<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></SPAN>CHAPTER II</h2>
<p class="smaller">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.</p>
<p><span class="smcap">Well-built</span>, comfortable steamers leave Hong-Kong
daily for Canton. I embarked in one of
them one fine spring morning, when a fresh sea-breeze
was blowing, such as gives new life to those
enervated by too long a residence in the tropics.
I did not see a single white face amongst the
passengers, for European trade is all transferred to
Hong-Kong, now driven away from Canton by
the burning by the Celestials of the fine factories
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</SPAN></span>
built outside the gates of the city by European
contractors.</p>
<div class="fig_left" style="width: 211px;"><SPAN name="Fig_14"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig14.png" width-obs="211" height-obs="477" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 14.—A PAGODA.</div>
</div>
<p>My fellow-passengers, all Chinese, wore loose
garments of blue cotton,
thick-soled shoes, and a
skull-cap, from which a
long pig-tail, in many
cases of false hair, hung
down the back, reaching
to the heels. The crew
of American sailors as
they navigated the vessel
kept a watchful eye upon
the passengers, for
though the latter looked
peaceable enough, there
had been more than one
instance of the sudden
transformation of inoffensive
travellers into
daring pirates, who, after
pillaging and burning
the ship, had made for
the nearest shore and
escaped the vengeance of
those they had robbed.</p>
<p>Before entering the great Shu-Kiang river, on
the north bank of which Canton is built, we
passed the ruins of a fort dating from the time of
the Dutch supremacy. Beyond it the stream is
bordered by green rice plantations with little hills
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</SPAN></span>
rising up here and there surmounted by isolated
pagodas of several storeys high. On one of them I
noticed standing out against the sky from the fifth
storey the fragment of a bell, one-half of which had
been shot away by a ball from a French cannon.
Great indeed must have been the astonishment of
the Chinese, posted on this particular pagoda to
watch the movements of the enemies' troops, when
the projectile struck the sonorous mass of bronze
and shivered it to splinters. The catastrophe must
have been to them a warning full of sinister yet
salutary meaning.</p>
<div class="sidenote">THE PEARL OF THE EAST</div>
<p>The river rushes proudly along towards its final
home in the ocean, but narrows before it reaches its
actual mouth, the water becoming yellow, as does
that of the Nile at the time of its rising. Even without
glasses I could quite clearly make out several poor-looking
villages, the houses with their dull red roofs
occupied no doubt by fishermen and their families.
Oh, how different were the surroundings of these
water-highways of China to those of the Seine, the
Rhone, and of the charming Gironde! How much
I preferred even the Nile, which I had but recently
left, to this so-called Pearl of the East, for in spite
of the ugly black mud-huts of the fellaheen, there
is something beautiful about the river-side scenery.
I like the graceful date-tree far better than the
bamboo with its self-conscious uprightness, and I
considerably prefer the slim and supple Egyptian
women to the clumsy, heavy-limbed female peasants
of China, such as I saw on the banks of the Shu-Kiang,
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</SPAN></span>
dragging heavy loads behind them as they
strode along in a manner which made me doubtful
as to their sex, especially as their faces were hidden
by the great hats they wore. A few more turns of
the paddle-wheels of our steamer, and it stopped
opposite Canton. In a moment a virago, such as
those I had been looking at with anything but
admiration, was on the deck, and seizing me in her
strong arms as if I were a delicate baby, she quickly
deposited me at the bottom of her own boat,
roaring with laughter over my embarrassment. I
had no longer any doubt as to her sex, as with a
few vigorous strokes of her oars she ran her boat
ashore, and with the same maternal care as she had
shown before she landed me upon the wharf of the
little island of Hainan where I was expected.</p>
<p>There is no particular historic interest attached
to Canton except that it was the very first Chinese
town to enter into relations with foreigners. We
know that this opening of intercourse took place
in the year 618 <span class="smcap">A.D.</span>, but whence the foreigners
came is not so certain. Possibly some of them
were from Ceylon, and undoubtedly others were
from the continent of Africa, as proved by the fact
that elephants' tusks, the horns of the rhinoceros,
coral, pearls, redwood, and medicines were brought
into the city by the strangers, who received metals
in exchange—that is to say, copper, tin, and gold,
and silk—especially silk—for it was manufactured
in the Celestial Empire twenty-seven centuries
before the Christian era. It was Lui-Tseu, the
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</SPAN></span>
wife of the great Emperor Kwang-Ti, or the Yellow
ruler, who taught the people the art of rearing the
silk-worm and spinning the material it produced.
