IScK£Xk£'V Matris amori vionumentum. I reading room. I Cl.fi.SA THE ETHEL CARR PEACOCK MEMORIAL COLLECTION Matris amori momimentum TRINITY COLLEGE LIBRARY DURHAM, N. C. 1903 Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Dred Peacock ■■,1 V-p-.'i ■V'V' >A- Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Duke University Libraries https ://a rc h i ve . 0 rg/d etai I s/f o rty y ea rs i n c h i n 0 1 g rav_0 REV. P. H. GRAVES, D. D. Forty Years in China OR CHINA IN TRANSITION BY REV. R. H. GRAVES, D.D. ILLUSTRATED 1 (> d. 9 ( BALTIMORE R. H. WOODWARD COMPANY 1895 R. H. Woodward Co. Copyrighted, 1895. CONTENTS T,.' ' ’i .\ y . ,4. ' .)i :: ;. . 7 • •'"ii .' i ‘/ivA, '• "■A'\f>■ ' *y'\ DESTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 83 CHAPTER VIL DESTRUCTIVE FORCES CONTINUED. GAMBLING. Like the craving for stimulants, love of gambling is not restricted to any nation or people. The European has his cards and roulette tables, the Malay his cock-fighting, the Chinaman his cards, dominoes and fan-tan, while almost all lands have their dice, their lotteries and their betting. Perhaps the fairest and simplest form, where all opportunity for cheating would seem to be excluded, is that used by the Persians, where each man takes out his lump of sugar, makes his wager, and the one whose lump attracts the first fly wins the prize. Like profane swearing, gambling may be a perversion of what may at first have been an act of worship — an appeal to Deity to settle a matter. “ The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord,” says Solomon. Lots have been cast before idol deities from time immemorial and in all heathen lands. A certain form of divination is highly praised and was reverently believed in by Confucius, 84 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. and is regarded as sacred by the Chinese to the present day. Oracles and various methods of con- sulting the gods by lot are in common use in every Chinese temple. But the element of chance may be the only link which connects these religious observances with the ordinary gambling for gain which is so prevalent in China. The Chinese learn to gamble from their very childhood. The little stalls on the street and by the roadside where fruit and nuts and sweetmeats are sold to the children, fre- quently have their dice, wheels-of -fortune, etc., where a child, by staking one cash, may have the chance of winning the worth of two. On feast days and holi- days, gambling games of all- hinds abound, and children are enticed to venture their spending money in traps of all kinds. Gambling is begotten of and begets that idleness which is so common in China. Thoua’h the Chinese are an industrious race, yet they have a great deal of spare time. They spend much of their time sit- ting together smoking and conversing. It is not strange that they seek for some excitement to break the monotony of their humdrum lives. If you go into a village you find the young men gathered to- gether after their day of hard toil. What are they to do ? They have no newspapers, and if they had, are to ignorant to enjoy reading them, they are without books, except perhaps their old school- DESTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED 85 books ; i£ there be a gaming table there, what so natural as that they should gather around it to watch the game and stake their spare cash ? The fondness for gaming once acquired, especially if they have succeeded in winning some money, they are only too glad to exchange the dull monot- ony of hard toil in the rice fields for the excitement and indolence of the gaming table. Especially on market-days is gambling found in full blast. Numerous gambling booths are found in almost all the market towns. Here are assembled the sharpers, the indolent, the worthless and the des- perate. No mercy is shown to the poor wretch who loses ; his clothes are stripped off his back and he is sent off with cuffs and curses if he does not at once pay what he loses. So in the purlieus of the cities, numerous colonies of gamblers are found. Tables iov fan-tan and mats spread on the ground Avith dice are in open sight to entrap the unwary, like spiders’ webs to catch the thoughtless, listless fly. In the business parts of the city rooms are rented for gambling, while the pimps stand at the door to invite the simple with their stereotyped in- vitation : “ Buy a chance and get rich.” Besides these back rooms with their gaming tables for the common people, more expensive establishments are gotten up for the rich where only gold or silver are accepted in wagers. Though most of the gamblers 86 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. are men, gambling’ is not confined to them. Some o£ the Avonien, especially those who are well off and have leisure, pass away the time which hangs so heavily on their hands by gambling at cards or dominoes, and in the excitement o£ the game £re- quently stake their gold and silver hair-pins and bangles and other pieces o£ jewelry. This passion £or gambling seems to be innate with the Chinese. They o£ten de£end it as being per£ectly £air, and seem to have no moral objections to the principle as long as only small sums are wagered. But Chinese statesmen see in it rightly a menace to society. It gathers the dissolute, the shi£tless, the rascal and the idler together. Em- ployees are tempted to stake their employers’ money in the hope o£ gaining something £or them- selves ; men neglect their business and lose their employers’ time ; the public peace is broken by fights and bloodshed among the desperate charac- ters who keep and £requent the gaming tables, and tlie nests o£ gamblers become hot-beds for all kinds of crime. The law therefore forbids gambling, and the officers occasionally make a raid on the gambling houses. But the gamblers are usually men who have been in government employ, and generally are under the protection of some one in authority. Hush money is paid and spies are always on the alert, so that they are not often caught. DESTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. . 87 Beside card-playing and gaming tables, lotteries are a form of gambling much patronized by the Chinese. These are not open to the objection of assembling bad characters where they can concoct robberies and other evil schemes. Hence they are dealt with more leniently. Though illegal, they are sometimes farmed out by the officials when hard pressed for money. Immense sums are lost an- nually in these lotteries. There are several forms of lotteries, among which the most common are the peh-koh-jjicm or “white-dove tickets,” or guessing a number of characters in a list, instead of numbers as in our lotteries ; and the laei-sing, or wagering on the successful candidate in a government ex- amination, as we bet on elections or on a horse-race. The Chinese method seems to be fairer than ours, as there is less opportunity of influencing the result, for the bet is not on an individual but that a cer- tain surname will succeed. Gambling, as it promotes a spirit of unrest and of idleness, as it leads men to seek to win money rather than earn it, as it leads men to squander their means and reduce their families to poverty, is always a source of danger to the state. The Chinese government seems to be aware of this fact even more keenly than the W estern ones are, but seems unable to help itself, and impotent to exert any real control over the gambling habit which seems to be 88 FOETY YEARS IN CHINA. SO innate in the people and to have its ramifications throughout the Empire. With that desire for some excitement to break the monotony of their lives, that greed of gain and disposition to slide into in- dolence, and that laxity of moral principle, which are so marked in the Chinese character, it is to be feared that this source of decadence will increase rather than decrease under present conditions. CRUELTY. The Chinese have always had the name of being a cruel people. Perhaps nothing more than this fact has led Western nations to feel that they have not far emerged from harbarism. The classics tell that some of the ancient kings were monsters of cruelty, and how they seemed to take delight in in- flicting needless and excruciating pain on their helpless victims. In this respect China seems never to have gotten beyond the stage of barbarism. Human life is held very cheap, and may he sacri- ficed with impunity at the caprice of the sov- ereign. Cruelty to animals is thought nothing of. The Chinese in this respect seem not to have passed out of the boyhood stage. The sufferings of the in- ferior animals seem to excite laughter rather than pity. It is no wonder that they are esteemed a DESTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 89 hard-hearted race. I have seen a rat nailed by its four outstretched paws to a board and left for hours or days until it died. I have seen a dog tortured to death in a most cruel way. The tendency of Bud- dhism seems to lead to kindness to animals, and yet, among the Chinese, while it has led some to think it to be wrong to take animal life, it does not seem to have led them to see any harm in inflicting suf- fering on helpless animals. Cramping the feet of their little girls is another instance of the light regard which they have for needless suffering’. That their hearts are not O touched by the intense pain of their own offspring, endured through days, weeks and months, shows how insensible they have become. The Manchu government is not responsible for this cruel prac- tice as the Manchus do not practice it them- selves, and they have often tried to suppress it among the Chinese, but in vain. As the Chinese say, “ Fashion is stronger than the Emperor.” The destroying of female infants is another cruel practice that the Manchus have tried to put down, but cannot prevent. Chinese moralists, too, have decried the custom, but without success. A mis- sionary lady asked a crowd of women around her how many of them had drowned their infants, and all confessed to have killed one at least, and one acknowledged that she had destroyed five. In some 90 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. parts of China this is much more common than in others. Poverty and inability to raise so many children is the excuse they give for their cruelty. Thus cruelty tends to depopulate the country. Pre- natal infanticide is also very common. They some- times prefer drowning the infant to abortion, as they do not wish to destroy the hoys. But the worst manifestation of Chinese cruelty is seen in their treatment of their prisoners, whether those taken in war or imprisoned in the ordinary jails. This is not surprising when we consider how recently similar cruelties were practiced by so-called Christian nations. In this respect, China is a piece of ancient Assyria or Babylonia, placed in the midst of the nineteenth century. It is to be feared that the Chinese respect for the past makes them indif- ferent to the sufferings of their fellow-men, espe- cially those who are accused or convicted of crime. It is true the refined and excessive cruelty of some of the ancient rulers is condemned in the classics, still the ordinary punishments of ancient times would be thoup’ht outrasfeous under our Christian civili- zation. The legal punishments under the present dynasty are nothing like so severe as the extra legal torture inflicted in the courts, and at least winked at, if not encouraged, by those in authority. The Chinese are a stubborn and untruthful race, and their officers no doubt find great difficulty in extort- \ LITERARY PAGODA DESTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 93 ing the truth in any case which comes before them. The verbal testimony of a witness is nearly worth- less, as he is easily bribed and will ordinarily never tell the truth if he has the least chance to tell a falsehood. It is not surprising that the mandarins are often provoked, and have learned by experience to put no confidence in the testimony of witnesses. As with us a criminal will usually plead “not guilty,” however conscious he may be that he has committed the offense, so, among the Chinese, the accused will stoutly deny that he is guilty of the crime charged. The great object of the judge is to get him to con- fess. The Chinese proverb is, “ If you are charged with stealing a well, you must confess.” The mag- istrate must either entanode him in his talk so as to o get the equivalent of a confession, or he must extort the confession through bodily suffering. When annoyed at the pertinacity or boldness of the prisoner, the judge may order all kinds of cruel tortures in order to force the man to acknowledofe his guilt. Giving men hundreds of strokes, beating them until the flesh is lacerated, putting on thumb- screws, or making them kneel on chains while the torturers jump on each end of a bamboo placed in the bend of the knee, and other horrid cruelties are frequently practiced on a helpless prisoner. It is not strange that a foreigner, seeing the cruelties of a Chinese court, exclaimed : “ Thank God, there is a 94 FORTY TEARS IN CHINA.. hell where these wretches who, clothed with brief authority, inflict such pain on their helpless fellow- men, will receive the clue reward for their cruelty.” A Chinaman who was educated in Europe and spoke English and French with facility, practiced such horrible cruelties on political prisoners that the foreign consuls at the port refused to pay or receive visits from him or have any official relations with him. Prisoners are subjected to untold privations and sufEering by their keepers, in order to extort money from them, or compel their friends to pay the keepers to remit their cruelties. Any one who has visited the dark, dirty dungeons of a Chinese prison will feel that even the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel. The horrors of an Eastern prison excite the utmost disgust and indignation in the minds of those who are acquainted with the clean and orderly appearance of Western jails, and peniten- tiaries. Several years ago a Chinese literary man who was caught in the meshes of the law and obliged to spend some time in a jail in Canton, Avrote a pam- phlet in which he described in vivid colors the horrors and cruelties practiced by the jailers. Crucifixion is an extra-legal punishment not un- frequently inflicted on noted pirates and robbers. The legal punishments are comparatively mild, if Ave except the ling chi, “ the slow and lingering ” punish- DESTEUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 95 ment inflicted on parricides, women who hill their husbands, and occasionally on political criminals. This consists in cutting slices off of the breasts, arms and thighs, before the prisoner is put to death. In the treatment of their prisoners captured in' war, the Chinese seem to delight in cruelty. It was the beheading and mutilating of the Japanese pris- oners at Port Arthur, that excited these men lo commit the massacre at that stronghold. I Avas once traveling with a Chinese officer, who was de- scribing the capture of a rebel officer at Nankin. He seemed to gloat over the sufferings he inflicted on his unfortunate prisoner. He told how he strung him up and shot and stabbed him, and said, “ If you want to die, I won’t let you die ; if you want to live, I won’t let you live.” This, I am persuaded, is no exception to the sentiments the Chinese soldiers usually cherish towards their enemies who are so unfortunate as to fall into their hands. The inhumanity of the Chinese is seen in the treatment of their own wounded in battle. A g-en- tleman writing recently from Tien-tsin, says : “ The Chinese indifference to their wounded has been to me the worst feature in this war.” The Taotai, the highest official in that city, when appealed to by foreigners who felt for the sufferings of the Chinese soldiers, said heartlessly : “ What do I Avant with wounded men ? The sooner they die the 96 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. better. China has plenty of men.” This heathen- ish callousness to the sufferings of one’s own men seems strange to us, but it does not strike the Chinese so. Several years ago Marquis Tseing, the Chinese ambassador to England, wrote an article for an English review entitled, “ China’s AAvakening,” in which he stated that the great need of China was modern ships and armaments. A Chinese lawyer in Hong Kong, who had been educated in England, replied that China’s first and greatest need was re- form in her legal procedure and prison discipline. The cruelties practiced by the Chinese show that China is out of touch with W estern nations and still on the confines of barbarism. Though men may try to find many excuses for such conduct ; it is undoubtedly a source of weakness in a state, as it alienates the feelings of the people from their rulers, and makes men unwilling to risk their lives in military service. Then it makes, and justly too, more enlightened nations look down on the Chinese as still akin to barbarians, and treat them accordingly. When Japan took on herself Western civilization, prison reform held a prominent place in her advancement, and the Code Napoleon was adopted as the basis of her legal procedure. By her improved code she has advanced in the affection of her own subjects, as well as in the respect of foreign nations. DESTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 97 UNTRUTHFULNESS. The Chinese sages are loncl in their praises of Truth and Righteousness, but the Chinese people are noted for their practical rejection of both of these virtues. Truthfulness cannot be called an Asiatic virtue. A Chinaman once remarked to me : Men are all alike ; all want to accom- plish their own ends. The only difference between Chinese and Westerners is, you seek to accomplish your ends by boldness and force, and we try to ac- comj)lish ours by cunning and duplicity.” This re- mark shows the difference between Asiatic and European ideas in a nutshell. To illustrate his point he said : “ You foreigners come here with your war vessels and extort a treaty from us ; of course we try to evade it every way we can when the force is withdrawn. It is perfectly fair — cun- ning against force.” In this matter the whole nation is rotten from top to bottom. Mutual confidence is about dead. Their system of governing does not encourage truthfulness. The courts of the officials to whom the people are taught to look up to as patterns, are fountains of lying and injustice. Even the highest of&cials seem utterly without any sense of honor, as we under- stand the word. Men are not only careless with re- gard to keeping their word, but even an oath has 7 98 FOBTY YEARS IN CHINA. little or no binding effect. A consul told me that a Chinese viceroy, then and now high in the counsels of the nation, had requested to be allowed to ex- amine the deeds to a piece of land, which were on file at the consulate, and when the favor had been granted him, on the supposition that one so high in authority would certainly keep his word, not only refused to retiirn the deed, but utterly ignored frequent dispatches requesting him to do so. No doubt he chuckled over the thought that he had played a sharp trick on the foreign barbarian. The Chinese trust nothing to the honor of the students who attend the Government examinations. Though they are grown men, their persons are searched as they enter the enclosure to see if they are carrying any books or helps of any kind with them ; searched as even our schoolboys would not submit to, and as a policeman would search a man under arrest. Nor is this without a cause, as most of the students would descend to the most cunning tricks to deceive the examiners. “Sleeve editions” of the classics are published in the finest type and most portable shape, so that they may be concealed in the sleeves of the candidates. Copies are hidden in the soles of their shoes, the lining of their clothes and among their food. The Government goes on the supposition that every man is a cheat, because they have learned by long experience that that is a DESTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 99 fact with regard to the great majority of those with whom they have to deal. Even high officials are not trusted, but are under the surveillance of cen- sors and secret emissaries from Peking. Where lying and dishonesty are so rife, of course bribery is a common thing. Many offices are obtained through bribery in some form or other. When you see an honest official, and there are some of this kind in China, he is like a man walking on ice, and he finds it very difficult to keep his foothold against those who are trying to trip him up or push him down. The Chinese seem to lie and prevaricate naturally, and to tell the truth is like losing a tooth. You can rarely trust in what a man says when it would be his interest to utter a falsehood. So, in dealing with a man, you always have to consider first where his interest lies, before you can determine how much weight to attach to his words. When they assign a reason for an act they are apt to empha- size some minor reason which may possibly have some slight bearing on the case, while they studi- ously conceal the main, true reason. Perhaps the tendency of the human mind to say what is not so is nowhere seen more clearly than in conventional- ities of polite society. This is eminently true in China. The Chinese have a great deal of true politeness and consideration for the feehngs of 100 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. others. But they often carry it too far, and have no hesitation in sacrificing the truth to appear to be polite. Many of the ordinary foi’ms of politeness and hospitality are mere shams ; as when the China- man complained of the incivility of a visitor, saying, “ I was polite enough to ask him to dinner, and he was not polite enough to decline the invitation.” You are always invited to remain for a meal, but no one is expected to accept the invitation, unless he really is a friend from abroad. I do not mean to say that this form of untruthfulness is peculiar to China, but only that it abounds there. In buying and selling, very few Chinese shop- keej^ers have a fixed price for their goods. As you go into a shop you see the wily salesman taking your measure ” to see how much he will chai’ge you. If he thinks you are ignorant of the true value of what you ask for, or are in great need of it, or have little time to spend in your purchase, he will charge you about double the value and enjoy the contest of wits as you try to beat him down. He rarely gets excited but smugly smiles, especially if the purchaser shows any annoyance at the hag- gling. The lack of downright integrity and truth- fulness is everywhere apparent. No argument is needed to prove that untruthful- ness is an element of decay in a state. Distrust saps the foundations of things. There can be no JUNKS AND BOATS. destructive FORCES—CONTINUED. 103 patriotism where the people have no confidence in the promises and honor of the government. The bonds which unite society are loosened when men are filled Avith suspicion and distrust of one another. Sectional jealousies and mutual suspicions have much to do Avith the Avant of unity in the counsels of China. If I liaA’e not dAvelt upon the influence of false systems of religion in misleading the mind in the highest sphere of its activity, it is because I have considered truthfulness as a social virtue rather than from a religious point of view. Still, the con- nection betAveen the tAvo thmgs is by no means a slight one, and history Avill show that in lands where the revealed Avord of the God of truth is known and He Avho is the Truth ” is reverenced, all truth is honored and all untruthfulness is looked upon as a disgrace. When Ave remember that “ avIio- soever loveth and maketh a lie ” is under the curse of God, we can understand why China cannot ex- pect His blessing until untruthfulness shall cease to be so characteristic of her people. 