  hiif. 
TiMir  9tggf  white  tiooMn  biUcf  hi  tfie  viodi  neif 
Antfibe  tmdcs  ifc  tight;. .  A  Tftoist  priest  oooies  ilon^ 
wsiitag  his  hwr  qa  nie  top  <K  Us  aeod  end  sot  down  Us 
had^  at  iBDSt  CUnne  dft    An  ^iioopal  bUiop  paises 

he  mafaa  ftmtnlscein  abo  of  die  Occident;  a  soihCopy 

aowtdng  a  blade  morning  coat,  knidcerbockers,  sUk 
ttodtmgi  and  pumps.  His  Catholic  confrere,  who  is  a 
Portogiieae  by  blood,  wears  the  familiar  loiq;  Uack  gown 
of  bis  ilk  and  a  cross,  but  notice  his  sun-helmet  and  that 
his  beads  are  of  native  jade.  Bdgian  monks,  who  would 
cmcify  the  flesh,  stick  to  black  Friar  hats  which  focus  the 
actinic,  merciless  rays  of  the  sun  upon  their  devoted  but 
dizzy  beads.  That  gaunt  gentleman  under  a  gray  Fe- 
dora is  the  best  shot  in  the  colony.  He  has  just  beaten 
the  gDvemor  at  the  traps  of  the  Royal  Gun  Oub  in  the 
Wancfaai  guUey.  He  is  known  as  a  "manufacturer's 
agent,"  but  darkly  it  is  said  that  his  real  business  is  the 
smuggling  of  arms  into  China.  Anyway,  as  he  is  only 
a  cooee  (Australian)  he  is  given  the  cold  shoulder 
at  the  English  club  on  the  Fraya.  When  he  and  a  stocky 
Canadian  there  get  mad  about  it,  they  chum  and  rub 
**  Paardeburg  "  into  those  whom  they  call  in  the  hour 
of   tbdr    wrath    "  snobs,"    *'  Pharisees "   and    "  Little 


i6  THE  CHINESE 

Englanders."    The   Frenchman   who   overhears   it   all 
says: 

"  Mais  en  guerre, 
De  meme  que  f reres  1 " 


a 


As  your  'rickisha  rolls  toward  the  Polo  Ground  at 
Causeway  Bay,  Chinese  boys  turn  pin- wheel  somersaults 
and  pipe  forth  a  petition  for  "cumshaw."    One  of  the 
four  carriages  of  the  Colony  passes  along,  drawn  by  tiny 
Chinese  ponies.     It  contains  the  powdered  and  carmined 
wives  of  a  native  banker  of  Bonham  Strand.     There 
comes  a  Dom  from  India,  his  tall,  thin  limbs  swathed 
tightly  in  a  white  chadar,  which  answers  for  garment 
by  day  and  bed-sheet  by  night,  and  his  head  (all  but  the 
black  buffalo  eyes)  is  hid  beneath  a  tremendous  red  tur- 
ban.    With  eyes  averted  from  the  Dom  a  couple  pass, 
Jyotishi  Essabhoy  —  a  silk  merchant  once  of  Calcutta  — 
and  his  wife,  who  wears  a  wonderful  one-piece  silk  sari, 
which  is  caught  at  the  waist  and  half-looped  around  the 
body.     The  other  half  is  thrown  over  the  head  and 
shoulders.     She   was   born   in   Ceylon,   where   all   the 
women  learn  the  carriage  of  a  Venus  of  Milo  from  the 
habit  of  bearing  water  jars  on  their  heads.     Soft  is  her 
walk  and  voice,  which  latter  purrs  along  with  the  subdued 
answers  of  her  lord,  whose  race  has  never  learned  the 
confident  manners  of  those  who  are  used  to  ruling  others. 
Following,  is  an  Indian  officer  of  the  Baluchis,  whose 
march  is  as  stately  as  a  column  from  the  Taj  MahaL 
You  can  tell  that  that  other  tall,  independent-looking  fig- 
ure, swathed  in  white  from  turban  to  turned-up  shoe,  is  s 
Mahratta  from  Bombay,  for  if  he  were  a  Hindoo  fron 
Benares  his  dhotee  cloth  would  be  gay  in  color.     Shortci 
than  either,  comes  another,  his  hair  dressed  with  tortoisi 


tcaaxafBMS  ni  cbuia  v 

ribdlooote.  HcliiiltfraaiGqrloB»dwcanaoaaAa7- 
■kilt  of  dKckal  dotb,  and  b;  trade  ii  a  under  sf  mie- 

UijFib  sbq  pncnus  noDMi  7fiBn  wiB  Biui  li  s  pcui 
M  (fcsk  pnc^  nd  he  nKfcfon  imiuljo  in  um  tlmp>r 

l*"^^f  f'^Tf  I****?!  "^  It**"  y*"*  t™  «n*»f  I'l^nWM.      A  BUT- 

■Mii(  liMpoBa  sua  lookiwy  uni^  it^s  o^  n  udifa 
Abh  tnd  putioc  ddrtk  but  be  fan  &  mnt  voios^  wUai 
dhilhiifaiiiKM  yog.  TlMft;  too,  foei  €3Mii|t  tfie  oooHe, 
widi  Ui  Mriiif  ol  (Oils*  wliidi  he  niBn  st  ne  doon  ot 
MB  cortomen.  On  nw  wet  etooe  it^s  n  nont  of  tM 
Fiifa  Itufce^  bbotB  wini  the  pnni  OMhrti  one  who  hss 
been  ft  pinte  on  ne  St  KJtKg^  nd  who  dipped  his  hinds 
■>  whte  men's  Uood  when  tiw  Arfncwi  wee  stliched. 
He  win  gither  wster-front  news  for  a  season,  imless  die 
bikOHg  of  the  law  meanwhile  recognizes  and  gathers  him. 
Japanese  courtezans  from  Ship  Street,  dressed  in  their 
blue-figured  kasuri  cloth,  shuffle  by  on  wooden  shoes. 
The  Chinese  fokis  greet  them  with  Abderian  laughter, 
screaming  "  pig "  after  them,  and  the  Japanese  sailors 
are  ready  enough  to  fight  with  knives  on  the  pretext  of  a 
ballot  for  the  honor  of  a  Rag.  A  Hebrew,  who  wor- 
ships at  "  Othel  and  Leah,"  on  Robinson  Road,  drifts  by 
on  the  wind  behind  the  only  cloud  of  whiskers  east  of 
Calcutta.  He  is  one  of  the  daring  few  who  wears  a 
derby  hat  instead  of  a  topy.  A  chimney-hatted  Parsee, 
looking  very  confidential  in  black,  and  sporting  a  pink 
nib>'  of  faultless  water,  passes  with  his  secrets  of  what 
fine  English  young  gentleman  (all  too  forgetful  that  in 
this  blistering  climate  a  European  can  be  imprisoned  for 
debt)  owes  him  money,  and  his  nerx'ous  fingerings  and 
whisperings  are  doubtless  a  part  of  the  process  of  mental 
arithmetic.  The  Parsee  has  prt^essed  in  the  far  East 
unce  the  days  when  he  sat  on  a  cotton  cloth  on  the  floor 


i8  THE  CHINESE 

and  ate  his  food  from  a  plantain  leaf  or  a  piece  of 
ares  brass. 

The  mansions  of  Belilios  on  MacDonald  Road  and 
those  of  Mody  and  Chater  are  the  show  houses  of 
Hong-Kong  and  the  Colony  has  no  citizens  who  equal 
their  generosity,  a  pretty  touch  of  personal  sentiment  for 
the  king  who  has  noticed  them,  warming  their  puUic 
acts.  They  are  few  in  numbers,  these  Zoroastrians,  but 
an  unusual  fire  burns  in  their  minds  and  hearts,  as  wdl 
as  in  their  worship.  A  people  of  no  country,  it  is  mov- 
ing indeed  to  hear  them  sound  with  a  sonorous  earnest- 
ness and  sweetness  the  words  "  our  home,"  when  refer- 
ring to  whatever  land  in  which  they  have  cast  their  lot 
A  people  of  no  God,  in  whatever  alien  scene,  at  even  thcjr 
climb  the  hills  to  follow  with  worshipping  eyes  and  re- 
signed mien  the  fast  dropping  orb  of  the  sun,  which  now 
is  life-giver  and  anon  their  destroyer  in  the  hour  of  death. 

It  is  against  the  law  to  traffic  in  lottery  tickets,  but  that 
oily  Fong,  whom  you  see  slipping  in  and  out  of  European 
hongs,  has  a  choice  assortment  of  crisp  green  tickets  of 
the  Han-kau,  Macao  and  Formosa  lotteries,  and  for  a  feW; 
extra  cash  he  w- ill  also  sell  you  the  lucky  tip  on  the  draw*: 
ing,  which  divination  he  procured  for  a  consideration' 
from  a  top-knotted  Taoist  priest.  Tall  Sikhs,  wearing 
the  red  of  the  king,  march  by  as  straight  as  fir-pole^ 
while  a  stocky  little  Welsh  "  Tommy  "  remarks :  "  'id 
long  pipe-ligs  might  beat  hus  hup  the  first  'ill,  but  'ead  bfi 
flat-blowed  in  the  second  valley,  when  we'd  be  strong 
going  the  third  'ill ;  it  ain't  ligs,  it's  wind." 

With  a  privileged  swing  of  the  free  arm,  a  stamp  of 
the  off  foot,  and  a  cry,  "  Look  out  for  your  heels,"  red- 
liveried  coolies  bluster  by.  Everybody  looks;  it  is  the 
British  governor  of  Hong-Kong  being  borne  in  the  red 


Looking  from  mountain  road  down  the  slopes  of  Hong  Kong  upc 

nioiintain-«iicircled  harbor  and  British  settlement  of  Kowloon, 

on  the  mainland  of  China.     British  and  German  c 

and   torpedo  boats   in   offing.     Union   and   Chri 

Episcopal  churches  and  British  Governor's 

residence  in  left  foreground. 


lliMiK  KiMig.  Wi-sti-rn  si'ction.  Iiuilt  on  ilu-  slopes  of  Mounts  Vict 
;ind  Davis.     British  cruiser  "  TallMii  "  inshore.     This  vessel 
saved  from  drowninc  the  crews  of  Ihe  Russian  war- 
ships "XariaK"  and  "  Korictz. "  sunk  by  the 
Japanese  at   Clitniulpo  in    1904. 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  19 

chair  of  a  mandarin.  Remember  that  the  natives  them- 
selves do  not  use  the  word  "  mandarin  "  (which  is  Portu- 
guese), but  **  Kwun/'  Red  of  a  brighter  shade  is  used 
only  for  Hwa  Kiao  or  bridal  chairs.  I  saw  a  crowd  run- 
ving  to  Blake  Pier  to  see  the  only  citron-yellow  sedan 
diair  in  town;  it  was  for  the  late  emperor's  brother, 
Prince  Chun,  now  regent,  who  was  on  his  way  to  Ger- 
many to  apologize  for  the  murder  of  the  German  ambas- 
sador. Every  foreigner  whose  salary  is  above  seventy- 
five  dollars  gold  a  month  retains  a  passenger  chair,  which 
is  carried  by  two  or  four  coolies,  who  are  uniformed  as 
conspicuously  as  purse  will  allow.  Oesar  in  an  effort  to 
extirpate  effeminateness  among  the  patricians,  prohibited 
the  use  of  litters,  but  the  excuse  eloquent  Hong-Kong 
could  offer  is  that  it  is  more  hilly  than  Rome. 

During  a  royal  procession  the  Chinese  guard,  which 
patrols  the  line  of  march,  turns  volte  face,  for  it  would 
be  intrusive  for  a  soldier  to  look  upon  the  royal  chair. 
Only  members  of  the  royal  family  may  use  yellow  sedan 
chairs.  How  quickly  the  Chinese  Club  of  Hong-Kong 
got  the  ochre  pot  to  work,  when  they  heard  a  royal  prince 
was  coming!  Only  royalty  may  have  borne  before  it  the 
tiag  with  the  five-clawed  dragon;  the  people  must  use  a 
four-clawed  emblem.  A  yellow  Lo,  or  state  umbrella,  is 
carried  before  the  procession.  You  will  notice  that  the 
Chinese  gentlemen  and  their  clerks  are  vigorously  fan- 
ning themselves,  and  the  fan  is  more  used  by  men  that 
women.  A  Chinese  not  only  fans  his  face,  but  opens  his 
long  silk  tunic  and  fans  his  Ixnly.  or  bends  his  neck  to  fan 
his  back.  The  fan  is  carried  in  the  back  of  the  neck  and 
protrudes  over  the  sliouklcr.  These  cheap  paper  fans  are 
made  at  Nanking,  seventy  thousand  people  deriving  their 
livclihoud  from  tlie  manufacture.     The  Hakka  boat  peo- 


20  THE  CHINESE 

pie  could  never  get  on  without  fans,  for  their  fires  are 
made  of  charcoal  in  a  pan,  and  when  meals  are  being  pre- 
pared the  children  stand  by  on  the  poop  and  vigorously 
work  up  a  draft.  But  the  oddest  use  is  when  a  host  or- 
ders his  servant  to  fan  a  seat  so  as  to  cool  it  for  the  guest 

Where  one's  pores,  in  a  most  humid  temperature  of 
ninety-five,  perforce  do  much  of  the  work  of  the  kidneys, 
it  is  highly  important  that  washable  white  clothes  should 
be  worn.  A  few  martyrs  to  convention  deserve  renown, 
however  —  the  governor's  secretary,  who  is  doomed  to  a 
plug  hat  and  Piccadilly  frock-coat,  and  the  aide-de-camp, 
in  braid  and  pilot  cloth. 

The  Chinese,  especially  in  the  West  End,  is  in  all  the 
glory  of  his  habitat,  and  is  an  unexpectedly  dignified  en- 
tertainer of  the  many  voluble  or  alarmed  looking  Occi- 
dentals. He  has  his  own  splendid  banks,  like  the  Yuen 
Fung  Yuen  on  Bonham  Strand,  and  native  hospitals,  like 
the  Chung  Wah.  He  frequently  loans  to  the  British  a 
countryman  as  lukong,  who  is  forthwith  dressed  in  that 
wonderful  mixture  of  mushroom-shaped,  white  bamboo 
helmet;  blue  tunic;  engineer's  white  leggings  and  native 
felt  soles.  Who  is  that  peddler  whirling  a  strident  rattle 
around  a  bamboo  stick,  and  carrying  a  chest  of  drawers? 
He  is  the  embroidery  vender.  Every  girl  and  woman 
decorates  her  own  shoes  and  a  visit  of  the  peddler  of  silk 
floss  and  gold  and  silver  thread  is  a  daily  necessity.  A 
gloriously  carved  bright  red  chair,  decorated  with  king- 
fishers' feathers,  is  borne  along.  It  contains  a  bride  and 
everybody  laughs.  The  chair  is  kept  for  nothing  else  at 
the  livery.  China,  beyond  all  lands,  revels  in  colors. 
Native  youths  in  long  gowns  of  blue,  buff  and  purple; 
Chinese  women  in  tunics  and  trousers  of  yellow,  red, 
black  and  gold ;  and  Hindoo  women  in  the  flimsiest  pink 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  21 

11  the  boxaars  of  Calcutta  and  the  downiest  sbawla 
from  Cabul,  make  a  joyDus  scene  on  tlir  wide  Praya  and 
htU-odc  roads  of  the  oddest  tJlted-up  Colony  in  the  world. 
OccaMonally  a  Eura.sian,  slouter  than  either  Euru|ican 
or  Chinese,  amt  witose  blood  kinsliip  neither  boasts 
of,  witli  hair  hanging  loose,  passes  by,  to  the  un- 
heeded alianjc  of  the  foreigner.  It  is  an  evideiKe  of 
the  vast  passive  virtues  of  the  Chinese  that  they 
do  not  rise  up  and  behead  every  foreigner  in  the 
Colony  34  an  offering  of  vengeance  at  the  feet  of 
the  tinnamed. 

To  cool  his  prized  \\'alcT  under  a  in^ble  tamarint^  . 
and  a  cynouire  uf  all  eyes  because  of  the  unusual  sight  oC^d 
s  fine  animal,  an  English  officer  of  the  Indian  army  mcflS^ 
jamps  from  the  saddle,  all  jmg;Iiiig  with  the  parapher- 
nalia of  occidental  war.  Uc  has  removed  his  hca\y  topy- 
bdaKt,  which  is  filled  with  coot  plantain  leaves,  and  is 
omunented  with  a  blue-  and  white-barred  pugree.  Per- 
haps (for  he  has  lots  of  time)  he  philmophizes  bow  signs 
of  subjugation  soon  become  cherished  customs.  The 
queue  of  the  Chinese  was  first  a  badge  of  Manchu  author- 
ity inqiosed  upon  the  conquered;  and  the  Indian  pugree 
was  originally  the  yoke  which  the  Mohammedan  victor 
placed  upon  his  Hindoo  subject.  It  is  the  only  handsome 
feature  of  the  absolutely  essential  but  hideous  Indian  hel- 
met, now  coming  into  universal  use  in  southern  China.  I 
have  noticed  that  in  Marseilles  they  are  numerously  worn 
in  the  summer  months,  which  is  the  result  of  the  example 
of  France's  returning  Tonquinoise  colonists,  who  use  that 
port  altogether.  Topies  are  beginning  to  be  exhibited  in 
the  show  windows  of  Broadway  hatters'  shops  in  New 
York  City.  As  an  additional  protection  against  the  sun's 
rays,  the  British  authorities  compel  their  raiments,  on 


22  THE  CHINESE 

oriental  duty,  to  wear  a  strip  of  flannel  down  the  spinal 
column.  The  Oriental's  respect  for  his  native  sun  is 
strikingly  illustrated  in  the  statue  of  Dai  Butz  at  Kama- 
kura  in  Japan,  where  the  head  of  the  saint  is  covered  with 
brass  snails,  which  in  their  art  represent  a  cool  protection 
from  the  heat. 

In  Hong-Kong  and  the  Orient,  water  is  king.  It 
rules  for  happiness  and  safety  during  the  short  rainy  sea- 
son, which  commences  in  May,  when  lavish  cloud-bursts 
fall,  as  they  can  do  only  in  the  tropics.  It  tyrannizes  by 
its  stinginess  during  the  dry  season  of  nine  months.  Im- 
agine the  bases  of  a  dozen  conical  untenanted  hills,  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  feet  high,  traced  around  with  a 
cemented  trench.  Every  drop  of  water  that  falls  on  the 
hill  preserves  is  eagerly  caught  and  led  to  the  basins  in 
the  valleys.  But  the  consumption,  and  particularly  the 
waste,  by  three  hundred  thousand  Chinese  in  Hong-Kong, 
is  immense.  In  the  broiling  summer,  the  valves  are 
opened  only  night  and  morning,  and  there  is  great  priva- 
tion and  danger  in  a  colony  which  is  subject  to  the  rav- 
ages of  smallpox,  typhoid  and  every  other  disease  that 
unflushed  filth  breeds, —  not  to  mention  the  discomfort  of 
limited  baths  where  the  body  sweats  without  ceasing. 

The  richer  Europeans  flock  at  five  o'clock  to  the  harbor, 
and  in  launches  seek  out  a  spot  where  the  sewage  of  Can- 
ton does  not  lie  like  false  lilies  on  the  wave,  to  enjoy  the 
refreshment  of  a  dip  and  swim,  returning  at  seven 
o'clock,  when  the  sudden  sunset  flames  without  heat 
for  a  glorious  half  hour,  before  night,  without  a 
twilight,  falls  suddenly  black.  The  launches  arei 
abundantly  provisioned  with  tea,  whisky,  soda,  col- 
lation, and  cigars,  and  if  the  native  launchmen  could 
speak  with  the  metaphors  of  our  literature,  they  would 


FOREIGNERS  IN  QilNA 

~  entatnly  call  us  a  race  of  Clodii  from  all  the  ap- 
pearances. The  swimming  panics  leave  the  Queen's 
i9Utue  pier  for  Shelter,  Junk  or  Lighthouse  Bays, 
eacepc  when  nunora  go  through  the  Colony  that  a 
sbarit  has  been  seen  in  the  waters,  ami  all  the  terrible 
talcs  of  Hong-Kung  becoming  as  dangerous  as  Sydney's 
harbor  are  lold  to  the  terrified  grifiia  The  alarming 
viiitor  is  only  the  Peh-ki,  or  great  white  porpoise, 
which  has  wandered  a  little  from  his  fishing  grounds  on 
the  Macao  Hati  for  a  dash  among  the  shipping  and  bays 
ol  Hong-Kong.  Nevertheless  for  a  week  tlic  stream  r»f 
laimcbes  that  nightly  left  the  Matsbcd  Pter  at  Victoria 
Suiue  will  turn  tlieir  noses  toward  Sbam-Shui-Po  Bay 
instead  of  Junk  Bay.  The  rivalry  of  the  launches  on 
the  tonj,'  iai!  is  tlirillinp;  national.  guiUI,  district,  .social, 
and  professional  feeling  all  coming  into  the  competition 
of  ten  knots  speed  Junk  Bay  at  low  tide  affords  the 
pmdest  bathing.  Not  only  b  the  scenery  stopendoos 
and  the  loneliness  primeval  and  alien,  but  you  can  leave 
the  oooler  water  of  the  bay  for  a  hot  fresh-water  bath 
in  a  sand  basin  at  the  top  of  the  beach,  which  has  been 
by  the  tropical  son  aU  day.  Luxitrica  truly 
n! 

Wherever,  amoi^  the  unpreempted  bills,  there  may  be 
a  spring,  the  thirsty  Chinese  place  bamboo  rtmnels  and 
lead  the  trickling  silver  to  the  roadside,  where  patient 
coobes  wait  in  line  for  hours  to  secure  their  own  or  their 
master's  drinking  water  for  the  day.  The  bottlti^ 
(really  jarring)  and  shipping  of  potable  waters  is  not 
unknown  in  China,  which  land,  after  all,  is  really  the 
oniyersal  inventor.  Near  Sam  Shui.  on  the  West  River, 
is  tbc  large  Ting  Wo  monastery,  which  is  built  on  the 
ciiff**  skk.    Above  it  is  a  waterfall,  which  the  bonzes  de- 


24  THE  CHINESE 

dare  is  sacred  and  possesses  healing  powers.  They  ship 
the  water  all  over  the  country.  If  there  is  znything  a 
Buddhist  priest  loves  as  an  adjunct  to  prayer,  it  is  a  little 
of  such  a  dignified  and  easily  run  business.  The  Taoist 
priest  is  not  so  exacting  that  the  business  shall  be 
dignified. 

Water  is  Tyrant!  When  he  comes  again,  he  falls  in 
unruly  torrents,  which  sweep  away  the  bounds  of  cement 
and  granite  which  have  been  placed  for  him;  he  drops 
over  cliffs,  and  you  would  not  know  the  arid  peaks  in  this 
new  land  of  thundering  waterfalls  that  leap,  echo  and 
roar  in  the  narrow  guUeys  with  the  alien  voice  of  terror 
and  destruction.  Visible  tongues  of  water  appear  from 
out  the  awful  mist,  which  darkens  even  a  tropic  day,  and 
rolls  from  valley  to  valley,  disguising  and  anon  revealing 
every  scene. 

Droll  enough  to  a  stranger,  but  terribly  important  to 
a  resident,  is  the  item  in  Hong-Kong's  Government  Bud- 
get entitled  Rat  Estimates,  where  many  thousand  dol- 
lars are  appropriated  yearly  to  battle  with  the  rodent. 
Hong-Kong  has  nearly  conquered  the  mosquito  by  ce- 
menting, in  the  woods,  every  gulley  and  indentation  that 
is  near  a  dwelling,  but  the  rat  of  subterranean  secrecy  is 
harder  to  reach,  and  it  is  the  fad  or  fact  in  Bombay, 
Tokio  and  Hong-Kong  to  find  in  him,  and  the  elusive  flea, 
the  transmitters  of  the  virulent  bubo  bacillum.  The  first 
sign  of  plague  in  Chinese  villages  is  that  of  the  rats  leav- 
ing their  haunts,  leaping  around  mad  and  suddenly  drop- 
ping dead  in  the  streets.  Then  as  surely  as  the  pursuer 
of  Pharoah,  comes  the  Destroyer.  Some  say  all  this  care 
is  as  futile  as  offering  rewards  for  rabbits  in  Australia 
or  wolves  in  Russia;  that  the  treacherous  natives  breed 
the  pests  for  the  bounty.    At  all  events,  it  is  not  unoooh 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  25 

1  to  sec  a  wily-eyed  coolie  carrying  a  dozen  live  rat* 
io  a  wire  ca^  to  ofTer  to  the  sanitary  board  in  the  bal- 
conied yellow  building  which  rises  over  the  Parade 
Ground,  and  who,  like  every  hunter,  takes  his  reward  in 
the  ulence  tliat  clotlies  the  brave.  Nor  is  rodent  immi- 
gration pcnniltcd;  every  steamboat  and  foreign  laimch 
that  tics  op  to  the  Praya  has  to  submit  to  funnel-shaped 
tin  guards  being  placed  upon  its  lines,  so  that  if  Mr.  Rat 
intends  to  come  a&hore,  he  must  not  do  so  furtively,  but 
decently,  as  any  fir^t  -class  passenger,  down  ttie  main  gang- 
way,  where  his  credentials  will  be  passed  upon.  But  this 
is  the  only  restriction  at  this  free  port,  where  ever>'body 
and  everything  comes  sometimes,  which  is  tlie  unique 
characteristic  of  this  truly  entertaining  port  The  na- 
tives arc  much  opixjscd  lo  ihc  drtailt'd  wliilcunifonned 
Sanitary  Corps,  whose  members  break  into  the  plague- 
es  with  disinfection  oven,  sprayers,  brooms 
I  tuba.  Lan  Chu  Pak,  in  a  memorial  to  the  govern- 
or calls  the  corps  "  those  Rat  Kings,  because  of  their 
>  in  dashing  in  and  out  with  what  they  have 
Jmipyed,  while  the  owners,  in  convict-like  garments 
|forided  by  the  board,  watch  with  sad  faces  the  touching, 
and  for  them,  impoverishing  scene."  So  a  beneficent  and ' 
viae  government,  even  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  has  Its 
eamtic  critics. 

Another  aUiorred  feature  of  government  is  the  lime- 
waaluiig,  which  effectually  destroys  the  micro-organisms 
of  plague,  enteric  and  cholera,  which  may  settle  upon  the 
walk.  If  an  outbuilding  is  suspected  of  harboring  dis- 
ease it  is  sprayed  white  by  the  Sanitary  Corps,  which  cus- 
•oiD  adds  not  a  little  to  the  picturesqueness  of  the  Chinese 
villages  which  lie  beneath  the  banyan  and  umarind  trees, 
and  00  the  terraces  of  the  black  disintegrating  granite 


26  THE  CHINESE 

hills,  and  green  slopes.  Such  a  requirement  could  not  be 
followed  inland  in  China  proper,  because  the  natives  fear 
spraying  with  white,  which  is  their  color  of  death. 

Government  also  pounces  hard  upon  the  flour  shops, 
where  fokis  are  re-bagging  cheap  flour  in  bags  of  su- 
perior brand,  and  many  a  war  waves  to  and  fro  in  the 
courts  as  to  whether  the  Three  Combed  Cock  was  in  the 
Red  Bamboo  bag. 

In  the  "  chit "  system,  the  Colony  rebels  at  the  sug- 
gestion that  it  is  not  walled  oflf  from  all  the  world.  It 
takes  three  months  to  establish  your  identity.  There- 
after all  your  purchases  are  signed  for  by  I.  O.  U.'s,  or 
"  chits,"  which  are  torn  out  of  the  merchant's  stub  book. 
No  one  carries  the  money  of  the  British  or  Chinese 
realms,  which  happens  to  be  Mexican  silver, —  it  is  too 
heavy.  Even  at  the  hotel  bars,  you  do  not  pay  for  your 
liquor  when  it  is  drawn  for  you,  for  obliging  Sam  Lin, 
whose  legend  is  that  "  Heaven's  smile,  like  his  own,  is 
wide,"  hands  you  an  account-book  in  which  you  are  asked 
to  make  your  own  entry.  On  the  irregularity  of  the 
writing,  when  the  chit  is  presented,  hangs  many  a  tale. 
Once  a  month,  the  various  merchants  bring  these  signed 
chits  to  your  hong  comprador  or  cashier,  who  de- 
ducts them  from  your  wages  or  account,  and  the  balance 
is  brought  to  you,  together  with  the  canceled  chits.  Thus 
every  firm's  cashier  acts  as  the  private  banker  of  the  em- 
ployee. No  interest  is  allowed  or  charged,  but  if  it  were, 
the  credit  would  be  on  the  side  of  the  patient,  kindly  Chi- 
nese. These  compradors  are  of  course  heavily  bonded 
to  the  firms  or  companies.  They  act  in  a  sense  as  the  for- 
eign firm's  Chinese  member,  and  handle  all  the  diplomatic 
dealings  with  the  natives.  Their  association  or  club  is 
pne  of  the  most  important  sureties  of  business  stability  in 


r 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  27 

■Kb  Colony  or  treaty  port.  The  word  "  hong  "  literally 
is  a  row,  and  was  5nt  applied  in  the  old  days  of  iater- 
ooune  with  Europe,  to  the  dreary  line  of  windows  in  the 
foreign  warelioutcf  at  Wliompoa,  near  Canton.  It  is 
now  used  to  cover  a  flrm,  as  well  as  its  building.  The 
word  "  Taipan."  used  for  the  chief  of  an  oflkc  coroes 
from  "Tai-poa,"  a  village  headman,  or  noa-commi»- 
sjoned  mandaria. 

The  premier  event  of  the  year,  so  far  as  Europeans  in 
the  Orient  are  concerned,  is  the  ball  on  Sl  Andrew's  Eve. 
which  would  nuke  it  appear  titat  (he  merchant  princes  of 
the  East  are  Scotch.  Sl.  George's  Hall  is  hired, —  it  is 
half  of  the  artistic  City  HalL  Lanterns  art  hung  around 
the  stone  verandas.  Tlie  tramway  to  the  Peak  an- 
noimce?  that  there  will  be  a  tw"  .\.  v.  car.  and  !Fpccfal 
cart  at  a  heavy  premium  all  night  The  three  tilk  hatt 
of  the  mildewed  CcJony  arc  sought  for  and  brought  forth 
oat  of  I  maie  of  fungt  Everybody  else,  who  hasn't  a 
tartan,  goes  in  fall  dress,  but  wears  a  steamer  doth  cap. 
Tbe  admiral  furnishes  a  string  band  from  his  battleship. 
Tbe  British  "  General  Commanding  in  China  "  furnishes 
brtM  pieces,  and  the  Indian  Bahichis  send  over  their 
pipers  from  Kowloon,  for  they  have  been  practisit^ 
Strathspeys,  Caledonians  and  Ei^tsomes  for  half  a  year 
in  prqiaration  for  this  event  The  cellar  is  turned  into  a 
free  wine-room;  the  theater  is  turned  into  a  supper-room, 
and  haggis  struts  upon  the  stage.  A  company  in  a  cor- 
ner of  the  room  are  two-stepping  to  the  music  of  the 
Eigfatsoroes,  and  a  fluttering  comment  goes  through 
the  haD:  "There  romp  the  Americans  I"  Ladies  are 
coolested  for  in  a  manner  which  ruins  Chinese  good  opin- 
ion; there  are  a  dozen  tartans  and  a  half  dozen  uniforms 
and  dress-suits  fighting  for  the  card  of  Miss  Anaemia,  and 


28  THE  CHINESE 

divided  dances  prevail.  The  officers  of  the  society  don 
their  kilts  and  wear  a  sprig  of  heather  received  in  the 
last  mail  from  home  by  "  P.  and  O."  steamer.  Here  is 
the  brilliant  scarlet  of  the  Stuarts,  and  the  greens  and 
blues  of  the  Gordons  and  Murrays.  'Rickishas  and  se- 
dans camp  in  blocks  and  in  the  aisles  between,  the  coolies 
crowd  and  express  undisciplined  delight  to  see  Europe 
in  finery  pass  by  to  the  gala  scene,  and  they  jeer  all  they 
dare  at  the  exposed  shoulders  of  the  women.  The  hot, 
moist  air  holds  the  perfumes. 

For  a  week  previous,  practise  dances  have  been  held  at 
five  o'clock,  so  the  sets  are  all  ready  for  rivalry  and  tri- 
umph. There  is  a  dais  and  the  "  Distinguished  Patron- 
age" will  mount  it,  though  the  merchant  princes  arc 
somewhat  sarcastic  that  the  governor  has  the  interests  of 
the  Chinese  more  at  heart  than  those  of  the  British  mer- 
chants, but  this  has  always  been  the  keen  question  of  for- 
eign colonies,  from  Syracuse  to  the  Congo,  Macao  and 
Hong-Kong.  The  navy  looks  the  manliest  and  has  the 
nonchalance  which  is  popular,  but  it  carries  no  women. 
So  the  army  rules  the  ball,  for  the  officers  of  the  garrison 
are  paid  extra  allowance  for  "  keep  '*  of  families  when  on 
foreign  service.  A  German  admiral,  a  French  one,  and 
an  Italian  man-of-war  captain  come  and  bring  their  staffs. 
It  is  worth  leaving  Saigon  with  its  transplanted  opera,  to 
attend  the  great  ball  of  Hong-Kong.  It  is  hot  between 
dances,  and  you  lean  over  the  balustrade  of  the  veranda. 
There's  an  oriental  fragrance  rising  from  the  smokin^T 
joss-sticks  which  the  coolies  below  have  lit  to  drive  the 
mosquitoes  away.  A  lazy  and  nearly  naked  fellow  is 
lying  asleep  in  your  sedan  chair.  You  vow  that  if  you 
are  sober  when  you  get  in  it,  you  won't  lie  back  and  take 
your  ease  as  you  used  to.    Down  the  hill  at  the  watePs 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  09 

B  a  dozen  launches  are  pufling  at  the  pier,  waittng  to 
return  the  officers  to  their  ships.  Laughter  is  growing 
louder  in  the  cellar,  and  everybody's  wife  is  left  to  her 
circle  of  a  dozen  men  friends  o(  Ikf  husband.  She  is 
in  good  hands,  and  he  seeks  relief  with  a  hundred  like 
himself  in  the  cellar,  where  a  hasty  but  gushing  bar  has 
been  installed.  The  (lunch  counters,  however,  are  erected 
00  the  ball-rooni  floor.  Thew  colonial  women  drink 
leu  during  evenings  than  mornings ;  the  men  seldom 
drink  during  mornings,  but  the  evenings  are  very  moist. 
There  ts  perhaps  a  famous  "  Forlorn  Hope,"  called  the 
"Ten  A.  H.  Cocktail  Gub,"  which  wends  its  way  across 
the  blistering  white  Praya  tn  the  Hong-Kong  Club,  but 
lliai  belongs  to  the  business  day.  and  has  nothing  to  do 
with  this  tall.  There  ii  uivtelh'm^  nhmil  the  moifit, 
dreainy  tropic  nigfat  which  bids  you  stay;  the  flowers  and 
lenH  give  out  a  heavy  perfume,  which  the  tropic  sun 
woidd  bum  up.  These  are  the  hours  the  festive  Colwiy 
bvcs,  for  it  am  then  fotget  for  a  while  the  fear  of  who 
viD  be  the  next  to  &U  a  victim  of  sun,  plague,  diolera, 
tjrpfaoi,  malaria,  or  death-giving  Bal-Tse  fly.  The  day 
alter  St  Andrew*!  rises  upon  a  deserted  Colony  so  &ir 
as  Enropearts  are  coocemed.  They  awaken  to  philoso- 
pfatae  that  the  abstemious  virtues  of  the  Saint  and  not  his 
pofnlarity  were  meant  to  be  followed,  and  the  Chinese 
oierniD  the  Colony  with  an  expansive  smile  and  similar 
I  {roni  native  wits  who  acquired  this  sort  of 
a  before  Noah. 
Hong-Kong  is  a  dozen  higher  and  grander  Gibraltars 
duatered  tt^ther.  The  fortifying  of,  and  the  road- 
bnildiiv  to  the  strategic  heights  are  rapidly  and  secretly 
piugieawng.  Tunnels  are  being  bored,  and  the  rocks 
■dn  ttnnasked  by  6r-trees,  both  on  the  island  attd  China 


30  THE  CHINESE 

mainland,  facing  Junk  Bay  and  the  wide  Pacific,  are 
beginning  to  bristle  with  guns.  Garrison  life  at  these 
outposts  is  unusually  melancholy;  society  is  impossible, 
as  the  fortifications  are  eight  miles  by  water  from  the 
city,  and  communication  over  the  mountains  is  arduous. 
It  is  not  a  question  of  which  is  the  better  of  the  two,  but 
which  is  the  worse,  to  be  of  the  British  Garrison  Artillery 
or  the  Chinese  Lighthouse  Services. 

Here  and  there  are  introduced  interesting  touches  of 
the  conservatism  of  the  old  country,  for  instance,  the 
Ciceronian  motto:  *' Esse  quam  videru'^  over  the  door 
of  a  steamboat  ofHce.  The  boats  are  Scotch-built,  and 
indeed  "  better  than  they  seem,"  though  the  appearance 
is  surprising  enough  in  this  outlandish  country,  where 
no  such  luxurious  accommodations  for  travel  are  expected 
on  the  heathen  waters,  which  wind  between  the  idol's 
hills. 

The  siesta  system  has  not  taken  hold  of  busy  Hong- 
Kong  in  the  manner  that  it  has  at  Bangkok  and  Saigon. 
At  Bangkok,  offices  are  shut  from  twelve  noon  till  two- 
thirty  p,  M.,  and  the  only  things  at  work  in  the  street  are 
the  rasping  vultures,  which  have  swooped  down  on  some 
unfortunate  buflfalo,  which  has  fallen  in  the  white  road. 
At  beautiful  Saigon,  the  work  of  the  Europeans  begins 
at  seven-thirty  a.  m.,  and  continues  till  ten  o'clock ;  then 
every  one  repairs  home  in  his  pousse-pousse  (jinricki^- 
sha),  has  a  bath,  a  light  meal,  and  a  sleep  during  the 
intense  heat  of  five  hours,  when  even  the  glorious  per- 
fume of  the  ylang-ylang  trees  becomes  a  stifling  miser) 
of  cloying  sweetness,  all  too  suggestive  of  the  flowers  oi 
death.  From  three  p.  m.  to  five  P.  m.  the  offices  an 
again  opened.  At  five  p.  m.  every  one  (the  majority 
being  officers  of  the  Infanteric  Coloniale),  with  all  thi 


FOREIGI^RS  IN  CHINA  31 

ODtie  accoutremenl  of  the  jo}-ous  boutevardiers  of  PariK, 
goes  driving  in  mintalnre  virtoriaft  or  mahahars,  bdiitul 
tiny  bUck  Tonqiiinoite  uallioiu  of  nurvclous  vigor,  along 
tlie  red  roads,  and  God  help  ytnir  cyen  if  it  was  ncttin,  for 
the  glare  ii  worse  than  the  flame  of  Japanecc  trenchet. 
How  lane  Ibc  Frmch  abroad  arc  in  matters  of  comfort ! 
No  one  in  Saigon  e\'er  dresses  in  anything  but  white, 
whether  for  opera,  promenade,  biuincss  or  scicial  lea. 
But  at  Rritish  Hoog-Kung.  tlw  black  broadcloth  dress* 
■lit  is  donned  e\-ery  night  fnr  dinner,  in  a  climate  whidi 
is  nearly  as  hot  as  tluit  of  Saigon's;  the  hout^  of  work 
are  contimiotii,  and  this  Britith  Colony  thercfure  takes 
vitality  out  of  its  citiiens  more  than  any  port  of  the 
Orient.  Its  line  of  invalids  and  derdicts  who  have  fallen 
back  for  repairs,  it  a  long  one,  and  not  all  of  them  reach 
Glasgow,  or  c%'cn  Chifu.  Yokohama  or  Colombo,  before 
the  chill  gbost-order  "  Halt "  b  all  too  willingly  obeyed 
toe  ever. 

A  word  in  pacing  on  Hong-Kong's  architecture,  whicb 
is  the  grandest  in  the  far  East.  Not  one  coign  of  van- 
tagr  has  been  missed.  The  whole  city  is  tilted  up  from 
the  water's  edge  at  an  angle  of  twenty-three  degrees  un- 
der the  triple  guardian  peaks  of  VVanchai,  Victoria  and 
H^  West,  which  soar  one  thousand  feet  higher  than  the 
higlicrt  street.  The  building  material  is  generally  brick, 
doitble-wtlied  for  coolness  and  also  for  strength  against 
tjrpbooM;  covered  with  plaster  of  local  manufacture, 
called  ehunam,  and  faced  with  granite  which  ts  cut  by 
hand  in  the  Kowloon  quarries  across  the  bay.  At  regu- 
lar distances  apart  stand  four  magnificent  Renaissance 
piles  on  the  water's  edge:  the  Hong-Kong  Club;  Queens, 
Alexandra,  and  Connaught  Road  Chambers.  Swinging 
rnand  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  official  city  of  Victoria 


32  THE  CHINESE 

for  nine  miles,  and  rising  eighteen  hundred  feet  in  ter- 
races, and  deep  into  Wanchai,  Victoria  and  Glenealy  Gul- 
leys,  creeps  and  spreads  the  imposing  panorama,  all  the 
more  striking  because  you  did  not  expect  it  at  the  world's 
end.  No  factory  chimneys  soil  the  view ;  they  are  hidden 
around  the  curves  at  the  extreme  ends.  There  is  a  rich, 
canopied  Corinthian  monument  to  one  whom  the  Chinese 
call  the  "  Black  Queen  of  the  White  British,"  Victoria 
in  bronze,  and  a  Clock  Tower  in  Spanish  style.  For  fifteen 
hundred  feet  upward,  trees  wave  everywhere,  and  if  you 
desire  complete  details  of  the  buildings,  you  must  climb 
to  them.  Above  that  height  the  peaks  are  bald,  and  take 
every  color  in  the  changing  light.  In  the  delicious  early 
morning  they  are  blue ;  growing  to  gray,  and  in  the  still- 
ness of  the  hot  noon  their  climax  is  as  white  and  insuf- 
ferable as  the  sun  itself.  Then  they  change  to  gray, 
green,  purple  and  gold  again,  as  the  sun  dies  quickly  at 
their  crests,  from  whence  you  will  first  view  two  of  the 
glittering  stars  of  the  Southern  Cross.  The  diamond  on 
the  breast  of  all  this  pomp  is  the  Catholic  Cathedral  on 
Caine  Road,  twelve  hundred  feet  above  the  water.  It  is 
Gothic,  with  a  Spanish  effect  in  the  squat  tower.  Con- 
spicuous are  the  great  flying  buttresses,  and  very  beautiful 
is  the  stone  canopy  over  the  entrance  to  the  Nave.  All 
this  stone  carving  was  done  by  Christian  Chinese ;  at  least 
they  said  they  were  on  pay  days.  Christ  Episcopal  Ca- 
thedral on  Battery  Path  is  a  West  Indian  or  Colonial  adap- 
tation of  Gothic.  The  stucco  has  turned  yellow  and  blue 
with  time  and  damp,  and  there  is  no  place  in  the  island 
where  that  fern  and  tuberose  smell  of  the  tropics  is  sc 
prominent,  as  here  under  the  tower  of  Christ's.  Mt  Au» 
tin  Barracks  frown  down  fifteen  hundred  feet  of  cliff 
across  Victoria  Gulley,  which  is  five  hundred  feet  deep 


r 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  33 

Ibe  admiral's  residence  holdi  a  simiUrly  lofty  perch,  while 
beyond  Wanchai  and  Wong  Nci  Chong  Hills,  scores  of 
peaks  serrate  the  unnamed  and  uninhabited  sky-line  of 
this  grand,  grim  island,  which  holds  in  leash  the  three 
beaihen  seas  for  England.  There  arc  other  things  placed 
6fteen  hundred  feet  high,  which  could  announce  them- 
*efvc9  with  devastating  thunder,  but  there  is  not  a  bus- 
pkkn  of  them  in  the  view.  They  are  the  masked  forts 
whkh  command  the  unfortunately  many  landing  beaclies 
on  the  south,  and  the  Green  Island  and  Lycc-moon  Passes 
to  the  inner  harbor,  from  the  West  and  East  respectively. 
The  ne«-  courts  on  Des  Voeux  Road,  and  the  Naval, 
Gril  and  Tung  Wah  Hospitals  on  Kennedy,  Barker  atid 
Robinson  Roads,  are  as  impressive  as  anything  of  the 
kind  in  Europe.  Whole  rows  nf  buildings  of  hand-<rut 
granite  line  Queen's  Road  Central.  The  doraed  Corinth- 
ian  pile  of  the  Hong-Kong  and  Shai^hai  Bank,  with 
L'Open  at  Saigon,  are  the  two  finest  buildings  in 
European  design,  in  the  Orient  Against  the  granite 
of  tbe  double  pillars  of  the  former,  are  set 
rows  of  royal  palms,  and  across  the  way  is  a 
tmbrcrfcen  bank  of  ferns,  forty  feet  hi^,  crested 
witli  centenarian  banyans.  The  City  Hall,  containing 
ibc  Royal  Theater,  is  a  worthy  nucleus  of  the  ambitious 
chric  ardiitectiUT.  The  sidewalks  are  unique  in  that  they 
rwt  tmder  tbe  protruding  seoHid  stories  of  the  buildings. 
The  effect  is  not  as  threatening  as  the  overhanging  Eliza- 
bethan buildings  of  Eastgate  Street,  Chester,  or  the 
noolirdla  buildings  of  old  Rouen,  as  the  second  story  of 
the  Hong-Kong  buildings  is  supported  with  pillars  which 
an  anchored  to  the  street  curb.  The  use  of  stucco  per- 
nio of  adding  to  line  the  joys  of  color.  There  are  many 
',  UiM  and  buff  buildings  which  dose  the  eucalyp- 


34  THE  CHINESE 

tus,  tamarind  or  palm  glades  with  a  wall  of  color  which 
is  delightfully  oriental. 

Government  barracks,  severely  plain  and  warlike,  are 
set  in  extensive  stone-paved  courts,  so  that  the  collection 
of  stagnant  waters  under  windows  shall  be  impossible  in 
this  habitat  of  malaria.  The  buildings  all  provide  ve- 
randa space  by  the  use  of  double  walls.  Behind  a  charac- 
teristic fence,  half  iron  and  half  stone,  which  you  associate 
with  British  barracks  whether  at  Halifax,  BermudaSi 
Malta,  or  Hong-Kong,  is  a  cemetery  in  miniature,  "  for 
pets  of  the  garrison."  As  the  Colony  has  only  one  street 
or  praya  on  the  water  level,  there  is  an  endless  necessity 
for  stone  bridges  and  revetment  walls.  The  opportunity 
is  taken  advantage  of  in  a  manner  not  surpassed  along  the 
Riviera,  and  the  happy  Chinese  has  loaned  to  the  Saxon 
strength  of  wall,  his  ideas  regarding  the  inlaying  of  tile 
fretwork  and  coping  of  colored  porcelain.  The  Hindoos 
have  raised  a  beautiful  white  and  canary-yellow  temple 
and  the  Musselmen  have  erected  a  characteristic  mosque 
and  minaret. 

Sumptuous  and  commodious  homes,  all  of  an  Italian 
sameness,  and  every  brick,  stone,  tile,  and  beam  of  which 
has  been  laboriously  borne  up  the  mountains  by  coolies, 
are  planted  on  the  ledges  about  Wanchai,  Victoria  and 
Glenealy  Gaps.  Some  day  the  gaps  between  the  re- 
maining twenty  peaks  of  the  island  will  also  be  tenanted 
Most  picturesque  are  the  zigzag  paths,  which  certify  thai 
the  chair  with  four  bearers  is  an  indispensable  adjunct  ol 
hill  residence.  Over  Victoria  Peak,  facing  the  south,  il 
perched  the  Hill  Chateau,  or  so-called  summer  rest- 
dence  of  the  governor,  in  a  land  which  is  all  summef 
In  design  it  reminds  you  somewhat  of  Chaumont;  a  tml] 
ducal  dwelling,  but,  oh,  so  melancholy  when  friends  shil 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  35 

tevc  gone  down  die  lonely  path  homeward,  and  onfy  tiie 

wide*  pturptaf  bcsuicii  xiSCJiiCf  with  its  mupeu  ynffHt  mi* 
iednd  bgr  m  Mil,  in  vkw  in  the  moning.  The  home  of 
Ae  Royil  Bboig^KoQg  Gdf  Qub,  whose  Augustan  motto 
it  Pmkm  ImUt  (Ifake  haste  slowly),  is  a  wwtiiy  ex- 
mnpla  in  miniatmne  of  the  genius  of  a  talented  local 
Mchitcc^  Toner,  who  perpetmites  that  grand  old- 
fashioiied  ait  spirit  of  refusing  any  contract,  however 
Inerativt^  if  tfie  work  must  be  ugly,  a  qiirit  whicfa  would 
ionm  with  civic  rage  to  bdiold  that  diimney4wilding  of 
mcnMccnrai  Dmcau^  lateiy  erectea  opposim  irmigr 
Omrcfa,  New  York  The  vast  Bdilios  Mansion,  with 
its  maiqr  domes,  reminds  one  of  Byzantine  Constant!- 
flofiht  In  his  dd  home  on  Victoria  Peak,  diis  P^nee 
gentleman  built  an  aery  outlook  where  the  view  sweeps 
over  a  thousand  heathen  hills,  with  many  bays  between, 
while  the  immediate  seat  delights  with  familiar  Grecian 
lines.  Surprisingly  only  one  house  in  the  city,  that,  too, 
owned  by  a  Parsee,  uses  lace-like  iron  grilles  in  place 
of  windows,  in  the  delightful  hacienda  fashion  of  Havana 
and  the  hot  towns  of  the  Caribbean.  Truly  this  Hong- 
Kong  builds  with  a  taste  and  confidence,  which  have 
made  her  architecturally  the  boast  and  crown  of  the 
whole  Orient.  Britain  has  never  colonized  anywhere  and 
in  her  style  of  building  given  any  intimation  that  she  ever 
meant  to  recede. 

Not  only  the  houses  are  handsome,  but  the  walls  and 
gardens  beneath  your  feet  appeal  to  you  along  Glcncaly 
and  Peak  Roads,  which  are  so  steep  that  the  attraction 
is  physical  as  well  as  odorous.  All  this  is  Saxon.  A 
word  for  the  Chinese  t)T)e.  On  the  Kowloon  side  of 
the  water,  in  the  bay  where  Admiral  Keppell  praaically 
won  Hong-Kong  from  the  herded  junks,  is  the  delightful 


36  THE  CHINESE 

old  joss  house,  double-roofed,  with  blind  walls.  Study 
its  proportions,  its  ridge,  curling  eaves,  and  the  use  of 
color  on  the  outside  frieze.  Then,  most  beautiful  of  all 
is  the  Joss  House  at  Causeway  Bay;  such  feathery  mul- 
lions  in  the  dainty  windows  which  relieve  the  heavy 
wall;  such  lavish  color;  —  the  arches,  the  squat  pfl- 
lars  beneath  the  circular  balcony,  the  tiny  door  ap- 
propriately narrow  to  let  only  the  secrets  of  the  soul  d^ 
out  to  Heaven,  and,  of  course,  the  opalescent  tiled  root, 
which  is  made  the  most  conspicuous  and  beautiful  pait 
of  the  building  in  Chinese  architecture,  while  we  dtgndt 
it  The  natives  declare  that  we  Occidentals  are  siimen 
to  expose  what  is  ugliest  to  the  view  of  Heaven  (Tien) 
an<j  keep  all  the  beauty  of  walls  to  our  little  selves,  as 
though  we  had  no  hills  where  we  might  climb  and  sec  our 
faults  tlierefrom.  The  native  coolie  has  his  own  names 
for  the  streets :  Victoria  Statue  Square  is  **  Black  Euipicn 
Place  " ;  Queen's  Road  Central  is  "  Typan's  Chow  Houae^ 
or  ''  No.  I  Jade  House,"  because  the  Chinese  Qiib  and 
the  best  native  jeweler  (Wing  Cheong)  arc  locale^ 
there ;  Caine  Road,  where  the  Catholic  Cathedral  ia  ottf 
ated,  is  "  Foreign  Devil  Joss  House."  \ 

Imagine  the  entertainment  to  interject  in  this  modenl 
city  a  characteristic  procession  of  the  Orientals,  sudl 
that  of  the  dragon  lanterns  on  the  evening  of  the  first 
moon.  The  mythical  dragon,  called  a  "  lung,'* 
the  powers,  virtues  and  characteristics  of  the 
animals;  its  belly  is  soft  as  a  frog's;  it  has  scales 
a  carp's,  claws  like  a  five-toed  hawk ;  a  palm  of  a  tiget 
neck  like  a  snake's;  eyes  of  a  rabbit;  brow  of  a  camd 
horns  of  a  deer,  and  ears  of  a  water-buflFalo.  The  pui 
pose  of  the  procession,  to  a  degree,  is  one  of  exorcisn 
Htmdreds  of  silk  lanterns,  sized  over  with  a  seawcc 


.a 


Lovely  Shsiniccn   lilaml.  where  foreigners  live,  opptwite  I 
of  Canton.  Pearl  River,  SoiiUi  China. 


I 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  37 

arc  tied  to  a  long  pointed  back ;  a  wonderfully  rtal- 
ittic  lantern  head  and  tail  are  attached,  and  poles  like  the 
(cct  of  a  centipede  hold  up  the  national  monster.  The 
crowd  catclics  tliese,  and  tlie  glittering,  swaying,  writhing 
aninul  U  borne  througii  the  city  to  the  accotnpaniment 
of  drums,  tomMonu  atid  fire-crackers,  for  if  evil  spirits 
hsle  snything  in  Giina  as  elsewhere,  it  is  public  attention 
being  called  to  their  presence.  From  tite  Yanicn's  eaves, 
in  the  native  cities  of  the  mainland,  you  will  behold  the 
danuDg  beast  slowly  gliding  around  the  corners,  and  a 
Milky  Way  of  lanterns  following  to  the  foot  of  Pagoda 
HilL 

F  On  the  ninth  day  of  the  ninth  nx>on  (our  fall)  the 
tBEwly  arrived  European  in  IlDug-Kong  is  amazed  to  sec 
BioiiMndB  of  Chmese,  gowned  in  tbeir  6nery,  climbing 
die  nrhamiting  road  to  the  Peak,  and  jamming  the  little 
cable  car  which  is  hauled  up  fifteen  htmdred  of  the  eight- 
eco  hundred  feet  If  Ibe  silks  and  women  were  absent 
'a  woah)  certainly  appear  to  be  an  attack  deploying  on  the 
govcraor's  sununer  palace,  Lawn  Tennis  Court  and  the 
£ugial  Station.  The  same  ascent  is  being  made  t^  the 
op  evei7  one  of  those  tremendous  feng-shui,  or 
peaks  of  the  mainland,  and  broDing 

k  mmt  be  with  only  the  grass-cutters'  paths  and  no 
far  die  Chinese  long  ago  cut  the  trees  from  all 
Adr  Bi^fnificent  peaks.  Throughout  China  this  reli- 
jfiam  cereniony,  called  locally  "  Chung  Yong  "  (Ascend- 
higoa  High),  is  being  observed.  It  is  identical  to  what 
oar  idea  of  the  ascent  of  Ararat  by  the  Hebrews  would 
be,  if  Acy  desired  to  commemorate  Noah's  salvation  from 
Ae  flood.  The  fete  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  in  senti- 
■Knt,  and  certainly  the  most  picturesque  of  the  many  ob- 
•wcd  bjr  the  Chinese.    Joss  paper  is  of  course  btuned. 


38  THE  CHINESE 

and  tossed  to  the  winds,  and  the  boys  bring  their  kites  and 
assail  the  heavens.  It  is  one  of  the  few  occasions  when 
the  betrothed  among  the  young  people  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  see  one  another,  and  we  have  very  wilfully  mis- 
understood the  Chinese  on  this  subject.  The  same  festi- 
val is  observed  by  the  Cantonese,  who  leave  the  city  for 
the  White  Cloud  Hills,  where  the  highest  peak  is  ascended 
in  honor  of  Cheng  Sin,  or  Fairy  Cheng,  who  has  bestowed 
good  luck  and  safety,  historically  perhaps  as  far  back  as 
Noah.  In  all  these  pilgrimages  the  Buddhist  monks 
throw  their  monasteries  open  as  hotels. 

When  the  European  stranger  takes  his  first  walk  on 
the  noble  roads  of  Hong-Kong,  one  of  the  things  imme- 
diately to  impress  him  that  he  is  despite  the  architecture 
in  a  land  foreign  to  his  own,  is  to  see  the  Chinese  urchins 
standing  under  the  banyan  trees,  with  their  long  bamboo 
poles,  which  they  carefully  work  between  the  branches. 
The  boys  are  snaring  cicadas  with  a  glue  which  is  made  of 
fir  ashes  and  rice  paste.  This  ear-splitting  harpist  of  the 
sultry  day  is  a  stubby  insect  with  no  beak  and  a  body  as 
large  as  that  of  a  mouse.  The  native  children  fetter  them 
with  strings,  and  tie  straws  around  their  abdomens  to  irri- 
tate the  insects  to  make  a  constant  strumming.  They  also 
tie  them  up  tight  in  foreign  newspapers,  and  exult  as  the 
insect,  with  powerful  wings  and  jaws,  bursts  its  way 
through. 

Whenever  the  foreigner  is  melancholy  in  his  exile; 
when  his  harp  has  been  hung  on  the  willows  or  tamarinds 
for  ennui,  he  may  essay  relief  by  taking  a  walk  up  Wynd- 
ham  Hill  Road.  It  is  popularly  known  as  Flower  Street, 
for  the  road  is  banked  solid  with  the  baskets  of  the 
native  gardeners.  In  contretemps,  the  turreted  jaili 
where  incarcerated  Europeans  (unless  they  soon  die  ia 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  39 

'  tropical  confinement)  are  forced  to  make  cocoanut  coir 
mats,  frowns  down  from  the  top  of  the  street.  In  the 
damp  heal  one  almost  swoons  from  the  perfumer. 
Branches  of  fniit  trees  are  soM  for  their  spangles  of 
phttD.  peach  or  cherry  bloom.  There  are  baskets  of  yel- 
low and  while  narcissus  in  Fcbniarj' ;  the  peony,  which  is 
the  royal  flower  of  Giina;  tuberoses  stuck  into  hollowed- 
out  bamboos:  fragrattt  nrajpioliiis,  camellias,  and  calla 
liiics,  which  are  waxy  enough  to  attract  the  appetite.  All 
this  of  white  bloom.  In  July  there  is  the  sacred  purple 
lotus,  as  big  as  a  hal,  and  in  fall,  golden  and  pink  chrys- 
I  anthcmunu  and  red  and  >'ellow  dahlias  larger  and  finer 
■ten  we  e\-er  sec  at  home.  Twenty  cents  will  buy  what 
'iPt  at  home  are  able  to  purchase  for  twenty  dollars.  The 
MCne  is  not  like  that  in  gentle  Honolulu,  where  the 
Kanakt  women  sit  behind  the  baskets  and  patiently  wait 
for  yon  to  choose.  This  is  decidedly  a  masculine,  and  it 
b  going  to  be  a  strenuous  land.  The  brown  and  nearly 
naked  flower-sellers  raise  their  guild  cries,  and  charge 
yoo  with  a  pannier.  You  have  to  buy  to  escape.  Go 
to  tiieir  gardens  and  they  will  show  you  wistarias  which 
tbctr  great-grandfathers  tended  one  hundred  years  ago. 

Hong-Kong  is  a  world-famous  city  of  the  Unroofed. 
twenty  thousand  cooties  having  no  place  on  which  to  lay 
their  heads  each  night,  and  even  if  they  wished  to  pay 
for  a  bed.  the  Colony  has  not  been  able  to  provide  Crown 
sites  enough  on  the  rocky  terraces  for  buildings.  On 
I^Aguilar,  Wyndham,  VVanchai,  Calne.  Connaught,  and 
a  dozen  other  roads,  when  the  last  chairs  of  the  white 
gentlemen'tatpans  are  being  borne  by  to  their  handsome 
residences  on  the  Peak,  the  first  of  the  great  class  of  the 
Unroofed  foDow  along  slowly  to  find  a  spot  of  the  stone 
sidewalk  in  recess,  or  a  pillar  supporting  the  overhanging 


40  THE  CHINESE 

second  story,  where  to  prop  themselves,  or  to  lie  down, 
for  sleep.  With  a  sigh,  they  drop  to  the  pavement  and 
contentedly  say:  "Two  meals  a  day,  brother,  but  one 
sleep  at  night,  eh  ?  "  On  their  backs,  with  knees  up,  and 
hands  under  their  heads  for  a  pillow,  they  lie  at  Wanchai. 
Against  the  precious  teak  logs  which  are  destined  to 
undersheath  American  battleships ;  against  the  sugar  bar- 
rels at  Taikoo ;  the  rope  coils  at  Yaumati ;  and  the  gunny 
bales  at  West  Point,  you  can  discover  them  in  hundreds, 
with  a  bamboo  near  each  one,  but  not  for  protection,  be- 
cause no  man  can  rob  the  naked.  They  are  the  steve- 
dores ;  the  hewers  of  wood,  drawers  of  water,  and  carriers 
of  rice  and  jute;  the  men  who,  without  the  aid  of  steam, 
put  all  the  brawn  against  the  spokes  of  Progress  when  the 
new  day  opens.  Against  the  blind  wall  of  the  jail  on 
Mosque  Street,  they  are  propped, —  optimists  they,  who 
say :  "  We  are,  after  all,  better  off  than  those  inside,  for 
the  worst  work  is  less  than  the  lightest  shame."  The 
Chinese  Jukong  and  the  red-turbanned  Sikh  chowkidar 
mark  the  regular  patrol  of  British  law,  and  could  be- 
labor every  stretched  out,  upturned  foot,  but  they  for- 
bear, in  that  sanity  which  philosophizes  that  "  they  arc 
torn  enough  already  by  honest  toil."  Fellow  sympathy 
dims  the  eye  of  duty,  and  the  steps  of  authority  die  away 
as  soft  music  upon  the  ears  of  the  most  weary  of  mortals, 
whose  workday  is  from  dawn  till  dark  for  a  pittance.  In 
front  of  the  new  flour-mills  at  Junk  Bay,  where  the 
heathen  hills  have  first  heard  the  hum  of  modem  ma- 
chinery, the  dismantled  sailing  ship,  Maple  Leaf,  has 
been  moored  and  her  main  deck  has  been  roofed.  On 
the  'tween  and  main  decTcs  hundreds  of  hammocks  have 
been  slung,  and  here  the  native  mill  operatives  find  a 
shelter  at  least  from  the  rains  and  night-dews. 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  41 

An  amusing  feature  of  life  among  the  Indian  colonists 
in  Hong-Kong  is  their  propensity,  when  unemployed,  to 
betake  themselves  to  the  Indian  temple  in  Morrison  Gap. 
Free  food  is  passed  at  the  services,  even  to  white 
strangers.  You  are,  however,  emphatically  commanded 
to  take  off  your  shoes.  There  are  always  twenty  to 
thirty  men  loafing  within  the  sacred  precincts  and  a  serv- 
ice is  called  every  time  hunger  gnaws.  All  is  well  until 
mm  is  passed  by  some  sacrilegious  outsider,  when  war 
rains  from  the  dim  clouds  of  religion,  and  Matab  Singh 
and  his  brother  priests  wear  a  worried  look  upon  their 
generally  reposeful  features.  At  the  commencement  of 
the  service  the  audience  squats  upon  the  floor.  On  a 
platform  performers  sit  in  the  middle  of  Kyee-wains, 
dexterously  swinging  their  sticks  before  and  behind  them 
on  the  metal  cymbals.  The  music  begins  low,  but  in- 
creases to  a  tremendous  noise,  to  which  is  added  the  clap- 
ping of  hands,  until  the  swaying  worshippers  are  worked 
into  the  religious  intoxication  in  which  they  delight. 
The  foregoing  applies  to  the  Hindoo.  The  Mohamme- 
dans among  the  soldiers  have  built  a  mosque  and  minaret 
on  the  Chinese  mainland  at  Kowloon,  next  to  their  vast 
parade  ground.  The  call  of  the  blue-turbanned  muezzin, 
ringing  through  the  liot  oriental  night,  does  not  assure 
peace  of  mind  to  the  exile  on  the  occasion  of  his  first 
sleep  away  from  the  home  land,  when  the  knowledge 
comes  upon  him  that  he  is  indeed  stranded  on  a  foreign 
shore,  and  that  his  ship  is  now  steaming  far  away  from 
the  harbor,  bearing  onward  tlie  last  few  wliite-men 
friends  he  had  made  en  voyage.  Before  long,  ln^wever, 
he  him<^lf  will  l)e  in  the  ni(itlcy-coI(»recl  throng,  admiring 
the  notable  voices  of  the  criers,  and  more  contented  with 
his  mtercsiing  billet  in  the  hypnotic  East. 


42  THE  CHINESE 

Last  summer,  an  amusing  incident  stirred  the  chow- 
kidars  or  Sikh  poHce  of  Hong-Kong.  A  comrade  who 
had  enlisted  and  grown  comparatively  wealthy  in  the 
Panama  police  service,  on  his  return  to  Hong-Kong,  was 
seen  to  drop  a  gold  piece  among  his  comrades'  pennies  in 
the  alms  box  at  the  Mosque.  Immediately,  like  a  simoon 
across  the  Jetcha  Doab  of  their  home  land,  all  the  chow- 
kidars  marched  up  Wyndham  Street  on  strike,  and  vocif- 
erated that  they  must  have  their  wages  raised  or  they 
would  emigrate  to  the  American  El  Dorado,  where  the 
princely  price  of  three  dollars  gold  a  day  was  paid  to 
chowkidars  of  experience,  ability  to  roll  diphthongs  and 
the  letter  "r,"  and  to  strike  a  salute  which  is  as  steady 
as  if  cast  in  bronze.  The  Sikh  in  India  is  as  disciplined 
as  clock-work,  but  in  China  he  is  a  boiler  of  conceit  with- 
out a  safety  valve.  Opposite  Hong-Kong,  on  the  Yau- 
mati  side,  the  one  hundred  and  nineteenth  regiment  of 
Baluchis  was  quartered.  The  Sikhs  of  the  famous  red- 
barred  Hong-Kong  Regiment,  now  disbanded,  who 
were  crazy  to  get  at  the  Russians  at  Tientsin  in  the 
International  march,  were  never  willing  to  respect  the 
Chinese,  and  the  Baluchis  have  been  equally  undisciplined. 
It  is,  of  course,  partly  their  caste  prejudice  brought  to  this 
Mongolian  land  where  there  is  no  caste.  These  Baluchis 
at  last  disgusted  everybody  by  casting  all  the  honor  and 
discipline  of  a  king's  soldier  aside,  and  waylaying  the 
Chinese  on  the  roads  and  in  their  shops,  and  robbing 
them.  It  culminated  in  a  great  race  riot  on  August  23rd, 
which  was  the  first  Hong-Kong  had  experienced  in  a 
decade.  Swagger  sticks  and  clubs  were  used  by  the 
soldiers  and  bamboos  by  the  Chinese.  The  thick  turbans 
of  the  Indians  saved  their  heads,  but  many  Chinese  skulls 
were  fractured.    Amusing  scenes  were  presented,  a  thifli 


FOREKmSBS  IN  CHINA  43 

ttH  laSan  gnagiag  a  OuneK  bgr  flie  pig-tail,  irfute  At 
■lont  Qmmw  was  nd|irocattiif  hy  the  equally  gnu  io- 
■ob  of  vtmiaSog  the  Indian's  red  tttrban. 

Ob  ^me  iiA  die  fiifrwalldiif  oeremonjr  of  Thee- 
niri  takm  place  in  tiie  walled  coart  wfaidi  is  connected 
wkh  cvcfjr  Indian  tcnqile.  Weird,  sensuous  and  ghastljr 
fegr  tons  it  is,  altogether  leaving  tlw  taste  of  adws  1900 
ftcinontfi.  The  priests  secwe  some  phnnp  yomg  girls 
MnoBg  tne  devotes^  but  most  of  nie  thir^  or  tody  are 
MotMCSt  Clones  and  gg"**  nxn.  Foi*  days  a  faif 
ia  Md.  Skdc  Kling  priests  offer  you  tickets  vrfudi  are 
letB  ont  of  a  book  in  true  modem  ttyk.  Hcdy  dn^ah 
faod  and  awcetrocats  are  passed,  e^iecially  during  the 
ph^ng  of  mnsic  Incense  thickens  the  an-,  bat  docs  not 
egtchide  the  knowledge  of  fluttering  silks,  glances  of  dark 
eyes  and  the  clinking  of  jewelry  increasing  on  every  hand. 
Wood  6re8  arc  lit,  for  by  and  by  the  embers  are  to  take 
the  chief  place  in  the  orgy.  A  pool  is  dug  and  filled 
with  imported  sacred  water  which  is  poured  from  kongs. 
The  devotees  begin  by  bowing,  crawling  in  the  dust,  and 
dragging  themselves  around  the  temple.  Stirred  by  their 
cries  of  fervor  and  pain,  the  excitement  grows,  until  it  is 
an  easy  thing  to  precipitate  the  crowd  into  a  frenzy. 
Every  dark  eye  leaps  now  with  unmasked  fire,  and  every 
dark  aldn  becomes  pallid;  the  clear-cut  consonants  of 
the  speech  are  chiseled  even  harder  by  the  gleaming  teeth 
which  crown  the  matted  beards.  Occasionally  there  is  a 
laugh,  not  of  ridicule,  but  of  tension  too  hard  to  control. 
As  the  crawlers  grow  exhausted  in  their  self-imposed 
penance  of  dragging  themselves  over  obstacles,  bearers 
»tep  forward  and  assist  them.  Word  is  passed  that  the 
first  who  fell  out  had  fasted  ten  days,  and  early  exhaus- 
tion is  taken  as  a  proof  of  piety.     Saffron  robes  are  now 


44  THE  CHINESE 

donned  by  the  remaining  performers;  more  priests  come 
forth  and  surround  the  gods.  Swords  are  drawn  and 
limes  are  cut  at  as  the  performers  turn  a  douWe-somer- 
sault.  A  cocoanut  is  thrown  on  a  brass  salver,  and  a  somer- 
saulter  deftly  cuts  it  in  two  and  spills  the  libation  of  milk. 
The  first  of  the  exhausted  devotees  throws  up  his  arms; 
they  are  lashed  with  thongs.  Saffron  dust  is  thrown 
upon  those  who  endure,  and  they  are  considered  as  thus 
"  cleansed  of  sin."  The  embers  of  the  fire  are  now  spread 
beyond  the  devotees,  and  the  gods  are  carried  across  the 
pool.  A  white  goat  is  brought  before  the  idols  and  is 
beheaded.  By  this  time  the  devotees  arc  in  a  white  heat. 
They  are  loosed  by  the  priests ;  they  rush  over  the  coals 
barefooted;  they  sweep  through  the  gashing  blood  of 
the  animal,  and  dash  into  the  pool,  after  which  devotees 
and  spectators  dance  around  the  idols,  the  whole  cere- 
mony concluding  by  everybody  taking  the  ashes  in  hand- 
fuls  and  casting  them  into  the  air  and  over  themselves 
and  everybody  else.  The  Chinese  Taoists  of  Fu-kien  oc- 
casionally practise  a  fire-walking  orgy. 

If  the  foreigner  is  a  sportsman  who  prefers  less  dan- 
gerous explosives  than  Scotch-and-soda,  he  has  the  no- 
blest game  at  his  door,  for  tiger-shooting  is  possible  not 
far  from  Canton  and  is  abundant  in  the  long  fissures  in 
the  rocks  at  Amoy  and  Fu-chau.  The  natives  hunt  the 
animal  fearlessly  with  antique  weapons  and  home-made 
powder.  The  heart  of  the  beast  is  eaten,  as  it  is  esteemed 
to  be  a  courage-producer.  The  claws  are  sent  to  Hong- 
Kong  to  be  mounted  in  twenty-carat  gold  and  sold  as 
charms.  The  skin,  which  is  finer  than  the  Indian  ani- 
mal's, generally  finds  its  way  to  Russia. 

There  is  excellent  snipe-shooting  no  farther  away  from 
Hong-Kong  than  Castle  Peak  and  Deep  Bays,  along  the 


*-*■ 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  45 

Qodtr  tfK  towcfiQf  brow  of  old.Tii  Moi  tibt 
IcnMr  — MMiii#awi  0!  ftii  tiieae  Mtlcs  whidi  roof  voa  dftilv* 
3640  feet  abo¥t  the  water  of  the  hartxir.  The  favorite 
■ane  ior  tiie  dominant  peak  of  whateoever  range  ia  Tai 
Lit  Shan  (hill  of  great  atrengtfa).  Walk  infamd  a  1st- 
lla  wqr  aloqg  the  raised  mod  padi  between  the  rice  fiddi 
WBtH  jfoii  reach  tiie  fhmipa  of  h^^^^  and  bflf'h'^'^ 
Then»  jon  win  find  sorpr^ngljr  good  shoothqg  of  wild 
IMJgeon,  onofattia  (rioe  birds)^  tealt  wild  gooae,  partridge^ 
and  QoUett  of  all,  the  ptifanant  in  hia  habitat  When 
ttiP  aDmCuiierB  %vere  tiainar  tlia  ^^■^iMtif  ^twt  otottBiPtt^ 

tfw  Chineae  were  makiiy  powder  on  tiie  foUowinig  focm* 

aBBu  and  wte  peaaanta  sou  use  the  fisaing  Btuff  wionn  spit* 
ti^g  distance  of  tiie  tiger's  teeth:  tiirce  cattiea  (a  atty 
ia  one  and  one-tiiird  pomids)  of  ground  rattan  duutoal, 
the  expense  of  which  can  be  understood,  for  it  means  so 
many  baskets  destroyed ;  three  catties  of  saltpetre ;  ten  of 
su^ur;  all  wet  with  kaoliang  spirits,  and  stirred  to  a 
paste  over  a  low  charcoal  fire,  and  afterward  dried  on 
paper  in  the  sun«  This  powder  of  course  dirties  the  gun 
barrels  abominably,  and  before  ignition  has  to  be  packed 
hard  with  the  ramrod.  In  Yunnan  (the  honey  land), 
tigers,  leopards,  wolves  and  even  elephants  afford  the 
kmg  qx>rt  of  China  and  perhaps  of  the  world.  At 
Tientsin,  trained  eagles  are  used  to  hunt  pheasants  and 


The  British  have  not  interfered  with  the  custom  of  pur- 
chasing servants,  or  technically,  slaves.  All  the  well-to- 
do  native  families  of  Hong-Kong  buy  at  Canton  girls  of 
d^t  years  of  age  from  parents  who  have  been  reduced 
by  poverty  resulting  from  persecution  or  opium.  Nor 
has  the  government  with  whole  heart  and  open  eye  set 
itself  against  the  works  of  the  traffickers  in  the  souls  of 


46  THE  CHINESE 

native  girls.  The  custom  is  only  rife  at  the  treaty  ports, 
where  the  foreigner  has  taught  the  wealthy  young  Chin- 
ese to  neglect  the  example  of  his  fathers  and  the  rules  of 
his  religion  which  prescribe  an  early  marriage.  The  pur- 
chase price  of  an  eight-year-old  slave  is  fifty  dollars;  of  a 
courtezan  slave  of  eighteen  years,  three  hundred  dollars. 
A  deed  is  given  to  the  purchaser  and  the  parents  are  pro- 
hibited from  visiting  their  child.  The  idea  is  not  similar 
to  adopting  a  daughter,  for  in  the  latter  case  no  deed  is 
signed.  Sometimes  in  extreme  want  due  to  famine,  the 
impoverished  one  will  engage  his  most  precious  posses* 
sion  —  his  son  —  to  his  creditor  for  a  stipulated  term  of 
service,  or  a  ransom,  but  papers  must  be  signed  whereby 
the  creditor  assures  the  safe-keeping  of  the  child.  These 
things  shock  us,  but  suffering  has  worn  off  the  edge  of 
shame  in  the  minds  of  the  Chinese  poor.  The  act  is 
deemed  meritorious  in  the  victim,  who  serves  for  his 
parent's  debt.  These  contracts  in  the  case  of  g^rls,  run 
from  the  eighth  to  the  eighteenth  year,  if  there  is  a  saving 
clause  that  the  daughter  is  not  to  be  sold  into  prostitution, 
and  at  the  expiration,  the  parent  may  arrange  a  marriage. 
But  if  the  clause  is  omitted,  the  child  may  be  sold  into 
shame  by  the  first  purchaser.  A  promise  of  a  change 
seems  to  light  the  horizon.  When  Chow  Fu  was  gov- 
ernor of  the  two  Kwang  Provinces  of  the  south,  he  rec- 
ommended to  the  throne  that  the  sale  of  girls  should  be 
prohibited,  and  an  Imperial  Rescript  was  issued.  The 
law  is  good  enough;  the  point  is,  will  it  be  enforced  by 
China  when  the  corrupt  parents  decide  to  succumb  to  the 
tinkle  of  the  silver  dollars  offered  by  the  depraved  of  a 
treaty  port  ? 

One  of  the  sights  of  crowded  Queen's  Road  East, 
Hong-Kong,  is  the  itinerant  street  barber  at  work  on  the 


FORHGNERS  IN  CHINA  47 

witHf0k,  wdcr  the  iiniDCiitc  ctsru  wtpn  of  die  tattoi^ 
wnftbogt.  When  a  cmtomer  hM  h«ikd  Iria^  the  btrfag 
tngfy  drape  dm  nmroMioacet  and  baricet  firoin  hii  poie, 
aad  be  ti  at  oooe  aet  iq»  in  bnsiiKie.  He  6iiiihce  tibe  pn>- 
Oii  bgr  diaviiig  the  toeide  of  hii  patrai^s  can  and  noa- 
trib,  and  Ij  ffving  the  eyeball  an  interior  mamgc^ 
wkich  latter  feahioa  acoMmta  for  the  fvevalenoe  of 
ifchwiM.  A  humorotn  cnstomer,  thinking  be  woald 
fTT'f'™"^  a  careless  novice  who  was  shavinf  the  fauide 
flf  hia  ri^  car,  aiked :  "  Are  you  at  my  jrf#  ear  now?  f 
"Wbf,  ao,  I  hare  oc^  bcctm  on  the  rii^  ear;  ^Aj  did 
JOB  aA?"  " From  tfie  pain,  I  dioa^  jon  were  paa»- 
ipf  to  At  left  car  witiiout  taldng  the  trooUe  to  co 


Some  of  our  ocddenta]  brolcers  are  said  to  do  business 
in  their  hats,  but  the  Chinese  cobbler  does  his  in  his 
basket  He  sits  on  the  road  and  hangs  a  few  shoes  on 
a  tripod  as  a  sign.  The  repairs  consisting  of  pasting  and 
sewing  the  felt,  are  done  while  Chan  waits  goose-fashion 
on  one  leg. 

The  wealthy  Chinese  of  the  treaty  porta  have  taken 
jojrfnSy  to  our  electric  (gasoline  being  prohibited  in  the 
tropkal  south )  automobiles,  music-boxes  aiid  phono- 
graphs, and  if  the  last  named  plays  piccolo  or  violin  solos. 
it  win  bold  a  crowd  of  thousands  of  natives  under  the 
window.  Hong-Kong  boasts  of  (wo  modem  jewelry 
shops,  one  kept  by  a  German,  the  other  by  a  Scotchman, 
where  the  finest  diamonds  are  on  sale.  The  Chinese  are 
developing  a  connoisseur's  liking  for  them.  Of  course 
pearis  have  always  been  their  prime  favorites.  Many  of 
the  Chinese  curio  stores  still  advertise:  "  Kruger  sover- 
eigns on  sale."  These  dull  gold  coins  were  brought  to 
the  Colony  by  the  transferred  battalions  of  the  Royal 


48  THE  CHINESE 

Welsh  Fusiliers  and  Derbyshire  regiments  immediately 
after  the  South  African  war.  The  former  regiment  is 
humorously  remembered  in  Hong-Kong  by  the  black  tail 
which  hung  from  the  collars  of  the  tunics,  as  a  relic  of 
the  regiment's  mourning  when  wigs  were  taken  from  the 
troops.  The  Derbyshires,  perpetuating  the  times  and 
territory  of  Robin  Hood,  where  they  are  recruited, 
sported  a  band  of  Lincoln  Green  on  their  forage  caps. 
Despite  the  fact  that  the  new  land  furnishes  them  the 
bread  which  the  old  land  was  unable  to  do,  the  Colonists 
have  not  brought  all  their  hearts  with  them,  and  find  in 
these  little  traits  of  the  troops  the  reminiscences  which 
"  drag  at  each  remove  a  lengthening  chain."  Tele- 
phones are  in  use  in  about  eighty  European  hongs.  The 
wires  must  be  nearly  worn  out  by  the  fokis  and  native 
office  boys  talking  to  their  friends.  When  office  hours 
are  over,  even  the  chair  coolies  come  in  to  learn  and  en- 
joy the  novelty,  which  they  utilize  at  the  top  of  their 
high  voices. 

The  newspapers  of  the  treaty  ports  are  generally  set 
up  by  Macaense  Portuguese  and  edited  by  Scotchmen. 
In  Hong-Kong,  a  floating  dot  of  the  red  Empire,  some  of 
the  finest  leaders  in  our  language  are  prepared,  out  of 
pure  pride  in  the  profession,  for  the  circulation  of  the 
papers  is  not  large,  but  the  men  are.    Of  course  there  is 
no  rush,  as  in  New  York  or  London,  and  possibly  the 
heat  furnishes  (though  you  would  not  expect  it)  hot- 
house-growth to  some  of  the  finest  English  that  is  non 
being  written,  something  that  it  is  a  pleasure  to  compan 
with  the  traditions  of  Addison's  day.     Hong-Kong  i 
not  without  its  literary  records  and  is  boastful  of  thoS( 
pealing  hymns  of  Christendom  which  Governor  Sir  Joh 
Bowring  wrote   under  these   frowning  heathen   hiDs 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  49 

ml  TtB  Ui  of  tht  ffigkt,  tai  In  tin  Crou 
mf  Ckriti  I  Gtory,  m  wdl  as  hii  funout  Utenty  canMO 
oa  Macao:  Cm  of  tlu  Orum  Earth  and  Opem  5«a. 
Choa  propoaei  tliat  bar  Ctih  Hii^  Po  (Board  of  Col- 
flncR  and  Ccnaonnqi)  ihaO  p^  better  attwittoo  to  nia 
tUmiiy  ffwiriiiwy  mniber  of  Poos  (native  Dew^apen) 
■nikli  mplojr  muj  JspaiwM  in  cditocial  powtioiB^  and 
WKMC  Diaa  often  eauica  worry  to  aw  Manchii  poucjr  and 
^jrnaa^.  "  Wo  tei  hi  Sao  "  {lint  Japt  arc  comiag) — 
aqn  tfw  Board. 

What  a  itnlciiiff  dwim  nai  for  uw  tune  bcni^  takan 
]Mse  upOB  the  once  cnnattied  waten  of  Hoa^KoD^ 
daee  Aa  Anglo-J^iancae  Alfianoe  and  tfie  Aa^ty-Vtvik 
tmUmlt^ordiaUt  Where  once  we  daily  looked  dnongh 
our  Uinds  upon  scores  of  battleships  like  the  Albion 
and  Glory:  four-funneled  flying  cruisers  such  as  the 
Leviathan  and  Crecy;  and  low,  swift,  dsitow,  td- 
eaoope-funneled  French  cruisers  of  vaUur  Superieure 
See  the  old  fiivorites  Montcalm  and  Gutchen,  now 
w«  tee  only  a  few  river  gunboats  like  the  Moorhen 
of  two-foot  draft,  so  a$  to  be  able  to  skim  the  credcs 
which  feed  the  Chuktang  and  feed  the  pirates  from  a 
fonr-iocfa  nozzle.  There  is  one  startling  and  epochal  ex- 
-  when  the  Japanese,  as  they  police  all  the  eastern 
1  from  Singapore  to  Hakodate,  in  the  protection  of 
their  new  lines  of  commerce,  send  down  those  low  gray- 
t<h-grcen  gladiators  of  recent  fame,  the  Asama,  Xisshin 
and  Kasagi,  and  their  enrolled  captives,  the  Sagami, 
Tango  and  Iki,  whose  high  foreign  lines  show  that  they 
were  once  the  Peresviet,  Poltai-a  and  Nicotai,  which  ve»- 
tA  were  raised  from  an  average  depth  of  sixty  feet. 
America  alone  of  the  white  nations  has  maintained  battle- 
■htpa  (at  present  two)  in  Chinese  waters  and  the  pros- 


50  THE  CHINESE 

pective  increase  to  a  much  larger  fleet  will  act  as  the 
best  salesman  for  American  goods.  In  the  franchises 
granted  by  their  Wai  Wu  Pu,  the  Chinese  reflect  the 
evidence  that  they  are  particularly  impressed  by  these 
demonstrations  of  the  white  powers,  and  England  and 
France  in  their  anxiety  to  strengthen  home  waters  politi- 
cally, have  in  China  lost  to  Japan  certain  ground  com- 
mercially by  this  action. 

In  a  Chinese  cradle,  under  the  mysterious  yellow  robe, 
really  lies  the  commercial  future  of  the  Pacific  States  of 
America.  Shall  it  be  rocked  by  a  faithful  hand»  made 
steadier  because  of  the  backing  of  a  mighty  fleet,  or  shall 
the  nursling  be  tumbled  out  to  be  Ju-jitsued,  Bear- 
throttled,  or  Stein-smashed?    The  fleet  shall  say. 

The  Chinese  prophesy  the  political  union  of  America, 
England,  Canada  and  Australia,  with  America  the 
spokesman  of  the  union,  because  of  their  identity  in  Prot- 
estant religion,  speech  and  literature,  and  that  this  union 
can  alone  save  Australia  to  the  white  race  from  Japanese 
absorption. 

At  Hong-Kong,  blue  jays  ai\d  magpies  (the  natives 
call  the  latter  hi  tsoih,  jolly  birds)  are  frequently  seca 
The  magpies  mischievously  chase  the  golf  balls  along 
the  Happy  Valley  course.  During  the  rainy  season,  wag- 
tails visit  the  waterfalls  on  Bowen  Road,  and  when  the 
dry  season  comes  they  retreat  to  the  deep  stream  which 
runs  from  the  Peak  to  Aberdeen  at  the  back  of  the  is- 
land. Of  course  the  gorgeous  Yuen  Yang  (mandarin 
ducks)  are  in  their  habitat,  and  at  your  comprador's 
home  you  will  find  specimens  in  his  courtyard  —  not  his 
back  yard.  In  their  heraldry  surprisingly  this  bird  ol 
gorgeous  plumage  has  to  be  satisfied  with  seventh  place 
Justice  has  however  been  done  the  gfolden  pheasant; 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  51 

which  though  allowed  second  place,  really  holds  premier 
fomtkm,  as  the  hiog-hwang  is  only  a  mythical  phoenix. 

The  government's  splendid  botanical  (they  almost  look 
Uke  haqgmg)  gardens,  set  upon  terraces  five  hundred  feet 
above  the  water  deserve  special  mention.  Tufted  Nor- 
loflc  pines  of  great  height  frame  the  view,  and  the  scene 
over  the  islands  and  Uue  waters  is  unsurpassed  As  one 
could  expect,  the  pahn  section  is  as  royal  as  Qeopatra's 
fcCfcat  reset  The  tea-flavoring  jasmines,  dahlias,  tube- 
roses, asters,  kosmos,  and  azaleas  give  this  land  the 
right  to  be  called  the  Eden  of  Flowers.  The  whole  prov- 
inee  of  Kwangtung  is  a  spangled  meadow  of  violets. 
The  dhnate  is  so  damp  that  no  glass  is  used  upon  the 
fanmriant  fern  house.  Merely  bamboo  wands  are  naikxl 
on  the  roof  and  sides,  to  afford  a  chequered  shade. 
Heart  of  all  the  bloom,  in  the  central  fountain  there  is  a 
glorious  display  of  purple  lotus  (Eichhoniia  speciosa). 
Your  Yalensian  friend  (a  Chinese)  hands  you  the 
candied  root  and  bids  you  realize  Geopatra's  dream. 
^%llile  you  have  been  talking  with  him  you  can  measure 
the  growth  of  that  most  exquisite  of  all  perfumed  flow- 
ers, the  Chinese  sacred  narcissus,  and  also  the  growth  of 
the  giant  bamboo.  Notable  among  the  flowering  trees 
are  the  purple  Bougainvillea  and  the  faithful  Bauhinia, 
vhich  latter  offers  you  gariands  when  all  else  of  nature 
folks.  The  Hong-Kong  gardens  have  not  the  magnifi- 
cent Assam  nibber  trees,  spice  slinibs  and  other  exuberant 
growths  of  the  Pcradeniya  Gardens  of  Cinpalcse  Kandy, 
or  rows  of  such  magnificent  waringcn  trees  as  the 
Buitenzorg  Gardens  of  Batavia,  but  they  make  more  of 
what  they  have.  For  picturesque  setting,  there  is 
nothing  in  the  world  to  approach  them. 

Mouse  deer,  under  government  protection,  are  bccom- 


52  THE  CHINESE 

ing  so  numerous  in  the  Stanley  and  Taitam  Valleys  of  the 
island,  that  they  boldly  come  over  the  Wong  Nei  Chong 
Gap,  and  jump  the  blue  walls  of  the  Parsee  and  European 
cemeteries  on  the  Happy  Valley  Road,  and  do  great  dam- 
age to  trees  and  shrubs.  Lamps  have  been  tied  to  the 
swinging  branches  of  the  trees,  and  the  Chinese  of  the 
iWash-house  village  near-by  verily  believe  that  our  ghosts 
are  for  ever  unlaid,  and  it  takes  something  steadier  than 
the  Celtic  temperament  on  our  own  part  to  investigate 
the  uncanny  thing. 

As  clothes  are  never  put  on  a  line,  but  on  the  lawn  in 
China,  the  long,  light  bamboo  pole  can  be  used  for  dark 
purposes.  It  is  affirmed  that  at  night,  flags  have  flut- 
tered over  one's  wall,  and  in  the  morning  laundry  has 
been  missed.  So  often  has  this  occurred,  that  a  native 
who  carries  at  twilight  a  pole  with  a  nail  in  the  end,  is 
arrested  as  a  suspicious  person,  just  as  a  lukong  would 
have  a  right  to  gather  in  on  sight  a  Chinese  whose  queue 
was  greased.  There  is  a  custom  in  Hong-Kong  of  per- 
mitting coolies  to  sleep  on  one's  doorstep  and  sidewalk, 
and  thieves  are  often  entertained  unawares  within  stalk- 
ing distance  of  their  snoring  victim. 

The  delightful  house-boat  trips  which  the  Shanghai 
sojourner  may  enjoy  on  the  Yangtze,  or  the  Soochow 
resident  on  the  Grand  Canal,  where  months  may  be  spent 
at  the  cost  of  one  dollar  a  day  for  four  rowers,  are  denied 
to  the  resident  of  south  China,  for  the  romantic  West 
River  and  the  hundred  and  one  branches  between  the  Qm 
and  Sikiang  Rivers  are  poorly  policed,  and  subject  to 
piratical  attacks.  Not  since  the  rule  of  Li  Hung  Chang 
have  these  devious  waters  of  Kwangtung  Province  been 
safe,  and  how  often  have  we  of  the  south  sighed  for  i 
rule  such  as  the  mandarins  of  Hupeh  enforce  on  theii 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  53 

"water*.  Howt^er  in  moving  about  the  districts  or  Shcns 
of  Kwangtung.  the  fiirtigncr  docs  not  experience  the  in- 
Bccurity  which  is  Ml  in  Fo-kien  and  Ilunan  Provinces, 
whose  inhabitants  are  the  harshest  speaking,  roughest 
mannered  and  most  cruel  of  the  Qiincse.  In  Kwang- 
lung  we  were  Icrrorize-J  in  Shuni's  reign,  and  hope  soon 
gave  way  to  renewed  despair  when  Chow  Fu  succeeded 
him.  For  a  while  the  British  gunboats  patrolled  the 
miters,  but  thi«  worked  Peking  and  the  more  advanced 
New  China  party  into  a  turmoil,  and  llien  Britain  with- 
drew. We  used  to  take  well-armed  tugs  and  make  the 
trips,  but  sleeping  over  the  boilers  in  the  tropical  night, 
with  its  sliecu  of  hot  showers,  is  not  comfortable.  The 
bouM-boat  h.is  no  permanent  roofj  only  a  bamboo 
mipport  over  which  mats  are  thrown,  whether  for  sun, 
nin,  dew  or  moon.  When  we  spoke  of  the  superstitions 
of  the  Taoist  priests,  the  Chinese  would  retort  that  our 
Jcstut  missionaries  always  called  for  the  mats  when  the 
moon  was  up.  I  found  that  this  could  be  corroborated. 
even  among  the  Missiones  D'Etrangeres  men  in  Somali- 
land  and  at  Aden.  Some  of  the  boats  are  nicely  carved 
ant  lacquered,  but  for  your  peace  of  mind  they  will  be 
an  the  better  for  a  simtdtaneous  and  reckless  attack  of 
bodnts  of  water  and  soda. 

The  supply  of  milk  for  the  white  man's  infants,  who 
have  only  one-tenth  of  a  chance  for  life,  is  a  matter  of 
great  concern  in  the  treaty  ports  of  the  Orient  At 
Hong-Kong,  a  small  herd  of  acclimated  American  cows 
are  kept  on  a  comparatively  cool  plateau  twelve  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea,  tn  cement  stalls,  and  grass-cutters  are 
sent  into  every  shady  nook  of  the  valley  and  behind  every 
gravestone  in  the  desperate  search  for  green  fodder,  wiry 
as  it  is.    The  value  of  the  cattle  is  enormous  because  of 


1 


54  THE  CHINESE 

the  frequent  raids  of  the  government  to  destroy  such  ani- 
mals as  have  developed  tuberculosis,  murrain,  anthrax, 
etc.  The  dairies  of  Spartan  Hong-Kong,  speaking  gen- 
erally, consist  of  a  can  opener  and  your  selection  of  Swiss* 
Highland,  Dutch,  or  American  St.  Charles  labels,  acconi- 
ing  to  whichever  steamer  may  be  in  port. 

Where  the  eastern  seas  bubble  up  hot  to  the  flame  of 
an  equatorial  sun,  Chinese  workmen,  with  Scotch  ovep» 
seers,  turn  out  six  thousand  ton  steel  ships  and  do  batfto*^; 
ship  repairing  worthy  of  Woolwich  or  DevonporL  TbjR^^ 
dividend  for  1907  was  twelve  per  cent,  after  writing  off 
for  depreciation  in  the  past  twenty  years  the  unnecessar- 
ily large  amount  of  two  million  dollars.  Hong-Kong 
possesses  on  the  mainland  at  Kowloon  and  Sham  Sui  Po, 
five  graving-docks  of  the  Hong-Kong  and  Whompoa 
Dock  Company,  which  concern  sixty  years  ago  moved 
from  Whompoa  Island,  near  Canton.  One  of  these 
docks  is  cut  six  hundred  and  fifty  feet  into  the  face  of  a 
towering  granite  hill.  Witli  all  the  exertion  of  the 
baronial  Mitsui  family  of  Nagasaki,  and  the  other  pri- 
vate shipyard  owners  of  Kobe  and  Yokohama,  assisted  by 
immense  subsidies  and  national  preference,  Japan 
still  behind  indefatigable  Scotch  Hong-Kong,  in  ht 
maritime  product.  To  illustrate.  A  bid  was  opened 
Manila  to  build  various  sea  tugs  and  launches. 
Uragu  Dock  Company  of  Japan  submitted,  for  a 
one  hundred  and  forty  feet  long,  twenty-six  feet  breadi 
draft  Ihirtccn  feet,  a  price  of  $109,500.  The  SI 
Dock  Company  bid  $105,376.  The  Hong-Kong 
Whompoa  bid  was  $86,280.  Situated  on  the  island 
Hong-Kong,  in  the  center  of  expensive  Victorial 
itself,  is  the  new  Naval  Yard  Extension,  where  a 
battle-ship  graving-dock  and  immense  tidal  basin,  impot- 


The  environs  of  Canton.  South  China.     The  embrasured  city  v 
the  famous  "  Five-story  Pagoda."  visited  by  every  Ameri- 
can traveller  to  China;   the  treeless  hills  overrun 
by  humankind  continuously  since  Noah's  lime. 


ids  <if  i>i'ii|>lt-  live  on  small  boats.     "Dutc 
iif  IVarl   River,  Canion,  South  China. 


p 


fokf.igm;h.s  in  china 


J 


fUe  to  be  fcacfaed  by  shell,  bave  been  con^ileted  m  re- 
■^inied  land.  At  Qoiny  Bay,  fire  miles  forther  east  on 
^Hong-Kong  Island,  m  a  position  however  that  can  be 
^belled  over  the  sontbeni  bills  from  the  sea,  the  Botter- 
fidds  have  cut  ill  the  Todcy  riiore  a  dock  seven  tmodred 
f«t  lofig.  and  have  erected  npair  shops,  so  diat.  at  the 
earth's  c<itrirtni(y.  are  three  sbip-boildiiig  and  dock  [rianta 
(one  ifovcmmcnt  and  two  private)  of  modern  eqidpment 
and  grciit  size.  In  addition  tbtrt  are  a  number  of  Chin- 
ese plants  u  }iic)i  r^nlarly  torn  out  ships  of  twdve  fano- 
drri]  terns  bunlin,  and  infill  in  them  copies  of  European 
The  enforced  extenaon  of  official  Hbng^Koiv 
I  behtf  carried  «i  hy  expensive  redamatJcm  from  Ibe 
a.  on  a  scale  wluch  b  equalled  at  no  port  in  the  worid. 
The  money  is  provided  by  Parsees.  One  whole  praya, 
six  miles  in  extent,  is  thus  being  added  to  the  front  of 
the  island.  Across  the  harbor,  on  the  mainland  of  China, 
bays  are  being  filled  in,  so  as  to  afford  sites  for  factories 
and  native  tenements,  for  surly  granite  nature  has  here 
turned  everything  on  edge  on  a  more  gigantic  scale  than 
even  the  Titanic  upheavals  of  our  own  Greece.  By  this 
I  mean  to  say  that  if  the  white  man  means  to  stay  in 
soathem  China  he  must  build  for  himself  a  foothold  from 
the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

Coal  is  brought  from  Wales  and  Australia  at  a  cost  of 
jfat  dollars  gold  a  ton,  and  stored  under  water  as  a  re- 
MfTC  for  the  Admiralty.  The  carbonic  dissemination 
from  the  piles  as  they  lie  exposed  to  tropic  rains  and  suns 
ts  extravagant.  Kyuslui  Island  in  Japan  mines  most  of 
the  commercial  coal  used  in  that  great  port,  thougli  it  is 
surprising  to  learn  that  India  sends  one  hundred  and 
(htny  thousand  tons  a  year  of  her  Bengal  coal  to  Hong- 
Koag. 


The  environs  of  Canloii.  South  China.     The  embrasured  city  w 
the  famous  "  Five-story  Pagoda,"  visited  by  every  Ameri- 
can  traveller  to  China;  the   treeless  hills  overrun 
by  humankind  continuously  since  Noah's  time. 


people  live  on  small  boats.     "Dutc 
iiver,  Canton.  South  China. 


I 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  55 

»ihle  lo  be  reached  by  slwlt,  have  been  completed  in  re- 
clatmed  Unti  At  Quarry  Bay,  five  miles  farther  east  on 
Hong-Kong  Island,  in  a  position  however  that  can  be 
shelled  o\-cr  the  soutbcm  hills  from  the  sea,  the  Butter- 
fielda  have  cut  in  the  rocky  shore  a  dock  Hcvcn  hundred 
feet  long,  and  have  erected  repair  shops,  so  that,  at  the 
earth's  cxlremity,  arc  three  ship-hiiililing  and  dock  plants 
(one  RDvemmtnt  and  two  private)  of  modem  equipment 
and  great  size.  In  addition  there  arc  a  number  of  Chin- 
ese plants  which  regularly  turn  out  ships  of  iwdve  him- 
dred  tons  burden,  and  install  in  ihem  copies  of  Euro[>ean 
enpnesu  The  enforced  extension  of  official  Honff-Kong 
is  being  carried  nn  fay  expensive  reclamation  from  the 
.sea,  on  a  Kale  which  is  equalled  at  no  port  in  the  world. 
The  money  is  provided  by  Parsees.  One  whole  praya, 
six  miles  in  extent,  is  thus  being  added  to  the  front  of 
the  island.  Across  the  harbor,  on  the  mainland  of  China, 
bays  arc  being  filled  in,  so  as  to  afford  sites  for  factories 
atxl  native  tenements,  for  surly  granite  nature  has  here 
turned  everything  on  edge  on  a  more  gigantic  scale  than 
even  the  Titanic  upheavals  of  our  own  Greece:  By  this 
I  mean  to  say  that  if  the  white  man  means  to  stay  in 
southern  China  he  must  build  for  himself  a  foothold  from 
the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

Coal  is  brought  from  Wales  and  Australia  at  a  cost  of 
lix  dollars  gold  a  ton,  and  stored  under  water  as  a  re- 
mm  for  the  Admiralty.  The  carbonic  dissemination 
from  the  piles  as  they  lie  exposed  to  tropic  rains  and  suns 
is  extravagant.  Kyushu  Island  in  Japan  mines  most  of 
the  commercial  coal  used  in  that  great  port,  though  it  is 
surprising  to  leam  that  India  sends  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  tons  a  year  of  !ier  Bengal  coal  to  Hong- 
Kong. 


J 


The  environs  of  Canton.  South  China.    The  embrasured  city  w 
the  famous  "  Five-story  Pago<la,"  visited  by  every  Ameri- 
can  traveller   to  China:   the  treeless  hills  overrun 
by  humankind  continuously  since  Noah's  time. 


tlKius.inils  of  people  live  on  small  boats.     "Ehite 
ion  of  IVarl  Kiver,  Canton,  South  China. 


I 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  55 

«iblc  10  be  reached  by  slwH,  have  been  completed  in  re- 
dattned  land.  At  Quarry  Bay.  6vc  miles  farther  east  on 
Hong-Koiig  Island,  in  a  position  huwever  that  can  be 
shelled  over  the  scnithem  hills  from  the  sea,  ihc  Buttcr- 
5ctcls  have  cut  in  U>e  rocky  shore  a  dock  seven  hundred 
feel  long,  and  have  erected  repair  shops,  so  that,  at  (he 
earth's  extremity,  are  three  ship-building  and  dock  plants 
(one  Bo\-emn]ent  and  two  private)  of  modern  equipment 
and  great  size,  hi  addition  there  arc  a  number  of  Oiin- 
ese  plants  which  regularly  turn  out  sliips  of  twelve  hun- 
dred Ions  burden,  and  install  in  them  copies  of  European 
iocs.  The  enforced  extension  of  official  Hong-Kong 
being  carried  on  by  expensive  reclamation  from  the 
I,  on  a  scale  which  is  equalled  at  no  port  in  the  workl. 
The  money  is  provided  by  Parsees.  One  whole  praya, 
six  miles  in  extent,  is  thus  being  added  to  the  front  of 
the  island.  Across  the  harbor,  on  the  mainland  of  China, 
bays  are  being  filled  in,  so  as  to  afford  sites  for  factories 
and  native  tenements,  for  surly  granite  nature  has  here 
turned  ev'Crything  on  edge  on  a  more  gigantic  scale  than 
even  the  Titanic  upheavals  of  our  own  Greece.  By  this 
I  mean  to  say  that  if  the  white  man  means  to  stay  in 
southern  China  he  must  build  for  himself  a  foothold  from 
the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

Cool  is  brought  from  Wales  and  Australia  at  a  cost  of 
■fac  dollars  gold  a  ton,  and  stored  under  water  as  a  re- 
aenre  for  the  Admiralty.  The  carbonic  dissemination 
from  the  piles  as  they  he  exposed  to  tropic  rains  and  suns 
is  extravagant.  Kyushu  Island  in  Japan  mines  most  of 
the  oMnmercial  coal  used  in  that  great  port,  though  it  is 
mrprising  to  learn  that  India  sends  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  tons  a  year  of  her  Bengal  coal  to  Hong- 
Koog. 


J 


The  environs  iif  Canion.  Simth  Ciiiiia. 

the  famous  "  Fi\f-storv  I*ago<!a," 

can   IravelkT  lo  China:   the  t 

l>y  human  kind  i 


■  iivf  on  small  liiiais.     "Putir 
CauKin.  South  China. 


I 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  55 

<{ble  to  be  reached  by  eHcII.  have  been  completed  in  re- 
claimed land.  At  Quarry  Bay,  five  miles  farther  east  on 
Hong-Knng  IsUind,  in  a  position  howrver  that  can  be 
sbcUcd  over  the  soulbem  hills  from  the  sea,  the  Butler- 
fields  have  cdl  in  the  rocky  »liore  a  dock  seven  hundred 
feet  long,  and  have  erected  repair  shops,  so  (hat,  at  the 
earth's  extremity,  arc  three  5hip-butlding  and  dock  plants 
(one  govemntcnt  and  two  private)  of  nxMlcm  equipment 
and  great  size.  In  addition  there  are  A  number  of  Chin* 
ese  plants  wbkb  regularly  turn  out  ships  of  twelve  hun- 
dred icms  burden,  and  iaiiall  in  them  copiri  of  European 
TItc  enforced  extension  of  ofBcial  Hong-Kong 
being  carried  an  by  expensive  reclamation  from  the 
1.  on  a  scale  which  is  equalled  at  no  port  in  the  world. 
The  DXHiey  ts  provided  by  Parsees.  One  whole  praya. 
six  miles  in  extent,  is  thus  being  added  to  the  front  of 
the  island.  Across  the  harbor,  on  the  mainland  of  China, 
bays  are  being  filled  in,  so  as  to  afford  sites  for  factories 
and  native  tenements,  for  surly  granite  nature  has  here 
turned  everything  on  edge  on  a  more  gigantic  scale  than 
even  the  Titanic  upheavals  of  our  own  Greece.  By  this 
I  mean  to  say  that  if  the  white  man  means  to  stay  in 
southern  China  he  must  build  for  himself  a  foothold  from 
the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

Coal  is  brought  from  Wales  and  Australia  at  a  cost  of 
fix  dollars  gold  a  ton,  and  stored  under  water  as  a  re- 
alm for  the  Admiralty.  The  carbonic  dissemination 
from  the  piles  as  they  He  exposed  to  tropic  rains  and  suns 
IS  extravagant.  Kyushit  Inland  in  Japan  mines  most  of 
the  cc»nmercial  coal  used  in  that  great  port,  though  it  is 
surprising  to  learn  that  India  sends  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  tons  a  year  of  her  Bengal  coal  to  Hong- 
Koag. 


The  environs  of  Canton,  South  China. 

the  famous  "  FIve-storv  Pagoda,"  ■ 

can   traveller  to   China:   the   ti 

by  humankind  continuously  < 


The  embrasured  city  wall: 
isited  by  every  Ameri- 
leless  hills  overrun 
nee  Noah's  time. 


Im.11; 


f  ilinusancK  of  ]>oo|ilc  live  on  small  boats.     "Dtitc 
lion  of  [\arl   River.  Canton,  South  China. 


I 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  55 

'•iblc  to  be  readied  by  shell,  have  been  completed  in  re* 
daimcd  land  At  Qiurry  Bay,  five  niilcs  fartlier  cast  on 
HoDg-Kmig  Isbnd,  in  a  position  bowrv-er  that  can  be 
shdleil  over  the  S'julbeni  hilU  from  the  sea,  the  Biitier- 
ftel<i>  have  rut  in  the  rocky  shore  a  dock  seven  hundred 
feet  lonE.  and  have  erected  repair  shojis.  bo  that,  at  the 
canh*4  cxtrcittily,  are  three  ship- building  and  dock  plants 
(one  government  aixl  two  private)  of  mntlcm  equipment 
and  j^rrat  stzc.  In  aditition  there  are  a  number  of  Chin- 
esc  plaiiti  which  regularly  turn  out  ships  of  twelve  hun- 
dred Ions  burden,  and  install  in  them  copies  of  European 
engine*.  The  enforced  extension  of  official  Hong-Kong 
t»  beiD^  carried  on  by  expensive  reclamation  from  the 
sea,  on  a  scale  which  is  e<]ua]lctl  at  txi  port  in  the  world. 
TIk  money  is  provided  by  Parsees.  One  whole  praya, 
six  miles  in  extent,  is  thus  being  added  to  the  front  of 
the  island.  Across  the  harbor,  on  the  mainland  of  China, 
bays  arc  being  filled  in,  so  as  to  afford  sites  for  factories 
and  native  tenements,  for  surly  granite  nature  has  here 
turned  everything  on  edge  on  a  more  gigantic  scale  than 
even  the  Titanic  upheavals  of  our  own  Greece.  By  this 
I  mean  to  say  that  if  the  white  man  means  to  stay  in 
southern  China  he  must  build  for  himself  a  foothold  from 
the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

Coal  is  brought  from  Wales  and  Australia  at  a  cost  of 
fix  dollars  gold  a  ton,  and  stored  under  water  as  a  re- 
«nre  for  the  Admiralty.  The  carbonic  dissemination 
frotn  the  piles  as  they  lie  exposed  to  tropic  rains  and  suns 
is  extravagant.  Kyushu  I:<land  in  J^pan  mines  most  of 
the  conunercial  coal  used  in  that  great  port,  though  it  is 
wrprisit^  to  learn  that  India  sends  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  tons  a  year  of  her  Bengal  coal  to  Hong- 
Kottg. 


56  THE  CHINESE 

Just  before  your  'rickisha  whirls  around  the  curve 
toward  the  saluting  battery  and  the  famous  Soldiers'  and 
Sailors'  blue  Canteen,  against  which  the  W.  C.  T.  U.'s  of 
England  wage  uncompromising  war,  look  up  Queen's 
Road  Central  at  the  vast,  grotesque  canvas  sign  of  the 
King  of  Tattooers,  who  is  one  of  the  most  unique  char- 
acters a  globe-trotter  comes  across.  He  boasts  that 
every  royal  traveler  who  has  come  to  the  east,  including 
the  Tsar,  has  "  sought  the  charming  effects  of  his  ab- 
solutely fast  colors." 

At  Hong-Kong  I  brought  to  a  native  shoemaker  on 
that  dizzy  old  Wellington  Road,  which  has  not  been  hol- 
lowed out  of  the  natural  hill,  a  pair  of  low  shoes  to  copy. 
He  did  so,  but  finding  the  novelty  of  extension  soles,  he 
adopted  the  "  Melican  fashion  "  for  every  future  cus- 
tomer. When  the  British  complained  of  the  innovation 
he  gave  his  opinion  of  styles  as  follows :  "I  sabee  you  no 
likee  now,  but  blymby  you  likee."  Their  leather, 
which  is  tanned  in  gambier,  saltpetre  and  alum,  is  very 
tender  and  in  so  damp  a  climate,  soon  gives  out.  The 
Chinese  tailors  on  Queen's  and  Connaught  Roads  have 
progressed  a  little  from  the  romantic  days  of  Perry,  and 
are  not  now  copying  the  "  bombardier's  patches  and  all." 
They  lay  the  tape  with  assuring  smiles  about  your  per- 
son and  call  out  Delphic  numbers,  but  the  result  still  looks 
grotesque.  Unless  you  watch  them  carefully  they  will 
run  around  the  hem  of  your  garment,  for  art's  sake  pos- 
sibly, a  thread  one  shade  lighter  than  the  cloth.  They 
are  a  decided  failure  in  sponging  worsteds  and  tweeds 
which  they  import  from  England,  but  in  flannel  and  linen 
suits,  Ah-men-Hing-Cheong  and  Tak  Cheong  do  some 
passable  work,  as  well  as  in  the  hard,  wild  yellow  silk, 
called  "  tussah,"  which  is  the  product  of  worms  which 


M 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA 


feed  on  o>k  and  ailamus  kavn  in  Shan-umg  Province. 
ChiiM  if  a  pitiless  country,  aa  clothes  are  fastened  bf 
bcrfea  and  buttons,  or  loops  and  frogs. 

China  too  produces  its  gmn-shoe  men  of  nocturnal 
prowltngs.  It  was  the  hot  season  at  the  Hong-Kong 
Cktb,  every  ixximer  sleeping  with  only  the  half  door 
dosed.  The  electric  fans  worked  loud  enough  to  drown 
the  foot  of  a  thief,  or  possibly  he  carried  a  sleeping 
ilraft  in  his  handkerchief.  Into  six  rooms  he  crawled 
nigfat  after  night  He  doubtless  carried  the  long  Pun- 
janb  knife.  Gold  studs  were  removed  from  shirts; 
watches  were  taken  from  under  pillows,  and  rings  from 
boreau  tops.  How  could  it  all  be  done  with  so  formid- 
able Sikh  clwwkidars  on  guard  at  the  door  all  night  1 
Wedcs  went  by  and  there  was  no  trace.  The  Chinese 
bath  boys;  the  older  tea  boys;  every  one's  private  boy, 
were  in  turn  marched  up  to  be  put  through  no  simple 
inquisition  of  "  Third  Degree  "  behind  tlie  stone  walls  at 
the  top  of  Wyndham  and  Mosque  Streets.  Then  Blass, 
who  was  on  a  seven  year  indenture  in  the  East,  and  who 
was  a  wonderful  fellow  scientifically,  remembered  that 
his  ring  had  a  flaw  in  the  ruby.  It  is  a  way  pigeon 
rubies  have  for  catchii^  thieves,  and  that  is  why  Burmans 
call  only  the  pink  gems  good  luck  stones.  The  pawn- 
shops were  again  searched,  even  to  distant  Yamati  on  the 
mainland.  The  ring  was  found,  but  horrors!  the  Chi- 
nese brewer  attacked  our  faith  in  those  perfect  guardians 
of  our  eastern  homes,  the  Sikhs.  He  identified  one  of 
our  own  choivkidars  as  the  guilty  party.  The  latter  con- 
fessed to  pounding  the  gold  to  bullion  and  throwing  the 
watch  works  in  the  harbor  from  a  sampan.  He  also  said 
he  knew  why  he  could  safely  move  around  our  rooms,  but 
that  it  was  "  Indian  knowledge  "  which  he  would  never 


58  THE  CHINESE 

betray.  Let  the  curious  therefore  debate  whether  it  was 
ether,  hypnotism  or  mere  luck  six  times  unbroken. 
Those  who  had  studs  stolen  were  of  no  use  as  witnesses, 
for  there  was  no  recovered  gold  to  identify,  but  Blass  was  . 
witness  enough,  and  the  Indian  got  as  fair  a  trial  as  a 
white  man.  We  think  less  of  Sikhs  now,  but  Rasul 
Singh,  behind  the  jail  walls  on  Mosque  Street,  thinks 
more  of  us. 

Crews  for  all  trans-Pacific  ships  are  recruited  at 
Hong-Kong.  The  Chinese  of  Canton  is  the  best  disci- 
plined and  most  tractable  of  all  sailors.  He  never  rushes 
on  shore  to  get  drunk;  he  stands  without  flinching,  even 
better  than  an  Aden  Arab,  a  heat  which,  south  of  Cancer, 
fries  the  pitch  out  of  the  deck  seams  and  the  marrow  out 
of  human  bones;  he  never  detains  the  vessel  after  its  sail- 
ing hour  because  he  is  lingering  ashore,  and  he  never  re- 
quires the  irons  to  be  clapped  on  him  at  sea.  If  he  goes 
crazy  he  goes  overboard  without  telling  you  of  it,  and 
killing  a  man  on  the  way.  He  seldom  moves  his  bunk, 
signing  with  the  "  samee  olo  ship  "  year  after  year,  and  if 
he  does  leave  it  is  because  of  the  Confucian  law  requiring  ' 
three  years  of  mourning  when  a  parent  dies.  The  white 
mates  manage  the  sailors  through  a  native  bo'sun  or 
"  Number  One  man.''  They  ask  only  one  privilege,  that 
of  gambling  with  their  returning  countrymen  who  have 
made  money  abroad,  and  tawny  Jack  never  fails  to  sec 
that  his  landlubber  brethren  pay  due  toll  to  his  Neptunic 
lore.  All  the  way  across  the  calm  Pacific,  the  fo'c's'l 
head,  and  the  battens  of  number  one  hold  are  checkered 
over  with  the  cards,  chips  and  cash  of  poker,  pai-lau,  fan- 
tan,  and  other  heathen  games.  When  the  typhoons  blow, 
or  when  life -boats  need  to  be  lowered  for  men  overboard, 
the  Chinese  act  with  such  coolness  that  one's  confidence 


i 
J 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  59 

in  tfaem  it  established  at  once.  The  Uue-gowned  wut- 
cn,  witfi  tfaeir  long  queues  swinging  dangerously  near 
tiie  aoop,  may  not  be  so  popular  with  the  traveler,  bat  on 
dedc  these  machine-like,  silent  woriters  of  the  East  lend 
Bsaoranee  to  the  long,  tedious  voyage  of  twenty-dgfat 
days  across  the  Pacific,  when  one  tains  the  southern 

At  Hong>Kong  you  will  notice  that  when  the  't«reen 
deck  ports  are  thrown  open  to  the  stevedore's  men  who 
eooie  alongside  to  take  delivery  of  the  quarter  sacks  of 
Bour,  bamboo  sticks  are  used  in  the  tallying.  The  crim- 
iaala  among  them  must  twinge  when  they  recall  that 
tlieae  are  the  same  tally  sticks  which  the  judge  at  Cantoti 
cotmts  out  and  throws  down  to  indicate  how  many  lashes 
the  culprit  shall  receive.  Not  a  few  of  the  Hong-Kong 
laborers  are  deserters  from  justice  at  Canton. 

As  soon  as  a  mail  steamer  arrives  in  the  busy  port, 
dozens  of  smoking  steam  launches  crowd  alongside,  and 
the  first  to  board  the  ship  are  the  native  boarding-house 
runners  from  Elgin  Street,  who  are  soliciting  returning 
Chinese  emigrants.  The  health  officer  is  helpless;  the 
emigrants  toss  ropes  over  to  the  launches  and  the  runners, 
«-ith  the  agility  of  monkeys,  clamber  up  the  sides  of  the 
ships  and  ever  the  bulwarks.  The  crews  look  like 
pirates;  they  are  half  naked.  On  their  wide  straw  sun 
hats  are  painted  the  names  of  the  houses,  so  that  the  emi- 
grants, looking  over  the  rail  on  the  scene  below,  may  be- 
hold the  merits  of  their  temporary  abiding  places  before 
returning  to  Canton  on  the  morrow.  Many  of  the 
signs  read:  "Fine  Gambling,"  "  Aiisjiicioiis  Welcome," 
"  Heavenly  Thought,"  etc.,  tlic  iihilnsupliy  of  all  of  which 
the  fleeced  emigrant  will  probably  h:iv<?  cause  to  recall  on 
the  nxnrow  eve.     When  the  steamboats,  such  as  those 


6o  THE  CHINESE 

from  Canton,  berth  at  the  few  wharves  during  the  night, 
these  boarding-house  runners  carry  lanterns  with  the 
same  signs  emblazoned  on  them.  The  overturning  of 
one  of  these  lights  caused  the  great  steamer  Han-kau 
holocaust  in  the  early  morning  of  October  14th,  1906, 
when  four  hundred  Chinese  were  burned  to  death  in 
their  sleep,  and  a  $300,000  cargo  of  silk  consumed. 

The  Chinese  Imperial  Customs  under  Sir  Robert  Hart 
and  Robert  Bredon,  Hong-Kong  and  even  Macao,  have 
done  something  to  light  the  ancient  coasts  of  south  China. 
As  the  exile  walks  along  Barker  Road  in  the  gathering 
dusk  toward  the  Wong  Nei  Chong  Gap,  he  beholds  Wag- 
Ian  in  the  south,  flashing  out  an  intermittent  signal  but 
reminding  him  in  comparison  of  the  more  frequent  safety 
appliances  of  our  home  waters.  Looking  to  the  north,  a 
weird  sight  is  presented  in  fall  along  the  flanks  of  the 
mountains  which  frown  over  old  Kowloon  City,  Junk 
Bay,  Yamati  and  Hang  How  village,  and  the  Lyee-moon 
Pass,  which  shut  in  the  scene.  A  low  running  fire  sets 
them  off  into  the  buttresses  and  towers  of  a  heavenly  city. 
It  is  the  grass-cutters,  who  are  thus  fertilizing  their 
mountain  pastures  of  wire  grass.  The  hills  are  composed 
of  a  progressively  disintegrating  granite,  which  supports 
only  a  coarse  grass  which  kills  sheep,  but  the  natives  use 
it  for  pig  fodder,  fuel  for  kindling  and  for  vase  kilns, 
fertilizer,  baskets  and  bedding.  The  tremendous  rains 
wash  away  into  the  crevices  even  what  little  loam  docs 
accumulate.  The  Hakka  grass-cutters  are  a  fiery  lot,  and 
the  government  has  been  slow  to  step  in  and  prevent  the 
destruction  of  the  imported  Scotch  fir  growth  which 
would  in  time  reclothe  the  denuded  hills. 

The  Colony  is  visited  often  by  the  enlightened  native 
lady,  Mrs.  Wu,  wife  of  the  famous  minister  Wu  Ting 


B 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  «i 

F«B(;  and  lista  of  the  eminent  Doctor  Ho  Kai  of  Eboff- 
fUmg,  who  ii  ft  ocdooial  legialatcK*  Westmioster  would  be 
fraud  of  for  Ub  attainmenti  and  zeaL  It  vill  be  recalled 
ttat  IGniiter  Wa  yean  ago  i^KtiMd  as  a  barriatcr  before 
Oe  Britiih  courts  of  Hoag-Koag,  where  he  was  bora 
W»  wtl<  to  beanttfal  in  her  quiet  and  sweet  dignity  to 
Cfcry  ooe  who  saw  her  in  the  Colony  and  on  shipboard* 
has  diown  tiiat  high  tbooghts  and  a  great  heart  throb 

derfol  way  of  a  Celestial?  She  has  given  Hoog-Koof 
a  great  hc^tal,  called  the  Ho  Min  Xing,  for  the  women 
of  her  race:  Government  provided  the  site  Already  a 
nathe  hospital  existed  in  the  Tnng  Wah,  whose  offictab 
anrprise  foreigners  with  the  aridity  with  which  tbty  send 
for  tlielxines  or  bodies  of  even  the  obacorest  Chinese  emi- 
grants who  die  at  sea.  "  Prince  or  pauper,  he  is  a  Chin- 
ese, and  the  same  worship  is  paid  him  by  a  loyal  son." 
There  are  besides,  the  large  Civil,  Military  and  Naval 
Hospitals,  and  the  private  Peak  Hospital,  but  all  are  not 
too  many  for  this  tropical  station  of  sickness  where  fevers 
6ght  for  ever  under  their  yellow  banner  of  "  No  Surren- 
der." 

Old  Kowtoon  City,  (whose  translated  name  is  "  Nine 
Dragons,"  owing  to  the  nine  overhanging  peaks)  across 
from  Hong-Kong,  is  beginning  to  draw  the  feet  of  anti* 
quarians.  There  is,  of  course,  nothing  like  the  higher, 
wider  scene  which  appals  the  ordinary  imagination  in 
the  north,  where  the  Great  Wall  climbs  peaks  five  thou- 
sand two  hundred  feet  over  one's  head.  The  wall  of 
the  ancient  city  of  Kowloon  clambers  between  the  boul- 
ders of  the  valleys  and  over  several  hills  three  hundred 
feet  high,  which  were  encircled  and  used  as  redoubts. 
The  wall  between  the  angles  uses  more  stone  than  appears 


62  THE  CHINESE 

in  the  construction  of  the  Great  Wall  in  many  places. 
These  Hakkas  evidently  did  not  believe  in  jerry  contrac- 
tors, when  the  safety  of  their  city  was  to  be  tested.  The 
guns  have  been  dismantled  and  cast  about  the  ramparts 
by  the  British  with  the  same  intent  that  induced  the  As- 
syrians to  sow  salt  and  tares  in  the  fields  of  those  whom 
they  had  conquered  in  citadels  but  were  not  so  sure  they 
had  conquered  in  spirit.  On  the  way  from  the  shore  set- 
tlements to  both  old  Kowloon  and  Yamati,  the  govern- 
ment has  cut  some  remarkable  roads  through  the  yellow 
loess.  It  packs  well,  and  if  you  did  not  test  the  walls, 
you  would  conclude  on  sight  that  it  was  an  engineering 
work  which  had  cost  millions.  With  what  a  feeling  of 
security  once  on  one  of  these  night  walks  above  the  native 
settlement  of  Hang  How,  we  came  across  a  British  cor- 
poral's guard  stationed  by  a  four-point-seven  gun  on 
the  dark  road !  Hundreds  of  coolies  had  dragged  it  part 
of  the  way  up  in  the  daytime,  but  it  was  too  valuable  a 
government  pet, —  this  pointer-nosed  beauty, —  to  be  left 
unguarded,  out  in  this  picturesque  southern  China,  where 
the  white  man,  while  he  talks  mannerly  to  his  yellow 
neighbor,  still  keeps  his  powder  dry. 

