Men and manners of modern China

MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN
CHINA

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I

A CITY STREET,
The three central characters mean *' No two prices."

]A\A<^A^

MEN AND MANNERS
OF MODERN CHINA

J. MACGOWAN

WITH 38 ILLUSTRATIONS

T. FISHER UNWIN
LONDON: ADELPHI TERRACE

LEIPSIC : INSELSTRASSE 20
1912

(All rights reserved.)

THIS VOLUME

IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED

TO MY DAUGHTERS

PREFACE

The pictures of Chinese life that are given in the
pages of this work have been drawn from my own
personal experience. I have lived in China for fifty
years, and have mingled with almost every class in
it. To do this has been a source of great pleasure
to me. The more I got into the inner life of the
Chinese the more did I feel my heart drawn to them.
They are really a very lovable people, and when seen
in their happiest moods, or when sorrow has been
clouding their lives, or when aroused by some sense
of injustice, they prove that they really possess the
fibre of a great people.

Some foreign visitors to China have complained that
the Chinese have no original genius and that they have
failed in the power of development. The real reason
for any halting in the progress of thought is the Dead
Hand of the past that has gripped the nation for so
many long centuries. I have seen a banyan-tree with
wide -spreading boughs that on a summer's day could
shelter a hundred people sitting beneath them so that
the sun's rays should not reach them. I have also seen
another of the same kind in a small flower -pot, with
branches so entwined and interwoven amongst each
other that all growth had been effectually stopped. This
is an emblem of the Chinese nation. But the fatal hand
is being unloosed and its shadowy, spidery fingers are
slowly dissolving into thin air. Ere long Nature will
avenge herself for the wrong that has been done by a
new creation of energy.

The Chinese are a strong race. Two great deeds
in their history prove this. One was done in the
remote past ; the other, as if to prove there has been

8 PREFACE

no loss of power in the intervening ages, is being done
at the present moment.

Two centuries before Christ, Shih Huang-ti, the
Napoleon of China, built the Great Wall to prevent
the wild and nomad tribes from harrowing China. The
Chinese name for this is a very pretty one. They
call it *' The City Wall of Ten Thousand Miles in
Length " because it has the exact semblance of the
walls that encircle every city in the country, only in
this case the whole empire is the city.

The wall is over twenty feet in height. At regular
intervals blockhouses have been built where the soldiers
may live when guarding the empire from an invading
foe. For more than thirteen hundred miles it winds its
way over hills and great plains and lofty mountains.
It crosses ravines and mountain beds that in winter
are filled with roaring, raging torrents. It has stood
the wear and tear of twenty and more centuries. The
snows of winter have fallen upon it and migiity
hurricanes have tried to level it to the ground, whilst
the blazing suns of countless ages have worked with
disintegrating forces to tear it in pieces. And yet
to-day it seems to stand with undiminished strength,
as though the masons had only but yesterday cast their
trowels to the ground.

The second great deed is now being done. Seventy
years ago a great Western Power forced on China
an opium treaty at the mouth of the cannon. Since
then, not a Dead Hand, but a mailed fist, has been
held up threateningly to prevent its being evaded. Her
merchants have carried on the opium traffic and her
warships have patrolled the Eastern seas to see that
they are not defrauded of their rights.

During the passing years tens and hundreds of
thousands of chests of opium have been brought from
another land to enrich these foreign merchants and
to add to the revenue of the country in which it was
grown. What reeked the conqueror of the sorrow and
vice and broken hearts and shattered lives I The
mailed fist was still held defiantly aloft.

The years dragged slowly on for China, and during
these opium was slowly weaving its web over the land,
and its black fingers were fastening themselves round

PREFACE 9

the hearts of countless thousands, and homes were being
desolated by a curse that the Government might never
try to remove, for the iron fist was always on guard.

It seemed to me many and many a time that the
nation was lost. The country was covered at times
with the bloom of the poppy. The evil had sunk so
deeply into the life of the people that, looking broadly
at the nation, there seemed no possible remedy in the
future.

And then the great miracle took place. The passion
that had been burning in the hearts of the best men
in the country blazed forth with a mighty fire. The
conqueror was appealed to some five years ago or so,
and slowly the mailed arm was dropped.

To-day the bloom of the poppy is vanishing out of
the land, and it is hoped that in another year or two
the opium will have been expelled from the whole
of the eighteen provinces.

What other nation in the world could have accom-
plished what the people of China have done in so
short a period of time?

The chapters in this volume, with the exception of
the closing one, originally appeared as individual
articles in the North China Herald, Shanghai, China.
They were subsequently published in book form in
China, under the title of *' Lights and Shadows of
Chinese Life." They have since been revised and
enlarged. By the kind courtesy of the editor permis-
sion has been given me to have them republished in
England for the benefit of English readers.

J. MACGOWAN.

t

<l

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

I. THE LAND AND ITS LAWS

n. HOW THE EMPIRE IS GOVERNED

III. THE CHINESE MILITARY SYSTEM

IV. LITERARY DEGREES
V. THE CHINESE CLASSICS

VI, SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS

VII. ANCESTOR WORSHIP

VIII. FENGSHUI ....

IX. THE SPOKESMAN OF THE GODS

X. THE TEMPLE OF THE EMPEROR OF THE CITY

XI. MOUNTAIN TEMPLES .

XII. PUNISHMENTS ....

XIII. LYNCH LAW ....

XIV. DOCTORS AND DOCTORING

XV. MONEY AND MONEY-LENDING .

XVI. PLAYS AND PLAY ACTORS

PAGE
17

29

40

52
62
76
91

118

177

189

201

12

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

XVII. A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY

XVIII. RIVER LIFE IN CHINA

XIX. HOME AND FAMILY LIFE

XX. FARMERS AND FARMING

XXI. HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

XXII. BEGGARS

XXIII. ''face'' . .

XXIV. PEEPS INTO CHINESE LIFE
XXV. THE NEW EMPIRE OF CHINA

INDEX

PAGE

ESE CITY

. 2l6

.

. 235

. 248

. 263

. 278

. 290

. 301

• 313

. 327

.

• 347

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

A CITY STREET

GRINDING RICE

MANDARIN AND STAFF

AT DINNER

MANDARIN AND HIS SON

SCHOOL CHILDREN AT DINNER

A CHINESE GRAVEYARD ON THE HILLSIDE

FOUR FAMOUS IDOLS

A CHINESE IDOL

AN IMAGE OF BUDDHA

EVENSONG IN A BUDDHIST TEMPLE .

A PRIEST IN THE COURTYARD OF THE " WHITE
TEMPLE .....

LAM-PAW-TO TEMPLES WITH SOLDIERS' GRAVES

CRIMINALS WEARING THE CANQUE .

18

Frontispiece

PACING PAGE

21

38

47
53
76

119
131
131

143

145
155

DEER

14

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

RIDE ON A WHEELBARROW .

A MORNING SHAVE

A THEATRE ON THE ROADSIDE

PLAYACTORS ACTING .

AN ITINERANT COOK .

A LETTER WRITER

SANPANS AND JUNKS .

A gentleman's COUNTRY HOUSE

A BRIDE ON HER WAY TO BE MARRIED

WOMEN WITH ''golden LILIES "

BRIDAL PROCESSION .

CHILDREN AT PLAY .

GIRLS WASHING CLOTHES

A COUNTRY RIDE ON A WHEELBARROW

AMAH AND CHILD

CANTON JOSS HOUSE .

FRUIT-SELLERS

TEMPLE WITH THREE CHIEF GODS, ETC., ETC.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

15

FACING PAGE

A STREET SHAVE

.

• 319

A FRUIT-SELLER

.

. 322

A WOMAN WEAVING .

• 325

A TEMPLE IN CANTON

•

• 329

A JINRICKSHAW

.

• 333

c"

Men and Manners of Modern China

CHAPTER I

THE LAND AND ITS LAWS

From the very earliest days of Chinese history, it has
always been held by the nation that the whole of the
land in the empire belongs to the Emperor. All the
mountains that raise their blue summits to the sky ;
the fruitful valleys, the wild uncultivated wastes and
the rich plains, are all his. Whenever the State requires
any property for public use, it simply, therefore,
demands it from its present occupant, paying about
half its actual value, merely as a solatium to his feelings,
and not as an acknowledgment of his real ownership
in the property. King Ahab, if he had been a Chinese
Emperor, would have gained possession of the coveted
vineyard of Naboth without having to resort to the
painful experience that ultimately secured it to him.
He would simply have sent his officers to confiscate it,
and Naboth would have at once yielded to the demand
and retired as gracefully as his feelings would have
allowed him, leaving his inheritance in the possession of
the king.

When it was decided some years ago to erect tele-
graphs throughout the empire, the question as to how
much would be required to meet the expenses of tres-
passing on people's property never entered into the
calculations of the Government. The lines would pass
over thousands of miles of country, through densely
populated regions, amongst peoples fierce and indepen-
dent in their manners, and through tracts of country
where the authority of the mandarins was of the loosest
possible description, and yet the question of the right to

2 17

18 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

plant poles in fields or gardens, or in a man's front
yard, was never once seriously raised.

Many thought that such a striking innovation would
result in disturbances, especially as it came into collision
with fengshui, that ghostly antiquated bogy that sends
the Chinese into fits whenever he thinks he has
violated any of its laws. Nothing of the kind, how-
ever, happened. No sooner had the Government taken
up the matter, than every voice was stilled, and the poles
were put in position as quietly as though the tele-
graph system was an ancient institution of China, and
had been invented in the dark and misty ages of Chinese
history, when Fuh Hi or Shin Nung performed the
marvellous wonders that tradition declares they did.

On one occasion, indeed, there was a slight opposi-
tion. The workmen had dug a hole for a pole close to
a grave where a man who had been a distinguished
scholar lay buried. The land had been the gift of an
Emperor, who had held him in high honour. The
son, who also was a man of distinction, felt terrified
when he saw the man ruthlessly digging close to where
his father lay. He had a vision of unseen spirits,
angered and inflamed, ready to hurl destruction upon
his family, and to wrest from them all the honours and
wealth they had bestowed upon it. He accordingly
stepped into the hole that had been dug, and declared
that he would rather perish than allow the pole to be
placed in it. He was careful to explain that he was
not resisting the Emperor's right to the land, but the
place where his father lay buried, having been a royal
gift, he considered that he had a special right to it.
It seemed for a moment as though a complete stoppage
would have been put to the work, when the Chinese
official, who accompanied the foreign constructors of
the line to assist them in such complications as the
present, stepped up to the man, who was sitting with
his legs in the hole, and said to him: *' I am astonished
at a man of your scholarship and ability acting in
this childish manner. You ought to be perfectly aware
that every foot of land in the empire belongs to the
Emperor ; all the honours you possess are his gift.
This line," he continued, pointing with a wave of his
hand to the long procession of poles that spectre-like

THE LAND AND ITS LAWS 19

dotted the plain till they vanished in the horizon, " is
being made by his special command. Would you resist
that? You know that he has the power to order you and
your wife and your children to be seized and to be cut
into a thousand pieces, and none would question his
right to do so." The scholar was so impressed with this
brief but eloquent speech that he at once rose and,
bowing gracefully before the official in acknowledgment
of the courtesy he had shown him, he retired without
a word, and left the workmen to continue their labours.

With the exception of the dues collected at the various
custom houses throughout the country, the only direct
tax imposed by the Imperial Government has been the
land tax. Taxes for education, for the army and navy,
for the defence of the Empire, as well as rates for
the police, the poor, &c., are absolutely unknown. The
civil list in China is a very model of simplicity, and gives
the executive very little anxiety, for there are automatic
systems that have been in existence from the earliest
times that provide for the salaries and expenses of
public servants in a manner highly satisfactory to
every one, excepting to the long-suffering masses from
whom the money has been extracted.

The method by which the land tax has been collected
will illustrate those beautiful economic systems by which
the Government can carry on the business of the country
without any outlay for salaries and incidental expenses
whatever. It may be well to explain here that when-
ever a new dynasty has taken over the government of
the Empire, it has always been accustomed to promul-
gate a Constitution drawn up by itself, which was to
be the basis of all legislation in the future. When the
Manchus stepped into power in A.D. 1644, acting on
the precedents of the past, they issued what they called
*' The Laws and Regulations of the Great Ching
Dynasty.'* In that document the land registers were
revised, and the amount that every man's farm or
holding had to pay was definitely fixed. This seems
to have been done in a very fair and generous spirit.
The Government which affects to be a paternal one
showed in this case, at least, great anxiety that this
tax should not be an oppressive one. It was decided
that in what are called ** wet lands," the standard of

20 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

taxation should be rice seed, and that a field on which
could be sown a Chinese measure that approximates to
our peck should be taxed a certain sum, whilst in " dry
lands " peas should be the standard.

As lands vary greatly in fertility, there was no
uniformity in the levying of these taxes. In rich and
productive districts the " wet lands " that are capable
of being sown with a peck of seed will pay as much as
eightpence or ninepence, whilst the *' dry lands " will
pay a little more than half of those amounts. Other
districts again that are less fruitful, or are far removed
from water, are taxed at a proportionately less sum,
but in all cases due care has been taken that the
farmers shall not be unduly distressed.

This land tax is a very moderate one and has existed
unchanged since the usurpation of the Manchus, and
even to-day it remains precisely the same, and is still
being collected as though no revolution had taken place.
The republic has not yet been legally instituted, and yet
the Chinese with an instinct of order and obedience to
law are carrying on the old order of things even though
the Emperor has vanished and the States' parliaments
have not yet been summoned.

Whilst the tax is far from being oppressive, the
mode of its collection often brings great sorrow and
injustice to those who may be quite willing to pay it.
The tax-gatherers have always been men of notoriously
evil reputation, and who from the very nature of the
case must be dishonest. Not only have they no salaries,
but they have actually to purchase their positions. The
only privilege they demand in return for this outlay
of their money is a free hand to get as much out of
the .people, by guile, by ruse, or by cunning, as they
can ; only they must be careful that everything they
do must have an appearance of legality. Law, and
ancient custom, and hoary traditions are sacred in the
eyes of the Chinese, but there are a thousand-and-one
ways by which these may be evaded, while the semblance
of respect for them is still maintained.

A free-handed system like this exactly suits the
genius of the Chinese, who prefer oblique methods to
direct ones. It opens out a boundless field, where
money can be gained more easily than by settled

THE LAND AND ITS LAWS 21

salaries. It is known to be thoroughly iniquitous, and
yet no one ever dreams of suggesting that it should
be abolished. The founders of the empire practised
it. The sages, if we could only have access to their
private banking accounts, no doubt encouraged it.
Great statesmen and rulers and prime ministers during
successive ages have been implicated in it. Great revo-
lutions have rent the empire into a thousand pieces
because of this and kindred abuses that had driven
the people mad, and yet when the storm has passed,
and the nation has settled down to a new life, the
old intolerable systems have been resumed, just as
though they contained within them the germs of a
new force that was going to renovate the empire.

The system by which the tax-gatherer has lived has
a deteriorating effect upon himself. He is hatod and
despised by every one, and rightly so. His m*nd is
always absorbed with money. That floats before him
as he walks the road. In company, its gleams catch
his eye. In conversation, when he seems absorbed
in some discussion, his mind is still under its unseen
influence. His district is a golden mine that is to
give him his daily bread. It is to fill his home with
plenty, to enable him to purchase fields, and lay by
money that shall buy his sons their wives. It is a mine
that has to be worked, however. Just as the real
gold is hidden away in the earth, and skill and labour
and self-denial are required to extract it, so in this,
the keenest and subtlest, as well as the basest qualities
of the mind have to be exercised to draw forth the
precious metal.

It is through chicanery and deception, through lies
unspeakable, by false accusations that bring men within
the covetous grasp of the mandarins, and through extor-
tions that will fling misery and wretchedness upon many
a home, that the work of the tax-gatherer has to be
accomplished.

He comes round twice a year to receive his dues,
and from the moment he starts, till he has finished
his round, he is planning and manoeuvring how he
shall cheat and defraud the unfortunate country people
who are unhicky enough to come within his clutches.

The Chinese being miserably poor, the majority of

22 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

them have no money ready to pay their taxes, and so
they are put to the greatest straits to get together
the sums they owe. The women take their gold ear-
rings or silver hairpins with which they ornament their
long, black hair, or perhaps the men take their agricul-
tural implements and hurry with them to the nearest
pawnshop. Some who have no property sufficient to
meet the demands that are made upon them are treated
in a very rough and cruel manner. The very clothes
upon their backs, and even the solitary rice-pan in
which the food of the family is cooked, are taken
from them without remorse.

A favourite plan with these harpies is to allow a
man who is pretty well off to pass the proper time in
which payment ought to have been made. This is
a simple matter with the Chinese, who rarely in any
matter are up to time. There is a subtle influence
in the air of the East that puts a drag upon a man,
and even the vigorous Westerner by and by feels his
footstep becoming slower and a tendency to put things
off creeping over him.

When a few weeks later he presents himself with
his money for payment, the tax-gatherer, with an
assumed look of indignation, demands from him his
reason for refusing to pay his tax. The unfortunate
man, who sees that he is going to be fleeced, makes
the most humble apologies, and says that he thought
that the delay of a week or two was of no importance.
** No importance," the official cries in a loud voice,
" that you should refuse to pay the Emperor his tax?
You will find it to be a very important and at the same
time a very expensive thing, for I shall not sign
your receipt until you pay me double the amount you
owe."

The poor victim is compelled to submit, for to appeal
for justice to the mandarin would be useless. He would
stand by the tax-gatherer, and every official in his
court would do the same, for every man would be
prepared to swear till his face was black that the
debtor not only refused to pay his tax, but that when
it was politely demanded from him he violently assaulted
and half murdered the man that demanded it.

The inventive faculty of the tax-gatherer is a highly

THE LAND AND ITS LAWS 23

trained one, and ages of experience have taught his
tribe the most ingenious ways of practising upon the
wretched farmers. On one occasion, a man who owned
a few small plots of land died, and as he had no relatives
the family became extinct. The tax for the plots he
owned must still, however, continue to be paid, for the
Government allows of no default, as it is held that men
may die but the land is imperishable. That is registered
in the Doomsday Books, and the officials will be held
responsible for the payment.

The collector was determined that it should not come
out of his own pocket, so he set his wits to work to see
how he could manoeuvre to compel some one else to
pay it. Marching up to the house of a well-to-do
farmer he presented his bill for the taxes of the land
which had no owner. He was met with indignant
protests by the farmer, who said that he had no interest
in the land in question. The collector, with a calm
and placid smile that lit up his opium-dyed face, said,
*' I know better than that, for I have been credibly
informed that you have actually taken possession of
it and are now cultivating it on the sly."

This was a falsehood, pure and simple, but it served
his purpose better than the truth would have done, for
it irritated the farmer and made him lose his temper,
the very thing that the tax-gatherer desired. Seizing
him by the - collar the collector began to drag him to
the door with the purpose, he said, of taking him before
the mandarin and having him thoroughly punished.
The farmer, excited by a sense of injustice, lost all
his prudence, and forgot the character of the man he
was dealing with. He struck out in self-defence, and
his two sturdy sons joining with him the foe was soon
sprawling on his back on the ground.

A sense of victory consoled the tax-gatherer for his
temporary humiliation. The thing had turned out just
as he had planned it. He pretended to be seriously
injured, and he lay groaning as though he were in
mortal agony. One of his attendants fled in all haste to
the neighbouring city, and ere long he returned with
five policemen and also with the wife of the injured
man, who made the place resoutid with her cries and
with her threats of vengeance against those who had

24 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

dared to lift their hands against her husband in the
discharge of his pubUc duties.

A prettier bit of comedy it would have been im-
possible to arrange. It had all the appearance of a
tragedy^ whilst in reality it was a screaming farce to
every one but the farmer and his sons. Scenic effect
has a wonderful charm for the Chinese. China is a
land full of play actors, that seem to be continually
arranging their stage and acting their parts before each
other. Here was as nice a little plot with all the
dramatis personce as any one could desire. The villain
of the piece was rolling in agonies on the ground.

The farmer, horror-struck because of the fatal blow
that had stretched his foe on the ground, looked with
blanched cheek and throbbing pulse on the man
writhing before him. The wife rending the air with
her screams, her hands turned wildly up to heaven
and her hair falling in disorder down her back, the
policemen, fierce and truculent -looking, and the crowd
that stood gazing with fear and consternation in their
looks all constitute a scene that, for dramatic effect,
could not be surpassed had the whole been planmed
and carried out after many a rehearsal in the green-
room.

As soon as the villain of the play saw that the
acting had produced the desired effect a hint was let
drop that negotiations for a settlement of the difficulty
might now be entered upon. The farmer was only
too willing for a compromise, for to come within the
clutches of the mandarin meant that he would be
squeezed of every cash that he possessed, and after-
wards be cast penniless on the world. After a noisy
discussion with these thieves, dressed in official robes
and with the power of the State behind them, he got
them to accept ten pounds to let the matter drop.
With this sum the tax-collector, with his disreputable
associates, left the village, quietly winking at each other
as they got beyond its limits and chuckling over the
successful haul they had made that day.

One of the most fruitful causes of dispute in China
is the land. Poverty is widespread, and men are
frequently compelled to borrow money on their holdings
in order to pay off debts that must be met. Con-

THE LAND AND ITS LAWS 26

sidering that more than half the population of China
is in hopeless debt, it can easily be imagined how
the one thing that is permanent in its nature should
be held as the safest security for the repayment of
money lent. The imperishable character of the land,
however, does not prevent constant disputes and
attempts to defraud, when from the very nature of
Chinese justice grievous wrongs are endured by those
who had neither power nor money enough to protect
their rights.

A man, for example, mortgages his fields to some
well-to-do neighbour, which by the deed he can reclaim
after a certain number of years. At the end of the
stipulated time he is as poor as when he borrowed,
and he might as well dream of redeeming the moon
as the ancestral lands that are now in the possession
of another. Years pass by and still the blight of poverty
rests upon the home, and perhaps fifty or sixty years
elapse, when the son or grandson presents himself with
the amount that had been borrowed and demands the
restoration of the fields. In the meanwhile the new
owners have become accustomed to the possession of
the lands and they have determined that they shall
never be given up.

A very common plan with unprincipled men of this
class is to put such difficulties in the way that an
appeal would have to be made to the mandarin, with
the inevitable delays and bribings and legal expenses
that would exhaust the purse of the poorer man and
leave the property in the hands of the wrong'-doer.
Another not uncommon method is to manufacture deeds
that would go to prove that the lands in dispute had
always been the property of the family that now holds
them. The way this is done is very ingenious. A
deed is drawn up in the usual legal phraseology and
buried in the earth for a certain time, until it becomes
tinged with a colour that gives it an ancient look.
It is then put into an iron pan and gradually heated
over a slow fire till it is browned with the exact hue
that the centuries are accustomed to put into these
documents. The change is so true to nature that even
the eye of an expert is very often deceived.

Some years ago a case occurred which illustrates

26 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

what I mean. A grandson came to redeem some fields
that had been mortgaged by his grandfather. A gleam
of prosperity had come into his home, and, with the
loyalty of the Chinese to the memory of his ancestors,
he wished to get back the property that had been
bequeathed by them to their children. The holders
of the land denied that they had ever mortgaged it.
It had been theirs for ages, they said, and they pro-
duced time-worn and age -stained documents in defence
of their claim. An appeal was made to the County
Magistrate to decide the question. This man happened
to be one of the just kind. He was a scholar as
well who had deeply studied the history of his country.
Wishing to be fair to both parties he keenly examined
the manufactured deeds, which had every sign of age
imprinted upon their face. With eyebrows knit and
gaze fixed upon the brown discoloured pages, as though
he would pierce the secret that lay behind those weird
old-world characters, he pondered the mystery he was
called upon to solve.

The claimant possessed deeds that had the look of
genuineness about them, but the defendant had others,
upon which the air of antiquity undoubtedly rested.
Which of them were the true ones was the supreme
question he had to decide. All at once a smile flashed
over his face, and, turning to the defendant, he said :
*' Your deeds have been most ingeniously made up and
they would certainly deceive any ordinary reader, and
yet, as you know, they are forgeries. There is one
thing in them that proves this decisively. You are
evidently not acquainted with early history, and so you
have introduced into your deeds the name of an
E-mperor that did not exist at the time they profess
to have been written. You must, therefore, at ;0(nce
hand back the fields to the rightful owner.'* In this
case justice was done, but it may be easily imagined
what wrongs have been perpetrated in the numberless
cases where the judges were neither just nor learned.

With regard to the division of landed property,
custom is very precise and definite. There is no law
of primogeniture that secures it to the eldest son.
After the death of the father the land is equally divided
amongst the sons, with the exception that the first-

THE LAND AND ITS LAWS 27

bom has a slightly larger share to compensate him
for the responsibilities that devolve upon him as the
head of the family, now that his father has gone.

The daughters have no share in the division, for
marriages having been arranged for them, they are
considered as practically belonging to the clan into
which they are married, since no woman may become
the wife of any member of her own clan.

With regard to the ancestral home, this becomes the
common property of the sons, where they reside with
their families. Such a state of things is utterly
abhorrent to an Englishman, but not to the Chinese,
who have no sympathy with our ideas that each family
ought to have a separate home for itself. The division
of the ancestral home amongst the sons, where each
lives in different apartments of the same building, seems
to them an ideal settlement of the case. With us this
arrangement would be liable to result in quarrels and
estrangements that would make the common life abso-
lutely intolerable. This has not been the experience
of the Chinese. The Chinese has a mad craving for
the society of his fellow-men that makes crowding an
absolute luxury to him. When he builds a street he
puts the houses as near to each other as it is possible
for him to get them, leaving the minimum of space to
allow of the passage of the public. This is not because
there is a dearth of land. It is as much an obedience
to instinct as it is for the beaver to build galleries
in a confined space by the river's side.

For years and generations the Chinese have been
confined to their own country. They have been rooted
to the soil. They have been born and have died almost
upon the very spot where they have passed their lives.
The names of foreign countries have a strange and
barbarous sound to them, whilst their peoples are
despised and savagely hated by them. Their instincts
have all been narrowed down to the people about them,
so much so that love for the larger world beyond has
been lost, and patriotism has been so utterly unknown
to them that even at the present day, when that virtue
is growing within their hearts, they have not yet devised
any one word that will adequately express it.

China is a huge conglomerate of rabbit 'warrens,

28 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

where the people grow and multiply and develop affini-
ties that bind them more and more to the same spot.
A man wants to open a shoe -shop, and the instinct of
his class draws him to the streets where every shop is
occupied by shoemakers. The drapers are not spread
over a city, but are concentrated in one or two quarters,
and so one would find it difficult to buy a yard of cloth
or a skein of silk outside of these certain limits.

It is this same instinct that leads Chinese families to
live rabbit-like in close proximity to each other, in
the midst of din and loud noises and with the sounds
of the human voice incessantly breaking on the ear.
The Chinese does not want quiet. He wants company.
A babel of voices is the sweetest music he can hear.
His most luxuriant enjoyment is to sit in a densely-
packed crowd that is gazing with rapt admiration at a
street play, where the shouting of the actors and the
deafening noise of cymbals and drums would be
sufficient to drive an Occidental out of his senses.

The effect of the perpetually recurring subdivision
of the ancestral acres is that the farms throughout the
country are usually small. There is no question in
my mind, however, but that the absence of the law of
primogeniture has saved the Chinese nation from great
.misery and has enabled it somewhat successfully to meet
the problems that its vast population has brought upon
it. With their intense conservatism, and with the super-
stition that prevented the mineral riches of the country
from being developed, the younger sons would have
starved had the eldest been given the whole of the
land at their father's death. As it is, the industry of
the Chinese, which amounts to a kind of mania, and
their power of living upon very little, have given a
lease of life to this long-lived empire that has enabled
it to survive whilst the ancient monarchies of the past
have drifted into oblivion.

CHAPTER II

HOW THE EMPIRE IS GOVERNED

The model of the Chinese Government is the family.
This is not a modern idea, but is as old as Confucius,
who gave the sanction of his name and his genius to it,
and who declared that a well-regulated family was a
perfect conception of how an empire should be ruled.

To understand this, it must be explained that the
relation of its members to each other is much more
stringent than in an English home. In the latter the
children are under the control of their parents till they
are of age, and then they hive off, marry, and form
establishments of their own. In China only the
daughters leave the home for good, when they are
married, and they then cease to be ruled by their
parents. The sons never leave the old roof -tree, and
never get free from parental restraint. No matter
how old they may be or how the years may have covered
their heads with white locks, their father and mother
have precisely the same power over them that they
had when they were children. They marry and have
families of their own, but they all live in the same
homestead and they never dream that because the years
have been creeping on and furrows have found their
way into their faces, that the authority of the old folk
is to be in the least relaxed.

Beside the common tie of affection that binds the
members of the home to each other, there is another
that welds it together with a bond that the years may
never sever, and that is that invisible, mysterious, but
most potent force called Responsibility. This is a word
that cannot be understood by an Englishman in the
sense that a Chinese thinks of it. It permeates the
family ; it winds its invisible way into every phase

30 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

of society ; it touches with its magic wand the official
acts of every mandarin in the empire, and it is the one
controlling influence that is felt around the Dragon
Throne, and that often stays the hand of unrighteous-
ness, when nothing else could curb either his hand or
his will.

Taking the family as the starting-point, it is here
where this thoroughly Oriental conception, that the
individual must be content to merge his personality
and his freedom in his family or his clan, is carried out
as an object lesson for the rest of society. Every mem-
ber of the household is responsible for all the rest.
The father as head of the family is held liable for the
misdeeds of the various members of it, whilst the sons
on the other hand are treated as criminals for the
wrong-doing of their parents. It is because of this that
some of the most awful tragedies that have blackened
the pages of Chinese history have been enacted. Some
high official has been caught in some treasonable act.
Not only has he been put to death with most barbarous
cruelty, but all his relatives, both on the father's and
mother's side, have been exterminated. Men and women
and little children have all been ruthlessly butchered
and the executions have ceased only when no more
victims remained to be slaughtered.

But this system of mutual responsibility is not con-
fined to the family. It runs throughout the whole of
society. It may be truly said that there is not an
individual in the whole of the empire that is not in
some way or another responsible to some one else.
The nation may be compared to a highly complicated
machine, made up of endless wheels that wliirl and
revolve apparently in the utmost confusion. There are
cogs, too, innumerable, that fit into each other with
the most beautiful precision, and without which the
machinery would stumble and fall into disorder.

From the eternal past the social system of the Chinese
has been built up on this conception. All the men in
the country, from the highest to the lowest, are but cogs
in the great machine that is carrying out the life of the
nation .

It is this profound sense of mutual responsibility that
has caused the various trades and professions in China

HOW THE EMPIRE IS GOVERNED 31

to band themselves into local trades' unions, with a
headman over each, who acts on emergencies and tries
to protect those whom he represents. The headman
is conspicuous everywhere all over China, and is a
most useful personage when any trouble is experienced.
You hire a boat, for example, and when you ares
approaching the landing-place some of the boatmen
lying by, waiting to be hired, take liberties with you.
You send for the headman of the jetty and you state
your case, and if you are in the right he speedily
brings the culprits to their knees, and you may be sure
you will never be troubled again by these men, though
you were to land near them a thousand times.

After one has lived in China for some time and
studied its institutions, the one thought that strikes
one is the system of responsibility that pervades every
department of life. This is not of a loose and indefinite
character, but is so thoroughly organised, that one
knows exactly where to lay one's hand upon any one
at any particular crisis when the blame or credit for
anything has to be located.

In order to facilitate this pervasive idea of the empire,

society has spontaneously divided itself into sections

with a headman to each, to whom the members can

look for protection when difficulties arise. Each trade,

for example, has its headmen, who sedulously guard

the interests of the whole and who are responsible

for any infraction of right by any of its members.

The pawnshops of a town select one to represent all

the rest in case of litigation, or of any attempt on the

part of the mandarins to squeeze any one of their

number. Every village has its headmen and almost

every important street, in every city in the country,

and even the very beggars, poor and ragged and

unsavoury, have their headman, who claims a share of

their earnings, but who at the same time protects them

in their rights and stands between them and oppression.

Now, in the official life, even more than in the social,

I the master-thought that pervades the whole is still that

of responsibility. Each holder of office is responsible

I! to the one next in rank above him, and so in endless

I' gradations till the Emperor himself is reached. A

I reference to facts will prove this to be the case.

32 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

The very lowest man in office is called the Tipao
(the Protector of the land). He is the headman in a
ward. Every town in China is divided into so many
wards ; in the rural districts villages are grouped into
divisions of the same kind, and over each of these
there is a Tipao. This man is usually a person of
no education and no social standing, and as a rule is
conspicuous for the absence of all moral qualities. His
functions are of an exceedingly miscellaneous descrip-
tion. He is supposed to know every one in his ward,
his occupations, what he is doing either by day o,r
night, what scheme his brain is plotting, and what are
his private sources of income. He has a large amount
of arbitrary power, for he can refuse to allow persons
of doubtful reputation or uncertain means to reside
within his jurisdiction, and he can summarily eject,
without any process of law, loose characters who are
a trouble to the community and who may not halve the
means of bribing his goodwill.

It is his duty to report to his superior officer any-
thing important that is going on in his ward, and to
inform him of everything that he knows concerning
it, and a great deal besides that he could not possibly
know. He is liable at any moment to be beaten into
a jelly for something that has taken place in his district
that it was utterly out of the question that he should
be aware of. The Tipao, therefore, must be a man of
fertile imagination, ready wit, and easy conscience. Of
course, in every ward there are bad characters. There
are opium-smokers whose fortunes have vanished down
their pipes, and professional thieves who sally out in
the small hours of the morning. There are also
gamblers, consumed with a passion that never brings
them the longed-for wealth, and ballad singers who
stand in the dark corners of the thoroughfares and
sing lurid and obscene songs to the little knots of
men that look bad enough to have just come from
the pit.

Every one of these is known to the Tipao, and each
one, if he wishes to be let alone, must pay blackmail ;
or if he wishes to avoid being reported to the local
mandarin, who would take a short and easy method
of ridding the neighbourhood of his presence. The

HOW THE EMPIRE IS GOVERNED 33

Tipao is a man whose morality is only slightly, if
anything, higher than the dangerous classes he has to
control. He is consequently willing to wink at a great
deal so long as it does not become so outrageous as
to attract the attention of the public. Still, the fact
remains that he is responsible for the conduct of the
people that he allows to remain within his jurisdiction,
and he may be called upon at any moment by his
superior to undergo the severest bodily pains for things
that he knows, and indeed for others that he could
not possibly have known about, unless he were possessed
of omnipresence.

The beautiful theory of responsibility that permeates
the Chinese brain brushes aside the ordinary excuses
that weigh with an Occidental, and the man is held
guilty for offences that no single human being could
possibly have foreseen or prevented.

I will now give an illustration of what I mean. Two
men were gambling in an obscure part of the town, in
a room hidden away from observation. A dispute arose
over the game which ended in a fight, and one of them
received a fatal stab. It was two o'clock in the morn-^
ing when this took place. The whole city was asleep,
and the Tipao and his family were in bed, so that he
was perfectly unconscious of the tragedy. His protesta-
tions that he knew nothing of the matter were received
with a sneer and with the remark, *' Well, then, you
ought to have known." ** But how could I?" he
modestly replied. ** Never mind how," was the official
answer, ** that is your business. The ward is in your
charge, and you are the responsible person to look
after it." With that he was thrown upon his face and
a couple of sturdy lictors, who had been looking at
him with hungry and expectant eyes, proceeded to
administer with their bamboos a lesson in the art of
ruling a ward that would keep him in a recumbent
posture for at least a week to come.

At a considerable distance above the Tipao comes
the County Magistrate, the most important, as far as
the people are concerned, of all the mandarins. There
are many superior to him in rank, but none has such
large executive duties to perform as he. Whatever
orders may be issued by the highest mandarins in

3

34 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

regard to any particular county, they are always trans-
mitted to him, and it is he that must see to the carrying
of them out.

His duties are very wide and very important. He
is the executive officer of the county, and all questions
of property, taxes, litigation, as well as of crime, have
to be settled in his court. His relation to the people is
well expressed by a title that is popularly given him
by them — '* The mandarin, who is the father and mother
of his people.'*

The family being the ideal type for the government
of a nation, the aim of the Chinese is to keep thalt
thought prominently before the minds both of the rulers
and of the ruled. The County Magistrate is reminded
by this title that the parental idea must be always
uppermost in his mind in all his public acts, and that
whilst he has to administer justice, sternly and strictly,
he must at the same time act as a wise and loving
father would.

Two villages, for example, have a private feud, and
one day they seize their jingals, and a number are killed
on both sides. A son goes to the bad, gambles away
everything he has, and in his effort to carry off some-
thing from his father's home, he knocks him dowrt
and kills him. A band of thieves from the next county
come over the border and loot a pawnshopi, and murder
some of the inmates, who attempt to defend their
property. These disorders are not put down to the
evil passions of those concerned so much as to the(
County Magistrate, who is also styled, perhaps by way
of a joke, '* The man that knows the coimty." They
are the result, it is affirmed by his superior officers,
of some mismanagement or of something defective in
his moral character. The theory is that, when a ruler
is inspired by the noblest motives and his life is pure,
the people will have no murderous thoughts, but will
be inclined to follow those higher instincts that Heaven
has implanted in the breast of every man.

Though the Chinese doctrine of responsibility has
its defects, there is no doubt that it has also its good
points. How often in England have disasters occurred
both in civil and military life, and no one has been
punished simply because the responsibility could not

HOW THE EMPIRE IS GOVERNED 35

be fixed on any particular person. This could never
be the case in China. There is always some one who
can be made answerable for any mismanagement, and
who can be punished for it.

The captain of a man-of-war, for example, is
responsible for his ship under every circumstance. The
storm may rage, and the great seething seas may drive
her upon a lee shore, but no alleviating reasons are
allowed to be urged in his defence. The ship had
been entrusted to him by the Emperor. It was, there-
fore, sacred property which he was bound to preserve
intact for his Majesty. He consented to take charge
of the vessel knowing full well the responsibility he
incurred, and so he must be prepared for the penalty
that he knew he would have to pay.

A friend of mine was captain of a Corvette at the
time that the French fleet in 1884 attacked the
Chinese nien-of-war in the harbour of Foochow. In
a short time most of the latter were battered and sunk
and the crews that were not killed were floating on the
river amid the wreck of their vessels. My friend, seeing
that the destruction of his ship was inevitable, slipped
his cable and turned her into a narrow creek, where
he sunk her in shallow water, so as to prevent her being
captured by the French. He knew that she could be
easily raised again after the enemy had retired. One
would have thought that he would have been praised
for saving his ship, but not so. His conduct was con-
sidered to be so disgraceful by the Board of War in
Peking that he barely escaped with his life, and he was
sentenced to banishment to some barren region in the
vicinity of the River Amur. His defence that he really
saved his vessel had no weight with his judges. The
question was. What right had he to sink a ship belong-
ing to his Majesty? He was responsible for her and
it was his business to see that she sustained no
damage, either from the violence of the tempest or from
the shot of the enemy.

This doctrine of responsibility is a very comfortable
one to a foreigner when he is travelling through the
country. The innkeepers where he lodges are so afraid
of anything happening to him or his whilst he is under
their roof that the greatest care is taken whilst he is

36 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

their guest, lest they should be called to account for
any injury done to him or his property. It is told
how on one occasion a certain Boniface pursued a guest,
who left early in the morning, for miles along the road,
with some article that he had left behind him. He was
panting and perspiring when he got up with him and
there was great amusement \vhen the innkeeper with a
pleased and virtuous look handed him over an empty
match-box.

Passing through the various gradations of mandarins,
who, high and low, are but cogs in the huge wheel of
state, we come finally to the Emperor himself, and the
question now Arises, To whom was he ,l*esponsible? for jt
would seem to suit the genius of the Chinese not to
allow even him to be free from a law that binds every
one else within his dominions.

One of his titles has been the " Sacred Supreme,"
which implied that he stood outside all criticism, and
that he was the one man in China that never needed
to give an account of his actions to any human being.
There were the Six Boards, it is true, that assisted in
the government of the empire, but the Emperor's
authority over them was absolute, and he could over-
ride their decisions at his will.

The censors, too, seem to have had the power of
calling in question the conduct of their Sovereign, but
their influence was rather a moral one than anything
else. Whenever they gave their advice, or called in
question some conduct of his that appeared to them
injurious to the State, they did so at their own peril,
for they were liable to be sent into banishment, or
even to be executed, should their conduct be resented
by him.

And yet after all he was as much under the universal
law as the meanest of his subjects, only that he was
accountable to Heaven, and to Heaven only. The
theory has always been that he held his throne by its
direct decree, and accordingly Heaven considered him
responsible for the way in which he carried out the
duties of the State. When he was conscientious and
acted for the best interest of his people, Heaven sent
down blessings upon the nation. When he was un-
principled and reckless, famines and pestilences, and

HOW THE EMPIRE IS GOVERNED 37

war, and revolution were the punishments that the same
silent Power hurled upon the people for his sins. This
theory is as old as the Chinese nation. Eight centuries
before Christ, there is an account in one of the Chinese
Classics, called the Book of Odes, of an eclipse of the
sun that filled the empire with dismay, and in some
places with disaster. The mountains were so terrified
that they fell into the plain and dammed up rivers so
that floods caused widespread desolation. All this, it
is said, was the result of the misconduct of the reigning
monarch, who was thus reminded by Heaven that his
iniquities were known, and that severer punishment
would be meted out to him if he did not repent and
govern his kingdom better.

The moral element in the government of the empire is
a very large factor that is recognised both by the rulers
and the ruled. The visible machinery that is composed
of living men is like a huge net, the meshes of which
are spread with never-ending entanglement and which
bind each successive grade and division of society, the
one to the other, by the mysterious bond of Responsi-
bility. But outside of all this, there is another force,
unseen, mysterious, but with eyes that never close, and
a purpose that can never be turned from rectitude,
and that is Heaven.

And it must be understood that whilst the Emperor,
who was styled the Son of Heaven, was supposed to be
specially under its supervision, and to hold his very
crown from it, this great impersonal undefined Power
makes no distinctions between emperors and common
people. ** The eyes of Heaven " with keen impartiality
scan the wrongdoings of every man and woman, and
send down punishment upon every one, no matter what
his position may be. No one ever disputes this fact,
and so it comes to pass that every official, from the
Tipao; up to the Son of Heaven, whilst he feels re-
sponsible to the man in rank above him, has a dim
idea that outside of them he is accountable to Heaven,
who will one day bring him to book for any evil that
he may do.

On one occasion, in a large southern city, the people
'Were dying in large numbers from the effects of a very
fdeadly fever that had appeared amongst them. In

38 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

the narrow, crowded streets and in the ill -drained, un-
savoury dwellings men and women died by hundreds.
The doctors were unable to cope with the disease, for
their medicines seemed to have lost their power. A
cry of agony rose from every direction in the sorrowful
city, for death with impartial hand carried off the
young man in the very vigour of his strength, the young
maiden blooming into womanhood, the child in arms,
and the old man, with his head hoary with the passage
of years. The town was in a panic, for the fear of
death was in the heart of every one. Every day the
tale of death grew larger and wild rumours increased
the feeling of alarm. The great sun looked down
with a face of fire upon the doomed city, and his hot,
scorching rays added to the sorrows of those who were
suffering.

At last, the chief mandarin of the town, oppressed
by the calamities, and with a sense that he was in some
measure responsible for them, determined to appeal to
Heaven. He, accordingly, next morning at the earliest
dawn stood out in the open, and lifting up his eyes
to the grey sky pleaded with Heaven to take away the
disease from the town. *' I know that I am at fault,"
he said, " that I have misgoverned, and that thou art
sending down death upon the people for my misdeeds.
My heart is wrung with sorrow and I pray Heaven
that my sins may be visited upon myself, and that I may
die if only the suffering may be saved."

The empire is thus founded upon a moral basis. The
Emperor had got his crown from Heaven, to whom alone
he is responsible. When his dynasty finally passed
away amid revolution and murder and dire disasters,
the hand of Heaven was seen in the whole, and it was
because the rulers were unworthy to sit on the Dragon
Throne that they were compelled by that unseen but
righteous Power to give way for better men.

The profound belief that Heaven is the final Court
of Appeal when misgovernment has driven the nation
into revolution has no doubt tended to keep alive the
democratic spirit that lies deeply imbedded in the
Chinese heart. This unseen force, like some mighty
monster, lay slumbering for many centuries. For many
ages it never had a proper chance of asserting itself.

HOW THE EMPIRE IS GOVERNED 39

The lofty ranges of mountains on the west lay as im-
passable barriers to prevent the invasion of thought
that made the countries beyond throb and vibrate with
a new life. The mad jealousy of the mandarins kept
the seaboard provinces from being tainted with Western
civilisation and revolutionary ideas.

The nation needed stirring by some great act that
would send its blood flowing in a surging flood, and it
may be truly s,aid that the first throbbings of th.e new
life that is pulsating through the empire to-day began
their beat when the echoes of the English guns werfe
heard reverberating through the Empire. Those echoes
have never died out, but other sounds have come from
the West, and new thoughts of life, and a vision of a
new heaven and a new earth has flashed into men's eyes,
whilst fairy fingers have been weaving poetry and
romance, that have inspired men with conceptions such
as their fathers never dreamed of as to how an empire
should be governed.

CHAPTER III

THE CHINESE MILITARY SYSTEM

The military system in China is an ancient one and
dates far back beyond the time when standing armies
became an established institution in the West. This is
accounted for by the fact that in the very early days of
the nation's life, fierce and bloody contests were con-
stantly being waged by the men who laid the founda-
tions of this empire. The China of those days was of
very limited area, and consisted of a considerable
number of States, nominally acknowledging one as
supreme, but independent and rebellious when they
thought themselves strong enough to resist. They were
incessantly at war amongst themselves, either in self-
defence or in the attempt to master and absorb the
weaker ones. Finally, one State, led by the genius of
its duke, who has been called the Napoleon of China,
successively conquered all its rivals, and incorporating
their dominions with its own established the Tsin
dynasty, and enthroned him the first Emperor of United
China. From that time there began a system of
conquest that has resulted in the building up of the
present Chinese Empire.

People in the West, who are unacquainted with the
history of the Chinese, think of them as an essentially
unwarlike people to whom the idea of the battlefield,
and fierce struggles with brave and daring foes, is one
from which the nation has always shrunk. This is
an entire mistake. With the exception perhaps of the
English, there is no army in the world that has done
so much fighting in the past as the Chinese. The
march to victory has been one vast series of struggles,
in which countless lives have been lost. Fierce and
warlike tribes have had to be conquered. High moun-

40

THE CHINESE MILITARY SYSTEM 41

tains, where the bones of many an army have been left
bleaching, have had to be climbed ; vast steppes, wherei
hunger and starvation have exacted their toll, have had
to be crossed ; but with indomitable perseverance this
mighty people has moved along the track of fate until
it has been consolidated into one of the largest empires
in the world.

But it has not been in the battles for conquest that
the qualities of the Chinese soldier alone have been
displayed. It has been in the sterner conflicts of self-
defence that his courage has been most conspicuously
shown. The fertile lands, the sunny plains, and the
fruitful valleys of this wonderful country have always
been looked upon with envy by the warlike races that
have lived along its northern and western frontiers-
Many a bloody campaign has been fought with the
fierce Tartar horsemen that came down in mighty
squadrons to invade the land, only to be hurled back
again to their own wilds, defeated and dismayed.

There have been times, it is true, when, through the
corruption of its mandarins and the incapacity of its
emperors, the country has been torn from their grasp,
and a foreign dynasty has sat on the Dragon Throne ;
but even then the imperial character of the race is
shown in their absorption of their conquerors, and in
the conversion of them into Chinese. An example of
what is meant may be seen in the present Manchti
dynasty. Nearly three centuries ago the Tartars over-
threw the rulers of China and have ever since held the
supreme power in this land. Tartar soldiers as of
old still garrison the provincial capitals, and men of the
same race hold high appointments, both civil and
military, throughout the eighteen provinces, but no one
can detect the difference between the two races now.
The children of the soldiers that seized the empire are
to-day standing side by side with the descendants of
the men they conquered, and in dress and in language
and in modes of thought they have become identified
with the vanquished.

The Chinese Tommy is about as amusing a specimen
of the man military as it is possible to conceive and
instead of being awed by his appearance, even when in
large bodies, one's first impulse is to look upon him

42 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

with semi -contempt and with a smile upon one's face.
No attempt has been made by his officers to give him,
a smart and soldier hke air. From a iWestern standpoint,
he has never had any drill worth talking about. He
is not made to stand erect and throw out his chest, so
as to make the most of whatever inches Nature has
given him. His soul is never tortured with having
to learn the goose step, a very fortunate thing for
him, as the raw material out of which Tommies are
made in this land has very confused ideas about right
and left legs. He is never made to march in step, but
is allowed to straggle on with his comrades in the
fashion that will best suit his tastes and the villainous
roads over which he has to travel.

There is one very offensive thing about the soldier,
and that is his want of cleanliness. His superior officers
pay no attention generally to the condition either of his
clothes or of his person. The result is a perfect in-
difference to soap and water. He has a grimy, un-^
washed look, as though he always slept in his uniform
and when he rose in the morning had no time either to
wash his face or change his untidy, frowsy -looking
garments for something more neat and attractive. To
add to his utterly unmilitary air, he wears, in the
southern provinces at least, neither shoes nor stockings.
When he is on the march, he puts on straw sandals to
protect his feet, but when he is not on duty he simply
adopts the universal custom of the poorer classes and
uses the shoes that Nature has given him to wear.

The easy-going nature of the Celestial gets no new
impulse by his becoming a " brave," and he is as
simple and as childlike as though he had never been
appointed to fight his country's battles. It is no un-
common thing for a sentry on duty to be seen crouching
down in the favourite national position on his heels,
with a gaping crowd around him^ who are allowed to
handle his rifle whilst he is explaining to them its
intricacies and gently hinting his own conviction that
after all it is not very much superior to the native
jingal, that required less attention and did not dete-
riorate so much from rust.

The soldier's uniform has evidently never given the
Government very much anxiety, for it differs only from

THE CHINESE MILITARY SYSTEM 43

the dress of the common people by having the word
" brave " written in a loud and staring form on his
breast, and also on his back. A man who wishes to
disguise himself simply turns his coat inside out, and
lo 1 he is at once transformed into a simple farmer or
a workman such as one may meet anywhere in the
streets.

This uniform consists merely of a tunic and trousers,
both of them baggy and ill-fitting. It would seem,
indeed, as though the latter had been designed to enable
the Chinese to adopt his favourite but inelegant posture
of sitting on the floor with his knees up to his chin,
whilst his arms are tightly grasped around them. Ten
minutes of this would make an Englishman so cramped
and tired that it would become intolerable to him, but
a Chinese looks upon it as the very acme of comfort.

It is a most amusing sight to see a detachment of
soldiers proceeding on some special duty, and to mark
the weapons with which they are equipped. Beside
his gun, which each soldier carries with the barrel
over his shoulder, he is provided with a fan. That it
may not inconvenience him on a march, the handle of
it is stuck a short way down his back under his clothes,
whilst the other end projects out near one of his ears.
If the day be hot, he will spread it out over the top
of his head, and wind his queue firmly around the
handle, thus keeping it in its place and causing it to
act as a shade from the powerful rays of the sun.

Another article of aliaost equal importance is his
baimboo pipe. He would as soon think of leaving
his gun behind him as that. It is to be his solace by
the way. A few whiffs now and again ease the journey
and stay the pangs of hunger when the stage is very
long. In order that it may not interfere with the free-
dom of his hands he sticks it horizontally across his
back in his waist -band.

A third very important item is his umbrella. Every
soldier who aims at respectability has one. To be with-
out one is to cast a suspicion upon the character of
the '* brave," and to lead onlookers to believe that
he is no better than he ought to be. The practical,
matter-of-fact Chinese does not believe that getting wet
axids either to his dignity or to his efficiency as a

44 MEN AND MANNEES OF MODERN CHINA

soldier, and though the umbrella is several pounds
weight, and is a clumsily made article that can neither
be stuck down his back nor thrust into his waistband,
he is prepared manfully to carry this extra burden for
the sake of the comfort it will give him in case it
should rain by the way.

And so the military party passes before us, a bur-
lesque on war played with a solemn face and without
a wink ; and yet these men are the veritable descendants
of the soldiers and warriors who, disciplined and trained
precisely as they are, by their heroism and deeds of
daring added province after province to the empire,
until to-day it is one of the most extensive in the world.

The entrance to the army is by a public examination
in the use of the sword, shield, and bow and arrow, and
in the ability to lift heavy weights. A description of
a visit to one of these may be interesting. Arrived at
the place where the men were to be examined, we found
a number of common-looking men lounging about, wait-
ing for the arrival of the examiner. By and by he came,
trotting upon a rough, shaggy pony, that looked as
if it had never been groomed in its life, and with a
long stride, supposed to be highly military, he dropped
into a chair that had been placed ready for him. One
of the candidates was then ordered, in a loud, peremp-
tory voice, to stand forth and display his skill.

He was a great, burly fellow, dressed in the ordinary
blue cotton tunic and baggy trousers. His features were
heavy and phlegmatic -looking. Good-humour and
density seemed to be the chief characteristics of the
man before us. There did not seem to be a spark of
fire about him, and the impression we got of him was
that he would bolt at the first onslaught of an advancing
foe. A sword and a shield were handed to him, and
another man, who was supposed to represent the foe,
stepped out and confronted him. This man was armed
with a longer sword than the recruit, but, as the latter
had a shield, he was supposed to have an advantage
over his opponent. At a given signal both men stood
on guard, and in a moment our recruit had become a
new man. The dull look had vanished from his face,
his eyes flashed, hidden fires that lay smouldering
behind those stolid features lighted up his countenance,

THE CHINESE MILITARY SYSTEM 45

and the inert, bovine -looking creature was at once trans-
formed as if by magic into an embryo warrior.

His enemy stepped forward warily and made a lunge
at him with the sword. With his body slightly bent,
and peering over his shield to catch the first motions
of his opponent, the recruit gripped his sword with a
nervous grasp and with a rapid movement of his shield
stopped the blow that was intended for his body.
Before his foe had time to recover himself, he had made
a violent pass at him that demanded all his dexterity
to avoid. And now both men were glowing with ex-
citement. Each one felt that this was a contest in which
the highest skill he possessed must be displayed.
Attack and defence followed each other in quick suc-
cession, and we were particularly struck with the
dexterity with which the recruit used his shield. Now
it was in front of him and then down at his feet, as a
sudden lunge had been made at his legs. A moment
after it covered his side and suddenly it flashed up to
defend his head. By and by he advanced to the
attack, and then were seen the rapid passes he could
make with his sword. Sometimes it struck straight out,
then it was trying to cleave his foe, and anon it was
making a sudden sweep upwards. We could halrdly
follow his motions, so swift were they. It would seem,
indeed, as though he had forgotten that this was only
a mimic fight, and that he felt that his very life de-
pended upon his right use of his weapons. Some parts
of this exhibition appeared exceedingly ludicrous to
us, but not so to the onlookers. They thought it a
splendid exhibition of skill, and repeated exclamations
of wonder and delight broke forth from the bystanders
at some displays of agility that seemed more consistent
with the calling of a mountebank than that of a soldier.

The candidate for military life was next handed a
bow and three arrows, and directed to shoot at a target
some fifty yards distant. He was lucky enough to send
each of them into the bull's-eye. This is required
for a pass. If he had failed he would have been dis-
missed, with the advice to go and practise and come up
again when he was more proficient.

The examiner, satisfied with regard to his skill in the
management of his weapons, gave him a final trial that

46 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

would test his physical powers. A number of large
stones were lying promiscuously about, and these he
was ordered to lift up and move about in various direc-
tions. Taking up the smallest, which must have
weighed at least fifty pounds, he poised it in the air,
and lifted it above his head with the greatest ease, show-
ing that his muscles had been hardened by previous
exercise. One by one he took up the larger stones, until
at last he was grappling with the heaviest, that was fully
one hundred pounds weight. With this he had evi-
dently got to the limit of his strength, for his face was
flushed and his body trembled under the violent effort
that was required to lift it up to the level of his face^
He had proved, however, that his strength was quite
sufficient to grapple any ordinary man that he might
meet with in battle and to lay him on his back. He was
accordingly accepted, and his name was enrolled
amongst those of the soldiers of the empire.

The examination above described is still in force
throughout China, though lately a knowledge of the
rifle has been demanded as well. In the regiments
that are drilled after the Western fashion a new system
is in force, but these are few in comparison with the
large numbers throughout the different provinces that
still cling to the methods that have been in use in China
from the very earliest times.

After the recruit has been accepted he joins the
regiment to which he is appointed, and here he finds
few of the comforts and conveniences that await the
English soldier after he has enlisted in the service of
his country. The barracks usually consist of a series
of rooms about twenty-five feet square, each of which
accommodates ten men. Five plank beds with a cover-
let to keep them warm, a rice pan for cooking, bowls
and chopsticks, several small tables, and the requisite
number of wooden forms, make up the furniture of the
room. The severest simplicity marks these soldiers'
quarters, only what is absolutely necessary for daily
use being provided by the Government.

The soldier's pay is about fourteen shillings a month,
out of which he has to provide himself both with food
and any luxuries that he may wish to indulge in. Ex-
cepting during times when he is required for reviews and

I

THE CHINESE MILITARY SYSTEM 47

for special services he is his own cook, the ten men
taking it in turns to prepare the food for the rest.
When he is off duty the Chinese soldier is vdry free from
any vexatious supervision by his officers. There is no
inspection of quarters, and no question about the cleanli-
ness either of himself or of his clothes. He is at perfect
liberty to wash every day if he chooses, and he has
equal liberty to abstain from doing so for months at
a time, a privilege of which he not infrequently takes
advantage. As for a bath, if he were to ask for one
there would be such a roar of laughter throughout the
regiment that the echoes would never die out of his
ears as long as he was with the colours.

When the men are on the march they are supplied
with food in addition to their pay, and this is provided
by the authorities along the route. A memorandum is
forwarded of the number of men that may be expected
at certain stopping-places, and the necessary quantities
of rice, salt fish, salted turnips, and bean-curd cakes
are all ready for the hungry men, who at once set to
with a will to cook the things that have been provided
for them.

The march of a body of soldiers is always dreaded
by the shopkeepers along the route, especially when
the men are on their way to meet the enemy. Discip-
line, which is never very strict, is then greatly relaxed.
The men are going to imperil their lives for the safety
of their country, and it seems to them that a little
licence may be allowed as a kind of solace to their
feelings for the dangers they are about to incur. The
shops, therefore, are laid under contribution as they
pass along, and no one dares use any force to protect
their property against these valiant defenders of their
country. On one occasion, a thousand men started from
a certain city — hatless ; when they arrived at another,
twenty miles farther on, every man had a brand new
hat, for which no payment had ever been made.
I On the arrival of the soldiers at a. place where there
are no barracks, they are usually quartered in the largest
of the idol temples. No one sees any impropriety in
this ; in fact, it is supposed to be a very proper thing,
for they come then under the immediate care of the
gods, who are now bound to use all their power to

48 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

secure them victory when they come into contact with
the enemy. Whatever opinion the troops may have
on this subject, they certainly do not pay much respect
to the gods whilst they are inmates of their temples.
They smoke opium and play cards, and swear and
quarrel with each other right in the very presence of the
gods. They litter the building, too, with all kinds of
dirt, so that, after a day or two's residence, they leave
it in the most filthy condition possible.

Their presence in any place is always a source of
terror to its inhabitants. As very often happens, the
mandarins, in providing rations for the troops, make
their own squeezes out of the business, and supply them
with insufficient or inferior provisions. The soldiers dare
not appeal to their commissariat officer, for they would
receive the severest punishment for even hinting at
the fact that the authorities had been making money
out of them. The only course left to them is to revenge
themselves upon the people who are quite guiltless in
the matter. A foray is accordingly proposed by some
of the bolder spirits amongst the men, and by and by
the quietest quarters of the town are startled by seeing
chickens with outstretched wings and open mouths flying
in terror before half a dozen wild-looking soldiers.
Small and succulent-looking pigs mysteriously dis-
appear, and their mistresses make their usual meal call
cries, but in vain, for they never wander back to their
homes again. Fruit and cakes and various kinds of
delicacies are bought on credit, without the consent of
their owners, with the promise that they will be paid on
the morrow, a day, however, that never comes round.
Later on, savoury odours rise throughout the temples
and wind their unseen ways around the wondering
idols, causing the mouths of the uncouth soldiery to
water and their eyes to sparkle with delight in
expectation of the coming feast.

The officers in the army are mainly those that have
risen from the ranks, though it is possible for men by
passing their examination to get their commissions.
The subjects are the same that the common soldier is
examined in ; but when a man goes in for a higher
rank the trials are made more difficult, and a higher
standard of efficiency is demanded. There must also

THE CHINESE MILITARY SYSTEM 49

be a certain amount of bribing to secure the goodwill
of the examining official. The officers, however, that
are most respected and at the same time most feared
are the men who have been distinguished for their
daring in front of the enemy, and who have won their
rank by such soldierly conduct as will gain the homage
of the men they command. Nearly every officer who
has risen to high position has done so by the display
of conspicuous courage and by such military talents
as have compelled his superior officers to recognise
his ability.

Some years ago, the general commanding the troops
in the region where the writer lives was an example
of this. When he was a young man he was wild
and dissipated. He refused to be bound by the
restraints of home, or submit to the ordinary rules
of society, so that he was surely drifting into that
wretched state of vagabondism that would have ulti-
mately landed him in the ranks of thieves and rogues.
In a happy moment it occurred to him that it would be
a good thing for him were he to join the army. War
was then going on with the savages in Formosa, and
men were wanted to supplement the forces there. He
was looked upon as a most acceptable recruit. He
was a finely-made man, with huge physical powers,
and just the one to stand before the sudden onslaught
of the wild men of the island, who with dishevelled
hair and ferocious aspect were accustomed to rush out
from their ambuscades in the primeval forests and
carry off the gory heads of slaughtered Chinese to their
fortresses in the mountains.

Lin was not left long to ponder over the step he
had taken. In a few days he was sent off with a
I detachment across the stormy waters of the Formosa
I Channel, and he landed on the island unconscious that
here his fortunes were to be made and his vagabond
life to be excha;nged for one of honour and renown.
His bravery was so conspicuous that he was speedily
raised to the command of ten men.

Not long after he had been promoted there was a
fierce conflict with the savages. Large numbers of
them had emerged from the forest a,nd had come down
like lightning upon the Chinese troops, who had been

4

50 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

compelled to give way. Lin, who was carrying the
flag of his company, found himself retiring before the
enemy, when all at once he discovered that in the melee
he had lost his sword. This meant disgrace and loss
of rank, and possibly even death itself when the matter
was reported to the General. Better die now, he
thought, honourably, than by the hands of the execu-
tioner. At all hazards he must regain his sword, so
without a moment's thought he rushed back right into
the midst of the pursuing enemy, and his men not
knowing the reason, but seeing the flag waving in the
direction of the foe, with the instinct of discipline rushed
back after their leader. The savages were thunder-
struck. They had considered that the Chinese were
utterly routed. These must be the reserves, they
thought, that were being brought up against them.
A panic seized upon them, and in an instant the
victorious foe was flying in the wildest disorder before
the Chinese forces. After the fight was over, Lin was
called before the General, who, in the presence of his
staff, eulogised the bravery that had been the cause of
the victory and promoted him to a higher rank. In
course of time he rose from one grade to another until
finally he was put in command of the troops in a large
and important military district.

The Chinese soldier, as he is at present constituted
and handled, is not one for whom any one can have a
profound admiration. His military education has been
such as to draw out his very worst qualities. His want
of bravery is due rather to circumstances than to any
inherent defect in his own nature. It is impossible
to conceive the idea that China has risen to be a first-
rate Eastern power, whilst its people have been abso-
lutely deficient in animal courage. What the soldier in
this land needs is properly trained men of undoubted
courage to lead him, and to be surrounded by higher
and more chivalrous influences than those that touch
him in his barrack life. General Gordon showed how
the raw material could be developed into soldiers who
by their valour and success merited the high-sounding
title of *' The Ever Victorious Army."

The Weihaiwei regiment showed by its conduct at
the capture of Tientsin from the Boxers of what stuff

THE CHINESE MILITARY SYSTEM 51

the Chinese are made. The North-China Herald, of
September 5, 1900, in referring to the battle in which
the regiment took part, says: "There has been a
great deal of prejudice against the regiment, largely
born of the conviction in many minds that the Chinese
are no good as soldiers. Certainly these prejudices
do not appear to have been justified so far. They
fought bravely and well under the walls of Tientsin.
Let it be remembered that they fought with our troops,
and on the side of civilisation and humanity at a time
when these abstractions had few friends amongst the
Chinese.

'* It has often been remarked that the Chinese only
need leaders, and the brief history of the Weihaiwei
regiment confirms this judgment. When men will
follow their officers up a long, straight street swept by
bullets, as No. 4 Company followed Captain Watson,
they cannot be hopeless as soldiers. The regiment
that can furnish a man to escort an ammunition mule
to the firing-line, who will hold on to his charge, whilst
both officers and mule are shot, only to perish himself,
is not an altogether useless regiment. Europeans who
saw the conduct of this man after Captain Ollivant had
been killed speak of a merited Victoria Cross."

In the preceding pages I have endeavoured to
describe the Chinese soldier of the empire. It is true
that a certain number of regiments have been drilled
and organised in Western methods. One who is
not acquainted with the true facts of the case is apt
to imagine that a completely new system has been
brought into operation wherever the soldier may be
found. This is a mistake. There are vast regions in
this great country where the soldier remains practically
unchanged. The men that have been winning the
battles in the present revolution have been mainly those
who have never been trained in the new system. A
vision of freedom from their hated conquerors has come
as a tremendous inspiration, and so they have fought
with a daring and a courage that have brought victory
to their standards. The new Republic will see to it that
its soldiers shall be so trained that they will be able to
defend the honour of their country before al5 comers.

I CHAPTER IV

LITERARY DEGREES

It has always been the dream and hope of nearly every
father in China that when a son is born in the family
he shall one day become a scholar. This is an ambition
that seems to spring up in his heart with the coming of
the child that has brought such sunshine into his home.
The poorest can indulge in this luxury of thought just
as freely as the wealthiest, for in China the possibilities
of wealth and honour lie not within the grasp of any
particular class of society. The student class is
recruited from every station of life, excepting those
prohibited by law. The sons of prostitutes, of play
actors, of barbers and a few others, may not compete
for any degree. Beyond these, any man may rise to
the highest honours that the State can confer, for in
theory, at least, the one royal road to distinction is
education.

The civil rulers of the country must be taken from
the scholars of the empire, and when it is considered
how many of these are required to carry on the official
duties of this immense country, it may easily be con-
ceived what an influential and powerful class they are.
The undergraduates who have failed in getting their
degrees are, of course, exceedingly numerous, and
though they have no official position, they still exercise
a very considerable influence in their own immediate
districts. They are the teachers in the schools and the
leading spirits in the villages. Their education places
them far above the common people, and in times of
difficulties with the rulers, or in their village feuds and
class fights, they are the men whose counsel is sought
and who, naturally, assume the position of leaders.
As they band together for mutual protection into

52

A MANDARIN AND HIS SON, WHO HAS JUST TAKEN HIS B.A.

To face p. 5.^

LITERARY DEGREES 53

associations, they are a very dangerous class to come
into collision with, for each man has not only the club
to which he belongs behind him, but also the men of
his own clan, who will stand by him through thick and
thin, with all the resources they have at their command.
Taken as a whole, they are ai very unscrupulous body
of men. Their wits have been sharpened by their
studies, whilst their moral sense seems to have been
paralysed during the process. They are the mortal foes
of progress, and they are the bitterest and most
inveterate haters of the foreigner, no matter to
what nationality he may belong.

There were four degrees given to successful scholars
in China:- (i) siutsai, "refined talent"; (2) kiijen^
"exalted man**.; (3) tsinsze, "advanced scholar";
and (4) hanlin, that is, a; member of the Imperial
Academy at Peking. The first is obtained at the exami-
nations held in the prefectural city to which the
candidate belongs, the second in the provincial capital,
and the last two at Peking. In the final one, the
Emperor himself is the examiner.

The scholarship that has been demanded to gain any
of the above degrees is, from a Western standpoint,
very meagre and limited in character, and would be
considered ridiculously small to our students in
England. All that has been required of them is a
profound knowledge of the Confucian classics. The
elementary subjects that every boy has to study in
our advanced schools, to say nothing of the higher
branches that are taught in our universities, were quite
unknown to the Chinese student. Mathematics,
astronomy, geometry, geology, &c., are terms that were
almost unknown to him, and as for the purely scientific
subjects that our young men and women have to study,
they had not yet entered the horizon of the scholar's
life in this country.

It must not be inferred from this that the course of
study that had to be gone through by the Chinese
student has been an easy one. In many respects it
has been a more severe one than the English lad has
to go through. He had to learn all the classics off by.
heart, together with their recognised commentaries. The
subjects are often crabbed, and always more or less

64 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

dry and uninteresting. They do not deal with human
life, but with abstract, moral, and philosophical ques-
tions. There is no play for real thought, and there is
no education of the imagination by the study of Nature.
The whole thing is a hard grind, first of all to master
the thousands of mysterious-looking hieroglyphs in
which the books have been written, and then to store
them away in the memory so that every word and phrase
in the entire book shall be so familiar that the student
shall be able to quote them accurately whenever occa-
sion demands. No English student could stand the
wear and tear and frightful pressure upon both body
and mind involved in these two things. How many a
Chinese scholar has broken down under this awful strain
and has been laid to rest on the hillside, while the
coveted honours were still in the distance, only those
who have studied this question can even attempt to
imagine.