104 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. CHAPTER VIII. DESTRUCTIVE FORCES CONTINUED INJUSTICE. The most common complaint of the Chinese, ex- cept, perhaps, the ever-present cry of “ hard times,” so common in every land, is the injustice of the courts. They have no confidence either in the in- tegrity of their mandarins or the possibility of ob- taining justice at their hands. It is difficult to see how they can have such confidence when they know that almost every office is bought, and that even when an officer desires to do right, all access to him is blocked by a number of underlings who have to be bribed before they will admit any one into his presence. While in criminal cases no doubt sub- stantial justice is done when a man is really guilty, in civil suits there is no certainty whatever. Who- ever has the longest purse or the heaviest ‘‘ pull,” stands the best chance of gaining his cause. Even in criminal cases money has great influence. While almost any decision may be obtained through money, no decision can be secured without it. It is not always that the mandarin desires to do wrong, but DESTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 105 the truth is withheld, and so many false statements are made that his judgment is warped by those throuo'h whom the case is brouo-ht before him. Though lawyers are forbidden to practice in the courts, there is a class of pettifoggers who make their living by drawing up all kinds of lying charges. Where crime is committed the officers are not so particular about punishing the actual criminal. So some one suffers the penalty, that is sufficient. Suppose a man reports that his store has been at- tacked by a band of eight robbers, the police are ordered to arrest the robbers within a fixed time. If by the expiry of this time they do not bring at least four men, they themselves are beaten. They try to secure some of the real offenders, but if they fail to find them, or the men or their friends bribe them, they may lay hold on any common thief or worthless character of whom the community is glad to get rid, and take him to make up the number. There are sometimes hano-ers-on about the courts who are O willing to personate the offender and take a beating in his stead if they are well paid for it. So the maj- esty of the law is vindicated by a penalty being in- flicted, and so the magistrate escapes the reprimand of his superiors for letting the crime go unpunished, the case is considered as settled satisfactorily The clan feeling is very strong in Chuia, and men are looked upon rather as members of a com- 106 FORTY TEARS IN CHINA. munity than as individuals. In feuds between two vUlag’es it is not so much the actual murderer who is demanded in reparation, as some one from the clan which he represents. They are satisfied with the same clumsy justice that we sometimes exercise in war in making reprisals, where not the real offender suffers the penalty, but any one belonging to the same side. Thus punishing the guiltless does not strike the Chinese as the enormity it pre- sents to our eyes. Any one who associates with or belongs to the criminal class may be made to suffer the penalty actually due some other member of that class, and it will be looked on by the community as a good riddance. I mention these things only to show how, according to our ideas, the Chinese notions of justice are obscured. It is not these occasional failures, but the gross miscarriages of justice in their courts that give rise to the complaints against the mandarins. It is not necessary to dwell longer on this point. Any one can readily see how injustice on the part of those in authority weakens the attachment of the people to their government. POLYGAMY. Under this head I shall include all those prac- tices which tend to debase woman below her proper BESTBUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 107 sphere. There can he no real improvement in a state unless both sexes are progressing-, and advance side by side. If the mother is deg’raded, the son is pulled down Avith her. If the mother is ig'iiorant, superstitious, bad-tempered, trifling-, unchaste, the sons as well as the daugfliters will suffer. As a p-eneral thino- the Chinese women are in- o o dustrious, modest and chaste. Nothing can exceed the modesty of their dress and their behavior on the street. Of course there are abandoned Avonien who give themselves up to all manner of lewdness. But even many of these are to be pitied more than blamed, for they are generally sold or stolen Avhile little girls and brought up for the life they lead, and have not entered upon it of their own will. Those Avho do not belong- to the class of prostitutes, are usually, except perhaps some servants, chaste. There is no such iinbridled exhibitions of indecency and lust in society as at the French ball in New York, or in the ballet in some theaters. In this re- gard the East can put the West to the blush. A heathen social economist, lookino- at thino-s from a purely physical point of view, might defend polygamy as tending- to keep up the bodily vigor of the race, for the concubines of a Avealthy man are almost always taken from the stronger working- class of women, Avhile the chief Avife is a small-footed woman of delicate build, from the same class as the 108 FORTY YEARS IN CUINA. husband himself. The offspring of the former would probably prove more vigorous and healthy. There may be some truth in this, but any advan- tage in this direction is more than counterbalanced by the moral degeneration which ensues from a child being brought up in the atmosphere of a family where bickerings and quarrels, intrigues and jeal- ousies are of almost daily occurrence. There is nothing answering to a home according to our ideas of the word. The Chinese proverb says : “ One key doesn’t rattle,” by which they mean if there is but one wife there will be peace, but if there are more, there is sure to be strife. The lives of Sarah and Hagar, of Leah and Rachel, give a true pict- ure of an Eastern household with polygamy. This practice tends to degrade woman and make her a toy or a slave instead of a true companion. While in most parts of China woman has more freedom and meets with more consideration than in Mohammedan countries and in India, still she is looked down iq^on and considered an inferior. She has few or no rights. Her education is neglected, and it is a very rare thing to find a woman who can read or write. While many of them have good minds, susceptible of taking even an advanced train- ing, their education is neglected, and to cook, wash and sew is looked upon as the sum of female duties. As the girls are looked upon as going out of the BESTUUCTIVE FOBCES— CONTINUED. 109 family and belonging' to another Tvlien they are married, and they are married early, it is thought a waste of time and of money to spend them on their education. Growing xip without mental training, subject to much drudgery and abuse, they grow up with little ambition or hope. It is only as a mother, and especially as the mother of a son, that a Chinese woman seems to have any enjoyment in life. The mother-love is the one sunbeam that brightens their lives. For ages looked down upon as little better than a slave, woman has learned to ac- commodate herself to what is expected of her, and too often her character fails to rise to what it mio'ht O be under better influences. In the Chinese lano’uaQ’e o o all that is weak, mean, little and debased is written with the radical for looman in it. Thus their estimate of the sex has become a part of the very language itself. I have already alluded to foot-binding and to the desti’uction of female infants. These practices, so conuuon in China, are only additional facts to show the esthnation of the sex among the Chinese. Their cruel treatment of blind girls is another thing which shows how far below the Christian standard of civilization and enlightenment the Chinese people are. The parents of these unfortunate girls find themselves with them dauo-hters on their hands o without any prospect either of marrying or of con- no FOBTY YEARS IN CHINA. tributing to the support of the family by their in- dustry. So, too often they sell them to vile hags who tram them to play the lute and send them out on the streets at nio-lit to earn their livino’ as sino’- O o o ing gu'ls. They sing lewd songs and have to sub- mit to all kinds of familiarity and indignity that they may earn a pittance for their mistresses. They are treated with great cruelty and are beaten if they do not return with something earned during the nio'ht. It is a common smht in Canton to see O O strings of six or eight of these girls, led by an old woman, going about the streets to ply their voca- tion. Their sunken eyes and sad, thin faces, to- gether with the thought of the miserable lives they are forced to lead, are enough to excite the pity of the most unemotional. The Chinese speak of the houses where these poor girls are trained as, “ little hells,” so notorious are the cruelties practiced upon the inmates. Though the Government has a blind asylum where a little aid is given to the blind, it has remained for Christian philanthrojjy to feel an interest in the blind girls and try to save them. This neo'lect and unfair treatment of women O must prove an element of weakness in the state. The Avhole population must be uplifted ; if the half be ignored. Society cannot rise to the plane it should occupy in a truly enlightened state. EXAMINATION HALL-EXAMINERS’ OFFICES. I) ES TR XJCTI VE FOR CES— CON TIN TIED. 113 THE DANGEROUS CLASSES. 0£ course what are termed the “ dangerous classes,” are a threat to the stability of any gov- ernment. They are made up of the unemployed, the idle, the vicious, the discontented, and those who, though they, eat, contribute nothing to the produc- tion of the country. All lands have their share of these men, Avhether called anarchists, socialists, rowdies, or the proletariat. China, with singular fatuity and short-sightedness, adds to the number of these men in her midst, forgetful of the fact that she is increasing the probabilities of her own downfall. The regular army in China is used mainly to garrison the walled cities, while the actual fighting is carried on by means of volunteers or ‘‘ braves,” who are re- cruited from among the young men. At the end of a campaign these men are turned loose, with no pensions, often with their pay in arrears and they themselves away from their homes. It is not strange that many of them turn pirates, robbers and gamblers. The habits of license formed in the camp, and of roving about the country under the loosest kind of discipline, remain with them after they are discharged. One reason why piracy and highway robbery are so hard to put down is that the pirates and robbers are old acquaintances and comrades of the very men who are sent against them. The law- 8 114 FORTY TEARS IN CHINA. less habits of the Chinese soldiery are well known. In all wars foraging- is bad enough, but in China the commissariat arrangements are so imperfect that the soldiers frequently live off of the country folk by helping themselves to wdiat they want. In the Tai Peng rebellion it was said that the people often dreaded the Imperial troops more than they did the rebels, and recently it is stated that in Moukden the populace feared the coming of their own troops much more than that of the Japanese. These free- booting habits tend to make a lot of discharged soldiers a plague to the country where they are mustered out of service. The gaming tables, forbid- den by law, but winked at by the authorities, help to perpetuate this class of shiftless, idle men wdio have nothing to lose and are ever ready for any popular tumult or anything to turn up. Were it not for the almost constant risings and rebellions that occur in various parts of the Empire where these men find employment either as rebels or as soldiers, the plague would probably be worse than it is, for these dangerous men are thus gathered together instead of being scattered all about the land. It may well be seen how the large number of these discontented, desperate men, constantly re- cruited from the gaming table and the camp, are a menace to the prosperity and stability of the Grovernment and a source of decay in the state. DESTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 115 I have thus tried to glance at some of the de- structive tendencies which exist in China. To the thoughtful Chinese statesman they must appear a baleful menace to the existing state, and should claim his serious attention as evils Avhich are surely, even though but slowly it may be, undermining the stability of the Empire. They should lead him to ask whether some reform is not demanded, whether some change is not needed. They should make him inquire Avhether that Conservatism under Avhich they have groAvn up is, after all, the best thing for China, and Avhether some advancement in the lin-^ of a Christian civilization may not be possible. 116 FORTY YFAES IN CHINA. CHAPTER IX. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES. But let us turn from tlie somber picture of the past and look towards the future. I am persuaded there is hope for China. There are Reconstructive Forces at work as well as Destructive ones; the leaven of Progress has been introduced which will eventually leaven the dull lump of Conservatism. As yet China has moved only in response to efforts from without, but her true regeneration will result only from a force from within. The seed is in- fluenced by its environment, the warmth and the moisture, but the growth and full development of the plant depends on the starting of the germ within. I am persuaded that the Chinese have within them the elements of a stalwart, reliable character. While in many regards Asiatics, they, like the Jews, have many characteristics which remind us of Occidentals. They have the industry, the enterprise, the perseverance, the practical com- mon sense Avhich mark the Anglo-Saxons. They are born merchants and have all the elements of success RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES. 117 in business. They have the instinctfor organization, and scarcely ever, even in their smallest communities, exist in an amorphous mass, hut easily crystallize into guilds and societies. Their theoretical moral standards are not low, though, under the influence of gross materialism and earthliness, their practical maxims are much degraded. Under the stress and strain of the struggle for existence they are too apt to cast aside then* ideas of what they know to be right ; still they admit the force of these ideas. China is a sleeping elephant which resents having its slumbers disturbed. She has abundant resources, but is slow to develop them. She has a reserve stock of energy, but does not know how properly to exert it. China is like a man overtaken by a snow- storm, who succumbs to the cold and wishes simply to go to sleep and be let alone. She resents the energy of the St. Bernard dogs which would arouse her and drag her into a place of safety. Conscious of her vast resources, she wonders why other nations do not fear arousing her anger. But the rough awakening will yet be her salvation. When she is once aroused and learns the truth that it is “ righteous- ness that exalteth a nation,” we may hope that her true regeneration will set in. For one I believe in the integrity and vitality of China. I hope she will never be disintegrated nor come under the rule of any foreign power. I trust she may learn to 118 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. put away her innate self-conceit that is hurrying her to ruin, and that her eyes may be opened to see her true position among the nations of the world. If she would only learn to substitute honesty and square-dealing for duplicity and crafti- ness her advancement Avould he greatly hastened. Her present disastrous AA'ar with Japan would probably have been averted hut for her intriguing, double-faced policy in Korea. China’s awakening must come from two sources : first, from free intercourse with the rest of the world, and, secondly, from Christianity permeating every part of the Empire, and leavening and re- molding its institutions. These reconstructive forces are already beginning to work ; to them let us now direct our attention. We cannot close our eyes to the fact that the pressure from Avithout, which is changing the face of affairs in China, has come from war. Terrible as it is, war has been the prelude and even the immediate cause of most of the changes that have taken place in history. It is like the cyclone that spreads devastation in its j^ath, uprooting primeval forests, prostrating the most costly constructions of man, and destroying human life by its terrific force, but purifying the atmosphere, and making life possible by removing the germs of disease and death. A temporary evil results in permanent kECONSTRUGTIVE FORCES. 119 blessing. As in Nature, so in History. God often accomplishes His beneficent purposes by violent means. Even unjust wars often result in beneficial consequences. The Psalmist speaks of the wicked as God’s sword. Even wars undertaken through human greed and pride, and unhallowed ambition, may residt in good. While they are no doubt often chastisements sent by God upon a nation, like other chastisements, they may bring forth the fruit of righteousness. It is through war that China has been opened. The war of 181:2 — the so-called “ Opium war ” — though morally unjustifiable, was one that might have occurred between any two nations ; high-handed destruction of property was followed by a demand for indemnity and hostilities. It proved the entering wedge for Western inter- course with China, and an effected entrance through the wall of seclusion, with which the Chinese had surrounded themselves. Much as we may regret it, the fact remains, that, when an opening is made, the good and the bad flow in together. The same ship which takes the messenger of the Gospel to Africa, carries a cargo of rum ; the same steamer that conveys the missionary to China, carries opium in her hold. As in the man, so in the nation. The boy passes out of the period of innocence into that of virtue (virtus) when his character is formed by his choices between good and evilj it is only thus 120 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. that the boy becomes the true man. So, in the Providence of God, it would seem that nations pass from the stage of “ the state of nature ” into a higher one, only by having the good and the evil presented together, that they may take their choice. To the philanthropist it seems sad that such should be the case, and yet it seems a necessity incident to that state of probation through which our race is passing, and a prelude to that separation into two classes which will be consummated at the day of judgment. How- ever strongly we may oppose the curse of rum and of opium, and however earnestly we may regret the evils of war, as students of history we cannot ignore the facts we see around us. As the result of war, then, China has been opened to Commerce. Though commerce brings its evils as well as its benefits, in the long run it is beneficial to the prosperity of a country. The standard of living is raised, comforts are multiplied and the mental horizon is widened. Trade has prospered in all the ports opened to foreigners, the interchange of commodities has been a source of revenue to the Government as well as of prosperity to the people. Production has increased, and men have made fort- unes as middle-men as well as carriers. New ideas have been kindled in the sluggish minds of the people, and new articles have been introduced. Steamers owned by the natives are traversing the dUDDHlST PAGODA, HECONSTBUCTIVE FORCES. 123 rivers of Cliina, giving’ employment to many through the increase of Trade. Machinery and new arts have been introduced to some extent, and the dog-trot pace of the people has been quickened to a faster step. Time has become of appreciable value. The mere fact that steamers leave on time has put a new life into the people. The sharp competitions of trade have put men on the alert. One has but to go through the streets of the Chinese portion of Hong Kong or Shanghai, and then through those of some inland town away from the quickening influ- ence of foreign trade, to see the difference. While morally all business marts tend to become Corinths, and spirituality is apt to he swallowed up in the greedy quest for gain, the minds of men are quick- ened, and external prosperity at least is flourishing. The resources of China have been developed by foreign intercourse as they never would have been without it. China’s trade in the open ports amounted, in 1891, to ^950,000,000, and the in- crease during the decade, 1881-1891, amounted to 50 per cent. Were it not for the pressure brought to bear by foreign nations (especially by England), to whom 60 per cent, of the commerce is credited in the Customs reports, China would kill the goose that lays the golden egg, and stifle the efforts of her own merchants by all kinds of exactions, and restrictions forbidden by the treaties. The policy 124 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. of seclusion has not yet been abandoned oy China. Though her principal ports have been opened to trade and have been prospered by trade, the country at large is still closed. All concessions to trade are yielded unwillingly, inch by inch. While some temporary evils might ensue from all China being thrown open to foreign Intercourse, no doubt, com- mercially, it would he an advantage to the people. It is almost bound to come, sooner or later, for, with the present means of intercommunication between all parts of the world, it is impossible for one people to shut itself off from the rest of mankind. The demands of commerce are never satisfied, and com- merce has been and probably will yet be one of the most powerful reconstructive agencies in China. IMPERIAL MARITIME CUSTOMS. The Foreign Customs Service, under the able administration of Sir Robert Hart, has been one of the main levers used to prize China out of the bog of conservatism in which she had sunk for so long, and it probably will be one of the main dependencies for her elevation in the future. Upon the close of the Anglo-French war of 1859, an arrangement was made by which the customs dues at the treaty ports were to be collected by a corps of foreigners. This service was placed first under Mr. Lay, and then BECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES. 125 under Sir Robert Hart, the present Inspector-Gen- eral. Under bis wise administration this has been the entering wedge for many important improve- ments ill China. Efficient officers have been se- cured, an honest administration established, tradal relations extended, and the Imperial exchequer greatly augmented, so that now trade to the amount of nearly a billion of dollars is carried on annually in the open ports. Through the intelligent re- searches of thoroughly trained men, made known to the world in occasional and annual reports, the re- sources, productions, botany, arts, and diseases of the Chinese have been described as never before. The Chinese have been made acquainted with the West- ern methods of a progressive, honest and economical administration. A postal system has been organ- ized, a system of light-houses and buoys has been established, navigation has been improved, and a general impetus has been given to advancement in the line of progress. The daily intercourse between Chinese officials and clerks with able, educated men from the W est must have taug-ht them to look with respect upon the acquirements and culture which result from a Christian civilization. However self- conceited they may be, it is impossible for them to look down upon these representatives of the West as mere ‘‘ outside barbarians.” Nor has the in- fluence of the Inspector-General and some * of the 126 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. Commissioners been small in directing the policy of the nation. Being still under the protection of their native lands, they can speak to the higher author- ities with a frankness and honesty which a Chinaman would not venture to use for fear of losing his posi- tion or his life. W ere it not that China is so bulky and slow to move, it would have been affected far more than it has been by this powerful factor in its progress. Even as it is, great changes for the better have been made, and greater stdl are prob- ably impending. Large bodies move slowly. We must not be too impatient to see things progress more rapidly, but be content if there be a continual advance with no retrograde movement. Taking courage from the past, we should hope for more in the future. Under this head I may mentipn some other lines of progress in China which, though not directly con- nected with the Customs service, are the result of the influence of foreign intercourse exerted chiefly, per- haps, through the customs. Arsenals have been constructed at Foochow, Canton, Shanghai, Nankin, etc., and large dockyards and naval depots estab- lished at Port Arthur and Wei Hai Wei, in the gulf of Pechili. These latter, with their fortifica- tions, and the ships which had taken refuge there, have recently been captured by the Japanese. China spent large sums of money on modern guns and RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES. 127 ships which she did not know how to manage, and her soldiers and sailors lacked the skill or patriotism to defend. David refused to don Saul’s armor be- cause he had not tried it, but the Chinese undertook to use incompetent, unreliable men to work superior arms that they knew not how to handle, or were not brave enough to preserve from the enemy. Still, the fact that they provided themselves with these modern appliances shows their desire and purpose to follow in the wake of European progress in military affairs. But it is not in the arts of war alone that the Chinese have manifested a wish for improvement. They have also attempted to introduce foreign ma- chinery for manufacturing purposes. In Shanghai, Hankow, Canton, etc., they have factories for making cotton and woolen goods, paper mills, iron foundries, etc. They have also introduced Western mining machinery in their coal mines in Formosa, Kai P’eng, etc., while photography, photo-engrav- ing, electro-plating, electric lighting and other mod- ern arts are in common use in some of the cities open to foreign influence. These points of Western intercourse show that China is beginning to see and value modern progress, and is not slow to adopt those things which she sees are of advantage. Copies of rare and valuable books are reproduced by photo-lithography, and the price of standard works 128 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. is much lowered, putting within the reach of the many what was formerly the exclusive property of the few. This must tend to increase the intellis'encc of the race. All these things are in the line of progress, and when Chinese self-conceit is once sufficiently overcome for them to acknowdedge their indebtedness to the West for these improvements, will help to remove the feeling of contempt and hos- tility with which they affect to look down upon everything that does not bear the stamp of Chinese antiquity. As it is now, those who wish to intro- duce new arts or fresh thoucflits amons: their coun- trymen, feel too often compelled to resort to the subterfuge of pretending that they are but the res- toration of some lost art, or the restatement of some ancient doctrine. Still, some people have enough common sense to see through these pretenses, and are honest enough to feel, if not to acknowledge, that there is somethino: gfood outside of China. O O DIPLOMATIC INTERCOURSE. Alongside of the influence of the Customs Serv- o ice, we must place that of the Diplomatic and Con- sular Services. Though representing their own Governments and not in the employ of the Chinese Government, nor thrown into such intimate daily contact with the Chinese, perhaps, as those who are in the Customs Service, still they occupy positions RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES. 129 where they can exert much influence on the most influential class of China. Many of these men, es- pecially those connected with countries which have an organized Consular Service, are able Chinese scholars, often more widely, if not more thoroughly, acquainted with Chinese literature than most of the Chinese literati themselves, and are held in high respect by those with whom they are thrown in frequent contact. Where they are not so thorough- ly absorbed in their Chinese studies as to be mere scholars, and forgetful of their position as pioneers of a new civilization which is to uplift China, they may prove powerful factors in its advancement. As a rule they are honorable gentlemen, and the Chinese may get from them ideas of honor and straightforward dealing, very different from those which they find among their own officials. Their decisions are almost always just, and their punishments humane. In almost every point they will compare favorably with the native officials with whom they have to deal. Even where they do not urge schemes for the benefit of the people, the in- direct effect of their official lives is almost always beneficial. Those in the ports, as well as those high in authority on the Embassy at Peking, are often in a position to offer valuable advice to the Chinese, and to exert a moral influence when they cannot enforce a political one. Thus this Service is an im- 9 130 FORTY TEARS IN CHINA. portant factor in the influences which tend to re- construction in China. Backed as they are by the powerful authority of the states which they repre- sent, not only their official acts, hut their personal suggestions and advice, carry great influence. Apart from this, their personal character often carries much weight. GOING ABBOAD. 