As  the  curio-hunter  saunters  into  Kruse's,  or  Kuhn 
and  Komor's,  Hong-Kong,  a  creepy  feeling  possesses  him, 
in  his  illegal  search  after  hara-kiri  swords,  scimitars  from 
Borneo,  and  dahs  and  krises  from  Java,  that  a  Sikh  po- 
liceman is  watching  him  with  hypnotic  eye  through  the 
windows,  to  see  if  the  store  is  selling  swords  in  a  colony 
where  arms  are  interdicted  because  of  the  overwhelming 
native  population. 

When  the  hot  summer  swoops  down  upon  Peking,  the 
foreign  resident  goes  to  the  cooler  hills  of  Patachu, 
twelve  miles  away,  and  the  residents  of  Kobe,  Yokohama 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  |^ 

aad  Seoul  liave  rdief  within  a  few  hours.  Think  of  m 
fnifnmiimwii  {tx  a  sevCD  yt»n  indentore  to  an  iaUnd. 
wbac  only  three  places  (and  those  water  level),  can  be 
reached  over  Sanday,  This  is  the  experience  of  most  of 
the  Ai^o-Sax<His  who  contract  for  service  at  Hong<- 
Kang.  CiDton.  once  known  by  the  Joshuan  name  of 
Yan;  Qaag  (dty  of  rams),  affords  the  kngest  tripi 
Thi*  is  die  dty  of  the  empire  where  it  is  said  every  new 
tbav  and  hixnry  germinates;  where  excttcment  always 
rana  ia^  and  box-top  orators  abound;  where  the  mynni- 
dooB  of  tax  fonners  floarish,  and  if  it  does  not  equal  Nan- 
king in  literary  cnlture.  it  is  the  Athens  of  China  in  con- 
ceit, and  the  Paris  or  Kyoto  of  China  in  art  prodnctiont. 
Talre  kits  of  money,  for  the  stores  will  ten^  the  ti^itest 
fist.  The  boat  sails  from  Hong-Kong  at  eight-thirty 
A.1I.,  before  foreign  life  is  astir,  but  long  after  the  alert 
Chinese  have  opened  the  day  with  6ring  of  crackers  and 
burning  of  joss  paper  on  the  hig^  stems  of  their  junks. 
The  wharf  shed  on  the  Praya  is  about  the  loudest  in  de- 
sign that  can  be  imagined,  and  would  frighten  any  Ostend 
resort  of  the  most  bizarre  aspirations.  But  once  aboard 
the  modem  boats  Falshan  and  Honam,  one  is  de- 
lighted that  the  comforts  of  a  Boston  steamer  are  af- 
forded in  so  remote  a  country,  with  the  additional  unique 
feature  of  armed  Sikhs  patrolling  the  hatches.  The  first 
part  of  the  trip  is  in  landlocked  British  waters,  frowned 
over  by  lofty  Victoria,  Castle  and  Tai  Mo  Peaks.  Many 
Islands,  some  of  historic  interest  in  the  annals  of  Euro- 
pean commerce  with  the  Orient,  dot  the  stream.  Half 
of  the  native  names  have  hajipily  been  retained.  Shek 
Wan  Fen  is  contiguous  to  Deep  Water  Bay.  and  Castle 
Peaks  ovTrlook  Cap  Sui  Moon  Pass.  First  comes  Stone- 
cutter's Island  and  then  Mah  Wan  Island.     It  is  alto- 


64  THE  CHINESE 

gether  captivating  when  the  captain  mixes  his  new-found 
learning  of  the  east  with  your  old  world  names.  Little 
white  villages  of  stone  are  scattered  as  far  up  the  great 
peaks  as  terraces  can  be  cut  to  support  life,  and  the  foot- 
hills look  like  patterns  in  plaids  with  the  varied  green 
of  the  small  garden  patches  which  are  unbroken  by  fences. 
Melancholy  Lintin  Island  is  passed,  with  not  a  house  or 
tree,  and  only  a  few  cellars  remaining  on  it.  Who  would 
believe  that  in  1830  it  was  covered  with  the  stores  and 
homes  of  men  of  our  race  ?  Great  bays  five  miles  deep, 
open  up,  and  the  receding  tide  uncovers  to  the  waders 
edible  seaweed,  shell-fish  and  eels.  Bloated  bodies  and 
heads  bald  in  front  drift  by,  carrying  tales  of  the  mur- 
dered and  the  beheaded,  and  the  tails  of  the  men  them- 
selves in  the  former  case, —  the  terribleness  both  of  dis- 
order and  order  in  uncanny  company.  When  you  arc 
half-way  to  Canton,  the  estuary  narrows  to  the  Bocca 
Tigris  (Tiger's  Mouth  in  Portuguese).  All  about  arc 
rice  fields,  banana  plantations,  and  plots  where  the  canabis 
sinensis  is  cultivated  for  the  famous  buff  and  blue  g^ss- 
doth.  A  thousand  canals  communicate  with  the. East 
and  West  Rivers,  the  most  of  them  extending  from  the 
central  Pearl  River  to  the  West  River.  Many  of  them 
are  navigable  for  the  tugs  one  finds  in  Hong-Kong 
waters,  and  I  recall  some  keen  experiences  when  wc  fol- 
lowed in  the  wake  of  the  government  cruiser  which  was 
catching  pirates,  and  tossing  their  heads  into  baskets  on 
the  top  of  bamboo  poles,  as  a  deterrent  of  crime.  Soon 
we  pass  Whompoa,  where  the  first  foreign  dock  was  lo- 
cated, and  where  Russell's  famous  American  tea-clippers 
used  to  drop  anchor.  Whompoa  will  come  into  its  own 
again  and  make  Hong-Kong  tremble  because  of  a  rival 
greatness. 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  65 

Then  Canton  the  ancient  and  wonderfdl.  Canton  the 
brains  of  China,  comes  into  view.  The  wharf  is  in  the 
old  dty,  and  it  is  necessary  to  take  a  dirty  sampan  to 
reach  tiie  European's  island  of  Shameen  (literaDy  **  sand 
bet  **  because  of  its  beach).  Across  a  dirty  canal,  the 
Sha  Kee  Street  of  the  native  dty  faces  you  with  its 
m]rriad  signs.  The  government  proposes  to  reclaim  land 
in  the  canal,  so  as  to  make  this  street  two  cheungs  (thirty 
feet)  wide, —  scmiething  very  lavish  for  South  China. 
Everywhere  the  boat  population  surges  on  the  waters, 
probably  three  hundred  thousand  people  thus  finding  a 
home  along  the  famous  Pagoda  anchorage.  What  a  con- 
tretemps I  two  marble  Gothic  shafts  of  the  French  Cathe- 
draL  where  the  French  and  Belgian  priests  officiate,  robed 
in  Chinese  costume,  spring  from  amid  the  low  wilderness 
of  tile  roofs.  The  only  other  tall  objects  are  the  square, 
unwindowed  pawn  shops;  a  pagoda  or  two  outside  the 
walls;  the  towers  for  detecting  fires,  and  a  smooth  Mos- 
lem minaret,  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  high,  which 
has  stood  for  five  hundred  years.  The  temples  are  only 
two  stories  high,  and  are  hid  away  among  the  squat 
houses.  In  the  zigzag  streets,  made  so  for  defense 
against  pirates,  and  also  devils  who  can  not  turn  a  comer, 
with  their  many  steps  ( for  the  Great  Wall  set  the  prece- 
dent that  grading  should  never  be  done)  a  guide  is  in- 
dispensable. They  wait  for  you  under  the  palms  at  the 
beautiful  Victoria  Hotel  at  Shameen.  One  dollar  Mexi- 
can silver  a  day  is  the  fee.  Your  chair  with  four  bearers 
costs  one  dollar  more,  and  one  dollar  will  pay  all  fees  for 
bonzes  who  admit  you  to  their  tcm[»Ies. 

The  city  has  a  market  history  siine  the  eighth  century, 
and  is  easily  the  premier  city  of  Li.ina.  It  decidedly  is 
the  HKtropolis  of  the  country,  as  New  York  is  with  us, 


66  THE  CHINESE 

and  it  may  eventually  be  the  capital  if  the  Manchus  are 
overthrown. 

How  many  places  there  are  to  go:  the  shops  of  those 
who  inlay  silver  with  kingfishers'  feathers,  whose  work 
each  day  brings  them  that  much  nearer  to  blindness ;  the 
Chy  Loong  ginger  works,  which  have  candied  sweet- 
roots  for  you  and  me  since  we  were  boys ;  the  Tung  Sliing 
sandalwood  and  ivory  carvers;  the  shops  of  the  jadestone 
polishers;  the  Chun  Loong  matting  works;  the  shops 
where  artists  paint  on  ivory  and  rice  paper ;  the  Yan  Kee 
tea  burners'  works;the  Edible  Birds*  Nest  market;  silk  and 
embroidery  shops  on  Sai  Loy  Street;  the  fragrant  cam- 
phor-wood coffifi  shops  just  beneath  the  Tartar  wall, 
where  the  horsemen  ride  with  panoply  of  antediluvian 
war;  the  venerable  Water  Clock  dripping  down  the  mo- 
ments of  centuries  which  knew  not  our  white-men's  poli- 
tics ;  the  lazy  beggars  on  the  steps  who  do  not  even  ask  an 
alms,  but  trust  to  their  professional  distortions  and  their 
hypnotic  eyes  to  attract  pity.  The  less  said  about  the 
gaudy  Hwa  Ting  or  Flower  Boats,  and  the  fan-tan 
shops,  with  their  huge  lanterns  along  the  Chung  Sun 
Street  in  the  western  suburb,  the  better.  There  are  tea- 
houses, like  so  much  driftwood,  on  the  water's  edge,  with 
some  loose  life,  bad  music  and  gorgeous  robes.  A  meal 
there  of  rice,  cabbage,  pork  and  bean  fixings  costs  th# 
dandy  three  and  a  half  cents.  Signs  of  the  Crescent  here 
and  there  show  where  Mohammedans  have  their  bath- 
houses. 

The  Hwang  Han  Temple  is  remarkable  for  its  ex- 
pansive tile  roof  and  two  miniature  pagodas  in  the  great 
stone  courtyard.  Not  mucli  can  be  said  for  the  Em- 
.  peror's  Temple,  which  is  taudry  and  modem  in  style. 
He  never  visits  these  temples,  and  the  citizens  therefore 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  67 

wpead  only  enough  money  on  him  to  confonn  with  the 
law.  which  prescribes  a  place  in  each  of  the  provincial 
capitals  for  the  Empefx>r  to  worship  the  One  God.  In 
the  Fa-ti  Gardens,  clipped  chrysanthemums  wear  porce- 
lain heads  and  hands. 

The  little  ancestral  chapel  of  the  Tsang  Qan  is  alto- 
gether delightful,  from  an  architectural  point  of  view 
particularly,  and  partly  from  a  sodok^cal  considera- 
tkxu  Two  great  beaoms  of  three  tiers  flank  it  The 
railings,  friezes,  grilles,  eaves,  the  ridge  ornament  par- 
ticolarly,  and  the  wing  chapels  are  as  delicate  as  the  best 
occidental  taste  could  prescribe.  The  modem  ancestral 
temple  of  the  Chun  Ka  Che  clan,  outside  the  waDs,  is 
more  elaborate  and  the  costliest  in  China.  This  is  the 
part  of  the  country  where  a  merchant  prince  dares  laugh 
at  the  idea  that  the  throne  may  not  be  vied  with  in  osten- 
tation.  The  fretwork  of  the  balcony  exhibits  the  richest 
specimens  of  carving.  The  general  chasteness  of  line 
found  throughout  China  is  here  lost  in  too  much  deco- 
ration. 

The  Temple  of  the  Five  Genii  on  Great  Market  Street 
has  a  beauty  of  pillar,  a  lightness  in  poise  of  double  roofs, 
and  a  length  of  vista  through  the  halls,  that  appeal  to  the 
imagination  instantly.  There  is  little  carving  and  you 
desire  none.  You  have  found  wliat  only  genius  can  con- 
ceive, proportion,  and  it  is  no  more  plentiful  in  China 
than  in  other  lands.  The  BuiKlhist  monks  have  set  out 
Hival  palms  on  the  terraces  tu  fit  into  the  general  scheme 
of  columns  approaching  the  christens,  and  the  illusion 
thai  Nature  built  the  temple  easily  ensues.  A  balustrade 
with  pink  tile  frettings.  completes  a  picture  of  line  and 
light,  so  that  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  etcher  or  painter 
w  ould  best  essay  it 


68  THE  CHINESE 

The  curious  can  go  to  the  Nam  Hoi  Magistrates' 
Yamen,  where  the  prisoners  are  on  view  in  cangues  and 
chains  and  the  unconscionable  rascals  are  the  only  Chinese 
who  like  to  be  photographed.     The  Green  Tea  and  the 
Swatow  are  the  best  known  of  the  Guild  Halls.     Even 
the  beggars  here  have  their  Guild  Hall.     An  amusing 
advertisement  of  one  of  the  Canton  hotels  confesses  the 
more  of  the  general  conditions :  "  This  hotel  is  entirely 
free  from  obnoxious  odors."     The  rent  of  the  best  shops 
is  low  enough,  but  tens  of  thousands  prefer  to  carry  their 
shops  on  a  bamboo  over  their  shoulders.    A  Canton  adage 
needs  no  explanation :     "  Get  rich  with  a  taxless  basket, 
for  the  tax-gatherer  sucks  a  shop  as  dry  as  an  empty 
shell."     The   hucksters   can    not   carry    signs,    so    they 
yell  their  wares,  each  in  the  note  of  his  Guild.     The  bar- 
ber's note  is  like  a  cicada's;  the  cobbler's  like  a  cat's; 
while  the  umbrella  man  storms  like  our  Themistodes 
when  he  roared  above  the  fleets  of  Salamis.     I  think  a 
Chinese  has  the  shrillest  and  strongest  voice  in  the  world, 
and  can  make  the  wryest  face  in  ejecting  it.     But  he  is 
quite  capable  of  exhibiting  the  most  infectious  smile  at  the 
first  sight  of  humor.     He  shows  all  the  indications  of  a 
healthy,     well-poised     mentality.      Two     chair-bearers, 
jostled  into  by  two  coolies  who  are  carrying  a  great  load 
between  them  on  a  bamboo,  shout  back  most  filthy  lan- 
guage concerning  the  mothers  of  their  assailants.     Noth- 
ing daunted,  the  latter  retort:     ''Mo  mi  ma  wo  peen" 
(Go  on,  you  tailless  horses),  which  is  the  most  insulting 
name  a  draft  coolie  can  be  called,  and  a  trail  of  laughter 
follows  in  the  wake  of  the  jeered.     Everybody  else,  in 
the  height  of  manners,  is  extending  the  usual  morning 
greeting,  "chih  kwo  fan"  (have  you  had  rice),  which 
answers    to    our    "  how-do-you-do "    salutation.    The 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  69 

peddlers  are  in  force;  they  chiefly  visit  the  homes  of 
foreigners  with  their  baskets  of  porcelain,  jewels,  silks, 
furs,  and  jade.  We  remember  one  of  the  wiliest  who 
used  to  bring  white  fox  furs  which  we  suspected  had  lain 
too  long  in  the  pawn  shops,  until  the  fur  was  molting, 
for  they  have  no  cold  storage  system  in  the  south  of  the 
empire.  He  would  leap  like  a  jumping-jack  and  vo- 
ciferate: "  No  slake  (examine)  *em  first;  you  makee  buy, 
then  can  look  see,"  which  was  all  too  good  for  himself. 

The  umbrella  mender;  the  cutter  of  wood  seals  or 
**  chops  '* ;  the  itinerant  banker  with  his  strings  of  cash, 
the  load  under  which  he  was  groaning  probably  not  being 
worth  over  six  of  our  dollars;  the  shoe*man  shouting 
**  straw  sandals  one  cent  a  pair ; "  the  looping  or  yellow 
cookie  man,  for  they  keep  in  China  the  yellow  of  their 
eggs  while  they  send  us  the  albumen  in  crystals;  the 
dentist  with  his  pincers  and  a  string  of  his  horrible  con- 
quests; the  medicine  seller  with  his  dried  snakes;  the 
seller  of  che  (sticks  of  sugar  cane  one  foot  long), —  all 
hurr\'  along  with  an  eye  searching  one  way,  and  a  voice 
the  other,  for  "goc-xi  luck  pidgin."  or  the  first  bargain  of 
the  morning.  A  guided  company  of  the  blind  in  Indian 
file,  with  their  hands  on  one  another's  shoulders,  pass  near 
the  wall  and  murmur  **  kou  lun  "  ( for  pity's  sake,  a 
gift !).  The  streets  are  so  narrow  and  sunless  with  signs 
th.it  the  lantern-maker,  the  fish-man,  the  dyer,  and  the 
h'li-^ewifc  all  drv  their  wares  on  the  tile  rcx^f,  where 
f*  <y\\}\\'  a  small  tree  may  be  growing  in  the  ancient  col- 
!cx::i'»n  of  du>t  in  the  gutterway  and  sjxnit.  The  fruit 
\cr:!er  will  n<>t  sell  you  the  orange  with  the  skin.  He 
sells  tlie  skins  separately  as  a  llavi»ring  for  l^'ilcil  rice  or 
iK'T  preserving.  The  pp>fe>si<  nal  story-tellers  gather 
crowds  as  dirty  sugar  gathers  tlies.     If  you  liiten  you 


fll'  ■!  - 


70  THE  CHINESE 

will  conclude  that  the  reciters  have  memorized  from  un- 
expurgated  editions  of  popular  novelettes,  and  also  added 
a  dressing  of  their  own.  The  lantern  and  balloon  seller 
is  in  tremendous  difficulties,  and  has  the  pain  of  Atlas 
on  his  brow  and  shoulders,  for  while  his  long  pole  lifts 
his  wares  above  the  crowds,  it  is  for  ever  bumping  into 
the  forest  of  street  signs.  Here  is  a  fresh-faced  country 
boy  carrying  his  baskets  of  water-cress.  His  feet  arc 
covered  with  sores,  for  the  water  where  he  works  is  none 
too  pure.  There  goes  a  band  of  strolling  musicians,  out 
to  earn  a  day's  honest  wage,  blowing  furiously  on  sangs, 
scraping  on  tikins,  picking  at  pipas  and  banging  at  los. 
A  barber,  when  he  has  nailed  a  customer,  backs  up  to  the 
wall,  for  **  if  cutee,  no  payee."  Every  one  else  traffics 
in  the  jostling  crowd.  Look!  there  steps  a  mandarin 
from  his  chair  toward  the  Yamen's  steps.  He  affects  a 
walk  with  feet  set  very  far  apart,  just  such  as  you  sec 
copied  by  a  certain  class  of  the  jeunesse  of  the  army  as 
they  take  an  airing  down  the  platform  at  the  Horse  Guards 
Parade  Ground,  London,  or  at  our  own  Presidio;  it  was 
learned  in  China ! 

One  never  sees  fisticuffs.  Now  and  then  an  urchin 
spits  at  a  foreigner's  chair  and  shouts.  Fan  kwci  lai 
(See,  here's  a  foreign  devil),  but  his  ears  are  cuffed  by 
the  first  shopkeeper  who  can  reach  him,  especially  if  the 
American  monitor  Monadnock;  the  British  gunboats 
Algerine  and  Moorhen,  or  the  French  Styx  are  in 
port.  Coal  bearers,  corpse  carriers,  idol  bearers,  all 
join  the  rout  of  the  barefooted,  but  outside  of  their 
voices  these  millions  pass  in  silence  along  their  smokeless 
streets;  no  wheels,  no  hoofs,  no  bells,  no  whistles,  no 
leather  shoes.  What  a  difference  between  the  street 
scenes  here  and  in  Peking,  the  capital  of  the  north!    In 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA  71 

I  Omtoo,  the  capital  of  the  south,  tliere  are  no  animaU  or 
carts  in  the  narrow  streets.  In  Peking  tlie  most  striking 
features  of  the  street  life  are  the  trains  of  double-humped 
Bactrtan  camcU  and  tlic  spritiglcss  Pdting  passenger  cart* 
in  the  wide  streets.  Step  (en  paces  off  the  street  in 
Canton  into  the  lirst  temple  court,  like  the  Hwang  Hau, 
and  the  hush  of  the  longest  recorded  centuries  of  this. 
oar  poor  earth,  mmicdiately  closes  about  you,  as  though 
TOUT  soul  had  dropped  into  space.  You  who  have  ne%*er 
thougitt  before  tn  your  own  latxl  of  excitement  and 
danger  on  the  streets,  suddenly  are  awed  in  this  exile 
among  the  heathen  by  your  own  mind  turning  about, 
facing  you  and  saying:  "  We  never  met  before."  This  is 
what  yoo  will  never  forget.  This  is  what  you  can  truly 
say  for  ever:  "  I  ■li^cvrrctl  my  i'lcntity;  I  accepted  my 
reqxmsibQity  tn  fear  in  China." 

Who  are  these  tittle  Cantonese?  Up  the  Fu>kien 
pinte  coast;  up  the  scented  Yangtze;  up  the  shadowy  Si 
River;  along  the  marshes  of  Malaysia,  or  under  the  iron 
cliffs  of  Liaotung,  always  keeping  within  sound  of  the 
tfaod^bud  of  the  screws  of  British  gunboats,  has  followed 
the  greatest  abettor  of  British  power  and  British  prints, 
the  peerless  Cantonese  middleman,  the  real  civiliier  of 
the  East 

The  second  excursion  is  to  Macao,  of  which  we  will 
relate  separately,  and  the  third  and  last  trip  available  to 
a  Hong-Kongite  is  that  up  the  West  River  (Sikiang). 
The  stemwheel  boats  Sainam  and  Nanning  leave 
Canton  for  Woochow,  two  hundred  and  twenty  miles 
away,  three  times  a  week,  making  the  journey  in  thirty 
hours.  The  riv«r  was  opened  to  foreign  trade  as  far 
back  as  1897,  but  its  beauties  are  only  lately  coming  into 
fame  with  us.    The  Chinese  have  always  appreciated 


72  THE  CHINESE 

them,  but  this  is  not  the  only  thing  we  have  learned  they 
have  been  concealing.  "  Concealment  is  Nature's  first 
measure  of  safety,  and  half  of  a  man's  wisdom,"  says 
their  proverb.  Where  the  North  River  and  Fatshan 
Branch  join  the  West  River  at  Sam  Shui  (Three  Wat- 
ers), which  you  easily  mispronounce  and  say  "whisky" 
in  Chinese,  the  most  beautifully  wooded  headlands  reach 
into  the  water.  It  might  from  all  natural  appearances 
be  a  bend  in  the  Ottawa.  Stone  temples  peep  from  be- 
neath the  trees  and  you  conclude  that  the  Chinese,  who 
do  everything  opposite  to  us,  do  not  place  their  best  archi- 
tectural creations  in  cities,  but  on  hills,  in  woods,  or 
beside  the  waters,  so  that  beauteous  Nature  may  be  a 
propitiator  between  God  and  man,  for  they  say  true  love- 
liness and  sin  can  not  exist  together.  As  you  sail  into 
the  broad  waters  of  Woochow  reach,  and  the  moon  comes 
over  Pagoda  Hill,  and  glistens  on  the  porcelain  tower, 
you  have  something  lovely  to  remember  for  ever,  and  con- 
clude that  a  country  can  be  beautiful  and  a  man  patriotic 
in  any  language. 

One  of  the  stops  is  called  Do-Shing,  and  you  wonder 
whether  you  are  in  Devonshire  or  along  the  Danube,  until 
you  separate  the  name.  Do  —  Shing.  There  is  no 
journey  equal  to  the  first  part  of  this  trip  in  affording 
opportunity  to  study  Chinese  life,  for  the  villages  crowd 
to  the  water's  edge.  The  Hudson,  or  the  Danube  at  the 
Iron  Gate,  can  not  surpass  Shui  Hing  Gorge,  with  the 
Marble  Mountains,  Seven  Star  Hills,  and  How  Ldc 
Peaks,  and  their  many  pagodas  towering  over  the  water, 
which  is  swollen  with  the  summer's  torrents.  At  Kam- 
chuk  the  rapids  run  twenty  miles  an  hour.  The  river  is 
more  picturesque  than  the  Hudson  because  of  its  greater 
number  of  bends.     One  seems  to  be  sailing  into  a  wall. 


"ITic   (.)1(1    atifl   (he    New— \    m<-\cTu    Me;iiiil">;.i    l.r..„^;lu 
from   Scollatnl,  iincli-n-il   ;i!ii.iiis   ihi-   sltii|>iT   tiDaii 
sampans  n{  Caiiiun,  Souih  China. 


"1 


FOREIGNERS  IN  CHINA 


73 


when  suddenly  a  new  reach  is  spread  before  the  view, 
with  banks  where  sorghum,  tndigo,  ca:«sia,  mulberry,  tea, 
taoana,  ramie,  marting  reeds,  palm  and  bamboo  grow  in 
varied  colored  luxarbnce,  not  to  speak  of  fields  of  that 
most  quift  of  all  green  shades  of  nature,  where  the  rice  J 
and  millet  patches  extend.  Now  the  stream  narrows  to  i 
*  gor^,  and  the  mountains  again  come  to  the  water's 
edge,  and  during  the  torrential  rains  of  summer  the  bare 
hills  present  thousands  of  glorious  waterfalls.  Then  a 
Mm  is  made,  and  a  lake  covered  with  boat  life  extends 
-   wide  into  the  hclds.     A  pagoda's  thin  shadow  spears  the 

rwaierK.  Great  junk  sails  seem  to  be  moving  tliroogh  the 
(ardem,  along  hidden  creeks,  nf  course.  Not  all  the 
ports  which  you  pass  on  the  river  can  be  touched  at,  be- 
caase  they  have  not  been  opened  by  treaty,  and  the  in- 
terdiction lends  zest  to  the  trip.  Now  and  then  a  raft  of 
the  precious  giant  bamboo  is  towed  past  by  launches. 
Along  the  Teng  Yu  Mountains,  waterfalls  glisten.  De- 
cidedly the  most  unique  sight  on  Chinese  waters  u  a 
native  passenger  boat,  with  the  great  sweeps  and  sails, 
working  its  crowded  human  freight  up  the  stream.  A 
first-class  ticket  costs  one-half  of  a  cent  a  mile.  There 
it  no  steward's  service,  for  every  man  eats  from  his  own 
loDch  basket,  or  rather,  handkerchief.     At  Kamchuk  and 

jfccShni  Hing,  the  old  capital  of  the  province,  buildings  en- 
cnadi  into  the  stream  on  piles.  A  Chinese  seems  never 
to  be  afraid  of  water  or  freshets,  though  floods,  typhoons, 
dwasy  junks,  and  frail  sampans  are  for  ever  taking  a 

^    tanible  tM  of  death  among  this  persistent,  patient  race. 

J  AioBC  tine  tow  path  on  the  right  of  the  stream,  human 
trickera  pull  freight  boats  against  the  current  Tak 
Hn^,  on  the  north  bank,  shipped  you  the  matting  which 
is  laid  on  the  bedroom  floor  of  your  far  distant  borne. 


74  THE  CHINESE 

The  marshes,  where  the  reed  grows,  extend  far  inland. 
Since  you  have  at  last  made  a  call  upon  them  where  they 
were  working  with  a  will  for  you,  you  will  doubtless  now 
and  for  ever  have  a  new  heart  for  the  little  saffron 
brothers  who  are  knee  deep  in  the  water,  whose  wage  is 
twelve  cents  a  day,  and  who,  after  paying  their  living 
expenses,  have  as  a  profit  on  what  they  sell  you,  only  two 
cents  a  day  left  to  save. 


TBE  PORTUCl.'ESE  AND  CAMOENS  IN  CniHA 

Wbcn  Luther.  iWoIscy  and  the  Pope  were  the  nan>ei 
that  datnorcd  loudest  in  the  trorli],  a  few  swarthy  Lusi' 
tantan  idventurcrs  in  half-decked  caravds,  had  taken  so 
long  a  journey  that  the  fame  and  luxuries  of  the  old 
world  were  of  small  import  to  them  in  their  remotest 
exile.  From  the  yellow  Tagiii  and  Li^tMn  tbey  had  come 
to  the  red  delta  of  tlie  Canton  River,  in  Qiina.  The  col- 
ony cxiMs  iD-day,  and  I  ftnind  the  dried-Icaf  chann  of 
(he  dim  past  dingiitp  to  the  ydlow  and  blue  chunam 
(stucco)  walls  of  sunny  Macao.  The  dangers  of  the  past 
are  also  a  present  reality  on  these,  the  most  dangerous 
waters  of  the  world,  from  a  police  standpoint.  A  river 
trip  is  spiced  with  the  risk  of  piratical  attacks.  The 
creeks  and  upper  reaches  of  the  delta,  between  the  Chu 
and  Sikiang  Rivers  give  refuge  to  nearly  naked  aitd 
bronzed  bucaneers.  who  frequently  fire  from  the  sorghum 
brakes  upon  passing  steamboats.  All  the  native  junks 
which  ply  on  the  West  River  to  the  silk  plantations,  are 
equipped  with  cannon  of  antique  pattern,  and  hand- 
grenades. 

The  handsomest  steamboat  east  of  Suez,  the  Heung- 
than,  leaves  Hong-Kong  for  Mncao  at  two  o'clock,  ar- 
riving at  sundown.  The  trip  is  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Pearl  River,  and  across  more  open  water  than  the  voyage 
to  Canton.  Differing  from  Chinese  and  mediaeval  cities. 
for  in  the  spirit  of  the  latter  it  was  partly  planned,  Macao, 
75 


76  THE  CHINESE 

filling  up  the  end  of  a  narrow-necked  peninsula,  is  walled 
only  on  two  sides,  the  north  and  the  south.  The  sea 
itself,  providing  the  moat  on  the  east  and  west,  has  al- 
ways proved  to  be  the  stronger  barrier.  The  Chinese  at 
will  have  leaped  the  Porta  Cerco  wall,  but  on  many  oc- 
casions the  Macaense  prevented  the  landing  of  the  Dutch 
along  the  eastern  beach  by  the  guns  of  Bomparto,  Fran- 
cisco and  Guia  forts.  The  city's  incorporated  name  is 
"  Cidade  da  Nome  de  Deos,  Nao  ha  outra  mais  leal " : 
"  City  of  the  Name  of  God,  most  loyal  of  the  Colonics,'* 
which  honor  was  accorded  it  by  Dom  Joa  IV.,  in  1642. 
The  Boa  Vista  is  a  castle-like  hotel  on  the  Penha  Heights, 
which  overlooks  the  sixteenth  century  Bomparto  fort  and 
the  great  half  moon  Pray  a  Grande  bay.  It  is  the  most 
picturesquely  situated  and  cleanest  hotel  in  the  Orient, 
and  has  been  a  source  of  national  jealousy  between  Portu- 
gal, France,  China  and  England.  France  has  been  en- 
deavoring to  secure  it  as  an  advance  post  toward  Canton, 
for  if  England  ever  takes  the  Yangtze  basin,  France  is 
going  to  demand  the  whole  coast  from  Tonquin  to 
Fu-kien,  including  the  two  Kwang  Provinces  and  Yun- 
nan, to  the  capital  of  which  she  is  now  sending  a  railway 
from  Haiphong.  The  Boa  Vista's  fish  and  game  dinners 
are  famous  throughout  the  East.  It  also  makes  a  spe- 
cialty of  Portuguese  wines,  from  the  light  Colares  to 
golden  port.  The  drive  from  the  band  gardens  along  the 
cliffs  to  the  Areia  Preta  bathing  beach  rivals  Hong- 
Kong's  noble  Jubilee  Road,  and  both  of  these  oriental 
roads,  hanging  over  the  sea,  surpass  Nice's  Cornichc 
Road  in  foliage  and  color.  Through  the  productive,  in- 
tensively-developed Chinese  truck-farms  runs  the  wide 
Avenida  Vasco  da  Gama,  as  far  as  Mongha  Fort.  Over 
Cacilhas  Bay  is  the  picturesque  Montanha  Russa  Paric, 


THE  PORTUGUESE  AND  CAMOENS 


which  ii  grsdecl  like  a  grassy  volcano.  All  were  built  by 
chained  convict  anil  imprv&sed  soliticr  labor.  Few  now 
freqxient  these  noble,  highly  ttiaintainecl  roads,  as  the 
ooortly  daric  Macaenses  have  drifted  (o  Hong-Kong  to 
earn  a  livelihood,  and  the  historic  little  colony,  Euixipe's 
first  comjuesi  in  Cathay,  is  lapsing  into  merely  a  uuJta- 
rium  and  pleasure  resort,  from  which  place  neither  Manila's 
Baguio  or  Hong-Kong's  peak  promise  lo  displace  it 
Macao's  unique  feature  in  this  rc<pect  is  the  steady- 
blowing  tlirough  live  hot  months  of  the  soti-west  monsoon. 
Should  this  bree/c  lap«c  for  a  moment,  death  would  come 
to  thousands  from  the  awful  heat  resulting.  As  you  look 
at  night  from  the  wide  verandas  of  the  Boa  Vista  hotel, 
yoa  notice  lights  like  lireBies  flitting  along  the  Praya 
Grande.  Thty  are  the  I-interns  of  Ihc  few  who  must  he 
abroad  late,  or  of  adventurers  who  are  returning  from 
the  fon-tan  gambling-houses.  The  lukongs  will  challenge 
none  who  bears  a  light  In  all  oriental  cities  there  are 
more  private  watchmen  than  police. 

The  hospitality  of  the  Macaense  is  proverbiaL  Their 
table  conspicuously  displays  the  influence  the  Chinese 
bSTC  had  upon  them  during  four  centuries:  candy  Sa- 
vored with  arbutus  and  haw  seeds;  laoping  pasties  made 
of  water  chestnuts  and  flour  and  colored  the  popular 
dtixjn  yellow;  coagulated  duck's  blood  pudding;  bamboo 
■boots  preserved  in  sugar;  and  carambola  and  mango 
jellies.  As  butter  is  scarce,  you  can  taste  the  sesamum 
oQ  in  food. 

A  visit  to  the  opium  farm,  as  you  drive  up  the  tortu- 
ous Rua  da  Pcnha,  affonls  a  curiosity.  The  lane  which 
runs  along  the  low,  dreary  factory  smells  of  the  narcotic 
fames,  and  not  a  green  blade  grows.  Look  through  the 
bsirs.     They  are  boiling,  stirring  and  straining  the  balls 


i 


78  THE  CHINESE 

from  India,  which  they  have  mixed  with  the  lower  grade 
pods  from  their  own  Yunnan  fields,  in  brass  dislies,  till 
finished  like  brown  treacle  the  mixture  is  poured  into 
water-buffalo  horn  cups.  These  cups  are  incased  in  tin, 
and  again  in  camphor-wood.  There  is  a  great  park-like, 
stone-paved  court  attached  to  the  factory,  but  none  save 
an  Occidental  is  ever  seen  in  it.  The  factory  boys  are 
more  stupefied  for  sleep  than  play,  after  their  work.  All 
the  opium  brought  to  America  is  made  at  this  farm. 
The  ships  lie  twenty  miles  away,  just  off  the  edge  of  the 
smuggling  shallows,  at  the  famous  Kowhow-Yang  an- 
chorage, where  arms  are  dealt  in  at  night  over  the  sides 
of  phantom  ships,  for  pirates  and  the  Young  China  party. 
Old-fashioned  Portuguese  gunboats,  like  the  Diu  and 
Goa,  with  low  waists  and  high  bulwarks,  and  Arm- 
strong guns  on  wooden  carriages  lashed  to  the  deck, 
escort  the  prize-laden,  high-sterned  junks  from  the 
crowded  inner  anchorage  to  the  mail  steamers.  I  once 
returned  on  the  g^mboat  with  the  tanned  Legionaires 
of  the  romantic  little  kingdom.  The  men  could  recite 
the  epic  of  Camoens  with  that  pathos  which  is  possible 
only  by  those  who  have  a  proud  past,  but  no  possible 
future.  The  shippers  of  the  opium  are  quite  justified  in 
their  fears  that  pirates  may  dash  out  for  the  million-dollar 
cargo  from  behind  Taipa,  Don  Joao  or  Lapa  Islands. 

Lonely  Portugal,  the  relict  of  a  great  race,  sits  in  her 
ancient  palace  surrounded  by  portraits  of  a  famous  past 
The  names  she  whispers  in  her  melancholy  are  Da  Gama, 
who  gave  the  world  the  sea-link  to  India;  Prince  Hemy 
the  navigator,  who  suggested  to  Columbus  his  ambitions; 
and  Camoens.  who  was  the  Chaucer  of  the  Portuguese 
language,  and  one  of  literature's  five  great  epic  writers. 
He  was  the  greatest  genius  of  Portugal,  versed  in  the 


icao,  looking  from  IViiha  Height  lo  Cape  Sao  i-'rancisco.     Famous 

Praya  <!ramie  drive  facing  waier;  (]uia  lighlliouse  in  right 

distance,  aii<l  Monte  Fort  in  left  distance,  both 

first  of  their  kind  in  China. 


Penha    Heights. 


THE  PORTUGUESE  AND  CAMOENS 


cbsatcs  like  Milion,  a  warrior  of  Sydney's  stamp,  a 
dashtng  courtier,  and  a  traveler  of  Cervantes'  wit. 
Portugal  may  be  notable  again,  when  Brazil,  her  off- 
spring by  blood  and  liicraturc,  dooiinatcs  in  South 
America.  She  exists  to-day  as  a  tragically  discontented 
decadence  in  Europe;  a  sunny  spot  in  China;  a  group 
of  forsaken  cathedrals  on  the  Malabar  Coast,  and  a  neg- 
lected blur  of  uninhabited  territory  under  the  Woe- 
and-white  flag-of-t  he-castles,  {n  Africa. 

Half-way  between  Hong-Kong  and  Canton,  on  a  nar- 
row peninsula  of  canal-veined  Hcang-Shnn  district  of 
Kwangtung  Prcrvincc.  bciw^een  the  Pearl  River  and  the 
is  ttie  settlement  of  Macao,  holding  in  its  arms,  to- 

ird  the  cool  sou-west  monsoon  a  flashing  blue  hay. 
which  dashes  its  waters  over  the  long  walls  of  the  drditig' 
Praya  Grande.  It  is  the  Naples  of  the  Orient  in  appear- 
ance, color,  joy  and  carelessness.  Here  in  1557  came 
Camoens,  a  political  exile,  and  here  he  wrote  half  of  Tht 
Lusiad,  thus  producing  in  China  a  supreme  work  of 
European  literature,  in  days  when  the  American  hemi- 
sphere loomed  like  cliffs  of  wonder  in  the  uncertain  mists 
of  early  discoveiy,  and  when  the  morning  star  of  Shakes- 
peare had  not  yet  risen  on  the  minds  of  mankind. 
Camoens'  Itixuriant  garden  and  grotto  overlook  the 
inner  and  outer  harbors,  which  were  covered  in  his  day, 
as  on  the  golden  afternoon  when  I  saw  them  first,  with  a 
forest  of  ydlow  and  brown  matting  sails  of  junks.  Little, 
hoirewr.  was  the  poet's  heart  fed  by  the  argosies  of 
bWct.  golden  brocades,  ivory,  pearls,  porcelain,  camphor, 
and  aillc.  passing  homeward  to  his  cruel  Lisbon.  He  was 
weaving  another  web.  and  his  heart,  bitter  in  exile,  was 
wooDdcd   to   produce    the   poetic    pearls   of    a    second 


8o  THE  CHINESE 

Blue,  yellow,  red  and  brown,  the  squat  buildings  of 
Macao  crowd  on  rising,  uneven  ground,  and  present,  with 
their  roofs  of  heavy  tiles,  a  color  scheme  worthy  of  the 
brush  of  Velasquez.  The  streets  run  a  zigzag  course, 
so  that  from  house  to  house  defense  could  be  made 
against  the  Chinese,  or  against  the  Dutch  in  the  later 
days  of  the  Colony.  These  houses  arc  popular  with  the 
Chinese,  whose  superstition  it  is  that  a  devil  can  not  turn 
a  comer.  The  shutters  of  the  buildings  have  fish-scale 
and  pearl-shell  windows,  which  soften  in  the  rooms  the 
intense  light  of  an  oriental  day.  High  against  the  sky- 
line is  the  distinguishing  ruin  of  Macao,  the  windowless 
Renaissance  fagade  of  the  burned  San  Paulo  Cathedral, 
with  its  three  rows  of  Corinthian  pillars,  superimposed 
on  ten  Ionic  pillars.  The  antique  edifice  was  erected  early 
in  the  sixteenth  century.  The  magnificent  flight  of  one 
hundred  stone  steps,  as  wide  as  the  edifice  itself,  is  bound 
by  Time's  hand  in  plumes  of  grass  and  bright  oriental 
blooms,  and  the  night  alone  swings  lamps  of  worship 
over  the  old  roofless  altar  of  four  centuries  ago.  In  the 
Se  Cathedral  I  heard  a  military  mass,  reminiscent  of  the 
cavalcades  of  Da  Gama  and  Cortez,  the  host  being  sa- 
luted with  presented  swords.  The  Miserere  of  Gounod 
was  played  by  a  military  brass  band  in  the  church  loft. 
Little  swarthy  soldiers,  uniformed  in  blue,  swung  along 
the  dazzling  streets  to  a  march  played  by  the  bugle. 
They  wore  rimless  caps,  these  reckless  ones,  suited  more 
for  the  Estrella  Mountains  of  their  homeland  than  the 
pitiless  suns  of  the  East,  but  with  the  impulsive  Latins, 
as  with  the  Chinese,  appearance  and  old  customs  must 
never  be  sacrificed  for  a  mere  thing  like  climate. 

The  government  ration  to  the  soldiers  included  good 
Colares  wine,  poured  desecratingly  from  a  tin  pail  into 


.J 


THE  PORTUGUESE  AND  CAM0EN5      8l 

pewter  cups.  The  native^m  Portuguese,  called  ttea- 
erne,  dress  in  coatradtstinction  to  the  usual  oriental  cus- 
tom, in  Made,  which  uncomfortably  attracts  the  actinic 
rays  of  the  sun.  The  small  ruling  class  from  Lisbon 
seems  out  of  place  in  the  exotic  gowns  of  European 
fashion.  The  Chinese  shuflle  along  the  excellent  coacntK 
military  roads  in  their  gorgeous  blouses  of  purple,  jrel- 
low  and  blue,  and  they  look  to  the  manor  bom.  They 
gather  in  knots  before  the  wax-model  and  lantern  stores  oa 
tnigfat  Rua  FeUddade,  and  discuss  progress  in  the  ear  of 
iheunprogressive.  The  blue-and-white  barred  turbans,  with 
long  streamers  attached,  of  the  imported  Sikh  pcdice  make 
the  most  attractive  head-gear  one  couM  see  the  worid 
over.  The  sound  of  clanking  chains  approaches  akmg 
the  road,  and  a  band  of  native  prisoners,  linked  together, 
who  have  been  working  on  tlie  highway,  are  escorted  by. 
Killed  with  the  piety  of  Xavier,  and  following  his  steps 
on  the  same  sunny  roads,  the  little  Colony  is  most  charac- 
teristically  solemn  and  impressive  in  its  Santa  Croce 
procession  in  June,  which  reminds  one  of  the  Paso  pro- 
cessions of  Seville.  The  Legionaires  are  as  disciplinary 
as  the  soldiers  of  Da  Gania ;  they  compel  the  Protestant 
stranger  at  the  points  of  their  swords  to  remove  his  hat. 
The  music  is  doleful  and  titful  sobs  611  its  pauses.  The 
procession  is  slow  and  halting;  its  color  is  black  where 
the  small  number  of  Europeans  and  Macaense  lead,  and 
purple  where  the  long  line  of  Chinese  converts  follow. 
Down  the  Riia  da  Se.  iwnicd  from  the  yellow,  Spanish- 
style  cathedral  at  its  head,  it  winds  to  the  I'raya  Grande 
which  skirts  the  ocean.  Camollias,  carnations  and  leaves 
are  scattered  at  the  nine  slreit  stations  of  tlie  Cross. 
Two  chiMren  robed  in  while,  and  winged  as  Raphaelic 
cherubs,  lead  and  regulate  the  kneeling  and  the  march. 


82  THE  CHINESE 

The  whole  Colony  is  out  upon  the  harbor  street;  the 
women  veiled  behind  their  Do  cloths  are  in  the  windows 
of  the  single  line  of  houses  which  face  the  bay;  the  rest 
of  the  city  is  deserted.  The  Chinese  come  to  wonder 
especially  at  the  gaily  dressed  band  of  converts  who  are 
nearly  all  girl  slaves  who  were  purchased  in  childhood. 
The  Casa  Misericordia,  the  Church  Lottery,  is  strongly 
represented  by  liveried  oi^cials.  Finally  a  heroic-sized 
figure  of  Christ,  bearing  His  cross,  is  brought  forward 
upon  the  shoulders  of  the  troops.  The  flare  of  the 
trumpets  assails  the  heathen  air;  the  draped  drums  roll 
out  the  gathering  thunder;  the  emotion  of  the  onlookers 
contributes  sobs,  and  the  little  band  of  Catholic  exiles 
take  every  thrill  of  courage  possible  out  of  their  famous 
fete.  High  above  the  Areia  Preta  Beach,  behind  the 
square  walls  of  the  Protestant  cemetery  which  is  smoth- 
ered in  a  vast  foliage,  lies  the  body  of  Rc^rt  Morrison, 
the  pioneer  Protestant  missionary  and  translator,  whose 
name  is  at  last  coming  into  its  own  in  a  great  fame,  now 
that  the  Christian  scriptures  are  leavening  China. 

On  the  fifth  day  of  the  fifth  moon,  the  Chinese  hold 
their  religious  procession  of  Ken  Yuen,  their  greatest 
democrat  whom  they  have  canonized,  which  ceremony, 
however,  takes  place  on  the  water,  and  the  Macaense  be- 
come the  spectators.  Flimsy  bamboo  stands,  bound  to- 
gether with  rattan  only,  are  erected,  and  their  not 
infrequent  precipitation  in  the  excitement  causes  vast  loss 
of  life.  The  island  communities  of  Taipa,  Joao,  Lapa 
and  Heungshan  send  boats,  very  like  our  war  canoes, 
only  that  the  bow  and  stern  are  carved  into  the  form  of 
a  dragon.  The  ceremony  includes  the  casting  of  gifts 
and  sacrifices  into  the  water,  which  was  copied  by  the 
Venetian  doges  when  they  heard  the  tales  which  Marco 


THE  PORTUGUESE  AND  CAMOENS      83 


■Alio  brought  home.  The  festival  doses  with  racing  on 
WB  vast  scale.  The  boats  arc  all  overmatincd,  sometimes 
\  with  sixty  paddlcrs,  and  the  gunwales  arc  often  only  five 
inches  above  the  choppy  water.  A  platform  is  raised  in 
the  waist,  on  which  stands  a  naked  man  who  beats  tlie 
stroke  on  a  gong  for  his  bareback  crew.  Native  women 
are,  of  course,  kept  at  home.  In  the  exciting  finish  I 
have  seen  the  stroke  raised  to  se^-eoty-fivc.  The  irregu- 
larity of  the  paddling  as  much  as  the  collisions  is  respon- 
sibUi  for  the  swampings.  The  whole  world  has  leaped 
in  alarm  when  telegrams  have  come  from  Yiict  Shing  on 
the  Kau  Kwan  reach  of  the  West  River,  of  (he  l««s  o(  one 
thoosand  lives  through  the  tumbling  of  one  of  the  standi 
during  the  wild  finish  of  the  races  Uicrc.  After  the 
races,  the  boats  paddle  to  all  the  villages  of  the  sea 
deha.  Wafted  into  your  room  on  the  Penha  Height  at 
Macao  by  the  sou-west  monsoon,  far  into  the  night,  like 
the  classic  echoes  of  the  strokes  of  Jason's  crew,  come  the 
aoDods  of  the  gongs  and  the  paddles  of  these  dusky  boat- 
men as  tbey  visit  and  challenge  for  the  morrow  among 
the  bays  of  Taipa  and  Joao. 

Once  a  month,  on  a  Sunday,  crowds  from  Hong-Koi^ 
repair  to  Macao,  to  a  classic  little  building  with  white 
barred  windows,  on  the  Rua  da  Se,  to  witness  the  draw- 
ings of  the  Misericordia  Lottery,  which  is  the  most  ex- 
tensive in  the  East  and  has  given  Macao  the  name  of  the 
oriental  Monte  Carlo.  The  officers  are  in">inifonn  and 
have  just  come  from  special  benediction  for  the  drawing-, 
and  mass  in  the  Se  Cathedral  cli.'^c  by.  Inside  a  railing 
the  costumed  committee  sit,  with  a  timile  upon  their 
conntenaiKes,  which  is  half  bel  ^  ccn  the  capidity  of  ■  ^ 
gambler  and  the  satisfaction  of  a  urtuous  judge. 
trumpet  is  blown  for  eclat    Around  goes  the  gnat  *"— 

f 


84  THE  CHINESE 

globe,  while  every  breath  is  held.  The  dice-like  number, 
which  falls  out  only  one  at  a  time,  is  passed  to  three  per- 
sons, two  of  whom  witness  the  number,  and  the  last  steps 
forward  and  theatrically  announces  it  to  the  assemblage 
beyond  the  rails.  This  tottery  draws  from  Manila  three 
hundred  thousand  pesos  annually;  from  Hong-Kong  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  Mexican.  For  its  franchise  it 
is  compelled  to  maintain  Macaense  charities,  including  a 
college  named  for  St.  Joseph,  under  the  direction  of  the 
church;  hence  the  religious  name  of  the  lottery.  It  also 
pays  a  heavy  tax  to  the  "  Governmento  Leal,"  half  of  which 
assists  to  maintain  the  fine  local  roads;  a  quarter  goes 
home  to  Portugal  to  be  lost  in  the  aristocratic  halls  of 
the  white  Ajuda  palace  on  the  cliffs  of  Belem;  and  a 
quarter  helps  to  support  the  poorer  Portuguese  colony  of 
Timor  near  Sumatra,  In  comparison  with  this  lottery 
the  largest  bank  of  Macao,  the  Po  Hang,  hides  its  dimin- 
ished head. 

In  the  arch  of  the  half  moon  bay  at  Macao,  between 
the  forts  of  Bomparto  and  Francisco,  just  before  you 
turn  up  the  street  by  the  park  where  the  Portuguese  bands 
play  on  Sunday  afternoons,  you  will  notice  an  unusual 
house  for  the  East,  It  faces  the  purple  bay  where  the 
fishing  junks  are  drying  their  brown  nets  on  yellow  main- 
sails. The  windows  are  of  imported  stained  glass,  and 
the  grilles  are  painted  white.  It  is  the  only  house  you 
have  ever  seen  in  China  where  the  blue  stucco  ts  not 
scaling  or  lichening  like  an  architectural  leper.  You  are 
told  the  owner  is  a  rich  Chinese,  or  a  Tsai-shu,  and  that 
his  country  place  is  among  the  Heungshan  Hills  where 
he  was  born  in  poverty,  ten  miles  away  on  execrable 
roads,  which  pass  through  acres  of  graves,  underneath 
wonderful  tamarind  trees,  and  past  the  golf  course  o( 


THE  PORTUGUESE  AND  CAMOEKS     8s 

Ae  MTX  and  outdoor  staff  of  ttw  In^erial  Cnitoms  Serv- 
ioe,  where  the  hoki  are  earthen  a^  hammered  into  the 
atonjr  hniside.  I  took  a  'riddBha,  with  two  pndmwn  and 
made  the  trip,  which  u  one  of  ai  many  opi  and  downi  as 
a  Golf  Stream  passage  when  the  wind  is  against  ^  tidb 
It  would  have  been  better  to  have  talnn  a  barraw»  c^e- 
ciatljr  between  Fassaleao  and  Chlnsan.  M  the  Fcnta  da 
Cercok  where  the  soldiers  are  drinking  imported  Cotarc* 
wine,  and  tolling  under  the  trees,  yon  leave  FOrtugnese 
territory,  and  enter  old  China.  The  trade  gardens  aradl 
noisome,  but  are  luxuriant  in  appearance.  The  diow 
dogs  are  barking  like  a  side-battery.  The  tillers  never 
leave  their  fidds  to  look  at  you,  a  Fnng  Kwei,  and  the 
coolie,  though  weighted  with  two  heavy  pails  Hrgi^g 
from  a  bamboo  home  upon  his  bare  shoulders,  steps  off 
the  road  into  the  swamp  to  let  you  pass,  but  he  does  not 
look  up.  The  manners  of  China,  by  the  Tao  Li  code,  are 
sdf-effasive.  At  the  outskirts  of  a  village,  you  come  to 
the  country  seat.  Hand-cut  granite  walls  inclose  a  lawn 
where  homed  black  water-buffalo  feed.  The  tea-bouse 
at  the  gate  is  open  for  you  to  step  in  and  rest.  You  pass 
through  doors  which  are  always  open,  to  the  rock  garden, 
the  tily  pools,  the  fir  forest,  and  the  flat  gardens  of  clipped 
chrysanthemums  nearer  the  house.  Cool  stone  seats  are 
everywhere,  roofed  over  to  hold  off  the  great  sun.  The 
master  sends  you  tea,  e\en  though  you  have  not  sent  in 
your  card,  you  being  only  a  hurried  foreign  visitor  of  no 
significance,  who  has  heard  that  his  grounds  are  open 
to  everj-  one.  In  our  land  the  seat  would  cost  a  million. 
There  is  not  an  establishment  in  the  village  worth  twenty 
dollars,  but  the  religion  of  China  requires  that  a  man  shall 
return  to  his  birthplace.  The  remarkable  man  whose 
hooMS  these  were,  died  at  the  Praya  Grande  house  in 


86  THE  CHINESE 

September,  1906.  His  name  was  Ah  Fong,  and  he  had 
been  living  in  retirement  for  fifteen  years  with  his  homely 
village  relatives.  Forty  years  previous  he  emigrated  to 
Honolulu,  where  he  amassed  millions  in  sugar  and  labor 
contracting.  He  married  there  a  half  white  and  half 
Kanaka  woman,  by  whom  he  had  thirteen  daughters  and 
two  sons.  When  he  left  Honolulu  he  gave  his  wife  and 
daughters,  who  did  not  want  to  go  to  China,  one  million 
dollars.  One  of  the  daughters  married  an  admiral  in 
the  United  States  navy,  and  the  others  made  marriages 
with  white  men  of  some  prominence  in  the  territory.  Ah 
Fong  brought  his  son  Anthony  to  China,  and  to  htm  he 
has  left  the  greater  part  of  this  romantic  fortune  on  the 
stipulation  that  he  shall  follow  the  religion  and  patriotic 
teachings  of  Confucius.  China  has  had  no  emigrant 
whose  career  has  been  more  picturesque ;  she  has  had  no 
son  who  was  more  loyal ;  at  home  among  his  people  they 
merely  tell  you  that  he  did  his  duty  to  his  forefathers  and 
his  country,  and  that  he  will  therefore  never  lack  a  male 
heir  to  bow  before  his  tablet. 

The  doorways  and  gateways  are  a  mine  for  the  illus- 
trator, in  their  quaint  lines  of  stucco.  Through  many 
a  gate  of  ancient  wrought  iron  work  glimpses  were  had 
of  luxuriant  tropical  gardens,  hid  behind  high  white- 
washed chunam  walls,  which  glistened  like  a  porcupine 
with  their  armor  of  green,  broken  Munchen  bottles  stuck 
in  the  plaster.  From  ten  a.  m.  until  four  p.  m.  the  almost 
breezcless,  burning  streets  are  deserted.  In  the  silent 
night  the  native  watchman  drags  his  wooden  sandals 
noisily  along  and  strikes  his  drum  as  he  goes  his  rounds, 
so  that  thieves  and  evil  spirits  may  know  his  whereabouts, 
and  work  elsewhere. 
^     When  England,  in  the  days  of  Henry  VHI.  was  war- 


THE  PORTUGUESE  AND  CAMOENS 

Hdk  no  fanher  away  from  home  than  France,  Macao, 
ai  the  end  of  the  earth,  was  strenuous  in  daring  struggles. 
The  Dutch  atucked  St.  Francw  Kort.  but  drew  off  their 
battered  boats  in  defeat,  llic  uld  copper  cannon  still 
^listen  on  the  picturesque  ramparts,  and  beneath  the  white 
stucco  Kolry  boxes.  At  the  Monte  Fort  Uicy  cast  can- 
non, and  when  war  of  their  own  was  not  on,  turned  a 
pennj*  by  selling  the  armament  <ihe  institution  of  manu- 
Uctures  in  China),  as  in  1651,  to  the  king  of  Cochin 
China.  In  1622,  two  hundred  Spanish  infantry,  and 
lomc  cannon  arrived  from  Manila  to  help  the  Macacnsc 
ai;.  "■  I  t',1.-  [•■,i;ch.  In  Macao  of  ti>-(Iay.  cipiuni  is  taxed 
ana  gamounff  tormcd,  to  teed  the  depleted  pane  of  a 
decaying  Portugal  Macao  was  tbe  cmporiinn  of  Soatb- 
em  China  until  1S40,  when  she  was  superseded  by  British 
Hong'Kong,  which  lies  forty  miles  eastward,  and  that 
tbe  feeling  of  resentment  toward  the  British  still  ranklet 
in  tbe  Macaense  breast  on  this  account,  is  evidenced  by 
Itontalto  de  Jesus'  history  of  Macao,  published  as  late 
as  1903,  when  every  one  supposed  that  the  remembrance 
of  the  slave  barracoons  and  opium  had  been  lost  long  ago. 
In  this  old  city  of  China,  once  lived  and  wrote  the 
illustrious  poet  whose  name  reads  like  a  jewel,  and  is' 
sounded  with  the  rich  vowels  of  Greece.  Camoens  was 
over  forty  when  he  completed  his  epic.  He  died  in 
Portogal,  alas  a  victim  of  the  Black  Death,  which,  in  its 
own  melancholy  haunts,  he  had  defied  a  thousand  times. 
The  bubonic  plague  which  was  then  attacking  Europe, 
originated  in  the  territory  of  Camoens'  exile.  It  exists 
there  to-day,  and  is  the  terror  which  arises  every  May 
in  Hong-Kong  and  Canton,  alarming  the  ships  that  ply 
therefrom  to  every  European  port  In  Camoens'  time 
tbe  plague  went  overland  from  mephitic  Yunnan  to  Bur- 


88  THE  CHINESE 

mah,  following  the  Moorish  traders  from  China  to  India, 
and  the  Red  Sea,  and  by  Arabic  caravan  to  Constanti- 
nople and  Venice.  To  trace  its  dire  sweep  through 
Milan  and  London,  we  need  only  read  the  terror-stricken 
pages  of  Manzoni  and  Pepys.  Camoens,  like  Cervantes, 
in  the  fashion  of  the  time,  was  soldier  before  being  poet. 
He  was  a  Hermes  in  regular  features  and  curly  yellow 
hair.  In  those  days  statesmen  were  poets  first  and 
courtiers  afterward.  Such  were  the  talented  and  gal- 
lant Sortelha  and  Conde  de  Vimiosa.  The  Infanta, 
Donna  Maria,  led  her  court  in  epigram  and  sonnet. 
Portugal  in  the  days  of  Camoens  was  a  forerunner  of 
what  England  was  to  become  in  the  time  of  Raleigh. 
Arms,  adventure  and  literature  danced  the  measure,  and 
the  actor  played  equally  well  all  three  roles.  For  a  while 
Camoens  was  the  favorite  of  the  Lisbon  Court,  until  that 
unfortunate  day  when  his  admiring  eyes  fell  on  the 
golden-tressed  Donna  Caterina,  kneeling  at  prayer  in  the 
Church  of  the  Chagos.  Then  his  woes  began,  but  with 
his  woes  upgrew  his  character,  his  interest  in  mankind  of 
all  colors  and  religions,  and  his  fame.  The  Donna  Cate- 
rina was  of  the  queen's  household,  and  the  court  op- 
posed a  suit,  which  was  beyond  his  station.  But  this 
temerity  also  was  the  fashion  of  the  time,  for  poor  Tasso 
had  similarly  loved  at  Ferrara, 

Camoens  was  born  in  1524  at  Lisbon.  The  world  had 
almost  forgotten  classicism.  The  Renaissance  and  Boc- 
caccio were  long  asleep.  Chaucer  had  died  in  England, 
and  all  seemed  dark  again.  It  was  yet  a  long  cry  to  the 
births  of  Shakespeare  and  Milton.  The  Renaissance  had 
sown  the  seed  of  ideals,  but  the  seed  was  slumbering.  In 
Camoens'  time,  Portugal  was  to  rise,  thrilled  with  the 
new  life,  and  her  glory  it  was  to  give  India,  South 


THE  PORTUGUESE  AND  CAMOEt<S      89 

f  Asia,  and  the  seas  of  all  Ibc  gtobc  to  the  vision 
I  of  marveling  men.  It  was  a  generation  of 
I,  Irat  as  Kvcr  the  gods  whom  men  make  have  feet 
of  day.  Greece's  clay  was  Slate's  rights  pohtics; 
Portugal'i  was  ill-distributed  wcahh.  Camocns'  fate 
drifted  into  a  current  that  bore  him  far  from  his  sun.  the 
Donna  Caterina,  and  a  rival  Andrade  de  Caminha,  who 
could  al*o  touch  tlic  lyre,  but  dressed  in  a  more  fashion- 
able fivcry,  displaced  him.  Banished  by  captious  royalty 
frum  the  court,  Camocns  fiwghl  under  his  country's 
flag  in  Africa  with  no  diminution  of  patriotism,  which 
showed  the  man  he  was,  because  In  those  days  there  was 
no  democratic  sentiment  to  laugh  with  those  whom  seci- 
es mobs,  in  leading  a  boarding  party  over  the  bul- 
warics  of  a  Moorish  galley  of{  Ceuta,  he  lost  his  right 
eye.  With  the  dauntless  spirit  of  the  traveler,  but  with 
the  broken  heart  of  a  lover,  at  twilight  on  a  day  in  March, 
1553.  aboard  the  San  Bento,  he  put  out  once  more  from 
the  golden  Tagus.  He  was  then  twenty-nine  years  of 
age.  In  nine  months  he  was  in  Goa,  on  the  Malabar 
coast  of  India,  and  it  was  here  on  his  way  hotne  with  his 
immortal  poem.  The  Lusiad,  seventeen  years  later, 
that  he  was  to  hear  of  the  death  of  the  inspirer  of  his 
youth,  the  Donna  Caterina.  Life  for  a  while  was  ad- 
venture only.  The  feats  of  arms  were  considerable, 
sometimes  two  thousand  being  slain.  In  winter  there 
were  Moors  to  pursue  at  Ormuz,  and  through  the  summer 
heat,  in  dissipated  days  for  most  of  his  companions,  they 
dreamed  at  Goa.  Owing  to  a  satire  of  Camoens,  who 
was  engaged  in  more  intellectual  if  nut  more  tactful  work 
than  wine-bibbing.  Governor  Barreto  banished  him  from 
Goa  to  the  little  colony  of  Macao  in  China. 
When  the  discouraged  poet  ftrst  saw  Macao  from  the 


90  THE  CHINESE 

sea  he  wrote :  "  In  this  lonely,  sterile,  sun-scorched  land 
did  fortune  will  that  my  life  be  passed,  and  in  fragments 
be  scattered  throughout  the  world."  Here  he  finally 
found  the  cords  of  life  pulling  taut,  and  the  breeze  sure 
and  full,  with  a  course  laid  which  he  might  sail,  unpur- 
sued  of  enemies.  He  had  a  luxuriant  garden;  a  small 
competence  as  "  Trustee  of  the  Estates  of  Those  at 
Home,"  for  the  faint-hearted  soon  left  if  they  might ;  and 
a  devoted  Javanese  slave.  The  angel  of  fame,  as  present 
in  the  ends  of  the  earth  as  in  the  temple  of  Delphi,  gave 
him  a  language  to  seal  to  a  people,  and  an  epic  whose 
theme  is  the  widest  man  has  sung.  In  the  yellow  matting 
junk  sails  of  the  Pearl  he  dreamed  that  he  beheld  the 
argosies  of  classic  song,  and  the  gong  of  the  Confucian 
rang  in  his  fancy  as  the  cymbal  of  Bacchus.  Without  the 
accommodating  temper  of  the  soldier,  the  poet's  imagina- 
tion in  him  would  have  sunk  in  despair.  Courage  held 
him  up  in  his  lonely  life.  Poesy  was  the  bread  of  his 
soul.  His  theme  was  his  nation,  and  patriotism  was  hdd 
by  him  almost  in  a  frenzy.  His  was  that  refined  patri- 
otism which  sees  one's  country,  not  as  she  is  or  has 
treated  him,  but  as  she  would  be  when  he  had  in  love  re- 
molded her. 

I  have  seen  the  proud  Macaense  gathered  about  the 
poet's  bust  at  the  famous  grotto  at  Macao,  while  an  era* 
tor,  tearful  with  emotion,  recited  the  proud  cadences  of 
the  great  song  of  his  dying  race.  Camoens  was  the 
Homer  of  the  Portuguese,  and  Da  Gama  and  Albuquerque 
were  his  Ulysses  and  Eurylochus.  Almost  within  his 
lifetime,  Portugal  was  the  shore  that  abutted  on  the  sea 
of  oblivion.  Within  his  memory,  the  African  coast  had 
been  ventured  along,  Good  Hope  rounded,  Azores  found, 
Brazil  discovered  by  accident,  India  linked  by  a  sea  route, 


tiful    Tiiarhk-   ami    teak    Royal    Palace.    Peking,    where  the 
Emperor   Kwang  Sii  and  Dowager  Empress  died  in  Xovember, 
1908.  The  grolcsque  lions  altract  sculptors  from  the  whole  world. 


(.Vntrnl  China,  looking  south  into 
jiiariiTs.     Shanghai,   situated   at  the 
reck  and  Huang  Phu  river,  is  16 
,i'  niDiitii  nf  tile  Yang-tze  river. 


THE  PORTUGUESE  AND  CAMOENS      91 

and  Lisbon  tliKplaccd  Venice  as  the  capital  of  the  world 
and  tbe  bob  of  hpcary  and  &4iioa  The  **  cilttele  «! 
Sagn,"  PriDce  H«of7  tbe  Ncvigalor,  is  his  oonct  at 
Cape  St  Vincant,  ma  tbe  brother  o<  the«  grcatait'ol 
diattcntnn,  thu  "  Con^aiqr  of  Captaiwa."  VcMda  ntre 
then  halMcdudt  and  carried  diitty-dx  sailon.  It  waa 
vUi  four  of  tbeae  carards  tfitt  Da  Gania  took  a  jaar  to 
Madi  Iniia.  Not  oidjr  to  tibe  aontb  want  tba  intitprf 
nKtii(iMaCf  for  Marttn  Lopcx  ducoverca  Nora  Zenibla 
aa  ft  aeardi  nortbeait  for  Cathay.  Evora'e  eanvana 
vairtBnd  ne  dreanctt*  hottest  and  vidsit  oueit  of  tna 
aarlfa,  then  catted  GtiefaU.  ai  far  a»  Thriwctoo.  Andrada 
nadied  labled  PdEtnf  in  1531.  Migrilan.  bowing  uder 
tbe  atapicioiia  lign  of  the  Sonthcm  Craes,  parted  titt 
violet  veil  that  concealed  the  PaciBc,  and  Pinto  landed  in 
quaint  Japan  in  1537.  Little  Portugal  is  the  grand- 
mother of  the  world.  In  every  glass  of  her  famous  wine, 
that  breathes  the  richest  boquet  at  our  dinners,  she 
I  be  toasted  by  the  nations  on  whom  she  has  be- 
her  heritage  of  discovery.  The  vast,  world- 
',  commerce  of  modem  times  was  founded  by 
Pntngal  in  the  fifteenth  century.  Some  day  a  baron  of 
Britiib,  American  or  Japanese  shipiMng,  who  has  a  taste 
far  hiitory,  may  desire  to  perpetuate  gratitude  by  erecting 
at  Sagre,  in  old  Portugal,  a  monument  to  Prince  Henry 
tftt  Navigator.  In  St.  Francis  Xavier,  who  came  to  Goa 
fa  1543,  Portugal  instituted  world  missions.  In  the 
■obic  De  Castro,  invinciUe  in  battle  and  pure  in  life, 
die  has  given  a  hero  to  song  and  story.  From  the  Moors 
and  Venetians  in  the  Red  Sea  and  India,  this  soldier  won 
dominion  for  the  Portuguese,  and  died  in  the  arms  of 
Xavier,  bequeathing  to  his  son  "  his  only  spoils  and 
richei,  a  sword  unrivaled  and  spotless  of  shame." 


1 


92  THE  CHINESE 

These  are  the  antecedents  of  Camoens  and  the  heroes 
of  his  epic  Os  Lusiadas,  which  was  pubHshed  in 
Lisbon  in  1572.  The  French  Montesquieu  wrote:  "It 
makes  us  feel  something  of  the  charms  of  the  Odyssey 
and  the  magnificence  of  the  ^neid."  The  EngUsh  Hal- 
lam  called  it  "  the  first  successful  attempt  in  Europe  to 
construct  an  epic  poem  on  the  ancient  model;  it  is  the 
mirror  of  a  heart  full  of  love,  courage,  generosity  and 
patriotism,"  Doctor  Johnson  contemplated  the  transla- 
tion of  the  poem,  but  afterward  invited  Goldsmith,  with 
his  larger  sympathy  and  understanding  of  travel,  to  do  the 
work.  Voltaire  called  Camoens  the  "  Milton  of  the 
Portuguese,"  The  first  translation  in  English  of  The 
Lusiad  was  made  by  Richard  Fanshaw,  a  literary  diplo- 
mat of  Charles  II.'s  reign.  It  has  been  translated  into 
English  by  Aubertin,  Sir  Richard  Burton,  and  Thomas 
Musgrave.  Mickle's  translation,  made  in  1776,  is  prob- 
ably the  best  known.  The  stately  iambics  of  that  transla- 
tion do  not  do  justice  to  the  sprightly  dactyls  and  silvery 
rhyme  of  the  original.  The  metaphors  are  luxuriant,  as 
about  our  classic  forms  the  poet  twined  the  colored  vines 
of  oriental  fancy.  Camoens  had  been  first  a  lyrist.  The 
purity  of  form  of  the  Italian  sonnet  had  influenced  him. 
He  was  profoundly  educated  at  the  University  of  Coim- 
bra,  then  at  the  height  of  its  renown,  in  the  Greek  and 
Latin  poets.  In  The  Lusiad,  he  broke  from  the  severe 
classical  style  of  his  compatriot  Ribeiro  and  the  Italian  in- 
fluence of  Miranda,  which  looked  to  the  past  only,  and 
founded  a  virile  Portuguese  language,  which  adopted  the 
best  of  what  was  new  and  strong  in  the  experience  of  the 
traveled,  of  whom  he  was  the  chief.  His  poem  is  the 
bond  of  the  Portuguese  at  home,  in  wide  Brazil,  Goa,  Mo- 
zambique, Macao,  and  Hong-Kong.     Virgil  was  his  mas- 


THE  PORTUGUESE  AND  CAMOENS       93 

ter  in  elaborating  a  theme.  Voltaire  pointed  out  that  « 
wrioiu  fault  of  the  poem  is  in  the  commin^ing  of  Chris- 
tian and  classic  imagery.  In  Camoens'  epic  there 
breathes  a  similar  religious  purpose  to  that  which  con- 
sumed Milton.  Milton  exalted  his  story  to  the  heavens. 
Camoens  chose  a  theme  all  human,  which  trailed  its  in- 
domitable course  over  the  most  dangerous  paths  of  the 
world  in  the  half-awakened  morning  of  the  newly  dis- 
covered planet. 

This  is  the  theme  of  The  Lusiad;  the  history  of  Portu- 
gal at  the  acme  of  her  glory,  and  the  spirit  and  past  of 
ancient  Macao,  where  the  conception  of  it  all  was  nursed, 
and  where  it  was  brought  to  btoom.  It  is  the  greatcat 
epic  of  travel ;  the  history  of  the  feud  between  Moorish 
caravan  and  Portuguese  caravel  for  the  first  sandal- 
scented  oriental  commerce.  Tlie  arena  spreads  from  the 
arid  plains  of  Arabia  to  the  dancing  purple  waters  of 
India.  The  rounding  of  the  Cape  of  Storms  (Good 
Hope)  with  Uie  frail  vessels  of  that  age  has  probably 
been  the  most  awesome  adventure  in  the  imagination  of 
mortals.  India  by  overlam)  route  had  been  reached; 
South  .America  had  been  discovered:  the  .Mlantic  was 
ferried;  but  the  demons  of  the  lost  were  believed  to  have 
placed  an  insiirmnuiUable  barrier,  reaching  into  the  tur- 
btilent  unknown,  between  India  and  Kiirope.  When  the 
Portuguese  capt.iins  lirst  sot  sail,  Kiiropc  was  mist- 
wrapped  and  ilcmon-haiintcd  off  shore,  like  Turner's 
painting.  I'lyssis  DcriJiiif^  Polyf'hrmus.  only  here  and 
there  a  galleon,  after  the  blessing  uf  the  wators  and  unc- 
tion for  the  sailors,  bravin;r  a  n.irrow  sea;  Venice  ven- 
turing along  the  Med  iter  ranciii  shure:  1'l.imlers  assailing 
the  Haltic,  .-irul  i-'ngland  smiting  the  ch-mnel  with  her 
Viking  pruws.     I-'rnm   the   dark    Mi-Ktrs,   who,    it   was 


94  THE  CHINESE 

rumored,  had  sent  out  adventurers  on  waters  mysterious, 
Prince  Henry  the  Navigator  learned  that  Africa  prob- 
ably extended  to  the  equator.  Henry's  first  salvage 
from  the  deeps  was  Madeira,  and  upon  that  success  he 
sent  out  captain  after  captain,  like  one  possessed  of  a  uni- 
versal vision.  Probably  the  most  ecstatic  thrill  of  the 
human  imagination  has  been  accorded  to  this  famous 
prince  who  was  as  scientific  as  he  was  enthusiastic, 
though  history  has  not  so  credited  him. 

The  Lusiad's  hero  is  Vasco  Da  Gama,  and  its  story, 
his  adventures  from  Lisbon  to  Calicut  in  India,  during 
the  two  years  and  two  months  which  it  took  him  to  make 
the  voyage.  The  Moslems  were  masters  of  the  Eastern 
waters  and  Calicut  was  their  emporium.  The  first  canto  of 
the  epic  is  fresh  with  new  pictures  of  the  new-found  far 
East :  "  The  sails  they  hoisted  were  of  matting  made, 
woven  of  leaves  of  palm  trees."  Canto  Three  contains 
the  famous  romance  of  Ignez  de  Castro,  which  secured 
Voltaire's  enthusiasm,  and  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated 
in  all  literature.  The  gentle  Ignez  was  maid  of  honor 
to  the  Infanta,  and  was  clandestinely  married  to  the 
heir,  Don  Pedro.  When  this  was  discovered  by  the 
ambitious  and  cruel  King  Alphonso,  he  ordered  Ignez 
to  be  murdered.  When  Pedro  succeeded  to  the  king- 
dom, he  ordered  his  bride's  remains  to  be  disinterred 
and  placed  on  the  throne,  and  the  homage  of  the  people 
done  to  her,  as  a  saint  who  was  queen  even  in  death. 
The  figures  of  the  story  are  woven  with  the  luxuriousness 
of  Keats: 

Estavas  Imda  Ignes,  posia  cm  locego; 
Mas  ella  os  olhos.  comque  o  ar  screna." 
"Behold  her,  fair  Ignez,  deep-bosomed  in  quiet; 
Soft-turning  her  eyes,  e'en  the  cruel  air  she  calraeth," 


THE  PORTUGUESE  AND  CAMOENS 


Adv'cnturc,  elatsk  allusion  and  romance,  succeed  one 
another  in  limpid  and  allurini;  vtnt,  and  strength  is  not 
bckinff,  as  n-iinr»9  the  stupendous  battle  tnanerpiece  tn 
describing  Aljubarola.  Voltaire,  cynical  concerning  the 
poem  as  a  whole  because  he  hated  the  jays  of  the 
imagination  not  less  than  the  conRtlcnt  tnitl»  of  ex- 
perience, was  carried  away  despite  himself  with  the  virion 
of  Adanuslor  in  Canto  Five.  The  pictureii  of  storms 
have  the  true  sweep  of  t>-pltonic  nature,  from  the  experi- 
ence of  fearful  months  of  privation  .ind  dangtr  by  the 
poet  fainuelf  on  the  yellow  Chinese  seas,  in  ilays  when 
ships  were  merely  sbdis.  It  is  interesting  to  know  what 
the  Luiitanian  thought  of  his  Icm  cultured  neighbors. 
He  calls  the  Teutons  "  all  pride,  rebels  to  creed,"  and  the 
English  through  whose  taciturnity  few  Latins  have  ever 
penetrated  to  discover  any  real  idealism  or  vivacious  en- 
joyment of  achievement,  he  called:  "hard,  in  Hyper- 
borean winters  watled."  Canto  Nine  contains  the  be- 
witching allegory  of  the  Isles  of  Love,  which  Venus 
brings  from  the  sea.  Here  Camoens  has  shed  the  adorn- 
ing fancies  of  the  Orient  on  the  forms  of  Greece,  and 
every  line  revels  in  coruscating  color.  Thus  through 
strange  lands  and  beautiful  story  does  he  bring  the  Lu- 
sians  back  to  Lisbon,  and  lays  his  poem  at  the  feet  of  the 
nation.  He  is  buried  in  the  FraiKiscan  Church  of  Santa 
Anna  at  Lisbon,  and  upon  his  tomb  are  the  lachrymal 
words  where  Fame  charges  Life  with  treachery:  "  He 
excelled  all  the  poeis  of  his  time;  he  lived  poor  and 
miserable,  and  he  died  so." 

The  poet's  fame  is  mure  beauli  fully  Wept  at  Macao.  In 
the  grotto  of  his  exile,  the  world's  poets,  among  them  the 
exquisite  English  hj-mn-writcr.  Governor  Sir  John  Bow- 
ring  of  near-by  Hong-Kong,  have  car\ed  in  the  enduring 


J 


96  THE  CHINESE 

granite  of  the  Chinese  hills,  their  gentle  lines  of  praise 
about  the  poet's  bust  in  honor  of  their  pilgrimage,  which 
is  the  only  one  in  the  Orient  of  European  literary  associ- 
ation. The  banyan,  the  tamarind  and  bamboo  keep  shade 
in  the  poet's  garden.  The  tuberoses,  camellias  and 
azaleas  make  the  air  dense  as  with  censers.  Still  does 
the  Chukiang  (Pearl)  roll  beneath  his  seat  and  whisper 
the  old  lullabies.  The  yellow  matting  sails  still  drift 
with  the  returning  tides,  as  in  the  evenings  long  ago, 
when  they  were  borne  slowly  from  the  poet's  vision  into 
the  wide  oriental  sunset  of  cloudless  gold.  Soft  oars 
beat  by  in  the  dusk,  as  though  the  poet's  spirit  passed 
along.  A  silver  gong  from  a  belated  junk  strikes  the 
first  stars  into  being,  as  once  before  in  a  land  where  there 
is  no  twilight,  they  showered  from  the  fingers  of  a 
Southern  Night,  to  teach  their  music  of  the  soul  to  a 
lost  one  at  last  attuned  to  their  purposes,  the  exile  Louis 
de  Camoens. 


Ill 

« 

INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  AMONG  THE  CHINESE 

Lives  there  a  land  which  has  no  political  parties  ?  Then 
look  there  for  the  secret  society  in  all  its  rank  luxuri- 
ance. China  abounds  in  it«  Socially  its  curse  is  that  it 
upholds  its  members  in  private  evil  more  than  in  the  public 
good  at  which  its  charter  loftily  aims,  and  from  the  exer- 
cise of  which  it  is  prevented  by  the  present  stunted  consti- 
tution of  the  country.  At  Tientsin  there  is  a  house 
known  to  foreigners  from  its  door  as  the  **  Society  of  the 
Red  Door."  To  the  initiated  it  is  the  "  Society  which 
Meets  Injur)'  with  Retaliation."  The  branch  at  Hang- 
chow,  known  as  Hung  Pang,  or  Red  Association,  is 
constantly  fomenting  rice  riots  between  the  villagers  and 
the  up-country  boatmen  who  arrive  from  the  Grand 
Canal,  as  a  pretext  for  political  risings.  Only  recently 
they  captured  a  prefectural  city  and  it  was  necessary  to 
call  upon  the  reorganized  Imperial  troops  to  dislodge 
them.  In  Che-kiang  Province  the  Chiu  Sik  Lun  (Earthen 
r*ot  Society)  murdered  a  governor  in  August,  1907,  for 
discouraging  the  principles  of  the  New  China  party, 
and  the  effect  has  eiidied  at  last  as  far  as  Peking,  in  the 
institution  of  the  new  Supreme  Council,  whose  duties  are 
proclaimed  to  be  the  educating  of  the  country  toward 
representative  government.  The  echoes  of  the  fourth 
century  rescripts  of  Honorius.  or  the  nearer  melancholy 
(»f  the  Chinese  edicts  of  1898!  Unless  China  does  more 
for  real  representation,  dissolution  is  not  staved  off  for 

97 


98  THE  CHINESE 

ever,  any  more  than  it  was  during  the  lingering  centuries 
of  the  Roman  Empire.  Advance  and  a  partial  reaction 
divide  history,  and  China  has  had  her  share  of  the  latter 
during  the  Manchu  tenancy  of  the  throne.  The  most 
famous  secret  society  is  the  Triad  (Sam  Hop  Wui),  the 
members  of  which  are  supposed  to  go  armed  for  private 
revenge,  in  addition  to  the  great  aim  of  their  body  to 
enthrone  a  native  dynasty.  They  are  ruled  by  a  Master 
of  the  Red  Stick,  who  sets  the  penalties.  The  "  Society 
of  the  Sword  "  is  also  anti-dynastic,  and  strong  in  the 
central  provinces  for  the  new  patriotism.  During  the 
New  Year  celebration  of  two  weeks,  all  secret  societies* 
as  well  as  the  guilds,  whose  rivalry  also  is  often  very 
bitter,  declare  a  "  Truce  of  the  Gods,"  when  no  man  may 
attack  his  brother.  This  is  generally  respected.  Both 
the  hunter  and  the  hunted  are  glad  of  a  relief,  when  they 
may  feel  free  to  travel,  or  be  careless  in  the  use  of  their 
samschu  wine. 

The  statute  books  contain  the  unrepealed  death  penalty 
for  belonging  to  some  of  the  secret  societies,  such  as  the 
Gee  Kung  Tong,  which  also  is  a  Freemasonry  vowed  to 
the  work  of  driving  from  the  throne  the  Manchu  house 
of  Tsings  and  establishing  thereon  descendants  of  the 
Mings,  but  the  government  does  not  dare  to  enforce  the 
statute.  They  would  have  to  depopulate  the  kingdom 
if  they  did.  The  Ko  Lo  Win  is  a  similar  anti- 
dynastic  society.  The  branch  of  the  society  among  the 
emigrants  in  Malaysia  is  called  the  Orchids,  and  lines 
of  their  poetry  are  breezy  enough  to  dispel  the  ennui  of. 
exiles.  "  We  are  strong  and  spread  everywhere,  com- 
mand hills  and  rivers;  despise  us  who  dare.  Lo!  In 
Fu-kien,  a  black  flag  flying;  Attention!  Kun  Su  is  the 
place  for  gathering." 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  LIFE  99 

Candidates  arc  sontetimes  rushed  for  election  by  being 
kidnapped  in  bags  and  brouglit  to  the  lodgv  roam. 
Meetings  arc  called  by  split  bamboos  being  left  at  the 
reiidencea  of  the  members.  Since  1845  in  Hong-Kon^, 
aad  a  later  date  in  Singapore,  the  British  government 
has  proltibitcd  meetings  of  tlic  Triad  Society.  Where 
murdcn  are  committed,  the  Knicnce  of  death  is  passed 
upon  the  local  leaders,  whether  they  are  present  or 
sot  In  a  trial  at  Sarawak,  Straits  Settknient«,  nnder 
Brituh  law.  tn  April,  1906,  a  jury  comprised  of  eight 
Chinese  towkays,  three  Malays  and  one  European  (fore- 
man) passed  sentence  of  death  upon  eight  leaders  for 
the  murder  of  one  victim  of  the  Triads. 

The  Buddhists  have  a  temperance  society  called  (he 
Tsai  Li,  which  has  effectively  adopted  the  anti-opium 
crusade,  and  its  enthusiasm  is  stimulated  by  certain 
secret  society  rules,  which  are  so  dear  to  the  Chinese 
heart  In  the  same  way  religiously.  Buddhism  got  her 
roots  safely  in  Chinese  ground  by  adoptii^  ancestor 
worship.     The  Oriental  distrusts  iconoclasts. 

That  a  hidden  tide  is  undermining  educational  China 
is  most  marked  in  the  discontinuance,  in  their  old  form, 
of  the  triennial  classical  examinations  which  have  been 
in  vc^ue  thirteen  hundred  years,  and  whose  three  degrees 
of  Hsiuts'  ai  (Budding  Talent)  answering  to  our  B.A.; 
Chujen  (M.A.),  and  Chin  Shih  (D.C.L.)  for  which  a 
yellow  diploma  with  red  characters  was  issued, — alone 
(^ned  the  way  to  political  eniplu>inent,  which  is  con- 
sidered the  highest  profession  in  the  land.  Ntfn  shu 
tso  kuan:  "  Get  education  and  position  will  get  you." 
Examination  for  the  higher  degrees  included  reexam- 
ination in  considerable  of  the  tower.  No  such  feats  of 
memory  have  ever  been  required  of  students,  and  where 


i 


loo  THE  CHINESE 

this  faculty  alone  is  required,  the  oriental  student  is 
invincible  in  American  colleges.  Where  our  students 
speak  of  "ponies"  and  "cribs,"  the  oriental  student 
jokes  about  his  "  skin  paper,"  but  so  cumbersome  is  the 
language  that  a  crib,  to  be  of  any  use,  would  be  de- 
tectable. A  red  sash  is  worn  from  the  right  shoulder 
to  the  left  waist.  During  the  examination,  the  student 
in  his  cell  recalls  that  at  home,  and  in  the  pagoda,  his 
family  have  hung  lamps  before  the  idol  as  votives  on 
his  behalf.  Even  though  the  successful  scholar  enters 
business  he  is  considered  of  the  Shin  Kin,  or  gentry  of 
his  district,  there  being  no  landed  titles.  A  branch  of 
the  olive  is  waved  over  the  winner's  head,  and  frequently 
he  is  hazed  and  "  run  "  for  secret  societies.  Like  the 
Campanile  of  St.  Mark's,  without  immediate  wamii^, 
this  famous  institution  has  tumbled  in  Kwangtung  and 
is  being  reerected  with  the  Tsin  Tsueh  or  new  learning 
taking  the  place  of  one  third  of  the  old.  The  first  Uow 
at  the  old  system  was  really  struck  by  the  lately  deceased 
emperor,  Kwang  Su,  in  his  famous  reformatory  edicts 
of  1898,  when  he  was  disturbed  by  the  shocks  of  and  the 
reasons  for  his  defeat  by  Japan.  Every  village  is  now 
striving  to  possess  a  Hok  Tong  (day  school)  which 
will  conform  with  the  new  standards  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  whose  requirements  include  military  drill. 
The  most  radical  decrees  in  the  history  of  the  throne, 
those  of  Kwong  Su  in  1897,  were  addressed  to  man- 
darins and  "  schoolmasters."  The  new  text  books  use 
illustration  to  the  fullest  advantages.  These  books,  as 
well  as  the  maps  and  globes,  are  at  present  all  prepared 
in  Japan.  Many  Japanese  teachers  are  employed,  and 
numbers  of  them  as  professors  in  English.  Education 
and  property  will  equally  be  the  qualification  for  suffrage 


A   fine   view  of   rivt-r   lift-.   Cantii.i.   South   China;    temple   with   gahle 
carvings  in  foregrounii ;  three  pawnshop  towers  in  distance. 


r* 


N'.Tih    Wall    .11*    I  am. in    an.l    -  !"ivv-Mc..rv    Pagotla."     Not*    in   ten 

Hr..ni^.l    niaiMe   grr.v.  -    ..f   twn'native    rich    nieti. 

-ei    ill    l.are    hillsitle. 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  loi 

in  dtetiqf  the  proposed  provincial  parliamenti,  whidi 
are  wiggeated  fen-  trial  two  years  bence  bjr  the  Kiun  Ki 
Ckut  cr  new  Supreme  Council. 

J*  1905  China  sent  ten  thousand  pupils  to  Japan,  in 
1906  dw  doubled  the  number,  which  has  been  increasing 
riffilt  akar.  When  America  in  1908  waived  ritfits  to 
kaif  of  her  ihare  of  the  Boxer  indemnity  of  1900^ 
CUm  aithuM'astically  reciprocated  bgr  recruiting  acholan 
to  go  to  America's  colleges  and  schools.  The  future 
«n  dmr  that  this  move  was  one  of  unusual  brilliance 
OB  AoKrica's  part  Hong-Kong  for  some  time  has 
poHesMd  a  medical  school  for  Chinese,  and  Singa- 
pore, tfirough  the  generosity  of  the  towkays,  has  af- 
forded similar  opportunities  to  natives.  Canton  is  soon 
to  have  bestowed  upon  it  a  medical  college  under  the 
auspices  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  which  wtth 
the  branch  of  Yale  College  called  "  Elegant  Proprieties  " 
at  Changsha,  Hunan's  capital,  have  here  the  opportunity 
to  seize  an  influence  and  do  a  work  with  the  more  in- 
telligent  natives,  which  missionary  societies  have  failed 
in  because  of  the  suspicion  attending  purely  religious 
auspices  at  the  present  time.  Prophetically,  the  first 
patent  issued  by  China  was  granted  to  a  N'anklnese  for 
an  dectric  light,  which  of  course  adopted  a  poetic 
name.  "  the  new  moonshine."  As  you  enter  the  palace 
at  Peking,  the  new  and  the  old  display  themselves  in 
an  unusual  fraternization.  Tht  lacquered  teak  bars  have 
been  displaced  by  plate  glass  doors,  on  which  the  word 
"Sho"  (long  life)  has  been  emblazoned  in  immense 
red  characters.  In  tlic  new  s<:h<Kils  in  Kwangtung 
the  provincial  government  is  offering  the  hl^  salary  of 
thirty  dollars  Mexican  (fifteen  dollars  gold)  a  month  to 
native  teachers.     Those  who  have  had  experience  in  mis- 


I02  THE  CHINESE 

sion  schools  are  preferred,  for  this  province  remembers 
that  other  wonderful  mission  school  pupil,  the  famous 
Hung  Siu  Tsuen  who  nearly  reached  the  oldest  and  wid- 
est throne  of  the  ages.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  sacred 
Kings,  and  the  Confucian  collection  of  prose  and  verse, 
will  always  retain  the  place  in  the  culture  of  the  na- 
tion that  is  held  by  Greek  literature  in  western  refine- 
ment. Chinese  travelers  say :  "  When  you  seek  culture 
go  to  Canton;  when  you  seek  its  opposite,  go  to  Fu- 
chau." 

The  proudest  procession  of  the  clan  is  the  mar- 
riage procession,  and  in  it  the  highest  of  all  the  banners 
are  those  naming  the  men  who  have  won  literary  degrees. 
A  graduate  erects  a  flagpole  before  his  home,  and  his 
proud  father  nails  on  it  a  triangle.  The  ten  thousand 
stalls  in  dreary  rows  at  Wuchang  across  the  river  from 
Han-kau,  the  seventeen  thousand  brick  booths  in  the 
western  capital,  Chingtoo;  and  the  fifteen  thousand  cells 
at  Nanking,  stand  empty,  like  our  fair-ground  booths 
between  seasons,  and  down  the  walks  blow  the  leaves  of 
the  old  examination  papers, —  a  literary  Vollombrosa  in 
autumn.  Many  of  the  ten  thousand  stalls  at  Canton, 
which  every  traveler  will  recall  by  the  fine  camphor- 
trees  in  the  sixteen-acre  park,  have  been  razed  to  provide 
a  site  for  a  modern  university.  Students  who  fail  to 
secure  the  highest  degree  recall  as  an  ill  omen  the  name 
of  the  examination  hall  at  Peking,  that  of  "  Intense 
Mental  Exercise."  In  these  stalls  the  candidates  remain 
for  days,  until  they  complete  their  papers.  Their  name 
is  pasted  within  a  fold  of  the  paper,  and  the  pocket  is 
not  opened  until  the  examiner  has  perused  and  marked 
the  answers.  The  students  are  expected  to  bring  suf- 
ficient food,  tea  and  covering  to  last  during  their  occu- 


INQDENTS  OP  DAILY  UFE  103 

pinqr,  and  they  may  not  hold  oonvenation  with  soldiers 
00  guard,  or  with  other  candidates.  The  booths  are 
rough  brick  constructions  like  sentry  boxes,  and  are 
often  daubed  in  blue  with  some  classical  inscription. 
Whik  the  lowest  peasant  may  compete,  four  classes  arc 
debarred,  in  this  most  democratic  of  countries,  where 
there  has  never  been  a  nobility  in  perpetuity,  except  the 
direct  line  from  Confucius.  The  tabooed  dassea  are 
court  eunuchs,  barbers,  actors  and  keepers  of  opiiim 
dens  (i.e.,  a  class  who  answer  to  our  saloon  keepers). 
As  in  every  university,  it  is  found  that  the  hi^wr  edu- 
cation emasculates  the  character  and  independence  of  a 
small  percentage.  Certain  students  who  pass  high,  and 
are  the  sons  of  poor  men,  advertise  that  they  offer  them- 
selves as  the  sons-in-law,  or  adopted  sons  of  rich  men 
who  have  dau^ters  but  no  sons.  There  is  not  a 
Chinese,  however  poor,  who  will  endure  being  without 
some  one  to  carry  his  name,  and  sacritke  to  his  manes 
and  tablet.  He  could  not  otherwise  face  death  with 
composure,  or  what  is  harder,  he  could  not  face  this 
obloquy  of  fortune  during  life.  Even  the  beggars 
and  the  lepers  search  the  banks  for  some  human  drift- 
wood to  adopt.  This  motif  takes  the  place  in  Chinese 
novels  of  our  theme  of  love,  and  is  also  the  incentive 
for  most  of  their  liutnor.  The  Chinese  have  furnished 
hiMoric  pn>of  that  an  eastcni  race  being  founded  on 
Thuoght.  does  not  <lisiiilecratc  when  iis  men  of  action, 
like  Genghis  and  Kubhi  Khan,  pass  away.  It  is  quite 
a  different  thing  to  endow  with  TlimiKlit.  and  thus  make 
permanent  a  race  founded  on  Action. —  and  so  ha\"e 
passed  away,  when  their  leaders  fell.  Nine\'eh.  Mace- 
donia, and  the  Empires  of  Charlemagne  and  Napoleon. 
England  and  America  jointly  contribute  6vc  million 


I04  THE  CHINESE 

dollars  a  year  toward  the  education  of  China,  in  the 
salaries  paid  missionaries,  colporteurs  and  medical  men, 
but  this  is  a  very  small  tax,  considering  the  trade  which 
the  two  countries  enjoy  with  China.  As  a  trade  meas- 
ure alone,  not  to  speak  of  a  humanitarian  one,  let  there 
be  more  missionaries, —  especially  medical, —  sent  out, 
and  do  not  hamper  them  by  confining  them  to  didactics ; 
let  them  put  their  hands  to  anything  civilizing  for  the 
precarious  present. 

There  is  something  marvelously  authoritative  in  the 
clang  of  the  cantankerous  gong.  Sleepy  China,  and  even 
the  sport-pursuing  foreigner  outside  the  gates,  are  obe- 
dient in  an  instant.  Insistence  is  shown  by  the  rapidity 
of  the  strokes.  The  gong  saves  China  policemen.  It 
is  the  flare  of  the  short  sunset.  At  the  southern  gfate 
of  one  of  the  ten  thousand  walled  cities  of  dragon  land, 
one  hundred  strokes  are  rapidly  struck  by  the  watchman. 
Every  one  becomes  his  brother's  policeman,  and  shouts 
to  his  neighbor  to  hurry.  There  is  a  pause.  One  hun- 
dred more  strokes  are  rained  upon  the  gong,  in  the  fort 
which  is  built  upon  the  wall  over  the  gate,  where  the  in- 
struments of  the  bonzes  indicate  that  the  sun  has  gone 
down.  Not  all  the  gate  towers  are  beautiful,  Peking^s 
having  little  curl  to  the  cornices  and  the  structures  being 
too  heavy.  The  Chien  Mun  gate,  which  the  expedi- 
tionary force  blew  up  in  1900,  was  as  plain  as  a  gunny 
godown.  At  Mukden,  and  indeed  the  deeper  you  go 
into  Manchuria  and  Mongolia,  the  more  the  artistic 
wanes  and  the  colder,  older  and  sadder  the  forts  and 
everything  else  look.  At  Hang-chow,  the  gates  are  too 
low  and  long  for  such  heavy  walls,  though  the  cor- 
nices have  the  grace  that  you  expect  in  the  happier 
south.    But  at  Kialing  Fu    is  a  beautiful  gate-fort  of 


INQDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  105 

qilendid  proportkHis,  with  lofty  sweep  to  the  cornice*, 
grace  in  the  lattice  work,  and  adornment  in  the  frieze. 
The  farther  you  go  up  the  Yangtze,  a  kindlier  aun  and 
sweeter  air  warm  the  heart  and  foster  into  flower  the 
artistic  dreams  of  the  native  architect  The  two  itory 
guard-house  on  the  wall  over  the  low  grim  north  gate 
of  Canton,  is  more  ponderous  than  beautiful  however. 
One  exception  to  the  general  stem  style  of  the  north  is 
the  chaste  and  truly  delightful  pentagonal  gate  with 
frieze  through  the  Great  Wall  at  Nankow. 

Within  i  few  minutes  after  the  clangs  of  the  bst  one 
hundred  strokes  have  died  away,  the  crowd, —  all  but  the 
thief  who  is  greasing  his  body  and  filling  his  rolled-up 
queue  with  needles  so  you  can  not  hold  him  by  the  tail,— 
has  divided  between  those  who  will  remain  in  the  stone 
sheds  among  the  vegetable  and  rice  terraces,  or  stay 
within  the  clamorous  city,  wliere  half  the  traders  keep 
shop  (not  in  their  hats  for  they  have  none),  in  their 
umbrellas.  The  ponderous  iron-bound  gate  is  dragged 
shut  with  much  laughter,  chaffing  and  jeers  at  the  gate- 
men,  who  with  earnest  faces,  excitement  of  manner,  and 
shouting  jan  (get  out  of  the  way),  drop  the  long 
fastening  bar  into  its  socket.  The  clamps  are  padlocked 
with  enomious  quaint  brass  locks,  which  any  peasant 
could  pick  with  a  rice-hook.  The  piratically  inclined 
have  been  known  to  use  a  little  palm  oil  to  lubricate  their 
exit,  after  the  law  had  ptisttd  its  warder.  Outside  the 
l^tcs,  Leong  has  been  jostled  by  Oieong.  They  drop 
their  bambi.H>  pules  and  baskets :  riisli  at  each  other,  plant 
their  feet  in  each  uilicr's  stomachs  ai]d  tug  at  each 
ollier's  queues.  Nearly  every  soutlicm  Chinese  is 
subject  to  enlargement  of  the  spleen,  ami  therefore  the 
western  method  of  fisticuffs  has  fortunately  not  been 


io6  THE  CHINESE 

adopted.  The  gate  of  a  city  is  considered  as  holy  as  a 
temple,  and  it  is  sacrilege  to  paste  posters  upon  it.  If 
you  would  not  invite  bad  fortune,  you  must  leave  a  city 
by  a  different  gate  from  the  one  by  which  you  entered 
it.  It  is  the  hurried  close  of  the  race-meeting  outside 
the  northwest  walls  of  Peking  in  May.  The  evening 
shadows  are  growing  longer  beneath  the  thirteen  story 
Buddhist  monastery,  and  the  roofs  of  the  Taoist  temple. 
Some  one  announces  that  it  is  about  time  for  the  gongs 
of  Peking  to  sound  their  warning.  The  Chinese  begin 
to  race  home  on  foot.  The  last  races  are  hurried,  and 
the  mafoos  hardly  wait  for  their  badges.  Foreigners 
mounted  on  mules,  Mongol  ponies,  and  India  breds;  in 
chairs,  in  Peking  springless  carts,  in  'rickishas,  and  on 
foot, —  all  vanish  into  the  advancing  cloud  of  loess  dust, 
which  swallows  them,  and  move  on  to  the  Anting  gate 
just  before  it  is  closed  for  the  night.  Thus  far  at  least 
has  our  Occidental  in  exile  become  orientalized. 

Half  of  the  false  hair  used  in  America  and  Europe 
is  gathered  in  China.  It  is  not  uncommon  for  the  river 
pirates  who  infest  the  delta  about  Canton,  to  burst  upon 
a  village,  and  after  kidnapping  for  ransom  all  they  can 
conveniently  convoy,  to  cut  off  every  other  queue  they 
can  lay  hold  of.  Rats  are  eaten  by  the  extremely 
ignorant  in  the  superstition  that  the  queue  will  grow 
longer.  In  Shansi,  human  hair  combings  are  collected 
and  woven  at  home  into  large  over-socks  for  winter  use. 

The  queue  fills  not  only  a  roll  of  honor,  but  some- 
times comes  in  for  dishonor.  On  a  March  evening  not 
long  ago,  at  Fat  Shan  on  the  delta  of  the  Pearl,  the 
silk  shop  of  my  friend  Tai  Cheung,  on  Sui  Tsun  street, 
was  attacked  at  night  in  back  and  front.  Four  pirates, 
with  stones  tied  to  the  ends  of  bamboos,  broke  a  hole 


INCIDENTS  OP  DAILY  UFE  107 

throuKb  Um  adobe  wall  at  the  back  and  entered.  Tbe 
cigbt  fokis  (shop  tenders)  who  were  sleeping  00  tbe 
premises,  nished  to  tbe  front  ban  to  escape  from  tbe 
shooting  in  the  rear.  There  sixteen  other  desperadoea 
alarmed  them  with  torches  and  drove  them  back.  The 
robbers  herded  the  fokit  in  a  comer,  where  they  were 
all  tied,  queues  together,  with  wire  to  a  post,  where 
these  inglorious  Celestial  Samsons  were  later  found  bjr 
tbe  amused  villagers.  To  complex  the  consternation  M 
the  poor  fokis,  the  thieves  exploded  bamboo  bombs,  and 
with  their  arms  full  of  bolts  of  silk,  and  shouting  San 
fp  (scatter)  to  one  another,  they  safely  decamped. 
There  are  also  bands  who  make  a  specialty  of  roUring 
the  mulberry  trees.  A  company  recently  stole  upon  tbe 
Shun  Tak  community  near  Canton,  with  shears,  ladders, 
and  bags.  The  villagers  awoke  to  Bnd  their  only 
wealth,  the  lusang  trees,  denuded  of  e\-ery  branch  and 
leaf.  It  is  pretty  hard  to  prove  ownership  of  a  mulberry 
leaf,  but  the  worms  of  the  adjoining  Sai  Kwan  district 
proved  to  be  exceedingly  productive  that  season, —  so 
that  the  Shun  Tak  people  retain  their  suspicions  for  a 
retaliatory  raid  next  season. 

Some  of  the  rich  unquestionably  eat  fried  silkworm 
grubs  which  are  fed  on  oak  leaves,  and  some  of  the  poor 
eat  non-poisonous  snakes,  cats  and  dogs.  The  last  men- 
tioned are  sold  slyly  even  in  the  British  colony  of  Hong- 
Kong,  but  this  taste  is  not  unknown  in  Europe.  The 
price  of  dog  flesh  in  Il;inibiirg.  on  July  sixteenth,  was 
quoted  at  sixty  pfennigs.  In  the  cities  of  Cassel  and 
Oienuiit2  Ia.st  year  fuurtcen  hundred  dogs,  and  through- 
out the  Gcnnan  Empirt*  alxiut  vight  tliousaiMl  dogs  in  the 
same  peritnl,  were  slaughttrvd  for  ftHxl  purposes. 

Au  Vang  Kang,  a  butcher,  recently  made  unblushing 


io8  THE  CHINESE 

application  to  the  Sanitary  Board  of  the  British  colony 
of  Hong-Kong,  for  "permission  to  sell  deer,  snakes, 
cats  and  dogs  for  food  in  the  petitioner's  shop  on 
Temple  Street,  Yaumati,"  on  the  Chinese  mainland. 
Their  dog  is  stockier  than  the  Esquimaux,  which  it  most 
resembles.  Its  plumed  tail  is  curled  well  up  on  its  back, 
and  it  has  a  noble  frill  and  mane.  The  color  is  either 
solid  black  or  solid  tan.  Those  of  black  tongue  and 
black  mouth  are  considered  the  purest  in  lineage.  The 
black  dog  is  preferred  when  used  for  food.  Its  char- 
acteristics are  an  absolute  unfriendliness  to  every  one  ex- 
cept its  owner,  and  freedom  from  hydrophobia  even  in  so 
hot  a  climate.  As  a  watch-dog  it  has  no  superior,  never 
attacking  but  barking  like  an  irrepressible  string  of  fire- 
crackers. Its  power  in  the  shoulders  makes  it  a  useful 
and  most  unique  adjunct  to  sail  and  man  in  propelling 
the  barrows  along  the  narrow,  raised,  country  paths. 

The  Chinese  seldom  build  oblong  mounds  over  their 
fens  (graves).  The  rich  of  the  southern  provinces 
adopt  the  conspicuous  horseshoe  brick  work,  in  the  toe 
of  which  the  urn  or  coffin  is  sealed.  These  spots  are 
chosen  for  the  view  they  afford,  which  is  an  important 
consideration  in  Fungshui  geomancy.  The  poor  build 
merely  a  cone  of  earth  over  the  urn,  and  into  this  is 
inserted  the  wooden  stick  with  its  black  letters.  The 
cemeteries  cover  a  larger  area  than  the  cities  of  China, 
which  is  an  indisputable  visual  evidence  both  of  the  age 
of  the  country,  and  the  stability  of  its  customs.  Around 
the  mounds  beyond  the  Porta  Cerco  gate  at  Macao,  I 
have  seen  the  Heungshan  farmers  permit  their  water- 
buffaloes  to  crop  food.  Who  that  has  stood  on  Kwan 
Yin  Hill,  beyond  the  north  gate  of  Canton,  and  looked 
into  the  necropolis  of  the  ages  which  extends  up  the 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  109 

acclivities  of  the  White  Qoud  Hills,  wide  as  the  eye  can 
sweep  beyond  the  walls,  can  for  a  moment  fed  that  the 
living  speak  as  vastly  as  do  the  honored  dead  of  this 
dty,  which  was  sending  out  funeral  processions  two  cen- 
turies before  Christt  while  to-day  those  graves  now  hdog 
dug  are  for  the  bones  of  Kwangtung  men  who  died  in 
Africa,  Australia,  Panama,  Saghalien  and  Demarara, 
where  they  formed  the  advance  guard  of  our  occidental 
civilization,  Orientals  though  they  were  by  Uood  and 
birth?  The  white  captains  of  steamers  who  are  known 
to  exerdse  care  that  no  Chinese  emigrant  dyiqg  jen  route 
is  buried  at  sea,  are  remembered  by  the  guilds  at  Hong- 
Kong  with  handsome  silk  banners  testifying  to  their 
**  Honorable  Benevolence  *'  so  truly  Confucian  in  prac* 
tice. 

In  the  first  part  of  April,  when  the  earth  and  air  is 
joyous  with  oriental  color,  the  hills  aroumi  the  cities  are 
crowded  with  those  who  come  to  perform  pai  shan, 
or  worship  on  the  hills.  Five  foods  are  laid  at  the  tomb : 
duck,  goose,  fish,  fowl  and  pig.  Cousins  come  from  dis- 
tant points,  and  the  festival  is  really  their  Christmas  in 
the  sense  of  reunions,  rejoicing  and  feasts.  Part  of  the 
ceremony  is  called  Siu  Fan  Tai,  "  sweeping  the  tomb  " 
clean  of  leaves  and  dust  in  preparation  for  the  kowtow. 
The  worshiper  raises  up  his  voice,  invoking  his  ances- 
tor, and  declares:  "Lo,  I  have  swept  thy  tomb." 
But  the  heart  of  the  foreigner  is  touched  by  a  closer 
chord  of  pity  for  his  own  exiles,  when  his  eye  beholds 
the  white  man's  cemeteries  on  French  anil  Dane's  Islands 
in  the  Pearl  River. 

In  the  funeral  procession,  the  white  lotus  is  carried  as 
the  badge  of  mourning,  and  a  sprig  of  growing  bamboo, 
to  signify  that  the  soul  sprouts  again  in  another  world 


no  THE  CHINESE 

in  another  form.  Pretty  enough  for  any  faith!  The 
red  census  slips  on  each  side  of  the  door  are  taken 
down  for  a  wseason,  and  white  ones  are  pasted  up. 
A  white  lantern  instead  of  a  gaudy  one  is  hung  out  at 
night.  White  cord  is  braided  in  the  queue.  Indeed,  if 
you  point  to  a  funeral  procession  and  ask  a  yokel  what  it 
is,  he  will  say  "a  white  affair."  Two  conical  incense 
mounds  are  carried  on  a  tray  to  be  burned ;  they  are  called 
Chin  Shan  and  Yin  Shan  (gold  and  silver  mountains). 
No  procession  is  accorded  to  those  who  have  not  been 
married.  Such  are  hurried  to  the  grave  unescorted,  save 
by  the  two  melancholy  bearers  and  the  parents.  White 
cakes  are  taken  so  that  the  soul  of  the  deceased  may  in- 
hale their  fragrance.  The  priests  are  gowned  in  white. 
The  only  legitimate  widow,  (the  first),  wearing  white 
flowers  in  her  hair,  is  hurried  along,  led  by  a  child.  She 
is  expected  to  cry  aloud,  and  should  seem  to  make  en- 
deavor to  break  from  the  throng,  so  as  to  commit  suicide 
in  faithful  grief.  Professional  mourners,  called  "dogs 
of  the  devil,"  wear  white  sheets  over  their  shoul- 
ders, weep  tears  and  howl  uninterruptedly,  except  when 
they  explode  us  Westerners  by  quickly  changing  to  a 
smile  and  nod  for  some  passing  acquaintance.  A  white 
pall  is  thrown  over  the  coffin,  which  is  trotted  along  by 
two  or  four  bearers.  Arriving  at  the  grave,  the  bier  is 
approached  by  near  friends,  who  call  out  the  name  of  the 
dead.  Flowers  are  not  sent,  but  friends  contribute  ban- 
ners on  which  are  emblazoned  the  offices  and  virtues  of 
the  deceased.  ^ 

The  Chinese  arc  always  dramatic.  There  is  a  con- 
siderable stretch  between  the  sections.  This  is  intended 
to  magnify,  by  repeating:,  the  impression,  so  that  the 
word  shall  be  passed  several  times  down  the  streets: 


Sheep  grazing  in  a  gravcjar<l  nf  (he  poor,  in  the  suburbs  of  Peking, 
North  China.     Ancestor-worship  has  preserved  these  ceme- 
teries to  iht'  clans,  safe  from  intrusion  by  agricul- 
ture or  building  for  thousands  of  years.     Two 
topes  to  dead  llamas  Jn  background. 


n    Island,  where    foreigners 
South   China. 


INQDENTS  OF  DAn.Y  UFE  iii 

"It  is  Hip  ToBg — it  i»  Hip  Tong — it  is  Hip  Tong, 
who  if  rdmed  to  his  anceston."  A  wooden  tab- 
let widi  the  name  of  tlie  deceased  is  ttndc  in  the  pot  of 
■abcs  in  the  toy  spirit  house.  In  this  taUet  resides  one 
of  Ae  dtree  souls  of  the  man.  Pirates  steal  these  sacred 
I  for  ransom.  The  In^erial  family  use  blue  for 
f  monming,  tliougb  white  is  dt  rigtur  for  6nt 
monniing.  The  largest  grave  section  in  the  soutfi  is  at 
CbA  Wan,  situated  on  one  of  the  brandies  of  the  Peail 
Delta,  near  Canton.  Excursions  are  nm  by  steamboat  in 
Apr^  and  one  hundred  thousand  Chinese  from  Hoog- 
KJaag  and  Canton  make  the  pi^pimagci  The  festival 
it  «  religions  one  and  is  called  by  the  Hakkas  Tsimg 
Mmg,  or  "sahiting  of  the  hilL"  The  exact  date  is  set 
by  the  emperor,  who  thus  comes  into  intimate  father* 
hood  with  the  poorest  of  his  people,  his  oflfice  as  priest 
often  protecting  his  weakness  as  king.  The  Board  ( Pu) 
of  Rites,  realizing  however  the  inadequate  means  of  rural 
transportation,  and  the  inconvenience  and  sanitary  danger 
of  throwing  a  crowd  of  scores  of  thousands  into  one 
cemetery  on  a  certain  day.  permits  pilgrims  a  latitude  of 
two  days  before  and  after  the  official  day.  to  pay  their 
worriiip  at  the  tombs  of  their  ancestors.  A  burial  in 
the  small  villages  near  Hong-Kong,  like  Lyce-moon  and 
Ngan  Kok,  costs  twenty  cents  excluding  the  cofHn.  and 
where  the  body  is  sculled  to  a  cemetery  a  mile  across 
the  bay.  tfic  cost  is  two  dollars  and  a  half.  The  desecra- 
tion of  a  grave  is  a  capital  offense.  The  mausoletims  of 
the  rich,  with  their  terraces  and  Yunnan  marble  stairs,  are 
e\-en  more  striking  and  costly  that  what  our  own  ceme- 
teries have  to  show.  A  native  will  not  pass  a  cenieter>- 
at  nif^t,  without  a  lighted  lantern.  The  Mohammedan 
Chinese  of  Yunnan  have  a  unique  custum  of  whitewash- 


112  THE  CHINESE 

ing  their  graves,  which  point  south.  In  Shensi  remain 
evidences  of  great  dome-like  mounds  which  are  either  the 
graves  of  emperors,  or  the  victims  of  famine  from 
drought  or  flood.  So  you  may  guess  whether  one  man 
or  fifty  thousand  lie  under  each  mound.  Knowing  what 
I  do  of  famines  in  China,  I  prefer  to  believe  in  the  larger 
number  under  each  mound. 

One  of  the  saddest  sights  in  the  world  is  a  clan's 
charity  cemetery.  This  is  walled  around,  in  contrast  to 
the  ant-hill  graves  of  the  vast  open  hillside.  Against 
the  middle  of  one  wall  is  a  noble  shrine.  The  chasteness 
of  the  design  is  not  surpassed  by  any  architecture ;  walls 
strong  as  the  Egyptian,  a  colored  tile  roof  with  heavy 
eaves,"  a  fagade  pure  as  the  Doric.  There  is  only  the 
curved  line  of  the  ridge  to  suggest  what  is  characteris- 
tically Chinese.  Receptacles  are  made  for  the  deposit 
of  prayer  papers,  spirit  food  and  incense,  the  rites  being 
similar  to  the  early  Greek.  The  melancholy  view  is  of 
the  stern  field  of  death,  with  its  closely  placed  conical 
mounds  which  are  built  over  the  urns.  At  the  foot  of 
the  center  path  is  the  one  stone,  with  the  name  of  the 
clan  and  the  purpose  of  its  charity  for  its  poor  members. 
There  is  not  a  tree  or  a  plant  in  the  vast  enclosure ;  only 
the  silhouette  of  the  white  and  green  altar  to  the  gods 
of  the  clan,  which  has  not  moved  from  its  countryside 
for  thousands  of  years.  The  baby  towers,  about  which 
so  many  misstatements  have  been  made,  are  erected  by 
clan  charity  to  "  save  the  face,"  that  is  to  say,  to  keep 
the  poor  parent's  pride  from  the  humility  of  formally 
asking  charity  from  the  clan.  When  the  child  dies,  the 
parent  drops  its  body  in  the  tower  of  silence,  where  it  is 
taken  charge  of  by  the  clan  officials,  and  a  proper  funeral 
is  given  it,  the  parent  mixing  in  the  retinue,  and  it  is 


INQDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  113 

not  altogether  unknown  whose  child  it  it.  There  is  a 
great  deal  said  of  children  being  strangled  and  thrown 
in  the  towers,  but  there  is  probably  as  nmch  parental 
affection  in  China  as  elsewhere.  In  contrast  with  this 
austerity  are  the  elaborate  topes  to  dead  Lanus,  erected 
in  Shansi,  Pechili  and  Thibet 

Much  has  also  been  written  of  the  dangerous  habit  of 
leaving  bodies  above  ground,  for  it  certaitdy  is  very  com- 
mon to  see  coflfins  scattered  upon  an  c^>en  lot  for  nxmtiis, 
waiting  for  the  lucky  burial  day  (Fungshui),  and  the 
exact  qwt  that  the  geomancers  are  to  diooM.  But  as 
the  ooflRns  are  from  ux  to  eight  inches  thick,  the  joints 
cemented,  and  the  body  placed  in  lime,  they  are  as  harm* 
leas  above  ground  as  under  it,  and  one  never  hears  of  pes- 
tilence resulting  from  the  custom,  except  in  a  hurried 
tourist's  sketch.  But  China  is  now  establishing  news- 
papers, and  will  prove  the  truth  of  what  is  written  about 
her. 

In  the  futile  ostentation  of  pride  and  the  contumely 
borne  by  poverty,  the  Chinese  are  not  exempt  from  our 
own  experiences.  In  the  ward  of  the  coffin  makers  be- 
neath the  walls  of  Canton,  near  the  Five  Story  pagoda, 
is  a  Buddhist  sanctuary  for  the  dead.  According  to  the 
rent  paid,  a  coflin  and  room  are  hired,  and  emblematic 
food  for  the  spirit  and  appeasing  incense  for  the  con- 
trary spirits,  are  offered  every  day  by  the  monks.  Some 
of  the  coffins  like  that  of  the  \'iccroy  of  Fu-kien  or  the 
Tartar  General  Chung's  which  all  retain  the  convex  shape 
of  the  tree,  display  the  most  pr.rnc<>us  ycllmv  lacquer  ever 
executed.  As  long  as  the  family  of  the  clcceasctl  remains 
wealthy,  this  display  is  the  envy  of  the  townspeople. 
When  poppied  time  passes,  and  the  fees  are  not  paid,  an- 
other body  is  installed  in  both  coffin  and  room.    But  this 


114  THE  CHINESE 

IS  exactly  the  custom  followed  in  our  French  and  Span- 
ish cities,  as  in  the  brick  pile  of  rented  tombs  at  St 
Roch's,  New  Orleans;  in  the  tiers  which  adjoin  the  old 
pit  of  ejected  human  bones  at  the  Cristobal  Colon  Ceme- 
tery at  Havana,  and  in  the  long  white  alleys  at  Barcelona, 
where  trouble  is  not  taken  fully  to  obliterate  the  names 
of  the  defaulting  tenant  before  the  new  initials  are  painted 
on  the  door.  A  foreigner  (and  I  have  known  a  mean 
humorist  to  do  it  to  sell  his  wares)  who  makes  it  known 
to  the  mandarin  and  native  community  that  he  has  bought 
his  grave  plot  in  sacred  China,  at  once  secures  irresistible 
influence  and  affection  from  a  people  who  see  in  this 
act  the  highest  proof  of  a  feeling  of  brotherhood  with 
them. 

The  rivers  of  China  bear  an  unusual  alluvial  richness  to 
the  seas.  Where  America  has  one  mile  of  river,  China 
has  ten.  The  deltas  and  fishing  banks  around  Canton 
and  Woosung  are  feeding  grounds  for  innumerable  shoals 
of  fish.  The  fish  as  they  are  caught  are  thrown  into 
flooded  compartments  (the  Chinese  invented  the  compart- 
ment boat  really  for  fishing  purposes),  and  sold  alive  in 
the  markets  of  Hong-Kong.  Your  comprador  learns  to 
judge  by  the  dorsal  fin  as  he  chooses  your  dinner,  and 
your  coolie  dangles  the  struggling  pomfret,  garoupa,  or 
mullet  from  a  grass  thong  as  he  marches  behind  your 
'rickisha.  The  natives  too  often  insist  on  the  scales  be- 
ing scraped,  while  life  is  still  pulsing  in  the  victim.  For 
transportation  inland,  great  sunfish,  perch  and  ling  are 
salted  and  sun-dried.  The  Chinese  is  nauseated  by  no 
degree  of  piscatorial  decomposition,  but  he  gets  a  good 
deal  of  leprosy*  according  to  some  critics,  from  the  dried 
fish  indulgence.  In  the  higher  country,  northwest  from 
Canton,  the  peasants  in  the  spawning  season  pull  the 


INQDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  115 

reedi,  on  which  the  eggs  hang,  from  the  riven,  and  throw 
them  into  pools.  In  this  way  their  ponds  are  stocked 
with  carp.  The  silt  of  the  Chu  and  Si  Rivera  has  buih 
a  vast  fishing  shoal  about  famous  cAd  Maau>.  This  em- 
porium of  the  far  East  during  the  fifteenth  century  lies 
now  like  a  stranded  ship,  melancholy  in  isolation. 
**MagHi  momitiit  umbra."  The  red  lajid  dragon  bu 
clutched  her  from  the  grasp  of  the  green  sea  dragon.  In 
twenty-five  years,  seventy  million  metric  tons  of  alluvial 
deposit  have  been  silted  around  the  doomed  port  Her 
custom-house  entries  of  dearances  for  Europe  suddenly 
dosed  sixty  years  ago.  No  fitter  {dace  could  be  chosen 
than  this  Uue-walled  dty,  for  a  Goldsmith  of  the  Sea  to 
sing  the  stanzas  of  a  "  Deserted  Harbor." 

The  widest  beach  in  the  world  is  the  famous  half  moon 
beach  between  Ke  Tae  and  Cacilhas.  One  can  walk  out 
two  miles  at  low  tide.  On  the  sihxr  strand  at  high  tide, 
native  fishermen  dry  their  nets,  which  thcv  have  dyed  with 
an  infusion  of  mangrove  bark  or  gambier,  to  preserve 
them.  Others  are  poling  their  way  along  a  net,  and  dart- 
ing into  the  water  at  the  end  of  a  bamboo,  an  inverted  half 
cocoanut,  to  frighten  the  fish  into  the  net.  Tremendous 
vigor  is  exercised  in  the  animating  scene.  In  the  tish 
market,  below  the  three-storied  stone  building  which  has  a 
picturesque  fourth  story  of  bamboo,  on  the  Inner  Praya. 
you  can  purchase  a  different  species  of  fish  ever)-  day  of 
the  >"ear,  brought  from  the  fcedinj;  shallnws  around  Joao 
and  Lapa,  particularly  the  delicious  snnili.  and  among 
the  others,  hammer-headed  shark,  electric  torpedo,  cuttle, 
gorgeous  parrot,  red  sturgeon,  eels,  and  anchovies. 
While  there  arc  no  lobsters  in  oriental  w.iters.  the  I.nng 
llai.  or  gi.int  crawfish,  affords  a  good  substitute,  and  ef- 
forts are  now  being  made  to  transplant  it  lo  the  American 


ii6  THE  CHINESE 

side  of  the  Pacific.  For  river  fishing,  both  cormorants 
and  otters  are  trained, —  the  latter,  however,  only  being 
used  to  drive  the  fish  into  the  nets.  Prawns  aire  caught 
in  vast  quantities  all  the  way  from  Canton  to  Hong- 
Kong,  along  the  Ladrone  and  Lantao  Islands,  and  even 
back  of  Stonecutter's  Island  in  Hong-Kong  Bay,  and  the 
paste  is  shipped  to  European  purveyors.  At  the  green 
and  slippy  old  stone  wharf  in  front  of  the  Harbor  Of- 
fice, Hong-Kong,  you  will  notice  the  black  oysters  of 
Amoy  and  Fu-chau  being  landed,  but  don't  eat  them  if 
you  value  your  life,  except  in  December,  when  they  arc  as 
delicious  as  the  dark  oysters  of  New  Orleans.  You  will 
notice  that  the  bones  of  the  pike  are  green  and  the 
chickens'  bones  dark.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  fish, 
feeding  in  the  estuaries  of  the  Canton  and  West  Riv- 
ers, are  affected  by  the  mineral  matter,  in  the  loess, 
which  the  rivers  carry  down  from  the  heart  of  the 
country. 

