ihilipiiiiliiiiiij i! Ill MIlHlIll III ‘•ilillllMSilflll i|il||il! in | mii lift lilt /""V / V # SI] i! '.Vi. ) J: > .".'VlTSi, 1. , [VS i .,/)!, irnv\;A. mm ■■ \ i LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, N. J. Purchased by the Hamill Missionary Fund. Division, DS.706 Section . * / ' CHINA YESTERDAY AND TODAY “And I may tell you that in acquiring this knowledge he spent those various parts of the World good six-and- twenty years.” — Prologue to the Book of Ser Marco Polo. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/chinayesterdaytoOOwill_0 DUKE YEN, LINEAL DESCENDANT OF CONFUCIUS IN 76th GENERATION. f — —* CHINA YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY EDWARD THOMAS WILLIAMS Agassiz Professor of Oriental Languages and Literature, University of California; Formerly American Charge d' Affaires, at Peking, China; Recently Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs, Department of State. NEW YORK THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1923 By THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY Printed in the United States of America MY WIFE §&itkhv Williams WHOSE ENCOURAGEMENT AND ASSISTANCE HAVE MADE POSSIBLE THE PRODUCTION OF THIS VOLUME IT IS AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED - * 1 • ;■ > ■ . i , • i .. : • i \ . ■ A ) ' . PREFACE Our interest in a foreign land fastens itself chiefly upon those features in which it differs from our own. When the writer first went to China he was told by Chinese acquaint¬ ances that all foreigners looked alike. He replied that to him all Chinese were so alike that it was with difficulty that he could tell one from another. In both cases, of course, it was the peculiarities of physiognomy and costume, shared in the main by all those of one nationality, that attracted the notice of men of the other nationality. The Chinese, however, are more uniform than Europeans in color and facial features, although there is considerable difference between the people of the northern and those of the south¬ ern provinces in physiognomy. To most people in the Western World China is a far¬ away land of such strange customs that one is inclined to believe very readily tales told concerning its inhabitants that have no real foundation in fact. But we do rightly think of it as a land of mighty, walled cities, of lofty pagodas, of quaint, curved temple roofs, resting upon brilliantly colored bracket cornices, of curious costumes and strange products ; — precious silks and satins, fragrant teas, beautiful porcelains and lacquered wares. We may think of it, too, as a sort of topsy-turvy dom, where one’s surname comes first and personal name last, where your friend when he meets you shakes his own hand rather than yours, where left, not right, is the side of honor, where one begins to read at the back of the book and at the right side rather than the left side of the page and finds the foot-notes at the top of the page. It is a land where dessert comes first at the feast and soup last, where the male man dresses in silk Vll Preface • • • vm and satin gowns of brilliant hues, and where, until the recent revolution, all men wore their hair in long braids, and the highest officials decorated their hats with peacock plumes and tassels, had strings of beads about their necks and carried fans in their hands, while on the other hand many women were seen on the streets in jacket and trousers. These peculiarities of costume and custom and others that might be mentioned were universal features of Chinese civilization until the revolution of 1911. Since that time China has been undergoing a great change. Architecture and dress are becoming Europeanized, and social conditions are in flux. When you receive a Chinese gentleman’s card to-day you can not tell in many cases whether the first or the last character represents his surname. Some adhere to the old custom and others have adopted the Western style. An old gentleman of conserva¬ tive tastes will remove his spectacles when he talks with you and will shake his own hands in salutation, but a young man of progressive spirit will stare at you through his glasses and hold out his hand to take yours in greeting. Not all change is progress, but for good or ill, China is changing. The social and political transformation that is taking place is the result of a struggle between two great civilizations, those of the East and the West. The author has endeavored to show that these two civilizations had a common origin. In their development, however, they took divergent courses. After ages of separation they have met. To-day in the Orient they strive together for mastery. To describe this struggle, it has seemed advisable to review briefly the history of the intercourse between China and the West. The contest during the past century has for China been a losing one. The West has won victory after victory, but the end is not yet. The effects of the struggle have be¬ come most noticeable during the past thirty years, and the events of these years have therefore been given more de¬ tailed consideration in this volume. The writer lived in China before the tendency to change became marked. He witnessed the downfall of the Manchu Preface IX Dynasty and the establishment of the Republic, and saw initiated the great reforms which have wrought such havoc with old-time manners and conditions. This volume is the outgrowth of his experiences and observations in thirty-five years of close association with Chinese affairs, supplemented by such research as a very busy life would permit. The aim kept constantly in view in preparing the book has been to describe the China of the past and the present, the China of yesterday as contrasted with the China of to-day. It is impossible for men not to err, and the author cannot hope to have entirely escaped all mistakes. There may be instances in which he has unintentionally described as uni¬ versal certain customs which were known only in the regions with which he is familiar, and there may be other cases in which the changes that have taken place are much greater or less than as described. For the translations from the Chinese he holds himself re¬ sponsible unless otherwise acknowledged. But he has not hesitated to avail himself of the assistance given by the work already done by others. He gladly acknowledges his debt to the monumental work of Dr. Legge in his transla¬ tion of the Chinese Classics. The beautiful translation which Professor Soothill has given of the Analects of Confucius, and especially the valuable collection of notes in the commentary accompanying it, have been of great service. Acknowledgment is made also of assistance derived from the French translation of the Shih Chi by the late Edouard Chavannes, and of the French translations of Buddhist and Taoist works by Pere Wieger. Other acknowledgments are made in place. E. T. W. Berkeley, California, January 13, 1923. ' :.{■{ 10 Ml | ; : 1! ’ ■3yj.it' ' ; : ' ■ . )•: • ; ' T ; * ij : ' , • . ■ { . • » •r ! ■ . • . . J ■ ■ :<• fr 11 !.'■ ■' 5 <■' ■ * ifi ■ . )■'! y!‘!M / ' ! >r "• . T • ■■ 1 1 ■ 1 jl •h > ■r ■' 7 ■ . - ' 4 . \ i i »J! r • .. ; .. I . ", ' CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. What is China? . 1 Territorial Boundaries — Tibet — Outer Mongolia — Manchuria — Former Extent of Dominion — Present Day China — Turkestan — Manchuria — China Proper — Northern Provinces — The Yangtze Valley — The Southern Provinces — Fukien — Kuangtung — The Three South-Western Provinces — Mountain Systems — Sacred Mountains — The Rivers — The Coast Line — The Plains — Lakes — Deserts — Climate — Flood and Famine. II. The Beginnings of China . 32 Cause of Migration — Pumpelly’s Exploration — Desic¬ cation of Central Asia — The Sumerians — Chinese Emigrants — The Chinese are Townsmen — Testimony of the Ancient Records — Objections to the Theory of a Western Origin for the Chinese — The Western Mountains — Fable and Superstition — Value of the Shan Hai King — Migration of Huang Ti — Other Migrations — Growth of the Chinese State. III. The Family . 54 Family Solidarity — Patria Potestas— Infanticide — Inheritance — The Clan — Vicarious Punishment — In¬ dividualism — Ancestor Worship and Morals — Family Government and Democracy — Relationship. IV. Marriage and the Status of Woman . . . . 70 Religious Sanction — Monogamy and Concubinage — Lawful Bigamy — Betrothal — The Horoscope and the Wedding Day — The Wedding Ceremony — The Status of Woman — Divorce — Impediments to Mar¬ riage — Widows — Women of the Convents. V. The Farmer . 86 The Farmer’s Patron Saint — The Country Village — Poverty of the Peasants — A Model Farm — Land Tenure — Taxation — Methods of Cultivation — Prod¬ ucts — Sericulture — The Opium Poppy — Dye Plants — Insect Wax — The Tea Plant — Water Farming — Poultry — Agricultural Implements — Market Days — Agricultural Distress. xi Contents xii CHAPTER VI. VII. VIII. IX. X. XI. XII. The Village Republic . Mutual Responsibility — The Tithing — Village Elders — Police — Brigandage — The Village Inn — The Night Watchman — Caring for the Streets and Roads — The Village Court — The Tea House — The Village Temple — The Guest House — The Village School — The Theater — Taking the Census — Collecting Taxes. The City . Classifications of Cities — The Walls — General Ap¬ pearance of Cities — The Streets — Homes — Recreation Grounds — The City Temple — Street Sights and Sounds — Street Lighting — The Water Supply — Other Public Utilities — Volunteer Associations — Municipal Government — The County Magistrate — Tax Collec¬ tion — The Coroner — Public Charities — Administra¬ tive Courts — The Prison. The Craftsman . Industrial Revolution — Local Crafts — Rug Making — Cloisonne — Carved Lacquer — Jade Cutting — Brass Workers — Shantung Wares — Lace-Making — Porce¬ lain — Tea Firing — Fans and Ink — Pewter Ware — Candle Making — Bean Curd — Jewelry — Fire Crackers — The Wheel-Barrow — Silk — Dyes — Weaving — Cotton — The Steam Engine — Evil Effects of Western In¬ ventions — Municipal Improvement. The Guilds . The Craft Guilds — The Merchant Guilds — Provincial Guilds — Community Guilds — The Guild and the Gov¬ ernment. The Calendar and its Festivals . The College of Astronomy — The Almanac — Eclipses — Celebration of New Year’s Day — The Lantern Festival — The Ch’ing Ming — The Dragon Boat Fes¬ tival — The Herd Boy and Weaver Maid — All Souls Festival — The Moon’s Birthday — The Ninth Moon Feast — The Birthday of the Republic — The Winter Solstice. Confucius and His Teaching . Time and Place of Birth — Family Traditions — His Own Estimate of His Character — His Visit to the Capital — Conditions of the Empire — His Official Career — His Exile — His Literary Work — His Death and Canonization. Confucianism in the Home . The Sacred Books — Private Worship — Ancestral Temples — Rites at the Grave — Worship at Winter Solstice. PAGE 118 137 164 187 205 223 249 Contents CHAPTER XIII. Confucianism as a State Religion . The State Religion — The Beings Worshiped — Loca¬ tions of Temples and Altars— Times of Worship- Manner of Worship — Symbolism — Meaning of Sac¬ rifice — The Temple of Heaven — Worship at Other Shrines — Attempts to Revive Confucianism — The Ethics of Confucianism. XIV. Chinese Buddhism . The Buddhist Legend — Buddhist Ethics — Buddhist Propaganda — Amidhism — The Goddess of Mercy — Bodhidharma — Lamaism — Transmigration — Temples and Services — Lay Membership — Initiation into Monkhood — Influence of Buddhism in China — Bud¬ dhist Charities — Reformed Buddhism — Attitude To¬ ward Militarism. XV. Taoism . The Tao Te King — Lao Tzu's Political Philosophy — His Ethics — Chuang Tzu — The Elixir of Immortality — The Philosopher's Stone — The Origin of Alchemy — The Isles of the Blessed — Taoism as a Religion — The Pantheon — Evil Effects of Taoism. XVI. Early Foreign Intercourse . The Influence of Greece — Commerce with Rome — The Arabs in China — Relations with Japan — The First Christian Missionaries — Control of the Trade — Portugal and China — The Dutch and the Chinese — Spain and China — The Arrival of the British — The Russian Advance in the Orient — The Beginning of American Relations. XVII. Opening the Gates of China . Macartney 's Embassy — Amherst ?s Mission — Chinese Arrogance — The Breaking Point — The First Ameri¬ can Treaty with China — The Second War with Great Britain — Opium in the Treaties of 1858. XVIII. The Apotheosis of an American . The Shrine of General Ward — The Origin of the Taiping Rebellion — Taiping Success — The Attitude of the Western Powers — Ward ’s Services — Posthu¬ mous Honors Conferred — Successors to Ward — The End of the Rebellion. XIX. Burlingame and Oriental Immigration The Maritime Customs Service — A Diplomatic Service — The Treaty of 1868 — Exclusion of Chinese — Japanese Immigration — Recent Legislation — Rea¬ sons for Exclusion — Labor and Wages in the Orient —A Possible Solution of the Problem. Xlll PAGE 263 ♦ 289 316 339 361 376 387 Contents xiv CHAPTER PAGE XX. Spheres of Interest . 404 Korea’s Relationship to China-Outbreak of War — Murder of Korean Queen — Russia, France and Ger¬ many Intervene — Spheres of Interest — The American Attitude — The Boxer Rising — Peace Negotiations — Adherents of the Open Door Policy — Special In¬ terests — The Washington Conference. S XXI. The Era of Reform . 434 The Return of the Court — Character of the Reform — Educational Reform — The Old System — The New System — Military Reorganization — Juridical Re¬ form — Extraterritoriality — Revision of the Criminal Code — New Prisons — Law Schools and Law Courts — The Attitude of the Foreign Powers — Currency Reform — Abolition of Slavery — The Anti-Opium Re¬ form — Constitutional Reform — Death of the Emperor and Empress Dowager — Degradation of Yuan Shih- Kai — Mourning Period. XXII. Setting up of the Republic . 469 The National Assembly — Railways and Revolution — The Revolution in the North — Yuan Returns to Power — Interesting Legislation — Abdication of the Manchus — Birth of the Republic — The Provisional Government — The Parliament — The Reorganization Loan — Recognition of the Republic — Constitution Making — Election and Inauguration. XXIII. The Struggle for Democracy . . . . . 495 The Shantung Question — China ’s Protest — The Twenty-one Demands — American Interests in the Twenty-one Demands — The Secret Treaties of 1917 and 1918 — China in the War — China at the Peace Conference — China at the Washington Conference — The Special Conference — Uniformity of Duties — Present Conditions in China. XXIV. Foreign Trade . 529 Mediaeval Trade — Modern Trade — Imports — Exports — American Shipping — Entrance and Clearing of Shipping — The Tariff — Tariff Revision — Consular Functions — Trade-marks, Copyrights and Patents — The China Trade Act of 1922 — Mining and Manu¬ facturing. Important Dates in Chinese History . . . 555 Bibliography 561 Contents xv CHAPTER PAGE Appendix . 571 Area, Population — Principal Open Cities and Towns — Railways — Steamship Companies — Distances — Foreign Population of China — Foreign Mission Sta¬ tistics — Foreign Banks in China — Chinese Banks — The Press in China — Exchange Fluctuations — Cur¬ rency Table — Measures of Capacity — Measures of Length — Measures of Area — Holidays — Mean Tem¬ perature and Humidity at Shanghai — Mean Baro¬ metric Pressure — Rainfall (Monthly Average) — Meteorology of Peking — Climate of Tientsin — Mete¬ orology of Hankow — Meteorology of Chungking — Meteorology of Canton — Mean Annual Barometric Pressure — Average Rainfall — Mortality Statistics. Index . 1 . 597 Map op China and Japan ( see pocket on back cover ) * •( , ii.if1- > > I ■ i \ i ' - ' \ ■ . LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE Duke Yen, Lineal Descendant of Confucius in Seventy- sixth Generation . Frontispiece Sunken Road and Camels . 22 Purple Cloud Monastery, Western Hills . 22 Returning from Funeral . 64 Tablet Tower, Private Cemetery . 64 Honorary Portal on Mountain Road . 110 Market at Kalgan . 110 A City Well, Peking . 150 Bell Tower, Peking . 150 Tomb of Confucius . 244 Distant View of Mount Tai, Shantung; The Most Sacred Mountain in China . 244 Approach to a Prince’s Family Cemetery . 260 Burial Pit, Temple to the Earth . 260 Plan of the Temple of Heaven, Peking . 263 The Emperor Kuanghsu, Going to Worship at the Temple of Heaven . 276 Tablet Pavilion, Imperial Cemetery, Mukden . 276 Prayer Wheel of Lamas . . 302 The Religious Dance, Lama Temple, Peking . 302 Entrance to the Ta Kao Tien, Where the Emperor Prayed for Rain . 336 Private Chapel of Emperor . 336 Entrance to the Tsungli Yamen, Peking . 370 Hall of Audience at the Summer Palace . 370 Gate of Russian Legation, Peking . 410 East Gate of Legation Quarter, Peking . 410 The Viceroy Chang Chih-tung . 440 Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress Dowager of China . . 440 Tsing Hua College, Peking — Supported by the Returned Boxer Indemnity . 448 Barricade, Near American Legation During Boxer Rising 448 Autographed Photograph of Tuan-fang, Viceroy at Nan¬ king. Murdered by His Troops, 1911 . 486 Yuan Shih-k’ai, First President of All China . 486 Fortification at Entrance to British Legation .... 506 American Minister’s Residence . 506 K xvu ; , • . ' V i • s l. • . > ■ ' • ' ' , L ' ‘ »! i '( -i ; ' ■ , H ’ . . . Ml . . . . • v : i . ny y -i . , .. . - 1 ’ 1 . h . , . v . • * •» . » » 1' ■>.. , • \ > i. - H- <>M . ; : I . ■>; ;• . • ■■ 1 • . - , i .. , ■ / < i 1 * • . : ; , 1 . • • ■ • I , ;• CHINA YESTERDAY AND TO-DAY CHAPTER I WHAT IS CHINA? God hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed and the bounds of their habitation. — St. Paul. God gave all men’ all earth to love, But since our hearts are small, Decreed for each one spot should prove Beloved over all. — Kipling. What is China? The question was asked at the Con¬ ference on Limitation of Armament recently held in Wash¬ ington. It was not answered. An attempt to do so would probably have provoked a controversy. The Nine-Power Treaty, signed at that Conference, in its first article stipulates that the powers other than China shall respect the sovereignty, the independence and the ter¬ ritorial and administrative integrity of China. But what does that mean? territorial boundaries Does it, for instance, require the eight powers concerned to respect China’s claim to sovereignty in Tibet? Does it mean that these powers recognize Tibet as an integral part of China? The question is important, for, although Tibet has belonged to China for many centuries, during recent years both Russia and Great Britain have maneuvred for position to control the future of this forbidding land, which \ What is China? 9 /*>/ a British writer describes as ‘ ‘ rich in gold . . . enormously rich, possibly richer than any other country in the world. ’ n TIBET In 1912 the British Government objected to the provision of the Chinese constitution which gives Tibet representa¬ tives in the Parliament at Peking. Objection was made also by the same Power to China’s proposal to send a small military force to Lhasa to protect the Chinese Resident there. Warning was given that, should troops be sent as proposed, Great Britain would withhold from the new Republic of China the recognition which it was then asking. In 1913, at the request of Great Britain, a conference was held at Simla to consider the relations of the three countries — Great Britain, China and Tibet. The British delegation drew up a treaty which proposed to divide Tibet into two parts — Outer Tibet, adjoining India, and Inner Tibet, bordering on China. The former was to be autonomous under a shadowy suzerainty of China, and it was further provided that in case of difficul¬ ties arising between autonomous Tibet and China, the ques¬ tions at issue should be referred to Great Britain for equi¬ table adjustment. This proposed treaty would thus have put Great Britain in the position of protector of Tibet. It is interesting to recall that it was by similar arrangements that the British Government came gradually into control of Northern India. Sikkim, Nepaul and Bhutan, once tributaries of China, are now under British control. In 1913, however, China refused to sign the proposed treaty; Tibet was willing to accept it. The question therefore remains unsettled : Is China sovereign in Tibet ? OUTER MONGOLIA In 1911 Russia encouraged Outer Mongolia to declare its independence of China, although it had been a part of the empire since A.D. 1691. Under this encouragement ad- i Holdich, “ Tibet the Mysterious, ’ ’ p. 329. What is China? 3 vantage was taken of the revolution in progress in China to establish an independent Mongol government under the rulership of the Hutukhtu of Urga, who was elected Em¬ peror and crowned in December, 1911. Subsequently by a tripartite convention signed in 1915, the suzerainty of China and the autonomy of Outer Mon¬ golia were acknowledged, and Russia was given a voice in the settlement of questions affecting the foreign relations of the country. After the disappearance of the Tsarist regime in Russia, China reasserted her authority and compelled the Hu¬ tukhtu, in 1919, to rescind his declaration of autonomy. He yielded only under pressure of the military occupation of his capital. When Urga was attacked and captured in Feb. 1921 by a Russian force commanded by Ungern von Sternberg, a reactionary leader, the Mongols gave him sup¬ port. Japan, which was believed to be anxious to see a con¬ servative buffer state between Korea and Siberia, was also popularly credited with giving assistance to Ungern, and was reported to have offered a loan to the Hutukhtu, if a non-communistic government should be maintained by him. After a few weeks, however, Ungern was overthrown by the army of the Far Eastern Republic, and Urga was turned over to the troops of the Russian Federated Soviet Republic, which set up there the Peoples’ Revolutionary Government. This government still holds the place. What then is the status of Outer Mongolia? What is its relation to China? Does the Nine Power treaty bind the signatories to respect China’s sovereignty and administra¬ tive integrity in Outer Mongolia ? MANCHURIA When the war between Russia and Japan came to an end in 1905, the Treaty of Portsmouth stipulated that both powers were to evacuate Manchuria completely and simul¬ taneously, except the leased territory of Liaotung. The two powers were also to restore entirely and completely to the exclusive administration of China all portions of Man¬ churia then in occupation or control of Japanese or Rus- 4 What is China? sian troops, except the leased territory just mentioned.2 The two powers also engaged to exploit their respective rail¬ ways in Manchuria exclusively for commercial and indus¬ trial purposes.3 Again in the treaty of July 30, 1907, these same governments recognized the independence and terri¬ torial integrity of the Empire of China and the principle of equal opportunity there for the commerce and industry of all nations.4 Yet in the secret treaties of 1907, 1910 and 1912 they delimited their respective spheres of special interest in Manchuria and Mongolia, and each agreed not to interfere in the consolidation and future development of the special interests of the other in the spheres mentioned.5 Furthermore in 1915, by the treaties of May 25, Japan after landing troops and issuing an ultimatum, obtained special privileges in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia. 2 Treaty of Portsmouth, Article III. s Treaty of Portsmouth, Article VII. 4 Treaty between Japan and Russia, July 30, 1907, Article II. s See Treaty of 1910, Article III. The secret treaty of 1907 defined the boundaries between Russian and Japanese spheres of special interest by a succession of straight lines, which began at the Russian-Korean frontier, continued via Hunchun northwestward to the north end of Lake Porteng (also written Pilteng — Chinese name Nan Hu), thence northwest by west to Hsiu Hsin Chan (Chinese Hsin Ch’eng), near Petuna, thence down the Sungari River to the mouth of the Nonni, thence along the course of this river up to the mouth of the Tola River, and thence up the Tola to the crossing of the 122 meridian east of Greenwich. The treaty of 1912 extended the line from this point along the course of the Hulunchuerh and the Mushihsha to the watershed that divides the Mushihsha from the Haldatai, about the point where the boundary of the Amur Province crosses the 119 meridian, and from that point along the boundary of the Amur Prov¬ ince to the boundary between Inner and Outer Mongolia, thence south- westward along the boundary between Inner and Outer Mongolia to its intersection with the meridian of Peking (116° 27' E.) and thence along this meridian to the boundary of the Province of Chihli. Russia recognized Japan’s special interests in the territory of Inner Mongolia east of this meridian, and Japan recognized Russia’s special interests, not only in Outer Mongolia, but in Inner Mongolia west of the meridian of Peking. This arrangement assigned to Japan for exploitation all that region of Inner Mongolia and Manchuria in which she had planned to build the Ssu-p ’ing-k ’ai — T’aonan and the T’aonan — Jehol railway lines. The line from Ssu-p ’ing-k ’ai is al¬ ready completed as far as Chen-chia T ’un. What is China? 5 At the recent Washington Conference Japan withdrew certain of the Twenty-one Demands of 1915 which had been reserved for further consideration, and agreed that the option which had been obtained on loans for railway build¬ ing in Eastern Inner Mongolia and South Manchuria, and on other loans secured upon taxes in the regions mentioned should be “ thrown open to the joint activity of the inter¬ national consortium recently organized.” She also sur¬ rendered the preference obtained in the appointment of ad¬ visers to the Chinese Government in South Manchuria. But Japan refused to rescind the whole of the Twenty-one De¬ mands as requested by China. Baron Shidehara said : If it should once be recognized that rights solemnly granted by treaty may be revoked at any time on the ground that they were conceded against the spontaneous will of the grantor, an exceedingly dangerous precedent will be established, with far- reaching consequences upon the stability of the existing inter¬ national relations in Asia, in Europe and everywhere. To this Mr. Wang Chung-Hui replied that — A still more dangerous precedent will be established, with con¬ sequences upon the stability of international relations which can not be estimated, if without rebuke or protest from the Powers, one nation can obtain from a friendly, but in a military sense weaker neighbor, and under circumstances such as attended the negotiations and signing of the treaties of 1915, valuable con¬ cessions which were not in satisfaction of pending controversies, and for which no quid pro quo was offered. It was through the Twenty-one demands of 1915 that Japan compelled China against her will to cancel her right to redeem the South Manchuria Railway in 1939, as pro¬ vided in the original contract. It was by means of the treaties of May 25, 1915, extorted from China in connec¬ tion with the Twenty-one demands, that Japan was enabled to extend her lease of the Liaotung Peninsula from 25 years to 99 years. The twenty-five-year period would have ter¬ minated in 1923. By means of these same treaties the leases of the South Manchurian and Mukden-Antung Rail¬ ways were also extended to 99-year periods. In view of all these facts what is to be said of the status 6 What is China? of Manchuria? With large bodies of Japanese troops stationed in various parts of Manchuria, and with Japanese police forces in the Chientao district and elsewhere, to what extent does the Nine-Power Treaty guarantee Chinese ad¬ ministrative integrity in Manchuria? The future will answer the questions raised. For the present we can accept no other boundaries for China than those existing under the Manchu Government at the time of its overthrow in 1912, and we must continue to regard Tibet, Mongolia, and Manchuria, therefore, as wholly within the territory of the Chinese Republic. , FORMER EXTENT OF DOMINION It will not be amiss in passing to recall the former extent of China’s dominion, and note the gradual loss of empire during the past four hundred years. For a long time China was the dominant power in Asia. Her influence extended as far west as Aden, whose Sultan paid tribute to her. Nepaul, Sikkim and Bhutan, in north¬ ern India, were among her dependencies. Ceylon, Malacca, Burmah and Siam, Cambodia, Cochin China and Tonquin, all recognized her overlordship. The Sultan of Sulu sent tribute. The Loochoos and Korea were dependencies. Her boundaries in Central Asia touched the borders of Persia,' and the valleys of the Amur and the Ussuri, on the north¬ east, also were hers. To-day Aden, Ceylon, Sikkim, Bhutan, Nepaul, Malacca and Burmah all belong to the British Empire, which also has established a colony at Hongkong, once a part of China. Siam is independent. Cambodia, Cochin China, Annam and Tonquin form French Indo China, and France also has a lease to Kuangchouwan in the Province of Kuang- tung. The Sulu Archipelago long ago passed under the rule of Spain, and by Spain was ceded to the United States. The Loochoos and Korea were taken by Japan, which has also annexed Formosa and the Pescadores and leased a portion of the Liaotung Peninsula. Russia has occupied a great part of Central Asia that once bowed to the sway of What is China? 7 Peking, and has also extended her boundaries to the banks of the Amur and annexed the Siberian Maritime Province east of the Ussuri and reaching to the borders of Korea. Thus the great empire of China has been gradually eaten away at the fringes. PRESENT DAY CHINA But what remains to China still leaves her in extent of territory one of the greatest countries of the world, in lati¬ tude reaching from 19° north, in the island of Hainan, to 53° north in Manchuria, and in longitude extending from 72° east, in Turkestan, to 134° east at the mouth of the Ussuri River. It covers an area of more than four million square miles, and contains a population of some four hun¬ dred millions of people. It is not an empire made up of scattered islands or colo¬ nies, far distant one from another, but a compact conti¬ nental area covering nearly all of south-eastern Asia, cut off by the vast mountain masses of Tibet and the deserts of Turkestan and Mongolia from the rest of the continent, and protected on the east and south by the waters of the sea. It was practically within these boundaries, through many centuries, that China developed her independent civiliza¬ tion, isolated from all but the most casual contact with the West. That remarkable civilization she imposed upon the lesser states with whom intercourse was possible. Siam, Annam, Japan and Korea all derived their arts and institu¬ tions from her, and the less civilized Manchus, Mongols, Turkis and Tibetans also were her pupils. Holding “do¬ minion over palm and pine, ’ ’ with every variety of soil and climate, her agricultural products were more varied than those of any other land, and, equally rich in animal and mineral resources, she had raw materials for every kind of manufacture and has given the world some of its most im¬ portant industries. It was customary under the Manchu regime to speak of China as including the “Eighteen Provinces” and the de- 8 What is China? pendencies. The provinces had organized, county, pre- fectual and provincial governments ; the dependencies were ruled through native princes under the control of the Min¬ istry of Dependencies at Peking and its representatives, the Military Governors, in various districts, and the Resi¬ dents in Tibet and Outer Mongolia. But in 1878 Turkestan was converted into a nineteenth province called Hsin- kiang, or “the New Dominion,” and in 1907 Manchuria was organized into three more provinces, making twenty- two in all. To-day, then, China consists of twenty-two organized provinces and the dependencies; Tibet, Ch’ing- hai (Kokonor), Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia. In the old Eighteen Provinces the population is almost wholly Chinese, but there are several tribes of aborigines in the southern and south-western provinces. In Turkestan and all the dependencies the Chinese are in the minority. In the three provinces of Manchuria there is a mixture of races, but the Chinese out -number all the others added to¬ gether. Of the dependencies, Tibet, with the exception of a few valleys, is cold, sterile and inhospitable. It is sparsely populated. The people are ignorant, superstitious and poor. Although a Chinese Resident at Lhasa represents the Peking Government, the country is ruled in fact by a theocratic government with a dual head. The Dalai Lama wields the political power and the Tashihlumpo Lama the ecclesiastical. The present constitution of China provides for a representation of Tibet in Parliament by ten senators and ten representatives. Ch’inghai, or Kokonor, once a part of Tibet, is in¬ habited by twenty-nine tribes of nomads, whose chief indus¬ try is grazing. They are ruled by native princes under the supervision of a Chinese Governor at Sining in Kansu, Kokonor is represented in Parliament by three senators and three representatives. Inner and Outer Mongolia are also inhabited by nomads, descendants of those hordes which, under Jinghiz Khan and his successors over-ran all Asia and south-eastern Europe. Inner Mongolia has much fertile land which is being colo- What is China? 9 nized by the Chinese. Outer Mongolia also, on the border of Siberia, has fertile valleys. Inner Mongolia extends northward to the great desert plateau which forms the greater part of Outer Mongolia, and which lies at an elevation of over 4000 feet above the level of the sea. The climate is bitterly cold in winter, but on summer days the heat is intense. The proximity of this Gobi desert, and that of Taklamakan in Turkestan, to the northern tier of provinces in China is probably re¬ sponsible for some of the peculiarities of the climate there, particularly for the periodical recurrence of drought and famine. One of the striking features of the cli¬ mate is the occurrence of dust storms which, especially in March and April, sweep down from the desert and cover all north China with a deposit of loess, stifling man and beast and making travel all but impossible. Taken alto¬ gether Inner and Outer Mongolia cover an area of 1,272,000 square miles, and have a population of about two millions. The Mongol tribes are engaged in raising cattle, horses, camels, sheep and goats. Camel’s hair, goat’s hair, sheep’s wool, with hides and skins are the principal articles of export. There are valuable mines in Mongolia, but they have not been developed to any great extent. At present (1923) the capital of Outer Mongolia is, as already stated, in the possession of a so-called “ Peoples’ Revolutionary Government” set up by the Russian Fed¬ erated Soviet Republic and supported by Bolshevist troops. But normally the people, whether in Inner or Outer Mon¬ golia, are subject to the orders of their chieftains or princes, and these in turn, with all their subjects, look up with reverence to the Hutukhtu at Urga, the chief ecclesiastic of the country and the third in rank in the Lama Church. Chinese sovereignty is represented by the military gov¬ ernors stationed at various points, and more especially by the Resident at Urga. Under the constitution of the Re¬ public all Mongolia, Inner and Outer, is entitled to 27 senators and 27 representatives in Parliament, chosen by an electoral college representing all the tribes and leagues. 10 What is China? TURKESTAN Chinese Turkestan, or the “New Dominion/ ’ as it is now called, lies on the north-western frontier of China, and covers an area of 550,000 square miles, mostly desert. It has a population of more than two millions, partly Chinese and partly Turki, with a number of Sarts and Hindus also. These are found chiefly in the oases of the Tarim Valley. The Tarim River, 1250 miles long, is fed by the snows of the Hindu Kush, and supplies the water needed for the irrigation of the fields around Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan and other towns. It flows eastward, decreasing in volume as it goes, and finally loses itself in the marshes of Lob Nor. The Pamirs and the Karakorum Mountains form a barrier on the west. The Tienshan range, extending al¬ most in a direct line east and west, divides the region into two sections. North of the range is the valley of the Ili River, flowing westward into Lake Balkash in Russian Central Asia. Kuldja, once occupied by Russia during the revolt of Yakub Beg (1866-77), and returned to China in 1881, lies near the Russian border. Ili is celebrated for its ponies. Other cities of Turkestan are Kuchen and Hami. The ancient route of overland travel between the East and West passes through the province by the valley of the Tarim, and crosses the Pamirs over a pass which is at an elevation of more than 14,000 feet. Wherever cultivation is possible the province produces abundant crops of grain, cotton and fruits. All the do¬ mestic animals are reared in considerable numbers. Fields of lucerne furnish rich pasture. The region is noted, too, for its minerals, particularly the white or “ mutton-fat ’ ’ jade, so highly prized by the Chinese. Silk culture and rug-making are important industries of the province. From ancient times the inhabitants have been a source of trouble to the Chinese, for this was the home of the Hsiung Nu who often invaded China or pillaged the cara¬ vans trading with the West. They are identified by some with the Huns of similar characteristics who carried terror What is China? 11 to Europe in the Middle Ages, and also with the barbarous Scythians of whom Herodotus wrote. To-day they are Mohammedans in religion, and being of a different race from the Chinese, toward whom they have an inherited antipathy, they are sometimes guilty of plotting against the government. During the late war they were stirred to unrest by German and Turkish propaganda, but were not induced to rise. The principal cities of Turkestan are open to foreign residence and trade. MANCHURIA The ‘ 1 Three Eastern Province^, ’ ’ as Manchuria is known to the Chinese, now include a portion of Inner Mongolia, lying east of the Hsingan Mountains, which has been added to the province of Shengking. Thus enlarged Manchuria has an area of some 460,000 square miles, and a population of about 19,000,000, found chiefly in the southernmost province, Shengking. The whole region was once an inde¬ pendent kingdom, the home of the Manchus who conquered China in A.D. 1644. It has as its natural boundaries the Hsingan Mountains on the west, the Amur River on the north, the Long White Mountain and the Yalu River on the east, and the sea on the south. Six great rivers furnish channels of communication along its frontiers or give ac¬ cess to the interior: the Amur, the Ussuri, the Sungari and its tributary the Nonni, the Yalu and the Liao. For two hundred years after the conquest of China the Manchus discouraged immigration into northern and cen¬ tral Manchuria, and held the vast forests there as hunting grounds for the Court. The two northern provinces, therefore, are but sparsely settled, although the region is one of rich soil and bracing climate. The mineral re¬ sources of these provinces are also considerable and are but slightly developed. Gold is found in the north and coal and iron in the southern part. Wheat, the soja bean, tobacco and millet are among the best crops, and beans, pongee, skins and furs among the chief exports. This rich, undeveloped region has for years past been 12 What is China? coveted by Russia and Japan. There are about 100,000 Japanese resident there, and perhaps twice as many Koreans. The railways in the south are leased to Japan and operated by Japanese. Those in the north were under Russian control until the great war threw Russia into dis¬ order. They may still be regarded as Russian property, and until recently were under the protection and manage¬ ment of an international commission. CHINA PROPER The Eighteen Provinces which are the real home of the Chinese people have an area of more than a million and a half square miles and a population of about 370,000,000. Three great rivers divide the country naturally into three sections; the Yellow, the Yangtze and the West Rivers. NORTHERN PROVINCES The Huang Ho or Yellow River touches six provinces in its course. Its turbid waters carry enormous quantities of silt, which is deposited in the lower channel where the current grows sluggish. Thus the bed of the river is con¬ stantly rising and in places is above the level of the fields, which are protected by dykes. These are frequently broken in times of flood, and thus the river has come to be known as “China’s Sorrow.” Except in its northern bend and for some miles above its mouth the stream is not fit for navigation. The whole valley is one that from ancient times has been afflicted alternately by flood and drought. History records many floods since the days of Yu the Great, who reclaimed the fields from the overflowing waters in 2205 B.C. and many droughts have brought famine to the people since T’ang the Completer in 1761 B.C., after seven years of crop failure, proposed to offer himself as a victim to appease the wrath of God, and so, as it is believed, brought the long-desired rains. The latest famine, that of 1920-21, is said to have destroyed ten million lives. The Yellow River rises in the mountains of Tibet at an What is China? 13 elevation of more than 13,000 feet, within but a few miles of the source of the Yangtze. Its upper course is a crooked one. It crosses Kansu Province in a channel obstructed by huge rocks and descends rapidly in a series of cascades, leaving the province at an elevation of but 3000 feet above sea level, when it enters the Ordos country. Thus far its course has been through a wild region, sparsely inhabited, mountainous, and covered with forests, a retreat still for such wild animals as tigers, leopards, bears, wild boars, wolves and foxes. The vegetation is rich and interesting. Pine, beech, birch and rhododendron are among the trees of the forest. The region abounds in minerals : gold, silver, iron and petroleum, but a careful survey is needed to de¬ termine the value of these deposits. The province of Shansi, however, which lies farther east, contains some of the largest deposits of coal and iron in the world. Shantung, where the river finds its mouth, is the Holy Land of China, the birth-place and burial place of two of its greatest teachers, Confucius and Mencius, and the prov¬ ince which holds the sacred Mount T’ai. This is the province on whose coast Kiaochow Bay is located, once leased to Germany, captured during the war by the Japanese, and returned to China by the treaty signed at Washington in February, 1922. On the northern shore of the Shantung Peninsula is the harbor of Weihai- wei, leased to Great Britain in 1898 for as long a period as Russia should hold Port Arthur and Dalny. At the Washington Conference, 1921-22, Great Britain agreed to return the territory to China. This province, too, has valuable mineral deposits; coal, iron and gold. Chihli, its neighbor on the north, is rich in coal, and holds within its borders the capital, Peking, and the principal port of north China, Tientsin. The capital of China during the greater part of its history has been located in the Yellow River Valley, sometimes at Hsianfu in Shensi, at other times at Loyang or at K’ai- fengfu in Honan, and several times at Peking as at present. Along the northern frontier of China Proper the Great \ 14 What is China? Wall extends from Shanhaikuan on the sea coast to Chiayiikuan on the border of Turkestan, some 1300 miles to the west. The agricultural products of this part of China are those that are common in the North Temperate Zone: wheat, barley, oats, millet and maize, beans in great variety, hemp and jute, apricots, apples, cherries, grapes, peaches, pears and persimmons. Cotton and silk are also produced. The pongees of Shantung are well known. Railways connect Peking with Hankow and Nanking in central China and with Mukden in Manchuria. Tsinanfu on the line between Peking and Nanking is the capital of Shantung and is con¬ nected by rail with Tsingtao, the port formerly leased to Germany. THE YANGTZE VALLEY The valley of the Yangtze Kiang is the real heart of China. This river, one of the greatest in the world, rises at an elevation of some 16,000 feet above sea level, and in the first 900 miles of its course falls nearly 14,000 feet. It is 3200 miles long and drains an area of not less than 700,000 square miles. This area is divided among seven provinces. The river has many large tributaries and the whole valley is rich in soil, salubrious in climate, and con¬ tains a population of some two hundred millions, that is to say, one-half of the population of the entire country. The valley is the most important part of the Republic, both agriculturally and commercially. Its mineral resources are very important. Iron, coal and antimony are those most developed. It has between 25 and 30 cities each of which has a popu¬ lation of over a hundred thousand, and numerous other cit¬ ies and towns that approach that limit. Its industries are varied and interesting, and its trade attracts the merchant fleets of the seven seas. Its principal crops are rice and cotton, but wheat and maize also are planted. The mulberry supplies food for the silk-worm. Ginger and indigo are produced in large quan¬ tities, and several varieties of citrus fruits are added to What is China ? 15 those which its orchards have in common with the northern region. Shanghai is the greatest port, having a population of over a million inhabitants. Other cities open to foreign residence are Ningpo, Hangchow and Soochow, Nanking, several times the capital of China, Hankow, the center of the tea trade, Hanyang, the site of iron furnaces and rolling mills, and Chungking, the chief port of Szechuen Province. The gorges of the Yangtze below Chungking afford some of the most awe-inspiring scenery in the world. There are 225,000 miles of canals in China, of which most are found in the Yangtze Valley. The Grand Canal, whose beginnings were undertaken in the Sixth Century B.C. but whose completion dates from the close of the Thirteenth Century A.D. connects Hangchow with Tien¬ tsin. Railways now give communication between Shanghai and Nanking, Nanking and Peking, Kiukiang and Nanchang, and between Hankow and Peking. Other are planned and in part under construction. THE SOUTHERN PROVINCES The West River does not compare in length with the Yellow River nor in volume and navigability with the Yangtze, nevertheless its waters, taken with those of its tributaries, may be said to concern all the remaining prov¬ inces of China Proper except Fukien, which cut off by a mountain barrier from the Yangtze region and having only coast communication with the south, may be said to be isolated. Its affiliations, however, are with the south rather than with central China, and it is best considered therefore in the group of Southern Provinces. The West River rises in the province of Yunnan and flows across Kuangsi into Kuangtung, where it is joined by the North and East Rivers to form the estuary of Canton, or the Bocca Tigris. Canton is the oldest and best known sea-port of China, and has been engaged in foreign trade since the Third Century A.D. It is still the entrepot for 16 What is China? all commerce with the south, and the waters of the rivers named give access, not only to the two Kuang Provinces but to Yunnan and Kueichow as well. A canal connects one of the tributaries of the West River with the head waters of the Siang, in Hunan Province, and thus affords communication with the Yangtze. These five southern provinces constitute a well-defined region distinct from the rest of China. They are all moun¬ tainous and rich in mineral deposits. They have a sub¬ tropical climate and corresponding flora and fauna. The inhabitants in large part are non-Chinese aborigines, and the Chinese speak a variety of dialects and for the most part do not understand the mandarin, which is the official language. The agricultural products of the region are abundant and varied. All the grains are grown but rice is perhaps the most common. Beans, hemp, cotton, tobacco, indigo, sugar cane and tea, ginger, cassia and peanuts are all produced. Silk is common. Wild silk is produced in Kueichou. The caribou, sheep and goats are among the domestic animals. Poultry and fish are raised in great numbers. FUKIEN Fukien, as already stated, is cut off from easy communi¬ cation with the rest of China, and its people have therefore developed in seclusion, having many customs peculiar to themselves. The population is dense and the prevailing poverty has forced many to emigrate. Most of the Chinese in the Philippines are from this province. Foochow, its capital, was formerly one of the principal tea ports of China, but has lost much of its trade. KUANGTUNG Kuangtung Province, whose name has been given by Europeans in the form of “ Canton’ ’ to its chief city, was the first province visited by European vessels; and for a long period of years the port, Kuangchoufu, which we call “ Canton,” was the only city open to foreign trade. The Canton delta is a broad, fertile plain, crossed in many What is China? 17 directions by a net-work of water-ways. It is densely populated and contains a number of large cities: Canton with over a million, Fatshan with five hundred thousand, Shiklung with a hundred thousand, Huichou, Chaoching, Samshui, Kongmoon, Kowloon and others of lesser im¬ portance. Canton is connected by rail with Fatshan and Samshui and by another line with the British port, Kowloon, which is opposite the island of Honkong and belongs to that colony. A trunk line is being built northwards from Canton which will eventually connect with the railway under con¬ struction from Hankow southward. When completed this will afford rail communication with Peking. The Cantonese are an energetic and progressive people, and in temperament, speech and customs differ widely from the people of the north. This probably has much to do with the present political strife between Canton and Peking. On the right of the mouth of the Canton Estuary, just opposite Hongkong, is the peninsula of Macao, now a Portu¬ guese colony. It was occupied by them, with China’s con¬ sent, in 1557, and rent was paid to China for its use until 1849, when Portugal attempted to assert her sovereignty there. China did not acknowledge Portuguese ownership, however, until 1887. Since 1898 the French have held a lease upon Kuang- chouwan, in the province of Kuangtung, but nothing of consequence has been done by them to develop the region. At the Conference in Washington during the winter of 1921-22 the question of the return of this leased territory to China was raised, and it was intimated that France would give favorable consideration to the proposal. Off the coast of Kuangtung lies the interesting island, Hainan. Two tribes of aborigines occupy the central por¬ tion of the island. The Chinese live chiefly along the coast. The fauna and flora are tropical. There are many aborigines also on the mainland in Kuangtung, but more in the adjoining province of Kuangsi, where two-thirds of the population are non-Chinese. 18 What is China? THE THREE SOUTH-WESTERN PROVINCES Kuangsi, Kueichou and Yunnan are all very mountain¬ ous, sparsely settled, and rich in minerals, but very back¬ ward in social conditions. The mineral resources are largely undeveloped. Gold, silver and antimony are found in Kuangsi; iron, coal, quicksilver, copper and zinc in Kueichou; tin and lead, zinc, copper and coal in Yunnan. The tin and copper mines of Yunnan have been worked to a considerable extent by native methods. In Kueichou and Yunnan development has been hindered by lack of com¬ munications. Transportation has been very difficult in the past. Yunnan now has a railway connecting its capital with Hanoi in Indo China. All three south-western provinces have suffered much from rebellion, due in part to the fact that so large a part of the population is non-Chinese. In Kueichou three- fourths belong to the Miao tribes. Yunnan has a large element of Mohammedans. They rose in rebellion in 1856, and kept up the struggle against the Chinese until 1872. Ten millions of people were said to have perished during the war. Eternal snows cover the mountains in the western part of Yunnan. The province is watered by several large rivers. The branches of the Irawaddy cross the western border. The Salween flows across the province in deep gorges. The Mekong for 500 miles has cut its way through a canyon that is from 2000 to 3000 feet deep. Its banks are covered in many places with dense forests. The Yangtze forms a part of the northern boundary of the province. The West River rises in the eastern part, and the Red River flows across the southern border into Indo China. MOUNTAIN SYSTEMS The mountain ranges of China, which have so much to do with determining its physical characteristics and its climatic conditions, stretch out over eastern Asia like the fingers of a mighty hand. That hand, weighing heavily What is China? 19 upon the center of the continent, is the huge mass of lofty table-lands and towering peaks which we know as Tibet. It is the largest and highest group of mountains in the world.6 The plateau of Tibet varies in elevation from 13,000 to over 16,000 feet above sea level, but the summits of the Kunlun Range on the northern border rise to over 20,000 feet, and the Karakoram Mountains on the north¬ west to more than 28,000, while Mount Everest in the Himalaya on the southern frontier reaches to 29,000 feet above the sea. The northwestern part of the plateau has no drainage channel to lower levels. The rivers that flow into it from surrounding mountains deposit their waters in numerous lakes that have been formed there. But in the east and south are deep and fertile valleys drained by the head waters of the greatest rivers of Asia. These valleys fall to an elevation of 11,000 feet. In them most of the inhabitants of Tibet find their homes. The Altai System. — A single range of mountains in China is often called by different names in different localities. Thus the western end of the Kunlun Range where it bends to the northwest is called the Karakoram Mountains. Further to the north it becomes the Pamirs, and the Pamirs pass into the Tienshan. These three — the Karakoram, the Pamirs and the Tien¬ shan, form the western boundary of Chinese Turkestan. Over the Karakoram range there is a pass at an elevation of 18,500 feet, by which communication is maintained be¬ tween Yarkand in Chinese Turkestan and Ladak in Kash¬ mir. The highest peaks of the Pamirs attain an elevation of 26,000 feet. There is a pass over the mountains 14,200 feet above sea level at Shishiklik. From the northern ex¬ tremity of the Pamirs the Tienshan extends north-east¬ wards and divides into two main branches. The northern branch, or Tienshan Pei Lu, has a northeast-southwest direction. Its highest peak, Tengri Khan, has an elevation of over 23,000 feet. This range connects with the Tannuola Mountains and the Altai Range, which constitute the northwestern border of Mongolia. The Altai Mountains do 0 Richard ’s Comprehensive Geography of China, p. 539. 20 What is China? not rise above 11,000 feet. They stretch across Siberia to the northeast in the Yablonoi Mountains, which form the northern water-shed of the Amur Valley. The Tienshan Nan Lu. — This southern branch of the Tienshan Range has an east and west direction. It divides Chinese Turkestan into two great basins. The highest peaks reach an altitude of 25,000 feet and are covered with glaciers. Eastwards the range declines gradually and con¬ nects with the great central plateau of Mongolia, which has an elevation of about 5000 feet. The Altyn Tagh. — The Kunlun Range, as it stretches eastward, splits into several chains. The northernmost is known as the Altyn Tagh. It maintains an altitude of about 14,000 feet. Where it approaches the pan-handle of Kansu Province it is called the Nanshan, or “Southern Moun¬ tains, ’ ’ and to Europeans is known as the Humboldt Moun¬ tains. There it holds in the embrace of two parallel ridges the great lake called Koko Nor, or Ch’ing Hai, which has an elevation of 10,000 feet. Bending southeastwards in parallel chains, one of which is called the Richtofen Moun¬ tains by Europeans, it expands in a tangled mass of moun¬ tains over Kansu and Shensi. The principal range strikes northeastwards along the course of the Yellow River to the Ordos Plateau, where it unites with the Alashan Range, 10,000 feet in elevation. These mountains deflect the Yellow River to the east, and after a short distance the channel is bent towards the south by the expansion of the mountains in the Shansi Plateau, which varies in height from 6500 to 11,000 feet. From Shansi eastward the range is known as the Inshan. The Alashan and the Inshan form the southern boundary of Mongolia. Eastwards the Inshan continues into the Great Hsingan Mountains, which, bend¬ ing to the northeast, form the boundary between Mongolia and Manchuria and reach an elevation of about 7000 feet. A spur of this range known as the Little Hsingan separates the valley of the Amur from that of the Nonni. Further to the east a long range parallel with the Great Hsingan is called the Ever White Mountains. It extends from the southern extremity of the Liaotung Peninsula, through the What is China? 21 eastern part of Manchuria to the junction of the Ussuri with the Amur. Its highest peak is about 8500 feet above sea level. The Ch’inUng. — Where the Altyn Tagh leaves the east¬ ern Kunlun, another range breaks off towards the southeast in several parallel chains, known by various names in dif¬ ferent places. By Europeans it is called the Marco Polo Mountains. To the Chinese it is known as the Ch’inling and the Hsich’ing Mountains. The elevation falls as the mountains stretch eastwards. The highest peaks reach to 13,000 feet, but the range averages about 6500. It forms the natural boundary between Tibet and the Province of Kokonor, or Ch’inghai, and it forms the water-shed be¬ tween the sources of the Yellow River and the Yangtze. Bending to the east as it approaches the southeast corner of Tibet, it divides into two principal chains. The northern chain, or Pei Ling, separates the Wei River valley from that of the Han, and where the Wei empties into the Yellow River it forces the latter to make another sharp bend, this time towards the east. As the mountains strike across Honan Province the parallel spurs, running east and west, are called successively from north to south Huashan, Fu- niushan, Huailungshan and Huaiyangshan. These spurs fall gradually in elevation until as low ranges of hills they lose themselves in the great plain. But eastwards beyond the great plain the mountains of Shantung lift themselves, the greatest of which is Mount T’ai, with an elevation of 5060 feet. The southern chain of the Ch’in¬ ling is called the Kiulung in the eastern part and the Minting in the west. It separates the valley of the Han from that of the Yangtze and forms the natural northern boundary of Szechuen Province. It has an elevation of from 8000 to 11,000 feet. It stretches southeastwards into Hupei Province and loses itself in the Lake Plain. The N anting. — Where the Ch’inling mountains, in several parallel chains, reach the northeastern corner of Tibet they send off a number of branches toward the south. These lofty mountains, called by various Tibetan names, are known to Europeans as the Snowy Mountains and also 22 What is China? as the Szechuen Alps. They maintain generally a north and south direction, and rise to 16,000 and 19,000 feet above sea level. The various chains are separated by deep gorges, and severally divide from one another the head waters of the Irawaddy, the Salween, the Mekong, the Yangtze, the Yalung and the Min. They stretch across Szechuen to the south and southeast, and spread out over Yunnan, Kueichow and Kuangsi, forming the water-shed between the Yangtze and the West River. North of the latter they form the Nanling, or Southern Range, with an elevation of between 5000 and 6000 feet, which separates the provinces of Kuangsi and Kuangtung from those lying to the north of them. Continuing eastwards this range unites with the Ta Yti Ling, 5000 feet in height, which, running parallel to the coast, forms the boundary between Fukien and Kiangsi. Further north, in Chekiang, a branch bends towards the east and ends in the sea in the Chusan Archipelago.7 SACRED MOUNTAINS Mention ought to be made of the sacred mountains of China. To the Confucianist these are five: T’ai Shan in Shantung, Hang Shan in Shansi, Sung Shan in Honan, Hua Shan in Shensi, and Heng Shan in Hunan. But in the opinion of most Chinese Wu T’ai Shan in Shansi and Omei in Szechuen are equal in sanctity to any. These two are shrines for Buddhist pilgrims. THE RIVERS The mountain chains have determined the flow of the waters, and these have gathered in three great valleys in China Proper and in three others in Manchuria. 7 For more detailed information concerning the mountain systems consult Richard 7s ‘ ‘ Comprehensive Geography of China 7 7 and Stan¬ ford ;s ‘‘Compendium of Geography, Asia.’7 For geological features, Richtofen’s “China, 77 Pumpelly’s “Geological Researches in China, 77 ‘ ‘ Explorations in Turkestan, 7 7 and the Carnegie Researches in China under Willis, Blaekwelder and Sargent. SUNKEN ROAD AND CAMELS. PURPLE CLOUD MONASTERY, WESTERN HILLS. What is China? 23 The Yellow River, 2700 miles long, drains the northern provinces, winding in a tortuous course through the north¬ west and crossing the great plain to the Gulf of Chihli. It is of slight use for navigation, and in its lower reaches it frequently overflows its banks and causes great distress. The Yangtze Kiang crosses central China from west to east, and after a flow of 3200 miles enters the Eastern Sea near Shanghai. Its principal tributaries are the Yalung, the Min, the Ch’ung and the Kialing, in Szechuen, the Siang in Hunan, the Han in Hupei, and the Kan in Kiangsi. It is one of the noblest rivers of the world, navigable for over 1500 miles, and its valley is one of the richest and most populous. In the south the West River is the principal water-way. It rises in eastern Yunnan and flows in two branches across Kuangsi Province. These two branches unite a short dis¬ tance above Wuchow, from which point to the sea it is navigable for steamers. In its upper portion it flows through sandstone valleys and is obstructed by rapids. The scenery in this region is very picturesque. Near Canton its waters mingle with those of the North and East Rivers to form the Pearl River, in whose rich alluvial plain Canton b; situated. The Red River, the Mekong and Salween in the southwest, the Huai and Ch’ient’ang Kiang in central China, and the Pei Ho in Chihli are also of some im¬ portance. In Manchuria the Amur, navigable for 1500 miles, and its chief affluent, the Sungari with its tributary, the Nonni, drain Heilungkiang and Kirin Provinces. The Sungari is navigable to Kirin, about 600 miles, and the Nonni another 150 miles above its junction with the Sungari. In the southwest the Shara Muren, or Liao River, which empties into the Gulf of Chihli below Newchwang, is navigable for steamers 30 miles above its mouth, and for native boats throughout its course. In the southeast the Yalu, a beautiful stream, forms the boundary between Manchuria and Korea. It is navigable only in its lower reaches. The Tumen, which empties into Possiet Bay north of Korea, and the Ussuri, a tributary of the Amur on the 24 What is China? northeastern boundary of Manchuria, are rivers of less importance. THE COAST LINE The coast of China extends in a rude quadrant from the mouth of the Yalu (Latitude 40 N. — Longitude 125 E.) to the border of Indo China (Latitude 21° 30' N. — Longitude 108° E.) a distance roughly of 2100 miles. The coast, how¬ ever, has many indentations, which, included in the measurements, make the coast line about 5000 miles. The northern coast is very generally of an alluvial character, excepting that of Shantung. The southern is granitic in formation. The best bays with deepest water are found in the latter region. There are two considerable promon¬ tories, those of Shantung in the north and Leichou in the south. Leichou, with the great island of Hainan adjacent to it, is of about the same area as the Shantung Peninsula. There are five large gulfs, or bays ; Korea Bay at the mouth of the Yalu, the Gulf of Liaotung at the mouth of the Liao, the Gulf of Chihli (or Peichihli) at the mouth of the Hai Ho, Hangchow Bay at the mouth of the Ch’ient’ang Kiang, and the Gulf of Tonking behind the Leichou Penin¬ sula. There are many islands along the coast of China, the most important of which are the Miao Tao north of Shan¬ tung ; the island of Tsungming, formed within the last five hundred years by deposits of the Yangtze; Saddle Rocks and the Chusan Archipelago, near Ningpo; The Loochoos, Formosa and the Pescadores, belonging to Japan; Hong¬ kong, belonging to Great Britain, and Hainan, south of Leichou. THE PLAINS Taken as a whole the country must be considered very mountainous, but there are several important plains. Chief of these is the great plain formed by the alluvial deposits of the Yellow River. On the north this merges with that of Chihli Province, deposited anciently in large part around an old mouth of the Yellow River, and in part by the Pei What is China? 25 Ho and other affluents of the Hai Ho. Behind the promon¬ tory of Shantung the Yellow River Plain merges to the south with that formed in the delta of the Yangtze. Taken together these three plains constitute the richest agricul¬ tural region of China. Another important plain, whose soil is no less rich but whose extent is much smaller, is that found in the delta of the Pearl River around Canton. West of Hankow is another great plain, that of Hupei, some 4000 square miles in extent, interlaced with lakes and canals. Still farther up the Yangtze, in the province of Szechuen, is the fertile plain of Chengtu, containing some 2000 square miles, shut in on all sides by lofty mountains, through whose rocky barriers the Yangtze has worn its way. Its irrigation system, which dates from the third century B.C., is one of the marvels of early engineering skill. It has made the plain of Chengtu one of the most populous and prosperous regions of China. It is estimated that five millions of people occupy this small plain. LAKES China is abundantly supplied with lakes, both fresh water and salt. The great fresh water lakes are in the Yangtze Valley; Tungting in Hunan, Poyang in Kiangsi, Ch’ao in Anhui, Hungtse, partly in Kiangsu and partly in Anhui, and T’ai Hu in Kiangsu. There are two fresh water lakes of considerable size in Yunnan; Erh Hai and Tien Hu. In Tibet, Ch’inghai, Turkestan and Mongolia there are numerous lakes, some of them of large extent, whose waters, having no outlet, have become brackish. In Mongolia, how¬ ever, there is one great fresh water lake, the Koso Gol, which is the source of the Selenga River. DESERTS There are two great deserts in China; the Gobi and the Taklamakan, or Tarim. The former covers a large part of Mongolia and extends into eastern Turkestan. The latter is practically an extension of the former into western 26 What is China? Chinese Turkestan. To the Chinese the Taklamakan is also known as the ‘ ‘ Desert of Moving Sands. ’ ’ 8 This expressive term well describes the chief characteristic of this desolate region, where whole towns, abandoned twenty centuries ago, have been buried under the waves of this great sea of sand. This desert is the dry basin of an ancient sea. It is surrounded on all sides by lofty mountains that rise into the regions of eternal snow. The basin itself has an elevation of 3000 to 4000 feet above sea level, but in the northeastern part of Turkestan there are depressions which sink to sea level and possibly still lower. These depressions, however, are included in the region called by the name of the Gobi Desert. This is the lowest portion of the Mon¬ golian tableland, which is a rocky waste averaging 2500 to 3000 feet above sea level. It is not entirely destitute of vegetation, however, since grass springs up in its south¬ eastern part in the spring. These desert regions on the northwestern borders of China have had great influence upon its climate, as already said. CLIMATE China extends over many degrees of latitude and longi¬ tude, and varies greatly in the elevation of different regions. Its climate varies accordingly. In the far south we find a moist, tropical climate; in the north a dryer atmosphere, with a short, hot summer and a longer and fairly cold winter, and on the snow-clad peaks an arctic temperature. There are, however, two well-marked seasons, summer and winter. A brief spring and a more prolonged autumn separate these. Along the coast and to a lesser degree in the interior the climate is governed by the monsoons.9 In the spring and summer the air over the elevated table-land of Mongolia and over the deserts of Turkestan becomes heated, and rises, causing an inflow from the south. This spring wind sLegge’s translation of the Shu King. Sacred Books of the East, Vol. II, p. 76. 9 See China Year Book 1921-22, p. 80; and Richard’s “ Compre¬ hensive Geography,” p. 14. What is China? n brings with it moisture from the sea. The rains advance from south to north with the advancing season, but fall more abundantly in the south. In the winter the Mongolian table-land and the deserts of northwest China quickly become cooled, and this cold air rushes down into the lower levels and lower latitudes. These northern and northwestern winds bring with them at times great clouds of yellow dust, which settles over north China in the formation known as the loess. It is found in greatest quantity in the mountainous regions of Shensi and on the table-land of Shansi, but also in lesser amounts covering the higher levels of the great plain in Honan and Chihli and in considerable quantity in Shan¬ tung. The winds at times blow with great force and bear this finely comminuted dust as far south as the banks of the Yangtze. FLOOD AND FAMINE The history of China discloses the fact that from the twenty-third century B.C. to the present time China has frequently suffered from flood and drought. Both have created famine conditions and caused great loss of life. In the twenty-third century B.C. the floods of the Yellow River were so extensive as to be represented as “assailing the heavens/’ and as “embracing the hills and topping the great heights.” 10 The Great Yu, it is said, occupied nine years in his work of creating channels for the superfluous waters. In 1766 B.C. there was a great drought which lasted until 1761 B.C— seven years. It was so severe that, as related above, the sovereign is reported to have decided to offer himself as a sacrifice to Heaven to remove the awful calamity. While he was praying, it is said, the rains came and put and end to the drought. Alexander Hosie, of the British Consular Service in China, made a careful study of droughts in China from A.D. 620 to 1643, a period of 1023 years,11 during which 10 See Legge’fe translation of the Shu King, Sacred Books of the East, Vol. Ill, pp. 34-35. 11 Journal of China Branch Koyal Asiatic Society, Vol. XII, N. S. p. 51. 28 What is China? he found that Chinese histories recorded 583 years in which drought had occurred. That would mean one every two years or less. But these droughts did not occur every time in the same provinces. Some years one region was affected ; at other times other regions. It is impossible at present to say that these droughts have occurred at regular in¬ tervals in any one district, but there seems some reason to suspect that this is the case. A degree of drought often occurs which does not result in entire destruction of the crops. In such cases no real famine occurs. We find, however, that from A.D. 801 to 1643, that is to say during 842 years, there were 214 severe droughts, which would imply that one occurred every four years or oftener. But these, too, occurred in different sections of the country. There would seem to be an alternation in northern China of flood and drought. In 1877 and 1878 there was a great famine in Shantung and adjoining provinces. Ten years later — 1887 — there was an awful flood in the Yellow River, which affected the same region. In 1892-94 a great famine visited the same region. Five years later — 1898 — there were great floods in this same Yellow River Valley. Other floods visited the region in 1905-6, 1910-11, and in 1917. The most recent drought and famine in that region visited it in 1920-21. This record is too incomplete and covers too brief a period to allow us to deduce any rule, but the matter is one well worth investigation. An examination of the Chinese historical records, which are very detailed, would enable us to determine the facts with respect to any one chosen region — the Yellow River Valley for instance. Ellsworth Huntington in his “Pulse of Asia,” and in a more recent volume, “Climatic Changes,” prepared in collaboration with Stephen Sargent Visher, has called at¬ tention to the periodicity of certain climatic changes.12 Some of these occur in brief cycles that may be measured in years. Others are measured in decades, some in cen¬ turies, and others still in millions of years. It is evident, therefore, that, should these recurring droughts and floods be found to come in regular cycles, the aridity or humidity 12 Op. cit. Chapter Y and elsewhere. What is China? 29 would be emphasized or modified and the period be length¬ ened or shortened by the approach to the beginning or end of other cycles of greater length. At present central Asia is suffering from excessive aridity. Six hundred years ago, in the 14th century, that region was far more humid than to-day. The Caspian Sea stood thirty-seven feet above its present level.13 The authors just quoted appear to believe that one of the most important factors in producing these periodic changes is the influence of the sun upon our atmosphere. They say: A detailed study has led to the conclusion that cyclonic storms are influenced by the electrical action of the sun. Such action appears to be most intense in sunspots, but apparently pertains also to other disturbed areas in the sun’s atmosphere. A study of sunspots suggests that their true periodicity is almost if not exactly identical with that of the orbital revolution of Jupiter, 11.8 years. Other investigations show numerous remarkable co¬ incidences between sunspots and the orbital revolution of the other planets, including especially Saturn and Mercury. This seems to indicate that there is some truth in the hypothesis that sunspots and other related disturbances of the solar atmosphere owe their periodicity to the varying effects of the planets as they approach and recede from the sun in their eccentric orbits and as they combine or oppose their effects according to their relative positions.14 It is to be remembered, however, that not all parts of the earth are affected in the same way by the electrical action of the sun. The authors of climatic changes say : With the change in storminess there naturally goes a change in rainfall. Not all parts of the world, however, have increased storminess and more abundant rainfall when sunspots are nu¬ merous. Some parts change in the opposite way.15 If this hypothesis is confirmed by further investigation we may expect to find some relation between the periodical disturbances of the sun’s atmosphere and the occurrence of drought and floods in China. 13 ibid, p. 104. 1* Ibid, p. 243. is Ibid, p. 53. 30 What is China? But, this speculation aside, there are other factors of the problem whose influence is more easily measured. It has been pointed out that the rapid rise of temperature in the high lands of Mongolia and the desert regions of central Asia causes the air over those places to rise and the cooler air of the south to flow in. If then for any reason this rise of temperature is not so great the wind from the south will be weak, and the moisture with which it is laden may be deposited almost entirely in the southern provinces and thus create a want of rain in the north. Huntington and Visher, discussing the famines in India in the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries, say: These Indian famines were apparently due to weak summer monsoons caused presumably by the failure of central Asia to warm up as much as usual. The heavier snowfall, and the greater cloudiness of the summer there, which probably accompanied increased storminess, may have been the reason. In 1920 when there was a drought in the Yellow Biver Valley the floods in central China were so severe as to cause destruction of life and property in those provinces. Another factor which possibly contributes to the severity of drought is the occurrence of the dust storms in the early spring months. The dust which settles over the northern provinces is equivalent to a top dressing, and when water is plentiful adds to the fertility of the soil, but the loess formed by this dust is very porous. Water sinks through it very rapidly, and should the rains fail or be less than usual the very dryness of the deposited dust may perhaps increase the disastrous effect of the drought. A great deal has been written about the deforestation of China. The hills for the most part are barren, save for the crop of coarse grass and brush-wood which is cut every year by the fuel gatherers. This destruction of forests has been regarded as one of the causes of drought and flood. Doubtless this has been a factor in the problem, but we cannot overlook the fact that drought and flood occurred in the earliest history of China, when forests still covered the mountains, and that they have occurred at What is China? 31 intervals ever since. I have already referred to the flood of the twenty-third century B.C., and the famine of the eighteenth century B.C. In the year 544 B.C. a treaty signed by a number of Chinese princes stipulated in its fifth article that mutual succor should be given in time of famine.16 This would imply a frequent occurrence of such calamities. Yet at that time these princes maintained each in his own dominions forests for hunting grounds. The suffering from famine can be greatly reduced by the improvement of communications in China. The difficulty and expense of transporting grain from one part of the country to another has greatly increased the distress. 10 See Martin’s “Lore of Cathay,’ ’ p. 441. CHAPTER II THE BEGINNINGS OF CHINA Beyond the Northwestern Sea, west of the Bed Biver, is the King¬ dom of the Forefathers, who lived on grain. . . . Still westward are the Wangmu Mountains, a vast range, where the Kingdom of Wu is located, whose people feed upon the eggs of the wild phoenix and drink sweet dew. Their every wish is gratified as soon as uttered. — The Shan Hai King. The vast area, which has just been described, covers many degrees of latitude and longitude, as has been said. It contains the loftiest mountains in the world and some of the most extensive plains. It is a land of great deserts and of fertile valleys, and one of great variety in soil and climate. In it also dwell many races of people. The dominant race, and the race that outnumbers all the others, put together, is the Chinese. The Chinese, however, were not the earliest inhabitants of China. Neither did they originate as a people in the land after which they are called. Their origin has been a subject of speculation by various writers. The weight of evidence seems to favor the opinion that they had their beginning in central Asia, and that they came into the upper valley of the Yellow River about the beginning of the third millennium B.C. CAUSE OF MIGRATION The cause of their migration from their ancient home in all probability was the progressive desiccation of that region. At the close of the last glacial epoch, as Professor Pumpelly has reminded us,1 the northern coast of Asia was covered by the ice cap. Central Asia was a region of 1 ‘ ‘ Explorations in Turkestan, 7 ’ 1904, Carnegie Institute, Washing¬ ton, D. C., p. xxiv. 32 33 The Beginnings of China great inland seas and of a moist climate. There are six great basins, covering altogether the greater part of a region measuring three thousand miles east and west by sixteen hundred north and south, extending from the west¬ ern border of Manchuria to the western end of the Black Sea.2 During the glacial period these basins were filled with water, and at that time the straits of the Bosphorus did not exist. There was no outlet to the ocean. Upon the shores of these seas there developed the earliest civiliza¬ tion of which man has any knowledge. The region was entirely cut off from the rest of the world. City states apparently were founded whose inhabitants attained to a high degree of culture. In certain mounds of central Asia some of the remains of this ancient civilization have been found. pumpelly ’s exploration In 1903 and again in 1904 Professor Raphael Pumpelly visited the oases of Merv and Anau. At the latter place, near Askabad, excavations were made at two sites. In the shafts that were sunk important cultural remains were found in various strata, the lowest of which is dated by Pumpelly as belonging to the ninth millennium B.C.3, that is to say, 2000 years earlier than any remains found in Egypt or Babylonia. It appears from the discoveries made that the inhabitants, even at the date represented by the lowest layer of the mounds examined, were already culti¬ vators of the soil and were growing wheat and barley, that they lived in houses of sun-dried brick, that they hunted wild animals, and that during the eighth millennium B.C. they domesticated the ox, pig and sheep. Before the fifth millennium B.C. they had added the dog, the camel and the goat.4 By comparison with the results of explorations in other parts of the world it was deduced that these animals were the progenitors of those later introduced into western Asia and into Europe. In other words it seems most prob- 2 Ellsworth Huntington, “The Pulse of Asia, M p. 356. 8 Pumpelly, op. cit., p. 57. 4 Ibid., pp. 38, 39, 51, and 50. 34 The Beginnings of China able that in the region of central Asia, rather than else¬ where, we must look for the cradle of civilization. The domestication of animals led to a differentiation in the peoples of central Asia. Some became shepherds and, as pasture lands were needed, these men moved about with their flocks and herds, while the cultivators of the soil remained in the towns around which their cultivated fields were found. Numerous mounds remain in central Asia still unex¬ plored. Their examination will doubtless shed much more light upon the early history of our race. Professor Pum- pelly expressed the opinion that the oases of central Asia are the fountain of western Asiatic culture. He might have added with equal confidence that they are also the fountain of eastern Asiatic culture. DESICCATION OF CENTRAL ASIA As the ice cap melted and receded in northern Asia the climate gradually changed. It became dryer. This does not appear to have been an uninterrupted process. There were periods of glacial expansion followed by periods of recession.5 There were periods of moisture and abundant vegetation followed by periods of comparative aridity. Evaporation proceeded more rapidly than precipitation or inflow of water. This was due in part, it seems, to the fact that the rain-laden clouds that blow up from the Indian Ocean strike against the loftiest mountains of the world and deposit their moisture chiefly on their southern slopes.6 Thus the region of these great mediterranean seas of central Asia became more and more arid. The seas them¬ selves gradually decreased in volume. The process is still going on. Lake Balkash is much smaller than in the 18th century ; thousands of square miles once covered with water have become dry land. Lob Nor, in Chinese Turkestan, has very considerably decreased within the memory of men still living; the lake has become in great part merely a 5 Ibid., pp. 57-60. 6 Ibid., p. 3. The Beginnings of China 35 marsh. The soil of Turkestan has become so brackish in many places that Chinese peasants who were cultivating it in 1890 have been compelled to remove to other districts.7 Numerous cities in Chinese Turkestan that were busy centers of life and trade two thousand years ago are to-day buried beneath the drifting sand. Sir Aurel Stein, in his three expeditions to that region, has uncovered a few of these ancient places that in the third century of the Chris¬ tian era were still peopled and prosperous.8 The great climatic changes which have converted the once fertile and peopled regions of central Asia into wind¬ swept deserts of moving sands are in all probability the real causes of the migrations, eastward and westward that have taken place. THE SUMERIANS Jastrow, in his “Civilization of Babylonia and Assyria,” says that the Sumerians very possibly entered the Eu¬ phrates Valley from the mountainous regions east or north¬ east of Babylonia.9 He asks “Who were the Sumerians?” and answers thus : We know that they were not Semites; their features as depicted on the monuments reveal a Turanian type, but the term, Tura¬ nian, is too vague to furnish a definite clue. It is not improbable then that the climatic changes that were taking place in central Asia, and which were causing the ancient seats of civilization to be abandoned, may have been the direct or indirect cause of the migration of the Sumerians into the Euphrates Valley. Jastrow tells us, moreover, that the Sumerians brought with them a higher form of civilization than they found in their new home, and that they imposed it upon the in¬ habitants there whom they subdued. The Sumerian writ¬ ten language became the language of the conquered and the origin of the cuneiform writing.10 7 Ellsworth Huntington, Pulse of Asia/’ pp. 219, 266, 267. 8 ‘ 1 The Sand Buried Ruins of Khotan, f ’ p. 405. 9 Op. cit., 106 and 107. 10 i 1 Hebrew and Babylonian Traditions, ’ 1 pp. 9 and 10. 36 The Beginnings of China CHINESE AND SUMERIAN Professor C. J. Ball, of Oxford, has pointed out that the earliest form of this writing was ideographic, and in his work “Chinese and Sumerian, ” he gives a list of 108 ideograms in Sumerian with which he identifies certain old Chinese characters. He publishes, too, a vocabulary of more than a thousand words from the Sumerian which he shows to be substantially identical in sound and meaning with their Chinese equivalents. We are not to conclude from this that Chinese and Sumerian are identical, neither are we necessarily to infer that one borrowed from the other, but merely that the two languages are derived from a common source. That source would seem to be found in central Asia. CHINESE EMIGRANTS About the beginning of the third millennium B.C. a period of excessive aridity began in central Asia, driving many of the more adventurous spirits to seek new homes in less sterile regions. It was at this time that Hsuan- yiian (the name of Huangti, or “the Yellow Emperor”), is believed to have led the first band of emigrants towards China, stopping for a time, it would seem, at the Red River in Northern Kansu. Subsequently he appears to have removed some three hundred miles toward the south-east, where Ch’inchou, on the head waters of the Wei River in eastern Kansu, is associated with his name. Hsuanhua- fu, 125 miles northwest of Peking, also claims to have been his capital, which would indicate a further removal east¬ wards. These pioneers were followed by others at different times. Some of these seem to have followed the Yellow River to its northern bend and pressed eastward to Hsiianhua and then southward to Pingyang, in Shansi, which is the tra¬ ditional site of Yao’s capital. Others settled south of the Yellow River, east of the great bend, some in the valley of the Wei near the modern city of Hsian, and others still in the northern part of Shensi. The Beginnings of China 37 THE CHINESE ARE TOWNSMEN Professor Pumpelly has stated that the inhabitants of the oases of central Asia became divided into city dwellers and nomad herdsmen. It is significant that there is no evidence that the Chinese ever passed through the pastoral stage of social evolution. Like the city dwellers on the oasis of Anau, who had learned to cultivate the cereals although still living in the town, so the Chinese through all their history, so far as it is available, have been rep¬ resented as cultivators of the soil, but also as living in vil¬ lages and towns, and this is a striking characteristic of Chinese agricultural life to-day. The farmers build their houses in villages, around which their fields are located. Isolated farm houses are rare. This will help us to under¬ stand the references in Mencius and elsewhere to the prac¬ tice of having the city, i.e., the inhabited portion, sur¬ rounded by uninhabited fields (chiao), these surrounded by the pastures for the domestic animals and these again by the wilds.11 The “ Royal Regulations” of the Li Ki tell us that in ancient China there were nine provinces, each containing 210 states. These states were held in fief and were of various sizes according to the rank of the ruler. They were, of course, city states, each with its allotment of agricultural land, pasturage and woodland. What was not so allotted was reserved as imperial, or public prop¬ erty.12 TESTIMONY OF THE ANCIENT RECORDS The most ancient records of the Chinese reach back into the third millennium, B.C. They are but fragments but they serve to show that even at that early date the Chinese had a well organized social and political system. The Book of History begins with the reign of Yao, 2356 B.C. If we accept the view generally held that Yao’s capital was in Shansi, we must agree that the Chinese, if they came from any other region into the Yellow River Valley, 11 Mencius, Bk. 1, Part 1, Ch. 4. See Legge’s footnote. 12 Li Ki, Bk. Ill, Sect. 1:8. 38 The Beginnings of China must have brought a high degree of civilization with them. There is nowhere any evidence of their having in Chinese territory lived under stone-age conditions. They were al¬ ready acquainted with the use of metals. The Ruler had a Minister of Works, a Minister of Instruction, a Minister of Crime, and a Director of Religion. They had a very respectable body of astronomical knowledge. One of the principal functions of government was to arrange the cal¬ endar, which required a careful determination of the sol¬ stices and equinoxes. They had also an elaborate ritual for the worship of God, the forces of nature, the spirits of the great dead and their own ancestors. There were three rituals; one for the worship of the Spirits of Heaven, including Shang Ti (i.e., the Supreme Being), another for the Spirits of Earth, and a third for the worship of the Spirits of Men. In another chapter I shall call attention to the resemblance between portions of their ritual and that used by the Hebrews. This does not mean that they bor¬ rowed from the Hebrews, but that both systems probably have a common origin — an origin in central Asian culture. The ancient Chinese of the time of Yao and Shun had also a system of music and a great variety of musical in¬ struments. Others have called attention to the identity of a great body of astronomical lore possessed in common by the Chinese and Chaldeans ; the use of a cycle of 60, of a deci¬ mal system, a musical scale, a system of astrology based upon acquaintance with five planets, five elements, five correlated colors, and a belief in the harmonies of numbers, as well as a multitude of other customs. They had a com¬ mon family law and were both worshipers of their ancestors. The possession of a common culture does not, of course, prove consanguinity, and in fact there is no relationship with Chaldeans to be established. The theory of a western origin of Chinese civilization has been discredited by at¬ tempts to prove that the Chinese are Aryan, as one writer has done, or, as another has affirmed, that the Yellow Emperor came with a band of emigrants from Elam to The Beginnings of China 89 China, and that these founders of the Chinese State did not belong to the Yellow Race but had blue eyes that were wanting in obliqueness. OBJECTIONS TO THE THEORY OF A WESTERN ORIGIN FOR THE CHINESE Dr. Frederic Hirth, in his article on China in the Elev¬ enth Edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica,13 objects to the theory that there is any connection between the Chinese and the people of western Asia, because the human eye is always represented by the Chinese as obliquely placed. He says: In a pair of eyes as shown in the most ancient pictorial or sculptural representations in the West, the four corners may be connected by a horizontal straight line, whereas lines drawn through the eye of one of the oldest Chinese hieroglyphics cross each other at a sharp angle. This does not speak for racial con¬ sanguinity any more than the well-known curled heads and bearded faces of Assyrian sculptures as compared to the straight¬ haired and almost beardless Chinese. These objections by Professor Hirth were particularly di¬ rected, however, against the curious theory, already noticed, that the Chinese forefathers had come to China from the region of Elam in Chaldea. His article was written ap¬ parently before the discovery that the Sumerians were of a different race from the Accadians of the Mesopotamian region^ L. W. King, in his History of Sumer and Accad, says of the Sumerians: The racial affinity of the Sumerians is problematical. The obliquely -set eyes of figures in early relief suggested the theory of a Mongol origin and the Chinese origin of Sumerian roots and the cuneiform character.14 This reference to the obliquely-set eyes at least removes Dr. Hirth ’s objection to any connection between the peoples of eastern and western Asia. Mr. King says the theory of Chinese origin of the Sumerian roots and cuneiform char¬ ts Op. cit., Vol. VI, p. 191. 14 See “A History of Sumer and Accad,” London, 1910, p. 54. 40 The Beginnings of China acters is “too improbable to need refutation. 7 7 It is not claimed, however, that the discoveries of Professor Ball show that the Sumerian writing was derived from China or that Chinese writing was derived from Sumerian, but rather that both had a common origin. Similarly the fact that Sumerians had obliquely-set eyes does not prove that Sumerians were Chinese, but does indicate a possible racial affinity and common origin. The late Kev. John Eoss, in his “Origin of the Chinese People/7 held to the theory that the Chinese originated in China and that their civilization was indigenous. Pro¬ fessor Hirth and Professor Giles agree with that opinion. The principal reason advanced for it is that Chinese his¬ tory contains no record of a migration from other regions, and seems to assume that the earliest events of which it takes note occurred in the Valley of the Yellow Kiver. But the fact that Chinese history says nothing of a migration from other regions into China is at best but negative evi¬ dence, and it must be admitted that in this instance it can have little weight, seeing that the earliest records that are contemporary with the events which they record date from a period a thousand years after the time of the supposed migration. Dr. L. Wieger, a French scholar, tries to establish a southern origin for the Chinese, and one of the reasons given for such a theory is that the earliest ideograms of the Chinese language betray an acquaintance with the tropics. But it may be said in reply that we do not know which ideograms were in existence 3000 years B.C. More¬ over the oldest known ideograms contain pictures, not only of tropical animals and plants, but of others that are known only in the colder regions of the north. They include such animals as the ox, sheep, goat, horse, dog, pig, deer, rat, toad, fish, tortoise, hare, cobra, rhinoceros, elephant, dragon, unicorn and tiger. Among plants mentioned are the willow, apple, melon, clover, wheat, bamboo, grass, hemp, flax, and millet. These are temperate rather than tropical plants. The inscriptions, moreover, date from about 1100 B.C. and the written language was in existence long before that date. The Beginnings of China 41 CHINESE TRADITIONS Despite the contrary opinion expressed by such sino¬ logues as Hirth, Ross and Giles, it can be affirmed that Chinese traditions do indicate a western origin for the Chinese people. Some of these traditions are preserved in alwork called the Shan Hai King or ‘‘Classic of the Mountains and Seas/' a sort of geography of China and neighboring countries. It has been discredited because of the many marvels recorded in it. This work, at the latest, dates from the third century B.C., for it is evidently referred to by the great historian Ssu-ma Ch’ien, who lived in the following century. But it was a work which had evi¬ dently been in existence some time when he wrote, and we may well believe that it is much older than the third century B.C. Wylie thinks it is at least as old as the Chou Dynasty and perhaps older. The Chou Dynasty began in 1122 B.C. The “Family Sayings," an apocryphal work which pre¬ serves many stories of the early life of Confucius, refers to the Shan King or “Classic of Mountains" as having been written under the Shang Dynasty (1766-1122 B.C.), and the “Shan King" is believed to be the original of the Shan Hai King. Ssu-ma Ch’ien would not accept its state¬ ments, because it mentioned so many strange things. Modern critics reject it for the same reason, and it must be admitted that as a serious attempt at descriptive ge¬ ography it certainly is a failure. Nevertheless, considering the period in which it was written, it is not remarkable that it contains many strange tales and substitutes fancy for fact. We have all doubtless seen copies of ancient maps of the world representing the outlying regions as peopled with terrible monsters. In the Middle Ages men believed that the southern ocean was steaming hot and impassable, and that the southern regions of the earth were inhabited by salamanders. They told strange tales, too, of the Magnetic Mountain which would draw the nails out of ships and so wreck them. Columbus met with much opposition from his sailors who had heard frightful talcs of these outermost limits of the world and feared that they 42 The Beginnings of China would never be able to return to their homes.15 Fiske says : “In maps made in the 15th and 16th centuries, in such places as we should label ‘ Unexplored Regions, ’ there were commonly depicted uncouth shapes of ‘Gorgons and Hydras and Chimaeras dire,’ furnishing eloquent testimony to the feeling with which the unknown was regarded.” Ancient Chinese geographers were quite as human as those of two thousand years later in Europe. The greater their ignorance of a region the more bizarre the description that was given of it. If, then, we refuse all credit to works that deal with gnomes and fairies, with demons and strange monsters, we shall be compelled to dispense with many works that, despite their failing, can afford valuable in¬ formation. The Shan Hai King is fairly accurate in its accounts of the regions nearest to the capital of ancient China. Its description of plants and animals is superficial ; the author loves to note the medicinal properties of plants and he exaggerates the mineral resources of most places mentioned. But nothing bizarre is recorded until the writer attempts to describe regions a thousand miles or more from the capital. Of these distant places he probably knew only from travelers’ tales or ancient fables and traditions. He places vast iron fields very accurately in Shansi or northern Honan, but apparently is mistaken as to supplies of copper in that region. Routes of travel are discussed under four general heads. (1) The mountains (of which there were five that guarded the empire, one in each quarter — north, east, south and west — and one in the center) ; (2) the regions within the four seas by which China was believed to be bounded; (3) the region without, or beyond, the seas, and (4) the Great Desert. THE WESTERN MOUNTAINS Except the central region, that guarded by the central mountain and which, of course, was most densely peopled and best known, the region to which most space is given 15 For some of these curious conceptions see Fiske ’s 1 1 Discovery of America/ ’ Vol. I, Ch. 4. The Beginnings of China 43 is the West. Four routes across the region of the Western Mountains are described, and three other chapters deal with the western region within and beyond the seas and with the Great Desert of the north-west. Although these chapters are not free from marvels the accounts which they give of the western borders of China and the region adjoining it on the north-west agree very well with the facts. In its description of southern Shensi the work mentions certain rivers as flowing north into the Wei, and notes the water-shed that divides them from those flowing south into the Han. The first route carries one to the Koko Nor. The second route follows for some distance the northern side of the valley of the Wei. The third leads to the head waters of the Yellow River, notes the Tien Shan, and farther west finds the desert of moving sands, that is to say, the Taklamakan. It rightly describes some of the streams as losing themselves in the sand and others as flowing into a reedy marsh. It mentions this region very correctly as the chief source of jade, and properly places the Kunlun Mountains to the south and south-west of it. The fourth route takes one farther north among white wolves and white foxes, the pine and the cypress, and ends in a fabled mountain, Yen-tzu, where the sun sets in a cave. It is difficult to identify some of the plants and animals from the descriptions given, but those that can be identified are, generally speaking, placed in their proper localities. The golden pheasant in southern Shensi, the yak, musk deer, monkey, rhinoceros and elk in the vicinity of Tibet. The rhinoceros does not exist in China now, but it was found there in ancient times. The wolves and white foxes and the wild sheep are placed in the north and north-west. Three seas are mentioned in this western region; the Western Sea, identified by the Chinese with Koko Nor, and the North-western and South-western Seas, which may be variously identified. The vast desert with its shifting sands and brackish lakes is undoubtedly that of Chinese Turkes¬ tan. Beyond the South-western Sea, the author tells us there is a burning mountain, and at the base of the Kunlun 44 The Beginnings of China Mountains the Weak Water has its source. What volcano is intended is unknown, as none now exists in that region. The Weak Water by some is thought to be ‘a lake, by others a river. The Chinese commentator says of it that the water is too weak to support a goose feather. FABLE AND SUPERSTITION Mingled with the facts are many fancies derived, per¬ haps, from a too fertile imagination, and possibly in part from misunderstood traditions or from ancient fables. A pheasant is seen with a human face. Birds are described which have but one eye and one wing each, so that they fly in pairs, one supporting another. Similar birds, called “love birds, ” are said by fable to have carried the love letters that passed between the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the Fairy Queen. In one region, we are told, there is a wild beast called a chiao, which looks like a dog but has panther markings and horns like an ox and barks like a dog. To see one is a good omen, since it betokens great prosperity. We read of a flying reptile with six feet and four wings whose advent is a fore-runner of drought. Another strange animal has the head of a man and the body of a tiger. On the Kunlun Mountains the Fairy Queen lives in a beautiful garden. Her subjects feast on phoenix eggs and drink sweet dew. Their every wish, once uttered, is im¬ mediately gratified. In the midst of the desert is a kingdom of women who worship their female ancestors, and somewhat farther on a kingdom of husbands. Just north of the kingdom of women is a land whose inhabitants live for eight hundred years and are not considered old. They have human heads but serpent bodies. That is a heavenly land, where the female phoenix sings and her mate dances in accompaniment. Even the wild beasts live in peaceful flocks, and the people drink the sweet dew and eat the eggs of the phoenix. In that distant region one must not shoot an arrow toward the West, for there is the mound, or grave, of The Beginnings of China 45 Huang Ti, the “Yellow Emperor.” Not far away is an¬ other land of very tall men, and beyond them the kingdom of white men, whose hair hangs down their backs and who ride the fei huang, an animal that looks like a fox, but has horns and lives for 2000 years. Here we seem to find an echo of stories told by Herodotus of the swift-riding Scyths, who are descended from a prin¬ cess with a human head but a serpent body. He, too, as well as other ancient writers, described a kingdom of women in this region of central Asia. Pindar tells us of the Hyperboreans, who live to a fabu¬ lous age in a northern land, even to the age of a thousand years — a happy people in a beautiful country, where they feed on fragrant herbs and drink ambrosial dew. But it is in the description of the spirits that inhabit the mountains, the wilderness and the desert that fancy runs riot. There are those with human head and dragon’s body, which is a rather common description of the ancient heroes of China. Many of them are so repre¬ sented on the sculptures of Shantung. Others are rep¬ resented as having a human head but with the body of a horse, tiger stripes and with wings like a bird. Some are evil spirits, others are harmless. Of the latter we are told of one that looks like an ox but has two heads, eight feet, a horse’s tail and a voice that sounds like the whirring of beetles’ wings. In the desert of moving sands the spirits have the appearance of men but with panther tails. In one of the western mountains is a wicked demon named Lilun, which will at once remind us of the Hebrew tradition of Lilith, who also dwelt in the wilderness.16 Because of the marvels which it records and the bizarre creatures which it describes many writers, Chinese and European, have refused to give any consideration to the statements of the Shan Hai King. But we really ought not to be surprised that such tales are preserved in it. Herodotus tells us of men with goats’ feet, as well as of ants as large as foxes which guard the gold in the eastern deserts. He quotes Skylax as authority for the story of 10 See the Hebrew text of Iaaiah xxxiv : 14. 46 The Beginnings of China men with ears so large that they rolled up in them when they went to sleep. This habit of filling the unknown wilds with strange and savage creatures of terrible mien seems to be one that was common to primitive men. Numerous examples will occur to readers of classical literature and to students of anthropology. The centaur, half man half horse, Scylla with her twelve feet and six necks and mouths, the griffons that guard the gold in India, huge birds large as wolves, with feathers black and red but with claws like those of a lion, are instances of such fables, found in our classics. As for the demons and hobgoblins that fill the desert and waste places, classical and Biblical literature, as well as the folk-lore of all lands, record this as the common belief of men. Yet we do not on that account refuse to profit by the writings of the ancients. Fa Hsien, a Buddhist monk, crossed the Taklamakan Desert in A.D. 399, and speaks of it as inhabited by evil demons,17 yet we give much credit to Fa Hsien ’s account of his visit to India. Hsiiang Chuang, another Buddhist monk, crossed the same desert of shifting sands twice in the seventh century, and tells how he ‘ ‘ encountered all sorts of demon shapes and strange goblins.”18 Marco Polo, in the thirteenth century, also crossed this desert, and re¬ peats the story of wicked spirits that seek to lead the traveler astray.19 That such tales fill the Shan Hai King then is but evi¬ dence, not of its Taoistic origin in the fourth century A.D., as one writer holds, but rather of its very primitive char¬ acter and very ancient origin. Indeed if the work had been produced in the fourth century A.D. it would be difficult to explain its want of more complete information concern¬ ing the countries of the south and west, for China had 600 years earlier entered into treaty relations with 36 states of central Asia, and for 300 years had been acquainted with the eastern part of the Roman Empire. For a hun- 17 Fa Hsien; Chap. I. See Legge’s Translation, p. 12. is BeaHs Translation, pp. 21, 22. is Marco Polo, Cordier’s edition, Scribner, 1905, Vol. II, p. 197. The Beginnings of China 47 dred years sea-borne commerce had been carried on through Canton. It would have been strange then to have a book appear which showed so little knowledge of all the foreign intercourse that had been going on. These added to the reasons already given emphasize the early origin of the book. VALUE OF THE SHAN HAI KING The value of the work for us lies in the fact that it places beyond the North-western sea many of the earliest events of which Chinese tradition takes notice. Other events are recorded as having place beyond the Western Sea and on the borders of the Desert of Moving Sands. In the midst of the Great Desert is the Sun-and-Moon Mountain, the axis of the sky. The gate of the heavens is there, into which the sun and moon retire. “In a corner of the desert beyond the North-western Sea, ’ 9 we are told, 1 1 is the Broken Mountain. 9 ’ This is the north-western pillar of the sky which, a mythical tale tells us, was broken by Kungkung in his rebellion against the Emperor. His aim was said to be to let down that corner of the sky so that the waters above the firmament would flood the earth. In the same region lived Nukua, said by tradition to have been a sister of Fuhsi, the inventor of numbers and the founder of the Chinese state, who established his throne in 2852 B.C. But Nukua was really a successor of Fuhsi, and is credited with repairing the damage done by Kung¬ kung and his flood. There, too, lived Shennung in 2737 B.C., worshiped to-day as the patron saint of agriculture and the first teacher of medicine. There was the kingdom of Hsiianyuan, better known as Huang Ti, i.e., the “Yellow Emperor,” who ascended the throne in 2697 B.C., and there was the home of Houchi, who first taught the people to cultivate the grains. There on the Kunlun Mountains was the home of Wangmu, generally called the Ilsi Wang Mu, that is to say the Western Wang Mu, which is translated Western 48 The Beginnings of China Royal Mother, otherwise the Fairy Queen. Wangmu was more probably the name of a local chieftain or of a small state in the region of the Kunlun Mountains, but in trans¬ literating the name the Chinese used the two characters, wang for “ royal” and mu for “mother.” Later the ad¬ jective hsi, meaning “west” was added, and out of this grew all the legends respecting the Fairy Queen, the Jade Palace, the lake of gems and the peach of immortality. Even the strange and incredible tales which the Shan Hai King tells us of this north-western region bear wit¬ ness to the importance which that distant country had in the estimation of the Chinese. Fancy grew busy with the race memories and shed upon the original tradition the transfiguring light of romance. All this suggests that it is there that we should look for the childhood home of this ancient people. MIGRATION OF HUANG TI Other ancient records that are also tinged with romance but probably have a basis of fact tell us that King Mu, who reigned in China in the tenth century B.C., paid a visit to the western ruler Wangmu, and that, standing on an elevation in the Kunlun Mountains, he looked down upon the ruins of an ancient palace of Huang Ti. This story may be based upon a passage in the Shan Hai King which tells us that Huang Ti had a secondary capital in that region, identified by some as in the north-western part of modern Kansu. This would seem to indicate a migra¬ tion of Huang Ti from his ancient home “beyond the North-western Sea.” Several places in the province of Kansu are associated with his name, and Ssu-ma Ch ’ien, the Herodotus of China, locates his capital at Hsiianhuafu, about 125 miles north¬ west of Peking. These facts have given rise to a belief that Huang Ti came into China from the north-west, and that he led a band of immigrants which moved gradually from place to The Beginnings of China 49 place until they had covered the thousands of miles that lay between their ancient home and Hsiianhuafu. OTHER MIGRATIONS There were many successive waves of immigration from central Asia southeastwards into China, some before the time of Huang Ti and some after that date. Three hundred and fifty years after the traditional date of his accession we find the capital of China near the north bank of the Yellow River 400 miles south of Hsiianhuafu. The emperor then reigning surrendered his throne to a man named Shun, who belonged to a tribe called the I that had settled, according to the statements of Mencius, in what we know to-day as Shantung. This tribe may possibly have come to China before the days of Huang Ti, but the people appear to have been related to the Chinese. During the reign of Shun, who took the throne in 2255 B.C., there arose a feudal lord nam§d Shang, who had settled in the valley of the Wei in modern Shensi, about 400 miles west of Shun’s capital. The Shangs also were apparently Chinese, but had come into Shensi much later than Huang Ti. Subsequently they, too, moved farther eastward and established a state in what we know to-day as Honan Province. From the last mentioned locality they attacked and overthrew the reigning house of China in 1766 B.C. The Shangs in turn were followed in the valley of the Wei by another tribe known as the Chou. This tribe, too, had come from the north-west. They claimed connection with the same ancestors as Huang Ti, and were no doubt related to that branch of the Chinese family. Their tradi¬ tions alleged descent from Houchi, the man who, according to Chinese legend, first taught the cultivation of the grains. Among his descendants was a chieftain who led his people to the region we call eastern Kansu, to the place known to-day as Ch’ingyang. From this place the tribe after¬ wards removed to the western part of modern Shensi, the Pinchou of to-day. There this tribe of Chous flourished 50 The Beginnings of China for a time, but was attacked repeatedly by the Hsiungnu, ancestors of the Huns who over-ran Europe in the Middle Ages. Because of these attacks the Chous moved to the south side of the river Wei to the modern prefecture of Fenghsiang. But they were again subject to attack by the Hsiungnu and migrated again to the vicinity of the present city of Hsianfu. While located at this place they became a powerful state, and one of their chieftains organ¬ ized a league of eight western tribes, which, in 1122 B.C., moved eastward and overturned the Shang Dynasty. We have here then an example of the manner in which these movements of population were taking place. In a thousand years or more the descendants of Ilouchi had gradually moved south-eastward a distance of 1500 or 2000 miles. They pressed down upon the Chinese who had pre¬ ceded them and eventually conquered and replaced them. They became the rulers of China for nearly 900 years of the most important formative period of their history, the period which gave to the world Lao Tzu, Confucius, Mencius, and Chuang Tzu, as well as many less noted philosophers and statesmen. This was the period, too, in which Chinese social and political institutions became fixed and definite. The Chous, however, were also subjected to continual pressure from the northwest. They resisted more success¬ fully than their predecessors had done, but in 249 B.C. they, and all Chinese had to yield to the domination of a new power, which had gradually grown up on the north¬ western frontier, in the very region where the Chous, and still earlier the Shangs, had once established themselves. The new dynasty was known as Ch’in, from which the European world obtained the name “ China. ” It was a short-lived dynasty, but its greatest emperor, Shih Huang Ti, subdued the Hsiungnu, built the Great Wall, and brought all south China and Annam nominally under his sway. These conquests were not permanent, however, for the Hsiungnu continued to be a thorn in the side of the Chinese for many centuries, sometimes as unwilling and turbulent vassals, sometimes as open and avowed enemies. In the south the Cantonese and Annamese for a time re- The Beginnings of China 51 gained their independence, but later under the Han Dy¬ nasty, in 110 B.C., became again a part of the Chinese empire. GROWTH OF THE CHINESE STATE At this time the Chinese state included all of China Proper north of the Yangtze River and the coast between the mouth of the Yangtze and Canton. This advance had been a slow but steady process, and had been accompanied by the absorption of many other tribes that were already in the land when the Chinese arrived. The earliest inhabitants of China were probably a race of small, dark-skinned, curly-headed savages, related to the Negritos or, perhaps, identical with them. They were fol¬ lowed by the Miao, mentioned repeatedly in the classical history of China as a people with whom the Chinese colonists had to contend. The Miao call themselves Meng. They perhaps are of Hindu origin and connected with the people known in Indo China as Mon Khmer. The Miao, as they spread over the country, drove the Negritos before them. The Negritos passed into the Indo- Chinese Peninsula, where they are known as the Selon. Some of them perhaps reached the Philippines. The Miao in turn were driven southward by the Shans and other related peoples, such as the Karens and Tibeto-Burmans, and to-day are found in the mountains of south-western China and most probably also in Indo-China, where they are called the Mon Khmer. Many other tribes of the earliest inhabitants of China were pushed south-eastwards to the coast. It is well known that along the coast from the mouth of the Yangtze River to Canton there are a great many different dialects spoken, some so unlike that the people can not understand one another. Yet all these dialects, and the languages of Indo China also, excepting those of the Negritos and Mon Khmer, «* • are tonal languages and are related one to another. The pressure which forced these tribes to the south¬ eastern coast and drove the Miao to the mountains came 52 The Beginnings of China from the north-west. The successive waves of Chinese im¬ migrants drove the earlier colonists to the south. These earlier colonists, such as the Shans, pushed the Miao and other tribes still further south, and the Miao drove the aboriginal Negritos out of the country. The Shans were the progenitors of the Siamese and per¬ haps of the Cantonese also. Many were eventually pushed down into the Peninsula, where they subdued, and to a cer¬ tain extent, displaced, the Selung or Negritos and the Mon Khmer. Others of the Shans remained in China, some of whom for a long time refused to be absorbed. They estab¬ lished a kingdom in south-western China about A.D. 345 which was not overthrown until the 13th Century of the Christian Era, when it was subdued by the Mongols. The Karens also remained in China until the latter part of the 8th Century A.D. when they passed into Burmah. As a part of the same movement of peoples from north to south we have the Tibeto-Burmans migrating from eastern Tibet into Burmah. They came, so we are told, from the Tien Shan, that range of mountains which divides Chinese Turkestan into northern and southern sections. About the year 600 B.C., Sir George Scott tells us,20 they were located in the valley of the Irawaddy, from which place they had driven out the Mon Khmer. Subsequently they themselves were forced to follow the Mon Khmer into Burmah. A similar story is told of Cambodia, on the eastern side of the Indo-Chinese Peninsula. Colquhoun mentions six tribes that are found there, which before 215 B.C. were located in the Chinese provinces of Kuangtung and Kuangsi, and were forced out of China in two migrations.21 Mr. A. W. Graham in his “Handbook of Siam” says: - It is now the very generally accepted theory that, during the last few thousand years, Siam, and in fact the whole of Further India, has been subjected to periodical flooding, by successive waves of humanity, set moving by natural or social upheavals of population far to the north in Central Asia. We may imagine that the Negrito population of Siam or rather of that part of 20 Handbook of Burmah. 