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DATE DUE

CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

 
In Compliance with current
copyright law, Cornell University
Library produced this
replacement volume on paper
that meets the ANSI Standard
Z39.48-1992 to replace the
irreparably deteriorated original.

1998
  

   

 
  

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Gornell University Library
Sthaca, Nem York

 

  

CHARLES WILLIAM WASON

‘COLLECTION
CHINA AND THE CHINESE

THE GIFT OF
CHARLES WILLIAM WASON
CLASS OF 1876
1918
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——SS
: : : oy j

STORY OF CHINA AND JAPAN,

.. } Etmibracing their

CE een eg egy tae Se : : : ca Ba STS al
:, Geographical positions, enormous resources, wealth, emperors and courts,

aaa cad and people,

governments.

manners and customs, how the-people of these great nations ~~

'- . five and die and maintain in-oriental splendor the

‘China and Japan of To-day, —

Se : or Together with = is ae
_A sketch of Corea and the Coreans, and the causes. leading to:

: BY.
JAMES HYDE CLARK,
From choicest Chinese, Japanese and Corean Literature extant.

the Conflict of 1894,

ASSISTED BY =
CHANG WONG, of China, and K. TATONI, of Japan,

Both residing. in the United States.

ELABORATELY ILLUSTRATED.

, fe
(aiiege |

©. ORIENTAL PUBLISHING CO.

al 5,
Wason
DS5O7+*

CH
\W S65

_ Entered according to. ‘Act of meagiesnot in the year 1894,
“ ~ By D. B. SHEPP, ‘ :
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington road eel

ee = All rights reserved.

e

.

; The-ltlustrations in this E ‘Book are’ frogs origl- .
. nal photographs. Copying ‘them in| any, form Js | y; PRESS OF
unlawful, and notice is hereby given that persons ~
guilty of infringing on the copyright. will be ALFRED M. SLOCUM co.
immediately prosecuted. PHILADELPHIA, PA. |
PREFACE. ’
piles,

= tac PRESENT IS A HISTORY-MAKING AGE. Not
iG many generations of mankind have been permitted to
witness scenes of such transcendent importance as
heaped that to which these pages are addressed. Years ago

-a fervent-souled poet wrote:

“SWe are living, we are dwelling,
In a grand and awful time.
In an age on ages telling
To be living is. sublime.”

And those words are as true to-day as enc they were first
- penned. Men now living, and not by any means superannuated, can. re-.-
member events that have well-nigh. remade the world. To pass by

se the stupendous achievements of science, with all its. “mechanical, chemical ,
and electrical wonders, the deeds wrought in the fierce. heat : ‘of. ‘Wwar.

_~ have been such 4s. ‘might well Jua® this an exceptional Ee. Let us 2
: pete. afew of the chief events; (Yee 0. 00 og bes eae
ihe The ‘Sepoy mutiny and. ‘the’ ‘suppression “of it made Indi
ar 3001 000,000..for. ever a part of the British. Empire.” .
: ~ Garibaldi’ $. insurrection and. Victor Emmanuel’ S ‘subsequent cam.
> paign Teunited Italy and restored it to its place’ among the great. nations
. of Europe. A four years’. war abolished human slavery in America and :
‘made indissoluble the Union of these ‘States. eee
Three successive wars reunited the dozens of German. States into 4
one mighty Empire—the greatest since Charlemagne’s time.
The third of those wars swept away the tinsel empire of —
Napoleon III, and made France a free, Republic. See
Another war well-nigh demolished the Ottoman. Empire in Europe,
‘and made two independent Christian kingdoms out of its ruins. = oe
Any one of these wars is, in its magnitude, and in its permanent

effects upon the progress and welfare of the human race, worthy ° to be
. (5) '

   

 
6 | PREFACE.

the theme of many volumes of history, written by the most thoughtful
and discriminating students of the age.

The present task, however, is not with these, but with another
conflict and the parties to it; a conflict commensurate with those in
nearly every point of interest, and certainly their peer in the influence it
is likely to exert upon the future history of the world. ”

Men now living can remember when China, Japan, and Corea
were little more than names. We knew that China was the largest and
most populous empire of the world, including, indeed, one-third of the
whole human race. We knew that she had an ancient civilization, in
which printing, gunpowder, and many other useful things had been
invented. She was the source of a food product of well-nigh universal
use, and’ had given her own name to the pottery of the whole world.

- Bue beyond that. she was a sealed book.. Few travelers had ever
fy penetrated beyond her borders, and all we knew of the people and their
‘a life ‘was vague and legendary. It was not until 1860, when: the gates
of the Empire were blown open by French and English cannon, that
we began, to know. what China really . was, and is. _ :
ee ~ Japan was even less known. © Her insular position and the fierce.
al valor. of her. soldiers - held all the world . aloof ; until: an American com-
” _ mander’ ‘with “an ‘American fleet ‘thundered. at her gates with tones she
“could. not help ‘but hear. And ‘so “Japan. was opened to the world.
Even then Corea still remained a “hermit nation.” But America: opened
it also to the world, only. a few years ago, with several well-directed
cannon ‘shot.

Now the story of these three lads: which we have endeavored
to set forth in this volume, is a most entrancing one. Their history
runs back to a time that makes the oldest dynasties of Europe seem
things of -yésterday. Their whole life and character are invested with
a strange, exotic charm. Their very names conjure up strange ‘visions ;
of grave-faced, silk-clad mandarins ; of bales of fragrant tea; of lofty
temples built of porcelain ; of rare pieces of ceramic art; of gayly-
colored ' paper lanterns ; of a multitude of fans and patasols ; of' lacquer*

 
PREFACE. 7

ware and ivory carvings; of a thousand and one strange manners and
customs, as unlike our own as though they came from another planet.
What a task, to set all these things down in order, to write them in a
book that shall be an epitome of Oriental life!

Nor is the least interesting part of their story that which has
come since those nations were forced to open their gates to the world.
China has remained China. The conservatism and the inertia of cen-
turies are still dominant. Step by step she has strenuously resisted
every advance of civilization. Never for a moment has she ceased to
regard all other peoples as barbarians, or as “foreign devils,” to quote
her own choice vocabulary.

Japan, on the other hand, has sprung into newness of life. Never
in the history of the world has there been such rapid progress. as. she
has made in the last score of years. Her heart and mind were opened
to the world, as well as her doors. _She has adopted the arts of civili- |
zation; all that is best in Europe and America. She has. transformed
her Government from a despotism to a free popular commonwealth.
Free schools; newspapers, telegraphs, railroads, all the ‘ ‘modern improve-
a ments,” are. now hers. Ina single generation she nas advanced as far
a PE has. in a thousand years. | 2 ie eos 5 i
-+.0:\ Between the two, little. Corea has wavered, ‘wishing fo join Japan oe

in the forward march, but held back by the dead weight of China. .

For years it has been evident that a tremendous crisis would « one
day arise. It has come at last, in 1894. Corea is the immediate cause.
‘But back of Corea is the supreme question whether light | or datkness
should prevail in the Orient; whether inert, benighted, reactionary China,
or alert, enlightened progressive Japan, should be the master-power.

This conflict forms 'the climax of the story told in this volume.
We have described the two great powers, as they have been and as
they are; so that the reader may see how equally, or rather how un-
equally, matched they are: all the physical bulk on the one side, all the
“spiritual energy on the other. We have shown how the war was pro-
voked, and how actual hostilities began. In the exact words of an

 
8 PREFACE.

eye-witness we have described the stupendous ‘naval battle in Corea
Bay, one of the most important since Trafalgar, the first real trial of the
modern type of war-ships. As we pen the’ ‘closing lines, news comes
of a master-stroke that should end the war and make this passage of
history complete. So may it be!

‘Upon the future it would be idle to speculate. Our story is of
the past and of the present. Our aim is to portray as they are the
“Celestial Empire,” the “Land of the Rising Sun,” and the “Land of
‘Morning Calm.” There is a strange significance in these names. The
Chinesé have indeed reckoned their Empire “celestial,” exalted far above
the rest of the earth; and, in their self-conceit, have courted their own
ruin. “He that exalteth himself shall be abased.” As for Japan, it is
: truly the “Land of the Rising Sun,” the rising sun of a new era of light
and life in the eastern world. And Corea, the “Land of the Morning
Calm,” ‘surely there is a strange irony in that. name as applied to the
“country that has been the immediate .cause of this stupendous storm.

- We have embellished these pages with ‘a wealth of illustration, at
Ponce: entertaining . and instructive. The photographic camera is now the
" inseparable adjunct of. the pen. It. stereotypes the actual’ “scene, and Tepro-_
, duces, “ft before. the . eyes of .myr iads in distant lands. Baul. with |

   
 

~ printing, photography is the “art: preservative.”

: “So. -we leave the. story of these suoritirous: nations and ther anne
‘with “our: ‘readers, and with the future. There will be great events in that
: eastern world for futher volumes’ to record. But they will not be. under-
stood without first a full knowledge of what is now the past and present;
and that knowledge ' we have here endeavored to supply. Many of our
statements may seem marvelous, almost beyond belief. They are, how-
ever, all well attested by the best of authorities. The views and estimates
expressed may sometimes differ from the preconceived notions of the
public. But, at least, we have satisfactory reasons for our views, and .
are impartial and unbiased in expressing them. We have striven neither
to extenuate, nor to set down aught in malice, but to give what the
"title of the ‘book promises, “The Story of China and Japan.”
CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

CHINA—THE EMPIRE OF CHINA,

. PAGE
Boundless Resources—Immense Wealth—Provincial Divisions—Lakes—Rivers—

Mountains—Population,. .. 2... .......2-8..86. a hee WS 21

CHAPTER Il.
CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS. Court—THE GOVERNMENT,

Assuming the Purple—* The Solitary Man”?—Within the » Palace —Choosing a an-
Empress-—Preparing for the Wedding—Imperial ‘Nuptial Rites—The. Bride at | :
>the Palace—An Emperor’ s Death—Mourning at the Court—Reading the. will,
- —Funeral - of an Empress—Imperial. Authority—The | ‘Two: Cabinets—The

Real Government—The Six Boards—The }Fougien Ofice—Cotonia! affaits >

  

wa The Censors— -“* Letter Shops,”

’

 

CHAPTER Il.
" CHINA-ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS!

Punishment of Criminals—Guarding the Imperial Precincts—Treason Made Odious -
—Death by Torture—Belief in Magic—Family Government—Fighting and_
-Gambling—Corruptible Magistrates—‘‘ Crowner’ s Quest "Holding" an In-,

quest—The Few Good Mandarins—Plundering the Unfortunate—The ‘Need

_ of Lawyers—Village Organization—The | Land Question,. . . a so Sohne Wes 59
(9)
10 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IV.

CHINA—THE .PEOPLE.

PAGE

‘Parents Eating the Flesh of Children—A Devoted Daughter—The Lot of Woman
—Separation of the Sexes—Early Engagements—No Elopements—Ceremonies
of Betrothal—Work of the Best Mai—The Wedding Day—The Bride’s Home-
Coming—Plural Marriages—How Wives are Treated—A voiding Marriage—
The Last Moments—The Coffin and its Contents—The Funeral Train—The

Time of Mourning—Brought Home for Burial—Retainers and Slaves, . . . 83

CHAPTER V.

CHINA—CITY. AND COUNTRY.

.*

"Indolent ‘Peking Chinamen—The Prohibited City—Crime in the Capital—Foreign

  
  

Colonies.at Shanghai—Up the Yang Tse—The Ancient.Capital—The Manchu
* Capital—Canton—Hong-Kong—Beautiful Harbor—Rural — China—Traveling

-CHAPTER VI.
CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

Rank of the Farmers—The Land Question—Land Taxes—Irrigation—Fertilizing

the Soil—An Ancient Calendar—Silk Culture—Poppy Farming—Hitting the
* Pipe—Effect of Opium Smoking—Tea Culture—How the Plant is Grown

and Used—Brick Tea—Mechanics—Fire-Crackers—How Fireworks are Made

/ —The Festive Color,..........0.. ih tea am Ae eee ae. 3 125
CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.
CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—AMUSEMENT—DRESS.

Confucius— His Work — Laotzu — Taoism — Buddhism — Monasteries —Chinese
Society — Chinese Etiquette — Gardens — Economics — Amusements — The

Chinese Drama—The Profession—Chinese Magicians—A Mania for Gambling,

CHAPTER VIII.

CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE— ART.

The Chinese Language—The Literati—A Mania for Degrees—Easy Examples—

Examination Halls—The Examinations—Chinese Newspapers—Freedom of

the Press — Architecture — Interrupted development, _— Past Magnificence

Vanished—Houses. that ‘Perish—Chinese Furniture, . oo ie RS Boa ae

CHAPTER it

  

~ Cink —COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS “ARMY ‘AND. Navy.

ies pee ie TS

 

 

Bie

‘Grievances of Merchants—Embassies to ‘China—A Nation “of Siaphcee ee

mestic Industries — Some Odd Articles of ‘Trade— Umbrellas — The “Silk :

" Industry—The Te Trade—Straw and Wool—China and Wax—Coins and
Coinage—Ancient Forms—Measures and: Weights—The Chinese Army—

European Meshet eae ie Cavalry —The Navy, gy a ea) Maa a a A ae RE

CHAPTER X. ‘

COREA—THE KINGDOM OF COREA.

-Mountains — Rivers — Climate — Agriculture—Minerals — Political Divisions and

Towns—The King—The Government—Language—Educational System—

“PAGE

147

167

‘189°

 
12 CONTENTS.

PAGB
Religion—Manners and Customs—Dwellings and Dress—Industry and

Trade—Foreign Commerce—The Corean Army—Corean Navy—America

and Corea—The War in Eastern Asia,.. 2. 2. 2-6 ee eee te et es 207

CHAPTER XI.
JAPAN—THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN.

History—The Shoguns or Tycoons—The Policy of Exclusion—The Opening of
Japan—The Fall of Feudalism—An Advanced Policy—New Japan—The New
Treaties—First View of Japan—The Great Mountain—The Story of Fuji-
San—Climate—Vegetable Products—Zoology—Population, ....... 231

CHAPTER XII.

JAPAN—THE EMPEROR—HiIs COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

 
 
   

lis Private e Life The Imperial Family-—The Military Class —Warliice Families—
The Feudal ‘System — The Emperor—the Supreme Power — Tokio Court
-Clicies- Foreign Relations—Japanese Government—Postal Service—Treaty |

Ports; ae wei 4 eo Awe a Ge A we ee eS ae ee i Eee 8 251

eee , CHAPTER XiIll.

JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE Laws.

X

The Criminal Code—The Domestic Laws—The Police—Making an Arrest—At
the Police Station—In_ the Police Court—The Secret Police—A’ Japanese.
_Prison—Criminal Court Procedure—Polite Prisoners—A Woman who Stole -

.. Food—Hari-Kari—Finances—Public. Works, . .. .. ..6...-+.... 263
CONTENTS:
CHAPTER XIV.

THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN.

Native Costumes—Fashionable Attire—Mode of Living—Health and Disease—
How They Sleep—Among the Peasantry—Bathing—The Position of Women—
Divorce—Death and Burial—A Japanese Funeral—Mourning—Cemeteries—
As a People—Social Manners—More Topsyturvydom—The Pretty Girls of

Japan—Family Arrangements—“‘ Arranging ’’ Marriages,. . . ... 2...

.

CHAPTER XV.

ae mun.

Climate of Tokio—The Japanese. Metropolis—Street Nomentiature=Tite Old- '
_-Time Metropolis—The Ancient Capital—A. Unique City—Nikko—Kobe- -Hiogo_

13

PAGS

282

team sete Villages—The Great Plain of. Yeddo— e

“-Railways—Main Roads—A’ Great Tunnel—The Jinrickisha—’Rickisha Men— es

Other Modes of ‘Transportation—Tea-Houses on the Road—Inspiring Travel, :

 

‘CHAPTER XVI.

JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

Artistic Carving—Textile Fabrics—Weaving Crape—Factory Scenes—Laying on
Artistic Designs—Masters of Coloring—Fine Art in Dress Goods—Silks and
Satins—Ceramics — Painted Porcelains—Cloisonne — Metal-Working — Fret
Work—Japanning—Agriculture—Rice Culture—The Silk Industry—Mush-

room Culture—Flowers and Dwarf-Gardens—Paper Making, . . Baio

+305
14 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVII.
JAPAN—RELIGION—-A MUSEMENTS—FOOD.

Shintoism—Shinto Myths—The First Mikado—Buddhism—Buddhist Temples—
. Nichiven—Christian Missions—Theatre-going—Actors and their Perform-
ances—Music and Dancing—Chess Playing—Flower Matching—Wrestling—
A Wrestling Tournament—Giants at Play—The Food of the People—Vege-
table Dainties—Sweets and Desserts—In the Kitchen—What the Japs. Drink,

CHAPTER XVIII.
JAPAN—-LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE.

Dialects—Writing and Talking—Parliamentary Reporting—Shorthand—Litera-
ture—Ancient Records—Poetry—Geography—Newspapers—The Composing
Room—Press Censorship—The School System—A Girls’ School—School-
girl Manners—Proverbial Philosophy—Japanese Art—Pictorial Art—Archi-

 dectures. ee ee ee oe el: ae as ye ara :

SS. CHAPTER XIX,
JAPAN—COMMERCE—ARMY AND NAVY,

The Army—The Japs as Fighters—Power at Sea—A Light, Swift Navy,.. ..

CHAPTER XxX.
JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894.

Murder of Kim—China Sends Troops—Japan Forced to Take a Hand—Japanese
in, Seoul—The Palace Encounter—War Declared—The War at Sea—The
Great Battle Off the Yaloo—The Chinese Fleet in Sight—The Japanese
Colors Hoisted—The Chen ‘Yuen Set Fire to—A Shot for the Matsusima—
After the Battle,. 2... .8 Fea we A eG eS ye ee we

PaGE

349

37

393
WLUSTRATIONS.

(15)

MAP OF CHINA, « « « « « «= « «> ee ee ee ee Frontispiece
PEKING, CHINA.

Caravan Resling Outside the Wally oe e-« w wx Row a =
Bronze Lions at Wan-Shon-Shan Gate,........ ce. 2s
Gate Scene, Chién-Mun, ROSS ES COE ew ae ee 31 |
Street Scene, - - --- +s. ee ee ee ee 7.
United States Legation, . Sdiohl petunia et we oie eek 43
United: States. Legation Drawing-Room, ee)
Senne | Foreign Office, ie es ee ® @ | Bate ses aces 2 . GS

a jaanese | Legation, a ae S ldicks es Pockets A
Pailow, near ‘Legations, ee ee ee ee eee wae 6F
Temple of Heaven, « » 9142s ee ew ee we we! , 9
Forbidden City, Temple of Confucius, ...... Le ae WS
Royal Observatory, . -- . WO bles llynRewids. 4 Stee ee Nae es ec 85
Vellow eigen e- éi°S eo 4a Se ee ee Se : cx gf
“Tablet of Conflicus, . . 5 « 2+ « » eee ee 97
Watering-place for Animals, ..... . As thea fay eee 103
ILLUSTRATIONS

NEAR PEKING, CHINA.

PAGE
Hunch-Back BUGS. a & Seow Se oe So BUS 109
Bronze Cow. sk eee eS ee a ee ee SS 115
Pagoda, «2 6 4 be eS SR ew Re ee 121

. Hotel at Chang-Chia-Wan, .....--.-+-+--+-+e-. 127
Great Walle «5 5 «<< = $e % eww ew ws eae 133
TIEN-TSIN, CHINA..
River ait BUG) <4 s-4 22 4e-6 ea oe bud w ex 139
_ Street Scene, a ee oe Se ee ee cag
Snake or Rain Temple, — at eee ee eee : “4 g TI
| ee Board Mission Reaiionae: a aE BG ee exg 157"
‘CANTON, CHINA. - me ‘: a Sa aie
~ Canton House Boats, at oe : oo ot ee ; 6: ‘
"-Reception-Room of a Wealthy China’ Merchant, - : i ‘ 165°
‘Barber Carrying. his ‘Outfit, . 8 Axes bee ae
HONG-KONG, CHINA. _
General View of the Harbor, ee ee ae ek 181
Wellington Street,. . . 2... ... as bee ae “WOR
Hane Kone Chairs, coh es igh Sad ae) ES Soke GS lee eS xe 193
MGs ee koe SRR OS pe he ee ns . 199
Chinese Sciog) a > wo GS & Be oe ewe & Se oe 24S
ILLUSTRATIONS 17

COREA
Chemulpo, . - 6 ee ee ee ee ee eee oa
Seoul, Main Gate of the Palace, 2 + «2 se « # % wa wo 217
Seoul, Pouls-Han Temple, ........-....-+4.006- 223
Pack Bearer, earthenware vessels for sales a go's arene 229
JAPAN.
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN.
Japanese Cruiser, “ Maniwa,”. . . 2... 6. s+. ; - + 235

Main Street, SS We his 28 a ve Goro Cie hoy nets ae ew ale

 

Jinrikisha, aa view,

are Imperial Dock Yards at Yokosuka, ee as “e ve - : 253

ToKIo, JAPAN.

   

a - Enltaie t to ‘the, New Palace, . seen A : ie ok
ea ae cen ates ono ate
Shit» -e aS Sed Ue eS ae S84 S.o eS 271

* Stone “Steps, Mages ok ek SS WS En BG 84
Graves of the Forty-seven Rénins; ; er ee 283

LAKE HAKONE, JAPAN.

Mikado’s Palace, 2 x 2 424 a eee ke Ga Re eo 289
18 WLUSTRATIONS

PAGH”
Group of Natives, . . - - ee ee ee ee ee 3Z01
Pleasure Bog 2 2 sa a ew Se eS ewe muh das Sakae HE 58 . 307

KIOTO, JAPAN.
Great Bell at Daibutsu Temple, ...........-. 313
Testa: Papoday ss 4d eG ee “Gg Bk. % 323

NIKKO, JAPAN.
Imaicht Rodd, =< <«. ss ee pee kee eee 329
Rormon Gates ooo a-0-4- 6 OSs pabanas i Gah es 335
MEOUII, S5-e. adus > Siete! ae ee ele he oe eck oe are 345
Buddhist Temple, . RES RR SSG tay c DSS
Gate of Ieyasu Tomb,.. 2.20.2... oe. oe 357

~ KAMAKURA,. JAPAN.
“Sinner at Nouton,2 2366.66 Cae bat naoes 367
. ‘Daibutsu, eG see ehet hs tater feos are che os ces 1 a 373
The Barren DIOR, oO eR ee Be vee Eee 379
IKENGANI, JAPAN.

WOMENS yo: 2g ew! GR RW eR. BOS S- boee e 389
Tomb at Michtehiha 64:6 Bask 4 we oe ew eee es 395
Derr OMOM, amma ee ew ee OR ROR B. Qv eve 401
 

 

 

 

 

Peking, China—Caravan Resting Outside the Wall.
CHAPTER I.

 

CHINA—THE EMPIRE OF CHINA.

 

@HE CHINESE EMPIRE, including China proper together

with its outlying possessions, embraces a territory

equal to almost one-tenth of the habitable globe. The

te student of geography forms an impression of this
immense empire which seems to him exaggerated

until, as traveler or investigator, he is able to verify his wildest dreams,
and then admits that the half had not been told. The area of this vast
Eastern empire is almost five million square miles, nearly one-half of
which is occupied by China proper. Along the northern boundary, for a
distance of three thousand miles, extends the frontier of Russian Asia,
and on the east lies the Pacific Ocean, forming a coast line of nearly the
same extent. Sara Jeannette Duncan humorously describes the Chinese
coast-line, as viewed on reaching China by way. of Japan ; she says:
.. ‘But ‘suddenly at four bells of a gray. morning: somebody on deck
said, ‘There is China ! ’ And there it -was—China rising out of the sea;
away off on our lee, ina single line of. little, irregular, round mountains,
_ just as it: used to rise in the ‘small, ‘square wood-cuts in the big pages
of the school’ aflases.” And she quite agrees with the remark: of. her
traveling companion that “if we had. sailed to this lumpy, lonely land;
through unknown seas, with all the joy of the early navigators, we
should have named it China, and sailed away again as fast as possible.”
The countries embraced in the Chinese Empire are. Manchuria,
Mongolia, Thibet, and the Loo-Choo (Lieu-Khieu) Islands, besides
China proper. The latter is known also as the Central Kingdom, so
named by the Chinese themselves, and supposed by many to signify
their conception of China being the centre of the world, but Pautier says

that in the time of Confucius the country was subdivided into numerous
2 (21)

 
22 THE EMPIRE OF CHINA.

petty kingdoms, of which China was the central part, and, wielding the
highest power, it gave its name to the Empire.
Boundless Resources.

The China of to-day furnishes almost all the tea for the whole
world, there being only two other countries, Japan and Assam, where it
is produced in any quantity. China is also rich in silk, cotton, rice,
rhubarb, maize, barley, wheat, indigo, camphor, varnish, tobacco, and
a great variety of fruits, among which are pears, plums, apricots,
apples, persimmons, peaches, and melons. Travelers say that the fruits
and the flora of China resemble those of America more nearly’ than a they
do those of Europe.

The soil of China is particularly productive, and sesecialig so ina
vast region of about two hundred and fifty thousand square miles which
is covered with a brownish yellow soil, called loess; this peculiar forma-
tion often extends to a depth of one thousand feet, the surface of which
requires no fertilizer, very little preparation of the soil, and yields
abundant crops. This remarkable accretion of yellow. earth clings to
vertical rocks, and is found at great elevations as well as on the plains,
and wherever it appears it is productive: and available for plant life.
The Chinese are economical of space; they terrace the hill-sides, put
floating gardens on the surface of the lakes, cover rocks with a sufficient
depth of soil, and plant the bottoms of the streams with aquatic vege-
tables. All this multiplying of space for the growth of vegetation seems
laughable when one reflects that China has an area of one million two
hundred and seventy-nine thousand and seventy-two square miles.

Immense Wealth.

China is rich in minerals also; coal is abundant: silver is exten-
sively mined. Gold, copper, zinc, lead, mercury, and iron are’ also
found in great quantities. Salt is one of the chief sources of revenue
to the government. Different kinds of clay, such as are used in the
manufacture of fine pottery, are found in great abundance, and, indus-
trially considered, it is of great importance.

The oldest country in the world, China, has been known by
different names in different eras; to the ancients it was known as the
THE EMPIRE OF CHINA. 23

Land of Since, and to the Middle Ages as the Empire of Cathay.
Although the Chinese are a much older people than the Greeks and
Romans, yet the classic authors give only the vaguest hints of the
people or the country. Ptolemy writes of China as so remote a region
that ‘beyond it there is neither habitation nor navigation.” The Chinese
‘myths give a duration of seven thousand years to the empire, but the
historical period is said to begin, 2207 B. C.
Provincial Divisions.

China proper embraces: nineteen separate: provinces, all similar in
general features, yet each differing somewhat in soil, climate, productions,
and temperature, according to its location or its natural facilities. The
province of Chih-li is one of the most important, as it contains the city of
Peking, the capital of the empire. To gain some idea of the vast extent
of country, of the degree of civilization, and wealth of the entire empire,
it is necessary only to examine the statistical reports of one of these
provinces.

Chih-li contains eleven cities, each governed by a prefect or
governor, and covers an area of fifty-eight thousand nine hundred and
forty-nine miles. The population of this province is officially recorded
at twenty-seven millions; multiplying these -statistics by nineteen, we
attain a result that is bewildering.

The province of Shan-se is noted for its wealth of coal and iron;
Baron von Richthofen, a distinguished traveler, says that it is his opinion
that the whole world, even at the present rate of consumption, might be
supplied from the mines of Shan-se alone for thousands of years to
come. ‘Iron, too, exists in great purity, and there. is every facility for
manufacturing it; the best of coal.and all sorts of sand and clay that
seem to invite the skillful workman.

The province of Shan-tung has received an enviable place in the
literature of China, having been the birthplace of both Confucius and
Mencius. A mountain in this province; Tai-Shan, has also become
famous as an annual resort for hundreds of pilgrims; it is mentioned in
Chinese history as having existed four thousand years ago. Shan-tung
is also remarkable for some of its productions, among which -are the
24 THE EMPIRE OF CHINA.

castor-oil plant and the wax tree. The wax insects live upon the trees
all summer, at the end of which time they expel a substance that
becomes wax on being melted. The insects are taken off the trees in
the fall and carefully preserved indoors until the following season. So
great is the product derived from these little insects that the trade in
wax has assumed important dimensions. In the province of Ho-nan
there is an extensive plain, so fertile that it is “(rendered park-like by
numerous plantations of trees and shrubs, among which thick bosquets
of bamboo contrast with the gloomy groves of cypress.” Bamboo is
extensively used by the Chinese in constructing their houses and
furniture; it enters largely into their decorations, in articles of usefulness,
in games; in a thousand different ways it is applied by the ingenious
workman, and, last but not least, it is an important article of commerce.

The province of Keang-soo is remarkable in many ways. In the
first place, two of its cities, Hang-chow Foo and Soo-chow Foo are said
to be the most beautiful cities in all China. Soo-chow is so noted for
its silk culture and manufacture that on the occasion of a royal marriage
large orders for silken goods were sent to the manufacturers for the
preparations of the wedding outfit, and also to be given as presents.
The province of Keang-soo is also said to be the most densely pop-
ulated; the late statistics record an estimate of thirty-seven million
eight hundred and forty-three thousand five hundred and one.

The province of Gan-hwuy rightly deserves its title of “Peace and
Plenty,” for it is said to be one of the most productive provinces in
China, particularly in the culture of tea. Baron von Richthofen, in writ-
ing of Yan-hwuy says, “The exuberant fertility of the soil in the lower
portions of the province is not excelled by anything I have seen in
temperate climate. No expense has therefore been spared in protecting
the lowlands by embankments, and introducing a perfect system of irriga-
tion. Both deserve the highest admiration. On the King River, I have
walked for miles through fields of hemp, the stalks of which were from
eleven to thirteen feet high.”

The province of Keang-se is noted for the superior quality of
its black tea, which is considered the best in that portion of China.
 

 

 

Peking, China—Bronze Lions at Wan-Shon-Shan Gate.
THE EMPIRE OF CHINA. 27

It is celebrated also for its fine pottery which forms a leading article
of export.

The province of Che-Keang is remarkable for the beauty of its
_ scenery. It is one of the most mountainous portions of China, but the
valleys lying between are numerous and picturesque. The mountain
sides are well adapted to the production of tea, and the plain along the
coast is devoted to silk culture of a high grade.

Fuh-keen, which means “happy establishment,” is well-named,
for, as a province, it excels in the richness of its soil and in the beauty
and variety of its scenery. Many of the hills are terraced, which has a
two-fold object, in adding to their beauty and in increasing the surface
space. The well-known Bohea tea is grown here with great success.
The island of Formosa is included in the province of Fuh-keen; it is so
fertile that it has received the name of the Granary of China. Rice and
sugar grow everywhere, and yield the farmer most abundant crops.
Then, too, the mines produce sulphur, and the mountains yield camphor,
both of which are so valuable as to be claimed by the government
under the head of crown monopolies. The province of Hoo-pih,
which lies north of the lakes, is traversed by the Han River, making
it almost wholly an agricultural section. One of the products, which
is exported in great. quantities, is vegetable tallow. The province
lying south of the lakes is Hoo-nan and is, perhaps more than any
other, remarkable for the groups of mountains that are here encoun-
tered; among them is the Han-shan, one of the five sacred mountains
of China. This province, particularly in the southeast, is one immense
coal-bed, having an area of at least twenty-one thousand seven hundred
square miles, and this is divided almost in half, the one yielding anthra-
cite, and the other half yielding bituminous coal. The inhabitants of
Hoo-nan are more prosperous than those of the other provinces as
is indicated by the numerous fine country residences owned and occupied
by retired business men.

In Shen-se we find what may be termed an entirely agricultural
province, but its products are only for home consumption and for the
neighboring provinces. One peculiar feature of the vegetation is the fact
28 THE EMPIRE OF CHINA.

that while fruit trees of all kinds are numerous and very productive, yet
no shrubs or evergreens are to be found in the province. The winters
are extremely cold but not of long duration.

Can the reader imagine that any province in China had attained
‘the reputation of being a “howling wilderness of sand and snow?”
Such is Kan-suh, a name formed by combining the first syllables of
two favorite cities, Kan-chow and Suh-chow. The portion lying east of
the Yellow River is more favorable to cultivation, and produces some of
the more hardy fruits and vegetables. One of the chief products for
which the province is famous is a curd-like butter “that melts in the
mouth.” ‘

The largest of the Chinese provinces is Sze-chuen, or the Four
Streams, and it is also the most hilly. The eastern part of the province
is Chinese, and it is not only populous but prosperous, while the moun-
tainous regions are infested by barbarians, who not only defy the
government but neglect the cultivation of the soil. The four large rivers
referred to are the Yan-tsze Keang, the Min-Keang,.To-Keang and the
Ka-ling Keang. This immense province is crossed and recrossed by
numerous roads which are both difficult and dangerous. A greater
quantity of silk is produced in the eastern portion of Sze-chuen than in
any other province of China, and, while there may be others that
produce a finer quality, there are not any that excel this in firmness.
The poppy is extensively cultivated in the eastern sections, but the
opium derived from it is of an inferior quality, and is sought for only
by those provinces that are not able to obtain the best. White wax is
another product of Sze-chuen. A most interesting account of the
manner in which it is obtained is given by Baron von Richthofen, who
says, “when the egg balls are procured they are folded up, six or seven
together, in a bag of palm leaf. These bags are suspended on the
twigs of trees. This is all the human labor required. After a few
days the insects commence coming out. They spread as a brownish
film over the twigs, but do not touch the leaves. The Chinese describe
them as having neither shape, nor head, nor eyes, nor feet. It is
kriown that the insect is a species of coccus. Gradually while ‘the
THE EMPIRE OF CHINA. 29

insect is growing, the surface of the twigs becomes incrustated with a
white substance; this is the wax. No care whatever is required. The
insect has no enemy, and is not even touched by ants. In the latter
half of August the twigs are cut off and boiled in water, when the wax
rises to the surface. It is then melted and poured into deep pans. It
cools down to a translucent and highly crystalline substance.” Ning-
ynen Foo, a district in the province of Sze-chuen, is the chief source
from which copper is obtained; private companies own and operate
the mines, and sell only to certain buyers at a fixed rate, thus sustain-
ing a monopoly as stringent as any in America.

The province of Kwang-tung is one of the most productive
in the empire. Though it may be regarded as a hilly region, its val-
leys and plains are extensive and exceedingly fertile. The mountains
embody vast mineral wealth; chief of which are the enormous coal
fields, and iron is found in at least twenty different districts in this
province. Among the vegetable products, tea and sugar are most
conspicuous. It may be.interesting to know that New York receives
annually between four and five million palm-leaf fans from the prov-
ince of Kwang-tung, and we cannot but wonder that this summer
luxury is brought thousands of miles to our very doors at two for
a nickel!

Compared with most of the other provinces, Kwang-se is small
in area and in population; the former covering seventy-eight thousand
two hundred and fifty square miles, and the latter numbering seven
million three hundred and thirteen thousand eight hundred and ninety-
five. The province is remarkable for the number and the beauty of
its rivers, the diversity of its landscape, and the variety of its foliage
and flora.

Probably there is no other country in the world so rich in the
product of quicksilver as the province of Kwei-chow. The vein extends
throughout the entire province; silver, lead, zinc and copper are also
found in great. quantities. This province depends almost wholly on its |
mineral products for its wealth, since the agricultural regions are exceed-
ingly unproductive. There is very little running water to be found, and
30 THE EMPIRE OF CHINA.

the stagnant water is disastrous to-vegetation as well as to human life;
malaria of an extremely fatal character prevails very generally.

Second in size of the provinces of China is Yun-nan, covering an
area of one hundred and seven thousand nine hundred and -sixty-nine
Square miles. Its only wealth consists in its mineral productions which
are distributed through a section of eighty thousand square miles, and
consist of silver, gold, lead, copper, zinc and tin. The vegetable produc-
tions are opium, tea and medicines, but they do not exist in very
considerable quantities.

Shing-king, the nineteenth province of China, lies in Manchuria;
it very closely resembles England in its mountain scenery, which is
«highly picturesque. Its trees and shrubs are very similar to those which
grow on English soil. Among its agricultural products we find wheat,
oats, barley, millet, cotton, tobacco and indigo. This province is not
wanting in mineral productions such as gold, coal and iron, but these
are not found in sufficient quantities to form the basis of its wealth.

While it is claimed that much that has been said and written’ of
China has been exaggerated, it must be admitted that nature herself has
done much to emphasize these statements. In no other country or
climate do we find such mountain ranges in their bright-hued verdure,
such laughing rivers, fertile plains, terraced hills, shining lakes, and
stretches of forest grandeur, as in this extreme eastern country, this
“land of the celestials.”’

Lakes.

The Chinese lakes, like everything else in China, are remarkable
for their size. The largest and most important is the Tung-ting Lake,
found in the province of Hoo-nan; it was centuries ago called the
“Lake of the Nine Rivers” from the fact that nine different rivers flow
into its basin. This lake is so large that different portions of it are
known by different names, as the “Green Grass Lake,” the “Venerable
Lake,” the “Peaceful Southern Lake,” the “Imperial Post House Lake”
and the “Great Deep Lake.” Another of the largest as well as the
most beautiful is Tai Lake, which is one hundred. and fifty miles in
circumference ; its waters are blue and are dotted with numerous islands,
 

 

 

 

Peking, China—Gate Scene, Chien-Mun.
THE: EMPIRE OF CHINA. 33

which are appropriated for various purposes; on some may be found
temples for worship, on others are erected pavilions for the pleasure-
seekers who resort there from neighboring cities. The size of this lake
is better conceived when we consider that its shores touch thirteen
different cities. In the province of Yun-nan we meet two lakes, one
of which is twenty-four miles in length and six miles in breadth, and
the other measures about eighty miles in circumference. Many of the
lakes vary greatly in depth, in different seasons of the year, owing to
the rise and fall of the rivers which flow into them; during the winter
and early spring, islands are formed in the shallow places, but in the
summer these are again covered, and the lake assumes its natural
appearance.
Rivers.

The rivers of China are among its most interesting features, not
only on account of their great size, but for their use in navigation, and
for the beauty and variety of their course. Yang-tsze Keang takes pre-
eminence more particularly on account of its facilities for navigation, but
it is remarkable also for its extent. Its entire course is twenty-nine
hundred miles from its rise to the Yellow Sea into which it empties.
The area of its basin is. estimated at five hundred and forty-eight thou-
sand square miles. For a distance of twelve hundred miles it is navi-
gable for steamers, and all along that portion it passes by numerous
cities distinguished for their wealth and enterprise.

The Grand Canal, which is an artificial river, is next in importance
for commercial purposes, but more particularly as a means of irrigating the
soil along its borders. The Hwang-ho, or Yellow River, is not available
for navigation on account of the irregularity of its bed. This river is
known by different names in different portions of the country through
which it flows; it is sometimes called the “Golden River,” on account
of the color of its waters, but it is also known by the less attractive.
title of the ‘Sorrow of Han.” The Hwang-ho has frequently overflowed
its banks, thus causing great distress and destruction of property. The
Han Keang also overflows so frequently that the natives have constructed
high embankments on both sides of the river at a considerable distance
34 THE EMPIRE OF CHINA.

from the natural banks, in order to protect themselves and their property
from the dangerous floods. The importance of the river system in
China cannot be over-estimated when the enormous extent of vegetation
is taken into consideration, but when the question of navigation is con-
cerned, their commercial value is almost inestimable.

Mountains.

The surface of China presents numerous interesting features .to
the traveler. The great delta plain in the north and east extends a dis-
tance of seven hundred miles in a southerly direction, and, at some
places, is said to be five hundred miles wide. This immense plain is
semi-annular in shape, and is the delta of the Yellow River and the
Yang-tsze Keang. In some districts it lies below the level of the Yellow
River, which accounts for the repeated inundations that prove to be so
disastrous to life and property.

Of the numerous mountain ranges, the Nan-shan deserves to be
mentioned first. It is estimated that the area of this mountain region is
about three hundred thousand square miles, and, in height, some of its
peaks reach above the snow level. The Tung-nan, Ta-hang, and the
Lung mountains are also important ranges. The Quan-lun is a range
belonging to Central Asia, but it sends off numerous branches, some of
whose spurs extend into China.

Population.

The population of China is variously estimated by different writers;
by ‘some it is given at four hundred million, and others have not
hesitated to place it at six hundred million. The people are usually spoken
of as Mongolians, but, in appearance, they resemble the inhabitants of
‘Farther India. Their hair is coarse and black, their complexion is sallow
and their eyes oblique, which give them a characteristic expression. AS
a people they are industrious and economical, but are distrustful and
deceitful. The baser qualities ascribed to them may, no doubt, be true
‘of the lower classes, but among the higher classes there are many
superior individuals who have attained some prominence. Great numbers
have come to America, locating mostly in the large cities, where they
are regarded as peaceable and thrifty.
CHAPTER Il.

 

CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

 

   

f

y
© danas EMPEROR is the sole head of the constitution

and the government. He is regarded as the vice-

lll

OE

ul

gerent of Heaven, especially chosen to govern all
ra ee nations, supreme in everything, without limit or
* control. By his people and in state papers, he is
commonly designated ‘“Kwangti,” the august sovereign, the expression
being defined as the “appellation of one possessing complete virtues and
able to act on heavenly principles.” Further the title means “ Heaven.”
“Heaven speaks not,” says the Chinese proverb, “yet the four seasons
follow in regular succession, and all things spring forth.” He is also
called “the Son of Heaven,” because heaven is his father and earth his
mother, and ‘‘Wise Son of Heaven,” as being born of heaven and
having infinite knowledge, all which terms are applied to him as the
‘Tuler of the world by: the’ gift of heaven. Foreign writers have given
him many ridiculous titles, such as “Brother of the Sun and Moon,” or
“Grandson of the Stars,” but no such epithets are known among his
subjects. His own designation of himself is usually “Kwa jin,’’ the
Solitary Man, or “Kwa Kiun,’’ the Solitary Prince. Yet sometimes he
alludes to himself as Wan sui ye, “the Sire of Ten Thousand Years.”
Assuming the Purple.
Kuang Hsu, the reigning Son of Heaven, ninth monarch of the
Tsing, or pure dynasty of Manchus, is now twenty-three years of age.
He is the Son of Prince Chun, and on the death of his cousin Tsaishun,
who died without issue—the first instance in the imperial family for
nearly three centuries—he was elected by the united council of the
princes, led by the mother of the dead Emperor, as successor to the

dragon throne, in 1875. As he was but fourteen years old the affairs of
(35)
36 | CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

government were nominally placed under the direction of the Empress
Dowager, his aunt, who had held the same office during the minority of
his predecessor. It was on his accession, and in accordance with im-
perial custom, that the young prince took his present name, the Kwah hao,
or national designation, which is in a manner akin to the name a new
Pope takes with the tiara. Till then he had been called Tsai t’ien.
His family name is gioro, or the “golden,” from their ancestral chief
Aisin gioro, whom they worship as the son of a divine virgin.
‘The Solitary Man.”

The fountain of power, rank, honor, and privilege to all within his
dominions, the “Solitary Man” was regarded until quite recently, even
by his highest officers (who delight to style themselves “beneath his
footstool”), as having supreme authority over all mankind. As there can
be but one sun in the heavens, so there can be but one Kwangti on
earth, the source and distributor of benefits to the whole world. The
head of religion, he alone is qualified to adore heaven; the fount of
law and dispenser of mercy, no right can exist in opposition to his
pleasure, no claim can hold against him, no privilege protect from his
wrath. He is the head of the whole. All the forces and revenues of
the Empire are his, and he has a right to claim the services of all
males between the ages of sixteen and sixty. The whole Empire, in
brief, is his property, and a key to the method of administration of the
whole eighteen provinces may be found in the fact that the same
absolute executive power held by the Emperor is placed by him in the
hands of his deputies and governors-general, to be by them exercised
within the limits of their jurisdiction.

At the Court of China nothing is neglected that may serve to
invest the person of the Emperor with a unique and sacred character.
Everything appointed for his use is of a special color and a special form.
The threshold even of the outer gate of his palace may be crossed only
on foot. And the different portions of the huge palace of the Prohibital
city have all wondrous names and extraordinary attributes. The Meridian
gate of the Manchu city is specially appropriated to the Emperor, and
whenever he passes through it a bell, placed in the tower above,
*9Ud9g JOOIIS—BUIYD ‘ZuUDIed

 

 

 

 
CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT. 39

proclaims the event to an awe-struck people. It is here too that prison-
ers are presented to him, and that he confers presents on vassals and
on ambassadors. Then we have the “Hall of Highest Peace,” a superb
marble structure, one hundred and ten feet high, where the Emperor
holds audience on New Year’s day, his birthday, and other State occasions.
Never since 1795, when Kienlung banqueted Pitsingh and Van Braam in
this hall, has it been entered by a European. In the Hall of Central
Peace does the ‘Solitary Man” examine the written prayers provided to
be offered at State worship. In that of ‘‘Secure Peace’’ does he tri-
ennially confer degrees of merit on distinguished scholars.
Within the Palace.

No one may enter, without special license, the ‘‘ Palace of Heavenly
Purity,” where the Emperor transacts business with his ministers each
moring up to eight o’clock. This building is described as being the
most important, the loftiest, and the most magnificent of all the palaces,
and beyond it stands the “Palace of Earth’s Repose,’ where Heaven's
consort’ rules her own court. The names of the approaches to these
buildings are no less imposing, as, for instance, the Vermilion Avenue,
the Gemmeous Steps, the Celestial Court, the Maple Pavilion, the Golden
Stairway. His throne is the “dragon’s throne;” to see him is to see
the “dragon’s face;” his person ‘is the “dragon’s body,” and a five-
clawed -dragon is embroidered on his robes, to imitate which is death,
as also is it: to use vermilion, his special color.

Surely if the possession of absolute power, and being the object
of unlimited reverence can procure happiness, then the Emperor of China,
worshiped as he is by one-third of the human race, should be the
happiest mortal living. But is hee Perhaps a portrait of the man him-
self may yield some indication. Behold him, then, in the. sumptuous
penetralia of the Palace of Peace and Plenty. Exceedingly shy, melan-
choly and gentle, his demeanor is described as refined and dignified,
though entirely lacking the martial force and imperial command of his
ancestors. Essentially Manchu in features, his face, which is strangely
pallid, is oval, his eyebrows are regular and:very arched, his eyes
unusually large and sorrowful; his nose is well-shaped and straight, his
40 CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

lips are thin, sensitive and nervous; his chin is very long and narrow.
With this his head is large beyond the average, and his forehead broad
and well shaped. He is puny and - delicate, and his habitual expression
is sad and kind. He is said to have individuality and intelligence, to
have an exceptional acquaintance with Chinese classics, and complete
ignorance as to the outside. world. Coupled with this description, it-must
be remembered that his health is poor, that he is surrounded by intrigue,
and that, despite an enormous revenue, he is, thanks to the venality of
his agents, perpetually in want of money. He is, no doubt, in every
sense of the expression, the most “solitary man” in all the world.
Choosing an Empress.

No Chancellor or Premier disturbs himself about the rank or
the relations of the lady who becomes the Empress of China. In the
Flowery Land itself the choosing of an imperial bride has no political
interest; she comes from no royal house; princely, or even blue blood
is not a necessary qualification. ‘She has to be selected from the “ Eight
Banners,” a phrase which expresses the Manchu army of Peking. We
should call them the “Guards,” for they are the personal defenders of
the Emperor. Up till very lately the Emperor of China knew of the west-
ern nations only as “foreign devils,” and the small states, such as the
Corean, which are in contact with China, go under the name of the “‘tribute-
bearing nations.” Ambassadors from these states present tribute as feuda-
tories, and in doing so, appear before the Emperor on their stomachs, knock-
ing their heads on the ground, a ceremony known as the “kow-tow.”” The
Son of Heaven could not condescend to ask for a companion to the
“Dragon Throne” from any of the rulers of these insignificant countries.

The usual method by which the Empress is chosen may be said
to be peculiar; it is certainly very unlike anything we are acquainted
with in Europe. About a year before the marriage an order is issued to
the Eight Banners commanding all girls of a particular age to be sent in
to the palace. The rich and the poor, the halt and the lame, the deaf,
the dumb, and the blind, have all to appear. One department of the
Government at Peking is a Board of Rites,- which superintends all state
ceremonies; in these they are guided by a book extending to two
CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT. 41

hundred volumes, which details every ceremony connected with the life of
an Emperor, from his birth to his death. The members of this board
are called the “Officials who inquire into Heaven,” or in other words
they are astrologers. The horoscopes of all the girls are submitted to
them to be compared with that of the Emperor, to see that they agree
—this is very essential in all Chinese marriages. The girls with the
proper horoscope are then inspected by the Dowager Empress, and a
number whom she selects are kept in the palace, so that their habits and
character may be better studied. In the present case the Dowager
Empress selected her own niece, Yeh-hoh-na-la, daughter of a general.
Preparing for the Wedding.

About a week before the wedding a route is selected through the
streets of Peking from the bride’s house to the Imperial palace, by
which the ‘bride is to be conducted to her future home. To mark this
route a path is laid out and sprinkled with new sand to make it look
yellow, this being the imperial color. Over this route the presents of
the bride are taken to the apartments which she will occupy in .the
. palace. Only once a day are the presents conveyed to the palace.
This is in the morning, and a procession accompanies them. For
Tungchih’s bride, in 1872, these processions were continuous for fully a
week before the ceremony, and the presents included large and elegant
cabinets, elaborately carved. chairs, and other articles of furniture made of.
the finest kind of wood, dishes, vases, goblets, and gold and silver articles
in profusion. The larger gifts are carried by men whose dresses are
of red cloth with white spots. The smaller articles are carried upon
yellow tables, to which they are fastened. Along this route for days
preceding the ceremony the body of men who are to carry the bridal
chair of the Empress are continually drilling.

A number of days before the ceremony the bride’s house is most
elaborately decorated. On the gates are festooned rich silk, in red, blue,
yellow and green, braided. and fringed, together with. bunches of silk.
On the pedestal of each post in front of the house there is painted in
red the word “Shih,” which means happiness. This word, in. fact, is
painted in bright red on everything connected with the wedding that it
42 CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

is possible to put it on. Two days before the wedding—that is, on the
day before the Emperor Sends his bride her phoenix robes and diadem—
he orders three princes to offer sacrifice and burn incense on the altar to
heaven. The day before the wedding the Erhperor sends to his bride a
tablet of gold, the scepter and seal. The tablet is called the permission,
because it denotes that the Empress Dowager and the Empress Mother
allow the Emperor to marry. Everything is now in readiness for the
great ceremony, with but one exception. This is the barricading of the
entrances of every street and lane opening on the line of march, so that
the eyes of foreigners or other curious personages shall not witness the
procession or any part of it, or get the smallest possible glimpse of the

bride.
Imperial Nuptial Rites.

On the eve of the eventful day Ministers are sent to announce
the auspicious event to Heaven and Earth, and to the deities of the
imperial temple. On the following morning, so soon as the august
procession is formed, the Emperor enters his sedan chair, and is borne
to the Tzuning palace, where the Dowager Empress awaits him seated
on a throne of state. With dutiful regard he kneels, and thrice, and
again nine times bows low at the feet of his mother. Having thus mani-
fested his respect, he proceeds to the. “Hall of Great Harmony,”
accompanied by bands discoursing music from an_ infinite variety of
instruments. There, at a signal given, the members of the Board of
Rites kneel and prostrate themselves before their august sovereign. This
done, a herald advances and reads aloud the imperial decree, which runs
as follows: .

“The Emperor, in obedience to the desire of the Empress, his
mother, agrees that the Princess shall be his consort. In this
propitious month, and under this favorable constellation, he has prepared
the customary gifts and the usual contract, and now commands his
ministers to escort the chosen bride to his palace.” In harmony with
this last clause, the imperial envoy, followed by chamberlains and
officers of the guard, and accompanied with music, takes the great seal
and starts on his mission. Following in his train come officers carrying

 
 

Peking, China—United States Legation.
CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE. GOVERNMENT. 45

the tablet and seal of gold, and bearers with the sedan chair destined for
the bride. In strange contrast to the ordinary state of the streets, the
thoroughfares on this occasion are swept, garnished and made straight.

On arriving, over these unwontedly smooth ways, at the dwell-
ing of the bride, the envoy is received with every mark of honor and
reverence, not only by the father of the bride, but by the elder ladies
of the household, dressed in their most brilliant costumes. In the grand
hall the father kneels before the envoy, who hands the seal to a lady
in waiting, while his lieutenant delivers the tablet and the imperial letter
to the ladies appointed to receive them. As these things are borne to
the private apartments of the bride, her mother and ladies kneel in token
of reverence, and then, following in their wake, listen with devout
respect to the terms of the letter addressed to the bride.

The Bride at the Palace.

When this ceremony is concluded, the bride, with her mother
and ladies in attendance, advancing to the. ‘““Phoenix Chair,” in which,
preceded by ministers bearing the imperial seal, and followed by musicians
and guards of honor, she proceeds to the palace. On arriving at the gate,
the officers and attendants dismount from their horses, while porters bearing
aloft nine umbrellas ornamented with phoenixes lead the procession to
the Kientsing gate. Beyond this the attendants and officials are for-
bidden to go, and the bride proceeds alone to meet her affianced
husband. One more ceremony has to be performed to complete the
marriage. A banquet is spread for the august pair, at which they pledge
each other’s troth in cups of wine, and thus tie the knot which death
alone unravels.

This, however, does not quite conclude the laborious ceremonial
which falls to the lot of the bride. On the morning after the wedding it
becomes her duty to testify her respect to the Dowager Empress by
bringing her water in which to wash her hands, and by spreading viands
before her, in return for which courtesies the Dowager entertains her
daughter-in-law at a feast of welcome. Meanwhile the Emperor receives
the homage of the princes, dukes, and officers of state, and for some
days the palace is given up to feasting and rejoicing, an echo of which

3
46 CHINA—THE’ EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

reaches the remotest parts of the Empire when the proclamation an-
nouncing the joyful event in made known in the provinces.

An Emperor’s Death.

But the imperial mentors not only teach the Emperor how to live,
but they teach the “‘still harder lesson how to die.’”’ On the approaching
death of the late Emperor, the following valedictory manifesto was put
in his mouth: “It was owing to the exalted love of Our late Imperial
father, Our canopy and support, that the Divine Vessel (z. ¢. the throne)
was bestowed upon Our keeping. Having set foot in Our childhood on
the throne, We from that moment had, gazing upwards, to thank their
two Majesties the Empresses for that, in ordering as Regents the affairs
of government, they devoted night and day to the laborious task. When
later, in obedience to their divine commands, We looked on high for
guidance to the Ancestral precepts of the Sacred Ones before Us, and in
devotion to Our government and love towards Our pecple, made the fear
of Heaven and the example of Our Forefathers the mainspring of every
act. . . To be unwearied day by day has been Our single purpose. . .
Our bodily constitution has through Our life been strong, and when, in the
11th moon of this year, We were attacked by small-pox, We gave the
utmost care to the preservation of Our health; but for some days past
Our strength has gradually failed, until the hope of recovery has passed
away. We recognize in this the will of Heaven.” And then the dying
man named his successor in the person of his first cousin, the present

Emperor.
Mourning at the Court.

‘As soon as the august patient has ceased to breathe, his heir
strips from his cap the ornaments which adorn it, and “wails and
stamps” in evidence of his excessive grief. The widow and ladies of
the harem in the same way discard the hair-pins and jewelry which
it is ordinarily their delight to wear, and show their practical appreciation
of the position by setting to work to make the mourning clothes and
habiliments. The coffin prepared for the remains having been carried
into the principal hall of the palace, is inspected by the heir, and receives
its august burden. By an ordinance, which is probably more honored in
CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT. 47

the breach than in the performance, the new Emperor with his courtiers
sacrifice their queues as a token of their sorrow, and the ladies of the
harem, not to be outdone, submit their flowing locks to the scissors of
their attendants.

For three years, which by a fiction is reduced to twenty-seven
months, the young Emperor mourns the decease of his predecessor.
The exigencies of administration, however, make it necessary that he
should confine the period of unrestrained grief toa hundred days; while
twenty-seven days are considered. sufficient for the expression of the
regrets of the concubines of the third rank. During the twenty-seven
months, members of the imperial family are not supposed to marry or
indulge in any of the pleasures of married life. A curious punishment
was inflicted on a late Emperor for an infraction of this last rule. Most
inopportunely a son was born to him at a time which proved: that,
in accordance with Chinese notions, its existence must have begun during
the mourning for the deceased Emperor. The question then arose how
the august offender was to be dwelt with. Banishment would have
been the sentence naturally passed on any less exalted personage, but as
it was plainly impossible to send the Son of Heaven into exile, it was
determined to banish his portrait across the deserts of Mongolia into a
far country.

Reading the Will.

On a day of good omen the will of the deceased Emperor is
carried, with much pomp and circumstance, to the gate of ‘Heavenly
Rest.” From the balcony above this portal the contents of the docu-
ment are announced to the assembled crowd. The terms of the
testament having been communicated to the people of the capital, it is
printed in yellow, and distributed not only throughout the empire, but
throughout every region which owes allegiance to the Son of Heaven—
Corea, Mongolia and Manchuria and Liuchiu and Annam. When the
time named by the astrologers arrives for the removal of the coffin to
the temporary palace on the hill within the imperial enclosure, a proces-
sion, formed of all that is great and noble in the empire, accompanies
the imperial remains to their appointed resting-place, where, with every
48 CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

token of respect, they are received by the Empress and the ladies of
the harem.

In a mat shed adjoining the temporary palace the Emperor takes
up his abode for twenty-seven days. With unremitting attention he
‘presents fruits and viands to the deceased, accompanying them with
sacrificial libations and prayers. The choice of a posthumous title next
occupies the attention of the ministers, and from that moment the names
which the late sovereign has borne in life disappear from imperial
cognizance. To every Emperor are given, during life and at his death,
three names. The first may be called his personal name; the second
is assigned him on coming to the throne, and resembles the titles given
to the occupants of the papal chair; the third is the style chosen to
commemorate his particular virtues or those which he is supposed to
have possessed. On the completion of these long-drawn-out ceremonies
a day is chosen for the removal of the coffin to its tomb. In a wooded
valley, forty or fifty miles west of Peking, lie all that is mortal of the
Emperors of the present dynasty. Thither, by easy stages, the coffin, borne
by countless bearers, is carried, over a road leveled and carefully prepared
for the cortege. As in duty bound, the Emperor accompanies the coffin, but
does not find it necessary to join in the actual procession. By pursuing
devious ways he reaches the traveling palaces, at which the halts are
made, in time to receive the coffin, and without having experienced the
fatigue of the slow and dreary march. Finally with many and minute
a ceremonies, among which occurs the presentation to the deceased of food,
“money and clothes, the remains are laid to rest in the august company
of imperial shades.

Funeral of an Empress.

With much the same pomp and ceremonial a deceased Empress
is buried in the sacred precincts, and the proclamation of her death is
received in the provinces with much the same demonstrations of grief
and sorrow as that which greets the announcement of the decease of a
Son of Heaven. Some years ago, on the death of the Empress Dowager
a curious proclamation prescribing the rites to be performed on the
occasion, was issued to the people of Canton. From this paper we
"WIOOY-SUIMBIG UOIZBZo] s9zBIS powUQ—euUIYyD ‘Sued

 

 
CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT. el

learn that the notification of the death was received from the hands of
the imperial messenger by the assembled local officials, and was borne
on the “dragon bier” to the Examination Hall. As the procession
moved along the officers fell on their knees and, looking upwards, raised
a cry of lamentation. On reaching the precincts of the Hall the manda-
tins, from the highest to the lowest, thrice bowed low, and nine times
struck their foreheads on the ground.

As soon as the notification had been placed on the table prepared
for it, the herald cried aloud, “Let all raise the cry of lamentation.”
Anon, the same officer proclaimed, ‘Present the notification,” upon
which the officer appointed for the purpose presented the paper to the
governor-general and the governor of the province, who received it on their
knees and handed it to the provincial treasurer, who, in like manner,
passed it to the secretary charged with the duty of seeing that it was
reverently copied and published abroad. At another word of command,
the mandarins retired to a public hall, where they. passed the night
abstaining from meat and from all carnal indulgence. For three days,
similar ceremonies and lamentations were performed, and, for nine times
that period, white apparel was donned by the mandarins, who had
already discarded the tassels and buttons of their caps, on. the first arrival
of the imperial messenger.

From the same date, all official signatures were written with blue
ink, and seals were impressed with the same color. No drums were
beaten, no courts were held, and a blue valance was hung from the
chair and table of all officers in lieu of the ordinary red one. On each
of the first three days, a state banquet was offered to the deceased,
when, in the presence of the assembled mandarins, the herald cried
aloud, ‘Serve tea to Her Majesty.” Upon which, attendants, preceded by
the governor-general and the governor, ascended the dais, and, kneeling,
poured out a cup of tea, which they handed to the governor-general.
With every token of respect, this officer placed the cup before the
tablet representing the late Empress. With the same ceremonies, rice,
water, and wine were offered to the manes of the deceased Empress.
Finally, at a word from the herald, the viands were committed to the
52 CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

flames, and with many prostrations and bows the impressive ceremony
came to an end.
Imperial Authority.

Over the imperial princes and nobles the Emperor holds complete
sway. He regulates their marriages, and, in cases of failure of issue,
he chooses sons for their adoption. He appoints their retinues, and
orders all their goings with curious minuteness. Over them, as over all
his other subjects, his will is, theoretically, law.

The power of the Emperor of China is not in any practical sense
greater than that of the Czar or the Sultan. The idea that the Emperor
of China wielded a power upon which there was no constitutional check
was probably derived from the style employed in imperial edicts and
rescripts wherein the Chinese ruler is generally designated “the Son of
Heaven,” and where special mention is always made of his representing
the Celestial will.

The Two Cabinets.

The central administration of China under the Emperor consists of
what may be called two inner cabinets and a number of nominally
subsidiary boards controlling separate departments of State. The two
Cabinets are the Grand Secretariat and the General Council. The former,
termed in Chinese, Niu Koh, is nominally the more important, and has
always existed under the Chinese Emperors. It is composed of four
Grand Secretaries, two Manchu and two Chinese, and two assistants.
As, however, these officials always hold other posts, requiring their
presence elsewhere, they are not constantly resident in Peking, with the
consequence that their collective influence is not as great as theoretically
it should be. It was always considered necessary that the Senior Grand
Secretary should be a Manchu, and Li-Hung-Chang enjoys the distinction
of being the first Chinese accorded that pre-eminence. To assist the
secretaries and their assistants are ten learned men (hioh-sy), who are
generally doctors of the Hanlin College. In this grade the Manchus have
a preponderance and number six. The staff of the secretariat numbers
about two hundred officials altogether. The duties of the Niu Koh are
many and varied. They are in the closest contact with the sovereign,
CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT. 53

to whom they submit all papers, and from whom they receive the
replies and instructions upon which the official edicts are drawn up. The
officers of the secretariat also keep the imperial seals, of which there
are twenty-five forms, used for different documents and departments.
If the Niu Koh cannot be strictly termed a Cabinet, it answers the same

purposes.
The Real Government.

The Kiun Ki Chu, or General Council, is a comparatively new
institution, but notwithstanding its want of antiquity, it has become, so
far as there is such a thing, the real depository of power in China. It
was founded by the Emperor Yung Ching in 1730, and the right of
nominating its members was not merely left to the sovereign, but was
loosely defined. It was essentially a council at which the heads of
departments and others could be brought together for consultative pur-
poses by the will of the Emperor. Less ornamental than the Grand
Secretariat, it has met more practical requirements, and to it also has
fallen the privilege of framing edicts for the Imperial signature. Although
the original idea was that this Council should be fairly numerous, such
has not been the case of recent years, and its influence is probably
enhanced by the fact that its four members speak with one voice.
Prince Kung used to be the chief of this Council; his place is now
occupied by Prince Chun. Both these Councils or bodies have the
right of audience with the sovereign, and, indeed, it is the understood
routine that they should meet him in conclave every day for the trans-
action of the affairs of his vast Empire.

The Six Boards.

Next to these come the six Boards of Administration, which have
existed under slightly varying forms from a remote antiquity. The
senior of these is considered that of Civil Office, or the Li Pu. This
Board has been described as having ‘‘the government and direction of
all the various officers in the civil service of the empire, thereby assist-
ing the Emperor to rule all people.” The work of this Board is very
heavy, and for its more efficient discharge it is dived into four depart-

ments.
54 CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

The next Board in order of rank is the Board of Revenue, or
Hu Pu, which deals with all matters appertaining to finance, the dis-
tribution of the land, and the regulation of salaries. One of its minor
duties is of a different character. All girls of Manchu race, on attaining
the age of twelve, ought to appear before the Emperor for him to make
selections for his harem, and the families that have personal objects of
ambition to attain consider it highly desirable to obtain admission in
this way for one of their members into the Palace. The Board of
Revenue keeps and revises a complete list of the Manchu maidens.