If  forests  were  planted  at  the  headwaters  to  stay  the 
floods,  and  equalize  the  flow  during  all  the  year,  China 
would  add  to  her  wealth  in  soil  half  a  billion  dollars  a 
year.  But  there  was  an  instance  where  a  sudden  increase 
in  the  wealth  of  the  agriculturists  of  a  land,  troubled  in 
other  directions,  made  possible  a  revolution,  as  in  the  days 
preceding  Cromwell,  and  there  might  be  a  repetition  of 
this  condition  here.  As  soon  as  the  American  western 
states  fifteen  years  ago  threw  off  their  farm  mortgages, 
which  had  been  oppressing  them  for  twenty  years,  the 
propaganda  which  flowered  in  Roosevelt's  criticisms  be- 
gan for  the  elimination  of  the  usurious  oppression  and 
discriminating  legislation  from  which  they  had  suffered 
during  those  "  twenty  years  of  Egypt." 

In  metal  and  wood  work,  the  native  artisan  sticks  to 


maDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  117 

I  bow  drill.  He  drawi  the  cord  to  and  fro  witli  effcct- 
I,  but  at  a  painful  waste  of  energy,  as  he  applies  the 
:fat  of  his  cheat  for  pressure.  The  Chinese  are  en- 
djr  without  steam  circular  saw  mills.  The  great  togs 
[  teak  which  come  from  Siam,  and  pine  from  Oregon 
1  the  Yalu,  are  tilted  up,  while  a  man  standing  on  the 
log,  and  one  croucliing  under  it,  pu&h  a  hand-saw.  I 
have  Ken  concrete  double  walled  buildings,  six  stories 
high,  and  taking  up  a  square,  being  erected  in  Hong- 
Kong,  with  the  sawyers  alongside  preparing  the  teak 
beams  in  this  ancient  and  picturcscjue  fashion.  The  Eng- 
fish  architects  brought  boilers  out,  [«t  they  always  have 
and  always  will  grow  wheezy  in  the  hands  of  the  Sawyers' 
Guild,  evcQ  tn  treaty  ports.  Joinera  uac  a  saw  bavit^ 
a  blade  fifteen  inches  long,  and  widest  at  the  end,  where 
it  measures  five  inches  across.  It  tapers  toward  a  bam- 
boo handle.  One  edge  is  set  for  cross-cut,  and  the  other 
for  rip.  The  dust  is  drawn  with  the  upward  stroke, 
which  is  the  thousand  and  first  tiring  instance,  given  by 
the  telescope  man,  that  "  everything  is  opposite  in  China." 
Smooth  and  able  racing  boats  are  built  at  about  half  what 
they  would  cost  in  America,  and  the  clerk  who  in  Eng- 
land was  elate  with  a  whirl  in  the  Tupenny  Tube  and 
a  Imis  ride  to  Hampstead  Heath,  here  blossoms  out  as  a 
boat  owner  in  his  second  year  of  indenture.  The  Royal 
Hong-Kong  Yacht  Squadron  turns  out  a  respectable  fleet 
of  thirty  half-raters,  and  several  two-stickers  and  yawls, 
all  erected,  and  many  of  them  designed,  by  Chinese  boat 
builders  like  Ah  Kee.  In  the  cup-like  harbor,  set  about 
with  the  lofty  Hong-Kong  and  Kowloon  blue  ranges,  the 
dipping  sails  and  bubbling  scuppers  of  the  fleet  make  a 
picture  a  little  more  animating  than  porcelain,  and  cer- 
tiinly  dearer  to  the  exile,  because  it  has  that  touch  of 


1 


ii8  THE  CHINESE 


home  which  made  Fong,  the  Chinese  emigrants*  poet,  say : 
"  They  love  home  most  who  never  have  one." 

The  meal  of  the  Chinese  bon  vivaitt  (the  effete  treaty 
ports  have  them  all)  begins  with  samschu,  rice  wine, 
served  hot.  The  cups  must  be  inverted  with  some  em- 
phasis, as  they  are  emptied  The  cup  is  not  lifted  by 
the  fingers,  but  is  rather  placed  in  the  hollow  of  the 
hand,  and  then  raised.  The  wine  contains  only  fifteen 
per  cent,  of  alcohol.  Soups,  which  close  the  repast,  arc 
of  the  delightful  birds'  nest,  brought  from  Moscos  Island 
in  Burmah,  sweet  lotus,  fungus,  sprouted  bean,  and 
pigeons'  tgg.  Between  are  served  Sam  See  Chee,  a 
hash  of  shark,  pheasant,  chicken  and  bamboo  shoots; 
yatik,  a  jelly  of  pounded  rice  and  oil;  wo  apy  bone- 
less dried  duck  which  has  an  Egyptian  taste  of  mummy 
wrappings;  Mut  kirn  ghct,  a  preparation  of  Chinese 
golden  lime;  boh  loh,  made  with  pineapple;  lichee 
gon,  the  Imperial  nuts  with  a  raisin  taste;  sedge  root 
and  water  chestnuts.  Raw  fish  and  legs  of  frogs,  called 
Yc  Sang,  taken  from  the  flooded  rice  swamps,  are 
not  infrequently  eaten,  now  that  ice  is  obtainable  to  make 
them  appeal  to  the  gourmet.  Eggs  are  preserved  in  a 
paste  of  saltpetre,  soy  and  earth  for  periods  so  long  that 
they  are  blackened  with  their  sulphur,  and  taste  like  our 
high  school  boy's  experiment  in  sulphurated  hydrogen. 
In  Che-kiaiig  Province  hams  are  pickled  in  soy  sauce. 
Hoi  Shian,  or  sea  slug  from  Korean  waters,  is  first 
dried,  then  steamed,  and  served  with  pigeon.  Cakes  are 
made  of  fried  grasshoppers.  Of  all  gastronomical  dc- 
h'ghts  to  the  foreigner  is  the  Chinese  shad  or  samli 
of  the  Canton  estuary,  a  fish  half  between  our  shad  and 
pompano  in  taste.  Nearly  equal  as  a  prandial  delicacy 
is  the  pih  fan  yu,  or  white  rice  fish,  which  is  breaded 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAiLV  LIFE 


119 


Your  army  officer  at  the  dub  will  call  for  nlnQon;  he 
means  polynnnii<i-  It  is  like  our  salmon  In  taste  and  li 
the  onlv  pink  (ish  in  the  far  East 

Orange*  arc  skilfully  opened,  filled  with  various  colored 
jellies,  carefully  sealed  and  brought  to  ihe  table  again  au 
matttrtl.  The  dwarf  ki^-kc^a',  or  p»Iden  orange,  po|Hi- 
larly  known  as  the  ktutiqual.  is  preserved  whole,  and  it  a 
delicacy  which  immeiliately  makes  you  declare  you  even- 
tually will  love  the  coitnlry  despite  much.  The  tart  loquat 
tastes  and  looks  like  a  cross  between  a  grape  and  an 
oran^.  The  green,  curling  fern  and  seaweed  from 
Korea,  are  prepared  as  we  serve  spinach,  and  plum  ker- 
nels are  fried  in  oil.  Tea  is  drunk  as  the  Germans  in  llw  \ 
East  liandle  cocktails;  i.  e.,  the  cups  are  raised  in  salute  ■ 
and  drained  simultaneously.  A  guest  receives  his  cup 
with  both  hands.  Should  an  invited  guest  be  absent 
through  illness,  the  meal  is  sent  to  his  house.  Amoi^  the 
gifts  is  a  beautiful  basket,  which  is  hlled  with  rice,  and  a 
•riected  branch  of  arbor-vitx  or  pine  is  inserted  to  imitate 
a  potted  tree,  beneath  the  branches  of  which  nuts  and 
fruits  are  spread  on  the  white  ground. 

A  Chinese  never  takes  his  politeness  humorously. 
Therefore  I  have  not  entered  the  following  anecdote 
among  the  humorous  paragraphs.  Their  unlucky  num- 
ber is  fourteen.  A  host  found  himself,  because  of  dec- 
linations, with  thirteen  guests  at  his  table.  To  relieve 
his  consternation,  Li  Chong  spoke  forth:  "Never 
mind,  I  shall  be  the  one  who  will  keep  his  drum  head 
slack  in  patience;  from  sweetmeat  to  soup  I  shall  not 
eat  at  all,  and  therefore  I  am  not  here."  Native  gentle- 
men generally  hire  for  their  dinner  parties,  a  large  restau- 
rant, or  club,  which  hns  facilities  for  histrionic 
Sometimes  these  festivities  last  two  days. 


120  THE  CHINESE 

and  the  bill  includes  cost  of  lanterns,  presents  to  bonzes, 
and  'rickisha  hire.  A  man's  love  for  his  women  folk  is 
proved  by  the  number  of  times  he  sends  "  regrets  "  to  a 
banquet,  for  the  meal  comes  home.  Hats  are  worn 
throughout.  They  are  generally  silk  skull  caps,  to  pro- 
tect the  shaven  heads.  Melon  and  sunflower  seeds,  and 
green  cayenne  pods  are  continually  passed  to  the  company 
of  singing  girls,  who  come  to  recite  and  dance,  if  the 
banquet  is  an  official  one.  Cassia,  mushrooms,  fish  gills, 
pheasant,  partridge,  snipe,  and  reed-birds  in  abundance, 
prawns,  carambola  fruit,  almond  custard,  orange  wine; 
steamed  sharks'  fins,  chicken  cooked  with  rice  wine,  gin- 
ger, soy,  sesamum,  peanut  oil  and  herbs, —  are  all  drawn 
upon  by  these  versatile  cooks  in  preparing  their  menus, 
especially  when  a  foreigner  is  to  be  invited.  Whole  roast 
pigs  and  hares  are  brought  on  gilded,  just  as  was  the 
Milanese  custom  in  the  fourteenth  century.  The  meal 
ends  with  a  draft  of  hot  chook  (rice  soup),  and  a 
towel,  dipped  in  hot  water,  is  drawn  across  the  face.  Hot 
as  is  the  climate,  its  lassitude  seems  to  create  a  craving 
for  hot  foods.  The  foreigner  probably  over-indulges  in 
spiced  Indian  chutneys  and  curries,  and  the  native  in  the 
betel-pepper  leaf. 

So  much  of  the  imported  liquors  and  comestibles  for 
the  white  man's  consumption  in  the  tropics  (canned 
goods,  claret,  beer,  champagne,  etc.)  are  preserved  by 
acids,  it  is  now  not  uncommon  to  see  in  the  papers  an 
advertisement  like  the  following:  "  Tuborg  beer,  ten 
dollars  and  a  half  Mexican,  forty-eight  quarts,  guaranteed 
free  from  salicylic  acid."  Despite  the  discouragement, 
the  foreigner  in  the  treaty  port  does  not  seem  to  forsake 
foods  which  have  the  acid,  and  if  Jie  ever  returns  home  he 
brings  to  his  physician  a  stomach  as  useless  as  a  sponge. 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  lai 

Im  is  DOW  fully  appredsted  in  the  boutehold  menace,  and 
at  Ningpo  the  heavily  thatched  ice-houaea  are  ccmapicaout 
along  the  river  front  At  Hn^-Kong,  of  conne,  the  ice 
it  made  by  machinery.  If  your  native  cock  gets  a  fowl 
which  he  believes  will  be  a  tou^  proUem,  he  hangs  it 
aiDOfv  the  papaw's  branches  over  night,  ui  the  belief  that 
the  exhalation  from  the  leaves  will  have  a  moUi^ing 
effect  Few  Chinese  comestiUes  are  immersed  in  the 
water  and  boiled.  They  are  [daoed  in  perforated  vends 
above  the  water  and  steamed.  We  who  are  used  to  tha 
pasty  manner  in  which  our  cooks  destroy  the  beanty  of 
boQcd  rice,  will  be  surprised  to  notice  this  artide  of  food 
aioked  on  the  meanest  sampan  in  a  manner  to  keep  eadi 
grain  light,  separate  and  dry  to  handle  The  rice  is  made 
appetizing  by  taking  with  it  portions  of  kumchi,  a  sort 
of  sauerkraut.  Economy  in  fuel  and  in  the  use  of  the  chop 
sticks  have  created  the  custom  of  cooking  meats  only 
when  they  are  cut  up  in  small  pieces.  When  one  has 
eaten  heartily,  an<l  the  afTable  host  inrfuires  if  the  meal 
has  been  sufHcient,  it  is  quite  polite  to  use  the  idiom: 
"  My  stomach  is  as  tight  as  a  marshall's  drum  head." 
Spartans,  too,  are  they  on  occasion,  for  they  have  a 
proverb:  "He  only  is  a  man  who  can  exist  on  petsai 
stalks."  Outside  of  the  treaty  ports,  beef  is  a  flesh  un- 
tasted  by  even  the  rich  Chinese,  because  one  hash  would 
cost  as  much  as  the  whole  animal.  The  poor  could  not 
afford  to  pay  the  price :  the  few  well-to^o  in  the  village 
might  not  have  the  beef  appetite  on  the  one  day,  and  the 
owner  of  the  carcass  could  not  keep  over  what  he  did  not 
use,  as  ice  can  not  be  procured  inland.  A  Chinese,  in  ex- 
pressing how  much  land  it  takes  to  support  a  man,  says: 
"  One  acre  for  six  mouths." 

Where  we  raise  whisky  and  tobacco  smugglers,  the 


123  .THE  CHINESE 

Chinese  discover  opium  and  salt  evaders  of  the  Imperial 
Customs.  First  a  pirate  at  Canton;  then  a  salt  smuggler 
farther  up  the  Pearl,  is  Ng  Po's  descent  to  civilization, 
for  later  we  shall  find  him  buying  out  a  degree  and  a 
squeeze  mandarin-ship,  say  on  the  West  River  (now  be- 
come the  most  notorious  pirate  waters  of  the  world), 
not  too  far  from  his  former  haunts,  if  he  ever  wants  or 
needs  to  return  to  them.  Visitors  to  Canton  and  Macao 
will  recall  the  well  built  British  river-boats,  Heung- 
shan,  Fatshan,  and  Honam,  and  the  Chinese  built 
Tai  On,  with  thousands  of  coolies  battened  like  cattle 
in  the  'tween  decks  under  bars;  the  barred  ports;  and  the 
uniformed  Sikh  and  Portuguese  guards,  bristling  with 
rifles,  bayonets  and  pistols,  parading  by  every  hatchway 
on  the  saloon  deck,  where  the  foreigner  is  accommodated. 
Glancing  up  at  the  pilot-house,  your  tyt  is  met  by  a 
rack  of  glistening  rifles  at  the  quartermaster's  back,  .  It 
used  to  be  quite  common  in  Cantonese  and  Macaense 
waters  for  Chinese  pirates  (they  are  nearly  always  natives 
of  turbulent  Kwangsi  Province,  and  have  aboriginal  blood 
in  their  veins)  to  come  aboard  as  passengers,  and  when 
the  vessel  had  got  under  the  lee  of  Lantao  Island,  to 
swarm  ovtr  the  saloon  deck,  and  compel  the  quarter- 
master to  run  for  the  Ladrone  Islands,  or  into  the  hundred 
and  one  creeks  of  the  estuary  of  the  Sikiang,  where  the 
boat  was  robbed  and  perhaps  scuttled,  and  pursuit  as 
effective  as  following  quicksilver  uphill.  The  world  was 
first  startled  by  the  Nainoa  tragedy  on  December  loth, 
iSgo.  A  British  motor-boat  has  been  looted  within  the 
shadow  of  the  bund  at  Samshui.  The  American  launch 
Cornel  was  boarded  in  1906  within  sight  of  the  guns  of 
Wlionipoa. 

Only  lately  at  Lapa  Island,  across  Macao's  inner  har- 


INQDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  133 

bor,  three  hundred  pirates  withitood  govcmnieiit  troopi 
at  Naiwan  Mun.  The  quaint  unpainted  junki  of  Macao 
aU  cany  okl-faihioned  canooo  in  the  stern  (thejr  mean 
to  run  while  tbey  fight  for  it),  and  stinkpots  (hamboo 
fuse  grenades).  It  is  bard  to  tell  when  tihe  marauders 
are  pirates  and  when  government  troops,  and  when  the 
C3iinese  arc  criticized  concerning  this  delinqttency  in 
patriotism,  they  ask  us  where  in  our  own  civilization, 
American  as  wrell  as  Russian,  notorious  detective  or^ 
ganizations  draw  the  line,  when  receipts  are  low.  be- 
t«-een  Uackmail  which  they  manufacture,  and  crime 
which  they  pursue.  As  the  steamers  from  Wuchow 
come  down  the  Rhine  of  China,  the  Sikiang.  they 
are  often  fired  upon  from  the  sorghum  brakes  by  these 
marauders,  who  wait  until  the  native  and  foreign  gun- 
b(>ats.  like  the  UniU'd  Stales  monitor  Monadnock,  are 
out  of  echo.  Some  years  it  has  been  necessary  to  convoy 
merchantmen  with  the  two  British,  two  French,  one  Ger- 
man, and  one  American  gunboats  which  make  headquar- 
ters at  Hong-Kong.  Un(lcr\vriters  are  declining  risks  on 
the  river.  It  is  now  proposed  to  equip  the  gunboats  and 
merchantmen  with  Marconi,  and  allow  Robert  Bredon's 
Customs  Service  to  police  the  ri\'er  with  part  of  China's 
new  navy.  transfcrre<l  for  tliat  purpose.  Only  during  the 
\'icproyalty  of  I-i  Hung  Chang,  with  CromwellJan  sever- 
ity, has  the  Sikiang  (West  River)  been  safe  from  Can- 
ton to  Wuchow,  and  Hong-Kong  asserts  that  the  Kwang- 
tung  governtnent  can.  if  they  ilcsire  to.  police  the  Siki- 
ang as  satisfactorily  to  foreign  commerce  as  the  stem 
Ilupch  government  polices  the  Hun  Kivcr.  The  traveler 
'■n  the  West  River  ten  ycnrs  ago  wiU  n-cill  ihc  three  pirate 
chimneys  on  Spike  Hill,  just  piist  the  old  capital  of  Shui 
Hing.     The  pirates  were  tbnist  in  the  ctiiinneys  heads 


^^^^M^^^lairii^nd^B^^w   -^^^i»^MWiag^iBL*aaaaa^i^epMi^^Ma*JU*M^i^»«»^«-'~i  i— ii     ■■  •— 


124  THE  CHINESE 

downward,  and  the  tops  were  bricked  in.  Canton  in- 
dulges in  a  little  bit  of  ceremony  in  beheading  its  crim- 
inals, but  in  the  smaller  towns,  as  at  Wuchow,  the  pirate 
is  hastened  out  from  the  bar  to  the  hillside,  and  in  the 
presence  of  a  few,  including  one  mandarin  on  a  pony 
(which  must  be  turned  backward  for  superstition's  sake), 
the  victim,  who  is  opiated,  is  made  to  kneel  while  his  feet 
are  tied;  a  rope  is  put  around  his  neck,  and  when  the 
swordsman  is  ready,  the  neck  is  quickly  drawn  out ;  there 
is  a  flash  of  steel  and  all  is  over. 

It  must  be  remarked  that  the  irreconcilable  attitude  to 
the  foreigner,  so  noticeable  at  Canton,  has  been  fixed 
there  since  the  opium  war  of  1840,  and  the  pirate  attacks 
are  not  the  only  evidence  of  it.  The  desperation  of  pov- 
erty is  the  cause  of  the  pirates'  ranks  being  increased  in 
times  of  famine.  In  1906  at  Canton  the  silk  crop  failed, 
owing  to  unusual  floods,  and  the  tea  crop  on  the  hills  was 
also  poor,  because  fertilizer  was  not  brought  up  owing  to 
flooded  paths.  Cotton  yarn  dealers  failed  because  con- 
sumers could  not  pay  or  borrow.  Piracy  grew  stronger 
and  bolder,  and  the  Sainam  tragedy  on  July  13th,  where 
foreigners  lost  their  lives,  ensued.  The  pirates  brought 
five  narrow  snake-boats  alongside  for  an  hour,  to  take  off 
the  valuables.  The  marauders  burned  their  clothes  for- 
ward on  deck.  The  crews  of  the  snake-boats  were  also 
naked  and  painted,  all  for  the  purpose  of  outwitting 
identification.  The  Sainam  is  a  pretty  little  stern 
wheeler  of  five  hundred  and  seventy  tons.  The  British 
minister  at  Peking,  incited  by  the  persistent  clamor  of 
Hong-Kong,  vigorously  demanded  the  transfer  of  Vice- 
roy Shum  from  Kwangtung  Province.  It  was  granted 
and  Chang  Jen  Chun  sent,  as  another  evidence  that  Hong- 
Kong  is  as  yet  master  over  growling  Canton  in  matters 


INQDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  IJ5 

of  the  peace,  and  who  shall  say  she  will  not  some  day 
oonplete  her  ambition  by  purifybg  Canton's  debased  cur- 
rency and  sanitary  conditions*  and  expediting  her  railway 
building. 

As  jttracy  of  this  sort  is  not  infrequent  as  near  Europe 
as  the  Straits  of  Bab-el-Mandeb»  unpoliced  China  can 
perhaps  be  treated  leniently,  for,  as  a  rule,  sb»  furnishes 
more  spice  than  danger  to  travel,  so  te  as  the  fbftigner 
is  concerned  Who  is  there  who  would  not  rather  cross 
China  unaccompanied  than  brave  Turlcey  with  a  caval- 
cade? Only  as  long  ago  as  Buckingham's  r^ime, 
piracy  in  English  waters  was  tolerated  for  a  fee,  two 
hundred  and  forty-eight  ships  having  been  seind  be- 
tween Dover  and  Newcastle  in  one  year.  We  can  not 
condemn  Chinese  mandarins  and  their  civilization  of  this 
time,  without  condemning  English  statesmen,  judges  like 
Sir  Henry  Marten,  and  the  civilization  of  our  great- 
grandfathers* time.  The  day  when  authority  will  walk 
with  modem  emphasis  and  frequency  up  and  down  the 
path  of  commerce  is  not  far  off,  even  in  so  vast  a  country 
as  China.  She  has  first  been  gathering  money  for  light- 
ing her  night  walks,  and  it  is  satisfactory  to  state  that 
the  recurrent  flash  of  historic  old  Guia  at  Macao  (the 
first  lighthouse  in  China)  was  followed  by  Robert  Hart's 
provision  of  some  sixty  lights  along  the  coast,  which  has 
made  the  rapidly  increasing  navigation  wonderfully  safer. 
The  Imperial  Customs  paid  for  this  improvement,  making 
the  sea-going  nations,  as  well  as  the  Oiinesc,  double 
debtors  to  this  the  most  thorougli  foreip^ner  who  has  ever 
given  his  life  service  to  China,  a  veritable  Daniel  working 
for  the  people  of  Darius. 

When  you  pass  the  pickets  of  your  native  frien^^'/s  com- 
pound, it  is  a  sign  of  superior  breeding  to  cough  purposely 


126  THE  CHINESE 

(we  may  even  say,  conspicuously  to  expectorate),  so  that 
none  of  the  opposite  sex  may  linger  longer  than  the  time 
necessary  to  discover  that  the  visitor  is  a  man.  When 
the  women  have  escaped  you  shout  "Li,"  which  is  an 
order  for  the  house  coolie  to  come  and  receive  your  long 
red  card.  It  would  express  the  lowest  breeding  to  ask 
your  host :  "  How  is  your  wife  ?  "  Wife  and  daughters 
must  remain  unmentioned;  their  privacy  is  like  their 
honor,  inviolate;  they  live  only  in  the  husband's  and 
father's  eye.  Mixed  social  gatherings  never  occur. 
There  are  no  women  on  the  Chinese  stage.  Among  the 
better  class,  the  boys  and  girls  of  the  family  arc  entirely 
separated  after  the  age  of  six.  There  is  nothing  among 
their  middle  class  of  that  curse  of  American  and  Euro- 
pean cities,  "  a  street  education "  after  school  hours. 
Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  the  Chinese  system  in 
individual  development ;  however  narrow  the  wife's  social 
sphere  may  be  by  reigning  alone  in  a  feminine  world,  the 
intent  is  sincere,  and  based  upon  the  lofty  desire  not  to 
soil  women  even  so  much  as  with  the  opportunity  for 
temptatioa  No  modern  novel  has  been  written  in  China, 
because  no  fingers  have  been  scorched,  and  in  their 
measures  for  prevention  and  severity  upon  offenders,  the 
Confucians  say  they  only  agree  with  the  compilers  of  the 
Pentateuch.  As  soon  as  a  child  rises  in  the  morning, 
the  first  duty  is  to  repair  to  the  parent's  room,  and  inquire 
as  to  his  or  her  health.  And  so  through  life,  the  filial 
service  and  ceremonial  broaden,  to  be  looked  forward 
to  by  the  son  as  likewise  his  privilege  through  the  long 
golden  evening  of  age.  The  saddest  story  in  our  Scrip- 
tures to  the  Chinese  is  the  tale  of  Jacob  shorn  of  his  sons, 
looking  Eg\'ptward.  Relationship  is  called  a  "joint 
i.  e.,  second  cousin  is  "  second  joint. 


«.aii^u    a        JUllll 

99 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  la? 

.Womanhood  for  the  fint  time  has  been  addressed 
in  an  oflkial  document  Viceroy  Omog  Chi  Tung 
of  Wuchang  has  compiled  an  ebdx>rate  Itgil  book 
(meddling  missionary  propaganda,  take  note  I)  of 
tlie  cases  frcmi  earliest  times  between  the  Chinese, 
missionaries  and  converts.  The  book  b  inscribed 
to  ''The  fethers  and  mothers  of  the  people/* 
The  great  ^ort  Yochow,  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Yai^ltze  and  China's  greatest  lake,  translated  means 
''Mother  in  Law/'  The  culture  of  women  is  re* 
peatedly  praised  in  the  histories,  novels  and  works  of 
philosophy.  A  mother  is  expected  to  teach  her  boy  until 
he  can  go  to  school,  and  most  of  the  education  of  the 
daughters  devolves  upon  the  mothers.  Mixed  schools  are 
abhorred,  and  girls  are  not  permitted  to  leave  their 
mother's  sight.  Cha|)cls  of  missionaries  have  a  curtain 
down  the  middle  of  tlie  room,  so  that  neither  sex  may 
intrude  upon  the  other  but  may  at  the  same  tinie  hear 
the  speaker  and  join  in  the  siuji^ing  and  responses.  The 
native  text  books  for  girls  set  forth  that  the  culture  of 
Mencius,  their  second  greatest  writer,  was  due  to  his 
mother's  teacliing,  and  one  of  China's  lesser  classics, 
dating  back  to  B.  C.  120,  is  the  Lich  Nu  Chuen  (History 
of  Cultured  Women).  Chinese  literature  has  its  Jeanne 
d'Arc  heroine  in  the  warlike  virgin  Wha-Mou-I^h.  In 
some  homes,  paintings  of  the  Mother  of  Buddha  are  to 
be  seen.  Prince  Ching  of  the  Imperial  Household,  and 
Governor  Chow  of  Mukden,  in  their  support  of  the  new 
educational  system,  advocate  its  extension  by  sending  girls 
abroad,  or  at  least  to  introduce  foreign  college  bred  gov- 
ernesses. 

Throughout  the  empire,  the  pai-lau  (memorial 
arches)   are  the  most  conspicuous  architecture  next  to 


128  THE  CHINESE 

the  pagodas.  Many  of  these  are  erected  in  honor  of 
chaste  or  learned  women,  and  widows  who  would  not 
marry  a  second  time,  or,  as  their  epigrammatists  say: 
"The  lady  who  the  second  time  married  the  white 
flower  in  her  hair,"  referring  to  the  fashion  of  widows. 
'  As  these  pai-lau  monuments  take  an  important  place  in 
the  education  of  the  people,  the  choosing  of  the  inscription 
is  reserved  for  the  throne,  through  the  Censor  Pu 
(Board).  An  important  class  in  the  community  are  the 
mei'jin  (between  people),  who  arrange  marriages.  The 
mother  of  the  family  has  a  hundred  and  one  conferences 
with  them,  and  on  them,  in  her  seclusion,  she  relies  for 
the  dainty  bits  of  gossip  of  the  town,  all  the  more  colored 
by  an  imagination  removed,  because  one  could  not  go  and 
prove  the  facts.  An  important  present  from  the  youth 
to  his  betrothed  is  a  ham,  of  which  she  sends  back  the 
foot  for  good  luck,  the  idea  being  the  same  as  our  darky's 
esteem  for  a  rabbit's  foot.  When  the  samschu  cups  of 
bride  and  groom  are  raised,  you  will  notice  they  are  joined 
by  a  thread,  which  should  on  no  account  be  broken.  It 
often  is,  however,  for  there  is  rough  teasing,  lao'shing- 
fang  (bride-baiting)  of  the  bride  of  fourteen  years. 
February  with  them  takes  the  place  of  our  June  as  the 
popular  hymeneal  month.  Only  the  office  of  hien-fn 
(first  wife)  is  recognized  by  the  ancestral  religion,  and 
the  children  of  the  tsieh  (concubine)  are  enrolled  on  the 
family  tablets  as  though  they  were  the  issue  of  the  hicn- 
pi.  This  differs  not  essentially  from  the  ways  of  patri- 
archal Israel. 

The  Chinese  insist  in  their  critical  moods  that  there 
are  fewer  concubinage  marriages  in  China,  under  the 
law,  than  there  are  clandestine  double  households  with- 
out the  law's  pale,  in  the  life  of  the  Occidental.     High 


mODEMTS  OF  DAILY  UFB  Of 

UBSoiogt,  ud  tw  Tmyenra  cnilmn  ot  iBoaoDn( 
to  one's  roof,  are  aUiomd  hj  Ae  Chmeie  at  die  gfowwt 
kimli  ot  intnuMO.  One  i  mil  can  on  no  (ood  aooowit 
be  loohcd  over;  it  u  tbe  protection  of  women  fnin  rat 
nncftaitc  and  fonrard.  and  ii  Uiercfont  tUck  and  Ui^ 
snd  oncn  itronfcr  nian  tne  notiae  itidf.  The  wobmb 
of  Qitna  have  a  more  cumberaome  mbrngt  to  nm  dita 
oor  women  iiaTC;  wniai  ipealri  for  nwir  paticnoc*  indmtffy 
and  deremesa.  Tbey  have  no  readT-ond^  antomatto 
providers,  sodi  as  lamidrics,  abattoirs,  sdwota,  d^arl* 
ment  stores,  tdephones,  daify  mail  service  cic:,  to  aariit 
tfaem  in  attendii^  to  the  wants  of  Ae  men  and  cfailAw^ 
■nd  jit,  at  the  ten^ries,  on  tfie  street,  or  i^ion  evcnuifi 
in  Um  garden,  it  can  not  be  said  that  tiieir  fomSies  bear 
die  evidence  of  household  neglect  It  ninst  not  be  con- 
sidered that  tbe  Chinese  do  not  think  themselves  good- 
loc^ng.  You  can  frequently  hear  their  women,  when 
they  are  commenting  on  a  foreigner,  whose  face  conforms 
somewhat  to  their  standards,  remark:  "Why,  she  is 
nearly  as  good  looking  as  we  are." 

In  every  hong  (office)  ;  in  every  rice  and  fish  shop;  in 
the  stem  of  every  sampan,  the  Invwed  tea  is  left  handy, 
and  the  porcelain  from  which  you  drink  It  always  has  a 
painting  of  Mon  San  Gun,  the  god  of  longevity,  so  that 
you  may  drink  to  your  own  "  long  life."  The  Chinese 
of  the  south  pronounce  it  "  chah,"  and  say :  "  It  is  as 
sweet  as  a  sparrow's  tongue."  In  (he  theater,  and  fan- 
tan  gambling-house, jit  is  brought  to  you  as  a  gift  from 
the  management.  I  suppose  the  Chinese  average  a  gallon 
a  day.  They  seem  utterly  indifferent  to  its  toxic  qual- 
ities. In  India  and  Ceylon,  tea  is  manufactured  entirdy 
by  machinery,  but  in  China  the  opposite  is  the  case.  In 
some  parts,  where  they  have  learned  tbe  habit  frcmi  the 


I30  THE  CHINESE 

Russians,  Mongolians  grind  their  tea,  as  we  do  coffee, 
and  make  an  infusion  of  the  powder.  The  indulgence 
has  one  good  property,  in  that  the  malarial  waters  of  the 
land  are  not  used  unboiled.  The  wells  of  all  the  walled 
cities  are  revolting.  In  the  country,  however,  the  drawers 
do  not  soil  the  spring,  but  lead  the  stream  along  cut  bam- 
boo troughs  to  a  roadside,  where  it  trickles  without  un- 
usual contamination  into  the  buckets.  The  bush,  being 
of  the  camellia  family,  likes  a  loose,  hilly  soil,  such  as 
the  ranges  of  Nganwei,  where  the  green  tea  comes  from; 
damp  heat ;  showers ;  fog  and  sun  bursting  through  with 
tropical  intensity,  all  of  which  south  China  is  ready  to 
furnish  to  the  letter,  Nature  being  more  anxious  to  pro- 
duce tea  than  men.  The  leaf  of  a  full-grown  tea-bush 
is  larger  than  Westerners  would  think,  viz. :  two  and  one- 
half  inches  long.  The  flower  is  white,  with  petals  set  like 
a  cherry's,  but  the  bloom  is  not  thickly  sown  in  the  bush. 
The  translations  of  the  familiar  brands  are  interest- 
ing: oolong  meaning  black  snake;  souchong,  small  leafi 
being  picked  before  the  February  rains;  pccoe,  whits 
fur,  from  the  fuzz  on  the  leaf  of  the  season's  first  crop 
of  the  three-year-old  plant,  and  congou,  well  rolled 
The  plants  from  the  famous  Dragon's  Pool  Garden  have 
been  successfully  transplanted  to  South  Carolina.  The 
second  picking  takes  place  after  the  first  light  rains  of 
June.  After  the  last  crop,  the  clippings  of  the  stems 
and  branches  are  saved  and  sent  to  the  poor  of  Japailf 
who  use  it  for  a  tea  called  banclia.  Each  crop  affords 
about  four  hundred  pounds  of  dried  tea  per  acre.  The 
curing  of  black  tea  is  tedious,  every  leaf  being  opened 
by  hand  four  times  after  each  passing  (ner  the  charcoal 
fire,  three  times  in  a  latticiMl  basket,  and  once  in  a  metal 
pan.     It  is  called  Ki  (Hag),  when  ii  easily  unrolls,  and 


lii-liU  III  tit(-Ai(i>»      Thr 

1*   III   -vUifr   lea 


1  Unii^in  pniviiicc,  Coniral  China.  ()0o  milf- 
■I'    iiiitives    nri'    patriotii:    for    a    iinHlern 
1  uiifrienilly  tn  fort'igncrs.     lliitmn  is 
y  l)y  \iciTriy  Chang  Chih  Tiiiig. 


INQDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  131 


Tiimiff  (twl),  when  through  perfected  fermentation,  it 
Ibb^  its  dry,  tiglit  ctnrL  Expert  knowledge  is  required 
Id  Icaow  how  much  fire  the  leaf  will  bear,  the  object  being 
to  get  fhe  last  particle  of  moisture  out,  and  as  this  is  un- 
dertaken in  a  moist  climate,  the  tea  workers  have  an  ar* 
dnous  task.  The  leaf  ferments  between  the  first  and 
•eoood  firings,  with  the  result  that  some  of  the  injurious 
tannic  add  is  turned  to  sugar.  This  rdumdling  and 
fermentation  is  not  done  with  green  tea,  tihe  leaf  of  which 
is  allowed  to  dry  after  one  firing.  In  the  final  drying  a 
room  called  the  "  human  oven  ^  is  heated,  mto  which  the 
workers  rush  with  covered  mouths  for  a  minute  each  time 
to  rescue  the  laden  bamboo  baskets. 

The  success  of  the  Chinese  tea  is  well  known.  Only 
their  leaf  keeps  strength  for  long  periods.  Moreover,  the 
Chinese  tea  has  the  largest  percentage  of  theine  (the  ex- 
hilaration and  perspiration  principle),  with  the  least  pro- 
portion of  the  poisonous  tannin,  the  toxic  principle,  so 
abundant  in  Ceylon  tea.  The  Assam  leaf  is  larger  and 
coarser  than  that  of  China  proper,  and  is  only  fit  for  black 
tea  of  an  inferior  grade.  The  blackness  of  some  brands 
of  tea  is  brought  about  by  arrested  fermentation.  The 
Chinese  themselves  secure  a  stronger  effect  from  their  tea. 
as  there  is  no  necessity  for  them  to  brew  the  highly  dried 
varieties.  They  use  the  greener  uncurled  leaf,  just  as  we 
might  take  six  leaves  of  an  ash  tree,  and  put  them  in  a 
small  cup.  These  bunches  of  uncurled  leaves  are  tied  into 
pretty  packages  with  silk.  The  infused  leaf  is  also  eaten 
as  a  salad.  The  different  aromas  of  tea  are  produced  by 
azalea,  orange,  jasmine,  or  tuberose  petals,  according  to 
whiche\'er  bloom  may  be  out  at  the  time  of  the  tea-pick- 
ing. Last  spring  the  price  of  tea  materially  increased  on 
account  of  the  scarcity  of  the  jasmine   flower.    An 


■--jnra^fc 


132  THE  CHINESE 

astringent  tea  of  delicate  odor  is  prepared  from  the  tea 
flowers.  The  oppressed  tea  growers  of  China  are 
assessed  an  export  (loti)  tax  as  high  as  twenty-five  per 
cent,  of  the  value  of  the  tea,  and  this  five  years  ago  nearly 
throttled  the  trade. 

Though  Russians  have  the  name  of  being  the  largest 
tea  patrons  of  China,  Australians  really  lead  with  a  con- 
sumption of  eleven  pounds  a  year  per  head,  against  two 
pounds  in  America,  while  the  vinous  French  are  at  the 
foot  of  the  procession  with  three-tenths  of  a  pound. 
China  sells  Russia  sixteen  million  pounds  of  black  tea 
each  year.  A  vast  deal  of  it  is  ground  and  pressed  into 
bricks  at  Tokmakoff's  Russian  factory  at  Han-kau,  where 
you  will  find  a  dominating  colony  of  Russians.  The 
bricks  are  an  inch  thick,  and  nine  by  twelve  inches 
across.  Some  Americans  who  have  lived  in  China  long 
enough  to  become  tea-soaked  find  on  returning  home 
to  their  trying  climate  that  they  can  not  touch  the 
cup  at  all,  especially  if  it  is  the  tannic  green  tea,  a 
few  cups  a  day  soon  producing  tea-poisoning  with  most 
distressing  feelings.  Indeed,  those  who  are  thus  sensitive 
are  compelled  to  give  up  every  excitant  for  years,  whether 
alcoholic,  drug  or  tannic.  The  strongest  tea  known  to 
the  Chinese  is  grown  at  Pu  Erh  in  Yunnan,  and  is  war- 
ranted to  curl  a  novice  up  as  though  he  were  the  fired  leaf 
itself.  Perhaps  the  strangest  of  all  the  tea  preparations 
is  the  Thibetan's.  The  infusion  of  tea  is  poured  into  a 
wooden  bowl.  Goat's  butter  and  barley  flour  are  added, 
and  all  are  beaten  into  a  dough  called  "  Jamba,'*  which  is 
eaten  warm.  This,  with  uncooked  powdered  mutton 
(even  lumber  powders  in  high,  dry  Thibet)  are  the  main- 
stays of  the  daily  meal.  That  China  teas  are  coming  into 
their  own  again  was  evidenced  last  June  at  the  opening 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  LIFE 


of  the  Canlon  market,  when  the  higbest  bids  o(  ten  years 
were  rccorilcJ.  HniphalicaDy,  the  difference  between 
theine  and  tannin  is  important,  and  no  iili>-sician,  who 
works  upon  ihc  CIiine«e  plan  of  being  paid  for  keeping 
his  patients  well,  should  fail  to  enroll  himself  on  the  nde 
of  Chinese  leas  a^inst  the  world. 

I  picture  a  tea  scene,  which  may  be  upon  yoar  porcelain 
saucer,  but  in  reality  is  among  the  famous  Sungio  Hills 
of  Nganwci  Province,  where  the  able  laic  Ftuprest  Dow- 
ager was  born,  though  she  was  of  Manchu  blcxxl.  The 
slopes  and  peaks  rise  everywhere.  Here  and  there  you 
can  discover  the  huts  of  the  pickers,  nestled  below  the 
cultivated  terraces.  It  is  just  dawn  when  the  women 
(the  older  ones  with  untidy  hair)  come  forth  with  their 
crates  to  essay  their  lonp  taskj.  The  girls  wear  >-e!low 
pomegranate  flowers  in  their  hair,  and  are  as  roeny  ai 
the  birds  which  dart  atnong  the  bamboos  which  have  been 
set  for  wiad-breaks.  There  is  little  tight  or  view,  for  the 
mist  stiH  delays  to  rise  and  roIL  The  workers  call  out 
to  one  another  in  falsetto  tones,  as  they  cross  paths,  and 
inquire  which  hill  they  have  chosen  for  the  day.  They 
separate  into  couples,  who  take  turns  in  holding 
down  the  top  branches  for  the  other  to  pick  the  leaves. 
The  tops  are  picked  first ;  it  makes  selected  drying.  The 
gatherers  are  working  with  speed,  hot  as  it  is.  for  the 
rains  threaten.  Jokes  are  passed :  "  I've  picked  enough 
to  make  a  Hung  Mao's  (Englishman's)  head  go  round 
like  a  bamboo  water-wheel."  When  the  baskets  are 
heaped,  so  that  the  cover  is  put  down  with  difficulty  (it 
u  too  windy  on  these  uplands  to  rely  on  a  stone  for 
weight)  the  pickers  do  not  wait  for  the  collectors,  but 
wend  their  way  back  to  a  receiving  hut  set  beside  a  lotus 
pool,  where  willowa  grow.     Do  not  be  irreverent.  Hung 


■,.!■  mt. 'ii^     ..LiMSaigBBafaVLaawiifM 


134  THE  CHINESE 

Mao,  and  say  the  willows  are  there  to  supply  adulteration ! 
Banter  is  the  diversion  of  those  who  are  resting.  As 
through  all  the  world,  when  women  become  manual 
workers,  their  talk  verges  on  masculine  humor.  The 
branches  and  stony  hills  have  torn  their  feet,  clothes  and 
hair,  and  the  wind,  too,  has  added  his  derision.  The 
poor  mortals  look  miserable  enough.  Until  sundown 
they  work  on  the  hill,  staying  longest  at  the  southern 
portion,  for  there  the  leaves  are  thickest.  Until  midnight 
they  labor  in  the  firing  rooms,  which  are  lit  with  smoky 
nut-oil  lamps.  Before  the  jasmine  bud  has  spilt  its  ma- 
tutinal libation  of  attar  beneath  the  window  of  their  sleep- 
ing rooms,  the  bronzed  toilers  have  arisen,  and  gone  forth 
again  with  laughter  unto  the  hill  which  never  sleeps,  be- 
cause it  must  work  for  a  foreign  world  which  never  ceases 
to  thirst. 

The.  most  gruesome  feature  of  the  fatalistic  Chinese 
and  Japanese  character, —  the  quality  which  makes  them 
terrible  as  well-led  soldiers, —  is  their  stolid  view  of  death. 
The  Japanese  hara-kiri,  imposed  for  political  or  battlefield 
failures,  has  done  more  to  ostracize  the  Japanese  from 
occidental  sympathy  than  our  jealousy  of  their  success, 
or  irritation  at  their  trickiness.  In  China  a  coolie  anv- 
where  can  be  bought  for  two  hundred  dollars,  paid  to  his 
family,  to  jump  from  behind  a  mound,  and  take  the  place 
of  the  quail  or  pheasant,  when  the  authorities  wish  to 
cause  a  scandal,  and  stop  shooting  by  foreigners  in  the 
grave  districts.  When  China's  first  railroad  of  twelve 
miles  from  Woosung  to  Shanghai  was  built  in  1876,  we 
all  remember  that  a  native,  whose  business  of  tugging 
boats  along  the  river  was  threatened  by  the  new  enter- 
prise, deliberately  walked  in  front  of  the  train.  His 
death,  of  course,  accomplished  the  purpose  of  the  manda- 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  LIFE  135 

rtns  in  siartinf;  an  effective  boycott  agaiti»t  the  itinova- 
tion.  The  rtpetitiofu  of  this  sacrifice  on  the  national 
aliar  (as  ihcy  see  it)  on  the  Yuct-Han,  Ptking-Han^u, 
and  other  railways,  have  been  frecjucnL  The  Chinese 
method  of  Bukitlc  among  unliappily  betrothed  girts  is  to 
take  an  over-do*e  of  opiimi;  among  men,  the  larynx  Is 
opened,  or  the  victim  hangit  himself,  which  last  is  the 
mettiod  oflirial  Peking  favors  for  the  political  non 
gratas. 

Tientsin  and  Mongolian  larks  are  matched  to  Mng  at 
daybreak.  To  tlie  open  field,  even  to  the  lawn  under  the 
Enghsh  Club's  windows  nt  Hong-Kong,  the  cages  arc 
brought,  and  set  <)iit  on  the  grass  b>'  the  native  r1k  n»er- 
chants,  who  are  not  too  dignified  to  nm  after  gras»)ioppers 
U<  TTwnrH  their  pets.  Over  thi-  'lew y  lawn  the  oivner^ 
saunter  and  enjoy  the  only  refreshing  coolness  of  the 
tropical  day.  As  the  sun  bursts  out  in  his  glory,  the 
birds  are  set  free  and  matched  in  song.  The  gentry  take 
infinite  delist  in  the  conquests  of  their  prized  singers. 
Some  cost  as  high  as  twenty-five  dollars  each,  which  is 
a  fortune  in  China.  Who  can  gainsay  that  something 
patient  and  good  lies  in  the  hearts  of  a  people,  who  can 
find  that  stxh  pastimes,  even  to  full  manhood,  afford 
tmtiring  pleasures  ? 

The  youths  of  thirteen  to  seventeen,  gathered  on  the 
Pra>'a  in  groups  of  six  or  more  on  a  side,  dexterously  use 
their  feet  in  back  and  side  kicks  as  a  battledore,  to  keep 
a  shuttlecock  in  the  air  for  minutes  at  a  time.  No  boxing 
ring  ever  trained  so  well  for  shiftiness.  The  boys  cxcd 
in  kite-flying.  In  the  ports  like  Hong-Kong,  where  there 
are  overhead  wires  of  a  modern  civilization,  there  is  a 
ludicrous  hanging  out  of  all  kinds  of  derelict  air-ships 
and  their  tainted  cables.     Dragons,  hawks,  larks  and  fish 


1 


136  THE  CHINESE 

are  all  represented  in  the  shapes.  Faces  of  the  gods  arc 
painted  on  round  and  oblong  disks.  On  the  strings  are 
hooks,  blades,  and  pasted  ground  glass.  Great  skill  is 
shown  in  the  mid-air  battles,  as  the  kites  are  manoeuvered 
into  conflict.  A  hook  tears  out  the  body  of  a  dragon,  and 
the  wreckage  comes  to  earth  to  the  great  delight  of  the 
assailant.  Or  a  string  is  broken,  and  a  god  goes  soaring 
cloudward.  It  is  considered  an  ill  omen  to  allow  the 
possession  of  the  heavenly  being  to  evanesce  into  the 
ethereal  again.  A  Chinese  nurse  teaches  her  charge  that 
it  is  auspicious  to  dream  of  a  mountain,  an  eagle,  an  egg- 
plant, a  funeral,  a  snake,  a  horse ;  or  to  meet  a  priest  the 
first  thing  upon  the  road.  It  is  lucky  to  be  erroneously 
reported  dead,  and  a  mirror  hung  over  the  door  keeps 
away  bad  fortune.  It  is  obviously  ominous  to  trip  in  a 
cemetery.  When  Chinese  children  wish  to  express  de- 
rision, they  do  not  make  faces,  but  catch  up  the  corners  of 
their  tunics  and  shake  them. 

The  Chinese,  with  his  paint  brush,  takes  twice  our  time 
to  execute  his  letter,  but  with  his  swanpan  or  abacus,  he 
counts  twice  as  quickly  as  we  do,  so  that  clerical  honors 
are  even.  In  recording  time,  the  year  of  the  sovereign's 
reign  is  generally  used,  though  there  is  a  cycle  system 
among  the  Buddhists,  based  on  every  sixty  years  as  the 
length  of  a  good  man's  life,  in  which  modesty  of  allot- 
ment the  race  confesses  its  inferiority  in  medical  science, 
as  compared  even  with  the  times  of  the  Psalmist. 

About  two  hundred  thousand  people  live  in  boats  on 
the  river  at  Canton,  and  fifty  thousand  at  Hong-Kong. 
It  is  this  custom  which  makes  it  possible  for  such  losses 
of  life  to  occur  in  typhoons,  as  in  the  catastrophe  of  Sep- 
tember, 1906,  at  Hong-Kong.  The  passenger  steamer 
arriving  at  Canton  from  Hong-Kong  has  an  exciting  pas- 


r 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  137 

Mgc  through  the  narrow  lane  which  is  cleared  through 
the  sampan  fleet.  The  fleet  must  anchor  at  night  in 
regular  lanes,  each  boat  having  a  stated  place.  Tens  of 
thousands  of  the  people  never  go  asjiore.  Ducton, 
priests,  mendicants,  traders,  artisans,  gamblers,  and 
strumpets  {shot  ke^),  all  ply  their  trade  by  boat  thniugti- 
out  this  floating  village.  At  night  each  boat  is  compelled 
by  law  to  hoist  to  the  masthead  a  li^it,  which  generally 
bums  nut-oil.  As  one  looks  from  the  city  walls,  the 
view  is  that  of  the  Milky  Way  turned  upside  down. 
The  panorama  at  night,  especially  during  the  Moon 
Feast,  from  Hong-Kaag's  signal  staff  on  Victoria  Peak, 
fifteen  hundred  feet  directly  above  the  Colony's  sampan 
fleet,  is  even  finer.  The  boat  women  all  carry  their 
children  papoose  fashion,  and  as  the  repetilion  is  fre- 
quent, the  girls  of  eigfit  must  carry  their  youngest 
brother  but  one,  to  aid  the  mother,  who  with  one  hand 
holds  an  infant,  and  with  the  other  guides  the  sampan'i 
tiller  or  handles  the  sail  halyards.  The  younger  children 
qnawling  about  the  decks,  have  dried  bottle-gourds 
strapped  to  their  shoulders  to  assist  in  supporting  them, 
should  they  fall  overboard.  A  Chinese  goes  overboard 
feet  6rst,  and  not  head  first  in  his  dive. 

It  b  to  take  the  wings  of  Aeolus,  to  step  into  one  of 
these  passenger  boats  when  the  wind  is  on  the  quarter. 
The  boats  are  flat-bottomed,  eighteen  feet  long,  with  a 
narrow  racing  prow,  latticed  rudder,  single  square  sail,  no 
jib,  and  ballasted  heavily.  The  bamboo  battens,  stretched 
across  the  sail,  enable  the  crew  to  haul  their  sampan  some- 
what on  the  wind,  but  the  performance  at  best  is  a  sorry 
one.  Such  a  sail  of  course  reefs  itself  instantly,  and  upon 
this  qtiality  in  a  storm,  the  crew  depends  more  than  on  the 
ballast    When  the  wind  is  untoward,  the  woman  sculls. 


138  THE  CHINESE 

and  her  husband  in  the  bow  has  to  exert  himself  with 
oars  long  enough  to  clear  the  wide  waist  of  the  boat. 
The  passenger  crouches  in  a  bamboo  coop,  and  from  the 
second  hatch  in  front  of  him  peep  the  tenantry  of  chil- 
dren, chow  dogs  and  chickens,  while  as  company  for 
himself,  he  hears  the  metallic  scampering  of  the  cock- 
roaches along  the  three  seats  around  him.  On  the 
larger  junks,  when  the  wind  is  adverse,  the  long  spliced 
sweeps,  made  from  whole  fir  trees,  are  unshipped.  The 
rowers,  like  gondoliers,  push  them,  walking  forward  on 
a  cleated  wale  which  projects  over  the  stern.  The  pas- 
sage of  the  lime  and  cement  boats  across  Hong-Kong's 
harbor  is  a  characteristic  sight,  ten  to  fifteen  sweep 
pushers  on  each  side  standing  out  yellow,  naked  and 
brawny  against  the  white-heaped  cargo.  The  sails  seen 
in  a  treaty  port  are  a  curiosity.  A  Hakka  never  be- 
lieves in  mending  until  a  thing  is  near  ending,  and  this 
applies  also  to  his  patient  politics.  The  sails  are  half 
holes,  quarter  matting,  and  the  remaining  quarter  a 
motley  of  American  cotton  flour  bags,  with  the  brands 
favored  by  the  local  trade  emblazoned :  "  Duck  Lily," 
"  Golden  Pheasant,"  ''  Tiger  Lady,"  "  Twelve  Pigs,"  etc. 
While  speaking  of  brands  it  will  be  interesting  to  re- 
cite their  favorites  in  the  cotton  piece  trade :  '*  Rat," 
"Sitting  Tiger,"  "Heaven  Girl,"  "Eighteen  Sons," 
"Twelve  Geishas,"  "Ox  Plows  in  Field,"  etc.  In 
Kwangtung  Province  the  fisher  folk  bring  to  the  shore 
in  October  an  oflfering  unto  the  sea  of  a  pig  and  a  sheep. 
These,  cooked,  are  set  upon  a  table  in  the  sands,  and 
prostrations  are  made  by  mandarin  and  bonze  before  a 
paper  eflfig>'  of  a  ship.  The  junks  all  have  an  orlop  deck 
in  the  high  stern.  Caulking  is  done  with  rattan,  which 
is  cemented  down  with  oil  and  gypsum.     In  them,  you 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  139 

behold  the  famous  vessel  which  invented  water-tight 
compartments,  centuries  before  the  West  adopted  fhe 
idea. 

The  foreigner  of  the  treaty  port  is  agreeably  inqmssed 
by  die  cordiality  of  their  New  Year  holiday  time,  when 
on  every  hand  ring  the  words :  "  Kung  Hoi  Fat  Tsoy/' 
(Congratuhtions;  may  you  collect  wealth).  The  com* 
roenccmeat  of  the  New  Year  wedc  may  vary  a  month 
between  a  period  of  years,  as  the  festival  b^pas  with 
the  first  new  moon  after  the  sun  has  entered  Aquaria. 
It  therefore  occurs  in  our  January  and  February,  and 
b  observed  by  at  least  a  week  of  closed  shop.  It  is  the 
only  time  of  the  year  when  the  Chinese  really  dose  their 
9bop%.  In  Uie  ports,  the  greetings  seldom  go  to  the 
extent  of  the  kowtow,  where  the  knees  and  forehead 
touch  the  ground.  Ttiis  being  a  busy  world,  and  be- 
coming  so  even  in  China,  the  kung  shao,  or  joining 
the  fists  and  raising  tliem  before  the  heart,  while  the 
word  **tsing**  (hail)  is  repeated,  are  made  to  suffice. 
The  name  of  the  New  York  state  penitentiary.  Sing 
Sing,  therefore  means  "  Hail,  Hail!  "  literally,  or  idiom- 
atically "  Happy  New  Year,"  to  a  Chinese.  Our  Mott 
and  Doyers  Street  brethren  of  the  Tong  societies  are 
vastly  amused,  when  they  learn  that  their  crimes  are  to 
take  them  to  such  a  felicitous  gateway.  Of  lesser  sig- 
nificance are  the  Feast  of  Lanterns  in  February:  the 
Dragon  Festival  and  Regatta  in  July;  the  Moon  Fes- 
tival in  September,  and  the  Winter  S^^lsticc  in  Novem- 
ber. Tliese  feasts  are  the  periods  for  financial  settle- 
ments. 

Fighting  of  crickets  is  a  favorite  gambling  game. 
The  little  combatants  are  placed  in  straw  cages,  and 
carried  to  the  circular  miniature  ring.    One  is  distin- 


ja^-y cnhwf  r wm^w  ip>pp— .■.   .  — «— '. ^.  — 


140  THE  CHINESE 

guished  from  the  other  by  a  painted  white  band  across 
the  wings.  Scorpions  and  lizards  are  also  matched,  and 
bets  are  made  whether  the  former  will  commit  suicide  by 
stinging  himself  to  death  when  he  continually  misses  the 
more  alert  lizard.  Fires  are  built  by  the  more  brutal  of 
the  jeunesse  on  the  backs  of  tortoises,  to  incite  them  to 
race,  and  cockroaches  are  made  drunk  so  that  bets  may 
be  made  which  side  of  the  ring  the  foolish  insect  will  roll 
over.  Where  therie  is  a  river  praya,  or  court  large 
enough,  the  booth  gamblers  suddenly  set  up  shop  from 
within  their  umbrellas,  and  a  crowd  immediately  gathers, 
just  as  a  stone  thrown  in  a  stream  collects  foam  in- 
stantly. Often  betting  is  going  on  around  a  fruit 
wagon,  to  count  the  seeds  of  a  coolie-orange.  The  skin 
is  not  given  to  you  when  you  purchase  the  fruit; 
it  is  sold  to  the  skin-candiers  and  the  makers  of  fever- 
tea.  Until  the  government  stopped  the  immigration, 
Canton  used  to  send  to  Hong-Kong  ship-loads  of 
its  prisoners  and  gamblers.  The  bare-shouldered 
coolie,  on  his  way  from  hoisting  or  sawing  great  teak 
logs,  or  carrying  coal  in  baskets,  loves  nothing  better, 
as  a  diversion,  than  to  gather  around  a  street  fakir's 
basket  or  a  gambler's  booth.  He  howls  in  glee  when 
tlie  dissatisfied  crowd  turns  the  booth  over,  and  the 
lukongs,  with  their  glistening  enameled  helmets  bear- 
ing the  feathers  of  British  law,  swoop  with  padded 
feet  silently  upon  the  melee;  or  the  red-turbanned 
Sikhs  hear  too  great  a  commotion  in  a  coolie  boarding- 
house  on  Elgin  or  Mosque  Streets,  and  rush  in  to  catch 
the  rascals  red-handed  at  a  game  of  pai-kau,  or  "  Sap  Ing 
Wui/'  The  runaways,  with  their  padded  shoes,  think 
nothing  of  jumping  thirty-five  feet  to  the  ground. 
There  are  many  deaths  however  from  contusion  of  the 


r 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  LIFE  141 

brain,  because  the  Celestial  Icarus  is  unable  to  keep  his 
feet  wboi  be  lands  on  iIkiil 

King  of  all  tbeir  games,  especially  at  that  oriental 
Monte  Cario,  Macao,  is  fan-tan,  where  a  large  handful 
of  bright  "  cash  "  is  taken  from  a  heap  at  one  end  of  the 
taUe,  and  covered  wilh  a  cup.  Hiis  table  is  at  the  bottom 
of  a  well.  A  two-story  gallery  rises  above  the  table,  and 
the  bets  of  those  looking  down  are  swung  in  a  tiny  bas- 
ket to  the  cashier.  Gamblers  also  sil  around  the  table. 
and  dosely  watch  the  drawer.  U'bcn  the  bets  arc  all 
pbced  on  ntitnbers  one,  two,  three  or  four,  or  divided  on 
two  numbers,  the  drawing  begins  by  picking  from  llic  pile 
under  the  cup,  four  cash  at  a  time.  What  remains  at  the 
last  draw,  win;t.  The  Chinese  seem  able  to  tell,  when 
there  are  tea  to  thirteen  cash  undrawn,  what  nmnber  will 
rtmain,  and  you  hear  the  shouts  of  the  winners  becoiniiig 
clamorous :  "  Hi  Yah,  three  wins,  three  wins."  The 
croupier  takes  out  ten  per  cent  for  the  bank.  The 
winners  never  gain  higher  than  eight  to  one.  Tbe  bank 
is  never  broken.  Free  cigars  and  tea  are  passed  around 
by  attendants.  The  lanterns  outside  of  the  gambling 
detu  of  Macao  are  the  gaudiest  the  world  over.  One 
may  feet  safe  while  in  the  vicinity  of  their  light  and  tbe 
lukoMg's  whistle,  but  the  way  back  to  the  hotel  is  a 
threatening  and  dark  one  through  streets  as  crooked  as 
an  earthquake's  edge.  Cbai  Mui,  is  the  betting  game 
of  feasts,  when  the  open  fingers  of  the  hand  are  thrust 
against  an  opponent's  in  a  gamble  on  the  total.  The 
loser  must  empty  a  cup  of  hot  samschu  rice  wine,  their 
humor  lying  in  the  effort  to  get  every  one  dnink  but 
themselves.  The  roulette-like  game  of  Po  Tu  is  pop- 
nbr  among  tbe  Hakka  tribes  at  Kowloon.  Betting  in 
tbe  temples  on  the  Vi-seng,  or  examination  lottery,  has 


142  THE  CHINESE 

been  prohibited  by  the  government,  that  the  dignity  both 
of  reh'gion  and  literature  may  be  maintained.  China  is 
so  vast  a  body,  in  territory,  in  numbers  and  in  history, 
that  it  is  hard  to  believe  it  is  moving  until  surveys  like 
this  are  set  upon  various  fixed  marks  in  its  social  habits. 
As  Japan  is  running  a  Formosan  lottery,  and  Portuguese 
Macao,  the  famous  religious  one  of  the  Casa  Miseri- 
cordia,  so  China  has  lately  licensed  drawings  at  Han- 
kau,  where  the  Russian  tea  colony  is  a  large  patron  of 
it. 

Number  three  and  its  multiples  are  recognized  as  the 
numerals  of  honor  and  good  luck.  The  Emperor's 
sacred  mythical  dragon,  on  which  he  rides  in  life  and 
death,  has  nine  times  nine  scales.  At  the  funeral  of  an 
official,  "  nine  times  nine  virtuous  Buddhist  priests " 
offer  up  prayers  for  his  absolution  from  punisliment,  and 
for  his  purification.  The  great  marble  altar  at  Peking 
for  the  worship  of  Shangtai,  (Lord  of  Heaven,  and 
answering  to  our  word  God)  is  of  three  terraces, 
each  three  times  the  size  of  the  one  above  it.  The  top 
terrace  is  three  times  thirty  feet  across,  the  slabs  being 
laid  concentrically  in  multiples  of  nine,  and  the  steps  are 
nine  in  each  of  the  three  series.  Beside  the  white 
marble  altar  rise  three  red  poles  which  suspend  the  lan- 
terns when  the  Emperor  makes  that  most  solemn  wor- 
ship, from  a  picturesque  point  of  view,  of  all  the  earth's 
kings,  just  before  dawn,  uncanopied  save  by  the  stars, 
and  mysteriously  unwatched  by  the  wide  sleeping  world. 
There  are  "Three  Manies**;  many  years;  many  joys; 
many  sons,  which  it  is  enjoined  may  be  engraved  on 
jade  charms.  Kowtows  are  done  by  threes.  Pagodas 
are  of  six  or  nine  stories.  The  entrances  of  yamens  and 
temples  are  triple.     Poets  in  adorning  their  rhyme,  speak 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  143 

of  the  "pagoda's  lamps  iUumiiiiiig  the  thirty-three 
heavens.''  The  shares  of  the  Yoet-Han  (Canton  to 
Han-kan)  Railway  are  for  three  dollars.  The  Guild 
of  the  Nine  Hospitals  of  Canton  is  famoos  lor  its 
charities  and  leadership  in  finance.  Then  in  contradic- 
tion, birthdays  are  celebrated  on  tibe  odd  number  period; 
L  e.,  the  thirty-first,  the  forty-first,  etc. 

The  Chinese  are  very  fond  of  using  numbers  as  we  use 
rhymes,  to  remember  related  fiicts  and  names,  as  the  '*  five 
virtues  '*;  the  "  ten  moral  duties  of  men  **;  the  "  ten  titik 
sonable  offenses"  of  the  Ta  Tsmg  Uuk  U  (Book  of 
Laws);  the  ""five  metals";  the  ''five  essences";  the 
^  three  powers";  the  '' five  colors " ;  the  ''eight  hnmor^ 
tals  "  of  the  Taoists;  the  ^  Aree  bonds,  of  bw,  filial  duty, 
and  marriage  " ;  etc.,  etc  Although  they  employ  allitera- 
tion and  rhyme,  they  prefer  to  express  emphasis  by 
numbers.  It  is  very  common  to  observe  even  the  most 
stupid  looking  coolie,  who  has  been  reviewing  boycott 
caricatures,  wake  up,  and  warmly  say  to  a  clansman 
who  proposes  going  to  the  treaty  port  to  ship  as  an 
emigrant :  *'  Ten  thousand  times  I  say  it,  don*t  go,  tliey 
will  sell  you  like  a  pig.'*  The  Chinese  day  is  divided 
into  twelve  shins  (two  hours).  These  parts  are  not 
known  by  numbers,  but  by  poetic  names.  Their  lineal 
measure  is  the  chih,  equaling  fourteen  of  our  inches. 
Their  liquid  measure,  the  iao^  contains  one  and  one- 
tenth  gallons,  while  the  sheng  contains  nearly  an  English 
quart.  Distance  is  computed  by  the  level  lee,  which  is 
one*third  of  a  mile  on  the  flat.  One-sixth  of  a  mile 
up-hill  IS  talked  of  as  a  lee,  to  express  the  ostensible 
difficulty  of  the  road.  One  cheung  is  fifteen  feet 
Land  is  measured  by  the  mao,  or  one-fifth  of  an 
acre  at  Canton,  and  one-sixth  at  Peking.    Their  sys- 


Ii   mtr- 


■j:=.- r.ukiv.:^- 


144  THE  CHINESE 

tern  of  weights  is  more  familiar  to  th^  foreigner  who  is 
compelled  to  use  them  at  the  treaty  ports;  viz.,  tael,  one 
and  one-third  ounces  troy;  catty,  one  and  one-third 
pounds  avoirdupois;  picul,  one  hundred  thirty-three  and 
one-third  pounds,  and  tan,  two  hundred  forty  pounds. 
If  your  ship  breaks  the  native  merchant's  flour  bag  or 
box  of  abalone,  he  will  bring  to  your  perplexed,  last  im- 
ported "  griffin  "  clerk,  the  claim  papers  figured  in  cat- 
ties, and  leave  him  to  reconcile  the  pounds  of  his  mani- 
fest 

All  the  cattle  used  in  Hong-Kong  and  Manila  come 
from  a  little  river  port  named  Do-Shing,  far  above 
Canton  on  the  Sikiang  River.  The  animal  is  small, 
with  buflfalo  characteristics  as  to  hump,  and  is  a  near 
relative  of  the  wild  anao  of  Celebes  Island.  The  horns 
are  wide.  The  sight  of  lifting  these  animals  from  the 
junks  by  the  ship's  hoist,  attached  to  a  gunny  band  about 
their  bellies,  is  a  characteristic  view  of  Hong-Kong's 
unique  harbor  life,  as  strenuous  as  the  West,  although 
under  an  X-ray  tropical  sun. 

The  water-buffaloes  (shui-niu)  of  the  rice  tillers  are 
used  to  pull  a  wooden  plow  through  the  flooded 
fields,  to  turn  the  loam  around  the  roots  of  the  trans- 
planted rice.  A  threshing  floor  is  rolled  out  on  the 
open  earth,  and  men,  animals  and  flails  are  used  to  beat 
out  the  grain.  When  the  animals  are  off  duty  they 
wade  out  into  the  sea  to  escape  the  gnats  which  torture 
their  hairless  hides.  The  droves  of  these  animals  which 
wade  into  the  bay  off  Kowloon  Point  is  another  of 
Hong-Kong's  interesting  sights.  They  have  vast 
strength,  and  thick,  almost  circular  horns.  While  docile 
with  the  Chinese,  to  whom  they  are  used,  they  viciously 
and  suddenly  attack  foreigners  and  horses,  trusting  to 


< 


INQDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  145 


one  fell  sweep  of  the  horns  to  disembowel  the  victims. 
The  buffaloes  are  sometimes  baited.  The  animal  will 
defend  his  muddy  lain  The  challenging^  beast  is  brought 
upt  when  the  defender  rushes  to  the  fray.  The  ammals 
are  sddom  goaded,  and  the  fight  is  never  to  the  death, 
as  the  mild-Uooded  Chinese  seem  satisfied  when  one 
animal  turns  tail 

To  sptak  generallyt  man  is  the  beast  of  burden  in 
China,  although  there  is  this  notable  exception:  at 
the  salt  wells  of  Szechuen  and  Shansi,  one  hundred 
thousand  water-buffaloes  are  used  to  work  the  primitive 
pumping  machinery.  In  Korea  one  sees  many  black 
bullocks.  Not  a  Chinese  dty,  except  Pddng  and  Tai 
Yuan,  has  lakl  its  streets  wide  enough  for  carts.  The 
founders  expected  that  men  always  would  be  the  carriers. 
A  stout  bamboo  is  thrown  across  the  shoulder,  and  if 
a  coolie  has  a  pig  to  carry  home  at  one  end  of  it,  he 
balances  it  with  some  other  household  necessity,  or  at 
least  a  pail  of  water  which  always  comes  in  useful, —  not 
necessarily  on  the  person,  for  before  that  luxury  the  fer- 
tilizer pit  is  selected.  The  almost  naked  stevedores  of 
the  treaty  ports  are  magnificent  fellows,  the  proudest 
examples  of  a  vegetarian  diet  the  world  over.  If  you 
doubt  their  power,  it  is  suflicient  to  watch  them  empty 
a  junk  full  of  the  immense  India  gunny  bales.  No 
cranes  are  used.  From  the  bottom  of  the  hold,  planks 
are  laid,  and  up  these  from  tier  to  tier,  the  sure-footed, 
bronze-colored  coolies  carry  their  monstrous  loads,  which 
are  suspended  from  a  bamboo  laid  upon  the  bare,  smok- 
ing shoulders  of  ten  men.  Literally  they  are  mighty 
men  of  metal,  for  one  seldom  hears  of  a  sore  shoulder^ 
or  complaints  about  tlie  burden.  The  chanty  song  is 
continually  in  use,  and  the  possessor  of  the  leading  voice 


146  THE  CHINESE 

gets  more  pay  than  the  foreman.  The  Kowloon  coolies 
who  drag  teak  lumber  into  piles,  and  those  who  saw  it, 
are  even  more  famous  for  their  longer  falsetto  chanties, 
which  are  decidedly  the  most  musical  thing  to  our  ear, 
in  the  far  East. 

Where  one  would  say  the  "roast  beef  of  old  Eng- 
land," here  it  would  be  the  "  stewed  hog  of  old  China." 
All  eyes  look  upon  him  with  a  deep  intent,  even  though 
few  can  afford  a  piece  of  him.  The  golden  bamboo  is 
woven  about  him,  and  he  is  laid,  one  on  another,  on  a 
two-wheeled  cart  which  protrudes  to  great  length  before 
and  behind  the  axle.  The  load  is  arranged  about  to 
balance  itself.  Ropes  are  attached  for  ten  coolies  to 
pull,  and  ropes  are  stretched  behind  so  that  four  coolies 
may  retard  when  the  course  is  on  one  of  the  many  de- 
clivities of  Hong-Kong.  There  are  few  steam  whistles 
even  in  the  treaty  ports,  but,  as  always,  Nature  rushes 
to  fill  the  vacuum  which  she  is  said  to  hate!  As  soon 
as  the  silent  occupants  feel  their  carriage  moving,  and 
their  pedometer-legs  hit  by  the  spokes,  one  unending 
screech  is  set  up  in  a  falsetto  truly  Chinese,  which 
draws  to  each  shop  door  along  the  route  every  grinning 
foki.  To  make  it  more  amusing,  not  a  smile  spreads 
upon  the  dumb  faces  of  the  stalwart  drawers  whose 
shoulders  labor  under  the  long  cable.  Then  the  shop- 
men hoot  at  the  procession.  This  is  also  the  exact  pro- 
cedure when  the  courtezans,  wearing  their  hair  dowTi 
their  backs  as  a  sign,  walk  the  street  to  advertise  them- 
selves. Every  coolie  jeers,  spits  and  shouts  "  pig." 
The  Chinese  attack  shame  with  its  most  dreaded  enemy, 
derision.  Devotees  present  pigs  to  the  Buddhist  shrine 
of  Honan,  opiK)site  Canton,  and  subscribe  a  fund  to 
feed  the  animals  until  natural  death  ensues,  thus  rescuing 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  147 

what  is  doomed  to  death,  which  affords  a  merit  mark  in 
their  religious  practices. 

Who  can  juggle  like  a  Chinese  conjurer  1  There 
be  sits  where  the  narrow  streets  widen  into  a  stone 
court;  like  a  stone  thrown  into  a  stream,  immediatdy 
there  is  turmoil  about  him.  He  draws  fire  from  his 
mouth,  or  a  snake  from  your  pocket,  and  all  is  accom- 
panied by  a  falsetto  jargon  which  makes  yoo  creep. 
These  conjurers  also  perfonn  the  mirade  of  the 
mango  tree.  The  mango  fruit  is  planted  in  a  spot  which 
the  performer's  wand  touches.  The  circle  gathers  round, 
and  shortly  a  mango  tree,  forty  feet  high,  is  seen  in 
full  tioom  and  fruit  As  this  appears  slowly,  and  in- 
distinctly at  first,  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  the  hyp- 
notism in  which  his  guild  and  the  Thibetans  excel,  and 
which  enables  them  so  to  influence  their  audience  that 
the  performer  seems  to  climb  up  a  rope,  vanish  from 
view  in  the  sky,  and  when  the  spell  is  broken,  he  is  first 
seen  on  the  outside  of  the  circle.  This  work  is  all  per- 
formed while  he  incessantly  talks  and  fixes  his  eye  on 
any  recalcitrant  subject. 

The  most  sensational  performance  in  the  all-wonder- 
ful East  is  the  act  entitled :  ''  The  Murder  of  the  Child 
Lo."  I  witnessed  it  on  the  mountain  lawn  of  the  Royal 
Artillery  mess  at  Hong-Kong.  There  was  certainly  no 
subterranean  passage.  We  hemmed  in  the  performer. 
First  he  proceeded  with  snake  and  other  tricks,  until 
in  the  high  quiet  above  the  city,  the  attention  of  all  was 
riveted.  Near  him  on  the  grass  was  an  upturned  empty 
hamper.  Seated  at  our  feet  was  one  stray  Chinese  child. 
He  called  hjm ;  seemed  soon  to  quarrel  with  him ;  — 
some  one  said  it  was  the  conjurer's  ward.  His  temper 
rose  as  the  child  seemed  to  be  obdurate.    With  a  growl 


148  THE  CHINESE 

of  a  tiger  he  grasped  the  boy  and  threw  the  basket  over 
him.  Holding  it  with  one  hand,  he  muttered  solemnly; 
he  was  swearing  the  clan  vow  of  murder.  Before  we 
realized  it,  he  drew  a  sword,  and  thrust  it  again  and 
again  through  the  basket,  the  most  heartrending, 
smothered  cries  beneath  gradually  dying  to  the  death 
whimper.  From  the  sword  seemed  to  drip  blood.  The 
conjurer's  mad  eyes  gleamed.  He  leaned  on  his 
sword,  as  satisfied  with  his  work  as  one  possessed  of  a 
fiend.  In  the  awful  silence,  we  looked  from  the  terrace 
to  the  heathen  hills  where  rules  the  Abrahamic  code  that 
a  child  always  belongs  to  its  parents,  even  for  death  if 
so  decreed.  There  was  a  general  sigh,  and  a  flutter  like 
leaves  as  he  released  us  from  the  spell  of  hypnotism. 
Returning  reason  made  us  try  to  reach  him,  to  avenge 
the  brutality.  He  anticipated  this;  he  kicked  the  basket 
over.  There  was  nothing  beneath  it.  A  terrible  silence 
settled  down  and  held  our  hands.  We  looked  at  one  an- 
other, all  believing  that  this  was  a  magician,  instead  of  a 
rascal,  like  unto  whom  there  was  never  an  equal.  The 
child  had  vanished  like  air,  and  the  dry  wicker  was  as 
empty  as  it  first  had  been  when  we  gathered  round  it 
on  the  lawn.  The  magician  had  no  assistants  among 
us.  Suddenly  the  child,  with  a  cry  of  joy,  burst  from 
our  midst  into  the  arms  of  the  wonder-weaver.  We 
had  seen  the  most  famous  act  of  legerdemain  in  the 
world,  and  understanding  it  not,  but  having  experienced 
it,  declare  it  to  have  been  hypnotism. 

Off  the  banks  of  the  many  canals  little  basins  have 
been  cut,  which  latter  are  private  property,  though  the 
government  furnishes  the  canal  water  free.  There  arc 
one  hundred  cases  in  the  Yamen  courts  on  water  rights 
to  one  of  any  other  cause.    The  basins  are  fenced  off 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  149 

with  bamboo  lattices  sunk  to  the  bottom,  and  are  used 
for  dock  and  fish  pools*  and  lily-root  farms.  Species  of 
lily  are  highly  esteemed  articles  of  food;  the  roots  are 
also  candied  as  bon-bons  for  the  ladies.  The  stems  are 
used  in  medicine,  and  the  leaves  for  packing,  or  for 
adobe  pbstering.  Nothing  of  natw^'s  prodtictkms 
escapes  the  gra^  of  the  utilitarian  Chinese,  excqit  the 
fragrance  of  the  flowers. 

The  Imperial  color  is  red,  and  to  impress  the  Cohmial 
Chinese  with  a  sense  of  royalty,  foreign  governors,  as 
at  Hong-Kong,  Macao  and  Saigon,  have  uniformed 
their  chau*  bearers  and  'rickisha  runners  in  this  ootor. 
The  calling  card  is  red,  to  signify  joy  within  the  bounds 
of  dignity.  Sometimes  a  mandarin  will  paper  a  room 
with  these  cards,  to  show  his  popularity  with  callers. 
Throughout  Kwangtung  Province,  both  Hakka  and  Pun- 
tei  women  affect  black  or  mottled  headgear,  with  white 
and  pink  robes,  but  in  Szechuen  white  headgear  with 
blue  robes  are  almost  universal. 

If  you  own  a  godown  (warehouse)  on  the  waterfront, 
and  appoint  a  native  godownman  to  live  on  the  premises, 
you  will  be  surprised  if  you  visit  your  property  after 
working  hours.  The  cargo  junks,  with  their  loads  of 
gunnies,  have  sailed,  and  the  gangs  of  laborers  have  gone. 
A  dozen  karojels,  or  dip  nets  stretched  on  bamboos,  are 
in  operation  from  the  Praya  wall,  and  your  godownman, 
in  a  new  role,  is  walking  behind  the  operators  taking  his 
toll  of  fish  from  each  as  his  cumshaw  (commission). 
When  the  net  is  dropped,  bread  and  bait  are  thrown  into 
it.  The  fish  swim  over  the  net,  which  at  first  is  raised 
very  gently,  and  at  last  with  a  rush.  The  catch  some- 
times consists  of  the  green  and  gold,  mosquito-larvae  de- 
vouring, Athorinides  minnows,  which  are  destined  to 


I50  THE  CHINESE 

play  a  wonderful  part  in  cleansing  the  Orient  of  its 
dreaded  curse,  malaria. 

All  Chinese  music  is  weird  and  screeching.  They  say 
their  pleasure  comes  in  exciting,  not  in  soothing  the 
nerves.  They  have  flutes,  horns,  violins,  peipas  (gui- 
tars), shcngs  (mouth  organ  with  thirteen  reeds),  and 
table  harps  to  be  played  with  a  loaded  feather,  which  last 
make  delightful  music  akin  to  our  mandolins.  Every 
business  hong  has  its  musical  corps  (just  as  we  organize 
company  baseball  clubs),  who,  in  the  evening,  are  sup- 
posed to  amuse  the  typan  (master),  who  lives  on  the 
story  above  the  comprador's  apartment.  Seated  on  the 
counters,  which  at  night  are  also  their  beds,  the  fokis 
essay  with  a  vengeance  discords  which  are  unquestionably 
disturbing  to  occidental  nerves,  but  for  that  reason  the 
phlegmatic  Chinese  find  them  exhilarating.  It  suggests 
to  them  untamed  passion,  and  all  the  savage  things  their 
race  could  do  if  they  willed,  and  which  they  have  not 
tried  since  Hung  Siu  Tsuen  started  to  march  from  his 
Kwangtung  village  to  Nanking,  with  stops  by  the  way 
which  are  ensanguined  for  ever  in  history. 

Stoutness  is  rare,  but  is  considered  honorable  in  a  man 
and  beautiful  in  a  woman.  The  most  noticeable  thing 
on  entering  the  Flowery  Forest  Monastery  at  Canton  is 
that  the  statues  of  the  five  hundred  disciples  of  Buddha 
were  given  to  corpulency,  and  the  god  himself  has  a  line 
like  the  equator. 

At  the  time  of  an  eclipse,  the  villagers  deploy  into  the 
open  with  drums  and  every  other  instrument  that  will 
stand  pounding,  and  make  an  incessant  noise  which  is 
intended  to  frighten  the  earth  dragon  from  eating  up  the 
celestial  man  in  the  sun.  It  is  very  important  to  frighten 
the  dragon  back  to  his  lair,  because  his  quiescence  means 


■s: 

Ik^ 

m^ 

1 

.,  1 

s 

^         — _:      - 

r                 ' 

•  __ 

r 

^Ht   .            .  ^H 

A  Club  for  wealthy  Chinese:  members  watching  a  play.     Teafcwood 

tables  with  tops  of  marble   from  Yunnan  province; 

water-pipes :   teacups ;   fans. 


w 

Icrs  cif  China.     .\  gniuii  of  Manchu  women  at  Peking. 
ina.     Xoti-  ])i'i'iiliar  hair-ilressing;   long  one-piece 
ics,    nnlxnuu]    feet    niui   high   wooden   shoes. 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  LIFE  151 

peace  on  earth  and  prosperity  for  the  individual.  The 
Li  I'u  (Board  of  Kites)  considers  tlic  "Saving  of  the 
Sun  or  MiH)n  "  a  matter  of  suftkient  moment  to  rKcasion 
an  Inii)erial  decree.  Now,  whether  this  is  holttlay- 
making,  humor,  paternalism,  or  suinrrstition.  is  ofjen  for 
choice.  My  own  observation,  taken  even  anvMij;  the  very 
ignorant,  Mipi)orts  the  belief  that  there  is  not  so  much  of 
the  last  named  in  the  occurrence  as  to  warrant  our  utter 
despisal  of  the  proceedings. 

Some  of  us,  when  tlie  oM  monarchic  past  of  our  Euro- 
pean forefathers  haunts  us,  boast  of  our  Norse  and  Nor- 
man, our  Maytlowcr,  or  other  descent,  but  members 
f»f  the  simple  Ilakka  tribes,  who  live  opposite  Hong- 
Konp,  keep  with  care  and  can  recite  veritable  trees  that 
r»«»t  back  infinitely  pn:\iniis  to  nur  oldest  faiiiiliis.  an«I 
\\!ien  y«»ii  li»«.k  at  a  Il.ikka  w«»Mian,  with  lior  «|naint  hand- 
kercliirf.  in>icad  of  the  ollK-rwi^ic  universal  l>amNKi  li.ii 
«  MT  her  head,  you  have  a  feelin;;  th.it  >hv  i-  niiehaiiji^ed 
ffiim  the  woman,  who.  from  a  hij^her  [xak.  >aw  Noah 
disemJiark! 

'1  hf i!j;li  tlicy  ha\o  hookah  water-pijx'-.  the  ttk»M  jK^pu- 
lar  form  is  chilnuik  ?:'.a]>ed.  wiili  very  Muall  er.;»^.  which 
only  hold  ein»ui;li  t  ■luco  for  a  few  p!itY>.  M.i'.^Ims  are 
tn'l  in  j^cneral  use.  1  !ie  smoker  puts  the  l>n\l  if  !>:-  pijK' 
directlv  into  the  sm-  kv  rnit-njl  lamii  ti?  .•  i-*  •"■•Te\t:  l»Mrn 
inp  '^n  deck,  ciuiiiter  am!  Ixrfore  the  f.-nrily  :.''»!•.■!>.  The 
J»t't  t"lacc'»  is  i:r'»\vn  «'ii  llic  :i|'laii!^  'i'  S/i'!ii:cn.  It 
i*  •■!  a  risiM  q:iality.  l\\\:inj^t-.:"L:  i*-  .!c\ » 1- •'■■'^'  :•-*  acre- 
HL'e.  as  Cljincse.  versed  in  the  ni'ie  e\|»i:r  ii't-.ire  ari'l 
curinir  in  M.iTii'a.  retv.::i  t"  !^«  ■:   n.v*. :*e  lav- 1. 

'W.r  U":-!  h' :ne  i:i  U»e  <  '.::v.-r  i  'e-  v^r.-iph  f^ ,  repro- 
ve :i!-  !'.!i:;dl\  a  j-l  1  r  •.■.':(•■  ;i  i"':I!  «::i«»-e'!  ::ian  n*  iv 
kncil  :  I  hi>  aiKi.-:;,iI  i.i'l.'-  ■il-.?   !i>  i.\\:\  r-vf.     Tl-e 


rrif  ..  -^^^  T-=-xs 


152  THE  CHINESE 

native  house  is  generally  of  one  story,  built  around  an 
open  court  (yuan),  and  which  is  also  called  by  the 
fancy  name  of  Tien  Ching  (heavenly  well),  because 
the  stars  look  into  its  pool,  where  the  owner  has  placed 
the  gold  and  silver  fish  from  Lake  Tsau.  In  making 
an  arch,  an  adobe  support  is  first  built  up.  In  cotmtry 
places,  walls  are  built  higher  than  the  roof  so  as  to 
serve  as  a  parapet  when  the  owner  protects  his  home 
from  pirates.  You  will  notice  at  every  door  that  the  red 
Mun  Pai  (census)  tablet  is  pasted  up  to  conform  with 
the  law,  and  in  the  kitchen  a  red  slip  is  pasted  calling  for 
blessings  from  the  god  of  homes,  Tsao.  Indeed,  a  man- 
darin's red  Yamen,  with  its  placards,  looks  like  an  over- 
grown valise  back  from  a  Cook's  tour  of  continental 
hotels.  Cats  are  more  tolerated  than  loved,  the  natives 
calling  them  the  despised  name  of  Kia  Li  (house  fox). 
The  most  expensive  breed  is  from  Yunnan,  and  is  tail- 
less. 

Shrubs  and  chrysanthemums  are  dwarfed  and  pruned 
into  freakish  shapes,  sometimes  like  gowned  humans, 
with  porcelain  heads  and  hands  stuck  upon  the 
extended  branches.  The  effect  is  pleasing  and  unique. 
Greater  luxury  of  bloom  could  not  be  developed  than 
their  royal  lotus  and  peony.  Azaleas,  oleanders,  jasmine, 
camellia,  tuberoses,  and  orange  are  abundant  in  season. 
In  the  moist  climate  the  scent  of  the  flowers  is  cloying, 
some  foreigners  in  their  ennui  calling  it  "  the  eternal 
funeral  of  the  south."  The  natives  excel  in  several 
branches  of  horticulture,  attacking  the  various  destructive 
scales  of  fniit  trees  with  parasites  which  die  as  soon  as 
the  pest  which  they  live  on  is  dried  up.  Parasites  to  at- 
tack our  purple,  red.  and  b^lorida  scales  have  recently 
been  imported  into  California  from  China.     At  night. 


INQDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  153 

lanterns  are  hung  in  the  garden  to  delight  the  eye  of  the 
master  and  guest.  In  the  adobe  houses  of  Kansn  and 
Ptehilit  niches  are  cut  in  the  solid  wall  to  hold  the  poree* 
bin  or  metal  lamp,  which  merely  consists  of  a  wick 
hanging  from  the  bean-  or  nut-oil  in  the  basin.  The  two 
rooms  are  bare  of  cupboards.  A  bar  where  clothes  may 
be  hung,  stretches  across  one  end  A  long  shelf  near  the 
ceiling  holds  utensils,  vegetables,  etc,  while  great  jars 
(kamgs)  hold  various  piddes  and  soys.  Outdoors,  small 
low  tables  are  set  beneath  mats  qiread  on  poles  to  afford 
shade,  and  in  contrast  with  Japan  yoo  notice  the  use  of 
diairs  made  of  bamboo. 

In  a  rich  man*s  house,  there  is  a  chapel  or  room  for  the 
ancestral  tablets,  for  a  Chinese  father  is  both  patriardi 
and  priest.  There  are  no  idols  in  the  home,  and  from 
their  domestic  life  you  do  not  feel  that  you  are  indeed 
among  the  heathea  You  are  really  won  to  the  sim* 
plicity  and  honesty  of  their  ancestor-anniversaries  and 
remembrance,  for  we  Occidentals  do  a  little  bit  of  this 
kind  of  worship  ourselves  when  we  have  a  general  in 
the  alliance  or  a  Covenanter  in  the  blood.  Though  this 
is  the  home  of  silks,  none  of  the  furniture  has  hangings 
or  upholstery  to  hold  dust.  Everything  is  smooth,  cool 
and  cleanly.  A  bat  is  worked  in  the  panel  of  the  frieze, 
between  the  rooms,  to  signify  Sho  (long  life).  Cook- 
ing is  done  outside  the  house,  either  in  the  open  under 
a  lean-to,  or  in  a  separate  building  attached  to  the  coolie 
quarters  in  the  comix>und.  The  Shanghai  bath,  so  called 
by  foreigners  because  they  first  used  it  there,  but  really 
made  at  Nanking  or  Kau-chow,  compels  the  sitter  to 
double  up  like  a  jack-knife.  It  is  of  brown  or  yellow 
porcelain.  The  stopper  is  a  cork  set  into  a  hole  placed 
in  the  edge  of  the  bottom.  ^ 


■fglj-l '  --.J-. 


IS4  THE  CHINESE 

When  the  weather  is  cold,  brasiers  or  hand  flues  are 
brought  in,  and  in  the  north  a  permanent  brick  or  adobe 
flue  (called  a  kang)  is  built  half  beneath  and  half  above 
the  first  floor.  On  this  the  members  of  the  family  sleep 
with  wooden  pillows  under  their  necks.  If  the  cover  is 
short,  it  is  pulled  over  the  shaven  head  and  not  the  inured 
feet.  At  Hong-Kong,  which  was  comparatively  chilly  in 
February  for  us  who  were  enervated  by  the  awful  south, 
when  we  had  occasion  to  go  back  to  our  offices  at  night  to 
despatch  a  ship  at  daylight,  it  was  amusing  to  apprehend 
a  dozen  of  our  coolies,  and  their  friends  called  in  from  the 
open  highways,  sleeping  upon  our  desks  and  counters  in 
this  morgue-like  fashion.  There  is  need  for  the  kang  in 
the  northern  provinces,  and  even  as  far  south  as  Hupeh, 
three  inches  of  snow  will  lie  on  the  ground.  In  the 
larger  inns  a  special  room,  curtained  off,  is  reserved  for 
the  kangs.  There  is  an  aisle  in  the  center,  toward  which 
the  sleepers  place  their  heads.  Oiled  paper  is  used  to 
facilitate  the  entrance  of  some  light.  Reeds,  castor-oil 
plants,  and  matting  are  squeezed  into  the  walls  to  hold  the 
exceedingly  poor  plaster.  The  floor  and  outside  covering 
are  generally  adobe.  The  kang,  which  is  frequently  fed 
and  drawn  from  out  of  doors,  is  used  mostly  in  Man- 
churia, Pechili  and  Shansi.  South  of  Chili,  the  people 
depend  more  on  brasiers  and  clothes,  although  at  Ningpo 
the  thermometer  drops  as  low  as  twenty-four  degrees.  At 
Hong-Kong,  it  was  known  only  once  to  go  to  thirty-two 
on  the  Peak,  but  the  rawness  of  winter  in  the  south  is  as 
uncomfortable  as  colder  weather  in  the  drier  north.  The 
southern  Chinese  have  no  word  for  snow.  The  Kwane- 
tung  emigrant,  who  is  the  man  we  have  in  America, 
writing  home,  calls  it  "  sky  cotton."  As  we  use  a  hot- 
water  bag,  a  Chinese  uses  his  charcoal  stove,  inserting 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  155 

it  in  his  pu-kai  ( mattress ),  under  his  vest,  or  op  his 
sleeve,  as  need  may  be  for  temporary  warmth.  Like  the 
Russiant  the  Giinese  peasant,  though  sleeping,  can  sniff 
asphyxiation  within  an  inch  and  yet  save  himsdf. 
Abundant  as  coal  is  in  Shansi  and  the  north,  the  dost  is 
utilized  by  being  worked  into  baOs  with  day  and  earners 
dung,  and  used  as  fuel  briquettes  in  the  small  hand- 
cooking  stoves  which  are  made  at  Han-kau.  In  contrast, 
consider  our  waste  of  sawdust  and  coal-dust 

The  Giinese  sojourner  at  an  inn  exercises  his  humoroos 
propensity.  You  will  always  see  scribbling  on  the  walls, 
and  the  subjects  generally  are :  **  Guess  as  td  the  weight 
in  catties  of  the  rats  in  this  house ;''  **  Enter  your  name 
here  for  the  competition  as  to  which  guest  has  risen  with 
the  most  flea  or  bu;;^  bites/*  The  roofs  in  Kiang-si  and 
the  two  Kwang  Provinces  are  made  of  tiles,  but  in  Hupeh 
reeds  are  used  for  a  more  picturesque  thatch.  Mural 
decoration  is  done  by  the  use  of  wood  or  inlaid  tiles. 
Jkrroll  and  screen  work  are  abundantly  employed.  The 
Chinese  love  privacy.  The  first  indication  of  growing 
wealth,  is  to  add  another  foot  to  the  compound  wall, 
rather  than  an  addition  to  the  home  itself.  A  son  meet- 
ing his  father,  kowtows  to  him  three  times  three,  with  his 
fists  closed  together.  The  superiority  of  their  filial  de- 
votion, they  attribute  to  the  great  superiority  of  their 
literature  for  childrea  The  word  must  is  even  more  em- 
phatic than  in  the  discipline  of  a  Covenanter,  or  a  Crom- 
wellian  Ironside.  When  about  to  depart  on  a  journey, 
the  lord  of  the  house  stands  in  the  midst  of  his  family  on 
his  threshold,  and  looks  back.  A  aip  of  tea  is  handed 
him  by  his  Hn-fong  (second  wife),  if  he  has  one,  or  by 
his  wife  in  her  humilitv  as  servant  to  her  lord,  who  is  act- 
ing  as  priest.     He  raises  the  aip  as  a  salute  to  Tsao,  the 


K*  '  •*  - 


156  THE  CHINESE 

god  of  home,  and  a  prayer  for  return.  He  drinks  it  as  an 
obeisance  to  god  Tien  of  the  heavens,  if  he  wills  that  he 
shall  never  come  back,  according  to  that  perfect  Con- 
fucian Golden  Rule :  "  Perform  each  act  and  use  each 
day  as  though  they  were  thy  last."  If  it  is  a  guest  who 
is  leaving,  the  host  does  not  say  "  good-by,"  but  "  fio- 
hang''  (go  slow),  which  is  a  little  commentary  on  the 
condition  of  their  roads.  Instead  of  building  a  proper 
•  foundation  for  the  road,  the  stone  blocks  are  fastened 
with  iron  clamps.  With  the  action  of  rain,  or  frost, 
what  was  meant  for  a  road  becomes  often  a  veritable 
cheval-de-f  rise ! 

Rich  merchants  frequently  leave  provision  in  their 
wills  for  a  monumental  gate,  bridge,  inn  or  theater,  to 
be  erected  in  their  memory,  the  guild  being  trustee. 
All  these  works  are  considered  to  draw  trade  and  travel 
to  one's  native  town.  The  Chinese  figure  of  speech 
expresses  the  significant  fact  that  their  home-maker,  and 
not  the  bachelor  lodger,  dignifies  the  urban  popula- 
tion, and  composes  the  beauty  and  safety  of  their 
society.  You  do  not  ask :  "  How  many  people  in  this 
city  ?  "  but  "  How  many  kitchens  within  these  honorable 
walls?  "  Upon  entering  the  house,  you  do  not  elect  where 
you  shall  sit,  but  advance  to  the  great  hall.  At  the  left 
of  the  teak  guest  table,  which  is  against  the  wall  under 
the  longest  Confucian  motto,  you  take  your  place  as  of 
right, —  the  host  sitting  on  the  right,  since  we  are  re- 
versed in  all  things.  There  are  chairs  down  the  hall  on 
the  left  and  right,  where  you  gradually  ascend  or  descend, 
according  to  the  rank  of  the  departing  or  arriving  guests. 
Thin  mother-of-pearl  shells  are  set  in  wooden  frames, 
and  used  for  the  windows  of  the  saloon  of  the  mandarin's 
house-boat,  and  for  the  windows  of  the  better  class  of 


INQDENTS  OF  DAILY  LIFE         157 

houies,  the  hinge  of  the  window  being  aft  the  top  and  the 
prop  at  the  botfom.  The  glaring  sun  it  aoftoied  woo* 
derfdlly.  and  the  heat  is  tempered  somewhat  ICarbk 
and  even  granite  are  cut  in  slabs,  and  set  in  the  seats  of 
their  black-wood  chairs,  not  only  for  ornament,  but  for 
coolness.  At  the  same  time  that  the  foundation  of  the 
home  is  being  dug,  a  qx>t  is  selected  where  to  dig  in  the 
center  of  the  court,  before  the  w(mien*s  hong,  a  lakdet  for 
the  goldfish. 

Outside  Tsianfu,  the  capital  of  Shensi  Province,  is  m 
Uuff  of  cliff  dwellings  where  Tartar  families  live,  and 
which  they  fortified  against  the  last  Mohammedan  rdid- 
lion.  It  was  not  preference  but  safety  whidi  chose  the 
location,  which  may  throw  light  upon  the  raiion  d'etre 
for  scattered  cliff  dwellings,  whether  in  Africa  or  New 
Mexico.  In  the  great  drought  famine  of  1901,  when  the 
treacherous  Hoang-ho  dried  up  like  a  bone,  three  hun- 
dred thousand  starving  Shensi  people  came  up  to  the 
provincial  capital,  and  on  being  refused  admittance  to 
the  overcrowded  city,  they  dug  with  their  hands  caves  in 
the  loess  cliffs,  so  that  their  emaciated  bodies  might  lie 
out  of  the  way  of  the  feet  of  men  and  camels.  Let  us 
admit  the  analogy » —  cats,  dogs,  and  even  human  bodies 
were  as  scarce  in  the  streets  of  Tsian  Fu  as  they  were 
in  the  streets  of  La  Rochelle  in  1628,  and  the  obvious 
reason  shows  again  how  men  are  all  akin  under  any  color 
of  skin  when  the  same  kind  of  trouble  meets  them.  The 
red  banks  of  the  Min  near  the  capital  of  Szechuen,  and 
down  the  river  as  far  as  Sui  Fu,  also  show  cliff  dwellings. 
The  valley  of  the  Qiu  Lung  River  in  Pechili  Province 
exhibits  similar  dwellings,  set  as  irregularly  in  the  cliff 
as  swifts*  nests. 

Doors  arc  not  made  to  open  on  hinges  but  along 


158  THE  CHINESE 

grooves.  Into  the  farthest  nooks  of  China,  our  clocks, 
called  "  iron  crickets,"  have  gone.  They  do  not  attempt 
to  regulate  them,  for  the  sun  only  is  relied  on  for  time. 
Our  clock  is  appreciated  as  a  toy,  for  the  sake  of  the 
revolution  of  the  hands,  the  ticking  like  an  insect's,  and 
particularly  the  bells,  whose  striking  apparatus  they  call 
the  "  Melican  lark." 

In  the  south,  bars  are  set  perpendicularly  in  sockets, 
instead  of  a  door  being  used  on  the  street,  and  the  lukong 
on  patrol  is  afforded  a  view  of  the  inside  of  the  closed 
shop.  The  windows,  however,  are  closed  with  shutters. 
These  door  bars  are  often  beautifully  lacquered  and  gilt. 
This  use  of  bars,  set  farther  apart,  however,  is  conspicu- 
ous at  the  great  prisons,  such  as  at  Canton's  Yamen, 
where  the  prisoners  in  cangues  look  like  so  many  zoo  in- 
habitants on  exhibition  in  their  various  kinds  of  torture. 
The  purpose  is  to  admit  air,  or  there  would  be  no  prison- 
ers for  the  coming  Assizes  in  so  hot  a  country.  Flat  locks 
are  not  manufactured.  The  Chinese  lock  is  a  brass  pad- 
lock, long,  narrow,  and  with  the  keyhole  in  the  end. 
When  shut,  it  looks  like  a  miniature  ark.  It  snaps  with- 
out the  use  of  a  key.  The  long  key  which  pushes  the 
spring  out,  is  either  our  double  "  L,"  or  letter  "  E."  The 
security  of  the  lock  depends  on  the  length  of  the  key,  a 
three-inch  insertion  being  necessary  before  the  springs 
of  the  smallest  locks  can  be  reached.  The  lock  is  never 
cast,  but  is  made  of  seven  pieces,  carefully  joined  by  in- 
terlocking, sweating  and  solder.  A  collection  of  these 
locks  is  worth  while,  for  the  sake  of  the  artistic  brass 
hammering.  The  key  is  a  cumbersome  affair.  It  sets 
into  its  case  like  a  jack-knife.  Each  key  has  a  ring. 
When  a  fokiy  having  locked  his  master's  camphor-wood 
boxes,  door-bars,  and  window  shutters,  wends  his  way 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  LIFE  159 

hoiKwardt  he  is  undeiiithly  a  Bteial  ilhlstration  of  the 
Piulist  man  of  **  aoundiog  brass  and  tinkling  cymbal/* 
but  from  his  excellent  accord  with  his  neighbors,  and  his 
loiig  patience  in  family  nutters,  I  have  no  doubt  he 
eminently  possesses  (heathen  though  he  is)  that  charity 
which  was  in  the  same  scriptural  verse  recommended  to 
the  Q>rinthian8  instead  of  metal 

The  Chinese  taste  in  spectacles  demands  a  wide  tortoise 
rim  around  the  glasses,  and  for  the  ear  bridges,  so  that 
your  distinguished  and  learned  friend  is  a  perpetual 
caricature  of  a  walking  chauffeur. 

Social  letters  are  marked  on  the  envelope  with  a  char- 
acter indicating  whether  the  news  is  of  social  felicitation, 
business  fortune  or  condolence,  so  that  the  recipient  is 
immediately  prepared.  In  Thibet  the  custom  is  more 
elaborate,  silk  ribbon  being  attached  to  the  missives  to 
indicate  both  the  message  and  the  rank  of  the  sender. 
Between  regular  correspondents  a  motto,  mutually  under- 
stood, is  afKxed  instead  of  the  name,  a  significant  com- 
mentary on  the  courier  and  postal  service.  Your  Gitnese 
merchant  is  a  bom  conservative. 

It  is  considered  social  and  business  manners  never  to 
refuse  a  request  directly,  but  to  give  a  coiKiliatory  reply, 
and  the  following  day  to  send  an  excuse  that  something 
untoward  connected  with  the  gcxls.  or  one's  relatives, 
prevents  a  compliance.  Occidentals  call  this  lying,  but  it 
is  the  national  coile  of  politeness  which  has  fi»stered  the 
custom  which  they  call:  **  resjKct fully  saving  y(»ur  face.*' 
They  wouKl  never  think  of  asking  you  to  pay  a  debt  in 
set  language,  but  rather  for  a  **  return  loan."  The  man- 
ners 4>f  the  ser\ants  constantly  lead  them  to  be  misunder- 
stood. A  coolie  never  resigns  your  service ;  he  asks  for 
leave  to  visit  his  father's  grave.     It  would  be  impolite  to 


i6o  THE  CHINESE 

tell  you  direct  that  he  was  leaving.  He  sends  you  a  sub- 
stitute without  your  asking  him  to  do  so,  which  means, 
if  you  understood  him,  that  he  has  secured  better  em- 
ployment, and  that  he  has  a  cousin  to  whom  he  wishes 
you  to  teach  English. 

As  the  elephant  is  sacred  in  Siam,  the  tortoise  is  sacred 
in  China,  but  it  has  never  secured  the  popularity  of  the 
mythical  beasts,  the  four-clawed  dragon  and  the  grotesque 
lion,  which  one  sees  sculptured  in  stone  at  every  temple 
stairway  throughout  China  and  Korea.  The  blue  spot 
on  the  Imperial  standard  set  just  before  the  ravenous 
teeth  of  the  dragon  is  the  famous  mythical  pearl  which 
he  is  said  to  be  always  striving  after,  but  never  secures. 
This  is  not  meant  to  convey  the  futility  of  empire,  but 
rather  our  idea  of  ''  Exsertens,  perpetua.''  In  the  lan- 
tern procession  a  round  transparency,  to  represent  the 
same  idea,  is  carried  in  front  of  the  wriggling  beast, 
which  manoeuvers  on  human  legs. 

Curiously  like  the  Mosaic  and  Romaic  customs,  the 
fixed  laws  of  China  are  carved  on  stone  and  set  up  in  the 
streets.  Chinese  criminal  law,  which  is  founded  on  the 
"  Chau  Kung,'*  or  Ritual  of  Chau,  is  based  upon  the  ac- 
cused confessing,  and  no  punishment  can  ensue  until 
this  is  brought  about, —  all  so  far  removed  from  the  hu- 
maner  English  law,  where  even  the  Bench  advises  that 
the  prisoner  need  say  nothing  to  incriminate  himself,  and 
the  action  of  our  juries  in  throwing  out  of  court  confes- 
sions obtained  by  private  detective  agencies,  working  for 
"  secret  "  rewards,  through  starving  and  "  sweating  "  the 
prisoner.  Until  the  late  courageous  reforms  of  Wu  Ting 
Fang,  torturing  was  resorted  to  in  all  cases  before  much 
trouble  was  taken  to  collect  evidence,  and  naturally  a 
starved   and   persecuted    victim   confessed   to   anything. 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  i6l 

Before  the  condemned  are  decapitated,  tliejr  are  offered 
all  the  samschu  they  desire  to  drink,  and  in  moet  cases 
they  are  allowed  to  choose  whether  they  will  ride  in  a 
'ridcisha  or  be  carried  in  a  sedan. 

No  qK>t  of  the  earth  has  drunk  so  deeply  of  the  bkxxl 
of  criminals  as  the  eacecution  court  near  the  Yamen  at 
Canton.  It  is  only  a  blind  alley,  not  much  larger  than  the 
back  yard  of  one  of  our  tenements.  In  the  Taqmg  rdid- 
lion,  the  government  beheaded  fifty  thousand  men  here. 
It  is  stone-paved  and  sand-strewn.  Piled  against  the 
walk  are  immense  stone  jars,  which  are  reserved  to  hold 
die  pieces  of  the  bodies  of  the  next  dozen  victims  who  are 
Hncheed  into  a  thousand  pieces.  There  are  also  bamboo 
baskets,  in  which  will  be  carried  away  the  heads  of  exe- 
cuted pirates,  to  be  stuck  on  poles,  and  exhibited  in  the 
districts  where  they  were  a  curse.  The  shade  of  Robes- 
pierre would  bloom  here  as  a  violet  in  comparison  with 
the  ghostly  flower  of  this  htunan  shambles.  At  Pe- 
king the  execution  ground  is  merely  a  part  of  the 
public  highway,  in  the  southwest  section,  near  the  palace 
chrysanthemum  gardens,  which  is  blocked  off  by  soldiers 
for  the  gruesome  occasion,  and  is  afterward  immediately 
given  back  to  the  passing  of  travel.  When  Vah  Kah 
Der,  the  notorious  outlaw,  was  exeaited  at  Soochow  on 
October  15th,  1906,  the  new  foreign  drilled  soldiers  filed 
on  the  parade  ground,  and  took  position  with  true  occi- 
dental precision  around  a  ring.  Then,  moving  slowly  be- 
cause of  the  robes  worn,  came  a  procession  of  high  offi- 
cials, who  seated  themselves  on  chairs  within  the  circle, 
the  leading  officials  taking  places  at  a  long  table  under  a 
tent.  A  deep  gong  sounded  from  the  Yamen  building. 
At  the  double  quick,  a  company  of  Chinese  braves  or 
vkeroy*s   retainers,   was   seen   advancing,   and   in  the 


i62  THE  CHINESE 

midst  was  the  chained  criminal,  carried  high  upon  a 
wicker  tray,  and  with  flags  pinned  to  his  new  tunic,  which 
the  State  provides  for  such  occasions,  denoting  the  mur- 
ders he  was  found  guilty  of.  The  circle  opened,  and  he 
was  cast  to  the  ground  in  a  heap,  his  neck  pulled  forward 
by  the  queue,  and  all  was  over  apparently  with  unseemly 
haste.  The  short,  thick  sword,  Tai  Fo,  is  first  heated 
in  water,  before  the  single  stroke  is  given.  Political  ex- 
ecutions in  Korea  as  late  as  1882,  were  performed  by 
bullocks  tearing  the  victims  asunder. 

Oaths  are  of  three  kinds,  the  most  solemn  being  to  go 
out  in  the  open  air  and  kowtow  to  the  skies  of  god 
(Tien),  and  to  the  earth,  when  the  blood  of  a  white  horse 
and  a  black  ox  (Fan  Niu)  are  spilled  from  cups,  as  a 
libation  to  god  and  to  creation's  telluric  principle  respect- 
ively. Outside  some  of  the  villages,  in  a  clearing  in  a 
grove,  a  low,  wide  stone  altar  is  built  for  this  ceremony. 
The  other  oaths  are  breaking  a  jar,  which  is  a  vow  by  the 
earth,  our  mother;  and  chopping  off  a  cock's  head,  which 
is  swearing  by  the  blood  of  life.  This  last  is  permitted 
by  the  English  law  courts  of  Hong-Kong  and  Singaf>ore. 
The  shedding  of  a  cock's  blood  is  sometimes  used  to  sol- 
emnize a  curse.  In  Hupeh  Province  a  cock  whose  throat 
has  just  been  cut  is  dashed  against  the  bow  of  a  vessel  go- 
ing down  the  ways  at  a  launching.  In  the  service  of  the 
secret  societies  a  white  cock  is  killed  and  the  following 
execration  repeated :  "  May  the  unfaithful  and  disloyal 
perish  like  this  cock."  An  amusing  answer  was  made  in 
Pidgin-English  in  the  Hong-Kong  courts  where  a  Chinese 
was  asked  concerning  his  preference  for  the  Chinese  or 
English  method  of  taking  the  oath :  "  Oh,  allee  samee  my, 
kill  'im  cockce ;  break  'im  jugee ;  smell  'im  bookee !  "  The 
oaths  of  secret  societies  are  in  addition  written  and  then 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  LIFE  163 

burned  before  the  god*8  image,  that  he  may  in  the  ^irit 
world  punish  perjurers.  The  most  solenui  altar  is  diat 
of  the  Temple  of  Heaven  at  Pddng.  which  is  dearer  to 
the  Chinese  because  of  its  many  ravagings  by  foreigners. 
Here  the  High  Priest,  the  Emperor,  bows  before  the 
High  God,  or  ''  Shang  Tl''  At  the  foot  of  the  akar  are 
iron  censers,  in  which  are  burned  the  names  of  all  ex* 
ecuted  criminals,  as  a  witness  that  the  law  of  Heaven  has 
been  enforced  on  earth. 

China's  hope  of  abolishing  the  usurpation  of  her  courts 
by  foreign  consuls  and  judges  in  extra-territoriality  r£* 
gimes,  depends  entirely  upon  the  success  of  Wn  Ting 
Fang  and  his  successors  in  their  enthusiastic  work  to 
bring  the  country's  code  (Fai  Yang  Kuan),  and  the  new 
Fah  Pu  (Justice  Board)  to  approach  nearer  to  occidental 
practices.  In  this  work  W'u  was  assisted  by  the  advice 
of  Professor  Magozo,  D.  C.  L.,  of  Tokio  University. 
The  code  now  in  use,  and  older  than  Solomon,  is  not 
lacking  in  statutes.  If  anjihing,  the  laws  are  too  severe. 
In  the  aim  to'  deter  crime  the  Jiistinians  of  China  over- 
stepped themselves  by  making  the  punishments  so  se\'ere 
that  the  mandarins,  fearing  the  local  fuyins  (people's 
mayors),  and  the  populace,  do  not  dare  to  apply  them. 
What  is  wanted  in  most  cases  is  a  less  severe  punishment, 
but  its  unfailing  application.  It  was  the  se\'erity  of  the 
laws  of  Leviticus  which  nullified  their  application.  The 
following  peailiar  punishment  was  inflictixl  at  the  assizes 
of  Qiantseun  in  Kwanptunp  in  September,  1907.  A 
military  oBkrial  who  had  blackmailed  a  boat  captain,  was 
compelled  to  wear  for  three  days  in  full  view  of  his  fellow 
officers  an  arrow  which  had  l)ccn  nm  through  his  ear. 
Afterward  he  was  committed  to  jail  for  ten  years,  in  the 
laudable  endeavor  to  drive  injustice  from  the  rivers,  and 


i64  THE  CHINESE 

gain  maritime  Hong-Kong's  approval,  for  she  is  rapid  to 
complain  and  pull  diplomatic  turmoil  around  the  ears  of 
Peking.  The  mob  has  been  known  to  resent  an  unpopu- 
lar decision  by  rushing  upon  the  magistrate  and  pulling 
off  his  long  boots,  or  placing  his  official  chair  on  the  top 
of  a  bonfire,  as  a  dare  for  him  to  resent  it.  The  old 
code  covers  fourteen  thousand  incidents  and  precedents 
in  the  following  divisions:  Criminal;  Sumptuary;  De- 
fense; Military;  Public  Works;  Ceremonial;  Judicial; 
Religious;  Fiscal  and  Family.  It  is  proposed  to  sepa- 
rate the  civil  and  criminal  procedures.  The  changes  in 
mandarins  are  so  frequent  that  the  law  is  really  in- 
terpreted by  a  local  hanger-on  of  the  court,  who  is  not 
in  the  Civil  Service,  and  who  receives  fees  from  both 
judge  and  criminal.  Here  is  the  bed  of  the  bribery  sys- 
tem. Judges  should  serve  longer.  District  attorneys 
should  be  appointed  by  the  municipalities  and  barristers 
should  be  registered.     Juries  should  be  instituted. 

The  most  serious  crime  in  the  old  code  is  that  of 
striking  a  parent,  the  punishment  for  which  is  Ling- 
chih  (cutting  into  one  thousand  pieces),  but  then  the 
Semitic  law  (Exodus  21;  17)  prescribed  death  as  the 
penalty  for  cursing  a  parent.  Ling-chih  is  practised 
throughout  the  stern  south.  In  November,  1907,  two 
women  were  thus  cut  to  death  at  Swatow,  and  it  is  a 
weekly  occurrence  at  Canton.  The  lightest  punishment 
is  wearing  the  cangue  all  day,  while  being  starved.  This 
wooden  collar  weighs  twenty-six  pounds,  and  soon  throws 
the  victim  head  downward,  where  he  lies  as  a  prostrated, 
exhausted  wretch.  When  we  inveigh  against  the  many 
causes  for  beheading  in  the  Chinese  criminal  code,  we 
should  reflect  that  no  longer  ago  than  Tudor  times,  Lon- 
don Bridge  not  infrequently  had  two  hundred  heads  ex- 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  i^ 

posed  at  one  time  on  its  piers.  Wu  fought  to  introdoce 
trial  by  jury  in  capital  cases,  and  the  Hong*Kong  British 
jury  of  seven  is  exerting  a  powerful  exan^le  tn  the  nuit- 
ter.  From  juries  to  parliaments  and  parties,  the  st^ 
are  short,  and  then  shall  not  men  wonder  if  Liberty  has 
any  more  fields  to  conquer,  but  let  us  not  worry.  Liberty 
is  a  thing  that  rusts,  and  it  is  nearly  as  hard  to  keep  tbe 
pan  dean  as  to  buy  a  new  one.  If  China  gets  juries,  she 
will  in  this  excel  Japan's  judicial  ^stem,  for  Japan  has 
none.  We  can  not  altogether  disbelieve  in  China  when 
we  consider  that  in  the  long  run  that  government  whidi 
does  wrong,  foils,  and  History  never  raised  her  voice  with 
such  approval  as  in  this  case.  The  fat  old  days  of  official 
corruption  when  a  viceroy  like  Li  Hung  Chang,  clothed 
like  a  beggar  to  deceive  the  assessors,  could  die  worth 
a  billion,  and  when  mandarins  would  steal  the  soldiers* 
grain  to  the  last  tao,  and  then  bum  the  granary  down  to 
oUiterate  trace  of  the  loss,  are  departing,  never  to  dawn 
in  China  again  in  such  lurid  shame.  In  the  draft  of  the 
new  laws,  it  is  prohibited  for  newspapers  to  recount  crime 
at  length,  as  sensationalism  is  believed  to  inflame  more 
crime. 

It  is  not  likely  that  China  will  yet  abolish  capital 
punishment  for  the  purloining  of  fiduciary  funds  or  for 
bribery.  It  is  also  probable  that  the  court  eunuchs  at 
Peking  will  be  dismissed.  The  intriguing  of  these  effemi- 
nates has  always  been  dangerous  to  crown  and  ministers. 
A  native  wit  advises :  "  Keep  your  spirit  out  of  hell, 
and  your  face  out  of  court."  The  people  hate  lawyers 
as  they  now  know  them.  Tlicy  have  many  a  sobriquet 
and  witticism  concerning  their  calling:  "  Rats  under 
the  Bench  ;'*  "  Cash  droi>s  into  a  lawyer's  paw  as  a  sheep 
falls  into  a  tiger's  claw  ;**  "  Those  who,  when  they  pluck 


i66  THE  CHINESE 

the  bird's  feathers,  take  the  skin  too,"  etc.,  etc  It  is 
among  this  class  that  China's  poverty  and  misery  have 
groveled.  Ever  too  poor,  with  her  low  taxation,  to  equip 
her  courts  with  lictors,  clerks,  marshals  and  pleaders, 
the  hangers-on  offered  to  do  the  work  for  the  privil^e 
of  settling  the  fee  privately.  They  have  been  the  tax 
gatherers.  Has  this  privilege  corrupted  them  and  better 
than  they  ?  What  did  more  to  corrupt  the  great  Equites 
class  of  the  Roman  Republic  than  this  Of^rtunity  for 
extortion  ?  A  State  can  not  shirk  to  class  its  reqK>nsibil- 
ities,  and  at  the  same  time  be  sure  of  delegating  its 
honor.  The  result  has  been  "  squeeze,"  blackmail  and 
bribery,  and  the  mandarin,  in  the  poverty  of  his  equip- 
ment, has  been  forced  to  be  satisfied  with  enunciating 
the  law, —  not  enforcing  it. 

The  notoriety  about  offices  being  purchased  does  not 
apply  to  China's  civil  service.  The  tax  gatherers  and 
unlicensed  counsel  would  prefer  their  own  purchased 
opportunities,  to  the  salary  of  a  mandarin.  When  their 
purse  is  low,  these  pettifoggers  hire  rascals  to  charge 
their  fellows  with  crime  and  contempt,  and  see  to  it  that 
the  mill  of  shame  has  grist  come  to  it  from  the  black- 
mail of  their  fetid  imagination.  It  is  these  so-called 
lawyers  who  have  blindfolded  Justice  in  Kwangtung  in 
her  search  for  pirates,  and  therefore  America  and  Europe 
have  an  interest  in  encouraging  China  to  clean  up  the 
Augean  stables  of  her  courts.  From  ten  thousand 
villages  where  the  barns  and  tax  receipts  are  bunied  by 
these  rascals;  from  the  bleached  bones  in  the  mountain 
passes  of  those  who  were  decoyed  and  murdered  to 
obtain  the  rewards  offered  by  rich  brutes  who  laughed 
at  the  law  of  their  country;  from  ten  thousand  liti- 
gants whose  cases  have  never  reached  the  judge  but 


INQDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  167 

been  bandied  from  one  lawyer  to  another;  from  thou- 
sands of  daughters,  kidnapped  by  these  lictors  to  ktep 
strife  and  sorrow  active;  from  the  relatives  of  the 
murdered,  and  the  ravaged  homes  of  the  plundered  every- 
where in  the  patient  land,  swells  the  plea  that  the  courts 
be  equipped,  even  at  increased  taxes,  and  that  the  lawyers' 
clique  of  extortion  be  extirpated  for  ever  m  a  vitaUzed 
patriotism  among  their  successors.  A  similar  conditioa 
of  lawyers  studying  the  law's  evasion  for  the  fattening 
of  certain  money<hangers  existed  in  Palestine  in  the 
time  of  Christ  Success  then  to  Wu  and  his  successors 
in  their  radiant-hued  reforms  in  judicial  ethics. 

Yung  Ching  writes:  **  Happy  are  we  when  the  judge 
can  sleep  undisturbed  in  the  court,  and  when  the  villager's 
door  is  no  longer  pecked  at  night,  as  by  a  hungry  hawk, 
by  the  collector  of  double  taxes.  What  joy  is  equal  to 
that  of  seeing  the  backs  of  blackmailing  lawyers  and  lic- 
tors passing  through  your  outer  compound  ?  Litigation 
is  suing  a  flea  and  getting  a  bite  for  justice.**  What  could 
better  prove  that  the  hearts  of  this  people  are  attuned  to 
trust  law,  than  the  following?  In  October,  1907,  a  white 
explorer,  one  Deminil,  killed  a  Chinese  soldier  who  was 
resisting  his  entrance  without  passports  into  Thibet  at 
Batang.  The  mob,  even  in  this  wild  country  of  the 
Kincha  Valley,  where  they  will  probably  never  hear  that 
justice  has  been  meted  out,  suffered  the  prisoner  to  be 
taken  by  the  military  mandarin  two  thousand  miles  away, 
to  stand  trial  in  the  extra-territorial  American  court  at 
Shanghai.  If  we  admit  that  the  Chinese  people  are  the 
piK)rest  the  world  has  known;  that  they  have  borne  that 
poverty  the  longest  with  perfect  philosophy  and  orderli- 
ness, and  not  out  of  ignorance  or  dullness;  that  they 
never  neglect  the  old  and  arc  charitable  even  to  giving 


i68  THE  CHINESE 

their  all  repeatedly  in  their  lives,  yet  never  rebelling 
against  the  barbed  confines  of  an  inexorable  duty  which 
is  sterner  and  wider  than  the  Greek's  idea  of  the  virtue, 
we  must  admit  they  are  the  grandest  race  the  Creator 
looks  on,  and  that  it  is  a  greater  spectacle  than  a  man 
rising  from  poverty  to  affluence  in  a  land  of  greater  op- 
portunity, such  as  ours.  It  is  what  we  bear,  not  what 
we  win,  which  is  greatness. 

In  the  government  of  the  four  hundred  clans,  and  the 
village  and  district  life,  the  elders  over  sixty  years  of  age, 
and  the  graduates  (of  whatever  age)  of  the  literary  ex- 
aminations, form  one  council  or  Shan-sze,  under  a  fuyin 
(mayor),  or  tepao  (dean)  of  their  own,  and  China  in 
this  way  has  been  under  democratic  rule  from  time  im- 
memorial, for  the  mandarin  seldom  interjects  his  author- 
ity. These  elders  are  to  be  addressed  as  laoye  (sir), 
which  is  the  respect  paid  a  low  judge.  The  piko  of 
the  kindred  Mongolians  takes  charge  of  the  clan  councils 
with  the  power  of  a  chief,  though  in  his  case,  confinnation 
must  be  obtained  from  the  "  Board  of  Colonies  and  Cen- 
sure "  at  Peking.  The  government  tax  is  paid,  and  Ae 
land  is  divided  up  among  the  highest  bidders,  by  the 
council.  Taxes  are  evaded,  especially  by  mandarins,  by 
a  concealment  of  wealth.  Li  Hung  Chang  was  notorious 
for  this  lack  of  patriotism.  Said  one  of  his  kind: 
"  Would  the  otter  have  been  killed  if  he  had  not  shown 
his  rich  hide?"  The  Shiii-li  (land  tax),  which  is  now 
five  cents  a  mao  (six  mao  an  acre),  the  government  hopes 
to  raise  to  eight  cents,  in  conformity  with  a  plan  sub- 
mitted by  Robert  Hart,  lately  their  adviser.  In  com- 
parison, the  Japanese  tax  on  poorer  land  is  at  present 
fifteen  cents  a  mao.  We  need  say  no  more  to  reveal  the 
potentiality  of  dormant  China.     When  drought  visits  the 


■  for  theft  nf  fiduciary  funds,  brihery,  etc.  i 
sus[)i'ii<lf(i  by  chins  in  lioitoniless  cages,  nmil  <iea(l.     Chit- 
siilc  Viceroy's  Vanien.  Canton,  South  China. 