21 “Amongst the Shans, ” by Archibald Colquhoun, p. 46. 53 The Beginnings of China what now constitutes Siam which was then above the sea, leading their primitive existence through countless generations, their con¬ dition scarcely advanced beyond that of their celt-wielding fore¬ runners, until there came down upon them one of these great waves of population which broke them up, thrust them aside into the remoter hills, all but exterminated them, and finally set¬ tled itself down in their place. This irresistible tide of humanity was the advance down all the rivers of Further India of the tribe which constituted what is conveniently called the Mon-Annam Family, the savage ances¬ tors of the Mon, or Talaing, the Khmer, or Cambodian, and the Annamese, civilized races of yesterday and to-day, and of a host of lesser tribes which still persist in quasi-barbarism. Mr. H. R. Davies in a volume called “Yunnan, the Link between India and the Yangtze/ ’ says : Whatever the pure Chinese may have been five thousand years ago, it seems historically certain that the Chinese of the present day have grown up out of the gradual welding into one empire of Tartar tribes from the north and of Mon-Khmer, Shan and possibly to some extent of Tibeto-Burman races who were origin¬ ally in occupation of much of the country that has grown into China. It seems plain from these facts that the movements of population in Eastern Asia have been from north-west to south-east and from north to south, and not vice versa as some would have us believe. It is not unreasonable to sup¬ pose that the real cause of these movements was the great physical change that had taken place in central Asia, and which has caused a number of migrations both east and west, some of them in historic times, as already stated. The Chinese as we know them to-day, then, are a mixture of a number of tribes, for the most part related, whose earliest seats were in that region of central Asia where man first became a civilized being.22 22 The views presented in this chapter were first set forth by the writer in a paper read before the Anthropological Society of Wash¬ ington, D. C., in April, 1918, and published in the Journal of Physical Anthropology for April-June, 1918, pp. 183-211. The whole subject has been gone over anew, however, in preparation for this volume. CHAPTER III THE FAMILY Be filial and fraternal and so give weight to human relationships. K’anghsi; “ The Sacred Edict.* * Union with wife and child is sweet, Sweet as when lutes in concert blend; *Tis when united brothers meet That mirth and concord have no end. The Shih King ; translated by Jennings. The social unit in China is not the individual but the family. Family solidarity is nowhere better illustrated. There are other countries where family ties are strong and where great regard is paid to kinship, but none where these characteristics are more marked or have such far-reaching effects.1 This statement is true, generally speaking, of all parts of China, but it is particularly in the southern provinces that the kindred are most thoroughly organized and the domina¬ tion of the family — not to say its tyranny — over the indi¬ vidual is most pronounced. In the south of China, due perhaps to the infrequency of invasion by alien tribes, the family seems to be more per¬ manently attached to a single locality and the ties of kinship stronger and more extended than in the north where inva¬ sion, strife and capture have so often uprooted the family and dispersed its members. At any rate the clans are larger and far more powerful in the south than in the north and much more disposed to tyrannize over their members and to unite in defense of the kindred. This solidarity of the Chinese family manifests itself in all the relations of life. It is shown in the organization of 1 An excellent discussion of the Family of the Chinese, by P. G. von Mollendorff, will be found in the Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, N. S. vol. xxvii, No. 2, 1892-93. 54 The Family 55 the kindred. The father is the head of his own family and, under the old regime, possessed the power of life and death over his children. This power was identical with the patria potest as of the ancient Romans. There was no limit in the age of the son over whom this power might be exercised. Even though the children might themselves be parents and advanced in years, the father, so long as he lived, possessed this power of putting his unfilial children to death. But, although the father would not be punished for killing an unfilial child, the law presumed that in case of unfilial con¬ duct the father would bring accusation against his child before a court, rather than take the law into his own hands. This was the practice in that ancient period, the 6th cen¬ tury B.C. when Confucius himself served as Chief Justice in his native state. It is said that a father brought before him a disobedient son for punishment involving the death penalty. Confucius imprisoned both father and son, and when remonstrated with by his Prince replied: “When those of an older generation fail in their duty towards their juniors, it is not right for them to ask that these juniors be put to death. This father has not taught his son to be filial.” He refused to execute the law, and subsequently released both father and son. The old penal code of the Manchus provided that if a man, upon a false accusation by a third person, put a son or grandson to death when such son or grandson was innocent of wrong doing, the person guilty of the false ac¬ cusation should be punished with seventy blows of the heavy bamboo and sent into exile for a year and a half, and the parent guilty of the killing should be sentenced to sixty blows of the heavy bamboo and a year’s exile within his native province. This was light punishment for murder. Apparently it was only because the accused son or grandson were innocent of the offense charged that any punishment at all was inflicted. Since the Republic was established a new criminal code has been adopted. The new code does not specifically affirm the possession by parents of the power of life and deatli over children, but it does so by implication; since it pro- 56 The Family vides that one may, without committing an offence, use force in resisting an attack upon himself, except it be an attack by a lineal ascendant. In such cases he may forcibly resist only if the attack upon himself be one of excessive violence by a step-mother, or one of excessive violence upon a woman by her husband’s ascendants, or an attack by an ascendant when such an ascendant is “ in a state that shows apparent violation of the legal relationship.” 2 The authority of ascendants is recognized also in the provisions for increase of the prescribed penalties if the offense be one against a lineal ascendant.3 The solidarity of the family is recognized in the exemp¬ tion from punishment of one who appropriates to his own use, or injures, property belonging either to an ascendant or a descendant, and in the leniency shown by the new code towards offenses committed against the property of other relatives.4 Dr. Wang Chung-hui, recently Chief Justice of China, in a pamphlet published not long since entitled “Law Reform in China,” points out that the new code is based upon the Continental legal system rather than upon Anglo- American principles; because, as he says, “The Anglo- American law emphasizes the individual as against the fam¬ ily, while the Continental system inherits something of the Roman familia. The unit of Chinese society being the family, reform naturally seeks to preserve this institution and to modernize it as far as possible after the Continental idea.” 5 Under the Empire the power of the father could not be exercised upon a son in the service of the Government with¬ out the permission of the Emperor. A daughter, once mar¬ ried, no longer belongs to her father’s house, but to that of her husband. A divorced woman, however, returns to her father. Having the power of life and death, the father 2 See New Penal Code of China, Chap. II, Art. XV, and Amend¬ ment to the Code, Art I. 3 See Chapters XX, XXVI and XXVIII. 4 See Chapter XXXII, Articles 367, 377 ahd 387. 5 Op. cit., p. 15. The Family 57 could under the old Manchu code sell his children into slavery, if he so desired, but this law was modified by the Manchus themselves in 1910, to the effect that in times of distress parents might be allowed to sell their children into bondage for a term of years only, and with the right of redemption under certain circumstances. But while no father could legally be punished for killing an unfilial son, such deeds, of course, were rare. The affec¬ tion of a father for his children is sufficient in most cases to prevent his injuring them. In addition to this there is the dread of public opinion. The neighbors would frown upon a man that could be so cruel as to kill his own child. INFANTICIDE It is not strictly true, as just said, that parental affection would prevent the killing of a child. At least it does not apply among all classes with regard to infant children. In some parts of China infanticide has been quite common in past years among the very poor. In such cases it was the girl babies that were destroyed. The pressure of population upon subsistence was so great in some regions that one more mouth to feed meant suffering for the whole family. An¬ other reason for the practice was that in the districts where it occurred the female population outnumbered the male because of emigration. There was, therefore, slight chance for the making of a marriage that might recompense the parents for the outlay made in the upbringing of the child. The girl is not usually looked upon as an economic asset by the family, but rather as a liability. She is to be married into another family, so that all that is spent for her is spent for the benefit of another family. Her bridal equip¬ ment, too, is a heavy burden, but this is covered in a large measure by the money payment made by the family of her prospective husband. Infanticide, however, is not so common now as it was some years ago. Public opinion frowns upon it. It was not often that a boy was exposed by his parents, 58 The Family for he would grow up to labor for the family and increase its wealth, and he would carry on the line and keep up the sacrifices to the ancestors. Once, however, I had the experi¬ ence of rescuing a baby boy whom I found in a coffin at the gate of a cemetery in Nanking. The coffin lid had been put on, but, as I passed I thought I heard a sound from the inside. I opened the coffin and found the wasted form of a little child who had long been ill. I carried him to a hos¬ pital, where he was cared for, but he died some three days later. Under the old code of the Manchus it was forbidden to expose a child over three years of age, but this very prohibi¬ tion shocks one, for it implied that children under three years of age might legally be exposed. Some mitigation of this practice was brought about by Buddhist teaching, which forbids the taking of any life, and by Buddhist charity which provided foundling asylums for children whom their parents could not support. In some districts where the Christian missionaries have labored they have done much, both by teaching and by charity, to prevent such a sacrifice of child life. Although the father had the power of life and death over his children, if he were himself a younger son, he was subject to the commands of his elder brother, who assumed the headship of the family upon the death of the parents. INHERITANCE Sometimes the family property remains undivided for several generations. One finds grandparents, parents, sons and grandsons and their several families all living in one home. The home, in such a case, is a group of buildings gathered around several courts. Among the well-to-do each husband and wife will have a house and court for them¬ selves and their children, but enclosed within the same com¬ pound as the other brothers, and cousins. You can some¬ times find a whole village consisting almost entirely of but one clan. The names of such villages often indicate this, The Family 59 as the “Wang Chia Ts’un/7 or village of the Wang family; the ‘ ‘ Cheng Chia Tun, 7 7 or the hamlet of the Cheng family ; the “Yang Chia Tien/7 or the farmstead of the Yang family. When the property is divided, the sons, whether by the principal wife or by a concubine, all inherit the fathers7 estate, share and share alike. In the case of the death of a son leaving children, these children divide equally among them the share that would have fallen to their father. Thus it happens that many farms in China have become divided into minute portions, sometimes so small that a single por¬ tion is no longer sufficient for the support of a family. Although the property is divided among the sons, the widow holds a certain right of administration and has a claim to a sum sufficient to pay her funeral expenses. A concubine, however, has no claim upon the estate. In practice, it seems that so long as the mother lives her children do not deprive her of the right to live in the old home, and even the concubines are cared for out of respect to the father. Filial piety will not allow less than this to be done. Even a son by adoption enjoys the same rights as a son by blood. So long as a male heir exists, no female heir has any claim upon the estate. It is to be noted, too, that even the property brought by a wife at the time of her marriage remains in the possession of the husband, although the marriage may have been dissolved. So strict is the law with regard to the equal division of the property among all the sons that a case is on record in which the will of the father leaving to the eldest son a larger share than given to the others was set aside by the court, and the property equally divided, although the contesting claimant was the son of a concubine. Customary law is not the same in all districts, however, for in some the eldest son obtains a double portion, because responsible for the upkeep of the worship in the ancestral temple. The guardianship of infants is the duty of the next of kin, but a wife will continue the guardianship exercised by her husband, if the latter should die. If, however, the wife desires to be relieved of this a guardian will be appointed 60 The Family by the blood relatives, and relatives by marriage have no voice in the matter. THE CLAN The wealthy clans maintain large ancestral temples, in which the tablets of the deceased ancestors are preserved, and where sacrifices are offered to their spirits at stated intervals, particularly at the winter solstice. Clan meetings are held in these temples, in which the spirits of the dead may be presumed to participate, al¬ though unseen. The whole family in heaven and on earth may be considered as reunited. At such meetings important matters pertaining to the clan are discussed and settled in family council, for, while the father may possess arbitrary power over his children, the head of the clan does not ordi¬ narily exercise such autocratic power over the clan. He consults with the members of the clan. In the clan council all families of the clan are on an equality. If a man has been guilty of unfilial conduct or done something to bring discredit upon the clan, the assembled members of the clan may decide to punish him by removing his name from the register, thus depriving him of all right to participate in the inheritance of his family. They may even condemn him to death and execute the sentence. A case occurred a few years ago in which a man was expelled from the clan for becoming a Christian. The Government does not interfere in such matters. Indeed the law itself provides for the punishment of unfilial conduct. This reminds us of the Law of Moses which punished with death any one who should curse his father or mother. (Exodus xxi: 17.) The Manchu Government not only did not interfere with the punishment by a clan of its members, but it was even compelled to tolerate war by one clan upon another. In southern China, where, as I have said, the clans are stronger than in the north and more compactly organized, one often heard of clan feuds, which reminded him of the mountaineer feuds of eastern Kentucky. The clans are so powerful in their own districts that the Government in the past has not been able to put an end to such private wars. The Family 61 VICARIOUS PUNISHMENT The solidarity of the family is shown, furthermore, by the responsibility admitted by the clan or family for the deeds of any one of its members. If a man owes a debt, it is not canceled by his death and the seizure of all his property; his relatives can be called upon to pay the bal¬ ance due. If a debtor absconds, some member of his family may be arrested and imprisoned in his stead, for imprison¬ ment for debt has not yet been abolished in China. And once in prison, a man does not get out until, as the Scrip¬ ture says, he has paid the “ uttermost farthing.” This responsibility of a family for the conduct of its members was strongly insisted upon by the old Penal Code of the Manchus, which however was a slight improvement on that of the Ming Dynasty that preceded it. The Manchu Code was revised by Edict of the old Empress Dowager in 1905, and vicarious punishment for the most part abolished, but only in respect of criminal offenses. Under that old code a serious crime committed by a man automatically involved in punishment all his own family and his paternal relatives to the third degree. If a man were convicted of treason, for instance, he himself was put to death by the slow process of slicing. His father, his grandfather, his brothers, his father’s brothers and their sons, as well as his own sons, if over sixteen years of age, were all put to death. His sons or his uncles’ sons under sixteen years of age were sold into slavery (after castration), and his wife, mother, paternal grandmother, paternal aunts, and his own unmarried and unbetrothed daughters were also sold as slaves.6 Although this severe punishment of a man’s relatives shocks us, it was but little more cruel than that which pre¬ vailed under British law so late as the early part of the last century. High treason in Great Britain was then punished by attainder of blood and property, which made the criminal an outlaw, deprived him of the right to inherit or transmit property, and thus involved his family in the e Ta Ch’ing Lii Li, Vol. XXIII; Section on Rebellion, fol. i. 62 The Family punishment. In addition to this the guilty man was hanged, but before he was dead was cut down, placed upon a wattle mat, dragged to a cross-road and there disem¬ boweled, beheaded, dismembered and the four quarters sus¬ pended, one at each corner of the roads.7 In 1901 the American Government, when settling the “ Boxer’ 7 troubles interceded for the relatives of Chang Yin-huang, who had been accused of plotting against the Manchu Government while he was Chinese Minister at Washington. The Minister was put to death while being sent into exile, his sentence having been commuted at the request of the American Government. Despite the promise to spare his life he was treacherously murdered. His property had been seized and his sons were in serious dan¬ ger, when advantage was taken of the settlement of the “ Boxer” claims to rescue them from the threatened pun¬ ishment. INDIVIDUALISM Now, while Chinese law looks upon the family as the social unit, modern Western civilization emphasizes the importance of the individual — asserts his rights and points out his duties. It is all a part of the general progress of democratic ideas. The contact between the East and the West, which has produced so many serious effects in China, has brought these two systems into conflict. In a dembcracy men must learn to think for themselves, if their system of government is to be a success. The Chinese classics, themselves, recognize that self-control is the root of good government, for the Chung Yung says: “He that would rule the state must first learn to govern his own family, and he that would govern his family must first learn to control himself.” But while there were a great many democratic principles approved in theory in China before the advent of the European, it was the com¬ ing of the Western man that stirred them into activity. 7 Blackstone, Book IV : Sec. 91 and Sec. 429. The Family 63 The Christian missionary, especially, emphasized the re¬ sponsibility of the individual for his own conduct, and the worth of the individual soul. He insisted that each man should do what he believed to be right, whether his family approved or not, that No man can save his brother’s soul, Or pay his brother’s debt, as Matthew Arnold has said. Such teaching, as the Scrip¬ ture declares, tended to set ‘ ‘ the mother against the daugh¬ ter and the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law, and to make a man’s foes those of his own household.” The missionary refused to excuse a man because he fol¬ lowed the faith of his fathers or obeyed the injunctions of his clan. This was one cause of the hostility of the Chinese to the missionary. We must, I think, admit the advantage of this individualism in the long run to the progress of the race. Progress is impossible under the rule of the dead hand. It is only by breaking away from the traditions of our fathers that we can improve upon our fathers. This is true of ourselves as well as of the Chinese. We ought to remember our fathers with reverence and be grateful for all that they did, but our real loyalty is best shown, not by literal adherence to their doctrines or exact imitation of their practices, but by devotion to the truth. This is the only guiding star. He that discovers a new truth lights a new star in the firmament to guide men through the night of ignorance. The backward look is fatal to progress. He that puts his hand to the plough and looks back will plough a very crooked furrow. Under the old regime in China a man looked back with reverence to the beliefs and practices of his ancestors and dared not change from them. Ancestor worship confirmed and em¬ phasized this tendency. With the introduction of a new religion and of democratic ideals, the power of tradition was weakened and the tyranny of the family was lessened. This, however, has led to a moral crisis in China. 64 The Family i ANCESTOR WORSHIP AND MORALS Filial piety is the strongest sentiment experienced by the Chinese. The worship of his ancestors is his religion. The acceptance of their faith and the observance of the rites as enjoined by them is held to be a solemn duty. The ethical teaching received from them is his moral law. This filial piety, then, affords the strongest sanction of the moral law of which he has any knowledge. Take away his rever¬ ence for his ancestors and what is there to bind him to moral living ? The family solidarity meant and still means to most Chinese moral living. We know, of course, that ethical standards find their sanction not in the teachings of any ancestor, nor in the regulations of any clan. Neither do they find it in the teachings of any book of ethics. They are broad based upon the law of our being — proved by the experience of a thou¬ sand generations, for moral precepts have a natural sanc¬ tion. The ordinary Chinese, however, does not know this. Therefore, some Chinese statesmen have feared the intro¬ duction of Western education and Western political ideas. The Viceroy Chang Chih-tung, when he collaborated with the Minister of Education, Chang Po-hsi, in preparing the regulations for the Public School System introduced in 1904, emphasized the importance of insisting upon the ob¬ servance in the schools of the Confucian religion, for “otherwise/’ he said, “the morals of the students would deteriorate. ’ ’ We have heard similar statements from our own pes¬ simistic prophets, who have feared the teaching of certain sciences in our schools, lest the foundations of faith should be shaken. Professor Goldwin Smith some years ago in the Atlantic Monthly foretold a coming moral interregnum because of the effect of the evolutionary philosophy upon religious belief, but it has not materialized. In a somewhat similar frame of mind, Liang Ch ’i-ch ’ao, the foremost scholar of China to-day, deprecates the growth of individualism among his people because of the weaken- TABLET TOWER, PRIVATE CEMETERY. The Family 65 ing of the family bonds which he thinks essential to the morals of the rising generation. In the long run, however, these things correct them¬ selves. There is no real safety except in following the truth. “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free, ’ ’ is a declaration of wide application. It is never safe to bottle up the truth ; there is danger of an explosion. If you try to persuade young people not to investigate cer¬ tain branches of learning, lest their faith be shaken, you at once sow doubt as to the value of a faith that can be shaken. The better way is to show that moral precepts do not rest upon any insecure foundation, but are grounded in nature and the eternal. So, while there are young Chinese with lax morals who have lost confidence in the wisdom of their fathers, the remedy is in making them see that the requirements of the moral law are essential to the existence of society. Moral precepts are binding, not because my father said so, nor because some sacred book says so, but the sacred book says so and my fathers said so, because the experience of the race had found that they were binding. This acceptance of the family as the social unit and the habit of submitting for a hundred generations and more to the authority of the clan, has had, of course, some very noticeable effects upon the character, the customs and the political ideals of the race. For one thing, it has bred in the Chinese a great re¬ spect for authority, a tendency to obey those in power. As a rule the Chinese, wherever you find them, are quiet, orderly and law-abiding. For another thing, it has fostered in them an undue rev¬ erence for the past, and made the Chinese the most con¬ servative of all races, the race most unwilling to change. When I first went to China I tried to rent a house. The owner desired to have the money that the rent would bring him, but was doubtful of the propriety of renting to a foreigner. He consulted his ancestors by casting lots in the hall before the tablets of his fathers. The lot was unfavorable and he, therefore, refused to let me have the 66 The Family house. So the dead were still ruling the living. This rev¬ erence has been an obstacle to all progress. It has not only opposed religious propaganda, but sanitation, plague pre¬ vention, and all educational and political reform. Happily now this conservatism is breaking down because family solidarity is being given up. FAMILY GOVERNMENT AND DEMOCRACY The recognition of family unity and authority would seem at first sight to encourage the adoption of a monar¬ chical and autocratic form of government. To a certain ex¬ tent this is true, and the family has been made the pattern of government. The Emperor stood to his people in loco 'parentis. The people were regarded as his children and taught to reverence and obey him. The patria potestas was his. He could do as he liked with his children, and they ought not to murmur. The local mandarin, too, the representative of the Emperor, was called the “fu-mu- kuan,” that is to say, the father-mother-official. This tendency towards autocracy, however, was greatly modified by another feature of family government, the clan council. The head of the clan was not an autocrat. All heads of families in the clan participated in the discussion and decision. The custom of meeting together to discuss clan affairs, the practice of settling these affairs themselves without appeal to the State, and the tendency even to ignore and over-ride the political authorities by executing judgment upon an offender and by waging private war — all this tended to produce in the family as a unit a feeling of independence and a capacity for self-government. This tendency towards democratic feeling and action seems to have been stronger than that towards submission to autocracy, for it is in the south where the family is most thoroughly organized and the clans most powerful that we find democratic sentiment most generally nourished and expressed. In the north, moreover, where family senti¬ ment is weaker, we see a willingness to submit to autocratic The Family 67 rule. This is not difficult to explain. In the south of China the individual submitted to the rule of his own clan, and was trained to look upon the authority of his clan as superior to that of the State whenever there was conflict between them. But he also participated in the councils of the clan, and he thus became a ready believer in Dopular government. In the north the authority of the father was admitted, but there was less family consultation, fewer well organized clans, and consequently less experience in settling matters among themselves. Moreover the willingness to submit to the control of a monarch was daily inculcated by the nearness of the Imperial Court and the experience of its power and dread of its tyranny. The pomp of the court, too, bred an admiration for monarchical forms. There are other reasons for the differences between the people of the north and the south of China, of which mention will be made hereafter. This difference in regard to the organization and authority of the family ought to be borne in mind when we have our attention called to the present struggle in China between the extreme liberals at Canton and the con¬ servatives at Peking. Bertha Phillpotts, in her ‘ ‘ Kindred and Clan, ’ ’ says of the clan in Europe: “Where adhesive kindreds persist into the later Middle Ages, there the peasant or townsman tends to be free. Where, on the other hand, the solidarity of the kindred disappears early, there the liberty of the individual suffers and seignorial rights make their appearance. ’ ’ 8 This statement is equally true of the history of the clan in China. RELATIONSHIP Relationship is frequently defined in terms of the mourn¬ ing regulations. This is the practice in the old Penal Code. The nearest of kin are those for whom the heaviest mourning is worn, and nearness is measured by gradations s Op. cit., p. 254. 68 The Family in mourning. For one’s father a man wears until after the funeral a dress of coarse sackcloth with frayed edges. This degree of mourning is called Chan Shuai. For such relatives one continues to mourn for three years. For one ’s mother a man wears second mourning. Until after burial this consists of a sackcloth less coarse than first mourning, and the garments have finshed edges. This is called Ch’i Shuai. Relatives of the third degree are those for whom the mourning is worn nine months. The next nearest are those for whom mourning is worn five months, and the fifth degree of relationship is expressed by the term for fifth degree mourning, that for three months. Relatives of the same surname are regarded as of far greater importance than those of another name, and reck¬ oned correspondingly closer of kin. The Chinese language is rich in terms defining relationship; there are different names for relatives on the mother ’s side from those applied to corresponding relatives on the father’s side, and relation¬ ship through a daughter is unlike that through a son. The Chinese recognize three social ties as of the greatest importance; those between ruler and subject, between hus¬ band and wife, and between father and son. These are at times increased to five by the addition of two more; those between older and younger brothers and between friend and friend. Friendship is frequently sealed by a blood covenant. By pricking a finger a drop of blood is contri¬ buted by each friend to a cup of wine, of which both then partake. The obligations of such friends are like those of relatives by blood. A passage in the Li Ki says : “With the slayer of one’s father a man should not live under the same sky; on meeting the slayer of one’s brother one should not have to go back for his sword to avenge the killing ; with the murderer of a friend one ought not to live in the same state. ’ ’ 9 The Sacred Edict of K’ang hsi gives great importance to the relationship between brothers. It is second only to that between father and son. “Brothers,” we are told, “can not be treated as different persons: they are of one flesh 9 Li Ki, Bk. I Ch’ii Li 1:27. The Family 69 and blood, just like hands and feet.” The commentator complains that men are apt to love their wives more than their brothers, and says: “But if your wife dies you can get another ; if your brother dies how can he be replaced ? ’ ’ The duty of obedience to an older brother becomes at times, no doubt, very irksome, as to us it appears very unjust; and when several sons are living with their wives and chil¬ dren in the same compound, a tyrannical older brother with his arrogant wife must be the cause of much unhappiness. The solidarity of the family in primitive society no doubt had its advantages, but greater freedom for the individual and a separate home for each husband and wife undoubt¬ edly means greater happiness for the greater number. CHAPTER IV t MARRIAGE AND THE STATUS OF WOMAN But happy they! The happiest of their kind! Whom gentler stars unite and in one fate Their hearts, their fortunes and their beings blend. Thomson. The woman followed the man. In youth she obeyed her father and brother. Married, she obeyed her husband, and, after the death of her husband, she obeyed her son. Li Ki, xi:38. The family being the social unit in China, marriage as the foundation of the family has always from the most ancient times been treated by the Chinese with all the seri¬ ousness which its importance demands. The marriage state for them has always been one to be entered into only with due formality and with the observance of religious rites. RELIGIOUS SANCTION In the Li Ki, which is the Chinese Leviticus, dating in its present form from the second century A.D. but contain¬ ing a record of ceremonies observed from before the time of Confucius, we are told that “the marriage ceremony is the root of all ceremony. ’ ’ 1 In antiquity, it is said, the proposal of marriage was received by the young woman’s father in the ancestral temple.2 The spirits of his ancestors were witnesses of the solemn betrothal. “As for the marriage rite,” says the Hun I, “it secured the affectionate union of two families. Looking back, it sought to keep up the worship of ances¬ tors ; looking forward, it aimed to continue the line of de¬ scendants. ’ ’ 3 1 Li Ki, Book xliv, Hun I or “ Meaning of Marriage. 7 7 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 70 Marriage and the Status of Woman 71 To-day some of the young people of China, under the impression that what is old is useless, are rejecting the ceremonies of their fathers and trying to make marriage a purely legal relation. But this is perhaps merely a pass¬ ing phase in the modernization or Westernization of the country. The masses of the people still adhere to the tra¬ ditions of their ancestors and to the ceremonies of Confu¬ cianism. Betrothal and marriage for most Chinese are not only matters of formal contract duly witnessed, as they have always been, but solemn ceremonies to which Heaven and Earth and the spirits of ancestors are called to bear witness. Marriage, indeed, is represented as fore¬ shadowed by the “ Union of Heaven and Earth,” which ‘ ‘ has given birth to the myriad creatures of the world. ’ ’ 4 monogamy and concubinage Marriage is not compulsory in China as men have some¬ times tried to make it in other lands, but celibacy is frowned upon, just as it was in the Mosaic legislation.5 Old maids are rarely seen and, if a young man is unmarried it is usually due to poverty. Monogamy is the rule, but bigamy has been legalized in the past under certain circumstances, and concubinage is tolerated. Even polyandry is known in at least two regions. Generally speaking, in China a man has but one wife, but he may have many concubines, as many as he cares to support. Even the revised Penal Code does not forbid concubinage. But, while the practice is still tolerated, it is falling more and more under the ban of public opinion. Under the Empire the Emperor had one wife, the Em¬ press, but he usually had also a secondary consort, four ladies of the third rank, and many of lower grades. The 4 Li Ki, Vol. Y. Book XI, Chiao T’e Sheng, or Sacrifies at Suburban Altars. 5 A quaint discussion of this is given in an old work, 1 ‘ The An¬ tiquities of the Hebrew Republick,” by Tho. Lewis, M.A. LONDON. Printed for Sam. Illidge under Serle’s Gate, Lincoln’s Inn, New Square; and John Hooke, at the Flower-dc-Luce, over against St. Dunstan’s Church in Fleet St. 74 Marriage and the Status of Woman in striking contrast with the rule. The system to-day is recognized as evil by the most enlightened opinion in China, and is one that is being abandoned. Not only do the children of concubines call the principal wife the mother, they must wear full mourning for her when she dies, that is for three years (by custom reduced to 27 months) if they are sons or unmarried daughters. They are not permitted to wear such mourning for their natural mother. All children, whether of wife or concubine, stand upon an equality as regards inheritance. If the wife, however, should have a son, he will become the head of the house¬ hold after his father’s death, even though he may have an older brother who is the son of a concubine. LAWFUL BIGAMY I have said that under certain circumstances bigamy is legalized. The circumstances are those which require a man to keep up a double sacra. The present boy Emperor, Hsiiant’ung, who, although he has no empire is still permitted to retain his title, was the adopted son of the late Emperor Kuanghsu, but also made adopted son and heir of the former Emperor T’ung- chih, cousin of Kuanghsu. T’ungchih died childless. It becomes necessary, therefore, for this heir to provide two lines of descendants, one for T’ungchih, the other for Kuanghsu. Hence, it was agreed that when he should reach marriageable age he should take two wives and main¬ tain two households of equal rank. He was married in December, 1922, but, in so far as reported, he has taken but one wife. POLYANDRY Polyandry is practiced in Tibet and in two districts of Fukien Province. In both regions the custom is due to poverty. A woman becomes the wife of all the brothers Marriage and the Status of Woman 75 of one family. The wife remains at home in charge of whatever little property there may be, while her husbands take turns in living with her, and in turn go abroad to increase the earnings of the family. The practice keeps down the birth-rate, and so reduces the pressure of popu¬ lation upon subsistence. BETROTHAL. Marriages are generally arranged by the parents of the young people, whose wishes are not at all considered. The first step is betrothal. This is brought about by a broker, usually an old woman, who is engaged by one family or the other, generally by the family of the groom. But some¬ times, being a professional match-maker, she is on the lookout for suitable alliances and herself offers her services. In some cases among the very poor, parents arrange a betrothal while their children are still infants, and even before they are born, pledging themselves that if one have a son and the other a daughter they shall be married. I knew very well in Nanking a family with one son, which adopted for him a wife while both were babies, and brought up the little girl in the home with her future husband. They played together as brother and sister while they were children, and later the girl was sent to one mission school and the boy to another. After they had completed the course of study they were married. If a broker is employed, the parents of the principals generally manage to get a glimpse of their future son-in- law or daughter-in-law, as the case may be, and sometimes the principals also succeed in getting a look at the fu¬ ture husband or wife. The young man, of course, is easily seen, unless he lives at a great distance from the young lady’s home, for he is often on the street. He does not find it so easy to get a view of his fiancee, for under the old regime young ladies were seldom seen walking on the street. This is still the rule. When they go out on rare occasions, they ride in a cart (in north China) or a sedan chair and are accompanied by a chaperon. Brokers are not at all 76 Marriage and the Status of Woman scrupulous, and many tales are told of the deceptions which they practice in order to bring about a marriage contract and secure their fees. At the ports where Western influ¬ ences are strong and foreign manners are in vogue, and in missionary circles, where many of the old customs are taboo, there are marriages arranged by methods more like those which obtain in Europe, and once in a while a young man and a young woman will enter into an engagement quite on the American plan, without waiting for parents or brokers. Sometimes they elope and are married secretly in order to escape the unions which have been arranged for them by their parents. Generally speaking, however, the old-time methods and customs still prevail. The marriage contract is an exchange of red cards on which the names of the principals, of their parents, the brokers, and the horoscope of the prospective bride and groom are written, that of the groom on one, that of the bride on the other. A picture of a dragon is printed on one side of the groom’s card, and of a phoenix on that of the bride. Each card is accompanied by a needle threaded with a red thread. These red cords are sometimes used to tie together the wine-cups out of which they drink in the wedding ceremony, but at other times they are used in the dress of bride and groom. The contract is a very formal document and is protected by the courts. It cannot be broken without the payment of damages by the party at fault. A money payment is provided for by the family of the groom to that of the bride. This is not to be looked upon, however, as the price of the bride, so much as a compensation to her family for the loss of her services, and in practice the money returns to the family of the groom in the outfit of the bride which accompanies her to her new home. THE HOROSCOPE AND THE WEDDING DAY After the betrothal is made the family of the groom sends presents to the bride and her family, including bracelet Marriage and the Status of Woman 77 and ring and two fish, and the bride’s family return a present of artificial flowers, vermicelli, bread and cakes. Everything sent has some good-luck significance, and the customs vary somewhat from province to province. The vermicelli, for instance, signifies long life. We have, of course, our own superstitions, and even though we may be no longer superstitious, we keep up these customs. So the Chinese also keep up their old customs. The Chinese Almanac, formerly prepared by the Govern¬ ment College at Peking, marked the lucky days in the calendar, but while these are ordinarily lucky they may not be so for every individual. The wedding day is selected about three months in advance; it must, of course, be on a lucky day in the calendar, but also one of these days which will be lucky for the pair to be married and for their parents. Therefore, it is necessary to send for a fortune teller. He must consult the horoscope of the bride and groom. This is indicated, in the case of each, by eight char¬ acters, which tell the year, the month, the day and the hours of birth — one pair of characters for each period. If the astrologer be a first-class one he will take into consid¬ eration the 28 constellations, the 60 cycle stars, the 12 con¬ stellations of the zodiac, and the 129 lucky and unlucky stars. The characters which tell the year, month, day and hour of one’s birth are those of the ten stems and twelve branches, which are capable of 60 combinations, that is to say one for each year of the cycle, for a ‘ ‘ cycle of Cathay ’ ’ is only 60 years long. The ten stems correspond to cer¬ tain of the five elements and also to the five planets, and the twelve branches to the twelve hours of the day (for in old China each hour is twice the length of ours), and to the twelve signs of the Zodiac, as well as to certain animals and to certain directions. The ten stems and twelve branches are as follows: 78 Marriage and the Status of Woman The Ten Stems : Chia corresponds to wood and to Jupiter. Yi < i i i < < n ti a Ping 1 1 ( ( fire “ Mars. Ting ( ( < l ( ( n a n Mou ( ( i t earth, “ 4 4 Saturn. Chi i ( < i < ( n n a Keng i ( i i metal “ “ Venus. Hsin < < l i t c a a a Jen ( i ( l water “ “ Mercury. Kuei The Twelve Branches i l • • < ( a ( i (( Tzu corresponds to Aries, rat, North. Ch’ou 1 1 i l Taurus, Ox, N.N.E. Yin i < l « Gemini, Tiger, N.E.E. Mao < < i i Cancer, Hare, E. Ch’en i i ( ( Leo, Dragon, E.S.E. Ssu i t < i Virgo, Serpent, S.E.S. Wtt C l ( i Libra, Horse, S. Wei i ( i l Scorpio, Sheep, S.S.W. Shen ( i i < Saggitarius, Monkey, S.W.W. Yu < < l ( Capricornus, Cock, W. Hsu i c i c Aquarius, Dog, W.N.W. Hai < « 1 1 Pisces, Boar, N.W.N. The hour corresponding to Tzu is 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. The constellation is Aries and the animal the rat. The year 1922, for instance, is Jen-Hsu , the sign is Aquarius, the planet is Mercury and the animal the dog. You can see what a fine chance there is for a man with an imaginative mind to invent an interesting fortune for the happy pair. THE WEDDING CEREMONY A month before the wedding the groom’s family sends presents again, among which are cakes, fruit, five kinds of silk for the bride’s trousseau, wine, the money payment, and Marriage and the Status of Woman 79 a gander and goose — emblems of the happy pair. I remem¬ ber once meeting such a procession of gifts. The pair of geese were naturally pure white but had been dyed red, because white is the color of mourning and red that of happiness. We may laugh at the use of the geese, but after all a pair of geese is not a bad emblem of conjugal fidelity, for the gander selects one goose as his mate, to whom he pays special attention and whom he never ex¬ changes for another favorite. Anciently the groom himself carried a wild goose to the home of the young lady as a present to her parents. A cock and a hen are also sent. They do not seem so appropriate. The family of the bride retains the silk, money and cakes, but returns one jar of wine and the female animals, keeping the gander and cock. The bride’s family also sends a pair of candles and candle-sticks, and in the old days sent also a pair of satin boots and a mandarin’s cap for the groom, as well as material for his wedding coat. The cakes sent by the groom are distributed by the bride among her friends, as an invitation to the wedding. Two or three days before the wedding the bride sends to the family of the groom a list of the articles of furniture which she will contribute to the new home. This announce¬ ment is to indicate to the groom’s family how many carriers there will be, so that there will be for each one a present of money, bright coins with good-luck emblems pasted on them. The bride has had to consult the astrologers and sooth¬ sayers a great many times before she has prepared her trousseau, but at last the lucky day and hour arrive. The groom sends a sedan chair covered with red cloth or silk beautifully embroidered. This is carried by four men. She is clothed in red silks and satins with a red veil over her face. She weeps and wails and struggles with those who would tear her from her home but finally she is carried by main force to the chair and locked in it. The curtains are down and no one can see her. Fire-crackers are set off in great quantity and a band of music begins to play as her escort leads her away. The music and fire-crackers keep 80 Marriage and the Status of Women her company all the way. Two lighted lanterns head the procession bearing the name in large letters of the groom’s family. These are followed by another pair of lanterns bearing the name of the bride’s family. Then comes a red umbrella, some lighted torches and the groom’s friends, among them a mandarin if possible. There are ragged urchins carrying boards with titles, if any, of the groom. When a short distance has been traveled the lanterns from the bride’s family and her friends turn back. No member of her family attends the wedding, but she frequently takes an old servant with her. On arrival at the groom’s home the chair is set down, and the master of ceremonies bids all lookers-on who were not born under the proper sign to go away lest ill luck happen. An old lady engaged for the occasion comes out to open the chair and lead the bride in. She walks on red carpet and enters the house, where her husband meets her and escorts her to her room. After going out for a few moments he returns and pretends to lift her veil. They sit down side by side, each trying to sit upon a portion of the other’s garment. The one succeeding in so doing, it is said, will rule the house. They then go out into the court under the sky and kotow to Heaven and Earth, then into the main hall to worship the groom ’s ancestors. They complete the service by drink¬ ing from the cups of wine tied together with a red cord. Anciently two halves of a melon were used instead of cups, and this is still the practice in some places. The bride and groom then return to their room to receive their friends. She is severely criticized as to looks, size of her feet, clothing, etc., but she must show no trace of emo¬ tion, neither pleasure nor anger. The feasting follows, which lasts two days. On the third day she visits her mother and introduces her husband. Thereafter she devotes herself to the comfort of her parents-in-law, and is subject to the commands of her hus¬ band and her father-in-law. Happy is she if she be the wife of the eldest son, otherwise her sisters-in-law may make her life far from pleasant. Marriage and the Status of Woman 81 If she should become the mother of a son the whole house will rejoice, and red eggs will be sent to the neighbors to notify them of the event. If a daughter is born there is less rejoicing theoretically, but in real life a baby is a baby, and dear to parents and grandparents, whether girl or boy. STATUS OF WOMAN The Book of Odes, however, gives a very lowly place to the daughter of the house. A poem believed to have been written in the eighth century B.C. contains the following lines : He then shall have a son To sleep upon a couch, To wear a costly dress And play with toys of jade; Imperious, too, his cry; His pinafore of red; The house’s lord he’ll be. A daughter too he’ll have To sleep upon the floor, A napkin for her gown, A potsherd for her toy. No choice is hers to make Save choose the food and drink And spare her parents pain.6 In theory the woman is inferior to the man and sub¬ ject to the three obediences; in childhood subject to her father or elder brother, in marriage to her husband, in old age to her son. But in practice, women in China are quite as influential in the home as they are in other lands. Some years ago in company with a friend, I was traveling in Central China. It was a hot summer’s day, and at noon when we reached a village we went into a tea-house to rest and have luncheon. The villagers, who had never seen Europeans before, came crowding into the tea-house until it was almost impossible to move. They put many questions to us; what were our “honorable names” and “exalted 0 Shih King, Minor Odes, v:18. 82 Marriage and the Status of Women ages, ’ ’ how many sons had we, and why did my friend wear brass in his teeth. At last one man said, “In your honor¬ able country the woman is the head of the family, is she not?” My friend replied that it depended upon circum¬ stances, that, if the woman had more sense than the man she would rule the house. An old man standing by who was rather deaf leaned over the table with his mouth open listening to the conversation. When he heard this state¬ ment he straightened up with a sigh and said, “Well, it’s just the same in our unworthy country.” The most disagreeable feature of married life for the women, no doubt, is that custom requires the wife to live with her parents-in-law and serve them. The Book of Rites says that a wife should serve her parents-in-law as she served her own father and mother. She should rise at cock¬ crow, dress herself, and then visit the room of her parents- in-law and ask after their comfort, assist them in making their toilet, and then bring them their breakfast. It often happens that the life of the young bride is made very unhappy by the ill temper of her husband’s parents, the arbitrary demands they make upon her, and by the tyranny of her sisters-in-law, particularly the wives of her husband’s elder brothers, who outrank her in the home. ITer chief solace lies in the hope of some day becoming herself a mother-in-law. DIVORCE A woman may not seek a divorce from her husband, no matter what his offenses may be, but a man can divorce his wife for any one of nine causes; (1) if the marriage con¬ tract contains false statements, (2) barrenness, (3) sensual¬ ity, (4) want of filial piety, (5) loquacity, (6) jealousy, (7) incurable disease, (8) leaving the home without the husband’s permission, (9) beating her husband. Divorce may also take place by mutual consent. If she were un¬ faithful, the husband, under the old regime, might kill both the wife and her paramour, should he surprise them in Marriage and the Status of Woman 83 flagrante delicto. If the husband did not kill her he could sell her as a concubine. Except in the case of infidelity, the husband cannot divorce his wife, no matter what her faults, if she shall have kept the three years’ mourning for the husband’s parents, or if her husband was poor at the time of marriage and has since grown rich. The divorced woman returns to her father’s house or, if that should be impossible, becomes sui juris. IMPEDIMENTS TO MARRIAGE Besides the natural disqualifications for marriage, other recognized impediments are insanity or other disease, deaf¬ ness or dumbness, and possession of the same surname. Having the surname does not necessarily prove relationship, for there are very few surnames in China, but the possession of the same name is regarded as proof of membership in the same clan. Marriage with cousins of a different surname is not forbidden unless they be of a generation above or below. Marriage is not permitted during the period of mourning. There is no impediment to marriage with a deceased wife’s sister, as exists in some Christian countries, but marriage of a deceased brother’s widow, allowable among many peoples 7 was punishable with death under the old penal code.8 WIDOWS It is considered bad form for a widow to marry a second time, but a well-known proverb says, “If heaven wants to rain or your mother marry again you can’t prevent it.” 7 Compare the Jewish Levirate, Deut. xxv:5. The Mongols also practiced it in Polo’s time, but it was not only a brother who could take the widow of a deceased brother; the son also could take his father’s wives, his own mother excepted. Cordier, Marco Polo, Yol. 1, p. 253. 8 Ta Ch’ing Lu IA: X: Hu Li Hun Yin — Marriage with a Con¬ cubine of a Relative. 84 Marriage and the Status of Woman Most widows, however, prefer to remain widows, and the number of honorary portals erected to the memory of those who have been thus faithful shows in what esteem the prac¬ tice is held. Some girls refuse to marry if their affianced dies before marriage. A rather remarkable case came to my knowledge in Peking. The daughter of a Grand Secre¬ tary was engaged to the son of another high official. The young man died before the wedding could be celebrated. The young lady not only mourned for him as for a husband, but refused to take food and, in spite of the efforts of her family to prevent it, actually starved herself to death. Yet she was but slightly acquainted with the young man, if she really knew him at all. WOMEN OF THE CONVENTS The women of China, like those of most lands, are usually very religious. Although they participate as far as allowed in the worship of ancestors they do not find in these services all the satisfaction that their spiritual nature demands. Confucianism is essentially a man’s religion. Most of the women turn to Buddhism, especially to the cult of Kwanyin, the Goddess of Mercy. Many keep images in their homes, before which they recite their beads. They observe fast days, and upon occasion visit the temples to pray or make pilgrimages to famous shrines. It is not surprising, therefore, to find that some young women give up all plans for marriage, separate from their families, shave their heads and put on the grey robes of the Buddhist nun. Some of the convents are endowed with small pieces of land, which supply in part the living of the sisterhood, and for the rest they depend upon the charity of the lay wor¬ shipers who receive instruction from them. Some main¬ tain orphan asylums and thus provide homes for abandoned children. As a rule the nuns appear to be sincere and devout. While many monks are found who are victims of the opium Marriage and the Status of Woman 8 5 habit and grosser vices, it is rarely that one learns of an authenticated case of opium smoking or immoral conduct in the convents. Chinese, of course, have their tales of immoral conduct, but they appear to be born of a prurient imagination rather than founded on fact. An old Chinese proverb says, ‘ * The door of the monastery always opens toward the convent. ” A rather pretty tale is that of a monk on one side of a mountain valley who used to carry water from a spring at the foot of the hill. There he met a nun who came from the convent on the other side of the valley. As they met day by day they became acquainted. Acquaintance ripened into friendship and friendship into love, so that one day they decided to leave their orders and return to the world and be married. A well-known bit of sculpture represents the monk with his boots in his teeth, carrying his sweetheart nun on his back through the waters of a river that had to be forded. Not only do young women take the vows of Buddhist nuns, but many widows when they can arrange their family affairs so as to permit it, renounce the world and enter the cloister. * During my residence in Nanking there was living in a convent near the West Gate the widow of the Taiping rebel chieftain. After the suppression of the rebellion and the suicide of her husband she fled to the convent for safety and found a refuge there for the remainder of her life. CHAPTER V THE FARMER Give careful attention to farming and sericulture that there may be sufficient food and clothing. — Sacred Edict of K’anghsi. For him light labor spread her wholesome store, Just gave what life required, but gave no more: His best companions, innocence and health, And his best riches, ignorance of wealth. - Goldsmith. Theoretically, agriculture is held in high honor among the Chinese. Every spring, under the old regime, the Emperor was expected to offer sacrifices to the Patron Saint of Agriculture in the temple at Peking dedicated to that worthy. He was also expected to guide the plow with his own hands until he had turned eight furrows in the Sacred Field. This he did to show to the whole empire his respect for the farmer’s calling, upon which all classes depend for food and raiment. In every county town, too, the local officials at the appointed season used to repair to the temple of the farmer’s saint for the observance of similar ceremonies. The sacrifices offered consisted of a goat or a bullock. The great K’anghsi, in his Sacred Edict, urged the importance of agriculture, and his son, Yungcheng, in his amplification of that edict, devoted a whole chapter to the encouragement of husbandry, exhorting the farmer not to forsake “the good old calling for the multiplied profits of commerce.” He reminded them that in the olden time emperors, them¬ selves, plowed the fields and that empresses reared the silk worm. THE FARMER’S PATRON SAINT Mencius points out that Shun, the mythical emperor who is supposed to have reigned about 2255 B.C., rose from 86 The Farmer 87 among the channeled fields to the control of the empire. An earlier emperor, Shennung, is deified and worshiped as the first teacher of agriculture. Not far from the author’s home in China there was a temple dedicated to the < 1 Three Emperors. ’ ’ These three famous worthies were Fuhsi, Shennung and Huang Ti, all mythical personages, supposed to have reigned from 2852 to 2597 B.C. The temple was very commonplace in appearance, but one of the images in the main hall was rather remarkable. It was that of a primitive man. His only article of apparel was an apron of leaves. This was reputed to be an image of Shennung. He is said to have been conceived miraculously and born of a virgin Princess. To-day he is honored by the Chinese as the Patron of Agriculture. All this is in keeping with the fact that the Chinese are essentially an agricultural people. They divide mankind into four classes, as is indi¬ cated by a common phrase in constant use, which runs ‘ ‘Scholars, farmers, mechanics, merchants.” An old prov¬ erb, however, gives the first place, not to the scholar but to the farmer, ‘ ‘ First the farmer, the scholar second. ’ 7 But, notwithstanding the high esteem in which their calling is theoretically held, the farmers are in reality, perhaps, the least prosperous class in the country. POVERTY OF THE PEASANTS f j I remember riding late one autumn over the old highway which was built by Hungwu from Nanking to Fengyang. We were some forty miles beyond Nanking, approaching a low range of mountains known as the Kwan Shan. My attention was directed to a number of people whom we passed, each carrying a bundle of clothes and trudging homeward from the neighboring city of Ch’uchou. The sight of a traveler with his clothes tied up in a bundle and carried over his shoulder is not a rare one. But these country people, as I learned to my surprise, were carrying their clothes home from the pawn-shops, where they had been deposited earlier in the year to raise money for the 88 The Farmer purchase of seed for the spring planting. They had had a bad season the previous year, followed by a hard winter, and had exhausted their resources. This year they had had better fortune and so were able to recover their winter garments before the cold weather set in. This custom of depositing clothes with the pawn-shops is not, however, an uncommon one, either in country or city. Furs and silks are stored in them during the hot season and receive much better care than they would otherwise obtain. Valuable goods are thus preserved, too, against destruction by fire or loss by burglary. So extensive and important, indeed, is this business that in some parts of China the prosperity of the city is measured by the number of its pawn-shops. For the common people they serve as banks. The peasants whom we passed upon the highway had no valuable furs or silks to deposit, and were carrying simply their ordinary winter wadded clothing. Each had raised a small loan upon which he had paid interest at the exorbitant rate of 2 per cent a month. One could only shudder at the thought of the possible consequences had there been another bad har¬ vest. This incident revealed in a very startling manner the true condition of the agricultural classes in that region, and helped one to understand how easily the failure of a single harvest might precipitate wide-spread distress. It serves, too, to explain in a measure how it is that in a country of such splendid natural resources a careful and experienced observer could estimate that three millions of people die annually in China from lack of proper sus¬ tenance. THE COUNTRY VILLAGE The farmer, as a rule, lives with his neighbors in a little village. Karely does one see a farm-house by itself. Life and property are more safe where neighbors congregate. The Chinese are a sociable people, and enjoy the opportuni¬ ties given in village life for gossip with one another. There is advantage for the children, too, who are enabled to attend the village school which is made possible by this combina- The Farmer 89 tion of families. The school is often held in the temple which has been erected by self-levied taxes for the worship of some local deity and as a shelter for the ancestral tablets. These farm villages are often composed almost wholly of members of one family, descendants of a common an¬ cestor, in which case the village usually bears the family name, as the ‘ ‘ Wang-Family-Village, ” or the “Li-Family- Village,” a custom which recalls the similar one among our own ancestors, who left their names upon the hamlets and towns of England, its “wicks,” “hams,” “tuns” and “steads,” as Greene has pointed out. Thus we have such place names as “Kes-wick,” “ Green-wich, ” “Bucking¬ ham, ” “ Harring-ton, ’ ’ and 1 ‘ Hamp-stead, ’ ’ in all of which the suffix carries the general meaning of “Village,” corre¬ sponding to the Chinese tien, tun, hsiang, ts’un and chuang, also used as suffixes in such combinations as those given above. The writer had occasion one summer day, in company with a friend, to visit a typical farm village among the hills south-east of Nanking. It was late in the afternoon when we turned from the highway, or what passed for such, into a narrow path that led up a rather lonely valley. After winding about for a mile or more, we came upon a little hamlet of five or six hundred people, known as She-ts’un, or the “She Village.” It was harvest time and nearly all the able-bodied men and women were busy in the surround¬ ing fields, cutting the wheat with rude sickles, or more properly, bill-hooks. Our advent took the old women and children by surprise, and the latter fled from us in fright. It was some time before we could find anyone who would dare to talk with “foreign devils,” but presently Mr. She, himself, the head of the clan and the chief man of the village, heard of our predicament and came to our assist¬ ance. He was an educated gentleman, some forty years of age, and showed himself exceedingly polite. His dress and manners indicated that he was no farmer, though he lived among farmers. His soft white hands had probably never done a stroke of manual labor in his life. He was indeed the village school-master as well as the principal land-owner 90 The Farmer of the district. He led us to the village temple, which served as a shelter not only for gods but for guests, though the latter were certainly few and far between. We were soon made very comfortable except for the multitude of fleas and mosquitoes. There was no monk in charge, for it was not a Buddhist or Taoist temple, but the old man who served as sexton soon came in, and proved to be as interesting as he was loquacious, which is saying a great deal. He had no vegetarian vows or Buddhist prejudices to interfere with his preparation of a fine dinner of fresh pork and other dainties, to which, with our hungry stom¬ achs, we did full justice. When the meal was over, Mr. She came in with other villagers, and we chatted with them far into the night. The next day we had an opportunity of inspecting the place more carefully. Mr. She invited us to his home, an extensive pile of buildings constructed of brick, and consisting of the usual succession of halls and courts. There was an air of comfort and ease about the place. It was well furnished, and the crowd of women, children and servants that came in to stare at us indicated that there was no waste room. The family of Mr. She’s younger brother shared the home, according to Chinese custom. We found the village school in session in the guest -hall. Our host had traveled considerably in central China and had lived for a time in Hankow, where he had met many Europeans and had lost many of his prejudices. Yet he seemed quite contented in the village home, and well he might be ; he lived as a lord of the manor might have lived among his retainers in the Middle Ages in Europe. Most of the villagers were his tenants. Their homes, too, were well-built houses of brick with tile roofs. The lanes that wound among them, however, were narrow and crooked. There were no shops in the place, but one of the farmers acted as butcher, when needed, and sold meat and a few other necessaries to his neighbors. On the whole the people seemed well fed and clothed, contented and happy. As a rule, however, the tenant farmers in the region about Nanking do not appear to be so comfortable or prosperous as those in She-ts’un. The country has never entirely re- The Farmer 91 covered from the ravages of the Taiping Rebellion, and this fact in some measure accounts for the unsightly appearance of many of the villages in central China. But in northern Kiangsu, there are large districts that were never visited by the armies, and many of the villages and farmsteads in that region present a very prosperous appearance. The houses are in good repair, the ancient temples are well preserved, and there is the grateful sight here and there of broad¬ spreading shade trees. The soil for the most part is very rich and the numerous canals, which the low level of the land makes possible, afford an easy means of communication which is wanting in many parts of China. A MODEL FARM In this region one sees not a few isolated farm-houses. While traveling through the district in a Chinese house¬ boat the writer was invited to visit the home of a Mr. Liu, a wealthy farmer who owned some two hundred English acres, an unusually large holding for the Chinese. The buildings of the farmstead were arranged around a large court, some seventy-five feet long by about sixty feet wide. They were all of brick and apparently much more substan¬ tial than the ordinary Chinese structure. The roofs were partly of tile and partly of neatly trimmed thatch. A fine garden, containing box and orange trees, was surrounded by an ornamental wall, the upper part of which was made of open work in green glazed tile. The stables were a pattern of neatness and the horses, mules and buffaloes were sleek and well fed. There was a large granary stored with wheat and containing effective machinery of good native workmanship for threshing, fanning and grinding. These machines were worked by mule power. The fields were irrigated by the usual Chinese pump, an endless chain of square wooden paddles working in a box trough, through which the water was drawn from the canal up into the irri¬ gating ditches. Power was supplied by a good-natured, lazy looking buffalo, blindfolded and tramping round 92 The Farmer and round in a picturesque thatched shelter-house, thus turning a large horizontal wheel whose wooden cogs fitted into those on the shaft of the pump. The fertile fields produced abundant harvests of wheat, barley, cotton, and rice. There was some silk culture in the neighborhood but conducted on a small scale only. Mr. Liu was blessed with a large family and gave employment to a great many servants, male and female. On the whole it was a very attractive home. The great mansion, embowered in trees and dominating the broad acres of the smiling plain, the patriarchal character of the household and its easy-going manners, the contentment expressed in the very faces of the dumb brutes, and the restful picture of abundance and health, all contributed to make a very pleasant impression, which was only heightened by the involuntary recollection of less happy scenes to be witnessed in neighboring districts. Not far away a quiet grove of pines, surrounded by a strong wall, gave shelter to the family graves, amidst which rose the ancestral temple. There at the prescribed seasons sacri¬ fices were offered to the spirits of the departed. LAND TENURE In this part of Kiangsu Province, that is, north of the Yangtze River, there are many large estates. One family, it is said, owns 400,000 mou, i.e., 66,666 acres; another 300,000 mou and others still possess from 40,000 to 70,000 mou . There are some temples in the same region which own from 3000 to 5000 mou. In this district, there¬ fore, tenant farmers outnumber those who cultivate their own land. From seventy to eighty per cent, it is estimated, are renters. In the southern half of the province just the opposite conditions prevail. There, we are assured, nine- tenths own the land that they cultivate. These figures are taken from the report of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society on “Land Tenure in China and the Condi¬ tion of the Rural Population. ’ ’ 1 i Journal of the China Branch, R. A. S., 1888, vol. xxiii, pp. 59-143. The Farmer 93 Easy access to land promotes independence and the divi¬ sion of land into small holdings favors social equality. Large holdings, on the other hand, with dependent tenantry promote class distinctions and political dependence. The difference between north and south China in regard to land tenure and the size of holdings has no doubt had much to do with the difference between them in political ideals, for democratic sentiment is much stronger in the south than in the north. From the report just mentioned we learn that there are many farms of one hundred acres and not a few of two hundred in Manchuria. A smaller number will be found containing as much as five hundred. In the provinces of Chihli and Shantung, in north China, there are farms con¬ taining 10,000 mou. But, taking China as a whole, large holdings are rare. The average for Chihli Province is given by Rev. Timothy Richard as eighty mou, i.e., 12.12 acres. The same authority gives thirty mou as the average for Shantung.2 The late E. L. Oxenham, Esq., while serving as British Consul at Chinkiang, gave the average for the rich province of Kiangsu as twenty mou. Further inland the holdings are still smaller. So far as the above- mentioned report shows, the majority of the farmers of China cultivate their own land. One of the most noted exceptions to this general rule of farmers cultivating their own land is found in the populous region about Swatow, where three-fourths of the farmers are tenants. In Chihli the proportion of those owing their farms is given as seventy per cent, in Shantung as sixty per cent, in Hupeh thirty, and in the north-western provinces generally about seventy. From such figures one is rather led to expect a very prosperous condition among the peasantry, but the real situation is quite disappointing. So far as my own observation goes, the ordinary farm-house in central and northern China is but a rude hovel of beaten earth, thatched with straw. The living room is also the granary. A cheap table, two or three trestles for seats, the baby’s cradle and the agricultural implements make up most of the furniture. 2 Ibid. 94 The Farmer In the cotton-raising districts there may be also a rude spinning wheel and a loom, or, if the family be engaged in silk-culture, there will be the simple machinery used in pre¬ paring the silk for the market. Cleanliness is unknown. Pigs and fowls run in and out of the house at will, and a donkey or water-buffalo may be tethered in the lean-to ad¬ joining it. TAXATION The lack of prosperity can not be charged altogether to the land tax, for although higher as a rule than we are accustomed to in the United States, it is not enough of itself to discourage agriculture. It has been estimated as averaging for all China about one-twentieth or one-thirtieth of the gross produce. When the Manchu Dynasty obtained control of the empire, a solemn promise was given that the land tax should not be increased. It is levied partly in money and partly in kind, but the grain tax is commuted for a payment in money. It varies greatly in different dis¬ tricts and bears no definite relation to the value of the land, although it is less on poor land than it is on the fertile. It is sometimes said that the system is that advocated by Henry George, but this is a serious blunder. George pro¬ posed to abolish all other taxes except that on land, which was to be levied on all kinds of land according to its rental value. The Chinese tax is levied only on land listed as agricultural, and the most valuable of all, city land, is not taxed at all, except where, by the growth of a city, land anciently listed as agricultural has become encroached upon, for “once taxed, always taxed,” is the rule in this conservative country. In the immediate vicinity of Shang¬ hai an acre of land, still used for farming purposes, paid $5.00 Mex., i.e., about $2.50 U.S., per annum a few years ago. This acre was then worth $600.00 U.S. Rev. John Ross, in 1887, reported the tax in Manchuria as about one shilling per acre, the land being worth about $150.00 Mex., or $75.00 U.S. per acre. In Shantung it is said to average $0,205 U.S. per acre, and in Chihli $0.21 to $1.66 per acre. The Farmer 95 But in reality the land tax in Chihli varies from $0,032 to $0.51 an acre in silver, plus a grain tax which varies from 1.09 quarts to 1.36 pecks of rice, and from 1.07 quarts to 4.37 quarts of beans per acre. Mulberry orchards are taxed $0,007 an acre. In calculating the value of the grain tax in money the collector does not consider the market price; the reduction is made at an artificial rate fixed by statute. A few years ago this was estimated to be about $0,155 a bushel, whereas the actual value of the grain would be about a dollar a bushel. We must not think, however, that the farmer really com¬ mutes the grain tax at the rate stipulated in the statute. Both the money tax and the grain tax are calculated in taels of silver, but a tael is merely a Chinese ounce ; there is no such coin, and this must be reduced to its equivalent in copper cash, the money of the people, or, in many places to-day, to its value in copper cents. The number of cents in a tael varies from day to day, but the tax collector does not make the exchange at the market rate ; he makes it at a rate more favorable to the government. Formerly in addition he would demand certain fees, such as meltage, expense of collection and other such charges, originally irregular but legalized by long usage. To-day the taxes are converted at a fixed rate of $2.30 (Chinese silver) to the tael. The grain tax, moreover, is manipulated to the advantage of the collector by being calculated by weight, although levied in measures of capacity, and the difference between local and official standards of weights and measures makes it easy to increase the revenue. Thus it happens that, although the land tax was definitely fixed by the Manchus in 1713 at a rate not to be changed, yet by the manipulation of exchange and the other practices mentioned, the sum actually paid now by the farmer in copper money is two or three times as much as was paid then. A tael of silver paid in taxes in 1713 meant, more¬ over, a great deal more to the peasant than it does to-day. The general lack of prosperity among the agricultural classes cannot be charged, therefore, entirely to heavy taxa- 96 The Farmer tion of the land nor to high rents, but rather to the more important fact that the farmer gets almost nothing in return for his taxes. He is dependent almost entirely upon himself and his neighbors for the protection of his property, and there are no roads for the transportation of his produce to market. In central China, except in those fortunate dis¬ tricts where there are water-ways, nearly all farm products are carried to town upon the shoulders of the farmer him¬ self. Sometimes the wheel-barrow or the pack donkey is called into service. In the north and in some parts of the west there are rude carts, but it makes one’s heart ache to see the dumb brutes straining to draw their heavy loads through dust or mire in which the wheels sink to the hub. In addition to these drawbacks there are the heavy likin duties to be paid at many barriers and the octroi duties at every city gate. Returning to his home, the farmer must pay duties again on all that he brings from the city. There is thus but little inducement to trade, and what trade there is is driven to seek roundabout ways to avoid more or less of the taxation. METHODS OF CULTIVATION Millenniums of experience have taught the Chinese farmer many valuable lessons in agriculture. His farm is very carefully tilled. His fields are divided into narrow beds, affording a certain amount of surface drainage. Wheat is sown in rows and carefully hoed; the rice is set out by hand in the flooded fields whose soil has first been thoroughly prepared. On hill-sides these rice fields are terraced, and water, admitted from above, is allowed to run slowly from one terrace to the next below. It is a strange sight to behold men and women wading in mire above their knees setting out the young shoots, which they do very deftly and regularly. Rain does not stop the work ; a thatched coat of straw, which gives the wearer a very picturesque appearance, affords all the protection needed. On the plains water is pumped into the fields from canals or rivers, sometimes by buffalo power, as described above, The Farmer 97 but very often by human labor. In the latter case three or four women or as many men work at one pump. Lean¬ ing on a stout rail -for support they turn the pump with their feet, and, keeping time with a lively song or a noisy gong, they make a very cheerful picture. Great attention is given to fertilizing, and in this the Chinese are perhaps wiser than many Western farmers. No night-soil is allowed to drain away into the creeks and rivers to poison the drink¬ ing water, but is carefully preserved, both in city and country, and carried daily to the farms where, after proper decomposition, it is scattered over the fields. The complaint of waste which Victor Hugo makes against the Parisians in Les Miserahles can not be applied to the Chinese. It must be admitted, however, that, no matter how praiseworthy in this respect their economy may be, the result will perhaps appear to the Western man as hardly compensating for the daily pollution of the air, so utterly at variance with all the associations of beauty and healthfulness which the thought of the country-side brings to his mind. Gardens are kept in use all the year round in the latitude of Shanghai and further south. Even farm lands often bear three crops a year, yet the soil is not exhausted. The Chinese understand in a measure the need for a rotation of crops, but there is of course no really scientific farming, as, indeed, there can not be where science is a thing unknown. Proper care is not taken in the selection of seed and there is therefore a constant tendency to degenerate. Wheat is often troubled with fungus growths, and there is said to be considerable suffering from ergotism on this account in the north, where wheat is eaten more commonly than rice. PRODUCTS Fruits are grown in great variety, as would be expected in a land of such widely varying soil and climate. There is, however, much room for improvement in quality. No proper effort is made to protect the fruit from injury by insects. American fruit trees have been introduced into 98 The Farmer Shantung and some other provinces, but it is very difficult to induce the Chinese to take care of them or to refrain from pulling the fruit before it is ripe, according to their old-time custom. Among the many kinds of fruit to be found are oranges, lemons, bananas, pineapples, pumeloes, mangoes and lichis in the south, while further north there are loquats, plums, apricots, peaches, pears, apples, cherries, grapes, pomegranates, persimmons and others. Among the fruit trees none perhaps is more highly esteemed by the Chinese than the peach, whose beautiful blossoms symbolize the bride, as orange blossoms do with us, and whose fruit is the emblem of immortality. There are many legends con¬ nected with it, and its twigs are supposed to possess magical powers. It is the flat peach, more particularly, that is identified with the fruit of the 4 * Fairy Peach Tree, ’ ’ grow¬ ing in the garden of the Fairy Queen on the Kunlun Moun¬ tains, of which, if a man eat, he shall live forever. Many peach trees are cultivated for the blossoms only. They are in great demand during the season, and the road from Shanghai to the Lunghua Pagoda at such times is crowded with carriages, jinrickshas and wheel-barrows, carrying pleasure-seekers into the country to see the peach orchards. Of field crops the most important are rice, tea, cotton, beans, rape, millet, sesamum, tobacco, ginger, indigo, hemp, wheat, maize, buckwheat, peanuts, and formerly the poppy. The last-mentioned is still grown in some places in spite of laws to the contrary. The cotton plant appears to have been introduced into China about A.D. 1000, 3 though cotton cloth was known much earlier through intercourse with central and western Asia. The cultivation of the plant, however, did not spread rapidly, owing to the opposition of the silk growers. But in time silk and linen had to give way and cotton became, as it remains to-day, the most common material for clothing. Its cheapness made it particularly acceptable to the poorer classes. The supply of home- 3 Journal of the China Branch of the Boyal Asiatic Society, New Series, Vol. XXV, No. 1, containing E. Bretschneider ’s “Botanicon Sinicum, ” under 388, note referring to W. F. Mayer’s “Notes and Queries on China and Japan.” The Farmer 99 grown cotton, however, is not now equal to the demand. It was not without reason that the silk growers feared the introduction of cotton, for, as a result, the silk industry declined for a long period and nearly disappeared. It was not until the development of trade with Europe had created a demand in that quarter for these rich fabrics that the industry revived. Cotton is grown in small patches only ; there are no large plantations. In many cases it is picked, ginned, spun and woven by the growers, being raised simply for the use of the family. The plant is small, however, and the staple short. Efforts are being made to improve the quality by the introduction of American seed. Silk culture is common to all the provinces. The silks, satins and velvets of Hangchow, Soochow and Nanking are particularly in demand, and formerly factories were main¬ tained in these cities for the express purpose of manufac¬ turing these goods for the Imperial Court. As one travels on the canals of Kiangsu Province and through the northern part of Chekiang, he sees everywhere along the banks ex¬ tensive orchards of mulberry trees. They appear stunted, which is due to the fact that they are kept constantly pruned. The tree is usually the wild mulberry improved by a graft of the cultivated variety. Careful attention to the trees is necessary to secure a good quality of silk. The leaves are not picked until the fifth year, after which they are gathered regularly. The longest dived trees are said to reach the age of fifty years. SERICULTURE In southern Kiangsu a large part of the farmers are engaged in silk culture. Every spring they purchase a supply of eggs, hatch and rear the worms, and either have the silk reeled at home or, as is often done since the intro¬ duction of steam filatures, sell the cocoons to these estab¬ lishments. There is a noticeable difference between the cocoons of the male and the female, and as soon as the 100 The Farmer moths make their escape the Chinese take them in charge and pair them. Their life is very brief. The female lives but five or six days, takes no food but lays innumerable eggs. These are secured by confining her on a piece of paper or cloth under a sieve. A sheet of paper a foot square, covered with eggs, sells in the interior for some two hundred cash, i.e., about fifteen cents. The women often carry the eggs on their persons, the warmth of the body serving to hasten the process of hatching. When the worms first appear they look like small black ants, and are called ants, indeed. After two days they turn to a brown color and in five to a yellowish white. The worms are kept in shallow trays and are fed at first on chopped mulberry leaves. After a few days the chopping is unnecessary. Great care is needed in feeding them; it must not be neglected even at night. It gives one an uncanny feeling in the quiet hours to hear the clicking sound which they make as they devour their food. Throughout the whole period of their growth the Chinese insist on keeping the house very quiet. Strangers are unwelcome, lest some unusual sight or sound should cause the worms to intermit their feeding. Four times during their brief life they molt their skin. The first occasion is on the fifth day. The worm erects itself and falls asleep. For two days it remains in a state of stupor, and shuffles off its skin, after which it arouses itself and continues its feeding. In another five days it is prepared for its second moulting, and thus it con¬ tinues, alternately eating and moulting at regular intervals until it has completed its fourth change of skin. Then it is removed to a small sheaf of cut straw where it proceeds to spin its cocoon, a process which occupies another five days. When it has thus wrapped itself in its silken robes, it falls into the long sleep, from which, if it wake at all, it will come forth in ten days as a beautiful white-winged moth. For¬ merly the cocoons were either reeled before the ten days period was completed or the pupa was killed by steaming. Now, in regions near the steam filatures, the Chinese, taught by foreigners, have learned how to accomplish the same end by heating the cocoons in ovens. This process does not The Farmer 101 injure the silk as steaming is apt to do. There is still much room for improvement in the care of the worms. Every year from twenty to forty per cent die before attaining their growth. Sometimes, indeed, the loss is as high as sixty per cent. A more scientific treatment would prevent such a great waste. As it is, when leaves are high priced, the growers under-feed the worms. This not only lessens the quantity of silk, but injures its quality and damages the breed as well. The ramie is a valuable textile plant grown in many parts of China. The inner bark supplies a fiber which is used in the manufacture of the celebrated grass-cloth. A coarser kind of grass-cloth is made from the ko ,4 a plant of the dolichos tribe. There are many varieties of hemp, which are cultivated, sometimes for the oil which is expressed from the seed, but also for the fiber. From the finer kinds linen cloth is woven; ropes and bags are made from the coarser varieties. Jute is also grown, and another plant, whose bark is used in the manufacture of ropes and matting is the coir palm, which is quite common in central China. THE OPIUM POPPY In a “Historical Note on the Poppy in China, ” by Rev. J. Edkins, D.D., published by the Imperial Maritime Cus¬ toms in 1889, we are told that tobacco was probably intro¬ duced into China from the Philippines about A.D. 1620. The Spaniards probably brought it to the latter place from America. Prohibitory edicts were issued by the Chinese emperors against the cultivation of the plant, but in spite of these its use spread rapidly and to-day it is grown in all parts of the empire. After the leaf is prepared it is smoked in a pipe, either a small brass bowl with long bamboo stem, or, as is more often the case, in the water pipe, usually a rather artistic construction of brass. It is sometimes beau¬ tifully engraved and is commonly decorated with silk cord 4 Botanicon Sinicum; Journal of China Branch, R. A. S., Yol. XXV, No. 1, p. 208. 102 The Farmer and tassels. By its use the smoke is made to pass through water, and is thus cooled and deprived in some measure of its nicotine. But to-day the cigarette has replaced the pipe to a large extent. The poppy appears to have been introduced to the notice of the Chinese by Arab traders in the seventh or eighth century A.D. The poppy seeds were used by the Arabs as a medicine and became among the Chinese a very popular remedy for many diseases. Thus the plant soon became quite common throughout China. The juice of the capsule was already in use for medical purposes in the twelfth cen¬ tury, and in the latter part of the fifteenth century foreign opium was a common article of import in south China. It was not, however, until the habit of smoking tobacco was spread abroad that opium began to be used in the pipe. At first it was mixed with the tobacco, probably for the purpose of giving it a pleasant flavor as well as to add to its narcotic properties. In the early part of the eighteenth century the vice of opium smoking had already become so common in Formosa and at Amoy as to attract the atten¬ tion of the Government, and in A.D. 1729 an edict was issued prohibiting the sale of opium and the opening of opium-smoking houses, but the import continued as before. It paid the usual duty at the custom houses and no effort seems to have been made to carry the edict into effect. At about the same time the cultivation of the opium-poppy became quite common in Yunnan,5 and from that time on the manufacture of native opium gradually spread through¬ out the empire, until in 1906 effective measures began to be taken to restrict poppy planting and the use of opium. DYE PLANTS What is called indigo in China is prepared from a num¬ ber of different plants. The true indigo plant (indig of era tinctoria) is found only in the southern part of the empire,6 6 For these facts regarding the introduction of opium into China I am indebted to the above mentioned “ Historical Note on the Poppy in China. ” 6 Botanicon Sinicum, p. 212* The Farmer 103 but other plants, notably the polygonum tinctorium and the isatis indigotica, are cultivated over a large part of the empire. In the neighborhood of Shanghai the last men¬ tioned is quite common. In Chekiang the strobilanthes flaccidifolius is cultivated for this purpose. Other plants that are cultivated for dyes are the madder, safflower, and the tzu ts’ao or purple herb. But the introduction of ani¬ line dyes from the West has interfered very seriously with the sale of native vegetable dyes. Aside from the fruit trees and others that have been mentioned, there are many useful trees grown. Among them are the oak, valued not only for its wood but for the cupules of the acorn, which are used to produce a black dye, the chestnut, willow, catalpa, camphor, the paper mulberry ( Broussonetia papyrifera ) from the bark of which a strong paper is made, miscalled “leather paper, ” the tallow tree ( sapium sebiferum ) from which the oil is obtained for the manufacture of candles, the soap tree ( gleditschia sinensis), from whose seeds a substitute for soap is made, the elm, from the inner bark of which a powder is prepared for the manufacture of mucilage and as an important constituent of the incense used in the temples, the walnut, arbor vitas, the ash and the privet. A variety of the privet, the ligustrum lucidum or “large- leaved” privet, is the tree on which the wax insect, of Szechuen is found. INSECT WAX Alexander Hosie, of H.B.M’s. Consular Service, in his “Three Years in Western China” gives a very interesting description of the manner in which the wax is produced. The insect is found in many parts of China, but its favorite home seems to be in south-western Szechuen, in an upland valley some five ’thousand feet above the level of the sea. The eggs are deposited on the branches of the privet and covered with a brown scale. At the end of April carriers are sent into the valley to purchase these scales, which are done up in small paper packages, weighing about a pound 104 The Farmer apiece. Each carrier, loaded with some sixty pounds of the precious freight, hurries over the mountains to the prefec¬ ture of Chiating, some two hundred miles to the north-east. They travel only at night to avoid the heat of the day, which would hasten the development of the insects. Hav¬ ing reached their destination they take the scales, twenty or thirty together, and wrapping them in a large leaf of the wood-oil tree, suspend them to branches of a species of ash, the fraxinus Chinensis. After feeding on the leaves of the tree for thirteen days, the insects return to the branches, where the females deposit their eggs and cover them with the brown scale, and the males deposit the white wax. In a hundred days from the time the insects are fastened on the tree the deposit is complete. The branches are then cut off and as much of the wax as possible removed by hand. This is put into a pot of boiling water where the wax melts and rises to the surface. It is then skimmed off and placed in molds. A second grade of wax is prepared by, throwing the branches and twigs into the pot and gath¬ ering in the same way all the wax that can be obtained from them. Formerly the wax was in great demand for coating tallow candles, as well as for sizing paper and cotton goods, but since the introduction of kerosene, the demand has greatly fallen off. The wax is also exported to foreign countries where it is used in the preparation of certain medicines. Another important tree of western China is the yingtzu t’ung (aleurites cor data), from which the well-known wood-oil is produced. The tree grows to the height of fifteen feet and is beautiful and shady. It bears a small pink-white flower. The fruit looks like a green apple and contains the pits from which the oil is expressed. These are gathered in August and September. The oil is much used in the manufacture of varnish and for other purposes. Large quantities are exported every year to foreign coun¬ tries. The varnish, or lacquer tree is also a very valuable one. The Farmer 105 THE TEA PLANT None of China’s trees or shrubs, however, are more cele¬ brated or valuable than the tea. It seems that it was not until the sixth or seventh century of the Christian era that tea drinking became common, even in China.7 The plants seem to prefer a rather poor soil. They are set out at a distance of four or five feet apart and grow to a height of two and a half or three feet. The leaf is of a glossy dark green color and the blossom a waxy white. Some good tea is grown in the southern part of the prov¬ ince of Anhui, more in Kiangsi, Fukien and Chekiang, but most, perhaps, in Hunan and Szechuen. Much complaint has been made by tea-traders during the past few years of the losses sustained by competition with the teas of India, Japan and Java, and many attempts have been made to induce the Chinese Government to take meas¬ ures to compel a more careful cultivation of the plant and a more scientific preparation of the leaf. Efforts have been made, too, to obtain a reduction of the heavy taxation with which the trade is burdened. So far as the preparation of the leaf is concerned some progress has recently been made, and a school for that purpose has been established in Ki- angsu Province. China tea is not grown, as in India, on large plantations supplied with all the apparatus for preparing and boxing the tea. Each proprietor has but a small plot of ground, picks the leaf himself, with the aid of his family, and often carries it himself, sometimes a long distance, to market. It is, therefore, very difficult to secure uniformity in the methods of culture. The preparation, too, is carried on, in part at least, in a large number of small establishments with very unequal skill and care. There are two varieties of the tea plant, the green and the black, though it is quite possible to prepare both green and black from the same leaf. One variety, however, lends itself more readily to the preparation of green and the other of black. A third pro- 7 Botanicon Sinicum, p. 131. 106 The Farmer vides the Oolong. There appears to be no doubt that the Chinese tea possesses a more delicate flavor than that of India and that it is much less astringent, but the cultivation of the plant leaves much room for improvement. The plants are raised from seed sown in moist sand. The shoots produced are set out in the second year. At three years of age the plucking of the leaves may begin, but the shrub does not attain its full growth until six or seven years of age. The average lifetime of a good plant seems to be about ten or twelve years, though some plants thirty years of age have been reported as still in use. Trenching, hoe¬ ing, pruning and the use of fertilizers are said to be needed to secure the best growth, but these processes are very much neglected by the Chinese. The first picking occurs about the middle of April and must be completed in from three to five days or the leaves are spoiled for the production of the best article. The end leaves are left in place. Two or three pluckings a year are said to be all that should be allowed, but in some cases the leaves are gathered four or five times. The second picking takes place in June and the third in August. The first chop is the finest, and there is much competition among foreign buyers to secure this. The practice unfortunately too often leads the natives to the gathering of as large a quantity as possible at the ex¬ pense of quality. The growers used to pay to the Govern¬ ment a “hill tax” of 640 cash per picul, about fifty cents on every 133J lbs. Probably this is still collected. Other taxes amount to from 20 to 35% of the value of the tea at the time of export. One of the most interesting processes connected with tea manufacture is the preparation of brick tea. This may be witnessed in the large factories at Hankow and Kiukiang. During the season the delicate aroma from the steaming tea-dust may be detected at a considerable distance from the town. The bamboo is also a most useful vegetable product, and small groves of it are found on nearly all farms in central China. The young shoots are a much prized and very pleasant article of food, while the full-grown plant finds The Farmer 107 ready market for an infinite variety of purposes. The plant grows at the rate of a foot or more a day, and in central China attains the height sometimes of forty feet or more. It is said to blossom only once in a period of from thirty to sixty years.8 WATER FARMING But the Chinese farmer is not content merely to culti¬ vate the land. He lays tribute also upon the water, par¬ ticularly upon the waters of the ponds, lakes and canals. Many aquatic plants are grown, some for food and others for fertilizing purposes. Among the former one of the most common as well as the most beautiful is the lotus, whose roots and seeds are both regarded as table delicacies. The seeds, stewed in a sweetened syrup, are indeed delicious eating, but the root is astringent and rather insipid. An¬ other plant grown in marshy ground is the pich’i, by some called the 1 1 water-chestnut. ’ ’ It is the Scirpus tuberosus. The tuber is of the size of a chestnut and has the same gen¬ eral appearance, hence the name. When peeled and cooked it makes a pleasant dish, having the flavor of green corn (maize). Much attention, too, is given to fish culture. At the proper season the farmer purchases a supply of spawn with which he stocks his ponds. Hosie, in his “ Three Years in Western China,” mentions a method in vogue in that part of the empire for obtaining the spawn. Bundles of reeds and grass, weighted with stones, are placed in the waters of the Yangtze. On these the fish deposit their spawn and, in that region, the ova are scattered in the flooded fields which are being prepared for the rice. The fish are hatched and after a few months they are large enough to be used. Several methods are employed for catching the fish. In the larger ponds they are caught with a seine, the larger fish only being kept for use, the smaller being tossed back to complete their growth. In the shallow creeks the fisherman uses a long bottomless basket, shaped some- 0 Botanicon Sinicum, p. 393. 108 The Farmer what like a truncated cone. With this in his left hand and a long bamboo pole in his right he wades into the water and strikes about with the pole until he catches sight of a darting fish, when he lunges forward and attempts to encircle it with the basket, which he thrusts into the water with the large mouth downward until it reaches the bot¬ tom. He then reaches down through the smaller opening in the top of the basket and takes the fish out with his hands. At other times he wades slowly through the water with a dip net. More common on the river banks is the sight of the large dip net attached to a stout framework of bamboo, which is alternately raised and lowered by a lever in shape somewhat like an old-fashioned well-sweep. In the numerous creeks, canals and lakes of Kiangsu cor¬ morants are used. The owner, with perhaps a dozen of these large birds seated on the sides of his skiff, paddles out to the fishing ground where he drives the birds into the water. A long pole enables him to stir up the lazy ones, but, as a rule, they seem to require little urging, and may be seen constantly diving and returning to the surface. A ring around the throat prevents the greedy bird from devouring the catch, which is at once brought to the boat and deposited there. The cormorants appear to be well cared for, and are rewarded for a good day’s work by a share of the fish. POULTRY Poultry raising in some parts of the country has become a special industry. The writer had the privilege a few years ago of visiting a Chinese hatchery at Soochow. The shop on the street, through which we entered, was filled with baskets of peeping chicks and ducklings, which were being offered for sale. At the rear we crossed a court and entered a dark building about thirty feet square. The walls were of earth and the roof of thatch. The only opening was the door which was kept closed by a weight suspended over a pulley, although there was more or less ventilation at the eaves. The watchman in charge was lying down The Farmer 109 at one side of the room. Six or eight furnaces of earth, hemi-spherical in shape, were placed at regular intervals and supplied with a smothered fire. On top of each fur¬ nace was a shallow covered tray containing the eggs. There was no thermometer, and the only way of determining the temperature was by the feelings of the watchman. After lying some days on the furnace the eggs were removed to a shelf, extending across the room a few feet above the furnace, where they were covered with straw. Later they were removed to a still higher shelf and in due time were hatched. The whole outfit of building and furnaces was not worth over $50.00, yet it served its purpose very well, and such hatcheries have been in use among the Chinese for no one knows how long. AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS The farmer’s tools are all of a very primitive pattern. His plow is somewhat similar to the shovel plow used by Americans for corn cultivation. It has but one handle and is usually drawn by a buffalo or an ox. The harness con¬ sists of nothing more than a rude wooden yoke and rope traces. Sometimes a mule and a cow may be seen yoked together. The smaller fields are dug by hand with a large four-pronged mattock. The grain is cut with a sickle or bill-hook, and is commonly threshed with a flail on an open threshing-floor of beaten earth. The men and women of the farm take their places in two lines, facing each other, with the unthreshed grain between them, and make lively music as the two rows of flails alternately rise and fall. The winnowing is done by tossing the grain up into the air against the wind, but this process is supplemented by the use of a fanning-mill. If the flail is not used the sheaves of grain are arranged in a circle on the threshing floor, and an ox or buffalo is made to drag a stone roller over them, moving round and round until the grains are all shaken from the stalks. Rice is hulled in stone mortars by heavy hammers, worked either with the foot or swung by the arms. When the foot 110 The Farmer is used the stone hammer is fastened to the end of a beam, which serves as a lever. By the pressure of the foot the hammer is raised and when the foot is removed it falls by its own weight. The grain is ground in small mills, most commonly turned by mule power, though the water wheel is not unknown. MARKET DAYS Taken all in all the life of the ordinary Chinese peasant does not seem to the Western man to be much happier than that of his ox or mule. He is dull, ignorant and supersti¬ tious. His hard toil barely suffices to secure him needed food and coarse clothing. He marries and rears a family of children like himself. His world is the village in which he lives, and where in all probability his ancestors for a hundred generations have lived before him. His home is cheerless and squalid ; he has few interests beyond his plow¬ ing, sowing and reaping; his longest journey will probably be to his county town and, if made, will afford food for thought and theme for conversation for months to come. His dialect is peculiar to his native district. He has heard vaguely of the “ Eighteen Provinces” and of the “ foreign devils,” those outside barbarians who are said to pay trib¬ ute to the “Son of Heaven” at Peking. Some have heard that a republic has been formed, but do not know exactly what it means. The births and deaths of the village, the weddings and funerals, with the occurrence of the great annual feasts, serve to break the monotony of existence and furnish landmarks for the reckoning of time. There is another institution, however, which rivals these in impor¬ tance, the village market. Here and there on the highways of travel are villages of more than ordinary size and im¬ portance. They have inns for the passing caravans with refreshment for man and beast, tea-houses for the comfort of the village idlers and gamblers and the exchange of neighborhood gossip by visiting farmers, and shops for the sale of such necessaries and luxuries as salt, matches, kero¬ sene, sugar, candles, incense and mock money, printed MARKET AT KALGAN The Farmer 111 cottons, soap and toilet articles. Every five days, or it may be every ten, a market or fair is held in the streets. Peasants gather from all the countryside, bringing their produce; rice, beans, fresh vegetables, pigs, poultry and eggs, and the little village assumes a busy aspect. Its one principal street is so crowded that passing caravans can scarcely make their way through. This is the farmer ?s sabbath ; he gets away from his hoe and the hum-drum life of the farm to talk with his fellows, to enjoy the latest scandal and to listen with bated breath to scraps of misinformation that have filtered in from the great outside world, of which he knows so little and can form no real conception; how Great Britain and Germany have been at war, how Japan is attempting to annex Si¬ beria, or Dr. Sun marching on Peking. The fortune-teller and the quack are on hand to reap a harvest from his superstition and credulity, and the Punch and Judy show to furnish him amusement. The traveling pedlar and the peripatetic tinker make themselves more useful. One April morning some years ago, I came into a little village in central Anhui, called “Great Willow Tree.” The market was already in progress and the street was a busy scene of bargain and sale. Just outside the village gate an itinerant blacksmith had set up his kit and was mending plow-shares. As we passed through the gate and entered the village we met a caravan of pack-mules, laden with hemp-oil and making their way to Nanking. Several trains of wheel-barrows followed, carrying opium, oil, cot¬ ton, vermicelli or native medicines, i.e. herbs and roots. One barrow-man sometimes wheels as much as three hun¬ dred pounds over these rough roads. Other caravans came in during the day making the return journey, bringing cotton cloth, kerosene, matches, paper and a varied assort¬ ment of other manufactures. There were a number of Mohammedan families in the place, who had built them¬ selves a small mosque. An old inn-keeper of this faith, with whom we had some acquaintance, hailed us in the street and insisted on carrying us off to the inn to drink tea with him and to meet the young mollah, who had lately m The Farmer come there to live. Meantime the marketers were busy hag¬ gling with their customers over the prices of cabbage and garlic, turnips, chickens and eggs. The shop-keepers within doors were having quite as good a day’s trade as the farmers outside, and both seemed well satisfied. Tables were set by the roadside for the sale of hot tea and a cool smoke with a native hubble-bubble for those who wanted such re¬ freshment, while the usual group of loafers were noisily settling the affairs of the universe in the tea-house. Sud¬ denly the hum of traffic was drowned by a gong and, look¬ ing up, we saw a huge idol of fierce mien, brandishing a long sword in his upraised right hand, being carried through the crowd by four bearers. He was seated on a chair, or throne, richly carved and gaudily decorated. A rather well-to-do farmer of the neighborhood was very ill and, other remedies having failed, his family had sent to a neighboring town for this image, which was celebrated through all the country round for its powers of healing, as famous in its way as the Virgin of Lourdes or other miracle-working images of Europe. The idol was taken to the shop of the village physician, where preparations had already been made for his reception. The doctor, wearing a pair of huge tortoise-shell spectacles, sat behind a table with paper before him and a Chinese pen in his hand. The bearers, supporting the idol upon their shoulders, stood facing him. Rows of drugs in neatly labeled packages were hung upon the wall behind him. An assistant with a rod in his hand pointed to these packages one by one, saying as he did so: “Please Sir, will you have this?” If there was no response, he passed to the next and the next, until the bearers were suddenly thrust forward, which was taken as an indication that the drug was needed. Then followed the question: “Please Sir, how much will you have? Five scruples? One dram?” When the proper amount was mentioned the bearers were thrust backward. Thus the prescription was gradually compounded. At first I felt a sort of pity for the patient who would have to swallow the decoction, but later concluded that it was prob¬ ably no worse a dose than such a physician would have The Farmer 113 given had he lacked the assistance of the chair -bearers. My suggestion that the idol’s chair should be placed on the floor and that he should be allowed to move it himself back¬ ward and forward did not meet with approval. Gradually the crowds in the street began to disperse, and before evening the village had already assumed its wonted aspect of dullness. The farmers could be seen trudging homeward over the hills, each with a pole over his shoulder to which a pair of baskets were suspended, containing the purchases of the day. They went home sober, too, as they usually do. There was not the slightest sign of drunken¬ ness or disorder throughout the whole day. AGRICULTURAL DISTRESS Among the least fortunate of the peasant classes are the farm laborers, who are hired by the day, month or year, at wages which seem to us pitifully small. They vary from three cents a day and food, at ordinary times, to five or ten cents a day with food in harvest time. When hired by the month they receive from fifty cents to a dollar and a half besides board and lodging. Annual wages vary from $7.50 to $15.00 with board. Living, as many farmers do, from hand to mouth, it takes but little misfortune to create deep distress. In the Yellow River region of Shantung an unusual rise of the water often leads to the breaking of the dykes and an overflow which drives myriads from their ruined homes to beg upon the highway. Not infre¬ quently has the writer seen such unfortunates making their way southward in search of better luck, the head of the family pushing a wheel-barrow on which were stored the family bedding and kitchen utensils, and perched among them, perhaps, a small-footed wife and one or two children. Such a family came a few years ago to the little village of Yiihotzu, in Anhui. Mr. Chang had been a small farmer and a country school teacher; and, as is often true in such cases, had succeeded in neither. At any rate he could find no pupils in Yiihotzu, and he supported his 114 The Farmer family, or rather failed to support them, by picking up odd jobs in the neighborhood. When I first met them I was struck by the peculiarly pathetic look in the face of the wife. The meaning of this look was explained to me by the neighbors somewhat in the following fashion. About a year before my visit Mr. Chang was returning from the next village, where he had found a day’s work. It was just after dusk, and as he passed a lonely spot on the road, he heard the wail of a little child by the wayside, the cry of some waif whose heartless parents had left it there to die. But Chang had four half-starved children of his own at home and could not stop to take pity upon the child of another. He kept the matter to himself until the next morning when he mentioned it to a neighbor. The neigh¬ bor’s wife, a compassionate woman, rushed off at once to the spot indicated to see if anything could be done. It was too late; the tom clothing of the child was there, but dogs or wolves had devoured the little unfortunate during the night. A few weeks later one of Chang’s children, a bright little boy, was taken ill and died. His sister, who was greatly attached to him, pined for him daily and would go out and sit by his grave and sing a little song which both had learned in a mission Sunday-school lately estab¬ lished in the village. It was a strange song from the lips of a Chinese child, though familiar enough in Christian lands : There is a happy land ; far, far away. Not long after she too fell sick and died. The circum¬ stances of the family did not improve, and finally to save the lives of the two remaining children the father sold them to strangers and they were carried far away. The strange, hungry look in the mother’s eyes was not hard to be understood; her heart was broken. As the story was told to me there was the implication that Mr. Chang’s later misfortunes were a punishment from Heaven for his heartlessness toward the forsaken waif whose piteous appeal he had denied. For Chinese men and The Farmer 115 women are quite as ready as their Western cousins to interpret the ways of Providence. I have endeavored in this chapter to give a true picture of country life in China, its lights and shadows. It is not wholly a gloomy picture, yet the shadows, perhaps, pre¬ dominate. One must ever bear in mind the wide distinction to be made between those whose large estates furnish such revenues as enable them to live at ease, and the circum¬ stances of the great majority who are but small proprie¬ tors or tenants, and whose environment from birth to death is one of sordid, comfortless poverty. Few of the latter class ever learn to read. Some obtain just enough knowl¬ edge of the characters to be able in rough fashion to set down their accounts. Their acquaintance with mathe¬ matics, if they have any, is confined to the rather curious method of using cash as counters. The coins are arranged in groups of five, and the method of reckoning is somewhat similar to that with the abacus. A badly printed cal¬ endar pasted on the wall of the hut helps them to keep track of the seasons. The calendar is illustrated with a gaudy print of an impossible cow in varigated colors of red, green, yellow and purple, and the arrangement of these colors indicates to them what the prophecies of the wise men are as to the weather of the coming year. This serves to show how simple-minded, credulous and wanting in all scientific knowledge the Chinese peasant is. He has but slight acquaintance with the government under which he lives. Its representative to him is the opium-smoking rowdy who comes to collect the taxes, and his little experi¬ ence has taught him that the less he knows of the yamen the better. To outward seeming he may appear to be utterly . . . dead to rapture and despair, A thing that grieves not and that never hopes, Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox, yet beneath the rough exterior there beats a truly human heart. His better impulses, unfortunately, are sometimes 116 The Farmer checked by fear of ghostly powers. A peasant family in the suburbs of Nanking, when they saw that the old grand¬ mother was about to die, removed her to an out-shed lest the spirit of Death should enter the house. There she lay for weeks with no bedding but a pile of straw, until she breathed her last. Yet it is not to be understood that the family entirely neglected her or were altogether indifferent to her comfort. Sometimes the dread of officialdom prevents the exercise of kindness. A man dying by the roadside is left unat¬ tended, for any good Samaritan who may be disposed to minister to his wants is likely to be seized and held ac¬ countable for the death, and though the accused may easily prove his innocence, he will not escape the clutches of the law without paying heavy blackmail. But, when fears and suspicions do not interfere, the hand of charity is not with¬ held from the needy nor the word of comfort from the be¬ reaved. Our peasant shares all the sorrows as well as all the festivities of his native village. He takes an interest in the ailments of his neighbor and is quick to suggest remarkable remedies, mostly magical, which his experience has proved. He is hospitable to the stranger within the village gates ; even the vagabond and the beggar are rarely turned from the door. Yet, once the villager’s suspicions are aroused or the rumor of evil intentions circulated, his wrath is fierce, sweeping and merciless, as has been re¬ peatedly shown in attacks upon missionaries against whom foolish charges of witchcraft have been made. The farmer’s life is not too often relieved by merry¬ makings, and we may be sure no such occasion will be neglected by him. He makes the wedding lively with his rough jokes, and he does not forget the congratulations and gifts due to the father of a new-born son. When a religious feast is to be celebrated he gives his humble contribution cheerfully and joins enthusiastically in the ceremonies. If he be an old man, afflicted with rheumatism or the subject of special misfortune, he and perhaps his aged consort will don the red garments of the penitent, and fall in with the noisy procession which escorts the idol on his rounds. If The Farmer 117 a younger man, he may load himself with chains or carry heavy weights hooked into his flesh, ostensibly to atone for sin and win the favor of the god, but more often, perhaps, out of mere love of display. When the temple on the hill proposes to send for a theatrical troupe to give a five days’ performance, his subscription is not withheld, and day after day he will bar the door of his house and take his whole family, each provided wdth a stool, to sit with his neighbors in the open air and watch the play. Thus toiling, sorrowing, rejoicing, he keeps the even tenor of his way, and when the last hour comes he falls peacefully asleep, and is laid to rest in the heavy wooden coffin which for years he has had stored in his house in preparation for this event. Amidst the wailing of mourners, the burning of incense and mock money, the sacrifices of food and the chanting of monks, he is carried to the village grave plot and gathered to his fathers. f CHAPTER VI THE VILLAGE REPUBLIC Law is not the command of a superior to inferiors, but a declara¬ tion by the village elders of immemorial usage. Maine; “Village Communities. ’ ’ Ten households make a pai (tithing) ; each pai shall have a head¬ man. Ten pai make a chia; each chia shall have a chief. Ten chia make a pao ; each pao shall have a director. These heads of the pai, chia, and pao shall each be elected by the ten heads of the groups which he represents. Ta Ch’ing Hui Tien: Bk. 17, p. 9. I have already called attention to the fact that the family in China is the social unit. The village may very properly be called the political unit. The family grew into the clan and the clan, as already stated, frequently grew into the village, and, although the family is autocratically governed by the father, the clan is ruled by the council of the elders or heads of families. The tendency of the clan government, as has been shown, is toward democracy rather than toward autocracy. This tendency was exemplified in the conflicts which often occurred between the clan and the local representa¬ tives of the national government. The members of the clan stood together for the protection of their ancient family rights against encroachment by the mandarins. A similar tendency was shown in Europe in the Middle Ages. Miss Phillpotts, in a work already mentioned, “Kindred and Clan in the Middle Ages,” says: We may summarize what seems to have been the tendency of the kindreds by describing it as democratic — that is to say, that in discouraging the rise of petty local chiefs they tended to keep the status of all freemen equal — but we must believe that they achieved this result by refusing opportunities to the strong as well as by protecting the weak against outside aggression. 