The next Board is that of Rites, which supervises all the ritual
performances and Court ceremonies. Its members possess great power
and influence at a Court where everything is decided in strict accordance
with precedent as established by the Book of Rites. The Board of War
comes fourth, and shows, more than any of the others, evidence of
Manchu influence. All matters appertaining to either the army or the
navy come under its purview, and with a vigorous and experienced
president, the machinery of this department would amply suffice for the
efficient control and organization of even the million soldiers who, in
name if not in fact, form the army of the Chinese ruler. The fifth
Board is that of Punishment, the Hing Pu, and it has power in both
civil and criminal cases. It is supposed to transact an enormous quantity
of business, as all charges against officials are investigated at the capital.
It is the usual fate of an unsuccessful or unfortunate Minister to be
handed over to the Board of Punishments to receive his deserts. The
sixth and last of these Boards is that of Works. It has the supreme |
direction of all public works throughout the realm, and as these include
the state of the canals, the high roads, and the rivers, in addition to that
of the fortifications of the towns and of the arsenals, its members hold
no sinecure. It combines functions of a military description with others
belonging to sanitation; thus it provides the stores of the army, and
attends to the sewers and the cleansing of the gutters of the capital.

The Foreign Office.

Next to the six boards the most important department at the

present time is unquestionably the Tsungli Yamun, or foreign office.
 

 

 

 

Peking, China—Chinese Foreign Office.
CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT. 57

Before the war of 1860, such a department did not exist. With the
lofty contempt with which the Chinese affect to regard foreigners, it was
considered that the colonial office, which superintends the affairs of
Mongolia and Thibet, was quite competent to deal with any matter which
might arise with the “outer barbarians.” But the establishment of
European ministers at Peking changed all this.

Colonial Affairs.

The Colonial office ‘has the government and direction of external
foreigners, orders their emoluments and honors, appoints their visits to
court, and regulates their punishments, in order to display the. majesty
and goodness of the state.” Since the withdrawal from this office of
the management of the relations with Russia (1860), its duties have been
confined to the control of the various Mongolian tribes, and of the
natives of Thibet. As in all other departments of the government, the
mandarins employed under this office are obliged to supplement their
legitimate salaries by illegal exactions. It is not often that a foreigner
has an opportunity of observing the system by which these employes
fill their pockets, but Mr. Rockhill, on his recent journey into Thibet, was
able to read, mark and learn the practices of these gentry. On the
frontiers of Mongolia he found a class of officials who received from
their paternal government an annual income of twenty-five taels, a sum
equivalent to about four pounds sterling. Such a sum is of course
known and recognized as insufficient to keep body and soul together.
The office therefore winks at a system by which the frontier officials
“eat the people,” as the sufferers describe the process.

The Censors.

Another important bureau is the Office of Censors, which has
entrusted to it the ‘care of manners and customs, the investigation of
all public offices within and without the capital, the discrimination between
the good and the bad performance of the business transacted in them, and
between the depravity and the uprightness of the officers employed; the
duty of urging its members to utter each his sentiments and reproofs, in
order to cause officers to be diligent in attention to their daily duties,
and to render the government of the Empire stable.”
58 CHINA—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

This is one of the strangest institutions in the government, and
illustrates the anomalous contradictions which meet one at every turn in
China. Everyone is fully aware that if these duties were rigorously
carried out, there is scarcely a mandarin in the Empire who would not
be impeached, and righteously sc, and yet censors aré gravely appointed
and charged to do that which if they were to attempt, would place nine
out of every ten officers on their trial. That “you cannot impeach a
whole nation,” is a truth which is recognized by the censors, and they,
therefore, devote their attention to denouncing flagrant cases of official
iniquity and sometimes as the Peking Gageite tells us, to making frivolous
and fussy charges.

Fifty-six of these guardians of public morality, who on occasions
justify their raison d’eire by exposing wrongs committed within theit
cognizance, ate distributed: throughout the provinces. No mandarin,
however exalted, is exempt from their attacks, not even the Son of
Heaven, who as has been said, is “thus in the presence of a chronic
day of judgment, to which he is himself amenable, albeit he is the sole
judge of every case.”

, «Letter Shops.”

The Chinese have not as yet established any government post
offices or postal system for the masses of the people, though private
enterprise has for many years rendered. communication easy between the
people of all parts of the Empire. This is conducted through what are
called “letter shops.” No stamps are used, but the “chop” (seal) of
the keeper of the shop is always placed upon the envelope. Imperial
edicts and other official despatches are carried from city to city and prov-
ince to province by couriers, who are, for this country, very expeditious,
being in some parts provided with horses at convenient relay stations.
Despatches are thus conveyed, in cases of emergency, two hundred or
two hundred and fifty miles a day. In districts where horses are used,
each station-master is required to keep on hand from ten to twenty
horses or donkeys, and the local official is held responsible for all delays
that occur. These official couriers are not allowed to convey private
despatches or letters.
CHAPTER III.

 

CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

 

a CO 3 NATION’S LAWS, IT IS often said, furnish the best and

3 truest description of the manners and customs of the
oF 4 : :
‘bes ad people. In all respects the Chinese code is an

Ss Hee exceptionally good instance of the truth of this maxim.

: Unlike many of the legal systems of the east and
west, it avoids all useless redundancies, and represents, in a concise form,
the laws which are intended to govern the courts of justice. Further,
following the bent of the national mind, it does not concern itself with
the duties of men only as citizens, but follows them into their homes
and provides legislation for their social conduct, their relations in the
family, and even for the clothes which they should wear. Regarded as a
whole it is obvious that its provisions are mainly directed to keeping the
people quiet and loyal. The Emperor is surrounded with enactments
which are intended to ensure that such divinity shall hedge him in ‘‘that
treason can but peep to what it would,” and every disturbing motive and
exciting cause is studiously suppressed among his subjects.

Punishment of Criminals.

The code begins by enumerating the punishments to be inflicted
for offenses, and defines them as (1), flogging with a straight, polished
piece of bamboo, the branches cut away, and reduced to five Chinese
feet, five inches in length, varying in breadth from one to two inches,
and in weight from one and a half to two Chinese pounds, and when
used to be held by the smaller end; (2), the canque, consisting of “a
square frame of dry wood, three feet long, two feet nine inches broad,
and weighing in ordinary cases twenty-five pounds,” which is carried on
the shoulders; (3), the capital punishment, which is inflicted’ either by

strangulation or by the executioner’s sword. Most punishments for the
(59)
60 CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

less serious crimes are redeemable by fines, and even capital sentences,
in such cases as are not legally excluded from the benefits of general
acts of grace and pardon, are commutable for sums of money varying
in amount with the heinousness of the crime, and with the wealth of
the criminal. A man sentenced to a hundred blows with the bamboo
can save his skin by the payment of five ounces of silver, and an
officer above the fourth rank who is sentenced to be strangled, may
avoid the cord by paying twelve thousand ounces into the coffers of
the state. But besides these pecuniary modifications, there are certain
conditions which are held to justify the mitigation of sentences.

In the case of an offender surrendering himself to justice, he -shall,
in some circumstances, be entitled to a reduction in the degrees of
punishment, and in others he absolves himself from all consequences by
giving himself up. If, again, “‘an offender under sentence of death for
an offense not excluded from the contingent benefit of an act of grace,
shall have parents or grandparents who are sick, infirm, or aged above
seventy years, and who have no other son or grandson above the age of
sixteen to support them, . . . this circumstance shall be submitted to the
consideration of His Imperial Majesty.” In any case offenders under
fifteen years of age, or over seventy, are allowed to redeem themselves
from any punishment less than capital. . Even when the crime is capital,
if the offender is less than ten, or more than eighty, his case, unless’ he
be charged with treason, is to be recommended to the consideration of
the Emperor; and no punishment, except for treason and rebellion, shall
be visited on those who are less than seven, or more than ninety.

/ Especial regulations lighten punishments to be inflicted on four
classes of the population. Astronomers sentenced to banishment may
submit to one hundred blows with a bamboo instead, and redeem
themselves from further punishment, unless they have been guilty of
“poisoning, murdering, wounding, robbing, Stealing, killing by magic, or
of any such offenses as may subject the party to the punishment of
being branded.” Artificers and musicians who have incurred banishment
may be flogged, and, instead of being sent to Central Asia, may be kept
in the magistrate’s yamun, and employed in the service of government;
“nOI1e3e7] ssourder—euUlYyD ‘3uI4e2q

 

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CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 63

while women who are sentenced to banishment can always redeem
themselves by paying a fine. In cases where women are convicted of
offenses punishable by flogging, it is provided that they shall be allowed
to wear their upper garment unless the crime should be adultery, when
that privilege is withdrawn.

Guarding the Imperial Precincts.

Any one passing without proper authorization through any of the
gates of the Forbidden City incurs a hundred blows of the bamboo.
This law is invariably enforced, and quite lately the Peking Gazette announced
the infliction of the penalty.on a trespasser, and the degradation of the
officer of the guard at the gate through which he had entered. Death
by strangulation is the punishment due to any stranger found in any of the
Emperor’s apartments; and with that curious introspection which Chinese
laws profess, any one passing the palace gate with the intention of going in,
although he does not do so, is to have a definite number of blows with
the bamboo. Every workman engaged within the palace has a pass
given to him, on which is a detailed description of his figure and appear-
ance, and which he is bound to give up to the officer of the identical gate
through which he was admitted. To carry drugs or weapons into the
Forbidden City is to court a flogging in addition to perpetual banishment,
and any one “who shall shoot arrows or bullets, or fling bricks or stones
towards the. imperial temple or towards any imperial palace, shall suffer
death by. being strangled at the usual period.”

Treason Made Odious.

Of all offenses treason is, in the opinion of Chinese legislators, the
gravest and most worthy of severe and condign punishment. So atrocious is
it that capital punishment, as laid down in the’ general provisions, is
considered an insufficient requital, and the equivalent of the old English
sentence, ‘“‘To be hung, drawn, and quartered,’ is met with in China in
the shape of an even more cruel sentence, viz., lingchi, or death by a
slow and lingering process. A culprit, condemned to this form of death,
is tied to a cross, and, while he is yet alive, gashes are made by the
executioner on the fleshy parts of his body, varying in number according
‘to the disposition of the judge. When this part of the sentence has been
64 CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

carried out, a merciful blow severs the head from the body. It is a
principle of Chinese jurisprudence that in great crimes all the male relatives
of the principal are to be held to be participators in his offense. Thus,
for one man’s sin, whole families are cut off, and in cases of treason
“all the male relatives of the first degree, at or above the age of sixteen,
of persons convicted—namely, the father, grandfather, sons, grandsons,
paternal uncles and their sons respectively—shall, without any regard to
the place of residence, or to the natural or acquired infirmities of particular
individuals, be indiscriminately beheaded.” But this is not all. Every
male relative, of whatever degree, who may be dwelling under the roof
of the offender, is doomed to death. An exception is made in the case of
young boys, who are allowed their lives, but on the condition that they
are made eunuchs for service in the imperial palace.
Death by Torture.

Lingchi is the invariable fate pronounced on any one who kills
three people in a household, or on a son who murders his father or
mother. Some of the most horrible passages in the Peking Gazette are
those which announce the infliction of this awful punishment on madmen
and idiots, who in sudden outbreaks of mania, have committed parricide.
For this offense no infirmity is accepted, even as a palliation. The
addition of this form of execution to those generally prescribed is an
instance of the latitude which is taken by the powers that be, in the
interpretation of the code.

To read the list of authorized punishments one would imagine
that the Chinese were the mildest mannered men who ever had culprits
before them. Admitting that torture is necessary in China to extract
confessions from obdurate witnesses, the kinds authorized are probably
as unobjectionable as could well be devised. But they are but a shadow
of the pain and penalties actually inflicted every day in all parts of the
empire. Even in the appendix to this code it was found advisable to
add the imperial sanction to more stringent measures in cases of robbery
or homicide. Instruments for crushing the ankles, and for compressing
the fingers, are there admitted on the canonical list. The first of these,
it is laid down, shall consist of “a middle piece of wood, three (Chinese)
CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 65

feet four inches long, and two side pieces, three feet each in length. The
upper end of each piece shall be circular and rather more than one inch
in diameter; the lower end shall be cut square and two inches in thick-
ness. At a distance of six inches from the lower ends, four hollows or
sockets shall be excavated—one on each side of the middle piece and
one in each of the other pieces to correspond. The lower ends being
fixed and immovable, and the ankles of the criminal under examination
being lodged within the sockets, a painful compression is effected by
forcibly drawing together the upper ends.” The finger squeezers are
necessarily smaller, but are arranged on much the same principle.

But even these tortures are considered insufficient to meet the
requirements of the courts of justice. Mandarins, whose minds have
grown callous to the sufferings of their fellow-creatures, are always ready
to believe that the instruments of torture at their disposal are insufficient
for their purposes. Unhappily, it is always easy to inflict pain; and in
almost every yamun throughout the empire an infinite variety of instru-
ments of torture are in constant use. To induce unwilling witnesses to
say what is expected of them, they are not unfrequently made to kneel
on iron chains, on which their knees are forced by the weight of men
standing on the calves of their legs. Others are tied up to beams by
their thumbs and big toes. Others are hamstrung, while some have. the
sight of their eyes destroyed by lime or the drums of their ears deadened
by piercing. This list might be extended indefinitely, but enough has
been said to show that, like so many Chinese institutions, the penal code
only faintly represents the practice which is actually in force.

Belief in Magic.

Like most uncivilized nations the Chinese are firm believers in
magic, and place full belief in those arts of the sorcerer which have a
congenial home among the inhabitants of Central Africa, and of which
dim traces are still to be found in the highlands of Scotland, and
among the most ignorant of English rustics. Not long since the gover-
nor of the province of Kiang-su reported to the throne that “alarming
rumors were circulated among the people concerning the cutting off of
queues, the imprinting of marks on the body by ‘paper men,’ and the
66 CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

appearance of black monsters which played the part of incubi on sleeping
persons.” It would be natural to expect that the governor being learned
in all the wisdom of China would have reproved these foolish imagin-
ings, and would have used his influence to check the spread of such
ridiculous rumors. But the course he took, with the subsequent
approval of the Emperor, was a very different one. He professed to
have discovered at Soochow a “wizard’”’ named Feng, and others, who,
after trial, were all condemned to be beheaded. Several others in
different parts of the province suffered the same penalty.

The code, which was based on. the laws existing during the Ming
dynasty, was thoroughly revised by a committee of the highest function-
aries of the realm, and received the imperial approval in 1647, after
careful consideration. In it we find, therefore, the mind which was in
these grandees, and that they deliberately adopted a section providing
that “all persons convicted of writing and editing books on sorcery and
magic, or of employing spells and incantations, in order to influence the
mind of the people, shall be beheaded.” Lesser punishments, on what
principle awarded it is impossible to say, are incurred by magicians who
raise evil spirits by means of magical books and dire imprecations, by
leaders of corrupt and impious sects, and by members of superstitious
associations in general.. Even fortune-tellers, unless they divine by the
recognized rules of astrology, are liable to be bambooed.

Family Government.

In all Chinese legislation the principle that the family is the basis
of government is conspicuously apparent. The patria potestas is every-
where recognized, and it is only in. supreme cases that the State
interferes between the head of a household and his family belongings.
Though the code affords no direct justification for punishing disobedient
sons with death, or for infanticide, it is an incontrovertible fact that in
cases which constantly occur, both crimes are practically ignored by the
authorities. A particularly brutal case, of the murder of an unfilial son,
was reported in the Peking Gazette, 1882. The report was in the form
of a memorial addressed to the throne by the governor of Shansi, in
which that officer stated that there had been in his district a lad named
 

 

 

 

Peking, China—Pailow, near Legations.
CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 69

Lui, who was endowed by nature with an “unamiable and refractory
disposition.” On one occasion he stole his mother’s head ornaments, and
another time he pilfered two thousand taels in cash belonging to her. This
last misdemeanor aroused her direst anger, and she attempted to chastise
him. Unwilling to endure the indignity, Lui seized her by the throat,
and only released her on the expostulation of his sister. This behavior
so angered the old lady, that she determined on the death of her son.
Being physically incapable of accomplishing the deed herself, she begged
a sergeant of police on duty in the neighborhood to act as executioner.
This he declined to do, but softened his refusal by offering to flog Lui.
To do this conveniently he bound the lad, and, with the help of three
men, carried him off to a deserted guard-house on the outskirts of the
village. Thither Mrs. Lui followed, and implored the men to bury her
son alive. Again the sergeant declined, and emphasized his refusal by
leaving the hut. The other men were more yielding, and having thrown
Lui on the ground they proceeded, with the help of his mother and sister,
to pull down the walls and to bury their victim in the debris. At the
trial it was decided “that the death in this case was properly deserved,
and that his mother was accordingly absolved from all blame.”
‘throughout the whole code sons and daughters, as well as
daughters-in-law, stand at a marked disadvantage with regard to their
parents. -Not only is parricide punished by lngchi, but even for striking
or abusing a father, mother, paternal grandfather or grandmother, the
punishment is death; and the same penalty follows on a like offense
committed by a wife on her husband’s father, mother or paternal grand-
parents. A still more one-sided provision ordains that “a son accusing
his father or mother; a grandson, his paternal grandparents; a principal
or an inferior wife, her husband, or her husband’s parents, or paternal
grand-parents, shall in each case be punished with a hundred blows and
three years’ banishment; even if the accusation prove true, and that the
individuals so accused by their relatives, if they voluntarily surrender and
plead guilty, shall be entitled to pardon.” If such accusation should,
however, turn out to be either in part or wholly false, ‘the accuser shall

suffer death by being strangled.”
4
7o CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

Fighting and Gambling.

One of the strangest sections in the code is that which deals with
quarreling and fighting, and in which every shade of offense is differ-
entiated with strange minuteness. On what part of the body a blow is
struck, with what it is struck, and the result of the blow, are all set out
with their appropriate penalties. Tearing out “an inch of hair,” breaking
a tooth, a toe, or a finger, with countless other subdivisions, are all
tabulated in due form. It is commonly observed that people, and there-
fore nations, admire most those qualities in which they are deficient,
and on somewhat the same principle Chinese legislators delight to
hold up to opprobrium those social misdemeanors to which they are
most prone.

If an impartial observer of Chinese manners and customs were to
name the two most prominent civil vices of the Chinese, he would
probably give his decision in favor of bribery and gambling. Against
both these vices the code speaks with no uncertain sound. The man-
darin who accepts a bribe of one hundred and twenty taels of silver and
upwards, when the object is in itself lawful, or eighty taels and upwards
when the object is unlawful, is pronounced guilty of death by strangula-
tion. It is no exaggeration to say that if this law were enforced it would
make a clean sweep of ninety-nine out of every hundred officials in the
empire. Gambling also is denounced with equal fervor, and eighty blows
is the punishment for any person found playing at any game of chance
for money or for goods. The same penalty awaits, in theory, the owner
of a gaming-house, with the additional fine of the loss of the house to
government. The existence of such a law, side by side with the open
and palpable violation of it in streets and alleys, as well as on country
roads and in village lanes reduces it to an absurdity. At breakfast-time
workmen stream qut of their places of employment, and throw dice or
lots for their meals at the nearest itinerant cookshop. Coolies, in moments
of leisure, while away the time with cards and dice as they sit at
the sides of the streets, and the gaming-houses are always full of eager
and excited crowds, who are willing to lose everything they possess, and
more also, in satisfaction of the national craving.
CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 7!

Like opium, games of chance have a peculiar fascination for
Chinamen. One of the commonest games is known as fantan, and is so
simple that it can be played by any one. The croupier throws down a
heap of cash, and each gambler stakes on what the remainder will be
when the pile has been counted out in fours. This and other games
are publicly played at the gambling-houses, the owners of which purchase
security for their trade by bribing the mandarins and their police. Quail-
fighting, cricket-fighting and public events are also made subjects of
wagering, and the expected appearance of the names of the successful
candidates at the local examinations, is a fruitful source of desperate
gambling. With the ‘object possibly of discouraging speculation and
games of chance, the code fixes the legal rate of interest at thirty-six
per cent., but the enactment, if that is its object, fails signally to effect
its purpose.

Though neither wives nor slaves are so entirely in the hands of
their husbands and masters as sons and daughters are in those of their
parents, they suffer, from a Western point of view, many and great legal
inequalities. A wife who strikes her husband is liable to be punished
with a hundred blows, while the husband is declared to be entitled to
strike his wife so long as he does not produce a cutting wound. Death
by beheading is the punishment for a slave who strikes his master; but
if a master, in order to correct a disobedient slave or hired servant,
chastises him in the canonical way, and the offender ‘“‘ happens to die,”
the master is “not liable to any punishment in consequence thereof.”

Corruptible Magistrates. be

One guiding object is sought to be attained by every mandarin,
and if he is secure of this, he may, as a rule, disregard the - possible
frowns of his superiors. His first and last duty is to keep the people
quiet and contented. If he does this he may fill his pockets with impu-
nity, so long as no unforeseen circumstance occasions an investigation
into the administration of his office.

If any evidence were needed to establish the general existence of
bribery in China, the Peking Gazelle would supply the necessary material.
In every volume of the Gazelle instances are given of the universal
Ta CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

practice. Not long since we were told of a man, who having shot a
neighbor in a melee arising out of the “Bull god”’ festival, was so
“terrified at the consequence of his act that he got some thousands of
taels together, with which he bribed the whole staff of the magistracy.”
As a natural result, when his case came on for trial, the magistrate passed a
trifling sentence upon him, and when an appeal was made to the higher
authorities, the redoubtable official stated that the culprit, when out
shooting birds, had accidentally killed his victim. Among other instances
in the same volume, is one in which a man took forcible possession of
his cousin, named the “ Pretty Lily,” and gave her in marriage to a dis-
reputable scoundrel. Her father, who went to complain of his conduct,
disappeared from the knowledge of his friends until his remains were
discovered in a cave. A report having been made to the magistrate, a
legal clerk with others succeeded, by dint of bribery, not only in avoiding
an inquest, but in- compelling the complaining relative, by the use of
illegal forms of torture, to give testimony entirely at variance with his
previous statements.
*««Crowner’s Quest.”’

In the particular matter of coroners’ inquests, the ignorant manda-
rins are guided by an equally ignorant work on the subject. As is
always the case when the blind lead the blind, the author and his fol-
lowers are constantly falling into the ditch of folly and error. The work
in question is entitled the “Hsiyuanlu,” and is as full of absurdities
and superstitions as any sorcerer’s almanac, to be bought at the street
corners of Chinese towns. It begins by warning the coroner that before
opening an inquest he must be sure that there is a corpse. In true
accord with the Chinese system of suspicion and interdependence, he is
recommended not to allow his intention to hold an inquiry to become
known to the neighbors of the deceased person; and if, in the case of a
man being wounded in a street row, his services be called into requisi-
tion before the death of the victim, he is told, strange as it may appear,
that it is his duty to see that the wounded man is handed over to
the care of the accused, whose interest it would be to use every endeavor
to restore him to health. With delightful naivete it is added, “The rela-
 

 

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ad Sant 3
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Peking, China—Temple of Heaven.
CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE Laws. 75

tives of a wounded man, unless their ties be of the closest, generally
desire his death, that they may extract money from the slayer.”

The “learned” compiler of this work proclaims that there are six-
teen vital spots on the front of the body, and six on the back, and
recommends the coroner, in case of internal bruises, to take with him a
full supply of onions, red pepper, salt, white prunes, grains and vinegar,
as being useful application for the development of latent injuries. In the
first instance, grains should be spread and vinegar sprinkled on the sus-
pected spot. If, when this is done, an oil-cloth umbrella is opened and
held between the sun and the part, the wound should become apparent.
If this method should fail, the flesh of the white prunes, added to red
pepper, onions, salt, and grain, forms a compress which invariably suc-
ceeds. The anatomical knowledge imparted in this book is on a par with
these strange prescriptions. A man, we are told, has three hundred and
sixty bones, in accordance with the number of days which the sun takes
to make a revolution in the year. From the nape of a man’s neck to
the top of his head there are eight piecés of bone, except in the case of
Ts’ai Chow men, who are said to be the proud possessors of nine. Why
they are thus distinguished among their fellows we are not told.

Holding an Inquest.

An unfailing method of determining whether the bones of a
deceased person are those of a parent, is to cut the skin of a supposed
son or daughter, and let the blood drop on the bones. If they are
those of the parent the blood will sink into the bones. In the same
way the blood of a parent and child, or of a husband and wife, when
dropped into a basin of water, will mix. If, however, these relation-
ships do not exist, the blood of each will float apart. There are some
ruffians, says the author, who, having committed murder, burn the
bodies of their victims. In such cases the coroner should by inquiry
determine the spot where the cremation took place. Having found it
he should cut down the grass, burn wood and fuel on the spot until
.the ground has become well heated, and then scatter hemp seed on the
site, when the oil from the seed will sink into the ground in the shape
of a man. This will indubitably confirm the suspicion that a man has
76 CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

there been burnt. Farther it will not take him. Among the few
sensible remarks in the “Hsiyuanlu” is a warning to coroners to observe
the direction of a wound, so as to determine whether a man has been
murdered or has committed suicide; and in a note to the text the
following illustration of what may be done by this means is adduced.
A certain coroner, suspecting that a man who had. been murdered in a
street row had received his death blow from a left-handed adversary,
invited the rioters to a feast, and observing one of their number to take
his food with his left hand, instantly arrested him, and had the satis-
faction of drawing from him a full confession of his crime. This gleam
of reason disappears as soon as the author describes symptoms. For
example, a man who has committed suicide in an excess of passion will,
after death, have his teeth set, his eyes slightly open and looking
upwards. One who has made way with himself from pent-up rage will
have his ‘eyes lightly closed and mouth slightly open. On the other
hand, the man who has “shuffled off this mortal coil” by his own act
to escape punishment and torture, will have his eyes closed peacefully
and his mouth shut, as one who “looks on death merely as a return
home, and a happy release from pain and toil.”
The Few Good Mandarins.

What with the invincible ignorance which characterizes all Chinese
Officials, and the corruption which deprives them of every sentiment
which bears any affinity to honesty, it need scarcely surprise us to find
how impure, unjust, and cruel are the mercies of Chinamen. It is
not to be supposed, however, that there are no isolated exceptions to this
general and sweeping condemnation. No doubt there are some few
officials who try to do their duty to their sovereign and the people under
them. But virtue is, after all, only comparative in China, and the man
who there gains credit for uprightness and impartiality would probably
be unable to bear the light which beats upon officials amongst ourselves.
The estimation in which such exceptional mandarins are held by the
people is emphasized in many ways. Their most common. method of
showing regard for a high-principled magistrate is, when he is resigning
his post, to take from him his boots, and hang them up in the city
CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 77

temple as a memorial of him. If his fame has spread abroad, as the
report of such a Jusus nature would probably have done, the same
strange testimony to his virtue is repeated at all the towns in the
province through which he passes on his way to his new office.
Unhappily, however, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, the people
have been taught by a miserable experience to expect from their rulers
greed rather than honesty, and cruelty rather than justice.

Plundering the Unfortunate.

Further, the difficulty of prosecuting appeals leaves a defrauded
suppliant but faint hope of gaining any succor against injustice and
wrong. The appointments to all the junior offices in a province are in
the hands of the governor, who, as a rule, fills them with his own
followers and clientele. These, again, nominate the clerks and hangers-on
to their several yamuns, and thus there is spread all over the province
a combined coterie, each member of which is bound by the instinct of
self-preservation to support his fellows. This community of interests
gives the mandarins a free hand to act as they please, within certain
well-recognized limits, and on such venial offenses as misappropriation of
funds, for instance, there follows no Nemesis, unless the fraud is very
clumsily managed.

Disasters which overtake districts under their control are commonly
a source of gain and profit to the officials. In such cases it is customary
at once to set on foot a collection of money for the relief of the
sufferers, and from the funds so subscribed a heavy tax is taken by the
agents through whose hands they pass. In a memorial lately presented to
the throne, it was stated by a censor that “the official clerks and under-
lings in the famine-stricken districts in Hunan had been guilty of divers
malpractices, by means of which they had turned the imperial bounty, in
the way of the remission of taxation, to their own profit . . . and had
- thus debarred the people from enjoying the advantages of the imperial

enevolence.”
2 The Need of Lawyers.

In the struggle which is perpetually going on between the oppressed
and the oppressors, the people suffer from the grave disadvantage of
78 CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

having no legal class to interpose between them and the fiats of the
mandarins. Such persons as advocates and solicitors are unknown in
China, and, indeed, a man who attempted to appear for another in a
court of justice would probably render himself liable to a penalty under
the clause, in the penal code, which orders a flogging for any person
who excites and promotes litigation. All cases, however intricate, are
tried by the presiding mandarin, in much the same way that a London
magistrate disposes of night-charges. On both the plantiff and defendant
rests the obligation of laying their cases before the judge, without any
of the assistance which enables Americans, under similar circumstances,
to elucidate the truth of their contentions, and to establish their claims
to justice.
Village Organization.

We have no traces of the beginning of civilization among the
Chinese, and we do not find, therefore, any reference in their records to
a condition before the pairia potestas was established among them. In
their most ancient books the family is declared to be the foundation of
society. It is the unit around which the elements of social life were
gathered and from which they sprang. In their earliest communities
groups of eight families were settled on as many farms -of a hundred
(Chinese) acres each. In the centre of the square formed by these
settlements were another hundred acres, eighty of which were decreed to
be common land, and twenty were set apart for the eight homesteads.
Certain laws were.laid down regulating the cultivation of the lands, the
crops which were to be grown, and the times when each or all were to
lie fallow.

A proportion, which at first sight seems excessive, of the land
was to be preserved as arable. But to any one acquainted with the
system of farming in China, the explanation of this will readily occur. It
is only in lands where sheep and cattle are largely reared for food that
much pasture is required. The Chinese are eminently a grain—-eating
people, and practically the only cattle for which grass has to be provided
are the oxen which draw the plough and the horses which are used for
draught. As it is now, so it was in the early days of village commu-
 

 

 

 

Peking, China—Forbidden City, Temple of Confucius.
CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 81

nities, and the probabilities are that the eighty acres set apart for grazing
purposes were ample for the wants of the people. Custom also pro-
vided that four pathways should dissect the whole block, after the
manner of a “tit-tat-to”’ figure.

Such a community was known as a Ching or Lin, a ‘“‘neighbor-
hood,” three of which made a Peng, or “association; three Peng con-
stituted a Li, or ‘‘village;” five Li, a Yi, or “‘town;” ten Yi, a Tu, or
“city;” ten Tu, a Shi, or “large city;” and ten Shi, a Chow or “district.”
Thus it will seem that the towns grew out of clusters of villages, which
may have been collected on given sites, either by the positions being
favorable to commerce, or by the growth of local industries.

The Land Question.

To Chinamen the investigation of such a subject offers few attrac-
tions, and the history, therefore, of the steps by which this primitive
system has developed into the ownership of land, remains untold. But
though we have no direct information on the subject, it is safe to
assume that by degrees certain families would, on the re-allotment of
the farms, secure by purchase the re-appointment to themselves, and
that eventually they would thus gain a proprietary right over the land.
This is. now: the general condition of land-ownership in China. The
allotments have disappeared, but the state of interdependence between
families in villages, market-towns and quarters in cities, engendered by
their possession, continues. The affairs of each Ching were in the old
days presided over by the heads of the eight families, and in the larger
communities an extended assembly of elders adjudicated on all matters
relating to the administration of their neighborhoods. To a great extent
this system exists at the present day.

Now, as in the days of yore, the head of each household holds
autocratic sway over all the members of his family. The very lives of
his sons and daughters are in his hands, and if his conduct, however
cruel towards his wife, concubines and dependents, is not of a kind to
outrage the feelings of his brother elders—and as a rule it takes a great
deal to do this—it is allowed to pass without attracting the attention of
any public judicial authority. So complete is the patria potestas that sons
82 CHINA—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

who have defied their parents, or who have done violence to them, are
put to death with the consent of the village assembly, or, if there
should be any hesitation on their part to incur the responsibility, parents
have been known to hand a rebellious son over to the mandarin of the
district, who readily carries out the wish of the father.

An aggregation of such families formed the village community,
every member of which was compelled to comply with the customs of
the group to which he belonged. The manner of farming his allotted
land; the way in which he conducted his business; and his social rela-
tions, all came under the observation and control of the elders of the
community. Time has worked some transformations in the outward
administration of the village, but the same spirit pervades the present
system. The tendency which has been observed in other countries
towards establishing an hereditary pre-eminence in one family, has in
China produced the tipao, or headman, who is ‘held responsible for the
peace and well-being of his neighborhood, and who is commonly assisted
in his office by the elders of the village or district.

This office not unfrequently descends from father to son, and is
regarded as entitling the holder to the respect of the people within his
jurisdiction. As in most other positions of honor, it has, however, its
counterbalancing disadvantages. So long as everything goes smoothly,
and no crimes are reported to the local authority, a tipao’s position is
doubtless to be envied by the less -fortunate heads of households. But
peace does not always reign in a Chinese village, and crimes are com-
mitted which are forced on the attention of the mandarin by plaintiffs
who are dissatisfied with the wisdom or the power of the tipao and the
village conclave. A murder is committed, and the friends of the victim
will be satisfied with nothing short of the blood of the murderer: a
water-course, which serves the purpose of irrigating two farms, has been
diverted to the advantage of one of the householders, and the injured
farmer cannot get the reparation which he demands; or crops have been
pilfered, and the sufferer cannot obtain his due. In all such cases, if the
wrong is proved, the tipao comes in for a share of the punishment
inflicted on the offender.
CHAPTER IV.

 

CHINA—THE PEOPLE.

gE STRANGE CONTINUITY of the Chinese Empire is,
: in the opinion of some, to be attributed to the respect
with which the fifth commandment of the Decalogue
is observed, and as this observance of filial piety is
regarded as the fundamental virtue of social life, it is
worthy of a few moments’ attention. At cock-crow it is the duty of
the son or daughter, who should first be dressed with scrupulous care,
to go to their parents’ apartment to inquire after their welfare, and to
attend to their wants, and he or she, more commonly she, must so
continue at their beck and call until the night again closes upon them.
These duties must not be performed in a perfunctory way, but every-
thing must be done with the expression of cheerfulness, and filial respect
and love.

 

Parents Eating the Flesh of Children.

But the strangest development of this virtue is the practice
favored by dutiful sons and daughters of cutting off pieces of their own
flesh to make soup for their aged or indisposed parents. A notable
example of this was reported to the throne some time ago by the same
viceroy, who seems fortunate in the number of filial sons and daughters
within his jurisdiction. This particular instance refers to a young lady,
a Miss Wang, who from her earliest years “exhibited a decorous pro-
priety of conduct coupled with a love of study.” She was a diligent
reader of Liu Hiang’s Lives of Uirtuous Women, and the poems of
Muh Lan. At the age of thirteen, when the first hint of her parents’
desire to betroth her reached her ears, she retired to her room, and,
with a pointed weapon, drew blood from her arm, with which she
wrote a sentence announcing her intention to remain single in order that

she might devote herself to the care of her parents.
(83)
84 CHINA—THE PEOPLE.

A Devoted Daughter.

She had reached the age of twenty-six when her father’s obse-
quies were completed, and again her mother and elder brother urged her
to marry, but she steadfastly declined, and devoted herself to waiting
upon her mother, with whom she shortly afterwards removed to Choh
Chow, on her brother receiving an appointment at Peking as a reward
for his father’s services. She allowed no hands but her own to wait
upon her mother, and when her mother was attacked with a dangerous
illness, she cut a piece of flesh from her left thigh to be administered as
a remedy. In less than a year, a fresh attack of illness supervened,
when she cut a piece of flesh from her right thigh, recovery ensuing as
before. On subsequent occasions, when her parent was suffering from
slight ailments, she applied burning incense sticks to her arms, and used
the calcined flesh to mingle with the remedies prescribed, and always

with successful results.
The Lot of Woman.

From their cradles to their graves, women in China seh at a
distinct disadvantage as compared with men. In the ancient book of
odes mention is made of the custom of giving tiles to female infants for
playthings, and sceptres to boys; and in the same way throughout their
careers, women are regarded as “moulded out of faults,” and as being
altogether unworthy of equal fellowship with men.

No husband or male relative ever appears outside his own portal
in company with his wife or female belongings, and social intercourse is
thus entirely robbed of the softening influences and elevating tendencies
which are everywhere due to the presence of women. It is a mistake,
however, to suppose that women do not in many respects - hold .their
own, even in the oppressive atmosphere of China. But their sphere of
influence is confined to their own homes. If they have friends and
acquaintances elsewhere, they are among the ladies in other households,
to whom they pay visits in closed sedan-chairs—of course, this has
reference to the wealthy classes—and to whose dwellings they are
admitted by the side doors. In the same half furtive manner they
receive the return visits and entertain their friends in the “ fragrant
 

 

 

 

 

Peking, China—Royal Observatory.
CHINA—THE PEOPLE. 87

apartments,” from which even the head of the household is rigidly
excluded.
Separation of the Sexes.

This estrangement between the sexes is carried out in deed as
well as in word. It is laid down on authority that in no case may a
woman and a man touch each other in giving and receiving, and so
literally was this command accepted, that it was held by many that it
was even improper for a man to save a woman from drowning. Even
brothers and sisters, as soon as they have ceased to be children, are
entirely separated, and are allowed intercourse only on formal conditions.
Outside the family circle young men do occasionally, like Romeo, “ with
love’s light wings o’er-perch the walls” of etiquette which surround the
objects of their admiration, and we have abundance of evidence in native
novels that communications are kept up between young ladies and
stranger youths, but always with the most circumspect regard to the
conventionalities. | Prenuptial elopements occur but rarely, and the pen-
alty which awaits the hasty pair in case of capture is imprisonment,
which lasts as long as the vindictiveness of the parents determines.
Commonly a maid-servant acts as the Mercury between the lovers, and
in one well-known novel the heroine nurses the hero in this vicarious
way through a long illness, and eventually marries him out of regard
for the scrupulous way in which he had confined himself to orthodox

behavior.
Early Engagements.

In such an artificial state of society dangers must arise, and the
apprehension of it prompts mothers to desire to marry their daughters
at as early an age as possible. It not unfrequently happens that, as in
India, mere infants are betrothed, and nothing but the death of either is
considered sufficient to annul the bond. Even this event is not always
accepted by the survivor, when the survivor is a girl, as a canceling of
the engagement. '

A few years since a young lady was held up to admiration in a
memorial: to the throne for having starved herself-to death on hearing of
the decease of her betrothed, and cases are often officially reported in
88 CHINA—THE PEOPLE.

which the surviving. young lady refuses positively to listen to any other
marriage proposals. One maiden lately earned distinction by clasping her
betrothed’s memorial tablet to her arms and going through the marriage
ceremony with it. It is quite possible, however, that the edge of these
young ladies’ adherence to the rules of propriety may be sharpened by
an appreciation of the more than usually precarious lottery which mar-
riage is in China. It is true that young men occasionally pay the same
honor to the memory of their deceased fiancees, and are content to wed
the shades of their mistresses; but the same constancy is not expected
of them, nor if it existed would be approved of by the censors of
Chinese morals.
No Elopements.

In one respect, matrimonial alliances in China have an advantage
over those in western lands. They can never be undertaken in a hurry.
There can be no running off of the young lady to the registry office
some morning before her parents come down to breakfast, nor can a
special license be obtained in a moment to satisfy a sudden caprice. In
the houses of all well-to-do people the ceremony is surrounded by rites
which make haste impossible, and the widest publicity is secured for
the event.

In dealing with social matters in so huge an empire as China,
it is necessary to remember that practices vary in detail in different parts
of the country. But throughout the length and breadth of the land the
arrangement of marriages of both sons and daughters is a matter which
is left entirely in the hands of the parents, who, in every case, employ
a go-between or match-maker, whose business it is to make himself or
herself—for both men and women follow this strange calling—acquainted
accurately with the circumstances of both families, and the personal
qualifications of the proposed bride and bridegroom. It is obvious that
considerable trust and confidence have to be placed in these people, and
it is also a fact that they not uncommonly betray this trust and confi-
dence. in the interests of rich people who are able to make it worth
their while to represent a plain and ungainly girl as a Hebe, or a disso-
jute youth as a paragon of virtue.
CHINA—THE PEOPLE. 89

Ceremonies of Betrothal.

From the time that the match-maker is employed, until the bond
is tied, there are six ceremonies to be performed. 1. The parents of the
young man send the go-between to the parents of the girl, to inquire
her name, and the moment of her birth, that the horoscopes of the two
may be examined, in order to ascertain whether the proposed alliance will
be a happy one. 2. If the eight characters of the horoscopes seem to
augur aright, the man’s friends send the match-maker back to make an
offer of marriage. 3. If that be accepted, the lady’s father is again
requested to return an assent in writing. 4. Presents are then sent to
the girl’s parents according to the means of the parties. 5. The go-
between requests them to choose a lucky day for the wedding. 6. The
preliminaries are concluded by the bridegroom going or sending a party
of friends with music to bring his wife to his house. .

As soon as the first of these ceremonies is performed, the betrothal
is considered binding; and in the cases of the engagement of children,
nothing but disablement, or the affliction of leprosy, is considered potent
enough to dissolve it. Certain superstitions, however, render the contract
more easily dissoluble when the pair are of marriageable age. If, for
instance, a china bowl should be broken, or , any valuable article lost within
three days of the engagement, the circumstance is considered sufficiently
unlucky to justify the instant termination of the undertaking, and in cases
where facts unfavorable to the one side, whether socially, physically, or
morally, have, in the meantime, come to the knowledge of the other
party to the contract, advantage is taken of some such accidents to put an
end to the negotiations. In accordance with usage, the letters which pass
between the parents during the preliminaries are couched in good set
terms: the sender of presents describes them as “mean” and “con-
temptible,” while the recipient regards them as “honorable” and “ price-

less.”
Work of the Best Man.

The Chinese love of indirectness comes out conspicuously in the
betrothal ceremonies. The bridegroom does nothing, and his father, who
is the real negotiator, is represented by a friend of the bridegroom, who
go CHINA—THE PEOPLE.

alone passes backwards and forwards between the two houses. The
first duty of this ‘best man” is to carry to the lady’s father a statement
of the hour, day, month and year of the bridegroom’s birth, together
with the maiden name of his mother; and to receive in return a docu-
ment containing the same particulars concerning the bride. On receipt
of these facts the fathers of the pair spread the documents on the family
altars, and beseech the blessings of their ancestors on the match.
Astrologers are next consulted, and, should the horoscopes of the young
people be propitious, the best man is again sent with a letter making a
formal proposal of marriage.

The letter of the bridegroom’s father is sent on a lucky day
chosen by the astrologers, and is handed to the best man with much
ceremony, at the family altar, before which the writer performs the
kot'ow in honor of his departed ancestors. On arriving at the bride’s
dwelling the groomsman is received with much state, and is conducted by
his host to the ancestral hall, where a master of ceremonies stands
ready to direct the rites. At a word from this potentate they both
prostrate themselves before the ancestral tablets which stand on the
altar, and having risen from their knees resume their positions, the
one on the east, and the other on the west, side of the hall. The grooms-
man then, with a few appropriate phrases, presents his host with the letter,
and at the same time offers for his. acceptance boxes of confectionery
and a live pig, or, in some parts of the country, a pair of wild geese.

As soon as the cakes and the box containing the letter have been
placed on the altar, the host again prostrates himself and reads the letter,
while the groomsman is led off to be regaled with tea and viands in the
guest-chamber. The reply is handed to the groomsman with the same
ceremonies as that with which the letter was received, and he is then
invited to a feast which etiquette bids him to refuse twice and accept on
the third occasion. On an adjournment to the ancestral hall he is
presented with return presents of cakes, and wends his way back to
report proceedings to his principal.

Presents consisting: of silks and :satins, earrings, bracelets, and
hair-pins, are next sent to the bride, and return gifts are offered by her
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pekin, China—Yellow Temple.
CHINA—THE PEOPLE. 93

parents. A sumptuous dinner, given by the bridegroom to his friends,
announces the completion of this ceremony, which is known as Napi,
or “The Presentation of Silks.”

The Wedding Day.

On the eventful day the bridegroom either goes himself, attended
by a procession of friends and musicians, with flying banners bearing
felicitous mottoes, to carry away his bride, or sends his fidus Achates
similarly attended. In many parts of the country this ceremony takes
place in the evening, and is a mere formality, whereas in others, as will
be presently shown, it retains more of its original significance. On enter-
ing the bride’s house the bridegroom is received by his father-in-law,
who conducts him to the central hall, and there offers him a goblet of
wine, from which the visitor pours out a libation to the emblematic
geese in token of his nuptial fidelity, accompanying the action with a
deep reverence to the family altar in confirmation of his vow. The
bride, covered from head to foot with a red veil, is now introduced on |
the scene, and makes obeisance in the direction of the spot where the
bridegroom is standing, for he is as invisible to her as she is to him.
The procession then re-forms, and the bride having been lifted.into her
sedan-chair by two women of good fortune—that is to say, who have
both husbands and children living—is borne to her future home to the
airs of well-known wedding melodies. On arriving at the portal of the
house the bridegroom taps the door-of the sedan-chair. with his fan, and
in response, the instructress of matrimony, who prompts every act of
the bride, opens the door and hands out the still enshrouded young
lady, who is carried bodily over a pan of lighted charcoal or a red-hot
coulter laid on the threshold, while at the same moment a servant offers
for her acceptanice some rice and preserved prunes.

The Bride’s Home-Coming.

In the reception hall the bridegroom awaits the bride, who pros-
trates herself before him, and he then for the first time lifts her veil
and gazes on her features. The moment must be a trying one, espe-
cially on occasions when the go-between has concealed defects. or
exaggerated charms. Perhaps it is as well that etiquette forbids the

5
94 CHINA—THE PEOPLE.

utterance of a word, and in a silence which must often be golden, the
bridegroom conducts his bride to the divan, when they seat themselves
side by side, it being traditional that the one who sits on a part of the
dress of the other is likely to hold rule in the household. But the mar-
riage has yet to be consecrated. For this purpose the young people
repair to the hall, where, falling on their knees before the ancestral altar,
the bridgroom announces to his ancestors that, in obedience to his
parents’ commands, he has taken so-and-so to wife, beseeching them
at the same time to bestow their choicest gifts on himself and on
his partner. .

Prostrations in honor of heaven, earth, and the bridegroom’s parents
complete the ceremony, and the newly-wedded couple retire to the semi-
privacy of their apartments to enjoy a repast in which they pledge one
another in the wedding goblet.

Plural Marriages.

Polygamy is not practised in China. A man goes through the full
ceremonies of marriage with one woman only, except on very rare occa-
sions. A certain godlike emperor of antiquity gave, we are told in the
canonical histories, his two daughters in marriage to his successor. With
such an example as this before them, the Chinese have always con-
sidered such double marriages admissible, and in many of the best
known romances the heroes marry two young ladies of the same house-
hold, and if the authors are to be believed, always with the happiest
results. But such marriages, though they exist, are very exceptional, and
the secondary wives which men take are received into the household
with a much abridged form of ceremony. No nuptial sedan-chair bears
them in triumph to their new homes, and they enter the portals un-
attended by the musicians and processionists who accompany the first
bride on her wedding-day. And, in fact, the relation of such a one to
the mistress of the establishment is very much what Hagar’s was to
Sarah, in Abraham’s household. By conventional laws she owes obedience
to the first wife, and only rises to a level with her in case progeny
should be denied to the ch’i, as the Chinese term the wife, and be
granted to her.
CHINA—THE PEOPLE. 95

How Wives are Treated.

A monotonous and quiet existence is the most favorable role
which a Chinese woman can expect to play. Confucius laid it down,
and it is rank blasphemy to dissent from him, that a woman should not
be heard of outside of her own home. Unhappily neither ignorance,
nor the placid nature which belongs to most of them, is able to save
them in all cases from the miseries inherent in the state of abject
dependence which belongs to them.

If a husband is driven to make mention of his wife he speaks of
her as his “dull thorn,” or by some equally uncomplimentary term. In
ordinary life he regards her less as a companion than as a chattel, which
in times of adversity may be disposed of by sale. In seasons of famine
an open market is held of the wives and daughters of the poorer sufferers;
and not long since, during a period of dearth in Northern China, so great
a traffic sprung up in women and girls, that in some places nearly every
available cart and conveyance were engaged to transport the ‘newly-
purchased slaves to the central provinces. When such is the position
which women occupy in China, it cannot but be that they occasionally
suffer ill-usage at the hands of such husbands as are capable of cruelty.
It is not at all uncommon for husbands to punish their wives severely,
sometimes, no doubt, under great provocation, for Chinese women,
untutored, unloved, and uncared for, have all the faults and failings of
unreclaimed natures; but at others for little or no reason. Occasionally,
however, the wife has her revenge, and in the collections of anecdotes
which abound there are plenty of stories of henpecked husbands and

masterful wives.
Avoiding Marriage.

But experience shows that, after all, the rule tends in the opposite
direction, and that which makes the position of a wife more than
ordinarily pitiable, especially among the poorer classes, is that she has
no one to appeal to and no one to whom she can apply for refuge.
By the accident of sex she is viewed as a burden by her parents, from
her birth onwards, and if they succeed in marrying her off, they are
only too glad to wash their hands of her altogether. Among ourselves
g6 CHINA—THE PEOPLE.

a man is taught that he should leave his father and mother and cling to
his wife, but the theory in China is that a man should cling to his
father and mother and compel his wife to do the same. When admitted
into her new home it becomes her duty to wait on her parents-in-law
in the same way as she had been accustomed to serve her own father
and mother, and it is often from these elders that the unhappy bride
suffers the greatest hardships and cruelty.

So many are the disabilities attaching to married life in China
that many girls prefer going into Buddhist nunneries, or even commit-
ting suicide, to trusting their futures to the guardianship of men of
whom they know practically nothing.

The Last Moments.

Death and burial in China are marked with elaborate rites, com-
parable with those which are associated with all the relations of life.
On the approach of death the invalid is borne into the central hall,.
where, on a bed of boards, he is gently laid with his feet toward the
door. In preparation for the decease his robes and hat of office, if he
be a mandarin, and, if a commoner, his best attire, are placed beside
him, and when the last supreme moment arrives he is dressed in state,
and so meets his fate in full canonicals. After death a priest is sum-
moned, who, after having saved the soul from perdition by the use of
incantations, calls upon one of the three spirits which are said to inhabit
every man, to hasten to the enjoyment of bliss in the empyrean regions
of the west. Of the two other spirits, one is supposed eventually to
remain with the corpse in the grave, and the other to be attached to the
ancestral tablet, which ultimately finds its place in the family hall.

When this ceremony is completed, the chief mourner, in the
company of friends and supporters—for grief is supposed to have so
broken him down as to have rendered him unable to walk without the
help of a friendly arm and of a sustaining staff—goes to the nearest
river or stream “to buy water” to lave the features of the dead. Having
thrown some copper cash into the water, accompanied sometimes by a
small fish, which is supposed to announce the transaction to the river
god, he fills a bowl from the current and returns to perform his sacred
 

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Peking, China—Tablet of Confucius.
CHINA—THE PEOPLE. 99

office. The coffin is a massive structure, made of four boards, from
three to four inches in thickness, of a hard and durable wood. In this
the body is laid on a bed of quicklime and charcoal, and the cover is
hermetically sealed with cement. This is necessary for the sake of the
survivors, since custom provides that the coffin should remain above
ground for seven times seven days, and it sometimes happens that the
inability of the astrologers to discover a lucky day for the interment
entails a still longer pre-sepulchral period.
The Coffin and Its Contents.

Much virtue exists in the style and nature of the coffin, and most
men as they advance in years provide themselves with their future nar-
row beds, if, indeed, their sons have not been sufficiently filially minded
to make them presents of them.

Before closing the coffin it is customary to put in the mouth of the
deceased five precious substances, which vary in value with the wealth
of the family. The Chinese do not offer any explanation of this practice,
not even the very reasonable Roman explanation, that the money
so placed is intended as the wage due to Charon for the passage over
the Styx.

In some parts of the country it is usual to deposit by the side of
the body any object or objects, such as books, pipes, etc., which may have
been especially valued by the deceased. The coffin is closed in the
presence of the family, who prostrate themselves before the bier. When
the day chosen by the soothsayers for the interment arrives, offerings of
cooked provisions are placed beside the coffin, and the mourners, dressed
in coarse white sackcloth, perform endless prostrations before it. Should
the deceased have been a man of consideration, a vast concourse assem-
bles to follow him to the grave. A curious superstition attaches to the
first raising of the coffin. At the moment that the bearers lift the sarco- |
phagus, the relatives all fly from the room, it being believed that should
any misadventure occur, the spirit of the deceased would avenge itself
on all those who were present at the moment of the removal. The
number of bearers is regulated by the position of the family, and varies
from sixty-four to four.
106 CHINA—THE PEOPLE.

The Funeral Train.

When the procession is formed, a man carrying a long streamer
of white cloth, known as the “soul-cloth,” marches in front, followed by
two men bearing banners, on which are inscribed sentences implying a
hope that the deceased may be enjoying himself in the company of the
blessed. After these comes a man holding up a white cock, which is
supposed to summon the soul to accompany the body, and behind him
follow two sedan-chairs, in the first of which is carried the ancestral
tablet of the dead man, and in the second his portrait. Supporting
themselves by the shafts of these sedan-chairs, two of the principal
mourners drag themselves along. The eldest son, if there be one, im-
mediately precedes the coffin, and affects complete inability to walk
without the help of the staff of wood, or of bamboo, according to
whether he is mourning for his father or his mother, which he carries:
in his hand.

Behind the coffin follow the female relatives and friends. Even
on this solemn occasion the frivolous rules for the separation of the
sexes are rigorously observed, and a white cord, held at the ends by
two men, is sometimes used to separate the male from the female
mourners. As the procession advances, paper money is scattered on all
sides to appease the hunger of any destitute ghosts which may be haunt-
ing the road. With the coffin a pot of rice is lowered into the grave,
and grains and tea are scattered over it. In some parts of the south it
is customary to bury effigies of cows in the grave as correctives against
evil influences. As the grave-diggers shovel in earth to earth the priest
takes the white cock, and, standing at the foot of the tomb, makes the
bird bow thrice towards the coffin. This strange rite is repeated by the
chief mourners, and the “soul-cloth” is then burned to ashes. After a
short exhortation from one of the friends of the deceased, the procession
te-forms and returns to the house in the same order in which it set out.

The Time of Mourning.

On crossing the threshold of their home, it is sometimes custom-
ary for the mourners to purify themselves by stepping over a fire made
of straw, after which their first duty is to carry the deceased’s tablet,
CHINA—THE PEOPLE. 101

with every token of respect, to the principal room, where it remains for
a hundred days.

The mourners then proceed to celebrate ‘‘the feast of the dead,”
and with that the funeral ceremony may be said to be brought to a close.
For thirty days the nearest relatives of the deceased abstain from shaving
their heads or changing their clothes, and for twenty-seven months, sons
are expected to wear all the panoply of woe. Married daughters, having
passed out of the family circle, are not always invited to the funeral
obsequies; but when they are, they are not expected.to mourn for more
than seven days. At the end of that time they adorn themselves once
again in jewelry and colors, and so return to their homes, it being
considered contrary to etiquette for them to carry the signs of lamenta-
tion into their husbands’ presence.

Brought Home for Burial.

The body of a member of a family who dies away from home is
invariably brought back to the ancestral hall with one exception. If his
home should be within the walls of a city, no ceremonial punctilios, and
no sentimental feelings avail to counterbalance the law which forbids the
introduction of a dead body within the walls of a city. Occasionally
some mandarin who has died in his country’s service, after having
gained honors and distinctions, is allowed by the special edict of the
Emperor to be borne through the streets of his native city, but even the
body of such a one is not allowed to rest within the walls. This rule
may possibly show that the Chinese are not entirely blind to the laws
of sanitation, and the regulation which forbids all intramural burial seems
also to point in the same direction.

No such ceremonies as those described above attend the funerals
of infants, unmarried children, concubines, or slaves, and it is no uncom-
mon sight to see in the north of China the bodies of these unfortunates
thrown out upon the plains and on the hills, to be devoured by beasts
of prey. Cremation is never practiced in China except in the case of
Buddhist priests, and the only contingency in which the practice is
sanctioned by the penal code is when relatives “happen to die in a
distant country and the children or grandchildren are unable to bring the
102 CHINA—THE PEOPLE.

corpse to be interred in the native district of the deceased.” In all other

circumstances, the penalty of a hundred blows is to be awarded to any

one “who consumes a corpse with fire or commits it to the waters.”
Retainers and Slaves.

One of the most marked features of a wealthy Chinese household
is the number of retainers who swarm on all sides. Many of these are
hired servants, but:a large portion commonly belong to the unfortunate
class of slaves. In China, as in other eastern countries, the practice of
slavery has a long history. References to it are found in the earliest
works in the literature, and the character which is usually employed to
represent the word “slave” gives us some indications of the earliest
form which the practice took. A “woman” and a “hand” combined
compose the symbol; and if we may draw any inference from this
combination, it is fair to assume that the first slaves were the women
captured in warfare from hostile tribes. But we soon find that men
shared captivity with their womenkind. The practice having thus origin-
ated, and a want having been created among the wealthier classes for
this particular kind of goods and chattels, it was necessary that the
supply should be artificially provided as soon as the more primitive
method failed to produce the required numbers.

Now, as for many centuries, slaves of both sexes are openly
bought and sold all over the Empire. At the present day a young girl
of ten or twelve is worth, at Peking, from thirty to fifty taels, and
young women commonly fetch from two hundred and fifty to three
hundred taels. Poverty is the prime cause of the full markets; and
especially in times of famine, drought, and pestilence, it is common
for men who at other times would shrink with abhorrence from the
deed, to sell their wives and daughters to the highest bidders. Gam--
bling is also responsible for much of the poverty which produces this
state of things; and in all large towns there are recognized brokers who
deal in these human wares.

If we may judge from contemporary fiction, slaves are, as a rule,
well and justly treated, but their position leaves them powerless to
defend themselves against cruelly disposed masters and mistresses.
 

 

Peking, China—Watering-place for Animals.
CHAPTER V.

 

CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY.

   
   

 

| d
& 4F ALL THE CITIES of China, Peking, or the Heavenly
i City, is the least known to foreigners. It is situated

on upon a sandy plain about twelve miles north of the
< Pei-ho. In olden times it was known to the Chinese
as the capital of the Land of Swallows; that is, the
Yen-Kwoh district, and its history from that period until it became the
metropolis of the Dragon Empire is startlingly interesting.

The present Emperor, who dwells within the Imperial City, a
special division of Peking, is a Manchu. The Manchu Tartars have a
very obscure origin. According to priestly records they were a miserable,
impoverished people, among whom some Mongols took up their abode
on the expulsion of that race from China. Tae-Tsoo was the first chief
of he Manchus called upon to subjugate the Chinese. Marching an
army against the Chinese, the Tartar king defeated them with great
slaughter in the year. 1618. In 1635 the Manchu declared himself
Emperor of China, and established his forces at Peking.

From the commencement of this dynasty up to within a few
years the Empire-has never been entirely free from rebellions. The
Taeping rebellion and the Tien-Tsin massacre are probably the worst.
In 1860 Peking was taken by the English and the French.

The royal quartet of divisions of Peking. are Wai-Ching, the
‘Chinese City; Tsz-Kin-Ching, or Prohibited City; Hwang-Ching, or
Imperial City, and Nin-Ching, or Manchurian City.

Nin-Ching has an area of twelve square miles. It is an ideal
Tartar city, and differs in every way from the distinct Chinese city.
The houses are higher, more elaborately decorated and cleaner than
Mongolian dwelling places. The city wall rises on all sides, a marvel-

ously imposing background. The architecture of the entire city is of a
(105)

 
     

:
106 CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY.

peculiar, irregular, untutored style. The great Lamax Temple is in the
northeastern corner of the Tartar City.

Wai-Ching, the Chinese City, has an area of fifteen square miles.
The wall about this inclosure is thirty feet high and twelve feet in
breadth. Few parts of the capital are more interesting than Wai-Ching,
furnishing as it does a distinct variety of the different Chinese tribes
which centre here from all the provinces, a reproduction of pictures of
religions and modes of life in the entire Middle Kingdom. In other
quarters of Peking almost every person you meet is a Manchu, but here
the great mass is Chinese.

There are inhabitants here from every part of China, and owing
to the difference in provincial dialects dwellers within the same city walls
cannot make themselves known to one another unless they are learned in
the Mandarin tongue, the national language.

Indolent Peking Chinamen.

The city has imposing buildings and churches, Mohammedan
mosques, Chinese Joss houses, massive warehouses, queer old bazaars, and
long suburbs of Chinese cottages. The Peking Chinamen are not so
talented or intelligent as those of Hong Kong or Canton. They are very
fat and inclined to be indolent, and do not have the ambition of the natives
of Fokien and Kwang-Tung. The women are better looking than the
men, and owing to the nearness of the Manchu race are given more liberty.

Here is a marked contrast between the ruling people, the Man-
churians, and the Chinese. The former do not countenance cramped
feet; they demand that the women be taught to read and write, when
parents can afford it; their women ride astride and appear in public
whenever the desire possesses them.

In the Chinese bazaar are hundreds of small shops. You may
buy tea sets for three hundred cash or ten cents; carved shell bracelets
and necklaces for one hundred cash, and fans as low as ten for a
penny. The shopkeeper is very good-natured. He will show you every-
thing he has, and does not seem to mind if you buy nothing.

Tailors and seamstresses sit under the table to work, not on the
table like the Japanese, or at the table as our own workers do. The
CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY. 107

barbers are a necessary and ever present evil. A Chinaman seems to
be always running to his barber.

Hwang-Ching, or the Imperial City, which surrounds the Pro-
hibited City, is enclosed by a wall, twenty feet wide and six miles in
circumference, having four gates, through which no one can pass with-
out special permission. Within this enclosure are many ancient temples,
in which “The Son of Heaven” and members of the imperial family
worship; a depository of military stores, numerous pagodas, palaces,
monasteries and royal colleges. Tang Tsz, the edifice where the Emperor
sacrifices to remote ancestors of the royal family, is opposite the

Colonial Office.
The Prohibited City.

Tsz Kin Ching, the Prohibited City, or “Region of the Heavenly
Angels,” has a circumference of many miles, and is entered by massive
gates, each crowned by a tower. These towers are among the wonders
of Peking. One of them is of porcelain, exquisitely carved, and has a
million figures in it. In the ornamentation of these curious watch-towers
all kinds of rich metals and precious stones are employed.

The interior of the city is divided into four parts, by walls running
north and south, and the whole is set off by the grouping of some of
the most marvelously constructed palaces to be seen anywhere in the
world. The Emperor’s palace has nine courts, opening into each other.
The great dividing gates are of pure white marble, carved and _ inlaid.
The first one is the smallest of all the courts, but is nevertheless almost
as large as one of the New York public squares. After passing by the
gate, there are a number of stone bridges to cross. Artificial lakes lend
a peculiarly natural charm to the scene.

Crime in the Capital.

Beneath the superficial quiet and order of Peking there are many
evil agencies at work. The banditti, for example, think nothing of
seizing honest folks and holding them to ransom.  Pickpockets infest
the city in every direction, especially in wet weather. Ladies are often
the victims, even when riding in carts, the thieves springing on top and
snatching the valuable head ornaments of the Manchu ladies within, the
108 CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY.

driver taking no notice for fear of his own skin. The thieves have
regular depots, where stolen: property is placed, and persons of influence
can generally recover what they have lost if they are persistent enough.
Near one of the city gates is a market where stolen goods are regularly
sold for one hour at daybreak. Spurious articles are often offered at
this place; a man purchases a roast duck and finds on arriving at home
that it is only a clever imitation in mud; and rain boots are counterfeited
in paper which melt away when wetted. Bystanders will never inter-
fere with the commission of a crime in the open street in open day, and
the whole system of predatory crime is tolerated, as vermin is, as the
ordinary lot of humanity.
Foreign Colonies at Shanghai.

One of the chief ports of the empire is Shanghai, in which the
“foreign quarter,” built by Europeans, compares favorably with almost
any commercial city in the world. A broad and_ beautifully-kept
boulevard, called The Bund, runs along the river, with a row of well-
grown trees and a broad grass plat at the water’s edge, and this Bund
is lined on the other side, from one end to the other, with mercantile
buildings, second to none of their kind in the world. At the upper end
of the Bund a large patch of green shows the Public Garden, where the
band plays on summer evenings.. At night all Shanghai is bright with
electric lights. This part of the city is owned and governed by foreigners.
The French live apart under their own Municipal Council, presided over
and even dismissed at pleasure by their own consul. - The English and
the Americans coalesce in an elected Municipal Council of nine members,
with an elected chairman at its head. And a short stay in Shanghai is
sufficient to show how satisfactorily this works. The roads are perfect,
the traffic is kept under admirable direction and control, the streets are
quiet and orderly, and even the coolies are forbidden to push their great
wheelbarrows through the foreign settlement with ungreased wheels.
Over the Chinese within its borders, the Municipal Council has, however,
no jurisdiction. In the Maloo there is a Magistrate’s yamun, and there
the famous Mixed Court sits every morning, the Chinese magistrate and
one of the foreign consuls in turn. All natives charged with offenses

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Near Peking, China---Hunch-Back Bridge.
CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY. 111

against foreigners or foreign law are dealt with there, petty criminals
being punished in the municipal prison or the chain-gang, serious
offenders, or refugees from Chinese law, being sent into. the native city.
The Chinese magistrate in the Mixed Court is, of course, a figure-head
chiefly useful in lecturing the prisoners while the foreigner makes up his
mind what punishment to award. In criminal cases the Mixed Court
works fairly well, but in civil suits it gives rise to numerous and_ bitter
complaints. The population of Shanghai to-day (the last census was in
1885) is probably about 4,000 foreigners (British, 1,500; Japanese, 600;
Portuguese, 450; French, 400; American, 300; Spanish, 250; German,
250) and Chinese, 175,000. These figures may be considerably under

the mark.
Up the Yang Tse.