I    ti;nnKT-^,  passing  a  forasc  t 
\<k-    ihv    nnl.-r    wall.    Pekiuf;. 
h  lit  ilif  gate  through  the 
nn   Ihc  extreme  left  of 
■  ii(  Chinas  nmricrn 
if  at  ihe  rit;hi  of  the  picture. 


,I.Hhi 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  LIFE  169 

land,  oftentimes  the  peasants  carry  their  plowshares  to 
the  plaza  in  front  of  the  yamen,  and  cast  them  in  a  heap 
as  a  mute  intimation  to  the  mandarin  that  it  would  be 
inhuman  to  levy  the  land  tax,  when  the  share,  sowing 
and  sweat  have  brought  no  harvest.  The  land  tax  in 
Szechuen  Province,  by  an  ancient  agreement  at  the  time 
of  its  repeopling,  is  the  lowest  in  China,  and  the  province 
is  the  most  populous  and  richest,  which  is  a  glorious 
illustration  of  the  wisdom  of  not  taxing  necessities,  but 
rather  reaching  out  after  luxuries  to  support  government. 
Family  disputes,  debts,  wayward  youths,  village  works, 
wells,  lawsuits  (most  of  them  on  water  rights),  celebra- 
tions, processions,  and  the  clan's  policy  toward  other 
clans,  and  the  government  as  represented  in  the  manda- 
rin, Taotai  and  viceroy. —  are  all  controlled  by  the  coun- 
cil. Six  clans  send  all  the  emigrants  to  America.  Their 
names  are  Sam  Yup;  Yung  Wo;  Hop  Wo;  Yan  Wo; 
Kong  Qiow,  and  Xing  Yung,  known  to  us  as  the  fa- 
mous •*  Six  Companies  "  of  San  Francisco. 

Speaking  generally,  emigration  from  the  village  to  the 
city  is  discourage<l.  It  is  the  family  pride  that  the  sons', 
and  the  sons'  sons'  houses  are  all  within  the  i)arent  com- 
pound. A  |)opular  story  which  the  'rickislia  coolies  chant 
from  their  pamphlets,  while  they  wait  k*r  their  nwsters,  is 
about  **  Chang  Kung  and  his  nine  generations  all  within 
one  wall."  China  has  yearned  over  its  children  like 
Isaac.  She  has  loathed  the  emigration  barracoons  of 
Macao,  and  the  blno-fuiineled  coolie  ships  lying  off  the 
Prayas  of  Swatow  and  Honj^-Kong.  An  exception  is  the 
emigration  to  Mongolia,  where  all  taxes  are  remitted 
for  five  years  to  Chinese,  the  government  considering  this 
the  most  effective  way  to  restrain  the  vexatious  and  un- 
certain   Mohammedans,   and   the   troublesome   Mongols 


I70  THE  CHINESE 

who  have  acquired  their  wayward  habits.  The  clan  po- 
lices its  fields  from  the  depredations  of  Hakka  and  Miao- 
tse  vagrants.  You  will  notice  warnings  pasted  on  the 
sides  of  shrines  and  on  bulletin  boards.  Some  of  them 
warn  you  not  to  fill  in  a  disused  well,  as  that  would  be 
unlucky.  The  clan  law  or  custom  prescribes  certain 
gleanings  of  grain  and  cotton  which  must  be  left  by  the 
reapers.  The  stubble  of  sorghum  must  not  be  cut  below 
a  certain  height.  Rice  is  caught  in  the  hand  and  cut  by 
the  sickle  half-way  down  the  stalk,  while  in  the  northern 
provinces  the  whole  straw  of  the  millet  is  left  standing, 
the  ears  only  being  cut  out.  A  gong  is  rung  from  the 
temple  porch  to  announce  that  the  clan  fields  are  open  to 
the  gleaning  of  the  poor  on  the  day  following.  Tres- 
passers convicted  by  the  council  are  consigned  to  the 
cangue  for  various  periods  during  harvest  time,  and  as 
they  are  generally  the  poor  and  opium  degenerates,  the 
punishment  of  being  incarcerated  during  gleaning  days 
is  a  severe  one. 

In  the  more  complex  life  of  the  capital  or  Fu  cities, 
and  the  smaller  cities  of  Ting  and  Chau  ranks,  of  course 
Governors  General  (Tsung  Tuh)  and  Lieutenant  Gov- 
ernors (Liang  Kiang)  rule.  Altogether  the  organiza- 
tion of  departments,  districts,  provinces,  cities,  towns, 
villages  and  circuits  is  thorough  and  admirable.  The  lit- 
eral translation  of  chichau  (district  mandarin)  is  "  know- 
cr  of  his  district,"  indicating  the  sympathy  expected 
between  ruler  and  ruled,  from  the  Tsung  Tuh  down  to 
the  lowest  official,  the  siiinkien  (justice  of  the  peace).  A 
relic  of  barbaric  clan  life  exists  in  the  Yeung  Kong  dis- 
trict of  Kwangtung.  On  the  fifth  day  of  the  fifth  moon, 
the  men  of  two  villages  meet  in  a  valley  and  line  up  on 
each  side  of  a  stream  for  an  all-day  battle  with  stones  and 


INCIDENTS  OF  DAILY  UFE  171 

slin^  The  fasttle  is  witneaed  by  visiton  fitMn  nir- 
rounding  villages.  At  men  are  strode  or  injured,  they 
are  carried  or  ruled  off  the  field.  Sometimes  one  titou- 
sand  men  are  engaged  and  deaths  are  occatioaal,  tlioagfa 
not  more  die  than  if  one  thousand  men  played  football 
Similar  stone-throwing  contests,  set  for  stated  tiroes  and 
the  settling  of  accumulated  clan  fediiqr,  are  not  unoom- 
mon  in  Korea.  At  Seoul,  different  wards  of  the  dty,  and 
in  Yunnan,  some  of  the  Shan  tribes  engage  in  these 
fights. 

The  paths  outside  of  the  treaty  ports  are  too  narrow  for 
fevcn  the  'rickisha,  and  so  the  wheelbarrow  is  the  passen- 
ger eituipment.  It  is  not  an  infrequent  sight  for  a  small- 
footed  woman  to  be  balanced  by  a  live  pig  securely 
strapped  to  the  other  half  of  the  barrow.  A  sail  is  raised, 
the  shafts  are  lifted,  and  down  the  path  between  the  quiet 
rice  fields  the  comical  freightage  races,  for  the  sooner 
the  journey  is  over  the  better  for  the  one  to  whose 
shoulders  the  shafts  are  tied.  As  no  iron  is  used  in 
north  Giina  in  the  wooden  cart  wheels,  which  are  mor- 
tised, dovetailed  and  wedged,  after  one  has  washed  his 
face  in  a  pan  at  a  G<.>bi  desert  well,  the  precious  water 
must  be  poured  on  the  wheels  to  swell  them,  so  that  they 
will  not  fall  apart.  Vehicles  bearing  the  yellow  flag  liave 
the  right  of  way;  they  are  carrying  Imperial  supplies.  It 
is  a  marvelous  country  of  the  honorablcness  of  little 
things.  Xo  man  has  much,  but  every  man  has  some- 
thini^,  and  is  drilled  to  lliul  thai  something  a  little  more 
than  sufTicicnt.  for  little  jiessimism  is  reflected  in  llic  coun- 
try's literature. 

The  clastic,  easeful  mcthixis  of  the  race  will  be  under- 
s-totwl  by  their  Iinviufr  no  word  to  express  Imur,  minute 
or  to-morrow.     They  can  say  night  and  day,  but  they 


172  THE  CHINESE 

must  use  a  metaphor  from  nature  or  custom  when  they 
express  anything  shorter  than  kih  (fifteen  minutes) 
"  The  time  it  would  take  a  turtle  to  crawl  a  li "  would 
be  half  a  day.  "  The  time  it  would  take  a  lark  to  swal- 
low a  grasshopper"  expresses  an  instant  "The  time 
you  would  get  shaved  "  indicates  half  an  hour.  "  The 
time  it  would  take  to  swallow  a  good-by  cup  of  tea" 
expresses  two  minutes.  The  word  "to-morrow"  can 
only  be  expressed  by  an  affix  of  "  future  "  to  the  active 
verb. 

They  call  their  whisky  "the  liquor  that  has  three 
fires"  {samschu)y  and  the  inventor  of  this  distillation  of 
rice,  Ih  Tih,  is  referred  to  as  "  the  partner  of  the  devil  " 
by  the  school  teachers.  The  liquor  is  always  taken  hot, 
and  the  idiom  for  saying,  "  I  have  taken  a  drink,"  is  "  I 
have  painted  my  face."  The  propaganda  against  the  use 
of  wine  has  been  sedulously  and  effectively  pursued  since 
its  institution  by  the  second  king  of  the  Chau  dynasty, 
who  was  contemporary  with  David.  Their  effective  cru- 
sade against  drugs  (opium)  belongs  to  a  much  later  date, 
even  the  twentieth  century. 


IV 
cmNUB  nxjucm 

Three  races,  and  three  races  alone,— *  the  American,  the 
Scotch  and  the  Chinese, —  appreciate  and  constantly  nae 
humor.  The  American,  divining  the  point  like  a  prophet, 
begins  to  laugh  ere  the  incident  b  fully  related;  die 
drolly  slow  Scot  does  not  chuckle  untfl  he  has  first 
rounded  the  humor  in  his  mind,  and  satisfied  himsdf 
that  it  is  true  coin.  The  stoical  Chinese  laughs  not  at 
all,  before  or  after,  but  next  day  in  sincerest  flattery,  in 
his  wide  charity,  he  will  pass  your  story  aloqg,  and  he 
and  his  will  trust  you  for  evermore,  because  for  a  moment 
you  have  lightened  the  load  of  care  of  a  fellow  mortal* 
All  three  races  live  life  very  seriously, —  even  religiously, 
—  and  welcome  that  forgiveness  of  attitude  which  clothes 
human  defects  with  the  smile  of  tolerance.  The  Chinese 
of  course  chiefly  selects  such  characteristic  subjects  as 
the  disappointment  of  the  father  of  ten  daughters  and 
no  sons;  the  husband  henpecked  by  his  last  wife  as  much 
as  by  his  first  two ;  the  bonze  who  added  to  his  geomantic 
threatentngs  and  discoveries,  as  famine  kept  the  people 
from  supplying  his  coffers;  the  discovery  of  an  honest 
tax-gatherer;  the  pig  trying  not  to  laugh  as  he  balanced 
the  proud  beauty  on  the  other  half  of  the  wheel-barrow; 
Truth  changing  the  inscription  on  a  mandarin's  honorary 
pailo  arch;  the  professional  mourner  saying  a  cheerful 
••  hello "  to  a  friend,  though  his  purchased  tears  con- 
tinued to  flow;  etc.,  but  in  m*Kvls  like  those  which  follow 
he  approximates  close  to  our  points  of  view. 

173 


174  THE  CHINESE 

The  Chinese  padlock  is  composed  of  a  long,  thin 
brass  rod,  on  which  a  clasp  slides.  The  usurer  of  China's 
treaty  ports  is  generally  a  Parsee,  who  intends  to  go 
home  to  Bombay  when  he  has  heaped  his  stack  of  ex- 
changed sovereigns  high  enough.  Into  Restonji  Jam- 
shed  j's  shop  on  the  water  Praya  of  Hong-Kong  came 
Ng  Tso  Sui,  a  debtor  in  whom  humor  ran  alongside  of 
dishonesty.  Overpowering  the  little  dark  man  in  the 
black  skull-cap,  he  took  out  his  large  ear-ring,  clapped 
in  the  brass  padlock,  and  then  offered  to  exchange  the 
key  of  the  latter  for  his  canceled  note.  No  Parsee  would 
dare  to  admit  to  his  caste  that  a  heathen  had  ever  soiled 
his  person,  and  that  vagabond  and  boaster  Ng,  while 
his  fellows  lean  against  their  fish  poles  while  the  nets 
are  drying  on  the  Lamma  beach,  again  and  again  descants 
how  a  locksmith  after  all  makes  the  best  fisherman. 

The  Hakka  boatmen  of  Kowloon  enjoy  nothing  better 
than  to  foment  their  women  into  ancestor-villifying 
"  Billingsgate."  The  tongue  of  these  women  has  won 
for  them  the  captain's  position  in  the  family  sampan. 
Off  Douglas  Pier,  Hong-Kong,  I  saw  two  of  the  boats 
lying  sterns  together,  while  from  the  end  of  each  the 
respective  queens  of  vituperation  jargoned  and  alter- 
cated. When  the  wrath  was  at  its  height,  and  a  hundred 
sampans  crowded  about  to  hear  the  contestants  extend 
their  curses  to  the  seventeenth  ancestor  (the  living  having 
been  consumed  early  in  the  conflagration),  the  two  hus- 
bands quietly  took  up  the  oars.  Jerking  the  boats,  they 
precipitated  the  Protean  warriors  overboard.  With  one 
wild  yell  from  the  departing  audience,  the  fray  was  im- 
mediately over,  and  rescued  Peace  settled  herself  in  the 
bedraggled  nest  of  humiliation. 

The  Chinese  valentine  which  expresses  the  greatest  in- 


CHINESE  HUMOR  175 

suit  is  the  one  in  whkh  a  sea-turtle  is  icfveacnted.  Man- 
dartn  Chan;  has  been  superseded  by  Mandarin  Chucn. 
Thereupon  Giang  mails  to  the  yamen  a  picture  of  Chuen's 
chair  borne  by  four  turtles  standing  erect  in  insolence, 
instead  of  turbanned  and  sashed  coolies.  The  Chinese 
consider  the  turtle  the  most  contemptible  animal,  and 
Chang  thereby  insinuates  that  he  considers  only  die 
km'cst  of  antnials, — much  less  a  human  being, —  fit  to 
be  near  the  person  of  his  rival  Chuen. 

A  hungry  priest  is  not  averse  to  adoptii^  the  osefiil 
side  of  humor  when  his  homilies  Ml  on  stony  ears. 
Boddhism  teaches  that  the  soals  of  men  come  back  and 
inhabit  animals.  The  priest  betakes  him  to  a  parishioner 
whose  fears  he  knows  he  can  woric  on,  but  it  must  be 
one  who  owns  a  duck  yard.  Selecting  a  conspicuous 
bird,  he  exclaims  that  he  knows  the  sainted  soul  of 
Farmer  Lun's  father  has  come  back  and  inhabited  that 
bird  because  of  its  peculiar  shuflle.  "  just  like  the  literary 
old  man's."  Immediately  piotis  Lun  asks  the  priest  if 
he  will  not  keep  tlie  bird  where  it  will  hear  the  monas- 
tery's bells  of  prayer,  to  which  request  Pastor  Humor 
accedes,  and  later  introduces  its  victim  to  the  bell  of  a 
useful  doom. 

But  the  Chinese  with  all  his  courtesy,  which  is  by  the 
book,  can  enjoy  a  little  humor.  When  Abbe  Hue,  the 
learned  Toulouse  monk,  was  traveling  from  Peking  to 
Thibet  in  1846.  he  was  occisionally  ill  at  the  yamcns  of 
the  mandarins.  They  invariaWy  rolled  up  Ihcir  fiiti  of 
3  yellow  lacquered  coflin  and  tnid  liini  to  "  forsake  sad- 
ness and  behold  in  what  glory  he  would  die  away  from 

hoTlK." 

The  East  Asia  \'c:vs  of  Canton,  printed  in  the 
native  character,  having  cause  to  denounce  the  Tat^i's 


176  THE  CHINESE 

policy  in  the  Yuet-Han  Railway  matter,  capped  their  ar- 
gument by  calling  this  high  official :  "  for  ever  a  dizzy- 
headed  fish/* 

A  cynic  argued  with  a  humorist  that  even  the  holiest 
of  men  had  some  sinful  secret,  and  to  prove  it,  stuck 
haphazardly  in  a  bonze's  private  incense  pot,  a  tablet  with 
the  words:  "Alas!  all  is  known,"  and  for  once  the 
humorist  was  defeated  by  the  bonze  decamping  in  the 
night  for  parts  unknown. 

On  the  long  bamboo  wharf  at  Wanchai,  coolies  in  line 
bore  coal  in  scoop-shaped  baskets  to  the  launches  which 
were  made  fast  to  one  side.  The  early  fish  boats  had 
just  brought  in  from  the  Lamma  shoals  their  supply  for 
the  Hong-Kong  market,  and  the  fishermen  were  busy 
balancing  on  their  shoulders  buckets  filled  from  the  tanks 
with  live  fish.  These  two  lines  of  men  worked  to  and 
fro  from  coal  godown  to  wharf,  and  from  market  to 
boats,  until  some  water  from  a  fish-bucket  splashed  on 
the  sooty  leg  of  a  coal  coolie.  His  leopard  spots  brought 
out  the  jeers  of  the  fish  clan,  for  the  labor  unions  are 
generally  made  up  of  one  family.  Jeers  led  to  names, 
and  curses  to  vituperation,  until  the  lines  of  men  dropped 
their  burdens,  and  faced  each  other  for  a  battle,  first  of 
grandfathers'  adjectives.  Then  there  was  a  rush,  and 
of  course  the  fishermen  were  the  Achilles  with  the  vul- 
nerable heel,  for  the  fish  were  precious  and  the  coal  was 
not.  The  coal  coolies  took  the  kicks  and  queue-pulling, 
while  they  emptied  their  filthy  baskets  into  the  fish- 
buckets.  A  score  of  wide  Hupeh  grass  hats  were  left  to 
the  grinning  ebony  victors,  while  the  defeated  rushed  to 
their  boats  to  laundry  their  eels  and  garoupa. 

When  a  Chinese  beggar  thanks  you  for  an  aim,  he 
always    says    '' Taipan" ;   that    is,    "May   you   be   the 


CHINESE  HUMOR  177 

genera]  muuger  of  your  finn,"  ind  it  is  notkxable  that 
tbete  b^igan  require  from  your  chair  cocrfie  the  addrew 
of^taoye"  (Sir),  before  they  will  get  out  of  the  way. 
The  coolies  give  this  term  of  reject  winin^y,  for  there 
it  nothing  native  lervanti  diiUke  so  nmch  as  profane 
or  abuaive  language;  but  the  smile  tm  the  taot  of  die 
btggu  shows  that  be  is  enjoying  the  humor  of  the  saht- 


A  little  Hakka  girl,  who  was  carrytog  her  brother 
papoose-fashion  on  her  bad^  was  asked  "  Is  be  heavy?  " 
and  she  replied:  "No.  he  is  my 'brother.**  She  was 
not  thinking  of  the  humor  or  the  bomaid^  of  it,  but 
merdy  questioning  the  adjective  used,  hut  the  grin  oa 
niy  'rickisha  men's  faces  showed  that  they  had  seen  the 
otfier  i^iase. 

In  the  Buddhist  monastery  of  the  Goddess  of  Mercy 
at  Canton,  I  asked  a  native  idler  for  an  explanation  of 
the  gilded  statue  of  the  goddess  Kun  Yam,  and  he  re- 
plied :  "  Oh,  she  Chinee  woman  who  not  cat  rice  ever, 
but  can  eat  money  any  time." 

Victoria  College,  an  institution  for  the  education  of 
native  youth  in  Hong-Kong,  while  reaping  glory  the 
world  over  with  its  graduates  in  the  diplomatic  service, 
is  sowing  humor  abundantly  through  its  sophomores. 
The  collie  paper.  The  i'cUow  Dragon,  contains  the 
following  letter  from  a  pupil  to  his  father  at  Canton : 

"  Don't  take  any  anxiety  for  me  gambling  and  wan- 
deriag  about  in  bad  habit  places.  I  hope  you  will  not 
forget  to  send  me  those  few  dollar  for  lo  pass  the  New 
Year  here  alone.  I  find  my  body  very  weak  this  year, 
but  I  bowl  and  play  cricket  much  for  strength.  I  begin 
to  go  to  bed  at  eleven  p.  ii.  I  am  sorry  I  spent  so 
many  roooey,  but  all's  well.    You  are  an  old  man. 


178  THE  CHINESE 

father!  and  ought  sleep  in  earlying  and  rise  in  late. 
Drink  your  tea  stout  and  not  thin  now.  Try  amuse 
your  tedium  and  look  some  humorous." 

One  laconic  diarist  entered  as  follows:  "This  day 
an  Englishman  came  to  the  school  and  gave  a  disposal 
of  delivering  on  the  Southern  Sea." 

A  Yaumati  cook,  who  must  have  had  a  preceptor 
cousin  employed  as  a  lawyer's  errand  boy  in  one  of 
those  brief-smelling  offices  up  one  flight  on  the  south 
side  of  Queen's  Road  Central,  addressed  the  police  of 
the  Colony  across  the  bay  the  following  petition  to  search 
for  his  lost  brother : 


« 


To  the  Generals  of  the  Charge  Room : 

The  humble  petition  of  Tarn  Sing,  residing  at  the 
ground  floor,  Upper  Station  Street,  Yaumati,  sheweth: 
That  your  petitioner  can  not  find  out  his  brother,  who 
has  been  put  to  be  lost  after  his  being  abroad  from  the 
above  address  at  three  o'clock  afternoon,  Friday  last 
His  name  is  Tam  Noo,  with  a  flat  face,  sloping  eyes,  and 
common  size  and  height  as  to  his  body;  he  has  a  yellow 
feature,  and  is  a  man  belonging  to  the  Dong  On  district, 
and  his  dresses  are  all  black,  but  his  coat  was  made 
of  cloth,  with  brass  buttons.  His  feet  are  bare  without 
any  shoes  or  stockings.  And  your  petitioner  as  in  duty 
bound,  shall  ever  pray." 

A  native  draper's  clerk  of  Shanghai,  as  a  result  of 
his  visit  with  a  package  to  be  delivered  to  a  European 
hong,  where  he  had  seen  a  calendar  which  attracted  his 
attention,  stormily  resurrected  his  mission  school  Eng- 
lish as  follows: 


CHINESE  HUMOR  179 

''ExceUent  Sin: 

**  The  Cakndar  in  jour  Company  is  glinee  in  looking 
to  be  wart  torpaassng  all  the  others;  and  also  it  is  gigantic 
beyond  exanqde  in  connection  with  its  fine  qiectade, 
while  I  look  at  it»  and  appreciate  pieces  for  oblige.'' 

As  an  example  in  homiletsc  English,  I  offer  die  fot* 
lowing  effort  of  a  colportear:  ''Him  sorrying  his 
foolisht  and  having  ashamed  it»  he  was  forgave." 

A  friendly  Chinese  operator  in  the  Imperial  telegraph 
service  at  Kalgan,  thus  wrote  a  missionary  during  the 
famous  Boxer  siege  of  Pddng  in  June,  1900:  ''We 
have  ordered  our  lineman  to  go  to  Peking  to  peep  the 
condition.  In  accounting  he  shall  come  back  in  a  few 
days  when  must  have  a  reliable  term  from  him.  With 
kind  regards  to  yourself  and  all  your  combinations.** 

Cheu  Fat,  a  gourmand,  was  boasting  that  as  for  him, 
he  could  digest  anything,  even  to  the  wild,  oak-leaf 
silk  of  Chifu.  when  his  physician  Su  replied:  **The 
trouble  is,  a  man  never  gets  a  chance  to  digest  his  coflfin 
ctoth.*' 

Huan  had  refused  to  join  the  local  Triad  Society  in 
organizing  opposition  to  an  unpopular  but  powerful 
magistrate.  He  thereupon  was  asked  for  his  reasons, 
and  replied  that  he  had  "ten.''  And  what  are  they? 
•*  Two  wives  and  eight  children.** 

The  native  humor  for  that  prosperity  which  e\ndences 
itself  in  good  living  is  "  Blown  tight  as  a  drum/*  The 
letters  make  a  rather  pretty  monogram  to  look  at.  The 
artificers  in  silver  of  Yung  Yan  Lane,  Canton,  who 
make  belts  for  European  visitors,  sometimes  mix  a  little 
humor  with  their  art  in  working  together  the  ideograms. 
They  are  now  being  exhibited  on  the  waists  of  many  of 


i8o  THE  CHINESE 

the  primest  of  our  ladies,  who  imagine  that  they  arc  dis- 
playing a  pearl,  all  too  unknown,  of  Confucian  truth, 
which  emphasizes  again  the  wisdom  of  being  beautiful 
only  in  one's  own  language,  especially  if  one  is  attending 
a  five  o'clock  tea  at  the  Chinese  Ambassador's. 

Shopkeepers  seldom  put  their  names  on  their  signs, 
but  announce  their  stores  by  a  flowery  trade  mark. 
Some  of  the  lucky  legends  so  used  are :  "  The  shop  of 
Heavenly  Peace,  dealing  in  collars  and  silks ;  "  The  shop 
of  Emulating  the  Phoenix,  dealing  in  ivories  " ;  "  The 
shop  of  Extensive  Harmony,"  etc.  A  white  man  gen- 
erally catches  the  pronunciation  of  Chinese  before  the 
meaning,  and  will  swear  to  you  that  the  Chinese  are  the 
most  affable  of  people,  for  did  not  every  employee  stop 
work  when  he  entered,  look  up,  and  follow  him  through 
the  shop  with  streaming  smiles.  The  reason  of  it  all 
was  because  Mr.  Reginald  Thusly,  "  Griffin,"  lately  from 
Eton,  but  now  Colonial  Cadet,  walked  into  the  collar 
shop  and  inquired  patronizingly,  "  if  Mr.  Extensive 
Harmony  was  in." 

The  poetical  names  of  the  race  are  a  constant  source 
of  amusement.  An  irate  mandarin  came  upon  our  mis- 
sionary, who  had  good  reason  for  never  taking  him 
seriously,  to  "  bluff  "  him  out  of  town,  and  announced 
his  name  as  "  Yuen  Chuen  " ;  i.  e.,  Sweet  Spring. 

The  Peking  Gazette  of  August  i6th,  1906,  after  going 
at  length  into  the  charter  of  the  Canton-Han-kau  Rail- 
way, and  expatiating  on  the  latitude  of  the  franchise,  con- 
cluded with  this  reserved  admonition  to  the  directors: 
"  Think  honestly,  but  act  only  when  you  have  asked  us 
how." 

The  Sin  Wan  Pao,  a  native  paper,  referring  to  the 
signed  agreement  between  the  Wai  Wu  Pu,  and  the. 


CHINESE  HUMOR  i8i 

BritiBh  minister  concerning  the  Canton-Kowloon  Rail- 
way»  states:  ''In  addition,  the  viceroy  of  Canton  has 
hem  instructed  to  see  that  the  governor  of  Hoqg-Koqg 
understands  these  clauses  in  the  same  way  that  fhey  are 
understood  at  Pddng/'  possiUy  the  first  time  in  a  kgal 
document  that  the  text  may  be  amended  by  the  inter- 
pretation. 

Even  the  most  serious  man  in  all  human  history,  Con- 
fucius, was  once  known  to  bow  to  humor.  In  the  Chia 
Yu  (Family  Traditions)  dassic,  the  Duke  Lu  asks  the 
Sage  if  any  act  was  more  shameful  than  a  man  for- 
getting his  wife,  to  which  the  Sage  replied :  ^  Yes,  when 
he  forgets  himself.'' 

An  amusing  case  of  wits  saving  wind  occurred 
August  24th,  1906,  on  Southbridge  Road,  Singapore, 
where  they  were  erecting  iron  standards  to  support  wires. 
A  lunatic  butcher  with  a  cleaver  was  rapidly  gaining  on  a 
Celestial,  whose  eyes  fired  up  with  a  merry  twinkle  as  he 
skinned  up  the  pole  like  a  monkey.  From  the  cross-arm 
the  gleeful  prey  very  easily  kicked  down  the  pursuer, 
until  the  exhausted  wretch  let  his  rage  froth  out  in  chop- 
ping fruitlessly  at  the  iron  pole. 

Puk  Luk  was  an  unemployed  coolie  of  Hong-Kong, 
who  had  a  humor  to  toy  with  trouble  and  bon  mots.  He 
spied  another  coolie  on  the  walk,  sitting  on  a  box  with 
his  back  to  the  street,  and  combing  out  the  feminine 
locks  of  his  queue.  Puk  took  to  the  outer  edge  and  in 
passing  the  tonsorial  coolie,  he  reached  out  and  pur- 
loined a  brush.  Pursuit  was  given,  when  Puk  fled  to  a 
pile  of  laundry  baskets  and  hid  beneath  one.  When  the 
fokis  and  lukongs  were  overturning  them,  Puk  bit  their 
fingers.  Questioned  by  the  magistrate  why  he  acted  in 
this  manner,  in  addition  to  being  a  thief,  he  said,  *'  I  was 


i82  iTHE  CHINESE 

teaching  fool  fokis  to  turn  only  baskets  which  had 
smooth  edges." 

Clans  dare  not  come  to  blows  in  the  British  Colonyt 
and  therefore  they  ransack  their  heads  for  practical 
jokes.  A  man  of  the  Ng  Clan  comes  to  Lok's  stall  in 
the  Praya  market  and  orders  a  dozen  fowls*  heads  to  be 
chopped  off.  When  it  is  done,  Ng  facetiously  says: 
"  Now  enter  that  on  my  account ;  I  thank  you  for  doing 
what  I  told  you/*  and  scampers  for  the  street  Lok  in- 
furiated immediately  pursues,  when  a  confederate  Ng 
clansman  steals  what  he  can  from  the  pile.  iWhen  Lok 
comes  back,  if  he  can  not  sell  the  remaining  chickens  at 
once  to  foreigners,  he  loses  them  too,  for  he  can  not 
afford  to  keep  ice.  If  Ng's  family  are  rice  merchants, 
Lok  hires  a  loft  for  a  week  in  a  godown  at  West  Point, 
immediately  under  Ng's  rice  bins,  and  gets  to  work  with 
his  augur.  So  the  humorous  war  of  clan  spite  runs  its 
merry  round. 

The  wife  of  a  military  man  of  Hong-Kong,  the 
glossiest  of  the  silk  in  her  dignified  dealings  with  Am- 
erican and  European  society,  had  occasion  to  hire  a  new 
house  boy,  but  the  following  dialogue  explains  why  the 
applicant,  who  probably  had  sharpened  his  wits  in  the 
environs  of  Queen's  College,  failed  to  get  the  place. 
What  is  your  name?  **  Oh!  my  name  belong  Gao  Kung 
Loy."  That  is  too  difficult  for  me  to  remember,  I  will 
call  you  just  plain  John.  The  Chinese  asked,  *'  What 
now  belong  your  name,  Missee?"  My  name  is  Mrs. 
Colonel  Errington.  The  suave  Celestial  who  may  yet 
lead  a  retaliatory  army,  felt  up  his  sleeve,  and  drawing 
down  a  smile,  in  a  triumphant  long  lisp  drawled: 
"  Oh!  Missee  Kulnel  Ellington  too  muchee  long  for  my; 
maskee,  I  callee  you  plain  Tom." 


CHINESE  HUMOR  183 

I  do  not  know  whether  the  followiag  incident  u  yellow 
or  white  humor.  The  consulate  had  a  hurried  call  to 
match  Piccadilly  pomposities  against  visitiDg  martial 
braid  at  the  landing  wharf.  The  silk  hat  needed 
smoothing  and  master  gave  his  orders.  The  house  bojr 
was  a  griffin  and  sought  the  aid  of  the  cook  coolie,  who 
stepped  into  the  breach  with  an  alacrity  which  later 
proved  to  be  heroic.  When  master's  frock-coat  was 
brushed,  he  was  handed  a  silk  hat,  wdl  daubed  with 
plumbago,  to  complete  the  amenities. 

The  manner  in  which  your  bouse  servant  appropriates 
your  rights  and  chattels  is  humorously  pervert  He 
knows  that  your  knowledge  of  him,  his  land  and  Us 
language,  is  compassed  by  two  dozen  words  of  Pidgin- 
English.  He  waves  his  occult  wand  in  a  realm  apart 
and  watches  you  perform,  wliich  perhaps  explains  his 
everlasting  grin.  To  illustrate.  Mrs.  Colonel  Blank, 
very  English  and  lamentably  un-Coloiiial,  had  just  ar- 
ri\-ed  and  with  that  suddenness  of  the  military  in  things 
social,  after  her  month  of  receiving  calls,  and  with  her 
effects  from  home  still  a  month  away,  determined  to 
relieve  the  accumulation  of  obligations  and  ennui  by 
giving  a  dinner  to  some  one  "  high  up,"  to  commence 
with.  It  should  be  something  f>ukka.  The  General 
Cummanding  His  Majesty's  Forces  in  China,  (how  the 
Chinese  resent  the  scope  of  the  title)  but  located  at 
Mong-Kong.  was  chosen  as  the  lion.  Going  to  her 
"  Number  One  boy,"  or  comprador,  she  said :  "  Boy,  I 
give  dinner  this  niRlit,  belly  finec  lady.  U-IIy  finec  man. 
six  piecee;  splosem  yon  clatch  everything  best  can  do; 
sabee  "?  In  the  e%'cning  the  Number  One  boy  called  his 
mistress  from  the  cnlivcm-d  comjiany  which  was  drink- 
ing Scotch  and  Schwcpi>e  a|ipetizcrs  on  the  veranda. 


i84  THE  CHINESE 

and  announced  that  dinner  was  served.     The  Number 
Two  boy,  attired  in  a  long  blue  tunic,  and  with  his  pig- 
tail tucked  in  his  waist  cord  so  as  not  to  whip  the  soup, 
swung    open    the    folding    doors.     Apprehensive,    the 
hostess  looked  upon  the  magic  scene ;  cut  glass  and  silver 
galore,  an  expanse  of  occidental  and  oriental  richness. 
Upon  the  face  of  the  general's  wife  hung  that  pain  which 
is  bom  of  knowledge   suppressed   for  kindness'  sake. 
When  she  could  be  excused  the  mistress  hastened  to  the 
head  servant.     "Boy,  by  all  your  heathen  gods,  where 
you  catchee ;  what  side ;  what  fashion  ?  "     "  Oh,"  said  the 
bland  one,  "  that  all  plopee  easy ;  I  sabee  flend  who  talkee 
how  his  piecee  master  go  out  topside  to  eat  chow  to- 
night; so  he  pay  (lend)  my  silver  dishee,  alee  samee  you 
talk  clatch   everything  best   can   do/'     From   which   it 
appeared  that  the  general's  boy  and  the  colonel's  boy 
were  fast  and  reciprocating  friends;  the  former  had  ad- 
vised the  latter  that  his  master  was  going  out  to  dinner 
that  night,  which  gave  the  colonel's  boy  the  opportunity 
of  his  life  to  ingratiate  himself  with  his  mistress  for  wit, 
and  to  make  his  master's  apparent  wealth  the  wonder  of 
his  guests.     The  motive  either  sprang  from  pride,  or 
that  vast  well  of  humor  which  is  deeper  in  their  hearts 
than  we  Westerners  have  yet  plumbed.     Which  it  was, 
judge  ye,  as  you  know  them. 

A  humane  mandarin  of  Sing  Yuen,  who  was  more 
of  a  statesman  at  heart  than  a  tax-gatherer,  when  asked 
by  his  viceroy  why  he  did  not  "  comb "  his  district 
finer,  replied :  "  We  should  make  soup  of  the  eggs,  and 
noL  of  the  hen." 

The  Chinese  petty  thief  greases  his  pig  tail  and  also 
his  bare  shining  shoulders,  so  that  he  may  be  as  hard  to 
grasp  as  a  jellyfish.     A  bland-looking,  furtive-mannered 


CHINESE  HUMOR  185 

individual,  with  a  rcsemUanoe  to  a  native  who  wai  oqce 
deported,  promenading  in  Hong-Kong  with  a  finely 
oikd  qoene,  is  enough  for  the  wary  Sikh  police.  The 
mile  is  at  once  transferred  from  the  Mongol  to  thfe 
Hindoo  face,  as  the  suspect  is  led  by  the  slack  of  the 
knickerbockers  to  headquarters  up  Wyndham  Hill,  to 
explain  why  one  so  poor  should  be  so  extravagant  in 
pomades. 

The  southern  Chinese  recite  this  proverb:  ^Why  it 
a  pig  fat?  So  that  he  can  not  travel  far  from  his  mud 
and  learn  that  he  is  a  pig.  It  would  never  do  for  him 
to  go  to  Tientsin  and  see  larks.  He  would  then  not  even 
be  willing  to  be  a  thin  pig.** 

The  Hakka  herders  of  Kowkxm  have  this  witticism 
on  stubbornness:  ''The  proper  way  to  drive  a  pig  is 
the  opposite  way." 


CHINA,   POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE 

Despite  the  reiterated  epithets  that  she  is  the  Eternal, 
Imperturbable  and  Impenetrable,  during  the  last  five 
years  China  has  made  more  comparative  progress  than 
any  nation,  and  to  her  will  belong  the  twentieth  century, 
as  the  nineteenth  was  distinctive  for  the  development  of 
North  America. 

Japan,  and  the  model  colonies  of  Manila  and  Hong- 
Kong,  have  not  alone  influenced  China's  politics  in  these 
latter  days.  We  may  understand  somewhat  the  politi- 
cal lethargy  of  the  Chinese  in  the  past  if  we  frequently 
call  to  mind  that  they  seldom  contemplated  their  country 
as  China  (the  pure  country  of  the  Tsins  who  built  the 
Great  Wall),  but  as  Chung  Kwok,  or  the  Central  King- 
dom, which  could  not,  from  its  position,  but  be  an  ex- 
ample to  the  whole  world.  Out  of  vast  indifference  to 
and  ignorance  of  travel,  of  course  grew  this  colossal  and 
stultifying  political  pride.  One  of  the  central  provinces, 
Hunan,  first  g^ve  itself  the  name,  until  the  whole  people 
have  long  learned  to  use  it  in  the  belief  that  their  nation 
occupied  the  earth's  center,  and  was  accordingly  the 
most  important  and  self-sustaining,  which  latter  as- 
sumption was  perhaps  justified.  What  we  call  Thibet, 
the  residents  thereof  call  Bod.  Next  to  themselves,  the 
Chinese  ranked  the  Nui  Fan,  or  internal  foreigners,  as 
the  old  tribute-paying  tribes  of  Szechuen  were  called. 

i86 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE     187 

In  order,  follows  tlie  Wai  Fan,  external  foreigners,  or 
wnndcring  tribes  of  Mongolia;  the  Nui  I,  or  internal 
barbarians,  like  the  aboriginal  mountaineers  of  Hainan 
Island:  and  the  Wai  I.  or  external  barbarians  like  our- 
selves and  other  irre<leemable  strangers.  Their  distin- 
guishing word  for  Englishmen  is  Hung  Mao,  men 
with  red  beards;  fur  Americans,  Hwa  Ki,  men  of  the 
Mowery  Flag ;  for  Portuguese,  who  were  the  first  Euro- 
l^ans  they  met.  Si  Yang,  men  of  the  western  ocean; 
and  for  Japanese,  Wu  Jin,  dwarfs.  Merely  their 
lin-ality  or  ajipcarance.  and  not  their  intellect  or  history, 
in  the  foreigner,  ajipcalcd  therefore  to  the  self-satisfied 
Chinese  of  olden  days.     But  things  have  changed. 

When  we  say  thai  they  have  been  influenced,  we  do 
not  nii-an  t<i  convey  the  imprcssinn  that  the  Chinese  to- 
(l.iy  are  a.-^trmndcd  at  the  acliii'vcmcnts  of  the  Japanese, 
fur  tlicy  consider  th;tl  Japan  lacks  that  essential  of  per- 
manent great in-ss.  jx>pnl.iii<>n.  Numljcrs  have  always 
inipresscil  the  Mnncnl.  who  learned  with  res(»cct  fniin 
the  niissiiituiry  I'niMhists  in  ancient  times  of  another 
great  peoi)lc  numerically,  the  Hindoos,  and  forthwith 
^h'lw(.•(l  them  honur  by  giving  ihcir  religion  a  place  at 
the  altar. 

That  it  should  Ite  possible  in  recent  times  that  the 
great  honles  in  Knssia  sh"tiM  cxjterience  a  p«>litical  ni>- 
heaval.  has  induced  the  di-cnnlentod  and  amhiltKUs 
anving  the  (.'liiiiof.  in  their  niKaiii/ati<iii  ni  the  patrii-tic 
\'<'ung-Cliina  jiarty.  In  Jic-itir  thenT^eKes  ffin  desjair 
aii<l  ti'r]tidiiy,  in  the  ln'iie  ihat  they  t'Hi  may  have  a 
g-'vcrnment  which  will  be  m-irc  Intiinatily  in  ["luh  with 
the  desires  of  the  ccnnimn  people,  ami  achieve  that 
W'Tihy  aim  of  diplnmacy:  t»  lie  \aliiei]  as  a  friend  an<l 
fvarcti  as  a  fiw.     The  I'arliamentarv  Cl>nln1i^siun,  sent 


i88  THE  CHINESE 

to  Europe  and  America  in  1906,  reported  that  they  were 
most  impressed  with  Japan's  constitution,  and  after  that 
with  France's,  as  the  Japanese,  when  in  a  similar  embryo 
state,  modeled  their  constitution  after  Germany's,  but  the 
report  of  a  Manchu  Commission  is  far  from  being  the 
opinion  of  leaders  like  Kang  Yu  Wei,  who  look  to  Amer- 
ica as  a  model.  Trained  in  obedience  to  his  father  dur- 
ing a  whole  life  time,  as  was  the  Roman  under  the 
Republic,  the  Chinese  by  character  offers  a  steady  founda- 
tion for  the  responsibilities  of  representative  rule.  The 
Commission  suggested  that  a  trial  of  provincial  elective 
parliaments  should  be  instituted  by  1910;  these  parlia- 
ments to  choose  a  provincial  executive,  who  shall  be 
subordinate  to  the  viceroy  now  named  by  the  Emperor. 
The  Progressives,  who  are  asking  for  more  independence 
than  this,  promise  that  they  will  soon  turn  to  contempt 
Curzon's  prophecy  of  twelve  years  ago  concerning  their 
race :    "  Sedet  ccternumque  scdchit'' 

China  has  been  easy  thus  far  to  govern  because  she 
has  been  an  agricultural  people,  and  not  a  manufacturing 
or  urban  one.  She  has  no  cities  the  size  of  ours.  The 
Clan  life  which  they  love,  and  which  has  given  the  na- 
tion its  peculiar  strength,  never  could  have  survived  if 
its  vitality  had  depended  on  an  urban  organization. 

Nowadays  one  often  hears  the  ancient  prophecy  re- 
peated :  "  When  yellow  snow  falls  in  Peking,  the  dy- 
nasty will  end."  Such  a  phenomenon  occurred  shortly 
before  the  fall  of  the  Ming  dynasty.  China  is  coming 
to  the  judgment.  If  the  Manchu  successor  of  that 
famous  conquering  "  General  of  the  Eight  banners,"  of 
three  centuries  ago,  can  not  rise  to  the  emergency  and 
adjust  himself,  as  he  did  in  Kang  He's  progressive 
reign,  he  must  retire,  but  it  is  not  certain  that  hg  will 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE     189 

miss  his  opportunity  of  rendering  better  service  any 
more  than  the  Samurai  in  Japan  neglected  his,  always 
remembering  that  in  the  fall  of  rulers,  history  records 
incapacity  as  great  a  fault  as  injustice.  Peking  is  now 
divided  between  the  Moderate  and  Conservative  parties; 
there  is  really  no  advanced  section,  as  there  was  after 
China's  war  with  Japan,  and  what  remains  of  the  last 
named  party  is  at  Canton.  It  continues  to  send  delega- 
tions to  Peking,  asking  for  an  immediate  constitution. 
Upper  and  Lower  Houses  of  a  Diet;  juries;  freedom  of 
speech  and  press;  the  spread  of  schools,  factories  and 
foreign  books;  pardon  of  political  exiles;  a  sane  criminal 
code;  an  advanced  railway,  foreign  and  maritime  policy; 
the  widening  of  secret  society  and  guild  walls  into 
those  of  political  parties;  etc.  How  every  one  dares  to 
laugh  now  at  the  old  edict  pasted  up  in  the  tea-houses 
*Wfo  Tan  Kvo  shih''\  "Don't  talk  jwlitics,  By  order." 
Of  course  rule  by  delegation  is  not  perfection  in  the 
respect  that  government  should  be  exercised  by  the 
people,  but  if  the  Manchu  improves  in  his  rule  as  the  men 
of  Satsuma  have,  something  will  be  gained.  When  the 
Chinese  criticizes  the  airs  of  his  Manchu  ruler,  his  idiom 
is :  "  He  wears  his  hat  on  one  side."  It  was  the  Manchu, 
and  not  the  native  Ming  dynasty,  which  taught  the 
Chinese  the  doctrine  of  the  exclusion  of  foreigners. 
The  Manchu  has  made  some  concessions  to  Chinese 
criticism.  Last  year  the  ancient  ban  against  mixed 
Manchu  and  Oiinese  marriages  was  removed  and  this 
year  saw  the  last  of  the  Manchu  generals  withdrawn 
from  the  provinces,  thus  leaving  the  Civil  \'iceroy,  who 
is  often  a  Chinese,  free.  Is  it  proplietical  that  the 
Manchu  has  not  called  his  legal  city  the  capital  of  the 
land,  but  only  the  capital  [Cliifig)  of  the  north  (Pei)? 


I90  THE  CHINESE 

Peking  IS  really  a  poor  location  for  a  capital,  as  it  is 
removed  from  the  center  of  population.  On  this  ac- 
count, Yunnan  Province  has  never  really  been  governed 
from  Peking.  The  old  capital  of  the  Mings,  Nanking 
(literally.  Capital  of  the  South)  was  a  much  better  loca- 
tion, and  Han-kau  would  be  better  still.  Now  that  rail- 
ways are  opening  up  the  land,  there  is  no  reason  why  the 
capital  should  not  be  at  Choong  King,  or  Ching  Too  in 
Szechuen.  It  would  be  the  center  of  population  and 
bind  Yunnan  and  Thibet  and  the  greatest  and  most  am- 
bitious of  them  all,  Kwangtung,  closer  to  the  throne. 
There  are  precedents  for  something  apparently  so  radical. 
for  we  must  remember  that  in  so-called  changeless  China, 
there  have  been  thirteen  changes  of  capital. 

There  are  only  five  million  Manchus  among  the  four 
hundred  million  Chinese.  Even  in  Manchuria,  the  Man- 
chus who  cut  only  enough  cedar  and  arbor-vitae  wood  to 
warm  them,  and  fish  and  hunt  only  what  will  barely  feed 
them,  when  their  pension  is  spent,  are  dying  off,  and 
thrifty  Chinese  emigration  from  Shantung  is  filling  the 
land,  which  is  revenge  enough  for  the  capturing  of 
Peking  in  1644  by  the  Manchu  Dor  Gun.  In  the  same 
way  the  Chinese  are  peacefully  conquering  Mongolia  by 
squatting  on  the  lands  of  the  roving  Tartars,  who  are 
pushed  farther  into  arid  Gobi,  or  compelled  to  sober  up 
and  settle  down  among  the  new  tillers  of  the  soil. 

Much  has  been  made  abroad  of  the  Wei,  the  "  squeeze 
pidgin,"  or  peculation  of  the  Manchu  officials,  who  are 
scattered  throughout  the  empire.  The  Mongolian,  who 
has  suffered  more  from  them,  does  not  say  "  he  has 
squeezed  me,"  but  "  he  has  eaten  me."  In  the  first  place, 
it  must  be  obser\'ed  that  this  is  not  a  charge  against  the 
great  Chinese  people.    It  will  be  found,  as  it  is  among 


1  ^^^^^^^H 

IT..11.    Ill.lt    X 

l)..«.-.K.r 


^awp*^  . 

^u^'''^ 

W_^^M 

[P^.. 

JESK 

H 

A 

■.!►•'  -A- 

^^^^K    \    .    ^'' 

■^^       J 

Marching  Home!     Gallant  6th   U.   S.  Cavalry  after  brilliant   relief 

of  Peking,  Norih  China,  siege  of  1900.     The  allies  admitted 

thai   the  Americans   were   the   best  marksmen  and 

brainiest  open-order  fighters  in  the  allied 


This 


.   the   firs 


n  Chin 


■an  section  of  caiitiired  wall  of  Ticn-isin,  North  China,  siege 
of  iijoo.     Soldier  of  i4ih  U.  S.  Infantry  on  guard. 


CHINA.  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE     191 

other  people,  that  small  salaries  for  large  rcs|>onsibilities 
led  to  this  obnoxious  practice,  which  came  in  with  Man- 
clui  rule.  I*'or  instance,  the  governor-general  of  Mon- 
golia receives  on  the  pay-roll  five  thousand  dollars,  and 
the  residents  of  such  centers  as  Koren  and  Kashgar  aver- 
age only  eighteen  hundred  dollars,  while  the  greatest  ef- 
fectiveness is  exi>ected  of  them  in  diplomacy.  Sir  Robert 
Bredon,  their  foreign  director  of  the  imperial  customs, 
receives  only  twenty-five  thousan<l  dollars  salary.  When, 
ihr(»ugh  systcmatization  of  collection,  China's  revenue 
is  greater,  as  it  is  becoming,  **  squeeze  "  will  die  out,  as 
no  race, —  niled  or  rulers, —  arc  more  inclined  to  be  hon- 
est. They  have  never  had  parties,  with  a  rotation  of 
plunder,  in  China.  The  Chinese  Triads  differ  from  the 
Japaiu'se  .^ainiirai  in  this,  that  they  do  not  believe  liberty 
will  he  a  gift  fn>m  a  superior  class,  as  the  JajKinese  nibbles 
en«l«»wed  the  clans  with  a  |»artial  constitution.  Thi-*  was 
till-  only  lime  in  the  w^Tld's  hi>tory  when  political  lii^hts 
were  so  established,  and  tliev  <lo  n«»l  think  it  ha^  proved 
>ati'»factorv.  Thev  iK-Iieve  thev  will  have  tt)  win  from 
tlic  hii^her  powers  tluir  liberty  in  the  ^x^^A  oM  .\nglo- 
.^:i\i'n  way.  by  ari^nnu-nt  all  the  time  and  arms  part  «.f 
iIk-  time.  Reform  reallv  U'ljan  at  the  ch  se  of  the  C'hina- 
Japan  war.  X<»w  that  the  <»h<tniclioni<i  n«>wai;cr  l*ni 
|»res<  Tse  H^i  i<  gathered  t«»  licr  i^Iiontly  trat!itiMn«:.  doulit 
k"-<  the  Cantniu>e  Kang  Yu  Wei  will  ntiirn,  and  t!ie 
brilliant  ^'nan  Shi  K'ai  of  IVrhili.  stiiM^jm  .^Inmi  frv»iTi 
tlu"  <'Ut!i:  trit«l  and  N'li'l  -OI  i  lianir  i:"in  thi-  ceiitr.il 
p!<«\iiu'es;  the  Colinnbia  r<'!ici:e  bml  Taiii^  S!i;n»  \\. 
\  irtr- y  Tiian  I'ant:,  the  M:i:ii"hii  v, !.o.  in  Shenxj.  saved 
tlic  ("Ini^ti.iTN  in  i<)(X'>:  the  \:\\v  i.^ra»Iv.ate  Liatij  Tun 
^'e!l :  the  ( 'anil)r:iL;f  t^'-ra*  !•'.;'.:  f  Slv  ti  TnTi  \\^^,  a:i.!  their 
like,  will  gather  ar'»r.;ul  t^c  urw   l\ei.:iiit  f«»r  the  renewal 


192  THE  CHINESE 

of  the  militant  and  reform  plans  so  suddenly  and  dis- 
astrously dropped  in  1897. 

Who  are  the  men  of  the  hour  in  China,  on  whom 
Americans  should  keep  their  eyes?  Who  are  the  strong 
characters,  a  study  of  whose  modem  personality  will 
make  China  far  more  interesting  to  us  henceforward  ? 

First,  because  he  held  high  offices,  let  us  mention  Yuan 
Shi  K'ai,  lately  deposed  by  the  new  Regent  from  his 
viceroy  and  chancellorships.  Yuan  is  the  best  equipped, 
most  practical^  most  modern,  and  most  popular  with  the 
foreigners  in  Peking,  of  all  Chinese  statesmen.  He  is 
the  organizer  of  China's  modern  army  of  the  north. 
He  succeeded  in  what  his  predecessor  Li  Hung  Chang 
tried  to  do,  in  establishing  mills,  mines  and  railways  in 
the  north.  He  is  the  best  financier  in  China,  and  a  be- 
liever that  honesty  is  the  most  economical  fiscal  policy, 
when  you  come  to  borrow  again  or  refund  loans.  Con- 
trary to  the  Empress  Dowager's  orders,  he  saved  the 
Christians  from  the  Boxers  when  he  was  viceroy  of 
Pechili  Province,  but  there  is  always  some  flaw  in  the 
jewel.  By  his  betrayal  of  reform  in  1897  he  made  Box- 
erism  possible.  While  till  lately  he  was  high  in  the 
Manchu  councils  and  offices,  he  is  a  native  Chinese  by 
blood.  He  was  dismissed  by  the  Regent,  Prince  Chun, 
in  1909  on  the  excuse  that  he  had  disastrously  relapsed 
once  from  reform  and  betrayed  the  extensive  modern 
plans  of  the  late  Emperor  Kwang  Su  to  the  inexpressible 
Dowager  Empress,  thus  bringing  on  the  reactionary  coup 
d'etat  of  1898,  which  postponed  reform  for  ten  years. 
He  may  be  restored  if  Manchu  jealousies  cease  to  attack 
Chinese  officials,  and  one  hope  of  his  return  lies  in  the 
fact  that  he  had  an  eye  for  choosing  the  most  capable 
subordinates  available.     These  men  are  a  powerful  col- 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    193 

lege,  devoted  to  his  personal  cause.  He  is  a  conservative 
rather  than  a  radical  reformer.  He  believes  in  the  power 
of  the  press,  and  is  not  averse  to  bribing  it  He  is  ex- 
tremely unpopular  with  Kang  Yu  Wei,  also  a  native 
Chinese,  their  greatest  and  most  radical  reformer,  the 
Roosevelt  of  China,  who  is  now  in  exile  in  hot  Penang 
Straits  Settlements,  under  the  protection  of  Britain. 

Who  is  this  Kang,  who,  like  Roosevelt,  shows  his  teeth 
as  he  eagerly  prepares  to  attack  his  opponent  with  a 
spring,  back  of  which  is  the  whole  incorruptible  soul  of 
a  leader  whose  impetus  is  as  weighty  as  that  of  a  host? 
He  is  the  New  China, —  has  been  it  since  1897,  and  it 
was  the  example  of  British  organization  at  Hong-Kong 
which  inspired  him  who  came  out  of  Canton  near-by. 
Had  he  started  north  overland  with  another  army  of 
Taepings,  he  would  have  won  the  throne  and  held  it. 
No,  he  rather  chose  education  and  sought  the  Emperor 
for  a  pupil.  He  is  hated  by  the  old  conservative  Man- 
chus.  and  even  the  literati  of  the  disbanded  Tsung  Li 
Yamen  (Foreign  Office)  of  Peking,  who  are  as  skilful 
an<l  unprincipled  "  disappearance  artists "  as  a  doge's 
cabal,  or  the  private  metropolitan  detective  agencies,  fed 
by  corrupt  millions,  which  have  grown  up  in  some  of  our 
western  civilizations.  He  was  joint  author  with  the 
Emperor  Kwang  Su  of  the  shower  of  reform  edicts  of 
1897.  on  which  China's  hopes  of  mo<lernity  to-day  rest. 
His  name  spreads  like  the  spirit  (^f  an  informing  angel 
over  the  whole  of  China,  and  every  new  (official,  especially 
those  educated  in  America,  who  has  seen  a  light,  goes 
sometime  to  the  Oracle  Kang  t(^  fet-d  it  with  oil. 

Perhaps  the  Fates  have  ortJaintMl  it  that  he  shall  keep 
his  light  pure,  and  never  trade  in  the  spoils  of  office, 
thus  the  better  to  inspire  those  who  must  soil  their  hands 


rfaba 


194  THE  CHINESE 

in  active  politics,  pure  as  the  intent  of  the  best  may  be. 
But  he  chafes  at  this,  for  he  is  many  sided.     He  wants 
to  be  as  active  as  Yuan,  who  adopted  his  ideas  and  be- 
trayed them  once  for  office,  though  Yuan,  from  1898  to 
1908,  returned  to  moderate  reform,  and  steady,  conserva- 
tive progress.     In  America,  of  course,  such  spirits  as 
Kang  could  not  be  side-tracked  by  intrigue,  and  that 
more  than  anything  proves  the  balance  of  our  constitu- 
tion and  institutions.     In  China  it  is  yet  possible,  and 
even  Yuan  has  at  last  suffered  by  it.     Kang  is  not  an 
ultra  reformer.     He  proposes  to  absorb  the  Manchu  and 
not  to  eradicate  him.     He  speaks  well  of  the  late  Kwang 
Su's  powers,  and  he  hates  the  memory  of  the  late  Dow- 
ager, in  which  we  a^ree  with  him.     Kang  is  more  senti- 
mental, sensitive  and  versatile  than  any  Chinese  leader. 
The  very  dangers  of  poison  and  dagger  that  beset  him; 
the  necessity  for  a  circle  of  iron  to  guard  him,  show  best 
the  need  of  our  sympathy  with  these  men  who  propose 
strongly  to  attack  the  old  political  literati  of  Cliina  in  their 
ancient  privileges  and  prejudices.     Kang's  power  from 
his  remote  retreat  is  shown  in  the  disgrace  of  even  so 
august  an  official  as  Yuan.     Kang's  name  is  the  one  most 
spoken    by    all    Chinese    within    foreign    borders,    and 
it  is  these  returning  Chinese  who  leaven  their  country's 
institutions,  and  every  American  who  can  should  take 
a  Chinese  student  to  his  bosom  and  impress,  ere  he  de- 
parts for  home,  the  vitalizing  spirit  of  liberty.     They  will 
never  forget,  for,  after  all,  they  are  as  capable  of  great 
enthusiasms  as  they  are  of  undying  forbearance,  which, 
till  now,  has  been  their  distinguishing  characteristic. 

There  is  also  Sun  Yat  Sen,  a  neighbor  in  exile  at 
Penang.  He  would  go  straight  to  the  core  of  the  trouble 
with  the  sword.     He  is  a  reformer,  of  course,  but  called 


CHINA,  FOUTICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    195 


a  revdotiQiust  becauie  he  does  not  know  whom  besides 
himself  he  would  enthrone  after  the  leader  had  won  the 
cause.  He  likes  republics.  Unlike  Kang,  he  would  oust 
the  Manchu.  He  is  one  of  our  men  of  mark,  because  he 
represents  the  eventual  force  which  will  come  into  play 
if  China  does  not  reform,  and  he  deserves  respect  tor  hh 
sincerity.  His  influence  is  potent  He  has  no  Boxer 
spirit,  for  he  appreciates  the  foreigner,  but  seat  him  in 
power  and  he  could  be  an  uncompromising  Boxer,  for 
he  is  exceedingly  patriotic,  and  lives  within  far  narrower 
mental  lines  than  Kang. 

Liang  Chi  Choa  is  the  writer  of  the  reform  party,  also 
at  Penang  in  exile,  who  selects  leavening  foreign  books 
and  fills  China,  notwithstanding  the  frantic  Censor  Pu 
(Board),  with  their  translations  and  his  applications  of 
them.  He  would  make  a  splendid  secretary  of  state  if 
China  ever  became  a  republic  We  have  no  idea  what 
an  imperium  ex  imperio  this  company  at  Penang  is  in 
influencing  the  aspirations  and  opinions  of  the  younger 
officials  throughout  the  empire. 

\Vu  Ting  Fang,  so  well  known  to  Americans,  by  right 
should  claim  the  longest  review.  He  assuaged  our  fears 
in  the  anxious  days  of  the  Peking  siege,  for  he  alone, 
for  two  excruciating  months,  in  all  the  world  knew  that 
our  legations  were  safe.  How  he  knew  he  will  never 
tell,  and  I  would  not  steal  the  secret  from  his  code  if 
I  could.  He  is  the  redoubtable,  the  learned  and  the  true. 
What  he  has  done  for  scientific,  civic  and  legal  reform  in 
China,  at  great  personal  danger  to  himself,  can  hardly 
be  recounted.  He  is  as  well  known  at  Mong-Kong  as 
at  Peking  and  Washington  He  is  no  leader  of  arms 
or  |>ulitics ;  he  is  a  quiet  deep  moUler  of  methods,  perfect 
in  his  judgment,  a  chancellor  facile  princeps.    Watch 


196  THE  CHINESE 

him  as  he  works  from  year  to  year  for  Chinese  and 
American  progress  and  approximation,  as  well  balanced 
as  a  Waltham  wheel.  We  are  rather  discussing  strong 
men  at  their  mighty  work,  and  it  is  therefore  a  light 
thing,  perhaps,  to  add  that  Wu  is  also  the  Chesterfield  of 
China  in  all  the  graces  of  speech  and  manners. 

The  Regent  Chun  of  the  royal  blood  of  longest  reign 
of  all  the  world's  thrones,  belongs  to  this  new  set,  which 
is  in  the  ascendant.  He  is  a  Manchu,  of  course.  I  have 
seen  him  face  to  face  at  Hong-Kong  and  studied  him. 
He  obeyed  Kang  and  took  revenge  on  Yuan  for  betraying 
the  plans  of  1897.  The  Regent  is  the  pivot  on  which  all 
now  turns.  He  has  the  opportunity  of  the  Chinese  ages, 
a  John  the  Baptist  to  usher  in  the  new  era.  He  is  the 
youngest  of  the  leaders,  the  unfortunate  perpetuation  of 
the  Chinese  system  of  the  last  fifty  years  of  having  an 
infant  as  titular  ruler  and  a  spokesman  in  its  place.  It 
is  a  bad  system,  growing  out  of  the  greed  of  politicians, 
but  it  is  not  Chun's  fault.  He  loved  his  brother  Kwang 
Su,  and  no  doubt  sympathizes  with  his  reform  plans, 
which  he  is  now  putting  in  force.  He  is  to  be  pardoned 
somewhat  if  he  should  yield  now  and  then  to  the  bitter 
attack  of  the  reactionaries.  He  is  to  be  pitied,  for  at- 
tack him  they  will,  and  a  long  list  of  greater  than  he 
have  fallen,  even  the  mighty  Kang  himself.  But  reform 
is  here,  and  he  is  with  it, —  reform  both  in  Manchu  and 
Chinese  circles. 

There  remains  at  Peking  Prince  Ching,  an  uncle  of  the 
Regent,  the  old  Manchu  watch-dog  who  has  been  the 
power  behind  three  Manchu  thrones.  I  do  not  mean  to 
say  that  he  displaced  the  Dowager  in  late  years,  but  his 
growl  was  often  heard.  He  has  not  a  modern  education, 
but  if  sanity,  strength  and  steadiness  count  in  reform, 


CHINA.  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE     197 

Ching  is  still  to  be  reckoned  with,  and  his  old  force  will 
make  itself  felt.  He  does  not  want  a  fool  China  any 
more  than  the  reformers  do.  It  was  Ching  who  ad- 
vocated sending  Chinese  girls  abroad  to  study,  and  bring- 
ing foreign  governesses  into  China.  This  is  the  most 
surprising  recommendation  that  has  been  offered  at 
Peking. 

Then  there  is  dear  old  Chang  Chih  Tung,  who  never 
betrayed  a  foreign  friend,  but  who  is  by  no  means  a 
sycophant  of  the  white  man.  He  is  now  a  reformer,  for 
he  has  always  been  one.  Let  him  tell  you  at  the  outset 
that  he  w*ill  never  consent  to  a  jot  of  reform  in  Chinese 
classics  or  religion,  and  you  will  trust  his  honesty  for  ever 
and  grant  his  demand.  Yea,  he  has  written  a  funny  book 
on  the  subject.  It  is  funny  because  it  is  unnecessary. 
But  he  will  follow  you  nearly  anywhere  else.  He  was 
building  mills,  arsenals,  opening  mines,  running  railways 
and  ships,  while  Kang  was  still  at  his  books.  He  has  a 
modern  army  second  only  to  Yuan's  in  efficiency  at  the 
targets  and  in  mancruvcrs.  He  knocks  hard  at  our  tariff 
wall,  and  s<'iys,  **  Take  it  down  a  little  lower  and  I  will  put 
my  Han-kau  iron  in.**  He  has  already  landed  two  car- 
goes of  pig  at  Brooklyn,  and  is  every  week  landing 
cargoes  at  Japanese  ports.  He  makes  all  the  rails  for 
his  own  railways,  and  he  has  more  railways  in  operation 
than  there  are  in  the  whole  empire  of  Japan.  In  in- 
dustrial organization,  he  is  the  J.  Pierpont  Morgan  of 
China,  but  he  gives  his  fortune  back  to  the  State,  and 
doesn't  own  a  review,  pulpit  or  newspaj^er  to  tell  about 
it.  Your  interview  emlol.  he  will  call  you  back  again 
aiul  e!n|)lia>izc :  **  ReiiUTiilHT.  |>iit  me  (lt)\\n  i«>r  no  reform 
in  classics  or  rcliginti."  W  hat  can  yai  <!«>  with  a  man 
like  this  but  grant  him  all  he  asks  and  love  him,  though 


198  THE  CHINESE 

you  lose  all  your  sacred  ambitions  for  western  mission- 
aries and  books.  Chang  won't  read  a  line  Liang  Chi 
writes,  but  he  has  been  doing  for  years  exactly  what 
Liang,  you  and  I  have  been  recommending  in  what  we 
have  written.  "  An  old  fogy,"  is  he?  rather  the  "  Grand 
Old  Man  "  of  China,  marching  steadily  with  the  youngest 
and  carrying  the  largest  knapsack  of  deeds  done. 

These  are  the  representative  leaders  of  China  to-day, 
and  they  are  as  diverse  as  our  own  leaders  in  the  talents 
which  have  been  committed  to  them,  but  underlying  their 
characters,  with  one  exception,  are  the  world-wide  es- 
sentials of  courage,  singleness  of  purpose,  devotion  to 
country,  unselfishness,  and  hate  of  graft,  which  is  the 
prevailing  tendency  of  our  age,  as  absolute  as  it  is  hated 
by  the  God  of  all  men,  yellow  or  white. 

You  will  notice  that  the  Manchu  has  been  diligent  in 
one  thing,  to  place  his  Uigur  character,  of  corkscrew  ap- 
pearance like  the  Syrian,  opposite  the  Chinese  character 
on  the  copper  coin,  but  this  is  the  whole  of  his  literary 
conquest,  for  even  the  Manchu  officials,  scattered  through- 
out the  Kingdom,  are  devoted  to  the  Chinese  literature 
and  language.  Over  the  East  Gate  of  Mukden,  in  a 
large  plain  tympanum,  a  Confucian  motto  has  been  cut 
in  Chinese  and  Manchu  characters.  However,  other  con- 
siderations have  now  a  certain  bearing  there.  Around 
the  Black  Stone  of  Mukden,  which  the  Manchus  consider 
the  center  of  the  earth,  circles  a  new  influence, —  that  of 
the  Japanese.  Whether  this  will  drive  the  Manchus  into 
the  arms  of  the  Chinese,  as  the  loss  of  Hanover  endeared 
the  Guelph  house  to  the  British,  remains  to  be  seen. 

There  is  no  caste  question  to  fetter  the  race,  as  India 
has  been  retarded  and  disrupted,  and  if  China  is  only 
now  approaching  a  constitutional  government,  she  has 


CHINA,  FOUllCAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    199 

long  been  preptring  for  it  bj  the  most  wooderfnl  dem* 
ocracy  of  letters  which  the  world  has  ever  known.  The 
cid  divisions  of  society  fall  into  Schdars*  Farmers.  Ar- 
tisans, Merchants;  the  Soldier  and  the  Priest  havti^  no 
standing,  and  being  called  the  **  Trouble  Makers."  The 
new  divisions  are  to  be»  Literature,  Politics,  Trade,*— 
which  is  probably  one  more  division  than  we  have  in  our 
own. 

An  emigration  of  one  million  a  year  is  rapidly  filliqg 
up  Malay,  Borneo,  Java,  Siam  and  Burmah  with  Chinese, 
and  sealing  them  in  bonds  of  Uood,  literature  and  com- 
merce, to  the  home  land.  As  compradors,  bankers,  mer- 
chants and  laborers,  they  are  spreading  over  the  whole 
Orient,  just  as  the  Roman  did  from  the  Pyrenees  to  the 
Euplirates,  and  theirs  is  none  the  less  a  conquest,  though 
it  is  peaceful.  But  whether  or  not  the  Home  Rule 
**  Ming  "  flag  that  last  floated  over  the  moat  of  Nanking 
flutters  free  again,  the  spirits  of  Hung  Woo  and  Hung 
Tsin  are  marching  on  with  the  progress  of  the  Chinese 
race.  Only  may  it  be  that  the  feet  of  nationalism  in  her 
frenzy  may  not  be  directed  in  bloodshed  against  the  Si 
Fan,  or  white  foreigner.  This  is  our  prayer,  but  we 
must  expect  some  disappointments  as  progress  develops 
her  ups  and  downs.  Shall  we  take  seriously  the  rapid 
development  of  the  "  Restorer  of  Rights "  party,  and' 
articles  such  as  the  following  written  by  a  student  in  the 
Hang  Chan  Pchoa  Pao.  or  Coxtricr:  "O!  White 
Faces  and  red-bristled  barlxirinns,  when  we  of  the 
Flowery  LamI  shall  march  forth  to  war.  then  shall  you 
Ik.'  brayecl  even  as  are  druj^s  in  a  inortar?  "  The  East  has 
always  been  like  its  Tliibetan  glaciers;  wlien  any  move- 
ment wanns  it,  it  moves  in  a  mass,  and  therein  has  been 
its  danger  to  opponents  since  the  time  of  Kublai  Khan. 


300  THE  CHINESE 

We  recall  the  following  manifesto,  written  during  the 
Opium  War  with  England :  "  There  is  that  English 
nation,  whose  ruler  is  as  often  a  woman  as  a  man,  and 
which  devours  Southern  peoples,  first  peeling  the  fat  oflE 
their  estates.  Their  island  is  a  petty  one ;  they  trust  en- 
tirely to  wooden  dragons  (ships).  Could  we  reach  them, 
we  should  hurl  them  over  as  the  blast  does  the  thin  bam- 
boo. H  we  let  them  settle  on  the  Pearl  (Canton  River) 
it  will  be  like  opening  the  door  and  bowing  in  Mr.  Wolf  I 
In  the  hour  of  our  patriotism,  even  our  wives  and  daugh- 
ters, finical  and  delicate  as  jewels,  have  learned  to  dis- 
course of  arms.  The  high  gods  clearly  behold ;  fight  till 
the  golden  pool  is  fully  restored  to  honorable  peace." 
Pou  Toun  Kiao  Li  (one  religion  or  another,  we  Chinese 
arc  all  brothers)  say  they,  when  they  think  of  those  who 
criticize  or  challenge  them. 

This  stolid  but  revengeful  enough  race  has  been  stung 
until  they  have  struck,  and  may  strike  again  at  all  foreign 
domination,  whether  Manchu,  Macaense,  Mikado  or  Mis- 
sionary, in  their  striving  after  the  extinction  of  what, 
since  the  viceroy  of  Che-kiang  drove  the  Portuguese 
out  of  Ningpo  in  1542,  they  have  considered  their  great- 
est humiliation,  viz. :  the  sacrilege  of  foreign  colonies  on 
the  mainland  of  their  sacred  country — Kiao-chou  held 
by  Germany;  Shanghai  by  triple  occupation;  Kowloon  by 
Britain;  Macao  by  Portugal;  Port  Arthur  by  Japan,  and 
Kwang  Chow  by  France.  This  feeling  particularly  mani- 
fests itself  at  present  over  the  decisions  of  the  extra- 
territoriality courts.  They  claim  that  they  should  judge 
a  foreigner  who  breaks  their  laws  just  as  Japan  does;  he, 
of  course,  to  have  the  privilege  of  appeal  by  his  consul 
if  the  punishment  exceeds  what  the  foreign  law  would 
adjudge.     They  cite  the  precedent  of  the  strangling  for 


.CHINA.  POUTICAL  AND  FICTURESQUE    aoi 

murder  of  an  American  in  i8ai  on  the  little  executioo 
ground  between  the  pottery  jan,  ImmJc  of  the  Yunen, 
Canton,  where  lo  many  Americans  have  itood  imce  then, 
little  dreaming  of  this  particular  history.  How  differ- 
ently they  do  tt  in  Japan  is  hereby  illustrated.  One,  F. 
J.  C,  a  British  subject,  was  sentenced  in  April,  1906^  ui^ 
der  Article  403,  bf  Judge  Satomi  in  the  Yokcdiama  Dit> 
trict  Court,  to  twdve  years'  imprisooment  tor  anon,  in 
an  attempt  to  collect  two  thousand  yen  insurance  on  Ui 
honsebcdd  furniture,  and  five  days  were  allowed  for  ap- 
pal. It  is  largely  this  extra-territoriality  occupation  bjf 
foreigners  which  is  predpjtatiiv  Chinese  patriotism,  just 
as  the  shelling  of  Kagoshima  by  the  British  m  1863, 
and  the  occupation  of  Shimonoseld  and  Yokohama  by  the 
allies  in  1864  precipitated  the  patriotic  clans  upon  the 
weak  Shoguns,  and  evolved  the  new,  proud,  united  and 
powerful  Japan. 

Another  cause  which  is  solidifying  Chinese  patriotism 
is  the  lucrative  concessions,  far  more  opulent  than  at 
first  imagined,  secured  by  foreigners  at  little  cost  I 
refer  particularly  to  the  Peking  Syndicate  in  Shcnsi ;  the 
Franco-Belgian  Syndicate  in  Honan,  etc  In  other 
words,  the  central  govemment  practically  gave  away 
provincial  concessions,  which  the  newspapers  are  telling 
the  peofde  are  invaluable,  in  fact  the  richest  in  the  world, 
as  Richtofen  long  ago  prophesied.  Neither  are  the  bitter 
memories  of  Peking  in  1900  forgotten  in  this  connection. 
Popularly  translated,  the  significant  comments  run  about 
as  follows:  "And  why  does  the  foreign  soldier  shoot? 
Just  to  loot,  toot,  loot  I  "  Tlie  soldiers  of  Yuan  Sht  K'ai 
will  tell  you  how  the  Russians  in  1900  piled  precious 
blackwood  furniture  outside  the  walls  of  Tong  Tchow, 
and  set  fire  to  it  just  to  warm  their  hands,  and  how  they 


202  THE  CHINESE 

dug  up  the  native  cemetery  of  Tientsin,  to  exhume 
the  valuables  buried  with  the  dead. 

There  remains  the  bugbear  of  the  Chinese  Exclusion 
Acts  in  America  and  Canada,  which  the  Chinese  would 
have  been  entirely  patient  with,  had  not  the  Japanese 
been  accorded  an  astounding  preference.  It  ought  to 
be  a  very  simple  thing,  considering  the  higher  standards 
of  living  and  education  in  the  white  countries  as  com- 
pared with  the  yellow,  and  the  high  tariff  burdens  upon 
the  poor  in  the  white  countries,  to  exclude  once  for  all 
day  laborers  from  emigration  across  the  Pacific. 

A  popular  fete  of  the  people  held  in  July  throws  a 
pleasant  light  upon  a  phase  of  their  patriotism.  To  the 
foreigner  this  festival  seems  to  be  a  pretty  boat  carnival, 
which  originated  at  Chang  Sha  near  the  Tung  Ting  Lake, 
but  the  races  are  preceded  by  the  religious  ceremony  of 
searching  for  the  body  of  Ken  Yuen,  a  famous  popular 
minister  whom  the  Emperor  dismissed  for  urging  re- 
forms, and  who  thereupon  committed  suicide  by  drown- 
ing in  the  year  450  B.  C.  The  dragon  boats  came  to  be 
used  because,  the  legend  is,  the  gifts  were  stolen  by  a 
fierce  sea  monster.  The  fishermen  therefore  adopted  the 
all-conquering  dragon's  head  and  tail  for  the  bow  and 
stern  of  their  long,  narrow  racing  boats.  Here  is  a 
national  ceremony  of  patriotism  continued  uninterruptedly 
for  two  thousand  three  hundred  years.  In  the  blue  Hang- 
chow  cemetery  is  a  remarkable  iron  statue  of  four  offi- 
cials loaded  with  chains,  kneeling  before  the  door  of  the 
tomb  of  the  patriot,  General  Yoh,  the  leader  of  the  Sung 
forces  whom  they  murdered  in  treacherous  alliance  with 
the  Tartars.  It  is  probably  the  only  monument  con- 
demning official  infamy  in  the  world.  Respect  for  the 
antiquity  of  the  human  race  must  grow  in  our  minds 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    203 

when  we  consider  that  in  conversing  with  the  Chinese  of 
to-day,  we  are  really  conversing,  because  of  their  un- 
changed customs,  laws  and  physiognomy,  with  men  ex- 
actly similar  to  those  who  were  contemporary  with  the 
men  of  Babylon.  China  has  another  interest  for  the 
dwellers  on  the  North  American  continent,  in  that  the 
coal  deposits  and  range  formation  reveal  a  land  geologic- 
ally speaking  contemporaneous  with  our  own,  which 
starts  some  inquiries  as  to  the  age  of  our  Indians,  and 
their  possible  descent  from  the  Chinese,  whether  via  the 
Aleutian  isles,  or  junks  drifting  via  Honolulu. 

It  is  owing  to  the  following  command  of  Confucius 
in  the  Li  Chi  (F'ilial  Duty)  that  the  nation  has  so  long 
remained  passive:  **  I  would  teach  people  justice,  benev- 
olence and  virtue;  I  wouUl  lead  them  not  to  build  walls 
or  moats,  but  to  turn  the  weapons  of  war  into  instruments 
of  husbandry.**     But  now  behold  the  alarniinfj  change. 

Japan  has  taken  almost  entire  charge  of  China's  mili- 
tary sc!i(H)Is  and  army,  or  Chang  Pci  Kun.  which  is 
assurance  of  its  advancini^  effectiveness,  and  the  minimiz- 
ing of  hampering  traditions.  The  moilern  military 
schools  at  Canton,  Nanking  and  Peking  turn  out  three 
hundred  ofticers  a  year,  and  Japan's  schoi^Is  ad<l  seven 
hundred  Chinese  military  graduates  a  year,  so  that  tlie 
pr«>vincial  '*  armies  of  the  (Jreen  Standards'*  are  rapidly 
being  ofhcered  on  the  most  approved  lines.  es|>ecially  in 
the  Artillery.  Pou  To;  Kngineers.  Kung  Chung  To;  an<l 
nn>unte<l  Infantry,  Ma  Vo.  It  is  perhai»s  premature  to 
sav  that  there  will  be  war,  but  there  cnild  certainlv  at 
anv  time  now  l)c  a  war  in  which  China  would  \k  as  diffi- 
cull  to  humble  as  Japan  would  have  been  ten  years  ago, 

a 

but  the  comparison  between  these  two  countries  will  end 
shortly,   when   railways  join   the   provinces,   and   make 


204  THE  CHINESE 

China  unsubduable,  because  united.  How  little  the  imx)v- 
inces  have  known  one  another  can  be  judged  by  the  fact 
that  the  Yangtze  River,  "the  girdle  of  China,"  has  a 
different  name  in  each  of  the  nine  provinces  through 
which  it  flows.  What  a  vast  body  of  soldiers,  already 
inured  to  marches  on  little  food,  would  the  wheelbarrow 
men  of  Honan  alone  make,  and  Honan  sent  ten  thousand 
troops  to  Viceroy  Chang's  last  autumn  manoeuvers,  which 
covered  an  attack  along  the  line  of  the  Han-kau-Peking 
Railway.  Moreover,  Japan  is  desirous  that  China  shall 
raise  an  army  of  five  hundred  thousand  men,  which  will 
permit  of  Japan  reducing  her  force  necessary  to  guard 
the  East  from  those  whose  land  hunger  she  most  hates, 
Russia,  Germany  and  France.  She  will  officer  this  army 
for  a  while,  but  she  desires  that  China  shall  pay  its  cost 
She  wants  another  half  million  of  her  own  men  for  ten 
years  to  lay  by  their  rifles  for  spindle  and  steam  hammer, 
and  make  her  rich  enough  again  to  set  to  and  take  what 
the  Treaty  of  Portsmouth  did  not  give  her. 

No  more  does  the  gong  beat  the  romantic  call  to  arms 
under  the  East  Gate  of  Canton  and  in  the  Kwan  Tois,  or 
State  Temples  of  the  God  of  War.  The  bugle  call  has 
been  learned,  and  its  windings  are  heard  in  every  plain  of 
China,  from  the  sandy  parade  ground  outside  the  Anting 
Gate  at  Peking,  where  it  first  caught  the  sound  from 
Japanese  lips  a  few  years  ago,  to  the  military  common 
beneath  the  parapet  of  the  ancient  metropolis  of  the  south. 
The  former  Chinese  formation  was  the  Ying,  i.  e.,  a 
division  of  five  hundred  in  Infantry  and  two  hundred  and 
fifty  in  Cavalry,  as  the  horse  was  considered  to  be  equal 
to  a  man  in  those  humorous  days  of  Demonstration, 
when  the  triangular  banner  was  anointed  before  the  battle 
was  formally  opened.     Soldiers  built  the  Great  Wall  of 


TMiw    diituiiMkil    ll>'4t<l   ■'!    ili<f    TMing-li-ysmrn.    I'ckh>c.    whti-fi 

ailviwil  Ihr  latr  Emprr"  DiiMaKrr  in  her  (lratin(«  wilh  f.-rften 

l>rrw'cn  for  3J  ,vrar«  iif  rvativc  diplnniary      Thr  Diunl  t> 

now  rroffniicit  in  ilwr  iwrt-  r»b|rhin»cH  Waj-Mtt-pit 

Two  Rinnlicrv  i>(  tlii-   H-mnl  are    Matwhu* 

■ml  l*»  nn-  Vhinrvv 


liiiiK    nn     Cliiao 
itij;li   llii'   twii  sieges. 
■  tiirci),'!!  iillii--.,  ill    1900. 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE     205 

China,  as  they  probably  did  the  Pyramids.  Soldiers  in 
China  have  always  acted  as  masons  of  public  works,  street 
sweepers,  and  grasshopper  catchers  in  country  districts; 
but  under  the  new  system,  their  respectability  is  enhanced 
by  release  from  these  duties.  There  is  an  old  proverb  of 
theirs  which  describes  the  past :  **  We  make  our  soldiers 
from  our  worst  men,  just  as  we  make  our  nails  from  our 
worst  iron." 

These  efforts  of  China  should  be  looked  upon  with 
friendliness,  for  government  must  now  become  more 
effective,  and  there  should  be  fewer  causes  for  alter- 
cation under  the  more  thorough  regime  of  a  newly 
centralized  government,  with  viceroys  powerful  in  their 
provinces  by  coordinate  law  and  arms,  and  not  by  cor- 
niption,  all  of  which  will  give  place  in  time  to  power 
directed  by  provincial  and  national  deliberative  assem- 
blies. A  China  which  will  not  allow  any  or  every  na- 
tion to  camp  on  the  cd^c  of  her  robe,  just  because  she 
wears  a  long  one,  and  take  a  bite  off  her  rice-cake  and 
persimmon  without  asking  permission,  just  because  they 
look  appetizing,  a  China  more  responsible  because  she 
is  encouraged  in  self-respect,  should  find  extended  to  her 
the  friendly  hands  of  the  nations.  This  has  really  been 
the  intent  of  the  friendly  ix»licy  of  America,  and  the 
coercive  diplomacy  of  Englaml  for  sixty  years.  When 
China  understands  it  so.  she  will  rank  l\lliot  as  her  friend 
above  "Chinese"  Gordon.  China  at  last  is  doing  her 
part  toward  ending  the  regimes  of  bluster  and  interna- 
tional Ixid  manners,  ami  binding  the  last  link  around  the 
glol)e  of  arbitration  as  the  means  of  settling  disputes, 
l>ecnuse  none  dares  trv  aiiv  «»ther.  When  it  comes  to 
standing  up  like  men,  and  taking  that  most  bitter  of 
medicines,  the  payment  of  a  national  indemnity,  history 


206  THE  CHINESE 

records  the  fortitude  of  the  Chinese  on  every  occasioa 
The  opium  war  indemnity  of  twenty-one  millions  was 
paid  promptly,  and  the  indemnities  to  Japan  and  the 
allied  powers  are  of  recent  liquidation.  What  volumes 
this  speaks  for  the  sincerity,  patience,  and  lack  of  false 
pride  of  this  race  I  In  the  West,  right  consists  of  dying 
rather  than  admitting  you  are  nationally  wrong. 

There  are,  of  course,  those  in  China  who  fear  that  the 
new  armies  will  become  the  State,  as  it  is  becoming  in 
Japan,  and  as  it  was  in  Rome  tn  the  days  following  Sylla. 
China's  foreign  wars  have,  till  now,  been  carried  on  by 
the  provinces  separately,  Kwangtung  fighting  England 
in  the  Opiutft  War,  and  even  as  late  as  the  China-Japan 
war,  in  which  one  province  and  a  dependency  (Chili  and 
Manchuria)  took  part  against  the  invader  without  the 
assistance  of  the  other  provinces.  The  extension  of  rail- 
ways and  newspapers  are  therefore  prerequisite  to  united, 
militant  China. 

There  is  indisputably  something  seismic  at  present  dis- 
turbing this  great  people,  something  probably  comparable 
to  the  forgotten  upheavals  which  ejected  Kublai  Khan, 
Attila  and  Cyrus  into  history.  Only  the  other  day,  in 
this  country  where  as  yet  news  travels  slowly  and  where 
railways  are  few,  fifty  thousand  men  arose  in  the  extreme 
south,  and  started  on  their  way  to  the  extreme  north,  to 
the  wheat  fields  of  Manchuria,  where  the  government,  re- 
membering the  successful  repeopHng  of  Szechuen  from 
Kiang-si  after  the  Ming  rebellion,  offered  each  man  ten 
mao  of  land  free  of  taxes  for  five  years.  The  movement 
was  certainly  not  political,  like  those  we  constantly  hear 
the  Triad  Society  is  launching,  with  foreign  missionaries 
as  an  excuse,  but  riots  at  Canton  and  Chifii  eddied 
round  it,  men  longing  in  their  strength  to  be  as  effective 


CHINA,  F^OLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    207 

or  as  troublesome  as  other  mortals  who  seek  new  things 
because  they  are  disgusted  with  past  things.  Their  ora- 
tors pointed  out  the  black  breath  of  war-ships  on  the  hori- 
zon, and  the  white  battleship  of  the  United  States,  the 
H'isconsin,  in  the  offing,  and  said:  **  We  too  could  own 
such,  only  we  would  paint  it  yellow."  Wc  who  heard 
them,  felt  that  they,  too,  could  pick  up  the  word  Jung 
(glory)  and  follow  it  as  terribly  as  other  races  have  done, 
or  as  their  Genghis  did.  Strict  surveillance  is  kept  at  the 
treaty  ports  that  no  arms  are  smuggled  in,  but  somehow 
or  other  the  astute  Japanese,  especially  through  the  port 
of  Macao,  are  getting  rid  of  their  obsolete  guns  through- 
out China,  where  the  students  by  tens  of  thousands  are 
eager  to  possess  a  rifle.  There  is  something  of  a  nuisance 
in  this,  internationally,  as  it  is  found  that  the  pirates  of 
tlic  West  River,  who  previously  have  been  poorly  armed, 
are  now  mure  than  a  match  for  the  gt^vernmcnt  gimboats. 
The  i)o\ver  of  the  viceroys  or  Tsung  Tubs,  who  rule 
without  legislative  assembly  or  Censor  Board,  may  be 
judged  by  that  exercised  by  the  late  Chum  in  the  Two 
Kwan^s,  who  had  his  own  army,  navy  and  mint.  With 
headijuarters  at  Canton,  he  led  in  the  anti- foreign  boy- 
cott of  1905-6,  and  in  all  the  new  movements  of  reviving 
Chinese  pride  and  patriotism.  He  it  was  who  conceiveil 
the  idea  of  a  ix)rt  at  ohl  Whumj)oa,  and  railway  con- 
nectii)n  to  Cantt^n.  in  order  to  displace  Hong-Kong  as  the 
etnjHirium  of  southern  China.  \'iccroy  Tsen  Oium 
Hsiien,  known  to  most  foreii^ners  as  the  **  unpopular 
Chum.'*  was  nut  a  native  of  either  of  the  two  provinces 
wliicli  he  gf)verned.  He  not  only  lieaded  the  civil  and 
jinlicial  service,  hut  commantied  the  army  and  navy. 
Twenty  million  jK-fpIe  b«n\ei!  to  his  unquestioned  author- 
it  v.     His  aim  was  to  drill  in  the  south  an  armv  of  one 


ao8  THE  CHINESE 

hundred  thousand,  which  should  reach  the  recent  credit- 
able ^formance  of  tl^  Pechili  army  of  Yuan  Shi  K'ai's 
(also  a  C3iinese  and  not  a  Manchu),  which  the  Han- 
Yang  arsenal  equipped  with  **  wireless  "  wagons ;  rifles 
of  Mauser  pattern;  field-guns  painted  gray;  Japanese 
kits  weighing  fifty-four  pounds,  whu:h  included  acces- 
sories for  ''  first  aid/'  field-glass  and  blanket  The  Ger- 
man goose-neck  step  and  swinging  of  the  left  arm  are 
practised  on  march.  In  September  last  the  Kwang-si 
branch  of  this  army,  in  order  to  suiq>ress  a  rebellion  at 
limchow,  made  in  one  day  over  bad  roads  through 
mountainous  country,  two  hundred  U,  or  sixty-five  miles, 
in  forced  marches.  Uniforms  are  of  red-trimmed  khaki. 
It  is  interesting  to  recall  that  the  uniforms  of  the  Boxers 
were  red  and  black.  The  southern  army  carries  triangu- 
lar banners ;  the  northern  square. 

The  bugle,  and  not  word  of  mouth,  is  now  used  for 
command,  and  regimental  songs,  patterned  on  the  Japa- 
nese style,  are  taught  with  the  idea  that  the  esprit  de  corps 
is  raised  thereby.  For  a  while  the  Tartar  general's 
troops  in  residence  were  added  to  Chum's  forces,  but  he 
returned  them,  as  he  desired  to  appeal  to  local  enthusi- 
asm. The  Tartar  troops  are  paid  two  dollars  and  ninety 
cents  Mexican  a  month.  Chum  paid  his  provincial  troops 
eight  dollars  Mexican  a  month.  The  ribbons  were 
taken  from  the  men's  queues,  which  were  rolled  tight 
under  their  caps.  Such  is  the  force  which  Chum  turned 
over  to  his  successor.  Chow  Fu.  Chum  was  removed 
largely  because  of  the  protests  of  Hong-Kong  over  the 
piratical  attack  on  the  Sainam.  He  will  be  heard  of 
again  when  radical  things  happen  in  China.  He  and  his 
sort  have  been  emboldened  by  their  dream  of  awakening 
national  possibilities,  and  engraven  on  their  hearts  is 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    209 

the  recovery  of  Formosa  and  Manchuria  from  the 
Japanese  and  Russians.  We  must  not  despair  of  Chinese 
ambitions  and  liberties  because  the  new  leaders,  in  driving 
the  chariot  of  progress  over  the  narrow  barrow  roads  of 
a  past  civilization,  constantly  find  one  wheel  either  lost  in 
the  fetid  ooze,  or  jolting  upon  the  rocks  of  the  ditch. 

There  is  on  the  other  hand  the  Japanese  version  of  the 
future  of  China,  which  is  a  division  ten  years  hence  of 
China's  "  invalid  sovereignty  "  into  spheres  of  influence, 
until  such  time  as  Japan  is  able  financially  to  gather  all 
the  spheres  into  her  own  bundle  as  she  did  the  Korean, 
Formosan  and  South  Manchurian«  The  persistent  hu- 
manitarian tendency  of  the  Chinese  crops  through  even 
the  soldier's  armor  in  the  following  Mongolian  maxim: 
"What  was  the  most  magnanimous  act  ever  known? 
When  General  Tso  burned  the  unread  corrcs|)ondence  of 
the  implicated  in  the  tents  of  the  vanquished." 

Again  there  is  the  American  and  British  version,  that 
there  certainly  must  sometime  be  a  conflict  on  the  Pa- 
cific for  leadership,  which  Japan  now  arrogates  to  her- 
self. It  will  then  be  necessary  for  America  to  destroy 
Japan's  navy,  whenever  Britain,  Russia  and  America 
agree  on  the  intej^^rity  of  China;  the  evacuation  of  Man- 
churia by  Japan  and  Russia;  the  retention  of  India  by 
Britain,  and  Korea  by  Japan,  and  the  patrol  of  the  Pacific 
by  .America,  just  as  the  Atlantic  seas  must  be  delegated 
to  British  fleets.  The  sooner  this  comes  the  better,  from 
a  humanitarian  point  of  view.  It  alone  can  save  to  the 
white  man  that  distant  empire  which  fronts  the  Southern 
Cross,  and  that  Canada,  which  for  one  thousand  miles 
l«M)ks  out  on  the  broad  blue  s\vell>  nf  the  p«^rtentous  Pa- 
cific, In  their  scheme  {n  impress  the  Chinese  that  they 
alone   are   masters,   socially,   the   Japanese    working    in 


2IO  THE  CHINESE 

China  resign  from  any  wcnic  when  a  Eoropean  is  placed 
over  them,  saying:  ''Shall  the  torch  of  Asia  bow  to 
candles;  has  the  East  not  hurled  back  the  phalanxes  of 
Alexander,  the  l^ons  of  Rome,  the  cavalry  of  the 
Crusaders,  and  the  artillery  of  Russia? — and  we^can  re* 
new  the  lesson  to  Europe  any  time.'' 

In  tbt  East  we  constantly  observed  in  print  the  name  of 
Mutsuhito,  Emperor  of  Japan,  and  we  continually 
heard  Bonsai  (I  wish  you  a  myriad  years)  called  out  by 
tiie  fervid  Japanese  at  mention  of  his  name,  but  seldom 
in  China  did  we  hear  the  name  of  the  late  Kwang  Su,  the 
Tsing  Emperor  and  High  Priest  of  China,  who  had  been 
reigning  thirty-four  years  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  No- 
vember, 1908.  This  was  largely  because  of  the  banyan- 
like  shade  of  the  skilful  but  hated  Empress  Dowager  Tse 
Hsi,  the  patron  priestess  of  the  Boxer  movement,  whose 
ability  was  so  exceptional,  especially  in  intrigue,  that  she 
far  outranked  Catherine  and  Elizabeth,  and  some  dared 
to  call  her  a  Jezebel.  She  was  the  virtual  proprietress 
of  all  the  pawnshops  of  Peking.  When  the  Emperor 
was  physically  weakened  and  with  no  hopes  of  recovery, 
decrees  in  1906  began  to  bear  the  superscription  "  Their 
Majesties,"  so  as  to  allay  some  of  the  criticism.  Petti- 
coat politics  (to  be  exact  it  is  trousered  politics  where 
women  are  concerned  in  China)  might  appropriate  pres- 
ents to  the  throne,  as  under  the  Dowager  they  over- 
rode the  rights  of  the  ministers,  but  the  Chinese 
far  and  wide  love  the  office  of  even  a  Manchu 
emperor  sufficiently  for  every  guild  at  New  Year's 
time  (in  February)  voluntarily  to  send  gorgeous 
gifts  to  his  Majesty,  whose  personal  name  of  Tsai  Tien 
was  veiled  in  his  poetic  title  which  meant  "  Illustrious 
Succession." 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    211 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  at  the  intriguing  and  inhuman 
instigations  of  the  late  ambitious  Dowager,  Kwang  Su 
was  drugged  and  shelved  during  his  formative  and  clos- 
ing years,  for  the  hearts  of  the  people,  in  a  land  where 
men  are  considered  alone  interested  in  public  affairs,  called 
for  a  strong,  male  crown  head,  instead  of  the  comet-like 
ascendancy  of  this  effeminate  or  unscrupulous  viceroy  and 
now  tliat  one,  or  one  eunuch  or  another,  who  might  at  the 
time  flatter  the  queenly  ear.  Among  the  students,  who 
were  trained  in  Jai)an,  is  swelling  the  longing  to  cry  for 
a  purpose  "Lo  IVan  I  Inn*'  (Hail  the  victorious  leader 
of  a  myriad  of  men.)  of  course  preferably  a  Ming  and 
not  a  Manchu,  if  the  change  were  convenient.  Kwang 
Su  was  married  to  his  first  cousin,  who  was  older  tluin 
he.  She  is  a  woman  of  ability  and  refinement,  and 
more  typically  Chinese  than  the  late  IX>waqer.  Poor 
Kwang  Su  was  a  slight,  sallow  king;  in  heij^ht  not 
a  Manchu;  mysteriously  contemplative;  by  nature  im- 
pulsive when  he  saw  the  rit^lit ;  when  withstood,  sulky 
instead  of  determined  and  patient;  a  reader;  the  most 
Hu(i«lhistic  looking  man  in  his  empire;  punctilious  in 
sacrifices  and  ceremonies;  fitter  i>erhaps  for  a  tem|)le  than 
a  throne;  in  short  anotlier  **  Edward  the  Confessor."  lov- 
al)le  enough.  The  changes  appointing  Kwang  Su's 
brother.  Prince  Chun,  as  Regent,  and  Chun's  son  Pu  Yi. 
renamed  Hsuan-Tung  (  Proclaimed  Succession)  as  infant 
lunpcror  of  three  years  of  age,  only  corr»»boratc  the 
power  that  was  wielded  by  their  creator,  the  late  Dow- 
acrer  Tse  Ilsi.  We  in  II(»ng-K«*iiix  in  190 1  closely  olv- 
^crved  Chun,  then  eii^liteen,  wlicn  lie  was  uf^^n  an  a|)olo> 
gftic  mission  to  Berlin.  He  is  wow  twenty  ti\e  years  of 
:  t^e.  I  lis  real  name  is  fsai  I'eng.  lie  lia^  n«»t  the  cul- 
ture nor  the  humanitarian  refinement  of  \\\^  br^^thcr,  but 


312  THE  CHINESE 

be  faas  more  experience,  force  and  health;  is  wider 
traveled,  and  he  is  unhampered  by  the  old  intriguer  and 
plotter,  and  her  cabal  of  eunuchs.  The  Manchu  Tsing 
dynasty  therefore  still  sits  in  the  saddle,  but  not  so  stead- 
s' as  of  yore,  for  it  is  bickering  with  the  Chinese  ap- 
pointees, as  in  the  dismissal  of  Yuan  Shi  K'ai. 

The  Chinese  in  the  south  and  center  of  the  empire  re- 
sent another  infant  Emperor  and  another  r^ency.  How- 
ever the  ministiy  is  stronger  and  more  enlightened  than  it 
ever  was.  The  path  before  reform  is  wider  than  in  the 
past,  and  the  fruit  of  to-day,  let  it  be  now  recorded,  was 
the  seed  sown  by  Kwang  Su  in  his  liberal  and  courageous 
edicts  of  1897.  It  was  the  only  famous  thing  he  did,  un- 
less it  be  more  famous  to  be  a  martyr  to  his  own  courage, 
for  it  was  owing  to  those  edicts  that  the  Dowager  and  her 
cabal  persecuted  him  for  eleven  years  unto  his  death. 
China's  great  future  will  largely  be  founded  upon  these 
edicts,  and  therefore  the  unfortunate  Kwang  Su*s  name 
will  not  be  lost  as  though  "  writ  in  water."  At  all  pre- 
fectural  cities  once  a  year,  the  officials,  gathered  at  the 
temples  just  before  daybreak,  place  a  tablet  bearing  the 
Emperor's  name  between  Buddha's  feet,  and  kowtow  nine 
times  nine. 

The  Chinese  are  not  only  capable  of  national  enthu- 
siasm but  have  already  experienced  one  type  of  it.  I 
refer  to  classical  examinations,  where  from  village  to 
hamlet,  and  from  court  to  remotest  district,  the  nation  has 
acted  from  immemorial  years  in  one  spirit  to  one  end. 
This  is  a  unification  Japan  never  experienced  in  the 
preparation  for  her  great  upheaval.  Given  a  more  virile 
subject  to  be  presented  to  the  people  than  the  book  lore  of 
Confucius  and  Mencius,  the  government  is  quite  equipped 
to  make  it  permeate  into  the  last  recess,  with  of  course 


ciiimm;  i;.mimiii; 


\ 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    213 

results  that  will  surprise  the  race  itself  and  shake  the 

world. 

That  public  spirit  is  growing  in  China  may  be  judged 
by  one  of  the  Tsou  Ku  (invite  subscriptions)  meetings  of 
the  guilds  of  Canton  and  districts  which  Chum  called  at 
the  Wan  Shao  Kung,  or  Imi)erial  Presence  Temple,  to 
decide  whether  the  first  funds  for  the  Yuet  Han  Railway 
(Canton  to  Han-kau)  should  be  raised  by  taxation 
throughout  the  provinces  crossed  by  the  line,  or  by  sul>- 
scriptions  among  the  Canton  guilds.  Two  of  the 
seventy-two  guilds  subscribed  five  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars on  the  spot,  and  promised  one  and  one-half  millions 
in  the  immediate  future.  This  is  the  first  time  Chinese 
have  held  what  was  practically  a  business  Witenagemotc 
and  il  w*>iiLl  not  have  l>ccn  ix>ssiblc  now,  had  not  the  boy- 
cotts unified  the  p^iilds,  and  brought  them  over  to  the  New 
China  party's  ambitions.  W  bile  the  meeting  was  in  prog- 
ress, a  rich  Chinaman  named  Lai  Kwai  F\ii,  who  was  in- 
carcerated for  a  i)<>biical  offense,  sent  word  from  the 
prison  that  be  would  sul)^*ril)c  for  fifty  thousand  shares. 
Ke<livi\us,  the  spirit  of  b'.liot  breathing  finn  the  tower! 
No  race  rcsi)on(ls  more  readily  to  apj^als  for  subscrip- 
tions in  humanitarian  causes.  Voluntarilv  the  Chinese  of 
San  I'rancisco,  themselves  atllicted  by  earthquake  and 
mill,  cabled  ten  thousand  dollars  to  the  sufferers  by  the 
H«»nfT-Kong  tyi)h(K)n  (^f  September,  19c/).  The  shares 
of  the  Yuet  Ilan  Raihvav  are  for  three  dollars,  so  as  to 
\k  wiiliin  the  means  of  the  i)oorest.  When  tliis  railway 
called  for  tenders  for  certain  cars,  a  foreii^n  firm  was  suc- 
ces>ful.  It  was  proi>ose(I  l)y  llie  latter  that  the  contract 
sii<»uM  fx:  sidled  at  the  C(»nsurs  office,  as  ba«l  lx*en  the 
invariable  cnst(.>m.  but  Chau  Kun^  Vin^.  the  mana|;;^er 
of  the  railway,  stated  that  tlie  agreement  must  be  drawn 


214  THE  CHINESE 

up  in  Chinese,  and  signed  at  the  railway  company's  office 
in  Canton.  This  marks  an  epoch  in  the  commercial  rela- 
tions between  China  and  the  nations. 

The  constitution  of  Canton's  business  community  may 
be  judged  by  the  inclusion  of  the  following :  "  Guild  of 
the  Nine  Hospitals  " ;  "  Pawnshops  Guild  "  and  "  The 
Smaller  Pawnshops  Guild."  In  the  Emperor's  decrees 
in  the  Peking  Gazette  concerning  the  railway,  the 
"  Nine  Charities  "  take  precedence  of  all  other  guilds  in 
the  enumeration.  Again  think  of  a  share-holders'  meet- 
ing attended  by  thirty  thousand  people  at  the  governor's 
Yamen.  For  the  adjourned  meeting  there  this  character- 
istic proclamation  was  issued :  "  We  respectfully  ask  the 
Merchant  Guilds,  the  Charitable  Institutions,  and  the 
deputies  to  assemble.  All  gentlemen  are  asked  to  bring 
their  personal  jade  seals  in  order  that  the  regulations 
may  be  signed,  and  to  state  their  age,  dwelling  and  occu- 
pation." The  most  popular  guild  at  Canton  is  the  Car- 
penters', whose  Lu  Pan  procession  is  the  finest  given  by 
the  guilds.  Clan  and  guild  opinion  have  been  developed 
as  in  no  country.  What  has  been  lacking  in  the  nation 
in  the  past  has  been  the  newspaper,  with  its  facilities  of 
propaganda.  The  hundreds  of  thousands  of  those  who 
have  secured  the  lower  literary  degrees,  and  the  miUions 
of  those  who  have  been  unsuccessful  in  the  examinations 
but  who  are  widely  read  in  the  classics,  have  created  a 
conservative  body,  influential  among  the  illiterate  in  up- 
lifting the  nation,  and  on  the  other  hand,  they  stand  as 
a  restraint  against  the  possible  oppression  of  the  throne 
and  ministers,  which  latter  body,  coming  from  their  num- 
ber, fears  their  criticism. 

Following  these  demonstrations  of  the  boycott  at  the 
Hoy  Toi  Monastery  (mark  you,)  and  the  railway,  came 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    215 

a  tiiinl  and  a  fourth.  When  the  commissioners  on  repre- 
sentative government  returned  from  abroad,  the  students 
and  guilds  made  the  streets  echo  with  their  shouts  of  wel- 
amie  and  ai)provaI.  Now  it  is  parades  deriding  opium, 
banners  are  carried,  showing  pictures  of  the  misery  in- 
trcxiuced  by  the  foreign  drug.  White  ribbons  with  blue 
inscriptions  are  worn  on  the  hats.  The  opium  dens  are 
visited  by  these  Chinese  Cromwellians,  and  the  stupefied 
victims  are  jeered.  I  once  saw  a  long  procession  sweep 
around  the  Canton  Bund.  The  students  were  dressed  in 
wiiite,  and  threw  into  the  crowds  leaflets  reading: 
**  China,  wake  up,  cure  yourself  of  opium,  and  take  your 
rigiit  positk>n  among  the  powers.''  This  is  the  first  fruits 
of  tile  new  schools.  The  Japanese  teachers  have  struck 
in  this  S()nK*thing  practical  and  concrete.  The  procession 
was  led  by  a  boy  whose  skin  was  dyed  brown  and  who 
was  niasqucradinj;  in  a  red  turban,  and  an  immense 
opitini  pi|)e.  as  a  Hindoo.  Most  of  the  banners  were 
white,  to  sif^nify  the  death-<lealing  drug  which  was 
brought  first  from  India. 

Another  indication  of  public  spirit  was  noticeable  at 
Anioy  in  Auj:;:iist  last.  It  was  the  Emperor's  birthday. 
The  native  sh«»ps  were  decorated  with  the  Imiierial  drag- 
on llags,  festoons  of  flowers  and  l)raTK:hes  of  shnibs. 
Never  Inrfore  has  the  national  flag  been  so  conspicuous 
and  ]>o|)u!ar  in  one  of  their  own  ports. 

It  must  not  be  cotKluded  that  the  manv  advances 
shown  by  China  are  altogether  crcilitahle  io  the  students, 
\\h')  liavc  returned  fn»in  Japanese  colleges.  The  railway 
IvIrv  was  oaiceived  ami  carried  through  by  the  gentry 
ami  merchants,  licfore  the  ft^reign  e^lucated  students  were 
niuneruus.  The  students  are  fire-crackers  in  the  flame, 
and  add  eclat  to  the  demonstration,  but  the  steady  fuel 


'■.■?~T      .«  — I  ^ .  "■- -i  — iJif*  ■■  11-1 . -<*ii-i»«%*i  •  ;•■-  -■."■ 


2i6  THE  CHINESE 

and  heat  are  furnished  by  the  conservative  element,  which 
is  the  seriousness  of  it  for  those  who  shall  make  light 
of  it  In  August  last,  the  Canton  Municipality  decided 
to  inaugurate  the  Hong-Kong  custom  of  registering  chair 
coolies  (the  streets  are  too  narrow  for  'rickishas).  Four 
hundred  coolies  gathered  at  the  Hoi  Tong  Chee  Temple 
on  the  Honam  side  of  the  river,  to  protest  against  the  tax 
and  tariff.  The  meeting  was  an  exceedingly  lively  one, 
and  it  can  not  now  be  said  that  a  Chinaman  can  not  think 
on  his  feet.  It  is  not  the  same  sleepy,  satisfied  Canton. 
These  things  never  occurred  before,  and  they  will  not 
stop,  in  greater  causes,  now.  The  flames  of  rebellion 
could  be  stamped  out  in  the  Kwangs  and  the  centra! 
provinces  perhaps  with  the  aid  of  the  present  railways, 
but  it  might  be  a  different  thing  if  Yunnan,  which  is 
poorly  policed,  should  catch  this  spirit  of  protest,  and 
have  time  to  start  the  furnace  roaring. 

A  great  deal  of  amusement  has  been  afforded  the  na- 
tions by  the  vanity  of  the  Chinese  in  their  dealings  with 
foreigners  who  have  sought  them,  since  the  settlement  of 
the  colony  of  Macao  by  the  Portuguese  in  1557,  in  the 
middle  of  the  Ming  dynasty.  They  have  long  assumed 
that  theirs  was  the  Hub  kingdom,  and  that  others  were 
merely  satellites.  They  called  their  king  *'  the  Son  of 
Heaven,"  and  demanded  that  European  embassies  should 
proceed  under  yellow  banners  bearing  the  motto,  "Tsin 
Kong'*  (tribute  bearers).  There  is  however  much  in 
fact  to  support  China's  pride;  that  during  the  longest  his- 
tory of  any  race,  she  has  taught  various  civilizations 
around  her  letters,  arts,  and  sciences,  and  has  preserved 
them  from  Sikh,  Vandal  and  Slav.  She  gave  birth  to 
Japan,  and  threw  that  people  safely  into  a  glorious  orbit 
of  its  own,  the  heat  of  which  now  is  reciprocaUy  wanning 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    217 

a  new  spring  into  being,  as  it  swings  near  its  parent  orb. 
She  has  maintained  immemorially  the  security  of  her 
southern  valleys  from  invasion,  and  her  culture  uncon- 
taminated  during  a  period  when  southern  Europe  has 
known  countless  obliterations  and  denudations,  intellec- 
tually and  ethnically.  Flood  and  famine  have  visited  her 
more  cruelly  than  any  race  has  suffered,  but  to-day  she 
points  to  her  four  hundred  millions  as  a  testimony  that 
she  has  abhorred  the  murder  of  war,  and  in  deeds,  if  not 
in  letters,  has  practised  the  sacred  teachings  of  the  Occi- 
dent's *'  Son  of  Heaven,'*  while  we  have  lusted  after 
slaughter,  so  that  none  of  us  of  any  blood  can  show  more 
than  a  tenth  of  her  population. 

Very  interesting  divisinns  of  the  Chinese  race  are 
illustrated  on  the  island  i»f  II«>ng-Knng  and  at  Kowluon, 
one  mile  (pp|iosite  nn  the  mainland,  these  divisions  num- 
lK*riti^  throii^'litait  the  nation,  sixty  millions  each.  For 
instance,  the  women  of  the  Ilakka  race,  some  of  whom 
can  be  seen  employed  breaking  stones  on  the  military 
roads,  wear  broad  hats  fringed  with  a  flapping  veil,  and 
irnniense  rings  in  their  ears.  They  do  not  bind  their  feet, 
or  wear  prominent  nose  tirnaments.  They  are  not  so  old 
a  race  as  the  abler  Cantonese,  and  other  Pun  Tei 
(ancient)  races  of  Kwangtung.  and  Szechuen  Provin- 
ces. Sometimes  they  are  called  Highlarders,  es[)ecially 
in  Kwangtung  Province,  where  they  never  succeeded  in 
dis|K>ssesNing  the  plains  |)ei'ple.  1  hey,  of  course,  have  a 
<lialect  of  their  tiwn.  It  one  hears  two  lx»at-women 
MTcaming  ancestral  anathemas  up  and  ijown  the  gamut, 
ir«an  Icj^'cndary  grandparent  to  tenth  cinisjii.  at  each  other 
ir.ifu  their  re>jKvti\e  tillers,  yoii  may  l>e  Mire  they  are  of 
tlie  ilakka.  or  "duetts*'  tril)e.  They  are  the  hij^hot 
teni|H:rcd  and  niubl  argmnentative  of  the  Chinese.      Fhey 


MB  THE  CHINESE 

largely  compose  the  annies  of  the  vioerosrs,  and  are  re- 
qxmsible  for  most  of  the  rd)ellions  of  the  last  two  hun- 
dred years.  A  large  proportion  of  the  emigrants  to  the 
Straits  Settlements  are  Hakkas.  They  are  not  so  in- 
sistent about  marrying  within  their  race  as  other  Chinese. 
Those  who  emigrated  to  Formosa  married  the  wild  hill 
women,  and  incidentally  drov£  the  brothers  of  their  wives 
out  of  the  camphor  business.  At  Singapore  they  marry 
Malays,  and  at  Honolulu,  Kanakas  (as  in  the  case  of  tfaue 
famous  Ah  Fong  family  there,)  and  in  New  York  may 
we  say  they  are  credited  with  offering  themselves  to  ex- 
patriated Hibernians!  The  bloody  Taeping  rebellion 
was  led  by  a  Hakka  from  the  vicinity  of  Canton,  named 
Hung  Siu  Tsuen- 

During  the  water  famine  in  August,  the  government  of 
Hong-Kong  turns  the  taps  on  for  only  an  hour.  I  have 
seen  Hakka  bands  from  different  streets  approaching 
with  their  pails  or  Standard  Oil  tins,  dangling  from  stout 
bamboos.  A  fight  easily  ensued  over  the  precedence  in 
drawing.  When  the  home  gang  was  worsted,  their 
women  retreated  to  the  gardens  on  the  house  tops  and 
threw  flower  pots  on  the  invaders,  who  charged  repeated- 
ly up  the  dizzy  stairs,  until  the  Sikh  police,  and  mush- 
room-capped native  lukongs  came  up  on  the  double.  It 
is  noticeable  in  these  rows  that  the  Hakkas  never  cry 
"help"  or  "murder,"  but  "save  life."  The  Hakkas 
are  more  settled  in  the  land  than  in  former  times,  and  re- 
cent disturbances  have  occurred  mostly  among  the  Sang 
Miaotzes  (unsubdued  children  of  the  soil,)  likewise  a 
roving  tribe  who  have  forced  their  way  into  Mongolia, 
Szechuen,  Yunnan,  Kwei  Chau,  and  the  mountains  of 
Hainan  Island.  In  their  own  dialect  this  race  is  called 
Ba  Bu   Ren.    The  great  general  and  Viceroy  Ts'en, 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    219 

who  crushed  the  bloody  Mohammedan  rebellion  of  Yun- 
nan, and  who  incognito  would  cut  rebels  down  himselft 
was  a  Miaotze  aboriginal  of  Kwang-si  Province.  **  As 
sulky  as  a  Lolo/*  is  a  proverb  referring  to  a  trait  of  a  wild 
tribe  of  the  mountains  of  Szechuen,  who  declare  that 
happiness  consists  in  being  let  alone.  This  race  acquired 
its  name  in  its  days  of  wandering,  for  "  lolo  "  is  a  bam* 
boo  basket  in  which  they  carry  everything,  from  ancestral 
tablets  to  knives  for  avenging  their  honor.  Among  the 
lu  aboriginal  tribes,  those  Ishmaelites  of  the  mountains 
of  Kwang-si  and  Che-kiang,  you  will  notice  that  queues 
are  not  worn.  The  hair  is  bunched  on  the  head,  and 
beards  are  not  sliaved.  The  women  are  large  footed. 
All  these  races  are  fragments  of  the  rule  of  the  great 
Gcii;;jliis.  and  to  a  similar  leader  the  Nomadic  Tartars  and 
Mnii|»nls  would  aji^ain  rcsjxmd. 

The  jK'o|)Ie  (»f  S/tcliiien  Province  are  short  and 
stocky;  tlu»sc  of  Shaii-tnn;^  tall  and  bonv,  while  the  lithe 
K\va!i|;tuiij;  men  arc  notable  for  tlu-ir  vivacity  and  well- 
fed  sleekness.  The  Tartar  of  the  north  is  paler  than  the 
hronzetl  Cantonese  of  the  south.  If  vou  believe  in  the 
aphorism  that  the  land,  and  not  the  politics,  makes  a 
jHrnple.  cftme  to  China  and  see  it  exemplified.  The  Chi- 
ne*^ have  emphatically  assimihited  certain  families  of 
I*!un»i>can  MckhI.  To  recite  three  instances.  At  Macao 
in  the  s<»uth.  the  descendants  of  the  original  one  thousand 
families,  while  retainiufj  their  Portiij^iese  names  ami  re- 
li^inii.  are  now  nearly  all  Chinese  by  bU>otI  through  inter- 
marriage. At  Kaifonj:  in  the  central  provinces,  a  colony 
Mt  Jews  has  lo.st  names  as  well  as  religion,  and  near 
IVkiiit:  are  the  names.  Init  little  of  the  bUnxl.  of  the  fam- 
ilies nf  the  Russian  priMnu-rs  who  were  captured  at  .\1- 
ba/in  in  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great.  an4l  who  were  first 


^-^— -  '' 


2^0  .THE  CHINESE 

corralled  in  the  famous  "  Russian  House  "  at  Peking. 

While  nearly  all  the  emigrations  to  America,  Singa- 
pore and  the  Philippines  have  been  from  Canton  in  the 
south,  it  IS  remarkable  that  the  emigration  to  Africa,  re- 
cruiting for  which  ceased  in  November,  1906,  was  from 
Shan-tung  in  the  north,  where  the  coolies  are  taller  and 
handsomer,  but  not  so  intellectual  as  the  Southern  China- 
man, who  has  more  of  the  aboriginal  Highlander  blood 
in  his  veins.  Behind  all  the  new  counters  in  the  bazaars 
of  Chemulpo  and  Mukden,  stands  the  Chinese  emigrant, 
with  the  business  future  of  those  countries  largely  within 
his  power. 

The  honor  of  the  Chinese  has  seldom  received  a  more 
significant  tribute  than  in  the  arrangement  for  foremen 
over  the  laborers  in  the  Rand,  and  wherever  large  gangs 
of  Chinese  have  been  employed.  Among  the  Huns  in 
the  coal  mines ;  Italians  in  street  work ;  and  our  own  peo- 
ple in  building,  there  is  no  gang  of  laborers  larger  than 
a  dozen  under  one  foreman.  When  Chinese  are  em- 
ployed, a  contractor  estimates  one  foreman  for  every  one 
hundred  men.  Give  this  race  a  task  which  they  can 
comprehend,  and  the  sense  of  duty  appeals  to  them  as  to 
no  other  people.  It  is  the  exclusion  of  Chinese  labor 
which  has  retarded  the  progress  of  the  Philippines.  Jap- 
anese labor  prefers  other  fields  to  the  enervating  tropics, 
although  a  limited  number  of  Japanese  are  permitted  to 
land  in  the  Philippines,  where  they  become  Vickisha  cool- 
ies. The  soil  under  such  amorous  suns  yields  too 
abundantly  to  compel  the  Filipino  to  arouse  himself. 
The  Chinaman,  whether  from  the  hot  Kwang  and  Fu- 
kien  Provinces  or  from  cooler  Shan-tung,  works  like  a 
beaver  in  the  tropics.  He  is  reclaiming  Siam,  Java  and 
Malay,  and  if  he  were  permitted  he  would  create  of 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    221 

Luzon,  Mindinao  and  Panay  the  most  luxuriant  garden 
of  sorghum,  hemp,  cocoanut,  banana,  and  mahogany 
that  the  world  has  ever  seen.  Nothing  will  ever  be  made 
of  the  Filipino,  and  schools  will  be  wasted  upon  him,  as 
they  have  been  upon  the  ''  ignorantly  read  "  Bengalese, 
wlio  s|)outs  dangerously  and  ungratefully  of  home  rule, 
because  sedition  and  a  little  learning  easily  run  to  adjec- 
tives. Sheer  need  would  ultimately  compel  the  Filipino 
to  follow  the  example  of  the  Chinaman,  when  the  emi- 
gration of  the  latter  could  be  stopped,  until  such  time  as 
the  native  backslid  from  his  acquired  ways  of  industry. 
In  all  the  world, —  Kaffir,  Somali  Arab,  Mexican  peon 
or  governnu'nt-rationed  Indian, —  there  is  nothing  that 
can  wear  the  folds  of  determined  laziness,  without  creas- 
injj  them,  so  lonp  as  the  Filipino.  A  stalwart  friend  of 
Chinese  cnii|^ration  from  an  educational  stand|)oint,  was 
Secretary  Seward.  As  the  rcturninjj  eniij^rants  arc  en- 
riching; Italy,  so  the  Chinese  eniij^rant  brings  modern  en- 
lightenment back  to  his  native  land. 

Here  is  an  interesting  tale  of  the  emigrants  for  a 
Chinese  ISoccaccio,  and  one  (|uite  unusual  for  China 
where  women  are  seldom  faithless.  Outside  the  vil- 
lage of  I-'at.shan  only  a  day's  walk  from  Canton,  in 
an  ancestral,  tiKil,  .sKnie  farm  house,  where  a  brake  of 
millet  stalks  wlii>pereil  jH^acc  from  generatii»n  to  gen- 
eration, lived  a  patriarch  alone  with  his  young  daughter- 
in-law.  The  son  was  al)'^ent  in  America,  where  a 
Chini'^c  wife  mij^ht  n«>t  folI«»w  liim  acct^rdinj;  to  i»ur 
law.  Kei^aiKirly  tlic  oKl  man  came  in  to  C^anton  and 
staved  with  a  friend  until  the  Hiin  k\iu,  with  an  eve  fi>r 
••j^.MMJ  josh"  painltil  *»n  its  pa^Idle  wheel,  sailed  in  the 
in'»rniiij:j  f«»r  Hoii^^-Koiij^.  The  next  day  lie  went  to  the 
llon^  Kong  and   Shanghai    Itanking  Cuqioration,   sur- 


i»J'g- 


222  THE  CHINESE 

rounded  palatially  with  royal  palms  on  Queens  Road 
Central,  to  cash  a  draft  from  his  son,  and  with  so  great 
a  fortune  to  support  himself,  he  retraced  his  steps  to  the 
Fatshan,  which  sailed  in  the  evening.  From  Canton 
he  started  out,  between  the  rice  fields  and  duck  farms,  on 
his  joyful  tramp  homeward,  where  the  "  Comfort  of 
His  Age,"  his  daughter,  awaited  him.  Alas!  The  in- 
auspicious shade  of  the  papaw  seemed  to  lie  long  upon 
the  threshold.  A  Lothario  came  upon  the  scene  in  the 
person  of  a  farm-hand,  seeking  work  under  an  alias  that 
frightened  the  old  man,  for  it  was  not  a  clan  name.  The 
daughter-in-law  fatefully  interposed,  and  the  worker  was 
given  the  peisai  field  to  till.  Being  a  married  woman,  the 
daughter  also  aided  in  the  field.  Shortly  an  elopement 
was  planned,  and  fortunately  wits  rather  than  murder 
were  used  to  secure  the  four  hundred  dollars,  which  the 
old  man  had  saved.  Pa]>er,  ink-stick  and  brush  were  se- 
cured, and  the  absent  husband's  white-wood  "  chop  "  was 
resurrected  from  the  camphor-wood  chest  Chinese  char- 
acters are  easily  forged.  A  letter  from  the  son  was  pre- 
pared, begging  the  fond  father  to  give  money  to  the 
daughter  to  go  to  America  to  join  her  husband.  She 
should  come  it  possible  with  some  clansman  who  was 
emigrating,  and  with  whom  he  could  communicate  at  Vic- 
toria regarding  a  plan  which  he  had  for  circumventing 
the  Exclusion  law.  The  old  man  stepped  into  the  trap; 
tlio  farm-]iand  liad  always  l>een  desirous  of  emigrating. 
For  his  kindness  in  the  dilemma,  the  old  man  would  ad- 
vance \\\\n  the  remainder  of  his  funds.  The  three  arrived 
at  Honc-Konc-  Tlie  sea  was  of  course  too  rough  for  age 
tv>  t.^ke  tl^e  sampan  trip  to  ilie  great  ship  which  lay  like  a 
blavk  dragon  cumbrous  on  the  stream.  Tears  and  good- 
byes were  exchanged  on  the  Wing  Lok  wharl     The 


CIIINA..rOLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    223 

usual  sh«>uts  of  shao  (long  life)  and  fuh  (happiness) 
were  wafted  to  the  rapidly  receding  boat.  The  shameless 
plotters  took  a  devious  course,  and  re-landcd  in  Hong- 
Konj:;^,  much  to  the  amusement  of  the  boatmen  wlio  said 
they  were  yittg  (mad).  The  patriarch  went  home»  and 
shortly  afterward  received  a  genuine  letter  from  his  son, 
stating  that  he  was  about  to  return  home,  and  requesting 
his  dearly  beloved,  the  Pearl  of  Fidelity,  to  meet  him  at 
Hong-Kong  on  the  ship's  arrival.  Fattier  and  son  met 
at  Hong-Kong,  and  with  the  clan  ire  mutually  inflamed 
sought  the  cul|)rits.  The  native  boarding-houses  on  El- 
gin Strei*t,  which  have  harbored  so  many  secrets,  at 
length  gave  up  this  comedy  to  the  courts,  and  tliat  is  why 
Wong  Chik,  alias  Cheung  Yam,  won't  bother  the  Oieung 
dan  any  more:  nor  will  the  gnKcry  that  he  was  al)Out  to 
opt'n  on  Rua  da  Se  in  Macao  deal  in  crnlits.  opium  and 
rice  for  a  long  while.  W  hat  liecame  of  the  woman,  not 
all  Cliina  can  reveal,  unless  the  Clicung  clan  will  some- 
lime  l»e  willing  to  tcll;  tlie  millet  is  still  wlii^ijHTing  sc- 
rrtrv  around  tlie  old  stone  htmicstead  when  father  and 
s«»Ti  talk. 

