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<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</SPAN></span></p>
<h1>China and the Chinese</h1>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</SPAN></span></p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</SPAN></span></p>
<p class="caption1"><span class="smcap">China</span></p>
<p class="caption2">AND THE CHINESE</p>
<p class="pmt4 tdc">BY</p>
<p class="caption2nb">EDMUND PLAUCHUT</p>
<p class="pmt4 tdc">TRANSLATED AND EDITED</p>
<p class="pmt4 tdc">BY</p>
<p class="caption3nb"><span class="smcap">Mrs. ARTHUR BELL (N. D'Anvers)</span></p>
<p class="tdc"><span class="vsmall">AUTHOR OF 'THE ELEMENTARY HISTORY OF ART,' 'LIFE OF GAINSBOROUGH,'<br/>
'THE SCIENCE LADDERS,' ETC.</span><br/></p>
<p class="pmt4 pmb4 tdc">WITH FIFTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS</p>
<p class="tdc">LONDON<br/>
HURST AND BLACKETT, LIMITED<br/>
13 GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET<br/>
1899<br/>
<span class="vsmall"><i>All rights reserved.</i></span></p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</SPAN></span></p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="TRANSLATORS_NOTE" id="TRANSLATORS_NOTE"></SPAN>TRANSLATOR'S NOTE</h2>
<p><span class="smcap">This</span> brightly written little book by the well-known
French author, Edmund Plauchut, who has
spent many years in China, is the first of the new
series known as the "Livres d'or de la Science"
recently commenced by MM. Schleicher Frères
of Paris. It gives in a succinct form a very complete
account of the Chinese, both past and present,
their religion, their literature, and their time-honoured
customs. Touching but lightly on the
many vexed questions of modern diplomacy, it
yet presents a very true picture of the problems
European statesmen have to solve in connection
with the inevitable partition of the Celestial Empire,
and will, it is hoped, be found of real service to
those who wish to be abreast with the times, yet
who have not the leisure to read the longer and
more exhaustive books on the subject which are
continually appearing.</p>
<p class="tdr"><span class="smcap">Nancy Bell,</span></p>
<p class="p0"><i>Southbourne-on-Sea,<br/>
May 1899.</i><br/></p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</SPAN></span></p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></SPAN>CONTENTS</h2>
<table class="tblcnts" summary="TOC">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;">CHAPTER I</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td class="tdr vsmall">PAGE</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The delight of exploring unknown lands—Saint Louis and
the Tartars of olden times—The Anglo-French force enters
Pekin—Terror of the "Red Devils"—The "Cup of Immortality"—The
"Sons of Heaven"—Hong-Kong as it was and is—The Treaty of
Tien-tsin—The game of "Morra"—First Tea-party in the Palace
of Pekin—Chinese agriculture and love of flowers—Chinese
literati—An awkward meeting between two of them—Love of poetry
in China—Voltaire's letter to the poet-king—The Chinese
army—The <i>Shu-King</i>, or sacred book of China—Yao and his
work—Chung, the lowly-born Emperor—The Hoang-Ho, or "China's
Sorrow"—Yu the engineer and his work—Chung chooses Yu to reign
after him—The foundation of the hereditary monarchy in China</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_I">1</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;">CHAPTER II</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Trip up the Shu-Kiang river—My fellow-passengers and their
costumes—A damaged bell—Female peasants on the river-banks—I
am caught up and carried off by a laughing virago—Arrival at
Canton—Early trading between China and Ceylon and Africa,
etc.—The Empress Lui-Tseu teaching the people to rear
silk-worms—The treaties of Nanking and Tien-tsin—Bombardment
of Canton—Murder of a French sailor and terrible revenge—M.
Vaucher and I explore Canton—The <i>fétes</i> in honour of the
Divinity of the North and of the Queen of Heaven—General
appearance of Canton—An emperor's recipe for making tea—How tea
is grown in China—The Fatim garden—A dutiful son—Scene of the
murder of the Tai-Ping rebels—The Temple of the five hundred
Genii—Suicide of a young engineer—Return of his spirit in the
form of a snake</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_II">33</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</SPAN></span>
CHAPTER III</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>General Tcheng-Ki-Tong and his book on China—The
monuments of China—Those the Chinese delight to honour—A
Chinese heroine—Ingredients of the "Cup of Immortality"—Avenues
of colossal statues and monsters in cemeteries—Imperial
edict in honour of K'wo-Fan—Proclamation of the
eighteenth century—The Emperor takes his people's sins upon
himself—Reasons for Chinese indifference to matters of faith—Lao-Tsze,
or the old philosopher—His early life—His book,
the <i>Tao-Teh-King</i>—His theory of the creation—Affinity of his
doctrine with Christianity—Quotations from his book</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_III">57</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;">CHAPTER IV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Lao-Tsze and Confucius compared—The appearance of Kilin,
the fabulous dragon, to the father of Confucius—Early life of
the Philosopher—The death and funeral of his mother—His
views on funeral ceremonies—His visit to the King of Lu
and discourse on the nature of man—Confucius advocates
gymnasium exercises—His love of music—His summary of the
whole duty of woman—He describes the life of a widow—He
gives a list of the classes of men to be avoided in marriage—The
seven legitimate reasons for the divorce of a wife—The
three exceptions rendering divorce illegal—The missionary
Gutzlaff's opinion of Confucius' view of woman's position—The
Philosopher meets a man about to commit suicide—He
rescues him from despair—He loses thirteen of his own followers</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_IV">73</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</SPAN></span>
CHAPTER V</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>My voyage to Macao—General appearance of the port—Gambling
propensities of the Chinese—Compulsory emigration—Cruel
treatment of coolies on board ship—Disaster on the
Paracelses reefs—The <i>Baracouns</i>—The grotto of Camoens—The
<i>Lusiads</i>—Contrast between Chinese and Japanese—Origin
of the yellow races: their appearance and language—Relation
of the dwellers in the Arctic regions to the people of
China—Russian and Dutch intercourse with the Celestials—East
India Company's monopoly of trade—Disputes on the
opium question—Expiration of charter—Death of Lord
Napier of a broken heart—Lin-Tseh-Hsu as Governor of the
Kwang provinces—The result of his measures to suppress
trade in opium—Treaty of Nanking—War of 1856-1858—Treaty
of Tien-tsin and Convention of Pekin—Immense
increase in exports and imports resulting from them</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_V">97</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;">CHAPTER VI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>French aspirations in Tonkin—Margary receives his instructions—Work
already done on the Yang-tse—Margary is
insulted at Paï-Chou—He awaits instructions in vain at Lo-Shan—The
Tung-Ting lake—A Chinese caravanserai—The
explorer leaves the river to proceed by land—He meets a
starving missionary—Kwei-Chou and the French bishop there—A
terrible road—Arrival at the capital of Yunnan—Armed
escort from Bhâmo—Meeting between Margary and Colonel
Browne—Threatening attitude of natives—Margary crosses
the frontier alone—Colonel Browne's camp surrounded—Murder
of Margary outside Manwyne—Importance of Yunnan
and Szechuan to Europeans</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_VI">118</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;">CHAPTER VII</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Sir Thomas Wade demands his passports—Retires to man-of-war
off Tien-tsin—Interviews with Li-Hung-Chang—Convention
of Che-Foo—Description of Ichang on the Yang-tse—The
Manchester of Western China—Pak-hoï and its harbour—A
magnificent pagoda—Ceremony of opening the port to
foreign trade—New Year's <i>féte</i> at Pak-hoï—The game of
Morra—Description of Wenchow—Temples and pagodas
turned into inns—Wahn and its native officials—Dislike of
mandarins, etc., to missionaries—Beautiful surroundings of
the town—An eclipse of the moon expected—The eclipse
does not keep time—Excitement of the people—The dragon
attacks the moon at last—Threatening message from the
Emperor to the astronomers—Two astronomers beheaded in
<span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 2155—Reasons for importance attached to
eclipses in China</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_VII">135</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</SPAN></span>
CHAPTER VIII</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>I land at Shanghai—The Celestial who had never heard of
Napoleon—Total value of exports and imports to and from
Shanghai—What those exports and imports are—The devotion
of the Chinese to their native land—The true yellow danger of
the future—I am invited to a Chinese dinner at Shanghai—My
yellow guests—The ladies find me amusing—Their small
feet and difficulty in walking—A wealthy mandarin explains
why the feet are mutilated—Sale of girls in China—Position
of women discussed—A mandarin accepts a Bible—Our host
takes us to a flower-boat—Description of boat—My first