For the examination for the first degree there were
four subjects in which a man had to pass, viz., a
poem either in fives or sevens and not exceeding sixty
words ; a metrical composition of irregular metre,
describing some famous building or object in ancient
times ; a double-barrelled essay on some quotation
from the classics ; and a discourse on any prominent
subject, either of ancient or modern times, that the
examiner may see fit to choose.

The subjects for the poem were of a suggestively
poetical character, and were such as would touch into
life the latent imagination, and cause it to burst forth
into poetry. The following were themes which have
been given in bygone examinations, and which have
been treated so beautifully and with such a true poetic
spirit running through them that they have been printed
and are studied as models by the scholars of the
country : ** Where is the bell that I hear sounding
amongst the lofty mountains? " that is, the bell from
some monastery, perched on the side of some lonely
mountain and whose sweet sounds break upon the ear
in the solitude of some lofty range. " The parting of
friends at Nanpau," referring to an incident in the life
of a famous mandarin when he was leaving the district,
over which he had ruled, for his distant home. " The

LITERARY DEGREES 55

emerald wavelets of the spring waters," in reference
to the waters that come tumbling down the mountain-
sides after the spring rains, and their emerald sheen
caught from the sun as they rush headlong down to
the plain below ; " The singing of the birds in spring " ;
*' The spring pomegranate," &c.

Many of the poetical compositions have the ring
of genuine poetry about them. They show a wonder-
ful insight into Nature, and they contain lofty flights
of imagination that would do credit to some of the
famous poets of the West. This is all the more wonder-
ful, as the Chinese at first sight looks like a man in
whose soul no poetic fire has ever burned. With his
dull, phlegmatic look and rough, unpoetic features, one
would as soon expect an exquisite description of some
charming bit of Nature from an old cow or a
rhinoceros.

The Celestial, however, is a many-sided man, and
possesses talent and resources that one would never
dream of from his stolid, inartistic looks. He has,
moreover, a genuine love of Nature, and an eye quick
to perceive her charms, and he seems to be endowed
with a special instinct to discover the beautiful in her,
and with true poetic language to reveal to others the
beauties that she coyly hides from those who have not
the artistic eye.

For the metrical composition the subjects selected
were by no means poetical in their character, but they
must follow certain well-defined laws of metre, after
the Martin Tupper style, which should take away their
prose appearance and give them the semblance of
having been written by some genius in the art of
rhyming that will ere long bud out into a full-blossomed
poet. The following are the subjects that have been
given by examiners in the past : " Describe the famous
palace of Shih Huangti, the first Emperor of China."
" Give a description of the brass peacock platform
raised during the period of the three kingdoms." This
celebrated platform was built by one of the usurpers
during the troubles that distracted China at the time
when the country was divided amongst three rival com-
petitors (a.d. 221-65), in order to enable him to see
over a long reach of country so that he might be made

56 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

aware of the coming of an enemy. Another subject that
was once given is " The Pomegranate in the Palace."
This was a celebrated tree that, during the Han dynasty,
three times a day drooped its leaves as though it had
gone to sleep and three times raised them again as
though refreshed by its nap.

The subjects of the essay were taken from the
classics, and a man could either deal with them
critically or he could evolve his own ideas from them.
The following have been selected from former examina-
tion papers : ** Hungry and thirsty " ; ** Is it not
pleasant to have friends come from afar? " ; "Is virtue
a thing remote? " ; "I wish to be virtuous and lo I
virtue is close to me " ; " Sincerity is the way of
heaven " ; *' Let compassion rule punishment."

The discourse was of a more general nature and
dealt with a wider range of subjects, stretching away,
indeed, into the remote past and coming down to the
events of the present day. One of the subjects that
was selected in days gone by was the following : " Give
an account of the burning of the classics by Shih
Huangti." This refers to the determined purpose of
that famous monarch to eradicate every vestige of the
sacred books out of the kingdom, so that they could
never be studied again. He was influenced to this
action because the scholars, who were imbued with the
teachings of these books, had been his bitter opponents
in the reforms he wished to carry out in his newly*
formed empire. Another subject was, " Describe the
Great Wall of China, and give an account of railways
and iron ships of war." This last shows the tendency
of the reforms that the present Emperor Kuang Su
initiated in 1898 and into what new paths the imperial
Examiners were led by this distinguished occupant of
the Dragon Throne.

To write out these essays and discourses there must
be a very thorough knowledge of every word contained
in the classics, as well as of those in the recognised
commentaries on them. This in itself was a most
gigantic task, and would crack the brain of any one
but a Celestial. Each character had to be learned by
itself, for it is a complete picture with a foreground
and background uniquely its own, and it had to be

LITERARY DEGREES 57

studied and mastered as though it were the only one
in the language. No mistake was allowed here. A
misquotation or the writing of a character wrongly
would cause the composition to be at once thrown aside
by the Examiner and deprive the candidate of all hope
of getting his degree.

Just imagine five or six thousand of those square
little words, with an old-world look upon their faces
as though they had come out of the Ark. They are as
dry and as sober as though they were mathematical
figures, and yet each one has its story hidden behind
those complicated dots and strokes. The student has
to penetrate within these, and with busy memory catch
the fleeting forms that flit behind them, and piece out
the tale of love and hate, of passion and murder, of
human frailties and noble purposes that lies concealed
within the folds of those mystic symbols. This in
itself is a task enough for a giant to perform.

When the student had accomplished this, the task
yet to be performed was still a mighty one. The
whole of the sacred books had to be committed to
memory, and the meaning of all the words and phrases,
that were written nearly three thousand years ago, to
be mastered so as to satisfy the conservative ideas
of the Examiners who had the power of conferring
degrees.

A first-rate Chinese scholar is a prodigious monu-
ment of the survival of brain and intellect after such a
strain as all this imposes. The books themselves are
on the whole the dryest of the dry. Human life has
been squeezed out of them as much as possible by
the old philosophers and thinkers, who do not seem
to have had a very lofty conception of ordinary and
common humanity. Their style is curt and sententious,
as though the men that wrote them had either never
studied the art of composition or were too busy to
go into details. There is neither romance nor excite-
ment in them. Noble sentiments and the highest
morality flash across their pages, but the teaching is
too much divorced from common life. We long to
hear the voices of men and women and the laughter of
children and the sound of the human voice, but we
never do. How different was the method that Christ

58 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

adopted ! His discourses are full of life, and men and
women pass before our view, and crowds flit before us,
and human joys and sorrows are portrayed in language
so simple that we feel as though we were moving amid
the very scenes that are so vividly pictured before us.

In the second degree for kajen the subjects were the
same as for the first, the only difference being that to
obtain the more advanced degree a more chaste and
classical style of composition and a more profound
knowledge of different subjects were demanded by the
Examiners. The examination for this degree was held
in the capital of the province. As many of the provinces
are of considerable extent, it often happened that some
of the men had to travel two or three hundred miles
before they could reach the city. Considering the bad
roads and the difficulty of locomotion, that meant steady
walking every day for nearly a month. But independent
of the mere physical labour involved in this there was
what is of far more importance to the scholar, viz.,
the question of expense. The most of the men were
as poor as Job or the proverbial church mouse, and
so it became a vast problem to the majority of them
how they were to scrape together enough to pay for
their food and lodging whilst they were away from
home.

Many stories are told of the sufferings that these
men had to endure in their struggle for fame who
subsequently became distinguished in the annals of
their country. An incident that took place in connec-
tion with a steep and rugged hill that lies right across
the public highway in a certain district in South China
has perpetuated the memory of one of these. The
story goes that a long time ago a very poor graduate
had gone up to the provincial capital to be examined
for his second degree. He had painfully struggled over
the two hundred miles that lay between his hamlet and
the city where his fortunes lay. He was a man of a
brave heart and strong, robust constitution, and so,
with indomitable perseverance, he travelled over moun-
tains and across streams and wound his way over
populous plains till at last he had reached his
destination.

His finances by this time had become very low, but

LITERARY DEGREES 59

he had just enough to enable him to scrape through
the nine days that the examination lasted. When these
were over his last cash had been spent and he was
left in the great city, where he did not know a soul,
absolutely penniless. Chinese benevolence to strangers,
a virtue highly extolled in the classics, is conspicuous
by its absence in ordinary common life. The man did
not dream of despairing, however, for he was a plucky,
determined fellow, and, though a man of great ability,
he was not ashamed to put his hand to any honest work,
no matter how mean it might be. He accordingly
arranged with one of the sedan-chair shops to carry
a customer that was returning to his own district.
Chair-bearers have a distinctly bad reputation every-
where in China, and consequently it showed the brave
and independent spirit of the man that he should be
willing to descend from his position as one of the gentry
to become, for the time being, one of this despised class.
The scholar had carried his fare fully one hundred
and fifty miles, up the sides of hills and along the edges
of ravines and across crowded plains, his mind all the
time full of anxious surmisings as to how the examina-
tions had turned out and whether his own name was
amongst the lucky ones or not. He had not had funds
enough to allow him to stay in the city long enough to
wait for the issue by the Examiners of the names of
the men that had passed. By this time his shoulders
were swollen and blistered with the hard bamboo poles
that had rested upon them so long, and life began to
wear a very gloomy aspect to him. He had just come
to the foot of a high and steep hill, and as he cast his
eyes up to it, it took his breath away to think that he
had to climb that with the weight of the heavy chair
pressing him to the ground. At that moment he heard
behind him the clanging of the gongs of the " B ringers
of good news," who were hurrying along at a rapid
rate, calling out the names of the lucky men who had
succeeded in passing their examinations. *' B ringers
of good news " are a class of men that get their living
in connection with the examinations. No sooner are
the names of the successful candidates put out by the
Examiners than they hasten off by forced marches to
distant homes and inform the relatives of the honours

m MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

that their friends have gained. They are easily recog-
nised, for they usually travel in companies of four, and
have gongs which they now and again strike, whilst
they shout out the names of the men who have gained
their degrees.

As these men drew nearer, he caught the sound of
his own name, and as he listened with anxious, throb-
bing heart, he heard them tell how that not only had
he passed, but that he actually stood the first on the.
list, and that therefore he was to-day the leading
scholar in the whole of the province. He was overcome
with gladness, for wealth and honours were now
certainly within his grasp, and poverty and suffering
were about to vanish out of his life. Letting down
the sedan-chair to the ground, he said, " I shall carry
no more chairs." His fare reminded him of his engage-
ment to carry him to his journey's end. After some
little demur he agreed to do so, on the condition that
an extra sum should be paid to him for the stiff hill
he was about to face. This was agreed to, and the
man with double-first honours raised the poles to his
blistered shoulders, and, with a spring in his tread
and a song in his heart, he mounted the hill as though
he had been a common coolie and not a scholar whose
fame would soon be ringing throughout the province,
and whose name would be posted up in every school
and in every undergraduate's home, not only throughout
his own province, but also in every province in the
empire. In memory of this famous incident, the chair-
bearers from that time to this drop their chairs at the
foot of this hill, and refuse to proceed any farther until
a certain sum has been promised them, in addition ^_
to their stipulated fare. ■

The third and fourth degrees were obtained in
Peking. Those who passed in these, and especially
in the last, had an honourable career before them,
and were capable of obtaining the most lucrative posts
in the empire. Whatever may have been the position
from which the men came originally, the fact that they
had passed these examinations placed them at once
in the forefront of the aristocracy of China, and the j
man that came out first in the fourth would probably
become a; Viceroy of two provinces, where he would

LITERARY DEGREES 61

have almost regal powers over a population of forty
or fifty millions of people.

But a new spirit is flashing through the Empire, and
the blood that is coursing through its veins no longer
travels to the slow tune of the vanished centuries. Like
Rip Van Winkle, the long, deep sleep of the ages is
over. The old scenes have passed away, and the vision
that the eyes of the young men and women are gazing
upon to-day will never permit them to go back to
the role of the past.

The books and themes that were sufficient for their
fathers have lost their charm. A thousand voices from
Western lands have come with the thrilling melody of
a new song, and their echoes are flying across the
great plains and over the loftiest mountains and down
the deep valleys, and a new conception of life is awaken-
ing in the souls of the people such as their greatest
poets could never sing to them. The first notes of
the song of the coming age are just being heard, and
the dreams that had seemed to have for ever died
in their hearts are once more fashioning their wonderful
imagery in them.

Government schools have been established all over
the empire, and the young lads are crowding into them.
The mystery of Western thought has touched their
imagination, whilst new continents that China never
explored in the past are now looming up before their
astonished gaze.

A new era has indeed dawned upon China. The
great Examination Halls, where often ten thousand men
sat for their examinations, stand solitary and forsaken.
Their glory has departed. Their doors swing on their
hinges at the bidding of wandering winds. Great
spiders spin their webs from their ceilings, and the
weird sounds that moan through them, one can imagine,
are the sighs of the great men that won their fame
in them, and whose spirits are mourning over the
departed glories of the empire.

CHAPTER V

THE CHINESE CLASSICS

This chapter deals with a subject that is a most ancient
one, and yet it is a thoroughly modern one, for though
the nation is beginning to turn its gaze to Western
lands and to the future for its ideals, it is an un-
doubted fact that the classics of China still exercise
a profound and most dominating influence on both
learned and unlearned throughout the country.

In discussing them, I have endeavoured to place
before my readers the position they occupy in the esti-
mation of the thinkers and scholars of to-day. That
has hardly changed at all from what it has always
been, and so I feel justified in using the present tense
in describing their history and teaching.

These famous classics have always been considered
to be the sacred books of the Chinese, though not by
any means in a theological sense. Some foreign writers
have even called them the Bible of China, thoug^h that
is giving them an honour that the Chinese themselves
have never assigned to them.

They never profess to give any answer to some of
the great problems that arise in men's hearts, neither
do they throw any light whatever on the great question
of the future. The vast majority of the Chinese people,
being unable to read, never look into their pages or
consult them on moral questions. Even the scholars
who know every word of them by heart have not found
them to meet the needs of their spiritual life. I have
known large numbers of these, and I have never met
with any of them who did not have their family idols
in their homes, which they worshipped just as the
common and the most illiterate of the people. They
are not religious books, in our sense of the term^

THE CHINESE CLASSICS 63

and are not looked upon as containing a divine revela-
tion. They contain an ethical system that has had a
tremendous influence in giving the Chinese high ideals
of goodness and morality. It is in consequence of
this that they stand pre-eminent in the estimation of
the people of the Middle Kingdom.

Other books in very large numbers abound in China,
dealing with a great variety of subjects, but not one
amongst them has the prestige or the authority of
the classics. These are the books that are held in
more than royal honour by every member of society ;
by the farmer that follows the plough, and who had
only a glimpse into them when he was a lad ; by the
coolie that earns his daily bread by the severest toil,
and who could not read a line in them, were it to save
his life, as well as by the most brilliant scholar in the
land, who has risen to fame and honour by his study
of them. There is a sense in which these books have
permeated the nation and captured the mind and the
imagination of all classes, in such a way as never
has been done hitherto, excepting, perhaps, by the Bible,
in any country outside of China. We need not be
surprised at this, when we consider what they have
been to the Chinese people. For nearly twenty
centuries they have been the only educational books
the nation has ever used. No others have been allowed
to compete with them.

It has been accepted as an axiomatic truth by genera-
tion after generation that there were no other books
that had ever been produced that were so fit to become
the school books of the nation as these. More than
a thousand years ago, the little Chinese boys woke
up at daybreak, rubbed their eyes, and caught sight
of the dim light that was chasing the shadows out of
the room. They must be up at once, for the school
doors are open, and the teacher is waiting for them,
and the sunbeams are beginning to glance through the
village, and to dart among the trees and to light up
with a touch of gold the dreary walls of the schoolroom.
The thought of the master's face with its stern frown,
and eyes out of which no sympathetic flash ever subdued
the hard, severe look in them, brings them with a jump
out of bed, and in a few minutes they are on their way

64 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

to the school. The distant hill-tops stand out brightly
in the light they have caught from the rising sun, but
the plain is still in that dreamy, undefined state that
has been left by the lingering shadows of the past
night, that seem loath to disappear before the new*
day.

As the lads hurry on to the school, others emerge
from narrow footpaths, and from under the spreading
banyan that is beginning to flash under the touch of
the morning sunbeams that seem to be making love
to it, and soon the dreary old schoolhouse rings with
the sound of a score of voices raised to their highest
pitch.

Now the books put into children's hands are the
classics. These are dry-looking and atrociously printed,
and with not a single picture to enliven the pages
throughout the whole range of them. For the first
four or five years' study of them, the lads have not
the remotest idea of what they mean, and the teacher
never attempts to explain them. They are as profound
as Plato would be to an English lad were his writings
handed to him in the original Greek, and he were left
to puzzle out the sound of the words in which they
were written .

Now, the schoolboys of to-day are going through
precisely the same routine that their predecessors did
ten centuries ago. There has been absolutely no change
either in the books or in the method in which they
are studied. No school boards have ever met and
decided that they have become antiquated, and must
be supplanted by others more modern and up-to-date.
No hint of such a thing has ever been breathed by
a living soul. To propound such a heresy would set
the nation into a frenzy of ferjnent, and send rebellion
into the heart of every student and thinker in the land.

But it is not simply in the elementary schools that
these books have reigned suprejme, undisturbed by
educational boards or authorities. They still stand
alone without a rival in the higher education of the
country. The scholar is never supposed to grow out
of them. There never comes a time when, with a
sigh of relief, he throws away the dog-eared books
that have caused him many a heartache, and says

THE CHINESE CLASSICS 65

** Now I have finished with you for ever, I am thankful
to say." No, the very same books that he woraried
over as a lad, and that he spent weary hours over as
a student, are the very same that by and by he will be
examined in when he goes up for his different degrees.
It will be his knowledge, too, of these identical books
that will raise him to honour, and place him on the
bench, and if he is very lucky enthrone him in a
Viceroy's palace, with a power that is almost absolute
in the provinces over which he may be sent to rule.

It is no wonder that these books are sacred to the
Chinese. They are not like the primers and readers that
are tossed aside and looked upon with a semi-contempt
when the man has been transformed into the learned
scholar. They will go with him to the very end of life.
Others may be read as a matter of amusement, but for
thought and study and elevation of mind, and for high
ideals there is no book that in his imagination can take
the place of the classics.

These famous works consist of nine books, which are
known by scholars by the technical term of, " The Four
Books and the Five Classics," and in our description
of them, we shall follow the order given them by the
Chinese. The first in interest and importance of the
Four Books is the Analects, or Table Talk of Confucius.
It is made up of the wise and shrewd sayings of this
distinguished sage, which were collected by his disciples
after his death. As might have been expected from
its very title, this book deals with a great variety of
subjects, many of which are introduced by inquiring
disciples who are either anxious to have their minds
enlightened about certain abstruse subjects concerning
which they are perplexed, or who wish to have the
sage's opinions regarding some well-known individuals
who were prominent in society at that time.

It is in these conversations that Confucius laid down
principles that not only showed the greatness of his own
mind, but which also have so appealed to the countless
generations of Chinese, that they have served to mould
the national thought, and to give the nation the lofty
ideals that to-day are held by all classes of people. The
whole of his teachings may be said to be condensed
into about half a dozen pages or so, that contained the

5

66 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

germ thoughts of his system. Around these cluster as
their outgrowth the ideals and purposes and springs
of noble action of the whole Chinese race, for it is to
my mind an undoubted fact that the excellences or
defects of the moral, social, or poHtical condition of
the Chinese of to-day may, in a very large measure,
be traced back to this sage and semi-divine hero of the
past. An examination of a few of these words will
prove, I believe, the truth of this statement. And the
first that I shall select is the word *' Heaven." For
some reason or other, Confucius was shy of using the
word " God," which the older sages who preceded him
were fond of employing. The word ** Heaven " had a
fascination for him, though from his own sayings, it is
manifest that he never entirely broke away from some
of the great thoughts associated with God. No doubt
the idea of his personality suffered a considerable
eclipse, though he transferred to his new term some of
the great attributes that belonged to God. Heaven was
always more to him than a merely material force, that
knew nothing of the joys and struggles of mankind.
He ever felt that he was under the constant supervision
of Heaven, and he was content, though men ignored
him and his teaching, if he were approved of by it.

On one occasion, when cast down by the thought that
his lifework had not been a success, he said to one
of his disciples, *' No one understands me." ** What
do you mean by saying that no one understands you? "
was the prompt reply. Still with his thoughts oppressed
with the sense of failure, he replied, but rather to
himself than to the question of his follower, " I have
no grievance against Heaven,^ and I have no fault to
find with men. My studies lie amongst common things,
but my thoughts rise high, and my comfort is that
Heaven understands me." Heaven to him, moreover,
was the Great Power that reigned in the domain of
morals, and to come under its displeasure was to put
man in a most sorry condition, as there was no appeal
against its decision. He has declared in a sentence
that has imbedded itself in the life and thought of the
Chinese, that when a man sins against Heaven there

* The word " Heaven " in Chinese is composed of two words which
mean "great" and "one." Heaven, then, is the Great One. jj

THE CHINESE CLASSICS 67

is none in the wide universe to whom he can appeal
beside.

The dropping of God was most unfortunate, and has
had wider consequences than he ever dreamed of at
the time. The results have been most disastrous from
a religious point of view. The knowledge of God has
almost entirely disappeared from amongst the people,
and Heaven, impersonal and undefined, has usurped his
place. It is quite true that certain attributes that can
only belong to God are ascribed to it. Life and death,
disaster and happiness, princely rank and the beggar's
lot are all apportioned out by it. Men may scheme
and devise and plot, but whether they shall succeed or
be thwarted lies with Heaven to decide. In spite of
this belief, however, Heaven is only the great vast dome
above, which rights wrong, it may be, but which never
sheds a tear and never feels a throb of pity for human
sorrow and disaster. There is no question but that
Confucius, by his frequent use of the word Heaven,
which he never attempted to define, as well as by his
advice to his disciples to be very chary of having any-
thing to do with spiritual beings, has been the means
of leading the scholars and thinkers of China to be
largely atheistic in their discussion of rehgious
questions.

Another conspicuous word in the writings of Con-
fucius is the one that means '* filial piety." It would
be quite impossible for any one who has not been
brought up in China to comprehend how this great
virtue has saturated Chinese society through the teach-
ing of this famous sage. If one were to ask what
special feature there was that marked Chinese life, and
what duty there was that was most severely demanded
from the high and low, rich and poor alike, one could
unhesitatingly answer that it was the honour that is
ungrudgingly given to parents by their children.

In travelling along the great thoroughfares of China,
one is continually coming upon magnificent arches, cost-
ing hundreds of dollars, that have been erected in
honour of some son in the neighbourhood who had been
distinguished for his reverence for his parents. No
virtue is more highly esteemed, and no failure in any
duty is more severely condemned than any shortcoming

68 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

in this. Confucius did a splendid work when, in his
conception of the home, he laid down the principle
that reverence for parents was absolutely essential not
only for its own stability but also for that of the
empire. The Chinese nation has accepted this thought
as though it were a divine revelation.

Another conception of Confucius was a stroke of
genius when, in a moment of inspiration, he drew the
picture of the ideal man, whom he distinguishes by the
name of " The Son of a king." This man is a person
of lofty principles, that dominate and regulate his life.
He never acts against the law of love,^ not even in
moments of confusion and danger. He never does
a mean or ignoble action, for the atmosphere in which
he dwells is goodness.

The figure of this ideal man is rendered all the more
striking by the picture that is given of another, who is
called " The mean man." This latter is the very re-
verse in conduct and aim to the Son of a king, and acts
as the shadow in the background to set forth his virtues
and perfections. This noble conception has done royal
service to the nation by the exquisite picture it has
given of the exalted life that every man should strive
to lead. The students of every age, in the mastering
of the classics, have been compelled to study this ideal
minutely and to scan every lineament of his features,
so that his portrait has been stereotyped upon the brain
and thought of the nation. The successive generations
of men have no doubt fallen far below the ideal that
the Son of a king represents, but it is quite safe to
say that the nation would have descended still lower hac
there been no such picture, drawn by the hand of geniusj
to supply, in however small a measure, the loss that th(
nation had suffered by the serious eclipse of God froi
its thought.

There are two other words that had a magnetic
attraction for Confucius, and around which he thre-i
the halo of a master mind. The first of these w*
" Loyalty." And the Chinese have caught the inspiratioi
of the word, and often has it stirred the sluggish surfac^
of the nation's heart, and liberated the fires that were
slumbering and smouldering below. What romance^

' See Analects Book 4, chap. 5.

THE CHINESE CLASSICS 69

in real life have there not been because of the
chivalrous ideas that it has started into life ! Men have
stood before the foe with a thousand odds against them
and never flinched nor thought of fight. Many a soldier
has stood behind the walls of a beleaguered fort, and
at the bidding of this magic word that could conjure
up such heroic thoughts, he has borne the stress of fierce
assault and slow, lingering starvation, rather than sur-
render. One man in ancient times gave his life for an
expiring dynasty, and succeeding ages, stirred by the
story of his heroism, made him a god, and to-day he
is worshipped throughout the length and breadth of the
land, because he was loyal to his sovereign.

The next word that had a fascination for Confucius
was " Sincerity," a very beautiful one, but hardly such
as one might have expected to be occupying such a
lofty position in the ethics of the nation. That the
Chinese look upon it with profound respect is undoubted.
Whenever I have h^ad occasion to appeal to it, when
some question of truthfulness was at stake, the effect
was instantaneous. The eyes sparkled as if a sudden
light had flashed into them, and the hard look on the
face softened down. The mystic influence of a thought
uttered more than twenty centuries ago by the great
sage touched something in the heart that vibrated at
once to the spell that was laid upon it. Confucius
declares that he does not understand how any man
who is untruthful can exist. It is a supreme mystery
to him. He also lays down the great doctrine that
sincerity is the royal way by which Heaven itself con-
tinually travels, and that no man's nature can be fully
developed that is deficient in this virtue. As the sage
continues to discuss the question he seems to rise in his
conception of the man who is controlled by sincerity,
for he finally asserts that he becomes the very equal
of Heaven and indeed is himself a god.

The second of the Four Books is called *' The Great
Learning," and deals with the cultivation of the
individual, the proper management of a family, the
government of a feudal State and the ruling of an
empire. The purpose of the book is thus expressed
in its opening chapter : » ** The men of ancient times,

* See Analects, chap. 2, sec. 22, Doctrine of the Mean, 20, 18, 22, 31, 3.

70 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

who wished that virtue should prevail throughout the
nation, first saw to the proper regulation of their own
States. Planning the proper regulation of their
own States, they first controlled their own families.
Desiring to control their own families, they first attended
to the purification of their own hearts. Aiming at
purifying their own hearts, they first sought to be
sincere. Wishing to be sincere, they enlarged their
knowledge. Desiring to enlarge their knowledge, they
examined into the nature of things." It is then shown
that any man who has gone persistently and honestly
through these various processes must in the end come
out a successful ruler, not only of his own small
kingdom, his home, but also of the larger one that lies
outside of it. The subsequent chapters of this book
mainly consist of the wise and pithy sayings of kings
and famous men, in order to enforce the teachings laid
down in the above quotation.

The third of the Four Books is termed ** The Doctrine
of the Mean," and was composed, it is believed, by a
grandson of Confucius. It is a most elaborate and
abstruse work, and its great object is to discuss the
nature of virtue, as exemplified in the person of the
ideal man, the Son of a king.

The fourth and last of the Four Books consists of
the writings of Mencius ' and deals very largely with
the question as to how rulers may best govern their
people in accordance with justice and righteousness.
Mencius, in common with Confucius, was no believer
in the divine rights of kings, for he held that a bad
monarch might be deprived of his throne, that his power
might be given to a virtuous one. The virtues of love
and righteousness had a special attraction for Mencius, m
and are often referred to in his works. He was also JJ
fond of discussing the subject of human nature, holding
the Confucian theory that it was naturally good. He
held that man was born for uprightness, and he en-
deavoured to prove this from the fact that four moral
qualities at least are found existing in all men : firstly,
pity, which springs from its root in righteousness ;
secondly, benevolence, which has its root in righteous-
ness ; thirdly, a reverential spirit, which springs from

* This famous philosopher was born B.C. 372 and died B.C. 289.

THE CHINESE CLASSICS 71

inherent sense of propriety ; and fourthly, a perception
of right and wrong, which is the outgrowth of an inborn
discernment that guides men into the knowledge of
good and evil. Mencius held that if men would only
allow these natural powers free play for their develop-
ment, the result would be universal goodness. The
ideal man, the Son of a king, as pictured by Confucius,
had a charm for Mencius, who has had the honour of
associating with him the ** Five Eternal Virtues," viz..
Love, Righteousness, Courtesy, Common Sense, and
Sincerity. These have passed into a proverb which is
being continually quoted by all classes of people, when
any question of right or wrong is in dispute.

Of the five classics, the first in order is the Yih
King or *' Book of Changes." This is one of the most
remarkable of the classics, d,ue partly no doubt to its
intensely abstruse character, for the mystic lines and
combination of lines which form the basis and argu-
ment of the book are supposed to contain within them
all the mysteries of cosmogony, philosophy, geomancy,
and other occult arts that perplex the most profound
thinkers and the most erudite scholars.

This work has served the Chinese, for at least three
thousand years, as a foundation for the system of
philosophical divination and geomancy which has such
an overpowering attraction for the thinkers of the
country. Its mysterious symbols and diagrams have,
however, been used for meaner purposes than the above,
for the fortune-tellers on the street, that tell men so
glibly of the good or bad fortune awaiting them in the
future, base their calculations very largely upon the
combinations of lines that seem so utterly meaningless
and absurd to the Western mind.

The second classic is called *' The Book of History."
The foundation of this book was ancient documents that
told the history of China from the Great Yau down to
the Chow dynasty, B.C. 2357-627. Many of these
old manuscripts perished during the lapse of time, but
those that survived were collected by Confucius and
edited by him. Of the eighty -one documents that came
into his possession, only forty-eight are extant at the
present day. It may be remarked that they are the only
existing sources of information that the historian can

72 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

refer to when he wishes to describe the doings of
those ancient times.

The third classic is named " The Book of Poetry."
Its influence on the national mind has been very great.
The songs or odes of which this work is composed were
no doubt ancient ballads, that, Homeric -like, were
handed down by tradition from one age to another.
They seem to have been collected by Prince Wun at
the beginning of the Chow dynasty, B.C. 1120, and to
have been set to music. What we possess now is but
a fragment of those that were originally in existence.
These poetical relics are arranged under various heads,
such as national odes, sacrificial odes, and greater and
lesser eulogiums. They never rise to anything like
sublimity. Some of them are quaint, others wanting in
the true poetic ring, and all of them deficient in that
force and passion that would stir men to heroic deeds
or to noble lives.

The fourth classic is called *' The Record of Rites,"
a book that is dear to the heart of a Chinese, for
it fully accords with the bent and genius of his mind.
It is supposed to have been written by Confucius. It
contains minute rules of behaviour for every degree
and every condition in society. How men should
conduct themselves and what should be their deport-
ment in critical cases so that they should not lose
caste by any breach of the laws of etiquette are all
stated with a minuteness that even the most obtuse
could never misunderstand.

In this " Guide to Polite Society " the sage failed
to include the fair sex. If he had lived in modern
times he might have discovered that he had many things
to learn that might have given him a broader outlook
on everyday common life than his philosophy had ever
taught him.

The fifth classic is called " The Spring and Autumn
Annals," and has been accepted as the production of
Confucius. His aim in this work was to continue the
narrative contained in " The Record of History,"
for a further period of 242 years, viz., from
B.C. 722 to B.C. 480. It is a most distres-
singly disappointing book, for it has not the least
pretensions to literary ability. The story of the virtues

THE CHINESE CLASSICS 73

and vices of certain kings is told without emotion and
without passion of any kind. A railway porter's
memoranda of the arrival and departure of certain
trains have quite as much enthusiasm as these records
of men that lived in the ancient past. The merest
outline of events is given, and the author leaves the
reader to fill up the details according to his own
imagination. The fact that the book has survived at
all is simply because of the great name of its author.
Had any other less distinguished writer produced it,
it would have been scornfully consigned to the butter-
man ages ago.

Besides these nine books that are universally received
as the classics, there is still another one written by
Confucius, called " Laws of Filial Piety," which is con-
sidered worthy of standing side by side with the above.
It contains conversations carried on between Confucius
and one of his disciples with regard to the nature
and origin of filial piety, and the various ways in which
this virtue can be carried out in ordinary life. Many
famous commentators have discussed this book, and
though the scholars of China have not looked upon it
with the same favour that they have on their nine sacred
books, yet because of its author and because of the
strong instinct of the Chinese in favour of filial piety,
they have been willing to accord it a place amongst
the classics of the country.

The Western student is apt to be extremely dis-
appointed when he first reads these books. His logical
mind looks with a semi-contempt upon the unmethodical
and scrappy way m which most of the subjects have
been treated. The principles of political economy, for
example, instead of being discussed in a profound and
logical fashion, are thrown off in a free and easy style,
during apparently casual and accidental conversations.
The ancient history of this old-world empire is treated
without the exercise of the critical faculty. Facts of
the most vital importance are recorded without any
I attempt to verify them, very much in the spirit that a
man would jot down statements in his note-book, with
the intention of enlarging and polishing them up
afterwards. Even when morality is being taught, there
is an absolute want of system, and the finest thoughts

74 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

are expressed in epigrammatic sentences and in loose,
unconnected statements that lose a great deal of their
force because of their want of logical sequence.

To the casual reader or thinker the above facts may
seem alarming, and he will naturally come to the conclu-
sion that the Chinese classics are not worthy of the
high position that they have long held amongst the
people of this empire. To do this would be a profound
mistake.

The Oriental mind differs essentially from that of
the West. The latter delights in logic, and syllogisms,
and propositions carefully reasoned out, with every step
linked together in such a way that the gradual evolu-
tion of the argument can be distinctly traced. The
Eastern mind disdains any such method as too slow
and inartistic. It revels in poetry, and in airy flights
of imagination, and in delicate touches of thought that
raise, as by an enchanter's wand, a vision of what no
merely pure reasoning would ever suggest. The classics
portray the mind of the East, and in the methods
employed to convey the highest and the profoundest
wisdom that their great sages had to teach, we realise
that they went the only way in which the nation could
be taught.

That the Chinese race has been marvellously touched
and inspired by these famous books is certainly true,
and it is all the more marvellous because the subjects
discussed are not those that usually appeal to the
passions and prejudices of a heathen people. The
Homeric ballads, for example, roused the intensest
enthusiasm amongst the people of Greece, because they
told of feats of arms and deeds of daring done by
famous warriors, that appealed to the fighting instincts
of the nation, and kindled the war spirit and set the
blood of the younger men on fire. Not one single
element of this kind exists in the classics. Their ideals
are righteousness, and loyalty, and love, and nobility
of character. The Chinese never had a divine revelation
to teach them how they were to live and die. The
classics in a human, shadowy way, and without knowing
it, are an attempt to supply the sad deficiency. The
son of a king is a noble conception, caught in some
supreme moment of inspiration. The nation, struc

1

THE CHINESE CLASSICS 75

by the beauty of the picture, has accepted it as though
it had been a divine vision, and in all the literature of
the past ages no other writer has ever had the genius
to devise a fairer one than this.

But these great classics that for many long centuries
have moulded the character of the Chinese people are
beginning to tremble on the throne on which they
have sat so long. Their supremacy is being questioned
by the new dream that has come into the brain of China.
A new Power has appeared, and a. Divine Teacher that
will lead this mighty race into a nobler conception
of even the very virtues that the sages but dimly
grasped. The great books will slowly vanish, but the
people will see a larger vision that will not isolate
them from the vast world outside, but will bring them
into a loving brotherhood with men of every clime.

CHAPTER VI

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS

The Chinese have a profound faith in education.
High and low and rich and poor are absolutely of one
mind on this point, and if a boy is not sent to school,
it is either because the parents are too poor, or because
they have not sufficient authority over him to compel
him to study. One need not be surprised at this una-
nimity of opinion, for education is the royal road to the
honours and emoluments that the State has to bestow,
and it is by means of it that the wildest ambition that
ever ran riot through a young man's brain can ulti-
mately be satisfied. In the West there are many ways
by which a man may rise to eminence, and finally
occupy a prominent position as a Member of Parlia-
ment, or as holding some office under Government that
will bring him before the notice of the public. In
China they are all narrowed down to one, and it is the
one that leads from the schoolhouse.

It is not to be inferred that because a person has
never been to school therefore every chance in his
favour of rising in life is placed beyond his reach.
Every avenue is opened to him but one, and that one
most coveted by every man in the empire. A man
of no education, for example, may enter into business,
and everything he touches may turn into gold. He
may buy houses and lands and become famous for his
wealth, and his reputation as a millionaire may extend
beyond the limits of his own country ; but after all
he continues to be only a tradesman, and he may
never step within the charmed circle of the aristocracy,
or be addressed by a title that is given to the poorest
scholar in the land.

The graduate, on the other hand, though he may

76

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 77

be as poor as the proverbial church mouse, and though
his father may be a labouring man, and he himself
may be a person of such poor abilities that he can
hardly earn enough to keep body and soul together,
can hold his head higher in the estimation of the
public than the merchant who is rolling in wealth.
It may be confidently asserted that every schoolboy
carries in his satchel a possible viceroyship when he
will be the ruler of two provinces, perhaps, and where,
untrammelled by parliaments, he may rule over twenty
or thirty millions of people with a power that is not
often questioned even by his sovereign.

Is it any wonder then that the land has been covered
with schools, and that without any enactment of the
Government, or any aid from the State, these have been
found not only in the crowded cities where the popula-
tion is dense, but also in every village that is not too
poor to pay the salary of the teacher? The people
have been so accustomed for ages to make their own
educational arrangements that there is not the slightest
danger of their falling through or being neglected. As
there is no government education board to see that the
education of the children of the country is provided
for, the elders or leading men of a village or of a
particular district in a city have met together, towards
the close of the year, to discuss the question of next
year's school. They have also to canvass the parents
and find out how many boys are likely to attend it, and
how much they will be able to pay during the year in
order to secure a sufficient sum to induce a com-
petent teacher to accept their invitation to take charge
of it. These points having been ascertained, the next
step was to look out for a schoolmaster. This was the
most difficult part of the whole proceedirig and one
that was attended with the most serious consequences,
both to the scholars and to the members of the com-
munity. It might happen that the village or the locality
might be able to supply the man, and if his character
had been sufficiently tested to permit of his being
engaged, everything would run smoothly during his year
of office. Should no such person be available, inquiries
had to be made in other places, where teachers were
known to exist, and after endless talk and recommenda-

78 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

tions and secret investigations into the moral and
literary qualifications of a certain scholar, he was
engaged for the vacant office. Whe;n once that had been
done, the thing was settled for a year, beyond the
power of any one, excepting the teacher himself, to
break the engagement. The laws of the Medes and
Persians were vacillating compared with laws in exist-
ence in China ; should any attempt be made to get rid
of a teacher when once the agreement has been made,
it would make the shade of Confucius shudder in
dismay. And now we will suppose that the school year
was just beginning. It was the seventeenth of the
first moon, about the middle of our February. The
winter holidays were just over. The festivities and
gaieties that had ushered in the new year had ended
and the nation was beginning to plan for the serious
work of the coming year. The Feast of Lanterns,
that only two days ago filled everybody with excite-
ment, and illumined the homes and the streets with
lanterns of every possible description and device, had
become a thing of the past. Trade, commerce, and
education that had been laid aside in honour of the
new year had once more to be taken up by the people.
In anticipation of the opening of the scholastic year,
the elders of the village had made all arrangements
for the reception of the scholars. Let us enter and
see what kind of a provision China has made for its
future scholars, and high mandarins, and famous vice-
roys who are to be the rulers of the country in the
coming years, for in this building we have a fair sample
of every other schoolhouse in the empire. The Chinese
do not believe in new-fangled notions, and to have
anything but one style of schoolhouse would conflict
with the national ideas of the fitness of things. It
contains but one room and this is bare and unattractive
in the extreme ; there is not one single element of
comfort about it. The floor is an earthen one, unswept
and untidy-looking, with miniature hills and valleys
spread over its surface, made by the restless feet of
the lads who studied here last year. The walls, instead
of being adorned with maps and scrolls, are absolutely
black with grime and dirt. The only pictures that
can be seen upon them are the huge splashes of ink

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 79

that have been flirted there by the incipient artists of
the future. No attempt of any kind has been made to
do away with the accumulated dust that lies thickly
upon them, nor to disturb the spiders which com-
placently weave their webs in the corners, quite confi-
dent that they will never be disturbed any day during
the year.

It had never entered into the thought of any one that
the place would look more pleasant for a little white-
washing and that the boys would begin their studies
with more hopeful hearts if the room could only be
made to look a little more cheerful. The civilisation
of China has never yet introduced such aesthetic
thoughts into the school-life of its children, and the
hand of woman with its gracious touch awaits a further
development in national sentiment before it will be
permitted to soften down the terribly Spartan look
of the rooms where the youth of this land spend the
early years of their young lives.

There are only two windows in the room, common,
rough-looking ones, 2|- feet in height by 2 feet in
breadth, with upright slender wooden bars in the centre
to keep the thieves out and let the light in. Through
these the summer breezes play, and the winter storms,
in dull and mournful tones, speak of the passion that
is rending their hearts. The one compensation for
this miserable, forlorn-looking place is the view that
one catches through the open door, and in a less degree
through the narrow windows. A huge banyan-tree,
with its magnificent boughs and countless branches,
and its forest of unfading deep-green leaves, that stands
a few score of yards away, is a vision that makes one
forget the dingy room, with its blackened walls and
uneven mud floors and its atmosphere of grime and
dust. It ought to be a perpetual source of pleasure
to the lads who have to spend the best of the year
here, for it seems so very human in its varying moods
and changes. At one time it seems cheery and light-
hearted, as the great sun floods it with a blaze of sun-
light. At afiother it is sombre and dispirited as the
shadows flit over it and take the brightness out of
its leaves and the merry twinkle out of its branches.
Again, too, when the storm is raging it would seem

80 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

as though the passion that lay slumbering in its heart
had at last burst forth, and, reckless of consequences,
would show the world what hidden power was stored
up within it. Whatever dullness there may be in the
school, the tree, at least, is determined that there shall
be none in connection with it.

As the time draws near for the opening of the school,
the scholars begin to assemble. They are of all sizes
and ages, from seven or eight up to seventeen or
eighteen. Some of them are little fellows who have a
shy and frightened air about them, as though they were
doubtful as to how they would get on in the school.
Others, again, are full pf life and spirit, and their
black eyes flash with the fun that is racing through
their hearts, and the jokes they make and the horseplay
they indulge in are thoroughly typical of the schoolboy
genus all over the world. In looks they do not compare
favourably with a similar set of English lads. They
are of a rougher and less refined type, and there is
not a single gentlemanly-looking boy amongst them.
They all have the appearance of belonging to the very
lowest class. This is not really the case, however.
That they look as if they belonged to the humbler
classes is mainly due to the wretched, uninteresting
clothes that the Chinese wear. In the case of these
boys, these consist of loose trousers and just as loose
and ill-fitting a coat, made of homespun dark blue
cotton cloth, on many of them showing signs of wear.
They are all made of one identical pattern, evidently
by their mothers, and without any attempt to make
them set off the person. They have been made on
such a liberal pattern that boys of about the same
size could easily exchange garments without their ever
suspecting that they were not wearing their own clothes.
Another reason, no doubt, for their anything but aristo-
cratic appearance is due to the fact that the Chinese
face has few elements of beauty in it. The high cheek-
bones, the large mouth, the almond-shaped slits out
of which the small black eyes twinkle, and the yellow
skin over which no ruddy colour ever passes, all tend
to give a common, unassthetic look to the great mass of
people that one meets with in ordinary life.

Each boy has provided himself with a small oblon

1

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 81

table, with two drawers in it for his books and papers,
and a high wooden stool on which to sit. As they rush
into the empty room each one selects the particular spot
in it which catches his fancy, and so in the course of a
few minutes the place is furnished and twenty boys
are seated in the identical spots they are to occupy
during the rest of the year. They seemed to us to
be very much crowded, for, according to all Western
sanitary ideas, the room was not large enough to accom-
modate one-half of their number if health was ib^^y
consideration. This fact, however, gives the lads no
concern. Discomfort seems the normal condition of
the Chinese. Impure air, slovenly, filthy surroundings,
horrible smells, hard benches and chairs that are a
torture are all things that form part of the every-day
life of the people of this vast empire. The boys, there-
fore, see nothing incongruous in having to study in
a room that would soon place the same number of
English boys in the hands of the doctor.

In the midst of the noise and babel of voices caused
by the lads settling down into their places the teacher
walks in from a room leading into the schoolroom,
which is to be his home whilst the school is in session.
There is an instant hush, and twenty pairs of eyes are
fastened upon him with an intense and eager gaze.
Every lad is trying to take his measure and see what
sort of a man he has to deal with. Will he be severe
or will he be kind? Will the hours pass by in torture
whilst they are in his presence or will he be generous
in his treatment of them, so that study shall be a real
pleasure to them? These are the questions that flash
through their young brains, and, though the man's face
is sphinxlike, they have still penetrated enough to have
caught a glimpse of what the possible answers may be.

The teacher takes his seat at a table that has been
already placed for him by the elders of the village.
On it are a large-sized inkstone, a diminutive earthen
vase for the water with which to rub his ink on the
stone, a very small brown teapot, and two or three
Lilliputian teacups. Lying in a conspicuous place on
it there is also a good stout, broad bamboo rod, which
the scholars recognise as something specially belong-
ing to them, and whose acquaintance they will not be

6

82 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

long in making after the school has fairly got under
weigh.

The man upon whom the eyes of the nervous, anxious
lads are fastened does not utter a sound, neither does
the ghost of a smile light up that impenetrable coun-
tenance of his. There are no cheery words for the
boys, and no token that his heart has been moved by
the sight of so many young faces before him. To
show any sign of human interest in them, or to let them
see that his heart has one grain of sympathy for them,
would run right in the teeth of all the traditions of the
past, and would be a mark of weakness that might
endanger his authority over his pupils for the whole
year.

His first duty is to classify the boys, see what books
they have read, give them their lessons, and send them
to their seats to learn them. All this is done with a
severity fit to awe the hearts of the bravest. Let us
for a moment glance over their shoulders at those
strange, old-world-looking word pictures that have such
a mysterious look about them and try and find out what
they are studying. Chinese school-books are perhaps
amongst the driest, mustiest, and crankiest that were
ever put into the hands of schoolboys. The question
whether they would ever interest or amuse them was
never for one moment considered by their authors.
There is no humour in them, nor a spark of wit. They
are of the dullest and most dead-level description, and
their great merit seems to consist in the fact that they
will never by any chance bring up the ghost of a smile ^M
upon the face of the funniest or most laughter -loving^!
lad who studies them. The Western method of
beginning with such words as " cat " and " dog " is
considered too puerile to be adopted in this land of
great scholars and sages. Instead of that, the boy of
eight or nine begins his literary career with a book
that is concerned about a most profound and ethical
question. It is called " The Three Character Classic,"
because it is composed of a series of sentences, each
consisting of three words. Its first statement is a very
dogmatic one, and that says " Man by nature is
originally good." This has given rise to two schools
of thinkers, one agreeing with it and the other dissenting

SCHOOLS AND [SCHOOLMASTERS 83

from it. Just imagine an English boy of ten, instead
of the breezy Httle stories and beautiful pictures to
illustrate them with which he passes his day in the
school, having to discuss some profound metaphysical
question like the above, and it will be understood how
dreary and monotonous are the early days of a Chinese
schoolboy's life.

The ancient classics of China are next put into the
hands of the pupils. These all deal with questions of
how to govern a nation, with metaphysical subtleties,
with profound ethical disputations, and with a host
of other things that are more suitable for grown-up
men to consider than schoolboys. That this is so is
proved by the fact that the most advanced scholars of
China spend all their lives in the exclusive study of
these very books. The Chinese pupil, therefore, is
much to be pitied. He has no joy in his books, but
one eternal grind in his endeavour to imprint upon his
memory the badly-printed words that seem to blot and
smear the page. These never suggest anything that
has to do with ordinary common life. They are always
solemn and sedate, with square, shrivelled-up -looking
little faces, as though laughter and fun and smiles were
a crime against which they were bound to protest. No
children's faces ever peer out of their pages, and no
merry sounds ever echo from them. Such stories as
*' Jack and Jill, ** Jack and the Beanstalk," or '* The
House that Jack built " never light up the black eyes
of these laughter-loving lads with a sense of the ridicu-
lous. The fact of the matter is, the Chinese have
always legislated for grown-up people. No writer for
two thousand years has ever written for the young.
No artist of any standing has ever dreamed of painting
pictures that would give them pleasure or that would
depict child-life, and no scholar has ever thought of
suggesting a series of school-books that might be easy
and interesting. The consequence is that the same
books have been used in every school throughout the
empire, without pictures and without any illustrations
whatsoever. They are usually printed on the flimsiest
kind of paper in a type that is crowded and indistinct,
and with paper covers that easily become dog-eared
and disreputable -looking.

84 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

Let us come back to the boys who have taken their
seats at their tables. The lessons have been assigned,
each boy is in his place, and the master, with a cold
and severe frown upon his face, is preparing copies for
them to write by and by. We, of course, expect the
most profound silence to reign in the room, but we soon
get disabused of that idea. All at once, to our surprise,
a thin, shrill voice is heard piping from one of the
corners of the room, and almost at the same instant
a deep bass sends forth its notes from an opposite
direction. One by one others join in until there is not
a single voice in the room silent, but every one, at the
very highest pitch of voice that his throat can utter,
is screaming out the words of his lesson. To us there
is no harmony in the combined sound, for every lad
acts quite independently of every other, and screams
out at his own pitch the particular words he wishes to
imprint on his memory. The Chinese, on the other
hand, look upon these vocal calisthenics of the young
pupils as one of the finest things connected with their
school system, and people from the outside listen with
the keenest delight to the confused and unmusical out-
burst of the lads, as without any harmony or rhythm
they strive to perpetuate the sounds that started twenty
centuries ago in the dawn of Chinese history.

It seems to me that the Chinese system of education
is about as trying and as uninteresting as it is possible
to make it. In the first place, the hours are too long.
The little fellows may be seen about six in the morning
wending their way with their books in their hands to
the schoolhouse, where the master is already waiting
for them with that severe look upon his face, as though
he had never learned to smile. They continue to study
till about eight, when they go home for breakfast. An
hour hence they must be back again, and, seated on
their high stools, they must be roaring out the antique
sounds with a twang of past centuries in them till mid-
day, when they are once more released for dinner.
After duly shovelling down their throats the orthodox
number of bowls of rice with their chopsticks, and
swallowing diseased cabbage and disgusting-looking
snails and slugs that have been browned in the frying-
pan, they return once more to their stools, where they

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 85

continue the roaring process of the morning until the
evening shadows begin to creep under the high banyan-
tree and into the schoolroom, where they put out the
sunlight and play tricks with the little picture words,
so that they cannot be distinguished in the deepening
twilight. Then the school is dismissed, and by
the time they have had their evening meal it is
bedtime.

In the next place, the very nature of their early
studies puts a difficulty in their way that absolutely
prevents them from enjoying them. When the books
are first put into the hands of the scholars they see
before them a series of pictures made up of certain
strokes of the pen, each one with its own distinctive
marks that give it its individuality. Each picture stands
absolutely alone. No connecting link binds any one to
another or gives the least hint of what any one means.
The cuneiform figures on an Assyrian inscription
are transparently plain in comparison with these
Chinese cryptic pictures that form their written
language .

Now, the teacher never dreams of telling the lads
the meaning of these little square-faced words. They
simply tell the name by which each is called. It is
supposed to be the precise one that was given to them
by the great scholars and sages who invented them.
This, of course, is entirely fanciful, for the original
sound has been lost in the passage of the centuries,
and in thousands of districts throughout the empire to-
day the names that are given in each vary from those
given by all the others. It will thus be seen that the
names are entirely arbitrary, and give no indication
whatever of the meaning of the words to which they
are applied. This process of learning the sounds of
the words only continues for four or five years, until
all the recognised books taught in the schools have
been read through. It may easily be imagined how
dull and dreary the years must be in which only sounds
are learned, and not a single fresh thought is being
conveyed to the growing intelligence of the pupils.
After the students have passed through this literary
treadmill, the teacher begins to explain the meaning of
all the pictures they have learned ; and now the books.

86 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

instead of being filled with weird and mysterious
symbols that suggest no thought, and give no sugges-
tion to the mind, are replete with life. They speak
in solemn tones, it is true, but it is the human voice that
is now heard and that always has an attraction about
it. The voices they hear are those of men that lived
thousands of years ago, and as they try to catch their
echoes it would seem as though some invisible link
bound them to the past, so that in future their ideals
are for ever inextricably bound up with the men whose
thoughts mastered them when they were boys at
school.

During the years that the lads spend their time amid
the clash of sounds — each one brief but most inhar-
monious, and containing no germ thought that might
appeal to their imagination, so as to lift them up now
and again into the region of romance — the long hours
must pass with leaden feet. There is no change of
studies to lighten the monotony, and no recess when
the whole school is let loose to shout and romp and for
ten minutes to forget the drudgery and confinement of
the hot, close room. The only possible relaxation is
the permission for each boy to go outside for a minute
or two, but only one at a time. On the master's desk
lies a small bamboo token ; any boy is at liberty to
go up and take it whenever he wishes to have a rest
from the weariness of the schoolroom. He places it
on his ov^m table till he returns, when he restores it to
its original place on the desk. The teacher can thus
see at a glance who is out and how long he has been
a^bsent, and so there cannot be any undue skulking
by any one. In the vast majority of the schools the
teacher keeps a tight hand upon the boys and carries
out a most stern and rigid discipline. The punishments
are mainly for idleness and for not learning the lessons,
for it is very rarely that discipline has to be exercised
for disobedience or for refractory conduct during school
hours. In chastising the most popular instrument is
the bamboo rod that lies prominently on the teacher's
desk. A lad who does not know his lesson is made to
hold out his hand, when a number of strokes is given
that usually makes him howl with pain. Another plan
is to make him kneel on the ground until he has

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 87

mastered his lesson ; or he is made to stand on a foot-
square tile, with no liberty to move either of his feet,
until walking up to the teacher and turning his back
towards him he can recite his lesson without a
mistake.

With regard to the teachers there is, as might have
been expected, a great variety of characters. They
constitute what are called the gentry of the country,
and are most tenacious of their rights. They are proud
and haughty, intensely conservative, and mortal foes
to everything that is not Chinese. From an English
standpoint, they are grossly and hopelessly ignorant ;
for their education has never embraced any of the
liberal arts, nor even such elementary subjects as
arithmetic, geography, or general history. The only
one branch in which they have been thoroughly trained
are the standard classical books, that are the product
of the sages who lived more than twenty centuries ago.
These they can repeat word for word by heart, together
with the recognised commentaries on them.

These works have developed certain lines of thought
that have quickened the intellect of the learned, but
their education has been so narrow that they know abso-
lutely nothing of other studies that are familiar to our
more advanced schoolboys in England. Every teacher
is a king in his own school and will brook no inter-
ference or reproof from any one for his conduct of
it. Should any person have the hardihood to express
his displeasure at anything he has done, he has simply
to complain of him to the nearest mandarin, who will
squeeze him so unmercifully that he will be glad to
humble himself in the dust and pay a good round sum
with which to solace the teacher's wounded feelings.
These remarks apply to the profession generally, even
to those members of it who most disgracefully mis-
behave themselves and who utterly neglect their duties
to their pupils. A man, for example, will teach a few
days and then go on the spree. He will absolutely
neglect his school and stay away for days and even
weeks without once putting in an appearance. Most
of the boys are, of course, delighted at this, but the
parents are full of indignation, which they are careful,
however, not to express so as to reach the teacher's

88 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

ears. The man may continue this conduct the whole of
the year, so that he may have taught only a few weeks
during the course of it, and yet the full amount of salary
must be paid him and the elders must part from him
at the close of the year with profuse compliments, just
as though he had fulfilled every duty and had been a
model teacher. The only hold that people have on
such scamps is the evil reputation these men get,
which will deter people from employing them in the
future .

There is one class of scholars in China that is peculiar
to the country. The men belonging to it go by the
name of the "Strolling scholars." They are all able,
clever men, but they are absolutely without any moral
character. They are the waifs and strays that float
about society, and are a disgrace to the learned pro-
fession. They are very generally opium -smokers, a
habit that disqualifies them for any steady work, whilst
at the same time it demands a constant supply of
money to ward off the pains and penalties that it
makes its victims suffer when the craving is upon them.
As they earn no regular salary, and are absolutely
without private funds, they, make it a practice to stroll,
round the country, and visit all the schools they come
across. An unwritten law compels the teachers of
these to invite them to take a meal with them, or, if
it be late when they arrive, to spend the night with
them, and when they, leave to present them with a small
sum to carry them on their way. The generality of
teachers are in dread of these prodigals, as they are
so unprincipled and without conscience that they never
know what mischief they may be up to, or what
nefarious schemes they may be planning to wring money
out of them. If the schoolmaster be a strong man
and a good scholar, he has nothing to fear. If, how-
ever, he be a man of only moderate abilities, and
inferior scholarship, he is sure to be fleeced. For
example, one of these strollers enters a schoolhouse
during the time that lessons are going on. He sees
at a glance that the teacher is a poor fellow, and no
match for him. He at once assumes a stern and dis-
pleased air, and says : " You have no right to be the
instructor of these boys, for you have not the learning

SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS 89

that would qualify you to teach them. I propose to
examine you to see if you are fit for your post, and
if not you shall at once vacate it, and I shall take charge
of the school. The better man ought to be here,
and we shall at once decide whether he be you or
L" It may be confidently afSrmed that no such free-
and-easy action could take place in any other country
except China. The efifect upon the poor teacher is
most marked. He knows that he could not for a
moment compete with this clever scamp, and so he
hastens to come to terms with him, and buys him ofif
with a good round sum. The stroller departs with a
grim smile upon his leaden-hued visage, and chuckles
in his heart whilst he makes straight for the first opium-
den, where, amidst the reek and fumes of the drug,
he gradually falls asleep thinking of the clever way
in which he has been able to raise the wind for his
present carouse.

The school system that I have been describing still
exists, to a very large extent, in the villages through-
out the land. The Government schools have, so far,
been established mainly in the cities and prominent
market towns. Lads ambitious of gaining their degrees
and of thus being qualified to take of^cial positions
under the State, flock into them, as do also pupils for
any other reason who can afford to pay the largely
increased fees that are demanded from them.

Very many parents could not alTord to send their
sons to them, whilst others who desire only sufficient
education to fit them to become business men, are
quite content with the old system in which they them-
selves were trained.

There is no doubt but that in time the influence
of the new learning will extend to all the common
schools throughout the empire, but it will take a good
many years to do that in such an extensive country
as China. Under the new republic the State schools
will no doubt develop more rapidly and on better lines
than was possible under the old voluntary system, where
the Government took no steps for the education of the
children of the nation. It must be understood, how-
ever, that China, taken as a whole, is still carrying.
on the system of education that has been in existence

90 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

during the past ages. How, indeed, could it be other-
wise? It will take long before men trained to teach
the new educational methods can be obtained for the
countless schools throughout the empire. These must
remain very much as they have always been until
sufficient teachers are available.

CHAPTER VII

ANCESTOR WORSHIP

If we were to search through every class of society
in China for the one spiritual force that influences and
dominates them all, we should find it to be ancestor
worship. There is no other in the region of belief
that would take its place for a moment. A man, for
example, may worship the idols or not ; he may profess
a belief in them or he may express his utter scepticism
about them, and no one cares a button what he thinks.
Let a man, however, neglect the worship of the dead,
and he is looked upon with the utmost scorn, both
by his own kindred and also by his neighbours. The
bitterest taunt that the Chinese can hurl against the
convert to Christianity, and the one that stings him
most, is the sneering statement that he has no ancestors.

This worship dates back to the very earliest times
of Chinese history. Confucius, in his *' Record of
Rites," lays down minute rules as to the etiquette that
should be observed in its performance. It would seem,
however, as though its character has materially changed
since his time. Then, the services in the ancestral
temples were simply memorial ones, in order to keep
alive the recollection of the loved ones who had passed
away and to prevent their memory from fading out
of the minds of the living.

During the centuries that have elapsed since then,
a great many accretions have been added to the original
idea. Men after a time began to believe that the
founders of their clans, though dead, possessed great
power in the land of spirits, and that they could control
the lives and fortunes of their kindred on earth. With
the gradual growth of this belief, faith in ancestor
worship struck its roots deeper and deeper into the

91

92 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

hearts of the nation. Since the prosperity or adversity
of the clan depended upon the dead father of the race,
it became an article of prime importance that regular
worship should be paid to them, and that the bond
that bound the living and the dead should never be
snapped even for a moment. The idea of kindly recol-
lection of the dead has vanished, and men keep up
the worship of them now simply because they fear
that if they neglect them, decay of fortunes and sorrows
innumerable will fall upon the homes of their posterity.

The Chinese theory is that a man has three souls.
When he dies one of these goes into the " Dark World,"
where, it is believed, it finds a state of things very
similar to that which it left in this life. The popular
ideas, however, on this subject are very vague, and
will not bear pressing too closely, but there is a
general conception that the other world is a counter-
part of this, only its conditions are of a decidedly
inferior, and less cheerful, character. A second soul
remains in the tomb, whilst the third enters the ancestral
tablet, and it is with these two last that ancestor worship
is entirely concerned.

If the man be a chief of his clan, his tablet is
placed in the ancestral temple amongst those of the
distinguished men of his kindred, but if he be an
ordinary individual, it is put in some convenient place
in his old home, where it is cared for by the friends
who mourn his loss. The spirit in the grave is wor-
shipped once a year in the spring, at the festival called
the Feast of Tombs. In some respects this ceremony
is one of the most interesting sights that one meets
with in China. The hills and mountains that abound
in the southern part of the empire are the favourite
places where the people like to bury their dead. This
is not entirely from an sesthetic point of view, but
simply because the fengshul there is believed to be
so powerful that it will combine with the efforts of
the dead ancestors in sending down blessings upon
the living descendants.

It is the custom at the Feast of Tombs for nearly
the whole population to turn out and visit their family
graves on the hillsides. The husband and the wife and
the little ones troop out with happy faces for their

I

ANCESTOR WORSHIP 93

joyous expedition to the hills. It is an annual picnic
that, for the youngsters at least, has a fascination and
a charm that have put sunshine into their lives for
weeks before. The man carries a hoe and his wife
sundry good things in a basket that are to serve both
as offerings to the dead and as the feast that they
will all, by and by, partake of when the service is
over.

The appearance of the mountains at this time is
a highly picturesque one. They are bathed in floods
of sunshine that steep them with a glory that dazzles
one to look upon. And see how beautifully they are
fretted and veined with shadows., Here a monster cliff,
projecting from the face of the mountain, paints a
dark picture of itself on the glowing canvas ; whilst
there light and transparent shadows of the passing
clouds travel over the sunlit face of the hill and add
the grace and charm of variety to it. The grass,
amber-hued, dyed by the winds that sung and sighed
amongst it during the winter months, seems to be look-
ing piteously for the spring rains to flash the green
back again into it ; whilst the hills, that one can see
in the distance, appear dusky red when viewed through
the hazy glory of the fiery rays of the sun.

The figures that move in and out the thousands of
graves that dot the face of the hills give them a warm
and living look. The men and women in their dull
blue cotton clothes seem like delicate shading in the
fierce light by which they are enveloped ; whilst the
girls in their white cotton dresses, trimmed with shades
of pink and crimson, act as a silver lining to the
shadows that now and again mingle with the sunlight.
The picture produced by fiery sun, and fleecy clouds,
and figures moving amongst the lights and shadows on
the hillsides is one full of poetry, and suggestive of
thoughts that carry one away from dull earth to a land
of romance.

When the family arrives at the grave, the father uses
the hoe he has brought with him to repair the damage
that the rains and storms of the past year have done
to it. .Whilst he is trimming it and returfing the mound
that has lost its shapely roundness, the wife and girls
are placing the offerings of food on the stone slab in

94 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

front of it, ready for the hungry spirit within to satisfy
the long fast of the year. Wihen all these preliminaries
have been gone through, the father, as the high priest
of the family, stands erect in front of the grave, and
with hands uplifted and pressed together he addresses
the spirit : " Your children have come to-day with
offerings of food. .We are poor, or we would have
brought you a richer repast than what we have spread
before you. Come, we pray you, and disdain not the
simple food, but partake of it, and so show that you
love us as you did before you left us for the dark
world."

He then goes on to tell the dead how the family
is : ** We have not prospered during the past year.
We have had losses in the business. Sickness has
visited our family, and we can only just manage to
drag through life, though we all work hard and use
the utmost economy in the home. We look to you to
save us in the future. Remember our kinship, and use
your power to bless us with prosperity. Listen to
us, our father, and cheer the hearts you still love by
rescuing them from poverty and disgrace."

After this formal worship of the dead, the good
things that have been left over by the now satisfied
spirit are eaten by the hungry family. The eyes of
the girls glisten as they look at the cakes and the
cold fowl and the luscious fruits that hunger, stimu-
lated by the mountain air, invests with a charm they
could not have had in the frowsy old town from which
they have just ascended, at the foot of the hills. What
a splendid day they are having ! There is not a cloud
upon the face of any one of them, but the dainties
disappear amid laughter and jokes and pleasant co
versation that make the time fly.

At length the afternoon begins to wane. The s
has gone down behind a distant mountain, and a t
light has crept into the air and dimmed its richnes;
The shadows, too, lengthen, marching as it were out
of the night, and quenching the golden hues that have
touched the landscape with their glory. The crowds
upon the mountain-side now begin to dissolve. The
varied stories of the past year, with their tragedies
and comedies, have been rehearsed in the hearing of

ties

I

ANCESTOR WORSHIP 95

the dead, and with last lingering looks at the mounds
that contain the ashes of those they, love, they wend
their way to the plain beneath. For another year the
solitude will be unbroken, excepting by the foot of
the passer-by, and all that will be left to care for
them will be Nature's kindly hand, which will strive
to repair the damage done by storms and rain and
sunshine by covering them with grasses and wild
flowers.

The spirit in the tablet ^ in the home is worshipped
twice a year, with very much the same ceremonies as
that in the grave. The greatest honours are reserved
for the spirits of the founders and chiefs of the clan,
whose tablets are placed in a large building called the
Hall of Ancestors. These are worshipped in the spring
and autumn by all the members of the clan that can
possibly attend. A description of an actual service will
give the reader some idea of the important place it
occupies in the estimation of the Chinese, and the hold
it has upon the imagination and faith of the worshippers .

The hall where the ceremonies are performed is a
large, substantial building, capable of holding six or
seven hundred people. It is massively built, and is
in excellent repair, thus contrasting favourably with
the idol temple near by, that is in a forlorn and some-
what dilapidated condition, well in keeping with the
generality of such buildings.

It is a notable day this, for it is the autumn festival,
and the clan will assemble to worship the spirits that
are supposed to hold the honour and prosperity of
every member in their keeping. Crowds of men, with
newly-shaven heads and queues beautifully plaited, are
buzzing about like bees. It is evidently a gala day
with them, and a feast must be in store to give them
such a happy, joyous appearance. Their faces are
suffused with smiles, their black eyes sparkle, and
laughter is heard from groups here and there where
some amusing subject is being discussed.

* The ancestral tablets are oblong pieces of wood about six inches in
length and two and a half in width. The names of the deceased are
inscribed upon them and their spirits are supposed to reside in them.
Foods of various kinds are offered to them, but the real eaters are the
men who make the offerings.

96 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

It is a most respectable -looking gathering, for the
shabby every -day working clothes have been discarded
and they have put on their best. A few, in honour of
the occasion, are dressed in semi-official garments, and
the change in them is amazing. Here is one man so
transformed that we cannot recognise him. He is a
farmer, and to see him in his fields one would consider
that he was a superior kind of beggar, who by mistake
had wandered from his calling and had turned a worker.
To-day in his handsome dress, his mandarin-looking
hat, and his upright and dignified carriage, one would
easily mistake him for a petty official. Another man
looks like a prince, so gorgeously is he robed, and yet
on other days, when you meet him in his own house,
he wears the shabbiest clothes, and will show you
with a look of pride in his eyes a worn-out-looking
coat that he has had in use for more than thirty
years .

Suddenly at a given signal the hum of conversation
dies away, and the broad, good-humoured faces become
sober, whilst ten venerable -looking men, wearing official
hats and with long white robes that hide a multitude
of sins beneath, gather in front of the long table on
which the tablets are placed. These are the chiefs
of the various branches into which the clan has
divided since the founder, centuries ago, gave it birth,
and to-day they stand here to represent the whole.
Two of these take their places at the ends of the table,
whilst the rest remain standing in front. One of them
is about thirty years of age. His face is a highly intel-
lectual one, and shows signs of severe study. He is
pale and emaciated, but there is a fire in his eye and
a look of power on his face. He is a scholar and has
won his first degree. His elegant B.A. dress, with the
handsome hat and button,, makes him a conspicuous
figure in this great gathering.

The man opposite to him is also a degree man. He
has the typical air and bearing of the man of his class.
He has a proud and insolent look, and though he has
to endeavour to put on an air of modesty as he stands
in the presence of the great men of his clan, whose
spirits are believed to be in the tablets before him, one_
can see from the haughty tilt of his head and the occs~

ANCESTOR WORSHIP 97

sional flash of his coal-black eyes, that beneath that
assumed look of humility there is a soul full of the
deepest pride.