Wi-  licar  much  of  the  Great  Wall,  ccrtainlv  the  world's 
in»»st  mcnioraMc  sij^lit,  hut  that  other  jHXuIiar  defensive 
\\«»ik  itf  the  Maiirluis.  the  Willow  Palisade,  now  in  iMM»r 
npair.  which  U'gius  where  the  Great  Wall  eruls  at  Shan 
iiai  (  hian  at  the  sea,  and  sweeps  around  the  sacreil  t'-nihs 
Ml'  Muktlen  to  the  sea  again,  has  attracted  less  research 
than  its  uniqueness  merited.  The  best  preser\ed  and 
L':.in-le>t  ciiv  wall  in  China,  encircles  the  citv  of  Tsian 
\\\.  the  c.ipital  of  Shen>i.  whicli  pn»vince  was  the  craille 
«  f  the  race.  The  wall  wa<  huili  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
\\:t\\  an«l  is  seventy  feet  in  heij^ht.  The  towers  are  not- 
ahle.  which  can  not  lie  said  <»f  Peking's  ugly  towers. 


224  THE  CHINESE 

China's  navy  is  divided  into  the  Pd  Yang  and  Nan 
Yang,  or  northern  and  southern  fleets,  and  also  the  Ciuh 
toms  Cutter  service,  which  includes  the  Lighthouse  fleet 
The  Chun  Chih  (War  Board)  is  ccxigratulating  itsdf 
that  China  is  not  without  a  naval  reserve  trained  at  the 
expense  of  its  critics,  for  every  American,  British  and 
German  mail  and  tramp  ship,  which  plies  from  her  ports 
across  the  Pacific,  or  Indian  and  Red  Seas,  is  entirdy 
manned  with  a  Chinese  crew.  The  capaUe  Yuan  Shi 
K'ai,  renowned  already  for  his  ambitions  for  the  army, 
was  until  his  recent  dismissal  drilling  the  nudeus  for  two 
navies,  which  since  the  war  with  Japan  have  been  used 
chiefly  as  arms  of  the  Customs  service.  The  bases  for 
this  navy  are  Changchew  and  Miao-tao  Islands  to  protect 
the  gulf  of  Pechili  and  Peking;  Chusan  to  guard  the  ap- 
proach to  the  Yangtze  Kiang  and  Shanghai;  and  Hai- 
nan, to  protect  the  south,  and  be  within  call  of  Canton. 
He  proposed  first  to  make  China  great  commercially,  to 
have  an  unexcelled  army  of  half  a  million  within  five 
years,  and  then  to  build  a  modem  navy  when  his  people 
called  for  that  final  flourish  of  patriotism.  The  Customs 
receipts  and  Robert  Hart's  new  systematization  of  taxa- 
tion taken  up  by  Robert  Bredon  are  to  provide  the  money. 

As  Japan  by  edict  and  example  is  endeavoring  to  im- 
prove the  stature  of  the  race  by  inducing  the  children 
and  women  to  sit  on  chairs  instead  of  squatting  on  mats, 
the  viceroys  are  founding  throughout  China,  Tientsin 
Hui  or  Mutual  Feet  Societies  and  encouraged  by  the 
Regent  and  the  scientific  Japanese,  as  well  as  our  own 
missionaries,  the  movement  is  spreading.  It  can  affect 
only  the  rich  and  the  apish  among  the  middle  class,  as 
the  poor  and  all  of  the  Hakka  tribes  never  bound  the 
feet.    No  candidates  are  now  taken  into  the  Civil 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    22$ 

whose  wives  or  daughters  practise  the  custom.  The 
Hoard  of  Education  has  stepped  in  with  an  edict  pro- 
liil)iting  the  manufacture  of  small  shoes  for  the  kin 
liiH,  or  golden  lilies,  as  bound  feet  are  called.  The 
traveled  Chinese  are  quite  argumentative  that  disgust- 
ing as  binding  the  feet  is.  it  can  not  aflfect  the  health  of 
offspring  as  does  the  western  custom  of  lacing,  nor  has  it 
ever  affected  so  large  a  proportion  of  the  poptilatton  as 
has  the  western  distortion.  Moreover,  the  Chinese  reply 
that  the  binding  of  feet  has  no  voluptuous  motive  of  re- 
vealing the  lines  of  the  figure,  which  in  their  women 
rather  they  conceal,  even  to  the  extent  of  binding  the 
breasts  down,  and  they  are  accordingly  insistent  regard- 
ing their  superior  personal  purity.  In  this  argument 
Inrtwcen  Paris  and  Peking,  the  impartial  probably  must 
rc|(rct  that  the  third  party  eligible  to  judge,  the  Alnah 
Indians  of  British  Columbia,  who  bound  their  heads, 
has  passed  into  oblivion. 

On  approaching  Shanghai  on  the  broad  yellow  flood 
of  the  Huang  Phu.  one  wonders  if  this  can  really  be  the 
threshold  of  crowded  China,  for  not  a  soul  or  a  hut  is 
to  be  seen  in  the  brakes  along  the  shore.  The  low 
flooilcd  fields  east  of  the  Huang  Phu  are  imp<issible  of 
cultivation  until  modern  engineering  skill  wades  in  and 
sa\cs  the  sunken  but  cxtremelv  fertile  meadows.  Bile- 
likf  and  unpromising:  is  the  approach  to  Taku,  on 
wliose  flat  shore  a  few  thin  birches  and  willows  fail  to 
relieve  the  scene.  But  in  the  south  is  the  grandeur 
which  one  exi)ected  of  tiic  north,  niakinc^  the  cnast-line 
just  the  opjiosite  in  apiK-arance  of  America's  eastern 
>hore.  Particularly  stern  is  the  latulscajHr  of  much  of  the 
eastern  part  of  the  province  of  Kwanglung.  The  Hakka 
grass-cutters  have  burned  everything,  excepting  a  few 


226  THE  CHINESE 

lEffs  of  ten  years'  growth,  which  the  British  have  sowed 
on  the  granite  hills  of  Kowloon.  The  houses  are  of 
granite  blocks,  and  are  thatched  or  tiled,  in  comparison 
with  the  bluish  brick  huts  of  Shan-tung  Province.  In 
contrast,  think  of  the  mud  hovels  of  Mohammedan  Kansu 
Province  and  of  Pechili,  or  the  cliff  dwellings  of  Shensi 
Province,  or  even  the  bamboo  and  thatch  huts  of  Sze- 
chuen  Province. 

Here  and  there  a  person  of  artistic  soul,  or  a  monk, 
will  have  protected  a  wide  banyan,  whose  branches  lean 
like  a  bowed  patriarch  upon  many  rooted  canes.  Some- 
times a  wind-break  has  been  preserved  of  evergreen 
orange  and  loquat,  yellow  syringas,  or  cotton-trees  with 
their  large  red  flowers.  Now  and  then  you  see  a  shining 
green  camphor-tree  among  the  rain-smoothed  rocks. 
Where  it  is  not  tapped  too  often,  this  tree  grows  to  a 
magnificent  size.  The  wood  is  in  great  demand  in  the 
extensive  pawnshop  towers  of  the  southern  provinces, 
where  it  is  used  to  make  trunks  for  clothes.  The  odor 
is  a  powerful  defense  against  the  attacks  of  moths  and 
white  ants.  The  wood  is  a  golden  yellow,  clouded  with 
one  wide  brown  vein,  and  when  polished  is  silky  smooth 
and  gorgeous  enough  for  even  the  exactions  of  an  ori- 
ental connoisseur.  Because  of  the  dark  vein,  the  wood 
is  not  used  for  carving,  but  at  Ningpo  they  find  a  white 
wood  which  holds  the  knife  well  and  takes  a  polish.  In 
the  northern  provinces  the  familiar  ailantus  tree,  willow, 
and  roseate  rhododendron  are  frequently  seen,  and  in  the 
valleys  of  Che-kiang  Province  the  deep  green  leaves  of 
the  arbor-vitae  cast  shadows  over  the  pale  green  rice 
patches.  In  Korea  the  ranges  remind  you  of  turbulent 
Atlantic  seas,  suddenly  fixed  in  stone.  All  coastal  south 
China  and  western  Szechuen  are  an  array  of  white  gran- 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    227 

itc  peaks,  the  oldest  formation  of  the  country.  Indeed, 
tlirce  luindred  thousand  square  miles  of  China  consist  of 
lofty  ranges.  Can  any  land,  which  at  the  same  time  sup- 
ports a  vast  population,  so  boast  of  affording  her  toilers 
the  uplift  of  stuixrmlous  scenery,  when  labors  are  laid 
down,  and  the  eyes  of  the  worker  raised  above  the  toil  at 
his  feet  ?  These  are  they  who  work  indeed  as  in  the  sight 
of  Go<l.  In  most  of  the  foot-hills  are  cut  the  horseshoe 
shai)ed  and  blue-painted  graves  of  the  wealthier  Chinese, 
many  of  whicli  graves  ancestor  worship  and  clan  organ* 
ization  have  preserved  to  ages  hoary  in  comjiarison  with 
our  oldest  monuments.  "  The  dea<l  must  see  farthest/* 
is  a  Chinese  saying,  when  they  explain  these  scenic  loca- 
tions. 

In  every  valley  of  Kwangtunp.  hi<l  lK*hind  harrica<U's 
i»i  jkili'Sl  green,  brown-pliinietl  niilU-l  {kuolin^i).  tufted 
muk'kzi'a  (papaw),  or  neetlIo\v*XKJ  fir-tree*;  are  huddle4l 
tlie  l<»\v  stone  houses  of  the  villairers,  that  thev  mav  l>e 
near  their  rice  swamps,  and  slnm-yu  (sweet  i)t»tato)  ter- 
races. The  women  who  (Ki  n(»t  have  to  work,  are  <lressod 
in  colors  whicli  rival  llie  flowers  aUuit  them  for  bri|^ht- 
iic^-i.  and  it  is  from  nature  aIl«»j;ctluT  that  they  have  taken 
their  stvles  of  color  and  ornamentation.  You  will  notice 
that  tlu*  rice  is  not  sown  broadcast  and  liarmweil  int«»  a 
field,  which  is  afterward  flo<Mled.  as  is  our  practice  in 
Louisiana:  it  is  transplante<l  into  an  already  t1«HHled  fiehl. 
which  custom  leads  to  nianv  skin  disease<  i»t  tlie  feet,  and 
t"  rheuinatism.  on  account  i»f  tlie  liumaii  ferlili/ation 
piacetl  in  tlie  water.  C)ver  the  tilled  patches  thitter  show- 
ers i.f  white  .streamers,  f'-r  the  |)ur|>t'st«  of  disiurliiiii;  the 
!*••:.': 'J i lit;  ni;iL:]»ies.  Mi«re  |H<'ple  li\e  on  rife  than  i»n 
w  1  e  it  ill  tl.is  \\«»rlfl.  >o  one  can  iina;^ine  the  aiji^Me'^ate 
inrciL^e  c\trn»liny    from  C'a|K.'   CamUnha   t»»  Shantung 


a28  THE  CHINESE 

Promontoiy.  Fringing  the  rice  swamps  are  bulrush  shal- 
lows, where  the  peasants  gather  a  triple  harvest  of  food, 
fiber  and  down.  The  Chinese  farmer  only  essays  a  few 
acres,  for  that  is  all  his  machine-less  toil  can  irrigate  and 
secure  fertilizer  (mostly  himian)  for,  and  accordingly  the 
vast  unredauned  districts,  even  in  so  crowded  a  land, 
are  astonishing.  In  Ceylon,  where  the  conditions  were 
the  same  until  recently,  tbt  importation  of  German  patent 
fertilizers,  made  largely  from  Florida  phosphate,  has 
greatly  increased  the  area  of  productive  land  With  the 
railroad  era  now  really  hegvai  in  China,  we  may  expect 
a  similar  transformation.  In  only  two  of  the  provinces 
is  irrigation  not  depended  upon  for  the  crc^,  i.  e.,  at  the 
headwaters  of  the  Yellow  River  in  Kansu  and  Shensi. 
The  bamboo  water-wheel,  turned  by  the  buffalo,  is  in 
universal  use  in  the  country  districts,  and  will  not  be 
supplanted  soon,  though  in  some  of  the  cities  the  mer- 
chants are  introducing  foreign  steam  pumps  for  wells 
and  reservoirs.  Where  the  village  owns  the  water-whed 
and  buffalo  power,  the  toll  of  water  diverted  from  the 
main  ditch  is  measured  at  so  many  marks  of  a  joss-stick, 
which  is  set  burning. 

The  pig,  the  chow-dog,  children  and  old  women,  alone 
roam  along  the  large  flags  of  the  streets  of  the  small  vil- 
lages during  the  day,  while  in  the  distance  the  peasants, 
dressed  in  blue  Nankeen  knickerbockers,  toil  with  bare 
sweating  shoulders  at  the  tank-sweep  and  bamboo  wheel, 
in  their  primitive  irrigation  and  abominable  fertiliza- 
tion methods.  The  oriental  sun  burns  up  all 
shadows,  except  the  violet  silhouette  of  the  tall 
pawnshop  tower,  the  roof  of  which  is  heaped  with 
large  stones,  for  ammunition  against  the  attacks  of 
invaders.     Here   Cheong,    and    his    wife    Chai,    have 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    aag 

their  winter  tunics  id  pawn,  while  thcgr  venture  the 
ten  iaet  in  a  lease  of  neighbor  Looiig^s  six  terraces  (it 
would  not  be  lucky  to  choose  four  or  seven),  where 
petsait  cotton,  ramie,  beans,  maixe,  rice  or  sugar<ane 
are  sedulously  cultivated.  Or  possibly  he  turns  the  land 
into  peanut  patches  for  the  sake  of  the  fifty  per  cent 
yidd  of  oil  When  Cheong  redeems  the  ptedge.  he  not 
infrequioitly  secures  a  life  mortgage  of  l^roqr  for  him- 
self. All  land  belongs  to  the  government,  and  tenure 
is  evidenced  more  by  the  last  tax  receipt  than  the  original 
crown  deed  Loong  pays  a  tax  of  six  cents  a  moo,  or 
twenty-five  cents  our  acre  If  the  pnales  make  a  mdi 
from  the  banana  and  papaw  brakes,  die  diildren  on  watch 
start  a  chain  of  yelb,  whidi  sets  the  viHage  streets  in 
uproar  and  echo,  and  the  men  and  women  rush  to  the 
fray  from  the  fields  with  their  two-pronged  rice  forks  as 
weapons.  Sometimes  an  annoyed  farmer's  vengeance 
is  orientally  extreme  upon  the  foreigner  who  disturbs 
his  soil.  Europeans  tramping  through  the  paddy  fields 
after  the  gorgeous  colored  and  succulent  rice-birds,  or  for 
snipe,  arc,  for  a  deterrent  example,  apprehended,  and  the 
indispensable  sun  helmets,  or  Calcutta  topics,  are  taken 
from  their  heads  at  midday.  There  may  not  be  a  tree 
or  shade  for  miles,  and  the  sun  quidcly  prostrates  the 
victim. 

China  owes  her  vast  population  to  her  finesse  in  truck 
farming.  Nearly  every  family  raises  part  of  its  food. 
With  machinery,  draft  animals,  and  the  resultant  fer- 
tilizcr,  she  can  conquer  wastes  which  will  support  even 
double  the  present  population.  The  present  farms  aver- 
age two  acres,  and  support  eight  persons.  Where  the 
desert  has  encroached  upon  the  land,  and  sifted  a 
blanket  of  sand  over  the  soil,  the  peasants  can  be  seen 


230  THE  CHINESE 

cutting  cellars  so  as  to  reach  the  fertile  earth  and  till 
it  On  some  of  the  towers  of  the  Great  Wall,  hanging 
gardens  have  been  planted  by  the  Tartar  guards  amid 
scenery  of  mountain,  pass,  rivulet  and  cloud,  with  which 
storied  Babylon  could  only  have  been  simfde  in  com- 
parison. In  passing,  we  might  remark  that  no  woman 
is  allowed  on  the  wall,  as  that  would  be  a  challenge  to  the 
God  of  War,  Kwan  Ti. 

The  three  provinces  of  Pechili,  Shan*-tung  and  Kiang- 
su  present  scenes  of  waterways  and  small  forms  that  are 
richer  in  their  beauties  than  even  Holland's  fertile  bor'< 
dera.  Theirs  is  that  gentle  beauty  that  warms  the  heart 
the  most,  because  it  least  touches  the  sublime  and  imagin- 
ative. Everywhere  the  peach,  plum  and  pear  are  in 
bloom  as  of  right  royal,  for  this  is  their  first  home.  The 
golden  Grand  Canal,  or  Chah  Ho  (river  of  flood-gates) 
flows  through  plain  and  village,  to  connect  all  things  with 
the  Father  of  Life,  the  Yangtze  River.  The  cribwork  is 
of  stone,  or  of  millet  stalks,  mud  and  cord,  and  miles  of 
the  canal  run  above  cities,  which  could  be  at  the  mercy  of 
the  rebellious  waters.  Heavy  stone  bridges,  with  balus- 
trades adorned  with  lions,  dragons,  monkey  and  elepliant 
heads,  leap  from  the  plain  and  over  the  canals,  with  that 
mounting  sweep  which  we  thought  was  created  in,  but 
was  really  stolen  by  Venice  when  Marco  Polo  whispered 
in  her  ear.  The  arches  are  pointed,  semicircular  and 
Omega  shape.  They  really  look  more  like  picturesque 
gateways  that  usher  in  the  stream.  Some  are  white,  and 
others  are  clothed  in  green  and  purple  with  bean  vines 
and  convolvulus. 

The  Venice  of  China  is  Soochow,  with  one  and  one- 
half  million  inhabitants,  dozens  of  islands  and  hun* 
dreds  of  canals,  all  bridged  and  walled  in  for  ten  miles 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    331 

in  circumference.  Over  the  Wan  Hsien  stream,  at  its 
juiKtion  with  tlie  Yangtze,  is  the  famous  single  arch 
bridge,  pictured  so  often,  which  leaps  from  the  bank 
forty  feet  high.  On  the  top  of  the  ardi  is  a  three-storied 
(^iiard-housc,  with  panels  of  white  stucco  and  braces  ex- 
posed, the  eaves  of  each  story  all  curling  gracefully,  and 
a  decorated  frieze  under  a  fanciful  roof.  From  your 
boat  in  the  stream  you  behold  through  the  arch  far  away 
a  framed  purple  conical  mount  of  Szechuen  relieved 
on  the  wide  flaming  West  At  Fu<hau,  over  the  Min, 
until  the  flocxl  of  1897,  stood  the  famous  Wan  Sui  Kiao 
(Ten  Thousand  Ages)  bridge,  with  its  forty  piers  of 
nK>nolithic  stone;  its  roadway  of  stone  blocks  forty  feet 
lung  and  three  feet  thick,  and  its  balustrade  of  stone 
IJocks  forty  feet  long.  Tiny  shops  used  to  line  this 
bridge,  which  was  only  fifteen  feet  wide.  In  its  bridges, 
gates,  walls  and  [Kiginlas  of  stone  and  tile,  China  boasts 
of  ruins  worth  going  all  the  way  to  see  them.  Japan 
has  no  niins,  for  she  built  in  wood.  Military  N>at 
bridges,  some  with  earth  and  even  brick  roadways,  are 
in  frequent  use  on  the  tidal  rivers,  and  Toi>c  and  chain 
Mis{K'nsion  bridges  join  the  dizzy  loess  cliffs  in  Sze- 
chuen. 

Nearly  every  village  ami  city  of  the  plain  prov- 
iiices  is  cri»sscd  with  a  tracery  of  glistening  canals,  most 
of  them  l)eautifully  pure  fmm  their  stillness  and  the 
alienee  of  manufacturing,  in  contrast  with  the  swifter 
ri\ers  which  hold  the  yellow  loess  in  suspension. 
'I  hrough  every  field  of  palest  green,  such  as  only  the  rice 
l>l.i«le  can  display,  fitnvs  the  enifnirplitl  Rock]  in  joyous 
contrast  of  color.  Iniunnerahlc  higli-p<x>i>e<l  boats  are 
I)oled  ali»ng,  and  as  their  sails,  which  are  slretclnrd  ufx^n 
tweiUy  bamboo  battens,  are  not  taken  down  when  the 


232  THE  CHINESE 

wind  iaUs,  they  become  lit  up  with  every  shade  of 
brown,  red  and  gdd  upon  their  oblong  surfoces  in  the 
hushed  sunset  time.  The  hulls  of  the  boats  are  hid 
by  the  rice  and  sorghum,  and  the  moving  sails,  esgodaOBy 
near  Soochow,  remind  one  of  the  Norfolk  (England) 
Broads,  or  the  Hackensack  Meadows,  only  this  scene  is 
the  finer  and  more  animated  One  of  these  junks,  the 
Wang  Ho,  lately  crossed  the  Pacific  to  San  Ditgo  in 
seventy  days»  and  is  the  first  to  fly  the  Chbese  flag  in 
American  waters  in  historic  times,  though  the  Chinese 
have  l^;ends  of  the  Pacific  being  crossed.  There  is  no 
place  in  the  world  where  you  can  see  so  many  sails  to- 
gether as  on  the  Hung  Tsih  Lake  on  the  Yellow  River. 
Scattered  everjrwhere,  fair  away,  human  beings  are  hur- 
rying noiselessly,  and  before  each  is  thrown  the  shadow 
of  a  cross.  In  the  center  an  enormous  flat  grass  hat, 
made  in  Hupeh,  hides  the  face,  and  at  the  ends  of  a  long 
bamboo,  borne  on  the  shoulders,  are  two  large  buckets. 
These  features  stand  out  prominently  in  the  violet  sil- 
houettes of  those  who  are  for  ever  nailed  to  the  tree  of 
bondage,  but  who  have  ever  had  the  least  to  say  of  that 
bondage,  and  the  term  of  it. 

Everything  is  done  at  a  trot.  Wherever  there  is  a 
spring  of  water  near  the  paths,  the  country  people  erect 
for  the  convenience  of  wayfarers,  Tings  of  four  posts,  up- 
holding a  roof  of  thatch  or  tile  to  shade  a  cool  stone 
bench.  There  are  few  large  forests,  but  sufficient  sophoro 
locust,  willow,  cypress  and  orange  trees,  artistically 
placed,  to  contribute  adornment  and  relief  to  the  view, 
and  rising  to  heaven  with  their  airy  towers,  are  scores  of 
balconied  pagodas,  and  monasteries  with  wide,  sweeping 
eaves.  Heathen  though  it  all  is,  the  peace  of  God  rests 
over  the  scene  more  palpably  than  anywhere  else  in  the 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE      233 

world.  The  tioiselessness,  the  smdcelessness,  and  the  dis- 
tance account  for  the  impression.  It  is  conspicuous  that 
there  are  no  fences,  one  reason  being  that  wood  is  unpro- 
curable. When  our  traveler  returns  to  America,  you  will 
notice  that  he  has  brought  his  strange  gods  with  him ;  that 
he  is  a  wood  and  water  worshiper.  Let  your  faucet  run, 
and  he  will  rise  mechanically  to  turn  it  off.  Injure  a 
tree  and  he  will  hunt  a  magistrate!  Moreover,  the  bor- 
ders between  Chinese  farms  must  work  while  they  watch. 
If  they  must  be  marked,  mulberry  trees  are  set  out  and 
the  leaves  divided  between  the  owners,  or  bamboos  are 
similarly  planted. 

Most  of  the  rivers  roll  along  like  the  Mississippi  in  a 
steady  fl(X)d.  Only  the  Ciamu  Nu  and  Mekong  Rivers 
of  Yunnan  have  numerous  great  rapids,  and  answer  in 
that  resi)cct  to  the  St.  Lawrence,  as  tliey  fall  from  the 
Thibetan  plateaus  to  the  rice  levels  of  the  coastal  prov- 
inces. Roaring  up  Hang-chow  Bay  and  the  Tsien-tang 
River  as  far  as  Hang-chow  city,  at  ten  knots  an  hour, 
flows  the  world's  most  famous  tide  bore.  The  maximum 
height  of  twenty  feet  is  reached  in  March  and  August. 
Tourists  should  behold  the  wonder  at  moonlight,  as  well 
as  daytime.  It  is  an  animating  sight  to  see  the  heavy 
junks  turn  their  bows  to  meet  the  great  wave,  and  then 
wheel  round  and  follow  it  to  a  new  jxjsition  on  the  bund 
or  wharf.  What  a  commotion  there  is  among  the  mat- 
ting sails,  all  weighte<l  with  their  bamlxx)  battens,  as  they 
batter  their  thin  masts!  The  Van^ze  has  lesser  rapids 
in  its  upj)er  reaches,  and  one  long  rapid,  the  Hsin  Tan, 
where  it  is  one  of  the  sights  of  the  w*»rld  to  see  three 
hundred  to  four  hundred  men  tut^j^ini^  a  Ixxit  ujy-stream. 
These  tow-men  live  near  the  Red  Life-I)<^at  Station  at  the 
foot  of  the  rapids,  in  a  dull  cluster  of  brown  huts.     From 


.  JUJIE.  U ^  ..  .  I  ■m!.i -~. r^Yr— --^J*— ..1 


234  THE  CHINESE 

their  work  they  stand  as  noble  models  for  a  Discobolus 
of  Myron  as  you  could  see  anywhere.  They  pull  high 
up,  with  the  bamboo  hawser  drawn  over  their  shoulders, 
and  the  tug  comes  upon  biceps,  shoulders  and  calves. 
The  government  appeals  to  their  esprit  by  offering  re- 
wards for  lives  rescued.  Min  is  a  favorite  name  for  a 
river,  another  well-known  one  being  as  far  west  as  Sze- 
chuen  Province,  where  it  empties  into  the  Yangtze. 
This  Min  River  is  famous  for  its  high-prowed  hurdling 
boats,  which  are  employed  to  slip  over  the  smooth,  large 
stones  of  the  rapids.  The  rush  is  tremendous.  Another 
peculiarity  of  these  boats  is  the  hinged  sail,  which  at 
night  is  let  down  over  the  boatman's  family  for  a  roof. 
The  only  sails  which  they  ever  furl  are  the  studding  sails, 
and  these  are  the  only  boats  of  the  Chinese  which  employ 
studding  sails. 

In  China,  as  in  India,  though  there  are  vast  moun- 
tains, the  topography  is  without  plateaus  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  there  are  no  waterfalls,  such  as  Niagara,  Mont- 
morenci,  or  the  Victoria  Falls  of  the  Zambesi.  Nor  are 
there  great  lakes,  the  Ting  in  Hunan,  two  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  in  circumference,  and  the  Po  Yang  in 
Kiang-si,  ninety  by  twenty  miles,  being  the  only  ones 
worth  mentioning.  Accordingly,  when  Gaekwar  or 
Viceroy  come  to  America,  their  first  rush  is  to  see 
Niagara  and  Superior.  The  Po  Yang  is  studded  with 
beautiful  islands,  but  the  silt  of  the  Kan  River  has 
made  the  shores  marshy.  The  scenery  of  the  Tung  Ting 
Lake,  and  the  eighteen  rapids  of  the  Kan,  will  only  be  one 
and  one-half  days  from  Canton  when  the  Canton-Han- 
kau  Railway  is  opened  shortly.  Only  three  days  by  camel 
from  Peking  lies  the  least  known  portion  of  the  globe, 
Gobi    Desert,    one    thousand    miles    square    and    foui 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    235 

thousand  feet  elevation,  where  men  once  lived  and  pros- 
pered until  the  feuds  of  Mongol  and  Tartar  left  the  gar- 
dens to  be  sifted  over  with  sand  by  the  winds.  Almost 
undiscovered,  China's  great  chains  of  mountains  lie  north 
and  west,  with  the  tales  still  whispered  about  them  of 
mines  which  supplied  Khans  with  their  jewels,  and  which 
will  probably  be  found  based  to  a  great  extent  on  fact 
when  Japanese  engineers  get  the  railways  to  the  foot- 
hills for  the  advance  of  prospectors. 

The  real  dragon  of  China  is  the  Yellow  River  or 
I  loang-ho,  but  called  by  the  more  reflective,  "  China's 
Sorrow."  In  one  thousand  years,  he  has  drowned  more 
Cliinese  than  all  the  wars  of  humankind  have  slain  during 
that  i)criod.  I  lis  back  is  arched  five  hundred  miles,  as 
he  doubles  on  his  course  into  Monp^lia,  and  his  tail 
writhes  here  and  there  from  chanj^inj*'  txmks  for  six 
hnii<lrc(|  miles,  as  he  lashes  into  niiscrv  and  ticath  the 
iiiliahitants  of  llonan  and  Shan-tunj^.  who  never  know 
when  the  new  foundatirm  for  their  moving  huts  will  be 
chosen  for  the  path  of  their  destroyer  the  fullowing 
spring.  A  less  n»pi<l  river  w<»uKl  deiK»sit  its  loess  hijjher 
up  its  course,  ami  thii<  fix  its  bank  below,  but  here  is  a 
suicidal  river  which  silts  up  its  mouth,  and  is  eternally 
stranjjling  its  middle  boily.  What  the  susi)ende<I  loess 
lotiks  like,  evcrv  traveler  who  ha>  taken  the  ten<ler  at 
Woosung  from  his  steamer  to  go  to  Shanghai,  will  re- 
meml)er:  it  makes  the  heart  sick  at  once,  for  these  are 
not  the  blue  or  green  waters  of  home.  Any  who  have 
live<l  at  Peking  or  Tientsin  know  what  the  dust  storms 
of  .April  are  like,  when  the  dry  loess  is  caught  up  by 
the  winds  that  sweep  down  fn»m  the  hills  of  Pechili. 
The  Orient  sun  glistening  from  every  particle  makes  the 
wh<»le  air  scintillate  with  vellow  flame.     The  loss  to  the 


236  THE  CHINESE 

poor  each  year,  through  flood  devastationSi  is  five  nunkm 
taeh  and  ten  thousand  lives,  and  besides  there  is  tiie  im* 
poverishment  of  the  soil  as  the  toam  is  sifted  into  Ae 
sea.  In  the  same  manner,  the  Menam  is  scouring  Siam 
of  its  fertility.  We  have  nothing  at  all  comparaUe  in 
color  to  these  rivers,  excepting,  perhaps,  our  arch-thief 
of  alluvial  richness,  the  '^  Big  Muddy  **  Missouri  What, 
the  loess,  or  kzvang  tu  (yellow  earth)  can  produce 
with  rain,  is  illustrated  in  Shensi,  where  three  crops  of 
grain  are  brought  forth  leach  year.  No  fertilirers  will 
be  needed  for  years  in  the  northwestern  provinces. 
When  one  layer  gives  out,  the  loess  cliffs  can  be  pulled 
down,  and  powdered  over  the  worn-out  land. 

The  Government  is  in  a  quandary  how  to  bring  relief 
in  the  valley  of  the  Hoang-ho.  Even  to  the  top  of  the 
Sin  Ling  Mountains,  in  ancient  times,  the  destroyers 
climbed  eleven  thousand  feet  and  chopped  every  tree  all 
the  way  up.  Reforestation  of  the  upper  courses,  to  miti- 
gate erosion  of  the  yellow  terraces,  would  produce  no 
results  for  a  generation;  neither  would  levees  at  the 
mouth,  on  the  Mississippi  plan,  work,  owing  to  the  ex- 
filtration  of  the  waters  through  the  permeable  bed  of  the 
river.  Reforestation  would  eventually  hold  back  the 
snows  of  the  denuded  hills  of  northeast  Thibet  and  Mon- 
golia, and  the  waters  of  the  only  rainy  province,  Kansu. 
This  would  diminish  the  release  of  the  tremendous  spring 
torrent  and  vast  suspended  cargo  of  loess,  and  provide  a 
steadier  and  longer  flow,  with  some  hope  of  the  banks 
being  fixed  long  enough,  first  for  binding  by  vines,  and 
for  the  later  afforestation.  It  is  the  most  awful  lesson 
in  the  world  of  the  individual  and  national  crime  of 
forest  destruction,  and  the  innocent  descendants  are  pay- 
ing ten  thousand  fold  for  the  ignorance  and  sins  of  the 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE    237 

unscientific  fathers.  The  first  motto  to  be  written  in  the 
new  Chinese  copy-books  should  be :  "'He  who  chops  a 
tree  without  planting  ten  is  a  red  dragon  to  his  son,  and 
a  white  dragon  to  his  son's  son,  and  his  grave  shall  be 
unswept." 

The  Yangtze,  although  rising  near  the  Yellow  River, 
with  a  greater  fall  of  fifteen  inches  to  the  mile,  carries 
tlie  bulk  of  its  loess  well  out  to  sea,  although  it  prob- 
ably accumulates  less  loess  than  the  Yellow  River. 
So  strong  in  flood  time  and  so  shallow  in  the  rainless 
season  is  the  current  of  the  Yellow  River  in  Mongolia; 
of  the  Han  and  of  the  upper  Yangtze  that  many 
native  boats  make  only  one  trip  down-stream.  They  are 
broken  up  for  lumber  at  the  end  of  the  journey.  China, 
influenced  by  poorer  Japan  spending  three  millions  a 
year  on  a  forestry  policy,  is  now  willing  to  spend  mil- 
lions for  the  control  of  the  VclK)w  River,  and  the  vastest 
scheme  of  reforestation  ever  instituted  by  a  government 
may  soon  be  put  in  operation.  The  reforestation  will 
prol)ably  be  accomplished  with  the  China  fir  (Cunning- 
hamio  sinensis),  known  in  China  as  the  **  Sau  Tsoi  " 
tr  ^f\  and  the  Pinus  massoniana,  both  of  which  pro- 
tlucc  a  commercial  timlKT,  the  latter  having  the  addi- 
tional quality  for  the  s<nithem  Orient,  of  withstanding 
fairly  well  the  insidious  attacks  of  the  white  ant.  Ger- 
many found  the  hills  of  Tsin^jf  Tan  Ixirren.  and  in  a  few 
years  she  has  clothed  them  with  a  young  forest,  so  that 
an  ancient  mariner  returning  there  wouM  hardly  know 
his  t»l<l  bearinj^s.  Britain,  the  great  preceptor,  has  set 
f«»rih  the  same  object  lesson  on  the  twenty  miles  of 
liilly  territory  between  Mirs  P.ay  ami  Chung  Point,  op- 
[>«»sitc  IIt»ng-Kong.  There  is  a  religious  sect  in  Honan 
the  members  of  which  preserve  forests,  and  at  their  festi- 


:?38  THE  CHINESE 

vals,  which  are  observed  at  night,  they  hang  lanterns 
among  the  branches. 

China  could  support  even  double  her  population  if  the 
arid  stretches,  especially  in  the  northern  and  western 
provinces,  were  reclaimed  by  irrigation,  and  now  that  her 
credit  is  improving,  and  her  resources  being  developed, 
these  great  worics  are  sure  to  be  advanced.  More  hemp 
should  be  cultivated,  and  even  in  the  rich  plain  of 
Honan  this  important  product  is  not  developed  as  it 
could  be,  and  as  the  Ching  Too  men  would  work  it 
They  are  the  most  scientific  farmers  of  the  race.  What 
the  Chinese  can  execute  in  the  way  of  dikes  is  well  illus- 
trated at  Kai  Fong,  the  capital  of  Honan,  where  the 
great  Yellow  River  has  been  turned  from  its  uninterrupted 
southern  sweep  of  seven  hundred  miles.  In  the  battles 
of  the  Mings  against  the  Manchus,  these  dikes  were  once 
broken,  and  three  hundred  thousand  inhabitants  of  the 
C2^ital  drowned,  but  there  were  no.  newspapers  then,  and 
the  world  has  forgotten  and  forgiven.  The  Chinese  are 
not  altogether  unscientific;  they  so  respected  the  first 
engineer,  Yu,  who  successfully  diked  the  Yellow  River, 
that  they  called  him  to  the  throne.  This  was  when  the 
nation  was  emerging  from  the  pastoral  to  the  agricultural 
state,  and  admired  and  needed  a  Joseph  instead  of  an 
Abraham.  If  ten  thousand  square  miles  in  Japan  can 
support  forty-five  million  people;  if  the  Mormon  father 
could  turn  deserted  sage-brush  Utah  into  a  garden,  the 
Chinese  without  a  national  debt,  can  when  they  will  con- 
vert their  northwest  into  valleys  which  will  repeat  the 
story  of  the  prolific  Ching  Too  plain.  Their  coal  lands 
alone  would  be  security  enough  for  any  dozen  schemes 
of  irrigation,  public  utilities,  naval,  etc.,  that  the  gov- 
ernment could  conceive ;  and  the  surprises  of  modem  in- 


CHINA.  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURKSQUE    230 

diistry  3tiil  finance  can  easily  occur  in  Oiina  almost  any 
j'f;ir  after  ilie  Canton  to  Han-kau  (jortion  of  tlic  north' 
to-soutli  Trunk  Railway  is  cumjilctcd.  Yoti  will  notice 
wlicre  the  new  Peking-IIan-kau  Railway  passes  Ihruugli 
tbr  sand  plains,  that  the  gi)\'emincnt  has  in  a  smalt  way 
be^n  its  afforestation  work  by  planting  willows  to  pro- 
tect the  railway  embankment  from  the  winds.  The  sanK 
improvement  lias  been  made  on  the  North  Cliina  Kail- 
way,  from  Tientsin  to  Ncwchwang.  The  object  lesson 
was  acquired  when  the  Chinese  commissioners  ItKikvd 
through  the  port-hole  of  a  P.  and  O.  liner,  which  was 
passinf^  through  the  Suez  Canal,  and  beheld  the  sands  of 
Kl  Giser  fixed  at  last  by  the  roots  of  Scotch  shrubs. 

Second  as  a  devastator  to  the  Hoang-ho  is  the  Ilan 
Kivcr.  which  rises  hiRher  than  its  width,  .ind  which 
drowned  only  as  late  as  June,  H)oCk  ten  thousand  people, 
and  in  April.  iyo8.  five  tliuiisnnd  i«opIc.  The  visimr  in 
Han-kati  may  notice  in  the  atitimin  that  tin-  Ixnist-s  and 
txHiihs  along  llie  river  liank  are  built  on  piles  thirty  feet 
hijih.  At  Veiling  the  waters  nf  the  gorge  rise  fifty  feet, 
riiii  will  tell  all  ymi  may  care  to  know  of  what  the  spring 
ll'inl  i^i  like.  Gmfncitis  ranked  as  the  fourth  virtue  the 
cultivation  of  the  mullierry  trve.  and  we,  the  outer  bar- 
k-irian-i,  h.ive  avcordingly  Iwen  dn'Ssol  in  lincry  fn-rn  tin- 
product  of  the  wnrnis  which  fi-.I  on  the  leaM-s  tture-if. 
If  he  h.nt  enjoined  n|>>i)  bi";  cxnntrymin  thi.'  plant- 
iuET  of  the-  canipbnr  and  the  fir  in  the  ni"Utitain'i  oi 
i!u-  \\'c<t.  lie  WMiilil  have  savcil  in  the  last  three  centuries 
iili-ne  the  lives  nf  ten  millions  of  hi-  race  who  h;ive  In-en 
.irovvind.  as  the  waters  of  the  Ilo:iii;.-Iio  nn.I  the  Han 
reared  themselves  forty  feet  aliovc  their  ttanks.  ]Sec:ni-e 
Ml  the  iI'MmIs  in  l\ian;;-sn  in  i>)<\~.  fmir  huMdro]  ami  fiitv 
thi'iisand  people  had  to  \k  fed  in  concentration  camps. 


234  THE  CHINESE 

their  vfoik  they  stand  as  noble  models  for  a  Discobolus 
of  Myron  as  you  could  see  anywhere.  They  pull  high 
up^  with  the  bamboo  hawser  drawn  over  theur  shoulders, 
BXid  the  tug  comes  upon  biceps,  shoulders  and  calves. 
The  government  appeals  to  thdr  esprit  by  offering  re- 
wards for  lives  rescued.  Min  is  a  favorite  name  for  a 
river,  another  well-known  one  being  as  far  west  as  Szt- 
chuen  Province,  where  it  empties  into  the  Yangtie. 
This  Min  River  is  famous  for  its  high-prowed  hurdling 
boats,  which  are  employed  to  slip  over  tiie  smooth,  large 
stones  of  the  rapids.  The  rush  is  tremendous.  Another 
peculiarity  of  these  boats  is  the  hinged  sail,  which  at 
night  is  let  down  over  the  boatman's  family  for  a  roof. 
The  only  sails  which  they  ever  furl  are  the  studding  sails, 
and  these  are  the  only  boats  of  the  Chinese  which  employ 
studding  sails. 

In  China,  as  in  India,  though  there  are  vast  moun- 
tains, the  topography  is  without  plateaus  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  there  are  no  waterfalls,  such  as  Niagara,  Mont- 
morenci,  or  the  Victoria  Falls  of  the  Zambesi.  Nor  are 
there  great  lakes,  the  Ting  in  Hunan,  two  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  in  circumference,  and  the  Po  Yang  in 
Kiang-si,  ninety  by  twenty  miles,  being  the  only  ones 
worth  mentioning.  Accordingly,  when  Gaekwar  or 
Viceroy  come  to  America,  their  first  rush  is  to  see 
Niagara  and  Superior.  The  Po  Yang  is  studded  with 
beautiful  islands,  but  the  silt  of  the  Kan  River  has 
made  the  shores  marshy.  The  scenery  of  the  Tung  Ting 
Lake,  and  the  eighteen  rapids  of  the  Kan,  will  only  be  one 
and  one-half  days  from  Canton  when  the  Canton-Han- 
kau  Railway  is  opened  shortly.  Only  three  days  by  camel 
from  Peking  lies  the  least  known  portion  of  the  globe, 
Gobi    Desert,    one   thousand   miles    square   and    four 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE     235 

thousand  feet  elevation,  where  men  once  lived  and  pros- 
pered until  the  feuds  of  Mongol  and  Tartar  left  the  gar- 
dens to  be  sifted  over  with  sand  by  the  winds.  AInxwt 
undiscovered,  China's  great  chains  of  tnountains  lie  north 
and  west,  with  the  tales  still  whispered  about  them  of 
mines  which  supplied  Khans  with  their  jewels,  and  which 
will  probably  be  found  based  to  a  great  extent  on  fact 
when  Japanese  engineers  get  the  railways  to  the  foot- 
hills for  the  advance  of  prospectors. 

The  real  dragon  of  China  is  the  Yellow  River  or 
Iloang-ho,  but  called  by  the  more  reflective,  "China's 
Sorrow."  In  one  thousand  years,  he  has  drowned  more 
Chinese  than  all  the  wars  of  humankind  have  slain  during 
that  period.  His  back  is  arched  live  hundred  miles,  as 
he  doubles  011  his  course  into  Mmipilia.  and  his  tail 
writhes  here  and  there  from  ch.Tii(;inp  banks  for  six 
liuTidreil  miles,  as  he  tushes  into  misery  and  ik-ath  the 
iiih.iliitaiits  of  Honan  and  Sh;m-(ung.  wlio  never  know 
when  the  new  foundatifm  for  their  moving  huts  will  be 
chosen  for  the  path  of  ihcir  destroyer  the  following 
spring.  A  less  rapid  river  wnuld  dqinsit  its  loess  higher 
up  its  course,  and  tlni-;  fix  its  bank  below,  but  here  is  a 
suicidal  river  which  silts  tip  its  mouth,  and  is  clirtially 
strangling  its  middle  bo^Iy.  What  the  sus|icnded  loess 
looks  like,  every  traveler  who  has  taken  the  lender  at 
Woosung  from  his  steamer  to  go  to  Shanghai,  will  re- 
member; it  makes  the  hcurt  sick  at  once,  for  these  are 
not  the  blue  or  green  waters  of  home.  Any  who  have 
Iive<l  at  Peking  or  Tientsin  knmv  what  the  dust  storms 
of  .April  are  like,  when  the  dry  loess  is  caught  up  by 
the  winds  that  sweep  down  from  the  hills  of  Pechili. 
The  Orient  sun  glistening  from  every  particle  mokes  the 
wlx.'te  air  scintillate  with  vcllow  flame.     The  loss  to  the 


THE  CHINESE 


^^^  240 

H  each  averaging  one  thousand  families.     This  is  the  first 

H  time  China  organized  against  famine.     The  camps  were 

H  patrolled  by  the  new  draft  of  soldiers.     Some  features  of 

H  the  camp  life  were  amusing.     Cheese  was  sent  by  the 

H  Canadian  government,   but   the   unsophisticated   people 

H  preferred  even  grass  to  this  new  food.     Only  the  Thibet- 

H  ans  have  any  knowledge  of  milk  foods.     In  the  relief 

H  contributions,  America  headed  the  hst  for  the  first  time 

H  in  charity  accorded  the  Chinese,  and  attracted  the  favor- 

H  able  comments  of  the  officials,  who  announced  that  they 

H  would  influence  students  to  be  sent  to  American  institu- 

H  tions.     The  absence  of  trees  also  causes  the  Hoang-ho 

V  to  drain  itself  too  rapidly  through  its  porous  loess  bed. 

In  the  first  six  months  of  1901  a  drought  which  dried  up 

the  crops  of  millet,  mountain  rice,  corn  and  shanyue 

(sweet  potato),  came  upon  Shensi  Province.     One  third 

of  these  most  ancient  people  of  China  (three  hundred 

thousand)  died  before  food  could  reach  them,  though 

there  was  sufficient  elsewhere  in  the  land.     Nothing  can 

prevent  a  recurrence,  except  a  railway  from  Kaifong 

direct  westward  to  Tsianfu,  four  hundred  mites,  so  that 

supplies  may  be  hurried  ia 

The  Min  River  at  Fu-chau,  as  scenic  as  the  Gunnison 
of  Colorado,  contrary  to  the  general  conditions  in  the 
south,  is  rich  in  woods,  which  wave  on  cliffs  seven  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  waters.  In  a  grove  of  gigantic 
Liquidambar,  oak  and  water  plum  (myrica  rubra)  stands 
the  famous  monastery  of  Fong  Kong  Tse.  Immense 
quantities  of  paper  are  produced  here,  as  the  bamboo 
grows  in  great  luxuriance  in  the  dank  and  shady  gorges 
of  the  Min.  Fringing  northern  Mongolia  is  a  region 
one  thousand  six  hundred  miles  long  and*  three  hundred 
miles  broad,  where  the  giant  firs  curtain  in  an  uninhabited 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE     041 

night,  and  to  which  fastnesses  Genghis  Khan,  the  Charle- 
magne of  the  Mongols,  once  made  his  retreats.  The 
Kara  and  Tula  Riven  have  washed  from  the  forest- 
clothed  sides  of  the  hundred  peaks  of  the  Ulan^;um  and 
Khaitgai  ranges  a  dark  loess  called  fine,  out  of  which 
the  life  has  been  far  from  lost,  but  there  is  not  a  soul 
now  to  till  it  on  steppe  or  in  valley.  It  seems  to  have 
stood  since  the  time  of  Genghis  Khan  as  a  debated  land 
between  Tartar  and  Mongol,  Russ  and  Manchu. 

Where  the  rice  field  is  not  the  source  of  wealth,  on 
higher  ground  (for  China  is  three-quarters  mountains) 
the  mulberry  growers'  huts  are  grouped.  Between  the 
trees,  tobacco  is  planted  as  a  second  line  of  defense 
against  crop  failure.  The  great  drawback  here  is  the 
scarcity  of  fertilizers,  for  phosphates  are  as  yet  un- 
mined.  The  mulberry  trees  are  stunted  to  six  feet  in 
height  for  eight  years,  after  which  the  shoots  and  leaves 
arc  cropped  for  the  worms.  If  the  terrace  is  near  a 
foreign  settlement  at  a  treaty  port,  Cheung  adds  a  ruby 
persimmon  tree,  a  glorious  pumoloc,  a  scarlet -blossomed 
poniegraiintc,  or  a  luscious  lychee  to  his  grove,  which 
latter  cxpLiins  why  foreigners  grow  boils  in  China. 

'Ihc  province  of  Shansi  has  been  neglecteil,  but  will 
conic  into  its  own.  It  is  that  great  loamy  plateau  of 
three  thousand  five  hundred  feet  altitude,  buttressed  by 
granite  hills,  which  have  pushed  the  destroying  Hoang- 
ho  five  InuKlrcd  miles  from  its  course.  Here  at  Ting 
Ting  arc  tlic  beds  which  used  to  supply  llie  camel  pack 
tr.iins  with  tual  for  Peking.  The  coIi>rs  in  the  great 
I' -OSS  ravines,  four  hundred  feet  deep,  are  of  all  hues 
;in<l  rt-niind  you  of  the  canons  of  the  Colorado. 

There  will  be  a  day  when  Thibet  will  be  the  mountain 
resort  of  the  wtirld.     Travelers  will  take  -the  swift  Mes- 


242  THE  CHINESE 

sageries  Maritimes  steamers,  about  twenty*two  days  m 
the  voyage  from  Marseilles  to  Tonquin ;  fnHxi  Hai^Knig 
they  will  take  the  French  railway  now  building,  and  in 
two  days  run  up  to  the  capital  of  Szechuen,  Ching  Too» 
and  from  there  enter  a  more  hospitable  Thibet  than  na 
the  Himalayan  gateway.  You  will  realize  that  your  stay 
can  not  be  long  the  first  time.  Think  of  standing  by  die 
toilers  as  they  swing  the  sickle  in  the  silvery  light  oo 
plateaus  high  as  Pike's  Peak,  while  as  high  again  rise 
the  mountains  that  are  the  ridge  pole  of  this,  our  mun- 
dane habitation.  How  quickly  the  panting  toilers  work, 
for  all  too  soon  comes  the  long  winter,  and  the  silence 
far  above  the  clamor  of  the  nations  at  the  foot-hills  of  the 
world, —  Indian,  Chinese,  Caucasian. 

China,  too,  has  its  Thousand  Islands,  scattered  along 
the  rocky  coast  from  Hong-Kong  to  the  Gulf  of  Tonquin, 
and  a  trip  from  Canton  to  the  French  concession  at 
Kwong  Chou  Bay  is  one  of  the  most  thrilling  in  the 
country.  So  silent,  majestic  and  apparently  uninhabited 
is  the  scene,  that  you  would  not  believe  you  were  at  the 
gates  of  the  world's  most  populous  country.  The  rocks 
which  are  more  seismic  than  volcanic,  assume  every  shape 
that  the  imagination  can  conceive,  and  rise  purple  above  a 
quiet  yellow  sea,  which  rims  their  base  with  one  thin  line 
of  white  foam.  These  were  the  gates  the  Arabs  came 
to  in  unrecorded  days  long  before  Vasco  da  Gama  and 
Albuquerque,  and  with  surprised  dusky  faces,  peering 
from  under  the  long  lateen  sails,  asked  questions  History 
would  now  give  a  good  deal  to  know,  for  we  might  like 
to  reset  some  mile-posts  of  Progress. 

The  voice  that  wins  the  wanderer  back  to  the  East, 
the  spirit  ever  calling,  is  the  remembrance  of  the  absence 
there  of  smoke,  noise  and  hurry.    This  is  the  peace  of 


CHINA.  POUTICAL  AMD  PICTURESQUE    au^ 

• 

Cathay:  the  promiae  that  there  ever  ia  a  to-morrow,  and 
never  an  enemyi  and  the  charm  of  it  never  dqwta.  Vaat 
valkys  open  up  with  ten  thouiand  at  work,  from  the 
pagoda-topped  hill  where  the  golden  ginko-tree,  shaped 
like  an  immense  maiden-hair  fern,  drops  its  red  fmiti  to 
the  soft  green  paddy  at  your  feel,  and  the  loudest  noise 
ceases  when  your  liarrow*s  whed  stops  creaking  in  its 
wooden  journal  Tombs,  mcmasteries  and  hamlets  stand 
half-shaded  by  trees,  and  nowhere  don  smoke  or  steam 
rise  to  soil  the  Uue.  A  country  it  is,  inhabiled  the 
longest  by  man,  yet  looking  the  youngest,  because  its 
breast  has  not  been  torn  by  mines,  or  the  insult  of  chim- 
neys been  raised  against  the  ever-vernal  innocence  of  its 
vales.  The  flora  of  all  climes  are  mixed  in  its  luxuriant 
valleys.  The  rubber,  apricot,  peach,  pumaloe,  banyan* 
arbur-vitae  and  fir  trees  blend  their  shades;  and  hemp, 
honeysuckle,  cotton,  poppies,  tobacco,  maize  and  indigo 
wave  together. 

The  sailors  of  China,  but  not  of  Japan,  still  cling  to 
the  use  of  the  high-stcmed  junks.  Without  keels,  these 
drifters  rely  for  their  course  on  the  deep^  latticed  rudder 
which  towers  as  high  over  the  water  as  it  sinks  under 
it.  They  are  helpless,  close-hauled,  but  off  the  wind,  or 
on  the  quarter,  they  make  splendid  passages.  Chinese 
waters  present  an  exceedingly  picturesque  appearance 
with  these  junks  displaying  tremendous  oblong  mainsails 
of  yellow  and  brown  matting.  They  have  no  jibs,  but 
often  carry  a  jigger  mast.  The  old  Amoy  junks  were 
never  launched  without  two  tremendous  wcxHlcn  eves  be- 
ing  fastened  on  with  wooden  IxJts.  the  purpose  of  which 
the  sailor  explains  in  his  ridRin-Knglish,  "  No  eye.  how 
can  see?"  The  foreign  steamboat  most  popular  with 
Cliinese  was  the  old  Hankaiv  of  Hong-Kong,  which  dis* 


/ 


244  THE  CHINESE 

played  two  great  eyes  upon  her  paddle  boxes.  The 
Chinese  commissioners  were  accordingly  humored  with 
the  Central  of  New  Jersey  ferry-boats  on  New  York  Bay, 
which  have  a  circular  eye  painted  upon  their  funnels,  and 
the  Erie  Railroad  ferry-boats,  which  bear  the  white 
strijws  of  the  battleships  of  Japan.  It  was  a  reminder 
of  the  home,  which,  with  all  its  oddities  and  supersti- 
tions, is  still  tlie  dearest  place  to  them,  despite  their 
widening  experience  in  affairs.  The  Canton  River  junks 
have  a  low  bow,  fore  and  mainsails,  but  no  jib  or  jig- 
ger, and  from  both  mastheads  they  fly  triangular  red 
dragon  flags  with  many  tails.  In  ancient  days  they  hung 
a  red  tablet  over  the  rail  amidships  when  they  were  con- 
veying an  ambassadorial  mission,  but  in  this  case  a 
green  instead  of  a  red  dragon  flag  was  broken  out  aloft 
Most  imposing  of  all,  with  their  lofty  carved  stems,  are 
the  junks  from  Kiang-si  Province.  Until  the  Japanese 
fleet  whipped  Kublai  Khan's  fleet  despite  the  latter's  use 
of  powder  and  cannon,  these  were  the  vessels  which  sw^ 
the  seas  from  Borneo  and  Hawaii  to  Japan  and  Korea. 
Not  only  the  Chinese  navy  has  nailed  up  its  rwnantic 
honors,  but  in  earlier  days,  in  the  reign  of  Chung  Ti,  A. 
D.,  80,  Chinese  armies  marched  in  victory  to  the  shores  of 
the  Caspian,  where  the  eagle  of  Rome  and  the  dragon  of 
Cathay  saluted  and  parted  in  mutual  wonderment  with- 
out fight. 

The  worship  of  high  places  is  prominent  in  the  Chinese 
religious  system.  On  a  given  day  once  a  year  every 
man,  woman  and  child  who  is  able,  ascends  the  highest 
peak  in  the  district,  dressed  in  the  choice  of  the  silky 
wardrobe.  It  is  the  festival  of  long  life  which  was  as- 
sured to  a  philosopher  who  was  saved  from  a  flood 
thereby,  and  wrote  that  all  his  wisdom  afterward  came  hy 


CHINA.  POUTICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE     245 

taking  a  survey  once  a  year,  of  life  from  an  exalted  over- 
look above  his  former  haunts.  It  is  at  once  a  Thanksgiv- 
ing, a  Good  Resolution  and  a  Noah  Anniversary  day. 
The  Buddhists  build  t^eir  pagodas  on  the  highest  mounds, 
and  you  will  hear  at  even  the  welcome  of  the  tiny  bells 
which  are  swung  in  the  eaves  by  the  wind.  Every  traveler 
is  familiar  with  the  rambling  granite  monastery  above  the 
fish  pools  at  Macao,  and  where  the  alluvial  rice  fields 
spread  a  green  ocean  of  grain  around  a  peak  called  oddly 
"  Lean  Dog  Mountain,"  which  was  once  an  island  in  the 
(Ictta  of  the  Canton  River,  there  rises  another  pagoda. 
All  the  storied  way  across  the  province  for  two  hundred 
miles  along  the  West  River  from  Canton  to  WtKhow, 
IMgodas  mark  the  view.  At  Han-kau,  from  the  top  of 
Il;iii-Vang  Mill,  a  white  temple  signals  across  the  bro.id 
Yangtze's  flood  to  the  hundred-caved  Yellow  Stork 
t'lwcr.  Outside  Peking,  one  of  the  umst  t)enutt(ul  of  Chi- 
nese pagiMlas.  with  its  nine  tiers,  ct>mmanils  the  view,  and 
(iiK-  liiiticlrcil  uiilcs  farther,  at  the  ICmperor's  vast  country- 
se.n  ani'ftig  ilic  Cliing  Tih  (hot  river)  Hills  rises  an  elcv- 
cn-stf'ry  paj^txla  of  alternating  coloretl  stories  of  yellow, 
IjIuc  ;iri<l  i^rcen  tiles.  ,\X  Soochow  rises  an  octagonal  pa- 
^'inla  with  nine  stories  and  sixty  doors,  which  ojwn  on  airy 
kilcnits  that  iix'k  over  the  viulct  bends  of  the  Grand 
latKil,  as  the  oriental  day  deejwns  from  clusty  gold  to 
jiuriilc.  On  llic  summit  of  Kinshan  Island,  as  you  ap- 
[irnacli  Shanghai  in  the  early  morn,  rises  another  yellow 
|,.ic.-la  of  rcanvn. 

S(H'nking  i>f  iiaj^ixlas.  and  recalling  hislorj-'s  curse  on 
destri'yer<  ;irul  thieves  of  art.  one  can  ni>i  Uit  rei»ent  the 
fame  o{  ihat  Rill  ami  white  tnwer  two  huudreil  feet  hiRh, 
.i:i'i  four  liunilreil  years  old.  of  priceless  porcelain,  of  the 
Hecumpcn>iug-I-avor  Ntonaslery  at  Nanking,  which  the 


f  246 


THE  CHINESE 


frtovtd  '«Dd  barkaqtiBi  Christina  Taepb%s  dtstit^ad 
ia  \d^  'EjftD  now  HS' one  hundred  aod  fiftf  tfafcfia|f 
beO?  aeem  to  aouod  for  the  dreaa^  travelbr,  fraih  anAer 
thegiDcn  tUed  roofs  tSoag  the  dreamy  caaal  at  even.  A 
f^i  lan^  gcAden  tiles  of  this  pagoda  »-o  among  the  treas- 
ure* of  the  pottery  nxahs  of  the  Metropcditaa  Ait  Gal- 
I«y»,N««  York.  The  moql  dialed  pagoda  in  CUm,  and 
tlwui^MS^  Is  the  "  Five  Stocy"  one  ^Canton,  hoik  ip  Ac 
fottftecKftb  centtuy,  ivlnch  is  not  round  at  aU,  lait  merely 
on  ohkCtf'  building,  with  five  verandas  on  one  sido^  bidtt 
i^on  ibt  Tatt»r  wall.  It  is  ntenAcant  dafested.  The  p»> 
goda  hu  oa  particular  ioicrest  or  histoiy,  hot  it  ^vts  tke 
best  view  of  the  city,  and  of  the  famous  grave  district  ex- 
tending up  the  While  Cloud  Hills,  outside  the  walls.  The 
octagonal  nine-story  "  Flowery  Pagoda  "  at  Canton,  built 
in  the  sixth  century,  ts  less  known,  but  truly  superb.  The 
proportions  are  chaste,  and  the  cornices  are  not  exagger- 
ated. The  yellow  walls  contrast  with  the  darker  roofs  of 
the  stories.  A  square  non-tapering  pagoda,  showing  Bur- 
mese influence  in  architecture,  at  Yunnan,  has  twelve 
stories ;  the  balconies  all  being  unusual  for  narrowness. 
It  is  the  most  ponderous  pagoda  in  China.  The  best 
proportioned  square  pagoda  in  the  land  is  the  seven- 
storied  one  at  Chu  Siung,  Its  unique  grace  consists  in 
the  height  allowed  from  the  ground  before  the  first  story 
begins.  Then  there  is  another  noted  one  outside  Ychow, 
the  eaves  of  whose  nine  stories  whisper  a  forest  full  of 
Aeolian  music,  or  maybe  forbidden  secrets  about  the 
Tsing  Emperors  buried  within  its  shadow.  On  Mount 
Omi,  in  Szechuen,  there  is  a  temple  which,  partly  because 
of  the  difficulty  of  ascent,  has  acquired  a  name  of  pre- 
eminent holiness.  The  temple  is  placed  four  thousand 
feet  up  the  twelve  thousand  foot  mountain,  and  is  t 


CHINA,  POLITICAL  AND  PICTURESQUE     247 

l)>-  ten  thuubaiul  steps,  wiiich  were  cut  in  the  solid  rock 
by  pilgrims.  Nothing  more  aptly  reveals  the  unsatisfy- 
ing portion  of  China's  religion  than  these  agonizing  feats 
prescribed  for  the  faithful,  in  their  efforts  to  find  surcease 
of  inward  unrest.  In  no  land,  under  the  exactions  of  no 
religion,  are  the  penances  so  terrible,  or  the  efforts  more 
sincere,  and  therefore,  if  humankind  is  to  be  judged  only 
by  motives  in  the  Great  Day,  the  Chinese  will  not  be 
found  wanting. 

Chinese  architecture  can  readily  be  adapted  to  our 
country.  The  house  should  l)c  at  least  two  stories  high 
with  a  cuiK>la,  to  balance  the  parallel  curves  of  the  rising 
cornices  of  the  veranda.  The  heavy  roofs  with  wide  dec- 
orated eaves,  glistening  tiles,  and  upward  sweep  of  the 
wide  cornices,  arc  infinitely  grander,  warmer  and  safer 
looking  in  our  mountains  than  the  Swiss  chalets,  and  the 
plain  surface  of  the  walls  can  be  sutViciently  relieved  in 
summer  with  a\>nings,  which  contrast  well  with  the  pon- 
<lerous  effect  of  the  tch^Is.  An<itl»er  advantage  is  that 
every  inch  of  space  within  the  walls  is  availa!)le.  as  there 
is  nothing  of  the  execrable  ;;ingercake  style  in  anything 
Chinese.  Cierman  architects  are  fast  ruining  the  api>ear- 
ancc  of  Japan  with  their  architectural  pi«KhKtit»ns.  For 
Miinmer  lK»nKs  anvwhere,  the  Chinese  st\le  a!i'>rus  as  no 
otlier  does  t'piNirtunitics  for  steps,  terraces  aiul  veranda 
pM>t>.  where  jxaied  plants  iti  bri^^lil  va>es  can  Ik*  placed 
.ij;.iiii>i  a  <laik  O'lond  ii<»use.  '1  he  plain  CIiiiK>e  ganlen 
wliicii  trn>i>  iiioic  U)  the  in»li\idu.tl  ettVits  of  i!n\vers  and 
\.i^es.  will  i\:u\\  the  luari  (|iiiiker  lii.in  the  coii\tniion- 
alities  i»f  Italian  styles,  whiih  nuke  vtai  think  the  gar- 
«lrii>  need  a  iiMif  and  are  n^t  f'»r  oiud'/*'iN.  Such  a  home 
a>  I  have  de>crilKrd  ha:>  been  built  by  a  New  Orleans  gen- 
tleman, Raul  N'illon,  and  is  worthy  of  wide  imitatioiL 


VI 

CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE 

China  ushers  the  visitor  into  her  art  life  with  delightful 
surprise.  From  the  bright  wide  streets,  bordered  with 
tamarind  trees,  of  Shameen,  the  island  in  the  Pearl  River, 
where  the  foreigners  dwell  in  English  and  French  con- 
cessions, to  a  crowded  and  dirty  bund,  over  a  shaky 
camel's  back  bridge,  you  cross  to  Canton,  the  center  of 
the  artistic  production  of  the  nation.  In  your  blue- 
curtained  chair,  borne  on  the  bare  shoulders  of  speeding 
coolies,  you  swing  along  the  damp,  dark  lanes  which  are 
too  narrow  to  permit  a  tree  to  root.  The  sewage  rolls  its 
noisome  tide  in  the  single  gutter  in  the  middle  of  the 
road.  No  Chinese  street  has  side  gutters.  The  large 
square  stones  of  the  paving  bear  testimony  to  an  eternity 
of  years  by  the  deep  hollows  made  by  the  passing  of 
countless  bare  feet.  At  last  you  come  to  a  court  where 
three  streets  meet,  and  where  the  blackwood  cutters 
guild  is  located.  The  shops  spread  along  Tai  Sun,  Yuck 
Tsze,  and  Old  Factory  Streets.  It  is  the  sweetest  spot 
in  all  foul-smelling  Canton.  You  enter  the  stone  base- 
ment and  kick  your  way  refreshingly  through  the  fragrant 
red  teak-wood  chips,  for  they  are  not  yet  stained  the 
familiar  ebony.  The  men  whom  you  observe  carv^ing 
the  legs  of  chairs  will  tell  you  their  forefathers  carved 
here,  too,  when  Cabot,  Columbus  and  Da  Gama  were 
only  dreaming  of  discoveries.  Once  a  leg  carver  or  a 
turner  of  panels,  always  one.     In  an  adjoining  shop,  idol 

248 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      249 

carvers  are  wurking  un  images  which  will  be  covered 
with  guld  leaf  am)  [tlaced  befure  the  incense  pots  of  the 
Tai  l-'at  Tszc  Monastery.  If  you  desire  a  buffet  with 
shelves,  lockers,  mirror  and  Yunnan  marble  like  the  one 
you  are  admiring,  it  will  take  Tack  Loong  and  his  sons 
a  year  before  they  can  deliver  it.  Kowtow  to  Tack,  for 
he  is  an  artist  who  dreams  and  works  while  he  dreams, 
over  the  best  product  which  his  Family  Academy  can 
evolve.  His  ancestors  executed  no  better  work  for  man- 
darins in  Kang  He's  day,  when  China,  first  hearing  that 
there  was  a  "  Ta  Si  Yang  Kuo  "  (great  kingdom  of  the 
Western  Ocean;  i.  e.,  Portugal),  declared  "then  it  must 
come  and  pay  homage  to  the  whole  earth's  Shang  Ti 
(Lord)."  In  the  strength,  permanence  and  pride  of  such 
an  assurance  is  ffKHed  a  real  art  spirit,  ami  \<i\\  beliohl  its 
flowers  in  ihe-^e  elaiK)rate  teapoys,  chairs,  screens,  stands, 
tables,  and  cverylhing  that  llic  king  of  wi>ods  can  be 
worked  into. 

It  is  the  same  in  Xgaiiking.  the  capital  of  Nganwci, 
\\'\\\\  the  horn  lantern  wurkers;  oiKe  a  lantern  maker, 
always  one.  Hang  a  silk  net  over  the  lantern,  and  you 
have  something  opal-sufl.  but  light  and  strong.  Think 
of  ilic  patience  of  artisans  who  work  and  stretch  horn 
in  a  moist  heat  until  it  is  pliable  enuiifjh  for  these  de- 
signs. It  is  the  same  story  in  Swatow.  among  the  needle 
wnrkers  who  execute  drawn-wurW:  tlicy  are  the  ilcscend- 
.Tnis  cif  thnse  who  have  been  developing  their  art  for 
centuries. 

fir  wamler  along  the  Sun  Tau  I.an  ..r  the  Hin  Chan, 
where  you  may  llnd  olil  turquoise-hliie  and  g"til  vases  of 
tile  ^"lmL^  Ctiin  jKTioil  which  hriiii;  live  tli"U>anii  dollars. 
Vases  of  (he  Ming  dynasty  are  \\<irth  as  \\\^\\  as  ten  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  vou  will  find  one  here  if  anvwhcre.     .\ 


250  THE  CHINESE 

pair  of  old  Chinese  large  faniiUe  rose  vases,  enameled 
with  chrysanthemums,  magnolias  and  cherries  of  the 
Kien  Lung  period,  like  these  you  behold,  have  sold  at 
Christie's  for  four  thousand  dollars.  A  pair  of  square 
Kang  He  vases,  tapering  in  shape  with  famille  verte  dec- 
oration on  a  black  ground,  has  brought  nineteen  thousand 
dollars;  a  pair  of  Ky  Lin  jars,  twenty-nine  hundred  dol- 
lars, and  a  pair  of  Kien  Lung  jars  eighty-six  hundred 
dollars  at  Christie's  in  London,  but  the  Chinese  call  this 
extravagance  on  our  part,  an  affectation  in  view  of  our 
neglect  of  their  present  productions.  The  Manchu  con- 
querors have  inspired  the  production  of  no  porcelain  equal 
to  the  product  of  the  ancient  potteries  of  the  native  Ming 
kings  of  the  fifth  century,  which  answers  to  China's  Au- 
gustan age  in  art.  The  proportions  of  the  royal  ware 
are  fixed:  base  one-third,  bowl  one-third,  and  neck  one- 
third  of  the  height.  Even  in  these  more  or  less  decadent 
days  nothing  changes  in  China :  the  lapis  lazuli  color  of 
Ming  vases  and  the  cobalt  blue  of  the  Kang  He  period  are 
the  standards  in  judging  tlie  tones  of  modern  productions. 
Otlier  vases,  showing  some  ancient  imported  Greek  influ- 
ence perhaps,  are  of  gourd  shape,  with  a  ground  of  pow- 
dered blue,  on  which  are  set  circular  panels,  the  scrolls 
being  gold  and  the  subjects  enameled  pylins,  branches  and 
birds.  Some  of  these  unique  vases  bring  as  higli  as  one 
thousand  dollars  each. 

The  most  famous  Imperial  pottery  towns  with  a  history 
of  one  thousand  years  in  the  art,  are  inland,  in  Kiang-si 
Province,  and  lie  along  the  Kan  River.  Eastward  from 
Poyang  Lake,  about  thirty  miles  up  a  deep  valley,  where 
you  would  rather  look  for  sooty  coal,  is  King  Teli  Ching, 
introduced  to  our  verse  by  Longfellow.  The  population 
of  these  pottery  towns  once  ran  as  high  as  one  hundred 


CHINHSE  ART  AND  LITERATURE       251 

tlionsand,  all  ciijtaged  in  firing  the  ping-tu,  or  powdered 
deconiiKised  granite.  When  twilight  deepens  fast,  you 
will  notice  tlic  Hames  of  five  hundred  kilns  briglitening 
into  view  in  the  darkening  valleys.  The  fifty  pound 
bricks  for  the  Great  Wall,  and  the  enornious  yellow  tiles 
for  the  Xankinff  Pagoda,  specimens  of  which  you  will  find 
at  the  Metropolitan  Museum,  New  York,  were  fired  here. 
For  miles  along  the  shore  of  Poyang,  the  junks  arc  load- 
ing for  ports  three  hundred  miles  away  along  the  great 
Yangtze  River,  there  to  distribute  to  mandarin  and  white 
lypan  the  treasures  of  Gold  Medallion;  Blue  and  White 
Willow;  brown  water  kongs  with  raised  blue  panels; 
Nanking  blue  barrel-shaped  garden  stais:  brilliant  White 
Ting,  the  plaie  of  which  you  would  nwrvcl  to  learn  was 
pni'hiccd  wiili  t\\v  a-hcs  of  ferns:  pale  bluish  green  Ju; 
cro;imy  white,  troiit-scalc.  crackled  Kicn  Yin;  Tai  cups 
which  arc  realistic  \v;niT-lilies.  the  h;i:nlle  Kcinjj  a  green 
sipal:  prwious  conilcati  bine  Yii  Kwo  Tien,  wliose  tone 
is  the  dcfpnir  of  Ium>pc  and  bri'ktn  biis  of  which  are 
carricil  atviit  and  set  as  jewels  in  China:  highly  coWed 
cinnabar,  green  and  pnrp!e-brown  Chun  ware:  papcr-lliin 
ti-a-grt'cii  and  scarlet  Maiwlartn  Kuan  work  with  crab- 
claw  pattern;  sea-^rcen  ari'l  gidl-gray  Ko  Yau :  Kang  He 
black  vase-:  t>rit,'lu  red  H-uati  Ti-  with  in-ects  riliev; 
t  hong  iliia  ware  wilh  liie-like  figures  ci  fowl:  jade 
green  anri  gild  Tsaiii;  ware:  and  the  celebrated  beef- 
l.l'Krtl  Miii'^'  jx.itery.  wl;.i^  wavy  lines  of  red  are  formed 
by  interii:;tti-tit  drafts  ..f  air  being  I>!.-wn  {::{•->  ihe  I'nr- 
nace  a-  tin-  eiiankl  bakis.  (^idy  a  few  ■•t  ilie  \,!sos  with 
ri'U:!.-  ilr  frr  </.'.iJ.-  an.l  the  m.i*  tree  with  red  bli-oms  as 
nii'Ul.  evi-(  :  nne  prialc^s  sjieeinien  King  in  the  Metro- 
I.litan  Mii^erm.  New  V-'ikcjiy. 

^'Hi  will  iiMtice  un  <il.|  t■birle^e  [fc'Uviain  merely  the 


•  ..  A 


iS^  tHE  CHINESE 

name  of  the  reign.  In  contemporary  output  the  factofy 
name  is  fired  as  "  made  at  the  Harmony  Factory,"  "  made 
at  the  Myriad  Peaks  Monastery/'  but  never  the  name  of 
the  artist  as  is  the  Japanese  custom  old  and  new.  How- 
ever, tradition  has  brought  down  the  name  of  the  fomily 
Lung  as  the  most  wonderful  of  the  potters  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  They  took  to  the  grave  with  them  the 
secret  of  their  inimitable  blood-red  ware.  Something  of 
praise  must  then  be  admitted  of  the  only  race  which  has 
reached  that  artistic  extinction  of  self-consciousness 
where  the  workers  are  willing  to  forego  their  identity. 

Porcelain  is  used  for  the  fagade  of  many  of  the  temples 
of  the  Yangtze  Valley,  and  the  effect  of  the  gorgeous 
panels  and  relieved  figures  in  the  glistening  white  space, 
together  with  the  sun-bathed  colored  eaves,  is  more  like 
the  shimmer  of  jewels  than  anything  our  architecture  has 
produced.  The  Hung  Shek  temple  at  Wuchow  rises 
with  a  perfectly  plain  wall  above  colored  balustrades  and 
noble  flights  of  steps,  on  which  large  vases  are  set.  This 
plainness  is  intentional,  to  give  effect  to  the  gorgeous 
tiling  of  the  towers  and  cornices.  The  Chinese  is  a  pro- 
founder  artist  than  the  Japanese,  as  he  understands  the 
balance  which  exists  between  rich  decoration  and  plain 
surfaces.  The  faqade  of  the  Temple  of  the  Black  God 
in  the  city  of  Chow  Tung  in  Yunnan  is  a  solid  gleam  of 
rich  porcelains,  but  the  effect  is  lost  in  the  narrow  street. 
One-half  of  China's  temples  are  thus  miserably  situated 

The  famous  cloisonee  is  made  as  follows.  A  copper 
vase  is  secured  and  the  design  is  etched  thereon,  thin 
copper  or  gold  wires  being  cemented  on  these  lines.  The 
vase  is  then  fired  to  anneal  the  wires.  Colored  vitreous 
pastes  of  saltpetre,  sandstone,  oxides,  lead  salts  and  rice 
water  are  dexterously  filled  in  the  interstices.     The  vase 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      253 

is  again  baked.  When  cool,  a  file  is  applied,  after  which 
the  vase  is  again  fired.  Several  polishes  are  now  applied, 
with  limestone  used  on  the  lathe,  and  a  polish  with  char- 
coal follows.  If  gilt  is  to  be  applied,  it  is  now  done  by 
galvanic  process,  after  which  there  is  a  final  polishing 
which  reveals  a  work  of  enduring  and  enrapturing  iri- 
descence. In  the  firing  of  large  roof  and  wall  tiles  and 
solid  shapes  for  mull  ions,  sills,  plinths,  lozenged  ventila- 
tor vents,  etc.,  the  potters  are  as  expert  as  any  of  our 
artisans  at  Trenton  or  Liverpool,  Ohio.  Nothing  is 
built  up  from  single  bricks  that  can  [x>ssibly  be  fired  in 
one  piece. 

The  coolie  and  the  fisherman  however  still  eat  off  Han- 
kau  iron;  camphor-wcxxl  deck  or  plaintain  leaf.  When 
thev.  like  any  other  labor  in  historv.  can  afford  to  sit 
before  an  earlheinvare  plate  and  have  the  wherewithal 
for  renewals  when  it  is  broken,  tliere  may  possibly  not  be 
a  Manchu  on  the  Yellow  Throne.  For  it  is  to  be  noticed 
tliat  when  jKrasants  are  able  to  buy  crockery  they  gener- 
ally change  their  minds  first  and  purchase  swords  to  mend 
their  grievances,  or  retaliate  upon  those  who  kept  them 
serfs  too  long. 

In  meeting  residents  of  the  South  and  of  the  North,  it 
is  noticeable  that  among  the  former  the  names  are  soft 
and  flowing,  as  compared  with  the  sharp  and  hard  names 
of  the  North.  In  looks  it  is  the  opposite,  the  Southerner 
liaving  the  hi.i^h  cheek-!>»nes  and  harder  face,  and  the 
Northerner  having  the  <ival  face.  The  Manchu  is  tinc- 
tured with  the  severitv  i>f  name  and  manner  <>f  the  Mon- 
j^'«»lian  ami  Korean,  among  which  latter  ix?oj)lc  you  en- 
O'unter  names  like  Pak  Sok.  Compare  the  southern 
I" ling  Kwang  Chung  with  Jen  Yuk  Gko.  or  Min  Yin  with 
the  harsh  Ilok  Ngon.     The  commonest  family  name  in 


1IS4  THE  CHINESE 

China  is  Chang*  It  resembles  the  Smith  faunily  in 
America. 

In  the  ingrafting  of  American  and  European  inventions 
among  her  industries,  especially  at  Han-kau,  the  Chinese 
find  themselves  without  means  to  name  the  strangers  in 
the  arbitrary  Wenli  or  mandarin  written  speech  which 
dates  to  B.  C.  2500.  As  an  instance  the  best  they  could 
do  with  an  iniirandescent  light  was  to  call  it  **  new  moon- 
shine.'' Wenli  is  the  common  speech  of  the  masses  only 
in  Honan  and  Shan-tung.  As  illustrating  the  slight  dif- 
ferences  between  the  pronunciation  of  the  mandarin 
Wenli  and  the  Cantonese,  the  word  loh  in  the  former  is 
sounded  lok  in  the  latter;  and  yu  sha  tsze  in  the 
former  is  yau  sha  tsoi  in  the  latter,  which  is  not  as 
great  a  difference  perhaps  as  "  fo  yee  ol "  of  the  Ken- 
tuckian  and  "  four  year  old  "  of  the  Yankee.  There  is 
really  only  one  language  in  all  China,  though  so  many 
speak  the  provincial  dialects  that  they  have  gained  an  un- 
warranted reputation  as  separate  languages.  These  dia- 
lects, difficult  both  to  the  foreigner  and  the  Chinese  from 
a  remote  part,  have  grown  up  from  the  isolation  of  the 
provinces,  as  a  germ  center  propagates  when  not  dis- 
turbed. It  is  not  because  there  has  not  been  sufficient 
pride  in  the  letter,  for  the  Thibet  monasteries  outdo  the 
performance  of  the  Hotel  Rambouillet  in  a  fine  frenzy  for 
glossification  and  formula.  Railways  will  have  most  to 
do  with  the  scattering  of  the  dialects  and  will  give  the 
Chinese  that  unification  of  speech  and  resultant  dissemina- 
tion of  idea,  which  have  been  the  main  things  (and  not 
the  lack  of  Christianity  or  inventions)  that  have  kept 
them  from  moving  forward  as  a  very  assertive  body  in 
the  world's  polity. 

The  character  or  picture  system  is  inadequate  for  law 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      255 

or  commercial  writing,  though  it  floods  the  mind  in  their 
poetry  with  beautiful  suggestions  and  with  instant  effect, 
as  compared  with  the  considerable  time  before  the  eye 
can  glance  along  a  batinizcd  sentence,  for  instance.  Into 
the  s{X)ken  or  provincial  dialects,  especially  in  the  south 
( and  Cantonese  seems  to  be  of  greatest  antiquity  with  its 
soft  musical  sounds  and  flowing  diphthongs  as  com- 
I>ared  with  the  gutturals  of  the  Kansu  dialect  of  the 
North)  have  crept  many  phoneticized  English  words,  and 
English  is  likewise  enriching  herself  with  words  formed 
plionetically  from  the  Chinese  character.  Historically, 
the  Chinese  language,  with  all  its  boasted  conservatism, 
has  already  authority  for  this  intrusion  and  enrichment, 
for  there  arc  traces  of  Sanscrit  words  which  were  intro- 
duced by  the  Buddhists.  A  neglected  piece  of  Sanscrit 
advice  however  in  fever-stricken  China  is  the  following: 
*'  Keep  water  in  copper,  and  exjxise  it  to  the  sun,  dip  in 
it  seven  times  a  k'lr  of  hot  copfHT.  and  filter  through  char- 
coal/' On  July  9th.  last,  at  the  parade  of  the  new  Chi- 
nese \'olunteer  Corps  along  the  MaliX)  at  Shanghai,  it 
was  remarked  that  C  »»lnnel  Vu  Ya  Ching  invarial)ly  gave 
the  w»)rd  of  command  in  English.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that 
the  Chinese  arc  more  anxious  to  learn  English  than  N\e 
are  Ui  learn  Chinese.  In  my  experience  in  Hong-Kong 
we  had  a  cmistant  procession  from  the  two  Kwang  Prov- 
inres  of  punkah  cchiIIcs.  Vickisha  pullers.  (»fl[icc  lx)ys.  and 
c'»tn|)r;id<)r*s  clerks,  none  staying  longer  than  six  months. 
They  were  really  students  of  Englisli.  When  they 
learne<l  something  of  the  langiiai^e  while  l)eing  paid  the 
\\*>\va\  IaU»rer*s  waire  i>t  t'i\e  ilMJIars  a  month,  thev  re- 
sij^mrci  Nn<IdrNly  to  hl«ws«>m  out  at  twenty  dollars  a  month, 
a^  t'nsuls  interpreters,  clerks  t«»  ship's  pursers,  and  in 
their  own  Imperial  Customs  or  inii>»rting  Hongs.     This 


256  THE  CHINESE 

interest  in  the  languages  was  not  mutual  In  twenty 
years  history  of  this  Hong,  with  probably  an  aggr^;ate  of 
three  hundred  staff  employees,  only  one  English  speaking 
clerk  acquired  Oiinese,  and  it  was  Portuguese  blood  in 
his  veins  which  stimulated  the  linguistic  interest  The 
Chinese  are  determined  to  gain  more  from  us  than  we  are 
from  them.  The  telegraph  blanks  in  use  over  China's 
thirty  thousand  miles  of  wire  are  printed  in  English  and 
Chinese,  and  have  been  excellent  primers  throughout  the 
land  in  disseminating  an  interest  in  that  one  type  of  for- 
eigner, the  credit  for  which  is  due  to  the  aUest  business 
man  who  ever  came  to  China,  the  indefatigable  Irishman, 
Robert  Hart,  the  head  official,  until  his  retirement  re- 
cently, of  the  Imperial  Customs. 

The  dialect,  or  hang-tan,  as  in  every  country,  is  a  tone 
play  on  the  written  word,  differing  according  to  locality, 
and  the  tone  differences  are  most  minutely  drawn.  They 
are  not  insurmountable  however,  as  is  the  belief  abroad 
concerning  them  and  can  be  illustrated  by  the  pronouncia- 
tion  of  the  name  of  the  town  in  the  Sunglo  Hills  of  Ngpn- 
wei  Province  where  the  best  ink  is  made.  In  the  local 
dialect  it  is  Wei-Chow;  in  Cantonese,  Fy-Chow.  The 
town  on  the  Chang  River  which  distributes  porcelain,  in 
the  local  Kiang-si  dialect  is  called  Kau-Chow ;  in  Canton- 
ese it  is  Jau-Chow.  In  the  same  manner,  tea  is  called 
ta  at  Nanking,  and  tai  at  Canton.  The  word  for  a  vil- 
lage headman  in  Nganwei  Province  is  pronounced  taipoa; 
in  Kwangtung  Province  it  is  taipan;  in  Singapore  it  is 
towkay.  The  word  for  a  tael  called  Hang  at  Shanghai  is 
pronounced  Ian  in  Kansu  Province,  while  the  word  for  the 
ten  cash  copper  piece  called  fun  at  Hong-Kong,  is  pro- 
nounced tun  at  Tientsin.  The  word  mapoo  (jockey)  at 
Seoul  is  pronounced  mafoo  at  Hong-Kong,  and  mahong 


.A 


CHINESE  ART  AND  UTERATURE     257 

at  Yunnan.  The  name  of  the  capital  of  the  oldest  prov- 
ince of  China,  is  pronounced  by  the  Shensians  themselves 
Cliian,  but  a  Kwangtung  man  would  call  it  Tsian. 
The  whisky  distilled  from  rice*  which  in  northern  Shensi 
is  pronounced  somshaw,  is  called  samshm  in  moat  south- 
ern Kwangtung ;  sam-jee-o  in  Pechili  Province  and  ckom 
chum  on  the  boarders  of  Yunnan  and  Tonquut  A  for- 
eigner, or  h'terally  a  '*  foreign  devil/'  is  pronounced  Hung 
Kwei  at  Peking ;  Yang  Kwei  in  Kansu  Province  and  Fung 
Kwci  at  Canton,  which  invented  the  term.  A  head 
helper,  in  charge  of  a  gang,  store  or  padc  train,  is  called 
fuiau  in  Yunnan  Province  and  fokai  in  Kwangtung  Prov- 
ince. Pai,  which  means  ''white**  at  Peking,  is  pro- 
nounced Pek  at  Amoy.  The  Goddess  of  Mercy  called 
A'fifi  Yam  at  Canton  is  pronounced  Kuan  Yin  at  Tien- 
tsin. Taoiai  which  means  city  governor  at  Hong-Kong 
is  pronounced  Tu-ti  at  Peking.  In  Mongolia  the  late 
Emperor*s  name  is  pronounced  Kang  5*s,  while  at  Peking 
it  is  Kwong  Su.  The  Mongol  word  for  wood  is  mo-don; 
in  Chinese  mu-ton.  Hung,  which  means  "  red  "  at  Pe- 
king is  pronounced  hong  by  the  brilliant  and  independent 
aborigines  of  Yunnan  Province.  The  great  iron  Prov- 
ince is  called  //m/vi  by  the  Pekingese  and  Hupch  by  the 
provincials  themselves.  The  poet  who  wrote  the  Chinese 
Raven  ode.  which  suggested  Poe's  theme,  is  called  Ki  Yi 
at  Canton  and  Chi  Yi  at  Peking.  The  word  for  ri\'er, 
pronounced  kiang  in  the  Yangtxe  Provinces  is  called 
giang  in  Yunnan.  The  monumental  arches  erected  to 
widows  who  did  not  remarry,  are  called  pailou  at  Peking 
and  pailo  at  Canton.  The  numeral  "  one "  is  called  ya 
at  Canton  and  ta  at  Peking.  Jen,  which  means  "  men  " 
throiif^liout  China  proper,  is  proncumced  ten  among  the 
aborigines  of  sequestered  Hainan  Island.    The  Korean 


2S8  THE  CHINESE 

Copper  Mine  "  Kapsan  "  is  called  by  the  kindred  Japanese 
''  Kosan/'  The  Chinese  retort  that  the  Occidental  is  not 
free  of  suspicion  of  opaqueness  of  expression  both  in  the 
written  and  spdken  word  A  Chinese  student  in  France 
pointed  out  a  hospital  which  bore  the  name  ''  Hotel  Dieu 
du  Precieux  Sang  "  and  asked  "  Who  the  blood  was  pre- 
cious to/'  and  a  student  in  English  added  his  experience 
by  inquirmg  when  it  would  be  "  right  to  write  to  Vfri^aL" 
and  when  *'  March  fourth ''  is  a  date  or  a  command.  To 
show  that  Pidgin-English  has  no  etymological  relation- 
ship it  is  only  necessary  to  give  an  illustration.  Kwai  in 
pure  Chinese  is  "  quick  *' ;  in  Pidgin  it  is  **  fightee**' 

A  gentleman  is  marked  by  his  aspirates  and  tones. 
How  important  these  are,  can  be  judged  by  the  greatest 
Chinese  dictionary  issued  in  171 1,  the  Pei  Wan  Yun  Fu, 
one  hundred  and  thirty  volumes,  which  arranges  the 
words  by  their  pronunciation,  and  which  monument  of 
its  language  China  owes  to  the  efforts  of  her  literary  Em- 
peror, Kang  He.  A  curse  and  a  compliment  are  differen- 
tiated only  by  the  hiss  of  the  lips.  Koot  means  good; 
shoot  means  evil.  The  same  word  pronounaed  in 
the  Doh  tone  has  a  vastly  different  meaning  when  the  Soh 
or  Me  tone  is  used.  Ta,  Erh,  San,  are  one,  two, 
three  in  Pekingese  in  Soh  tone,  but  you  would  not 
want  to  be  responsible  for  them  in  Doh  tone.  The 
character  the  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  use  for  God 
is  "Tien  Chu";  if  you  are  not  careful  to  give  it  the 
proper  lisp,  you  will  say  the  "Heavenly  Pig."  When 
you  squeal  yu  in  a  shrill  voice  you  say  "  fish  '* ;  when 
you  rumble  the  same  word  in  a  base  tone  you  say  "  rain." 
If  you  say  chi  sharply  it  means  "  gas/'  but  if  you  say 
chih  with  a  hiss,  it  means  "  red/*  The  same  word 
in  Doh  tone  means  "  man  "  and  in  Soh  tone  a  "  disease." 


CHINESE  ART  AND  UTERATURE      359 

The  reason  a  Chtnete  idiool-rooin  ii  as  noiiy  ai  a  boiler 
•hop,  is  that  the  requirements  of  the  exact  tone  oonqiel 
the  pupils  to  study  their  kssons  aloud  for  their  own  satis- 
faction. Because  of  the  manjr  inflecticHts  of  tone  iiecc»- 
sary  the  speech  of  a  highly  cultivated  Chinese  statesman 
sounds  not  unlike  a  soft  song.  It  is  these  findy  drawn 
distinctions  of  speech  which  have  robbed  China  of  orators 
and  thus  kept  the  people  separated.  To  speak  correctly 
requires  a  low  tone  and  [toity  of  time,  ill  suited  to  tfw 
storm  and  strenuousneu  of  the  rostrum  of  American  Ule 
for  instance.  Like  the  Roman,  Chinese  abounds  in  im- 
personal forms  of  address,  and  with  historic  unconcern 
winds  its  cumbrous  course  along.  Not  in  these  garbs 
could  a  Pepys  pirouette.  The  Chinese  involved  diaracter 
or  ideogram,  which  is  a  built-up  tree,  every  branch  adding 
a  condition  to  the  parent  character  is  too  cumbersome  for 
business,  and  some  advocates  of  the  new  learning  are 
calling  even  for  the  phoneticizing  into  Roman  character, 
of  the  Wenli.  For  purposes  of  telegraphy  the  thou- 
sands of  Wenli  idet^raph  characters  have  each  a  number, 
which  latter  is  transmitted,  and  the  receiver  looks  up  the 
code  to  transcribe  the  message.  There  are  five  thousand 
distinct  characters,  and  four  times  as  many  amended 
synonjins. 

Similar  to  our  abbreviated  writing  in  account  books, 
the  Chinese  shroffs  have  invented  a  careless  style  called 
tsao  tsa  or  plant  writing,  which  is  their  nearest  ap- 
pnjach  to  a  running  shorthand.  The  characters  arc  cer- 
tainly arbitrary  enough  for  any  system  of  grammalogues. 
Tlie  difference  between  the  rapid  commercial  and  the  more 
florid  styles  in  writing  the  character  can  be  at  once  seen  in 
the  word  "  son."  The  commercial  style  leaves  off  certain 
lines  and  slurs  other  lines:  commercial  \^_i  florid  •fA 


26o  THE  CHINESE 

The  jF/Jn^5*/ui^  or  flowing  hand,  answers  to  our  unabbrevi- 
ated Spencerian,  and  is  the  pride  of  their  decorative  scroD 
work.  Books  and  newspapers  are  printed  in  the  orthodox 
Kiai  Shu  form  of  character.  The  ancient  characters  also 
find  themselves  too  indefinite  for  expressing  the  abstruse. 
The  same  character  acts  as  noun,  verb,  or  preposition,  ac- 
cording to  its  place  in  the  sentence.  The  indefiniteness  of 
the  present  system  may  be  illustrated  by  the  character  for 
a  tree,  which  is  a  veritable  picture  of  a  banyan  with  two 
hanging  branches  dropping  to  take  root  The  character 
representing  forest  is  two  of  these  tree  characters  run 
together.  The  character  of'  three  peaks,  shan,  JU 
of  course  is  their  word  for  mountain.  One  bamboo  com- 
mercial tally  cast  down  ^ —  represents  the  figure  "  one/' 
and  three  of  them  parallel  represent  "  three  *'  ^.  As 
their  system  is  decimal,  two  tallies  crossed  mark  the  first 
halt  1-^  or  ten.  The  ten  cash  coin,  with  this  cross  of  the 
Christians  upon  it,  was  accordingly  despised  and  shown 
contumely  by  the  Boxers  in  1900.  Earth  is  represented 
as  stretching  out  flat  beneath  a  standing  man  4-  , 
Water  is  illustrated  by  sprays  arising  from  an  aperture, 
Jk.  The  character  us^  is  the  representation  of  a  Chi- 
nese gahlt  with  heavy  eaves  and  ridge  tile.  Therefore 
it  stands  for  the  roof  of  a  yamen  or  academy  near  a 
pagoda,  where  the  schools  are  held.  The  character  ^ 
is  the  picture  of  a  child  with  arms  outstretched  and 
wearing  the  large  grass  sun-hat  made  in  Hupeh.  Put- 
ting the  two  characters  together  thus  ^^  therefore  rep- 
resents the  familiar  scene  of  a  boy  sheltered  under  the 
academic  roof,  studying  the  classics,  and  in  the  lan- 
guage has  become  the  arbitrary  for  the  word  '*  litera- 
ture." The  word  san  (scatter)  is  the  exact  picture 
of  a  helmeted  soldier  chasing  a  fugitive  who  has  thrown 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      261 

away  his  hat,  thus  f^.  The  character  for  heaven, 
Tien,  represents  two  roofs,  one  of  the  stars  and  one  of 
the  sky,  supported  by  two  props  or  trees  *^  .  The 
character  for  rice  (mi)  represents  a  man  with  his  arms 
outstretched,  standing  in  a  field  on  which  scattered  grain 
lies,  thus  ^  .  The  character  for  God  (Shang  Ti) 
represents  a  kneeling  mortal  in  the  act  of  making  an 
offering  before  a  Being  who  hovers  over  the  two  roofs 
of  sky  and  stars,  which  latter  is  supported  with  the 
trunk  and  branches  of  a  banyan,  thus  Jt>'1l^•  The  char- 
actcr  SC  is  woman ;  place  her  under  her  roof  tree,  and 
the  arbitrary  represents  domestic  felicity,  or  the  word 
**  satisfaction,*'  ^  . 

The  Chinese  language  accordingly  can  be  dissected  into 
ro<jts  just  as  ours  can.  Punctuation  is  considered  inele- 
j^'ant.  but  I  have  seen  shroffs  in  Ilon|;-Kong  venture  upon 
ilic  paragraph.  The  new  characters  which  China  calls 
for.  must  come.  When  they  do,  the  old  characters,  which 
are  the  nu)>t  cialiorate  and  beautiful  that  language  ever 
<losigne(l  ft»r  its  alKulc,  must  pass  to  the  select  possession 
of  priests  and  literati.  It  should  certainly  always  be 
taught  in  the  universities  and  monasteries,  just  as  our 
classic  the  Greek  is  preserved  from  extinction,  and  it  al- 
ways has  a  great  mission  of  culture  in  interpreting  those 
proud  riches  of  China,  the  works  of  her  unrivaleil  phil- 
osopliers.  There  are  on  the  other  hand,  mcxlerns  in  other 
re>i)ccts.  who  declare  that  the  Chinese  cfiaracter  will  take 
ujvn  itself  l)oth  definiteness  and  elasticity,  and  be  able  to 
grow  as  hi>tily  as  has  the  Saxon  language,  which,  with  its 
I)' »rr« »w ed  Roman  characters,  has  fed  on  cnery  s|K'cch. dead 
and  living.  While  the  W'enli  character  means  the  s:ime 
tiling  all  over  China,  and  while  the  cultured  Japanese  can 
read  any  Chinese  b(X)k,  the  Ja^wnese  use  the  character  so 


363  THE  CHINESE 

differently  that  the  Chinese  can  not  read  a  Japanese  book 
or  paper.  The  Japanese  have  long  lapsed  from  the  artifltic 
fretdcxn  of  stroke  in  painting  the  character/  irtiich  with 
them  is  a  stiffer  and  more  Equat  ideogram. 

As  soon  as  a  Chinese  boy  enters  the  school-room  he 
bows  in  reverence  before  the  tablet  that  bears  the  name 
of  Confudus.  Decoratively,  tablets  hi  that  land  take 
the  place  of  busts  and  statuary  among  ourselvea.  In  the 
memorial  taUet  is  said  to  dwell  one  of  the  three  soub  of 
a  mtm,  the  other  two  with  bis  death  going,  one  to  heaven 
(Tien),  and  the  other  remaining  in  the  grave  with  the  ' 
9Bcred  body. 

The  Uigur  writing  of  the  Manchus  is  decidedly  gnce- 
ful  in  occidental  taste.  It  has  only  been  preserved  to 
translate  Chinese  books,  as  the  Manchus  have  lost  any 
literature  which  they  once  may  have  had.  The  con- 
stricted literary  radius  of  the  Manchu  can  be  compre- 
hended at  a  glance  when  we  say  that  the  total  Hbrmry  of 
these  translations  amounts  to  only  three  hundred  booki. 
There  are  eighteen  consonants  and  eight  vowels.  Tht 
alphabet  is  syllabic  in  distinction  to  the  monosylUiift 
Chinese.  As  a  spoken  language,  Manchu  is  retreating 
to  the  fastnesses  of  Manchuria,  and  the  intruding  Japr' 
anese  purposes  to  put  a  quietus  upon  it  there.  The  dfr 
cadence  of  the  Manchu  in  this  respect  exhiMt3  Ite 
interesting  fact  that  this  is  the  only  time  in  history  when 
a  conqueror  has  not  flourished  a  sword  in  one  hand  wiaA 
a  pen  in  the  other.  This  conqueror  put  both  hands  to 
his  two-edged  sword  and.  perforce,  in  language  was  con- 
quered by  the  vanquished  in  arms.  As  compared  widi 
the  Chinese  the  Manchu  is  the  more  forcible  but  less 
elegant  language. 

The  kindred  Mongolian  holds  its  own,  especially  in  the 


Spirited  and  delicate  carving  and  tile  work,  Temple  of  Cho   Sbtng, 
Canton.  South  China. 


spiriu'd  irfatnu'iii  nf  clrapt-rii-s  of  two  (Ii'nii  on  right  by  Chinese 
■iculpiors.  who  siirjiass  even  our  Si,  ("iiuidens  in  this  re- 
spect.    Their  treatment  i)f  the   facial  expression, 
not    being    according    to    our    canons, 
cannot  he   criiicised. 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      363 

spoken  language  wtiicli  has  no  dialect,  (or  a  Muiigot  of 
Kliotaii  can  iiiidvr&tand  one  from  Koren.  Ttie  language 
is  also  alphabetic  in  distinction  to  the  Chinese  arbitrary 
character;  it  abounds  in  the  use  of  invnlved  adverbial 
plirases,  wound  round  and  round,  like  a  cocoon's  thread, 
in  the  sentence.  It  is  interesting  to  remember  that  this 
was  the  writing  used  by  the  conqiierur,  Genghis  Khan; 
that  is  to  say.  it  was  used  by  those  who  wrote  for  him. 
In  literatnre  an<l  rehgion,  the  Mongols  are  more  closely 
allied  to  the  TliilK.-tans  than  any  other  of  the  Chinese 
divisions,  but  the  literature,  like  the  Manchu,  is  mainly 
translations  of  Buddhist  books. 

Like  fiur  own  sl)<trthan<l  system,  the  vowels  of  the 
Mongol  writing,  vviih  two  excqitiuns.  must  be  guessed. 
Thus,  the  letters  N".  k.  niny  represent  the  w<irds  pro- 
nfiiiiici'd  miru  (•■im).  nr  fi,Tr  (name).  Curiously,  some 
Mongiil  scnienccs  are  our  exact  wnrds.  a<  "rat  I" 
is  their  expression  for  "  I  cat."  The  M<>iii;.ilian  has  no 
right  and  left  hand,  but  rallR-r  a  "  west  "  and  "  east " 
hand.  Ihcro  is  one  «acre<l  si^it  'in  the  Sdciij;a  River  nn 
the  bonlers  of  Sil»eria  atnl  M"nf;..lia  where  two  mission- 
aries of  the  l>'ii.Ii>n  Mission,  .'stall>l)ra-s  and  Swan.  lived 
in  wliat  was  tlieti  a  teiriMe  cxik'  fr^t'i  iSiS  t"  1P41.  and 
iran.slalcd  •■ur  wImIc  I'.il'le  into  Mongolinn  characters, 
and  hIk-ii  the  iMtll.riil.ls  ,.f  Cnii^l-i^.  Kiir.«]i:i;kin  and 
Kiiroki  arc  r<ry"t1eii.  the  I'l.ue  where  tliesc  twn  nien 
«..rLe,i  \mI1  Mill  Ik.-  .Ir.n.in-  the  .Tlmiriiis  I'^'t  of  the 
HorM  tM  -eo  a  M-'iri^' Jia  redeeine.l. 

TlnTe  i-  a  cm-.' ■r-.hip  in  (.'liiiia.  il'tr  !;>>■. eniment  im- 
prlnialur  I'einij  twn  draj;.'ns  cTh-irelin:;  ihe  n.imc  of  the 
InkiI;  fine  iif  the  new  ijrcit  i'tis  1  Iloar^ls)  i-  named 
■  ('.iK-iiies  and  Ceiisi'i-^hii)."  The  i;<i\ eminent  is  linding 
thai   the  gri-wing  [ircss   i*  asscni\e   in   the  progress  of 


r 

1 1 


264  THE  CHINESE 

Cliina.  For  example,  where  four  years  ago  Tientsin 
publislied  four  native  papers  or  Paos,  there  are  now 
twenty-three  sheets,  and  this  is  an  illustration  of  what 
is  going  on  beyond  the  treaty  ports.  Hong-Kong's 
splendid  Chinese  sheet  is  the  Wah  Tsz  Po.  Even  in 
Lfaassa  a  paper  has  been  started  by  the  bead  Chinese 
resident,  Tschang  Ying.  I  asked  my  Chinese  htunorist 
if  he  expected  that  the  morals  of  his  country  would  be 
inqMX}ved  when  newspapers  shall  have  illumed  the  whole 
land,  and  he  replied : "  This  far  at  least,  we  shall  be  harder 
to  fool."  China's  organization  fulfils  many  of  the  hi»- 
toric  requirements  of  modem  political  power.  Over 
manners,  laws  and  religion,  she  long  ago  established  a 
centralized  authority.  It  remains,  if  her  civilization  is 
to  be  permanent,  that  a  free  press  shall  arise  and  try 
by  public  opinion  the  strength  of  every  prop  of  the 
State,  rather  than  to  permit  an  enemy  to  do  so  by  arms. 
The  King  Pao,  or  Peking  Gasetie,  the  official  organ, 
has  long  generously  thrown  open  to  foreigners  intimate 
information  concerning  the  government  of  the  realm. 
You  will  find  copies  of  the  monthly  issues,  bound  in  yel- 
low, lying  about  any  taotai's  yamen.  The  censorship 
covers  the  remarkable  privilege  of  intimately  censuring 
the  Emperor  on  his  expenditures.  In  times  of  famine 
this  board  has  used  its  influence  for  the  people,  inducing 
the  throne  to  curtail  park  extensions  and  expenditures 
for  luxury  and  ceremony. 

The  Chinese  call  what  answers  to  our  Elzevir  and 
pocket  editions,  a  "sleeve  edition,"  the  sleeve  in  that 
country  serving  for  both  pocket  and  basket.  The  stu- 
dents at  the  triennial  examinations  are  searched  so  that 
they  may  not  carry  in  these  sleeve  editions  or  cribs. 
There  is  no  copyright  protection  for  authors.     At  present 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      265 

one  person  in  one  hundred  is  reached  by  their  press. 
Opinion  is  not  vitalized  for  quick  and  concerted  action 
until  the  proportion  is  one  in  ten,  as  in  Europe.  America, 
of  course,  leads  with  a  proportion  of  one  in  four. 

Where  we  place  on  the  street  corners  boxes  bearing 
the  sign :  **  Throw  your  papers  in  here  for  the  Hos- 
pital/' the  Chinese  have  similar  receptacles  with  the 
words  •*  King  Sik  Tsze  Chi;'  "  Reverence  the  Written 
Word,  for  it  is  Holy."  Their  religion  teaches  that 
words  never  die,  and  prescribes  as  an  offering  to  the 
informing  Spirit  of  Light,  the  burning  of  the  printed 
Truth,  which,  after  all,  is  only  loaned  to  mortals,  and 
should  be  constantly  clarified  after  it  has  gathered  the 
soil  and  dross  of  the  earth.  It  is  considered  a  pious 
work,  even  at  the  Europcanizcd  treaty  iK)rts,  for  natives 
to  father  every  scrap  of  newspaper  and  take  it  to  the 
monastery  to  be  consigned  to  tlie  alembic  of  the  sacred 
flames.  It  is  quite  possible  that  this  bull  was  promul- 
gated by  the  astute  priests  of  Hwang  Te*s  reign,  in  the 
third  century.  B.  C.  in  order  to  bring  all  books  to  the 
m<»nastery  for  hiding,  when  that  most  hated  of  Chinese 
moiiarchs  had  his  prime  minister,  Le  )>z^,  issue  with 
a  will  the  infamous  **  Eilict  for  the  Burning  of  the 
B(K»ks.'*  the  insane  design  being  to  date  history  from  the 
Tsin  dynasty. 

Chinese  literature  is  a  mine  of  rare  jewels.  An  ad- 
<Ire>s  to  a  Manchu  prince  is  embroidered  in  blue  and 
red  characters  on  a  banner  of  vcllow  silk.  Attributes  of 
the  l^icty  are  accorded  him:  **  Vonr  Majesty's  quicken- 
ing intliience!  in  tliy  hands  arc  the  jeweled  greetinjjs 
fp>ni  a  kind's  palace;  on  this  happy  day  of  the  second 
month  the  wheels  of  ytnir  princely  chariot  are  stayed; 
you  come  as  a  glorious  clouil  and  as  a  downpour  of 


266  ,THE  CHINESE 

timely  rain ;  3rour  banners  descend  from  Heaven  and  the 
longings  of  your  people  are  fulfilled.  As  your  escort 
enters  the  walls,  lot  at  every  door  the  shouts  of  the 
children  arise.  Oh,  King's  Son,  your  coming  swells  the 
rice  and  fattens  the  meat"  All  this  exalted  conception 
and  flowery  expression  is  turned  to  ridicule  by  the  fa- 
cetiousness  of  the  closing  paragraph:  ''Dated  on  a 
lucky  day  of  the  second  month." 

Another  petition  begins :  ''  For  the  jewel  glance  of  a 
mandarin."  You  can  get  some  of  these  interesting 
pamphlets  among  the  book-shops  on  Liu  Li  Chang  Street, 
Peking. 

When  a  Chinese  writer  wishes  to  express  that  the 
wealthy  parent  of  the  heroine  has  set  his  affairs  in  order 
before  dying  in  her  favor,  his  idiom  is :  "  He  has  settled 
his  plums."  "  To  have  plucked  the  kwei  (cassia) 
flower,"  signifies  gaining  the  Master's  degree  at  the 
triennial  examinations.  Their  idiom  for  "  Let  there  be 
no  backsliding "  is :  "  Let  there  be  no  absorption  of 
sweat."  A  runaway  wife  is  said  by  Liu  Chia  Chu  to 
"  carry  her  guitar  to  another  door."  When  you  wish  to 
say  you  have  secured  a  vindication  you  express  it :  "  My 
adversary  has  been  forced  to  paint  my  front  door."  When 
a  great  man  dies  they  say:  "  A  corner  of  the  city  wall  has 
fallen."  When  a  coolie  wishes  to  express  his  utter  de- 
testation of  the  slow  movements  of  another,  he  hurls  out 
the  following:  "Thou  egg  of  a  turtle,  dost  thou  dare 
to  race  with  a  leopard."  They  do  not  speak  of  the  port 
or  starboard  sides  of  a  boat,  but  of  the  north,  south,  east 
or  west  sides,  so  that  in  all  admiralty  cases,  the  essential 
thing  is  to  ascertain  the  course  which  was  laid. 

On  friendship  they  have  this  parable.  Shun,  once 
wealthy  and  famous,  lost  land  and  health,  whereupon 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      267 

every  single  friend  since  his  boyhood  turned  upon  him 
in  iviliimiiy  and  cruelty,  like  vultures  eager  to  hurry  death. 
Is  thcrefurc  mankind  incapaMe  of  honor,  and  might  a 
brave  man  better  have  a  wallowing  sow  for  a  friend? 
No,  Shun  was  a  blind  fool  in  his  prosperity  and  youth; 
his  friends  were  always  vultures  in  disguise,  and  their 
presence  kept  from  him  those  who  would  have  been  real 
friends  in  admiration  of  his  mind  and  character.  Know 
that  there  are  those  who.  when  hungry,  crawl,  and  when 
fed,  take  to  their  wings,  and  remember,  also,  tliat  when 
the  tree  falls,  the  monkeys  flee.  A  wealthy  man,  and 
indeed  a  man  of  any  e-itate.  never  can  know  friendship, 
and  should  justly  doubt  the  depth  of  every  acquaintance. 
I'ricndsliip  i«  alone  founded  in  adversity,  for  poverty  is 
ihc  icst  of  di>inlcrf>tcdiicss,  as  the  lamp  is  the  proof  of 
ihc  ruby.  When  Tien  {'>ik]1  give*  thee  poverty.  He 
too  will  f^ivc  thee  a  tnie  frii-nd.  and  if  thou  wnuldst  h.ive 
n  friend,  fanmus  or  rich  man,  thou  must  invite  or  slmu- 
Lite  pcvorty.  sorrow  nnd  pain  in  the  fin<lin^  of  him. 
I'itt-titis  i-;  ih.Tt  liirul  whore  there  is  not  the  compulsory 
cluiritics  of  the  clan,  for  the  law  is  lietter  than  the  heart 
of  man.  Did  not  (oiifucius  say  in  (he  l.iin  Vu,  "  Have 
no  frien-I  iniliki;  yonr  lieart  of  lii-ans." 

KcL,'ariii[ig  the  virtiions.  (V^fncians  poetically  say: 
■■  nc\tl-;  ..nci  rat.-uki'.i  n  ;:'..'.l  iMati.  but  ibc  tips  of  their 
spears  turrcl  u\V>  tlower-i." 

Thf  f...llMwin-  is  a  paiahU-  of  the  f..tly  of  a  Hicy  of 
inju-licc,  A  wariT-tmlialo  l.-kfi  upon  an  am  ami  ilc- 
>[ii-o'!  it:  blew  n;>on  it:  jjnnitoil  ai  il :  vilitWd  its  .incc^* 
|.>r<  an. I  laMcis.  Iva?.tfd  to  ntbrr  bnlTal.^s  of  his  hate, 
aiu!  in  Miprcinc  in^.'lctice,  ina-li-  it  the  center  of  bis 
manure  heap.  The  buffnl'i  laid  dnwti  to  sleep  (as  hrlp- 
Ic--,  you  will  note,  as  the  ant  In  his  needsj  in  venomous 


268  THE  CHINESE 

satisfaction  of  having  extinguished  the  very  memory  of 
self-respect  in  the  soul  of  the  ant.  Fortified  with  the 
poison  of  the  buffalo's  own  manure,  the  ant  crawled 
forth  and  stung  the  buffalo  in  one  eye,  and  on  the  blind 
side  of  the  ridiculous  brute,  for  ever  evades  and  torments 
his  impotent  fury,  to  the  glory  of  the  gods  and  the 
vindication  of  the  truth. 

A  cynic  was  asked :  "  How  is  it  that  every  youth  is  a 
hero  and  flaunts  a  bribe,  and  every  elder  a  villain  who 
can  be  bribed,  first  with  not  less  than  a  thousand  taels,  and 
afterward  with  a  tiao  string.  Your  venal  elders  are 
your  former  heroes.  Pale  Huan,  the  youth,  finds  that  his 
honorability  has  been  his  downfall.  His  self-respecting 
poverty  throughout  his  youth  invited  the  persecution  of 
those  envious  of  his  shining  independence  of  character. 
He  decides  at  last,  as  earth's  responsibilities  grow  on  him, 
to  suffer  no  more  and  to  commit  no  more  the  compulsory 
petty  sins  of  poverty  in  order  to  live.  He  thereupon 
commits  the  one  great  sin  of  the  rich  and  takes  Shan's 
bribe.  Oppressed  before,  as  conscience  dies,  he  soon 
oppressor  grows,  all  through  the  law  of  self-preserva- 
tion, which,  in  the  end,  banishes  true  religion  in  a  wicked 
world."  Again:  "There  are  some  so  bad  that  their 
sins  pickle  and  confirm  them  in  evil  instead  of  rotting 
them." 

Another  cynic  remarks,  "  Some  people  cry  over  g^ves 
only  to  make  the  grass  of  forgetfulness  grow  the 
quicker."  And  again,  **  There  is  no  one  who  will  not 
smile  to  the  tickle  of  a  bribe,  and  do  not  conclude  that  it 
requires  long  feathers  to  do  the  tickling;  mankind  holds 
itself  very  cheap." 

A  bonze  asks,  "  Of  what  avail  to  scold  a  brother  like 
brass,  and  pray  to  Buddh  like  silver?  " 


i 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      269 

Epigrams  arc  attributed  to  busy  nations,  but  they  hap- 
pen al-su  to  Ik  tlie  favorite  form  of  crystallizing  the 
wis*Iom  of  the  race  which  enjoys  the  most  leisure. 
"  Tact,"  say  tlicy.  "is  the  discounting  of  principle  in  the 
mart  of  expediency."  "  Success  is  the  greatest  good  to 
the  smallest  number."  "  When  does  a  statesman  de- 
scend to  be  a  political  trimmer?  "  "  When  he  takes  his 
flap  from  the  poor,  but  his  wheels  from  the  rich,"  "  The 
fanner  tills  the  paddy  field,  but  (he  mandarin  tills  the 
people."  The  maxims  of  Confucius  arc  terse  epigrams. 
How  much  this  sage  has  influenced  the  morals  of  Europe 
has  not  been  fully  considered.  The  authorship  has  not 
been  credited,  but  many  a  sermon  and  essay  have  drawn 
their  inspiring  fire  or  human  pathos  from  the  "  Five 
Classics  "  of  the  Orient.  The  consciousness  of  inspira- 
tion, present  in  ,tH  great  teachers,  was  nut  unmarked  in 
Confucius.  .Xt  fii'ty-tivc  years  of  ape.  when  driven  to 
the  wiKU  of  Wei.  lie  .leclaml:  "  If  it  is  Heaven's  will 
to  reserve  me  to  teach  this  truth  on  the  earth,  the  mur- 
tlercpus  persecutions  nf  these  evil  men  of  Kwang  will  do 
nothing  to  mc."  Woiiderinl  that  on  the  same  day.  Ezra, 
the  prophet  of  the  true  Go<l,  who  hail  journeyed  from 
Unbylon,  siond  amid  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem  and  cried 
;iNo  ()f  the  r.nnt  Help:  "Our  G-»\  h:ilh  not  fur-akcn 
us  in  our  bondafrc,  Init  haih  given  us  a  w;ill  in  Judah." 
A  kine:  I  \Vu  W'aiigt.  when  aske«I  to  suhsl.uitinlc  his  con- 
ti.KiKe  •■(  victiiry  .ipaiiist  an  enemy  nunil>cring  ten  thou- 
>i;iii'l.  replied:  "  lUvanse  tliey  l;.'iie  ten  tlumsand  hearts. 
\\  here.T;  my  army  has  but  one  heart." 

The  moNt  eminent  "I  the  Cl:i:!c<e  eharacteristics  is 
displrtye.l  in  ilie  fi'lLiwin;;  ciinMT>;iiiiin.  "  Shun  was 
very  i^e:H  in  liis  UiMries-;  to  cul  tlit  knot,"  said  a  s^)ldier. 
"  Shao  was  great  in  his  patience  to  untie  the  knot."  said 


270  THE  CHINESE 

a  bonze.  '*  Therefore  Shao  was  the  greater  in  geam,^ 
added  a  philosopher. 

A  Chinese  satirist  rails  at  those  who  write  lady-like 
lyrics  with  a  pot  of  perfume  cm  the  table,  and  at  those 
who  spend  time  in  perfecting  the  splendid  sweep  of  the 
picturesque  Hing  Shu  characters  which  are  painted  on 
large  motto  sheets.  He  retires  to  his  Epicurean  con- 
fession, ''The  enjoyment  of  ease  is  my  chief  concern; 
I  have  lived  for  Myself." 

Another  indolent  poet,  who  happens  to  earn  iht  larger 
portion  of  his  bread  by  occupying  a  menial  position  in  a 
mandarin's  household,  exclaims:  ''I  would  hie  from 
office  cares ;  by  the  brooklet  I  would  He,  catch  the  finny 
tribes  with  snares,  read  my  books  and  dream  and  think, 
past  to  present  I  would  link." 

The  proverb  of  the  laziest  man  in  China  is :  "  It  is 
easier  to  know  how  to  do  a  thing  than  to  do  it"  A  mat- 
ter-of-fact man,  a  forerunner  of  the  new  Hok  Tong 
scholars,  said,  "To  see  it  once  is  better  than  to  read 
about  it  a  thousand  times." 

Regarding  jealousy  they  say:  "  It  is  easy  for  two  of 
a  guild  to  hate,"  and  "  Nine  women  out  of  ten  arc 
jealous."  "Don't  bend  the  mulberry  when  it  is  old," 
corresponds  to  our  saw  not  to  teach  an  old  dog  new 
tricks.  On  games  of  chance  "  The  winning  tip  is  to  stay 
away  from  the  gaming-table."  For  our  in  vino  Ver- 
itas, they  have  ^^  samschu  is  the  arch-thief  of  secrets, 
its  bubble  is  a  woman's  smile."  A  C3mic  rails :  "  Put 
not  our  Holy  Books  in  the  hands  of  a  man  until  he  has 
made  his  competence,  for  conscience  keeps  men  poor 
and  the  poverty  of  the  virtuous  is  the  opportunity  of  the 
unjust  oppressor."  When  a  girl  has  lost  her  affianced 
their  idiom  is :  "  She  has  spilt  her  tea."    "  To  have  no 


CHINESE  ART  AMD  LITERATURE      371 

ink  in  one's  stomach"  U  their  expreman  for  hck  of 
literary  ability.  On  deceit:  "  The  lipe  of  Buddh.  but  the 
teeth  of  a  snake."  Equivalent  to  the  Grade  hoi  foltoi 
and  our  "  the  masses  "  it  their  eiqirafaion,  "  the  myriad 
names,"  which  showt  that  China  hat  alwayi  been  con- 
scious of  her  vast  poputation.  A  cynic,  btrt  withal  a 
virtuous  man,  declares  "  There  are  oidy  two  tnie  things, 
God  in  Heaven  and  an  honest  dollar  on  earth."  and  of  « 
gossiping  wife,  "If  a  chattering  bird  be  not  placed  tn 
the  mouth,  vexation  wfll  not  sit  between  the  eyebrows." 
A  Buddhist  cynic  answers  a  Taoist :  "  The  final  proof 
that  men  are  not  gods  is  that  a  poor  man,  suddenly  raised 
to  a  position  of  wealth,  imroediatdy  becomes  as  oppres- 
sive of  the  poor  as  the  rich  class  which  previously  he 
criticized;  therefore  the  ann  of  evil  is  gold,  hut  the  seed 
uf  it  is  in  man's  heart."  Both  as  a  metaphor  and  as  a 
moral,  the  following  Mongolian  maxim  is  good  enough 
for  any  people:  "Cast  from  thy  heart  the  dog,  hog 
and  serpent,  for  they  are  the  incarnations  of  lust,  greed 
and  malice;" 

On  abiltiy.  tlwy  say :  "  The  world  is  unsafe  when  it  has 
more  genius  than  virtue."  On  ambition :  "  Qimb  the 
pole  higher  to  fmd  how  much  thinner  it  is."  On  truth : 
"  If  you  tell  me  a  lie  you  must  consider  me  j-our  enemy 
and  that  j-oti  are  acting  under  the  rule  of  self  •preserva- 
tion, for  the  bosom  of  a  true  friend  is  the  mirror  of  one's 
self."  On  scandal:  "A  lie  is  the  branch  mirrored  cm 
tlie  surface,  but  beneath  how  deep  the  well  of  true  water." 
Where  we  admonish  a  student  to  grind  or  work,  they 
e\prc5s  themsclvrs:  "May  you  ever  perpetuate  the  fra- 
Krance  of  boerfcs  in  your  aiKestral  home."  Concerning 
charity  they  say.  "  Benevolence  being  of  the  heart,  no 
rule  can  be  set  for  its  acts,"  and  "  You  can  not  call  a  deed 


272  THE  CHINESE 

kind  if  it  is  done  in  the  hope  of  recompnise.**  On  ex- 
aggeration, "  Paint  a  snake  and  add  legs.'*  They  turn 
the  flame  of  scorn  on  the  soldiers  of  the  okl  r^inx: 
*^oar  valor  is  at  a  chicken's  neck."  On  appearances: 
^Antics  are  not  always  vivacity  as  the  fish  on  the  hook 
can  say/'  and  ''  A  rat  may  smile,  but  it  is  not  ivory."  On 
the  schoolmaster's  rod:  "The  cudgel  is  the  best  pol- 
isher." On  a  wife:  ''Only  her  husband  speaks  of  a 
virtuous  woman,  but  the  name  of  an  evil  woman  grates 
on  all  men's  teeth."  One  who  is  not  a  gentleman  they 
say  "  lades  the  tenth  stroke  of  the  lacquer  brush."  The 
inability  of  a  man  to  keep  a  secret  they  express  in  the 
Three  States  Classic  as  follows :  "  If  you  do  not 
want  anybody  to  know  it,  do  not  e\en  do  it."  On  satire: 
"  His  was  a  golden  pen  that  rayed  the  shafts  of  truth." 