From Shanghai one may take a fine river steamer and ascend
the gigantic Yangtse River, the greatest waterway of China. The first
stopping place on the way up is Chin-kiang, which lies one hundred and
fifty miles from the mouth, and is the nearest treaty port up the river.
Here it was that a riot took place some years ago, resulting in the sacking
of the English and the American consulates, though retribution was made
by payment of heavy damages and the chopping off of some fifty heads.
The city is a very large one, but the European population is quite small,
consisting only of a few merchants and the Custom House officials,
for in China’ so completely does the government distrust its own
people, the Customs are under the entire control and supervision of the
hated “foreign devils.” There are also several mission houses on the
outskirts of the town, which bear very favorable comparison with any
of the other European houses in the place. Chin-kiang, taking it altogether,
. though, is not a very fascinating place to stop at, and is far less inter-
esting than the old city of Nankin, which lies another sixty miles
farther up, and is the next stopping place for the steamer.

The Ancient Capital.

Nankin was at one time the seat of government, just as Peking
is now, and traces of its former greatness may still be seen in the
enormous wall surrounding its ruins. This wall, which is still in a
112 CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY.

wonderful state of preservation, is nearly thirty miles long, from forty
feet to sixty feet high, and ten feet thick, and built entirely of bricks, of
which so enormous was the number required that each province was
ordered to supply a certain amount, and evidence of this may still be
seen by the fact that each brick is plainly stamped with the sign or
badge of its own particular province. A few miles outside the city
walls, lies one of the finest relics of ancient China to be found anywhere
in the country. This is the tomb of the last Emperor of the Ming
dynasty, who reigned in the fourteenth century, when Nankin was the
capital of the Empire. It is hardly correct, however, to say that the
tomb may be seen, for his deceased Majesty lies buried in the centre of
an artificial conical hill, one hundred feet high. The approach to his
resting place is what constitutes the wonderfut sight to be seen here.
About half a mile from the hill stand two colossal stone figures of
armed men, fifteen feet high, facing each other, and about twelve feet
apart. A little farther on stand two life-size figures of elephants, standing
in the same relative position as the figures of the men, and beyond these
again, at intervals of about twenty yards, stands a long avenue of
enormous stone effigies of different animals in pairs. These figures
gradually decrease in size as one nears the entrance to the tomb-temple,
which is simply a large spacious courtyard enclosed by a high wall and
with a high stone building at the farther end. This building was at
one time roofed with yellow tiles, of which there are a few left, and,
on passing through a low arch in the centre of it, one comes abruptly
upon the sacred hill, containing the body of the Emperor. The whole
place has fallen into a terrible condition of neglect, but is built sub-
stantially enough to last for many centuries to come.
The Manchu Capital.

Moukden is the residence city of the Viceroy of the Manchurian
provinces. He lives here in great state, with a powerful retinue and a
small army, which, in the blue books, is set down at ten thousand men.
The city is double, like that of Peking, and both the inner and the outer
ones are surrounded by walls. That of the outer city is made of mud,
sun-dried bricks and tiles, and is some twelve miles in circumference,
CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY. 113

the enclosed area being an irregular oval of about ten square miles.
The inner city is more than half as large as the outer city, and is
surrounded by one of the best city walls in China. It is forty feet
high, fifteen feet wide at the top and twenty at the bottom, made of
hard-burned brick, and faced and trimmed with cut stone. At every
two hundred feet is a tower or bastion, and at each of the eight great
gates is an outside wall with towers to resist sudden attacks or surprises.
The streets are Manchurian and not Chinese, being wide, clean, and
comparatively well paved. Their arrangement is quite ingenious. The
city is divided by wide avenues, which run through in a straight line
from each gate to the opposite one. There are also diagonal avenues
which form an inscribed octagonal, though of considerable irregularity.
Connecting the avenues ase lines of streets and roads of smaller size.
At the centre of the great avenues is, very appropriately, the palace of
the ancient Manchu kings. It is surrounded by strong walls, and
guarded by fierce warriors from Tsi-Tsi-har. It is said to have been
visited by only one “foreign devil,” a British consul. Around the
palace are the yamuns or enclosed establishments of the Viceroy, the
Fan-tai or provincial treasurer; the Ti-tai or admiral, the Tao-tai or
prefect, the inspector-general, major-general, brigadier-generals and col-
onels, and beyond these ate residences of merchants, courtiers, officials
and the wealthy classes. In the outer city are all, or nearly all the
stores and warehouses. These are large, very neat and attractive. The
population within the walls is estimated at two hundred thousand, while
that in the suburbs about the city is as much more. It was made a
provincial capital two hundred and sixty-four years. ago, at the time
when the Manchus had conquered northern China. They apparently
intended in those days to make their own city the capital of the Empire
instead of Peking, because it was laid out by the engineers who after-
ward were employed upon the latter city, and was built with utter
disregard of time, labor and expense. Although Peking became the
capital the Tartar sovereigns did not forget the other city. They visited
it from year to year, and spent enormous sums in beautifying it and
improving the suburbs. Around about the settlement are fine roads,
=

114 CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY.

handsome parks, and any number of pretty little mountain resorts which are
used in the hot days of summer. The place does an immense trade,
and has more wealth, in all probabilities, than any other city in north
China east of Peking. From it caravans come and go to and from
Manchuria, Siberia, Tse-Tsen, northern Chih-li and Corea.

Canton.

Canton is one of the greatest seaports of China. It consists of
two parts. That part of the city situated within the wall is built in the
form of an irregular: square, and divided by another wall, which runs
from east to west into two parts. The north or largest portion -is called
the old and inner city; it is inhabited chiefly by Mantchoo or . Tartar
families; the south part is called the new or outer city; it is the abode
of Chinese. Across the old city, about the centre of it, a wide street
runs east and west, called by the Chinese, the straight street of Benevo-
lence and Love. Outside of the city walls, close to the foreign factories,
is the street of Perpetual Joy. To the south the wall runs parallel to
the river, at a distance of about one hundred yards; on the north, where
the city is built partly up the acclivity of the hills in the rear, the wall
takes an irregular course, and in some places is about three hundred feet
above the surface of the river. ‘The whole circuit of the walls may be
about seven miles. The walls are of brick, on a foundation of red sand-
stone; they are about twenty feet thick, and vary in height from twenty-
five to forty feet. The gates are sixteen in all, but four of them. lead
through the wall, which separates the old from the new city; so that
there are only twelve outer gates, each distinguished by a name descrip-
tive of its position. Most of the streets are short, and irregularly laid
out, varying in width from six to sixteen feet; but in general they
are about eight feet wide, just allowing the passage of two sedan-
chairs, for no wheel carriages are used in Canton. They are every-
where flagged, more or less regularly, with large flat stones. The
crowd that throngs them is exceedingly great. Bricks are generally
used for the walls of houses, though a few of the poorer sort are con-
structed of mud. Stone and wood aresparingly used. in building;
stone is employed about gateways, and wood for columns, beams
 

 

 

 

Near Peking, China—Bronze Cow.
CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY. 117

and rafters. The roofing consists invariably of thin tiles, which are laid
on the rafters in rows alternately concave and convex, the latter over-
lapping the joined edges of the former and cemented over them with
mortar. Windows are small and rarely supplied with glass. Paper, mica
and other transparent substances are used in its place. The materials
for building are procurable at moderate prices and in abundance. The
wood, a variety of fir, is floated down the river in huge rafts,
and bricks are made in the neighborhood of Canton. There -are
one hundred and twenty temples in and near Canton. The _ principal
Buddhist temple stands on the Island of Honan, which is situated
in the river, opposite Canton. This temple covers, with its build-
ings, courts, and gardens, an area of about seven acres, and is sur-
rounded by a lofty wall. In the old city is a Mohammedan mosque,
with dome and minaret one hundred and sixty feet high. At the
north side of the city is a pagoda five stories in height.

The habitations, in which about one-half of the population of
Canton have their abodes, stand close on the street, and have usually
only a single entrance, which is closed by a bamboo screen suspended
from the top of the door; within these houses there are no superfluous
apartments: a single room allotted to each branch of the family serves
as a dormitory, while a third, which completes the number into which
the whole enclosure is divided, is used by all the household as a common
eating-room. Chinese houses of consequence open toward the south,
but in the poorer sort this point, of course, is often disregarded. The
dwellings inhabited by the more wealthy part of the community are
surrounded by a wall twelve or fourteen feet high, that fronts the
street, and completely screens the buildings within. The poorest per-
sons live in the extreme parts of the suburbs, along the banks of the
river and its creeks, and in the northern part of the old city; their
houses are mere mud hovels, low, narrow, dark, and without any divi-
sion of apartments. Several canals traverse the city and suburbs, and
are used for conveying goods and passengers. Two of the largest of
these canals run parallel to, and outside of the east and west walls, and

communicate with each other by a third, which passes through the outer
6
118 CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY.

city. The foreign factories are railed in, and form a promenade called
Respondentia Walk.
Hong-Kong.

Hong-Kong is the commercial metropolis of the East. It really
. belongs, however, to England, the whole of Victoria Island, on which it
stands, having been ceded to that country in 1841. The island is about
eleven miles long and from two to five broad; its circumference is
about twenty-seven miles. It consists of a broken ridge of lofty hills,
with few valleys of any extent, and scarcely any ground available for
cultivation. It is well watered by numerous streams, many of which
are perennial, and from the water-works water of excellent quality is
supplied.

Beautiful Harbor.

The harbor of Hong-Kong is, says a writer in the New York
Herald, one of the finest and most beautiful in the world. It consists
of a sheet of water between the island and the mainland, and is inclosed
on all sides by lofty hills, unfortunately bare of. foliage, except where
trees have been planted near the city, but pleasingly green during the
southwest monsoon. An extensive scheme of afforestation has, however,
lately been commenced. The city of Victoria is magnificently situated,
the houses, many of them large and handsome, rising, tier upon tier,
from the water’s edge to a height of several hundred feet on the face
of the peak, while several bungalows are visible on the very summit of
the hills. Seen from the water at night, when lamps twinkle among
the trees and houses, the city, spreading along the shore for. upward of
four miles, affords a sight not to be forgotten.

Nor on landing are the favorable impressions of the stranger
dissipated. The. city is well built. The roads and streets are for the
most part admirably made and kept, the public gardens almost unrivaled
for beauty, and many of the thoroughfares delightfully shaded with well-
grown trees. The chief public building is the City Hall, erected in
1866-1869 by subscription.

The Tung Wa Hospital, a Chinese institution, occupies a large and
roomy building; the barracks for the garrison are large, and are constructed.
CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY. lig

with great regard to the health and comfort of the troops, and the
buildings belonging to the naval establishment are substantial and
Spacious. |

The annual races are held in the latter end of February on the
race-course in Wong-Nai Chung Valley, at the east end of the town, a
beautiful spot, enclosed by fir-clad hills. On this occasion the whole
country makes holiday, and the stands and courts are crowded with one
of the most motley collections of humanity to be seen in any part of the
world. Most of the races are run with North China ponies, and there

is generally good sport.
8 ys P Rural China.

A good idea of life in the rural regions of China may be obtained
from an account given by M. A. Hamm of her travels in the northeastern
provinces. The great provinces of Kirin, Liao-Tung, Sheng-Ting and
Chih-li are less densely populated than the other provinces, and are’
seldom visited by the traveler or even the missionary. There is one
treaty port at Newchang, which has been aptly described as a marsh
sliding out-into the sea. With this exception hardly a European lives in
the two provinces first named, or in the northeast portion of the third.
It is a land famous in Chinese history. Across it‘have marched armies
from time immemorial—Coreans and Japanese, Siberians and Tartars,
Mongols and Manchus, Chinese and Sushun. It was much more popu-
lous in the old days than at present. The climate was milder, the
soil more fertile. At one time it was a series of powerful principalities
which dominated Eastern Asia, and from the Sushun came the Moguls,
the Mongols and Manchus, who conquered nearly all of Asia and two-
thirds of Europe. Even as late as the fifth century after Christ the
nations in this district were known by the heroic title, “the fighting
kingdoms.” Traveling in these localities has its advantages and disad-
vantages. The roads are extremely bad. In many cases they are paths
through forests and shelves cut in the sides of precipitous mountains.
The inns are dirty and infested with vermin, and the means of loco-
motion are of the most primitive character. The beasts of burden are
the Chinese pony, the donkey, buffalo, ox, camel and the human being.
120 CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY.

You can walk if you want to, but the roadway is so rough as to
wear out both shoes and patience in no time. You can ride and be
quite comfortable. The horses, jackasses and camels, from long experience,
are extremely skillful, both in mountain climbing and. in threading
their way through seemingly impassable marshes. Or you can follow in
the footsteps of the Chinese gentleman of leisure and go in a horse-
litter. This is a roomy chair or box, suspended between two long poles
of bamboo or strong wood, the ends of which serve as shafts for two
quadrupeds. The pony and donkey take kindly to this kind of work,
and will travel forty miles a day without much trouble.

Traveling in a Chair.

Or if you are in love with the antique customs of John Chinaman
you can make your voyage in a ponderous sedan-chair, hung from the
shoulders of four patient and long-suffering coolies. This is the way
the mandarins travel in this part of the Empire. The chair is so large
that, if necessary, they can use it as a bed. The interior of the chair is
fitted up like a small-sized storeroom, and usually contains a lamp,
candles, pistols, dried meats, dried fish, extra clothing, a change of boots,
fuel, cooking utensils, a large tea-caddy full of hot tea, and any amount
of small groceries. It makes a very heavy load for the unhappy chair
porters, but it enables the traveler to be comparatively comfortable in the
wildest district of the northern forests.

The inns and houses:are like those of Central China, but more
‘strongly built. They have to be wind and weather tight on account of
the fierce cold of the Mongolian winters. A feature of the domestic
economy is extremely amusing. Instead of stoves they have a brick
bench in the main room of a building, which does double duty in
cooking and in keeping the inhabitants warm; the fire is built at one
end and the flame and smoke run the whole length of the bench
before they escape into the chimney or through a hole in the roof. On
this bench in the winter nights sleep the family and all the guests.
The place of honor is nearest the fire. When the nights are extremely
cold a sleeping bag is called into use. This is a huge affair, five feet
wide and seven feet long, made of goat’s skin, sheepskin, or other
 

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Near Peking, China—Pagoda.
CHINA—CITY AND COUNTRY. 123

hide, with ‘the woolly side in.” The head of the house, his wife and
all his children slide into this great bag, pull the edge of it over their
heads and disappear in the arms of Morpheus. An ordinary house has
two or three bags for the family, the servants and any friends or rela-
tives who may spend the night, while the inns will have often as many
as a dozen. This comes a little rough upon Anglo-Saxons.

In addition to all ordinary forms of vermin, this part of the
Chinese Empire, like Corea, rejoices in the largest cimex  lectularius
known to bug-hunters. The largest insect which patronizes cheap
Bowery lodging-houses is never larger than a quarter of an inch in
diameter, but these in the far East attain a size sometimes an inch in
diameter. They are frightfully predatory, and can, it is said, draw half
an ounce of blood in a single attack. They possess all the other
repulsive characteristics of the insect, and impart an odor to the premises
in which they may locate that is nauseating to European and American
nostrils.

The Hotel Table.

The fare in these inns is much better than in Central and Southern
China. While the people are Buddhist, they nevertheless subordinate
the vegetarian ideas of that religion to the meat-eating’ necessity of their
climate. People in South China have a diet that is about five-sixths
vegetable and one-sixth animal. In the north the proportions are just
about half and half. They have great variety in their food supply,
mountains and forests abounding in game of every type, and rivers and
lakes being full of fish.

They eat. fox-meat and wolf-meat, and do not mind a small dog
once in a while. They draw the line, however, at all members of the
cat family, from the cave-tiger of the north. down to harmless puss and
tabby. They explain this by the statement that the meat of all the
members of the dog family is very palatable and wholesome, while that
of the cat family is rank, musty and productive of stomach disorder.
While they have good supply of vegetables, they do not seem to utilize
them much, but confine themselves to rice, millet, beans, and a few
other cereals and esculents.
124 CHINA—-CITY AND COUNTRY.

The country people are very skillful hunters and fishers. Many
of them employ the old Manchurian bow. which is a powerful weapon,
very much like the long bow of the English in the thirteenth century.
They also use a still more formidable weapon which they call the tiger-
bow. This is set in the woods or in places frequented by wild animals.
It takes its name from being employed to kill the Siberian tiger, that
occasionally comes down into this part of the country. It has a pull of
about two hundred and fifty pounds, and will send an arrow through the
body of either a tiger ora bear. The vitality of these animals is so great,
however, that, even with a single arrow through them, they have been
known to live and do damage for twenty-four hours afterwards. To pre-
vent this and to make the result doubly certain, the tiger-bows are set in
series of three and four, so that the doomed animal generally receives
most of the shafts in his body. Besides the meat supply afforded by
game, there is a great demand for skins and furs from all parts of the
Empire. In the north of China fur coats are almost a necessity. In the
south, although the winters are warm, and light clothing may be worn the
entire year through, fur-trimmed garments are always fashionable. The
fashion probably is a survival of the past, the southern Chinese having
originally come from the lands which we now sum up under the general
term of Mongolia. . To supply this demand, large numbers of people
find a livelihood in hunting and trapping. Among the animals they take
for this purpose are the otter, ermine, fox, marten, squirrel, wolf, bear,
tiger-cat, sable, wild goat and panther. They also produce some furs
which bring enormous prices in Peking and the .other great cities, but
which are unknown to civilized life excepting in the case of the so-
called Astrakhan. furs—and that is the skins of unborn animals. The
squirrel, tiger, blue fox and tiger-cat are the favorites in this regard.
The prices brought for these goods are sometimes fabulous. A mandarin’s
robe of unborn squirrel brings from $5,000 upward, while one of unborn
tiger cub is worth almost as much.

In this part of China is the city of Hing King, famous for hav-
ing been the home of the Manchu kings in the early centuries. It is
situated in a beautiful valley.
CHAPTER VI.

 

CHINA—TRADES— PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—
AGRICULTURE.

 

  
  

OUR CLASSES CONSTITUTE the traditional division of
the people of China, the first being that of literati or
scholars. These are those who, having graduated at
the Examination Halls, are awaiting often in the forlorn
hope of obtaining official appointments. They have

certain privileges attaching to their order, and are generally recognized by

the mandarins as brevet members of their own rank. They have, under
certain conditions, the right of entrée into the presence of local officials,
and the law forbids that they should be punished or tortured until they
have been stripped of their degrees by an imperial edict. As it would
be beneath the dignity of a graduate to take a trade, and as there are
many thousands more of them than there are places for them to fill—
it: was lately reckoned that there were 21,168 unemployed provincial
graduates—the country is burdened with an idle population who are too

‘proud to work, but who are not ashamed to live the life of hangers-on

to the skirts of those who are better off-than themselves. But of

these and their examinations we have written more fully elsewhere.
Rank of the Farmers.

In common estimation the workers of the soil stand next to the
literati. From the earliest dawn of legendary history agriculture has been
regarded as.a high and ennobling calling. To Shennung, the divine hus-
‘bandman, one of the legendary Emperors of ancient China, who is said
to have lived 2737 years B. C., is ascribed the invention of the plough
and the first introduction of the art of husbandry. The connection thus
established between the throne and the plough has been kept up through

all succeeding ages, and at the present time the Emperor, in the early
(125)

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126 CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

spring of each year, turns a furrow to inaugurate the beginning of the
farming season; an example which is followed in every province by the
viceroy or governor, who follows suit in strict imitation of his imperial
master. With the same desire to set an example to her sex, the Empress,
as soon as the mulberry trees break into foliage, follows the gentler craft
of picking the leaves to supply food for the palace silkworms. ‘Give
chief place,’’ wrote the Emperor K’anghsi, “to husbandry and the culti-
vation of the mulberry tree, in order to procure adequate supplies of
food and raiment;” to which excellent advice his son added, ‘‘ Suffer not
a barren spot to remain in the wilds, or a lazy person to abide in the
cities; then a farmer will not lay aside his plough and hoe; nor the
housewife put away her silkworms or her weaving.”

These commands have sunk deep into the national character, and
the greatest devotion to their calling, sharpened, it is true, by a keen
sense of self-interest, is everywhere shown by Chinese farmers. From
these men it is impossible to withhold the highest praise for their untir-
ing industry. With endless labor and inexhaustible resource they wrest
from the soil the very utmost that it is capable of producing. Unhappily
to them, as to other classes of the community, the law as it is adminis-
tered is oppressively unjust. It makes them poor and keeps them poor.
. The principal imperial tax is derived from the land, and by the law of
succession it is generally necessary, on the decease of the head of the
family, to subdivide his possessions, which thus become a diminishing
quantity to each generation of successors to his wealth. Low grinding
poverty is the result, and it is remarkable, though not surprising, to
observe the large number of crimes which are attributable to disputes
arising out of feuds in connection with the inheritance of the land and
its products. :

The Land Question.

Probably, there is no potentate on the earth who can say as truly
as the Emperor of China can, “ L’empire c’est moi.” Not only the lives
and property of his subjects are at his disposal, but the land which they
till is part of the heritage which belongs to him. Just as he alone
sacrifices to Heaven, and as he alone is the one Emperor over all the
 

 

 

Near Peking, China—Hotel at Chang-Chia-Wan.
CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 129

earth—in accordance with the dictum of an ancient sage, “There is one
sun in the sky and one Emperor over the earth”—so he is the universal
landlord of the soil of China. As a rule, the land is taken up by a clan,
the members of which cultivate it much on the principle of the village
communities described in a preceding chapter. Ten families constitute, as
a rule, a village holding, each family farming about ten acres. To such
a community is allotted a common village plot, which is cultivated by
each family in turn, and from which the tribute grain is collected and
paid. The surplus, if any, is divided between the families. Towards the
end of the year a meeting is held, at which a division of the profits is
made on one condition. Any farmer who is unable to produce the receipt
for the income tax on his farm ceases to be entitled to any benefit
arising from the village plot. The land is classified according to its posi-
tion and productiveness, and pays taxes in proportion to the advantages
which it enjoys. Ten shillings per acre is an average rental for the best
land. It was lately complained, in a memorial ‘to the throne, that by
.. faulty administration the tax frequently amounted to six times its nominal
assessment. By way of a set-off against this exaction, a merciful
provision in the law lays it down that a farmer who reclaims lands
from a state of nature, shall be allowed to-reap five harvests before being
visited by the tax collector.
Land Taxes.

It often happens that an unjust government, by timely concessions,
gains for itself credit for wisdom and lenity when it is entitled to
approval only for having had the wit to see exactly how far the people
will endure the weight of its exactions. Such popularity is gained as
easily as a spendthrift acquires a reputation for generosity, and is en-
joyed by the Chinese government by virtue of certain exemptions from the
land-tax, which are granted when the country labors under aggravated
circumstances of distress. When the Emperor passes through a district,
it may be on a visit to the imperial tombs, the people are required to
contribute their labor, and the magnates their money, towards making
smooth the way before him. The presence of the potentate disarranges
the course of existence and the prosecution of industries in the neigh-
130 CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

borhood. Fields are left unploughed, and crops unsown until the
tyranny is overpassed, and for the benefit of the sufferers the land-tax
for the year is forgiven them. The same indulgence is granted to
farmers in provinces which are visited with long droughts, excessive
floods, or plagues of locusts. The grain-tax is also levied from the
lands classified as “good,” and this with the land-tax, the salt-tax, and
customs dues, form the main bulk of the revenue of the Empire.
Irrigation.

In the southern provinces, where rice is the main crop of the
farmer, irrigation is an absolute necessity. The rice plants are put out
in fields inundated with water, and the crops are gathered in when the
ground is in the same condition. This need makes it imperative that
the fields should be banked in, and that a constant supply of water
‘should be obtainable. For this last purpose the farmers exercise that
particular ingenuity with which they are especially endowed. Wherever
it is possible, streams from the hills are carried by aqueducts to the
different farms, and the water is distributed by minute channels in such
a way as to carry the fertilizing current to the various fields and
crops. When such supplies are wanting, water is raised from canals,
rivers and wells in several ways. By a system of buckets fastened to
- an endless chain, and passing over an axle, which is turned either by the
feet of men or by a connecting-wheel worked by oxen, the water is
raised from the river or canal to the level of the fields, where it is dis-
charged into troughs at the rate sometimes of three hundred tons per
diem. This is the sakiyeh of the Egyptians; and should any traveler
from the banks of the Nile visit the plains of China, he might recognize
in the method adopted for raising water from wells the shaduf of the
land of the Pharaohs. A long, horizontal pole, at one end of which is a
bucket, and on the other end a certain weight, is fixed on an upright in
such a position that on raising the loaded end the bucket descends into
the well, and with the help of the counterbalancing weight can be raised
full of water with ease and rapidity. If the level of the river or canal.
be only triflingly lower than the field to be irrigated, two men standing on
the bank, and, holding a bucket between them by ropes, draw water
CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 131

with great rapidity by dipping the bucket into the stream, and by swing-
ing it up to the bank, where its contents are emptied into the trough

prepared to receive them.
Fertilizing the Soil.

In the north of the country, where wheat, millet and other grains
are largely grown, the rain supply in summer and the snow in winter
furnish all the moisture which the farmers require in ordinary years.
But whether in the north or in the south, the greatest care and ingenuity
are used in providing manure for the land. Nothing is wasted. The
usual animal and vegetable manures are carefully collected and spread
over the fields, while scraps of all kinds which contain any fertilizing
matter, and which in most countries are disregarded, are turned to
account by these most frugal tillers of the soil.

The implements used are primitive in the extreme. Two only
“may be said to be generally used, the plough and the hoe. The first
of these is little more than a spade fastened to a single handle by bam-
boo bands. As a rule, it is drawn by a buffalo, or buffaloes, and some
travelers even claim to have seen women harnessed in the same yoke
with these beasts of burden. From the shape of the share, the Chinese
plough does little more than disturb the surface of the soil, and rarely
‘penetrates more. than four or five inches. In the compound character
which is used to express it on paper, the use of oxen as_ beasts
of draught, and the results which it is instrumental in bringing about,
find expression in the three component parts—oxen, sickle and grain.
The. spade is seldom used, and the hoe is made to take its place.
Rakes and bill-hooks complete: the farmer’s stock-in-trade. The bamboo,
which is made to serve almost every purpose, forms the material of each
part of the rake; while the bill-hook has a treble debt to pay, serving
as a pruning-knife in the spring, a scythe in the summer, and a sickle
when the.grain is ripe for harvest.

An Ancient Calendar.

One of the earliest works existing. in the language is an agricul-
tural calendar, which describes the various processes of nature and the
industries of the agriculturists throughout the year. It warns the
132 - CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

farmer when to look for the first movements of spring, and describes
for his benefit the signs of the different seasons. It tells him when
to sow his seed, and when he may expect to reap his harvest; and
it follows, with the love of a naturalist, the movements and habits of
the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. This work was
penned in about the eighteenth century B. C., and since that time
the dignity which attaches by tradition to agriculture has led to the
publication, from time to time, of large and numerous works on the
Subject. Probably two of the best known of these books illustrate
the two leading branches of the farmer’s art, the cultivation of rice
and the growth of the mulberry for the food of the silkworms.
Every process in both industries is minutely described and_ illustrated.
The glimpses which these pictures give us of country life in China
suggest a domesticity and brightness which form a strong contrast to
the fate of the poorer classes whose lots are cast. in the crowded lanes
and streets of the cities.
Silk Culture.

The employment of women in arranging and managing the silk-
worm industry, gives an interest to their lives, and is a sure preventive
against that ennui which so often overtakes the unemployed women of
the cities. The cultivation of silk can be traced back almost as far as
the ‘beginning of agriculture; and up to the advent of the Mongol dynasty,
in the thirteenth century, it flourished exceedingly. With the arrival,
however, of the hordes of Jenghis Khan came the introduction of Indian
cotton, which, from its cheapness and utility, was speedily preferred to
the silken products of the looms of China. For four hundred years the
industry was neglected, and continued to exist only in the provinces of
Szech’uan, Honan, Kwangtung, and Chehkiang, where just enough stuff
was manufactured to supply the wants of the government and the local
consumers. .

With the establishment of the present Manchu dynasty and the
atrival of foreigners, the demand for the material which had given its
name to China all over the ancient world—serica—led to a revival of
the industry, and at the present time silk is produced in every province
 

 

 

Near Peking, China—Great Wall.
CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 1 35

in the Empire. In those northern districts where the cold forbids the
growth of the mulberry tree, the worms are fed on a kind of oak—the
Quercus Mongolica—while all over the central and southern provinces
the mulberry orchards bear evidence of the universality of the industry.
At Ning-po alone, a hundred thousand bales of silken goods are turned
out every year, and in most of the districts of central China the people
are as dependent for their livelihood on the trade, as the people of
England are on the production of coal and iron. The prefect of
Soochow, desiring to take advantage of this widespread calling, lately
proposed to levy a small tax on every loom. The result, however, proved
that his power was not commensurate with his will. The people re-
fused, as one man, to pay the assessment, and threatened to stop their
looms if the tax were insisted upon. The matter was referred to Peking,
and with the cautious wisdom which characterizes the action of the
government towards the people, the proposal was left unenforced.
Poppy Farming.

A crop as general, or even more general than silk, is opium. In
every province the poppy is grown in ever-increasing quantities, and in
Yun-nan, one of the principal producing regions, the late Mr. Baber esti-
mated, as a result of his personal experience, that poppy-fields constituted
a third of the whole cultivation of the province. It is difficult to deter-
mine when the poppy was first grown in China, but the references to it
which are met with in the literature of thc eleventh and twelfth centuries
confirm the fact that it was then cultivated, and that the same kind of
cakes were made from the seeds of the plant as are now commonly
eaten in the province of Szech’uan. The habit of smoking opium is of
a far later date, and gave rise to a marked opposition to the drug by the
government of the country. But like most Chinese enactments, the one
forbidding the habit was only partially enforced, and it is certain that the
practice of smoking opium had become confirmed among the people
before the Indian drug was first imported. From that time until within
the last few years, the government showed a pronounced. hostility:
to the trade, but stultified itself by never effectually carrying out its
own prohibitions against the growth of the poppy. Several motives
136 CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—-MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

conduced to these results. The growth of the poppy not only brought
large profits to the farmers, but filled the pockets of the mandarins, who,
while protesting against the cultivation, accepted bribes to ignore the
evidence of their eyes.

Hitting the Pipe.

In a country like China, where the value of careful statistics is
unknown, it is difficult to arrive at any accurate idea as to the number
of opium-smokers in the country. In Szech’uan it is reckoned that
seven-tenths of the adult male population smoke opium. On _ the
shores of the rivers and canals the practice is universal, and affords the
people the same relief from malarial fevers that the people in the United
States derive from using quinine. Since the legalization of the opium
trade (1860) even the nominal restrictions placed upon native growers
have been withdrawn, and the government has the advantage of deriv-
ing a large revenue from the crops. From the province of Kansuh,
which is one of the poorest in the Empire, the tax on opium amounts
to at least twenty thousand dollars a year, and this in face of the
constant complaints published in the Peking Gazette, of the smuggling
which prevails in that and other districts. The small compass into
which opium may be packed encourages illicit traffic in it. Candidates for
examination going to their provincial cities, merchants traveling from
province to. province, and sailors trading between the coast ports, find it
easy to smuggle enough to supply their wants; while envoys from
tributary states whose baggage by international courtesy is left unexamined,
make full use of their opportunities by importing as much of the drug
as they can carry free of duty. Some years ago, when an imperial
commissioner was entering the port of Canton, the custom-house
authorities had notice given them that the commissioner’s followers were
bringing a large venture disguised as personal effects in their luggage.
The question arose what was to be done, and, with the timidity common
to subordinate officials, the provincial authorities determined: to. ignore the
information they had received rather than offend so potent a magnate as
the commissioner. By this dereliction of duty the customs were the
poorer by some twenty thousand taels.
CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 137

Effect of Opium-Smoking.

So portable is the drug in its prepared state that in the provinces,
where silver is not always obtainable, it is used as currency, and
travelers are commonly in the habit of paying their hotel bills with
pieces of opium of the value demanded by the landlord. This is not
the place to discuss at length the effect of opium-smoking on the
people. It is commonly said by the opponents of the trade that so
pernicious a hold does the habit of smoking acquire over those who
indulge in it, that only by the use of palliatives can a confirmed smoker
be weaned from the habit without endangering his life. One fact dis-
poses of this assertion. In the Hong-Kong jail, where opium-smokers of
every degree of habituation are constantly imprisoned, no notice is taken
of their craving for the drug, and no remedies are found necessary to
relieve their sufferings. By deprivation they are cured for the time
being of the habit, and in no instance have fatal consequences resulted
from this Spartan method.

ses Tea Culture.

Next to silk, however, the product which we most nearly. associate
with China is tea, which proclaims its nationality by the two names ta
and ch’a, by which it is known all over the world. We, who took our
first cargoes from the neighborhood of Amoy, know. it by the name, or
rather our.grandmothers knew it by the name, by which it is known in
that part of China. 7e is the Amoy pronunciation of the word which
is called ch’a in the central, western and northern provinces of the
_Empire. The Russians, therefore, who have always drawn their supplies
through Siberia, call. the leaf ch’a, while the French and ourselves know
it by its southern name. There is reason to believe that the. plant has
been known and valued in China for thousands of years, and in one of
the Confucian classics mention is made of the habit of smoking a leaf
which is popularly believed to have been that of the tea plant. But,
however this may be, it is certain that for many centuries the plant has
been cultivated over a large part of central and southern China. At the
present time the provinces of Hunan, Fuhkien, Kwangtung and Ganhwuy
produce the best varieties. From them we get our Souchong, Flowery
138 CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

Pekoe, Oolong, Orange Pekoe and green teas; and it is in those pro-
vinces that the competition of the teas of India and Ceylon is most

severely felt.
How the Plant is Grown and Used.

In ordinary times great care is taken in selecting the seed, and
when after careful tending the seedlings have reached a height of four
or five inches, they are planted out in the plantations in rows, two or
three feet apart. For two years the plant is allowed to grow untouched,
and it is only at the end of the third year that it is called upon to yield
its first crop of leaves. After this the plant is subjected to three harvests:
namely, in the third, fifth, and eighth months. The leaves when plucked
are first dried in the sun, and the remaining moisture is then extracted
from them by the action of nude-footed men and women, who trample
on them, as Spanish peasants tread out the juice of the vine. They are
then allowed to heat for some hours, and after having been rolled in the
hand, are spread out in the sun, or, if the weather be cloudy, are slowly
baked over charcoal fires. .

Among the wealthier natives the infusion is not generally made as
with us, in teapots, but each drinker puts a pinch of tea into his cup,
and, having added boiling water, drinks the mixture as soon as the full
flavor of the tea has been extracted, and before the tannin has been
boiled out of the leaves. By high and low, rich and poor, the beverage
is drunk, and the absence of nervous affections among the people is strong
evidence of the innoxious effect of the infusion in this respect. Not only
is it drunk in every household in the Empire, but tea-houses abound in
the cities, in the market-places, and by the highways. Women only are,
_ by social regulations, excluded from these hospitable places of entertain-
ment, which commonly occupy prominent positions in the principal streets
of towns. But where such sites are not easily attainable, Buddhist priests,
with a fine disregard for the holiness of their temples, very commonly
let off a portion of the precincts to enterprising tea men.

Brick Tea.

The form in which tea is exported for general European use is
not that which is suited for land transport. In carrying goods by road
 

 

 

Tien-Tsin, China—River and Bund.
CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 141

cubic space is a matter of vital importance. For centuries the Chinese
have supplied the Thibetans with tea in so compressed a form as to be
readily portable by carts, on beasts of burden, or on men’s shoulders.
In these ways it has long been customary to carry bricks of tea across
the mountain ranges which mark the western frontier of China; and
when a demand for tea sprang up in Russia, like circumstances suggested
a like method. The principal place for preparing the brick tea is Han-
kow, where six or more factories are constantly engaged in the manu-
facture of it. Something has to be sacrificed to expediency, and it is
incontestable that the Russians and other consumers of brick tea lose in
flavor what they gain by the smaller compass. The dust of tea, and
therefore a poor kind of tea, is best suited for forming bricks, and even
the inferiority thus entailed is increased by the process employed to
weld the masses together. This is done by a method of steaming, which
encourages an evaporation of both flavor and freshness, and when it has
effected its purpose by moistening the dust, the mixture is put into ,
wooden moulds and pressed into the shape of bricks. It is left to stand
in the moulds for a week, and the bricks are then wrapped up separately
in paper and packed in bamboo baskets.
Mechanics.

Next to farmers in popular estimation stand mechanics, and even
a deeper state of poverty than that which afflicts agriculturists is the
common lot of these men. They live perpetually on the verge of
destitution, and this. from no fault of their own and in spite of their
untiring devotion to their callings. No one can have seen these men at
work in the streets, or in their workshops, without being struck with
the indefatigable industry which they display. From an hour in the
morning at which European workmen are still in bed, until a time at
night long after which the same men have ceased to toil and spin, the
patient Chinaman plods on to secure for himself and family a livelihood
which would be contemned by all but the patient Asiatic. As in every
branch of science and art, mechanics in China have remained for cen-
_ turies in a perfectly stagnant condition. The tools and appliances which
were good enough for those who worked and -labored before our era,

7
142 CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICUL TURE.

still satisfy the requirements of Chinese craftsmen. The rudest tools are
all that a workman has at his disposal, and the idea never seems to
occur to him that an improvement in their structure is either called for
or necessary.

The mason who wishes to move a block of stone knows no
better means for the purpose than the shoulders of his fellow-men
supplemented by bamboos and ropes. The carpenter who wants to
saw up a fallen tree does so with his own hand, without a thought
of the easier device of a saw-mill. So it is with every branch of
industry. Many of the contrivances employed are extremely ingenious,
but, since their invention, no further advance has been made towards
relieving the workman from any part of his toil. In many cities, Canton
for example, bricklayers and carpenters stand in the street for hire, and
often, unhappily, remain all the day idle. Even when employed, their
wages are ridiculously small compared with the pay of their colleagues
in America, whose hours of labor are short compared with theirs, and
whose relaxations furnish a relief from toil to which Chinamen are
complete strangers. In the higher branches of mechanical skill, such,
for instance, as gold, silver, and ivory work, Chinamen excel, and they
are exceptionally proficient in the manufacture of bronzes, bells, lacquer
ware, and cloisonné. With the appliances at their command their skill
in casting bells of great size and sonorousness is little short of marvel-
ous. The famous bell at Peking weighs one hundred and twenty thousand
pounds, and is one of five of the same weight and size which were cast
by order of the Emperor Yunglo (1403-1425). Like all Chinese bells, it
is struck from outside with a mallet, and its tones resound through the
' city to announce the changes of the watch.

A feature in the workaday life of China is the number of itinerant
craftsmen who earn their livelihood on the streets. Every domestic
want, from the riveting of a broken saucer to shaving a man’s head, is
supplied by these useful peripatetics. If a man’s jacket wants mending,
or his shoes repairing, he summons a passing tailor and cobbler, and
possibly, while waiting for his mended clothes, employs the services of a
traveling barber to plait his queue, or it may be to clean his ears from
CHINA—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 143

accumulated wax. Even blacksmiths carry about with them the very

simple instruments of their trade, and the bellows which blow the

flame are commonly so constructed as to serve, when required, as a box

for the tools, and for a seat to rest the owner when weary.
Fire-Crackers.

The annual receipts of fire-crackers in America are from eight
hundred thousand to one million boxes, and orders for these goods have
to be sent forward one year in advance. The Mechanical News states
that the Chinese manufacturing year begins June 1, and this is about the
date when American merchants send forward their orders for next year’s
supply. The usual voyage from New York to Hong-Kong is one hundred
and twenty days, so that there are left, after the passage to China, and
return, only one hundred and twenty-five days of the year. Crackers are
made principally in Canton, and in the country surrounding that city. A
cannon cracker factory in the suburbs of Canton is described by an eye-
witness, who says that the building is of sun-dried brick, with a tiled
toof twelve feet from the ground, and this space is divided into an upper
and lower apartment, each with the ceiling about six feet high. The interior
of the building when visited was strewn with pieces of paper, while ves-
sels containing powder were standing around, the contents of which
seemed to be in imminent danger of being exploded, and men, women
and children were actively engaged in the manufacture of the goods.
The paper needed for the cracker is cut to the required length, and then
weighed to see that the quantity for each cracker is exactly the same.

How Fireworks are Made.

The instrument used in weighing is of the-rudest description, being
a stick about two and one-half feet long, suspended from the ceiling
by a string which is attached to the centre of the stick, a stone is
placed as a weight on one end, and the articles to be weighed on the
other. The paper is rolled into cylindrical form by means of a flat piece
of wood held in the hands, and then one end is creased with a pair
of pincers, and a string tied into the crease as a temporary means of
preventing the powder from running out when the cylinders are placed
in a perpendicular position to be loaded. The last named process is as
144 CHIN A—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

follows: The cylinders are bunched together like cigars turned on end,
and then punched with an awl, and in the aperture thus made the
powder is poured from a tin can. Then the stem of the cracker is
inserted, which consists of a piece of thin, tough paper, with just
sufficient powder twisted up in it to make it burn quickly. A piece of
paper is temporarily pasted over the end containing the stem, for the
purpose of preventing the powder from running out, as the crackers are
now placed on that end. The string placed temporarily around the
punched end is now removed and clay tamping is hammered into the
aperture, and then the paper is removed from the stem end and the clay
tamping is applied there, which prevents any powder from sifting out.
The cracker is now ready for the thin piece of red paper which goes
around the outside and completes it. The stems are then very neatly
braided together, which forms the crackers into packs, and these are
each wrapped in thin paper and ornamented with a red label with
_ pictures of dragons upon it.
The Festive Color.

_ Red is the festive color of China, and as fire-crackers are used
principally on festal occasions, that color is rigidly adhered to in the
manufacture of these goods. The packs.are placed in boxes, and in the
proportion of forty packs to the box.. There is a regular division of labor
in the cracker factory, each person having his or her special work to do,
and in this they become Very expert. The foregoing is a description of
cannon cracker manufacture, but the same will apply to the small crack-
ers. The latter, however, are generally made in the rural districts, and
are brought down the river to Canton in junks. There is a large home
consumption of fire-crackers, and the Chinese think that their explosion
will ward off evil spirits. They are fired off on numerous occasions, but
particularly on the Chinese New Year, which is a variable date regulated
by the changes in the moon. Foreigners residing in Canton have what
they call the Canton salute, which consists in the firing off at one time
of six boxes of small crackers and two or three boxes of cannon crackers,
and this is given on the departure of some one of their number for
home.
 

 

 

Tien-Tsin, China—Street Scene.
CHAPTER VII.

 

CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—AMUSEMENT— DRESS.

o penieiets SENTIMENT IS not a characteristic of the
4 Chinese. Their views on the subject of faith are
wanting in definitiveness, and are so indistinct and
blurred that it might surpass the wit of man to
determine what is the prevailing religion of the
‘country. The multitude of Buddhist temples which cover the face
of the land might naturally suggest that the majority of the people
profess the religion of Buddha; while conversations with native
scholars would unquestionably lead one to believe that the educated
classes. were to a man Confucianists. Taoism, the third religion
which holds sway in China, does not make the same pretension to
popularity as do the other two faiths. As a matter of fact, however, it
would probably be difficult to find many Chinamen who are Confucian-
ists pure and simple, or many who rest contented with the worship
provided in Buddhist temples. A combination of the two—an amalgam
in which the materialism of Confucius, and the religious faith of Sakya-
muni mutually supplement each other—enters into the life of the
people at large; while Taoism supplies a certain amount of superstitious
lore which the former lack.

 

e

  

4

Confucius.

In the year 551 B. C., Confucius, the great religious teacher of
China, was born in what is now the department of Yenchow, in the
province of Shantung. Legend surrounds his birth with many of the
signs and wonders which are commonly said to herald the appearance
of Eastern sages. We are told that the future uncrowned king first
saw the light in a cavern on Mount Ni, and that while two goddesses

breathed fragrant odors on the infant, a couple of dragons kept watch
(147)
148 CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—AMUSEMENT— DRESS.

during the auspicious night at the foot of the mountain. His appear-
ance was not prepossessing. He had the lips of an ox, the back
of a dragon, while on his head grew a formation which earned for him
the name of Ch’iu, ‘‘a mound.” As the lad grew up he developed
that taste for ritual which was the marked characteristic of his whole
career.

At the age of fifteen he tells us that he “bent his mind to
learning,” and four years later he married a lady who, like the wives of
many other celebrated men, was a thorn in the flesh to her husband.
Confucius endured the burden without complaint until his wife had
borne him a son, when he sought release from his bondage at the
hands of the very complaisant marital laws of the country.

His Work.

Confucius was not an original thinker. He uttered no new thoughts
and enunciated no new doctrines. He himself said he was “a trans-
mitter,” and the one object of his life was, as he professed, to induce
the rulers of the land to revert to the ideal system which guided the
councils of the semi-mythical sovereigns Yao and Shun (B. C. 2356-
2205). His leading dogma was the comfortable doctrine that man is
born good, and that it is only by contamination with the world and the
things of the world. that he is led to depart from the strict paths of rec-
titude and virtue. It was only necessary, therefore, for a sovereign to
give full vent to his natural strivings after good, to enable him to emulate
the glowing examples of Yao and Shun. He made no allowance for the
evil passions and moral turpitudes which disgrace mankind, and he
entirely failed to recognize that “there is a power that shapes our ends,
rough-hew them as we may.” On the contrary, he held that man
was alone arbiter of his own fate, and that by a strict regard to
conventionalities, and by the careful observance of the rites proper
between man and man, it was possible to attain such a height of wis-
dom and righteousness as to constitute an equality with Heaven itself.

His system began with the cultivation of the individual, and this
was to be perfected by a strict observance of the minutest details of
conduct. In his own person he set an illustrious example of how a
CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—AMUSEMENT— DRESS. 149

great and good man should demean himself. He cultivated dignity of
manner and scrupulous respect to those to whom respect was due.

In such a system there is no room for a personal Deity, and
Confucius withheld all sanction to the idea of the existence of such a
Being. He refused to lift his eyes above the earth, or to trouble
himself about the future beyond the grave. “When we know so little
about life,’ was his reply to an inquisitive disciple, ““‘how can we know
anything about death?” and the best advice he could give his followers
with regard to spiritual beings was to keep them at a distance. But
while ignoring all direct supernatural interference in the concerns of men,
he advocated the highest morality among his followers. Truth and Sin-
cerity, Righteousness and Virtue were the main themes of his discourses,
and though he himself failed on all occasions to observe the truth, he
yet professed and felt the greatest respect and regard for that virtue.
He was a plain, unimaginative man, but used the mundane weapons
at his command with mighty and far-reaching effect. Once only he
reached to the high level of perfect Christianity, and in the enunciation
of the command “to do unto others as you would they should do unto
you,” he surpassed himself.

Laotzu.

Laotzu, or the old philosopher, was poles asunder from Confucius.
Of his childhood and youth we know nothing, and, unlike Confucius, —
whose every act of daily life is faithfully recorded, we are left in com- —
plete ignorance of his personal history until we meet him as an old man,
holding the office of keeper of the records at the court of Chow. We
are told that his surname was Li, and that his personal name was Urh,
which is, being interpreted, “an ear”—a sobriquet which is said to have
been given him on account of the unusually large size of those organs.
His birth, we are told, took place in the year 604 B.C., at the village of
Chujen, or “Oppressed Benevolence,” in the parish of Li, or “Cruelty,”
in the district of K’u, or “ Bitterness,” and in the state of Ts’u, or ‘“Suf-
fering.” It is remarkable that the description of his large ears and general
appearance tallies accurately with those of the non-Chinese tribes on the
western frontiers of the Empire. His surname, Li, also reminds one of
150 CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—AMUSEMENT—DRESS.

the large and important tribe of that name which was dispossessed by
the invading Chinese, and was driven to seek refuge in what is now
Southwestern China. But,. however that may be, it is impossible to
overlook the fact that he imparted in his teachings a decided flavor of
Indian philosophy.

Taoism.

His main object was to explain to his followers the relations
between the universe and that which he called Tao. The first meaning
of this word is, ‘“‘ The way,” but in the teachings of Laotzu it was much
more than that. “It was the way and the waygoer. It was an eternal
road; along it all beings and all things walked, but no being made it,
for it is being itself; it was everything and nothing, and the cause and
effect of all. All things originated from Tao, conformed to Tao, and to
Tao they at last returned.” Like Confucius, Laotzu held that the nature
of man was originally good, but from that point their systems diverged.
In place of the formalities and ceremonies which were the corner-
stones of the Confucian cult, Laotzu desired to bring his followers back
to the state of simplicity, before the absence of the virtues which Con-
fucius lauded, had forced on the minds of men the consciousness of their
existence. He would have them revert to a halycon period when filial
piety, virtue and righteousness belonged to the nature of the people, and
before the recognition of their opposites made it necessary to designate
them. Instead of asserting themselves, he urged his disciples to strive
after self-emptiness. His favorite illustration was that of water, which
seeks the lowliest. spots, but which at the same time permeates every-
thing, and by its constant dropping pierces even the hardest substances.
By practicing modesty, humility and gentleness, men may, he taught,
hope to walk safely on the path which leads to Tao, and protected by
those virtues they need fear no evil. To such men it requires no more
effort to keep themselves pure and uncontaminated, than it does to the
pigeon, to preserve untarnished the whiteness of its feathers.

Buddhism.

Buddhism was introduced into the Flowery Land by native mis-
sionaries from India. As early as 219 B. C. the first forerunners of the
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tien-Tsin, China—Snake or Rain Temple.
CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—AMUSEMENT—DRESS. 153

faith of Sakyamuni reached the Chinese capital of Loyang. But the
time was not ripe for their venture. The stoical followers of Confucius
and Laotzu presented a determined and successful opposition to them,
and, after a chequered experience of Chinese prisons and courts, they
disappeared from the scene, leaving behind them no traces of their faith.
In A. D. 61, a second mission arrived in China, whose members met
with a far more favorable reception. A settled government had followed
the time of disorder which had previously prevailed, and, though the Con-
fucianists raged and persecuted the missionaries, they held their own, and
succeeded in laying the solid foundation of a faith which was destined,
in later ages, to overspread the whole Empire. Like the Taoists, the
Buddhist monks professed to be adepts in the arts of magic, and claimed
to themselves the power of being able to banish famine, remove pesti-
lence, and drive away evil spirits by their incantations. They posed as
astrologers and exorcists, and made dupes of the people from the highest
to the lowest.
Monasteries.

With the choice before them of a holy life, from which desire
and self are wholly eradicated, anda religious profession which ministers
to the senses and to the ordinary intelligence, the modern Chinese do not
hesitate to throw in their lot with the more mundane school. With the
five commandments of Buddha, “thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not -
steal; thou shalt not commit any unchaste act; thou shalt not lie; thou
shalt not drink any intoxicating liquor,” the ordinary Chinese Buddhist
does not much concern himself. He clings, however, to the doctrine of
the transmigration of souls, and though he not uncommonly lapses into
the sin of eating meat and fish, yet his diet for the most part is, to
his credit it must be said, confined to the Lenten fare of vegetables
and grain. In all religious works this dogma is strenuously insisted
upon, and even in popular literature authors not infrequently picture the
position of men who, by the mercy of Buddha, have narrowly escaped
from the sin of devouring their best friends in the guise of a carp or a
ragout. The plain and undisguised adoption of idolatry by the Chinese
made the existence of temples a first necessity, and at the present time
154° CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—AMUSEMENT— DRESS.

these sacred edifices are to be found wherever men meet and con-
gregate, whether in the streets of cities, or in village lanes. Among the
countless idols which adorn their halls, the first places are invariably
given to the trinity of Buddhas—the past Buddha, the present Buddha,
and the Buddha which is to come. These three figures dominate the
principal hall of every temple. In rear of this is commonly a dagoba in
which is concealed a relic of Buddha—it may be the paring of a nail,
a tear-drop, or a lock of hair—and, at the back of that again, are the
deities which are supposed to preside over all the ills that flesh is
heir to.

Like sanctuary of old, Buddhist monasteries are held to be places
of refuge for malefactors, and of this very raw and unpromising material
a large proportion of the monks are made. But from whatever motive
he may join, the neophyte, on entering, having discarded his secular
garments, and donned the gown and cowl of the monkhood, marks his
separation from the world by submitting to the loss of his queue and
to the shaving of his head. The duties of the monks are not laborious,
and they enjoy in the refectory good though plain food. In the nun-
neries, which are almost as numerous as monasteries, much the same
routine is followed as is practiced by the monks. The evil of the
system is, however, more apparent in the sisterhoods than in the mon-
asteries, and a bad reputation for all kinds of improprieties, clings to them.

Chinese Society.

What we call society in China is confined to the men, who pay
visits; give dinners, and enjoy picnics and excursions like people of all
countries. The only dinner-parties, therefore, of which the outside
world has any knowledge are those which lose, to us, half their attrac-
tions by being robbed of the presence of ladies, and which are rendered
abnormally tedious by their great length.

Before the guests are seated a long and protracted struggle ensues
to induce the punctiliously modest guests to take the places assigned to
them. When this formality is satisfactorily arranged, innumerable courses
are served, with long intervals of waiting, which would be excessively
wearying were they not enlivened either by theatricals, or some game such
CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—AMUSEMENT— DRESS. 155

as the Italian Morra, in which he who makes a mistake in the number
of fingers shown pays forfeit by drinking three or more glasses of wine.
If at the conclusion of the feast the guests are sober, which they very
frequently are not, and if they are scholars, the probability is that they
settle down to writing quatrains of poetry on given subjects, when
again the punishment for failure is the consumption of a certain quantity
of wine. Like the Japanese, Chinamen are ardent lovers of beautiful
scenery, and delight in picnicking in favored spots to admire the prodigal-
ity of nature. Wherever mountains, lakes, or streams contrive to form
attractive landscapes, there in the spring and summer seasons, parties
congregate and exchange ideas on everything under heaven except
imperial politics.
Chinese Etiquette.

The etiquette observed at these gatherings is all laid down with
scrupulous exactitude, and is rigidily adhered to. Even a morning call
is surrounded with an amount of ceremony which to a European
suggests infinite boredom. It is not considered proper for the visitor to
-walk to his friend’s house, and, unless he be a military mandarin, when
he commonly rides, he sallies out in his sedan-chair, followed by one
or more servants, and armed with red visiting-cards about eight inches
long and ‘three wide, on which is inscribed his name, with sometimes
the addition of the words, “Your stupid younger brother bows his head
in salutation.” On approaching his friend’s house, a servant goes ahead
with one of these cards and presents it at the door. If the host be
out, the porter tells the servant ‘“‘to stay the gentleman’s approach ;” but
if he should be at home, the front doors are thrown open and the
visitor is carried in his sedan into the courtyard, where the host attired
in his robes of ceremony, greets him with many bows. Thence he is
conducted to the central hall, where, after much friendly contention as
to the seats they shall occupy, the guest finally and invariably is induced
to take the place of honor on his host’s left hand.

The practice universally followed of the speaker applying adulatory
terms towards his interlocutor, and depreciatory ones towards himself,
adds to the stilted formalities on such occasions. Everything connected
156 CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—-AMUSEMENT— DRESS.

with the person spoken to—his age, his neighborhood, his name, his
relations, etc.—are ‘‘honorable,” ‘“‘respected,” “lofty,” and “distinguished,” ’
while the speaker’s are ‘“‘contemptible,” and ‘“‘rude.” His friend’s house
is a “palace,” his is “a reed hut.” But perhaps the strangest of these
set phrases are the indirect terms by which one man addresses another.
On receiving a visitor, a common expression is, “Is the honorable chariot
well?”’ meaning of course, the man who drives in the chariot, or ‘‘you.”
In the same way, the term “beneath the council-chamber,” and “‘at the
feet,” are similarly used, implying a wish that those addressed may
become Ministers of State, ‘“‘the feet,” of course, being those of the Son
of Heaven. But, however much acquaintances may discuss subjects
relating to themselves, no mention is ever made of their wives or
daughters, who are as completely tabooed, except between very intimate
friends, as though they did not exist.
Gardens.

_ The love of flowers seems to be inherent in the people of the
-extreme East, and their gardens are to both the men and the women of
China a never-failing delight. With much taste they lay out the ground
and dispose the flowers to the best possible advantage. As landscape
gardeners they are unsurpassed, and succeed by skillful arrangement in
giving an impression of extent and ‘beauty to even paltry and naturally
uninteresting pieces of ground. By clever groupings of rock-work, by
raising artificial hills, and by throwing high bridges over ponds and
streams, they produce a panorama which is full of fresh points of view
and of constant surprises. As De Guignes wrote, in describing Chinese
gardens, the object of the owner is to imitate “the beauties and to pro-
duce the inequalities of nature. Instead of alleys planted symmetrically
or uniform grounds, there are winding footpaths, trees here and there as
if by chance, woody or sterile hillocks, and deep gullies with narrow
passages, whose sides are steep or rough with rocks, and presenting: only
a few miserable shrubs. They like to bring together in gardening, in the
same view, cultivated grounds and arid plains; to make the field uneven
and cover it with artificial rock-work; to dig caverns in mountains,
on whose tops are arbors half overthrown, and around which tortuous
 

 

 

Tien-Tsin, China—China-American Board Mission Residence.
CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—AMUSEMENT— DRESS. 159

footpaths run and return into themselves, prolonging, as it were, the
extent of the grounds and increasing the pleasure of the walk.”

In the more purely floral parterres, the plants are arranged so as
to secure brilliancy of bloom with harmony of color. Over the greater
part of China the land is favored with so fertile a soil and so congenial
a climate, that flowers grow and blossom with prodigal profusion. Roses,
hydrangeas, peonies, azaleas, and a host of other plants beautify the
ground, while creepers of every hue and clinging growth hang from the
boughs of the trees, and from the eaves of the summer-houses and
pavilions which are scattered over the grounds. With the instinctive love
of flowers which belongs to Chinamen, the appearance of the blooms on
the more conspicuous flowering shrubs is eagerly watched for. Floral
calendars are found in every house above the poorest, and expeditions
are constantly made into the country districts, to enjoy the sight of the
‘first bursting into blossom of favorite flowers.

Economics.

The Chinese are pre-eminently economical, whether it be in limit-
ing the number of wants, in preventing waste, or in adjusting forces in
such a manner as to make a little represent a great deal. The universal
diet consists of rice, beans, millet, garden vegetables and fish, with a little
meat on high festivals.’ Wholesome food in abundance may be supplied
at less than a penny a day for each adult, and even in famine times,
thousands of persons have been kept alive for months on about a half-
penny a day each. This implies the existence of a high degree of
culinary skill in the Chinese. Their modes of preparing food are thorough
and various. There is no. waste; everything is made to do as much
duty as possible. What is left is the veriest trifle. The physical con-
dition of the Chinese dog or cat, which has to live on the leavings of the
family, shows this; they are clearly kept on starvation allowances. The
Chinese are not extremely fastidious in regard to food; all is fish that
comes to their net, and most things come there sooner or later.

Certain disturbances of the human organization, due to eating
diseased meat, are well recognized among the people; but it is consid-
ered better to eat the meat, the cheapness of which is certain, and run
160 CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIET Y—AMUSEMENT— DRESS.

the risk of the consequences, which are not quite certain, than to buy
dear meat, even with the assurance of no evil results. Indeed the meat
of animals which have died of ordinary ailments is rather dearer than
that of those which have died in an epidemic such as pleuro-pneumonia.

Another example of careful, calculating economy is the construc-
tion of the cooking pots and boilers, the bottoms of which are as thin
as possible that the contents may boil all the sooner, for fuel is scarce and
dear, and consists generally of nothing but the stalks and roots of the
crops, which make a rapid blaze and disappear. The business of
gathering fuel is committed to children, for one who can do nothing else
can at least pick up straws and leaves and weeds. In autumn and
winter a vast army of fuel gatherers spreads over the land. Boys ascend
trees and beat them with clubs to shake off the leaves; the very straws
get no time to show which way the wind blows before they are annexed
by some enterprising collector. Similarly professional manure collectors
swarm over all the roads of the country. Chinese women carry this
minute economy into their dress; nothing comes amiss to them; if it is
not used in one place it is in another, where it appears a thing of beauty.

Foreign residents who give their cast-off clothes away to Chinese
may be assured that the career of usefulness of these garments is at last
about to commence. Chinese wheelbarrows squeak for the want of a
few drops of oil; but to people who have no nerves the squeak is
cheaper than the oil. Similarly, dirt is cheaper than hot water, and so, as
a rule, the people do not bathe; the motto “Cheaper than dirt,’ which
the soap-dealer puts in his windows, could not be made intelligible to the
Chinese. To them the average foreigners are mere soap-wasters.
Scarcely any tool can be got ready made; it is so much cheaper to
buy the parts and put them together for yourself, and as almost every-
body takes this view, ready-made tools are not to be got. Two rooms
are dimly lighted with a single lamp deftly placed in a hole in the
dividing wall. Chinese, in fact, seem to be capable-of doing almost any-
thing by means of almost nothing. They will give you an iron foundry
on a minute scale of completeness in a backyard, and will make in an -
hour a cooking range, of strong and perfect draft, out of a pile of mud
CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIET Y—AMUSEMENT—DRESS. 161

bricks, lasting indefinitely, operating perfectly, and costing nothing. The
old woman who in her last moments hobbled as near as possible to the
family graveyard in order to die so as to avoid the expense of coffin
bearers, was Chinese.
Amusements.

So much has been said of the dark side of Chinese life, that it is
a pleasure to turn to those amusements which break the dreary monotony
of existence. The great body of the people are hard workers, and,
being so, find, like all other laboriously employed people, that amuse-
ments are necessary to life and health. From another motive the idle
classes—that is, the literati, as they are called, or the unemployed
graduates, and the ladies—find that to kill time they must seek excite-
ment in some form of diversion. For these reasons the theatres are
generally well filled by all sorts and conditions of men, and no oppor-
tunity is missed of engaging a company for the entertainment of the
neighborhood. As such opportunities are prompted by many and dif-
ferent motives, actors are in constant request. Not unfrequently the
excuse is a desire to do honor to the local deities. Either a fall of rain
after a prolonged drought makes a Thespian display an appropriate token
of gratitude to the snake god, or the elfin fox deity is held to regard a
like festivity as a due acknowledgment for his ‘clemency in dispersing an
epidemic; but, whatever the religious objects may be, arrangements are
commonly made to hold the performance in the courtyard of one of the
temples. For the expenses the whole village or town is responsible, and.
as soon as the required sum, from twenty to a hundred dollars a day,
is raised—a matter which generally gives rise to countless bickerings—a
troupe of actors is engaged, and the vestibule of'a local temple is made
to undergo the metamorphosis necessary to the occasion. The very
simple requirements of the Chinese stage make this a matter of easy
arrangement.

The Chinese Drama.

There is practically no scenery in a Chinese theatre. A few
coarsely painted views hung at the back of the stage are all that is neces-
sary to furnish it. The actors make their exits and entrances by a door
162 CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—AMUSEMENT—DRESS.

at the side of these paintings, and the whole series of plays—for the per-
formances go on for days together—are acted without any change of scenery.
This has at first sight the advantage of simplicity, but it imposes on the
characters the inconvenient necessity of explaining their individualities,
and of describing their whereabouts. To us an. awkward spectacle is
presented when an actor comes forward and begins, ‘1 am So-and-so,
the son of Such-an-one,” and then goes on to describe his trade, the
members of his household, and everything that is considered neces-
sary for the audience to understand. Commonly, however, he. prefaces
these confidences by repeating a few lines of poetry, which are supposed
to indicate the general tenor of the very complete explanation which is
to follow. As each player treads the board this formula is gone through.

Fortunately the characters are not numerous, and, as a rule, con-
sist of the heavy father and mother, a young lady. of the nature of a
heroine, a young man or two, a sprinkling of statesmen and courtiers,
in case the play is historical, with servants and attendants. For the
most part the plots are quite straightforward} and no mystery is
ever presented to tax the intelligence of the audience. With typical
Chinese minuteness the motive, desires, and actions of the characters are
fully explained, and the only people who are supposed to be mystified
are either the personages in the play who are wronged, or the manda-
rins who are called upon to adjudicate on the crimes committed by the
villains of the dramas. In all cases the action is direct, and is unham-
pered with any of those issues which add so much to the interest of
Western performances. In a vast majority.of cases the object of
the play is to elevate virtue, and to hold up tyranny and wrong to just
execration. The means adopted to these ends are not always such as
to commend them in our eyes. The dialogue is often coarse,-and the
virtuous characters are commonly contemptible creatures.