He is a beau-ideal Chinese of the educated type.
His cheek-bones are high and staring, and his eyes
glisten from behind the almond-shaped slits where the
black orbs seem to be hiding themselves. His mouth
is large and sensuous -looking, whilst his nose is as
flat as though he had fallen on a fender when he was
young and it had never recovered its Grecian shape.
He is far from being a beauty, for his skin is yellow,
tanned by this great Eastern sun, so that every rosy
tint has been banished from it. No wonder that he is
sallow and wanting in that fresh look that brightens
the faces of our young men, for he has never seen a
hay -field, and he has never caught a breath of the breeze
that has come over hawthorn hedges, nor wandered
through orchards laden with cherry and apple blossoms.
And yet there is a sign of power about him that marks
him as belonging to an imperial race, that has survived
all the degenerating effects of a weedy, crazy kind of
civilisation that has stifled the energies of the people
of this great country. These two men are the masters
of ceremony for the day.

There must be at least five hundred men in the
building, but not a single woman. In the sacrificial
duties of the day no woman may take a part. By and by
a large, coarse -featured man steps forward from the
group standing in front of the tablets, and, in obedience
to the command of one of the masters of the ceremony,
pours some samshu ^ into three diminutive cups. Kneel-
ing down and waving one of these between his uplifted
hands, he says, in a loud voice, ** Your son of the tenth
generation kneels before you with an offering of spirits.
Come and drink." Every dish on the tables, that
have been spread with a number of delicacies, is
successively offered until the spirits are supposed to be
satiated with the good things that have been prepared
for them.

After this, one of the scholars takes a long scroll that

' Samshu is a kind of whisky distilled from rice or sweet potatoes ;
it is fiery and intoxicating, and quickly flashes fire into the face of the
drinker.

7

98 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

contains the names of all the families of the clan, with
the numbers of sons in each, and reads it for the benefit
of the dead fathers. Not a woman's name is mentioned
throughout it. She has no official status in the clan,
for every girl that is born into it is considered as so
much lost to it, for in the course of time she will have
to be married into some other clan, and so can never
be considered as adding to the strength of her own. At
the conclusion of this dry, statistical process the docu-
ment is committed to the flames, and it is thus supposed
to go straight to the " Land of Shadows," where the
fathers live, for them to study it at their leisure during
the next six months.

The last and concluding act of this weird ceremony
was a very striking one. At the call of one of the
masters of ceremony every man in the building knelt
down and knocked his head on the ground in the direc-
tion of the tablets. There was no attempt to minimise
this part of the service, for the sound of five hundred
heads bumping against the earthen floor was distinct
and emphatic. Even the little fellows who accompanied
their fathers took a share in this, and thus, in the
midst of the men of their clan, they were initiated into
a service that would leave an indelible impression
on their hearts and make them consider ancestor
worship as the supreme one in which they were to
believe.

With the five distinct bumps upon the ground that
would have made the heads of any other people but the
Chinese sore and groggy, the worship ended, and an
immediate move was made towards the tables that
groaned with all the good things that the ingenuity of
the best cooks could provide. And here the company
was seen at its best. If there is anything a Chinese
puts his soul into it is a feast. It is looked forward to
as Christmas is with us. Visions of succulent pork and
snow-white rice, and pickled cucumber, sharp and crisp,
that will succumb beneath the teeth with a sound that
is enough in itself to give an appetite, besides a host
of other delicacies, such as chickens, ducks, bird's-nest
soup and such like, all float before his delighted imagi
nation up to the very moment that he sits down to th
feast. And when the acti^al moment of bliss arrives

'I

ANCESTOR WORSHIP 99

with what gusto does he not enter into the spirit of
the occasion ! There is no toying and dallying with the
dishes. Every one has to be tasted, for his capacity
seems to grow with the demand made upon him. The
memory of this feast will last him until it has been
effaced by another, and one of the pleasantest thoughts
about it will be the feeling that it was all got at
another's expense. It is said that the Spartans held that
hunger was the best sauce, but they were fools to the
Chinese, who consider that to partake of a feast that
they have not had to pay for is one of the greatest
stimulants to a good appetite that they could possibly
desire. For some minutes the great assemblage was
silent. The only sounds were the clicking of chopsticks
and the peculiar sighing of the indrawn breaths by
which the Chinese cool the hot mouthfuls of rice which
they shovel reeking down their throats. We should
consider this last very vulgar, but the Chinese look
upon it as sweet music to hasten on the march of the
disappearing rice.

After a time, when the first keen pangs of hunger
had been assuaged and the edge of the appetite had
been taken off, low and gentle murmurs of conversation
began to be heard. By and by as the hot samshu began
to work, and the faces became flushed, a babel of
voices filled the temple, for every tongue had become
loosened, and the imagination was beginning to run riot
under the influence of the good things on which they
were feasting. Hours went by without any signs of
weariness. The thought of this great feast was to last
them for six months, and so they clung to the tables
and quaffed the hot, fragrant spirit from the dainty
little cups, and dallied with the various dishes, till at
last, worn out, they laid their chopsticks on the table
and confessed their inability to eat any more.

Some few with stronger appetites lingered with the
chopsticks held with deft and knowing hands and
appealed to others who had been beaten in the contest
to come and join them, but these piteously shook their
heads, and with a significant motion up and down their
stomachs with their open hand, declared that they were
*' full." This word with us is vulgar and never
used in polite society. Not so in China, where

100 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

it is a highly popular and refined expression
and indicates a happy condition where the highest
material happiness has been attained. When the
Chinese wishes to say *' How do you do? " he does
not use the vague expressions we are content with. He
comes to the point and says " Have you eaten? " You
say, " Yes, have you? " He nods a " Yes." Then mutual
smiles light up the faces of both parties, for they
know that the sammam bonum has for the time
being been attained and Fate has little power to
harm them.

It seems to me that the whole system of ancestor
worship owes its present existence in a very large
measure to these feasts, and that if they were
abolished it would be very much shorn of its
significance.

The cult has been perpetuated and intensified by these
feasts. The founders and chiefs of the clan were evi-
dently conscious that it would require something more
than mere sentiment to make their descendants re-
member them after they were dead. They consequently
left endowments, in the shape of public lands, that were
to be used for paying all expenses connected with the
worship of them. In order to prevent the absorption of
these properties by future powerful members of the
clan, it was decreed that they should be held in rotation
by the different branches, who were allowed to appro-
priate to their own private use whatever sums remained
after all the expenses connected with this worship had
been met. The founders thus appealed not only to
the religious instincts of the tribe, but also to their
passions.

Every member of the clan has a personal interest in
the matter. The feasts come to him free, and when
his turn comes round, he has the handling of the pro-
ceeds of this ecclesiastical endowment. The system
has thus become rooted in the hearts o"f the Chinese
through the selfish interest they have had in it. Take
away the lands and abolish the feasts, and in time belief
in the dead would be greatly modified and the regular
worship of the clan, at least, would gradually die out.
China is not the only country in the world where en-
dowments have been the means of perpetuating systems

ANCESTOR WORSHIP 101

and of fostering customs that have not always been for
the highest good of the nation.

With the ending of the feast the great assembly
begins gradually to melt away. Singly and in groups
the men that sat round the festal board and filled the
great hall with the sound of their happy voices wind their
way along the narrow pathways through the fields to
their various homes. The official-looking hats that gave
them such a dignified air, and the clothes that took
away the mean and shabby look of their every-day
appearance are taken off and carefully laid away in
some box where the dust cannot reach them, until they
may be required for some other festive occasion. In
the meanwhile the great hall has been closed, the remains
of the feast have been removed by that branch of
the clan whose business it is this year to arrange
for the offerings to the spirits of the dead, and
the few dozen tablets that have the honour of being
worshipped by the clan are left in solitude for six
months more.

In this semi-annual service there are no elements of
poetry nor romance. It is entirely a mere matter of
business. No spirit of love or of affection has caused
the gathering that has met here to-day to perform the
ceremony just described. Most of the spirits left the
earth at least a hundred years ago or so. The men
of to-day have lost touch with them. What kind of
men they were no one knows nor, for that matter, cares.
There is one profound impression, however, that binds
the living to them, and that is that in that unseen world
those shadowy, misty forms, that once lived here and
tilled the fields and lived the common life of to-day,
have in some mysterious way been transformed so that
they hold the fate of their descendants in their hands.
Whatever tenderness they may have had in actual life
has evidently been crushed out of them by their sad and
bitter experiences in the dark world in which they
now live. This latter is supposed to be a facsimile
of the present, only with all the joyous elements elimi-
nated, and with the main features of this following them
like a Nemesis into that. The poor spirit never finds
itself suddenly transformed into a wealthy one, but the
same struggle that it had here goes on, though more

102 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

intensely, in the new life, where no sun ever shines, and
a perpetual gloom crushes all joy out of the heart.
The man who has been beheaded walks about for ever
a headless ghost. His lot is one of the most pitiable
of all, for he can have no human companionship, and
he can never express the thoughts that wander through
his heart, whilst the voice of sympathy can never ease
the unending pain of his existence.

Now it is a remarkable fact that the Chinese believe
that the innumerable hosts that dwell in that clouded
land are absolutely dependent upon their friends in this
for any comforts they possess there. The food they
eat and the money they have to spend all come from
earth, and are transmitted through the annual
offerings that are made to them. Any cessation means
suffering to the spirits, and, sullen and enraged at the
neglect, they send misery and calamity upon the home
of their friends.

This thought is so deeply ingrained in the nation that
the Chinese have actually arranged a separate festival
for the spirits in Hades that have no living friends on
earth, and who, therefore, are left hungry and uncared
for in that dark land. During the month of August,
the whole empire, by an almost unanimous consent, lays
out tables in the open air with all the various kinds of
food that the Chinese delight in for the special benefit
of the hungry spirits that the presiding god of Hades
lets out for this month. They are thus supposed to be
propitiated by the kindness of mortals and to be induced
to refrain from using their supernatural powers to dis-
tress mankind.

The worship of the dead at the grave, whilst it still
has the commercial character in it, is of a much more
kindly nature than that performed in the great ancestral
hall. The reason for this is obvious. The friends that
lie buried there are of a nearer kinship, and the loss of
them is generally more recent. Some loved one has
been taken from the home, and the sorrowing hearts,
full of agony at their loss, come with tears that flow
naturally and with loud and passionate outcries to bewail
their loss. And it is not simply at stated times that the
mourners come to these graves to unburden their hearts
of the sorrows that fill them. A husband, for example,

ANCESTOR WORSHIP 103

has died. He was only just in the prime of life. He
and his wife were devotedly attached to each other,
though none would have dreamt of it had they simply
seen them in every-day hfe. Etiquette in China de-
mands that neither husband nor wife shall show before
others any sign whatever that they love one another.
Well, the husband one day is attacked by one of those
maladies that in these Eastern lands run their course
so rapidly, and, before the wife has time to realise that
danger threatens, her husband is dead.

And now what a change takes place 1 It would seem
as tliough the great fountains of the woman's heart
had burst all bounds and were pouring forth treasures
that it had been hiding for years. The restraints that
society had put upon her when her husband was alive
have now vanished with his death, and she indulges in
the most passionate expressions of devotion that any
woman East or West, with the wildest or the deepest
love, could ever imagine. Her cries are uttered in the
presence of her neighbours — who. Oriental-like, gather
round to witness what is going on — and are full of
the fondest terms of endearment, yet no one dreams
of suggesting that they are unwomanly. The human
heart beats with the same musical rhythm throughout
the world, and, though custom may crush and stifle
the tones that God has given it, there must inevitably
come a time when Nature shall assert herself and the
cry of the soul shall be heard.

It is most pathetic to stand by the grave and listen to
what might be called the love song of the widow to her
dead husband. One day I was walking by a hillside
that was literally packed with graves. The solemn -
looking little mounds were drawn so closely together
that there was hardly standing room between them.
Some were newly-made, as could be seen by the fresh
mould and the newly-cut sod with which they were
covered. Others again showed signs of age, for the
rains and winds had beaten them down till they were
almost flat, whilst tall, sedgy grasses grew rankly out
of their very centre. It was a venerable cemetery, for
I could see from one or two slight projections that were
quite marked that one or two tiers of dead lay buried
beneath those that occupied the graves that lay open

104 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

to our sight. There must have been thousands lying
asleep on that hillside.

Whilst I was revolving in my mind the thoughts
suggested by the scene before me, a woman suddenly,
appeared winding her way in and out amongst the
graves, until she stopped and knelt down before one
that had been but recently made. She was tall and
graceful, with a face that, if it had been lighted up
with a smile, would have been a most pleasant one.
Just now, however, it was inexpressibly sad, and sorrow
had laid its heavy hand upon it. I knew at once that
she was a widow, for she was in deep mourning. I
saw, too, that she had come to weep out her heartache
at the tomb of her husband. She began by moaxiing
in a low monotone, as though her sorrow was too
great to allow of articulate utterance. By and by her
voice rose, with passionate exclamations of " My misery,
oh ! how great I how miserable my fate I my life, I
cannot bear it. Oh 1 I must die, I must die, I cannot
endure my misery.'* Still her voice continued to rise
as her grief seemed to get control of her, and then
she began to pour out the tragedy of her life, and to
weave in fitful agonising words the story of her loss.
** My love, my life 1 why, why have you left me? My
heart is desolate, and I wander about bereft of comfort
with none that can speak to me and with none whose
words can touch me as yours ever did. iWhy did you
leave, ah ! why did you leave me with a broken heart? "
As the full force of her sorrow seemed to come with an
overmastering power as she recited her woes, her voice
took a note higher, till it sounded wild and weird.
Tears are now rolling down her cheeks and her eyes
are red and swollen ; she seems the very image of
despair and sorrow. Again she calls upon her husband
to witness her grief, and every endearing word that a
woman's heart knows how to conjure up is poured forth
upon the man that lies silent in the grave before her.
Ah ! she appears to me no longer to be the Chinese
woman whose heart seems so difficult to touch by the
power of love, the fire of which has never inflamed it
into a burning passion. She must be some sorrowful
woman who has wandered hither from another land
where natures are more fiery ; where the human soul

ANCESTOR WORSHIP 105

is filled with poetry and romance ; and where love is
the one divine force that with its mystic touch can set
the soul ablaze. But no, there is no mistaking that she
is a true daughter of this ancient land, where custom
and etiquette have striven for ages to teach the souls
of men and women to conceal their deepest and divinest
emotions.

In this most pathetic but most dramatic scene there
was one thing that was most noticeable. In all the
passionate appeals to her dead husband as to why
he had left her to sorrow and despair, she never once
suggests the idea that she hopes one day to meet him
in the future. Such a thought does not occur to the
Chinese mind. The husband has left her, and never
more will she behold him again ; thus the bitterness
of the separation that fills her heart with anguish.
He has gone for ever out of her life, and wherever
she may wander when she has done with the things of
this world she will never by any chance meet him
again.

And now occurred a pleasing break in this most
sad and touching scene. Two young English girls, who
w^re skipping and racing about after each other amongst
the graves, caught sight of the weeping woman, and,
drawn by sympathy, approached with wondering faces
and stood listening to her sorrowful story. By and
by, touched beyond control by the sight of her tears
and by the agonised look upon her face, they started
impulsively forward and stood on either side of her.
*' You must stop crying now," they said, *' you have
wept enough for to-day. You will make yourself ill
if you go on in this way," and gently taking her by
the arms they helped her to rise. The woman looked
amazed, but seeing the frank young faces and the
look of genuine sympathy upon them, she accepted their
interference in a kindly spirit and after a few pleasant
words she slowly left the grave and returned to her
i home.

The dead and the living are bound together by the
mysterious worship of ancestors ; but the living have
only a memory, for there is no future for them in their
thoughts of the loved ones that have perished. No
sage has ever been able to suggest a thought on this

106 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

dark subject, and no independent genius in all the
ages of the past has ever in a moment of inspiration
thrown a gleam of light upon it. The nation has been
waiting for the revelation that will come when Chris-
tianity has opened up to them the wonders and mysteries
of the future.

CHAPTER VIII •

FENGSHUI

The physical world to the Chinese is not the dead,
inanimate thing that it is to us. We look upon a land-
scape, and we see mountains and streams and fertile
plains, dotted with villages and yellow with the ripen-
ing crops, and when we have mastered the scene in all
its details we have exhausted all that in a general
way it is possible for us to know about it. It is not
so with the student of Nature in this land. To him
the mountains are not the solitary places we imagine
them to be, where the footfall of the stray traveller,
the whirr of the wings of the flying birds, or the musical
hum of the falling streams are the only sounds that
break the monotonous silence of the hills. To his
imagination they are peopled with fairies, not indeed
of the light-hearted kind that our forefathers pictured
as dancing in the moonlight in forest glades, or by
the wooded streams that send their music far over the
hills, but venerable and sedate, with long, grey beards
and wrinkled faces and thoughtful looks.

The great valleys again, where the gloomy pines
grow amidst the shadows that are rarely lighted by a
passing sunbeam, are said to be peopled by forms that
sometimes may be seen as the twilight creeps into the
departing day, or when the silver moonlight illumi-
nates the forest. All these mix themselves in human
affairs, and many a romance in life that has changed
the fortunes of men and brought sunshine into their
homes might be traced to these kindly beings that shrink
from the sight of man.

Besides these benevolent spirits that plan for human
happiness, there are demons and spirits that wander
about in. search of opportunities to deceive and injure

107

108 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

mankind. They will turn themselves into all kinds of
shapes in order the more easily to carry out their
fell purpose. Sometimes, as in the case of St. Dunstan,
they will appear in the form of a most beautiful woman,
and at another as an aged man with kindly face and
words full of tenderness. Many a life has been wrecked
by the,m and many a fortune has vanished through
their cunning wiles.

The imagination of the Chinese does not stop with
the creation of these hosts of spirits, both good and
bad. It has also conceived the idea that beyond all
these things there are certain invisible forces that
exercise a most potent influence over the fortunes of
men. They can bring wealth, or sorrow. They can
afflict a district with disaster, or they can bless it
with prosperity. They can send floods that shall drown
the crops and leave men to starve, or they can send the
gentle showers that will cause the fields to smile with
harvests and fill the homes with plenty.

These forces are a profound mystery. No one can
describe what they are like, nor precisely where they
reside. They move about by laws of their own. Some-
times they wind along a valley, and then they rush
madly over a plain. They creep up the sides of a
mountain and take possession of the very summit. They
rush round the headlands by the seashore with a noise
that is like the roaring of the storm, and they claim
to control, in some mysterious way, the fortunes of
both the living and the dead. There is no question but
that fengshui is one of the most potent supernatural
forces in China, and has done more to prevent its
growth and development than any other. The Chinese
have reduced fengshui to a science, and there is a
class of men who get a very comfortable living by
professing to know its principles and to be able to
apply these to the practical questions of every-day life.

From a long experience of this mysterious subject,
it would seem that the primary object of fengshui is
not to bless but to injure. It is a malignant, haughty,
bad-tempered force that will work havoc in human
life, unless diverted by some other that proves superior
to it, and then its cursing power seems to vanish and
it stays to bless. Every city, therefore, in the empire,

I

FENGSHUI 109

and every great plain has selected in self-defence some
natural object that is to act as its guardian against
their invisible enemy, and which for the sake of brevity
they call their fengshui. When this object has a resem-
blance to any living form, it is considered to be very
powerful.

The fengshui, for example, of a certain county city
is a large piece of ground that gradually slopes from
the suburbs in the direction of the centre of the town,
and has the shape of a snail. This strange conforma-
tion is looked upon as the source of all the prosperity
and happiness that have come to the city. It has the
power, it is affirmed, of gathering all the baleful influ-
ences that the fengshui would scatter broadcast over
the town within itself, and of transforming them into
blessings. When a new mandarin arrives in the city
to take office, his first public duty is to go in state to
this venerable snail and give directions about its preser-
vation, for he believes that not only the welfare of
the town and district, but also his own honour and
reputation are bound up in it. No spade may ever
cut into it and woe be to the man who would have the
temerity to build on itl- He would be ruthlessly
murdered by an affrighted and indignant population.
The city has a high reputation amongst mandarins,
and officials come here with light hearts to enter upon
their duties. It is said that for many generations no
magistrate has ever got into any trouble here. No
one has ever been accused by the people to his superior,
nor deprived of his office ; neither has any disaster
happened to him in his government of the people.
When his term of office has expired he has returned
to his far-off home in another province with health
and honour. All this has been put down to the silent
influences of the humble mound that watches so
vigilantly over the interests of the city. In very many
cases Nature has been kind enough to supply some
conformation of land, or some notable rock that the
professors of geomancy, after long consideration and
an infinite amount of twaddle, have pronounced capable
of defending a place from the fiercest assaults of the
invisible foe. It does happen, sometimes, that a town
has no natural fengshui of its own. This difficulty

no MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

must be at once met by the creation of an artificial
one. The idea of a city without any would be as
intolerable as it would be to allow it to be without walls,
whilst hosts of bloodthirsty marauders were known to
exist in every direction around it.
/ A city in the South of China was at one time in its
^ history the subject of a succession of disasters that
were bringing it to the verge of ruin. Pestilence carried
off its people, and floods and droughts brought sorrows
that were reducing its inhabitants to despair. Men
began to look around to discover the cause of these
calamities, and it was found that the town had no
fengshui. Of course, it now became quite easy to
explain how it was that plague made such ravages in
its narrow streets and filthy alleyways. It was not
caused by bad sanitation, nor by the absence of
drainage. It was the work of malign forces that were
quite free to work their evil purpose on the city.

The most celebrated professors of the art of
geomancy were invited to devise plans for meeting this
difficulty, and they suggested that two immense pagodas
should be built within the walls of the city, one on
the east and the other on the west. This was accord-
ingly done, all classes contributing liberally towards
the expense. The pagodas towered above the streets
and lands that lay within sight of them, and the people,
dwelling beneath their shadow, felt themselves safe
against the attack of demons and spirits that fled dis-
mayed as they caught a glimpse of these mighty forms.
To-day the city is a flourishing one. Its streets are
crowded with traders from all parts of the province,
and the fame of its scholars has travelled far and wide
throughout the empire, all due, it is believed, to the
mighty power exercised by these two stately pagodas.
Thus far we have been dealing with fengshui as a
power that has to do with living forces. It has a
function, however, more dread and far-reaching in con-
nection with the dead. The Chinese believe that these
latter have the power of blessing or cursing the friends
they have left behind them on earth, but that they
can do either only through the agency of the unseen
forces that cluster around the places where they lie
buried. It is believed that these forces are materiall

I

FENGSHUI 111

assisted in their action by the conformation of the
ground in which the dead have been buried. If it has
the shape of some well-known powerful animal, then
the fengshui of the place is considered to be especially
strong, and the family of the dead who are buried near
it will have great prosperity. Sons will be born and
wealth will flow in upon it. A crouching tiger, for
example, of which there are numerous instances in any
hilly country, is eagerly seized upon as a burying-
place. The tiger, to the Chinese mind, is the king of
beasts, and holds its own supreme amongst any others
that are known. Such figures as this are supposed to
be impregnated in a very powerful way with the fengshui
elements that render its influence in human life
irresistible. A grave near its head, or close by one of
its paws, is considered to be a place where unusual
power is exerted, and, consequently, the family of the
deceased may expect in a very short time to have its
fortunes changed and a tide of prosperity to flow in
upon it. As might have been expected, those who
have the means to afford it spare no expense in the
selection and purchase of spots where the fengshui
is the most powerful. The cleverest geomancers are
engaged to find out the particular localities that are
most likely to bring fortunes to the family. .With
compass in hand, they note the lie of the hills and
running streams, and the trend of the land ; they then
mark with a measuring-line the exact place, to within
an inch, where the dead man is to be laid. Fearful
lest their instructions should in the least degree be
departed from, they stand by whilst the grave is being
dug and see that there is no departure from the
geomantic line that has been drawn.

Very often a rich man will lie in his coffin for months,
waiting for the discovery of some place where the
fengshui is strong. The poor, of course, have to bury
where they can, and quickly too, as their means will
not allow them to purchase these expensive burying
lots ; neither would it be convenient for them to permit
the dead to remain unburied for any considerable time.
When a place has been discovered that is found to
enrich the family that owns it, desperate attempts are
often made by stronger clans to wrest it from them.

112 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

Some of the fiercest and most deadly feuds that have
turned a certain district into a battlefield, where hun-
dreds on each side have come out to wage war upon
each other, have been stirred up by the desire to possess
some piece of land that the geomancers have said will
bring wealth and honour to those who possess it. It
is an extraordinary fact, however, that, until a man
has been buried in the ground, it is of no more value
than the commonest lot of land in the district. It is
only when it has been turned into a grave that the
spirits awake to a sense of the power they possess of
enriching or of injuring human life.

An illustration of what I mean by these lucky spots
will explain my meaning better than any amount of
description. The case is that of a Chinese merchant
who is exceedingly wealthy. His business transactions
are always on a large scale, and he is noted for the
keenness with which he can make a bargain and his
foresight in seeing what goods are likely to have a
good sale and bring in large profits. He has a large
and powerful physique, and an overmastering, brow-
beating manner with him, that makes it unpleasant to
have any discussion with him on matters upon which
he does not agree with you. Fifty years ago his family
was a poor one. It lived in a low, mean house, and the
few little fields it owned were barely sufficient to meet
the commonest wants of every-day life. About that
time the English ships approached Amoy with the
purpose of bombarding the forts that defended it. The
common people were in the wildest alarm, for the most
outrageous stories had been circulated by the mandarins
as to the ferocity of the English. They were repre-
sented as having a savage thirst for human blood.
They would gouge out children's eyes and tear men
limb from limb with insane delight. Every one that
could fly did so, and amongst these was the family of
the man I am describing. Just before they fled his
father died and, in the hurry and confusion, a grave was
dug by the roadside and the body was hastily interred.
After a time it was found that the English were by
no means the monsters they had been represented, and
the family I have referred to returned tO; their deserted
home. The son now engaged a, geomancer to find

FENGSHUI 113

for him a lucky spot where he might bury his father,
in the hope that he would bring prosperity upon the
home that he had left in such poverty. I may explain
that the original place where he was buried was at
the junction of three roads, one of them being the
main one, the other two branching off diagonally from
it. When the geomancer came to examine the spot
where the father lay, he started back with astonish-
ment, and said : *' You do not need to select any other
place. You have accidentally lighted upon a situation
where the fengshui elements are exceedingly powerful,
and you will find that, ere long, your family will emerge
out of its poverty, and you will be a wealthy man.
Look at the two roads," he continued, " that diverge
from this spot. With the main road they represent
exactly a huge pair of scissors. Your father is buried
at the strongest point of them, viz., where the button
rivets the two blades together. He lies in the very
place of power, and all the forces of fengshui are
concentrated there and are working for the prosperity
of your family."

It did actually turn out as the geomancer predicted.
From this time fortune changed, and wealth gradually
began to flow into the home. A magnificent mansion
now occupies the place where the hovel used to stand.
All this is put down to the dead man that lies beneath
the button of the shears, and to the unseen forces that
play about his dust. Men never dream of attributing
it to the ability of the son, nor to his strong, deter-
mined will and thorough business habits. These are,
no doubt, allowed to be factors in the case, but they
would have utterly failed, men say, but for the shapeless
hands and the unseen mind that have been directing
the streams of good fortune into his life.

One of the greatest curses of this land is fengshui,
for it has absolutely prevented the development of the
vast mineral resources that lie concealed within it. Until
recently men dared not open coalmines for fear of
disturbing the dragon that lay beneath. There are
large districts in many parts of the empire that abound
with coal and iron that have lain undisturbed for ages,
whilst the people are suffering from the extremest
poverty. The sound of the pickaxe would disturb the

8

114 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

repose of the dragon, and the shovel and the spade
would dig into the spirits that cluster in the earth, and
the most terrible disasters would be the result. Famine
and pestilence and desolating wars would come upon
the land ; and so the people starve whilst wealth that
would enrich every home near by is kept sealed up
from the nation. It was amusing to watch the con-
sternation that seized upon all classes of people when
it was first proposed to construct telegraphs in China,
There were two dangers to be anticipated, viz., the
digging of holes in the ground for the posts and stretch-
ing the long line of wires across the country. The
first would irritate the dragon and the other spirits
that have their homes below the ground, and the second
.would fill with dismay the spirits of the upper air, and
so enrage them against men. It was, indeed, a daring
venture for those who conceived the idea, for every
trouble and disaster that might happen along its course
would be put down to it. If a child died of measles, or
a pig fell into a ditch and was drowned, or the crops
failed, the people would say the telegraph poles and
wires were the cause.

On one occasion, whilst the engineers were con-
structing the line in a certain place, the wires had to
be stretched over a house that lay directly in tlheir
course. The owner came out in great distress and
begged them to divert it a few yards so as to allow
it to pass by on either side. They told him it was
impossible to consent to this. He then went down
on his knees, and in the most piteous tones begged
and entreated them to have mercy upon him and save
him from utter ruin. His prayer was again denied, and
he was compelled to wait the sad fate that he felt sure
would come upon him. A few months after this event
his wife had twin sons, which he at once put down
to the kindly intervention of the wires that hummed
and sang over his house. They had turned out to be
a powerful fengshui, that instead of disaster had
brought him two sons. The story got abroad, and
for miles around the people envied him his good fortune
and wished that the line had travelled over their homes.

Fengshui is a superstition that has been incalculably
disastrous to the whole of this great empire of Chin

I

FENGSHUI 115

for there is nothing that has so retarded the progress
of the nation and kept vast districts in poverty. There
are districts, for example, that abound with the finest
kinds of coal, yet the people there are in the most
abject poverty, and every year large numbers have to
emigrate to other regions in order to save themselves
from starvation. The mineral wealth that lies under-
neath the poor fields, from which they drag the rice
and potatoes that are not enough to feed the overgrown
population, would be abundant enough to fill the homes
with plenty, to set factories at work, and to change
the hunger-stricken people into happy, contented citi-
zens ; but no one dare put a spade into the ground
lest he should dig into the dragon's back and so stir
up the passions of this implacable monster, who would
wreak his vengeance by hurling plague and pestilence
into the homes of the people.

In a certain mountain region with which I am
acquainted, an English engineer, more than twenty
years ago, reported that there was a considerable hill
that was mainly composed of iron of a superior quality,
in quantities sufficient to meet the demands of the
whole empire for a thousand years. This rejDort was
communicated to some of the leading men in the
region, with the result that a few of the more en,-
lightened of them were anxious that work should at
once be commenced, smelting furnaces erected, and
skilled iron workers from England engaged, so that
the poverty of ages might vanish and the people cease
from the long fight with starvation. But the dread of
the fengshui paralysed the great mass of the people,
and though they longed for wealth, copifort and ease,
and to be delivered from the intolerable strain of want,
they dared not move a step, lest they should arouse the
invisible forces that guarded the coal and the iron
against them. The years have gone by, but the mineral
wealth still lies undeveloped. An English company
offered to buy the land at a most remunerative rate.
They also guaranteed to pay all working expenses, to
employ the native labour of the place at good wages,
and to give constant work to the hands they would
necessarily have to employ. These were fascinating
inducements, but the people shrank before the fear of

116 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

spirits, so to-day the coal is untouched and the iron
unsmelted, whilst the men and the women wage a fierce
and hopeless fight against poverty.

It is this same fengshui that stops the quarrying
of stone, so that the people of a region where the hills
abound with granite have to go miles away to some
other district to obtain, at considerable toil and expense,
material with which to build their houses. Junks put
out to sea and travel along the coast, and by and by
news comes that a storm has suddenly arisen and
wrecked them, and all because they have consciously
or unconsciously violated some of the rules of fengshui,
and the spirits in their fury have sent the great winds
upon them and raised the mighty seas that have hurled
them to the bottom of the ocean.

Any one who has visited a Chinese town cannot but
have noticed how all the houses are pretty much of the
same height, and how rarely one sees any one that
towers above the rest. One begins to wonder why
there should be such a monotonous uniformity through-
out the miles of streets along which he wanders, and
why the Chinese mind should be satisfied that each
house should be just about the height of those of the
neighbours. The secret of this puzzle again lies with
fengshui. A house largely overtopping another would
be a danger to the oj:hers round about. The winds
from the four quarters would gather around it, and the
vagrant spirits that wander aimlessly through the air
would throw their influences into it. The result would
be most disastrous to the buildings lower than it. Men
would, consequently, die suddenly of mysterious dis-
eases ; pigs would be attacked with epidemics, the
hens would cease to lay, children would stumble and
break their necks, and business would dwindle away.
The whole neighbourhood would rise in arms and would
never remain satisfied until the obnoxious story had
been pulled down and the house made level with the
rest.

There is no doubt but that the ramifications of
fengshui are very extensive, and subjects that originally
did not belong to it in the early conception of it
have been dragged in and placed within its grip.
This is due to the ignorance of the Chinese. Many

FENGSHUI 117

things occur in ordinary life that can easily be
accounted for without the interposition of supernatural
agency. The Chinese are in an intellectual darkness
more dense than that which enshrouded the Middle
Ages in Europe, and so, when anything happens that
men do not know how to account for, they put it
down to this mysterious fengshui. A child, for example,
dies in a certain home, perhaps because it has eaten
something that has disagreed with it, or as the result
of bad drains. At once the whole family incontinently,
remove from that house to another, because, it is
believed, the fengshui is bad and may soon cause the
death of some other member if they remain in it. A
man goes up for his literary examination, and he takes
his degree with honour. Scholarship is, of course,
credited in a large measure with this, but more potent
than all the study he has put into his work is the old
dilapidated grave on the hillside, where the spirits
have been secretly working on his behalf.

In the a'wakening that has begun to touch China
during the last few years, there are signs that this
fatal force that has acted so mischievously on the
empire for so many ages is beginning to be discovered
to be an impostor, and the supreme powers are making
laws and regulations that will ultimately do away with
it. The building of telegraphs and railways has been
a severe blow to it, and latterly the mining concessions
that have been liberally granted by the Government,
both to native and foreign companies, will tend to
destroy the faith that men had in it. China is a
country that abounds in mineral wealth, and when once
the power of superstition is removed and these mines
can be exploited and developed, a new era of prosperity
will have dawned upon wide and extensive districts in
this empire.

CHAPTER IX

THE SPOKESMAN OF THE GODS

The practical, every-day, common religion of the
Chinese is idolatry, pure and simple. No doubt
ancestor worship has the deepest hold upon the hearts
of the nation, but it is too profound and too ideal and
not quick enough to meet the problems that constantly
face the Chinese in their struggle for existence. To
provide for this difficulty, idols innumerable have been
enshrined in homes and in temples all over the land,
which are believed to interfere promptly and without
delay in the daily affairs of life, instead of awaiting
the slower methods that their dead ancestors are
supposed to pursue.

Many of these idols are of Indian origin, as can be
seen by their faces, as well as by the liturgies that
are used, which are certainly adaptations from the
ancient Sanscrit. A large number, on the other hand,
are Chinese, being statesmen and warriors and heroes
in humble life who have been deified by royal edicts
in past ages. All the above are believed to have a
special commission from Heaven to control the thousand
and one things in the daily life of the nation, just as
the Emperor and the countless mandarins administer
the civil and political affairs of the empire.

As these idols have not the power of expressing
themselves in human language, it has been found neces-
sary to establish a class of men who are called
*' sorcerers " and who are supposed to be able to inter-
pret the will of the gods to those who come with special
requests. Answers have often to be given at once
and delay may not be brooked. A man, for example,
is going to open a new shop. He has planned to put
all his capital into it, but before taking the final ste]

U8

FOUR FAMOUS IDOLS.

THE SPOKESMAN OF THE GODS 119

he wishes to get the opinion of the idol as to whether
the venture will be successful or not. Or a wife,
perhaps, is ill with an acute disease that has baffled the
skill of the doctors. The husband, full of sorrow and
anxiety, comes with throbbing heart and eyes moist
with tears to beg the idol to tell him what medicine he
shall give her that will cure her.

The wooden god sits there in its shrine with a stern
and haughty look upon its face, but no voice comes
from those silent lips in reply to the passionate inquiries
of those that kneel before it. In these circumstances
the sorcerer steps forward, and, repeating certain
formulae, gradually passes into a state of frenzy. He
then seems no longer to have any control over himself.
He leaps and flings himself about as though he were
the most veritable madman that ever escaped from a
lunatic asylum. During his paroxysms he pretends that
he is inspired by the god, and he pours forth answer
after answer, as if under the inspiration of the idol, to
the suppliants, who accept all that this designing fellow
says as direct responses from the invisible world. There
is considerable difficulty in getting men to act as
spokesmen, because the position they occupy is con-
sidered to be a most disreputable one. Only persons
that society looks upon with suspicion will undertake
it. Gamblers, opium-smokers, and broken-down
characters whose morals are of the shadiest descrip-
tion are the choice materials out of which sorcerers are
manufactured. No scholar nor respectable person ever
condescends to demean himself by entering their ranks,
and hardly any disgrace could fall upon a family that
would bring such a stain upon it as that of having one
of its members in this disreputable profession.

In order to be qualified to become a sorcerer a certain
weird and uncanny ceremony has to be performed, after
which the man becomes the interpreter of the wishes
of the idol, and through him it communicates its answers
to its worshippers. As very few foreigners have ever
had an opportunity of witnessing such a ceremony, I
will now describe one that I was lucky enough to be
present at. The time was a very dark and stormy
night. The clouds overhead were black and heavy and
flew by in frightened masses before the gale. Dark-

120 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

ness lay around on everything, except the great banyan-
tree in front of the temple where the weird rites were
to be performed, and that was so mystified by the dim
light that shone inside that it seemed like a huge spectre
that had come to play its pranks and freeze men's hearts
with fear.

The interior of the temple was in deepest shadow,
which was rendered all the more conspicuous by the
flickering of several diminutive oil lamps that showed
where the door was. As if to make the scene all the
more sombre, a fluttering, hesitating tallow candle was
stuck up close to the chief idol, that, with a haughty,
imperious air, seemed to be looking with profound con-
tempt upon the scene before it. Whether intended or
not, the effect produced by this imperfect light was
very striking, and just such as to harmonise with the
drama that was being played inside the front door.
It revealed enough of the god to let us know that he
was there, whilst the shadows that clung around him
seemed to exaggerate his form and give him a super-
natural and awe-inspiring appearance.

Outside the narrow line along which the candle threw
its uncertain glimmer the mystery became all the more
intense, because of the deep gloom that brooded there.
On each side of the idol could be seen spectral,
shadowy -looking figures that seemed to be concealing
themselves in the gloom that lay beyond the dim, un-
certain light that flickered from the candle. One was
absorbed in profound thought, with a face so calm
that it would appear that no passion ever ruffled the
heart within. Another was standing with hands out-
stretched as though in the very act of giving its judg-
ment to some suppliant who had appealed to it. Close
beside it was another, apparently in a death struggle
with some unseen foe that was endeavouring to rob
it of its life. Its body writhed in agony and the muscles
of its twisted, distorted arms were swollen and knotted,
whilst its face was covered with a defiant look that
showed how unconquered was the spirit within. These
figures, I knew, were the attendant spirits of the chief
god that are supposed to carry out his orders and at
the same time do a little business on their own account ;
for, Chinese like, it is believed that their connection

THE SPOKESMAN OF THE GODS 121

with the god has given them a certain amount of power
that can be exerted on behalf of those that worship
them.

The chief interest, however, centred round four men
who stood facing the idol in various attitudes just inside
the main entrance of the temple. Prominent amongst
these was the man who was about to be converted
into a spokesman. He was the very last man that one
would have suspected that an intelligent god would
have anything to do with — that is, if he had any regard
for his own reputation as a spiritual being. He had
a very suspicious look of the opium den and gambling
hell, and had very much the appearance of the loafers
that hang about such unsavoury places.

One could see that he was a thoroughly uneducated
man, and his whole bearing and dress showed that he
belonged to the lower middle class. It was the absence
of all signs of spirituality, however, in his face that
struck me most. He was the kind of man that no
honest business man would care to employ, and he
was just the sort of character that housewives would
guard their hen-houses against to prevent their poultry
from being raided. Standing on his right and slightly
facing him was a coarse-looking fellow, with a strongly-
marked, paganish countenance, the master of the
ceremonies, who kept chanting the words of the
incantations that were to entice the spirit of the god
to enter the man by his side. In front of him were
two men with gongs, which they struck in a slow,
rhythmical fashion, so as to act as an accompaniment
to the loud and monotonous tones of the voice that
rang through the building.

I watched with keen attention the man who was
standing with bowed head, silently waiting for the
coming of the spirit. The latter was evidently in no
hurry to respond to the call of the low-featured master
of ceremonies, for there was no indication that any
of the solemn appeals and beating of gongs had
made even the slightest impression upon it. The
Chinese, however, is a patient being, and acts as
though he had a thousand years before him in which
to plan to carry out his purpose. After a considerable
time, during which the god still seemed unmoved, the

122 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

chanting was slightly quickened and each word was
uttered in a sharp, staccato tone.

Listening attentively one could catch the words,
** Come, thou controller of the spirits, come quickly.
Come, too, ye captains and generals of the shadowy
hosts and slay and scatter the multitudes of demons
that fill the air. Come, thou prince of the Pearly
Emperor, who became a mighty monarch by ten genera-
tions of incarnations. Come with the golden elixir
of life that makes the stars shine brightly, and that
fills the earth with its glory. Come and drive into
oblivion the devils that are bringing disease upon man,
and plague and pestilence. Come with thy golden
sword, and cut in pieces the elves and goblins. Come
with thy shadowy troops, with lightning speed as the
spirit that drags the chariot of the thunder, come and
delay not. Come ! come ! and enter the man that is
waiting for thy presence." Each word was jerked out
as though it had been propelled by a charge of
dynamite, and the gongs, in order to be in rhythm, were
struck with a corresponding energy that made the
temple re-echo with their unmusical sounds.

At length a slight movement was observed in the
principal figure in the weird scene, which the others
were quick to observe. The voice of the chanter was
at once raised, and the gongs clanged out their noisy
harmonies to hasten on the action of the god. In a
very few minutes the man began to sway from side
to side, as though the spirit had him in its grip and
was playing some mad pranks with him. The chant-
ing was now uttered in a still higher tone, and what
had been entreaty up to this time now became almost
a command. The speaker evidently felt that success
depended upon the part he was to play, and so with
flashing eyes and a face full of nervous passion the
coarse-looking fellow seemed to be ordering the unseen
spirit to carry out his imperious commands.

In the meanwhile a wonderful change had come over
the coming spokesman. The cold, phlegmatic look of
the Chinese had vanished and in its place leaped a
world of passion that blazed within the man. He was
no longer a dull, unemotional being, but a man full of
fire and tempest and storm. With wild gestures and a

THE SPOKESMAN OF THE GODS 123

look of madness in his face he leaped and jumped about
the gloomy floor of the temple. Louder beat the gongs
and stronger and more imperative became the voice
of the chanter. The scene really was most exciting.
At length the man, exhausted by his violent efforts,
fell to the ground, where he remained insensible for
some time. The ceremony had been most successful,
and from this time forth all revelations of the gods
must be made through this man who was believed to
be inspired by them.

The power of the medium is maintained simply by
the gross superstition of the people, who are prepared
to believe in any statement that he may be pleased to
make. His position is always a safe one, no matter
how his predictions may turn out. If they are found
to be true, he gains considerable credit with the people.
If they are not, the blame is mostly laid upon the
worshipper for his want of faith in the idol, who thus
could not act, or upon some change of purpose in the
god. In any case, no blame is attached to him.

A Chinese with whom I was acquainted was one day
seized with a severe fever. His son, who was living
at a distance, was written to and urged to come at once
if he wished to see his father alive. Distressed with
this startling news, he went to the nearest temple and
asked the sorcerer to get the idol to inform him if it
were possible for him to reach his father before he
died. The man, having worked himself up into a
state of frenzy so as to qualify himself to be the mouth-
piece of the god, assured the son that unless he reached
home by a certain time he would never see his father
alive. Now it happened that, after the dispatch of the
son, the fever succumbed before a few powerful doses
of quinine, and by the date that the medium said he
would be dead he was on the highway to recovery. The
son, of course, was delighted with this, and when he
afterwards twitted the sorcerer with the mistake he
had made the latter calmly replied : *' The death of
your father had been fully determined upon, but out
of pity for you the idol decided to let him live. You
ought, therefore, to make an extra offering to it for
its mercy in sparing one so dear to you."

Beside the special duties connected with the temples,

124 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

these sorcerers pretend to have great power over evil
spirits that are commonly supposed to be roaming round
the world, always bent on destroying the happiness of
men wherever they are met. These spirits are the
ghosts of men who once lived on earth, and recollecting
the sorrows and injuries they endured when they were
men they wish to be revenged for the wrongs they
once suffered. They consequently send sickness and
death into families, and cause failures in business, and
make the pigs die and the hens to suddenly droop and
perish of a sickness that is incurable.

If a plague devastates some particular district in a
town, the people treat the suggestion that impure water
and bad drainage are the cause with the utmost con-
tempt. ** What possible connection can there be
between the health of a city and its bad smells? '*
they contemptuously inquire. China, they declare, has
never been without these. The present ones are the
lineal descendants of those that started in the heroic
age of the empire. The Chinese have always lived
amongst smells. They played as children with them
close by. They have grown up strong and healthy
amongst them. They are part of the social life of the
people, and without them the empire might be
endangered. Epidemics, the people declare, are caused
by malign spirits, and the cure for these is not sanitary
measures and sweeping of drains and copious supplies
of carbolic, but the arts of the sorcerer, who will soon
put to flight the most obstinate and pigheaded of the
invisible fraternity.

When the services of this man are required he dresses
himself up in full fighting costume to wage battle with
the unseen foes. In order to impress the people with
a sense of the seriousness of the conflict, he comes forth
in the most barbaric style. He knows that as he has
really no visible antagonist that he can slay before the
gaping crowds any victory that he may gain must be
owing to his skill in acting a part that shall make the
flesh creep and give men the horrors as they look on
at the encounter with the malign foes of mankind.

At a fixed time, which has been duly specified to the
dwellers round a certain temple, the sorcerer, who has
been waiting for the gathering of the spectators, sud-

THE SPOKESMAN OF THE GODS 125

denly leaps out from a dark room in the back of the
building where he has been preparing his make-up
for the great conflict. He is stripped to the waist,
ready to perish if needs be, though dying is the very
last thought he has in his mind. The Chinese are
natural-bom actors, and so this man is just in his
element now, all the more so as he knows that he is
perfectly safe.

In his right hand he grasps a huge sword that he
has recently been sharpening and in his left a black
flag, on which seven stars are emblazoned. These
latter are believed to have a baneful influence on the
demons. To add to the fierceness of his looks a short
knife is stuck into his right cheek, and the handle
hangs dangling down towards his neck.

No sooner has he got outside into the open space in
front of the temple than he gets into the most furious
passion. This represents the anger of the god at the
infernal spirits daring to molest its worshippers. He
flies about as if in a frenzy and makes backhanded
lunges with the sword, not only at the invisible forces
in the air but also at his own naked back. There is
a method, however, in this last that is exceedingly
amusing to any one who is not under the influence of
superstition. Every time he makes his lunge at his
unprotected back one's heart almost stops beating and
a great fear comes over one lest the sharp, gleaming
sword should slash into it and wound him with its fatal
stroke. After a few mad efforts of this kind we begin
to see that there is a method in the man's wild attempt
to murder himself, and that there is really no danger
after all from these murderous lunges.

As we look more carefully at the scene, we discover
two men dodging behind him with long sticks in their
hands. These men keep their eyes riveted on the move-
ments of the sorcerer, and every time he strikes
viciously at his back they cunningly interpose their
sticks so that the sword cannot reach his body.
Wherever he goes they follow, and in whatever direction
he darts and wriggles and plays the mountebank they
must be as prompt and agile as he, so as to be
ready to render the stroke of the sword innocuous.
After a time, when he has made a perfect fool of him-

126 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

self, but has deeply impressed the crowd that has
collected to witness this strange encounter with super-
natural powers, the sorcerer addresses the spirits in
language anything but choice or polite, and w&,rns them
that if they do not at once leave the district they will
be afflicted with such awful pains and torments that
existence will be made one long misery to them. He
then slashes the air in all directions as if to give them
a hint of what they may expect in the future if they
refuse to obey. With these words of threatening and
denunciation the exhibition comes to an end.

A most remarkable thing in this grotesque business is
that it never seems to occur to the Chinese, who are
conspicuous for their common sense in the ordinary
matters of life, that the spirits should not have had
wit enough to disperse beyond the reach of this
sorcerer's sword, but should have been simple enough
to collect in this one space where they would come
under the control of his influence. The fact is, the
Chinese, who is as keen and as shrewd as any man in
the world, seems to give up all his powers of thought
and of logic when he comes face to face with super-
stition.

By and by the epidemic abates and the popular belief
in the idol is confirmed ; whilst more grist is brought
to the mill of the sorcerer, who is credited with being a
powerful agent in bringing about such a happy result.
Still, the position of the spokesman of the gods is by
no means an enviable one. The man is despised and
scorned by society generally, and it is the popular belief
that his connexion with the idols, instead of bringing
a blessing upon him, actually conveys a curse. As
time goes on the members of his family gradually pine
away and die. The wife, perhaps, sickens, and no
incantation or frenzied appeal to the gods can save
her. Then a son, beloved of his father, falls into a well
and is drowned. Another child is attacked with fever
and he passes away in delirium. The man is now left
wifeless and childless, and men shake their heads and
say, "Ahl Heaven is just. The man has deceived
many, and has brought sorrow upon many a home, and
now a just retribution has fallen upon himself."

It is astonishing that men of dissolute lives and

THE SPOKESMAN OF THE GODS 127

absolutely without moral character should be allowed
so prominent a position in the popular religion of the
people. The lives of these sorcerers are well known.
They very frequently cause the death of people by pre-
scribing medicines that hasten their end. No action is
taken by the authorities or by their relatives to bring
punishment upon them. They are excused because they
are said to be under the influence of the gods, who
inspired them to write .heir fatal prescriptions. No
one dares express any disapproval of their action, lest
some calamity should incontinently be hurled upon him
by the angry gods, who are believed to be a very
passionate race, and easily moved to take revenge.
Idolatry is often supposed to be a happy kind of
religion, which allows every one to live in a free-and-
easy style and act and think precisely as he likes.
This is a mistake. It is, on the contrary, a tremendous
tyranny that dominates and terrifies men with the
awful dread of summary pains and penalties that may
at any moment be inflicted upon them through the
agency of such a disreputable character as the sorcerer,
who claims that he holds a brief from the spirits to
act as their deputy amongst men.

A Nemesis sometimes, however, does fall upon these
scamps, and then there is no pity from any one for
them. On one occasion, one of these gentry had been
called upon by a sick man to inquire of a certain idol
what medicine he should take for the complaint from
which he was suffering. The sorcerer, having gone
through certain incantations, became inspired by the
god, and in the midst of his frenzy asked it what
prescription he should write for the man who was ill.
Suddenly he seized a pen and dashed out a formula
which he handed to the man, and told him to take it
to the chemist and have it made up. The man hurried
away with it to the nearest shop, but when the druggist
examined the prescription he was horrified and declared
that the main ingredient was a most deadly poison
and that enough of that had been prescribed to kill
half a dozen men.

The man got frightened and hastened back to the
sorcerer and repeated to him what the chemist had said.
The spokesman of the god, who was a rough, coarse

128 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

fellow, and of a domineering and brow-beating dis-
position, expressed, in very homely but sulphurous
language, his indignation that any one should dare to
doubt the integrity of the god, or dream that he would
make a mistake such as would endanger the life of any
of his devotees. He declared, in most emphatic
language, that the druggist was a wooden -headed fool,
who had not a particle of imagination, nor a soul that
knew how to grasp the inspiration of the god who had
designed by an extraordinary display of his power to
heal the sick man of his disease. But he would show
him that the idol whose spokesman he was was a
god that could deliver those who trusted him, and to
prove this he himself would take the dose that was
said to be so dangerous a one. In spite of the protesta-
tions of the chemist, he swallowed the whole of the
prescription, and in the course of a few hours he died
in the greatest possible agonies.

One would naturally suppose that this would greatly
shake the faith of the people in the god, but this is not
so. The apparent failure of an idol does not seem to
influence them in the smallest degree. The death of
the sorcerer, they said, was due to his own defective
moral character and not to any want of power in the
god, for even had the sick man taken the medicine that
killed the former, the idol would still have devised means
to have rescued him from death. No one ever dreams
of questioning either the power or the motives of the
numberless idols scattered throughout the land, and,
consequently, the whole tribe of priests and sorcerers
have very little fear of their position being assailed.

The spokesman of the gods is no outcome of the
benevolent teaching of Buddhism. The founder of that
system would never have deigned to recognise such a
charlatan and impostor. Human happiness was too
dear to him to tolerate such cruelties and miseries as
he often is the means of bringing on men and women.
The teachings of Buddha, so full of tenderness and com-
passion, exist now only in books. The masses know
nothing of them. The vast majority of the priests never
read nor study them, and the sorcerers are too illiterate
to attempt to understand them. And thus religion is
handed over to priests who have no enthusiasm, and

THE SPOKESMAN OF THE GODS 129

whose lives are stained by many vices, and to the low-
class sorcerers, whose profession is a disgrace, and
who can never show a single virtue to lead men to a
higher faith and a nobler life. The one power that
is needed in China to-day is the Divine Man, Christ
Jesus, whose life is an inspiration to the world, and
whose mission was ** to seek and to save the lost."

CHAPTER X

THE TEMPLE OF THE EMPEROR OF THE CITY

There is one temple in every walled city in the empire
that stands out prominently from every other one in the
district. The rest deal with life in its ordinary htimdrum
methods. This has sterner work to do, as its business
is with rascality and cheating, and those shadier forms
of human life that respectable people and even idols,
such as the goddess of mercy, the god of war, and such
like, do not care to have much to do with. People,
for example, with common and what might be called
respectable diseases apply to any of the numerous
temples that are to be found everywhere ; but madness
and palsy and plague, that are supposed to be the work
of evil spirits, come within the scope of the City
Emperor.

He is a knowing customer is this god, who can
fathom the intricacies of crime, and meet the wiles and
cunning tricks of men who are walking in the crooked
ways of wickedness and depravity, such as none of the]
other more simple-minded and unsuspecting idols can
do. But let us visit the temple of this popular idol,
and see for ourselves the kind of business that is going
on every day in it.

It is situated in a narrow, dirty street, in the midst
of dilapidated, frowsy-looking houses, with ancient
smells that have such a concentrated essence of their
own that our hands naturally seek our pockets to extract
our handkerchiefs for immediate use. The main
entrance is an imposing one and is constructed after
the manner of the mandarins* ya:mens,i with huge central
doors and side entrances for common use. These

' A yamen contains the mandarin's Law Courts, as well as his own
private residence.

180

TEMPLE OF THE EMPEROR OF THE CITY 131

suggest the semi-official character of the building, where
cases are tried and where lawsuits are settled by the
presiding god within.

A scene suggestive of the character of idolatry and
its moral influence on the people meets us as we ascend
the steps to enter the building. Four men are seated
on the ground, close up to the massive doors, engaged
in gambling. Their eyes are glued on the cards, and
their looks are absorbed as though they were going
through some mental process by which they were trying
to discover the hands that the others held. I speak
to them and ask them if they are not afraid that the god
within will punish them for the disrespect done to his
temple and for their violation of law. They take no
notice whatever of my question, but with faces stern and
fixed they gaze upon the cards they hold in their hands,
just as though their fortunes and their very lives
depended upon them. I repeat my inquiry, but I
am met with the same stolid silence, when a by-
stander, amused at this little comedy, with grinning
face and eyes sparkling with fun, says to me: *' You
are a stranger here and evidently do not understand
our ways. These men, before they began their game,
went and made it right with the god by a bribe, so
you need not be afraid that he will be offended at their
card-playing. The man who wins has promised a good
offering to the idol, and so he is perfectly willing that
the gambling should go on in front of his temple."

On entering by one of the side doors, we come upon
twelve figures carved in wood, nearly as large as life.
They are the attendants or policemen of the god, and
the detectives he employs in the ferreting out of crime,
and in bringing criminals before his bar to receive the
punishment due for their misdeeds. They are a weird-
looking group, and meant to strike terror into the hearts
of men. Time and weather have worked sad havoc with
most of them, for they have a look about them that
suggests the need of a carpenter and painter to make
them fit to appear in respectable society.

Passing by these staring, hideous -looking objects, we
cross a large courtyard, and find ourselves in the
presence of the idol. If his attendants at the door fare
badly, the same cannot be said of their superior, The

132 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

image, which is placed on a raised platform, is beauti-
fully gilt and has the appearance of being well cared
for. The face is grave-looking and inclined to stern-
ness. It has the look of a man who has a perplexing
case before him, and about which there are points that
excite his indignation. This state of mind may indeed
be said to be a chronic one, for all the cases that come
before him are of a decidedly shady character, and
would not bear the light of day upon them.

Immediately in front of him there is the full -sized
figure of a man with a grave and scholarly look, sitting
at a table with pen in hand, absorbed in writing down
something evidently of great importance. This is the
private secretary of the god, and he is recording in
characters that will never perish the crimes and mis-
deeds of the men that appear in this dread court, with
all the evidence against them. This is all supposed to
be passed on to Hades, where the prince of the under-
world will make arrangements for a very warm recep-
tion of them by and by.

This Emperor of the City is popularly supposed to
be the great avenger of all wrongs. He is in direct
communication with the Chinese Pluto, who has com-
missioned him to act as his deputy amongst men, and
who is preparing various kinds of punishments for those
whom he condemns in the other world, in addition to
what the poor wretches have to endure in this. It is
fully believed that he is never appealed to in any case
of wrong or injustice where he does not unmercifully
punish the transgressor. He has a variety of ways in
which he does this. Sickness, perhaps, is sent into the
family of the culprit. This is a gentle hint that the god
is moving, and if repentance be not shown worse things
will soon happen. Or, perhaps, his business begins to
decline, or some member of the family dies. Disaster
after disaster fall upon the home in quick succession till
it is finally exterminated.

Men look upon these judgments as direct visitations
from the god for great wrong done by perhaps the head
of a family or some other member of it. The idol
believes in the ** law of righteousness," and it spares no
rank nor condition in life. With unfaltering steps it
marches on to judgment, and no combination of friends

TEMPLE OF THE EMPEROR OF THE CITY 133

can avail to avert the doom of the man whose wrongs
have been brought formally before its notice.

No sooner do we come into the presence of the god
than several priests emerge from an inner room and
gather round us. They are dressed in long and very
loose slate-coloured robes that reach nearly to their feet.
Their heads are shaven, and are as bare as the palm
of one's hand. The impression that they make upon us
is not by any means a favourable one. If ever the
passions of men's hearts come out, and reveal themselves
upon their faces, they have certainly done so here.
Morally, they seem to be of a lower type than the men
upon the streets, or of the crowd that has followed us
into the temple to see what we are going to do there.

How could they be otherwise? The greater part of
the time they are unoccupied. They are extremely
illiterate, and they have not the restraints of home life
to keep them moderately pure, for when a man becomes
a priest he must give up father and mother, and if
he be married, wife and children, and live a solitary life,
with no noble ambition and no stimulus to a life of
devotion and self-sacrifice to help him.

As we are sitting talking to them and sipping the
tea they have courteously had an attendant bring us, a
man comes in cautiously and hesitatingly across the
courtyard. Slowly, and in a shy and half -frightened
manner, he comes up to where the idol is seated. His
face is a pleasant one, and now and again a smile
flits across it through sheer nervousness, and gives it
such a sunny, genial look that we feel our sympathies
drawn out towards him.

He is a countryman, as can easily be seen by the
cut of his clothes and his brown, sunburnt features.
He is dressed in his very best and his head has been
shaved, and as he draws near to the god, in order to
pay respect to it, he gives a sudden touch to his queue
that is wound around his head, and in an instant it falls
down his back. This act is one of respect, for to
address a superior with the queue twisted round the
crown of the head is a great breach of etiquette. In
his hand he holds a bundle of incense sticks, which
he proceeds to light and insert in an incense dish lying
in front of the idol. He has also a long strmg of paper

134 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

ingots, representing large sums of gold and silver, which
he sets on fire.

These acts are preparatory to the real business that
has brought him here, and are intended to propitiate
the god. It is believed in China that the true way to
reach any one's heart is through a gift, a present of
some kind, and the larger the better. Justice is admin-
istered on this principle in almost every court in this
great empire. This has been the case from time im-
memorial, so that the thought has sunk into the great
public heart till it has become a prime article of faith
and practice in every department of life.

Idols, of course, are but deified men, and, whatever
they may have lost in their transition from earth to
the other world, it is never dreamed that the passion
for a bribe has been at all affected. It is for this
reason that the man has brought his incense and his
ingots representing considerable sums of money. It
is true that the whole has not cost him sixpence, but he
believes that by some hocuspocus or other the tawdry
pieces of paper will be transmuted into real gold and
silver by the time they reach the treasury of the god,
and will thus incline him to grant his petition.

After this preliminary performance, the man drew
out a long document, which contained his petition to
the idol, and proceeded to read it in a loud, clear voice.
This told the story how that when his father was dying,
he had left the farm and the homestead to himself and
a younger brother. This latter had recently fallen into
evil ways, and had taken to gambling and opium-smok-
ing. Running short of money, he had forged a deed
and sold the whole of the property to a rich man in
the neighbourhood. The petitioner had begged and
entreated this wealthy individual not to take advantage
of his brother's wickedness, but to refuse to have any-
thing to do with the purchase of land that his brother
had no right to sell, yet in vain. An appeal had
been made to the local mandarin for redress, but the
rich man's bribes had perverted the judgment, and
now his only hope was in the justice of the god.

He then went on to implore the idol to avenge him
by sending down upon the rich man every known dis-
aster that has ever turned human life into a howling

TEMPLE OF THE EMPEROR OF THE CITY 135

wilderness of sorrow. He prayed that lingering dis-
ease might come into his family and smite every
member of it ; that his wife might be plagued with
madness, and his children become vagabonds ; that
his riches might flee, and poverty of the direst kind
pursue him till life should end amidst rags and desti-
tution ; and that his life should become a burden to
him, so that death, with all the gloom that heathen
belief throws around it, should be looked forward to
as the happiest thing that could happen to him.

After he had finished reading his formal complaint,
which was drawn up precisely as an accusation in the
civil courts would have been, he burned it in the
presence of the idol, and bowing gravely to it, he looked
round with his nervous smile upon the spectators who
had been listening to him, and after a few moments'
hesitation slowly left the temple. He never expected
to get back his farm and his home again. These were
irretrievably lost to him, but he had the satisfaction
of having, as he believed, set in motion a power that
would never rest nor sleep till it had executed dire
vengeance upon the man who had wronged him.

We continue to sit and sip our tea with the priests.
As we get better acquainted with each other, I find
my heart warming towards them, and the feeling of
repugnance gradually subsiding. I talk to them about
God, and about Christ, the Saviour of the world, and
as they get interested, their hearts are moved by the
story, the wicked look melts in their eyes, and the
bold expression that repelled us at first gradually
softens down till their faces becojne gentle and sym-
pathetic. Everything else is for the moment forgotten
whilst I dwell upon the tenderness and love of God.
The idols close by seem to be silently listening, and
the secretary, with pen in hand, appears as though
he had stayed his work in the absorbing interest of
the story that is being told to these priests.

There were no objections made to our preaching the
gospel ; indeed, they frequently expressed their ap-
proval of the various points that seemed to touch their
hearts, and the crowd that had gathered thickly round
to hear what we were saying gave very free utterance
to their opinion that the doctrines we preached were

136 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

in accordance with the principles of Heaven, and there-
fore worthy the acceptance of all men.

But suddenly the stillness of the temple is broken
by, the sounds of the voices of a number of people,
and immediately a crowd comes trooping in with an
excited, expectant air, as though they expected to
witness something that would be more than ordinarily
interesting. They march past the broken-down-looking
figures at the door, across the courtyard, and halt not
till they gather tumultuously in front of the idol.

It is astonishing with what irreverence the Chinese
behave in their temples and in the presence of their
gods. Their voices are not hushed, nor do they walk
with silent tread, nor show any signs that they feel
they are in the presence of beings that have to be
reverenced or feared. They talk loudly, and gesticulate
and wrangle and use foul language just as though
they were met in some public place where men could
act precisely as they liked, without the fear of being
taken to task for anything they might do.

Conspicuous amongst the crowd that flock into every
available space in front of the idol are two men, who
are to be the actors in a very exciting and dramatic
ceremony. They are both of them serious and sober-
looking, and are evidently impressed with the gravity
of the circumstances that have brought them so
prominently before the public. One of them is a
middle-aged man, evidently a shopkeeper in a fairly
good wa,y of business, and the kind of man that one
would feel inclined to trust. He has large, expressive
features, not a beauty by any means, but certainly
not repulsive. His eyes are black and just now snapping
with excitement. He is full of nervous passion, which
we can see by the varying expressions that flash across
his common-sense, homely -looking face.

It appears that he has lately lost a considerable sum
of money that he had hidden away in what he con-
sidered to be a very secure hiding-place in his house.
It was all the spare fortune that he possessed, and
it was upon it that he relied as the backbone of his
business, upon which he could draw when bills became
pressing and creditors urgent in their demands for
payment .

TEMPLE OF THE EMPEROR OF THE CITY 137

One morning he came to take out enough to pay a
bill that had been presented, and lo ! to his horror, the
whole had disappeared. There was no living soul, he
believed, that knew of the whereabouts of the money
excepting his assistant. .With beating heart and passion
on his lips, and fierce revenge gathering in his soul,
he demanded from him the stolen money. The latter
denied all knowledge of the theft, and to prove his
innocence he volunteered to appear before the Emperor
and take the dread oath that he was entirely guiltless
of the charge that had been made against him.

And now here they stand. The defendant, as I may
call him, is a pleasant -faced, nervous -looking man, with
not very much intelligence or force of character.
Examining him as he stands in front of the crowd, with
the grim, stern-looking god gazing down upon him,
he does not seem to have the look of a thief. I could
hardly imagine that he had the daring and the enter-
prise to plan the carrying off of so large a sum of
money. It is a good sign, too, that he is willing to
stand before the tribunal of the god and swear that
he is not guilty. It is only sinners and men of iron
nerve, and scamps whose consciences have been
hardened, that dare to face the awful penalties that the
invisible powers would surely exact from them in case
of false swearing. He holds a white cock in his hand,
which, during this preliminary and miscellaneous talk
that was meant for the information of the spectators,
makes vigorous struggles to get away. It does not
like the crowd, and would much prefer to be in the
farmyard than in such a gathering of men.

Incense sticks are now lighted and placed in front
of the god and strings of paper money are burnt, so
as to incline it to listen patiently to the story now
about to be told. The accuser then produces his docu-
ment, in which he has drawn up his accusation, and
in a loud voice reads from it. It tells how he had a
sum of money in his house put away carefully in a
secret place, and how distressed he was when he came
to use it, to find that it had disappeared. He had
searched for it, but in vain, as the thief had left no
trace behind of his theft. He was fully convinced that
no one but the man at his side could have taken it.

138 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

and, therefore, he implored the god to cause him to
restore it to him, or to send down such punishment
upon him as would make him a misery to himself and
a terror to his neighbours. The document was then
burned, and now the formal indictment was in the hands
of the unseen spirit that is supposed to reside in the
idol.

The defendant then stood forth and declared his
perfect innocence of the crime with which he had been
charged. A critical observer would have been inclined
to believe him from his ingenuous and truth-like
appearance, although in China this is not always a
test that can be relied upon, for the Chinese have the
most remarkable faces in the world, perhaps, for con-
cealing their thoughts. They can tell the most dread-
ful lies without the least change of colour, or without
any ripple of emotion passing over their features to
betray the story that lies deeply hidden within their
hearts. If possible, they appear more serenely calm
and unruffled when with eloquent gesture and pathetic
look they are manufacturing some plausible answer to
a very grave accusation.

Whilst he is talking he looks agitated, and a pale
greenish hue, which might be an indication of guilt,
tinges his sallow features. This, however, might be
accounted for by the peculiarly solemn circumstances
in which he was placed, for the taking of this oath is
one of the most dreaded ceremonies in the whole range
of Chinese life. After denying that he had anything
to do with the stolen money, he proceeds in the most
awful language to call down the vengeance of the
god upon himself if he has. He prays that sickness
may blight his family, that his own life may become
a torture to himself, that poverty may hold him in its
perpetual grip and the direst sorrows cast their
shadows upon and never leave him, and that finally
death may suddenly seize upon him, just as happens
to the cock, and with one blow of a chopper that he
holds in his hand, he strikes off its head, and the poor
thing lies quivering on the ground, with its life blood
gushing out in red streams from its body.

The scene is terribly weird and gruesome, and in
some great painter's hand would make a splendi

I

TEMPLE OF THE EMPEROR OF THE CITY 139

subject for a picture. The crowd standing silent and
absorbed in the crowning act, when the man severs
the head of the cock and declares amidst terrible impre-
cations upon himself that he is innocent of the theft ;
the two chief actors in this drama that is being played
to-day, with passion and fierce resentment depicted on
their faces, as they both appeal to the unseen powers
that are believed to right the wrongs of this human life
of ours ; and the god, stern and solemn, looking down
calmly on the upturned faces of the crowd, whilst
the secretary seems absorbed in the process of record-
ing every word that is being uttered in this doubtful
case, are scenes that, transferred by the hand of genius
to canvas, would produce a picture of startling and
abiding interest.