The industry of silk-weaving has brought such
wealth to China that Lui-Tseu has been raised to
the rank of a beneficent genius, and is honoured
under the name of the "Spirit of the mulberry-tree
and the silk-worm."</p>
<p>In 1127 an edict was issued forbidding the exportation
of metal, and ordering all payments to
be made from henceforth in money alone. It is
recorded in Chinese annals that at a considerably
later date a French vessel came up the river Shu-Kiang
and fired her cannons in an aggressive
manner, so that relations with foreigners were
broken off.</p>
<p>In 1425, however, an embassy from Portugal
resulted in the re-admission of foreigners to Canton,
and a century later the Dutch also obtained a
footing in the city.</p>
<div class="sidenote">ENGLISH MONOPOLY OF TRADE</div>
<p>They in their turn were, however, supplanted by
the English, who practically enjoyed a monopoly
of trade from the beginning of the eighteenth
century until 1834. At that date their prosperity
began to decline, one dispute succeeding another,
and in 1839 open war broke out between England
and China. In 1841 Hong-Kong was ceded to the
former power, and in 1842 the Treaty of Nanking
was signed, opening to British traders the five ports
of Canton, Amoy, Fuchau, Ningpo, and Shanghai.
Fresh friction was caused by the arrogant assumptions
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</SPAN></span>
of the Chinese and the vacillating policy of
the English, culminating in the war of 1856, the
immediate cause of which was the capture by the
Chinese of a lorcha, or small hybrid vessel of
European build, with the rigging of a Chinese junk
flying the British flag. After a fierce struggle a
peace was again patched up, but the factories outside
Canton had all been destroyed by the mob,
and prosperity has never since fully returned to the
city. It was not until 1860, when the Convention
of Pekin was signed, ratifying the Treaty of Tien-tsin,
that anything like cordial relations were established
between England and China, and since
then these relations have been again and again
disturbed.</p>
<p>Before the bombardment of Canton by the united
fleets of England and France every foreigner found
within the walls of that inhospitable town was
beheaded at once. Naturally, with the memory
of all that had so recently happened fresh in my
mind, I hesitated when M. Vaucher, representative
on the island of Hainan, of the Swiss house of the
same name, suggested that we should go together
through the streets of Canton in sedan chairs. I
did not like to allude to the danger I might run
myself, but I asked if I should not be exposing
him to peril. "No," was his reply, "your fellow-countrymen
have won the permanent respect of
the people for all foreigners, and you will be able
to boast on your return home of having explored
the vast city with no other protector than myself."</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="sidenote">A TERRIBLE REVENGE</div>
<p>M. Vaucher then told me the following story:</p>
<p>"After the allied fleets had taken possession of
Canton, the commanders used to send a party of
men every morning to get fresh fruit for the table
of the officers, and rarely did a day pass without
at least one Englishman being absent at calling
over. Any sailor, who to satisfy his curiosity was
foolish enough to leave his comrades for a moment,
was at once set upon by Chinese soldiers and
murdered in the open street. Vainly did the
Admiral of the English fleet threaten to make
bloody reprisals if the authorities did not punish
the offenders. The same kind of thing happened
again and again. At last one day five or six sailors
belonging to a French frigate landed and made
their way into Canton. As they turned into a
street they missed one of their party, and presently
they found his headless corpse lying on the ground.
When the crime became known to the French, the
second in command of the fleet collected fifty
volunteers, armed them with revolvers and hatchets,
and landing with them, marched them into Canton.