attempt at opium-smoking—A Celestial in an opium dream</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_VIII">151</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;">CHAPTER IX</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Great commercial value of opium—Cultivation of the
poppy—Exports of opium from India—What opium is—Preparation
of the drug—Opinions on the English monopoly
of the trade in it—Ingenious mode of smuggling opium—Efforts
of Chinese Government to check its importation—Proclamation
of the Viceroy Wang—Opinion of Li-Shi-Shen
on the properties of opium—The worst form of opium smoking—Its
introduction to Formosa by the Dutch—Depopulation
of the island—Punishments inflicted on opium-smokers—Opinions
of doctors on the effects of opium-eating or smoking—Chinese
prisoners deprived of their usual pipe—The real
danger to the poor of indulgence in opium—Evidence of
Archibald Little—The Chinese and European pipe contrasted</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_IX">166</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</SPAN></span>
CHAPTER X</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Missionary effort in China—First arrival of the Jesuits—Landing
of Michael Roger—Adam Schaal appointed Chief
Minister of State—The scientific work of the Jesuits—Affection
of the young Emperor Kang-Hi for them—Arrival of other
monks—Fatal disputes between them and the Jesuits—The
Pope interferes—Fatal results for the Christians—Speech of
Kang-Hi—Expulsion of the Jesuits—Concessions to Europeans
in newly-opened ports—Hatred of foreigners at Tien-tsin—Arrival
of French nuns—Their mistakes in ignoring native
feeling—Chinese children bought by the Abbé Chevrier—A
Chinese merchant's views on the situation—Terrible accusations
against the Sisters—Murder of the French Consul and
his assistant—The Governor of Tien-tsin responsible—Massacre
of the Abbé Chevrier and one hundred children—The
Lady Superior and her nuns cut to pieces and burnt—The
guilty Governor Chung-Ho sent to Paris as envoy—No proper
vengeance exacted by the French—Other sisters go to Tien-tsin</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_X">184</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;">CHAPTER XI</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Great Wall—Its failure as a defence—Forced labour—Mode
of construction—Shih-Hwang-Ti orders all books to be
burnt—Mandarins flung into the flames—The <i>Shu-King</i> is
saved—How the sacred books came to be written—The sedan-chair
and its uses—Modern hotels at Pekin—Examination of
students for degrees—Cells in which they are confined—Kublai
Khan conquers China—Makes Pekin his capital—Introduces
paper currency—The Great Canal—Address to the three Philosophers—Marco
Polo's visit to Pekin—His description of the
Emperor—Kublai Khan's wife—Foundation of the Academy
of Pekin—Hin-Heng and his acquirements—Death of Kublai
Khan—Inferiority of his successors—Shun-Ti the last Mongol
Emperor—Pekin in the time of the Mongols—When seen by
Lord Macartney—The city as it is now</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XI">205</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;">CHAPTER XII</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Fall of the Mongol dynasty—The son of a labourer chosen
Emperor—He founds the Ming dynasty—Choo becomes Tae-tsoo,
and rules with great wisdom—He dies and leaves his
kingdom to his grandson—Young-lo attacks and takes Nanking—The
young Emperor burnt to death—Young-lo is proclaimed
Emperor, and makes Pekin his capital—First European visits
China—Tartar chief usurps supreme power—Dies soon after—Foundation
of present dynasty—Accession of Shun-Che—Chinese
compelled to shave their heads—The old style of
coiffure in China—Care of the modern pig-tail</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XII">227</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;"><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</SPAN></span>
CHAPTER XIII</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Founder of the Ch'ing dynasty—A broken-hearted
widower—The Louis XIV. of China—The Will of Kang-Hy—Young-t-Ching
appointed his successor—The character of the
new Emperor—Mission of Lord Macartney—He refuses to perform
the Ko-too, or nine prostrations—Interview with Young-t-Ching—Results
of the Mission to England—Accession of
Kien-Long—He resolves to abdicate when he has reigned
sixty years—Accession of Taou-Kwang—The beginning of
the end—An adopted brother—War against China declared
by England—The Pekin Treaty—Prince Hassan goes to
visit Queen Victoria—The Regents and Tung-Che—Foreign
Ministers compel the young Emperor to receive them</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XIII">235</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" class="tdc" style="padding-top: 1em;">CHAPTER XIV</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>A child of four chosen Emperor—The power of the Empress
Dowager—The Palace feud—The Palace at Pekin—A Frenchman's
interview with the Emperor—The Emperor's person
held sacred—Coming of age of the Emperor—An enlightened
proclamation—Reception of the foreign ministers in 1889—Education
of the young monarch—He goes to do homage at
the tombs of his ancestors—A wife is chosen for him—His
secondary wives—China, the battle-ground of the future—Railway
concessions</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#CHAPTER_XIV">251</SPAN></td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></SPAN>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
<table class="tblcnts" summary="LOI">
<tr>
<td class="vsmall">FIG.</td>
<td></td>
<td class="vsmall">PAGE</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">1.</td>
<td class="tdl">VIEW OF HONG-KONG TAKEN FROM ABOVE THE TOWN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_1">3</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">2.</td>
<td class="tdl">CHINESE SOLDIERS</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_2">5</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">3.</td>
<td class="tdl">CHINESE WEAPONS</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_3">6</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">4.</td>
<td class="tdl">CHINESE HELMET AND QUIVER</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_4">7</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">5.</td>
<td class="tdl">A YOUNG CHINESE WOMAN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_5">8</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">6.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE COURTESAN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_6">9</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">7.</td>
<td class="tdl">HWANG-TIEN-SHANG-TI, THE GOD OF HEAVEN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_7">11</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">8.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE MANDARIN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_8">15</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">9.</td>
<td class="tdl">ANCIENT CHINESE COSTUMES</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_9">17</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">10.</td>
<td class="tdl">ANCIENT CHINESE COSTUMES</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_10">18</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">11.</td>
<td class="tdl">A YOUNG CHINESE POET</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_11">21</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">12.</td>
<td class="tdl">A NAUGHTY PUPIL</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_12">28</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">13.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE BRIDGE SPANNING THE HOANG-HO</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_13">31</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">14.</td>
<td class="tdl">A PAGODA</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_14">34</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">15.</td>
<td class="tdl">A STREET IN CANTON</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_15">40</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">16.</td>
<td class="tdl">A WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE WITH HER BABY</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_16">41</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">17.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE MANDARIN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_17">42</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">18.</td>
<td class="tdl">A GONG-RINGER</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_18">43</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">19.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE ACTOR</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_19">44</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">20.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE ACTOR IN A TRAGIC PART</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_20">47</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">21.</td>
<td class="tdl">A VILLA NEAR CANTON</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_21">51</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">22.</td>
<td class="tdl">GENERAL TCHENG-KI-TONG</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_22">58</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">23.</td>
<td class="tdl">LAO-TSZE</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_23">67</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">24.</td>