The crowd now begins to disperse. The excitement
is over, for the case has passed out of human control
and is in the hands of the g]od. The battered, dis-
reputable figures at the door, though they have never
moved from the position they were in when we entered,
and their strange, grotesque attitudes are the same, are
believed to have already received the commands of
their superior and have even now taken their fiirst steps
in that silent, relentless pursuit after the thief that
shall end in his detection and punishment.

It turned out a few days after the scene I have
described, that the real culprit, terrified by the thought
of the awful judgments that the man who had been
falsely accused had called upon the god to hurl upon
him if he were guilty, and fearful that the idol might
visit him with these, took measures to restore the
money to the owner without revealing his identity.
This, however, the latter was not much concerned
about. He had recovered his property, and his mind
was too happy to care much as to the question how it
had disappeared.

He had, however, an important duty now to perform,
viz., to appear before the god and stay further pro-
ceedings against the man whom he had falsely accused.
Until this was done, the accusation, just as in the
civil courts, would still be in force against him, as
the god was not supposed to be cognisant of the
quashing of the case until the petition had been

140 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

formally withdrawn. He accordingly presented himself
before the idol and offering some incense and paper
money, he informed it that the money had been re-
covered, and that now he wished to withdraw the
accusation against the man whom he had previously
charged with the theft. He also thanked the god for
the prompt way in which it had acted on his behalf,
and bowing profoundly, left with a grateful heart.

It seems a remarkable thing that so shrewd and
intelligent a people as the Chinese should believe that
these wooden figures should have such a tremendous
power in human life as they ascribe to them. And yet
when one reasons out the matter it will not seem so
surprising. The fathers of this nation elected ages ago
to depose God from His universe, and to put the idols
in His place. This they succeeded in doing, but they
could not eradicate the profound instinct in every man
that leads him to look outside of life to some great
Being to whom he may appeal when sorrow comes, and
when the heart is crushed with oppression and no help
can be found in man to deliver him.

This temple is the only place where an oath of any
kind is taken. In no other would it be binding on the
conscience of any one. A man would have no objec-
tion to swear any number of oaths anywhere else, and
he would do so with a light heart even though every
one of them was false. The mandarins know this, so
in criminal cases where the truth is to be elicited they
prefer the judicious use of a stout bamboo rod to an
oath. It is more persuasive and does not demoralise
the conscience. An oath, however, before the Emperor
of the City, with his supernatural surroundings and
his dread terrors and the fearful tortures that are
believed will follow any false swearing in his court,
makes the worst men hesitate.

Many instances are given where reckless swearing has
been followed by instant punishment. A remarkable
case occurred in a well-known southern city. A rich
man had got possession of the ancestral home of a
family that had come down in the world. A sudden
turn in the wheel of fortune had enriched one of its
members and he wished to redeem the property. The
rich man refused to give it up, on the plea that it

TEMPLE OF THE EMPEROR OF THE CITY 141

had always belonged to him. An appeal was made to
the chief mandarin of the city to compel him to restore
it to the rightful owners.

This official happened to be one of those upright
men who are found occa.sionally in office, who was
impervious to a bribe, and who was desirous that justice
should be done without respect to the position or
character of the parties. He foresaw, however, that
there would be difficulties in the case, as the rich man
had not only wealth to back him but also influential
family connections that would enable him to resist any
judgment that might be given against him, so he deter-
mined to try the lawsuit, not in his own yamen but in
the temple of the Emperor.

Accordingly, on the day appointed, he established
his tribunal in front of the idol and summoned the
parties before him. After the case had proceeded for
some time, he said: ** I see that there are great diffi-
culties in the way of the settlement of this question.
You both produce deeds that seem to show that the
house belongs to both of you. This cannot possibly
be the case, so I propose that we leave the decision
to the god and let him decide who is the rightful owner."

The prosecutor gladly agreed to this suggestion,
whilst the rich man for very shame was compelled to
consent.

Messengers were sent out to purchase a white cock,
and a formal statement of the case was drawn up
to be presented to the god. When these preliminaries
had been settled, the mandarin moved aside and
formally handed over the case to the idol. The rich
man then stood forward, document in hand and the
cock held by one of his servants. His friends had
gathered round him to support his claim, and several
of his sons stood near him. The idol, stem and un-
moved, looked over the strange gathering with a face
that seemed to be filled with indignation, whilst his
secretary with head down and eyes fixed upon his paper
appeared to be occupied with taking down the evidence.
The rich man had proceeded with his oath and had
got to the point where he was calling down impreca-
tions on himself and lunging at the cock with the
chopper, when all at once there was a scream and

142 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

then dire confusion and terrified expressions of wonder,
for there lay on the ground one of his sons struck down
with paralysis. The mandarin now stepped forward
and said: *' I adjudge that the house be handed over
to the prosecutor, for the god has plainly shown to
whom it really belongs, and he has also expressed his
indignation by striking down the son of the man who
falsely claimed that it was his."

This is not a solitary instance where immediate judg-
ment has followed the taking of a false oath. Many
stories abound with regard to the special intervention
of this god in righting the wrongs of society, and so
his temple is looked upon with a considerable amount
of dread, and men fear to come under the lash of this
dread and most potent Emperor.

i

CHAPTER XI

MOUNTAIN TEMPLES

The early founders of Buddhism i in China must have
had a profound love of the beautiful in Nature, and
have had at the same time the genius to transmit the
same to the long line of priests and abbots that have
since succeeded them throughout the empire. We are
led to this conclusion by the fact that the priests of
the present day show the most exquisite taste in the
selection of spots where they build their temples and
monasteries, wherever Nature gives them a chance to
do so. These shaven, unwashed, and uneducated men,
with low and sensual faces, and with no home ties to
help to purify their thoughts, seem the very last men to
have the artistic faculty within them. And yet, set
them to select some place where a future temple is to
be built, and, with the instinct of the poet in their
hearts and with the eye of the artist who has caught
the secret of Nature's charms, they will select the very
spot where the soul may spend years of solitude and
retirement without being reduced to despair by its
surroundings. With the mountain peaks around, the
great silent valleys stretching at their feet, the musical
echoes of rustling streams, and the inarticulate sounds
that Nature is ever uttering, they are enabled to spend
the years of a solitude that otherwise might have driven
them to despair.

But let me try and describe in as vivid colours as I
can one of these Buddhist temples. The time I shall
begin with is the hour just before the dawn. Everything
is shrouded in darkness, huge boulders that lie around
the monastery in fantastic shapes seem like sleeping

' Buddhism was first brought to China in a.d. 6o, during the reign of
the Emperor Ming, of the Later Han Dynasty.

143

144 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

dragons watching over it during the night. A profound
silence reigns everywhere, and the very pines that stand
near by are as erect and as motionless as though they
were sentinels on guard.

All at once, as if a miracle had been wrought, the
mountain ridge away in the front seems to drop its
mantle of darkness, and to become dimly visible. It
looks as though some conjurer were at work, for in
a moment or two a delicate light that seems to belong
to another world trembles shyly at its top. With
another wave of his wand sunbeams like golden threads
flash through the twilight and weave themselves in and
out in various colours. Soon the mountain crests and
peaks are crowned with sunlight that slowly travels
down the sides of the hill, peers into the dim caverns,
and plays around the giant boulders, under which run
murmuring rills that are to grow into the rushing,
foaming torrent that leaps, with a mad joy in its heart,
farther down the mountain-side.

And now the sun rises higher and higher, and his
long, flashing rays light up the ravine on the edge of
which the temple is perched. What a view it has to
look upon this glorious morning! The mountains are
bathed in light, the shadows chasing each other like
schoolboys along their rugged sides ; the sea in the
distance, touched with the morning glory, gleams like
a lake of gold, and the far-off peaks seem so distant
that they must verily belong to another world— these
are the sights upon which the priest may gaze and
forget that he is alone.

It would seem, indeed, as though the sun had been
putting forth its wondrous powers to make him forget
how solitary he is. It cannot be for any one else, for
there is no other human being within a mile of him,
but this matters not to the sunbeams. They penetrate
into his temple and light up the trees as they pass, they
gleam about the courtyard and playfully brighten up the
wooden gods that send back no response to them, and
they seem all the while to be saying: ** We will have
no dullness where we are. We drive the shadows from
the hillsides, and from the great chasms where only we
can tread. We touch the clouds, and their sombre looks
vanish, and colours tremble through that artists in every

A PRIEST IN THE COURTYARD OF THE "WHITE DEER" TEMPLE.

I'o face p. 145,

MOUNTAIN TEMPLES 145

age have tried in vain to put upon their canvas. We
come too into the hearts of men and we banish despair ;
we turn the sigh into a song, and if men and women
would only let us we would make their lives as beautiful
as the face of Nature that breaks into smiles every time
we flash across it."

These temples usually have a high reputation amongst
the people on the plain, because of the wonders they
are believed to work in curing disease, in warding off
ill-fortune, in bringing prosperity to the home, and in
a thousand different ways easing the burdens which
press upon the hfe of the people. All day long solitary
figures may be seen ascending the winding road that
leads Over stone steps, and under overhanging trees, and
across rustic bridges, up to the temple where the gods
sit in silence within their shrines.

A visit to one of these is full of interest, as it enables
one to see the real attitude of the Chinese towards
idolatry, and how with unquestioning faith in the wooden
images they combine a vast amount of irreverence and
disrespect. A very good specimen temple, that stands
outside a busy commercial city with over a hundred
thousand inhabitants, may be taken as a fair sample of
all such similar buildings in China. It is an exceedingly
popular one and is known by the name of *' The White
Deer."

The tradition goes that a fairy who, evidently for
very suspicious reasons, had assumed the form of a deer
was suddenly caught sight of by a number of dogs and
pursued over hill and dale. The magic powers of the
fairy seemed to have failed her at this crisis, for her
pursuers pressed her so long and so closely that she
at last fell exhausted and died just as the hounds
reached her.

An artist whose knowledge of perspective was ex-
ceedingly deficient, and whose soul had no poetic instinct
to picture the scene as Michel Angelo would have done,
has tried to perpetuate the story by the figure of a
badly-shaped deer, lying in a most ungraceful and
inartistic posture on a shelving rock.

The first glimpse of this invariably produces a smile,
but the thought that we are in the presence of an attempt
at high art quickly sobers us, and we try and look as

10

146 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

pleased as though we were looking at the production
of one of our most famous sculptors. After a time,
as the story got abroad, the people of the city near
by subscribed sufficient funds to build a temple to her
memory. There is no question but that the deer was
a true artist by nature. A more romantic spot where
she chose to breathe her last would be difficult to find.
It is on the slope of a hill that rises somewhat abruptly
from the very edge of the large and populous city. A
path that winds through gardens and amongst dilapi-
dated graves leads us gradually up until we stand above
the town. Then a series of steps, scarred by time and
falling into decay, but whose weakness is disguised by
mosses and grass, that with tender hand would hide
the signs of age and decay, brings us still higher to a
most romantic spot.

Here we have a situation which of all others seems
adapted for retirement and meditation. Great rocks and
mighty boulders, that Time with her patient hand has
smoothed and rounded, lie thickly strewn around in that
artless way with which Nature can drape these unwieldy
forms into the most artistic attitudes. In the midst of
these the temple of *' The White Deer " lies enshrined.
The beauty of the position is greatly enhanced by the
natural grottos that are formed by overhanging rocks
and projecting boulders, that cluster around as though
the fairies had flung them with graceful hand into posi-
tions where they could serve as resting-places for the
visitors after their steep climb from the city below.
Stone seats have been placed within these where one
can sit under the shadow of the rocks, certain that
no burning sun shall send its fiery rays to inter-
fere with the delightful coolness that always reigns
within .

The interior of the temple is disappointing. The
floor is unswept, and the walls show where the dust has
gathered in crevices and on the uneven surfaces, as
though it were no one's business to have it swept. The
place where the idol is enshrined is perhaps the most
dusty and uncared for in the whole building. The
yellow cloth that is thrown over its head is stained
and frowsy-looking, so that we feel that we would
like to take it and the god and give them both a good

MOUNTAIN TEMPLES 147

washing. Everything has a cheap and third-rate look
about it. There is nothing to excite reverence or make
one feel that this is a sacred place, that one ought to
take off one's hat and stand hushed and in awe because
of the presence of the supernatural.

The very reverse is the case. The atmosphere of
the place is such as to induce every one to walk about
and examine it as one would a very inferior curiosity
shop, and make jokes and behave as though one were
on a picnic and bound to be as jolly and facetious
as possible. That the effect on the Chinese around is
precisely this is evident from their conduct. They do
not tread on tiptoe as though afraid to break the solemn
silence by their footfall ; neither do they walk with
bowed heads as though conscious of the overpowering
presence of the god. They crack their peanuts and
throw the shells on the floor. They even light their
pipes and, with broad grins at some joke, puff the
smoke out, unconscious that they are paying any dis-
respect to the " Goddess of Mercy " that looks down
upon them with a benignant and placid air. They are
as jovial and light-hearted as though coming to a
feast. They talk and jest with each other ; laughter
echoes round the building, and smiles cover faces at
some funny saying that has touched their sense of the
ludicrous.

The Chinese is a person who is utterly devoid of
reverence, sentiment, or devotion in his religion. With
him it is a matter either of fear or of business, but
mainly of the latter. A house is plagued with sickness,
which is put down, not to bad sanitation or other natural
causes but to the presence of evil spirits. This leads
to a visit to the nearest temple to get the idol to drive
them away. A new business is going to be commenced,
but before beginning it is deemed essential to get the
support of the idols. If one idol says it will not
succeed, another is appealed to for its opinion, and if it
be favourable, it is at once accepted as the correct one.
Should the venture turn out a failure, no reproach
of any kind is uttered against the god whose prediction
has been falsified. The man takes the blame upon
himself. His character has not been pure, he says,
or he was born under an evil star, or he was naturally

148 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

unlucky and so was bound to fail in anything that he
undertook.

Men never dream of thinking about their idols as we
do about God. No affection is shown for them, neither
are they credited with any tender or human feeling
toward any one that supplicates their mercy. It is
most amusing to watch the faces of the Chinese when
you ask them if the idols love them. A look of amuse-
ment at once flashes into them. The eyes gleam, the
face broadens into a wide grin, and soon hearty laughter
is heard at this most humorous and side-splitting joke.
As we enter the main room where the chief idol sits
enshrined, the priest in charge advances to meet us.
We are startled by his looks, for he has very much the
appearance of an extremely emaciated coTpse that has
been spending the night in dissipation, and has not
yet rallied from the effects of it. He is tall and fragile-
looking, and so thin that his Mongolian cheek-bones
project in an exaggerated fashion from his face, which
seems to have nothing left upon it but a kind of
dried-up parchment, from which every particle of
moisture has evaporated. His eyes are sunken, and
though they must have been good at one time, the
sparkle that he tries to put into them when he speaks
to us is a feeble, clouded one and only reveals to us
that he is a confirmed opium -smoker. The whole look
of the man is a ghastly one, and were he deprived
of his priest's frock, and put on the roadside in the
street below, he would hardly bear comparison with
some of the most wretched outcasts found there amongst
the beggar fraternity.

To-day, it seems, is a special one with the Chinese,
for it is the first day of the new moon, and as there is
a belief that the idols are more propitious on this day,
as well as on the day of the full moon, large numbers
have come up from the crowded, ill-smelling streets to
present their petitions to them. It is on occasions like
this that the priest reaps his harvest and gathers in
sufficient money during these two days of the month
by the sale of incense sticks and paper money to keep
him in idleness for the rest of the month.

But let us sit down on this stone seat under the
great banyan -tree that stretches its huge boughs to

MOUNTAIN TEMPLES 149

shelter us from the sun's rays, and let us watch the
people as they come. Here is an old lady between fifty
and sixty. Her feet have been bound so small that it
is a wonder how she has managed to mount the broken,
uneven steps up the hillside. She could not possibly
have done so had not her sturdy grandson, who has
come with her, helped her up. Her face is a good
one and has the mother element strongly impressed upon
it. It shows, too, that she has an active mind, and one
imbued with a considerable amount of common sense.
We are struck, however, with its paleness and the weary
look which lurks beneath the pleasant smile that lies
as a background behind the loving flash of her coal-
black eyes, as they rest with affection upon the bright,
cheery-faced lad by her side. Stopping only for a
moment to take her breath after the steep climb, she
buys a bundle of incense sticks from the priest and goes
straight into the presence of the goddess. Here she
stands as motionless as a statue, with her hands clasped
high above her head, in a supplicating attitude, and
her eyes fixed upon the placid, benevolent face of the
image before her.

In a low voice she tells how of late she has been
troubled with failing health. She cannot sleep at
nights, her appetite is gone, and though she has called
in many doctors she is getting worse and worse. Will
not the goddess exercise her great power and give
her back the strength she has lost? It is pathetic to
mark the rapt devotion of thp old lady as she pours
forth her entreaties to the silent dust -covered figure
before her, never dreaming of any immediate response,
but willing to wait the will of the idol.

As she retired, her place was at once occupied by
another, and so a continuous stream of worshippers
succeeded each other with their petitions. This one
wanted health, another came to pray for success in
business, whilst yet another came to appeal for help
to prevent a man from forcibly taking possession of his
ancestral acres. One young man, who interested me
greatly by his fresh, ingenuous -looking face, told me
that he had just asked the idol if it could not get a
situation for him. He had been for some months out
of employment, and had gone to a number of temples

150 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

to supplicate the gods in them, but they had all given
unsatisfactory answers, and so he had come here to see
what the goddess would do for him.

Considerable numbers of people were visiting the
temple as a matter of pleasure, and without any refer-
ence to the idols. It was a rare treat for most of them
to get away from the narrow streets, with their
unsavoury odours, hot, stifling air and commonplace,
poverty stricken looking houses that everywhere obtrude
themselves upon the eye of the passer-by. Sauntering
along in the wake of some of these, we suddenly
emerged into a huge grotto, formed by the junction of
six titanic boulders. The air was cool and delicious^
so we sat down on one of the stone benches that had
been placed for the use of visitors, and admired the
cunning way in which some great catastrophe in ancient
times had so nicely and so mathematically balanced
these gaunt stones. The most skilled engineer that ever
lived could not have so disposed of them to be a
permanent record of his genius, for though hundreds of
years have passed by, and countless rainy seasons have
poured down their torrents upon them, and mighty
typhoons with the hoarse roar of ten thousand giants in
their voice have tried to hurl them from their place,
they have all failed, and to-day they are as strong as
though the silent workmen of the past had put them in
position only yesterd,ay.

We enjoy the cool, fresh air of this wonderful grotto,
and watch the people from the hot, sultry streets
luxuriating in this sunless cave. With a sigh of relief
they throw down their f,ans on the stone tables, and are
soon busy ch,attering with each other over the fragrant
cups of tea that an attendant has brought in. The
Chinese is an ideal man for enjoying a picnic. There
is no rushing about, neither does h,e go wild with ex-
citement and so exhaust himself. He takes things
calmly, sips his tea and lets the aroma of every mouthful
wander in a leisurely manner around his palate. He
smiles, chats, makes his jokes, and dallies over the
sweetmeats and the cakes, but gives no thought to the
passing of time, beyond an occasional glance at the sun
to see how the day is going. By and by, with a sigh,
he will say, "Now let us go." The time is up and

MOUNTAIN TEMPLES 151

he knows it, and with a philosophic air he will resume
his fan, and his hot, stifling life in the dusty streets, as
though he had never known the pure and breezy air of
the monastery.

Leaving this delightful grotto, we proceeded up a
narrow stone staircase, when we suddenly found our-
selves in a scene most unexpected and at the same time
one that gave us a vast amount of enjoyment. It was
a large and spacious room, partly roofed and partly
opened to the heavens, and benches and tables were
liberally distributed throughout it for the use of visitors.
It was in reality a subsidiary temple of the god of
war, who sat with a solemn face in his shrine. The
ghastly, skeleton-looking priest evidently saw no reason
why religious devotion and business should not be
successfully combined. He accordingly fitted up the
place in such a way as to attract prospective pleasure-
seekers. That he had succeeded was evident from
numerous testimonials scribbled on the whitewashed
walls by members of convivial parties that had occupied
the room. One of these with more force than good
grammar declared that *' this is a place to take a joy."
To-day the room was engaged by a party of English
people who had come to enjoy themselves for the
afternoon. There were a"bout a dozen of them, and
amongst them were several young girls who were
brimming over with fun and excitement, and who had
evidently made up their minds to make the most of
every moment at their disposal.

The tables and chairs had been moved to one side,
and some of our English games were being played,
much to the amusement of the groups of Chinese who
gazed with wonder and astonishment at the antics
of the merry party. " Puss -in -the -corner^" *' Tom
Tiddler's ground," *' Base," and " Kiss-in-the-ring,"
were successively played, and the place rang again with
shouts of laughter, as one after another was caught
and prisoners were made and released again. Even
the Chinese became excited as the fortunes of the game
varied, and I saw the eyes of staid, sober men who had
never run since they were boys, sparkling with excite-
ment. They seemed to be longing for an invitation to
join in the romp ; and even the opium-visaged priest

152 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

with cadaverous -looking face was moved by the scene
before him, and his dull eyes glistened and his limbs
quivered as though at the slightest provocation he would
have rushed into the whirling throng that were racing
after each other and filling the neighbouring rocks with
the echoes of their merry voices.

The only calm and sedate being in the whole scene
was the stern -looking god of war, who seemed to look
on with wonder, not unmixed with pleasure, at the
antics and peals of laughter and smiling faces of the
party before him. It required no very strong flight of
imagination to believe that now and again he indulged M
in a wink, when no one was looking at him, and that ^
nothing but a stern resolve to preserve his dignity in
the presence of his worshippers kept him from stepping
down and joining in the merry revels. At length the
sun began to disappear beyond the lofty peaks of the
mountains in the west, and long, trailing shadows flung
themselves across the plain and up the sides of the
hills. The visitors with one consent made preparations
to return to their homes. The priest with the ghastly
face, and eyes peering out of their deep sockets, kept
close to the departing crowd to collect his fees for the
use of the room, and for the supply of boiling water
for the tea-making. People shrank from him instinc-
tively, as a man that no honest person might keep
company with, and the money that was paid him was
dropped into his crow-like fingers as though the touch
of his hand would contaminate theirs.

As we bade farewell to the place, we did so with
regret. The day itself, as far as our outing had been
concerned, had been an ideal one, and everything had
combined to make it so. The temple was a perfect
one for a picnic, for no choicer nor more beautiful
place could have been selected for it. Rocks were
tossed about in the most artless and fantastic shapes,
while huge pine-trees growing out of their clefts gave a
wildness and picturesqueness to the building that was
nestled in their midst. The panorama in front was as
charming as Nature in her most artistic mood could
have devised. The great mountains in the distance
were bathed in floods of sunshine. The river that
wound its way across the plain looked like a silver

MOUNTAIN TEMPLES 153

thread that some fairy had dropped in passing, whilst
the fields, clad in the emerald green of the growing
rice, and dotted with countless trees, seemed like an
immense park that had been laid out by an army of
cunning workmen.

The one disappointing thing was the interior of the
temple. Everything there was so tawdry and mean-
looking. The wooden gods were dressed in cheap
yellow-coloured cottons, stained and disfigured by years
of dust that had lain undisturbed upon them. The
floors were unswept and unwashed, showing that a
woman's hand was needed, and soap and water to take
away the grimy look that had eaten into everything.
The priest and his attendant were dissipated-looking,
and seemed as if they had been picked up out of the
gutters of the town that stretched away at our feet.

One could not but feel that religion had fallen upon
evil times when it had come to be administered by such
men as these, and yet this temple was but a sample
of countless others that are scattered throughout the
length and breadth of this vast empire. The enthusiasm
for religion has vanished. How could it be otherwise
since opium-smoking, gambling, and dissipated priests
are its teachers and representatives ! The nation is
waiting patiently, pathetically, for the coming of Him
who is the Saviour of the world.

CHAPTER XII

PUNISHMENTS

The Chinese is a person full of surprises. He is like
the kaleidoscope, for you feel that whatever strange
and unexpected views he may have given of himself
you have not yet got the last and final one that will
exhaust his character. In his ordinary and every-day
life, for example, he gives you the impression of being
good-natured, easy-going, and kindly in disposition.

In many respects he is the counterpart of the typical
Englishman. He is endowed with broad common-
sense ; he is breezy and jolly, and is absolutely crammed
full of conceit about himself and his country. He thinks
there is no one to be compared with a Chinese, and
that the Flowery Kingdom is the only land worth
living in I

He has a keen sense, moreover, of justice, and a lofty
ideal of human conduct. When, however, he begins
to legislate for the criminal, and to carry out his own
laws, he is no longer like his prototype the Englishman.
His good-nature vanishes in a flash, and he reveals him-
self as a man who can be as cruel and bloodthirsty
as any wild beast that ever tore its victim to pieces to ,
satisfy its savage appetite.

In my account of the punishments inflicted upon the
Chinese, I shall not reckon the beatings with bamboos,
that form an essential of any ordinary trial, as among
their number. There is no doubt that these flagella-
tions are not mere child's play, and that they lacerate
and tear away the flesh of poor victims, so that some-
times for long months they are confirmed invalids.
Still, these playful exhibitions on the part of the man-
darins cannot under the present system be done away
with, for they take the place of cross-examinations,

154

CRIMINALS WEARING THE CANQUE.

To face p. 155.

PUNISHMENTS 155

pleadings of counsel, and learned disquisitions by the
judge, none of which are to be found in a Chinese trial.
The Chinese consider that these bambooings greatly
facilitate matters and by a rapid and easy method
secure that justice is done, by stimulating, if not the
memory, at least the inventive faculties of the accused ;
at any rate, they dissipate the monotony that very
often makes a case so wearisome in an English court.
To deprive a judge of this Magna Charta of the bench
would be to rob most of the trials of that comical ele-
ment that does so much to relieve the tedium of the
law cases throughout the country. Without them, one
would look in vain for the farcical developments that
often convulse- the sides of the spectators, and cover
their yellow faces with broad grins and laughter.

A very common punishment for theft or house-
breaking is the wearing of the cangue, or wooden collar.
This consists of a rough board about three feet in
width and four in length, with a liberal hole in the centre
to allow of the free play of the criminal's neck. It can
be divided in the middle to allow it to imprison the
criminal's neck, the two parts then fit together and are
locked by a padlock. A chain depends from it, which
is attached either to his ankle, his wrist, or his neck.
With the minute attention to detail of the Chinese the
gravity of his crime can be measured somewhat by the
particular part of the body to which this chain is affixed.
When it is round the neck the housebreaking must have
been of a specially daring character, whilst if it is
fastened to his ankle it has been of a less bloodcurdling
type, and so worthy of less severe treatment.

The criminal, after he has been condemned, is placed
under the charge of the Tipao, or headman of the
ward, who is responsible for him, and who marches him
each morning from his prison to some thoroughfare near
the place where the offence was committed. The un-
fortunate man is compelled to spend the day in the open
air, in order that the outraged feelings of the community
may be pacified, and that he may serve as a severe
object-lesson to intending transgressors.

Though the cangue appears at first sight to be a very
simple mode of punishment, a very considerable amount
of torture can be caused by it. As the board is broad.

156 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

the man can only just manage to bend his forearm over
it. He cannot reach his face with his hands. This is
particularly uncomfortable at mealtimes, for it is only
by manoeuvres worthy of a juggler or an acrobat,
and by tilting up his board, that he can manage to
get rice into his mouth. During the hot weather, when
flies of all description abound, from the small, wiry kind
that have such a fell purpose that nothing will divert
them from it, to the huge, bloated, drum-beating kind,
the cangue-bearer has no easy time of it. His face is
absolutely without defence. If a fly settles on his nose,
he has no resource but to call some benevolent person
near by to wave it ofl", for a Chinese bluebottle knows
when it is comfortable, and will not be frightened by
a mere shake of the head. Should one of China's
millions make him wish to scratch himself, he has again
to scan the faces of the passers-by and select one that
seems more kindly than the rest to perform this simple
office for him.

All day long in sunshine or in storm he must remain
within the limited area where his punishment has to be
carried out, and when the shadows begin to fill the
streets the Tipao appears, to lead him back to the
prison where he is to spend the night. The darkness
brings no alleviation of the man's sorrows ; rather,
indeed, may they be said to begin after he passes the
threshold of the place where he is to be confined.
Chinese prisons are beau-ideal places of misery and
wretchedness. No more loathsome nor ghastly holes,
where human beings have to reside, can be conceived of.
Imagine a room, say not more than ten feet square,
with narrow stone slits in the wall that are to serve as
windows, and that let in a dull and subdued light that
leaves the place gloomy -looking on the sunniest day.
The walls are black with dirt ; never have they been
cleansed since the day when the plasterer gave his final
touches to them. The floor is an earthen one, once
beaten even but now covered with miniature hills and
valleys, by long usage. Into this are crow'ded ten or
a dozen prisoners. There is not an article of furniture
in it. Bundles of straw, provided by the miserable
inmates, are the only beds they lie on, and these become
so foul and densely populated that the denizens of them,

PUNISHMENTS 157

if they were only unanimous, could walk off with the
unfortunate prisoners.

The wretched man has now to consider what position
he shall take on the floor to secure the greatest amount
of sleep. The board must be humoured and coaxed.
If it is tilted up at a wrong angle, it may avenge itself
during the night by collapsing and nearly choking him.
He must poise it so that the sharp, uneven edges may
prick as little as possible into the soft skin of his neck.
Do the best he can, he must have nightmares, ,and
restless dreams, from which he will start into troubled
wakefulness, and he will greet the morning light with
thankfulness because it will rescue him from the misery
of his prison.

In cases where the crimes demand a severer form of
punishment than the cangue or imprisonment, the law
decrees that criminals shall be transported. The
Chinese have adopted a very ingenious and inexpensive
method of dealing with such offenders. China has
no penal settlements, neither does she build huge prisons
where the transgressors against the law are herded at
great expense to the community. She lias a very
effective way of punishing the guilty, and all this with-
out prisons or gaolers or staffs of paid agents, who
would be a constant burden upon the Government.
A case with which I was acquainted will illustrate my
meaning. An officer in a regiment stationed in Peking
committed the crime of murder, and was condemned to
be transported for life to a district fifteen hundred miles
from where the offence had been perpetrated. One
mandarin after another passed him across their juris-
dictions, until he was finally handed over to the chief
magistrate of the Prefecture ^ where he was to spend
the rest of his life. In a few days he was released,
with orders to report himself at the police office once
a month. He was now at liberty to go where he liked,
within a certain considerable area, and to adopt any
profession he chose to earn his living. He was left
absolutely uncontrolled, and he could have escaped to
some other part of the country, or he could have taken

* China is roughly divided into counties, prefectures, and provinces.
A prefecture contains a number of counties, whilst a province embraces
a large number of prefectures.

158 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

steamer and gone abroad, and thus regained his liberty,
but he did not dare to do so. It was the thought of
his friends that prevented him. Visions of his home and
of the loved ones there rose before his imagination, and
stayed his feet from flying. Never had those dear ones
seemed to have such a fascination for him as now
when he had lost them. His wife and children, and the
scenes amidst which he had grown up, became dearer to
him as he looked at them through the dreary distance
that lay between. He knew that, if he escaped, the
authorities in the north would be at once informed,
and they would proceed to inflict punishment on his
relatives, on the recognised principle that the misdeeds
of one member of a family compromise all the rest.
It was my fortune to become intimately acquainted
with him, and as he was teaching me Northern Chinese,
and lived in the same premises as myself, I had oppor-
tunities of closely observing him. He was a fine,
gentlemanly -looking person, of the breezy type, and
with smiles that seemed ever to be on the look-out to
overspread and wreathe his face in sunshine. His
manners showed that he had come from a good family,
for he had none of those vulgar habits that too often
distinguish the common people, and for a long time
I never dreamed that I was dealing with a murderer.
Many months passed by and his conduct was every-
thing that could be desired, but gradually signs of
the special weakness that had caused the tragedy in
his life appeared. He would occasionally get drunk,
and then the mad passion that had been lying dormant
within him like a sleeping panther would burst out, and
for the time being he became a raving demoniac.
Chairs would be broken, crockery smashed, and furious
onslaughts made on everything inanimate that he could
lay his hands on. He was careful, in the midst of
all his frenzy, to abstain from touching any person.
That was the one sane point about him. People stand-
ing by looked on with amazement at this mad revelry,
and kept muttering their astonishment at such wanton
destruction of property. After a time the madness
would slowly die away and he would lie down exhausted
amid the ruins he had created and fall asleep. When he
woke up he did so with the smile of an infant just

PUNISHMENTS 159

awaking from its slumbers, and with a look of wonder
in his eyes as he surveyed the scene around. He uttered
no word of surprise, but began quietly to put his room
in order with the wrecks of the things that lay strewn
about.

The Chinese method of transportation is about as
cheap and effective a system as the wit of man could
have devised. It costs the Government nothing and
it entails no permanent expense to it, for the men who
are doomed to this punishment have to support them-
selves. It might seem that the freedom given to the
criminal, when he has reached the place where he has
to expiate his crime, would rob it of all its terrors,
but this is not so. The sting of transportation, and the
one thing that fills it with horror to the ordinary
Chinese, is the fact that it means exile from his home.
The love of home is deeply inbred in the heart of every
Chinese. It is deep ; it is as profound as his own
nature. The finest affections of this mysterious people
centre round their homes. Love of country pales and
vanishes before this, for no matter how poor or wretched
their homes may be, to be banished from them is to
take away the very springs of life and to rob it of
all its sunshine.

There are two factors in the punishment that make
it a most serious and yet an absolutely safe one. These
are this innate love for home, and the despotic power
of the Government to seize any member of the criminal's
family and hold them responsible should he escape.
Very few men will run when they know that their father
or mother, or uncles and aunts, or first cousins or
second cousins may be pounced upon and held in
durance vile until either they are released, are dead,
or have surrendered themselves. Love for the dear
ones at home keeps the man perpetually in his pre-
scribed district, and though his heart may be breaking
and his limbs trembling with excitement to hurry home-
ward, he feels himself bound to his place of exile by
loyalty and devotion to those who would have to suffer
for him.

There are certain offences that appear to us com-
paratively trivial, and yet the Chinese have adjudged
them a most severe and cruel punishment. One of

160 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

these latter is called " carrying the crate." One day
I was informed that a man who had been found guilty
of rifling a grave was suffering this particular penalty
close by the very spot where he had committed his
offence. I at once hurried along one of the main roads
towards the place where the man was being punished,
with a kind of shivery feeling that I should see some-
thing very horrible, and I was not disappointed. On
a little plain at the foot of a low hill covered with graves,
and within a few feet of a crowded thoroughfare, the
terrible spectacle I had come to see was being exhibited
to an immense crowd. The criminal was standing on
his tiptoes on a number of bricks piled up inside a
crate such as is used by us for carrying sheep. His
hands were firmly tied behind his back, whilst his head
protruded through the crate, his shoulders being well
up against the cross-bars. The day was scorching
hot, and the sun, like a molten furnace, was pouring
down scorching rays from a cloudless sky upon th>
bare shaven heads of the crowd that had gathered t
gaze in almost silent wonder at the gruesome sight.
The prisoner was in a most pitiable condition,
cloud of flies hovered about his head, like vultures ovt
their prey, and a cluster of them had settled on h
upper lip and actually eaten away a bit of the fles'
What with the sun glaring down upon his uncoverc
head and the agony caused by the flies the sufferin.
of the man must have been most acute. One cou
never have discovered that, however, from his fac
It was as calm and unmoved as though no terrib
emotion was tearing his heart to pieces. His eye
were wide open, but they looked straight before hh
to the distant mountains on which the afternoo:
shadows were playing, and he seemed plunged in some
profound thought that absorbed all his attention. Ii
was a pitiful sight to watch how the man clung to life.
He knew that his fate was certain and that he would
never leave the crate alive. The flies buzzed and
hummed and turned his flesh black as with poisoned
fangs they ate into it. He had but to let his feet drop
or kick away one of the bricks and strangulation would
have finished his tortures in a few seconds. But no,
sacred life is the dearest thing in all the world, and

PUNISHMENTS 161

he held on to it as though he had an endless lease
of it.

Another terrible form of punishment, less frequent
now than it used to be, is crucifixion. That it is not
a modern one is evident from the fact that there is
a distinct word for it in the language, and not a com-
pound one that would suggest that it was of foreign
origin. I once had an opportunity of witnessing an
execution of this kind. The scene was one that im-
pressed me profoundly, mainly because of the sacred
associations connected with a death on the cross. The
man was crucified under a large banyan -tree that grew
on the edge of a road, where a constant stream of
people passed and repassed the livelong day. Hundreds
of people, anxious to see how a man would die in such
circumstances, flocked to the place where he was to
suffer.

X As I stood in front of the man my ideas about a
/:rucifixion, which had been formed by popular pictures
cpn the subject, received a rude shock. It was so
different from the conceptions that we usually have
i^bout it. The cross consisted of a heavy upright beam,
ifixed in a transverse one, resting on the ground.
From this latter projected, in a slightly opposite
lirection, two short planks on which the man stood
nd to which his feet were nailed. Above was
cross beam, about the height of the man's
iioulders, and at the extremities of this the palms of
is hands were pierced by stout nails. In order to
iiustain the body and prevent it from sinking under
jie pain and agony it was enduring, the arms were
.securely roped to the crjoss beam, whilst the queue
flivas wound round the top of the upright post so as to
ekeep his head from drooping. Without these pre-
^cautions the weight of the sinking body would have
torn his hands from the nails, and he would have fallen
forward on the ground. On his breast, written in a
bold hand, was the statement that the criminal was a
robber of so determined and ferocious a character that
there was no method of punishment that could be found
severe enough to meet his case. The authorities, there-
fore, had selected crucifixion as the most suitable by
which to make him expiate his crime. ,

11

162 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

Standing close up to him and looking him straight in
the face, I saw nothing about him to indicate that he was
such a desperate character as the official description
made him out to be. He was dressed in the ordinary
loose blue calico clothes, such as the poorest of the
working men wear. He seemed very much like the
coolies that one sees everywhere, and if I had met
him in the street I should not have thought there was
anything particular about him to distinguish him from
any one else. I was much struck by the stoical way in
which the man was bearing his punishment. The
muscles of his face did indeed show that he was in an
agony of pain, but he was determined to die in silence
and that no craven look or word should betray how
deeply he was suffering. Two soldiers stood by the
cross with long spears in their hands. There was no
need of any larger force, for the crowds that thronged
around showed plainly that they thought that the
criminal was only getting his due. I scanned the faces
of the people near by to see if there was any one
who appeared moved by the spectacle before us, but I
could not discover one. It seemed, indeed, as though
the masses had gathered that day for some festal
purpose. They were in their happiest mood. Faces
beamed with smiles, and jokes were cracked, and con-
gratulations passed from one to the other that the man
had been caught.

Another pimishment, even more severe than the
above, is called " standing in the tub." This consists
of a huge vatlike tub, with a hole in the lid, through
which the culprit's head is protruded. At the bottom
of the vat is a thick layer of unslacked lime and seven
bricks piled up on each other. As the man's hands are
tied behind his back he can do absolutely nothing to
ease himself in any way. The agony of standing in
one position all day long with unsympathetic onlookers
gazing at him must be very great, and to have it con-
tinued through the lonely night, with the silent stars as
his only companions, must render it absolutely intoler-
able. But this is only the beginning of his tortures.
The next day one of the bricks is removed from under
his feet, thus bringing him one day nearer his doom.
A very small quantity of water is at the same tim,e

<

PUNISHMENTS 163

poured into the lime, which begins to work and to

send up its noxious fumes to his face. This is repeated
each day till the last tile has been taken away and
his feet are now amongst the quicklime that burns
the flesh more savagely and with a fiercer pain than
ordinary fire would do. A very brief period after the
last brick has been removed the tragedy is at an end.
What with strangulation by the neck and the terrible
burning of the lower parts of his body the man dies
in the most excruciating agonies.

The common punishment of decapitation, though
lasting but for a minute or two, is considered more
severe than any of those above described, simply because
the person loses his head. This, to the Chinese, is
the greatest disaster that could ever possibly happen
to him. Better a thousand deaths, each more cruel
than the other, if he can only retain a perfect body
to the end. This is a matter of superstition. He
believes that after death he goes into the ** Land of
Shadows," where life is continued very much as it is
in this world. To be deprived of his head is to make
him a headless ghost and doom him to perpetual sorrow.
His hands might grasp the chopsticks, but there would
be no mouth to receive the food. He might wish to
marry, but what woman would ever dream of taking
a man without a head I She might have been willing to
accept him, though he had been the ugliest specimen
of mankind that ever lived ; but a man without a head
is so frightful an object that there is no woman but
would shrink from him with horror. He would never
be able to find his way anywhere, and the shades in
that mysterious land would start with terror from him
as he groped his way through the gloom. Give any
criminal a choice between decapitation and the most
cruel death and he would instantly choose the latter,
no matter what tortures it might involve.

To my mind one of the severest forms of punish-
ment is what is called the " lingering process," or
slicing. It surpasses in fiendish cruelty the tortures
that the Red Indians used to inflict upon their captives.
It is intended, not simply that the criminal should suffer
but that the utmost pain and agony that the human
frame is capable of enduring shall be wrung out of

164 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

him. Care is taken lest he die too soon, and so the
vital parts are left untouched. Bits of flesh are sliced
off here and there ; a leg is cut off by the knee
joint, then an arm is amputated at the elbow. After
this an eye is gouged out, and so, for three days, the
awful process of dismemberment goes on, till the man
finally escapes his tortures by sheer exhaustion and loss
of blood.

The Chinese judge, having nothing to control his
decisions excepting his own free will, frequently settles
cases after a very free and easy method. He some-
times shows great common -sense and ingenuity in the
ruses adopted to elicit the truth in some disputed case.
An amusing instance occurred some time ago, when
the mandarin showed himself to be a man of humour
and one well acquainted with the ins and outs of the
Chinese mind. A Chinese went abroad and stayed away
for fifteen years, where he accumulated quite a com-
fortable little sum, with which he determined to return
home and spend the rest of his days in comfort. Night
had fallen when he reached the entrance of the village
where his home was. During all the years he had
been away no letter had passed between him and his
wife, and no tidings had ever reached him about her
or his home. Was she alive? and, if so, would she
receive him kindly after the neglect of years? His
mind was so agitated about the reception he was likely
to receive that he took the bar of gold into which he
had converted his savings, and hid it in the ashes of
the incense dish in front of the village idol in the
public temple, and then with beating heart he made
his way to his home. He found his wife alive, and to
his delight she received him without any reproaches.
She was too happy to have him back again to dream of
scolding him. As they sat talking he told her how much
money he had made and how it was then in the incense
dish in front of the Goddess of Mercy in the village
temple. He tried to tell her this in a low voice, but
he did not succeed. A Chinese does not seem to know
how to whisper. He can shout and bawl and howl,
but the art of speaking quietly into another's ear is
a lost one in China. The expression "in a pig's
whisper " would be utterly misunderstood in this land.

PUNISHMENTS 165

At a crack in the wall that separated his house from
his neighbour's was an ear that drank in every word
that was uttered by husband and wife. It seemed glued
to it. It was fascinated, indeed, by the strange stories
that poured into it, and when the tale of the gold bar
was related it thrilled with joy, for it seemed as though
some fairy had come to reveal a hidden fortune. Next
morning, before the dawn of day, the husband wound
his way silently to the temple for his gold bar, but
to his horror he found it was gone. He at once accused
his neighbour of the theft, but the latter declared that
he had not even heard of his return, and, therefore,
he could not possibly have known anything about his
gold. Finding it useless to discuss the matter, he
hurried to the nearest mandarin and laid his complaint
before him. This official happened to be a man of
humour as well as a very sagacious one. He summoned
the accused before him and ordered him to restore the
gold. This the man declared he could not do for the
simple reason that he had never taken it. The
mandarin, who was convinced of his guilt, now deter-
mined to adopt a ruse which he believed would be
successful. He ordered his policeman to go to the
village temple and bring the idol in whose incense dish
the gold had been concealed into his presence. When
it arrived he asked the goddess who had stolen the gold.
Profound silence was the only reply. " Don't you con-
sider it your duty to tell me who the thief is, seeing that
the money was practically entrusted to your care? "
asked the mandarin. Still no reply. Upon this the
judge became indignant and accused the idol of want
of respect to him, and also of neglect in allowing a
theft to take place in a temple that was her residence.
The mandarin now adjourned the case for a day and
in an angry tone threatened the goddess that if she
did not confess then he would have her publicly beaten
with rods by his policemen.

That same evening the mandarin summoned the
accused into his private room, and with a look of
mystery on his face and in a voice trembling with
emotion he said : " The goddess has confessed that
it was you who stole the gold. She is furious with you,
for you have made her ' lose face * to-day when I

166 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

threatened before my whole court to have her beaten,
and she vows vengeance against you and your whole
family. She says she will make your fields barren and
send sickness into your home. Your sons will die,
and when you leave the world there will be no one to
worship at your tomb, and you will wander a hungry
and wretched spirit in the land of shades. The only
way in which you can avert the wrath of the goddess
is by an instant confession. If you do this, I will use
all my influence to get her to forgive you." The man
was so terrified at the prospect of such awful calamities
awaiting him that, trembling and full of awe, he made
a clean breast of it and restored the bar of gold to
the rightful owner ; and, though he was punished by
the mandarin for his wrong, he considered he had got
off lightly, since he had not to suffer the vengeance of
the goddess.

In addition to the punishments described above
there are a great many minor forms that are pre-
scribed at the option of the mandarin, who has a large
liberty allowed him by the State in his control of his
own particular district and in his punishment of the
unruly and disorderly. It is a remarkable feature of the
Chinese law that it usually does not take cognisance
of murder. Crimes of this kind are rarely brought
before the notice of the authorities, as the rule is to
settle them by a money compensation to the family of
the murdered. This is so thoroughly understood that,
even when the relatives of the murdered man appeal
to the mandarin for redress, it is simply that he may
help them to recover damages for the loss of their
friend. There is no thought of the manslayer having
to pay the penalty with his own life.

CHAPTER XIII

LYNCH EAW

Considering the absolute and despotic character of the
Chinese Government, it is astonishing how much free-
dom the people have in matters that with us are settled
exclusively by the police authorities. This is all the
more extraordinary seeing that the Chinese is intensely
conservative, almost as much so, indeed, as the English-
man, for, without any compulsion or suggestion from
any one, he is prepared to hold on like grim death to
what has been handed down to him by his fathers.
To-day is commonplace and devoid of 3,uthority. Yester-
day has already begun to put on airs, but two thousand
years ago is invested with every power, human and
divine, and what it says must be accepted without
hesitation or dispute.

It is difficult, therefore, to account for the distinctly
democratic tendencies that one finds in society at the
present time ; they are not the birth of to-day. They are
as old as the empire, and, therefore, one is led to assume
that the men of those far-off times, who look down with
wrinkled faces and hoary heads upon the men of to-day,
whilst very decided that the sacred character of the past
should be maintained, had a very deep strain of de-
mocracy in their hearts which led to profound sympathy
with the masses. Wie know that the sages held very
pronounced views as to the limitations of the kingly
power, and we cannot avoid thinking that, had only
some Chinese Simon de Montfort arisen in the early
history of the nation, China, instead of being ruled by
a despotic Government, would long ere this have had
a Parliament of its own.

Lynch law in China is no modern institution, as it is
with us. It has not to be carried out during mid-

167

168 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

night hours, by men with veiled and mufQed faces, riding
mysteriously and at racing speed to some lonely and
secluded spot, and then separating as rapidly when the
tragedy is over in order that their identity may remain
a secret. Here it is an open and recognised power, and
has not to do simply with horse -stealing, as was its
main idea when it started in America.

Roughly speaking, it takes cognizance of all wrong-
doing except offences against the State. These the
Government demands shall be regulated by itself. In
a multitude of cases, however, where the people would
find it too expensive or tedious to go through the law-
courts, lynch law, without any restriction from the
officials, is prepared to step in, and with rough-and-
ready justice to settle them.

One of the commonest offences it has to deal with
is theft. This seems to arouse the very worst passions
that lie smouldering in the heart of a Chinese. In a
densely populated country like China, where large
sections live on the very borderland of starvation,
property is apt to be considered more sacred even than
life, and the most terrible vengeance is often wreaked
for theft of something that is comparatively of little
value.

When a thief is caught in the very act, there is a
fierce rush of the people near by and he is kicked and
cuffed in the most unmerciful manner. A Chinese,
however, will bear a vast amount of knocking about,
without apparently any very serious injury being the
result. lie is like a sack of flour. You kick it and
punch it and make deep dents in its sides till it doubles
up like a drunken man and seems utterly demoralised.
A shake-up, however, and it instantly assumes a
normally healthy appearance. A thief, after a severe
beating, goes howling and shrieking with agony, calling
upon his father and mother to come at once to the
rescue of their injured son ; but when he gets round
the corner, or at a convenient distance from the mob,
his cries slowly die away, and his face resumes its
wonted look of childlike innocence and simplicity.

The pimishment meted out to a thief varies with the
mood of the people that make the capture. One day
I was passing by a house in front of which was a crowd

LYNCH LAW 169

that seemed highly pleased with some entertainment that
was giving them a great deal of amusement. It might
have been a Punch and Judy show they were looking
at, so jolly did they all appear. Smiles and laughter
gave them quite a festive appearance. When I came
close enough to see what was the reason of the fun,
I found that it was caused by the sight of a thief who
was suffering the penalty that King Mob was inflicting
upon him for a theft in which he had been caught red-
handed. The moment I caught sight of the poor wretch
the laughter that had come infectiously upon me from
the crowd vanished both from my face and from my
heart, and a wave of pity swept over me. The man's
hands had been tied very tightly behind his back with
cords that must have cut into the flesh, and by these he
had been hoisted up several feet from the ground and
suspended from the branch of a tree.

The pain must have been most acute, for the arms
were stretched out at right angles to his back, and the
whole weight of his body had to be borne by his
shoulder-joints. That he was a thief I did not for a
moment doubt. He had the air of a vagabond about
him. He was shabbily dressed in the monotonous blue
cotton coat and trousers in which the masses like to
array themselves. He evidently belonged to the criminal
classes, for there was a nameless something that no
language could define that hovered over his opium-hued
visage and declared him to be a scamp. He was groan-
ing with pain and beseeching the crowd by appeals to
Heaven and earth to let him down ere his joints cracked
and his arms were riven from his shoulders.

No sooner did he catch sight of me, than he at once
turned all his arts of persuasion upon me, and begged
me to intercede with the crowd to let him loose. My
heart was too much in sympathy with him not to respond
at once to his appeal, but I found it difficult to touch the
feelings of those around me. *' If we let him go," they
said, " he will be back again in a few days and we shall
lose more things. Better let him suffer now and then
he will be afraid to venture back again." I eventually
succeeded in getting the man set free, but it was a
question with me afterwards whether I had really done
right. There was one thought I had to face, viz., that

170 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

I had been the means of releasing an habitual thief,
without his having suffered an adequate punishment for
the wrong he had done. The man had been benefited
but society had been mulcted of its rights. Still, I felt
that I could not endure to see the agony of the poor
fellow.

As has already been stated, the punishment for theft
depends largely upon the mood and power of those
who exercise lynch rule, and not at all upon the actual
value of the things stolen. iWhere the offence, for
example, has been committed against a wealthy man
with a powerful clan at his back, the reprisal is often
of the most savage character, and is altogether out of
proportion to the injury done to his property.

An illustration from an actual fact in life will explain
exactly what I mean. One day my duties led me to a
hospital, where a large number of patients were collected
from all parts of the country to consult the English
doctor who was in charge of it. There were country
bumpkins straight from their farms, in quiet villages
in the interior, open-mouthed at the wonders of the
city, and too shy almost to dare to speak. There were
sailors from a neighbouring port, with a breezy air
about them, as though they were m a north-east gale.
There were coolies and shopkeepers and opium-smokers,
and men with hideous ulcers on their legs, all drawn
by a common purpose and sitting side by side on the
benches, waiting the arrival of the doctor.

My attention, by and by, was drawn to a man seated
on the ground, with a young lad standing by his side
with the saddest -looking face it was possible for a boy
to have. I at once went to him to see what was the
matter. There seemed to be something wrong with the
man's eyes, for they had a strange and inflamed look
about them that at first puzzled me. As I looked more
closely into them, I discovered to my horror that they
had been torn out of his head.

" Who is this man? " I asked the boy.

" He is my father," he replied.

" How is it that he has lost his eyes? " I inquired.

"They were gouged out a few days ago by a rich
neighbour," he answered. And he went on to explain
that his father's buffalo, whilst grazing along a bank,

LYNCH LAW 171

had stretched out its huge rhinoceros -like mouth and
snatched a few mouthfuls from the rice that was grow-
ing in the field close by. The news was instantly carried
to the owner of the rice, who determined upon prompt
and vigorous action.

And here let me digress for a moment to dwell upon
a singular fact in Chinese life that no foreigner has
ever been able to explain, and that is the rapidity
with which news is carried about in this vast empire.
One does not seem to be able to do anything that shall
not be known quickly over a large area. You take a
walk in a secluded place, and you fancy that you are
quite alone, when half a dozen forms will suddenly
appear and will silently but persistently follow you.
You make a dash for a hillside, and you climb up by
devious and unbeaten paths to a spot that you know
to be far removed from any human habitation, and after
a time you sit down, perfectly satisfied that you are
absolutely out of the reach of the onmipresent vision
of the Chinese.

As you are enjoying the delicious feeling that there
is no eye scanning your every action, you happen to
look round, and to your horror you see several yellow
faces peering over some bushes at you, as solemn -
looking and as sphinx-like as though they had grown
there and had their permanent abode in that spot.
By and by they will return to their village, and every
man, woman, and child in it will, in a wonderfully
brief space, know everything you have done during
your walk.

But the most mysterious thing is how news is carried
from vast distances without any apparent means of
transit, with nearly absolute correctness. A thing
happens, say, a thousand miles away. A telegram
arrives giving the merest outline of it. You mention
this to a Chinese as a startling bit of news, and he
astonishes you by saying that he has already heard it.
You ask him how, and he says, *' Oh I a friend of mine
told me." How the friend got to hear you cannot find
out. It is quite true he may have received a telegram
as well as you, but this is extremely improbable, as
telegrams are very expensive in China, and only men
in official positions, or in a large way of business, can
indulge in the luxury of them.

172 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

But the mystery has by no means ended. Within a
few days the news will have penetrated far beyond
where the original telegram was received. People
living in crowded cities, many miles away, will have
heard of it. Farmers who have collected in market
towns and fairs off the great trunk roads will discuss
it. The dwellers in lonely hamlets that lie in the
shadow of the hills will tell each other the startling
story, and the air will be full of the echoes of voices
that have been giving their version of the news that
has caused such excitement.

Now how has this been accomplished? The Chinese
have few, if any, newspapers to give the daily news,
and no telegraph lines outside of beaten tracks, with
which to flash information through the country, and yet
high and low, rich and poor, have got it with a certainty
and a rapidity as though a thousand telegraph offices
had been busy night and day in spreading the news as
fast as electricity could carry it. How all this is done
is a mystery for which, as far as I know, there is
absolutely no means of getting a solution.

To return to the blind farmer's story of wrong. An
unseen eye, invisible to the farmer, had caught sight
of the huge mouth of the buffalo as it surreptitiously
cropped the succulent grain, and news of the theft was
at once carried to the rich man. Mad with anger, he
summoned a number of his clan, and without delay
King Lynch, with passion in his heart that would easily
ripen into murder, was on his way to avenge the wrong
that had been committed.

The farmer, little dreaming of the tragedy that was
about to be played in real life, was quietly watching
his buffalo grazing, when the infuriated mob burst upon
him and seized him. The sentence that had been
decided upon as they hurried along, that he should have
his eyes torn out, filled him with horror. He begged
and prayed and entreated, but in vain. He offered a
hundredfold compensation for the grain that had been
eaten, nay, he would relinquish the buffalo that had
done the wrong, if they would only leave him his eye-
sight. Every heart was steeled against the agonising
cry of the man who was in the grip of a furious mob.
It was not money that was wanted, but revenge, and

LYNCH LAW 173

in a few minutes the terrible deed was committed, and
the man was left on the ground in pain and anguish,
never more to see the light of day nor to gaze upon
the faces of those he loved.

** What have you come to the hospital for? " I asked
him.

** I have had my eyes torn out," he said, ** and
having heard of the fame of the English doctor, I
have come to see if he would not put new ones in."
By and by, when he was taken in to see the doctor,
he told him his story, and in piteous tones besought
him to give him new eyes. ** I have heard of yout
reputation," he said, *' and what miracles you have
been able to work amongst your patients. Will you not
use your great skill, and give me back my eyesight? "
The doctor assured him that he would be only too
glad to do so, but no human being possessed such a
power. ** Oh ! " said the man, in a plaintive and pitiful
tone, "it is not that you cannot, but because you are
unwilling to do so," and he was led from the consult-
ing-room bemoaning his sad lot, and complaining that
the doctor refused to have pity upon him and supply
him with a pair of new eyes.

A confirmed thief, who proves himself amenable to
no law or discipline, will ultimately be condemned by
Judge Lynch in the highest penalty a human being
cay pay — and that is death. This sentence will be
carried out in open day ; no policeman will appear
on the scene, and no movement of the executive will
be made to interfere with it in any shape or manner
whatsoever.

A recent case will illustrate what I mean. A farmer
had a son who had grown up to be as bad a man as
it was possible for heathen society to produce, and that
means a great deal. He was an opium-smoker, a
gambler, and a profligate. He was a master in the
vices that qualify a man in China for any deed of
wickedness. As his habits were expensive and he
scorned the idea of work, he had to compel society to
support him. A farmer's wife would wake up some
morning and find her roost empty. At another house
a buffalo would disappear, and not a trace could be
found as to how the huge brute had vanished. A

174 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

farmer would go in the early, dawn to till his fields,
and find that several rows of his finest " eagle " potatoes
had been dug up during the night, and carried off.
A patch of melons, too, just as they, were turning a
beautiful golden hue, had been cut from the vines and
taken, no one knew where. The excitement through
the country-side was intense, and vows were made that
when they caught the thief, they would visit him with
the direst vengeance. Everybody was perfectly certain
who he was, but he was too clever to leave the
slightest clue by which they could bring his thefts
home to him. Without this no one would touch him,
for the sense of justice is strong in the Chinese, and
without positive evidence men would not dare to act.
Even the mandarins, when they have the clearest proof
of a man's guilt, will not execute him until he has
signed a written document confessing his crime. If
he does not do this willingly he is beaten to a jelly
with hard bamboo rods, and is most fiendishly tortured
to compel him ; but until he puts his hand to the paper
and signs his own doom, th^e hand of the executioner
must be stayed.

Time, however, the great detective, ran him at last
to earth. A wakeful farmer caught him in the very
act of loosing his solitary, cow to lead her away in the
darkness. A committee of angry citizens met in wild,
tumultuous disorder at dawn next morning. The thief
had actually been caught at last. He was here, trussed
and tied in so stern a fashion that no conjurer's art
could ever loose him. His face had the look of a man
that knew the doom that was awaiting ,him, but he
was determined not to show the white feather.

The Chinese at his quietest is a loud-voiced man,,
and talks as though he were in a gale of wind ; but
to-day there was a perfect tempest, as the men remem-
bered their wrongs and discussed their schemes of
vengeance. Finally, they dragged the criminal to his
father's farm, and told him that they had decided that
he should act as the executioner of his son by burying
him alive in one of his own fields.

The man shrank back with horror from the proposal,
and with tears and entreaties begged and prayed the
crowd to spare him from this horrible fate. But what

I

LYNCH LAW 175

were tears to them, or the breaking hearts and agonised
prayers of a father and mother that tried to win the
life of their wretched son? Vengeance was what they
wanted, and vengeance they would have ; so in loud
and angry voices they told the father that unless he
proceeded to carry out their decision at once they
would set fire to his homestead and drive him and his
family from the place, and even then they would see
that his miserable son should suffer the penalty of
death.

Terrified at what he knew to be no idle threat, he
seized a hoe, and dug a hole right in front of the home
where the son had lived as a lad. Then by the direction
of the lynchers he tied a stone around his son's neck,,
and with loud cries of bitter sorrow that wrung his
heart he pushed him in and shovelled the earth over
him. When the tragedy was complete, and the crowd
had stamped down the soil over the wretched man
beneath, they excitedly separated to their homes, heed-
less of the sorrowing hearts they left behind them, but
satisfied that an act of justice had been performed
that would win the approval of every man in the entire
region.

One of the gravest crimes that comes within the

jurisdiction of Judge Lynch is murder, but the only

penalty he ever exacts is a pecuniary one, and but

very rarely a life for a life. This crime is not a

capital offence in China, neither does the law deem

it necessary that it should concern itself about it. China,

indeed, seems to be one of the easiest places in the

world where miirder can be committed with complete

immunity to the murderer, as far as his personal safety

is concerned.

I A man, for example, kills another. No policeman

I appears on the spot to investigate the case and to

arrest the criminal, neither does any one dream of

j appealing to the mandarin to interfere in it. Some-

j thing, however, very important does take place. A

j committee of the nearest friends of the dead man ia

i appointed to take charge of the case and to wring

! as much blood-money out of the murderer or his family

as loud-voiced arguments, appeals to Heaven, and

screams of the despairing widow will enable them to

176 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

extract. The murdered man may have been a very
insignificant member of society, but now that he is
dead he is no longer so. He has at once become a
mightier force than ever he could have been when he
was alive. A murdered Chinese is any day worth a
score of living ones, and any man of ordinary ambition
ought to jump at the idea of being killed, seeing the
immense importance he at once assumes in the family
and the high financial value at which he is appraised.

It is exceedingly amusing to watch how Judge Lynch,
acts in a case like this. He is no longer the stem,,
inflexible avenger of justice, whose heart is impervious,
to every baser motive and who demands only that
the interests of truth shall be subserved. His eyes
have been blinded by the shadow of gold that has fallen
upon them, and now even the dead man is lost sight
of, and the sacredness of human life vanishes in the
thought of how touch more valuable financially a corpse
is than the living body. The one aim now is to extract
as much money out of the murd*erer as possible, with-
out regard to honour, justice, or truth.

The judge with his jury consist of the nearest
relatives of the murdered man, the nearer the better —
a wife, if possible, as she will be a very effective and
picturesque figure in the discussion of the case. If
there be also an aged father, it will be an additional
advantage, for he can plead most pathetically from'
a standpoint that never fails to appeal to the Chinese.
They, proceed in a body to the home of the murderer,
who, expectant of their arrival, has gathered his most
powerful relatives around him, for whatever the decision
may be, they will have to share with him the respon-
sibility.

In a case of this kind no time is lost in superfluous
courtesies. The matter is stated curtly and forcibly,
and a certain sum for compensation, far beyond what
they expect to get, is demanded. No smile must cross
the face, for that would show weakness. A stern look,
contracted brows, and passion in the voice are more
effective, for the aim at this point is to strike terron
into the hearts of the other side.

To produce a suitable impression, the father of the
murdered man, in trembling accejits and with a voice

LYNCH LAW 177

filled with emotion, speaks of his son who has been
ruthlessly torn from him by the hand of the assassin.
He describes how good he was and how he depended
upon him to be the solace and support of his declin-
ing years. He hoped, moreover, that, after his death,
he would bring the offerings to his tomb that would
reach him in the other world and make his existence
there a happy one. Now his spirit will have to wander
hopelessly and aimlessly about, a hungry, wretched
ghost, since the son who could have put gladness into
his life is himself a wanderer in the land of shades.
This speech, given with a dramatic power of which
the Chinese are masters, is producing too great an
effect, so one of the opposition interrupts him and
declares that the man was killed only because he was
the aggressor, and that it was by the merest good
luck that his opponent had not succumbed before the
ferocity of his attack.

Upon hearing this, the widow, who has been sitting
by, with eyes inflamed and tears streaming down her
face, jumps up and with a shriek denounces any one
who would say a word against her dead husband. She
is a striking figure and acts her part with consummate
ability. Her long black hair hangs dishevelled down
her back, her eyes flash fire, and her small, delicately-
shaped hands move about in a whirlwind of eloquence
as she describes her desolate condition. There is a
perfect fascination about her, as with passion in her
voice and the look of a fury in her mien she declaims
against the dastardly act that has bereft her of her
husband, and made her children fatherless. What a
splendid orator she would have made, this frail, feeble-
looking woman, as with unconscious eloquence she
passes with the rapidity of lightning from point to
point, her voice rising and falling in harmony with
the passion of the moment.

But she has rivals of her own sex, who have been
burning with impatience to join battle with her. One
by one these gradually take the floor, without, how-
ever, for one moment staying the flow of her eloquence.
In a moment the room becomes a perfect bedlam, and
one can only see excited faces and waving hands, and
catch now and again the close of a sentence that has

12

178 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

been screamed out louder than the rest. After hours
of this, tired out by incessant talk and by arguments
repeated over and over again, the combatants come
to terms, and a certain sum having been offered and
accepted, Judge Lynch declares the case settled, and
this decision is held to be final as though pronounced
by a mandarin in open court.

The system of lynch law is more effective in China
than hanging is with us. When a man knows that he
will have to pay high pecuniary damages, that will have
to be disbursed either by himself or his nearest of kin,
should he take away a man's life, it puts a restraint upon
him even in his moments of wildest passion, and stays
his hand from murder.

CHAPTER XIV

DOCTORS AND DOCTORING

The medical profession is open to every one in China,
whether it be man or woman, without any of the Hmita-
tions that in England strictly confine it to those who
have studied for it. Here there are no university exam-
inations, no hospitals, no study of medicine or of
anatc ny, and no troublesome certificates demanded. A
long robe, a look of profound learning— such as one
has met with in the homelands — a smattering of the
names of certain herbs and concoctions, and the person
is ready to treat the most intricate case that ever
puzzled the brain of a first-rate physician in the .West.

It is, perhaps, the ease with which every one may
become a doctor that induces almost every Chinese to
profess some knowledge of medicine. In fact, one is
apt to be startled when he finds any one modest enough
to say that he knows nothing of doctoring. A dirty,
greasy-looking Chinese whose clothes have never been
washed, and whom you would hardly touch with a pair
of tongs, attracts your attention. He is a common
labouring man, with no more intelligence than the
ordinary run of that class. You are apt to treat him
very cavalierly, as a man you do not wish to be bothered
with, when some one whispers in your ear that he is very
famous as an amateur doctor and has cured a great
number of those whom he has treated.

I have rarely met with any one that could not, at a
moment's notice, prescribe for diseases that require the
highest skill in their treatment. A man, for example, is
in the last stage of consumption. A rough-looking
labourer, uncouth in manners and with a voice fit to
break the drum of one's ear, happens to come in. He
diagnoses the case as though he were a professional,

179

180 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

and declares that certain herbs carefully concocted will
infallibly cure the sufferer. No one expresses any
contempt for his opinion. Others will join in the discus-
sion, giving each their remedies, and every one is sure
that if the case were in his hands the patient would
certainly recover. Usually, when a man intends to
take to doctoring as a profession, he studies the works
of the famous men that lived in remote times, and whose
reputation has come down to the present day as the
founders of medical science in this country. Such books
are numerous, and the fact that they are ancient is one
of their chief recommendations. They believe that if
they master these they will then be competent to deal
with any of the diseases that those great men treated
with such success . T|he Chinese have no faith in original
discoveries in medicine. Men's bodies, they say, are
the same as they were in ancient times. Men of gigantic
minds and penetrating genius studied the ailments of
mankind and left the result of their discoveries to
posterity, and so, to-day, men calmly and comfortably
accept the prescriptions given in those books with the
most implicit faith and confidence.

Amongst the most famous of the medical works exist-
ing at the present day is one by the celebrated Emperor
Shin Nung, who lived B.C. 2737. You try and convince
a Chinese scholar that he is a mythical character and he
will triumphantly knock you over by pointing to the
treatise that bears his name. Shin Nung is to-day
worshipped as the God of Medicine. In order to
account for his wonderful knowledge it is said that he
was originally a fairy who assumed the human form
out of pity for poor humanity, which was suffering
from diseases that men could not control. To help him
in his errand of mercy he was born with a transparent
stomach, by which he was enabled to test the action of
a large number of herbs and to observe how certain
foods were transformed during the process of digestion.
The results of his observations were recorded in the
treatise that men believe was written by him, and doctors
use it to-day as the highest authority that exists on
drugs.

Coming down later to the period of Chinese history
called the ** Three Kingdoms" (a.d. 221-54), Hwa

«

DOCTORS AND DOCTORING 181

T'o figures as one of the great names in the medical
profession. He was evidently a bold and daring prac-
titioner, for he believed in the use of the knife when it
was requisite to save life. It is said that during the
struggle for the kingdom by the three rival claimants
for the throne, one of the heroes of the day was wounded
in the arm by a poisoned arrow. Death would have
ensued in a few hours had not Hwa T'o cut into the
bone and, washing out the poison, saved the man's life.
Another famous warrior, hearing of his success, sent for
him to prescribe for a severe pain that he had in his
head. After examining him for some time, Hwa T*o
said, *' Your disease requires prompt and heroic treat-
ment. If you wish to recover, you must allow me to
open your skull. I shall then be able to remove the
disease that is injuring your brain, and you will be
restored to perfect health.'* The patient was horrified
at this proposal, and looking at him sternly, said, *' It
is evident that you wish to murder me, but I shall
frustrate your plans by having you executed," and he
was accordingly hurried off to prison, where in a few
days he was beheaded. Whilst he was waiting to be
put to death the gaoler was exceedingly kind to him
and did everything in his power to mitigate the bitter-
ness of his position. Hwa T'o, to compensate him for
his goodness to him, presented him with a manuscript
that contained all his famous prescriptions. *' I have
nothing else to ^ive you," he said, *' but if you carefully
preserve this, it will be a source of wealth to you and
to your children for many generations."