A  philosopher  says :  "  The  world  is  about  equally 
divided  bet\veen  good  and  bad  people;  in  the  good  is  a 
small  proportion  of  bad ;  in  the  bad  is  a  small  proportion 
of  good.  This  balance  of  virtue  and  evil  is  so  perfect 
that  it  requires  the  nicest  adjustment  of  the  individual  to 
adapt  himself  to  his  environment,  and  yet  remain  loyal 
to  his  class;  in  fact,  our  civilization  contemplates  the 
direction  of  the  clan  more  than  the  man,  and  we  have  at 
least  evolved  as  a  national  virtue,  the  humility  of  the 
individual."  Their  most  cynical  saying  is :  "  The  cre- 
ator is  like  a  cruel  sculptor;  he  fashions  man  the  statue ; 
he  tires  of  it  and  chips  it  day  by  day  with  persecutions ; 
then  petulant,  he  smashes  it  at  last  into  dust." 

Their  idiom  for  spending  an  afternoon  is  to  say,  "  I 
ate  an  afternoon  there." 

A  poet  who  was  passing,  after  enjoying  the  view,  called 
to  thank  the  owner  of  many  acres.  "  But  I  have  not 
given  them  to  you."    "  You  have  done  better;  you  give 


CHINESE  ART  AND  UTERATURE     a73 

me  the  pleasure  of  viewing  the  scenery,  without  my  be* 
tng  under  the  burden  of  paying  the  taxes  on  it  As  yon 
pay  the  taxes  for  my  view»  I  must  thank  you.'' 

A  certain  Jesuitical  doctrine  regarding  the  end  justi- 
fying the  means,  a  Qiinese  philosopher  refutes  as  fol* 
lows:  ''If  Chang  steals  Wong's  fortune  and  uses  it 
all  in  charity,  what  credit  is  to  Chang?  None.  The 
credit  will  be  laid  to  Wong  by  the  god  of  Restoration, 
and  Chang  must  answer  for  sacrilege  to  the  god  of  Op- 
portunity." And  again,  **  If  Kwok  commits  but  one  sin 
by  killing  Li's  child  in  envy,  but  performs  ten  thousand 
charities  with  his  wealth,  is  there  any  tally  for  Kwok? 
None.  He  answers  to  two  gods ;  he  tries  to  deceive  the 
god  of  Vengeance  with  the  projierty  of  the  god  of  Bene- 
factions." The  Chinese  throughout  their  literature  and 
conversation  take  the  keenest  interest  in  the  morals  of 
wealth,  and  thus  predate  the  twentieth  century  in 
America.  In  their  action  with  the  rich  in  times  of 
famine,  they  have  put  in  practice  the  principle  of  our  sug- 
gested income  ami  prevailing  death  taxes,  the  confisca- 
tory principle  being  operative  above  a  certain  figure. 
Wealth  over  a  certain  number  of  millions  is  confiscated 
for  three  purp<»scs,  the  relief  of  the  poor  in  famine, 
the  extension  of  education  and  tlie  larger  national  exigen- 
cies  such  as  dikes  and  afforestation.  The  ground  taken 
is  that  the  law  must  have  been  evaded,  as  no  individual 
couUl  honestly  secure  a  fortune  which  overtopped  the 
State  itself.  The  government  on  its  own  part  steps  into 
the  breach,  and  for  this  it  has  not  received  due  credit, 
by  remitting  to  the  i)Cople  in  times  of  stress,  and  emigra- 
ti<^n  to  new  districts,  the  land  taxes  for  one  or  two  years. 

Kxamples  of  Cliinese  proverbs  are:  '*  Opportunities 
come  in  cycles,  like  meteors.     '*  Between  the  mulberries. 


274  THE  CHINESE 

plant  beans,  for  two  things  can  not  fail*'  ^'  The  moatfa 
of  a  dumb  man  and  the  look  of  a  fbol»  make  a  ruler,  for 
the  first  outwits  his  inferiors  and  the  latter  his  mpmxxs.'* 
**  A  child's  slap  on  a  plow-buffalo's  ear,  and  a  hint  to 
a  wise  man^  are  sufficient'*  '*  Shave  Qiang  every  day, 
but  skin  his  buffalo  once."  ''  Those  who  chase  kites,  faQ 
over  straws."  The  Kan  Ying  Pien  homily  says: 
**  Happiness  and  trouble  stand  at  every  one's  gate ;  youn 
is  the  choice  which  you  will  invite  in." 

The  very  constitution  of  the  Chinese  written  charac- 
ter has  guided  them  to  think  and  express  themsehres 
poetically.  The  people  along  the  Yangtze  call  their 
gfreat  river  "  The  Son  of  the  Sea  "  because  the  tides  flow 
upon  it.  A  vast  number  of  people  in  the  eastern  section 
never  call  their  land  anything  else  than  Sse  Hai,  "  The 
country  of  the  four  seas."  Korea  is  called  Chaosien,  the 
"  Dewy  morning  land."  Shanghai  interpreted  is  "  Near- 
ing  the  sea,"  and  Hong-Kong  is  "  Fragrant  streams,"  be- 
cause of  the  damp  earth  and  vegetable  odors  brought  out 
by  the  equatorial  storms  which  suddenly  leap  with  wild 
white  manes  from  the  hills  in  August.  Lhasa  is  "  God's 
Ground."  Canton  is  "  The  broad  city,"  and  Ningpo, 
within  sight  of  the  great  bore  of  Hang-chow  Bay,  means 
"  Beautiful  wave  city."  China  also  has  her  golden  gate 
port,  for  Quemoy  Island  at  the  entrance  to  Amoy  literally 
is  "  Golden  Harbor."  The  names  of  the  provinces  are 
similarly  poetic:  Shan-tung  is  "East  of  the  hills"; 
Fu-kien  means  "  Happily  established  " ;  Shansi,  "  West  of 
the  hills."  Shensi,  "  Western  defiles."  Hupeh.  "  North 
of  the  lakes."  Szechuen,  "  Four  streams."  The  oldest 
known  to  us,  Kwangtung,  means  the  "  Broad  east." 
Yunnan  is  "  South  of  the  cloudy  mountains  "  of  Thibet 
Kansu,  where  the  conquered  Mohammedans  dwell  among 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      275 

the  stsanium  oil  trees,  is  satirically  named  "  Voluntary 
rtverencc." 

The  names  of  popular  brands  of  lea  are  bestowed  with 
literary  tasie :  "  Autumn  Dew,"  "  Pearl  Flower," 
"  l^tus  Heart,"  etc.  Even  a  potato  is  an  "  earth  egg." 
Tltc  almonds  of  Sliensi  I^ovince  are  an  abundant  source 
of  food,  and  it  is  beautifully  suggestive  to  see  the  many 
restaurants  all  over  the  land  with  signs  out  bearing  the 
legend,  "  The  Almond  Flower."  Where  we  would  say 
"  .May  you  flourish  like  the  green  bay  tree,"  the  Chinese 
idiom  is  "  May  yoit  be  as  full  as  a  peony,"  fur  that  flower 
represents  wealth  in  their  figure  of  speech. 

The  miiiij  or  given  name  of  girls  is  often  taken 
from  flowers,  as  "Jasmine"  Chung;  "Orchis"  Choy, 
(.-ic,  and  boys  Iiavf  names  such  as  "  .oon-shining " 
Chi'iif; :  "  Ohw  Bud  "  Fimg ;  "  Temple  Stejw  "  Shun ;  or 
"  Piigixla  of  Letters"  Vung.  Sometimes  the  family  or 
Wiry  names  nre  also  taWcn  from  nature,  as  Yuen  Chuen, 
"  Sweet  ."^iiriiig."  A  late  ambassador  to  America  who 
wa'i  educated  at  Yale,  would  perforce  be  called  in  our 
province  cxiliange,  if  his  name  were  translated.  "Mr, 
.Millet."  and  the  most  progressive  viceroy,  Yuan  Shi  K'ai 
is  literally  "  Mr.  Duck." 

Where  our  statesmen  refer  to  the  olive  branch  of 
peace,  tliey  phrase  it  "  may  the  bamlxx)  wave."  The 
lliincse  line  of  beauty  is  set  forth  as  follows:  "  Yang's 
li'I'v  and  eyebrow  were  twin  willow  leaves  above  .t  pearly 
]>i».|."  W'licre  we  wish  a  happy  pair  the  conjuRnl  felicity 
I'f  iwu  mated  doves,  lliey  make  it  "two  gecsc."  and  at 
the  marriage  ceremony  the  brido  kowtows  to  a  pair  of 
the  latter.  Where  we  wish  age  the  honors  of  "  cedars 
i.f  I.eb.'ii«.n."  they  say  "  May  yui  be  as  witle  as  a  chrys- 
anthemum border,"  for  that  flower  is  their  emblem  of 


2^6  THECHIXESE 

loDgrnij.  Ther  call  age  at  *"  catmSc  ia  a  daft.*'  Tkj 
cxadd  net  m-aii  a  cinld  to  be  as  pore  as  a  B^,  for  llat 
flo««r  tt  didr  cnddem  of  dcadL  Thar  flower  of  ntae 
is  tibe  phm  Uossom.    Wboe  m«  sij  ''as  qakk  as  a 


diot  (X- a  bird,'*  lixir  figure  is '^  iridi  dK  speed  of 
Love  tfacj  call  the  '  cal  erf  die  lamp  of  fife.** 

The  Emperar's  palace  is  caOed  ^The  Paboe  of 
Hcaveo.^  and  tbe  En9res5\  "  The  Pdaoe  <rf  EaftbTs  Re- 
pose.  AJtnooigii  mma  jjiveuieci  tne  iMii^ms  wuui 
points  to  ffae  Sootli  Pole»  there  k  a  temple  at  Vdaag 
dedicated  to  the  ''God  of  the  Xoith  Star."  Not  to  be 
offtpFMj  toe  Dimior  of  O^oddeitfals  who  iwpTd  ^^^fiiffM^fc 
over  the  bones  of  a  saint,  Pekii:^  has  erected  an  obdi^ 
over  a  piece  of  Buddha's  skin- 
Delightful  to  a  strenuously  tired  Occidental,  Peace  is 
for  ever  in  their  mouths.  "The  Gate  of  Heavenlv 
Rest;''  "The  Temple  of  the  Eternal  Peace  of  the 
Lamas ; "  "  The  Gate  of  Extensive  Peace :  "  *•  The  Hall 
of  Secure  Peace/'  are  all  at  Peking. 

The  5"/ii  King,  a  book  of  three  hundred  odes,  is  laden 
with  lyrics  as  dainty  as  are  Campion's.  **  The  new  wife 
is  a  peach  bud.  The  aged  pair  ent\vined  i;\'istaria5  arc 
Peace  is  a  bamboo  spear  in  flower.  The  great  man's 
soul  cried  out  for  God  and  swept  his  body  like  a  husk 
away.  *  The  moth-like  eyebrows  of  my  moonUght  girl ' 
suggests  the  universal  use  of  powder  by  decent  women 
in  China.  Fci's  step  is  as  light  as  the  lotus  on  water. 
As  typhoons  sweep  the  bamboo's  sprays,  so  Death  blows 
i>I)  old  Age's  sleeve.  The  white  owl  hoots  of  death  upon 
the  stricken  |)oet's  sill.  Slow  as  a  nut-oil  wick  her  life 
departs.  His  concubine  the  cold  jade-jewel;  his  first 
wife  was  a  true  peach  flower.  Years  fly  like  arrows,  one 
C«iger  to  pass  the  other  to  the  mark.     A  forgiving  answer 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      ^77 

is  venial  from  the  moutli."  All  of  them  twine  nature  so 
as  to  adom  some  liiiman  interest,  and  the  human  motive 
is  not  read  into  nature  in  the  affected  occidental  fashion 
of  our  day, 

China  had  its  Chattcrton  in  the  poet  Tu  Fu,  who 
starved  to  dvaih  im  a  temple's  steps;  its  Edgar  Allan  Poe 
in  Kia  Yi,  who  wroic  centuries  ago  A  ll'hilc  Owl  Ode 
with  the  exact  plot  of  The  Raz-cn;  and  its  Hood  in  Han 
Yu,  who  warns  the  fanner's  son  who  became  a  mandarin : 
"  Xc'er  forget  the  chastening  ditch  that  found  thee  poor 
and  left  thee  rich."  A  counterpart  of  Leigh  Hunt  is  Su 
Tung  Po.  who  languished  in  prison  for  his  satires  and 
whose  imaginative  flights  arc  little  short  of  Miltonic. 
His  (>oetry  Ix*st  bears  translation  into  English  without 
losing  as  much  of  the  boquet  of  the  original  as  other 
jx-els  suffer  in  the  transition.  I.i  Po  was  their  Ovid  in 
the  praise  of  wine  and  women:  Chuang  Tze  their  Shel- 
ley ill  imaginative  (lights. 

S^iiia  Tsien,  who  wrote  h's  great  history  B.  C.  100, 
fiiiniKires  with  our  I len kI^ 'in-;.  :in>l  Ij  I'ai  with  our 
H.irace.  Outside  of  the  realm  I'f  piin-  literature,  the 
liity  vulimtes  of  Li  Slii  Chin  publi.-hcd  in  1590  are  at 
oiire  a  Materia  Midica  and  an  Audubon.  Chinese 
n.unrnlists  di-Mrrilte  willi  surprising  e.\aclness  the  liahits 
'■i  nntmals,  fish  and  injects.  As  an  illustration  of  official 
kni'wle'lge  on  these  subjects,  note  this  e.^lract  from  a 
l;iie  pntlatnalioii  of  the  viceroy  of  the  two  Kwang 
I'r.iviiices  roTuerniiig  the  extirjiation  of  grasshoppers: 
"  Ihiririi,'  ihl-i  month  great  flights  have  api>cared  in  our 
jcli'^iniii!;  ]ir''vince.  .\i  this  time  our  ,=ecoud  crop  of 
r;\e  U  in  ilie  blade.  The  in-eits  first  are  seen  on  the 
UirdiTS  of  large  morasses.  Tliey  pnnluce  their  young 
in  hillocks  of  black  earth  an  inch  deep,  the  hole  remain- 


THE  CHINESE 


1 


tual  men  in  Shakespeare's  day,  and  as  moral  men  ia 
Paul's  day.  The  intellectual  decline  has  been  gradual: 
■  next  came  Milton,  and  then  you  dwindled  down  to  Dick- 
ens, Longfellow  and  Carlyle,  till  now,  how  thin  is  your 
veneer  of  letters.  Morally,  how  dead  and  sad  the  review. 
You  are  the  only  race  who,  powerful  enough  to  retain  il. 
has  given  over  your  religious  shrine,  Palestine,  to  an  un- 
believer, and  yet  five  hundred  million  of  you  attribute  all 
your  civihzation  to  the  Bible  of  that  land.  This  astound* 
ing  sacrilege  has  eternally  amazed  us,  and  we  can  sec  t 
reverence,  love  or  deptli  in  you.  We  glory  in  teacliiq 
Confucius  in  all  schools  and  in  preserving  his  stu 
You  throw  your  greatest  book  out  of  your  natioi 
schools.  You  were  harder  to  civilize  than  any  race,  i 
bloody  tearing  down  preceding  every  building  up, 
under  Cromwell  and  in  Russia  to-day.  For  every  litt 
law,  you  have  sent  your  people  to  their  swords  to  i 
it. 

"  Your  whole  system  is  one  of  objection  to  im 
ment  and  temperamentally  you  could  not  accept  ; 
race  a  peaceful  endowment  of  civihzation  such  as  ( 
fuciiis  bestowed  upon  us.     All  your  Emperors  dress  i 
generals  of  war;  ours  alone  as  a  philosopher  of  j 
AVhen  we  would  translate  your  word  Liberty,  we  pertci 
are  driven  to  the  character  Rebellion,  for  so  you  1 
won  it.     We  have  never  flung  derision  at  the  constitud 
as  have  j'our  races  when  the  bravoes  of  MJlo  and  Clodi 
of  doges  and  dukes,  made  private  altercation  a  substiW 
for  public  pleading.     Where  each  citizen  already 
himself  with  Shun  (morality)  the  State  is  already  cloth! 
in  Liberty.     In  the  adaptation  of  ourselves  to  the  invd 
tive  age  you  will  see  that  we  shall  reach  the  higher  planes 
without  bloody  disorganjzatioa,  as  we  are  a  race  with 


Looking   innii    iIk^    liii]>(rial    liank   of   Cliiiia   lowanl   ihe    British  and 
AiiR-ritan  .ii.;irn.T>.  Slia.ighai.   liasi  Ct-niral  China. 


L-vfinif.it    walls    of    lake    in    Royal    Pabc 
lrninul>,    IVkiiij;.    Nnrlli   China. 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      281 

conscience  and  faith  enough  to  follow  what  Time,  the 
only  test  (and  test  us  by  it)  has  proved  to  be  right. 
Look  to  yourselves! " 

The  performance  of  a  theatrical  company  (Thespians 
in  China  are  called  **  Brothers  of  the  Pear  Trees")  is 
extended  to  the  length  of  a  festival.  Great  structures  of 
bamboo  and  mats  arc  erected  near  the  water-front,  partly 
that  the  lapping  waves  may  be  referred  to  by  the  gestur- 
ing actor  in  the  climax  of  the  play,  but  particularly  in 
order  that  the  sampan  people  may  have  no  excuse  for 
staying  away.  Historical  dramas  from  their  Shakes- 
peare-Jonson-Fletcher  collection,  the  "  one  hundred  plays 
of  the  Yuan  Dynasty,"  which  take  days  to  perform,  arc 
given.  Farces  and  sketches  are  interspersed  to  enliven 
proceedings.  The  titles  of  the  latter  are  as  we  might 
cxiK-Tt :  Ah  Binij  Scllimj  His  Pig;  The  Congratulatiotxs 
of  the  FAght  Genii;  A  I'isit  to  the  Moon;  The  Tairy 
Wife,  etc.  On  April  i(>th,  reminiscent  of  the  world's 
creation,  a  religious  drama  is  |KTformcd.  the  title  being 
The  Opening  of  the  Peach, 

The  two  lowest  grades  of  Chinese  society,  both  of 
whom  are  debarred  from  entering;  the  classical  examina- 
tions, are  a  keeper  of  an  opium  <len  and  an  actor.  It  can 
tliercfore  be  juiiged  how  all  China  burst  into  a  laugh  of 
derision  when  there  was  adiicd  in  190(3  to  the  Exempts 
under  the  American  Exclusion  Act,  immediately  after 
scholars,  who  are  the  hi|;hest  class,  actors,  who  are  dia- 
iTHtrically  opposed.  Yet  priests  and  actors  fraternize 
-onictiines.  At  Chowtung  in  Yunnan,  the  jjorj^eous  Tem- 
ple of  the  Black  God  has  a  theatrical  sta^^e  set  up  in  the 
court.  riiis  staj^e  diN|)lays  in  perfect  pro|>oriii»n  the  U^^t 
feature'^  of  Chinese  archittx'turc  and  is  notatOe.  In  the 
courtyard  of  the  Temple  of  the  GikI  of  Riches  at  Tang- 


I 

H 

W  sa: 


282  THE  CHINESE 

yuch,  just  on  the  borders  of  Burmah,  a  theater  is  set  up, 
and  one  can  pray  or  laugh  under  the  patronage  of  the 
same  honze.  The  costumes  of  the  actors  are  as  gorgeous 
as  description  can  paint,  even  surpassing  the  robes  of  tlic 
throne.  In  passing  we  might  mention  that  the  favorite 
gown  of  tliose  who  act  the  part  of  an  empress  is  of  yellow, 
with  a  very  wide  border  of  purple  wistaria.  Women  do 
not  act.  Tlicir  parts  are  taken  by  men,  and  the  Chinese 
in  wliose  speech  many  falsetto  tones  are  in  constant  use, 
can  dis-scmble  the  female  perfectly.  When  applause  is  ex- 
pected from  the  falsetto  ladies  on  the  stage,  it  is  given 
in  a  chorus  of  orthodox  squeaks.  As  soon  as  tlic  curtain 
is  Ming  up,  all  the  actors  troop  out  and  kowiow  before 
the  mandarin's  box,  which  sways  on  its  draped  bamboos 
,  in  more  apparent  than  real  jeopardy.  China  has  not  yet 
revolved  the  modern  drama,  so  popular  in  Japan,  where 
l(  heroes  are  apotheosized  and  the  doings  of  gods,  mythical 
I  warriors  and  living  heroes  are  woven  into  a  wonder  play. 
When  Nogi  and  Oyama  go  to  the  Honchodori  Theater 
the  curtain  is  rung  up  (or  really  tom-tommed  up)  to  re- 
veal some  slain  subaltern  of  Port  Arthur  in  the  act  of 
tearing  down  a  Russian  flag,  while  mythical  Kagekio  and 
Terasu  present  the  hero  with  a  sword  and  a  dove. 

The  Chinese  actor  is  apprenticed  for  four  years  and 
the  repertoire  of  a  star  consists  of  about  fifty  plays.  The 
playwright,  just  as  Shakespeare  did,  travels  with  the 
company  as  its  permanent  adapter  of  the  ancient  tragedies 
and  traditions,  and  proving  that  mankind,  whatever  the 
color,  has  ever  been  strung  to  the  same  chords,  he  never 
fails  to  consign  the  villain  to  tortures,  the  oppressor  to 
accidents  sent  by  the  gods,  and  the  hero  to  recompense, 
bliss  and  applause.  The  Actors'  Guild  ccmiprises  thirty 
thousand  members,  and  the  highest  individual  earning 


CHINESE  ART  AND  UTERATURE      283 

are  eighteen  hundred  dollars  a  year.  As  already  stated, 
certain  plays  are  performed  in  Buddhist  temples,  the  nuns 
being  i)erniitted  to  dance,  but  these  plays  are  more  popu- 
lar in  the  country  bordering  Siam  and  Burmah,  and  if  we 
go  o\er  the  border  to  the  Wat  Chang  Temple  in  Bangkok* 
we  can  easily  find  bold  examples  of  them. 

A  Chinese  city  shorn  of  its  street  signs  woukl  be  like 
a  pheasant  plucked  of  its  plumage.  Rob  Heavenly 
Peace  Street,  at  Canton,  or  Tung  Tan  Street,  Peking, 
of  their  black  and  gold  signs  and  yellow  lanterns,  and  it 
would  be  as  though  you  tore  the  transforming  sunset 
from  the  bare  loess  hills  of  China.  Not  only  is  the 
beauty  of  gilt  woric  exhibited,  but  marvelous  creations  in 
alio-rilicvo  carving  are  hung  out.  The  signs  follow  the 
triple  plan  of  mentioning  the  name,  birthplace  and  motto. 
The  business  is  not  mentioned,  as  **  Fung  Shan,  lK)rn 
Sam  Shui  City, —  This  is  the  Aboile  of  Generosity  and 
Li^ht.**  SonKlimcs  merely  the  picture  of  an  animal  is 
the  sign.  The  tiger  has  been  adopted  by  the  Clothiers' 
Guild.  With  the  words  "Strength  and  Courage** 
added,  it  is  hung  out  over  the  tailors*  shops  which  are 
c(iiii[»i)ing  the  new  \'olunteer  Corps.  Here  is  a  hasty 
j^leaning  of  the  street  names  of  Canton:  **  New  Green 
IVa.'*  ••  Medicine/*  *'  C}ol(kn  Mower,**  "  Plum  Lane.**  and 
as  this  is  the  city  which  next  to  jade  worships  the  pearl, 
we  find  they  have  named  a  street  and  their  river  (Qiu 
KianjsO  after  the  latter  jewel.  A  popular  name  for  a 
city  gate  is  **  Kntrance  of  Bright  Amiability.**  The 
iKrauly  of  p>rtry  is  n«»t  without  its  humbling  fault  of 
Inimof.  a  charcoal  shop  being  called:  "The  adornment 
of  the  Mycs.**  and  a  pawnshop  "  \'irtuous  and  Prosjier- 
ous.** 

In  the  rear  where  the  ca>hier.  or  >hroff,  sits  behind  his 


swatipan,  the  shop  is  no  less  gorgeous  than  the  signs. 
The  front  half  of  the  store,  where  the  willow  and  cam- 
phor-wood boxes  of  miTchanciise  are  packed,  is  paved 
with  plain  red  brick  tiling  or  granite  blcxrks,  but  the  rear 
portion  is  divided  by  a  screen  of  massive  and  elaborate 
carved  blackwood,  pointed  heavily  with  gold,  and  over- 
head is  carved  a  gilded  Confucian  motto,  such  as  "To 
become  permanently  wealthy,  you  must  exercise  the  pna- 
d[de  of  right."  The  stench  of  the  street  is  fot^ht  bade 
by  burning  pieces  of  sandal  and  teak  woods,  and  by  in- 
cense stidcs  smouldering  in  the  ashes  before  the  ancestral 
tablets,  for  all  China,  except  the  fokis,  lives  where  it 
works.  They  are  only  business  streets,  but  the  signs 
suggest  to  a  stranger  the  way  to  a  temple,  not  only  by 
the  religious  mottoes,  but  by  the  lavish  beauty  of  red, 
green  and  gold  lacquer.  Chinese  signs  perforce  are 
pendant  and  narrow,  for  two  reasons :  because  the  letter- 
ing roust  be  horizontal,  and  because  the  streets  arc  so 
narrow.  There  are  three  characteristic  things  which  we 
learn  to  associate  with  and  love  in  Chinese  cities:  first, 
the  signs,  and  then  the  pagodas  and  lanterns.  As  the 
traveler  goes  farther  north,  notably  at  Liao  Yang,  it  is 
noticeable  that  the  signs  are  not  suspended  but  are  de- 
vated  upon  lacquered  posts.  The  post  itseff  bears  the 
firm's  motto  and  the  arms  are  given  up  entirely  to  deco- 
ration. In  Kin  Chou  Fu  in  Manchuria,  the  one-storied 
khan  or  inn  is  marked  by  a  tall  lamp  post  and  a  long 
semaphore  arm,  from  which  hangs  a  string  of  metal 
rings  with  horse-hair  plumes,  which  flutter  out  an  in- 
vitation to  the  camel  drivers  from  distant  Mongolia  to 
rest  a  while.  Occasionally  mine  host  greets  a  suspicious 
Japanese  or  a  curious  Westerner  who  has  the  twin  habits 
of  roaming  and  writing.     Rich  merchants  provide  in  their 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      285 

wills  for  inns,  as  a  public  benefaction,  and  depend  upon 
the  monumental  gates  which  front  them  for  their  glory. 

Other  characteristic  architectural  features  are  the  walls 
which  arc  built  around  private  residences  and  com- 
{)ounds;  the  monumental  topes  of  the  dead  lamas,  and 
the  pai-loa  arches  in  honor  of  widows  who  would  not  re- 
marry. The  walls  are  composed  of  a  stucco  called  c/iu- 
nam,  generally  mauve  colored,  and  a  foot  from  the  lop  is 
inserted  a  dainty  fretwork  of  tiling.  Set  into  the  stucco 
at  wide  intcr\'als  are  panels  of  blue  and  white  porcelain. 
Nothing  is  crowded  in  the  work  of  their  architects  who 
believe  in  the  beauty  of  line  and  the  significance  of  plain 
masses  relieved  only  a  little. 

In  the  middle  of  the  main  street  at  Wuchow  stands  a 
ntililc  circular  archway  whicli  stis  the  view  in  a  frame. 
There  are  two  wing  arches  with  smaller  circular  o\k\\- 
ings.  Ndiic  of  these  arches  is  made  t<j  driic  tliroii^h: 
ihcy  must  be  circumveiitvd.  The  nio-;!  i)lca--iii^  f-.tiloa 
arch  is  erected  on  ihe  shore  of  the  lake  in  llic  grtnuiils 
iif  the  Summer  Palace.  IVkiiig.  In  projMirtiin",  jrraoe, 
and  ju>I  enough  of  the  sumptuous  carving,  it  is  aho- 
mthiT  a  di-hfiht  10  wotern  eyes.  As  a  rulv.  huMCver, 
the  architecture  nf  arches  in  the  uonhcni  priAiiicc<.  siioh 
as  Shan-;],  is  Doric  in  its  >ini]iliciiy,  as  cnnij>ar«i  wilh 
till'  nviii-  l.i/arrc  ami  criiiiiiuiiti.l  aiilii--  <>i  tin-  s<>ulheni 
liniviTices.  'Ihc  nmst  f;(niiiiis  arch  in  China,  the  most 
iinliviitunl  arch  extant,  is  thai  which  stamls  at  the  entrance 
t"  the  Miiif,'  Tiiiihs  near  IVkiii};.  I"ivc  inwtrs  cri'wn  its 
tl\e  Miiiatc  ari!;i:<.  It  is  a  itia^^sivc,  awi-i.iinc  and  trt- 
liinphiiiil  nuin>'iia1  to  ilic  ;;rfat  arli-lic  fiiijHTi'rs.  Na- 
[■•.k-on  copied  Titu,";'  arch;  America  copied  .\'.i(>ii)e.>n*s, 
lint  the  Miiii;>  f  unil  in  thcm^ielve^^  the  ori_i;i';al  iii-pira- 
iji^ii  for  an  iirehitectural  expression  which  has  never  been 


\ 


286 


THE  CHINESE 


1 


equalled  for  balance,  power,  scope,  truth,  and  singular 
daring.  Standing  in  l1ie  now  unpeopled  plain  over 
against  the  mountains  of  the  creator,  it  seems  almost 
Eternity's  monument,  magnificent  amid  the  sorrows  and 
desolation  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth.  See  it  and 
be  steadied  in  your  taste  for  ever. 

Whatever  adverse  may  he  said  of  Chinese  perspective, 
there  are  certainly  no  painters  of  birds.  Insects  and 
flowers  to  equal  them.  They  catch  the  poise  and  color 
to  a  second.  They  delight  to  deceive  their  larks  and 
short-tailed  cats  with  their  canvases.  Famous  also  are 
the  temple  scenes  of  Wu  Tao  Tsz,  which  are  sought  for 
the  royal  collections. 

For  uniqueness,  Canton's  concentric  carved  ivory  balls 
can  not  be  overesteemed.  How  wonderfully  the  work- 
men cut  one  within  another!  Each  one  is  minutely  fash- 
ioned into  beautiful  open  tracery  so  that  the  partitions  left 
shall  show  flowers,  pagodas,  temples  and  animals.  The 
scalpel  which  carves  the  balls  is,  of  course,  introduced 
through  the  holes  of  each  completed  ball. 

If  anything  artistic  is  found  inland,  they  will  tell  you 
it  was  made  at  Canton  or  Nanking,  the  latter  city  in 
addition  enjoying  a  literary  fame,  and  being  the  center 
of  the  book  trade.  The  Chinese  have  a  saying:  "  You 
never  know  what  luxury  is  till  you  have  lived  in  Canton," 

As  odd  as  the  native  appreciation  in  medicine  of  gin- 
seng, for  which  we  have  no  estimation,  is  their  appreci- 
ation of  the  yuk,  or  greenish-white  jade  stone.  Nothing 
can  take  precedence  of  it  as  the  chief  object  of  virtu  in 
Chinese  taste,  in  which  place  it  has  ruled  supreme  since 
the  second  century,  B.  C.  It  is  sometimes  set  as  a  wheel 
around  a  golden  hub,  and  is  cut  into  rings  and  hair-pins, 
but  generally  it  is  made  into  a  massive  seal  representing 


CHINESE  ART  AND  LITERATURE      287 

a  monkey  or  a  pear.  The  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art, 
New  York,  has  the  finest  collection  in  America,  The 
stone  is  softer  when  first  mined  than  it  is  after  exposure, 
when  it  becomes  exceedingly  hard.  The  polish  gives  it 
a  soapy  appearance  and  texture.  The  stone  is  found  in 
stmill  pieces  in  river  beds  in  Mongolia,  but  the  chief 
source  is  the  mountains  of  Yunnan,  and  Yunnan  City 
and  Canton  dispute  the  supremacy  for  the  cutters'  sln^ps. 
The  Yunnan  quarries  at  Tali  also  supply  the  cloudy 
marble  which  is  carved  along  the  veins  of  color  into  fan- 
tastic trees,  landscapes  and  animals. 

In  Kwong  Man  Shing's  and  Wing  Cheong's  jewelry 
shops  on  Queen's  Road  Central,  Hong-Kong,  you  will 
notice  that  no  prices  are  fixed  upon  the  many  gold  ar- 
ticles which  arc  worked  generally  in  20  carat  metal.  The 
weighing  is  done  before  you  on  a  long  and  short  lever 
of  ebony  or  ivory,  which  is  notched  with  minute  gra<lu- 
ations.  Jewels  are  also  wciglicd,  as  well  as  examine<l 
Ixffore  the  glass  and  Hainc.  The  hnk  cufT-buttons,  popu- 
lar with  foreigners,  always  lK*ar  the  characters  sliao  (long 
life),  am!  fuh  (happiness). 

Those  who  have  traveled  in  the  Orient  will  recall  the 
captain  warning  them  fnnn  the  rail  which  has  Ix^en  newly 
lac(iucre(!  while  the  stt-amer  laid  in  jxirt.  The  varnish 
is  very  i>)isonous,  the  gatherers  who  w<»rk  at  night  among 
the  varnish  trees  at  Xingpo  having  to  protect  fare  and 
hands.  The  tree  is  a  spivies  of  rhus.  The  pnKcss  of 
lacquering  l»'><»k  covers  and  objects  of  virtu  is  a  tedious 
one.  It  nui^t  Ijc  perf(^nne<l  in  a  room  which  is  sealed 
from  wind  and  <lust.  The  application^  CKldly  <lry  U*st 
wiicn  it  is  damp  anil  with  a  tem|Hrature  of  aUMit  eighty- 
seven  degrees.  Kach  application  of  den<e  black  is  p«)|- 
ished  with  iK»Wilered  charcoal  ami  |»umice  stone.     When 


THE  CHINESE 


^^^^    288 

^1  the  gold-leaf  powder  is  applied  through  a  sieve  which  is 

^M  tied  over  the  end  of  a  bamboo  tube,  the  artist  must  be 

^H  sure  of  his  slightest  movement,  as  the  gummy  surface 

^B  will  not  permit  the  slightest  correction.     Lighter  colors, 

^H  such  as  Ihe  golden  brown  and  green,  are  effected  by  mbc- 

^^  ing  gums  of  other  trees,  as  well  as  pig's  gall  and  camellia 

^H  oil.     Gilt  flowers  are  laid  between  the  different  layers 

^H  so  that  as  the  lacquer  wears,  the  glorious  blossoms  rise 

^B  gradually  to  the  surface,  even  as  a  lotus  bursts  through 

^H  the  dark  swamp.     This  is  the  idea  in  the  minds  of  both 

^H  the  artist  and  the  connoisseur.     The  carving  of  the  thick 

^H  lacquer  paste  is  a  lost  art  of  the  Imperial  manufactories 

^^  of  the  Ming  dynasty.     The  product  shone  with  the  bril- 

liancy of  a  jewel. 

Wayside  shrines  are  as  numerous  as,  but  far  more 
beautiful  than  the  bizarre  specimens  that  one  finds  in 
Mexico  or  Spain.  Sometimes  two  monoliths  with  gilt 
texts  artistically  apphed,  support  a  highly  decorated  cap- 
stone. Sometimes  the  shrine  is  a  miniature  temple 
of  solid  blocks,  with  merely  the  incense  aperture,  while 
others,  hke  the  Altar  of  Heaven  in  the  suburbs  of  Fu- 
chau,  are  jewel-like  in  crimson  and  gold  lacquer,  and 
are  equipped  with  luxurious  Nanking  porcelain  seats  and 
kongs  of  flowers. 

Carved  stone  lions  are  the  most  popular  of  all  statues 
in  a  land  which  has  no  lions.  That  in  front  of  the  Lama 
Temple,  Peking,  is  an  excellent  example,  as  are  also 
those  which  decorate  the  great  flight  of  steps  to  the 
temple  on  Siung  Shan  Island  at  Chinkiang.  These  are 
all  made  at  Nanking,  China's  Athens  of  sculpture. 

The  vermilion  of  Canton  is  a  characteristic  coloring 
perfected  by  a  famous  secret.  The  quicksilver  which  is 
employed  in  its  preparation  at  present  is  largely  brought 


X 


CHINESE  ART  AND  UTERATURE      289 

from  America,  and  how  the  Chinese  importers  of  Des 
Voeux  Road,  Hong-Kong,  squabble  over  the  elusive 
globules  which  have  escaped  into  the  hold  of  the  vessel 
from  the  long  retorts.  The  basal  powder  is  produced 
first  as  a  sublimation  in  contact  with  sulphur  on  the  sides 
of  the  retorts.  The  Emperor's  Great  Seal  is  dipped  in 
vermilion.  The  native  quicksilver  mines  arc  far  inland 
in  Kweichow,  and  have  been  worked  since  the  fourteenth 
century.  The  product  is  transported  in  pigs*  bladders, 
but  poor  local  transportation  has  compelled  the  nation  to 
import  for  its  growing  r<*quirements. 


vn 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS  IN   CHINA 


rThe  Shang  Pu  (Board  of  Commerce)  has  pretty  well 
laid  out  the  railuay  p^jhcy.  Half  of  the  midland  trunk 
line,  north  to  south,  from  Peking  to  Canton,  lias  been 
completed  to  Han-kau,  a  distance  of  seven  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  miles,  and  is  known  as  the  Lu-Han  Railway. 
It  was  built  under  the  direction  of  Jadot,  a  Belgian,  with 
a  loan  of  thirty-one  niilliciris  indirectly  from  France,  and 
repaid  in  only  ten  years.  The  road  is  thrown  across  the 
shifting  Hoang-ho  on  a  notable  bridge  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  spans.  Han-kau  ("mouth"  of  the  Han 
River  as  it  meets  the  Yangtze)  boasts  of  a  channel  six 
hundred  miles  to  the  sea,  twenty-three  feet  deep.  It  is 
the  emporium  of  the  black  tea  trade.  This  city  will  be 
the  future  Pittsburgh  of  the  Orient,  as  here  meet  the  iron, 
coal  and  antimony  beds  of  Hupeh.  She  has  already 
shipped  pig-iron  to  Brooklyn,  N,  Y.,  at  a  price  laid  down 
of  seventeen  dollars  gold  a  ton,  including  four  dollars 
and  seventy-five  cents  freight,  which  speaks  portentous 
volumes  for  the  future.  Two  things  are  noticeable  at 
Han-kau ;  commercial  antipathy  to  the  European,  and 
the  popularity  of  the  Japanese  street  hawkers,  who  have 
never  before  come  so  far  inland.  Han-kau  will  grow 
at  Shanghai's  expense.  The  London  Homeward  Con- 
ference (Suez  route)  has  now  agreed  to  charge  the  same 
rates  from  Han-kau  as  from  Shanghai.  There  is  a 
province-owned  steel  plant,  with  an  output  of  one  thoii- 
290 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     291 

sand  two  hundred  tuns  a  day,  already  in  operation  at 
Han-yang  (across  the  river  from  Han-kau),  which  is 
constantly  shipping  to  Japan  and  occasionally  to  Mex- 
ico. The  ancient  method  of  producing  carbon  iron, 
still  followed  in  opulent  Shansi  Province,  is  as  follows: 
ore  and  onc-cjuarter  of  coal  dust  are  mixed  in  sixty  cru- 
cibles, eighteen  inches  by  six  inches,  and  with  the  usual 
layers  of  coal,  cinders  and  clay,  are  placed  in  a  furnace 
which  is  fired  for  sixteen  hours.  Very  fine  wrought  iron 
is  afterward  hammered  from  the  product  over  a  wood 
fire. 

The  railway  from  Peking  to  Canton  will  run  almost  all 
the  way  over  and  between  beds  of  iron  and  coal,  the 
largest  in  the  world.  Every  prophecy  in  this  respect  of 
Richtofen  thirty-eight  years  ago.  has  l)ccn  verified,  in- 
credulous as  it  seemed  at  that  time.  The  next  largest 
area  is  in  Shansi  with  its  fourteen  thousand  square  miles 
of  anthracite,  twenty-two  feet  tliick.  and  immense  bi- 
timiinous  IkmIs  iK'sidcs.  Then  follows  S/ccliucn  with 
its  fabulous  beds  which  crop  out  in  plain  sight  even  along 
the  gorges  of  the  Yangtze  River.  Who  wouki  suspect 
that  China  mine<l  twentv  millitin  tons  of  coal  last  vcar? 
^^»n  have  hardly  left  Peking  when  the  old  transiM»rtation 
system  apfK'ars  in  strong  contrast  with  the  new.  At 
Panting  I\i.  a  name  of  shame  I)ecause  of  the  murder  of 
the  American  missionaries  in  i<>oo.  shai^gy  dromedaries 
an<l  wheelbarrow  trains  come  down  to  the  railwav  from 
the  Shansi  mines.  The  camels  arc  led  by  a  Wi^nlen  j>eg 
inserted  through  the  nose.  They  cost  fifteen  dollars  each. 
I'-verv  driver  is  a  (^ne-timc  ]»oxer.  At  Tsechow.  a  moun- 
tain  of  anthracite  is  tilted  three  thousand  feet  alK)ve  the 
plain.  To  reach  these  <le|x)sits  a  branch  would  have  to  Ixr 
run  thirty  miles  from  the  present  Peking-Han-kau  Rail- 


292 


THE  CHINESE 


way  at  a  severe  gradient.  The  coal  beds  on  tlie  main  line 
level  are  flooded  with  the  exfiltration  seepage  of  the  Yel- 
low River  and  pumping  is  costly.  As  nearly  all  the  land 
is  a  porous  loess,  drainage,  more  than  grades,  is  the  all- 
serious  problem,  and  China's  cry  is  for  pumps. 

A  New  Yorker,  familiar  with  the  small  locomotive! 
which  used  to  pull  the  elevated  trains,  will  be  humorously 
reminded  of  the  old  days  of  jolt  and  grime,  by  seeing  sev- 
eral of  them  harnessed  on  the  Canton  end  of  the  line  to 
second-class  cars,  which  are  merely  flat  cars  with  a  roof 
and  no  sides.  The  old  signal  disks  which  indicated 
"  Sixth  "  and  "  Ninth  "  Avenues  are  retained  on  the  tops 
of  the  cabs,  the  Chinese  engineer  explaining  with  the  in- 
finite courtesy  of  the  race :  "  no  wanchee  change  good 
luck  pidgin."  The  first  derailment  occurred  at  Fatshan 
when  a  water-buffalo  became  patriotic  in  opposing  the  ef- 
frontery of  progress.  The  delight  of  the  Chinese  wreck- 
ing crew  over  the  use  of  the  derrick  was  indescribable. 
Former  Viceroy  Chum,  burning  with  zeal  for  the  New 
China,  is  advocating  the  extension  of  the  line  from  Can- 
ton to  the  deserted  deep-water  port  of  Whompoa,  ten 
miles  away,  and  famous  for  its  intercourse  with  foreign- 
ers for  three  centuries.  His  plan  is  a  direct  challenge  of 
the  supremacy  of  Hong-Kong  in  the  far  East.  Hong- 
Kong  is  hotly  alarmed  over  the  possibility  of  seeing  one- 
third  of  her  vast  trade  depart.  Hong-Kong  has  the 
advantage  of  graving  docks  but  Whompoa  will  eventually 
offer  cheaper  coal  from  the  Pe  River  and  Fa  Yuen  mines, 
lower  freight  rates,  and  a  patriotic  sentiment,  for  this  will 
be  their  own  port  for  Canton.  The  first  result  of  the  bat- 
tle has  been  Shum's  removal  to  another  province,  and  ac- 
tivity in  building  the  Kowloon-Canton  Railway  with 
British  capital  and  partly  through  British  territory,  bat 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     293 

Slimn  and  those  who  think  like  him,  are  scotched,  not  ex- 
terminated. There  is  room  for  both  ports  in  the  develop- 
ment of  Soutticrn  China. 

The  remaining  seven  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  the 
I'eking-Canton  Railway  will  be  financed  to  an  extent  by 
thf  Hong-Kong  government  and  the  Hong-Kong  and 
Slianghai  Banking  Corporation,  with  the  opium  and 
otlior  revenues  of  the  two  Kwang  Provinces  as  security. 
Tlie  road  will  be  partly  finaiKcd  by  Chinese  underwriters, 
America  having  unwisely  released  this  famous  concession 
3t  a  profit  to  the  American  holders  of  six  and  one-half 
millions.  What's  the  use  of  thinking  imperially  when 
we  can  act  profitably  for  our  own  if  not  our  son's  sake? 
The  concession  was  sold  by  Morgan  and  Company  to 
Chang  (."hill  Tung.  \'iceroy  of  Hn|ieh.  Chang  lx)rrowing 
four  and  nric-lialf  millions  from  Mi>nta;^ic  ami  t'omitany. 
Konilon.  ami  thtir  nnilerwriters.  on  the  undcrManding 
that  Britain  woulil  have  the  veto  over  any  foreigners 
employe!  in  ron-truclioti  wrk,  Tlif  \ii.eroy  of  the  two 
Kwang  ['nniiKCs  raised  the  other  two  and  one-half 
milliniis  iif  tlic  iniriliase  hv  a  wonderfully  jmptilar  sub- 
Mrrijilion  c<)vcriiig  tens  of  thousands  of  small  Ws.  Thus 
tlie  concession  which  China  gave  away  cost  her  six  and 
oiH'dialf  millions  to  buy  hack,  another  Icssim  in  patriotism 
recited  bitterly  by  the  New  China  party,  but  partly  for- 
gi\cn  when  America,  led  by  that  Daniel  of  justice  and 
judgment,  Rivisevell,  restored  a  third  of  the  al)snrdly 
larpc  Uoxcr  indemnity.  Only  twenty-eiKht  miles  of  road 
had  tx^'cn  laid  down.  China  has  added  fony  miles. 
W'ticn  the  road  is  o|K'nfd.  il  will  throw  the  marvelous 
gorge  sceniry  of  llie  I'piKT  Vangtze,  where  the  cliffs 
rise  nv<i  thousand  feet  fiom  the  river's  edge,  open  to 
sightseers  at  a  cost  of  only  three  days*  time  from  Canton. 


294 


THE  CHINESE 


r 

^M  Ninety  miles  from  Canton,  where  the  railway  passes  the 

^M  Pe  River,  perpendicular  coal  scams  are  prominent,  and 

^M  horizontal  mining  can  be  accomplished  at  little  cost.     The 

^M  engineers  employed  in  nearly  all  Chinese  railway  construc- 

H  tion  are  Japanese.     On  the  northwest  road  from  Peking 

^1  to  Kalgan,  Chinese  engineers  are  employed.     This  road  is 

^1  being  entirely  financed  from  the  coffers  of  the  Wai-Wu 

H  Pu  (Foreign  Board).     In  some  cases  the  cais  (foremen) 

H  are  also  Japanese.     The  Can  ton-Han- kau  road,  called  the 

H  Yuet-Han  Railway,  is  at  present  employing  the  most  fa- 

H  nious  of  the  Chinese  railway  engineers,  Kwong  Sun  MatL 

H  The  president,  Cheng  To  Ctiai,  is  experiencing  difEicultx 

f  in  diking  out  the  provincial  political  floods  which  threaten 

to  engulf  his  financing  and  construction.  It  is  the  old 
temerity  of  the  South,  the  world  over,  to  awake  and  know 
herself. 

The  roads  from  Nanking  to  Shanghai,  and  through  the 
silk  province  from  Soochow  to  Ningpo  and  Wuchow,  via 
Hang-chow  (the  ancient  capital  of  the  Sung  dynasty  and 
the  loveliest  city  of  China)  arc  under  way  through  these 
nursery  grounds  of  Chinese  liberty.  From  Swatow  to 
Chao  Chou  Fu  on  the  Little  Han  River,  sixty-five  miles, 
a  railway  is  being  constructed,  and  will  later  be  extended 
to  the  earthquake  city  of  Amoy.  With  money  with- 
drawn from  Russian  schemes,  the  French  plan  to  build 
a  trunk  railway  from  Hanoi,  the  capital  of  Tonquin, 
four  hundred  miles  through  tin  and  copper  territory  and 
elephant  fastnesses,  to  Yunnan  City.  The  mephitic 
Namti  Valley,  which  this  road  must  cross,  and  which 
separates  the  Red  River  from  the  high  tablelands,  is 
levying  a  death  toll  of  seventy  per  cent,  among  the  worfc- 
ers,  and  filling  the  Orient  with  a  growing  scandal.  It 
is  already  impossible  to  get  the  Yunnaiiese  to  m^ 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     295 

Codies  ignorant  of  the  conditions  are  brought  from 
Shan-tung,  and  seventeen  thousand  of  these,  the  tallest 
and  strongest  of  the  race,  are  employed  in  the  Kamti  Val- 
ley alone.  Work  is  entirely  suspended  in  the  primeval 
giillies  and  jungles  during  the  summer  rains.  In  the  cool 
season,  thirty-five  thousand  Annamcse  are  brought  up  to 
the  work.  This  valley  is  destined  to  live  in  history.  No 
nio<lern  public  work  ever  levied  such  a  toll,  neither 
Panama,  Suez,  or  the  Russian  works  in  southern  Turkes- 
tan. It  will  be  four  years  before  Yunnan  and  Haiphong 
can  be  linked,  and  the  tale  of  diflkulties  only  asserts  the 
adage  that  the  Tropics  do  not  write  histories  of  wars 
because  they  are  engaged  on  a  more  compendious  History 
of  Fevers. 

At  Yunnan  Citv  this  French  road  will  connect  with  the 

m 

Hritisli  c(niccssi(»n  wliich  comes  from  Calcutta  and  Man- 
(lalay.  thence  going  northeast  as  far  as  Choong  King  at 
the  heachjuarters  of  the  Yangtze,  where  the  soil  is  so 
worked  by  irrigation  that  it  supports  twelve  hundred 
IKoi)le  to  the  square  mile.  The  figures  involved  in  the 
oi>ening-up  of  such  teeming  provinces  are  more  like  the 
unreasonable  repetitions  of  a  dream  tlian  a  commercial 
certainty  of  the  near  future.  This  province  alone  is  as 
lari^^e,  as  ix'|nilous.  as  thrifty,  and  infinitely  richer  in 
natural  resources  than  IVance.  At  Yunnan  will  meet 
two  otficr  n»a'Is.  one  fn»in  P*:»nj^kok  and  (uie  from  Can- 
ton, so  that  Yunnan  City,  from  a  railway  asi>ect.  will  be- 
unne  a  s<»rt  of  St.  Louis,  as  a  midland  distributing  ix>int. 
On  account  of  the  altitude  of  six  thousand  feet,  ^'unnan 
(it  v.  two  davs  from  CaiUon  bv  the  railwav.  will  \rc  a  new 
sununer  resort  for  the  coastal  tropic  cities.  The  >um- 
mer>  are  <lelightful  and  from  (K:ti»l)cr  to  .April  the  sun 
sliirws  from  a  rare  and  cloudless  sky.     Yunnan  is  nearly 


296  THE  CHINESE 

as  ricli  as  Shensi  in  both  kinds  of  coal,  and  considering 
in  addition  her  gold,  copper  and  salt  deposits,  she  may 
be  termed  the  richest  in  minerals  of  all  the  provinces,  as 
she  is  also  the  lowest  in  intellectual  boasts,  for  here  the 
mixed  races  and  aborigines  abound.  Kwangsi,  the  ad- 
joining province,  which  the  railway  will  cross,  will  gatlicr 
its  freight  from  unnumbered  antimony  mines. 

The  French  concession,  on  account  of  the  hilly  country, 
is  for  a  narrow  gage  railway.  All  the  other  roads  in 
China  are  of  the  standard  American  gage  of  four  feet 
eight  and  one-half  inches.  At  present  the  only  transpor- 
tation from  Burmah  and  Tonquiii  into  China  (that  by 
pack  trains)  collapses  four  months  annually,  owing  to  the 
rains  blocking  the  roads.  When  this  French  road  is 
built,  Kwang  Se  and  Yunnan  will  send  to  the  coast 
forty  million  bunches  of  bananas  a  year,  as  well  as  valu- 
able cargoes  of  mangoes  and  the  delightful  ruby-red  man- 
gosteens,  which  last  must  have  been  the  apple  of  Eden, 
for  it  is  the  choicest  fruit  known  to  mankind.  A  coast 
road  will  eventually  run  from  Canton  to  Amoy,  through 
the  British  territory  at  Kowloon,  and  from  Wuchow  on 
the  West  River  a  road  will  run  one  hundred  miles  north 
to  the  world's  richest  quicksilver  deposit  at  Kai  Chau. 
As  these  roads  have  been  wisely  planned  to  run  at  right 
angles  to  the  rivers  and  canals,  with  the  exception  of 
the  road  which  follows  the  Grand  Canal  from  Tientsin 
to  Soochow,  the  transportation  facilities  of  tlie  empire 
will  be  immediately  doubled.  The  additional  wealth 
which  will  be  added  to  the  property  of  Chinese  shippers 
when  the  railway  supersedes  the  canal  in  that  hot  country, 
can  be  computed  when  it  is  stated  tliat  it  is  necessary 
now  to  allow  the  tremendous  waste  of  twelve  per  cent,  for 
shrinkage  on  grain  compared  with  the  allowance  neces- 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     297 

sary  in  America  of  only  one- fourth  of  one  per  cent 
These  railways  are  being  built  at  a  cost  of  thirty-six  thou- 
sand dollars  a  mile,  which  is  four  thousand  dollars  less 
than  America's  cheapest  built  railway,  the  Great  North- 
ern, cost. 

A  nation  which  has  erected  the  greatest,  costliest,  and 
most  enduring  monument  ever  raised  by  human  hands 
(the  (Ircat  Wall,  which  they  call  the  Wan  Li  Chang, 
myriad  mile  wall)  can,  when  it  rises  in  the  same  numbers, 
cover  its  valleys  with  a  web  of  railways,  and  as  America 
held  the  eyes  of  the  world  in  the  nineteenth  century  be- 
cause of  her  progress,  China  confidently  expects  tliat  the 
twentieth  century  will  likewise  be  hers,  as  Africa  will 
take  the  twenty-first.  With  all  this  projxjsed  develop- 
ment. China  will  even  then  remain  only  scratched. 
There  is  hardly  a  word  concerning  a  railway  into 
old  Shansi  Province,  which  is  as  large  as  Michigan. 
For  hundreds  of  miles,  under  the  loess  deposited  on  the 
plateaus  centuries  ago  by  the  Yellow  River  and  its  tribu- 
taries, and  which  can  be  dragged  down  with  a  rake,  ex- 
tend vast  veins  of  anthracite  and  bituminous  coal  and 
iron.  The  mines  have  been  known  for  thousands  of 
years  to  the  Mongols,  as  comixired  with  America's  know- 
letlgc  of  anthracite  <Iating  back  only  to  1791.  Camel 
trains  of  coal,  and  small  articles  made  of  excellent  carbon 
iron,  have  been  sent  to  the  capital  of  the  province  and 
to  Peking  for  many  years.  Erosion  for  centuries  has 
been  uncovering  the  seams  for  the  pick  of  tlie  twentieth 
century  Chinese  miner,  as  he  digs  his  way  into  pre- 
eminent ojnilonce  and  power.  The  only  thorough  min- 
tTalo^ical  survey  of  the  inexhaustible  coal  and  iron  de- 
jHtsits  nf  the. central  provinces  was  made  in  1S70  l»y 
the  I\u>sian  Richtofen  at  the  suggestion  and  with  funds 


r 


I 


29S  THE  CHINESE 

secured  through  the  Shanghai  American  Mr.  Cunning- 
ham. In  those  days  American  diplomacy  was  dominant 
at  Peking  through  the  power  of  Minister  Burlingamc. 
A  railway  from  the  capital,  Thai  Yuan,  would  have  to 
be  surveyed  along  the  Fuen  River  to  the  Yellow  River 
and  thence  to  the  Grand  Canal,  and  enterprise  could  read- 
ily make  the  richer  portion  of  this  Croesus  province  of  tb« 
north  tributary  to  Europeanized  Shanghai,  instead  of 
Peking,  which  latter  could  still  supply  herself  abundantly 
from  the  nearer  Ping  Ting  coal  mines  in  the  north  section 
It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  coal  area.';  of  China  are  gener- 
ally distributed,  while  in  America  the  possession  of  coal 
only  in  the  central  east  has  retarded  the  growth  of  the 
west.  On  the  railways  now  in  use,  especially  inland,  it 
has  been  necessary  to  use  colored  glass  in  the  coaches, 
as  the  coolies,  who  are  unfamiliar  with  anything  besides 
shell-lights,  in  their  excitability  over  the  passing  scenes, 
frequently  jam  their  heads  through  the  windows,  whose 
existence  they  are  not  aware  of.  European  engine 
drivers  have  been  dispensed  with,  and  natives  now  do 
the  work  at  a  wage  of  thirty  cents  gold  a  day.  As  illus- 
trating what  Chinese  labor  can  work  for  I  would  say  that 
at  Hong-Kong  in  1903  we  got  the  cost  of  handling  cargo 
on  the  American  mail  ships  down  to  thfe  lowest  point 
ever  reached,  of  seven  cents  a  ton,  against  forty  cents 
in  America.  Most  of  the  railway  travel  is  fourth  class, 
standing  room  only  being  provided  in  gondola  cajs 
(some  with  a  roof  but  no  sides)  at  one  cent  a  mile. 
First-class  fare,  with  a  leather  seat,  is  three  cents  a  mile 
on  the  railroads,  and  one  cent  for  fifteen  miles  on  the 
native  house-boats  where  human  feet  propel  the  tread- 
wheel.  Freight  rates  on  the  railroads  for  rice  are  two 
and  nine-tenths  of  a  cent;  machinery  two  and   three- 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS    299 

tenths;  coal  one  and  eight-tenths  of  a  cent  gold  per  ton 
per  mile,  against  an  average  rate  in  the  United  States 
of  less  than  eight-tenths  of  a  cent  per  ton  per  mile,  and 
in  England  of  two  and  sixteen  one  hundredths  cents. 
It  is  not  surprising  therefore  that  the  net  profit  of  the 
Pcking-Han-kau  Railway  in  1908  was  thirty-one  per 
cent,  and  that  the  members  of  the  finance  Pu  (Board) 
want  more  railways.  As  illustrating  the  industrial  status 
of  China  at  present  a  study  of  the  freight  carried  by  the 
Shan-tung  Railway  reveals  coal  as  the  chief  factor,  fol- 
lowed in  order  by  beans,  oil,  cotton,  straw-goods  and 
crockery.  When  the  average  Chinese  makes  a  shipment* 
it  is  generally  a  *'  personally  accompanied  "  one,  and  the 
railway  thus  secures  a  third-class  fare  in  addition  to 
the  freight. 

In  condemnation  proceedings,  the  price  paid  for  land 
is  alx)ut  twcnty-ci^'ht  dollar^  an  acre,  or  five  dollars  fwr 
moo;  and  sini^'lc  graves,  which  are  scattered  everywhere, 
like  sage-bush  in  the  desert,  are  purchased  at  two  dollars 
and  a  half  each,  including  the  value  of  Fungshui!  For 
earthwork,  two  and  one- fourth  cents;  and  for  rock  bal- 
lasting eighteen  cents  per  cubic  yard,  is  paid  to  the  con- 
tractors. Ties  of  Japanese  kuriwood,  which  last  without 
creosotiiig  for  six  years,  cost  forty  cents  each.  Track 
laying  is  done  for  about  three  cents  per  lineal  yard.  One 
oddity  which  would  appal  our  railway  commissioners, 
is  the  obliteration  of  class  rates  when  merchants  club 
tojTether  and  hire  a  car.  ,They  may  put  in  it  any  class 
of  trei^^ht  they  desire,  the  rate  being  charged  on  the  basis 
of  second  class. 

The  advantage  accorded  and  always  demanded  by  the 
Japanese  is  illustrateil  on  the  railway  from  the  treaty 
port  of  Swatow  to  the  prefectural  city  of  Cbao  Chow  Fu, 


3CDO  THE  CHINESE 

the  concession  for  which  was  given  to  Chang  Yu  Nan. 
a  wealthy  local  merchant.  All  material  is  being  sup- 
plied by  Japanese  contractors,  no  public  tenders  having 
been  invited.  The  engineers  are  all  Japanese  and  the 
rolling  stock  was  bought  through  Japanese  Manufactur- 
ers' Agents. 

To  summarize  the  principal  railway  routes  which  will 
be  well  under  w^ay  within  ten  years,  imagine  a  central 
trunk  railway  from  Ottawa  to  New  Orleans;  and  routes 
from  New  Orleans  to  Oklahoma;  El  Paso  to  Kansas 
City ;  Austin  to  Oklahoma ;  Galveston  to  Oklahoma ;  New 
Orleans  to  Tallahassee,  and  Halifax  to  New  York,  and 
you  will  comprehend  the  initial  extensive  program. 
What  effect  China's  action  in  adopting  a  four  foot,  eight 
and  a  half  inch  gage  will  exercise  on  the  Indian  and 
Burmese  Railways,  remains  to  be  seen.  Fifteen  thousand 
miles  of  railway  in  India  are  five  feet,  six  inch  gage,  and 
the  remaining  twelve  thousand  miles  are  three  feet,  three 
and  three-eighth  inch  gage.  From  an  operating  point 
of  view,  China  should  probably  have  followed  the  broader 
Indian  gage.  When  India  built  her  railways,  she  had 
steamship  connection  alone  in  mind  for  through  busi- 
ness. That  the  Chinese  are  not  lacking  in  that  imagina- 
tion which  makes  countries  commercially  great,  is  evi- 
denced by  the  expectation  that  the  Peking-Kalgan  Rail- 
way will  be  extended  through  arid  Gobi  Desert,  and  join 
Koren  through  the  Kaikhta  Pass  with  Irkutsk,  thus 
saving  six  days  to  St.  Petersburg  as  compared  with  the 
South  Manchurian  Railway  route,  now  dominated  by  the 
selfish  Japanese.  It  will  be  remembered  that  before  the 
opening  of  the  Suez  Canal,  Kaikhta  was  the  mart  through 
which  China  traded  with  Russia.  Humanity  at  large  is 
interested  in  the  rapid  extension  of  Chinese  raihvays, 


"l'"«.r    l!,h.r..|    Thr,-,-    M.m.lu, 
'■'  .■•ii.,r^:il,i.-.  >ur,,r.-ii:ylv 
:i-K.ii..va  ,.,■«.   f.,r  tl..- 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS    301 

because  it  will  then  alone  be  possible  to  rush  supplies  from 
the  fields  of  plenty  to  the  famine  districts  of  the  three 
flooding  rivers,  the  Hoang-ho;  Han,  and  Yangtze,  and 
save  verily  hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives  each  year. 

Many  may  be  surprised  that  tiie  railways  came  with 
such  a  rush,  but  the  way  was  prepared  by  the  extensive 
system  of  telegraph  wires  which  the  Danes  under  Scheim 
strung  through  tlie  kingdom,  even  crossing  Yunnan  into 
Burmah.  All  the  ports  are  connected,  the  total  wirage 
being  forty  thousand  miles.  The  most  sensational  line  of 
wire  in  the  world  [Mrobably  is  that  crossing  the  Gobi 
Desert  in  Mongolia,  three  thousand  and  five  hundred 
miles  through  a  generally  hopeless  stretch  of  blight  and 
immemorial  neglect.  Over  all  this  expanse  of  silence; 
over  the  ears  of  the  trudj^'ng  pony  and  camel  and  their  al- 
most as  obtuse  drivers;  over  the  solitary  shadow  of  a  gla- 
cial rock  here  and  there,  how  the  songs  of  the  glad  parts 
of  the  earth  are  humming  in  tlic  <lreanis  of  the  half-awak- 
ened giantess,  China.  The  profit  to  the  government  from 
the  wires  in  1907  was  twelve  per  cent.,  and  again  the 
r'inance  Pu  wants  more  of  them.  Onlv  fifteen  feet  be- 
low  the  sands  of  Gol)i  there  is  water  which,  if  raised, 
would  turn  the  earth's  saddest  desert  into  the  lilac  and 
the  buttercup. 

The  I  Chau,  or  Im|>erial  Courier  Service,  with  its 
thousands  of  wonderful  runners,  and  an  organization 
ninning  through  four  thousand  years,  will  continue  long 
after  railways  are  built,  but  more  like  our  rural  p<^stal 
service.  These  runners  claim  as  a  re;^Milar  thing  recortls 
that  surpass  Marathon,  and  it  is  a  pity  that  s*>nie  of  them 
were  n<»t  sent  tt»  the  Olympic  i;anu"*.  A  I  l'.ine>e  track 
vict<»ry  would  win  the  jx>pular  sympathy  of  the  world 
more  than  would  the  hUxxIv  laurels  of  a  fleet  of  war. 


Tboc  if  akvi^  *  paeai  tanix,  aBai  ihe  Mm  Chu. 
vtncfa  nSiata  bom  dc  be^  f"^  *!■&  was  esiab- 
fidied  bj  tbe  Jdwqri  raidr  &oken  Hat  far  the  Chinese 

Travtign  wfeo  hare  cajoyrf  Ac  oi—feit  oi  the 
wide.  oDol  lot  of  a  ti^mhuhd  y^ow  Uacao 
jirtrkkisla.  ooce  ased  (ukijIji  ibna^oM  Soirili  Onm 
tnaty  pmtk  wiD  bsMaC  Ae  JapSKS  vRasoa  (rf  Chini 
with  s  lighter,  nvToweTs  pl^B-faof^Bvd  naoan,  vUch 
bu  alftady  drivea  oat  Ar  diaese  tcbdc  at  Hon^JConc 
andShai^baL  TbcaaoGcs,wtK>vT»i[iorpcit£caxitnc- 
ton  an'J '!■■  r-i.t '-j^  •-■r"-  --.- ir''"-!-?^  ^- ".'--■-?  -•■.'h.'iria 
to  do  with  the  beavier  Chinese  marfTinfs,  bat  occasionally, 
in  the  Portuguese  Colony,  pnUed  along  ibe  Praya  Grande 
by  her  liveried  nnmen,  a  gentle  Macaetse.  hid  beneath 
her  flowing  black  silk  Do-veiL  passes  jaa  in  a  'riddsba 
of  Ihe  old  period,  which  mmhles  akng  with  its  echoes 
of  slower,  quainter  and  courtlier  day^  which  will  soon 
be  a  memory  throughout  the  whole  awakened  land.  The 
revulsion  which  conies  over  one  on  first  stepfung  into  a 
human-drawn  'rickisha.  will  not  quickly  pass.  It  is  hard 
for  a  Westerner  to  degrade  his  feliow-man  so  literally 
to  the  position  of  a  driven  beast  The  Oriental  refutes 
this  point  of  view,  and  sa>'S.  "  I  am  the  more  honest  in 
priidising  that  we  all  are  ser^^ams  of  one  atxrther," 
I  {owcvcr,  there  is  no  other  means  of  nx)\Hng  about  the 
strcctfi  of  Japan  and  the  maritime  cities  of  China,  Hong- 
KcOK  lias  a  tramway,  but  it  traverses  only  one  water 
tttrcel, — their  Praya.  Manila  has  a  more  ramified  tram 
nrrviic,  but  waits  are  so  long  that  there  also  the  imported 
Jfiimncw  runner  and  his  vehicle  are  indispensable.  The 
private  Vickishas  of  Hong-Kong  are  pulled  by  one  runner 


'^^ 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     303 

and  pushed  by  two,  the  salary  of  the  three  amounting  to 
eighteen  dollars  gold  a  month.  The  rivalry  of  the  own- 
ers in  equipping  their  runners  with  uniforms  of  conspicu- 
ous borders  is  one  of  the  characteristic  features  of  life  on 
that  famous  oriental  island. 

More  significant  than  the  'rickisha  invasion  was  the 
announcement  of  President  Matsugata  of  the  Kawasaki 
Dock,  Kobe,  that  his  company  had  purchased  ten  thou- 
sand isubo  of  land  at  Shanghai  for  the  purpose  of  erect- 
ing a  branch  in  China,  and  competing  for  the  ship  work 
of  the  Yangtze  territory.  This  was  going  far  afield 
for  an  unprovoked  attack,  not  only  on  Chinese  but 
British  capital  and  political  sphere.  This  commercial  in- 
vasion has  not  been  one-sided,  for  China  has  now  found 
in  Japan  her  best  customer,  selling  her  last  year  sixty 
million  taels'  worth,  mostly  of  raw  material. 

The  Chinese  Imperial  Customs  duties  of  five  per  cent, 
ad  valorem  arc  probably  the  smallest  of  all  international 
aistoms  im|x)sts.  but  this  tax  at  the  treaty  iM)rts  was  until 
lately  only  the  l)Cginning  of  the  load  accumulated  on  im- 
ports. An  inland  tax,  under  native  control,  called  /i- 
kin,  which  literallv  means  a  cash  a  cattv  («>nc-twelfth 
of  a  cent  for  each  one  and  one-third  pounds)  is  generally 
added  despite  the  treaties  with  America.  Britain  and 
Ja|>an.  from  province  to  prefecture  about  every  twenty 
miles,  until  the  bolt  of  Fail  River  arrives  at  tlic  retailer's 
hong  or  store,  as  a  luxury,  and  a  mandarin  only  can  pur- 
chase what  the  rice-tiller  nee<ls  to  comfort  his  blistered 
shoulders  from  the  sun.  Unifying  as  railways  may  be, 
they  will  accomplish  less  than  is  c\|xrctc<i  until  the  lihin 
absolutely  ceases  to  keep  the  provinces  disjointed.  The 
great  federator  of  China  has  therefore  yet  to  arise,  and 
it  will  he  he  who  positively  smashes  for  ever  the  whole 


THE  CHINESE 

pythonic  cliain  of  the  Hkin  system,  and  thus  makes  fre« 
inter-provincial  trade.  It  is  curious  to  note  that  no  Hkin 
is  levied  in  Mongolia,  probably  because  the  poor  camel's 
back  tliere  has  already  been  broken  with  the  burden  of 
its  debts.  Next  in  revenue-producing  powers  to  the  land 
tax,  comes  the  likin,  and  tlie  Imperial  Customs  following 
a  long  way  off  with  a  total  of  about  twenty-five  million 
doHars.  The  necessities  of  the  provinces,  owing  to  an 
abolishment  of  likin,  could  be  at  once  met  by  a  tax  on 
mines  and  profits  from  raibvays,  without  adding  to  the 
burdens  of  the  farmer  or  shopkeeper,  one  cash  more  than 
at  present. 

The  governor  of  far  Shensi  Province  has  drifted  into 
the  Japanese  eddy,  and  is  exploiting  the  oil  wells  of  Yen 
Chang,  which  employ  Japanese  engineers.  The  oil  re- 
fines in  the  highest  grade.  The  Pennsylvania  of  China 
in  coal  and  oil  is  that  most  populous  inland  province,  Sze- 
Chuen,  where  the  natural  gas  flows  through  rude  bamboo 
tubes.  The  wondering  natives,  leading  it  beneath  their 
salt  evaporating  pans,  have  put  Japanese  matches  to  it, 
and  called  it  "  devil's  breath."  Encouraged  by  the  suc- 
cess in  industrial  developments  of  Viceroy  Chang  at 
Han-kau,  China  has  loaned  the  governor  of  Chinese 
Turkestan  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  dollars 
to  establish  a  cotton  mill  in  the  far  eastern  comer  of  the 
empire  at  Turfan  to  beat  out  Russian  goods. 

The  nineteen  Chinese  mints  are  entirely  under  provin- 
cial jurisdiction,  though  the  central  government  steps  in, 
as  in  1906,  when  the  Kiang  Nam  mint  over-produced 
copper  fim  coins.  It  is  the  viceroy's  perquisite,  though 
he  is  sometimes  followed  closely  by  the  counterfeiters, 
who  smuggle  in  strips  of  Australian  copper,  and  export 
the  "  moonshine  "  stampings  for  tutenag,  into  the  interior 


J 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     305 

provinces  whose  mintings  arc  the  lowest.  A  Chinese 
shrotT  in  d  bank,  and  the  native  croupier  at  a  fan-tan 
game  are  experts  in  the  ring  of  true  coin.  They  care 
nothing  for  the  stamp,  whether  it  be  Mexican,  Spanish, 
Chinese,  or  Hong-Kong,  so  long  as  the  coin  is  pure  silver. 
So  little  respect  is  paid  the  provincial  coin  of  the  two 
Kwang  Provinces  in  the  south,  that  banking  houses  put 
their  *'  chops  "  or  seals  on  the  dollar  pieces,  which  are 
dented  in  their  passage  into  unrecognizable  cup-shaped 
articles.  The  Hong-Kong  government  is  endeavoring 
to  teach  the  Chinese  respect  for  the  head  and  inscription 
on  coins  of  the  realm,  and  will  not  receive  at  the  post 
and  tax  offices  any  coins  of  the  king  which  are 
"  chopped." 

The  sycee  of  commerce  is  the  perfectly  pure  silver 
which  is  melted  at  the  mint  into  bars  from  the  Mexican, 
Spanish.  American  and  Chinese  coins  that  arc  received 
in  toll  at  the  haikzLvn  or  custom-house  on  a  bullion  basis. 
The  silver  bars  so  produced  are  officially  called  zcan-yin 
or  •*  fine  silver.*'  and  colloquially  sc-sce  (fine  silk),  imply- 
ing that  the  metal  is  so  pure  that  it  can  be  drawn  out  in 
a  thread  as  fine  as  silk.  The  Chinese  ven'  naturallv  fall 
into  the  decimal  system.  Their  monetary  computation  is 
as  f<jllows:  ten  copper  cash  or  li  (which  have  a  square 
hole  in  the  center  and  Chinese  characters  on  one  side  and 
Mongolian  characters  on  the  other  side)  ecjual  one  fun: 
ten  fun  equal  one  tsicn;  ten  tsint  equal  one  tai'l,  and  a 
haikzL\jn  or  custom-house  tad  equals  seventy- four  cents 
in  our  money.  A  string  of  one  thousand  ca<h  is  known 
jx^pularly  as  a  tiao,  and  is  equal  to  fifty  cents  gold. 
The  bar  of  sycee  is  sold  as  being  of  so  many  taeh  in 
weight.  The  cash  coin,  known  as  far  back  as  one  thou- 
sand years  B.  C,  is  the  most  generally  coined,  and  shows 


ler  commercial   I 


306  .THE  CHINESE 

the  nriaute  econotny  of  the  Chinese  in  ther  c 
dealings  with  one  another.    Their  economists  argue  that 
if  we  had  a  lower  coin  than  the  cent,  our  households 
would  live  oa  half  what  the^  do,  as  sfaopkeqiers  diarge 
the  poor  a  cent  for  what  is  worth  only  a  twelfth,  and 
the  poor  in  America  as  well  as  China  of  course  live  from 
hand  to  mouth.    A  Chined  silver  dollar  and  dime  piece 
are  coined  in  the  two  Kwang  Provinces  in  the  aoutfa.  but 
their  stamp  gives  them  no  fixed  value.    Th^  are  Oidy  || 
bullion  when  challenged  at  the  haikwan.     The  Klai%!>i 
nam  mint  issued  in  1906  fun  pieces  of  Ymmim  ca|K>J 
per,  but  they  were  unpopular,  and  were  withdrawn  iriiot^ 
the  markets  took  them  at  a  discount.     At  Kashgar  in 
Chinese  Turkestan,  copper  is  cast  into  ingots  and  used 
as  money  alongside  of  the  silver  sycee  bar. 

The  notes  of  private  banks,  called  "  flying  money,"  are 
in  wide  use,  though  the  advertisement  on  the  back  re- 
quests circulation  only  in  the  guild  district  or  hong  street 
The  bank  has  to  give  security  to  the  viceroy  for  its  note 
issues.  There  is  little  counterfeiting  because  part  of  the 
note  is  written  by  hand  and  an  impression  copy  is  taken 
for  comparison  on  presentation.  Until  1909,  not  ance 
1300  A.  D..  has  the  government  itself  issued  treasury 
notes.  These  notes  have  been  prepared  in  America. 
There  was  much  scandal  about  abuses  when  the  Mongols 
issued  paper,  one  being  that  the  government  discounted 
its  own  obligations.  An  old  government  note  of  the 
Mings,  dated  1368,  is  on  exhibition  in  New  York.  It 
reads  in  part:  "  This  seal  makes  this  note  current  any- 
where under  heaven.  Counterfeiters  will  be  executed. 
Persons  giving  information  will  be  rewarded  with  two 
hundred  and  fifty  taels  and  all  the  property  of  the  coun- 
terfeiter."    Only  China  and  Persia  of  the  greater  conn- 


)  \ 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     307 

tries  of  the  world  now  remain  on  a  silver  basis.  Gold  is 
not  coined.  The  dust  and  virgin  nuggets,  known  as 
"  Huang-huo,"  arc  washed  from  alluvial  sand  in  river 
beds  in  Szechuen.  In  Kwangsi,  the  next  province  west 
from  Canton,  much  business  is  carried  on  by  the  barter 
of  cotton  yam.  An  early  Chinese  coin  was  made  of 
porcelain,  three  and  one-half  inches  across  by  one- fourth 
inch  thick,  bearing  the  legend,  "  Eternal  prosperity." 

As  China  mines  little  silver,  in  times  of  depression  of 
imports,  bolts  of  silk,  blocks  of  dried  tea,  Mongol  riding- 
boots,  and  even  baked  earth  and  wooden  disks  bearing 
the  viceroy's  chop,  have  been  the  circulating  medium. 
The  early  Buddhistic  writings  frequently  mention  the 
last  named  money,  as  the  priests  did  not  like  to  horde  it, 
both  from  want  of  room  and  want  of  appreciation,  which 
criticism  of  theirs  naturally  made  them  unpopular  with 
the  vice-regal  inscribcr  of  the  **  chop.**  When  railways 
facilitate  cirailation,  we  shall  see  another  oppression 
wiped  away,  namely  the  exorbitant  interest  rate  of  four 
per  cent,  a  month,  which  obtains  at  feast  times  and  New 
Year  settlements  in  February.  Resi<!es  the  fokis  on 
watch,  the  bankers'  safe  is  guarded  by  five  padl'xks.  each 
reciuiring  a  different  key.  which  is  carried  by  each  mem- 
ber of  the  firm,  so  that  all  must  be  present  in  order  to 
c»pen  the  safe.  The  rate  of  interest  at  the  pawnshops 
is  thirty-six  per  cent,  a  year.  To  protect  these  shops  in 
a  land  where  there  is  little  police  protection,  the  penalty 
for  rohlxTv  has  been  made  death.  R<Kks  are  stored  on 
the  roof  so  that  thev  mav  be  thrown  down  on  an  attack- 
in^  hand.  The  pawnshops  are  the  most  conspiaious 
buildings  in  the  cities;  they  rise  high  and  square,  like 
forts,  over  every  other  nx)f  and  pinnacle. 

Small  native  newspai>ers  have  cropped  up  all  over. 


308 


THE  CHINESE 


and  Japanese  money  is  being  expended  to  swing  this 
important  influence  in  line  with  Japanese  prestige.  On 
this  field  of  tournament  will  meet  the  progressive  mer- 
chants, traders,  and  foreign-educated  Chinese,  against 
the  old-school  literati  and  official  classes.  Cartoons  have 
a  wider  circulation  and  are  in  systematic  employment  by 
secret  societies  and  guilds.  A  notorious  one  used 
during  the  boycott  of  1905  exhibited  Americans  goading 
their  "  god-beast,"  the  buffalo,  and  on  the  reverse  the 
same  Americans  goading  a  Chinese, 

Quail  are  raised  tame  by  the  Chinese,  and  shipped 
across  the  Pacific  seven  thousand  miles.  This  bird  ranks 
eighth  in  the  heraldic  embroideries.  It  would  have  been 
given  a  higher  place  were  it  not  trained  to  fight  in  the 
gaming  pit.  Fish  are  likewise  brought  alive  across  the 
Pacific,  this  being  a  perquisite  of  the  ship's  Chinese 
bo'sun.  The  beautiful  rice-birds,  yellow  as  Hartz  canar- 
ies, are  caught  in  nets  and  drowned  so  that  they  will  not 
lose  weight  in  struggling.  They  are  hawked  around  the 
streets  of  Hong-Kong.  The  Cantonese  have  long  been 
famous  for  their  delicious  preserved  little  oranges,  the 
comquats.  They  are  now  exporting  pickled  olives,  which 
compete  in  California  with  the  local  product.  A  New 
Yorker  can  buy  in  Mott  Street  tinned  rice-birds  from 
Canton's  suburbs. 

Over  three-quarters  of  the  uplands  of  China  have  not 
been  utilized  because  she  has  few  cattle  and  fewer 
sheep.  Vast  herds  of  Swiss  stock  could  be  grazed  on 
the  mountain  uplands  which  at  present  are  given  up  to 
scenery  for  Buddhist  temples,  or  empty  glebes  for  the 
Fungshui  nonsense.  Japan  is  importing  blooded  stock 
as  rapidly  as  her  thin  resources  will  allow,  and  as  China 
will  do  everything  Japan  does,  a  vast  accretion  of  China's 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     309 

wealth  in  herds  will  shortly  ensue.  A  Canadian  imported 
a  flock  of  sheep  and  set  them  free  on  the  islands  which 
guard  Junk  Bay,  Hong-Kong,  but  the  spear  grass  of  the 
southern  sea-coast  lacerated  the  windpipes  of  the  ani- 
mals. The  half  r/ild  cattle  of  the  Canton  delta,  with 
their  pronounced  hump,  look  like  diminutive  buffaloes. 
Their  faces  are  even  gentler  looking  than  our  Jersey 
breed.  A  windmill  seems  a  little  thing,  but  China  will 
need  a  million  of  them  to  take  the  place  of  the  irrigation- 
wheel  treaders  who  will  be  called  from  the  Belds  to  the 
mine  pits  within  the  next  five  years.  Will  America  or 
Germany  supply  the  million  windmills  to  sing  their 
music  beside  the  Chinese  homesteads? 

The  Manchurians  crush  vast  quantities  of  beans  by 
donkey-driven  rollers.  The  oil  is  used  for  food  and 
lif^ht.  The  cake  which  remains  is  used  partly  for  food 
and  partly  for  fertilizer.  Vast  as  is  the  quantity  of  pe- 
troleum now  importetl  into  China,  it  has  made  so  little 
impression  on  the  absorbent  ability  of  the  nation,  that 
even  yet,  everywhere  one  goes,  little  else  is  noticed  but 
the  use  of  vegetable  oils, —  on  the  Vickisha's  shafts,  on 
the  sampan's  masthead,  in  the  huts  of  the  rice  tiller  and 
mulberry  picker,  and  at  the  idol's  shrine.  The  popular 
illuminating  oil  is  produceil  from  the  nut  of  one  species 
of  tea-plant.  Ground  nuts,  or  peanuts  are  crushed  in 
vast  quantities  for  the  oil.  Two  million  gallons  of  nut- 
oil  are  imported  annually  into  America  for  use  in 
the  manufacture  of  high  grade  varnishes.  This  rapidly 
drying,  tasteless,  but  rank-smelling  oil.  which  has  no  su- 
perior for  water-proof  requirements,  is  made  from  the 
puq)lc-leafe<l  llwa  I  un^^  tree  (  Aleuritcs  cordata).  Sze- 
chucn  Province  cultivates  it  abumlantlv  in  the  West.     It 

m 

is  a  common  sight  to  meet  coolies  carrying  the  nuts  in 


310 


THE  CHINESE 


bamboo  boxes  on  their  shoulders,  and  not  slung  betu-eea 
them  on  bamboos,  as  is  the  universal  method  of  carriage 
in  the  east.  On  the  coast,  Fu-chau  is  the  best  know-n 
center.  The  product  is  there  drawn  from  the  gorges  of 
the  picturesque  Min  River.  In  the  next  province  west, 
the  hills  along  the  Kan  River  are  clothed  with  the  trees, 
and  the  capital  Nan  Chang  turns  over  a  busy  cash  in  (he 
enterprise.  The  trees  which  grow  in  stony  ground,  bear 
in  six  years,  when  they  reach  a  height  of  fifteen  feet 
Oddly  the  pressure  on  the  poisonous  nuts  is  not  applied 
by  a  screw  as  is  done  with  olives  by  us,  but  by  wedges, 
which  surprisingly  express  forty  per  cent,  of  the  fifty  per 
cent,  oil  which  the  nuts  contain. 

Manchuria  promises  to  become  wonderfully  successful 
in  the  culture  of  the  sugar  beet,  and  with  her  cheap  labor 
probably  will  conquer  in  wider  fields  across  the  Pacific 
The  Manchurian  beets  contain  thirty  per  cent,  of  sugar, 
against  a  percentage  in  our  country  of  eighteen  per 
cent. 

AH  of  Kwangtung  produces  that  delightful  succulent 
orange,  famous  throughout  the  East,  known  as  the 
"  Coolie  "  orai^.  It  is  thin-skinned,  slightly  smaller, 
but  fully  as  juicy  as  our  Indian  River  variety.  The  skins 
are  sedulously  preserved  and  sold  to  make  a  tea  to  cure 
fevers.  Indeed,  in  the  treaty  ports,  the  fruit  is  called 
the  "  Quinine  orange."  Mangoes,  despite  their  strong 
turpentine  taste,  grow  upon  the  palate.  The  small-pitted 
lychee,  with  its  cool,  sweet  flesh  of  pearl  color,  can  not  be 
over-praised  in  a  land  where  the  longing  for  fruit  is  in- 
tense on  account  of  the  poor  quality  of  foods  available 
for  the  use  of  the  white  man,  and  the  salicylic  add  in 
imported  foods.  The  yellow-skinned  whampee,  fragrant 
as  a  flower,  has  a  taste  between  a  plum  and  a  grape.     The 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     311 

punielo  or  giant  grape-fruit  grows  to  enormous  size,  and 
is  preferable  to  our  shard  because  of  its  mildness. 

Ihe  egg-shaped  and  ink-red  persimmons,  together  with 
golden  limes  from  Hainan  Island,  add  to  the  varied 
colored  piles  on  the  fruiterers'  stands,  in  a  picture  the 
most  welcome  that  the  Orient  presents  amid  all  its  for- 
bidding dirt  and  smells. 

On  the  hills  around  Canton  lie  the  terraces  where  the 
succulent  ginger  root  is  cultivated.  The  scene  is  a  pretty 
one.  for  not  only  are  the  flowers  attractive,  but  the  long 
leaf  gleams  brilliantly  in  the  sun.  The  street  of  the 
s)Tiip  workers  in  Canton,  where  the  ginger  is  preserved 
and  candied,  afi'ords  an  interesting  excursion.  The  most 
notable  firm  is  the  Chai  Loong,  of  which  Wong  Ki  Sam 
is  the  versatile  president. 

When  some  machine  shall  be  invented  for  taking  the 
gum  more  cheaply  out  of  the  ramie  stems,  the  product 
will  add  vastly  to  China's  wealth.  This  nettle  gives  four 
crops  a  year,  producing  two  and  a  half  tones  of  fiber  to 
the  acre,  and  the  cloth  is  well  known  for  its  silky  finish 
and  quality  of  adding  luster  when  mixed  with  wool  or 
cotton. 

So  long  as  rice  continues  to  be  the  major  staff  of  life, 
there  is  little  hope  for  forei<:^n  agricultural  implements, 
and  the  buffalo  continues  to  wallow  through  the  flooded 
ficMs,  dragging  the  wc>«'den  cuIti\ator.  Hong-Kong  has 
erected  its  first  tlour-null.  however,  with  a  ca{>acity  of 
one  thousand  barrels  a  day.  The  grain  will  be  brouglit 
eight  days  by  sea  from  Manchuria,  and  also  imported 
from  Oregon.  Electricity  developed  from  reservoirs  in 
the  hills  back  of  Junk  Bay.  ei^ht  miles  from  Hong-Kong's 
civic  center,  will  be  used.  Hong-Kong  has  not  supplied 
Vladivostock  and  Manchuria  since  the  Russian-Japanese 


THE  CHINESE 

War.  She  has  been  devoting  her  abilities  to  supplying 
South  China  with  a  low  grade  imported  Oregon  flour  at 
two  cents  a  pound.  For  the  finer  festival  cakes,  the  Chi- 
nese have  of  late  been  importing  shghtly  superior  Austra- 
lian and  Alberta  flours.  The  Chinese  does  not  yet  appre- 
ciate, or  at  least  he  could  not  pay  for  Minnesota  flour. 
At  Chin  Kiang  on  the  Grand  Canal,  there  is  another  na- 
tive flour-mill  which  rolls  a  good  product  at  two  cents  a 
pound,  and  Shanghai  has  several  mills.  In  the  na- 
tive mills,  the  nether  stone  revolves,  while  the  upper  is 
stationary.  More  mills  will  certainly  be  erected,  and 
grain  be  brought  from  Manchuria,  the  West  River  in  the 
south,  and  across  the  Pacific.  The  former  unassailed 
position  of  rice,  we  are  glad  to  say,  is  now  doomed  to  be 
attacked.  The  native  cotton-mills,  located  at  Wuchang 
by  Viceroy  Chang,  are  manufacturing  all  the  uniforms 
for  the  new  Chinese  army  of  the  central  provinces. 

Land  is  leased  from  the  government,  and  the  right  of 
occupancy  is  evidenced  by  a  Hung  Ki  or  red  deed,  but 
the  people  exchange  land  among  themselves  by  a  private 
and  unregistered  white  deed,  because  they  wish  to  escape 
the  expense  of  the  government  deeds.  There  are  few 
suits  over  the  white  deeds,  which  speaks  volumes  for  the 
famed  honesty  of  the  Chinese  peasant.  When  new  latid 
is  broken,  the  government  allows  six  crops  (two  seasons) 
to  be  reaped,  before  calling  for  the  first  taxes,  and  in 
times  of  famine  all  taxes  are  rmitted.  Taxes  are  never 
over  fifty  cents  an  acre,  and  descend  to  ten  cents  an  acre 
for  hill  land.  China  exacts  no  direct  tax  in  Thibet.  She 
collects  yearly  a  nominal  tribute  from  the  central  gov- 
ernment at  Lhassa.  Thibet,  however,  has  to  support 
the  resident  minister  sent  from  Peking.  Taxation  is  not 
always  collected  in  money,  but  sometimes  in  tithing  of 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     313 

produce,  the  rice  being  stored  in  government  granaries. 
China  is  the  only  country  that  in  this  way  is  repeating 
the  picturesque  history  of  Joseph  and  the  Pharaohs*  in 
the  storing  of  grain  against  famine  by  the  government. 
Americans  will  best  remember  the  five  granaries  at  Can- 
ton, and  the  even  larger  ones  at  Peking.  The  peasants 
of  China  do  not  bear  the  burdens  of  those  of  Japan, 
where  one-third  of  the  revenue  goes  to  the  government. 

There  are  few  additional  sources  of  revenue.  Provin- 
cially,  the  pawnshops'  licenses,  and  the  likiti  on  transpor- 
tation help  out.  The  customs*  salt  excise,  and  the  loti 
(tea  export  duty)  further  assist  the  general  government. 
A  citizen  of  China  can  boast  of  enjoying  two  of  the 
several  essentials  of  liberty,  that  to  be  well  governed  is 
to  hear  little  of  it,  and  pay  little  for  it.  When  China's 
mines  are  sunk,  and  her  factories  are  erected,  slie  can 
afford  one  of  the  heaviest  budgets  in  the  world,  pro- 
vided the  people  continue  in  their  individual  economic 
habits  and  temperance.  She  owes  her  vast  population 
to  two  causes:  low  taxation  and  early  marriages.  A 
reorganization  in  the  system  of  collection  could  yield 
the  government  even  now  two  hundred  and  ten  millions 
from  the  land  tax;  the  customs  yield  of  about  twenty- 
five  millions  could  be  brought  up  to  one  hundred  millions 
if  likin  was  absolutely  wiped  out.  The  loti,  as  well  as 
the  likin  tax  should  be  abolished.  Gncmment  rovalties 
on  mining,  and  the  receipts  from  railways,  could  bring 
up  the  revenue  of  China  to  the  enormous  amount  of  fi\"C 
hundred  millions  a  )Tar.  without  makinj;  the  poor  of 
the  land  poorer,  and  it  must  be  remcml)cred  that  life  is 
clecree<l.  or  a  knell  sounded,  for  a  state,  as  it  turns  on 
this  one  prohlem:  will  the  i>>or  Iv  made  p<X)rer  or  the 
rich  richer?     They  can  not  both  be  made  richer  an<I  either 


I 


live,  as  is  the  fatuous  statement  to-day  of  certain  of 
our  "  endowed  "  professors  of  economics. 

There  are  Building  and  Loan  Associations  in  China, 
called  Tci  Po  Wui  (Spread  on  tlie  Ground  Associa- 
tions) because  the  historic  founder  who  first  borrowed 
from  his  friends  was  so  poor  that  he  had  neither  hut  nor 
bench  where  to  ask  them  to  sit  while  the  loan  should  be 
discussed. 

The  government's  salt  monopoly  is  a  great  burden 
upon  a  people  who  require  so  much  of  the  staple  for  one 
of  their  main  foods,  fish,  Indeed,  in  oriental  countries 
where  icing  is  not  yet  practical,  the  necessity  of  salt  and 
sugar  as  preservatives  is  imperative.  The  cost  averages 
throughout  the  empire  two  cents  a  pound,  whereas  it 
should  be  sold  for  half  that.  The  monopoly  mainly  cov- 
ers evaporation  privileges  along  the  sea-coast,  and  the 
product  being  granular,  is  not  so  good  as  the  residue 
from  boiling.  These  sea-water  beds  are  all  ia  the  north- 
ern provinces.  Evaporation  is  permitted  when  three 
inches  of  water  are  pumped  into  the  vast  basins.  The 
salt  is  packed  in  five  hundred  pound  mats.  This  un- 
purified  salt  accounts  partially  for  the  rank  smells  of  the 
dried  fish-markets.  When  the  Indian  government  re- 
duced the  salt  tax  ten  millions  a  year,  the  progress  ol 
India  commenced,  until  her  solvency  is  now  assured. 
Poor  China  is  praying  for  similar  relief.  In  the  toe  of 
northern  Shensi  Province,  is  situated  the  ancient  and  re- 
markable walled  salt  lake,  fifty  miles  square,  which  sup- 
ports a  Civil  Service  city  of  seventy-five  thousand 
inhabitants,  who  tend  the  pans  for  the  government 
Many  more  salt  and  brackish  springs  could  be  reclaimed 
at  this  point.  At  similar  springs  at  Fung  Tu  in  Szechuen 
Province,  natural  gas  is  piped  in  hollowed  bamboos  to 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     315 

the  pans.  No  salt  is  imported.  The  present  consump- 
tion in  the  empire  is  the  tremendous  amount  of  one  mil- 
lion, nine  hundred  thousand  metric  tons.  Junks  seized 
in  the  act  of  salt  smuggling  are  drawn  up  on  the  shore 
or  bank  and  sawn  in  twain,  as  a  melancholy  deterrent  of 
similar  delinquency.  The  Chinese  dearly  loves  his  ethics 
in  pictures,  and  the  government  seizes  the  eloquent  op- 
portunity. 

Where  wood  is  scarce  and  paper  so  necessary,  the  sup- 
ply of  pulp  is  becoming  a  matter  of  anxiety.  Expecta- 
tion is  turned  toward  the  bamIx)o  (Kam  Li)  which  grows 
as  much  as  five  feet  in  a  night  until  a  growth  of  fifty  feet 
is  attained  in  the  humid  southern  provinces.  What  more 
need  we  say  for  the  soil  of  Oiina?  Planted  as  a  hedge 
I)etween  the  rice  ficlils,  it  frames  as  soft  and  alluring:  a 
scene  as  the  imagination  can  paint.  How  wonderful  this 
plant,  which  furnishes  in  its  tender  sh(v>ts  and  seeds,  food 
for  man;  in  its  larger  growth,  poles  for  his  hut  and  masts 
U>r  his  junks;  in  its  filx*r,  paper  for  his  kettles  and  print- 
ing press;  and  medicine  in  the  silicious  nodules  of  the 
joints!  It  is  split  into  fibers  in  Korea,  lacquered  black, 
and  woven  into  the  astounding  hats  which  the  quality  of 
that  land  wear.  It  is  wound  to  make  the  immense  haw- 
sers which  pull  the  boats  through  the  Ichang  Gorge  of  the 
Yangtze,  and  which  suspend  the  bridges  over  the  gorges 
between  Thibet  and  Szechuen  Province. 

The  stalks  of  the  two-year-old  bamboo,  cut  into  one- 
inch  lengths,  are  thrown  into  a  pond  or  clay  vat,  where 
thry  are  allowed  to  decomi)ose  for  four  months.  An  oily 
scum  collects  on  the  top.  which  is  disvMnled,  Inu  some  clay 
it  will  l)e  purifird  and  ust*rl  coinmrrcially.  The  pulp  is 
thru  pr»iinrletl  by  hy<lraulic  or  liand  hammers.  A  fund- 
ing material,  made  from  the  leaves  of  the  holly-like  Ac- 


f 


\ 


316  THE  CHINESE 

tintdia  or  Lauraceae,  is  mixed  in,  and  the  paper  is  cut, 
dried  and  pressed  into  the  sizes  desired.  The  Japanese 
have  already  erected  at  Toroku  in  Formosa,  an  immense 
modern  paper-mill,  which  uses  bamboo  entirely  as  staple. 
The  so-called  velvety  but  frailer  "  rice-paper,"  used  for 
those  dainty  little  paintings,  with  humorous  Pidgin 
verses,  at  Canton,  is  only  the  pith  of  the  Fatsia  elder  o( 
the  Yunnan  marshes,  the  cells  of  which  are  cut  length- 
wise and  ironed.  Into  so  many  lines  of  industry  does 
the  bamboo  enter,  that  lacking  as  yet  the  production  oi 
iron  and  lumber,  the  plant  may  be  said  to  be  the  franie- 
work  of  China.  Throughout  Kiangsi  Province,  it  b 
used  to  construct  the  water-wheeJs  of  the  irrigation  canaK 
Even  saucepans  and  kettles  are  made  of  the  compressed 
pulp,  which  is  treated  with  secret  salts.  The  pans,  how- 
ever, must  be  kept  nearly  full  of  water,  which  is  brougtu 
to  a  boil  with  surprising  rapidity.  Medium  sized  bamboo 
has  been  introduced  on  Bainbridge  Island.  Washington 
State,  and  has  reached  a  growth  of  five  feet.  If  this  at- 
tempt of  the  Furuyas  firm  is  successful  in  furniture 
making,  they  will  introduce  the  lumber  bamboo,  in  which 
America  has  an  opportunity  to  relieve  the  destruction 
of  her  forests  throughout  the  southern  states. 

On  foot-power  looms,  in  their  own  homes,  the  Chinese 
weave  three  hundred  different  patterns  of  silk  and  satin 
goods.  Most  entrancing  are  the  embroidered  goods,  00 
which  a  woman  (often  the  deserted  wife  of  an  opium 
fiend)  will  work  a  month  and  receive  three  dollars.  The 
merchant  will  sell  you  this  mandarin's  robe,  with  its 
Greek-like  spangles  of  geometrical  patterns,  or  its  orna- 
ments of  trellises,  chrysanthemums,  fruit  or  butterflies, 
for  fifteen  dollars.  Were  you  to  sell  it  in  your  own  land, 
you  would  receive  one  hundred  dollars.     That  robe  will 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     317 

be  exhibited  in  homes  and  galleries.  Its  pattern  will 
teach  industries  to  our  art  schools.  Over  the  world  the 
power  of  its  beauty  will  spread.  But  whatever  commer- 
cially results,  or  aesthetically  emanates  from  the  creation, 
nothing  whatever  will  reach  that  woman  of  Hang-chow, 
who  received  her  all  in  the  three  dollars.  To  the  altar  of 
art  the  women  of  China  have  bound  themselves  that 
beauty  may  not  die.  The  world  piles  up  its  debts,  even 
though  the  piling  up  be  done  in  secret  places  in  neglected 
lands.  The  death  of  a  generation  can  not  outlaw  them. 
Some  day  we  shall  have  to  pay  that  woman  of  Hang- 
chow,  or  her  heirs  of  suffering,  what  we  owe  her,  just  as, 
for  one  instance,  the  labor  unions  of  England  are  now  col- 
lecting what  their  forefathers  owed  Wat  Tyler  and  his 
Kentishmcn,  when  they  commandeered  their  arms,  their 
service  and  their  poll-taxed  bodies  in  1381,  without  rec- 
ompense. 

The  United  States  does  not  produce  one-third  of  the 
wool  she  requires  and  she  therefore  draws  on  North 
China  for  nearly  three  million  dollars'  worth  a  year, 
which  is  about  China's  complete  exportation  of  the 
product.  The  export  is,  of  course,  through  the  port  of 
Tientsin. 

On  the  iron  hills  around  Canton  and  Macao,  you  will 
notice  drying  in  the  sun,  the  delightfully  soft  grass  linen 
which  has  l)een  dyed  with  the  blue  "  Polygonum  tinc- 
toriuni/*  If  you  wander  into  the  sheds  where  the  silk- 
wt^mis  are  feeding,  they  will  beseech  you  to  make  no 
noise,  this  oild  requirement  being  quite  necessar)*  in  seri- 
ailturc.  If  the  raising  and  feeding  of  the  grub  are  tetli- 
ous.  t!ie  procuring  of  the  skein  from  the  coc<><in  is  simplic- 
ity itself.  Let  us  enter  a  reeler's  house.  There  is  no  un- 
necessary furniture  in  the  working-room.    On  the  adobe 


r 


3!8  THE  CHINESE 

floor  lie  the  bits  of  charcoal  and  precious  pieces  of  drift- 
wood gathered  from  every  nook  of  the  fields  and  caiial 
There  is  the  bamboo  basket  which  brought  them,  ami  a 
tray  where  he  assorts  the  cocoons.  The  skein  itsell 
makes  the  circumference  around  two  crossed  frames 
wliich  revolve.  The  fire  pot  is  of  stone  and  is  witlioui  3 
door.  It  rests  on  a  rock.  The  Han-yang  copper  pot  is 
wide  and  shallow.  Into  it  the  cocoons  are  thrown  wiili  a 
wooden  spoon.  With  his  right  hand  the  reeler  works 
four  or  five  to  the  edge,  gathers  deftly  the  ends  of  five  wet 
threads  and  lets  the  cocoons  drop  back  into  the  hot  water. 
In  the  ancient  Portuguese  settlement  of  Macao  you  pass 
the  lofty  Boa  Vista  Hotel,  with  its  Renaissance  beauty 
alien  enough  here,  and  saunter  westward  alonf  the  Rua 
de  Penha,  beneath  the  hill  toward  which  Portuguese  nan- 
gators  for  five  centuries  have  looked  for  succor.  On 
each  side  of  you  are  high  walls,  cut  with  gates  which  bear 
noble  white  stucco  ornaments,  and  arms  above  them,  and 
a  wonderful  iron  lamp  which  looks  more  like  the  art  of 
crusaders  than  the  hand-work  of  Chinese.  You  pass  Fort 
Bomparto,  erected  by  Lopez  Carrasco  in  1615,  At  your 
feet  is  a  small  half-moon  bay  as  blue  as  Naples;  at  the 
other  horn  is  the  fort  of  Sao  Thiago  de  Barra,  with  its 
big-bellied  cannon,  obsolete,  but  delightfully  quaint. 
There  are  home-cast  copper  cannon,  too,  and  blue-domed 
white  sentry  boxes,  which  look  more  like  lighthouses  of  a 
miniature  past.  You  are  recalling  the  Dutch  invasion 
which  was  repulsed  on  this  silver  beach  in  1623.  If  you 
can  evade  a  cordon  of  yellow  chow  dogs,  every  one  of 
which  you  would  like  to  take  home  as  a  prize,  you  will 
reach  a  series  of  terraces,  on  each  of  which  are  crowded 
dozens  of  huts.  This  is  the  ancient  village  of  the  native 
fire-cracker  makers.     Take  up  some  of  the  torn  paper 


inland 

al   Hank 

ow.  Central  Chii 

;ia,     ■ 

rhe  Yang-t 

vt-rs.   n 

hich  nu-t 

■1   here. 

rise  forf 

>■   fee 

I   in   the   s|.i 

Is.      Hankow   is 

the  Piti 

:sbnrg  of 

Chii 

la,    for   ht-rt 

eet  the 

oputctil  ; 

antimmr 

i".  coal   an<l  ire 

.n  beds  of 

Hupeh 

province 

.      It  is" 

also  the  • 

cenlei 

r  of  the 

l>lack 

tea  Iradf 

,  and  thi 

t  head  of 

deep 

water 

n; 

ivigaiion 

on    the 

Vang-tz 

e    riv 

er. 

,M-  Metrop, 

i.lis  I.I  thina. 

Cam 

-  ^e^.■n  from 

oal  «liarf. 

Caiunn  lia- 

had 

an  ui 

linierrupted 

foreic"< 

TS    for   4>o   \ 

■i;irv. 

.Ic-i 

lile    Ihe    intr 

(1 

if    IVkinj;    lo 

Ihe 

iiitercoursc. 

MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     319 

lying  about,  which  is  used  for  stuflfmg  the  crackers.  The 
text  is  in  Chinese,  and  the  translation  reveals  the  fulmina- 
tions  of  Amos  against  the  heathen,  copies  of  which  have 
been  handed  out  in  thousands  by  the  Christian  colpor- 
teurs. Buckwheat  paste  is  rolled  in  the  fuse;  straw  and 
every  possible  refuse  is  used  to  make  the  cheap  paper. 
Each  child  or  woman  prepares  two  thousand  five  hundred 
crackers  a  day,  for  which  she  receives  ten  cents.  More 
of  the  earth  of  China  is  scattered  over  the  Americas  than 
the  soil  of  all  other  lands  together.  Chinese  humorists 
say  they  are  anointing  us  unto  the  conquest.  The  middle 
and  ends  of  each  fire-cracker  are  sealed  with  Chinese  red 
clay.  In  China,  however,  the  fire-cracker  is  only  used 
in  religious  ritual,  for  the  pprpose  of  frightening  away 
evil  spirits. 

Where  a  stream,  now  almost  dried  up,  once  rushed 
iK'tween  the  loess  foot-hills  of  Kowluon.  across  the  bay 
from  IIong-K<Mig.  is  situated  a  village  of  soy-makers. 
The  stream  has  sunk  down  from  a  dozen  levels  as  the 
forests  which  fed  it  have  been  uprooted  at  its  source,  until 
now  it  whispers  deep  in  a  sunken  gorge.  From  terrace 
to  terrace,  the  high  banilxK)  water-wheels  patiently  feed 
the  irrigation  bamboo  and  mud  troughs.  There  are  two 
narrow  terraces  on  each  side  of  the  highest  level.  Above 
are  the  hills  with  their  waving  camphor- trees.  Behind 
the  bamboo  fences  you  will  notice  the  bean  poles,  and  the 
great  earthenware  pots,  where  the  bean  liquor  is  fer- 
mented, and  stirred  for  two  months  in  the  blazing  sun 
until  it  is  black.  The  beans  are  skinned  and  made  into 
a  flour,  into  which  gypsum  is  mixe<l.  Salt  and  secret 
things  are  added  to  make  this  ap[)etizing  soy,  which  those 
who  have  learned  the  taste  prefer  to  the  flavored  Worces- 
tershire, of  which  it  is  the  base.     The  soy  costs  only  a 


r 

L 


320  THE  CHINESE 

trifle,  and  the  workman  who  earns  only  ten  cents  a  day 
will  have  it  at  his  meal.  The  wealthy  are  equally  proud' 
of  their  national  "abettor  of  appetite." 

An  odd  pursuit  on  the  plateaus  of  western  Szechueo 
Province  is  the  gathering  o{  musk,  which  is  worth  more 
than  its  weight  in  gold.  The  product  comes  from  a  gland 
in  the  stomach  of  the  hornless  deer,  which  stands  only, 
twenty  inches  high,  and  whose  habitat  is  never  lower 
than  eight  thousand  feet. 

In  computing  the  future  of  Chinese  exports,  one  mutt 
consider  the  eight  million  Chinese  abroad,  who  are  be- 
coming wealthier,  and  are  sending  to  their  native  land 
for  the  things  to  which  they  have  been  used,  and  which 
they  passionately  love. 

Cornwall  and  Malay  were  supposed  to  contain  all  the 
deposits  of  the  world's  tin  until  the  mines  of  Bolivia,  ten 
thousand  feet  up  the  Andes,  were  uncovered  recently.  It 
may  surprise  many  that  the  fastnesses  of  distant  Yun- 
nan Province  conceal  ancient  mines  at  Kuo  Chia,  which, 
working  on  the  most  primitive  methods  in  the  alluvial 
deposits  formed  by  erosion,  produce  to-day  one  hundred 
thousand  piculs  a  year  (13,333,000  pounds),  valued  at 
twenty-two  cents  a  pound  at  the  mines,  before  the  pay- 
ment of  the  export  loti  imposed  by  China.  These  mines 
are  near  the  Tonquin  border  and  the  proposed  French 
railway  which  will  have  one  Chinese  port  at  Pak  Hoi  will 
profit  by  the  carriage  of  this  freight,  which  now  is  ex- 
ported to  Hong-Kong.  The  tin  averages  as  high  as 
sixty-five  per  cent.,  there  being  little  wolfram  and  mis- 
pickel  in  the  ore,  which  is  run  through  sluices  after  the 
larger  stones  have  been  picked  out  of  the  muddy  gravel. 
The  metal  is  run  in  pigs  weighing  one  hundred  and  forty- 
six  pounds,  which  are  cut  in  half  for  convenience  in 


MODKRX  COMMKRCE  AND  BL'SINESS     321 

jKH-kiP.;;  <n  donkey  back.  The  furnaces  C(jii>uinc  wood  as 
fuel.  The  blowing  apparatus  is  most  primitive.  Each 
coolie  worker  is  expected  to  produce  one  kilogram  of  tin 
a  day.  Some  of  this  tin  is  used  at  Swatow  in  making 
the  celebrated  pewter  ware,  the  antimony  coming  from 
the  particularly  rich  mines  of  Hunan.  Changsha,  the 
capital  of  that  province,  has  two  native  smelting  estab- 
lishments, and  Carlowitz  and  Company,  the  well  known 
Hamburg  firm,  run  a  large  smelting  plant  at  Wuchang. 

Ten  miles  from  the  British  military  and  sanitariiun 
settlement  of  Wei-hai-wei,  five  himdred  feet  above  the 
sea,  shafts  have  been  sunk  by  foreign  companies  into 
oxidized  ore  which  carries  free  gold.  The  wages  paid 
muckers  are  fifteen  cents  gold,  and  miners  twenty  cents 
gold  a  day.  The  native  miners  used  to  break  the  ore 
small  by  hand,  and  then  throw  it  into  a  bean  mill  under 
stone  rollers.  The  free  gold  was  panned  out  by  the  use 
of  quicksilver.  The  rocks  of  the  neighborhood  are  of 
volcanic  origin,  traversed  by  seismic  intrusion,  and  also 
showing  signs  of  erosion. 

How  rapidly  the  spear  becomes  a  share  is  evidenced 
already  on  the  Mongolian  and  Manchurian  steppes  ad- 
jacent to  the  Siberian  Railway.  They  expect  to  ship  five 
hundred  thousand  sheep  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  even  some 
to  London,  through  tlie  port  of  Riga  this  summer.  The 
disbanded  soldiers  of  Kuropatkin  are  throwing  away  their 
buttons,  importing  Austrian  enameled  cooking  ware,  and 
getting  to  work  between  the  furrows.  And  far  away  in 
Thibet,  where  the  red  banners  of  Younghusband  and  the 
yellow  ones  of  the  Lhama  made  their  ko^iows,  they  have 
begun  a  modem  cart  road  from  the  fertile  lake  regions 
over  the  passes  to  Simla.  Bullock  and  yak  wagons,  in- 
stead of  barrows,  are  now  bearing  out  pashimi  (fine  shawl 


322 


THE  CHINESE 


wool  of  the  Thibetan  goat),  borax,  silk,  tea,  charras  ai 
sulphur. 

We  have  said  that  the  roads  of  China  are  only  wid«; 
enough  for  a  barrow,  on  which  the  load  is  generally  firt: 
hundred  pounds,  though  in  the  north  of  China  some  bar- 
rows carry  one  thousand  pounds.  Of  several,  there  U 
one  venerable  e.xception,  dating  from  the  third  century, 
A.  D.,  and  when  there  is  an  exception  in  China,  it  is  on 
a  gigantic  scale.  From  Peking  to  Ching  Too,  the  capital 
of  Szechuen,  a  distance  of  one  thousand  five  hundred 
miles  through  the  most  popidous  plain  of  China,  there 
runs  a  road  built  one  thousand  five  hundred  years  ago. 
It  is  fifteen  feet  wide,  and  is  paved  with  large  blocks  of 
stone,  some  being  five  feet  square.  It  is,  of  course,  in 
wretched  condition,  taken  at  spots,  but  judged  as  a  whole, 
there  Hea  the  great  work  ready  for  easy  adjustment  to  the 
present  day.  The  ancient  cedars  stand  sentinel,  pointing 
piteously  to  a  return  to  the  patriotic  public  works  of  yore 
by  taotais,  mandarins  and  viceroys.  The  fuyuns 
(mayors)  are  not  at  fault.  The  scenery,  where  this 
road  crosses  the  Sin  Ling  range,  is  on  the  most  stupen- 
dous scale,  Alpine  in  its  beauty.  The  engineers  cut  the 
road  at  eight  thousand  feet,  and  the  snowy  peaks 
tower  three  thousand  feet  still  higher.  If  one  may  judge 
,the  religion  of  the  Chinese  Buddhists  by  the  condition 
of  the  roads,  it  must  be  at  a  low  ebb,  for  one  of  the  most 
neglected  of  the  Ten  Charities  is :  "  He  who  makes  i 
piece  of  road  cuts  oflf  one  thousand  dots  on  the  debtor 
side  of  his  record  with  Buddha."  Peking's  streets,  those 
sloughs  of  dust,  pitfalls  or  slime,  have  lately  seen  their 
first  steam  roller.  Shanghai  and  Hong-Kong,  of  courw, 
preceded  Peking  in  this  respect.  In  the  stone-paved  na- 
tive cities,  the  sewer  is  tmder  the  middle  row  of  slabs. 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     323 

As  the  flow  of  water  is  poor,  decaying  vegetable  matter 
makes  a  malodorous  cry  to  heaven.  The  sewers  are 
used  for  no  other  filth,  howevor,  as  all  else  is  carried  to 
the  fields  in  buckets.  Chinese  civic  philosophy  is  thankful 
therefor,  considering  that  things  would  be  infinitely 
worse  if  the  fields  did  not  demand  more  fertilizer  than 
is  available.  There  is  not  an  American,  however,  who 
will  believe  this,  when  he  is  caught  rounding  a  lee  comer 
for  the  first  time. 

Since  little  glass  is  manufactured  (and  that  only  at 
Canton),  and  as  porcelain  is  too  costly,  and  earthenware 
too  brittle  to  stand  the  jolting,  it  may  be  asked  how  their 
samschu  wine  and  valuable  oils  are  transported.  Large 
grass  baskets,  to  support  one  hundred  pounds  weight,  are 
prepared  These  are  lined  with  thick  bamboo  paper, 
which  is  soaked  in  vegetable  oil.  Withes  of  strong  grass 
are  twisted  about  the  bundle,  and  also  around  the  large 
hood  which  is  placed  over  the  orifice.  The  coolie  takes 
no  risk  with  this  burden,  and  has  it  harnessed  on  a  prop, 
so  that  he  does  not  have  to  put  the  bundle  down  each  time 
he  rests  against  a  wall  or  tree. 

More  alleviating  even  than  railways  is  the  institution 
at  last  of  public  utilities  in  some  of  the  suffering  cities. 
This  is  really  the  breaking  of  the  true  dawn,  the  distinct 
form  of  the  sun  of  comfort  itself  seen  over  the  horizon 
at  last.  A  contract  to  provide  Canton  with  water- works 
at  Tsang  To  has  been  awarded  to  a  German  firm.  Up 
to  the  present.  Canton  has  taken  her  supply  from  the 
polluted  river  and  thousands  of  city  wells,  and  epidemics 
would  be  ex'en  more  frequent  if  the  Chinese  did  not  take 
most  of  their  drink  in  boiled  tea.  The  second  city  to 
ft.>llow  is  at  the  other  end  of  the  land.  Xewchwang  letting 
a  similar  contract  to  a  British  firm,  and  even  old  Peking 


cSlol 


324  THE  CHINESE 

is  laying  down  pipes  to  bring  filtered  water  from  the 
and  Cliing  Rivers.  We  know  what  Lourdes  is  in  refit. 
week  as  a  distributor  of  disease,  but  the  water  of  Chinese 
cities  holds  a  continuous  carnival  in  germs.  Wbeo  the' 
music  of  the  steam  water-pumps  is  heard  in  the  land, ' 
how  many  millions  will  rise  upon  their  couches  and  say 
they  have  heard  indeed  the  pulsing  of  the  wings  of  that ' 
good  angel  whicti  shed  healing  upon  the  West.  The  ob- 
ject lesson  was  afforded  by  the  filtration  beds  at  Tokift 
Osaka  and  British  Hong-Kong.  Families  too  poor  U. 
pay  for  a  faucet  in  the  house  are  furnished  a  key  to  the 
street  hydrant  for  seventy-five  cents  per  annum,  with  the 
liability  of  being  swooped  down  upon  by  the  patrolling 
lukong  if  water  is  wasted. 

Harbors,  too,  are  being  improved.  It  is  proposed  to 
prepare  the  water-front  of  historic  Whompoa  for  Can- 
ton's revived  shipping,  and  the  railway  terminal  whidi 
will  be  located  there.  Even  the  dizzy  old  bund  of  Canton 
itself  has  lately  been  straightened  up  before  the  surveyor's 
line.  But  the  other  day,  two  towns  off  the  Tung  Ting 
Lake  opened  their  black-barred  gates  to  foreign  trade,  and 
the  vast  hemp  fields  of  sealed  Hunan  were  thus  at  last 
brought  to  one  day's  steaming  from  Han-kau. 

The  foolish  pounding  on  a  wooden  cymbal  by  a  watch- 
man who  noisily  dragged  along  his  wooden  shoes  through 
the  thief-infested  shadows  is  being  replaced  by  the  stealthy 
tread  of  the  uniformed,  carbine-armed  policeman. 
Drained  boulevards  are  being  broken  across  the  stinking 
cities  from  gate  to  gate.  Something  more  systematic 
than  the  visits  of  the  wandering  sow  is  depended  upcm 
to  clean  the  streets  of  garbage.  More  victorias  and  auto- 
mobiles, full  of  happy  painted  wives,  are  seen,  as  wider 
roads  are  macadamized  in  the  suburbs  of  the  treatr 


MODERN  COMMERCE  AND  BUSINESS     325 

ports.  Copied  from  Hong-Kong,  the  great  teacher  of 
the  East,  the  electric  car  will  run  before  long  out  of  Can- 
ton, up  the  gorgeous  West  River  (Sikiang)  country. 
Honest  China  has  at  last  allowed  her  impeccable  self  to 
loot  the  Occident  of  its  inventions,  for  the  sake  of  the  re- 
lief it  will  give  her  tired  sons  who  were  almost  buried 
in  the  dirt  of  the  centuries. 


CLIMATE  AND   DISEASES   OF   SOUTH    CHINA 


The  siricken  British  island-colony  of  Hong-Kong  bar 
learned  to  welcome  those  recognized  experts,  the  Japanese 
doctors,  in  the  annual  visitation  of  the  terrible  bulx<mc 
plague,  called  by  the  Chinese,  Cbang-chih.  How  its 
recurrence  shrinks  history !  We  read  of  the  curse  first 
in  I  Samuel,  6.4;  in  Thucydides,  as  occurring  at  Athens 
in  594,  B.  C. ;  and  at  Rome  in  the  reign  of  Justinian,  A. 
D.,  542.  We  have  even  considered  Manzoni's  descrip- 
tion of  it  at  Milan,  and  Defoe's  and  Pepys'  accounts  of 
the  "Black  Death"  in  London  in  September,  1665,  as 
ancient  history.  But  here  is  the  veritable  monster,  vim- 
lent  and  steaming,  suddenly  barring  one's  path  this  very 
day.  A  Japanese,  Kita  Sato,  discovered  the  bacillus  in 
the  epidemic  at  Hong-Kong  in  1894,  and  since  then,  the 
Japanese  physicians  have  been  invited  to  Canton,  Bom- 
bay, Singapore  and  Manila  when  those  ports  are  visited 
by  their  annual  scourges.  The  Chinese  of  Hong-Kong 
call  it  IVan  Yik  (the  epidemic),  in  painful  recollection 
of  the  blowing  up  by  the  British  soldiers  in  1894  of  the 
vast  Taeping  Shan  section,  which  hole  lies  under  the 
beetling  brows  of  Victoria  and  Davis  Peaks. 

The  most  marked  contrast  between  China  and  Japan, 
therefore,  is  not  in  arms,  manufacturing,  or  shipping, 
astonishing  as  have  been  the  achievements  in  these  n- 
spects,  but  in  the  splendid  modernity  of  the  latter  nation 
in  sanitary  accomi^ishnients.  Of  a  verity,  when  « 
326 


^     J 


CUMATE  AND  DISEASES  327 

speak  of  plague,  angels  have  come  upon  earth  and  the 
Haran  of  visitation  this  time  has  been  in  heathen  Nippon. 
China,  of  course,  has  never  equaled  Bombay  in  the  viru- 
lence of  the  plague,  although  in  the  1894  epidemic,  thirty- 
five  thousand  died  at  Canton  alone.  Even  in  the  cool 
season.  Canton  has  never  less  than  forty  deaths  a  week. 
In  the  neigliboring  province  of  Yunnan  it  is  probably 
raging  in  many  a  <lamp.  mcphitic  valley  when  the  medical 
journals  are  claiming  that  at  last  the  earth,  so  far  as 
newspaper  knowledge  goes,  is  enjoying  a  respite  from  the 
curse,  as  seemed  to  be  the  case  between  the  years  1844 
and  1873.  Of  late  Hong-Kong,  which  has  a  native  popu- 
lation of  three  hundred  thousand,  has  averaged  three 
hundred  deaths  a  year,  and  from  January  to  September, 
1906,  the  Colony  sufTered  nine  hundred  deaths  from 
plague.  Cases  recur  anvrng  the  luiropcans  of  the  Colony 
every  third  year.  It  is  rcniarkaMe  how  plague  clings  to 
a  house.  After  a  long  respite  the  scourge  broke  out  in 
iQOi  in  a  beautiful  .\rcade  oppcxsite  the  Hong-Kong  Bank 
on  Queen's  Road,  a  luiropean  being  attacked.  Ete  what 
the  sanitary  board  will,  each  year  it  has  returned  until 
the  house  has  come  to  be  called  **  The  Row  of  a  Hundred 
ShuddiTS."  Surprisingly  the  government  ha<;  permitte<l 
plague  corpses  to  be  buried  at  Cheung  Sha  Wan  on  the 
sloj)es  of  Mount  Davis,  in  ininicdiate  touch  with  the  for- 
eign life  of  the  Colc^ny.  This  cemetery  of  ten  thousand 
tiny  stakes  and  round  mounds,  is  just  alcove  a  section  of 
the  n«>l)le  Victoria  Jubilee  Road,  which  sweeps  half  round 
the  i*ilaml.  thirty  feet  above  the  water,  and  winds  in  and 
out  of  a  dozen  Ixiys  through  F^>kfuluIn  as  far  as  Aber- 
cleen.  Anchoretl  beneath  the  Chinese  cemetery,  swings 
arouncl  her  buoy,  the  white  hulk  Hxqcia  (an  old  war 
vessel  of  Nelson's  time),  terrible  to  many  a  European 


THE  CHINESE 


with  memories  of  the  fevered  struggle  with  the  plague, 
the  only  alleviation  for  which  seems  to  be  copious 
drafts  of  brandy  in  the  inient  to  stimulate  the  action 
of  the  heart,  which  is  immediately  depressed  by  the  poison 
of  the  plague.  The  Chinese  administer  musk,  hoangnan 
tea  and  rhubarb,  and  sometimes  lance  the  bubo.  Among 
the  natives  ninety  per  cent,  die,  but  with  the  more  highly 
vitalized,  meat-fed  foreigners,  seventy  per  cent,  recover. 
As  is  to  be  expected  in  mixed  bloods,  one  hundred  per 
cent,  of  the  Eurasians  attacked,  succumb.  The  first  in- 
dication is  an  eruption  under  the  arm  pit,  or  a  swelling 
in  the  groin.  Almost  immediately  a  great  weakness  en- 
sues, followed  by  delirium.  The  only  \-anquisher  of  the 
bacillus  is  sunlight.  A  germ  has  been  known  to  live  two 
centuries  at  Haarlem  in  Holland,  and  at  last  attack  the 
workmen  who  opened  the  tomb  of  a  sailor. 

When  the  plague  becomes  epidemic  the  villagers  of 
Kwangtung,  following  the  principle  of  the  segregation 
of  the  healthy  and  not  the  diseased,  desert  their  housa 
and  make  a  pitiful  pilgrimage  to  the  hills,  where  they 
erect  bamboo  matsheds.  Rats,  ants,  pigeons,  cats  and 
fleas,  all  die  of  the  disease,  and  spread  the  bacillus  among 
humans  from  towels,  plates  or  food,  and  humans  spread 
it  among  themselves  from  expectoration  and  contact 
Above  all,  the  disease-soaked  earth  of  the  cities,  undraincd 
of  filth  for  thousands  of  years,  breathes  out  the  plague  in 
the  dark,  rainy  and  prostratingly  hot  May  days.  In 
Hong-Kong,  excavation  is  prohibited  from  May  till  Oc- 
tober. 