118 The Village Republic 119 They were not democratic in the sense that the medieval church was democratic. But though it seems that we must concede this quite considerable degree of influence to the kindreds, we must be careful to note that it implies no active organization, no con¬ scious political aim on their part. It was achieved, as it were, anonymously, by what we may call passive resistance. We still have no right to think of the Teutonic kindreds as organizing themselves in any but a temporary manner, or as combining for aggression. A kindred can only be said to exist at the moment when it groups itself round a given kinsman, and a large proportion of this group must merge into other groups if some other individual is in need. So long as kinship was recognized through both male and female — i.e., during the whole period — these characteristics of the kindreds must have set very definite bounds to their political power.1 In China, however, the clan was not weakened by the recog¬ nition of the claims of maternal kindred, and, therefore, it has been both formally organized and has exerted a more permanent influence than in Europe, not often by direct political action, but indirectly by union in defense of cus¬ tomary rights and in resistance to new imposts by either local or national authorities. MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY The permanence and strength of the clan organization was fostered, too, by the ancient practice on the part of the national government which held the members of a clan re¬ sponsible for the offenses of any one of their number. Free¬ dom and self-government always carry with them certain obligations. A clan might successfully resist the exactions by the provincial or national authorities of new imposts or new services, but, once a serious crime was committed by a member of the clan, the punishment of the clan was swift and merciless. For the system of mutual responsi¬ bility extended upwards from each individual member of the clan to the highest provincial authorities. The local authorities were responsible to the national government for the peace and good order of their districts, and the same motive that induced them to avoid antagonizing a clan, i Op. cit., pp. 256, 257. 120 The Village Republic when it could be safely avoided, that is to say, the desire to avoid being called to account for the disorder that would result from a quarrel with the clan, made them equally zealous to exact the full penalty of the law when others created a disturbance of the peace. Neglect to do so would bring them under the condemnation of the national govern¬ ment, and render them liable themselves to severe penalties. Numerous illustrations may be given of the infliction of such penalties. In October, 1905, the American Presby¬ terian Mission at Lienchou, Kuangtung Province, was at¬ tacked by a mob. Several missionaries were killed and the hospital and other mission buildings burned. In pun¬ ishment for the crimes committed several rioters were put to death, and the district magistrate and the commander of the local military force were removed from office never to be employed again, although they had nothing to do with the rioting. The following year, in the province of Kiangsi, a French mission was attacked with some loss of life, and not only were a number of the rioters executed but the Governor of the province, the provincial Judge and the provincial Treasurer were all removed from office. THE TITHING As long as a village was occupied simply by one clan, the elders of the clan were, of course, the elders of the village and responsible for its peace. But the time came in the natural growth of the village when several families, or clans, were found in its population, and a system of mutual responsibility had to be devised to cover this con¬ dition. That time came in a distant antiquity. The social organization adopted to secure the peace was that of the tithing. Under the late Manchu Dynasty, the Ta Ch’ing Ilui Tien , or Constitutional Code of the Manchus, provided that ten families should constitute a tithing with a tithing- man at its head, that ten tithings should make a hundred with a hundred-man at its head, and that ten hundreds should make a thousand — or a li or fang — with a thousand- The Village Republic 121 headman. The term li was used in the village and fang in the cities.2 The system, however, is much older than the Manchu Dynasty. Under the Chou Dynasty (1122-249 B.C.), and probably under those that preceded it, five families were grouped together and made mutually responsible one for another. Five of these groups, that is to say twenty-five families, constituted a lu. Four lu were combined in a hundred, and five hundreds made a Vang, five t’ang a chou, and five chou, that is 12,500 families constituted a hsiang or village.3 Each of these groups had its headman, just as in case of the later division into tithings. The system was modified somewhat from age to age, and probably the group often had more or less than the number of families required by the law, but the principle which made neighbors responsible for one another remained un¬ changed. The attempt to introduce western theories and methods of government has scarcely affected village life as yet. VILLAGE ELDERS These headmen are to-day the elders of the village and of the city ward. Theoretically they are chosen by the families concerned and appointed by the county magistrate. In some cases this is the actual practice. Through these headmen the village governs itself. One of the headmen becomes the ti-pao, that is to say the responsible represen¬ tative of the whole village, corresponding to the post of the head of the hsiang. He is the mediator between the officers of the national or provincial government on the one side and the people of the village on the other side. He is held responsible for the peace and good order of the village and for the collection and payment of the taxes. In all transfers of real estate his name appears upon the title deed as surety for the legality of the transaction, with¬ out which the county magistrate will refuse to affix his seal 2 Ta Ch’ing Hui Tien: Bks. 17 and 157. 3 Chou Li, Vol. III. 122 The Village Republic or allow the deed to go to record. The same is true in the several wards into which the city is divided, for theoret¬ ically the city appears to be a group of villages enclosed by one surrounding wall. The law required the headman to be honest, to be able to read and write and to be married. POLICE The changes in political agencies and organization wrought by the reforms that followed the “Boxer” rising of 1900 and the revolution of 1911 have affected some branches of the government very greatly. One of these changes was the establishment, in 1905, of a national gen¬ darmerie, or police force. But, while theoretically the police powers of the whole country are exercised by the Ministry of the Interior at Peking, in reality except in some of the principal cities the peace is maintained very much as of old, by control through the village elders and the system of mutual responsibility. As an illustration of the measure of success attending this method of police I recall that some years before the revolution of 1911 my home was burglarized. The county authorities were informed and the Magistrate sent for the local ti-pao and directed him to recover the stolen goods or arrest the thieves within a certain number of days, other¬ wise he would be held accountable. Before the expiration of the time limit all the important articles stolen were re¬ covered and returned to us. The ti-pao knew, of course, where the thieves’ market was held, and articles of foreign manufacture at that time were easily detected. Had it been a native house that was robbed perhaps the ti-pao would have had much greater difficulty in identifying the stolen goods. On the whole, however, the method of hold¬ ing the neighbors responsible for one another’s conduct and the elders responsible for the village tends to check serious offenses. On the other hand, if the general sentiment is opposed to any regulation, such as that forbidding opium smoking, the probabilities are that the neighbors will shield The Village Republic 123 one another. The responsibility of the ti-pao, as the prin¬ cipal elder, for the good order of the whole village makes his office anything but a sinecure. Bearing in mind what has already been said, that there are few farmers living in detached farm-houses and that, as a rule, they congregate in villages, it will be seen that China for the most part is a land of village communities. There are some 1500 cities in China, and they will not average 50,000 inhabitants each, so that they contain not more than 75 millions of the 400 millions of the population, that is to say less than one-fifth. The remaining 375 mil¬ lions are the villagers. Probably four-fifths or more of the people, therefore, live in villages. You may stand on an elevation almost anywhere in the central or eastern provinces of China and count the villages in sight by the score. They are rarely more than a fraction of a mile apart on any of the principal roads. This will enable us to understand the importance of the village elders to the peace of the state. All important villages are protected by ramparts of earth and gates that are supposed to be closed at night, but in many cases the walls and gates are allowed to fall into bad condition, and the smaller hamlets, of course, have no such protection. In times of public disorder, however, the elders will see that the walls are repaired and the gates kept closed and, if the condition be very perilous, the local train-band will be called upon to set guards and supplement the work of the village watch-men. The train-band is one of the volunteer organizations of the village which still further illustrates the independence of the village in the matter of protection. The professional soldier, in fact, is feared and disliked. A Chinese proverb says: “You don’t make nails out of good iron; you don’t make soldiers out of good men.” The spice of the proverb is in the pun upon the word ting , which is used for nails and for soldiers. In reality two words are used which are entirely different when written but which are both pronounced ting. The proverb is not so applicable to-day as it was before the organization of the new national army. There are many The Village Republic 124 countries besides China, however, in which the militia-man in times of peace is preferred by the ordinary house-holder to the professional soldier. The members of the train- band belong to the village. They are known. They are interested in preserving their neighbors’ goods, and they are easily called to account for any offense committed. If brigandage is rife and the highways unsafe, the elders of neighboring villages will arrange to combine their train- band forces to patrol the roads. BRIGANDAGE Against a large army the village train-band, of course, is of no use, but for defense against brigands it serves very well. In times of drought or flood, which always bring famine in their train, many poor people are driven to organize themselves into bands of robbers, which pillage the homes, and particularly the granaries, of the well-to-do. And since the national government does little or nothing to prevent flood or to correct the conditions that bring drought, these calamities occur with considerable fre¬ quency, sometimes in one region, at others in another. The highways thus become infested with robbers, and the inef¬ ficiency of the national and provincial authorities has forced the people to take the question of protection into their own hands. Caravans are protected by the payment of blackmail to the robber chieftains. These caravans, which, before the introduction of railways, were the only freight carriers on overland routes, still form the ordinary means of transport to places not on rail or water ways. Upon payment of a fixed sum by the month to the agent of the robbers the merchant is given a small flag bearing the seal of the robber chieftain, which is placed upon the leading animal of the caravan. This insures immunity from attack. The Village Republic 1 25 THE VILLAGE INN Other travelers are less fortunate, but if they escape at¬ tack on the road they will be grateful for the shelter at night of the village inn and for the protection of the village guard. The village inn is nothing more than a caravansary. The wheel-barrows and carts, with their freight, are parked in the courtyard, around which are built the stables for the mules and horses. Their drivers with the barrow men sleep in the rooms adjoining the stables. Nothing but a thin partition separates them from the animals, whose munching can be heard throughout the night. The trav¬ eler carries his own bedding, which is spread out upon a few boards stretched over two trestles. The accommoda¬ tions are rude, but the food is wholesome and abundant, and when one has ridden twenty or thirty miles sleep, even on a board, is sound and healthful. In the north these village inns are usually built of beaten earth with roof of thatch or slate; in the central and southern provinces they are more attractive in appearance, being generally constructed of a grey brick with a roof of dark-colored tiles. In the north, however, instead of a bedstead composed of two trestles and a few boards there is built in one corner of the room a platform of earth covered with matting. This platform is heated, either by flues passing through it in which straw and twigs are burnt, or by a charcoal stove built in one side. The latter is often the cause of death from asphyxiation on cold winter nights. THE NIGHT WATCHMAN In ordinary times the village needs no other protection than that of tha watchman who makes the round of the place once every watch, that is to say once every Chinese hour, which is twice as long as a western hour. The first watch is from 7 to 9 o’clock p.m. During that hour the ta-keng-ti walks through the village streets carrying a lan¬ tern and beating his gong, or wooden rattle, with one stroke every few paces. Between 9 and 11 he patrols again, giving 126 The Village Republic two strokes, and thus each watch of the night is announced, usually towards the end of the watch. It gives one a pleasant sense of security, as he turns drowsily in his bed, to hear the beating of the watch and become half conscious of the fact that someone is awake and watching over him. But it must also be an assurance to any prowling thief that the watchman is unlikely to call again before two hours are passed. Since the villagers are chiefly engaged in agriculture, it is necessary to protect not only their homes but their fields which are situated outside the village. This is provided for by a mutual arrangement among the neighbors, who, at harvest time or when the fruit is ripening, take turns sleeping in the fields in a lodge of twigs. Such was the “ lodge in a garden of cucumbers,” mentioned by the prophet Isaiah.4 CARING FOR THE STREETS AND ROADS The village elders must also see that the streets are lighted and the roads and bridges kept in repair. At pres¬ ent the lights are small kerosene lamps placed at consid¬ erable distances from one another, but formerly they were shallow cups with spouts similar in shape to the ancient Koman lamps. These contained a little bean oil in which there was placed a wick of pith that projected through the spout. These lamps were placed in a sheltered recep¬ tacle on top of a pillar of masonry. Inside the village gates the streets are paved either with cobble stones, as is common in the north, or, in central and southern China, more often with brick and flag-stones. Where carts are unknown a row of flagstones is laid down the middle of the street with a pavement of brick on either side. The flagstones serve as a track for the wheel-barrows. In places where there are stone quarries near at hand the whole street may be paved with flat stones. This was formerly the case in the vicinity of Peking. These stones wear oft at the joints, which fills the road with holes and makes a journey in a 4 Isa. 1:8. The Village Republic m springless cart over such a pavement a torture to the body and a serious injury to one’s morals. With the introduction of European carriages in recent years, and the coming now of the motor car, some improve¬ ment has been made streets and roads in the vicinity of a few large cities. During the recent famine, too, the dis¬ tribution of relief was accompanied in some places by the employment of the sufferers in the construction of good roads. But, generally speaking, the national government has done nothing of consequence to supply the country with roads, and the villagers do only what is absolutely indispensable in the repairing of the roads outside the village gates. Now and then, however, they are aided by the generosity of some well-to-do resident who repairs a bridge or builds a mile or more of good roadway to secure credit with his gods and the permission of the elders to erect a monument to himself by the roadside, recording his good deed. If a widow of the village has remained faithful to the memory of her husband throughout a long period of years to the day of her death, the elders will obtain contributions from the villagers and erect to her memory an honorary gateway of stone built across the street near her late home, and inscribe thereon a tribute to her virtue. THE VILLAGE COURT Should a quarrel occur in the village, the law courts of the district will not be used to settle it except as a last resort. A Chinese proverb says : The doors of the Magistrate’s court open wide, But right that is moneyless does better outside. The villager has a wholesome fear of getting into the clutches of the yamen runners, those underlings who squeeze plaintiff and defendant alike upon pretext that fees are required for this service and that, so that the scripture is fulfilled which saith : 128 The Village Republic Agree with thine adversary quickly whiles thou art in the way with him, lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt by no means come out thence till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.5 The village elders, therefore, use their good offices to reconcile the disputants and earn for themselves the reward of the peace-makers. They hear the complaint and the defense, the rejoinder and the sur-re joinder. They find a middle ground on which the parties to the quarrel may meet. The law-suit is avoided: the ill-feeling is removed, the principals and their relatives are reconciled, and the whole village participates in the feast with which the event is celebrated. The house of the complainant is decorated with red hangings, and the neighbor against whom com¬ plaint was made brings great bunches of fire-crackers at¬ tached to a pole and sets them off in the gateway. Thus full atonement is made for the alleged injury or affront and everybody is happy. THE TEA HOUSE The village tea house is an institution that deserves a word. It is the club, the newspaper, the vaudeville of the village, and its saloon. Usually it is a restaurant as well as a tea house. In the early morning many of the men of the village will have their breakfast there, rice congee or steamed meat dumplings and plenty of tea. The tea is served in covered cups. A few leaves are placed in the cup, boiling water is poured over them and the cup is covered. This preserves the flavor in the tea. When the drinker takes a sip he pushes the cover a little to one side. Some¬ times an extra cup is provided into which the liquid is poured after it has acquired sufficient strength, and the cup with the tea leaves is filled again with boiling water. The old men of the village gather day by day in the tea house to gossip and to smoke and to read or listen to the 6 Matt. v:25, 26. The Village Republic 129 reading of the news, and there the loafers come to gamble. At irregular intervals the proprietor will engage a public story-teller to entertain his patrons, who pay merely for the tea they drink. Many of the illiterate get their history from the theater and the public story-teller. He is an experienced elocutionist. Sometimes he is a ventriloquist as well. He recites rather than reads. Sometimes it is a tale from the novel called 1 ‘ The Three Kingdoms ’ ’ that he tells. Or it may be ‘ ‘ The Dream of the Red Chamber, ’ ’ or more probably one of the stories from the Shui Hu, a collec¬ tion of tales of gallant robbers who were champions of the people against their oppressors — stories that remind one of Robin Hood and his Merrie Men. The story-teller sits be¬ hind a table on a platform and imitates the voice and man¬ ner of the various characters in his tale — the grand air and commanding tones of the mandarin, the shrill voice of the virago, the soft utterances of the shy maiden or the queru¬ lous tremolo of the decrepit grandsire. He mimics the sound of the watchman’s rattle and the twittering of the birds at dawn, and, as he unfolds the plot, he is encouraged now and then by a shout or grunt of approval from his auditors. They nevertheless keep up their conversation with one another, making a bargain over the tea-cups or discussing the latest rumors. A pair of old cronies to whom the story is more than a twice-told tale have perhaps retired to a corner to play chess. It may be that a group of noisy youths in another corner are staking, each a string of cash, in a game of ‘ ‘ Sparrows, ’ ’ the game now becoming so pop¬ ular in the United States as ma jongg. At Peking it is called ma cln’iao, which is the name of the bird we call a sparrow. The story-teller is not disturbed by any of these things ; his story runs on without interruption and without any loss of eloquence on the part of the reciter. It is especially upon market days that the tea house is made so attractive, for the peasants bring in their produce from the fields, and people from neighboring hamlets and villages also are present. The village market, which has already been described in another chapter, is also under the supervision of the elders. To assist the peasants in remem- 130 The Village Republic bering the date of a market it is generally held upon the days of the moon that have a certain figure in the units place, as for instance on all three and eight days, i.e., the third, eighth, thirteenth, eighteenth, twenty-third and twenty-eighth ; or on all four and nine days, i.e., the fourth, ninth, fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-fourth and twenty- ninth. The elders of neighboring villages arrange the dates of the markets so that no two villages will have markets the same day. THE VILLAGE TEMPLE The elders must attend also to the upkeep of the village temple, provide a care-taker and see that the offerings are made at the proper times. In some villages there are fields set aside for the support of the temple worship, i.e., com¬ mons, the produce or rent of which belongs to the com¬ munity. These temples are sometimes dedicated to one divinity, sometimes to another. It may be to a Taoist deity or a Buddhist saint. In some cases it is dedicated to the San Chiao, i.e., the “ Three Religions,” Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. The ordinary Chinese is a liberal minded man. “All religions are the same,” he says. “They all exhort men to do good. ’ ’ I remember well such a temple called the San Shan An, or the “Abbey of the Three Mountains.” Located, as the abbey was, in a valley in sight of three mountains, the name was very appropriate, but it probably was intended to have a double significance, since “The mountain” or “The mountain gate” is a common synonym for “the monastery.” Over the portico and on the pillars that supported it were appropriate mottoes teaching the unity of the human race and the common faith that under¬ lies all differences of religion. In most villages there will be a temple to the T’u Ti Lao Yeh, or the deity of the locality. The Chinese divide the underworld into provinces, counties and townships corre¬ sponding to the divisions of China, so that each village is supposed to have its counterpart in the world of shadows, and the shadowy village to have its ti-pao just as the one The Village Republic 131 on earth has. The T’u Ti Lao Yeh is the ghostly ti-pao. When a man dies he goes to his own place, and it is the duty of the family to notify the T’u Ti Lao Yeh of his coming. This deity is supposed to look after the welfare also of his community in the upper world. If there are good crops and corresponding comfort in the home, the god is rewarded by offerings of incense and candles, but if otherwise the Chinese are not unwilling at times to treat the image of their deity with considerable disrespect. I recall a visita¬ tion of locusts many years ago in central China, which spared the garden of a poor widow. She showed her grati¬ tude by incense and candles offered at the shrine of the T’u Ti Lao Yeh of the district. The next day a second swarm of locusts appeared and devoured all her growing vegetables. Then in her wrath 'she went to the shrine and, shaking her fist at the idol she cursed the god for his neglect. Small shrines to this deity are often seen in the fields or along the highways. The written character for sun appears sometimes in one gable of the little building and that for the moon in the other. Frequently instead of these you find the yin yang symbol, i.e. the circle divided by a curved line into two portions, one white the other black. On the face of the shrine a common motto is ‘ ‘ Ask and ye shall receive.” The village temple is not only a temple but the town half as well, where public meetings of the villagers are held. It is also commonly used for the ancestral tablets of those families too poor to maintain a proper ancestral hall. Cof¬ fins are frequently stored in it, both those which are bought against the day of death by the well-to-do householder who wants to be fully prepared to die, and those of the dead, which are guarded by the care-taker or the monk in charge until a lucky site for the grave and a lucky day for burial have been selected by the local soothsayers. Where all the people of a village are worshipers in these temples there is no difficulty in laying assessments for their upkeep, but when a family has become converted to Christianity it will refuse to pay the assessments, and 132 The Village Republic this at once creates trouble. To the idolater the refusal of the Christian seems but a subterfuge to escape taxation, and the convert in his zeal often adds fuel to the flame of discontent by ridiculing the mud gods and their wor¬ shipers. The Chinese have been accustomed in many places, however, to the presence of Mohammedans, who also refuse to support the worship of images, and it has always been possible to arrange a compromise by which the non¬ worshiper contributes an extra sum for some other public enterprise in lieu of the temple assessment. More serious trouble occurs when the villages of differ¬ ent faiths fall to fighting one with another. Such conflicts have unfortunately taken place between Roman Catholic and Protestant converts. The origin of the feud is some¬ times unknown to the missionary, who has been uncon¬ sciously made a party to an ancient quarrel. Some years ago a well-known British missionary escaped the toils of such a plot by his extreme caution. He was visited one day by the elders of a village in which some Christian work had been done. The elders informed him that the whole village desired to become Christian. That seemed so re¬ markable that the missionary made an investigation and discovered that the village had a feud with another village in the same neighborhood which had a large number of Roman Catholics in its population. The elders of the first village had decided that if they should all become Protes¬ tants they might claim that they were being persecuted for their faith’s sake, and so obtain the protection of the British Government. The American Legation at Peking has had to report a number of quarrels between Protestants and Roman Catholics in which its good offices were sought by the missionaries. The author was sent by the American Minister one winter to investigate such a quarrel which had involved a number of villages in the province of Chihli. It was discovered that some crops had been destroyed, some animals killed, a few houses burned, grain carried off and a number of people injured. Old grudges and personal ani¬ mosities, rather than religious differences, seemed to be the real sources of trouble. The Village Republic 133 THE GUEST HOUSE On this journey acquaintance was made with the village guest house, which was found to be a very beneficent institu¬ tion. The village inn is not always clean and lacks many comforts and all privacy. The guest house was well built and provided with fuel, food and servants. It gave us the warmth, quiet and rest that were most desirable after a weary ride of ten miles in a sedan on a bitter winter’s day. The guest house was built by the village as a place for the entertainment of officials or other visitors who had to pass that way, and was a credit to the elders who had initiated the enterprise. THE VILLAGE SCHOOL The elders must also provide a school for the children of the village. If possible a local scholar is engaged as teacher. The small pittance which is his salary is obtained by assessment upon those families whose children attend the school. An edict of the late Empress Dowager, Tzu-hsi, in 1905, adopted a public school system for the whole country, and directed that an examination should be made of community temples which, if found suitable, were to be taken for village school-houses, unless other provision could be made by any village concerned. This would not, of course, re¬ quire the removal of the idols, but, as a matter of history it is worth recording that in not a few instances the idols were taken out and thrown into the rubbish heap to make room for pupils and teacher. The curriculum, too, was determined by edict. The school system adopted provides for a lower and an upper primary school in every village, and requires every village of 100 families or more to main¬ tain at least one primary school. These schools are to teach arithmetic and geography, history and elementary science, as well as reading and writing. But it is still impossible to find the number of teachers needed who are qualified to 134 The Village Republic teach all these branches. Under the old system, which made education largely a private interest, and which re¬ quired of the pupil nothing but the ability to read and write Chinese and to expound the classics in order to obtain entrance to the civil service, the teacher as a rule knew nothing else. A district magistrate, who was, of course, a graduate, once asked me: “Is it true that the world is round?” I assured him that it was but he shook his head in doubt. Since the adoption of the public school system some villages have diverted for the support of the village school the funds the proceeds of which have in the past been used for the village theater. THE THEATER The theater is not, as one might imagine, a public hall, provided with seats for the spectators and a stage and dressing room for the players. Sometimes there is no build¬ ing at all, but merely a temporary platform made for the occasion. At best there is a covered stage with dressing rooms. This is built at the foot of a hill, so that the villagers can seat themselves on the hillside and look down towards the stage. Sometimes it is placed in front of a Buddhist monastery, and the play becomes a part of the festival in honor of the Buddha or the Buddhist saints that are worshiped there. The plays are thus given in the open air and are free to all comers. The players are paid by the elders, who either use the proceeds of a fund devoted to this purpose or raise the necessary money by private subscriptions. The actors theoretically form one of the despised classes in China. Under the old regime they and their descendants for three generations were not allowed to enter the exami¬ nations for the civil service. They were classed with beg¬ gars, barbers, butchers and chair-bearers, who, because of the menial services performed or, in the case of butchers, because they were familiar with the sight of blood, were regarded as unfit to hold office. The Village Republic 135 There were always ways of removing the handicap, how¬ ever, if one were eager to enter the service, for he could be adopted as a son by someone who was free from the disqualification. The drama in China found its highest development dur¬ ing the Mongol Dynasty (A.D. 1260-1368). The plays are mostly of a historical character, but the amusing farce is not lacking. As a rule the tone is highly moral, but there are exceptions. The lessons of filial piety and loyalty are emphasized and virtue always finds its due reward. TAKING THE CENSUS One of the most important duties of the elders is the taking of the census. This is supposed to be reported every fifth year to the Ministry of Finance at Peking. A blank form is posted at the door of every house, and the number of males and females in the household, including the serv¬ ants, is written plainly on the card. This is open to in¬ spection by anyone interested so that, if a false return is made, the neighbors may be able to report it. In the smaller villages, of course, the elders know every one and can themselves check the returns : in the large villages the tithing-man certainly will know the facts. In the early years of the Manchu Dynasty there was a poll tax levied, and the returns were therefore of considerable importance. This subsequently was combined with the land tax. In those days there was a disposition, no doubt, to conceal the real number of adult males in a household, but no such inducement exists to-day. Among the Manchus, however, as long as the dynasty lasted, there was a temptation to pad the returns in order to draw the pensions which were paid to every Manchu male. I was told by a Manchu at the time of the Revolution in 1912 that the names of many persons long dead were still carried on the rolls of some of the banners. This seems quite credible. 136 The Village Republic COLLECTING TAXES The land tax assessed upon the cultivated fields, the reed tax — a small payment made by those who cut the reeds from the public lands in the marshes along the foreshore of certain rivers — the salt tax, the excise on distilled liquors and tobacco, and the likin collected along the highways and water-ways on goods in transit — all these have to be paid by the villagers, but the money goes into the provincial and national treasuries. The village gets nothing from these sources for its expenses. There is only one national tax upon which it can draw, and that is but a recent provision. A tax levied upon transfers of real estate is allotted for the support of the public schools, authorized in 1905. This, however, is wholly inadequate for that purpose. Thus the village must tax itself for the payment of road repairs, street lighting, police, salaries of the elders, when they are allowed salaries as is sometimes the case, and for the temple, the school and the theater, unless any of these are supported by permanent funds. The assessment for these purposes is made and collected by the elders. It will be seen, then, that the village is a self-governing community, a little republic which has existed for ages, formerly in the midst of an empire and to-day as part of a larger republic, the State. Thus the village, as well as the clan, has given the people experience in self-govern¬ ment, and helped in their preparation for the establishment of representative institutions. CHAPTER VII THE CITY The cities are full of pride, Challenging, each to each — This from her mountainside, That from her burthened beach. And the men that breed from them They traffic up and down, But cling to their cities ’ hem As a child to the mother’s gown. Kipling. In China the word most commonly used as the equivalent of “city” is ch’eng. Strictly speaking the word means “a city wall” or “rampart,” and it is applied as a rule only to those towns which are surrounded by a substantial brick wall and a moat. The place of lowest rank that may be called a city is the hsien, the capital of a county. Any town which is the seat of government of an officer of the rank of a county magistrate or above it may be called a ck’eng. There are market towns and villages in China which are larger and of greater commercial importance than some cities, but it is political importance that gives a place the rank of a city. CLASSIFICATION OF CITIES Every province is divided into hsien , or counties. Form¬ erly several hsien were united in one district, called a fu, or prefecture, and the capital of such a district was also called a fu or fu ch’eng. It was, of course, the official resi¬ dence of the prefect, but also that of the two or three county magistrates subordinate to the prefect. Since the establishment of the republic this political division has 137 138 The City been discarded, although the name, fu, is still retained in common use. Under the empire a circuit of cities was placed under the supervision of an officer called a taot’ai, or “intendant of circuit,” who possessed military as well as civil rank. This office is retained to-day under the re¬ public, but it is known as that of taoyin. Practically it is a combination of the two offices of prefect and taot’ai. The county is subdivided into ssu, or townships, and these into pao or tu, that is to say, 1 ‘ wards ” or “ villages. ’ ’ But the city includes only the wards enclosed within the walls. THE WALLS These great walls of grey brick, sometimes with pre¬ lecting bastions, always with crenellated parapets, give the cities of China a picturesque appearance. They rise from 25 to 60 feet in the air and are weather-worn and often over-grown here and there with vines and shrubbery. They have a core of earth, and in the days when they were built they were a strong defense against besieging forces. Even to-day, if furnished with modern artillery and properly manned they could give an attacking army a great deal of trouble. The gates are closed at night. When the watchman makes his round about nine o’clock the gate-keeper swings one of the pair of great doors into place and lights a stick of incense. As long as the incense burns the other door is left ajar for late comers, but when the incense is burned out the gate is locked and cannot be opened until day-break, except in obedience to official orders. While living in the foreign settlement at Shanghai I was invited to attend the service in the Confucian Temple, which is within the native city. The service is held about three or four o’clock in the morning. To enter the city at such an hour was impossible without a pass. The Taotai sent me a gate tally. It was a polished piece of wood about 15 inches long on which there appeared one- half of an inscription which could not be read until the The City 139 counterpart of the tally was placed alongside, for the in¬ scription had been written over the joint. When the two parts were joined the inscription proved to be a permit to open the city gate. At three o’clock in the morning I presented it at the West Gate and, after a brief delay, was admitted. To the skillful climber the walls are not such an obstacle as they appear to be to the ordinary man. At the time of the “Boxer” Rising in 1900, when the American army of relief reached the city of Peking where the foreign Lega¬ tions were besieged, an American drummer boy clambered up one corner of the wall of the outer city. Each course of brick is set in about a half inch from the edge of the course below it, thus giving the wall a slight incline away from the perpendicular. The storms of centuries had also worn holes here and there in the bricks. With one man up the ascent of others was made easier, and the little squad of men, although under fire, were able to get down on the inside and open a gate and admit the army. The various foreign governments keep legation guards at Peking. That of the United States is composed of marines and numbers usually between two and three hun¬ dred. It was a common practice in the years 1911-13 for the officers of this guard to call for volunteers to scale the city wall which bounds the American Legation grounds on the south. It is fifty feet high, yet as many as forty men would respond and accomplish the feat very success¬ fully and expeditiously. At present there is a disposition among the Chinese to destroy the old city walls. This is unfortunate. The first place to lose its walls was Tientsin, a city of some 700,000 inhabitants. The destruction of its wall was a penalty im¬ posed by the allied governments because of Tientsin’s par¬ ticipation in the “Boxer” attacks upon Europeans and Americans. The people of Tientsin and the officers of the national government resisted the demand for a long time, and only consented under compulsion, for the loss of the walls was regarded at that time as a disgrace to the city. The walls were torn down in 1903, and the debris was used 140 The City to fill up the moat. On the site of wall and moat a beautiful, wide boulevard with a street car line was constructed. This was so attractive that other cities began to imitate. Shang¬ hai and Canton took the lead in so doing. In the case of these two cities the destruction of the walls is probably an improvement to sanitary conditions, for the streets are narrow ai\d the locations are low and damp. The removal of the walls has let in air and sunlight. But for most places the destruction of the walls would lessen the attrac¬ tiveness of the city and be of no compensating advantage, either to sanitation or to transport. To destroy such walls as those of Peking or Nanking, of Wuchang, Chengtu, or a hundred other places that might be named, would be a crime. It is encouraging to see the Chinese people showing a progressive spirit, but mere imitation of the West is not necessarily progress. GENERAL APPEARANCE OF CITIES Seen from the top of a city wall the Chinese city, as a rule, does not present a very interesting appearance. The prospect is one of dark grey gabled roofs covering grey brick buildings. Here and there will be seen an open space overgrown with grass and weeds. Most houses are of one story; a few have two stories; fewer have three. The monotony of the view is broken only by the trees that rise above the garden walls, or by an occasional pagoda. There are some exceptions to this rule of a drab and uninviting appearance. The north¬ western part of Nanking, for instance, consists very largely of rolling hills, devoted to temples, bamboo groves and market gardens. This is due chiefly to the fact that when the founder of the Ming Dynasty made it his capital (A.D. 1368), he extended the city wall on the north and west so as to enclose a larger area. The remains of the old wall and moat can still be seen. The wall of Nanking thus became the longest in the empire, having a circuit of about 26 miles, the territory that was added in this way The City 141 to the city was never closely built over and retains a rural appearance. Peking is unlike all other cities. Not only are the walls more massive ; they are strengthened by enormous bastions, and protected at the corners and at the gates by towers that rise 200 feet in the air. As one approaches the city from any side and beholds these lofty towers, the bastions and parapets, he can not but be impressed by its appear¬ ance. And when one stands upon the wall he finds a very attractive prospect. He looks down upon four cities, each enclosed by its own wall. In the center are the yellow roofs of the palaces, shining like gold in the sunlight. En¬ closing these palaces is a grey brick wall some forty feet in height. Outside of this is the Imperial City, surrounded by what the Chinese call a “ purple wall.” Within the Imperial City are the lakes of the Western Park, the Presi¬ dent’s palace, the Marble Bridge, the Finger Pagoda, the Prospect Hill, and many beautiful temples and other public buildings. Surrounding the Imperial City is the Tartar City, enclosed by a wall fourteen and a half miles in cir¬ cuit, fifty feet in height, and fifty in thickness at the top. Within this enclosure are the homes of the people, shops and temples, the Drum Tower and the beautiful Bell Tower, the White Dagoba, the Twin Pagodas, several lama¬ series, princely palaces, the foreign legations and the mis¬ sion churches with their spires. On the south you look over into the “Chinese City” and catch a view of the blue-tiled tower of the Temple of Heaven, and, over in the south-west, the pagoda of the Tien Ning Monastery, which was built in the sixth century A.D. In the distance rise the hills which extend in a horseshoe curve around the city on the west, north and east, and give to the plain of Peking, in the eyes of the geomantic expert, its assurance of happiness and prosperity. THE STREETS The principal thoroughfares of Peking are broad avenues a hundred feet or more in width, that cross one another 142 The City at right angles. The lanes, 20 to 40 feet in width, are also for the most part quite regular, but there are some exceptions. Generally speaking, in the northern part of China the streets of a city are wide and unpaved, but Peking and a few other places have macadamized the principal streets. In central and southern China the city streets are crooked and much narrower than in the north. They are from ten to fifteen feet in width and are paved with brick and stone. The shop fronts are usually open, exposing the whole interior. In the summer time the business streets are shaded by mats that rest on poles stretching from one side of the street to the other, and giving it the appearance of a bazaar. Like most old-world cities, those of China grew up at a time when sanitary science was unknown. Peking has a system of sewers which was constructed in the Ming period (A.D. 1368-1644), but they are not water¬ tight, and were evidently intended originally merely to carry off surface water from the streets into the city moat. There are gutters for this purpose under the pavements of southern towns. Night-soil is carried by coolies in open buckets from city closets out into the country, where it is mixed by the farmers with wood ashes and used as a fer¬ tilizer. The city is districted by chance, each district taking its name from some local landmark, such as the Three Honor¬ ary Gateways, the Confucian Temple, the West Water Gate, the Drum Tower East or the Drum Tower West, the Temple of Ancient Worthies, or the Sweet Water Fountain. The streets of each district are named without regard to the names existing in other parts of the city, so that you are likely to find names duplicated. The same street, too, will have different names in different districts. Such con¬ fusion exists, it is true, in other countries than China. The origin of most of the street names is lost in obscurity. They have been named from circumstances that no longer exist. We have in Peking: Sheep-Pen Lane, Linen Thread Lane, and Filial Piety Alley, although there is now no sheep pen to be found and linen thread is not made in the place The City 143 indicated. Neither do we know whose filial piety is com¬ memorated. The true name of Legation Street is “ Alley of the Tributaries, ’ ’ which is reminiscent of the days when Korean, Loochooan and Annamite, Siamese and Burmese foregathered in the hostelries there, and when European embassies were placed in the same category and the kotow was demanded of their chiefs. The ‘ ‘ Mouth of the Lamp Market ’ ’ means nothing to the residents of that place to-day. At various places along the principal avenues in Peking, and in the open spaces of some other cities, ornamental gate-ways are erected. They are usually of wood and richly decorated with red lacquer and gold. Uj)on them in gilded characters there is inscribed on one side of the street such a sentiment as “Walk in Charity,” and on the opposite side of the street “Tread the path of righteousness. ’ ’ On one gate-way will appear ; “Support the civil authorities,” on its companion; “Assist the military.” The panels of one exhort us to “Make daily improvement,” those of its counterpart to obtain ‘ ‘ Monthly advancement. ’ ’ HOMES One sees nothing from the street of the beauty of a Chinese home. When you leave the business quarter and turn down a lane, you are shut in by high brick walls on either side of the way. There are rarely any windows to be seen. The only openings, as a rule, are the gate-ways, through which you catch a glimpse of a screen or the brick wall of an inner court. On the lintel of the gate-way a motto is posted. It may be : “ The Five Happinesses come from Heaven,” or “Chiang T’ai Kung is here; we do not fear a hundred devils. ’ ’ The ‘ ‘ Five Happinesses ’ ’ are Chil¬ dren, Official Emoluments, Long Life, Wealth, and Pleasure. Chiang T’ai Kung was an ancient worthy who canonized so many men, even his enemies, that to-day he is regarded as a maker of gods and therefore more powerful than demons. On the gates of the house are other mottoes. One of the most common is : “ Blessing for the State, Happiness 144 The City for the Family, Long Life for the Individual, Abundance for the Year.” The servants’ quarters and often the kitchen also are next to the street. When you pass through the gate you are met by the gate-man, who takes your card and escorts you from the front court into a second. This is frequently bordered on three sides by a corridor. Sometimes there are rooms upon the right and left. Gen¬ erally the reception hall is directly in front of you on the opposite side of the court as you enter. If possible, this, the principal hall of the house, faces the south. It will never open to the north if that can be avoided, for that is the side of darkness. Three large door-ways, each closed by a pair of doors, occupy the middle of the fagade. The upper half of the whole front, including the doors, is of lattice work, sometimes beautifully carved. Formerly the lattices were covered with paper or ground shells; to-day they are frequently glazed. The roofs are curved and cov¬ ered with dark tiles in roll and pan fashion. The cornices are painted in bright colors. The walls of the interior are covered with interesting scrolls. On the side opposite the entrance is the raised dais for the seat of honor. It is covered with cushions and di¬ vided into two parts by a low tea table. When one enters he takes a chair near the door. When the host enters he will invite him to “come up higher,” and will place him on his left on the dais. Often the partitions between the rooms are of precious wood richly carved; sometimes they are of grille work backed by bright-colored silk. The sandal-wood used in the palaces is sometimes inlaid with cloisonne. In the homes of the wealthy there are cabinets stored with rare pieces of porcelain, ancient bronzes, and carved lacquer. On some of the walls will be seen cele¬ brated paintings. The floors are covered with rich rugs of silk or camel’s hair. Blackwood screens, embroidered hangings and other articles of beauty bear witness to the taste of the owner. Behind the main hall is another court with the private quarters of the host and his family. Other courts open on the right and left, and if he be a wealthy man there The City 145 will be extensive gardens with rockeries, ponds of water, picturesque bridges, dwarfed trees and beautiful flowers. In the garden there will be pleasant pavilions where, if you are an intimate friend, you will be invited to smoke and drink tea. RECREATION GROUNDS Public gardens, parks and recreation grounds are con¬ spicuous by their absence. Only in recent years, under the influence of Western example, a few parks have been opened to the public, and here and there a zoological garden. Peking is rich in temple grounds that can be used for this purpose. One public park with an interesting museum has been opened in the court of the She Chi T ’an, that is the “Altar to the Guardian Spirits of the Land and Harvests. ’ ’ In all large cities there will be found certain open spaces where the crowds love to gather for holiday making. The Liu-li Ch’ang, or “Crystal Market,” in Peking is a popular resort of this kind. The open plaza between the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Agriculture is another. The bank of the canal near the Confucian Temple in Nanking is also a noted meeting place. Fashionable tea houses are located there. Hangchow is fortunate in having outside its walls the West Lake, which is a beautiful sheet of water surrounded by picturesque hills. Tea houses and temples are built upon its shores and pleasure barges float on its waters. In many towns the City Temple is a gathering place of merry-makers. In Soochow it is also an art gal¬ lery. Exhibition for sale is made there of the work of present-day painters, much of it of a very high order. THE CITY TEMPLE The City Temple is dedicated to the tutelary guardian of the place. There is a representation in the temple of the ten wards of hell, each with its presiding judge passing sentence upon evil doers. Around the judge are gathered his lictors, the devils who execute the sentences passed. 146 The City The images are frequently of life size. The tortures of the damned vary in each ward. Some are being sawn asunder, others are being pounded to a jelly in a mortar. Some are made to embrace a red-hot cylinder. Others are being flayed. Some, after punishment, are being transformed into animals to be re-born for a period of probation. The hardening and brutalizing effect of these representations can be imagined. Perhaps they are responsible in part for the devilish cruelties that have been inflicted by Chinese mobs upon foreign missionaries. Buddhism is responsible for the introduction into China of the doctrine of hell and for the belief in transmigration. The Buddhist ruler of hell is known as Yama. The name is adopted by the Chinese, who call him Yen-lo Wang, or King Yen-lo. He is the Radamanthus who presides over the hell in the City Temple. It is to him that the village Tu Ti Lao Yeh must report the death of each subject in his district. The City Temple is adorned with many fine mottoes and exhortations to virtue, such as, Gambling is near to robbery; Adultery is next to murder, or, Heaven sees; earth sees; the gods see; the devils see; don’t say “Nobody sees.” In spite of such exhortations, and the sculptured repre¬ sentations of the terrible punishments that await the sinner, I saw on one visit a group of loafers gambling on the pave¬ ment of the temple, under the outstretched arm of a fiend¬ ish looking image that was intended to frighten men from their wicked ways. STREET SIGHTS AND SOUNDS The shop signs generally hang perpendicularly, and, as they are suspended at right angles to the shop front, so that they can be easily read by persons passing up and down the street, they are often an inconvenience in a nar- The City 147 row street to the man who is riding, for he may strike his head in attempting to pass under them. The proprietors of a shop do not often place their names upon the sign-board. The shop has a name of its own which it will retain through all changes of ownership. “Concord Hall” is a restaurant. The Shop of the “Precious Tree” is that of a dealer in teas. ‘ ‘ Continuous Happiness Shop ’ ’ provides the sedan and other paraphernalia for weddings. The “Balcony of the Drunken Moon” is a cafe. “Peace and Prosperity” is the sign of a pawn shop. The “Foun¬ tain of Luxury” merely sells stockings. The “Golden Cow” sells needles, and the sign of the “Black Monkey” is that of a felt cap maker. Many trades and callings have symbols which for the illiterate are better than flowery names. A couple of small hoops suspended with fringes hanging to them is the sign of a restaurant. A gourd with two bulbs joined by a narrow neck is the sign of a drug store, and is perhaps the origin of the bulbous bottles with colored water which our own druggists use, for the gourd of old was a bottle and still is so used in interior places in China. A pair of gilded posts set in stone bases, one on either side of the doorway, is used in Peking to announce a bank. A representation of a string of cash, carved in wood and gilded, tells of an exchange shop. A shallow drum of brass is the sign of an oil dealer, and many other dealers have the hat, or shoe, or other article that is for sale, pictured upon the sign¬ board, just as western dealers do. The sounds of a city street are always an interesting study. In China they are unlike those at home. The pedlar of embroidery thread, of needles and tape, has a hand drum which he swings as he walks, and which is beaten by two little balls attached to the drum by cords. The blind fortune-teller has a small disc of brass which is struck by an ivory mallet. The peripatetic barber is fast disappear¬ ing since the head is no longer shaved. He carries a pole on his shoulder, from one end of which is suspended a stool and the barber kit, and from the other a light stand and toilet articles. He announces his coming by beating an 148 The City iron triangle. The vender of water chestnuts cries “Mai- pi-tzu-o, ’ ’ prolonging the o sound, and the bread man calls, 4 ‘ Mai-man-t ’ou, ’ ’ “Buy rolls,” also prolonging the final syllable. The monk who is soliciting subscriptions with which to build a monastery carries on his back a picture of one of his saints, and walks the street with solemn tread and an immobile countenance, beating the while a wooden “fish-head,” as the emblematic article is called. A humble traveler riding a donkey finds the stirrups short and his knees well up toward his chin. The donkey-boy runs behind and beats the donkey, which plunges through the crowd jingling a string of sleighbells, while the boy yells: “ Shengkou lai la,” “An animal is coming.” The mournful strains of a band of music precedes a funeral procession. The coffin is hidden under a richly embroidered covering. It rests upon a bier carried by twenty-four or thirty-six men. A number of ragamuffins, hired for the occasion, carry emblems before it and boards, each having an honorary title which may or may not have belonged to the deceased. A paper cock perhaps is perched upon the coffin. It is a good luck emblem and betokens many male descendants to keep up the rites of ancestor worship. A sedan chair follows with the tablet of the deceased. Sometimes a portrait of the dead man is also carried in a chair. The chief mourners, clothed in sack¬ cloth, follow behind the coffin; others in white garments ride in their chairs or carts. Fire crackers frighten away the evil spirits, and at intervals the procession pauses while a table with offerings of food is set out to refresh the soul of the dead on his journey to the tomb. Or it may be a band is heard playing a livelier tune. Pipe and cymbal and drum announce the approach of the red bridal chair, escorted by the bridegroom 7s friends. The bride, hidden from view in the locked sedan, is borne to her future husband whom perhaps she has never seen. Another sound, more common in the days gone by than it is to-day, is that of a great gong announcing the coming of a high official. His green chair with a pewter knob on top is carried swiftly through the streets by four The City 149 bearers. Lictors in red jackets and black caps, each deco¬ rated with a red cock’s feather, rnn in advance carrying boards that have inscribed on them the great man’s titles. Secretaries ride behind on horseback. And, as the gong is sounded, the runners cry out, “The great man is com¬ ing. ’ ’ STREET LIGHTING The streets are very poorly lighted in most cities. There is an oil lamp here and there, but if a man goes out after dark it is really necessary to carry his own lantern. This is made of bamboo splints, or sometimes of wire and cov¬ ered with paper. His name in Chinese, cut out of red paper, is pasted on the lantern so that it is easily read by a watchman or anyone else passing in the street. If one is riding in a sedan chair he will have two big globe lanterns carried by servants in front of the chair-bearers so that they may avoid stumbling. A number of cities near the coast have now installed electric lighting plants, so that conditions in them have much improved in this respect. Where good roads have been built the motor car with its brilliant lights has re¬ placed the sedan chair and the paper lantern. THE WATER SUPPLY The city dwellers still depend in most places upon wells and pools for their supply of water. That such water is often polluted can not be denied. Doubtless the practice of drinking tea made with boiling water accounts for the fact that the mortality is not greater. Chinese rarely drink cold water. During many years of our residence in Peking we were daily supplied with water brought in wooden tubs on wheel-barrows. This came from certain ‘ ‘ sweet-water wells, ’ ’ as they are called. Most of the wells in Peking supply a brackish water which is good neither for drinking nor cooking. About the year 1910 water works were built by the government, the supply being found in the hills north-west of the city. This enterprise 150 The City has been of great benefit to the people. A few other cities in the eastern part of the country have also established water works. OTHER PUBLIC UTILITIES Much remains to be done in bringing to the cities of China the material comforts of modern civilization. Tele¬ phones have been introduced in a number of places and street railways in a few. Motor omnibuses might be used to advantage in northern towns where there are wide macadamized streets. Electric inter-urban railways would be a blessing to the city and the village, and, judging from the success of the city trams, and the ordinary railways, they ought to be a profitable investment. VOLUNTEER ASSOCIATIONS Many matters that are usually left to the government in other countries are managed by the Chinese through voluntary associations of the citizens. They organize vol¬ unteer fire companies, as used to be common once in our own country. The equipment is generally antiquated and not very effective. The engine is a small force pump in a tub which is carried on the shoulders of men. The hose is slender and the stream small and weak. The com¬ panies have their captains, who transmit their orders to the fire-men by signals. There are also towers with watch¬ men to give alarm in case of fire. This condition of affairs has in recent years been im¬ proved in some of the larger and more progressive cities. Under the influence of the example given by European communities in China, these cities have purchased foreign fire apparatus and have fire departments similar to our own, but such places are few. The temples to the god of fire still exist and superstition in many places supplants reason in fire prevention. While I was living in Nanking some years ago a serious fire broke out near the South Gate which did great damage. The authorities consulted a geomancer to learn the cause. A CITY WELL, PEKING. BELL TOWER, PEKING. The City 151 He studied the situation and reported that the buildings in the southern part of the city were too high, and that this caused the influence of the south, the region of heat, to overpower that of the north. He recommended that a pagoda on top of one of the hills in the northern part of the city should be built higher. This was done. The pagoda was torn down and re-built considerably higher than before. MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT The city, as has already been said, is in reality a collec¬ tion of villages, for the several wards have their tithings and hundreds with their elders and tipao. These elders are as jealous of their prerogatives as those in the isolated villages. They are prompt to resent any encroachment upon their rights. Sales of real estate cannot be made without their approval, and any attempt upon the part of the officials to interfere with customary privileges will be resisted and generally prevented. The wards are often separated one from another by gates that are closed at night, and each ward maintains its own watchman who goes the rounds with lantern and rattle or gong, just as in the villages. There is also a head office of the tithings which exercises general supervision over the whole city. The importance of the ward elders and of the voluntary associations of the people is overshadowed, however, by the near presence of high officials of various departments of the government, with their yamens and their numerous sub¬ ordinates, and by the uniformed national police and the military. THE COUNTY MAGISTRATE The Hsien, or County Magistrate, is in some respests the most important officer in the government. He levies and collects the taxes. He is the Recorder of Deeds, the County Superintendent of Education and the Commissioner of Industry. He is the County Treasurer, the head of the local militia and the police. He is the Coroner and the 152 The City Administrator of Poor Relief, the Commissioner of Public Works and the Judge of both the civil and criminal courts, and he is the Mayor of the city or, if more than one county is represented in the city, Mayor of the borough. In 1905 the criminal code was revised, and new courts were organized separate from the administrative branch of the government. Because of this, the judicial functions of the County Magistrate have been curtailed in some places. It has been impossible, however, to establish the new courts everywhere ; there is a lack of qualified judges. The old administrative courts therefore are still very largely in use. The post of County Magistrate, then, under the republic, as under the empire, remains the principal unit of public administration. In this yamen are gathered all branches, both of the municipal and the county govern¬ ment. The elders of the city wards and the country vil¬ lage alike report to it. The Magistrate, in the system adopted by the Republic, reports to the Taoyin, but in an emergency he may report directly to the Governor of the province, although in that case he must inform the Taoyin of the action taken. Under the Manchu regime no magistrate could serve in his native province. The object of this rule was to prevent partiality and injustice. Family solidarity is so marked in China, family loyalty so much stronger than loyalty to the state, and the influence of friendship and acquaintance so great, that it was felt most improbable that any magistrate would be able or willing to sacrifice the interests of relatives and friends for the sake of justice. For this reason the Board of Civil Office sent men to posts where they were strangers. The incumbent would take his secretaries with him, but the numerous clerks and lictors were natives of the district where they served. When the Magistrate ar¬ rived at his new home he found himself, therefore, among strangers, whose speech in many cases he could not under¬ stand, and dependent upon subordinates who belonged to the community and had in most cases inherited their offices from their ancestors. These under-paid underlings lived by their wits and were notoriously corrupt. They held the The City 153 magistrate to a great extent in their power. They were his eyes and ears and could make or mar any case that came before him. Hence these yamen subordinates were pilloried as universally corrupt and insatiable in their demands for “squeeze.” I have used the past tense in describing the character of these yamen underlings, but thus far the es¬ tablishment of the Republic does not seem to have improved conditions very much. A man is no longer debarred from holding office in his own province, and the change will probably be beneficial on the whole, for in a land where provincialism is as strong as it is in China the native is more apt than the stranger to consider the welfare of the people of his district. Two things have been responsible in the past for much of the corruption in the county gov¬ ernments of China. The first is the fact that prior to the revolution the salaries, where any were paid, were wholly inadequate. In some posts no salaries at all were p>aid ; the incumbent lived upon the fees which he was allowed for services plus the squeeze which he could extort, added to the bribes that were offered to him. The second cause was the practice of making the subordinate posts in a yamen a private possession, bought originally by some an¬ cestor who had left the office to be inherited by his descend¬ ants. Without regard to character or qualifications a man was, and in many cases still is retained in an office, where he is a dangerous parasite, simply because his great-grand¬ father paid for the post. There can be no efficient service where public office is regarded as private property. Under the old regime even the Magistrate himself re¬ ceived no proper salary. Nominally it was about $150 a year. In addition he was allowed a payment from the “Nourishing Honesty Fund.” In the case of the Viceroy at Nanking, ruler of three provinces, the allowance from this fund amounted to about $350 a year. This was popu¬ larly considered as given to prevent dishonesty. In fact, the extra allowance for the County Magistrate never passed into his hands at all. The funds were retained in the hands of the Provincial Treasurer to cover possible fines and defalcations, and it was because of this, no doubt, that 154 The City it was given the name “Nourishing Honesty Fund.” It was, in fact, an insurance fund. The Magistrate, out of the taxes collected, had to pay all the expenses of the county government. A fixed mini¬ mum was sent to the Provincial Treasury to be forwarded to Peking. The balance the Magistrate regarded as his own perquisite. In other words the taxes were simply farmed out. Under the Republic the principle has been adopted of paying adequate salaries and requiring all collections to be considered as public monies, of which proper account is to be made. But the theory does not appear to have been put into practice generally. Until the country is restored to peace most of the projected reforms will remain merely projects. TAX COLLECTION The County Yamen is divided into bureaux correspond¬ ing to the several functions which the Magistrate exercises. I have in a previous chapter discussed the amount of the land tax. Although originally payable partly in money and partly in grain, it is in fact all paid in money. But the amount is to be determined by the acreage and charac¬ ter of the grain sown, hence there is an annual inspection by the yamen of the land under its jurisdiction. The runners are sent out to assess the tax. They meet the village elders and discuss the matter over the tea-cups in the village tea house. After much wrangling, and prob¬ ably some bribing and squeezing, the amount is fixed and the tax bills are made out. Part is payable in the spring and the balance in the autumn. In case of drought and a short crop there will be an effort made by the elders to have the tax reduced. The Magistrate will also appeal to the Governor and the Governor to the national government to have the tax remitted. If the situation is really serious the tax will almost certainly have to be remitted, because payment will be impossible. If the situation is not very serious the representations of the Magistrate may secure a remission, but the tax will probably be collected never- The City 155 theless, in whole or in part, by the county yamen, and swell the perquisites of the officers there. There are other taxes also to be collected by the County Magistrate. There are various licenses required, such as those for conducting a pawTn-shop or operating a distillery. There are excise taxes on distilled liquors and tobacco, taxes on transfers of real estate, and a variety of miscel¬ laneous charges. THE CORONER An important but disagreeable duty of the Magistrate is that pertaining to the office of coroner. There are some curious superstitions connected with the discharge of this duty. While I was serving as assessor in the Mixed Court at Shanghai some years since, it became my duty to attend an inquest upon the body of a man found dead in the street. The County Magistrate conducted the inquest. A yamen runner sponged the body with vinegar and warm water to discover whether there were any marks of violence. This runner assured me very earnestly that if the body was that of a murdered man the eyes of the corpse would open while this examination was being made. There was no mark of violence and the dead man did not open his eyes. At an inquest held by another magistrate I was in¬ terested to find that at its conclusion the official purified himself by stepping over a fire of burning artemisia. This was. to keep the spirit of death from clinging to his gown and accompanying him to his home. Under the Manchu Dynasty the Magistrates were sup¬ plied by the Government with a Coroner’s Guide, known as the II si Yuan Lu, much of which was incorporated in the Penal Code. In 1907 I had occasion to translate por¬ tions of this work for a paper on “ Witchcraft in the Chinese Penal Code,” which was subsequently published in the Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.1 Some extracts from this translation will be ap¬ propriate here. 7 Vol. XXXVIII, 1907, pp. 61-96. 156 The City To identify the bones of a deceased parent, when there is doubt upon the subject, we are told to proceed as fol¬ lows : Drop a little of the child’s blood upon the supposed bones of the parent. If the bones be really those of a parent the blood will soak in, but if otherwise it will not do so. Care must be taken, however, that the bones be not washed in brackish water, lest in that case the blood and bones refuse to unite, even though they be related. Elder and younger brothers have a common origin, and may prove their relationship by dropping a little of the blood of each in a vessel of water. If the persons con¬ cerned be really brothers the drops of blood will flow together. But if by any chance vinegar or salt be mixed with the water, the union will take place, even though there be no relationship. Some say that husbands and wives may establish the fact of such relationship by the blood and water test; others say that the blood and bone test cannot be made to apply to such a rela¬ tionship, so that there is some room for doubt upon this point. If, however, the vessel of water be too large, or the quantity of water too great, the drops of blood, being too widely sepa¬ rated, may not unite ; and if an interval elapse between the dropping of one person’s blood and that of the other, there will be a difference of temperature in the two drops which may prevent their union. This test was employed as lately as November 25, 1882. More remarkable is the method prescribed by the Hsi Yuan Lu for' the discovery of the location and character of wounds on a body which has already been entirely de¬ stroyed, or of which but a few odd bones remain. This method is referred to and described a number of times in the work just mentioned. In one case the grave was opened and but a few bones were found. These were taken out and a hot fire made in the grave pit. Sesamum seed was then thrown in and scattered about. The grave was cov¬ ered over for an hour, and afterwards the sesamum seed was swept out with a broom. But some of the seed clung to the soil, and on examination it was found that there was outlined by it, on the bottom of the grave, the image of the dead man. A clot of the sesamum seed was found at a spot corresponding to the navel. The remainder of the seed was then taken out and another fire built in the The City 157 pit. Some dregs of grain from a still were mixed with water and thrown in. The fire was then increased in in¬ tensity and later some hot vinegar was poured in. A new table, lacquered with gold lacquer, was then placed top down over the grave and left there for a few moments. When it was taken off there was found outlined on its surface the image of the dead man, and just over the navel was the mark of a stab, an oblique wound 1.3 inches in length, a mortal wound inflicted by a wooden instrument. The following method is prescribed in the same work for determining the guilt or innocence of a wife and her alleged paramour who have been killed by the husband, as the old code permitted: Take a water jar and fill it with water, one half from the river and the other half from the well. This is called “yin-yang” water. Take a stick and stir the water into a swiftly whirling eddy. Then take the heads of the decapitated corpses of the man and woman and place them without delay in the water. If the pair were really guilty, the heads will turn nose to nose; but, if they were innocent, they will turn back to back, one above and the other below in the jar. It is not to be assumed, of course, that all officials be¬ lieved in the efficacy of these prescriptions, but the fact that such a work was officially regarded as authoritative up to the year 1905 is a very significant one. PUBLIC CHARITIES I Of the five Chinese virtues, mercy or benevolence is placed first. Under the influence of the Christian religion the West has done far more to relieve suffering than the older East, but China has not been entirely wanting in charitable institutions. Some of these are voluntary asso¬ ciations of the people. There are societies for the free dis¬ tribution of medicine. Buddhist monasteries sometimes open such dispensaries. But the want of a knowledge of medicine, or even of hygiene, renders them of little use. I saw a chart in one of these monasteries which pretended to describe the human anatomy, but it represented organs 158 The City and ducts which have never existed in any human being. It reminded me of the professor who wrote a treatise on the camel. Never having seen a camel, he evolved one out of his inner consciousness. The severe laws that have in the past provided punishment for the dissection of a dead body are no doubt responsible for much of the igno¬ rance of medical science that has prevailed in China. The Buddhists also support foundling asylums. Other charitable institutions are those which provide free coffins and graves for the poor, free vaccination, free schools for manual training, free ferries and monthly doles to indigent widows. Official charities include orphan asylums, homes for widows, homes for the aged, homes for cripples, and rice kitchens. These so-called homes are very cheerless insti¬ tutions — a group of buildings with the simplest sort of furniture, cheap clothing, and a little rice each day, barely enough to keep one alive. The inmates of the old-folks’ home at Nanking used to sit outside the gate and beg of passersby. A Buddhist orphanage is apt to be a more com¬ fortable place than one under official management, but both are liable to show a high death rate, because they lack trained nurses who understand infant feeding. A Chinese physician, a lady who had been educated abroad, told me what difficulties she had with careless and untrained serv¬ ants, in her endeavors to secure clean surroundings and healthful food for the children in an official orphanage under her care. One of the most common forms of relief given by gov¬ ernment officials is that of cooked rice distributed to the destitute during the winter months. When floods or drought have destroyed the peasant’s grain many of them, who are without reserves of food, will take their families to the suburbs of the county town or some other large city where relief can be expected. In Nanking there were large stores of rice kept in the official granaries. Rice was the principal article of tribute sent by the Viceroyalty to the Court at Peking. Some of this rice was retained for dis¬ tribution in times of distress, The City 159 I have a very vivid recollection of a bitter winter at Nanking. There had been unusual falls of snow and much suffering among the poor. Outside the West Gate was an encampment of refugees driven there by the floods in the Huai River which had destroyed their homes. For two miles this camp extended along the bank of a creek that formed the city moat on that side. The number of these sufferers was given as thirty thousand, but allowing for exaggeration it may be put down as not less than ten thou¬ sand. The tents were made of reed mats. Each mat, eight feet square, was bent into the form of an arch and the sides pinned to the ground. Another mat closed one end. The front was either wholly or partially open. Under one of these wretched shelters a whole family would be huddled together. There were mothers with nursing children, half- starved boys and girls, and grey-headed old men and women. Many were bare-footed except for straw sandals. The daily dole was eleven ounces of coarse rice. That it was only partially hulled made it, perhaps, a more wholesome diet. The County Magistrate went down one day to visit the camp to see if anything more could be done for the people. They rushed upon him so furiously in their eagerness to get his assistance that his sedan was torn to pieces, and he barely escaped with his life. A native Christian went down on behalf of the missionaries, and when his purpose to give relief was learned they were like wild beasts as they struggled one with another to reach him. He, too, had his clothing torn from him and had to be rescued by soldiers, who carried him to the home of one of the mis¬ sionaries. An excited mob of some hundreds followed him, and when they were denied entrance to the mission com¬ pound they began stoning the house. Organized official relief of distress has been aided in the past few years by the American Red Cross and other for¬ eign societies, so that better order and more comfort than were found in early days has been maintained among the sufferers. The self-respect of the peasants has been saved, too, by giving them work to do, and paying them wages with which to buy their supplies of grain. The women and 160 The City girls have been employed in making clothing or weaving hair nets for the foreign market, and the able-bodied men set to building good roads. This improvement in the administration of public charity has affected the management of orphanages and other refuges for the afflicted and needy, so that to-day many of them maintain workshops where simple trades are taught, and the inmates enabled to earn, in part at least, their support. ADMINISTRATIVE COURTS The City Hall and County Court House in China do not remind you of anything that you have ever seen in any other country. It is a collection of large, barn-like build¬ ings of brick, with curved roofs of tile. They are placed one behind the other, with spacious courts between. Smaller buildings at the sides of the court-yards sometimes connect these large halls one with another. Along the kerbing of the side-walk in front of the main entrance a screen is built, usually of brick. In the days of the empire there was painted on the inside of the screen a representation of a huge blue dragon about to swallow a red sun. The Chinese have a keen sense of humor. In reply to my query as to the meaning of this picture a Chinese friend said: “Anciently there were ten suns in the sky. The dragon swallowed nine, but he left one. This picture is intended to remind the magistrate that when he collects the revenues of his district, he should leave at least one-tenth for the Emperor. ” But the dragon is no longer a popular symbol in China. It was the emblem of autocratic power, of brute force. It suggested that distant age when “Dragons of the prime tare each other in their slime.’ ’ Those huge saurians have disappeared from the earth, as autocratic power is also doomed to disappear. To-day the people are sovereign in China, and the dragon banner has been replaced by the “Rainbow Flag,” which is an emblem of hope for the Republic and a promise of prosperity to its citizens. The City 161 But the screen still stands in front of the entrance to the yamen. The word “ya-men” means “The door to the official tent.” Set back a few paces from the street this great door- way is closed by two huge doors, 15 to 20 feet high, that swing on pivots. They are decorated with pic¬ tures of the door gods, one with a light face that watches by day, and one with a dark face that stands guard at night. This principal entrance is usually closed except when high officials enter or leave. A smaller door is avail¬ able for ordinary service. In a great chamber at the rear of the principal court¬ yard is the hall of justice. There the Magistrate, in the time of the Empire, sat in his official dress to administer the law. His gown of silk or satin was richly embroidered with the insignia of his office. Around his neck was sus¬ pended his string of court beads. On the crown of his hat was the button that indicated his rank, and, if he had been decorated, there was attached to the base of the button the peacock plume or the blue feather. The republican official has discarded all this finery, and discharges the duties of his office in ordinary European dress. Under the Empire a man obtained office through his knowledge of the classics and his literary talent. He may have known but little of the laws of his country. But at his side, or within call, he had a law secretary who knew the statutes and the precedents. By aid of this assistant he was able to give judgment, which, however, in capital cases, had to be confirmed by the Department of Justice at Peking. Where the new courts have been established efforts are made to-day to place men in them as judges who have been drained in the law. Prior to 1905, in criminal cases both the accused and the witnesses were liable to torture. No one could be subjected to the severe penalties of the law unless he confessed his guilt, and the torture was designed to persuade him to make confession. Beating with a heavy bamboo paddle, hanging by the thumbs with the toes barely touching the 162 The City ground, and kneeling on chains, were some of the simplest methods of torture. The use of torture was abolished by imperial edict in 1905, except that it was still allowed in capital cases where the Magistrate was convinced of the guilt of the accused and the latter refused to confess. Under the Eepublic all such torture is forbidden. THE PRISON In one court-yard of the yamen, in the old days, the county jail was located. It was usually vile and insanitary in the highest degree. While I was serving as American Assessor in the Mixed Court at Shanghai, I passed several times a week through the jail court-yard there. The two wards, one for men, the other for women, were next to the street and near the entrance to the yamen, but the wall along the street was a dead wall except for one small dust- covered window in the women’s ward, far up out of their reach. This ward was about 25 feet square. Except for the brief glimpse of sunlight given through the window just mentioned, the only light for the inmates came from a hall-way that opened through a narrow door-way into the court-yard. The hall was cut off from the rest of the room by a barred partition. Fortunately women prisoners were few, but sometimes they brought young children with them. All the women and children occupied this room together. They brought with them their bedding, which was unrolled and laid upon the floor at night and gathered up into a bundle again the next morning. The men’s ward was about 50 by 25 feet. It was better venti¬ lated, for the whole north side was open, except for a stock¬ ade of heavy poles arranged about three or four inches apart, firmly fixed in the pavement and attached above to the roof timbers. The floor was of brick and quite damp. A urinal occupied one corner. There was no privacy, and in the winter there was no fire and no shelter from the winds. I have seen as many as 30 men at one time shut up in this pen. Prisoners supplied themselves The City 163 with bedding, and for a tip to the guard their families would be permitted to bring them food. Otherwise they had to get on with prison fare, which was frugal and un¬ savory. The prisoners were not allowed to go out for ex¬ ercise and were given no work. But with the reforms that came after the Boxer Rising this prison disappeared, and has been replaced by a modern building with all necessary sanitary arrangements. In Peking the convicts are taken out to work at cleaning the streets or repairing the roads. In Tientsin they are em¬ ployed in work-shops and provided with a night school. CHAPTER VIII THE CRAFTSMAN Round swings the hammer of industry, quickly the sharp chisel rings, And the heart of the toiler has throbbings that stir not the bosom of kings. — MacCarthy. The fifth officer is called Chief of Manufactures. He orders the making up of the eight materials. The sixth officer is called the Chief of Trade; he provides for an abundant circulation of goods and money. — The Chou Li (1122-249 b.c.) Great economic changes have taken place in China dur¬ ing the past thirty years and especially since the revolu¬ tion of 1911. In many places machinery is gradually replacing handicraft. In the large open ports where Euro¬ peans live in considerable numbers they have organized joint stock companies and have built great factories in which Western machinery driven by steam power has been in operation for many years. More recently Chinese capi¬ talists have followed the example set, and have successfully entered into competition with the foreigner. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION This is tending to break up cottage industries in certain lines, and is attracting the enterprising and ambitious la¬ borers to the treaty ports. Wages have risen, the standard of living has improved and apprenticeship to the old trades is losing its appeal. Women and girls find employment in the mills, and thus the ancient seclusion of women is being abandoned and family restraints are loosened. Do¬ mestic life is profoundly affected. Fashions are changing and society is in transformation. These changes, however, are limited as yet to small districts. Over the greater part of China it is still proper to use the term “manufacture” in its original sense, for 164 The Craftsman 165 in most places raw materials are still worked up by hand into articles of use and ornament. Tools are used, but they are primitive and crude, and such machinery as has been invented is simple. The motive power is the human hand or foot, the water-wheel or the strength of the ox or mule. Steam and electricity in these inland towns are all but unknown. The conditions of manufacturing industry in such places are substantially the same as prevailed in Europe before the invention of the steam engine. The great change which the application of steam and the wonderful progress of mechanical invention have wrought during the past cen¬ tury in the manufacturing communities of the West has scarcely begun. The craftsman’s home, as a rule, is still his work-shop. His capital is small, his apprentices and journeymen are limited in number, and the former are generally bound to him for a term of years and are inmates of his own house. Although China possesses a hundred roller flour mills, one has but to visit almost any native city to see wheat still ground by ox-power, and the flour bolted by primitive machinery worked by the miller himself, who, standing on a balanced lever, one foot on either side of the support, presses alternately on one end and then on the other to shake the sieve to and fro. So, too, the old-fashioned wedge press is still used for expressing oil. Rice is hulled by heavy hammers in stone mortars, and cotton is prepared for spinning by the rude native gin and the great twanging bow, and is spun on a distaff and woven in ancient looms that Marco Polo might have seen in his journey ings in the thirteenth century, although the same work is done by the most improved machinery in many of the open ports. LOCAL CRAFTS Each district in China is noted for some one or more articles, in the manufacture of which its people show expert skill or artistic taste. Peking, which has gathered within its walls craftsmen from many parts of the coun- 166 The Craftsman try, is especially distinguished for its rugs, its cloisonne and enameled ware, its jade polishing and its lacquer carv¬ ing. Of less importance but equally interesting is its manu¬ facture of artificial flowers and imitation butterflies, dragon-flies, cicadas and other insects, in which the work¬ men show great skill. RUG MAKING The rug industry has sprung up quite naturally, since Peking is near the border of Mongolia, where great herds of sheep and camels supply the material of which they are made. The workman draws his design on a small piece of paper, and colors it with water colors of the shade that he intends to use. This is fastened to one of the upright poles of his loom. An outline is sometimes drawn on the cords of the warp, which is stretched between an upper and lower roller. The yarns are tied around the cords of the warp, clipped with shears, and beaten down into place with a smooth stick or an iron fork. The workman often trusts to his eye to determine how much of each color is to be used and just where it is to be placed to carry out the design. Formerly the dyes were native vegetable dyes and the colors were fast, but the foreign demand for rugs has grown apace, and the import of chemical dyes has been encouraged by their cheapness, with the result that much harm has been done to the business. During the late war the import of foreign dyes feel off of necessity and the production of native dyes revived. Peking embroideries, too, are known the world over, but the best, perhaps, are brought there from Shansi, the neighboring province on the west. CLOISONNE Cloisonne was introduced into China from Constanti¬ nople, probably in the thirteenth century, when not a few adventurous travelers passed to and fro between Peking The Craftsman 167 and the Hellespont. At that time the Mongols, who sub¬ dued nearly all Asia, gave peace to the eastern world and protected the routes of travel and trade.1 There are a number of shops in Peking where excellent work is done. The proprietors are very courteous and you have but to express a desire to witness the process of making cloisonne to be conducted to the rooms in which the men are at work. A copper vase is being beaten into shape by one. Another is outlining the arabesque pattern upon the surface of a bowl. A third is soldering the wires along the lines of the pattern on some other vessel. The colors are being ground and made into a paste. The little cells are filled with appropriate colors, and when the vessel is ready for firing it is taken out into the court-yard and placed in a brazier of glowing charcoal, which is kept at a white heat by the use of fans in the hands of the workers until the colors have fused and fastened themselves upon the copper. The process must be repeated until every cell is completely filled, when the surface is polished with pumice and the copper lines are gilded. The whole estab- lishment is housed in a cottage of five or six rooms. CARVED LACQUER Not far away from one of these cloisonne shops you will find another unpretentious building in which a small group of workmen with their graving tools in hand are carving lacquered trays and jewel boxes. The wooden trays are first covered with the lacquer, black inside and red or olive without, and when the surface is sufficiently hardened the delicate pattern drawn on thin paper is fast¬ ened upon it, and the graver carves out in low relief the ornamental tracery or scene to be depicted. JADE CUTTING The jade cutter uses a sharp steel wheel, which is turned alternately forward and backward by means of a strap attached to a treadle. The workman holds the precious i See Bushell’s “Chinese Art,” Vol. II, pp. 73-74. 168 The Craftsman stone firmly against the cutting edge. Water drips upon the point of contact to cool the steel, and a handful of wet jade dust is pressed into the cutting to assist the process. Glass and crystal cutting are also common, and the paint¬ ing of minature scenes on the interior of snuff bottles is an art for the practice of which a patient attention to detail especially fits the Chinese. Bronze making in China is of great antiquity. The modern work seems to be of poor quality. The brass work of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) is highly prized, but equally good work appears to be done by the brass-smiths of to-day. BRASS WORKERS Not only in Peking but in any large city you can watch the workmen beating the brass vessels into shape or deco¬ rating them with a graver’s tool. Scroll work, floral and geometrical designs, and inscriptions of Chinese poetry in ornamental characters form his themes. The furnace blown by a bellows, worked by an apprentice is visible from the street, throwing out its tints of green and purple. On the shelves of the shop the attractive wares are displayed, among them the foot-stoves with perforated covers. In these brass vessels a glowing ball of charcoal burned in wood ashes will serve to keep my lady’s feet warm when she journeys in her sedan. An ink-stone encased in a brass box supplies her husband with the palette on which to prepare the ink for his official despatches. And there is the brass water pipe, too, for the tobacco with which he comforts himself between sentences. The manufacture of these pipes is a special branch of the brass-smith’s trade. An oval box divided into two compartments forms the principal feature of the pipe. One compartment is for the tobacco supply, the other for water. The top of the water compartment connects with a long curved stem, also of brass. The bowl is movable and ends at the bottom in a slender projection which fits into an opening in the top of the water compartment. The projection extends be¬ neath the surface of the water. There are receptacles, too, The Craftsman 169 for tapers and various little implements used in cleaning the pipe. The bowl does not hold more than a thimble¬ ful of tobacco, which is consumed in one or two inhalations. The taper is of brown paper saturated with salt-petre and burns very slowly. Held close to the lips it is blown into a flame by a quick in-drawing of the breath. The tobacco is lighted and the smoke is drawn through the water with a bubbling sound. With one breath it is discharged from the mouth at the same time that the flame of the taper is extinguished. The bowl is then removed and the ashes thrown out by blowing through the lower end, after which it is replaced, another pinch of tobacco inserted, and the operations just described are repeated. SHANTUNG WARES The province of Shantung is noted for its strawbraid and its pongees. The former is exported in large quan¬ tities for the manufacture of hats. The latter is made from the cocoons of the wild silk-worm which feeds upon oak leaves. The word “pongee” is a corruption of the Chinese words meaning “natural color,” and was applied to these silks because formerly they could not be dyed. In recent years German chemists have taught the Chinese how to treat the silk so as to enable it to take the dye. LACE-MAKING Besides these two products Chefoo, in Shantung, is cele¬ brated for its laces. The manufacture of lace was intro¬ duced into China by the missionaries. An Italian convent at Hankow appears to have been the first to teach the art, and the silk lace made there soon acquired a well-deserved reputation for beauty. Protestant missions followed with the introduction of cotton and linen laces. These are made not only in Chefoo, but at Soochow, Amoy and Swatow as well. The last-mentioned port is celebrated, too, for its grass cloth, a sort of linen made from the fiber of the ramie ( Boehmeria Nivea).2 The women and girls in the 2 Botanicon Sinicum, 391. 170 The Craftsman mission schools have been taught to make drawn work of this grass cloth. The ch’u, or ramie, is a perennial which produces two or three crops of stalks each year and will last five or six years. Arnold states that the best comes from Kiangsi Province.3 The cloth woven on native looms is rather uneven in texture; a better variety is made on power looms. PORCELAIN Kiangsi Province is better known to the world for an¬ other product, for it is at Chingtechen, in that province, that the finest porcelain is made, the ware to which China has given her own name. These potteries are located about seventy-five miles south¬ east of Kiukiang, and extend some distance along the Ch’ang River, which flows into the Poyang Lake from the east. The place began to attract attention early in the seventh century A.D. when a potter working there pro¬ duced a green ware called “Pottery Jade.” True porce¬ lain does not appear to have been made, however, until the time of the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644), when the clay from a range of hills known as the Kao Lin, or ‘ ‘ Pligh Range,” began to be used in the manufacture. At any rate the ware made previous to the time just mentioned, in so far as available specimens show, did not differ in char¬ acter from the pottery made during the Sung period,4 which was not a true porcelain. The potter’s wheel has been at work in China from very early times. It was evidently known to Chuang Tzu, the Philosopher, who lived in the fourth century B.C., and who says: “Therefore the holy man reconciles positive and negative and finds satisfaction in the heavenly potters ’ wheel.” The import of the passage is that God moulds the affairs of the world as the potter does the vessel on 3 Commercial Handbook of China, Vol. 2, p. 286. 4 For a description of the wares of the Sung period see ‘ ‘ Keramic Wares of the Sung Dynasty, ” by Rose Sickler Williams, in a volume on ‘ ‘ Chinese, Corean and J apanese Potteries, ’ ’ published by the Japan Society, New York, 1914. The Craftsman 171 the wheel. The revolving sky, the succession of day and night and of summer and winter, bringing with them the blessings and calamities of the year, suggest the movement of a potter’s wheel and the vessels made thereon, “some to honor and some to dishonor.” The specimens found of the pottery of the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to A.D. 220) show the mark of the wheel, according to Laufer, who made a collection of such vessels in China, in 1901-04, for the American Museum of Natural History.5 Some writers ascribe the invention of porcelain to the Han period, but there is no evidence to show that the wares of that and succeeding dynasties, to the close of the Sung, were true porcelain. During the Ming Dynasty and throughout the period of the Manchu rule Chingtechen was famous for its beautiful productions. For a time there were as many as 500 kilns in operation there, but during the Taiping Rebellion (1851-66) the whole region was laid waste, and the indus¬ try has never since that time regained its former impor¬ tance. During the Manchu Dynasty the best products of the kilns were reserved for the Imperial Court. Certain patterns were exclusively used for this purpose. It was always possible, however, to buy at Kiuldang so-called de¬ fective or rejected pieces of imperial ware, for the officers in charge could always find excuse for rejecting a certain number of pieces, which were, of course, disposed of to the trade at a good profit. The range of hills known as Kao Lin has given its name throughout the world to the clay of which the porcelains to-day are made, and the art of making porcelain has be¬ come a fine art in many countries of the world, but it is to China that the credit is due for its invention. At present there are but 104 kilns in operation at Chingte¬ chen, and of these 30 only are in use the whole year; the remainder give employment in the summer. Each kiln employs from 100 to 200 men. Some effort has been made since the establishment of the republic to develop a foreign trade for the old imperial potteries by adopting patterns e “Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty/ * p. 8. 172 The Craftsman better suited than the Chinese to the uses of the European and American dinner table. This effort is meeting with success. At present the trade amounts to some $250,000 a year. There are many other districts in China that make Chinaware, but it is generally of a coarser variety than that produced at Chingtechen. A very attractive ware of terra cotta is manufactured at Ihsinghsien, in Kiangsu Province. Kiukiang, the principal river port of Kiansi Province, is celebrated for two things, the manufacture of silver ware and the preparation of tea. The most attractive patterns used for the beaten silver are the dragon and the bamboo. Good wishes expressed in Chinese characters are also used for ornament, and some vessels are decorated with scenes from well-known plays or illustrating ancient legends. TEA FIRING During the tea-firing season the atmosphere of Kiukiang is permeated with a fragrant aroma that floats out from the factories. But this is still more noticeable perhaps, at Hankow, which is the great tea port of central China. There are located the largest factories for the manufac¬ ture of brick tea, which is so much in demand in Russia. The tea dust is steamed and put into moulds, which are placed in hydraulic presses. The solid cakes thus formed have the shape of bricks, from which circumstance the name “brick tea” takes its origin. In the old days when traffic with Russia was almost wholly by caravan across Mongolia the tea bricks formed a good part of the cargo. The compact character and convenient shape of the cakes made it possible to transport considerable quantities of tea in small space. Foochow used to be one of the great tea ports but has lost a large part of its trade. It is in Fukien Province, of which Foochow is the chief port, that the Oolong teas are grown. These are so-called from a range of hills known The Craftsman 173 as the Wu-lung, or “Mist Dragon,” Mountains. To-day Foochow is distinguished for its paper mills. The best paper is made from bamboo pulp. FANS AND INK Hangchow, in Chekiang, is the city which exports the largest number of fans. Anhui Province is noted as fur¬ nishing the best Chinese ink. It is made of lamp-black produced by burning wood oil or other vegetable oils. The lamp-black is mixed with glue and scented with various perfumes. The small bars, after being hardened and dried, are decorated in gold-leaf with floral designs or inscribed with poetical sentiments. Men who can afford it sometimes have their own names or seals stamped upon them in gold. PEWTER WARE Hankow is the principal port for the shipment of wood oil. For pewter ware Ningpo is noted, but it is made in many other places as well. I used to stroll through the narrow lanes of old Shanghai to study the processes of Chinese manufacture, and saw the pewterer there at work. Few homes are without specimens of his handicraft, such as tea-pots, candle-stands, wine pitchers and incense burners. CANDLE MAKING I had an opportunity, too, of watching the candle makers at their work. The oil expressed from the berries of the tallow tree is most commonly used, but beef fat is employed to some extent. The candle-wick is composed of a stem of a common reed — the Arundo Phragmites — around which the pith of a rush — the Scirpus Scapularis, or the Juncus Effusus — is carefully and closely wrapped. A number of these fastened to a light stick are dipped into the jar of hot oil and then hung up to dry. The operation is re¬ peated until the candle has acquired the proper size. Those of the best quality are then coated with insect wax and are commonly dyed red. White candles are also used, but 174 The Craftsman never on any ceremonial occasions of a joyful character, for white is the color of mourning and such white candles are used at funerals. The stem, which forms the inner part of the wick, projects at the lower end of the candle, the end by which it was suspended, and is used for fasten¬ ing it upon the candle-stick, for Chinese candle-sticks do not have a socket into which the candle is thrust, as with us, but a sharp spike on which the candle is impaled. Western candles are being imported in great quantity, and with them the foreign candle-stick also, but the sale of the candles would probably be hastened if they were colored red. On another street an incense manufacturer was beating into a proper consistency the dough-like mass of pulverized barks and gums from wdiich the “joss-sticks” are made. On sieve-like screens before his door the finished sticks were drying in the sun, to take their place later on the shelves of the shop in attractive packages wrapped in red paper and decorated with gilt. BEAN CURD I stopped at a neighboring door to watch a great, lazy- looking water-buffalo turning a heavy mill-stone grinding beans. In a shop down the street the bean flour was being cooked, mixed with a little ground gypsum and turmeric to curdle it. The cooked paste, wrapped in cloths, was placed in a cheese press from which, after it should be properly solidified, it would be taken, cut into small cakes and ex¬ posed for sale. It is the cheese of the Chinese and a very popular article of diet, rightly so, indeed, in a land where meat is too dear a luxury to be the daily food of the poor. There are several varieties of this bean-curd ; one known as the “stinking bean-curd” rivals the choicest cheeses of Europe in odor. At an oil-mill another variety of beans was being ground and pressed for its oil. The refuse finds a ready sale for fertilizing purposes. Vegetable oils are in great demand in China for culinary and other domestic pur¬ poses, animal fats not being abundant enough to supply the The Craftsman 175 need. Besides beans, cotton-seed, rape-seed, peanuts a va¬ riety of tea, or camellia seed, hemp-seed, sesamum, seed of the castor-oil plant and the nuts of the wood-oil tree are all used for this purpose. The oils of the cotton, rape, beans, hemp and peanut are all used in cooking, and the bean and rape-seed oils are also used for lamps. The lamp of the poor man is merely a shallow cup with a spout at one side, like the classic lamp of ancient Rome. A piece of rush pith is placed in it for a wick. The soja bean is used for making soy, the common sauce of the rich and poor alike. It is said to have suggested to the English the manufacture of their Worcestershire and other sauces. JEWELRY It was interesting to watch a jeweler cutting the beauti¬ ful feathers of the “Turquoise’’ king-fisher into small bits and mounting these in various patterns on cheap brass brooches and ear-rings. The finished work had the ap¬ pearance of blue enamel, and the jewelry is very popular among the poorer Chinese women. More delicate work of this sort is done on the Island of Hainan, where the feathers are mounted on silver, making a very attractive combina¬ tion. Other shops devoted themselves to silver-work, and others still to stringing pearls and precious stones and weaving them into elaborate head-dresses of various patterns. Some took the shape of butterflies and others of flowers. Gold, too, is used in considerable quantity for jewelry; it is not coined at all. FIRE-CRACKERS Fire-crackers are an indispensable article in every Chinese home. They are used on nearly all ceremonial occasions: when the bride starts for her husband’s home, at funerals, when starting on a journey, on all religious festivals and other holidays, at the settlement of any quar¬ rel and on any occasion when bad luck is to be averted or 176 The Craftsman evil spirits frightened away. The process of manufacture may be observed in almost any native city, but Canton, perhaps, supplies the greatest quantity. Several sheets of paper cut to the proper size are laid on the red wrapper. One end of the latter projects a little and is moistened with paste. A small iron rod, not unlike a knitting needle, is rolled in at the other t!nd of the pile, and with one stroke of a smooth wooden trowel having a handle like a plane the rolling operation is completed. For the larger kinds a short, heavy, curved plank is suspended in a stout frame¬ work just far enough above the table to catch the cracker and roll it up. These shells are fastened in bundles and set on end for the process of filling with powder. One end is stopped with a little clay. The fuse is inserted at the other end with the aid of an awl. An interesting variety is known as the “Twice-sounding cracker,” a combination of rocket and cracker. To make these the larger shells are divided into two chambers by a wall of clay through which a fuse is passed. Both chambers are filled with powder and a second fuse is thrust into the side of the lower chamber. When this is lighted the explosion in this chamber throws the cracker high into the air where the second charge ex¬ plodes. Canton is celebrated for its decoration of pottery. The best ware is brought over the mountains from Chingte- chen, in Kiangsi, in an unfinished state. At Canton the decoration is put on and the pieces are re-fired. The Can¬ tonese matting goes into all parts of the world, and their carvings of black wood and of ivory are exquisitely beauti¬ ful. THE WHEEL-BARROW The presence of the foreigner has introduced into Shang¬ hai a number of entirely new industries, such as the manu¬ facture of foreign boots and shoes and other Western cloth¬ ing, stove casting, safe making, ricksha and carriage build¬ ing; yet even in the European settlements the old still holds its place in competition with the new. Beside the The Craftsman 177 carriage maker the wheelwright builds his barrow, the only carriage possible on the narrow roads of central China. The wheel is some three feet in diameter with felloes four inches wide. The tire is not whole, but consists of sec¬ tions each fastened on with rivets. The hub is solid. A wooden axle driven firmly into each end of the hub revolves in and supports the frame-work of the barrow. Oil is rarely used when the barrow-man has passed beyond the jurisdiction of a foreign policeman, for the creaking of a long caravan of heavily laden wheel-barrows is music in¬ deed to the weary traveler’s ear. The wheel is near the middle of the barrow and divides it into two parts, an open frame-work of wood serving to protect the clothing of the passenger or the wrappings of the freight from injury. Passengers ride sidewise, back to back, as in an Irish jaunt¬ ing car, and rope stirrups serve to support their feet. A strap fastened to the handles passes over the shoulders of the barrow-man and helps him to lift and guide his load. In some parts of the country two pairs of handles are provided and two men are employed on each barrow, one pulling and the other pushing. A single man often conveys as much as four or five hundred pounds over the uneven roads of China for the magnificent sum of twenty-five cents a day. silk Silk is made in every province of China. In Nanking it was estimated that there were before the revolution more than ten thousand looms engaged in weaving silks, satins and velvets, employing some thirty thousand men. Sev¬ eral hundred looms belonged to the imperial factories which supplied the Court at Peking with these precious fabrics. As many as twenty thousand pieces of satin have been sent in a single year overland from Nanking to the Capital. Some of the imperial patterns were forbidden entirely to the common people, chiefly certain damasks and pongees. To-day the cocoons are generally sold to the steam filatures, but formerly the silk was reeled from the cocoons by ex- 178 The Craftsman perts, who went from one farm-house to another and put up their temporary furnaces of clay or old brick in the door-yard. This is still true in interior districts. In the thin iron kettles which are set in these furnaces they boil the cocoons to dissolve the glue and loosen the silk. It is very important that the water should be perfectly clean and to this end it is frequently purified beforehand by putting shell-fish in it which consume the impurities. With a piece of bamboo in his hand, one end of which is split so as to form a sort of coarse brush, the reeler gathers up from the boiling water four or five filaments of silk, which he reels off together very quickly on a rude wheel worked by hand or foot. From five to seven filaments twisted together are said to form the best thread. From twenty-five to forty ounces of silk are reeled in a single day by one man, whose wages amount to about two cents an ounce. The pupa is often used for food and by some is considered a delicacy. It is reckoned that each catty of cocoons will produce one and three-tenths taels of silk. A tael is equal to one and one-third ounces avoirdupois. The wild cocoons cannot be reeled in the same way as those which are the product of human care, but are washed in lye water and spun like cotton. DYES After the silk is reeled it is sold to dealers who dispose of it to the weavers. Before being woven, however, it is sent to the dyer, who is well skilled in the art of coloring and has a great variety of dye-stuffs at his command. As noted above the dye industry of the Chinese was revived during the late war. The most common color for clothing is blue. Black is seen, though less frequently, for work-a- day wear, but on holidays and ceremonial occasions the most brilliant combinations are seen. The bridal dress is red. White is reserved for mourning, though the deepest mourning is expressed by wearing unbleached sack-cloth. Buddhist monks and nuns confine themselves to grey or saffron. Yellow formerly was reserved for the imperial The Craftsman 179 family. This was the distinctive color of the Manchu Dynasty, but it has not always held the preeminence. Some of the earlier dynasties chose other colors for the Court dress; during the Han period — 206 B.C. to A.D. 220 — it was carnation. For blue the most common native dye-stuffs are the Chinese woad (I satis Indigofera) , dyer’s knot-weed ( Poly¬ gonum tinctorium ) , and true indigo; for the various shades of red, Chinese madder ( Rubia cor di folia) , safflower and Tibetan red ( Crocus sativus) are used; for green the ox- plum, ©r buck-thorn, ( Rhamnus parvifolius) yields its bark; for yellow, sumac (Rhus cotinus), turmeric and gam¬ boge are employed; for purple, the purple plant (Litho- sperum erythrorhizon) , and for black the cupules of the acorn, both of oak and chestnut-oak. Besides these are many imported dyes, chief among which are logwood and sapanwood. weaving The weaving is done, for the most part, in the homes of the workmen. The imperial factory at Nanking, how¬ ever, formerly consisted of an extensive pile of barn-like brick buildings, separated by courts and alley-ways, each containing ten or a dozen looms. The windows were grated with wooden bars which in winter were covered with paper. The floor was of brick or of beaten earth. Three men were employed at each loom, one for the warp, one for the pat¬ tern, and one to weave. Each loom contained a piece of heavy satin, or silk brocade of richest colors ; gold or blue or scarlet, or it might be a damask of variegated hues, pink and turquoise woven together in various patterns being a favorite combination. Floral designs were common, and another popular figure was that of the character shou, “long life.” The same patterns are used from generation to generation ; there appears to be no desire to cater to the changeable tastes of the West. As is the case with government employees generally the world over, the work¬ men are not too diligent, and one of them assured me that 180 The Craftsman two feet of brocaded silk was a very good day’s work. Ordinary weavers, however, who are paid by the piece, make a much better showing ; a master and his two appren¬ tices will weave from five to ten yards of ordinary silk in a day. China gave silk to the world, but through lack of intel¬ ligent direction and cooperation she has fallen far to the rear in production. The nations that were her pupils are now her teachers. Want of selection and care in breeding, want of judgment in feeding, want of proper machines for reeling and weaving — these failings have made China’s silk less desirable than that of other countries. The Man- chus, whose chief interest in government seemed to be to secure revenues for selfish enjoyment, did nothing to im¬ prove the quality of the silk production, just as they ignored all advice that might have saved the tea trade. But, despite the handicap of civil strife, conditions are somewhat improved under the republic. There are some local officials who see the importance of education in all lines of endeavor. The improvement in the quality of silk, however, is due not so much to official initiative as to the action of the silk gilds under the pressure of foreign advice. Defective reeling, producing an uneven thread, was a cause of con¬ siderable complaint, and in 1917 the American Silk Asso¬ ciation sent out a representative to bring the matter to the attention of the dealers. The visit was quite a success, and much improvement has already been noted. 