The gaoler hurried home with the precious document,
and handing it to his wife, told her to put it away in the
safest place she could find, for he assured her, with
flashing eyes, that neither they nor their children need
ever want with such a precious possession as this. After
preserving it carefully for some time, she one day took it
out, and tearing the leaves apart, began to burn them.
Whilst she was doing this her husband entered and
asked her what she was doing. " I am burning Hwa
T'o's book," she said. " I have been thinking what a.
sad end was his and how all his knowledge was the cause
of his death. Some of these days when you become
famous through using his book, you, too, may end

182 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

your life on the scaffold, and so I thought I had better
destroy it, and so secure you from such a miserable
destiny." The gaoler was only just in time to save a
portion of the famous collection, and this has been
treasured ever since. The directions it contains are
carried out by the profession throughout the whole
empire.

Gliding down the stream of time, we come to the
Sung Dynasty (begun in A.D. 960). At this date there
existed a doctor, of the name of Sun, whose fame has
travelled down to the present day. He has long since
been deified, and temples innumerable have been erected
to his honour. One of his titles is ** The Great God that
Preserves Life." He had the reputation in his day of
being able to cure almost any disease that was brought
to him. On one occasion his skill was severely tested.
The Queen fell ill, and none of the Court physicians
could do her any good. Sun had already become
famous and so the Emperor summoned him' to the
palace to see whether he could cure her or not. As
it sWas impossible that he should be allowed into the
presence of the Queen, it was arranged that a silken
thread should be tied over her pulse, and that he should
hold the end of it in the adjoining room and by that
means diagnose the case. The Queen, who had not
full faith in Sun, thought that she would test him
before taking his medicines, so she fastened the thread
to the bedpost. The moment He got hold of the string
he cried out, " This is wood, it is not a human hand."
Amazement was depicted upon every countenance, but
the Queen determined to try him still further, so she
tied it to the leg of a dog. Instantly he exclaimed that
he was being played with, as the thread was in contact
with a lower animal and not with the pulse of the
Queen. All doubt now vanished from the royal mind,
and Sun soon showed his great ability by curing a
disease that had baffled all the celebrated physicians of
the day.

Doctors are broadly divided into two classes, those
who treat internal diseases and those that profess to
be able to deal with external complaints. Occasionally
the same man will undertake to prescribe for both.
In order to have a chat with a Chinese doctor, and

o

C

DOCTORS AND DOCTORING 183

at the same time watch his methods of treatment, I
invited one to come and see my servant v^ho had been
suffering from ague. In a short time the Chinese
/Esculapius appeared, dressed in a long white robe, and
with a dignity of manner that is natural to the Chinese
when he is doing the polite. He was a tall, spare man
of about fifty. His face showed a certain refinenient
that seemed to indicate that he had made a serious
study of his profession and that he was prepared to
accept any responsibility that a difficult case might
bring upon him. His smile was a pleasant one and
would help to inspire confidence in any one he was
treating.

His examination of the servant was systematic and
thorough. He made him sit down right in front of
him and with his first three fingers he felt the pulse
of the left hand. The way he did this seemed to me
most comical, for he kept moving them, just as though
he were playing on the keys of a piano. After about
three minutes of this musical practice, he did the same
with his right hand. I asked him why he examined
both pulses. " Are they not precisely the same in
their actions?" I inquired. *' No," he said, ** they
certainly are not. The reason why I felt both was
because I wanted to find out the seat of the disease.
The whole of the body," he continued, *' is divided
into twelve chambers. Six of these belong to the left
and six to the right pulse. I have, therefore, to examine
the two to find out the particular chambers that are
affected."

'* And what is the result of your examination so
far? " I inquired.

*' I find that the liver and gall -chambers are both
affected by cold and this has resulted in fever. The
patient needs medicines that will specially act on these."

After this we got into conversation about the gall,
which plays a most important part in the estimation
of the Chinese. *' Some men," he said reflectively,
*' have very small ones, whilst others again have very
large ones."

*' Which do you think is the most serviceable for
mankind in general? " I asked. ** The small ones,
most decidedly," he promptly replied. ** Men with

184 MEN AND MANNERS OP MODERN CHINA

small galls are amiable, inoffensive people that are
never a danger to society. Men with large galls, on
the other hand, are daring, fierce, and bloodthirsty. For
soldiers a large gall is indispensable. They need this
to meet the foe heroically, to rush into the forefront
of battle, and dare to face death in any shape." Polite-
ness restrained me from hinting that the Chinese nation,
as far as fighting was concerned, seemed to have been
endowed by Nature with particularly small galls. He
might not, indeed, have been offended if I had, for to
tell a man that he has a small gall, that he is a
coward, never raises a blush to his face nor passion
in his heart, but he replies, *' That is quite true, my
gall is a very small one indeed."

I now asked him to explain to me his theory of the
twelve chambers. *' The body," he replied, bowing
gracefully to me, " is divided into twelve compartments
as it were. At fixed hours of the day the blood moves
with precise regularity into one of these. For example,
the heart being in the exact centre of the body, the
blood flows into it at twelve o'clock. Any blow on it
at that hour would be apt to prove fatal, for the vital
forces are then gathered into it, and any violent disturb-
ance of them might result in death. The same is very
much the case with the other chambers," he continued,
*' but since they are farther removed from the seat
of life, the result of any injury to them when the blood
is collected in them is not likely to be so immediately
serious as in that. Of course, I do not mean," he said,
** that every drop of blood in the body really goes into
any one particular chamber, and that the rest is left
destitute of any. There is an active, controlling force
in the blood that urges it to travel into the various
chambers. To injure this, the vital power in the blood,
is to endanger life at the very fountain."

This medical theory is firmly believed in by the public
generally, and especially by professional boxers and
pugilists. These latter, in their contests with each
other, aim at those chambers that are believed to be
then filled with a full tide of blood, for they believe
that if they can only strike them they will inflict the
most serious injury on their opponents. The Chinese
are exceedingly superstitious on this point, and after

\

DOCTOKS AND DOCTORING 185

they have been once struck by these trained boxers they
will declare that they feel pains in the region where the
blow fell years after the event. Men with pale faces,
hacking coughs, and broken-down physiques will
declare that they trace the beginning of bad health to
some blow that a boxer gave them— it may be months,
or even years, ago.

Two principal causes are assigned by the medical men
of China for a very large proportion of the diseases
that afflict the people of this empire, viz., heat and cold.
As a result, medicines and even foods are divided into
two great classes, cooling and heating. When a man
is run down, and his blood moves sluggishly and life
is a burden, the slowly ebbing vital forces must *be
whipped into action by foods and medicines that have
an element of fire in them. If, on the other hand, he
is feverish, and the pulse is quick and excited, cooling
remedies must be applied.

To reduce a fever, a favourite remedy is uncooked
pears. These have no resemblance, except in appear-
ance, to our home fruit. They are nearly tasteless, and
so hard that they almost require an axe to penetrate
them. It is a most pathetic sight to see a man with
flushed face and bloodshot eyes making feeble efforts
to bite into these bits of rock in the hope of quenching
his thirst and allaying his fever. You suggest that some
milk would prove more palatable and at the same time
more nourishing ; but you are renimded that milk is
heating and that it would only add fuel to the fires
that are already raging in the sick man. Many men in
this country have been slowly starved to death owing to
their determined belief that the very things that would
have restored them to health would be the death of them
if they ate them.

The Chinese have a profound faith in doctors, and a
capacity for taking huge doses of medicine. In fact,
they rather seem to enjoy themselves in being sick and
in having to swallow concoctions sufficient to fell an
ox with their strength. This well-known infirmity has
given rise to a class of strolling quacks who travel
about the country and profess to cure every disease
that flesh is heir to. They are known by their dress,
being a gown that comes down to their ankles, that at

186 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

some period in the past was white, and by carrying
a white flag on which is inscribed in flaring characters
the fame they have acquired in the curing of disease.

These men are clever scamps who have failed in
every other profession and have taken up this itinerant
doctoring as a last resource. They have a thoroughly
Bohemian look about them, and yet there is something
in their general appearance that makes one have a
sneaking liking for them. But let me describe a typical
one. Usually he has a broken-down, battered look that
tells a story that one can read at a glance. His life
has been evidently a stormy one, and he has not lived!
it with any great success. One can see from his clothes
the desperate efl"ort that he is making to keep up his
respectability. They are worn and seedy-looking and
threadbare, but the tenderest care is taken of them,
for if they were allowed to sink much lower he would
not be able to maintain the appearance that his pro-
fession demands. His shoes have a decidedly unhappy
look, and seem as if at any moment they would give up
the ghost and vanish. As tlie country people, how-
ever, largely go barefooted, or simply use straw
sandals when they are making a journey, this fact has
no significance in their eyes.

His face is sharp-featured and, on the whole, not an
unpleasant one. It has the look rather of an adventurer
than of a villain. One can see that behind it there is a
lurking humour that flashes out continually at something
grotesque in the human life upon which he is practising.
His eye is bright and piercing, and seems to take in
everything and to be always on the lookout for a;
possible patient, and to be able by some special in-
stinct to pick him out from the crowd at a moment's
glance. Long and varied experience enables him to
read character and to know how it can be played upon
with success. As you look upon him you feel that you
have before you a man who knows the ins and outs
of all the shadiest phases of Chinese life, and yet one
who has sufficient humour in him not to have been
utterly contaminated by the men and the scenes in^
which he has mixed.

Their peculiar ability is not displayed with so mucl
advantage in the cities, where men's wits hav^

DOCTORS AND DOCTORING 187

sharpened, as in country places and especially at fairs.
There they are in their element, for they have a splendid
field upon which to exercise their talents, there being
no more credulous people in the world in regard to
their ailments than the Chinese. They select a
prominent place where the crowd is the greatest, and
display their stock-in-trade which is to work such
miracles upon the farmers and country bumpkins that
gather round, with wonder in their eyes, to gaze upon
the strange medicines.

To the uninitiated they seem to be a very poor
collection with which to carry out the healing art.
Bundles of dried roots and grasses with the sap out of
them, and serpents' flesh, black and disgusting-looking,
and herbs that have a reputation in the Chinese
pharmacopoeia, are spread out without any attempt to
make them attractive or alluring. There are also little
pyramids of decayed and unwholesome -looking teeth
that have served their day in the mouths of others, and
are prepared to do yeoman service for those who have
had the misfortune to have lost theirs. But the man's
hope of gain lies not in his herbs nor his concoctions,
but in his wits. A knot of rustics gathers around him,
and keen-eyed and with a smile in his heart he scans
the faces of the crowd as they stand before him. One
man seems particularly green, and the quack sees in
him a splendid subject on whom to work, so he opens
with : ** My dear sir, you must please excuse me for
addressing you, but I feel I really must speak to you.
Do you know that you are suffering from a disease that
at any moment may prove fatal to you? You may not
have realised this, but my professional training enables
me to see in what a very precarious condition you
are." The countryman is startled, and his face turns
to a greenish-yellow. A tremor passes over him, and
perspiration starts from every pore. He suddenly
begins to feel quite unwell. He looks round on the
people at his side in a kind of dazed way, whilst they
nod and whisper to each other that the man after all
does look as though there was something serious the
matter with him.

To increase the effect the quack says, *' Put out
your tongue." The man, shaking with fear, nervously

188 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

protrudes it. It is as red as a beet, but no one in
the crowd knows what is a good tongue or what is a
bad one. " See," says the doctor, *' what an awful
tongue the man has got ! The disease is working fast,
and he may thank his stars that he has met me to-day,
fo.r I have the very medicine that will cure him. I know
his case well, for I have been the means of saving many
a poor fellow just like him who but for me would have
been in his grave long ago." A look of relief passes
over the face of the countryman when he realises that
this clever doctor has just the medicine that will heal
him. He eagerly buys a number of his pills, and he
leaves for home to tell his wife what a wonderful
discovery he has made to-day, and how, but for the
doctor's skill, he would be a dead man in a few days.
The character of these quacks is well known, and yet
there are always plenty of dupes ready to be taken in
by them. When a Chinese is sick he is prepared to
take any medicine or any advice that a person with a
ready tongue will advise him to adopt. It no doubt
speaks well for the soundness of the Chinese constitu-
tion that in spite of untrained doctors, quacks, amateurs,
and lying mediums the people of this empire are as
healthy and robust as they are to-day. China is a signal
instance of the mighty power of Nature to keep a people
well, not simply without trained medical men but in
the face of the crassest and rudest treatment that ever
hurried men to their graves.

CHAPTER XV

MONEY AND MONEY-LENDING

The great mass of the Chinese people are in a chronic
state of debt. It seems to be the natural and normal
state in which a Chinese passes his life. He is born
into it ; he grows up in it ; he goes to school with it ;
he marries in it ; and he ultimately leaves the world
with the shadow of it resting on him in his last moments.

This state of things does not seem to depress him in
the least. It is a phase common to at least three -fifths
of the whole community. Like the smells that have
come down in legitimate succession from the past, and
dwell in the homes, and take up their permanent abode
in the streets and alley-ways of every town and hamlet
in the empire, so debt is one of the heirlooms that has
been bequeathed by the ancestors of this people to their
posterity. No one is ashamed of being in debt, for as
everybody knows his neighbour's business in China, any
attempt to conceal the fact would be met with absolute
failure. The very fact that debt is a permanent institu-
tion in the country may be a reason why men so light-
heartedly incur it, when they are perfectly conscious
that it will embarrass them for many a long year to
come.

A man, for example, is arranging for the marriage of
his son. This is always an expensive affair. There is
the dowry to be paid for the bride, and there are certain
feasts that must be given at the wedding in order that
the " face " of the family may be maintained. All this
requires ready money to meet the necessary expenses
incidental to the carrying out of the marriage plans, but
this he has not got. The question now arises, where is
it to come from? The father is, perhaps, already in
debt. An Englishman would think twice before

190 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

venturing on such a perilous course as adding to his
responsibilities. A Chinese looks at the thing differ-
ently. The marriage must take place and the in-
evitable feasts must be given. Scores of people, many
of whom he does not care a button for, but who have
to be invited for form's sake, will eat and drink him
into poverty, and yet, with a mind that absolutely re-
fuses to think of the future, he will go round and borrow
the sum that is to be lavished upon what, but for *' face,"
might nearly all have been saved.

The Chinese is a mystery. Usually he is what might
be called *' stingy with his money." Every cash ^ is
looked upon solemnly and with concern. He will
haggle over that smallest and only coin in the realm,
as though to save one were a matter of supreme im-
portance. Long discussions will take place and noisy
altercations, all about whether half a dozen cash more or
less should be saved in some disputed case. English-
men will dispute about shillings, but not about farthings,
but a shilling is a magnificent sum to a Chinese. It
actually contains five hundred of these precious casli
of his, which are quite sufficient to support in com-
parative luxury a middle -class family for two or three
days. Every cash, therefore, in ordinary circumstances,
is a matter of moment to him ; but when it comes to a
marriage, or some occasion where the " face " of a
family is involved, he will spend the dollars, each of
which is worth one thousand cash, with as lavish a
hand as though he were an Englishman who had the
Bank of England at his back.

A month after the event, which was declared to be
a prodigious success by every one who was present, and
to have added immensely to the family '' face," the
creditor with footsteps sure as fate comes round for
his interest. The probability is that the man has no
ready money to pay it, and zc delay of a month is
asked, with the assurance that the two months' interest
will be paid at the same time. This request is readily
granted, but it is only the commencement of a long
series of pecuniary struggles that get more and more
severe as the interest gradually accumulates, and be-
coming compound, actually assumes a more threatening

= A cash is about the one-thousandth part of two shilHngs.

MONEY AND MONEY-LENDING 191

aspect than does the original sum that was first
borrowed. As long as the interest is paid somewhat
regularly, things go on quite smoothly, but when money
becomes short, so that neither it nor the principal is
forthcoming, there are apt to be stormy scenes, and, in
order to get rid of his importunate creditor, an appeal
has to be made to other money-lenders to advance a
sum sufficient to pay him off.

These money-lenders are not a distinct class such
as exist in England, but they are every one who has
any spare cash at his disposal. A servant woman
has saved a dollar out of her wages, and she at once
looks round for some one with whom she can invest
it. A coolie finds himself with a surplus of three
dollars, and he lends them to some neighbour who is
needing just that amount. The whole Chinese empire
may be said to be in a perpetual state of borrowing
and lending, and a large majority of its people ,are
daily concerned with that most practical question how
they shall pay the interest to the minority who have
lent them money.

A Chinese is one of the keenest of business men
and knows the reproducing power of money. He never
dreams of hiding it away in some cupboard or in a
long stocking. He would think it the sheerest folly
to do anything of the kind. It is the same with men,
who have considerable sums at their command. They
are shy of banks that have a habit of breaking, and
besides they can do better with needy farmers or house-
holders, who can give them good security in the shape
of goods— deeds on their fields or houses that can
be seized should there be any difficulty about paying
up principal or interest. The lack of mutual con-
fidence causes the rate of interest to be very high.
Where first-class security can be given, the charge is
12 per cent. This is considered low, and is accepted
because there are no risks., The percentage rises with
the decrease in the value of the security, till 36
per cent, is demanded.

The sorrow caused by poverty and the inability to
pay their creditors is felt by the very poor, but where
there are any very young children the strain falls most
heavily upon them. In order to satisfy the demands of

192 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

those to whom they owe money, the poor are very often
compelled to sell their children in order to be able
to retain their home and the few fields that have been
left them by their fathers. A man, for example, has
an only son, four or five years old. When his creditor
comes to him and demands payment and is told that
he has nothing with which he can pay him, he simply
points to the debtor's son and suggests that the solution
of his difficulties lies ready to his hand. " Sell him," he
says, " and you can pay me what you owe and have
a little over with which you can start afresh."

When the evening has closed in, and the village is
shrouded in shadows, and the little fellow that they love
almost as their own lives is sleeping the peaceful sleep
of childhood, the father and mother talk in whispers
about the awful tragedy that is going to darken their
lives. The child must be sacrificed to save their home,
for their creditor has no mercy and no compassion,
and he will never rest till he has wrung his money
out of them. To-morrow morning comes and the little
fellow is led away by his father to see the sights, so
he tells him, of the great city that lies a few miles
away. The mother's heart is fit to break as she looks
upon the lad for the last time. Moved by her agony,
he clings to her, and will not leave her, but the father
tells him of the fine things he is going to see and the
beautiful presents he will bring back to his mother.
With a child's romantic thoughts of the great town
where all the wonders of the world are collected, he
trots off with a smiling face, though the tear-drops
still glisten between his eyelids.

Arrived in the city, he is at once in fairyland. Such
shops and such toys and such crowds of men he never
saw before. His father takes him into a large house
that seems to him wonderfully grand, but somehow or
other the people are not so nice to him as those in his
own poor home. Not one face shows the look of
love that filled the eyes of his mother every time she
gazed upon him. He shrinks closer to his father's
side, and wonders why he stays so long there. A man
sits at a table and writes words that he occasionally
reads aloud. Little does he dream that the pen that
glides so easily down the page is forging fetters that

MONEY AND MONEY-LENDING 193

shall bind him for ever to the new home, and is snap-
ping at the same time the Divine tie that knits him
to his father and mother.

The deed of sale is at last finished amd signed by
his father. A certain sum of money, say about seven
pounds sterling, is handed over to him, and the docu-
ment that defies the eternal laws of God is put away
in a place of safety.

To pacify the little fellow, the father tells him that
he is going out a short time, and that he must be a
good boy, and that he will come back and take him
home to his mother. The lad keeps a wistful eye
upon the door, and starts at every approaching foot-
step, but never more will he catch sight of his father,
and never again will the loving eyes of his mother
awaken dreams of happiness in his young heart.

This is no fanciful picture that I have been drawing.
It is one from real life, and yet it is not so sad a
one as when the daughter is disposed of for the same
reason. The boy is sold to become a son ; and socially
he is placed in a better position than ever he could
have been had he remained in his own home. The girl,
on the other hand, becomes a slave and loses her
freedom. Her master can do as he likes with her.
He can treat her kindly or he can make her life a.
misery, and whenever he chooses he can sell her to
another. Her parents, from the moment that the deed
of sale has been executed and the purchase money
handed over to them, have no more control over her;
than if they had sold a cow or a horse which became
the absolute property of the purchaser.

Another very common way of raising money is by
resorting to the pawnshop. This is specially the case
with the poorer people who want to borrow small
sums for immediate use, and for which they can give
no security excepting clothps and household furniture
such as they have at their own disposal. These instil
tutions exist all over the country, and are found, not
only in the large cities but also in the rural districts.
They are generally owned by some wealthy clans that
have sufiicient influence to protect themselves from the
squeezes of the mandarins and the attacks of robbers.

In China it is no light matter to be the owner of

13

194 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

a pawnshop. The majidarins of the district, who are
always on the lookout to see in what way they can
enrich themselves, have their eyes continually on it.
Like a hawk that hovers in the air looking out for its
prey, so these gentry wait for some chance to pounce
upon the pawnbroker to relieve him of surplus cash.
All the bad characters, too, of the neighbourhood look
with envious eyes upon th^e rich mine of wealth that
lies hidden within the walls of the pawnshop. In
ordinary times, when the mandarines rule is rigorous,
no attempt is made upon it. Any relaxation, how-
ever, in administering the laws becomes aii encourage-
ment to the opium -smokers and gamblers and villains
of a region, and some dark night fifty or sixty of
them will band together to storm the place and
plunder it.

In order to be prepared for such contingencies, it is
built very strongly, and fortified as though it weire a
castle. There is only one entrance to it, and the
framework of this is made of strong blocks of granite,
whilst the door is constructed of thick planks of wood,
and secured by heavy locks and huge cross-bars fixed
transversely across it on the inside. An ample supply,
moreover, of guns and ammunition is prepared to
enable it to stand a siege. In spite of all these pre-
cautions, it often happens that the band of robbers
win their way into the inside through thie death of some
of its defenders, and then they carry off sufficient spoil
to enable them to livie sL dissipated life for months to
come.

In addition to these large establishments with great
influence and wealth behind them, there are, in every
city, smaller shops with a limited capital, which advance
small sums to the very poorest, whose belongings would
not be accepted by th^e richer places. It is the very
dregs of society that in their extreme poverty come
to these with their poor, almost worn-out garments to
get a few cash to enable them to tide over the day.

The rate of interest charged by all is 2 per cent,
a month, but on woollen goods it rises to 3 per
cent., because the risk' is greater, since they are more
likely to become mouldy, and so lose their market
value m case they a.re not redeemed. In the larger

MONEY AND MONEY-LENDING 195

shops the goods must be taken out before the expiry,
of three years and four months. After that time the
owners have no more claim upon them, and they may
be sold for the benefit of the house. In order that
the goods may not suffer from damp, &c., during the
time they are in pawn, it is the custom, as well as the
law, that the pawnbroker shall have them sunned at
regular intervals. If he neglects to do this and the
articles are soiled, the owners may claim their value
in the courts of law.

In the smaller shops the time limit is only four
! months. From this may be inferred the character of
I' the articles that are taken in pawn. They have been
li worn to the very limit of endurance, and they have
I become so ingrained with dirt and grease that to allow
ji them to remain for any longer period on the shelves
I would cause them to deteriorate to such an extent that
they would actually become valueless.

The larger pawnshops act also as money-lenders,
though this is not their main business. Those in the
country lend to poor farmers, who are always short
of cash, and who, with the recklessness of the average
Chinese, are prjepared to borrow sums that they must
know they can never repay without immense suffering
to themselves. The interest demanded is paid out of
the crops when they are gathered, and a representative
of the pawnshop stands in the fields and takes its
value in grain or in sweet potatoes as these are
harvested by the debtor. This interest is always a
first charge upon the produce of the farm, and must
be paid, though the family may be standing by with
tearful eyes, sullen faces, and aching hearts, as they
see starvation stalking towards them, whilst the servants
of the pawnshop carry off the larger portion of the
crop on which their very lives depend.

When the harvests are abundant, the collection of
the interest brings less suffering ; but when the rain
fails and the great, red, hot sun looks down with rays
that scorch and burn the poor suffering crops, that
shrink and shrivel up until only a fraction of them
can be gathered, then the most piteous and aff'ecting
scenes may be witnessed. These, however, never touch
the heart of the pawnshop . That is conducted on

196 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

stern business lines, and such things as sentiment or
kindly generous feelings are never allowed to cross the
counter, or interfere with the money, transactions of
the establishment.

One of the things that strike an Englishman in
China is the utter heartlessness of the richer classes
for the poor, in times when droughts or famine or
mighty floods render their condition d,esperate. An
Englishman's first impulse in such circumstances is
to dive his hands deep into his pockets and give a
subscription to help the sufferers. A rich Chinese
has no such generous instinct.

His barns may be full of grain, which he has stored
in anticipation, and the people may be dying by
hundreds of starvation in the districts around, but not
a grain goes out to save a single life. He will sell ait
famine prices, but as for bestowing any of his precious
store upon the men and women and little ones who
are crying out piteously for food, he will never dream
of doing anything so romantic or absurd.

Instances are constantly occurring of the heartless-
ness of the rich towards the poor, and especially of
these pawnbrokers, who, utterly ignoring the kindlier
instincts of human nature, extract their pound of flesh
without mercy and without pity. A case in point will
illustrate this fact.

A widow who owned a small farm had occasion to
borrow some money from one of these men, with the
agreement that the interest should be paid in kind
when the crops were gathered. Unfortunately, it was
a bad year, and when she had harvested her rice and
potatoes she found that after the pawnshop had taken
its share, there would not be enough left to maintain
herself and her children till the next harvest was
gathered. In terror at the prospect, she managed to
secrete some of her corn, but the sharp eyes of the*
representative of the pawnshop quickly detected what
she had done, and he and his men searched the premises
and discovered the precious hoard she had hidden away.
The discovery turned out to be the beginning of a_
tragedy that was to bring disaster upon both the wido^
and the pawnshop. The former, heart-broken at tl
prospect before her, determined to put an end to hej

MONEY AND MONEY-LENDING 197

sorrows at once, and so she committed suicide. Her
relatives at once laid a complaint before the local
mandarin, and accused the pawnbroker of having been
the cause of the death of the widow, and they claimed
substantial damages from him. These he was willing
to pay, and happy would he have been had the case
been allowed to be settled on such easy terms.

A new element had in the meantime been imported
into the matter, and that was the mandarin. He had
long wished to be able to lay his hands on so fat a
goose as the pawnshop, and pluck it to his heart's con-
tent. His chance had now come. He pretended to be
highly indignant at the conduct of the pawnbroker..
He had violated all the instincts of humanity ; he
declared that he had sinned against Heaven and had
driven a poor unfortunate woman, who had no husband,
to defend her, to her death. A striking example must
be made of him so that others would fear to imitate
his heartless conduct. The end of the matter was.
that he was so squeezed by the official and his satellites
that he was finally ruined and his establishment
broken up.

Common report held that his punishment for his
cruel treatment of the widow did not end with the loss
of his property. Two or three years after, his son
suddenly became insane and died a horrible death.,
Every one believed that this tragic event was caused
by the spirit of the dead woman, whp, in her desire
to wreak her vengeance on the man who had caused
her death, had hurled this terrible calamity upon thie
son.

A rich money-lender in the neighbourhood, hearing
of his death, conscience -stricken, immediately gave
notice to all his debtors that he forgave them any
interest that might be owing him. He was terrified
lest the spirits of some of those whom he had tortured
when they were in life should come and avenge their
wrongs on himself or some member of his family, and
he hoped, by this timely act of repentance, to avert
their wrath.

The standard currency of the Chinese that prevails
throughout the empire is the tael, about one ouuce,
weight of silver ; all books are kept, and all business

198 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

transactions are conducted, on this basis. There is no
coin that represents a tael, but ingots of silver, weigh-
ing so many taels, are carried by persons who a,re
travelHng and can be exchanged for cash at any of
the money-changers' shops that swarm throughout the
country. If a person does not wish to change the
whole of his ingot, he can chop off as largo or a
small a bit as he likes from it, and the money-changer
will weigh it and give him its equivalent in cash.

In ordinary every-day life, where people have to
make small purchases, the tael, as a buying power, is
not brought into requisition. It flies too far above
the heads of vast numbers of the community, and so
the Government has issued copper cash, the only minted
coins recognised by it. They are about the size of a
shilling, with a square hole in the centre, to permit
of their being strung in hundreds. Ten of these
hundreds make a dollar, which is worth about two
shillings. It will thus be seen that a cash is of very
small value, being the one-thousandth part of a dollar.

Foreigners in China, finding it exceedingly incon-
venient to carry on business with lumps of silver, or
with the unwieldy cash, introduced the Mexican dollar
as the medium of currency, still retaining the tael, how-
ever, as the standard by which the relative value of
the dollar was to be estimated. Its use only extends
to the places where foreigners reside or foreign trade
has largely penetrated. Beyond these only the tael
and the cash are recognised.

For the great mass of the people, the real and only
currency is the cash. The tael is what might be called
the aristocratic medium, for it deals with the revenuei,
of the empire, and is familiar with fat, plethoric ledgers
and is always present at the sale or transfer of land,
In great political transactions where millions are con-
cerned, it is the only force that is recognised, whilst
in the fluctuations of the Chinese stock exchange, ii
the various provinces, the variations in the mone]
market centre around it.

The cash, on the other hand, is the plebeian coin;
It is the friend and the ally of the very poorest. The
beggarman has always a few in his pouch. Th<
labouring man, who would never dream of taels, thinks

MONEY AND MONEY-LENDING 199

himself well paid for a long day's toil if he gets two,
hundred cash. A skilled workman will close the day
with smiles upon his face when he carries home three
hundred, and hands them to his wife to meet the
expenses of the household, and her eyes will glisten as
she looks upon the generous sum that her husband has
given her.

A man goes to market with a; string of cash
ostentatiously thrown over his shoulder, as though he
would intimate to the shopkeepers that ready momey
was the thing he was going to deal in to-day, and
that, therefore, they must pay great deference to him.
He buys a pound of rice for thirty cash, a pound of
sweet potatoes for ten, a pound of fish for one hundred
and twenty, and vegetables enough for the whole family,
some of them fresh from the farmers* fields and others
with a peculiar odour, as though they had been pickled
in the ark and had been lying around in some dark,
damp place ever since, for fifty. But perhaps to-day
is a festival, and he means to make merry with his
family, so he buys a fowl for three hundred and fifty
and a pint of samshu for sixty. He must have some
cakes, so he buyjs a few common ones at one cash
apiece, others, nice and flaky with sweetmeats cunningly
hidden in their hearts, at five cash each. For the
children he buys a dozen pieces of toffee, crisp and
appetising, at one cash each. As dessert he chooses
half a dozen oranges at five cash each and a: pineapple
for thirty. After he has bought enough for the feast
he has still ^ few reniaining hundreds left of the
thousand that hung so carelessly over his shoulder as
he marched to the market to make his purchases.

The cash is essentially a poor man's coin and always
casts a kindly glance upon the man who is struggling
with poverty and who can barely buy enough to live
in a decent kind of way* Cash i utterly refuse to
become respectable or to accumulate in any large
quantity. They demur to being carried about the
person, excepting in such limited quantities as suit the
purse of a poor man. The moment you overstep the
limit they become an intolerable burden and you wish
to change them into dollars or taels, but then you step

* A thousand cash weigh about 2 lb.

200 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

out of the region of the poor, who never finger such
aristocratic coins. If a man were going on a long
and expensive journey and planned to take fifty pounds
in cash to meet his expenses, he would have to hire
a donkey to carry them, and at the same time engage
two soldiers with loaded guns to keep them from being
plundered by the way. He would never do anything
so foolish. He would elect to take silver taels that he
could hide away among his clothes, and he would
gradually change these into humble cash as he from
time to time wished to make his purchases. The cash
is a necessity of life in China. It is a precious medium
for all, but especially for the poor, whom it always
has in its eye, and it proves a real friend to these
by enabling them to buy many articles without which
they could not live.

CHAPTER XVI

PLAYS AND PLAY-ACTORS

The great nlational and universal amusement of the
Chinese is theatricals. Whatever other methods of
recreation there may be that are used to divert the
leisure hours of the people, there is none that, for a
moment, can be compared with these. They are the
ideal form of enjoyment ; and rich and poor, the most
learned scholar as well as the most illiterate rustic, all
look upon the stage as the supreme place of joy, where
men's thoughts are diverted, and where, for a ,time
at least, the sorrows of the heart are banished.

It is at the foot of the stage that the commonest
people can revel in scenes where royal personages
appear, and where statesmen whose names are house-
hold words come forth out of the mystery of the past,
and, for once in the hearing of the crowds, make the
famous speeches that have rendered them immortal.
Ancient dynasties that have long since passed away live
again before the eyes of the men of this generation,
and warriors and emperors, in the regal habits and
the armour of the times in which they lived, once more
enact some of the famous scenes that the pen of the
historian or the song of the poet has handed dovm to
posterity.

This mode of enjoyment is in profound harmony
with the antique character of the Chinese mind, which
revels in all that belongs to the far-off past. Men
revere the classics very largely because they were
written in the early dawn of Chinese history. The
worthies and sages that are the models for everything
that is perfect in life would lose much of their power
could they be transformed into men of the present day.
Antiquity has cast an aureole around their brows that

202 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

transfigures them, and helps to make them the recog-
nised " teachers of a thousand generations." An old
carving of an ancient bowl — in fact, anything that has
the stamp of age upon it — is a thing to be looked upon
with hushed reverence ; and so these historical plays
are gazed upon with a: mixture of awe, because they
bring back the buried past and reproduce figures that
have long since vanished from life.

The occasions on which the plays are performed
are numerous. A rich man's birthday comes round.
This must be celebrated by a feast and a play. Nothing
in the whole round of the imagination of the Chinese
could surpass these for the pure and unalloyed happi-
ness they would give. A feast alone would be divine,
but the addition of a play would add a zest to it
that none of the guests would ever forget. A play,
accordingly, is arranged for, and the finest actors that
money can procure are engaged, and the rich man and
his family with their guests are sent into raptures of
delight, whilst the great public share in the rejoicings
of the day and heartily wish that a rich man's birthday
would only come round every day in the year.

The most fruitful source, however, of theatricals is
the idols. The Chinese have endowed all these with
decidedly human passions. They are exceedingly fond
of money, and, like the men that worship them, they
are believed to be ready to perform any service if only
they are properly paid. They have an abstract prefer-
ence for good, but, if the bribe be heavy enough, they
are prepared to desert the right and in the most un-
blushing manner confer their blessing on the villain.
Their pleasures run, too, in the same line as that of their
worshippers, and there is nothing that will put an idol
on such good terms with everybody as a rousing play,
when there are lots of fun and noise, screeching music
and clang of cymbals, beat of drum, and hilarious
amusement.

The birthday, for example, of the public idol in a
popular temple comes round. He is a god with al
reputation. He has sent blessings into many a home,
the people say, and men speak with feeling of the
remarkable answers that have been given to their
petitions, Dut of gratitude for all this, and with a

PLAYS AND PLAY-ACTORS 203

keen eye to the future, special preparations are made
to do honour to him. There is a feeling that if this
be not done the idol will revenge himself on society
by sending some great calamity that will put the com-
munity into mourning. This danger must not on any
account be risked. The god must be put into a good
humour, -uid so arrangements are made for making
his birthday a pleat ant one — so pleasaiit, indeed, that
when the worshippers come by and by with their endless
requests he will remember the happy day they gave
him and will lavish his gifts upon them. One of the
main factors in this elaborate preparation is a play.
The Chinese are an exceedingly practical people and,
like many Occidentals, endeavour to combine religion
with business. The killing of two birds with one stone,
especially when it brings grist to the mill, is an ideal
act that puts a twinkle into the Chinese eye and a sweet
and childlike smile into the yellow, sphinxlike face.

It is a very extraordinary fact that though the nation
has this profound love for theatricals, actors are looked
down upon with contempt by every class of society.
Their profession is considered to be so disreputable
that their children are not allowed to enter the public
examinations for any of the four literary degrees.
They consequently can never become recognised
scholars, nor take any position under the Govern-
ment. Whatever may be the causes, there is no
question but that play-acting has a decidedly bad moral
effect upon the men who get their living by it. They
are generally opium-smokers, gamblers, and prodigals
of the lowest type. A look at their faces is enough toi
convince one that they are men who have no character
to lose, for they have a dissipated air that has settled
permanently on their features. The circumstances in
which they live are, no doubt, largely responsible for
the vices into which they have fallen. They have a
great deal of spare time on their hands. They are
illiterate and predisposed by the very character their
profession bears to spend it in a low and vicious mode
of living, and as their money comes easily so it is spent
with a liberal hand, the consequence being that there is
often only a step between them and absolute poverty.

Actors in China are divided into four classes, The

204 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

first are those that take the parts of mandarins or royal
personages. Such persons require to have an easy,
dignified carriage, suitable to the exalted characters
they have to impersonate. They must naturally have
that polished, graceful swing that is a sign in this land
either of literary culture or of blue blood, so that when
they are representing some distinguished personage they
may not shame him by some plebeian habits that would
set the audience in a roar of laughter. The secomd
are those who assume the role of female slaves or of
women in common life. As women are not allowed to
appear on the stage in China, the parts representing
them have to be taken by men. The third are those
who personate ladies in respectable life, and they dress
up to imitate them so exactly that a stranger to Chinese
ways would never discover that they were not women.
Their whole get-up is absolutely perfect. The dressing
of the hair, the binding of the feet to imitate the
" golden lilies " of the upper classes, the hang of the
dress, and the feminine mincing gait that is the result
of the crushing of the feet — all are lifelike and natural.
The fourth is what we might really call the clown,
though he has no grotesque or laughter-provoking dress,
such as distinguishes the same character in the West.
He is a man who is naturally full of humour, and whose
face easily takes a facetious look. He is constantly
ready at certain parts of the play with jokes and
repartee that send the crowd into fits of laughter. His
face is quite enough to destroy any seriousness that
may exist in the audience, and it is so flexible and the
movement of a few muscles will so touch the people
with a sense of the ludicrous that they will have to hold
their sides to prevent them from splitting.

Of the above classes the one that represents the high-
class lady is the best paid. An actor who takes this
part, especially if he be a distinguished one, is a most
popular character, and the announcement that he is
going to appear in a certain play will bring the people
from far and near to witness his performance.

Every actor has to go through a severe course of
training by specially qualified masters before he is
allowed to take a leading part in any play. As a rule,
he begins as a boy. The manager of a troupe will

PLAYS AND PLAY-ACTORS 205

either buy some lads from their parents or he will
have them indentured to him for a term of years. They
are at once set to study the play in which boys can
take a part. The masters that train them are very
strict, and often punish them most cruelly for mistakes
or carelessness in failing to get by heart the pieces they
have to learn. After they have advanced in their studies
they are put on an easy piece, where they have to
take a more or less prominent part. They thus gain
confidence and get rid of that nervous feeling that
makes them afraid to face the public. At length after
years of experience they gradually learn their profes-
sion and they are then prepared to take any part in
that particular line for which they have shown a marked
aptitude.

The Chinese plays may be roughly divided into two
great classes. The first of these deals entirely with
what may be called historical subjects, whilst the other
has to do with the comedies and tragedies of every-
day life. It may be remarked here that, in tracing
back the history of the present Chinese drama, there
is a universal consensus of opinion that the puppet
shows that are still most popular throughout the empire
were the original from which it has sprung. That
this is believed to be the case is evidenced by the fact
that usually before the commencement of any play the
audience is treated to a puppet-show display, not
because it is part of the programme but as a memorial
tribute to the men of ancient times who had the in-
ventive genius and also the goodness of heart to employ
their great powers in devising a never-ending source
of amusement and entertainment for the benefit of
posterity.

The historical plays, as already stated, are entirely
concerned with the great and striking events that have
marked the history of the past. Many of the most
exciting of these deal with the stories of well-known
heroes who came forth to save the empire when,
perhaps, the barbarians of the North had invaded China
and were carrying fire and sword amongst the people
inhabiting the provinces lying nearest the home of the
robbers. The fierce struggle in which the untamed
hordes of Huns or Mongols are driven back with terrific

206 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

slaughter into the steppes from which they had issued
is brought in a most reahstic manner before the
audience, as the actors, entering into the spirit of the
murderous contest, play their parts with consummate
ability and with the highest enthusiasm. Chinese
history abounds in scenes that have been dramatised.
The theatre has thus been the means, not only of
educating the common people, who are mostly illiterate,
in the great events of the past, but also of keeping
up the national worship of the heroes and heroines who
have played so mighty a part in the days that have long
since passed away.

These theatricals have had a most unhappy influ-
ence in keeping alive and intensifying the inborn hatred
of the Chinese against all foreigners. From the earliest
dawn of their history the nation has suffered most
grievously from the inroads of the savage and hostile
tribes that have lived across the northern and western
borders. Huns and Mongols, and Kins and Tartars
have successively inflicted the most terrible disasters
upon the empire. They have slaughtered the people,
ravaged their t(iwns, and left them smoking ruins . They
carried off thousands of the inhabitants and even some
of the emperors into captivity, where they died far
away from their families and from their kingdom. At
two different times the country was subjugated by these
marauding foes, and the Mongol and Manchu dynasties
displaced the native rulers of the country. It is not to be
wondered at, therefore, that a most bitter hatred lies
slumbering in the heart of every Chinese to-day against
all foreigners of whatsoever nationality. The story of
the past has been transmitted with Oriental fidelity
from father to son, and from generation to generation,
and the bloody details have sunk deep into the heart of
every inhabitant of this vast empire, and revenge for
all the sorrows and woes that the barbarians have
brought upon China is the one predominant feeling
in the heart of its people.

Now, these historical plays have been the means of
intensifying the bitterness and contempt of the people
against the foreigner. They are acted everywhere —
in the quiet village, in the homes of the rich, in the
crowded cities, and in the busy market towns. Every-

PLAYS AND PLAY-ACTOES 207

where, indeed, throughout the length and breadth of

the land the story of plunderings and massacres done

upon their innocent forefathers is vividly portrayed with

all the passion and dramatic power that the actors

I possess. In these plays everything is done to make

i the barbarian as hateful and contemptible as possible.

He is represented as a monster in appearance. His

face is dragged out of shape, and his mouth is made

to appear near his ear. His beard on one side is red

i and on the other blue. His eyes are fierce and staring,

! and savagery and murder are stamped upon his hideous

features. That is the conception that the people in

the interior, who have never come into actual contact

with the foreigner, have of the hated barbarian.^ To

their minds, there is no distinction between one foi'eigner

and another. English, French, or German are all alike

barbarians, to be destroyed and murdered as the savages

in former days slaughtered their forefathers.

I The second class of plays deals, as I have already

described, with a larger variety of subjects, having the

whole of human life as the field on which to practise.

They are, consequently, much more popular and at

I the same time much less expensive. The reason for

! this latter is because the dresses of the actors are much

more simple than those in the historical plays, where the

robes of mandarins and statesmen that appear on the

stage are exceedingly costly.

With regard to the scenery, it is the same in both
sets of plays, for in both cases it is left entirely to
the imagination of the audience. As the plays are
almost always acted in the open air it is, of course^,
impossible to add to the effect of the stage by any
ingenuity of the painter's art. The Chinese, however,
who is by no means wanting in the artistic faculty,
knows well how to take advantage of the exquisite
combinations that Nature with her cunning hand so
often works out as though she had made them for his
particular benefit. The leader of the troupe comes

* " Barbarian " is the generic term that is given to all foreigners,
whether from the Far West or from the countries bordering upon
China. " Foreign devil," " red-haired devil " are merely local variations
that people of different districts playfully apply to foreigners of any
nationality. They are all terms of reproach.

208 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

along with his band to select a spot where they shall
have their performance. They are as dilapidated -
looking a company as ever met to thrill an audience
with thoughts of noble deeds, or to melt it into tears
with some pathetic story of human suffering. Vice
sits upon the countenance of every man amongst them,
and pale cheeks, bloodless lips, and leaden-hued eyes
tell of long hours in the opium-den, and the miser-
able, wretched feelings that follow the brief Elysium
where they drowned the thoughts of life in the gor-
geous visions that fled with the morning light. What
can these men know of art and lights and shadows and
the mysterious movements of Nature that will set off
their acting by and by better than the inspired genius
of the most famous painters could ever do? One looks
at the place where the stage is expected to be set up,
and with an instinct that never fails, he chooses the very
spot where the sun can best play the artist, and where
he can flash his rays and throw in his tints to cover
somewhat the defects of th,e players.

When it is possible, a large tree is selected ; the
older and more venerable it is the better ; for the
background it affords, whilst it is grand and imposing,
is an ever changing one. At one moment it is filled
with shadows that give it a stern and severe look ; at
another the golden rays flash and play amongst the
great boughs and give it a summer look ; and anon
a flood of light comes in a great wave and touches the
leaves with such a sudden access of beauty th,at they
tremble with excitement and seem a fitting accompani-
ment to the sounds of cymbals and the passionate voices
of the actors as they play their parts below. The day
goes on, the plot thickens, and the excitement of the
audience grows as the hero makes his marvellous
escapes from the machinations of his enemies, and
every other interest is forgotten in the absorbing one
of seeing how the villain will at last be discovered
and punished. All this while the tree, as if conscious
of the part it has to play in the denouement of the
plot, silently but with an eloquence that no language
could imitate, has added to the zest of the piece. The
gentle sound of the breeze blowing through the
branches, the sudden lighting up pf smiles amongst its

A MORNING SHAVE.

A THEATRE ON THE ROAD-SIDE.

To face p. 208.

PLAYS AND PLAY-ACTOES 209

leaves, and their dying out in sadness that quenches
the sunHght out of their eyes, seem like unspoken words
that add a vividness and a mystery to those of the
actors that would otherwise seem tame and ineffective
without them.

But it is not always that so picturesque a spot can
be obtained for the acting of the play. These Bohemian
play-actors have to be prepared to erect their stage in
front of the house of their patron, however unsuitable
the place may be from an aesthetic or an acoustic point
of view. It very often happens that his home may.
be in a densely crowded street, where the only back-
ground consists of faded, broken -down -looking houses,
and the only suggestions to high art are dirt and filth
and smells so atrocious that they could easily knock
off the head of an English donkey. These exercise no
depressing effect whatever on these men, true descend-
ants of the founders of the Thespian art. Place and
surroundings seem to be utterly indifferent to them. It
is men they want, and the sympathy of crowds, and
the subtle influence of an audience that has been set on
fire by their eloquence, and whose hearts can be easily
moved to laughter or to tears.

An English troupe of the present day would be utterly
lost were they set down to meet the conditions that
are the only ones that the great race of actors through-
out this empire are acquainted with. Just imagine a
swell London company who were assembled ready to
perform some popular play. Nothing has been
prepared for the great performance. There is no
theatre and no magnificent scenery which first-rate
artists have painted to givfe the highest effects to the
efforts of the actors. There is no place where
rehearsals may take place, and no retiring-rooms,
where each one may dress himself for the part he is to
take when he steps on to the stage before the crowds
that are awaiting his coming. The troupe would meet
by common consent, say in the Strand or in the most
crowded part of Oxford Street, where they would at
once proceed to put up their stage. All traf^c would
have to be suspended. The drivers of omnibuses and
of hansom-cabs, scenting the obstruction from afar,
would quietly and without the least show of temper turn

14

210 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

their horses down the nearest by-street ; whilst the
fares, when they heard the reason, would smile and
express themselves perfectly satisfied at their conduct.
Great lumbering carts and drays, unconscious of the
stoppage, would come up to the edge of the crowd that
had gathered round the troupe, to see Sir Henry Irving,
for example, superintending the placing of the boards
in their proper position. A delightful smile that they
never showed even to their wives would immediately
suffuse their faces, and they would back away to the
nearest side road, which would necessitate an extra
journey of, perhaps, half a mile or more. Pedestrians,
too, would come up and would crane their necks and
peer over the heads of the people to find out the cause
of the obstruction and then retire with an amused
look on their faces. Others in a hurry to catch a train
would wriggle through the crowd and crouch and
scramble under the stage, where they would bump their
heads against projecting beams— without, however,
affecting their tempers in the least.

In the meanwhile the members of the troupe are
preparing themselves for the performance. The play
is a comedy, perhaps, and each one is dressing for his
part. Here is one painting her eyebrows and touch-
ing her lips with delicate shades of carmine. Another
is doing up her long luxurious hair into a wonderful
coiffure, whilst her neighbour is adorning herself in
a rich dress that shows off her beauty to perfection.
The men, less picturesque in appearance, are donning
the garments in which they are to appear, with a non-
chalance and an ease that show that they are perfectly
impervious to the opinion of the crowd that is looking
on with wonder in its eyes.

The above is an exact picture of what takes place
in China, outside of the great ports where the in-
fluence of foreigners has tended to modify the native
customs. The stage is erected in the very midst of the
most populous thoroughfare and all traffic is absolutely
suspended. The actors do their dressing in public, and
the men that are to take the part of women paint
their faces and do up their hair in the elaborate
fashion in which ladies are accustomed to in this land.
Everything is done, as it were, on the street, and good-

PLAYS AND PLAY-ACTORS 211

humour and infinite forbearance are the characteristics
that mark the conduct of the populace in reference to
what would seem to us to be the high-handed pro-
ceedings of the play-acting fraternity. Comedy, on
the whole, suits the genius of the Chinese better than
the more serious plays. They are a laughter -loving
people, and their faces have been so formed that, un-
cesthetic as they are, they have a wide area on which
to spread a smile. There is a strain of fun that runs
through their natures that makes them quick to catch
the slightest hint of a joke, and that sends the laughter
rippling from their hearts and lighting up their features
with floods of sunshine. The number of these comedies
is legion, and in order to give the reader some idea of
what they are like, I will select one and give a brief
account of it. It is called " Sir Serious." The hero
of the story is a famous Taoist doctor, renowned for
his learning and for his power over spirits. He is
not only a scholar of the first order, but he has also so
entered into the secret of Nature that he can at pleasure
transform himself into any shape he pleases, and by
his magic he can perform the most wonderful miracles.
Demons and fairies are at his beck, and storm and
tempest are forces obedient to his will.

One morning, taking a walk into the country, he
observed a young woman standing by a grave and, with
tears streaming down her face, slowly and gracefully
fanning it. Struck by this sight, he approached her and
asked her what she was doing. She explained that her
husband had recently died and before his death he had
made her promise that she would not marry again
before the plaster on his grave had time to dry. " I
am anxious to keep my promise," she said, " but as I
am very poor and have no means of support, I am
helping the tomb to get dry in order to be able to
marry again as quickly as possible."

When Sir Serious returned home he told his wife,
who was a famous beauty, what he had seen, and
remarked that he thought it very noble of the widow
for being so faithful in keeping the promise she had
made to her dying husband. *' Noble, do you call
her? " she asked, with a contemptuous toss of her
beautiful head. " I call her disgusting. The idea of

212 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

her being in such a hurry to get married again that she
actually fans her husband's grave to cause it to dry
more quickly I She has no decency and no shame 1
Now, if it were my case I should never dream of ever
getting married again. I should remain faithful to you
as long as I lived."

Sir Serious pondered over this statement of his wife
and he determined that he would put it to the test.
In the course of a few days, without any apparent
reason, he suddenly died, to the great grief and con-
sternation of his wife. Next day, whilst she was in
the midst of her sorrow, a visitor to her late husband
was announced. He was a young man of unusually pre-
possessing appearance, who had been attracted, so he
said, by the fame of Sir Serious and had come to sit
at the feet of so distinguished a savant. He appeared
to be profoundly moved when he heard that he was
dead, and he spoke with such exquisite feeling and
condoled with the widow in such chaste and appropriate
language that her heart was greatly comforted by what
he said.

The handsome young scholar, having come from a
long distance, had no place where he could stay, so the
widow, after consultation with an old servant of the
family, invited him to take up his quarters in her home.
The result of a few days' further acquaintance was that
they both fell violently in love with each other and
after serious love-making they agreed to get married
without further delay.

The marriage feast was prepared and sounds of
laughter and revelry filled the house and eyes full of
happiness sparkled with delight, when suddenly, like a
flash of lightning from an unclouded sky, the handsome
bridegroom fell to the ground as though he were dead.
Every effort was made to revive him, but he could not
be awakened out of his deadly trance. His face was
deathlike and his breathing had entirely ceased. The
newly-made bride summoned her retainer and asked
what he would advise should be done in this alarming
case. After a long look at the insensible form of the
young scholar, he said : ** The disease to which this
man has succumbed is a very unusual one. I have,
however, met with a similar case before, and I was

PLAYS AND PLAY-ACTORS 213

told that the only cure for it was that a man's heart
should be obtained and the fluid from it be given,
when a perfect recovery would be the result. I would
suggest," he continued, '* the master's coffin that lies
in the next room should be opened and his heart taken
out to save the man who is in such a dangerous
condition. It seems dreadful," he said, ** to suggest
such a thing, but Sir Serious is dead and it will not
harm him to be opened and have his heart extracted.
If we do not adopt this plan I do not see any way by
which we can get a heart anywhere else, and so the
youth will perish and you will lose a husband a second
time.'*

The widow, who was madly in love, at once without
any hesitation consented to the proposal. Seizing an
axe, she proceeded to the room where the coffin lay,
and in a few seconds she had forced the lid open. No
sooner had she done this than the dead man sneezed and
yawned and, raising his head, he said : *' Dear me, I must
have been asleep quite a long while. It must be time
for me to get up," His wife, horrified beyond measure,
rushed back into the next room, but she found the visitor
had vanished and not a trace of him could be found,
anywhere. It was not possible, indeed, that she could
do so, seeing that Sir Serious had used his witcherj and
had transformed himself into the appearance of a young
man in order to test his wife and to see whether she
would remain true to him as she had declared she would.

The wife was so ashamed when she found that her
husband had come to life again that she went and com-
mitted suicide. Sir Serious decided, after this painful
experience, never to get married again, and in order
to comfort men who had lost their wives he composed
a short ode that has become famous, through these
theatricals, all over the land. His words briefly are :
"Do not mourn because your wife has died before you,
for think what might happen should you die first. Your
wife that you took such pride in would belong to
another. Your children that called jou father and on
whom you lavished your affection would be beaten and
ill-used by a man who would take your place. Your
home and your lands would pass into the possession of
a man who would hate your very memory and, who

214 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

could not bear to hear your name mentioned without a.
frown. Your wife dies and you lose but her. Every-
thing else is yours and no man may rob you of it.
Therefore be of good cheer and remain as you are.
Let well alone and be thankful that it is your wife and
not yourself that has died first."

The acting of this piece affords unbounded amuse-
ment to any audience that witnesses it. The fanning
of the grave, the sudden resurrection of Sir Serious,
the consternation of the wife when she discovers that
her lover has vanished, are all presented in such a
ludicrous manner that the attention of the spectators is
riveted upon the play as long as it lasts.

Play-actors in China have a hard life^ but this is
not entirely the fault of the public. Their dissolute
habits are the real cause. On the stage the crowd sits
in rapture at their feet. At one time they are in tears
and by and by in fits of laughter as these men with
their great talent for mimicry and with their powers
of pathos touch the hearts of their audience. .When the
play is ended the charm has fled and the actor is once
more the miserable character that his vices and his
profession have Inade him. In consequence of the easy-
going nature of the Chinese and their disregard for
appearances he seems to take no care to preserve his
dignity, for after the performance is over he descends
from the stage and there, in the presence of the public,
he disrobes himself of his magnificent dresses that have
made him look like some famous hero or heroine and
at once he becomes the meanest -looking man in all the
crowd.

Here, for example, is a man who has been playing the
character of a beautiful woman. She is letting down
her long hair and taking off her silks and satins, and
one by one removing her trinkets and her female orna-
ments. She then unbinds her feet and rubs the powder
from her face and the rouge from her lips, and lo ! the
heroine that has captivated all hearts by her grace and
beauty is transformed mto as vulgar-looking a ruffian
as one would dislike to meet in the small hours of the
night in some dark and lonely road. Close beside him
is another who has been acting the part of a great
mandarin. In his official dress and with his haughty

PLAYACTORS ACTING.

To face p. 214

PLAYS AND PLAY-ACTORS 215

mien he was the object of profound respect, but now
that he has taken off his gorgeous dresses in which
he was performing his part, the charm and the dignity
that these gave him have vanished and instead you
have as commonplace and disreputable a man as you
could pick out of the seedy-looking characters that
abound in heathen life.

The end of these men is generally a very sad and a
very miserable one. The opium habit which they have
contracted is a deteriorating influence that strikes at
the root of everything that is good or noble in life.
It weakens the moral character and it makes a man so
intensely selfish that he is prepared to ignore every
human tie in his mad craving for the drug. At the best
of times actors never dream of saving money, and as
their powers of acting begin to fail, their earnings are
seriously affected, but the pains and aches that the
opium flashes through the body when the hour comes
for it to be indulged in do not diminish with the waning
income. By and by they drift lower, still pursued by
the intolerable craving that never for a single day
deserts them. Many of them become beggars or street
musicians, and thus men who used to personate emperors
and royal personages and famous heroes, and who used
to hold the crowds spellbound, descend to the low
position of sitting by the roadside and in piteous, whin-
ing tones imploring the passer-by to throw them a
cash to keep them from starving.

CHAPTER XVII

A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY

A Chinese city gives one the impression that it was
the last thing built, and there was so little room left
for it that it had to be squeezed into the narrowest
limits possible. Its main streets, where the largest
traffic is to be found, are not usually more than ten or
twelve feet wide and these are actually reduced to four
or five by the tables and benches that the shopkeepers
put on each side, on which they display their stock -in-
trade.

The smaller streets are, of course, narrower, whilst the
alleyways dwindle down to three or four feet. The houses
are crowded together, and in order to meet the demands
of the population each one is so built that it will
accommodate several families if need be, and even then
the dwellings are by no means large. A Chinese, how-
ever, is capable of being squeezed into as limited a
space as any other human being in the world, and at the
same time to have an air of freedom, as though he
were living in a suite of rooms that he occupied entirely
for his own use.

A foreigner, taking a ramble through a Chinese town,
is greatly impressed with the fact that the people have
no private family life— in our sense of the term. The
shops have no windows, and as soon as the shutters are
taken down in the morning the whole of the interior is
open for the inspection of the public, who are privileged
to see and to listen to all that is going on inside. No-
body seems to mind that. The conversation of the
family or the loud cheapening of the goods are all con-
ducted as though there was nobody within a hundred
miles of them. It seenis, indeed, as though the whole

216

A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY 217

business of the place was carried on in the streets, and
the affairs of everybody were common property.

A Chinese town has, on the whole, a mean, tumble-
down-looking appearance. Even in the finest streets,
where the commercial wealth of the place is centred, the
shops are totally deficient in any architectural attrac-
tions. iWhatever ability the Chinese may possess, it
certainly does not lie in the direction of city-building.
The modern builders seem to be under the grip of
the dead hand of their ancestors. A new street, for
example, is to be built. Designs are never asked for,
and architects are never appealed to, because no such
profession exists in this land. Plans that were drawn
up when the world was young are ready to hand all
around, and are so stereotyped on the brain of every
builder in the land, that no room is left to them for
invention. A street is burned down, and in a few days
a hive of workmen is as busy as a colony of ants
rebuilding. No alterations are made ; the same kind
and size of beams are laid ; the same angles and
corners spring up with an amazing fidelity to those
that have vanished in the fire. With a beaver -like
monotony, shops and houses are reproduced age after
age after an identical pattern, and, consequently,
a description of any particular town or 'district
would stand as a model for all the others in th,e
empire.

The narrow, crooked streets, the unsubstantial one-
storied buildings, the badly paved roads, the poverty-
stricken aspect of the poorer quarters, and the preva-
lence of the most horrible and disgusting smells,
amongst the rich and the poor alike, are the features
that most impress themselves upon the mind of the
stranger, as he perambulates around in search of
novelty.

But let us begin our stroll. Following the crowds
that flow like a stream down the narrow arteries, we
by and by come to an opening that leads into a square
where a variety of life presents itself to our view. The
whole of one side of it is occupied by a temple dedicated
to the Goddess of Mercy. It shows how strong is the
religious feeling of this particular district that the
owners of property in this crowded business part, where

218 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

the value of land must run high, should have been
willing to surrender so large a. space for the building of
this temple. It is a very good specimen of the better
class of shrines where the idols are worshipped,. The
goddess with her placid -looking face is placed right in
the centre, where she can look out through the great
open door upon the changing scenes of human life that
move the livelong day before her. She is the most
popular idol in China, and is worshipped by more people
than any other throughout the empire. It is simply the
belief in her goodness and pity that has led to this, for
she is not a native goddess. Her home originally was
in far-off India, and the story goes that she was the
daughter of a king, and she was so touched by the
miseries of the women who lived in the neighbourhood
of her father's palace, that she made a solemn vow that
she would never get married, but would dedicate her
life to the service of her own sex. This she did, and
when she died she was deified and her worship became
a widespread one. The story of her devotion travelled
over the Himalayas and across Turkestan into the fertile
provinces of the north of China, and men were so
touched with her self-denial that they said, ** We must
have her as our goddess too," and so, to-day, there is
hardly a home amongst the four hundred millions of
China that has not an image of this famous idol.

The open space in front of the temple is very largely
occupied by itinerant dealers in various kinds of articles,
who dot the square with their stalls, and with the free-
and-easy way with which such men take liberties with
the public roads, leave but scant space for the crowds
that pass to and fro. Here is a seller of sweets, with a
knot of little urchins crouching down around his basket,
who, with glistening eyes and mouths that water are
gazing upon the good things so temptingly displayed
before them. Candied arbutus and Tientsin apples
drowned in sugar, and peanuts fried in fat to a delicate
brown, and square pieces of juicy-looking toffee, that
make the mouth water to look at, can be bought at an
amazingly low price. As far as sweets are concerned,
China is a perfect fairyland for children, for what with
peanut candy, juicy sugar-cane, candied fruit, and a
host of unnameable products of the confectioner's art,

A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY 219

they have a large and varied assortment of dehghts from
which they may at any time solace themselves at an
infinitesimal cost.

A few feet away from the seller of sweets is a fruit
stand, where bananas from Canton, luscious -looking
pineapples cut in delicate slices so as to tempt the
thirsty, water-melons with black skins and crimson
hearts, and mangoes with their green coats just turning
yellow, the reflection of the ripe, golden fruit within,
are daintily arranged to bewitch the passer-by and draw
the cash out of his pocket.

Farther on is a man sitting on a, stool in front of a
low, round table, on which a solitary white glazed bowl
is placed. A number of men are grouped around it,
sitting on their heels, and watching with the fiercest
gaze the man in charge throwing three or four dice
into the basin. They are gamblers, as one can see at
a glance, for their dull, heavy faces throb with passion,
and their black eyes gleam with ill-suppressed emotion.
They are watching the dice as they fall, and with a
glance as quick as lightning counting the spots upon
their upturned faces. The game is a most absorbing
one. The dice are thrown as rapidly as the man can
fling them into the dish, and the gamblers are kept in a
constant state of watching the numbers that turn up.
The crouching group do not utter a sound, whilst the
face of the operator is as calm and as stolid-looking
as that of an Egyptian sphinx, and as expressionless
as the features of the stone lions that guard the gates
of the temple close by. His own pile is gradually grow-
ing, but neither he nor the silent figures in front of him
give any sign that the varying fortunes of the game
have quickened their pulses by a single beat.

Just beyond this group is an itinerant barber with
the implements of his craft by his side. One of these
is a diminutive bench with a nest of drawers built
under it, which contain his razors, strops, hones, &c.
Close by is another article that plays an important part
in the business of the barber. This is a small
stand for holding a brass basin filled with water, and
immediately underneath is a little furnace, where a
charcoal fire is kept just alive, so that it can be fanned
into a red heat should its services be required. With

220 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

the patience of his race he is waiting as calmly for
the coming of a customer as though he were a man of
assured income, quite independent of the public. From
his easy manner, and calm, unruffled face, one would
never dream that he was close up to the margin of his
resources, and that but one step ahead would land him
in debt.

Whilst we are standing looking at him and his
interesting apparatus, a' customer makes his appear-
ance and without a word takes his place upon the narrow
bench. The barber, as silent as the other, gets his
razor out of one of the drawers, and with an old, broken
fan brings back to life the smouldering embers in the
furnace. The razor is a most primitive one, consisting
of a piece of iron, rough-hewn, with an edge that is
kept sharp only by constant applications to a diminu-
tive hone. It does not cost more than twopence, and it
seems utterly inadequate for the serious work before
it, in the mass of stubbles that stand up with an angry,
defiant air from the head of the man who sits so
unconcernedly waiting for the barber to commence his
operations. A minute or two pass by in stropping
the razor, and by the time it has got the required edge
a little mist of steam begins to rise from the surface
of the water in the brass bowl. The process of shaving
can now begin in earnest, and so the barber takes a cloth
and dips it into the now boiling water. Wringing it
slightly out, he rubs it gently and insinuatingly over
every part of the head, excepting the crown, which is
held sacred from the touch of the razor. This process is
repeated several times, till the rebellious growth has
lost its stubbornness, and with weak and trembling
knees it appears ready to submit to its fate. The barber
now rapidly seizes the razor, and after a few hasty
sweeps on a small strop in the palm of his hand, with a
graceful motion he begins his work. To our amaze-
ment the black forest falls as naturally as the ripe
grain before the onward march of the scythe. No soap
of any kind has been used, and yet the simple applica-
tion of a very hot, damp cloth has been sufficient to
enable the operator to go on with his shaving till the
whole space around the crown has been relieved of its
stubby growth, and the white skin of the newly-mown

A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY 221

parts and the black, raven hair of the crown stand
out in striking contrast with each other.

Shaving is a much more elaborate business in China
than it is with us, for though there is no hair on the
face to occupy the barber's time, the eyes and ears come
within the range of his art, and demand even nicer
and more artistic treatment than the head. It makes
one tremble to see how he plays amongst the eyelashes,
trimming them here and there, and turning down the
eyelids and letting the sharp razor meander along the
inside of them. What good can be effected by this
mysterious proceeding we cannot possible conceive. It
is the custom of the trade and must be obeyed even
though it may bring inflamed eyes and possibly loss of
sight. Rather perish the eyes of the whole nation
than that a sacred relic of the past, started by some
idiotic barber in ancient times, who had not the sense
to know what he was doing, should be lost to the
country. And now the operation has been performed
and head and ears have all come within the touch of
those gentle, deft hands of the barber. With a final
massage on the spine and the queue neatly replaited,
the customer rises and drops into the hands of the
operator, as though it were a matter of no importance,
the imposing sum of cash that in our money would be
equivalent to about a penny.

But what is the crowd that is gathered immediately
in front of the entrance to the temple where, in a
dim religious light, sits the goddess looking out on the
busy scene before her? As we draw near to the edge
of it, and peer at the standing figures, we see a man
sitting on a bench, with a dingy, dog-eared book in
his hand, from which he professes to be reading. He
is doing this in a slovenly, slipshod manner. He would
seem, indeed, to have a contempt for his audience, for
he makes no attempt at oratory. He speaks in the
most matter-of-fact way. There is no passion in his
voice, no flash in his eye, no subtle touch of inspira-
tion about him, and yet he is holding his audience
spellbound as he dra^wls out in the unmusical, mechanical
Chinese tones the story he is telling.

He is a sharp, shrewd-looking man, but of a de-
cidedly worldly type. There is nothing spiritual or

222 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

visionary about his face. It is a hard-looking one, with
Hnes that have been engraven on it by passion and evil
forces that have swept over his heart and left traces of
the storm behind. That he is dissipated one can see
at a glance, for a leaden hue, stamped there by the
subtle alchemy of opium, dyes his features. His eyes
are quick and restless, as though he were on his guard
against some secret foe. He is Bohemian to the very
tips of his unwashed finger-nails, whilst his long, thin
hands, as delicate as a woman's, thrust through the
wide, slovenly sleeves of his dingy scholar's gown, show
that he is one of those degenerate students who have
fallen from their high ideals, and is now living as
best he may by his wits. This man is the historian of
the town, and the romancer and the transmitter of
myths and fables of ancient days, a living novel that
lets out a chapter of its story each day for the delight
of the great unwashed. Without such men as this
history would be untaught, and the heroes and statesmen
of bygone centuries would long since have been buried
in oblivion. But for this popular lecturer on the subject,
the knowledge of the past would be lost to the masses,
whereas now the story of the famous men who have
built up this empire is as household words in every
family in the land.

He is evidently popular, for the crowd is great and
their attention is fixed. Although he holds a book and
professes to be reading from it, he evidently does not
confine himself to the text. In the more stirring parts,
he allows his imagination to take a flight, and in
graphic, picturesque language pictures the hero he is
describing. This happens to be Kung Ming,i a famous
warrior who lived in the period of the " Three King-
doms," and has ever since been the model of daring and
scientific fighting, and the ideal knight, who spent his
life in the service of his country. This story is never
heard without warming the sluggish blood of this un-
warlike people, and causing the eyes of the young
fellows to flash, turning them for the moment into
impromptu soldiers, ready to dash off and fight the
enemies of China. The Chinese, like all Orientals, have

^ For an account of this popular hero see Macgowan's Imperial
History of China, Chapter on "The Three Kingdoms."

I

A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY 223

a passion for stories, and as their memories are good
the narratives they hear from these men are never
forgotten, but are told again in the home, when some
one more eloquent than the rest will while away the
time by relating the marvellous adventures or doings
of men who have been famous in the past.