The Profession.

All the female parts are played by young men or boys, and the
dialogue is constantly interrupted by lines of poetry which are sung, as
are all Chinese songs, in a shrill falsetto. The musicians, also, are
seated on the stage, and keep up so continuous an accompaniment as to
 

 

 

 

Canton, China—Canton House Boats.
CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIETY—AMUSEMENT— DRESS. 165

make much of what the actors say inaudible. Not only do they accom-
pany the songs, but on the expression of any lofty sentiment they come
down with a crash of their instruments to add emphasis to the utterance.
It has been said that these performances are given from a desire to do
honor to the gods; but other excuses are very commonly found for
indulgence in the pastime. On high days and festivals—at New-Year’s
time, often on the first and fifteenth of the month, and on other holidays
—subscriptions are raised for the purpose of engaging troupes of actors
who are always ready at hand. As a rule, the theatres are of the
Thespian kind, and if enclosed at all, are. provided only with temporary
coverings of mat, which are erected in a night, and may be demolished
in a night.
Chinese [lagicians.

In the more occult arts of necromancy and enchantment, Taoist
priests are the acknowledged masters. From time immemorial these fol-
lowers of Laotzu have, in popular belief, possessed the power of controlling
the elements, of annihilating space, and of making themselves invisible.
In one well-known historical battle a Taoist priest invoked such a
storm of rain and hail in the face of the opposing forces that they fell
easy victims to the swords of their adversaries. On another accepted
occasion it is said that as'a troop of coolies were carrying oranges to the
capital, they were overtaken by a lame Taoist priest, who offered to ease
them of their burdens, and who carried the whole quantity with the
greatest ease for the rest of the journey. On arrival at the palace, how-
ever, the oranges were found to be hollow, and the coolies were saved
from condign punishment only by the appearance of the priest, at whose
word the oranges were “again converted into rich and luscious fruit.
Another well-known instance of supernatural power is that: attributed to
T’ieh Kwai, who possessed the power of projecting himself wheresoever he
would. On one occasion the magician sent forth his innerself to the
mountain of the gods. Before starting on his spiritual journey he left a
disciple to watch over his body, promising to return in seven days.
Unfortunately, when six days had expired the watcher was called away

to the death-bed of his mother, and being thus placed in a dilemma
8
166 CHINA—RELIGION—SOCIET Y—AMUSEMENT— DRESS.

between his duties as a son, and his obligation to his friend, determined
to carry the body of his master to his mother’s home. Being there
detained, he was unable to keep his tryst at the appointed time, and the
disembodied spirit, finding that its earthly habitation had disappeared, was
compelled, rather than suffer extinction, to enter the carcass of a beggar
which lay by the roadside, and in this guise T’ieh Kwai passed the
remainder of his existence.

Clairvoyance is largely practiced, and on the principle that accu-
mulated evidence proves the truth of the theory, it is difficult not to
accept many of “the facts” stated by native eye-witnesses. Like our
own professors of the art, Chinese clairvoyants read the secret thoughts
of their audiences, describe absent persons with minute accuracy, and by
“crystalizing,” and other means, are often said to be instrumental in
detecting criminals, and in discovering the whereabouts of lost persons
and things. The use of the planchette is very common, and though the
Chinese, from their phlegmatic nature, are not easily subjected to mag-
netic influences, the effects produced are certainly remarkable. -

As gymnasts they are in no way inferior to the best performers
among ourselves, and it is not necessary to believe the wonderful
stories told by early European travelers in China of the proficiency of
native acrobats, to credit them with noteworthy skill and agility. Even
women possess unwonted power of strength and balance.

A [tania for Gambling. ..-

But, above and beyond all the other amusements of the Chinese,
gambling holds a conspicuous place. Although, as already stated, it is
strictly forbidden by law, it is winked at, and even encouraged by the
authorities. It not unfrequently happens that magistrates even convert
the outer rooms of their yamuns into gambling-houses, and share in the
profits derived from the business. In every city these dens of corruption
abound, and, as a rule, consist of two apartments. -In the outer one
the stakes are laid in copper cash, and in the inner room silver only is
risked. Not content with the ordinary games of chance, such as those
afforded by cards,. roulette and other tables, the ingenuity of the people
is exercised in inventing new means of losing their money.:
CHAPTER VIII.

 

 

 
    

CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART.
i
eile.
é 4 HE ANTIQUITY of Chinese literature is proportionate
with that.of their language, and has been, of course,
q greatly promoted and increased by the early invention of
gee the art of printing, which they have now possessed for
; nine hundred years. Many specimens of this literature
in various departments have been offered to America and Europe, and
have enabled us to form a judgment regarding the merits of composi-
tions which for a long period were considered to be-inaccessible, from
the difficulties of the language in which they were written. In legislation
we possess a translation of the penal. code of the Empire; in politics and
morals, the sacred books of Confucius and his followers; and in phi-
lology and belles-lettres we have a copious and well-executed dictionary
of the language; several translations or abstracts of histories; the dramas
of the “Heir in Old Age,” the “Sorrows of Ham,” “Le Cercle de
Craie;” an elaborate treatise concerning their poetry; and among others
the excellent novel or romance of the “Fortunate Union.” The mastery
which has thus been obtained of the language of China by Americans
and Europeans proves that the anciently rumored difficulties attendant on
its acquisition, from the alleged number and variety of the characters,
were the mere exaggerations of ignorance.
e The Chinese Language.

It appears that the theory of a universal medium for the commu-
nication of ideas, as conceived by Bishop Wilkins, has been realized by
the Chinese. While the letters of our alphabet are mere symbols of
sounds, the Chinese characters or written words are symbols of ideas,
and alike intelligible to the people of Cochin-China, Japan, Loochoo and
Corea, with those of China itself; in the same way as the Arabic
(167)
168 CHINA— LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART.

numerals are common to all Europe, while the sounds which they rep-
resent in one country would convey no meaning to the inhabitants of
any other. It is in this matter, too, that the universality of the Chinese
language extends only to the written character, and that the natives of
the two extremities of the Empire, who read the same books, and
understand each other perfectly on paper, are all but mutually unintelli-
gible in speech. The roots or original characters of the Chinese are
only two hundred and fourteen in number, and might indeed be reduced
to a much smaller amount by a little dissection and: analysis. These are
combined with each other to form other words, or express other ideas,
very:much in the same way that the individual Arabic numerals are
combined to express the infinite varieties of numbers. By a species of
analogy, they may be called the alphabetical language, with the differ-
ence that exists between an alphabet of ideas and an alphabet of sounds.
These roots serve, like our alphabet, for the arrangement of the words
in the large Chinese dictionary, a national work compiled by the most
learned persons in the Empire, more than a century since, by order of
‘the enlightened monarch, Kang-hi. Much consideration is attached by
the Chinese to the graphic beauty of their written characters. The two
most usual forms of their characters are the printed and the written, besides
which there are the seal, or engraved form, and one or two others.
_ The printed form (analogous to our Roman type) lays claim only to
clearness and accuracy; but the written combines correctness with
elegance. It may suffice to observe generally, that the grammar of the
language is extremely limited. In the absence of all inflection, of which
their characters are utterly incapable, the relation of words to each
other in a sentence, can be marked only by their position. The verb,
for instance, must always precede its object, and follow its agent. The
cases. of nouns and pronouns are determined by prepositions, as tsoong
t-hien, “from heaven.” The collocation of words in a sentence must
of course be a matter of more consequence in Chinese than in those
languages where the relation of different words to each other is
marked by the distinctions of number, gender, case and person, as
shown by declension and conjugation.
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CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART. iF

The Literati.

As depositories of the wisdom of the sages of antiquity, the literati
pose as the protectors of the national life of China. In his sacred edict,
K’anghsi (1662-1723) warned the people against giving heed to strange
doctrines, and thus gave new expression to a celebrated dictum of
Confucius, which has guided the conduct of his followers in all matters
relating to foreign religions and customs. “The study of strange doc-
trines is injurious indeed,” said the sage; and in the spirit of this saying
the literati have at different periods persecuted the religions of Buddha
and Laotsze with the same acrimony which is now characterizing their
action towards Christianity. To foreigners and all. their ways they are
implacable foes, and to them we owe ‘the spirit of opposition which was
formerly shown to our landing on the shores of China, and which is
now finding vent in a determined effort to drive us out of the country.

A Mania for Degrees.

Despite our fondness for titles of all kinds, it is scarcely possible
for Americans to realize the perfect mania for literary degrees that
prevails in China.

The highest ambition of every family is to have at least one of
its members pass examinations and get a degree. or this they are
ready to make any sacrifice. All the other members will cheerfully
unite to support, year after year, the one chosen to compete for such
honor. If none is inclined voluntarily to study for a degree—which,
however, is seldom the case—the father will select one and compel him
to do so. Sometimes actual force is needed to effect this. In one
case a young man was kept by his father a prisoner for five years, with
no companion but a tutor, to force him to prepare for the examination. At
last he succeeded in passing the first examination and getting the first,
or bachelor’s degree. In this he rejoiced, for he supposed it would
mean the end of his imprisonment. But it meant no such thing. The
‘father quickly returned him to his cell, and bade him go on studying
for the second, or master’s degree. The prospect of this, and of then
being similarly forced to study for the third, or doctor’s degree, so dis-
heartened the young man that he hanged himself with his own girdle.
172 CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART.

Easy Examples.

They are curious things, these examinations, especially in mathema-
tics and what western nations consider practical sciences; for example,
“If eight thousand piculs of rice are carried for thirteen tael- cents a
picul, and the freight is paid in rice at two and a half taels a picul, how
much rice goes to pay the freight?” Imagine, if you can, such a problem
in mathematics gravely given out to a lot of college students, as the crux
of their final examination for the baccalaureate degree! And, if this also
be possible, imagine only one among ten thousand being able to solve
it! And the question of the superficial area of a globe eighteen inches
in diameter proved.a still worse stumbling-block. The thousands of
unsuccessful candidates did not, however, give up all hope. They
returned to their studies, and will try again at the next examination, and
again and again, until they either pass or die of old age. At one recent
examination there were three successful candidates from one village. One
of these was a boy of fourteen or fifteen. Another was an old man of
nearly eighty years, who had been trying to pass at each year’s exam-
ination since he was a boy! The whole village was wild with
enthusiasm over his final success at his sixty-first trial; although the
mandarin who conducted the examination declared he was not really
entitled to pass, but was allowed to slip through because he had been
trying so long, and there was danger that he would not live to attend
‘the next year’s examination.

Examination Halls.

Despite the trifling character of these examinations, from a western
point of view, at least so far as mathematics and sciences are con-
cerned, they are really formidable ordeals to the candidates who undergo
them. At the examination halls at Foo-Chow, for example, there is over
the gate a Dante-like inscription, proclaiming the hopelessness of entry
there by any one who is not a diligent scholar. A little distance inside
this forbidden portal is another gate, through which entrance is had
to a passageway divided down the centre by a stout high picket
fence which separates into two streams the crowd of persons entering.
As they pass an open window the name, family, age and place of resi-
CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART. 173

dence of each are recorded, and to each one is given a slip of paper on
which is written the number of the passageway and cell he is to occupy
for the next three days and nights. He is then hurried along through an
archway.under another large building occupied by the Literary Chancellor
and his assistants, who pass to each candidate blank paper of a fixed
size and ruling, used only in these examinations, on which he is to
write his essays. Under guard of officers all are hurried along a
broad uncovered passageway from which over a hundred alleys run off
on either side at right angles. Each of these alleys is about three
feet wide, and on one side is a plain dead wall eight feet high,
toward which each cell. faces. The cells are about seven feet high,
four feet wide and three feet deep, and are entirely open in front.
Two or three boards whose length is some four inches greater than the
width of the cell are made to slide into grooves on either side; one
of these being pushed back against the inner wall of the cell forms
a seat for the scholar, facing outward. The other board is slid in
toward him at a height convenient for him to write upon, and forms his
desk. The cells are otherwise entirely bare; invariably very dirty, and
almost as hot as ovens in the summer time, which is when the examina-
tions are held.

Into such quarters eight thousand or nine thousand persons are
crowded for three days and nights. Then they are let out for a recess
of three days. A second confinement of three days and nights follows;
then a second recess, and finally a third confinement, which concludes
the examination. On entering the second time each one draws new
numbers for his cell and alley, care being taken that a candidate shall
not occupy the same cell or passageway he was in before; and a similar
change is made the third time. Near each of the four corners of the
barracks watch-towers are erected and soldiers placed on duty there
with instructions to shoot any one who may attempt to communicate
with persons outside the walls. There is in fact an outer wall about
twenty feet from the inner wall, which would seem to make communi-
cation impossible, but the people must be duly impressed with the
determination of the officials to have the examinations conducted in all
174 CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART.

fairness. Notwithstanding this seeming effectual scrutiny, there are
ways enough devised by the crafty to get their essays passed upon
favorably. Each student must supply himself with provisions, candles,
fuel and bedding, or else he must go without such comforts until the
three days have passed, unless it may be that some boiled rice is dis-
tributed by the authorities, as is sometimes done. It is by no means
an unheard-of thing for candidates to die in their cells, sometimes from
exhaustion, sometimes from the bites of venomous serpents, and some-
times from wounds deliberately self-inflicted, in despair of getting through
the examination.
The Examinations.

When all the candidates are properly seated in their respective
closets, the themes for the essays and poems are given out, and the
student then has his first intimation concerning the subject upon which
he is to write. The first sets of questions are taken from the Four
Books of the Chinese classics. As the essays are finished they are
taken for the first examination to a company of literary men whose
duty is to determine not the merit of the essays, but simply whether
the rules for writing have been observed. If any of these rules are
violated the paper is posted in a public place, and the merit of the essay
is not considered. That ends for that year the chance of that poor
fellow, however good his composition may be. Such as pass this
examination as to form and. appearance are then transcribed in red ink,
a large number of professional copyists being employed in this part
of the work. This is done to prevent any possible communication by
marks, blots or omitted spaces, with the examining commissioners. The
copies and originals are again carefully examined by two persons as proof-
readers, to see that they have been truly reproduced. The copy in red ink
is then sent to the twelve higher literary critics, who examine it each in
turn, and as each one reads he places his verdict upon the paper in a
small red ink circle upon the top of the roll, or lays it aside if he does
not approve. Those marked with the red circles are sent to the prefect,
and as each one is handed to him a drum (called the recommending
drum) is struck once by him. These essays are then passed to
 

Canton, China—Barber Carrying his Outfit.
CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERA TURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART. 177

examining commissioners who have come from Peking. Each is read
carefully and distinguishing marks of excellency are placed upon each.
This method is pursued at each of the three sessions, and at the end
an immense collection of essays and poems is on hand to pass the
scrutiny of the official examiners, who do not leave the inclosure until
the papers are all examined and.marked. The Governor is allowed to
come out ten days after the examinations have closed; the others must
remain prisoners until their work is completed. Large rooms are
provided for their occupancy—food, etc:, being brought to them by
attendants, but nothing from outside the inclosure.

When the question of the successful candidates is determined,
their names‘are written in large characters on a paper which is put up
on the “Drum Tower,” some thirty feet from the ground, and a great
crowd soon assembles in the street in eagerness to know the result.
The successful candidates are officially notified some days later. by each
receiving a large piece of red paper with the name and rank in the
examination written thereon. Congratulations from the officials follow,
and an invitation to a feast. The examinations described are for the
second, or master’s degree. Those for the third, or doctor’s degree, are
more rigid and exacting, and are held at Peking. But all who pass any
of the three examinations form a class apart from the rest of the nation,
a ruling class, superior to their fellows -in social rank as well as in
politics and religion.

Chinese Newspapers.

China, as everybody knows, was the birthplace of the newspaper
press. The official Peking Gazette is commonly reckoned the oldest paper in
the world; but it was not the first. There was, according to Chinese history,
a flourishing paper in Nanking, with the largest circulation in the Empire,
years before the Peking Gazette was started. The Gazelle, it may be
mentioned, is still printed off solid blocks on which the characters are
separately carved, which mode is generally followed in Chinese printing.
The modern newspapers, however, which are all situated in the treaty
ports, are more after the style of English journals, whose manner they
try to imitate in some respects.
178 CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART.

The most influential native paper, perhaps, is one printed in
Shanghai, and owned and managed by foreigners. There are also some
really enterprising and well-written papers in Hong-Kong and Canton,
and an English firm has subsidized another in Tien-Tsin—in the interests
of British trade presumably. There is a striking want of originality in
the titles of Chinese newspapers. For instance, the two Shanghai
morning papers, the Shen Pao and Hu Pao, both mean the “Shanghai
News:;” in Tien-Tsin the Shi Pao means the “Daily News;”’ the Yuet
Pao, in Canton, the “Canton News.’’ Every paper has the word “Pao”
affixed. All these papers are printed from movable type which are set
up in a long stick; and to see a Chinese compositor setting up is a
sight. His case flanks him on three sides, and slopes from the ground
to the height of about five feet. The type boxes number hundreds, and
even then he has to have recourse to a type-cutter every now and then
for some character in the manuscript which he has not got in his case,
and which must be cut for him. The Chinese type-cutter is usually a
surprisingly expert artificer. The business of a Chinese sub-editor is
rendered more lively by the fact that each word in Chinese is a unit in
itself, and not made up of letters. His work. comprises altering the
vocabulary so as to suit his supply of ready-made characters as much
as possible, and this is no easy matter when it is considered that the
papers try generally to follow the highflown style of the classics, and the
writers strive to display their knowledge very often by the use of words
of “learned length and thundering sound,” much to the disgust of the
pig-tailed “sub,” who ruthlessly substitutes more everyday language in
place of the studied elegancies of the leader-writers.

Freedom. of the Press. |

Freedom of the press prevails in China to an amazing degree.
Indeed, it often becomes mere license, and a means of levying black-
mail. A fine revenue is often derived, not from the insertion of “puffs”
and advertisements in Chinese sheets, but from keeping personal. attacks
and impeachments out of print. There is hardly a Chinese paper printed
which is not full of gross libels on some one every other day. Here is
a neat little trick illustrative of the means sometimes successfully adopted
‘CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART. 179

by the ingenious Celestial A Shanghai native paper appeared with a
grossly worded libel in its advertisement columns on Mr. Blank. So far
there was nothing that any one could be aggrieved at in this. Next
day another paper appeared with another advertisement referring to that
in the former sheet, and containing a violent attack upon the rascal who
had the villainy to commit such a gross outrage upon so good a man as
Mr. So-and-So, whose virtues, real and imaginary, were enumerated at
length, thus connecting the blank advertisement with the name of the
victim so villified. There was, of course, no redress for this double-
barreled libel, for the first advertisement could not be held to refer to
the victim, and that in the other could not be considered an attack
upon him in any way, but rather a unique and complete vindication of
~ his character.

A certain paper was boycotted in the matter of advertisements by
the booksellers’ guild—China is the cradle of trades unionism—whose
list of new books, with their prices, appeared daily in the other sheets.
The injured editor set about taking vengeance, and next morning his
paper appeared with the list of books copied from the rival journals, but
with the prices reduced fifty and more per cent. The name of the
establishment where these bargains—‘number one chances,” as the |
Chinaman calls them in the Pidgin-English jargon—could be obtained was,
it need hardly be said, fictitious. But the plan worked. Next day
the heads of the guild waited on the wily scribe and demanded in wrath
the name and address of the advertiser. ‘‘Did you pay for the adver-
tisement P”” he asked. ‘No,” they replied. “Well, then,’ answered the
editor with dignity, “I decline to give the names of our advertisers, who
place confidence in us.” The booksellers departed in a rage, and the
perplexing advertisement continued, with the result that the book vendors’
business was almost ruined, while the would-be purchasers were trying
to find out where the bargains advertised were to be obtained. This
was more than the guild could bear, and in the end they marched in to
the triumphant editor, who met them with a smile, and implored him to
insert their regular trade advertisement at a high rate. Needless to say,
~ the offending notice promptly disappeared.
180 CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART.

Architecture.

We are all familiar with drawings of the quaint roofs with
their upturned corners, which characterize the architecture of China. The
form at once suggests that, as is probably the case, this dominant style
of building is a survival of the tent-dwellings of the Tartar people.
It is said that when Jenghiz Khan, the founder of the Mongol dynasty,
invaded China, in the thirteenth century, his followers, on possessing
themselves of a city, reduced the houses to a still more exact counter-
part of their origins by pulling down the walls, and leaving the roofs
supported by the wooden pillars which commonly bear the entire weight
of those burdens. What at once strikes the eye in the appearance of
a Chinese city, even of the capital itself, is the invariable sameness
in the style of building. Palaces and temples, public offices and
dwelling-houses, are built on one constant model. No spire, no dome,
no tower rises to relieve the monotony of the scene, which is varied
only, so far as the buildings are concerned, by the different colored tiles
—green, yellow and brown—which_ indicate roughly the various uses
which the buildings they cover are designed to serve, and: by occasional
pagodas, reminding us of the faith of the people. In his History of
_ Indian and Eastern Architecture, the late Mr. Fergusson suggested, as
a reason for this absence of variety, the-fact that “the Chinese never
had either a dominant priesthood or an hereditary nobility. The absence
of the former class is important, because it is to sacred art that architec-
ture has owed its highest inspiration, and sacred art is never so strongly
developed as under the influence of a powerful and splendid hierarchy.
In the same manner the want of an hereditary nobility is equally
unfavorable to domestic architecture of a durable description: Private
feuds and private wars were till lately unknown, and hence there are no
fortalices, or fortified mansions, which by their mass and solidity give
such a marked character to a certain class of domestic edifices in the
West.”

Interrupted Development.

There are, however, other factors which have operated even more

powerfully than these two in producing this monotonous conformity to
 

 

 

Hong-Kong, China—Ceneral View of the Harbor.
CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART. 183

one model, and that is the sterility of the imaginative powers of the
Chinese people, and the steadfast conservatism of the race. Just as the
arts and sciences, which in the dim past, were acquired from more cul-
tured races in Western Asia, have remained crystalized in the stage in
which they received them, and just as their written language has not,
like that of Ancient Egypt and Assyria, advanced beyond a primitive
phonetic stage, so their knowledge of architecture has been perpetuated
without the smallest symptom of development, or the least spark of
genius. Even when they have an example of better things before them,
they deliberately avert their eyes, and go on repeating the same type of
mean and paltry buildings. At all the treaty ports, and notably at Shanghai,
there have been reared on the foreign settlement, houses in every kind of
western architecture, bordering wide and well-made roads, and provided
with every sanitary improvement, and yet, in the adjoining cities, houses are
daily built on the original model; streets are left as narrow and filthy as
ever, and no effort is made to improve the healthiness of the areas.

It might be supposed that in a nation where there exists such a
profound veneration for everything that is old, the people .would have
striven to perpetuate the glories of past ages in great and noble monu-
ments, that emperors would have raised palaces to themselves as records
of their greatness, and that the magnates of the land would have built
houses which should endure as homes for generations of descendants.
But it would seem as though their nomadic origin haunted them in this
also, and that, as in shape so in durability, “the recollection of their old
tent-houses, which were pitched to-day and struck to-morrow, still
dominates their ideas of what palaces and houses should be.” Through-
out the length and breadth of China there is not a single building,
except it may be some few pagodas, which by any stretch of the imagina-
tion can be called old. A few generations suffice to see the stateliest
of their palaces crumble into decay, and a few centuries are enough to
obliterate all traces even of royal cities.

Past [agnificence Vanished.

The Mongol conqueror, Kublai Khan, whose wealth, magnificence

and splendor are recorded with admiration by travelers, built for himself
184 CHINA—-LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART.

a capital near the city of Peking. If any historian should wish to trace
out for himself the features of that imperial city, he would be compelled
to seek amid the earth-covered mounds which alone mark the spot
where the conqueror held his court, for any relics which may perchance
survive. Above ground the city, with all its barbaric splendors, has
vanished as a dream.

Houses that Perish.

For this ephemeralness the style and nature of the buildings are
responsible. A Chinese architect invites damp, and all the destructive
consequences which follow from it, by building his house on the surface
of the soil; he ensures instability by basing it on the shallowest of
foundations, and he makes certain of its overthrow by using materials
which most readily decay. The structure consists of a roof supported
by wooden pillars, with the intervals: filled in with badly-baked bricks.
It is strictly in accordance with the topsy-turvy Chinese methods that
the framework of the roof should be constructed first, before even the
pillars which are to support it are placed in position. But, like most
of the other, contradictory practices of the people, this one is capable of
rational explanation. Strange as it may seem, the pillars are not sunk
into the ground, but merely stand upon stone foundations. The weight
of the roof is therefore necessary for their support, and to its massive
proportions is alone attributable the temporary stability of the building.
To prevent an overthrow the summits of the pillars are bound together
by beams, and much ingenuity and taste is shown in the adornment of
the ends of these supports and cross-pieces, which appear beneath
the eaves of the upturned roof. For the most part the pillars are plain,
and either square or round, and at the base are slightly cut in, after
the manner of the pillars in the temples of ancient Egypt.

Occasionally, when especial honor, either due to religious respect
or official grandeur, attaches to a building, the pillars are carved into
representations of dragons, serpents, or winding foliage, as the taste
of the designer may determine. But in a vast majority of buildings
the roof is the only ornamented part, and a great amount of pains and
skill is devoted to add beauty to this part of the structure. A favorite
CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART. 185

method of giving an appearance of lightness to the covering of a
house or temple, which would otherwise look too heavy to be sym-
metrical, is to make a double roof, so as to break the long line
necessitated by a single structure. The effect produced by looking
down on a city studded with temples and the palaces of nobles is, so far
as color is concerned, brilliant and picturesque, and reminds the traveler
of the view from the Kremlin over the glittering gilt-domed churches
of Moscow.

The damp from the soil which is so detrimental to the stability of
the building, is made equally injurious to the inhabitants, by the fact that
all dwellings consist of the ground floor only. With very rare exceptions
such a thing as an upper story is unknown in China; one reason, no
doubt, being that neither the foundations nor the materials are sufficiently
trustworthy to support anything higher than the ground floor. The
common symbol for a house indicates the ground plan on which dwell-
ings of the better kind are designed. It is one which is compounded
of parts meaning a square within a doorway. On entering the front
door the visitor passes into a courtyard, on either side of which are
dwelling-rooms, and at the end of which is a hall, with probably
rooms at both extremities. Doors at the back of this hall communicate
-with another courtyard, and in cases of wealthy families, a third court-
yard succeeds, -which is devoted to the. ladies of the household. Beyond
this is the garden, and,.in the case of country houses, a park. The
whole enclosure is surrounded with a blank wall, which is pierced only
by the necessary doors. All the windows face inwards. To the way-
farer, therefore, the appearance of houses of the better sort is monoto-
nous and drear, and suggests a want of life which is far from the
actual fact, and a desire for privacy which, so far as the apartments
devoted to the male inmates are concerned, is equally wide of the mark.
In accordance with Chinese custom, the front courtyard may be consid-
ered to be open to any one who may choose to wander in, and a
desire to exclude all strangers would be held to argue that there was
something wrong going on which the owner wished to conceal. The
courtyards are decorated with flowers and vases according to the taste
186 CHINA—LANGUAGE—LITERATURE—ARCHITECTURE—ART.

of the inhabitants, and occasionally a forest tree arises in their midst,
which gives a grateful shade from the heat of the day.
Chinese Furniture.

The rooms, when well furnished, are rather artistically pretty than
comfortable. To begin with, the floors are either of pounded clay or of
badly made bricks. No carpet, except in the north of the country,
protects the feet from the damp foundation, and if it were not for the
thick wadded soles of the shoes worn, and the prevailing habit of
reclining on divans, and of sitting cross-legged, the result to the health
of the people would be very serious.

In the south, these divans are of wood, and in the north they
take the shape of K’ang, or stove bed-places. These last are commonly
built of brick, and occupy one side of the room. ‘They are made
hollow, for the insertion of burning brushwood or coal, which affords
warmth to the room generally, and especially to the occupants of the
. K’ang. Mats placed on the brickwork form the resting-place of the wadded
bedclothes, which supply all the furniture for the night which a
Chinaman requires, except a pillow.

To us the idea of a pillow is something soft and _ yielding,
which gives rest, and an elastic support to the whole head. To a
‘Chinaman it conveys quite a different notion. A hard, rounded cylinder
of wood or lacquer-ware has, to him, a charm which. lulls to sleep
in an attitude which would be intolerable to Europeans. It supports only
the neck, and leaves the head without anything on which to recline.
In some parts of country, where women, by the use of bandoline,
dress their hair in protrusive shapes, this kind of pillow has, at least,
one advantage. After the longest night’s rest they are able to rise with-
out the slightest derangement of their coiffures, which thus remain for
days, and sometimes for weeks, without renewal.

Unlike their Asiatic neighbors, the Chinese have been accustomed
to the use of chairs for centuries. A record of the time when they were
habituated to the common oriental custom of sitting on the ground, is
preserved in the word for “‘ a feast,” meaning “a mat,” suggesting the
Eastern practice of spreading food on a mat, or a rug on the floor.
 

 

Hong-Kong, China— Wellington Street.
CHAPTER IX.

 

CHINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND NAVY.

les,

 

  

1. FOR EVERYTHING ELSE in China, a vast antiquity is
: claimed for the beginning of commerce. In the
a earliest native works extant, mention occurs of the
Tenge: efforts made to barter the products of one district for
those of another, and to dispose of the superfluous
goods of China by exchange with the merchandise of the neighboring
countries. The merchants and traders of China have gained the respect
and won the admiration of all those who have been brought into con-
tact with them. For honesty and integrity they have earned universal
praise, and on this point a Shanghai bank manager, in lately acknow-
ledging a valedictory address, presented to him on his leaving the
country, bore the following testimony: “I have,” he said, ‘referred to
the high commercial standing of the foreign community. The Chinese
are in no way behind us in that respect; in fact I know of no people
in the world I would rather trust than the Chinese merchant and
banker. . . . 1 may mention that for the last twenty-five years the bank
has been doing a very large business with Chinese at Shanghai, amount-
ing, | should say, to hundreds of millions of taels, and we have never
yet met with a defaulting Chinaman.”

The first attempt on the part of the English to establish commer-
cial relations with China was made about the year 1635. The result,
however, of the expedition was not sufficiently encouraging to induce
others to follow suit, and it was not until 1664, after the revolution
which displaced the Ming dynasty in favor of the present Manchu line
of sovereigns, that any further attempt was made to open communication
with China. Amoy was the port chosen at which to establish trade,

and it was thence that the first supply of tea was brought to England,
9 (189)

—

i
1g0 CHINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND NAVY.

as is evidenced by the name Té, under which designation our grand-
mothers knew the leaf.

But the restrictions placed by the mandarins upon British trade
along the coast were such that it did not flourish, and eventually it
became concentrated at Canton. There, however, the Chinese, true to
their colors, threw every obstacle they could in the way of merchants.
They appointed one man who alone had the right of trading with them,
and in addition to the original duty of four per cent. on all goods,
whether exports or imports, they laid a further burden of twelve per
cent. on imports and ten per cent. on exports.

Grievances of Merchants.

It was plainly impossible that a profitable trade could be carried
on under such disabilities, and in answer to repeated remonstrances the
‘extra ten per cent. on exports was taken off.

As time went on matters improved slightly, the grievances under
which the merchants suffered up to the time of the treaty of 1842 were
burdensome in the extreme. They were virtually prisoners in the factory ;
they were allowed to communicate only with the Hong merchants, who
were appointed by the governor of the city, and who were held respon-
sible for all debts incurred, and all irregularities committed, by the foreign
merchants. They had imposed upon them eight regulations, framed by
the mandarins for their conduct, one of which strictly prohibited the
introduction into the factory of European women, guns, spears or any
arms, and another of which forbade them to row on the river, or to
take any exercise for pleasure outside the factory grounds. Neither
were these rules allowed to be treated as dead letters. On the slightest
infraction of them the trade was stopped, and sufficient pressure was
brought to bear to compel compliance.

Embassies to China.

Twice during this period the British Government sent embassies
to China. In 1792 Lord Macartney visited Peking, and had several
interviews with the Emperor K’ienlung, who received him with courtesy,
and showed every consideration both to himself and suite. But, from a
political point of view, the mission proved abortive. The several points

4
CHINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND NAVY. 191

~ which the ambassador was instructed to urge on the Chinese Govern-
ment, viz., the authority to open Chusan, Ning-po, and Tien-tsin to
foreign trade, the abolition of transit dues between Macao and Canton,
and the removal of all illegal taxation on foreign goods, were left in
statu quo ante. The civility, however, which had been shown by the
Emperor to the mission roused the smouldering hatred of the anti-foreign
party, who did everything in their power to drive the foreigners, and
especially the English, out of Canton. Lord Amherst’s mission, in 1816,
had not even the same appearance of success which attended Lord
Macartney’s. On arriving at Peking, after an unusually tiring and hurried
journey, the minister was required to present himself at once before the
Emperor. Such a breach of diplomatic as well as of social usage was
resented by Lord Amherst, who refused to appear in the imperial pre-
sence with the stains of travel and fatigue upon him. Subsequent
embassies, from America and Europe, have similarly had to contend
with the arrogance and stubbornness of the Chinese. The war waged
by England and France, in 1860, had the effect of bringing the Celes-
tials to their senses in a measure, however, and at the present time
foreigners are able to engage in trade at the chief ports of the Empire
on fairly satisfactory terms.

A Nation of Shopkeepers.

No one would dispute the right of the Chinese to be called a
nation of shopkeepers. From the earliest dawn of history they carried
on, as their records tell us, a constant trade with the neighboring states;
and with the growth of power they built up, with laudable shrewdness
and industry, that system of commerce which excited the admiration
of Marco Polo, and which at the present day strikes with astonish—
ment the visitors to the treaty ports. On all sides, evidences of
flourishing trade and accumulated wealth are observable. The rivers
and canals are crowded with junks carrying the merchandise of Europe
and of the distant provinces of the Empire to marts, where these
may be exchanged for the products of other localities. Centuries
before the first ships from Europe reached the shores of far Cathay,
the merchants of China had gained for themselves throughout Eastern
192 CHINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND NAVY.

and Central Asia a well-earned reputation for commercial enterprise
and ability.
Domestic Industries.

Domestic commerce and manufactures, also, are beginning to
arise in China, to compete with foreign importations. The great states-
man, Li-Hung-Chang, recognizing that the force China might bring to
bear under arms would be no argument against the trained battalions of
Europe, has, with the object of ousting foreigners, pursued a policy of
encouraging his countrymen to compete with them in the fields of
commerce and manufactures. It was affirmed years ago by one of the
ministers of the Tsungli Yamun that the best means of getting rid of
foreign opium was to grow the poppy in China. On the same principle
Li-Hung-Chang and other like-minded mandarins have subsidized steam-
ship companies, and have built factories for the production of the
cloths and goods which have hitherto been supplied from Europe. At
the present time the China Merchants’ Steamship Company is a formidable
competitor in carrying trade between the treaty ports, and possesses
the not inconsiderable advantage of being at liberty to trade at any
desirable. point along the coast. At Lanchow Fu, the capital of Kansuh,
a factory has been established for spinning and weaving into cloth Mon-
golian wool, while at Shanghai a cotton-spinning factory has, until recently
destroyed by fire, been for some years in full work. The effects of these
institutions have already made their mark on the foreign trade of China,
and the probability is that before long a very considerable shrinkage will
be observed in the quantities of English cotton goods imported.

Some Odd Articles of Trade.

"One of the last objects which would suggest themselves as likely
to meet with a ready sale in the China markets would be flints. And
yet last year these stones were imported to the value of thirty-one
thousand two hundred and thirty-three taels. The uses to which flints
are turned by the Chinese are, firstly, in the manufacture of glass, and,
secondly, for “strike-lights”’ in tinder-boxes.

The quaint and very artistic forms into which the Chinese arrange
feathers, keep up a constant demand for those of birds possessing
‘sdByD Suoy-sSuoy—euiyy ‘Suoy-3uo0py]

 

 

 

 

 
CHINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND NAVY. 195

brilliant plumage. Kingfishers’ feathers, with those of the heron and
pheasant, find a ready sale to adorn the theatrical stage, and to add
beauty to the ornaments, fans and toys in which Chinese ladies delight.
Peacocks’ feathers are mainly reserved to add dignity to the hats of
those mandarins whom the Emperor especially delights to honor.

A belief that the skins of rhinoceroses form a good and healthy
tonic, gives a value to the tough hides of these beasts in the Chinese
markets, where the horns also are readily competed for at prices running
up to three hundred dollars each.

A usual ingredient in doctors’ prescriptions is a material known as
dragon’s blood, and no doubt this is believed by the majority of patients
to be procured from those mythical animals. In the face of this well-
established superstition, it sounds prosaic to explain that dragon’s blood
is really a dry, resinous substance, which covers the roots of a sort of
rattan that grows in Sumatra, and may possibly serve some medical
purpose, though as yet it is not found in the pharmacopceia of Europe.

In some cities clepsydras are used to mark the progress of time,
and occasionally joss-sticks, which are carefully divided by the astrono-
mical board into periods corresponding to the hours, are kept burning for
the same purpose. The advance from these rough contrivances to clocks
and watches is as great as that from the native candles to kerosene
lamps.

Matches and needles are other items which help to make up the list
of imports. In 1892, four million eight hundred and ninety-four thousand
six hundred and eleven gross of the first, and three million two hundred
and fourteen thousand two hundred .and fifty-eight mille of the last were
imported. On their first introduction, matches came as a revelation to
the Chinese, who were accustomed to nothing more convenient than the
flint and steel, and the even more primitive method of getting fire by
friction.

Umbrellas.

By an inversion of origin, umbrellas, which were first brought to
Europe from the East, are now, by the whirligig of time, reversing their
course. The paper umbrellas of the Chinese, which have so striking and
196 CHINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND NAVY.

picturesque an effect, are not such useful protections against the rain as
against the sun, and natives are beginning to find out that the cotton
and silk umbrellas of European make are more useful and convenient,
even though they be a little dearer. Four hundred and thirty-three
‘thousand and ninety-eight umbrellas were laid down at the treaty ports
in 1892, and the probability is that they were not only sold but used
at those semi-Europeanized places.

Cotton goods, as stated, form the largest item of import into China.
Opium is another important item. The quantity of it imported is,
however, steadily declining, not because it is used less, but because
it is grown and prepared at home. In some provinces the poppy is
the chief crop cultivated.

The Silk Industry.

The area in which silk is produced extends over the greater part
of the Empire, the exception being the northern provinces, where the
cold is too severe either for the growth of the mulberry, or for the
existence of the worm. Within this wide area the conditions of the
cultivation vary considerably. In the central and southern provinces the
mulberry is indigenous, while in Shantung and the neighboring pro-
vinces, a kind of oak supplies the place of its less hardy congener.
With every variation of food there occurs a change in the material pro-
duced; and roughly speaking, the silk may be classed as that produced
from the wild mulberry, the. grafted mulberry, and the kind of oak tree
spoken of above. The best kind is that produced from worms fed
upon the grafted tree; while that grown in Shantung is of a coarse,
thick substance, which lacks the smooth, glossy surface of the Nanking
stuffs. But between these extremes there exists an infinite variety of
materials, and even the four hundred different samples sent from
Shanghai to the Vienna Exhibition did not exhaust the diverse products
of the country.

The Tea Trade.

The China tea trade seems to be declining, in the face of com-
petition with Japan, Ceylon, India, and other countries. From the four
thousand seven hundred and thirteen pounds of tea which were brought
CHINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND NAVY. 197

to Europe in 1678, to the two million two hundred and seventeen thou-
sand two hundred and ninety-five piculs exported from China in 1886,
the growth in the trade was continuous. Since then there has been a
marked decline, and in 1892 the figures stood at only one million six
hundred and twenty-two thousand six hundred and eighty-one piculs,
valued at twenty-five million nine hundred and eighty-three thousand five
hundred taels.
Straw and Wool.

One of the largest items, apart from these two main products, is
straw braid from northern China. This most useful class of goods
found a place in the market after the opening of the port of Tien-Tsin
(1860), and rapidly commended itself to the foreign merchant. From very
small beginnings it quickly grew in volume, and in 1877 twenty-five thou-
sand nine hundred and thirty piculs were exported from the northern ports.
This quantity increased to eighty thousand two hundred and ninety
piculs, valued at two million eight thousand seven hundred and seventy-
five taels, in 1890. In 1892 there was a slight increase on these figures,
but just as in tea, so in this braid, the Chinese producers have grown
careless of the quality which they present to their customers. The
inevitable result of this course has followed, and at the present time the
elasticity which characterized the earlier movements of the trade has
ceased to be observable.

Wool from the plains of Mongolia and the table-lands of Thibet,
and tobacco from the southern provinces of the Empire, form considerable
items in the list of exports, together amounting in value to two
million six hundred and twenty thousand one hundred and sixty-four
taels. Arsenic also is produced in considerable quantities in the country,
and although the home consumption is larger than might be expected,
there is yet a surplus left for the benefit of foreigners.

Like silk, the bamboo is a universal product in China, and so far
as the natives are concerned, the multitude of uses to which the shrub
is turned justifies its elevation to an equal rank of usefulness with
that article of merchandise. Its use is incomparably more general than
that of silk, and enters into the life of every being in the Empire, from
198 CHINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND NAVY.

the Son of Heaven to the scavenger in the streets. It grows over the
greater part of the country in great-profusion, and in a number of varieties,
and from the moment it first shows itself above the ground it is forced
into the service of man.

China and Wax.

A large item in the export list is chinaware, which, since the sup-
pression of the T’aip’ing rebellion and the reopening of the Kinteh-chin
factories, which were ruthlessly destroyed by the rebels,. has again been
largely manufactured. In the returns for 1892 the value of the chinaware
exported is put down at one million eighty-four thousand and eight
taels; but this sum represents only the porcelain and earthenware goods
carried over the seas, and does not include the ware carried overland
into Central and Western Asia. Even at a very early period the markets
of Teheran, Samarkand, and Cabul were supplied by the indefatigable
Chinese, and the ware which is now manufactured in Persia bears
obvious testimony, by its shape and mode of decoration, to its eastern
origin. Space would fail to write of all the other items in the trade
returns, such as fireworks, curiosities, fans, glass bangles, rhubarb,
musk, etc.

Coins and Coinage.

The coinage of China, like every other institution of the Flowery
Land, has two aspects—the one that which it professes to be, and the
other that which it really is. Strange as it may seem, the Chinese have
only one coin, which is known to them as ch’ien, and to us as cash.
In value a cash professes to be about one-tenth of a cent, but as a
matter of fact it varies in almost every district, and it is not at all
uncommon to find two kinds of cash current in one neighborhood. In
some parts of the country people “go to market with two entirely dis-
tinct sets of cash, one of which is the ordinary mixture of good and bad,
and the other is composed exclusively of counterfeit pieces. Certain
articles are paid for with the spurious cash only. But in regard to other
commodities this is a matter of special bargain, and accordingly there is
for these articles a double market price.” Independently, again, of the
confusion arising from the use of genuine and counterfeit coins side by
 

 

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CHINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND NAVY. 201

side, is added the uncertainty due to the system of counting. A hundred
cash means varying numbers, other than a hundred, which are determined
by the usage of each locality.
Ancient Forms.

Imperfect and undeveloped though it is, the coinage of China has
a very long ancestry, and can trace its descent from about 2000 B. C.
One of the earliest shapes which the coins took was that of a knife, no
doubt in imitation of the real weapon, which was early used as a
medium of exchange. These knife coins originally consisted of the
blade and handle, the last of which was terminated in a round end
which was pierced in imitation of the article which they were intended
to represent. By degrees the blade became shortened until it entirely
disappeared. The handle next suffered diminution, and eventually the
round end with a hole in the centre was all that was left, and it is
that which is perpetuated at the present day in the modern cash.

Measures and Weights.

The principal measures and weights of China are these: One
picul = 100 catties; one catty = 16 taels; one tael = 10 mace; one
mace = 10 candereens; one picul = 133% Ibs. avoirdupois; one ton
= 16 piculs, 8 catties; one cwt. = 84 catties; one lb. avoirdupois =
12 taels, or three-fourths of a catty; one tael = 679.84 grains troy;
one chang = 10 Chinese feet or covids, and is fixed by agreement at
141 inches. A covid therefore equals 14.1 inches; one foot equals 8 tsun,
or Chinese inches. A dollar is usually estimated at 7 mace 2 candereens,
but in paying large sums 717 taels are equal to 1000 dollars. In paying
duties 11 to 13 per cent. must be added for the loss in melting the
dollars. A tael equals 1.39 dollars, but a mace in small amounts is

calculated at 14 cents.
The Chinese Army.

The military calling enjoys in China less consideration than any
other occupation whatsoever. The ‘‘wu-kuan” (military official) stands
behind his colleague of the civil service. Promotion is by favor. Any
sort of scientific training, even Chinese, is not demanded of an officer;
the higher posts are sold, the lower awarded to friends: and relations.

\
202 CHINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND NAVy.

Few even know anything of practical service, except possibly in the old-

fashioned Chinese corps. Add to this that the principle rules in China

that every Chinese who has passed his examination in the classics is fit

for the highest posts in the administration, be it in the army, in the

navy, or on the bench of justice; and so the highest posts in the army’

may come to be filled by officials who know absolutely nothing of war.
European [lethods.

The main object of military reform in China has been the defense
of the capital and the approaches thereto, the necessity for which was
brought home to the court by the Anglo-French expedition in 1860.
When the Taeping rebellion was finally crushed, the Ever Victorious
Army, with which the name of General Gordon will always be identified,
was disbanded, and the viceroy Li Hung Chang took into his pay a
considerable number .of these disciplined and experienced soldiers, who
had taken their part in a succession of remarkable achievements. When
Li Hung Chang was transferred as viceroy from Kiangsi to Pechihli, he
took with him these men as a sort of personal bodyguard, and with the
avowed intention of organizing an army that would bear comparison
with European troops, and that should render Peking secure against
foreign insult and attack. He has been engaged on this task for nearly
twenty-five years, and if he has not attained perfect success he has at
least deserved it. At the commencement this’ force numbered about
eighteen thousand men, composed partly of Gordon’s old soldiers, partly
of drafts from the Green Flag army ‘raised by Tseng Kwofan for the
siege of Nankin, and partly of Taeping prisoners, and it was known as
the Shen-che Ying, or Divine Mechanism army, which meant in plain
language that it was armed with rifles. After the Franco-German war
the viceroy took into his service several German officers, of whom Major
von Hanneken, whose name has of late been frequently mentioned, was
perhaps the chief; and these officers devoted themselves with untiring
energy and zeal to the conversion of what was not unpromising material
into a regular army of the highest standard. The training of this force
has been carried on with the greatest possible secrecy at Kalgan and
other places, and the few regiments employed at Tien-Tsin and in the
CHiINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND NAVY. 203

Taku forts were drawn from it only after they had been subjected to a
severe preliminary training. Of the main body no European officer,
except those serving with it, has had any opportunity of forming an
opinion, but it is known that the Black Flag army, as it is now called, of
the Viceroy Li Hung Chang is divided into the three branches of infantry,
cavalry and artillery, and that it numbers about fifty thousand men with
the colors. In addition to that total it is said that there are as many
more reserve men who could be called up whenever required. The
infantry are armed with Remingtons, the cavalry with Winchester
repeating carbines, and the artillery have Krupp’s eight centimetre field-
pieces.
The total strength of the Banner army is stated to be not less than
three hundred thousand men, distributed as follows: one hundred thou-
sand in Peking, twenty thousand scattered throughout China, in cities
like Canton and Nankin, and one hundred and eighty thousand in
Manchuria.
Lack of Cavalry.

‘China will probably never possess a cavalry in the European sense
of the word. In the first place there exists no suitable supply of horses.
‘The Mongolian pony is possessed of endurance for long marches, but is
much too light, and is only thirteen to fourteen hands -high. The supply
is sufficient, and every ten years the old material is renewed. The
governor-general either pays the commanders a certain sum total for
which these have to furnish the remounts, or else he provides them
himself by means of a commission dispatched to Mongolia to buy ponies.
The commanders of camps are allowed a fairly high sum for the fodder,
amounting in Chihli to fourteen shillings per horse monthly. In this
way the cavalry remains as it was, an agile infantry, which, from a
Chinese point of view, possesses the enviable advantage over its brothers
in arms of being able more promptly to place a comfortable distance
between itself and the enemy when necessary. They are armed with
Winchester carbines; in a fight they do not dismount to fire, but the
division rides in single file, one behind the other, in an extended circle;
then each rider fires off his rifle as he passes before his-turn comes
204 CHINA—COMMERCE—FOREIGN RELATIONS—ARMY AND Navy.

around again. Any idea of manceuvring is non-existent. This cavalry is
totally worthless for scouting purposes, chiefly on account of the untrust-
worthiness of the men. The Manchu cavalry in the interior is said to
consist of forty thousand to fifty thousand riders; on the coast provinces
there is no trace of them. The heavy artillery is the favorite weapon of
the Chinese; evil tongues say because it makes the most noise. This
branch is by far the best organized, although, of course, in no way
comparable with that of Europe, and for this simple reason, that the
working of artillery demands science, experience, and study far beyond
anything of which the Chinese are yet capable.
The Navy.

The Chinese fleet has grown considerably in the last fifteen years.
The largest vessels were built in European yards, but the imperial arsenal
at Foochow has produced torpedo cruisers, gunboats, and dispatch ves-
sels. The fleet is divided into the North Coast Squadron, the Foochow
Squadron, the Shanghai Flotilla, and the Canton Flotilla. ©

The North Coast Squadron consists of four barbette seagoing
armor-clads, two of seven thousand two hundred and eighty tons, and
two of two thousand eight hundred and fifty tons; one turret ship of
two thousand three hundred and twenty tons; three deck-protected
cruisers, two thousand three hundred and two thousand five hundred
tons; four torpedo cruisers, a torpedo flotilla, and eleven gunboats from
three hundred and twenty-five to four hundred and forty tons. The
Foochow Squadron consists of ten cruisers of from one thousand four
hundred to two thousand four hundred and eighty tons, three gunboats,
nine dispatch boats, and three revenue cruisers; the-Shanghai Flotilla of
an armored frigate, two thousand six hundred and thirty tons, a gun-
boat, six wood floating batteries, and three transports; and the Canton
Flotilla of three deck-protected cruisers and thirteen gunboats. The
naval strength of China may be summarized as follows: Battle ships,
one first-class, one second-class, three third-class; nine port-defense
vessels; cruisers, nine second-class, twelve third-class, and thirty-five
lower; torpedo boats, two first-class, twenty-six second-class, thirteen
third-class, and two smaller boats.
 

 

Hong-Kong, China—Chinese School.
CHAPTER X.

COREA.—THE KINGDOM OF COREA.

 

  
  

< 4OREA IS FIRST mentioned in Chinese history about 122
“e © 4 B. C., as then giving refuge to the Viscount of Ke,
and ever since that time it has been regarded as be-
eget longing to the Chinese Empire. Corea, or Chosen,
; as the natives prefer to call it, is separated from Japan
on the east by the Sea of Japan, and on the west it is separated from
China by the Yellow Sea. The Chinese Empire bounds it on the north,
and the greater part of Corea forms a peninsula extending southward.
This little “bone of contention,” on the part of China and Japan, proves
to be a good-sized point of land, two and a half times as large as Scot-
land, and, according to the statement of natives, is about a thousand
miles in length, and four hundred and sixty miles in breadth, containing
an area of about seventy-nine thousand square miles.
; Mountains.

Corea may emphatically be designated a mountainous country.
There is one principal range which extends from north to south through
the entire length of the peninsula. There are several individual peaks in
the eastern section that have attained prominence, and are well-known
to European navigators; among these, Hien-fung and Tao-kwang are
probably the highest, although their greatest elevation is only eight thou-
sand one hundred and fourteen, and six thousand three hundred and ten
feet, respectively. Throughout the entire length of the peninsula there is
no valley which could be called a plain, for even the depressions
between the mountains are rugged, and one French missionary has com-
pared the surface to the appearance of the ocean during a severe gale. In
the western part of the peninsula, west of the main range of mountains,

there are irregular spurs, but none of great length or great height.
(207)
208 THE KINGDOM OF COREA.

Rivers.

As may be surmised from the mountainous character of the country,
there are numerous rivers and streams. The boundary line in the north
is marked by two of the most important, Ya-lu-kiang and the Mi-kiang.
We may form some estimate of the size of Corean rivers from the fact
that the Am-no-kang, or the river of the Green Duck, empties into the
Yellow Sea by three distinct mouths, having received numerous affluents
in its course. The Mi-kiang, which the Coreans call Tu-man-kang, also
has a great many tributaries and is half a mile wide at its mouth, at
Hung Chung it is three hundred yards wide, and is about twenty feet
deep in the centre; its current has been estimated at one and a half
knots an hour. The largest river that flows into the Sea of Japan is the
Nak-tong-kang, and in the west there are three that deserve mention,
the Keum-kang, the Hang-kang and the Tai-tang-kang.

Climate. .

The climate of Corea is naturally rendered humid by its peculiar
location. While it is’ less variable than the neighboring continent, its
temperature is lower in summer and higher in winter than is found in
Europe under the same degrees of latitude. Among the mountains on
the eastern coast the climate is inclement, but in the southwest and in
the valleys of the southern provinces, it is mild, which is attributed to
the influence of the monsoon, a tropical trade wind peculiar to the Indian
Ocean, which blows in one direction half the year, and in a directly
opposite direction during the remaining half.

Agriculture.

Among the articles of cultivation are to be found almost all the
fruits of central Europe, though the humidity of the climate renders their
growth less perfect. The lotus and the watermelon are regarded as the
best. Potatoes are not generally cultivated owing to the fact that they
have been introduced but recently, and are still under an interdict of the
government. This is to be regretted from the fact that the peninsula
is frequently visited by famine, which might be in part prevented or
ameliorated by the cultivation of the potato. In the southern provinces
the soil is fertile, and produces tobacco, wine, rice and cotton. The
THE KINGDOM OF COREA. 209

leading exports are excellent cotton fabrics, tiger skins, oxen, ginseng,
which is a medicinal plant of great virtue, and is highly prized among
the Chinese.

Minerals.

The mineral resources of Corea are said to be unusually great, but
of little use to the Coreans. Gold, silver, copper, iron and coal are all
to be found in abundance, but gold mining is strictly prohibited; the
copper mines are neglected, and copper is imported from Japan. The
use of coal is not general, being confined to certain districts only.

Political Divisions and Towns.

Corea is a kingdom divided into eight provinces, three of which,
Ham-kieng, Kang-wen, and Kieng-sang, lie on the eastern side of the
peninsula; and the other five, Pieng-an, Hoang-hai, Kieng-Kei, Tsiong-
tsieng, and Tsien-la extend along the western coast. Each of these
provinces contains a number of walled towns, among the most important
of which may be mentioned Seoul, the chief town of Kieng-kei, situated
on the Hang-kang river; it is the capital of the kingdom and _ therefore
the permanent residence of the Court. The town is surrounded by
massive walls, both high and thick,.and are fifteen miles in circuit.
Among the other towns of note are Ham-heng, Kieng-wen, Mousan, and
Taikon. Some of the provinces have as many as fourteen walled towns,
which affords an idea of the extent to which the country is populated.
Chemulpo is the chief trading seaport, situated on the western coast of
Corea; it is the residence of the British Consul, and is also the station
of an English religious mission. ‘The missionary buildings are a church,
schools, and a parsonage.

The King.

Although the King of Corea is but a vassal of the Chinese Empire,
he is an absolute monarch within his own country, and holds in his
hands the power of life’ and happiness of his subjects, who pay him -not
only ceremonious but almost divine honor. For hundreds of years the
most rigid rules of court etiquette have been observed ; for instance, it
is regarded high treason for the person of the king to be touched with
any weapon of iron; and, rather than submit to the use of the lancet, a
210 THE.KINGDOM OF COREA.

former king allowed himself to die of an abscess which might have been
relieved by the simple surgical instrument. Every one who enters the
presence of the king, when sitting in state, must fall prone before the
throne. If the body of a subject be even accidentally touched by the king’s
hands, the one so honored must ever after wear a badge of commemora-
tion. It may easily be seen how difficult of access is the King of Corea,
and while he does not come in contact with the poor of his realm, he,
nevertheless, provides for all their wants, and never fails to have a long
list of applicants for personal aid. No interference is tolerated, even in
the slightest particular, and, should any be offered, it would be regarded
as treason on the part of the nobles. The royal palaces are unworthy
of their name, being but poor structures compared with the modern idea
of what a king’s palace should represent. The present King of Corea is
Li H’oung, who succeeded King Khoul Khong in 1864. His majesty is
nearly forty-three years of age, having been born on July 25, 1851; he
.is married to a noble lady of the Min family. The king is represented
as a well-meaning, inoffensive man, but not mentally strong, and report
says he is completely under his wife’s influence, who wields consider-
able power. The hereditary prince was twenty-one years of age in Jan-
uary, 1894. The titles of the king are numerous and inflated, considering
that they are applied to a Hermit King; “Son of Heaven,” and “ King
of Ten Thousand Isles,” signify a power and grandeur which seem
scarcely fitting when we reflect that his majesty requires the consent of
China for his accession to the throne, and for the power to name his
successor, besides being obliged to pay annually a heavy tribute. Dem-
orest’s Magazine gives the following accurate description of the Queen
of Corea:

“The Queen of Corea is now forty-four years of age, being just
one year older than her husband. She is of medium height, and her
form is slender and straight. Her manner is pleasing—and she is
always described as ‘every inch a queen.’ She is by no means bad-
looking. Her face is long, and every line of her features beams with
intelligence and vivacity. She has a high forehead, a long, slender,
aristocratic nose, and her mouth and chin indicate determination and
 

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THE KINGDOM OF COREA. 213

character. Her cheek bones are high, her ears are small, and her
complexion is the color of rich Jersey cream. Her eyebrows are after
the approved style of Corean beauty, the hairs having been pulled out,
so that they form an arched thread of black over her eyes. These are
almond in shape, and they fairly snap with life. They are keen, business-
like eyes, and they see everything—being intellectual, rather than soulful.
The Queen’s hair is jet black. It is parted in the middle, is combed
perfectly smooth away from the forehead and brought down over the
ears, and rolled in a low coil, which rests on the nape of her neck.
Here it is fastened with hairpins of gold or of silver, each a foot long
and as big around as your finger. The Queen has a good mouth, full
of well-formed, large teeth; and when she laughs—which is quite often
—she shows the upper ones. The Queen has a large wardrobe, the
dresses of which she changes frequently. During her mourning for the
Queen Dowager she was dressed for weeks in a white silk gauze, which
is the color for mourning in Corea. She is not fond of jewelry. Her
hands, which are long, thin and shapely, never sparkle with diamonds;
her only rings are heavy gold bands, and she always wears these in
pairs, two rings on one finger. She wears neither bracelets nor necklaces,
and her clothing is more like that of a retiring woman of the West than
that of the Queen of the most gorgeous oriental Court of the world.
Her feet are clad in Corean shoes of the softest of skins, finely
embroidered, and more like slippers than shoes. She carries a diamond-
studded American watch; and, as is the custom among the Corean
women, she is by no means averse to a smoke. She does not,
however, affect the long-stemmed Corean pipe, with its bowl of silver
or brass, but prefers a cigarette; and I was told at Seoul that she orders
her cigarettes from the United States, and smokes them quite freely.”
The Government.

The government, as has been intimated, is an absolute monarchy,
at the head of which is the King who holds the reins, but who is
assisted by three ministers, in whose power the government may
be said to be vested: these are seng-ci-tsieng or the admirable coun-

cillor; tsoa-ei-tsieng, or the councillor Of the left; ou-ei-tsieng or the
10
214 THE KINGDOM OF COREA.

councillor of the right. These three ministers are also assisted by six
judges called pan-tso, and each judge has his own _ substitute or
tsam-pan and also his own adviser or tsam-et. The six judges
are: mi-tso, ho-tso, miei-tso, pieng-tso, hieng-tso, and kong-tso, and
their respective duties are: (1) charge of the public offices and
employments; (2) taking of the census and assessing of the taxes;
(3) charge of religious and official ceremonies; (4) the war depart-
ment; (5) superintending the criminal courts; (6) charge of the public
works and commerce. In the royal palace there are three scribes, called
sug-tsi, whose duty it is to keep a daily record of all the words and
actions of the monarch. Besides all these functionaries, the eight prov-
inces are each controlled by a governor, who is himself dependent upon
the ministerial council; these eight provinces are also subdivided into
three hundred and thirty-two districts, and each of these is subject to
a separate mandarin. One can scarcely conceive of a more complex
system of government than that of Corea—literally a wheel within a
wheel, rendering it almost impossible for the slightest act of disloyalty or
of crime; it is natural that one should wonder at the necessity of a
criminal court, unless it be found to verify the schoolboy adage that the
boys who are most closely watched give the most frequent offense.
Language.

The language of the Coreans is Mongolian in origin; it belongs to
the Turanian family, and possesses all the grammatical features of the other
Turanian tongues. Their alphabet consists of fourteen characters, corres-
ponding to the European consonants, k, J, n, r, 4 m (or b), p (or b),
ng (sounded like the nasal # in uncle), és, tsh, kh, th, ph (not f, but p
aspirate), and #. There are also eleven vowels, which by composition
produce thirteen diphthongs. The lines are written longitudinally, the
same as the writing of the Chinese, the characters running, syllable by
syllable, from top to bottom of the page. The vocabulary of the
Coreans is naturally largely intermixed with Chinese terms, but even
these are subjected to the variations of the Corean declension. The
grammar of the language is more complex, in some respects, than the
English, particularly in the use of the noun and the verb, the former
THE KINGDOM OF COREA. 215

having mine cases, and the latter having a causative, a conditional, an
interrogative, and an honorific form; the latter is used only in speaking
of or to dignitaries; and, indeed, so rigidly is this observed ‘that there is
a slight variation for each degree of dignity maintained by the official
addressed. The Coreans sadly neglect the study of their own tongue,
which accounts for the fact that the conversation and the literature of
the educated classes are all in the Chinese language; the Corean pronun-
ciation of the Chinese language, however, is so peculiar as to. be
unintelligible to the Chinese themselves. Very little remains of the
literature which at one time was, no doubt, very extensive. When
Kang-hoa was captured in 1866, Admiral Roze discovered one library
containing at least four thousand volumes, beautifully covered with
crimson and green silk, which had evidently been preserved with the
greatest care. One volume, in particular, has been described by the
writer as consisting of a number of marble tablets which were
united by hinges made of gilt copper. The tablets were separated
and protected by scarlet silk cushions; the letters were in gold and
were incrusted on the marble. All this care and expense gives evidence
that there was a time in the remote past when the Coreans devoted
_considerable attention to their language and literature; at present, there
are but disconnected fragments of poetical collections, nursery tales, and
romances. The sacred books of Confucius have been translated into
the Corean tongue, and it is regarded as a crime to change a word
without the sanction of the government. The missionaries have at all
times urged the study and the preservation of the Corean language, and
have themselves composed a number of works for the encouragement
of the natives.
Educational System.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Coreans neglect their native
tongue, they hold education in high esteem, and follow the example, as
well as the literature, of China. It is necessary for all public officials to
pass examinations at specified times, but the candidates are given the
greatest liberty in their preparation, being allowed to pursue any system,
and to attend the instruction of any teacher, the examiners being partic-
216. THE KINGDOM OF COREA.

ular only as to the results of the examination, and caring little for the
methods. Once a year an official examination is held in the capital,
which is attended by applicants from all the provinces in the kingdom ;
these examinations are conducted somewhat similar to our civil service
examinations. After an official examination is over, the successful candi-
dates celebrate the occasion by putting on a robe indicative of the new
title attained, and, accompanied by music, they ride on horseback to the
residences of the examiners and the state officials. Custom also requires
a burlesque celebration of an initiation, during which the face of the
novice is spattered with ink and then sprinkled with flour. These
official examinations secure three separate degrees, but in order to obtain
the highest, it is not necessary for the applicant to pass the first and the
second. Great stress was formerly laid upon these degrees and the
necessary examinations, but within the last century the system has
degenerated, and it is not an uncommon event now for persons to pur-
chase a degree instead of passing the customary examination. It is a
matter of surprise to learn that in this far-off peninsula a regular univer-
sity system of education is pursued; especially is this the case with the
middle class, who regularly devote themselves to the special branches
needed in the conduct of public affairs. There is a school of science,
the koang-sang-kam, which is devoted to astronomy and _ associated
branches; the eéi-sa, which is a medical school subdivided into two
branches, one for royal and one for public service; the sa-tsa-koan,
which is a school of recorders who are taught to preserve and classify
the archives of the kingdom, also to prepare the official reports to be
sent to the Chinese capital; the fo-hoa-si teaches the construction of
maps; the wiowl-hak is the school of law, and discusses the penal
code; the kili-sa prepares clerks for positions in the department of
public works, and the hem-nou-koan to which is intrusted the care
and regulation of the hydraulic clock that belongs to the government.
One of the duties of the #-hai-si is to paint the portrait of the king,
and this is placed in the royal gallery after the death of the monarch.
It is seen from the above divisions and their respective duties, that the
system is very similar to the modern university, except the fact that the
 

 

 

Corea—Seoul, Main Gate of the Palace.
THE KINGDOM OF COREA. --219

Corean schools are subject to the authority of the government instead of
being a private enterprise, as is the modern university.
Religion.