1 The national government shows interest too. Schools of sericulture are being established and efforts are being made to supply the people with good eggs. COTTON In this as in other industries, no doubt, the cottage must eventually give way to the factory, but the change will come slowly. The China Y ear Book for 1923 reports more than 356 silk filatures in China, with not less than 118,000 spindles. The Craftsman 181 They have undoubtedly increased rapidly within a few years past. But the weaving is still done for the most part on hand looms, and, even though the cocoons may be taken to the filatures, the weavers will continue for a long time to do their work at home. The situation is akin to that in the manufacture of cotton. Cotton spinning mills have been in existence in China for several decades, and have rapidly increased in number during the past twenty years. It is interesting in this connection to re¬ member that when our trade with China began, in 1784, one of the chief commodities brought from China was cot¬ ton piece goods — the nankeens of which our great grand¬ mothers were so fond. It was the invention of the cotton gin and the application of steam to the loom that made us exporters, rather than importers, of cotton goods. Now we have carried our machinery to China, and the former mistress of the trade, with her patient workers and low wages, may yet recover her ancient position. She may at least be able to supply her own needs at a price with which we can never compete. In Shanghai alone there are over a million spindles pro¬ ducing cotton yarn. In Hankow there are 116,000 spindles and 90,000 at Tientsin, but very few of these mills do any weaving. One factory at Tientsin reported 200 looms, but had not begun weaving in 1919. There are 3500 looms in Shanghai mills and 600 in Hankow. Generally speaking, however, the mills produce yarn rather than cloth, and leave the weaving to the hand-looms in the cottages. Com¬ menting on the use of the hand-looms Julean Arnold, the American Commercial Attache at Peking, in his Commer¬ cial Handbook of China (1919) says: “The hand-loom in industry is so firmly established and so widespread in China that it is doubtful whether it will be seriously affected for some time to come by the competition of foreign cotton goods.”6 Among the reasons assigned for this judgment is the common practice among farmers of buying yarn to work up into coarse cloth during the dull season of the year. 6 Op. cit., Vol. II, p. 355. 182 The Craftsman Many homes thus supply their own clothing. The use of the hand loom in small Chinese factories is also a growing custom, for less capital is required for such than would be required in a factory employing power looms. But the increase in the number of these small factories of 50 to 100 looms indicates a movement away from cottage indus¬ try. In time the small hand-loom factories will be forced to surrender to the more economical power-loom and huge mills with their thousands of operatives. THE STEAM ENGINE The Chinese government began to use steam-driven ma¬ chinery sixty years ago in the government arsenals, but no encouragement was given to its general introduction in private manufacturing. The fear of economic disturbance, of social unrest, and accompanying disorders and riots had something to do, no doubt, with this attitude, but the want of company laws that would encourage cooperation by subscriptions of capi¬ tal for large industrial undertakings no doubt was a con¬ tributing cause. The sewing machine and the portable ginning machine, however, were exceptions to the general rule. They very easily found acceptance with the people. Far in the in¬ terior you will find many small shops using the “iron tailor” as the sewing machine is called in Chinese slang. Gradually, however, the Europeans at the ports in their own enterprises introduced the steam engine and trained Chinese operatives in the use of machinery. Steamers appeared on inland waters, and accustomed the natives to the sight of the “fire dragon.” Nevertheless, the use of steam-driven machinery in manufacture and transpor¬ tation “upset the rice bowl” of many a poor laborer and created considerable ill feeling. When the Boxer rising occurred, in 1900, the first foreign invention that was attacked was the railway which had deprived the boatmen on the Pei Ho of the business of transporting freight from The Craftsman 183 Tientsin to Peking. The rails were torn up and the shops at Fengtai were set on fire. Such outbreaks have occurred in other countries upon the sudden introduction of labor- saving machinery. But it is beginning to be realized now that steam and electricity cheapen production and so benefit all ; that, while one form of industry is displaced, new openings are created, and the total amount of employment is increased. This brings greater diversification of industry and lessens the pressure of competition in any one line. It has in fact already brought about an increase of wages in the districts where Western machinery has been introduced, and thus has been accompanied by an improvement in the standard of living. EVIL EFFECTS OF WESTERN INVENTIONS Two ill effects are to be noted, however, as resulting from the introduction of foreign machinery in manufac¬ turing in China. One is the displacement of the artist by the artisan; the other the bringing of the cheap labor of China into competition with the highly-paid labor of the West, in the production of those goods in the manufacture of which the West has heretofore enjoyed a monopoly. In the long run this will mean the transfer of capital from the West to the East, and the enforced idleness of some of our own operatives whose services will no longer be needed because our export trade will have fallen off. As to the first-mentioned evil, while it may be admitted that the displacement of hand-made goods by a standard¬ ized machine-made product brings the greatest good to the greatest number, one cannot but regret the loss of the more beautiful artistic product of brain and hand. It has been suggested by a recent writer 7 that the curse of the machine can be neutralized by the employment of artists as de¬ signers and giving them credit for the design — that the beauty of an industrial object is not lessened by its repro- 7 “Industrial Art and the Craftsman,” by Matlack P,rice, in Arts and Decorations, Jan., 1922. 184 The Craftsman duction, and though a thousand copies may be made it is still beautiful. It is unreasonable, however, that the process of adopting foreign inventions should be carried so far as to destroy native culture altogether, and make the fashions of the West the only standard of good taste. Why should the whole world be forced to wear a sacque coat and a bowler hat? Why should the graceful gown of the Chinese with its bright colors give place to the dull greys, browns and blacks and the ugly shapes of European dress? Why must the whole world be reduced to the dead level of uniformity ! The charm of the world — the pleasure of living — is in¬ creased by variety. When the Creator made the forest he did not say “Go to, let us make a tree” and then create a pine only and declare: “This is a tree; let all trees be like it ” ; but He made an almost infinite variety of arboreal forms. The customs and manners of men also become the more attractive if variety is preserved. It is to be hoped that the present craze in China for the adoption of everything Western will subside, and a reac¬ tion set in for the preservation of at least a remnant of the old civilization. It is surprising to note how even many missionaries, although they owe their religion to Asia, identify Christian civilization with the customs of Europe — with European dress, manners, architecture and the mechanical contrivances of the West. But St. Paul didn’t wear a frock coat and silk hat. Socrates and Cicero in their dress approached more nearly to that of the old-fashioned mandarin than to that of the modern gilt-edged diplomat. As to the second evil, the bringing of American labor into competition with the underpaid labor of China, the hope of the world would seem to be, not in a leveling down of Western standards to those prevailing among the work¬ men of the Orient, but in the raising of the standards of the East, so as to equalize as far as possible the happiness of all races. But at present the great difference in the level of wages East and West tends to induce a flow of capital to the East, The Craftsman 185 despite the relative inefficiency of the cheaper labor. That labor, however much lacking in experience with machinery, can be used very profitably in the production of many articles. This is shown by the growth of industries of a foreign type in China. Among these are the silk filatures already mentioned. There are also many cotton mills with over three million spindles and some seven thousand looms, producing each year a million bales of yarn and over two million pieces of cotton cloth. There are 130 flour mills of foreign type, thirty-five tanneries, 100 match factories and sixteen paper mills. Besides these there are smelting furnaces, rolling mills, ship yards, brick and cement works, chemical dye works, breweries, egg albumen factories, canneries for fruits, vegetables and meats, glass works, cigarette factories and manufactories of electrical supplies. This list is far from exhaustive, but will give one an idea of the wide range of foreign industries that have been undertaken. MUNICIPAL IMPROVEMENT In addition to these must be mentioned municipal utili¬ ties, such as electric lighting, water works, gas works, tele¬ phones and street railways. There are over 200 cities supplied with electric light, a convenience unknown out¬ side of the Shanghai foreign settlements when the writer went to China in 1887. It must not be understood that these industries of foreign type are all financed by Europeans and Americans. That was true only at the start, but Chinese capitalists soon found it profitable to buy shares in these foreign com¬ panies, and during the past fifteen years have established not a few concerns that are wholly Chinese. Not many years ago a visit was made to a sleepy little city called T’ungchou, situated about 70 miles from Shang¬ hai on the north bank of the Yangtze River. There was no wharf or steamer landing. The steamer paused in mid¬ stream and we leaped into a small native boat and were 186 The Craftsman rowed ashore, where we scrambled up the mud bank and then hired a wheel-barrow, which carried us two or three miles over an unpaved path to the city gate. The city was surrounded by a brick wall and moat, and a walk through its streets showed it to be wholly mediaeval in character, without the slightest sign of any desire for Western innovations. But T’ungchou is in the midst of one of the best cotton growing districts of China, the district that made the nankeens, once so much in demand in our own country. To-day, under the guiding genius of Chang Ch’ien, that sleepy little city has been converted into a great hive of industry. Great cotton spinning and weaving mills have been erected there. Modern roads have been built, and the company of which Mr. Chang is head has its own steamers and steamer landing, while the town is supplied with electric light, telephones and all the conveniences and inconveniences of modern civilization. The company main¬ tains offices in Shanghai and New York and does a thriving business. Another enterprising Chinese capitalist is building a similar industrial city at Chengchou, in Honan, one of the central provinces of China. These facts indicate the direc¬ tion in which industrial life in China is moving. CHAPTER IX THE GUILDS There were in this city (Hangchow) twelve guilds of the different crafts and each guild had 12,000 houses in the occupation of its workmen. — The Book of Ser Marco Polo. In the quiet, quaintly-named streets, in town-mead and market¬ place, in the lord’s mill beside the stream, in the bell that swung out its summons to the crowded borough-mote, in merchant-gild and church-gild and craft-gild, lay the life of Englishmen who were doing more than knight or baron to make England what she is. Green’s History of the English People. Attention has been called in discussing the land tenure of China to the fact that the holdings, as a rule, are small, and that this promotes independence and social equality. I have spoken also of the influence of the clan organiza¬ tion as favoring democracy, and of the existence of tithings and village elders as giving a degree of self-government. There is another institution which may also be said to have aided in preparing the way for the establishment of a republic, that is the guild. What the guilds of the Mid¬ dle Ages were to Europe, that the guilds have been from a still more ancient time to China. The boroughs of England were protected in their ancient privileges by the guilds formed among the townsmen, and in China, too, the old-time customs and rights of the people have been jealously guarded by similar organizations. The origin of these associations is lost in the mists of antiquity. No doubt the claims which some make as to origin during the Chou Dynasty (1122-249 B.C.) are impossible of acceptance, but it is true, according to the Chou Li (the ordinances of the Chou Dynasty) that in that ancient period, during the existence of the city states, the people were divided into nine classes 187 188 The Guilds and each class placed under a leader for the discharge of its duties. The fifth class was engaged in manufacturing. The sixth, under the direction of the Chief of Trade, at¬ tended to the transport and distribution of goods. The seventh class, composed of women, engaged in the weaving of silk and linen. We do not know how far this theoretical division of labor was carried out in practice, but conceiv¬ ably these arrangements may have led to the formation of guilds. In any case we know this, that the guilds of China throughout the ages have been the nurseries of independ¬ ence and a check upon the tyranny of officialdom. In so far as organizations of craftsmen are concerned, the guilds of Europe have been supplanted by trades unions, but the trades unions lack some important features of the ancient guilds. The latter were associations of all who were engaged in a given trade; the master who supplied the capital and the craftsmen and apprentices who were employed by him. Capital and labor were united for mutual assistance and protection. In the modern world organized capital, in huge corporations, is separated from the organized labor of the unions, and is often hostile to it. A movement now in progress is seeking the revival of the guild as a method of reconciling the interests of capital and labor, and as a solution of the problem of unemploy¬ ment. This some believe would bring peace to the indus¬ trial world. Perhaps the formation of cooperative societies, and the various plans of profit sharing that have been in¬ troduced, point to the future acceptance of some such organization as the guild. In view of this attempted revival of an old institution, a description of Chinese guilds may be of interest. But it must not be supposed that the information to be obtained can be of any important assistance in the solution of the complex economic problems of the West. The Chinese industrial situation, although undergoing transformation, is still in too primitive a condition to afford such assistance. Chinese guilds are of four kinds; the craft guild, the merchant guild, the community guild and the provincial guild. The Guilds 189 THE CRAFT GUILDS The craft guilds are local only. They are limited to one craft in one town. The carpenters’ guild of Soochow has nothing to do with the carpenters’ guild of Shanghai. There is no provincial union of carpenters, much less any approach to a national guild of carpenters. A similar condition exists in other trades. The organization of these guilds varies somewhat from place to place, but they all possess certain features in com¬ mon. The membership usually includes all the followers of a particular craft, masters as well as workmen, within the district concerned. No craftsman, in fact, can afford to remain outside the order. He would be ostracized, and in some cases might suffer bodily harm. The members are not always drawn, however, from the citizens of the place in which the guild is located. In some instances the guild is formed entirely of men from some other city, and often from some other province. Thus the fish-hook makers of Wenchow are all from Foochow. The guild rules will not permit the admission of any man from any other place than Foochow. The needle makers of Wenchow are all from T’aichou, in Chehkiang, or from the province of Kiangsu. The gold-beaters of Wenchow all come from the neighboring city of Ningpo.1 The regulations of the guilds are difficult to obtain. There is much secrecy observed in all the transactions of the craft guilds. Although I formed the acquaintance of a good many artisans, and obtained much information from them relating to their crafts, every effort to obtain copies of the guild regulations was a failure. A number of fea¬ tures of these organizations, however, have become known. The members of the guild are all on a footing of equality in so far as guild matters are concerned. Each has a voice in the selection of the officers and in determining the regu¬ lations. The control is democratic. A managing committee i These instances are given by Morse in his “ Guilds of China, ” but quoted from Macgowan’s monograph on that subject, p. 181. 190 The Guilds is elected annually by the members. This often consists of twelve persons, each one of whom serves as chairman and general manager of the guild for one month. Some¬ times the committee is much smaller. The carpenters of Wenchow have a committee of five to manage the guild. The millers of the same city some years ago organized a guild of sixteen flour mills located there. The sixteen pro¬ prietors elected a committee of four, but arranged the elec¬ tion so that each one of the sixteen would serve on the committee in regular rotation.2 Often there is also elected a treasurer to serve one year. Those that are well supplied with funds employ a paid secretary, who must be a graduate so that he can better represent the interests of the guilds in the courts, when¬ ever that becomes necessary. Some guilds also employ a chaplain, who attends to the religious services in honor of the patron saint and reads masses for the dead. On the fete day of the saint there is sometimes a pageant. More often there is a feast at the guild hall, followed by a the¬ atrical entertainment. All guilds have their religious fea¬ tures, for they are dedicated to some saint or deity under whose protection they rest. The poorest are accustomed to meet in the city temple, which is always open to any citi¬ zen. Such a use of the building would naturally call for certain offerings of incense and candles on the altars. The mediaeval guilds of Europe, also, all had their patron saints. The shoe-makers had St. Christopher, the tailors St. John the Baptist. So in China the carpenters and masons have Lu Pan. He was a well-known artisan of the State of Lu in the days of Confucius. Mencius speaks of him. He was said to be so skillful that he made a miracle-working image which brought a drought upon the neighboring state of Wu. This was done to punish the men of Wu who had murdered the father of Lu Pan. The story tells us that the drought lasted three years, and was brought to an end by Lu Pan after the people of Wu had petitioned him and paid him a good sum of money. The image had one hand outstretched towards the state of Wu. When Lu Pan 2 These two instances are recorded by Macgowan, The Guilds 191 would end the drought and bring the desired rain he cut off the offending hand. Many Chinese crafts place themeslves under the protec¬ tion of the God of War, others under that of Kuanyin, the Goddess of Mercy. Some worship the Queen of Heaven, that is to say the Moon, whose birthday comes at the time of the harvest moon in September. The druggists of Wen¬ chow have Huat’ou, the God of Medicine, for their patron deity. Some of the guilds are very wealthy. The income is de¬ rived usually from an entrance fee, from fines and from certain taxes on the trade. The fishmongers of Ningpo make a deposit of $3000 on being admitted to membership.3 This is a guarantee against breach of the regulations. They also pay an annual tax whose amount depends upon the number of boats engaged in fishing. This is one of the very wealthy guilds. The druggists of Ningpo are said to have an income of $500,000 4 a year. Part of this is probably derived from invested funds. The guilds fix the standard of weights and measures for the craft. Although the Government has adopted a uni¬ form system of weights and measures, it has not found acceptance outside official transactions. Each craft has its own, and the confusion that exists is astonishing to a stranger. The unit of weight is the chin, or catty. The word chin literally translated means “a hatchet.” By treaty it is fixed as the equivalent of one and one-third pounds avoirdupois, or 21.33 ounces, but this agreement does not affect domestic transactions. The weight varies in the several trades from 4 ounces avoirdupois for tea in Peking and 16 ounces for fruit at Ningpo, to 18.55 for oil at Nanking and 20 for metals at Canton to 28 for coal in Honan. The chin is divided as our pound is into 16 parts, which the Chinese call Hang, but which are better known as taels. This is one of the few instances in which the Chinese depart from the decimal system in their tables of weights and measures. One hundred chin, or catties, 3 Morso, op, qHv 14. 4 Ibid. ' 192 The Guilds are called a tan , or picul. The picul, of course, varies with the sort of chin that is used. The unit measure of capacity is the ton, or peck. In Nanking for rice it contains 558.3 cubic inches. In Shang¬ hai for rice 728.6, but for beans only 655.4 cubic inches. In Ningpo a ton of rice measures 565 cubic inches, but in Swatow 768.8. Ten ton make a shih, or stone, which in Nanking rice would weigh 180.40 lbs. av., considerably more than a stone in English weight. A half-s/wTi, or 5 ton, is known as a hu, and a tenth of a ton is a sheng, which is a near approach to our pint, 34.66 cu. in. The smallest sheng contains nearly 31 cu. in., the largest about 95. The Government, under the Manchu regime, kept a standard hu in the yamens with which to measure the tribute rice. County magistrates paying the tribute rice were compelled to send their measures to the yamen to be tested, and their capacity was recorded. Theoretically the tou is divided into quadrillionth parts by a decimal system of measures descending through the sheng, ko, shao, etc., to the ho. The linear unit is the ch’ih, or foot, which is divided into ten ts’un, or inches. The foot is fixed by treaty at 14.1 inches English, but in common practice its length depends upon locality and upon the calling. In Shantung, in the city of Linch ’ingchou, a foot in brick-work is 11.15 inches, in land measure 12.2 inches, and in measuring cloth it is 23.75 inches. In the neighboring city of Tsinan the land measure is a foot of 14.55 inches and the cloth measure one of 21.4 inches. In Nanking the tailor’s foot is 13.75 inches, while the carpenter’s is 12.5 inches. The guilds also regulate wages and determine the number of apprentices which a master may take. Some years ago the members of the gold-beaters’ guild of Soochow killed one of their fellows for taking more apprentices than the rules permitted.5 The apprentice pays for the priv¬ ilege of learning the trade. He is bound to the master for a period of years and during that period he receives no wages, but he is given quarters and board in his master’s 6 Macgowan, p. 182. The Guilds 193 home. After his apprenticeship he is required in some cases to serve his master for another period for wages. In some guilds, according to Macgowan, no master is allowed any apprentices except sons and nephews. Although the journeymen are members of the guild they do at times strike to force the masters to raise wages. In some crafts the city is districted, and a member of the guild is for¬ bidden to take a contract outside his own district. This, of course, lessens competition. The introduction of foreign machinery, driven by steam or electricity, has greatly injured handicrafts that are thus brought into competition with machine manufacture. The cheap production of the factory may be less artistic than the hand-made article, but cheapness wins with the masses. Apprenticeship in certain lines has therefore become unde¬ sirable, and the guilds of such trades are naturally losing power. Trade unionism has not yet supplanted the guild in China, but the large combinations of capital that are investing in factories are separating the master from the workmen, and are likely to bring about in China the formation of provincial and national unions of laborers, as has been done in other lands, and array capital and labor in opposing camps. THE MERCHANT GUILDS It is difficult to draw the line between the craft guilds and the merchant guilds. They are organized on the same general plan. Moreover, many craftsmen are also mer¬ chants. They maintain their small establishments with their own capital, and open shops in which they retail their own manufactures. This, of course, was once true in the West also. Many merchants, too, whose prime business is to distribute goods, are also engaged in manufacturing. The tea merchant, for example, in the wholesale trade is generally engaged also in firing and packing the tea. But the general distinction between the craft guild and the merchant guild is clear. One is engaged in production, the other in distribution. One is a combination of artisans whose capital is small or who work for wages; the other 194 The Guilds is a combination of traders whose capital is sufficient for large commercial ventures. The artisan guilds, as a rule, are too poor to afford guild halls. They meet in temples. There are exceptions but they are few. On the other hand the merchants who form a guild generally build beautiful and costly guild halls. The Bankers’ Guild of Shanghai has one of the most attractive of these halls to be found anywhere in China. A facade of grey tiles, unglazed but planed, is surmounted by a highly ornamental roof with dragons on the upturned corners. A pair of stone lions guards the entrance. A triple gate-way opens into a court-yard. A series of large buildings separated by courts constitutes the guild hall. There is a shrine dedicated to the God of Wealth, with an image of that worthy deity, and a theater for the pres¬ entation of the plays that are frequently given. The council room of the guild is richly furnished with carved black- wood, and all the appointments are in keeping. In the matter of membership the merchant guilds appear to be quite unlike the craft guilds. In many of the former admission to the guild is limited to one representative of each firm. The object of this provision seems to be to prevent any one firm from acquiring too much power in the guild. Since all are competitors in the same line of trade this is an important provision. Each of the merchant guilds regulates the trade with which it is concerned. The guild determines standards of quality, fixes and enforces penalties for adulteration or other violation of the rules, establishes rates of commission, methods of payment, forms of bills of lading, rates of ex¬ change, and determines other matters in which there is a common interest. As in Europe during the Middle Ages some guilds were authorized to hold court and settle disputes among their members, so in China, although without express authoriza¬ tion by the Government, the guilds attempt to settle all such difficulties. Some guilds forbid their members to bring suit in an official court against a fellow member. Violation of this rule will deprive the offender of the sup- The Guilds 195 port of the guild in any subsequent trouble. In some cases a heavy fine is inflicted for such offense. It may even cause expulsion from the guild. If a reputable member of the guild becomes involved in a suit at law or is prosecuted by the Government the guild will come to his assistance and go surety for him. But if a member is found guilty of a serious offense the guild will arrest him and deliver him to the authorities. Although most of the merchant guilds are like the craft guilds in having a merely local character, there are some which exercise a wider control. The Shanghai guilds, for instance, which control the trade in tea and silk at that port, are in a position to dictate the policy of the guilds in other localities which have to do with trade in those articles, for they are in close association with the foreign buyers and have intimate acquaintance with the conditions of the export trade. It is the Bankers’ Guild, however, which exercises the widest control. It is the only one which exercises anything like a national influence. For centuries past the bankers of China have been drawn almost wholly from the province of Shansi. It is a curious feature of business life in China that certain districts have secured a monopoly of certain occupations. Thus all the clerks in the yamens of China are drawn as a rule from Shaohsingfu in Kiangsu Province. All the eunuchs of the Peking palaces during the Manchu regime came from Hochienfu, Chihli, and Shansi has long enjoyed a mo¬ nopoly of banking. The Bankers’ Guild has a branch in every important city, and thus it is possible to buy bills of exchange on any part of the country. The guild fixes rates of discount and interest and determines the exchange between the various currencies of the country. That is a matter of serious importance in trade and travel, for the currencies are too numerous to catalogue. In some parts of the Republic the Hongkong dollar is the standard coin, minted by the British Crown Colony of Hongkong. In Shanghai the common currency is the Mexican dollar. In Anhui Province it is the old Carolus dollar of Spain. In Tientsin it is the Chinese dollar. Formerly the money of 196 The Guilds the people was the brass cash, a circular coin with a square hole in the center. These coins were strung on strings of straw, in hundreds or thousands. A thousand was com¬ monly called a tiao. But in reality the string of a hundred contained but 98, and in some cases but 95. There were two strings of 95 each in a tiao , so that a tiao really num¬ bered 974. In 1892 a Mexican dollar at Shanghai exchanged for 1050 cash. In 1897 it brought but 900. The price of copper had risen in the meantime and the value of silver had fallen. In 1919 a Chinese silver dollar brought 1300 cash. This was due chiefly, no doubt, to the rise in the value of silver brought about by the Great War. Some years ago, owing to the rise in the price of copper, the Chinese Government ceased the coinage of cash and minted one-cent pieces instead. These, however, were token coins, and the people of China are not accustomed to the use of such coins. They passed for a while at 100 to the Chinese or the Mexican dollar, but when the Government refused to receive 100 in payment of a dollar in taxes, the quotations fell, so that to-day a silver dollar will bring about 112 copper cents.5a But, while the brass cash and the copper cent are the coins most used by the people, in all large transactions prices are reckoned in taels. The tael is not a coin, but a weight of silver — that is to say a liang, or Chinese ounce of silver. But, as already pointed out, the liang varies in actual weight everywhere, and in the valuation of a liang of silver it is necessary not only to know the real weight, but the pureness of the silver as well. There are frequently several kinds of taels used in the same city, and in going from place to place the varieties are multitudinous. I have a table of the weight and fineness of 91 different taels. They vary in weight from 520 to 583.3 grains, and in fineness from 900 to 1000. The customs tael, which exists only in imagination, is known as the Haikwan tael, and is 1000 fine and weighs 583.3 grains. But in paying sa The China Year Book, 1923, says depreciation of cent caused dollar to vary from 169 to 203 cents in 1922. The Guilds 197 duties, one pays in local taels, and as the local tael is merely bar silver, or sycee, the payment is usually made in dollars. Hence, the duty in Customs taels must be reduced to its equivalent in local taels, and that to its equivalent in Chinese dollars. Thus China is the paradise of money changers, and in other days the angel that stood guard over that paradise was the Shansi Bankers’ Guild. Formerly the power was much greater than to-day. It could control the financial policy of the Government. But in these latter days the heavy foreign indebtedness, the establishment in China of powerful foreign banks, and the creation of rival Chinese institutions, have curtailed to a considerable degree the power of Shansi. As an illustration of the control over financial trans¬ actions exercised by the Bankers’ Guild I quote a few of the rules of the guild in Wuhu.6 1. Sycee must be changed into dollars at the rate posted ; other¬ wise a fine of Tls. 100 will be imposed. 2. Shanghai drafts must be sold at the posted rate, and for 10 days after sight or 12 days after date. Violation of this rule entails a fine of Tls. 100. *•••••• 5. Members of the guild must attend its meetings held on the 15th of each moon to fix rates. Anyone who adopts another rate will be fined Tls. 100. 6. No drafts may be ante-dated or post-dated. 7. A deposit of Tls. 100 must be made by members to cover possible fines. 8. If the member should be fined, another deposit of Tls. 100 will be required. 9. Informers will receive one-half of the fine. PROVINCIAL GUILDS The name “Provincial Guild” inaccurately describes the character of the third sort of guilds. They are asso¬ ciations of men from the same province who are living away from home, and generally in a province of which they 6 Decennial reports of the Chinese Maritime Customs, 1882-91, p. 289. 198 The Guilds are not natives. Sometimes, however, the membership is restricted to men who have come from the same city or from a common prefecture. The attachment to home is very strong in a Chinese. I have known men in Peking, who were born in that city and whose ancestors for two or three generations had resided there, who, nevertheless, spoke of themselves as belonging to distant provinces. ‘ ‘ What is your native province ? ’ ’ you will ask such a man, and he may reply: “Kiangsi, but it is 500 years since my family left there/’ It is readily understood, then, that when men of the same province meet in a city, far distant from their home and where they are engaged in business, they will be drawn one toward another. This tendency is strengthened by the differences of dialect which make it so difficult for Chinese of different regions to communicate with each other. The provincial guilds usually build attractive guild houses which are in the nature of clubs. There the mem¬ bers congregate and discuss common interests. Visitors from home are introduced and enjoy the privileges of the club. There are rooms to be rented to such visitors at low rates. There is a kitchen, a dining-room, and a chef who is familiar with the preparation of home dishes. There are rooms for games, sometimes a theater, and usually a hall for public meetings. The guild stands sponsor for its members or for fellow provincials, properly introduced, and it also exercises a wholesome restraint over them by threatening to withdraw support if the practices of a firm or an individual are con¬ trary to the rules. The influence of the guild, too, is used to promote the political advancement of expectant or sub¬ stantive officials from the province or district represented. When such an official takes office in the town where the guild is located, he is expected to make a handsome con¬ tribution to the funds of the guild, and he in turn is hos¬ pitably entertained by the guild. These guilds are also benevolent societies. They provide relief for their fellow provincials who may be in distress, and they have a cemetery where the remains of those who The Guilds 199 die away from home may be buried until opportunity offers to send the remains to the distant family grave plot. If such fellow townsmen died unprovided with funds, the guild will bear the expense of the funeral and the cost of shipping the body home. These provincial guilds are organized on much the same plan as the craft guilds. The members elect annually a committee of managers, each one of whom serves for a time as president. There is a paid secretary who must be a graduate, and who is the active representative of the guild. Funds are raised usually by a light tax on the trade of the members. For example, the Ningpo Guild at Wen¬ chow has a committeeman from each of the important trades conducted by the members, and charges $2.00 per thousand on the value of cargo, except cotton and dried fish. The cotton pays $0.20 a bale of 120 catties, and the dried fish 44 cash a package. Members not receiving cargo pay from 300 to 1000 cash a month, according to the amount of their business. The Hanyang Guild at Ichang levies a tax on trade, and also collects 300 cash from each junk for each trip made. Working men pay 30 cash a month and clerks 2 per cent of their salaries.7 In Chungking eight guilds, representing as many differ¬ ent provinces, are associated together in one general guild for mutual protection and assistance. They maintain a fire department, a volunteer military company, adjust cases in bankruptcy, raise relief funds, and support an orphanage and other charitable institutions.8 COMMUNITY GUILDS There are two places in China where the guild assumes charge of the municipal administration, in addition to the oversight of trade. These are Swatow, in Kuangtung Prov¬ ince, and Newchwang, in Shengking. That in Newchwang is called “The Great Guild of Newchwang,’' and that at 7 Decennial Reports of Chinese Maritime Customs, 1882-91, p. 158. & Decennial Reports of Maritime Customs, p. 119. 200 The Guilds Swatow is the “Swatow Guild.’ ’ The latter is composed of representatives from six counties and is divided into two sections, each covering three counties. Each section has 24 representatives. Two of these from each section serve in turn for one month, one as accountant, the other as treasurer, the four together constituting for that month the managing committee. The guild acts as a municipal government, as a board of trade, and a chamber of com¬ merce. It has tremendous power. It levies taxes, main¬ tains a fire brigade, determines standards of weights and measures, rates of commission and settling days, and penal¬ izes all violation of the ordinances. Among the taxes upon which it depends in part for its revenue are fees for the entrance and clearance of all steamers and sailing vessels owned or chartered by members of the guild. Other taxes are levied on cargo, either a specific or an ad valorem duty. There are license fees for commission merchants and fines for various offenses. In addition to these sources of revenue there is considerable income from rents of property belong¬ ing to the guild. All bankrupts are boycotted. No Swatow agent is permitted to act for an outside firm which refuses to pay its indebtedness to a local firm, and no outside firm may have more than one agent in Swatow. Its patron deity is the “Queen of Heaven,” i.e., the Moon. Members who fail to participate in the celebration of her birthday, which comes at the time of the Harvest Moon, are fined 10,000 fire-crackers. Sometimes the decrees of the guild are unwritten. Word is passed around and united action follows, as in the case of an attempt by the provincial government to collect a new tax m 1890. The tax collector not only failed to col¬ lect, he could not even find a house to serve as an office. He soon abandoned the task and left the port.9 The Swatow Guild is unique in that it attempts to con¬ trol the trade of Swatow with other ports of China at which Swatow men are doing business. This is done through branch guilds opened in those ports.10 9 Decennial Reports of Maritime Customs, p. 537. 10 Morse, op. cit., 54. The Guilds 201 The Great Guild at Newchwang is similar to that at Swatow, but exercises less extensive control. It is also divided into two sections, one for the eastern, the other for the western part of the port. Each section annually elects a president and vice president, and these four make the managing committee. As a municipal government the guild looks after the upkeep of streets and roads, builds and maintains toll bridges, cares for drains and reservoirs, controls the commons, supports charitable institutions and administers poor relief. As a commercial association it establishes rules for con¬ ducting the grain market, which is one of the chief interests of the port. It also controls the money market, which is open only to members of the guild and visitors properly introduced. The latter, however, are not permitted to enter into any transactions there. It regulates exchange and commission rates and fixes the standard for silver sycee and the rules and charges for smelting and assaying silver. Its revenues are derived from annual dues, taxes on trading operations, and the bridge tolls already mentioned. Pro¬ tection to the business of the members is secured by re¬ quiring all bankers and brokers to collect 2 per cent on all monies passing through their hands which belong to travellers or non-members. Penalities are provided for non-observance of these rules.11 THE GUILD AND THE GOVERNMENT The tendency of the guilds to cultivate in their members a spirit of independence is well shown in the numerous con¬ tests between them and the Government. I have already mentioned the incident at Swatow in which resistance was made to an unusual tax. Many other illustrations may be given. During the last decade of the nineteenth century I was living in Nanking. The Viceroy had just established a mint for the coinage of silver dollars. They were nomi¬ nally of the same weight and fineness as the Mexican dollar ; n Decennial Reports of I. M. Customs, p. 35. 202 The Guilds in reality there was a slight difference. The Viceroy issued a proclamation requiring the public to accept them at a certain valuation in the brass cash. The bankers and ex¬ change shops protested that they were not worth that price. The Viceroy insisted and threatened punishment. The guilds took action. The following day every bank and ex¬ change shop in Nanking closed its doors. This lasted for three days, after which the Viceroy accepted the bank’s rate. The Ningpo Guild at Shanghai maintains a guild hall and a cemetery. In 1898, while I was living in that city, the Municipal Council of the French Settlement de¬ cided, for sanitary reasons, to remove the cemetery, which was already entirely surrounded by the city. This action was in violation of an agreement made in 1878, in which the French Government had promised not to disturb the graves. The Ningpo Guild at once took action. Merchants, bankers, artisans, servants — all quit work. The police were on hand in force. The foreign volunteers were called out ; blue- jackets were landed from foreign men-of-war in the harbor. But at the first attempt to touch the cemetery a riot broke out. Twenty Chinese were killed, but the guild triumphed. The cemetery is still undisturbed. I remember, too, very well the wheel-barrow riot of 1897. The Municipal Council of the International Settlement had' decided to increase the license for wheel-barrows from 400 to 600 cash a month, i.e., from $0.20 to $0.30 in American money. The Chinese wheel-barrow has a wheel about three feet in diameter. It is set in a framework which prevents contact with the packages being carried. These barrows are numerous and are used for carrying merchandise through the settlements, particularly between the ware¬ houses and the vessels. They are used also for passenger carriage among factory hands and other laborers. The tire of the wheel is very narrow, and the vehicle is responsible for much of the wear and tear of the streets. The Municipal Council, composed of British and Amer¬ ican merchants, had voted the increase in the license fee without consulting the wheel-barrow guild. A riot resulted. The police, volunteers, blue- jackets from the foreign men- The Guilds 203 of -war, were all unable to bring the wheel-barrow men to submission. After several days wrangling the Council re¬ scinded the action. Three months later, after consultation with the heads of the guild, the barrow-men agreed to pay the increased tax. One of the most interesting exhibitions of the power of the guilds was given during the revolution of 1911 which brought about the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty. The immediate cause of the revolution was a dispute between the people of the province of Szechuen and the central government as to the building of a railway in that province. A company had been organized by the people themselves and work had been begun, but the president of the company appointed by the Peking authorities had misappropriated a large part of the funds. The work stopped. The Min¬ istry of Communications at Peking decided to take over the enterprise, and for this purpose arranged for a large for¬ eign loan. The people demanded the return of the money subscribed and paid in. The Government offered shares in the railway to the amount of the funds expended and in hand, but excluding the amount misappropriated. The people held public meetings and vented their anger. They declared that the Peking Government was responsible for the loss, and demanded shares to the full amount of the original capital. The Prince Regent stubbornly resisted. The Szechuen Guild at Peking met in a number of stormy sessions. They waited repeatedly upon the Prince and tried to obtain a reversal of his decision. They were in constant telegraphic communication with the provincial capital, and were fully informed of the situation there. In the end the people triumphed and the Government was overthrown. The guilds of China are not organized under charters from the Government, but the Government has always rec¬ ognized their power and has usually been careful to avoid open conflict. Conflict, as we have seen, has usually re¬ sulted in defeat for the Government. The guilds, as already stated, have their own courts, and the members, as a rule, avoid the official courts. Sometimes, 204 The Guilds however, it is impossible to do this. Outside parties bring suits against guild members before the government officials, and these members must appear, just as other citizens do. In the past, however, the government courts have usually decided such cases in harmony with the regulations of the guild concerned. While living in Shanghai it was my duty for two years to serve as American Assessor in the Mixed Court there, and in the various civil suits that were brought before the court it was the rule to consult the regulations of the guild concerned. It has been asserted that China has no commercial code of law. In so far as legislation by the government is concerned, this was quite true under the Manchu Dynasty. The Ta Ch’ing Hui Tien may be con¬ sidered as a constitutional compilation rather than any¬ thing else, and the Ta Ch’ing Lii Li was the penal code. But the lack of imperial legislation in regard to commercial matters was due to the fact that the guilds supplied the needed laws. Civil suits were decided by the officials in accordance with the practice of the locality concerned, and this was nothing more than the practice sanctioned by the guilds. Thus it appears that the guilds have not only been a training school in independence and self-government, but have also been one of the important sources of Chinese law. The clan council, the practice as to land tenure, the village elders and the guild have together formed a strong quadrilateral in defense of popular liberty. The demo¬ cratic tendencies of these institutions have done much to prepare the people for the introduction of a republican form of government. CHAPTER X THE CALENDAR AND ITS FESTIVALS The purple palace announces the new moon; The yellow way (the ecliptic) opens a path for the sun. Chinese Proverb. Under the heavens there are no unending feasts. — Chinese Proverb. Every nation has its festivals, its seasons of recreation and holiday-making. China does not lack them. On the contrary, since it is a very old country, it is well supplied with them. In the Western world we have the weekly sabbath, not identical with the Jewish, but derived from it and from the earlier Chaldean. This gives us a weekly holiday, that is to say, fifty-two rest days in the year. In addition to these we have various national and religious holidays. The Chinese do not have a weekly day of rest, but the seven-day period has been known to them from very ancient times. One of their oldest books, the Yi King , or “Book of Changes, ” speaks of it, saying: “The seventh day returns again.’ ’ It is a period which was anciently ob¬ served, too, in the funeral rites. Special sacrifices were made to the dead every seventh day after death for seven weeks, that is to say, for a sabbath of weeks. But while the Chinese do not now observe a weekly sab¬ bath, they have quite a number of holidays. If they be¬ long to the wealthy or well-to-do classes, they will close their shops for a whole month at the Chinese New Year. If they cannot afford to do that, they will rest not less than three days, and many will prolong the vacation to ten or fifteen days. Other holidays that are universally observed are the Fifth Moon and Eighth Moon feasts, when three days are allowed for the celebration of each festival. 205 206 The Calendar and its Festivals The celebration of the New Year has been somewhat affected by the adoption in 1912 of the Western Calendar. Before that action had been taken, the Chinese calendar was a lunar one, and the celebration of the beginning of a new year is still reserved by most Chinese for the begin- ing of the year according to the old calendar. THE COLLEGE OF ASTRONOMY Under the old regime the calendar was fixed each year by the College of Astronomy, perhaps more properly called the College of Astrology. The first quotation at the head of this chapter refers to this, for the College of Astronomy was under the control of the Imperial Palace, the 4 'Purple Palace,” and new moons were announced by the flying of flags. The College of Astronomy was a department of the government which had existed from very ancient times. The offices of the college were located near the south-eastern corner of the Tartar City of Peking. There the observatory still stands, with the quadrant, the stellar sphere, and other instruments presented by Louis XIV of Prance. Along¬ side the tower still older instruments formerly were housed which date from the Sung Dynasty (A.D. 960-1127). All these instruments were carried off by the French and Ger¬ mans after the relief of the Legations at the time of the “ Boxer” troubles. The French government, however, would not permit the instruments to be unloaded in France, but returned them immediately to Peking. ’ The older in¬ struments, taken to Potsdam by the Germans, were placed on exhibition there until the close of the Great World War, when the treaty of peace provided for their restoration to China. One of these ancient bronze instruments was used to de¬ termine the solstices. A beam of sun-light was allowed to fall upon a graduated scale, and by this means the advance of the sun towards the north and its retreat towards the south were noted. The College took note, too, of the en¬ trance of the sun into the constellation of Aquarius. The The Calendar and its Festivals 207 first new moon after that date was the beginning of the new year. This caused the new year to commence some¬ times as early as the 21st of January. It was never later than the 19th of February. A curious discrepancy is observable between the com¬ parative calendars (Chinese and Western) used by the Chinese in the United States and those prepared for use in China. The new year’s day of the lunar calendar arrives in the United States one day ahead of schedule. This is due to the fact that the first Chinese coolies who arrived in America were ignorant of the fact that when one travels eastward around the earth he gains a day. They did not repeat the day in which they crossed the 180th meridian, as the Europeans and Americans on shipboard did. Thus when they arrived in San Francisco they were one day in advance of the local calendar, and they have continued ever since to reckon time accordingly. THE ALMANAC Inasmuch as twelve lunar months do not correspond with the period of the earth’s revolution around the sun, it be¬ came necessary to adjust the lunar to the solar year by adding at times an extra month. This thirteenth month was added sometimes near the beginning of the year, some¬ times at other seasons. The addition was made where the least disturbance would be given to the operations of the farmer, who had learned to plow and sow at times indicated by the almanac. This official almanac was, therefore, a document of very great importance, and was very care¬ fully prepared. Not only was the time of the insertion of an intercalary month to be determined, but the dates had to be fixed for all the important sacrifices offered by the State. Anniversaries of the death of important mem¬ bers of the imperial house were recorded, for such days were tabu for public business. Other unlucky days, too, were marked, as were also the lucky ones. It was a matter of importance for everyone to know what days would 208 The Calendar and its Festivals be fortunate or unfortunate for the great affairs of life, especially if these affairs were “red” or “white,” i.e., had to do with marriages or funerals. For the common people many cheap almanacs were prepared by astrologers and soothsayers in which predictions of the weather were made. For the man who could not read the Chinese script the character of the new year as already said 1 was indicated by the colors of a variegated cow printed on the front page. The “Purple Cow” was a real institution in “Old China.” If a splotch of purple was found on the cow’s shoulder that would indicate one sort of year, while red or yellow there or elsewhere would mean something else. Thus the wetness or dryness of the year, its heat and cold, snow and frost were foretold. But, perhaps, the Chinese peasant put no more trust in the almanac than our fathers did when they planted potatoes during “the dark of the moon” or consulted the signs of the zodiac in the treatment of disease. Zadkiel’s Almanac is still studied by multitudes in Europe, and other multitudes in our own land half be¬ lieve in the influence of the stars upon one ’s character and fortune. ECLIPSES The College of Astronomy also calculated correctly the coming of eclipses of the sun and moon, and set down in the almanac exactly the hour and minute when either of these heavenly bodies would enter and leave the shadow. In accordance with the prediction made, the Board of Rites, which no longer exists, used to arrange for a special service at its yamen, for rescuing the sun from the dragon or the moon from the dog that was seeking to devour it. Of course, the Minister of Rites and the members of the Board of Rites did not really believe that the dragon and dog were attacking the sun or moon, and probably nine-tenths of the people did not share in the ancient superstition ; but they observed the custom of beating drums and gongs and making a great noise to frighten the dragon, just as we i See Chap. V. The Calendar and its Festivals 209 to-day, at Christmas or Eastertide, observe many customs of our forefathers which have lost their original signifi¬ cance. In 1902 I had the good fortune to attend a service at the yamen of the Board of Kites during an eclipse of the sun. In the great court-yard of the yamen a number of young men and boys, engaged for the purpose, were mak¬ ing an unearthly din with gongs and drums. On a terrace in front of the main hall an altar had been erected, on which incense was burning. Various officers of the Board were in attendance clothed in full regalia — heavily em¬ broidered robes, coral buttons and peacocks’ plumes on their hats, strings of court beads around their necks and jade pendants hanging from their girdles. At stated inter¬ vals one of them would attend at the altar and reverently kotow, facing the darkening disc of the sun. A high official, when asked why these ancient ceremonies were continued, replied that the people expected them and would be offended if they were neglected. Perhaps he gave the people too little credit for intelligence, for the neglect of these and other ceremonies of a far more important character, since the establishment of the Republic, has disturbed very little the peace of mind of the Chinese peasant. CELEBRATION OF NEW YEAR’S DAY First in time and importance among the festivals is the celebration of the arrival of the new year. That celebration begins one week before the end of the old year. On the 23d of the Twelfth Moon, which in the lunar calendar has but thirty days, each family gathers in the kitchen to wor¬ ship the Kitchen God, whose image is pasted on the kitchen chimney. On that night he is said to return to heaven, to report to the Ruler of the world the conduct of each mem¬ ber of the household during the year that is drawing to a close. The mouth of the image is smeared with molasses to in¬ dicate the desire of the family that he shall report nothing 210 The Calendar and its Festivals but good of them. The paper on which the gandily-colored picture of the Kitchen God is printed is then taken down from the chimney and carried out into the principal court¬ yard of the home. There it is sometimes placed in a miniature sedan chair made of reeds and paper, which is set on fire. Or, if the palanquin be omitted, the paper image in any case is burned, and in his chariot of fire the guardian of the household ascends on high. One week later on the 30th of the Moon, the last day of the dying year, the family assembles once more in the kitchen to welcome the return of the god. The bursting of strings of fire¬ crackers proclaims the joy of the household. A new pic¬ ture is pasted upon the chimney above the kitchen range, the God of the Furnace — or Kitchen — is installed again in the care of the home, and all is in readiness for the beginning of a happy new year. In the absence of any accurate knowledge of hygiene and in the want of sanitary regulations, perhaps the supersti¬ tions of the people with respect to the kitchen range have served a good purpose. The Book of Rewards and Punish¬ ments, one of the Taoist scriptures, is very specific in its prohibitions regarding conduct in sight of the range. No unseemly act is to be allowed in the presence of the Spirit of the Furnace. One is forbidden to sharpen a knife upon the range. No one must spit toward the altar of the Kitchen God. One must not wash his face or hands in the kitchen, and for a woman to comb her hair in sight of the range is unpardonable. The origin of this reverence for the furnace and its deity, on whose altar the food of the family is prepared, is lost in the obscurity of antiquity. The worship was common in the days of Confucius, when a well-known proverb said : “It is better to worship the god of the kitchen than the god of the hall.” The proverb had a cynical use. It im¬ plied that one by courting the good-will of underlings could obtain more than by appeals to the superior authori¬ ties. When an officer, who thought himself more powerful than his lord asked Confucius about the proverb, the Sage at once denounced it saying: “It is not true, for he who - The Calendar and its Festivals 211 offends against Heaven has no one to whom he can pray”; by which he meant that no mediators or intercessors are powerful enough to change the purposes of Him who is perfect in wisdom and justice, “with whom there is not even the shadow of a turning.” But it is interesting to note that even in the sixth century B.C. the Chinese used the Kitchen God to intercede for them with the Supreme Being. The last night of the old year according to the lunar calendar is called “San-shih Wan Sinang,” i.e., the “Night of the Thirtieth.” It is a busy time in every Chinese city. This was particularly true under the old regime, because all debts must be paid off before the new year dawns or one loses face. Men have been known, in fact, to steal in order to pay their debts, rather than begin the new year with a loss of reputation. Through the dark, dismal streets of an old-fashioned Chinese city, on the last night of the year, you may see the paper lanterns hurrying to and fro, carried by their owners intent on settling their accounts. The shop-keepers are busy with their books. Belated purchases are being made for the coming festival. The noise of bursting fire¬ crackers is heard everywhere, and it will be long after midnight before the town settles down to the accustomed quiet of the dark. In strong contrast to this noise and bustle is the sabbath¬ like stillness of the new year’s morning. Every house and shop is closed. Scarcely anyone is seen upon the street. This first day is devoted to the family. Everyone wears his best clothes and goes to the principal hall of the house to worship the parents and grandparents. Incense is burned to the deceased ancestors, and all give themselves up to feasting and drinking and the joy of a family reunion. Plenty of food and fuel must be on hand for not less than three days’ consumption, for it is impossible to buy any¬ thing outside. The well-to-do lay in enough provisions for a month. On the third day a few pedlars will be seen selling toys and confectionery, and jugglers will appear on street % 212 The Calendar and its Festivals corners and in temple courts to amuse the crowd and gather in a few cash. The humblest citizen will go out to call upon his friends, leaving upon each one a great red card bearing his name and new year congratulations. This red card is giving place to the small white one among those who have studied abroad or who are becoming fond of Western ways. The white card is conventional, to be sure, but it is commonplace and uninteresting in comparison with the red, which is peculiar to the country and carries with it the color of joy. It seems probable that the Western custom of making a round of calls upon New Year’s day is really derived from that of China, one that was introduced by merchants and mariners who traded in the Far East. THE LANTERN FESTIVAL After the first few days of the new year business houses begin to open, but public offices in the old days remained closed until the 15th of the First Moon, and normal life does not return until after that date. That is the time of the Lantern Festival. Like the Eoman Lupercalia, it is a festival of light, celebrating the lengthening of the day and the returning light of spring. The celebration is not so interesting in the north as it is in the southern part of the country. Peking merely hangs out lanterns before the doors of the homes; but in the vicinity of Shanghai many a village will erect a tall pole, or flag¬ staff, to the top of which are attached long strings of lanterns that are drawn out at equal distances, making a cone-shaped tent of light around the pole. The peasants arrange processions, too, of men and boys carrying lanterns of every conceivable shape, some representing birds or other animals, some mythical creatures and others merely geo¬ metrical figures. The bearers are often dressed in costume. Boys on stilts that are hidden under long robes stalk along like giants. Many wear grotesque masques. The most striking lantern is the dragon, often 50 or 60 feet in length, The Calendar and its Festivals 213 borne by a dozen or more men whose bodies, except their legs, are concealed in the dragon. As this wriggling crea¬ ture winds its way through the town it seems like a living monster. This feast of the first full moon of the new year was formerly a very important one in the State Calendar, for it was about that time that the Emperor used to visit the covered altar in the Temple of Heaven to pray for a good harvest. But this service will be described in another chapter. THE CH’lNG MING Eastertide is an important time in the Christian Church Calendar. It is with us a time when we remember in an especial manner our dead, and endeavor to strengthen our hope of immortality. At about the same season the Chinese celebrate the Ch’ing Ming, the fifth of the solar periods, when the sun is in Aries. It falls about the beginning of April. During this period the Chinese visit the graves of their ancestors and put them in repair. When this has been done and the family burial ground is in perfect order offerings of food and wine are made to the spirits of the dead. This service of communion with those who have passed into the unseen world combines in some degree the sentiments expressed in our Easter observances and our Decoration Day exercises. Most Christian missionaries object to any participation by their Chinese converts in the worship of the dead, but the reverence shown is very like that which we show at the graves of those whom we love, and the offerings of rice and spirits scarcely mean any more than our offerings of flowers. In fact, in some Christian countries offerings of food are placed upon the graves on All Souls Eve. The Jesuit missionaries in the seventeenth century tolerated ancestor worship among Chinese Christians, and when the practice was criticised by other orders the Emperor K’angshi was asked whether or not the worship was of the same sort as that paid to the Supreme Being. He replied that it was not. The Catholic 214 The Calendar and its Festivals missionaries who opposed the practice then appealed to the Pope, who decided that the worship of ancestors was in¬ compatible with the worship of God. The Jesuits were recalled from Peking and were replaced by the Lazarists. The influence once exercised by Ricci, Schaal and Verbiest over the Court at Peking was never recovered, and the Emperor, who had been favorably impressed by them, became thereafter suspicious of the aims of the missionaries and hostile rather than favorable. There are many broad-minded men among the mission¬ aries to-day who would be glad to see the Ch’ing Ming celebration not only tolerated by the Church but trans¬ formed into a Christian festival, just as the Easter of our ancestors, once a heathen festival, was consecrated to the celebration of the Resurrection. THE DRAGON BOAT FESTIVAL The next feast of importance in the Chinese calendar is that of the Fifth Moon, the Dragon Boat Festival. Ac¬ cording to tradition this festival celebrates the patriotism of Ch’u Yuan, a Minister of the State of Ch’u during the Chou Dynasty, who repeatedly urged upon his king a course of reform which the monarch refused to take. In protest the minister committed suicide by drowning himself in the Tungting Lake, included within the boundaries of modern Hunan Province. In Foochow five days are given to the feast ; in central and northern China three days are devoted — the fourth, fifth and sixth of the Moon ; but it is the fifth of the Fifth Moon that is the great day of the feast. This is one of the settling days in China. Accounts are sup¬ posed to be settled at New Year, on the fifth of the Fifth Moon, and on the fifteenth of the Eighth Moon. At the beginning of the Fifth Moon every house, as a rule, has a bundle of artemisia and sweet flag suspended at the door-way. These aromatic plants are said to keep away evil spirits. The particular connection with Ch’u .Yuan does not appear to be known. Perhaps the custom The Calendar and its Festivals 215 is only incidentally associated with the festival, for it is a custom of the Chinese to burn dried aromatic plants during the summer to keep off mosquitoes. It is worth noting, however, that as the festival originated in the search with boats for the body of the drowned statesman, the association with death would naturally suggest the use of aromatic plants to keep off the evil spirits of death. At inquests in central China, as already related, the magistrate after completing the examination steps over burning arte- misia, or some other aromatic plant, to purify himself and keep the evil spirit from following him to his home. The principal exercise in celebration of this feast is the racing of the dragon boats. These graceful boats are long and narrow and end at the bows in a dragon’s head. Imitating the boatmen that searched for the body of Ch’ii Yuan, the young men engage in swift racing on the lakes, rivers and canals, and the winning crews receive prizes for their skill. THE HERD BOY AND WEAVER MAID The Seventh Moon is distinguished by two popular fes¬ tivals — one of ancient, unknown origin, the other a Bud¬ dhistic feast. The ancient folk tale relates to two stars, one on either side the Milky Way, which the Chinese call the Heavenly River. The stars are in Aquila and Vega and are said to be, the first a herd boy, the second a weaver girl. The story is a pretty one. It forms the theme of many a painting and is often illustrated in embroideries. The weaver maid was the daughter of the Sun God. He thought she was too closely confined by her work and decided to give her in marriage to the herd boy. But after her marriage her character entirely changed. She became idle and foolish and neglected her duties. The Sun God was wroth and determined to separate her from her hus¬ band. He directed a flock of magpies to make a bridge with their wings across the Heavenly River, and sent the herd boy to the other side of the stream. They were for¬ bidden to meet except once a year. On the Seventh of the 216 The Calendar and its Festivals Seventh Moon the magpies flock together again and make a bridge, over which the weaver maid lightly runs to meet her husband. One day only can she spend with him, after which she must return to her work. But if there should be rain on the Seventh day of the Seventh Moon she will be unable to see her husband until another year has passed, for the River of Heaven is brimming full, and even one drop more of water will cause it to overflow and sweep away the bridge. Therefore, the maidens and wives of China pray for clear skies on the night of the Seventh of the Seventh Moon. They make offerings of watermelons and other fruits, of vegetables also and cakes. They burn incense and pray for skill in needle-work. The Heavenly River, or Milky Way, according to Chinese mythology, is the source of the Yellow River. A mighty rebel against one of the ancient mythical rulers of China butted his head against the north-western pillar of the sky and broke it down. This allowed the River of Heaven to enter the earth. In the second century B.C. a famous Chinese explorer, Chang Ch’ien, reached the head waters of the Yellow River. The story tellers enlarged upon his exploit by combining his real achievement with the ancient folk tale. They tell us that Chang Ch’ien sailed many days upon the bosom of the mighty stream until he arrived at a place where he found a boy on one side of the stream herding cattle, and on the other side a young woman weav¬ ing cloth. He enquired the name of the place, whereupon the young woman handed him her shuttle and told him to carry it to Chun Pi ’ng at the Chinese capital. Chun Pi ’ng was a celebrated astronomer. He at once recognized the shuttle as belonging to the Weaver Maid, and asked Chang the date of his visit at the place where she lived. On learning the date he looked up his records and discovered that, sure enough, at that very time he saw a strange star come between the Herd Boy and Weaver Maid. Thus there could no longer be any doubt about the Yellow River’s origin being in the Milky Way. The Calendar and its Festivals 217 ALL SOULS FESTIVAL There is, however, a more important festival in the Sev¬ enth Moon. This is the Buddhist feast of All Souls, or more properly the Feast for Hungry Ghosts. It begins on the 15th day of the Seventh Moon and lasts until the 30th. Throughout this period offerings are made to the dead, but particularly to the unhappy dead, those known as the “ orphaned spirits,” that is to say, those who have no living descendants to keep up the sacrifices to them. The offerings frequently are imitations, made in paper, of money, garments, houses, horses, servants and other useful articles. The images are burned and the dead are supposed to obtain the ethereal counterparts of the objects offered. On the warm summer nights of this season one may watch the burning offerings floating down the river — offerings made to the spirits of those who have been drowned. There is a great celebration of the festival at the mon¬ astery of Ch’ing Liang Shan , or 4 ‘Clear Cool Mountain,” a hill within the walls of the city of Nanking, but among the bamboo groves and gardens of the northern part of the city, far away from the busy streets. This monastery is dedicated to Ti Tsang, the ruler of Hades. More than one story probably is combined in the account given of his life. In his first incarnation he was a maiden who was much disturbed by her mother’s unbelief. By filial piety she was enabled to rescue her mother from the pangs of hell. In a later re-birth the maiden became a Prince of Siam. Historically such a prince is said to have come to Chiu Jlua Shan , a mountain in the province of Anhui, not far from Nanking. He led such a holy life as a monk that after his death he was identified with Ti Tsang, and is said to have charge of the world of the dead. During the last fifteen days of the Seventh Moon the people come in crowds from all quarters to worship at the Clear Cool Mountain. At the foot of the mountain a fair is held. All sorts of notions, toys and curios are offered for sale, while jugglers and mountebanks amuse and enter- 218 The Calendar and its Festivals tain the pilgrims for the few cash which they can collect from them. Some of these pilgrims have come scores of miles, bowing in prayer and striking their foreheads in the dnst at every second or third step of the long journey, in fulfillment of a vow made, perhaps, to save a sick parent. The most devout carry their rosaries and count their beads incessantly. Some come to seek cure for themselves or for others. The air of the temple is heavy with the odor of incense and the smoke of thousands of candles offered upon the altar before the huge bronze image of Ti Tsang. The face of the idol, like that of the Buddha, is placid and benignant. The worshiper as he enters the temple first makes an offering of money, which is thrown into a huge chest. He then lights candles and bundles of incense sticks, which are placed upon the altar. Not until his offerings are made does he kneel, kotow and pray. Arising from his knees he takes from the altar a vase of sortilege rods, which he shakes gently as he faces the idol. When one rod projects beyond the others or falls to the ground he seizes it and hands it to a monk, who examines the number which it bears and opens a drawer that has the same number. A slip of paper taken from the drawer will have printed upon it the answer to the prayer. These answers are frequently in rhyme, and tell the worshiper what the prospect of recovery is and what must be done to obtain a healing. Some are so superstitious that after obtaining the oracular response they burn it, drop the ashes in a cup of tea, and drink the whole for good luck. But the main purpose of the festival, as already said, is to relieve the orphaned spirits. A deep-toned bell is tolled once or twice a minute. It has a very musical sound and can be heard at a great distance, above the noise of the city streets. Like all Buddhist bells it is struck by a wooden beam, so that the harsh, clanging sound of western bells is lacking. As long as the sound can be heard, it is said the souls in torment have surcease of pain. On the 30th day of the month, the last great day of the feast, which is All Souls Day, the spirits of the dead are The Calendar and its Festivals 219 believed to enjoy a holiday. They are released from their prisons for that one day and freed from pain. THE MOON’S BIRTHDAY The 15th day of the Eighth Moon is another feast day. This is the Eighth Moon Festival, which, as already said, is one of the settling days of the year. The Chinese, so to speak, have but three quarters in the year, that is to say, they settle accounts three times in the year instead of quarterly. The 15th day of the Eighth Moon is the day of the full moon, and it is the time of the Harvest Moon, which rises immediately after sunset and seems to prolong the day. This is called the Moon ’s Birthday. The day before and that following it are usually included in the celebration. The Moon is the object of worship at this festival. She is the Queen of Heaven to whom the women offer moon cakes. The moon cake usually has a crescent on its surface. Some support a small pagoda, while others have an image of the rabbit that is said to inhabit the moon. According to Chinese legend it is a rabbit pounding rice, and not a man’s face, that we see in the moon. The Chinese, however, do have another legend of a lady in the moon. She, too, is sometimes represented on this festive occasion. According to the tale that is told she was the beautiful wife of an ancient worthy who was given the elixir of immortality by the fairy queen. The wife stole the elixir and drank it, in punishment for which she was transformed into a frog and translated to the moon, where she may still be seen. The feast is marked by out-door enjoyment and general holiday making. Fairs are held at which toys are sold, particularly small pagodas made of clay and highly colored. At Foochow and in the vicinity dolls are offered for sale. Parents who have had a child born during the preceding twelve months buy a doll to represent it. The child’s name is written upon it, and thereafter it is used in vari¬ ous idolatrous ceremonies to represent the child. If the 220 The Calendar and, its Festivals child dies before maturity (sixteen years of age) the doll is buried with it in the grave. In many parts of China at this season the Bushel Mother is worshiped. This is a female said to reside in the con¬ stellation of the Great Bear. This is known to the Chinese as the “ Measure,’ ’ or “Bushel,” just as we often speak of it as the “Great Dipper.” As is well known there are seven stars in the constellation. Flags bearing the seven stars properly arranged to represent the constellation are flown from tea houses during the festival. THE NINTH MOON FEAST The Ninth Moon also has its festival, which falls on the 9th day of the month. This is the festival of “Going up on a high place.” It originated, it is said, in some great calamity, the details of which appear to be forgotten. An ancient seer had warning of it in advance. He went to the hills to spend the day and so escaped. In memory of this, and to avoid any calamity that may be threatening, the people betake themselves to the top of a hill or go up on the city wall. In some places the day is given largely to kite-flying. THE BIRTHDAY OF THE REPUBLIC Since the revolution of 1911 a new holiday has been added to the calendar, the 10th of October, the anniversary of the revolt at Wuch’ang, headed by Li Yuan-hung and his troops. This anniversary is kept according to the West¬ ern calendar, which was formally adopted by the Republic. The celebration has a patriotic character — the flying of flags, processions with bands of music, public meetings with speech making, and in some places exhibitions of relics of the revolution and pictures of its leaders. At the cele¬ bration in Peking in 1912 and 1913 the edict of abdication, on yellow satin, sealed with the seal of the Empress Lung Yii, who issued it, was placed on exhibition under a richly The Calendar and its Festivals 221 decorated canopy erected before the principal entrance to the Imperial City. THE WINTER SOLSTICE One of the most important festivals of the year falls in the Eleventh Moon according to the old lunar calendar. This is the feast of the winter solstice, held on the longest night in the year. It is interesting to note how wide-spread among many races and nations is the observance of a festi¬ val at this season. Our own Christmas, which falls at this time, is undoubtedly a transformation of a much older festival observed by the Romans, as well as by the Teutonic tribes and the Britons. The encroachment of the night upon the day, in the season of frost and snow and all the chilliness and gloom of dying nature, must have very early attracted the attention of men, so that the cessation of that encroachment of darkness would become an occasion for rejoicing. In China the spirit world is the land of darkness. The ghostly powers are more active in the dark. The spirits of the dead are worshiped as dwelling in the north, on the side of darkness. This season of the winter solstice became, therefore, long, long ago, a time consecrated in an especial manner to the worship of the dead. At this season of the year the ancestors are worshiped, not at the grave but in the ancestral temple, or in the principal hall of the house where the tablets are kept on the family altar. This is the great family festival of the year. The wandering sons return, if possible, to the home of their fathers. There is a joyous re-union. On this long night the members of the household gather in the hall, where a rich feast of smoking viands is spread before the altar. Chairs for the deceased ancestors are placed on the north side of the table. The living head of the family, supported by his wife and children, stands reverently on the south side fac¬ ing the north, with the table between himself and the ancestral tablets. Falling upon his knees three times he kotows, striking his head thrice with each kneeling, in 222 The Calendar and its Festivals worship of the dear departed, and as if inviting them to share in the feast. The family then all stand reverently for a few moments, while the ancestral spirits are supposed to partake of the ethereal portions of the feast. Thus the whole family in heaven and on earth are re-united. Under the imperial regime this was a time, too, for the most solemn service in the worship of the Most High, but this subject will be treated in another chapter. CHAPTER XI CONFUCIUS AND HIS TEACHING Hence the sage forms a ternion with Heaven and Earth, and stands side by side with spiritual beings, in order to the right order¬ ing of government. — Li Ki, translated by Legge. The Master said : “A transmitter and not an originator, a believer in and lover of antiquity, I venture to compare myself with our ancient worthy P;eng. ” Analects of Confucius, Soothill’s Translation. Confucius was born in 551 B.C. at the town of Ch’iifu1 in what is to-day the province of Shantung. At that time the district was included in the state of Lu, which was a dukedom. The name, Confucius, is a Latinized form of the Chinese words, K’ung Fu-tzu, i.e., “the teacher, K’ung.” K’ung was his surname. His personal name was Ch’iu. He was also called Chung-ni, for a Chinese usually has several names — his 4 4 milk-name, ’ ’ or baby name, his school-name, and his name given on coming of age. For distinguished men, servants of the State, there is also a posthumous name. The family of Confucius originally lived in the state of Sung, which joined Lu on the west and occupied a region which to-day is partly embraced within the province of Shantung and partly in Honan. One of his ancestors in Sung, named K’ung Chia, had a beautiful wife who was coveted by a powerful minister of state. The husband, K’ung Chia, was murdered and an attempt was made to abduct the wife. She, however, resisted and committed suicide. Because of this outrage, the family removed from Sung and settled in Lu. The father of Confucius was a noted military leader and a man of courage and of great physical strength. It is i Not to be confounded with Chefoo in the same province. 223 224 Confucius and his Teaching related of him that once when attacking a city some of his followers were led by a rnse to enter the open gate of the town and would have been entrapped there. But, just as the warden was about to drop the portcullis, the father of the sage caught it with both hands and upheld it until all his men had escaped. This Chinese Samson was an old man, 70 years of age, when Confucius was born. The mother was a young woman, a second wife. The first wife had had nine daughters, but no sons. A concubine had borne a son, but he was a cripple. The birth of the boy, Confucius, was therefore, an occasion of great rejoicing. The Confucian books, as a rule, are free from tales of the marvelous, but some uncanonical works give account of certain miraculous occurrences that are said to have attended the entrance of Confucius into the world. These tales no doubt were invented by over-zealous disciples, who wanted to make their teacher the equal of others concerning whom such stories were told. Before the birth of the Sage, we are informed, a spirit appeared to the young wife and announced to her that she was to become the mother of a great teacher. About the same time a unicorn was led into her presence by five aged men. Around its horn she fastened a ribbon. Long years afterward, so the story runs, when Confucius was an old man, the unicorn was captured by hunters with the ribbon still clinging to its horn. When Confucius saw it he realized that its appear¬ ance presaged his death, and he wept. According to other accounts his birth was signalized by the appearance of angels in the sky and the sounds of sweet music. A work known as “The Chia Yli,” or “Family Tradi¬ tions,” gives us a few interesting details of his early life. His father died when he was but three years old, and, like his greatest disciple, Mencius, he was brought up by a widowed mother. She passed away when he was twenty- two years of age. Of her he was naturally very fond. It is remarkable that, according to the Li Ki, he did not know where his father was buried. He made enquiries, and, taking up the remains, interred them in the same grave with his mother. A storm arose just as the burial was 225 Confucius and his Teaching completed and washed away the mound. This deeply affected the young man, who felt that he must have been at fault in some way in the construction of the grave. As a child he showed a great fondness for religious exercises. He loved to play at conducting the temple services and making the offerings required. He was a bright student, and made such rapid progress that at twenty-two years he already had a reputation as a scholar and had gathered a band of earnest students around him. In his old age, when reviewing his career, he said : At fifteen I was bent on learning; At thirty I stood fast; At forty I had no doubts; At fifty I knew the will of God; At sixty my ear was open to the truth; At seventy I could follow my desires without transgressing the “square” (i.e. the bounds of right).2 In this he recalled his early zeal in the pursuit of knowl¬ edge. He was married at nineteen, and at twenty was the father of his only son, Li. The name Li, “a carp,” was given the son, it is thought, in order to perpetuate the memory of the then reigning Duke, who sent a present of a carp at the time of the child’s birth. This is probable, for Confucius at the time was in the employ of the ruler, as steward of his estate. We know very little about the wife of Confucius. She was a young lady from the state of Sung. The marriage, like that of the great Greek teacher, Socrates, does not appear to have been a happy one. Tradition says that Confucius divorced his wife, but the belief rests upon an obscure passage in the Li Ki,3 or “Book of Rites,” which is capable of quite a different interpretation. It is recorded of him, however, that a year after his wife’s death, when his son still kept up the formal wailing for his mother, Confucius rebuked him for his excessive grief.4 This incident and others related of him would seem to indicate that Confucius was a great stickler 2 Analects 11:4. 3 Li Ki; T’an Kung, Section I, part 1:4. 4 Ibid., Section I, part 1:28. 226 Confucius and his Teaching for form, an unimaginative and an unsympathetic literalist, who placed the letter above the spirit of the regulations. If so, one would feel a good deal of sympathy with the wife who had had to live so many years with such a pedantic worshiper of conventions. But we are scarcely justified in making such an estimate of his character. A man of that sort would hardly have attracted to himself such a group of devoted disciples as Confucius had, or have been able to hold their affection and loyalty as he did, through years of apparent failure and misfortune. His tastes, too, would indicate a compan¬ ionable spirit. He was fond of music and played well on the lute. He had faith in the salutary influence of good music upon the human character. Shakespeare’s lines would have delighted him: The man that hath no music in his soul, And is not moved by concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treason, strategems and spoils; Let no such man be trusted. He studied music under a celebrated master, and when in after years he visited the state of Ch ’i, and heard the Shao, it is said he knew not the taste of meat for three months, and exclaimed ‘ 1 1 never imagined there could be such music as this.”5 He said to his disciples: “A man’s character is formed by the Odes, developed by the Bites, and per¬ fected by Music.6 And on another occasion he said : ‘ ‘ When you enter a state you can know what the people have been taught. ... If they are large-hearted and generous, bland and honest, they have been taught from the Book of Music. ’ ’ 7 Confucius was an earnest student and he was also an accomplished musician, but this is not all. He was not indifferent to the pleasures of out-door life. He was fond of archery. This was one of the accomplishments of a gentleman in his day. It was one of the six arts considered s Analects VII: 13. 6 Analects VIII: 8. 7 Li Ki XXIII:! (Legge). Confucius and his Teaching 227 essential to a liberal education. The tournaments were conducted with a great deal of ceremony. A chivalrous bearing towards competitors was cultivated. The shooting was accompanied by music, and one could discharge his arrow only when the proper note was sounded.8 It was the teaching of the day that archery was a test of character. He kept a stable, too, which implies a measure of out-door life. In fact, he was fond of horses and dogs, which would indicate that he was something other than a student, that he was, in fact, a natural man among men. A touching incident is told of his fondness for his dog, that, when the animal died, he had the body wrapped in the silk cover¬ ing of an old umbrella to keep the earth from touching it when he laid it away in a carefully prepared grave. He was also a good sportsman, for we are told that he never used a net in fishing, but a line only, and that he never shot at a bird while it was at rest.9 All these things indicate that Confucius must have been a very likable human being. The very tenacity with which he clung to old forms was perhaps but a manifestation of a dominant trait of his character — a trait more particularly shown in his young manhood — that of a courageous ad¬ herence to his convictions : “To see the right and not do it,” said he, “that is cowardice.” It was, no doubt, his keen perception of the moral principle underlying any question of conduct, and his resolute insistence upon an effort to realize his ideals, that won the admiration of his followers and bound them to him. HIS VISIT TO THE CAPITAL In 518 B.C. a prominent citizen of the town, dying, di¬ rected that his young son should be placed under the tutelage of Confucius, who was then thirty-three years of age. This boy had a chum who came with him to school, and who one day heard the teacher express an ardent desire to visit the national capital, in order that he might witness » Li Ki XLTI3. 9 Analcct9 VII: 26. 228 Confucius and his Teaching the service in the royal temple and make enquiries of Lao Tzu and others concerning the ritual. The chum reported the incident to the reigning duke, and the duke at once provided the means for such a visit. Confucius accepted the generous offer, and made what was then a long and difficult journey to Loyang, on the southern bank of the Yellow River in north-western Honan. Even to-day, if made in a cart over the rough roads of China, such a journey would require ten or twelve days. In Confucius’ time certainly it needed no less. In those days for a Chinese in a distant state to visit the capital was as great an event in his life as it used to be in the United States for an American to make a tour of Europe. At Loyang, where many heroes of his race had lived and died, he saw the ancient palaces and temples. He visited the great park of the Temple of Heaven in the suburbs. From childhood he had taken delight in the splendid pageantry of the ritual prescribed by the national religion. But up to the time of this visit what he had seen had been but the lesser rites observed in the ducal temple or in the worship of his ancestors. Never before had he seen an altar erected to Shang Ti, the Most High, and he doubtless looked with a thrill of awe upon the vessels of the sanctuary which perhaps had been used by King Wu, the founder of the Chou Dynasty, perhaps by T’ang the Completer, the earlier hero of the House of Shang. He saw in the palaces the portraits of the great sovereigns of whose deeds he had read in his youth, and he must have felt a pang of sorrow when he looked upon the decaying city and the neglected court and realized that the House of Chou was doomed. He called upon Li Erh, or Lao Tan, as he is also called, the unintentional founder of Taoism, a man who was as far removed in his sentiments and sympathies from the modem Taoist monk as Spinoza from Madame Blavatsky. Li Erh is known to the world generally as Lao Tzu, the “Old Philosopher.” He was custodian of the archives, or “Keeper of the Rolls,” as one might call him, in the ancient capital of China. Confucius was a born anti- 229 Confucius and his Teaching quarian. He called himself ‘‘a lover of the ancients.” He knew that Lao Tzu could explain to him many passages in the sacred books, and enable him to understand better than he had understood how certain requirements of the ritual were to be fulfilled. But Lao Tzu was too near to the court and temple, too familiar with the ceremonies and with the frailties of kings, to be greatly impressed, either by the pagentry of the one or the personality of the other. To Confucius’ enquiries he is reported by Ssu-ma Ch’ien, the great historian, to have replied as follows: Those about whom you enquire have mouldered with their bones into dust. Nothing but their words remain. When the hour of the great man has struck he rises to leadership, but before his time has come he is hampered in all that he attempts. I have heard that the successful merchant carefully conceals his wealth and acts as though he had nothing — that the great man, though abounding in achievements, is simple in his manners and appear¬ ance. Get rid of your pride and your many ambitions, your affectations and your extravagant aims. Your character gains nothing from all these. This is my advice to you. The language probably is colored, if not invented, by some Taoist author, for the Taoists have not loved Confucius. Ssu-ma Ch’ien records the alleged conversation, but by his phraseology casts doubt upon the authenticity of the report. Lao Tzu undoubtedly was curt, and if he was caustic in his comments they would not be altogether out of harmony with his style shown in the Tao Te King. But regardless of the manner in which he received Confucius, the latter was deeply impressed, according to the reports that have been transmitted. He said to his disciples : The birds — I know they can fly; the fishes — I know they can swim; the wild beasts — I know they can run. The runner may be caught by a trap, the swimmer may be taken with a line, and the flyer may be shot by an arrow. But, as for the dragon, I am unable to know how he rises on the winds and the clouds to the sky. To-day I have seen Lao Tzu; he is like the dragon.10 If we accept the report of this interview as substantially correct, we may explain Lao Tzu’s attitude towards Con- 10 Ssu-ma Ch’ien, Skih Chi, chap. 63, Lao Tzu Chuan. 230 Confucius and his Teaching fucius by recalling that Confucius was full of the enthu¬ siasm of youth, that he was making his first long journey from home, and that he was deeply interested in the sights of the capital and the places of historic interest. All seemed very wonderful to him. He doubtless showed great eagerness in his questioning, and he may have been voluble in expressing his own opinions upon certain points. We may remember, too, that Lao Tzu was old, that he had lost his illusions, if he ever had any, and that he was a quietist. He thought the world too much governed and very badly governed. He says in the Tao Te King : ‘ ‘ They who know don’t talk; they who talk don’t know.” He disliked the busybody reformer who thought he could cor¬ rect the faults of the world by new rules and laws. He said : The people are difficult to govern because too much learnedness is employed. To govern the state with learnedness is the spoil¬ ing of the state. To avoid the use of learnedness in government, that is the happiness of the state. He urged a “back to nature” movement. He wanted to promote the return of the people to the simple life, to go back to the use of the knotted cords instead of writing, to have men live and die in their native villages, content with their surroundings and unacquainted with the people even in the nearest neighboring state. His ideal man was one free from many desires, one who was not learned and who did not prize things difficult to obtain. He would let things alone and allow nature to pursue her own course. His most striking utterances are in paradoxical form, and his criticisms of the world of his day were almost vitriolic in their sarcasm. Thus he says; When the great Tao is forgotten, then we have virtue and justice. Learnedness and cleverness appear, then we have much hypocrisy. It is when family relations are inharmonious that we hear of filial piety and affection. The government is con¬ fused and disorderly, and then we talk of loyalty and fidelity. Abjure holiness and cast away learnedness, and the people will benefit a hundred fold. Abjure mercy and cast away justice, Confucius and his Teaching 231 and the people will revive their filial piety and fraternal affec¬ tion. Abjure your cleverness and cast away your profit, and robbery and thieving will disappear.11 Are the people starving? Because their rulers consume too many taxes therefore they starve. Are the people difficult to govern? Because their rulers are busy about it, therefore they are difficult to govern. Do the people think lightly of death? Because of their intense desire for real life, therefore they make light of death.12 So, if this eager young school-master from one of the distant provinces began to talk to Lao Tzu learnedly about the ancient worthies, and perhaps expound theories for the amelioration of the condition of the world, it would not have been unnatural for Lao Tzu to look upon the stranger as too inquisitive, and make an attempt to puncture what may have seemed to him a bubble of self-complacency colored with iridescent dreams. He might then advise the young man not to be so well satisfied with himself and to give up his extravagant aims. According to the Book of Rites, Confucius in later years occasionally referred to other conversations with Lao Tzu, in which he had obtained information of various requirements in the ceremonial regulations. The visit to the capital undoubtedly enhanced the repu¬ tation of Confucius in his home town. It is said that his following considerably increased thereafter. But he was not popular with all classes. To a good many people he seemed to be a visionary, too unpractical for a work-a-day world ; and he was too stern a moralist to suit the careless nobles who ruled the land. It will help us to understand the situation to call to mind the disturbed political condi¬ tion of the empire. CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE The Chou Dynasty was established in 1122 B.C. The founder, King Wu, made the rather natural mistake of 11 Tao Te King, 18 and 19. 12 Ibid., 75. 232 Confucius and his Teaching dividing the empire among his near relatives, who were bound together in a feudal system for the support of the crown. During the first two or three generations the system worked very well; the rulers of the various states, all related by blood to the head of the Kingdom, were loyal to him and maintained friendly relations one with another. But as the centuries passed, the tie of blood grew weaker. The Middle Kingdom, in which the capital was located, was one of the smaller states. Trusting to the support of its vassals its own military forces were insignificant. The outlying states had room to expand and gradually grew large, prosperous and powerful. Those on the frontiers, exposed to raids by barbarous tribes of alien peoples, grew more and more experienced in war, and became militaristic and aggressive in their character. New states sprang up on the borders, ruled by chieftains who were not related to the Sovereign. The authority of the King gradually waned as the strength of his vassals increased. The most powerful of the latter assumed the title of King. Their allegiance to the head of the empire became formal only. Since he was the representative of the eldest branch of the house of Chou they paid him honor. His authority be¬ came religious rather than political in character. In the time of Confucius the great states had become practically independent. They made war upon one another without regard to the will of the Chou monarch, and entered into treaties with each other as though they were entirely sep¬ arate and each sovereign within its own boundaries. A situation existed not altogether unlike that which was seen in Europe after the downfall of the Roman Empire, when the former vassals of the Emperor became sovereigns of independent states. One of the frontier states, that of Ch’in, in the north¬ west, whose ruler was not related to the Chous, finally in 256 B.C. overturned the Chou Dynasty, swallowed up the territories of all the states, and established a new empire. But in the days of Confucius this event was still more than two centuries in the future. Confucius mourned over the weakness of the central government, and constantly Confucius and his Teaching 233 condemned the assumption by feudal princes of titles, honors and functions belonging only to the king. It is interesting to remember that the civilization of China was carried into Japan, and that the Confucian classics became the Bible of Japan. The saints and heroes of the Chou Dynasty became the saints and heroes admired by the Japanese, and so long years afterward, in the 19th century A.D., we find in feudal Japan a state of affairs very similar to that which existed in China in the days of Confucius — the Mikado secluded, reigning but not rul¬ ing, a divinity regarded with religious veneration by the multitude, but the puppet of designing ministers and feudal lords, who made war one upon another. The misgovernment and oppression which afflicted China in the days of Confucius stirred the indignation of that young reformer. While traveling with some of his dis¬ ciples along an unfrequented road one day he came upon a woman weeping by a grave. He sent one of his disciples to offer condolence. The disciple said : “ You weep as if you had suffered many sorrows.” She replied: “It is true. My father-in-law was killed here by a tiger. Later my husband was also killed here by a tiger, and now my son has died in the same way. ’ ’ The Master asked her : ‘ ‘ Why don’t you leave the place?” She replied: “There is no oppressive government here.” Then said Confucius to his disciples: “Remember, my little children; oppressive gov¬ ernment is more terrible than tigers. ’ ’ 13 This incident probably happened when Confucius was leaving his native state to go into exile. There was civil war in the state of Lu. The legitimate ruler had been dethroned, and had fled to the neighboring state of Ch’i. Confucius, who was a stickler for legitimacy, followed the duke. While living in the state of Ch’i its ruler offered him the revenues of a small district, which would suffice for his support. Confucius declined. To his disciples he said: “A gentleman will not receive payment except for service given, and although I have offered the duke advice he has not acted upon it.” His fastidiousness in this 13 Book of Bites, T 'an Kung, Sec. II, part 3 : 10, Legge. 234 Confucius and his Teaching regard was somewhat moderated in later years, for we learn that, when traveling in the state of Wei some twenty years later, the dnke of that state gave him a stipend of 60,000 measures of grain for his support, which he accepted although the ruler of Wei was notoriously corrupt. « HIS OFFICIAL CAREER Confucius remained in Ch’i about eight years, and upon his return to his native state lived quietly occupied with his researches until the year 501 B.C., when at fifty-one years of age he accepted an appointment as governor of Chungtu. He now had opportunity to put his theory of government to the test. Thus far he had been looked upon as a visionary. The ruler of Ch’i had found pleasure in his conversation during his sojourn in that state, and had been disposed to employ him, but had been dissuaded by his minister, who showed a contempt for the acedemic theories of a mere student who lacked practical experience. One cannot avoid a feeling that the minister was not altogether wrong when Confucius’ theories are considered. He held that a virtu¬ ous ruler could reform a state by force of his example, that the people would imitate him spontaneously and flock to his standard, ‘ ‘ as the grass bows when the wind blows. ’ ’ He said: “He who rules by his virtuous character is like the polar star, which rests in its place while all the other stars revolve about it. 9 ’ 14 On another occasion he de¬ clared : If you guide the people by rules and correct them by penalties, they will evade them and lose their sense of shame; but, if you guide them by a virtuous example and correct them by your own piety, they will keep their sense of shame and, moreover, imitate your example.15 We cannot deny the influence of a good example, but we can scarcely accept it as a ruling principle of political i* Analects 11:1, is Ibid., 11:3. Confucius and his Teaching 23 5 science, and there can be no doubt that Confucius over¬ emphasized its importance. When asked upon one occasion for a definition of government, he replied with a pun: Cheng ? (government) — that is cheng (uprightness). If you, as leader, are upright, who will dare not to be upright ! 16 On another occasion he said : When the ruler is pious, none among the people will dare to be irreverent. When the ruler loves justice, none among the people will dare to be otherwise. When the ruler loves good faith, none among the people will dare not to keep faith. When the ruler is of such sort, the people of the four quarters will flock to him with their children strapped upon their backs.17 In explanation of Confucius’ theory, however, it must be stated that by a “virtuous example” he did not refer alone to the private character of the ruler ; he included the right conduct of government. The word, te, which he employed, and which is translated “virtue,” is that which is used in the title of Lao Tzu’s work, the Tao Te King, and which there means the practical exemplification of the Tao, or “teaching.” Confucius undoubtedly used the word in a similar sense. When he spoke of a “virtuous example” he did not refer so much to the negative virtues — the ab¬ sence of vice — as he did to the active virtues. Of these the Chinese count six: “Wisdom, humanity, holiness, justice, moderation, and conciliation.” Thus, taken in the sense in which Confucius meant his teaching to be taken, the ruler who governed by a virtuous example was one who governed wisely, with a due regard for human rights, who did not neglect the national altars, who was always just, but not unduly severe, and who sought peace rather than strife. Such a monarch would deserve to win the confidence and obedience of his subjects. That this was the meaning of the Sage is shown in numerous sayings uttered by him upon the art of government. When asked by one of his disciples about the proper administration of government 16 Ibid., XII: 17. 17 Analects XIII: 4. 236 Confucius and his Teaching he explained that it consisted, among other things, in pro¬ moting those enterprises on which the people depended for their gains, yet without wasteful expenditure of the rev¬ enues, and in using the corvee — which was common in those days — only upon works of real necessity, and then without interfering with the peasants’ agricultural occupa¬ tions. He pointed out, too, that a ruler should not become so filled with a sense of his own dignity as to neglect his duties, no matter how unimportant they might seem, and that he should not be guilty of putting men to death for violation of law, who had never been taught their duty under the law.18 On his journey to the state of Wei he commented on the rapid growth of the population. A disciple asked him saying : “Now that the people are so numerous what should be done for them?” He answered: “Enrich them.” “What then?” was the next query. “Educate them,” he said.19 Thus he recognized the welfare of the people as the supreme duty of the state; and it is noteworthy that he made their material prosperity first in the order of im¬ portance. As modifying this opinion another conversation may be quoted in which he declared that the essentials of good government were “sufficient food, sufficient military force, and the confidence of the people.” When asked which should be given up, in case all these could not be obtained, he replied: “The military.” If two of the three had to be abandoned he declared that the next thing to be surrendered should be “sufficient food,” “for,” said he, “men have always had to die, but without faith no people can stand. ’ ’20 His disciples, looking back to the brief term of his public service in the state of Lu, thought that they found his theories confirmed by this practical experience, for they reported that he made rules for the support of the living and the worship of the dead, that old and young had food suited to their needs, the relations of the sexes were care- 18 Ibid., XX: 2. 19 Analects XIII: 9. 