Leaving this crowded square with its busy typical
life, we again enter the human stream that flows on
as steadily as ever, and we pass by silk-shops, where
the treasures of Canton and Soochow are stored, and
curio -shops, where people of an antiquarian turn of
mind may have their passion for old vases, ancient coins,
and antique carving gratified to the utmost. Farther on
there are shoe-shops, with shelves stored with all the
different fashions, and country customers, with open
mouths and with the air of the fields upon them,
beguiled by these Crispins into giving more for their
purchases than they ought to do.

As we move along we are impressed with the easy
good-nature of every one. The street is cramped and
the people so close to each other that it would seem
as though they had studied a conjuring art to know how
to avoid touching each other. When it is remembered
that sedan-chairs and heavy goods that take up most
of the available roadway have to travel along it, amongst
these crowded passengers, the difference between the
tempers of the East and the West will at once be
realised. The utmost good temper is shown by every
one, and inconveniences that would ruffle the temper
of an Englishman do not raise the shadow of a frown
upon the face of any one.

At a turn in the road we come upon a man sitting
by a long, low table on which a variety of articles are
exhibited. We discover by his signboard that he is
a doctor, and that he professes to be qualified to deal
with any disease, internal or external, that he may be
called upon to treat. He does not seem oppressed with
the responsibility that this involves, for when we ask
him if he is really competent to do all this, he blandly
smiles as though amused at our simplicity, and with
a graceful though haughty inclination of the head he
assures us that he is prepared to tackle any disease
under the sun and to give it at least a! heavy fall.

224 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

The appearance of the man raises some doubts in our
mind regarding him. As to his general intelligence we
have no misgiving. The mouth is firm set, indicating
a strong purpose. His features show that he is a man
who has been accustomed to think, whilst his eyes are
bright and flashing, as though hidden fires were sending
their sparks through them to the outer world. Our
suspicions are aroused by his glibness, that reminds
us more of the quack than the really able physician.
His clothes, too, are not such as a man of his distin-
guished attainment ought to wear. They are greasy-
looking and dilapidated. The days of their youth are
far away in the past, and patches here and rents there
show the straits to which they have been put to retain
their integrity.

As we look over the articles spread out on the table
we discover that he is a dentist as well as a doctor.
We are interested, and we look once more at the man
who professes so much. Right in front of us is a
small heap of teeth, not manufactured by any cunning
workman, but by the subtle alchemy of Nature. They
are of all sizes and conditions. There are huge molars
that have done yeoman service in the past, and eye-
teeth, strong and determined-looking and worn, as
though they had failed in the battle of life, and had
come here to end their days. They were all marked
and discoloured with the signs and symbols of the wear
and tear they had gone through. They were a gruesome
sight to look upon and I wondered much how such a
curious collection could have been gathered together.

" Where did you get these from? " I asked the
doctor, pointing to the heap, which, however, I was
careful not to touch.

** OhI I bought them," he replied, with just a touch
of surprise on his face that he should be asked such a
useless question. *' When a man has to part with a
tooth," he continued, *' he does not throw it away. He
brings it to me, and I buy it for a few cash, for he
knows that in my profession it will come in handy some
time or other."

Just as he was speaking a, patient came up to him.
On being asked what he wanted, he replied simply b
opening his mouth to the very widest e^^tent. It w

I

A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY 225

a huge cavern and reminded one of the entrance to the
Thames Tunnel. It was seen that his four upper front
teeth were wanting, having been knocked out by a fall
from a wall, and he was anxious to know if the doctor
could supply their places with new ones.

'* Of course I can," he promptly replied, and
measuring the cavity in the jaw, he carefully and with
practised eye selected from the heap the four teeth
that would exactly fill it. He then drilled a hole in
them longitudinally and inserted a bit of coarse iron
wire to bind them to each other. The ends of the wire
were next inserted in holes that were carefully drilled
into the teeth on each side of the cavity, and at once
the chasm disappeared, and the crowd that had been
looking on with critical eyes declared that his mouth
looked as natural as though the new ones were those
with which Nature had originally supplied him.

Leaving this greasy charlatan with his inodorous
stock-in-trade, we again join the grand procession of
human life that moves along as though impelled by
some decree of fate. Beggars by the wayside try to
move our compassion by bestowing upon us high
mandarin titles and appointments under Government that
would bring us unbounded wealth. Scholars and mer-
chants, and coolies with bare feet and clad in patched
and torn dull blue cotton cloth, move along by our
side, or jostle us as the crowd thickens where the roads
converge. As we saunter along amongst the busy
crowd, getting new impressions of Chinese life from the
varied faces that we meet with, we come upon a narrow
nook, just off the main line of traffic. Our attention
is arrested by a man who is seated at a small table,
on which are laid conspicuously a Chinese inkstone and
a pen ready for immediate use. He is about fifty years
old, with a semi-scholarly, semi-shopman air about him.
We recognise him at once as a public letter- writer. The
great mass of the people can neither read nor write.
There are countless homes where not a single member
can do either, and they have to depend on such men as
this when they wish to correspond with their friends.

He is sitting and waiting with all the patience that
is characteristic of his countrymen. One would never
dream that his very livelihood depends upon the number

15

226 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

of his customers. He is as calm and unconcerned-look-
ing as though he had a private fortune of his own,
and cared not whether he was employed or not. Whilst
we are standing looking at him, a woman steps out of
the crowd, and comes up to the table with a sheet of
paper in her hand. She is between forty and fifty years
of age and belongs to the humbler classes. This is
quite evident by her presence there on the street, for
a woman, even of the middle class, would never dream
of coming out alone as she has done. She has large,
unbound feet too, which means that in an early period
of her life she was a slave, but in some way or other she
has obtained her freedom and is now her own mistress.

Her face is a pleasant and kindly one, and as she
stands and tells her story we feel that the human heart
is the same in China that it is in England, and that it
beats to the same tune and the same music in this far-off
land as it does in the West. She tells, at first in stam-
mering, hesitating language, how her son has gone
abroad, and that for a whole year she has heard nothing
from him. As she says this, there is a break in her voice
and her eyes become full of tears. *' He was always
a good son," she continued, *' and he left me simply
because we were so poor. He was an industrious,
hard-working lad, but he earned so little that we had
scarcely enough to eat. One day a man who had been
abroad told him of the high wages he could earn in
Singapore, and how steady young men were always
sure of employment there. The news filled his heart
with hope, and he pleaded with me to let him go. For
a long time I withheld my consent, for I did not wish
to part with him as I was afraid that something might
happen to him in that far-off land. He might get ill or
he might die, and I should never see him again. But
he was very determined, and finding his mind was so
set upon going, I at last reluctantly yielded to his
entreaties and he left me.

" That was five years ago," she said, " and every
year till the present he has sent me home all the
money he could spare out of his earnings. This year
all letters have ceased, and I can get no tidings of
him, so my heart is breaking for fear lest he may be
dead," and here her tears begin to flow down her

AN ITINERANT COOX.

. A LETTER-WRITER.

The man on the right is the Scribe.

To face p. 227.

A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY 227

cheeks, and sobs to check her utterance. It is a most
pathetic scene. Several people who have stopped with
Chinese familiarity to listen to her story are full of
sympathy, and in order to ease her mind they invent
the fable that her son is in the most perfect health
and that he is doing well and prospering in Singapore.
They assure her that the only reason why she has not
received letters and money is because of the dishonesty
of the people to whom they were entrusted. They knew
this for a fact and they told her to dry her tears and
take heart, for before long she would receive tidings
that would fill her heart with joy. All these statements
were, of course, pure fiction, but as the Chinese mind
does not look upon truth as we do, it was considered
a highly meritorious act pleasantly to deceive her for
her own comfort with a plausible story that had no
foundation in fact.

The face of the letter-writer was a perfect study
whilst this little scene was being enacted. He sat
with a calm and unimpassioned look, as though he
were a judge listening to the pleading of counsel. He
made no attempt to check the eloquence of the woman,
or to suggest that a briefer description of her case
would be more satisfactory and take up less of his
time. To enable him to write a letter that would
embody her ideas, he must listen to her patiently, and
let her tell her story in her own way. He must also
not interrupt the fiction of the bystanders. The Oriental
delights in the picturesque, and all the lights and
shadows that can be thrown upon the subject are con-
sidered as so many touches that help to bring out the
prominent figure in the picture.

After every one has had his say, and the tragedy
of this woman's life has been discussed from all points
by the group before him, the writer suddenly grasps
his pen, and in flowery language and in phrases culled
from the writings of the sages, he has soon filled the
paper she has given him with her loving wishes to her
son and her entreaties to him to write to her as soon
as possible and let her know how he is. Having read
it over to her and folded and addressed it, he receives
for all his trouble a small pile of cash equal in value
to about a halfpenny of English money.

228 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

We once more mingle with the throng, and drift
along with the human tide. In spite of filth and smells
and unsavoury surroundings, there is a fascination about
the scenes one sees in these narrow, ill-kept streets.
There are types of life that one never dreams of
in the West, and strange manners that are the outcome
of a civilisation and thought that are the product of
this luxuriant East. Among the motley crowd there
are farmers carrying the produce of their farms on
bamboo poles resting on their shoulders, Buddhist
priests with shaven heads and unwashed gowns, and
peddlers, conjurers, and loafing -looking rufiians upon
whose faces are written theft and violence when dark-
ness has settled upon the unlighted city. One could
easily, fancy oneself to be in a huge fair, where every
class had been gathered either for pleasure or for
business. It would seem, indeed, as though the idea
of amusement were the uppermost one, and that jokers
and mountebanks were in the predominance, for some-
how or other most of the faces one sees suggest the
comical and cause us to smile, although we could hardly
tell the reason why.

As we are idly moving on, we come to an open space
in front of a small temple, and in a moment our
thoughts are carried away, in a flash, to the far-off
West, for there, right before us, is a Punch and Judy
show. There is nothing that we have seen that excites
so warm an interest in our hearts as this. It is the
one sole bit of the Occident that has strayed into the
midst of this strange, old-world, old-fashioned life, and
it seems as though it had brought with it a whiff that
was fragrant with the thoughts and memories of the
homeland.

The show seems to be an exact reproduction of the
one that so charmed us and made our sides split
with laughter when we were young, only the figures
are Chinese, and the language the harsh, mechanical
sounds of the country, and there is no dog. The
conduct of the play is about the same. The man inside
the curtain controls with equal perfection the various
figures as they are hoisted up before the audience, and
the loud falsetto voices of men engaged in an angry
contest of words, and the sounds of people in ordinary
conversation, are reproduced to the very life.

A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY 229

The one question that perplexes us is, how it is
that two sets of civilisation, as wide as the poles from
each other, could have independently devised such a
grotesque and humorous form of amusement as Punch
and Judy. We have absolutely no answer to give to
this. After a time we tear ourselves away regret-
fully from the show, and as we lose ourselves once
more amongst the throng, we catch the high screatn-
ing notes of Punch, as they follow us over the heads
of the people, some time after we have lost sight of
the play.

We have not proceeded far when our ear catches
a sound in the distance of brazen gongs struck sharply
and with emphasis, whilst at the same time there are
notes of human voices, pitched in a high key, that
come lingering and trailing through the air, as though
those who uttered them were unwilling to part with
them, and held on to them as long as breath would
allow. These are warnings that a mandarin is coming,
and that every one must hasten to get out of his
way, under pain of incurring his severe anger and
displeasure. The leisurely Oriental air of the moving
crowds is at once exchanged for an Occidental one.
Some rush forward to get far in advance in order
to make their escape round the first turning. Others,
make a dash for the sides of the road, w.here they,
flatten themselves as flat as pancakes, whilst with hands
drooping by their sides, and queues hanging reverently
down their backs, they assume a posture of humility as
the great man passes.

By this time the centre of the road is absolutely
empty, and the head of the mandarin procession looms
in view. First come the men with gongs, which they
occasionally clang for the benefit of the crowds ahead.
Next to them are the *' shouters," whose crescendo
notes come between the intervals of the gong-beating.
These are clad in long dresses that come to their
ankles. On their heads they have tall hats in the
shape of a candle -extinguisher, which they cock on
one side. This gives them a most comical appea,r-
ance, and yet, strange to say, the Chinese see nothing*
funny in it. In their hands they carry whips ready
poised for action, and keen glances are cast to the

230 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

right and to the left to see if there is not some delin-
quent upon whom they may practise their calling. A
shade of disappointment seems to cloud their faces,
because every one is so good that they have no excuse
for slashing at them. Behind these shouters walk a
few men with chains in their hands, ready to bind
any unfortunate who may incur the wrath of the
mandarin. These men are most villainous and disre-
putable-looking, with clothes so dirty that it is beyond
the power of soap or carbolic to cleanse them. Closely
following these comes the official, seated in his sedan-
chair, borne by. eight bearers. He is a beau-ideal
specimen of the genus mandarin, being stout, capacious,
and with an air of haughtiness and pride. The typical
mandarin is never thin. Why should he be so? He is
ever busy in the pleasant occupation of scooping in
the dollars and of fleecing his people. He has a
delightfully easy conscience, his wealth is growing,
and he lives upon the fat of the land.

His face is not an attractive one to look upon. It
is broad and expansive, but it is cold and haughty.
If he sees the crowds that flatten themselves up against
the shops he gives no sign that he does so. No smile
thaws the winter of his features, and no kindly sym-
pathies soften the stony look in his eyes. He might
be a water-buffalo carried in state, so untouched does
he seem to be by any human passion or feeling. A
great deal of this is, no doubt, put on. A rigid deport-
ment and a cold, disdainful air are supposed to be
essential in a ruler, for in private where I have met
some of these gentry I have found them to be as
genial and as full of laughter and mirth as any of the
common people on whom the cares of state have never
sat. The procession passes on with a swing, and the
yellow-faced, perspiring crowds, with a sigh of relief,
glide into the vacant roadway, and the stream rolls on
as before.

As we wind our way amidst the ebb and flow of this
Chinese human life^ we are struck with the fact that
there must be a good deal of poverty amongst the
people generally — that is, if we are to judge by the
people we meet on the streets. Their clothes are
made of the commonest materials, and even these are

A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY 231

not well kept. They are greasy and frowsy -looking,
and have the appearance of having never seen soap
and water since they were first made in the remote
past. The result is that the people, as a whole, are
sadly wanting in picturesqueness, and the general
absence of women renders this all the more conspicuous .
As we are sauntering along, gazing at the strange
faces that here and there attract our attention, and
at the funny-looking signboards that the tradesmen
hang out in front of their shops, we find our progress
impeded by a crowd that has gathered in front of a
large idol-shop. The gods within seem unconcerned
and sit with placid-looking faces on the shelves as
though the unusual numbers that are blocking up the
street were a matter of everyday occurrence. We press
forward and find that the stoppage is caused by a
quarrel between two men. They are both highly ex-
cited, and it seems as though a fight is imminent.
Their faces are inflamed with passion, and they gesticu-
late violently and point with their outstretched hands
at each other, whilst the language to sting and enrage
one another is strong and sulphurous. We notice,
however, that there is no clenching of fists by either
of them, as there would have been by two infuriated
Englishmen. In addition to the vilest and most dis-
gusting language that they hurl at each other, they
seem to rely upon one particular gesture as the choicest
in the whole armoury of their attack, and that is the
thrusting of their middle finger as near the faces of
their opponents as they can safely get. There isi
nothing in the whole range of Chinese insult that sur-
passes this as an expression of deadly hate and con-
tempt. The men seem as though they have been struck
with a whip whenever the long, thin finger, standing
out distinctly from the rest, is darted, rapier-like, at
their faces. In spite, however, of the apparently deadly
nature of the enmity that exists between them, there
seems to be no fight in either of them. I soon perceived
that when each man made his rush at the other, it
was just at the precise time when he knew that a
number of men about him would dart out upon him
and drag him back beyond the reach of his enemy.
The whole thing by and by became positively ludicrous.

232 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

and though the men were really; in a tremendous
passion, the scene had all the effect upon me of a
wild burlesque that had been got up to break the
everlasting monotony, of Chinese life.

All this time no policeman had appeared upon the
scene, for the very sufficient reason that such an official
is not to be found in the whole town. The fact is
the preservation of the peace is left in the hands of
the people, unpaid, and yet still held responsible for
any serious disturbance that may take place in any
part of the town. After a time the shopkeepers, think-
ing the whole thing a nuisance, ordered off the two
disturbers of the peace, with an intimation that they
would make it hot for them if they did not go. Angry
and sullen, and breathing out maledictions, they went
off in different directions, and the traffic of the street
resumed its usual course.

There is one very noticeable feature in these streets,
and that is the dogs. Every family makes it a point
of having one for police purposes to protect itself
from thieves during the silent hours of the night, for
there is no other force that can be depended upon as
can these animals. The Chinese dog has little to
commend it beyond its intense fidelity to the family
to which it belongs. It is a common, mangy-looking
cur with not a single element of beauty about it. It
is full of life and spirit, and it is pugnacious in every
fibre of its being. The sound of battle is sweet music
to it, and will send it hurrying headlong, with open
mouth and short, sh^arp yelps, in its direction to join
the fray.

It is most amusing to observe the way in which
dog-life manifests itself in any street along which one
may pass. The dogs have evidently a system of laws
for the preservation of their rights, which they guard
as jealously as any body of men do theirs. Every
animal, for example, seems to have the belief that a
certain space in front of its master's door belongs to
it. Should a stray dog make an incursion upon it,
without its consent, a furious assault is at once made
upon it, not only by the assumed owner of the land,
but also by the dogs on both sides of it. Now these
animals are perfectly willing to let all and every

A RAMBLE THROUGH A CHINESE CITY 233

Chinese human being pass without restriction, but the
moment a foreigner is seen, war to the knife is at
once declared. Some ugly brute catches sight of him.
With short, angry barks, and snarling lips that turn
up with such withering scorn that his white, gleaming
teeth are all exposed, he dogs his footsteps. The
sounds are heard by the brutes ahead, and instantly
they are on the alert to worry him when he appears
on their ground. »Were it not for the conservative
principle that keeps these animals within their own
domains, the foreigner would often run the risk of
being severely injured.

As we continue our walk through the streets, a, feeling
of monotony begins to creep over us. Everything is
so common-looking and stereotyped. There are no
surprises in a Chinese town. High art has had no
hand in constructing it, and Nature has been severely
thrust out of it. The shops are all built to the same
inartistic pattern. A wide opening, closed at night
by shutters and by day revealing the contents and
in many cases the family life of the inmates, is the
only sign of the design of the builder. The next door
is the same, and the next and the next, and so on
through countless streets and alleyways, the same primi-
tive conception that their fathers had two thousand
years ago. No trees are seen in the streets. The
slabs of roughly-hewn granite stone are flung across
it with no artistic taste, and no design but that of,
severe utility. The ceaseless tread of countless feet
has worn these down unevenly, and miniature ponds
and lakes collect here in wet weather. The drains
that run below get foul and choked, and through their
open seams exude black slime saturated with smells
and odours that taint the air.

No touch of Nature is seen anywhere, and no colours
painted by her hand relieve the dreary, dusty work
of man. The spring comes round, but there is no
blossoming of flowers or buds along these narrow
arteries, where the feet of men would crush them in
the dust. Summer succeeds, and outside the fields
and the hills are crowned with living beauty, but the
streets seem to grow more dusty and dreary than ever.
The autumn, laden with harvests and luscious fruits,

234 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

comes with generous hands to gladden men's hearts,
but it can find no place in these cramped, unsavoury,
inartistic roads. ^Viinter follows, but the only sign
is that it is cooler, and the great mad sun has lost his
power to scorch. There are no falling leaves, and
trees naked and bare, silent prophecies of the new life
that the coming spring will bring. The streets are the
same all the year roimd. There men are crowded so
close to each other that there seems no place to breathe.
There cholera and plague and fevers run riot, and there
the great human heart bears the tragedies of life, and
with a heroism that is pathetic strives to make the
best of a life from which romance and poetry, have;
been driven out.

The one redeeming feature about this concentrated
mass of uncleanliness and squalor and discomfort is
the people themselves. Somehow or other there is
an attraction about them that never loses its power.
It is not because they are beautiful, for the masses
are exceedingly plain and unattractive. They are unre-
fined, too, and often very exasperating in their manners.
In spite of all this there is a something about these
inartistic, rough -hewn faces that draws us to them, and
we forget the ugliness of the features in the easy good-
nature, the broad grin that illumines the face at the
least sign of humour, and the large fund of genuine
human feeling that they undoubtedly possess.

t

CHAPTER XVIII

RIVER LIFE IN CHINA

The rivers of China have in all ages been the ^reat
means by which it has been possible to carry on the
traffic of this extensive country. As shown in the
chapter on ** Highways and Byways," the Chinese, like
all Oriental nations, have never, in any large sense,
been road-makers. It is true that on the great trade
routes, along which the products of the various provinces
have been carried from one to another, a serious attempt
has often been made, both by the Government and the
people, to construct roads that would facilitate the
passage of the merchandise in the long journeys that
were made from the Yellow Sea in the east to the far-
off province of Szechuan in the west.

It was not the love of making roads, however, that
led to the construction of these, but sheer and absolute
necessity. That this was really so is proved by the
fact that the upkeep of these thoroughfares was always
most uncertain and most unsatisfactory. There was
no system for their maintenance and repair, and no
regularly appointed officials to see that they were kept
from falling into ruins. A bridge, for example, for
some time would show signs of weakness. The slabs
of stone that formed the roadway would become Uneven,
so that foot passengers would find it troublesome to
pick their way across it, whilst coolies with heavy
burdens would pant and groan as they stumbled over
the rugged surface, fearful lest they should fall and
hurt themselves against the uptilted comers of the huge
slabs. Nothing, however, would be done, simply
because there was no one to see about it, until finally
when the danger became so pressing that it seemed
as though the bridge would collapse some influential

235

236 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

person in the neighbourhood would collect subscriptions
and have it repaired.

If this were the case with the great roads, where
the traffic was incessant and along which mandarins and
Government officials and packhorses with sore backs
and huge burdens, as well as the constant and never-
ending stream of foot passengers, travelled from early
dawn till the deepening twilight filled them with
shadows, much more so was it with the countless cross-
roads that like an immense net intersected the country.
These were left very much to Nature to grapple with,
and though she did her best with grasses and with wild
flowers and other artistic methods, she could never
succeed in making them strong and serviceable and
fit to bear the strain of the rain-storms that often burst
like a deluge over this land, or to endure the incessant
wear and tear of the patient feet that, the whole year
round, tread them in the long and weary journeys that
they have to make throughout the empire.

Now, fortunately for the toilers of this land — and
these constitute the overwhelming majority of the entire
population — the country is covered with great rivers
and noble lakes and streams innumerable, that flow
with a never-ending song from the lofty mountains that
stand as sentinels on the borderland of the empire, and
that abound in nearly every one of the eighteen
provinces that make up the vast area of this beautiful
country.

These lakes, streams, and mighty rivers that flow
as with the march of a conqueror to the ocean have
sent their tributaries far and wide into every opening
and nook and cranny where Nature would give them
permission to flow, to cover the land with great forests,
and luxuriant harvests, and flowers so varied and
abundant that they have actually given a name to China,
and the wide world over it is known as " The Flowery
Kingdom."

But besides this beneficent purpose these rivers and
streams have fulfilled in some respects a no less im-
portant one, viz., the bringing into touch with each
other the remote and distant regions of the country
that without them would be as far removed from one
another as though they belonged to different continents.

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RIVER LIFE IN CHINA 237

The magnificent River Yangtze, the ** Son of the
Ocean," that runs right across the centre of the country,
is an example of what I mean. The entrance to this
mighty stream is a veritable sea, where no banks can
be seen to mark its boundaries, but where its waters,
yellow with the sands that have drifted down with it
from the interior, are now broken into murmuring
ripples by the passing breeze, and anon turned into
wild and maddened waves by the fierce blasts of the
typhoon. Great ocean-going steamers can travel up
it for six hundred miles, and still beyond, for more than
fifteen hundred, the broad stream flows through some
of the richest provinces of the empire. Along this
from the earliest days the traffic of the East has been
carried on with the West, and huge unwieldy junks and
saihng-boats of a thousand different patterns and con-
struction force their way against the ever-ebbing tide
of this son of the ocean up great stretches where no
banks on either side can be seen, and through gorges
where the mountains, envious of the river, have invaded
its domain and left but a few hundred yards through
which it can hurl its waters in a fierce and mighty
onrush to the sea. On they go to the far-off goal
in the west, with great plains stretching on both sides
into the horizon, and up great waterfalls where they
have to be dragged by hundreds of sturdy arms through
black and cruel rocks over which the stream ever breaks
with an angry roar, and where the breaking of a rope
would mean the instant wrecking of the boat and the
destruction of all on board. Still day after day and
week after week, with the steady patience of the in-
domitable Chinese, the boats travel on amongst people
speaking languages different from the ports from which
they started, and through regions marked by great
luxuriance of natural wealth, and at others by a wild
and desert look, they at last cast anchor two thousand
miles ^.way from home in the far-off harbour in the
west.

The Yellow River is another example of the beneficent
and civilising influences of these mighty streams that act
as the highways along which the various products of
differing regions are carried to each other, and over
whose surface glide thousands of boats and junks of

238 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

all shapes and sizes, with countless passengers every
year to penetrate into territories that, but for them,
would be lands undiscovered and unknown to the distant
parts of the empire.

This river is the most famous in China, for it has
been the most deeply associated with the life of the
nation. The very earliest settlers in their travels east-
ward made their first encampments on its banks, and
from there started the great empire that has spread
far beyond into regions where its name is but a sound
and a tradition.

Along its shores many of the greatest events in
ancient times that come to us with an air of mystery
about them because of their antiquity were transacted
by the sages and heroes that helped to make Chinese
history. It is a river that may be well proud of its
traditions, for it has always been associated with the
great men and the most stirring events in the life of
the Chinese. Not far from its banks were born the men
whose names are known the wide world over.

Dynasty after dynasty rose and flourished and passed
away within sight of its waters. Its memory is
enshrined and preserved in the sacred books of the
country, and civilisation grew and literature sprang up
and flourished almost within the sound of its mighty
waters .

It has not always been a kindly and beneficent force,
for to-day one of the names by which it is widely
known is ** China's Sorrow." Wild fits of madness
at times come over it, and then it is a fury that
spares neither man, woman, nor child. When the great
mountains beyond send down their floods and the rains
in springtime descend in sheets as though the very
flood-gates of the sky were flung wide open, then the
river, filled up to the very brim, becomes a ruthless
demon, and in its hatred of restraint bursts its banks,
races madly across the plains, and tears down villages
and submerges walled cities and drowns their peoples,
leaving a sea where once the landscape was dotted
with thousands of towns and villages.

The Son of the Ocean and the Yellow River are the
two great streams of China, but there are countless
others that tut for them would be deemed worthy of

RIVER LIFE IN CHINA 239

no mean place amongst the waterways of the country.
China is positively rich in such, and its people, con-
scious of their value, have given free rein to their
inventive genius and devised myriad shapes and plans
of boats to suit the particular kind of river or streamlet
along which they are meant to travel. It will be
apparent from this that the proportion of people that
spend their lives in boats in this wonderful land is
very considerable. I do not refer simply to those who
are passengers, and who, after they have reached their
destination, take up their abode on shore, but to those
who are permanent dwellers on the waters. There
are large populations that are born and reared on it,
who marry in these boats and bring up families in
them, and who finally breathe their last within them.
If the Chinese were not an exceedingly patient, long-
enduring people, and tolerant of discomfort such as
would make an Englishman mad and disgusted with
life, boat -life would become so intolerable that men
would refuse to endure it.

But let me describe one of these floating homes and
take a trip of a few weeks in her, when we shall
get a glimpse into the way in which large numbers
of people spend their lives, and with good-nature and
content perform what would be to us the most irksome
of duties. The boat I refer to is one built for the
passenger trade and is about twenty-four feet long and
six feet wide. In the centre is a cabin ten feet long,
where the passengers live, and cut off from this by
a wooden partition with a sliding door in it is a narrow
compartment, three feet in width, in which a male
servant, if any, and sundry small articles of luggage
may be accommodated.

Beyond this small room is a clear space of eight
feet that reaches to the stern of the boat. On this
and in a hold, some two feet deep that lies beneath
the deck, provision has been made for steering, rowing,
cooking, and sleeping of the captain and his crew.
At the bow there is a vacant space of five feet where
some of the men stand and row in case of calm or
head winds, and where they hoist or lower the sails
as the need may be.

The most remarkaible thing in the economy of this

240 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

boat is the very limited space into which the crew of
six sturdy fellows are content to be cramped as long
as the voyage may last. The wonder, indeed, is, how-
ever are they to be accommodated? where are they
to sit when they are not at work? where will they eat,
and, most important of all, where are they to sleep?

Whilst the boat is in motion the problem seems less
difficult to solve, for half of the men are in the bow
poling or rowing, whilst the rest are engaged in the
same operations in the stern. It is when they rest for
meals or when the boat is anchored for the night that
the true genius of the Chinese for adapting himself to
the most uncomfortable of positions comes out.

There is absolutely nothing for him to sit upon but
the boards of the deck, and no space in which he can
stretch his legs. It would seem, indeed, as though the
Chinese had studied these latter and knew exactly how
to dispose of them in the smallest possible space. His
ideal seems, indeed, to have been a carpenter's rule
that can be folded up. When he sits down he doubles
them up very much like that, with his knees verging
towards his body, retaining them in their constrained
position by keeping his arms tightly entwined around
them.

Five minutes of this would weary an Englishman,
but the Chinese sits there with as much content upon
his face as though he had at last attained the ideal
posture where supreme comfort was to be enjoyed.
He will continue in this same position for any length
of time, without any apparent weariness or need of
change. When it is nearly mealtime one of the number
is detailed to act as cook. The first thing he does is
to take off what seems to be the lid of a box about
a foot and a half square that lies unconsidered on the
deck. It is now discovered to be a miniature kitchen,
with a small furnace and rice-pan all ready for cooking
either the simple meal of these boatmen or the more
elaborate one demanded by the passengers.

When everything is ready and a huge jar of smoking
rice is placed on the middle of the deck, with bowls
and chopsticks arranged temptingly around it, the call
shouted out ** Come, eat ! " brings the men trooping
aft, where they arrange themselves in a circle around

RIVER LIFE IN CHINA 241

the jar. The first position they all naturally adopt
is the popular one of sitting on their heels, but as they
proceed with the meal some, tired with this grotesque
attitude, sit on the deck with their legs cocked up
carpenter -rule -like in a perpendicular form. This is
the only alternative pose they can take, for there is
no room to stretch them out, but with the cuteness of
the Celestial they proceed at once to utilise them for
immediate use. At one moment they are used as a
rest for the weary arm that holds the bowlful of rice,
whilst at another they act as an impromptu table on
which they can place their arms when the necessities
of conversation cause them to stay the shovelling of
rice down their throats.

Looking at the merry group before one and the
natural and easy-looking pose that each one has
assumed, one would never dream that the posture they
have adopted is one of the most tiring and uncomfort-
able it is possible to imagine. They seem, indeed,
to be in the very height of bliss, and smiles wreathe
their faces and jokes fly round the circle till the great
jar lies cold and empty, when each one having rinsed
his rice-bowl and chopsticks in the flowing river and
turned them upside down to dry on a secure corner
of the deck, they return to their several duties.

The work goes on steadily now until sunset, when,
having reached some recognised anchorage where boats
usually anchor for the night, they take up a position
close to numbers of others, who for the sake of
mutual protection against robbers make their rendezvous
at certain safe and well -protected places on the river.
As they are doing this darkness seems to rise up out
of the earth and from the bases of the hills as though
a new force had come to defy the light. The shadows
creep across the country, and with silent tread wind
along the river and blot out the banks and the trees.
The men gather once more around the smoking jar in
the same intolerable and grotesque attitudes, not daring
to stretch a foot lest they should knock over their
evening meal. When that has been dispatched and
the bowls washed in the water that ripples against the
boat and sings its evening song the men light their
pipes and sit up against the bulwarks, their legs still

16

242 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA l|

drawn up and their knees at right angles to their chins.
The Chinese was never intended by Nature to lounge,
or stretch himself on sofas, or indulge his wearied
body in the simplest luxury. He knows better than to
expect anything of that kind, and so he is content with
what to us would be misery. By and by the men
become drowsy, the day's work has been a toilsome one,
and besides, to-morrow morning, in the dimmest of
twilight, the anchor will be lifted and the boat will
start on its onward journey. But where shall the men
sleep? There is not the remotest sign of any place
where they can be accommodated, yet wait a moment
and the mystery will be solved. Two or three planks
are taken up from the deck and a dark recess is revealed,
where the bedroom lies concealed. It is about three
feet deep, shelving up on each side to two. One by
one the men gradually drop into the opening and dis-
appear. It is a case of sardines in a tin, heads and
heels so adjusted as to pack with the least loss of space.

The captain remains to the last and, with a loud
yawn and a rapid look at the river and then at his boat
to see that everything is all right, he slowly dives into
a narrow opening in the bow that looks very like the
mouth of a moderate -sized box, curls himself round in
it like a snail in his shell, and in a moment his loud
snores show that the scenes of this world have vanished
from his gaze. It does not matter that during the
livelong night he cannot stretch himself, or, indeed,
change his position. The Chinese knows how to enjoy
comfort as much as any one in the world, but let him
be placed where the utmost discomfort is demanded
from him, and he will adapt himself to his surroundings
just as though he had been bred and born in them.

During the night the air grows cold, and a chill
breeze blows along the river. Some one of the men
in the sardine-tin below wakes with a shivery feeling.
He rises and places the planks over the opening, and
now the fine, brawny fellows are cut off from the air
outside. In a few minutes it must be perfectly stifling
and the air hot and vitiated in this limited space below.
An Occidental would be tortured in this foul atmosphere,
and would rise and madly dash away the planks that
were bringing suffocation upon him. The Chinese

RIVER LIFE IN CHINA 243

sleeps as calmly and rises the next morning as re-
freshed as though every sanitary condition had been
complied with.

The example given above belongs rather to what may
be called the aristocracy of river life. Happy indeed
would be the men and women who have to spend their
days upon the water had they all such comparatively
spacious castles as the one I have described in which
to make their home. A very large section has to be
content with much narrower quarters, and this applies
especially to the poorer classes, who have to earn their
daily bread and who have but a very slender capital
with which to invest in a boat.

In my various journeys on the rivers, I have often
been deeply interested in watching the home life of the
poorer fishermen that throng the inland waters and
streams where fish are to be caught. The evening
draws nigh, and from far and near these tiny boats
may be seen making their way to their nightly anchor-
age. They fasten up close to where mine is lying,
so I can see every detail that goes on in them. They
are usually about twelve feet in length and fashioned
very much as the larger ones are. The centre is
covered in with a strong mat -shed, as is also the stern
where the steerer stands, and where the oars are worked
when engaged in fishing. The bow is an open space
from which the nets are cast and where the family
take their recreation when they are not employed in
their calling.

The family in the boat close by consists of a man and
his wife, his grown-up son and his wife, and their two
little children. They evidently do not consider them-
selves cramped, for, right at the end of the bow, a small
pig is being reared that seems perfectly contented with
its narrow quarters. The youngest child, who is just
beginning to toddle about, evidently has a desire to go
on exploring expeditions, for I notice that a string is
fastened to one of his legs so that in case he should
fall overboard he can at once be fished up and saved
from drowning. Now, this family has never known any
home but this. Twenty -five years ago the father
brought his young bride home from another boat on
which she had been reared, for no shore -bred girl would

244 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

ever dream of consenting to be his wife. The boat
has been renewed several times, but the home is the
same. Children have been born to them and the girls
have become the wives of fishermen. The only son
remains to be the heir of the family and the one on
whom its responsibilities will fall when the old people
are carried to their long home on shore.

The fact that they have so little space in which to
move about does not seem to trouble them at all.
Whether standing or sitting, each one occupies the space
only that stern necessity demands. When they are
tired of standing, they gracefully subside on their heels.
They are a cheery, contented people, full of human
nature, and sociable in the extreme. I make a remark
to the men and at once their faces beam, and they lay
themselves out to be agreeable. The women, though
at first more shy than their husbands, soon lose their
restraint and chat and talk with us in the most friendly
and unrestrained manner. In another boat that lay a
little farther off I noticed a profound stillness ; all life
seemed to have vanished from her. " What is the reason
there is so little life on that boat? '* I asked of my
friends. In a whisper that could hardly be heard I
was informed that the wife had died only a few hours
before, and the husband, sorrow-stricken, was lying
down heart-broken beside the one that death had
carried off.

The Chinese are most expert boat-builders and have
shown this in the way in which they have designed and
built just the very kind of craft that is best adapted
for the particular service required of it. One of the
most interesting specimens to be met with on the rivers
is the rapid boat. This has been constructed with a
special view to the dangers that boats are liable to
when shooting the rapids that sometimes exist in rivers
in mountainous districts. It is a perfect masterpiece
of invention, and carries its passengers and cargo with
wonderful safety down the great shelving river that
pours its waters over black rocks and against sharp
projecting headlands with a rush and a roar to the plain,
miles and miles away in the distance.

Its planks, instead of being stiff and massive, are lithe
and supple, and so bound together that they yield and

RIVER LIFE IN CHINA 245

give as the boat meets the rush of waters or turns almost
at right angles to avoid some threatening obstruction
that Hes in the very fairway of the river. One of the
most conspicuous features about it is the huge oar that
runs almost the entire length of the boat. Upon this
the safety of the craft may be said to depend, for it
acts not only as a rudder when the course is straight,
but also as a powerful lever by which, with a single
swing, it wrenches round the boat in some critical
moment and saves it from being dashed upon the cruel
rocks ahead.

A voyage down one of these rapids is a most exciting
and thrilling experience. Every other thought that has
absorbed the mind before vanishes at the sight of
dangers that rise in quick succession in the mad rush
down these magnificent gorges. The first sensation
is one of absolute helplessness, for there is no turning
back when once the boat has been fully caught in the
grip of a current that knows no restraint. The men in
charge of the boat are evidently impressed with the
seriousness of the job they have in hand. The captain
gazes with an intense look down the great avalanche
of seething waters, whilst a man, who might be really
called the pilot, stands at the extreme end of the bow
with a long pole ready poised to act at a moment's
notice.

There is extreme tension amongst both passengers
and crew as the boat gains momentum, and the more
timid amongst the former have a pale and nervous
look that shows how much they are affected by the peril
in which they believe themselves to be.

And, indeed, the circumstances are such as to induce
a certain amount of awe. The river flows down with a
mighty rush, whilst the pine -covered, precipitous banks
of the lofty hills seems to be flying terror-stricken in
the opposite direction. All at once a jagged-looking
rock, around which the tide froths and foams, appears
in the very line the boat is being steered. It is dis-
tinctly visible, and yet the captain keeps on his course,
as though he did not see it. Every one holds his
breath and trembles as he thinks of the crash and
the instant destruction of the boat when it dashes on the
rock that seems flying upstream to meet it. There would

246 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

be a panic were it not that the captain stands Uke a
carved statue, unmoved, with his black, piercing eyes
fixed with an intensity of gaze upon the sinister object
ahead. And still the boat moves on ; the banks seem
to fly faster and the hills look on with silent terror at
tlie catastrophe that is about to happen, when, just
as she is within a few feet of the rock, the man in the
bow swiftly darts out his pole and with strong thrust
diverts her course. In an instant almost she is career-
ing on in safety with the danger slowly disappearing
astern.

Every one breathes a sigh of relief, the passengers*
faces relax in smiles and even the captain lights his long
bamboo pipe and draws a few whiffs from it, but all the
time his eyes are fixed upon the stream. The danger
is by no means over, for though the river is broad the
pathway for the boats is narrow, and broken water and
sudden jets of spray show that under the placid face
of the swift -rushing torrent are rocks that would wreck
any boat that touches them. An hour or so passes
delightfully and the boat glides like a dream past banks
that are covered with feathery bamboos, around head-
lands on which stately trees stand as sentinels, and by
hamlets coyly showing their houses from the midst
of pines and banyans. It is a very poem of travel,
for the scenery is grand and the changes rapid, and
there is besides the sense of rapid motion that has such
an exhilarating effect on the mind.

All at once the dream is broken into and the danger
of navigation is once more forced upon the minds of
all. The captain once more stands alert with a stern
and anxious look upon his face, whilst the bowman
with pole in hand takes his place ready for the work
that he will soon have to perform. A turn in the river
reveals to us a sight that sends a tremor throbbing
through our hearts. Scattered across the surface of
the river is a perfect shoal of rocks that seem to bar
all passage through them.

The stream just here is at its maddest, for this is one
of the strongest of the many rapids down which the
waters rush and roar in their passage to the plain
at the foot of the mountains. There seems to be no
passage through these black, cruel rocks against which

RIVER LIFE IN CHINA 247

the waters are being hurled. As we rush on we catch
sight of the foam that encircles each, and imagine the
roar of the breaking waters upon them. The pro-
foundest silence reigns, and only the beating of one's
heart is heard. As we come nearer we perceive a
kind of opening between two of the large groups of
rocks, but however is the boat to be so turned and
manoeuvred that we shall escape being dashed upon the
lower ones?

The supreme moment lias come when this is to be
decided. When we are almost upon them the bowman
thrusts out his long pole, the men who are handling
the huge oar give it a mighty swing, and instantly
the boat is turned as though on a pivot and, rushing
through the narrow pathway, she emerges into safety.
Once more we are flying down the rapids, and ere
long we find ourselves in a long and even reach where
the current is less strong.

And so rapid after rapid is passed, some of which are
so steep that the water races down them like a mill
stream, and others so gentle in their decline that we
can only tell we are passing them by the quickened
motion of the stream. Finally, we dash through the
last one and find ourselves in smooth water. We
breathe a sigh of content as we look back over the
turbulent reaches in the distance, and are thankful to
have come safely through them to the end of our
adventurous journey.

CHAPTER XIX

HOME AND FAMILY LIFE

The Chinese are a thoroughly domesticated people and
have a great affection for their home. It would seem,
indeed, as though their love for that had left no room
for patriotism in their hearts. The enthusiasm that an
Englishman has for his country, and his readiness to
suffer and die for it, are sentiments that are unknown to
a Chinese. His whole devotion and affection are
centred in his home. He is quite content to spend his
life in it. From childhood to old age he is willing
to remain in the spot where it is, amongst the same
neighbours and in the midst of the same surroundings.
If necessity should compel him to go abroad, his heart
is always in the old home, and during the months or the
years that he may be absent from it he never falters in
his fixed purpose to return to it as soon as circum-
stances will allow him.

I once became acquainted with a Chinese who had
lived in Australia for twenty -five years. He had
prospered in business, had married an Irish wife and
had three strapping daughters, with Milesian noses and
languishing, almond-shaped eyes. One day he informed
his family that the home hunger was upon him and that
he was going to return to the land of roast pig and
birds '-nest soup, so, with a keen sense of justice, he
handed over his shop and a certain amount of ready
money to his wife that if rightly managed would enable
her to live in comfort for many years to come. He
then bade them goodbye for ever and started off with a
light heart for his far-off home, in an insignificant
broken -down -looking village by the sea, where the con-
ditions of life were dreary in the extreme. When he
reached it he seemed to take up his life at the point

A BRIDE ON HER WAY TO BE MAKRIEU.

WOMEN WITH "GOLDEN LILIES.

HOME AND FAMILY LIFE 249

from which he had parted with it a quarter of a century
ago. It was easy for him to do this, for during all that
time the vision that had floated before his mind, and
that had given it the one bit of romance he ever had,
was the squalid home that looked out on the dreary
sands and mud flats that stretched out in front of it.

That the homes of the Chinese in the great majority
of instances are bound together by genuine love and
affection I am firmly convinced, though from an English
point of view this would seem impossible. The young
people who are commencing their married life have
never seen each other till the day when the bride,
carried in solemn state in the crimson sedan-chair, is
ushered, a complete stranger, into the family where she
is to spend her life. There has been no love-making,
no letters in which vows have been made and the
language of love ransacked in order to get the choicest
phrases in which to express the devotion of their
hearts. There has been no visiting of the families
to get better acquainted with each other, and to learn
whether the proposed alliance is a suitable one or not.
The whole affair, in which is involved the happiness of
the two people most concerned, is left to the middle-
woman, a person whose reputation for truthfulness is
known to be bad, and whose sole aim is to get the
marriage preliminaries settled so that she may pocket
her fees and perquisites.

The bride leaves her mother's side in tears, solitary
and alone, for neither father nor mother may accom-
pany her on the road that separates her for ever, for
weal or woe, from the home of her childhood. She
travels to her new home her heart filled with doubts
and fears, wondering what kind of a mother-in-law she
is going to meet, and what sort of a man her husband
is ; whilst he, with his heart beating with an emotion
that he must not let any one dream of, is waiting for
the coming of a bride who may either fill his home
with an endless joy or cloud it with sorrow and dis-
appointment.

I have seen a bride when she has first crossed
the threshold of her new home and have felt that
the ordeal she had to pass through was a most
trying one. Not a word of welcome greeted her as

250 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

she entered and met the critical gaze of the groups
who strained their eyes to see what kind of a woman
she was. No hands were outstretched, and no loving
arms were wound around her. The bridegroom, it is
true, met her at the door, but without a smile or a
word. He did not dare to touch her hand as he led
her into the bridal chamber, but slightly catching hold
of the sleeves of her dress with the tips of his finger
and thumb, as though it were infected with the plague,
he turned his face away from her, and put on the air of
a man who was absolutely bored by this little ceremony
that etiquette compelled him to perform. On such
an occasion as this the newly-married couple see each
other for the first time, and in the swift and lightning
glances they take at each other they try and conceive
what the future has in store for them. The young
couple have none of the pleasurable excitement always
connected with us with the wedding-day. There is
no wedding breakfast, no trooping of friends to see
the happy pair off on their wedding tour, no throwing of
old slippers or showering of rice, and on coming home
after the honeymoon to their own house, where they
shall set up for themselves. Such a thing is never done
in China. No matter how many sons there may be
in a family, they all bring their brides to the old
homestead where they have been reared, and the mother
and father remain the heads just as when their
children were small.

It is this singular custom that is at the root of a great
deal of the suffering that young married women have
undoubtedly to endure in China. The mother-in-law
is just as dreaded a power in this land as she is in
some of the Western ones, but it is the daughter-in-law
who is the sufferer. From the moment that the bride
enters her home she is under her authority, and, if the
latter happens to have a temper, the poor girl may
reckon that for some years to come her lot will not be
an easy one. No matter how ill-treated or persecuted
she may be, she dare not appeal to her husband for
redress. Although his heart may bleed for his wife,
and he may be indignant at the cruelty with which her
life is made wretched, he must not utter a syllable in
her defence, nor show by any signs that he thinks his

HOME AND FAMILY LIFE 251

mother wrong. To do so would only arouse the fiercest
passions against the unhappy girl, and cause her lot to
be made bitter and intolerable. It would, moreover,
excite the indignation of his parents and of the neigh-
bours, who would taunt him with being unfilial, a
reproach that has a nameless terror from which every
man shrinks in this country. This custom of keeping
the families together is a very ancient one, and
instances abound in the better class of society where
hundreds of people constitute one great household
who live in patriarchal style and never so much as
dream of setting up separate establishments of their
own.

History records the name of one famous home that
numbered several thousands of people. They were
the children of nine generations, and though so
numerous the story got abroad that the most absolute
and perfect harmony existed among them all. No one
ever quarrelled ; the women never had any jealousies ;
the children never showed temper with each other, or
wanted to grab each other's toys ; and even the very
dogs, touched by the mysterious influences that reigned
as an atmosphere over the place, had laid aside their
natural instincts and would quietly, and with a wag of
the tail, look on complacently whilst another was
indulging in the luxury of a bone, without any attempt
to take it from him.

The rumour of this reached the palace of the Emperor
and in one of his tours to the sacred mountain Tai, on
the top of which he annually worshipped God, he de-
termined to call on this famous household and see for
himself whether the reports that had travelled through
the country were true or not. He was highly pleased
with what he saw, and from a careful examination he
came to the conclusion that Fame had not exaggerated
these stories she had told about this model home.
Sitting chatting with the man who was recognised as
the head of the establishment, he asked him to explain
to him the secret of the concord and harmony which
prevailed amongst the people under his control. Taking
a sheet of paper, the chief began to write out rapidly
character after character until he had written a hundred.
Handing it to the Emperor, he said, " Your Majesty

252 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

will find in these words a sufficient reason why quarrels
are utterly unknown amongst us."

The Emperor began to read, but he soon discovered
that the whole consisted of one word repeated a
hundred times, and that word was ** forbearance."
** We train ourselves," said the patriarch of this truly
royal home, ** to be patient with each other in a
hundred different ways, to school ourselves not to
lose our tempers, but to bear with one another. Even
the very children are taught, from the earliest moment
they can understand, to restrain their tempers. The
result is the good feeling and sympathy for each other
that has made us famous."

The lot of the young married couple depends very
largely upon the character of the mother-in-law. If
she is naturally good-tempered and easy-going, then
things in the home will go smoothly and the lives
of all will be happy and contented. If, however, she
is strong-minded, and has an imperious will, it may
be safe to predict that the daughter-in-law will be
made to feel she is by no means mistress in her own
home. If in time she should be fortunate enough to
have a son, her lot will at once be greatly improved, for
with his coming she attains a certain dignity that she
never loses, and though she is still under the same
stern rule, a modified spirit of independence was born
at the same time that the heir appeared in the home.

There is something specially attractive to the Oriental
mind about the idea of a son. He is the longing of
the father, the ideal of the mother, and the pride of
his grandfather and grandmother. Around him gather
all the sentiment, poetry, and ambition that the Chinese
heart is capable of. He is a possible glory to the
family, I and in the future he may be enrolled among
the scholars of the country, wealth and honours may be
showered upon him, and through him his family be
placed amongst the aristocracy of the land.

Should these brilliant dreams, however, fail to be
realised, there is one thing reserved for him that he will
have the supreme right to do, and that is to become the
high priest of the family. When death has come into

^ See Macgowan's " Imperial History of China " for a full account
of this.

HOME AND FAMILY LIFE 253

the home and father or mother has been taken away, it
is he who will stand on the borders of the invisible
world and make the offerings that men believe will reach
the beloved ones in the " Land of Shadows " beyond,
to ease the pain and bitterness that are the lot of men
in that unknown land. The shadows of the other
world lie heavily on the imagination in this, and is
it any wonder that men long for sons, since they believe
that they can only be lifted by those that are born to
them here?

Should, however, the young wife be so unlucky as
to have a daughter, then only too often her sorrows
will be aggravated, as she will fall, not only in the
estimation of her haughty mother-in-law, but also in
her own, and it may possibly be in that of her husband
as well. They have all been looking for a son. They
have planned for him, and forecast his future, and
determined what he shall do so often, that they have all
come to believe that the child must be a son, and now
after all it is only a daughter I

The mother weeps and refuses to look at the little
one. The mother-in-law is furious and scornful, and
even the husband, though his love for his wife may
restrain him from expressions that might add to her
pain, is gloomy and discontented. The neighbours,
who have been prepared to give a royal welcome to
the son, now speak in whispers to each other and refrain
from adding to the shame of the family by any attempts
at congratulation. When it is known in the home that
the baby that is born is a girl, a shock is felt that
vibrates throughout every member of the family, and it
is at this precise moment that it is impossible to say
what may happen to the poor little mite that has so
disappointed the hopes of those who had been looking
for a son. She may at once be put to death by some
member of the family, or she may be pitched out into
the courtyard in front of the house and be left to perish,
or, perhaps, some neighbour, whp has a young son,
comes in and begs the child, which she will rear up with
him and make him his wife in the future. Should there
be any delay in thus disposing of the baby, the chances
are all in favour that her life will be preserved, and that
she will be accepted as a member of the family. After

254 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

a few hours have elapsed, and bitter tears have been
shed and her bad fortune has been bewailed, the
mother takes the little thing to her heart, and the
mother-love, that seemed dead, springs up. As she
looks into the little face and feels her clinging to her
breast, a wave of tenderness passes over her and,
though she never loves a daughter as she would a
son, Nature asserts her power over her and causes love
to grow for the little one.

Let us now suppose that some years have elapsed since
the youthful bride, solitary and with her heart full of
anxiety, stepped into her new home, every face strange
to her and with not a word of welcome to greet her.
She has now several sons and one or two daughters, and
her mother-in-law is still there ; but though her word
is still law, new forces have come into the home that
have helped to break the tyranny of those early days,
when tears and sighs played their part in her life.

The boys are at school preparing for the future. The
eldest is to be a scholar, and the mother looks upon him
with kindling eyes and glowing face, very much as an
English mother would, for he promises to do honour
to the family. The second is still studying, but he
has no love for books, and he declares that he has
made up his mind to be a business man and that he
will remain at school only as long as will enable him
to read and write such a letter as might be required of
him in the office. The third has made up his mind to
go abroad to Singapore and live with an uncle there
and help him in his shop. He is a boy overflowing
with animal spirits. H there is any mischief going on,
he is sure to be in it. He is the life of the whole
family, and the tease too, as his sisters know to their
cost ; but the mother has many an anxious thought
about him, and she fears that his merry, careless dis-
position may lead him astray, and that should he go
abroad he may never return, or, if he do, it will be
like the prodigal who had lost all in that far-off land.

And so the father's and mother's hearts are perplexed
with questions about their children, just as ours are
in distant England. How will the boys turn out? Will
they fall into evil ways and weave wrinkles into the
faces of their parents and fill their hearts with sighs?

HOME AND FAMILY LIFE 255

And then, too, what about their girls, for Nature now has
gained her point, and the passing years have bound
them to father and mother with a love that comes
nearly up to that they have for the boys. Will their
new homes be happy ones? Will their mothers-in-law
oppress them? Will their husbands be good and true
men, or will they be opium-smokers and gamblers and
make life a misery to them? These are well-worn
subjects the wide world over, and when we see the
fathers and mothers of this yellow race, that we are apt
to think so radically different from the rest of the world,
concerned in their home life about questions that
perplex us, we accept the statement that ** God has
made of one blood all the nations of men to dwell on
all the face of the earth " as a divinely true one.

As I have already observed, there is no doubt that
husband and wife in the great majority of homes in
China are bound to each other by genuine, undoubted
love. At first sight this seems difficult to be believed.
Not only do the young people never catch sight of
one another until the moment that they stand side by
side as man and wife in the husband's home, but it
is an undoubted fact that the great mass of the women
of this land are very deficient in personal charm.
Fortunately, good looks are not the things that cause
love to grow in a man's or a woman's heart. As time
goes by, other forces come into play that make the
plain face shine with a beauty of its own ; and soon
the hearts are knit together as though Cupid himself
had twined the golden chain that bound them in a
common love.

A casual observer would never see this. He would
only discover that husband and wife seemed singularly
cold to each other, and never by any chance could
he catch a single endearment falling from the lips
of either of them. One day, in order to test her, a
Chinese lady was asked by an English girl whether
she loved her husband. The question startled her.
It was like a thunderbolt out of a clear sky. Her
face became flushed. She hesitated for a moment, and
then she promptly replied, ** No, certainly not." The
girl knew differently, and, being very intimate with her,
at last drew from her the hesitating, blushing con-

256 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

fession that she loved him with all her heart. Now,
nothing in all the world would have ever induced her
to have said this to one of her awn people. She
would not have acknowledged it to her own mother,
and wild horses could not have dragged this secret
from her heart if any other Chinese had been present.
To know the depth of a woman's love for her husband,
you must wait until he has been taken away from
her by death. Come then and stand by the grave
a day. or two after he has been buried, and listen to
her as she kneels in front of it, and amidst her tears,-
her sobs, and her loud lamentations you will hear
the most wonderful confession of a heart's love that
can be put into human language. She can do so now
without a word of reproach from any one. Listen to
her : " Oh ! my heart, my love, my life, where are
you gone? I cannot live without you. My home is
desolate, and darkness is over my heart. Come toi
me, precious one, or I shall die." She will go on for
an hour like this, pouring out the great tragedy of
her life in the language of most impassioned love,
and showing by her skill in the use of words and
phrases that describe the tenderest feelings of the heart
how profound had been her devotion to the one who
had been torn from her side.

I was at one time well acquainted with a middle-
aged couple, for whom I had great respect. They were
quiet, respectable people, about as far removed from
sentiment, apparently, as any middle-aged couple could
be. They were both exceedingly plain, if not actually
ugly. Not a line of beauty could be traced in the
countenances of either of them. Their life, too, was
a humdrum one, and passed in a rough, coarse village
at the foot of a range of mountains, far from the main
road, and quite removed from the great world beyond,
where men's hearts and brains are moved by thoughts
that never penetrate to these lonely villages. One day
the husband fell ill of a violent fever, and in three
short days he passed away. Then was revealed what
was never suspected before. That plain-featured
woman, most unattractive in speech, without a single
winning manner about her, had all the time been having
her own romance ; and the solemn -visaged husband.

HOME AND FAMILY LIFE 257

of uncouth speech and uncourtly ways, was her knight
who had wound himself around her heart and had put
music into her life. She was disconsolate at his death,
and refused utterly to be comforted. Everything in
life seemed from that moment to have lost its charm
for her. The one for whom she had lived had vanished
and with him the hold that life had had upon her was
gone. Within ten days she had died of a broken heart,
leaving her two children, who had no power to allure
her from her grief, to my fatherly care.

That there are unhappy homes in China, where
husbands and wives dispute and quarrel with each other,
I do not doubt. The same is the case in countries
where men and women fall in love and willingly marry
each other. All that I would wish to hold is that
I China is not a loveless land, where a stern and un-
romantic custom drives men into unions that are
repulsive to them, but that in this ** Flowery Land "
there are as true love -knots tied as ever were fastened
by the loving hands of the most romantic and the most
devoted affection.

The reader will now be prepared to believe that the
wife is not the down -trodden person she is often sup-
posed to be. There is a popular idea, mainly gained
from books and from the exaggerated statements of
travellers, that the woman in the Orient is a kind of
slave, who dares not open her mouth in the presence
of her husband, who tyrannises over her and makes
her submissive to his will. This is an entire mistake.
In the very nature of the case it must be so. Nature
has imparted to a woman a most mysterious power
of attraction that is a safeguard to her, and that saves
her from being crushed as men are by men. The
battle of life would indeed be a continued defeat for
her were she not protected in her weakness by an
invisible force that is stronger than the mightiest battle-
ments by which men would defend themselves from*
the oppressor. Cases of hardship continually occur in
family, life in China, but they are not special to this
land. As far as a long experience would enable me
to judge, I verily believe that the majority of homes
in this country are reasonably happy ones, and the
wives hold a position not of sufferance but of love.

17

258 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

The Chinese conception of a home varies very con-
siderably from ours. They do not seem to take into
account that there are certain elements that are essen-
tial to the making up of what we consider to be a
happy home. For example, amongst the five eternal
virtues enumerated by Mencius, unfortunately clean-
liness is not one. If it had been, it might have changed
the whole character of the nation. At present dust
and dirt and disorder are the normal conditions of
life of nearly every Chinese. You step into any home
of the middle and lower classes and you get a shock.
Comfort seems to have been the last thing aimed at
in the building of it. Things are grimy and unwashed,
and are tossed about without any regard to the general
effect they might possibly have in making the house
look pleasant. The floors, which are earthen, are swept
now and again in the middle, but under chairs and
tables, and especially beds, the accumulated dust is
as sure of being undisturbed as is the Chinese face,
or the bloated spiders that look down calmly and with
a knowing wink from the rafters overhead. It would
seem, too, as though the furniture had been made
with a special view to discomfort. The chairs are
stiff-backed and angular, and evidently designed by
the founders of the race to discourage their descendants
from sitting too much. The wooden benches that
supplement these are so narrow that a person using
them, by and by unconsciously, leans forward and re-
lieves his weariness by resting his elbows on his knees,
like the typical American sitting on a rail in the back-
woods. It is no doubt for the same reason that a
Chinese is so much given to sitting on his heels, and it
is no uncommon sight to see a man perched upon
one of these benches in a position that an Englishman
could hardly endure for ten minutes, but which, to a
Chinese, is an ideal way of passing his leisure time.

The beds are on the same plane as the rest of the
furniture, and consist of the ordinary four posts, with
a bottom made of hard boards. The only covering
laid on these is a thin mat made of rushes, on which
the people sleep. An Occidental would writhe alid
wriggle the livelong night, and the next moniing his
body would be full of pains Sand aches, whilst a Chinese

HOME AND FAMILY LIFE 259

would sleep as calmly as though he were reposing on
a feather-bed. The pillow is a curiosity in its way,
but an Englishman would consider it a veritable instru-
ment of torture. It is not intended to be something
soft and comfortable on which to recline the head^
but simply as a rest for the neck. It consists of a
.variety of articles according to the financial position
of the individual. With the very poor it is a block
of wood or a brick. This is placed under the nape of
the neck. It would seem to be an exceedingly uncom-
fortable place to have such a pillow, but the nation
with singular unanimity has selected to have it there
and nowhere else. The richer have more elaborate
and expensive ones, but always of some hard and un-
yielding substance, and rich and poor alike consider
that its function is to support the neck and not the
head. This pillow is to my mind one of the evidences
of the indirect method by which the Chinese brain
reaches its conclusions. We maintain that the head
ought to be elevated during sleep. They believe the
same, only they hold that this can be best done through
the medium of the neck. You tell a Chinese that you
cannot conceive how he can endure such an uncom-
fortable thing as a brick set on end digging into his
neck all night. His face beams with one of his bland
and childlike smiles at the utter absurdity of your
remark, whilst he assures you that it is all a matter of
habit. It is to him one of the signs of the inferiority
of the barbarian that he cannot see how suitable a
piece of wood with the rough edge digging into his
neck is for a dreamless sleep during the long hours of
the night.

Family life is robbed of some of its special attrac-
tions to an Englishman in its utter want of privacy.
Such a thing as a private house, in the sense that it
is sedulously guarded from the outside world, is un-
known to the Chinese. I have frequently been travel-
ling in the interior where the sight of a foreigner has
plunged a whole neighbourhood into a perfect frenzy
of excitement. Crowds have followed me everywhere.
They stared at me in the streets, and surrounded me if
I stopped for a moment to look at anything. They
followed me down narrow lanes^ where I made a dash

260 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

to get away from them,, and I was met by a fresh con-
tingent at the other end, who had made a flank move-
ment to get a better view of me. They smiled when
I smiled, and thinking to please me they laughed out-
rageously at something I said, though there was not
the ghost of a joke in it. When I moved on, the
crowds automatically followed, as though they were
my shadow. They never got wearied of gazing at
me, or at something on my person. My eyes being
diiTerent from the universal black of the nation caused
prolonged stares and original criticism. The two
buttons on the back of my coat started a series of
speculations as to their precise use in buttoning up.

At length, to escape the persistent attentions of my
friendly but critical following, I dived into the house
of a respectable -looking man, who had politely invited
me to come in and sit down, in the hope that I should
get rid of my admirers. In this I was mistaken^
however. The crowd entered with me, as though the
place belonged to the whole company, and they made
themselves completely at home. Most of them, indeed,
came to stay as long as I did. Some walked about
and made miscellaneous remarks. Others filled their
bamboo pipes that they generally carry about with
them, and soon polluted the air with the disgusting
smell of their bad tobacco. Others lounged about and
took notes of everything, whilst a select knot drew a
semicircle round the chair in which I was seated,
and continued to gaze with unabated interest at me.
The owner of the house did not appear to think there
was anything out of the way in this intrusion upon
the privacy of his home. He chatted with the crowd,
smoked his bamboo pipe, and now and then smiled
upon me as though he were highly pleased with every-
thing.

A Chinese has never been trained to believe in
privacy. It is only the well-to-do who ever dream of
having a house all to themselves, and even then it is
almost sure to be shared by some near relatives who
have some claim upon them. The common people
cannot afford the luxury of a home all their own. The|
houses, consequently, are so built that they are capable]
of accommodating more families than one. Within on< '

CHILDREN AT PLAY.

GIKLS WASHING CLOTH KS.

To face p. 261.

HOME AND FAMILY LIFE 261

compound there may be a half a dozen of these, who
seem to make no attempt to conceal their doings from
each other. Questions that we should deem it advis-
able to discuss with closed doors, and after we had
carefully peered round to see that there were no eaves-
droppers, are talked about before their neighbours, who
will stand silently taking in every word that has been
said. The result of all this is that there are no secrets
in China. Everybody knows everything about every-
body else. What salary a man gets, how much he is
in debt, what shady transactions he has been engaged
in, and how much he spent on the last feast he gave
are known with as much exactness as they are to the
individuals themselves. The Chinese mind is a
wonderful storehouse of dates and facts. These it
treasures up, and brings forth as occasion requires.
This peculiarity of the Chinese is one of the mysteries
that perplex the foreigner. In many things they are
most sensitive to public opinion, and to save his *' face **
a man will resort to all kinds of cunning devices and
subterfuges, and yet he voluntarily deprives himself
of the privacy of his home and allows the world to
learn the minutest details of his life there.

There is another feature about the Chinese home
that seems to give it a charm to the inmates, but
which would render it intolerable to the average English-
man, and that is the absence of quiet in it. The doors
are open the livelong day ; every sound from the street,
as well as the voices of the neighbours in the adjoin-
ing compartments, penetrates it. The Chinese may be
said to be bred and born amidst noise, until it would
seem as though they could not live without it. The
common people in their ordinary conversation talk as
though they were speaking to some one in the next
street. Schoolboys study their lessons at the loudest
pitch to which their voices can be raised and amidst
the roar of the whole school. The most effective and
telling of the speeches in their plays on the streets
are uttered amidst the beating of drums and the clang
of cymbals, and when a mandarin leaves his post with
the goodwill of his people, it is amidst the deafening
noise of firecrackers that is enough almost to cfack
the drum of one's ear.

262 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

The Chinese seem to be absolutely without nerves.
A door will go on slamming for hours, and no onjc S
will ever dream of getting up and closing it. A dog
may whine and howl during the silent hours of the
night in such a way as would make an Englishman
mad, but a Chinese is as calm and unmoved as though
he heard no sound, and no one gets into a fit of irrita-
tion and suggests that it should be either kicked oit;
shot. An ass stands in a paddock near by, and, with
ears erect, will utter its sweet music for hours, but it
would be treated with the same patience as though
it were a nightingale filling the air with its charming;
song. And so the children shout and romp, and the
scholar sits within earshot in his study, and people
sit conversing with each other, and in a room close by
lies a man tossing with fever, whose head is likely to
split with pain, but no one suggests that the play |
should be suspended, or a stick be shown to frighten
off the delinquents. A Chinese is inured to noise. He
spends his life in the middle of it. It is the prevailing
atmosphere of his home, and when he dies it is the
great ambition of his life that he shall be escorted to
the grave with the sounds of weeping and lamentation
and with the weird and ear-splitting music of the ragged
and unsavoury-looking band, who fill the air with their J
doleful funeral sounds.

Notwithstanding the objectionable features that for
us would detract from the comfort of home, there is
no question but that it has the same charm for the
Chinese that it has for us. This is as true of the
most poverty-stricken as it is of the wealthy. He
cannot bear to be away long from it, and if he is com-
pelled by poverty to be separated from it, the thought
of when he shall be able to return to it is constantly in
his mind. I have known men who, like the Swiss,
have had the veritable mat da pays or home sickness,
and who were only saved from a serious illness, or
from losing their reason, by getting back to their
friends and their home.

CHAPTER XX

FARMERS AND FARMING

China is an essentially agricultural country. The great
mass of the people are farmers, and spend their lives
in the cultivation of the countless farms that cover
the face of the whole country. If one were to visit
the great commercial centres, such as Shanghai, Han-
kow, or Canton, and see the miles of shops that stand
closely studded together, and watch the crowds that
throng along the narrow streets, he would come to the
conclusion that commerce was the one forte of the
Chinese.

Again, if he were to travel up the great rivers and
waterways of this empire and see the ceaseless succes-
sion of junks that pass up and down at all hours of
the day and night with their cargoes, he would feel
still more convinced that the supreme thought in the
Chinaman's heart was business. Or once again, if he
were to stand by the side of the great trunk roads that
connect the east and the west, and the various cities
along the route with each other, and mark the endless
stream of horses and mules and human carriers bear-
ing the produce of many provinces to each other, he
would again be inclined to imagine that trade was
the main thought that absorbed the energies of the
nation.

In all this he would be mistaken. There is no one
in the whole of this great empire that is in such evidence
as the farmer, for he meets you not only on his farm
but also in many other callings where you would not
expect to find him. In fact, it would be difficult to
go into any line of life, where hard work is demanded,
where you would not come across him.

The men that do the heavy work of the cities and

264 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

carry in the goods with which the shops and warehouses
are stocked are mainly farmers. They seem a rough,
rowdy-looking lot of men and are called by way of
contempt coolies, but almost every man is a skilled
farmer, and seen on his farm would appear a very
different person from the grimy, unkempt -looking
savage who stands almost naked in a sweltering hold,
hauling about great packages that would overtax the
strength of any ordinary European. The men that
stand alongside the main roads and beg to be employed
as chair-bearers — a task that would seem possible only
for men trained and inured to this particular work —
are all farmers. Their crops are in and they have
some idle time on their hands. They have the thews
and sinews to do the work, and though they may not
carry their fares with the deftness and knack of the
trained men, they will bring them more swiftly to his
journey's end and make less fuss, and cheat them less
than the regular chair-bearers.

If a man is going to make an excursion to the top
of some mountain, he will desire to have surefooted
and strong, enduring fellows who will carry him along
the edge of deep ravines and up the giddy heights
where the only roads are footpaths that the goats and
the wild animals have made. When he comes to start
he will find a sunburnt set of men, with muscles as hard
as iron, with not a superfluous ounce of flesh, and
trained by severe toil to endure hardship. When he
asks who these men are, they will say : " We are
farmers and we guarantee to carry you safety to the
highest peaks of the mountain and bring you back
unharmed."