On arriving in the street where the murder had been
committed, some of the men were told off to guard
the entrances to it, whilst the rest made their way
into the houses and killed all the Chinese they
found in them except one, who, though he had
already been hit by six bullets, calmly walked up
the middle of the street without quickening his
pace or even turning his head to the right or the
left at the sound of the renewed firing. The leader
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</SPAN></span>
of the expedition at last ran up to him and gave
him a smart blow on the shoulder. The fearless
Celestial merely turned his pale face towards his
assailant, looking at him without a smile. He
did not even
tremble in the
grasp of his
enemy. Touched
by his courage
the officer spared
his life handing
him over to two
sailors with orders to do him
no harm.</p>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 523px;"><SPAN name="Fig_15"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig15.png" width-obs="523" height-obs="415" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 15.—A STREET IN CANTON.</div>
</div>
<p>"After this bloody punishment, which was very
hostilely criticized by the English press of Hong-Kong and Shanghai,
Europeans, whatever their
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</SPAN></span>
nationality, have been able to wander about unmolested either alone
or in parties in the streets of Canton."</p>
<div class="sidenote">I EXPLORE CANTON</div>
<div class="fig_right" style="width: 238px;"><SPAN name="Fig_16"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig16.png" width-obs="238" height-obs="412" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 16.—A WOMAN OF THE PEOPLE WITH HER BABY.</div>
</div>
<p>After listening to this tale, I had an eager desire
to explore the town, which, since the departure
of the allied fleets, had
rarely been entered
by Europeans. I
watched anxiously
for the first symptom
in the faces of the
inhabitants of the
hereditary hatred of
white men, which had
most likely been
greatly intensified by
the bombardment of
the town, and by the
punishment inflicted
for the murder of the
French sailors, a punishment by no means
excessive, terrible as
it was. I am bound
to add, however, that
as M. Vaucher and I
were carried rapidly through the crowded streets
by our coolies, in our respective chairs, we noted
no hostility in the placid faces of those we encountered.
The people stood aside to let us pass, and
showed rather benevolent curiosity than insulting
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</SPAN></span>
indifference. The Chinese children, with their
round heads and strongly-marked eyebrows, who
are so aggressive and impudent in the interior of
the country, here remained perfectly silent. Only
the old women tottering along on their deformed
feet paused in their painful
walk now and then, to lean
against the walls of the
houses, and look at us in
a mocking though not
exactly a hostile manner.
Our progress was only once
arrested for a moment,
when we met a great military
mandarin in a narrow
street, escorted by some ten
warriors bearing their halberds
on their shoulders.
The mandarin stopped, and
we passed without difficulty,
giving him a military
salute in return for
his courtesy.</p>
<p>I confess that this unexpected complaisance
put me into a very good humour, and after this
incident I gave myself up without reserve to the
enjoyment of my first visit to a Chinese town.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</SPAN></span></p>
<table summary="people">
<tr>
<td><SPAN name="Fig_17"></SPAN><br/><ANTIMG src="images/fig17.png" width-obs="205" height-obs="404" alt="" /></td>
<td><SPAN name="Fig_18"></SPAN><br/><ANTIMG src="images/fig18.png" width-obs="183" height-obs="364" alt="" /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="fig_caption">FIG. 17.—A CHINESE MANDARIN.</td>
<td class="fig_caption">FIG. 18.—A GONG-RINGER.</td>
</tr>
</table>
<div class="sidenote">HOMAGE TO PAKTAI</div>
<p>By a lucky chance I had arrived at the very
moment when the inhabitants were celebrating two
of their greatest festivals. The first, in honour of
the beautiful Paktai, the fair Divinity of the North,
was simply remarkable for the immense crowds
flocking to the pagodas, crowds made up of bonzes,
bonzesses, portly mandarins, cooks and barbers
vigorously plying their trades, æsthetes with
effeminate faces, young girls
full of delight at getting out
of their palanquins for once,
and at being able to totter
about on the flag-stones of
the temples for a few minutes
on their poor mutilated feet.</p>
<p>When the gilded pedestal
upholding the shrine of
Paktai was completely hidden
beneath the flowers
flung upon it by the crowds,
the worshippers all repaired
<i>en masse</i> to see the theatrical
representations which take
place after the religious ceremony.