<td class="tdl">THE HOUSE IN WHICH CONFUCIUS WAS BORN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_24">75</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">25.</td>
<td class="tdl">PORTRAIT OF CONFUCIUS</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_25">76</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">26.</td>
<td class="tdl">A FUNERAL PROCESSION IN CHINA</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_26">77</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">27.</td>
<td class="tdl">CHINESE TOMBS</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_27">78</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">28.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE CEMETERY<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</SPAN></span></td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_28">80</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">29.</td>
<td class="tdl">A YOUNG CHINESE MARRIED LADY</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_29">88</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">30.</td>
<td class="tdl">A MARRIAGE PROCESSION</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_30">92</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">31.</td>
<td class="tdl">A DESPERATE MAN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_31">94</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">32.</td>
<td class="tdl">THE TOMB OF CONFUCIUS</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_32">95</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">33.</td>
<td class="tdl">CHINESE PEASANT CRUSHING RICE</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_33">122</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">34.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE FERRYMAN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_34">124</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">35.</td>
<td class="tdl">A MANDARIN'S HOUSE</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_35">127</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">36.</td>
<td class="tdl">PORTRAIT OF HIS EXCELLENCY LI-HUNG-CHANG</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_36">138</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">37.</td>
<td class="tdl">ICHANG</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_37">141</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">38.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE DYER AT WORK</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_38">143</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">39.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE VISITING CARD</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_39">144</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">40.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE RESTAURANT. AFTER THE REPAST</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_40">156</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">41.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE JUNK</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_41">165</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">42.</td>
<td class="tdl">AN OPIUM-SMOKER</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_42">179</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">43.</td>
<td class="tdl">OPIUM PIPES</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_43">181</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">44.</td>
<td class="tdl">REQUISITES FOR OPIUM-SMOKING</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_44">183</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">45.</td>
<td class="tdl">A TEMPLE AT TIEN-TSIN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_45">195</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">46.</td>
<td class="tdl">THE GREAT WALL</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_46">206</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr vtop">47.</td>
<td class="tdl">BURNING OF MANDARINS AND HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS, BY ORDER OF SHIH-KWANG-TI</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#Fig_47">209</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">48.</td>
<td class="tdl">A STREET IN PEKIN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_48">214</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">49.</td>
<td class="tdl">NIGHT-WATCHMEN IN PEKIN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_49">216</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">50.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE GENERAL IN HIS WAR-CHARIOT</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_50">220</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">51.</td>
<td class="tdl">PORCELAIN TOWER AT NANKING</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_51">222</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">52.</td>
<td class="tdl">MONOLITHS AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE TOMBS OF THE MING EMPERORS</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_52">231</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">53.</td>
<td class="tdl">CHINESE BRONZES</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_53">233</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr vtop">54.</td>
<td class="tdl">PORTRAIT OF ONE OF THE CHINESE EMPERORS OF THE CH'ING DYNASTY, PROBABLY KIEN-LONG</td>
<td class="tdr vbot"><SPAN href="#Fig_54">242</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">55.</td>
<td class="tdl">ONE OF THE REGENTS DURING THE MINORITY OF TUNG-CHE</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_55">249</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">56.</td>
<td class="tdl">A CHINESE SEDAN-CHAIR AND BEARERS</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_56">255</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">57.</td>
<td class="tdl">A BONZE TORTURING HIMSELF IN A TEMPLE, AFTER A CHINESE PAINTING</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_57">260</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tdr">58.</td>
<td class="tdl">THE TOWN AND BRIDGE OF FUCHAN</td>
<td class="tdr"><SPAN href="#Fig_58">265</SPAN></td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><SPAN name="CHINA_AND_THE_CHINESE" id="CHINA_AND_THE_CHINESE"></SPAN>CHINA AND THE CHINESE</h2>
<hr class="chap" />
<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></SPAN>CHAPTER I</h2>
<p class="smaller">The delight of exploring unknown lands—Saint Louis
and the Tartars of olden times—The Anglo-French force
enters Pekin—Terror of the "Red Devils"—The "Cup of
Immortality"—The "Sons of Heaven"—Hong-Kong as it
was and is—The Treaty of Tien-tsin—The game of "Morra"—First
Tea-party in the Palace of Pekin—Chinese agriculture
and love of flowers—Chinese literati—An awkward
meeting between two of them—Love of poetry in China—Voltaire's
letter to the poet-king—The Chinese army—The
<i>Shu-King</i>, or sacred book of China—Yao and his work—Chung,
the lowly-born Emperor—The Hoang-Ho, or "China's
Sorrow"—Yu the engineer and his work—Chung chooses
Yu to reign after him—The foundation of the hereditary
monarchy in China.</p>
<p><span class="smcap">I do</span> not deny the happiness of a life spent
beneath the shadow of the belfry of one's native
place, in all the unruffled peace of one's own home,
surrounded by one's own family; but, after all, what
are such joys as these compared to those of the
explorer who goes forth to meet the unknown
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</SPAN></span>
ready for all that may betide, making fresh discoveries
at every turn, gladly facing all dangers
and rejoicing in the ever-changing, ever-widening
horizon before him? Who would care to forego the
joys of memory, the power of living over again in
old age the adventures of youth, of seeing once
more with the mind's eye the wonders of the far-distant
lands visited when the mind was still
buoyant, the sight still undimmed, the limbs still
in all the vigour of manhood? Happy mortal
indeed is he who, thoroughly imbued with the
spirit of the discoverer, looks upon death itself not
as the end of all things, but the threshold of a new
world, the beginning of yet another journey fraught
with the deepest interest, to a bourne all the more
fascinating because of the deep mystery in which it
is shrouded.</p>
<p>This was how I reasoned with myself when I
was a mere lad eagerly devouring the accounts of
the work of the great early explorers, Marco Polo,
the Dupleix, La Pérouse, Bougainville, Dumont
D'Urville, Christopher Columbus, Mungo Park,
the Landers, etc., not to speak of Swift's fascinating
romance <i>Gulliver's Travels</i>, and the yet more
thrilling <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> of Defoe. Like all boys
with vivid imaginations, I was fired with a longing
to emulate all these heroes, and said to my mother:
"I have made up my mind to be a sailor!"</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="sidenote">HONG-KONG</div>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 410px;"><SPAN name="Fig_1"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig1.png" width-obs="410" height-obs="597" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 1.—VIEW OF HONG-KONG TAKEN FROM ABOVE THE TOWN.</div>
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>My ardour was, however, quickly quenched when
I saw my mother's beautiful eyes fill with tears
at the thought of parting from me. This did not
prevent me from leaving France a few years later,
for I found myself whilst still quite a young man
free to go whither I would, and I made up my
mind to make many a long and interesting journey.