During  the  prevalence  of  the  plague  in  Amoy  in  June, 
1907,  the  inhabitants  proceeded  to  Kulang-su  Island,  and 
secured  the  idol  of  Shing  Hsien  Kung,  which  is  named 
after  a  famous  doctor  now  canonized  by  the  Buddhisb. 


CXIMATE  AND  DISEASES  329 

The  Emperor  at  the  last  procession  ten  years  ago,  gave 
the  name  of  "  Hsu  Chen  Jen  "  (Genuine  Fairy  Healer) 
to  the  idol.  You  immediately  noticed  that  the  procession 
was  not  a  gala  one,  by  the  unusual  feature  of  horsemen 
being  dressed  to  represent  gods.  The  iaotai  loaned  his 
new  military  liveried  band  of  drums  and  fifes,  which 
alternated  with  the  usual  strings,  tom-toms  and  horns. 
Then,  of  course,  followed  the  characteristic  chairs  of 
fluttering  silk  and  glistening  tinsel ;  tables  of  food  for  the 
gods;  bribes  for  the  devils  most  conspicuous  of  all;  and 
noble  umbrellas  and  day  lanterns. 

The  new  method  of  treating  plague  clothing,  long  fol- 
lowed on  the  hulk  Stanfield  in  Hong-Kong  harbor, 
is  now  practised  throughout  Japan,  on  the  suggestion  of 
Doctor  Hayaki  of  the  Kencho  Board.  A  steam  generator 
and  retort  with  trays  are  rolled  into  a  house.  Steam  is 
forced  at  great  pressure  through  the  clothing  and  bedding 
for  half  an  hour.  The  method  is  simple,  effective  and 
non-destructive,  for  the  natives  have  few  leather  posses- 
sions to  be  injured.  The  loss  of  clothing  and  bedding 
two  or  three  times  a  year  by  the  former  methods  came 
to  be  a  confiscation  as  much  feared  as  the  epidemic  itself. 
Japanese  crews,  ever  insistent  that  they  have  rights  over 
other  eastern  races,  have  always  been  rebellious  to  per- 
mitting their  effects  to  be  steamed.  I  have  seen  them 
charge  the  Chinese  crew  of  the  StanHcld  with  knives, 
even  under  the  turbanncd  brows  of  British  law  in  Hong- 
Kong. 

The  health  of  these  sub-tropical,  coastal  cities  is  some- 
what ameliorated  by  ihc  most  violent  typhonic  rain-storms 
which  sink  much  of  the  fetid  malarial  matter  or  chang- 
cH  far  into  the  ground. 

White  ants  work  as  insidiously  as  the  causes  of  earth- 


I 


THE  CHINESE 

quakes,  and  as  suddenly,  when  the  timbers  are  perforated, 
bring  tlie  floors  tumbling  to  the  earth.  In  Canton,  more 
care  is  now  being  taken  to  seal  the  beams  and  rafters  with 
tin.  Ceilings  are  perforated,  often  in  beautiful  designs, 
as  the  ants  are  less  destructive  where  air  is  admitted  be- 
tween the  floors  and  the  ceilings.  The  pest  arrives  on 
the  wings  of  the  night  like  a  cloud,  and  storms  your  win- 
dow if  the  light  is  burning.  The  wings  are  immediately 
molted  and  they  crawl  away  on  their  mission  of  de- 
struction. At  the  season  of  flight,  we  would  set  a  liglit 
in  a  tub  of  water  and  darken  the  remainder  of  the  house. 
The  pesis  would  stream  to  this  ignis  fatuus,  and  in  this 
way  lliousands  were  lured  to  a  moat  of  destruction,  35 
the  flame  clipped  their  wings.  The  bite  of  these  insects 
is  another  feature  of  their  unpopularity,  though  not 
equaled  by  the  fright  that  they  reach  you  on  wings  and 
explore  your  neck  and  arms  as  reptiles. 

Even  within  the  pale  of  civilization  at  Hong-Kong,  a 
pedestrian  on  Bowen,  Barker  or  Plantation  Roads  need 
not  be  surprised  to  encounter  a  five-foot  cobra  or  a  green 
viper,  and  on  the  lonelier  roads  to  Taitam  and  Stanley, 
twelve-foot  pythons  make  their  slimy  way  up  the  bank 
from  the  ferny  undergrowth.  The  natives  on  the  Kow- 
loon  side  fear  most  the  six-inch  Teet  Sien  She,  which 
drops  on  their  wide  Hupeh  hats  vrith  a  thud  from  the 
tiled  eaves  of  the  stone  houses. 

The  white  man  for  the  tropics  is  the  wiry,  lanky,  in- 
dividual. He  is  already  too  thin  for  anaemia.  He  should 
look  like  a  veteran  of  amoebic  dysentery  campaigns,  but 
be  innocent  of  the  experience.  He  certainly  can  not  grow 
apoplectic.  His  complexion  should  incline  to  the  swarthy, 
as  those  best  resist  the  actinic  rays  of  the  sun.  Squalls 
of  the  nerves,  and  typhonic  centers  of  melanchcdia,  be 


CUMATE  AND  DISEASES  331 

will  weather,  and  ride  out  on  an  even  keel  in  his  third 
year.  Thereafter,  the  three  rocks  he  must  chart  are: 
the  yellow  girl,  typanic  airs  on  a  number-man's  "  screw  " 
(salary),  and  the  reiterated  "peg."  But  perhaps  it  is 
plainer  to  say  that  it  takes  a  genius  to  withstand  the 
tropics  and  sub-tropics,  and  he  must  be  bom.  The  band 
who  rove  the  East  find  their  discoveries  as  melancholy 
to-day  as  did  the  followers  of  Camoens*  hero,  Da  Gama, 
to  whom:  ''a  grave  was  the  first  and  awful  sight  of 
every  shore."  Certainly  three-quarters  of  those  who  ad- 
venture float  out  on  the  tide  again  as  dead  culls.  Many 
a  good  fellow's  ignorance  has  stranded  him  in  the  melan- 
choly little  cemetery  at  the  foot  of  the  White  Cloud  Hills 
at  Canton;  in  the  old  Portuguese  cemetery  outside  the 
West  Gate  of  Peking;  in  the  yellow-walled  cemetery  on 
the  Wong  Nei  Chong  (Happy  Valley)  Road  at  Hong- 
Kong,  in  castelcss  coniraderic  with  the  blue  ghosts  of  Par- 
sees;  behind  the  fort-like  walls  of  that  square  graveyard 
of  the  missionaries  that  crowns  the  height  over  the  Areia 
Prcta  beach  at  Macao, —  or  in  a  similar  banishment  of  his 
white  man's  soul  in  the  suburbs  of  many  another  treaty 
port.  Unquestionably  those  who  retire  come  away  with 
weakened  eyes,  liver,  spleen,  or  blood,  but  these  disabili- 
ties are  merely  physical ;  they  have  gained  in  heart,  in  a 
broader  com[)reliension  of  all  human  kind,  "  Cinfjalee. 
Chinee,  and  Portugee  ";  caste,  half-caste,  and  outca^^t.  It 
should  Ik*  understocxl.  however,  that  he  <l<>es  not  reach  all 
these  conclusions  while  he  is  in  the  turmoil  and  the  chas- 
tening sweat,  but  from  the  better  perspective  of  his  ancient 
and  native  heath,  which  he  a  thousand  times  despaired  of 
ever  reaching.  As  a  Chinese  sage  says,  **  Appreciations 
come  by  contrast,  and  experiences  are  the  ladder  of 
Truth."     I  never  knew  a  foreigner  in  the  southern  Chi- 


334 


THE  CHINESE 


evety  foreign  house  must  be  equipped  with  a  dr^inl 
room.  Here  are  stowed  master's  violin  and  lady's  tiscbi) 
and  in  fact  once  every  week  all  wearing  apparel  must  haV) 
its  day  in  the  hot  room.  Shoes  collect  so  much  fungi 
overnight  that  there  is  no  telling  what  mysterious  growti 
they  would  be  the  center  of,  were  time  allowed.  HerQ 
therefore,  is  a  people,  the  political  writers  moralize,  wbl 
must  keep  on  the  march  when  they  take  to  leather,  an 
that  it  will  be  woe  to  us  when  they  do.  The  home-madi 
veneered  furniture  of  the  colonizing  American  who  i 
on  his  way  to  Manila,  peels  like  an  orange,  and  a  wee 
afterward  his  glued  boxes  tumble  apart  to  the  touch  c 
unseen  hands.  When  discouraged,  go  to  the  Chind 
cabinet-maker  and  watch  him  make  his  joints  with  nlO^ 
tise  and  screw. 

There  are  no  papered  walls  in  the  rooms  of  the  paUtil 
residences  of  foreign  exiles  in  Hong-Kong  or  on  Shai 
Island,  Canton.     Walls  are  either  painted  or  kalsomiiu 
and   the  streams  of  moisture  soon  make   them    sonJiT^ 
tnough.     The  effect  would  be  unbearably  gloomy  t 
it  not  that  bright  native  tapestries  are  resorted  to,  to  fa 
the    oppressive    evidence    of    the    melancholy, 
climate. 

Following  the  American  boycott  of  1904  the  Chin 
new.spapers  trained  themselves  for  something  really  s 
mirable  in  the  boycott  of  Indian  opium.     In  whatc 
manner  Chinese  life  is  relieved  of  the  blight,  every  loH 
of  humanity  will  welcome  the  abolition  of  the  abhort 
trade,  if  it  has  the  sincere  accompaniment  of  the  1 
rooting  of  the  far  too  extensive  Yunnan  and  Szechu^ 
poppy  fields.     The  Chinese  poets  have  come  to  lai 
of  it  as  the  "  White  Dragon  of  the  treaty  ports  "  :  "  KtM 
Wu  Ti  Ya  Pien,"  "  Oh,  the  murderous  opium,"    Tht 


^,.^, 


CUMATE  AND  DISEASES  335 

drug  has  only  been  in  general  abuse  for  seventy  years, 
and  it  was  England  which  popularized  it  by  force  and 
persistent  proffer  of  it.  H.  E.  Chum,  once  viceroy  of 
Canton,  who  is  exceedingly  unpopular  with  the  Europeans 
of  Hong-Kong  because  of  his  tactless  patriotism,  is  espe- 
cially active  in  the  anti-opium  movement  The  following 
is  quoted  from  one  of  his  circulars  to  officials,  published 
at  Canton  in  April,  1906:  "The  habit  is  perhaps  ex- 
cusable in  the  old  and  decrepit,  but  any  other  officials 
found  to  make  a  habit  of  opium  smoking  will  be  imme- 
diately cashiered,  as  it  is  a  danger  to  the  nation  and  de- 
moralizing to  the  individual.  The  opium  eater  is  one  of 
the  dead  who  is  not  yet  buried."  A  greater  than  Chum, 
the  veteran  Viceroy  Chang  Chih  Tung,  in  a  passionate 
appeal,  calls  the  drug :  "  a  worse  curse  than  flood  or 
beasts;  destroyer  of  mind;  consumer  of  substance;  trans- 
former into  demons  and  depraved ;  the  only  salvation  is  a 
Renaissance  of  learning.**  The  use  of  morphia  is  in- 
creasing, and  for  this  England's  ally,  Japan,  is  to  blame. 
She  is  flooding  China  with  cheap  hypodermic  syringes, 
hut  American  infliiencc  will  prol>ably  encourage  China 
shortly  to  prohibit  the  importation  of  syringes  and  mor- 
phia. 

To  become  disgusted  with  the  mad  indulgence,  look  into 
the  dens  along  the  Leng  Thau  at  Amoy,  and  at  Toulon, 
CTierbourg  and  Brest ;  into  the  wardrooms  of  the  French 
warships,  or  into  the  smoking-rooms  of  the  steamboats 
running  to  Canton  and  Macao  from  Hong-Kong,  like 
the  Tai'On,  the  Fatslian,  the  Ilcungshan,  etc.  Couches 
are  provided;  the  little  tin  can  is  feverously  opened  e'er 
the  steamer  casts  off.  The  native,  nervous  with  the  yin^ 
or  fiery  longing  upon  him,  searclies  for  a  prod  which  kK)ks 
like  a  hair-pin;  he  twirls  it  around  in  the  can  and  draws 


r 


I 


336  THE  CHINESE 

out  a  moist  bead  which  is  heated  and  rolled,  cooled  and 
rolled  and  heated  again.  At  last  its  consistency  suits. 
He  places  the  gummy  bead  on  the  large  flute-like  pipe,  or 
yen  siang  (smoking  pistol).  There  is  a  ravenous,  full- 
mouthed  inhalation  as  the  peanut-oil  lamp  heats  the  ball 
into  vapor;  a  mad  glare  in  which  brilliant  thoughts,  like  2 
Chinese  Coleridge's  perliaps,  sweep  through  the  mind. 
He  does  not  really  see  you  at  the  window,  though  he  is 
looking  at  you  now.  You  are  only  one  of  a  numerous 
fairy  company  which  is  hovering  there,  so  do  not  be  sensi- 
tive or  excuse  yourself.  Then  ensues  a  sinking  dream, 
followed  by  a  wild  awakening  and  craving  for  a  further 
pipe,  which  he  prepares  with  sickening  impatience.  Our 
own  trans-Pacific  steamships  all  have  a  hidden  opium 
room  for  Asiatic  patrons,  or  woe  betide  the  revenue  of 
that  ship.  When  a  man  gets  the  habit  (and  about  one- 
fortieth  of  the  population  use  opium)  it  takes  about  three 
years  to  use  the  victim  up.  In  his  last  days,  see  how  the 
baggy  skin  hangs  on  his  bones.  How  black  he  is !  Such 
caverns  of  eyes  and  how  they  run  with  water!  Such 
chills  come  over  him  even  in  the  flame  of  the  zenith  suni 
Such  a  thirst  he  has,  but  not  for  water!  He  knows  not 
for  what  he  longs;  he  only  remembers  that  when  he 
smokes  he  longs  no  more.  The  stupefied  effect  is  pro- 
duced by  the  alkaloids  being  inhaled  into  the  lungs.  The 
drug  costs  the  poor  Chinese  $1 22,000,000  a  year, —  more 
than  their  greatest  burden,  the  land  tax, —  and  a  sum 
which  if  spent  for  a  navy  would  soon  make  them  omni- 
potent. It  makes  among  the  poor  nearly  all  their  crimi- 
nals, just  as  whisky  does  among  us.  If  the  religious  fear 
of  not  having  children  to  worship  at  their  graves  and  tab- 
let did  not  operate,  more  than  the  one  in  forty  would  fall 
to  the  vice.     The  priests  repeat  the  warning:  "  Chih  yen 


CLIMATE  AND  DISEASES  337 

pu  ncng  yang  son  tai/'    "If  you  cat  opium  your  sons 
will  die  out  in  the  second  generation." 

Formerly  the  opium  was  all  imported,  but  now  in  faith- 
less Yunnan,  which  diverts  all  her  rivers  into  French 
China,  and  in  the  most  fertile  upland  plain  of  China, 
Ching  Too  in  Szechuen,  in  the  irrigated  valleys  which  the 
engineers  Li  Ping,  father  and  son,  laid  out  in  250  B.  C, 
the  glorious  rice  terraces  are  being  obliterated  and  the 
cursed  poppy  is  blooming  everywhere.  All  except  the 
white  blooms  are  weeded  out,  the  white  variety  being 
most  prolific  in  opiate  juice.  So  the  most  populous  and 
happiest  province,  to  which  the  gods  gave  five  parallel 
rivers  to  drag  the  harvest  boats  down  to  the  Father  of 
Waters,  the  Yangtze,  becomes  the  first  to  be  inveigled  into 
the  folds  of  that  destructive  monster  whose  pestiferous 
haunts  have  heretofore  been  confined  to  the  seven  hundred 
thousand  acres  in  the  upjx?r  Ganges  Valley.  The  scene  in 
Szechuen  is  interesting  enough ;  the  land  is  plowed  deep 
by  a  wooden  share,  which  is  hauled  by  anything  that  can 
pull:  water-buffalo,  woman,  pony  or  camel;  the  plots 
between  the  raised  mud  patlis  are  flooded  from  well  or 
stream;  the  precious  seed  is  mixed  with  earth  before  it  is 
scattered,  a  most  ingenious  method  to  prevent  thick  sow- 
ing and  wind  waste.  In  fourteen  weeks  the  heads  are 
cut  off  and  punctured  with  nec<llcs  six  times  successively, 
and  some  of  the  powderetl  pods  are  mixed  with  the  juice 
in  preparing  the  thickened  article  which  is  shaped  and 
hardene<l  in  molds  alxnit  the  size  of  a  crab  apple.  These 
Kills  are  again  sun  dried  and  shelf  cure<l. 

When  opium  is  banishetl  then  will  revive  indeed 
in  CTiina  the  golden  age  of  Van  and  Shun  of  which  Con- 
fucius sang.  On  June  15th.  ic)o6.  the  British  govern- 
ment intimated  to  the  Wai  Wupu  that  they  would  agree 


338 


THE  CHINESE 


r 

^H  at  a  sacrifice  to  Bengal  of  twenty-four  tnillions  a  year, 

^M  to  prohibit  the  exportation  of  India  morphia  to  China, 

^M  provided  China  ceases  to  manufacture  her  own  opium 

^M  or  to  import  from  any  other  country  whatsoever.     This  J 

H  will  cost  China  a  revenue  of  four  million  dollars  a  year  i 

^^  duties  on  the  three  thousand  tons  of  imported  India 

^1  opium.     China  lays  no  special  tax  on  the  Yunnan  and 

^1  Szechuen  poppy  fields,  but  she  taxes  the  thirty  thousand 

^m  tons  of  crude  opium  produced  therefrom.     John  Morley's 

^M  speech  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  the  years  rang  with 

^M  the  revived  Christian  statesmanship  of  Wilberforce:  "I 

^B  am  prepared  to  go  all  the  length  of  abolishing  the  opium 

r  trade  in  China  at  any  sacrifice  to  England  or  India," 

The  government  of  the  Colony  of  Hong-Kong  is  sup- 
ported to  the  extent  of  one  third  by  the  tax  on  the 
"  Opium  Farm,"  which  is  owned  by  the  Chinese  and 
Parsees.  There  is  accordingly  a  great  to-do  in  the  Col- 
ony over  the  alarming  prospect  of  increased  taxation  of 
property,  when  opiated  China  sobers  up.  Surprise  is  fre- 
quently expressed  by  travelers  at  the  scenes  enacted  at 
the  Canton  Steamboat  wharf  at  Hong-Kong  in  the  name 
of  British  law  and  dignity.  Chinese  gentlemen  are 
pounced  upon  by  the  minions  of  the  local  opium  farmer 
and  searched.  There  is  far  more  blackmail  than  excise 
in  the  scheme.  These  detectives  of  all  colors  and  records, 
the  "  beachcombers  "  of  an  occidental  civilization  tented 
on  remote  oriental  sands  for  a  season,  abuse  their  au- 
thority flagrantly  when  they  conclude  that  every  Chioa- 
man,  poor  or  rich,  is  an  opium  smuggler  at  heart  and 
that  his  ba^jage  and  home  can  be  turned  upside  down 
at  any  hour  of  the  night  on  the  excuse  of  a  suspected 
cache.  The  plan  of  rewarding  informers  has  led  to 
nothing  short  of  a  widespread  system  of  fostering  the 


CUMATE  AND  DISEASES  339 

latent  secret  society  and  clan  spite.  The  farm  is  on  Ice- 
House  Lane  in  the  center  of  the  Colony,  and  visitors  will 
know  it  by  the  great  loads  of  mango  boxes,  gunny-cov- 
ered, drawn  to  its  gate  by  strings  of  nearly  naked  coolies. 

A  humorous  instance  of  smuggling  recently  occurred 
at  Bangkok^  A  coolie  wearing  an  enforced  look  of  faith- 
fulness to  his  master,  and  bearing  an  exceedingly  thick 
gold  sign  with  enormous  characters  of  "  Peace  and  Hon- 
esty'' exhibited  eagerness  to  go  ashore.  A  gimlet  was 
procured  and  his  sign  explored.  It  revealed  in  its  re- 
cesses many  tins  of  the  muddy  opium  paste,  and  Mr. 
Coolie  and  his  queue  were  prompt  to  follow  their  chagrin 
over  the  taffrail. 

Large  sums  of  money  are  being  spent  at  Canton  by 
the  New  China  party  in  spreading  the  a  .ti-Opium  cru- 
sade. Millions  of  pamphlets  and  caricatures  are  dis- 
tributed. American  and  Japanese  doctors  are  hired  in 
the  sanitariums  of  the  guilds.  Lectures  are  given  where 
distorted  and  stupefied  victims  are  exhibited  as  object 
lessons.  Anti-opium  Societies  are  being  formed  in  the 
villages.     The  members  wear  a  badge  and  sig^  a  pledge. 

One  scene  will  illustrate  the  repentance  which  is  sweep- 
ing over  the  land.  I  do  not  know  how  it  started,  but  an 
iconoclastic  penitence  was  the  inspiration  of  it.  Xor  do  I 
know  why  it  did  not  take  its  way  to  the  park  of  a  sacred 
temple,  to  invoke  religious  auspices.  The  procession 
stopped  instead  at  Chang  Su  Ho's  tea-gardens  outside 
of  Shanghai  for  the  Burning  of  the  Pipes  and  the  vow 
of  ahstineiKC  from  opium.  Every  man  carried  the  evi- 
dence of  his  contrition  and  the  vessel  of  his  shame.  Xut- 
oil  lamps  of  best  hammered  Nanking  brass  work;  trays 
of  gorgeous  Xingpo  lacquering;  ivory  and  ebony  smok- 
ing pipes  of  best  Cantonese  car>'ing;  jars  of  fuel  for  the 


340 


THE  CHINESE 


^H  lamps  from  Manchuria ;  cups  of  the  opium  treacle  from 

^H  Macao  and   Yunnan;  tlie  burned  crooked  toasting  pins 

^H  with  their  precious  jewel  heads, —  were  all  cast  on  an  oi^ 

^H  soaked  pyre,  the  base  of  which  was  made    from  the 

^1  lounges  and  tables  contributed  by  a  converted  opium  shop 

^H  proprietor.     One    student    withdrew    his    ebony    pipe. 

^H  There  was  a  sigh  and  audible  prayers  begging  him  to 

^H  "  be  a  man."     But  the  doubters  had  not  read  the  vehe- 

^H  ment  fire  in  his  eye.     He  drew  a  saw  from  a  nail,  cut 

^B  the  costly  pipe  in  two,  as  though  it  were  cheap  white 

^H  wood,  and  cast  the  demolished  cause  of  his  sorrow  on  the 

^B  heap,  to  the  plaudits  of  the  crowd  who  from  even  the  roof 

^^  of  the  compound-buildings  added  to  this  pile  of  forsaken 

idols,  gathered  together  in  an  old  nation's  new  Hezdciab- 
like  strength.  Some  one  from  the  roof  threw  a  great 
yellow  tile  trough  upon  the  mass,  and  broke  glass  and 
ivory  ware  with  a  sickening  crackle,  but  it  did  not  draw 
forth  any  sighs,  or  anger,  or  laughter.  Men  only  Icx^cd 
the  sterner,  and  struck  hammers  into  the  head  of  the 
mass.  A  mandarin  on  behalf  of  the  approving  officials, 
a  tepao  for  the  people  themselves,  stepped  forth,  and 
all  drew  back.  A  singing  girl  brdce  through  the  uncon- 
sciously formed  circle,  and  asked  to  be  allowed  to  add 
her  pipe  and  powder  puff.  Then  there  was  no  more  de- 
lay. Oil  was  called  for,  and  poured  from  kongs  until 
the  stack  was  soaked,  when  the  flame  was  touched  to 
seal  a  company  of  the  people  in  a  vow  to  the  heavens 
that  they  would  chain  themselves  no  more  to  the  leprous 
past.  A  recent  regulation  is  that  opium  pipes  shall  be 
licensed  at  one  dollar,  and  amusingly :  "  the  license  shall 
be  hung  on  the  pipe." 

Japan  does  not  look  with  as  much  concern  as  does 
China  on  the  opium  habit.     Last  March,  thirty  thousand 


1 


CUMATE  AND  DISEASES  341 

new  licenses  at  thirty  sen  each,  *'  good  for  life  "  were  is- 
sued by  the  Japanese  to  the  conquered  Fonnosans. 

The  historic  destruction  in  May,  1839,  of  $it.ooo,ooo 
worth  of  Indian  opium  by  the  Chinese  at  Canton  has  never 
had  a  parallel  for  voluntary  and  really  philanthropic  sac- 
rifice of  property,  for  China  ultimately  paid  triple  the 
price  in  war  and  indemnity.  Two  hundred  chests  at  a 
time  were  emptied  into  a  trench  which  was  filled  with  a 
mixture  of  lime  and  salt  water  until  the  twenty  thousand 
ruined  chests  were  drained  into  the  embrowned  credcs 
of  the  Chukiang  at  low  tide.  The  memories  of  the 
so-called  "perfidious  Commissionor "  Lin  Tseh  Su  and 
his  Emperor  Tau  Kwang,  whose  emotions  on  this  sub- 
ject at  least  were  on  the  most  exalted  plane,  both  merit 
monumental  praise.  The  two  memorable  letters  of  Lin's 
to  Queen  Victoria,  pleading  with  her  to  put  an  end  to 
the  execrable  opium  trade,  just  before  the  war  broke 
out,  and  before  Cliina  had  been  taught  to  grow  the  poppy, 
assume  almost  the  voice  of  an  angel  in  history,  plead- 
ing with  tears  for  justice,  if  one  lociks  at  it  from  the 
Chinese  side. 

The  Opium  Conference  of  the  nations  called  by  Amer- 
ica in  Shanghai  in  1909  was  a  failure  owing  to  Hong- 
Kong's  and  India's  fear  of  loss  of  revenue,  but  Britain 
must  yet  fulfil  Mr.  Morley's  promises.  We  shall  have 
other  conferences  and  America  will  call  them  until  Britain 
keeps  her  word.  The  effect  of  the  opium  abstinence  is 
going  to  add  potentially  to  China's  already  vast  poptila- 
tion  by  the  decrease  in  the  death  rate. 

From  Formosa  tw  Tonqtiin  the  Chinese  coast  is  fog- 
l)oum]  (luring  February  and  March.  The  warm  north- 
flfwing  Japan  current,  chafing  the  chilled  current  of  the 
Yellow  Sea  which  flows  south,  foments  a  heavy  mist 


342  THE  CHINESE 

curtain  which  makes  the  harbors,  especially  the  narrow 
Lyee-nioon  entrance  to  Hong-Kong,  impenetrable  far 
days.  The  coast-line  with  its  many  peaks  of  three  tho^^ 
sand  feet  altitude,  is  blanketed.  There  is  nothing  to  do 
but  anchor  when  iron-bound  islands  stud  the  channels. 
Often  the  peaks  alone  are  clear  and  those  who  dwell  upon 
them  for  coolness  behold  glorious  effects  of  a  sunlit  fog 
rolling  off  and  again  folding  up  the  spires  and  towtrt 
of  a  great  city  from  whence  still  come  the  distant  cries 
of  life.  Suddenly  a  gale  rushes  down  the  gullies,  and 
licks  up  the  curtain.  In  an  instant  is  revealed  an  active 
metropolis,  colored  with  the  dyes  and  quaint  with  the 
forms  of  the  Orient,  Or  again  the  peaks  only  are  hid. 
and  the  bearers,  as  they  climb  the  hills,  gradually  take 
you  in  your  mountain  chair  deeper  and  deeper  into  a  chill- 
ing heaven  of  milk-white  fog,  in  which  the  coolies  stumble 
and  with  difficulty  pick  out  the  cement  path  that  leads 
to  ches  vous,  or  better  dies  mot. 

None  is  quicker  to  concede  the  dangers  of  his  own 
summer  climate  than  the  Oriental  himself,  inured  though 
he  is  to  it  by  heredity  and  habitude.  David  said  :  "  I  will 
lift  up  mine  eyes  unto  the  hills,  whence  ctHneth  my 
help " ;  the  Arab  goatherd  to-day  drives  his  flock  Iron 
the  plain  of  Er  Rahah  to  the  cooler  clefts  on  Sinai's  Peak. 
The  Pekingese  officials  flee  to  the  heights  of  Patachu; 
the  Seoul  man  betakes  himself  to  the  Namhan  Hills.  The 
Tokio  resident  retires  to  Chusenji's  mountain  lake  and 
splendid  heights.  The  Ningpo  people  climb  Feting  HiH 
on  Phutho  Island.  The  Hong-Kongite  takes  a  tram 
which  lifts  him  in  seven  minutes  fifteen  hundred  feet 
above  his  boiling  harbor  and  he  is  borne  in  chairs  three 
hundred  feet  higher  to  find  a  cooling  breath  brought  by 
the  monsoon  over  the  peaks.     Or  on  a  still  night  he  slips 


CLIMATE  AND  DISEASES  343 

down  the  tram;  takes  a  launch  and  tears  around  the 
mountain-encircled  bay  to  create  a  breeze  by  motion,  but 
the  bow  cuts  only  into  molten  waves  of  hot,  though  mag- 
nificent phosphoresence. 

It  is  July;  the  oflficial  heat  in  the  shade  is  92,  the  hu- 
midity 90.  There  has  been  no  rain  in  six  months.  How 
they  suffer  in  number  five  district  of  Hong-Kong,  where 
is  packed  the  densest  population  of  the  world,  one  thou- 
sand to  the  acre,  against  the  nine  hundred  of  New  York's 
East  Side,  and  seven  hundred  of  London's  Whitechapel! 
The  pigs  crawl  to  the  gutter  and  become  molten  grease 
from  their  own  and  the  sun's  heat.  The  water  of  the  bay 
shines  as  metallic  as  a  pan,  and  radiates  the  heat  like 
mohcn  steel.  The  once  gray  and  green  war-ships  have 
been  painted  white  again  to  de- focus  the  blazing  rays. 
To  go  to  the  waters  for  relief  in  daytime  never  occurs  to 
the  minds  of  those  experienced  in  the  Orient  There  is  a 
mica-like  glitter  in  the  blinding  atmosphere;  it  is  the  sun 
flashing  from  the  suspended  sand  and  dust  particles. 
Dogs  are  going  mad,  for  the  springs  have  all  dried  up, 
and  there  is  barely  enough  drinking  water  for  humans. 
The  soldiers  in  the  barracks  of  this  garrison  post  which  is 
the  strongest  in  the  far  East  lie  all  day  on  their  backs  and 
cry  to  the  punkah  coolies  to  fan  away  their  curses.  The 
sailors,  baking  between  the  steel  walls  of  the  war-ships, 
are  ordered  to  dive  overboard  on  the  shady  side  of  the 
ship  after  four  o'clock.  Ale  is  struck  from  the  rations 
because  heat  and  alcohol  are  driving  men  as  mad  as  a 
sailor  becalmed  in  the  Red  Sea.  The  foreign  sick,  toss- 
ing »ix^n  the  hot  canvas  of  their  cots,  bemoan  how  fright- 
fully far  away  home  is.  There  is  not  a  breath  stirring 
the  .Australian  eucalyptus  trees  which  have  been  planted 
to  drive  away  the  malaria  breeding  Anopheles  mosquitoes. 


344 


THE  CHINESE 


P 

V  They  may  talk  of  a  thermometer  on  a  flat  roof  in  Bag- 

I  dad  registering  150  in  llie  sun,  but  please  remember  that 

I  the  Tigris  Valley  has  nothing  like  the  Iiuinidity  which  ae- 

I  companies  heat  at  Hong-Kong,  and  it  is  humidity  only 

I  which  kills,  and  which  tells  you  of  its  heartless  intent 

H  while  it  is  doing  the  killing.     The  barometer  is  scanned 

H  at  the  newpaper  offices  to  see  if  there  is  any  chance  of  a 

H  typhoon  breaking  the  awful  still  glow.     It  is  painful  to 

H  hear  a  'rickisha  move  along  at  mid-day ;  what  fool  can  be 

H  daring  a  sunstroke  I     Every  one  keeps  changes  of  clothes 

H  at  the  office,  for  the  jotirney  to  business  in  a  jolting  scjan 

H  chair  has  brought  out  the  perspiration  which  has  wet 

one's  Chifu  silk  coat  through  and  through-  Relays  are 
hired  for  your  punkah-coolie  force,  who  are  on  night 
work.  You  keep  your  shoes  near  your  bed  to  throw  at 
a  delinquent,  who,  as  soon  as  he  thinks  you  are  asleep, 
stops  pulling  the  rope  of  the  ceiling-fan,  and  falls  asleq> 
himself,  utterly  indifferent  to  the  fact  that  the  lack  of  a 
breeze  will  at  once  wake  you  up.  It  is  stifling  under  your 
mosquito  curtain  and  you  tear  it  down,  trusting  to  the 
punkah  breeze  to  alarm  the  flying  cockroaches  and  other 
winged  pests.  You  raise  the  temperature  of  your  bath, 
for  your  diminishing  vitality  will  not  stand  the  slightly 
cooled  water  from  the  cistern  of  your  home,  or  the  arte- 
sian water  of  the  club.  Day  by  day  the  pavements  and 
walls  grow  more  dazzling  in  the  sun ;  night  by  night  your 
head  swims  and  you  think  you  will  swoon  away  for  ever. 
If  only  you  could,  and  the  torture  of  recoveries  not  be  re- 
peated. You  grow  terrorized,  and  the  sight  of  the  blue 
walls  of  a  Christian's  cemetery  in  exile  gives  you  a 
panic.  You  are  fearing  that  after  all  you  will  not  be 
able  to  pull  through.  They  are  sending  the  patients  who 
have  been  operated  upon,  from  the  hospitals  on  the  peak 


CUMATE  AND  DISEASES  345 

by  ships  to  Wei-Hai-Wei  and  Chifu,  as  their  wouikJs 
will  not  heal  here  in  the  south.  The  barometer  lowers  and 
you  have  high  hopes,  but  still  no  rain  comes.  Two  days 
later,  a  ship  arrives,  minus  a  yard  and  a  boat  or  two ;  ex- 
asperating! the  blow  swung  just  dear  of  the  Colony. 
You  hate  the  full  moon,  it  only  seems  like  another 
glaring  sun  in  the  stifling,  sleepless  night.  Some  of  the 
trees  impatient  with  nature  herself  are  shedding  their 
leaves  in  a  land  where  there  never  is  frost.  The  king 
of  blooms,  the  purple  lotus  in  the  public  gardens,  has 
closed  and  gone  to  golden  seed.  It  marks  the  height 
of  the  tropic  season.  The  rc5cr\'oirs  have  lost  their 
purple  sheen  and  axe  down  to  the  yellow  liquid  of  the 
muddy  bottom,  and  weeds  are  beginning  to>grovv  down 
the  sides  of  the  basins  as  a  sign  of  the  subjugation  of 
hygiene.  The  stores  have  run  short,  and  you  send  your 
foki  out  in  a  sampan  to  the  steamers  in  the  harbor  for 
"  Schweppe  and  Scotch."  Religion  comes  to  the  gates 
of  nature.  The  mi.ssionarics  are  praying  in  the  chapels; 
the  bonzes  are  beating  cymbals  and  dog-skin  kettledrums 
as  soon  as  the  day  begins;  the  sampan  women  are  light- 
ing extra  handfuls  of  punk  sticks,  and  even  you.  an  ir- 
religious se\'en  year  man,  on  your  second  term,  are  think- 
ing of  your  mother,  and  joining  the  rest  in  prayer  to 
her  God  for  rain.  Again  the  barometer  is  sought;  it  is 
falling.  Men  gather  round  it  at  the  club  and  the  harbor 
office.  The  bulletin  of  rain  is  announced  in  the  Chinese 
sheet  and  credit  is  given  to  the  dragon  for  old  Faith's 
sake.  thouKh  the  proof-reader  smiles  now.  But  where 
is  that  first  wind  ihat  is  to  come  from  a  comer  some* 
\\  here,  anywhere,  am!  open  the  gates  of  Salvation  ? 

The  wind  at  last  rises  with  the  voice  of  an  angel,  and 
the  harbor  in  welcoming  joy  has  leaped  up  with  white 


346 


THE  CHINESE 


p. 

^M  arms.     It  is  growing  darker  even  at  four  o'clock,  and  ' 

^M  the  burned  hills  are  not  so  glaringly  red  and   white. 

^1  There  are  shadows  spotting  them.     Coolies  come  out  of 

^1  their  cellar  retreats  and  are  gatliering  at  the  curbs,  a  high-   ' 

^1  ya  upon  their  voices  and  a  new  soul  in  their  eyes.     Tlw 

^M  fowl  on  the  disease  heaps  are  crowing,  and  the  caged    | 

^M  Tientsin  larks  are  singing.     How  the  world  to-day  wor- 

^M  ships  Heaven  in  whatever  language  you  pronounce  the 

B  word,  and  shows  its  faith  before  the  giftl     Some  one  dc- 

H  dares  they  have  seen  a  drop  on  the  pavement,  and  a  num- 

H  her  have  dropped  tlieir  bamboo  poles  and  are  stooping 

*  over  to  make  examination.     Hoi  Lot  is  shouted :  Mah 

tells  Kih  that  he  did  it  with  his  wet  finger  and  the  homely 

humor  explodes  the  always  cheerful  native  crowd.     Of  a 

sudden  a  darkness,  like  later  evening,  closes  in.    The 

drops  strike  like  shots  on  the  wide  grass  Hupeh  hats  of 

the  coolies  and  on  the  starched  blue  Nankeen  blinds  of 

the  sedan  chairs.     It  pelts;  it  comes  in  spears  and  sheets; 

the  earth  drinks  and  rises  in  a  glorious  perfume.     Goats, 

fowl,  pigs,  dogs  and  water-buffaloes  break  bounds  and 

join  master  and  servant  in  the  street.     There  is  no  bond 

or  free,  driven  or  driver,  Yellow  or  White,  animal  or  its 

superior,  for  a  spell.     All  stand  forth  equal  in  need  and 

gratitude.     The  curse  is  ended  and  there  is  respite  from 

the  sentence  of  death  by  the  shafts  of  the  sun.     How  it 

rains !     The  gulleys  and  gorges  roar  in  the  night.     Thirty 

inches  fall  in  twenty-four  hours.     The  great  white  Praya 

has  been  converted  into  a  lake,  which,  as  it  drains  into  the 

sea,  makes  of  the  long  revetment  walls  a  waterfall  of 

wonderful    width.     The    mounted    army    officers    dash 

through  the  flood  and  remind  one  another :  "  How  like  it 

is  to  Calcutta's  maidan  in  August."    The  unpaved  coun- 

tiy  roads  become  a  viscid  pudding  and  your  house  coolies 


CUMATE  AND  DISEASES  347 

at  last  have  a  gcxxl  excuse  for  delaying  the  supplies  for 
your  dinner. 

It  is  one  of  the  world's  wonders  to  go  out  into  a  tropic 
storm  and  hear  nature  take  up  her  clarion  in  the  weed- 
grown  gulleySy  and  see  her  hands  drive  the  white  tor- 
rents over  the  precipices.  It  is  not  the  effect  of  Niagara, 
which  has  always  been  the  same;  it  is  the  alarm  of  the 
unfamiliar,  for  here  you  stood  yesterday  and  now  you 
know  it  not  in  its  mad,  new  grandeur.  Your  precious 
bamboo  Venetian  blind,  that  shaded  you  for  so  many 
months  with  all  the  faithfulness  of  the  prophet's  gourd, 
has  gone  like  a  thing  possessed  of  the  hilarious  storm 
soul,  fluttering  your  poster-pictures  from  its  yellow  sail. 
What  of  it;  it  is  a  sign  of  manumission.  The  last  week 
of  April,  1908,  was  unprecedented  for  rainfall  in  southern 
China.  Fifty  inches  fell,  making  seventy  inches  for  the 
year,  which  is  twice  what  Shanghai  and  ten  times  what 
Peking  gets.  Canton  and  its  villages  were  under  two 
feet  of  water.  The  creeks  flowing  into  the  Sikiang 
(West  River)  rose  with  their  parent  and  submerged  rice 
fields,  trees  and  huts.  Millions  die  yearly  of  famine  be- 
cause China  i)ersists  in  a  devotion  to  rice.  The  riverine 
fields  necessarily  are  in  danger  of  continual  inunda- 
tion by  the  flooding  of  her  great  rivers  whose  head- 
waters are  not  gradually  released  by  restraining  for- 
ests. If  Oiina  would  only  take  to  raising  grain  on 
higher  land ! 

In  .Xugust  last,  Peking,  which  in  winter  has  as  low  a 
thermometer  as  Albany,  rejx^rted  105  degrees  of  heat, 
and  a  cholera  scourge,  with  three  hundrefl  deaths  daily, 
added  to  the  horrors  of  ji  summer  rcsi<lence  in  the  capi- 
tal. It  is  impossible  under  present  hygienic  ignorance, 
to  restrain  the   natives   from  eating  green   fruit  even 


348  THE  CHINESE 

during  cholera  epidemics.  When  the  deadly  cramps 
strike  them  the  native  expresses  himself  by  saying:  "  A 
rat  is  eating  me." 

Hong-Kong  is  the  emporium  for  Manila  in  cattle  and 
fresh  produce,  and  the  United  States  Marine  Hospital 
inspectors  are  stationed  at  the  former  place  with  all 
power  to  vise  exportations.  I  recall  an  official  excursion 
with  one  of  the  doctors  during  the  prevalence  of  a  chol- 
era epidemic  in  Manila,  to  find  the  impossible:  a  potato 
field  in  the  Canton  delta  which  was  innocent  of  the  abom- 
inable method  of  using  human  fertilizer.  To  prevent  the 
carriage  of  cholera  germs  these  officials  will  not  vise  dur- 
ing certain  seasons  the  exportation  to  America  of  the 
sacred  narcissus  roots,  which  are  wrapped  in  Chinese 
earth.  We  rest  secure  at  home  because  our  government 
sleeps  not  abroad. 

A  foreignef  wonders  why  his  underclothing,  which  is 
beaten  on  stones  in  streams,  should  afflict  him  with  spots 
which  burn  agonizingly.  He  soon  discovers  that  the 
clothes  were  dried  on  grass  patches  which  have  been 
used  for  years  for  the  same  purpose,  and  that  he 
is  poisoned  with  dobie  itch.  Small  white  pimples  form 
under  the  skin  wherever  there  is  chafing,  and  the  tor- 
tured griffin  is  transformed  into  a  humorous  jumping- 
jack  for  the  amusement  of  the  veterans  of  great  and  little 
ills. 

In  the  early  days  of  oriental  colonies  the  now  familiar 
dengue  fever  (then  called  the  Sand)  was  looked  upon 
as  a  rapidly  approaching  stroke  of  death,  as  immediate 
insensibility  attacked  the  limbs,  and  early  writings  are 
full  of  the  amusing  fears  of  travelers.  The  symptoms 
are  similar  to  the  plague,  excepting  that  there  are  no 
eruptions  under  the  arms.     There  is  immediate  lassitude, 


CUMATE  AND  DISEASES  349 

bone-grinding  aches,  and  a  delirium  of  pleasant  visions 
such  as  opiates  produce.  The  most  marked  feature  is 
the  itch,  which  attacks  the  whole  body  at  once  during 
convalescence.  The  sufferer  is  soused  in  hot  baths; 
salves  are  applied,  but  do  what  his  nurses  may.  the  victim 
must  stand  three  days  of  the  most  violent  itching  that 
imagination  can  comprehend. 

The  climate  has  produced  a  certain  moral  effect  upon 
the  Chinese  of  the  south.  In  Europe,  heat  has  made  the 
southern  races  hot-tempered  and  tender  under  trial.  In 
China  the  heat  and  humidity  have  taught  the  race  (hat  if 
they  are  to  live  at  all,  they  must  take  things  calmly,  and 
thus  in  conquering  their  bodies  so  as  to  endure  the  cli- 
mate, they  have  unconsciously  disciplined  their  minds, 
as  perhaps  no  other  race  has.  for  greatness  in  a  world  mis- 
sion of  the  future.  Their  coolness  of  tcmixramcnt  is 
reinforced  by  the  philosophies  of  the  schools.  The  race 
further  steadies  itself  under  discipline,  as  witness  the 
native  rtfRinicnt  raised  by  the  ilritisli  at  Wei-Hai-Wci.  and 
Yuan  Shi  K'ai's  troops, —  and  with  this  threefold  pa- 
tience, promises  to  become  a  ponderous  machine  when 
drilled  to  nicthixls,  whether  of  modern  commerce  or  war- 
fare. Their  (Njiiipoisf  of  tcmiwraim-nt  is  |>(^s^iIlly  best  il- 
liisirntrd  by  an  absolute  absence  of  taste  for  alcoholic 
stimulant. 

It  is  pectilinr  that  a  tubercular  diathesis,  absent  in 
China,  shmilil  Ik*  the  strongest  inclination  of  the  race 
when  they  emigrate. 

.\n  oriental  scourge,  not  so  widely  written  of  in  these 
cl.iys  because  it  is  attacking  foreigners  less  than  it  used 
tc  when  ships  made  slower  voyages,  is  beri-beri.  the 
ncrms  of  which  are  taken  from  moldy  rice,  like  the 
Rangoon  product,  which  carries  the  excrementitious  in- 


35" 


THE  CHINESE 


r 

H  fcctive  matter  of  a  small  brawn  weevil.     The  damp  clt- 

^J  mate  of  the  south  fosters  sporadic  outbreaks  at  Canton. 

^H  Those  who  live  on  the  ground  floor  are  particularly  sub- 

H  Ject  to  it.     The  Portuguese  of  Macao  tliercfore  make  of 

■  their  street  floor  merely  a  shed  for  the  'rickisha  and  rake, 

H  The  beautiful  stairway  leads   from  the  middle  of  the 

H  adobe  tiling  to  ihe  second  floor,  where  the  family  lives, 

H  the  choicest  situation  in  the  home  thus  being  given  up 

I  to  the  necessities  of  hygiene.     The  disease  only  becomes 

H  epidemic  where  vegetables  are  lacking  in  the  food  and 

H  where  the  people  are  crowded  together  without  exercise, 

W  as  on  shipboard  or  in  camps.     As  in  plague,  light  keeps 

down  the  beri-beri  germs.     Instead  of  a  swelling  of  llie 

gland,  it  exhibits  itself  by  a  swelling  of  the  ankle.     The 

mortality  is  over  ninety  per  cent.     The  Osaka  hospitals 

had  many  cases  break  out  among  the  rice-fed  troops  who 

were  invalided  home  from  the  great  war  in  1905. 

Distant  from  the  town  of  Victoria  four  miles  through 
the  hills,  or  ten  miles  around  the  island  of  Hong-Kong, 
is  the  deserted  settlement  of  Stanley  which  first  created 
the  name :  "  The  White  Man's  Grave."  The  only  thing 
there  now  which  shows  the  attention  of  man  is  the  gov- 
ernment fence  around  the  graves  of  the  soldiers  who  fell 
a  prey  to  the  malaria  in  the  forties,  when  drainage  and 
tropical  digging  were  not  understood  as  they  are  at  pres- 
ent. The  mortality  was  eighty  per  cent.  Even  now  the 
admissions  to  hospital  on  account  of  malaria  are  one-third 
of  the  troops  on  the  sick  list.  The  worst  feature  of  the 
fever  is  its  predisposition  to  other  diseases.  Governments 
may  well  fear  malaria  as  it  costs  seven  hundred  dollars  to 
invalid  a  soldier  home.  It  is  cheaper  to  keep  him  well  on 
foreign  station,  which  explains  the  recent  growth  of  recre- 
ation grounds  and  clubs  without  canteens,  and  the  increase 


CLIMATE  AND  DISEASES  351 

also  in  the  amount  and  variety  of  his  work  before  and 
after  sundown.  Mimic  war  makes  for  stern  health  and 
leaves  less  time  for  whisky  and  worry. 

A  Chinese  emigrant  will  lift  his  hat  before  his  mouth 
to  protect  his  inhalation  if  you  mention  the  lethal  valleys 
of  the  Red  River  in  Tonquin  or  the  mephitic  Salwcen 
in  western  Yunnan,  which  the  superstitious  will  cro!;s 
only  in  the  night.  This  of  course  is  the  worst  thing  they 
could  do.  as  the  sun  exercises  some  effect  in  checking 
the  malarious  vapors. 

C<K;kroaches  are  a  noisy  pest  which  rummage  the 
whole  night.  They  eat  the  enamel  off  your  shoes.  Every 
blue  covered  book  on  the  shelves  is  attacked.  You  can 
not  keep  them  out.  for  thoy  come  in  on  the  wings  of 
the  darkness  and  escajw  with  the  wings  of  the  moniing. 
They  dash  in  your  face  as  you  turn  up  the  lights,  and 
they  dive  into  your  friend's  cocktail  glass  between  the 
time  of  salute  and  swallow.  When  you  pursue  them 
they  back  up  under  your  chiffonier  and  eye  you  with 
a  squint.  In  other  words  this  pest  of  China  is  a  winged, 
a  \vis<T,  n  niori'  Iravt-lcd  and  a  larger  bird  than  our  crawl- 
iiifi  s|K'c-im(ii  in  ncci'leiital  cellars. 

ll  is  considered  brotherly  among  the  natives  to  use  the 
same  hnsin  of  water  when  handing  to  the  guests  after  a 
nit;il  a  tmt  wet  cloth  to  wipe  the  face.  This  unfortunate 
etifiiiclle  is  sowing  much  of  the  trachoma  which  atHicts 
the  race.  Hmvcver  the  Chinese  do  not  use  one  water 
for  a  family  lulh  as  do  the  Japanese,  and  suffer  from 
Ic-is  trarlmni:!  an<!  skin  di<eascs.  Faces,  pitted  by  small- 
pox, which  tlu-y  call  "  Heavenly  Flowers,"  are  constantly 
met  In  H'Hi!,'  Konj:;  the  natives  offer  no  resistance  10 
vaccinati'iii. 

A  great  deal  has  been  written  that  the  race  does  not 


352 


THE  CHINESE 


p. 

H  pursue  heavy  physical  exercises  and  participates  only  ia 

^1  light  outdoor  games.     But  it  is  not  to  be  judged  there- 

^M  from  that  the  Chinese  ignore  the  importance  of  physical 

^B  culture;  they  differ  from  us  in  that  their  care  of  the  body 

^1  is  by  a  lighter  rule  suited  to  their  cHmate,  and  their  more 

^^  exhausting  day's  work.     The  leading  classic  of  the  na- 

^1  tion,  the  fount  of  all  its  morals,   On  Filial  Piety,  laj-s 

^M  down  the  following  as  the  basic  principle  of  conduct: 

^B  "  The  first  thing  which  filial  duty  requires  of  us  is  that 

^M  we  carefully  preserve  from  all  injirry  and  in  a  perfect 

^M  state,  the  bodies  which  we  have  received  from  our  pat^ 

■  ents." 

Who  that  has  taken  his  first  ride  behind  the  hill- 
climbing  chair  coolies  of  Hong-Kong  has  not  marveled 
at  these  splendid  specimens  of  muscular  strength  ?  They 
are  with  one  exception  a  sculptor's  Greek-like  model  in 
the  thin  ankles  and  knees;  great  calves  and  thighs  and 
fair  chest  and  neck  muscles.  The  arms  however  are 
rather  thin.  A  rhythm  to  the  quick  step  is  beaten  with 
one  arm  extended,  or  the  "  goose-arm  "  as  the  German 
sailors  call  it. 

A  race  which  believes  in  the  infusion  of  a  young  buck's 
horns,  ginseng  and  cockroaches'  wings  for  a  fever  anti- 
dote may  be  expected  to  follow  other  unusual  medical 
methods.  With  no  modern  knowledge  of  dissection  or 
the  osseous  system,  a  Chinese  doctor  jabs  needles  sit 
inches  long  all  over  the  body  and  will  never  hit  a  bone  or 
an  artery.  It  is  said  they  practise  upon  wax  figures.  In 
a  wonderfully  responsive  way  they  compel  the  patient  to 
rouse  his  courage  and  exhilarate  his  nerves.  They  are 
decided  dietists  and  bring  about  therefore  many  results 
similar  to  our  own.  Broths  are  made  of  bay,  honey,  car- 
bon, blood,  wine  and  almonds;  aperients  and  hot  water 


CLIMATE  AND  DISEASES  353 

flushing  are  called  into  service.  They  attach  great  im- 
portance to  the  appearance  of  the  tongue.  Violent  ice 
douches,  exhausting  exercise  and  sudden  smotherings  are 
resorted  to.  The  severest  kind  of  pinching  osteopathy  is 
tised  efficaciously  for  dyspepsia  and  some  cases  of  mas* 
sage  are  so  heroic  that  the  athletic  physician  kneads  his 
groaning  victim  with  his  knees  as  well  as  hands.  They 
do  not  study  the  nervous  system,  or  harden  the  outer  edge 
of  the  hand,  as  do  the  Japanese,  who  in  ju*jitsu  make  one 
blow  on  a  nerve  center  paralyze  a  man. 

Their  diagnosticians  believe  in  microbes,  but  consider 
that  they  are  larger  than  microscopic  and  so  treat  for 
eggs  and  worms.  In  stomach  troubles,  neuralgia,  rheu- 
matism and  boils,  they  are  quick  to  effect  a  cure.  An 
infusion  of  crickets'  wings  is  used  to  reduce  obesity. 
They  attach  the  greatest  importance  in  their  diagnosis 
to  the  beats  of  the  arteries  and  claim  that  there  are 
twelve  movements  of  significance.  There  are  no  apothe- 
caries, the  physician  himself  compounding  his  prescrip- 
tions, and  the  patient,  if  able,  is  encouraged  to  come  to 
the  doctor's  residence  to  take  his  medicine.  Their  of- 
fices are  fitted  up  artistically,  the  physician  claiming  that 
the  new  and  agreeable  surroundings  have  a  beneficial  in- 
flneiicc.  A  pair  of  deer's  horns  (not  a  mortar  and  pestle) 
mark  the  doors,  and  crockery  jars  take  the  place  of  our 
bottles.  Butcher  shops  often  add  one  shelf  of  medicines 
|o  the  stock.  No  physician  uses  his  own  'rickisha;  he 
hires  one,  and  it  is  ctislomarj-  for  the  i>atient's  family  to 
pay  the  coolies  on  departure.  When  the  fee  is  finally  re- 
ceived, it  is  wrapped  in  tissue  paper  and  is  calle<l 
"  golden  thanks."  Withal,  zeal  is  added  imto  prayer 
aixl  prescriirtion.  for  no  physician  is  paid  in  full  if  his 
patient  succumbs. 


■  354 


THE  CHINESE 


u 


Ginseng  (ivywort)  is  dried  over  charcoal  in  Korea. 
It  is  cultivated  under  screens  in  a  valley  sixty  miles  troni 
Seoul.  Korea  makes  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year 
from  its  sale,  and  America  might  increase  her  trade 
millions  in  the  really  useless  root  to  which  the  Chinese  pttt 
their  greatest  hopes  in  sickness.  The  imports  of  the 
at  Hong-Kong  in  1908  had  dropped  to  seven  hi 
and  sixty-six  piculs,  as  compared  with  eleven  hundred 
ten  piculs  in  1900.  A  sweet-tasting,  dark-calored, 
and  unbroken  wild  root  is  preferred,  Korean  roots 
the  largest  price,  sometimes  as  high  as  twenty-five 
4ired  dollars  Mexican  a  picul.  While  an  infusion  oi 
root  is  general,  some  of  it  is  preser^'ed  in  honey.  The 
black-barred,  adobe-tiled  cellars  on  Des  Voeux  Road 
West,  Hong-Kong,  where  the  herb  is  dealt  in,  are  uBftt- 
tentious  enough  places,  but  the  canny  dealers  there  know 
the  pulse  of  trade  and  in  a  moment  can  judge  the  valoaUe 
roots,  picking  out  faults  of  weevil,  moisture,  imperfect 
roots,  the  paler  cultivated  plants,  or  roots  wfaic^  ban 
been  redried.  Long  as  the  voyage  across  the  Padfic  i^ 
the  importers  in  Hong-Kong  will  receive  the  goods  ca^ 
on  consignment. 

Another  skin  disease,  communicated  by  the 
Culex  mosquito,  is  otu-  familiar  "  Barbadoes'  1^, 
the  bitten  part  swells  up  hard,  sore  and  fe^ 
makes  the  terrilied  sufferer  think  his  last  day  has 
for  he  is  sure  he  has  been  bitten  in  his  sleep  by  a! 
thenish  salamander. 

Flights  of  greenish  gray  locusts  are  an  ocxasioad 
tation.     They  settle  on  the  shrubs  with  weight 
break  their  branches.     In  three  or  four  hours  they 
leave  a  dozen  acres  as  bare  of  green  as  thoo^  a.  tont 
fire  had  singed  the  landscape,  and  then  Uke  all  plagues 


VkiiiK.   Niirlh   lliin 


The  old  examination   park   of    [2,ooo  brick  stalls  at   Canton. 
China.      No    lectures    were    given ;     the    University 
consistct]  of  ail   Examining  Board. 


CUMATE  AND  DISEASES  355 

which  have  accomplished  their  malign  purpose,  they  are 
off  with  the  wings  of  the  morningf. 

But  the  ncver-ti>-bc- forgotten  thing,  when  on  the  sub- 
ject of  the  Chinese  climate,  is  her  tj-phoons  (Fung  Kau) 
of  August  and  September.  Ninety  miles  an  hour  veloc- 
ity has  been  recorded.  I  stayed  a  day  and  a  night  at 
Hong-Kottg  fifteen  hundred  feet  above  the  water,  during 
one  of  these  blows.  The  crescendo  shrieks  of  the  wind 
were  terrifvinf:^.  A  crash  was  heard :  it  was  the  brick  end 
of  the  Mount  Austin  barracks,  four  hundred  feet  above  us 
in  the  clouds,  being  blown  in.  A  walk  afterward 
through  the  town  on  the  lower  terraces  revealed  a  desola- 
tion of  windows  and  shutters,  eucalyptus  and  banyan 
tries.  like  Dvtailk-'s  painting  of  Tlu-  Defense  of  C'ham- 
pujny.  A  barricade  wiMxlen  shutter,  with  a  thick  ty- 
phoon brace,  is  fitted  on  these  tropical  houses,  for  no 
glass  would  stand  for  a  moincni.  Oti  another  occasion  I 
had  been  out  on  the  auxitiarr  Japanese  cruiser  Sippon 
MarH  for  a  trial  trip,  which  was  completed  in  haste  at 
Aberdeen  under  a  rapidly  lowering  barometer.  With 
full  speed,  in  a  lightened  ship,  riding  frightfully  high, 
we  returned  to  the  northern  anchorage  under  the  shelter 
of  High  West  Peak  at  Hnng-Kong.  The  blow  had 
come;  it  was  too  dangerous  for  two  days  to  take  a  tug 
b'>at  ashore,  even  if  one  were  available.  Great  war-ships 
steamed  against  their  chains  and  plowed  like  Leviathan. 
White-crested  billows  vied  with  the  gale  in  a  mad  race 
westward.  Behind  the  breakwater  at  Causeway  Bay, 
and  at  Shau-Ki-Wan  and  Shelter  Bays,  a  forest  of  junks 
were  hid  under  the  Wonp  \ei  Chong  Hills.  Now  and 
then,  several  would  be  torn  out  into  the  path  of  the 
storm,  like  so  much  seaweed. 

Just  previous  to  a  typhoon,  it  is  a  wonderful  ^tectacle 


356 


THE  CHINESE 


to  see  the  excited  crews  and  women  of  the  junks, —  k 
dozen  on  each  two-piece  fir  sweep,  sculling  to  help  the 
steam  launches  as  they  pull  strings  of  boats  to  safety  be- 
hind some  peak.  As  the  storms  are  circular,  a  refuge  that 
is  safe  one  night  may  be  the  exposed  position  next  moni- 
ing,  and  therefore  there  is  much  loss  of  life  among  the 
harassed  junk  people.  A  typhoon  covers  a  space  of  one 
hundred  miles  in  diameter.  There  is  a  calm  of  ten  miles 
in  tlie  center,  and  when  passengers  on  a  Pacific  liner  are 
congratulating  themselves  that  they  have  passed  almost 
through  death,  they  can  not  understand  the  worried  look 
of  the  navigating  officers,  who  know  that  shortly  they 
must  run  through  the  other  rim  of  the  storm.  When 
things  seem  the  worst  because  of  the  perfect  deluge  of 
rain  and  darkness,  it  is  an  unfailing  indication  of  a  rising 
barometer  and  the  end  of  trouble.  Fortunately  the  ty- 
phoons give  about  three  hours  local  warning,  as  they 
sweep  along  the  coast  northward  from  the  tropics,  in  a 
barometer  dropping  as  low  as  twenty-eight  and  one-half, 
a  "  typhoon-bank,"  or  over  bright  west  at  sunset,  with  a 
cloudy  eastern  horizon  accompanying,  and  huge  unbr<rfccn 
billows  which  cast  their  white  wreaths  on  the  shores  of  a 
foamless  sea.  We  were  warned  in  the  harbor  by  Wade 
baskets  (globe,  oblong,  or  cone  shaped  to  indicate  direc- 
tion) being  hoisted  to'the  peak  on  the  commodore's  East 
Indian  war  relic,  the  hulk  Tamar.  The  flag-ship 
hoisted  a  red  burgee  over  a  white  ensign  as  a  signal  to 
steam  against  anchor  chains  at  three  quarter  speed 
Manila  and  Hong-Kong  are  more  in  touch  regardii^ 
typhoons  than  trade,  and  the  former  city  sends  almost 
daily  warnings  by  cable.  I  recall  the  United  States  bat- 
tleship Oregon,  after  a  fiercer  struggle  than  she  experi- 
enced in  the  battle  of  Santiago,  limping  throusfa  a  ^ 


CLIMATE  AND  DISEASES  357 

phoon  into  Yokohama  liarbor  in  the  fall  of  1903.  with 
her  steel  deck  plales  sprung,  and  boats  gone  by  the  board. 

The  historic  typhcyjns  of  Qiina  are  those  of  July  21st, 
1841 ;  July,  1862;  September  22nd.  1874,  and  September 
20th,  1906;  and  of  India  that  which  swept  over  Calcutta 
in  October,  1864,  which  l;ist  drowned  forty  thousand  peo- 
ple. In  the  1874  typhoon  the  saddest  destruction  was 
wreaked  along  the  noble  Praya  Grande  at  beautiful  Ma> 
cao.  That  the  unique  ruin  of  San  Paulo's  fa<:ade  was 
saved  is  attributetl  by  the  pious  Macaenscs  only  to  prayer. 
as  the  niin  dominates  the  city  on  an  exposed  hill.  The 
Chinese  are  zealous  cuslotlians  of  records,  and  it  is  quite 
easy  to  secure  photographs  of  the  great  destruction.  Up 
the  Canton  and  West  Rivers  the  storm  swept,  bombard- 
ing everything  into  ruin  and  drowning  fifty  thousand  of 
the  boat  people  in  a  tidal  bore  ten  feet  higher  than  spring 
tides.  Steamers  of  eight  thousand  Ions  and  sailing  ships 
of  $ix  thousand  tons  were  hurled  up  on  the  stone  prayas. 

The  typhoon  of  1906  which  destroyed  ten  thousand 
people  came  without  telegraphic  warning  over  the  south- 
west peaks  of  Hong-Kong.  The  local  warning  of  a 
vivid  sunset  the  night  before  was  disregarded.  Harbor 
work  and  shipping  were  going  on  as  usual  in  the  early 
morning.  The  blow  began  at  nine  .\.  m.  right  on  the 
echo  of  the  observatorj-  gun  and  was  over  at  eleven  a.  m. 
The  screams  of  the  wind  rose  above  the  cries  of  death, 
save  now  and  then  in  agonizing  lulls  when  death  alone 
spoke.  It  was  impossible  to  see  a  yard  ahead.  The 
rain  came  in  torrents  undermining  evervthing  and  hurl- 
ing the  rocks  down  the  mountain  giilleys  as  from  a  Roman 
catapult.  The  wind  caught  up  Chinese  hats  like  disci, 
together  with  native  sign-boanis  with  their  wild  flash 
of  gilt  characters, —  palm  trees,  tiles,  shutters,  masts  and 


358  THE  CHINESE 

bamboo  sun  screens.  From  the  steel  walls  of  the 
war-ships  which  bucked  the  storm,  could  be  seen  a  long 
procession  of  two  thousand  junks,  sampans  and  ev«n 
steamers,  gale-driven  eastward  toward  Lyee-moon  Pass, 
and  in  the  lifts  of  the  rain-sheets  their  crews  were  be- 
held bowing  to  tablets  and  throwing  joss  prayer  boats 
overboard,  while  their  wild  faces  were  torn  with  terror. 
It  was  possible  to  help  only  a  few  of  the  thousands,  for 
death  would  not  tarry  or  be  interfered  with-  No  theater 
of  Lethe  as  melancholy  has  e\'er  been  witnessed  from  the 
decks  of  war-ships  and  merchantmen,  whose  captains 
had  all  they  could  do  to  save  their  own  craft.  When 
the  rain-veil  parted  a  moment  the  whole  mountain  side 
was  seen  to  be  leaping  white  with  cascades.  At  noon  a 
calm  came  and  in  the  places  where  it  found  them,  every 
Chinese  survivor  stood  up  so  uncomplainingly  that  all  the 
world  save  themselves  was  thrilled.  Such  is  the  stuff  the 
Hakka  boat  people  are  made  of.  Almost  the  entire 
Hong-Kong  fishing  fleet,  which  was  outside  when  the 
disaster  came,  was  lost,  and  the  little  Joss-house  at  Aber- 
deen (their  headquarters)  started  in  to  burn  for  ever 
memorial  sticks  in  the  sacred  ash  pots  before  the  shrines. 
There  are  fewer  boats  now  tied  to  the  prayas,  and  for 
a  long  while  those  who  had  never  begged  before,  wert 
forced  to  cry  against  their  Hakka  pride  cumshaw 
and  Choiif-chow  (help  and  food).  The  work  of 
cleaning  the  harbor  was  horrible.  In  the  hot  waters, 
the  bodies  immediately  fell  to  pieces  or  were  attacked 
by  crabs.  The  Chinese  abhor  touching  the  drowned 
They  say  a  typhoon  is  "  devil  pidgin,"  and  if  they  toudi 
the  devil's  victims  he  and  they  will  turn  upon  the  in- 
trusive mortal.  An  hour  after  the  typhoon  H.  M.  famous 
cruiser^  the  Terrible^  whose  guns  saved  l^dysmith  and 


CUMATE  AND  DISE,\SES  359 

turned  the  tide  of  the  South  African  war,  came  in  from 
the  east  through  the  L)*ee-niooo  Pass,  and  a  P.  and  O. 
mailer  arrived  tlirough  the  west  passage,  both  reporting 
no  knowledge  of  the  storm. 

Blake  Pier,  a  structure  of  iron  and  concrete,  boasted 
of  a  nialshcd  over  its  upper  end,  where  every  foreigner 
in  the  Colony  stood  at  least  once  a  day.  The  storm 
struck  it  with  a  flip  of  the  wing  and  it  was  powdered 
to  dust.  Oddly  the  Sikh's  sentry  box  was  unnoticed 
by  the  destroyer  and  defiantly  stood.  The  matshed  over 
Queen's  Pier  came  down  tike  the  clap  of  hands.  Over 
on  the  Kowloon  side,  a  mile  across  the  bay  to  the  main- 
land of  China  (but  British  territory)  hundreds  of  sam- 
pans had  crept  timorously  under  the  bridge  into  the  Po- 
lice Basin.  Here  they  were  battered  to  chips  as  the 
slnrni  like  Hercules  leaped  into  the  herd.  Scores  of 
bo<lie8  floated  under  the  kindling  wood.  In  the  heaving 
of  the  subsiding  waters,  heads  would  look  up  through 
the  shifting  dtbris  and  seem  to  be  merely  playing  hide- 
and-seek  with  death.  One  end  of  the  matshed  of  the 
Kowloon  wharf  became  a  toboggan  into  the  water.  That 
n-'hlfst  terrace  of  ferns  in  all  the  world,  in  front  of  the 
Chartered  Hank  of  Australia  on  Queen's  Road  Central, 
was  liitcrc<I  with  the  roots  and  limbs  of  banyans  which 
had  fallen  from  the  ?u-iKlits  above,  Umler  the  uprooted 
boughs  you  beheld  white-uniformed  Jackies  at  the  un- 
handy shore  work  of  hacking  out  a  path.  A  Spanish 
steamer  lifted  her  prow  from  the  deep  bay,  and  started 
overland  for  the  Cosmopolitan  Dock.  The  British 
cruiser  Phoenix  rearcit  and  backed  up  on  the  beach  of 
the  Victoria  Recreation  Qub,  where  the  famous  water 
jy-'lo  games  are  held  between  the  navy  and  the  Portu- 
guese, for  treaty-port  China  boasts  of  the  world's  great- 


36o 


THE  CHINESE 


est  swimmers.  The  boats  of  the  Phoenix  on  the 
port  side  had  been  washed  away  and  from  the  davits  in- 
stead was  dangling  the  cage-Hke  cabin  of  a  sampan,  tlie 
human  occupants  having  been  shaken  out,  as  they  them- 
selves used  to  shake  rats  out  of  a  wicker  trap.  In  one 
hour  more  damage  was  done,  and  far  greater  loss  of  life 
occurred  than  Togo  effected  at  Tsushima  and  Round  !>• 
lajid.  The  smallest,  prettiest  and  bravest  of  them  all. 
the  white  destroyer  Fronde  stood  out  into  the  gale  with 
that  brilliant  recklessness  of  the  French.  There  was  lit- 
tle room  on  her  curving  decks  to  take  a  stand  and  fight. 
It  was  uneven ;  the  storm  paused  and  grimly  laughed  ai 
the  brave  little  French  vessel  was  swept  past  the  green 
bows  of  the  towering  British  ships.  Then,  pitiless,  be 
came  on  again.  Seven  white  helmeted  sailors,  with  a 
song  in  their  hearts :  "  La  Rhone  et  Chine;  mes  pays;  mes 
amours,  adieu,"  were  swept  into  the  obliterating  turmoil 
The  Japanese  mail  steamer,  Sado  Maru,  came  down 
the  coast  on  the  hem  of  the  tempest.  In  the  heav- 
ing seas  the  Japanese  captain  stopped  his  ship  twenty 
times  to  rescue  eighty  junk  people,  many  of  whom  were 
too  crazed  by  exposure  to  be  willing  to  be  saved.  The 
new  tramway  on  Hong-Kong  Island  was  commandeered 
for  the  gruesome  service  of  rushing  rude  coffins  down 
to  Ah  King's  yacht  slipway,  which  had  been  made  into 
an  emergency  morgue.  The  whole  city,  stunned  as  it 
was,  now  rose  to  the  greater  fear  of  a  pestilence  in  a 
tropic  land,  where  the  safety  of  the  survivors  depends 
on  the  dead  being  entombed  on  the  day  they  die.  Fire 
could  not  be  applied  to  rain-soaked  heaps  of  wreckage 
and  garbage.  The  danger  must  be  met ;  lime  was  shov- 
eled over  them  for  the  time  being.  There  was  need  of 
speed,  for  some  said  five  thousand,  and  others  said  ten 


CLIMATE  AND  DISEASES  361 

thousand  had  been  drowned.  Certainly  three  thousand 
were  found  along  the  prayas,  shore  and  harbor.  The  vet- 
eran emigrant  steamer.  Charterhouse,  which,  on  her 
last  charter  had  been  plying  between  Hong-Kong  and 
Singapore  for  fifteen  years,  raced  southward  before  the 
storm  without  avail.  She  was  caught  by  midnight  atid 
turned  over  like  a  kettle.  Seventy  were  drowned.  The 
Sc'itcli  ciigiuciT  and  twenty-five  Chinese  crew  were 
picked  up  three  days  afterward  on  a  raft  which  was 
washed  bare  of  food  and  water.  They  endured  the 
agony  of  seeing  the  ship's  empty  life-boats  drift  just  be- 
yond their  reach.  On  the  following  days,  silent  junks, 
like  great  catafalques  of  the  dead,  came  drifting  back 
into  the  harbor,  manned  by  an  unseen  crew,  and  spread- 
ing terror  among  others  besides  the  superstitious  Chinese. 
The  lower  revetment  walls  of  the  two  Ruropean  ceme- 
teries fell,  spilling  graves  of  the  white  man's  dead  into 
the  W'aiichai  Road,  and  over  ihc  up[>er  walls  the  Bowcn 
hill  tumbled,  burying  other  graves. 

The  good  Anglican  Bishop,  J.  C.  Hoare,  who  was 
washed  in  the  typhoon  from  his  snil-boat.  the  Pionft-r, 
between  I^ntao  Island  and  Macao,  was  a  familiar 
figure  to  us  at  Hong-Kong  Peak.  His  efforts  in 
enforced  leisure  hours  to  make  life  mentally  tolerable 
for  foreigners  by  giving  lectures,  as  well  as  his  oratory 
withciul  notes  in  the  Cathedral,  will  be  held  in  grateful 
memory  by  a  long  line  of  Kn(;Iisli  and  .-Vmerican  e.Kiles  in 
China.  His  body  went  down  under  the  cliff  where  the 
great  pioneer  missionary  Morrison  was  buried,  and  many 
ho])c  that  a  landmark  to  their  honor  will  Iw  erected  by 
llinse  who,  whether  for  religion's  or  civilization's  sake. 
have  cnnie  to  find  bonds  about  them  holding  their  interest 
to  China. 


362  THE  CHINESE 

Thousands  of  these  gyrating  storms  fortunately  die 
out  in  the  place  of  their  birtli.  as  their  progressive  speed 
in  the  tropics  is  seldom  higher  than  ten  miles  an  hoar. 
When  they  meet  the  funnel  of  the  trade-winds  Uiey  are 
given  accelerated  progress  and  direction,  and  reach  the 
higher  latitudes  with  tremendous  impetus.  The  recog- 
nized experts  on  the  laws  of  typhoons  are  the  French 
Jesuits  of  Manila,  Sicawei,  Hong-Kong  and  Macao,  the 
most  famous  name  probably  being  that  of  Faura's,  the 
Padre  of  the  Manila  Observatory. 

In  a  country  where  the  light  is  so  bright,  sight  il 
prized  as  Nature's  highest  gift.  When  the  American 
boycott  was  at  its  height,  it  was  only  necessary  for  the 
bonzes  and  iaolais  to  cause  the  statement  to  spread 
among  the  superstitious  masses  that  kerosene  was  bad 
for  the  eyes,  in  order  to  bring  about  a  return  from  the 
American  product  to  nut-oil  illumination.  In  the  re- 
ligious riots,  the  fury  of  the  ignorant  is  most  easily 
aroused  by  circulating  the  rumor  that  the  medical  skiD 
of  the  missionaries  comes  from  their  compounding  in 
their  medicines  the  eyes  of  Chinese  slave  children. 

The  natives  of  the  South  show  a  diathesis  to  enlarge- 
ment of  the  spleen,  on  account  of  the  long,  hot  aoi 
moist  weather.  Foreigners  in  the  treaty  ports  ait 
heavily  fined  if  they  kick  or  strike  a  Chinese  about  the 
body,  as  death  caused  by  rupture  of  the  spleen  fre- 
quently results.  The  native  roustabouts  are  well  awan 
of  this  tendency,  and  duels  take  place,  where  the  splec 
is  jabbed  with  the  forefinger  only.  Training  for  tbest 
murderous  contests  consists  in  stabbing  bags  of  rice  wfli 
the  fingers,  which  grow  stiff  as  iron. 


IX 

CHINESE  REUGION  AND  SUPESSTITION 

I  asked  my  cook-cooIic  why  he  kept  a  pet  hen  caged. 
He  replied  that  he  was  feeding  it  for  sacrifice  day.  But 
would  not  a  dead  hen  do?  "Master,  I  no  wanchee  a 
hundred  year  dam."  The  teaching  of  Confucius  has  per- 
colated even  to  the  laboring  masses  that  conscience  is  the 
ever-present  representative  of  Tien  (the  Diety).  The 
purgatorial  figure  is  Buddhistic;  the  lively  sense  of 
morals  among  the  people  is  creditable  mainly  to  Kung 
Fut  Tsze.  When  we  think  of  China  we  must  not  think 
of  a  land  which  is  s^jlely  superstitious,  but  one  which  is 
largely  and  interestingly  religious. 

\  pretty  superstition  at  Hong-Kong  is  the  purchase 
by  the  Hakka  fisher  class  of  red  effigy  prayer  boats. 
The  workmanship  is  deliglufully  neat.  Loaded  with 
prayer  papers,  and  wafted  on  their  way  with  scented  joss 
sticks,  they  are  set  adrift  with  a  great  clamor  of  devil- 
chasing  fire-crackers,  as  the  sun  breaks  over  the  Lyee- 
moon  Hills.  The  high  sterned  junks  will  turn  their  un- 
wieldy course  rather  than  wilfully  run  down  one  of  these 
prayer  boats. 

A  Chinese  dearly  loves  a  motto  written  in  black  on 
red  paper.  If  it  is  the  name  of  his  god.  or  literary  an- 
cestor, he  hangs  it  over  the  family  shrine;  if  it  is  a 
maxim  of  virtue  from  strenuou*;  Mcncius,  he  places  it 
over  his  business  counter  or  couch.     The  larger  tlic  let- 

363 


364  THE  CHINESE 

teriiig  and  the  bolder  the  individuality  in  the  su~eep 
of  the  bnish,  the  greater  the  art. 

Among  the  rice  tillers,  if  sickness  strikes  a  family,  it 
is  concluded  that  the  devil  must  be  hailed  and  decoyed. 
The  Taoist  priests  come  in,  and  bang  cymbals  to  draw 
the  evil  spirit's  attentions;  then  a  dog  is  killed  and  its 
blood  is  caught  in  cups.  Lifting  these  up,  the  priests 
lead  the  procession  to  the  hills.  The  sacrifice  is  set 
down,  and  while  the  evil  spirit  is  supposed  to  be  busy 
gorging  itself,  the  procession,  with  a  worldly  wisdom 
learned  from  thieves,  scatters  to  foil  the  pursuer,  the 
priest  returning  by  a  roundabout  path  to  the  home,  where 
he  labels  the  door  with  red  slips  exorcising  the  evil  one. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  home  of  the  mulberry  grower 
on  the  hills  is  attacked  by  misfortune,  the  procession 
wends  its  way  to  the  riverside,  where  decoy  boats  are  set 
adrift.  In  strange  quarters  the  evil  spirit  is  supposed  to 
be  more  easily  got  rid  of.  In  Korea,  two  regal  red 
chairs  are  borne  along,  the  devil  being  supposed  to  choose 
for  his  attentions  the  one  which  has,  in  place  of  a  passen- 
ger, many  tempting  sweets  and  pork. 

The  purpose  of  the  prevailing  upcurling  cornices  and 
eaves  is,  of  course,  that  evil  spirits,  which  crawl  like 
snakes  on  alighting,  may  be  diverted  up  into  the  air, 
and  not  down  to  the  door  where  human  beings  enter. 
Because  of  the  habit  of  foxes  prowling  near  the  habita- 
tions of  men,  it  is  beUeved  among  Buddhists  that  souls 
which  decide  to  return  to  the  earth  prefer  this  animal 
for  an  abode.  If  one  who  is  always  striving  to  follow 
the  best  morals,  constantly  falls  into  evil  fortune,  the  de- 
pressing fatalism  is  repeated:  "the  gods  are  punishing 
me  for  evils  done  in  a  former  life,  when  my  opportuni- 
ties for  good  were  larger  and  my  riches  greater."     This 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION        365 

belief  is  constantly  brought  out  as  the  one  morbid  touch 
in  their  lyrics. 

The  farthest  inland  and  the  most  populous  province  is 
Szcchuen, — the  land  of  waterfalls  and  mountains, — 
which  has  seldom  been  ravaged  by  war  since  the  re- 
])eopling,  after  the  Ming  dynasty  was  uprooted.  Here 
1  hibetan  lamasery  influence  is  now  strong.  **  Lama  su 
poh  sing**  (Wc  belong  to  the  Lamas).  But  when  the 
railway  which  the  French  are  building  into  Szechuen 
is  completed,  Canton  and  Confucianism  will  rob  Lhassa 
of  its  power  here  and  the  cairns  which  the  crawling  pil- 
grims have  raised  will  go  to  ballast  the  path  of  the 
great  leveler  and  civilizer.  The  passes  out  of  Szechuen 
to  Thibet  are  sixteen  thousand  feet  high  and  can  never 
be  profitably  graded.  So  that  far,  pounding  their  long 
ffiuh-yu  boards,  may  the  last  trains  of  superstition  come 
with  their  yaks,  to  see  the  tide  of  progress  roll  beneath 
their  scorn;  the  faithful  kissing  the  tail  of  the  Lama's 
pony  to  obtain  magnetic  holiness,  and  the  shamans  in 
maroon  canonicals  and  golden  underskirts,  muttering  ten 
thousand  times:  '*  Om  Matti  Padmi  Hton**  (Oh!  Jewel 
in  the  Lotus).  You  will  notice  in  a  spirit  of  irrelevant 
western  humor  that  this  saiiitliness  di>e>  not  at  all  re- 
press the  pony's  proi>cnsity  to  communicate  magnetic 
virtue  b\'  a  quick  drive  of  the  back  heels. 

Let  us  l(K)k  for  a  moment  at  a  temple  of  the  Lamas. 
Into  the  plaza  around  it.  turjin  poles  are  stuck,  and  all 
the  way  up  the  p<^los  little  tla«^s.  called  I.ung  Ta,  flutter, 
waftirif:^  to  Ru<l(lha  by  his  holy  wind  the  names  of  the 
<loa(l.  for  wlio<e  early  bliss  prayer  is  tluis  made.  The 
statue  over  the  entrarve  is  flanked  by  t\v<»  l>ra<s  cup*?,  one 
containing;:  rice,  the  other  oil.  On  the  altar.  stan<l  seven 
cups  brim  full  of  water.     The  flashingly  dressed  priests 


366  THE  CHINESE 

carry  about  drum,  sprinkling  horn,  bell  or  book.  In  the 
dangerous  religious  gloom,  you  are  very  likely  to 
stumble  across  bones,  whether  of  buffaloes  or  humans 
it  is  hard  to  say.  The  stench  would  be  awful  were  it 
not  for  the  smoking  incense  sticks.  They  are  of  two 
colors,  six  inches  long,  the  Shi  Shang  being  black  and 
the  Mong  Shang  yellow.  Most  of  them  come  from 
my  old  home  in  Kwangtung  Province,  and  are  made  of 
sandalwood,  laka,  aniseed,  musk,  orange  peel,  ginger, 
rhubarb,  camphor,  myrrh,  cassia,  cloves  and  putchuck 
powdered  and  gummed  together.  Great  as  is  the  alti- 
tude of  eleven  thousand  feet,  buckwheat,  rye,  wheat  and 
oats  are  cultivated,  and  chickens,  goats,  and  marmots  are 
seen  about  the  dizzy  villages. 

There  might  never  have  been  a  Dalai  Lama,  and  no 
abstract  dreaming  of  the  Ultimate  and  Timeless  had 
there  been  no  Himalayas  and  Snowy  and  Patroi  Ranges 
(Sacred  Mountains  as  the  zealots  call  them)  to  cage 
in  this  secluded  worship,  which  is  really  the  Saints*  or 
High  Church  of  Buddhism.  Reciprocally,  so  much  does 
Catholicism  admire  Buddha  that  he  has  been  canonized 
at  Rome.  Where  we  canonize  saints,  the  Chinese  en- 
noble their  ancestors,  long  dead,  when  the  fruits  of  their 
works  are  apparent.  The  old  Tsung  Li  Yamen  of 
Peking  got  the  Lamas  to  accord  canonization  to  two 
generations  back  of  Robert  Hart,  our  Saxon  founder  of 
the  brilliant  Imperial  Customs  Service!  The  similarity 
of  Buddhism  and  Catholicism,  in  masses,  nunneries, 
statues,  vows,  music,  exorcism,  relics,  bells,  prostration, 
incense,  and  the  use  of  dead  Sanscrit  as  the  Catholics 
use  Latin,  is  worth  remembering.  There  is  much  re- 
ligious interchange  between  Thibet  and  Shansi  Province 
in  the  north,  the  Lamas  from  the  former  often  visiting 

\ 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION         367 

he  Tai  Shan  shrines  which  attract  the  Ordo  and  Mongol 
ribes  from  sacred  Urga.     Shansi  is  even  permitted  to 
exhibit  a  Lama,  who  is  declared  to  be  a  partial  incar- 
lation,  or  Gegan,  of  Buddha.    The  road  from  Ching 
Too  to  Lhassa,  one  thousand  five  hundred  miles  of  peak 
rUmbing,  must  for  ever  remain,  therefore,  intellectually 
he  most  unlighted  road  of  the  earth.     Like  all  moun- 
:aineers,    the    Thibetan   carries   his   drink    badly,    and 
tumbles  down  into  Szechuen  to  disgust  the  remainder 
>f  his  race,  who  abhor  even  the  slightest  use  of  samschu. 
Eie  is  the  most  amiable  of  the  Chinese.     Withal,  how 
ikin  we  are ;  the  Lama,  paddling  his  boat  along  the  Kin- 
sha  River  on  his  way  to  the  dying,  rings  a  bell,  so  that 
the  faithful  may  kowtow  and  pray  for  his  mission;  and 
he  Catholic  cure,  riding  between  the  firs  along  the  rough 
oads  of  the  Laurentian  fo<.>t-hills  of  Quebec  on  a  similar 
rrand,  rings  a  bell  to  request  a  bow  and  a  Merc  dc  Dieu. 
was  among  the  Buddhists,  and  in  a  convent  at  that, 
at  the  Boxer  movement  gcnninated,  which  is  evening 
for  a  Christian  convert  launching  the  Tacping  re- 
lion. 

The  members  of  the  Chinese  Civil  5vervice  throughout 

rverate  that  the  Ih  Ho  Chnan  T*  United  Retaliating 

1,"  which  we  have  translated  into  the  famous  word 

>xer8*')  troubles  were  precipitated  by  the  action  of 

Jesuit    missionaries    in    shielding   Chinese    political 

ners  under  the  cloak  of  their  l)eing  proselytes;  to 

•ank,   using   their   converts   as   "Agents    rnncva- 

They  also  aftirm  that  the  outbreaks  of    loofi. 

as  that  which  ocnirred  at  Nan  Chang  where  an 

unatc   mandarin   conimittetl   suicide,   were  caused 

'  ambitious  [wlicy  of  Catholic  missionaries  who 

overnnient  chops  on  religious  documents  in  order 


368 


THE  CHINESE 


to  impress  converts  witli  the  independent  attitude  whidi 
the  Catholic  Church  could  assume  toward  the  heathen 
Chinese  government.  In  fact,  the  Catholic  Church, 
known  in  China  as  the  Tien  Chu  Chiao,  is  charged  with 
an  ill-concealed  ambition  to  estabhsh  an  impcriunt  m 
imperio,  but  if  the  fault  is  the  Church's,  it  is  the  more 
the  impudence  of  France's  political  policy  in  China,  Her 
presumption  of  protecting  all  Catholics  in  China  should 
be  exploded,  as  was  proposed  by  the  Pope  in  1898,  Stw 
is  only  using  the  Catholic  Church  as  a  political  tool 
The  separation  will  be  better  for  both  parties.  The 
same  use  of  government  seals  had  much  to  do  with  the 
bitterness  which  led  to  the  famous  massacre  in  1861  at 
the  French  convent  in  Tientsin.  In  June,  1906.  the 
central  government  issued  a  gazette  to  viceroys  and 
governors,  calling  attention  to  the  paragraph  in  the  new 
treaties  that  missionaries  are  not  to  be  permitted  to  in- 
terfere in  litigation  in  which  converts  are  involved.  The 
various  Chinese  ambassadors  declare  that  if  this  clause 
is  honored  conscientiously  by  the  Catholic  missionaries 
we  shall  see  the  end  for  all  times,  of  anti-foreign  ani 
anti-Christian  rioting.  This  point  has  been  again  and 
again  brought  out  by  Sir  Liang  Cheng  Tung,  himsct 
a  Yalensian,  in  his  speeches,  and  it  should  be  treated  tj 
our  press  with  emphasis. 

Another  vexatious  source  of  altercation  has  been  the 
insistence  by  the  Catholic  missionaries  on  building  thw 
chapels  and  schools  in  Gothic  architecture  on  dominating 
sites,  so  that  the  towers  shall  rise  above  the  surroundit^ 
native  buildings,  which  are  always  low,  as  is  illustrated  Iff 
the  twin  steeples  of  the  Pei  Tang  Cathedral  at  Peking, 
and  the  two  white  granite  spires  in  Canton's  New  Citt, 
This  offends  the  deepest  Taoist  superstition  of  the  raot. 


■^^— y  \ 


I 

J 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION        369 

Fungshui, —  tliat  nature  worship  of  high  places  in  hilly 
country,  prominent  peninsulas  at  the  seaside,  and  bends  in 
rivers.  It  would  be  wise  for  the  church  immediately  to 
abandon  the  conflict  with  this  innocent  and  really  poetic 
belief.  The  Protestant  missionaries  declare  that  the  con- 
stant friction  of  the  Jesuits  with  the  political  affairs  of 
China,  and  their  continual  demands  that  the  central  and 
provincial  governments  shall  call  Catholic  missionaries 
mandarins,  are  jeopardizing  not  only  all  missions,  but  the 
safety  of  life  and  the  future  influence  of  alt  white  men  in 
China. 

On  the  lonely  wooded  eastern  slopes  of  Pokfulum,  one 
thousand  feet  above  the  water,  on  Hong-Kong  Island, 
facing  nine  thousand  miles  wide  of  lonelier  ocean,  is  the 
retreat  and  headquarters  of  the  daring  Catholic  propa- 
ganda in  south  China.  Above  the  campliors,  banyans, 
firs  and  bananas,  amid  tlie  dank  smells  of  ferns,  tube- 
roses and  ivy,  over  the  terraced  tombs  of  the  Brothers, 
look  the  dormer  wimiows  of  the  beautiful  C«rthic  pile 
(fomierly  Douglas  Castle  I  of  refectory,  printing  house, 
clia])<:I,  and  monastery  nf  the  Missioncs  D'I-"irangrres, 
white  and  (juict  in  an  alien  scene.  When  the  prostrating 
sun  dechncs,  the  brothers  emerge  for  exercise.  S"me 
wear  white  topy-Iu'lmcis.  and  long  coats  of  alpaca,  called 
S"Utanes.  and  the  scene  is  enlivened  for  others  have 
adujjted  the  queue,  fvlt-^oled  shoe-;,  and  the  brighter  rolws 
of  the  natives.  The  ruling  Chinese  vastly  despise  this 
condescension,  but  it  is  |X)pular  with  the  people  them- 
selves. In  the  days  of  Xavicr  and  Ricci.  l!ie  Jc-'^uits  in 
China  adopted  the  ycllnw  mU'S  of  Ituildliist  monks,  Init  on 
beint;  jeered  uixtii  the  counterft-it,  they  have  since  worn 
the  Mue  and  hlac  robes  of  the  literati,  and  in  this,  and  per- 
mitting the  Chinese  to  retain  ancestor  worship,  the  official 


370  THE  CHINESE 

Chinese  believe  that  Catholicism  admits  that  it  has  oat 
come  to  establish  a  new  religion,  but  to  add  culture  and  i 
political  syslem.  The  Missiones  D'Etrangcres  is  ont 
of  the  heaviest  stock-holders  (holding  half  a  million)  ia 
the  lucrative  Tanjong  Pagar  Wharves  and  Dock  U 
Singapore. 

There  is  no  reason  why  Protestant  missions  shonU 
not  permit  the  ancestor  tablets  to  remain  in  ihe 
home  for  memory's  sake,  in  the  respect  that  we  hai^ 
photographs,  but  of  course  the  incense  stick  should  be 
forbidden.  When  we  speak  of  Protestant  missions  and 
Christian  literature  in  China,  one  name  ahead  of  all 
comes  forward,  that  of  Robert  Morrison,  the  first  and 
greatest  Protestant  missionary,  who  lies  buried  in  thai 
little  square,  high-walled  cemetery  at  Macao  over  tbc 
grand  Areia  Preta  beach.  His  translation  of  the  Holj 
Scriptures  in  twentynane  volumes,  completed  in  iSjj. 
remains  the  foundation  stone  of  Chinese  missiom. 
What  a  labor  that  was  in  surreptitiously  chiseling  oa 
blocks  of  tin  in  the  East  India  Company's  local  oifia 
the  thousands  of  characters,  the  meaning  of  which  he 
was  almost  the  first  to  unlock,  and  certainly  the  first  <■'> 
generously  to  apply.  The  Nestorians  in  A.  D..  505,  ani 
again  in  780,  and  the  Jesuits  Ricci  and  Ru^ero  i« 
1580,  and  Schaal  under  Shun  Che's  patronage  in  1661, 
had  the  same,  indeed  a  better  opportunity,  but  it  it- 
mained  for  Morrison  to  give  the  Book  (the  "  Way' 
they  call  it)  to  the  Chinese,  and  leave  the  truth  to  the  em 
sciences  of  the  people,  to  be  watered  by  their  own  cam 
and  sorrows.  He  was  wisely  willing  to  let  meddlen. 
not  missionaries,  in  an  arrogation  of  temporal  authority 
interfere  with  Rule  or  Misrule.  To  his  name  schoUn 
also  bow  for  his  compendious  dictionary  of  Chinese. 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION         371 

It  is  marked  that  missionaries  receive  little  sympathy 
from  white  men  resident  in  China.  In  extenuation  it  is 
pointed  out  that  this  should  not  be  wholly  laid  to  the  tat- 
ter's spiritual  condition  which  remains  in  a  suspended 
state.  The  eyes  of  the  alien  layman  are  in  the  back  of 
his  head,  looking  lonpngly  toward  home.  He  is  tiot 
enthusiastic  on  even  the  letters  of  China,  and  hardly  in 
the  notable  scener>-.  He  is  engrossed  in  a  race  to 
make  money  rapidly  against  the  speeding  ravages  of 
an  enen-ating  climate.  The  fact  retnains  that  missions 
must  look  to  America  and  England  for  that  love  which 
more  than  money  speeds  their  feet  along,  in  following 
the  jxith  through  China  first  trod  by  the  Apostle  Thomas. 
America  should  for  years  send  none  but  medical  mis- 
sionaries to  China.  The  London  Mission  hospital  at 
Peking  is  an  example  of  what  should  be  copied  through- 
out the  land. 

In  a  corner  of  Mongolia  near  Turkestan,  at  Turpan. 
in  an  excavation,  old  boots  have  been  found  which  were 
rei>aired  with  kid  palimpsests  of  the  third  cciiiury.  .^.  L)., 
—  a  literal  example  of  the  truth  marching  into  be- 
nighted Cathay.  On  what  other  Tartar's  long  boots. 
b<)rrowcd  from  an  Osmanli  brother,  have  liecn  sewed 
those  lost  treasures  of  the  West,  the  palimpsests  of 
Sappho's  poems,  and  the  missing  ch.ipters  of  Livy  and 
Cicero?  Speaking  of  relics,  the  enliphlenod  governor 
of  Sliensi  headed  a  procession  from  an  open  field  outside 
Sianfu  in  the  fall  of  1907,  which  bore  the  sacred  N'es- 
torian  tablet  for  the  first  time  in  eleven  and  one-half 
centuries,  under  a  roof  within  the  Pcilin  Temple  of  Si- 
anfu. As  is  well  known,  the  two  thoiisai>d  Chinese  and 
Syrian  characters  of  this  stone  record  the  communion 
with  the  fifth  century  Christian  Church,  and  the  deposit 


372 


THE  CHINESE 


in  the  Siaiifu  library  of  part  of  the  translated  Bible.  The 
notable  fact  is  to  be  recorded  here  that  this  year  a  replia 
of  the  Nestorian  tablet  was  placed  in  the  MetropoUiaa 
Museum  of  New  York  City. 

Thirty  miles  southwest  from  Macao  lies  the  island  of 
Chang  Chueii.  where  the  pioneer  missionary  Xavier  die4 
Shortly  after  leaving  Shanghai  on  the  southward  vo)ige 
you  pass  Phu  Tho  on  the  starboard,  to  land  where  would 
be  a  task  requiring  Pauline  zeal,  for  the  whole  island  ii 
given  up  to  a  hundred  monasteries  occupied  by  thao- 
sands  of  mumbling  bonzes.  It  is  to  the  Chinese  whjl 
Philae  was  to  the  Egyptians. 

The  nationalism  of  China  owes  everything  to  Con- 
fucianism, with  its  great  teachings  of  the  immorta!it>'  oE 
the  soul's  conscience;  iVjao  (filial  piety)  ;  Chung  (obedi- 
ence to  virtuous  rulers);  its  eternal  insistence  on  Shut 
(personal  character);  duties  more  than  faith,  and  op- 
position to  caste.  Ancestor  worship  was,  of  course. 
founded  by  Confucius,  and  remains  the  most  unique 
feature  of  Chinese  customs.  Confucianism  exempts  ao 
position,  taking  ground  as  forward  as  the  Roman  CVr- 
sor  Morum,  Commune  or  Duma,  even  to  the  granitt 
seat  of  the  throne:  "Vice  dethrones  the  divine  right  in 
a  ruler."  According  to  a  Confucian  sermonette:  "  Tbf 
seed  of  Heaven  or  hell  is  all  sown  in  this  life,"  and  again, 
the  Ming  Tsien  Chi  says:  "  If  you  practise  good  worics 
here  you  need  not  worry  about  your  future."  These 
teachings  have  made  the  race  the  eternal  adamant  it  ii 
to-day,  founded,  of  course,  on  tablets  of  a  different  cokf, 
but  not  so  much  of  a  different  grain  from  those  of  Moses: 
stones  indeed  of  strength  and  ready  to  hold  the  super 
structure  of  whatever  new  commercial,  industrial  or  n- 
ligious  civilization  may  be  laid  upon  them.     Like  ilK 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION        373 

Romans  of  the  Republic,  the  Confucians  in  temples, 
streets  and  mottoes  exalt  the  fame  of  the  leading  virtues, 
calling  them  "Most  Excellent  Truth";  "Heavenly 
Aid  " ;  "  Beneficent  Concord,"  etc.  No  weaklings,  there- 
fore, such  a  race.  W'hat  they  are  now  they  have  always 
been,  and  will  always  be.  We  need  not  fear  for  their 
sincerity  in  the  future.  Judge  of  the  morals  of  a  people 
whose  business  men  paste  on  thetr  shop  doors  mottoes 
for  the  New  Year  such  as :  "  May  I  manage  my  occu- 
pation according  to  truth  and  loyalty,"  and  "  May  I 
uphold  benevolence  and  rectitude  in  all  my  trading." 
Over  a  temple  at  Canton  is  the  inscription;  "  Ri^t  and 
Wrong  are  blended  on  earth,  but  separated  in  Heaven." 
Mottoes  and  empty  spirit  seats  take  the  place  of  Bud- 
dhistic statues  in  Confucian  temples. 

With  the  advent  of  modern  learning,  especially  while 
Jaiian  influences  her, —  beautiful,  dreamy,  metaphysical 
liuddhism  of  the  temples,  with  its  bc/oar  amulets  and  its 
teaching  of  faitti  more  than  duties,  will  recede  into  desue- 
tude, and  China  will  adapt  for  national  uses  the  amended 
Confucianism.  Ccnfiicianism  will  add  to  its  creed  that  to 
serve  the  State  is  to  be  sure  of  immortality,  on  which  lat- 
ter subject  it  has  previously  Ix-en  as  hazy  as  Buddhism 
was  replete.  Confucianism  will  l»ecome  picturesque,  or 
htimorniis  in  its  patrintism  { de|>ciidviit  on  the  oriental 
or  Incidental  view)  and  issue  bulls  deifying  its  heroes. 
But  all  the  xstheticism  of  the  classics  that  has  been  cul- 
tivatc<l  in  the  past  will  \k-  negU-dcd  for  the  new  niililant 
Confucianism,  which  in  this  resjicct  alone  can  be  com- 
pared to  the  Shintoism  of  Japan.  The  superiority  over 
the  more  clever  Shintoistic  Japanese  which  the  Chinese 
have  enjoyed,  in  that  breadth  of  character  which  philos- 
ophy produces,  is  creditable  to  Confucianism.     In  col- 


374  THE  CHINESE 

lecting  the  philosophy  and  poetry;  in  codifying  the 
manners,  and  in  adding  to  them  riches  of  his  own  in  the 
Book  of  History;  The  Odes;  Spring  and  Auttmin  An- 
nals, Confucius  or  Kung  (as  Mencius  unlatinized  is 
Mang),  has  been  the  Homer  and  Chesterfield  of  the 
Asiatics,  and  in  the  Book  of  Rites  he  has  been  their 
Moses.  As  was  Plato  to  Socrates,  so  was  Chu  Hi  to 
Confucius,  and  the  sublime  academic  groves  at  Nankang 
in  Nganwei  Province  draw  the  feet  of  thousands  of 
religious  and  literary  pilgrims  every  year.  An  interest- 
ing bit  of  stoical  philosophy  of  the  Confucian  school  ^^ 
futes  the  Occidental's  argument  concerning  pra3rer: 

"  God  answers  no  individual.  He  merely  has  gi\'en  a 
memory  to  mankind  in  the  aggregate  to  avenge  accumu- 
lated wrongs;  thus  cycle  by  cycle  man  achieves  his  own 
advancement  with  the  passive  approval  of  God,  who  for- 
bears ever  to  interfere  after  He  once  created  the  human 
mind.'*  Another  Confucian  said  to  me :  "  You  Occi- 
dentals worship  Eternity  in  the  past,  we  believe  in  the 
Immortality  of  an  endless  human  succession.**  Then  I 
asked  myself  if  West  and  East  in  matters  of  the  spiritual 
after  all  may  not  be  going  around  one  circle  to  a  meeting 
point  in  the  one  Judginent  of  all  Virtue,  which  wiD 
weigh  these  two  peoples  who  come,  one  from  the  right 
hand  and  one  from  the  left,  by  the  two  rules,  those  froffi 
the  West  by  conduct,  and  those  from  the  East  by  con- 
science. 

Oddly  the  religion  of  Fo  or  Buddhism,  with  its  cen- 
sers, crosiers,  holy  water,  extension  of  hands  in  blessing 
and  manumission  of  sins,  is  the  religion  of  a  few  da^^ 
(le\il,  camel-riding,  dirty  Mongols  of  the  northwest  pro^ 
inccs.  While  Confucianism  puts  the  stigma  of  infer- 
ority  on  women,   Buddhism  recognizes   her    religious!} 


irisLiiin  fiiiivi-rt-  lu'riicil  in  ilu-  .\|insi(ilic  MJssitin  during  tiK  f"- 

>if    Tk-iiuin    lictwfiii    iht    IIumtv    ami    the    foreign    Min 

The  cnnvi-rls  wcrf  iinflinchinBlv  Inviil  tn  their  icachcr> 

iin.l  n-hKi'.ii.   I.01I1    iVnu^sr^iiii    uiul   Catholic. 

iliiriim   ill.'   l.liKiilv   ilnv-   nf    iqiKi, 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION         375 

and  socially.  Accordingly  Buddhism's  strength  in  China 
is  in  the  hearts  of  the  women.  It  was  Buddhism  which 
brought  most  of  the  present  art  tnto  China,  and  also 
evidences  of  Greek  influence,  which  we  find  occasionally 
in  the  architecture  of  joss  houses  and  the  Greek  inter- 
locking gold  border  used  on  tunics.  Buddhism  endowed 
China's  literature  with  imagination,  and  is  the  mother 
of  her  short  novels.  Buddhism  has  been  instrumental  in 
teaching  the  masses  patience  in  their  poverty,  because 
in  some  future  life  they  will  receive  rewards.  One  weak- 
ness of  Buddhism  in  Qiina  has  been  that  her  official 
language  is  Sanscrit.  Not  since  the  twelfth  century 
have  her  theological  productions  been  virile.  The  poet- 
ical mysticism  of  Buddhism  can  be  judged  by  its  emblem, 
the  lotus,  and  the  interpretation  of  its  teachers:  "It 
grows  from  the  slime  and  exjiands  in  glory  over  the  dark, 
filthy  waters  which  hold  it;  so  shall  we  expand  in  the 
blessed  Nirvana." 

Miracles  are  believed  in;  the  favorite  one  recited  be- 
ing of  the  righteous  lad,  W'a  Mang  Tsang,  whose  poor 
mother  was  dying  for  the  lack  of  sustenance,  which  he 
was  unable  to  purchase  and  would  not  steal.  In  his 
despair,  he  went  to  the  bamboo  brake  to  weep.  .M- 
though  it  was  winter,  pitying  Heaven  (Tien)  made  the 
tears  to  bring  forth  tender  sho(»ts  of  bamboo,  which  he 
brouglit  home  ami  boiled. —  a  parallel  with  our  Elijah 
and  the  Ravens  parable.  Their  Virgin  Mother.  who«e 
stntiic  shows  her  outstretching  many  arms  of  charity,  is 
called  "  Tze  Pci  Kun  Yam."  merciful  hearer  of  prams, 
and  a  notable  temple  is  erected  to  her  honor  in  Canton. 
Buddhist  temples  are  generally  known  by  the  name  of 
"Three  Cliiefs."  referring  tu  the  three  incarnations  of 
£uddha.     Buddhist  nunneries  are  not  infrequently  met 


376  THE  CHINESE 

with.  Travelers  will  particularly  remember  the  one  in 
the  picturesque  Shui  Hing  gorge  of  the  Sikiang  (West 
River).  Strong  believers  in  marriage,  the  government 
has  never  looked  with  favor  on  the  increase  of  these 
institutions.  The  infants  thrown  into  the  baby  towers 
of  silence,  largely  come  from  their  unhallowed  halls. 
The  Buddhists  always  select  the  most  conspicuous  sites, 
and  which  have  been  most  adorned  by  nature,  for  their 
temples.  At  Honam,  across  the  Macao  passage  from 
Canton,  they  cremate  the  bodies  of  their  priests.  In 
a  compound  of  the  temple  they  give  a  refuge  to  pigs, 
which  are  overfed  until  a  natural  death  releases  them, 
the  intent  being  to  show  toward  the  lowest  of  animals 
respect  for  the  principle  of  breathing  life.  In  Mongolia, 
after  saying  his  prayer,  the  Buddhist  votary  leaves  his 
handkerchief  as  an  earnest  of  his  vows. 

Modern  books  of  Buddhist  sermons  are  procurable. 
Each  sermon  is  divided  into  eight  heads.  The  homely 
virtues  are  wreathed  in  noble,  poetic  settings,  and  the 
literary  beauty  and  power  of  some  of  these  homilies  are 
not  surpassed  by  our  best  products.  Characteristic  of 
the  democracy  of  the  teacher  and  his  hearers,  some  ser- 
mons close :  "  This  has  been  a  long  parable;  we'll  stop  and 
take  a  pipe."  Our  Peoples'  Institutes  have  therefore  had 
forerunners  on  remote  paths  we  hardly  should  have 
dreamed  of.  Cynics  here,  too,  have  their  fling  at  re- 
ligion, for  says  one :  "  When  the  old  cat's  eyes  close  in 
prayer  to  Buddha,  my  cheese  is  safe." 

Buddhism's  doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  souls, 
whereby  a  man  may  become  an  animal  hereafter,  and 
that  the  animal  before  our  sight  was  a  man  in  a  former 
state,  is,  of  course,  a  most  pernicious  and  immoral  teach- 
ing.    Its  half  beauty,  in  that  it  inculcates  love  of  animal 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION        377 

life,  is  like  the  iridescence  that  attracts  in  the  grass,  but 
is  found  to  glitter  from  a  snake's  coils. 

Taoism,  outside  of  its  one  brilliant  classic,  the  Tao 
Teh  King  of  Li  Erh  (who  is  best  known  by  his  cog- 
nomen of  Lao  Tsz,  "old  teacher")  its  founder,  is  as 
much  akin  to  a  folk-lore,  like  the  Scandinavian  myths, 
as  to  a  religion,  with  its  elaborate  tales  of  genii,  dryads, 
goblins,  sprites,  demons  and  gods.  Their  priests  are  the 
autocrats  of  the  powerful  Fungshui  geomancy.  If  only 
the  Giinese  were  dramatically  musical,  they  have  the 
libretta  in  their  voluminous  mytholi^y  for  a  native  Wag- 
ner, especially  in  the  great  "  Hill  and  River  classic." 
Taoism  admits  that  the  world  would  be  pleasant  enough 
as  it  is,  were  it  not  for  the  terrible  rule  of  the  spirits  of 
our  dead  over  us.  When  an  evil  spirit  is  adjured,  the 
north  is  faced,  for  that  is  the  way  shadows  fall.  The 
south,  too,  has  some  ill  luck  phases,  fur  from  that  quarter 
arc  said  to  come  droughts,  fires  and  tj-phoons. 

The  sect  has  a  weini  ceremony,  showing  how  Buddhism 
interlocks  with  their  system,  called  "  Breaking  Hell 
Open,"  where  a  light  is  sent  to  the  depane<I  spirit  among 
the  Prctas.  The  priests  request  the  god  "  to  send  a  pro- 
cession with  streaming  banners  to  show  the  spirit  the  way 
to  the  golden  bridge  which  crosses  over  to  bliss."  The 
Taoist  priests  may  marr>-:  the  Buddhists,  of  course,  may 
nut.  The  Pope  of  Taoism  resides  on  Tiger  Mountain  in 
Kiang-si  Province,  and  is  reputed  to  be  in  touch  con- 
tinually with  the  revelation  of  wonders;  hence  the  spread 
of  Ta<iistic  superstition.  esi)ccially  in  Szcchuen  and 
liupch.  Dark  as  it  is,  Tao  means  the  "way."  Trees 
are  worshipped  ;  all  through  Shansi  Province  in  the  nnnh 
you  will  notice  red  \-otive  strcmiers  attache<I  to  the  wide 
branthc;  of  a   species  of  oak.     They  believe  that  all 


THE  CHINESE 


f  oufnnM 


J78 


Idntls  of  matter  have  souls,  and  that  a  year  of 
is  a  thousand  years  of  the  souI"s  time,  so  intensely  do 
spirits  live.  It  is  remarkable  that  they  have  a  Prome- 
theus myth,  for  Sui  Jin  is  said  to  have  brought  fire  down 
from  Tien  (Heaven).  Their  Adam  (Pwan  Ku)  ts  rep- 
resented as  coming  from  Heaven  in  the  form  of  a  giant, 
and  they  believe  that  for  a  long  while  tliere  were  giaim 
on  earth  (our  Titan  myth).  The  Taoist  priests  are  ra- 
ognizable  by  gray  and  blue  robes  in  distinction  to  tht 
saffron  and  pink  robes  of  the  Buddhists.  The  former, 
unlike  the  latter,  are  not  shaven.  Taoism  can  hardly  bc 
said  to  have  an  ethical  mission ;  it  is  rather  a  prostration  1 
in  fear  before  the  wonderful  and  supernatural.  It  has  ' 
done  more  to  depress  the  courage,  alarm  the  imagination, 
and  make  the  race  impractical  than  any  other  influence 
in  China. 

If,  in  one  comparison,  the  religion  of  the  E^ist  and 
Christianity  are  to  be  discussed,  it  may  be  said  that  the 
former  prescribes  the  duty  of  class;  the  latter  the  duty  i 
of  the  individual.     One  Chinese  may  indulge  in  the  San  I 
Chiao  (all  three  of  their  religions).     They  have  a  sav-   | 
ing :     "  When  all  is  well  and  you  wish  it  to  stay  well,  bt 
an  ethical  Confucian ;  when  in  trouble,  seek  the  super- 
natural Taoists;  when  you  die,  let  the  atonement-pro- 
curing Buddhists  be  called  in." 

In  the  British  alliance  with  Buddhistic  Japan,  and 
what  may  almost  be  called  a  consequent  alliance  wilh 
Buddhistic  China,  Britain  strengthened  herself  immemelj 
in  the  affections  of  Buddhistic  India,  which  has  a  keeo 
affiliation  with  the  Buddhists  of  China.  She  thus  raiswi 
another  arm  to  keep  in  subjection  India's  sixty  million 
Mohammedans,  about  whose  rebel  hearts  is  ahvaj'S  folds': 
closest  the  green  standard  of  the  Prophet,  which  is  read; 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION        379 

to  unfurl  at  the  first  throb,  as  seen  in  Armenia  in  1909. 
No  nation  knows  better  the  inner  spirit  of  this  sect,  which 
they  call  Kei  Chiao,  than  the  Chinese,  for  when  the  gov- 
ernment was  busy  with  the  great  Tacping  rebellion,  sud- 
denly all  Mohammedan  Kansu  and  Shensi  arose  in  the 
northwest,  and  the  extirpation  of  the  green  fires  of  the 
Prophet's  war  camps  was  one  of  the  most  vexatious  un- 
dertakings in  recent  Chinese  history. 

In  Mongolia,  the  government  has  had  to  use  arms 
and  bribes  alternately  to  keep  in  check  the  Mohammedan 
Ttingani  tribes.  In  Yunnan,  the  Mohammedan  Puntais 
called  a  Ghazi  or  holy  war  and  no  K-ttlement  could  be 
found  of  the  difficulties  until  every  living  Mohammedan 
was  driven  into  Bumiali.  Many  have  now  returned  to 
Yunnan,  where  they  are  engage<l  mainly  in  the  fur  trade. 

Standing  high  alxjve  the  low  buildings  of  Hang-chow 
(the  bore  city)  you  will  notice  the  minaret  of  a  mosque 
whuse  preservation  through  the  surging  limes  of  the 
Taepings  in  18O3  speaks  loud  for  religious  toleration 
in  China,  for  Itiis  coastal  city  is  the  farthest  removed 
from  the  centers  of  Islamism.  At  the  north  gate  of 
Canton  stamls  the  Kwang  Tah  minaret,  one  thousami 
years  old,  a  mcmoria!  to  the  Prophet's  uncle,  whom  Can- 
ton claims.  The  numerous  Mohammedan  tribes  of  Mon- 
golia have  more  of  a  reputation  for  singing  and  eating 
than  for  industry.  It  is  an  odd  sight  to  see  the  blue- 
capped  Chineee  muezzins  mounting  the  minarets. 

The  Great  Thanksgiving  Day.  the  ritual  climax  of 
the  year,  is  the  Feast  of  Lanterns,  occurring  on  the  fif- 
teenth day  of  the  first  m<X)n  (l-'ebniary).  when  the  Em- 
jjcror  on  behalf  of  his  people  goes  up  tlK>se  uncovered 
altar  steps  to  worship  the  Imperial  God  of  Heaven 
(Hwang  Tien).     In  limes  of  drought,  and  visitations 


38o  THE  CHINESE 

of  typhoons,  thd  trials  of  criminals  are  hurried,  lest 
Heaven  should  have  been  offended  by  delayed  justice  on 
earth.  The  prayer  of  the  Emperor,  who  is  dressed  in 
blue,  because  he  is  worshipping  the  High  God  who  dwells 
abdve  the  cerulean,  shows  some  of  the  sonorous  solemnity 
of  the  old  Hebrew  Prophets :  **  Oh !  Imperial  Heaven, 
looking  up  I  consider  that  Thy  heart  is  benevolence  and 
love.  With  trembling  and  anxiety  I  would  not  rashly 
assail  Thy  footstool,  but  would  first  consider  my  errors. 
I  would  inquire  if  1  have  swept  away  one  poor  man's 
field  to  add  to  a  monarch's  park.  Have  the  oppressed 
had  no  appeal?  For  the  gluttony  of  bribes,  has  the 
blood  of  the  innocent  been  spilt?  Have  the  gleaners 
been  pushed  into  the  ditches,  by  the  powerful,  to  starve? 
Have  our  enemies  been  left  to  trample  on  my  flock  as 
mire  and  ashes?  Oh,  lay  the  plumb  line  to  my  sins  and 
teach  me  duty.  Grant  me  renovation  for  the  sake  of 
my  myriad  innocent.'*  This  strenuous  self-searching,  set 
in  rugged  poetry,  is  truly  Davidian,  Cromwellian,  or 
Rooseveltian,  as  one's  taste  may  say. 

The  Chinese  are  not  always  patient  with  their  gods, 
which  cost  each  inhabitant  one  dollar  and  a  half  Mexican 
a  year.  If  drought  continues;  if  the  fisheries  are  poor; 
should  a  bonze  become  unpopular, —  revenge  is  taken  first 
upon  the  idol,  gilt  and  fearsome  as  he  is.  "  Thou  pig  of 
a  spirit;  thou  art  well  gilt,  incense-smoked,  set  firm  and 
high,  fed  tight  as  a  drum-head,  yet  thou  givest  up  noth- 
ing. Thou  wooden  thing  so  impotent  that  thou  canst 
not  wipe  off  the  webs  which  the  insolent  spiders  spin 
over  thine  eyes ;  thou  harborer  of  filthy  rats'  nests  in  thy 
bowels,  we  spew  thee;"  and  forthwith  the  idol  is  las- 
soed and  dethroned.  The  bonze  is  then  beaten.  The 
temples  are  never  closed.     They  crown  every  prominence. 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION        381 

To  the  Buddhists  alone  these  poor  people  give  six  hun- 
dred million  dollars  a  year.  Confucianism,  which  ethic- 
ally and  religiously  has  done  more  for  the  nation,  has 
asked  for  comparatively  nothing. 

The  dragon  is  not  only  the  emblem  of  China,  he  is 
3  god,  the  great  spirit  of  mountain  and  air,  the  supporter 
of  the  Middle  Kingdom  of  this  supposedly  flat  earth. 
His  retreats  must  not  be  imfMOusly  disturbed,  sayft  the 
Taoist  Fungshni  geomancy.  Our  happiness  depends 
upon  his  somnolence,  and  his  sleep  depends  upon  our 
virtues,  especially  obedience  to  tried  and  honored  cus- 
toms. In  other  words,  as  the  Chinese  like  as  few  re- 
minders as  possible  from  their  rulers,  ihey  likewise  ap- 
preciate their  gods  most  when  they  hear  the  least  from 
them. 

At  Ue  Chau,  a  village  on  the  Rhine  of  China, —  the 
Sikiang, —  four  hours  by  launch  west  of  Canton,  an 
Episcopal  mission  hall  has  been  raised  with  a  name  in 
conformity  with  the  Chinese  taste  for  the  grandiloquent. 
It  is  called  "  The  House  of  the  Illustrious  Teaching." 
This  sligh^accedance  to  Chinese  customs  is  a  wise  move. 

At  midnight  of  the  first  moon,  which  begins  the  New 
Year,  the  father  leads  his  whole  household  to  the  door. 
Lanterns  are  lifted  up,  and  all  bow  before  Heaven  and 
toward  earth,  in  solemn  worship  of  nature's  God.  An- 
other beautiful  nature  ceremony  is  the  pouring  of  liba- 
tions, when  favors  are  asked  for  the  growth  of  the  grain 
in  the  field.  At  the  northern  boundary  of  the  farm, 
whence  enter  all  evil  spirits,  is  placed  a  statue  of  Buddha, 
in  the  same  manner  that  the  Romans  set  up  Terminal 
statues  of  deities. 

The  expressions  of  mankind  the  world  over,  after  all. 
reveal  the  similarity  of  the  human  heart,  when  its  sor- 


THE  CHINESE 


4 


rows  drive  it  to  poetry.  The  proclamation  of  tlie'pnt* 
ent  Regent  employs  the  following  language  in  referenct 
to  the  demise  of  the  late  monarch:  "  He  who  has  now 
gone  the  Great  Journey."  Would  not  this  equally  weB 
serve  as  a  metaphor  for  North  American  Indian,  or  Cat*- 
casian  ? 

By  different  names,  but  in  a  similar  worship  of  patroa 
saints,  China  accords  with  the  rest  of  us.  As  the  sailon 
of  Brittany  and  Marseilles  pray  before  the  shrine  of 
"  Notre  Dame  de  la  Garde,"  or  the  raftsmen  of  Montreil 
to  "  Notre  Dame  de  Bonsecours,"  the  fishermen  of  China, 
most  of  whom  are  Buddhists,  for  dangerous  vocati«« 
call  for  a  picturesque  faith, —  bow  to  the  Venerable 
Mother  Ma  Tsu  (i.  e.,  Maya,  mother  of  Buddha)  for 
succor.  The  most  conspicuous  temple  outside  the  walli 
of  Ningpo  is  erected  to  her  name,  and  her  worship  is 
principal  in  the  bonze-ridden  island  of  Phu-Tho,  in  the 
Chusan  group.  Throughout  sea-faring  Fu-kien  you  come 
across  her  shrines.  She  is  the  Athena  of  the  Chinese. 
At  Canton  she  goes  by  another  name,  Kun  Yam  (God- 
dess of  Mercy),  a  temple  on  a  hill,  erected  in  the  fif- 
teenth century,  being  dedicated  to  her.  The  sightseer 
will  not  soon  forget  the  great  flight  of  stone  steps,  boih 
to  this  heathen  temple,  and  to  the  Christian  ruins  of  San 
Paulo  at  Macao. 

Singularly  Mosaic  is  that  part  of  the  worship  at  the 
Altar  of  Heaven,  when  the  Emperor  commands  a  bul- 
lock which  is  without  blemish  to  be  burned  whole  upor 
the  porcelain  altar  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  God  of  the  Sky 
In  the  case  of  the  bullock  brought  to  the  Altar  of  Iht 
Earth,  the  animal  is  buried,  not  burned. 

Too  little  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  vicarioos 
heroism  of  Chinese  morals.     A  son  may  offer  hinudi 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION         383 

for  imprisonment,  to  free  a  father,  and  it  is  legal  to 
punish  relatives  where  an  individual  is  considered  to 
have  placed  too  great  an  onus  of  crime  oa  a  community. 
The  family  is  responsible  for  the  individual's  debts,  with 
the  result  that  there  are  few  bankruptcies,  the  family 
taking  the  place  of  the  government  in  restraining  in- 
dividual <iefalcation.  Thefts  are  punished  by  the  family, 
and  not  the  magistrate, —  the  clansmen  whipping  the  cul- 
prit along  the  highroad.  The  principle  of  "  Filial 
Duty  "  is  not  only  religious.  It  is  the  political  and 
ethical  foundation  stone  of  the  nation  itself.  The  man- 
darin  is  instructed  to  act  "as  a  parent  to  the  people." 
China  has  possessed  an  easy-going  central  government, 
because  it  needed  little  other,  so  long  as  it  withheld  from 
dealing  with  the  Occident.  The  ninety  million  family 
u'liecls,  all  of  one  pattern,  going  at  one  speed,  to  the  same 
end,  and  by  the  same  simple  impetus,  worked  in  their  own 
circles  without  conflict,  because  they  did  not  overlie. 
There  are  no  billionaire  wheels  in  the  State,  keyed  to 
a  billion-mctre  speed  in  conscience  and  privilege,  to  up- 
set the  balance  of  the  other  wheels.  It  was  not  desired 
to  produce  even  great  men,  much  less  powerful  ones,  but 
rather  uncompetitive  happiness  and  uniformity. 

Murderers  cut  off  the  hand  or  foot  of  their  victims, 
anil  place  it  in  the  mouth  of  the  despatched.  The  super- 
stition is  that  this  prevents  the  spirit  of  (he  dead  from 
following  the  desperadoes  through  this  life.  As  near 
Canton  as  the  defile  of  Van  Ping,  eight  of  these  victiins 
of  llakka  brigands  were  discovered  in  April.  1907.  It  is 
\-erv  common  to  hear  among  one's  native  friends  at  Hong- 
Kong  lament  for  members  of  their  families  who  have 
been  kidnapped  and  probably  taken  to  the  defiles  of  Yan 
Ping,  San  Ning  or  Hoi  Ping,  while  emissaries  go  to  and 


THE  CHINESE 


fro  between  tlie  caplurers  and  the  relatives  of  the  c^ 
live,  discussing  terms  of  ransom. 