The Corean religion since the fourteenth century is principally the
doctrine of Confucius, but previous to that the religion was Buddhism,
introduced into Corea as early as the fourth century. The Catholic
missionaries have made some progress in establishing their religion. In
1857 it was claimed that fifteen thousand two hundred Coreans had
professed the Catholic faith, The Confucianism which is now the
established doctrine of Corea is almost identical with that of the Chinese,
but it retains many of the native popular superstitions.. The two
divinities, sta-tsik and siang-tiel, receive not only the worship of the
people, but public sacrifices are made to the latter, whom they regard
as supreme and capable of warding off disease, of producing rain, or of
preventing it, if desired. Although the sza-tszk is the patron of the
kingdom, he is scarcely known in the provinces; in the capital, however,
his temple is regarded as the most sacred. Like the Chinese, the
Coreans worship their ancestors and, among the most educated, the
chief form of religion consists of ceremonial observances in connection
with funerals, the period of mourning, and the tomb. There is a temple
dedicated to Confucius to be found in every district; this temple is
called kiang-kio, and has an extensive territory connected with it.
If the income of the domain is not sufficient to pay the necessary
expenses, the public treasury is called upon to supply the deficiency; thus
we see that the church, as well as the school, is dependent upon the
public funds to support it, at least in part, if not wholly. Although so
many centuries have elapsed since Buddhism was the recognized religion,
still a few of the large pagodas that were then erected.may be seen.
The Buddhist monks who may still be found in some of the provinces
have no influence or power whatever, except in the province of kéeng-
sang; they have very little learning and their numbers are rapidly
diminishing. The Coreans of to-day have. retained much of their native
superstition; they believe strongly in signs, and guide their actions
frequently by what they consider a favorable or an unfavorable omen.
220 THE KINGDOM OF COREA.

It may rightly be inferred that the country is filled with fortune-tellers
of every class and description. The blind, who are supposed to be
gifted with special sight, make great capital of their affliction. So great
is the number of these sightless prophets in the capital that they have
formed a sort of mutual benefit association, and receive legal recognition ;
the credulous employ these blind fortune-tellers to assist in discovering
secrets, in fore-telling future events, and in casting out evil spirits. In
the latter process they resort to great noise in order to frighten the evil
spirit, which is afterwards caught and triumphantly carried away.
Manners and Customs.

The Coreans are represented as being good tillers of the soil;
they, however, subsist principally on fish, thus imitating their neighbors,
the Chinese and the Japanese ; their greatest delicacy is said to be the
dried fin of a shark. The Coreans are tall, broad-shouldered, well-
developed, but extremely lazy; the men are rather effeminate in
character and wanting in bravery, but they are easy-going and amiable.
The Coreans are not a warlike race, and prefer to pay an annual
subsidy to their neighbors rather than run any risk of being molested by
them. The women of Corea hold a very inferior position, both socially
and legally; they, however, are not kept in seclusion except among the
upper classes. The marriage rite is entirely a matter of form or etiquette;
the heads of the families agree upon the terms; the immediate contracting
parties have no voice in the matter, and do not even see each other
until they meet at the ceremony and salute each other as man and wife.
There is little home life or social intercourse between them, even after
the ceremony is over; the husband continues to associate with his own
sex, and the wife enjoys the society of her female friends. The strong
affection which the parents entertain for their children, and the reverence
shown by the children for their parents are the best characteristics of
this people; like the Chinese, devotion to parents is part of their religicn.

There are numerous rules laid down for the conduct of a son to
his father; he must write to his father in only the most respectful
terms; if he chances to meet the father on the way, the son must
immediately show him most humble obeisance; if the father is sick, the
THE KINGDOM OF COREA. 221

son is expected to attend to his wants; should the father be cast into
prison, the son must await him outside; if the father be punished by
being exiled, the son must suffer with him by accompanying him;
should the father die, the son takes his place as the head of the family,
and assumes all the duties of the father towards the rest of the children.
One of the greatest duties of the housewife is to preserve the
“ancestral fire,’ and, in doing so, she necessarily experiences all the
cafe and anxiety of a vestal virgin, in her responsibility.

Dwellings and Dress.

The dwellings of the Coreans are not remarkable for architectural
skill or beauty; they consist of but one story, and that is most superficial
in structure; the materials employed are wood and sometimes clay, and
rice straw; the roof is rudely thatched, and the windows are few and
imperfect. General poverty prevails among the lower classes; their
houses, if such they may be called, are miserable excuses for the term,
being usually limited to ten or twelve feet square; the bare earth serves
for a floor, which is sometimes covered with a poor quality of mats.
The people are accustomed to sitting on the floor in a squatting posture
and do not seem to know the use of chairs, for none are ever seen in
their houses; their idea of a bed is equally vague, judging from the
absence of anything that deserves that name. Straw sandals and stock-
ings are worn by all. The garments of both sexes are of native
manufacture, consisting of a coarse cotton cloth in its natural color; the
wealthier classes wear a rough quality of silk. The men wear wide
pantaloons and a long vest covered with a long, loose over-garment ;
this long outer covering is-worn by the lower classes only on holiday
occasions. The rank of the better class seems to be distinguished chiefly
by their hats. The national hat is a frame-work of bamboo, covered
with an open work of plaited horse hair; the hats are tall and peaked,
and the difference in size and shape indicates the difference in the rank

of the wearer.
Industry and Trade.

The Coreans, aS a race, are proverbially lazy; it is not to be
supposed, therefore, that the industrial arts have received much attention
222 THE KINGDOM OF COREA.

at their hands; they seem to be satisfied in being able to supply their
own homely needs by their own labor. There is one art in which the
Corean really excels, and that is in the manufacture of fine paper, which
is used in a great many ways, both for ornament and for practical pur-
poses. There is very little trade carried on except by means of fairs or
markets, one great drawback being the want of currency. A small copper
coin called sapeke is the only one used, and even that is little recog-
nized in the northern provinces where a system of barter is still in
vogue; this seems almost incredible, yet, when we consider how little
intercourse with other nations Corea has had, this state of affairs is not
to be wondered at. The condition of the roads does not render traffic
possible, and there is little transport of goods, except by porterage, for
wheeled vehicles are unknown. Although there are numerous rivers
throughout the provinces, yet, such a structure as a bridge that is worthy
of the name is scarcely known, except, perhaps, at the capital. The
main occupation of the Coreans is the cultivation of rice, tobacco, hemp,
cotton, and the raising of cattle. While war is a calamity to a nation or
country, it sometimes proves a blessing in disguise, and if the present
troubles in Corea tend to draw the inhabitants out of their habits of life,
and awaken them to the duty of exerting themselves in industrial affairs,
what may we not hope for them in the near future?
Foreign Commerce.

The Coreans as a nation: have been averse to foreign commerce,
and the country well deserves the title of “Hermit Kingdom,” which it
has received. It certainly seems remarkable that, at the dawn of the
twentieth century, so little should be known by European travelers of
that large country, over six hundred miles from north to south, and
nearly three hundred from east to west, and having a population of at
least nine millions, yet such is the case. Even the Chinese and the
Japanese ships have been prohibited from landing, although they are
allowed to fish along the coast of Pieng-an for trepang, and the vessels
ply along the coast of Hoang-hai for herring, but until late years they
were prohibited from holding any communication whatever with the
native Coreans at sea. Ambassadors are annually sent to Pekin: on
 

Corea, Seoul—Pouls-Han Temple.
THE KINGDOM OF COREA. 225

official business, and they have brought back to their countrymen some
idea of the western world; but this knowledge, instead of awakening
the curiosity and energy of the Coreans, has served rather to make them
more exclusive than ever, and they have maintained the most absolute
isolation in regard to all foreigners.

The Corean Army.

Whatever may be the present condition of the Corean military
affairs we have reason to think that in the past they have been suffi-
ciently formidable to cope with their more numerous and more fully
equipped enemies. From the time that Corea is first mentioned in
Chinese history in m22 B.C., it has been claimed as a part of the
Chinese Empire; instead of being a connected whole, uniting its forces
against a common enemy, it was composed of separate states or prov-
inces which had from time to time risen to importance. In the first
century of our era, three only of these had attained any degree of
prominence. Corea was submerged in a succession of civil wars, which
continued for a thousand years; in the eleventh century the whole
peninsula was united into one kingdom by Wang the founder, who
established the government by which the country has since been known.
In 1392 the present dynasty of Tsi-tsien was established under a Chinese
leader, and the system of government then. founded is still in power.
In 1597 a Japanese monarch invaded Corea with a force of one hundred
and sixty-three thousand horsemen and, while the records do not state
the exact number of the Corean forces, it is evident that their enemies
considered them sufficiently powerful to require so great an army to
contend with them. In this conflict the Coreans were assisted by a
Chinese cavalry of one hundred thousand. The death of their monarch,
in 1598, induced the Japanese to withdraw their forces, retaining as their
own the fort of Fusan, and exacting a heavy annual tribute at the hands
of the Coreans. Since the year 1636, Corea has not been at war with
China or Japan, and has held itself aloof from almost every other nation,
not encouraging either travel or commerce. We are dependent chiefly
upon the Chinese and the Japanese statistics for our knowledge of Corea,
which may be greatly under-rated. The missionaries have possibly given
226 THE KINGDOM OF COREA.

the most reliable information concerning this hermit kingdom, yet even
their accounts are meagre and disconnected.
Corean Navy.

The London Graphic says: “The present struggle between
China and Japan shows distinctly how far the Chinese Empire is behind
the times. She is still in the throes of preparation, moving with true
national slowness, when her smart, little opponent is already at her gates,
fully equipped for the fray. Indeed, Japan has well learned her lessons
of European tactics and organization.” If China is so far behind Japan
in her naval equipment, what must be the condition of the Corean
navy? In the present struggle, Corea does not take active part, being only
the bone of contention between the opposing nations. In the efforts
formerly put forth by American vessels to effect an entrance into Corean
ports, the natives have burned the ships, thus compelling the Americans
to retire; in no instance is there mention made of a naval conflict. In 1867,
the United States sent Commander Schufeldt to communicate with the
authorities and, if possible, to remonstrate against the treatment received
from the natives, but he was obliged to return without accomplishing
his mission. In 1870, another effort was made, this time under Admiral
Rodgers, who aimed to reach the capital and to interview the govern-
ment direct, but the effort was met with the same reception as before,
on the part of the Coreans, who would accede to no overtures, and,
though the American vessel would have been able to force its way, for
political reasons it was deemed best to desist.

Since 1875 the Japanese have succeeded in forming a treaty with
the Coreans which allows the former to maintain a representative at
the Corean capital, and permits the Japanese vessels to enter three of
the Corean ports. From the foregoing we may readily infer that the
military equipment of the Coreans is in full keeping with the progress
of the country and the natives. It is difficult to realize that any nation
should persist in maintaining such complete isolation in this age of pro-
gress and enlightenment, especially one so favorably situated for
commercial intercourse with the outside world. The student mind cannot
but speculate on the past and the future of Corea. Going back to the
THE KINGDOM OF COREA. 227

earliest date centuries ago, we are led to believe that the Coreans
enjoyed a degree of literary culture equal, if not superior, to their
neighbors. What caused the retrogression remains a mystery to be
solved by more fortunate generations of students and travelers. Shall
the future unlock the Corean gates and throw open her ports to civilized
nations? Will her people throw off their national stupor as a rejected
garment, and, with an energy befitting the enlightenment of the present
day, exert themselves to make up for past centuries of inaction and
indifferencer If it were possible for Corea to throw off her shackles,
to assert her independence, who knows but that she might rise to the
prominence which her location and resources might well claim for her?
Does the optimist see in the. present contention between China and
Japan, not who shall succeed in claiming possession of the peninsula, but
who shall be the first to set her free? Then, indeed, may we hope to
see our wildest speculations as to Corea’s future realized.
America and Corea.

Notwithstanding the previous unsuccessful efforts of America to
enter the Corean ports, she with her customary diplomacy and with the
assistance of Chinese influence, succeeded in 1882 in making a treaty
with Corea, and in establishing a United States consulate at Seoul. At
this time the King of Corea wrote a letter to the President of the
United States, in which he declared that although he was tributary to
China, yet in the management of his internal and external affairs he was
independent. To this President Arthur replied that he was glad to hear
this, inasmuch as the United States could enter into treaties only with
independent powers. .

The Review of Reviews says, in reference to the present war in
the East: ‘“‘Our Government at Washington has possibly missed a great
opportunity to minister to the cause of peace and justice, and of progress
to the nations. Our influence in China, Japan and Corea is so great,
and our position in the very nature of the case is so free from suspicion
of self-interest, that anything like an energetic attempt upon our part to
act as mediator, and to prevent the clash of arms between our long-time
friends, the governments of Japan and China, ought to have been
228 THE KINGDOM OF COREA.

crowned with brilliant success. We believe that any solution of existing
Asiatic difficulties that the United States should declare to be just and
right would be promptly accepted by Russia and England, as well as by
the Asiatic powers themselves.”

The War in Eastern Asia.

The London Qews thus describes the situation in Eastern Asia,
as regards the troops of the two nations engaged in war on Corean
soil and in Corean waters: ‘The conflict recently begun in Corea,
and in the Yellow Sea between such considerable military and naval
powers as the Chinese and the Japanese Empire, is of much import-
ance. It is manifestly a struggle between the two rival East Asiatic
nations—the one continental, the other insular—for paramount control
of a peninsula geographically situated between them, hitherto left in
a very backward state of civilization. European opinion is_ scarcely
called upon to decide the validity of the Chinese claim to imperial
authority over Corea, or that of the Japanese to make their settlements
in different-parts of the country a pretext for compelling its King to
adopt reforms of domestic administration. They must be left to fight
out this quarrel.”

The same authority says: “Mr. George Curzon, who has traveled
extensively through the East, speaks of two Chinese armies,—namely,
that of the Eight Banners, including the army corps of thirty-seven
thousand men stationed in Manchuria, the northern province, and the
Imperial Guard of Peking, contradistinguished from the “Ying Ping” or
territorial army, sometimes named the ‘Green Flags,” or the “Five
Camps,” consisting of a militia never yet properly organized for war, and
of whom about one-third are usually called out, to which must be added
certain mercenary troops raised in emergencies, and some Mongolian
irregular cavalry.

“On the other hand, pai has a well organized regular army of
seventy-five thousand men, with a reserve of one hundred and thirteen
thousand, and a landwehr of eighty thousand armed, equipped and
drilled according to the highest standard of the nineteenth century require-
ment, and moreover economically and honestly administered.”
 

Corea—Pack Bearer, earthenware vessels for sale.
CHAPTER XI.

 

THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN.

 

a

-

& 4HE NAME JAPAN IS A corruption of Marco Polo’s Zip-
e 3 angu, itself a corruption of the Chinese pronunciation

Es . ted of the native name Nihon. Nihon, or Nippon, means

“Ie “Land of the Rising Sun.” Dai, “Great,” is some-

times prefixed. “The realm consists,” says Mr.

Stevens, of the Japanese Legation, writing in the New York Herald, “of

a group, or, to speak more precisely, of several groups of islands lying

off the east coast of the continent of Asia. These islands, irregular in

shape, and even more irregularly distributed, consist of a main group of

four islands, and of several smaller groups scattered in different direc-

tions, with here and there solitary islands and islets, posted like sentries
about the Island Empire of the Orient.

“The main group consists of four islands. The northernmost is
Hokkaido, once known as Yezo. Then comes the principal island, which,
curiously enough, is really without a name, although it is sometimes
called Honshin, and sometimes Nippon. The southernmost island is
Kiushiu, or ‘The Nine Provinces;’ the one to the east and north of that,
Sikoku, or the ‘Four Provinces.’ ”

Between Kiushiu and Sikoku, on the one side, and the mainland
on the other, almost completely landlocked, lies that beautiful body of
water known as the Inland Sea, itself studded with islands and islets.
The islands scattered here and there in irregular array form the most
unique and attractive feature. How many there are of these islands no
one seems to know exactly—the Japanese themselves say thousands.
Many of them are inhabited and in a state of high cultivation, while

others, ranging in size from mere rocks to mountainous and precipitous
(23%)
232 THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN.

cliffs, have upon them no human habitations. In many cases fantasti-
cally shaped and curiously marked, with those that are inhabited, where
picturesque villages cluster upon the shores and the terraced hillsides are
tinted with the varied hues and colors of the growing crops, they com-
bine to form a scene of novel and impressive beauty. The sea itself,
although occasionally disturbed by storms, possesses at most times
all the charms of a quiet lake. It is as if the land had snatched
away a part of the stormy ocean, roaring in surly discontent upon its
outer coasts, and decking it with these gems, torn from its own
bosom, had wrapped it in a soft embrace and lulled it into a gentle sleep.

Formerly the southern portion of Saghalien belonged to Japan,
but this was ceded to Russia in 1875, certain of the Kurile Island group
being granted in return. The Empire of Japan thus has an area estimated
at more than one hundred and fifty-five thousand square miles, and lies
between 24° 6’-50° 56’ north latitude, and 122° 45’-156° 32’ east longitude.
It is bounded on the north by the Sea of Okhotsk, on the east by the
North Pacific Ocean, on the south by the eastern Sea of China, and on
the west by the Sea of Japan.

History.

The reputed founder of the present dynasty was Jimmu Tenno,
who ascended the throne in 660 B. C. The legendary epoch continues
for more than 1000 years, and all Japanese history before soo A. D., is
to be classed as legendary. In 201 A. D., the Empress Jingo is said to
have invaded and conquered Corea, and this expedition was followed by
the introduction of Corean civilization, the sacred Chinese books Rongo
and Senjimon arriving from Corea in 285. In 552 Buddhism was in-
troduced from Corea, and became, forty years later, the established
religion. In 624 a Buddhist hierarchy was established by government.
Shortly before this direct relations had been entered upon with China,
and Chinese civilization was thereafter rapidly assimilated. The system
of periods commenced in 646, and from this time onward the national
history is clearly traced. During the five centuries which ensue, the
people made immense strides in civilization. A complete system of
officialdom was organized, under the rule of the Fujiwara family, whose
THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN. 233

members filled all the chief posts under government, and gave a suc-
cession of consorts to the imperial house.
The Shoguns or Tycoons.

The decadence of this family and the growing weakness of the
government favored the rise of the hitherto subordinate military class,
which, in the person of Yoritomo, created Shogun or Generalissimo in
1192, seized the reign of power. The usurpation of supreme authority
by this officer, long known to Europe by the Chinese name of Tycoon,
led to the erroneous, but natural belief that, down to 1868, there were
two emperors in Japan—one, a Mikado, or “spiritual emperor,” who
reigned but did not govern,.and the Shogun, who really governed,
though he paid homage to the Mikado. The next four centuries until
1603 were a period of bloodshed, marked by all the untold miseries of
civil strife. The military fiefs organized by Yoritomo raised up a feudal
baronage, who succeeded in making themselves virtually independent of
the central power. Even the Buddhist monasteries in many cases
became military centres. At one time (1333-92) two puppet dynasties
held sway, the north and the south, to one or other of which the feudal
barons rallied. The Shogunate, made powerful by Yoritomo, itself fell
into abeyance, but the military genius and astute policy of Yideyoshi,
who died in 1598, prepared the way for its revival in 1603 by Toku-
gawa lIyeyasu, the illustrious general and statesman who gave a lasting
peace to Japan. In 1592 Hideyoshi had directed an expedition against
Corea, inflicting a blow on the prosperity of that country from which it
has nct since recovered. Iyeyasu, victorious over a combination of
southern barons at Sekigahara near’ Lake Biwa in 1600, fixed his seat of
government at Yeddo, the “port,” situated at the head of the Gulf of
Yeddo, and near the embouchure of the rivers which drain the largest
plain in Japan. Backed principally by the northern clans, he was able
to consolidate his power and found a permanent succession, his descend-
ants reigning at Yeddo till 1868. From being a collection of small
scattered villages this place soon became one of the most populous
cities in the world. His system was perfected by Iyemitsu, the third
Shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty.
234 THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN.

The Policy of Exclusion.

It was his policy “‘To preserve unchanged the condition of the
native intelligence” and “To prevent the introduction of new _ ideas,”
and to effect this he not only banished foreigners, interdicted all inter-
course with them, and extirpated Christianity, but introduced that “most
rigid and cunningly-devised system of espionage” which was in full
activity at the time of the Earl of Elgin’s mission, as amusingly described
by Laurence Oliphant. “This espionage,” says a recent Japanese writer,
“held everyone in the community in dread and suspicion; not only the
most powerful daimyo felt its insidious influence, but the meanest
retainer was subject to its sway; and the ignoble quality of deception,
developing rapidly to a large extent, became at this time a national
characteristic. The daimyos, who at first enjoyed.an honorable position
as guests at the court of Yeddo, were reduced to vassalage, and their
families retained as hostages for the rendition of a biennial ceremonial of
_ homage to the Shogun. Restrictions surrounded personages of this rank
until, without special permission, they were not allowed to meet each
other alone.” .

The Portuguese, who first landed in Japan in the year 1543, car-
ried on a lucrative trade; but by-and-by the ruling powers took alarm,
ordered away all foreigners, and interdicted Christianity (1624), believing
that foreigners impoverished the country, while their religion struck at
the root of the political and religious systems of Japan. The converts to
Catholicism were found to have pledged their allegiance to a foreign
power, while their conduct is said to have been offensive towards the
Shinto and Buddhist temples; so that in time they came to be regarded
as a dangerous and anti-national class. whose extirpation was essential
to the well-being of the nation and to the success of the political system
being organized or perfected by Iyemitsu. The Portuguese continued to
frequent Japan till 1638, when they and their religion were finally
expelled. From this date the Japanese government maintained .the most
rigid policy of isolation. No foreign vessels might touch at Japanese
ports under any pretense. Japanese sailors wrecked on any foreign shore
were with difficulty permitted to return home; while the Dutch, locked
 

 

 

 

Yokohama, Japan—Japanese Cruiser, ‘* Maniwa.”
THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN. 237

up in their factory at Deshima, were allowed to hold no communication

with the mainland.
The Opening of Japan.

Thus the people lived “like frogs in a well,” as the Japanese
proverb has it, till 1853, when they were rudely awakened from their
dream of peace and security by Commodore Perry steaming into the
harbor of Uraga with a squadron of United States war-vessels. He
extorted a treaty from the frightened Shogun, 31st of March, 1854, and
Japan, after a withdrawal of two hundred and sixteen years, entered once
more the family of nations. Other countries slowly followed the example
of the United States until sixteen in all had obtained the same privileges.

Five ports, Kanagawa (Yokohama), Kobe (Hiogo), Nagasaki, Niigata
and Hakodate, were opened to foreign commerce, “settlements” or
foreign quarters in these being set apart for the residence of foreigners
under the jurisdiction of their own consuls. A limit of travel, extending
to a radius of twenty-five miles round these ports, was granted. Foreign
settlements were also established in Yeddo (Tokio) and Osaka, these |
settlements being within the prescribed twenty-five miles limit of
Yokohama and Kobe. Obstructions being placed in the way of foreign
merchants settling at Kanagawa, the question was quickly solved by their
crossing the narrow bay, now filled up, and erecting their “hongs” at
Yokohama, a few miles farther from the capital. With the opening of
these ports commenced the extra-territoriality system under which Japan
has shown herself so restive.

The Fall of Feudalism.

The fall of feudalism was merely accelerated by the arrival of for-
eigners. For a long time not a few of the most powerful clans, chiefly
Satsuma and Choshu, had been dissatisfied with the Shogun’s position,
and these gladly availed themselves of the pretext now furnished for
opposing him. All possible means were taken to involve him in com-
plications with the ambassadors at his court; and to this motive rather
than to any hatred of foreigners, are to be ascribed the numerous assas-
sinations which darkened the period immediately prior to 1868. Every

weakening of his power was a step gained towards his overthrow and
II
238 ° | THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN.

the longed-for unification of the Empire in the hands of the Mikado
(Emperor). At length the Shogun resigned; but it was only after a sharp
civil war, in the winter of 1867-68, that the power of his adherents was
completely crushed. At the outset of the struggle the imperial party were
decidedly retrogressive in their political ideas; but before its close various
circumstances convinced them that without intercourse with foreign nations
the. greatness which they desired for their country could not be achieved ;
and when they got into power they thoroughly broke loose from the
old traditions and entered on a course of enlightened reformation.

Recognizing Yeddo as really the centre of the nation’s life, they
resolved to make it the capital; but the name Yeddo being distasteful
through its associations with the Shogunate, they renamed the city Tokio
or Tokei—z. ¢., “eastern capital.” Here the Emperor established his
court, abandoning forever that life of seclusion which had surrounded his
ancestors with a halo of semi-divinity, but deprived them of all real
power. The venerable city of Kioto, which had remained the capital
since 794, was at the same time renamed Saikyo or Saikei—z. ¢., ‘“west-
ern capital.” The daimyos, very few of whom were more than mere
weaklings under the direction of strong-willed retainers, resigned their
fiefs, and were pensioned by the government. Since 1868 the leading
men of Satsuma and Chosu, forming what is called the Sat-cho combi-
nation, have held the important portfolios of state. The new period,
commencing with the Emperor Mutsuhito’s accession, has been named
Meiji, ‘enlightened peace.”

An Advanced Policy.

Japan has, during the Meiji period, striven to make her influence
felt as a powerful factor in Asiatic politics. Her expedition to Formosa in
1874 to punish piracy, her annexation in 1879, of the Loo-Choo Islands,
notwithstanding China’s remonstrances and threats, her spirited policy in
Corea in 1873, and again in 1882, her conscription law of 1883 and
Subsequent army reorganization, her development of a strong navy, her
coast-defense scheme of 1887, subscribed to liberally by wealthy private
individuals, prove her assertive spirit. A rebellion in 1877 of the fiercer
Satsuma men under General Saigo was promptly crushed.
THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN. 239

In 1887 the negotiations for a revision of the treaties were broken
off, owing to an outbreak of popular dissatisfaction with the guarantees
demanded by the seventeen foreign powers acting in concert. This
breakdown was followed by a distinct conservative reaction in the nation,
in no way seriously affecting the steady progress of western institutions,
but marking a more cautious attitude and a more critical spirit. In the
spring of 1889 the combination of treaty powers was broken through by
the action, first of the United States, and then of Germany and Russia,
who formed treaties on their own account, abolishing extra-territorialty
and sanctioning mixed residence under certain mild restrictions. These
treaties were to come into force in 1890. Mexico, not a treaty power,
had also arranged an independent treaty in November, 1888. Other
powers prepared to follow. But a strong opposition having sprung up,
the Kuroda cabinet found itself unable to carry out the scheme, and
treaty revision was once more shelved. This is the close of the first
epoch in the modern history of Japan, following on the heels of the
promulgation of a popular constitution, February 11, 1889.

New Japan.

The position in which Japan has been placed during the past few
decades is so exceptional that outsiders find great difficulty in forming a
correct judgment of her political situation. Instability is supposed where
it is really absent, the fact being that no nation’s history has been more
consistent than Japan’s. The sudden change of front in 1868 was
deliberate and final, one end having been kept in view all through—the
independence and glory of Dai Nippon. So hurried an assimilation as
was made necessary by her complete previous isolation was naturally
accompanied by numerous minor imprudences and extravagances, the
result of ignorance. But the thoroughly patriotic spirit of the nation has
triumphed, and her administration is at present in a highly satisfactory
~ condition.

The assassination in 1877 of Okubo, chief of the party whose
reforms gave rise to the Satsuma rebellion, was followed twelve years
later by the assassination of Viscount Mori, a cabinet minister. This last
was not, like the former, a political event, but merely an unfortunate
240 THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN.

isolated incident, the work of a religious fanatic, a Shintoist. Political
assassination is not, however, dead, and is a peculiar danger in Japan,
where the perpetrators of this dastardly crime seem wholly regardless of
their own lives.

During the past few years, especially since the reconstruction of
the cabinet and the administration in 1886, the court has emerged
entirely from its seclusion. The emperor and empress have visited all
the chief institutions, and are present at public spectacles. The crown
prince, Haru, was the first in the long dynasty to be educated at a
public school. A new nobility was created in 1884, drawn partly from
the old feudal baronage and partly from the new men of 1868. It
consists of five orders—princes or dukes, 11; marquises, 28; counts, 85;
viscounts, 355; and barons, 102, who send representatives to the newly
created Upper Chamber. The nation is itself divided into three classes,
Kwazoku (nobility), Shizoku (gentry) and Heimin (commonalty). Officials

,are of four classes. shinnin, chokunin, sonin, and hannin, each grade
being divided into distinctly marked sub-classes, so that questions of
precedence are quickly settled. Officials at present constitute the flower
of the nation. Class jealousy is absent, careers being open to the
poorest; but there is a growing restiveness under Sal-cho officialdom
and police surveillance, which will probably find a vent in the new
popular institution.

The New Treaties.

Finally, in 1894, foreign nations came to a recognition of Japan’s
right to be dealt with on equal terms with themselves, and a series of
new treaties began to be negotiated to that effect. The first treaty was
concluded with Great Britain. It provides for absolute equality of
treatment in both countries of the subjects of each, with the single
exception apparently of the ownership of land. This provision is made
by the first article in the following language: ‘The subjects of each of
the two high contracting parties shall have full liberty to enter, travel,
or reside in any part of the dominion and possessions of the other con-
tracting party, and shall enjoy full and perfect protection for their persons
and property. They shall have free and easy access to the courts of
 

 

 

Yokohama, Japan—Main Street.
THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN. 243

justice in pursuit and defence of their rights; they shall be at liberty
equally with native subjects to choose and employ lawyers, advocates,
and representatives to pursue and defend their rights before such courts,
and in all other matters connected with the administration of justice they
shall enjoy all the rights and privileges enjoyed by native subjects.”
Notwithstanding the novelty of this experiment, it may be hoped, both
from the fullness of the provisions of the treaty, and from the under-
stood desire of the Japanese to generously interpret its provisions and
intentions, that neither party will in future have reason to regret its
conclusion. |
First View of Japan.

Japan is a pleasant land to look upon as one approaches it,
although there are in its coast-line no startling surprises either of color
or form. Broken wooded ridges, deeply cleft, rise from the water’s
edge, gray, deep-roofed villages cluster about the mouths of the ravines,
and terraces of rice cultivation, bright with the greenness of English
lawns, run up to a great height among dark masses of upland forest.
The populousness of the coast is very impressive.

The islands of Japan appear to be the highest portions of a huge
chain of mountains which rises from a deep ocean bed; they are the
advanced frontier of the Asiatic continent. This chain, though dotted
with volcanoes, is not, therefore, itself of volcanic origin. Earthquakes
occur very frequently in Japan, although the western slope, facing the
Asiatic continent, is exempt. Japan is one of the most mountainous
countries in the world. Its plains and valleys, with their foliage sur-
passing in richness that of any other extra-tropical region, its arcadian
hill-slopes and forest-clad heights, its alpine peaks towering in weird
grandeur above ravines noisy with waterfalls, its lines of foam-fringed
headlands, with a: thousand other charms, give it a claim to be consid-
ered one of the fairest portions of the earth. The sublime cone of the
sacred Fuji-san (Fusiyama, Aino, “ Fire-goddess Mountain”), an extinct
or rather dormant volcano, rises from the sea to a height of twelve
thousand three hundred and sixty-five feet. Ontake-san and Yari-ga-
take, each ten thousand feet; Tate-yama, nine thousand five hundred
244 THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN.

feet; Yatsuga-dake, nine thousand feet; Haku-san, eight thousand five
hundred and ninety feet; Asama-yama (active volcano), eight thousand
two hundred and sixty feet; with many other scarcely lower peaks, rise
in Honshu.

The Great Mountain.

Everybody in Japan, says Sir Edwin Arnold, talks about Fuji, and
thinks about her; paints her on fans, and limns her with gold on lacquer,
carves her on temple gates and house-fronts; and draws her for curtains
of shops, and sign-boards of inns, rest-houses, and public institutions.
The great volcano dominates every landscape, asserts perpetually her
sovereignty over all other hills and mountains, and becomes, in reality as
well as imagination, an indispensable element in the national scenery.
Far away at sea, when approaching Japan, if the weather be clear, long
before the faintest blue line of coast is discernible from the deck, there
is seen hanging in the air a dim white symmetrical cone, too constant
for a cloud, which is Fuji-San. After you have landed and taken up
your residence at Yokohama, Tokio, or any point of the southeastern
littoral, you will be always seeing Fuji-Yama from some garden-nook,
some tea-house gallery, some grove of cryptomerias, or thicket of bamboo,
or even from the railway-catriage window. In the spring and autumn
as frequently as not she will, indeed, be shrouded in the dense masses
of white or gray cumulus which her crest collects, and seems to create,
from the mist of the Pacific. But during summer, when the snows are
all melted from the vast cone, and again in winter, when she is covered
with snow half way down her colossal sides, but the air is clear, the
superb mountain stands forth, dawn after dawn, and evening after even-
ing—like no other eminence in the world for beauty, majesty, and per-
fectness of outline. There are loftier peaks, of course, for Fuji-San is not
so high as Mont Blanc, but there is none—not even Etna—which rises
so proudly, alone, isolated, distinct, from the very brink of the sea—with
nothing to hide or diminish the dignity of the splendid and immense
curves sweeping up from where the broad foot rests, planted on the
Suruga Gulf, to where the imperial head soars lifted high above the
clouds into the blue of the firmament.
THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN. 245

The Story of Fuji-San.

Fuji-San, even among her loftiest sisters, is a giantess. The
legend is that she rose in a single night, at about the date of Alexander
the Great; and it is not impossible. In 806 A. D. a temple was estab-
lished on the mountain to the honor of the beautiful Goddess Ko-
nohana-saku-ya-Hime, though there is also a special deity of the
eminence styled, ‘‘O-ana-mochi-no-Mikoto,” which means “ Possessor of
the Great Hole or Crater.” As late as the fourteenth century Fuji was
constantly smoking, and fire is spoken of with the eruptions, the last of
which took place in December, 1707, and continued for nearly forty
days. The Ho-yei-san, or hump on the south face, was probably then
formed. In_ this, her final outbreak, Fuji covered Tokio itself, sixty
miles away, with six inches of ash, and sent rivers of lava far and wide.
Since then she has slept, and only one little spot underneath the Kwan-
nom-Gatake, on the lip of the crater, where steam exhales, and the red
pumice-cracks are hot, shows that the heart of this huge volcano yet
glows, and that she is capable of destroying again her own beauty and
the forests and rich regions of fertility which clothe her knees and feet.

It is a circuit of one hundred and twenty miles to go all round
the base of Fuji-San. If you could cut a tunnel through her from Yoshi-
wara to Kawaguchi, it would be forty miles long. Generally speaking,
the lower portion of the mountain is cultivated to a height of one thou-
sand five hundred feet, and it is a whoie province which thus lies round
her. From the border of the farms there begins a rough and wild, but
flowery moorland, which stretches round the hill to an elevation of four
thousand feet, where the thick forest belt commences. This girdles the
volcano up to seven thousand feet on the Subashiri side, and eight thou-
sand on the Murayama face, but is lower to the eastward. Above the
forest extends a narrow zone of thicket and bush, chiefly dwarfed larch,
juniper, and a vaccinium ; after which comes the bare, burnt, and terribly
majestic peak itself, where the only living thing is a little yellow lichen
which grows in the fissures of the lava blocks, for no eagle or hawk
ventures so high, and the boldest or most bewildered butterfly will not
be seen above the bushes half-way down.
246 THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN.

Climate.

The different parts of Japan vary widely in climatic conditions.
Leaving out the northern and southern extremes, at Tokio (Yeddo) we
find the annual average temperature to be 57.7° Fahrenheit, while in win-
ter the mercury occasionally falls to 16.2°, and in summer it may rise to
g6°; at Nagasaki the lowest winter temperature is 23.2’; at Hakodate
the annual extremes are 2° and 84°. The normal hot weather begins
only about the beginning of July, and terminates usually in the middle
of September. The late autumn is the driest and most agreeable season.
The ocean current known as the Kuroshiwo (‘‘Black Stream ”’) consider-
ably modifies the climate of the southeast coast; thus, while snow seldom
lies more than five inches deep at Tokio, in the upper valleys of Kaga, near
the west coast, less than one degree farther north, eighteen and twenty feet
are common. The east coast of Yezo is visited by a cold current from
the Kuriles which renders the climate foggy in summer and retards cul-
tivation. The rainfall, which varies much in different years, is on an
average one hundred and forty-five inches. No month passes without
rain; but it is most plentiful in summer, especially at the beginning and
close of the hot season, when inundations frequently occur. North and
west winds prevail in winter, and south and east in summer. The vio-
lent circular storms called typhoons are liable to occur during summer,
but are more destructive in the autumn. August and October are the
pleasantest months for traveling. Thunderstorms are neither common nor
violent, and autumn fogs are equally rare. The climate, though some-
what relaxing to Europeans, and having a tendency to produce anzemia
and troubles of the head, is fairly salubrious, highly so in the mountains.

Vegetable Products.

Chestnut, oak (both deciduous and evergreen), pine, beech, elm,
cherry, dwarf-oak, elder, sycamore, maple, cypress, and many other trees
of familiar name abound in Japan. The grandest forests of pine and
oaks of great size grow in Yezo; but the Rhus vernicifera or lacquer tree,
the Laurus camphora or camphor tree, the Broussonetia papyrifera or
paper-mulberry—the bark and young twigs of which are manufactured
by the Japanese into paper—and the Rhus succedanea or vegetable wax
 

Yokohama, Japan—Jinrikisha, side view.
THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN. 249

tree of Japan, are among the remarkable and characteristic trees of the
country. ‘Bamboos, palms, including sago-palms, and one hundred and fifty
species of evergreen trees likewise flourish. Thus the vegetation of the
tropics is strangely intermingled with that of the temperate or frigid zone;
the tree fern, bamboo, banana and palm grow side by side with the
pine and oak, and the beech, and conifers in great variety. The camellia,
the paulownia, and the chrysanthemum are conspicuous amongst the
indigenous plants. The azalea blooms in May, and a red variety is
found in the mountains as late as the beginning of July. The splendid
Lilium auratum hovers over the hillsides in July; and these are also
bright during the same month with the pink berries of the Coriaria
japonica, the same plant from which comes the arrow poison of the New
Zealanders. _Nymphes and parnassia fill the lakes and morasses. The
tobacco plant, the tea shrub, different varieties of the potato, rice, wheat,
barley, buckwheat, and maize are all cultivated. The flora of Japan
bears a remarkable resemblance to the flora of that part of the North
American continent embraced between the lower Mississippi and the
Atlantic Ocean.
Zoology.

Wild animals are most numerous in Japan. No true wolf exists,
the Japanese yamainu (“wild dog”) being a poor imitation of the
fierce European animal. The black bear, peculiar to the country, is
found in the mountains north of Tokio, and -is dreaded in Yezo.
Wild bear’s flesh is often seen for sale in the capital, as also monkeys’
flesh, an animal remarkable in Japan for its bright crimson face.
Wild deer, protected by law in one or two places, are freely hunted else-
where. A factory for tinning venison was established in Yezo, at Bibi.
A clumsy species of antelope inhabits the mountains. The fox, a
small-sized breed, plays an important part in the folk-lore, as the embodi-
ment of craft, and as a kind of magician. A variety of the stoat, known
as the itachi, wages war on rats and on poultry. A badger, resembling
the American species, is trained for fortune-telling. There are two species
of squirrel, also two flying squirrels, various kinds of rats—powerful
pests—but no true house mice. The hare is a small species resemb-
250 THE EMPIRE OF JAPAN.

ling a rabbit. There is a single species of otter, and there are several
varieties of the seal and the whale. Of the different varieties of snake
only one, the small mamushi, is poisonous. Of domestic animals there
are few. The native horse, introduced according to tradition in the third
century, is really a mere pony, and has few merits, and in most
provinces is a miserable animal. The province of Shimosa, east of
the capital, is very extensively devoted to horse-breeding, stallions
having been brought from San Francisco for the purpose of improving
the breed.
Population.

Japan has a population of forty-one million eighty-nine thousand
nine hundred and forty. The distribution of this population is very uneven.
The main island has more than thirty-one million inhabitants, the Hok-
kaido less than four hundred thousand. The same differences exist to
almost as great a degree between the provinces of the main island itself.
Those in the north and in the mountainous central region are very
sparsely inhabited, while in the south, and wherever a plain or a valley
affords an opportunity for the irrigation, every available foot of ground is
utilized. Japan is not a densely populated country in the sense that it
is over-crowded, or that its resources are severely taxed to supply the
needs of its inhabitants. There are thousands of acres of fertile land
lying fallow which will one day be cultivated, no doubt. The utilization
of such lands depends to some extent upon the adoption of new
methods of agriculture and the growth of new products, and somewhat
upon the greater spread among Japanese of fondness for a meat diet.
The government once made experiments in sheep-farming with a view
to utilizing the great tracts of pasture-land now lying waste. The
experiment was in one sense a failure, not because the sheep did not
thrive sufficiently well, but simply because the Japanese people did not
care to eat mutton. This condition of affairs is, however, changing.
The raising of cattle and the cultivation of crops hitherto neglected are
furnishing profitable use for waste lands, so that in time we may expect
to find the population of Japan somewhat more evenly distributed than
it is at present.
CHAPTER XII.

 

JAPAN—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.
pats, -
4HOSE WHO ARE FAMILIAR with the customs of Euro-
GE pean sovereigns would be surprised to be told that
R they are mere parvenus in comparison with the im-
perial house of Japan. The Emperor of Japan proudly
’ claims an ancestral line of unbroken succession from
the remote date, 660 B. C., to the present Mikado.

The reigning Emperor, Mutsu Hito, was born November 3, 1852;
he succeeded to the throne in 1867, as the Mikado of Japan. He is
represented as a very modern-looking man, wearing European dress, and
bearing little resemblance to his immediate ancestors, who reveled in the
splendor of an oriental Court, but Japan has changed greatly from a
political standpoint; the grandeur, the etiquette, the chivalry, the
ceremony of the old empire have given place to more modernized forms
of government. On_ state occasions, at military reviews, at Court
functions, or at the races, the Emperor may be seen in public, where
he is easily distinguished by his unusual stature, and by his com-
manding figure. He wears a trimmed beard, and his countenance is
not only that of the aristocratic Japanese, but it expresses a dignity and
composure befitting his high office. In public he wears the dark blue
broadcloth uniform of the highest officer in the army.

His Private Life.

The Emperor leads a comparatively quiet and exclusive life. For
weeks at a time he does not leave his palace enclosure. He is fond of
reading, but has abandoned his efforts to acquire the English and the
German language, and is satisfied with translations of foreign literature ;

in his diplomatic relations, he is willing to depend upon interpreters.
(251)
252 JAPAN—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

Too much credit cannot be given to the reigning Emperor for the per-
sistency he has maintained in throwing off the shackles of the old
customs, and in disseminating the principles of the new era in Japanese
history. Unbeaten Tracks in Japan, by Bird, is authority for the following
statements: “Many Europeans ridicule Japanese progress as ‘imitation ;’
Chinese and Coreans contemplate it with ill-concealed anger, not
unmixed with jealousy; yet Japan holds on her course, and without
venturing to predict her future, I see no reason to distrust the perman-
ence of a movement which has isolated her from other oriental nations,
and which, in spite of very many extravagances and absurdities, is
growing and broadening daily.”
The Imperial Family.

The Empress Haruko was born May 29, 1850, and was married
to the Emperor soon after his accession to the throne. She had
received a very practical and most liberal education, not only in her own
literature, but also in the Chinese classics. She excelled in poetic
composition, and several of her poems have been set to music, others
-have been placed in autographic tracery on imperial screens and hanging
pictures. Besides these accomplishments, she was instructed in the
arrangement of flowers, and in the art of fine needlework. Her life as
Empress is a busy one; she devotes a portion of each day to an
informal reception, then she visits hospitals and schools, in which she
takes great interest and pride. Some portion of each day is spent with
her secretaries and readers, and she is never too busy to take physical
exercise in the saddle or the carriage.

A very accurate description of her personal appearance is given in
Jinrikisha Days in Japan, by Scidmore: “Even now her majesty is
more delicately pretty than her younger sisters, although for years an
invalid. She is short in stature, slender and small, with the long oval
face and refined features of the ideal aristocratic type of Japanese beauty.
At her marriage she shaved her eyebrows, painted two shadowy sugges-
tions of them high up on her forehead, and blackened her teeth in
accordance with Japanese custom; but after a few years she ceased to
disfigure herself in this way. It was an event, in 1873, when she gave
 

 

 

 

 

 

Yokohama, Japan—Imperial Dock Yards at Yokosuka.
JAPAN—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT. — 255

her first audience to the envoys’ wives. It cost the court chamberlains
months of study to arrange for the appearance of the Emperor and
Empress together, to reconcile the pretensions of their suites as to rank
and precedence, and to harmonize the occidental, chivalrous ideas of
deference to women, with the unflattering estimate of the Orient. When,
on the day of the new Constitution (February 11, 1890), the Emperor
and Empress rode side by side in the same state carriage, through the
streets of Tokio, and when, that night, he offered his arm to lead her
to a twin arm-chair in the state dining-hall, a new era was begun in
Japanese history.”

From the same authority we have the following interesting
account of the Crown Prince, Prince Haru: “‘The Empress Dowager has
nominal charge of the imperial nurseries in the Nakayama Yashiki, where
the children of the Emperor and his inferior wives remain until their
fourth or fifth years. These wives are all of noble birth and have
establishments within the palace enclosure. They are an oriental survival
of which little is said or definitely known, although they still have a
fixed rank. The Empress Haruko has no children and Prince Haru, the
Crown Prince, is the son of the Emperor and Madame Yanagiwara. One
little imperial princess is living, but ten imperial children have died.
Prince Haru was born September 6, 1879, proclaimed heir apparent
August 31, 1887, and elected Crown Prince, November 3, 1889, dispos-
sessing as heir to the throne, Prince Arisugawa Takehito, a young
cousin, who had been adopted by the Emperor in the absence of any
direct heirs. Prince Haru attends the Nobles’ school, reciting in classes
with other boys, and enjoying a more democratic life than any other
Crown Prince of this era. He is quick, energetic and ambitious, inclined
to foreign ways, and is altogether the most emancipated and untrammeled
little man in Tokio. When he is older, Prince Haru will be sent
around the world to see other countries and courts, and it is prophesied —
that this energetic young man will make great changes in the already
changed order of things. To Emperor, Empress, and Empress Dowager,
he is a marvel; but to him, these august personages are but ordinary

mortals.”
256 | JAPAN—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

The Military Class.

The earliest history of Japan does not record the existence of
what is now termed “the military.” The Emperor and his nobles lived
in very simple style, and there seemed to be no occasion for the display
of military power and prowess, except in the suppression of the savages
who made frequent incursions into the domain of the Mikado. At such
times, however, the Emperor himself led the forces, or was represented
by a prince. It was not until the period of the Middle Ages that a
military system was organized after the Chinese model; the military
class was separated from the agricultural class; generals were appointed
from the most powerful families, which established a precedent that even
now exists, namely, that the only qualification necessary for office is that
of descent from high family; able-bodied males were selected from each
province, and these were formed into military corps over whom were
placed a general, or shogun; the general, assisted by subordinate officers,
conducted the expeditions, saw that the capital was garrisoned, and that
the frontier was guarded

Warlike Families.

The warlike families of Taira and Minamota had, by hereditary
claim, so far usurped the power that the military exceeded the official in
strength, and as they increased in numbers, the power of the Mikado de-
creased proportionally. This state of affairs continued until the year 1868,
when a revolution took place, and. from being a mere figure-head in
the power of the military, the Mikado was restored to his former position
at the head of the empire, as sovereign; which power he still wields.

The Feudal System.

The feudal system which had naturally been the outcome of the
power wielded by the nobles, fell into disrepute; for some years its
power declined until finally the shogun or governor himself resigned, the
ancient form of government was re-established, and the feudal system
became a thing of the past.

The Emperor—the Supreme Power.

With the decline of the feudal system, and the restoration of the

Emperor, many changes and improvements in the government were
JAPAN—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT. 257

inaugurated. Instead of the castles and muster-rolls of retainers belong-
ing to the territorial nobles, a system of prefectures under the control of
the central government was introduced; court-houses were established
in each prefecture, and the laws were administered by the government
officials. These lower courts are under the jurisdiction of four superior
courts, thus dividing and subdividing the power and authority, but all
are in subjection to the Emperor, who is the head of the government.

Tokio Court Circles.

Jinrikisha Days in Japan says: “Tokio court citcles have of course
their factions and cliques, their wars and triumphs, and the favor of the
sovereign is the object of perpetual scheming and intriguing. The
peerage of Japan numbers ten princes, twenty-five marquises, eighty
courts, three hundred and fifty-two viscounts and ninety-eight barons.
All the old Kugé (nobles) families are enrolled in this new peerage, and
such daimois (territorial nobles) of the shogun’s (governor) court as
gave aid and allegiance to the Emperor, or made honorable surrender in
the conflict of 1868. Rank and title were conferred upon many of the
samurai (retainers) also, the leaders in the work of the Restoration, and
the statesmen who have advised and led in the wonderful progress of
these last twenty years. The imperial princes of the blood, all nearly
related to the Emperor, rank above the ten created princes, who head
the list of the nobility.”

Foreign Relations.

Since the Emperor and the ancient form of government have been
re-instated, Japan has become well known through her progressive
movements. Her relations with Europe and America have been more
recent, but at an early date, allusions are made to the Chinese and the
Coreans. History tells us that as early as the year 201 A. D., the Japanese
Empress Jingo invaded Corea and having conquered the troops that
opposed her, she returned to Japan and introduced there the plan of
geographical division according to the Corean method. From time to
time Japan has had intercourse with Siam, India, Mexico, Europeans,
Portuguese, and the Dutch. In 1592 a number of Coreans were brought
over to Japan, where they introduced the art of making fine pottery;
258 JAPAN—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

some of their descendants are at present to be found inhabiting a small
village in the province of Satsuma, and it is to them we are indebted for
the beautiful specimens of Satsuma ware we now see in American shops
and private collections. Japan is eager to advance in all lines of progress
and civilization, and thus far has established treaties with eighteen
different nations—China, Corea, Belgium, Hungary, Great Britain, Germany,
France, Denmark, Portugal, Peru, Italy, Hawaii, Holland, Russia, Spain,
Switzerland, Sweden and the United States.
Japanese Government.

Unbeaten Tracks in Japan thus sums up the different departments
of the present government in Japan: “The Mikado is an absolute sov-
ereign. He administers affairs through a Supreme Council, which
consists of the Prime: Minister, the Vice Prime Minister and the heads of
the great Departments of State, and meets on fixed days in the Mikado’s
presence. This is the actual Government. Below this is a Legislative
Council, composed of eminent men, and presided over by an imperial
prince. It elaborates such new laws, and reforms in old ones, as are
determined on by the Supreme Council, but cannot initiate any legislative
measures without its consent. There is also an ‘assembly of local
Officials,’ consisting of one superior officer from each of the three Fu
and the thirty-nine Keu, but it meets but rarely, and is a strictly consu-
lative body, its functions being to advise on matters concerning taxation.
The three Departments of State are Foreign Affairs (which embraces the
Mint, Tax, Paper, Money, Statistical, Audit, Loan, Record and Paymaster’s
Departments, and the State Printing Office), War, Marine, Education,
Public Works, Justice, Colonization, the Imperial Household, and the
Interior, the most important of all (into which the Department of
Religion was merged not long ago), which embraces everything not
covered by the other Departments, and which has a capacity for
centralization which could scarcely be exceeded.”

Postal Service,

Formerly Japan had a unique postal and messenger service which
travelers never failed to describe, and no book of travels was considered
complete without an illustration of the Japanese “runner”—an unclothed
 

 

 

 

Tokio, Japan—Entrance to the New Palace.
JAPAN—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT. 261

youth, except for the girdle on his loins, sandals on his feet, and basket-
like covering on his head, carrying his letters in a wicker-like pouch on
the end of a stick, which he threw over his shoulder. The new
Japanese government has improved on this ancient plan by establishing
a mail service, modeled after the English. The first mail route extended
from Tokio to Osaka and was established in 1871; since then the progress
in this direction has been so rapid that in 1880, thirty-four thousand five
hundred and forty-five miles of mail routes were completed, and the
mileage was multiplying annually; service by land and by sea was
conducted and the foreign mail service was so thoroughly and carefully
controlled that the foreign postal agencies were no longer deemed
necessary, and one after another they have been abolished. Unbeaten
Tracks in Japan gives the following valuable information on the Japanese
postal system: ‘‘With stamps of all denominations, post-cards, stamped
envelopes and newspaper wrappers, facilities for registering letters, money
order offices, post office savings banks, a general post office and
branches, receiving agencies, street and wayside letter boxes, postal
deliveries and a ‘dead letter’ office, the foreigner need be at no loss
with regard to his correspondence, and if he can read the Chinese
characters, he may instruct himself by maps of mail routes, a postal
guide giving details of post office business, a postal history of Japan,
and a general post office directory of the Empire.”

The last report given to the public by Mr. Mayeshima, the Post-
master General, is an ably prepared and comprehensive document and
gives a most satisfactory account of increasing business and diminishing
expenses, and in the estimates for 1880 it is assumed (and not un-
reasonably) that the revenue will cover the expenditure. In the year
ending with June of 1878, the number of letters, newspapers, etc., sent
through the post was forty-seven million one hundred and ninety-two
thousand two hundred and eighty-six, an increase over the preceding
year of twenty-three per cent., and over 1876 of fifty-six per cent., and
of this large number only sixty-two were stolen, and only ninety-one
were “missing.” Of the aggregate number nearly twenty-five millions

were letters, seven hundred and sixty-three thousand were registered
/ 12
262 JAPAN—THE EMPEROR—HIS COURT—THE GOVERNMENT.

letters, ten millions were post-cards, and nine and a half millions were
newspapers. The post office employs seven thousand persons, of
which number thirteen are foreigners. What other country can boast of
better postal facilities, as the result of nine years’ experience? Truly
this is progress, equaled only by the rapid strides made in our own
western states.

Treaty Ports.

The two great centres of trade in Japan are Tokio and Osaka;
the latter is a great commercial city, and some travelers have suggested .
to call it the “Chicago of Japan.’ From the fact that it is crossed and
recrossed by the waters of the river Yodogawa and by numerous canals, it
has been called by some the “Venice of Japan.” The population numbers
nearly four hundred thousand, and its Board of Trade is the most active
and important in the Empire. Tokio is prominent as the residence of
the Emperor and his Court.

The ancient city of Kioto is the other great city of the Empire
which deserves special mention as having been the capital of old Japan.
Osaka is the seat of the Japanese mint, which was opened in 1871.
Besides the above named cities there are various ports that have been
thrown open to foreign trade. Yokohama, which lies about eighteen
miles south of Tokio, monopolizes almost the entire foreign trade. In
Jimrikisha Days in Japan we read that “The environs of Yokohama
are more interesting and beautiful than those of any other foreign set-
tlement, affording an inexhaustible variety of tramps, rides, drives, rail-
road excursions and sampan trips.” To the west of Yokohama lies
the port of Hiogo, which does not compare with the former in size,
but whose streets are wider and more beautifully laid out. Osaka
and Nagasaki are also seaports, the latter being noted for its extensive
dealings in coal.

“Castle towns” were, in the days of the feudal system, the seats
of the territorial nobles. Imagination carries us back to those olden
days when the lords occupied the castles surrounded by the homes of
their followers or retainers; the poet and the prose writer have each
handed down the history of these days of greatness and of glory.
CHAPTER XIII.

 

JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

 

€ @ 4HE PRESENT executive system of Japan was adopted

er q in 1885. It consists of a Cabinet and a Privy Coun-

J a] cil. The former, presided over by the Prime Minister,

SAC ° is composed of the Ministers in charge of the exec-

: utive departments, who are directly responsible to the

Emperor for the management of their offices. The functions of the
Privy Council are purely advisory.

The different Prefectures into which the Empire is divided are
under the charge of Governors appointed by the Emperor, upon the
recommendation. of the Minister for Home Affairs. In each Prefecture
there is, as already stated, a local Assembly which co-operates with the .
Governor in ‘the management of local affairs.

The Imperial Diet is composed of two Houses, a House of Peers
and a House of Representatives. The former body consists of members
who hold office as a hereditary right, of a certain number who are
elected by the different orders of nobility which are not entitled to
seats in the House, and of a certain number appointed by the Emperor.
The members of the House of Representatives are elected directly by
the people. A property qualification governs the exercise of the electoral
franchise.

The fact that in Japan, even from ancient times, a system of local
self-government in town and village and rural district was conceded by
the government and jealously retained by the people, affords perhaps the
brightest augury for the success of self-government in Japan.

The systematization and codification of the laws of Japan was one

of the first cares of the government after the restoration. Ten years ago a
(263)
264 JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

system of competitive examination for appointment to judgeships was
introduced and has ever since been in successful operation. The consti-
tution itself provides that jurisdiction shall be exercised by the courts of
law according to law; that the organization of the courts shall be deter-
mined by law;.that the judges shall be appointed from among those
who possess the proper qualifications according to law, and that no
judge shall be deprived of his office except for misconduct and by due
process of law. A statute passed for carrying these constitutional guar-
antees into effect, and providing for comprehensive and complete reorgani-
zation of the courts of justice, has been in operation for more than four
years.

Under the present system of administration, the Empire is divided
into prefectures, accountable directly to the central government. Each
prefecture has its court-house, at which the laws are administered by
officers appointed at Tokio. From these courts appeal may be made to
four superior courts, and from the latter to the supreme court at the
imperial capital There are twenty-three of these prefectural courts.
The four superior courts are those of Tokio, Ozaka, Miyagi, and Nagasaki.
There are also minor police courts in all towns and villages of any
importance.

The Criminal Code.

Unlike that of China, the law of Japan seldom errs on the side of
too much severity. There are twenty degrees of punishment prescribed
in the criminal code. Ten of these involve from ten to a hundred days’
imprisonment; and the other ten, penal servitude from one year to life.
In some cases imprisonment means nothing more than confinement in
one’s own house, the prisoner’s relatives being responsible for his safe
custody. Torture has not been formally abolished, but is never practiced.
Culprits between the ages of ten and fifteen years, and those between
seventy and eighty are allowed the privilege of commuting any punish-
ment—except, of course, capital punishment—by payment of a fine;
those between seven and ten and between eighty and ninety can be
punished only for theft and wounding, and those under seven and over
ninety are ineligible for punishment at all.
 

 

Tokio, Japan—Uyeno.
JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 267

Wilful murder, under which head infanticide is classed, is punished
with death, and assaults are severely dealt with, a mere blow with the
hand being visited with twenty days’ penal servitude. Assaults on
government officials are punished according to the rank of the official
assaulted, and the penalties are exceptionally severe, extending even unto
death. Offenses against property are treated severely, robbery by armed
men, if it succeeds, being punishable by beheading, and if it fails, by
hanging. Common robbery is visited with penal servitude for life, and
accidental homicide, during the commission of a robbery, by hanging.

The Domestic Laws.

The domestic laws, as we may term them, are strongly in favor
of husbands and parents. Thus, a husband may assault his wife as
much as he pleases if he avoids making a cutting wound, and even then
the public prosecutor cannot take cognizance of the offense except at the
wife’s request; but if a wife commits a common assault on her husband,
she is liable to a hundred days’ penal servitude, and for a husband to
slay an offending wife and her paramour is no crime.at all, unless a
certain time has elapsed since the discovery of the offense. A parent
who beats a child to death incurs only two and a half years’ of penal
servitude, and a parent bringing a false and malicious accusation against
a child is not punished at all; but a child who disobeys the lawful com-
mands of his parents is liable to penal servitude for one hundred days.
Non-observance of the prescribed period of mourning for parents is
visited with penal servitude for one year. A senior relative is not pun-
ished for an assault on a junior, unless an incised wound be inflicted,
and even then the penalty is mitigated according to the nearness of the
relationship. A recent statute prohibits, under severe penalties, parents
and husbands from selling their wives or daughters to the joroyas with-
out their consent. Discarding the son of a wife in favor of that of a
concubine is visited with ninety days’ penal servitude, and a father who
turns his son-in-law out of doors and gives his daughter to a second
husband incurs the same penalty. Breaches of the seventh command-
ment are punished by penal servitude for one year, without distinction
of sex.
268 JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

Lovers arrested in the act of committing suicide are punished by
ten years of penal servitude. Trafficking in opium is forbidden under
pain of beheading, and inciting to the use of it, under pain of hanging.
Gambling is punished by penal servitude for eighty days, unless the
stakes have been limited to something which can be eaten or drunk.
Misconduct not specially provided against in the codes is termed “impro-
priety,” and may be visited with from thirty to one hundred days of
penal servitude. Among “improprieties” are breaking idols, disseminating
false, malicious, or alarming reports, and publishing written matter which
may cause difficulties in the administration of the government, the latter
being a heading under which all free expression of opinion is liable to
be classed.

The Police.

The police force, a very important body, with very multifarious
and responsible duties, is composed of twenty-three thousand three
nundred and thirty-four men, five thousand six hundred and seventy-
two of whom are quartered in Tokio. The pay of the chief commissioner
is $300 per month, inspectors receive from $60 to $15, and constables
from $12 to $4, according to their grade. Taken altogether, this force,
which is composed mainly of men of the samurai class, is well educated
and efficient, and performs its duties with far less of harassment to the
people than might be expected from Asiatic officials.

Making an Arrest.

A Japanese policeman, says an observant visitor, was never known
to smile, but when he finds it necessary to proceed to the extreme step
of arresting a law-breaker his face becomes clouded over with a pall of
sorrow and solemnity that would do credit to an Irish undertaker taking
the coffin measurement of an archbishop. Grasping the offender firmly
with one hand, with the other he extracts from an invisible pocket of
great capacity a roll of strong cord. Whispering polite and minute
directions in the ear of the victim, who obeys them with scrupulous
consideration for the feelings of his captor, he winds the cord several
times round his waist and then brings his wrists in contract with the
small of his back. Six feet of cord remain, the policeman grasps the
JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 269

loose end, and, bowing to the prisoner with an “After you, sir,” the
pair march away in a touching union of sadness and security. The
neighborhood is paralyzed during the performance, business is suspended,
traffic is stopped, and the bob-tailed top-knot of “Bo-chan, the baby, stands
up straight from his cranium in alarm and disapprobation. But the
moment the polite policeman and his politer prey have disappeared
around the corner, all the spectators burst out laughing simultaneously,
and two minutes after the affair is forgotten by everybody except. baby
Bo-chan’s brother, who inaugurates a series of abortive attempts to tie
up the astonished and indignant cat, quite oblivious of the fact that the
spider-and-fly manceuvre he has just witnessed requires for its success-
ful accomplishment the co-operation of both parties. ‘Why on earth
doesn’t the Japanese policeman use hand-cuffsP?” Give it up. There are
three thousand five hundred and six polite policemen in Tokio.
At the Police Station.

The formality of an arrest, however, is the only amusing side of
- Japanese justice. If you follow the white-clothed policeman and_ his
prisoner you will soon reach a police station in which sit a dozen clerks
and functionaries hard at work at books and accounts and reports, with
nothing except their physiognomy and the little tea-pot and tobacco
brazier beside each one to. differentiate them from similar European
officials. The prisoner will be taken before a superior officer, the charge
against him noted down, he will be searched and then put in one of a
dozen wooden cells, ten feet square perhaps, separated from the central
passage by great wooden bars reaching from floor to ceiling, and making
a cell curiously like an elephant house, but providing admirably for ven-
tilation in this hot climate. At the police station he may not be kept
more than twenty-four hours, and then he is removed to a central sta-
tion, which is simply the first police station on a large scale, minus the
functionaries and plus the necessary arrangements for the detention of
prisoners for long periods.

It is when the time for his regular trial comes that the English or
American investigator who has been following the offender’s career finds
himself on unfamiliar ground. But the unfamiliarity of it is far from
270 JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

being Japanese or Oriental, and to a Frenchman it would be home,
sweet home. For the eclecticism of Japan, in proving all our Western
institutions, and holding fast to those which seem to her good, results
here at the centre of government in what looks like an international
hodge-podge, until one has learned to appreciate the national principle
which has produced it. Thus when you visit one of the purely political
offices, say the Foreign Office, you find yourself in an English atmos-
phere, and you speak English. When you visit the University, on the
other hand, you find all the bottles of the medical school labeled in
German, the inscriptions over the patients’ beds in Latin and German,
and unless you know Japanese you must speak German to be under-
stood.
In the Police Court.