133 CHAPTER X. GOING ABROAD. Another reconstructive force that has been powerfully, though it may be, silently, affecting China, is the influence of the Chinese who have gone abroad. If the Chinese have felt the influence of the few foreigners who have lived in their midst, it is not strange that they should be affected by the atmosphere which has surrounded them when dwelling in the midst of foreigners in the lands of the West. DIPLOMATIC SERVICE. Two classes of Chinese have gone abroad : those in the embassies who have been sent abroad by the Government, and those who have emigrated of their own accord with the desire to improve their pecuniary condition. The same treaties which gave foreign ambassadors the right to reside in Peking, gave to China the right to send ambassadors to reside in the Capitals of the West. Especially after the Burlingame treaty did China avail herself 134 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. of this privilege, and appoint ministers and consuls to the W est. Though still but few in number, com- paratively, they have not been without an important influence on the Chinese Government. Ministers with their attaches and retinue have seen somethinof of the results of Western civilization. They have been impressed by the splendid achievements in architecture and engineering, ‘by the crowded streets, the vast mercantile and manufacturing establishments, and the delicate and useful fabrics of European and American cities. The strong iron bridges, the lofty warehouses, the rapid railway cars, the luxuriously furnished and fast-going steamers, the order and discipline in vast armies and navies, the size, precision, rapid-firing and deadly effect of the fire-arms have all left their impression on their minds. The modes of government and administra- tion, the character of the officials, and the happiness and contentedness of the governed have all been studied, and so the faults and defects in social life and moral character have not gone unnoticed. Perhaps the fact which strikes their materialistic minds most forcibly is the great wealth of Western communities. They are too apt to ascribe all improvement and prosperity to this, and overlook the moral ideas which lie at the basis of our civiliza- tion. They say, “ If the Chinese only had as much money as the Occidentals, they would have all these GOING ABROAD. 135 tilings too.” They are apt to ignore the persever- ance, the conscientiousness, the love of truth and accuracy, the enlarged view, the breadth of mind, and the obedience to law which underlie all these grand results. They fail to credit with its true value our constant desire to improve on the past and break away from conservative traditions — to re- member that as long as China persists in co'pijing instead of inventing, in worshiping the dead past instead of pressing onward into the hopeful future, she can never make any true advancement. No nation ivhose golden age is in the past can have any motive to progress. China gives no iveight to ideas, hut merely looks at appearances. Still, new ideas do break in upon the minds of these Orientals, and their thoughts are quickened. Hence Marquis Tseng, one of China’s best ministers to Europe, admitted that China had been asleep, and that her Awakening ” was only beginning, but he ac- knowledged the influence of foreign intercourse by p'rantiiip’ that it had succeeded in aAvakino’ her. o o & Some of these ministers have published their diaries and observations, and these have had their effects on the thinking men of China. Others of those who have been in the diplomatic service of China have no doubt had their tales to tell of what they have seen in Western lands. Thus the Embassies to the West have been a factor in China’s awakening, 136 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. and tlieir good results will be seen still more in the future than they have been in the past. As, one after another, some of China’s ablest men have seen Western civilization, they will, on their return, help to dispel those illusions which have been blinding the eyes of the Chinese people. It is true that hitherto Chinese ambassadors have been attracted only by the material civilization of the West. In compliance with their recommenda- tions, China has lavishly poured out her treasure for Krupp guns and war vessels of modern patterns. What they have failed to see is the importance of the man behind the gun. As it was said with regard to the Franco-German war of 1872, it was not a trial of needle-guns against chassepots, but of the men behind the guns, so the Chinese will have to learn that it is to the people — the officers and the rank and file that they must look for success. The men must have confi- dence in their leaders and must be actuated by a true patriotism. This truth is in accordance with the instructions of their own great sage. When asked about the conditions of prosperity in a state, Confucius said : “ There must be a sufficiency of food, a complement of troops, and the full confi- dence of the people in their rulers.” When his disciples inquired as to the relative importance of the three, he said, first, “ Take away the troops,” GOING ABROAD. 137 then, “ Take away the food, for from of old men die, but a people without confidence cannot .stand.” * It is just this confidence which is lacking' in China. It is to be hoped that these Chinese scholars who visit the West will see that there is something in our Christia ncivilization besides mere material advancement, that the progress of the individual is a more important factor in the prosperity of the state than the use of improved machinery. The Chinese people have in them the elements of a stalwart civil- ization ; if developed by the forces of Christianity there is much to hope for in them in the future. If they would only put away their self-confidence and learn to become little children for a while, they might before Ions' become real men. The basal truth of o Christianity, “ Except ye be converted (turn about), and become as little children,” is what they need for their true advancement EMIGRATION. Another class of Chinese who have gone abroad is the Emigrants. The emigration of the Chinese is not confined to recent times, though it has naturally greatly increased with the facility of inter- course which is the result of modern commerce. * Quoted in'“ China Recorder,” Vol. xxvi, No. 1. 138 FORTY TEARS IN CHINA. The countries about the China Sea are full of Chinese. By their superior energy and business .ability they have absorbed the trade of these lands, and pushed into the background the indolent and shiftless people of these regions. There are some two and a half millions of Chinese in Siam out of a total population of eight millions. In Bankok, the capital of that kingdom, the Chinese number three hundred thousand in a population of five hundred thousand. In Singapore, that flourish- ing British colony in the Straits of Malacca, two- thirds of the real estafe is owned by the Chinese, and they occupy positions of influence and honor, some of them being members of the Legislative Council. Most of the coasting trade on the Ma- layan peninsula is in the hands of the Chinese, and they are scattered in all the settlements and plan- tations on the seaboard. Fifty-five thousand Chi- nese arrived in Singapore from China in one quarter — three months. From this center they are distrib- uted to the Dutch and native territories. In the Spanish city of Manilla on Luzon there are twenty thousand of them. Most of the artisans in Java are Chinese. The Chinese form an important part of the population of the British settlement of North Borneo. They are found in great numbers in Ran- goon and in other coast towns of Burma. In Saigon and the ports of French Cochin China, most of the GOING ABROAD. 139 trade is carried on by Chinese merchants. Thus the ports around the China Sea, opened up by the prowess and enterprise of European states, have come to be occupied by the Chinese, who are the most progres- sive element in the Asiatic population. With their enterprise and their wealth they have carried their vices and their evil tendencies ; hence gambling, opium-smoking and licentiousness abound wherever they are found. In the North, too, the energetic, frugal, persever- ing Chinese are occupying Tartary, and developing and getting control of the trade between China and the Tartar tribes, and also cultivating a trade with Russia. Chinese merchants are also found in Korea and Japan. Enterprising, unscrujDulous, untiring and persistent, they are the Jews of Eastern Asia. Traders by instinct, they grow wealthy by accumulat- ing small savings. Polite, accommodating and ever on the alert, they seek to please their customers. Ever ready to pander to the vices of their patrons, their consciences rarely hinder them from accepting the most paltry gains. No wonder then they suc- ceed where others faU. This contact with their neighbors, north and couth, has had no elevating effect on the Chinese. They have gone as teachers rather than learners ; as pioneers of a civilization superior to that of the surrounding nations. Hence this intercourse has 140 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. had no reconstructive force. It is only as the Chinese have been brought into contact with the Anglo-Saxon race in America and Australia that they have felt the reviving touch of Western Civil- ization. God’s primal commission to man was : “ Be fruit- ful and multiply ; and replenish the earth and sub- due it ” (Gen. i. 28). Man’s tendency ever has been to become congested in some favored localities. The first Divine judgment after the flood was intended to counteract this tendency, and men were “scattered abroad,” from Babel “ upon the face of all the earth ” (Gen. xi. 8). As men scatter seed in order to get a harvest, so God’s plan seems to be to develop the waste places of the earth by filling them with men. Inferior tribes who fail to carry out the command to “subdue” the earth by tilling it and developing its resources are, in the providence of God, supplanted by superior ones; races which are undeveloped or have retrograded are uplifted by being thrown into contact with more energetic, more advanced races. Gold has often been the great magnet which God has used for attracting men to the unoccupied or sparsely settled parts of our earth. All know how the desire to find the precious metals was the most potent factor'in the settling of Amer- ica. This was the lode-stone which guided the ships of Columbus and drew forth the expeditions of SMALL BOAT OR SAMPAN. H'e- ■ IJ ;i- ‘A--,t i' , ^ :V^ GOING ABBOAB. 143 Cortez and Pizarro. It was the desire for gold which led English merchants to fit out costly ex- peditions ; and if the navigators failed to bring back gold as at least a part of their cargo, they were put down as unsuccessful, however important their geo- graphical discoveries might have been. It was gold that brought the Chinese to California and Aus- tralia. ‘‘Old Gold Hills” and “New Gold Hills” are the names by which California and Australia have always been known among the Chinese. When, after 1849, the tide of emigration towards California set in, from the Atlantic slope by way of Panama, and from the Mississippi valley across the plains, the ear of the Chinese across the Pacific soon caught the sound of the pickaxes, and visions of yellow gold flitted across their eyes. The mighty attrac- tion of gold was felt over in Asia, and set the hearts of the Chinese to throbbing with delight, and led them to stake their hoarded savings with the hope of gaining wealth. Nor were they unwelcome. Content to gather up the fragments, they did not come into conflict with the claims of others. By their industry, their patient endurance of toil, their reliability, their quiet, unassuming lives, they soon proved to be most valuable as a laboring class, and their presence was felt to be a needful factor in the development of the country. As the pioneers began to settle down and gather their families around 144 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. them, the Chinese became invaluable as house-serv- ants. Quiet, orderly, quick to learn, obedient and industrious, they made themselves a necessity in the community. As some accumulated means they be- came merchants, and contributed largely to develop a trade between China and the United States. For some reason many of them took up the laundry- trade. Probably it was because the work was light, and they had the foresight to perceive that their carefulness, regularity, industry, honesty and patience could be made to pay them well. Some also set up as cigar-makers and slipper-makers, and after sewing-machines became common, many of them ran sewing-machines and did work on overalls and the coarser kinds of work. When the railroads, which have done so much for the development of California, began to be constructed, Chinese con- tractors took contracts for sections of the roads, and introduced large numbers of contract laborers from China. Though unable to do so much hard work on a stretch as the European navvies, they proved preferable on many accounts. They were steadily industrious, were content with lower wages, did not get drunk and get to fighting, and could always be counted on for punctuality and steady work. Europeans, I have been told, after being paid off on Saturday evening, frequently went off on a debauch, and did not put in an appearance GOING ABBOAB. 145 until Tuesday, and were then not able to do efficient work. Then they were always ready for a strike when excited by some designing leader, and were not indisposed to relieve the monotony of their toil by taking part in a fight every now and then and letting their work drop meanwhile. Then antagon- isms began to arise. The grog-shop keepers who batten on their fellow-men, and ever strive to trans- fer hard-earned money from the pockets of the toil- ing laboring man to their own, began to complain chat the Chinese did not spend their money in this country, but sent it all abroad. The cry was made that the Chinese were slaves. This is not true. They were contract laborers engaged in China, their passages advanced to them and an outfit provided Tor them ; in return they gave a lien on their earn- mgs. No doubt many of the contractors made much money, but they also took large risks. With the opening of the Pacific Railroad and the cheapening of steamer fares, a different class of set- tlers came into California. The laboring classes came, and the competition between Chinese and European labor became more marked. Prejudice against the Chinese increased. Probably a differ- ent class of Chinese, too, came in. With the con- tract laborers, and perhaps among them, came des- perate characters, gamblers, men who escaped from justice, and men whose relatives and friends were 146 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. glad to get rid of them by sending them to Cal- ifornia. The Chinese, like other nationalities, in- sisted on bringingtheir customs and vices with them. They took advantage of the freedom of our laws to erect heathen temples in our midst, and their idol processions marched through our streets ; they took advantage of the laxity of our police to open opium dens to entice the unwary whites, as Avell as to enjoy their own favorite dissipation ; they set up their gambling tables, and had their gambling rooms bar- ricaded and fortified s© as to resist the raids of the police ; they brought over their abandoned women and set up their brothels in country toAvns as well as in the cities. Some one has said : “ If you want to see the reason for our restrictive legislation against the Chinese, you have only to go to China- town, in San Francisco.” They are no better in many other places. The low, heathenish morals of the Chinese has, no doubt, much to do with the prejudice which exists against the Chinese. But the labor question is the main factor in the opposition and race-antagonism. Many of those who object to the morality of the Chinese are no better themselves. Substitute whisky for opium, and cards iov fan-tan, and you have the same evils. There is the same inclination to bribe the police, and the same desire to indulge the lowest tastes and passions. The whites are not without reason at GOING ABBOAD. 147 call times when they complain of the Chinese dis- placing' them. Especially does it seem a hardship when Chinese men take the bread out of the mouths of white women and children. I heard of a case in San Francisco which will illustrate this. A Jewish clothing house gave employment to some fifty women and girls, who made garments on sewing machines. A Chinese contractor offered to do the same work for a feAv cents cheaper a day, and the clothier dis- missed the whites, the wives and daughters of labor- ing men, and gave the job to the Chinamen. The Chinese workmen work on Sunday jnst as on any other day, and often work until twelve o’clock at night. As they are young men, they have no inter- ruption from family duties, and of course can easily afford to underbid the women. It does seem hard when light work is taken away from women by strong men who should rightfully work in the fields. It is not strange, thei’efore, that there should be an outcry agfainst Chinese labor. Of course all violent and lawless demonstrations by sandlotters and hoodlums, under the lead of men like Dennis Kearney, are reprehensible and foolish, but the real hardships lend some excuse to the harangues of those who are themselves too lazy to work, but claim to be the special friends of the laboring white men. The rouo'h treatment which the Chinese receive O from the rowdies and baser element of the people. 148 FORTY TEARS IN CHINA. and the injustice and deceit which are often prac- ticed upon them, must give them a very poor opin- ion of the white race. And then, living as the Chinese do, mostly in the slums of the cities, they see only the worst examples of our family life ; they mingle almost entirely with the lowest Europeans, and see little of the pure morality and domestic virt- ues of a real American home. A few, however, do live as servants in Christian families, and many as laundrymen secure business transactions with re- fined and kindly disposed people. The benefits which accrue to the Chinese from emigration are mainly from the external fruits of our civilization, and from the Christian influences exerted by in- struction in schools and mission-work for these men whom God, in His providence, has thrown in our midst. Of the latter I will speak more fully here- after. The general results of our civilization tend to make the Chinese realize how far behind they them- selves are in the line of civilization and progress. Our railroads and elevated roads, our magnificent bridges and buildings, our numerous household con- veniences, our waterworks, gas and electric lights, cable and trolley cars, expensive church buildings and comfortable houses, public and other schools, all attract their attention. When they return to China I have often heard them remark how dirty GOIJSIG ABROAD. 149 everytliing there seems compared witli the neatness and cleanhness of America, how slow their anti- quated modes of locomotion are, and how little idea the people seem to have of the value of time. The slow ways and dirty hahits of their own people seem often to disgust them, and they are seldom satisfied until they return to America again. They feel, too, that their jjroperty is much safer under our laws. In Australia the condition of the Chinese is much as that in America. They feel the force of the same race-prejudice and the antagonisms of the labor question. The emigration to Siam and the Straits Settle- ments has been largely from the Fuhkien province, but numbers of the emigrants were Cantonese. The emigration to America and Australia has been almost entirely from the province of Kwang Tung (Canton), and most of the people are from the neighborhood of Hong Kong and Macao. A few have gone from the interior, but most are from districts on or near the seaboard. These are the people who have been longest in contact with foreign influence at Canton, Hong Kong and Macao. We cannot dismiss the subject of Chinese emigra- tion without noticing the Coolie trade. Though nominally a system of contract labor it soon, espe- cially in the hands of the Portuguese in Macao, de- 150 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. generated mto a systematic slave trade. The Chinese coolie agents, with or without the connivance of their foreign employers, used all the resources of force and cunning to kidnap the uinvary country folk. Young men Avere promised employment in Hong Kong as artisans and carried to Macao as coolies. Once in the harracoons there, they were treated as slaves. Though having the opportunity of going through the form of makino- a leg-al contract before the authorities, they Avere so intimidated and so closely guarded by their keepers that they signed contracts to emigrate. Some, doubtless, Avent Amluntarily, but many Avent under compulsion, or Avere deceived into giving consent by all kinds of false promises. Children Avere enticed and stolen away from their parents. One of our old Chinese deacons could never read the story of Joseph Avithout breaking down and giving Avay to his tears, for his oldest son, a boy of fourteen, was stolen away by the coolie agents. I have had mothers come to me for their sons, and wives for their husbands, saying they had been carried away to the foreign ships by force or by fraud. I have visited these ships, lying at Whampoa, and too often commanded by American captains, and tried in vain to obtain the release of a man ; for even though the money claimed to have been advanced might be refunded, the captains are anxious to get their full tale of passengers and set sail as soon as SEDAN CHAIR. GOING ABNOAD. 158 possible. In some cases regular piracy was practiced by men to secure coolies for Peru. On one occasion a ship appeared before a Chinese town flying signals of distress ; claiming that carpenters were needed on board to stop a leak, and offering them high wages ; as soon as they got the men down the hold they fastened down the hatches and sailed off with their prey. In another case a town was bombarded, and as the inhabitants were fleeing for their lives the men were captured and carried off to the slave-ship. Before long, however, it was found that these violent measures would not pay, for the Chinese, in their recklessness and desperation, set fire to the ships, sacrificing their own lives to take revenge on their captors. In one case all, crew and coolies, were burned to death or drowned. One of these white miscreants was caught in the British colony of Hong Kong, tried and convicted of piracy, but released on some legal technicality, and soon returned to China as consul for one of the South American States ! Not all of the coolie trade, however, was of this character. Some was genuine emigration. Those who were kidnapped were sent mostly to Peru and Havana. The British Government sought to regu- late the traffic, and has always demanded that all coolies who went to British colonies or in British ships should go under strict Government supervision. By arrangement with the Chinese authorities the / 154 FORTY TFARS IN CHINA. traffic was carried on under their inspection and under the control of the British Colonial author- ities. Most of the emigration to British Guiana and Mauritius and Trinidad was of this kind. The coolie trade not unnaturally created much prejudice against foreigners and proved a great hinderance to mission work. Of course it did not tend to give the Chinese any too good an opinion of the men from the West, nor was the influence of those foreigners with whom the coolies were thrown into contact usually very beneficial to them. In British Guiana, however, many of the Chinese have prospered. Much mission work has been done among them, and quite a number became Christians. In this connection I may mention the case of Lough F ook. This young man was converted while a bar- ber’s apprentice at Canton, and was baptized by my colleague. Rev. C. W. Galliard. He soon felt a de- sire to preach and accompanied me on some of my country tours. Before long, he showed that, in addi- tion to his stalwart Christian character, he hid fair to be an effective speaker. After exercising his gifts in preaching for a while, and always refusing to be a paid preacher, preferring to support himself, he became interested in the welfare of his fellow- countrymen who were going in large numbers to Guiana. He finally decided to go out as a coolie under a contract to work for seven years on a sugar GOING ABROAD. 