Of course I expected to meet with dangers and
misfortunes, but I felt sure that any such drawbacks
would be more than counterbalanced by
the grand sights it would be my privilege to witness.
My anticipations were in every way fully realized,
and if after wandering all over the world I refrain
from saying with Terence: "I am a man, and
nothing in the nature of man is strange to me;"
it is merely because poets alone are privileged to
speak with such egotistical assurance.</p>
<p>I had already spent a considerable time in
Oceania and a few months in Egypt, when I
landed at Hong-Kong on the very threshold of
the ancient Chinese Empire, which, according to
well-authenticated annals, is older even than the
mighty and venerable Egypt of the Pharaohs. I
went to China as much to study her past on the
spot as to be one of the first to hail that transformation
which, when I arrived, was already on
the eve of its inauguration, and is now rapidly
becoming an accomplished fact. There was, indeed,
urgent need for haste if I wished to study that
moribund China so long closed to Europeans
before the great change came, and cared to gaze
upon her far-stretching table-lands girt about by
heights crowned with never-melting snow, ere their
solitudes were broken in upon by the desecrating
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</SPAN></span>
steam-engine, in districts whence in mediæval times
great hordes of yellow-skinned, fierce-eyed barbarians,
their long black hair floating on their
shoulders, swept westward to devastate Europe.</p>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 409px;"><SPAN name="Fig_2"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig2.png" width-obs="409" height-obs="406" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 2.—CHINESE SOLDIERS.</div>
</div>
<div class="sidenote">SAINT LOUIS OF FRANCE</div>
<p>In those days five hundred thousand Tartars
invaded Russia, took possession of Moscow, burnt
Cracow, and penetrated as far as Hungary. Saint
Louis of France, who was then on the throne, stood
in the greatest dread of them, but this did not
prevent him from making a joke about them,
quoted by the Sieur de Joinville, which, considering
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</SPAN></span>
the state of affairs at the time, speaks well for his
pluck and sense of humour. "Mother," he said
to Queen Blanche of Castille, "if these Tartars
come here, we must make them go back to the
Tartarus from which they come!"</p>
<table summary="weapons">
<tr id="Fig_3">
<td><ANTIMG src="images/fig3.png" width-obs="428" height-obs="301" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 3.—CHINESE WEAPONS.</div>
</td>
<td class="vbot" rowspan="2"><ANTIMG src="images/fig4b.png" width-obs="88" height-obs="277" alt="" /></td>
</tr>
<tr id="Fig_4">
<td class="tdr"><ANTIMG src="images/fig4a.png" width-obs="306" height-obs="154" alt="" /><br/>
<div class="fig_caption tdr">FIG. 4.—CHINESE HELMET AND QUIVER.</div>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<div class="sidenote">WHOLESALE SUICIDE</div>
<p>Time, however, never fails to bring about the
poetic justice of revenge. Six centuries after the
sack of Cracow a little Anglo-French force entered
Pekin with drums beating and flags flying, pillaged
the Imperial Palaces, and returned to Europe laden
with rich spoil. Chinese, Tartars, Mongols, and
Manchus had all alike allowed themselves to be
beaten by a mere handful of resolute men. What
had they to oppose to European tactics, European
weapons, and above all European discipline? Bows
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</SPAN></span>
and arrows, old-fashioned muskets, spears, and
shields adorned with fantastic; designs. There,
was nothing for them to do but to run away; not
that they were cowards, for they never have any
fear of death, but simply because resistance
was hopeless. Most of the generals
in command of the army followed the
usual custom in cases of defeat, and
voluntarily emptied the bowl of poisoned
opium to save themselves from being
triumphed over by their enemies. At Pekin, Canton,
and many other centres of population in the vast
Empire, the terrified women flung themselves into
the wells to escape the violent death they expected
the "red devils" would otherwise have inflicted on
them. Only some forty years ago what did that
immense multitude of Asiatic men and women
know about us Europeans? Just about as much
and no more than we did of them. One thing
only is certain, that in the heroic days of the
founders of the dynasty, from Hwang-Ti, the yellow
Emperor, to Khiang-Luanh, the poet sovereign
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</SPAN></span>
more than one ruler of China had drunk from the
cup of immortality, that is to say, the cup of
poison, rather than live to see the enemy enter
his palaces as a conqueror. Enervated by a long
course of self-indulgence, the Sons of Heaven, as
the Emperors of China proudly style themselves,
have degenerated terribly, and what with their own
weakness and the arrogant
encroachments
of the eunuchs who
guard the Imperial
harem, many of the
sovereigns would have
been deposed, but for
the intervention, now
of an Empress-Dowager,
now of some
favourite wife, who,
seizing the reins of
power, has wielded
the sceptre with virile
strength and skill.</p>
<div class="fig_left" style="width: 227px;"><SPAN name="Fig_5"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig5.png" width-obs="227" height-obs="277" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 5.—A YOUNG CHINESE WOMAN.</div>
</div>
<div class="sidenote">TWO POTENT POISONS</div>
<p>In 1851, when the English took possession of
the island of Hong-Kong, it was but a rugged
conical-shaped rock, dreary and forbidding in
appearance. The Chinese then living on it were
enraged at the intrusion of the foreigners, and one
of them, the only baker on the island, resolved to
dispose of all the intruders at one blow. He
decided to poison them, and with this end in view
he put arsenic into all the bread he supplied to
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</SPAN></span>
the foreigners. He over-reached himself, for the
dose was too strong, and suspicion was at once
aroused. Those who tasted the bread escaped with
violent sickness, and the English were not going
to abandon the place for a reason so insignificant
as that.</p>
<div class="fig_right" style="width: 163px;"><SPAN name="Fig_6"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig6.png" width-obs="163" height-obs="342" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 6.—A CHINESE COURTESAN.</div>
</div>
<p>Hong-Kong is now a maritime
port of the first rank, and
its harbour is one of the finest
and most beautiful in the whole
world. The town boasts of
hotels managed on the European
system, and the slopes of
the rocks are covered from
the sea-shore to the highest
point of the island with tasty
villas. It is to opium, that
other poison responsible for the
death of so many Celestials,
and as potent in its effects as
the arsenic with which the
patriotic baker tried to kill off
all the foreigners, that Hong-Kong owes its immense
prosperity. The French did much to aid the
English in inaugurating that prosperity in 1857 and
1858, when they joined them as allies in the brief
campaign which resulted in the taking of Canton
and the signing of the celebrated Treaty of Tien-tsin.