20 Ibid., XII: 7. Confucius and his Teaching 237 fully regulated, and such good order was maintained that anything lost upon the road was never wrongfully appro¬ priated, and all fraud and cheating disappeared. The duke, astonished by the results, is said to have asked whether the same method of government might be applied to the whole dukedom, and Confucius is reported as re¬ plying: “Certainly, not only to the state but to the whole empire.” Not long afterwards the duke appointed Con¬ fucius Minister of Justice, and crime rapidly diminished. It became unnecessary to apply the penal code. It must be admitted, however, that his theory as to the influence of example was not fully confirmed by his experience, for his own filial piety, in accordance with that theory, ought to have made impossible in his jurisdiction such a case of grossly unfilial conduct as has been mentioned in an earlier chapter, one that was brought before him for judg¬ ment. A father demanded the death penalty for his unruly son. This was the punishment provided by law. Confucius refused to put the son to death, and imprisoned both the disobedient son and the complaining father. The duke objected, but the judge declared: “If seniors neglect their duty and yet demand that their juniors be put to death, it is not just. This father has never taught his son to be filial.” In 496 B.C. he became Prime Minister of his native state, and it seems probable that it was during his exercise of this office that he served as Master of Ceremonies at an interview between the Duke of Lu and the Duke of Ch’i, for the negotiation of a treaty. A plot had been formed for the kidnaping of the ruler of Lu. Confucius discov¬ ered it and prevented its execution. Then he skillfully made such good use of the incident that he obtained an advantageous treaty of alliance and a retrocession of terri¬ tory that had been taken from Lu. His accession to this high post in his native state is represented by his disciples as having aroused the envy and fears of the Duke of Ch’i. The latter, we are informed, thereupon resorted to an unworthy strategem to win the Duke of Lu from his attachment to the Sage. A present 238 Confucius and his Teaching of eighty beautiful chorus girls and 120 thoroughbred horses was sent to the ruler of Lu. He accepted them, and was soon so absorbed in pleasure as to neglect the duties of state. This discouraged Confucius. He felt that he could no longer exercise a good influence, and accordingly resigned. HIS EXILE For five years he had served his prince in various capacities and with considerable success, but five years was a brief period and his influence must have been slight after all, if a girl and a horse could cause such a sudden and complete disregard of his advice, and such utter neglect of the administration as is represented. Sadly and reluc¬ tantly he left his native land and went abroad, in the hope of finding elsewhere a ruler who would accept his theories of government, and bring in the reforms that would cure the crying ills of the time. For thirteen years he wandered in this self-imposed exile. He visited various states, was received with honor in some, but failed to find that acceptance for his principles which he sought. He visited the state of Wei a number of times, and seems to have had a liking for its ruler. At one time he accepted a stipend from him, as already said, although he was not appointed to any office. But the courtiers were jealous of him and, after ten months, he left Wei for Sung. He was attacked on the way to the latter place, and after some delay changed his mind and returned to Wei. There he found his position embarrassing, because he had to ride behind the duke and the beautiful but notorious woman who was his consort. The people were amused by what they called 4 ‘ virtue following in the train of vice, 7 7 and the humiliation was more than the sage could endure. He departed again, in 494, and this time, after some adven¬ tures and delays, reached Ch’en. In two years, however, he returned again to Wei. On this journey he was taken captive by some enemies, who made him take a solemn oath that he would not proceed to Wei. He took the oath, Confucius and his Teaching 239 but as soon as he was free violated it and went on to Wei. Some of his followers were astonished by such disregard of his plighted word, for Confucius had taught them to “hold sincerity and good faith as ruling principles.”21 Confucius, however, justified his action on the ground that the oath was extorted from him by force and was not binding. These years of adversity and wandering had wrought considerable change in the man who, in his youth, had shown such rigid adherence to lofty principles. The Duke of Wei was growing old, but he was as little inclined as ever to adopt Confucius’ advice. He was kind to him but did not employ him. Discouraged by repeated failure, the great teacher was almost disposed to accept an invitation from the leader of a rebellion in an adjoining state. He was dissuaded by a disciple, who pointed out the inconsistency of such action in one who had been such a staunch supporter of legitimacy. Subsequently Confucius proposed to visit the state of Chin, but he discovered that a revolution was going on there and came back to Wei. He then removed to Ch’en and from there to Ts’ai. Prom the latter place he went to Ye, a territory that had revolted from the state of Ts’u. Con¬ fucius would have taken office under the rebel leader, but found no more willingness there than elsewhere to accept his teaching. He went back to Ts’ai, where he remained three years, after which he accepted an invitation to Ts’u, one of the three most powerful states in China, then strug¬ gling for the mastery. The ruler of Ts’u would have employed him but was dissuaded by courtiers, and the wanderer, now sixty-three years of age, returned to Wei, where he found the grandson of his former patron engaged in rebellion against his own father. Confucius was invited to accept a position in his service, but he could not bring himself to support a son in rebellion against his father, the legitimate ruler of the state, so he went into retirement. After some five or six years spent in this seclusion in Wei, a messenger arrived from his native state of Lu, inviting him to return. He accepted the invitation, but even in his 21 Analects XII : 10. 240 Confucius and his Teaching home state he found the government conducted upon prin¬ ciples which he could not endorse. Nor did the ruler show any desire to serve the cause of righteousness and promote the welfare of the people. The career of Confucius to all appearance had been a failure — a great failure. Well did he say: “I have never seen a man who loved virtue as much as he loved beauty.” And on another occasion: “I have never been able to see a holy man; could I see a noble one I should be content. I have never been able to find a good man; could I find a constant one it would be enough.” But the years of wandering had not been altogether fruitless. It was during these years of adversity that he gave to the few faithful disciples who followed him much of the teaching which has made him one of the great moral leaders of the race. These disciples treasured every word that fell from his lips, and, so great was their veneration for him, that even his little mannerisms were noted as worthy of record. We are gravely informed that he never stood in the gate-way of the palace nor stepped upon the door-sill; that at audiences his robe, front and back, hung straight, and that he moved with his arms outstretched like a bird flying; that he didn’t wear purple facings nor use red, even in undress, that his night-shirt was half as long again as his body, that he liked fine rice and wanted his meat minced; that his only limit in wine was to stop short of confusion, and that he would not eat without ginger.22 We can forgive this careful record of trivialities for the sake of the picture which it gives us of the man, so punctilious and yet so human. He was “ amiable but dignified,” we are told, “strict but not severe, polite but at ease.” We are told, too, that if a friend died in need he would say: “I’ll attend to his funeral,” and that “when he heard a good song he would ask to have it re¬ peated and would himself join in the melody.” With all modesty, too, he disclaimed being a sage, and declared that while he might have some literary ability he had not yet 22 See Analects X. Confucius and his Teaching 241 attained to the living of the ideal life.23 Among note¬ worthy sayings which fell from his lips, other than those already mentioned, I qnote these: Have no friends not equal to yourself.24 If you have faults, do not fear to abandon them.25 Sorrow not that men do not know you, but sorrow that you do not know men.26 Hear the truth in the morning, and in the evening you can die without regret.27 The princely man thinks of virtue; the mean man of gain.28 Do not unto others what you do not like done unto yourself.29 We know not life; how can we know death! 30 Rotten wood can’t be carved, and a dung wall ought not to be whitewashed.31 Formerly I listened to men’s words and took their actions for granted; now I listen to their words, but I also watch their conduct.32 He who knows not the will of God can not be a princely man. He who knows not the Rites has nothing with which to shape his character.33 The princely man is catholic, not narrow; the small-minded man is narrow, not catholic.34 Only the humane man can love men or hate them.35 The princely man aims to be cautious in speech but prompt in action.36 Those who know are free from doubt. The humane are free from sorrow; the courageous, from fear.37 Over-passing is like coming short (of the mark).38 Self-denial and piety — these are virtue.39 Who takes no thought for the future has sorrow at the door.40 HIS LITERARY WORK After Confucius in his old age had returned to Lu he gave himself up to study and to literary work. This work was not that of an author, but rather of an editor. He 23 Ibid., VII and X. 24 Ibid., 1:8. 25 Ibid., 1:8. 20 Ibid., 1:16. 27 Ibid., IV: 8. 28 Ibid., IV: 11. 29 Ibid., XII :2. so Ibid., XI: 11. 3i Ibid., V :9. 32 Ibid., V :9. 33 Ibid., XX: 3. 34 Ibid., 11:14. 35 Ibid., IV: 3. so Ibid., IV :24. 37 Ibid., IX :28. 38 Ibid., XI: 15. 39 Ibid., XII :1. 40 Ibid., XV: II. 242 Confucius and his Teaching said of himself: “I am not a creator but a transmitter, one who has faith in the ancients and loves them. ’ ’ 41 Ssu-ma Ch’ien, from whose biography of Confucius much of this chapter has been drawn,42 tells us that the Sage made a careful study of the rites of the Three Dy¬ nasties (i.e. the Hsia, the Shang and the Chou), and that he classified the subjects treated and grouped the passages under their proper headings. He says, moreover, that he wrote an introduction to the Shu King, or Canon of His¬ tory, and placed the historical fragments of which the work is composed in their proper order, beginning with the times of Yao and Shun, and coming down to the period of Duke Wu of Ch’in (i.e. 2357-621 B.C.). He notes, too, that he made a selection from the more than three thou¬ sand odes then extant, and that he suppressed those which he did not consider useful in the rites or animated by the proper spirit. There are apparently some references in the Analects to his work on the Rites. He is reported as saying that he could talk of the rites of the Hsia and the Yin Dynasties, but that he could not obtain sufficient con¬ firmation of his opinions from the houses of Ch’i and Sung — the heirs of these two dynasties. He is quoted in an¬ other passage as referring to the correction that had been made in the music of the ritual after his return home. As is well known the tyrant of the Ch’in Dynasty attempted to destroy the Confucian books in 213 B.C. But four years later he was dead, and in 202 the new dynasty of Han arose. In the mean time many scholars had preserved portions of the ancient literature. The Li Ki or Book of Rites, as we have it to-day, perhaps contains most of the collection made by Confucius, but also contains other docu¬ ments, so that it is not identical with the Rites, as edited by him. In its present form it dates from the second cen¬ tury of our era. Ssu-ma Ch’ien, quoting from a distinguished scholar, a descendant of Confucius, assures us that Confucius, in edit- 41 ibid., VII :1. 42 For accounts in English of the life of Confucius see Soothill’s Analects, Introduction II, or Douglas’ ‘‘Confucianism and Taouism.” Confucius and his Teaching 243 ing the ancient historical records, arranged them in one hundred books. The present Shu King, or Canon of His¬ tory, contains but fifty-nine, even when we count the sec¬ tions of books as separate documents. The Odes as we possess them are probably identical with the collection made by Confucius, but we cannot help wish¬ ing that he had possessed more of that love of the ancients, which he professed to feel, so that every fragment of ancient literature could have been preserved, and not merely those that supported his opinions as to ancient prac¬ tice, or measured up to his ethical standard. The work which he regarded most highly, and by which he declared that he would be judged, is the Ch’un Ch’iu, or Annals, compiled just before his death, and drawn chiefly, it is believed, from the official records of the state of Lu. When one reads this work he cannot but wonder what it was in it that gave satisfaction to Confucius. It is a bare ‘chronicle of events covering a period of 242 years. Dr. Legge, in his Prolegomena, says truly that it is Without the slightest tincture of literary ability in the compo¬ sition, or the slightest indication of judicial opinion on the part of the writer. It is nothing but the syllabus of a book. Without the com¬ mentary of Tso Ch’iu-ming it would be an arid literary desert, a valley of dry bones. Tso alone has breathed upon these lines and clothed them with flesh and made them live. He gives details of the events to which a bare allusion is made by Confucius, and by his anecdotes adds color and flavor to the record. The commentary is the thing worth reading ; the Annals are but chapter headings. One wonders, whether, after all, the Ch’un Ch’iu is anything more than the outline of the work, which the Master did not live to complete, but which the extravagant admiration of the disciples for the Master have induced them to accept as the work itself. If it is by the Annals that Confucius is to be judged, as he declared, the judgment cannot be a favorable one. Not only is there shown an utter absence of literary ability — an entire lack of that trenchant criti- 244 Confucius and his Teaching cism of men and events which one finds in his conversations with his disciples, or with the princes of his day — there is no expression of praise or blame, such as would be expected from the great moral teacher of his race. Dr. Legge goes much farther than this in his severe criticism of the work. He accuses Confucius of deliberately misrep¬ resenting the history of the period covered, by concealing some of the facts and distorting others. He declares that Confucius “had no reverence for truth in history,” that he ‘ ‘ shrank from looking the truth fairly in the face, ’ ’ and that “he had more sympathy with power than with weak¬ ness, and would overlook wickedness and oppression in authority rather than resentment and revenge in men who were suffering from them. ’ ’ 43 Dr. Legge supports his in¬ dictment by numerous quotations. Such a falsification of history as is charged would be the more remarkable in view of the praise given by Confucius to the historiog¬ raphers who would leave a blank in the record rather than record an inaccurate statement.44 In fact, the his¬ toriographers of China to this day are distinguished for their faithful record of events as they occur, and instances can be given in which they have suffered death rather than change the entry made. For myself I am disposed to accept the judgment of a few Chinese writers, that the text of the Annals which we have is not the text of the work compiled by Confucius. HIS DEATH AND CANONIZATION In the year 479 B.C. when Confucius was seventy-two years of age, he was seen walking slowly to and fro mut¬ tering to himself these words : Mt. T’ai must crumble; The great beam will break; The wise man, too, will wither away. 43 Chinese Classics V. Part I Prolegomena, Section V. 44 Analects XV : 25. TOMB OF CONFUCIUS. DISTANT VIEW OF MOUNT TAl, SHANTUNG. THE MOST SACRED MOUNTAIN IN CHINA. . . . . ■ Confucius and his Teaching 245 One of his younger disciples, Tzu Kung, was with him at the time, and saw that his old master was ill. Tzu Kung’s surname was Tuan-mu. His personal name was Tzu. By this last he was familiarly called by Confucius. As he came in the Master said : ‘ ‘ Tzu, why are you late ? I had a dream last night. I dreamt that I was sitting in the hall between the pillars with funeral offerings before me. No wise monarch comes to power. There is no one who wants me for a teacher. My time to die has come.” He was right ; in a week he had passed away. It was the 11th day of the Fourth Moon in the year 479 B.C. He was buried outside the north gate of Ch’iifu, where his grave may still be seen. A number of his disciples kept watch at the side of his tomb for three years. Tzu Kung remained there for six years. The site of his hut is pointed out to-day to the traveler who visits the grave. The Duke of Lu, who found no use for the advice of Confucius while he lived, mourned for him when he was dead. In China, as in the West, men neglect the prophets while they live, but build magnificent monuments to them after they are dead. Thus Duke Ai built a temple to the memory of Confucius, and directed that sacrifices should be offered to his spirit four times a year. From that day to this, except during the brief period when Confucianists were being per¬ secuted in the third century B.C., he has been publicly wor¬ shiped. At first this honor was done him only in his native state. But in 195 B.C. the founder of the Han Dynasty visited his grave and made an offering of an ox in sacrifice. In A.D. 57 the worship was introduced into the colleges of the empire. In A. D. 609 he was worshiped in temples specially erected for that purpose and dedicated to him. At the time of the overthrow of the Manchus in 1912 there were not less than 1500 temples in China set apart for this worship. Until the year 1906 the Manchu code provided that the sacrifices to Confucius should be of the second grade, that is to say one degree lower than those offered to the Most High. But in 1906 the Empress Dowager, Tzu Hsi, issued an edict raising Confucius to the first rank in the Chinese 246 Confucius and his Teaching pantheon, and ordering the same honors paid to him that were paid to the Supreme God. This edict possibly was due to the desire to make the great teacher of the East equal in rank with the great teacher of the West, who in the mission schools was held to be one with God and to be worshiped as God. This desire was strengthened by the fears expressed by the commissioners who drew up the new public school system, as already related, a fear that the national religion might lose its hold upon the students in the schools who were to take up the study of Western science and foreign languages. Because of this fear they had urged that the students be required to attend the services of their ancestral religion. The increased honor paid to the Sage, it was no doubt believed, would increase the reverence of the young for him. This plan to strengthen the established faith included also the creation at Ch’iifu, the ancient home of Confucius, of a school to be devoted to the study of the Confucian classics, the sacred literature of China, so that there might never be lacking those who could expound the teachings of these books. An edict to this effect was promulgated at the same time as that raising the rank of the Sage in the pantheon. When Duke Yen, the lineal descendant of Confucius in the 76th generation, read these edicts, he asked permission to visit Peking and pay his respects to Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress Dowager. He came, and at the audience granted him he expressed his gratitude for the high honor done to his ancestor, but he also asked that the school to be established at Ch’iifu might be made, not simply a school for the study of China’s sacred books, but also a school for teaching foreign languages, western science, international law, and political economy. His re¬ quest, of course, was not granted, for the original intention of the Empress Dowager was to make the ancient home of Confucius a center of conservative influences to counter¬ act the feared tendencies of the new learning. The author had the privilege of two interviews with the Duke during this visit, and found him to be a rather hand¬ some man, in the prime of life, physically fit and mentally V Confucius and his Teaching 247 alert. He enquired about the mission schools in China and showed keen interest in Western education. Before the plans for a classical school at Ch’iifu could be carried out the Empress Dowager died. A little later the revolution swept the Manchus out of power, and inau¬ gurated a period of irreligion not unlike that which ac¬ companied the French revolution. The sacrifices at the state altars in Peking and in the provinces were neglected. The temples were abandoned; their courts were overgrown with weeds. The sacred inclosure of the Temple of Heaven was opened to the populace. Ribald inscriptions were scrawled upon the walls. The altar to the Most High was desecrated by the erection upon it of booths for the sale of food and cigarettes. The Temple to the Earth was con¬ verted into barracks, and the Temple of Agriculture be¬ came a public park and a show ground for jugglers and acrobats. After a few months, however, there came a reaction. A society was organized to urge the re-establish¬ ment of Confucianism as the religion of the state. A great national convention was held at Ch’iifu in September, 1913. Officially it met on the 24th day of the Eighth Moon of the 2464th year of Confucius. The 27th of the Moon was observed as the birthday of the Sage. The convention lasted one week, and met in the Confucian Temple. Duke Yen attended. The autumn sacrifices to Confucius were offered that year in Peking and in some of the provincial capitals. President Yuan Shih-k’ai attempted to re-establish the an¬ cient national religion, and make it the religion of the Republic, but after his death the modernists had their way, and the Chinese Republic, like our own, was kept free from the control of any one sect. Not long after the meeting of the national Confucian con¬ vention at Ch’iifu I had an opportunity of visiting that ancient town. The railway now passes within six miles of it. A Chinese cart carried us over the old road so often trodden by the feet of the Sage, and not far from the station we forded the River Wen, the old boundary be¬ tween the states of Lu and Ch’i. We entered the town by the North Gate and, on reaching the Drum Tower in 248 Confucius and his Teaching the center of the place, we turned toward the west. Not far away we found the temple, the most beautiful of all the temples in China erected to the memory of the great teacher. There is the usual succession of buildings and spacious courts. The buildings are roofed with yellow glazed tiles; the walls are covered with vermilion stucco. The pillars along the corridors, instead of being teak covered with red lacquer, as is customary in other temples, are of marble, carved with entwining dragons. Behind the principal hall, separated from it by a court, there is a smaller hall in which is preserved a series of tablets de¬ picting important incidents in the life of Confucius as recorded in the Chia Yii or Family Traditions. A small pavilion in one of the courts covers a stone monument, whose inscription tells us that it is erected on the site of a favorite apricot tree, under which the teacher loved to sit. The home of Duke Yen adjoins the temple grounds. Outside the north gate, about half a mile distant, is the entrance to the cemetery. It is beautifully shaded with numerous trees, and the path to the tomb passes over a stone bridge which spans the little stream known as the Chu. The way is bordered by stone images of lions, horses and men. A little shrine near the tomb shelters the altar and the tablet that bears his posthumous title. Duke Yen was engaged there, when we arrived, offering special sac¬ rifices in behalf of the President. The grave itself is a simple mound marked by a plain stone. Around it are gathered the graves of innumerable descendants. In the great imperial cemeteries near Peking we had seen the huge mounds and magnificent mausolea that made the resting places of once mighty but forgotten monarchs. The “Uncrowned King” needs no such im¬ posing structure to guard his grave or preserve his dust from desecration. In the hearts of four hundred millions of living men his memory is enshrined, and the pathway to his grave will be worn by the pilgrim feet of a thousand generations yet unborn. For virtue is mightier than valor, and the teacher of righteousness than the conqueror of a thousand cities. CHAPTER XII CONFUCIANISM IN THE HOME The services of love and reverence to parents when alive, and those of grief and sorrow to them when dead: — these completely discharge the fundamental duty of living men. The Hsiao King, translated by Legge. Under the Manchu Dynasty the Chinese Government officially recognized three religions : the Ju Chiao, the Shill Ckiao and the Tao Chiao. The last-mentioned is Taoism. The term, Skill Ckiao, is one applied to Buddhism. The words, Ju Ckiao, mean “the Religion of the Learned/ * Sometimes it is called Ta Ckiao, or “the Great Religion/ ’ and not infrequently it is known as the K’ung Ckiao, or “Confucian Religion.” This is the name by which it is generally known among Americans and Europeans. There is no foundation in truth for the statement some¬ times heard that “Confucianism is not a religion, but a system of ethics.” The author of the statement may have meant that Confucius was a teacher of ethics and not the founder of a religion. It is true that he did not found a religion, but “Confucianism” is the generally accepted name of the religion practiced by Confucius, the religion whose sacred books were edited by Confucius and his dis¬ ciples, and the religion in which Confucius himself is one of the principal objects of worship. It is not true even that Confucius taught only a system of ethics. Even as a child, as we have seen, he was deeply interested in the sacrificial ritual of the national religion, and the Analects, which report his conversations with his disciples, give evidence of the frequency with which he urged the importance of the li, that is to say, the “rites.” The primary meaning of this word, li, is “religious wor¬ ship.” We are told in the Analects that the things about 249 250 Confucianism in the Home which he most often spoke were the Odes, the Book of History, and the observance of the Rites. The Odes, the Book of History and the Rites are three of the sacred books of the Chinese. It is unfortunate that one of the earliest translations of the Li Ki, or “Record of Rites” renders the title of the work by the words: “A Collection of Treaties on the Rules of Propriety or Ceremonial Us¬ ages.” Dr. Legge, the translator, used the phrase, “Rules of Propriety,” as the equivalent of li in his translation of the Analects of Confucius as well as in that of the Li Ki. Now, not only is the primary meaning of the word, li, “religious worship,” the book, itself, the Li Ki, which Dr. Legge calls “A Collection of Treatises on the Rules of Pro¬ priety,” deals with religious rites. It describes those em¬ ployed in the worship of God and the worship of ancestors, the ceremonies observed in the capping of a young man when he comes of age, and those employed in the solem¬ nization of marriage, as well as with the funeral rites and the observances during the period of mourning — all of a deeply religious character. It treats also of the ceremonies at Court and those used in the intercourse of states, to¬ gether with those of the tournament and the banquet; of social intercourse among friends, as well as those employed in the home, in the relations of husband and wife, of parents and children. Of the forty-six books that make up the present Li Ki far more than half have to do with rites that are of a dis¬ tinctly religious character, and the remainder, which deal with social and political functions, are none the less of a serious sort. The ancients did not make such distinctions V as are common to-day between the religious and the secular. The ceremonies attending social and political functions also had a sacred character. When Confucius said that without the li a man had nothing upon which to stand, that is, to keep himself upright,1 he was not referring to some code of etiquette, mere rules of politeness ; he undoubtedly had in mind the whole body of rules and ceremonies which regulated a man’s life. The collection which he had in i Analects XX : 3 and elsewhere. Confucianism in the Home 251 mind was not identical with that known to-day as the Li Ki, but it was essentially the same, and to characterize it by such a colorless term as “Rule of Propriety” is as in¬ congruous as it would be to call the book of Leviticus a treatise on dietetics, because a chapter is devoted to a de¬ scription of the meats that may and may not be eaten. Confucius on all occasions emphasized the importance of filial piety and, when asked what he meant by it, explained it as consisting of a devotion to living parents according to the Rites, a burial of them when dead according to the prescribed ritual, and the worship of them after death according to the ritual.2 He spoke of himself as a man of prayer: “I have been praying for a long time.” 3 It is said of him that “He sacrificed to the spirits as if realizing their presence, ’ ’ 4 and that he did not regard worship by proxy as real worship, saying: “If I am not present at the sacrifices, it is just as though I had not sacrificed. ’ ’ 5 To Confucius, too, is ascribed the statement in the Li Ki that “The highest expression of worship is shown in the suburban sacrifice to God, and the highest expression of human affection in the offerings in the ancestral temple. ’ ’ 6 In the Classic of Filial Piety we have the teaching of Con¬ fucius upon this subject as transmitted to us by his dis¬ ciples, and we cannot read that brief treatise without real¬ izing that the Master was an earnest teacher of that which is above all else the religion of the Chinese — the honoring of parents while they live and worship of them after their death. THE SACRED BOOKS To know what the Confucian Religion is we must study its sacred books. These are commonly referred to as the “Four Books” and the “Five Classics.” The Four Books are (1) the Analects, that is to say the sayings of Con- 2 Ibid., 11:5. 3 Ibid., VII: 34. 4 Ibid., 111:12. 6 Ibid., Ill : 12. 0 Li Ki, Book VIII, Section 11:18. 252 Confucianism in the Home c- fueius as collected by his disciples; (2) the Great Learn¬ ing, a treatise written probably by Tseng Tzn, a disciple of Confucius; (3) The Doctrine of the Mean, by Tzu Ssu, a grandson of the Sage, and (4) the works of Mencius. The Five Classics are (1) The Book of Changes, or Yi King, used in divination; (2) The Shu King, or Book of History; (3) the Collection of Poetry, or Shih King; (4) the Li Ki, or Book of Bites, and (5) the Ch’un Ch’iu, or Annals. Another arrangement makes thirteen in all instead of nine. This is done by including two other collections of Annals and two other collections of Rites, also an ancient dictionary and the work known as the Classic of Filial Piety. The Doctrine of the Mean and the Great Learning in that case are not counted, as they are included in the Book of Rites. Of the Five Classics, the Book of Changes is a treatise on the sixty-four hexagrams formed by the permutations of six whole and six broken lines. The Book of Plistory contains fragments of ancient history, and may be likened to the historical books of the Old Testament. The Col¬ lection of Poetry contains a number of religious pieces, and may be likened to the Psalms, although there are none of the Odes that approach in lofty aspiration the best of the psalms. The Annals remind one of the Books of Chronicles. The Four Books belong to a later age than the Five Classics, and therefore may be said to occupy in the Con- fucian literature a place not altogether unlike that of the New Testament in our Bible, that is to say, the Analects report the discourses of Confucius and the other three works contain the teachings of the greatest of his disciples. But one has only to read these books to realize how unlike the Christian and Confucian Bibles are, either as literature or as food for the soul. The Chinese also have their apocryphal books. Among these may be mentioned the Chia Yu, or “Family Tradi¬ tions, ’ ’ from which have been derived much of the informa¬ tion given by Ssu-ma Ch’ien in his Life of Confucius. The Confucianism in the Home 253 sacred books of China also have had their lower and higher critics, and their numerous commentators. The most influential of the commentators was Chu Fu Tzu, who lived in the Twelfth century of the Christian era, and was an advocate of a very materialistic system of philosophy. His views still prevail with most Chinese scholars, and are chiefly responsible for their skeptical attitude toward things religious. PRIVATE WORHIP Confucianism has its private as well as its public worship. Of the individual and the family it requires the worship of ancestors with definite rites at certain times, the worship of Heaven and Earth on special occasions, and sometimes the worship of Confucius and the canonized teachers. At the solemnization of marriage Heaven and Earth are called upon to bear witness to the covenant by which, as Confucius said, “Two families are united in affection to provide descendants who will keep up the sacrifices to Heaven and Earth and to ancestors.”7 A red rug is spread in the principal court of the bride-groom’s home, and upon it the man and the woman kneel together and offer incense to the dual powers of nature, Heaven and Earth, and prostrate themselves in worship. On other occasions, as the sacred books provide, they must offer sacrifice (1) to the Genius of the Hall, i.e., the living room of the house, (2) to the God of the Furnace, i.e., the spirit that presides over the kitchen, so important to the health of the family, (3) to the God of the Door, that is the guardian against the entrance of evil influences, to-day rep¬ resented by the door-goods, one with a light face who watches over the house in the daytime, and the other with a dark face to protect it at night; (4) to the God of the Soil, i.e., the deity of the locality in which the home is placed, and (5) to the Spirit of the Well, whose waters are so essential to health and comfort. The five sacrifices to the spirits of the home mentioned in the classics are 7 Li Ki XXIV: 10. 254 Confucianism in the Home probably these. But Confucianists may, and commonly do, worship many other so-called deities. The God of Wealth is a popular one, and the occupation of the house¬ holder will probably lead him to worship the saint who presides over his trade. When a young boy starts to school he must learn to bow to the tablet of Confucius. Under the old regime, if he prepared to enter the examinations for the Civil Service, he would worship the God of Liter¬ ature, or, if he competed in the military examinations, he would make offerings to Kuan Wu Ti, the God of War, or to To Fei, one of the canonized warriors of China. But the religion, which above everything else is the re¬ ligion of the family, sacred and authoritative, is the religion of Filial Piety, the service of living parents and the worship of dead ancestors. The worship of the dead begins immedi¬ ately after the decease. For the first seven weeks, as a rule, the services are continuous and very elaborate, but the customs vary in different parts of the country, and vary also according to the wealth or poverty of the family and according to its social standing. The worship consists of prostrations and prayers, the lighting of candles and burn¬ ing of incense together with offerings of food and of spirit¬ uous liquors, and the burning of paper images of servants, of domestic animals, clothing, furniture and money. An¬ ciently wives and concubines, men and women servants, horses and other animals, themselves, and not their images, were actually buried with the dead. Clothing and food were put in the tomb, together with jewelry and other articles of great value. In some instances the home, or a part of it, appears to have been abandoned and set aside for the worship of the dead. Indeed some of these practices have continued to recent times. At several imperial funerals in the reign of the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644) ; and at the burial of one of the wives of the Emperor Shunchih of the Manchu Dynasty, in the eighteenth century, living men and women, servants and concubines of the dead, were buried with them. When the great Viceroy, Li Hung Chang, died in 1901, his home in Peking was entirely abandoned after the Confucianism in the Home 255 funeral services, and was converted into a temple where his spirit is worshiped to this day. During the period devoted to the funeral services in the home, there are morning and evening sacrifices before the coffin, which may be considered as a continuation of the service due the master or mistress of the household while they were still living. They still partake of the meals of the family. When the time for the interment arrives offer¬ ings of food and drink, libations of liquor, and the burning of incense and of paper images accompany the coffin. There are often repeated pauses of the funeral procession, dur¬ ing which offerings are made along the route to the grave, and a sacrificial meal is set out at the tomb after burial. By a special service at the grave the soul of the dead is believed to be induced to attach itself to the spirit tablet, by which it is conveyed back to the home. The tablet is placed in the principal hall, and sacrifice is then offered again for the repose of the soul. The ancient rule was that the tablet should be conveyed the next day to the ancestral temple, if there was such a building, and sacrifice offered again. Special sacrifices are offered at the first and second an¬ niversaries of the death of parents, and at the end of the mourning period. The tablet is a piece of wood about twelve or fifteen inches long and two or three inches wide, upon which are inscribed the posthumous name of the dead and his titles, if he should have any. The eldest member of the oldest generation is usually the priest of the family, and will see that the worship of the ancestors is properly observed, but all members of the family may, and com¬ monly do, participate in the worship. It is considered very important that the representative of the family shall have a wife to take part in the worship. If there is no ancestral temple the tablet is kept on the family altar in the home. This is usually the main hall of the house, but sometimes there is a room set aside as a chapel, or shrine, in which the tablets and sacrificial vessels are kept. 256 Confucianism in the Home ANCESTRAL TEMPLES Some wealthy families maintain an ancestral temple, surrounded by a sacred field whose produce is used to sup¬ port the service. Others have the temple without the field. In some instances there is a temple erected in the family, or clan, cemetery. The spirit tablets of deceased ancestors of many generations are kept in these temples, arranged on shelves in the form of steps. All ancestors of the same generation are placed on the same step, or shelf, the lowest shelf being occupied by those of the latest generation that has passed away, that is to say, by the tablets of those most nearly related to the living. The very poor have a little shrine on a shelf in the principal room of the home. Even the boatmen, whose families live with them on their boats, have a shrine in the cabin. Some families place their tablets on the altar of a Buddhist or Taoist shrine and pay their worship there. The ancestral temples of the nobles and of the imperial family are very imposing. The T’ai Miao in Peking, devoted to the worship of the ancestors of the Manchu Emperors, is located just outside the South Gate of the Forbidden City, in a grove of cypress trees. There are also beautiful temples in the imperial cemeteries known as the Eastern and Western Tombs. In the latter the great sacrificial hall of the temple at the tomb of Yungcheng, in the arrangement of its furniture and in its services, is not unlike the Holy Place of the Jewish Temple. On a marble terrace which rises five or six feet above the pavement of the court an oblong hall is built. Its brick walls are cov¬ ered with vermilion stucco. The roof is of glazed tiles of golden color, supported by bracket cornices decorated in the five colors. This hall is about 150 feet long east and west by 75 feet north and south. The entrance is on the south side. The floor in the interior is of grey tile; the ceiling is made of panels of dark green, relieved by lines of black, white and red surrounding the double dragon in gold. Great pillars of teak covered with red lacquer and gold support the heavy beams. The windows are covered Confucianism in the Home 257 with red lattices delicately carved. As yon enter you see upon the threshold the altar of incense. In the middle of the chamber is a table spread with shew-bread, which is changed every new moon and every full moon. On the north side is an altar for the offerings of fruit, vegetables and wine. Before it are trusses upon which, at the new moon and full moon, there are placed the bodies of slain beasts; oxen, sheep and swine. Behind the altar are two throne chairs, in which at the time of sacrifice the tablets of the dead emperor and his consort are placed. These chairs are placed just in front of a richly embroidered cur¬ tain, which separates this holy place from a dark chamber behind it. In it is kept the spirit tablet, which is brought out only at the time of sacrifice. I was not allowed to enter this dark chamber, but at the time when the American army handed back the Forbidden City to the Chinese Gov¬ ernment, it was my good fortune to be a member of the committee appointed to inspect the T’ai Miao, or Temple of Imperial Ancestors in Peking, to see that all was in order. On that occasion we entered the dark chamber, which corresponds to the Most Holy Place, and found on the right side an ark, or box, overlaid with gold lacquer, in which, wrapped in cloth of gold, were ten tables of stone. These were of green jade, engraved upon which in deeply incised characters of gold was a eulogy of the dead monarch to which this chapel belonged. At the northern end of the chamber was a gilded shrine before which there hung a curtain of cloth of gold, and behind it in the shrine was the spirit tablet. It also was gilded, and upon it was the posthumous name of the dead monarch. The great build¬ ing in which this chamber was found was divided by par¬ titions into chapels, all opening into a corridor which ex¬ tended east and west along the south side of the building. Each chapel contained, next to the corridor, a chamber or “holy place” furnished with an altar of incense and with the flag and official umbrella of the dead monarch, and behind this chamber, on the north side, the dark chamber which I have just described. The great sacrificial hall at this temple is a separate 258 Confucianism in the Home building, south of that just described, and facing the main entrance, which is an imposing gate-way on the south side of the inclosure. On the east and west sides of the spacious court, in front of the sacrificial hall, are chapels dedicated to the great statesmen and warriors of the dynasty. These arrangements, of course, are much more elaborate than those allowed to the common people. The sumptuary laws of the Manchu Dynasty prescribed very carefully the dress and architecture, and the ceremonies to be employed by the various classes of subjects. The Li Ki, too, defined the rites of the Royal Temple and those allowed in the worship of ancestors to the several ranks of the nobility, and to the common people. Confucius blamed the princes of his day very severely for their usurpation of parapher¬ nalia and ceremonies reserved for the King. Very religious families will make offerings of incense and food every day, others at the new moon and full moon. Anciently there was a special service at the first new moon of each quarter and at the end of the calendar year. There were also offerings of first fruits. Those who adhere strictly to the rites as prescribed in the sacred books no doubt still observe these ancient customs. The most important ser¬ vices to-day in this worship of ancestors are the sacrifices at the grave in the spring during the period known as the CK’ing Ming , and those in the home or ancestral temple at the winter solstice. RITES AT THE GRAVE The Cln’ing Ming is one of the twenty-four solar periods into which the year is divided by the Chinese, and extends from the 1st to the 15th of the Third Moon of the lunar calendar. The period falls, therefore, between the last week in March and the middle of April, just about the time of our Eastertide. The origin of this annual sacrifice at the grave is unknown. The ancients apparently seldom made offerings at the grave after the burial rites had been completed. One looks in vain through the Li Ki and other ancient works for any regulations touching this subject. Confucianism in the Home 259 There are abundant references to sacrifices in the ancestral temple and some notices of sacrifices at the tomb at the time of burial, but the only reference I have found to offer¬ ings at the grave at stated periods after burial is one in which Confucius explains that in the absence of the eldest son by the principal wife, his brother by a concubine may offer the sacrifices and that, in such a case, the brother will erect an altar at the grave and make the offerings there at the proper seasons.8 A passage in the Chou Li states that at all sacrifices at the grave the officer in charge of the graves serves as im¬ personator of the dead,9 but there is nothing to indicate that such sacrifices were made at any time except, to the god of the locality when the grave was marked out, and, at the time of interment, to the dead. It is difficult to understand why Confucius is represented as teaching that a younger son by a concubine, representing the heii at a sacrifice, should make the sacrifice at the grave rather than at the home. But there can be no doubt that in the early ages sacri¬ fices at the grave were rare, for when the mother of Con¬ fucius died and he desired to bury her in the same grave with his father, as I have already said, he had to make enquiry of others to learn where his father’s grave was located.10 His father had died when Confucius was an infant. But, if annual sacrifices at the grave were custom¬ ary, he could not have escaped knowing where his father was buried, for although he had an elder brother it would have been his duty to be present at the worship. He was already twenty-two years of age when his mother died. At¬ tempts have been made to throw doubt on the genuineness of this passage of the Li Ki, but the very fact that it shocks a Chinese to read the statement is evidence of its genu¬ ineness. Worshipers of Confucius would not have in¬ vented it. Sacrifice at the tomb, after the burial rites were com- 8 Li Ki V:2. s Chou Li V: eh'un kuan 18. 10 Li Ki II, Sect. 1:10. 260 Confucianism in the Home pleted, could not have been altogether unknown, even in the days of Confucius, for the disciples built a hut along¬ side his grave and worshiped him there, some of them for three years, and one for six years. Ancient emperors came long distances to worship there. Mencius, too, relates a story of a shiftless man who boasted to his wife and con¬ cubine of his frequent dinings with great people, which they discovered to be eating of the offerings made by these great families upon the graves of their kindred.11 It is true, however, that there is nothing in the account to show that these may not have been offerings made at the time of interment. The lack in classical times of any definite ritual for sac¬ rifice at the grave may have been due to the prevailing philosophy of that period, which considered man to be a duad, composed of an intelligent spirit which survives the body and ascends on high, which is called the shen, and an animal soul called the kuei, which goes into the grave with the body and perishes. This is the explanation as¬ cribed to Confucius in the Li Ki.12. Having such a faith, it would be natural to pay attention chiefly to the shen , which was supposed to attach itself to the tablet, and which was worshiped in the home or in the ancestral temple. In later ages a new philosophy became prevalent, which is still held by most Chinese. Man, according to this philos¬ ophy, has three hun, or spirits, and seven po, or animal souls. The seven po gradually evaporate into nothingness after death, but the three hun survive, and it is a popular belief that one remains with the body in the grave, one is installed with the tablet on the ancestral altar, and the third goes to the realms of the dead, or Hades. With such a belief there would, of course, be developed a more definite practice for worship at the grave. However, this may be the worship at the grave during the Ch’ing Ming Festival, which has already been de¬ scribed, has become an established practice regarded as of great importance. Within the two weeks known as Ch’ing 11 Mencius, Li Lou 11:33. 12 Li Ki XXI, Sect. 11:1. APPROACH TO A PRINCE’S FAMILY CEMETERY. S£ BURIAL PIT, TEMPLE TO THE EARTH. Confucianism in the Home 261 Ming, when all nature is reviving from the long, cold sleep of winter, you may see groups of Chinese, carrying baskets filled with offerings, wending their way to the open country to visit the family burying ground. There they carefully gather up the dead leaves and branches and repair the grave mounds. When all is in order they set out, either upon the ground or, more properly, upon an altar of earth or stone, a food and drink offering. This is sometimes a very elaborate feast of rice, with fish, fowl, and pork and cups of spirituous liquors. The drink offering is of spirits distilled from rice or millet. There may be also burnt offer¬ ings of paper imitation money. The dead are not believed to partake of anything but the ethereal essence of the offerings. There are prayers, too, sometimes written and burned, in which the spirits of the dear departed are asked to bestow their blessing upon the living and give the family their guardian care. There is also in the worship a recog¬ nition of the debt of the living to the dead, to whom they owe all the blessings of life. WORSHIP AT WINTER SOLSTICE Still more important is the service in the home or ances¬ tral temple at the winter solstice, also mentioned in another chapter. Once it was my good fortune to be invited to attend such a service. The table spread in the principal room of the home was loaded with steaming viands. Two chairs, one for the. departed grandsire and one for the sainted grandmother, were placed on the north side of the table. The family gathered reverently on the south side while the head of the household, himself well advanced in years, reverently knelt and worshiped the spirits of the dead. It was not an occasion of sadness, but rather a joyful festival, celebrating the return of the absent living from distant regions and of the absent dead from the spirit world. OBJECTIONS TO ANCESTOR WORSHIP All this is worship, it is true, and as a rule the mission¬ aries, both Catholic and Protestant, frown upon it as being 262 Confucianism in the Home idolatrous. They do not permit Chinese Christians to par¬ ticipate in it. In the strict sense of the word, of course, it is not “idolatrous” for there is no image used at the grave, and in the temple worship is offered before the spirit tablet. Ancestor worship is a religion that was once com¬ mon among nearly all races. The sentiment which prompts men to care for the graves of their dead and to seek com¬ munion with them is one which all must respect. The human heart is everywhere the same. We yearn for the society of those whom we have known and loved and who have gone from this life. All peoples, too, have memorial services in honor of the dead, and that is the essence of the Chinese worship of their ancestors. One of the objections to the worship of the dead is the effect seen in the ultra conservatism which it cultivates. Extravagant respect for the teaching and practices of dead ancestors makes progress very difficult. The dead hand rests heavily upon the living and restrains all movement toward change, even though it be toward a betterment of conditions. The Chinese undoubtedly over-emphasize the duty of reverence for the dead. They stand with their faces to the past, and follow too much the precedents of those who have gone on before. Confucius said that the man who, for three years after his father’s death, does not change from his father’s ways may be counted truly filial.13 We should profit by the wisdom and experience of the past, but we ought to make these stepping stones to higher levels in the future. We ought to be better than our fathers. To-day there is a movement among the young in China away from the restraints of the past. Some are going too far, and abandoning the good as well as the evil of old customs. But there will come a reaction, and in the end, no doubt, the Chinese will find the chung yung, or the “middle path.” is Analects 1:11. EXPLANATION OF THE PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN. A=The Hsi Tien Men, B=The Wai Yiian Hsi Men, C— The Ning Hsi Tien, or Hall for the rehearsal of the ceremonies, particularly by the postarers and musicians. D=The Nei Hsi Tien Men, the usual entrance into the northern section of the Inner Court. E=The Kuang Li Men, the Emperor’s gate of exit from the southern section of the Inner Court. F=The Hall of Fasting. G=The Chao Heng Men, principal entrance to the southern section of the Inner Court. H=The Wai Wei Men, the southern gate to the outer or square court of the Altar. I=The Nei Wei Men, the southern gate to the inner or circular court of the Altar. J=The Treasury. K=The Slaughter House. L=Tbe Huang Ch'iung YU. M=The Ch‘i Nien Tien N=The Huang Chien Tien. a a a=The division wall between the northern and southern sections of the Inner Court. b b b=The wall of the Inner Court. CHAPTER XIII CONFUCIANISM AS A STATE RELIGION The sacrifice to God in the suburbs is the highest act of worship. — Li Ki. In the preceding chapter Confucianism has been dis¬ cussed as the religion of the individual and the family; in this chapter it is proposed to consider it as once the established religion of the State. Under the republic to¬ day there is no established religion, but under the Manchu Dynasty and for many centuries before that period Con¬ fucianism was the state religion. Buddhism and Taoism were subsidized, but the official religion was Confucianism. Although its disestablishment makes it politically of less importance to-day than formerly, to one who is concerned with the comparative study of religions it can never cease to be of interest. Its hoary antiquity, alone, gives it a claim upon the attention of such a student.1 The facts here presented have been obtained by a study of the Chinese texts of the classics, particularly portions of the Shu King, certain odes of the Shih King, and the teachings of the Li Ki, which is the Chinese Leviticus, and texts also of those chapters of the Ta Ch’ing Hui Tien, or “Fundamental Statutes of the Manchu Dynasty,” and those of the Ta Ch’ing Lii Li, or “Penal Code of the Manchus,” which deal with the subject. The Manual of the Ministry of Rites has also been examined, and has furnished details of the modern ritual. To these sources of information the author may be permitted to add his personal inspection of the i In the Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for 1913 the author published a paper upon the 1 1 State Religion of China during the Manchu Dunasty, ” which contains much of tho information given in this chapter. The whole subject, however, is here given fresh treatment. 203 264 Confucianism as a State Religion temples and the paraphernalia of worship, measurements and photographs taken on the ground, attendance upon the services in the Confucian temple, and visits to some of the State Altars at Peking immediately after the close of the worship, while the vessels of sacrifice and other parapher¬ nalia were still in place. THE STATE RELIGION Confucianism has no order of priesthood, that is to say, there is no body of officials set apart from secular life, devoted solely to the performance of religious functions. The Emperor, in the days of the empire, was the head of the State, and officiated as the High Priest of his people at the most important sacrifices. Every civil and military officer of the government had duties to perform in connec¬ tion with the state worship. In the provinces the principal civil official of the district presided over the services at the local altars and temples. His subordinates assisted, and at the worship of Confucius all the scholars of the district, who had received degrees, were expected to par¬ ticipate. There was, however, a Board of Rites at Peking, charged with general oversight of religion and education, and there were also a Court of Sacrificial Worship and a Board of Music, which were responsible for the details of the worship. The Imperial College of Astronomy, too, as will be seen later, had important functions to discharge in connection with the religious services. THE BEINGS WORSHIPED The ritual of the late dynasty divided the objects of wor¬ ship into three classes. In the first rank were placed (1) the Supreme God, Shang Ti, (2) Imperial Earth, (3) the ancestors of the Emperor, and (4) the Guardian Spirits of the Soil and the Harvests. To these in 1907 the Sage Confucius was added, as has already been stated. Previ¬ ously he had been placed in the second class. Confucianism as a State Religion 265 In the second rank, besides Confucius — later included in the first class — there were the Sun, the Moon, Emperors and kings of preceding dynasties, the patron saint of Agri¬ culture, the patroness of Sericulture, the Spirits of Heaven, the Spirits of Earth, and the Year Star — that is to say the planet Jupiter, by whose revolutions around the sun the Chinese lunar calendar was regulated. In the third rank of the pantheon were placed the patron saint of Medicine, the God of War, the God of Literature, the North Star, the Eastern Peak, the tutelary deity of Peking, the God of Fire, the dragon of the Black Dragon Pool (near Peking), the dragon of the Jade Fountain (near the Summer Palace) and that of the Summer Pal¬ ace Lake, the God of Artillery, the God of the Soil, the patron of Mechanic Arts, the God of the Furnace, the God of the Granary, the door gods, and a host of canonized patriots whose number has increased from generation to generation. LOCATION OF TEMPLES AND ALTARS The most important altars and temples are, of course, located at the capital. Peking is composed of four walled cities. Its heart is the Forbidden City, one mile square, within which the principal imperial palace is situated. This is surrounded by a grey brick wall with a crenellated parapet. The wall is about forty feet high and forty feet thick. It is protected by a moat which is some forty feet in width. All important buildings in China, for geomantic reasons, face the south. As one comes out of the South Gate of the Forbidden City he finds himself in the Purple, or Imperial City, two miles square and surrounded by a purple wall. On his left, the side of honor — the eastern side — is a grove of dark cypresses, within which is located the T’ai Miao, or Temple of Imperial Ancestors. On the west, i.e., the right side, he would have found in the old days a court enclosing the Altar to the Guardian Spirits of the Soil and the Harvests. This, with adjoining courts, has been converted into the Central Park by the Republic, 266 Confucianism as a State Religion and some of the buildings are used for a National Museum. Still moving south the observer will pass out of the South Gate of the Imperial City into the capital proper, known as the Tartar City. Through the great Ch’ien Men, the principal gate on the south side of this city, the visitor passes into the southern suburb, known as the Chinese City. This formerly had no wall, but is now surrounded by a wall ten miles in circuit and about twenty-five feet wide and twenty-five feet high. On the left, in the south-eastern portion of this city, is a great enclosure containing 737 acres, which is the Temple of Heaven where Shang Ti, the Most High, was worshiped. On the right, in the south¬ western part of this suburb, is the Temple of Agriculture with the Field of God, an enclosure somewhat smaller than the Temple of Heaven. These two enclosures are separated by a wide plaza. North of the Tartar City is placed the Temple of Earth. In the Eastern Suburb is the Temple to the Sun, and in the Western the Temple to the Moon. The Peking temple to Confucius is in the northern part of the Tartar City, the temple to the tutelary deity of Peking in its western section. The temple to the Eastern Peak is in the Eastern Suburb near the Temple to the Sun. In every county there is, or should be, a temple to Confucius and an altar to the Guardian Spirits of the Soil and Harvests. Temples to canonized patriots are found in all parts of the country. TIMES OF WORSHIP Under the Manchu regime the method of selecting the date upon which these various deities and saints were to be worshiped was a very elaborate one. Two years in advance, in the Tenth Moon, the lucky days of the year under consideration were to be determined by the Imperial College of Astronomy, which resorted to divination for this purpose. From this list of lucky days a date was chosen for each sacrifice to be offered, and these dates were sub¬ mitted for approval to the Ministry of Rites. The Ministry Confucianism as a State Religion 267 of Rites directed the Court of Sacrificial Worship to report upon the appropriateness or otherwise of the dates pro¬ posed. In the First Moon of the following year, that is to say one year in advance of that in which the sacrifices were to be offered, this religious calendar, after such revision as had been found necessary, was copied out on yellow paper and submitted to the Throne for approval. This was given in an edict, which directed the Court of Sacrifical Worship to proceed according to the proposed calendar, and also to memorialize the Throne in advance of each sac¬ rifice, so that sufficient time might be given to the necessary preparations. The calendar was then printed by the Ministry of Rites, and a copy sent to each and every civil and military officer in the empire, a corrected list of these being supplied by the Ministry of Civil Office and the Ministry of War. Thus these officers were fully notified, nearly a year in advance, of the date of every state sacrifice, and could govern them¬ selves accordingly. The season at which the most important sacrifices were to be offered was fixed by age-old custom. The Most High was to be worshiped at the Winter Solstice, the Imperial Earth at the Summer Solstice, Confucius at the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes, but the exact dates of these in any particular lunar year had to be calculated by the Col¬ lege of Astronomy. Prayer at the Temple of Heaven was to be made at the covered altar in the first moon of the year, on a day whose cyclical representation contained a specified character. The Guardian Spirits of the Soil and Harvests were worshiped in the midmonth of spring and the midmonth of autumn, on days determined in a similar manner. MANNER OF WORSHIP Worship consisted in bathing, fasting, prostrations, prayers and thanksgiving, offerings of incense, lighted candles, gems and silk, fruits, cooked meats, salted vege¬ tables and shew-bread, libations of wine and sacrifices of 268 Confucianism as a State Religion whole oxen, sheep and swine — sometimes of deer and other game — and on certain occasions the burnt offering of a young bullock. The presentation of the offerings was ac¬ companied by instrumental music and posturing, or danc¬ ing, sometimes also by chanting. All sacrifices to deities of the first grade, under the Manchu rule, were preceded by three days of fasting ; those of the second grade by two days’ fast. Due notice of the fast was given in all yamens by closing the middle door of the triple gate-way opening into the yamen court-yard and the corresponding door of the main hall. A warning notice on a red tablet was placed on a table before the closed gate, and a second, on a yellow tablet with an inlaid border of dragons, was put on another table in front of the hall. When the fast was preparatory to the solemn sacrifice to the Most High at the winter solstice, it was announced by the Emperor in an edict, such as the following : On the - day of the - Moon of the - year of - , being the Winter Solstice, WE shall reverently sacrifice to the Great Ruler of Imperial Heaven at the Altar to Heaven, in behalf of you, Our people. The purity of the Ministers depends upon their hearts, their righteousness upon the determination of each to exalt his office lest, by neglect of his duties calamity be brought upon the State. Be reverent. Let there be no carelessness. On the occasion of sacrifices of the second grade the red notice only was used. In the palace, itself, the notice was suspended alongside a small bronze image, about two feet in height, which was placed at the entrance to the hall of audience. Before beginning the fast it was necessary to^bathe. Fasting did not mean entire abstinence from food, but from all flesh and strong-smelling vegetables, such as garlic, leeks and onions, and from wine and all strong drink. No criminal proceedings were to be held, no invitations to feasts issued or accepted. There was to be no music. No en¬ quiries after the sick were allowed, and there was to be no mourning for the dead. One was particularly forbidden Confucianism as a State Religion 269 to enter the death chamber of a woman, to sacrifice to ancestral spirits or to sweep the tombs. All association of any kind with the sick or the mourner was forbidden. These prohibitions remind one of those enforced in con¬ nection with the Hebrew sacrifices. Aaron and his sons were forbidden to drink any wine or strong drink when about to go into the tabernacle, and warned not to mourn for their dead when serving there.2 In the case of the great sacrifice to the Most High the Emperor and court officials kept the first two days of the fast in the imperial palace, and other officials observed it in their yamens. Officers who were sixty years of age or over were excused from keeping the fast, if they were un¬ able to endure it, and even if they kept the fast they were not required to accompany the Emperor to the sacrifice. Their ages, however, had to be verified and entered on the record. The object of the bathing and fasting was to make oneself pure in body and heart, and worthy to come into the presence of the divinity. Special officers were appointed to visit and inspect the various yamens. Any officer found neglecting the fast was punished according to law. On the third day of the fast, that preceding the sacrifice, the Emperor and attending ministers repaired to the Temple of Heaven, to the Hall of Fasting in that enclosure. The bronze image and warning notice were then set up in a small marble pavilion on the north-east corner of the terrace in front of the Hall of Fasting. Before leaving the palace the offerings of silk, the gems and the prayer, which were to accompany the Emperor, were carefully inspected by him in the great T’ai Ho Tien, the hall in which the most important court functions were held. The prayer was written on blue paper in vermilion ink. symbolism Color, form and number all played an important part in the construction of the altars, the temples and their furni- 2 Leviticus x:6-9. 270 Confucianism as a State Religion ture, and in the ceremonies connected with the worship. The characteristic color at the Temple of Heaven is bine — the azure of the sky. The word used to describe it, how¬ ever, is one of those primitive words which may mean blue or green. It is well known that some primitive peoples fail to distinguish these two colors and use one word for both. It is the color of nature — the blue of the sky and the green of the grass. The jade emblem offered at the altar to Heaven is called ch’ing, whicli is also used for the color of the sky, but the gem is green. During the Ming Dynasty the tiles on the buildings at the Temple of Heaven were green. This was true, too, of the older temple at Nanking. During the reign of Ch’ienlung (A.D. 1736-1796), who was an antiquarian and a stickler for accuracy, the buildings in Peking were reconstructed in accordance with ancient tradition, and blue tiles were substituted for the green. Nevertheless, on the Hall of Fasting and buildings of lesser importance the green tiles are still to be seen. All the sacrificial vessels used at the Temple of Heaven were blue. The golden candlesticks were surrounded by a shelter of blue gauze. The silk offered to God was blue. The cover¬ ings of the tabernacle and of the awnings that sheltered the walks were blue. But the lanterns were purple rather than blue. The circle is appropriate to Heaven and the heavenly bodies, hence the shape of the altars and vessels used at the Temple of Heaven was circular. Odd numbers belong to Heaven; even to Earth. Three and nine were the num¬ bers chiefly used at the Temple of Heaven. When Ch’ien- lung ordered the three terraces of the great marble altar there to be rebuilt, he gave strict injunction that all the odd numbers of the nine digits should be represented in the construction. This was done, according to the official re¬ port, by making the diameter of the topmost terrace nine chang (90 feet) in diameter, which would represent 1X9. The second terrace was made 15 chang representing the product of 3 X 5, and the loweruiost terrace was 21 chang , the product of 3 X 7. Thus all the odd digits were repre¬ sented. The chang used, however, was not the official chang Confucianism as a State Religion 271 of the Board of Public Works, for on measuring these terraces I found that they were much smaller. The ratios, however, are substantially as required. The odd numbers are conspicuous in other features of the altar and the furni¬ ture. One circular stone forms the center of the pavement of the topmost terrace. In the first circle around it are nine stones ; in the second 18 ; in the third 27. There are nine concentric circles, each containing a number of paving stones which is a multiple of nine. The outermost has 9 X 9, or 81 stones. Nine times nine represents perfection in Chinese philosophy. This arrangement of paving stones continues in the middle and lowermost terraces. From the topmost terrace nine steps lead to the middle terrace, and nine from that to the lowest. The same number con¬ nects the lowest with the ground. The Emperor in worship had to kneel three times and kotow nine. There were nine pieces of music in the service, nine pieces of silk were offered, and nine tabernacles were erected on the upper¬ most terrace. There were five pedestals on this terrace, and there were three tall masts in the outer court of the Altar, from which during service three large lanterns were sus¬ pended to cast a faint glow over the courts. But there were some even numbers used also. The circle contains 360 degrees, in China as with us, and since the circle is appropriate to Heaven the marble balustrades around the three terraces of the Altar were made to con¬ tain 360 panels. At the Altar to Earth yellow is the prevailing color. The soil in north China is yellow. The tiles of buildings at the Temple to the Earth are, therefore, yellow. The vessels of the sanctuary are yellow and the gem and silk offered are yellow. The prayer was written upon yellow paper. Since in the ancient belief of the Chinese the earth is square, the Altar to the Earth is square, and all the vessels used were four-sided. The Earth represents the female element in nature. Its number is even. This number is eight. Eight pieces of silk were offered and the music consisted of eight pieces. At the Altar to the Sun the color of tiles, of silk and gem 272 Confucianism as a Slate Religion was red. The number was seven. At the Temple to the Moon the number was six and the color was white. The Altar to the Guardian Spirits of the Soil and Har¬ vests was peculiar. It had to symbolize the influences of Heaven and Earth. In the worshiping the She, or Spirit of the Soil, a yellow gem was used, but a green one for the Spirit of the Harvest. It is described as round in its upper part and square in the lower. The offering of silk consisted of four pieces, an even number, and the music of an odd number, seven. The prayer was written in black on white paper. The altar was square, and all the five primary colors of Chinese philosophy were employed. The top of the altar was yellow; its east side was constructed of blue glazed brick; the south side was of red, the west of white, the north — the side of darkness — was of black. The walls of the court surrounding the altar were of corresponding colors. Direction, posture and time all had their significance. The Emperor, as High Priest of his people, worshiped God at the Temple of Heaven, at the Winter Solstice at night, facing the north. The Jewish High Priest also faced the north when offering sacrifice on the altar of burnt offerings. The Emperor worshiped the Earth at the the Summer Solstice facing the south at high noon. He worshiped the sun on a stated morning in spring before sunrise, facing the east, and the moon on a stated evening in autumn after sunset, facing the west. At the sacrifices of the first order the officials used the ceremony of the three kneelings and nine prostrations. The service was accompanied not only by music, but by dancing or posturing as well. At the Altar to Heaven, and at all sacrifices of the first rank, these posturers were arranged in ranks of eight. There were 64 civilian pos¬ turers, carrying wands, and 64 military, armed with spears. At the worship of Confucius only the civilians attended. The music was furnished by an orchestra consisting of stringed instruments, horns, drums and cymbals, musical stones and bells. The Master of Ceremonies gave the signal to start or stop the music. The stopper is an instrument Confucianism as a State Religion 273 in the shape of a crouching tiger with erect bristles along his spine. By drawing his baton across these bristles the Master of Ceremonies created a shrieking noise, which was heard above the din of discordant instruments and was the signal to stop. The Chinese sacred music is written in the ancient pentatonic scale, but the instruments are not tuned to harmony one wdth another, so that the music was but a “ joyful noise. ’ ’ The use of gems in worship is common to many religions. We have but to recall the ephod of the Jewish High Priest, with its breast-plate of twelve precious stones, each of the twelve tribes of Israel having its own symbol. The stone in the Christian bishop’s ring also has its significance. Color, too, is important in other religions as well as in Confucianism, as the Cardinal’s robe and the Bishop’s purple remind us. The part that number plays in archi¬ tecture, and that of posture and music in worship are well known. The sacrifice of animals, accompanied by offerings of wine and incense, lighted lamps or candles, cooked food and fruits, is common to most religions. MEANING OF SACRIFICE The meaning of sacrifice in the Confucian religion is stated in the Li Ki, or Book of Rites. “ Sacrifice is for petition, for thanksgiving, and to ward off calamity. ’ ’ 3 Theologians tell us that there is no idea of expiation in it, but merely of propitiation. This is doubtless true, but it is also true that all calamities in China are regarded as punishments for sins committed, and sacrifices offered to Heaven were believed to be able to. appease the deity and so avoid the punishment. Probably the idea of substitution never occurred to them. The sacrifices were believed to be offerings of “sweet-smelling savor” “well pleasing to God ’ ’ and to the spirits, and thus likely to win their favor. There is, however, one interesting passage in the Li Ki which ought to be mentioned : ‘ ‘ The blood was offered be- 3 Li Ki Y : 11. 0 274 Confucianism as a State Religion cause it contained the breath” 4 (or life). This will recall a passage in Leviticus which reads : 4 4 The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls. ’ ’ 5 But most sacri¬ fices offered in China are offered to ancestors, and it was customary to offer those things which were believed to have life-giving properties, in order to strengthen the feeble life of the disembodied soul. For this reason jade, or pieces of mother-of-pearl were placed between the lips of the dead, these substances being associated in Chinese belief with life. As the spirits were believed to partake of the ethereal essence of the offering, the blood, which was be¬ lieved to contain the very essence of life, would be especially acceptable. A distinction should be made, too, between the animals offered on the marble altar, whose flesh was carried away and eaten by worshipers, and that of the bullock whose body was consumed upon the altar of burnt offerings. The former was a feast of communion with the divine. The animals offered had to be without spot or blemish. Inspection had to be made, either by the Emperor in person or by someone deputed by him, and after the inspection the ceremony of killing had to be witnessed by such person. The sacrifice to Shang Ti, the Most High, was that of a young bullock. This, according to the Li Ki, was the supreme act of worship : 4 4 The sacrifice to God in the suburb is the highest act of worship. 7 ’ 6 In the Hebrew ritual 4 4 The bodies of those beasts, whose blood was brought into the sanctuary by the High Priest for sin” 4 4 were burned without the camp,”7 or, in later Jewish history, outside the city gate. So the bullock sac¬ rificed at the Temple of Heaven as a whole burnt offering to God was burned outside the city gate. There has never been but one recognized altar to Shang Ti in China. To erect a second one was as great an act 4 Ibid. s Leviticus xvii : 11. 6 Li Ki, Y : 10. 7 Hebrews xiii:ll. Confucianism as a State Religion 27 5 of treason as among the Hebrews it was to raise an altar to Jehovah anywhere else than in Jerusalem. In both cases the worship of the Supreme God was centralized at the capital. THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN The Temple of Heaven is an oblong enclosure, measuring 5583 feet from north to south and 5750 feet from east to west. It contains about 737 acres. It is surrounded by a strong brick wall, which has no entrance except upon the west. The northern wall is an arc of a circle, convex toward the north, being in this respect similar to the walls built upon the north side of grave plots to ward off evil influences which may come from the side of darkness. Two gates on the west side give entrance to the outer court, which is continuous around the four sides. It was used as pasture for the flocks and herds offered in sacrifice. A beautiful bell tower stands near the entrance to the court, and walks crossing it in various directions are shaded by a species of acacia. Formerly no one was admitted to this court except the officers in charge, those participating in the worship and the slaves who cared for the flocks and herds. The bell in the campanile announced the approach of the Emperor when he came to worship. A larger build¬ ing near by was used for rehearsals of the musicians and posturers who assisted at the worship. Surrounded on all sides by this outer court is an inner court, 4000 feet long north and south by 3400 east and west. It also is protected by a high brick wall, in which there are gates on the east, west and south sides. It is shaded by a grove of cypress. This inner court is divided into two sections, a southern one for service at the open marble altar, and a northern one for the ceremonies at the covered altar. The beautiful building, erected upon the top of a triple-terraced marble altar, like the altar itself, is circular in its ground plan. The walls and carved lattices are vermilion in color, and the triple roof of blue glazed tiles is supported upon huge pillars of teak deco- 276 Ccnfuoianism as a State Religion rated with red lacquer and gold. A circular medallion in the center of the ceiling bears the emblems of the Emperor and Empress, the dragon and the phoenix. These emblems also appear carved upon the marble stairs that lead from one terrace to another. Formerly the lattices were filled with blue glass rods which shed their color over the furni¬ ture of the interior. The old building was struck by light¬ ning in 1890, a calamity regarded even then as an omen of the approaching downfall of the Manchu Dynasty. The present building never was completed and was never used by the Emperor. After the revolution the parliamentary committee appointed to draft the new constitution of the Kepublic held its meetings in this sacred chamber. A cov¬ ered zigzag passage connects the building with the slaughter-house and kitchen in the north-eastern corner of this section of the inner court. To the north of the altar is an enclosure containing the hall in which the tablets to God and to the assisting spirits were kept. The covered altar is called the Hall of Prayer for the Year, that is to say, the hall where prayer was made for a year of peace and plenty. The stated service was held in the First Moon, according to the old calendar, and special services were held there in time of drought or other calamity, that prayer might be made for relief of the distress. This beau¬ tiful structure, however, is not the most important part of the Temple of Heaven. The southern section of the inner court, where sacrifice was offered to the Most High upon the uncovered marble altar under the star-lit dome of the sky, was the most holy place. Before worshiping at this altar the Emperor had to prepare himself in the Hall of Fasting, which is situated in the south-western corner of the northern section of the inner court. This is a group of green-tiled buildings sur¬ rounded by a double wall and two moats. Around the outer wall, on the four sides, there is a colonnade. Within this wall the first court was given up to the guards and servants who accompanied His Majesty. Crossing the second moat, one passed through the inner wall into the central court, where the Emperor had his private quarters, and in which, THE EMPEROR KUANGHSU, GOING TO WORSHIP AT TABLET PAVILION, IMPERIAL CEMETERY, MUKDEN. THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN. . 277 Confucianism as a State Religion too, there was a campanile whose bell announced his com¬ ing and going. The open marble altar occupied the center of the southern section of the inner court. At the time of worship heavy beams were laid upon the floor of the uppermost terrace, for the support of nine tabernacles that were constructed there. These were made of boards with tenons that fitted into sockets in the beams just mentioned. These tabernacles were lined inside with yellow satin (yellow being the color of the Manchu Dynasty), and covered on the outside with blue silk. The one on the north side sheltered the throne chair upon which was placed the tablet of the Most High. In front of the tabernacle was a table spread with offerings of fruit and cooked food, and before the table was a trencher with the offering of a whole bullock, flayed. At one side was a table with the prayer placed upon it; at the other a table with offerings of jade, silk and wine, with the wine-cup and pitcher. In the middle of the terrace were the five carved pillars. On the central one was placed the golden censer, on either side of it a golden candle-stick, and, on the outermost pair, vases with gilt flowers. On the eastern and western sides of the terrace were the tabernacles of the imperial ancestors, four on each side. These were fitted up like that of the Most High but there were no separate tables for prayers or for the silk offerings. But one prayer was offered— that to God, and the rolls of silk were placed on the same table as those offered to the Supreme Being. Similar tabernacles were erected on the middle terrace. There were two on the east ; one for the tablet to the Sun, and the other to those of the North Star, the Five Planets, the Twenty-eight Constellations and the Stars of the Zodiac. Two tabernacles also were erected on the west; one for the Moon and one for the Master of the Clouds and the Spirits of the Winds, Rains and Thunder. These were the “Assisting Spirits,” probably occupying the place of the “Six Assisting Spirits” mentioned in the Book of History.8 8 Shu King, Canon of Shun. 278 Confucianism as a State Religion A small tent was erected on the south side of the middle terrace for the use of the Emperor. Toward the four cardinal points of the compass steps led from the upper terrace to the ground, three flights of nine steps each, in each direction, and at the foot of each flight of nine steps, on the north and south, was placed a pair of huge bronze urns from which great clouds of incense ascended during the worship. A pair of urns for incense to the assisting spirits on the east side of the middle terrace was placed outside the east gate of the circular court of the altar, and another pair outside the west gate for those worshiped on that side. This circular court surrounding the white marble altar is 335 feet in diameter, and is surrounded by a red wall covered with blue tiles. There are openings toward the four cardinal points of the compass. Each opening is divided into three door-ways constructed of white marble pillars and lintels, decorated with dragons and flying clouds. The doors were covered with red lacquer and closed during worship. At the foot of the altar stairs on the south side the orchestra was arranged, and behind it the ranks of the posturers. This circular court of the altar was surrounded by a square court 549 feet on a side, with its walls and gates. In the south-western corner of this court were three tall masts that supported huge lanterns of purple silk. In the south-eastern corner was the Altar of Burnt Offerings, con¬ structed of green glazed tile with stairs on the east, west and south. The furnace opening was on the north. In a quadrant extending north-eastwards from this altar were eight braziers, in which the offerings of silk were consumed. In a grove of dark cypresses outside the east gate of this court was the treasury, in which the holy vessels were stored, and the slaughter-house where the victims were killed. Outside the north gate was a temple in which the tablet to the Most High and those to the imperial ancestors and the assisting spirits were kept. The principal building was circular with red walls, and covered with a conical roof of blue tiles. Outside the south gate and on the east side of the walk there was a dressing tent for the Emperor. Confucianism as a State Religion 279 The paved way from the tent to the south gate of the south¬ ern section of the great inner court, and thence by way of the outer court to the Hall of Fasting, was covered with coir matting and sheltered by a canopy of blue silk lined with yellow satin. Standards supporting lanterns of purple silk were stationed every fifteen or twenty feet. At the winter solstice, a season of religious celebration in all lands, the most solemn service was held. Five days before the sacrifice all the animals were carefully inspected, and, at the fifth watch in the early morning of the day preceding the worship, the furniture was arranged upon the altar. At that hour the roadway from the south gate of the Imperial Palace to the Temple of Heaven was swept and covered with yellow earth. Guards were stationed along the route and ordered all houses and shops to close their doors. Blue curtains cut off the cross streets. At nine o’clock a.m. the bell and drum in the tower over the south gate of the palace announced that the Emperor was leaving for the Temple of Heaven. This was echoed at the campanile in the outer court of the temple. All trains were forbidden to enter or leave the city. A sabbath-like stillness settled over the capital. The Emperor dressed in his dragon robes, sitting in his palanquin, which was covered with yellow satin and lined with blue silk, was carried by 36 men. A herald announced his coming. All persons except the guards and attendants left the street. An incense-bearer followed the herald, and behind him were carried the imperial standard and the yellow umbrella, just preceding the imperial chair. Princes, dukes, and high ministers of state followed it and the Imperial Guard com¬ pleted the retinue. Between files of kneeling soldiers it made its way to the southernmost gate on the west side of the Temple of Heaven. There all officers except those who had been excused because of age were compelled to leave their chairs, horses and carts, and enter the temple on foot. The Emperor was carried in his palanquin to the south gate of the inner court, where he, too, was compelled to leave his chair. He entered on foot through the eastern opening of this gate-way. The central door-ways and the 280 Confucianism as a State Religion central paths were reserved for the spirits. From the south gate he walked to the temple where the tablets were kept, and there offered incense to God and to his ancestors. He knelt three times, each time bowing his head three times to the earth, and announced that he would sacrifice to them on the following morning. He then inspected the offerings and the altar, and went to the Hall of Fasting where he spent the day in preparation. At nightfall the lanterns and the candles in the golden candlesticks were lighted. Just before midnight the Court of Sacrificial Worship erected a temporary altar at the slaughterhouse, and, after burning incense thereon, the victims were slain. The handle of the sacrificial knife was decorated with bells. The blood was caught in a globular vessel and poured into a pit on the east side of the slaugh¬ terhouse. The hair of the victims was also burned there. The wood was arranged upon the altar of burnt offering, and one bullock laid thereon. The other offerings were placed in their proper places on the marble altar and the prayer tablet placed on its table. Three hours and a half before sunrise, the Emperor is informed that the time for worship has arrived. The bell at the Hall of Fasting announces his departure and gives warning to the officials at the altar, who, with appropriate ceremonies take the tablets from their shrines and place each one in a kiosque with a cylindrical body and a conical top, painted in black and gold. These are carried by means of rods passing through rings at the sides. The tablets are carried to the south gate of the square court of the Altar, and thence to the top of the Altar, where each is placed in its appro¬ priate tabernacle. The Emperor follows the sacred way to the south gate of the square court of the Altar, and enters there his dressing tent. There he puts on his High Priest’s robes. When all is in order he comes out of his tent and is met by ministers bearing a ewer and basin of water, in which he washes his hands, for the Emperor had to be a man of clean hands, as well as of pure heart, in order to worship God. The Jewish priests also were re¬ quired to wash their hands and feet in the laver ‘ ‘ between Confucianism as a State Religion 281 the tent of the congregation and the altar, before going to the altar to minister. ’ ’ 9 The Emperor then passes into the eastern entrance of the south gate of the square court of the Altar, and through the corresponding gate of the circular court, and ascends the Altar from the south. There he stands facing the north, the side of darkness, just as the Hebrew High Priest did at Jerusalem. It is still dark. A faint glow is shed over the courts by the light of the great lanterns. Ushers conduct the various officers to their places. The musicians stand in two ranks, one on either side of the pathway. The 64 civilian posturers, with wands and plumes, and the 64 military posturers, bearing spears and battle-axes, are also arranged, a group of both on each side of the pathway. Behind these, arranged according to rank, are the princes, dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts and barons, and the high officials of the government, rank on rank in the cir¬ cular court, the square court, and outside the opened doors of the square court, all facing the north. The Master of Ceremonies announces the service for the reception of the Spirit of the Most High. The fire is lighted under the Altar of Burnt Offering, and the orchestra plays the first piece of music. The service was divided into nine sections by nine pieces of music. The first act was to offer incense. It was ac¬ companied by three kneelings and nine prostrations. When the Emperor kotowed and the attending ministers heard “the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery and all kinds of music” — “they all fell down and wor¬ shiped.”10 Thus the long programme was carefully carried out. The offerings of jade and silk each had its appropriate piece of music, and each offering was followed by kneeling and prostration of the whole company. But when the first libation of wine was made to the Most High it was accompanied by the dancing of the military pos¬ turers, with brandishing of spears and battle-axes. Immediately after this first libation the whole company 9 Exodus xxx : 18 and 19. 10 Daniel iii : 7. 282 Confucianism as a State Religion knelt while the prayer was read. After its reading it was placed on the Altar of the Most High. During the offer¬ ings of wine to the imperial ancestors, none but the civilian dancers took part in the posturing. After these libations, a plate of meat offerings and a cup of the drink offering were carried to the shrine of the Most High, where the Emperor, kneeling, was served by Ministers of the Court of Imperial Banquets and officers of the Guards. They handed to him first the cup of blessing, of which he took a sip, and then the tray of cooked food, which he took and raised reverently in his right hand and passed to the officers on his right. Thus symbolically he entered into communion with the Most High and with his ancestors. After the offerings had been made the prayer tablet, the silk, the incense and the wine were carried to the Altar of Burnt Offering, and to the braziers of other spirits, and burned. The services were ended and the tablets rever¬ ently restored to their shrines. WORSHIP AT OTHER SHRINES The services in spring at the covered altar were very similar. At the Altar to Imperial Earth in the northern suburb the sacrifices were not burned but buried. The spirits of mountains, rivers and seas were associated with the Earth in the worship. There has been a disposition shown among some writers to describe Confucianism as a dualism because of this worship of Heaven and Earth, and the philosophical doc¬ trine of the Yin and Yang 11 lends some support to the theory. But a more careful analysis will show that this is not the case. The prominence given in the construction of the Temple of Heaven, and in its worship, to the number, three, is not without reason. It has its origin in the Con- fucian triad — Heaven, Earth and Man. The three cere- 11 The Yin is the female, the Yang the male principle. The Yin is the negative, the Yang positive. The Yin darkness and weakness, the Yang light and strength. Confucianism as a State Religion 283 monies used in the worship of this triad can be traced to the earliest known period of Chinese history. The “Three ceremonies” are mentioned in the Book of His¬ tory.12 The worship of the spirits of men is shown in the ancestor worship already described, but the representa¬ tive man, the Chinese ideal man, is Confucius; and the official worship of the Sage at the spring and autumn equinoxes in more than 1500 temples in China was regarded as scarcely less important than that of Heaven and Eartl This cult, however, is comparatively recent. In ancient times the third ceremony was that for the worship of the imperial ancestors. This, too, was not neglected by the Manchus, as we have seen, but the worship of Confucius since the Seventh century A.D. has over-shadowed it. The first time I ever attempted to witness the service in a Confucian temple I was mobbed, and perhaps might have been seriously injured if I had not been rescued. Another American and myself were invited by a Chinese gentleman to attend the worship at one of the large temples in Nan¬ king. We thought it would be interesting first to visit the temple on the afternoon preceding the sacrifice, in order to study the arrangement of the furniture and see the sacrifices in place. As we entered the gateway we were seen by a crowd of idlers who did not approve of the conduct of our Chinese friends in thus leading two “foreign devils” into the holy precincts. The temple is one of the finest in the whole country. Its buildings are covered with red stucco and roofed with golden-colored tiles. The courts are spacious and paved and are sur¬ rounded with pillared cloisters. We passed from court to court, followed by an ever-increasing crowd of angry Chinese. When we reached the door of the Sacrificial Hall, on whose portico we saw arranged the instruments of the orchestra, we found that the crowd had grown dangerous. We attempted to escape through one of the cloistered ways, but found ourselves stopped by the mob, who began to beat us. When after much struggling we reached the entrance the mob closed the gates and were punishing us. The 12 Shu King, Canon of Shun. 284 Confucianism as a State Religion Chinese friend had disappeared and we saw no way of escape, but in a few moments the friend returned with the official in charge. This kind old gentleman, in his flowing robes and mandarin’s hat, parted the crowd right and left and escorted us into the street, warning the crowd at the same time not to attack us. Needless to say we did not witness the sacrifice the next morning. Some years later at Shanghai the Taotai invited me to attend the autumn service in the temple there. About three o’clock in the morning of September 21, 1898, I arrived at the West Gate and was admitted. A palanquin with bearers was awaiting me on the inside. There was no electric light in those days in the Chinese city, and no gas, but here and there in the narrow, crooked streets the darkness was made visible by a small oil lamp. The chair- bearers were not puzzled; they knew their way over the slippery pavements with their eyes shut. After a ride of twenty or thirty minutes the temple was reached. The court was filled with the students and gentry of the dis¬ trict, each in his religious dress. This was a dark blue gown with light blue facings. It was belted in at the waist. The hat was similar to the Chinese dress hat of those days but had a longer spike on the top. Each wor¬ shiper carried a panache of peacock feathers and a tablet on which the hymn to Confucius was written. The or¬ chestra contained the usual collection of stringed and wind instruments, drums and cymbals, bells and musical stones, the starter and the stopper. The Taotai placed me at one end of the hall where I could witness the whole service. A Master of Ceremonies directed it. There was no image in the temple. The tablet to Confucius was on the altar. Before it was spread a table of fruits and cooked vegetables. In front of that, on trusses, were the bodies of a sheep and a pig. The orchestra played appropriate music, and the Taotai entered the hall kotowed, and then lighted incense upon the altar of incense just inside the doorway. The worshipers out¬ side, arranged in . ranks, bowed and waved their plumes and chanted the pean to Confucius. There were offerings Confucianism as a State Religion 28 5 likewise of wine and silk. These were made first to Con¬ fucius and then to the four principal disciples ; Tseng Tzu, Yen Tzu, Tzu Ssu, and Meng Tzu. The last we know as Mencius. The altars to these disciples were at the sides of the hall. After the offering had been made upon the altar the silk and wine were carried out into the court and burned in a brazier. At the close of the service the meats were distributed to those participating in the wor¬ ship, and I went to breakfast with the Taotai. While the service was being conducted in the main hall of the temple, similar offerings were being made in two side chapels to the seventy disciples of the Master. In each of these chapels one sheep only was offered. After the decree of 1907, raising the rank of Confucius in the pantheon, it became necessary at his altars to offer a whole bullock, as well as the sacrifice of sheep and swine. The same sacrifice was made to him as to the Most High. In some Confucian temples there is a chapel behind the main hall of sacrifice, dedicated to the mother of the Sage. One of the very interesting religious services under the old Manchu regime, but one which dates from a great antiquity, was that celebrated in the Temple of Agricul¬ ture. On a great square altar in the grove sacrifices were made to Shennung, the Patron Saint of Agriculture, and the Emperor himself plowed eight furrows in the Field of God. The plow was a light shovel plow, painted yellow, and was drawn by an ox. After the Emperor, various princes and nobles also plowed each his allotted number of furrows. In truth the field had been well plowed before¬ hand and the soil was as soft as that of a garden, so that the task was not a difficult one. The field was then sown with grain, which later in the year was harvested and made into flour to be used in the temple offerings. This service took place in the mid-month of spring, and was intended to be a recognition by the State of the importance of agriculture and thus an encouragement to the farmer. In every county there is an altar to the local guardian spirits of the soil and the harvests, and surrounding or adjoining it there is such a field of God, which the local authorities were 286 Confucianism as a State Religion accustomed to plow in the spring, in imitation of the good example of the Emperor. ATTEMPTS TO REVIVE CONFUCIANISM Several attempts have been made to revive Confucianism as a state religion since the establishment of the Republic, but Parliament has decided to follow the American example and make no establishment for religious worship. Opposi¬ tion to Confucianism came from three quarters ; from those who were indifferent to all religions, from the Christians, who are becoming a very influential element in Chinese politics, and from the Buddhists, who had organized a society to promote the establishment of their religion as that of the State. The Confucianists were filled with fear that the dises¬ tablishment of their religion would mean the disintegration of society and the moral deterioration of the individual, but the experience of our own country is just to the con¬ trary. Religion is less formal and more powerful when it is supported, not by state authority and subsidy, but by the free-will offerings of those who believe in it. Our coun¬ try is not less religious than those which support estab¬ lished churches. This was pointed out in 1913 to the leaders of the Confucian Society. The reply made was that the sacrifices were too costly to be borne by private enterprise. It was suggested in rejoinder that bloody sac¬ rifices were not necessary to worship. The example of Judaism was mentioned, which long ago gave up its sacri¬ fices of slain beasts, yet has not lost its ethical influence. The answer was that this might do for vegetarians, but not for meat-eaters ; that worship means the offering of the best that we have, and that we do not invite guests to dinner and omit the meat courses. China needs a prophet Micah to proclaim the worthlessness of forms, to teach the people that the sacrifice of “ thousands of rams and tens of thou¬ sands of rivers of oil” are not needed to purchase the favor of God, but that true worship consists in the practice of Confucianism as a State Religion 287 justice, mercy and piety.13 A Chinese St. Paul is wanted to allegorize the old ritual and substitute spiritual for material offerings. THE ETHICS OF CONFUCIANISM On the whole the influence of Confucianism has been beneficial. It has promoted peace and good order in society and encouraged moral living in the individual. It has allowed the widest latitude in philosophical speculation. It has never formulated an authoritative creed. It places no obstacle in the way of research nor prevents the ac¬ ceptance of the conclusions of modern science. Neither has its worship been a mere matter of form. The Book of History says : ‘ ‘ The spirits are not always favorable ; they accept only the worship of the sincere. ’ ’ 14 Sickness, pov¬ erty, drought and war, it teaches, are sent as punishments for sin. ‘ ‘ The ways of the Most High are not invariable ; upon the good He bestows blessing a hundred fold; upon the evil He visits a hundred fold calamity. ” 15 It is a religion that emphasizes the five virtues: mercy, justice, piety, wisdom and honesty. It aims to strengthen the three cords of society: the tie between ruler and subject, that between parents and children, and that between husband and wife. It thus promotes peace in the State and seeks to preserve the purity of the home. Of the lofty sentiments inculcated many have already been quoted from the teach¬ ings of Confucius. To these we may add a few from the greatest of his disciples. Mencius said: ‘‘Virtue is man’s restful habitation; righteousness is his straight path.”16 Mencius also combated the prevailing belief that suffering is always a punishment for sin. He said: “When God is about to call a man to some great undertaking, He first excites his resolution by bitter suffering and wearies his sinews and bones with toil. He starves his body and im¬ poverishes him. He causes all he does to fail. Thus He 13 Micah vi:8. 14 Shu King III, T 'ai Chia. is Shu King III: I Hsiin. 16 Mencius. Book IV. Li Lou, Part I, Chap. X:2. 288 Confucianism as a State Religion stimulates his mind, hardens his resolution, and supplies his deficiencies. ’ ’ 17 Again : 1 ‘ The path is at hand ; we seek it afar. ’ ’ 18 1 ‘ The great man is one who does not lose his child heart.”19 “Although one may be a wicked man, yet if he adjusts the wrong, fasts and bathes he may offer sacrifice to God. ” 20 “ God sees as the people see ; God hears as the people hear.”21 This last, however, is a quotation from the Book of History. Mencius was greater than his Master in some respects. He had more sympathy with the common people, whom he regarded as the very foundation of the State. 17 Ibid. Book VI. Kao Tzu, Part II, Chap. IV:2. is Ibid. Book IV. Li Lou, Part I, Chap. XI. is Ibid. Book IV. Li Lou, Part II, Chap. XII. 20 Ibid. Book IV. Li Lou, Part II, Chap. XXV: 2. 21 Ibid. Book V. Wang Chang, Part I, Chap. V:8. 11! ... CHAPTER XIV CHINESE BUDDHISM Earnestness is the path of nirvana; thoughtlessness the path of death. — The Dhammapada. On New Year’s day, 1914, I was in Colombo, the chief port of the Island of Ceylon. It was a brilliant day and intensely hot — too hot, indeed, to go into the snn without a sun-helmet or umbrella. The glare of the street, too, was very trying to the eyes. But we went ashore properly protected, and rode out to a celebrated Buddhist shrine, the Temple of Kelaniya, five miles from the city on the banks of the Kelani River. As we passed through the city we stopped to admire a great banyan tree whose branches covered a circle of some¬ thing like a hundred feet in diameter. Here and there a branch shot downward and entered the ground, forming a support and new source of nourishment to the spreading tree above. The whole resembled a natural colonnade. This tree is to the Buddhist a sacred emblem, the symbol of his faith, for under it — the Bodhi tree — the Master Gautama, the “Lion of the tribe of Sakya,” attained to enlightenment, and, like it, his great religion has marched through Asia, putting down a new root and starting a new growth in each country which it has entered. The ride to Kelani over the smooth roads, shaded by the dark foliage of tropical groves, was a delightful one, and the temple was particularly interesting because the earliest form of Buddhism still persists in Ceylon. We wanted to compare this shrine with those which we had seen in China and Japan. Kelani Temple consisted of a group of unpretentious brick buildings that had been white-washed. The most 289 290 Chinese Buddhism prominent was a bottle-shaped dagoba of some fifty feet in diameter and perhaps a hundred feet in height. It was supposed to cover a portion of the ashes of the Buddha. On the opposite side of the enclosure was the assembly hall, which is an open pavilion — a platform of tile sheltered by a roof supported upon numerous pillars. There were no walls. Here the monks gathered at stated seasons for instruction and conference. The central building contained pictures of the Buddha similar to those in China and Japan, except that the halo behind the head was made to represent the flattened head of the cobra de capello, the head proper and the hood taking the appearance of a trefoil. The cobra was the protector of Buddha, and this is perhaps the origin of the halo. In the Bodhi tree and the hooded cobra many scholars find traces of that ancient tree and serpent worship which is common to so many lands. Buddhism has always been tolerant of local superstitions, and probably adopted and re-interpreted the story of the tree and the serpent, just as our own religion has adopted and Christianized so many of the festivals of the ancient Romans and other Europeans. When we came away from the temple we bought as souvenirs some verses of a Buddhist sutra, written, as all the earliest Indian books were, on palm leaves. THE BUDDHIST LEGEND The story of Buddha is well known in its general out¬ lines, but it may be worth while to recall the principal events of his life. He is said to have been an Indian Prince, Siddartha. His mother, Maya, a young bride, dreamed of his coming from Heaven. She miraculously conceived and bore a son, the re-incarnate Buddha. There were many marvelous manifestations at his entrance into the world. Immediately upon his birth he stood upright, took seven steps, then turned to the four quarters and said: 4 ‘Now only I am Chinese Buddhism 291 born this once to be the savior of the world. ” Forthwith two streams of water fell from heaven upon him in baptism. The devas sang and foretold that he would deliver the world, and unite all kings under his sway. An old seer came to the palace, took him in his arms, and predicted that he would be a great teacher. When once instructed he excelled all his teachers.1 He grew to manhood and at seventeen was married to Yashodara. But he was not satisfied. The misery of the world oppressed him. One day, accompanied by his charioteer, he drove out the east gate of the city intending to go to a pleasure garden. He met an old man with white hair and crooked back, and thought with sadness of the rapidity with which men grow old. He returned home depressed. Another day he drove out the south gate and met a sick man with swollen features and loathsome eruptions. Again he returned depressed to his palace. The third time he went out the west gate and saw a dead man being carried to his grave, while his careless relatives followed chatting and laughing. The horror of it all ap¬ palled him. The last journey was outside the north gate, where he met a beggar monk with bowl and staff, who taught him to abandon the world and its pleasures. After deciding to try the path of asceticism he forsook his home and went to a distant spot beside a river, where for six long years he lived in abject poverty, scarcely eating at all. This was unsatisfactory. He arose one day, bathed, and went to sit under a bodhi tree. There he was tempted of the devil, but triumphed and attained to en¬ lightenment, from which circumstance he is called the Buddha, or “enlightened one.” This is the tradition as recorded in the Chinese Buddhist scriptures. It is proper to say that some of these stories, which remind us of the Christian gospels, are unknown to the Southern Buddhist tradition. Once enlightened the Buddha began to teach. The first truth, so he declared, is that life is sorrow. As Edwin Arnold phrased it in his Light of Asia : i Buddhism in China, by Rev. Samuel Beal, p. 74. 292 Chinese Buddhism The first truth is of sorrow, Be not mocked! Life, which ye prize, is long-drawn agony; Only its pains abide; its pleasures are As birds that light, and fly. The second truth is that the cause of sorrow is desire. The third is that the cure for sorrow is the suppression of desire. The fourth truth sets forth the method by which desire can be suppressed. It is an eight-fold path; right understanding, right wisdom, right speech, right action, right manner of life, right helps, right recollection, and right meditation. This eight-fold path leads to nirvana. The passage to nirvana is likened to the falling of the dew- drop into the sea. As ‘ ‘ The dew-drop slips into the shining sea,” and is swallowed up in its wide waste of waters, so the individual soul sinks into the great sea of life and becomes one with the all soul. By the method outlined one thus escapes the endless round of transmigration which binds man to the earthly life. Early Buddhism is said to have been atheistic, because it points to no almighty over-ruling God for deliverance. In fact it teaches the superiority of the Buddha to the gods — i.e., there is a fate which even the gods cannot escape. But it is hardly fair to call Buddha an atheist, and a religion of atheism is well-nigh self-contradictory. What Buddha refused to do was to frame a theory of the origin of all things. For even a little child, when you tell him that God made all things, will ask ‘ ‘ But who made God ? ’ ’ So when Gautama was asked the question as to the origin of the world he was silent. Afterwards he said : ‘ ‘ Only a Buddha can understand this.” Whatever we may think of the pessimism of Buddhism — whatever fault we may find with its cure for the miseries of the world — we must admit that in some of its teaching it has wonderfully an¬ ticipated some of the conclusions of modern science. The existence of multitudes of worlds, all controlled by fixed and immutable law, the evolution of life from the lowest to the highest orders, the relationship of each to the whole, the constant birth and destruction of worlds, a continual emerging from chaos and successive returns thereto, and Chinese Buddhism 293 the spontaneous variation which is the origin of species; in all this the modern evolutionary philosophy has been in a humble way foreshadowed.2 BUDDHIST ETHICS In its ethical teaching Buddhism takes a high rank. Here are its ten commandments as commonly translated:3 Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not lie. Thou shalt not drink intoxicating drink. Thou shalt not defame. Thou shalt not boast. Thou shalt not be stingy. Thou shalt not be angry. Thou shalt not revile the three precious ones. The Dhammapada contains a multitude of wise precepts beautifully phrased:4 If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage. He who wishes to put on the yellow dress without having cleansed himself from sin, who disregards also temperance and truth, he is unworthy of the yellow dress. The thoughtless man, even if he can recite a large portion of the law, but is not a doer of it, has no share in the priest¬ hood, but is like a cow-herd counting the cows of others. Earnestness is the path of nirvana; thoughtlessness the path of death. Like a beautiful flower, full of color but without scent, are the fine but fruitless words of him who does not act accordingly. The scent of flowers does not travel against the wind, neither that of sandal-wood; but the odor of good deeds travels even against the wind. 2 See tl Three Lectures on Buddhism, , ’ by Ernest J. Eitel, pp. 65 and 66. 3 See “ Initiation into Monkhood ” — infra — for ten vows taken on entering the order. 4 Translation of Max Muller, in Sacred Books of the East, Yol. X. 294 Chinese Buddhism Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is tired, long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law. If a fool be associated with a wise man even all his life, he will perceive the truth as little as a spoon perceives the taste of soup. One is the road that leads to wealth, another the path that leads to nirvana. Well-makers lead the water whither they will; fletchers bend the arrow, carpenters shape the log of wood; but wise people fashion themselves. Even the gods envy him whose senses, like horses well broken in by the driver, have been subdued, who is free from pride and from appetite. If one conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand men, and if another conquer himself, he is the greatest of conquerors. Let us live happity, then, not hating those that hate us. Let a man overcome anger by love; let him overcome evil by good ; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth. The man who gives himself to drinking intoxicating liquors, he, even in this world, digs up his own root. A multitude of other sayings equally wise and beautiful may be culled from the Buddhist scriptures. BUDDHIST PROPAGANDA Sakyamuni, i.e., the “Sage of the Sakyas,” known also as Prince Siddartha, the “perfect one,” and as a religious teacher called Gautama, was born perhaps in 600 B.C. and died probably about 543 B.C. For many years his followers were found only in his native kingdom, but in the chaos which resulted from the invasion of Alexander the Great, Tchandraguptra, whom the Greeks know as Sandrokottos, a man of low birth, was enabled to establish an empire which swallowed up the rival kingdoms of India. Being an upstart and frowned upon by the high caste Brahmins, he gave his sympathy and support to Buddhism. His grandson, Ashoka, con¬ tinued the favor of the state to the new religion and estab¬ lished a board of foreign missions, so that Buddhism spread rapidly in all directions. About 275 B.C. it was introduced into Ceylon, and from thence it was extended to Java, Chinese Buddhism 295 Sumatra, Burmah and Siam. It also spread northwards into Cashmere, Nepaul and Central Asia. At a general council held at Pataliputra in 242 B.C. the Buddhist church split into two branches, the Northern and Southern ; and after Buddhism was suppressed in India, in 178 B.C. these two schools, being without communication, developed along different lines. The Buddhism of Ceylon, Burmah and Siam still remains much as at the beginning. Northern Buddhism, on the contrary, adopted many local superstitions and was influ¬ enced by various philosophical and religious teachings. About 250 B.C. certain apostles of the Buddhist faith are said to have carried its teaching to north-western China, but this date is uncertain. At any rate little impression was made upon China at that time. The apostles numbered eighteen, of whom sixteen were Indians and two Chinese. They are worshiped to-day in every Buddhist temple in China. This much we know, however, that for two cen¬ turies before Christ, China was engaged in constant war¬ fare with the tribes of Central Asia, and undoubtedly the Chinese became acquainted with Buddhism, which at that time flourished in those regions. From one of these expe¬ ditions they appear to have brought back as loot a golden image of Buddha, and there is, therefore, nothing improb¬ able in the story that the Emperor Ming Ti dreamed one night, in A.D. 61, that this golden image came into the palace. The brother of the Emperor appears to have been favorably disposed towards Buddhism, and he persuaded the Emperor to send a deputation to bring Buddhist teachers to China. They arrived about A.D. 65 or 70 with a sandal-wood image and one sacred book. Slowly the faith spread over the country. Oftentimes it was persecuted and all but crushed by Confucian oppo¬ sition, but to-day its monasteries are found everywhere and its followers are divided among numerous sects. For besides the great schism in the Buddhist church, 242 B.C., resulting in northern and southern branches, other nu¬ merous divisions occurred. There are more than twenty sects in the southern church and not less than ten in China. 