“The Department of Police, again, is modeled entirely upon the
French system, and you must speak French there if you are a visitor,
and be tried in the French style if you are a prisoner. So I am con-
ducted to a closed door,” says the writer, “‘and there told, ‘It is forbidden
by law for any persons except the examining judge and his clerk to be
present at the secret preliminary inquiry, but by special permission you
may enter.’ As the proceedings were, of course, in Japanese, I shall
have no difficulty in preserving a perfect discretion. It was simply a
very small room with an elevated desk, behind which sat the official and
his clerk, closely questioning from a brief before him an individual—
a prosecutor, this time—who stood upon the floor. From here we
passed, through endless bureaus of busy functionaries, to the several
courts, and took seats behind several of the judges in turn.

“The court-rooms are very large and square, with plain white
walls and board floor. Upon a raised platform occupying one end sits
the judge in broadcloth behind a table hung with baize, and a clerk,
sometimes in Japanese dress, sits beside him. In front of the judge and at
his feet sit a couple of policemen. Beyond them is a stout railing, behind
which the prisoner stands. Then. there is the empty floor, and at the
opposite side of the room two or three bare benches for the public, but
the only occupant of them in each of the courts that I visited was a
 

 

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Tokio, Japan—Shiba.,
JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 273

solitary reporter taking notes. From the animated conversation between
the judge and the accused it was evident, without a word being under-
stood, that the system was purely French. When sentence is pronounced,
one of the policemen rises and leads the prisoner away to a sort of
guard-room at the back, in which you can see through the glass door that
he winds him up again with the cord and leads him away. In civil cases
the benches before the judge are occupied by the counsel, who rise
alternately and address him, and so far as one can judge without catching
more than a word here and there, they plead with great ease and elo-
quence. European dress is the rule for the advocates, and one of them
who was dressed in the graceful and dignified dress of the Japanese
gentleman, and who wore his black hair hanging in a thick mass over
his shoulders, was pointed out to me as an extremely clever man and
famous as the oddity of the Tokio bar.
The Secret Police.

“The whole system of secret police is highly developed in Japan.
There is a regular staff of detectives who disguise themselves as laborers,
merchants, or travelers, or even in case it is necessary to hunt
down some great criminal, they hire a house in the suspected neighborhood
and live there. One of these men loses caste very much in his office if
he does not actually suffer a degradation of position, by failing to return
with the information he is despatched to secure. Besides these, however,
there is a regular staff of private police correspondents in all parts of the
country, and one whole bureau at the Department of Police is devoted
to receiving, ordering, classifying these and taking action upon them. A
good deal of information must be picked up from the tea-houses, each
of which is a centre of gossip, and in one or other of which almost
every male well-to-do inhabitant of Tokio is an habitue- The Yoshiwara,
again, is, of course, a police hunting-ground, and the most interesting
hour I spent in the Police Department was in conversation with the
officials of the bureau which controls this, and in watching the sad
spectacle of young girls coming up for permission to enter it as recruits.

“I fancy that not only the movements of every Japanese criminal
but of anybody else, Japanese or foreign, that it is interested in, are
274 JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

perfectly well known at the Keishicho. An official of one of the Minis-
ters of State told me -that a little while ago he was on a visit to a large
town in the south, and met there a foreigner whose movements seemed
to him inexplicable on any theory of private life. These suspicions grew
until at last my friend suggested to the Police Department at Tokio the
advisability of keeping a watch upon the man’s actions. A week later
a secret report was put into my friend’s hands, giving the daily life of
the suspect from the time of his arrival The hour of each of his
movements, the name of every person with whom he had dealings, the
letters he had written, the money he had spent, even the cost of his
most private pleasures—all were put down in black and white. If an
Englishman or an American criticises this system of espionage, the Japanese
authorities reply with perfect truth, that the Japanese people are different
entirely from English or American, and point, besides, to the. secret and
political police of France, and Germany, and Russia. In the ‘rogues’
gallery’ of Tokio alone, I may add, are the dossiers, or complete records,
of one hundred and fifty thousand criminals, admirably arranged as a
card catalogue, like the latest device of American library cataloguing.”
A Japanese Prison.

There are at Tokio two large prisons. These are, first, the great
‘prison upon the Island of Ishikawa, at the south of the city, and second,
the convict and female prison of Ichigaya, in the centre of the city
itself. The former is completely isolated, all communication with the
mainland being by police ferry, and contains two thousand and fifty-two
men and boys, all of whom are serving terms of ten years or less.
The latter contains one thousand four hundred men and one hundred
women, among whom are many serving life sentences. There is a
convict farm attached, and it is here that capital punishment is inflicted.
Otherwise the two prisons resemble each other so closely that it is not
necessary to distinguish between them in description. The entrance is
through a massive wooden gate way into a guard-room, adjoining which
are the offices of the director and the officials. The prison itself consists of
a score or more of detached one-story buildings, all of wood and some
of them merely substantial sheds under which the rougher labor, like
JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 275

stone-breaking, is performed. The dormitories are enormous wooden
cages, the front and part of the back formed of bars as thick as one’s
arm, before which again is a narrow covered passage where the warder
on guard walks at night. There is not a particle of furniture or a single
article of any kind upon the floor, which is polished till it reflects your
image like a mirror. No boot, of course, ever touches it. The thick
quilts, or futon, which constitute everywhere the Japanese bed, are all
rolled up and stacked on a broad shelf running round the room overhead.
Each dormitory holds ninety-six prisoners, and there is a long row of
them. The sanitary arrangements are situated in a little addition at the
back, and in this most important respect a Japanese prison could not
well be improved. In fact, the whole dormitory, with its perfect ven—
tilation, its construction of solid highly-polished wood, in which there is
no chance for vermin to harbor, and its combined simplicity and security,
is an almost ideal prison structure. Of course, the fact that every
Japanese, from the Mikado to the cooley, sleeps upon quilts spread out
on the floor, greatly simplifies the task of the prison architect in Japan.

“On leaving the dormitories we passed a small, isolated square
erection, peaked and gabled like a little temple. The door was solemnly
unlocked and flung back, and I was motioned to enter. It was the
punishment cell, another spotless wooden box, well ventilated, but per-
fectly dark, and with walls so thick as to render it practically silent.
‘How many prisoners have been in it during the last month?’ I asked.
The director summoned the chief warder and repeated my question to
him. ‘H’tori mo gozaimasen—none whatever, was the reply.”

Criminal Court Procedure.

Sir Edwin Arnold has given a vivid description of court procedure
in Japan. It was a criminal court of first instance;and the judge had on
one side of him a secretary, on the other a registrar, all alike dressed in
European frock-coats and side-spring boots. The building itself exte-
riorly is plain, but characteristic and oriental, with a dodecahedral
tower and spiked roof-ridges. Inside it was simplicity itself—the floor
matted, the walls whitewashed, the furniture either of the commonest
wood, or the cheapest upholstery. The public, which did not attend, and
276 JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

seldom does, had its own benches behind the front seats reserved for
the prisoners. At the side of the square apartment was a form reserved
for women prisoners, who are never numerous—for women here seem
hardly ever to do anything particularly wrong, leaving that, and all other
selfish and brutal habits to their “lords and masters.” In front of the
judge’s green baize desk was a bar and a table, to which each prisoner
advances when his or her turn arrives. The judge, with black hair
cropped close, colored necktie and tightly-buttoned coat, took his place
unsaluted, and the policeman on duty, in a uniform something like a
yachting suit with brass buttons, bearing the imperial chrysanthemum,
and peaked caps—never removed in court—brought in the batch of
offenders, roped two and two with box-cord, and manacled. There were
eleven men and boys, and one woman, and, as they entered the court
and took their seats in a long row on the front bench, the police officers
unfastened each pair of hand-cuffs, and neatly twisted the confining rope
round and round the neck or wrist of each malefactor.
Polite Prisoners.

When the eleven sat in a rather ill-looking row, facing the judge,
and one observed that but two officers stood in the court, and only: two
more sat in cane chairs by the door, the thought arose that escape by
that open door, into the bright sunshine outside, and thence into the
busy bazaar, would be a very simple and easy feat. But Japanese
prisoners are wonderfully polite, amenable, and reasonable. They bow
to their custodians, and these to them; assist offended justice in the
most submissive manner; and are on terms of almost exquisite good-
breeding with the Court and the officials from the time of capture to that
of sentence. As one of a manacled couple approached the precincts
of justice, the rope on his wrist galled a little, and with a bow he
called his guard’s attention to the fact, saying, as the officer carefully
adjusted first his blue spectacles, and then relieved the pressure of the
knot, “Give me your honorable pardon. I cause an interruption.” O
jama ttashimas. “Oh dear no!” replies the police-constable. O Kinodoku
sama. ‘‘The honorable Deep Regret!” Do itashimashite. “Don’t so
much as mention it.”
 

 

Tokio, Japan—Stone Steps, Atagoyama.
JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 279

There they were at last, all safely ranged fronting the judge, ten
men and a boy, and at the side of the court the woman, her head
hanging down and face constantly concealed, but not handcuffed or
roped up like the others; merely an officer with a sword following her.
Only one or two countenances among the accused could be styled
“bad.” Some were decidedly quiet, good-looking individuals of the
lower orders, and there was one offender who, like Bardolph, had stolen
the pyx from an altar—in the shape of a silver utensil from a Buddhist
temple—but his mild, innocent aspect made one think he might plead
that he was not so much a thief as a too enthusiastic and unreflecting
collector of curios. One by one, they were called in front of the judge,
whereupon the secretary read the indictment, and for the most part the
prisoners pleaded guilty, and received their sentences forthwith in the
form of three or four months’ imprisonment, together with a more or
less heavy fine, and kaushi, that is to say, police surveillance, and loss
of civil rights for six subsequent months.

A Woman who Stole Food.

When about half the eleven male criminals had been disposed of
—all of them pleading guilty, to gain the easier judgments of the first
court—Tochida Tori was called to the bar. She had never once lifted
her head during the proceedings, and stood before the judge in an atti-
tude of shame and hopelessness while the secretary read aloud how she
had stolen thirteen sens’ worth of manjo—a kind of cake—and a measure
of sugar, which she had sold for four sen, and with the money—about
four cents—bought a bowl of rice. When asked by the judge if the charge
was true, she murmured, “‘Sayo de gozaimas,’”’ and to all other questions
uttered only a hopeless ‘He, he!” His honor made short work of her,
adjudging as the measure of her crime one month’s imprisonment
with hard labor, a fine of a few yen, and kaushi during six months.
With the hysterical tremor which denotes great emotion in Japanese, she
turned, and was led away by an officer.

In the adjournment which ensued I ventured to ask the aes
whether, since it was a first offense, and the woman had evidently been
driven to her sin by extreme want, I might be permitted to pay the fine
280 JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS.

and promise her some help on emerging from jail. The indulgence was
easily granted, and Tochida Tori was presently brought back from prison
in charge of a stern policeman in blue spectacles, with a sword and a
note-book. She stood before me in the same attitude, probably
believing something worse than her sentence was coming from the
junior judge at my side. Then this little dialogue ensued, as I was
allowed to address her: “‘O, Tori San! How many times have you
stolen cakes and sugar?” “Never before, Danna Sama.” “Why did
you do it this timer” “I had run away from home and my little
money was gone. I was very hungry, I had no friends, and I took
the first thing I could and sold it to buy gohan.” “Shall you steal
again when you come out?” “I would rather die than be again where I
am to-day; but I shall not come out, because | have no money and
nobody to pay the bakkiu.” “Well! here is the wkefort. Your fine is
paid, and when you come out of prison you must come to this
address, and we will try to find you work.” Then she looked up. A
comely countenance, full of sorrow, shame, surprise, and just one gleam
of joy through the tears filling her eyes, to show that she was glad to
find an unexpected friend.
Hari-Kari.

Hari-Kari, or “Happy Dispatch,” is no longer practiced in Japan.
It was legally abolished some years ago. But for many generations it
was one of the established and characteristic institutions of the country.
It was nothing less than the voluntary public suicide of all men whose
honor was impeached. Public officials who were detected in any
malfeasance, or breach of trust, army officers who had failed in duty,
and many others, resorted to it. The act was performed with a short,
sharp sword, such as every Japanese gentleman always carried at his
waist. When a man was about to commit hari-kari he went to some
public place, gathered a number of his friends about him, and then
killed himself. The first cut of the sword ripped his abdomen open
vertically. Another stroke-laid it open crosswise. Then, if strength and
consciousness remained, he plunged the blade deeply into his vitals and
twisted it round and round. When, after this horrible deed, he fell to
JAPAN—ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAWS. 281

the ground, his friends rushed to him and plunged their blades into his
heart, to expedite and assure his death. Two extraordinary things about
hari-kari were the willingness with which men performed it, and the
steadiness of nerve and self-control with which they inflicted not only

the first, but the second and even the third stroke, without wincing.
Finances.

Japan has two mints, a paper money mint at Tokio, and a metallic
mint at Osaka; the latter, one of the largest and most complete in the
world. It, like the other public works of the new era, was organized by
foreigners, but, of the foreign staff, only two remain, the chemist and
assayer, and the engineer, with a Japanese staff of six hundred and two
persons, including a doctor: The gold coinage is confined mainly to five
yen pieces, which are nearly equal to a sovereign. The silver coins are
the yen, the trade dollar, and fifty, twenty, ten, and five sew pieces. The
copper coins are two-sen, one sen, one-half sen, and one rin.

A serious evil in recent years has been the growth of an enormous
public debt, and the flooding of the country with a vast amount of |
depreciated paper currency. It is difficult to predict or to imagine when.
the government will be able to redeem the bonds it has issued.

Public Works.

Despite its financial embarrassments, the government has prosecuted
a vast system of public works. on a most generous scale. The coast is
dotted with lighthouses, the country is being gridironed with railroads,
and a perfect network of telegraph lines extends over the principal islands.
The first telegraph line was erected in 1869, and the system has, been
extended since then at the rate of about six hundred miles a year.
Thousands of persons are employed, all of them natives, and more
than two million messages are transmitted yearly.

The postal system of Japan is one of the best in the world.
There are about fifty thousand miles of mail routes. The honesty and
efficiency of the service may be reckoned from the fact that in 1878 no less
than forty-seven million one hundred and ninety-two thousand two hun-
dred and eighty-six pieces of mail matter were transmitted, and only sixty-
two were stolen and ninety-one lost.
CHAPTER XIV.

 

THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN.

 

  

|,
41TH THE EXCEPTION of the wilds of Yezo, peopled by
% s \®: twelve thousand Ainos, the Japanese islands are
e inhabited by a single race speaking various dialects of

ages the same tongue. The Ainos are stupid, gentle, good-
; : natured, and submissive. They are a wholly distinct
race from the Japanese. In complexion they resemble the people of
Spain and Southern Italy, and the expression of the face and the manner
of showing courtesy are European rather than Asiatic. If not taller, thev
are of a much broader and heavier make than the Japanese; the hair is
jet black, very soft, and on the scalp forms thick, pendant masses, occa-
sionally wavy, but never showing any tendency to curl. The beard,
moustache, and eyebrows are very thick and ‘full, and there is frequently
a heavy growth of stiff hair on the chest and limbs.. The neck is short,
the: brow high, broad and massive, the nose broad and inclined to flat-
ness, the mouth wide but well formed, the line of the eyes and eyebrows
perfectly straight, and the frontal sinuses well marked. Their language is
a very simple one. They have no written characters, no literature, no
history, very few traditions, and have left no impression on the land

from which they have been driven.

Probably, but this is merely a conjecture, the Japanese are a mixed
race, the issue of the intermarriage of victorious Tartar settlers, who
‘entered Japan from the Corean peninsula, with Malays in the south and
people of the Aino race in the main island. We read in Japanese annals
of constant war with savages, and in comparatively recent times the
Aino race occupied the northern extremity of Honshu. There are two
distinct types of Japanese face, that which is found in art designs being

the aristocratic and rarer type. It is distinguished by an oval head and
(282)
 

Tokio, Japan—Graves of the Forty-seven Ronins.
THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN. 285

face, rounded frontal bones, a high forehead, a nose curved and well
shaped but not prominent, narrow and slightly oblique eyes with an
overlapping of the eyelid. In the man the face is almost hairless, with
the exception of a narrow and short moustache. The complexion is pallid
or slightly olive, and the expression demure. The commoner and vulgar
type, almost universal in the northern district, is pudding-faced, full-
eyed, flat-nosed and good-humored in expression. The stature of the
race is small, and the trunk is proportionately long as compared with
the legs, which are short. The use of heavy wooden clogs (geta),
together with the carrying, when still young themselves, of their
infant brothers and sisters, gives the women excessively thick ankles
and flat feet. The hands are usually prettily shaped, both in the
man and -the woman; but the habit of keeping these, especially
in winter, inside the kimono (coat), while the wide sleeves are
allowed to hang loose, makes them clammy to the touch. The hair
is coal-black and strong in texture, and the beard has- sometimes a
ruddy tinge. The race is physically an inferior one, the men having an
ill-developed form and harsh features, whilst the women lose any pre-
tensions to good looks after the first bloom of youth is over. The
plainness of the latter is increased by the habit of marriage or after
passing the marriageable age, of blackening the teeth and shaving the
eyebrows, customs happily on the wane. The girls, with their rosy
cheeks, fascinating manners and exquisitely tasteful dress, are, however,
particularly attractive, and the children are bright and comely, being
allowed full liberty to enjoy themselves—indeed Japan is the paradise of
children.
Native Costumes.

Children are certainly adored here, and one of the ways of show-
ing adoration is for their parents to dress them in the brightest and most
gorgeously patterned stuffs they can find. Their dress is the same as that
of the women, only in miniature. This costume consists of a long loose
garment, with wide open sleeves, called a kimono; it sets high behind,
is cut low in front, and is folded across the chest and brought closely

round the hips. It is kept in position by a broad stiff sash called an
13
286 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN.

obi. Within the open space round the throat is folded a kerchief of
tinted and painted silk crape. In cold weather a short padded cloak is
worn over the kimono and obi. In the house the kimono falls to the
ground and around the feet, but in the streets it is lifted up by a cord
passing round the hips. The abundant black hair of even the poorest
women is most carefully dressed in puffs and bows and ornamented with
pins, artificial flowers and combs. A white cotton divided sock and a
sandal, or clog of straw or wood, complete the costume. It can easily
be imagined that with a dress so simple vanity finds its outlet in
the beauty and costliness of the materials, and the delicate and
brilliant colors and the intricate patterns, endless in design, of the kimonos
of the women and children, excite the attention and admiration of even
the least observant visitors to Japan. The obi is generally made of
silk, and commands the highest skill of the weaver. Kimonos are
generally made of crape, which material is woven of cotton only, or of
pure silk, or of a mixture of silk and cotton. _
Fashionable Attire.

The town costume of Japanese gentlemen consists of a loose silk
robe extending from the neck to the ankles, but gathered in at the
waist, round which is fastened a girdle of brocaded silk. Over this is
worn a loose, wide-sleeved jacket decorated with the wearer’s armorial
device. White cotton socks, cleft at the great toes, and wooden pattens
complete the attire. European costume has been prescribed by govern-
ment as the official dress, and the Empress and her suite have recently
adopted foreign costume, being followed to a certain extent by the fash-
ionable ladies of the capital. Hats are not generally worn, except by
those who follow European fashions, or in the heat of summer. The
women wear a loose robe, overlapping in front, and fastened with a
broad heavy girdle of silk (obi), often of great value. In winter a succession
of these robes are worn, one over the other. The formerly universal
chignon coiffure of the women, stiff with pomatum, which was done up
by the hairdresser once or twice a week, is rapidly yielding to the
simpler Grecian knot. The poorer classes wear nothing more than a
loose cotton gown, tied at the waist, and a loin-cloth, frequently working
THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN. 287

only in the loin-clothe Women of the lower class think nothing of
exposing the person to the waist. The women powder profusely, a
white skin being highly appreciated, and they dye the lips a deep red;
jewelry is not worn. The old-fashioned coiffure of the men, still fre-
quently seen among the lower classes, especially among fishermen, is
peculiar. The head is shaven on the top, leaving a broad rectangular
bald space, and the hair of the unshaven portion, formed into a compact
mass like a candle-end, is then turned forward upon the crown. The
‘children’s heads are shaven grotesquely; priests and many old women
shave the heads completely. Long hair is frequently worn by discon-
tented politicians and philosophers, while widows wear short hair. Both
Japanese men and women are fond of smoking tobacco; the bowl
of the pipe they use is less in size than half a thimble, and requires
constant refilling. The use of tobacco is indeed absolutely universal. It
was not cultivated in Japan till 1605, and in 1612 and 1615 the Shogun
prohibited both the cultivation and the use of it, but the craving for the
“smoke-weed” was too strong for the edict, and in 1651 it was
modified into a notification, forbidding people to smoke outside their
houses.
TMode of Living.

Japanese houses are slight constructions of wood; in place of
windows and shutters they have an inner set of paper screens, and an
outer set of wooden shutters, both sliding into grooves. In the
northern districts at least two sides of the house are closed in with
walls of mud plaster and wicker-work. The floors are covered with a
thick, soft straw mat, measuring six by thirty-three feet, and the accommo-
dation of the houses is reckoned by the number of these mats. On
them the inmates sit, eat, and sleep, the bed clothes—heavily padded
quilts—being kept during the day in adjoining closets. The surface of
these mats is scrupulously clean, for boots and clogs are removed before
entering. In winter, heat is obtained from charcoal boxes, either movable
or set into the floor, and most of the cooking is done over charcoal
braziers. Rice is the staple food of the people, but in the poorer
mountainous regions millet often takes its place. Fish, sea-weed, and
288 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN.

beans in all forms are served with the rice, especially in the soups,
which likewise contain bean curd, eggs, and vegetables. Chestnuts and
hazel nuts are also largely eaten, and the walnut is made into a sweet-
meat. Shoyu (soy), a sauce made of beans and wheat, is the universal
condiment. Generally speaking, this food is unsatisfying and mawkish
to foreigners. Fowls are now pretty widely used for the table, and
pork and beef, as well as bread, are increasingly eaten. The meat shops
are frequented at night as taverns are in England.

Japanese towns are subject to conflagrations to such a degree that
in crowded cities district houses are supposed to last on an average
only three years. They store their valuables in strong towers of
bamboo wattle-work and mud, which are left standing when the fire has
swept past. Incendiarism followed by robbery is a common crime, in
former times punished savagely. The institution of a gendarmerie in 1881,
and the more stable nature of the edifices recently erected in the capital,
have produced a marked diminution in the number and extent of
these’ fires.

Health and Disease.

The Japanese are dyspeptic people, more dying from diseases of
the digestion than from any other cause. Skin diseases, well treated
at the various solfataras are common; bone diseases are also rife. A
very dangerous disease peculiar to the country and yielding to no specific
remedy is kakke, a form of elephantiasis, or beri-beri. Small-pox was.
formerly a scourge, but compulsory vaccination has remedied _ this.
Cholera appeared in force in the year 1879, and again violently in 1886.
The houses are built low on the ground, the drains are open, wells.
are close to closets and rubbish heaps. However, there are now both
an active sanitary society in Tokio, and a foreign professor of sanitary
engineering in the university, and water-works with the latest im-.
provements had been provided for Yokohama in 1890, when the capital
and Nagasaki had also water-work schemes under consideration. Infant
mortality is small. Suicide is common, especially among men, three out
of four male suicides hanging themselves, one out of every two female
suicides drowning herself.
 

 

 

Lake Hakone, Japan—Mikado’s Palace.
THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN. 291

How They Sleep.

The Japanese bed is simply a futon spread upon the matting.
They lie on this and spread another futon over them, and rest their
heads upon wooden pillows, and are happy. A futon is a thickly wadded
cotton quilt, exactly like our comfortable, and a very nice arrangement
such a bed is for the housekeeper. The bed is easily made, and in the
morning the futon is folded and put away in a closet, and the chamber-
work is done. They wear no night-dresses, but as every person, even
in the poorest and humblest station, takes a hot bath once, and in the
majority of cases twice, a day, there is nothing uncleanly in the wearing
of the same dress at night which is worn in the day.

Among the Peasantry.

Conditions of life among the poorer classes, in the agricultural
villages, are not, particularly attractive. The evenings are cheerless, owing
to the dismal illumination. In the average house the lamp consists of a
square or circular lacquer stand, with four uprights two and one-half feet
high, and panes of white paper. A flatted iron dish is suspended in this
full of oil, with the pith of a rush laid across it, held by a weight in the
centre, and one of the projecting ends is lighted. This wretched apparatus
is called an andon, and round its wretched “darkness visible”’ the family
huddles, the children’ to play games and learn lessons, and the women
to sew; for the Japanese daylight is short and the “houses are dark.
Almost more deplorable is a candlestick of the same height as the andon,
with a spike at the top which fits into a hole at the bottom of a “farthing
candle” of vegetable wax, with a thick wick made of rolled paper, which
requires constant snuffing, and, after giving for a short time a dim and
jerky light, expires with a bad smell. Lamps, burning mineral oils, native
and imported, are being manufactured on a large scale,-but apart from
the peril connected with them, the carriage of oil into country districts is
very expensive. No Japanese would think of sleeping without having
an andon burning all night in his room.

Bathing.

Hot baths are a great institution in Japan. Formerly it was a

general custom for persons of both sexes to bathe together; and this
292 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN.

primitive custom still prevails in rural districts, although forbidden in the
cities, and always unknown in Tokio.

The people take a bath frequently. This sounds well, but when
looked into, its merit diminishes. This bath in private houses consists
of a tub four feet high, and sufficiently large to allow of an average-
sized human being crouching in it in the ordinary squatting position. It
is heated by charcoal in such a way that the fumes have occasionally
proved fatal The temperature ranges from 110° to 125°, and fatal
syncope among old people is known to occur during immersion. The
water in private bath-tubs is used without any change by all the inmates
of a house, and in the public baths by a large number of customers.
The bathing is not for purification, but for the enjoyment of a sen-
suous luxury. Soap is not used, and friction is apologized for by a
general dabbing with a soft and dirty towel. The intermediate washing
consists in putting the feet into hot water when covered with mud,
and in washing the hands and face, or giving them a slap with a damp
towel.

These people wear no linen, and their clothes, which are seldom
washed, are constantly worn night and day, as long as they will hold
together. They seal up their houses as hermetically as they can at
night, and herd together in numbers in one sleeping-room, with its
atmosphere vitiated to begin with by charcoal and tobacco fumes,
huddled up in. their dirty garments in wadded quilts, which are kept
during the day in close cupboards, and are seldom washed from one
year’s end to another. The fatami, beneath a tolerable fair exterior,
swarm with insect life, and are receptacles of dust, organic matters, etc.
The hair, which is loaded with oil and bandoline, is dressed once a
week, or less often in the rural districts, and it is unnecessary to enter
into any details regarding the distressing results, and much besides may
be left to the imagination. The persons of the people, especially of the
children, are infested with vermin, and one fruitful source of skin sores is
the irritation arising from this cause. The floors of houses, being
concealed by mats, are laid down carelessly with gaps between the
boards, and as the damp earth is only eighteen inches or two feet below,
THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN. 293

emanations of all kinds enter the mats and pass into the rooms. Where
the drinking water is taken from wells situated in the midst of crowded
houses, contamination may be regarded as certain, either from the direct
effect of insanitary arrangements within the houses, or from percolations
into the soil from gutters outside, choked with decomposing organic
matter. In the farming villages, as a general rule, the sewage is kept
in large tubs sunk into the earth at the house door, whence it is re-
removed in open buckets to the fields.
The Position of Women.

“My impression is,” says an English woman who has_ spent
much time in Japan, “that, according to our notions, the Japanese wife
is happier in the poorer, than in the richer classes. She works hard, but
it is rather as the partner than the drudge of her husband. Nor, in the
same class are the unmarried girls secluded, but, within certain limits,
they possess complete freedom. Women undoubtedly enjoy a more
favorable position than in most other heathen countries, and wives are
presumably virtuous. Infanticide is very rare. The birth of a daughter
is far from being an occasion of mourning, and girls receive the same
affection and attention as boys, and are educated with equal care.

“The women of the upper classes are much secluded, and always
go out with attendants. In the middle ranks it is not proper for a wife
to be seen abroad in her husband’s absence, and, to be above suspicion,
many, under these circumstances, take an old woman to keep them com-
pany. There are many painful and evil customs ‘to which I cannot refer,
and which are not likely to be overthrown except by the reception of a
true Christianity, some of them arising out of morbidly exaggerated
notions of filial piety; but even in past times women have not been
‘downtrodden,’ but have occupied a‘ high place in history. To say nothing
of the fact that the greatest of the national divinities is a goddess, nine
Empresses have ruled Japan by ‘divine right,’ and in_ literature,
especially in poetry, women divide the foremost places with men.”

Divorce.

The reasons why a man may divorce his wife are seven. When

she is disobedient to her father-in-law and mother-in-law; when she is

”
294 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN.

unfaithful; when she is jealous; when she has leprosy; when she is
childless ; when she steals; when she has a chattering tongue. To the
last reason the explanatory clause is added, ‘“‘For the gabbling of a woman
often destroys the peace of families.” In mercy to the childless wife,
the clause is added, “If she is amiable and gentle she shall not be
divorced, but her husband shall adopt a child, or if his concubine have
a child when his wife hath none, he shall not divorce her.” At the
end of all of the reasons for divorce it is added, ‘““When a woman is
once driven out of her husband’s house, it is a great reproach to her.”
Death and Burial.

When death occurs the body is laid with its head to the north
(a position that the living Japanese scrupulously avoid), near a folding
screen, between which and it a new gem is placed, on which are a
saucer of oil with a lighted rush, cakes of uncooked rice dough, and a
saucer of incense sticks. The priests directly after death choose the
kaimiyo or posthumous name, write it on a tablet of white wood, and
seat themselves by the corpse; his zem, bowls, cups, etc., are filled with
vegetable food, and are placed by his side, the chopsticks being put on
the wrong, 7. ¢. the left side of the ze. At the end of forty-eight hours
the corpse is arranged for the coffin by being washed with warm water,
and the priest, while saying certain prayers, shaves fhe head. | In all
cases, rich or poor, the dress is of the usual make, but of pure white
linen or cotton.

At Omagori, a town near Rokugo, large earthenware jars are
manufactured, which are much used for interment by the wealthy, but
sometimes they use two square boxes, the outer one being of finely
planed wood of the ‘Retinospora obtusa. The poor use what is called
the “quick-tub,” a covered tub of pine, hooped with bamboo. Women
are dressed for burial in the silk robe worn on the marriage day, tabi
are placed beside them or on their feet, and their hair usually flows
loosely behind them. The wealthiest people fill the coffin with vermilion,
and the poorest use chaff, but in other cases only the mouth, nose, and
ears are filled with vermilion, and the coffin is filled up with coarse
incense. The body is placed within the tub or box in the usual squatting
 

 

Lake Hakone, Japan—At Kiga.
THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN. 297

position. It is impossible to understand how a human body, many
hours after death, can be pressed into the limited space afforded by even
the outermost of the boxes. It has been said that the rigidity of a
corpse is overcome by the use of a powder called dosia, which is sold
by the priests, but this idea has been exploded, and the process remains

incomprehensible.
A Japanese Funeral.

“Bannerets of small size and ornamental staves were outside the
house door,” says a writer, describing an actual funeral. “‘Two men in
blue dresses, with pale blue over-garments resembling wings, received
each person; two more presented a lacquered bowl of water and a white
silk crepe towel, and then we passed into a large room, round which were
arranged a number of very handsome folding screens, on which lotuses,
storks and peonies were realistically painted, on a dead gold ground.
Near the end of the room the coffin, under a canopy of white silk, upon
which there was a very beautiful arrangement of artificial white lotuses,
rested upon trestles, the face of the corpse being turned towards the
north. Six priests, very magnificently dressed, sat on each side of the
coffin, and two more knelt in front of a small temporary altar.”

Mourning.

Deep mourning for father or mother lasts fifty days, during
which time the children must abstain from saké, and must visit the
grave and the temple of the burial service daily. For husbands, wives,
brothers, sisters, and first-born children, the deep mourning lasts only
twenty days, another instance of the preponderating importance given
to the filial relation. For parents the second period of mourning lasts
a year, and for the relatives before mentioned ninety days, and non-
observance of the period of mourning for parents or husband is visited
by penal servitude for one year.

Cemeteries.

Two estimable features in the Japanese character are the re-
spect in which they hold their dead, and the attention which they pay to
everything that can render their cemeteries beautiful and attractive. The
solid granite monuments, often elaborate, are always tasteful. They vary

———
298 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN.

from the simple upright obelisk or stone pillar on a square pedestal,
merely inscribed with the name of the deceased, to the massive granite
base and carved column surmounted by a bronze Buddha seated on a
lotus blossom, the figure in many instances reared to a height of
eight feet.

As a People.

The Japanese possess many excellent qualities: they are kind,
courteous, law abiding, cleanly in their habits, frugal and possessed with
a high sense of personal honor which makes sordidness unknown.
This is associated, moreover, with an ardent patriotic spirit, quite removed
from factiousness. Nowhere are good manners and artistic culture so
widespread, reaching even to the lowest. On the other hand, the
people are deficient in moral earnestness and courage, which leads to
corruption in social life and institutions. It is only when matters have
become intolerable that discipline is enforced by the use of Draconian
measures. An utter lack of chivalry towards women is an unpleasing
feature of the national life among these people. Civic courage has also
to be developed.

Social Manners.

The politeness of the Japanese in matters of social etiquette is
unequaled. When, for example, the guests arrive at a dinner-party, they
. enter the house with the greatest hesitation, bowing low with their hands
on their knees if they are men, or dropping on their knees and touching
their foreheads almost to the ground, if they are ladies. The first Japan-
ese salutation corresponds exactly to the Norwegian “Tak for sidst ”—
“Thank you for the pleasure I had the last time I met you.” This,
however, is but the merest beginning of Japanese greeting. A conver-
sation something after this style ensues: “I beg your pardon for my,
rudeness on the last occasion.” “How can you say such a thing when
it was I who failed to show you due courtesy?” “Far from it! |
received a lesson in good manners from you.” ‘How can you conde-
scend to come to sucha poor house as this?” “How can you, indeed,
be so kind as to receive such an unimportant person as myself under
your distinguished roof?”
THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN. 299

All this punctuated with low bows and the sound of breath sucked
rapidly in between the teeth, expressive of great empressement. At last,
amid a final chorus of arigatos, the guests come to anchor upon the
floor. Various objects are handed to them, to entertain them, a curio or
two, a few photographs, no matter what, for it is de rigueur in Japanese
etiquette to affect a great interest and admiration.

Letter writing, like book printing, advances by vertical lines from
right to left, and is always on one side of one strip of paper, which is
unwound from a roll as the writer proceeds, and cut off where he
finishes. To fold the letter, it is doubled over and over from one end
of the strip to the other. The postage stamp is affixed on the closed
seal-flap of the envelope, instead of on its face. As for the mode of
address, it is the exact reverse of ours. Thus, “ Pennsylvania, Philadel-
phia, 723 Chestnut Street, Globe Bible Publishing Company, Messrs.
Shepp,” would be the Japanese way of directing a letter to the publishers.
People in Japan are called by the family name first, the individual, or
what we should call Christian, name next, and then the honorific. ‘Mr.
Peter Smith” is in this country “Smith Peter Mr.”

More Topsyturvydom.

The carpenter planes and saws towards instead of from him—the
wrong way as we should say, yet his feats of planing are extraordinary. |
Japanese screws are left-handed, and Japanese locks work “the wrong
way.” At games of cards the dealer deals to the right, and the play
goes round in the same direction. When traveling you fee the hotel
servants soon after your arrival instead of at departure. Arrows are
launched from the left side of the bow. Babies are carried on the back
instead of in the arms. Candles are blown out with the hand or a fan
instead of by the breath. The bookkeeper enters his money figures
first, his items below them. In place of the hot food and cold drinks
in ‘which we indulge at our dinners and luncheons, the Japanese lean to
cold food and hot drinks. Sweets make their appearance early in the
repast. Your host takes the lowest place. Crests are worn on the
clothing instead of being graven or painted on the household goods.
Horses are mounted from the right side, where also are all the harness
300 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN.

fastenings. The mane is trained over the left side. In the stable the
horse looks outward from his stall, and is fed from a bucket instead of
a manger. The sail-cloths in Japanese craft are vertical instead of hori-
zontal, and laced instead of sewn. When it is necessary to reef, the
sail is reduced laterally by unlacing one or more breadths, instead of in
its vertical dimension, as is the custom everywhere else. Strange, too, in
other respects are the ways of Japanese boatmen. They tow their boats
stern foremost, and also haul them up stern foremost on the beach. In
cold weather, even though on their muscular and splendidly-shaped
bodies there be hardly enough clothing to swear by, you may at least
be sure of their taking infinite pains to wrap up, of all features, their
noses. In house-building the roof is the first part constructed, only to
be taken to pieces again until the substructure is ready for it; and the
best rooms, as well as the garden, are commonly at the back instead of
at the front.
The Pretty Girls of Japan.

Among the many charms of Japan, the first place must be
given to her Musmes, her bright-eyed girls, whose gentle voices, win-
some manners, and picturesque appearance add much to, if they do
not indeed make, many of the pleasures of life in the Land of the
Rising Sun; such as, for example, picnicking beneath the spreading
cherry blossoms in the gardens at Kioto, gliding down the shallow river
in the decorated holiday boats under the wooded heights of Arashiyama,
aglow with flowering trees, or dining @ Ja chopstick in the renowned
Maple Club at Tokio.

Wherever we go, whatever we do, what would become of the
attractions of Japan if her Musmes became “girls of the period,” cut
their hair short, and dressed in tailor-made gowns? Should we flock to
see the westeria blooms hang in crowded three-feet-long bunches over
the pools at Kameido, where tame golden carp, as large as salmon trout
and of unknown antiquity, come to be fed at the sound of ‘the clapping
of hands, if it were not also to see the flickering light and the lilac
shadows play over the graceful figures of the gaily dressed girls who,
sitting on their heels in the flower-roofed booths, partake in the family
*SoAIJBN JO dnoip—uvder ‘ouoyeyy oye]

 

 

 

 

 
THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN. 303

circle of strange and daintily served viands, brought out of quaint lacquer
boxes r

Should we dine so often chairless, tableless, knife-and-fork-less,
squatting clumsily on the floor and making awkward efforts to carve fish
and convey morsels of food safely to our mouths with a single pair of
chopsticks if we did not feel the attraction of the mignon waiting-maids,
who bowing their heads to the ground bid us welcome in the entrance
hall on our arrival, and who with noiseless tread bring in and, kneeling,
place before us on the floor the miniature table or the square tray
bearing dishes and lac bowls of food, and who either remain sitting on
their heels in the centre of the room, silently watching every opportunity
to fill our cup with hot saké, or quietly steal away to reappear as a
fairy or a fisherboy, to dance, with dramatic postures of hands and body,
a story of Japanese folk-lore, to the mournful clanging of the koto and
the monotonous singing of the geishasP Would the streets—the long
gray streets of a Japanese town—seem to us so picturesque as, with
sketch-book or camera in hand, we stroll along finding endless “subjects,”
if it were not for the bright costumes of the women and children ?

Family Arrangements.

The social position of woman is more favorable than in most non-
Christian countries, but still leaves much to be desired. However, the
attitude assumed by the Empress and the imperial princesses is rapidly
bringing about a social equality of the sexes. Formerly concubines were
recognized by law, and a certain number of imperial mistresses are attached
to the court, whose children are open to the succession—the present
Emperor and Crown Prince being the sons of mistresses. A man can,
however, have only one legal wife, and the keeping of the concubines
in the same house with the wife is more and more discountenanced by
social opinion. Divorces are easily obtained by husbands, and the nuptial
tie is little respected among the lower classes; but women of the well-
to-do classes are modest and virtuous. Marriages are arranged through
an intermediate, and both sexes marry at an early age. As a continuance
of families is a point of great importance, adoption is largely resorted to
in order to prevent families dying out. Prostitution is prevalent. It was
304 THE PEOPLE OF JAPAN.

formerly no uncommon thing for a dutiful daughter to sell herself
for a term of years to the proprietor of a house of ill-fame in order to
retrieve her father’s fallen fortunes. When she returned, no stigma
attached to her; rather was she honored for her filial devotion. Licensed
houses of ill-fame have always been confined to certain districts outside
the city limits, and are carefully inspected. The Yoshiwara, or prostitutes’
quarter, at Tokio, is one of the great show-places of the city.
“Arranging ”’ Tarriages.

Marriages are arranged by the friends of both parties, and much
wordly wisdom is constantly shown in the transaction. Still, youthful
affections do not always run in the prescribed channels, and an attractive
girl, in spite of her seclusion in her father’s house, is sure to have
several lovers; and the frequent suicides of lovers prove that in Japan,
as elsewhere, the course of true love is not always smooth. A lover
who has formed a very decided preference fixes a sprig of the Celastrus
alatus to the house of the lady’s parents, and if it be neglected, so
is he, but if the maiden blackens her teeth he is accepted, subject to the
approval of the parents. The house-master says that this is sometimes
resorted to in the Kubota neighborhood, but that marriages are usually
made after the prescribed fashion.

Marriages are usually arranged when the bridegroom has passed
his twentieth, and the bride her sixteenth year. Marriage is the .mani-
fest destiny of Japanese female children, who are trained to its duties
from their earliest infancy. The bride does not receive a dowry, but is
provided with a éousseau according to her condition. Money consider-
ations do not appear to weigh much in the arrangéments, but it is
essential for the lady to be discreet, amiable and accomplished, and to
be a mistress of etiquette and domestic management. If a father, hav-
ing no son, gives his eldest daughter in marriage, her husband becomes
his adopted son and takes his name. Betrothal precedes marriage, and
marriage presents are often so lavishly given as to cripple for a time
the resources of the givers. Japanese marriage is a purely civil contract.
No religious ceremony is necessary. A.marriage is legalized by its regis-
tration in the office of the Kocho. .
CHAPTER XV.

 

JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS.

 

rite,
& 4APAN BOASTS numerous cities and large towns, some
| ; of the former ranking among the most populous in
J the world. Best known of all, of course, is Tokio,
Leas the modern capital. It was, or a part of it was,
formerly known as Yeddo, the mysterious city of the
Shoguns. But the ancient walls and palaces of Yeddo have vanished,
and only the name remains in memory. As to modern Tokio, it is not
an imposing city. It covers a vast extent of ground, but from no point
of view does it impress the beholder with admiration. The first thing a
_visitor tries to do is to get a general idea of the town, but the ascent
of Atagayama and other elevated places proves a failure; there is no one
point from which it can be seen, and the only way of grasping it satis-
factorily would be from a balloon! From every altitude, however, dark
patches of forest, the low elevation crowned by the walls of the Castle
topped by dark groves of pine and cryptomeria, broken hills and hollows
with groups of temples, hills with streets straggling over their crests,
shady places where the dead lie, parks, temple grounds, and garden-
bordered streets, tiled roofs of temples, small oblong buildings glaring
with white cement, long lines of low, gray roofs, green slopes, gleams
of moats and canals, and Europeanized buildings, conspicuous by their
windows and their ugliness, are sure to be seen, and the eye soon
learns to distinguish as landmarks the groves of Shiba, Uyeno, and the
Castle. On fine days Fuji-san looms grandly in the distance, and the
white sails of junks, on the blue waters of the Gulf of Yeddo, give life
to a somewhat motionless scene.
No view of Tokio, leaving out the impression produced by size,

is striking; indeed there is a monotony of meanness about it. The hills
(305)
306 JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS.

are not heights, and there are no salient objeccs ¢o detain the eye for an
instant. As a city it lacks concentration. Masses of greenery, lined or
patched with gray, and an absence of beginning or end, look suburban
rather than metropolitan. Far away in the distance are other gray
patches; you are told that those are still Tokio, and you ask no more.
It is a city of “magnificent distances” without magnificence. You can
drive in a crooked line fifteen miles from north to south, and eleven
_ miles from east to west at least, and are still in Tokio. The blue
waters of the gulf are its only recognizable boundary. It is an aggre-
gate of one hundred and twenty-five villages, which grew together round
the great fortress of the Mikado’s chief vassal, and which, while retaining
their parks, country houses, gardens, lakes, streams, and fields, their rustic
lanes and sylvan beauty, have agreed to call themselves Tokio, and in
certain quarters, such as the neighborhood of the Nippon-Bashi, Asakusa,
and Shimmei-mai, have packed themselves pretty closely together. The
bright Sumida, which once enclosed a part of the city, has now a
transpontine Tokio, the populous district of Honjo on its other side, and
on the east and west miniature hills and valleys with rice-fields, pines,
camellias, and bamboo, come up into the suburbs. There is no smoke,
and no hum or clatter ascends. "
Climate of Tokio.

Tokio is situated in latitude 35° 39’ north, and in longitude 139°
45’ east, at the head of the Gulf of Yeddo, where the Sumida, the
Kanda, and several small streams fall into the sea. Thus it is slightly
south of Gibraltar, but its isotherm is that of Bologna and Marseilles.
Its annual rainfall is about sixty inches. The average number of rain—
days is ninety-eight. The months of least rain are December, January
and February, and those of the greatest are usually June and July.
The snowfall is very light, and snow rarely lies long on the ground.
‘Days on which the mercury never rises above the freezing-point are
very rare.

Outside the official quarter are the city, and the districts of north,
east and south Tokio, containing Shiba and Uyeno, with their temples,
groves, shrines, avenues and gardens, and the gorgeous tombs of eleven
 

 

 

Lake Hakone, Japan—Pleasure Boat.
JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS. 309

of the Shoguns of the Tokugawa dynasty; Tsukiji, the “Foreign Con-
cession,” and centre of foreign missions ; Asakusa, with the great popular
temple of Kwan-non and its surrounding exhibitions; Oji, with its
temples and tea-houses; Mukojima with its tea-houses, cherry avenues
and shrines; Meguro with its rural beauty, its temples and cremation-
ground, and the tombs of Gompachi and Kamurasaki; Takanawa, famous
for attacks on the British legation, and for the tombs of the “ Forty-
seven ronins,” and Shinagawa, of evil fame, the suburb which lies near-
est to Yokohama, are all names which have become familiar from the
reports of travelers and Mr. Mitford’s Tales of Old Japan.
The Japanese Metropolis.

Of all Tokio, the city proper is the most densely populated dis-
trict, and not the least interesting, as it is thoroughly Japanese, and few
traces of foreign influence are to be seen. The Nipponbashi, or Bridge
of Japan, is there, the geographical centre of the Empire, from which
all distances are measured; the main street and numerous canals TU ,
through it, and every part of it is occupied with shops, storehouses,
fireproof warehouses, and places of wholesale business, and their deep,
heavily-tiled roofs almost redeem it from insignificance. The canals are
jammed with neatly-roofed boats piled with produce, and on the road-
ways, loaded pack-horses, coolies, and man-carts with their shouting
and struggling teams, leave barely room for the sight-seer. No streets
of San Francisco or New York present more commercial activity
No time is lost,—‘‘ Presto” is the motto,—and loading, and unloading,
packing, and unpacking, and warehousing, are carried on during daylight
with much rapidity and noise.

The canals, which form as at Niigata, a convenient network oi
communication, are water-streets as well as water-ways, and are always
thronged with loaded boats, and at certain times with pleasure-boats,
and nocturnal boat processions illuminated with paper lanterns. The
tide runs through them and keeps them sweet, but at low-water they
look dirty and dismal, with their ragged fringe of sheds, and boats
lying on the slime in which hundreds of children wallow with amphib-

ious satisfaction. So many moats and canals involve a large number of
14
310 JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS.

bridges, but few of these are of stone. Yaetaibashi, one of the longest,
has twenty-four spans of thirty feet each. Tokio, in few things ‘behind
the age,” possesses water-works, and the supply is brought from a
distance of nine miles in curious, square, wooden pipes, the mains from
one to two feet square, and the distribution pipes four inches square;
but there are no filtering beds, and the water is more abundant than
pure.
Street Nomenclature.

Of the one thousand four hundred streets of Tokio, about two-
thirds derive their names from natural objects, another proof of the love
of nature which is so strong among the Japanese. There is a Matsu,
or Pine Street, in nearly every one of the ninety-six subdivisions of
the city. Scores of streets are named after the willow and bamboo,
and a number after the cedar, peony, rush, rice-plant, wormwood,
holly, and chrysanthemum. Among the more fanciful names are Plum
Orchard, Pure Water, Sun Shade, Morning Sun, Flowing River, Moun-
tain Breeze, and New Blossom; and beasts and birds are not forgot-
ten, for there are Badger, Tortoise, Monkey, Stork, Bear, and Pheasant
Streets re-duplicated, and twenty streets are called after that unworthy
brute the Japanese horse—Pack Horse Relay Street being the oldest
in Tokio.

The Old-Time [letropolis.

Osaka is the ancient commercial metropolis of Japan, and serves
as the centre of distribution for one of the richest and most populous
regions of the Empire. It is a quaint, old-fashioned city, wealthy and
conservative, and a solid and substantial type, and yet not without many
signs of the growth and spread of modern ideas. Its citizens are like
itself—solid and substantial, and not too eager to adopt the new simply
for the sake of its novelty, but very persistent and persevering in carry-
ing out any project that may meet with their approval. They are the
merchant princes of Japan, and in all the changes incident to the progress
of the Empire within the past three decades they have retained for their
city much of its ancient importance. The removal of the capital from
Kioto to Tokio has deprived it of the political pre-eminence which it
JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS. 31I

once enjoyed, but if business and politics have been divorced, the former
has not suffered much by the process.

Osaka is a very interesting city to visitors. In the hot weather
its great river is crowded with brilliant pleasure parties, and its theatre
street on the Dotom-bori canal is famous for the best displays in Japan.
Osaka is also famous, or notorious, for its singing girls (Guechas), the
most beautiful and alluring in Japan. But the city has also more solid
attractions—its lordly castle, the national mint, ‘the great Buddhist temple
of Tenno-ji and the historical hill of Kodzu. Beneath this great dark
Toru—the archway in the form of a double cross, which forms the
entrance to every Shinto temple (it is alleged to furnish a rest for the
sacred birds)—stood the Mikado Nintozu when he noticed that no smoke
was rising from the cottages of the city. This brought the poverty of
his people so home to him that he remitted all taxation for three years,
though his own palace fell about his ears for want of repairs. When
the three years were over, smoke was rising from every dwelling, and
his grateful subjects rebuilt his palace sumptuously, and as time went on
substituted him for the tutelary deity of the temple.

The palace of Hideyoshi, the most magnificent building that Japan
ever saw, with its miraculous carvings, stands within the walls no longer.
It was fired by the retreating Tokugawas. But its moats and the stones
of which it is built are so gigantic that they fairly take away one’s
breath. The stones are many of.them a yard or two through and
several yards long, and the principal moat is over a hundred feet deep
and wide, cased with solid masonry on both sides.

Osaka had once quite a little colony of English and American
merchants, and is still one of the treaty ports, but its “settlement” has
been abandoned to missionaries, who, by all accounts, are not much
more popular here than at Nagoya, which is the headquarters of Budd-
hist hostility to Christianity. The foreign merchants, who do most
business in Osaka, have their establishments at Kobe, twenty miles lower
down the bay, which is virtually the seaport of Osaka; Osaka itself
being more suitable for the steamers of very light draught, which do
the passenger-carrying and the petty trading of the Inland Sea.
312 JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS.

The Ancient Capital.

Kioto, only an hour’s ride from Osaka, presents an entirely differ-
ent aspect. If Osaka is the home of commerce and of industry, Kioto—at
least in the days of old Japan—was the chosen abode of the muses of
learning and of the arts. During the time when a temporal ruler, nomi-
nally dependent, but in reality master, held sway at Yeddo; when the
Shogunate had succeeded in usurping most of the real power, leaving
only its shadow to the true sovereign, Kioto was the home of a vene-
rated but impoverished Court, the members of which, debarred from
the excitements of political life, turned their attention, whether from
choice or necessity, to the cultivation of gentler pursuits. Here literature
.and letters flourished, and here many of the manual arts, which have
made Japan famous, reached their highest stage of development. As the
Hebrew poets loved to sing of mountain-girdled Jerusalem, so Japanese
poetry extols Kioto, which is encompassed, not with forest-smothered
ranges like those of Northern Japan, but with hills more or less rugged,
wooded here, broken into gray peaks there, crimson with maples, or dark
with pines, great outbreaks of yellowish rock giving warmth and variety, and
the noble summit of Hiyeizan crowning the mountain wall which bounds
the city on the north.

A Unique City.

Kioto is unlike the other cities of Japan. It is the home of art,
given up to beauty, dress.and amusement; its women are pretty, their
coiffures and girdles are bewitching, surprises of bright color lurk about
their attire; the children are pictures; there is music everywhere ; beau-
tiful tea-houses and pleasure-grounds abound, and besides all this, the
city is completely girdled by a number of the grandest temples in Japan,
with palaces and palace gardens of singular loveliness-on the slopes of
its purple hills.

Nikko.

The city of Nikko also has a distinct individuality. This consists
not so much in its great beauty and variety as in its solemn grandeur,
its profound melancholy, its slow and sure decay, and the historical and
religious atmosphere from which one can never altogether escape. It is
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kioto, Japan—Great Bell at Daibutsu Temple.
JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS. 516

a place of graves, too, of constant rain and strange stillness, and its
glories lie in the past.

Nikko means “sunny splendor,” and its beauties are celebrated in
poetry and art all over Japan. Mountains for a great part of the year
clothed or patched with snow, piled in great ranges round Nantaisan,
their monarch, worshiped as a god; forests of magnificent timber;
ravines and passes scarcely explored; dark green lakes sleeping in end-
less serenity; the deep abyss of Kegon, into which the waters of
Chiuzenjii plunge from a height of two hundred and fifty feet; the
bright beauty of the falls of Kiri Furi, the loveliness of the gardens of
Dainichido; the sombre grandeur of the passes through which the Daiya-
gawa forces its way from the upper regions; a gorgeousness of azaleas
and magnolias, and a luxuriousness of vegetation perhaps unequaled in
Japan, are only a few of the attractions which surround the shrines of

the two greatest Shoguns.
Kobe=Hiogo.

Kobe is the name by which we now know the ancient city of
Hiogo, which is really the old native quarter of the newer treaty port.
Kobe is a bright, cheerful place, picturesquely situated. The Foreign
Concession, beautifully and regularly laid out on a grand scale for the
population which it has never attracted, is at the east end. It is a
“model settlement,” well lighted with gas, and supplied with water, kept
methodically clean, and efficiently cared for by the police. The Bund
has a fine stone embankment, a grass parade, and a magnificent carriage-
road, with the British, American, and German Consulates, and some
“imposing” foreign residences on the other side.

Yokohama.

One of the best known ports is Yokohama, on the bay of the
same name, forming a part of the Gulf of Yeddo. It contains the
largest foreign settlement in Japan, and is of great commercial
importance. The pride of the city is in its pleasure gardens and
delightful dwelling-places situated on the “Bluff,” a table-land to the
south of the business quarter, and forming a purely residential
suburb, approachable only by a steep carriage drive, or a footway of
316 JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS.

some hundreds of stone steps. At the rear of this elevated plateau, is a
rifle range and the racecourse, without which no large European settlement
in the East could be regarded as complete. Good sea-bathing is to be
had in the same locality, at Homoko. Down in the business quarter,
close to ‘‘the city,” as it were, there are the park and cricket grounds,
whilst the boating club has its headquarters on the sea front. Yokohama
dare not be left behind in the matter of athletics by her younger and
spirited rival, Kobé, even were she disposed to slumber. The settlement
possesses a number of excellent hotels, several clubs, and the business
houses, termed hongs, after the Chinese word imported in the early
days from Hong Kong, are substantially built and most creditably main-
tained. Altogether, Yokohama cannot fail to strike the stranger as a
very comfortable, well-to-do place, with a large export trade in tea,
silks, and rice.
Nagasaki.

Nagasaki possesses one of the finest harbors in the east, being
practically landlocked, and with space to accommodate the navies of the
world. Such a lovely panorama as that which opens. to the eye, after
passing the lighthouse on the rocky islet at the entrance, is rarely to be
met with anywhere. In front is Papenberg, the scene of a massacre in
the dark days of Japan, when the tenets of Christianity were not toler-
ated. At the far end of the inlet lies the town of Nagasaki, rising tier
above tier on the picturesque hillsides. The bungalows of the consuls
and other foreign residents lie scattered on the slopes more toward the
harbor’s mouth, each surrounded by its ample gardens and _ tennis
lawns. Across the inlet is a semi-Russian settlement, off which are
usually to be found anchored two or three of the Czar’s men-of-war.
The Russians would like to make Nagasaki a more complete adjunct of
their Vladivostock naval depot than it now is, did not certain consider-
ations stand in their way—as it is, they have a submarine telegraph
cable between the two points, owned by the Great Northern Telegraph
Company, an organization which likewise controls the cable from
Nagasaki to Shanghai, and, as naturally follows, the communication
between Japan and Europe.
JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY— HIGHWAYS. 317

Nagasaki is of great value to the Japanese—and has a correspond-
ing interest for their foes—as a coaling station, the only place in the
East where coal is mined in any quantity being at the Takashima collier-
ies hard by. A rival power seizing Takashima might cripple Japan at a
blow, save that she has large stocks of the precious fuel at Nagasaki
itself, and at Yokohama and Kobe.

Agricultural Villages.

Japan is thickly dotted with small agricultural villages, which are
often poor and unattractive places. The houses are small and dilapidated,
and the inhabitants ill-fed and ill-clothed. The people are industrious,
but their farming implements are of a primitive type. In some places,
however, the farming villages are prosperous and beautiful. They are
sometimes embowered in wood, and the richer farmers seclude their
dwellings by closely-clipped hedges or rather screens, two feet wide,
and often twenty feet high. ‘Tea grew near every house,” says a
traveler, “and its leaves were being gathered and dried on mats. Signs
of silk culture began to appear in shrubberies of mulberry trees, and
white and sulphur yellow cocoons were lying in the sun along the road
in flat trays. Numbers of women sat in front of the houses weaving
cotton cloth fifteen inches wide, and cotton yarn, mostly imported from
England, was being dyed in all the villages, the dye used being a
native indigo, the Polygonum tinctoriwm. Old women were spinning,
and young and old usually pursued their avocations with wise-looking
babies tucked into the backs of their dresses, and peering cunningly over

their shoulders.” .
The Great Plain of Yeddo.

The country in the immediate neighborhood of Yokohama is beau-
tiful, with abrupt wooded hills, and small picturesque valleys, but after
passing Kanagawa, the railroad enters upon the immense plain of Yeddo,
said to be ninety miles from north to south, on whose northern and
western boundaries faint blue mountains of great height hover dreamily
in the blue haze, and on whose eastern shore for many miles the clear
blue wavelets of the Gulf of Yeddo ripple, brightened by the white
sails of innumerable fishing-boats. On this fertile and fruitful plain
318 JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS.

stands not only the capital with its million of inhabitants, but a
number of populous cities, and several hundred thriving agricultural
villages. Every foot of land which can be seen from the railroad is
cultivated by the most careful spade husbandry, and much of it is irri-
gated for rice. Streams abound, and villages of gray wooden houses
with gray thatch, and gray temples with strangely curved roofs, are
scattered thickly over the landscape.
Railways.

The railway system of Japan began with two lines, one from
Tokio to Yokohama, and the other from Hiogo to Osaka and Kioto. In 1887
a great impetus was given to railway construction by the formation of
private companies. The lines now in course of construction will, when
completed, give the following trunk lines: 1. A central railway between
the two capitals (finished); 2. A continuation through Hiago to Shimo-
noseki ; 3. A line from Tokio to Aomori; 4. A west coast railway by the
Shinano Mountains to Niigata; 5. A line in Kiushu from the Strait of
Shimonoseki to Kagoshima. Shikoku and Yezo have each one short
railway. Numerous branch and loop lines are finished or are under con-
struction. The gauge is a narrow one; most of the engineers are Eng-
lish trained. Total probable mileage opened in 1891, was two thousand
five hundred miles.

The journey from Yokohama to Tokio is accomplished in less
than an hour by an admirable double-track railroad, eighteen miles long,
with iron bridges, neat stations, and substantial roomy termini, built: by
English engineers at a cost known only to the government, and opened by
the Mikado in 1872. The Yokohama station is a handsome and suitable
stone building, with a spacious approach, ticket offices on our plan, and
roomy waiting-rooms for different classes. Except the ticket clerks,
who are Chinese, and the guards and engine-drivers, who are English,
the officials are Japanese in European dress. Outside the stations
instead of cabs, there are kurumas, which carry luggage as well as people.
Only luggage in the hand is allowed to go free; the rest is weighed,
numbered, and charged for, a corresponding number being given to its

owner to present at his destination. The fares are, third class, an
JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS. 319

ichibu, or about twenty-five cents; second class, sixty sen, or about
sixty cents; and first class, a yen, or about a dollar. The tickets are
collected as the passengers pass through the barrier at the end of the
journey. The English-built cars have seats along the sides, and doors
opening on platforms at both ends. On the whole, the arrangements
are Continental rather than American.

Main Roads.

All highways in Japan are under the direct care of the govern-
ment. The system of roads is generally good, although in remote
districts the work of supervision and repair is not done so carefully
as is really necessary. Of the highways the Tokaido is that best
known to foreigners. This is nearly three hundred and seven miles in
length, and connects Kioto and Tokio. Its course lies along the south-
eastern coast of the main island, and it is the only road in the country
which is named after the circuit that it traverses. Dr. Kaempfer, one of
the early residents in the Dutch factory at Nagasaki, gives in his well-
known History of Japan a graphic and entertaining account of his journey
from Nagasaki to Yeddo, in 1691, part of which he made by the Tokaido.

A Great Tunnel.

One of the most remarkable works recently completed by Japanese
labor, without aid from foreign engineers, is a tunnel on this road. It
is situated about six miles to the westward of the large town of
Shidzuoka, and about one hundred and six miles west of Tokio. The
tunnel is cut through a high ridge of hills intersecting the Tokaido. The
old line of road passed over the summit of the ridge, but this engineering
work renders the journey far shorter and easier. A good roadway some
eighteen feet in breadth leads up the ridge on either side, in a zigzag
direction, so as to admit of wheeled vehicles passing along it with perfect
safety; and the tunnel runs through the centre of the hill, thus connect-
ing the two roadways. The passage is about two hundred yards in
length; at the eastern end it is faced with stone, then the roof is
supported by timber arches for some distance; a small portion is next
hewn out of a stratum of solid rock; and finally the timber arches are
again continued as far as the western extremity. The breadth through-

ern +
320 JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS.

out is about twelve feet, and the height about ten feet. As the tunnel
runs in a curved line, owing to the formation of the hill, and is thus
very dark, lamps are placed in it at intervals; while at each end are
fixed in the ground several posts, each surmounted by a brightly polished
oblong plate of tin to reflect the rays of the sun into the interior. This
important work was commenced in 1873, but was not completed until
March, 1876.

Another road between Kioto and Tokio is the Nakasendo, also
called the Kiso-kaido; this runs through the heart of the country, to the
north of the Tokaido, and is a little over three hundred and twenty-
three miles in length. Some of the hill scenery on the western half of
this road is exceptionally grand; the elevation in many parts is so great
that in winter the roadway is much obstructed by snow. The longest
high road in Japan is the Oshiukaido, running northward from Tokio to
Awomori on the Tsugaru Straits. It traverses the provinces of the
Musashi, Shimotsuke, Iwashiro, Rikuzen, Rikuchiu, and Michinoku, and
its length is given at nearly four hundred and forty-four miles. Two
roads from Tokio to Niigata exist, the longer being about two hundred
and sixty-four and the shorter about two hundred and twenty-five miles
in length; the latter is said to be impassable in winter. Neither of
these possesses a name, and for a considerable distance each is identical
with the Nakasendo. Another road, which, though far shorter than those
already mentioned, still possesses great interest for the traveler on account
of the beauty of its mountain scenery, is the Koshiu-kaido. It unites
Tokio and Kofu, the chief town in the province of Kai, and is seventy-
seven miles in length; from Kofu a continuation of it joins the Naka-
sendo at Shimono-suwa, in the province of Shinano, some thirty-two’
miles farther. To the west of Kioto lie many other roads, but they are
of less importance because there is little traffic in the Sanindo, while that
of the Sanyodo is conducted in junks which ply on the Inland Sea.

The Jinrickisha.

Doubtless the best known means of travel in Japan is the jin-
rickisha, or “man-power carriage.” These odd little vehicles are used in
cities and towns, and on all fairly level roads. A jinrickisha is shaped
JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS. 321

like a miniature gig, and is, as a rule, drawn by a single coolie, though
for rapid traveling two men are usually employed. In the city of Tokio
alone there exist over ten thousand of these jinrickishas, and various
improvements as regards their style, shape and build have been intro—
duced since 1870, the year in which they first came into use. Many are
of sufficient size to carry two persons, and on a good road they travel
about six miles an hour; the rate of hire is about five cents a mile.