As  near  the  vortex  of  commerce  as  Bowen  Road, 
which  hangs  o\-er  mountainous  Hong-Kong,  one  may  see 
native  women  bowing  on  the  open  hill  before  stones  in 
their  Taoist  faith.  You  will  notice  a  well-worn  path 
winding  up  the  mount,  and  a  jutting  rock  wliich  throw? 
its  shadow  over  the  road.  The  sampan  women  of  tlx 
Haltka  tribe  believe  that  the  Being,  one-third  of  whom 
is  resident  in  prominent  stones,  has  power  to  affect  the 
fortune  and  the  motherhood  of  sons.  Part  of  the  wor- 
ship consists  in  sitting  on  the  stone.  The  stone  is  some- 
limes  giien  a  name,  ajid  ktttrs  are  painted  on  ii,  but 
there  is  no  bonze  in  attendance.  While  jade  is  the  fash- 
ionable jewel  and  "good-luck"  stone,  meteorites  are 
worshipped  in  Pechili  and  Manchuria,  because  they  come 
from  Tien  (Heaven),  The  same  idea  of  veneration 
crossed  the  Aleutians,  and  is  noticeable  among  the  Es- 
quimaux. The  immense  meteorite  of  pure  iron  in  the 
Natural  History  Museum,  New  York  City,  which  was 
brought  to  the  United  States  by  the  explorer  Peary,  shows 
evidences  of  having  been  chipped  by  the  Esquimaux  for 
amulets. 

China  has  its  pilgrimage,  with  a  fair  adjunct,  just 
as  Mecca  and  Benares  have.  In  Confucius'  country, 
the  road  to  Tai  Shan  Mount,  near  Tsi  Nan,  where  the 
saintly  Shun  is  reputed  to  have  instituted  sacrifices  to 
Heaven,  is  lined  with  booths,  and  those  who  pass  by  on 
their  knees  return  erect,  to  buy  and  sell.  The  suppliant 
who  crawls  along,  begging  you  in  his  piety  to  step  on 
him,  will  mark  you  out  and  drive  the  harder  bargain 
on  his  return,  for  your  having  done  so. 

Their  art  portrays  only  one  being  comparable  to  our 


RELIGION  AND  SUPERSTITION        385 

winged  angels,  i.  e.,  Lui  Kung,  the  God  of  Thunder,  who 
always  appears  with  wings.  We  pour  ridicule  upon  the 
attempts  of  the  Chinese  to  express  their  idea  of  the 
Creator,  and  we  laud  our  own  Greeks  for  loftiness  and 
refinement  of  imagination.  Both  races  are  equally  in 
earnest.  The  Greek  tells  you  that  God  is  an  accumu- 
lative Greatness,  and  he  makes  you  the  statue  of  a  man 
five  times  enlarged,  as  the  Zeus  of  Phidias,  which  does 
not  frighten  you  at  all.  The  Chinese  say  that  God  is 
inimitably  vast;  that  the  vastncss  bewilders  the  human 
imagination,  and  he  prepares  to  show  you  how  un- 
cfiuipiKd  you  for  ever  are  to  essay  the  subject.  He  con- 
ceives for  you  the  gigantic  Creator  Pwan-Ku,  with  ab- 
normal brain,  distorted  limbs,  terrifying  loc^  and  awful 
gesture;  or  the  leaping  war  demons.  Hung  and  Hah, 
which  hurl  thunderbolts  and  whose  eyes  burst  in  flame. 
It  would  be  hasty  to  say  that  the  Chinese  sculptor  is  ridi- 
culing God;  nutliiiig  in  his  theology,  ethics  or  attitude 
supports  this.  He  frankly  tells  you  that  the  omnipres- 
ence of  God  which  they  express  by  the  word  Shang  Ti, 
and  the  vastness  of  God  which  they  express  by  the  word 
Tien  Chu,  can  not  be  cxprcssc<l  in  .sculpture,  and  in  iheir 
■worship  can  only  be  recognized  fittingly  by  falling  before 
ihc  heavens  in  utter  prostration.  If  anything,  the 
Chinese  ridicules  you  that  you  should  dare  to  conceive 
what  God  is.  The  art  of  both  races  is  really  reverent, 
but  when  it  comes  to  imagination,  the  Greek  is  a  tame 
multiplier  of  his  man  nnit.  The  Chinese  sculptor  does 
nnt  attempt  t(i  bring  you  dcfinjtene^s  or  peace  of  mind; 
he  bringv  yon  the  terrific,  jiift  as  the  thunder  brings  it  to 
a  child,  and  this  is  exactly  what  hi*;  art  intended. 

The  existence  of  Chinese  Jews  i;i  Kaifong.  where  the 
railway  crosses  the  Yellow    River  on  China's  longest 


386  THE  CHINESE 

bridge,  reveals  one  of  those  marvelous  strandiogs  oC 
history  which  are  the  despair  of  research.  A  lost  tribt 
they  certainly  are.  They  came  down  from  Kansu,  juil 
as  the  original  Chinese  did,  but  how  they  reached  thit 
province  in  the  first  place,  none  can  say.  They  retained 
few  roils  of  their  Scriptures ;  some  they  left  in  Turkesian 
for  mending  boots.  Their  synagogue,  or  Li  Pai  Tsi, 
has  \ani3hed,  and  the  sect  can  only  be  traced  by  ferreting 
out  the  few  melancholy  individuals  who  will  probably 
never  be  united  again  to  unroll  the  sacred  scrolL  The 
decline  of  letters,  and  consequent  inability  to  read  and 
appreciate  their  scriptures  in  the  original,  caused  the  dis- 
banding, more  than  did  persecution  or  poverty.  WTal  1 
more  concrete  argument  was  there  ever  offered  for  the 
all-importance  of  education?  More  melancholy  from  ouf 
point  of  view  was  the  wiping  out  of  the  last  of  the 
Nestorian  Christians  among  the  Chinese  by  the  swoni 
of  Genghis  Khan  in  the  thirteenth  century.  Tantay,  a  ■ 
village  near  Amoy,  possesses  the  ancient  ruin  of  a  Mo- 
hammedan temple  built  during  the  reign  of  the  Mings, 
when  Mohammedan  bands  wandered  freely  about  the 
empire.  The  religion  of  this  band  has  now  been  lost, 
but  the  Arab  features  are  noticeable  among  lh«  dcscenil- 
ants  of  a  lost  tribe  of  the  Prophet's. 


japan's  commercial  example  to  china 

The  click  of  the  trigger  in  the  "  Thousand  Islands  '* 
kingdom  has  ceased,  and  the  land  now  hums  to  the  noise 
of  the  spindle.  The  Arisaka  gun-barrel  has  been 
stacked  away,  well  oiled  for  future  use  in  Manchuria, 
Luzon  and  Australia,  and  the  stocky  Japanese  is  instead 
aiming  hammer  blows  at  rivet  heads.  A  larger  in- 
dustrial host  than  England's  is  at  work,  and  each  man  is 
half  a  day  longer  on  his  "job."  It  is  unromantic  but 
inspiring.  What  is  Japan  doing,  what  is  she  doing  it 
with,  and  what  will  the  influence  be  upon  her  neighbor 
and  pupil,  China? 

Her  wharves  are  few;  her  harbor  facilities  as  yet 
miserable.  They  will  not  always  be.  At  Kobe,  for  ex- 
ample, I  found  the  sampan  journey  ashore  from  my 
steamer  a  turbulent  one.  The  ship  cast  anchor  in  a 
wind-swept  roadstead,  where  lightering  is  on  some  days 
impossible.  The  godown  (warehouse)  accommodations 
are  as  much  a  problem  of  congested  terminals  as  in 
American  cities.  The  government  (not  the  municipal- 
ity) is  erecting  vast  breakwaters  on  the  Onohama  side. 
The  project  of  digging  a  channel  and  bringing  ships  to 
wharves  is  not  favored  in  Japan,  except  at  Kobe.  A 
ship  can  be  loaded  by  lighter-junks  from  both  sides  while 
in  the  stream.  Yokohama  is  constricted  by  a  break- 
water built  too  far  up  the  bay.  The  hills  have  crowded 
around  Nagasaki's  little  bay  until  it  is  almost  smothered. 

387 


388  THE  CHINESE 

Fierce  rides,  like  a  vengeance  for  the  Russian  fleet  sadk 
near-by.  tear  at  the  buoy  moorings  at  Shimonoseki  aud 
Moji.  But  whatever  the  hindrances,  they  are  going  M 
be  overcome  by  vast  walls  of  cement,  and  the  patriotic 
government  has  made  higher  walls  of  tariffs,  so  that  the 
cement  shall  all  be  Japanese,  which  means  wealth  to  the 
cement  king  Asano,  who  owns  the  Toyo  Kisen  Kaisht 
Steamship  line  which  plies  to  San  Francisco.  It  is  Mr. 
Asano's  plant  which  is  supplying  much  of  the  cement  fof 
the  new  San  Francisco, 

Osaka  is  both  the  city  of  sculptors,  and  the  Manchesttr 
of  Japan.  Its  cirizens  declare  it  is  destined  to  surpaa 
Hong-Kong  and  Shanghai  as  the  leading  emporium  oi 
the  East.  The  East  is  for  ever  hearing  the  noises  of  chal- 
lenges and  attacks  in  the  great  wars  of  the  ports.  Some 
years  ago,  twelve  milHon  dollars  were  appropriated  fw 
dredging  in  Osaka  Bay,  and  six  thousand  ton  ships  can 
now  reach  the  once  sih-barred  port.  The  Toyo  Kisen 
Kaisha  will  soon  have  five  home-built  fourteen  thousand 
ton  ships  running.  Osaka  is  now  proposing  to  spoiJ 
fifteen  million  more  dollars  to  bring  their  like  wilhin 
lightering  distance  of  her  bunds,  and  the  smoke  of  a 
thousand  mills  tells  you  why.  This  is  where  labor  ii 
cheapest,  and  it  is  also  the  unhealthiest  part  of  Japan. 
Japan  for  sometime  has  been  sending  from  Osaka  i 
branch  fleet  of  the  Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha  to  Bombay  for 
seven  hundred  thousand  bales  of  raw  cotton  a  year.  i£ 
compared  with  imports  of  four  hundred  thousand  fmo 
America,  and  seventy  thousand  home  grown,  used  in  inc 
mills.  These  mills  ordered  fifteen  million  dollars'  woni 
of  looms  and  spindles  from  the  Manchester  and  Boltoa 
manufacturers.  The  Bombay  cotton  is  carried  five  thou- 
sand miles  for  three  dollars  and  twenty  cents  a  ton,  whid 


S 


I 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE     389 

shows  how  cheaply  the  Japanese  can  run  boats,  and  pres- 
ages, whether  ne  like  it  or  not,  their  approaching  marine 
triumph  in  the  China  coastal  and  trans-Pacific  trade, 
where  the  white  man's  unsubsidized  ships  have  to  charge 
two  and  one-half  times  greater  freight  rates  per  mile  to 
pay  expenses.  The  Japanese,  by  paying  low  salaries  to 
navigating  officers,  run  their  ships  at  fifty  per  cent,  less 
wages  (even  though  a  large  part  of  the  while  man's  crews 
on  the  Pacific  are  Mongolians),  and  still  pay  their  stock- 
holders never  less  than  twelve  per  cent.  The  largest 
steamship  company,  the  Kippon  Yusen  Kaisha,  paid  fif- 
teen per  cent,  in  1906,  and  in  the  panic  year  of  1908  it  de- 
clared twelve  per  cent.  The  standard  freight  rate  by 
American  ships  on  flour  in  quarter  sacks  across  the  Pacific 
varies  from  eight  to  five  dollars;  on  the  Japanese  lines, 
which  are  not  in  the  conference,  it  runs  from  three  dollars 
to  one  dollar  a  ton,  depending  on  competition.  A  ton  of 
coal  is  carried  from  Moji  to  Yokohama,  seven  hundred 
miles,  for  thirty  cents  gold,  on  Japanese  ships,  whereas  we 
would  lose  money  in  carrying  a  hundred  weight  at  that 
price. 

The  British  have  complained;  later  the  Germans 
grumbled;  and  last  the  ambitious  China  Merchants'  Line 
objected,  that  the  Japanese  should  enter  the  coast  trade 
of  China.  The  Japanese  reply  was  that  they  won  the 
perpetual  right  to  the  Yellow  Sea  when  they  destroyed  in 
the  thirteenth  century  the  two  armadas  of  Kublai  Khan, 
that  famous  di^er  of  the  Grand  Canal,  whose  fleets 
sailed  from  the  now  silted-up  port  of  Chin  Cheu  in 
Fu-kien.  Japan  reaches  results  rnpidly  in  modern  days. 
She  t<H)k  only  ten  years  to  jnit  on  the  seas  the  world's 
most  victorious  navy.  She  boasts  that  in  five  years  more 
she  will  control  the  mercantile  marine  of  the  Pacific,  and 


390 


THE  CHINESE 


in  ten  added  js^""^'  ^^^'^  purchased  and  copied  enouj 
machinery  to  make  her  industrial  production  so  vast  that 
it  will  conquer  on  both  sides  of  the  Pacific,  japaiwsc 
commercial  flanking  movements  at  sea  have  recently  been 
as  sudden  as  those  famous  appearances  of  Kuroki  cM 
land.  This  year  they  drove  the  Boston  Steamship  Com- 
pany of  America  into  liquidation.  It  paid  its  siock-bold- 
ers  nothing.  There  were  three  ships  averaging  eight 
thousand  tons. 

For  a  decade  the  North  German  Lloyd  have  enjoyed 
what  they  first  well  won,  the  monopoly  of  the  Bangkok- 
Swatow  service.  Japan  clapped  alongside  of  it  ooe 
sunrise  a  competing  line,  and  a  running  fight  was  made 
o\-er  the  whole  course  and  back  again,  until  the  Lloyds 
capitulated  in  a  division  of  the  service  and  concessioru 
on  another  route.  The  next  to  be  attacked  were  the 
lines  long  nm  by  the  ancient  and  honorable  Scotch 
houses  of  Jardine  and  Butterfield,  on  the  Yangtze,  and 
latterly  the  sen-ice  of  twenty-seven  vessels  of  the  Norrb 
German  Lloyd  between  Shanghai  and  Tientsin.  In  the 
thick  of  the  former  fight  the  Japanese  used  method* 
which  they  declared  would  not  exactly  prove  to  be  hara- 
kiri  ones,  of  carrying  cargo  and  passengers  free  between 
Shanghai  and  Han-kau,  a  distance  of  six  hundred  mi!«s> 
Winning  a  position  accordingly  in  the  cetrter  of  China, 
they  did  one  commendable  thing  in  instituting  a  new  lin*. 
where  even  the  Germans  did  not  think  of  going,  betweea 
Han-kau  and  Changslia,  through  the  famous  Tung  Ting 
Lake.  Modern  steamers,  drawing  only  four  feet, 
fectively  perform  the  service.  For  the  due  upkeep  oi 
this  fleet  in  the  Yangtze  region,  the  Yokohama  Dock 
Company  have  bought  certain  tsubo  of  land  at  Sliangha 
for  a  branch  dock  and  ship  repair  yard ;  a  double  invasion 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE     391 

therefore,  of  even  her  friend  Britain's  "sacred  Yangtze 
rights."  It  would  never  do  to  fatten  the  shares  of  the 
British-owned  local  repair  yard.  Pcrfidc  Nippon!  the 
share-holders  of  Farnham-Boyd's  cry.  But  why  recrim- 
inations over  so  unheroic  a  matter  as  business,  the  cold 
Japanese  retort  A  few  years  ago  the  Japanese  had  not 
one  vessel  stemming  the  yellow  current  of  the  Yangtze. 
To-day  they  have  forty  steamers  on  the  river,  operated 
as  a  branch  of  the  Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha,  capitalized  at 
six  millions,  and  receiving  from  the  Japanese  govern- 
ment a  subsidy  of  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  gold. 
If  anything  ever  leads  to  the  annulment  of  the  Anglo- 
Japanese  alliance,  it  will  be  this  act.  Not  even  the  Holy 
Sea  of  Europe  is  sacred  from  their  attack,  for  1909  opens 
with  a  Japanese  line  on  the  Mediterranean  Sea  from  Port 
Said  to  Trieste. 

A  word  backward.  The  first  Japanese  steamship 
company,  the  Vubin  Jokiscn  Kaisha.  founded  in  1872, 
was  naturally  a  small  affair.  The  Cunard  of  Japanese 
shipping  arose  in  1874  in  the  person  of  the  great  Samu- 
rai, Yataro  Iwasaki,  who  founded  the  more  pretentious 
Mitsui  Bishi  Kaisha.  In  ship-building  nothing  was  done 
until  the  daring  subsidy  law  of  1896  gave  birth  to  the 
great  shipyards  at  Kure,  Kobe.  Yokohama,  and  the  ba- 
ronial Mitsui  family's  dock  at  Nagasaki,  which  arc  now 
building  fourteen  thousand  ton  merchant  ships  to  join 
the  vast  steam  tonnage  of  1.200.000  tons,  accumulated 
mostly  in  the  last  ten  years,  which  is  a  fleet  therefore 
as  imposing  as  the  world's  largest  line,  that  of  the  Ham- 
burg American  Line.  These  fourteen  thousand  ton 
passenger  ships,  which  are  for  the  Toyo  Kisen  Kaisha's 
San  Francisco  run.  will  burn  oil  as  fuel,  thus  being 
the  world's  pioneers  in  this   respect.     Twenty   million 


•4vi^iv*a 


392  THE  CHINESE 

barrels  of  California  oil  have  been  contracted  for,  to 
be  delivered  within  the  next  three  years.     The  oil  wfll 
be  refined  in  Japan  at  refineries  being  erected  at  Kolx^ 
Moji  and  Yokohama.     Only  twenty  per  cent,  duty  wfll 
be  levied  on  crude  oil  against  forty  per  cent,  on  refined 
oil.     The  oil  will   be  carried   in   five   subsidized  tuk 
steamers,  now  being  built  at  Nagasaki.     The  Toyo  Kim 
Kaisha  will  not  carry  the  oil  in  its  mail  steamers  as  fit 
heavier  traffic  on  the  Pacific  is  westbound,  and  the  qMOl    j 
is  all  needed  for  merchandise.     By  touching  at  Vi 
couver  with  these  eighteen  knot  ships,  the  Japani 
pect  to  bring  the  allies  at  London  and  Yokohama 
twenty-one  days  of  each  other. 

This  year  will  see  the  Nippon  Kisen  Kaisha  in  open- 
tion  under  the  presidency  of  Baron  (of  course  a  Baron. 
for  business  is  now  a  matter  of  privilege,  just  as  war 
used  to  be  in  the  feudal  days)  Shibusawa,  with  a  tonnage 
of  two  hundred  thousand,  including  lines  to  Chili  far  1 
fertilizers;  Bombay  for  cotton;  Java  for  sugar;  Saigoo  | 
and  Bangkok  for  rice ;  Brazil  for  leather,  wool  and  qt»- 
bracho,  and  Canada  for  flour  and  lumber.  Japan  wfll 
grant  a  subsidy  only  to  a  line  which  brings  raw  ma- 
terial. She  wants  also  to  enjoy  the  freight  on  the  maiuh 
factured  material,  to  be  returned  in  her  own  bottoms  to  i 
the  producer  of  the  raw.  When  the  St.  Paul  road  1 
reaches  the  Pacific,  it  will  invite  over  the  Osaka  Shoscn  ' 
Kaisha  as  its  trans-Pacific  connection.  | 

The  plan  is  eventually  to  buy  out  the  choicest  Ameri* 
can  ships  on  the  Pacific,  and  the  Anglo-Japanese  Bank 
has  a  standing  offer  to  loan  twenty  millions  at  five  per 
cent,  for  the  purpose.  This  contemplates  the  purchasing 
of  the  Pacific  Mail  and  Hill  fleets  of  eight  eight-year-olJ 
ships,  averaging  eighteen  knots  and  fourteen  thousand 


Thf    fiiturL-   l.iLtllcgroiiiiil   of   Chincso,    Russians    ami    Japant't: 
cmmtry    iii'iir    Mnkdeii.    Mancliiiria.     J  a  pa  in- sc    infantry 
i'liart;ing    tht    Riis>inn    treiiclu's.     1905. 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE     393 

gross  tons.  They  expect  then  to  have  only  one  remain- 
ing battle  on  the  Pacific,  but  a  hard  one  because  the  same 
weapon  will  be  used,  viz. :  subsidy  against  subsidy, —  in 
the  case  of  the  eight  steamers  of  the  Canadian  Pacific 
service. 

Until  recently  the  Japanese  mail  lines  to  America  and 
England  have  employed  foreign  masters,  mates  and  purs- 
ers, partly  because  white  passengers  were  thus  attracted  to 
their  boats,  and  partly  because  the  foreign  insurance 
companies  demanded  it.  But  as  Japan  has  entered  the 
insurance  field  this  has  all  been  changed  on  the  Nippon 
Yusen  Kaisha,  the  premier  line.  Captain  Yagi  now  takes 
the  fine  ship  Aki-maru,  and  Captain  Kato  the  Sado- 
tnaru  to  and  from  Seattle.  The  experiment  was  also 
introduced  on  the  London  line,  when  Captain  Mie  took 
out  the  lyo-maru. 

In  addition,  there  is  a  modem  sail  tonnage  of  four 
hundred  thousand  tons  which  is  cro>^'ding  back  to  the 
fisheries  the  cumbersome  but  picturesque,  high-stemed 
junks.  Japan's  modem  steam  and  sail,  and  old  style 
junk  tonnage  aggregates  2,500,000  tons. 

China  has  few  natural  harbors,  which  are  good.  They 
are  generally  where  a  river  meets  the  sea,  and  her 
problems  of  siltage  are  similar  to  that  of  our  Mississippi 
at  New  Orleans.  Afforestation  at  river  sources  is  to  be 
tried.  China  has  one  great  coastal  steamship  line,  the 
China  Merchants',  which  has  in  its  directorate  some  of 
the  Peking  official  set,  and  she  has  spasmodically  mn  a 
line  financed  by  Hong-Kong  Chinese  merchants,  from 
Hong-Kong  to  San  Francisco  and  Mexico.  Foreign 
loans  and  subsidy  are  to  be  tried,  in  the  Japanese  fashion, 
to  foster  a  national  mercantile  marine,  and  particularly 
to  furnish  a  reser\'e  for  a  navy.     China  has  had  for  years 


394  THE  CHINESE 

tens  of  thousands  of  Cantonese  sailors  serving  on  fowSga 
ships.  Coastal  shipping  laws  will  also  be  adopted  to 
drive  out  the  foreign  carrier,  but  Japan  will  declare  wtc' 
on  China  over  this  venture,  if  America  does  not  befrieol 
China. 

The  trouble  with  the  whole  American  subsidy  questioo 
is  that  tlie  rich  railroads  are  allowed  by  govenimenl  to 
drive  the  American  flag  off  the  seas  by  making  contracts 
with  foreign  ocean  carriers.  If  the  freight  were  in  pani- 
otism  and  in  appreciation  of  the  valuable  govemnieni  jiro- 
tection  which  has  made  the  roads  a  success,  rcfusej  Up 
foreign  owned  steamship  companies,  the  whole  com- 
picxion  of  things  would  change.  The  railroads  would 
own  their  own  trans-oceanic  lines  and  see  that  they 
paid  without  anything  more  than  a  just  mail  allowana 
Extend  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com 
mission  and  among  other  joys  we  shall  have  a  transpor. 
service  always  ready  to  impress  and  save  the  nation  in 
peril,  which  was  not  the  case  when  we  fought  the  Spanisii 
for  the  liberty  of  a  neighbor. 

The  formidability  of  Japan's  labor  can  be  understood 
when  it  is  stated  that  a  dock  for  the  Mitsui  barons  wjs 
recently  cut  at  Nagasaki  out  of  the  solid  rock  l;ir;< 
enough  to  put  on  the  blocks  a  twenty-two  thousand  :  ■ 
battleship.  The  cost  per  cubic  yard  for  hand-drilir: 
blasting  and  removing  was  only  fifty  cents.  The  higbd 
wages  paid  to  artisans  in  the  empire  are  one  hundred  sri 
(fifty  cents  gold)  a  day  given  ship- builders.  In  texiik 
industries  the  maximum  rate  is  fifty  sen.  Police  rectiit 
eighteen  yen  (nine  dollars')  a  month  and  sergeants  twtt 
ty-five  yen  a  month.  Into  the  world  field  of  labor  Sep' 
the  Chinese,  with  figures  which  beat  the  Japanese  by  c* 
third,  for  we  got  the  cost  of  labor  on  cargo  on  Anrerit*, 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE      395 

mail  ships  at  IIong-Kong  down  to  seven  cents  a  ton, 
against  twenty  cents  in  Japan  and  forty  cents  in  Anter- 
ica. 

Japan  lias  conquered  the  eastern  coal  markets  with 
exports  of  six  million  tons  a  year.  laying  down  coals  as  far 
south  as  Singapore  for  three  dollars  and  a  quarter, 
against  the  cost  for  English  and  Australian  coals  of  five 
dollars.  The  famous  oily  coals  all  come  from  Kyushu, 
the  southern  island,  and  much  of  the  mining  is  done  un- 
der the  sea,  American  electric  turbines  providing  the 
power.  Tiie  northern  island,  E20,  also  produces  bitu- 
minous, but  of  a  harder  quality,  known  as  Muroran. 
Japan  mined  fifteen  million  tons  last  year,  and  produced 
eighty  million  gallons  of  petroleum.  As  a  gift  of  the 
war,  she  will  now  develop  the  product  of  the  famous  En- 
tai  mines  of  anthracite  in  Manchuria,  which  come  in  good 
stead,  for  Chinese  anthracite  coal  has  been  costing  ten 
dollars  a  ton  at  Ncwchwang  on  account  of  the  ex- 
pense of  transport.  Machinery,  a  mining  policy  on  the 
part  of  a  progressing  government,  the  abolition  by  edict 
of  the  Fimgshui  superstition,  and  branch  railways,  will 
before  long  uncover  much  of  China's  vast  wealth  in  coal, 
and  her  undeveloped  (le)>osils  are  the  richest  in  the  world. 
\N'ith  hampered  facilities  and  disconnected  transit  she 
now  mines  half  what  Japan  docs.  We  are  now  begin- 
ning to  notice  Chinese  coal  offered  in  competition  with 
the  foreign  article  at  Canton,  tlan-kau  and  Tientsin, 
The  successful  cotton  and  iron  mills  erected  by  Viceroy 
Chang  in  the  middle  provinces  burn  native  coaL 

The  little  empire  of  Nippon,  which  is  smaller  than 
Scotland,  and  supports  far  more  people  than  the  British 
Isles,  perforce  uses  many  unique  footholds.  Swamps, 
which  are  too  poor  to  raise  rice,  are  put  uader  toll  to  pro- 


396 


THE  CHINESE 


P 

^K  duce  the  matting  rush.     In  one  prefecture,  Okayana, 

^B  which  faces  the  Inland  Sea,  four  hundred  thousand  rolEs 

^M  a  year,  worth  over  a  miUion  of  dollars,  are  woven  for  ex- 

^H  port     These  old  industries,  with  a  lingering  sentiment, 

^H  are  yet  retained  to  the  clans,  which  have  ttnmetnorially 

^m  worked  them. 

^H  China's  largest  matting  swamps  lie  off  the  romaiUic 

^M  West  Ri^'e^,  near  Canton.     German  middlemen  control 

^1  the  product,  which  moves  in  the  fall.     Only  the  cheapest 

H  labor  and  steamship  rates  make  possible  the  export  of  tbe 

H  product,  which  will  probably  rise  in  price,  following  Ja- 

^ft  pan's    example.     The    Ciiinese  matting    is    superior  in 

r  strength  but  inferior  in  design,  as  compared  with  the  Jap- 

anese matting. 

Here  is  the  reverse  of  the  shield.  In  many  instances 
it  was  humorous,  yet  it  was  mendacious.  I  found  large 
numbers  of  our  copyright  labels  pirated  on  Japanese  in- 
ferior canned  and  bottled  goods,  offered  throughout  la- 
pan,  Korea  and  Manchuria,  despite  all  internationa] 
agreements  and  conventions.  A  shameful  authority  until 
recently  for  national  theft  was  Article  Two  of  the  Japa- 
nese patent  law,  by  which  if  the  Japanese  Patent  Bureau 
published  the  description  of  any  foreign  invention  it  be- 
came Japanese  public  property  and  could  not  be  patented 
by  the  foreign  owner.  In  this  way  Japan  has  stolen  ten 
thousand  foreign  inventions  for  the  benefit  of  her  people, 
and  she  has  given  exclusive  right  to  Japanese  fimis  and 
individuals  to  collect  royalty  on  six  thousand  additional 
foreign  patents.  .When  the  Israelites  left  Eg)-pt  tt-iili 
the  borrowed  valuables  of  their  taskmasters,  their  thcfii 
did  not  at  all  equal  the  debts  their  enslavers  owed  them, 
and  therefore  the  unbecoming  spectacle  was  not  an  alK* 
gether  reprehensible  embezzlement  from  the  view-poitf 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE     397 

of  equity.  The  Patent  Bureau  of  Japan  has  neither  Ists 
or  Moses,  and  only  the  frenzied  god  of  Ambition  on  its 
dishonored  shrine,  and  the  Samurai  must  eventually  come 
forward  and  do  some  shop-cleaning  for  his  weaker  com- 
mercial brother,  if  Japanese  progress  is  to  be  permanent 
and  live  in  the  smile  of  the  nations.  Japan  can  not  too 
earnestly  consider  history's  eternal  lesson  that  moral 
strength  is  prerequisite  to  armaments  in  conquests  of  her- 
self and  her  enemies. 

The  editor  of  the  Tokio  ^krAi  introduced  a  bill  in  a  re- 
cent session  of  the  Diet  to  prevent  newspapers  copying 
telegrams  without  the  consent  of  the  paper  which  had  paid 
for  the  telegram,  but  the  House  of  Representatives,  on 
the  suggestion  of  Mr.  O.  Oka,  editor  of  the  Tokio  Shim- 
bun,  threw  out  the  bill,  so  that  if  the  Japanese  steal  pat- 
ents from  the  world,  they  are  also  pirates  of  copyright 
and  Press  Agency  right  among  themselves.  It  is  risky 
to  lend  an  ambitious  Japanese  student  your  book ;  he  will 
translate  it ;  he  will  have  it  published  in  his  name,  leaving 
yours  off,  of  course,  and  immediately  his  fame  as  a 
scholar  is  enhanced  in  the  eyes  of  his  ducal  patron.  If 
you  expostulate,  he  asks  if  he  is  not  the  author  of  the 
Japanese  version,  and  offers  you  a  glorious  dinner  at  the 
tea-house  when  he  receives  an  appointment  in  the  Civil 
Service  as  the  proteg6  of  the  said  duke,  who  also  has  his 
reasons  for  affecting  literature.  The  Japanese  apologists 
arc  sufficiently  patriotic  to  be  blind  to  every  national  criti- 
cism, but  they  are  lavish  enough  in  reviling  their  betters 
in  the  homely  virtues,  who  dwell  across  the  yellow  water. 
To  quote  the  smart  Mabuclii.  as  far  back  as  the  seven- 
teenth century :  **  The  Chinese,  bad  at  heart,  are  good 
only  on  the  outside.  The  Japanese  being  straightforward 
can  do  without  moral  teaching;  the  Chinese  have  theoreti- 


398  THE  CHINESE 

cal  morals;  the  Japanese  have  practical,  up-to-date 
morals." 

Comparison  in  the  case  of  China  is  comforting,  for 
China  protects  foreign  patents. 

Japan  was  winning  some  wonderful  commercial  vic- 
tories years  before  she  sighted  her  arms  for  war.  She 
was  and  is  selling  America  twice  what  she  buj-s  frooi 
America,  which  is  probably  the  most  significant  achieve- 
ment of  the  island  kingdom  to  date.  Every  Japane^ 
propogandist  who  is  trained  to  write  articles  for  the 
American  press,  purposely  ignores  this  fact.  Until  iqo; 
America  was  Japan's  best  customer,  but  now  she  sells 
China  more  than  she  does  America,  which  ts  distinctly  in 
line  with  her  ambition.  Immediately  after  the  war 
closed,  her  imports  decreased  five  million  dollars  a  month, 
and  her  exports  increased  by  the  same  amount,  all  bf- 
cause  the  soldiers  of  Oyama  ^vent  back  to  the  silk  and 
cotton  looms,  the  porcelain  kilns  and  the  matting  shcik 
which  they  had  deserted  for  a  while. 

As  eastbound  freight  is  the  lesser,  it  will  not  be  sur- 
prising if  timber  from  the  war-won  Yalu  is  freighted  in 
larger  quantities  by  the  Japanese  steamers  to  the  Pacife 
coast  of  America.  They  have  formed  the  Japan-Chiia 
Timber  Company,  and  expect  to  cut  three  hundred  rafti 
a  year  at  a  profit  of  six  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Al- 
ready they  are  laying  down  at  Guaymas,  Mexico,  two  mil- 
lion ties  from  Manchuria  at  fifty-six  cents  gold  eacli 
These  virgin  forests  have  ne\'er  before  been  desecrate.' 
with  saw  or  ax.  The  Japanese  railways  buy  their  chest- 
nut (kuri)  ties  for  twenty-five  cents  gold  each,  whie* 
shows  the  latent  resources  and  the  economy  of  produc- 
tion of  the  wonderful  little  kingdom.  Japan's  lum- 
ber is  produced  mainly  on  volcanic  Ezo  Island  in  the 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE     399 

far  north.  The  foot-hills  have  been  enriched  with  an 
ashy  and  charred  deposit  over  the  marshes.  On  this  soil 
kashiwa  (oak)  senn  (elm)  and  ash  grow  to  a  sturdy 
girth,  but  not  to  a  great  height  The  lumber  is  faulty 
and  twisty.  In  the  great  heat  of  the  stmimers  an  under- 
growth of  bamboo  grass,  ten  feet  high,  springs  up.  Win- 
ter is  severe  during  three  months.  The  stream  courses 
are  precipitate,  and  the  whole  country  is  cut  into  canyons 
and  fissures,  which  make  logging  difficult,  but  the  inde- 
fatigable workers  overcome  everything  and  produce  at 
the  low  cost  already  detailed.  Every  sprig  of  wood  is 
used  as  carefully  as  in  France  or  Palestine.  The  waste 
is  burned  into  charcoal,  if  nothing  else.  Every  living 
Japanese,  male,  female  and  child,  I  think,  smokes  ciga- 
rettes, and  the  cost  in  forest  fires  is  something  deplora- 
ble, which  the  little  country  can  not  and  will  not  long 
afford.  Her  forest  policy  will  add  a  total  abstinence  ad- 
junct. Not  only  into  lumber  exporting,  but  furniture 
making,  Japan  is  going,  and  she  has  a  fashion  of  lifting 
her  gooils  into  any  country  where  the  tariff  wall  is  not 
too  high  for  such  little  brown  men.  Pitiable,  deforested 
China  possesses  no  timber,  except  in  Manchuria,  and  Ja- 
pan will  block  the  export  of  lumber  from  that  province 
to  the  sea  via  the  South  Manchuria  Railway  until  the  Chi- 
nese, overcoming  the  vast  diplomatic  diffiailties  which 
have  been  raised  recently  against  them,  parallel  that  line 
to  Newchwang.  The  rival  yellow  men  are  now  at 
swords'  points  over  this  development,  and  you  can  put  it 
down  as  the  cause  of  two  future  wars. 

Se\'en  years  before  the  Japan-Russia  war  Japan  un- 
folded her  serious  designs  upon  China  by  soliciting  ten 
thousand  Chinese  students  to  come  to  Japan.  Thirty 
thousand  are  this  day  in  Japan.     Of  course  no  other 


I 


\ 


4cx> 


THE  CHINESE 


country  can  now  hope  to  equal  Japan's  predorainant  in*  ^ 
fluence,  evidenced  for  one  thing  in  the  overthrow  of  , 
China's  most  ancient  institution,  her  Classical  Examina- 
tions. It  would  pay  the  four  white  nations  chiefly  con- 
cerned to  set  apart  five  million  dollars  a  year  to  secure 
Chinese  students  for  our  schools,  shops  and  universities. 
No  other  commercial  plan  can  be  so  effective,  for  the  stu- 
dents are  in  the  fore  of  the  New  China  already.  Particu- 
larly should  Chinese  from  the  southern  provinces  be  solic- 
ited, and  not  Manchus,  for  the  Manchu  is  only  one-lwea- 
tieth  of  the  population,  and  he  will  in  the  end  only  bend 
to  the  opinions  of  the  majorit>'.  The  Japan-China  trade, 
largely  as  a  result  of  this  educational  policy,  has  dfvtl- 
oped  wonderfully  in  the  last  few  years.  In  1903  the  iio- 
ports  and  exports  of  the  two  countries  amounted  to  twelrt 
million  yen  only.  In  1905  the  total  had  risen  to  fifty-two 
million  yen,  and  this  year  it  was  eighty  million  yen.  This 
year  Japan  sent  to  China  for  twenty  million  yen  of  raw 
material,  and  returned  the  goods  in  manufactured  form, 
charging  China  forty-five  million  yen.  Until  1897  the 
smooth  bores  glistening  from  armored  sides  compelled 
Jajffln  to  admit  the  manufactures  of  the  nations  at  a  duty 
of  not  more  than  five  per  cent,  ad  valorera  The  China 
war  showed  the  nations  what  Japan  could  do,  and  the  five 
per  cent,  condition  was  annulled.  The  real  victory  of  the 
Russian  war  is  a  more  extended  one,  in  that  the  nations 
now  consent  that  Japan  may  raise  her  ad  valorem  duties 
to  fifty  per  cent,  unless  a  quid  pro  quo  is  given.  Statistics 
of  the  peace  years  demonstrate  two  things,  that  a  smaller 
number  of  Occidentals  visit  Japan  than  one  would  sup- 
pose, and  that  Japan  is  becoming  the  Mecca  for  Orientals 
in  increasing  numbers,  who,  marvelous  to  say,  leave  in  the 
country  half  as  much  per  capita  as  does  the  Occidental 
Here  are  the  figures  of  tourist  arrivals : 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE     401 


DUEHTAU 

igra  ..     4.950 8*759 

1903  ■■     M'8 Mio 

1905  ■■    9.237  7.aftl 

igo6  ..  ii,50o 8*00 

1907   -  -   30.000   7iOOO 

igoS  . .  4AO0O 6,000 

Of  the  Occidentals,  Russians  predominate,  with  Ameri- 
cans and  British  following  in  order. 

Cheap  labor  is  Japan's  greatest  industrial  asset. 
Japanese  industry,  in  order  to  overwhelm  competition,  has 
adopted  a  new  sla\'ery,  that  of  long  hours  for  operatives. 
Mill  hands  work  from  daylight  till  dark,  or  thirteen  hours, 
for  forty  sen  (twenty  cents  gold)  a  day.  The  departure 
of  tillers  from  the  field  to  factory  and  mine  has  increased 
the  cost  of  living  seventy  per  cent,  against  a  wage  increase 
of  forty  per  cent.  The  enormous  reser\-e  which  this 
people  can  discover  is  illustrated  by  the  work;'  mainly  per- 
formed by  women  during  the  war.  Seventy  per  cent,  of 
the  war  necessities  was  produced  within  the  empire  itself. 
When  Britain,  a  similar  island  manufacturing  nation, 
fought  in  Africa,  only  forty  per  cent,  of  the  war's  necessi- 
ties was  produced  at  home.  That  taxes  are  not  to  be 
lowered,  can  be  judged  from  the  figure  in  Prince  Ito's 
(by  the  way,  a  common  name  in  Japan)  speech,  in  which 
he  said:  "  Xo  E>aruma.  with  his  fairy  gold-producing 
hammer,  is  likely  to  appear  in  Japan:  there  is  nothing 
for  it  but  our  own  diligeiKe.  If  others  do  not  drown 
who  are  lower  down  than  we,  you  may  be  sure  we  are 
still  swimming."  How  he  loves  to  rap  China's  "sub- 
merged civilization,"  and  how  Oiina  hates  him  for  it, 
just  as  the  Koreans  do! 

You  will  be  struck  by  the  dangerous  width  of  the  cars 
vhich  run  over  the  main  lines  of  three  feel  six  inches 


402  THE  CHINESE 


gage.  On  this  account  the  fastest  expresses  do  not 
make  over  forty  miles  an  hour.  The  railways  carried 
one  hundred  and  forty  million  passengers  last  year,  wiii 
iinly  thirty  deaths.  The  government  had  to  take  o^tt 
llie  railways,  as  only  government  credit  in  such  a  coun- 
try could  standardize  gage  through  the  numberless  too- 
nels,  culverts,  bridges  and  grades  of  this  difficult  coon- 
Iry,  where  nature  has  tried  to  delay  the  feet  of  beauty, 
and  not  to  speed  the  car  of  commerce.  As  in  China,  so  in 
Japan  the  merchants  club  together  to  secure  carload  rata, 
the  ratio  of  this  "  consolidated  "  traffic  assuming  the  very 
large  proportion  of  eighty-six  out  of  one  hundred  to« 
shipped.  Ninety-five  per  cent,  of  the  passengers  travel 
third  class,  and  only  five-sixteenths  of  one  per  cent  travd 
first  class.  The  average  train  load  is  sixty-three  passot- 
gers,  and  length  of  journey  twenty  miles.  How  opposite 
is  the  tale,  and  the  luxurious  habits  it  reveals,  in  Amer- 
ica I  The  average  freight  train  load  is  three  hundred  and 
eight  tons,  and  average  haul  sixty-one  miles.  Gross 
earnings  averaged  sixty-two  hundred  dollars  a  mile,  fifty- 
five  per  cent,  of  this  being  applicable  to  net  earnings.  The 
average  monthly  compensation  for  all  railway  employees 
is  seven  dollars  and  a  half,  against  forty  in  America. 
Engineers  get  forty  cents  a  day. 

China  is  entering  upon  a  railway  policy  under  better 
auspices,  and  with  less  physical  obstruction  than  Japan, 
and  the  result  will  accordingly  be  more  gratifying'  in  all 
directions.  Already  the  Chinese  mileage  is  greater,  and 
is  rapidly  increasing. 

That  commerce  in  America  and  Japan  is  respectivdy 
on  a  peace  and  war  basis  could  not  be  better  illustrated 
than  by  the  railway  policy.  Government  control  of  rail- 
ways in  America  so  far  is  only  desired  in  respect  p'  i 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCUL  EXAMPLE     403 

rates.  Japanese  control  was  primarily  desired  in  respect 
of  operation.  It  was  found  that  the  operation  of  the  Jap- 
anese railways  during  the  war  was  not  satisfactory  for 
the  movement  of  troops,  and  nothing  to  compare  with  the 
wonderful  work  which  the  Siberian  Railway  performed 
in  carrying  and  feeding  nine  hundred  thousand  troops, 
five  thousand  and  6ve  hundred  miles  from  their  base. 
Russia  won  only  one  victory,  but  that  was  a  signal  one, 
and  a  monument  tu  America's  pupil,  Prince  KhilkofT,  the 
maker  of  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway.  On  a  single  track 
line,  with  rails  only  forty  pounds  per  yard,  twenty  trains 
at  a  speed  of  sixteen  miles  an  hour  were  passed  in  the 
twenty-four  hours.  Compare  this  with  the  best  perform- 
ance in  India  of  thirteen  trains  daily.  Japan  has  not  been 
slow  to  admire  and  follow.  The  first  iJ5,ooo,ooo  yen 
have  been  transferred  for  the  purchase  of  all  roads  au- 
thorized by  both  houses  of  the  Diet  in  March  1906,  and 
the  following  roads  have  already  entered  guvcmment  op- 
eration: The  scenic  Sanyo  from  Kobe  to  Shimonoseki; 
the  Kokkaido;  Tanko;  Kobu;  Nippon;  Ganyetsu,  and 
Xishinari  "  Tetsudos,"  or  railways.  Under  the  new 
Japanese  tariff,  Germany  now  supplies  the  largest  amount 
of  locomotives  and  Britain  the  largest  amount  of  cars  to 
Japan.  Considering  the  money  .\merica  loaned  Japan 
during  the  war,  she  should  be  in  second  instead  of  third 
place.  When  the  contracts  were  made  our  navy  was  at 
home. 

Weight  is  computed  by  the  Kin  (one  and  one-third 
pounds),  and  Kii-aninw  (eight  and  one-fourth  pounds); 
nicasiire  by  the  Go  (pint).  To  (one-half  bushel),  and 
Kol-u  (five  bushels) ;  and  for  precious  metals  the  .\fomtnc 
equals  our  fifty-eight  grains  troy.  Land  is  surveyed  by 
the  Tan  (one  thousand  and  eight  hundred  square  feet), 


\ 


404  THE  CHINESE 

and  Cho  (nine  thousand  square  yards).  China  was  not 
behind  in  an  irregular  system  of  weights  and  measures, 
understood  differently  in  the  various  provinces,  until  the 
Peking  Board  of  Revenue  recently  advised  a  decimal  sys- 
tem, the  unit  of  length.  Tchi,  being  equivalent  to  thirty- 
two  centimeters;  unit  of  capacity,  To,  equivalent  to  10.35 
liters;  the  unit  of  weight.  Lian,  equivalent  to  37.30  grams. 
It  will  take  some  time  before  the  people  are  taught  the 
new  system. 

The  mortgaging  of  real  estate  in  Japan  was  only  per- 
mitted as  late  as  1906,  and  brought  into  the  country  forty 
million  foreign  dollars  each  year  since,  which  has  been 
immediately  put  into  mines  and  manufacturing.  The 
Japanese  government  is  encouraging  the  investment  of 
Lancashire  capital  on  long  leases  (the  same  as  the  Hong- 
Kong  crown  leases)  in  the  cotton-mills  of  Osaka,  just  as 
Dundee  capital  went  to  India  and  developed  the  jute  fac- 
tories. Prior  to  the  passage  of  the  real  estate  law,  manu- 
factories paid  as  high  as  nine  per  cent,  for  their  loans. 
China  is  yet  behind  in  the  security  she  gives  the  foreign 
investor.  Therefore  the  viceroys  borrow  on  provincial 
account,  with  taxes  as  security,  and  like  Chang  of  Han- 
kau  erect  their  own  provincial  cotton,  iron  and  coal 
plants. 

As  might  be  expected  in  so  volcanic  a  country,  where 
there  are  fifty-four  active  and  one  hundred  and  ten  ex- 
tinct volcanoes,  sulphur  is  largely  produced  in  Japan, 
generally  as  in  Sicily,  in  the  district  of  the  active  vol- 
canoes. Fifteen  thousand  tons  a  year  are  exported  froin 
Hakodate.  These  Ezo  mines  are  owned  by  the  ducal 
Mitsui  family.  Work  is  interrupted  for  five  months  by 
snow.  Japan  was  thus  happily  in  a  position  to  produce 
her  famous  Shimoso  explosive  for  the  "  Great  War,"  as 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE     405 

they  call  it,  and  naturally  her  matches  (a  government 
monopoly)  are  all-conquering  in  China  and  the  far 
East,  They  affect  the  use  of  a  gloomy-colored  box  pat- 
terned after  the  Swedish.  The  superior  richness  of  the 
Japanese  ore  can  be  judged  by  comparison  with  the  ore 
of  Sicily,  the  figures  being  fifty  per  cent  against  twenty 
per  cent.  The  yearly  output  of  sulphur  is  seventy  mil- 
lion pounds.  Salt  and  tobacco  manufacture  are  also  gov- 
ernment monopolies,  so  that  Japanese  conservatives  are 
not  eloquent  on  Trust-smashing.  China  follows  suit  in 
the  respect  of  making  salt  a  government  monopoly,  but 
she  knows  her  people  will  not  stand  for  much  repetition 
of  this  system. 

In  Formosa  Japan  is  eagerly  developing  gold  mining 
at  an  increase  of  about  twenty  per  cent,  each  year.  In 
1908  one  and  one-half  milhons  of  bullion  were  produced 
at  the  Kyufun,  Kinkwaseki  and  Botanko  mines.  There 
are  even  successful  placer  workings  at  this  late  date.  Sul- 
phur, coal  and  petroleum  mines  are  now  being  developed 
near  Kilung  in  Fomiosa.  Since  Japan  has  shorn  China 
of  Formosa,  China's  old  port  of  Amoy.  which  once  con- 
trolled Formosan  trade,  has  fallen  into  bitter  desuetude. 
Put  it  down,  too,  in  these  days  of  awakening  national 
conscience  and  restitutions,  that  China  must  have  For- 
mosa back,  of  course  paying  Japan  the  tutor  bill. 

When  the  silver  above  the  line  of  oxidation  worked 
out  in  the  Kosaka  mine  in  the  north  of  Nippon  Island, 
copper  was  discovered,  and  seven  thousand  and  five  hun- 
dred tons  are  produced  yearly.  The  ancient  Ashio  mine, 
in  a  hill  near  the  sacred  temple  town  of  Xikko.  turns  out 
like  clock-work,  with  its  eig;ht  thousand  employees,  seven 
thousand  tons  yearly,  and  the  Besshi  mine  adds  another 
six  thousand  tons.     So  Japan  takes  pretty  good  care  of 


4o6  THE  CHINESE 

herself  in  this  other  war  and  electrical  requisite.  Before 
the  Great  War  the  steel  industry  was  in  a  languishing 
condition,  not  twenty  thousand  tons  a  year  being  pro- 
duced. The  war  changed  things,  the  Government  put- 
ting $12,000,000  into  the  furnaces  at  Wakamatsu.  near 
Inaka  Lake,  in  the  north  of  Nippon.  Note  that  it  is  the 
government  initiative  in  all  this  progress.  The  world 
there,  and  new  works  at  Muroran,  in  Ezo  Island,  are 
turning  out  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  tons  a  year. 
and  in  two  years  the  government  expects  to  meet  on«- 
eighth  of  the  requirements  of  the  country,  which  are 
about  eight  hundred  thousand  tons  a  year.  At  preseift  ■ 
Japan  is  drawing  pig-ore  from  Han-kau,  China,  where 
most  of  Japan's  supply  will  come  from  in  future. 
Speaking  generally  of  copper,  silver  and  gold  mines  in 
Japan  proper,  the  ore  is  of  low  grade,  but  great  profits  are 
made  because  every  member  of  the  family  works  at  the 
lowest  wages.  There  is  also  little  expense  for  ptrniping, 
as  the  drifts  are  cut  horizontally  into  the  hills.  The 
finest  machinery  and  complete  electric  plants  minimize  the 
cost  of  operation.  Last  year  Japan  proper  produced 
seven  thousand  and  five  hundred  pounds  of  gold,  and 
two  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  silver.  Japanese  gal- 
leries are  protected  less  carefully  than  in  America,  and 
the  proportion  of  deaths  is  therefore  heavier.  The  healcb 
and  education  of  operatives  are  sacrificed  to  production. 
and  Japan  has  many  an  uncomfortable  sociological  prob- 
lem on  her  hands. 

Let  us  take  a  glance  at  "  Outer  Japan,"  for  so  we  must 
learn  to  call  it.  She  is  finding  it  hard  as  flint  to  con- 
quer the  spirits  of  the  sulky  Koreans  in  their  stream- 
webbed  land  of  the  "  Morning  Calm,"  who  want  oeitber 
to  rule  themselves  ir<  a  modern  sense,  nor  to  be  niM 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE     407 

Their  emblem,  the  Tageuk  —  two  comets  involved  and 
for  ever  impeding  each  other  —  is  a  sign  not  without  sig- 
nificance. The  Japanese  affront  their  pride  on  every 
occasion.  For  instance,  they  have  turned  over  an  import- 
ant precedent  in  compelling  political  prisoners  to  submit 
to  their  hair  being  cut  off.  The  Japanese  intend  that  the 
Koreans  shall  remain  a  subject  and  dying  race  and  not  be 
absorbed,  tlie  government  having  prohibited  the  Japanese 
colonists  to  intermarry  with  the  natives.  Japanese  states- 
men are  emphatic  that  Lincoln  made  a  mistake  in  giving 
the  negroes  equality  with  the  whites.  This  unmistakably 
shows  how  they  mean  to  rule  in  Korea,  and  the  trend  of 
their  influence  in  Manchuria  (and  in  China  when  they 
arrive) !  The  conceit  of  it,  you  say.  In  her  new  era 
of  colonization  Japan  means  to  follow  Roman  more  than 
British  methods.  Simple  Korea  of  the  past!  In  the 
style  of  his  home,  the  Korean  exhibits  his  exclusiveness, 
each  house  being  entirely  surrounded  with  the  serx^ants* 
compound.  It  is  a  green  and  white  land,  the  houses  and 
gannents  being  the  latter  color.  The  valuable  gold  bod- 
ies belonged  to  the  Imperial  household.  They  have  been 
confiscated  for  the  benefit  of  Japanese  baronial  houses, 
or  **  Titled  Trusts."  The  Japanese  have  completed  ti.e 
railroads  running  the  length  of  the  peninsula  five  hundred 
and  fifty  miles,  and  also  across  the  a^untry  from  Seoul  to 
Gcnsan,  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles,  according  to  pro- 
gram laid  out  five  years  ago.  They  will  be  operated  by 
the  government,  which  also  retains  the  coal  deposits,  to 
work  chiefly  as  a  war  reserve.  In  a  word,  the  peninsula 
is  to  be  a  repetition  of  Eg\'ptian  occupation,  but  the 
Kohim  Hoi  (Society  of  Daily  Progress)  declares  the  Jap- 
anese will  not  find  the  Korean  as  docile  and  extinguish- 
able  as  the  Fellahin.     For  the  East,  the  sickly  East,  the 


4o8  THE  CHINESE 

climate  is  a  joy.  The  summer  rains  are  somewhat  heavy. 
The  winters  are  of  the  Canadian  tj'pe,  dry  and  bracing. 
Spring  and  autumn  are  as  green  and  gold  as  the  maple 
leaf.  China  of  course  sympathizes  with  the  Koreans  in 
what  appears  to  be  their  commercial  and  natlotial  ex- 
tinction. 

While  the  sovereignty  of  China  in  Manchuria,  which 
the  Committee  of  white  Shanghai  merchants  called  a 
"  second  Manitoba,"  is  reiterated  by  the  Japanese  weD 
organized  press  agency,  and  the  irregular  "  American 
agreement,"  you  hear  little  of  it  along  the  wonderful  val- 
ley of  the  Liau  Ho,  which  the  Chinese  call  their  "  Thoo- 
sand  Mile  View."  Baron  Saionji  has  formed  a  trust. 
called  the  Minami  Manshu,  with  $75,000,000  capital,  re- 
stricted to  a  Japanese  majority  subscription,  for  the  de- 
velopment of  the  deposits  of  five  hundred  million  tons  of 
coal  in  the  Mu  Tsi  district,  and  connecting  them  by 
branch  railways  with  the  old  parent  line  to  Port  Arthur. 
The  scheme  is  a  Manchurian  Development  Company  with 
a  very  broad  charter  and  comprehensive  aims  under  dis- 
tinct Government  patronage.  On  the  railway  which  the 
war  gave  her  in  Southern  Manchuria,  Japan  is  seeking 
a  loan  of  $150,000,000,  which  will  be  rcloaned  to  finance 
these  Government-Baronial  Development  Companies. 
The  railway  is  to  be  broad-gaged  so  as  to  exchange  traf- 
fic with  the  Chinese  railways  coming  from  the  south  and 
west,  rather  than  to  look  for  trade  with  the  broader 
gaged  Siberian  Railway  at  Kwang  Chau  Fu.  Ex- 
clusive of  the  revenue  from  military  transport  the  South 
Manchuria  Railway  is  already  earning  $3,000,000  gold  a 
year,  or  nineteen  dollars  gold  a  mile  per  day.  The  oper- 
ating expenses  are  forty-five  per  cent,  China  is  fightit^ 
Japan  bitterly  to  parallel  with  the  Fakumen  Railway  the 


>y 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE     409 

Japanese  South  Manchurian  Railway  from  the  Russian 
railways  down  past  Mukden  to  tidewater  in  Liaotung 
Gulf.  China,  with  America's  support,  can  on  this  ques- 
tion eventually  force  Britain  to  aid  China  and  break  the 
unholy  alliance  with  Japan.  The  Yokohama  Specie  Bank 
is  intrenched  througi)  government  assistance,  though  the 
Chinese  take  their  notes  at  four  per  cent,  less  than  the 
Mexican  silver  dollar,  which  they  are  used  to.  An  odd 
feature  of  the  wharves  of  Newchwang  are  the  piles  of 
Japanese  and  Russian  shell  fragments,  which  have  been 
gathered  from  the  battlefields  by  the  indefatigable  Chinese 
and  brought  down  the  Liao  in  junks.  What  would  we 
think  if  similar  hands  had  commercialized  the  glory  of 
Plevna,  Metz,  Vicksburg  or  Alexandria?  But  the  Chi- 
nese have  never  thought  war  was  glory. 

Another  knotty  problem  for  the  future  in  Manchuria 
is  the  question  of  taxation  in  the  railroad  zone.  The 
Russians  control  the  largest  part  of  the  Chinese  Eastern 
Railway.  The  Japanese  own  as  a  war  legacy  the  South 
Manchurian  Railway.  Now,  if  the  Americans,  British 
and  French  have  a  right  to  levy  taxes  in  the  settlements 
of  Shanghai,  Tientsin,  etc.,  why  have  not  the  Russians 
and  Japanese  the  same  right  in  the  railroad  zones  in  Man- 
churia? The  foreign  occupation  of  the  ports  is  ancient 
history  and  does  not  cut  a  province  in  two.  Again,  if  the 
Russians  and  Japanese  have  the  taxation  right,  when  will 
they  ever  concede  China's  ancient  right  to  Manchurian 
sovereignty?  I  recommend  that  the  Manchurian  ques- 
tion be  treated  solus,  and  that  Russia  and  Japan  have  a 
limited  police  privilege  per  mile,  but  not  the  tax  right 
within  the  zones,  and  that  otherwise  there  be  sincere  evac- 
uation of  the  province  by  the  Russian  and  Japanese 
arms.     At  present,  the  Russians  admit  Chinese  sover- 


\ 


THE  CHINESE 

eignty,  and  the  right  to  dinde  the  taxes  within  the  rail- 
way zone,  and  the  Russians  still  keep  the  wedge  in  by 
holding  a  municipal  district  at  Harbin,  all  of  which  will 
encourage  Japan  to  invent  similar  claims  in  South  Nian- 
churia,  to  the  distress  of  other  foreigners  and  of  China. 
The  Japanese  cotton  merchants  of  Osaka,  who  art 
driving  America's  cotton  trade  from  Manchuria,  also 
despite  the  "  American  agreement,"  have  organized  into 
a  guild,  and  appointed  tiie  baronial  house  of  Mitstn  as 
Manchurian  Agents.  The  latter  have  obtained  from  the 
government  an  advance  of  6.000,000  rt''i  at  four  p<r 
cent,  and  the  merchants  are  extended  this  rate  for  fOBT 
months  upon  their  shipping  bills.  There  is  no  wonder 
therefore  that  America's  cotton  trade  with  Manchuria  ot 
four  milhon  lads  a  year  should  be  throttled,  and  although 
Japanese  consuls  disguise  it,  Japan's  entire  business  (rail- 
way, export  and  manufacturing)  is  becoming  naiimul- 
ized  into  the  largest  aggregation  of  baron  ial-govemme* 
trusts  which  commerce  has  ever  experienced.  To  <pcak 
the  clear  truth,  there  are  very  few  privileges  granted  in 
Japan  unless  the  southern  Satsuma  and  Cho  Shin  baron- 
ial families,  who  placed  the  priest-Emperor  over  the 
political- Shoguns,  are  first  asked  what  they  want — riH, 
former  in  navy  affairs  and  the  latter  in  arniv  attd  m^ 
merce.  The  members  of  the  Imperial  family  arc  hetn^ 
stock-holders  in  the  largest  Japanese  steamship  company: 
The  baronial  or  daimio  families  number  two  hundred  anJ. 
fifty.  Japan  owes  half  a  billion  to  America  and  Britaiai 
she  borrowed  as  much  from  her  own  people.  Her  tb^ 
ways  cost  her  $200,000,000.  Cotton,  tobacco,  matcba 
and  other  monopolies  cost  the  government  another  $roa- 
000,000.  So  it  can  easily  be  figured  what  the  government 
has  to  earn  to  live.     When  their  jingo  "  Progressives'" 


.bu-    i,i,i<'    A  l>.      riic    ri.,k-    -n    ih.-   .-k-,.li.ini    srarm-- 

havi-   U-tii   llimwii   llnri-   !■>    irriviTiiil    I'nirisl- 

uh<i     ui-n-     iiiit     lit     (Iricnlal     MihhI 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE     403 

rates.  Japanese  control  was  primarily  desired  in  respect 
of  operation.  It  was  found  that  the  operation  of  the  Jap- 
anese railways  during  the  war  was  not  satisfactory  for 
the  movement  of  troops,  and  nothing  to  compare  with  the 
wonderful  work  which  the  Siberian  Railway  performed 
in  carrying  and  feeding  nine  hundred  thousand  troops, 
five  thousand  and  five  hundred  miles  from  their  base. 
Russia  won  only  one  victory,  but  that  was  a  signal  one, 
and  a  monument  to  America's  pupil,  Prince  Khilkoflf,  the 
maker  of  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway.  On  a  single  track 
line,  with  rails  only  forty  pounds  per  yard,  twenty  trains 
at  a  speed  of  sixteen  miles  an  hour  were  passed  in  the 
twenty-four  hours.  Compare  this  with  the  best  perform- 
ance in  India  of  thirteen  trains  daily.  Japan  has  not  been 
slow  to  admire  and  follow.  The  first  125,000,000  yen 
have  been  transferred  for  the  purchase  of  all  roads  au- 
thorized by  both  houses  of  the  Diet  in  March  1906,  and 
the  following  roads  have  already  entered  government  op- 
eration: The  scenic  Sanyo  from  Kobe  to  Shimonoseki; 
the  Kokkaido;  Tanko;  Kobu;  Nippon;  Ganyetsu,  and 
Nishinari  "  Tetsudos."  or  railways.  Under  the  new 
Japanese  tariff,  Germany  now  supplies  the  largest  amount 
of  locomotives  and  Britain  the  largest  amount  of  cars  to 
Japan.  Considering  the  money  America  loaned  Japan 
during  the  war,  she  should  be  in  second  instead  of  third 
place.  When  the  contracts  were  made  our  navy  was  at 
home. 

Weight  is  computed  by  the  Kin  (one  and  one-third 
pounds),  and  Kwamffw  (eight  and  one-fourth  pounds); 
measure  by  the  Go  (pint).  To  (one-half  bushel),  and 
Koku  (five  busliels) ;  and  for  precious  metals  the  .\fomffte 
equals  our  fifty-eight  grains  troy.  Land  is  surveyed  by 
the  Tan  (one  thousand  and  eight  hundred  square  feet), 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE     403 

rates.  Japanese  control  was  primarily  desired  in  respect 
of  operation.  It  was  found  that  the  operation  of  the  Jap- 
anese railways  during  the  war  was  not  satisfactory  for 
the  movement  of  troops,  and  nothing  to  compare  with  the 
wonderful  work  which  the  Siberian  Railway  performed 
in  carrying  and  feeding  nine  hundred  thousand  troops, 
five  thousand  and  five  hundred  miles  from  their  base. 
Russia  won  only  one  victory,  but  that  was  a  signal  one, 
and  a  monument  to  America's  pupil,  Prince  Khilkoflf,  the 
maker  of  the  Trans-Siberian  Railway.  On  a  single  track 
line,  with  rails  only  forty  pounds  per  yard,  twenty  trains 
at  a  speed  of  sixteen  miles  an  hour  were  passed  in  the 
twenty-four  hours.  Compare  this  with  the  best  perform- 
ance in  India  of  thirteen  trains  daily.  Japan  has  not  been 
slow  to  admire  and  follow.  The  first  iJ5,ooo,ooo  yen 
have  been  transferred  for  the  purchase  of  all  roads  au- 
thorized by  both  houses  of  the  Diet  in  March  1906,  and 
the  following  roads  have  already  entered  government  op- 
eration :  The  scenic  Sanyo  from  Kobe  to  Shimonoseki ; 
the  Kokkaido;  Tanko;  Kobu;  Nippon;  Ganyetsu,  and 
Nishinari  "  Tetsudos,"  or  railways.  Under  the  new 
Japanese  tariff,  Germany  now  supplies  the  largest  amount 
of  locomotives  and  Britain  the  largest  amount  of  cars  to 
Japan.  Considering  the  money  America  loaned  Japan 
during  the  war,  she  should  be  in  second  instead  of  third 
place.  When  the  contracts  were  made  our  navy  was  at 
home. 

Weight  is  computed  by  the  Kin  (one  and  one-third 
pounds),  and  K'camme  (eight  and  one- fourth  pounds); 
measure  by  the  Go  (pint),  To  (one-half  bushel),  and 
Koku  (five  bushels) ;  and  for  precious  metals  the  Momme 
equals  our  fifty-eight  grains  troy.  Land  is  surveyed  by 
the  Tan  (one  thousand  and  eight  hundred  square  feet), 


414  THE  CHINESE 

The  residue  is  spread  in  the  sun  and  dried.  In  famine  il 
is  used  as  food,  and  in  good  times  it  is  powdered  up  for 
manure.  The  drying  process,  howe\'er,  costs  tlie  product 
the  stored  phosphorus.  The  government  is  expected  m 
step  in  at  any  time  and  stop  the  fishing,  as  the  menhadden 
attract  food  fishes  to  the  coast. 

The  production  of  crude  iodine  is  rapidly  increasii^. 
Two  hundred  thousand  pounds  were  exported  last  year, 
averaging  one  dollar  and  eighty  cents  a  pound.  Diven 
gather  it.  The  primitive  methods  of  burning  it  still  con- 
tinue. 

Cricket  bats,  tennis  rackets  and  nail  brushes  hare  all 
won  the  market  in  Australia,  despite  the  prejudice  there 
against  the  Nipponese.  Osaka  is  producing  menthol 
crystals  from  distilled  dried  mint  The  plants  are  raised 
on  the  hills  around  Nagasaki. 

The  growth  of  the  press  can  be  judged  by  the  produc- 
tion of  paper.  In  1894,  the  year  of  the  Japan-China 
war,  the  Oji  and  Fuji  mills  produced  thirty  million 
pounds.  Last  year  they  produced  three  hundred  million 
pounds  and  had  to  move  their  factories  to  Ezo  (now 
Hokkaido)  Island  for  the  pulp  supply.  In  addition,  Ja- 
pan imported  twenty-five  million  pounds.  China  as  yet 
knows  little,  save  in  the  matter  of  forestry,  of  the  policy 
of  conservation  of  national  resources,  such  as  stocking 
6sheries,  etc.,  but  she  will  learn  from  Japan. 

A  touch  of  the  sentimental  still  crops  out  in  Japanese 
business,  especially  in  some  of  the  decisions  in  equity. 
The  courts  decided  that  the  insurance  companies  need 
not  pay  in  full  fire  losses  which  were  occasioned  by  the 
Peace-News  rioters,  but  that  a  compromise  payment 
should  be  made  on  the  understanding  that  it  was  "  mone)- 
of  sympathy." 


\ 


JAPAN  A  COMMERCIAL  EXAMPLE      4"5 

'As  it  was  to  be  expected,  ihsw  that  war  has  ceased,  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  soldiers  lie  about  idle,  the 
Japanese  courtezans  have  made  Port  Arthur  and  Tairen 
( Dalny)  like  the  hem  of  a  Roman  triumph  with  the  moral 
Botsam  and  jetsam  strewn  along  the  course.  Their 
'rickishas,  parasols,  gaudy  gowns  and  faces  have  brou^t 
unquestioned  color  to  what  before  was  a  somber  enough 
scene.  The  Peking  Times  is  insistent  in  its  criticism,  and 
the  brave  Ktrisu  Sckai  of  Tokio  has  bordered  on  lese  ma- 
jesle  in  its  worthy  strictures.  The  great  difficulty  is  in 
reaching  the  barons  and  wealthy  political  families  who 
have  long  patronized  the  geisha,  and  taken  many  as  sec- 
ondary wives  from  that  class.  From  a  gi-isha  to  a  cour- 
tezan is  more  of  a  difference  in  age  than  a  <listinction  in 
morals.  Vou  may  ask  what  place  this  has  in  a  business 
article.  Only  this,  that  Japan  makes  the  feature  a  branch 
of  the  Government  Intelligence  Ser\ice  in  every  port  of 
the  East,  from  Hong-Kong's  "  Ship  Street  "  to  Saigon's 
and  Singapore's  "  Voshiwari  *'  balconies  in  the  suburbs, 
and  ever)-  one  of  these  Delilahs  knows  how  to  write,  and 
not  to  drink  too  much  saki  from  the  stone  bottles. 

Eastward  the  tide  of  Nippon  dares  to  take  its  way. 
and  as  illustrating  more  important  branches,  let  us  cite 
the  unexpected  line  of  saloon-keeping  in  Honolulu. 
Travelers  have  long  complained  of  the  high  price  of 
liquor  in  the  islands,  cocktails  being  twenty-five  cents  and 
beer  ten  cents  a  glass.  Japanese  who  learned  English  on 
the  plantations  have  come  to  the  city  and  opened  bars 
where  cocktails  cost  ten  cents  and  beer  five  cents.  Again 
in  Hong-Kong  and  Canton  I  found  printing  presses  and 
pianos  copied  from  American  models  by  the  Japanese, 
set  up  at  prices  which  neither  New  ^'ork  nor  London, 
with  their  lowest  "  export  prices,"  could  approach.     Now, 


4i6  THE  CHINESE 

whether  it  be  bars  or  more  serious  endeavors,  Japan 
would  like  to  do  the  same  thing  on  both  sides  of  the 
Pacific,  and  mix  a  potion  equally  sweet  and  extinguishing 
for  his  commercial  rival.  He  lost  his  temper  a  little  at 
San  Francisco,  and  surprised  himself  more  than  he  did 
us;  but  he  never  loses  his  design. 

China,  with  her  economic,  able  and  exhaustless  labor, 
will  learn  some  of  the  apter  yellow  brother's  ways.  She 
has  more  latent  power  and  our  assurance  is  that  she  has 
more  latent  character  in  the  approaching  business  compe- 
tition, first  for  the  Pacific,  and  later  for  the  world  field. 


THE   MIRROR   OF   THE   PAST 

China  alone  of  the  races  existing  to-day  traces  its  un- 
broken line  back  to  the  first  evidences  of  history.  She 
was  broad  in  her  culture  and  stable  in  her  institutions 
when  Egypt  was  a  ruin.  The  Egj-ptian  went  west  from 
Syria  and  in  due  time  collapsed  because  the  nation  was  an 
inverted  social  pyramid,  balanced  alone  on  aristocratic 
wealth  and  arrogance.  The  Aryan  went  south  to  India 
and  lost  his  mind  for  a  season  in  vapid  philosophies 
brought  on  by  the  climate.  The  Chinese  went  northeast 
into  Turkestan;  scribbled  his  hieroglyphics  at  the  same 
time  that  Egypt  was  burying  hers ;  left  his  hieroglyphics 
there ;  rose,  said  like  Joseph  "  let  us  build  granaries  in* 
stead  of  monuments,"  and  betook  himself  through  the 
Kansu  gate  to  his  future  home,  from  whence  he  was  never 
to  look  back,  or  owe  to  any  one  a  renewed  light  from  the 
lamp  of  knowledge,  for  he  kept  his  own  vessel  unbroken. 
Only  the  rear-guard  of  the  race  kept  in  any  touch  with 
the  Syrian  past.  There  are  only,  however,  et)'mologicaI 
evidences.  The  Mongol  written  language  shows  its  re- 
lationship to  the  Hebrew  and  Syriac,  for  like  them  it  uses 
only  two  vowels,  i  and  o.  The  other  vowels  must  be 
guessed.  Though  we  can  find  no  ruins  or  records  (largely 
through  Emperor  Tsin's  mad  incendiarism)  dating  back 
to  the  pyramids  and  hieroglj-phics,  China  has  incompara- 
bly the  longest  history  as  a  cultured  nation,  which  is  prob- 
ability enough  that  the  race  went  back  farther  than  Egypt 
417 


4i8  THE  CHINESE 

in  her  formative  years  of  thinner  culture  spent  in  Turkes- 
tan. The  Devanagari,  Uigur  and  Niu-chih  charadm 
cut  on  the  Ku  Yung  gate  in  the  Great  W'all  are  not  an- 
cient, but  the  work  of  Mongol  sculptors  in  1345,  and  tb: 
inscriptions  on  the  rocks  near  Oorga  in  Gobi  Desert  wtn 
cut  in  12 15  B.  C.  by  the  Mongol  men  of  Genghis  Khaa 
It  is  there  in  Turkestan,  among  the  relics  of  the  aonml 
fair  camps  of  Mongols,  Shans,  Miaotszes  and  Lolos,  thai 
archfeologists  must  look  for  the  China  which  parallels 
Rameses,  if  that  is  considered  worth  the  digging  f&r 
The  numismatist  may  assist  in  these  scrapings  of  o!<J  cani;' 
fires  and  mortuary  mounds.  There  exist  coins  which  wm 
tised  in  China  when  David  reigned  in  Jerusalem,  wbidr 
are  exactly  the  same  as  the  common  cash  coin  cf  t^ 
day,  with  the  exception  that  to-day  both  the  Mongolian 
and  the  Chinese  characters  repeat  the  expression.  "  current 
coin  of  the  realm,"  and  the  name  of  the  Emiieror.  Thcs 
how  far  back  before  David  did  lost  coins  go?  But  if  wt 
desire  to  make  moment  of  the  argument,  which  seems  im- 
material, we  can  easily  surpass  the  hieroglyphics  of  EgjTV 
tian  history,  going  back  to  7000  B.  C,  for  diggings  in 
Szechuen  Province  and  in  Eastern  Turkestan  have  fur- 
nished similar  stone  adzes  of  the  palaeolithic  age,  in  com- 
pany with  bones  of  extinct  mastodons.  *Even  if  we  had 
hierog!}*phics,  a  more  popular  argument  of  the  age  of ) 
race  is  based  on  a  comparative  study  of  the  formation  pf 
the  social  organization,  and  literary  product.  If  it  ti»» 
from  Moses  until  now,  about  four  thousand  years,  w 
reach  our  Western  social  and  mental  development,  tni 
the  Chinese  had  an  equal  development,  lacking  constrjc- 
five  sciences,  in  yz^  B.  C,  when  Confucius  wrote  ai>3 
ruled,  we  can  easily  follow  the  race  back  to  times  contcn- 
porary  with  the  Pyramids. 


THE  MIRROR  OF  THE  PAST  419 

This  lack  of  science,  remember,  was  a  heroic  abnega- 
tion on  their  part,  for  every  principle  of  hydraulics,  trans- 
portation, navigation,  construction,  propulsion  and  refin- 
ing was  invented  by  them,  but  for  the  sake  of  the  existence 
of  the  many  (and  they  instructed  the  national  conscience 
to  see  that  there  would  be  many),  they  chose  the  rural  and 
trading  life  as  better  suited  to  their  mental  and  social 
peace  than  a  manufacturing  organization.  They  blaz- 
oned on  their  scutcheon:  "  To  live  well,  not  wealthy," 
and  because  of  this  faith,  eternal  national  life  has  been 
given  them  alone,  of  which  their  absolutely  independent 
art  is  the  most  unique  manifestation.  Literature,  giving 
an  account  of  the  creation,  has  come  down  more  or  less 
correct  from  writers  contemporary  with  Moses,  which 
would  be  1491  B.  C,  and  the  Chinese  Shu  King  history 
takes  dynastic  chronulog>'  back  to  jjoo  B.  C.  in  Shensi 
alone.  Their  earliest  writings  discussing  creation  show 
philosophic  calm  and  create  no  m)thoIog>-,  which  is  an- 
other proof  of  the  long  formed  and  steadied  nation. 
The  superstition  of  the  race  that  it  is  unlucky  to  repair 
an)-thing  has  allowed  thousands  of  monuments  to  pass 
out  every  thousand  years. 

But  enough  of  the  past  is  within  reach  to  satisfy  the 
hungriest  antiquarian.  We  have  the  rubbings  of  the 
Muunt  Hang  tablet  relating  the  inundation  in  tadpole 
characters,  which  tablet  went  to  pieces  in  1666  A.  D., 
after  a  known  life  of  eight  hundred  years.  These  tad- 
pole characters  were  in  use  by  certain  priests  of  the  Hia 
kings  in  Shensi  Province  in  times  contemporary  with 
Noah.  In  the  Confucian  temple  at  Peking  are  the  hiero- 
glyphic stone  drums  relating  histor>-  of  the  Chou  kings, 
and  which  is  more  than  remains  to-day  from  Solomon's 
Temple,  which  was  executed  at  the  same  time.     Near 


f 

I 


420  THE  CHINESE 

Ichang  on  the  Yangtze  River  stand  the  Yien-tung  {lit- 
erally smoke  towers),  which  were  erected  as  beacons  dur- 
ing this  same  tlyiiasty.  These  towers  were  not  used  to 
burn  fire  at  night,  but  to  display  smoke  from  burning 
manure  by  day.  In  present  day  ideograms,  we  ha«  the 
poet  Han  Yu's  song  of  the  creation  and  deluge,  which 
he  wrote  when  the  unpoetic  Assyrians  were  taking  t9 
Nineveh  two  of  Thebes'  obelisks  on  a  stone  boat,  overs 
constantly  moving  bed  of  portable  stones,  which  th^  had 
laid  over  the  sands. 

You  can  wander  through  Yunnan  Province  to-d^ 
among  the  downtrodden  Shan  tribes  and  observe  the  bed 
of  oppression  on  a  dispossessed  race,  for  the  copquernt 
Chinese  beat  them  down  here  from  the  Great  Plain  wb«» 
the  Ethiopians  were  doing  the  same  thing  to  dying  Egjf^ 
and  Syria  was  likewise  treating  shamed  Israel  tmkf 
Ahaz. 

A  blight  then  catne  on  China  in  the  rise  of  Taoin 
with  its  depressing  theology,  at  the  lime  when  far  BWlJ 
the  most  sonorous  voice  and  most  archangelic  poetiy  llat 
a  human  being  ever  sounded,  were  hurling  lightniop 
among  the  shadows  of  men's  thoughts,  in  the  wordi  o( 
Isaiah. 

That  section  of  the  Grand  Canal  (literally  "  graic- 
carrying  ")  north  of  the  Yangtze  River  to  the  Wei  River, 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  was  being  dug  when  Xebtt- 
chadnezzar  was  cutting  his  Royal  Canal  at  Babylon  If 
gangs  of  captive  Jews,  whom  his  chariots  had  draggll 
from  desecrated  Zion, 

The  worlds.  West  and  East,  were  now  reaching  in*- 
mentous  hours.  It  was  to  be  decided  whether  the  i* 
West  was  to  be  a  shambles,  or  if  white  mankind  cooJi 
turn  in  peace  and  face  the  sun  of  knowledge,     Mar^lbco 


THE  MIRROR  OF  THE  PAST  421 

decicletl  it  and  Athens  endowed  us  of  the  West  for  ever 
with  liberty  and  light  On  that  same  day  China  reached 
the  iron  coast  of  Shan-tung  and  she,  too,  turned  her  face 
toward  the  sun  of  knowledge,  while  Confucius  wrote 
what  she  saw.  His  original  manuscripts  were  lost ;  many 
succeeding  copies  were  lost,  but  the  succession  was  sure. 
His  words  were  good  and  mankind  was  sure  to  hold 
them  fast.  Antiquarians,  however,  can  handle  some- 
thing age-damp  of  this  period  in  the  Bamboo  Books,  dat- 
ing back  to  300  B.  C,  found  in  a  priest's  tomb  in  Honan 
at  the  time  when  Zenobia  was  shining  in  the  West  with 
that  barbaric  beauty  which  has  dazzled  history,  which 
was  only  too  willing  to  record  such  things  for  a  race 
that  liked  them. 

Events  now  cluster  in  our  little  western  world.  Philip 
of  Macedon  and  Demosthenes  exchanged  the  enginery  of 
javelin  and  anathema.  The  Colossus  of  Rhodes  was 
built  from  the  wreckage  of  Athenian  and  Eg)-ptian  de- 
feat. Ptolemy  Philopater,  the  fratricide,  overran  Bible 
lands  and  sowed  salt  under  the  heels  of  his  spuming. 
Hannibal  challenged  the  Roman  Republic  and  Rome  re- 
taliated upon  the  walls  of  Carthage.  Destroyers  these 
were,  so  that  all  we  have  to-day  safe  from  their  hands 
is  the  little  Magna  Mater  temple  at  Rome  and  at  Edfu 
that  nearest  perfect  example  extant  of  an  Eg>-ptian  tem- 
fdc.  Untutored  by  all  this,  not  wotting  of  it,  over  the 
misty  iron  Roof  of  the  World,  yea.  onward  a  year's  jour- 
ney to  the  Yellow  Sea,  we  find  the  Giant  Mason  of  all 
tune  pacing  up  and  down  before  a  clay  model  of  the 
known  earth;  pushing  his  engineers  aside  and  drawing 
his  trowel-sword  across  the  models  of  mountains  six 
thousand  feet  high,  and  decreeing  "  there  it  shall  go." 
The  Giant  Mason  was  Tsin  Chi.     He  had  a  palace  and 


422  THE  CHINESE 

a  throne  besides,  but  they  were  his  toys.  Work 
his  hobby,  and  that  hobby  the  Great  Wall  of  China, 
most  marvelous  monument  ever  erected  by  man.  aai 
standing  for  your  wonder  and  mine  even  to-day  ajd 
for  ever.  He  was  a  grim  humorist,  too;  when  tassi\ 
lords  of  rebelhous  eye  and  mien  visited  him  in  hiS' 
capital,  Hienyang,  he  was  wont  personally  to  condnt 
Iheni  to  a  little  object  lesson  in  the  back  yard;  toy  rqh 
licas  of  llie  palaces  of  rebellious  princes  whom  he  wu 
compelled  to  annihilate.  He  told  these  same  vassals  he 
would  see  them  in  a  year,  but  he  suddenly  droj^ied  in  oa 
them  in  six  montlis  and  increased  the  tribute. 

He  was  always  up  and  down  his  kingdom  at  the  head  I 
of  armies,  and  he  built  great  roads,  for  we  do  not  learn 
that  any  successful  rebellion  got  under  way  before  his 
armies  arrived  back.  He  exacted  mercenaries,  just  as 
Carthage  was  then  doing  across  the  Roof  of  the  World. 
He  extended  the  Grand  Canal,  because  he  was  collecting 
grain  for  a  work  which  should  surpass  even  the  superla- 
tives of  his  soothsayers.  He  was  here  an  adopter:  therr 
an  originator.  Other  princes  had  raised  protecting  vraik 
against  his  inroads.  He  took  them ;  added  to  them ;  com- 
bined them  into  a  Wall  Trust.  He  was  the  first  great  Iit- 
corporator,  Amalgamator,  Financier,  Despot  and  Tni<l 
'King,  and  he  boasted  of  the  faults  and  virtues  of  them  il 
As  he  grew  older,  he  believed  occasional  war  was  inventeil 
to  achieve  accumulated  peace.  He  believed  in  trade,  for 
he  didn't  tax  his  highways.  He  taxed  luxuries.  ari>it> 
crats,  and  rebels.  He  has  for  all  time  given  the  name  «' 
his  dynasty  to  his  country  because  of  this  monumcnc,  and 
history  says  It  at  least  is  worthy. 

The  wall  is  fifteen  hundred  miles  long  and  has  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  mighty  dragon  encircling  the  world,  aai 


THE  MIRROR  OF  THE  PAST  4^3 

hugging  it  deep  in  vale,  and  high  over  hill.  Some  bricks 
weigh  sixty  [lounds.  At  the  base  it  is  twenty-five  feet 
across;  it  is  twenty-five  feet  high,  and  fifteen  feet  wide  at 
the  top.  Towers  every  mile  or  so  stand  twenty  feet  above 
the  wall,  and  they  are  often  built  as  redoubts  on  an  inde- 
pendent base.  At  places  the  wall  mounts  fifteen  hundred 
feet  in  the  sky.  Twenty  tltousand  soldier  masons  labored 
at  it  for  ten  years.  Four  hundred  thousand  soldiers 
protected  the  twenty  thousand  trowel  men  from  the  Tur- 
kestan Mongols,  whose  "cousinly  "  ambitions  and  traits 
Tsin  Chi  well  knew.  Twenty  thousand  more  soldiers 
were  in  the  Commissariat  Department,  which  farmed  as 
it  moved.  Thirty  thousatn]  more  men  were  in  the  Army 
Sen-ice  and  Transport  Corps,  which  had  a  Potter's  and  a 
Quarry  Department.  China  was  then  a  nation  of  si.xiy 
millions.  Tsin  was  a  peace-maker,  for  these  maneuvers 
kept  four  hundred  and  seventy  thousand  men  for  ten 
years  at  harmless  play,  and  away  from  their  brothers" 
throats.  Indeed,  in  this  way  he  peopled  the  Mongol 
plains  and  made  possible  the  later  Tartar  invasi(»is  and 
dynasties,  irony  though  such  a  result  is,  and  he  as  well 
made  it  to  come  to  pass  that  Russia  should  be  largely 
Oriental  in  blood  and  taste. 

He  was  a  sane  and  beneficent  ruler  until  be  finished 
parts  of  ihe  Wall.  He  was  a  mighty  ruler  as  he  watched 
thcni  grow,  but  it  is  not  good  for  man  to  contemplate  too 
long  things  done.  He  went  mad  over  the  possibilities  of 
what  he  had  conceived  when  it  sh'iuld  be  complcle<I.  Ulicn 
the  Pharaohs  built  the  Pyramids,  they  immured  Uieir 
liter. tplypliic  rccirds  in  thim.  and  probably.  lc>.>.  went 
as  tnad,  and  deslro>-ed  evcr\-thiiig  that  praised  a  \e$str 
or  a  rival  being.  Tsio  Chi  decreed  history  dioukl 
date  from  his  day,  and  pi^pular  readers  imy  acrec  wttli 


424  THE  CHINESE 

his  wishes,  for  perhaps  we  are  all  getting  tired  of  these 
antiquarian  chapters,  which  take  every  race  wadta|[ 
through  the  flood  to  times  contemporarj-  with  Luxor  ani' 
Babylon,  He  ordered  the  destruction  of  the  books  and 
records,  which  has  made  it  so  difficult  for  the  sinologue 
who  essays  personally  to  conduct  to  the  Ark.  Even  fiv* 
hundred  priests,  most  famous  for  their  memorizing  of 
history  in  a  land  where  memorizing  reached  its  perfec- 
tion, were  burned.  It  is  not  impossible  that  the  Great 
Wall  will  give  up,  as  the  years  go  by,  tablets  surrep- 
titiously and  ironically  put  there  by  rebels  to  this  insane 
edict,  and  thus  link  us  back  to  times  in  Turkestan  con- 
temporary with  Rameses,  which  would  only  be  from  the 
Shu  King  books,  contemporary  with  Noah,  back  two 
thousand  three  hundred  years.  The  Great  Wall  has  been 
copied  in  walls  about  every  city.  Enough  labor  has  been 
wasted  in  such  work  to  have  girded  the  land  with  perma- 
nent highways  and  lock-canals  which  would  be  floodless. 
Only  a  land  which  has  teemed  with  millions  of  people, 
even  back  to  Noah's  time,  could  have  stood  the  waste. 
Say  that  there  are  six  hundred  cities,  averaging  fifteen 
miles  around  each;  here  are  nine  thousand  more  miles  of 
wall.  It  was  largely  this  waste  of  labor,  values,  money 
and  mental  patience,  which  robbed  the  toil-driven  Chi- 
nese of  the  desire  to  carve  monuments,  strike  coins,  cut 
ideograms  into  stone,  metal  and  porcelain,  and  load  tombs 
with  archaeological  treasure,  so  that  here  Tsin  Chi  has 
made  us  poorer  because  of  his  mad  vanity-Trust  There 
are  other  records  of  Tsin  Chi's  work.  In  the  records  of 
the  far  western  province  of  Szechuen,  which  were  re- 
written as  the  old  copies  wore  out,  it  is  inscribed  that  the 
first  three  miles  of  the  present  wall  of  the  capital  Chingtoo 
were  erected  in  his  reign. 


THE  MIRROR  OF  THE  PAST  425 

The  last  of  Egypt  and  mock-Egypt  had  been  seen,  and 
Manctho  in  270  B.  C.  composed  an  epita{^  upon  its  cul- 
ture and  arms  in  a  history  written  in  the  Greek  language. 
China,  ever  renewing  itself  independently  of  all  outside 
influences,  was  even  more  refulgent  than  usual  in  social, 
martial  and  literary  glory.  When  Roman  Republicanism 
fought  for  its  franchise,  and  Sulla  offered  it  a  halter  on 
the  way  from  Nola  to  Rome,  Szma  Tsien  was  writing  his 
great  history  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  chapters,  which 
flooded  twenty-two  centuries  with  the  light  of  returned 
day.  You  would  not  call  his  style  ponderous  like  Gib- 
bon's, or  classically  pure  like  Macaulay's,  but  vivacious 
like  Green's  or  Herodotus'.  Largely  through  Szma 
Tsien's  influence,  literature  was  established  for  all  time 
as  the  key  to  political  preferment,  and  the  classical  exam- 
inations became  universal. 

When  Christ  was  bom,  the  Emperor  of  Peace  ( Ping 
Ti)  of  the  Han  Dynasty  was  reigning  in  China.  For 
thousands  of  years  China  had  been  fully  civilized.  The 
rich  brine  and  natural  gas  wells  at  Tsz-liu-tsin  in  Sze- 
chuen,  which  are  still  worked,  are  mentioned  in  the  writ- 
ings of  the  Taoist  priest,  Lunghusan,  first  century.  Here, 
then,  is  a  vast  enterprise,  producing  one  hundred  thousand 
tons  a  year  of  salt,  with  a  continuous  histor>'  of  twenty 
centuries,  contributing  its  share  to  reveal  the  ancient  com- 
mercial stability  of  this  people.  No  other  country  in  the 
opening  century  of  the  Christian  era  had  such  a  commer- 
cial development.  ReUgion  had  long  consisted  of  a  litur- 
gy for  the  honoring  of  ancestors  and  the  practice  of  a  de- 
cided moral  life  on  the  part  of  a  man  as  individual  and 
citizen.  The  Christian  apostles,  and  the  Buddhists  of  In- 
dia, at  the  same  time  started  to  preach  their  g<)spels  to  the 
long-forgotten,  the  new-discovered  eastern  world,  which 


KhJ 
ached? 


426  THE  CHINESE 

tiow  reached  its  fullest  extension  by  absorbing  Cocl 
and  St.  Thomas,  or  a  disciple,  is  reported  to  have  reaclied) 
Canton.  Buddhism  was  more  largely  equipped  and  wa* 
widely  successful  in  the  north  of  China.  Heathen  Rom? 
was  then  erecting  the  Colosseum  for  Titus,  and  foUowtd. 
it  by  Trajan's  superb  column.  They  liked  toj-s  iiwr^ 
than  philosophies,  those  cringers  to  tyrants,  our  Latid 
forefathers.  The  cycles  rolled  and  ever  accumulated 
pagodas,  like  the  luxurious  Flower  Pagoda  yet  standii^ 
in  Canton,  as  well  as  balustrades,  and  monasteries,  und 
the  sweet  Nestorians  came  with  a  faint  second  echo  of 
Christianity,  and  that  dear  melancholy  tablet,  cut  in  781; 
the  most  precious  stone  existing  in  all  the  world,  whia 
lies  in  a  temple  compound  in  Singan,  the  first  capital  of 
the  united  Chinese, 

Then  followed  the  Mohammedans,  matching  minaret 
against  pagoda,  until  the  arm  of  the  law  like  a  wedge  has 
driven  the  remnant  of  their  rebellion  only  to  the  north 
and  south  of  the  kingdom.  Mohammedanism  challenged 
Buddhism  to  renewed  art,  and  the  latter  responded  wilh 
the  hexagonal  seven-storied  "  Tien  Fung "  pagoda  at 
Kingpo,  which  is  still  standing.  But  grander  still,  the 
gem  of  Chinese  art  remaining  to-day,  she  fashioned  the 
falcon-like  curves  of  the  Loong  Wah  pagoda,  when  the 
best  that  Europe  was  doing  was  the  dreary  wooden  hull 
of  Charlemagne,  disconsolate  perhaps  after  losing  his 
Roland  at  Roncesvallcs,  These  two  are  but  a  salvage 
from  thousands  of  such  monuments  which  were  erected 
in  the  next  two  hundred  years.  When  Canute  the  Dane 
scourged  our  barbarian  English,  who  retreated  into  path- 
less forests  and  resigned  their  huts  to  his  firebrand;  whea 
the  new  Russian  nation  on  the  one  hand  and  the  new 
Arab  nation  on  the  other,  rivals  for  the  term  "  World*! 


THE  MIRROR  OF  THE  PAST  427 

Iconoclast,"  were  in  turn  trying  to  knock  down  the  walls 
of  Constantinc's  palace  at  Byzantium;  when  the  earlier 
Popes  drew  a  longer  sword  than  a  ready  prayer;  —  sane, 
steady,  artistic  China  had  not  deviated  from  the  immemo- 
rial paths  of  magnificent  peace  and  culture,  as  sayeth  still 
that  grand  witness,  some  of  the  stone  piers  and  bulwarks 
of  the  "  Ten  Thousand  Ages "  bridge  at  Fu-chau. 
There  was  nothing  but  truth  in  this  art,  and  the  national 
spirit  was  truth,  and  the  truth  was  freedom.  It  owed 
nothing  to  any  other  race.  It  came  before  them  and  lived 
after  them,  and  while  conceding  its  beauty  of  curve  and 
carving,  none  has  been  strong  enough  to  copy. 

It  mattered  little  if  a  wilder  kindred  tribe  took  for  a 
season  the  mace  and  crown.  The  people  ruled  them- 
selves each  in  his  own  place  by  a  conscience  that  brooked 
no  rebellion  or  impatience  or  lack  of  faith.  They  knew 
that  those  who  broke  in  roughly  among  them  for  lionors, 
or  out  of  ignorant  intrusion  (for  they  accumulated  not 
wealth  save  for  their  need  from  day  to  day),  would  soon 
by  the  preponderating  example  of  virtue  be  as  obedient 
to  patriotism  as  themselves.  So  we  soon  find  the  Mon- 
gol Genghis  building  canals,  marble  summer  palaces  in 
the  Gobi  Desert  between  Kalgan  and  Urga,  and  those  un- 
opened grave  mounds  at  Kalgan ;  and  his  grandson  Kub- 
tai  building  national  fleets.  But  Europe  thinks  more  of 
the  latter,  not  because  he  took  the  Master's  course  at  the 
hands  of  his  subject-tutors,  but  because  he  entertained 
one  Polo,  a  Venetian.  That  he  entertained  him  with 
breeding  which  was  a  revelation  of  wonders,  let  the  same 
Polo  say  through  a  thousand  noted  pages,  which  taught 
the  western  world  its  first  manners.  The  men  of  Geng- 
his made  graves  as  follows:  The  body  was  taken  into 
the  open,  surrounded  with  dried  dung  (ai^l),  twigs 


THE  CHINESE 

aiid  anytliing  burnable,  and  burned.  Then  each  one  of 
the  host  flung  a  stone  and  relics  on  the  ashes.  As  time 
went  on,  sand  and  earth  made  a  mound  of  this  cairn. 

Art  overcame  arms,  as  it  always  will  in  refined  Qiina. 
The  encyclopedia  writers,  the  potters,  the  elder  brothers 
of  the  purple  people  themselves,  came  back  into  llieir  own 
in  the  famous,  delightful  Mings,  the  last  reigning  house 
of  the  pure  Chinese.  You  know  that  grandest  arch  in  the 
world,  so  wide,  airy  and  free,  at  the  entrance  to  the  four- 
mile  amphitheatre  twenty-five  miles  from  Peking,  aad 
the  Herculean  statuary  of  twenty-two  figures  or  more, 
solemn  distances  apart  in  the  open  tplain :  warriors ;  horses . 
elephants;  tigers;  camels;  lions,  standing  and  recumbent 
in  pairs,  and  then  the  tombs  of  the  Mings,  with  acres  of 
silence  between  each.  Gorgeous  in  life  he  is  the  plainest 
in  death,  Yung  Loh,  who  thought  this  haven  of  the  soul 
all  out.  Marble  bridges,  green  and  yellow-tiled  pailos, 
painted  and  chiseled  inscriptions,  take  up  the  broken 
theme  of  woe  as  you  wander  on  from  hillock  to  hillock, 
and  disturb  alone  the  meadow  lark,  the  grasshopper  and 
your  memories.  Considering  it  is  eternal  China,  there  is 
no  antiquity  here,  but  for  us  Westerners  it  was  the  day  of 
Notre  Dame  and  the  first  part  of  the  Louvre,  and  these, 
too,  were  a  gorgeous  curtain  across  the  passing  of  royalty. 

When  King  James*  translators  were  at  work  upon  our 
Protestant  Bible,  an  unfamiliar  band  of  Manchus  were 
setting  up  that  Temple  of  Literature  at  Mukden,  which 
you  can  enter  to-day,  and  which  the  Japanese  spat  upon, 
for  they  have  found  a  different  key  to  life,  and  sixty- 
three  miles  east  on  the  Tsz-yun  Mountains  these  same 
Manchus  were  putting  in  order  another  tomb  for  one  now 
unpegging  his  felt  Bao  tent,  who  would  come  home  either 
as  a  dead  shepherd,  or  as  the  conqueror  of  the  earth's 


THE  MIRROR  OF  THE  PAST  429 

widest  throne,  to  pay  thanks  and  vows  to  his  father's 
faithful  manes.  Comparatively  modem  as  is  the  begin- 
ning of  this  Tsin  (pure)  Dynasty  in  China,  it  is  still 
hoary  with  age  as  compared  with  the  oldest  thrones  of 
our  white  man's  world.  The  exploits  of  arms,  and  by 
sea,  of  Richelieu  in  France  and  Cromwell  in  England, 
covered  a  puny  space  as  compared  with  the  hosts  and  dis- 
tances with  which  their  contemporary.  Shun  Chi.  the  next 
Manchu  king,  had  to  deal  in  his  work  of  organization. 
It  was  the  following  sovereign,  Kang  He,  who  reigned, 
keeping  company  with  Louis  XIV.  all  along  fifty-fotir 
years  of  royal  road,  who  was  the  grandest  of  this  present 
Manchu  dynasty,  which  may  flutter  like  a  candle  flame 
and  die  before  long.  Its  greatest  mind,  but  weakest  arm, 
was  the  beloved  Kwang  Su,  deceased  as  a  martyr  only 
yesterday  by  sinister  causes,  and  on  whose  inspiring 
edicts  of  1897  the  present  blessed  constitutional  Hopes  of 
China  are  based. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


air 
Agriculture,  6x  64,  73,  85,   106, 

lai,  144,  153,  170^  iSS,  30J.  231, 

227,  238,  24a  243.  309.  31*  316. 

3ift  3ai.  337.  348.  381 
Ah  Fong,  S4 

American   BusincM  Firms.  S,  64 
American  In  I  crests  in  Orient,  27, 

49.  173.  187.  »i.  207.  209.  240, 

278.  292.  293,  298,  303.  309.  334, 

335.  348:  388.  392,  409,  412 
Amoy,  328 
Ancestor  worship,  61,  67,  86,  99, 

103.  "09.  HI.  151,  153,  369.  372 
Animals,  51,  71,  144,  152,  320 
Aniiquitiet,  417,  421 
Ant*,  White,  329 
Arches,  127,  156.  2^,  42ft 
Architecture,  ji,   33,  35,  36,  67, 

75.  80.  84.  8b.  112,  117,  127.  155. 

330k  247.  j8s 
Army,  Chinese,  97.  134,  161.  192. 

t97.  203.  208,  240,  25s,  312,  349. 

433 
Arms,  62,  78,  161,  207 
Army  Life,  Foreign,   lo^   13,   16, 

18.  21,  27,  29,  30,  3^,  48,   70. 

78,  80,  88,  183,  3^6.  343.  350 
Art.  248,  286k  317.  3'8.  334.  339. 

385 
Artisans,  116 

Australia.  50.  <33,  aog,  387 
Anloiiiobilcs,  47 


Baix,  27 

Bamboo^  51,  73,  Sa,  240^  314.  3IS 

Bangkok,  332 

Batiking,  6,  20^  a^  6ft  123,  14I 

165,  174,  304,  306^  314.  411,  4t3 
Bannera,  110 
Barber,  46,  70 
Bathing,  23,  153,  351 
Beds.  154 

Beggars,  66.  69.  176 
Belgians  in  Giina.  290 
Bethroihal,  38,  128,  135 
Birds,   so,    ijs,   308 
Bird-.'  N'csti  Soup,  66 
Boat  Building,  114.   117 
Boat  Life,  12,  19,  3ft  52,  63.  78, 

82,  136,  231,  237.  243,  315.  02, 

343.355 
Bonie,  173 

Bowring,  Sir  John.  48,  95 
Boxers,  192.   195.  210,  291.  367 
Boycotts,  207.  214 

fs.    '35.  2?5 
Bredon.  Robert,  14.  60,  191.  224 
Bridges,  230^  390 
British  in   China.  309.  337.  -TS; 

»3.  303.  3^1.  3J9.  349.  37*.  .l*"* 

409 
Bubonic  Plague.  24.  87.  .u6 
Buddhiiis,  23.  j8.  9^   146,   175. 

245.  '55.  383,  308.  J(i|,  37-',  374. 

.tr8.*i5 
Buffakies.  Water,  144.  sA  aM 

311 


434  INI 

Burning  of  Books,  424 
Business  Methods.  8,  zt,  49.  136, 

IJ9>  145.  >58,  19?.  201.  213.  255. 

259,  284.  290,  312,  J14.  J23 
Biilterficld  &  Swire,  7,  8,  55,  390 

Cmjoens,  tS.  8? 
Canals,  64,  230,  420,  434 
Canton,  lO,  63,  102,  124,  136,  164, 

193,  216,  224,  248,  Z74,  286,  290, 

311.  3^3.  365 
Cantonese,  The,  58,  ?i,  189,  217. 

219 
Casa  de  Misericordia,  83 
Catholic  (Roman)  Miaaioas,  367 
I   Cats,  isa 
Cattle.  S3,  144,  30^  309,  348 
Cement.  8 
Cemeteries,  52,  108,  ill,  20a,  337. 

33',  350.  370 
Census,  no,  152 
Ciiaira,  iS,  3-1.  39,  65.  68,  L49,  153, 

175.  216,  248,  342,  352 
Chang  Chih  Tung,  127,  igi,  197, 

204.  293,  304,  312,  335.  395,  404 
Chifu,  345 

Ching,  Prince,  127.  196 
Ching-Too,  322,  424 
"  Chit  "  System,  26 
Chronology.  151,  417 
Chukiang  (Pearl  River),  49 
Chun.  Prince  (Regem),  191.  196, 

Cicada,  38 

Clan  life,  168,  182,  228,  383 

Classical  Examinations,  99.  197, 

214 
Cliff  Dwellings.  157,  226 
Climate,  326,  330,  334,  341,  344 
Oocks.  158 
Oubs,  (social),  g,  13,  19,  26,  29, 


3'.  6 


119 


Coal,  7,  5S,    I5S.    "76,  ■ 

241.  290,  agi,  2<M,  395.  *** 
Cobbler.  47.  56,  68,  Cpg 
Colors,   149 
Comprador,  26 
Concessions    lo    Foretyn    Om^ 

panies,  201 
Confucius,  102,  181,  203.  21%  il 

269.  280.  363.  36s,  372.  374.  S 

384,  418.  421 
Conjurer,  147 
Copper,  405 
Copyright,  397 
Crews,  Ship.  58,  38ft  393 
Crime,  52,  57,  68.  77.  81,  gg,  tCft 

124,  15S>  i6(V  166^  184.  SA  Al 
Criticism    of    Arglo-Saxon;  (f^ 


Chin. 


.  278 


Cuisine,  69.  77,  107,  iiK  uo^  m» 

153.  319 
Curios,  62,  66  • 

Currency.  304 
Cursing,  68.  217 
Curzon,  Lord,   18S 
Customs    Service,    Imperial,  te 

123,  12s.  191.  224,  256.  303.  yt, 

Danes  in  China,  301 

Death,  26,  61.  109.  35&  Zf>U  ^^ 

Dialects,  254,  256 

Diseases,  23.  24,  39.  31,  j*.  61. 

Tos.  114.  150,  255,  394.  326^  jr. 

332,  348 
Docks,  54,  303,  370,  387.  39^,  Jj. 
Dogs.  8s.  107,  108,  228,  318 
Do- Shin g,  72 

Dragon,  36,  82,  160,  302,  j8i 
Dress.  15.  30,  31.  59.  80.  1491  a-'J 

2z8,  282.  315,  378 

Economics.  89.  116.  267.  371.  Si 
278,  306,  313.  383.  410.  417,  it). 


INDEX 


435 


Education,  gg,  ij6,  177.  i89»  195. 

214,  221,  360,  586.  400 
Eliot,  Sir  John,  213 
Elliot,  Chmrlet,  205 
Emigrants,  59,  84.  lOft  I54.  t^g, 

19a  194.  I99>  302.  21a,  220,  22I» 

3B1,  295.  3^  412 
Empress  Dowager,  Tse  Hsi,  133, 

191,  192,  210 
English,  The,  95 
Etmuchfl,  i^ 
Eurasians,  21 
Examinations,  99^  141,  212,  224, 

364.  4^5 
Exclusion  Act  of  America,  202, 

2B1 
Extra-territoriality  Regimes,  163, 

199^  200,  409 
Eao  Island,  398 

Faminis,  112,  124,  157»  217,  239. 

364.  379 
Fans,  19 

Pertihzert,  124,  228,  309,  323,  348 

Filipinos,  210 

Fire-crackers,  63,  318 

Fires,  6ot  6s   154,  251 

Fish,  114,  118,  149.  153,  176,  308. 

413 
Floods,  73,  217,  235.  338,  239.  301, 

347.  357 
Flour,  15,  59,  138,  3t2,  39a 
Flowers,  38,  51,  g^  149.  152,  275. 

334 
Foot -binding,  224 

Foreign  Powers,  Political  Rela- 
tions with.  62.  76,  87,  124.  186, 
1891  I9ft  201,  216,  278^  290,  335. 

Formosa,  209,  218^  341,  405 
Forts.  29,  33.  61.  76,  104,  318 
France  in   China,  76,  20a   201, 
204,  242,  294.  296^  j6o,  368,  409 


Fruit.  119,  230.  241,  296,  306,  310 

Fu-chau,  240,  310 

Funeral,  175 

Fung-kwei,  70.  2S7 

Fungshui,   $7,  108.  29A  308.  368, 

377»  395 
Furniture.  334.  399 
Furs,  44,  69 

Gambuno,  I,  5&  59.  66^  82.  83. 

13ft  I4t.  305 
Games,   135,   17O1  301.  352,  359. 

362 
Gardens,    51,    67,    85,    86,    2301 

M7 
Gas,  314,  425 

Gates.  104,  106 

Geisha.  340 

Genghis  Khan.  219.  241.  263,  386, 

418.  427 
Geology,  6a  203.  242.  287 
Geomancy,  37,  108.  299,  308.  368, 

377 
Germans  in  China.   13,  95.    107. 

1 19,  200,  2G4.  237.  247.  30a  3^3. 

389 
Ginger,  66 

Ginseng.  354 

Goa.  89 

Gobi  Desert,  190,  234,  300^  301. 

427 
God,  261.  385 
Goddess.  375.  382 
Gold,  321.  405.  400 
Golf  in  China,  2,  35.  5a  84 
Gong.  104 

Gordon.  "  Chinese,^  205 
Government.    168.    170.  264,  313, 

3«J.  4-7 
Governors,  ForciKn.  28,  34 

Grand  Canal.  230.  420,  422 

Graves,  108,  227.  427 

Greek  Influence.  375 


436 


INDEX 


Guilds,  68^  ii7y  iSg,  210,  213 
Gjnnkanas,  2 

Haib,  106,  219 

JEIakka  tribe,  19,60,62,  138,  151, 

174,  217,  224,  333,  3  A  31^ 
Han  River,  239 
Hang-chow,  379 
Han-kaa,  132,  142,  239,  245,  290^ 

324.  39(^  3M  406 
Han-yang,  291,  318 
Happy  Valky,  2,  331 
Hara-kiri,  134^ 
Harbor  Dues  m  Orient,  5 
Har^  Sir  Robt,  60^  I25»  168^  2f4» 

2^  302,  31^  412 
Heat,  2,  2i»  29,  3C^  S8i  63,  77»  80^ 

I57>  229,  343>  349 
Hieroglyphics,  417 

Hindoos,  16, 18;  4h  4a»  43»  S7»  18? 
Hoang-ho  (river),  23$,  237,  241, 

290,301 
Hoare,  Bishop  J.  C,  361 
Hong,  A,  27 

Hong-Kong's  Architecture,  31 
Hong-Kong's  Clubs,  9 
Hong-Kong's   Botanic   Gardens, 

51 
Hong-Kong's  Fortifications,  29 

Hong-Kong's  Harbor,  5,  60,  63, 
137,  144,  174,  309,  342,  357 

Hong-Kong,  in  general,  207,  217, 
221,  264,  274,  292,  302,  305,  308, 

309,  31 1»  326,  338,  342,  369 
Hong-Kong^s  Race  Week,  i 
Hong-Kong  &  Shanghai  Ba«k, 

6,  33,  221,  293 
Horses,  i,  21,  31,  204 
Hospitals,  61,  344 
Hotels,  10,  31,  68,  76,  155,  284 
Houses,  69,  80,  84,  107,  129,  133, 

I5i»  154,  157,  226,  318,  330,  334, 

350 


Hnmor,  47,  iiq,  16a;   1731  iiji 

viXn  J^^^  J^T 

Hong  Sin  Tsocn,  loo;  150 
Hygiene^  2&  34,  329^  ji|i 
HypootisQis  148 

Ic^  121 

Idcds^  249^  380 

Igncz  de  Castro^  94 

Incense;  iio^  366 

Indenmitics^   Chinege,   20&   293^ 

341 
India's  Railwaya,  300 

Industrial  Progress,  197,  201, 
23^  28c^  290;  301, 103.  304,  3(4 
311.  3I3»  $16,  321,  3a&  3901,  39& 
39^  415,  419 

Infanticide  112 

Insects,  39r  lA  i»  15&  ^ 
277»  329;  344>  3SI>  354 

Iron,  290;  39S>  406 

Irrigation,  238^  295 

Jackson,  Snt  Thomas,  6 

Jail,  38 

Japanese,   17,  49»   100,  134,   i^. 

188,  191,  198,  20a  201,  203,  206. 

208,  216,  220,  244,  261,  282,  2901 

299,  303,  308,  313,  316,  326,  329. 

360,  373,  31^7.  428 
Jardine,  Matheson  &  Co^  7,  390 
Jewelry,  17,  44,  47,  66.  286,  287 
Jews  in  China,  219^  385,  420 
Jinrickisha,  28^  302 
Joseph,   417 
Joss  House,  36 
Junk  Bay,  23,  40 
Juries,  5»  99,  164,  189 

Kaifong,  219,  238,  240,  385 
Kaikhta,  300 
.  Kalgan,  294 
Kang  Yu  Wei,  188^  191,  193 


INDEX 


437 


Kinsu,  417 

KeppcU,  Admiral,  8»  35 

Kiao-chou,  joo 

King  Teh  Ching,  250 

Kites.  135 

Korea,  171,  209,  274,  406 

Kowloon,  35.  41.  61.  200,  217.  319 

Kublai  Khan,  I99f  xt,  244,  389, 

427 
Kwangtung    Province,    51,    1491 

ISO*  151*  190^  M^  xo.  217.  219, 
225,  227.  274.  306 
Kwang  Su,  Emperor,   100,   192, 
193,  196,  210,  4^ 

Lacquh.  53.  n3,  158.  ^7 

Lakes,   232.   234 

L»mi».  151.  153 

Land,  7,  I2X,  168,  228,  299.  304. 

3>a 
Language,  254,  259 
Lanterns,  12,  36,  69.  70,  77.  "O. 

141,  238.  249.  383.  379.  38" 
Launches,  29 
Law,  Foreign,  4,  20,  33 
Law,    Native,    53.   98.    124,    125. 

148.  160,  163,  165,  200,  315 
Lepers,  y^ 
Letters,  159.  I77.  222 
Liang  Chih  Choa,  195 
Lighthouses.  30,  6a  125 
Li    Hung   Chang,   52,    123,    165, 

192.  ^ 
Likin  Tax,  303 

Ling  Chih  Punishment,  161,  164 
Lintin  Island,  64 
Lin  Tseh  Su,  341 
Liquor  in  China.  11,  22,  26,  27, 

29»  76,  80,  8s,  ii9»  I3».  Ui.  161, 

172 
Literature.    Foreign,   48.   79,  82, 

88,  91.  ITO 


Literature.  Native.  loa,  127,  197, 
2\t,  2S8,  26a  264.  276,  37S.  380 
Locks,  158,  174 
Loess,  62,  231.  235.  «92 
Longfellow,  2S0,  260 
Loti  Tax,  313,  320 
Lottery,  18 
Lukong,  20 
Lusiad,  79>  89,  92 

Macao,  7%,  79,  90,  108,  115.  aoa 
207.  2i6^  219,  24s.  3C»,  3i8»  350b 
370 

Mafoos,  I 

Manchus,  66,  98,  188,  192,  194, 
196,  198,  200,  212,  25a  362.  400, 

Manchuria,    19a    206,    209.    262, 

284.  300.  3>o.  321.  407.  411 
Manila,   87.    151,    186,   220,   302, 

348,  356,  362,  387 
Manners.  68.   125.   139^   149.   155, 

159.  xrj 

Marco  Polo.  83,  230,  427 

Marriage.  128,  218.  313.  376.  419 

Matting,  73,  395 

Measures,  143 

Medical    Matters,    69.    101,    104. 

"36.  310.  3A  348.  35^ 

Meteorites,  384 

Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art. 
New  York  City,  Chinese  Spec- 
imens in.  246.  251.  287.  372 

Military  Life  in  China.  Foreign, 
10.  13.  16.  18,  21.  27,  29.  30.  y,x, 
42.  48,  70.  78*  80.  88,  183.  3A 
343.  350 

Military  Life,   Chinese.  97.    123, 

134.  192.  197.  203,  208,  240.  244, 

255.  312,  349.  423 
Milk.  53 
Mines.    J»^    291.    294.   ^96,   11}^ 

320.  395.  404 


438 


INDEX 


Ming  Dynasty,  428 
Ming  Tombs,  265,  42B 
Miracles,  375 
Mirs  Bay,  2,  ZJU 
Misericordia,  Casa  de,  83 
Missions,   15,  32,  65,  80,  81,  91. 

103,    127,    200,   263,   319,   361, 

367,  381,  42s 
Mitsui  Company,  54,  391,  394.  4io 
Mohammedans,  41,  66,  iii,  169, 

2i9»  378,  386,  426 
Money,  304 
Mongob,  235,  240»  262,  304,  374. 

417,  423 
Monuments^   113,   127,   156,  419* 

426 
Morlcy,  John,  338 
Morrison,  Robt.,  82,  361,  370 
Mountains,  31,  32,  34,  37,  45,  60, 

73.  225,  226,  244,  3o8»  342,  347. 

365 
Mukden,  220,  411 

Music.  13,  2-],  41,  47,  80,  150,  329 
Musk,  320 

Names,  253,  275,  ZIZ 

Nanking,   19,    102,   153,  245,  286, 

288,  332 
Natural   History  Museum,  New 

York  City,  Meteorite  in,  384 
Navies,  Chinese,  224,  244,  393 
Navies,   Foreign,  28,  49,  54,  7o» 

78,  123,  207,  209,  355,  358,  389 
Nestorian  Tablet,  371 
Ncstorians,  370,  386,  426 
New  China   Parties,  53,  97,  187, 

193,  207,  293 
Ncwchwang,  323 
Ncwpapcrs,  Foreign,  48 
Newspapers,    Chinese,    113,    165, 

I75»  199,  214,  260,  264,  307,  334 
New  Year  Celebration,  98,  I39 
Ningpo,  226,  274,  426 


Numerals,  142 
Nans,  375 

Oaths,  162 

Oil,  151.  304,  309,  3^3,  391 
Opium,  77.  ^.  9ft  122,  124,  13S 
172,  206,  215,  281,  3i€t  334 

Osaka,  388^  4)04 

Pagodas,  65,  245,  426 

Painting,  286,  283,  316 

Paos,  113,  165,  17s  199.  2I4,  a6ot 

264,307.334 
Paper-making,  240,  315,  414 

Paris-mutuels  Betting,  i 

Parsecs,  i,  14,  17,  18^  35,  174 

Patents,  396 

Patriotism,  New,  53 

Pawn-^iops,   65,  210^   214,  235, 

228^  307 
Pearl  River  (Gnikiang),  49 
Peking,  Siege  of,  42,  195,  201 
Peking  Gazette,  264 
Peking,  in  general,  70,  106,  161, 

189,  204,  219,  235,  245,  276,  290, 

298 
Philippines,  220 
Philosophy,    267,    280,    302,    331, 

374 
Physicians,  69,  332,  352 
Pidgin-English,  258 
Pigs,    146,    185,   376 
Pipes,  151,  339 
Pirates,    17,   49,   64,    65,   75,   78, 

106,  III,  122,  123,  125,  161,  207, 

229 
Police,  40,  42,  57,  77,  86,  104,  140. 

218,  324 
Political    Progress,    60,   61,    186, 

191,  192,  198,  202,  205,  206,  208, 

212,  214,  224,  259,  264,  278,  ni, 

429 
Poor,  The,  39,  74,  112,  113,  124, 


INDEX 


439 


134.  MS.  166,  167,  184.  2a8,  253, 

364,  27a  J03,  306^  309b  313.  3«4. 

316.  318,  3I9»  SM*3^$y^33f^ 

375 
Portuflrtiete,  The,  75,  79,  84.  88, 

93.  aoo.  216^  2i9»  242,  249,  318, 

350 
Postal  Service,  159,  30X 
P6ttery.  60,  246^  249>  4^ 
Processions,  81,  I39»  214.  215 
ProtesUntism  in  China*  82,  I03» 

363,  361.  36ft  381 
Public  Utilities,  322,  3^3.  SH 
Pttnishments,  161,  163,  315 

Racks,  Hoasi»  i,  106 

Railwajrs  in  China,  6,  7,  27*  I34» 

143,  190,  197.  »3.  »7.  213,  238, 

a39^  254.  390.  296.  30a  3C».  307. 

324.  395.  399.  402.  408,  413 
Railwajrs  in  India,  300 

Railways  in  Japan,  402 
Railwajrs  in  Siberia,  403 
Rain,  53.  346 
Rates  of  Transportation,  7s,  298, 

389 
Rats,  24.  106 
Reclamation,  55 
Red  River,  Tonquin,  351 
Reforestation,  6a  116,  233,  236, 

239.  316,  399,  414 
Religions,   41,   43.  58,    I  n»   138. 

163.  173.  244.  247.  358,  363,  379 
Regent,   Prince  Chon,  191,  196, 

211 
Representation,  Political,  16s,  187 
Reptiks,  330 

Rice,  121.  227,  3".  337.  347.  349 
Rjchtofen,  201,  291,  297 
l^ickisha,  28,  302 
Riots,  41.  216,  367 
Riverfl»  71,  114.  233,  235.  239*  301 


Roads,  Country,  62;  76,  84,  156^ 

171.  322 
Romans,  244.  381,  425.  426 
Roosevelt,    Theodore,    193,   293, 

380 
Ruins,  80,  231,  357 
Russell  ft  Company,  8 
Russians,  132,  187.  201,  204,  219, 

30a  321,  403.  409^  423.  426 

Saiook,  332 

"  Sainam  ^  5.  4  I7.  7X.  124 

Salt,  122,  304.  314.  405 

Schools,  259,  260 

Scotch  in  China,  27,  48,  54,  173 

Sculpture,  288 

Secret  Societies,  15,  97,  162,  191, 

206,  339 
Servants,   Chinese,   28,  45,    159, 

177.  182,  302 
Seward,  SecreUry  Wm.  H.,  221 
Shameen  Island,  65.  248 
Shanghai,  134,  200,  225,  235,  274. 

29a  298,  332 
Shansi   Province,  241,  274,  291, 

297.367 
Shan-tung    Province,    220,    235, 

274.  295.  412.  421 
Shensi   Province,  20X,  228,  274, 

304.  314.  379.  419 
Shipbuilding,  54,  303.  391 

Shipping.  5.  58.  59.  87.  109.  145. 

149.  251,  298,  387 
Shoes,  56 

Shops,  180,  182,  283.  287,  354 
Shorthand,  259 
Shroffs,  261,  283 
Shum,  Viceroy,  124.  191 
Siberian  Railway,  403 
Siesta  System,  30 
Sikiang    (West    River),   17.   2^ 

52,  71.  115.  123,  245.  347 


440  IN] 

Silk.  56,  107,  241.  316,  3'7 

Society,  Foreign,   2,  27,   182,   i8j 

Soocbow,  aji,  245 

Soy,  319 

Spectacles,  159 

Sport,  1,  8,  31,  44,  Ii4,  145.  ^829, 

352,  359 
St.  Andrew's  Ball,  27 
St.  Thomas,  425 
Stanley,  350 
Statues,  32 
Steamboats,  30,  7J,  iii,  xii,  136, 

221,  243,  335 
Stone  Battles,  170 
Story- tellers,  69 
Stoves,  154 

Street  Life,  68.  283,  302 
Students,  100,  101,  215.  399 
Subsidy   of   Shipping.  389,  391, 

392,  394,  411 
Suffrage.  100 
Sugar  production,  7 
Suicide,  135 
Sun  Yat  Sen,  194 
5t:perstitioDi,  80,  10&  136,   142, 

150,  244,  247,  345,  363,  377,  382. 

384 
Szechuen     Province,     149,     151, 

217.  219,  231,  274,  304.  314,  322, 

334.  36s,  418 

Tablets,  iit,  262 

Taeping  Rebellion,  150^  161,  193, 

2i8.  24s.  367.  379 
Taoists,  18;  44,  53,  364,  368,  377, 

378,  420 
Tailors,  56 
Tattooer,  56 
Taxes,  63,  68,  166,  168.  184,  206, 

316,  224,  303,  313,  313,  338,  401 
Tea,  119,  139,   35,  290,323 
Teak,  10,  40,  248 


Telegr^hs.  ajSv  259.  JO" 

Telephones,  48 

Temples,  36,  65,  64  7«.  r^  I 
240.  247,  252,  ,j88,  306.  354  3 
380  ^ 

Theaters,  iig^  281 

Thibit,  132.  147.  iSSk  341,  asi 
263,  274,  31;^  321.  365 

Tientsin,  368 

Tin.  320 

Tobacco,  151 

Tones  in  Speech,  258 


Tre 


.  303 


Treaty   Ports,    Foreign  Life  ^ 

(.  9 
Trees,  as.  33.  St.  57.  iA  133.  *< 

232,  236,  239.  309,  343. 377.  m 

Tse  Hsi,  Empress  Dowager.  IJi 

igi,   192,  210 
Tsia  Chi,  Emperor,  417.  431 
Turkestan,  417,  418,  424 
Typhoons,  31,  73,  136,  355 

Unions,  Tkades.  117.  14&  31/ 
U.  S.    Marine  Hospital   Sefv^a 

in   China,  348 
Utilities,  Public,  322.  323,  324 


94.242,248.3? 


Vascd  da  Gam, 
Vermilion,  288 
Village  Life,  228 

Wages.  321.  389,  394.  401 
Wai  Wii  Pu.  180,  31M.  337 
Wall,   Great.  65.    105.    204.  u» 

251.  297.  421 
Walls.  61,  76.  8s.   86.   104.  W 

223.  285,  3i8.  4i4 
Warehouse,  149 
Washing.  53 
Water  for  Drinking,  2%  24.  1^ 

2i8k  332,  323 


WilCT  Life,  12.  ift  33,  35,  39,  30. 

52.  63,  73.  Ss.  96. 134  IJ^  148. 

aoa.  22$.  330.  331.  »33.Mii3a 
Wdghu,  144,  403 
Wd-lui>wei.  331,  345 
Whompo^  6, 37.  54.  64,  ao7,  aM 

3H 
WbiU  Ooud  HiUi,  109 
Womea  20,  2j,  4S.  60,  fA,  no, 

tao,  i^  lafl,  13s,  137. 146.  iss. 

I74<  197.  aoo,  333.  »4.  337.  ^M 

34ft  361.  375,  3^  301,  316,  334, 

3?*  415 
Wong  Net  Chong  Valley,  3,  331 
Wood-cwioK  348 


Wool.  317 
Wooiung,  134  >35 
Writing.  IJlV  354.  350 
Wu  Ting  Fu(.  fa,  ite  igs 

YAMUti.  37.  68 

Yangtze    River,    53,    304.    23P, 

333.  337.  374.  304  303,  301.  337. 

J9I 
Yellow  River,  335.  337,  341.  J90, 

301 


193^    3M. 


VoM  Shih  Kai,   1 

334,  375 
Yunnan.  353.  374.  394,  jai,  330^ 

337.  334.  337.  379 


2942    5 

J.' 


1 


'flH^TOTT^W 


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