Not until midnight
did every one go home, only
to meet again the next day,
when a great procession passed through the city, in
the midst of which the venerated idol was carried
with the greatest pomp. Some on horseback, others
in sedan chairs, were many young boys and girls
wearing the costumes in vogue amongst the heroes
and heroines of the earliest days of the Celestial
Empire. Many too were the banners of beautiful
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</SPAN></span>
silk embroidered with various devices or inscriptions
in golden letters, and still more numerous
were the bearers of the large gongs, some of which
were of such
an immense circumference
that
it took two
strong coolies to
carry them.</p>
<p>All Asiatics
love a deafening
noise, and the
delight of the
Chinese may be
imagined when
the accumulated
din of these
great bronze
disks becomes
one continuous
roar like thunder.</p>
<div class="fig_left" style="width: 318px;"><SPAN name="Fig_19"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig19.png" width-obs="318" height-obs="496" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 19.—A CHINESE ACTOR.</div>
</div>
<p>The second
<i>féte</i> I witnessed
was celebrated
in the Honan
suburb in honour
of Tien-Ho, the
Queen of Heaven, and the protectress of sailors.
All the ship-owners of the populous city of Canton,
all the pilots, all the captains of junks and sampans,
all the fishermen, boatmen, and boatwomen,—in
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</SPAN></span>
fact, every human creature connected in
the remotest degree with anything like shipping or
boats, were collected in front of the sanctuary of
the goddess. Her statue too was covered with
flowers, and, as in the case of the <i>féte</i> of the
Divinity of the North, the theatre opened directly
the pagoda of the Queen of Heaven closed. The
stage was erected about a hundred yards from
the pagoda, so that the devout had only to turn
round to pass at once from the sacred to the
profane.</p>
<div class="sidenote">A GRAND DRAMA</div>
<p>A grand spectacular drama, called the Marriage
of the Ocean and the Earth, extended over twelve
consecutive evenings; the only plot was, however,
the presentation to each other by the betrothed
couple of the vast treasures at their disposal.</p>
<p>The Earth began by a grand show of tigers,
lions, elephants, ostriches, etc.—in a word, of all the
big animals which our ancestor Noah took with
him into the ark. Then the Ocean, not to be outdone,
paraded in his turn his dolphins, his turtles,
the vessels he had engulfed, his corals, and great
bunches of all the most wonderful growths of his
submarine gardens. All these marvels were, however,
nothing but a prelude to the great final
surprise, when an enormous whale reeled into view,
and as it flopped about shot out a great volume
of water over the whole stage. It would be impossible
to describe the enthusiastic delight of the
spectators, who all shouted like madmen. <i>Has!
Hung haho!</i> (excellent! perfect!) and if M.
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</SPAN></span>
Vaucher and I had not applauded too we should
have been stoned.</p>
<p>The beautiful river on which Canton is built
presented for many days a most picturesque appearance.
I could wish those of my readers who
love the marvellous, who enjoy looking at crowds
and do not mind noise, no better pleasure than to
gaze, if but for a moment, upon the Pearl of the
East at this <i>féte</i> of the protectress of those who
do their business on the great waters, thronged as
its surface then is with junks dressed with flags,
brilliantly illuminated flower-boats, little vessels
transformed for the nonce into miniature pagodas,
gliding mysteriously along as do the gondolas of
Venice. I was told that on these occasions more
than one lovely young Celestial maiden is worshipped
in these pagodas of a day, with a ritual
very different from that of the public ceremony we
had witnessed at the shrine of the goddess.</p>
<div class="sidenote">CANTON INDUSTRIES</div>
<p>Canton consists of a great number of narrow
streets, each house in which is adorned with
coloured signs, giving a very quaint and charming
appearance to the façades, especially of an evening,
when the gilt lettering on the red and black lacquer
ground is lit up by the rays of the setting sun. As
was the case in European towns in mediæval times,
and is still customary in the Orient, each district
of the city has its own special industry, and is
closed at nightfall by a bamboo barrier. The
cobblers' quarter seemed to me to be the most
densely populated; a great multitude of workers,
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</SPAN></span>
naked to the waist, zealously plying their trade,
chattering like magpies the while. Close to the
cobblers live the coffin-makers, who are even
noisier than their neighbours, and quite as happy
over their work. Yet another quarter dear to the