155 plantation. On liis voyage out he talked to his fellow emigrants, and after his arrival, began to hold meetings for them on Sunday and on week nig-lits. His work was blessed. Christian friends became interested in him and bought out the last two years of his time that he might devote himself entirely to religious work among his fellow-country- men. He was set apart to the ministry, baptized a number of Chinese converts, and soon became pastor of a Baptist Church of over 100 members. They were trained to habits of Christian giving, and not only put up their meeting-house and helped their pastor, but were able to send money back to China to aid in the work there. They established two co-operative stores, all the profits of Avhich went towards Christian work in Guiana and in China. After doing efficient work for several years. Brother Lough Fook fell a victim to pulmonary disease and went to be with Christ. Brother Tso Sune converted under Lough Fook’s ministry, returned to China and became one of our most reliable native preach- ers, and served as the efficient pastor at different times of our three principal churches in Canton, Shiu Hing and Tsing Yuen. He also died some two years ago. Some of the Chinese emigrants to Spanish America acquired a competency and have returned to spend their latter days in comfort in their native 15G FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. land. I have never heard o£ any who were con- verted or returned to try and do any religious work among their fellow-countrymen in China. In speaking of Chinese emigrants we should not omit those who have gone to the Sandwich Islands. These islands are known to the Chinese as the ‘‘Sandal Wood Hills,” for this fragrant wood [Santalum Pyrularhmi) is much valued in China as one of the constituents of their incense as well as the material from which they make carved boxes, paper-knives, etc. The intercourse between China and these islands has existed for a century, and so many Chinese have settled there that it was stated a few years ago that the Chinese men were more numerous than the native. Hawaiian men; of course there are more native women, for few Chinese women emigrate. Some of these have accumulated property and most are thriving. Christian work has been carried on among the Chinese in these islands, and not a few of them were Christians in China before they emigrated to Honolulu. In connection with Chinese emigration it will be remembered that Christian work for the Chinese was begcun amongf the emigrants in the South be- fore China itself was opened. The early Protestant missionaries, asMedhurst, Milne, Dyer, Aheel, God- dard and Dean, began their work among the Chinese in Batavia, Singapore and Bankok; some of the GOING ABBOAB. 157 earliest converts were gathered in from among the Chinese from Fuhkien and Kwang Tung, residing in these ports. Dr. Morrison, it is true, resided in Macao and Canton, hut only as a translator to the East India Company, and could not openly work as a missionary. Before the war of 1842 and the siih- sequent cession of Hong Kong and opening of the five ports, many Roman Catholics, and a few Protestant missionaries resided in the Portuguese settlement of Macao at the western entrance of the Lin Tin Bay, forty miles from Hong Kong, which is at the Eastern entrance. Most of the preliminary mission work was done in the outports. The Anglo-Chinese college was located in Singapore, and Medhurst’s Dictionary was published in Batavia. When China was opened most of the work was trans- ferred to Hong Kong and China. Thus the em- igrants were among the first to yield their ancient conservatism under the influence of contact Avith Western influence. 158 FORTY YEARS IN CUINA. CHAPTER XI. EECONSTRUOTIVE FORCES. CHINESE IN THE UNITED STATES. The Chinese emigration to America and the fact that Christian influences had been hrousfht to bear o upon them have already been alluded to. I wish now to dwell more fully on the latter point. In the providence of God America seems to be the great caldron where , the ingredients of difPerent nationalities are mingled and seething together. Just what the product will be it may be difficult to predict ; but we know that unless the true spirit of Christianity makes itself felt the new product will be no improvement on the past. As our ancestors, the English, are the outcome of Anglo-Saxon, Kelt, Dane and Norman mingled in political union, so the American is to be the outcome of mingled races; not necessarily mingled in blood, but feeling in- fluences brought from all quarteis. The coming of the Chinese introduced a new element, almost in- soluble, into the mass. Hitherto our immigrants had been from Europe, of the same white race as EECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES. 159 the orio’iiial settlers. Added to these Avere some O from Africa, of au emotional, impressible race, ready to copy those about them and in a state of subordination where they were without much social or political influence. With the influx of the Chinese came Orientals. Asiatic as to their vices, but with an energy, industry, persistency, vital- ity and self -assertiveness like those oE the Euro- pean. It is true, their number was never very great ; never much over one hundred thousand, at any one time, but the thought of the possible influx of the numerous hordes of Asia was thono-ht a menace to our institutions and our civilization. Politicians souo-ht to check the immio-i-ation, and earnest-minded Christians found themselves con- fronting the question, “ What is God’s object in bringing the quick-witted, intelligent heathen into our midst ? ” and saying, “ God will surely hold us guilty concerning our brother,’ if we neglect this opjjortunity of trying to stamp the die of Christianity upon them while they are among us, and to mold their characters into the image of Christ.” Surely it was the promptings of God’s Spirit which led the Christians of America to try and win the confidence and respect of those who were so often oppressed and despised by our fellow-countrymen, and to endeavor to uplift and help our fellow-men who were debased bv heathenism, ignorance and sin. But how could 160 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. they be reached? A great gulf seemed to yawn between us and them. Clannish and inclined to keep to themselves, differing from us in habits and customs, suspicious of the whites, and cherishing a sense of the wrongs too often inflicted by them, proud of their own sages and literature, and clinging witli all the tenacity of conservatism to their idolatrous superstitions, how could they he reached ? Then their language was a great harrier. Knowing no English except a few words and phrases useful in their business, speaking what they did know in an almost unintelligible, miserably broken English, there seemed to be an insuperable barrier to getting any religious truth into contact with their prejudiced, untaught minds. It may have occurred to some to distribute Chinese gospels and tracts among them,' but here came up another difficulty. Many of them can read very little, and are not prepared to com- prehend the new truths of Christianity, and, worse than this, most of them have no desire to learn Christian truth and care nothino- for the relisrion of the race who so frequently look down upon them and wrong them. There were but two ways ojjen. One was to have returned missionaries who had learned the language try to give them the Gospel ; the other was to try to reach them by means of the English language, to try and persuade the Chinese to learn the language of spiritual truth as CHINESE BAPTIST ACADEMY-TEACHERS AND MANAGERS. •C' ’ tin X > ...,v^>.*''^- I if i- ''';>•' *: ¥^1 : • '■■ -1 4ty '••*'’ ': J :.f 'i v; ■VV' -round soon after a Chinese school was opened there. Threats Avere made in other places. Still the Avork went on, until noAv there are Chinese Sunday schools in almost every city of the United States where Chinese ai’e to he found. The Chinese came to these schools primarily not to learn religion but the English language ; they Avished for help for their trade and not for their souls. Yet God’s revealed truth had a poAver, especially when backed by the faithful, earnest prayers of those who 164 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. taught it. Learning only for an hour and hut once a week, of course the progress of the pupils in learn- ing the rudiments of the language would he slow, and it would be some time before they could read the Bible so as to get any idea of its meaning. They were impressed more by the kindness and patience and unrequited efforts of their teachers than by the truths which the teachers strove to in- culcate. Still the persevering efforts of godly men and women were not without result. Some of the scholars began to pray for themselves and were con- verted, and much real good to the cause of Christ has come from these schools. Nothing human is perfect, and it is not surprising that mistakes were made, and abuses crept in, in con- nection with -some of these schools. The teachers were ignorant of the Chinese character, and suffered their sympathies to carry them too far. Designing Chinese sought to work upon the feelings of their teachers, in order to get their aid in lawsuits. The fact that the Chinese were often unjustly accused and failed to secure their rio-hts in our courts led many sympathetic teachers to interest themselves in cases where their pupils were in the wrong. This led the heathen Chinese to hate the churches and schools, and many honest men among them to refuse to have anything to do with them. Undue familiar- ities were sometimes allowed by thoughtless girls BECOiSrSTEUCTIVE FORCES. 1G5 who were unwisely permitted to act as teachers. The respectable Chinamen look upon any mingling^ of the sexes as reprehensible, and being- unable to under- stand the greater freedom allowed by our customs, looked upon all intimate conversation between a pupil and a female teacher, especially a young one, as dangerous to morality. Too great familiarity was permitted, and in some cases the teachers were even foolish enough to marry their pupils. This of course excited all the race-feeling of the white com- munity. Some schools have been entirely broken up wdiere such a case occurred, and the woman’s happiness for life is generally blighted. Then some teachers have petted their pupils, so that they have grown so self-conceited as to excite the contempt of their fellow'-countrymen, and when they return to China they wilt at once under opposition, or become nuisances in the native churches, because they do not get the foolish attentions which were paid to them in America. Nothing takes the backbone and man- liness out of a Chinaman, or any other man, like petting. Then the Christian name has suffered among the Chinese by the churches hastily receiving un- converted men. The pupils sometimes make a profession of religion merely to please their teachers and show their appreciation of the kind- ness they have received. Their fellow-countrymen 166 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. who know their daily lives have no respect for them nor the religion they profess. Scandals have arisen, too, from the giving’ and receiving of presents. The Chinese are anxious to show their appreciation of the gratuitous instruction they receive and the kind- ness shown them by making presents to their teach- ers. In some cases costly presents have been ex- pected and even retpxested hy thoughtless teachers. This has led the Chinese to misapprehend the mo- tives of their instructors, or what should he the motives of all who engage in Christian work, and suppose that they teach merely for gain. It would he well if teachers would decline any valuable pres- ents and only accept those of a smaller value as tokens of the pupils’ appreciation of their kindness in teachino' them. It is not surprising that mistakes have been made, the only thing surprising is that some people never seem to learn their mistakes. I believe, how- ever, that in the great majority of schools, there is much improvement, and that experience, the best of teachers, is teaching wisdom. Where properly con- ducted, I see no reason to decry this form of Chris- tian effort, but on the contrary, I believe that God’s people would fail to secure His blessing if we permit these strangers to dwell in our midst for years and make no effort to teach and to save them. Whak ev^er may be said of African slavery as it existed in RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES. 1G7 our midst, it cannot be said that the religious needs of the slaves were neglected ; hence we see large numbers of that race brought to our shores as heathen now ranged among the professed followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ-like characters developed in many of them. Surely the same love for souls and desire for the glory of God should lead us to work equally for the salvation of the Chinaman as for that of the nesfro. As to the results of the work among the Chinese, experience shows that the efforts of God’s people here have not been in vain. While in some cases those who have professed Christianity here have proved recreant, and have disappointed the hopes of those who were interested in their spiritual wel- fare, others have proved true, and have been help- ful to the mission work in China. It is a very severe test that the young men have to endure who go from this country, especially if they have been petted here, to their homes in the midst of heathen- ism. Parents and those in authority over them ridicule and oppose them, and leave no art untried and few forms of force unattempted, to compel them to abjure Christianity and to return to the worship of idols and of their ancestors. They have no concep- tion of a conscientious adherence to conviction, but re- gard all Christian firmness as contumacy, and a rebel- lion against the commands of their superiors. The 168 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. strongest kind of pressure is broiiglit to bear upon the new convert, and it is not strano;e that, beino- the only Christian, perhaps, in his town or village, he sometimes yields. Many, however, have been as gold tried in the lire, and have passed through the fiery ordeal unscathed. Some grow cold and half- hearted, without actually going back from their re- lig-ion. Some come out of the fire all the brio’hter. o ^ o Not a few of our best preachers in South China have heen converted in this country. Then they often have a push and energy, an intelligent understanding of the methods of Christian work, and a realization of the miserable condition of their fellow-countrymen beyond that of those who have never been out of China. They seem to have, caught some of the fire and fervor that prevail in our favored land, and so prove a quickening and uplifting force in our native churches. Brother Ch’an Kum Sing, converted in New York, and recently called to his heavenly home, was one of the most devout, self-denying, earnest, con- sistent Christians I have ever known in any land. He has left his impress on the work in China, and his straightforward, downright Christian character has had an influence upon our native Christians that will not soon be effaced. The men converted in America, though often not without their faults, form an active, progressive element among our native members, and are more inclined to break RECONS TR UCTIVE FOR CES. 169 with the ancient conservatism than many of those who have never breathed the freer air of America. So those who are working for the religious welfare of the Chinese in America through the means of the English language, have no reason to be discouraged, hut may be cheered by the thought that they are contributmg them quota towards the winning of China for Christ. As to the other branch of the work, reaching the Chinese, here through means of their own language, it has been carried on chiefly on the Pacific Slope. About 1854, Rev. J. L. Shuck, who had been a missionary in China for some twenty years, was sent to California by the Southern Baptists to begin a work among the Chinese immigrants there. He began a successful work in Sacramento, where he built a neat little chapel and baptized a number of converts. About the same time. Rev. Mr. Speer Avassent out by the Presbyterian Board to San Fran- cisco, and commenced a Avork there among the Chinese Avhich Avas continued by Rev. A. W. Loomis and others, and still exists in a flourishing state. The Methodists subsequently carried on a similar Avork under Rev. Messrs. Gibson and Masters. Chinese preachers were raised up in this country or came over from China to assist in the Avork. Some of these are noAV found also in the cities further east, and are doing a good Avork among their fellow- 170 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. countrymen. Chinese churches have been organ- ized in California and Oregon, and perhaps else- where. These converts have shown a commendable spirit of liberality, and contribute for Christian en- terprises in this country as Avell as send money to China for the evangelization of their native land. Thus Christianity is leavening the masses in Asia by means of the Chinese converts in America, and the teaching given here becomes one of the reconstruct- ive forces at work in China. The discussion of Chinese Immigration seems to demand some reference to the restrictive leg^islation against the Chinese in America. This legislation is not peculiar to the United States. The laws in the Australian colonies of Great Britain are in some regards more severe. Not only have shipmasters to pay a large penalty for bringing passengers from China to some of the colonies, but a heavy fine is imposed on Chinese who move from one colony to another. Fifty dollars has to be paid by every Chinaman who lands in British Columbia. The motives for this restrictive emigration are every- where the same ; the Chinese are regarded as an un- desirable class of immigrants, because they come into competition with white labor, because they do not bring their families and come as permanent settlers, and because they will bring with them many of the vices and everything that is objection- FOREIGN SETTLEMENT AND CHINESE TOWN.-CANTON. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES. 173 able in their heathenism. Polygamy, gambling, opinm-smoking and general laxity of morals charac- terize them wherever they congregate in China- towns ” or separate settlements in the cities, while a disposition to form an “miperiwn in hnperio,'' and to regulate their affairs in disrej^ard to the laws of the country, makes them iji many cases a source of danger and of suspicion. Then, much of tlys legislation is based on a scare, and unfounded apprehension as to the influx of immense hordes of Asiatics. While it is not strange that some restric- tions should be attempted, yet this legislation has been fitful and often unjust. By the treaty of 1868, it was agreed that “ The United States of America and the Emj)eror of China cordially recognize the inherent and inalien- able right of man to change his home and alle- giance, and also the mutual advantage of the free migration and emio-ration of their citizens and sub- O O jects respectively from the one country to the other for the purpose of curiosity, of trade, or as perma- nent residents .” — Treaty with China., proclaimed Jidy 2Sth, 1868. Availing themselves of this understanding, which has all the force of a compact, the Chinese came to the United States. If our Government found reasons to recede from this action they should have sought a revision of the treaty, which they did do. 174 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. but before taking' this action Congress passed laws, going into almost immediate effect, forbidding such migration. Thus, under the operation of the Scott Act, Chinese passengers who had left for America before the law was passed were not permitted to land, but had to pay their passage back to China. This was an injustice. We have treated China, not as we would have treated a European power, but rather as we have too often been accustomed to treat our Indian tribes — break our obligations when it suited our convenience to do so. It is to be feared that the Century of Dishonor ” has not yet become an anachronism. The Chinese Government has no desire to see its subjects leave their native land. According to their traditions it is a dishonor to a state to have its people desire to emigrate, (it is like “ rats for- saking a sinking ship ”). What they do object to, is that their people when just as law-abiding and useful an element in a community as any others should be discriminated against and singled out, when people of other nationalities give us more trouble and are a greater menace to public peace. When it is remembered how we foreigners are dis- criminated against in China, how our right to reside outside the open ports is denied or disputed, how we are required to carry passports whenever we leave our places of residence, how we are not RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES. 175 allowed to acquire real estate, and subjected to many inconveniences, the Chinese have no right to complain of their treatment by the law here, still, we claim to be a country where greater freedom reigns and pride ourselves on our more liberal and advanced civilization and Christian sentiment. It must be admitted that our changeable and restrict- ive legislation, by its want of fairness and by its injustice, has not tended to raise us in the estima- tion of the Chinese, and to that extent has hindered our influence as a nation in being a force for uplift- ing the Chinese, and promoting progress among them. 176 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. CHAPTER XII. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES CONTINUED. THE WAR BETWEEN CHINA AND JAPAN. War lias already been alluded to as a prelude to almost all the changes that have taken place in China. I wish here to speak of the war now waging between China and Japan, as this will probably be the cause of still greater changes in the future. This war has many iuteresting aspects. To the Christian it presents the unique fact of the two last pagan empires left on earth engaged in deadly con- flict. It is not given to us to fathom God’s purposes, but this war arose so suddenly, has progressed so rapidly, with all the advantages on one side, and is likely to be followed by such important consequences, that one cannot help feeling that the Providence of God has some special design in permitting it. To the politicians, its most striking feature is the unex- pected advent of a vigorous Asiatic Power on the political arena, one that must be taken account of in all our calculations as to the balance of power on the Pacific, and the settlement of the present-day Eastern RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 177 Question. We see an Island Empire, occupying a position in Asia as to geography and climate corre- sponding to that of the British Isles in Europe, with a population exceeding that of Great Britain (40,000,- 000 to 26,000,000), a people patriotic, progressive and aspiring, taking and claiming a place among the Powers of the East, similar to that of Great Britain in the West. To the Chinese statesman, whose past efforts have been directed to resisting the encroach- ments of Russia, or warding off the influence of other European powers, a new bugbear has loomed up and everything will have to be readjusted to the new conditions. The defeat has been a most humiliating one to China. An intelligent Chinaman, a graduate of one of our American colleges, said to me lately: “ I wish some first-class European power had given China a good thrashing ; there is no hope for any progress without it, but that these little Japs should whip us so ! really it is too bad.” That the “ dwarfs,” as the Chinese contemptuously term the Japanese, should defeat them in every engagement, on sea or on land, is something that milst set the most stolid mandarin to thinking. That Japan, with one-tenth of the population and resources, with soldiers of an inferior physique, and without the aid of any Euro- pean Power, should so quickly and so completely defeat all the forces sent against her, capture two strongholds considered impregnable, and seize the 178 FORTY TEARS IN CHINA. Chinese navy and appropriate it to her own use, is a fact startling enough to arouse the Chinese. It has been like a contest between a sword-fish and a whale ; the great, cumbrous thing lying completely at the mercy of its active and vigorous adversary. It has been a contest between progress and conserv- atism. The Chinese with their gongs and drums, their waving flags,* and their gay jackets with flaring circles right over their breasts and backs, proved excellent target's for the soldiers of Japan as they moved on noiselessly and resistlessly in serried ranks, led by trained and able officers. The patriotic ardor of the islanders as they pressed forward ready to sacrifice their lives for their country, engaged in what they proclaimed from the beginning ‘‘ a right- eous war,” contrasted very markedly with the apathy of the Chinese, who felt little interest in the conflict, and less confidence in their unskilled officers, leading them forward to be butchered like sheep. Person- ally, many of the Chinese are not cowardly; if en- gaged in a conflict in which their hearts are enlisted, and led by leaders whom they have reason to trust, they will sell their lives as dearly as possible and die rather than yield. In this war the odds were all against them. They were fighting for a preponder- ating Chinese influence in Korea, about which they * A consul told me he counted the flags of a body of Chinese troops and found they had one to every two and a-half men 1 reconstructive forces— continued. 