The various stipulations of that treaty, the
full significance of which the Chinese do not seem
to have realized at the time, included the right to
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</SPAN></span>
the allies of appointing diplomatic agents to the
Court of Pekin, and the opening of five fresh ports
to European commerce, whilst a strip of territory
on the mainland, opposite to the island of Hong-Kong,
was ceded to the British colony. The
benefits which accrued to France were small, but
the increase of British trade was enormous, and
from that time to this the grand harbour has been:
one of the chief naval stations of the East.</p>
<p>In spite of its prosperity and importance, however,
the town is anything but a pleasant place to stop
in, and the foreign visitor soon gets tired of being
jostled about by busy coolies and tipsy sailors.
The great delight of the latter is to get drunk in
the brandy-stores of Victoria Street, and then to
dance, not, strange to say, with women, but without
partners, to the music of a violin and a big drum.
In the evening the floating and resident population
alike resort in crowds to the opium-dens and
houses of ill fame in the upper portions of the
town. No one seems to feel any shame at being
seen to enter these places, the windows of which
are wide open, so that all can look into the brightly
illuminated rooms, whence proceeds the sound of
oaths in all manner of languages, whilst the loud
clash of gongs mingles with the muffled songs of
the Chinese beauties, and every now and then a
shower of crackers is flung into the street below,
bursting into zigzags of fire on the heads of the
startled passers-by. In the eyes of the masters
of the island, the intense commercial activity
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</SPAN></span>
of the day atones for the dissipations of the
night.</p>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 194px;"><SPAN name="Fig_7"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig7.png" width-obs="194" height-obs="296" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 7.—HWANG-TIEN-SHANG TI, THE GOD OF HEAVEN.<br/>
(<i>In the Guinet Museum.</i>)</div>
</div>
<div class="sidenote">THE GAME OF MORRA</div>
<p>Contact with Europeans has, however, done little
if anything to modify the ideas and customs of the
Chinese. A few of the great native merchants, it
is true, are willing now and then to drink a glass of
champagne with the representatives of foreign
houses, and teach them
the game of Morra, which,
strange to say, is to all
intents and purposes the
same as that played all
over Italy, and is so well
described by Mrs. Eaton
in her <i>Rome in the Nineteenth
Century</i>. "Morra,"
she says, "is played by
the men, and merely consists
in holding up in
rapid succession any number
of fingers they please,
calling out at the same
time the number their
antagonist shows....
Morra seems to differ in
no respect from the <i>Micure Digitis</i> of the Ancient
Romans." If it be a fact, as some assert, that the
various races of the world are more truly themselves
in their games than in their work, this similarity
in a pastime played by people so different
as the Chinese and the Italians, would have a deep
psychological significance.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>However that may be, drinking champagne and
playing Morra together do not lead to any real
friendship or intimacy between the Celestials and
their hated foreign guests. There is not, and it
seems as if there never could be, any true <i>rapprochement</i>,
and this fact is at the root of the anxiety of
statesmen for the future, in spite of the apparent
progress made in the introduction of European
ideas into the very stronghold of Chinese fanaticism,
the Palace of Pekin, where a few months ago, on
the occasion of her birthday, the Dowager Empress
held that first reception of European ladies which
was hailed by the European press as the commencement
of a new era for China. An account
of this historic tea-party may well be added here,
for its being given was truly among the most
remarkable events which have taken place in the
century now so near its close. It seems that
Lady Macdonald, the wife of the British Minister,
was the prime mover in bringing about this
startling innovation in the customs of the most conservative
of all modern nations. The fact that
it was the guests themselves who compelled the
hostess to invite them, detracted not at all from
the cordiality of their reception. Received at
the entrance to the precincts of the Palace by
numerous mandarins in brilliant costumes, the
visitors were carried on State chairs to the electric
tramway, strange anomaly in such a stronghold
of retrogression as the capital of the Celestial
Empire, and thence escorted to the audience-chamber
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</SPAN></span>
by a group of ladies of the Court specially
selected to attend them.</p>
<div class="sidenote">A STRANGE TEA-PARTY</div>
<p>In the throne-room, the Empress and her unfortunate
son, the nominal ruler of China, were
seated side by side on a raised dais, behind a table
decorated with apples and chrysanthemums in the
simple but effective Chinese manner. Presents and
compliments were exchanged, a grand luncheon
was served, over which the Princess Ching presided,
and when tea was handed round later the Dowager
Empress again appeared and sipped a little of the
national beverage from the cup of each minister's
wife. Finally, when the time for leave-taking came,
the astute Dowager, giving way to an apparently
uncontrollable burst of emotion, embraced all her
visitors in turn. Time alone can prove whether
this kiss were indeed one of peace or of future
betrayal. In the eyes of the Court officials and
their ladies it must have appeared far more startling
than any of the political changes with which the
air is rife.</p>
<p>The Chinese people, who know next to nothing
of what is going on, and are more ignorant of the
transformation taking place than even illiterate
Europeans, are as indifferent to the past as to the
future; they have been accustomed for centuries to
obey unchanging laws of a wisdom acknowledged
by even hostile critics; and startling innovation
touching their own lives is the one thing which
moves them out of their constitutional apathy.</p>
<p>Agriculture is the favourite occupation of the
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</SPAN></span>
Chinese, and they consider the tilling of the ground
almost a religious duty. It has been customary
for many ages for the supreme ruler to turn over
a few furrows at the beginning of the agricultural
year, that is to say the spring, and in all the
provinces of the vast empire a similar ceremony
is performed by the delegate of the Emperor.
Flowers are everywhere cultivated, though generally
in pots, with an enthusiasm amounting to
passion, and marvellous skill is shown in the growing
of dwarf trees, which produce quantities of
fruit. In a word, vegetation in China is stamped
with an originality setting it apart from that of
any other country. In irrigation and the use of
manure Chinese gardeners were long far in advance
of western nations.</p>
<p>The chief ambition of every native of China is
to leave behind him sons who on his death will
give to his memory the homage he himself
rendered to that of his own father, for it is in the
reverence in which ancestors are held that the
Chinese concentrate all their religious feeling.