lovers of <i>bric-à-brac</i>, is
sacred to the manufacture
of porcelain,
bronzes, cloisonné
enamels, beautifully
lacquered or delicately
carved boxes in ebony,
ivory, and other materials,
plain and figured
silks, etc., which are
sent to Hong-Kong
for trans-shipment to
Europe and America.</p>
<div class="fig_right" style="width: 230px;"><SPAN name="Fig_20"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig20.png" width-obs="230" height-obs="379" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 20.—A CHINESE ACTOR IN A TRAGIC PART.</div>
</div>
<p>You can of course
get all these things
without going all the
way to China for them,
and they are to be seen
in Paris in the Guimet
and Cernuschi Museums,
and at various Oriental houses in London and
New York. Many Chinese are very wealthy, and
keep for themselves and their heirs the art treasures
they buy or have inherited from their ancestors.</p>
<p>In spite of the fact that you can see Chinese
curios at home, it would be a pity to miss the
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</SPAN></span>
pleasure of rummaging, in the shops. The owner
of those you enter will receive you with apparent
cordiality, but at the same time with a certain
distrustful politeness, and you will be carefully
watched as you turn over the goods for sale. If
you accept the cup of tea which every merchant
delights to offer to his visitors, and you seem to
appreciate the superior quality of the beverage, you
will win the golden opinion of the donor, for to the
Celestial tea is a divine plant. The drink made
from it as a matter of fact quenches thirst better
than any other, not only in the heat of summer,
but also in the extreme cold of the heights of the
Himalayas or of the desert of Gobi, where the traveller
is exposed to the icy blast of the north wind.
From the east to the west, from the north to the
south of the vast Empire, we meet with the hospitable
tea-house; it is perhaps not quite such a
fascinating place as it is in Japan, but beneath its
shelter the traveller is always sure of finding the
cheering beverage which will put new strength into
him for his further journey. There is not a Chinese
poet who has failed to sing the praises of the
precious shrub. Even an illustrious Emperor wrote
directions in verse (reproduced below in dull
prose) for the preparation of a cup of tea, and
described the salutary effect it has upon the
mind:</p>
<div class="pmb2 blockquot">
<p>"Put a tripod pot, the colour and form of which testifies
to long service, upon a moderate fire; fill this pot with the
pure water of melted snow, and heat this water to the degree
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</SPAN></span>
needed for turning fish white or crabs red, and then pour
it at once into a cup containing the tender leaves of a choice
tea; leave it to simmer until the steam, which will at first rise
up copiously, forms thick clouds which gradually disperse,
till all that is left is a light mist upon the surface; then sip
the delicious liquor slowly; it will effectually dissipate all
the causes for anxiety which are worrying you. You can
taste, you can feel the peaceful bliss which results from
imbibing the liquid thus prepared, but it is perfectly impossible
to describe it. Already, however, I hear the ringing
of the curfew-bell; the freshness of the night is increasing;
the moonbeams penetrate through the slits in my tent, and
light up the few pieces of furniture adorning it. I am without
anxiety and without fatigue, my digestion is perfect; I
can give myself to repose without fear. These verses were
written to the best of my small ability, in the spring of the
tenth month of the year Ping-yn (1746) of my reign.</p>
<p class="tdr2">(Signed) <span class="smcap">Khian-Lung</span>."</p>
</div>
<div class="sidenote">AN IMPERIAL TEA-MAKER</div>
<p>The tea-plant is a shrub requiring very little
care. A siliceous soil suits it best, and in it it
attains its fullest development. Great quantities
of seed are sown in September and October, and
when the plants are about nine inches high they
are transplanted and placed about twenty inches
apart. When the leaves have reached their fullest
development they are gathered, carefully washed
to remove any earth which may have clung to
them, and they are then exposed to the rays of the
sun, the day chosen for this part of the preparation
being the very hottest in the year. In the evening
the dry leaves are taken up with every precaution
against injury, placed in boxes, and protected from
the air by sheets of lead. Millions of cases of tea
thus packed are dispersed all over the world, but
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</SPAN></span>
it is needless to add that the Chinese keep the
best leaves for their own consumption. Green, or as
they themselves call it, white tea, is put into boxes
directly it is picked, without any drying or other