Many people suppose the ‘“‘man-power carriage” to be the ancient
Japanese method of vehicular progression, but this is an error, for the
only vehicles known in Japan before the last quarter of a century were
holy cars upon which deities and sovereigns were borne in procession,
and perhaps the rude country carts. At any rate the presence of a
jinrickisha upon a work of Japanese art at once stamps it as very
modern. Indeed, if we come to the root of the matter, the jinrickisha
is a Western invention. Carriages for public use were unknown, and as
not everybody could afford to keep one for private use, the necessity
was felt for something which should fulfil the foreign prejudice in favor
of rapid locomotion and be within the reach of the shallowest purse;
and so the jinrickisha was evolved. Before railways were introduced
jinrickisha proprietors drove a roaring trade. If a man wanted to go to
Tokio from Yokohama, his choice lay between a horse, his own feet,
that species of “‘little ease’”’ known as the “‘kago,” or the jinrickisha.
For some time after the short line was opened between Yokohama and
Tokio, jinrickishas monopolized the carrying trade of the capital. Then
an enterprising native thought he would cut the jinrickisha out by start-
ing an omnibus, which plied between the railway station and the
Nipponbashi—the Bridge of Japan; but, as the new-comer ran over
almost as many people as it carried, the police swooped down on it,
and it was sent to keep company under a shed with a brand new
London steam fire-engine, which had not succeeded in winning favor.

*Rickisha [len.

The tendency of all followers of a calling is to band together, and
so the jinrickisha men became a sect of themselves, with their own
characteristics and superstitions and freemasonry. They are powerful
320 JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY— HIGHWAYS.

little men, with abnormally developed legs, and constant training renders
their powers of endurance really wonderful. The average time occupied
by two men in going from Yokohama to Odawarra, a distance of thirty-
eight miles, was under five hours, and this along a very hilly and
abominably uneven road. As soon as the limits of the European settlement
were reached, down went the shafts, and off went every particle of
clothing worn by the men except the “fundoshi,’” or loin-cloth, the
result being often startling, inasmuch as many of the men were accus-
tomed to tattoo themselves from head to foot in the most brilliant colors,
and in designs which were often remarkably beautiful, and often re-
markably the reverse. Then the journey would begin in real earnest,
and the coolies, sometimes tandem, sometimes one in the shafts and
one pushing behind, would start at a break-neck pace, dashing round
corners, rattling down hills, bounding over boulders, and every minute,
when running through a village, within an ace of committing old woman,
child, or fowl slaughter.
Other Modes of Transportation.

On most of the high roads run small stage wagons ‘of various
sizes, but these are, as a rule, badly made, insecure, and for the convey-
ance of passengers alone. In the mountainous regions, and especially in
the ‘hills immediately behind the foreign settlement (Kobe) at Hiogo, in
the province of Setsu, small bullock cars are to be seen. These are
roughly made of untrimmed timber, and. are anything but strong; each
rests on three wheels of solid wood, and is drawn by one bullock.
They are, however, very useful for the conveyance of blocks of stone
‘from the hills, and for rough country work. For the transport of bag-
gage or heavy goods, large two-wheeled carts are in use; these are
pushed along by four or six coolies. Until lately the only vehicle
employed in traveling was the palanquin. Of these there were two
kinds, viz., the norimono, a large litter carried by several bearers, and
used principally by persons of the better class, and the ago, still to be
seen in hilly districts where carriages cannot pass. The kago is a mere
basket-work conveyance, slung from a pole carried across the shoulders
of two coolies; it is easy to see that the substitution of the wheeled
RELEEREE <<

 

 

Kioto, Japan—Tesaka Pagoda.
JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY— HIGHWAYS. oy

jinrikisha drawn by only one man was a great improvement as regards
both economy of labor and facility of locomotion. In country districts,
and wherever the roads are stony or narrow, long strings of pack-
horses meet the eye. These animals are shod with straw sandals to
protect the frog of the hoof, and their burden is attached by ropes to
a rough pack-saddle without girths. They go in single file, and move
only at a walk. To their necks is attached a string of small metal bells
—a Survival of the ancient usage whereby a state courier was provided
with bells to give timely warning of his approach at the different bar-
riers along his route, and so to guard against any impediment or delay.
The peasants also often employ oxen as beasts of burden in_ hilly
regions.
Tea-Houses on the Road.

A feature of travel in rurat Japan is the number of tea-houses, or
inns for refreshment, scattered along the road. Says a traveler who went
through the country in a ‘‘man-power carriage:” ‘After running cheerily
for several miles my men bowled me into a tea-house where they ate
and smoked while I sat in the garden, which consisted of baked mud,
smooth stepping-stones, a little pond with some gold-fish, a deformed
pine and a stone lantern. Observe that foreigners are wrong in calling
the Japanese houses of entertainment indiscriminately ‘tea-houses.’ A
tea-house or chaya is a house at which you can obtain tea and other
refreshments, rooms to eat them in, and attendance. That which to
some extent answers to-a hotel is a yadoya, which provides sleeping
accommodation and food as required. The licenses are different. Tea-
houses are of all grades, from the three-storied erections, gay with flags
and lanterns, in the great cities and at places of popular resort, down to
the road-side tea-house, with three or four lounges of dark-colored wood
under its eaves, usually occupied by naked coolies in all attitudes of
easiness and repose. The floor is raised about eighteen inches above
the ground, and in these tea-houses is frequently a matted platform with
a recess called the doma, literally ‘earth-space,’ in the middle, round
which runs a ledge of polished wood called the dama, or ‘board-space,’
on which travelers sit while they bathe their soiled feet with the water
i

326 JAPAN—CITY—COUNTRY—HIGHWAYS.

which is immediately brought to them; for neither with soiled feet nor
in foreign shoes must one advance one step on the matted floor.

““‘When we stopped at wayside tea-houses the runners bathed their
feet, rinsed their mouths, and ate rice, pickles, salt fish, and ‘broth of
abominable things,’ after which they smoked their tiny pipes, which give
them three whiffs for each filling. As soon as I got out at any of these,
one smiling girl brought me the fabakobon, a square wood or lacquer tray,
with a china or bamboo charcoal-holder and ash-pot upon it, and another
presented me with a zen, a small lacquer table about six inches high,
with a tiny teapot with a hollow handle at right angles with the spout,
holding about an English teacupful, and two cups without handles or
saucers, with a capacity of from ten to twenty thimblefuls each. The
hot water is merely allowed to rest a minute on the tea-leaves, and the
infusion is a clear straw-colored liquid with a delicious aroma and flavor,
grateful and refreshing at all times. If Japanese tea ‘stands,’ it acquires a
a coarse bitterness and an unwholesome astringency. Milk and sugar are
not used. A clean-looking wooden or lacquer pail with a lid is kept in
all tea-houses, and though hot rice, except to order, is ready only three
times daily, the pail always contains cold rice, and the coolies heat it by
pouring hot tea over it. As you eat, a tea-house girl, with this pail
beside her, squats on the floor in front of you, and fills your rice bowl
till you say, ‘Hold, enough!’ On this road it is expected that you leave
three or four sen on the tea-tray for a rest of an hour or two, and tea.”

Inspiring Travel.

Whether in city or country, there is no place where travel is
more picturesque than in Japan, on one of the great roads, such as the
Tokaido, or the Isekaido. One is dragged along by flying, yelling
jinrickisha men; past trim, prosperous towns and villages; past bands of
white-clad pilgrims, robust, well-gaitered, and wayworn, with their bells
and fans, fringed mats, and mighty hats of rush-straw. On our right,
very near, are the dancing waters of the beautiful Owari Gulf, stretching
away till lost in haze, and backed by the pearly silhouettes of the
mountains of Mikawa. On our left is a wide expanse of highly
cultivated but hedgeless fields. Such is travel on the Isekaido.
CHAPTER XVI.

 

JAPAN—TRADES—PRO FESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.
: !
tS

Ri © 4REAT EXCELLENCE has been attained by the Japanese in

 

“ the mechanical arts, especially in metallurgy, and in the
a al manufacture of porcelain, lacquer ware, and silk fabrics;
SHS indeed, in some of these departments works of art are

: produced, so exquisite in design and execution as to
excel the best products of Europe. The Emperor Gotoba, eighty-third
of his line, founded about 1200, a school of sword-making in Kioto,
which he himself practically superintended; Masamune (fourteenth cen-
tury) blades are the most famous. Goto Yujo (1435-1513) may be
said to have created the art of chiselling in metals in Japan. Excellently
finished cutlery is still made in Osaka and Tokio. The porcelain industry
virtually dates from the thirteenth century, when Shunkei, the Father of
Pottery, flourished at Seto, in Owari; hence the Japanese name .Setomono
for all kinds of earthenware. Shunkei studied for six years in China,
but Japan also owes much to Corea, whence artisans arrived at various
periods on the invitation of Japanese nobles. Among the most cele-
brated wares are the crackled Satsuma, which dates from about 1640, the
Hizen, the Kaga, and the Owari. Much of the art decoration of these
is executed in Tokio. The lacquer industry dates from pre-historic
towns; some of the finest specimens of lacquer ware extant date from
the shogunate of Yoshimasa (1436-80); towards the end of the seven-
teenth century lacquering perhaps reached its acme of perfection. The
bronze and inlaid metal-work of Japan is highly esteemed. The best
enamel (shippo) an art introduced from China two and a-half centuries
ago, is made in Kioto. Silk weaving is carried to high perfection,

especially in the two districts of Kwansei, round Kioto, whose looms
(327):
328 JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

supply artistic silk and cotton goods, and Kwanto, round Maebashi,
north of Tokio, which supplies ordinary wearing materials.
Artistic Carving.

A nation showing such artistic power in metals, and in more
fictile material, such as clay, could not fail to excel in wood and ivory
carving. Perhaps in no department are they better known, owing to
the large number of “‘nitsuke,” as the little ivory groups of figures are
called, replete with life and humor, that are to be seen in a hundred
shops in every capital, These, in the days now rapidly passing away,
used to be employed as buttons, and were as much matters of costly
fancy as seals and rings or brooches with us.

There is a great field for the display of their originality and love
of variety in the wall papers, which are used to ornament their walls
and screens. What is elsewhere said of their decorative system and
methods of surface ornamentation applies to their wall papers; and the
system itself is nowhere so severely tried, because something of me-
chanical reproduction is unavoidable. Whether stencilled or printed, the
design of a single square must of necessity be the same in each. By
what force of imagination and ingenuity they disguise the effect of exact
repetition, and lead the eye away from noticing the uniformity, can be
realized only by inspection of the papers covering the walls of an apart-
ment, and no description could supply a substitute.

Textile Fabrics.

Of textile fabrics and embroidery, in both of which they have
developed an industry peculiarly their own, something of the same kind
may- be said as of their wall papers. These fabrics have, however,
been so familiarized in England by the eager adoption of the best and
most novel in female costumes that their chief characteristics must be
very generally known. It was the custom in former times for each
daimio to have a loom for weaving the brocades which he himself and
his wife and family required, and also the fabrics of less costly mate-
rials for his retainers. The robes manufactured for the court at Kioto
and Yeddo were in like manner to be had only from the imperial
looms. But in many of the more common textile fabrics the best evi-
Nikko, Japan—Imaichi Road.

 
JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 331

dence may perhaps be found of the artistic feeling of the nation, and
the universality of art work. Towels and dusters of the least expensive
material often display very choice designs—as do also the Turkish and
Syrian fabrics of the same quality. A piece of bamboo, a broken branch
of blossoms, or a flight of birds in counter-changed colors, suffices in
their hands to produce the most charming effect, in the most perfect
taste. Their embroidery has never been excelled in beauty of design,
assortment of colors, and perfection of needlework.
Weaving Crape.

Crape is, after silk damasks, the favorite fabric of the Japanese
for dress. In this material the weft is composed of threads which have
been forcibly twisted, either to the left or to the right. The cloth is
woven with two shuttles, two or four shots being given with the left-
twisted thread from one shuttle, and the same number with the right-
twisted thread from the other shuttle. On the removal of the cloth from
the loom it is placed in a bath and boiled for some hours with straw
_ashes, and then washed, after which it is found to have shrunk con-
siderably, particularly in its breadth. Before drying it is stretched and
rolled on a wooden cylinder, and then dried in the sun. When finished
the cloth has the uneven surface liked by the Japanese, and which it
will always retain. The twisting machine used is simple and efficient.
- Over a large light bamboo wheel, worked by the hand or water-power,
the weft threads pass, and, dividing, half of them go to the right and
half to the left, the large wheel keeping the spools and reels in motion
by which the threads are twisted and wound. Crape is woven in narrow
widths from twelve to fourteen inches wide, though some manufacturers
are now beginning to weave the cheaper qualities wider, twenty-four to
twenty-seven inches, to meet the demands of foreign purchasers. From

the weaver the cloth passes to the printer.
Factory Scenes.

We pass into the sheds where the men are at work printing the
gay stuffs which so enhance the charms of Japan’s pretty women.
The sheds are open on three sides, and are filled with rows of long,

narrow tables or boards on trestles. On these are strained the cottons
15
4

332 JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

or crapes to be dyed, and to the rafters above are hung the boards on
which the stuffs partly printed are drying before the completion of the
process. Several men and boys are leaning over the tables at work.
We look around for the machinery or tools by means of which the
elaborate patterns we have so much admired are produced, but we look
in vain; the machinery consists solely of a few stencil plates, brushes
and saucers of fluid paints, and the human hand—that most ingenious,
adaptable, obedient and successful of machines when guided by the
mind of the artist-workman.
Laying on Artistic Designs. _

But to describe the process. To make it quite clear we will
imagine, for example, that a simple Japanese pattern, such as that of a
white fan decorated with a realistic design of birds and branches of pink
plum blossoms, and thrown on a pale blue ground, is being printed.
Each fan may contain a separate design if wished; the method is the
same. A stencil-plate made of stout water-proof paper is temporarily
fixed by bradawls to the cloth and table beneath, and with a bamboo
spatula a paste of rice and other materials is spread rapidly and evenly
over the surface of the plate. The paste passes on to the cloth through
the patterned spaces of the stencil-plate, and thus covers the parts it is
intended to leave white in the design. The plate is then removed and
the rice paste is allowed to dry. The workman passes down the long
table, which is the length of an entire piece of cloth, and, using the
_ same stencil-plate, he quickly covers the intended white spaces through-
out the whole extent of the cloth. A series of stencil-plates are then
used in succession in order to draw in the outlines and put in the colors
and shades of the design. Thus, one plate will give the outlines of
one-half of the birds and flowers, the rest of the outlines being com-
pleted by the next plate. With a third plate the brown tints of the
birds’ wings are put in, with a fourth their beaks and claws, with a
fifth any other color of their plumage, with a sixth the pink shades of
the plum blossoms, with a seventh the green leaves, and so on, the
number of the stencil-plates being limited only by the complication of the
design, and by the variety of the colors and tints in it.
JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 333

Masters of Coloring.

The colors are laid on moist, with flat round brushes. The depth,
tone, and shading of the colors depend on the taste and skill of the
workman, and it is delightful to watch him at work and to find how
instinctively and rapidly he feels that a tone is here too strong, there
too weak, and to see him shade and temper it by dipping his brush
into a dish of clean water always at hand, or deepen it with a few
strokes of his paint brush. Rapidly the design in all its complication grows
beneath the apt fingers of the printer, and soon the long strip of cotton
or silk crape is covered with fans and birds and flowers; but the base
of the cloth still remains white. To dye it blue the parts which have
already been printed are covered with a thick layer of rice paste. When
dry the whole surface of the cloth is brushed over with a paste of indigo
and rice, or it is dipped into the indigo vat. The cloth is then steamed
to obtain fixing of the colors by the mordants with which the dyes are
mixed, and finally the rice paste is washed off, when the design of birds
and plum blossoms of a white fan on a blue ground, will appear as
clean and distinct as if just drawn with the brush.

Fine Art in Dress Goods.

The most cunning effects are, however, sometimes obtained by.
painting; and from the hands of the stencil-printer the stuff often passes
to the painter, who, with a small brush, puts in tints or markings on
wings or feathers or flowers, shading and combining colors with rare skill
and an intuitive perception of the beautiful in tones and “values.”

Silks and Satins.

Silks and satins are printed in the same way as cottons and
crapes, and in some of the factories in which the highest class of work
is produced, such as that of Mr. Nishimura, of Kioto, the combination
of stencil printing, painting and embroidery produces triumphs of textile
art unmatched in the world for beauty and for skillful manipulation.
Velvet is also printed so as to produce pictorial effects, the pile being
cut only sufficiently to enhance the design. Sometimes, though by no
means always, the results are good, and these printed velvets are framed
and hung up as pictures by Western buyers. Plain colored stuffs are
334 JAPAN—TRADES—PRO FESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

so little used in Japan for dress materials that vat-dyeing, except in the
case of indigo, is little practiced. To meet, however, the tastes and
requirements of foreign visitors, crapes and silks are now more fre-
quently dyed plain colors than heretofore. Aniline dyes are gradually
displacing the old vegetable Japanese dyes, much to the regret of many
of the more artistic of the manufacturers. In one instance I found a
manufacturer had returned to the use of the old vegetable dyes, after
giving the aniline dyes a trial, as he found them more permanent.
Indigo obtained from Persicaria (Polygonum tinctorum), turmeric, Brazil
wood, madder, safflowers are the best known of the dyes used by the
Japanese. They also obtain a brilliant purple from the stone-crop called
Shikon, and green from the flowers of the Saphora Japonica. The mul-
berry, the pomegranate and the peach tree also furnish dyes. Black
dyes are obtained by producing in various ways a tannate of iron. One
method is to make a solution of iron by soaking rusty iron for some
time in sour wine in a warm place exposed to the air; the product is
probably an oxalate of iron.
Ceramics.

There has been much discussion as to the source whence the Japanese
derived their skill in pottery and porcelain. The general conclusion that,
at a remote era, some Corean priests introduced the manufactory of por-
celain from China, the country most advanced in civilization in the eastern
half of Asia, may be accepted as sufficiently attested. There is evidence
that both Chinese and Japanese have since that time borrowed largely
from each other, while inventing new forms and processes by their own
ingenuity, taste, and skill. Thus differences in treatment and working
traditions would become the inheritance of each, giving rise to the very
characteristic distinction which may be observed in the present day between
‘Chinese and Japanese porcelain and pottery of all kinds, notwithstanding
a certain generic likeness. The discovery of the art of making hard por-
celain, the pate dure of the French in contradistinction to the pate tendre,
cost European workmen much time and labor, after the first importations
of Chinese and Japanese porcelain excited the admiration and envy of
Europe; and the secret was never revealed by either Chinese or Japanese
 

Feige
ai ey

 

 

Nikko, Japan—Koramon Gate.
JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 337

to any European. There are still many secrets of these crafts as jealously
guarded as ever. The mystery of crackled china, of lace-work, translucent
porcelain covered with glaze, and of the marvelous egg-shell cups, and the
process whereby these are enameled and covered by a fine woven case of
bamboo, as well as the composition and sources of their colors, are still
so many secrets to the European manufacturers, although something has
been divined or discovered quite lately as to crackle and lace-work
porcelain. Of the art-pottery and stoneware of Satsuma and Hizen,
and indeed of many other provinces in Japan, it may be said that
nothing better in the material has ever been produced. The Japanese
have no pretension to rank with the classic designs on the Etruscan and
Greek vases, because they have never learned to draw the human figure
correctly. But in flowers, birds, fishes, and insects the Greeks them-
selves never approached the perfection of Japanese art, where such
objects give a beauty and value often to the very commonest piece of
pottery, made with the finger and thumb for the chief tools, and re-
taining the impress of the skin on the surface.
Painted Porcelains.

Porcelain painted or enameled with flowers and other designs is
largely produced in-the province of Hizen in the island of Kiushiu, of
which Nagasaki, where there are large manufactories, is a port; but it is
also manufactured in a great number of other provinces and districts.
The decoration, whether in enamel colors or metals, is laid on after the
final burning of the clay or pate, and above the glaze. But the artists
often live apart from the factories and independent of them, working at
their own homes, and owning, separately or jointly according to circum-
stances, small ovens, where at a comparatively low temperature they can
fix their easily fused enamels. Thus much of the finer egg-shell por-
celain used to be sent in the white state to Tokio, Hizen, and other
places, there to be decorated by artists of local celebrity. But from the
Hizen factories also comes a great quantity of low-class porcelain for
shipment at Nagasaki, to suit the demand of the European markets.
That for the most part is vulgar in taste, made on European models for
domestic use, and consists of toilet sets, tea services, jars, trays, etc.,
338 JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

coarsely even if elaborately painted, akin to the ware so long received from
Canton under similar conditions of deterioration. The colors are bad,
with no refined tones. Light greens, red, and blue, all poor in quality,
are most common, and have a vulgar and disagreeble effect. This is
the result of a demand for cheap articles by tradesmen who have no
taste themselves. But Arita, Kioto, Kaga, Satsuma, and Owari are all
centres whence the most characteristic and admired ceramic wares of
Japan are obtained.
Cloisonne.

Cloisonne belongs perhaps more to metal working than to ceramics.
In all the applications of the art of enameling, the Japanese have run
their great rivals in cloisonne work very close, although upon the whole
the Chinese have the superiority, their coloring being more brilliant and
finely toned in harmony, and their work more solid and satisfactory both to
the eye and the touch. A dull and sombre tone is generally adopted in
Japanese cloisonne work, which much impairs the beauty of their good
workmanship in its general effect.

The mode of producing cloisonne work has often been described.
It derives its name from the process of building up the design in
cells formed by raised septa varying from one-tenth to one-twelfth of
an inch in depth. These labyrinth cells, forming elaborate patterns
of flowers, diapers, frets, etc., are soldered on the surface of the
vases selected, made generally of copper; and into these cells the
enamel, of the consistence of oil paints and of the various colors
required by the pattern, is carefully pressed with a wooden spatula.
When complete the piece is placed in a primitive kind of oven or
“muffle,” where it is fired with a regulated heat until the paste is
fused and converted into a virtreous substance, which is allowed very
gradually to cool.

Metal-Working.

In all manipulations of metals and amalgams the Japanese are great
masters. They not only “are in possession of secret processes unknown
to workmen in Europe,” by which they produce effects beyond the
reach of the latter, but show a mastery of their material in the moulding
JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 339

and designing of their productions which imparts a peculiar freedom and
grace to their best work. A lotus leaf and flower and séed-pot they
will produce with inimitable fidelity in the subtle curves and undulating
lines and surfaces, and in the most minute markings of leaf and flower.
So birds and fishes and insects cast in bronze seem instinct with life, so
true are they to nature, while at other times the same objects are adopted
for a purely conventional mode of treatment. Their inlaying and over-
laying of metals, bronze, silver, and steel, more than rival the best pro-
ductions of the ateliers of Paris or Berlin, and constitute a special art-
industry, with some features of finish and excellence not yet attained
in Europe.

Of the metallurgic triumphs of art which the Japanese may justly
claim over all competitors, Chinese, Indian or European, perhaps the
greatest is the perfection to which they have brought the designs in
“Shakudo,” an amalgam of which are usually made the brooches or
buttons used to fasten their tobacco pouches and pocket-books, or to
ornament the handles of their swords. Shakudo is chiefly of iron,
relieved by partial overlaying of gold, silver, and bronze.

Fret Work.

Fret patterns are in constant use in all Japanese art, sometimes in
the form of borders, and more frequently in diapers, which they use
with excellent effect on surfaces in filling up and varying the spaces, in
combination with floral and other designs. Their love of variety leads
them to adopt several different diapers in covering any surface, often
enclosing them in irregular-shaped compartments, fitting into each other
or detached according to the fancy of the artist and the shape of the
object ornamented. The same kind of ornamentation and decorative art

is carried out in their woodwork, as may constantly be seen in their |

cabinets of marquetrie and inlaid boxes. Their predilection for geomet-
tical forms is best to be seen in their great variety of diapers. Nor must
their floral diapers be overlooked, consisting as they do of an almost
infinite variety for covering whole surfaces, in which flowers and foliage
form the material. In the spaces of decoration as in all else, the Japa-
nese artist studiously avoids uniformity or repetition of exact spacing.
340 JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

He repeats, but with the greatest irregularity possible, to disguise, as it
were, the repetition of what is in effect the same design or pattern.
In close connection with the diaper system of ornamentation is that
known as powdering, familiar in European art; but in Japan, following
the principle of irregularity, the decorator avoids any regular distribution
of the design adopted. Lastly, there is a style of ornamentation peculiarly
Japanese which consists in the use of medallions grouped or scattered
over a surface—of various colors and forms—and filled in with different
diapers, the whole producing an effect as pleasing as it was novel .when
first introduced to European eyes. And in this treatment of medallion
powdering may best be seen the triumph of this system for the avoid-
ance of uniformity and diametrical division. The medallions being of
definite forms, and usually geometrical in outline, the ingenuity displayed
in overcoming the difficulty such forms present, is very instructive. They
are placed either singly or in groups—in the latter case partially over-
lapping, and of different outlines—in different colors, and filled in with
various diapers, the whole being irregularly distributed over the surface
in such a way as to avoid diametrical division or uniformity of any kind.
Japanning.

China has given its name to all porcelain in the Western world,
as the country from which it was first imported. So has Japan given .
its name to all lacquer ware, first introduced to the knowledge and
admiration of Europe in the seventeenth century after the discovery of
that country. The beauty and excellence of Japanese lacquer ware have
never been matched in Europe. Not even in China, where the varnish
tree is also indigenous, and the industry may date quite as far back,
has equality ever been established. Japan reigns supreme, now as at
first, in this, the most beautiful and perfect product of all her skilled labor
and artistic power.

The unmatched and apparently unmatchable beauty of Japanese
lacquer may be due to many causes. The varnish tree is of several
kinds, and the Urushi tree growing in Japan (the fruit of which yields
the vegetable wax), from which is derived the lacquer varnish, supplies,
it is said, a finer gum than any other of the same species. It is
JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 341

extracted from the tree at particular seasons only, by incisions in the
bark, and from first to last is subjected to many manipulations and
refining processes, conducted with a patient attention and a delicacy
such as could with difficulty be secured in any other country—perhaps
not in Europe at any cost. It admits in these processes of various
admixtures of coloring matter, and from the first gathering to the last
use of it in highly finished work, increasing care as to the dryness or
moisture of the atmosphere, the exclusion of every particle of dust, and
other conditions are essential. The articles to be lacquered, whether
cabinets, or boxes of infinite variety in size and form, are generally made
of light fine-grained pine wood, very carefully seasoned, and smoothed so
that not the slightest inequality of surface or roughness of edge remains.
Layer after layer of the lacquer is laid on at stated intervals of days or
weeks, and after each step the same smoothing process is repeated,
generally with a lump of fine charcoal and the fingers, as the finest and
most perfect of polishing instruments, These layers vary in number,
according to the intended effect and perfection of the article, and also
in relation to the design. Very frequently this is either in basso or alto
relievo, in which ivory and agates, coral or precious stones are inserted,
as well as gold and silver in rich profusion. Some of the older and
finer pieces of lacquer, which even in the early days of treaty relations in
1859 were rarely in the market, and now are exceedingly scarce in Japan
itself, represent the labor.of months and even years of the most skilled
workmen, who must be artists as well as masters of the manual craft.
On these articles they lavish all their art, and enrich them by every
_kind of decoration.

Lacquer is indeed the common ware for domestic use, almost as
common as pottery and earthenware are in this country. Cups and
saucers, trays and saké bottles, medicine boxes and dishes, are in the
poorest houses; and so excellent is the varnish that neither boiling water
nor oil will affect the surface. In the finer and older specimens this
hardness increases with age, so that some of them may with difficulty
_be scratched with pin or needle. The value of .such specimens, first
introduced into England at the London exhibition of 1862, has now been
342 JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

fully recognized, and the cost of the best and oldest lacquer, always high,
has greatly increased in late years. In the Paris exhibition of 1878,
there was a large lacquer screen of great beauty valued at $13,000. It,
however, was modern, and with all its beauty, was over-priced. The
Japanese also, besides applying lacquer with colors on porcelain, possess
in rare perfection the art of lacquering on tortoise shell and ivory. On
these they present minute figures and landscapes with a mixture of gilding
and rich colors, sometimes in relief, at other times engraved and sunk,
and in this manner they ornament miniature cabinets, jewel boxes, and
other quaintly formed miniature boxes, medicine cases, etc., in a way
to defy competition in their marvelous beauty and delicacy of execution.
Agriculture.

Despite however, their eminence in manufactures of various kinds,
agriculture is still the chief occupation of the Japanese, and they are very
careful farmers, thoroughly understanding cropping and the rotation of
crops. The soil is not naturally very fertile, being mostly volcanic or
derived from igneous rocks, but it is made productive by careful manuring,
especially with night-soil from the villages and towns. Rice is the staple
production, while barley, wheat, millet, buckwheat, maize, and many
varieties of bean and pea are also everywhere produced. The rice har-
vest commences in September; wheat is sown in drills in November
and December, and is reaped in May and June. Of other vegetables
the staple is the large white radish or daikon. Of Japanese fruits the
persimmon and orange are alone worthy to be classed as really good
fruits. The plums, peaches and cherries are very poor, the trees being
reared for their blossoms. The culture of tea, introduced from China in
770, iS universal in the middle and south; the whole production amounts
to about twenty-two million pounds annually. Sericulture is on the
increase, and cotton and hemp are also widely grown. Of sugar a total
of over ninety million pounds was produced in 1885; much tobacco is
also raised—an inferior kind—remarkable for its mildness and dryness.

” Rice Culture.

There are eight or nine leading varieties of rice grown in Japan,

all of which, except an upland species, require mud, water, and much
- JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 343

puddling and nasty work. Rice is the staple food and the wealth of
Japan. Its revenues were estimated in rice. Rice is grown almost
wherever irrigation is possible.

The grain, after being soaked till it is on the verge of sprouting, is

sown thickly in small patches, which are flooded every night to a depth
of two or three inches, and dried off during the day. When the seed-
lings are well up fish manure or refuse oil is put over them to force
them on, and in about fifty days, when the patch is covered with plants -
about three inches high, the people take them up in bundles of three
or four, and plant them in tufts, in lines, leaving a foot between
each tuft as well as between each line. There is a preliminary opera-
tion, in which a horse with a straw saddle, to which an instrument
composed of several deep teeth is attached, travels up and down in the
slush, followed by a man who guides him, not by reins, but by a long
bamboo attached to the side of his nose. This process tears up the old
rice roots, disintegrates the soil, and mixes up the manure with it: for
the rice-fields are very heavily manured—as are all Japanese crops—with
everything which is supposed to possess fertilizing qualities. When this
ploughing is over, a thick bubbly scum lies on the black water, giving
off the smell of a “pestilent fen” under the hot sun.
Rice is commonly planted in fields formed by terracing sloping
ground, in which case irrigation is easily obtained; but on this level
plain water is laboriously raised from the main canals into narrow ditches
at a higher level, by means of a portable and very ingenious “ tread-
mill”? pump, which is made to revolve in a scientifically constructed trough,
by a man who perpetually ascends its floats. It somewhat resembles a
paddle-wheel of eight feet in diameter. When irrigation is wanted at
any particular spot, this contrivance is carried to the intersection of the
higher with the lower ditch, and fixed there with bamboo uprights on
each side, with a rail across to give support to the man who works it
with his feet, just as the tread-wheel is worked in prison.

The rice-fields are usually very:small and of allwshapes. A quarter
of an acre is a good-sized field. The rice crop plaritéd in June is not
reaped till November, but in the meantime it needs. to be “ puddled”
344 JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

three times—z. ¢., for all the people to turn into the slush, and grub
out all the weeds and tangled aquatic plants, which weave themselves
from tuft to tuft, and puddle up the mud afresh round the roots. It
grows in water till it is ripe, when the fields are dried off. An
acre of the best land produces annually about fifty-four bushels of
rice, and of the worst about thirty.

The Silk Industry.

The silk industry of Japan has received a wonderful impetus
within the past few years, and the export of raw silk has grown
marvelously. Each year the acreage devoted to the mulberry tree has
been enlarged, and the number of those who occupy the whole or a
part of their time in raising silkworms has been increased. This is an
industry for which his patient and methodical habits especially fit the
Japanese agriculturist. It is also an occupation in which the women and
children of his family can engage with profit and without exhausting toil.
It has always been an important industry, but of late years it has spread
to districts where it was not before known, wherever, in fact, the
mulberry tree may be grown, until to-day there is hardly a hamlet or a
solitary farm-house in central Japan where it is not carried on to a
constantly increasing extent.

Silk is everywhere; silk occupies the best rooms of all the houses;
silk is the topic of everybody’s talk; the region seems to live by silk.
“One-has to walk warily in many villages lest one should crush the
cocoons which,” says a traveler, ‘‘are exposed upon mats, and look so
temptingly like almond comfits. The house-master took me to a silk-
farm, where the farmer raises the eggs (which with fine silk are exported
from Japan annually to the amount of millions of dollars). For the
eggs the cocoons are, ranged in shallow basket trays for twelve or
fourteen days, at the end of which time the chrysalis changes into a
small white moth of mean appearance. From one hundred to one hun-
dred and thirty moths are then placed on a card, which in twelve hours
is covered with eggs, and is hung up by a string till the autumn. The
cards are then packed in boxes, and the eggs are hatched the following
spring. The best cards from this district bring three and a half em each.
 

Nikko, Japan—Torii.
JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE. 347

“The silk season here begins in early April by the cards being hung
up. In about twenty-two days the worms appear. The women watch
them most carefully, placing the cards on paper in basket trays, and
brushing them each morning with a feather for three days, till all the
worms are hatched. The mulberry leaves with which they are fed are
minced very fine and sifted, so as to get rid of leaf fibre, and are then
mixed with millet brand. The worms on being removed from the paper
are placed on clean basket trays over a layer of matting. They pass
through four sleeps, the first occurring ten days after hatching. The
interval between the three remaining sleeps is from six to seven days.
For these sleeps the most careful preparations are made by the
attendants.

“Food is usually given five times a day, but in hot weather as
many as eight times, and as the worms grow bigger their food grows
coarser, till after the fourth sleep the leaves are given whole. The
quantity is measured with. great nicety, as the worms must neither be
starved nor gorged. Great cleanliness is necessary, and an equable
temperature, or disease arises; and the watching by day and night is so
incessant that’ during the season the women can do little else. After the
fourth sleep the worms soon cease to feed, and when they are observed
to be looking for a place to spin in, the best are picked out and placed
on a straw contrivance, on which they spin their cocoons in three days.
When the cocoons are intended for silk they are laid out in the sun on
trays for three days, and this kills the chrysalis.

“In almost every house front that I passed women are engaged
in reeling silk. In this process the cocoons are kept in hot water in a
copper basin, to the edge of which a ring of horsehair or a hook of
very fine wire is attached. For the finest silk, the threads of five or
six cocoons are lifted up and passed through the ring to the reel with
the first and second fingers of the left hand, the right hand meanwhile
turning the handle of the reel. In this part of the work much expert-
ness and experience are required. The water used must be very pure,
and is always filtered before it is used, or the silk loses its natural

gloss.”
348 JAPAN—TRADES—PROFESSIONS—MANUFACTURES—AGRICULTURE.

Mushroom Culture.

An important article of food in Japan is found in mushrooms of
numerous varieties, and the cultivation of these fungi is a great business,
especially in the provinces of Isé and Yamato. The mushroom farmers
—or rather fungi farmers, for the most of the fungi grown are not
mushrooms at all—select logs of two kinds of oak, make longitudinal
incisions in them, and expose them in groves to damp and heat till they
are partly rotten, when, the worst parts being removed, they are placed
aslant against rocks, and edible fungi appear upon them in abundance
the next spring.

Flowers and Dwarf Gardens.

Japan is a land of flowers and gardens. The glorious chrys-
anthemum is the national emblem, and is to be found growing every-
where. Dwarf azaleas are also great favorites. Every season of the
year has its characteristic blooms. In January, camellias are to be seen;
the Japanese plum in March; the white clouds of cherry ‘blossoms _ in
April; the sacred lotus in July; the chrysanthemum in November. The
Japanese are passionately fond of certain flowers, and the “cherry
viewing,” the “iris and peony viewing,” the “lotus viewing,” and the
“maple viewing,” are excursions which are part of the annual routine
of Japanese life. The badges of many of the most celebrated families
are floral The imperial or public badge of the Mikado is an open
chrysanthemum with sixteen petals; his palace or private badge represents
blossoms and leaves of Paulownia Imperialis. The celebrated badge of the
Shoguns of the Tokugawa dynasty is three leaves of a species of mallow.

Paper [laking.

In no country does paper play a more important part than in
Japan, where it is used even for lanterns, and stoves, and windows,
and the sides of houses. Various plants are grown for the purposes of
paper-making, and for mixing with the bark of the paper mulberry. Over
sixty kinds of paper are manufactured, and etiquette prescribes the use
which is made of each. To say nothing of walls, windows, cups,
pocket-handkerchiefs, lanterns, string, cloaks, hats, etc., it is used domes-
tically and professionally for lint, bandages and cloths.
CHAPTER XVII.

 

J APAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD.

 

©) 4 F THE TWO great systems of religious faith and worship in
“Gy, Japan, one is Kamino Michi, or‘ The Way of the Gods,”
§ ly known as Shintoism. It is the indigenous
r a’ commonly known as ge
SACS religion. The other is Buddhism, which was intro-
; duced from China in A. D. 552.
Shintoism.

In its pure form, Shintoism has no ethical or doctrinal code, no
idol-worship, no priestcraft, and no teachings whatever concerning a
future state. It consists chiefly of the deifications of heroes and emperors,
and great men, together with the worship of certain forces and objects
in nature. The principal divinity is the sun-goddess Amaterasu, from
whom the Mikado is held to be descended. After the restoration the
government attempted to free Shintoism from the Buddhists’ innovations
which had contaminated it, and to revive it in its true form as a national
religion. Shinto temples are singularly destitute of ecclesiastical parapher-
nalia. A metal mirror generally stands on the altar, but even this is a
Buddhist innovation. The spirit of the enshrined deity is supposed to be
in a case, which is exposed to view only on the day of the deity’s annual
festival. The worship consists merely in washing the face in a font,
striking a bell, throwing a few cash into the money box, and praying
silently for a few seconds. Long pilgrimages to famous shrines and to
the summits of sacred mountains are often taken to accomplish this.
Shintoism is an engine of government rather than of religion.

Shinto [lyths.

According to Shinto mythology, in the beginning there were three
great deities, who, by miraculous powers beyond man’s ken, created ‘“‘a
Thing floated or suspended like a cloud in the midst of space,” without

support or attachment. In substance this mysterious Thing apparently
(349)
350 JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD.

embodied the materials of the solar system; and “the soil floated about,
like a fish on the surface of the water.” Out of it were then created
the sun and moon, and with them fourteen gods, the last pair of whom,
Izanagi and Izanami by name, separated the land from the water and
gave birth to the Japanese islands. Izanagi begat, among other offspring,
Amaterasu, a female, and Susanowo, a male deity, whom he appointed
respectively to rule the sun and moon. Ohanomuji-no-mikoto, a descend-
ant of -the Moon-god, became the first ruler and part-civilizer of Japan.
Then Amaterasu sought’ to set up her adopted son in his stead. He,
however, proposed to substitute his own son; and ultimately, after the
failure of two embassies, Ohanomuji was induced by the pressure of a
warlike expedition to abdicate in favor of the younger deity, Ninigi-no-
mikoto, grandson by adoption of Amaterasu. From Ninigi, otherwise
‘called the “sublime grandchild,” was descended, in the third generation,
Jimmu Tenno, the sovereign from whose reign Japanese chronology is
reckoned, and in whose person began, more. than twenty centuries ago,
oo the long. line of: Japanese monarchs known to the world by the title of
as Mikado, but to teil, own people, by that of Tenshi, or’ PSO of Heayen.
ie ae _ The First Mikado. :

When’ ae Sun-goddess proclaimed | N inigi-rio-mikoto sipremé: lord

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
  

-and. imparted to her by Izanagi. and’ Izanami;° “and she decreed that his
‘dynasty should be immovable, and ‘that his descendants should continue
. to rule ‘the land of her*birth as long as the sun. and moon should endure.

him the ‘three sacred emblematic. regalia, the mirror, sword and. stone,

saying. as-to the first, ‘Look upon this mirror as my spirit, keep it in

the same house and on the same floor with yourself, and worship it as

if you were worshiping. ‘my actual presence.” . For - generations this -

injunction was strictly fulfilled. But in the year 92 B. C. the reigning
Tenshi, led to believe that the mirror’s retention in his palace no longer
had divine . approval, removed it to.a shrine specially~-erected for it in
Yamato. It was: brought, ‘in the year 4 B. C., to the’ new Naiku’ shrine,
built for.thé purpose, where it remains to this day. -

‘ of ap she delivered - to» him “the way. of the gods” as established

-, Then, -before dismissing him to his earthly. kingdom, she. bestowed. on |
 

 

Nikko, Japan—Buddhist Temple.
JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD. 353

As the leading precepts of his terrestrial rule, Ninigi-no-mikoto
was charged to love, while exacting strict obedience from, his people,
and especially to worship and pray to the gods, beseeching favors from
all, and propitiating those of them who had the power to harm. “And,”
writes Hirata, the commentator, ‘“‘as it is the duty of subjects to imitate
the practice of the incarnate god who is their sovereign, the necessity of
worshiping his ancestors and the gods from whom they spring is to be
enjoined upon every man.” In the above short and plain maxims are
summed up the chief canons and articles of the Shinto cult. Worship
of the deities; implicit obedience to an infallible and god-descended
monarch—these constitute the main fabric of the system.

Buddhism.

Of Buddhists in Japan there are no fewer than thirty-five sects.
The monks have assumed the functions of a priest, and Japanese Bud-
dhists’ worship presents striking resemblance to that of the Roman
Catholic church. Notwithstanding the increased patronage recently be- ,
stowed upon Shintoism by the government, Buddhism is still the
dominant religion among the people. The most popular as well as the
wealthiest and most enlightened of the Buddhist denominations is the
Monto or Shinishu sect, which recognizes one God in Amida Buddha (only,
however, an abstract principle personified), discountenances asceticism
and clerical celibacy, and cultivates preaching, the favorite topic being the
duty of self-reliance. It would be a mistake, however, to suppose -that
a clear line may be drawn between adherents of Buddhism and Shin-
toism respectively; in the popular mind the two faiths are so blended
that the temples of both are frequented without much discrimination.
The better educated classes are mostly agnostics, striving more or less to
regulate their lives by the maxims of Confucius. The priests retain their
hold on the people largely as being custodians of the graveyards and
performers of funeral rites. Their moral influence is not weighty, many
being bad boys for whom their fathers have found it impossible to find
good wives. In the Meiji period none of the imperial wives have
entered the church; their preference is the army and navy. Some

of the more active sects, notably the Monto at Kyoto, which has
16
354 JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD.

established a large college, are arising to the occasion and sending out
preachers and propagandists to meet the active force of modern Christian
missions.

Japan is a land of temples, but many are now falling into decay,
while others. are turned into school-houses. Every grove has its shrine
and tortii, a structure in wood or stone, consisting of two upright pillars
joined at the top by two transverse beams or slabs; metal torii are also

not unknown.
Buddhist Temples.

Writing generally, it may be said that in design, roof, and general
aspect, Japanese Buddhist temples are all alike. The sacred architectural
idea expresses itself in nearly the same form always. There is the single
or double roofed gateway, with highly colored figures in niches on either
side; the paved temple-court, with more or fewer stone or bronze lan-
terns; amainu, or heavenly dogs, in stone on stone pedestals; stone
sarcophagi, roofed over or not, for holy water; a flight of steps; a
portico, continued as a veranda all round the temple; a roof of tre-
mendously disproportionate size and weight, with a peculiar curve; a
square or oblong hall divided by a railing from a “chancel” with a
high and a low altar, and a shrine containing Buddha, or the divinity to
whom the chapel is dedicated; an incense-burner, and a few ecclesi-
astical ornaments. The symbols, idols, and adornments depend upon
the sect to which the temple belongs, or the wealth of its votaries, or
the fancy of the priests. Some temples are packed full of gods,
shrines, banners, bronzes, brasses, tablets, and ornaments, and others,
like those of the Monto sect, are severely simple.

Nichiven.
A noteworthy sect of Buddhists is found in the followers of the
prophet Nichiven, whose name signifies “Lotus of the Sun.” He was

miraculously endowed with full knowledge of the Buddhist faith. Before
his time the common litany of all Japanese Buddhists had been “ Namu
Amida Butsu” (“Hail, Amida Buddha!”), but Nichiven changed this to
“Namu myoho renge Kio” (“Oh, the Scripture of the Lotus of the
Wonderful Law”’), and stoutly and vehemently professed to find in this
J APAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD. 355

invocation the true and only way of salvation. ‘Betrayers of their
country,” “bandits and blackguards,” ‘‘furies,’ were samples of the
epithets wherewith he pelted those who held to the other and older
ways of belief. Never had the odium theologicum been carried to such
an extent in Japan. His reverence published a work called ‘“ Ankoku
Ron” (“An Argument to Tranquilize the Country’), which, named on
the lucus a non lucendo principle, set the whole of the Empire in a fer-
ment. In consequence of this the authorities sent Nichiven into banish-
ment for three years. When he came back he was more vehement and
virulent than ever, and the regent of the realm doomed him to
decapitation. But, according to the pious tale, a flood of dazzling light
poured from the sky and shivered the sword of the executioner.

It is just six hundred and ten years ago since Nichiven passed
peacefully away at T’Kegami, some half-dozen miles south from the
metropolis, on the Tokio Yokohama line. There a low-wooded bluff
runs inland, terminating in a goodly plateau, whence there is a glorious
prospect over the rippling rice fields, streaked with the hues of autumn
and the gleaming waters of the Tokio Gulf, away to the mist-swathed
hills of Boshu, on whose farther slopes the saint was born. Usually
the spot is quiet and soothing to the soul in wondrous wise; only at
evening the heavy boom of its temple-bell floods all the country round
with rippling waves of mellow music. But on every 12th of October (the
anniversary of Nichiven’s death) it has all the seeming of pandemonium.
It is then hideous with gongs and drums, and ear-splitting shouting and
wailing, and with sights not good for weak-nerved folks to see. For,
in addition to being adepts at exorcising the unclean spirit from the fore-
possessed—this fore-possession, by the way, being as serious an article
of belief among the lower classes of the Japanese at the present day as
demoniacal possession was in ancient Jewry and medieval Christendom—
in addition to being adepts as exorcists, the priests of the Nichivenshin
are reputed to be possessed of wonderful powers in dealing with leprosy
and semory and other disgusting diseases.

Over in the Soshiclo, or Founder’s Hall, is a wonderful sight.
This hall is a huge square building, its side one hundred feet. To its
356 JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD.

encircling piazza leads up a long bridge of planks, at present thronged
from end to end. And with what a crowd! Gayly powdered musumes
and geisha from Tokio, old crones with faces like wrinkled parchment,
coolies with cotton drawers, naked calves and coarse red blankets over
their shoulders, topknotted, back-bowed toilers of the soil, beggars
with loathsome sores, Japanese dandies, soldiers with side arms in
German-looking uniforms, and red-breeched gensdarmes with long cavalry
swords and six-shooters buckled around their waists. At the entrance
to the hall is a huge money-chest with ribs across its mouth, a fine-
meshed net spread behind, and an. attendant sitting on one corner of it
smoking his metal pipe and punctuating with raps on the rim of the
hebachi the litany of the crowd that go on throwing their “ heave-offer-
ing” of copper coins, and shrilly intoning the Shibboleth of the sect.
Within the hall in front of the altar kneel or stand an assemblage of both
sexes and all ages. In the course of a minute or so they finish their
devotions to make way for others, and to seat themselves just beyond
‘the altar rails, where they squat in family groups around the hebachi,
smoke their pipes, drink tea and chat, as if they were out for a picnic.
Christian Missions.

Full toleration is extended to all forms of religious belief in so far
as they do not conflict with the peace and order of the community.
Francis Xavier introduced Christianity. in 1549, but his work was extin-
guished in blood, till scarcely a trace of it was left. When, however,
the country was opened in 1854, it was found that twenty-two thou-
sand historical Roman Catholic Christians had survived persecution in
the neighborhood of Nagasaki. Christianity may be said to have
finally died out in Tokio in 1715. The Roman Catholic Church has
now a bishop of north and one of south Japan, and schools and con-
verts scattered over the country. The Greek Church has built an
imposing cathedral in Tokio, and carries on a flourishing work in the
capital and the northeast of Japan. Of the Protestant missions the
Presbyterians, five sects working together, and the American Congrega-
tionalists, are the most flourishing. The American and Canadian Metho-
dists, the Baptists, Episcopalians, and others are also actively at work.
 

Nikko, Japan—Gate of leyasu Tomb.
JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD. 359

In 1889 the number of Protestant missionaries was one hundred and
forty-eight men, one hundred and three unmarried ladies, and one
hundred and two native ministers, and the membership at the five hun-
dred and thirty-two stations was over twenty thousand. There were
ten thousand two hundred and ninety-seven scholars at the mission
schools, and at Sunday schools two thousand one hundred and fifty-
seven pupils. There were thirty-two thousand Roman Catholics, with
sixty-two missionaries and forty unmarried ladies; and fourteen thousand
members of the Greek Church. Osaka is the centre of the work of the
Church Missionary Society, but the bishop who presides over it and the
society for the Propagation of the Gospel resides in, Tokio. The Young
Men’s Christian Association of America has a resident secretary in Tokio
and is represented by teachers in almost every province.

Much of the sympathy given to missionaries at home is altogether
misplaced. In Japan they are provided with comfortable houses and
sufficient incomes, and even the isolation of Niigata is not felt by people
who have work to do. The phrase “taking their lives in their hands’”’
has no_ significance, and they incur no perils either from people or
climate. On other grounds, missionaries placed in this and similar
isolated positions deserve a sympathy which they rarely receive. A
medical missionary has at least the exercise of his profession, which, if
he be a man of the right sort, is an absorbing interest, and his work
seeks him out sometimes even before he is ready for it.

Theatre-going.

The Japanese are a pleasure-loving people, and all classes of them
have a passion for theatrical performances. Theatres are called shébaiya,
“turf places,” because the first performances were held on grass plots.
‘The origin of the drama in Japan, as in most other countries, was
religious, its primary object being to propitiate the gods. At first it con-
sisted of dancing to an orchestral accompaniment by masked and quaintly
costumed male dancers. Two such dances, one of Japanese origin,
founded on some of the oldest Shinto traditions, and introduced from
China in the sixth century A. D., still exist; but the earliest approach to
a play ‘was a dance by an actor dressed up as an old man early in the
360 JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD.

ninth century, and three centuries later a woman named Iso no Zuiji, who

is regarded by some as the mother of the Japanese drama, danced and

postured in costume of the court nobles. It was only in 1624 that a

man by the Shogun’s order opened the first theatre in Yeddo. The

play-houses are mostly on one street, called after him Saruwaku street.
Actors and their Performances.

The actor’s calling is hereditary. Formerly actors were looked
upon as an inferior class, but their social disabilities have now been
removed. Under the Shoguns, women were not allowed to act, and
even now female parts are often impersonated by men. The histrionic
ability of the actor is peculiar. The story of the play is said to be forci-
bly told, but the action of the body and face is, according to western
notions, forced and exaggerated, while doleful music and the plaintive
wailing of the chorus unduly intensify the expression of grief and despair.

An ordinary Japanese play begins at 9 or 10 A. M., lasts the whole
day, and possibly two or three successive days, and at Tokio extends
into the night. There are intervals between the acts in which many
play-goers adjourn for refreshments to the neighboring tea-houses, but it is
quite correct for refreshments to be served to parties in the theatre itself,
and often on an opening day tea-house servants continuously carry
lacquer trays with tea, rice, and sandwiches to the occupants of the
compartments or boxes.

When the performances are carried on after dark, a row of candles
is placed in front of the stage, and attendants with additional candles
fixed on long sticks, hold them so as to throw light upon the faces
of those actors who are speaking or grimacing. Boys in loose black caps,
who are supposed to be invisible, crouch behind the performers
in order to remove articles no longer required, or to slip an unseen
support under an actor who has to sustain the same position for any
length of time. The stage used for the No dramas is a plain, square,
wooden room, supported by pillars and open on all sides but one, and
that, according to immemorial usage, is painted with a pine tree, three
small pine trees being planted or placed in the court which separates
the stage from the spectators.
JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD. 361

Music and Dancing.

Many of the arrangements of Japanese theatres are primitive,
especially the orchestra, whose music is thin, harsh and monotonous.
This is generally true of Japanese music, which is in a primitive stage;
the principal instruments are their stringed samisen, koto, and kokyu, and
the wind instruments called shakuhachi and sho, the latter mostly
used at funerals. Professional musicians are in great request and are
well paid, especially the young women known as geisha, whose dances
are wonderfully graceful. Flower shows are very popular, and flower
gardens are crowded at the proper season—the plum and peach blossom
season being in February and March, the cherry blossom season and the
peony season in April, the wistaria season in May, the iris season in
June, the lotus season in August, the chrysanthemum season in October
and November. The time of greatest festivity is the New Year, now
held contemporaneously with our own; when pine trees are planted
before the doors, the houses are gay with decorations, and presents are
lavishly made.

Chess Playing.

Chess is a game in which the Japanese greatly excel, and which
has been played here more than in almost any other country. There are
many who claim that it was invented in Japan. At any rate, chess
boards and chess men of great antiquity are found here, and the chess
literature of Japan is voluminous. During the rule of the Shoguns the game
greatly flourished. Once every year, on the seventeenth day. of the
eleventh month, the masters of the game met in Yeddo and fought a
grand tourney in an appointed place within the precincts of the palace.
Judges, umpires, and strict rules, and all things necessary to the combat,
were provided, and after the fight was over the ranks of the various
combatants were officially fixed. The number of ranks were seven in
all, the seventh being the highest. Rarely did any player attain the dis-
tinction of reaching this, but the sixth generally had one or two repre-
sentatives. To this time-honored custom, as to many another of even
greater merit, the Revolution of 1867 put a stop; but at present the
science promises to resume its place of importance.
362 JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD.

Flower Matching.

One of the most popular games of cards is known as “hana-
awase,” or “flower matching.” It is played with forty-eight cards,
composed of twelve suits of four cards each. These suits are named
and decorated after the several kinds of flowers, etc., usually associated
by the Japanese with the months of the year—such as pine (January),
plum (February), cherry (March), maple (October), willow (November).
There are certain recognized colors and styles, but outside these the
artist is free to decorate the cards to his fancy, as by deer under trees,
birds in the branches, flying wild geese, and the like. The highest
cards in the pack are the four “brilliants,” which are the commanding
cards of the January, March, August, and December suits. After these
comes the commanding card of the November suit, which is equal to a
brilliant (twenty points) for counting up the cards in hand at the end of
a round, but it is worth only one point at any other time. Next come
the commanding cards of the remaining seven suits, and the second
cards of the August and November suits, making nine cards in all, each
having a value of ten points. These are followed by ten cards,
composed of the second cards of the suits for the first seven and the
ninth and tenth months, and count for five points each. The remaining
twenty-four cards are valued at only one point each. As many as
seven persons can play, but of these only three can go into play at any
one deal, and each player plays his own game. The dealer shuffles and
the sitter on his right cuts, the deal going round from right to left; four
consecutive cards are given to each person, and the next three are
turned up on the table; then three more are dealt to each player, and
three are again turned up—thus exhausting, with six sitters, the whole
pack. Each player in turn has to declare whether he will play or pay
forfeit. The object in playing is to use some card in the player’s hand
to pair with one on the table, and the game goes on until the whole of
the cards in the pack are paired and captured.

Wrestling.

Pre-eminently, the national sport of Japan is wrestling. It is to

Japan what base-ball is to America, or cricket to England. The great
JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD. 363

national contests are events from which all others are dated. Says Sir
Edwin Arnold: Very gravely and firmly-established are the rules of the
Japanese wrestling ring, and not the slightest departure is permitted from
them by the judges or the public. There are forty-eight legalized “falls,”
divided into classes of twelve each. One encounter, unless a draw
occ.ir, settles each combat. The regulations as to where, when, and
how each man may ‘‘clinch” the other are sternly laid down, and the
language of the wrestling-garden is in every particular, as clear, positive,
and authoritative as the Code Napoléon.

The professional wrestlers are a class apart, albeit drawn from all
ranks and localities. They are selected for their bulk and muscle; and
amid a people so nationally small as the Japanese the average swmo-tori
towers like a giant, and swaggers through the crowd like an orange junk
among a fleet of fishing sampans. They live like “fighting cocks ”’—
being huge feeders and drinkers, whom a wire-drawn British pugilist
would indeed batter into breathless helplessness in a round or two; but
the same skilled pugilist, if clasped in the ponderous embrace of Nishi-
noumi or Konishiki, would feel like a filbert in a nutcracker. They have
patrons who train and feed them, and when they have once taken
a good rank in the Tokio Sumo Banzuke they fill up the year by
“starring” in the provinces at local matches. Like all their race, they
are, for the most part, good-tempered and honest Titans, who
wish to win, but seem to have no desire to do it by cruel or unfair
means, albeit there are at times and situations when the victor, if he
likes, can easily kill his man.

A Wrestling Tournament.

But now let us repair to the Ekoin, and see how the great bi-
annual tournament of the Sumo Banzuke is carried on. Whirling through
a world of busy Asiatic streets, behind the twinkling legs of our ‘‘ Kuru-
maya-san,” we reach at last the scene of action, easily known by the
thousands of fluttering flags on all sides, and the concourse of bare-
headed, bare-legged Japanese thronging to the entrance, which is up a nar-
row lane. The building, if it may so be called, is a vast improvised circular
structure of pine stems and bamboos,:roofed with cotton cloths, and
364 JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD.

walled with the same. Its countless tiers of rude seats rise interminably
one above another from the wrestling stage in the middle. This is the most
carefully constructed feature of the edifice—a low, circular floor, strewed
thickly with fine black dust, and surrounded by a ridge of rice bags,
firmly fastened in their places. At four points of its circumference rise
four poles, and under each sits an umpire—one for north, south, east,
and west respectively—very correctly attired in high-class Japanese fashion,
with nakama, kimono, obi, and all the rest.

The wrestling-ring measures about fifteen or sixteen feet in
diameter, inside the rice-bags; and there are two other officials seen
upon its sacred limits, the umpire and the herald. Both are attired in
the ancient Nippon style, of a samurai, with projecting shoulder-pieces,
hair tied back in a cue, and fans with long strings of purple silk. Round
the ring, on the floor of the building, which is perhaps a foot or
eighteen inches lower than the ring, you see squatted a dozen or fifteen
nearly naked men, of immense bulk in body and limbs, who are the
next batch of combatants. Scattered about the circles of expectant
people you may discern a good many more of the same sort, distin-
guishable by their topknot and their huge size.

The place will hold three thousand people, and is full almost to
_ the fluttering green and purple cloths of the roof. Few women are present
excepting here and there the wife or mother of a champion, or some family
party comprising a Japanese lady or two. There is, however, plenty of
the Japanese beau monde. Everybody smokes; everybody reads the list
of the champions, if they only know the crabbed Chinese characters.
A placid chatter fills the huge interior, mingled with the cries of the
“tea-boys,” “Yoroshii? yoroshic gozaimas?” (“Are you all served P’’)
Empty lunch boxes go out and full ones come in from the neighboring tea-
houses; three thousand painted fans flutter in the hot afternoon air, and
four little light-blue tangles of smoke curl upwards from the pipes of
the four umpires sitting cross-legged upon their silken cushions.

Giants at Play.

But, see! The umpire reads from a long roll upon a red stick

the names of the successive couples who will next contend before. us,
J APAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD. 365

and then the herald, in a high theatrical voice, proclaims the style and
title of the forthcoming pair. This official is known as the ypobi-dashi,
or “caller-forth”; and as his loud-pitched falsetto terminates, two massive
athletes step from below upon the stage, slightly raised above the floor
of the hall. They ascend from opposite sides, for one half of the
building and of the arena is for the East, the other for the West; and
in the contest there is always a Western and an Eastern man. Two of
the same party are never matched at Ekoin. Each champion is stark
naked, save for a loin-rag and a black silk girdle, from which hangs a
fringe of silk cords, much resembling that of leather worn by the women
of Upper Egypt. Each, as he slowly mounts the platform and steps
within the rice-bags, turns his face round to his own side of “the
house,” and, stretching his left leg high and far into the air, brings down
that foot with a thud upon the earth, smites a resounding blow with the
flat of his palm on his squared thigh, stretches forth the left leg in
balance, slaps that also, and then, without deigning a glance at his adver-
sary, who is going through the same performance behind him, stalks to
his corner, wets his lips with water, rubs his mouth with salt, and
swaggers to his place over against his opponent. -

“As they confront each other each man squats down upon his
heels, letting his huge dark'carcass descend upon the elastic muscles and
ligaments of thigh and calf with a resilient movement, like a barouche
settling upon its springs. Upon this the umpire, in an ancient costume
of green and gold and purple, with fan in hand, and hair dressed “to
the nines,” after the old Samurai manner, approaches, nicely measures
the distance of his men, and, standing with his white stockings astride,
levels his fan and says “Proceed.” The two brown giants lean forward
on their hands, now like two gamecocks, pitted almost nose to nose, and,
with eyes fixed eagerly upon eyes, watch each other. One or the other
will let his arms drop, or the umpire himself will call out “Mada! mada!’’
(“Not yet! not yet!”) The fierce embrace is unlocked, the brawny
rivals:saunter to their corners, where again they wash out their mouths with
water, saké, or soy, and crouch down face to face. The inflexible rule
is that the “clinch”? must be made simultaneously.
366 JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS— FOOD.

Again and again this may be repeated. The umpire shouts the dis-
appointing ‘“‘Mada”—one or the other drops his arms—the audience
patiently fill their little pipes, but shout “Sa/ yare” (Come, now;
begin!”) An often-baffled rival will also be heard -to exclaim tauntingly,
“Yare! Yare!” At last it is really a fair grapple. The pride of the West,
Osutsu, and the glory of the East, Konishiki, are locked together in the
long-expected and decisive struggle. The umpire, letting fall his fan to
the very end of its purple string, has cried aloud, “-Agaite!” (“A good
grip!) and walks round and round the enlaced combatants, keenly noting
every movement of the strife. The usually placid Japanese public is all
alight with emotion. When young Konishiki has been lifted bodily from
earth by the prodigious Osutsu, the West shouts “Hora! Hora!’’ until
the bamboo rafters tremble. When the young champion of the East
twines his leg round the giant’s thigh and slips out of his difficulty into
a new and commanding position, the other side of the house roars
mightily, ‘“Konishiki San banzai” (“Ten thousand years of life for
Konishiki !’’)
The Food of the Peopie.

The range of Japanese eatables is almost unlimited, though rice,
millet, salt fish, and Raphanus sativus, constitute the staple food of the
poorest class. Over ninety kinds of sea and river fish are eaten, boiled,
broiled, and raw, from steaks of bonito and whale down to a minute
species which make less than a mouthful each, which one usually sees
in numbers in an inn kitchen, impaled on bamboo skewers. Bonito,
whale, highly salted and dried salmon, sea slug, cuttle-fish, and some
others, are eaten raw. Some fish are fried in the oil of the Sevamum
Orientale, which produces an odor that makes one fly from its prox-
imity. Eels and other dainties are served with soy (sho-yu), the great
Japanese sauce, of a dark brown color, made from fermented wheat and
beans with salt and vinegar, and witha dash of saké occasionally added
to give it a higher flavor.

The cuttle-fish always looks disgusting, and so do many of the
others. Thirteen or fourteen kinds of shell-fish are eaten, including
clams, cockles, ,and oysters.
 

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Kamak
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JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD. 369

Cranes and storks are luxuries of the rich, but wild duck and
goose, pheasant, snipe, heron, woodcock, skylark, quails, and pigeons, are
eaten by the middle classes, and where Shintoism prevails, or Buddhist
teachings on the sacredness of life have been effaced by contact with
foreigners or their indirect influence, fowls and farmyard ducks are eaten.

Vegetable Dainties.

The variety of vegetables is infinite, but with one important
exception they are remarkably tasteless. Fourteen varieties of beans are
grown for food, besides pease, buckwheat, maize, potatoes, sweet
potatoes (eaten only by the lowest classes), turnips, carrots, lettuce,
endive, cucumbers, squash, musk and water melons, spinach, leeks,
onions, garlic, chilies, capsicums, eggs (melongena), yams, sweet basil
seeds, a species of equisetum, yellow chrysanthemum blossoms, the roots
and seeds of the lotus Nelumbo nucifera, the Sagittaria sagittata, the
Arum esculentum, the taro of Hawaii and some others. Besides cultivated
vegetables they eat dock (Lappa major), ferns, wild ginger, water pepper,
bamboo shoots (a great delicacy), and various other roots and stems.