179 cared nothing' ; they were led by incompetent men ; even when armed with modern arms of precision they knew little about their use. Then the Jap- anese had their hospitals and ambulance corps, while the Chinese took no care of their wounded. The Japanese had an organized commissariat and paid the country people for what was brought them, while the Chinese raided their own countrymen, and were more dreaded by them than their nominal enemies. The Japanese commander urged his troops to remember that they were warring against the Chinese Government, and not against the Chinese people, whose rights they were ordered to respect, while the Chinese treated their own people as if they were enemies. The heathenism of old Japan broke forth at Port Arthur, where they ruthlessly mas- sacred both soldiers and citizens, but with this ex- ception they seem to have acted in a civilized way. Not only have they shown their civilization by manifesting an interest in the physical welfare of their soldiers, but they have also been considerate for their religious welfare. High Japanese officials have permitted the free distribution of the Sacred Scriptures among the soldiers in the army, and even among those of the Imperial Guard. They have even gone further and appointed Christian chaplains to the troops who have gone to China, giving them the rations and transportation of captains in the 180 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. service. All these things show how progressive the impetuous Japanese are. They will not he satisfied unless the result of this war be that China shall introduce reforms ; that “ stagnant, false, rotten China be taught a lesson it will not forget — a lesson which will start it upon the path Japan has followed so successfully.” The Japanese regard the weakness of China as a menace to all the East, and would fain have her as an ally to resist European aggression in Eastern Asia. The Chinese were unprepared for the war. It never entered into the heads of their self-sufficient, arrogant rulers that a little country of little men would ever have the impudence to fight with the venerable empire of China. Their self-confidence has proved their ruin. The pride which goes be- fore a fall has led them astray. They thought that because they had a stronger navy than Japan, had their strongholds at Port Arthur and Wei-Hai-Wei, protected by forts constructed by European engi- neers, and armed with Krupp guns, that their insig- nificant neig’hbors would never venture to attack them. They probably noAv begin to see how short- sighted their policy was when they withdrew their students from America. At the same time that Japan was sending her young men to Europe and America to learn the science and arts of the W est, China sent a company of students to America. A CANTON CITY WALLS WITH FIVE STORY WATCH-TOWER. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 183 few became Christians, and some cut oif their queues, and those who returned to China showed such pro- gressive ideas, that China, like some poor old grand- mother, became frightened and recalled her students. Those returned found that all avenues to prefer- ment Avere closed to them, and no career invited them to continue their studies. To be of any in- fluence in China they must go back to composing stilted essays and repeating time-worn sayings. It is possible that the results of this Avar may shoAv the Chinese the importance of those studies Avhich they have despised, and the necessity of placing in posi- tions of influence and authority men who are up to the times. ORIGIN. To understand the origin of the present Avar be- tween China and Japan, about Korea, Ave must go back to the history of the three nations. Korea, as all knoAV, is a peninsula, jutting down from Tartary, betAveen China and Japan. It has an area about equal to that of Great Britain, and a population es- timated in 1889, at 10,518,937. The country is mountainous Avith quite fertile valleys, and is rich in mineral products, embracing the precious metals. It was colonized in early times by the Chinese, and was known to them as the Eastern Kino'dom. From o 184 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. before the Christian era to the tenth century, it was divided into three states, often warring with each other. Japan received her Chinese civilization, not directly, but through Korea ; and the basis of Japanese arts and handicraft is known. The Jap- anese settled at Fu San, on the eastern coast, and invaded Korea in the third century. In 1231 the Mongols invaded it, and in 1256 reduced it to vassalage to China. The Koreans having cast off their allegiance, a Chinese army was sent against them by the Mings (1368—1644), and the present Korean dynasty was set up by the Chinese. In 1597 the Japanese invaded Korea, and after much fighting, the Chinese and Koreans had a severe engagement Avith the Japanese at Ping Yang, the same place in Avhich the recent battle was fought by the same combatants. After this the Japanese were successful in a bloody and hard-fought battle, and Korea became tributary to Japan. In 1636 the Manchus invaded Korea before they secured the throne of China. Thus for years, as has been Avell remarked, Korea Avas as the grist betAveen the upper and nether millstones of Japan and China. In recent years, after the United States, England, Russia, France, and Germany, had tried in vain to open up Korea and form a treaty, Japan prepared to go to war with her to revenge any insult offered to her flag. China gave Japan a written dis- RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 185 claim er of all authority over Korea, and the Japanese succeeded in gaining a “ brain-victory ” without any lighting, and a treaty was signed Feb. 27th, 1876, opening the ports of Fu San and Gensan, to Japanese trade. In 1882 a few ports were opened to the United States, England, France, and Germany. Then there was an uprising of the conservative Koreans, who put to death the queen, her son, and the ministers, and drove out the Japanese. China renewed her claim to suzerainty and occupied Korea with her troops. The Japanese, however, subdued the insurgents and received compensation for her losses. Thus the battle has raged between the conservatives, aided by China, and the pro- gressive leaders under the influence of Japan. The Hermit nation,” as Korea is termed, still clings to her policy of seclusion, and would gladly exclude other nations, but she cannot hold herself aloof, and her territory has become the fighting ground for the conservative and progressive forces represented by China and Japan. The present conflict was pre- cipitated by a rising of the Tong Hak, or native Korean party. Japan and China both sent troops and the jealousies of years broke into open conflict. Japan professes to be the champion of the inde- pendence of Korea, while China maintained that it was a subject state. The Koreans are more nearly allied to the Japanese by their language and cus- 186 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. toms, but the ruling classes are very much iu sym- pathy with China and all that is conservative. All admit that the country is horribly governed, and the people are ground down to the dust by the tyranny and rapacity of their rulers. The Japanese are trying to introduce reforms, and have the sympathies of the enlightened nations of the world in this effort. J apanese interests are predominant there, as most of the trade is in their hands. As Japan stands for the independence and improvement of Korea, most Occidentals will rejoice in her success. As to the outcome of the struggle, all know how so far the Japanese have won victory after victory, and are now complete masters of the situation. China has sent an embassy to Europe to plead with the Western Powers to intervene and intercede for her, and after much dilly-dallying has deputed Li Hung Chang as her plenipotentiary to Japan to ar- range for conditions of peace. The basis of peace is said to be the acknowledgment of the independ- ence of Korea, the session of the island of Formosa to Japan, an indemnity of $250,000,000 gold, the withdrawal of Chinese exterritoriality in Japan, and the stipulation that Japan is to retain possession of the Chinese strongholds of Port Arthur, and Wei- Hai-Wei for a number of years. These conditions, while they can scarcely be termed hard, are very hu- miliating to China. The war party is in the ascend- RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 187 ant in Japan, and they will scarcely he satisfied with anything less than the capture of Peking, and the com- plete humiliation of China. It will he a wiser policy for the Japanese not to be too exacting, for China’s re- sources are so much greater that if she be led to cherish feelings of revenge she will make prepara- tions through long years to resent the humiliation inflicted upon her. China moves slowly hut surely. What effect is this war to have on the future condition of China ? One cannot help feeling that there is some important Providential Design in this eventful conflict. It certainly is a most striking fact that in the end of this century our Christian civilization should, after having followed the course of the sun from East to West, at last come into a hand-to-hand conflict with old-world conservatism on the Eastern coast of Asia ; that the impulse which arose in Western Asia should, after sweeping around the world, come into clash with the Oriental heathen form of civilization on the Western shores of the Pacific ; that two Asiatic powers should fight this battle. It can scarcely be doubted that great changes are impending in China. Either she will yield to the force of the shock and open her gates to progress and Christianity, or she will sullenly and stubbornly cling to her idols and perish through disintegration and European intervention and the division of her territory. Oh, that she would be 188 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. wise and consider her latter end ! Would that she would realize the truth, so consonant with the teach- ings of her sages, that she must begin with her men if she would make any real progress, that character underlies all true advancement. Destruc- tive as this war has been to China’s army and navy, to her self-esteem and to her long-cherished conservatism, may we not hope that it may prove one of the most effective reconstructive forces that are at work in China, that the rude awakening may arouse her to a sense of her real weakness, and be an impulse in the direction of reform and true prog- ress? It must be humiliating to China to feel that she has no exterritorial rights in Japan, while the Japanese are to have these rights in China ; that a Chinaman residing in Japan is to be tried before Japanese courts, but a Japanese living in China is subject only to his own Consular courts. By the new treaties with Japan, the Western nations have agreed that, after the year 1900, foreigners living in Japan are to be subject to the decisions of the Japanese courts, and not as now to their own consuls. This privilege is not accorded to China. The reason is plain ; Japan has conformed her legal procedure to Western models, while China allows no jury, per- mits torture and retains a treatment of prisoners that is simply barbarous. Of course Western RECON STMUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 189 nations are not 'willing, nor is Japan willing, to permit tlieir subjects or citizens to be subjected to a treatment so much more harsh than Chinese offenders would be exposed to in 'Western lands. It is most humiliating to China to feel that she is looked down upon as still a barbarous state as far as her courts are concerned, and yet this is the fact. She will probably be led by her own feeling of self- respect to introduce reforms, so that other nations will be willing to commit their subjects to her jurisdiction. She must build well lighted, health- ful prisons instead of the horrible holes in which her prisoners may be incarcerated now ; she must learn to treat a man as innocent until he is proved guilty, to abolish torture as a means of arriving at the proof of guilt, and generally to conform her modes of procedure and of punishment to those adopted in other lands, before other nations will allow her the right to try their subjects before her courts. So with regard to her army and navy, China must feel the importance of an entire reorganization after W estern models. Lord W olseley, in a recent maga- zine article, claims that China will never take her rightful place among the nations of the earth until her army is reorganized and the profession of arms be acknowledged as an honorable one. The reverses which have attended her arms during the present 190 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. war will probably arouse China to make great changes, especially perhaps in educating a class of men for officers. Her present system of securing military graduates is, at most, a system of gym- nastics. Archery, lifting heavy weights, and brand- ishing enormous battle-axes are the exercises through which men pass to attain a military degree. While these develop men physically, they give them no training in the real art of war. All the skill they attain to must be learned on the battle-field. The Chinese will probably be led to see the necessity of having military colleges, of making the service at- tractive to one who wishes to enter it as a career, by having a system of promotions according to merit, and of pensions for men disabled in the service from wounds or old age. Probably no event has tended more to put China back than the issue of the brief hostilities with France in 1884, during the war in Cochin China. Though the Chinese fleet was destroyed by the French, the fighting on the border of Anam was indecisive, and peace was concluded. The almost universal opinion of the Chinese is that they obliged France to sue for peace. This opinion, so flattering to Chinese self-esteem, that they had defeated one of the great Powers of Europe, at once took posses- sion of the minds of the people and was fostered to the utmost by the ruling classes. The foreign- JAPAN-JUDICIAL HARA-KARI. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 193 ers were tolerated before, but now a spirit of exclu- sionism sprang up and efforts to crowd them out became a part of the real policy of China’s rulers. As the Chinese troops won some successes against the French on the borders of Anam, and, as they boastingly claimed, were about to wipe them out, when peace was concluded at Peking, it was inferred that the Chinese levies armed with Euro- pean guns were a match for the disciplined troops of the West. It can easily be seen Iioav the results of this war, wrested by self-conceit, should tend to make the Chinese feel satisfied with their present system of army organization. As General Gordon, “ Chinese Gordon,” as he is often called, has pointed out, the Chinese have some good points as soldiers ; — they are brave when well led, content with simple food and can move rapidly, requiring very little baggage. What they need is efficient organization under com- petent leaders. The native Chinese officers are ex- cessively particular about punctilios of etiquette and gladly receive salutes to which they are not entitled by their rank. Probably more powder is consumed in a year in salutes from Chinese gun-boats than would be expended in a year’s campaign against an enemy, and more cloth employed in making the flag^s for a regfiment than would be needed for their coats. The English captain of a Chinese gun-boat told me that the Chinese commanders were ac- 194 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. customed to order the most excessive salutes to be fired for even petty mandarins and especially for those into whose good graces they wished to ingratiate themselves. This obsequiousness is but a common form of Chinese politeness. Until the Chinese officers learn to put aside their arrogance and love of display- ing their authority they will never get the services of self-respecting European or American officers to aid them in the work of reconstruction. It is well known that Admiral Lang, an English naval officer in command of the Chinese fleet, resigned because one of the Chinese mandarins, in order to show off in some naval maneuver, usurped authority which belonged to the Eng'lish commander. A Chinese officer generally thinks more of his rank than of his efficiency, and esteems show more than real merit. These defects must be remedied if the Chinese army and navy are ever to be raised to real efficiency. If the humiliation resulting’ from the war with o Japan will lead to a reorganization of the courts and army and navy, we may hope it may yet prove a benefit to China. But what she needs most of all is a reorganization in the character of her people. Nothing but Christian truth can accomplish this. Until the men of China learn to be less boastful and self-conceited, more truth-loving and sincere, more thoughtful of moral character than of rules of formal politeness, we can never hope for real, thorough progress in China. BECONSTliUCTIVE FORCES— CO]S TIN UED. 195 CHAPTER XIII. BECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES CONTINUED. EDUCATION. We must reckon Christian Education among the most important Reconstructive Forces in China. From of old the Chinese have held education in the hio-hest esteem. Some of their views on the o subject are worthy of attention, but there is great room for improvement in their practical methods. They say that the education of a child begins be- fore its birth ; that the “ women of ancient times in every movement had regard to its effect on the character of their offspring.” Their ancient books also speak of the advantage of “changing their sons,” i. e. of a father’s giving the care and train- ing of a son to a teacher. Schools were begun in early times. There still exists in Peking the almost defunct representative of an institution begun in the Chow dynasty, a thousand years before the Christian era. It retains the same name, “School for the Sons of the Empire,’^ and is still an Im- perial institution, supported by the Government. “ It was in its glory before the light of science 196 FORTY YEARS IN CUlSW. dawned on Greece, and when Pythagoras and Plato were pumping their secrets from the priests of Heliopolis. And it still exists, hut it is only an einbodiment of ‘ life in death ; ’ its halls are tombs, and its officers are living mummies.”* It was established to instruct the Sons of the State ” in sciences and arts — i. e. in arithmetic, writing, music, archery, horsemanship and ritual ceremonies. It was intended, not as a common school, but an in- stitution to train the sons of the nobility for Gov- ernment service. From this beginning has been developed the present system of triennial Govern- ment examinations, alluded to in a previous chapter, and throughout the centuries attention has been paid to the training of the youth of China. The teacher occupies a very high place in the estimation of the Chinese. He is exalted to a po- sition of almost idolatrous homage. The name “ teacher ” is inscribed on a tablet in connection wdth heaven, earth, prince, and parents as one of the five chief objects of veneration, and worshiped with solemn rites. He is regarded as one whose duty it is to do more than simply impart mental knowledge. He is to be the “ instructor, guide, and friend ” to his pupil, to be the model on which his morals and manners are to be formed. The per- *Dr. W. A. P. Martin, “The Chinese,” p. 85. BECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 197 sonal character of the teacher is regarded as of the first importance, and his ability to inspire the pupil with ardor in the pursuit of virtue as the gauge of his efficiency. This is the ideal of the teacher and his office. Of course many come far below this ideal. They are opium-smokers, mere martinets, with no real desire for the moral improvement of their pupils, or utterly careless, permitting the boys to use the foulest language in their presence, and car- ing for nothing except to secure the patronage of their patrons by putting the scholars through their daily tasks. There are many, however, who take a real interest in the intellectual progress of the boys, and feel some interest in their moral welfare. When we consider the hioffi estimation in which o education is held by the Chinese and the influential position they accord to a teacher, we can easily understand how Christian missionaries would en- deavor to utilize these sentiments for the spread of Christianity and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We feel that we have truths of far more importance than the inanities they teach, and that the many valuable moral instructions their books contain should be supplemented by the priceless religious and spiritual truths we have received through God’s revealed word. It is felt, too, when we consider how far short the great mass of the Chinese teachers come of their own ideal, that the youth of China 198 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. should be brought under the influence of characters molded into the likeness of that of Christ — Chris- tian teachers who feel an earnest and prayerful in- terest in building up the characters of those under their charoe, O The Chinese Classics are not lacking in lofty ideals. This is something. They compare favor- ably in their moral teachings with the Greek and Latin classics which are studied in our schools. But as has been well said : ‘‘ Confucian scholars seem to think that, by paying a sentimental reverence to the instructions of the sages, they have themselves, in some way, become partakers of their virtues.” * They have the “knowledge which puffeth up,” without the “ love that buildeth up.” There is no power of the fear of God or true love to man to enforce the sentiments they admire from a distance. The same writer quoted above, says, Avith truth : “ The careful observer of Chinese social life is about equally impressed with the correctness of the moral maxims that are heard from the lips of the people, and with their disregard of such maxims in actual life.” The Chinese need a new force to make their high ideals and moral maxims of prac- tical power in the daily life. This can come only from Christian education in its broadest sense. ♦Dr. D. Z. Sheffield, in “Records of Shanghai Conference.” BECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 199 So Avitli regard to Western science, Christianity is needed to give the Chinese a true philosophy of the physical universe. The Chinese, though plac- ing Western science far below their own classics, yet are as ready to welcome it as they have been to purchase foreign arms ; this is true at least with reo’ard to the more advanced thinkers. The Govern- O ment has employed Western scholars to translate into Chinese some of the elementary and even ad- vanced Avorks on Astronomy, Botany, Mathematics, Chemistry, Electricity, Engineering, etc.^ and have admitted some of these branches as subsidiary stud- ies in the examinations. All know that the trend of many of the scientific Avorks of late years has been to exalt Law above the LaAvgiver, to deny that there is an Infinite Author of the Universe, or to relegate Him to the reo’ion of the unknoAvn or unknowable. o This just corresponds with Chinese theories. “ If W estern philosophy and science come to .-China di- vorced from Christianity, Confucian scholars Avill accept the new learning Avith proud self-compla- cency, and Avill find in it only a confirmation, and a more elaborate illustration of the teachings of Confucian scholars for the last two thousand years. But Western science and philosophy, as taught by Christian men, Avill be made to give the most con- A’incing testimony to God in nature, in history and in providence.” It is an encouraging fact that most, 20U FOIirr YEARS IX CHINA. if not all, of the translations alluded to have been made hy men 'who have a reverence for the W ord of God, and feel an interest in the relio'ious as well as the intellectual progress of the Chinese. But of course books published under the auspices of the Chinese Government cannot he so distinctively Christian as instruction given in Mission schools. The study of God’s works, conducted by men of de- vout minds, will always prove among the most im- portant evidences of Christianity. Hence the place of Western science in Christian schools. Christian instruction is needed to lead the Chinese to see the true aim of education. Political prefer- ment, with the consequent gain of emolument and power, is the great aim of Chinese scholars. Though some do enjoy their own literature probably, still there are few who study it for its own sake. There are no grand poems that men will pore over as we do over Homer, Virgil or Shakespeare. The sages taught the principles of government and social re- lations, and the Chinese mind runs very much in this direction. They do have light verses and ab- struse philosophical speculations, but the mass of students think only of such subjects as will enable them to pass the examinations, Christianity is needed to teach men to cultivate their God-given powers with a reference to improving their charac- ters as those who must give an account to God, i- r / / * ■ f. BUDDHIST HEAD PRIEST AND ASSISTANT. 