preparation, and black tea is produced by placing
the leaves in a brazier over a slow fire, these leaves
being constantly turned over with the hands by
the men in charge of them, to prevent them from
sticking together or drying too quickly. When
taken from the brazier they are placed in a sieve
and still further manipulated, always with the
greatest care and delicacy. Lastly, they are once
more exposed to heat in the brazier to give them
the brown colour so much esteemed by many
consumers. It is in this last stage of the preparation
that the skill of the manipulator is put to the
severest test, for if the tea is too much burnt it will
have no taste at all, and if it is not sufficiently
burnt it will be bitter and heating.</p>
<p>I forget now in whose house it was, but I was on
one occasion stupid enough, when the guest of a
mandarin, to say I had once at the residence of
a clergyman drunk an excellent cup of tea mixed
with rum and sweetened with sugar.</p>
<p>"Sugar and rum!" cried my host, who was
terribly shocked. "We must take care not to
offer our best teas to you, for you would certainly
not be able to appreciate them."</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="fig_center" style="width: 330px;"><SPAN name="Fig_21"></SPAN><br/>
<ANTIMG src="images/fig21.png" width-obs="330" height-obs="367" alt="" />
<div class="fig_caption">FIG. 21.—A VILLA NEAR CANTON.</div>
</div>
<div class="sidenote">THE FATIM GARDEN</div>
<p>I stopped eight days at Canton; more than
enough to visit everything worth seeing in that
now uninteresting city. I saw the endless rice-fields
stretching away beyond its gates; I went to
look at the French concession, where there is not a
single French inhabitant, though the names of the
streets, such as the <i>Rue de la Fusée</i>, the <i>Rue de la
Dordogne</i>, and the <i>Rue de la Charente</i>, recall the
vessels once manned by the brave sailors who had
for a brief time sojourned in this remote Chinese
town. One curiosity which every visitor to Canton
ought to see, is the so-called Fatim garden, where
each tree represents some fantastic animal, and in
which prowl herds of pigs, more quaint in appearance
than the shrubs tended by pale-faced young
bonzes wearing yellow garments.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>The cemetery of Canton is of vast extent, and
every year in the month of May, the pious Celestials
all flock to it in white robes, to lay offerings of
rice, fruit, and flowers on the graves of those they
have lost. The gifts would be left unmolested for a
long time, but for the fact that they are presented
in the spring, just when countless birds are nesting
in the branches of the lofty bamboos growing in
the neighbourhood, and who consequently look upon
the rice and fruit as provided especially for them.</p>
<p>It is not only after the death of those near
and dear to them, that the Chinese show the deep
filial love for their parents which is one of their most
striking characteristics. The <i>Pekin Gazette</i> gave
a very touching instance of this reverent affection,
communicated to the official organ of the Celestial
Empire by the Governor of Schantung, which made
such a sensation that it reached the ears of the
Emperor himself. Here is the story:</p>
<p>A certain native of China, Li-Hsien-Ju by name,
whose father had died at Feï-Chang, immediately
sold the piece of land he inherited in order to give
a grand funeral in honour of his beloved and
lamented father. The time of mourning had not
yet expired when a terrible famine took place in
the town where the ceremonies were going on.
Provisions became so scarce and so dear, that Li-Hsien-Ju
found himself quite unable to provide
properly for his aged mother, so he decided to
carry her on his back to another province where
the ground was less sterile. This he did, begging
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</SPAN></span>
his way as he went, and supporting himself and
his sacred charge on alms alone.</p>
<div class="sidenote">A DEVOTED SON</div>
<p>This model son, laden as he was, actually
traversed the fabulous distance of four hundred
French leagues, finally arriving at Honan, where he
and his mother settled down. A year after this the
poor mother was taken ill, and Li-Hsien-Ju, fearing
that she might die in a strange land, of which every
Chinese has the greatest horror, resolved to take
her home to her native country in the same manner
as he had brought her from it, so he started back
again with his sacred burden, begging his way
once more. The two got back again to Feï-Chang
at last, but had scarcely reached their home before
the old mother died. It is impossible to tell how
many nights the heart-broken son spent on the
tomb of the lost one, but we know that, thanks to
his pious efforts, the bones of his father were laid
beside the body of his mother. A few days after
the death of the latter, the grief of the orphan
became so terrible that he wept tears of blood.