The egg-plant is enormously cultivated. The bulbs of the tiger
and white lily are also cultivated and eaten. Vegetables are usually
boiled. I have left to the last the vegetable par excellence, the celebrated
daikon (‘Raphanus sativus), from which every traveler and resident suffers.
It is a plant of renown—it deserves the honorific! It has made many
a brave man flee! It is grown and used everywhere by the lower
classes to give sipidity to tasteless food. Mushrooms, dried, boiled, and
served with sauce, are to be seen at every roadside tea-house.

Seaweed is a common article of diet, and is dried and carried
everywhere into the interior. You will seldom see a coolie make a meal
of which it is not a part, either boiled, fried, pickled, raw, or in soup.

Pickles and radishes are enormously consumed. Cucumbers and
the brinjal, or egg-plant, with one or two other things pickled in brine
or lees of saké, with or without rice-bran, are popular, and are relied
on for imparting appetite; other vegetables are pickled with salt and
ginger leaves, and are taken with tea the first thing in the morning, to
counteract, as is supposed, the effect of the damp.
370 JAPAN—RELIGION—AMUSEMENTS—FOOD.

Sweets and Desserts.

The Japanese have no puddings, tarts, creams or custards, or any-
thing in which milk and butter are essential; and in actual cookery,
sweets do not play an important part, but nowhere else are there such
numbers of shops for the sale of sweetmeats and confectionery, and on
arriving at yadoyas of the better class, a tray of sweetmeats is always
produced along with the tea with which a guest is welcomed, and they
are offered also to “morning visitors.” The finer kinds are brought
from Tokio, and are beautiful, flowers and leaves being simulated with
botanical accuracy and truthfulness of coloring. Nearly every hamlet has
its coarse confectionery, made chiefly for children, in which men, women,
children, temples, drums, dogs, etc., are burlesqued in coarse sugar.

In the Kitchen.

Each cooking utensil has its special beauty and fitness, and the
‘people take a pride both in their cleanliness and antiquity. Many an inn
kitchen contains articles in bronze and iron which are worth all the
gaudy and tasteless rubbish of many a Yokohama curio shop, specially
iron and bronze kettles of antique and elaborate workmanship, in design
at least equal to those in the Imperial Treasury at Nara, and even
exceeding in grace of form and delicacy of execution the cooking utensils in
the Pompeiian room of the Naples Museum. Kettles are made of graceful
shape in antique bronze, decorated with four or five small medallions in
niello work, each consisting of a circle of gold, with an iris, a chrysan-
themum, or a cherry blossom inlaid in gold within it.

In the large kitchens, cooking is done at a row of small fireplaces
at a convenient height, which, however, are on the same economical
principle as the zrori.

What the Japs Drink.

The only. drinks in common use are tea, hot water, sake and
strochiu, less palatable even than sake, a form of alcohol, which is taken
cold at odd hours during the hot season. Tea is the beverage usually
taken with meals. Tea (cha) and sake both take the honorific before
their names. Usu-cha, which is made of powered tea and has the
appearance and consistency of pea-soup, is in high esteem.
CHAPTER XVIII.

 

JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE.
i
g @\" JAPANESE LANGUAGE belongs structurally, like

; Corean and Manchurian, to the Altaic family, and like

 

other Altaic languages, delights in long involved sen-
SHC : tences, the introductory details being heaped up to an

; extraordinary length, so that when the final verb is
reached many of these are apt to be already forgotten. The verbs, which
are burdened with untranslatable honorific endings, come at the close of
the clause. Grammatical gender is unrecognized; case is indicated by
separable particles; there are no articles; prepositions follow the words
they govern. The language, though difficult to master, is easily pro-
nounced and musical.

The introduction of Chinese civilization in the sixth century was
followed by a wholesale absorption of Chinese words and characters, but
the language remained grammatically unchanged, as obscured and involved
in its idioms and constructions as before. Chinese ideographs are said
to have been reduced to phonetic syllabary by the Buddhist priests
Kobbodaishi in 810. In process of time this system, the Hiragana, was
rendered more complex by the addition of variants, and this led apparently to
the introduction of another and simpler alphabet, entirely without variance,
known as the katakana character. The revolution of 1868 caused the
language to become more Chinese in vocabulary than ever, from the
necessity of coining a host of new scientific terms, although many European
words were also transferred simpliciter. A movement powerfully sup-
ported has been on foot for several years to introduce the Roman
alphabet, a reform which would save much tedious labor, as Japanese
youths have to spend years in familiarizing themselves with the difficult

Chinese ideographs.
(371)
372 JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE.

At present the language, though capable of expressing almost every
shade of thought required in a complete modern civilization, labors under
these difficulties: (1) There are countless homonyms—e. g., fifty-four
characters pronounced ‘“‘ko,” often requiring pictorial explanation in speak-
ing; (2) The colloquial and written styles differ wholly, and thus
literature fails to receive fresh impulses, and is not the heritage of the
whole nation. Much of the place nonemclature of Japan has been traced
to an Aino source. Double names abound, a native and a Chinese form
especially for the provinces, that with the skw termination, as in Shinshu,
being the Chinese form. Most family names were originally place
names.

Dialects.

Another difficult feature of the language is the fact that almost
every province has its own peculiar dialect, often differing decidedly
from the others. The Satsuma dialect presents perhaps, the greatest
difficulty : the letter (r), particularly at the commencement:-of a word, is
replaced by a very decided (j), and there is a strong tendency to clip off
final vowels in all words. This dialect possesses too, many words pe-
culiar to its own-province, so much so indeed that a conversation carried
on between two Satsuma men is often all but unintelligible to a native of
Tokio, although the latter might make himself understood by either of
the others. In many country districts also a patois is used known only
to the peasants, and presenting great difficulty to any Japanese of the
better class who comes from a different locality. Even in cases where
a word or expression itself is identical, a peculiar intonation or pronun-
ciation so completely disguises it, as to convey the impression that it is
totally different.

_ Reading and writing are often almost unknown in remote districts,
and the abstruse Chinese characters are beyond the knowledge of the
ordinary Japanese peasant. Some few of the easier characters are used,
and the kana supplies the place of the rest; on most of the govern-
ment notice boards, etc., and also in the newspapers published for the
express benefit of the lower classes, the reading of any Chinese char-
acters used is generally added at the side in kana.
 

See

 

Kamakura, Japan—Daibutsu.
JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE. 375

Writing and Talking.

In the writing-hand at present in use Chinese characters predomi-
nate. In official documents, dispatches, etc., the square character is
commonly used, generally with Aalakana terminations. In ordinary letter-
writing the cursive hand, more or less abbreviated, is employed, being
supplemented, when required, by the iragana. The characters, though
identical with those used in China, are arranged in different order, so
much so that, though the general meaning and sense of a Japanese docu-
ment might be intelligible to a Chinese, the latter would scarcely be able
to give an exact rendering of it. The sounds of the characters are also
in most cases entirely different, the Japanese reading them by what is
to them the nearest approach to the true Chinese pronunciation. Thus,
a final mg preceded by a vowel in Chinese is generally rendered in Japan-
ese reading by a long o, while an initial # is not unfrequently changed
into k. Of late years, since the restoration, there has come into promi-
nence an ever-increasing tendency to introduce into ordinary conversation |
numerous Chinese words that had in many cases never been heard before
that time. This style is, of course, affected chiefly by men of letters
and by officials, and several successive editions of small dictionaries con-
taining these newly introduced expressions alone have been published at
intervals ; the increase in bulk of the last edition as compared with the
first is very perceptible. A rather stilted style of address has always
found favor with the military and literary class; the personal pronoun of
the second person being usually rendered by the word sensie, “teacher,”
or kimi, “lord.” Intercourse with foreign countries has created a demand
for certain words and phrases hitherto unnecessary, and consequently un-
known, and these have therefore been freshly coined.

It is only among the more educated ranks that the Chinese
writing is better understood and in common use. The dictionaries used
are arranged after the Chinese style, each character being looked out,
according to the number of strokes contained in it, under its proper
radical. The list of radicals is the same as in China, and they are always
printed in regular index form at the commencement of the dictionary.
At the side of each character in the work is placed the Japanese attempt

17
376 JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE.

at the rendering of the true Chinese sound, and underneath is given
the meaning in Japanese colloquial. There are special dictionaries for
the running-hand. This style consists of the ordinary cursive hand,
which is not, as a rule, very unlike the square hand, and also of what
is termed the “grass”? hand, which is very much abbreviated and exceed-
ingly difficult to acquire. Unless the square hand of a particular
“orass” character be known, it is often wholly impossible to look it up
in a dictionary. The pens and ink used in writing are precisely the
same as the Chinese; the lines of writing are perpendicular, and are
read downwards, commencing with the column to the extreme right of
the reader. The beginning of a Japanese book is thus where our
volumes end. The paper used for letters is thin and in rolls, the
written part being torn off when the note is finished; for official dis-
patches large ruled sheets of superior paper are now in fashion. The
signature of the writer is always placed at the foot of the page, while
the name of the person addressed is written near the top, with some
honorific title appended to it. Whenever the title of a sovereign occurs
in an official document it is either placed as the first character in a fresh
column or else a small space, generally of size sufficient to contain one
character, is left vacant immediately above it. In a letter numerous
honorifics are used, and these serve to distinguish the second person;
in speaking of himself the writer omits these, and sometimes also
writes the characters in a rather smaller hand and slightly towards the
side of the column instead of in the centre. This is of course done in
affectation of humility, and is a truly Asiatic idea. The honorific expres-
sions applied only to the Mikado himself would suffice to compose a
small glossary; some of these are exceedingly flowery, as, for instance,
the “Phoenix Car,” the “Dragon Chariot,” the “Jeweled Throne,” etc.

The language of the Aino tribes in the Island of Yezo is totally
distinct from the pure Japanese tongue. There does not as yet exist
any satisfactory dictionary to throw light upon it, and it can now only
be regarded as a kind of local patois, intelligible to the Ainos alone.
Whether this be the descendant of the most ancient form of speech
amongst the inhabitants of Japan, it is impossible to conjecture.
JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE. 377

Parliamentary Reporting. i

When the Japanese Parliament was established, the nature of the
language made it seem almost impossible to report the proceedings ver-
batim, yet it was much desired to do so. In the above-mentioned
kana, it will at once be seen, lies the sole chance for Japanese short-
hand reporting—the kana syllabary, that is to say, affords the only
available basis for a shorthand script. But the kama pure and simple
fails, as already explained, in the crucial matter of the homonyms.

To the Japanese, however, or at least to one Japanese, the problem
seemed less desperate. Many years back a poor ex-samurai scholar
named Minamoto Koki, went to work upon it at his cottage in this
capital, at first silently and alone. By 1879 he had succeeded in devising
a stenographic system and had organized a class to study and elaborate
it. It is impossible to help admiring the fortitude, almost amounting to
heroism, with which Minamoto and _ his fellow-students, toiling patiently
and bravely year after year, at length wrought out, in some inscrutable
way of their own, the result of which Japan has now such good reason
to be proud. Theirs was a gallant fight against heavy odds—the tre-
mendous difficulties of the task itself, their own straitened means—and
for all their reward scarcely anything more tangible than the knowledge
of having achieved success. Till. last autumn so little were these men
in request that they could hardly earn better wages than those of a
common laborer. It was generally understood that an efficient steno-
graphic system and a staff to work it existed, but the experts them-
selves, unheeded and unrewarded, struggled on in poverty and
obscurity.

That was the state of things with respect to shorthand in Japan
when Mr. Kaneko Kentaro, then Secretary of the Privy Council, returned
from Europe, armed with results of a long investigation into Western
methods of Parliamentary procedure, on which. he had bestowed much
painstaking research and the powers of a highly intelligent mind. Mr.
Kaneko’s inquiries had led him to favor very strongly the adoption, if
possible, of official shorthand reporting for the proceedings in the Japan-
ese Diet.
378 JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE.

Shorthand.

The great point to be determined was whether the system already
existing could be safely resorted to. With that object he gathered
together at his house about a dozen of Minamoto’s disciples, and tested
their capacity to record accurately from his own lips a lecture on his
Western travels. The result of two such evenings of trial was a
genuine triumph, leacing later to the assemblage of a sufficient staff
for the Diet’s work, and to the elaboration of an organized system of
reporting. Thus, the labors of Minamoto and his tittle band were at last
to bring forth fruit and reap reward. Mr. Kaneko could now produce
the system and the men; and the government, advised by him, adopted
the principle of official verbatim reporting and established a steno-
graphic bureau. As a result, the proceedings, day by day, of each House
of the Diet, all through the session, appeared in print in the Official
Gazette at six o’clock the next morning, and with such fidelity were the
speeches reproduced that many a country member is said to have
been fairly aghast at finding his very provincialisms literally taken down
and published in the enduring pages of the government journal.

Literature.

The literature of Japan is meagre and vapid when compared with
European literature. Poetry came to be a mere matter of the manipula-
tion of words, a feminine accomplishment, associated with fine caligraphy,
although the classical poetry has left some charming remains. Both the
classical prose and poetry owe much to women writers. A cloud rested
on literature during the troublous feudal times, lasting from the twelfth
to the seventeenth century. The revival of the Shinto religion by
Maduchi, Motoori (1730-1801), and other scholars was accompanied by. a
great improvement in style; but this Neo-classical Japanese has been
servilely imitated, and is fast becoming fossilized.

In the earliest times Kioto was the principal if not almost the only
seat of learning and literature in Japan. Interminable wars and feuds
kept the inhabitants of the eastern portion of the Empire too fully
occupied with military affairs to allow of their being able to engage in
more learned and peaceful pursuits, even had they so wished. The
‘qu0Ig UdVg sy]—ueder ‘BinyeUey

 

 

 

 
JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE. 381

court of the Mikado at Kioto enjoyed a far more tranquil existence,
and the nobles composing that court devoted themselves with zest to
literary pursuits. Poetry was by them held in high honor, and received
perhaps the greatest share of their attention; but the writing of diaries
seems also to have been a favorite occupation, and examples of these,
still extant, afford a very interesting insight into the mode of life then
prevalent at the court and in the neighborhood of Kioto.

The ancient literature of Japan contains but few works of a
popular character. Almost everything then composed that is still extant
was written by and for the members of the learned circle around the
court, and was thus exclusively adapted to the minds of the well-read
and highly educated class. Later on, in the tenth century, when the
learned were devoted chiefly to the study of Chinese, the cultivation of
the Japanese language was in a great measure abandoned to the ladies
of the court. A very large proportion of the best writings of the best
age of Japanese literature was the work of women; and the names of
numerous poetesses and authoresses are quoted with admiration even at

the present time. ”
Ancient Records.

The earliest of the extant Japanese records is a work entitled the
Kojtki, or “ Records of Ancient Matters,” commonly asserted to date from
the year 7. Prior to that time, in 620, and again in 681, two other
. works treating of ancient Japanese history are said to have been com-
piled, but neither has been preserved. The Emperor Temmu (673-686
A. D.), according to the preface to the Kojiki, resolved to take measures
to preserve the true traditions from oblivion, and he therefore had all
the records then existing carefully examined, compared and purged of
their faults. Their contents were then committed to memory by a per-
son in the imperial household named Hiyeda no Are. Before this record |
could be reduced to writing the Emperor died, and for twenty-five
years Are’s memory was the sole depository of what afterwards became
the Kojiki. At the end of this interval the Empress Gemmio (708-715)
commanded one of her ministers to write it down from the mouth of
Are, and the work was thus completed at the end of the year 711.
382 JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE.

Soon after this, in 720, another work was completed entitled the Nohingt,
or ‘Japanese Record,” which is said to have far exceeded the Kojiké.
These formed a basis for many subsequent works of almost similar
style, and were the subject of numerous commentaries. Of these latter
writings the one demanding special mention is the Kojtki-den, an edition
of the Kojiki with an elaborate commentary by a renowned schoiar
named Motoori Norinaga, who lived during the eighteenth century. It
was commenced in 1764, but the first part was not completed until
1786; the second was finished in 1792, and the concluding portion in
1796. The printing of this great work was begun in 1789, and con-
cluded in 1822, Motoori himself having died in 1801.

Foremost among the later Japanese historical works is the Daini-
honshi, or “History of Great Japan,” in two hundred and forty books,
This was composed under the direction of one of Iyeyasu’s grandsons,
the famous second lord of Mito (1622-1700), commonly known as Mito
no Komon sama.

Poetry.

Poetry always having been a favorite study, it is not suprising that
there should exist numerous volumes of verses either written or
collected by the old court nobles. The Japanese do not possess any
great epics, or any didactic poems, though some of their lyrics are
happy examples of quaint ways of thought and modes of expression.
It is, however, a hard task to translate them into a foreign tongue with.
any hope of giving an exact rendering of the allusions contained in the
original. Poems are often inscribed on long strips of variegated paper ;
and it is even now a common practice when offering a present to send
with it a verse composed for the occasion by the donor. Again, even down
to very recent times, when a man had determined to commit suicide, or
was about to hazard his life in some dangerous enterprise, it was by
no means uncommon for him to compose and leave behind him a verse
descriptive of his intention and of the motive urging him to the deed.
It is stated in Japanese histories that Sanétomo, the third and last
Shogun of the Manamoto house, was so extravagantly fond of poetry that
any criminal could escape punishment by offering -him a stanza.
JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE. 383

Geography.

Probably the largest section of Japanese literature is that treating
of the local geography of the country itself. The works on this subject
are exceedingly numerous, and include guide-books, itineraries, maps
and plans, notes on celebrated localities, etc. In most cases only one
particular province or neighborhood forms the subject of the one book,
but as very minute details are usually given, these works are often of
considerable length. Every province in Japan possesses many scenes of
historic interest, and can boast of ancient temples, monuments and other
memorials of the past (this is especially the case in those lying imme-
diately around Kioto or Tokio); and it is to preserve and hand down
the old traditions relating to them that these guides to celebrated locali-

ties have been compiled.
Newspapers.

Journalism is a comparatively recent institution in Japan, ' for
although printing was introduced from China more than a thousand years
ago, and China possesses the oldest newspaper in the world, it remained
for an Englishman to establish the first really Japanese journal. Mr.
Basil Hall Chamberlain, an eminent authority on things Japanese, tells
us that Mr. John Black, one of the earliest foreign residents in Yokohama,
started in 1872 the WNishin Shinjishi, which was the first newspaper to
give leading articles and to comment seriously on political affairs, though
before his time there no doubt existed street-criers, who hawked small
sheets roughly struck off from wooden blocks whenever some horrid murder
or other interesting event took place. Like every other foreign innova-
tion, journalism has grown with a rapidity absolutely startling, and there
are now very few short of seven hundred journals of various kinds
published in the Empire. Every town of any size possesses several, and
a good many of even the smallest of them have their daily sheet. The
majority are not of very large proportions. A leader, a few local para-
graphs, the instalment of a novel, without which no Japanese journal would
appear to be complete, and a meagre collection of advertisements makes
the sum total of what is to be found in them, though it is worthy of
-aention that the aforesaid novel is nearly always illustrated by one or
384 JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE.

more very tolerable wood-cuts, and occasionally current events—such as a
fire more than ordinarily destructive—are made the subjects of pictorial
representation.

The Composing Room.

One of the most serious items of expense is the cost of the types.
Chinese characters are employed, and when it is said that there are
between seventy and eighty thousand of these, it seems almost incredible
that a newspaper could ever be produced in this dress at all. It is not
quite so bad as that however. Only about ten thousand of these are in
common use, and they are cast in metal by the same process as English
types are made. To the compositor accustomed to having everything he
needs for his work at his fingers’ ends, the task of composing with ten
thousand characters may well appear appalling. But the system which
prevails in a Japanese printing office makes it comparatively simple.
There is a head compositor, a person of much importance, for he gives
out the “copy,” and is responsible for its composition. It is cut into
“takes ’’ much in the same way as. in an American office, and these slips
are given to youths. Their task is to collect all the types necessary, and
this they do with a rapidity which would be surprising in youths of any
other nation. The types are arranged in cases in the order of their
radicals, round rooms which sometimes number half-a-dozen, and through
these rooms, in at one door, out at another, there is a constant circula-
tion of small boys. When it is added that each of them is droning ina
monotone the name of the character with which he is at the moment
concerned, it may be imagined that the contrast with the serenity and
quiet of an American composing-room is very striking. The types, having
been collected, are arranged in order, and made up into columns by the
head man, and the consequent processes in producing the paper are much
the same as those familiar to Western minds. If a rare character—one
not among the ten thousand—is required, it is cut in wood, and of
course the native syllabic characters, the Kana, are included in the furni-
ture of a Japanese printing office. But these latter are not of very great
importance, for they number but three hundred at the most, and are
generally used only for terminations and particles.
JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE. 385

Press Censorship.

It is difficult to estimate the precise position and importance of
the part which newspapers play in the government of Japan. This much
is certain, that they are very far from forming the ‘“‘ Fourth Estate” which
is the boasted position of the press in our own country. The life of
the Japanese editor is not altogether a bed of roses. He is ever haunted
by the spectre of the Press Censor; he may at any moment be con-
victed, not in a court of law, but in the judgment of an official, of pub-
lishing something calculated to disturb the public peace, and then his
paper is suspended, and he may consider himself fortunate if he does
not see the inside of a jail.

It is said that the total number of newspaper suspensions during
the year 1889 was forty-three, giving an average of one every eight or
nine days, while the period of suspension varied from a week to eighty-
nine days. Of course in many cases suspension, for obvious reasons,
means total suppression. Occasionally a species of epidemic of suspen—
sion ravages the newspaper world in Japan, and scarcely a year ago
scores of newspapers in all parts of the country were withdrawn from
circulation for the same offense, which consisted in the publication of
some memorial to the government which they had no right to print.

The School System.

Education in Japan is general and compulsory. There is a complete
system of local elementary, middle, and normal schools, and a central
university in the capital, with five higher middle schools as feeders, one
in Tokio, the other at Sendai, Kioto, Kanazawa in Kaga, and Kumamoto.
There is also a higher normal school in the capital. The elementary
school course extends over eight years (six to fourteen), four years
being devoted to an ordinary, and four to a higher course. There were,
in 1888, twenty-five thousand five hundred and thirty elementary schools,
fifty-two middle schools, and forty-six normal schools, besides eighteen
girls’ high schools, eighty-nine technical, one thousand seven hundred
and forty-one special, and sixty-seven kindergarten schools. The uni-
versity reorganized in 1886, when it absorbed the late Imperial College
of Engineering and other institutions of a high grade, consists of five
386 JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE.

colleges,—Law and Politics, Literature, Science, Engineering, and Medicine.
It is attended by over seven hundred students, and is a powerful and
well-equipped institution, costing the country 442,000 annually. On_ its
staff are eight German professors, seven British, one American, one French.
Other institutions in the capital are the Music Academy, the Technological
School, the Dendrological School, the Nobles’ School attended by
the young crown prince, the Peeresses’ School, the Girls’ Highest
School, the Ladies’ Institute, the English Law School, the Higher
Commercial School, besides eight’ other commercial schools in the
country. Education is perfectly free from class restrictions, even the
Nobles’ School being by no means exclusively aristocratic.
A Girls’ School.

To show that the picture of “three little girls from school” and
their companions, in the comic opera of “The Mikado,” is by no means
altogether fanciful, an English writer gives an account of an actual visit
to a modern girls’ school, at the former capital of Japan. The house
stands back a little from one of the less frequented streets in the ancient
city of Kioto. At the entrance of the porchway or hall—for it is either,
neither, and both at once—we are met by an elderly attendant, who has
succeeded in looking as grave and respectable as is possible for one of
the laughter-loving Japanese race. A little oppressed by her unusual
seriousness, and by a slight feeling of shyness at thus intruding our
masculine presence into the mysterious penetralia of a girls’ school, we
take off our boots in rather a subdued manner and put on the slippers
we have brought with us, and are then conducted over the establish-
ment. This is arranged after the usual fashion of Japanese houses: the
rooms being built round little courtyards, with a passage or footway of
polished wood running round and giving access to them. When exten-
Sions are required fresh rooms are built in the garden, and are connected
by similar causeways with the rest of the house. No foundations are
used, but the building is raised from the ground on piles.

The rooms themselves are in the usual Japanese style, formed with
papered screens and sliding doors. But a very unusual feature in them
are the rows of business-like school-desks and forms with which the
J APAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE. 387

class-rooms are furnished. Here the pupils are to be seen at their work
sitting at desks, just like European scholars, and writing exercises and
doing sums, for all the world as if they were really at school. In one
of the rooms is a veritable blackboard, looking, it must be confessed,
a little out of place. By the side of it stands the teacher, clothed in the
regulation frock-coat of the pedagogue, and armed with the familiar little
pencil of white chalk. The class is arithmetic, and the subject vulgar
fractions. European ciphers are used, and the sums are worked out on
most European-looking slates, which are, however, probably made in
Japan. In another room an English class is going on; in another history
is being taught; while others are given up to sewing and embroidery,
for this being a Government school the curriculum is most catholic.
Music is also taught in the European fashion, this being perhaps the
most radical innovation of all.
School-girl Manners.

What we have seen up till now shows how closely the Japanese
can follow European models; and if it were not for the bright dresses
of the scholars, and for occasional glimpses through open paper screens
of cherry trees in full blossom, standing in strange little gardens, it might
be difficult to realize that we are in Japan. The part of the establish-
ment which is next visited, however, soon reminds us of where we are,
and in a few steps we pass from modern Europe to old Japan. This
is where the classes of etiquette and deportment are held, and the young
ladies are being instructed in. the elaborate ceremonial which forms so
important a part of Japanese social life. In this code the commonest
situations are duly provided for. There are the proper phrases to be
used on meeting people, and a proper number of bows of the proper
depth to accompany the phrases. There is the proper way of making
tea, the proper way of serving it, and the proper way of receiving it.
There are prescribed attitudes to be adopted by young people in the
presence of their elders, and by servants in the presence of their masters.
The greatest deference is shown to age and rank in Japan.

There are also certain salutations which should be made in ac-
knowledgment of the service by the person waited upon. To the end
388 JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE.

that these should be thoroughly: learned, the pupils in their turn are
placed in the post of honor and waited upon by others. In another part
instruction is being given in the etiquette of tea-making. This is an
elaborate process, including laying the charcoal in the brazier, lighting it,
heating the water, making the tea, pouring it out, serving it, and finally
washing up the things. Every detail of this operation is regulated by
custom, and is taught with painstaking minuteness.
Proverbiai Philosophy.

A good idea of the intellectual character of a people may be
gained from the proverbial sayings and maxims in common use. Such
sayings abound in Japan:

“Speak of a man and his shadow comes.” “A tongue of three
inches can kill a man of six feet.” ‘Curse a neighbor, and dig two
graves.” “Never give a ko-bang to a cat.” “The fly finds the diseased
spot.” ‘A small-minded man looks at the sky through a reed.” “The
putting-off man sharpens his arrows when he sees the lion.” ‘“‘ Diseases
enter by the mouth.” “For a woman to rule is as for a hen to crow
in the morning.” “Good doctrine needs not help from marvels.” “Love
flies with the red petticoat” (only unmarried girls wear this piquant gar-
ment). Among those which indicate the impossible are—‘ Scattering a
fog with a fan.” “Building bridges to the clouds.” ‘To dip up the
ocean with a shell.”” Among the most curious of the.axioms are—‘“If
you hate a man, let him live.” This is another of the proofs of the
disrelish for life which is so common among Orientals. ‘Many words,
little sense.” ‘‘Let the preaching suit the hearer.” ‘To be over polite
is to be rude.” “The doctor can’t cure himself.” “Hell’s torments are
measured by money.” “The fortune-teller can’t tell his own fortune.”
“There are thorns on all roses.” “Inquire seven times before you be-
lieve a report.” “To know the new, search the old.” “He is a clever
man who can preach a short sermon.” “Don’t rub salt on a sore.”
“A cur is bold (or barks bravely) before his own gate.” “Treat every
old man as thy father.” “When old men grow too old, they must
obey their children.” ‘A good son makes a happy father.” “A wise
man keeps to his money.”
 

 

Ikengani, Japan—Tombstones.
JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE. 391

Japanese Art.

The school of art due to the native genius of the Japanese as a
race is essentially decorative, and, in its application, to a great degree
purely industrial. Pictorial art, as understood in Europe, can hardly be
said to have any existence in Japan. Most of their decorative designs
consist of natural objects treated in a conventional way. This conven-
tionalism is, however, so perfect and free in its allurements that nature
seems to suggest most the motive and the treatment. Though neither
botanically nor ornithologically correct, their flowers and their birds show
a truth to nature, anda habit of minute observation in the artist, which
cannot be too much admitted. Every blade of grass, each leaf and
feather, has been the object of loving and patient study. It has been
rashly assumed by some of the writers on Japanese art that the
Japanese do not study from nature. All their work is an emphatic pro-
test against so erroneous a supposition.

It is a special feature in. their art that, while often closely and
minutely imitating natural objects, such as birds, flowers and fishes, the
especial objects of their predilection and study, they frequently combine
the facts of external nature with a conventional mode of treatment better
suited to their purpose. During the long apprenticeship the Japanese
serve to acquire the power of writing with a brush the thousand com-
plicated characters borrowed from the Chinese, they unconsciously culti-
vate the habit of minute observation, and the power of accurate imitation,
and with these a delicacy of touch which only long practice could give.

In their methods of ornamentation, the Japanese treat every
object flatly, as do their Chinese masters to this day, and this to a
certain extent has tended to check any progress in pictorial art, though
they have obtained other and very admirable decorative effects. Without
being, as Mr. Cutler, in common with some other writers, assumes, igno-
rant of chiaroscuro, or' the play of light and shadow, it is true that
they usually, though not invariably, paint in flat tones as on a vase, and
so dispense with both. It is not a picture, so much as a decoration
that they produce, but it is a decoration full of beauty in its harmonized
tints and graceful freedom of design.
392 JAPAN—LANGUAGE—LETTERS—EDUCATION—ART—ARCHITECTURE.

Pictorial Art.

Japanese pictorial art divides itself into several schools. The
ptimitive school, of which the celebrated Sugawara Michizane and Kose
Kanaoka are the leading names, took its rise in the ninth century. The
first really native school, which is known as the Yamatorieu, and later
on as the Tosa Riu, dates from tooo: it devoted itself principally to the
painting of court life scenes of ceremony, illustrations of the early native
romances, careful drawings of horses and falcons, etc., landscape being
subordinate. The drawing was careful and with a fine brush. Gold
and bright colors were lavishly used. The perspective was isometrical
and the liberty was frequently taken of ignoring the roofs of buildings
when depicting the interior. Kosom, the last famous painter of this
school, died in 1866. The Chinese school, which may be traced back
to 1400, reached its highest development in the great master Kano
Motonobu or Ko-Hogen (1476-1559), and held pre-eminence for three
centuries. The works of this school are characterized by quiet and
harmonious coloring, and a bold use of the pencil; the scenery depicted

is conventional, often impossible, and nearly always in its origin Chinese.
Architecture.

The Japanese do not excel in architecture. There is a monotony
despite its picturesqueness, and even their chief public buildings often
lack the element of grandeur. In late years American styles of building
have to some extent been introduced—not with happy effect. Cracking,
warping, and shrinking, ill-concealed by a coating of white paint or plaster,
are obvious on many new buildings, and most, from the fragile materials
used, and the hasty mode of erection, are already in want of repair. Much
money has been spent on the public buildings; most have some preten-
sion to architecture, and are supposed to be improvements on Japanese
construction, and it is really a pity that the government, which means
well, has not been better advised. In truth, the Anglo-American archi-
tecture, which is daily gaining ground in Tokio, and is being copied by
the provincial capitals, means the union of the cold and discomfort of
Japanese houses with the ugliness and discomfort of third-rate suburban
villas in America.
CHAPTER XIX.

 

JAPAN—COMMERCE—ARMY AND NAVY.

 

@ 4 HE FOREIGN commerce of Japan dates from the abol-

   

4 ition of the exclusive system, which was pursued
: down to 1858. Before that year the Japanese, hav-
ages? ing no foreign market in which to dispose of their
! surplus productions, were without one of the prin-
cipal incentives to industry. They grew food, or manufactured commodities
in quantities sufficient to meet their own wants; the harvest of the year
constituted the material wealth of the country, and the store of national
capital admitted of little or no augmentation. But when foreigners came
to their doors and offered them money or foreign wares in exchange for
their productions, a potent stimulus to increased exertion was afforded
them, and its effect testifies to their intelligence and industry.

The products which Japan furnishes to other countries consists of
raw silk, silkworms’ eggs, tea, rice, copper, tobacco, camphor, vegetable
wax, dried and salted fish, and various art manufactures in silk, metals,
and chinaware. The first four items constitute the staple articles of
export. In return Japan takes from America and Europe vast stores of
cotton and woolen yarn and cloths, kerosene oil, machinery, etc.

The Army.

The rapidity with which Japan has become a military power in
the far East is surprising only to those who have not had opportunities
of studying the Japanese character. It has been thé fashion with
European peoples at large to look upon the Mikado’s subjects as little
more than quaintly-dressed dolls. Could it be comprehended that
beneath the unruffled exterior of an average Japanese, be he statesman

or be he conjurer, there is an earnest determination to succeed in whatever
(393)
394 JAPAN—COMMERCE—ARMY AND NAVY.

he undertakes, a more accurate idea might prevail of the true significance of
the undertaking upon which the people of Japan have now embarked.

The Japanese army was organized after European methods in the
years 1868-72 by a French military mission. France in the first named
year seemed to be leading Europe, and had covered itself with glory in
Algeria, Italy and the Crimea. The Japanese did not hesitate to copy
the French army as much and as well as they could. French instructors
were called to Japan, and the old huge, grotesque iron mask helmets,
which were supposed to frighten the enemy, chain and lacquer armor
were replaced by modern uniforms copied from the French. -After the
war of 1870, the influence of France in the Japanese army yielded
before that of Germany. Prussian officers were called to Japan, and
the French ‘“‘kepi” was replaced by the German flat and round military
cap. But of late the French have come to the front again, and many
of the best Japanese officers are graduates from St. Cyr, the EOD ERcundne
and Saumur.

The army uniforms and equipments of the modern Japanese
officers are exactly like those of the French. I have seen in Tokio, says a
writer in the New York Herald, many a young officer who, had he: been
walking or riding in the Champs Elysees, would have’ been undoubtedly
taken for an officer of the French artillery. The: emperor’s uniform is
that of a commander of artillery in France, the. red. band. on the trousers
being replaced by a gold one, and a similar uniform. is worn by.the
male members of the imperial family. As for the soldiers, they still
wear the German cap, the rest of the uniform, however, being made like
that of the French.

Since 1874 conscription is law in Japan, and every male snihabitant
in the country is subject to military service. from seventeen to forty years
‘of age. The Japanese land forces. are divided into: First, standing
army—three years’ service. Second, standing army reserve—four years’
service. Third, reserves—five years’ service. Fourth, territorial army—
eleven ‘years’: liability to serve.

The » proportions of the different arms are: Infantry, 102,382:
cavalry, 1,459; artillery, 7.881; engineers, 3,522; transports, 55,006; gen-
*USIIYOIN JO quo,—ueder ‘1uesusy]

 
JAPAN—COMMERCE—ARMY AND NAVY. 397

darmes, 1,436; military schools, 2,910; central staff, 2,014; imperial guard,
5,591. There are 450 staff officers, 3,360 commissioned officers, and 10,391
non-commissioned officers. The infantry is armed with an eight milli-
metre repeating rifle, designed from European models by a Japanese colonel,
and is considered superior to those of Germany and France. It much
resembles the Lebel system. The magazine, when fully loaded, contains
eight cartridges; it has a ninth one in the breech and a tenth in the
chamber, and may be used as a non-repeater. The sights are graduated up
to a range of 2,000 metres, the extreme range being about 3,300 metres.
The Japs as Fighters.

Sir Edwin Arnold gives the following estimate of the Japanese fight-
ing capacity: “It would be presumptuous in a mere civilian to criticise
military tactics; but having seen something of nearly all the armies
of Europe, it may be permitted that I should give here my impressions
of the Japanese rank and file for what they are worth. There were
thirty-five thousand men of all arms afoot, and the Emperor himself
was present nearly all the time. The railways and the navy bore part
in the operations, and the country roads were filled with regiments,
dressed exactly like those of Germany, so that the face of the land
presented all the appearance of active war. Between the columns,
trains of Japanese ponies, with ammunition and provisions, spades and
pickaxes, stretchers and medical stores, filed along. The soldiers came
upon the ground in regulation boots, but the moment they took to hard
marching they whipped these off, and shod themselves with the sandals
of rope called ‘ waraji,’ which you can buy all over Japan at a penny a
pair. I could not but admire the good sense with which their officers
permitted this rational act, in consequence whereof there were not a
dozen footsore men in our division at the end of the three days.

The scene was very actual and striking when we lay on the top
of the sand hills, splendidly colored with the lilac blossom of the azalea,
the batteries thundering all round, the troops marching up at a quick
step through the woods of fir and bamboo, and down below in the rice
fields ‘the enemy’ moving about on the narrow paths like ants on the

lines of a chessboard. The Emperor stood apart, keen and meditative,
18
398 JAPAN—COMMERCE—ARMY AND NAVY.

and watched every movement in the thick of the smoke, his proud
impassive face lit with an animation I had not seen before, while his
two war horses were led about near him, but out of cannon range,
- covered with cloths of green satin, emblazoned with the gold chrysan-
themum. When we ‘knocked off’ for lunch, and everybody got out the
‘bento-no-hako,’ they spread for the Emperor his soldier’s tiffin on the
top of two inverted ammunition boxes, and the Son of Heaven ate rice
among his soldiers.
Power at Sea.

China and Japan possess comparatively large fleets, but they
differ hugely in the character of the vessels engaged. Among the
Chinese the heavy ironclad type is considered to be the embodiment of
strength and safety, whilst the Japanese pins his faith to the fast,
partially-protected and heavily-armed cruiser. In the Yoshino they possess
an almost unique vessel of this description. She ranks as one of the
four ships of the world which have attained really phenomenal speed,
being able to pursue her quarry, or to make good her escape from a too
powerful opponent, at the speed of twenty-four knots an hour, a pace
that is rarely equaled save by those demons of the deep, the torpedo-
boats and torpedo-catchers.

A Light, Swift Navy.

The Japanese navy has been copied from that of England, though
of late nearly all the cruisers and torpedo-boats not built in Japan have
been ordered in France. The dockyard at Yokosuka and the arsenal at
Koishikawa are not behind Woolwich and Portsmouth in much except
size and first rate torpedo-boats, and the most elaborate ordnance are
turned out there. The cruisers and gunboats are among the finest ves-
sels of their class afloat, and they are manned and officered entirely by
Japanese. Some years ago Japan gave up building or buying large
ironclads, of which she has only five. On the other hand they have
thirty-two cruisers and forty-two torpedo-boats. The Itsukusima and
Matsusima, of French build, are of 4,277 tons. The Chiyoda steams
over nineteen knots, the Naniwa (English built, of 3,650 tons), has
about the same speed, while the Yoshino, Armstrong’s latest, has made
JAPAN—COMMERCE—ARMY AND NAvy. 399

over twenty-three knots, and is considered the fastest vessel of her class
in the world, the United States cruiser Columbia excepted.

There are two naval districts, at the head of each of which is a
Vice Minister, subject to the Naval Minister at Tokio. There is an
important Admiralty Department at Yokohama; the principal dockyard is
at Yokosuka, and the naval school is at Tokio. The following are the
principal vessels of the Japanese Navy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NAME AND MATERIAL. LAUNCHED. TONs, oe ae ba ace ER
Riujo—Composite........ 1864 2,300 * 800 7 9
Fuso—Iron. 2... eee eee 1877 3,787 3,500 11 3
Kongo—Composite ....... 1879 2,284 2,034 9 12
Hi-yei—Composite ....... 1879 2,284 2,227 9 12
Tschiyoda—Steel ........ 1889 2,440 5,6c0 24 19
Naniwa—Steel ......... 1885 3,750 . 7,650 10 19
Takachiho—Steel ...-..... 1885 3,750 7,650 1o 19
Itsukushima—Steel ....... 1890 4,277 5,400 28 16
Matsushima—Steel .-..... , 1891 4,277 5,400 28 16
Hashidate—Steel ...-..-..- 1891 4,277 5,400 18 16
Akitsushima—Steel ......-. 1892 4,150 3,400 12 19
Yoshino—Steel ......... 1892 4,150 15,000 34 22
New ship—Steel ....--.-- * 4,200 15,000 34 22
Tsukushi—Steel. ..-...+-- 1882 1,350 2,900 6 17
Kaimon—Wood.....--.. 1882 1,460 1,250 7 12
Tenrio—Wood .......-.-. 1883 1,580 1,165 7 12
Takao—Composite ..-...-..- 1885 1,760 2,300 5 15
Yamato—Composite. ......- 1885 1,680 1,600 7 13
Katsuragi—Composite. .....- 1885 1,680 1,600 7 3
Musashi—Composite .....- 1886 1,680 1,600 7 B
Yayeyama—Steel .----+--- 1889 1,800 5,400 3 20
Shiodo—Steel . .-. +... --+-- * 2,400 8,500 24 19

 

* Building in 1894.

The sister ships Hashidate, Itsukushima, and Matsushima, are of a
special class of coast-defense protected cruisers. They displace four
thousand two hundred and seventy-seven tons, are two hundred and
ninety-five feet in length, and measure fifty feet six inches beam. Each
carries one gun of twelve and a half inches, and has a powerful quick-
firing armament. The protection consists of a two-inch steel deck. The
Akitsushima, built in Japan, is a light vessel, but of great speed, 19 knots.
CHAPTER XxX.

JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894.

 

times, in which Corea was the bone of contention.
L, But they were both uncivilized nations, simply fighting
cape! for self-aggrandizement. The war of 1894 had a
different origin, and a far different purpose. It may,

in fact, properly be called the war for Corean independence. Its object
was on China’s part to keep Corea in subjection and prevent the spread
of enlightenment in that country; on Corea’s part to win independence and
the right of self-development; and on Japan’s part to aid Corea and to
make clear the pathway of progress and civilization in the, Eastern world.

In 1876 Corea was introduced to the comity of nations; 1882 was.
“the year of the treaties,” the high-water mark of Corean progress, and
1884 saw the terrible December riots, the rise and fall within less than
forty-eight hours of the ‘Civilization Party,” and the burning of the
Japanese legation by Corean and Chinese soldiery. Corea had to pay
a heavy indemnity, and Japan and China agreed by the Tien-Tsin Treaty
to withdraw their troops from the peninsula, neither power to send
soldiers again except after giving preliminary notice to the other. But
Western civilization and Japanese influence in Corea were dead, or almost
so. Their advocates had been cruelly executed. A few more fortunate
refugees were scattered in the United States and in Japan.

“The seed of the riot was sown by Chinese barbarism and ripened
by Chinese cruelty.” This statement of a Corean Liberal was based on the
fact that China had in the “year of the treaties”? sent several thousand
soldiers, professedly to guard Corea against “Russia the Ravenous.”
Instead, they had crushed the friends of Western culture and so well

secured the ascendancy of the Mings, their subservient tools, that these
(400)

g sy Jhon ‘AND CHINA had more than one conflict, in former
 

 

Ikengani, Japan—Near Omori.
JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894. 403

became, and, after China’s withdrawal, still remained the real rulers of
the country, with the progressively inclined King as their unwilling but
helpless puppet. Two leaders of the vanquished had fled to the United
States, far away from the short but powerful arm of Ming Ei-Shun and
his faction; but Kim Ok-Kyun, their chief leader and a man of great
ability, and Pak Hong-Hio, the son-in-law of the King, both refugees in
Japan, soon became the object of their machinations. Repeated demands
for their extradition being very properly refused by the Tokio Govern-
ment, the Mings did not scruple to send assassins across the sea. One
of these, with a large supply of money, came to Japan, forgot all about
his errand, dressed in silk and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every
day; while another, through the sagacity of Kim, was discovered, as he
tried to gain accomplices. But the hatred of the Mings never slept, and
after nine years assassins were again at work. On March 28, 1894,
two blows were to fall, one in Tokio, the other in Shanghai, intended to
crush the secret hopes of the few reformers in Corea by removing in one
day Kim and Pak, the sword and the escutcheon of the party of progress
in exile. In Tokio everything was ready, even to the valise in which
the head. of Pak, by birth and character the noblest of the exiles, was
to be carried to Seoul; but at the critical moment the hearts of the con-
spirators failed and the plot was discovered before any overt act had
been committed by the would-be assassins. The Corean charge d’affaires,
for reasons unknown, took French leave from Tokio; but his strange
conduct was disavowed by his Government, which also disclaimed con-

nection with the plot.
Murder of Kim.

Kim, however, by means of a “‘dummy draft” on a non-existing
bank in China, had already been lured to Shanghai, and there, on March
28, at the Japanese hotel, in the absence of his Japanese servant and
while lying on his bed, the exile was treacherously shot by his pretended
friend, the assassin, Hong Tjyong-On. With one bullet through the
head and two in the body, Kim was found lying on the top of the
staircase, where he had fallen as he endeavored to escape. The mur-
derer was promptly arrested the next day by an English policeman in
404 JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894.

the foreign settlement, and handed over to the Chinese magistrate. In
court Hong claimed to have been what might be called “an assassin
plenipotentiary,” with full power from his sovereign to remove Kim, the
traitor. His credentials and sealed orders he claimed to have left in
Tokio.

Very strange it was that the Chinese, to their great discredit and
contrary to the second article of the Commercial and Trade Regulations
between the two countries, did not try the murderer at all, but handed
him over to a Corean official, placed all three—the official, the assassin and
the corpse—on one of their men-of-war, and sent them to Corea. There
they landed, the corpse in a long coffin with a flag borne in front of it
and inscribed, ““The most villainous traitor, Ok-Kyun.” Shortly afterward
in a barley field near the Han River, the corpse’s head was sawed off
(whether with a saw or a rope, aS was once and may be still the
custom in Corea, we know not), and suspended from a bamboo tripod,
with the lopped-off hands and feet by its side in a bundle and with
the trunk, sliced and gashed very much in the fashion of a crimped
fish, lying before it. After two days of this horrid spectacle in the
capital, the body was thrown into the river, and the head, one hand
and one foot salted and circulated throughout Corea, after which they
are to be abandoned to the vultures.

China Sends Troops.

In Japan there was great excitement, coupled with intense distrust
of China, in consequence of the assassination and the subsequent. bru-
talities at Seoul, and the public indignation was freely and strongly
expressed; but the Tokio Government, whatever its private opinion, could
not possibly make the murder of a Corean by another Corean in a port
under Chinese jurisdiction a subject of diplomatic remonstrance. But
matters soon assumed a different aspect, and Japan was compelled to
act. The sound of revelry had not yet died away in the houses of the
Mings when mutterings of a coming storm were heard. With the rumor—
very characteristic for Corea—that the King’s palace was haunted by the
spirits of the slain, came also the information that after many local riots
a great peasant rising had taken place in Chulla-do, the granary of the
JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894. 405

kingdom. Corruption in all its forms has oppressed Corea at all times;
but Ming Ei-Shun had succeeded in trebling the burdens of the people
by a single enactment. Formerly an official, after buying his office,
enjoyed it for three years and indemnified himself for the initial outlay
by the well-known methods of squeezing the taxpayers. The Mings,
however, had reduced official tenure to one year, civil service examina-
tions to a farce, and the people to despair.

The majority of the insurgents were hard-working but illiterate
peasants, drilling in daytime and holding religious services at night.
Their principles were, first, no bloodshed if avoidable; second, mainte-
nance of Corean independence ; third, expulsion of foreigners; fourth and
chiefly, removal of officials, “vainglorious, adulterous, avaricious; closing
the eyes and ears of the King; flatterers and fawners in peace, desert-
ers and betrayers in time of trouble.” On May 16 the half-hearted
government troops were signally defeated at Reisan, and the frightened
Ming Ei-Shun, instead of either promising and carrying out reforms or
else crushing the rising, appealed at the instigation of the Chinese repre-
sentative to the Middle Kingdom, and thus heedlessly and treacherously
brought the evils of foreign intervention upon the land. In the first days
of June about 2,000 Chinese soldiers appeared in Corea in direct
violation of the Tien-Tsin treaty, according to which China should have
given Japan preliminary notice of her intention to send troops. The
' peasants, awaiting the turn of affairs, stopped their onward march upon
the capital, but did not disband, declaring their determination to seize
Seoul as soon as the foreign troops should have left. Instead of
marching against them, the Chinese went into fortified camp at Asan,
near the capital. There was bitter indignation in the hearts of many at
the treachery of the Mings, but with two thousand Chinese regulars in
the land men were inclined to think of their heads rather than of their

country.
Japan Forced to Take a Hand.

The situation thus created by China forced the hand of Japan.
In 1873 the Middle Kingdom had solemnly disclaimed suzerainty over
Corea, and Japan’s treaty as well as all other treaties subsequently made
406 JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894.

recognized the independence of the peninsula. As a diplomatic dis-
approval of Chinese machinations the United States had at one time
even placed one of her men-of-war, the Omaha, at the disposal of the
Corean embassy to Washington (1888) and had thus helped the little
kingdom to a practical assertion of her independence. Supported by the
Mings, however, China’s influence had made rapid headway in the
peninsula, and her representative had abetted the strong anti-foreign
sentiment there, though his superiors must have known that for the
independence of oriental states, nothing is more dangerous than the
co-existence of an anti-foreign spirit among the people, with a government
too weak to restrain its outbreaks. Twice the Japanese legation had
been burned to the ground, twice her representatives had been compelled
to flee for life, and now China was again interfering with the internal
affairs Of Corea, and thus compelled Japan to make a strong effort to
.. unravel the situation once for all. In pursuance of a right secured by
treaty and bound by her past record as well as her interest in the
country’s independence, Japan sent some five thousand men to Corea
and occupied Seoul in the middle of June; not, however, without having
given China the preliminary notice required by the Tien-Tsin treaty.
On June 18, eighty American and thirty British marines also entered
Seoul for the protection of their respective legations.

Japan had offered China equal co-operation for the purpose of
introducing the reforms now necessary in Corea, which task completed,
both Powers were to withdraw their forces; but, unfortunately for the
peace of the East, China declined co-operation of any kind. Whether
sincerely or merely with a view of gaining time, she sought the inter-
vention of England and Russia, but failed in effecting anything by this
method. Japan then set to work alone, and soon the friends: of pro-
gress began to raise their heads in Corea. Her proposals for reform
were received and submitted to a commission of fifteen Coreans
appointed for their examination. Step by step the government, that is
to say, the Ming faction, yielded, and, with the secret hope of China’s
prompt assistance, they finally agreed to every reform of importance.
But Corean soil is treacherous. When Japan desired that the programme
JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894. 407

of reform as agreed upon should be signed, the Mings, believing China
ready, caused the government to return an insolent reply, the friends of
Japan were placed under surveillance, and the “right-and-left men,”’ the
trimmers of Corean politics, began to flock to the Ming banner. The
crisis had come on July 23, when the Japanese representatives sought
an interview with the King.

Japanese in Seoul.

At four o’clock on the morning of July 23d a Japanese column
entered Seoul by the South Gate, and marched through the streets toward
a vacant space selected for their encampment at some little distance in
the rear of the King’s residence. Their presence awakened varying sen-
sations among different classes of the community. The lower orders,
who had suffered greatly from the depredations of the Chinese soldiery,
and who had no conception of the existence of discipline. in an army,
were at first stricken with dismay. Many fled precipitately. Others
timidly approached, with appealing signs and gestures.

As the troops drew near the government departments, the senti-
ment of animosity was still less concealed; but it was not imagined that
the slightest movement of aggression would be attempted, or that
anything more obstructive than frowns and jibes would interpose between
the advancing column and its destination. This, nevertheless, is what
happened:
The Palace Encounter.

As the head of the line passed by an angle of the royal palace a
sharp, though irregular, fire was opened upon it by a guard stationed
within the walls and by a group of native soldiers in an adjoining street.
The latter were speedily disposed of, but as the former continued the
discharge of musketry from their sheltered position, an order was given
to enter the courtyard and disperse them. This was accomplished with
very little delay. The engagement, if so ‘it may be called, lasted only
fifteen minutes, after which quiet was completely restored. On the
Japanese side one cavalry man was killed and two foot soldiers were
wounded. Seventeen Coreans were reported killed and seventy wounded.
The injured men were.at once taken care of by Japanese surgeons and
408 JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894.

members of the Red Cross Society, a hospital being extemporized in the
palace precincts. It was remarked that, though much popular agitation
was shown during the firing, the citizens appeared to be thoroughly
reassured as soon as it was over by the strict observance of discipline
on the part of the Japanese.

The King soon came to a realization of the state of affairs, and
wisely decided to throw off the Chinese yoke. He made an alliance
with Japan, and commanded his troops to act in concert with the
Japanese in driving the Chinese out of Corea. In token of his good
faith, the King issued a decree deposing the entire body of his coun-
cillors, and appointing new officials to be in sympathy with progressive
principles. There was nothing to indicate that the monarch regarded
himself as under coercion. On the contrary, he appeared to welcome
the new order of events, as a relief from the suspense and anxiety
from which he had been suffering.

War Declared.

Hostilities soon began, and war between China and Japan was
formally proclaimed. The Chinese proclamation was vainglorious in tone,
and arrogant, the Emperor commanding his army and navy to “root
the vermin (the Japanese) out of their lair and exterminate them.” That
of the Japanese Emperor, on the other hand, was calm and temperate in
tone, setting forth the causes of the war and appealing to the reason
and justice of the world. An equal contrast was observed in the ways
in which the proclamations were received by the two nations. The
Chinese were apathetic and seemed to take no interest whatever in the
outcome of the war. The Japanese, on the other hand, sprang to arms
as one man. The whole nation was aroused to patriotic zeal.

The Chinese armies moved forward in the manner of olden times—
mere mobs, armed largely with bows and arrows, living by pillaging
the country. The Japanese, on the other hand, were well-drilled and
equipped, comparing favorably with European armies, and their commis-
sariat and other details of organization were well-nigh perfect. Naturally
the Japanese won victory after victory. The last stand of the Chinese
in Corea was made at Ping Yang, the ancient capital. In that large and
JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894. 409

strongly fortified city some twenty thousand of their best troops awaited
the oncoming of the Japanese. The Japanese advanced in three columns.
The centre made a vigorous assault upon the Chinese works, drawing
upon itself all the fire. Then the two wings closed in upon the Chinese
flanks, and threw them into confusion. One sharp struggle, and from
the three sides at once the Japanese swarmed over the ramparts, and
the day was won—the night rather, for the battle was fought by moon-
light. The Chinese army was practically annihilated, sixteen thousand
prisoners being taken. This was the first, and, thus far, the only great
land battle of the war, and it resulted in Corea being freed from the
presence of Chinese troops.
The War at Sea.

On the water the fighting was more vigorous and _ interesting.
The two navies were about equally matched, in number and strength of
ships. But the Japanese showed themselves vastly superior to their foes
in intelligence and spirit. The first important engagement was that known
as the Kow Shing affair. The Kow Shing was a British ship, chartered
by the Chinese Government for warlike purposes. It was being used to
transport Chinese troops to Corea, under the escort of two ships of war,
and had on board more than a thousand soldiers and officers. The
captain and six principal officers of the Kow Shing were Englishmen, in
Chinese employ.

On the morning of July 25, the Kow Shing and the two war-
ships neared the Corean coast, and met a squadron of three Japanese
cruisers. The war-ships instantly took to flight without firing a shot,
leaving the Kow Shing to her fate. Two of the Japanese cruisers gave
chase, and succeeded in overtaking and destroying one of them. The
third Japanese ship, the famous cruiser Naniwa, remained, and summoned
the Kow Shing to surrender. Effectual resistance was impossible, and
the English officers at once proposed to yield. But the Chinese army
officers would not agree to it, and bade their soldiers shoot the English-
men if they attempted to surrender the ship. The Naniwa waited for
four hours, in hope that the Chinese would listen to reason. The
Englishmen on the Kow Shing made every effort to surrender, or to
410 JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894.

leave the ship and let the infatuated Chinese do as they pleased. But
all was in vain. At last, seeing that extreme measures were necessary,
the: Naniwa opened fire, and the Kow Shing was quickly destroyed.
The captain and other Englishmen jumped overboard as soon as the
firing began, and so did many of the Chinese; whereupon the Chinese
officers ordered their soldiers to fire upon them as they were in the
water. The Naniwa put out boats, however, and rescued many of them,
including the captain.

A great outcry was raised over this by the Chinese, and by some
Englishmen, to the effect that the Japanese had fired on an English ship
and had acted barbarously toward defenseless men. But the general
opinion of the world was that the Japanese had acted well within their
rights. The ship was practically a Chinese ship of war, and since it
would not surrender when summoned to do so, it had to take the
consequences.

The Great Battle Off the Yaloo.

But. the greatest battle of all was that of September 17, in the
Bay of Corea, near the mouth of the Yaloo River. It is not too much
to say that it was one of the most important naval engagements since
Trafalgar. The flower of both navies took part in it. It was the first
important battle between modern iron ships of war, and was therefore
of intense interest to every naval power in the world. The fleets were
about equal in strength, the Chinese having perhaps a slight advantage.
But the superior intelligence, readiness and spirit of the Japanese gave
them a decisive victory, and practically annihilated the sea power of
China. Let us hear the story of this great fight from the lips of one of
the Japanese who took part in it. There were, it should be remembered,
twelve Japanese ships and one transport, and. seventeen Chinese ships:

“On the afternoon of September 16, our ships moved toward the
island of Kaiyo. The squadron consisted of twelve men-of-war and the
transport Saikio Maru, the latter under the command of Admiral Kabayama.
While we hourly expected to meet the enemy, we had no idea that a
decisive battle was soon to take place. “Soon after passing Kaiyo island,
on the morning of September 17, the watchers in the turrets signaled,
‘aIn}dIq ssouvder y—ueder ‘1uesud>]

A ‘
BVM Ry c

bo}

 

 
JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894. 413

“smoke in the distance,” and soon after eleven formidable-looking ships
of the enemy rose out of the horizon and slowly approached us in
line of battle.

The Chinese Fleet in Sight.

“The enemy was now in plain view, and rapidly approaching,
but all hands went below and ate with a hearty appetite. Both the
officers and crews were cool and unruffled, although every heart beat
eagerly at the thought of a battle. The exact position of our fleet was
then thirty-six degrees ten minutes north latitude, and one hundred_
and twenty-three degrees five minutes east longitude, and the little
island of Taika was ten miles to the north.

“The sea was dark, nay, almost black in color, and a strong
easterly wind lashed it into angry waves. The sky was overcast and
the day an exceptionally dreary one.

“The Chinese fleet continued to approach, keeping in admirable
order, and the imposing array of their huge ironclads would have been
sufficient to overawe a less timid adversary, while their vast superiority
and strength should surely have made short work of us. But we had
no thought of evading the issue, and grimly determined to vanquish the
enemy or go to the bottom in the attempt. A conflict was now inevitable.

“Orders were given to the Saiko Maru—the transport—to proceed
to the rear, and get out of the way of the fighting line, while the Akagi
Kan was told to keep to the left of our squadron, as she was the smallest
and weakest of our cruisers. The outlook now reported to the officer of
the deck that two of China’s greatest war vessels the Chen-Yuen and
the Ping-Yuen, were among the enemy’s fleet, occupying positions in the
centre of the advancing line, and that all the rest included the finest
ships of the Chinese navy. The Wei-Yuen was slightly in advance, and
we thought that she would be the first to meet us, but a moment later,
to our surprise, it was discovered that she was preparing to retreat. In
the meantime the Chinese ships Yang-Wei and Chen-Yuen left the main
column with the evident intention of dividing our line; but the ruse
failed, and our line remained unbroken, while all attention was riveted
upon the movements of China’s two greatest war vessels.
414 JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894.

The Japanese Colors Hoisted.

“A few minutes after noon, as a challenge, the Japanese colors
were hoisted to the mastheads of every one of our cruisers, and the
decks were cleared for immediate action. At a quarter to one the Chinese
fleet took the initiative by firing a shot at us from a distance of six
thousand metres, but we made no attempt to return fire until we were
within thirty-eight hundred metres of the enemy. Then our rapid firing
guns burst into a thunder of sudden activity and rained a torrent of iron
upon the enemy, while the latter’s return was slow and ineffectual.

“@ur two smallest ships, the Heiye Kan and Akagi Kan, now
pressed forward to the enemy’s line at a speed of ten knots, until
they were within a few hundred yards of the latter’s vessels. Their
position was most perilous, but the bravery of their commanders and
crews was undaunted.

“The Chinese launched torpedo after torpedo at them, but in vain.
Finally, nearly all the enemy’s ships surrounded our two little cruisers,
which looked like midgets in the midst of the giants of the Chinese.

“At 20 minutes past 1 P. M. two of the Chinese ships were on
fire, as well as our Hiyeikan. The cruiser’s plight was indeed desperate,
but the crew were determined to stand by her, and were fortunately
successful in subduing. the flames. .

“Now several of the enemy’s squadron turned their attention to
the Akagi Kan, but the latter’s gunnery was so effectual and daring that
the Lai-Yuen was soon in flames, and our dear little ship steamed on in
safety. One of the torpedo boats of. the enemy was now trying to
sink some of our fleet, but her efforts were fortunately futile, for the
deadly missiles went wide of their mark.

The Chen Yuen Set Fire to.

“The Chen Yuen and the Yang-wei now bore down upon us,
and our shells set fire to the former. She turned and steamed away,
and as she passed we noticed that not a single member of her crew
was in sight, and so concluded that they had either all been killed, or
what was more likely, that they had hidden themselves away in the
hold of the vessel.
JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894. 415

“At 2.30 P. M. our Squadron passed close to the Chao Yung. A
few minutes later our squadron left the enemy, and the firing tempor-
arily ceased. At 3 P. M. it was discovered that the Saikio Maru, our
transport, was fighting at close quarters with the Chen Yuen and the
Chinese torpedo-boat. Our ship was greatly damaged, but bore down
on the torpedo-boat at full speed. Two torpedoes were launched at the
transport, but failed to explode, and four minutes later the torpedo-boat
went to the bottom, pierced through and through by the shots from the
transport.

“The enemy’s squadron now began to beat a retreat, and our
fleet followed in hot pursuit, keeping up an uninterrupted fire all the
while.

“The Chinese ships Chen Yuen and Wei Yuen caught fire. The
latter steamed away and was not seen again, but on the former the
flames rapidly increased, and she would have undoubtedly been sunk by
us had it not been for the timely assistance of the Ting Yuen, which
came to the rescue and enabled her to escape.

A Shot for the [Matsusima.

‘At half-past three a shot from one of the largest guns of the
enemy struck the Matsusima Kan, killing and wounding more than a
score of men, and throwing several sailors into the sea. The Chinese
-Ship Tsi Yplen was now seen to be sinking, and inside of five minutes
sank into the sea amid the glad shouts of triumph and lusty cheers from
the decks of our vessels.

“The Chinese lines had now become disordered, and all steamed
quickly away and out of sight, with the exception of the Chen Yuen
and Ting Yuen. Our fleet kept up a constant fire, and the Tei Yuen,
which was on fire, did not seem to be able to use her guns. The
Ting Yuen came along side and ran between her and our lines, the dis-
tance between being a little over three thousand yards. Although every
one of our shots struck the Ting Yuen, they did not seem to have any
effect upon her fourteen-inch steel armor.

“Our ships, Yoshino Kan, Takachiho Kan, Akitusu Kan and Naniwa
Kan, followed the escaping Chinese fleet, and succeeded in sending the
416 JAPAN—THE WAR OF 1894.

Lai Yuen to the bottom. The distance between us and the enemy
gradually increased, however, and the last shot was fired at fifteen min-
utes to five.

“Evening gradually approached, and already the setting sun was
casting long shadows of the dark clouds across the sea. The great
battle was over.

“In the distance we could see that the flames on the Chen Yuen
had been partly subdued, and that she and her escort, the Ting Yuen,
had been joined by several. torpedo-boats.

“Far away, fast-disappearing beyond the horizon, were the retreat-
ing Chinese fleet, and darkness soon blotted them from our sight.”

After the Battle.

The result of this mighty conflict was to give the Japanese con-
trol of the seas, to destroy China’s last hope of re-invading Corea, and to
leave the road open for the Japanese forces to advance upon Peking. A
strong Japanese army at once advanced upon Moukden, the Manchurian
metropolis, while another army and the fleet invested Port Arthur. This
place, called ‘‘the Gibraltar of the East,” was China’s chief naval station
and dockyard. The remnants of the Chinese fleet fled thither for repairs
and safety, and were entrapped within the harbor by the Japanese.
Early in November the ‘place fell into the hands of the Japanese, an
event which, according to the shrewdest observers, practically ended
the war.

The ultimate consequences of this war must be to establish Japan’s
position as the chief military and naval power in that part of the world.
It will also insure the independence of Corea, the reform of its govern-
ment, and the progress of the whole nation in the ways of enlighten-
ment. Upon China the effect may also be good. It may rouse her
‘from the slumber of centuries, and prompt her to open her roads to the
world, and to bring herself forward in the arts of civilization, as Japan
has come and as Corea will doubtless come. It will, therefore, mean a
general revolution of affairs in that quarter of the globe,- perhaps a re-
making of the map of Asia, and almost certainly a new era in the history
of the Mongolian race.
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