4 ' ■ ,' = < . ■i BECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES. 203 and to benefitino' their fellow-men. Official em- O ployment and not personal virtue is the great object of the ambition of the Chinese student. The ob- ject of Christian instruction is to infuse a higher motive, and to lead men to live not for self but for God. Apart from Christianity, Western education will no more accomplish this object than Chinese education ■will. What is needed is the Christian teacher, realizing the importance of his high voca- tion, not only to develop the minds of his pupils, but to influence their wills and elevate their char- acters. Christian schools are needed in order that the advantages of education may be offered to all. It is the glory of the Chinese system of Government examinations that every man of talent, however humble, may have an opportunity of obtaining rank and office. But no notice is taken of the averagfe youth, and the females are neglected altogether. No effort is made to train the great mass of the people as such. On the contrary, the literary class look down upon the unlettered masses with all the arrogance they would feel if they belonged to another caste, as in India. It remains for Christian- ity to regard men as men — to try and extend the opportunities of education to all. Girls’ schools as well as boys’ schools have been opened ; the igno- rant village children, as well as those who live in •204 FORTY TEARS IN CHINA. the cities, have been gathered in. Free schools are opened that even the poorest may attend. Again, Christian schools are needed in order to teach the Bible. Of late years especially, many of our American colleo’es have been introducino' the O O systematic study of the Bible as a part of their cur- riculum. We have been studying the classics of Greece and Rome for the beauties of expression, and neglecting the great Classic -with all its wealth of thought. Mission schools make the Bible the great text-book. They are often, in fact, Sunday schools, carried on during every day in the week. Of course the pupils are taught to write their own language, and some of their own school-books are used in learnino’ their own lano-nao-e, but from the first they study Christian books, learn Christian hymns, and are examined in their knowledge of the Bible truths. Apart from mathematics and the physical sciences, almost all needed mental training may be obtained from the Bible. The clear reason- ing of Paul, the flowing, historical style of the nar- rative portions, and the lyrical beauty and sublime poetry of psalmist and prophet, make these writings a text-book of rhetoric and logic. But it is chiefly in its moral and relio’ious truths that the value of O the Bible is found. The Chinese expect a classic to teach virtue and morality, and the Bible comes nearer to their ideas of Avhat a text-book should be RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. ‘205 than our Western treatises on science do. Of course, Government schools, even those of the Eng- hsh colony of Hong Kong, cannot be expected to teach the Bible, especially where the great majority of the pupils are children of heathen parents. It remains for mission schools to teach this great bul- wark of morality and religion. Taking all these things into consideration, it is not strange that most missionaries have accorded to Christian schools an important place as auxiliaries to the preaching of the Word. As to the place of schools in the scheme of evan- gelization, there has been no little difference of opinion. In the earlier stages of mission work in China, they were among the chief methods used for reaching the people. Before missionary work was permitted in China itself, schools were begun in what were called the “ out-stations ” of Singapore, Penano' and Malacca. When Hono- Kono' was O O O ceded to Great Britain in 184:2, schools Avere among the principal means used for reaching the Chinese. The first day-school in Canton was started in 1850. Perhaps in the early days of mission work it was felt that schools Avere the only means of making an impression on the Chinese. Some have said, “ The Apostles opened no schools. Our simple duty is to preach the W ord, whether men will hear or whether they forbear.” Others say, “ Our commission to 206 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. teacli all nations includes the young-, who are more impressible, as well as the older, who are hardened by prejudice and sin.” Thus, there are missionaries who lay great stress on schools as an evangelizing agency, while there are others who would reject them altogether. Probably there is a just mean, and we must be governed by our surroundings. If it be found impossible to reach the adults •, if they will not listen to preaching, or no converts are gained from those who do listen after years of labor, probably schools should be tried. Wherever we can get the ear of the people, I certainly think that our main dependence should be placed on the' oral preaching of the Gospel. Schools, however, are often very good as an entering Avedge. When we wish to gain a foothold in a toAvn or village, Ave can often rent a place as a school-room Avhen no one Avill rent one as a chapel. An earnest Christian school- master may do a good Avork in Avinning men to Christ, in overcoming the opposition and removing the prejudices of the villagers, so that they Avill be Avilling to have public preaching. The Chinese all acknowledge that education is a good thing, as they do the healing of the sick, Avhereas they are sus- picious of the public preaching of a neAV doctrine. Thus schools may be, and often are, the forerunners of other forms of Christian Avork. As to the importance of schools for the training RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 207 of the children of the Christian converts there is very little difference of opinion. This is a differ- ent question from the policy of opening schools as an evangelizing agency. A few missionaries, how- ever, have contended that such schools are not a part of mission work, but should be undertaken entirely by the converts themselves. To send the chilcb-en of the converted heathen to heathen schools is almost equivalent to relegating them back to heathenism. If a Christian education is important in America, where the common schools are at most non-Christian, much more is it necessary where these schools are anti-Christian. The question of teaching English in Mission schools is one that has given rise to much discus- sion. Experience has proved that hitherto such teaching, if not detrimental, has at least been of no direct benefit to mission work. The youth so trained have so many inducements to enter into mercantile and Government positions that almost all have disappointed the hopes of their missionary teachers and have been of no service to the mission. Of course they may have been favorable to Chris- tianity to a certain extent, and occasionally may have contributed to the support of the school which educated them, or to Christian or benevolent ob- jects ; but as for directly helping in the work of propagating Christianity they have generally proved 2(18 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. failures. Dr. Legge, formerly jDresiclent of the Anglo-Chinese College in Singapore and Hong Kong, after years of experience, confessed that such teaching failed of its object. He saw around him men in the merchants’ offices or in Government em- ploy who had been trained under his care, but only one or two remained for any length of time in mission work. The demand for English-speaking Chinese is so great, their pay, compared with that which Missionary societies can give, is so large, and their position in the Chinese community is so much more pleasant, that unless they really feel the burden of souls resting upon them, they are not likely to devote themselves to the life of self-denial and re- proach involved in direct labors for the conver- sion of their countrymen. In an able paper read before the Shanghai Conference of 1890, Dr. C. W. Mateer, one of the foremost educators in China, contends earnestly in favor of giving all our in- struction in the Chinese language and preparing text-books which will become a part of the Chinese literature. He makes the point that an education in Chinese is of special service only as it is thorough ; that a thorough education in his own language is essential to a man’s reputation for scholarship amongst his own jjeople, that a train- ing- in Enoflish leads a man to neglect his own language, that only an education in Chinese will en- RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 209 able a man to use liis knowledge effectively, and impart it clearly to liis countrymen ; that education in Chinese leads a man to live among’ his own peo- ple and exert his influence upon them, and has much less tendency to lift its possessor above the level of his own people than education in English. He says forcibly : He who is educated in English considers it his chief stock in trade, and expects to live by it. The result is that by a natural necessity he is attracted to a foreign port and finds his place in connection with foreign trade, or in i/amens hav- ing connection with foreign affairs. In such posi- tions his influence for good among his owui people generally counts for but little. Moreover, as ex- perience shows, the wreck of his moral character is the common result, and his life counts as so much against, instead of for, the truth. If, on the other hand, he is educated in his own language, he re- mains amongst his own people. His moral character is conserved. He is looked upon as a man of superior intelligence and attainments. His opinions and his teaching go to break the power of super- stition and of prejudice. He is a light in the darkness, and the effect of his life will be for the general uplifting of Chinese society. All this is aside from the sjDecial work of preaching the Gospel. If he feels called to this work (as he often does), his education fits him for it in the highest degree, 14 210 FORTY YEARS ly CHINA. and his reputation, as a man of learning', commands the respect of those who are inclined to look down n2)on religion with contempt.” * On the other hand there are some who maintain that with a knowledge of English a “ wide range of knowledge is thereon open to the student from which he can draw unlimited stores of informa- tion.” W hile, with a knowledge of Chinese only, the student is shut up to what he has been taught, if he understand English, the vast store-house of literature, science, history, theology, etc., are thrown open to him. While there is force in the arguments on both sides, the safest conclusion seems to be that English should not be usually taught ; but, in ex- ceptional cases, when a man shows a spirit of in- vestigation and the capacity to improve himself in- definitely, it may be well to spend time and money in teaching him English. There is no doubt of the fact that most of the Chinese who study English do so merely with the desire to better their pecuniary position, and as soon as they acquire a smattering sufficient for business purposes leave school for some remunerative employment. A few, however, have used their knowledge of English for the spiritual benefit of their countrymen. Schools of various grades have been established * “ Eecords, Shanghai Conference,” p. 466. HAKODATE. ItECUNSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 213 in connection with different missions. The most numerous are the day schools. These give prim- ary instruction to the youth in the cities, towns and villages. They are generally intended mainly for the children of the heathen, and no douht good is done by bringing the truths of Christianity in contact with the impressible minds of childhood. Even more depends on the teacher than on the books taught. The best hooks, taught by a heathen, or a merely professed Christian teacher, who ridi- cules the truth of relio-ion and endeavors to exalt o Confucius above Christ, are useless. The great need for these primary schools is a truly conse- crated Christian teacher. The practice of employ- ing heathen teachers as a makeshift is thoroughly to be deprecated. While the actual daily drill is given by native teachers, the foreign missionaries always examine the pupils on what they have gone over, week by week, and have an opportunity of impressing religious truth on the children and in- fluencing them for good in various ways. In many missions (as in our own at Canton) most of these day schools are for girls. There are special reasons for this. In the first place the literary edu- cation of the girls of China is almost entirely neg- lected. If they are taught at all, it must be in Christian schools. Then we can reach the men through our chapels and our hooks, but the w^omen 214 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. must be reached, either in their homes or by teach- ing them while young. The great object of these primary girls’ schools is to teach them to read the Bible intelligently for themselves. If their hearts are impressed with the truth, as they are married and become mothers, they will teach their children the Christian truths an I the Christian hymns they have learned to sing, and the ground will at least be prepared for the full reception of the Divine truth when, in the providence of God, it is brought home to them. All this tends to undermine heath- enism and to cause idolatry to relax its hold upon the minds of the Chinese. Though the number of professed conversions may not be numerous, as the heathen parents often refuse to permit their daugh- ters to be baptized, still the influence of religion is not lost. “Educate the mothers of France,” said Napoleon, when asked what was the best way to promote the prosperity of the state. By educating the mothers of China in the truths of God’s Avord, we are doing foundation Avork. The results may be sloAV in appearing, but they are none the less hopeful. A Chinese avIio graduated Avith honor from a foreign college says : “ The question of female education in China is of special interest to me. I believe the crying need of China is the elevation of her Avomen and their liberation from the social shackles that bind them. She must RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED 215 remain stagnant so long as she allows her daughters to be made household drudges and denied the right and opportunity to cultivate and cherish an interest in things beyond the four walls of their home. . . . My country-women should have the first claim on the attention, sympathy and charity of Christian people in more favored lands. . . . The seed of a man’s faith in the providence of God is planted in his breast by his mother, and no one else can do it half as well. And it is needless to say that the surest way of bringing China into line with America and Europe is by giving to her daughters the advantages of a Christian education.” When such enlightened sen- timents as these prevail among the Chinese we may rejoice in the hope that China’s social regeneration is not far distant. All intelligent thinkers will believe with this Chinese that female Christian edu- cation is yet to be among the most powerful recon- structive forces in China. One of the advantages of day schools is that they are among the most economical forms of Christian effort. In Canton for some $3.00 monthly for rent, and from $3.00 to $5.00 monthly for teacher’s salary, we can have a school of 20 to 25 boys or girls under daily Christian instruction. The pupils always furnish their own desks and stationery. The Christian books cost but little and are either fur- nished by the Mission or paid for by the pupils. 216 FORTY YEAliS IN CHINA. Missions Vv liicli have an organized school system usually have Intermediate Schools. These are generally Boarding Schools. They are usually designed especially for the training of the children of the church members, but the most promising pujDils from the day schools may be admitted when their parents desire it and are willing to pay the board of their sons or daug-hters in whole or in part. In the boarding school the pupils are brought much more closely under the instruction and influ- ence of the missionary than in the day school. Their education is carried to a higher degree, and a much better opportunity is afPorded the teacher of studying the characters of the pupils and of mold- ing them for good. Their intellectual development too may be better carried on under the daily contact of the foreign missionary. So many ad- vantages have they over the day schools that some would concentrate their efforts on them. But there are also disadvantages. A large and costly build- ing must be provided ; the food, and in some cases even the clothing of the scholars, must he given them. This niahes the enterprise a much more ex- pensive one. Then the pupils are apt to get ac- customed to surroundings and a manner of life which will make their going hack to their homes seem a hardship. Apart from their studies, they have little hard work. Their cooking is done for RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 217 them ; they do not have to split wood and do house- hold drudgery, nor to work on the farm or at the bench. These things have to he guarded against as far as possible. The parents are often required to pay at least part of the board of their children, and the pupils to do some work for themselves. The girls, of course, are taught to do their own sewing and washing, and to keep their own rooms in order, and sometimes to help in the kitchen. Still, the habits of order and punctuality, of neat- ness and economy which they are taught are a valu- able training for life. Then the opportunities of developing the Christian life and systematic culture are very great as compared with what they would have, especially in heathen families. They can have their prayer meetings and Bible classes, form valu- able Christian friendships and render each other religious help in a way which they cannot do else- where. When the scholars go out from such institu- tions, if the Divine hfe has really been kindled in theu- souls, they cannot but be a power in the com- munity, making itself felt and being a force tending to reconstruct Chinese society. Though contemned on account of their fewness in numbers, well-trained, intelHgent Christians have a leavening influence for good. There are some Colleges and Seminaries which carry literary and religious education to a higher 218 FOIiTY YEARS IN CHINA. degree. In Tung Chow, Shanghai, Foochow and elsewhere there are Christian colleofes where some of the pupils pay for their tuition. These institu- tions send out young men well-equipped for life and fitted to take the place of leaders among their country- men. The number of Christian schools in the various Missions in China is quite large. The reports for 1889 read at the Shanghai Conference give 16,836 pupils ill the Mission schools, 36 per cent, of these were connected with English missions, 58 per cent, with American missions, and .06 per cent. Continental missions. The Methodists have devoted the most attention to schools, having 26 per cent, of the pupils ; then come the Presbyterians with 22 per cent, and the Congregationalists with 19 per cent. None of the rest has 10 per cent. During the five years since the Conference the number of pupils has probably largely increased. In addition to these Mission schools, there are Chinese Government schools, notably the Tung Wen College of Peking, where W estern science is studied, and, like all truth, must tend to shake the confidence of the Chinese in their superstitions, and so far at least prepare the way for reconstruction. Thus Education, and especially Christian Education, is among the forces that are at work in China to break RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 219 down tlie old conservatism and prepare the way for somethino- better in the future. o Then let us remember that the young who are receiving this impulse are to take the place of the present generation. They are to he those who will mold the future sentiment of China, and will be the leaders as soon as China is prepared to break with the past and press forward in the path of progress. Several years may elapse before the graduates of these schools make themselves felt, and they will be regarded with jealousy by the literary classes, but the straits in which the country will find itself after the termination of the Japanese war will probably lead them to seek new men and new measures, in the place of those which have signally failed in the time of strain and trial. 220 FOBTY YEARS IN CHINA. CHAPTER XIV. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES. MEDICAL MISSIONS. Though all humanitarian work may meet with the Divine approval, the Christian feels much better satisfied when he has a ‘‘ Thus saith the Lord,” as the secure basis of his action and a Divine command as the great motive to his Avork. In speaking of Medical missions I wish, therefore, in the first place, to speak of The Place of Healing in the Divine Plan for the Redemption of the Race. In creating man Grod made him with a soul and a body, and these tAvohave the most intimate relations with one another. Sin in its origin affected, and in its progress still affects, the soul through the body ; and body as well as soul suffers from its penalties. In His thoughts of mercy toward our race God pities the body as well as the soul of man. Both were created by God, both have felt the curse of Sin, and both are to share the benefits of God’s re- demption. As the soul infinitely transcends the body in value and duration, of course this is the chief object of God’s solicitude ; still, the body is not beneath His notice or His care. In the ministry KIOTA.-“KUJO MIDZU DERA. . •\y*' f.v X • /f- ; RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 223 of the Christ on earth, He healed the sick as well as preached the Gospel to men. His tender heart was touched with pity for the lame, the blind, the deaf, the dumb, the palsied, the maimed and the leper. At the grave of Lazarus, while He wept tears of symjDathy for the broken-hearted sisters, we are told that he was “ indignant in Himself ” as He thouo-ht of the havoc which death had wrought in the fair form of his friend. He saw Satan’s work in men’s maimed and decaying bodies as well as in their ruined souls, and “ went about,” we are told, “ doing good, and healing all that were oppressed by the Devil,” thus fulfilling his mission to “ destroy the works of the Devil.” So, in sending forth His followers, the healing of the body had a place in the thoughts of our Lord as well as the salvation of the soul ; and here let us notice a distinction which is not without signifi- cance in showing the place which medical missiony should occupy in our scheme for the evangelization of the world. In sending forth the Twelve who were to be His Apostles — those to whom were specially entrusted the continuance of His work and the interests of His Kingdom — He says, “As ye go, preach, saying. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons ” (Matt. x. 7, 8). Their great work was preaching; healing was subsidiary. In 224 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. Luke X. we have an account of His sendino" out the o Seventy. Here the commission is : “ Cure the sick, and say to them, The Kingdom of God is come nigh to you.” Notice that the healing of the sick occu- pies the first place, and the Gospel message is to be announced to them. Here, it seems to me, we have the warrant and the work of the medical mission- ary — as a physician to heal the suffering body, and as a messenger from God to tell the patient of Jesus. Thus we have two classes of laborers sent out by Christ, ordained jjreachers who are to preach and found churches, and employ healing as an aid in their great work, and those who are to do the preliminary work of healing, but are never to for- get the immortal soul while caring for the perishing body. In the commission given to the Apostles after His resurrection, our Lord seems to have His mind absorbed by the transcendent value of the soul, and says nothing about healing the body. When we turn to the book of Acts, however, we see that the Apostles acted with their first com- mission still in their minds. Here Ave find them workino’ on the lines set before them. The first O great triumphs of the Gospel under Peter and Paul were accomplished by the preaching of the W ord, but in Acts iii. and v. we see how important a place healing occupied in the early spread of Christianity. So Paul mentions “ healing,” among the gifts of RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 225 the Spirit (I. Cor. xii. 9). May we not infer from this that the healing of the sick should occupy the first place among the helps to the preaching of the word, as being the only one of these subsidiary agencies mentioned in Scripture? I think this is especially the case in heathen lands. As the Seventy were to do a preliminary work, so now we find medi- cal work of special service in preparing the way for the preaching of the word and the founding of churches amono* the heathen. In China we find it O especially useful in opening new stations, by over- coming the prejudices of the people and showing the benevolent aspect of Christianity in a way that the simplest may understand. W e can often rent a house as a dispensary where we find it impossible to secure one as a preaching jilace. After the people under- stand our object and hear Christian truth privately, their opposition melts away and they are willing to have public preaching in their midst. Thus medical work proves an entering wedge for the Gospel. Having spoken of the Divine warrant for medical missions, let us notice the human need. In the Providence of God the concomitant evils of sin and suffering have afflicted our race in every age and in every land. In this same Providence the desire and ability to relieve suffering have accompanied the religion of Jesus. While perhaps one may be justified in saying that, in God’s mercy, suffering IS 226 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. is less acute among the ruder tribes where the ability to remove it is small, and that the capacity to suffer has increased with the nervous tension which is the result of civihzation, and with the growth of medical skill which is able to relieve it, still the fact remains that sickness and suffering are universal. As a general thing heathen people have but little ability to remove or alleviate this sufferins'. Even in the more enlio-btened heathen lands, as China and India, men have no real knowl- edge of Anatomy, Physiology, Chemistry or Path- ology. Microscopy, which is so important a factor in modern physical science is entirely unknown. The religious views or hoary prejudices of the heathen prevent any minute investigation of the true causes of disease. Their theories are crude and unscientific and their practice mere em- piricism. Thus there is a crying need for medical missionaries to relieve the ailments of humanity. As to sanitation the Chinese are in utter igno- rance. A physician Avho has spent over twenty years in China says : “ Their cities and towns are unspeakably filthy, many of their busy thorough- fares being but elongated cesspools. Every house- holder is at liberty to throw any kind of abom- inable refuse into the public street before his own door, and sanitary laws, if they exist, are neither understood nor enforced. The dwellings of the RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 227 poor are minus everything that makes for comfort or conduces to health, and in times of sickness the condition of the sulferers, especially if they have the misfortune to be women, is extremely dej^lorahle.” The nasal organs of the Chinese seem to he de- ficient in sensitiveness, and they endure with ap- parent impunity stenches that would make a Euro- pean ill. Many of their rooms are dark and damp. The sewers in the cities are frequently foul, and often, through superstitious notions, are so con- structed that the sewage collects in them instead of flowing off. Most of the villages in South China have pools into which all refuse matter is cast. In the winter time these are drained and the rich sed- iment is used for fertilizing the fields. Still the Chinese pass much of their time in the open air ; the constant use of the fan keeps a sup- ply of fresh air to be inhaled. Then the bright sunshine dries up many impurities, and the heavy rains tend to flush the sewers. So they are fairly healthy, much more so than a foreigner would sup- pose, who, for the first time, sees their insanitary surroundings. As to food, they depend chiefly on vegetable diet, which is usually healthful as far as it goes. It is often deficient in quantity and badly cooked. Then they bring on dyspepsia by overloading their stomachs with food at their daily meals, as well as 228 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. by taking many indigestible substances. However, their simple food and their habit of dieting them- selves as soon as they feel unwell preserves most of them in fair, if not vigorous health. As to clothing they usually show much common sense. Their loose garments do not press upon any vital organ, and allow much freedom of action. The warm wadded garments which they wear in cold weather night and day, while not conducive to cleanliness, preserve them from sudden changes of temperature, and are the best substitute they could have for warm rooms. The heat of the body is thus conserved, and they get their warmth in the most economical Avay. Their thick, felt-soled shoes keep their feet from the cold ground and form a carpet of the best and most economical kind. As long as they keep well they do well. But when once they get sick the difference between them and ourselves becomes manifest, much to their disadvantage. Lying on a hard board with nothing but a mat beneath him, often in a dark, foul-smell- ing room, with no sunlight or fresh air, with none of the neatness and quiet that we associate Avith the sick-room, the patient is in a miserable plight. With a man it is often bad enough, but with a woman it is usually worse. Her room being in a more retired part of the house will generally be dark and poorly ventilated. She will usually be RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 229 expected to do more for herself and have less at- tention. Though the Chinese are almost always careful about the diet of a sick person, according to their notions, these notions are often incorrect. In the treatment of disease the Chinese are far behind the times. There are no regular doctors in our sense of the word ; men who have studied the science of medicine and have taken a diploma. Any one may set up as a physician. Many of the doctors are literary men who fail to take a degree in the Literary examinations, and take to medicine by merely reading the native medical books ; others are shopkeepers unfortunate in business, or any one else who can get men to take his medicines. The profession is frequently handed down from father to son, often for several generations. In this case many of the remedies are family secrets. There are no medical colleges, nor schools where a system- atic study of medicine may be undertaken. The functions of the body are scarcely understood, and the application of remedies is very imperfect. The Chinese theories of disease and its treat- ment are very crude. They carry their astrological notions into everything, and medicine among the rest. They fancy there are five elements in nature, metal, water, fire, wood and earth. To these corre- spond various parts of the body and various diseases. So they divide their remedies into five kinds : hot 230 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. cold, moist, dry and Avindy. The Chinese are so confident that this is the truth with regard to the body and its ailments that they will not take any remedy that does not correspond with their notion of the disease. For instance, I once prescribed some sulphur as a laxative, the man refused to take it. He said sulphur belongs to fire ; it is one of the elements of gunpowder ; I have too much heat in my body already ; to take sulphur would add to the heat and make the disease worse. As they have little confidence in their doctors, each man judges of the recipe and will take it or not as suits his own notion of his disease. To he popular and get pa- tients a native practitioner must pander to these pre- conceived notions of his patient. This want of con- fidence in their doctors is shown by the custom of calling in several doctors to a case. If the pain or serious symptoms of disease are not removed in a day or so, another doctor is called in, then a third, and so on. Consequently a man is led merely to assuage the pain, or remove some symptom, perhaps quite unimportant, in order to retain the charge of his patient ; thus no rational treatment of a serious or chronic case can be attempted. Of course in some cases all that the best physicians can do is to attend to the symptoms as they appear, since the disease must run its course ; but in most cases we must seek to remove the source of the ailment. JAPAN.-CARRYING CHILDREN jiECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 233 riie Chinese physicians take no note of the insan- itary surroundings, nor much of the real internal cause of the disease ; their only object is to give “cooling” medicine for “hot” diseases, etc., of course their empirical practice is often successful, and some really have some skill in relieving pain and removing disease. The doctors are frequently to some extent special- ists. They divide diseases into “ external ” or sur- gical, and “ internal ” or medical cases. You will frequently see on a doctor’s sign, “ Both external and internal diseases cured.” Many, however, only attempt to extract teeth, or heal ulcers, or treat the eye, or heal skin diseases. In some regards doctors are treated with respect as their employment is con- sidered a benevolent one. But there are so many ignorant quacks and powder and pill mongers that the profession is much looked down upon. They are frequently classed with necromancers and fortune- tellers, and the artful scoundrels who live by their wits and will condescend to any trick to make a penny. Hence Tseng Kwoh Fan or Marquis Tseng, who was an able Chinese statesman and ambassador to Great Britain, exhorts men to put no faith in three things : (1) Buddhism; (2) Tauism ; and (3) medicine. As to the remedies for disease, it is strange how an intelligent people, who have had years of experi- 234 FORTY TEARS IN CHINA. ence, should place the confidence they do in man} of their remedies. Some are the result of their idolatrous superstitions. Just as they have puppet- shows with music and offerings to the god of fire every autumn to ward off conflagrations during the winter (the dry season), so they organize gaudy idolatrous processions in the spring “ hoping to escape the almost annual visitation of the cholera, the germs of which are breeding in the gutters of the streets through which they parade.” During the epidemic of the “ black plague ” in Canton, in 1894, processions with their idols and music paraded the streets day and night. The Chinese frequently let off fire-crackers to drive away the evil demons, which they suppose cause the illness, and, whenever a patient becomes delirious, fancy that an evil spirit is possessing him, and call in the magicians to drive away the demon by their charms and noise and brandishing of swords. Few who live in Christian lands have any idea of the chains in which idolatry holds its victims, even in civilized lands like China. The Chinese doctors “ though possessing a consid- erable amount of empirical knowledge of the prop- erties and uses of certain drugs, are utterly ignorant of their physiological action, and in medicine, as in everything else, the Chinese are enslaved by the traditions of a thousand years ago. To many sub- stances which we know to he either inert, or, at RECONS TR UCTIVE FORCES— CONTIN UED. 235 best, of but slight medicinal value, is attributed almost magic power. Ginseng, for instance, a very mild tonic, is firmly believed to have the power of rejuvenating the aged, or restoring the Avasted strength of the debauchee, and of working such marvelous changes in the human body that, had our ancient philosophers known of it, they would have given up, as no longer necessary, their search for the “ elixir of life.” The best qualities of this root are Avorth more than their Aveight in gold, and one sees now and then in the Peking Gazette an announcement that the Emperor has graciously bestoAved a catty of that precious article on some favored minister. Tio’ers’ bones are g-iven to the weak and debili- tated as a strengthening medicine, and those AAdio cannot afford such an expensive luxury may yet obtain some of the strength and courage of that ferocious beast by swalloAAang a decoction of the hairs of his mustache, which are retailed at the low price of a hundred cash a hair ! ” * In Canton, AA’hen members of the captured rebels Avere decapi- tated during the Tai Peng insurrection 1853 - 5 , an American missionary told me that he had seen the Imperial soldiers tear out the gaU-bladders of the rebel prisoners just executed and eat them on the spot, thinking that thus they would obtain the *Dr. A. W. Douthwaite, “ Shanghai Conference Keport,” p. 270. 236 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. courage which characterized their enemies, for they suppose that courage resides in the gall-bladder ! Thus now in China, as in Europe several centuries ago, the most inert and most disgusting sub- stances are frequently prescribed as remedies for disease. One has but to read the Pwen Tsao, the standard Dispensatory of China, to see them. In surgery the knowledge of the Chinese is almost nil. Their superstitious fears and prudish notions prevent them from attempting any real investigation of the dead body. When a European physician ap- plied for the bodies of decapitated criminals to use for dissecting, in order to give some of the native doctors some ideas of anatomy, the official replied that the idea was a good one, but remarked, “ There is not a doctor in the city who would dare to cut a dead body, lest the ghost of the deceased should haunt him.” The overweening value the Chinese ascribe to astrology has dislocated whatever httle practical knowledge of anatomy they may possess. I have seen the charts of a native army doctor, where the wounds are to be treated according to the hour of the day in which they were inflicted, and not according to the parts injured or the instrument making the wound. Acupuncture and the use of the moxa are among the most common remedies of the Chinese. Female complaints go almost entirely unrelieved, RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 237 as prejudice and their ideas of propriety forbid them calling’- in even their own ignorant male doctors, and they have no female physicians except a few women who deal in what we call “old women’s remedies.” In childbirth many lives, both of mothers and chil- dren, are sacrificed through the ignorance of the midwives. “ The profound ignorance of the native faculty, and the seclusion and modesty of the female members of most families open an unlimited field in China for the lady physician, who combines the necessary physical endurance and moral courage with devotion to the self-denying exercise of her profession.” The tendency of heathenism is to dull and hard- en the heart, and those who suffer from disease receive very little of that sympathy which we have learned from our Master, and which has become an essential part of our Christian civilization. When God “ makes men’s hearts soft ” through sickness and pain, they are often better prepared to appreciate Christian sympathy and to receive the Gospel message of comfort and hope. From what has been said it is evident that there is much room in China for Western physicians and surgeons, and it is not strange that Christian hearts have responded to the inarticulate cry for help from the suffering ones in China. Following the ex- ample of the Master, and remembering His words. 238 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. “ Heal the sick,” Christian physicians have left their homes in order to aid in the mission work by allevi- ating pain and curing disease. Yaccination was introduced into China hy Pearson, a surgeon, in 1805. Before he left China in 1832, he had the pleasure of seeing many of the Chinese securing this protection, and native practitioners conferring its benefits on their countrymen. In 1828 Dr. Col- ledge, surgeon to the East India Company, opened a hospital in Macao, where he gave special attention to the diseases of the eye. These two physicians were prompted by their own benevolence simply, and were not sent to China specially to treat the Chinese. In 1835 Dr. Peter Parker, who was sent out by the American Board of Commissioners for Eoreign Missions, opened an Ophthalmic Hospital in Canton, and thus was the first medical missionary to the Chinese. In 1836 the Medical Missionary So- ciety was founded among the foreign residents in China to aid Dr. Parker in his benevolent work. This society has celebrated its semi-centennial, and its fifty-sixth annual report has been published. In the year 1893 there were 1,608 in-patients in the well-furnished hospital in Canton, and there Avere 25,542 attendances at the hospital dispensing-room in Canton, and 31,637 at the dispensaries in various parts of the country and city auxiliary to the insti- tution, making a total of nearly 60,000 patients BECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 289 prescribed for during tlie year. They report that hundreds have given up idol-worship, and scores have been brouo^ht to Christ as the result of Chris- tian teachinp’ within its walls. The Chinese have O opened two large native hospitals in imitation of the Christian institution, being thus provoked to emula- tion by the Medical Missionary Society’s Hospital. This hospital is now in charge of physicians sent out by the American Presbyterian Board. The English Wesleyans have a flourishing self-supporting hos- pital in Fat Shan, a large town twelve miles from Canton. The English Presbyterians at Swatow, in the eastern part of the Kwang Tung province, re- port that of their twenty country stations, seven or eight have had their origin through the patients from their hospitals. “In 1885, out of an attend- ance of 5,500 patients, over 80 publicly declared their faith in Christ, and earnestly desired to join the church.” The London Missionary Society’s physician at Amoy reports that “ 12,000 to 14,000 towns and villages are yearly represented in the hospital, and that as the result of the cure of one man, seventeen years before, no less than seven Christian congrega- tions had been formed, with a membership of from thirty to one hundred members each.” So we might go on with annual attendances of 5,000, 10,- 000, 15,000 at the hospitals and dispensaries con- 240 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. nected with the various missions in different cities and towns of China. From the island of Formosa Dr. McKay reports that “ from the visit of one man to the hospital, there exist four congregations of Christians, with a membership of three hundred and fifty souls, and double that number of adherents, besides flourishing schools.” Korea, to which the eyes of the world are now directed, was opened to Protestant missionary effort by means of the labors of medical missionaries. In 1841 Dr. Parker, while on his way to America, stopped at Edinburgh, and as a result of his visit, a society was organized called the “ Edinburgh Asso- ciation for Sending Medical Aid to Foreign Coun- tries.” In 1843 the name was changed to the “ Edin- burgh Medical Missionary Society.” They subse- quently opened the well-known “ Cowgate Mission Dispensary,” which, under the care of Dr. W. Burns Thomson and others, increased in efficiency and in- fluence until similar institutions were opened in Glasgow, Aberdeen, Liverpool, London, Manchester, etc. The society extended its operations in foreign lands until, in 1885, it had one hundred and seventy medical missionaries located in India, China, Africa, Turkey, Syria, Egypt, Rome, etc. "^Many of the pliysicians who have come from Great Britain to China have been connected with this noble society. In the reports of medical missionary work made JAPAN.-TRELLIS OF WISTARIA, AND NATIVES. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 243 at the Shanghai Conference of 1890, there were sixty-one hospitals, and forty-four dispensaries, with a total attendance in 1889, of 348,439 patients. These institutions are scattered throughout all the provinces of China, occupied by missionary workers. As to the relative importance of hospitals and dispensaries ; just as the Boarding School is the most efficient means of reaching the young, so the hospital is the most efficient means of reaching the sick. Here all the superiority of Western surgery and medicine may he seen to the best ad- vantage. Cases entirely beyond the reach of native practitioners recover, important surgical operations are performed, and the many modern appliances for relieving disease may be found. The doctor has the patient under his own care for weeks, and permanent relief may be given. Not only so, but the opportunities for religious instruction are much greater. In reply to inquiries by Dr. Dauthwaite, one well-known worker says: “Nearly all admitted to the church in this city have been brought in through the hospital.” Another esti- mates that “ one third of the membership is the result of the influence of hospital work.” Another says : “ The majority of those who have been admitted here to our church were from the hos- pital.” As noticed above, the patients often come from a number of towns and villages for hundreds i6 244 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. o£ miles around, and as they return carry with them the Christian hooks they have received, and the favorable impressions that have been made on their hearts. Hundreds leave the hospitals with their faith in idolatry shaken and with some seeds of Christian truth in their minds, received under the most favorable auspices. Thus a Christian hos- pital has a leavening influence in the neighborhood, and not only tends to give favorable impressions of the value of Western medical skill, but also of the Christian benevolence which prompts to its ex- ercise. Like the Day School in the Educational scheme, the Dispensary has the advantage of spreading the benefits of Christian benevolence over a wide sphere. It is especially valuable in opening new stations, and thus medical missions do the prelim- inary work for which they are specially adapted. While the dispensary patients are not under the influence of Christianity for so long a time as in- dividuals, the benefits of the institution are extended to a greater number. For instance, as mentioned above, while there were 1,608 in-patients in the Canton hospital there were 25,54:2 attendance at the dispensary room, while in the branch dis- pensaries, in various places miles away from the city, there were even a greater number of cases. Thus the wider diffusion of the benefits is secured. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 245 The expense too is much less. An efficient hospital needs large, well-furnished buildings, with a staff of assistants and servants, while a rented room will do for a dispensary, and much good is often done by a medical missionary in itinerations. As in most things, there are advantages in both methods of work, and each has its peculiar advantages. While, as an exhibition of Western skill, the hospital has the decided advantao’e, as diffusino’ medical aid to a great number of people at a much lower cost, the dispensary is to be preferred. The one is better suited to pioneer work, while the other is of in- estimable value in a. permanent mission station. They are of equal value in spreading the knowledge of Christian truth. In both the Gospel is taught at the bedside or publicly, and in both Christian tracts ' and Scriptures are offered to the patients. These hospitals and dispensaries are not only in- stitutions for the relief of present suffering, but they are training schools where the young men of China receive both theoretical and practical in- struction in Western medicine and surgery, and are sent out among their fellow-countrymen, as intelli- gent and useful practitioners. Thus the ben- efits of the institution o-q on to future o-enera- O O ations. Especially is this the case in the hospitals, where regular medical classes are formed with a well-arranged curriculum of study. Thus they • 24(5 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. become medical schools as well as hospitals. Then medical text-hooks have been translated or com- posed. Drs. Kerr, Hobson, Osgood, Whitney and others have done good work in this direction. These Avorks are valuable acquisitions to the liter- ature of China, and must in the future displace almost entirely the antiquated, irrational, so-called medical works of China. It is to be hoped too that from the young men Avho go forth from these hos- pitals, there may arise some who, like Dr. Kitisato of Japan, will add to the general stock of medical knowledge. The Orientals, with their habits of patient investigation and minute and acute obser- vation, have qualities which will, by cultivation, en- able them to excel in many respects. W e may hope in the future for light to be thrown on Chinese Materia Medica and Pathology by the careful re- searches of native physicians. If they will only train themselves to do thorough Avork they Avill be able to equal the Japanese and even Europeans in accurate observation and skillful practice. Since Dr. Parker’s day a number of medical missionaries have come out to China. Dr. J. C. Thomson, in a paper read during the Shanghai Con- ference of 1890 gives the following statistics : “ Our list contains the names of 214: medical mis- sionaries, representing 25 societies ; 100, at this date, are upon the field, though this, Avith some others, is RECONSTE UCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 247 a constantly changing figure. One hundred are from America. Thirty-eight are ladies ; all except two, from America. Of these, five are married. The pioneer was Rev. Peter Parker, M. D., in 1834. Miss L. S. Combs, M. D., in 1873, was the first female medical missionary to China. Two natives are on the list, by name, Wong and King, and are probably the first Chinese, male and female, ever to receive foreign medical diplomas. A number have suffered more or less violence from the natives, as Drs. Lockhart and Osgood ; many have retired from ill-health, and others lie buried on the field, as Drs. Wiley, Henderson, Osgood, Schofield and Mackenzie. Dr. Win. Parker was killed by the fall of himself and horse through a bridge at Ningpo ; James, at Hong Kong, and Thomson, at Swatow, were drowned, and Hyslop was massacred by the natives, on the Australian coast. Dr. Kerr has rendered the longest service. The American Presbyterians send the