Even Shang-Ti, or the God of Heaven, Buddha,
Lao-tsze, and Confucius only take secondary rank
as compared with these ancestors.</p>
<div class="sidenote">CHINESE LITERATI</div>
<p>The Literati, or scholars of China, have won
their much-coveted distinction by many very
severe examinations in the so-called King, or the
five sacred books, and in the works of the great
philosophers. Armed with the diploma securing
to him the rank of a scholar, its fortunate
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</SPAN></span>
possessor may aspire to the very highest functions of
the empire. So very many win that diploma, however,
and the numbers increase so rapidly every
year, that, as in France and in England, there are
not enough appointments for those qualified to
receive them. In spite of this, the scholar even
when out of place commands the respect of all
who have not been promoted to the grade he has
won. In his interesting account of his travels in
Asia, Marcel Monnier gives
a very pregnant illustration
of the state of things
I have been describing.</p>
<div class="fig_right" style="width: 204px;"><SPAN name="Fig_8"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig8.png" width-obs="204" height-obs="216" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 8.—A CHINESE MANDARIN.</div>
</div>
<p>"As I was leaving the
rampart," he says, "I
witnessed a curious scene
illustrative of the esteem
in which—in this land
where an hereditary aristocracy
does not exist—is
held the one ennobling
rank, that of being the owner of a paper diploma.
My bearers had just entered a very narrow causeway
between two rice-fields, when they were suddenly
brought to a halt by another chair coming
from the opposite direction. This chair was occupied
by a young man in elegant attire, wearing
spectacles, and with a general air about him of
being pleased with himself. Apparently he was
a scholar fresh from examinations. The bearers
on each side parleyed together, but neither seemed
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</SPAN></span>
disposed to yield place to the others. The discussion
seemed likely to be interminable, when the
scholar intervened, and addressing the chief of my
bearers, shouted haughtily to him:</p>
<p>"'Why don't you get out of the way of a
licentiate of Kan-Su?'</p>
<p>"My chief porter, a big sturdy fellow of about
forty, did not move, but without budging an inch
replied with equal haughtiness:</p>
<p>"'A licentiate? And of what year, pray?'</p>
<p>"Then without giving the other time to answer,
he quickly dived into the little leather-bag hanging
from his waist-band, brought out a greasy paper,
and proudly unfolded it as if it were a flag, before
the eyes of his astonished questioner.</p>
<p>"'Look!' he said.</p>
<p>"The young man took the paper with the very
tips of his fingers, but he had scarcely glanced at
the magic inscription on it before he handed it
back with a respectful inclination of the head, at
the same time ordering his men to withdraw. My
porter, too, had his diploma, and he had had it for
a long time. That of recent date had to give way
to the earlier one. My chair passed on in triumph,
whilst that of the newly-created scholar humbly
waited at the side of the road in the rice-field."</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 445px;"><SPAN name="Fig_9"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig9.png" width-obs="445" height-obs="416" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 9.—ANCIENT CHINESE COSTUMES.<br/>
(<i>Univers Pittoresque.</i>)</div>
</div>
<div class="sidenote">CHINESE HONESTY</div>
<p>The Chinese have the trading instinct as fully
developed as have the descendants of Shem.
They carry on commerce with the same wonderful
<i>finesse</i>, the same keen eye for a bargain, and
they are as fond of money as the Jews themselves.
At the same time in really important affairs they
are as much to be trusted, as thoroughly loyal to
the other side, as any great merchant of the City
of London, or the <i>Rue du Sentier</i> in the French
capital. These Chinese traders gave credit for
enormous sums to the first foreign firms which had
the audacity to found the Canton factories. On
the faith of their signatures alone guaranteeing
eventual payment, the heads of these foreign firms
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</SPAN></span>
found themselves trusted with whole cargoes of
tea and silks. After the failure of the Union Bank,
of the <i>Comptoir national d'Escompte</i>, and certain
great American houses, this giving of credit was
discontinued, but that it was ever granted remains
a most significant fact. One proof of the extreme
caution which succeeded the extraordinary confidence
is, that there are no branches of the great
Chinese firms of Shanghai and Hong-Kong in
Paris, Marseilles, or Lyons. This is really no great
loss, for the West will be invaded all too soon by
the yellow races.</p>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 415px;"><SPAN name="Fig_10"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig10.png" width-obs="415" height-obs="416" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 10.—ANCIENT CHINESE COSTUMES.<br/>
(<i>Univers Pittoresque.</i>)</div>
</div>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="sidenote">BONZES AND BONZESSES</div>
<p>In Asia there are many more mystic dreamers
and poets than is generally supposed. A Chinese
mystic is called a bonze, or talapoin, the former word
being of Japanese origin, introduced to China by
Europeans. Women who devote themselves to a
religious life are called bonzesses, but as certain
abuses crept in of a kind which can readily be
imagined, a very wise law was passed some time
ago forbidding any woman to become a priestess
till after her fortieth year, and certain censors
have long advocated a yet further higher limit
of age.</p>
<p>Amongst young women of the higher classes in
the remote East, especially amongst those whose
beauty destines them for the harem, poetry is held
in high esteem. On the richly-lacquered screens
and on the delicately-coloured fans so popular in
China, are many representations of frail Chinese
or Japanese beauties, tracing certain letters of
the Mandarin alphabet with a fine pencil held in
their tapering fingers with the characteristic pink
nails. The words formed by these letters make
up poetic phrases imbued with all the freshness
and grace of the fair young girls who transcribe
them. In them are sung the praises of the
flowers of the hawthorn, the peach-tree, the sweet-briar,
and even of a certain savoury tea. More than
one Chinese Emperor has done homage to the
Muses, and the most celebrated of these crowned
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</SPAN></span>
poets was Khian-Lung, of the Tartar Manchu
dynasty, who died at the end of the eighteenth
century, and to whom Voltaire addressed the
celebrated letter in verse of which the royal recipient
was probably only able to understand, and that
with considerable difficulty, the last few lines of
which are quoted here:</p>
<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
<span class="i0">Receive, Celestial King, the compliments I write<br/></span>
<span class="i0">To one whose mighty throne stands on a double height!<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The western world knows well, in spite of all my crimes,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">I have a deep regard for monarchs who make rhymes.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">O thou whose soul is lit by Art's poetic fires,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">I pray thee tell me if your prosody requires<br/></span>
<span class="i0">That you in far Pekin, like us, must e'en submit<br/></span>
<span class="i0">To bind your thoughts in rules to make the tenses fit?<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Thus, if you choose to take the Alexandrine beat.<br/></span>
<span class="i0">Two equal lines must walk on six plain, equal feet,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">And so, one half for rhyme, the other for the sense,<br/></span>
<span class="i0">The whole of one great work to half you may condense!<br/></span></div>
</div>
<p>The fame of two other Chinese poets, who
flourished in the eighth century of our era, has
also come down to us. These were Tchu-Fu and
Li-Tai-Pé, who, as was Malherbe in France, were
the first to reform poetry in their native land,
laying down certain rules, which are still observed
in the present day.</p>
<p>The peace enjoyed for so long a period by the
country under consideration has led to the profession
of arms being held of small account. Until
quite recently all the "warriors" had to do was to
put down local revolts, or to win for themselves a
good drubbing from some aggrieved foreigner.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="sidenote">THE CHINESE ARMY</div>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 294px;"><SPAN name="Fig_11"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig11.png" width-obs="294" height-obs="401" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 11.—A YOUNG CHINESE POET.<br/>
(<i>Univers Pittoresque.</i>)</div>
</div>
<p>The weakness and defective organization of
Asiatic armies is well known, and is proved afresh
at every contact with a European force. The
thorough inefficiency of that of China was forcibly
brought out in the recent war with Japan, when the
latter country
showed itself
to be so far
in advance of
its antagonist
in every way.