296 Chinese Buddhism AMIDHISM In this transfer from India to China the religion of Gautama has been greatly modified, as I have intimated. The most flourishing sect in China is that of Amidha Bud¬ dha, so different in its teaching from that of early Bud¬ dhism that some would classify it as a separate religion. Some believe that it has been influenced by Christianity, perhaps through a Persian medium. Over and above all the Buddhas it places one who is eternal, omnipresent, perfect in virtue, and who has com¬ passion upon the weak and erring and delivers them by his power and grace. Him even the Buddhas worship. It teaches that there is another Buddha yet to come, Maitreya, a Messiah such as was expected by the Jews and by the Zoroastrians. He will plant faith in the supreme Amitabha (Omito Fo). It teaches, too, not that one should save him¬ self from sorrow by ascetic practices, but that he should trust in Amidha Js help^for his own salvation and also that he should endeavor to save others. Instead of an unconscious nirvana it holds out the hope of immortality in a paradise of happiness in the Western Heaven. These doctrines, so foreign to early Buddhism, began to flourish about A.D. 100. This popular sect is known as the Lotus Sect, or the Pure Land Sect. When I first went to China I made my home in a little temple of this sect in the city of Nanking known as ‘ 4 Thistle Abbey.” It was a retired spot among the hills and bam¬ boo groves of the northern part of the city, within the walls, but a mile or more from the city streets. Our near¬ est neighbors were the dead. All around us, covering the hills in every direction, were graves; some of them the tombs of the well-to-do, well kept, surrounded by walls or banks of turf and shaded by shrubs or groves of trees. Others, the graves of the poor, were neglected and over¬ grown with wild grass, in some instances so shallow that the dogs had torn open the coffins and scattered the bones on the hillsides. The abbey had been built by one or two Chinese Buddhism 297 wealthy families who wanted to make a pious use of their money and who desired masses said for the souls of their dead. The solitary monk in charge had little else to do save to gather rents from the lands attached to the abbey for its support. He was a good-natured, generous person but extremely weak morally. He attended to his prayers at stated hours, not only in the day but throughout the night also. His fondness for opium and his addiction to grosser forms of sin soon cost him his post. We had a part of the temple fitted up according to European and American ideas. The brick pavements were covered with wooden flooring. The rooms were ceiled and plastered; chimneys were built, and glass replaced the paper in the window lattices. To this day the resinous odor of pine shavings at once suggest to me the fragrance of burning incense, the tinkle of the altar bell in the night watches, and brings to memory the happy experiences of those days. THE GODDESS OF MERCY One of the saints worshiped by this sect is Kwanyin, popularly known as the Goddess of Mercy. Some five miles north of Nanking outside the Shengtzu Men, or Gate of Divine Strategy, is a little village known as Kwanyin Men — the Gate of Kwanyin. The village is on the bank of the Yangtze River, and guards a pass through the range of hills known as the Tiger Mountain. The range is very precipitous on the river side and is full of caves, commonly known as the Twelve Caves. In one of the caves is an image of Kwanyin, but it is the likeness of a man, not a woman. This is accounted for by the belief that Kwanyin has had three incarnations — the la^t time as a woman. She has, therefore, three birthdays every year which are all kept by her devout worshipers. She is not a Buddha but a Bodhisatva — from choice. She declines to accept nirvana, because she has compassion upon the sinful and sorrowing and desires to save them. Therefore, she remains within the power of the wheel of change, i.e., she is subject to 298 Chinese Buddhism re-incarnation, birth and death. Her story is a beautiful one. She loved the religious life and refused to marry, although her royal father promised the throne to the hus¬ band of her choice. She entered the White Sparrow Con¬ vent and became a nun. The most menial tasks were given her to perform, but the dragons drew water for her and the wild beasts of the field carried her wood. In his anger the father burned the convent, but her prayers brought rain that extinguished the flames. She was forced to return home and was given her choice of marriage or death. She still refused to marry and was put to death. She descended into hell, but at her approach hell became a paradise of lilies. King Yama, the ruler of hell, begged her to go away so that he could make evil doers suffer. She received the gift of immortality but refused that of nirvana, and came back to earth that she might comfort the sorrowing, soothe the afflicted and deliver the sinful. Everywhere in China temples are erected in her honor. Everywhere she is loved and worshiped. Her pity, her mercy, her love, bring all the afflicted to her altar, and her rosary is recited in a thousand times ten thousand homes.5 One of the most common forms of the cult is that of the Kwanyin who gives sons. She is represented standing on the lotus holding a child in her arms. The desire for sons is so strong that many devout women frequent her altars in petition for this gift, and often you see the altars adorned with votive offerings, embroidered slippers for the goddess or miniature babies, little dolls dedicated to the gracious saint. There is such a striking resemblance in her image to that of the Virgin and Child that the Roman Catholic altars to Mary find ready worshipers among the Chinese, and good Abbe Hue thought the devil was imi¬ tating the true religion in order to delude souls. Once while waiting at Kwanyin Men for the ferry to take me over the Yangtze I went into a temple and sat down to chat with the monk in charge, who kindly brought me a cup of tea. While we talked, a stranger, a boatman, 5 From the translation of the Life of Kwanyin, Goddess of Mercy, by Bose Sickler Williams. Chinese Buddhism 299 came in apparently in great distress. He put his offering in the box, bought a bundle of incense (which was lighted and put upon the altar), kotowed and prayed. Then he drew his lot. The monk went to the corresponding drawer and brought him the answer to his prayer. The boatman asked him to read it. The monk said : 4 ‘ About what were you praying ? ’ ’ He replied, ‘ ‘ About sickness in my family. My wife is lying very ill in the boat.” “Well, ” said the monk evasively, “she will get better.” “But read the answer,” said the boatman. The monk flushed and sent for the monastery cook, who could read. The cook read it to the boatman. The portion referring to illness said, “The person who is ill will get better if a good physician is called.” “Where shall I find a good physician?” en¬ quired the boatman. “You can’t expect the god to tell you what to do and find a physician too,” said the monk in an angry tone. Kwanyin is frequently represented as standing on a rock in the midst of the sea and rescuing men and women from the engulfing waves. This represents the sea of misery and sin. BODHIDHARMA In one of the Twelve Caves, far up the mountain side, reached by a path that is very little frequented, there is an image of a celebrated Buddhist saint, Tamo, the first of the Chinese patriarchs. The face and the heavy black beard are decidedly non-Chinese. Tamo is in Sanscrit Dharma. Bodhidharma came to China from India during the reign of Wu Ti, the first Emperor of the Liang Dynasty, about A.D. 526. When he arrived in Nanking, then the capital of China, tradition says that the Emperor asked him about Heaven and Hell. The saint replied, “I am Heaven; you are Hell.” This shocked the Emperor; but he was such a zealous Buddhist that a few years later he resigned his throne, like Charles V of Spain, and retired to a monastery for the remainder of his life. The Emperor said to Dharma, “I have all my life been building temples, 300 Chinese Buddhism copying sacred books, and admitting new monks to take the vows; how much merit may I be supposed to have accumulated?” “None, ” said Dharma. “Why not?” asked the Emperor. “All this,” replied the saint, “is but the insignificant effect of an imperfect cause, not complete in itself. It is the shadow that follows the substance and is without real existence.” “Then what is real merit?” asked the Emperor. “Purity and enlightenment, depth and completeness; being wrapped in thought while sur¬ rounded with vacancy and stillness. Such merit cannot be obtained by worldly means,” was the reply. Dharma was dissatisfied with his visit to Nanking and crossed the Yangtze. Tradition says that he floated over the river on a reed, and this has become a favorite theme of Chinese artists. From Nanking he made his way to Loyang, near the Yellow River, and at that time in the Kingdom of Wei. In a monastery there he sat with his face to the wall for nine years. When he died he was placed in a coffin, and a few days later a disciple came to view the remains and found the dead man with one shoe in his hands. “Whither goest thou?” asked the disciple. “To the Western Heaven, * ’ the dead man answered. Again a few days later the coffin was opened and lo, the saint had disappeared. One shoe only remained in the coffin. In popular repre¬ sentation he is shown carrying one shoe. The shoe left behind was, it is said, preserved many years as a sacred relic, but was stolen during the T ’ang Dynasty and nobody knows where it is to-day. A little tract circulated by the monk in this cave of Taomo contains some curious teaching which savors of Christian influence. It condemns the Buddhist doctrine of an end¬ less round of metempsychosis, and its theory of salvation by abstraction, and declares that to attain salvation we must bathe in blood. The young monk seeking instruction is told that that which he seeks is One and no more, with¬ out form or shape, and the source of all things in heaven and earth, and he is commanded to preach this doctrine until it has pervaded the whole earth. He asks how to obtain an upright disposition, and is told not to seek it out- Chinese Buddhism 301 side himself, that it is not by ascending into heaven nor descending into the abyss, but that he must find it in his own heart. The meditative school or sect established by Bodhidharma scorns the worship of images and the use of books and all ceremonies. In a conversation with a young monk Dharma asked him what he was studying. “The Law,” said the young man. “I see no law,” said the patriarch. “All that ’s white is paper and all that ’s black is ink. ’ ’ Dharma ’s manner of life and scorn of culture remind one of Simon Stylites and other pillar saints who sought salvation in silent meditation in extraordinary positions. Somewhat similar to this sect is the Wu Wei Chiao, or “Do Nothing Sect,” which originated in the province of Shantung, where so many religious societies have had their origin. Its members are a highly moral people and total abstainers from wine and tobacco. They revere Buddha but decline to worship him. They are quietists in religious practices, have no use for forms and ceremonies, and none for images. LAMAISM • Upon the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet it became very much corrupted by the incorporation of Shamanist superstitions, and this form of Buddhism is that which is prevalent in Mongolia and in North China. This sect is known as the Lama sect. The Lamaists have a very compact organization reminding us of the Roman Catholic Church. They have two popes in Tibet — one, the Dalai Lama, is the civil head of the church and ruler of Tibet ; the other, the Dashilumpo Lama, is the religious chief of the system. China, including Mongolia and Tibet, is di¬ vided into districts in each of which there is a Hutukhtu, corresponding in authority somewhat to an archbishop. There is one in Peking. The Hutukhtu in Urga, in 1911, become Emperor of independent Outer Mongolia. To-day his capital is in possession of a Russian Soviet army. Al¬ together there are 160 of these Hutukhtus. Each one, as 302 Chinese Buddhism well as the Dalai Lama and the Dashilumpo Lama, is held to be the reincarnation of his predecessor. The method of selection may be explained by an account of the manner in which the Dalai Lama is chosen. He is regarded as the incarnation of Avaloketishvara. When he dies a search is at once made for the baby into whom his spirit has passed. Certain marks are necessary. A number of boys having such marks are found. The date of birth, their parentage, etc., are recorded. Their names, written on lots, are then placed in a golden urn, and in the presence of the Chinese Resident a lot is drawn from the urn after appropriate ceremonies. This is the true incarnate Dalai Lama. He is placed in charge of ministers who act as his representatives and as regents of Tibet, until the child has grown to manhood and come of age. The Chinese have been careful in drawing the lot to see that the child who is to rule Tibet does not belong to too powerful a family or to one hostile to Chinese policy. Usually the child of a poor family is drawn, so that the family with all its relatives will feel under obligation to the Chinese govern¬ ment. In Mongolia, on the other hand, the tribal chiefs have been careful to see that the office is kept in the family. TRANSMIGRATION The Buddhist belief in reincarnation is wide-spread in China. Some persons apparently hold it in all sincerity and others fear it may be true, while the hard-headed skeptics use it as a frame-work for amusing stories. I remember a beggar on the streets of Nanking many years ago who had lost one foot. The stump resembled a pig’s foot, and the beggar used to relate that one time in a pre¬ vious state of existence he had been a bad man, and on being reborn into the world he was born as a pig. He had very nearly completed his term of existence as a pig when he was brought to an untimely death by a butcher, and as his period of punishment had not yet quite expired he was born with one pig’s foot. Another instance is that of the father of a former THE RELIGIOUS DANCE, LAMA TEMPLE, PEKING. Chinese Buddhism 303 official in China who has had many dealings with foreigners in recent years. Mr. Sheng was born in Soochow. 'Previ¬ ous to his birth a Buddhist monk lived in a little temple near by. When he was about to die he called his mother and said to her: “I am dying, but do not weep for me. I shall be reborn very soon in the family of Mr. Sheng. You must wait at his gate and beg a few cash from him from day to day. On the day that I am born the servants will try to drive you away, saying they are too busy to wait upon you, that the master has just had a son born to him. But do not go away. I shall cry and make a great hullabaloo. The servants will be distracted and say they do not know how to stop that baby’s crying. Then you must offer to quiet the baby. At first they will not listen to you but after a time they will consent to bring you in, and when I see you I will stop crying and you shall be my nurse.” The mother did as she was told. Daily she went begging at the gate of Mr. Sheng. One day the servants told her to go away — that a new baby had come to the house and they had no time for her, but she remained and presently sjie heard the baby crying. The servants ran hither and thither and tried in every way to quiet the child, but in vain. The old woman said she would quiet him but no one listened to her, until weary of trying everything else they brought in the beggar. At once the child stopped and the beggar became the nurse. When the child was six or seven years of age he went out walking with his nurse, and seeing the little temple insisted on going in. The nurse took him in. The child said, ‘ ‘ In yonder room there is a closet ; let us go there. ’ ’ They went. He pointed to the closet and said, “On such and such a shelf I lett such a book.” They looked and lo! it was there. “Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” asked the disciples of the Master. This passage indicates that even among the Jews in the time of Christ the belief in transmigration was more or less prevalent — a beliet that men suffered sometimes for sins committed in a previous state of existence. 304 Chinese Buddhism It is only in the Lamaist communities of China, however, that the doctrine of metempsychosis has serious practical results. These we have seen in the choice of rulers. The lamas are the most ignorant, and therefore, the most super¬ stitious monks in the country. They are also the most depraved and the most unclean and ill-smelling. Even in China most of the lamas are non-Chinese, i.e., Tibetans, Mongols and Manchus. TEMPLES AND SERVICES One of the most famous lamaseries is the Yung Ho Kung in Peking, a vast enclosure once a princely palace. It con¬ tains cells for five hundred monks and five large halls with a multitude of smaller chapels. It was the birth-place of the Emperor Ch ’lenlung, who enriched it with many valu¬ able gifts. Among them are a pair of enormous bronze lions and a beautiful censer, besides cloisonne altar-pieces, valuable rugs and rich silk hangings. Prayer-wheels are placed here and there in the corridors, so that visitors or inmates as they pass may give them a turn, and so put several “Omito Fus” to their credit. One must be careful, too, to turn the wheel the right way, else he may undo his prayers. Some turn with the sun and some m the opposite direction. There is an image of Amidha seventy-five feet high in the main hall. The monks, as all Buddhist monks do, carry their rosary — a string of 108 beads — which they continually finger. The most important service m a lama temple is that near the beginning of the New Year, which foreign visitors call the “ Devils’ Dance.” It is a service to ward off all calami¬ ties during the new year. The morning is spent in chanting prayers in Sanscrit. The Hutukhtu sits cross-legged upon a throne and directs the service. A small brass hand-bell rests upon the table before him, which he rings to stop the droning chant. A tripod before the throne rests upon three imitation skulls and holds an offering of grain. The monks sit cross-legged in rows across the vast assembly hall, and at intervals the neophytes carry tea to them. When the Chinese Buddhism 305 prayers are said a procession is formed which marches to the front court, where lamas in masques dance about a tri¬ angular coffin containing an image of the devil. The masques represent the heads of horses, oxen and elks. The proctors who preserve order wear death’s-head masques. The devil of dough in the coffin is threatened with a knife, a bell, a lama sceptre, and finally is cut to pieces, after which the lamas march about the monastery and the service is ended. The human skull plays an important part in the service. Such skulls are sawn asunder and the upper part used as a cup for the presentation of offerings upon the altar. One of these skulls, lined with silver, is that of a noted rebel. There is a great deal that is degrading in this service, and generally this is true of the Lamaist use of charms and incantations. In contrast with this is the service at the T’an Che Ssu, some thirty miles west of Peking in the mountains. This temple does not belong to the Lama sect but to another form of Buddhism. Here the service is also conducted in the Sanscrit tongue, but is dignified and impressive. In the old days we used to make the journey to this monastery on horse-back or in sedan-chairs; now we can travel by train to a station within five miles of the monastery. But those five miles are not easily done; one has to climb over a very steep range. On reaching the summit, however, you feel well repaid for the toilsome march, for the scenery is beautiful. You look down into a thickly wooded valley, surrounded by mountains on all sides except towards the south, where it opens into the plain. A stream of clear water ripples over the rocks down into the forest, and following this stream you are guided to the vast pile of buildings that make up the monastery. This, too, was richly endowed by the Emperor Ch’ienlung, who planted there a ginko tree, which is the Chinese substitute for the banyan. This is still growing, and while it does not pro¬ duce branches that enter the ground, it does put forth many shoots from the roots which reach up into the branches. This is one of the most beautiful of all the Buddhist monasteries, and it is here that many monks are initiated 306 Chinese Buddhism into the order. There are eighty guest rooms, and large conferences at times assemble here. Before explaining the initiation service I ought to describe the typical Buddhist temple. The Buddhists have done much to cultivate amongst Chinese a love of natural scenery. Except in the cities, the monasteries are located usually in the most picturesque spots in the mountains. If possible a spot will be chosen beside a brook of clear running water. You cross the brook by an arched bridge of white marble. Before the entrance to the gate-house there is placed a pair of marble or bronze lions, one on either side of the door, the male on the left with his right fore paw resting on a sphere, the female on the right, her left fore paw playing with a cub that lies on its back. The lion is the emblem of Buddha, an emblem suggested, it is said, by his tribal name, Shakya. In the gate-house are the two door gods, one with a dark, the other with a light countenance; one to guard the place by night, the other by day. In the court behind the gate¬ house there are two towers, one containing a large bell, the other a drum to mark the watches. The Hall of the Four Mighty Ones is just across the court. They are the kings who guard the four quarters of the universe. The images of these kings are colossal; one with a blue face for the east, one with a red face for the south, one with a white face for the west, and one with a black face for the north. Each has his own emblem; a guitar, a sword, an umbrella, a serpent. In the center of this hall is an altar upon which is placed an image of Maitreya Buddha, a fat, jolly looking deity whose appearance betokens the good time coming. Back to back with him is the image of Wei T’o, a gilded likeness of a warrior in coat of mail with drawn sword. He is the officer who carries out the orders of the Four Kings. Behind this hall is a large court-yard, on the right and left of which are side chapels for inferior saints, one of them being usually Titsang. Facing the visitor across the court is the principal hall of the temple, which contains the high altar with images of the Three Holy Ones; the Chinese Buddhism 307 Buddha, the Law and the Congregation, according to one tradition, but in popular estimation, a trinity — the Buddhas of the Past, Present, and Future. An altar of incense is just inside the door and before it usually there is a contribution box. Upon the altar are placed the eight sacred emblems; the conch shell, the pot of incense, the wheel of the law, the umbrella, the stupa, the pair of fishes, the net, and the banner. On the right and left are the bell and the drum and other musical instruments used in worship, and upon the altar, in Lama temples, brass lamps of melted butter — in other temples candle-sticks. Along the east and west sides are the eighteen Lohan, or apostles of Buddhism, nine on a side, each with his own emblem. Behind the altar and separated from it by a screen is an image of Kwanyin, standing on a rock amidst the dashing waves, rescuing men and women from the sea of misery. In the larger monasteries there is also another hall for general assemblies. In some there is a hall of the Five Hundred Disciples. One such near Peking has life-sized images of these disciples, all heavily gilded. LAY MEMBERSHIP Although Buddhism, as originally taught, requires celibacy and forbids its disciples to engage in business, in its present form provision is made also for lay membership. Some lay persons content themselves with abstinence from flesh-eating, some with the observance of certain fast days. Others take five of the monkish vows: (1) during life-time not to kill any living creature, (2) during life-time not to steal, (3) during life-time to abstain from all sexual im¬ purity, (4) during life-time to abstain from lying, (5) during life-time to abstain from all intoxicants. Another class of lay members adds to these five, three other vows: (6) not to seat oneself upon a broad couch or an elevated divan, (7) not to adorn oneself with flowers or to use perfumery, (8) not to associate with actors or courtesans. Before taking these vows the candidate must confess faith 308 Chinese Buddhism in the Buddha, his law, and the order, and then must make confession that in previous incarnations he has been guilty of killing, stealing, lying and impurity, and he must ask absolution for these sins. INITIATION INTO MONKHOOD In order to become a monk one must pass through a period of novitiate. The candidate selects a god-father, and, when brought before the chapter, asks through the master of ceremonies that he may be permitted to have his head shaven by his god-father. This done, the candidate begs to be permitted to quit his family. Consent having been given, the brother appointed to instruct him uncovers the right shoulder and arm of the novice, removes his gown, and causes him to kneel upon his right knee and raise his joined hands in supplication. In this position he recites three times this confession: “I give my faith to Buddha, to his Law and to his Order. In imitation of Buddha I quit my family. I recognize - as my god-father. He who has come, the True One, and all the Illuminated Ones are the objects of my veneration.” He then vows to ob¬ serve the following ten commandments : (1) Thou shalt not kill. (2) Thou shalt not steal. (3) Thou shalt not commit adultery. (4) Thou shalt not lie. (5) Thou shalt not drink wine. (6) Thou shalt not adorn thyself with flowers nor use per¬ fumes. (7) Thou shalt not sing nor dance, nor associate with actors nor courtesans, nor visit a theater, nor listen to singing. (8) Thou shalt not sit upon an elevated seat nor upon a broad divan. (9) Thou shalt not eat except at permitted hours. (10) Thou shalt not touch silver nor gold, whether as bullion or money or in the shape of jewelry. He then passes a period of instruction and probation in preparation for initiation into monkhood. When the time Chinese Buddhism 309 for initiation arrives the candidate, in the presence of the chapter, begs his god-father to obtain for him permission to enter the order. If the god-father consents the candi¬ date is then removed from the chapter hall, and the master of ceremonies asks the brethren present if one of them will volunteer to serve as instructor. When such an one offers himself the master of ceremonies requests the as¬ sembly to consent to his appointment. The instructor then goes out to the candidate and examines him. He first learns whether the candidate has the proper inner and outer garments and the begging bowl. These are indispensable. He then solemnly charges the candidate to answer all ques¬ tions frankly and truthfully. He must satisfy the in¬ structor that he does not hold heretical views, that he has not been guilty of impure living during his novitiate, that he has not violated any other rules of the order, that he has not chosen this calling from unworthy motives, that he is not mutilated nor a slave, that he is a free man, that he is not a refugee from justice, that he is not married, that he is not afflicted with any contagious disease, and that he is of age and has the consent of his parents. The instructor, having satisfied himself of the candidate’s quali¬ fications, returns to the assembled chapter to report, and asks permission to present the candidate for initiation. There being no objection, he calls with a loud voice: ‘ ‘Enter.” Before the chapter the candidate is then put through another examination. The master of ceremonies announces that he has examined the candidate and found him qualified. He then calls out: “If any one has objec¬ tion to his admission let him now speak. This is the first summons.” He repeats the statement adding, “This is the second summons,” and again closing with, “This is the third summons.” The master of ceremonies then warns the candidate that there are four offenses, for any one of which he will be expelled from the order : impurity, theft, killing any living creature — even an ant, and boasting. He also notifies him that there are four fundamental re¬ quirements of monkhood: (1) he must wear clothing made of remnants or cast-off articles, (2) he must beg his food, 310 Chinese Buddhism (3) he must be content with the shelter of a tree unless supplied with a hut or home by some benefactor, (4) he must use no medicine except that he may take as remedies sour milk, oil or honey, if these be provided by some bene¬ factor.6 "When a monk takes his vows they are registered one by one upon his skin by pressing the burning end of a stick of incense, either upon his scalp or upon his right arm. Some sects locate them upon the one and others upon the other. INFLUENCE OF BUDDHISM IN CHINA The Chinese regard for the family and the desire for descendants to keep up the sacrifices for the dead have made them slow to accept the teachings of Buddhism. For six hundred years missionaries came from India preach¬ ing the faith. Sometimes the religion received the imperial favor, but at other times it was persecuted; monasteries were confiscated, bronze bells and images melted into cash, and thousands of monks and nuns compelled to return to their homes. But in spite of all opposition the faith took hold of the hearts of the people. It supplied something which Confucianism lacked. In its modified form of Amidhism it was particularly attractive. It has had a profound influence upon Chinese civilization ; upon its arts, its literature and its religions. It has filled the land with beautiful pagodas. It has taught landscape gardening and encouraged sculpture and painting. Its symbols are com¬ mon in all decorative art. The lion is seen at every palace gate; the umbrella is the emblem of imperial and magis¬ terial authority; the rosary is, or was, a part of the cere¬ monial dress of every high official. The swastika, the net of metempsychosis, the wheel of the law — all these and many other symbols are woven into their fabrics, carved in their wood-work, and frescoed upon their ceilings. Buddhism has given a new phraseology to Chinese lit¬ erature. It has introduced keen philosophical disputation, o Bouddhisme Chinois, pp. 181-183 and 193-202. Chinese Buddhism 311 and even the indigenous religions have been compelled to borrow its doctrines and adopt some of its ceremonies. Taoism imitated it in the introduction of images, and even the proud Confucianist calls in the monks to read prayers over his dead. Some of the Buddhist literature is very arid. One of the most popular of its treatises is the Diamond Sutra, so called apparently because of its ability to resist all attacks upon its doctrines. Yet the meat which it supplies to the hungry soul is made up of such sentiments as these : Anyone who has entered upon the path of the Bodhisatvas must thus frame his thought; as many beings as there are in this world of beings — with form or without form, with name or with¬ out name, or neither with nor without name — as far as any known world of beings is known — all these must be delivered by me in the perfect world of nirvana. And yet after I shall have delivered thus innumerable beings, not one single being will have been delivered. Why? If a Bodhisatva had any idea of a being he could not be called a Bodhisatva.7 That is to say, beings have no real existence. The whole argument in the book may be summed up in three state¬ ments: (1) The state of nirvana is happiness because it frees one from the misery of existence. (2) Human life and the sensuous world are deceptive phenomena. (3) Matter is non-existent ; to realize this is to take the first step towards enlightenment. But there is more attractive literature than this. Listen to the parable of the mustard seed. A poor widow had an only child that was taken ill and died. She bore the dead body about with her and tried to nurse it back to life, but in vain. Pitying friends bade her go to the Lord Buddha and ask his help. Tie listened sympathetically to her plea that he would restore her child to life. He said: “Yes, if you will bring me a little mustard seed.” She was about to hasten away but he stopped her, adding, “You must first borrow the mustard seed from some household in which no one has ever died.” She went to one neighbor after another begging a little mustard seed, saying, “The 7 Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XLIX, Part II, p. 132. sn Chinese Buddhism Master has promised that if I will bring it he will restore my child to life.” They said, “We will give you the mustard seed gladly.” “But,” said she, “I must first know whether anyone in this household has died.” “Ah,” said they, “what home has not been visited by death!” Then her eyes were opened. She saw that she was not the only mourner in the world and came back to thank the Lord Buddha for his teaching.8 One of the most unfortunate influences of Buddhism has been its teaching with regard to hell. Originally it taught that there were eight hot hells and eight cold hells, or earth prisons beneath Mt. Sumeru. In China, in every town, there is at least one and oftentimes there are several representations of the ten hells of which Chinese Buddhists speak. The tortures of the damned are represented by images, sometimes of life size, picturing men and women flayed by demons, roasting on red-hot cylinders, pounded in mortars, sawn asunder, being transformed into beasts, and undergoing other indescribable sufferings. So far from deterring men from sin, these cruel representations appear to harden the hearts of those who look upon them, and to suggest to them abominable methods of tormenting the victims of their wrath in times of riot or of religious or political persecution. The Yu Li, or Precious Records, is a book of tales recounting the experiences of those who have passed to the realms of Yama and been punished for the lack of filial piety or for other sins committed in this life. BUDDHIST CHARITIES It has been said that Buddhism has given the world no great humane institutions, that it really does nothing to relieve the suffering of the world. It does fall far behind Christianity in this regard, but it is not true that it does nothing to relieve human suffering. It is true that it spends much energy in saving animal life. It will screen a candle to keep the moths from singeing their wings; it s Edwin Arnold’s “ Light of Asia,” Bk. V. Chinese Buddhism 313 will shrink from treading upon an ant, and it will buy fish and other living creatures in the market to set them free. But it also maintains free dispensaries for the sick, although the knowledge of anatomy and medicine is slight, and it establishes foundling asylums and schools for the young. Many of the monks, it is true, are worthless crea¬ tures, lazy, ignorant and vicious. But there are also some very sincere, devoted men among them. When one of my neighbors fell into a pond and was drowned the first man to attempt a rescue was a Buddhist monk, who threw off his clothes and jumped into the pool. He swam about treading water until he located the body. lie was too late, it is true, but he brought the body ashore and did what he could. This act will be more appreciated when it is known that Chinese fear to rescue a drowning man, be¬ lieving that demons drag him down. I have a friend of many years, an old Buddhist monk, in the hills near Peking, a scholarly man, and as gentle, pure and good as any man I know. I shall never forget how affected he was when he read in a Chinese newspaper of the sinking of the Titanic. Tears stood in his eyes as he praised the conduct of the captain and the men who went down with the ship that they might allow the women and children to be saved. REFORMED BUDDHISM From China Buddhism passed to Japan, where it has undergone further transformation. The newest sect there is that which meets in the Nishi Honwangji, a temple in Kioto. This sect of reformed Buddhists permits marriage and has stated services every Sunday with preaching. It maintains charities and has rites of confirmation for its lay members. I had the privilege one Sunday of attend¬ ing its services. It, too, worships Amidha Buddha. Re¬ cently it lias introduced its teachings into China. One of its advocates was the abbot of a monastery not far from the American Legation in Peking. He used to visit us occa¬ sionally. One year he endeavored to organize a pan- 314 CJiinese Buddhism religions committee, to be composed of Buddhists, Taoists, Confucianists, Mohammedans, and of Protestant and Ro¬ man Catholic Christians. His aim was to bring these dif¬ ferent religions into mutual acquaintanceship and so put an end to strife. He failed in his endeavor but the effort did honor to his heart. He established at his own charge two schools for boys in Peking and provided teachers, not only of the Chinese language and literature but of mathe¬ matics, geography and physical sciences. He was highly educated and wrote a history of Buddhism in three coun¬ tries — India, China and Japan. After the overthrow of the empire he wrote a tract pleading for the adoption of Buddhism as the state religion of the republic, holding very truthfully that Buddhism frowns upon all distinctions of rank and teaches the brotherhood of man. The last time I visited him he was stone blind. Age and over-work in a poor light, with perhaps under-nourishment, had de¬ stroyed his sight. But he was still cheerful and interested in his work. A few months later he had passed. Whither? Shall we say to nirvana, or to the happy Western Heaven? He passed — to the immortality in which he and we believe. ATTITUDE TOWARD MILITARISM One characteristic of his school aroused some comment. He required the pupils to have military drill. This was done to comply with the requirements of the new public school system. He desired to make his schools equal to those maintained by the state. Buddhism, it is true, is a religion of peace. It frowns upon war since it forbids all killing. Yet the Buddhist has not been any more consist¬ ent in this regard than the Christian. When the Sung Emperor was being driven south by the armies of Genghis Khan, in the 13th century, these Mongol raiders were held in check on the banks of the Yangtze by the monks of the Yuan-t’ung Monastery, who came to the aid of the Imperial Court. In 1126 the abbot of a monastery in Shansi, on the famous Wu T’ai Mountain; became a cav- Chinese Buddhism 315 airy leader of great renown, through his success in drilling and leading his monks against the Tartar hordes. We have seen this same militant spirit in our own day. The Boxers were organized and drilled in Buddhist monasteries in 1900, and duped into believing themselves invulnerable because of the charms which had been given to them by the monks. If we are horrified by the outrages committed by these Boxers, we must also remember that they were not without provocation, seeing that foreigners had seized some of the finest harbors in the land and were openly discussing the partitioning of China. Buddhism has been called the “ Light of Asia,’ ’ and un¬ doubtedly it has dispelled much gloom. It has been a civi¬ lizing force. But there are black spots on the disk of the sun, and Buddhism, too, is not free from faults. It has not qualified itself to be the “ Light of the World.” Yet a Buddhist might retort upon us by pointing out incon¬ sistencies in our own creed and ridiculing our pet super¬ stitions. What is desirable is that, no matter what our faith, we should love truth above all things and be willing to acknowledge it wherever it may be found, for in that alone is progress possible. “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” — free from the bonds of superstition. “And if the truth shall make you free ye shall be free indeed.” CHAPTER XV TAOISM The rewards of good and evil follow as naturally as the shadow follows the substance. — Kang Ying F’ien. Taoism is both a philosophy and a religion. As a phi¬ losophy it is traced to Lao Tzu, which is by interpretation “Old Philosopher.” His name was Li Erh; his nom de plume Li Po-yang, his posthumous name Li Tan. Li was his surname, and means Plum. According to the accepted tradition he was born in 604 B.C. near the modern city of Kueitefu, in the province of Honan. In a sketch of the life of Confucius, in another chapter, a description of Lao Tzu’s character has already been given, and some of the striking sentences from his work — the Tao Te King — have been quoted. His authorship of that classic has been questioned by Professor Giles, although without sufficient reason, as I think. But whether we call the author of the book by the name Lao Tzu, or by some other cognomen, is of small consequence; the book still remains, and it is the remarkable teaching of this book, the Tao Te King, that has attracted the attention of the world. THE TAO TE KING It is in this book that Taoist philosophy finds its roots, just as it is in this book, also, that the religion called Taoism finds its most holy scripture. True, Lao Tzu had no thought of founding a religion, and he could have had no sympathy with the modern conglomeration of shaman¬ ism, sorcery, astrology, necromancy, demonaltry and magic which passes for a religion. Lao Tzu was a profound thinker, a political philosopher of keen insight, and an 316 Taoism 317 etliical teacher of very high order; but he did not pose as a saint, and it was not until 700 years after his death that he was canonized and that a temple was built for his worship. The Tao Te King treats of two subjects, tao and te. Tao is the fundamental principle of the philosophy which it teaches, and te is the practical exemplification of the prin¬ ciple in conduct. Tao means the “way,” or the “word.” As a verb it means “to walk,” or “to speak.” Te implies action. It is commonly translated ‘ ‘ virtue. ’ ’ It also means “energy” or “power.” When one walks in the “way” the result is right conduct, or virtue. Lao Tzu began his work with a brief, sententious dis¬ cussion of the one great problem of philosophy : to discover the unity underlying all diversity, the changeless that lies behind all change, the infinite surrounding the finite, the eternal principle of the universe. This he called Tao. The first chapter of the Tao Te King may be translated as fol¬ lows : The way that can be trodden is not the eternal way; the* name that can be named is not the unchanging name. Or — The word that can be spoken is not the eternal word; the name that can be named is not the unchanging name. Unnamed it was the beginning of heaven and earth; named, it became the source of all things. As ever free from desire, it is seen as the mysterious; as ever possessed of desire, it is seen as the limited. These two are of one origin, yet different in name. This common origin we call the abyss. It is the abyss within the abyss, the gateway to all mystery. This is a literal translation. A reasonable paraphrase of it in modern philosophical terms would read somewhat as follows: The eternal principle which lies behind the phenomenal world is undefinable. Undefined, it lies at the beginning of the uni¬ verse. To define it is to limit it. As the source of the whole world it is defined. It limits itself. Free from all attributes it is seen as the Absolute. Possessed of attributes it is seen as limited. These two, the Absolute and the Limited, have a coin- 318 Taoism mon origin. Their common origin we call the abyss. It is indeed the abyss of abysses and the doorway to all mystery. In the fourth chapter, discoursing further upon this pro¬ found principle, the Tao, he says : I do not know whose son it is; I think it existed before God. This use of Tao as the equivalent of the Eternal Word and the source of the visible universe led the translators of the New Testament to employ the word tao in translat¬ ing into Chinese the Greek word logos, in the first chapter of the Gospel of St. John. Some years ago, when visiting the Twelve Caves near Nanking, I found in one of the largest a ladder reaching up through a cleft in the rock. On climbing it I came out upon a natural terrace on the face of the cliff. Walking some distance along this terrace I found another ladder which led up through a trap door into a small shrine that hung upon the face of the rock. Pushing open the trap I entered, and stood before an altar erected in front of the image of a Taoist divinity. An old man with long beard and long white hair, held back from his face by a brass band over his head, came from a cave at the rear of the shrine and received me very graciously. Over a cup of tea he told me his story. He had been a soldier in the Taiping army, and when the rebellion was suppressed he had renounced the world and taken refuge in a Taoist monastery. After we had talked of many things, he left me a moment and brought from the cave a well-thumbed copy of the Chinese version of St. John’s Gospel. He read the first few verses : In the beginning was the Tao, and the Tao was with God, and the Tao was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him not anything was made that was made. He told me that this was just the teaching of his religion, and that he was very fond of the Gospel of St. John. Taoism 319 LAO TZU’S POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY From the quotations made in an earlier chapter we might be led to think that Lao Tzu in his political theories was a philosophical anarchist. This would hardly be a fair judgment, however, for while he sought to reduce govern¬ ment to the minimum he did not deny that government was needed. “The holy man’s method of government,” he says, “is to empty the people’s hearts and fill their stomachs; to weaken their desires and strengthen their bones.” 1 For him the welfare of the people was the true object of government. He disliked, however, to see the people struggling for wealth and official position and tak¬ ing pleasure in display. “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life,” were things he con¬ demned. “Riches, honor and pride,” he said, “leave a heritage of ill fortune.” 2 “Horse-racing and hunting dis¬ order the mind, and the scramble for wealth mars the character of man. ’ ’ 3 He did not think, however, that matters were to be improved by legislation, for he said : “The more warnings and prohibitions there are in the world, the poorer the people become ...” “The more laws and commands there are, the greater the number of thieves and robbers.” Therefore, the holy man says: “I do nothing and men, themselves, reform. ... I suppress desire and men, themselves, become simple in their tastes. ” 4 * ‘ Do nothing, ’ ’ was his motto — ‘ ‘ Do nothing, and all will be done.” He loved paradox. “The Tao is ever inactive, yet there is nothing which it does not accomplish. ’ ’ 5 ‘ ‘ Whoso endeavors, fails ; he who seizes, loses. The holy man does nothing, so fails in nothing. He seizes nothing, and therefore, loses nothing. He desires to be free from desire, and not to prize things that arc hard to get.”0 1 Tao Te King, Chap. III. 2 Tao Te King, Chap. IX. a Ibid., Chap. XII. 4 Ibid., Chap. LVII. 5 Ibid., Chap. XXXVII. o Ibid., Chap. LXIV. 320 Taoism Again he said : ‘ ‘ There is no sin greater than desire ; there is no misfortune greater than not to know when one has enough. There is no fault greater than greed of gain. ’ ’ 7 This policy of suppressing desire and allowing things to take their course, he believed to be the way of nature — the way of the Tao. He had no use for noisy busy-bodies. “ A typhoon, 7 ’ he said, ‘ ‘ can ’t last all morning ; a pouring rain can ’t last all day. ’ ’ 8 His theory of ‘ ‘ do nothing and all will be done,” he illustrated by the value of vacancy. “Thirty spokes are inserted in one hub, but the wheel’s usefulness depends upon the nothingness of the hole in the hub. We knead the clay to mould a vessel, but it is the nothingness of the hollow of the vessel that gives it usefulness. We build a house and cut doors and windows in the walls, but the usefulness of the house and that of doors and windows depends upon the nothingness of the space inclosed.”9 He believed in the power of a quiet example. He taught that gentleness would accomplish more than force. Real goodness he likened to water, which seeks the lowly place and benefits all sorts of creatures.10 “There is nothing more yielding than water, but nothing can equal it in attacking the hard.” . . . “Weakness con¬ quers strength ; the soft overcomes the hard. ’ ni HIS ETHICS Lao Tzu was an altruist, for he said : ‘ ‘ The holy man keeps himself in the background, and therefore, he comes to the front. He puts self aside, and therefore, his own interests are preserved. ’ ’ 12 He rises to a greater height than Confucius. The latter opposed the teaching that one should return good for evil. “What, then, will you return for good?” he asked. Lao Tzu, on the other hand, said: “I am good to the good; I am also good to the bad, 7 Ibid., Chap. XLYI. s Ibid., Chap. XXIII. 9 Ibid., Chap. XI. 10 Ibid., Chap. VIII. 11 Ibid., Chap. LXXVIII. 12 Ibid., Chap. VII. Taoism 321 for virtue (the Te of his philosophy) is goodness. With the faithful I am faithful; with the unfaithful I am also faithful ; for virtue is faithfulness. ” 13 “ Requite enmity with kindness. ’ ’ 14 He hated war. “Even the best weapons,” he said, “are unlucky instruments. . . . They are not the instruments of the perfect man. Only when unavoidable does he use them. He gives high place to tranquillity and quietude. He conquers, but he does not find pleasure in it, for to find such pleasure would be to rejoice in killing men.” 15 Elsewhere he says : ‘ ‘ Where armies have encamped, there thorns and briers spring up, and famine stalks ever in the rear of marching hosts. ” 16 “ When the world has Tao, horses are used to haul filth, and when it is without Tao war horses are bred in the suburbs. ’ ’ 17 By his philosophy he seeks to make men masters of themselves. Thus he teaches as follows : ‘ ‘ Whoso knows men is knowing, but he who knows himself has understand¬ ing. He who subdues others is strong, but he who conquers self is mighty. He who knows sufficiency is rich. ’ ’ 18 But the method by which one attains this self-control is not to be a method imposed upon one from without by laws and commands. It is the self-determined choice of the soul, which, knowing Tao to be the source of all things and the only true way of life, seeks to live in harmony with that living Word and to walk in that high Way. It will at once be recognized that Lao Tzu was a quiet- ist. He would live in quiet meditation, himself, allowing the Tao to work its own will in him and in all around him. He would be passive — yield himself to the influence of Tao. It could not be right, therefore, for him to strive — “to cry or cause his voice to be heard in the street.” Hence the Taoist, to this day, is a quiet man, not easily 13 Ibid., Chap. XLIX. 14 Ibid., Chap. LXIII. is Ibid., Chap. XXXI. io Ibid., Chap. XXX. 17 Ibid., Chap. XLVI. is Ibid., Chap. XXXIII. { 322 Taoism provoked, one who refuses to engage in controversy. Strife, impatience, anger — all these destroy the peace of the soul which is the s ummum bonum. They injure the vitality of the man and shorten his life. The Taoist agrees with the Buddhist in endeavoring to suppress desire; but whereas the Buddhist looks upon desire as the cause of birth and re-birth, from which one should seek deliverance, the Taoist suppresses desire because desire frets the soul and wears out the life. The Buddhist is a pessimist and thinks life to be evil — a curse to be escaped. The Taoist loves life, believes it to be a blessing and seeks to prolong it. From this follows the regimen of the Taoist. “He who dies but perishes not has long life’7 (that is, is immortal).19 To attain to this, we are told, one must give careful atten¬ tion to the animal soul, that p’o which the Li Ki tells us accompanies the body into the grave. He must also pay especial attention to the ch’i, the vital vapor. I quote the Old Philosopher: Nourish and discipline the soul (p’o). Maintain unity (i.e., union of the soul and spirit). Thus you can escape dissolution. Give especial attention to the breath (ch’i) until it grows soft (impalpable), and you can become as a little child.20 All this, as he tells us in another place,21 requires one to guard very carefully the quietude of his surroundings. The affairs of the world disturb him not* He sees them pass and re-pass. He sees them arise, but knows that they will return again, as the petals of a flower fall to the root of the plant.22 All this, of course, tends to destroy interest in the events of the day and unfit one for the duties of life. Yet many an old man in China whose passions have burned them¬ selves out, whose ambitions have been quenched, whose endeavors have failed, turns to the quiet retreat of the Taoist monastery to seek in its discipline a method of pro- 19 Ibid., Chap. XXXIII. 20 Ibid., Chap. X. 21 Ibid., Chap. XVI. 22 Ibid., Chap. XVI. Taoism 323 longing his days, though it be a prolongation of a life no longer useful. TAOISM POSSIBLY OF HINDU ORIGIN rA number of modern students of Taoism believe that it has an Indian origin. Pere Wieger, a missionary of the Society of Jesus, thinks that the very terms Tao and Te, are but transliterations of two Sanscrit words, Tat and Tyad; i.e., “The First Being” and “The Others.” He believes that he has found several Sanscritisms in the work.23 There is no evidence, however, of any communica¬ tion between China and India at so early a date as the time in which Lao Tzu lived. Later Chinese philosophy does owe much to India. It must be admitted, too, that the Tao Te King, in some passages, reminds one of the teaching of the Upanishads. CHUANG TZU The greatest of Lao Tzu’s disciples was Chuang Tzu, who lived in the fourth century B.C. He was a contempo¬ rary of Mencius, but the two men do not appear to have met. Chuang Tzu was in some respects a more brilliant writer than Lao Tzu, and his style is still the delight of Chinese scholars. Professor Giles, in publishing his translation of Chuang Tzu, asked the Rev. Aubrey Moore of Oxford, to write a note on the first seven chapters. He did so, and made a very interesting comparison between the teachings of Chuang Tzu and those of Heraclitus and Parmenides, who were probably contemporaries of Lao Tzu. There could not have been, so far as we can see, any communication between them nor between their disciples and Chuang Tzu. Both China and Greece are indebted to India for much of their philosophical thought, but it is impossible to say how any of this debt could have been created before the sixth century B.C. 4 23 Taoisme, Tome I. Introduction, p. 9, footnote. 324 Taoism Chuang Tzu assumed an attitude towards officialdom even more contemptuous than that of Lao Tzu. When his prince offered him the premiership, he is reported to have answered in these words those who brought the message : You offer me great wealth and a proud position indeed; but have you never seen a sacrificial ox? When, after being fattened up for several years, it is decked with embroidered trappings and led to the altar, would it not then willingly exchange places with some uncared for pigling? Begone! Defile me not! I had rather disport myself to my own enjoyment in the mire than be a slave to the ruler of a state. I will never take office. Thus I shall remain free to follow my own inclinations.24 One of the most fascinating chapters of Chuang Tzu’s work is that on ‘ ‘ The Identity of the Contraries. ’ ’ I quote a few paragraphs from Giles’ translation: There is nothing which is not objective; there is nothing which is not subjective. But it is impossible to start from the objec¬ tive. Only from subjective knowledge is it possible to proceed to objective knowledge. Hence it has been said: “The objective emanates from the subjective; the subjective is consequent upon the objective. This is the Alternation Theory. Nevertheless when one is born the other dies. When one is possible the other is impossible. When one is affirmative, the other is negative. Which being the case the true sage rejects all distinction of this and that. He takes his refuge in God and places himself in subjective relation with all things. And inasmuch as the subjective is also objective and the objective also subjective, and as the contraries under each are indistinguishably blended, does it not become impossible for us to say whether subjective and objective really exist at all? When subjective and objective are both without their correlates, that is the very axis of Tao. And when that axis passes through the center at which all infinities converge, positive and negative alike blend into an infinite One. . . . Therefore it is that, viewed from the standpoint of Tao, a beam and a pillar are identical. So are ugliness and beauty, greatness, wickedness, perverseness and strangeness. Separation is the same as construction. Construction is the same as destruc¬ tion. . . . Only the truly intelligent understand this principle of the identity of all things. They do not view things as appre- 24 Giles’ Translation of Chnang Tzu, Introduction, p. vi. Taoism 325 hended by themselves, subjectively, but transfer themselves into the position of the things viewed.25 If there was a beginning, then there was a time before that beginning. And a time before the time which was before the time of that beginning. If there is existence, then there must have been non-existence. An4, if there was a time when nothing existed, there must then have been a time before that — when even nothing did not exist. Suddenly, when, nothing came into existence, could one really say whether it belonged to the cate¬ gory of existence or non-existence? Even the very words I have just now uttered — I can not say whether they have really been uttered or not.26 How do I know that love of life is not a delusion after all? How do I know but that he who dreads to die is not as a child who has lost the wav and cannot find his home? . . . Those who dream of the banquet wake to lamentation and sorrow. Those who dream of lamentation and sorrow wake to join the hunt. While they dream they do not know that they dream. Some will even interpret the very dream they are dreaming; and only when they awake do they know it was a dream. By and by comes the Great Awakening, and then we find out that this life is really a great dream. Fools think they are awake now, and flatter themselves they know if they are really princes or peasants. Confucius and you are both dreams; and I who say you are dreams — I am but a dream myself. This is a para¬ dox. To-morrow a sage may arise to explain it; but that to-morrow will not be until ten thousand generations have gone by.27 Once upon a time I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a but¬ terfly. I was conscious only of following my fancies as a but¬ terfly, and was unconscious of my individuality as a man. Sud¬ denly I awaked, and there I lay, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.28 25 Ibid., pp. 17, 18 and 19. 20 Ibid., p. 23. 27 Giles’ Translation of Chuang Tzu, pp. 29 and 30. 28 Ibid., p. 32. 326 Taoism We are told that when Chuang Tzu was about to die his disciples were arranging to give him an impressive funeral. The philosopher attempted to dissuade them, saying : “With heaven and earth for my inner and outer coffin, with the sun, moon and stars as my burial regalia, and with all creation to escort me to the grave — are not my funeral paraphernalia ready to hand ? ” 29 THE ELIXIR OF IMMORTALITY After the passing of Chuang Tzu, the great idealist, Taoism began to degenerate. Men of smaller mind than Chuang Tzu could not live in the rarefied atmosphere in which he delighted. They came down to lower levels. Forgetting the lofty ethics of Lao Tzu some of them fastened upon what he had written about caring for the animal soul and regulating the ch’i, or vital vapor, and sought by a regimen of mental and physical calisthenics to rejuvenate themselves. By holding the breath (which is called ch’i), by preserving the bodily secretions, and by suppression of desire, by retirement from the world, avoid¬ ance of all violent emotions and the cultivation of passivity, they thought to attain to immortality. THE PHILOSOPHER’S STONE Others gave to the Tao and its operations a physical instead of a metaphysical interpretation. They found in it the final substance out of which all things are made. Chuang Tzu’s idealism, which reconciled all contradictions in a higher unity, which identified all diversities in the all-pervading One, was transformed into the grossest sort of materialism, in accordance with which all substances were considered as modifications of the one original matter. They reasoned that as a base of all the various metals there must exist a common substance, from which any or all of them can by manipulation be produced. Thus, one might 29 Ibid., p. 434. Taoism 327 take a quantity of lead and, by divesting it of certain qualities, reach the primal substance, which, by the addi¬ tion of other qualities, could be converted into gold. So alchemy was born. Perhaps they recalled that chapter of Lao Tzu in which he likened the Tao to water. At any rate they fastened upon mercury as the agent that could be used in the transmutation of metals. The lien tan, or pill of transmutation, is the original “philosopher’s stone.” Ignoring the Old Philosopher’s condemnation of greed, his teaching that acquisitiveness is the greatest of faults, these men became absorbed in a scheme for the manufacture of gold. They made haste to get rich. Subsequently it was recalled that Tao was described as the source of life as well as of matter, and the transmutation pill was heralded as a cure for old age — the elixir of immortality. The term lien tan, “pill of transmutation,” was accepted by later generations as the technical term to describe the hygienic and spiritual regimen still practiced by Taoists for the prolongation of life. These ideas began to find currency in the third century B.C. THE ORIGIN OP ALCHEMY European writers have been disposed to find the origin of alchemy among the Alexandrian Greeks, in the third century of the Christian era.30 Western Europe is said to have derived its knowledge of the subject from the Arabs after the conquest of Spain. The teaching spread from the eleventh century onward into Prance and Britain. The Arabs, no doubt, introduced the knowledge of al¬ chemy into Europe, but they did not obtain that knowledge from the Alexandrian Greeks. The prescriptions found in Egyptian tombs relate only to certain trade secrets of jewelers, concerned with the manufacture of alloys. The Persians also were believed to have influenced the re¬ searches of the Greeks. The Persians had speculated upon the possibility of a transmutation of metals, and Ostanes *o Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, Article “Alchemy.” 328 Taoism the Mede had a formula for the making of an elixir of immortality. Thus these two processes were associated in their introduction into Europe. Astrology influenced the experiments in Persia, as it did also in China. We now know, however, that alchemy originated, not in Egypt or Persia in the third century A.D., but 600 years earlier in China. And while we may smile at the ignorance of these early adepts, and ridicule the superstitions with which their theories were associated, we should remember, as Lie¬ big has said, that alchemy “was never at any time any¬ thing different from chemistry. ’ ’ We have seen that in China the Taoists were occupied with two problems. They sought to apply the teachings of their philosophy practically, both in the realm of psy¬ chology and in that of physics. Thus the two searches for the elixir of immortality and the pill for the transmutation of metals went on together. In imitation of the real stu¬ dents there arose a crowd of charlatans and fakirs who imposed upon a credulous age with tricks of legerdemain and fables of distant lands. One of these was Lu Sheng, who lived about 225 B.C. The great emperor who had overthrown the last remnants of the Chou Dynasty, who had built the Great Wall and burned the Confucian classics, was nevertheless a captive to fear and superstition. He was afraid of assassins* He shuddered at the thought of death. He fell an easy victim to the arts of Lu Sheng. The latter was an alchemist, but he had had no more success than others. THE ISLES OF THE BLESSED In 219 B.C. Lu Sheng told the emperor of the “Isles of the Blessed, ’ ’ P ’englai, Fangchang, and Yingchou, which were said to lie in the ocean 70,000 li (23,333 miles) east of China. Living there were people who were already possessed of immortality and perfect happiness. In these islands there was growing the chili , a plant that cures old age and “all the ills that flesh is heir to.” On one of Taoism 329 these islands, he said, there was a mountain of jade 10,000 feet high, from whose base gushed forth the fountain of perpetual youth, the taste of whose waters was like that of sweet wine. Whoso should quaff that water would be intoxicated with delight and live forever. And so with the Philosopher’s Stone and the Elixir of Immortality, there came to be associated also the legend of the Isles of the Blessed and the Fountain of Youth. The emperor believed the fakir, and sent an expedition to search for the islands. The commander of the expedi¬ tion, named Hsu, was equal to the occasion. He returned saying that he had met one of these immortals at sea, who had asked him what he was seeking, and that he had replied that he was in search of the elixir of immortality. The immortal had then told him that the gifts which the emperor had sent were too valueless for the purchase of so precious an article. “You may see the elixir,” he had said, “but you may not taste it.” On being asked what gifts the immortal desired he had replied, “Youths and maidens and craftsmen of all sorts.” Accordingly the emperor sent Hsii to sea again, accompanied by 3000 youths and maidens. They sailed away but never returned. Some think that they colonized Japan. CELEBRATED ALCHEMISTS Another devotee of alchemy was Chang Liang, an in¬ timate friend and adviser of the founder of the Han Dynasty. After the death of his patron he retired from public life and devoted himself to the study of Taoism and the search for the elixir of immortality. This he sought by fasting, by hygienic living, and by spiritual ex¬ ercises, but also by the compounding and use of drugs. He failed, and died in 189 B.C. An Chi-sheng, a druggist, is said to have succeeded in compounding the pill of immortality. But he ascended to Heaven from the White Cloud Mountain and carried the secret with him. It is discouraging to note that all those 330 Taoism who succeeded in the search for immortality found it, just as ordinary people do, by passing into another world. This druggist was the teacher of an apprentice, Li Shao- chiin, who succeeded in winning the confidence of the great Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. This was about 140 B.C. Li said to the emperor : “I know how to harden snow and convert it into white silver; I know how cinnabar changes its nature and passes into yellow gold. I can rein the flying dragon and visit the ends of the earth. I can bestride the hoary crane and soar above the ninth heaven. ’ ’ 31 The Emperor Wu was a great conqueror. He extended the borders of China to the southern coast and annexed the island of Hainan. He sent the great explorer, Chang Ch ’ien, into central Asia and contended with Turkish tribes there. He made his influence felt as far as the frontiers of Persia. It may well have been that in this way the first knowledge of Chinese alchemy spread to the West. At the beginning of his reign Wu was an ardent Confucianist ; but his mother was a firm believer in Taoism, and under her in¬ fluence he became the victim of charlatans. He listened to the boastful words of Li Shao-chun, who claimed to be possessor of supernatural powers, and satisfied the emperor that he knew the secret of making gold and of living with¬ out eating and without growing old. Li urged the emperor to study alchemy, saying: “If you will apply yourself to alchemy you will convert the cinnabar into gold. When the gold is produced make of it a vessel. When you have eaten and drunken from this vessel you will be assured of great longevity. Then you may go and visit the immortals on the island of P ’englai. When you have seen them, then perform the ceremonies of feng and shan, and you will never die. ’ ’ 32 He did as he was told. He sacrificed to the God of the Furnace and sent an expedition in search of the Isles of the Blessed. The explorers came in sight of them but were driven back by contrary winds. Li Shao-chun died, but his patron would not believe that 3i See Mayers’ Chinese Readers Manual, under Li Shao-chiin. 32Ch’ien Han Shu. Taoism 331 he was dead. ‘ ‘ He has merely changed his form, ’ ’ he said. He could find no one to tell him what the ceremonies of feng and shan were. For years he yielded himself to the influence of the alchemists, but at last in his old age, after he had been led by the intrigues of magicians to distrust his own son and heir and have him put to death, he con¬ fessed that he had been duped. “All they told me,” he said, 1 1 was false. ’ ’ He built a tower in which he sat, hop¬ ing that he might have communication with the spirit of his lost son. Upon it he inscribed these words : “ I am think¬ ing of my son; I am longing for his return.” His conquests and his superstitions made him a great figure in Chinese history. Many marvelous tales are told of his reign. Among them, preserved in painting and in literature, is the story of the visit paid him by the Fairy Queen, the Hsi Wang Mu of that ancient work, the Shan Hai King. She is fabled to live in the Kunlun Mountains in a palace of jade, surrounded by a wonderful garden. There grows the peach tree, the fruit of which if one eat he shall live forever. Like the Queen of Sheba, who had heard of the wisdom of Solomon and came to see him, the Queen of Fairyland had heard of the glory of Wu and came to see him. The artists picture her approach with her long train of fairy attendants. The story tellers relate that these royal personages became much enamored, one of the other, and kept up their correspondence by means of love birds — the blue birds that fly always in pairs; one with a wing on the right, the other with a wing on the left, so that they thus support each other. These birds carried the love notes to and fro. But the awakening of Wu at the close of his reign did . not stop the search for the philosopher’s stone, nor that for the elixir of immortality. The experiments went on from generation to generation. Prince Liu-an, who was a grand¬ son of the founder of the Han Dynasty, lived during the reign of the Emperor Wu and died in 122 B.C. He sought to explain the origin of gold. “It grows in the earth,” he said, “by a slow process, and is evolved from the imma¬ terial principle underlying the universe, passing from one 332 Taoism form to another up to silver and then through silver to gold. ’ ’ Another alchemist held that gold was of the essence of rock. This essence after a long period becomes quick¬ silver. This is fluid because of lunar influence, which belongs to the principle yin, i.e., the negative and the female principle. It must be acted upon by the solar prin¬ ciple, yang , before it can become solid. When the change takes place it becomes gold. Cinnabar, the red sulphide of mercury, was the substance most commonly used in the experiments of the alchemists. With it many other sub¬ stances were combined, such as arsenic, borax, potash and mother-of-pearl. This last was highly esteemed by the ancient Chinese as having the power of preventing disso¬ lution. They regarded it as of the same nature as jade, and when no jade was at hand to place in the mouth of a corpse they used mother-of-pearl. Jade was the most precious of substances — more precious than gold — and some of the experiments were devoted to the production of artificial jade. It is believed by some that this led to the discovery of porcelain. Taoism has eight celebrated magicians, usually called the “ eight fairies,” a popular theme of the artists. The Chinese name, hsien, by which they are called, is repre¬ sented by a character composed of “man” and “moun¬ tain.” It is the man alone on the mountain — the hermit — who by observation, discipline and meditation has ac¬ quired his knowledge of nature and its forces, and his power to work miracles. Of the eight magicians one only was a woman, Ho Sien-ku, who lived in the seventh century A.D. and who acquired immortality by eating mother-of- pearl. She traveled over the hills as though with wings, and is reported to have been seen floating in the clouds. Chang Kuo was a more interesting character. He had a white mule which he could fold up and put in his wallet. When he wanted to use him he spurted water upon the wallet, which caused the mule to resume his proper shape. This wonderful mule could travel thousands of miles a day, and cost nothing for provender. Equally interesting was Li T’ieh-kuai, who could sepa- Taoism 333 rate his spirit from his body and visit the heavenly regions. On one occasion he went to heaven to consult Lao Tzu and left his body in charge of a disciple, who was to keep the p’o, the animal soul, alive for seven days. If the wizard did not return on the seventh day the p’o was to be allowed to disperse. The disciple carefully tended the body and the animal soul for six days, but on that day he received word of his mother’s illness and went home. On the evening of the seventh day Li returned from heaven to find that his body was no longer animated. He looked about for a refuge and saw a lame beggar about to expire. When the beggar’s spirit had departed Li’s spirit took possession, and from that time onward he dwelt in the body of the lame beggar and walked with an iron staff, i.e., a t’ieh kuai, hence the name. Alchemy continued to find many devotees through the early centuries of the Christian era, and had royal patron¬ age down to the eleventh and twelfth centuries. During the T’ang Dynasty there was constant intercourse between China and Persia. Nestorian Christianity was introduced into the capital of China in A.D. 635, and about the same time Mohammedan Arabs established a mosque at Canton. It is easy to see, therefore, how the alchemy of China was made known to Persia, Greece and Egypt, and how the Arabs later became the special agents for its prop¬ agation in Western Europe in the eleventh century. As alchemy lost its hold in China it increased its power in Europe, and there, through the great intellectual move¬ ments of the sixteenth century, it became the herald of modern science. TAOISM AS A RELIGION In China, however, as early as the middle of the second century A.D. Taoism had ceased to be a philosophy only, and had become a religion as well. In A.D. 166 a temple was erected to Lao Tzu. The Old Philosopher became a god. This transformation was probably due to the growing influence of Buddhism, which was introduced into China 334 Taoism in A.D. 68. The jealousy of the Taoist adepts was aroused. They gathered into one system all the ancient superstitions of China, and in imitation of Buddhism built temples and filled them with images. The old councilor, Chang Liang, already mentioned, who retired from office when the founder of the Han Dynasty died (B.C. 194), was declared to have been one of the patriarchs of the sect, and his descendant in the eighth generation (A.D. 34), Chang Tao-ling, who was declared to have lived to be 123 years of age, was proclaimed as the first pope, although he had been dead more than a hundred years when this honor was conferred. From that day to this the descendants of this Chang Tao-ling have held the headship of the sect. In A.D. 423 the emperor conferred upon the pope of that day the title of Heavenly Teacher, a title still used by his successors. In A.D. 748 the papal authority was limited to members of the family of Chang Tao-ling, and in 1016 the pope was granted a large domain in the province of Kiangsi. The White Deer Grotto, on the Dragon-Tiger Mountain, is still the papal seat. This, in fact, was the home of Chang Tao-ling, and it was here, according to tradition, that he discovered the elixir of immortality. After reaching the age of 123 years, it is said, he as¬ cended to Heaven, bequeathing the secret to his son. THE PANTHEON At the head of the Taoist pantheon there is placed a supreme god, called the Yu Huang Ta Ti, i.e., the Gem Emperor Great God. He dwells in one of the stars of the constellation of the Great Bear, and from his throne there is believed to rule the universe. This universe is organized much as the Chinese Empire was. It is divided into provinces, prefectures, and counties. Over each of these divisions a subordinate deity presides. Every com¬ munity has its presiding spirit and each family its kitchen god. These make their reports to their superiors, just as in the days of the empire the local officials did to the imperial authorities. Taoism 335 EVIL EFFECTS OF TAOISM Taoism has done more than any other religion to per¬ petuate the harmful superstitions of the Chinese. The belief in witchcraft, the dread of the fox spirit, the use of mediums to communicate with the dead, belief in demon possession and the practice of exorcism — all these are common practices of the Taoists. The ouija board was their invention many centuries ago, and charms and amu¬ lets are their merchandise. The Chinese ouija board is usually a table covered witli sand, in which Chinese characters are drawn by a forked twig of the peach or the willow. At the point where the two branches of the fork join, a third short branch extends downwards towards the table forming a support. After sacrifice and invocation to the spirit, the operator takes hold of one prong of the twig and the questioner the other. The fork is held over the table, very much as well-seekers hold a twig of witch-hazel. Suddenly the fork bends downwards toward the table and writes in the sand. But it takes an expert to find in the scratching any resemblance to Chinese characters. There is great fear of evil spirits among the ignorant Chinese. These are supposed to be everywhere and on the alert to do harm. Many, therefore, are the charms and amulets used for the protection of the house and the person. The Taoist pope derives a considerable revenue from the sale of cryptic monograms, which are pasted on the lintel of the front door to frighten away the evil spirits. Sometimes a screen is built at the kerb, just in front of the main entrance. It is said that evil spirits fly only in straight lines, and cannot pass around this screen to enter the door-way. Probably the curious images that often adorn the roof are also of Taoist origin. The theory of demon possession has taken a strong hold upon the Chinese, and all the phenomena that attend such supposed possession in other lands are common also in China. The unfortunate insane are by many regarded 336 Taoism as possessed of the devil, but they are not treated as severely as such persons were in mediaeval Europe. One of the principal occupations of the Taoist is that of an exorcist. The Taoist pope wields a sword said to have come down to him from Chang Tao-ling, a sword which all the devils fear. With this he can cast out evil spirits and rid haunted houses of the ghosts that infest them. In his temple on the Dragon-Tiger Mountain, it is said, there are numerous jars in which demons are confined, jars sealed with the papal seal, which holds in lasting imprisonment these cap¬ tives of the ex calibur . The fear of foxes is a wide-spread superstition. There are many were-foxes abroad, it is believed. They are said to make their dens in old cemeteries, and to derive a great deal of vitality from the remains of human beings upon which they feed. They delight to take the forms of young women, and are reported to be of ravishing beauty and very bewitching. While I was living in Nanking there was an officer in charge of the arsenal there who was reported to be very superstitious. He kept a fox skin in his room and was a worshiper of the fox spirit. It is the influence of such superstitions as these that has made it necessary in the past for enlightened officials to please the masses by engaging in the degrading worship of reptiles and inanimate objects. I have seen a small crocodile carried through the streets of Nanking on a little platform in time of drought, while shop-keepers contributed small sums of money to the bearers, with which to purchase incense for his worship. This was supposed to be effective in producing the much-needed rain. When the Yellow River burst its banks some years ago the great Viceroy, Li Hung-chang, was commanded by the Imperial Government to leave his capital, Tientsin, and visit a little town on the bank of the Yellow River to wor¬ ship a small serpent that had escaped from the flood. This harmless creature was reverently carried to the temple, where the Viceroy was required to pray to it to cause the flood to subside. One of the most beautiful buildings in Peking is the ENTRANCE TO THE TA KAO TIEN, WHERE THE EMPEROR PRAYED FOR R A 1 1ST. PRIVATE CHAPEL OF EMPEROR. Taoism 337 Ta Kao Tien, a Taoist temple situated across the street a little to the west of the back gate of the Forbidden City. In the court-yard before the principal entrance to the temple are two pavilions in which the Taoist monks used to chant their scriptures in time of drought. Behind the main hall of the temple there is a well which played an important part in the service for bringing rain. Many deities were implored in time of drought. High officials in the provinces and at Peking used to visit vari¬ ous shrines that had a reputation for miracle working, but the last resort was an appeal by the Emperor in person to the spirit of a well in the southern part of Chihli Prov¬ ince. An iron tablet is kept suspended in the water of this well, and thus acquires great spirituality. This tablet was carried by high officials to Peking and suspended in the well of the Ta Kao Tien. There it was worshiped by His Majesty the Emperor, and the spirit that clung to the tablet was implored to bring rain. It will be gathered from this that any object — a tree or stone — may become animated by a spirit. Such indeed is the fetich of the savage. According to the wise man “ There is nothing new under the sun.” Men to-day re¬ turn in their philosophies to the theories of their primitive ancestors. That animals and plants, and perhaps even the so-called inanimate objects, may be the possessors of souls, is one of the favorite theories of the German philosopher, Paulsen. Some things, of course, are much more spiritual than others. Age adds to spiritual power. Mt. T’ai in Shan¬ tung is of great might. Its spirit is the judge before whom the dead appear, before whom all devils tremble. Thus, if one take a stone from Mt. T’ai it will carry with it some of the great power of that mountain. In all parts of China you will find stones set up, usually at the end of a lane, which bear the inscription: “A stone from Mt. T’ai dares to oppose,” i.e., oppose the coming of an evil spirit. It may be that the stone never saw Mt. T’ai, but the devil does not know that. The Chinese, however, are not the only superstitious S38 Taoism people in the world. Other peoples’ superstitions are al¬ ways amusing, but what of our own? Frequently one reads in the daily paper a brief paragraph headed ‘ ‘ Astro¬ logical Character Builders.” Many read it as an amuse¬ ment — others take it seriously. Astrological almanacs are still sold in the United States. Relics of the dead are touched for healing in many lands. Palmistry and fortune¬ telling are profitable occupations in all our large cities. Charms and quackery are still the resort of many for protection against evil and for the cure of disease. Not long since I read on the front page of the Times, of London, the advertisement of a woman who claimed to be an expert in laying ghosts. As long as these superstitions exist in the West it is not easy to throw stones at the Chinese. But after all alchemy is the mother of chemistry, astrology the parent of astron¬ omy, and the feng-shui of China is the beginning of the science of physics. All our superstitions are stumblings toward the light. Despite its failings Taoism has a very admirable ethical code. The Kang Yin P’ien, which is known to all Chinese, contains such beautiful sentiments as the following: There are no gate-ways to calamity or blessing save those which men open for themselves. The recompense of good and evil follow as naturally as the shadow follows the substance. Enter the right path; avoid the wrong path. Do not walk in the way of evil. Be compassionate towards all creatures. First correct yourself, and then convert others. Have pity upon the orphaned; assist the widow; respect the aged; be kind to children. Be grieved by the misfortunes of others and rejoice in their good luck. Do not publish the faults of others nor praise your own good¬ ness. Bear insult without hatred; accept kindness as unexpected; bestow charity without seeking reward; give to men without regret. No religion that upholds an ethical code with such precepts can be wholly false. CHAPTER XVI EARLY FOREIGN INTERCOURSE Be kind to the stranger who comes from afar. — Tseng Tzu. In 327 B.C. Alexander the Great introduced Grecian influence into Central Asia where the Greco-Bactrian king¬ dom was subsequently established. He extended his con¬ quests also into the Punjaub in northern India, a region which after his death came under the rule of Sandrokottos, or Chandragupta, as he was known in India, who main¬ tained close relations with Seleucus in Syria. Through this channel a stream of Grecian influence flowed for a con¬ siderable period into India. The grandson of Chandra¬ gupta was Ashoka, the royal patron of Buddhism, whose conversion was to that religion what that of Constantine was to Christianity. Buddhism became the state religion of the Punjaub and Ashoka an ardent propagandist who sent missionaries of the swastika into surrounding coun¬ tries. Buddhism became established in Central Asia about 250 B.C. Before the time of Ashoka there was no sculp¬ tured image of the Buddha used in India. Greek artists were employed to supply the need. THE INFLUENCE OF GREECE But in 170 B.C. the Punjaub was invaded by the Bac- trians, and their kingdom later was overthrown by the Indo-Scythians on A.D. 25. The Indo-Scythians in turn accepted Chinese suzerainty in A.D. 229. Before this last mentioned date a new school of sculpture had sprung up in Gandhara which was even more decidedly Grecian than that of Ashoka. The artist used the Greek 339 340 Early Foreign Intercourse Apollo as his model for the image of the Buddha. He was handicapped by the requirement that the urna be placed be- tween the eyes, and by the demand for abnormally long ear-lobes, these being marks of Buddhahood. He marred the image by complying with these requirements, but he refused to represent the Buddha as a shaven-pated monk. Hence we still have the very un-Buddhistic curly locks. The drapery, too, is Grecian rather than Indian. Modern images, of course, are poor copies, for they are made by artisans, not by artists. Still if one visits a Buddhist temple anywhere in China to-day he can easily trace the features of the Apollo in the image of the Sakya Buddha. Chinese expeditions were sent into Central Asia as early as the second century B.C., and it was quite possible for the knowledge of Buddhism to have been carried to the Chinese capital at that time. It was not, however, until A.D. 65 that the religion was officially introduced and an image of the Buddha installed in the imperial palace. It is not alone in the images of the Buddha that the influence of Greek art is seen in China. The excavations of Sir Aurel Stein in Chinese Turkestan have uncovered the ruins of ancient Buddhist temples whose frescoes are undoubtedly in the Greek style.1 And the same character¬ istics are to be found in the heroic statues of the Lung Men caves, in Honan Province, which were photographed and described by the late Edouard Chavannes.2 Traces of the same influence are to be found also in the paintings of the Northern Wei period (A.D. 386-532) found in cer¬ tain caves of north China, and in the sepulchral images of the T’ang period (A.D. 620-907), many of which have been recovered through excavations made by railway builders in recent years in Honan Province. This Greek influence, however, was indirect. It accom¬ panied an Indian religion. There was never any direct communication between China and ancient Greece. As already mentioned in an earlier chapter, the Buddhist missionaries to China came and went for 600 years. Dur- 1 See "Sand Buried Ruins of Khotan” and "Desert Cathay. ” 2 In his "Mission Archeologique en Chine.” Early Foreign Intercourse 341 ing that long period India exerted considerable influence in China, not only in religion and art but also in science, mathematics in particular, and in philosophy. COMMERCE WITH ROME Trade with the Chinese was known to the elder Pliny, who speaks of the silk, furs and iron brought from that country to Rome.3 When the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Chang Ch’ien into central Asia, in the second century B.C., he became acquainted with Parthia; and subsequently, in the first century A.D., the Chinese Gen¬ eral, Pan Ch’ao, sent a subordinate, Kan Ying, into Parthia with instructions to visit the Roman Empire, or at least that portion of it which had become known to China, the province of Syria. Kan Ying reached the head of the Persian Gulf, but was deterred from making the voyage beyond that point by the tales told him of the hardships and dangers to be encountered. Trade, however, was carried on between the Roman and the Chinese through the Parthians. The trade in those days was conducted by land. The route taken was across Turkestan and over the Pamirs through central Asia, approximately along the route taken now by the Russian Central Asian Railway, to Persia and thence to the Tigris at Ctesiphon. There the road divided. One route led to the head of the Persian Gulf and then by sea around Arabia to the head of the Gulf of Suez at Rekem, Solomon’s Eziongeber, and from there by land to Petra and Gaza. From Gaza part of the trade was carried to Alexandria, and a part up the coast to Antioch, the capital of the Roman Orient. The second route from Ctesiphon went to Zeugma, on the Euphrates, which was crossed by a bridge of boats, and thence over the desert to Tadmor, or Palmyra. The trade consisted in part of silk, iron, skins and hides from China, in exchange for precious stones, jewelry, glass, tex- 3 In his Natural History. 344 Early Foreign Intercourse piratical attacks upon Chinese coast towns by Japanese free-booters. The Emperor of China demanded of the Jap¬ anese ruler that he arrest and punish them. He did so, and sent twenty of them to the Chinese court, together with an offering of tribute. The Chinese emperor thanked him, and sent the pirates to Ningpo, where they were put to death by being thrown into a cauldron of boiling water.8 The Chinese always regarded presents as tribute, and en¬ rolled as vassals all nations that sent embassies. In the case of the Japanese, however, it is asserted in the histories that China supplied Japan with its official calendar — a sign of vassalage, and that in 1409, when Japan announced the death of the Mikado, China sent an ambassador who conferred a posthumous name upon the dead monarch and invested his successor. THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES In the track of the Mohammedans, came from Persia the first Christian missionaries, the Nestorians, who reached the Chinese capital in A.D. 635. They were well received. They translated their sacred books and established many churches. But when the Buddhists under later reigns began to be persecuted, Christian as well as Buddhist monks and nuns were compelled to take up secular occupations. The churches, however, continued to exist, and were pro¬ tected by the Mongol Dynasty. But their teachers were not apparently of very good character, for Kublai Khan requested the Polos to have the Pope send out Roman Catholic missionaries. The Nestorian churches were no doubt eventually merged into those of the Roman faith. CONTROL OF THE TRADE ROUTES In the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth centuries the sea¬ borne trade was greatly encouraged by the Chinese Govern- 8 Chinese History of the Ming Dynasty. Also Wieger ’a 1 1 Textes Historique, ’ ’ pp. 2020 and 2022 Early Foreign Intercourse 345 ment, which derived a large revenue from the duties on imports. Canton, Ch’uanchou (near modern Amoy), Foo¬ chow, Ningpo, and Shanghai all participated in this trade. But after the conquest of the greater part of Asia by the Mongols the orderly government maintained by them led to a revival of trade by land. Constantinople became the European entrepot for oriental goods. The Arabs still controlled the Indian Ocean, and Alexandria in Egypt was a store-house for the luxuries of India and China. Under these circumstances the European nations vied with one another to obtain control of the overland trade. The ficti¬ tious will of Peter the Great, which is said to be responsible in a large degree for the advance of Russia across Asia, declares that the nation that controls the trade of the Far East will rule the markets of Europe. The statement, by whomever made, seems based upon a careful observation of history. When the lucrative trade with China was enriching Constantinople, Venice and Genoa struggled with one another to control the degenerate government on the Bosphorus. In 1204 Venice succeeded in converting the fourth cru¬ sade into an attack upon Constantinople, where, by the aid of France, she was able to replace the Greek ruler with a Latin emperor in the person of Baldwin, although his power was limited by that of the Doge of Venice, who was called “Lord of one-fourth and one-half of the Roman Empire.” It was during the Venetian control of Constan¬ tinople that the Polo brothers engaged in commerce there and went from there to the Crimea and thence, in A.D. 1260, to Bokhara and on to Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol emperors. The very next year the Genoese suc¬ ceeded in driving the Venetians out of Constantinople and in re-establishing a Greek dynasty there. The Venetians, driven out of Constantinople, made Acre, on the east coast of the Mediterranean, a starting point for the overland journey of their caravans. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the Ottoman Turks rose to power, and destroyed the peace which the Mongols had pre¬ served in Asia. Trade was interrupted, and eventually 346 Early Foreign Intercourse Constantinople fell into Turkish hands. Before this last calamity had happened, the Venetians, finding the overland traffic impossible, entered into alliance with the Sultan of Egypt and formed a combination with the Arab traders. Then the merchant of Venice became the arbiter of the exchanges of Europe. But many cities in Europe became jealous of Venice and planned to obtain a share of the oriental trade. The old rival, Genoa, produced a vigorous young navigator, Christopher Columbus, who tried to con¬ vince the merchants of various countries that by sailing due west over the Atlantic one could reach Marco Polo ’s Cipango (Japan) and Cathay (China). He found the Portuguese deeply interested in another plan, which was to get to the Far East by circumnavigation of Africa. This was the plan which Prince Henry the Navigator had bequeathed to them. He had begun his explorations in 1415, but died in 1463 before the Cape had been reached. In 1487 Bartholomew Diaz reached the Cape of Storms, whose name was after¬ ward changed to the Cape of Good Hope. Ten years later Vasco da Gama circumnavigated the continent of Africa, and in 1498 reached India. Although they were hospitably received in India they kidnaped the natives, and were soon engaged in wars of conquest marked by great violence and cruelty. Thus they built up a vast empire in the east, and absolutely destroyed every vestige of the flourish¬ ing commerce of the Arabs. Nevertheless, the Arabs left their imprint upon China. They introduced Mohammedan¬ ism into the south-eastern ports and into Turkestan in the north-west. The Emperor Ming Huan of the T ’ang Dynasty, in the middle of the eighth century, brought in a force of Arab mercenary troops to the number of about 4000. These remained in the heart of China, married Chinese wives, and settled colonies of Mohammedans in most of the large cities of central China. To-day there are some fifteen million Mohammedans in the country. There are fifteen mosques in Peking, and numerous others in the commercial capitals of the country. Early Foreign Intercourse 347 PORTUGAL AND CHINA In 1511 the Portuguese attacked Malacca without provo¬ cation and captured it. The Malay Sultan appealed to his overlord, the Emperor at Peking, but he did not recover his capital. He retained a portion of his kingdom, how¬ ever, and his descendants still rule over it from Johore under the protection of the British government. In 1516 the Portuguese made a visit to China to pros¬ pect. The next year they sent four of their own vessels and four Malay ships from Malacca to the island of San Chuan, whose name resembled so closely the Portuguese for St. John that the place became known to Europeans as St. John’s Island. From this place they were permitted to send two vessels to Canton to trade. One of them carried an envoy from the King of Portugal, named Thome Pires, wdio asked permission to visit Peking. The reply from Peking was that Portugal ought first to restore to Malacca the territory taken from the Sultan. On this visit the Portuguese behaved very circumspectly, so that the charges made against them by the jealous Arabs seemed to be without foundation. In 1520, therefore, word came that Pires might proceed to Peking. He arrived there in January, 1521, but in 1522 he was sent back in chains, and died in prison at Canton in 1523. This severe treatment was due to the fact that after the envoy’s departure for Peking there arrived at St. John’s Island a second fleet of Portuguese vessels, whose commander in utter disregard of Chinese sovereignty, pro¬ ceeded to build a fort and attempted to exercise jurisdiction over the inhabitants. Officers and crews alike behaved with great insolence and cruelty. It was charged that they were kidnaping women and girls. These acts confirmed the earlier reports of the Arabs that the Portuguese were bent on conquest. The Chinese retaliated upon the envoy. The Portuguese continued to come, however, and gradually established considerable colonies at Ningpo, Foochow, and Ch’iianchou (near modern Amoy), Their licentiousness 348 Early Foreign Intercourse and cruelty became so unbearable that in 1545 an imperial edict from Peking directed that they should be attacked wherever found, on sea or land. A massacre at Ningpo that year destroyed the colony there, and that at Ch’iian- chou in 1549 was likewise exterminated. A few survivors escaped. These gathered at Lampacao, a small island near Macao. A few years later they aided the Chinese in sup¬ pressing piracy along the coast, and in 1557 obtained per¬ mission to build some drying sheds at Macao. This grew into a Portuguese settlement. The Chinese, however, con¬ tinued to exercise control over the place until 1848. The Portuguese, in recognition of Chinese sovereignty, had paid rent until that year, when they drove out the Chinese authorities and claimed ownership. This was not recog¬ nized by China until 1887. Macao was for many years the only port at which Europeans and Americans were allowed to reside. There, too, the Portuguese maintained their reputation for cruelty. During the early part of the nineteenth cen¬ tury the port was notorious for the coolie traffic. Tens of thousands of Chinese were lured from their homes by false promises. Others were kidnaped. They were held in barracoons until a shipload had been assembled. Then they were packed in foul quarters in the hold, where many died, and shipped to Peru and Cuba, where they were virtually sold into slavery. American and British vessels were forbidden by their governments to engage in the busi¬ ness, and in 1871 an appeal by the coolies in Peru to the American Minister there led to an exposure of the infamy and to the suppression of the traffic. Not all the Portuguese were vicious. In 1552 St. Francis Xavier, “the Apostle to the Indies/' arrived at St. John’s Island, intending to begin missionary work in China. He had just met with remarkable success in Japan. But he was stricken with fever immediately after his arrival at St. John’s Island, and died without setting foot in China. He was followed in 1584 by Ricci, whose work was con¬ tinued by Verbiest, Adam Schaal, and others of the Society of Jesus. These men acquired great influence at the Court Early Foreign Intercourse 349 in Peking, but lost it when a dispute arose between the Jesuits and other Catholic orders over the toleration by the former of the worship of ancestors by Chinese converts. In 1580 Philip II of Spain united Portugal to his crown. Philip was having trouble with his Dutch subjects. They had been accustomed to buying at Lisbon such oriental products as they needed, but since they were at war with Philip that port was closed against them. Thereupon, they proceeded to take possession of the Portuguese empire in the Far East. Nothing remains to Portugal to-day but Macao, in China, the half of the island of Timor, and Goa on the west coast of India, which is still the capital of the Portuguese possessions in the east. THE DUTCH AND CHINESE Despite the success of the Dutch in their contest with the Portuguese, and the favorable position which they had secured in Japan, they made but little headway in their endeavors to build up a trade with China. Their first vessel arrived at Canton in 1604, but they failed then, and repeatedly in later efforts, to supplant the Portuguese there. They took possession of Formosa and the Pesca¬ dores, but were driven out by Koxinga. They performed the kotow at Peking, which other Europeans refused to do, but it won them nothing save the privilege of carrying tribute to Peking once in eight years, and thus having their countrymen, the liberty-loving Nctherlanders, listed as vassals of the Chinese. It was not until 1762 that they were allowed to establish a hong at Canton. SPAIN AND CHINA The Spanish possession of the Philippines brought them of necessity into communication with the Chinese, who for centuries have had colonies in those islands. Their pros¬ perity there excited the jealousy of the Spaniards. Ef- 350 Early Foreign Intercourse forts were made to keep the Chinese out by terrorizing them. Twenty thousand, it is asserted, were massacred by the Spaniards in 1603, and twenty-two thousand more in 1639. But they continued to come. A head tax levied in later years scarcely checked the immigration. Most of the Chinese in the Philippines have come from the vicinity of Amoy. Our purchase of the islands has brought to the American Consulate at Amoy and the Legation at Peking a number of important diplomatic questions growing out of the presence in Fukien Province of Chinese residents of the Philippines who claim citizenship in the islands and the protection of the American government. THE ARRIVAL OF THE BRITISH The first British vessel reached China in 1637. Captain Weddell had taken the precaution to obtain a permit to trade there from the Portuguese authorities at Goa, but the jealous Portuguese at Macao declined to recognize it as valid, and proceeded to put difficulties in the way. Weddell was fired upon by the Chinese at the Bogue, but replied so forcibly as to put the forts out of business for a time. He proceeded to Canton as though he had been firing a salute, loaded with sugar and ginger and sailed away. Sub¬ sequent efforts of the British were unsuccessful until, in 1670, they opened trade at Amoy and in Formosa. In 1644 the Ming Dynasty was overthrown by the Manchus, but the latter did not succeed in conquering southern China until 1685. That year all the ports of China were thrown open to foreign trade by the Manchus, who had not yet learned to distrust the Europeans. The British did not at once take advantage of the opening; it was not until 1689 that the British East India Company sent another vessel to Canton. From that time to the present the British have held the foremost place in China’s foreign trade, and, generally speaking, have taken the lead both in the promotion of commercial enterprises and in the set¬ tlement of diplomatic questions. Early Foreign Intercourse 351 When the Manchus threw open the ports of China to foreign trade they were but slightly acquainted with the character of Europeans, and did not apparently anticipate any friction with them. This liberal attitude soon changed. The policy of the Mings was revived, and foreign traders were allowed access at the port of Canton only. The sea¬ men of the 17th and 18th centuries were not over-scrupu¬ lous. There was a great deal of lawlessness. Kidnaping and slave-dealing were not uncommon, and smuggling was connived at by customs authorities in Europe as well as in China. Shaw’s Journals record that many of the British vessels, owned in India, “carried on a smuggling trade with the Dutch settlements in and about Malacca, and with the natives, whom they supplied with opium, clothing and fire¬ arms, etc., in return for which they received pepper, block tin and spices. ’ ’ 9 These, with articles from India, were carried to China and sold. “The establishments of the Swedes and Danes” were principally supported, so the journals state, “by the smuggling trade they carried on in the channel and upon the coasts of Britain.”10 The British trade was a monopoly of the East India Company until 1834. But the captains and officers in the service of the company were allowed to engage in private trade and given certain cargo space in the vessels. This they filled, so Shaw tells us, “with fine teas, cassia, Nankin cloths, porcelain, etc., a considerable part of which, on their entering the English Channel, is disposed of to smug¬ glers, between whom and the custom house officers there was always a clear understanding. ” 11 It was not remark¬ able, therefore, that in China too there was smuggling with connivance of the customs officials. It was opium exported from India that was especially compelled to seek illicit channels for introduction into China. The poppy plant was introduced by the Arabs in the 8th century A.D. A decoction of its seeds was used in 9 Journals of Major Samuel Shaw, p. 169, 10 Ibid., p. 171. u Ibid., p. 173, 3 52 Early Foreign Intercourse medicine for a soporific. In the 10th century the exhila¬ rating effects of the drink were sung by the Chinese poets of the Sung Dynasty. It was not until the 15th century that the opium began to be imported as a medicine. In the 16th century it was produced in India and China, but its uses were medicinal only. In 1620 tobacco was intro¬ duced into China from the Philippines. Imperial edicts forbidding its use were powerless to prevent smoking. In its preparation certain drugs were used ; among them was opium. Thus a taste for opium was cultivated. In time the tobacco was omitted and the opium was smoked alone. The habit spread rapidly, and was soon recognized as a social evil. In 1729 an imperial edict prescribed severe penalties for those who sold it, and later the death penalty was prescribed for those who smoked; but the law was too severe and became a dead letter. For a time the drug con¬ tinued to be imported for medicinal purposes and paid a light import duty, but smoking opium was made contra¬ band. The difficulty of distinguishing between opium for medicinal purposes and opium for smoking finally led to the prohibition of the import altogether. In the early years of British trade the ships of the East India Company engaged in the traffic, but after the more stringent edicts of 1800 the company’s ships were forbidden to accept cargoes of the drug. Other British vessels, how¬ ever, continued the business, in which many merchants of other nationalities also engaged. Americans were inter¬ ested in it from 1810 onwards. Before the first war be¬ tween China and Great Britain it made up an appreciable part of our imports into China, and constituted from one- fourth to one-third of the total imports from all countries. Much of the opium handled by the Americans was brought from Turkey. Britons were forbidden to deal in Turkish opium, which competed with that from India. It is neces¬ sary to say, however, that the American government never countenanced the trade, and its officers repeatedly warned Americans that those engaging in it would have no pro¬ tection from their government. There were always, of Early Foreign Intercourse 353 course, large numbers of British and American merchants who refused to have anything to do with the evil traffic. The opium was brought in foreign vessels to the China coast in the vicinity of Canton, and sold for cash to Chinese smugglers, who bribed their own customs officers to permit them to land it. This contraband traffic and the friction created by it became one of the causes that led to the first war between China and Great Britain. This, however, was only one of a number of causes con¬ tributing to the disturbance of friendly relations between the two powers. The Chinese were arrogant. They re¬ garded themselves as the only civilized people on earth, and looked upon all others as barbarians. The Europeans and Americans, on the other hand, considered themselves superior to the Chinese, and were satisfied that the Euro¬ pean way of doing things was the only right way. The refusal of the Emperor to receive foreign envoys without the kotow, and the assumption of China that all other na¬ tions were her tributaries, angered the western world. Petty restrictions imposed by the Chinese upon foreign residents, the bankruptcy of Chinese firms that were in debt to European merchants for loans contracted in violation of Chinese law, the prohibition to deal with any firms outside the co-hong, and the extra-legal charges imposed by officials — all these things helped to create an atmosphere of dis¬ trust and bitterness, which could be cleared only by the lightning of war. THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE IN THE ORIENT The year 1689, in which the British East India Company succeeded in establishing itself in Canton, was also the year in which the first treaty between China and a Euro¬ pean power was signed. That was the treaty of Nerchinsk between Russia and China, by whose terms the Russians were compelled to evacuate the valley of the Amur and agree to make the Yablonoi Mountains the boundary be¬ tween Siberia and Manchuria. 354 Early Foreign Intercourse The story of Russia’s advance across Siberia is a thrill¬ ing one, rivaling that of our own pioneers who pushed the western frontier over the Alleghenies, across the Miss¬ issippi, and beyond the Sierras to the coast of the Pacific. In Moscow, next to the Kremlin, the most noted place is the Kitai Gorod — i.e., the “Chinese City.” China to the Russians is still Kitai, just as to Marco Polo it was Cathay, another form of the same word. The history of the Kitai Gorod reaches far back into the past, to a time when the Grand Dukes of Moscow were subjects of the Mongols and received their investiture from the Grand Khan. It was in 1535 that Plelena, mother of Ivan the Terrible, surrounded the Kitai Gorod with its own stone wall. Even then its shops and ware-houses were stored with the precious treasures of the East. But Russia’s relations with China began still earlier. In 1340, during the Mongol Dynasty, made famous by Kublai Khan, Russian imperial guards were employed by the emperors of China. It was Sophie Paleologus, niece of the last emperor of Christian Constantinople, who was unwill¬ ing to be subject to the Mongols, and who pushed her husband, Ivan III, into the daring revolt that put an end to Tartar dominion over Russia. The first Russian em¬ bassy to China was sent in 1567, but was no more successful in its efforts to establish relations with Peking than that of Portugal which preceded it but a few years. The history of Asiatic Russia gathers about three great names; those of Yermak, Khabaroff, and Muravieff. On the first of September, 1581, at that period the Russian New Year’s Day, Yermak, an ex-pirate with a price upon his head, led a band of adventurers over the Urals to explore the wilderness, subdue the savages, and enrich his employers, the Stroganoffs, with the stores of furs to be obtained. Pie subdued the tribes in the valley of the Ob, captured Sibir, the capital of a Mongol chieftain, and gave its name to the surrounding region, which became Siberia, a name extended to most of Asiatic Russia. The great Tzar pardoned his former offenses, and his memory to-day is held in honor by Russia’s millions. He perished Early Foreign Intercourse 3 55 in the struggle with the Mongols, but his successors pushed on their exploitations, and in fifty-five years from the be¬ ginning of Yermak’s work, i.e., in 1636, they reached the Pacific. In 1644 when the Manchus were attacking Peking, the Russians entered the beautiful valley of the Amur. It was left for Khabaroff to colonize the valley. He entered it in 1650, although it was already occupied by subjects of the Manchu Emperor of China. In 1657 he reached the mouth of the Ussuri, and built a fort on the bluff at whose base the waters of the Ussuri mingle with those of the Amur. To-day this bluff is occupied by a city which bears his name, Khabaroffsk. Here he was attacked by the Chinese. Numerous engagements followed, and event¬ ually the Russians, poorly supported by the Tzar’s govern¬ ment, had to withdraw from the Amur Valley and agree, in the treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, to fix the boundary at the water-shed which shuts in the valley on the north. This remarkable treaty is the longest lived treaty on record. Although slightly modified in 1727 and 1768 it formed the basis of Russia’s relations with China until superseded by the treaty of Tientsin in 1858. It is of interest for another reason also. In it for the first time China recognized the equality of a foreign state. It is sometimes said that it granted Russia extraterritorial jurisdiction in China. This is incorrect. The significance of the articles dealing with the punishment of offenses com¬ mitted by the subjects of either power in the territority of the other is their mutuality. “ Subjects of either nation¬ ality who pass the frontier for private business and commit crimes of violence to property and life are to be arrested and sent to the frontier, to be handed over to the chief local authority of their own country to be punished.” They are recognized as under the protection of their own government, but that government cannot exercise juris¬ diction over them until the offender is returned to its own territory. Muravieff, the third great name in Siberian history, was that of a man entirely different in character from the two explorers. He was a young military officer who had dis- 356 Early Foreign Intercourse tinguished himself in the war with Turkey, but in his deal¬ ings with China displayed remarkable diplomatic, rather than military, qualities. Sent to the Far East in 1854, during the Crimean War, to prevent the seizure of Kamtchatka by the British and French, by his tact he managed to preserve friendly rela¬ tions with the Chinese, while using the Amur River, with¬ out Chinese permission, for the transport of troops and supplies. The Chinese were fully occupied in the sup¬ pression of the Taiping Rebellion. They could not afford to go to war with Russia. Moreover the British and French were pressing China with demands that led to the war of 1858 and 1860, and Muravieff utilized to his own advan¬ tage the ill feeling of China towards Britain and France. To Chinese protests he replied by referring them to the representative of Russia in China, who, with the represen¬ tative of the United States, was watching developments around Canton and Shanghai. In the end he obtained for Russia without any military action, or even the threat of force, the cession of the left bank of the Amur and the maritime province east of the Ussuri. This gave Vladi¬ vostok to the Tzar. THE BEGINNING OF AMERICAN RELATIONS Our commerce with China began immediately after the close of the war of the revolution. The treaty of peace with Great Britain was signed in 1783. In February, 1784, the good ship, Empress of China , sailed from New York for Canton, where it arrived on August 28th. The vessel was commanded by Captain Green, but the venture wrns in charge of Major Samuel Shaw,12 who became later the first official representative of the United States in China. He was a young man who had enlisted in the revolutionary army as soon as he came of age, in October, 1775. He was commissioned a Lieutenant of Artillery, and fought 12 The Journal of Major Samuel Shaw, with a life of the author by Josiah Quincy, is authority for the statements relating to Shaw that are made in this chapter. Early Foreign Intercourse 357 in every important engagement of the war. At its close he found himself a major, but penniless and in debt. When he offered his services to certain merchants of New York as supercargo for a shipment to China his offer was promptly accepted. The cargo was chiefly ginseng, a mild tonic for which the Chinese still have an appetite. Shaw dilated in his report upon the advantage which the Ameri¬ cans had over European competition in that “the other¬ wise useless produce of our mountains and forests” (i.e., ginseng) would suffice in a considerable degree to procure for us the “elegant luxury,” tea. It was French friendship that gave most assistance to the young American in initiating his enterprise. In the Straits of Sunda, at Java Head, he fell in with two French war-ships which had been loaned by the king to French merchants. The French officers invited him to accompany them, and the three vessels sailed together to Macao. As¬ sociation in the war of the revolution had created strong ties between the peoples of the two countries. Shaw’s journal contains the following entry concerning his arrival at Canton: From Macao we proceeded towards Canton, and on the morn¬ ing of the 28 (August) on opening the shipping at Whangpoa (14 miles below Canton), we saluted them with 13 guns, which were returned by the vessels of each nation. At eight o’clock we came to anchor, and again complimented the shipping with 13 guns. Previously to our coming to anchor, the French ships sent two boats, with anchors and cables, under an officer, who assisted us in getting into a good berth, and staid on board until we were moored. The Danish sent an officer to compliment; the Dutch sent a boat to assist; and the English an officer “to wel¬ come your flag to this part of the world.” • •••••• The behavior of the gentlemen on board the respective ships was perfectly polite and agreeable. On board the English it was impossible to avoid speaking of the late war. They allowed it to have been a great mistake on the part of their nation — were happy it was over — glad to see us in this part of the world — hoped all prejudices would be laid aside, and added that, let England and America be united, they might bid defi¬ ance to all the world. 