largest number — 34. The American Methodist Mission is next with 31, though the various Presbyterian mis- sions aggregate 66. The London Mission, 20 ; the American Board, 20 ; English Presbyterian Mission 18 ; China Inland Mission, 15 ; Baptist Mission, 12 ; American Episcopal Mission, 8 ; Church Mis- sion, 8. Most, if not all the provinces, have seen a Medical 248 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. missionary, Chili leading with 30 ; Kwang Tung with 29 ; F uhkien 27 ; Kiangsu 26 ; Hupeh 11 ; Che- kiang 10; Kiangsi and Formosa, each 5; while Shansi, Nganhwui, Honan, Szchuen, Shensi and Manchuria each have from one to four ; still there would seem to be four provinces where there is as yet no estab- lished medical mission, viz; Hunan, Kwangsi, Yun- nan and Kansuh/’ The work of female medical missionaries, though begun later, is of no less importance than that of their brethren. In some respects their work is even more needed as their sex is much more neglected in o China than the males. While it is not true, as has been sometimes stated, that the women of China will not consult a foreign male physician, it is undoubt- edly true that a fully qualified lady physician has much freer access to her own sex. Dr. Macleish of Amoy says : “ The conditions of Chinese social life are such as to render it necessary that a separate institution should be provided for women, where they may receive advice and treatment from an educated physician of their own sex.” I doubt, however, if this would be any more advantageous than the plan adopted at Canton where a lady phy- sician is in charge of the female wards in the general hospital. In addition to the immediate aid rendered to the patients Chinese women are trained as nxrrses and as RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 249 medical practitioners by the lady doctors. When we consider how ignorant the Chinese are of any rational nursing and medical treatment of the sick, we see what a wide field is here opened for the benefit of suffering humanity. With Chinese women well qualified as physicians under the instructions of their sisters from the W est, and imbued with a true spirit of Christian sympathy, there is a hope for a great improvement in the well-being of the sick in China in the future. Then these women will have oppor- tunities by the bedside of their patients to give Christian instruction and g’ive the consolation of the Gospel to their afflicted country-women. Thus they will be able to counteract the influence of the Bud- dhist nuns who visit the sick with their simples, and urge upon them greater devotion to the idols, and go to the temples to offer up prayers and offerings in their behalf. Medical mission work presents to the Chinese the practical, benevolent side of Christianity, which is the most attractive one to them. They are a prac- tical, near-sighted people, and emphasize humanity, while they do not care so much for religion as such. The influence of Buddhism unites with that of Confucianism to make them appreciate the value of kindliness and attention to the wants and suffering's of mankind. Hence it is easy to see how medical missions will tend to uplift China and to be one of 250 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. the most popular of the Reconstructive Forces which are at work changing the face of Chinese society. Vaccination has become almost universal in South China and has pervaded almost the whole empire. Western treatment of eye diseases is begin- ning to he known. The young men who complete their course at the hospital schools are in great demand, and readily find employment as doctors at remunerative pay. So great is the demand that the trouble is to keep students long enough to finish a full course of study, and some who obtain a mere smattea’ing are ready to set up as doctors who have studied ‘•Western medicine.” Those who go out from the institutions well qualified, especially if, in addition to their knowledge, they have Christian characters will be a power in the community for good. The foreign medical missionary, if not merely a devotee to his profession as a doctor, but as a mis- sionary he be constrained to enter on this service by sincere love to Christ, will be an influential fac- tor in the work of China’s regeneration. He often has intercourse with the high officials, he has men of influence among his patients, and is generally looked up to by the masses of the people. Thus by his personal influence he may accomplish much. Then, as an author, he has influence with literary men, and by his writings he may do much to dispel CASTLE WALL AND MOAT. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 253 prejudices and to introduce new ideas among those who come within the sphere of his influence. When we consider the number of hospitals and dispensaries in the different provinces of the empire, the spirit of consecration which characterizes so many of the workers, the physical relief and moral influences that have already gone out from these institutions, and the favorable light in which the medical missionaries are regarded by the Chinese who know of their beneficent work, we may well con- sider medical missions amona- the most far-reaching: and hopeful of the forces brought to bear ujDon the ancient empire of China, tending to bring her under the influence of Western progress and of Christian civihzation. 254 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. CHAPTER XV. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES — CONTINUED. CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. From of old the Chinese have held literature in great esteem, and pride themselves on China’s being ‘‘The Land of Literature” {Men-Meh chi Pang). In this respect their country has been looked up to as a model by the surrounding nations, and its written language has been, not only the medium of intercourse, but also the standard of literature for the neighboring peoples. For centuries Japan, Korea, Tartary, Thibet and Cochin China had no literature of their own apart from Chinese. The classics and other standard writings of the Chinese have been the study of the scholars among their neio’hbors. From ancient times China has had a O Avritten language, and the art of printing is in all probability a Chinese invention. The people have a superstitious reverence for written or printed paper, and think that they show disrespect to the sages who transmitted the art of writing to them, if they use, for any ordinary purpose, paper Avhich has a Chinese character on it. These feelings tend to RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 255 give the printed page a permanence Avhich it does not have in other lands, and makes the difference between the spoken word and the written character all the more marked. Horace’s words, “ Verba volat, litera scripta manet,” is nowhere more true than in China. Seeino’ that the Chinese hold literature in such o hiofli esteem it is not strange that Christian mission- aries have sought to make it a vehicle o£ conveying the truths of Divine Revelation to the people. Though the Roman Catholics, who were first on the field, have a respectable Christian literature written in a good style, they have not attempted to reach the masses of the people as the Protestants have done, and the issues from their press are not so numerous. They have made no attempt to give the Bible in its entirety even to their own people, and most of their tracts are intended for their con- verts rather than for the heathen. The three prin- cipal forms of Christian literature issued from the Protestant Mission press of China are the Sacred Scriptures, and religious tracts, and periodicals. Many school-books and scientific text-books, written from a Christian standpoint, have also been pre- pared and published by the missionaries ; also a number of dictionaries and other helps for learning the Chinese language. Let us glance at these forms of Christian literature. 256 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. TRACTS AND RELIGIOUS BOOKS. The Chinese have many moral tracts of their own independently of Christianity. These are usually written by Confucianists, with Buddhistic or Taoistic leaning’s, and inculcate the virtues most esteemed among the Chinese, as filial piety ; and warn against what the writers consider the most prevalent faults and vices of their fellow-country- men, as infanticide, eating beef, showing disre- spect to written paper, etc. Some of these tracts have attained to high repute and are known throughout the Empire, while others have merely a local circulation. Noted among these works are “ The Sacred Edict,” Traditions for Reforming Manners,” “ A Guide to Prosperity,” “ The Book of Rewards and Punishments,” “ Light in a Dark Dwelling,” “ A Precious Mirror for Enlightening the Mind,” etc. The first named, written by the Emperor Yung Ching (1746), consists of sixteen rules of conduct, with comments ; and it was made the duty of the literati in all parts of the Empire to expound and urge them upon the common people twice a month. This practice, which has largely fallen into disuse, is probably in imitation of the Christian custom of teaching on Sunday. Yung Ching himself was a thorough Confucianist with Buddhist leanings, and was a persecutor of the RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 257 Christians. On account of its coming from an Im- perial author, as well as being a crystallization of the views of the great body of the literati, this book is held in great repute. These Chinese tracts are based on the innate knowledge of right and wrong that is confined to no one land ; but the motives appealed to are usu- ally superstitious and frivolous. They attempt to deceive, coax or frighten men for their good, and deal with the common people too much as some thoughtless parents do with their children. Speak- ing of these books, Dr. J. L. Nevins says : ‘‘ They are a pitiable commingling of light and darkness, truth and error, the inconsistency and incongruity of which the people seem utterly unable to per- ceive.” They pi’esent a fair picture of the moral and religious views of the Chinese. Their ideas of rewards and punishments are a mixture of Confucian notions of reward for virtue in this life and a good name among posterity, and Buddhist ideas of pun- ishments and reAvards in the future. They have lists of merits and demerits, arranged like a debit and credit account. The Buddhist notions of the emptiness of earthly things are also quite common. The idea of a Divine revelation is not contrary to Chinese opinions, and many of these books profess to be revelations from some one of the gods, Avho has manifested himself to the writer and com- 17 258 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. mancled him to make the message known to O others. These books are distributed gratuitously, espe- cially to the students at the Government examinations. The motive is a selfish one, as the man who bears the expense of publishing and distributing them ac- quires a fund of merit ; the consciousness that he is trying to do good may also be a motive with some. In this connection may be mentioned the anti- Christian tracts, of which there are not a few. These are often exceedingly scurrilous, obscene and blasphemous. They are sometimes illustrated by rude cartoons of our Lord Jesus as a hog nailed on the cross, and lewd pictures representing the Chris- tians as immoral. They are so had that they must defeat their own object with all thinking people who see they must have come from a bad source, but they often accomplish the purpose of those who get them out by stirring up the minds of the mob against Christianity. One of these, called “ A Death-Blow to Corrupt Doctrine,” has attained an unenviable notoriety as a means of instigating mobs. Though these publications were originally directed, against the Eoman Catholics, they make no distinc- tions, but have the same political object of opposing all “ foreign religions.” Christian missionaries have endeavored to sup- plant this bad or worthless literature by the good. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 259 Hence tracts, inculcating Christian truths and teach- ing morality from a Christian standpoint, have been printed in great numbers in all parts of China. Peking, Hankow, Shanghai, Ningpo, Foochow and Canton, and Hong Kong, have been the points from which most of these have been issued ; and the Tract Societies of Great Britain and America, as well as local societies and different missions, have been active in the production and circulation of these books. In size they vary from thick volumes to sheet tracts. Some of them have been ephemeral, or have had merely a local circulation, while others have become a part of the permanent Christian lit- erature of China, and are issued in different forms and dialects and localities. Some belong to Apolo- getic literature, while most are didactic and horta- tory. They vary in style from the antique, classic style, specially suited to scholars, to the simplest colloquial, intended for women and children. These tracts, distributed at the market towns and the examination halls, in the shops and by the way- side, will reach many a nook and corner unreached by the voice of the living preacher ; by the novelty of the truths they teach and the earnestness with which these truths are presented they will excite ripples of thought in the still and stagnant pools of village mental life. They excite questions in the minds even of the most sluggish, and prepare the •2G0 FOlll Y YKARS IN CHINA. way for the living preachers of the Word. Thus they are a leaven to change the monotonous cur- rent of thought into new channels, and will prove of no little value among the Reconstructive Forces at work in China. When we consider their great numhers, millions of pages annually, the adapta- bility to the masses of the people, and the funda- mental truths that they teach, we may begin to realize something of the important part these little messengers of truth are having in the great work of China’s redemption. SCRIPTURES. The translation and distribution of the Sacred Scriptures has always been one of the most impor- tant parts of the work of Protestant missions. The introduction of the Bible into China is not a new thing. The Nestorians, in a. d. 635, brought the Syriac version of the “ True Scriptures, the Sacred Books,” into China, and the celebrated Nestorian tablet, erected in 781, speaks of the ‘‘twenty-seven sacred books ” as havins; been translated into Chinese. This refers, of course, to the New Testament. In A. D. 1200, John de Monte Corvino, a Franciscan monk, was sent by Pope Nicolas II. as a represent- ative at the Mong'ol court. He is said to have translated the Psalms and the Gospels into Chinese. NAGASAKI ■ Y ' i • ▼ ■„” ' i^‘ ■ \ j ■•■I . / V, V r- y RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 263 The Jesuit missionaries, three hundred years ag’o, translated portions and perhaps the whole of the New Testament, but seem to have taken no pains to cii’culate them. A Chinese version of the New Testament in seven volumes is found in the V atican library, and another manuscript version is in the Brit- ish Museum, and was studied by Robert Morrison before he came to China. Bible translation and circulation has been an important factor in the modern missionary movement of the present century. The first whole Bible, including- both testaments, was published at Serampore, India, in 1820 ; the translation was the joint work of Dr. J. Marshman, the well-known colleague of Wm. Carey, and Joannes Lassar, an Armenian who had lived at Macao, China, and was a teacher at the Calcutta Government College. Two years later, in 1822, Morrison and Milne’s version was published at Malacca. These were imperfect and preliminary, and served rather to pave the way for subsequent versions than to be of much actual service for dis- tribution. After missionaries had gained a foot- hold in China itself, as a result of the treaty of Nanking, signed August 29, 1842, they began to plan for an acceptable version of the Bible. The Delegates’ version of the New Testament was finished in 1850. This was a decided advance, and is stiU largely circulated. On the Old Testament, 264 FORTY TEARS IN CHINA. the English and American translators divided, and the work o£ .the Engdish scholars appeared in 1853, while that of the Americans, in a simpler style, was not published until 1862. In 1853, also, God- dard’s version of the New Testament appeared. This is an admirable version, and as revised by Dr. Lord, of the same mission, is now used by the Bap- tists in China. A version of the New Testament has also been made by M. Goury of Peking, for the use of the Greek Church in that city. In 1890, a large body of Protestant missionaries met at Shanghai, and arranged for a Union version of the whole Bible, to he made in three styles : the higher classical style, which is most acceptable to the scholars, a simpler style more useful for the masses of the people, and a version in the mandarin col- loquial, which is the spoken language of Northern and Central China. In addition to this. Rev. G. John, of Hankow, has translated the New Testament and some portions of the Old in a very acceptable form, which is having a large circulation, especially in Western China. While a uniform version of the Bible is, in many respects, desirable, the great thing is that the Chinese become acquainted with the momentous truths of God’s revealed Word, and this may be accomplished, in His providence, in one way as well as another. The work of distributing the Scriptures is actively BECONSTRUCTJVE FORCES— CONTIN UED. 265 carried on in all parts of China. In 1889 the three great Bible societies at work in China — the British and Foreign, the American, and the Scottish — reported 21 foreign agents, 213 colporteurs, and a circulation of 451; Bibles, 22,402 New Testaments, 642,131 Scripture portions, i. e. single gospels, etc. Total 665,987. When we remember that the entrance of God’s words into the mind gives light, we must feel that over half a million copies of portions of God’s revealed truth, annually reaching the Chinese, must he a power for good. Then, too, when we recollect that these are almost altogether purchased and not simply accepted by the recipients, we feel that there is hope that much of the seed has fallen into good ground, and may confidently expect that it will bring forth fruit to the glory of God. Even though much of the seed should he wasted, enouoli will germinate to make this form of Christian effort among the most efficient forces in the regeneration of China. There is a dynamic force in a new idea, and especially when this new idea is a truth fresh from the Word of God. The unseen foi’ces, working in the minds of men, are often more powerful than visible ones, working from without. Besides giving the Bible to the people of China in the usual written language, it has been provided for them in various collocpiial dialects. The Script- 266 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. ures have been translated, in whole or in part, into nine main colloquial dialects of China. In five of these, the Chinese characters have been used to ex- press the spoken language, in two, versions have been printed both in characters and in Roman letters, and in two the versions are printed in Roman letters only. There are advocates of repre- senting the local dialects of the Chinese in both of these forms. Some local dialects lend themselves more easily to one method and others to the other. Whatever means may be used, the one object of the translators has been to bring the precious truths of Divine revelation into contact with the minds, and within the comprehension of the understandings of the lowest of the people. Thus the effort has been made to reach the lower strata of Chinese society as well as the higher, the unlearned as well as the learned, those whose minds are reached through the ear, by hearing the W ord read, as well as those who are reached through reading it with their own eyes. With the blessing of God’s Spirit on this truth, we may hope for a movement among the dry bones, and the quickening of the dull minds of the ignorant masses of China. We may look forward to the times when these men and women, looked down upon by the native literati in their superciliousness, may be won for Christ. RECONSTRUCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 267 PERIODICAL LITERATURE. Let US now glance at Periodical Literature as one of the factors in China’s elevation. Periodical literature is not unknown in China; the Peking Gazette has been issued for 1,000 years, and has a daily circulation of some 10,000 copies. But this is a Court Circular or a Government Record, rather than a neAvspaper in our acceptation of the term. Unless this be an exception, the missionaries were the first to publish periodicals in China. Previous to 1860 there had been eiglit religious and no sec- ular periodicals published. Of the 76 on the list prepared by Dr. Farnham for the Shanghai Con- ference in 1890, 40 were religious and 36 secular. There were 35 monthlies, 8 weeklies and 20 dailies, 1 semi-monthly and 2 occasional. Of the 31 still published in 1890, 15 were religious and 16 secular. Most of the Chinese secular newspapers were started and maintained by foreign capital, and they were frequently issued from the office of an English newspaper, but under the editorial care of a native editor. These papers are usually mildly pro-foreign, but they generally follow the wishes and opinions of the native officials within whose jurisdiction they are published ; to oppose them in any way would lead to suppression. Hence there are no opposition journals, and the papers cannot be looked upon as 268 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. the organs of public opinion. They have to be ex- ceedingly careful not to incur the dislike of the officials in any way. The religious periodical press has proved an im- portant aid in spreading a knowledge of the truth. The secular news, as well as that from the churches, is eagerly sought for by many besides the Christian converts. Chinese in the Straits Settlements and America are glad to get items of intelligence from their native land. Some of these publications cir- culate among the better class of officials, and their impressions with regard to Christianity are doubtless molded, to some extent, at least, by getting an in- side view of affairs from a Christian standpoint. To the native Christians these papers and magazines form a bond of union, and a field where the leaders among them may publish their views of truth and of current events. Then they tend to beget a taste for reading among our young people. Of course news of the progress and trials of the Cause, and the discussion of matters of present-day interest, will attract more readers than ordinary tracts will. Thus the Christian periodical press of China has a place peculiarly its own, and is a factor which must be taken into consideration when we think of the forces which are at work in China tending to reform and reconstruction. Thus it is an important part RECONSTB UCTIVE FORCES— CONTINUED. 26 » of the Christian machinery hy which we are en- deavoring to uplift China. SCHOOL AND TEXT BOOK SERIES. The School and Text Book Series of pub- Hcations, organized at the first Shanghai Missionary Conference in 1877, is also a lever to lift off the heavy mass of conservatism Avhich is weighing down the minds of the young in China. The Chinese are beginning to feel a desire for Western science, and, as has been remarked above, it is highly im- portant that it should come to them, especially to the children of Christian parents, without the stamp of infidelity and of agnosticism impressed upon it in passing through the hands of some Western scientists who pride themselves on their opposition to a Divine revelation. We who claim that nature as well as the Bible is a revelation of the Creator, do not want the youth of China to drink in anti- Christian sentiments with their first draughts of scientific knowledge. Schools of Western science have already been established in China under heathen auspices, where science is taught in the nar- rowest acceptation of the term. The late Dr. Alex. Williamson, in a paper read at the Conference of 1890, shortly before his death, says forcefully : “We desire hooks pervaded hy a Christian tone. 270 FORTY YEARS IN CHINA. true science and science up to date when the books are on scientific subjects — but science not ignoring the ineffable Author of all, or hiding from view His glorious attributes, which, the more one knows, the profounder he bows before Him in wonder and adoration, and seeks to commend his own little life to His acceptance and service.” I look upon the present action of the Chinese Government in this respect as being simply suicidal. They are establishing schools and colleges in which science, pure and simple in its narrowest acceptation, is taught to the exclusion of both mental and moral science. Science alone is allowed in their transla- tions, and they believe that science in this sense will strengthen and advance the nation. They make a great mistake. The students enter these schools with their respect for Confucius and the morality which he inculcated, and come out believing neither in God nor demon, sage nor ancestor. “ This sham science, divorced from its author, will be the ruin of their country. It destroys a belief in a personal God, the soul, a hereafter, and leads to the denial of many moral and social duties to which they at present hold fast. Moreover, it undermines the very basis and frame- work on which their government stands. True relig- ion in conjunction with sc’ence alone can save the nation. . . . From the very commencement of RAIN COATS, '*«■ ■ . • . >yi Ps’ c ^ %■ 4 ( '«>-''-''N' . •-. ■P.