Nothing but
drilling by
European officers,
for at
least half a
century, could
make Chinese
soldiers at all
formidable to
white troops.
It is just the
same with the
people of the
Corea, Annam,
Tonquin, and Siam. It will, of course, be urged:
but look at the Japanese, they too belong to the
despised yellow races, yet have they not proved
themselves able to organize a campaign? are they
not full of warlike energy and martial ability?
do they not also take high rank as imaginative
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</SPAN></span>
artists? In what do the white races excel? To
all these queries we reply, the assumption that
the Japanese belong to the same race as the
yellow natives of the continent of Asia has to be
proved. The children of the land of chrysanthemums
and of the rising sun indignantly repel this
hypothesis, and such authorities on ethnology as
Kœmpfer, Golownin, Klaproth, and Siebold also
reject it. Moreover, in this world everything is
relative, and because the Japanese troops, armed
with weapons of precision, were able to beat the
badly-equipped Chinese forces, it does not follow
that they could do the same if pitted against
European soldiers. Whether they could or not still
remains to be proved.</p>
<p>Before penetrating into the interior of the
country, and studying the actual customs of the
inhabitants at the present day, it will be well to
glance back to the remote times when China first
became a nation. Very interesting details of those
early days have been preserved in the traditions of
the Celestials, and from them we gather that the
first dwellers in the land lived, as did so many
of the races of Europe, in the forests, or in caves,
clothing themselves in the skins of the wild beasts
slain in the chase, whose flesh supplied them with
food.</p>
<p>The first efforts at civilization appear to have
been made in the North-west of the vast country,
amongst the tribes camped on the banks of the
Hoang-Ho, or Yellow River. The chiefs of these
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</SPAN></span>
tribes gradually contracted the habit of making
regular marriages, and living a home life with their
families. To protect their wives and children they
built huts; they discovered how to make fire, and
with its aid to fashion agricultural implements and
weapons. They knew how to distinguish plants
good for food from those dangerous to human life;
they fixed precise dates for the commencement of
each of the four seasons; invented various systems of
calligraphy, finally adopting the one still in use; and
they acquired the art of weaving silk and cotton,
which, according to the eminent sinologist, Leblois
of Strasburg, recently deceased, they learnt from
watching spiders at work.</p>
<div class="sidenote">THSIN-CHI-HWANG-TI</div>
<p>Until the third century <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> China was divided
into small states, the weaker tributary to the
stronger, the latter independent. The too-celebrated
Emperor Thsin-Chi-Hwang-Ti, who two
hundred years before the Christian era ordered the
destruction by fire of all books, united the various
little kingdoms into one, and it was only in his
time that the Chinese Empire properly so called
began. At this period, too, the name of Thsina, or
China, originally that of the district governed by the
incendiary, came to be given to the whole country.</p>
<p>The most important historical documents are
those making up what is called the <i>Shu-King</i>,
dating from about <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> 500, and written by a
certain Kwang-Tsen. This valuable book has
been translated into French by P. Gaubil and L.
Biot, and its history is very romantic. It was
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</SPAN></span>
supposed that every copy had been burnt by
the agents of Thsin-Chi-Hwang-Ti, but an old
literate, Fu Chang by name, had learnt it by heart,
and later, one copy engraved on pieces of bamboo
was found hidden in the wall of an old house
which was being pulled down.</p>
<p>This sacred book, which is indeed a literary
treasure, is now more than 2300 years old, and
it contains extracts from works yet more ancient,
so that it is the very best guide in existence to
the early history of China.</p>
<p>It begins with a description of a chief named
Yao, who, according to official Chinese chronology,
flourished some 2350 years before the Christian
era. If the portrait is not flattered, Yao must
have been a perfect man. He lived in the province
now known as Chen-si, and, like some great
illumination, he attracted to himself all the barbaric
hordes in the neighbourhood. His first care was
to teach them to honour the Shang Ti, or Tien,
that is to say, the Supreme God. He also employed
certain men to watch the course of the
heavenly bodies, or rather to continue the study
of the stars begun before his time, not from any
curiosity as to the science of astronomy strictly
so called, but that agriculturists might learn the
right seasons for the work they had to perform.
According to the <i>Shu-King</i> the year was already
divided in China into 366 days, and these days
into four very strictly-defined periods, beginning at
the times enumerated below:</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="sidenote">THE WISDOM OF YAO</div>
<p>1. The day and night of equal length, marking
the middle of the spring season, or what is now
known in Europe as the Equinox.</p>
<p>2. The longest day, marking the middle of the
summer, now called the summer solstice.</p>
<p>3. The day and night of equal length, marking
the middle of the autumn.</p>
<p>4. The shortest day, marking the middle of the
winter solstice.</p>
<p>Yao having asked for a man capable of aiding
him to govern his people well, his own son was
the first to be suggested as a suitable person, but
he was rejected, the father saying: "He is deficient
in rectitude, and fond of disputing." Another
candidate was sent away because he did a great
deal of unnecessary talking about things of no
value, and pretended to be humble although his
pride was really boundless. Then a certain Chung
was brought forward, renowned for his virtues in
spite of his obscure birth. Although he was the
son of a blind father and of a wicked mother who
treated him cruelly, whilst his brother was puffed
up with excessive pride, Chung yet loyally performed
his filial duties, and even succeeded as it
were unconsciously in correcting the errors of his
relations, and saving them from the commission
of serious crimes. He was quoted as the greatest
known example of the practice of that most
honoured of all virtues in China, filial piety, which
is looked upon by the Celestials as the source of
every good action of justice and of humanity.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>Chung therefore was chosen, and he did not
disappoint the hopes Yao had founded upon his
rectitude and ability. The sacred book praises
the justice of his administration, and he succeeded
Yao on that great ruler's death, proving that the
hereditary principle was considered dangerous in
China even at that remote date. He commenced
his reign by offering to the Supreme God, and
performed the customary ceremonies in honour of
the mountains, the flowers and the spirits, then
held in veneration. He took the greatest pains
to ensure that justice should be done to all. It
is evident that there were schools in his day, for
he gave orders that nothing but the bamboo should
be used for the correction of insubordinate pupils.
Chung wished faults committed without malice
prepense to be pardoned, but severe punishments
to be inflicted on the incorrigible and on those
who abused their strength or their authority. He
was anxious, however, that judges under him should
temper their justice with mercy.</p>
<div class="sidenote">A LOWLY-BORN RULER</div>
<p>The ministers of state had names suggesting a
pastoral origin, for they were all called Mon, a
word answering to our shepherd. When Chung
gave them their appointments, he would say to
them: "You must treat those who come from a
distance with humanity, instruct those who are
near to you, esteem and encourage men of talent,
believe in the virtuous and charitable and confide
in them, and lastly have nothing to do with those
whose manners are corrupt." He would also say
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</SPAN></span>
to them sometimes: "If I do wrong you must tell
me of it; you would be to blame if you praise me
to my face and speak differently of me when my
back is turned."</p>
<p>The <i>Shu-King</i> tells us further that having
appointed a man skilled in music to teach that art
to the children of the great ones of his kingdom,
Chung said to him: "See that your pupils are
sincere and polite, ready to make allowances for
others, obliging and sedate; teach them to be
firm without being cruel; inculcate discernment,
but take care that they do not become conceited."