You make a journey up one of the great rivers, and
you engage a boat with its captain and crew. They
are a pleasant, homely set of men, most willing and
agreeable, and ever ready, when the breeze fails or the
tide is too strong, to take to the oars, and for hours keep
on rowing without murmur or complaint. Every man
of them is a farmer, and when the voyage is over
they will return to their homes, and, should no new
engagement claim them, they will proceed about the
business of their farms as though they had never sailed
a boat in their lives.

FARMERS AND FARMING 265

You watch a fleet of fishing-boats come in from sea.
It has been blowing great guns outside and the men's
faces are browned with the storm. They have shown
a deftness in carrying their craft over high waves,,
and through great blasts of wind that threatened to
overturn their frail-looking boats, that one would
imagine to be the result of a life's training. Every
man amongst them, however, is first of all a farmer,
and when the fish have been sold and the boats
are anchored in some quiet bay, or hauled up on the
beach close by their homes, they spend their time, till
they have to go to sea again, in their fields.

It is sheer necessity that has developed the versatility
of the farmer, and his appearance in so many different
employments is entirely due to his poverty. The farms
are small and families are large, and to keep the home
together it is a case of absolute necessity that the
male members of the family should go forth and engage
in any kind of labour that will bring grist to the mill.
The facility with which the farmer can turn his hand
to any kind of unskilled work, and his great physical
powers of endurance, make him an acquisition to those
in search of labourers. The Chinese farmer, in appear-
ance at least, is very different from his English proto-
type. He has not that jolly, burly, rosy-cheeked look
that has been so well portrayed in the pages of
Punch. He gives one the impression of a man whose
life has been spent in downright hard work. There is
not a single ounce of spare flesh upon him. His face
and hands are of a dark brown colour, tanned into
them by exposure to the fiery-faced sun of the Orient
and to the open-air influence amid which his daily life
is spent. His hands, unless he is still young, are gnarled
and twisted out of shape by the constant grasping of
his hoe, the one implement that to the Chinese farmer
takes the place of the spade, only in a more extensive
degree.

He never stands erect. He bends a little forward,
having a slight list to the left. This is due to his
having to do all his own carrying work, which in
England is done by horses and carts. The manure
to fertilise his fields and the water to irrigate them when
the rains are insufficient are all borne on the left

266 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

shoulder of the sturdy farmer ; and when the ripened
crops are housed, and the surplus 'is to be disposed of
in the city miles away, it is the same mode of convey-
ance that has again to be employed. Railroads, carts,
wagons, and beasts of burden are luxuries that are
still beyond the reach of the farmers of this land.

The whole look of the man is that of a worker, and
the very pose that his body has taken is but an attempt
to ease the strain that severe labour is constantly putting
on it. Unfortunately, his dress does not add to his
personal appearance. It consists of a loose coat,
buttoned by a flap on one side, and reaching to a little
below the hips. The trousers are loose and baggy,
and extend to the knees. These and his usual clothing
are made of cotton cloth, which is dyed with the
universal blue that seems to have such a fascination
for the working classes. As the weather grows colder,
others of the same kind, and where the purse will allow
of it, wadded garments are added, but the legs and
the feet, even in the coldest weather, remain uncovered,
excepting on very special occasions, when etiquette
demands that both shoes and stockings shall be worn.

The Chinese farmer further adds to his far from
prepossessing appearance by his utter neglect of all
habits of neatness. His head is shaved only at con-
siderable intervals of time, and so the place that amongst
the residents of the towns is clean shaved is covered with
a thick, bristly undergrowth of black hair, that has a
most untidy and slovenly look. His queue, instead
of being plaited and combed smoothly, is allowed to
grow at its own sweet will, and, following the instincts
of Nature, that longs for freedom, it sends out
straggling tufts here and there, and so gives the wearer
an unkempt and disorderly aspect.

Reckless about his head and queue, he is equally so
concerning his face and hands. Nature here has to
come in with her gentle art and make up for what
soap and water ought to have done. Washing seems
to be a lost art amongst the working classes, and
especially amongst the farmers. It is well that their
skins are tanned the colour they are. Fair skins with
blue eyes and golden hair were evidently meant for
men who believed in the virtue of water. The labour-

I

FARMERS AND FARMING 267

ing men in this land have concealed their dislike of it
under brown skins and black eyes and hair, and so
their neglect of cleanliness is not so striking nor so
repulsive.

This description of the farmer is a faithful one, but
by no means an adverse one. He is a real good fellow
in the main, and our sympathies are decidedly with him'
rather than against him. He is about as good a
specimen of a man, who stands up to his work and does
it, as can be found the wide world over. There is no
whining about him. The conditions in which he lives
are all against making life easy. His food as a, rule
is wanting in variety and is deficient in nutritive quali-
ties. His three meals a day, when he is lucky enough
to get so many, are simply a repetition of each other,
and consist of boiled rice, seasoned with salted turnip
or cabbage, varied with the commoner and cheaper
kinds of salt fish, beans, curds, and pickled beans or
cucumbers. In very many districts throughout the
empire rice is a luxury that the poorer classes can only
hope to get a dozen times or so during the whole
course of the year. Sweet potatoes are then the staple
food upon which they have to depend, supplemented
with salted cabbage or turnip as the condiment. It
can be easily imagined how insufficient a diet of this
kind is to build up healthy men and women. The fact
is the working classes, especially in the country districts,
are anything but robust and sturdy people.

Foreign physicians, who have opened hospitals and
treated large numbers of those who have consulted
them, have come to the conclusion that the large
majority of the population is below par and is suffer-
ing from indigestion. Salted turnip, which is a popular
condiment, persistently eaten through all the months
of the year, is very much responsible for this latter
ailment. But it is cheap, and so the evil has to be
endured. It would be an interesting question to dis-
cuss what effect this general and widespread indiges-
tion has upon the character of the people and upon
the course of their history. A dyspeptic person ,in
England very often is afflicted with an uncertain temper,
is fanciful, and has curious theories of life. What, then,
about the great mass of the Chinese population with

268 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

their age-to-age succession of dyspeptic disorders? Are
these in any way a reason for the obHque way in
which the mind of this people is often apt to run, and for
many curious events in their past history that seem:
so difficult of explanation from a European standpoint?
This is a point that is well worth considering.

To my mind, the Chinese is a really heroic character,
especially so in the way in which he meets life. The
struggle he has to make is a severe one physically. For
the sorrows that come to all men he has no consola-
tions of religion to sustain him, for the idols are never
supposed to bring any sympathy or comfort to him.
He has absolutely to stand alone with his own brave
heart, and with an unflinching purpose he does his
work and cares for his family as though there were no
sacrifices involved and no merit whatever in what he
is doing. ■

The feeling that one has for him is not pity but
admiration. He is really perfectly unconscious of the
attitude he is taking. Those black, restless eyes show
a mind by no means oppressed by the hardships of
life, and the merry twinkle that makes them dance
when something witty is said shows that this matter-of-
fact-looking man can enjoy a joke as thoroughly as
those whose lives are placed in easier circumstances.
There is no question but that the profound sense of
humour that the Chinese people possess has saved them
from sinking beneath the burdens that they have had
to bear in the battle of life.

The Chinese farmer is a perfect adept at his work.
He seems to have entered into the very heart and spirit
of the vegetable kingdom and to have learned all its
secrets. His crops are put in apparently without any
special effort, and yet they bud and sprout in the very
form he had intended, and if the rains will only fall,
they repay him with harvests that make his heart sing
for joy. His hand is just as facile with flowers as
it is with the coarser productions of the soil. He
loves them, and, with this consciousness in them, they
respond with generous devotion to the care he lavishes
upon them. Every Chinese farmer is capable of
becoming at a moment's notice a gentleman's gardener,
for with his quick eye in studying the habits of flowers

FARMERS AND FARMING 269

he soon becomes expert in developing their finest
quahties.

It is amusing to watch a rough-looking fellow who
looks like an escaped convict, with bare legs and scanty
clothes, manipulating the beautiful flowers of a large
garden. They are exquisitely kept. Every plant looks
its best. It would seem as though each one knew that
his eye was upon it, and it was a matter of honour to
appear in its finest dress. You ask the man where he
acquired such a knowledge of flowers as to be able
to care for such a fine garden as this. He looks at
you with surprise as he replies : ** Don't you know
I am a farmer? Of course I ought to know about
flowers seeing that for many years I worked my own
farm, a thing far more difficult to do than this,
seeing that I have every convenience at my hand to
assist me."

The chief productions in the South of China are
rice, sweet potatoes, wheat, barley, ground nuts,
millet, sugar-cane, indigo, and a great variety of
vegetables, such as turnips, carrots, beans, cabbages,
cauliflowers, cucumbers, tomatoes, egg plants, melons,
&c. The most important of all the cereals produced by
the Chinese farmer is rice. This is the staple food
of rich and poor, and takes the place that wheat does
in England. Its cultivation is by no means an easy one.
It may safely be said that from the time the crop is
sown until it is safely harvested the farmer's mind is
never free from anxiety. His first step is to select a
small plot of ground that can easily be flooded. Into the
water standing in this the rice is thickly sown. In
a short time it sprouts up very luxuriantly, being of
a beautiful bright green colour that is most charming
to the eye. After it has reached the height of six or
seven inches it is pulled by the roots, and made
up into small bundles of five or six. These are then
planted in the rice -fields proper, at a distance of about
eight or nine inches apart. From this time till within
a few days of the harvesting of the crop the fields must
have at least two or three inches of standing water in
them. To allow them to get dry would be to insure
the death of the crop.

There are two plantings of rice a year. The first

270 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

is in April and the second is in the end of July. The
gathering in of the latter takes place in November,
and then the toil and anxiety connected with two great
crops of the year are ended. The greatest source of
trouble to the farmer is to secure a sufficient supply
of water, so that the growing rice shall always be
standing in it. This is no easy matter. If the rains
have been abundant, and the springs are overflowing,
and the wells and ponds that abound in the neighbour-
hood of these are full, his mind is comparatively at
rest. If they are not, then he is always on the rack
as to how he shall fight against the great fiery sun
overhead that sends down his burning rays and licks
up the water that he needs for his precious rice. As
the time goes on and the rains fail to descend, his
sorrows become more intense. After a time the ponds
dry up. The great sun blazes down from an unclouded
sky, and with insatiable thirst drinks up the water that
is moistening the roots of the rice. The soil now cracks
with the fervent heat and every blade of rice seems
to be making an appeal to the heartbroken farmer
for the water that alone will enable it to live.

'He is now at his wits' end to save his crop, for that,
perhaps, is the only thing now that lies between him
and poverty and despair. So many of these farmers live
upon the very borders of a land that, like a vast
howling wilderness, sees only the wrecks of human life,
and where family life and family ties are buried beneath
the pitiless sands. The failure of a crop means very
likely that he will have to sell his daughter or
son perhaps, or even barter away his wife, if he
would keep the homestead from slipping from his
grasp.

Some of the most piteous scenes, in the many tragic
ones that cast their shadow over the home in the ex-
perience of the Chinese husbandman, can be witnessed
during the summer months when there has been a
shortage in the fall of rain. The wells have become
dry and the little ponds have been drained of every
drop of water they contained. The rice in the fields
has lost the dark green colour that with its rich sheen
tells of health and vitality, and is turning into a sickly,
yellow that means decay and death. Water must

1

FARMERS AND FARMING 271

got now, and at any price, for two or three days more of
this will see the crop blasted in the fields. The farmer
accordingly digs the ponds deeper to catch the tiniest
rills that may flow into them, and as the work in the
blazing sun might at once drink these up, the work is
carried on during the midnight hours, so that not a drop
of the precious fluid may be absorbed by the great
thirsty dragon in the sky.

Oftentimes these most pathetic endeavours to save
the crops end in tragedy and death. Men are making
a supreme effort to avert disaster from their homes, and
in the mad endeavour to gain the water for themselves
the wildest passions of the heart are aroused, and neigh-
bours will struggle with each other for the slowly-
trickling rills. The solemn silence of night is broken
with the sounds of conflict, and the stars looking down
from the midnight sky see murder committed by men
whose sole and controlling motive is the preservation
of their homes.

It is astonishing what splendid results the Chinese
farmer gets out of his farm, in spite of the fact that his
farming implements are of the poorest possible descrip-
tion. His plough is a most elementary utensil and has
evidently come down from the remote past, just as it
was invented by the early founders of the nation. No
one has dared during the process of ages to suggest that
any improvement could be made upon a design that was
conceived by persons so sacred as their ancestors, and
so successive generations of farmers have held on to the
clumsy antiquity as though it had been the result of a
special inspiration that would be blasphemy to attempt
to improve on. It simply consists of an iron share
fastened to a rough, slender pole that serves as a
handle, by which the ploughman may guide it when
he is upturning the soil. It is a small, insignificant
thing as compared with our English ploughs, for it is
only about twenty or thirty pounds in weight and would
be absolutely useless in wet, heavy lands. This primi-
tive implement is thoroughly suited for light and sandy
soils, where the farmer never dreams of going much
below the surface ; and that he can get such excellent
crops with an article that our home farmers would
look upon with scorn is a tribute to the skill with

272 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

which he knows how to manipulate the fields, so as to
extract from them the treasures they possess.

The harrow is very much of the same pattern as that
used in England, though, of course, less up-to-date and
more old-world-looking. In addition to the two above-
mentioned tools, there is what, after all, is the most
important implement that the farmer possesses for the
cultivation of his farm, and that is the hoe. It takes
the place of the spade with us, but it is more serviceable
and is more economical of labour. As the main work
of the farmer is done by hand, this is a very important
item to the hard-working Chinese. Unless actually
ploughing, you never see him when engaged in work
without his hoe. As he walks along the narrow paths
that wind in and out amongst his fields you see it slung
like a gun across his shoulder. He grasps it with his
horny hand, which, through long and daily use, has
unconsciously adapted itself to the shape of the handle
so as to ease the strain of holding it. With this he
transforms the old, worn -out -looking fields, so that as
the seasons come round they forget their age and
blossom into youth. tWith it he turns up the soil with
a deftness that long experience has taught him ; he
trims the paths that border his fields ; he places the
manure near the roots of the growing potatoes, and he
deepens his water-courses when they become choked
with wild grasses and weeds. Large numbers of the
farmers are too poor to afford oxen with which to plough
their fields, and so the women members of their house-
holds have to do the work of these animals, or else, if
they have none who can take their place, they have to
do the whole work themselves with their hoes.

The astonishing success of the farmers in this country
is not due altogether to their skill, or to the labour they
put into their fields. These, no doubt, are most im-
portant elements in the production of fair and average
crops out of lands that an Enghsh farmer would not
look at. The real secret lies in his faith in manures
and in his persistent and determined use of them. It
is this that enables him through a long course of years
without any rest or rotation of crops, and oftentimes
from a very sandy or thin soil, to secure harvests that
will keep his family from poverty .j JHe holds firmly, and

FARMERS AND FARMING 273

long experience sustains him in this, that even very
poor land can be made productive if only sufficient
manure be put into it. The population, moreover, of
China is so dense and the farms are so small generally,
that the holders cannot afford to allow any of the fields
to lie fallow. To do so would mean starvation to the
home. The difficulty is met by a liberal and judicious
employment of manure.

Now, the question as to wTiat was the best and at the
same time the most economical to be used was dis-
cussed by the Chinese ages ago, and they came to the
conclusion that there was nothing to be compared with
night-soil. Succeeding generations have coincided with
this opinion, and. consequently it stands to-day pre-
eminent among all the fertilisers employed by the
farmers, as the best and cheapest that can be used.
There is no question but that without it China would
not be the country it is to-day, for in the poorer regions,
where the land is comparatively barren and unproduc-
tive, many a tract of land would have lain desolate, and
many a home that has sent forth distinguished sons,
whose names have become famous throughout the
empire, would have been extinguished.

This question of the night-soil is such a vital one,
both from a sanitary and pecuniary point of view, that
a most elaborate and perfect system has been devised
for its collection. In the cities a considerable number
of the poorer classes gain their living in connection
with it. The authorities make no provision whatever
for the sanitation of the towns. They leave this impor-
tant business in the hands of the people, knowing that
the gains from this one branch of the sewage will be
sufficient to excite private enterprise that will be quite
capable of meeting the difficulty. And this is really the
case. Men with sufficient capital embark in a business
that is a most paying one. They build latrines in almost
every street and down alleyways and in obscure corners,
close by the great thoroughfares, and on the main line
where the flow of passengers never ceases the livelong
day.

In addition to these they engage men to go round
every morning to buy the refuse of the houses through-
out the town. This is done openly and no disgrace

18

274 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

whatever is supposed to be attached to it. It is done
in the light of day and the neighbours are allowed to
hear the chaffering and bargaining that go on. These
purchases are then carried to some central latrine,
where they are stored till the time comes for emptying
it.

Once a month the farmers from the outlying districts
come with their boats, and, anchoring off some place
most convenient for their purpose, carry off the accu-
mulation to their farms. This is done in the busy hours
of the day, when the streets are crowded with people
and trade is at its busiest. These night-soil men with
their open buckets act as though the streets were their
own, for in loud voices that can be heard away down
the narrow arteries, they threaten to bump up against
any one who will not get out of their way. This
threat is so powerful that the densest crowd will scatter
in a moment, and stand without a sound by the sides
of the road as the scavenger passes by at a trot through
the midst of them.

In the case of inland cities, the farmer or his wife or
daughter, if he has any, comes in every day and carries
off the refuse to the farm. There is one city of one
hundred thousand inhabitants with which I am familiar.
One day, travelling in one of its outskirts, I came up
with a long line of women. A few of them were young.
They were a light-hearted, merry party indeed. They
all seemed to enjoy rude health and to have overflowing
spirits, for they were full of laughter and jokes, and
they made the road ring with the sound of their merry
voices. It was a most pleasant sight to see so many
women with such happy faces, upon which care never
seemed to rest. They were just like a pack of school-
girls let loose for their holidays. Each woman carried
two buckets suspended from a bamboo pole on her left
shoulder, containing their purchases from the neigh-
bouring city. Every one that I saw was a farmer's
daughter, who knew just as much about farming as
did their husbands or fathers. I found, indeed, from
inquiries that I made, that their husbands were in differ-
ent parts of the country, striving to earn a few dollars,
whilst their farms were left to the care of their wives.
They did not seem at all distressed at the nature of

FARMERS AND FARMING 275

their work, or at the severe tax upon their strength.
Some had to carry their loads several miles, but this
did not appear to distress their spirits, or restrain the
jokes that bubbled up from their hearts and sent the
laughter rippling up the road as the fun was caught
by one after another of the groups of women that
struggled along it.

Though night-soil is the staple manure, there are
others that are used in addition to it. Bean cake ^ and
bones are two fertilisers that are popular with the
Chinese, both on account of their utility and also
because of their cheapness.

The farms are generally small. This is the result
of the custom regarding the division of property. When
the farmer father dies, whatever land there may be
has to be divided equally among the sons. The
daughters do not count, as they are always married to
members of their clans, and as they henceforward
belong to them, they may no longer claim any inheri-
tance in the one they have left. Successive divisions
have tended to reduce the size of the farms, so that
many of them are utterly inadequate to support the
growing family. Very often, in cases of this kind, some
of the younger sons have to go afield and earn their
living in a variety of ways, or they rent farms from
wealthy men who have invested their money in land
and set up a home of their own.

With regard to tenant farmers the conditions under
which they hold their farms are very different from
those in the West. Their payment of rent is almost
invariably made in kind. For example, when the time
for the harvesting comes round, the landlord appears
on the scene, and takes his seat on some convenient
spot where he can watch the process. As soon as the
rice is cut it is at once threshed and weighed. One
half is handed over to the landlord, whilst the other is
retained by the tenant. By this plan there is no dispute
and no back rent always hanging like a shadow over
the home.

' Bean cake is the refuse of beans out of which the oil has been
pressed. It comes from the north of China, where beans are largely
cultivated. Both oil and this popular manure are largely exported
to the southern provinces of the empire.

276 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

With regard to potatoes, the principle is the same,
though they do not wait till they are ripe to make their
division. The Chinese are in the habit of opening small
holes in the ridges and of culling out the larger potatoes
that may be big enough to be used for food for the
family. This process goes on steadily up to the very
time when the season has arrived for the whole to
be dug up. If the family is a poor one, it will be
found that very few have been left in the field, and
these the smallest and least valuable. To meet this
contingency, custom has settled that one ridge belongs
to the landlord and one to the tenant. Each party can
thus look after his own interests, and abstract from his
own ridge the potatoes that are growing in it.

Taro and beans come urider a different regulation.
In the former case, as more manure is needed for its
cultivation, one root in four is assigned to the landlord,
but with regard to beans, the produce is equally divided
as in the case of rice, but the landlord has to provide
the seed. Everything outside of these four crops that
the tenant may plant belongs to him for his own special
use.

Wheat, barley, and all kinds of vegetables are his
own particular property that the landlord can lay no
claim to.

The above system seems on the whole a very admir-
able one, since it has fostered a friendly feeling be-
tween landowners and their tenants. The two parties
are really partners on very equitable terms in the work-
ing of the land. If the year is a good one, the land-
lord looks with delight upon the heavy crop of rice,
as it gleams in its watery bed, and equally so does
the farmer, who mentally reckons, every time he looks
at the grain that rustles in the breeze, how much he
will be able to sell after reserving enough for the
consumption of his family. If the year is a bad one,
and the ears are mildewed or blasted, the tenant knows
that he will not be harassed for rent at the quarter-day,
no matter how poor the ingathering has been. Tern
and landlord bear the loss equally, and together the]
hope for better times in the future. It is for this reas(
that one hears so little of class differences in Chh
Landlord and tenant live side by side in the utm(

FARMERS AND FARMING 277

harmony, and no secret combinations of the latter exist
for the purpose of avenging the wrongs done by the
former. Agrarian laws for the protection of the land-
owners do not exist on the statute-books of this or any
other of the preceding dynasties. The rich landlord
and the poor tenant are bound to each other by common
interests and need no legislation for their mutual
protection.

CHAPTER XXI

HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS

China is a country that, looked at from a civilised
point of view, or indeed from any other standpoint, has
no roads. Both the Government and the people have
in a large measure handed over the business of road-
making to Nature, and as we are well aware of her
assthetic tendencies, her work has more of an orna-
mental character than a strictly substantial and enduring
one. In various parts of the empire, there are evidences
that centuries ago there were really magnificent roads
that joined important cities and commercial centres.
These were paved with slabs of stone that remain to
the present day, though worn smooth and thin by the
coimtless millions of feet that have travelled over them.
Nature has disapproved of these formal highways, and
has been doing her best by rain and storm, by weeds
and grasses, and by wild flowers and shrubs, to make
them fall into line with the beauties of the world
around them.

There is one singular feature about the roads of
China. They are public only in the sense that every one
uses them. They have never been purchased by any
one and then handed over to the community for public
use. In some early time people found that the nearest
way to a particular place lay along a certain route.
They streamed along it. They trod it down and beat it
into ruts. The farmers to whom the land belonged
silently relinquished their rights to, it, and in the course
of time the travelling public calmly assumed that it
belonged to them. Such is the process by which the
roads in this country have come into existence. The
whole of the roads of China are roughly divided by
the Chinese into '* small " and '* great." The former

278

HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS 279

constitute the immense bulk of the roads in the empire
and are simply footpaths that lead from village to
village and hamlet to hamlet, and wind and bend
according to the lie of the farms from which they
have originally been abstracted. Sometimes, when the
land is barren and unworkable, the road will be several
yards in width, but when it runs through loamy soil,
where crops can easily be produced, it narrows to a
foot or a foot and a half.

Passing through the country on a wet day, one
becomes painfully aware of the wretched character of
these Chinese roads. The rain, perhaps, is falling
steadily and the path winds amongst the nodding stalks
of rice that bend gracefully over the pathway. It
is but a foot in width, and even in fine weather
it requires considerable steadiness of foot to avoid
falling over into the slimy mud of the fields. But now
it is slippery and treacherous with the wet. Here and
there, too, a piece through wear and tear is actually
under water. There is nothing for it but off with shoes
and stockings and wade through the soft, sticky mire,
till we ascend a rising ground where the water cannot
reach. These roads from the very nature of the case
are consistently circuitous and winding. A village, for
example, is seen in the distance a mile away. To get
to it fully a mile and a half will have to be traversed.
A Chinese never objects to this, for it accords exactly
with the character of his own mind, which never in
any consideration goes straight to a point, but always
in a roundabout, oblique manner. Besides, a straight
road to a village would, it is universally believed, con-
stitute a positive danger to it and its people, since it
would enable the evil spirits that are always prowling
about with some treacherous purpose to walk right
into it, whereas a winding path bothers and perplexes
them so that they finally lose their way and wander
off somewhere else.

All the *' small '* roads in the kingdom are of the
character just described. The green lanes and hawthorn
hedges with their fragrant blossoms in spring, and vines
and wild flowers and clinging clematis in summer, that
form so attractive a feature in English scenery, are
absolutely unknown in the greater part of this vast

280 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

country. The people are too poor to allow of any
waste of land for aesthetic purposes. The barest
possible margin that will serve the passing traveller
is all that is allowed to be wrung from the crop-pro-
ducing areas. In this respect t"he rural population
is hundreds of years behind that of England. The result
is that ignorance and superstition and the crudest ideas
are everywhere prevalent amongst all classes of the
Chinese. It is amusing to watch the face of a
country bumpkin when you tell him that an English-
man's head grows in precisely the same place as that
of a Chinese. He has firmly got the impression that
all wisdom and all sense are to be found only in China,
and that they do not exist outside the Celestial Empire.
There is no doubt that poor roads, and the absence
of roads where they ought to exist, are in a large j|
measure responsible for this. True enlightenment in ^^
a nation is impossible where the roads are ^ farce,
and where the people, out of contempt for other
countries, have barred their gates and built high their
walls to keep out aliens. China's step in the progress
of the world has been stayed by bad roads and by
exclusiveness.

Outside of these small roads there is the system
known as the *' great roads." They are distinguished
by this name, not because there is generally anything
in their construction to make them deserve it, but
because they are main thoroughfares, along which
countless masses move every day in the year. In this
sense they may truly be called great, otherwise one
who has often used them could without any departure
from the truth term them " great humbugs," *' great
failures," or even worse, according to the temper he
happens to be in at the time. The existence of a great
road depends entirely upon the amount of traffic that is
carried on between one province and another, or between
particular cities that are famous for the production
of any special article of merchandise. As far as possible
they run in straight lines, thus imitating the old Roman
roads. The reason for this is obvious. The engineers
and surveyors, in the first instance, were not scientific
men who marked them out with chain and compass.
The real layers-out of the roads were the coolies with

I

HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS 281

burdens on their shoulders, who naturally took the
shortest route, and preferred to mount a hill rather
than increase their toil by making a long detour around
it. The crow was to them an emblem of wisdom, which
they never forgot in the laying out of their roads.

But let me describe a bit of one of these ** great
roads." In one sense it is a truly great one, for it runs
from Peking in the far north-east to Canton in the
extreme south-west, for two thousand miles or more.
And when I drop my readers down upon it the first
question they will ask is, ** Where is the road? " I
point to the place where they are standing, and I say,
" You are now right on it," and, pointing to the moving
figures that stretch away on each side into the far
distance, I tell them that those are the travellers who
are walking along the great road upon which they
now are. The only sign that we are on the great
road is the fact that a few feet in the centre are worn
bare, and that constant streams of people are passing
and repassing us on it. It is here about four feet wide,
and is hard and firm simply because it is on a rock
foundation, for we do not see a sign that art has ever
stirred a finger in the making of it. We move along,
amidst fields that, without hedge or fence of any kind,
come up to the very edge of the road. We skirt little
hills and journey over stone pathways three or four feet
in width, with rice -fields submerged in water on each
side, and still we keep hoping that the really broad
and substantial highway will soon be reached, but it
never comes in sight for the simple reason that it does
not exist. By and by we reach a village, embowered
amidst magnificent trees that overhang the road and
cast a perfect shadow across it. This is one of the
recognised halting-places that abound on every great
road, where travellers and burden -bearers can get
refreshment. They lie about a mile from each other,
and are an unspeakable boon to the weary and tired
travellers that pass along. The houses facing the street
have been turned into eating-houses, where rice and
sweet potatoes, hot and steaming, can be had at a
moment's notice. Square tables have been placed in
front of them, and on these are piled little heaps of
ground nuts, also chopsticks and bowls appetisingly

282 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

laid out, so as to tempt the passers-by to linger iand
use them.

Let us sit down at one of these alfresco tables
to take a slight lunch, or, as the Chinese more poetically
say, '* a repairer of the soul." We grasp the chopsticks
and hold up a hand curved into the shape of a bowl,
when, without a word, the owner of the shop places in
it a small basin filled with smoking rice that he has
just scooped out of an iron rice-pan that is constantly
kept on the boil. Little saucers that lie permanently
on the table for the use of customers contain pickled
cucumber, bean curd, or red salted turnip, and from
these, as our eyes wander over them, we deftly pick,
out with our chopsticks delicate bits from any or all,
to act as a seasoning to the somewhat tasteless rice,
We finish up with a small heap of ground nuts, which
we leisurely crack, and which act as a mild kind of:
dessert, and for the whole we pay six cash, no tips
ever being given or expected from any one at these
alfresco restaurants.

The place we have selected is a pleasant one to
loiter at for a few minutes, for the boughs of a great
banyan stretch across the road, and their luxuriant
foliage protects us from the sun's rays that play amongst
the leaves and here and there in tiny golden streamlets
flash on the pathway beneath. Besides, the view we
get of human life, with the pains and sorrows of the
men that pass along this great artery, where the sound
of footsteps never ceases the livelong day, is a rare one.
To the great majority it is a veritable treadmill, where
human strength and human endurance are tested to
their very utmost. The crowd that moves like a living
panorama before us is a varied one. There are
pedlars, hucksters, and farmers with the hall mark of
the sun dyed in brown on their faces, and with a
peculiar list in their gait caused by the severe use
of the hoe in their fields. There are mandarin mes-
sengers, with official hats and proud and haughty looks,
carrying dispatches to a city twenty miles away. There
are scholars, too, with the literary air upon them that
shines through poor and shabby clothes and through
shoes that are kept from falling to pieces only by the
most careful nursing.

i

HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS 283

But the men that most predominate on this dusty,
wearisome road are those whose hearts seem to be
breaking through the severe toil they have to endure
in order to earn a Hving that will barely keep body
and soul together. And here is an instance of what I
mean. A man comes staggering along under a burden
that is positively oppressive. He is a strong, vigorous-
looking young fellow, between twenty and thirty, and
as fine a specimen of a man as one could meet with
i!n this land of workers. His face is flushed and he
breathes hard as he drops his load in front of where
we sit, with the air of a man utterly exhausted. ** What
is the weight of your load? " I ask him. *' One hun-
dred and eighty pounds," he replies, as he wipes the
perspiration that is running down his cheeks. '* But
why do you consent to carry so heavy a burden? " I
again inquire of him. *' I am compelled to do so," he
at once answers, ** for if I make it any lighter I shall
have no money to take home to my family. I am paid
by the pound weight, and if I reduce the pounds I at
the same time reduce my earnings, and my home will
suffer. Ah I it is a hard world," he continues, '* and a
carrier like me has to endure a great deal of suffering
to earn an honest living."

Whilst we are talking, a sedan-chair comes in with
a rush. It is borne by two men who seem thoroughly
worn out. The front man is utterly distressed. His
face is flushed as though he had a high fever. His
lips are bloodless, and he has an overtaxed look about
him as though he could no longer endure the strain that
is crushing the very life out of him. The rear man lets
the poles slowly slip to the ground, whilst the other
takes them from his hot, blistered shoulders with a
look of pain as though he were tearing off his skin.
Without a word he staggers to one of the tables and
drops into a seat. After a moment's rest, he stretches
out his hand, gracefully curved into the shape of a
bowl, and the observant attendant, who has had his eye
upon him, promptly fills it with a basin heaped with
steaming rice. There is a rapid and graceful movement
of the chopsticks, and the contents of the bowl disappear
at an amazingly quick rate. The colour comes back
to his lips, and the weary look vanishes from his face.

284 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

Before he has finished the basin smiles flash" over his
features, a^d his merry bursts of laughter send their
echoes down the road. After a few whiffs of a bamboo
pipe that he always carries inserted in his waistband,
the sedan is once more shouldered, and the men swing
along under the spreading banyan out into the fiery
road beyond.

Hardly has it passed out of sight before another
halts in the place just vacated by it. Both the bearers
are young, sturdy fellows, and we can see that though
they are glad enough to get the chair off their shoulders,
they would not confess that to any one, so they come in
with a jaunty air and a dash of bravado, and toss the
sedan to the ground as though it were a plaything.
Then they wipe the perspiration from their faces, and
begin to chaff some of the other bearers that raced in
behind them, and soon peals of laughter and sallies of
mother wit transform the place, till one forgets for a
moment that the poor fellows are wearing out their
lives in as severe toil as falls to the lot of workers in
any part of the world.

As we pass on from this halting-place, we observe
that wherever the road is level it does not vary much
in its character. It is always poor, as, indeed, it must
be considering that no one is responsible for keeping
it in repair. When, however, we come to rising ground,
we then discover into what a miserable state a great
road may degenerate, and with what admirable patience
the travelling public in China tolerates what in England
would be the subject of public indignation until it was
repaired and rendered fit for general use. Right in
front of us we have an illustration of what a road
may become when left to its own management. It is
now a narrow ravine, fully twelve feet deep in the centre,
with sloping banks on either side, from which, in the
course of their disintegration by the wear and tear of
past years, stones and miniature boulders have rolled
into the middle of the narrowing gully. All the traffic
has to pass along the very base of this, for the land
on each side of the elevated banks is under cultivation
and, consequently, may not be intruded on by the
passing travellers. In wet weather this is most trying,
and indeed even on fine days the poor chair-bearers have

HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS 285

a hard time of it in carrying their fares through. As
we are standing at this miserable pretence of a road,
a sedan-chair is seen approaching the mouth of this
gully. The fare is a stout, comfortable-looking Chinese,
whilst the bearers are miserable anatomies, worn down
by vice and opium-smoking, and apparently unfit to
carry the big man in the chair even along the smoothest
roads. They enter the ravine with mutterings and dark
shadows on their faces, for they know by bitter ex-
perience exactly what they are going to meet. Uneasily
they pick their way through the slush and mire, with
sandals covered with mud and with language hot and
sulphurous. The impediments they meet with are no
common ones, that in a wider roadway they could dodge
or circumvent. Here each one has to be met and con-
quered on the spot. But by and by they come to a stnall
boulder that blocks the passage. As the foremost man
comes up to it, he eyes it with an evil look. He glances
hurriedly at each side of it to see if there is no way
of escape, but there is absolutely none, for each side
of it is barred with rubbish and sharp-pointed stones
that make walking there an impossibility. There is
nothing left for him but to mount the obstacle. With
a shout to the hinder man he makes a dash at the stone,
and by a mighty effort, he is on the top of it, and the
chair like a rearing horse has thrown the fare on to
his back. Another shout, with an imprecation on the
mother of the stone, and he has descended from it,
whilst the rear man is mounted on its top, and the
man inside the chair has to hold on like grim death to
prevent himself from being thrown head foremost into
the slimy road in front of him. Another jump down,
and the chair is once more even, and the men are
panting and perspiring with the efforts they have made.
In spite of all the disadvantages of these roads, there
are still many compensations to the man who has an
eye for the beautiful, for very often, as he journeys
along, his eye is rested by the rare sights in the country
around that make him forget the miseries of the road
over which he is travelling. Mountain ranges that seem
to pile themselves against the sky, colossal peaks
glistening like golden shafts in the sunlight, great deep
valleys in which the shadows lie the greater part of the

286 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

year, wide -spreading landscapes where winding streams
flow amid rice-fields and under the shade of bamboo and
banyan-trees, and hamlets embowered in woods, are
some of the sights that may be seen from the lofty
passes along which the road mounts, as it stretches
towards its distant goal.

One of the most interesting things, however, that one
now and again meets with on these wretched roads is
the bridges. Our walk to-day will fortunately bring us
to a very famous one, and from it we shall get an idea
of the genius of the Chinese in building such. As we
emerge from a long, straggling street, chiefly con-
spicuous for its slovenly, untidy look, and for the un-
kempt, unwashed appearance of its inhabitants, we
suddenly come upon a scene of great beauty. Right
in front of us stretches a stone bridge about a third of
a mile in length that crosses an arm of the sea. Its
natural picturesqueness lias been intensified by the
scenery that surrounds it. With the sunl)eams spark-
ling on the water around it, and the waves sending their
gentle showers of spray against the piers, it seems as
though it might have been formed by fairy hands and
placed here to make men forgfet for a brief space the
pain and weariness they have to endure. On one side
of the bridge rise high mountains that are bathed in
sunshine, broken only by the great rifts in their sides
where deep shadows slumber, whilst, on the other, the
wide bay is dotted with islets, that seem to rise like
sentinels out of the ocean to guard the bridge from
the wild and impetuous waves that are often driven in
by storm and tempest.

The bridge was built more than a thousand years
ago. Before there was any bridge travellers had to
cross in ferry-boats ; but this was so expensive to the
porters, whose earnings were always slight, and it was,
moreover, attended with so many risks, that a wealthy
scholar determined to see that a bridge should be built
that would be a perpetual memorial to his name, and
at the same time a boon to all succeeding generations.
It was a diflicult undertaking, for it was not to be
made in some secluded glen where it would be sheltered
from storms and floods. Here the winds would rage
against it with great force. The rising and falling

HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS 287

tides would wash and scour around the foundations of
the piers, whilst the waters around it, restless and moan-
ing with the sound of the ocean in their voice, would
search out every nook and cranny in its masonry. Deep
and solid the great masses of stone were laid many feet
below the bed of the ocean, and pier after pier rose in
massive strength. The roadway was laid with huge
slabs of stone that bound the piers one to the other,
till at length the structure was complete, and it was
opened for public use. The whole expense was paid
out of the pocket of the original designer and out of
subscriptions collected from all classes of people over
a wide area, who were entrusted in carrying out this
benevolent project. Its repair since then has been
met by the contributions of the well-to-do, and has not
fallen upon the Government.

The Chinese have some very peculiar ideas as to the
rights that they claim to possess in the roads, and the
liberty they assume to have to use them for their own
private convenience. A man, for example, living in a
crowded thoroughfare, only six feet wide, finds that his
house, which abuts directly on the street, needs repair-
ing. The whole front wall has to be taken down and
rebuilt. He calls a mason and a carpenter and con-
tracts with them to do the work. These proceed as
calmly and as indifferently as though no public existed,
and take possession of the road space in front of thq
house. The builder mixes mortar on it, and the car-
penter planes his beams and planks close beside him.
The street is turned into a veritable workshop, and
no one ever dreams of considering what the public may
say. The Chinese, being distinguished by the absence
of nerves, and out of consideration of the fact that the
householder had nowhere else to put his workmen, say
nothing. The public come up to the heap of mortar,
wet and sticky, that lies right in the centre of the road,
gaze at it for a moment and then either jump over it,
or cautiously edge their way around it. A sedan-chair
approaches with a swing, and with a shout from the
bearers " Give way ! give way I we shall knock you
down I stand aside ! stand aside ! " as a polite hint
to the people in front to scatter to the sides, it fills
nearly the whole available space of the street. How in

288 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

the name of fortune is it to surmount this obstacle
that Hes Hke a barrier right across the way? The
bearers come up, hesitate for an instant, and swear
most profanely, but all in a pleasant tone. The front
man gives a howl to the rear one, and makes a plung<
and a jump that lands him on the outer edge of the we<
compound, soiling his sandals and causing a fresh out*
burst of expletives that no modest person would wis]
to listen to. The after man does the same, and the]
proceed along the road grumbling and growling at
what they would not for the world wish to have rectified*!

Or again, it may happen that a shopkeeper's birthdai
comes round, and his family with one accord agree that
the only worthy way to celebrate it is by having a play.
His wife, beaming with smiles, declares that nothing will
satisfy her but a play. The boys, with almond-shapec
eyes glistening at the idea, jump for joy at the thoughl
of having one all to themselves, and of thus becoming
the envy of their playfellows. What a jolly time the]
will have looking at the antics of the actors, and listen-
ing to the deafening noise of drum and cymbal that tak(
occasional fits of madness during the performance, wliea|
the pent-up feelings of the performers can find no othei
adequate means of expressing the deep emotionsl
of their hearts. Arrangements are at once made withf
the chief of some Thespian band, and a popular pla]
having been selected from the repertory that will ensure]
plenty of laughter, the stage is put up right in front
of the shop door, blocking up the entire road and-
putting a stop to all traffic. Whilst the play is going
on that particular section of the road cannot be used.
Men with heavy burdens on their shoulders come up to^
the edge of the crowd that is convulsed with laughter at
some side-splitting joke, and without a frown upon their
faces turn back and by a, considerable detour reach their
destination. All classes recognise that a theatrical ex-
hibition overrides all the rights of the public. It is only
the mandarin that would attempt to interfere with it.
Let but the sound of the gongs that herald his coming
be heard, and at once the actors fly from the stagfe, and
a hundred willing hands take it to pieces to let the
*' great man " pass.

But it is not simply these temporary blockings up

HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS 289

of the highway that show the peculiar idea^ that the
Chinese have as to the ownership of the public roads.
The rights of the public are further infringed upon by
certain classes of people who seem to do most of their
work upon the streets. The barber shaves his customers
on the pathway. The peripatetic cook: with his
travelling restaurant chooses a; corner where the hungry
gather round him and, sitting on their heels, sliovel down
his delicacies with their chopsticks. The pork-butcher
blowing his conch -shell takes up a prominent position
on the street, and chaffers with his customers, whilst
the passengers have to make their way around as best
they may. In fact, carpenters, bricklayers, public letter-
writers, old women who earn a precarious living by
mending clothes, the travelling sweets -and-candy man
and the whole host of peddlers, practically claim the
"highway as having been specially made for their con-
venience. But a change is beginning to dawn upon
the spirit of the nation that in the near future will
revolutionise the great roads at the very least. Tele-
graphs have been introduced, and their wires, teeming
with invisible spirits, that hum and sing a language
of their own, stretch from province to province, over
high mountains, across boundless plains, and through
lonely hamlets. Railroads, too, have been constructed
in several parts of the empire, and the scream of the
engine has startled the air, and given a new impulse
to thought, and awakened men out of the long sleep
of ages. There is a good time coming for China, and
the weary, footsore traveller shall have rest, the sedan-
chair shall vanish, and commerce and civilisation shall
glide along the new roads that an awakened China shall
have made.

19

CHAPTER XXII

BEGGARS

China, looked at from a scenic point of view, is a
remarkable country. Scenery as g'rand and as magnifi-
cent as can be seen in any other land is to be found
in nearly every province of the empire. Ranges of
mountains, fertile valleys, and mighty rivers that take
their rise far away in the cloudland of the West, are
the forces with which Nature, with her artistic hand,
has fashioned the views and landscapes that abound
throughout this great and magnificent country.

But it is not simply for its natural scenery that it is
so distinguished. It is specially rich in all kinds of
minerals. Its mountains contain within them vast
deposits of coal, whilst hills, solid with iron ore, stare
the people in the face and promise them boundless
riches. It is a land where plenty should abound, did
the people know how to transmute the riches that lie so
thickly strewn throughout the land into gold and silver.
Superstition, however, has laid its grim hand upon all
this natural wealth and forbidden its development. The
result is that the great mass of the common people suffer
from extreme poverty, so that the daily question with
large numbers is how they are to keep body and soul
together.

That the struggle for existence is most acute is evi-
denced by the fact of the extreme thrift of the Chinese.
It would be absolutely safe to say that there is no such
thing as waste, especially of food, known in China.
Everything is used up, everything is utilised, and what
we would throw away, as not worth keeping, is here
laid up for future use.

The Chinese makes a noble stand for independence,
but the line between extretne poverty and beggary is

290

BEGGARS 291

frequently so narrow that the passage from one to the
other is an exceeding^ly easy one. There are no poor-
houses and no poor rates, consequently those who,
through misfortune or vice, have lost their means of
subsistence have to take to the beggar's wallet, ^ and
depend upon the charity of the public for a miserable
existence. The Chinese beggar appears to lead a
roving, irresponsible life. He has no property and
apparently no family ties. It would seem, therefore,
as though it would be difficult for the law to take
cognisance of his doings, but this is a mistake. The fact
is he is under closer supervision than are the respect-
able and well-to-do in the community. The Chinese law
is a dragon that keeps an eye upon all classes of
society, but more especially upon those that might be
dangerous to the State. The authorities, therefore, have
appointed a headman whose special business it is to
look after the beggars. He is supposed to know every-
thing about them, and when the mandarins wish to
inquire into any matter concerning them he is the person
to whom they refer. The beggar is too unsavoury a
character to be allowed to live within the limits of the
town. The Chinese nose is an easy-going one, and can
stand smells that would knock an ordinary English
donkey down. A collection of odours, however, such as
can be found in the beggars' camp is too much even for
a Chinese. A camp, accordingly, is formed on some
waste land, outside the town, not too near to offend
the susceptibilities of the residents and not too far to
make it difficult for the wretched men and women to go
their rounds in its narrow streets and alleyways.

The Chinese beggar is, to my mind, one of the most
wretched specimens of humanity in the empire. There
is no mistaking the man. The English mendicant is,
compared with him, a royal personage, who dresses
magnificently and lives luxuriously. His Chinese
confrere is very different from him. He comes out
broadly and abruptly as a genuine beggar. Every
feature about him is in the most hideous and realistic
form, so as to touch the sympathies of the public.

* The beggar's wallet, which is distinctive of his calling, is made out
of a kind of matting. In this he stores the rice and broken bits of food
that the benevolent give him.

292 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

The spectacle of a small family, dressed with scrupulous
neatness, mutely appealing' to the passers-by with a card
that says, " We are starving," would excite only the
laughter and scorn of every one who sees them.
*' What? " they would say, " beg with such clothes as
these you have on 1 Why not sell them or pawn them,
and use the money to start some huckstering business
that would enable you to earn your own living? " The
public heart would be as tightly closed against them
as would the heart of the miser against those who sought
to unloose his purse strings.

But let me describe a typical beggar. Here is one
sitting by the roadside. He is a great, hulking fellow
of about fifty. His clothes are in rags, but not in the
general sense in which we are accustomed to use that
word. His are literally in tatters, and how they manage
to hang to each other is a mystery. It would seem as
though the first blast of wind would scatter them like
autumn leaves and leave the man as bare as a pair
of tongs. How many dilapidated garments have gone
to the making up of his wardrobe it would be impossible
to tell. Colours intermix with colours and bits of cloth
hang side by side the memory of whose ancestry must
have long since faded away.

If the clothes are wretched, so is the human frame
of the man they cover. His hair, instead of being
neatly plaited, is matted and dishevelled. No comb
could ever find its way through such a tangled wilder-
ness. His face is coated with dirt. It lies in layers
in the wrinkles and hollows of his face, whilst his hands
are covered with a kind of scaly armour, composed of
the same substance, that seems like an adaptation of
Nature to protect him from the one thing that his soul
abhors, viz., water. The most offensive thing, how-
ever, about him is one of his legs ; this he thrusts out
most ostentatiously before the passers-by, very much as
a shopkeeper displays his wares to induce people to
buy. A huge sore has eaten away nearly all the flesh]
from the front part of it. It is raw and bleeding, and^
the man points to it as you come near and, in the pro-
fessional whine, tries to excite your sympathies.

It is a remarkable fact that with the Chinese beggar!
these diseases, which constitute his stock-in-trade, are*

BEGGARS 293

always in the right place. They are never seen on
the back of the legs, nor on other parts of the body
that could not easily be exhibited to the public. They
never seem to get either better or worse. In the
summer days, when the great sun pours down his fierce
rays, and bloated, vicious -looking flies swarm in clouds,
it seems to make no difference to them. Again, when
winter comes round and Nature tries her healing art
to close the festering wounds she does so without any
success. The cold north winds blow around him, but
with no healing in their touch, and then he sits in
some sheltered nook, shivering with cold, but, fortu-
nately for him, the sore that brings him in the cash is
as hideous as ever.

The begging fraternity is under the control of a
head-man, to whom the mandarin has delegated very
extensive powers. As it would interfere with the busi-
ness of the shopkeepers to have the ragged crew pester-
ing them during business hours and driving away
customers by their presence, this man contracts with
each of them for a monthly payment, which he collects
from them. To show that such an engagement has been
entered into he pastes the beggar symbol, viz., a gourd,
over his door, as a sign that the house has been made
free from beggars. Should a shopkeeper be so unwise
as to refuse to pay this tax the head-man has a very
simple remedy that will in one day bring him to his
knees .

He merely intimates to his ragged army that they
must carry on the negotiations themselves as he has
failed, and to-morrow morning fifty or sixty of the
wildest and most unkempt of the band will appear
before the shopman's door. All business is simply
at an end whilst they remain there. The narrow street
is blocked, so that the passage to and fro is rendered
difficult. As passers-by come up to the congested spot
they avert their faces and hold their noses to avoid
the odour from the unsavoury crowd.

All is noise and hubbub, for each beggar is holding
forth on the misery of Jiis lot and inveighing against
the hard-hearted shopkeeper who refuses out of his
abundance to perform an act of charity. Before many
minutes have elapsed this unfortunate individual has

294 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

come to terms and the agreement to pay the monthly
tax has been made.

The gourd is at once pasted up, and the matter is
thus far amicably settled. In order, however, to com-
pensate the beggars for the trouble they have taken
in paying him this friendly visit he gives each one a
cash, which they receive with smiling faces, and in order
to save the shopkeeper's face, they begin to praise
him for his generosity, and with grim humour they
declare that he brought them out to-day simply out of
love for them and that he might personally make their
acquaintance and bestow his gifts upon them.

The very poorest of the shopkeepers, who cannot
afford to pay a monthly tax, are visited on the first and
fifteenth of the month by a contingent of beggars, who
get their pay from him in person. They come in a
long string that winds in and out of the narrow streets
like a serpent. They are a motley crowd, made up of
the lame, the blind, and the halt, who usually are content
to sneak their way along the streets in search of alms,
but who to-day face the public with the look of men who
have the right to do so. The line is headed by a
sturdy, bold-faced rascal, who does the talking and
disputing should there be any. His hair hangs dis-
orderly about his face and escapes in loose tufts from
his queue. His hands are black with the accumulated
dirt of years, and his face has a fierce look upon it as
though he felt he was in an enemy's land and must be
prepared to fight his way through it. Immediately after
him comes a man with a banjo, which he occasionally
twangs just to make things pleasant. He is one of
the musical class, and because of his long and varied
experience, but chiefly because the spirit of music is
in his heart, he cannot keep his fingers off the strings,
and so he marches down the street to the sound of his
own tune. Behind him is a blind man, whose left hand
rests upon his shoulder. His very eyeballs have dis-
appeared, and deep caverns show where they once were.
He holds his face up to the sun as though he would catch
the flash of his rays, to get, if possible, a glimpse of
the world that is now hidden from his gaze. The
face is a most piteous one to look at and we feel our
sympathies drawn out towards him as he mutters to

I

AMAH AND CHILD.

BEGGARS 295

himself the time-worn sentences about his misery that
he is accustomed to use to draw forth the charity of
the benevolent. As each one comes up to the counter
that always abuts on the street the shopkeeper stands
waiting and gives him one cash. Without a word he
passes on, quite satisfied, apparently, with a donation
that venerable custom declares to be ample.

Besides this power of levying what is really a poor
rate on the warehouses and shops of the town, the
beggars have a number of recognised privileges which
bring them in a certain income. For example, they
are entitled to a fee on the occasion of a marriage.
The size of this will depend upon the circumstances
of the home where the marriage is to take place. The
beggars seem to have an intelligence department of
their own that gives them precise information as to
every marriage that has been arranged, and the exact
day and hour when it is to come o"ff. If it is a well-
to-do family^ it will be prudent for it to arrange with
the headman what the fee shall be, otherwise the most
unpleasant results may be expected. Recently a wealthy
man, well known for his parsimony, informed the head-
man that his son was going to be married, and offered
a fee that was out of all proportion to his wealth. It
was, of course, indignantly refused as utterly insufficient.
A prolonged altercation ended in the rich man defying
the headman to do his worst and declaring that there
would be no advance upon the sum proffered him.
The chief, accustomed to deal with the very worst
elements of Chinese society, had learned by long ex-
perience not to lose his temper, so he replied : *' Well,
if you are determined not to give the amount I deem
reasonable, I must leave it to others to arrange the
matter with you.** As he said this a smile crept over
his grimy face, the corners of his mouth puckered up,
and laughter lurked in his eyes, as though he had
before his mind's eye a vision of the scene that would
take place in the very midst of the wedding festivities.

The wedding day arrived. The bride had been
carried in her crimson chair to her new home, and the
friends and guests were full of mirth and rejoicing,
when a shadow fell upon the sunbeams that were play-
ing about the door. A beggar comedy was now about

296 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

to be played, mainly for the amusement of the actors,
who rarely had a chance of displaying their histrionic
powers before so select an audience. The shadow on
the doorstep was that of a; woman of hideous aspect.
Her hair was ai perfect wilderness of disorder. Her
face was a thoroughly bad one, and traces of dissipa-
tion were seen in the hard, coarse features, from which
every womanly look had vanished. Her clothes, which
hung about her in rags, told in eloquent language of
the loss of character she had suffered. No touch of
art was seen about them and no deft fingers had tried
to arrange them, so that she should appear to the best
advantage in the poor things in which she was clad.
They were slovenly and untidy, and they seemed to
have been pitched upon her as though it had never been
a woman's duty to care how her things looked. Stepping
boldly inside the courtyard, she began, in the mendicant
whine, to ask for alms. The people tried to stop her
and in loud and angry tones bade her begone. She
never budged an inch, but went on calmly with her
appeal, the only difference being that her attitude
became more bold and her voice slightly more insolent.
But soon the attention of the household is taken from
the woman that begs so fiercely to other forms that
appear at the door. A dissipated fellow in true beggar
uniform walks boldly in and, in a loud voice, almost
demands that something shall be given him. His face
has a scowl upon it, which is rendered all the more
forbidding by his hair falling in ragged tufts over his
forehead and eyes, and giving hini a bold and savage
appearance .

Immediately after him came a blind man, led by
two wan, emaciated opium-smokers, who guided the
sightless man into the very room where the guests were
assembled and where they joined in the loud clamour
for alms. The guests began to be alarmed, but the
stream of beggars has only just begun to flow. Men
with ulcerated legs, and lepers with faces marred and
blotched with unhealthy spots, and fingers twisted and
turned into the palms, that never again could be
straightened, and men with visages rendered disgust-
ing and horrible by disease and the hardships of their
life, march in as though the house were their own, and

BEGGARS 297

take up the cry that now fills the place with its deafening
noise. It would seem, indeed, as though the whole of
the beggars' camp had determined to attend the
marriage festivities, for the number that press round
the door and throng the street beyond, unable to get
into the house, must be fully two hundred. It is a
high festival for the beggars, for they are there by
order of their king, and no law can touch them for what
they are doing to-day. In the midst of all their revelry
and noise they are careful to commit no act that shall
bring their headman, who is responsible for their con-
duct, within the clutches of the law. No person is
touched and not an article is stolen. They simply shout
and whine and beg in every beggar tone they know, till
the rich man and his guests are so horrified that a
messenger is sent post haste to summon the headman to
disperse the unruly rabble that have turned his house
into a pandemonium. After a time he leisurely walks
in with a twinkle in his eye and a dazed kind of look
about his face as though he were astonished at being
called in this summary way from his home. The rich
man, who has lost ** face " amongst his guests, begs
him to dismiss his unsavoury subjects and eagerly
promises to agree to the sum that had been demanded
from him.

The headman is master of the situation, but he deals
generously with his fallen foe, so with a wave of his
hand, as potent as that of the most famous magician,
he disperses the unruly and the ragged crowd of lepers ;
blind, diseased, and maimed gradually file off and leave
the building to the wedding guests. The king then
pastes his royal emblem over the door as an intimation
to any of his people that might stray that way that
the fees had been paid and the guests must not be
disturbed.

Besides the regular and permanent fraternity of
beggars there is another class that visits the town,
but only occasionally. .When they do come, however,
they cause more commotion and more dissatisfaction
than any equal number of the resident fraternity could
possibly do. They are called the " wandering
criminals," and are a special feature of this country,
such as could be found in no other. The Chinese

298 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

are an eminently business-like people and yet withal
philosophical. There is nothing of the mystic about
them, and their abstrusest thoughts always run into
the practical. The fathers of the race laid it down
as an axiomatic truth that no criminal should be an
absolute burden on society.

We feed our prisoners with good, wholesome food
and lodge them in spacious buildings. We provide
doctors to look after their health and hospitals where
they can be treated when they are sick. The Chinese
do not believe in this. The criminal, they say, has
wronged society ; why, then, should society be still
further punished by having to keep the evildoer in
comparative luxury? A prisoner, therefore, in China,
has to be fed either by himself or his friends. If
he has no money and no friends, the mandarins will
then allow him the merest pittance — that is, barely
sufficient to keep body and soul together. If he gets
sick, or dies, that is his business and does not concern
the authorities. The Chinese have a very interesting
way of dealing with offenders of the more criminal type.
Instead of shutting them up in prison they are some-
times condemned to be banished to a distant province,
where they must move ceaselessly about from place
to place within it and beg their living as they go. It
is a terrible sentence, but it is carried out without
any expense to the State, for from the moment that
they start on their long journey to the province where
they are to expiate their crime till the time they have
been sentenced to this wandering life is up they must
support themselves by begging.

But let me describe these men. One day in passing
through a crowded thoroughfare I came upon four of
these ** wandering criminals." Coming upon them
suddenly, I was startled by their wild and savage
aspect. They had the appearance of being a very
bad type of men, that had suddenly sprung from the
lowest slums of a great city and were ready for the
commission of any crime. They clearly wanted to give
the people an idea of their ferocity in order to hasten
the flow of the cash they demanded from each shop.
Their hair was not done up in the ordinary pigtail,
but was allowed to hang disordered and uncombed at

BEGGARS 299

its own free will. Stray tufts fell down over their
foreheads, and through these flashed the black, restless-
looking eyes which seemed almost to strike terror into
the occupants of the shop. Each one had one of his
hands bound to his ankle by a loose, heavy chain,
which he clanked ominously as if to hint that any resist-
ance to his demands for money would end in a fierce
and fatal onslaught. The methods of these men were
very different from those of the ordinary beggar who
whines out his request in the humblest tones, and who
receives the insults that are hurled at him in the very
meekest and the most submissive manner.

These " wandering criminals " spoke in loud and
domineering tones and in a rough northern dialect
that the people of the south did not understand. It
was an unknown language, but the clanking chains,,
fiercely flashing eyes, and savage looks put a menace
into the stormy language of the north that prevented
the people from resenting this unusual onslaught on
their pockets. Besides, every one knew that there would
be no profit in resisting these scoundrels, for each man
carried vidth him a permit from the local mandarin to
solicit alms from the town, and so each hastened to
fling them a cash and wave them off to the next door.
These men seemed to be a positive danger to the town
and to be outside of all law, but that was not so. They
knew that they could bluster and shout and rattle their
chains as much as they liked, but if they attempted
to commit any overt act against any of the people
the grip of the law would have been upon them in a
moment. Certainly there did not exist a single police-
man in the whole length and breadth of the city to
apprehend them, and there seemed no one ready to
defend law and order in case of a row. But still the
law had its eye upon them all the time, for it was abso-
lutely certain that on the outside of the crowd that
surged around to look at these northern villains the
Tipao, dressed like any ordinary coolie, stood care-
lessly by smoking his long bamboo pipe, ready at ^
moment's notice to intervene and drag them off tq
prison.

Besides the beggars above mentioned, there is a
great variety of independent wandering poor that refuse

300 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

to come under any general classification or to enro,
themselves among the professed beggars of the district
Some of these endeavour to charm the cash out of
the pockets of the benevolent by playing on musical
instruments of the most primitive and unmusical type.
One of these is an elementary fiddle of one string
played by a single-stringed bow. Another is a hollow
section of bamboo, struck with the first three fingers
and producing a sound that reminds one a little of
a drum. The third is simply two pieces of flat bamboo
that are artistically made to flap against each other,
with the result that a noise is made but very little
harmony. If the public give any alms to the per-
formers on the above inharmonious instruments, it must
be simply to get rid of them and not because their
souls have been touched into charity by the sweet
influences of music.

A study of the beggar system is a most interesting
one, and especially the exquisite art that enables the
headman to extract from so wretched and miserable
a body of men as they, not simply a competence that
enables him to live with his family in comparative
luxury, but also to build houses and buy lands that
he may leave to his children. But those who have lived
any length of time in China will not be surprised.
The art of squeezing is one practised by every class
in this great empire, from the royal household down
to the beggar by the wayside. Even their headman
has to share his gains with his immediate superiors if
he would retain his ofifice.

I

CHAPTER XXIII

** FACE '*

" Face " is one of the most potent, and at the same
time one of the most amusing words in the Chinese
language. It is not meant to describe the countenance
of any one of the four hundred millions that inhabit
this empire. It represents rather an idea that per-
meates the whole of society. It may be said to be
the one dramatic element that makes every Chinese a
play-actor, and his own life the stage on which he acts
the farces and comedies that are constantly being played
in everyday life. A Chinese is dominated by one
passion, viz., to look well before his fellow-men. To
do this successfully is to have *' face." To fail, or
to appear in disgrace, is to " lose face." He is well
aware of the power of scenic effect, and so he is always
arranging the play that he may give the onlooker the
best view of himself. The spectators look on with faces
as unmoved as though they were officiating at a funeral,
though they know that the whole thing is a farce got
up to produce a certain effect. To smile, or to let
it appear that they saw through the thing, would spoil
the effect, and cause the men to '* lose his face."

Roughly speaking, this word *' face " embodies two
broad lines of thought, though these by no means ex-
haust the many possibilities that lie lurking within it.
The first of these is honour, or reputation. A man,
for example, has done some public service for which
he has received high honours. His name has been
printed in the Peking Gazette, which has carried the
news of his achievements to the utmost limits of the
empire. This man is said to have a large amount of
*' face," sufficient indeed to enable him to stand the
gaze of the whole nation, as well as to cause the

301

302 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

members of his clan in some out-of-the-way village
in a distant province to have enough of the same article
to last them for several generations to come. Some
time ago, in a certain city in China, a mandarin came
to the close of his term of office, and was about to leave
to take up a position in another province of the empire.
He was a man of marked ability and had gained the
reputation of being a wise and efficient ruler, and less
disposed to squeeze the people than is the habit with
most gentlemen of his class.

It must not be inferred from this that he was im-
maculate as regards the taking of bribes. No one ever
dreamed that he was. He had bought his office for
ten thousand dollars and, of course, he had to get
back that amount again. No Chinese would think the
less of him for doing that. He had besides to lay
by a comfortable little sum to transmit to the paternal
home, so that when he retired from the cares of high
office he could do so with the dignity that the know-
ledge of a competence awaiting him would enable him
to sustain. From a Chinese point of view this was
most reasonable and just. Outside of these honest
gains, he had never been known to show an exacting
spirit. Other men who had preceded him had been
distinguished for their rapacity. Justice and mercy
had been ruthlessly set aside in the one passion for
enriching themselves. This man had shown that the
main aim of his life had been the administering pf
justice and the promotion of the welfare of his people.

It was, therefore, determined to give him a parting
gift that would show the high appreciation in which he
was universally held and at the same time give him
such an amount of " face " as would serve him for
the rest of his life. The present that the people decided
to give him was the ** umbrella of the myriad people."
As the title indicates, this was a gift that lay within
the prerogative of the people only to give. The
Emperor might bestow the most splendid honours upon
him, but he could not give him that. His superiors
might desire to show their appreciation of his integrity
as a mandarin, but they could never present him with
a gift that every official longs to have given him. As
it represented the affection and loyalty of thousands

"FACE" 303

who had been benefited by his rule, of course, it could
come from no other source than from them. This
umbrella is made of crimson silk. It is of huge pro-
portions, and when it is opened a curtain of about
two feet in width falls gracefully all round it, on which
are inscribed in black velvet letters the names of the
leading men who have been active in getting up the
presentation. The one presented on this occasion, in
addition to such names, contained but a single sentence,
brief but pathetic, "He protected us because he loved
us."

And now the hour of the mandarin's departure
arrives. The whole yamen was in one delightful state
of excitement. The secretaries and runners, and the
numerous followers that gather round the courts of
the mandarins, seemed unable to control themselves.
The myriad people had flocked in crowds to see the
last of their beloved ruler, and the narrow streets in the
vicinity of the yamen were densely packed with a living
mass that made them impassable to the public. The
one conspicuous thing, however, that stood out promi-
nent above everything else in that living scene, was
the crimson umbrella flashing in the sun and held high
by the sturdy arms of some of the myriad people. A
special band stood by to escort it to the river, where
the mandarin's boat was waiting to receive him. No
sooner had he got into his sedan-chair and it was
lifted on to the shoulders of the bearers than the band,
as if conscious how much depended on them, broke
into wild strains that filled the air of the immense
courtyard, and travelled over the heads of the crowds
outside, till they were lost in the city beyond.

The scene was one in which the Chinese are seen at
their best. The mandarin's face, usually stern and im-
penetrable, glowed with a tender and benevolent ex-
pression. Countless faces beamed with smiles, black
eyes sparkled with excitement, and pent-up feelings
were expressed in orientally poetic language at the
loss of so virtuous a, ruler. As the procession wound
its way through the city fresh crowds constantly
gathered from alleyways and side streets. The band,
as if reflecting the glory of the mandarin and the
crimson umbrella), seemed to think that the success of

304 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

the day depended upon them. The men's cheeks were
distended like miniature balloons as they blew into
their instruments and sent out wild and weird notes
that filled the air, now with shrieks of despair and
anon with bold and martial strains. It was indeed a
joyous day, and men whispered to each other as they
watched the procession and saw the gleam of the rich-
coloured umbrella^ ** .What face he has got to-day 1
He must be a happy man indeed and proud will his
friends be when he tells them the story of to-day."

And happy indeed was this solitary figure, that
etiquette compelled to sit alone, without daring to share
his thoughts with any one. It was a red-letter day in
his history. The crimson umbrella that cast its shadow
over his chair danced before his vision a^ the emblem
of all that was beautiful. It was the one thing that
would be for ever permanent in his life. The crowds
that gazed upon him would vanish, the music die away,
and his memories of the city where he had been so
highly honoured would fade, but the umbrella would
always remain with him. He would take it home with
him and put it in the ancestral hall of the clan, and
there, amidst the spirits of his forefathers, it would
perpetuate his memory after he was gone.

Another idea contained in the word " face " is self-
respect, or dignity, a thing that a Chinese must main-
tain at all costs and in all circumstances. iWihether he
is right or wrong he must never be placed in a position
where he would have to blush for himself. His *' face "
must be maintained at all costs.

A coolie, for example, hears that his foreign employer
is dissatisfied with him and is on the point of dis-
missing him. He at once concocts some plausible story
that completely mystifies his master and hands in his
resignation. The latter, who is only a barbarian, does
not see the point, and as he never dreams that he has
any ** face *' to save in the matter, he is only too glad
of the chance that rids him of an utterly untrustworthy
servant. The man goes out with his countenance
covered with smiles, for though he has lost his situation,
he has saved his '* face." For the next two or three
days he makes a kind of triumphal march amongst
his friends. One of these meets him and says, ** Oh I

I

"FACE" 305

by the way, I hear you are not living with So-and-so
now." " No," replies the man, with a countenance
like that of a judge, *' I could not stand him any longer.
He has no manners, and no refinement, and I felt I
was hurting my own character by remaining with him,
so I resigned. He begged and entreated me to stay,
and he even offered to increase my wages ; but money,
you know, is not everything, and so I left him." ** Of
course you could not do anything else," the friend says,
and they look at each other with solemn faces as
though they were both in earnest, which they are not.
The friend is not deceived. He knows that the other
is acting a little comedy to save his ** face," and with
the instinct of a Chinese he enters into the spirit of
it, and acts as though he were being completely
deceived.

In order to ** save one's face," the oddest and most
laughable devices are often resorted to when without
them the *' face " would inevitably be lost. One of
these is ludicrous in the extreme, and could have been
invented only in China. A rich man, for example, has
committed some offence against the law. The mandarin
has issued his warrant and commanded him to appear
in his court on a certain day to be tried. He is so
conscious of his wrong that he is perfectly certain
that before the case has proceeded far he will be
thrown on his face and slippered by one of the court
runners. This, of course, would be an immense indig-
nity and he would lose his " face " for ever amongst
his friends. But money is all-powerful in China, and
society has devised ingenious methods by which the man
who possesses it may go through life with an untar-
nished face. iWhen he reaches the door of the yamen,
on the day of the trial, a number of men who are
lounging about gather round him, and offer him their
services. These are persons who get their living by
receiving the lashes that ought to be inflicted on others.
For them to be beaten will bring no loss of '* face."
They have committed no crime ; they are simply earn-
ing an honest livelihood, and after the process is
over they leave the court without a stain upon
their character. The rich man bargains with one
of these. For so many stripes he will give him

20

306 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

so many thousand cash. He then enters the yam^n
with the calmness of a man who is conscious of his
innocence. The one who is really to suffer is the
man with the hang-dog expression who sneaks behind
him, keeping slightly in the background, as his em-
ployer speaks a few hurried words to the policeman
who is on duty, and who has also to be bribed to
allow the use of a substitute.