He is now sixty years old, but he still mourns for
his parents, and in the month of May when the <i>féte</i>
of the dead is held, he never fails to drag himself to
the cemetery and place upon the tomb, according
to custom, a bowl of smoking rice of gleaming
whiteness.</p>
<p>There are no Monthyon prizes, such as those
given by the French Academy for acts of disinterested
goodness, or surely this unselfish son
would have received one.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</SPAN></span></p>
<p>M. Vaucher and I went to visit the quay outside
Canton, which was the scene of the massacre of
100,000 Tai-Ping rebels, after the defeat of Hung-Hsiu-ch'wan
in 1865. The ferocious mandarin
Yeh had them all decapitated at the edge of the
river Kwan-Tung, their heads falling into the
muddy stream. A Dutchman, who had belonged
to a factory in Canton at the time, told me that he
witnessed the terrible scene from his window, and
had been greatly struck by the extraordinary
composure with which the victims met their fate.
Motionless and with bowed heads they knelt at
the edge of the quay, awaiting the fatal stroke of
the sword. "I had some idea," added the Dutchman,
"of sending the poor fellows some packets of
cigarettes to cheer their last moments, but I should
have been completely ruined, for their numbers
increased every day."</p>
<p>The tragic story of the Tai-Ping rebellion, its
extraordinary success at first, and its final suppression
under Gordon is well known. In the two
campaigns against the Tai-Pings, the future hero
of Khartoum fought no less than thirty-three
battles, besieging and taking numerous walled
cities, and changing the whole history of the vast
Celestial Empire. Had the revolt been finally
successful, as it at one time bid fair to be, Hung,
the enlightened leader, might have founded a new
dynasty, and warded off for a long time at least
the dismemberment of the once vast Empire of
the East.</p>
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</SPAN></span></p>
<div class="sidenote">A CHINESE PANTHEON</div>
<p>My last visit was to the so-called Temple of
the live hundred genii, containing five hundred
grotesque gilded statues, taller than life, and of a
surprising girth. We must not, however, make fun
of them, for each one represents some Celestial
who has made his mark in art, science, or philosophy.
In France such a temple would be called
a Pantheon, and that is what it really is, a place
set apart for the commemoration of the great ones
of the past.</p>
<p>In the Temple of the five hundred genii lived a
beautiful little water-snake, which a bonze of venerable
appearance tended with reverent care, feeding
it on green frogs and cantharides. I tried to find
out why he set such store upon it, and the following
story was told to me:</p>
<p>The river, from the banks of which rises the
great city of Canton, often overflows, and the
inundations caused by the excess of water do a
great deal of mischief to the rice plantations. A
young engineer was ordered to construct an embankment,
but he must have done his work badly,
for only a year after its completion the river again
burst its bounds, and the engineer in despair
drowned himself in the waters he had failed to
control. Yet another inundation took place after
his death, and in the mud cast up by it upon the
shore was found a little snake. By order of the
Viceroy the reptile was taken to the Temple of the
five hundred genii, and a miracle at once took place,
for it had no sooner entered the sacred precincts
<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</SPAN></span>
than the waters subsided. Every one attributed
their fall to gratitude for the kind welcome given
to the little snake, and a long memorial on the subject
was addressed by the Viceroy to the Emperor,
which was at once published by the <i>Pekin Gazette</i>.
An explanation of the phenomenon was added, to
the effect that the little snake was really none other
than the engineer who had committed suicide.
There was really nothing surprising in the matter,
for of course by his death the unfortunate young
man had become a Chen-Ching-tung-Chang-chan,
or divinity of the river, and was anxious to repair
the mistake made in his life-time on earth, by
exercising a benevolent influence over its waters
now that he had the power to do so.</p>
<p>After the miracle which had taken place on the
entrance into the Temple of the little snake, the
people had proclaimed it to be the genius of the
water, and as such they venerated and cherished it!</p>
<hr class="chap" />
<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</SPAN></span></p>
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