He appointed a censor to preside over public
meetings where speeches were made, saying to
him: "I have an extreme aversion for those who
use inflammatory language; their harangues sow
discord, and do much to injure the work of those
who endeavour to do good; the excitement and
the fears they arouse lead to public disorders."</p>
<p>Would it not be well for a similar formula to be
pasted up in every place of public meeting at the
present day?</p>
<div class="fig_left" style="width: 301px;"><SPAN name="Fig_12"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig12.png" width-obs="301" height-obs="266" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 12.—A NAUGHTY PUPIL.</div>
</div>
<p>Every three years Chung instituted an inquiry
into the conduct of the officials in his dominions,
recompensing those who had done well, and
punishing those who had done ill. Few other
sovereigns have merited the eulogy pronounced
on Chung by one of his ministers: "His virtues,
said the critic, are not tarnished by faults. In the
care he takes of his subjects, he shows great
moderation, and in his government his grandeur
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</SPAN></span>
of soul is manifest If he has to punish, <i>the punishment
does not descend from parents to children;</i>
but if he has to give a reward, the benefit extends
to the descendants of those recompensed. With
regard to involuntary errors, he pardons them
without inquiring whether they are great or small.
Voluntary faults, however apparently trivial, he
punishes. In doubtful cases the penalty inflicted
is light, but
if a service
rendered is
in question,
the reward is
great. He
would rather
run the risk
of letting a
criminal escape the legal
punishment
than of putting an innocent person to death." The same minister thus
defines a fortunate man: "He is one who knows
how to combine prudence with indulgence, determination
with integrity, reserve with frankness,
humility with great talents, consistency with complaisance,
justice and accuracy with gentleness,
moderation with discernment, a high spirit with
docility, and power with equity."</p>
<div class="sidenote">A BOASTFUL ENGINEER</div>
<p>The Hoang-Ho, or Yellow River, the mighty
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</SPAN></span>
stream which rises in Thibet and flings itself into
the Gulf of Pechili after a course of some 3000
miles, had from time immemorial been the cause
of constant and terrible catastrophes in the districts
it traversed. Chung therefore sent for a talented
engineer named Yu, and ordered him to superintend
the work of making canals and embankments to
remedy the evil. There had been a specially
destructive inundation just before this appointment,
and the sacred book contains Yu's own
account of what he had accomplished, couched, it
must be owned, in anything but modest terms.
"When," he says, "the great flood reached to
heaven; when it surrounded the mountains and
covered the hills, the unfortunate inhabitants were
overwhelmed by the waters. Then I climbed on
to the four means of transport. I followed the
mountains, and I cut through the woods. I laid
up stores of grain and meat to feed the people. I
made channels for the river, compelling them to
flow towards the sea. In the country I dug canals
to connect the rivers with each other. I planted
seed in the earth, and by dint of work something
to live upon was won from the soil."</p>
<p>The memory of these vast undertakings has
remained engraven on the minds of the Chinese,
and they still think of Yu with undying gratitude.
For all that, however, the Hoang-Ho has continued
to be a menace to the Empire, for in 1789, and again
in 1819, it overflowed its banks, causing a considerable
amount of damage to property, and killing
countless numbers of the river-side population. Only
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</SPAN></span>
twelve years ago the wayward river, justly called
by the sufferers from its ravages "China's sorrow,"
burst its southern embankment near Chang-Chan
in the inland province of Shen-Hsi, and poured in one
great mass over the whole of the densely-populated
Honan, drowning millions of helpless people, and
undoing the work of centuries. In a word, what
the erratic river will do next is one of the chief
problems of the physical future of China. It has
already shifted its course no less than nine times
in its troubled career; and on account of the great
rapidity of its stream it is of little use for navigation.
Could Yu have foreseen the destruction
of all the grand works of which he boasted, he
would probably have taken a less exalted view of
what he had accomplished.</p>
<p>However that may be, his contemporaries were
so impressed by his ability, and the great Chung so
admired his virtue and talent, that he was chosen
as heir in the life-time of that mighty sovereign.
The dialogue said to have taken place between
the Emperor and his subject on the question of
the succession to the throne is curious and
interesting:</p>
<p>"Come," said Chung to Yu, "I have been reigning
for thirty-three years; my advanced age and
growing infirmities prevent me from giving the
necessary application to affairs of state. I wish
you to reign instead. Do your utmost to acquit
yourself worthily of the task."</p>
<p>"I am not virtuous enough to govern well,"
replied Yu; "the people will not obey me."</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>He then recommended some one else.</p>
<p>Chung, however, insisted in the following terms:</p>
<p>"When we had everything to fear from the great
inundation, you worked with eagerness and rectitude;
you rendered the greatest services, and your
talents and wisdom were made manifest throughout
the whole country. Although you have led an
unassuming life with your family, although you have
served the State well, you have not considered that
a reason to dispense with work, and this is no
ordinary virtue. You have no pride; there is no
one in the country superior to you in good qualities.
None other has done such great things, and yet
you do not set a high value on your own conduct.
There is no one in the country whose merit excels
your own."</p>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 397px;"><SPAN name="Fig_13"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig13.png" width-obs="397" height-obs="269" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 13.—A CHINESE BRIDGE SPANNING THE HUANG-HO.</div>
</div>
<div class="sidenote">YU BECOMES EMPEROR</div>
<p>So Yu became chief ruler, and his name was
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</SPAN></span>
associated by posterity with that of Yao and of
Chung. The sacred book has preserved many of
his sayings, and I will quote the most beautiful
here:</p>
<p>"He who obeys reason is happy, he who resists
it is unhappy. Virtue is the foundation of good
government; the first task of government is to
provide the people governed with all that is
necessary for their subsistence and preservation.
The next thing is to make the population virtuous;
to teach them the proper use of everything; and
lastly, to protect them from all which jeopardizes
their health or their life. The prince who understands
men well will appoint none to public offices
but those who are wise; his generous heart and
liberality will win him love."</p>
<p>When Yu died, the chiefs of the people unfortunately
failed to carry on the custom of choosing
as a successor to the throne the wisest and most
illustrious of their number. The law of hereditary
right was recognized, and dynasties henceforth
succeeded each other in China as elsewhere, each
lasting a long or short time according to whether
the people were or were not satisfied. There was,
however, one salutary exception to the usual
interpretation of the hereditary principle. The
reigning Emperor could choose as his successor
the son he considered the most intelligent of his
children; and as a Chinese ruler generally has at
least fifty children, without counting the girls,
there is no difficulty in making a selection.</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</SPAN></span></p>
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