Now the real farce begins. The rich man kneels
before the mandarin, who in a stem and serious voice
expatiates upon the heinous nature of the offence he
has committed. Finally, he orders the runners to
bastinado the man with their bamboo rods. No sooner
has this command been given than the rich man, rising
quickly from his knees, deftly stands aside whilst the
man he has engaged is thrown violently on his face
and the swish of the bamboos as they play their part
and the loud cries of the sufferer are the only sounds
to be heard in the court.

There is no attempt in all this at concealment. Both
the runners and the mandarin know that the man that
is writhing on the ground is not the culprit. What
does it matter? Justice is being done by proxy aX
least. The rich man will suffer througih his pocket.
A good many of his surplus dollars will eventually
find their way, by a circuitous route, into the pockets
of his Excellency himself, and in the end he will find
that the " saving of his face " has been a very expen-
sive affair for him.

** Face " is such a universally diffused idea in China,
that men frequently associate it with many things out-
side of human life, and they are careful that no indignity
shall be done to them, so as to cause them to *' lose
face " with the general public. The yamen is one
of these things. It is the residence of the mandarins,
who are the embodiment of the power and the authority
of the Emperor. It is the fountain of appeal in cases
of oppression or wrong, and it is the emblem of law
that protects society. It is, therefore, important that
its dignity shall be severely maintained and its prestige
be kept up in the eyes of the people.

In order to understand what is meant^ it will be
necessary to explain that just inside of the gates of

41'

"FACE" 307

the yamen a large drum is suspended in the air. In
ancient times a wise Emperor, who knew the character
of the mandarins and the difficulty of getting quick
justice, commanded that every yamen in the empire
should have one of these. In cases of emergency or
great peril, where the slow processes of law would
not avail, a man was permitted to come and strike this
drum. The mandarin was then bound, at any hour
of the day or night, to come out and listen to the
complaint. This, of course, is contrary to the usual
dignified course of things, and so far the yamen may
be said to '* lose its face " by being divested for the
time being of the awe and terror with which the
popular mind has invested it. In order, therefore, to
restore its damaged prestige, it is the custom for the
mandarin, before he listens to the story of the man
who has taken liberties with his court, to have him
gently slippered. This levels up things, and restores
any *' face " that may have been lost.

The *' face " of to-day is of no mere modern origin.
It existed in the earliest days of Chinese history. It
is related that a king in the famous Chow Dynasty
discovered that his prime minister was in the habit
of receiving presents of silk, as bribes. He did not
wish to punish him, for his services were needful for
him, and yet he wished to cure him of his fault, but in
such a way that he might " save his face," and so
be able to retain him in his service. He thought of
a plan that succeeded admirably. One day he sent
him a large number of pieces of silk as a present.,
When the minister came to thank him for them, he
expressed his surprise that he had given him such a
magnificent gift. '* I heard,'* replied the prince, " that
you were fond of receiving such presents, and so I
thought I would gratify you by begging you to accept
one from me." The minister felt at once that he had
been found out, but the rebuke had been administered
in so kindly a way that he knew he was forgiven.
His *• face," too, had been saved, so that he could
still remain in the service of the king.

It would have been well for our diplomatists if they
had appreciated what a tremendous factor this ** face "
is in the national life. It might have prevented the

308 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

decay of English prestige in this coimtry, and the
terrible outbreak of war with Japan, that has so
humiliated this empire, and destroyed its *' face " for
many generations to come. The great statesmen of
China were filled with resentment because, when the
Japanese threatened to march on Peking during the
late war, England did not interfere and save the *' face "
of the nation. Li Hung-chang became one of the
most violent opponents of England because, in China's
extremity, she did not step in and intervene between
her and her successful enemy, but left it to Germany,
France, and Russia to carry out a duty that China
looked to Great Britain to perform.

There is one redeeming feature about this passion for
saving one's " face " that lifts it up from the common
selfish level that we are apt to attribute to it» In a
larger outlook at it we find that it is not an entirely
personal thing that is always exercised to preserve
one's own dignity or act to save oneself from appear-
ing in a false or invidious position. This national trait
has had the effect of cultivating a delicate and refining
influence in the feelings of the people for each other.
.Whilst men are sensitive about anything that would
cast the slightest shadow upon their own face they
seem to be keenly alive to the importance of saving
their neighbour's also from any shame that might cover
it with shame and confusion. A case in point will
illustrate what I mean.

In one of the country churches under my charge, the
preacher or evangelist in charge had become thoroughly
unpopular. He was a miserable speaker, without the
slightest atom of poetry or imagination about him, and
his sermons were a dull level of the most common-
place and iminteresting character. Socially, too, he was
a complete failure. He did not know how to talk. He
could not tell a story or show in his conversation that
his heart was touched to any human sympathy of any
kind whatsoever. He was as dull a man as any one
could conceive of. He finally became so unpopular
that his congregation determined to get rid of him.
But how to do this was a question that was not so
easily answered. A notice to quit was not to be thought
of, for that would make him '* lose face.*' To stop

I

1

"FACE" 309

the supplies was' also an expedient that would have
the same effect, and therefore was dismissed as being
inapplicable. Many plans were suggested, but as each
of them, if carried out, might endanger his " face " they,
were all successively rejected, and the leading men
appealed to me to take the matter in hand and devise
some scheme to relieve the church of a man who was
thoroughly out of touch with them. This was anything
but easy for me, for I could not take any action that
would " deprive him of his face," and thus fill the man
with confusion or render it difficult for him to get
another charge.

After arranging with another church to ha:ve him' as.
their preacher, I finally got him to resign, and I then
took an early opportunity of publicly informing his
people that their preacher, for reasons that need not be
discussed, had come to the conclusion that he must
relinquish his charge over them, and that, therefore,
they must look out for some one else to be their
teacher and instructor. To watch the countenances of
the people when this decision was announced was as
good as a play. They seemed perfectly stunned, and
amazement sent its varying emotions flashing across
their features. By and by protests were made and
entreaties put forth that the preacher should withdraiw
his resignation. If I had not been behind the scenes
and had not known the exact feeling of the church
I should have been deceived and should have joined
with them in persuading him to listen to the urgent
solicitations of his people, but I did not ; on the other
hand, I announced that the resignation was a final one
and could not on any account be reconsidered. After
a time the voices of entreaty died down, and it was
finally accepted as a settled thing that the position of
preacher in that church was vacant.

Now, these people could not be entirely convicted of
hypocrisy. The little by-play that day had as its
motive the very beautiful one of striving to save the
feelings of a man whose ministrations had become
utterly distasteful to them. They might have brutally
handed over to him the balance of his salary and told
him that his services were no longer required. That
would have been to crush him and to have given him

310 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

a reputation in the churches that would have covered
him for years, perhaps, with shame. They wanted to
preserve the man's own self-respect and so they took
this oblique way of carrying out their purpose.

But the story did not end with that day's performance.
About a week after, the servant came into my study and
told me that the leading men and the preacher of this
very church wished to see me. I naturally wondered
what such a visit meant. After they were seated and
we had passed the compliments of the day with each
other, I politely asked them what was the particular
business they wished to discuss with me. One of the
most influential amongst them began by telling me
that they had been very uneasy in their minds about
the loss of their preacher. The whole church, indeed,
had been in a most perplexed and imhappy condition
ever since he had resigned and they had come specially
to consult with me to see whether I could not persuade
him to reconsider his decision and listen to their earnest
request to remain with them as their pastor.

One by one the others followed in the same strain
and employed the strongest arguments possible to get
me to use my influence with the man to cause him to
withdraw his resignation. I was perplexed and did not
know what to do. These very same men had only
very recently used all their powers of persuasion to
induce me to find some way by which the man could
be got rid of. I had done so anH now here they were,
with the man whom they really detested in their midst,
eloquently going over the reasons why he should be
retained in his old position. Fortunately for them, I
absolutely refused to listen to their arguments, and the
preacher seconded me by declaring that he had made
up his mind to accept another invitation which he had
received from another church to become their minister.
After a few words on other subjects, he got up and
left as he had an appointment to keep. As the door
closed upon him I turned to the others and I said very
sternly : " Will you please tell me what you mean by
your strange conduct? You were determined in the first
instance to get rid of your preacher, and in sympathy
with you I arranged a very unpleasant piece of business
so satisfactorily that everybody's ' face ' was saved^ and

"FACE" 311

now you are here begging and entreating for the reten-
tion of the very man that you could not tolerate. What
is the meaning of this farce? "

The men up to this point had kept their faces as
solemn as judges. There had not been a quiver of the
eyelids or a passing flash across their features to
indicate that a huge comedy was being enacted. One
of the most solemn-looking of the men before me, with
a twinkle in his eye and a smile that seemed to come
from some great depth within the recesses of his heart,
looked up at me and said : '* It is quite true that we
wished to get rid of the man, and he himself was
perfectly aware of that. It would not do, however,
to let the world assume that this was the case. To have
done that would have caused him to lose his face so
seriously that he would not have recovered it for many
a long year to come. Now he leaves us with a large
accession of face and the story will be repeated
in the church to which he is going, and the man will
be able to hold up his head in a manner that he has
never been able to do before." As he slowly uttered
these words, the smile became deeper and deeper till
it spread all over his face and his eyes twinkled with
an irrepressible sense of humour. The countenances
of the others, too, showed how tickled they were at
the comedy they had been playing. They were suffused
with broad grins that travelled over their ample faces
and over their foreheads till they vanished down their
queues. Their amusement was so contagious that I
found myself joining in the hearty laughter that filled
the room with its echoes.

The Chinese is a man with an inexhaustible fund of
humour. Without that he would not have been able to
have borne the toil, the hunger, the sorrows, and tho
thousand sources of trouble that, without one little ray
of light flashed down upon him from heaven, he has
had to endure. It has been like the brook tumbling
down the mountain -side and singing its song amidst the
hills, or like the rainbow that, amid gathering clouds
that are darkening the very heavens, illumines the gloom
with its beauty and makes one forget that the world
at its worst can never lose its brightness.

Now amidst all the endless possibilities for exhibiting

S12 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

this beautiful and God-given sense, there is nothing that
gives such boundless opportunities as this most interest-
ing and universal custom. The oddities of the Chinese
mind and their keen appreciation of the whimsical in
the human mind find a vent in it such as nothing else
could supply. It is a pleasing thought that in their
effort to carry out an idea that is a purely selfish one
originally, the Chinese have been led during the course
of ages to widen its scope and to include the '* face "
of others as well as that of their own.

CHAPTER XXIV

PEEPS INTO CHINESE LIFE

Brother John is one of the unsolved problems of the
East. A Chinese puzzle is popularly supposed to be
the most intricate and perplexing of its kind. It has
a delightful air of mystery about it. It is involved.
Subtle points of difficulty lie hidden in unexpected
places. Angles and corners exist that will not fit any-
where, and yet without these the puzzle would be in-
complete. This complicated bit of workmanship, and
its cunning and apparently impossible combinations
reveal the nature of the mind that designed it.

Brother John is a conundrum that no one has ever
yet been able to solve. Foreigners of all nationalities
who have come to live in China leave the country with
the vague feeling that the native is a quantity impos-
sible to analyse. It is 3i fact that a foreigner may
spend his days among this people, enter into their
social life, speak their language almost as well as them-
selves, and yet at the end of forty years will honestly
declare that there are a great many things about them
that he does not pretend to understand. It will be
obvious from this that the Chinese is no shallow or
superficial character. It is the very complexity of his
make-up that renders him such a mystery. The
elements that are found in him and the obhque methods
by which the yellow brain works are the things that
puzzle the Occidental who has been accustomed to the
more direct methods of the men of the West.

At first sight the Chinese is very unattractive. His
skin is of yellow hue and his voice is harsh and
unmusical. Judged by a Western standard, there is not
a feature in his face that could ever by the widest
charity be called beautiful. His cheekbones stand out

313

314 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

staring and protuberant. His nose is as flat as though
his far-off progenitor had had it bruised in some
pugilistic encounter, and had transmitted it maimed
and battered to his posterity. His lips are thick and
his mouth wide and open, a veritable sepulchre for the
huge mouthfuls of rice that he daily shovels into it
with his chopsticks. His eyes, too, which are always
black, are narrow and almond-shaped, and the eyeballs,
instead of being large and full-orbed, dance and twinkle
inside the narrow slits, as though they were playing
hide-and-seek with the world. In addition to all this
there is often a dull and soulless look about the great
mass of the people that gives one the impression of an
utter lack of fancy or imagination. In spite of all
these disadvantages, there is a nameless something about
the Chinese that makes the Englishman like him better
than any of the other peoples of the Orient.

One of the principal reasons for this, no doubt, is
his keen sense of humour. This is not of the dry, musty
kind that lies so deeply ingrained that it requires a
surgical operation to extract it. It pervades the man,
and is of that broad and jolly kind that is close to the
surface and bubbles over at the least provocation. Any-
thing ludicrous or grotesque makes him break out into
laughter, or causes smiles, like sunshine on a rugged
hillside, to light up his features. A funny story or
a humorous remark transforms the solid, sphinx-like
face, so that you feel drawn to the man who a moment
before seemed separated from you hy an impassable
gulf.

No Chinese, no matter what mood he may be in, can
ever withstand the power of a joke. It seems to be a
solvent that disperses the ugliest of tempers. I have
seen a man surly and ill-disposed turned into a friend
by some witty remark. I have also known of a crowd
that was decidedly hostile and prepared for some ugly
horseplay completely captured by some humorous
expression that sent smiles flashing across their rugged
features, and converted them into the friends of the
man who a few minutes before they were ready to
stone.

In any estimate that we may make of the Chinese
we must never forget that his mind runs in grooves that

PEEPS INTO CHINESE LIFE 315

are essentially different from those of the Anglo-Saxon.
The latter prefers to go directly to the heart of any
subject with which he is dealing. When he makes a
statement, we at once accept it as the thing he wishes
us to believe. The Chinese mind is the very reverse of
this. It abhors the idea of directness, and prefers to
tell its 5tory in a roundabout way.

The foreigner does not require to be many years in
China before he discovers that it is impossible to be
sure of what a Chinese means by what he says. You
listen to him with great attention. His face is as
calm and as guileless as that of an infant and the words
glide from his lips in an easy and natural way ; and
yet experience teaches you that the thing he is saying
and the thing he means have only a very remote con-
nection with each other.

It is this habit that renders it extremely difficult to
get a Chinese to give you a direct answer to any ques-
tion that you may put to him. You have asked a mason
to give you an estimate for some work that you wished
him to do for you. You have allowed him a week to
work out the details. At the time appointed he appears
with all the items marked out on a sheet of paper, and
in true Anglo-Saxon style you say, ** Well, how much
can you do the work for? " He looks aghast at you.
This kind of question and answer is opposed to the
very genius of the nation and must be sternly met. He
ignores the question so brutally put to him, and he
goes on to say that the job you have asked him to do
is a very difficult one because of the many intricate
details connected with it. You get impatient, and you
say, '* I don't want to hear any of your details. I
simply want to know how much you are going to
charge.*' He goes on unmoved and proceeds to tick
off on his fingers the various kinds of materials that will
be required. You become indignant and insist upon his
telling you at once and without any delay what he
intends to charge. He is still as unmoved as though
he were the Great Wall of China against which you
had been knocking your head. You find it useless to
contend against a force that does not seem to recognise
any will but his own. You simply collapse and listen
in a kind of exasperated way till he has gone through

316 MEN AND MANNEKS OF MODERN CHINA

all the explanation that he deems necessary, and finally
he blurts out the sum you wish to know.

A Chinese never seems to understand that language
is intended to express thought in as direct a way as
possible. It is more often than not simply used as a
vehicle to suggest ideas that remain in the background
and have to be learned by inference. A man, for
example, will come to you with the face of a saint, and
he will give you nine good reasons for a certain course
of action he has taken. You find by and by that not one
of them is true, and that the real one that would have
explained the whole matter was kept back. You ask
him why he did this, and with a face that really beams
with .candour he will give you nine more why he did
not, not one of which, however, will be any more reliable
than those he previously gave you.

The Chinese, in one respect at leiast, are a^ very
exasperating people, because of the dogged and deter-
mined manner in which they insist upon having their
own way. You wish something done and you present
your plans and you show how you wish them carried out.
The listener objects and suggests modifications. You
are firm and declare that you want none of his advice.
He appears to come round to your view. His face
assumes a childlike, satisfied expression and he says that
really after all your plans are the best. When the
work is finished you find to your dismay that he has
carried out, not your ideas but his own. You ask
him why he has dared to do this. *' Oh! '* he says
simply, *' I thought that my way was the best."

A lady calls in a tailor to make a dress. She gives
him precise instructions as to pattern, trimming, &c.,
and he departs with a yellow smile lighting up the
hills and caverns of his childlike face. He perfectly
understands what she wants, he says, and with a
business-like air he gathers up the materials and
vanishes, saying, " I come day after to-morrow morn-
ing." A few days after he appears again with the dress
finished. The same jaundiced smile that he had when
he last left flickers over his face, and he hastens to
open up the parcel and display the glories of silk and
lace that have been combined by his deft and cunning
hand into an enchanting dress. No sooner is it spread

PEEPS INTO CHINESE LIFE 317

out than a shadow passes over the lady's face, ** Why,
tailor," she exclaims, *' you have changed the pattern.
What is the meaning of this? " " Ohl " exclaims the
Celestial in pidgin English, '* I makee changee more
better. I number one piecee good tailor ; my too
muchee savey (know), you no savey, dress more pletty,
can do so fashion." The supreme cheek of this tailor
in setting up his opinion as superior to the lady's is
but in keeping with the general attitude of his country-
men throughout the empire.

Now all this, whilst very annoying at the time, never
causes one to indulge in vindictive feelings. Even when
a Chinese is most exasperating, the humorous element is
so powerful that more often than not the indignant
feelings find relief in a fit of laughter. The cool way
in which he will romance and build up a story in which
there is not a single atom of truth excites one's sense
of the ridiculous to such an extent that it is impossible
to sustain one's anger. The feeling of a man mentioned
in Smith's ** Chinese Characteristics," who was in a
chronic state of indecision whether he should murder
one of his mulish servants or raise his wages, well
expresses the varying emotions that the foreigner has
in dealing with that strange but unique character the
Chinese.

There is one feature in the Chinese that is most
distressing, and that is his untruthfulness. From our
point of view he seems to possess no sense of truth.
If you think you will shame him by telling him that
he is lying you will receive a decided shock. He
will simply smile, assume a benevolent air, and assure
you that he never told a lie in his life. A very common
expression and one in constant use is, *' There is not a
shadow " (meaning of truth) '* in what you say." Two
men are in conversation and you are startled at the
blunt, brutal way in which this statement is used, and
you expect to see the man who has uttered it felled to
the ground, but nothing of the kind happens. The
word seems to convey no more offensive meaning than
our own phrase, " Oh I you are surely joking."

A rough, coarse coolie once, in answer to some state-
ment that I had made, replied to me in the common
phrase above referred to. I said to him : " You will

318 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

have to be careful how you talk that way to Englishmen.
Some of these days you will get your face damaged
so that your own mother will not recognise you.'* He
looked at me in astonishment. He could not grasp my
meaning. A lie was of so little consequence to him
that to be told that he was telling one would no more
move him than if you were to inform him that he was
a poet or an historian.

This universal untruthfulness meets you at every turn.
One day I went to call upon a, Chinese merchant to
get a subscription for a hospital. I did not know him
by sight, and as I entered his door I asked a sober,
quiet-looking man if the master was in. *' He has
just gone out," he promptly replied, and he pointed
down the street in the direction in which he was sup-
posed to have gone. Something very slight occurred to
make it flash upon me that this was the very man I
was seeking. Smiling, I said to him, *' You are the
gentleman I want to see, and now you will have to
give me a double subscription for trying to deceive
me." A broad grin overspread his features, and the
people standing by seemed highly amused, but they
never attempted to apologise for the lie and no shade
of uneasiness crossed the face of this rich man, who
had endeavoured to get rid of an unwelcome visitor
by a device that every Chinese would adopt in similar
circumstances.

Another day I went on a similar errand to the house
of a wealthy banker. I had scarcely entered before a
servant informed me that the gentleman I wished to
see was so ill that he could see no one but the members
of his own family. I doubted this, so I quietly took
a seat, and said I would wait till his master got well.
I told him I was in no hurry whatever, and that the sick
man could take his time about getting well for I was
quite willing to remain until he was convalescent. The
man's eyes opened in amazement. He was evidently
tickled with the idea and if he had dared he would
have laughed, but he kept his face as solemn as a
sepulchre and went off to report what I had said to
his master. In a few minutes he returned with the
latter's apologies and with the request to call another
day as he was really too ill to see me. I replied that

A STREET SHAVE.

To face p. 319.

PEEPS INTO CHINESE LIFE 319

I was very sorry to hear that he was so unwell, but as
I had leisure just now at my disposal, I would prefer
to remain until he was well enough to see me. After
several attempts to get rid of me 1 was finally admitted
to his private sitting-room. I found there was really
nothing the matter with him, and when I entered his
face was suffused with a broad grin at the exquisite
joke of a man waiting for another who was supposed
to be very ill until he had recovered.

One's mental faculties are always on the stretch in
China, weighing and balancing evidence like a judge
or jury to find out the exact truth of statements that are
made to you. A man, for example, comes into your
room with a mysterious air. He glances round about
to see if there is any one else. He goes to the windo'ws
and furtively looks through the cracks. He steps on
tiptoe to the door and peers down both ways to dis-
cover if any one is lurking about. He then returns in
a silent, cat-like way, gives a rapid glance at
the chimney and then points to the ceiling, then to the
ground, next to you, and finally to himself, as much as
to say, " There are four witnesses to what I am going
to say. Heaven, Earth, you and I, so truth is to be
spoken now." He then leans forward with another
covert glance at the door and pours into your ear a story
about another person in whom you have considerable
faith that gives you a shock as though you had been
in contact with a powerful galvanic battery. After
a time you recover yourself, and then the judicial
process of weighing evidence begins. How much of
this is true, how much exaggerated, and what important
facts have been left untold, are questions that travel
through your brain, as the large -mouthed, high-cheek-
boned Celestial pours out his insinuations into your ear.
You discover by and by that one essential fact that
would have cleared the reputation of your friend has
been withheld. You feel relieved, you breathe once
more as you get rid of the grave suspicion that had
rankled in your mind, and you can now meet the man
that you doubted with an open countenance and a
trusting heart.

It must not be inferred from the description given
above of Brother John that he is an indefinite, weak-

320 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

kneed character. He is anything but that. If ever a
race had a stiff backbone, it is the Chinese. 'One sign
of strength is the power he undoubtedly possesses of
adapting himself to any circumstances in which he may
be situated. Place him in a northern climate, where the
sun's rays have lost their fire, and where the snow falls
and the frost lays its icy hands upon the forces of
Nature, and he will thrive as though he had come from
an ancestry that had always lived in a frozen region.
Transport him to the torrid zone, where the sun is a
great ball of molten flame, where the air is as hot
as though it had come from a volcano, and he will
move about with an ease and comfort as though a
sultry climate was the very thing that his system
demanded.

He is so cosmopoHtan in his nature that it seems
to be a matter of indifference what may happen to
him. He will travel along lofty peaks where the snows
of successive winters lie unmelted, or he will sleep in
a grass hut at the edge of a swamp, where the Anopheles
mosquitoes will sing their songs and feast upon him..
He will be carried sumptuously in a luxurious sedan-
chair, as though he were the most delicate of mortals,
or he will descend into the sultry tinmines of Siam as
though they were the home in which he was born, and
at night he will stretch himself on the hard, uneven
ground, with a brick for his pillow, and will rise next
morning as refreshed as though he had slept on a
bed of down.

You meet the Chinese everywhere under the most
varied conditions, but he seems natural under every
one of them. He walks about in an easy, unsurprised
way a first-class passenger in a crack mail steamer,
or he curls himself up in a native river boat like a snail,
in a space where no human being could live an hour
but himself, and he sleeps a dreaniless sleep the livelong
night in a fetid atmosphere that would give an Occi-
dental disorders from which he might never recover.

Whatever the social condition of the Chinese may be,
whether merchant or coolie, artisan or day labourer,
one becomes impressed with the idea that behind those
harsh and inartistic features there is a strength of
physique and a latent power of endurance that seem to

\

PEEPS INTO CHINESE LIFE 321

make him independent of climate and impervious to
microbes, germs, bacteria, and all the other scourges
that seem to exist for the destruction of human life
excepting the Chinese.

One advantage the Celestial has over the Occidental
is what may be called his absence of nerves. The rush
and race and competition of the West have never
yet touched the East. The Orient is sober and measured
and never in a hurry. An Englishman, were all other
signs wanting, can easily be distinguished as he walks
along the road by his rapid stride, the jerky movements
of his arms, and the nervous poise of his head, all so
different from the unemotional crowd around him, who
seem to consider that they have an eternity before
them in which to finish their walk, and so there is no
need for hurry. There is no doubt but that this absence
of nerves is a very important factor in enabling the
Chinese to adapt himself so readily to any circum-
stances in which he may be placed. Take the matter
of pain. He bears it with the composure of a saint.
The heroic never seems to come out so grandly as
when he is enduring some awful suffering that only a
martyr would be willing to bear. I have seen a man
come into a hospital with a hand one mass of inflamma-
tion, swollen and angry-looking, that must have been
giving him torture. His face was drawn and its yellow
hue had turned to a slightly livid colour, but there were
no other signs that he was in agony. The surgeon
drove his knife deep into the angry, inflamed mass, but
only the sounds *' ai-ya," uttered with a prolonged
emphasis, and the twisting up of the muscles of one
side of the face showed that he was conscious of any
pain. An Occidental of the same class would most
probably have howled and perhaps a couple of assistants
would have had to hold him whilst the doctor was
operating.

It is this same spirit that enables the Chinese to
bear suffering of any kind with a patience and a
fortitude that is perfectly Spartan. He will live from
one year's end to another on food that seems utterly
inadequate for human use. He will slave at the severest
toil, with no Sunday to break its monotony and no
change to give the mind rest. He will see sorrow,

21

322 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

inevitable, unappeasable, resting over his home, and
yet he will go on with the duties of life with a sturdy!
tread and a meditative, mystic look upon his face that
reminds one of those statues of Buddha that one sees
in the great temples and monasteries. It is but fair
to state here that the women show no less strength ofi
character than the men. They endure pain and sorrow]
with as uncomplaining a spirit as they do the toils andj
duties of life, and the hardships brought upon themj
by the misconduct of their husbands when they become!
gamblers or opium-smokers are borne with a spiritj
of heroism that gives us a high idea of their fortitude!
and bravery.

Another evidence of the strength of the Chinese is
the calm and unruffled way in which he will submit to
dela,y and wait the time of others, a thing that so
ruffles the temper of the Occidental.

A man, for example, calls upon you for some special
purpose. He has something to ask you that is of the
utmost importance to him. When he first addresses
you, he does not show this either in his face or his
manner. You happen to be occupied at the time and
you request him to be seated. He does so with the
appearance that he has infinite leisure at his command
and that he has just dropped in without having any
special reason for doing so. You suddenly leave the
room for a moment, and something engages your
attention, so that you forget all about the man. An
hour may elapse and when you return he rises from his
seat with a smile upon his face, and with a courteous
bow, in either of which there is not the slightest sign
of temper. An Occidental would have fretted and
fumed, and received you with flaming eyes and a face
clouded with indignation, and very likely you would
have parted from each other in mutual disgust and
displeasure. The absence of nerves and the staying
power that had kept him glued to his chair whilst you
had forgotten his very existence are the forces that
enable him to gain his purpose in the end. The
Englishman would go off in a towering rage. He has
been insulted and he eases his mind by a forcible ex-
pression of opinion about ypurself that will render any
further communication with you extremely improbable.

PEEPS INTO CHINESE LIFE 323

The Celestial would think that an absolute waste of
power. He has a certain object to obtain, which he
can get in no way so easily or effectually as through
you. Why should he allow passion or temper to prevent
this? He will sit two hours, or four if necessary, with
a face as serene and unclouded as though he had already
attained the passionless state of Nirvana. Indeed, if
you were to ask him to call again to-morrow morning,
as your time was just now limited, he would put on a
childlike smile, and declare that it was perfectly con-
venient for him, and he would leave you with a pro-
fusion of stately bows to show how completely satisfied
he was with the arrangement.

To-morrow at the appointed hour, just as he is enter-
ing, you suddenly recollect that you have an important
engagement. You sigh and wonder what you are
going to do. You state your difficulty to him and he
at once relieves your anxiety by assuring you that the
delay of another day will not make the least difference
to hirn, and that he will be happy to come again at
any hour the next day that may be perfectly suitable
for you. Such untiring patience and good-humour
irresistibly appeal to you, and if it is possible you will
put yourself out to grant the request of the man who
has shown such tact in bringing it before you.

The sleuthhound instinct that is strong in the Chinese
is being constantly illustrated in everyday life. There
is one instance in the life of the famous general Tso
Chung-tang that will explain exactly what I mean. In
A.D. 1873 the great Mohammedan rebellion had swept
with desolating force over Eastern Turkestan and the
western boundaries of China. It was deemed essential
for the very safety of the empire that this should be
put down, and that the countries that had revolted
should be brought to submission. General Tso was
appointed to the command of the army that was
to engage in this most difficult undertaking. No
ordinary man would have been competent to carry on
a campaign that tested the ability of the ablest of com-
manders. The rebels were not only in some of the
extreme provinces of the empire, but they were also
in a wide extent of territory that stretched hundreds
of miles beyond. The country was mountainous or

324 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

hilly and only partially cultivated. There were no
regular roads by which to travel. The people were
fierce and warlike and the difficulty of getting regular
supplies for an invading army seemed absolutely insur-
mountable.

As long as Tso was in touch with his own country
he managed, after superhuman efforts, to feed his
soldiers with the provisions forwarded him by the
Government. When, however, he launched into the
regions held by the enemy, he found that the feeding
of his large army was a problem that was likely to
test his resources to the very utmost. He saw plainly
that he could not have provisions brought to him. Long
strings of camels and horses would come into his camp,
but when the bags that ought to have contained the
corn and rice for his soldiers were opened, they were
found to be nearly empty, for the animals and the men
that had brought them had nearly consumed them for
their own support on the long journey they had
travelled.

Any ordinary commander would have retired to his
base to save his army from destruction, but Tso deter-
mined that no disgrace of this kind should ever tarnish
the splendid record that had made his name famous.
He has made up his mind to carry out to a successful
issue the mandate he had received from the Emperor.
He accordingly devised a plan that would perhaps never
have occurred to any but a Chinese brain, and he at
once proceeded to put it into execution. Having secured
a district suitable for his purpose, he made an en-
trenched camp and turned the whole of his soldiers
into farmers. The vast majority of them had been
such before they joined the ranks, so they had not
to learn the business of farming. Fields were measured
out and garden plots where all kinds of cereals and
vegetables could be grown, and the astonishing sight
was seen of a large military force being converted
into peaceful husbandmen, whose one aim seemed not
to be fighting but enticing from Nature the rich crops
that were to cover the fields and meadows with luxuriant
harvests.

A year went by and the commissariat was plentifully
supplied with the requisites for the need of the army.

PEEPS INTO CHINESE LIFE 325

Never was the staying power of the Chinese more
signally illustrated or more severely tested than during
this year of enforced military inaction. Tso was eating
out his heart to be at his enemies and crush out the
rebelhon, but he doggedly held on to his purpose,
knowing that in the end he must conquer.

One morning the trumpet sounded and, in an instant,
the farmers were once more transformed into soldiers.
Regiments were re-formed, and men hastened to rejoin
their colours, and ere long the tramp of the soldiers
was heard as they advanced against the strongholds of
the enemy. Again and again the farmer experiment
had to be resorted to, but in the end, after years of
patient, bulldog perseverance, the rebellion was crushed
and Tso with his farmer-soldier veterans had the honour
of restoring the revolted provinces to the allegiance of
the empire.

The staying power of the Chinese is exhibited in
every phase of life in which you meet him. In one of
the western provinces there are saltmines that it takes
forty years to bore. A man begins work with the
consciousness that he will never see the end of it.
Never mind, his son may, and so he begins to drill.
The seasons come and go and he still continues to
drill. The winter comes with its frost and the summer
with its sultry heat, but there is no stay. The years
roll by and old age creeps over him, and still he is
drilling, and the last sounds that he may hear in life
are the voices of men that are still boring for the
brine that lies hidden deep in the bowels of the earth.

In the character of the Chinese there are many con-
flicting elements, some of them undoubtedly a source of
weakness. The chief one, apart from those that involve
any moral question, is his tendency to be content with
a slipshod way of executing any duty that it comes
to him to perform. He seems to have no great ideal
by which he fashions his life. Just as the word
" efficiency " represents in the West the keynote, as
it were, of the motive power that dominates men's
thoughts there, so it would be no injustice to the Chinese
to declare that the word that describes their mental
attitude is the one in constant use among them, viz.,
** anyhow.**

326 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

The servants in the house, the employees in a firm,
the mechanic in his trade, the official in his office, never
seem to be impressed with the thought that they must do
everything in the very best style because they should take
a pride in doing the most perfect work they are capable
of. No, " anyhow " exactly paints the attitude of mind
into which the nation has fallen. It meets one every-
where. A thing comes home badly finished, days after
it has been promised ; a servant neglects to do a cer-
tain appointed work ; the chair-bearers, instead of
being ready at daylight as arranged, will saunter in
two hours late ; a certain payment is promised on a
specified date, but no money is forthcoming ; an order
is given to a tailor for a dress that must be ready for a
certain occasion, and he walks in with it next morning.
No one seems troubled about any failure such as the
above. The ready phrase which, though it means
** anyhow," is a very complicated one and carries with
it *' don't be particular," '* let it pass this time," *' never
mind," seems to satisfy the Chinese mind and to be a
ready excuse for every neglect. That the Chinese
character has many elements of strength is undoubted,
but there will have to be a serious revolution in it before
it will be able to compete with the other nations of the
world, and the easy-going way in which the life of
most of the people is taken will have to be exchanged
for a more strenuous one in tlie years that are before
the republic.

CHAPTER XXV

THE NEW EMPIRE OF CHINA

Within the last twenty years there has been a remark^
able development of thought that has permeated every
section of the national life. This has not been the
result of accident, but is the fruit of strenuous and
sustained effort that has been carried on for a long
series of years.

When the missionary first began to endeavour to
influence the Chinese crowds that flocked around him
as he travelled into districts where the foreigner had
never been seen before, he soon discovered that one of
the greatest forces to make an impression upon them
was the printed page. The scholar in China stands in
the front rank of society, and books are looked upon
with the most profound veneration and respect. Even
the printed character, with its old-world mysterious
look, holds a high position in the estimation of every
one, learned and unlearned alike.

In every large city one can see men with baskets
slung over their shoulders, on which are written largely,
and ^o distinctly that every one can read them at a
glance the words, '* Pity the characters." These men
are paid to go round the streets and pick up bits of
paper and broken pieces of crockery with writing on
them. People think it an indignity that these characters
that have been the source of the empire's greatness
should be trodden under the feet of the passers-by, and
so they are rescued from the streets and with due cere-
mony and honour burned in stoves that have been
specially erected in some public place for the purpose.

It soon became evident that the great auxiliary of the
preacher in his itinerations through the country was
the books that he carried with him and that he sold

328 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

to his audiences. These remained with his hearers
after he had proceeded on his journey. In early years
these were entirely of a religious character, and con-
sisted of Gospels and tracts dealing with popular cus-
toms and superstitions which he knew would be read
and studied by many who had never listened to his
preaching.

Books were the only medium by which the scholars
of any particular district could be reached, for one very
rarely met with any of these gentry in the popular
gatherings that flocked round the missionary in these
tours. They had too much contempt for him to come
near him, and besides, they were most indignant that
a barbarian should dare to assume the role of teacher
and profess to be able to enlighten a land that was
fully competent to teach the whole world.

Still, it was of prime importance that these men should
be influenced. They were the only aristocracy of China,
as well as its thinkers. They were, moreover, the
teachers in the schools throughout the empire, and con-
sequently held a unique place of power and influence
over the masses of the people.

Books accordingly were prepared that would specially
appeal to them. Some of these dealt with religious
phases of thought that would prove attractive to them,
and which brought up great questions that had never
been discussed in their own classical writings. In the
course of time some of the best works of the West
on a great variety of subjects, sucTi as history, science,
international law, &c., were translated by the mission-
aries and brought within the reach of the reading men
of China.

One very favourite and effective way of doing this
was by meeting the men at their triennial examinations
for their degrees. These occurred at every prefectural
city throughout the empire, and as many as ten thousand
would attend these to compete for their B.A. It was
a magnificent opportunity for getting the elite of a
prefecture, gathered from five or six counties, within
the narrow compass of a; city and of distributing books
that were full of thoughts for a new life, amongst a
body of men that were so conservative and so anti-
foreign as these gentry always were.

THE NEW EMPIRE OF CHINA 329

Many a rare scene of adventure took place when
the missionary appeared among^st them with his books.
The favourite place where he took his stand was at
the main entrance to the great Examination Hall, where
they had been closely confined whilst they were being
examined. As they trooped out a look of contempt
seemed to sweep across their faces as they caught sight
of the barbarian, and to cast a dark shadow over
them.

They were too polite and refined to adopt the violent
methods of the mob, but they had a more insulting way
of showing their feelings. Some of them stood and
stared in his face as though he were a wild animal
that had only recently been caught, and which they
examined with looks of wonder and amazement.
Others, proud and defiant, marched by him with their
heads high in the air as though he were utterly be-
neath their notice. A moment after there would be
a rush of the more hot-blooded, and he would be hustled
up against the side of a wall, whilst his books lay
scattered on the ground.

Then others would come along who resented such
coarse treatment of the stranger, and with smiles and
bows would receive his books with promises to read
them when they reached their homes, whilst others,
again, of a more original and independent turn of mind,
would eagerly scan the titles of his books, and with
many profuse thanks accept them from him.

At least a thousand copies would thus be distributed
amongst the ten thousand, and these would be carried
off into towns and villages and market-places in the
prefecture, and during the long evenings, when the
home was buried in sleep, the men would ponder over
them, and new pictures would be formed in their minds
such as the writings of the sages had never been able to
conjure up. In these thousand studies a new empire
began to dawn in the thoughts of these students, and
a new vision of the unseen world that no writer of
romance had ever been able to picture before their
imaginations .

In the course of years, the Christian and secular
literature that the missionary provided for the readers
in the nation slowly but surely began to affect the

330 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

thinking even of those who at first were most hostile
to the foreigner. Truth is imperious and brooks no
defiance of its mysterious sway, and men unconsciously
found themselves controlled by thoughts that upset all
their ideals of life. In time the bookshops that were
set up by the missionaries in great centres in the coun-
try where the new books could be obtained, found
their best customers amongst these very literati who
had been most violent in their opposition to reform.

One of the most striking evidences of the success with
which the missionaries had been able to influence the
thoughts and convictions of what might be termed
the ruling class in China, namely, the scholars, was the
calm and placid way in which they consented to the
new system by which degrees were to be obtained in
the future.

In the past for countless centuries these had been
obtained after profound study of the classics. These
were practically the only textbooks that were allowed
by the Imperial Examiner when once in three years
he came round in almost royal state to examine men
for their degrees.

All at once like a thunderbolt from the blue an
edict was issued by the late Emperor Kuang-Su abolish-
ing this system and establishing Government schools
with a new curriculum, which besides the classics con-
tained other subjects imported from the West that the
scholar of the past would have looked upon with perfect
horror. One of these was a knowledge of English.
The men that passed through this course successfully
and succeeded in satisfying the Examiners got their
degrees, whilst the old-world method was abolished.

In any other country but China there would have been
the wildest excitement, and, perhaps, widespread revolu-
tion. At one stroke of the vermilion pencil vast
numbers of the scholars of the land were disenfran-
chised. Those who had already obtained their degrees
were safe, but there were millions of others in whose
hearts the very dream of their lives would die out and
never again flash its mystery upon their hearts.

The years of. toil that these men had spent in learning
the classics had all been wasted. The subjects in which
they were masters, and through which honour and

THE NEW EMPIRE OF CHINA 331

wealth were to come to them, were no longer of any
use to them. To the middle-aged and older men the
future was entirely closed, for they could never enter
the new schools and compete with the younger blood
that would flock into them. What a crushing blow to
the men who constituted the intellect and brains of the
empire ! And yet the edict was received without any
protest. No local riots took place, and no gatherings
of the literati in the Confucian guilds throughout the
provinces were convened to denounce the action of the
Emperor in thus destroying by an arbitrary edict the
privileges of their Order.

The Chinese is a thoughtful man and a loyal one.
For years the work of the missionary in moulding the
minds of the literati by giving them the best and most
advanced thoughts of Western nations had given them
a new inspiration. They had discovered that if China
was ever to come to the front as a great imperial
force in the East their system of education must be
radically reformed, and so with a rare patriotism which
shows the finer metal of which these men were composed
they consented to efface themselves that their country
might be exalted. Japan, they saw, had risen to be a
great power through the willingness of its people to
be inspired with the genius of the West. China must
never be allowed to take a second place to a land
that for many centuries had been her vassal. She
could never hope by force of arms and by bloody
campaigns to rise to the height that Japan had done,
but she saw in the new learning the potency of a
higher life that would exalt the nation to a supreme
place in the councils of the world.

The Government schools are now in full work with
the new system of studies, and young China is full of
the highest hopes. The awful drudgery of the past
was being compelled to commit to inemory endless pages
of hieroglyphs, from which there peer out only the
visages of ancient worthies, and where no child's voice
is ever heard and no woman's face is ever seen. The
romance of thought is now filling their imaginations,
and the history and brave deeds of other lands and
the marvellous discoveries of science are now flashing
through their brains, and, best of all, the honours that

332 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

could never have come to so many now lie within the
grasp of every ambitious lad.

In one of these a young Christian man of eighteen
or nineteen years of age was studying. Under the old
regime many a long year of painful drudgery would
have had to elapse before he could have gained his
coveted degree. When the examinations took place
and the lists were put out his was amongst the first of
the names that had gained their degree. I was
astounded, for I knew that his scholarship was not
of such a profound character as would entitle him to
this high honour. On inquiry I found that it was his
knowledge of English that had led the Examiner to pass
him. How far China has already travelled from the
ideals of the past and how new a vision has come into
the eyes of its people may be gathered from this one
fact.

Another sign of the awakening of China is the great
national revolution that is now convulsing the empire.
Although the new learning is in a certain sense largely
responsible for this, the chief causes that have led to
this date farther back in the life of the nation.

In the year a.d. 1644 the Manchus became the rulers
of China. They had been invited by one of the last
emperors of the Ming dynasty to hasten to his assist-
ance with all their forces to aid in building up the
fortunes of his falling House. They were fascinated
with the empire they had come to help, and they were
determined to hold it for themselves. Never had such
a prize been placed within their grasp. They had
often made wild forays along the borders of this delect-
able land and their eyes had glistened with delight as
they gazed upon the scene before them. The smiling
country, with its fertile pastures and mountain streams
and homes that seemed so full of plenty, looked beauti-
ful to these wild raiders, and now the whole empire,
with its broad plains and lofty mountains and magni-
ficent rivers, stretched out before their excited imagina-
tions and was theirs if only they had the courage to
seize upon it.

There was no room for hesitation here. The prize
must not be allowed to slip from their grasp. Tha
country was in disorder and the forces that might have

THE NEW EMPIRE OF CHINA 333

opposed them were scattered and disotganised, and so
the order was given and the throne was seized and
the capital occupied, whilst garrisons were thrown into
the provincial capitals and the domination of the
Manchus was complete.

A more unsuitable race of people could never have
come into so splendid an inheritance. The conquerors
belonged to a wild, barbaric race, full of the fighting
spirit that they had inherited from a long line of
ancestors. Their civilisation was of the very lowest
order and had never been elevated by the refinements
that learning ever brings in its train.

If any of the great men in their tribe had ever
been conspicuous for anything in the past, it was because
they were more daring and more mad and ferocious
in their adventures of pillage and slaughter in their
savage incursions into the Flowery Kingdom. It was
against such tribes as theirs that Shih Hwang Ti, the
first Emperor of China (B.C. 221), had built the Great
Wall to stay the inroads of the uncivilised, murderous
hordes that lay beyond.

The Chinese, on the other hand, were in many
respects a highly civilised race. They were settled
in a country that was rich in natural products of every
kind. Great cities with enormous populations were to
be found throughout the length and breadth of it.
Splendid edifices and porcelain towers and tall pagodas
and palatial buildings for the rich bore evidence to
the refinement and luxuriance of its people.

It was a land, too, of learning, and men of the highest
culture abounded in it. It had a history that could be
traced back to the days when the great sages lived
and when they taught and wrote those wonderful
treatises that have been so potent in moulding the
character of the generations that have slowly built up
the empire.

That its people should submit to the Manchus was
utterly repugnant to every Chinese within the broad
area of the empire. They never could endure the
thought that a great nation like theirs, with its countless
millions of inhabitants, should have been subdued by
a few hundred thousand savage horsemen, who, taking
advantage of the distracted state of the country, had

334 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

taken possession of an empire that they were totally,
unfit to govern. They were barbarians, and for such
every Chinese had an undying hatred and contempt.

During the long years of the past the nation has neverj
submitted to the domination of the Manchus. The]'
have always been looked upon as an alien race and as
members of a barbarian tribe that ought to be drivei
back again across the Great Wall into the wilds of
country that suited their habits and character.

In consequence of this deep-seated antipathy secre<
societies have always been in existence in ever]
province, whose distinguishing watchword has beei
** The destruction of the Ching and the restoration of
the Ming." The present Manchu dynasty is called the
Ching or the Pure, whilst the one that they overthrew
is known by its appellation of Ming or the Intelligent.

Many efforts have at various times been made to
raise insurrections to overthrow the Manchus. The
most successful of these was the one called the Taiping
or Long-haired rebellion. Starting in the extreme
south, the revolutionary wave swept over the country
till the most of the southern provinces were in the
hands of the patriots. Many of the great cities on the
Yang-tze, including even Nanking, the ancient capital
of China, were in their hands, and the Manchu forces
had been routed and scattered by the soldiers of the
revolution.

There is no doubt whatever but that they would
have been successful in the end and that before long a
native dynasty would have been sitting on the Dragon
throne if the revolution had been allowed to take its
own course, but, unfortunately, it was not.

The Taiping soldiers had reached Shanghai, which
they could easily have captured^ when the British
admiral, whose fleet was lying in the Woosung River
off the city, intimated to their commander that he would
employ all the forces at his command to resist any
attack that might be made on it. Knowing they were
too weak to contend with such a powerful foe as the
English, they withdrew from the neighbourhood of the
town and encamped their army on the ground that is
now used as a racecourse.

Next day the general in command forwarded a letter

THE NEW EMPIRE OF CHINA 335

to the English Consul, most touching and most pathetic,
that ought to have thrilled the heart of every English-
man, when he remembered the proud boast of his
country that it was the friend of the oppressed and that
the British flag was the emblem of protection to those
who fled to it for refuge.

The letter, freely translated, ran somewhat like the
following : —

" English Brethren [the word for brethren in
Chinese meant the elder brothers and the younger
ones in the same family], — We appeal to you not
to become our enemy. We are fighting for the
freedom of our country, and we know that in time
we shall gain the victory and drive our oppressors
out of the Middle Kingdom. The Manchus are as
much your enemies as they are ours, and they hate
you as much as they do us. They have never loved
you, and they call you barbarians, and in their hearts
they think of you with scorn and contempt. If they
had the power they would drive you into the sea to-
morrow, and they would rejoice in your destruction.
** Our thoughts are different, and we call you
brethren, and when the empire is ours we shall not
treat you as strangers, but you shall have every privi-
lege that brethren have a right to claim. We need
Shanghai, for we have no port where we can purchase
supplies and munitions of war that will enable us to
carry on our campaign against the enemies of our
country with success.

*' We d'o not ask you to fight on our behalf. We

simply pray you, our English brethren, to stand aside

and remain neutral, and when we have won we will

show you how deep our gratitude is."

The only ,reply to this most beautiful appeal was the

firing of the great guns of the English men-of-war

and the hurling of shot and shell into the patriot forces.

These with a scream and a roar, as though they were

in agony for very shame at the ignominious part that

England was taking in aiding the oppressor against the

oppressed, flew with many a shriek over the settlement,

and filled the hearts of us all with a nameless terror

that it was difficult to control.

Later on an even stranger and more bewildering:

336 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

thing took place when General Gordon appeared on
the scene. This great man is a true hero in the eyes
of every Englishman. His nature was a most tender
and compassionate one, and he had the genius that every
heart so full of human sympathy as his has of winning
the homage of every one that knew him. The suffering
and the fallen were drawn to him by a mysterious and
irresistible attraction. The mere act of living had no
attraction for him, for to suffer for others was his
highest ideal of life. He proved this by willingly dying
for a people amongst whom he had cast his lot, in order
to save them from a cruel tyranny that would have
rendered their lives unbearable. And yet, oh ! mystery
of mysteries, this great soul, this man whose name shines
so brightly in the role of English heroes, actually took
his stand on the side of the Manchu conquerors of China,
and at the head of his *' Ever Victorious Army " was
the means in many a bloody battle of causing the
death of countless numbers of patriots who faced death
in the hope of delivering their country from a great
oppression.

It was through the action of the British admiral,
who drove the revolutionary army from Shanghai, and
of General Gordon, who crushed the revolution, that
the fingers of the clock of time were stayed for fifty
years in China. Through them the nation's progress
was delayed, whilst not one grateful thought nor one
generous concession has ever been made to England
in recognition of the great delivery that she brought
to the Manchus in saving their dynasty from destruc-
tion. These rulers had always been anti -foreign and
anti-Christian, and there was no sense of gratitude that
could untwine these subtle forces that had entwined
themselves around their hearts.

And so the years went on, and the nation became
more restive, and the secret societies more active and
determined in their plans for the destruction of the
dynasty that had learned no wisdom since the over-
throw of the Taipings. Of late years the rulers had
become more assured of the stability of their power,
for the railways had come and the telegraphic system,
with its mysterious and mystic web, had spread into
every province. They began to feel that with these

THE NEW EMPIRE OF CHINA 337

two forces at their command they could quickly nip in
the bud any insurrectionary movement that might break
out in any part of the empire. But what value are
railways and telegraphs when a whole nation rises in
arms, determined to have its will obeyed? In a moment
they have turned to the side of the oppressed and
become their allies in their demand for freedom.

At length Kwang-Su came to the throne and but few
dreamed that he would in reality be the last of his
race to hold the imperial sway over China. If there
was one man in the empire that could have saved
the tottering dynasty it was he. He had the most
exalted ideas of freedom, and he loved the Chinese as
perhaps no other occupant of the Dragon throne had
ever done before 'him.

When the allied forces of the West were marching
on Peking and the Court was hurrying in mad haste
to get out of the capital, as the royal cavalcade reached
the gate through which they were to emerge frorri
the city, Kwang-Su besought the Empress Dowager
to proceed on her flight and allow him to remain behind.
" Let me stay and die with my people,*' he pleaded,
and the tears that ran down from his eyes showed how
deeply he was moved with the thought of the sufferings
that were about to come on the citizens of Peking
when the foreign forces had entered it.

But the imperious old lady sternly refused to grant
his request, and she compelled him to fly with her. Had
she and Yuan Shi Kai only known how the fortunes of
the royal house were linked with this heroic young
ruler they would have treated him with less contempt,
for he was the one man in China that day who could
have delayed the destruction of a dynasty that had
become more and more hateful to the nation. But they
had not the prophetic eye to be able to scan the future,
and so Fate hurried on to accomplish its purpose.

At last 191 1 dawned upon the empire. The gentle-
hearted Emperor, with his heart full of plans for the
regeneration of China, was gone, and the stern old dame
who had guided the affairs of State with an iron hand
had vanished suddenly and unexpectedly from the scene,
and no one with a master mind could be found to take
her place. An Emperor five years old with his father

22

338 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

as Regent, more facile in weeping than in grasping the
sword and fighting for the throne, were the supreme
heads of the State. The hour had come for the great
deliverance. The men were ready, and their plans were
all thought out, whilst the nation was absolutely united
in its passionate desire for freedom.

And then the revolution broke out, and before men
could catch their breath, so astonished and amazed were
they, the telegraph wires flashed the news through the
eighteen provinces and to the far-off kingdoms of the
West, that Hankow, in the very heart of the nation, with
its splendid arsenal and its inexhaustible stores of war
materials, was in the hands of the revolutionaries.

And then with bewildering rapidity city after city far
removed from each other hauled down the Dragon flag,
and from every house were flung the white ones that
were hung out in token of surrender to the new regime.

One of the most remarkable things tliat has been
noticeable in this revolution is the martial spirit that
has led every class of the people to hasten to enrol them-
selves under the standards of the patriot army. Farm
lads, that were never suspected of having a drop of
fighting blood in their veins, touched by the news that
came flying through the land that the moment for
China's deliverance had come, dropped the plough and
hastened to where the fighting might be expected, ready
to die if needs be in the great adventure. Coolies, too,
in their faded blue cotton clothes, that would make
one smile if any one proposed to turn these slouchy,
unwar like -looking men into soldiers — these, too, as if
inspired with a new spirit of patriotism, caught the call
to arms. A new thought and a new ambition had come
into their hearts which sent the blood flying through
their veins to a music that for centuries had never been
heard in China.

These men, when they came to stand in front of
the enemy, proved of what mettle they were composed.
They have shown a fire and a daring that have always
been supposed to be the special virtues of the warlike
nations of the West, but could never be found in the
hearts of the Chinese Brave.

This opinion has been found to be a mistaken one,
for it has been discovered that the peasants and the

THE NEW EMPIRE OF CHINA 339

farm hands that have ralHed round the leaders of the
revolutionary movement have marched out with a new
enthusiasm in their hearts and have defeated the highly
trained soldiers of the empire. With the exception of
a few comparatively insignificant repulses, that have
proved of no material benefit to the royal cause, the
revolutionaries have everywhere been successful. City
after city and province after province have ceased to
be under the rule of the Manchus. Even Manchuria,
their ancestral home, from which they marched to the
conquest of the Flowery Land, has declared its inde-
pendence, and people of Mongolia, who by ancient ties
were bound to a loyal support of the falling dynasty,
have taken advantage of its collapse and declared
themselves free to rule their own country.

The Manchu rule has ended, and the royal family
has formally abdicated. The great question arose :
What form of government shall the new regime
take? Shall it be monarchical or shall it be republican?
The great mass of the people are in favour of the
latter, and they have so far acted on their convictions
that they have already elected Sun Yat-Sen to be their
first President.

It has come as a kind of shock to the West that a
people who for so many ages have been ruled by kings
and emperors and great viceroys who were possessed
of almost regal powers should suddenly come to the
determination that they would never be governed again
by such haughty potentates, but by parliaments elected
by themselves.

This is startling and unexpected, but it has not come
altogether as a surprise to those who understand the
democratic character of the Chinese mind.

In order to make this matter plain it must be ex-
plained that whilst the great territorial divisions of the
empire are provinces, Fu or prefectures, and counties,
which contain within them immense numbers of towns
and cities, large and small, the vast majority of the
four hundred millions of Chinese live in villages.

One is amazed at the number of these when travelling
through the empire. The great plains are packed with
them. The river banks are made beautifully pictur-
esque by the splendid trees that fling out their giant

340 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

branches and overshadow them. The valleys, too, are
relieved of their solitary grandeur by the overflow of
life that is found in the villages that thickly dot them,
whilst even far up on the hillsides hamlets are perched
upon miniature plateaux and amongst gigantic boulders,
where people obtain a scanty living from the mountain
pines and the thick brushwood that they cut down
and sell as firewood to the dwellers below them.

It is from these villages that the Chinese have got
the republican idea that is dominating the great
majority of the nation at the present moment.

In order to prove this it will be necessary to describe
the government that is carried on in each and every one
of these throughout the empire.

The real rulers in these are the village elders, who
are elected by the people and who are called upon to
decide in all cases of dispute that may arise in it.
Should a family quarrel arise that threatens to be
serious, or some contention about boundaries or the
ownership of some disputed piece of land, or indeed
any difficulty that threatens the peace of the community,
the elders give their judgment, which, in the great
majority of cases, is loyally accepted as a settlement
of the dispute. The mandarin never interferes in any
way in the affairs of the village, and the only time
that there is any intimation of his existence is when the
tax-gatherer comes round at certain appointed times
to collect the Government land tax.

There are times, indeed, when from an English stand-
point his presence would seem to be imperatively
demanded. Two villages, for example, are having a
clan fight, and the men from each come out with guns
and blaze away at each other and wound and maim
and even kill each other. Both the villages lie, perhaps,
right in front of the mandarin's yamen, but he takes
no notice whatever of the conflict that daily takes place
between these rustic combatants. The sound of the
guns is in his ears the whole day long, but he takes no
notice of this serious infraction of the public peace.
If you happened to call his attention to it, he would
look at you with placid, unwinking eyes, and tell you
without a twinkle in them that you were certainly mis-
taken, for that he had never heard a single gua fired.

THE NEW EMPIRE OF CHINA 341

The village is left entirely alone without any interfer-
ence of any one excepting by its own elders, who are the
real rulers of it. In so far it is a republic and possesses
the most absolute power of home rule.

It is only, and not till then, when some appeal is made
to the mandarin by any one in it who is dissatisfied with
some decision of the elders by which he is aggrieved
that the mandarin seems to become conscious that the
village exists at all.

But even then he does not seem to be at all anxious
of attacking its liberties that it has enjoyed from time
immemorial, for before entering on the case when it
has come legally before him, he first summons the elders
into his presence and inquires what action they have
taken in the matter. If he finds they have acted in a
wise and impartial manner, he refuses to upset their
decision and he dismisses the case. If, however, he
discovers that they have been acting in an unjust and
arbitrary fashion, he retries the whole question and
gives his own judgment. In any case he is careful
not to infringe upon the privileges of governing them-
selves that have descended to them from the ancient
past. The people have thus been trained in the
republican idea, which has brought them a large
amount of liberty. It is no wonder, then, that at
the present crisis, when every one may choose the
form of government for the new empire, they should
select that which has given them the largest amount
of liberty in the past. There is no doubt but this
desire for a republican form of government was
greatly strengthened by the splendid object-lesson that
the nation had in 1909 in the Provincial Parliaments
that the Government called into existence that year,
as an experiment to see whether the time had not
come for the summoning of an imperial parliament for
the whole empire.

They proved to be most successful, and every one,
both native and foreign, was profoundly amazed at the
wise and statesmanlike manner in which the members
of the various parliaments brought forward and dis-
cussed great questions of State policy.

In one of these a future Chancellor of the Exchequer
propounded a scheme for an appeal to the nation to raise

342 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

by voluntary contributions sufficient money to pay off all
the debt that was due to foreign nations, and of thus
being enabled to control the finances of the empire.

This was enthusiastically agreed to, though the sum
required would amount to close upon two hundred
million sterling.

All the other parliaments were communicated with,
who were equally unanimous in their approval of this
magnificent scheme, which there is very little reason to
doubt but that the entire nation would have heartily
carried out, for the patriotic spirit had of late been
running like fire through the hearts of every class of
people throughout the country.

The one thing that has held this splendid conception
in abeyance is the difficulty of administering the money
after it has been collected. To put it into the hands
of the mandarins would be fatal, for most of it would
never slip through those fingers that, through the ex-
perience of ages, have learned the art of retaining their
grip on the public monies that have passed through
them. The idea, however, has not been lost, but is
slowly working in the veins of this great people, and
will come to light again in the near future when the
people have gained the control of the nation.

It is no wonder therefore that the people of China
desire to have a republic. They would no longer be
governed by officials in a distant capital, every one of
whom almost grows wealthy on the spoils of the nation.
The tyranny and oppression and bribery that are in-
separably connected with the rule of the mandarin
would be controlled by the State and imperial parlia-
ments. For the first time in the history of the East,
the justice and enterprise of the West would inspire
with a new life and a loftier ambition this great kingdom
of China.

The new empire begins its career with the happiest
omens for its future success. Footbinding, that greatest
curse that has ever affiicted the womankind of any
nation in the world, is doomed.

Some thirty-seven years ago the campaign against
this awful crime was started when the present writer
called a meeting of the Christian women of Amoy to
discuss the question. An ant i -footbinding society, called

THE NEW EMPIKE OF CHINA 343

'* The Heavenly Foot Society," was that day formed.
With the heroism that lies deeply in the hearts of the
women of China, born no doubt out of the agonies and
sufferings and excruciating pains they have had to
endure for long centuries, they nobly withstood the
contempt and scorn that were poured upon them for
refusing to bind their daughters' feet and for unbinding
their own.

The splendid example of these Christian women has
inspired the people of far-off distant provinces with
a mighty enthusiasm to set their wives and daughters
free. A public conscience has been aroused, and
amongst those who have helped in the work of regenera-
tion is that noble Englishwoman Mrs. Archibald Little,
who took up this task in the north twenty years after it
had been started in Amoy in the south. It requires no
special powers of prophecy to predict that before many
years have elapsed not a " Golden Lily," the poetic
title for footbinding, will be found within the wide
limits of the Middle Kingdom. The new republic will
see to it that the infamous custom shall not delay long
within its rule.

Another most happy omen with which the new
empire begins its reign is the absolute certainty that
within a year or two opium will disappear from the
Flowery Kingdom. The people in the West are often
perplexed at the rapidity with which a most monstrous
vice that overshadowed the whole country from the
Yellow Sea on the east to Tibet on the west, and from
the Great Wall in the north to the China Sea in the
south should have been controlled and stifled. It seems
but yesterday that the blight was everywhere, and now
to-day men talk confidently of its speedy disappearance.

A chapter out of my own experience will explain the
mystery and show how the thing has been done. For
many years I lived in the County of Harmonious Peace,
where the poppy was largely cultivated.

At the proper season of the year and in certain
districts the country looked most beautiful and
picturesque with the white and purple flowers of the
poppy. They presented a most charming picture, but
poverty and disaster and death lay within that exquisite
scene .

344 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

Opium-shops and opium-smokers grew apace, and the
farmers, having always a supply in the home, used it for
almost every ailment that the flesh was heir to. Before
the sick knew where they were, they were under the
spell of the " Black Earth," as it was popularly called,
and they were immured in a dungeon from which there
was no deliverance.

At last the hour came when China rose in her might
and determined to crush out the life of this its most
deadly foe, and so orders were sent from Peking to
exterminate the poppy.

These came to the chief magistrate of the County of
Harmonious Peace. He happened to be a man of great
determination of character and a deadly foe to opium,
as he saw it was ruining his country. He had not to
consider constitutional law, or juries, or popular journals
with conservative tendencies. Luckily for him he had
not, for these are sworn foes to heroic reforms. The
methods by which he was to carry out tTie commands
of the Government were left entirely to his own
discretion. '

One morning' he caused to be issued a proclamation
that he posted all over the county. It appeared in
all places where crowds are wont to gather, in market
towns, in front of famous idol temples, where a constant
stream of worshippers entered, and on the thorough-
fares where men were passing up and down the livelong
day. This is the usual method by which a mandarin
conveys his orders to the county.

When men caught a sight of the proclamation their
black eyes gleamed with excitement and delight, for
though many of them were growers of the poppy, the
new patriotism was burning within their hearts, and they
were glad that their country was going to be saved
from disaster.

The proclamation commanded that henceforth no
man might grow the poppy within the county, and
declared that any one that dared to do so, when found
out, would be punished by the confiscation to the State
of his fields, whilst the elders of the village in which
he lived would be severely punished for allowing him
to disobey his orders.

Not content with this, the mandarin took a journey

THE NEW EMPIRE OF CHINA 345

of fifteen miles along a villainous unpaved road to
visit the pastor of a native church in my district. He
said : "I have come to see you to obtain your help in
carrying out this plan that I have adopted for the
extermination of the opium out of my jurisdiction. My
people," he continued, *' will not obey me, and large
numbers of them will try and gain money by taking
bribes and by shielding the guilty by not giving me
information. I know that you Christians have always
been opposed to opium. You, indeed, have been the
true patriots of the empire, and so I come confidently
to you for the assistance that J am not sure my own
subjects will give me. I propose to put a certain
area under your supervision, and I wish you to come
and inform me whenever you find any farmer planting
the poppy. Let me know who he is, and I shall have no
difficulty in finding out where he is."

" And have you informed against any one? " I asked
the pastor, when he told me of the interesting interview
he had had with the mandarin.

** Oh, no," he replied. " I had a better plan than
that. I could not bear the thought of injuring any one,
and so, when I discovered that some man had planted
the poppy, and the plants were showing their green,
innocent-looking heads above the ground, I visited him.
After a few words of friendly greeting, I said to him,
' You know that the *' Great Man " [a common name
for the mandarin] has made me promise to inform him
whenever I find any one disobeying his decree about
the poppy. Unless you, in my presence here, pull up
your crop, I must at once write him and give him
your name. You know then the awful consequences that
will follow. Your land will be taken from you, and you
will be cast into prison, and what will become of your
wife and your little ones then? Pull up every plant,
and you shall have no further trouble in the matter.*
Of course," he continued, '* the man was only too de-
lighted to be let off so easily, and in a few
minutes the poppy-stalks were lying disconsolate and
broken-hearted on the bank overlooking the field in
which they had been growing."

That year no white and purple blossoms turned the
land into a thing of beauty, and no poppies reared their

346 MEN AND MANNERS OF MODERN CHINA

heads defiantly to the sun. They had vanished out
of the whole country, and not a stalk could be seen
where once they had flaunted their immoral beauty in
the light of high Heaven.

The rights of men, it is true, had been disregarded
by this masterful mandarin, but better that, according
to the opinion that was everywhere expressed, than that
women should weep, and children starve, and the home
be wrecked.

Now go through the countless counties where four
hundred millions of people live, and see how the same
process is going on in all of them, and behold I the
secret of how the opium scourge has been destroyed
stands forth revealed. It is a secret no longer, but we
see before us the masterful Celestial with strength of
will in his soul, and a high ideal of righteousness, with
a new sense of patriotism throbbing in his heart, and
you begin to realise the mighty force the Chinese are.

One element of strength that comes with the new
republic is the fact that the man who has engineered the
revolution is a Christian. He has the most loyal devo-
tion of the men that have risked their lives with him.
His influence is seen in the little loss of human life
that has been allowed by the revolutionaries. There
never has been in all the history of China such a blood-
less revolution as this last one. It must be an omen of
gladness to the whole nation that Jesus has at last
come to take His place in the councils of the empire..
Kang-hi, a celebrated heathen emperor, in his great
imperial dictionary that has been in the hands of the
scholars of China for at least two centuries and a
half, defined Him as being '* the Saviour of the life of
the world." This silent, unconscious prophecy is at
length being fulfilled in the new thoughts about the
preciousness of life that have come with the dawn
of the new republic.

INDEX

Actors

...

...

.. 203

Ancestor

worship

...

.. 91

V

V

theory of ...

.. 92

V

11

at grave

• 93

n

V

in ancestral hall

.. 96

})

)J

in tablet

- 95

Army

...

...

.. 40

„ officers

...

.. 48

Awakening of China, causes of

•• 327

B

Barbarian ...

207

Barber

... 219

Beggars

... 290

„ head of

293

Boat life ...

243

Bride

249

Cangue

155

Changes, book of

71

Classics

... 62

„ books of

65

„ influence of

74

347

348

INDEX

Cities

Criminals, wandering
Crops in South China
Crucifixion ...

216
299
269
161

Degrees, literary

.. 52

„ „ the four

• 53

„ „ examination for

.. 55

Doctors

.. 79

„ famous

.. 180

„ theories

.. 183

Doctrine of the mean

.. 70

Dogs

.. 232

Face

. . ,

. 301

„ saving the

...

.. 305

Family Hf e . . .

..

• 257

Farm implements

. 271

Farmers

. 263

Fengshui

..

. 109

„ theory of

...

. 108

„ curse

..

no

Fihal piety . . .

..

• 67

Footbinding

...

• 343

Gordon, General

336

Government, theory of

29

Great learning

69

Great Wall

8

Guide to Polite Society

72

INDEX
H

Heaven

Historian, popular
History, Book of

349

PAGE

66

221
71

J

Judges, despotic power of

i6s

Land, theory about ...

17

„ tax

19

„ division of

26

Letter writer

225

Lynch law ...

167

M

Manchu Dynasty

332

MiHtary system

• 40

Mind, the Chinese ...

315

Money

198

„ lending

189

Opium, suppression of

O

343

Parliaments, Provincial
Pawnshops
Punch and Judy
Punishments

311

193
228

155

350

INDEX

R

Rapids

Republic, the new ...

Responsibility, doctrine of

Rites, record of

River, Yellow

„ Yangtze
Roads

„ small

„ great

245
339
29
72
237
237
278
279
280

Sam Shu ...
School, system of
„ buildings
„ books
,, Government
Scholars

„ strolling
Shouters or runners . . .
Sincerity, the doctrine of
Soldier, the

„ „ character of
„ „ bravery...
„ „ pay
Son of a king, the Ideal man
Sorcerer

„ character of
„ how made ...
Spirits of the dead . . .

97

n

79

82
89

53

88

229

69

41
42

51
46

68
118
126
119
108

Tax collectors

i>

))

tricks of

n

»

land ...

20

22
20

INDEX 351

PAGE

Temples ... ... ... ... ... 130

„ mountain ... ... ... ... 145

Territorial division ... ... ... ... 157

Transportation for crime ... ... ... 157

V

Villages, home rule of ... ... ... 339

Yamen ... ... ... ... ... 130

Ube (5re0bam ipress,

UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED,
WOKING AND LONDON.

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FEB 2 8 1989

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