358 Early Foreign Intercourse On Shaw’s return to the United States, in 1785, he found his former chief, General Knox, serving as Minister of War, and by him was offered a post as Secretary in the War Office, which he accepted for a few months. But he was induced to write a report of his voyage to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Honorable John Jay, and through him received the thanks of Congress. A few months later Congress elected him Consul to China, with¬ out salary. At the same time he was, of course, permitted to engage in trade. Thus he undertook his second voyage, in 1786, under more favorable auspices than the first. It is interesting to note that during these years immediately following the Kevolution, we did not have a War Depart¬ ment, but a War Office — that instead of a Department of State and a Secretary of State we had an Office of Foreign Affairs and a Minister for Foreign Affairs. It is even more noteworthy that it was not the President who ap¬ pointed Major Shaw to be Consul, but that the Congress elected him to that post. The things wdiich we wanted from China in those early days were silk, tea, and nankeens. Nankeens are heavy, unbleached cotton piece-goods made in the vicinity of Nanking. Silk and tea are still two of the largest items among our imports from China, but the cotton piece-goods trade has reversed its current. We now sell cotton cloth to China instead of buying such stuffs in China. This change has been brought about by the invention of the cotton gin and the power loom. China still uses her hand- looms, however, and the native cloth still commands a limited market there, because of its weight and strength; but the great factories that are being built will eventually destroy altogether the cottage industries. To-day there are 3,200,000 spindles in Chinese factories driven by steam, and power looms in their proportion are weaving cotton cloth. In the days of Shaw the trade was conducted in sailing vessels. The forests of Maine furnished the timber for the wooden ships that were built in New England. The American ‘"clipper” ship was famous the world over. At Early Foreign Intercourse 359 the commencement of our civil war in 1860 the American tonnage in the China trade had almost overtaken the British, but in the construction of iron vessels we could not compete so easily. When the Great World War broke out, in 1914, our carrying trade with China was almost nil. During the war our ship-building programme gave us a new mercantile marine, but it is doubtful that these vessels can be operated profitably without a subsidy, seeing that American seamen command so much higher wages than those of Europe or Asia. In 1914 our share of the tonnage in the China trade was less than one per cent, and in the foreign trade of China it was about seven per cent of the total. The situation improved considerably during the war, but the conditions were abnormal. American tonnage increased to five per cent and our share of the foreign trade of China to thirteen per cent of the total. Recent legislation by the Congress will doubtless encourage American trade with the Orient, by removing certain handicaps under which American companies have had to operate in China in competition with those of Europe. American relations with China cannot be discussed with¬ out mention of the work of American missionaries. They are found both in Roman Catholic and in Protestant mis¬ sions, but chiefly in the latter. The first Protestant mis¬ sionary to China arrived there in 1807. He was a British subject, but he went out in an American vessel because of the unwillingness of the British East India Company to give him transportation. Subsequently the company recog¬ nized the value of his work and took him into its employ as translator. Prom the time of Robert Morrison to the present British and American missionaries have cooperated very zealously in their work. The Americans have done the larger part of the educational and medical missionary work, and they have also been interested in various other philanthropic enterprises. A British subject connected with an American mission prepared the first Chinese font of metal type which made possible the cheap production of books and newspapers. There is no Chinese alphabet, and since each word has its own symbol there are some 360 Early Foreign Intercourse thirteen thousand characters in common use. A case of Chinese type, therefore, occupies a small room. It was the arrangement of the case in such a manner as to make possible the ready finding of a character that was the chief difficulty to be overcome., Prior to this invention Chinese books were printed from wooden blocks, each page having its own block. There has been, it is true, a limited use of movable wooden type since the tenth century A.D. These usually represent characters in constant demand for perparing forms for public documents. The celebrated Peking Gazette , the oldest daily paper in the world, which dated from the eighth century A.D. was cut on tablets of wax from which the impressions were taken. The introduction of movable metal type and the process of stereotyping has greatly increased the production and circulation of literature. In 1887 there were but three or four daily newspapers in China. In 1914 there were forty dailies in Peking alone. The work of the missionaries has had much to do also with the social and political reforms that have taken place in recent years. CHAPTER XVII OPENING THE GATES OF CHINA There is no greater evil than thinking lightly of the foe. — Lao Tzu. The irritating restrictions to which the foreign merchants at Canton had to submit, and the heavy burden of taxation borne by the trade there, led the British to attempt to open some other port, but all such attempts were unsuccessful. The co-hong which held the monopoly of trade at Canton wanted no rivals, and the officials who squeezed the co-hong were quite as determined as the co-hong to keep all gates closed save that at Canton only. macartney’s embassy The British Government then undertook to open nego¬ tiations with the Court at Peking. In 1792 the Earl of Macartney was appointed ambassador to undertake this task, and arrived on August 5, 1793 at Taku. No expense had been spared in fitting out the embassy. Six hundred cases of choice presents were carried to Peking for the emperor. The Chinese were equally lavish in their enter¬ tainment of the mission. They are said to have spent $850,000 for this purpose. By the Chinese these rich presents were regarded as tribute, and over the boats which conveyed the embassy and its treasures to Peking there floated flags bearing in Chinese the words “Tribute Bearers from England.” Ma¬ cartney knew that the inscriptions were there, but, as he did not read Chinese, he assumed that his ignorance would be taken for granted. On the other hand the Chinese knew that he had interpreters who could, and probably would, 301 / 362 Opening the Gates of China read the inscriptions. To the Chinese along the river the sight of this huge fleet of boats bearing tribute was proof of the greatness of China and the power of the Son of Heaven at Peking. From Peking the embassy had to make its way to the imperial hunting lodge at Jehol, be¬ yond the Great Wall and distant four days’ journey from the capital. Meantime, there had been much dis¬ cussion concerning the kotow. The Chinese wondered whether the British would perform this obeisance or not; the British debated among themselves as to the propriety of making it. When the Earl was told that he must kotow he offered to do so, provided an officer of equal rank with himself would kotow to the portrait of the King of England which he carried with him. The official account of the embassy states that a compromise was reached, and that Macartney was received upon his bending one knee, as he did on approaching his own sovereign. Rockhill, however, in his account of ‘ ‘ Diplomatic Audiences at the Court of China,” presents evidence to support the statement of the Chinese that the British Ambassador did perform the three kneelings and nine head-knockings. Anderson, who was a member of the mission but was not present at the audience, stated that the ceremonial followed was kept a profound secret. The humiliation experienced, if such obeisance really was made, won nothing for the British. The Emperor handed the Earl a haughty reply to King George, and rather plainly intimated that it was time for the embassy to be going. The burdens upon trade were not lightened, but on the contrary were increased, and further friction was created by disputes over jurisdiction. The British and the Europeans had several times at¬ tempted, but without success, to assert extraterritorial jurisdiction over their subjects in China. The Chinese from the beginning had always claimed territorial jurisdiction over alien residents. Fighting within the territorial waters of China between British and Americans during the war of 1812 was another source of trouble, and was protested against by the Chinese Government, Opening the Gates of China 363 amherst’s mission All the old annoyances were continued, and in 1816 the British Government decided to make a second attempt to improve the situation. There was a new Emperor at Peking, Chiach ’ing, a smaller minded man than his father, Ch’ienlung, and even more arrogant. Lord Amherst was the British envoy. He was very rudely treated by the Chinese. All the way from Taku to Tungchow he was annoyed by their insistent demand that he should promise to kotow. Several members of the mission advised him to comply. But the opportunity to do so was not given. It was a custom of the Chinese Court to hold audiences at daylight, or even a little before daylight. After the Boxer troubles of 1900-1901, as a concession to Western customs the Empress Dowager, although still receiving Chinese officers at daylight, used to grant audiences to the diplo¬ matic representatives at nine o’clock in the morning. In Amherst’s time, however, the old rule obtained, and when he reached Tungchow, the terminus of the river journey, he was hurried to Peking during the night, trav¬ eling in a palanquin, and from Peking to the Summer Palace ten miles further, making a night journey of twenty- two miles in this uncomfortable fashion. Immediately upon his arrival, at five o’clock in the morning, he was summoned to audience. He refused, saying that his uni¬ form and letters of credence had not yet arrived. He complained, too, that he was ill. The Emperor sent his physician, who reported that the ambassador was feigning illness. The Emperor in anger ordered him back to Tung¬ chow. Back to Tungchow he was taken, and home to England without having accomplished anything. CHINESE ARROGANCE This attitude of the Chinese toward Western Powers is quite easy to explain now, but then it seemed as inex- 364 Opening the Gates of China plicable as it was intolerable. All the nations around China, save one, Russia, were small and weak and had received their civilization from China. The Arabs, Portu¬ guese, British and Dutch, moreover, had all come to Canton by sea, and were believed to be inhabitants of small out¬ lying islands. Great Britain, although without her consent, had been inscribed among the tributaries; why should she be treated with more consideration than other tributaries? Russia had been treated as an equal, it is true, but Russia was manifestly a great power, stretching along the whole northern frontier of China. As for the kotow, from the days of Themistocles to the present the European has refused to perform the humili¬ ating obeisance demanded by Asiatic courts. Napoleon, however, held that the Chinese were quite right in de¬ manding that aliens comply with the requirements of the court, that otherwise a foreigner is treated with more respect than a prince of the blood. He declared, too, that the claim of an ambassador to be the personal representa¬ tive of his sovereign was an unreasonable one, since any messenger might carry a letter from one monarch to an¬ other. But Napoleon’s views were not generally shared by European rulers. As for the Americans, their views were well expressed by Minister Ward, who, when told he must kotow refused saying: “No, I kneel only to God and woman.” The Chinese had finally to abandon both the claim to superiority and the demand for the kotow. When the Emperor Tungchih attained his majority, in 1873, and the diplomatic corps was received in audience, it was agreed after much discussion that the Ministers should bow three times before His Majesty. This they did, although the audience was not a success, since the diplomats were re¬ ceived in the hall where tributaries had audience. It was not until after the settlement of the Boxer troubles, in 1901, that the question of ceremony at imperial audiences was satisfactorily adjusted. But in the days of Macartney that was more than a hundred years in the future. Opening the Gates of China 365 THE BREAKING POINT The British East India Company’s charter expired in 1834, and its monopoly of British trade at Canton came to an end. The company had given notice to the Chinese authorities that its operations were about to cease. The Chinese had replied that it would be necessary to appoint some one as Vai-pan of the British merchants. By a t’ai- pan the Chinese meant a commercial man, representative of the British merchants, such as Chinese merchants had in Java or the Philippines, such as in the old days the Arabs had at Canton — a merchant and not a government official. They wanted one merchant selected to whom the Chinese could communicate the orders of the Government for all. But the British assumed that what was wanted and needed was an official representative of the British Government, of the sort which we call consular, one who could not only look after trade but exercise jurisdiction over British subjects. Accordingly Lord Napier and two others were appointed superintendents of British trade in China, and instructed, after due consideration of the sub¬ ject, to set up a court to have jurisdiction over British subjects. Lord Napier was head of the Commission. All this was done without consulting the Chinese and without notifying them. Lord Napier was instructed to avoid friction, but in the same document was given commands which would of neces¬ sity be found to create friction. He was required by his instructions to proceed directly to Canton, and to notify the Viceroy by letter of his arrival; but the Chinese regu¬ lations in force did not allow any foreigner to visit Canton without a permit, nor any communications to be made to officials except through the hong merchants, and all such communications had to be couched in the form of petitions. Lord Napier, of course, would not send his letter through merchants. He held himself to be of rank equal to that of a Viceroy, and he would not petition. He went to Canton without a permit; his letter was not received, and 366 Opening the Gates of China the merchants were punished for not preventing his coming. He was ordered back to Macao and refused to go. British trade then was stopped. British merchants were shut up in their hongs and all Chinese were forbidden to serve them or to supply them with food. British war-ships came for their protection. The people were alarmed, and finally, to relieve the merchants, Napier went back to Macao, and died almost immediately after his arrival there. His associates and successors were better acquainted with the situation. They had formerly been connected with the East India Company and had lived some years in China. They were more circumspect therefore. But their passive attitude only postponed the inevitable conflict, for it strengthened, rather than weakened, the Chinese self- confidence, and made the position of the foreign merchant the more unendurable. The Chinese were filled with self- conceit because of their experience with weaker neighbors. They knew nothing of the strength of Europe, and their contempt for the foe was their undoing. The claims of the East and the West were wholly irrecon¬ cilable. War seemed the only solution of the problem, and war came. It is known generally as the “ Opium War,” and opium was the immediate cause of the rupture between Great Britain and China. The opium question, however, as already said, was but one of the many causes leading to war. Opium smuggling had increased rapidly. Foreigners of many nationalities were engaged in it; British, American, Portuguese and others. The Emperor was determined to put a stop to opium smoking and end the illicit traffic in the drug. Commissioner Lin, a man of iron will, arrived in Canton in March, 1839, with full power to investigate and to act. It did not take him long to make his investi¬ gation. In one week after his arrival he issued stringent orders to all foreign residents of Canton to deliver up all the opium in their possession within three days. Delay led to the shutting of all foreign traders in their hongs, cut off from all food and service and surrounded by a large force of troops. The demand of the British Superintend- Opening the Gates of China 367 ent for passports for the British was vain. He was com¬ pelled to deliver the opium, over twenty thousand chests, all of which was destroyed. The British immediately began preparations for war. It took time to send despatches to London; there was no telegraph in those days. A fleet was sent out and blockaded Canton in June, 1840. The war lasted two years. The Chinese were defeated every¬ where, but the Chinese troops showed no lack of courage. Their equipment and their methods were obsolete. The British were impressed by the desperation of the Manchu garrisons at Chapu and Chinkiang. When they realized their defeat they killed their wives and children and then committed suicide. The treaty of peace was signed at Nanking on August 29, 1842. By that treaty the obnoxious monopoly of the co-hong at Canton was abolished. That city and four others were opened to foreign residence and trade. Consuls were allowed to reside at these ports. A reasonable tariff was promised. Twenty-one million dollars were to be paid as indemnity, of which six millions were for the opium that had been destroyed, and Hongkong was ceded to Great Britain. But the opium question remained unsettled. The Chinese would not agree to legalize the traffic. During the negoti¬ ations at Nanking the British introduced the topic, and suggested that it would be well to allow the import of the drug under a heavy duty, and thus obtain a revenue from it. The Chinese asked the British why they did not forbid the production of opium in India. Sir Henry Pot- tinger replied that it would not be consistent with the con¬ stitution of Great Britain, and that, even if they did exer¬ cise so arbitrary a control over the tillers of the soil in India, it would not prevent the coming of the drug to China; that, if India did not produce it, other countries would — a rather lame excuse for an evil trade. He re¬ minded them that, if they would only be virtuous, they would neither use the drug nor permit it to be smuggled. The next year a treaty of commerce was signed which provided the promised tariff on imports and exports, and stipulated for a measure of extraterritoriality. This last, 368 Opening the Gates of China however, was more definitely provided for in the American treaty of 1844. The tariff was made specific, but was based upon a gen¬ eral charge of five per cent ad valorem. A few articles paid a somewhat higher duty, and bread-stuffs and bullion were put upon the free list. This fastening of a treaty tariff upon China was an encroachment upon her sovereignty. The low rate adopted, too, was an injustice that has been perpetuated to our own day, one that is making very dif¬ ficult the financial readjustment needed. The Boxer folly and the political troubles that have afflicted the country since 1911 have plunged the nation into debt ; but if China enjoyed tariff autonomy these debts might easily be met. This was one of the subjects dealt with by the Washington Conference. THE FIRST AMERICAN TREATY WITH CHINA The war between Great Britain and China was watched with great interest by the American Government, and, as soon as the Congress assembled after news of the treaty of Nanking was received, that is to say in December, 1842, the President recommended that an appropriation be made for a commission to negotiate a treaty between the United States and China. It was Daniel Webster, Secretary of State, who first called attention to the desirability of such action. Caleb Cushing was the man selected as Commis¬ sioner. He was well received by the Chinese, and within six months after his arrival in China had signed a treaty which in some respects was an improvement upon that of the British. But it was the British that had opened the way for American action. Foster, in his “American Di¬ plomacy in the Orient,” calls attention to the curious style of the letter addressed by President Tyler to the Emperor of China.1 Webster had resigned the Secretaryship of State, and this letter was evidently drafted by some sub¬ ordinate in the Department who thought that the Chinese i Op. cit., p. 81. Opening the Gates of China 369 Emperor was to be treated in the same manner as the chieftain of a tribe of American Indians. To the Ameri¬ cans the Chinese were wild barbarians. This was shown, not only by the letter mentioned, bnt in the preparation of the copy of the treaty which was sent to Peking after the exchange of ratifications. Many years later, in 1901, during the settlement of the Boxer troubles, the American Minister appointed me to be a member of an international committee to examine the archives at the Chinese Foreign Office and arrange for their protection. The Chinese Gov¬ ernment had fled when the capital was captured, and there had been much looting in the city. It was important that the records of the Foreign Office should be preserved. On entering the Hall of Archives we found the whole lot of documents piled in a heap on the floor, as though it had been intended to set them afire. In the midst of the pile was the Chinese Government’s copy of our first treaty. It was bound in purple plush, like an old-fashioned family album, and the seal attached was of solid silver, a replica of the great seal of the United States, obverse and reverse. It was fastened to the document by a gold cord. It was undoubtedly put up in this garish fashion in the belief that it would appeal to the supposed barbarous tastes of the Chinese. But if Americans looked upon the Chinese as barbarians the latter returned the compliment with interest. When the yamen of the Canton Viceroy was seized by the British, during their second war with China, they found copies of the official reports made by the Chinese commissioner who negotiated with Cushing. In one of these reports he refers to Cushing in very disparaging terms as the “Bar¬ barian envoy,” and told how his “stupid ignorance” had to be dispelled.2 The two peoples have come to understand one another much better since then, and to appreciate the good features of each other’s civilization. The American treaty contained three important pro¬ visions not found in the British treaty. It was expressly provided that the Americans who should engage in the 2 Ibid., p. 90. 370 Opening the Gates of China opium traffic should receive no protection from the Ameri¬ can Government. The treaty also contained a stipulation permitting revision at the end of twelve years, a very important one as it later appeared, when the Chinese re¬ sisted all attempts at revision. The third was more important than either of the other two. It was the stip¬ ulation relating to the extraterritorial jurisdiction to be exercised by the United States over its citizens in China. This question will be treated more fully elsewhere. In the previous chapter I have pointed out the mistake made by some writers, who assume that the surrender by the Chinese of territorial jurisdiction was readily made, and that the Arabs enjoyed a somewhat similar privilege in the ninth century of the Christian era. THE SECOND WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN The treaties of 1842, ’43 and ’44 did not accomplish all that the Powers had expected. The Chinese had been de¬ feated, but they were just as unwilling as ever to have any dealings with Western peoples. The ancient Chinese had tried to keep out the Mongols by building a brick wall across north China; their descendants tried to keep the Europeans at a distance by passive resistance, by delays, by all sorts of obstructive tactics, and more actively by evading treaty provisions. The treaty powers sent out their commissioners to care for the interests of their citizens, but the Chinese provided no channel of communication with them. There was a Commissioner of Foreign Affairs at Canton, it is true, but, as was later discovered, his duty was to prevent any inter¬ course, if possible, and to hinder and obstruct communi¬ cation. It was the Manchu officials, rather than the Chinese merchants, who were opposed to intercourse. The latter have always been eager to trade, and, as a rule, they have been very honorable in their dealings. The American treaty, as already said, provided for revision at the end of twelve years, and Great Britain HALL OF AUDIENCE AT THE SUMMER PALACE. Opening the Gates of China 371 enjoyed favored nation treatment. The American treaty was due for revision in 1856, but all attempts even to dis¬ cuss the question were evaded by the Chinese. When appeal was made to Peking the American commissioners were referred to the Chinese mandarin charged with the conduct of foreign affairs who resided at Canton. When this officer at Canton was asked for an interview he in¬ variably replied that he would appoint an auspicious day at some time in the future, when he was not busy. But that auspicious day never arrived. Disrespect shown to the British flag led to a second appeal to arms in the autumn of 1856. Canton was captured on October 29th. Search of the Viceroy’s yamen discov¬ ered his correspondence with Peking, from which it was learned that it was the Court at Peking that was really responsible for the hostile attitude toward Western powers. It became necessary, then, to bring home to the Peking Court a realization of their own weakness, and the folly of deluding themselves with the fancy that procrastination could ever save them from a final accounting. It was not until the forts at Taku had been taken and Tientsin was captured that the Manchus at Peking were sufficiently alarmed to enter into negotiations. The French had a grievance in the torture and murder of a French missionary in Kuangsi Province, by a local magistrate who had es¬ caped all punishment for his crime. The French, therefore, joined the British in the attack upon the Taku Forts, and the .Anglo-French forces marched into Tientsin on May 30, 1858. The Chinese at once agreed to the revision of the British and French treaties. The Americans took advantage of the situation to negotiate a revision of theirs, and the Russians also entered into a new treaty. OPIUM IN THE TREATIES OF 1858 William B. Reed was the American envoy who negotiated our treaty of 1858. He had instructions to support the Chinese in their attitude towards the opium traffic, and to 372 Opening the Gates of China renew the provisions of our treaty of 1844 in regard to that trade. In violation of these instructions he omitted the provision of our first treaty in regard to opium, and urged Lord Elgin, of the British embassy to try to have the trade legalized. Morse well says that Reed must be classed with those who have betrayed a great cause.3 Arrangements had been made to exchange ratifications the following year (1859), and for this purpose Mr. J. E. Ward was sent out by the American Government. The Russians had followed the old route of communication with Peking via Kiakhta, and had no difficulty in exchanging the ratification in the Chinese capital. The British treaty stipulated that ratifications should be exchanged at Peking. The American and French treaties did not specify the place, but each had a favored nation clause under which claim could be made for the same privilege. In the mean¬ time the Chinese had rebuilt and strengthened the forts at Taku. Upon the arrival there of the American, British and French envoys, they were requested to land a few miles to the north, at Peitang, from which point they would be conveyed to Peking. The British and French declined to go to Peitang, and insisted on going up the Haiho to Tientsin. The American envoy went to Peitang, as requested, and was carried to Peking. There he was told that he could have no audience of the Emperor unless he would kotow, and it was upon this occasion that he made the reply already quoted : “I kneel only to God and woman.” He was taken back to Peitang and ex¬ changed ratifications there. While he was upon his way to Peking the British and French attacked the forts at Taku and were beaten off with considerable loss. During the engagement Commander Tatnall of the American frigate, Powhatan , ordered a small steamer that accompanied him to tow several British launches into action. “Blood is thicker than water,” he exclaimed. His action, however, was an embarrassment to the American Minister: The British and French had to 3 International Relations of the Chinese Empire, I: p. 554. Opening the Gates of China 373 draw off and refit. They came back the next year (1860) in stronger force, captured the forts, took Tientsin and marched to Peking. In vain the Peking Government strove to stop their advance, offering repeatedly to negotiate with them at other points on the way. The treachery of the Chinese in arresting British and French representatives who were within the Chinese lines under a flag of truce, and the torture and murder of several of these, hardened the resolution of the envoys. They seized the celebrated summer palace of the Emperor at Yuan Ming Yuan, looted and burned it, looted and destroyed a number of summer palaces belonging to imperial princes, and finally negoti¬ ated peace in the capital itself. The Emperor, Hsienfeng, a dissipated man, the Empress and the Princess Yi, who was the secondary consort and the mother of the Emperor’s only son, fled together to the hunting lodge at Jehol. There the Emperor died in the summer of 1861, being but thirty years of age. Before leaving the capital Hsienfeng had appointed his brother, Prince Kung, plenipotentiary to make peace with the British and French. The envoys had been demanding day by day the return of the prisoners taken in violation of a flag of truce. Prince Kung had pleaded that peace should first be made, but he had had the survivors among the prisoners removed from the vile prison of the Board of Punishments to a pleasant little temple in the northern part of Peking, where they were at least more comfortable than they had been. Among them was Harry Parkes, the interpreter of the British mission, afterwards known as Sir Harry Parkes, one of the most vigorous ministers the British ever had at Peking. His escape from death was a very narrow one. After the flight of the Court, a man¬ date bearing the imperial seal was sent back to Prince Kung directing him to put the prisoners to death. But a private message from a courtier arrived at the same time, telling him the contents of the mandate and that the Prin¬ cess Yi had written it. Prince Kung knew her bitter ani¬ mosity to the Europeans, and he also knew that the execu¬ tion of the prisoners would bring severe punishment upon t 374 Opening the Gates of China China. Accordingly he neglected to read the mandate until he had set the prisoners free, when he reported that the order had come too late. Lord Elgin, the British envoy, entered Peking in state on October 24, 1860. The ratifications of the treaty of 1858 were exchanged in the yamen of the Board of Rites. At the same time a convention was signed by which the indemnity demanded of China in the treaty of 1858 was increased from Tls. 4,000,000 to Tls. 8,000,000. In addi¬ tion to the ten new ports whose opening was provided for in the treaty, the city of Tientsin was included, and the Peninsula of Kowloon, opposite Hongkong, was ceded to Great Britain. The French entered Peking on the 25th of October, and after exchange of ratifications also secured a convention that increased their indemnity from Tls. 2,000,000 to Tls. 8,000,000. The treaties of 1858, with the amendments made by the conventions of 1860, secured equal privileges for the four powers that had been negotiating ; the United States, Great Britain, France, and Russia, for each had the favored na¬ tion clause in its treaty. These treaties, it may be said, really opened the gates of China. They forced upon her a recognition of western powers as being upon an equality with herself, and not her vassals. They provided for the residence of diplomatic representatives at Peking, and the establishment there of a Foreign Office with which these representatives might communicate.4 Among other provisions of note, one placed opium upon the tariff list, and so legalized that infamous trade, while another guaranteed freedom of religion and the privilege of religious propaganda by Christian missionaries, throughout the country. The American treaty contained one very unusual clause. Article I provides that “If any other nation should act unjustly or oppressively, the United States will exert their good offices on being informed of the case, to bring about 4 Theretofore all intercourse with foreign states had been con¬ ducted through the Li Fan Yuan, or Bureau of Dependencies, which did not even have the rank of a Ministry. Opening the Gates of China 37 5 an amicable arrangement of the question, thus showing their friendly feelings.” The Chinese have several times availed themselves of the good offices, both of our Government and of American statesmen not connected with the executive branch of the government. This provision of the treaty of 1858 was recalled with considerable interest when appeal was made to the American Commissioners at Paris in 1919 for the exercise of their good offices to prevent the transfer to Japan of the former German rights in the Province of Shantung. The Russians, in addition to the treaty of Tientsin in 1858, had induced the Chinese a month earlier (May 29, 1858) to sign the treaty of Aigun, which made the left bank of the Amur as far as the mouth of the Ussuri the boundary between the two countries, and left the maritime province east of the Ussuri in joint possession of the two countries until its ownership could be definitely settled. Both nations were to enjoy the right to navigate the Amur, Sungari and Ussuri Rivers. The Russians used their good offices in behalf of China during the advance of the Anglo- French forces upon Peking. Thus they were able finally to persuade the Chinese to cede the maritime Province of Siberia to Russia. This was done in a treaty signed November 14, 1860. It had been but a short time since Russia herself had been at war with Great Britain and France in the Crimea, so that it was not surprising that Russia and China should have been drawn together. CHAPTER XVIII THE APOTHEOSIS OF AN AMERICAN The plain man is the basic clod From which we grow the demigod; And in the average man is curled The hero stuff that rules the world. Foss. The Chinese in their conflict with the British and French were handicapped by a great rebellion, which began in southwestern China in 1850, and spread during the follow¬ ing decade over most of the provinces in the southern half of the empire. Its ravages, indeed, extended along the Grand Canal as far north as the suburbs of Tientsin. The man who was in a great degree instrumental in its suppression was an American, Frederick Townsend Ward, of Salem, Massachusetts. THE SHRINE OF GENERAL WARD At the China New Year in 1900 I went for a house-boat trip into the country southwest of Shanghai, and arrived one day at the gate of Sungkiang. This was the head¬ quarters of General Ward during his military operations, and there he was buried. I enquired for his grave and was guided to it. In the south-eastern part of the city there is an open space of considerable extent. This was his drill ground. Beside it there is a little temple, and within the temple court-yard is his grave. The temple is of brick with a tile roof. The principal hall is built just in front of the tomb. Within the hall is an altar, the inscription over which tells the visitor that it is dedicated to the spirit of General Ward. The temple was in charge of a care-taker who lived there. It was kept in good con- 376 The Apotheosis of an American 377 dition, and on the altar were the remains of the incense and candles which, with other offerings, had been sacrificed to the dead warrior at the New Year. A Yankee sailor boy, a soldier in the Chinese imperial army, a saint in the Confucian calendar — such in epitome is the history of Frederick Townsend Ward. The love of adventure was in his blood, and the rattle of musketry to his ears was as the peal of an organ to a priest. Yet he was not fond of killing. He went unarmed into battle, carrying simply a slender walking stick with which to direct his troops. In this habit he was imitated by his British successor, the celebrated Major Charles George Gordon of the Royal Engineers, who is sometimes given improperly all the credit for the suppression of the Taip- ing Rebellion. Ward was born in Salem in 1831. He made an effort to get into West Point, but failed. At fifteen years of age he went to sea. He was with Garibaldi in South America. At twenty he sailed from San Francisco for China. On his arrival in Shanghai in 1851, the fanatical leader of the Taiping Rebellion and his iconoclastic followers had just taken possession of the city of Yunganchou, in the province of Kuangsi, but were not yet thought of as in any way dangerous or worthy of serious attention. Ward found employment on a coasting steamer running out of Shanghai. In 1859 he had become an officer on the Chinese merchant steamer, Confucius. By this time the Taiping leader, Hung Hsiu-ch’uan, had created mighty armies, had declared himself emperor, had established his capital in the ancient city of Nanking, and had shaken the Manchu empire to its foundations. THE ORIGIN OF THE REBELLION Hung Hsiu-ch’uan was a curious character. Probably he was an epileptic. There is much in his career to remind one of Mohammed. He was born in 1813, about thirty miles north of Canton. His family, however, was not 378 The Apotheosis of an American Cantonese, but had come from the north. His father was a farmer. Hsiu-ch ’uan was a student ; he had entered the examinations several times but had failed to pass. When he was twenty years of age he had come into touch with Christian missionaries at Canton, but at that time had not been favorably impressed by them. Pour years later, in 1837, he had been taken ill after another failure in the examinations, and had seen strange visions. Another de¬ cade passed ; he went once more to Canton for the exami¬ nations and failed again. Then he went to call upon an American missionary, the Rev. Issachar Roberts. Prom him he received instruction in Christianity, but before he was ready for baptism he left the mission and went home. There he organized a society called the Bhang Ti Hui, or Society of the Supreme God. He soon gathered a band of some thousands, devoted to the worship of one God, and intolerant of all forms of idolatry. Great zeal was shown in destroying idols and demolishing temples. This, of course, brought conflict with the authorities, for one cannot destroy the property of others without violating the law. Rebellions are common enough in China. The history of the Manchu Dynasty is a history of a continuous suc¬ cession of rebellions. During the twenty-six years of my own residence in China I do not remember one in which there was not, somewhere in that vast country, an uprising against the constituted authorities. The attacks of the Shang Ti Hui, therefore, upon the officials who sought to punish them for destruction of property, did not at first attract much attention. The society was but one more of those rebellious organizations which had kept Kuangsi in turmoil for several decades. In 1850 Hung Hsiu-eh ’uan was living in Lienchu, in the county town known as Kueihsien, in Kuangsi. He ap¬ pears to have been sincere in his acceptance of Christian doctrine, and his followers were well disciplined and atten¬ tive to religious affairs. Their strong faith added, of course, to their value as soldiers, and their attacks in large numbers upon temples made military measures a necessity The Apotheosis of an American 379 upon the part of the authorities. Like Cromwell’s troops they went out in unwavering confidence that the Lord of Hosts was with them, and their courage was irresistible. In 1851 they moved to Yunganchou, and there they were besieged by imperial troops in February, 1852. In April Hung cut his way out, and with a force of about ten thou¬ sand men he started on his journey northward. TAIPING SUCCESS He had no artillery, therefore he failed to take the pro¬ vincial capital, Kueilin, which closed its gates against him. He marched around it and continued moving north, living upon the country as he went. In June he was more suc¬ cessful in Hunan Province, where several cities fell into his hands. By September he was at Ch ’angsha, the capital of Hunan, but from it he was turned away by walls that he could not breach. There, however, he captured a lot of boats, with which his army moved down the Siang River. At its mouth the city of Yochow was taken. There was a government arsenal there which supplied them with guns and abundant ammunition, with which they moved down the Yangtze River. Before the end of the year Hung had captured Hanyang, and in January, 1853, the city of Wuchang, the viceregal capital of Hupei and Hunan. There they fitted out a powerful fleet. City after city along the Yangtze fell before them. On March 19, 1853, they stormed and captured Nanking, the ancient capital of the empire. Twenty thousand Manchus, resident there, were massacred; men, women and children. There the “Heavenly King,” as the leader called himself, made his capital. There he lived the remainder of his life — eleven years — and from his palace there ruled a great por¬ tion of the empire. It was while at Ch ’angsha, in Hunan, that he first as¬ sumed the imperial title. He called his state the “ Taiping T’ien Kuo,” or “Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace,” and himself the “Heavenly King of Great Peace.” His fa- 380 The Apotheosis of an American naticism was shown in the position which he claimed for himself. He was not content, as Mohammed was, to be simply a prophet of God. He claimed to be the third person of the Trinity. God was the Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ was the Celestial Elder Brother, and Hung Hsiu-ch’uan was the Divine Younger Brother. He had his own version of the New Testament, and a hymn book also that was used in the religious services. Sunday was observed as a day of rest, and all troops had to parade for worship. In the beginning the movement was, perhaps, a sincere attempt at a religious reformation. The mas¬ sacres that stained its record, to the zealous converts no doubt seemed justified by the examples given by the Israel¬ ites in their conquest of Canaan. But with success came volunteers of a less sincere and more adventurous character. The Christian missionaries at the beginning felt encouraged by the movement, thinking that Christianity was about to become the religion of the State under a new dynasty; but investigation showed that it was a bastard Christianity. I talked many years ago with Rev. Griffith John, who had visited the Taiping leader at Nanking in the days of his power. He said that the visit quickly disillusioned him. The Taiping King had simply become another oriental monarch, living in self-indulgence, surrounded by a harem of more than eighty women, and supported by the looting of the empire. There was no organized civil government, and apparently there was no constructive programme. It seemed altogether a negative and a destructive movement. The military forces were well organized and well disci¬ plined, but a movement which had begun as a religious crusade was ending in nothing but plunder, outrage and debauchery. However inefficient the Manchu Government might be — and it was inefficient — the flabby, slimy iniquity at Nanking, a leech sucking the life blood of the nation, could do nothing to better conditions. It was but a vile parasite to be crushed and destroyed. The men who as¬ sisted in this work performed a real service for the people of China. The military forces, as just said, maintained a fair degree The Apotheosis of an American 381 of discipline, but it was merely a discipline that preserved a good fighting machine. It did nothing to check pillage or promote peaceful industry. The leaders for the most part were loyal to their chief, and some of them developed real military ability. One of them, however, the Eastern Prince, began in 1856 also to have visions, in imitation of the “ Heavenly King.” But such imitation was not con¬ sidered flattery by the chief. He had a monopoly of visions. Accordingly two other princes were entrusted with the duty of putting the Eastern Prince out of the way. This they did very expeditiously. Assassination, murder, mas¬ sacre, every infamy marked the advance of these armies over the country. Villages were razed. Families were broken up and scattered. The people fled in terror. Years afterward I walked over the ruins of many of these de¬ serted villages. A nurse in our family, sitting in the Garden at Shanghai, fell into conversation with another Chinese woman, who was discovered to be her own sister, lost as a child during one of these panics. To the loyal Chinese these Taipings were known as “Long-haired Robbers.” This was because they refused to shave the head and wear the queue, the token of sub¬ mission to the Manchu Government. THE ATTITUDE OF THE WESTERN POWERS There was a disposition for a time in the United States and Great Britain to recognize the new dynasty. Mr. McLane, the American Commissioner to China in 1855, was authorized to do so, if, after investigation, he should think it advisable. Strict neutrality was maintained for some years by the Western Powers. But every investi¬ gation led to but one conclusion. What the Rev. Griffith John had found, all found — there was nothing in the movement to encourage hope that the Taipings would ever be able to establish an orderly government. When Nanking was captured in 1853 there was, of course, a great deal of anxiety among the Americans and 382 The Apotheosis of an American Europeans in Shanghai, who did not know how soon their own homes might be destroyed. They accordingly organ¬ ized a volunteer defense corps, and dug a moat on the west side of the International Settlement, connecting the creeks that bounded this settlement on the north and south. The Huangpu River is on the east side, so that this arrange¬ ment caused the settlement to be entirely surrounded by water. Secret societies have flourished in China from ancient times, and generally, though not always they are of a politi¬ cal character. The success of the Taipings encouraged these revolutionary secret societies. One of the best known is that called the Triad, whose members are often called Chinese Masons. Their lodge and ritual have points of similarity to those of the Free Masons. A branch of this organization, called the “ Little Sword Society” captured the native city of Shanghai in 1853. It was then a walled city of some 50,000 inhabitants, separated from the French Concession by a narrow moat. These “Small Swords” claimed to be allied to the Taipings, but the “Heavenly King,” after investigation, refused to have anything to do with them, declaring that they were “too immoral.” Thus the Taipings lost their only chance of acquiring a sea-port, with the opportunity which that would have given of obtaining supplies from abroad. The Imperialists, in their attacks upon the ‘ ‘ Small Swords,” invaded the International Settlement on one occasion, and came into contact with the Foreign Volun¬ teers, who drove them out. This indicates plainly that at that time the Western Powers had no more sympathy with the Manchus than with the rebels. In 1859 when Ward made his first offer to aid the Imperial forces, he was arrested and brought before the American Consul, charged with violating the neutrality of the United States. He tried to clear himself by declaring that he had taken Chinese nationality, but, as that claim was a manifest absurdity at the time, he was locked up on board the American naval vessel Chesapeake. The Apotheosis of an American 383 WARD ’S SERVICES 1 Not long afterwards, being allowed on deck for exercise, he leaped overboard and swam ashore. He entered into a contract with a Chinese banking firm, Taki (or Tachi), to capture the city of Sungkiang, in return for which he was to receive Tls. 30,000. He enlisted a hundred sailors of various nationalities, and made the attempt, but failed. Returning to Shanghai, he discharged this nondescript force and substituted one hundred Filipinos and two American lieutenants. With this small force he succeeded in driving out the Taipings and capturing the city of Sungkiang. After this success he increased his force and attempted to take the city of Tsingpu. Again he failed, for the rebels also had European officers there and their force was stronger than Ward’s. Ward, too, was wounded. He realized then that it would be necessary to organize and drill a large body of troops. This, when his wounds were healed, he proceeded to do. The troops thus drilled, because of their successes, became known later as the “ Ever-Victorious Army.” Ward was a natural leader. He had great influence over his men, and was admired and trusted by them. His suc¬ cess in holding Sungkiang against a severe attack by the Taipings, and his victories over the rebels in repeated en¬ gagements, finally brought the British and American Governments to his support. China in recognition of his services gave him a commission as Brigadier General. With a large Chinese army under his command, braced by his own well-drilled troops and supported by the for¬ eign authorities at Shanghai, he soon had the country cleared of rebels within a radius of thirty miles around that port. The Chinese generals in the Imperial army at that time were men of much more than ordinary ability. Tseng Kuo-fan, a Hunan man, was generalissimo, and his chief lieutenant was a rising young man of Anhui Prov- i For life of Ward, see Historical Collections of the Essex Insti¬ tute, Vol. XLIV, “Frederick Townsend Ward,” by Rob’t S. Rantoul. 384 The Apotheosis of an American ince, afterwards known all over the world as the Premier, Li Hung-chang. They were true patriots, who made the welfare of the State their chief concern. Ward continued his successes until, on the 21st of September, 1862, in the attack on Tzeki (Tzuchi), about ten miles from Ningpo, when attempting to scale the city wall, he was shot and mortally wounded. He was highly esteemed by his Chinese associates, and his death was greatly deplored. POSTHUMOUS HONORS CONFERRED The Imperial Government, upon learning of his death, at once issued an edict directing that certain honors should be conferred upon him. He was given posthumous promo¬ tion in military rank, and two temples were ordered to be erected to his memory, one at Ningpo, near which city he was killed, and the other at Sungkiang, the place of his burial. When the American Charge d ’Affaires at Peking learned of this decree he went to the Foreign Office and suggested that, as Americans did not erect temples for the worship of the dead, it would be better simply to raise a stone monument at Ward’s grave. But the Chinese conformed to their own custom and honored the dead warrior in their own way. In 1901, while I was serving as a Secretary in the Lega¬ tion at Peking, it became my duty, in response to a request from the Essex Institute at Salem, to get a copy of the imperial edict just mentioned and translate it. The Foreign Office at once turned up the records and sent a copy of the edict. SUCCESSORS TO WARD The first attempts to find a satisfactory commander for the Ever-Victorious Army after Ward’s death were not successful ; but on March 25, 1863, Major Charles George Gordon, of the British Royal Engineers, was permitted by his government to take the post. There was considerable The Apotheosis of an American 385 feeling in the army against having a British commander. But they followed Gordon for a time and he led them to victory. Subsequently, however, many mutinied. About half the army quit before the capture of Soochow, in December, 1863. But Gordon was a good officer and a successful general. He filled up the ranks with prisoners captured from the Taipings. The morale of the rebels had already been destroyed by Ward’s victories, and from this time on to the end their fall was rapid. Gordon was a high-minded man and could not get on with the Chinese. He had promised clemency to the Taiping leaders at Soo¬ chow if they surrendered. After they had done so the Chinese commander, Li Hung-chang, ordered their execu¬ tion. This so enraged Gordon that he was disposed to resign. He remained in command, however, until the fall of Changchow, in May, 1864, and left the service in the following month. THE END OF THE REBELLION The war continued more than a year after his resigna¬ tion, but the Ever- Victorious Army was disbanded, and the military operations of the last year were conducted by the Chinese themselves. The walls of Nanking were breached in July, 1865, and the city was taken by storm. On the 30th day of June preceding, the Taiping King had already committed suicide. In August the last remnants of the rebel army were captured and scattered. While I was living in Nanking in the closing decade of the last century, I had occasion often to pass a small Buddhist convent in the western part of the city, where one of the ladies of the “Heavenly King’s” harem was still living in seclusion. She had taken the vows of a nun. Gordon was honored, both by the Chinese and by his own government. He was a man cast in heroic mould, and fell a martyr to his trust in others and his devotion to a cause that he regarded as a cause of peace and right¬ eousness. Ward and Gordon were of wholly different stamp, 386 The Apotheosis of an American strongly contrasting with one another. Bom on opposite shores of the Atlantic, widely sundered in heritage and training, their graves, too, are separated by the breadth of the earth. Yet their lives touched for a brief moment and flowed in one channel. Ward was slain by Chinese fanaticism. Gordon, abandoned in Khartum, fell before the fanaticism of the Mahdi. Both gave their lives for the welfare of an alien race, and lie buried under foreign skies. The memory of one is preserved by a monument of bronze, erected by his own people in far Khartum; that of the other by a temple and altar, and the incense and sacrifices offered by a pagan people to his spirit. CHAPTER XIX BURLINGAME AND ORIENTAL IMMIGRATION It is an accepted maxim of international law that every sover¬ eign nation has the power, as inherent in its sovereignty and essen¬ tial to self-preservation, to foxbid the entrance of foreigners within its dominions, or to admit them only in such cases and upon such conditions as it may see fit to prescribe. — Yattel. China ’s defeat in the two wars fought with Great Britain compelled her to allow British and other powers to send diplomatic representatives to reside in Peking. But she yielded with a bad grace, and her Court had as little intercourse as possible with these representatives of states that she regarded as barbarous. For some years she ignored all suggestions that she should reciprocate by send¬ ing Chinese envoys to the Western world. It was Mr. — afterwards Sir — Robert Hart who persuaded the Chinese Foreign Office to modify its policy in this regard. Hart had come as Acting Inspector General of Customs from Shanghai to Peking in 1862, and in 1863 had obtained the substantive appointment to that office, in which his tact and his loyalty to the interests of his Chinese employers won their confidence and regard. THE MARITIME CUSTOMS SERVICE To explain Hart’s position it is necessary to give a brief account of the origin of the Maritime Customs Service, of which he was the chief executive officer. It was the Taiping Rebellion that made possible the reorganization of the customs under the supervision of Europeans. While rebel forces were in occupation of Shanghai arid the West¬ ern powers were maintaining strict neutrality, the Chinese 387 388 Burlingame and Oriental Immigration customs authorities were unable to function at that port. The Consuls of the United States and Great Britain allowed their nationals to give bonds for the payment of duties at some future date. This action was disavowed by their governments. The Chinese Customs Taotai, who had taken refuge in the foreign settlement, was then persuaded to agree to the establishment of a commission composed of one American, one British subject, and one Frenchman, to superintend the collection of duties at the port. Subse¬ quently it was found to be a more efficient method to place the office under one head. Mr. Lay, of the British Con¬ sular Service, was selected. The control was gradually extended to other ports where the officers of the imperial government had been unable to act; and after the second war with Great Britain, when the customs revenues were pledged by treaty for the payment by China of the indem¬ nities exacted by Great Britain and France, the Chinese Government, in 1861, appointed Lay to be Inspector Gen¬ eral of the Imperial Maritime Customs. In 1863 he was succeeded, as already said, by Robert Hart. Hart also came from the British Consular Service. It is to his wis¬ dom and executive ability that China to-day owes the Maritime Customs which so satisfactorily serves the Repub¬ lic. During the more than sixty years of its supervision of the foreign trade of China, it has in addition to the collection of duties done much to promote the welfare of the country. It has surveyed the coasts and rivers, built light-houses, buoyed the channels, established a postal system, protected the health of the ports, and established a bureau of statistics whose records supply us with the only reliable data on many subjects related to commerce and social conditions. Its school of languages, opened at Peking in 1862, and designed to educate men for interpret¬ ers, was the nucleus from which the national university developed. A DIPLOMATIC SERVICE Sir Robert had frequently urged the government to estab¬ lish legations and consulates. On his return from leave Burlingame and Oriental Immigration 389 of absence in 1867 he took up the matter again. At this time the American Minister in Peking was Anson Burlin¬ game. He had been appointed in 1861, and had arrived in Peking in July, 1862. He was genial and tactful and a man of sanguine temperament. Chinese and Europeans were alike drawn to him, and when the Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs learned, in 1867, that Mr. Burlingame was about to resign his post, he was requested by the Chinese Government to accept appointment as the ambas¬ sador from China to the governments of the Western world. Accordingly on the 25th of February, 1868, he set sail from Shanghai for San Francisco, accompanied by one Manchu and one Chinese officer, both of high rank, by one British and one French Secretary, and by some thirty Chinese secretaries and attaches.1 He was well received in the United States, but his fervent oratory there aroused expectations in the breasts of his hearers that were im¬ possible of fulfillment in the then near future. The Chinese Government, in sending the mission abroad, wanted such representation made of the actual conditions in their coun¬ try as would make the Western powers more tolerant and less disposed to press China to adopt in hasty fashion the inventions and methods of the West. Mr. Burlingame, however, saw in his appointment an evidence of great progress. His mind dwelt only upon the tremendous changes that were sure to follow eventually in the wake of this movement. He failed to note the obstacles in the immediate foreground because his gaze was fixed upon the attractive future in perspective. From the United States the embassy proceeded to Great Britain, France, Germany and Russia. The promise to avoid undue pressure upon China was given by the Amer¬ ican, British and German Governments. The French made no engagements in regard to the matter. All these gov¬ ernments called attention to the unwillingness of the Chinese Emperor to give audiences to Western diplomatic representatives, and the British and French sovereigns re- i See Morse, International Relations of the Chinese Empire, Yol. II, Chap. IX. 390 Burlingame and Oriental Immigration ceived the mission only on the distinct understanding that the young Emperor, Tungchih, would give audience to their ministers as soon as he attained his majority. In St. Petersburg Mr. Burlingame was taken ill. He died there in February, 1870, and the other members of the mission returned to China. Mr. Burlingame has been rather severely criticised for his roseate descriptions of the conditions in China, which, in his view, indicated impending changes of great moment that were to modernize that hoary empire. But, after all is said, the spirit of hopefulness that animated him was better than the pessimism of his critics. The cabinets of the Western world needed the corrective of his opinions. They had looked too long on the dark side of the shield; they needed to view the situation from another angle and to give due consideration to Chinese sentiment if they were to deal fairly with China. If in Burlingame’s over¬ sanguine anticipation of results he failed to see the diffi¬ culties of the immediate future, he nevertheless succeeded in the chief purpose of his mission; he brought about in the West a better feeling towards China, and he prepared the way for the appointment of Chinese diplomatic rep¬ resentatives abroad. THE TREATY OF 1868 While in Washington, Burlingame negotiated with the American Government a new treaty, which in its final article — Article VIII — gave to the Chinese Government the assurance that the United States disclaimed “Any intention to intervene in the domestic administration of China in regard to the construction of railroads, telegraphs, or other material internal improvements.” This met very fully the request of the Chinese that the powers would refrain from pressing China unduly to modernize the country. The first article recognizes China’s right of emi¬ nent domain in the areas set aside at the open ports for foreign residence and trade. This may very properly be considered the beginning of American interest in the pres- Burlingame and Oriental Immigration 391 ervation of China’s territorial integrity. Article II recog¬ nized China’s right to regulate her internal trade, and Article III provided for the opening of Chinese consulates in the United States. The most striking provision of the treaty, however, is that of Article Y, the first sentence of which reads as follows : The United States of America and the Emperor of China cordially recognize the inherent and inalienable right of man to change his home and allegiance, and also the mutual advantage of the free migration and emigration of their citizens and sub¬ jects respectively from one country to the other, for purposes of curiosity, of trade, or as permanent residents. Equally interesting is a sentence in Article VI, which declares that: Chinese subjects visiting or residing in the United States shall enjoy the same privileges, immunities and exemptions in respect to travel or residence as may be enjoyed by the citizens or sub¬ jects of the most favored nation. It was distinctly stated, however, that nothing in this article was to confer naturalization upon Americans in China or upon Chinese in the United States. The provisions just quoted were in entire harmony with the policy which the American Government had followed up to that time. Our country was to be an asylum for the oppressed of all nations. We welcomed with open arms immigrants from all lands. The American Government had for years been urging upon European statesmen the recognition of an inherent right in man to change his home and allegiance. Secretary Seward and Ambassador Bur¬ lingame were but urging upon China that which they had pressed upon Europe. China, in agreeing to these provi¬ sions, was abrogating an age-old statute of the empire, which forbade Chinese to go abroad. At the time this treaty was negotiated there was, no doubt, a great demand for labor upon the Pacific coast of the United States, which accounts for the encouragement 392 Burlingame and Oriental Immigration given by the American Government to Chinese immigration, a policy so opposed to present practice. Despite Chinese statutes to the contrary there had been a great deal of voluntary emigration from the southern provinces of China to the East Indies, and there had also developed a bar¬ barous coolie traffic, by which tens of thousands of Chinese, who had been deceived into signing contracts or who had been kidnaped, had been forced into involuntary servi¬ tude in certain American countries, as stated in an earlier chapter. American legislation had forbidden American vessels to engage in this cruel business. The treaty under consideration, therefore, in providing for Chinese immigra¬ tion into the United States, declared that both the high contracting parties reprobated ‘ 1 any other than an entirely voluntary emigration. ’ ’ The Chinese had been coming to the United States in considerable numbers ever since the discovery of gold in California, whose Chinese name is “The Old Gold Moun¬ tains.” Besides engaging in mining, they did much of the agricultural work of California, and had been successfully employed in railway building and in other enterprises, there and in other states. In 1868, the year in which the Burlingame treaty was negotiated, there were already some 60,000 Chinese in the United States. The largest number admitted in any one year was 39,579 in 1882. The average annual immigration over a period of thirty years was a little more than 9000. The largest number at any one time in the country was 107,488 in 1890. The Chinese were slow to ratify the treaty of 1868. Ratifications were exchanged in November, 1869, and the treaty was not proclaimed in the United States until February, 1870. EXCLUSION OF CHINESE Agitation against its provisions as to Chinese immigra¬ tion began shortly afterwards. It was recognized gener¬ ally that the Chinese were industrious, thrifty and law- Burlingame and Oriental Immigration 393 abiding, and that the Chinese merchant was honorable in his dealings. The agitation was chiefly against the coolies engaged in manual labor. They had been accustomed to small wages at home, and their standard of living was a low one, one which white men could not accept. They crowded themselves together in the tenements of San Francisco and other cities in insanitary quarters, and were regarded as a menace, both to the welfare of the white laborer and to the health of the community. These facts were published on the street corners by Dennis Kearney and others with so much success that the Congress, in 1876, appointed a commission to investigate the situation. That commission reported in 1877, and in the following year a bill was passed forbidding the immi¬ gration of Chinese laborers. President Hayes promptly vetoed it as a violation of our obligations under the treaty. But in 1880 a commission headed by President Angell, of the University of Michigan, went to Peking to endeavor to obtain China’s consent to a modification of the treaty. The Chinese generously agreed to the request of the Amer¬ ican Government, and entered into a new treaty whose first article provides that : Whenever in the opinion of the Government of the United States, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States, or their residence therein, affects or threatens to affect the interests of that country, or to endanger the good order of the said country or of any locality within the territory thereof, the Government of China agrees that the Government of the United States may regulate, limit or suspend such coming or residence, but may not absolutely prohibit it. Pursuant to this agreement, the Congress in 1882 passed a bill suspending Chinese immigration for twenty years. This President Arthur vetoed, on the ground that it violated the spirit of the treaty of 1880, which clearly agreed that the limitation or suspension of immigration should be ‘ ‘ reasonable. ” He held that twenty years was an unreasonably long period. Yielding to the President’s argument Congress then reduced the period to ten years. 394 Burlingame and Oriental Immigration But neither the treaty of 1880 nor the legislation of 1882 satisfied the leaders of the anti-Chinese agitation, and in 1888 the government sought a new treaty with China which aimed at a virtual prohibition of Chinese labor immigration. During the negotiations the campaign preceding a national election had already begun. The two great parties were struggling to obtain the suffrages of the Pacific coast states, and Congress hurriedly passed a bill in glaring violation of the provisions of the treaty of 1880, absolutely prohibit¬ ing the immigration of Chinese laborers. President Cleve¬ land, for party’s sake, allowed it to become a law. The situation was rectified in 1894 by a new treaty, which permitted the exclusion of Chinese laborers for ten years. Chinese self-respect was wounded by this agreement. Six months before the termination of the treaty in 1904, to prevent its automatic renewal, China, in accordance with its provisions, gave due notice to the American Government that it would not be renewed. The American Legation at Peking, under instruction from the Department of State, began at once to hold con¬ versations with the Chinese Foreign Office looking toward the negotiation of a new treaty. Various drafts and counter-drafts were submitted as possible substitutes for the obnoxious clauses of the old treaty. The writer was present at these conferences. The American Minister, Hon. W. W. Rockhill, found it impossible to persuade the Chinese Premier, Prince Ch’ing, to agree to any proposal that would at all satisfy the Department of State. Prince Ch ’ing and his associates of the Foreign Office were always urbane. There was no doubt as to their friendly disposi¬ tion toward the American Government and its representa¬ tives. They had not forgotten Minister Rockhill ’s services in the Boxer negotiations of 1901, but to agree to any further humiliation in the matter of Chinese immigration into the United States was a sacrifice of dignity and self- respect which they were determined to avoid. Prince Ch’ing was strengthened in his resolution by the action of the Chinese at Shanghai, Canton and elsewhere, in boy¬ cotting American trade. Burlingame and Oriental Immigration 39 5 The boycott was suggested by Chinese in San Francisco and other American cities. It is a favorite weapon m China. Through several months in 1904 and 1905 Ameri¬ can trade suffered considerably. The Chinese Government did not authorize the boycott. On the contrary, at the request of the American Minister, they issued proclama¬ tions against it. Nevertheless, it was a plain revelation to the Peking authorities of the sentiment of the Chinese people. The negotiations for a new treaty failed. The boy¬ cott, too, was abandoned, and Congress passed a law making permanent the exclusion of Chinese laborers from the United States. China refused to make herself a party to such proceeding, and quietly ignored it. One result of the legislation has been a gradual reduction of the number of Chinese residents in our country. From 107,488 in 1890, the number dwindled to 71,531 in 1910. At present (1922) it is estimated that there are about 65,000 here. Of this number probably one-third are citizens of the United States, by virtue of nativity. JAPANESE IMMIGRATION Another result of the anti- Chinese agitation has been an increase of Japanese residents. When the first restrictions upon Chinese immigration were permitted by the treaty of 1880, there were but 148 Japanese in the United States. In 1890 there were 2039. In 1909 there were in round numbers 100,000. In 1920 the number in one state — Cali¬ fornia — was given as 87,279. The total number at present (1922) in the whole country is probably about 120,000. The agitation against Oriental immigration to-day, there¬ fore, is directed mainly against the Japanese, but in a lesser degree against Chinese and Hindus also. Early in the present century the demand for the exclusion of Japanese labor began to be heard. To prevent the enactment of an exclusion law, Japan sanctioned an oral agreement between the Japanese Ambassador and the Secretary of State, in which Japan voluntarily bound herself not to issue pass¬ ports for the United States to laborers. This is known as 396 Burlingame and Oriental Immigration the ‘ 1 Gentleman ’s Agreement.” It is not a signed agree¬ ment; it is an oral promise which Japan is in honor bound to keep. There is, however, in the Department of State an unsigned memorandum of the conversations. In signing the new commercial treaty of 1911 between the United States and Japan the Japanese Ambassador added to the treaty the following statement : In proceeding this day to the signature of the Treaty of Com¬ merce and Navigation between Japan and the United States, the undersigned, Japanese Ambassador in Washington, duly author¬ ized by his Government, has the honor to declare that the Impe¬ rial Japanese Government are fully prepared to maintain with equal effectiveness the limitation and control which they have for the past three years exercised in regulation of the emigration of laborers to the United States. This is the only approach to an immigration convention between Japan and the United States, and this is merely a unilateral declaration of policy. Japan can rescind that declaration whenever so disposed. The treaty of commerce and navigation, referred to in the declaration just quoted, makes no restriction upon the incoming of Japanese. The provisions are entirely recipro¬ cal. They grant to the Japanese in the United States all that Americans are granted in Japan. Article I reads as follows : The citizens and subjects of each of the High Contracting Part ies shall have liberty to enter, travel and reside in the terri¬ tories of the other to carry on trade, wholesale and retail, to own or lease and occupy houses, manufactories, warehouses and shops, to employ agents of their choice, to lease land for resi¬ dential and commercial purposes, and generally to do anything incident to or necessary for trade, upon the same terms as native citizens or subjects, submitting themselves to the laws and regu¬ lations there established. It will be noted that the treaty gives Americans the right to reside in Japan and Japanese a right to reside in the United States for one purpose — “to carry on trade.” There is no comma following the phrase, “reside in the Burlingame and Oriental Immigration 397 territories of the other,” so that the words which follow it, “to carry on trade,” define the purpose of residence. The writer, who was connected with the Department of State during the negotiation of the treaty, knows that this interpretation was that put upon the clause by the Ameri¬ can Government. The treaty does not forbid residence for other purposes, but no American could claim that the treaty gives him a right to live in Japan for the purpose of carrying on agriculture. The same is true of Japanese who come to the United States. Agriculture has to do with production; commerce with exchange. The treaty is a treaty of ‘ ‘ commerce and navigation, ’ ’ and therefore, deals specifically with these things. It does not limit residence in Japan to those Americans who are there for purposes of trade, but it is intended to define the rights of those who are there for that purpose. And reciprocally this is true also of Japanese in the United States. It should be noted, too, that the article gives the right to own homes, but not the right to own land. The right to lease land is granted provided it is leased for residential and commer¬ cial purposes. There is no grant of a right to lease land for agricultural purposes. Such leasing is not forbidden by the treaty, but the treaty is silent upon the question. RECENT LEGISLATION This matter of the owning or leasing of land by Orientals for agricultural purposes has become a very serious one in certain states of the Union. It is this which is respon¬ sible for much of the present day agitation against Oriental immigration. In 1913 the increase of land holdings by Japanese in California led to state legislation limiting land ownership by aliens to those who were eligible to naturalization under the laws of the United States. Orientals who are neither white nor black are ineligible to naturalization. Leases of land to aliens not eligible to naturalization were permitted, but were to be limited to three years’ duration. But, inas- 398 Burlingame and Oriental Immigration much as there are many minor children of Oriental parent¬ age who are native-born American citizens, it has been possible for lands to be purchased in the names of such children, and occupied by their parents as guardians of such minor children. In 1920 attempt was made to deprive the Oriental parents of this natural right to guardianship over their children. The courts, of course, decided against the constitutionality of such legislation. Even the law limiting ownership of land by aliens to those who are eligible to citizenship can scarcely accomplish the purpose for which it was intended, because there are already in the state of California many Orientals who are native-born Americans, and therefore, held to be American citizens who can, and no doubt will, form land-owning com¬ panies, that can purchase or lease all the land that their race may require for agricultural purposes. The situation in 1916 had become so critical along the Pacific Coast that when a new bill, restricting immigration, was introduced into Congress, attempt was made to incor¬ porate in its text a reference to the “ Gentleman’s Agree¬ ment.” The intent was to provide for the exclusion of Japanese laborers in case the “Agreement” should be ter¬ minated. The proposed clause would have exempted from the provisions of the law any country that voluntarily refused passports to laborers, but only so long as the re¬ striction was enforced. The Japanese Ambassador at first made no objection to this phraseology, and of course, he did not claim the right to object to any phraseology; but in the following year, 1917, he did intimate to the Depart¬ ment of State that any attempt to make the Gentleman’s Agreement a part of the law of the land was contrary to the spirit and purpose of the “Agreement,” which was to leave the matter entirely to the voluntary action of the Japanese Government. Various attempts were made to modify the phraseology so as to meet the Japanese objec¬ tion, and at the same time provide for the exclusion of certain Oriental laborers who were not excluded, either by the Chinese Exclusion Act or by the “Gentleman’s Agreement.” Finally, a very cumbersome substitute was Burlingame and Oriental Immigration 399 accepted which excluded immigrants coming from regions bounded by certain meridians of longitude and parallels of latitude. In the legislatures of a number of north-western states, in 1917, bills were introduced patterned after the Cali¬ fornia law, but at the request of the Department of State they were abandoned. Since the nation was engaged in war, the Government at Washington thought it an inoppor¬ tune time to offend the sensibilities of those who were associated with us in the prosecution of the war. But with the coming of peace the agitation has been revived. REASONS FOR EXCLUSION The causes for the agitation against Oriental immigra¬ tion are chiefly of two sorts, racial and economic. However unreasonable race prejudice may be, it is folly to close one’s eyes and pretend that it does not exist. There are men in every race who rise above it, but among the masses it is still potent. The Chinese and Japanese feel a racial antipathy to the European. That I have experi¬ enced during a long residence in the Far East. On the other hand the white man regards all colored races as inferior. This race prejudice is an inheritance of the ages, a primitive passion, and primitive passions are still the most powerful forces in human society. The zoning ordi¬ nances of certain California cities, which restrict the resi¬ dence of Orientals to certain districts, have their origin in part in this feeling. Difference of color, difference of language, difference of religion, strange dress, peculiar customs and curious diet, all tend to awaken a feeling of hostility in the breast of the ordinary man, who is the center of his own little world and regards his practices as the hall-mark of civilization. The zoning ordinances do have sometimes another side, and a better reason for their adoption. The oriental laborer has been so poorly paid in his own land, as already said, that he has been forced to adopt a very low standard of 400 Burlingame and Oriental Immigration living. He comes into the United States with his habits pretty well fixed, and is disposed to live — as he has been accustomed to live — in somewhat crowded and insanitary conditions. This, of course, is not true of well-to-do orien¬ tals, whose homes are as clean and attractive as those of their western neighbors. Mention of the low standard of living suggests at once the economic reason for exclusion. It is the menace of cheap labor, which, if allowed unrestricted entrance to our country, would force American manual laborers to accept wages that are insufficient for the maintenance of an American standard of living. The plants which we cultivate for food must be pro¬ tected from competition with the wild, or uncultivated, plants which we call weeds. The more highly developed the plant, the more carefully must it be protected. Other¬ wise it will degenerate and return toward the wild state in which it originated. Only as a wild plant can it enter into a struggle with wild plants. Now, our civilization is a highly developed and delicate plant, which cannot enter into unrestricted competition with certain other, more hardy, forms of civilization. Eestrictive legislation is necessary for its protection. Conditions in the Orient are improving, it is true, and possibly the time may come when economic conditions East and West may become so nearly alike as to require no such legislation. That condition, however, ought to be brought about by a leveling up in the Orient, not by a leveling down in the West. LABOR AND WAGES IN THE ORIENT The hope of such a change is shown in the modification of conditions now going on. Contact with the West in the open cities of China and in the ports of Japan has led to the introduction of western industrialism, with all its evils as well as its blessings. Huge factories have been built, new channels for labor created, and a consequent Burlingame and Oriental Immigration 401 improvement in wages brought about. This has been ac¬ companied by a partial development of the natural re¬ sources of the two countries. These are particularly abun¬ dant in China. This alone has benefited labor. Where such changes are going on the standards of living have risen. Wages in the coast cities of China are from two to four times what they were thirty years ago, although they are still miserably inadequate. While wages have increased the cost of living also has increased. The improvement, therefore, is not so great as appears at first glance. Unskilled labor, which in 1889 in Nanking earned 150 brass cash a day — at that time the equivalent of fourteen cents in silver — is to-day (1922) paid thirty cents in silver (sixteen cents in American money). But the 150 cash in 1889 purchased seven and one-half pounds of rice, and the thirty cents in 1922 will buy thirteen and one-half pounds of rice. This means that wages have improved in thirty-three years by the value of six pounds of rice per diem — a gain of eighty per cent. This remarkable improve¬ ment, however, was due in large measure to the change which in thirty-three years came to Nanking. In 1889 Nanking was a closed city. Western influence was only beginning to penetrate. To-day it is an open port, where the new industrial system is already established, with all the changes which steam and electricity, railways, steam¬ ships, and factory life can produce. If accurate statistics for such a port as Shanghai were available we should find much less improvement, for Shang¬ hai in 1889 had already been an open port for 46 years, and was paying higher wages than Nanking. The cost of living and the standard of living were also higher for the laboring man than at Nanking. The improvement in conditions in such a port as Shanghai is about the same as has taken place in Japan, where the level of wages and conditions of labor are quite similar. The Great World War brought abnormal prosperity to Japan. Official statistics show that in thirty-three gainful occupations in Japan in 1917 the index number of wages 402 Burlingame and Oriental Immigration was 181.1, the wages of 1900 being taken as 100. But dur¬ ing that same period the advance in the cost of living was also rapid. The index number for rice was 171, and the average for eight staples was 175.1. This would indicate an improvement in 17 years of about six per cent. But from an American standpoint the wages are still pitifully small. This will be seen when they are given in terms of American dollars and cents. In 1917 the most highly paid artisans in Japan, according to official statistics, were the brick-layers, who were receiving $0.61 a day. The next were stone-cutters, receiving $0.55 a day. The most poorly paid were women in sericulture and those engaged in farm labor — $0.17 a day. The average of skilled artisans was $0.47, and the average in thirty-three occupations, skilled and unskilled, was $0.30. The condition of women and children employed in the factories, according to a trust¬ worthy American observer,2 was most deplorable. Factory life in China appears to be less open to criticism than it is in Japan, since women and girls in Shanghai do not, as a rule, live in the factories, but return to their homes in the evening. The Japanese themselves realize the importance of pro¬ tecting their own laborers from competition, for they do not permit the immigration of Chinese manual workers, since that would intensify the struggle for existence. Yet the difference between wage levels in the two countries is negligible. There ought not then to be any objection upon the part of the Japanese Government to the efforts of the United States to protect American labor. Japan, in fact, makes no objection, and for that reason voluntarily refuses passports to laborers. But Japan does not want the United States to enact a law excluding Japanese labor. Why do we treat China in one way and Japan in an¬ other? The answer is simple; Japan has grown to be a mighty military power. The difference in our treatment of the two peoples is discreditable to us. We could have excluded Chinese labor without mentioning the people by 2 “Modern Japan,7’ by Amos S. Hershev and Susanne Hershey, pp. 161-168. Burlingame and Oriental Immigration 403 name, and thus we should have avoided offending their sensibilities. A POSSIBLE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM The treaty obligations created by Minister Burlingame and Secretary Seward were the obstacles to an easy solu¬ tion of the problem when it first presented itself. Out of this complicated situation a condition has arisen which is far from satisfactory. Strict justice would require that the law of exclusion should be general, shutting out all labor immigration from whatever region, if it comes from a country whose wages level and standard of living for laborers are widely different from those of our own land. Such a law seems to be impossible of enactment at present, and we have in recent legislation sought an amelioration of the general problem by admitting from any country in any one year a number not greater than three per cent of those now here who have immigrated from such country. This legislation, however, leaves unaffected the laws exclud¬ ing orientals and the 1 1 Gentleman ’s Agreement.’ ’ In the opinion of the writer justice would seem to require two things: (1) for the protection of our own people a general law forbidding all oriental labor immigration ; and (2) for the welfare of the orientals who are now lawfully here, a law permitting their naturalization, so that they may be absorbed in our citizenship, and not be driven to segregate themselves, as they do now. Their present treat¬ ment forces them to close association with their own people, to the preservation of their native language and customs, and the training of their children, whom we call Ameri¬ can citizens, to a foreign allegiance. The policy urged would do away with much of the ill feeling which now exists on both sides, and would promote a rapid American¬ ization of the orientals now here. Naturalization is a matter wholly within the control of Congress, so that the legislation recommended is quite within the bounds of the possible. CHAPTER XX SPHERES OF INTEREST As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. — Isaiah. The essential principle of peace is the actual equality of nations in all matters of right or privilege. — Woodrow Wilson. In 1894 Japan declared war upon China. The excuse was the situation in Korea. The cause was probably a complex one. First there was the desire of Ito to suppress the liberal agitation that was disturbing his government at home, and which had twice in five months led to a dissolution of parliament and a new election. Foreign war unites the factions at home; that is a commonplace of political philosophy. Secondly, there was perhaps the desire of the militarists to use the splendid war machine which, with the aid of German officers, they had built up, the war machine that was to prove to the Western world Japan’s worthiness to stand alongside any of the great powers — the war machine that was to convince these powers that Japan could no longer be treated as an inferior state, but could and would make a tariff to suit herself — could and would exercise jurisdiction over the strangers within her gates. And lastly there was the old, old cause, the lust for power, the ambition to become the arbiter of affairs in the Orient, the desire, too, to glorify the state and ex¬ tend its territorial boundaries. KOREA’S RELATIONSHIP TO CHINA Korea seems to have been connected with China since a colonization of the peninsula by Chinese in the twelfth 404 Spheres of Interest 405 century B.C. Sometimes it had been a tributary state, sometimes a province of the empire, sometimes a vassal in revolt, but it had never been tributary to Japan. It is separated from Japan by a narrow strait, and has several times tempted Japanese aggression. Hideyoshi tried to subdue it, and was defeated by the skillful strategy and superior seamanship of a Korean admiral.1 The relation of Korea to China puzzled Western diplomats. "How,” they asked, "can Korea be tributary to China, and at the same time be permitted by China to make treaties with foreign powers and receive foreign envoys'?” From the oriental viewpoint there was no inconsistency. Mr. Rock- hill likened the relationship to that sustained by a younger to an elder brother in a Chinese family. He is independent in the management of most affairs, but he owes a certain reverence to his elder brother.2 When asked if Korea was free to enter into treaty relations with other powers China replied that she was. In fact, the Chinese government urged the United States to make a treaty with Korea, and gave assistance to that end in 1882. Yet in 1887, when the first Korean Minister to the United States was about to present his credentials, the Chinese Minister endeavored to prevent such action except through the agency of the Chinese Legation. This, of course, the American government would not permit. It was this anomalous character of the relationship between China and Korea that made easy a war between China and Japan. Japan accepted the western theory and practice in international relationship. China clung to her belief that Korea was a vassal state, yet free to please herself in her foreign intercourse. We seem to-day to be ap¬ proaching the Chinese theory, since various states in the British Empire are insisting upon the right to independent action in their relations with their neighbors, while at the same time retaining their places in that empire. 1 See 1 ‘ The Influence of the Sea on the Political History of Japan,’ ’ by Admiral Ballard, pp. 44-67. 2 China’s Intercourse with Korea, p. 3. 406 Spheres of Interest OUTBREAK OF WAR The statement made by some writers 3 that the immedi¬ ate cause of the war between China and Japan was a breach by China of the Tientsin Treaty of 1885 is incorrect. Both powers had agreed in that treaty not to send troops into Korea without first giving notice one to another. The King of Korea appealed to China, her overlord, for assist¬ ance in suppressing a rebellion. China responded by send¬ ing a small force, but first notified Japan of intention to do so.4 Japan, although uninvited, also sent a force — larger than that of China. China, however, in notifying Japan of her intention to send assistance to Korea, said : ‘ ‘ Such action is in harmony with our constant practice to protect our tributary states. ’ ’ To this Japan replied that she “had never recognized Korea as a state tributary to China.” Korea in the meantime had put down the rebellion un¬ aided by either China or Japan. Japan proposed to China that they should together reform the Korean administra¬ tion. China declined on the ground that she did not interfere in the internal affairs of her vassal states. Japan then gave notice that she would undertake the task alone. War was the result. Foreign residents of China and Japan who knew the real character of the two armies never had the slightest doubt about the outcome. China, a huge empire of between 300 and 400 millions of people, and covering a vast continental area, formed a group of prov¬ inces loosely held together by the corrupt, and inefficient government of a degenerate foreign dynasty. The people were parochial in their patriotism, divided by dialects and local prejudices, and were hindered in cooperation by lack of railways or other inland communications. The Chinese army existed chiefly on paper and, except for Viceroy Li’s army in the north, was equipped with spears and muzzle¬ loading muskets. The fleet made a better showing. The 3 McLaren ’s “Political History of Japan, ” p. 230. 4 Morse’s “International Relations of the Chinese Empire, Yol. Ill, pp. 21, 22. Spheres of Interest 407 only important naval engagement resulted in the with¬ drawal of the Japanese. But the ammunition of the Chinese was nearly exhausted, thanks to a corrupt govern¬ ment, and the day following the battle they sought refuge at Weihaiwei. Japan was a small nation of less than fifty millions, occupying a compact group of islands ruled by a virile and progressive government. The people were thoroughly patriotic and knit together in their devotion to the Mikado. The strife of political partisanship was forgotten in the united clamor for war. The army and navy worked to¬ gether as parts of one well-oiled machine. Victory perched upon the Japanese banners from the start. China was humiliated, and on April 17, 1895, agreed in the Treaty of Peace to recognize the complete independence of Korea. MURDER OF KOREAN QUEEN But the declaration of Korea’s complete independence and autonomy did not put an end to Japan’s efforts to reform the corrupt administration of Korea. There were two parties there. That of the Queen, who was a much stronger character than the King, was opposed to Japanese tutelage. Her father-in-law, who had once been Regent during the minority of his son, was more favorable to Japan. Moreover he disliked his daughter-in-law. The Japanese Minister was Viscount Miura. He unfortunately allowed himself to give support to a plot for the removal of the Queen. On the 8th of October, 1895, a large party of Japanese and Koreans surrounded the palace of the Queen, forced their way past the guards, murdered the Queen, wrapped her body in a blanket, saturated it with kerosene and burned it in the court-yard.5 The Japanese Minister denied all knowledge of the crime. For some days the report of the murder was declared to be false. The Queen was said to be alive but in hiding. The pro-Japanese party took possession of the Government, but public opinion sHulbert’s “Passing of Korea, ” Chap. IX, p. 139. 408 Spheres of Interest demanded an investigation of the crime. The evidence of Miura’s complicity was convincing. He was recalled by his government and brought to trial. The court found that he had taken part in planning the assassination but that there was no evidence of his participation in the murder. As a representative of the Japanese Government he could not well be punished ;6 but he returned to private life. While Japan could not well punish her own chosen representative, however, there does not seem to be any good reason for rewarding him, unless she approved of his action. Yet when the horrified world had forgotten the murder, the Japanese Government, in 1910, made Miura a Privy Councillor, an exalted post which he still retains (1922). 7 The terms of peace between China and Japan included the cession of Formosa, the Pescadores and the southern part of Manchuria, known as the Liaotung Peninsula, together with the payment of an indemnity of two hundred million taels. RUSSIA, FRANCE AND GERMANY INTERVENE Before the signature of the treaty the Chinese negotiator, Li Hung-chang, apparently had received assurance from Russia that any cession of territory on the mainland would be protested. For her protest she probably had been promised certain compensation by China. Russia per¬ suaded France and Germany to join her in this action, which, in May, 1895, took the form of a joint note recom¬ mending Japan, for the sake of the peace of the Far East, to restore South Manchuria to China. Japan had no option but to comply. She received an additional thirty million taels for the retrocession, but the offensive advice of the three powers was neither forgotten nor forgiven. She bided her time. Russia received compensation the following year, when, 6 See Mackenzie ’s 1 1 Tragedy of Korea, ’ } pp. 263-268. Official report of the trial. 7 Japan Year Book, 1922. Spheres of Interest 409 at the coronation of the Tsar, the Chinese envoy, Li Hung- chang, signed an agreement permitting Russia to build the Chinese Eastern Railway, an extension of her Trans- Siberian Railway, across Northern Manchuria to Vladi¬ vostok, thus avoiding the long detour around the bend of the Amur River. Germany, intent on getting her reward, sent a fleet to the Far East in 1897, which examined the coast of China for a likely port whose lease she could ask from China for a naval station. In the autumn of that year, while her fleet was thus engaged, some brigands in Shantung raided and looted a village in the south-western part of that prov¬ ince, and killed a number of people, among whom were two Germans. This gave opportunity for a more dramatic presentation of Germany’s claim. A portion of the fleet rushed to the Bay of Kiaochow, landed blue- jackets, drove off the Chinese troops from the forts at Tsingtao, and seized that little fishing village. Demand was made for the pun¬ ishment of the murderers and for compensation to the families of the victims. But in addition the Germans asked for the removal of the Governor of the Province who, ac¬ cording to Chinese theory, was responsible for good order within his jurisdiction. A large indemnity, too, was de¬ manded for the German mission, with which to build mis¬ sion houses and churches. This was in November, 1897. Before March, 1898, Germany had decided to demand the lease of the Bay, having in the meantime obtained, as it seems, the consent of Russia, who in the secret treaty of 1896 had been prom¬ ised a lease of the place. The lease of Kiaochow Bay for 99 years was signed on March 6, 1898, and carried with it the right to build certain railways, to work mines in a specified region, and an option on all public works in the province of Shantung requiring foreign capital or skilled labor. This was followed immediately by a demand from Russia for corresponding privileges in South Manchuria. A con¬ vention, signed on March 27, 1898, granted Russia a lease for 25 years of the Kuantung Peninsula, which is the 410 Spheres of Interest southern portion of that territory from which Russia had just forced Japan. With this lease was granted the right to build a railway to connect Port Arthur and Dalny (now Dairen) with the Chinese Eastern Railway. Two weeks later, on April 10th, Prance demanded her compensation — a lease for 99 years of the bay known as Kuangchou Wan, on the southern coast of China, and a concession for a railway from Tongking into Yunnan. The lease was signed on the 27th of May following. The growl of the Russian Bear had awakened the British Lion, so that on June 9th and July 1, 1898, Great Britain had demanded and obtained a lease of the hinterland of Kowloon opposite Hongkong, and the port of Weihaiwei in Shantung opposite Port Arthur, which had just been leased to Russia. The former enlarged Hongkong colony from 29 to 405 square miles; the latter lease was to terminate when Russia should surrender Port Arthur and Dalny. There was a lull of a few months, but in March, 1899, Italy demanded the lease of Sanmen Bay, in Chekiang. This demand China refused. Instead of yielding prepara¬ tions were made for war. SPHERES OF INTEREST Prior to the signing of the various leases mentioned, France on March 15, 1897, had asked of China an assurance that the Island of Hainan would never be alienated or ceded by China to any other foreign power. China replied that she had no intention of alienating it at all. This led, on February 11, 1898, to a similar exchange of notes between Great Britain and China regarding the non¬ alienation of territory in the Yangtze Valley, and on April 4th of the same year, to a request from France respecting the non-alienation of territory in the three south-western provinces of China. On the 26th of the same month Japan and China exchanged notes concerning alien¬ ation of territory in the province of Fukien, opposite Formosa. In the following year, April 28, 1899, Russia GATE OF RUSSIAN LEGATION, PEKING. EAST GATE OF LEGATION QUARTER, PEKING Spheres of Interest 411 and Great Britain entered into an agreement respecting their spheres of interest in China. Great Britain was not to seek for her subjects any railway concessions north of the Great Wall, and Russia was to avoid asking for rail¬ way grants in the Yangtze Valley. Russia two months later, in an exchange of notes with China, secured an option on railway construction north¬ wards or north-eastwards from Peking, provided foreign capital should be needed for the building of such lines. In the matter of the notes relating to non-alienation of territory, China may be considered as having made a dip¬ lomatic blunder, in that she did not take her stand firmly upon her sovereign rights, and refuse to give any such assurances as were asked or to discuss the matter at all. In her reply she appears to have tacitly admitted a right on the part of the powers concerned to exact pledges from her. In this subtle way the several powers mentioned each laid the basis for a claim to a sphere of interest in China. The Chinese people were greatly incensed by the aggres¬ sive policy of the Western powers thus indicated. Sir Charles Beresford visited China during the period in which these demands were made. After his return to Europe he published a volume called “The Break-up of China/ ’ It looked indeed for a time as though the old empire would fall to pieces. The Chinese newspapers were filled with de¬ nunciation of the Europeans, who, it was said, were about to “Slice China as a ripe melon.’ ’ THE AMERICAN ATTITUDE Apologists for Japan’s action at the Paris Peace Con¬ ference regarding Kiaochow Leased Territory have held that the American people were inconsistent in opposing the Shantung clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, since they said nothing about the seizure of the place by Germany, which was the original offense. But the critics forget that before the news of Germany’s lease of Kiaochow was 412 Spheres of Interest made known, in March, 1898, the United States was in a state of intense excitement over the destruction of the U. S. warship Maine, which had been blown up in the harbor of Havana on the 15th of February preceding. The people were clamoring for war with Spain, which was declared shortly afterwards, and in view of that ap¬ proaching conflict it would have been the height of un¬ wisdom to have incensed the German Government by protesting its actions in China. Nevertheless, the situation was one that was not over¬ looked by Secretary Hay. Not long after the treaty of peace with Spain was ratified, the Secretary, in September, 1899, addressed a note to each of the powers concerned in the leases of Chinese territory, and in the establish¬ ment in that country of spheres of interest. In these notes he asked the adherence of these governments to a policy of equality of treatment for the commerce and navigation of all nations, in such leased territories and spheres of interest. This policy has been termed the policy of the Open Door. What Secretary Hay asked specifically was: First (that each of the interested powers) Will in no way interfere with any treaty port or any vested interest within any so-called “Sphere of interest” or leased territory it may have in China. Second, That the Chinese tariff of the time being shall apply to all merchandise landed or shipped to all such ports as are within said “sphere of interest” (unless they be free ports), no matter to what nationality it may belong, and that duties so levied shall be collected by the Chinese Government. Third, That it will levy no higher harbor dues on vessels of another nationality frequenting any port in such “sphere” than shall be levied on vessels of its own nationality, and no higher railroad charges over lines built, controlled or operated within its “sphere” on merchandise belonging to citizens or subjects of other nationalities transported through such “sphere” than shall be levied on similar merchandise belonging to its own nationals transported over equal distances. The governments addressed were those of Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Kussia and Japan. All declared Spheres of Interest 413 their adherence to the policy thus outlined. There are two things to be particularly remembered with respect to Sec¬ retary Hay’s note: (1) It recognizes the existence of “spheres of interest” in China, although the phrase is put within quotation points. It does not protest against the claims to such “spheres,” nor against the methods by which the leases of territory were obtained. It accepts a situation which seemed to him already existing. (2) No account was taken, in the correspondence, of China’s feel¬ ings or desires in regard to the establishment of ‘ ‘ so-called spheres of interest,” neither was China asked to pledge herself to maintain an open door policy. The Chinese government seems to have been treated as negligible. Per¬ haps this was due to the feeling then prevailing through¬ out the western wmrld that China was about to break to pieces. The Secretary was interested chiefly in the pro¬ tection of American commerce, and sought to prevent the erection of tariff barriers in the “spheres of influence” less favorable to American trade than the existing Chinese treaty tariff. His recognition of the spheres of interest was made still more evident when, in 1900, the American navy desired to lease a coaling station in the Samsah Inlet, in Fukien, within the sphere of interest claimed by Japan. Before mentioning the desire to China, he instructed the Amer¬ ican Minister in Japan to ascertain whether the Japanese Government would make objection to the negotiation with China of such a lease. To this the Japanese Government, on December 10, 1900, replied declining to accede to the proposal. This action of Secretary Hay, moreover, was taken after the Boxer rising had shown how China viewed the whole policy of “spheres of interest.” THE BOXER RISING It is sometimes stated incorrectly that the seizure by the Germans of Kiaochow Bay, which led to the policy of spheres of interest, was an act of reprisal for an attack 414 Spheres of Interest by Boxers upon foreign missionaries, in other words that it was a punishment of China for tolerating Boxerism. This is an exact reversal of the facts regarding the rise of the Boxers. It was the seizure of Kiaochow and the leases of other ports that followed, together with the declaration of spheres of interest, that caused the Boxer rising. The murder of two German missionaries was a crime committed by ordinary brigands, of whom there are plenty at all times in China. It was not the result of any anti-foreign or anti-Christian movement. A whole village was attacked. It was the misfortune of the mis¬ sionaries that they were staying there when the attack occurred. The murder of aliens has sometimes happened in our own land, yet no demand for the lease of a bay, the removal of a governor of a state, or the grant of rail¬ way and mining concessions in reprisal has ever been made by the government of the nation to which such aliens have belonged. It was the weakness of China that made possible such aggression there. The first effect of the forced leases of territory to Eu¬ ropean powers, and their claims to various spheres of interest in China, was an earnest attempt by the liberal minded Chinese to bring about a reform of the Govern¬ ment. The young Emperor, Kuanghsii, had taken the reins into his own hands in 1889. One of his tutors, Wen Tun-ho, was known as a progressive man, and the Emperor, although a weakling, was disposed to follow his tutor’s advice. There were three men whose writings had great influence upon the mind of the sovereign. Chang Chih- tung, the Viceroy at Hankow, a liberal conservative, had published at the close of the Japanese war a small volume called “Learn,” in which he urged the introduction of Western education, which he recognized as the source of Western power, and which, with Western industries and Western military organization, had given Japan the vic¬ tory. Western religion he held to be unnecessary to China, and republicanism he regarded as dangerous. The second writer was K’ang Yu-wei, a brilliant scholar but inexperienced in statecraft. He was an en- Spheres of Interest 415 thusiast who, on being recommended to the Emperor by his tutor, was called to Court, and for three months dazed the empire by a rapid succession of edicts which the young Emperor was induced to issue, and which aimed at the immediate transformation of China. The educational system was to be changed. The army was to be reorgan¬ ized. Railways were to be built and mines to be opened. Useless offices were abolished and ultra-conservative of¬ ficials were cashiered. Every one of the proposed changes was practicable and looked toward the modernization of the state, but the pace was too swift and the method em¬ ployed lacked tact. It is noteworthy that the woman who halted the course of reform and turned back the tide of progress, was herself four years later issuing decrees of exactly the same tenor, in a vain effort to save the falling dynasty. The third man to whom I have referred was Liang Ch’i- ch’ao, the foremost scholar of China to-day, still laboring for the welfare of his country. In 1898 he was editing a newspaper whose brilliant style and trenchant criticisms gave it a remarkably large circulation and great influence. It was the organ of the reformers. But there were two parties at Court, one composed largely of young men devoted to the Emperor, the other made up of older and more experienced men who supported the Empress Dow¬ ager. The Manchu Princes very generally sided with the Dowager, and were opposed to any movement that seemed to threaten their prerogatives, but there were a few pro¬ gressive men among them. Suddenly in 1898, on the morning of the autumnal sac¬ rifice to Confucius, the officials leaving the sacred courts to return to their homes were startled by the report of a coup-d’etat at Peking. In 1903 I was a guest at a birthday entertainment given by His Excellency Hu Yii-fen, a Cabinet Minister. The principal court of his palace had been converted into a theatre, and a famous troupe of players had been brought from Shanghai to entertain the guests. As I sat watching the play Mr. Hu seated himself beside me and asked if t 416 Spheres of Interest I knew who the actors were. I answered that I did not. He then said: “ These are the players who smuggled Liang Ch’i-ch’ao and T’an Tzu-t’ung into the palace of the Emperor five years ago.” The story has been told in various forms. As gathered from various sources it seems to be as follows: The Shanghai company, playing in Peking, received an invitation to play in the palace. They went, of course, and filled an engagement lasting several days. They went in and out the gates of the Forbidden City, repeatedly passing from their inn to the Court theatre and back again. The young reformers had some important mes¬ sage to convey to the Emperor. They were allowed to join the company and so pass in unobserved. The young Emperor between the acts was accustomed to visiting the green room, and thus came into conversation with the two messengers. It was probably the rumor of the coup-d’etat that was being planned by the party of the Empress Dowager that disturbed them, and apparently they sug¬ gested the course to be taken, which was to anticipate the action of the conservatives and strike first. At a subse¬ quent meeting one night Yuan Shih-k’ai was summoned from Tientsin. He was known to be a liberal and, it was presumed, would support the Emperor. According to the account given me he was commanded by the Emperor to arrest and execute Jung-lu, the commander of the prin¬ cipal army of the empire, with headquarters at Tientsin, and bring that force to Peking to surround the palace of the Empress Dowager so as to prevent her interference with the government. Jung-lu was a childhood playmate of the Empress Dowager, and was the young officer of the Banner Corps who had saved her from assassination at the hands of court intriguers when she was returning from Jehol after her husband, the Emperor Hsienfeng, had died there in 1861. Jung-lu was a staunch friend of Her Majesty, and there was no way of getting the army for the protection of the Emperor except by his removal. Yuan, too, was the man chiefly responsible for the reor- Spheres of Interest 417 ganization and general improvement of the army that was in progress, and was the very man therefore to head the troops. But, unknown to the Emperor, Yuan Shih-k’ai and Jung-lu were sworn brothers; that is to say, they had entered into a blood covenant and were bound by a solemn oath to protect one another. Yuan listened to the orders of His Majesty and dissembled his real feelings. He ap¬ peared to fall in with the plot, but early the following morning, instead of waiting for the imperial warrant and the green arrow, which gave its possessor the power of life and death, he hurriedly left the city and returned to Tientsin. When a court officer arrived at his quarters with the Emperor’s command he was not to be found. The Emperor then sent for T’an and gave to him the death warrant, written on yellow satin, and the green arrow, and directed him to go at once to Tientsin and find Yuan. If Yuan should refuse to carry out the orders then T’an was to execute them. “On no account lose sight of Yuan Shih-k’ai,” was the last warning word of the Emperor. T’an went to Tientsin, found Yuan and delivered the mes¬ sage. “Very well,” said Yuan, “let us go to Jung-lu ’s yamen. ” On reaching the gate Yuan told T’an to wait there, lest, while he went in one way, Jung-lu should come out by another. When Yuan saw Jung-lu he showed him the warrant and the green arrow, but was true to his oath. He allowed Jung-lu to get out by the back door, and spent some time in the yamen keeping T’an waiting. Jung-lu obtained a locomotive and car and rushed to Peking, then to the palace of the Empress Dowager, where, falling upon his knees in the doorway, he shouted: “Chiu ming, Chiu ming” (Save life, save life!) The Dowager appeared, asked the cause of the outcry and, upon learn¬ ing of the plot, sent for the Emperor. “Boy,” said she, “what is the meaning of this?” Then, snatching the seals away from him, she had him carried off to an island in the Western Park, where he was confined until the cap¬ ture of Peking by the allied forces in 1900. The next / 418 Spheres of Interest day after his incarceration he was forced to sign a decree declaring that he was too ill to rule, and begging the Empress Dowager to resume the regency. In the meantime T’an, at the gate of Jung-lu’s yamen, waited for sometime for Yuan to appear. Then he re¬ membered the Emperor’s parting warning. It was too late. As he sought to enter the courtyard he met Yuan coming out. The latter said: “Jung-lu is not in his yamen; I have looked everywhere for him.” T’an knew that he had been betrayed. He hurried over to the British settlement and explained the situation to K’ang Yu-wei and Liang Ch’i-ch’ao, who were staying there. They begged him to accompany them as they boarded the China Merchants’ Steamer Anping for Shanghai. T’an refused, saying that he had disobeyed the Emperor and would return to Peking. He was a highly educated young man, son of the Governor of the Province of Hupei; but that did not save him. The next morning he and ten other young reformers were beheaded in the Vegetable Market Place of Peking — the common execution ground. Friends in Tientsin telegraphed to Shanghai that the reform leaders, K ’ang and Liang, were on a steamer bound for that port. The news of the coup at Peking, too, was spread abroad, and the reactionaries at the Capital sent orders to the Taotai at Shanghai to arrest the reformers upon their arrival. The steamer would land at the Chinese wharf, and the native police were in waiting there. At the time I was serving as Vice Consul General at Shanghai. There was great excitement in the settlement. The British Consul General obtained a launch and went down the river to meet the incoming steamer. At Woosung he halted the vessel, which had a European as captain, and was received on board. He urged the two fugitives to accompany him, which they did. Then, ordering the launch to cross the river to the P. & 0. steamer lying there, he put them on board and they escaped to Hongkong. This failure of the reform movement drove many to join the secret societies that were conspiring for the over- Spheres of Interest 419 throw of the dynasty. China is the paradise of secret societies. One of them was the I Ho Tuan, or I ho Ch’uan. It was known by both names. The former means “The Patriotic United Trainband’’; the latter is “The Patriotic United Fists.” In both names the purpose of the society is evident. It was a patriotic union for the defense of the State; but the use of the word “Fist,” and the pecul¬ iar calisthenic exercises in which the members indulged, led the first translators of the term to call it a society of boxers. But it had nothing to do with boxing. The aim of the society, when originally established, was the overthrow of the Manchu Dynasty, which the people held responsible for the misfortune which had fallen upon the country, particularly the aggressions of Western powers. The earliest placards put out by them show this beyond all question. But the Empress Dowager and her reactionary sup¬ porters were shrewd enough to convince the leaders, either by bribery or otherwise, that the foreigners were to blame, and thus persuade them to turn their weapons against the hated intruders. The Boxers met usually in Buddhist temples. There they were trained in the performance of certain physical and spiritual exercises that were to work enchantment and make them immune to foreign bullets. Strict observance of the prescribed regime was necessary. Any neglect would break the charm. If any fell in battle that would be proof of his sin. By such training as this a wonderful morale was de¬ veloped. Many were duped into the belief that by these arts they were made bullet-proof. The Empress Dowager, herself, appears to have believed that such a force was invulnerable and would be able to drive the foreigners into the sea. She had been taught that all these foreigners were barbarians, coming from small islands in the sea, and that they could easily be overwhelmed and expelled from the country. Her best advisers knew that this belief was unfounded, and deplored the folly of engaging in a 420 Spheres of Interest war upon the rest of the world, but this advice was thrust aside for that of ignorant princes, superstition mongers and fakirs. Following upon the seizure of Kiaochow by the Germans, and the demands of various powers for leases and spheres of interest, there came through 1898 a series of anti-foreign outbreaks in all parts of China, and rebellion against the dynasty in the south and west. In the autumn several of the powers sent guards to Peking to protect their lega¬ tions. They remained through the winter, when Peking was almost inaccessible, and were sent away in the follow¬ ing spring. But in 1899 the disorders continued through¬ out the whole empire, taking more and more the form of an anti-foreign, rather than anti-dynastic, movement. The demands of Italy, backed by war-ships and the support of Great Britain, Germany and France,8 and the develop¬ ment of German plans in Shantung, led to troop concentra¬ tions by China and a spasmodic effort to raise additional revenues for the war chest. The feeling in Shantung was especially bitter. The murder of a British missionary there in December brought about the removal of the Gov¬ ernor, Yii-hsien, and the appointment of Yuan Shih-K’ai in his stead. This was a fortunate change for Shantung, but Yii-hsien was received with honor by the Empress Dowager and given the Governorship of Shansi, where by his orders in 1900 fifty-four missionaries were put to death in his yamen. From September, 1899, onwards the aims of the Boxers appear to have been consistently anti-foreign. Their at¬ tacks were directed against foreigners of all nationalities, and against Chinese Christians and all Chinese who sym¬ pathized with Europeans or favored the use of European inventions or any goods of foreign origin. Such Chinese were stigmatized as “Secondary devils.” In May, 1900, legation guards were again sent to Peking. This small force of 458 officers and men, aided by 75 volunteers from the legations and missions and a few armed Chinese con- 8 Morse ’s International Relations of the Chinese Empire, Vol. III. p. 124. Spheres of Interest 421 verts, held the legations in the south-eastern part of Peking and the Roman Catholic mission premises in the north¬ western part, through a siege of 55 days, during most of which period they were under rifle and shell fire. They were thus instrumental in saving the lives of a thousand foreigners and three thousand Chinese Christians. Communication with Peking was broken on June 10, 1900. The same day Admiral Seymour, with detachments from the British, American, German and other war-ships numbering a little more than 2000 men, started from Tien¬ tsin for Peking to rescue the legations. They crossed the river at Yangtsun unopposed by the Chinese troops there, who numbered 4000 and who were decidedly friendly. As yet the Government was not openly supporting the anti- foreign movement. But as fast as Seymour’s force ad¬ vanced Boxers tore up the railway track before him and behind him. They showed wonderful courage, these fa¬ natical bands, marching up against machine guns in the belief that they could not be killed. Admiral Seymour never reached Peking. He had to build a railway as he advanced, and the number of wounded daily increased. On June 16th he was compelled to turn back to Tientsin, repairing the railway as he retreated. In the meantime the Admirals at Taku decided to take the forts at the mouth of the Hai Ho. The demand on June 16th for their surrender was resisted by the Chinese, and they were captured on the morning of the 17th. The American Admiral refused to take part in this attack, holding that the United States was not at war with China and that such action would endanger the lives of the foreigners in the interior and cause a union of Chinese forces against Seymour’s column. In this attitude he was supported by the American Gov¬ ernment. His judgment seems to have been confirmed by the result, for immediately the Chinese declared war on the foreigners, and Seymour’s little column was har¬ assed, not only by Boxers, but by regular troops. The Legations, too, were on June 19th, given twenty-four hours in which to leave the city, which it was impossible for them 422 Spheres of Interest to do under the circumstances. Baron von Kettler, the German Minister, was killed on the 20th, on his way to the Foreign Office, and on June 24th, the Empress Dow¬ ager issued a barbarous decree for the extermination of the foreigners wherever found. The Viceroys of the southern and central provinces refused to execute this foolish and wicked decree. They were joined by Yuan Shih-k’ai, Governor of Shantung, and by Tuan-fang, Acting Governor of Shensi. The latter sent the mission¬ aries in his province under guard to Hankow. Jung-lu, the close friend of the Dowager Empress and once her most trusted adviser, in vain tried to stem the tide of folly. He informed the Viceroys in the south of the real situation. Thus all China, save three provinces, withdrew support from Peking. This attitude of Jung-lu was not understood at the time by the Europeans in China. They knew him simply as the friend of the Empress Dowager, and clamored for his head when peace negotiations were begun, but better counsels prevailed. He called at the American Legation after peace was restored, and told us that we should one day learn that he had opposed the war and had done what he could to save foreigners from attack. This now we know to be the truth. There are five other names that deserve to be held in honor by Americans and Europeans. Yuan-chang and Hsu Ching-cheng, in telegraphing the decree of June 24th which ordered the extermination of foreigners, had delib¬ erately altered the word “slay” to “protect,” and were sawn asunder in punishment of their daring disobedience. The son of the former told me the story of his father’s martyrdom. Three other heroes were Li-shan, Lien-yuan, and Hsli Jung-i, who were put to death for opposing the declaration of war. Well does Kipling say: Not in the camp his victory lies, Nor triumph in the market place, Who is his nation’s sacrifice To turn the judgment from his race. Such courageous characters as these, and the endurance Spheres of Interest 423 of thousands of Chinese Christians who refused to recant in the presence of death and who sealed their faith with their blood, give us a better understanding of the Chinese than the cruel decrees of a selfish ruler or the barbarity of a frenzied mob. PEACE NEGOTIATIONS The summer of 1900 had harvested the sowing of 1898 and ’99. The policy of spheres of interest had been met b;y the folly of Boxerism and the awful massacres per¬ petrated in Chihli, Shansi and Honan. Secretary Hay comprehended the situation as apparently he had not understood it in 1899. Before the relieving force had captured Tientsin or started thence for Peking he seems to have made up his mind to two courses; first, to refuse to hold the Chinese people responsible for the wickedness of the Peking Court, and, secondly, to temper as far as possible the demands that would be made by an outraged world for reprisals. It was well-known that the Emperor, the legitimate ruler of China, had had no sympathy with the reactionary movement headed by the Empress Dowager, and the con¬ sistent attitude of the American Department of State was that the Chinese Government had been temporarily over¬ powered by the Boxer element. In reply to a telegram from the French Government dated July 2d, proposing that the powers should agree to maintain the territorial status quo in China, Secretary Hay replied in a circular communication to the seven prin¬ cipal powers, declaring the policy of the United States. This, he said, ‘ ‘ is to seek a solution which may bring about permanent safety and peace to China, preserve Chinese territorial and administrative entity, protect all rights guaranteed to friendly powers by treaty and international law, and safe guard for the world the principle of equal and impartial trade with all parts of the Chinese Empire.” The powers addressed agreed in this declaration of policy. / 424 Spheres of Interest By this the Open Door came to mean much more than equality of opportunity in certain spheres of interest. Its scope was enlarged and included pledges to abstain from seizure of Chinese territory and from interference with Chinese administration. The American Minister, Mr. Conger, who had shared with other Ministers and with the military commanders the anxiety and responsibility of protecting the foreign community in Peking during the siege, was given leave of absence for a few months, and Mr. Rockhill was sent out as a special commissioner to represent the United States in the peace negotiations. He knew China, and appreciated the many good qualities of Chinese character. He was well qualified, therefore, to carry out the moderat¬ ing policy which Secretary Hay desired to have adopted. I-Iis influence throughout the negotiations was exercised in behalf of clemency, the reduction as far as possible of demands for death sentences, and the lightening of the burden of punitive indemnities to be put upon China. But even after the powers had been induced to agree upon a lump sum to be divided among themselves, it still remained so large as to create financial difficulties for the Chinese Government and hinder the execution of the re¬ forms so greatly needed. The settlement of the Boxer troubles by the protocol of 1901 was nevertheless a lenient one for China. It gave the old empire a new lease of life, and the pledges of the powers to respect its territorial integrity and avoid interference with its administration would, it was hoped, prevent further foreign aggression. ADHERENTS OF THE OPEN DOOR POLICY Spheres of interest, however, still remained. As we have seen, in the December following Secretary Hay’s note of July 3, 1900, he had recognized Japan’s sphere of inter¬ est in Fukien, when approaching that power in regard to the lease of a bay on China’s coast for a coaling station. Spheres of Interest 425 But it follows that in so doing he could not have recog¬ nized any right in the possession of Japan inconsistent with the pledges just given “to respect China’s territorial integrity and administrative entity.” The principle of the Open Door Policy as thus amended was re-affirmed by Great Britain and Germany on October 16, 1900, in an agreement in which these two powers de¬ clared that they would uphold for “all Chinese territory” a policy of equality of opportunity for the trade of all nations, and that they would not take advantage of the circumstances then existing to obtain for themselves any territorial advantage, but would seek to maintain undi¬ minished the territorial conditions of the Chinese Empire. The protocol in settlement of the Boxer troubles had scarcely been signed when the world was startled by the news of the Anglo- Japanese alliance of January 30, 1902. This was doubtless prompted by Russian aggressive move¬ ments in the Manchurian provinces of China. The policy of the Open Door was again emphatically reaffirmed, the two powers expressly declaring that they were “Spe¬ cially interested in maintaining the independence and territorial integrity of the empire of China and the empire of Korea, and in securing equal opportunities in those countries for the commerce and industry of all nations.” Further support to the policy was given by the agree¬ ment of June 10, 1907, between Russia and Japan. Addi¬ tional emphasis was given to these pledges in the Root- Takahira notes of November 30, 1908, declaring the com¬ mon policy of the United States and Japan in the region of the Pacific Ocean, including a determination “to pre¬ serve the common interest of all powers in China by supporting by all pacific means at their disposal the in¬ dependence and integrity of China and the principle of equal opportunity for commerce and industries of all nations in that empire.” Yet all these declarations apparently are to be inter¬ preted in a Pickwickian sense, for when China entered into a contract on May 17, 1916, with Messrs. Siems & Carey, a firm of American engineers associated with the 426 Spheres of Interest American International Corporation, for the construction of 1500 miles of railway, afterwards reduced to 1100 miles, to be selected from a list of proposed lines, the firm found itself blocked at every turn by the claims of various gov¬ ernments to options on railway building in the districts concerned. One of the first proposals was for a line to be built from Fengcheng in Shansi to Ninghsia in Kansuh. Fengcheng is" on the Peking-Suiyuan Railway, some 230 miles north-west of Peking. The proposed line would be constructed from Fengcheng south-westwards into the upper portion of the valley of the Yellow River, a fertile region being settled by Chinese immigrants. The Rus¬ sian government objected to the construction of such a line on the ground that it extended through a region reserved for Russian enterprise. Yet the agreement to which the Russian government referred had no relation to lines north-west or west of Peking, but only lines to be built northwards or north-eastwards from Peking. The next line considered by the Siems-Carey firm was to be built from Chuchow, on the Canton-Hankow Railway in Hunan Province, to Yamchow on the southern coast of Kuangtung. To this the French Government objected that the construction of the proposed line would violate the secret understanding of September 26, 1914, embodied in an exchange of notes between the French Minister in Peking and the Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs. This arrangement granted to French citizens an option on railway and mining enterprise in the province of Kuangsi, through which the proposed line was to be built. The Ministry in 1916 apparently was ignorant of the existence of such an agreement, and the American Govern¬ ment was disposed to question the value of an option of which no public notice had been given. The American engineers then undertook the survey of a line from Chou- chiakou in Honan, via Siangyang in Hupei, into the province of Szechuen. The survey disclosed a route into Szechuen presenting fewer engineering difficulties, it was claimed, than that to be taken by the Hankow-Szechuen branch of the Hukuang Railways, contract for which was Spheres of Interest 427 signed in 1911 with the Four-Power Group. The British Government objected to the Siems & Carey project, on the ground that some years ago a Viceroy of Wuchang promised a British Consul General at Hankow that British capitalists should have a first option on lines to be built in the province of Hupei, which was to be crossed by the proposed line. Yet the central government had no record of any such agreement. Finally, the engineering company was to be employed in the improvement of the Grand Canal, under a contract between the Chinese Government and the American International Corporation which was to provide a loan for the purpose. But the Grand Canal crosses Shantung Province, and the Japanese Government claimed to be heirs of all the rights formerly belonging to Germany in that province, among which was an option on all public works that should require foreign capital or foreign skilled labor. The American Government had declined to recognize that Germany had a monopoly of such enterprises in Shantung, and the German Government itself had declared that it did not claim a monopoly nor any exclusive rights in Shan¬ tung.9 The Chinese Government, as bound by the con¬ vention with Germany, notified that power of its desire to make a loan for the improvement of the Canal, and the German Government, then engaged in the World War, de¬ clared that it had no interest in the undertaking. The American International Corporation, however, to silence objection, granted Japanese capitalists an interest in the enterprise to an amount of five-twelfths of the proposed loan. The loan, for six million dollars at seven per cent, has not yet been issued. SPECIAL INTERESTS Thus it will be seen that the pledges to maintain an open door, with equality of opportunity for the economic activity of the nationals of all countries, are to be inter¬ preted as qualified by the special interests of the various 9 Count von Biilow to the Reichstag, March 3, 1902. 428 Spheres of Interest powers in the regions where they claim to possess spheres of interest. In the correspondence between the United States and Russia, regarding the open door in Manchuria, Russia declared, on February 9, 1902: “ There is no thought of attacking the principle of the open door as that principle is understood by the Imperial Govern¬ ment of Russia” 10 (italics are mine). Subsequent events would seem to have indicated that Russia did not under¬ stand that principle as some others did. Generally speaking it may be said that the powers pledged to the Open Door Policy understood that pledge to mean these things : (1) The territorial integrity and administrative entity of China are not to be impaired. (2) Except in certain spheres of interest there is to be perfect equality of opportunity for the economic enterprise of the citizens of all nations. (3) Within the spheres of interest, other conditions being equal, the power interested is to enjoy a preference in furnishing capital and skill for railway building, mining and other public works. (4) No higher customs duties or tonnage dues are to be levied in a leased territory than are levied by the Chinese law, and no preference in regard to these is to be enjoyed by the power holding the lease of the port. (5) No discrimination in freight rates is to be permitted on railways in China leased or operated by a foreign power or company. This last item has not always been strictly observed. While regulations relating to freight shipments over such railroads have been expressed in phraseology apparently applicable alike to all shippers, they are sometimes so drawn as to provide a real discrimination in favor of the shippers of the lessee nationality. Thus petroleum shipped east or south over the Chinese Eastern Railway — i.e., Russian petroleum, paid one rate, but petroleum shipped north or west — i.e., American petroleum, paid a higher rate for the same distance. io Foreign Relations of the U. S., 1902, p. 929. Spheres of Interest 429 So in 1914 the South Manchurian Railway Administra¬ tion (Japanese) gave a special rate to merchandise shipped direct from Japan through Dairen or Port Arthur to points north of Mukden. The British and American Governments objected that their merchandise was not shipped through Japan. The regulation was amended to read: “all merchandise shipped from a foreign port through Dairen or Port Arthur direct to points north of Mukden” should enjoy the special rate. The protesting governments insisted that this too violated the Open Door Policy, since their goods were not shipped direct to points north of Mukden, but were transhipped at Shanghai, which is not a foreign port as related to Mukden. Then the rule was again amended to cover shipments from Shanghai in Japanese steamers, which also showed dis¬ crimination. Newchwang, too, complained of discrimi¬ nation against that port, a complaint subsequently ad¬ justed. That the policy of the Open Door was to be interpreted in some way in harmony with the existence of special interests enjoyed by certain powers is indicated also in the Lansing-Ishii notes. These notes, signed on November 2, 1917, declare that: Territorial propinquity creates special relations between coun¬ tries, and, consequently, the Government of the United States recognizes that Japan has special interests in China, particularly in that part to which her possessions are contiguous. The notes furthermore declare that The territorial sovereignty of China, nevertheless remains un¬ impaired, and the Government of the United States has every confidence in the repeated assurances of the Imperial Japanese Government that, while geographical position gives Japan such special interests, they have no desire to discriminate against the trade of other nations or to disregard the commercial rights heretofore granted by China in treaties with other powers. A further declaration is made in the note of opposition to the acquisition by any power of any special rights or privileges that would affect the independence or territorial 430 Spheres of Interest integrity of China. Adherence is given, too, to the policy of the Open Door, and equality of opportunity for com¬ merce and industry in China. The special interest of Japan, therefore, is not such an interest as abridges the commercial rights of other nations, or affects the sovereignty or independence of China. It can be no more than that interest which every nation has in the peace and prosperity of its neighbors. Moreover, the rule which gives Japan a special interest in China gives a special interest in China to Great Britain, Prance and Russia, all of which have territories contiguous to China. It gives a special interest in China also to the United States, which enjoys propinquity in its possession of the Philippines. By the same rule China has a special interest in Russian, British, French and Japanese possessions that join her own. The notes, therefore, scarcely do more than affirm the obvious, and the logical deduction from their statements merely makes more formal and definite the recognition of spheres of interest for Great Britain, France, Russia and Japan in regions contiguous to their own pos¬ session, a recognition already granted by implication in the notes of Secretary Hay. It is true, however, that Japan endeavored to substitute in the notes the phrase “special influence” for “special interest,” but the American Government would not con¬ sent. Willoughby quotes Cobbett as saying: A sphere of influence so far as it can be said to possess a definite meaning, indicates a region, generally inhabited by races of inferior civilization, over which a State seeks, by compact with some other State or States that might otherwise compete with it, to secure to itself an exclusive right of making future acquisitions of territory (whether by annexation or by the estab¬ lishment of protectorates), and, generally, also, the direction and control of the native inhabitants.11 Commenting on this Willoughby says: “It will clearly 11 W. W. Willoughby, 1 1 Foreign Rights and Interests in China, ’ ’ p. 271. Spheres of Interest 431 appear that, as thus defined, the term Sphere of Influ¬ ence has no application in China. ’ ’ It is true that official documents have avoided the use of the term “Sphere of Influence, ” but it is often used in popular speech in the Far East as synony¬ mous with ‘ ‘ Sphere of Interest. ’ ’ The desire of the Japanese to substitute the phrase “Special Influence” for “Special Interest” in the Ishii note is very sig¬ nificant, and when one reviews the history of China’s relations with foreign powers, he cannot avoid the con¬ clusion that “Spheres of Influence” as well as “Spheres of Interest” have been sought. The brief summary given in the first chapter of China’s loss of territory indicates this very clearly. French enterprise in the Indo-Chinese Peninsula was first directed to the acquisition of a position of influence in the councils of the State, by assistance to be given in the settlement of a dynastic question. A war, in 1858-62, to secure redress for the murder of French missionaries, obtained possession of three provinces, and led to a protect¬ orate over Cambodia to replace that of Siam and Annam. In 1867 pretext was given for annexation of more territory in Cochin China. The Mekong proving to be of little value for navigation, attempt was made to navigate the Fed River. The refusal of the Annamese to give consent led to war. China gave aid to her vassal but could not save her, and she unwillingly passed under the protection of France. Burmah, long a tributary of China, passed in very much the same way into the possession of Great Britain, although, sending a tribute mission to Peking as late as 1895. The annexation of the northern provinces of India which formerly were included in the Chinese Empire was effected in similar fashion. Intervention to restore peace between certain provinces gave Britain an influence in them which was exercised first as arbitrator and then as protector. The present movement to deny China’s sovereignty in Outer Tibet and make Britain arbitrator of differences between China and her vassal must be judged in the light 432 Spheres of Interest of past history. The same is true of Russian influence in Urga. Japanese activity in Manchuria must be judged by the course taken by her government in its relations with Korea. In the Russo-Japanese war the Emperor of Korea declared his neutrality, but Japan paid no more attention to that than Germany did to the neutrality of Belgium. Japanese troops made a highway of Korea. Japan forced Korea into an unwilling alliance, and promised to respect her independence and territorial integrity. To this she was pledged by the treaty of alliance with Great Britain, but before the treaty of peace with Russia was signed Great Britain agreed to a revision of the treaty, in August, 1905. In this revised treaty Britain recognizes Japan’s possession of paramount political, military and economic interests in Korea. Despite Japan’s promise to the Emperor of Korea, he was compelled by forceful measures, in November, 1905, to sign away his independence and accept Japan’s suzerainty. The Emperor in his despair appealed re¬ peatedly to the United States to exercise its good offices, as promised in our treaty of 1882, but the American Gov¬ ernment closed its ears. A special mission was sent to Washington, but reception of it by the Department of State was postponed until the protectorate was declared, when the Koreans were informed that it was too late.12 There are several treaties, it seems, that have been considered mere “scraps of paper.” We were the first power to with¬ draw our legation from Seoul. Still Korea retained a moiety of her sovereignty, but Japan’s influence waxed, and in 1910 Korea was annexed to the Empire. There is, therefore, good ground for thinking that Britain has looked upon Tibet, Russia upon Mongolia, and Japan upon Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia as their respective Spheres of Influence. THE WASHINGTON CONFERENCE The importance of the Washington Conference to China can scarcely be overestimated. For the first time the i2HuIbe,rt’s “ Passing of Korea, ” p. 222. Spheres of Interest 433 powers having interests in China invited the Chinese Gov¬ ernment to become a party to an agreement relating to the Open Door and Equality of Commercial Opportunity in their country. This agreement is the only one that binds all the nine powers in one treaty to respect the sovereignty, independence, and the territorial and admin¬ istrative integrity of China, and to maintain the policy of the Open Door. It binds China to avoid discrimination in the treatment of the subjects and citizens of the con¬ tracting States, and it pledges the powers other than China to withhold support from any arrangement purporting “to establish in favor of their interests any general superiority of rights with respect to commercial or economic develop¬ ment in any designated region of China. ” This is aimed directly at ‘ ‘ Spheres of Interest. ’ ’ 13 Another article pledges the powers to withhold support from agreements among their nationals designed to create “Spheres of In¬ fluence. ’ ’ 14 The question naturally arises ; have they bound the Governments not to claim Spheres of Influence? 13 Nine-Power Treaty, Article III. 14 Ibid., Article IY, CHAPTER XXI THE ERA OF REFORM No man putteth new wine into old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles. — Luke v:37. The Master said, ‘ 1 What is necessary is to make names correct. ’ ’ — Analects of Confucius, xiii:3. On the 7th of January, 1902, I stood on the balcony of a silk shop facing the Ch’ien Men Ta Chieh, or “ Great Front Gate Street,” in Peking. It is the principal busi¬ ness street of the Outer City, commonly called the ‘ ‘ Chinese City,” to distinguish it from the larger enclosure to the north, called the Tartar City. The Manchu Court, after an exile of a year and a half, was returning to the Capital. When the American con¬ tingent of the forces sent to relieve the Legations had, in August, 1900, seized the Ch’ien Men, or “Front Gate” of the Capital, and had begun firing on the palace in the Forbidden City, the Empress Dowager and her courtiers had hastily fled out the back gate of the Forbidden City, across the northern part of the Tartar City and, accom¬ panied by a frightened multitude and cursing guards, made their way through the north-western gate into the open country. The streets were filled with surging masses fleeing pell-mell in terror. It is said that the imperial guards killed more people getting out of the city than the allied forces did coming in. The Empress Dowager had taken the precaution to have the Emperor accompany her. Her niece, the Em¬ press, was also provided a place. The two imperial con¬ cubines, reputed to have held progressive views and to have had much influence with the Emperor, were left behind. The body of one was found in a well in the Forbidden 434 « The Era of Reform 435 City. Some assert that she was thrown into the well by command of Her Imperial Majesty, the Empress Dowager. Others say she was a suicide. Her sister, the remaining concubine, was rescued from amidst the flying mob by an imperial prince, who conducted her to a place of safety and sent her on to join the Court. The Court had rested one night at the Summer Palace, and then by slow marches had made its way to the city of Hsian Fu, the capital of Shensi, and anciently the capital of China, situated in the far north-west, a month’s journey from Peking. After her return the Empress Dowager, referring to this ex¬ perience, with pathos in her voice, said she had fled in such haste that she had had no time to comb her hair, and had had no breakfast that day save a hard-boiled egg. THE RETURN OF THE COURT Now, after eighteen months’ waiting for the restoration of peace, she was returning to her palace. It was a bitterly cold day. A north-west wind was blowing. The streets were filled with germ-laden dust that penetrated one’s eyes, nostrils, ears and lungs. The inhabitants of the city said: “The dragon is soaring in the clouds because the Emperor is abroad.” The dragon is the emblem of im¬ perial power. It also represents the power that rules the winds. Two lines of a Christian hymn would express very well the Chinese idea of the dragon : His chariot of Avrath the deep thunder clouds form, And dark is his path on the wings of the storm. It was a common tradition that if the Emperor at any time left his palace there would be a high wind accom¬ panying him. From the semi-lune which formerly concealed the 1 1 Front Gate” of the Tartar City, clear across the Chinese city to the Yungting Gate, a mile to the south, the street had been cleared of all booths and stalls. The roadway had been swept and then covered with yellow earth, yellow being 436 The Era of Reform the imperial color. Every shop and home on the street was closed and shutters put up over the windows: Every cross street was cut off by blue curtains, for no common eye must gaze upon majesty as it rides by. Only the im¬ perial guard, drawn up on either side the way, was per¬ mitted upon the street. Princess, dukes and other nobles were with their several banner corps. From early morn until two o’clock in the afternoon the patient soldiers waited in their ranks in biting wind and suffocating dust, without food or drink. It had been a long journey from Hsianfu to Peking. At the slow rate of imperial travel it had occupied some six weeks. The progress of the Court, with its thousands of servants and guards had been as great a calamity to the districts through which it passed as a swarm of locusts. Orders to respect private property and to pay for supplies were issued, but only to be ignored by rapacious under¬ lings. This was one of the chief reasons that Chinese Emperors in recent times so seldom left the Capital. The Ministers and high officials would do all in their power to dissuade His Majesty from making a visit to any prov¬ ince where they had friends or relatives, knowing well how the people would suffer. As it was in England in the 14th century, so it was in China in the 20th. Green tells us that royal journeys in the days of Edward III beggared the people, who were fain to hide or eat their supplies to save them from the purveyors of the Court, who bought at fair market prices but never paid for any¬ thing. We watched upon the balcony hour after hour, and, when we grew too cold, we would go into the shop and warm our hands at a charcoal brazier whose fumes filled the room and gave one a headache. When the atmosphere of the room became too stifling we would return to the balcony to get a breath of air. We were a party of Americans and Europeans from the legations, graciously permitted by the Chinese Government, in violation of ancient custom, to look down upon Imperial Majesty on this eventful day of re-entry into Peking. But we found The Era of Reform 437 that, despite all orders and precedents, the people of Peking were just as eager and determined as we to see the procession. Above the comb of every roof, now and again we saw long rows of heads appear and disappear, and myriads of dark eyes gazing curiously down over the tiles into the street. The gilded sign-boards of a thousand trades rattled in the wind. Near at hand rose the mas¬ sive grey walls of the Tartar City. The roof-tree of the unfinished tower at the Ch’ien Men bore witness to the devastation wrought by the Boxer folly. Beyond the lofty city wall rose the Twin Pagodas, built in the days of Kublai Khan, and we could not but think of the many centuries that had passed since Marco Polo mingled with the courtiers of Peking, and of all the changes wrought by those centuries to this ancient city. The Court had returned by way of the Yellow Eiver valley to Kaifengfu and thence northward to Paoting- fu, the old capital of Chihli Province. The railway which had been torn up by the Boxers was once more in opera¬ tion from Paoting to Peking. For the first time in her life the Empress Dowager rode on a railway train. She was startled by the whistle of the train as it approached a crossing, and sent word to the engineer that thereafter he should not blow the whistle without first notifying her. The allied armies, on rebuilding the railways, had brought them into the city, cutting great gaps in the sacred walls for this purpose. Prior to the Boxer rising this had been forbidden, and now that their Majesties were return¬ ing, the existence of railway tracks through the walls was ignored. Instead of riding in a comfortable coach to the Ch’ien Men, the Court descended from the train at the old terminus, Machiapu, five miles away, and made the journey in palanquins and carts or on horseback, facing the bitter wind. Such is conservatism. About two o’clock in the afternoon an alarm was given. A horde of eunuchs on shaggy, unkempt ponies came dash¬ ing by. These eunuchs, in their crimson robes covered with huge medallions of green and yellow, and wearing black caps with red feathers attached, looked like so many 438 The Era of Reform circus clowns. Behind them came the imperial herald crying the approach of the Court. Immediately the sol¬ diers fell upon their knees and bowed their heads toward the ground. Next into view came the Imperial Guard folowed by a group of military officers on horseback, Yuan Shih-k’ai in his yellow jacket riding in their midst. Close behind were the imperial standards, great triangular flags of yellow satin on each of which was embroidered the blue dragon trying to swallow a red sun. Beside the banners were the yellow umbrellas, emblems of power, upon whose flounces were embroidered the imperial dragons. Behind these emblems, borne swiftly along by eight bearers, rode the Emperor in his yellow satin palanquin, which was lined with blue silk. He sat upon his feet and gazed straight ahead, like the Buddha on his lotus throne. Following the Emperor came the Empress Dowager with her guards. She was more human in her actions — pulled aside the curtains of her chair and waved her handkerchief toward the ladies on the balcony in token of friendly feel¬ ing. It was difficult to realize that a few months before she had been trying to destroy these legation folk with shot and shell. After the Empress Dowager there came the Empress in her yellow chair, the imperial concubine and the ladies- in-waiting in their carts, and princes, dukes and other noblemen on their horses or in green chairs, with officers and attendants of various ranks bringing up the rear. It was a wonderful exhibition of barbaric splendor. The motley group of attendants, the lack of order, the wild riding, the gorgeous colors, the quaint costumes, the ancient emblems all united to make it like a scene from the Arabian Nights. It was the last pageant of its kind. It marked the end of an era. The next time the Emperor went forth was to worship at the Temple of Heaven. He went escorted by modern troops, who stood and presented arms instead of grovel¬ ing in the dust before him. The Era of Reform 439 CHARACTER OF THE REFORM \ "With the return of the Court to Peking a very earnest movement for reform began. Edict followed edict with feverish haste. But the new wine was being poured into old wine-skins. The ferment extended throughout the empire. Manchu institutions could not stand the strain. In one brief decade the wine-sldns were destined to burst, the Manchu Dynasty to disappear. In one of the edicts issued by the Empress Dowager she quoted the saying of Confucius that the one thing needful was to correct the terms, or names, by which things were being called. Confucius was aiming his remark at an un- fdial son and usurper. He meant that he would call things by their right names. "With the Empress Dowager it meant that some of her reforms got no further than a change of names. Old offices were given new names and dedicated to new uses, but the corruption and inefficiency remained as before. The title, Tsungli Yamen, was an abridgment of the name by which the Foreign Office had been called. The full title when translated was 4 ‘Office for the General Direction of the Affairs of Various Coun¬ tries.” This was changed to Wai Chiao Pu, or “Ministry of Foreign Relations.” The Hu Pu, or “Board of Popu¬ lation,” a name reminiscent of a time when its chief func¬ tion was to take the census and collect poll tax and land tax, became the “Ministry of Finance.” Other offices, too, were given new names. Seeing that changing the name did not always change the character of the institu¬ tion some critics were disposed to xj0°h-P0°h the whole reform movement. They called it a sham, and said that reform existed only on paper. But that was an unjust criticism. Had there been no real spirit of reform in the air, there would have been no ferment, and nominal changes might have sufficed. In that case no explosion could have occurred; the dynasty might have survived. But the people demanded real change. There was pretense, to be sure ; there were insincere reformers. But there were others 440 The Era of Reform desperately in earnest. The old and new struggled to¬ gether. Some really new institutions were created to meet the new situation. There was a Ministry of the Interior, with a national police force under its control. There was a Ministry of Commerce, a Ministry of Posts and Com¬ munications, a Ministry of Education, and multitudes of bureaus designed to aid in the modernization of the coun¬ try. But vested interests are not easily destroyed. There were too many parasites who were unwilling to surrender their sinecures for the sake of the general good. They opposed the reforms because their craft was in danger. Men were puzzled by what they saw. The hypercritical saw only inconsistency. Others marveled at the rapidity of the changes being made and saw only progress. We had been told repeatedly in the years before the Boxer crisis that the Chinese could never reform; that their institutions had become hardened and fixed, had not changed since the days of Confucius, had lost all their plasticity and could not be modified. The statement was untrue, for Chinese history records many crises which had introduced great changes and turned the current of national life into new channels. Future history, no doubt, will set down the year 1902 as the beginning of a new era in China, one that was to inaugurate other great social and political changes. For, in spite of pessimistic prophets, China began to change again but not as the Manchus designed. They started a movement which soon got beyond their control and whose outcome we cannot even yet foretell. EDUCATIONAL REFORM The failure of the Boxer rising, coming so soon after China’s defeat by Japan, convinced even so pronounced a conservative as the Empress Dowager that China had to have a new system of education, if the nation was ever to develop the strength necessary to withstand the aggressions of the powers. Even before she left Hsianfu to return to Peking she issued an edict requiring the officials of the empire to THE VICEROY CHANG CHIH-TUNG. HER IMPERIAL MAJESTY, THE EMPRESS DOWAGER OF CHINA. The Era of Reform 441 acquaint themselves with international law and political science, and giving them six months within which to com¬ plete the task. That, of course, was neither practical nor practicable. But immediately after her return to Peking she appointed a commission to draft a public school system. The two commissioners were Chang Chih-tung, the Vice¬ roy at Wuchang, author of the little book called “ Learn” which has already been mentioned, and Chang Po-hsi, the Minister of Education and one of the foremost scholars of China. THE OLD SYSTEM Prior to this there had been no public school system in China. Education was a private matter. The wealthy kept tutors for their children. In the villages and city wards the neighbors, under the leadership of their elders, clubbed together to maintain schools, each family paying the teacher a few hundred cash a month for each child sent. In this way one boy in ten, perhaps, learned enough characters to be able to keep his accounts. One in a thou¬ sand, it may be, could read a book or newspaper editorial understandingly. The only interest of the State in edu¬ cation was manifested in the holding of examinations for the civil and military services of the empire. The system of civil service examinations in vogue up to 1900 was at least a thousand years old, while in simpler form it had existed from very ancient times. For the military examination little was required beyond physical culture and skill in horsemanship and archery. A slight acquaintance with the written characters of the Chinese language was desirable, but would not necessarily close the door to promotion. A well-known Major General in Peking under the Empire and the Republic can neither read nor write. For the civil service the examination was very stiff, but was not calculated to determine a man’s fitness for office. One had to know the written language and be very familiar with the Chinese classics, and with the history and litera¬ ture of his country, to pass such an examination. Once 442 The Era of Reform a year the County Magistrate held an examination in his yamen of the young men who wanted to compete for ad¬ mission to the civil service. The most promising students were selected to enter an examination the next year at the prefectural capital. The best of these were given the degree of Hsiu Ts’ai, commonly reckoned by Europeans as a B.A. degree. This degree qualified the holder to enter the lists the third year at the provincial capital, where thousands were gathered in the great examination halls. I have known as many as 27,000 to attend the examinations at Nanking. Three times for twenty-four hours each time the student was fastened in a cell, unable to communicate with anyone else, and while there required to write a thesis or a poem upon an assigned subject. The paper when finished was enclosed in an envelope which was marked with a cipher. Another envelope with the same cipher contained the student ’s name. This was designed to secure impartiality in the marking of the papers. But no matter how good the papers, the number who could be allowed to pass was strictly limited, and of these a fixed proportion had to be Manchus. Out of 27,000 not more than three hundred could obtain the degree of Chic Jen. These the following year would assemble at Peking for the metro¬ politan examination, where out of some 6000 candidates about three hundred would secure the degree of Tsin Shih , and one-third of these, at a subsequent palace exami¬ nation, would be given the title of Hanlin and admitted to the National Academy. From these men were selected the historiographers who compiled the dynastic history. The chief purpose of the examination, therefore, was to prepare men to serve the State, and nearly all the officials, from District (or County) Magistrate to the Prime Minis¬ ter obtained their appointments originally through this method. THE NEW SYSTEM The edict of 1902 changed all this. At the beginning of 1904 the two commissioners, in a report that filled eight The Era of Reform 443 volumes, submitted a scheme for a public school system, based upon that in operation in Japan, which in turn was derived from that of the United States. The system, as submitted and approved, had this serious defect. It made no provision for the education of girls except that it allowed their admission to the lowest grade primary. This defect was corrected to some extent by the activity of the women of China, who showed unexpected resourcefulness in their efforts to establish schools in their own homes or to establish free schools for the daughters of the poor. It was the Viceroy Tuan-fang who urged this upon the attention of the Empress Dowager, and the latter was quick to respond to the suggestion, for she had ac¬ quired her education for the most part after entering the palace. She directed the Princess Imperial to open a school in her own palace for daughters of the nobility and higher officials. This example was followed by many other princesses and wealthy women, and the example of Peking was followed in other cities, until many of the provincial governments themselves assumed the responsibility. This reform incidentally led to another, the abandonment of foot-binding by great numbers of Chinese. The Empress Dowager was quick to seize the opportunity given by the opening of schools for girls to have a rule made that no girl with bound feet would be admitted. The desire for education had more influence upon the practice than all the imperial edicts that had previously been issued. The school system as approved in 1904 has been slightly modified since by the Republic, but has not been changed in any important feature. To-day the curriculum requires four years for the lower primary grade, three for the upper primary, and four for the middle school. From the middle school one can pass to a normal school or a manual train¬ ing school if he so desires. Or, if he prefers, he may enter the preparatory school, where after two years’ study he may enter the university. A five years’ course there fits one. to enter a professional school. It is true that before the Boxer troubles spasmodic efforts to establish colleges of the modern type had been 444 The Era of Reform made by various provincial governments, but they had not met with much success. They were not connected with any system of elementary education which could prepare students for their courses, and as long as the old system of examinations remained, with its chance of official prefer¬ ment, the new colleges did not attract the best students. Even after the adoption of the new school system it was decided to retain for a time the old method of competing for degrees, reducing from year to year the number of degrees to be allowed, so making more gradual the transi¬ tion to the new system. But after an experience of a year and a half this was found to be inadvisable, for as long as the old avenue to honor stood open few could be induced to try the more difficult path of modern education. On September 1, 1905, therefore, an imperial edict appeared abolishing forever the age-old but outgrown system of literary examinations. The effect was seen immediately in all parts of the empire. Great zeal was shown in the establishment of schools of the new order. Special funds for their support were provided by new provincial taxes, and these funds were increased by gifts of the wealthy and by popular subscriptions. In many places temples and other public buildings belonging to the community were taken over for the use of the schools. In other places village funds whose proceeds had theretofore been devoted to popular sports, to theatrical exhibitions or religious cele¬ brations were directed to the more beneficial purpose of popular education. The great difficulty Was to provide teachers. This is still a difficulty, although the normal schools now provide a goodly number from year tc year. The demand for Western education led to a great increase in the number of students going abroad. This movement was aided by the action of the American Government, which in 1908 decided to return to China a portion of the Boxer indemnity. Up to the time of the entrance of China into the world war the indemnity was being paid in monthly installments, of which a definite proportion was handed back to China. The total to be thus returned will be more than twelve million dollars, together with the interest The Era of Reform 44 5 accruing thereon. The Chinese Government, to show its appreciation of this action, informed the American Govern¬ ment in 1908 that the funds would be used to educate students in the United States. To carry out this plan the Tsing Hua College was established in Peking, where a constant group of some 400 students, chosen by competi¬ tive examination, is prepared for entrance to American universities. There are some twenty Chinese and twenty American teachers engaged in this work, and the govern¬ ment has given the school the confiscated grounds and buildings formerly belonging to an imperial prince who was a Boxer leader. This was an act of poetic justice, for education is the best antidote to Boxer ism. These grounds adjoin the Yuan Ming Yuan, or Imperial Summer Palace, destroyed by the British and French in 1860. The college has recently added these historic grounds to its campus. The disturbances that attended the revolution of 1911 and 1912, and the civil war which has been almost continu¬ ous since 1916, have greatly retarded the development of the school system. The latest statistics available show that there were in 1917, 122,286 schools, with an attendance of 4,075,338 students. This is to say that of perhaps 80 million children of school age there are only a few more than one in twenty in government schools. Of these four millions the girls number but 177,273d Since these statis¬ tics were compiled the education of girls has been receiving attention from the Government, and the national univer¬ sity at Peking has opened its doors to women. Many girls, however, are educated at home and in religious schools. The American missionaries have done a great educational work in China. The missionaries of other countries also have established schools, and all these together have sup¬ plemented the work of the public schools in a very effective manner. MILITARY REORGANIZATION One of the earliest reforms to be undertaken was that of the army. Dr. Wu T’ing-fang once asked an Ameri- i Commercial Handbook of China. Julean Arnold. Yol. 2, p. 412. 446 The Era of Reform can friend what reform should be undertaken by China first of all. The friend replied: “Why, the educational, of course.’’ “Oh no,” said the Minister, “While we are getting the children educated you Western men will come and take our country away from us. The first thing to do is to build up an army. ’ ’ There was much reason in this statement. Japan had won the recognition of the European powers, not by her educational system nor by improved administration, but by the creation of a great army and navy and the waging of successful war. On the other hand China’s military weakness had invited aggressive encroachment upon her sovereign rights and led to the loss of some of her best ports. For centuries the Chinese had been taught to despise the military art. I have already quoted a common proverb which says, “Nails are not made of good iron nor soldiers of good men.” In China this once was true. Nails were hammered out of scrap iron, and soldiers gathered from the human scrap-heap. Before the war with Japan the Chinese army, for the most part, was a rabble. To a con¬ siderable extent it existed on paper only. When the inspector was about to visit a camp he sent notice in ad¬ vance, so that the commanding officer would have time to send out into the highways and hedges and, for a few cents a day, line up a sufficient number of idle men to fill the ranks. A military jacket was loaned to each one and a musket or spear placed in his hands. He could then stand up and be counted. After the inspection many were discharged, and the monthly pay of the missing found its way into the pockets of the officers. Often prior to the war between China and Japan I watched the drilling of the troops. Every fifth man carried a long bamboo spear decorated with a red pennon. The rest were armed with muzzle-loading muskets. When these had fired their guns they would fall back a few paces to give place to the spearmen, who rushed forward with blood-curdling yells and brandished their weapons to hold off the enemy until the muskets were re-loaded. The The Era of Reform 447 Manchu banner men formed a separate organization. They were descendants of the conquerers of China, and prided themselves on their horsemanship and archery, but they were as unfit for modern warfare as the bowmen that followed the Black Prince would have been. Before the war of 1894 with Japan there were some modern troops in China, but they were very few. The army that was led against the Japanese was a conglomera¬ tion of provincial levies, some with one equipment and some with another, all utterly unfit for real service. By 1900, when the Boxer rising occurred, some improvement had been made, but each Viceroy had his own army, and these armies were organized upon different models and carried rifles of various patterns. The defeat of these troops and the Boxers in 1900 rein¬ forced the lesson taught by the war with Japan, and con¬ vinced the authorities that their attitude towards the mil¬ itary had to be changed. Christian nations had taught the Chinese that the art of war was not to be despised, and that without a powerful army China was in danger of losing its independence. Systematic efforts were made to develop the martial spirit. Military training became compulsory in the public schools. Sons of the nobles and high officials were encouraged to take up the military career, and a special school for cadets of such families was opened in Peking. The whole army was reorganized upon a new basis. It was made national, no longer a collection of provincial forces, and it was placed under the direct control of a general staff at Peking. Moreover the rabble was excluded. Every recruit was required to bring evi¬ dence of the respectability of his family and had to be able to read and write. He was given a regular course of instruction, had to take notes and pass examination upon the lectures given, and was thoroughly and constantly drilled in the manual of arms and required to take daily exercise in the gymnasium. He was smartly dressed, fairly well paid and kept under strict discipline. The result was shown in the annual maneuvers, which received very favorable comment from European critics. 448 The Era of Reform The efficiency of the troops was tested during the revolu¬ tion. The northern army in particular made a very good showing. It was pretty well officered and was kept well in hand. It showed more efficiency, perhaps, than the revolutionary forces of the south, and on the whole appears to have been more amenable to discipline. The difference was due to the fact that the troops nearest Peking had received most attention from the government. After the revolution the republican government continued the work begun by the Manchus, but civil war, which has almost bankrupted the nation, has made it impossible to provide the funds needed for the support of the troops and the improvement of their equipment. Nevertheless, the army does not lack some of the most modern inventions. Aero¬ planes were frequently seen over Peking in the maneuvers of 1912 and 1913, and recent fighting between the con¬ tending forces has been made with the aid of machine guns. The Washington Conference adopted a resolution advis¬ ing China to reduce the forces under her warring tu chilns, or military governors. This action to some, however, appears rather ludicrous for two reasons. In the first place the Peking Government has shown itself powerless to control these warring factions. Eepeated orders to halt their movements have been ignored. The exhortation is useless. Secondly, the total strength of the combined armies of China, if we accept the maximum estimate of a million, gives her but one soldier to every 400 of the population, while some of the powers that criticised are supporting in time of peace one soldier to 40 of the popu¬ lation, and others one to 217. If it be said that China is wasting money on military forces that should be used to pay her debts, what should be said of other powers main¬ taining huge armies that are making no effort to pay the interest on their debts? It is a pity to see China wasting her strength in suicidal conflict, but Western aggression has made impressive the truth that “When a strong man armed keepeth his palace his goods are in peace. ’ ’ TSING HUA COLLEGE, PEKING — SUPPORTED BY THE RETURNED BOXER INDEMNITY. BARRICADE, NEAR AMERICAN LEGATION DURING BOXER RISING The Era of Reform 449 JURIDICAL REFORM Scarcely any reform initiated at the time was more im¬ portant than that of the penal code and the courts. The chief reason influencing the government in the matter was the enjoyment by the foreign powers of a right of extra¬ territorial jurisdiction over their nationals in China. In 1902 a Commission on Juridical Reform was established by imperial edict, at the head of which the Empress Dow¬ ager appointed Dr. Wu T’ing-fang, so long the Chinese Minister in Washington, who had studied law in London and was familiar with Western codes, and Shen Chia-pen, the greatest authority at that time on Chinese law. Their report was made and adopted in 1905. It pointed out very truthfully that, while the criminal code of China was more severe than those of the West, the situation had earlier been just the reverse; that Western nations in recent times had modified their laws and made them more humane, and that Europeans and Americans now were un¬ willing to submit themselves to the severer laws of China. The memorialists referred to the exercise by foreign states of extraterritorial jurisdiction in China as an encroach¬ ment upon the sovereignty of China, and quoted the treaty of 1903 with the United States, and treaties with certain other powers also, as promising to surrender their extraterritorial jurisdiction whenever China should reform her code and courts. EXTRATERRITORIALITY Writers upon the subject of extraterritoriality usually find its origin in the relations between Turkey and the European states ; but the privileges granted to the Christian Powers of Europe by the victorious Mohammed II cannot be regarded as a confession of weakness on his part. Rather his grant of jurisdiction should be looked upon as a formal recognition of a principle that was of very general applica¬ tion, and a practice whose roots strike far into the past, 450 The Era of Reform when sovereignty was regarded as personal and having nothing to do with geographical boundaries. Hall’s observation that “to the Oriental mind a personal law is more familiar and appears more natural than a territorial law”2 was true rather of the Near East than of the Far East. China apparently arrived at the con¬ ception of sovereignty as territorial long before Europe did. Indeed the practice of the West is not even now con¬ sistent with its theory of sovereignty as territorial, for many Western nations insist still upon a claim to the mil¬ itary service of foreign born children of their subjects, although these children claim citizenship in the land of their birth. It was feudalism that introduced into Europe the principle and practice of authority limited by territorial boundaries. With the fall of Rome these territorial lords became independent, but continued to regard themselves as rulers of territory rather than peoples. China many centuries before Christ reached this con¬ ception of sovereignty as territorial by a very similar ex¬ perience. The Chou Dynasty in 1122 B.C. divided the empire among feudal lords, who in return rendered mili¬ tary service to the Emperor. Their jurisdiction was limited by the boundaries of their territories. They gradu¬ ally became independent of the central state, made war one upon another, and established treaties with one an¬ other in which they recognized the territorial sovereignty one of another, provided for extradition and arranged for interchange of commodities. When one of these states, in 249 B.C., swallowed up all the others, it carried over into the new empire the conception of sovereignty as territorial, and this conception persisted into recent times. The Man- chus allowed the peoples of their dependencies to govern themselves by their own laws, but always and only upon the recognition of China as sovereign. European nations at the time of their first intercourse with China held con¬ fused notions upon the subject of sovereignty, generally insisting on territorial jurisdiction themselves but also at 2 Hall’s “Foreign Jurisdiction q£ jtlie British Crown/’ p. 133. 451 The Era of Reform times attempting to exercise jurisdiction over their own people in other lands. The British Parliament in 1773 empowered the king to erect a supreme court at Calcutta, without seeking the consent of the titular ruler 3 In China, as a rule, they were compelled to allow the local govern¬ ment to exercise jurisdiction over their subjects, but often they resisted its authority and endeavored to supplant it. It was only after defeat in war that China consented to sur¬ render jurisdiction. The humiliation, however, is one that has rankled in the breasts of the Chinese ever since. Thus the movement of 1902 to revise the code with a view to the abolition of extraterritoriality was a very natural one. REVISION OF THE CRIMINAL CODE In May, 1905, the commissioners made a partial report to the throne which was approved. This report recom¬ mended the abolition of certain cruel forms of punishment and the substitution of others more humane. Briefly, the sentence to a “lingering death,” or “the death of a thou¬ sands cuts,” was abolished. Decapitation was substituted, and it was forbidden to expose the head after execution, as had been customary in certain cases. Branding, beating with the bamboo, and wearing of the cangue, or wooden collar, were also abolished. Instead of these penalties imprisonment at hard labor was substituted. Such im¬ prisonment, too, replaced the old sentences to exile within the limits of one’s native province and deportation to the frontiers with military servitude. Torture of criminals and witnesses, once very common, was forbidden, except in the case of a criminal convicted of a capital offense. The old law, as stated in another chapter,4 required confession of guilt before execution, and if the hardened criminal wrould not confess he could be persuaded by torture to do so. Since the establishment of the Republic the reform has been carried much further. Torture is now forbidden in 3 Westlake, “Private International Law,” p. 96 (139). 4 Chapter VII. 452 The Era of Reform all cases. An entirely new criminal code has been drawn up based upon the continental practice in Europe, and a civil code as well as a code of procedure have also been prepared. These, although tentatively adopted, have yet to secure the approval of Parliament. NEW PRISONS The Manchu reform also included the building of modern prisons. Quite a number of these have already been com¬ pleted. One of the first was that erected by the Viceroy, Yuan Shih-k’ai, at Tientsin. It is a model prison, clean, sanitary and well-managed, with night schools for the younger inmates, who are taught reading, writing and elementary mathematics, and with workshops where all are required to labor at certain trades, such as cabinet-making, tailoring, embroidery and black-smithing. Moral instruc¬ tion is given daily by an officer who corresponds in his functions somewhat to a Western chaplain. LAW SCHOOLS AND LAW COURTS The need of properly trained judges led at once to the establishment of law schools, and with the development of the public school system and the education of many stu¬ dents abroad the improvement of the courts ought to be manifest. The troubles that have afflicted the country in recent years, however, have checked progress in this direction. A beginning has been made in the establishment of the new courts, and these are no longer under the control of the administrative officers. The Manchu Government adopted the principle of a separation of the functions of the executive and judicial branches of the government, and to these the Republic has added a third branch, the legis¬ lative. There are courts of first instance in all county towns, with appeal to the provincial high courts, and from there to the supreme court at Peking. But in many places this reform still exists only in theory. The old courts The Era of Reform 453 still function. Men and money are lacking for the changes needed. THE ATTITUDE OF THE FOREIGN POWERS Despite the efforts of China to reform her codes and courts, the Western powers are still unwilling to place their citizens and subjects under the jurisdiction of Chinese courts. In 1906 the United States greatly improved the admin¬ istration of justice in its extraterritorial courts in China by creating a United States Court for China. This sits generally at Shanghai, but also makes periodical visits to other cities. But the best possible administration of justice in such courts leaves something to be desired. The various nations represented in China have different codes and different methods of procedure. Persons guilty of identical offenses are punished severely in one court and leniently in another. In 1901 two Chinese, two Americans, one Englishman, and a Dane were engaged in a case of’ robbery and murder at T’ungchou, near Peking. The two Chinese were beheaded within twenty-four hours. The two Americans sent to Tientsin for trial, were sentenced to four years in the penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth. The Consul did not have power of life and death. The Englishman was held for the next session of the British court at Tientsin, a delay of six months. The witnesses neglected to appear and he was discharged. The Danish Government had no arrangements for trial and the Dane was discharged. These foreign courts, moreover, cannot compel the at¬ tendance of witnesses of another nationality, and this some¬ times makes judgment difficult. The consular courts are often far from the scene of the crime, and Chinese will suffer in silence rather than take the long journey from home necessary to the laying of complaint before a foreign court. For these and other reasons the Chinese at the Wash¬ ington Conference urged the withdrawal of these courts by the powers represented at that conference. After some / 454 The Era of Reform discussion it was resolved to constitute a commission to visit China to study the situation at first hand and recom¬ mend measures to be taken with a view to the eventual restoration to China of that territorial jurisdiction which should belong to her as a sovereign state in the modern world. It is not improbable that some arrangement will be made for the gradual transfer of jurisdiction, similar to that adopted in Siam by the British, French and Ameri¬ can treaties with that state. CURRENCY REFORM An attempt was also made to reform the currency. In our commercial treaty of 1903 China had agreed to estab¬ lish a uniform currency, so necessary to the promotion of commerce. The United States was interested also in sta¬ bilizing the ratio between gold and silver. The fluctuations at that time were rapid and great. Accordingly in Janu¬ ary, 1904, the American Government sent Professor Jere¬ miah W. Jenks to China to study the situation. He spent some months there and recommended a gold exchange system similar to that in use in the Philippines. But his advice was not accepted by China. I have already spoken of the confusion that exists in China due to the variety of monies in use, the different standards of weight and fineness used in the valuation of silver, the many kinds of dollars in circulation, and the unwillingness of the people to accept a token coinage. The proposed reform, therefore, was one of great importance, but it remains still unaccomplished. In 1905 an imperial edict appeared authorizing the minting of a silver and copper currency, to be uniform throughout the empire, but the edict was not carried into effect. In 1910 the Chinese Government requested the American Government to arrange with American bankers for a loan of fifty million taels for the purpose of currency reform. A group of American bankers was willing to make the loan, but this group of bankers had already entered into an agree¬ ment with certain British, French and German groups The Era of Reform 4 55 of bankers to share all business obtained in China. The Chinese Government, after some correspondence, consented to such an arrangement, and the negotiations were con¬ ducted, therefore, with the Four-Power Group, as it was called. A coinage system was arranged, the dollar being the unit, and minting regulations as to weight and fine¬ ness were adopted. The Chinese Government, in apply¬ ing to the United States, had promised the appointment of an American financial adviser. When the matter came up in the negotiations considerable jealousy developed at once among the four powers that were supporting these groups, each unwilling that either of the others should have the advisership. It was finally agreed that the office should go to some small state not represented in the nego¬ tiations. Mr. Vissering, President of the Java Bank of Amsterdam, was chosen. His experience with monetary affairs in the Dutch East Indies qualified him in an espe¬ cial manner for the post. A contract was drawn up and initialed, but Mr. Vissering desired some assurance re¬ garding his rank vis-a-vis the diplomatic representatives at Peking, and while this matter was being adjusted the revolution of 1911 broke out and the proposed reform was pushed aside. During the negotiations the amount of the proposed loan had been increased from fifty million taels to fifty million gold dollars, in order to include a sum needed for financial readjustment in the Manchurian prov¬ inces. An advance of four hundred thousand pounds was made for this purpose before the conclusion of the negotiations. This loan of four hundred thousand pounds was extended from time to time for six-month periods; but in June, 1917, the American Group surrendered its interest in the proposed currency loan, and obtained a settlement of its share in the advance. The American Government, however, at once reminded China that the application for a loan for currency reform had been made originally to the Government of the United States, not to any particular group of American bankers, and the Chinese Government was requested to take note that American interest in the proposed loan was not abandoned. 456 The Era of Reform The action of the American Group will be more easily understood when it is remembered that these banks had been interested in the Chinese Reorganization loan of 1913, but had withdrawn from the six-power group that was negotiating that loan because the administration of Presi¬ dent Wilson had declined to continue the support which the preceding administration had given to those negotia¬ tions. The same banks were also interested in the loan which was made in 1911 for the Hukuang Railways. That interest is still retained. After the surrender by the American banks of their interest in the currency loan the Japanese asked for a share in the proposed loan and, it is understood, were allowed an interest. Baron Sakatani, too, was mentioned very favorably for the post of financial adviser, but thus far nothing has come of the negotiations. Chinese monetary and fiscal reform both seem as remote as ever. ABOLITION OF SLAVERY One great social reform was accomplished before the Manchus lost the throne. That was the abolition of slavery by an imperial edict of 1910. Slavery in China was an inheritance from a very ancient past, and its abolition was attended by many difficulties. A Chinese proverb says: “Old customs may not be broken.” Vested interests in all lands are of course arrayed against reform. In China under the old Manchu code the people were divided into four classes; banner-men, free Chinese sub¬ jects, out-castes, and slaves. To these we may add a fifth, the aborigines of the south and west, who were governed by their own chieftains. The banner-men included the descendants of the Man¬ chus, Mongols and Chinese who were associated in the Manchu conquest of 1644. They enjoyed special privileges. They drew pensions, were required to bear arms, and were forbidden to engage in trade. Prior to the legal reform of 1905 they were subject only to the jurisdiction of the Manchu code. The free Chinese made up the mass of the The Era of Reform 457 inhabitants, the farmers, artisans and merchants, as well as a majority of the gentry and officials. The out-castes were Chinese subjects engaged in degrading occupations which subjected them to certain disabilities. These were the actors, beggars, chair-bearers, barbers, lictors and pros¬ titutes. Besides these there were the to min, a despised class of pariahs of unknown origin, in Chekiang Province. The disabilities of the last were removed in 1903, and at¬ tempts have been made at various times to improve the condition of others. Up to the close of the Manchu rule, however, they were excluded from the civil service ex¬ aminations and were not allowed to hold office until after three generations of ancestors had pursued honorable call¬ ings. Slaves were of three sorts: (1) household servants sold into slavery by their parents or guardians, and descendants of such slaves; (2) serfs attached to the estates of Manchu nobles. These serfs were descendants of the former owners of the land who, at the time of the Manchu conquest, sur¬ rendered themselves and their property to some Manchu lord in return for his protection, and (3) criminals sen¬ tenced to military servitude in punishment for crime. In this class descendants of such criminals were included. They suffered for the sins of their fathers. Besides these there was a class known as pao i, who were retainers of the Manchu nobles, and who were bound to render suit and service, but they were not slaves in the ordinary sense of that word. They were admitted to the examinations and often held office. The edict of 1910 was not wholly satisfactory. It set free the slaves of the Chinese, but the Manchus would not consent to free the serfs from their obligation to cultivate the soil. They were, however, given the status of hired laborers and could no longer be tried by the old slave code. But they were restricted in their movements. They were required to remain on the land. The pao i, too, were held to their duties. Further purchase and sale of men and women was absolutely forbidden, but, to provide for the relief of distress in time of famine, parents were allowed 458 The Era of Reform to bind out tbeir children for a term of years. Such children could be redeemed if parents should be able later to repay the debt, and in any case they were to be set free at twenty -five years of age. Concubinage was frowned upon but not absolutely for¬ bidden. The purchase of a concubine was, however, not allowed. If a man took a concubine he was required to marry her according to legal forms duly witnessed. Since the establishment of the Republic, of course, no form of slavery is tolerated by the law. THE ANTI-OPIUM REFORM To the Manchus belongs also the initiation of one of the greatest moral reforms ever undertaken. An earlier chapter has already told of the introduction of the poppy into China by the Arabs in the 8th century A.D., and of the use of a decoction of poppy seed as an exhilarating drink. Mention was made, too, of the subsequent import of opium for medicinal purposes and the beginning of opium smok¬ ing. After the Chinese Government, in the treaties of 1858, had agreed to legalize the traffic, the production of opium in China soon outstripped the import of the foreign drug. The demoralizing effects of the vice of opium smok¬ ing can be appreciated only by those who have lived in close association with the Chinese, and witnessed the deg¬ radation and misery caused by it. The Empress Dowager, in 1906, made a heroic effort to suppress the vice and return to the early attitude of the dynasty toward the traffic. The import of opium in 1906 was 54,475 piculs, or 7,263,333 lbs. The native production no one knew, but a moderate estimate based upon the reports of observers in all parts of the country placed it at 175,000 piculs, or 23,333,333 lbs., more than three times the import. The income to the government from the taxes on the native and imported drug was about Tls. 20,000,000 a year, i.e., about U. S. $15,000,000. Yet the government de¬ liberately determined to sacrifice this revenue in order to The Era of Reform 459 rid the country of the awful curse. On September 20th of the year mentioned an edict appeared outlining a pro¬ gramme for the progressive decrease, during a period of ten years, of the production of opium, by a corresponding decrease in the acreage of poppy culture. At the same time measures were to be taken for the gradual suppression of opium smoking. Briefly these measures were (1) to register all opium smokers under 60 years of age, with the amount consumed daily by each; (2) to register all opium dealers and the amount of their sales, and forbid all sales except to licensed smokers and only to the amount of the daily consumption allowed; (3) the smoker’s allowance was to be reduced at each renewal of the license; (4) the dealer’s license to sell limited the amount to be sold and reduced it year by year; (5) all opium smoking dens were to be closed within six months. It is regrettable to have to note that the foreign settlements at the ports of China were among the last to close these dens. Municipal revenues from licenses were at stake. For a time the Chinese made remarkable progress in the reform. To succeed in this attempted reform it was necessary to have the assistance of other powers. There was danger that the abandonment of opium smoking might be followed by the use of morphia. The treaty powers were therefore asked, in 1907, to agree to the prohibition, except under a physician’s certificate, of all imports of morphia and of hypodermic syringes used for its injection. The powers agreed. It was useless, too, to forbid poppy culture unless the import of foreign opium could be ehecked. The British Government was approached and promptly gave its assistance by arranging for an annual reduction of 5100 piculs in the import, which would ex¬ tinguish the trade in ten years or less. But China made more rapid progress than was antici¬ pated. Gradual reduction of poppy culture was found to be impracticable; some growers would profit at the ex¬ pense of others. The governors of certain provinces pro¬ hibited any cultivation at all of the plant. This resulted in 1911 in a revision of the agreement with Great Britain, 460 The Era of Reform excluding foreign opium altogether from those provinces where poppy culture had ceased. In this way in a very short time a large part of the empire was closed to the import. The dealers in Shanghai made a great noise and tried to insist upon importation. For a time four provinces w^ere left open to the traffic. Subsequently these also were closed, and a considerable amount of opium was left in the hands of the merchants. Before this situation disclosed itself the American Gov¬ ernment became directly interested in the reform. Opium smoking was common among the Chinese in the Philippines, and our government wanted to have the vice suppressed. Proposal was made to the powers interested in Far Eastern affairs that a commission should meet at Shanghai to study the question and recommend measures to be taken to aid the crusade. One man, Dr. Hamilton Wright, more than any other, was responsible for the energy with which the matter was pushed. The International Commission met at Shanghai on February 1st, 1909, and on the 26th of that month unanimously adopted nine resolutions. Briefly they recog¬ nized the sincerity of China’s efforts to effect this reform, and recommended the governments represented each to take measures to suppress the vice in its own territories. It urged them to prohibit the use of opium for any but medicinal purposes, and to prevent the shipment of the drug to any country that prohibited the import. It called attention also to the grave danger arising from the dis¬ tribution and use of morphia. The governments concerned were asked to close all opium dens in their settlements in China, and apply to their citizens and subjects in China their domestic pharmacy laws. This last would make it possible to punish in the extraterritorial courts in China those foreigners who were obstructing the reform. The American Government was quick to adopt the legis¬ lation recommended and, following up the measures ad- ready taken, requested the government of the Netherlands to invite the powers concerned to an international con¬ ference at The Hague. ‘This conference met in December, 461 The Era of Reform 1911, and was attended by representatives of twelve powers. On January 23d, 1912, the conference adopted a convention designed to secure the legislation needed to bring about the suppression of the abuse of opium, morphia, cocaine and other habit-forming drugs. But since there were but twelve powers signing the convention some of these were unwilling to ratify it unless the governments of the world generally should also agree to support the movement. Ac¬ cordingly the American Government at once asked and obtained the cooperation of all other American republics. A second conference met at the Hague on July 1, 1913, when it was learned that there were still several European and Asiatic governments that had not signed the conven¬ tion. This caused further delay. A third conference was then called for 1914, and met at The Hague on June 15th. It then appeared that 44 out of the 46 governments invited had signed the convention. Turkey and Serbia alone re¬ fused. Of those signing only eleven had ratified. A pro¬ tocol was then drawn up and left at The Hague, which provided that any power signing it could put the conven¬ tion into force for itself after December 31st, 1914. The United States, China, the Netherlands, and one or two other powers signed at once. But the Great World War broke out immediately afterwards and the proposed reform was forgotten. In the meantime the Chinese revolution of 1911, while aiding the movement in one way, seriously hindered it in others. The republic was, if anything, more determined than the empire to stamp out the curse of opium smoking. In some provinces men were put to death for opium smoking. But in other places, where military operations were in progress, the enforcement of the law was relaxed. Civil war has been almost continuous since 1913, and some of the military leaders, indifferent to every¬ thing but the immediate success of their cause, have en¬ couraged the production of opium in order to raise the revenues needed for the support of the armies. Such action has been encouraged, too, by the great amount of smug¬ gling of opium and morphia from neighboring countries. In 1915 the official trade returns of the Japanese Gov- 462 The Era of Reform ernment showed an import into that country of 358,543 ounces of morphia from Great Britain, two-thirds of the entire out-put of the British manufactories. Yet Japan has stringent laws regulating the sale of morphia to her own people. Japanese traders were charged with shipping large quantities of the drug into China through Japanese post-offices in that country, which, because of Japan’s en¬ joyment of extraterritorial jurisdiction over her subjects in China, could not be searched by Chinese customs authori¬ ties. The Statistical Secretary of the Customs, a British subject, estimated the amount of morphia, thus smuggled in that year into China as worth one million pounds ster¬ ling. When the attention of the British Anti-opium Society was called to this condition of affairs they secured the passage through parliament of an act, ostensibly a war¬ time measure, to prevent the export of morphia. The Japanese Government then permitted the introduction of poppy planting into Korea. Large quantities of opium were smuggled into Manchuria. Morphia, too, is said to have been manufactured by certain Japanese firms. Japanese papers published at Dairen carried a standing advertise¬ ment of a well-known firm in which opium and morphia were offered to the trade. For years past the Japanese Government has maintained an opium monopoly in For¬ mosa to supply the addicts there with the drug. On taking over the former German leased territory in Kiaochow a similar arrangement was made there. The farmer of this monopoly, it was estimated, cleared a million yen in 1918. The Japanese Government controlled the customs there and the railway from Tsingtao to Tsinan. Large quanti¬ ties of opium found their way into the interior of Shan¬ tung. Numerous Japanese drug-stores were found to be little better than opium shops in disguise, and many Japanese pedlars in Shantung and Manchuria sold hypo¬ dermic injections of morphia at from three to five cents a piece. They also sold the syringes, which are likewise contraband. High-minded Japanese were shocked by this situation, The Era of Reform 463 and by the callousness of their government, and urged that something be done to remove the scandal. The question came up at Paris in the Peace Conference, with the result that a clause was inserted in the treaty binding all the signatories to carry out the Convention of 1912. After ratification of that treaty the Japanese Gov¬ ernment took certain measures to relieve itself of respon¬ sibility in connections with the illegal traffic. Arrange¬ ments were made to reduce gradually the sales of the monopoly in Kiaochow, so that in five years the traffic would cease. In the Liaotung Peninsula of Manchuria, if action has been taken, as reported in the press, the situa¬ tion would not seem to be much improved, since the monopoly was reported to have been turned over to the Municipality at Dairen. The conditions prevailing at present in regard to the traffic are far from satisfactory. The poppy cultivation in India increased in 1921 from 144,000 to 204,000 acres, according to a report to the Times of London by Dr. Collins, one of the British delegates to the anti-opium con¬ ferences. The same authority stated that the annual export of morphia from Great Britain to Japan had grown to the enormous amount of 880,000 ounces in 1920. Most of this passed through the United States. Recent legislation by the Congress was designed to check this traffic through our country. If we add to this the amount of opium and morphia smuggled into China from Hongkong, Macao, Indo China, Formosa and elsewhere, the total will be appalling. In this smuggling no doubt large numbers of Chinese are themselves engaged, and the callousness of other govern¬ ments does not excuse the action of the Chinese authorities who are tolerating open production in violation of law, but it does in a measure explain it. Since the signing of the treaty of Versailles the control of the question has passed into the hands of the Council of the League of Nations, in which our government has no voice. But the American Government has been too long interested in the reform to be indifferent to its success. It is disturbing to learn that at a recent meeting of the Council of the League 464 The Era of Reform a proposal to “limit the production of opium to the de¬ mand for medicinal uses, ’ ’ while accepted in principle, was nullified by reservations on the part of producing powers, who appear more concerned for their revenues than for the promotion of the reform. CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM In the summer of 1905 I stood on the platform of the railway station in Peking, whither I had gone to bid good¬ bye to the members of an imperial commission, which had just been appointed to visit Western countries to study and report upon constitutional methods of government. The two principal members of the commission were Duke Tse, a member of the imperial family, and Tuan-fang, the Viceroy of Nanking, both Manchus. There were also a number of Chinese on the commission. As I drew near the car of Duke Tse there was a sudden explosion; the side of the car was blown out, four or five persons were killed and a number of others badly injured. An investiga¬ tion showed that a revolutionist had carried an infernal machine into the car, and, as he passed through the narrow corridor, had run against one of the servants of Duke Tse, who was trying to get out. The box containing the in¬ fernal machine fell to the floor and exploded. The revolu¬ tionist and the servant were among the killed. The de¬ parture of the commission was postponed for a time, but its members left later in the summer, and after visiting the United States and various countries of Europe returned to Peking in August, 1906. They immediately made their report to the throne recommending the preparation of the country for the introduction of representative government. On the 1st of September, 1906, an imperial edict appeared approving of the recommendations of the commission. The edict recited the fact that all nations now were in free communication one with another, and that the laws and customs of one affected those of others ; that other countries had constitutional government, and that the welfare of The Era of Reform 465 China demanded that she should do likewise; that an ex¬ amination of the situation showed that China’s lack of prosperity was due to a lack of cooperation between the throne and the people ; and that, while the supreme author¬ ity remained vested in the Crown, it was right that the people should participate in the government. The decree announced furthermore that a period of preparation would be necessary before a parliament could be established. This period was subsequently fixed at ten years but afterwards shortened to seven. In 1907, as a measure of preparation, self-governing societies were organized to train the people in the duties of citizenship. The first municipal election, too, was held that year at Tientsin, Yuan Shih-k’ai’s capital. That city became during his viceroyship a sort of political experiment station. The next year, 1908, arrangements were made for the election of provincial assemblies. DEATH OF THE EMPEROR AND EMPRESS DOWAGER In the autumn, however, political reforms were for¬ gotten in the official mourning ceremonies that followed the death of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, within twenty-four hours of each other, one on November 14th the other on the 15th. Which died first is not cer¬ tainly known to the public, but officially the Emperor was the first to pass away, giving the Empress Dowager oppor¬ tunity to appoint Pu-yi, the Emperor’s nephew, successor to the throne. This was in accordance with an agreement made in 1903 at the reconciliation of the two court factions; that of the Emperor and that of the Dowager. It was decided then that the Emperor’s brother, Prince Ch’un, should marry the daughter of Jung-lu, the faithful sup¬ porter of the Dowager, her early playmate and the young Banner-man who had saved her in 1861 from the hand of the assassin. The arrangement announced at the time of the marriage as already stated,5 was that, if a son should be born, he should be made the continuator of two lines, £> See Chapter IY. 466 The Era of Reform that of the Emperor T’ungchih, who died in 1875, and that of Kuanghsii, the then reigning sovereign. This was in¬ tended to correct the abnormal situation created by the selection of Kuanghsii, a cousin of T’ungchih, as successor to the latter. It is impossible, according to the Confucian teaching, for a man to worship the spirit of a relative of the same generation with himself. T ’ungchih and Kuanghsii were first cousins. Through all the years since 1875 the dead emperor T’ungchih has been without a continuator of the line. Now, in a case of this sort, a man who has two lines to keep up must have two wives, for he must raise up descendants in two lines. This is the only case under the old Chinese law in which bigamy was made legal. Concubinage has a legal standing, but except in a case like that just described no man may have more than one wife. P’u-yi was proclaimed Emperor under the title of Hsiian’tung. He was four years of age in 1909 when his reign period began. He has just been married (December, 1922) and is now seventeen years of age. DEGRADATION OF YUAN SHIH-k’aI In September, 1908, some weeks before the death of the Dowager, a garden party had been arranged at the Summer Palace to which the Diplomatic Corps had been invited. A day or two before the date fixed for it, it was called off by the serious illness of Her Imperial Majesty. One day while she was very ill it was rumored that she was dead. A eunuch rushed into the presence of the Emperor saying : ‘ ‘ The Old Buddha is dead. ’ ’ This was a common nickname for the Empress Dowager. Immediately the Emperor drew a sheet of paper from his desk and wrote a warrant for the arrest and execution of Yuan Shih-kai. The Emperor had never forgotten nor forgiven his betrayal by Yuan in 1898. He had just sealed the document when the eunuch came running in again saying: “Oh, she’s alive again.” The Emperor thrust the document into the desk, where a few weeks later it was found by his widow after he and The Era of Reform 467 the Dowager had both passed away. She at once sent for Prince Ch’un, the father of Pu-yi. Prince Ch’un was Regent. The Empress said to him: “Here are your brother’s commands; what will you do?” The Empress also cherished bitter feelings against Yuan. But someone gave him warning. He fled from Peking to Tientsin. While he was living in safety there in the British Settlement Prince Ch’ing made his peace with the Regent, and it was agreed that he might retire to his home. Accordingly he wrote that he had a sore foot and could no longer dis¬ charge the duties of his office, and begged to be allowed to retire. He went to his home in the province of Honan. MOURNING PERIOD In accordance with Manchu custom the whole empire mourned for one hundred days. No Chinese was allowed during that period to shave his head. In the braided queue he wore a white cord, instead of a red or black one, white being the color of mourning. All sign-boards over shop doors which had red or gilt coloring were changed to blue and white. No feasting was allowed; no marriages celebrated. Music was forbidden. In the spring of 1909 the remains of the Emperor were carried by 128 bearers from the capital to the imperial cemetery 85 miles south¬ west of Peking, known as the Western Tombs. The vault and temple constructed there for his tomb appeared very mean in contrast to those of the great emperors who had preceded him upon the throne. The building was still unfinished, indeed, at the time of the revolution. The remains of the Empress Dowager, Tzu-hsi, were kept in a hall reserved for that purpose at the foot of the Pros¬ pect Hill, until the autumn of 1909, a year after her death, wrhen they were borne with great ceremony to the mag¬ nificent mausoleum which she had built for herself at the Eastern Tombs, 90 miles north-east of Peking. Thrice the great empire of China has been ruled by a woman. All have been strong characters, but all guilty 468 The Era of Reform N of great cruelties. Tzu-hsi was perhaps the greatest of them all. She was the daughter of a Manchu Colonel of the Bordered Blue Banner Corps. Taken into the harem of the Emperor Hsienfeng in 1852, as a concubine of the fourth rank, she had become the mother of the only son of that Emperor, and was promoted from one rank to another until, at the death of her husband, she was known as the Princess Yi, mentioned in an earlier chapter. After her husband’s death she became one of the regents, and was raised to the rank of secondary Empress Dowager, or, as more commonly called, the “Western Empress Dow¬ ager,” the east being the side of greatest honor. There she eclipsed her superior in rank, the Eastern Empress, with whom however she maintained a strong friendship. The words Tzu-hsi are but two syllables of the long title that was conferred upon her, two syllables at a time, during her life.6 She was a masterful woman with strong common sense, but lacking acquaintance with the world. She was a gracious hostess, but when her will was crossed she was cruel as the grave. She wasted the revenues of the empire upon her pleasures. The funds raised for the building of a navy she appropriated to the creation of a summer palace at Wan Shou Shan, adjoining the Yuan Ming Yuan Park that had been destroyed by the British and French in 1860. Like Athaliah of old she had no scruples about killing those who stood in her way, and, like Athaliah, she seized the kingdom. For nearly half a century she ruled the empire, and to her perhaps, more than to any other one person, the Manchu Dynasty owed its downfall. Her memory will be preserved, indeed, but not by the fragrant balsam of affection. It will be preserved by the bitter myrrh of hatred and unending regret. 6 The title in full was “Tzu-Hsi, Tuan- Yu, K’ang-I, Chao-Yu, Chuang-Ch ’eng, Shou-Kung, Ch’in-Hsien, Ch’ung-Hsi, Sheng Mu.” Its meaning is: “The Holy Mother, Compassionate and Fortunate, Upright Protector, Reposeful and Firm, Glorious and Happy, Grave and Sincere, Long-Lived and Reverent, August and Gracious, Noble and Brilliant.” CHAPTER XXII SETTING UP THE REPUBLIC God said: “ I am tired of Kings — I suffer them no more. Up to my ears the morning brings The outrage of the poor. Behold mine angel, Freedom! Choose him to be your king. He shall cut pathways east and west, And fend you with his wing. Emerson. The people are the foundation of the State; the national altars are second in importance; the monarch is the least important of all. — Mencius (350 B. C.). The death of the Emperor Kuanghsii and that of the Empress Dowager Tzn-hsi, within a few days of each other, halted the programme of reform for a few months ; but the provincial assemblies, elected by the people, met in their several capitals in October, 1909. Dr. Morrison, the cor¬ respondent of the Times , of London, visited a number of these assemblies and reported that their meetings were conducted with dignity, and that the members showed real capacity for legislative work. The assemblies did not possess legislative power, however; they were merely de¬ liberative. But they recommended various measures to the provincial authorities which were of real importance to the people. THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY A year later, October, 1910, the first national assembly met at Peking. It consisted of a single chamber and one half of its members were appointed by the Throne. It also had deliberative powers only. It represented very 469 470 Setting up the Republic fairly the various elements of the population; Manchus, Mongols and Chinese. There were 16 imperial princes and dukes, 10 other Manchu nobles, 14 from the dependencies, 6 representatives of the imperial clan other than nobles, 32 officials from different departments of the government, 10 noted scholars, 10 of the largest tax payers, and 100 representatives elected by the provincial assemblies. There were two Presidents — one Manchu, Prince P ’u-lun, and one Chinese, Sun Chia-nai. Despite the large representation of the Manchus and the official classes, the Assembly from the start showed itself hostile to the Government’s pro¬ gramme. It demanded an immediate grant of power to legislate. Petitions to this effect had been presented before the death of the Empress Dowager, to which that willful woman had replied by reminding the petitioners that the constitution was being granted from above, not forced upon the Throne by the people. She affirmed the sacredness of the sovereign, who was possessed of all authority, although he desired to exercise it in accordance with constitutional forms. It will be noted that in this declaration she was following the example set by the Japanese Mikado in his grant of a constitution.1 In fact the Empress Dowager expressly declared that the powers of the sovereign under the new dispensation were to be like those of the rulers of Japan and Russia. All laws were to be subject to his approval and all officials were to be appointed by him. He alone could convoke and dissolve parliaments. He was to remain the commander-in-chief of the army and navy. The expenses of the imperial household were to be taken from the treasury without any supervision by the parliament. An assembly of this sort, as Maclaren has pointed out with respect to Japan, is “the most dangerous political institution that can be created in any country. ” 2 In Japan the Diet still labors under such limitations as were pro- 1 Ito, in his commentary on the Constitution of Japan, Chapter I, page 2, said that the mention in the Constitution of certain provi¬ sions concerning the sovereign did not in any way imply that any new opinion was set forth; that, on the contrary, the original national polity was more strongly confirmed than ever. 2 Maclaren 7s Political History of Japan, p. 151. Setting up the Republic 471 posed by the Empress Dowager to China, but Japan had only recently emerged from feudalism when the constitu¬ tion was granted. The people are still submissive to their lords and are trained to worship the sovereign. There has as yet been but slight chance for the development of a strong popular party in opposition to the Throne. There is a liberal party headed by a few strong men, but it has not been able to remove the handicap just described. In China, on the other hand, there have been several institu¬ tions of a democratic character that have helped to prepare the people for political life. There moreover the existence of a foreign dynasty has been provocative of criticism, and has made possible the organization of secret 'societies aim¬ ing at revolution. Such a programme as that outlined by the Dowager was, therefore, one sure to be taken advantage of by the enemies of the Manchus. The ferment began at once. The Prince Regent, father of the baby emperor, was not a brilliant man. Neither was he tactful. Prince Pu-lun, the Manchu President, urged him to yield to the inevitable, to get credit for liberal views and save the dynasty, but his efforts were unavailing. The only concession which the Regent would make was to shorten the period of prepara¬ tion, so that a real parliament possessed of legislative powers might meet in 1913 instead of 1917. The edict to this effect was issued on Nov. 2, 1910. It did not satisfy the radicals, who clamored for legislative power at once. On the 30th of November they put through a resolution asking that the cabinet be made responsible to the assembly, but the Regent rejected it. After a stormy session the assembly adjourned on Jan. 11th, 1911. Before the time for the next meeting had arrived the revolution had begun, and the dynasty was tottering to its fall. RAILWAYS AND REVOLUTION In May, 1911, the Chinese Government entered into a contract with the four-power group of bankers for a loan with which to build the Hukuang Railways. The lines 472 Setting up the Republic were so called because they were to be constructed through the provinces of Hupei and Hunan, which collectively formed the Viceroy alty of the Hukuang, or the “Lake Plain.* ’ One line was to extend southwards from Hankow to the northern boundary of Kuangtung Province, where it was to connect with the railway being built by a Chinese company northwards from Canton. The other was to be built westwards from Hankow, across the eastern boundary of Szechuen Province, where it was to connect with a line to be built by a Szechuen company to Chengtu, the capital of that province. The banking group was at first composed of British and French bankers only, when the line south¬ ward from Hankow was that under consideration. But Germans offered China more attractive terms, which led to the incorporation of a German group and the inclusion of the line westward from Hankow. The Americans, how¬ ever, had been given a promise in 1903 and again in 1904, that, in case the latter line should be built with foreign capital, British and American companies would be con¬ sulted.3 In 1909, therefore, the American Government re¬ minded China of this promise, and an American group was admitted to participation in 1910. Inasmuch as the Szechuen company had made very little progress in the construction of the proposed line from Kueichoufu to Chengtufu, the Peking Government decided to take over that section and increase the four-power loan from four million, the sum mentioned in the original contract, to six million pounds sterling. The final contract for this amount was signed on May 20th, 1911. The Szechuen Railway Company had raised eleven million taels, of which some seven millions had been lost in rubber speculation by the President of the company. Nothing had been ac¬ complished except the construction of twenty or thirty miles of earth-work. When the news reached Chengtu that the Ministry of Communications had signed an agree¬ ment with foreign bankers for the building of the Szechuen Railway, the shareholders of the provincial company held 3 See MacMurray ?s Treaties and Conventions with and Concerning China, pp. 885 and 886. Setting up the Republic 473 a meeting, on August 4th, and asked for reimbursement of their outlay. They declared that they had no objection to the loan, nor to the pledging of provincial taxes, but asked just treatment for themselves. The Minister of Com¬ munications, Sheng Hsiian-huai, proposed to give them four million taels’ worth of shares in the new enterprise. This offer was rejected; the company demanded eleven million taels, or interest on that amount, and refused to take bonds. The Minister pointed out that seven millions had been lost, and that there remained but four millions. The company rejoined that the President who had misappro¬ priated the seven millions had been appointed by the Peking Government, which was therefore responsible. In¬ dignation meetings were held in various cities of Szechuen, and appeals were telegraphed to officials in Peking and to the Szechuen Guild in that city. The members of the guild held a meeting, and sent a deputation to wait upon the Prince Regent. The latter failed to realize the gravity of the situation, and stubbornly refused to yield or to com¬ promise. On the 18th of August the shareholders met again, and gave the Government fifteen days within which to agree to the company’s demands. During this period riots occurred in various cities, and officers of the imperial government were attacked. The company was supported in its demands by the provincial legislature. The ultima¬ tum of the Szechuen people expired September 2. On the 4th of the month another meeting of the shareholders was held. Threats were made that the company would pay themselves by seizing the provincial taxes. The legislature prepared to resist the national government by organizing a force of militia. On the 6th of September an edict of the Prince Regent was received by the Viceroy directing him to suppress the disturbances. A meeting of the shareholders had been called for that day, and 600 men were assembled in a hall waiting for their leaders, who had been arrested by the Viceroy and were being held by him in his yamen. The excitement increased from day to day, and on the 9th of September a mob of armed men gathered in front of the Viceroy’s yamen demanding an interview with that 474 Setting up the Republic official. Subordinates appeared and told the leaders of the mob that the Viceroy would receive them if they would surrender their arms. They did so, and were immediately attacked by the Viceroy’s guards, who massacred the de¬ fenseless people without mercy. This was the match that fired the train. The resulting explosion overturned the throne of the Manchus. The province of Szechuen at once flew to arms. Solemn pledges were taken by the leaders to stand by one another. Provision was made for the support of the families of all who might be killed in the conflict, and the names of such patriots were to be in¬ scribed on a roll of honor. Thus far the professional revolutionists had had nothing to do with the movement. Dr. Sun was not in China, and General Huang Hsing had taken no part. Members of the revolutionary secret societies, however, are found everywhere in China, and they were quick to take advantage of the situation. On October 8th, 1911, an ex¬ plosion occurred in a house in the British Concession at Hankow. Investigation by the police discovered that it was headquarters of a revolutionary group engaged in making bombs. These were arrested and turned over to the Chinese authorities. The Viceroy at Wuchang, across the river from Hankow, promptly executed them on the 9th and was decorated by the Regent with the yellow jacket. The next night his yamen was in flames, and his own troops mutinied under the leadership of their Colonel, Li Yuan- hung, who has recently been made President of China for the second time. Jui-cheng, the Viceroy, fled to a man-of- war in the river and was carried to Shanghai. He was de¬ prived of his yellow jacket before he had worn it and was ordered to suppress the mutiny, but a few days later he died of chagrin in Shanghai. In the meantime a large body of troops had been sent from Hupei Province to Szechuen to suppress the rebellion there. Tuan-fang, the liberal Manchu statesman who had been a member of the constitutional commission that was sent abroad in 1905, was ordered to take command of this force. He was not a military officer, but he was a Manchu, Setting up the Republic 475 and was therefore presumed to be qualified for the post, for all Manchus were required to bear arms. Some weeks were consumed in making the arduous journey through the Yangtze gorges. Shortly after he reached Chungking, in Szechuen, his troops received word of the mutiny at Wuchang and revolted in sympathy with their comrades. Tuan-fang was helpless. A foreign educated physician exchanged sedan chairs with him, and on November 20 in disguise he attempted to escape from the city, but his troops held the city gates. He was recognized, taken prisoner, and after having his ears struck off was murdered. His head was carried triumphantly by two of his soldiers to Hankow, where they claimed the reward which the revolutionists had put upon the heads of Manchus. He was a scholar rather than a soldier, and should have been an archaeologist. His collection of antiques was remark¬ able and his judgment in such matters was widely acknowl¬ edged. He was a man of quiet habits and refined tastes, liberal minded and large hearted. To him very largely was due the programme of political reform introduced in 1905, and to him especially the women of China owe a debt of gratitude because of his efforts to introduce educa¬ tion for girls. He was innocent of the offenses which made the Manchus hated, but he suffered vicariously for the sins of his people. Early in October, 1911, the annual military maneuvers were to have been held in the north. In anticipation of that event the Imperial Guard was drawn up one day on the plain north of Peking to be reviewed by the Regent. After the usual military movements, the Guard paraded before the Prince and was presented with a new silk flag. The standard-bearer received it from his hands and stepped backward to take his place in the ranks, caught his heel, stumbled and fell, dragging the beautiful dragon banner in the dust. The Prince, it is said, turned pale; perhaps in anger, perhaps in fear. It was an evil omen, but no one at that time recognized the nature of the calamity over¬ hanging the Throne. After the mutiny at Wuchang on October 10th the revo- / 476 Setting up the Republic lution spread rapidly. Hankow was captured and burned, and Hanyang with its arsenal was also taken. The provinces south of the Yangtze one by one seceded from the empire and set up independent governments. Strange to say the province of Kuangtung, of which Canton was the capital, was the last of the southern provinces to join the revolu¬ tion, and did not do so until near the close of the year. Four of the south-western provinces entered into a federa¬ tion with their capital at Wuchang, and with Colonel Li Yuan-hung as President. Somewhat later another group of provinces formed a union with headquarters at Shanghai. THE REVOLUTION IN THE NORTH Shantung, north of the Yangtze, seceded, and later re¬ turned to allegiance. There were uprisings at Taiyuan, in Shansi, and at Hsian, in Shensi, in both of which places the revolution was stained by the cruel massacre in cold blood of defenseless Manchus, men, women and children. Great assistance was given to the revolution by the National Assembly, which opened its second session on October 22. It renewed at once the demand of the preceding year for real legislative power, and added to this a demand for the prohibition of the appointment of princes of the blood to office, which meant the removal of the Premier, Prince Ch’ing. A renewal was also made of the demand that the Cabinet should be responsible to the Assembly. This pro¬ gramme was supported by the general officers of the north¬ ern army, who signed a round robin submitting to the Assembly the draft of a constitution in nineteen articles. Under this the Manchus were to retain the throne, but were to surrender all real power. Legislation was to be the function of the National Assembly alone. The Emperor could do nothing but promulgate laws, and this was to be an obligation of the throne. The constitution could be amended only by the Assembly. Even the executive power was taken away. The premier was to be elected by the Assembly, and the throne was compelled to appoint the man Setting up the Republic 477 so chosen. The premier was to select the cabinet, whose members were then to be appointed by the Emperor. If the Government of the day should be defeated in the Assem¬ bly, one of two courses had to be taken ; either the Cabinet had to be dismissed or the Assembly be dissolved; and no Cabinet could dissolve two Assemblies in succession. The military power was left nominally to the Emperor, but the army could not be employed to suppress internal dis¬ turbances except under special rules to be enacted by the Assembly. In foreign affairs, too, the Assembly was to be the deciding factor, since no treaty was to be binding until sanctioned by it. Financial control was secured by requir¬ ing all expenditures to be in accordance with the budget. Even appropriations for the imperial household were to be under the control of the Assembly. If the Assembly refused to appropriate for the budget, it was not allowable to do as is done in Japan, i.e., proceed according to the latest preceding budget. It will be seen that this outline em¬ bodied the best features of the British and French con¬ stitutions. On November 2d, 1911, the Assembly adopted this con¬ stitution, and on the 3d passed a resolution requiring the Regent to take oath to observe it. That oath was to be taken in the most solemn manner possible, that is to say, the Regent was to take the oath in the Temple of Imperial Ancestors, thus calling the spirits of his ancestors to bear witness to it. He did this on November 26th but despite this complete surrender, on December 6th the Assembly compelled him to resign the regency. YUAN RETURNS TO POWER Prior to the adoption of this constitution, the Regent had made several attempts to bring Yuan Shih-k’ai back into office. It will be recalled that he had been allowed to retire in 1908, on the pretext of having a sore foot, but in reality to escape execution at the hands of the Regent. Now the Regent remembered that Yuan had built up the northern army and was its idol. He hoped by obtaining 478 Setting up the Republic Yuan’s assistance to stem the tide of revolution which threatened to engulf the dynasty. Yuan, on being invited to return to power, declined politely, pleading that his foot was not yet well. But a gentleman who was in his con¬ fidence called at the Legation and assured us that Yuan would come when his conditions were accepted. This gen¬ tleman added very significantly; “He will come, but later we are going to have a republic, and Yuan will be Presi¬ dent. ’ 9 Repeatedly the Regent urged him to remember all the favors that he had received from the dynasty and come to its assistance. Yuan’s conditions were that he should be made commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and that the funds in possession of the Court should be placed at his disposal for the support of the troops. These conditions were accepted. On November 4th an edict appeared ap¬ pointing Yuan Premier. Still he declined. He wanted, no doubt, to be elected by the Assembly in accordance with the new constitution. This was done on the 7th. The election was confirmed by the Throne on the 9th. He declined again, but on the 15th he accepted. For several days before this acceptance Peking was in a panic. No one knew what would happen. The revolutionists were powerful even in the capital. Wild rumors were in cir¬ culation and tens of thousands fled from the city by all the gates; multitudes on foot, others on donkeys or in carts, chairs or other conveyances. The trains were packed ; even the roofs of freight cars were covered. Yuan’s ac¬ ceptance relieved the tension, and after a time the city renewed its wonted appearance. INTERESTING LEGISLATION The National Assembly did not confine its attention to political problems, despite their absorbing character. It was an interesting experience to sit in the gallery and listen to the debates upon various topics. Not long after the reassembling in October a bill was introduced to abolish the wearing of the queue. As is pretty well known by 479 Setting up the Republic most people now the queue was introduced by the Manchus, who, when they conquered China in 1644 compelled the Chinese men to shave their heads and wear the queue in token of their submission. At the same time another edict appeared requiring the women to unbind their feet. The men obeyed very promptly. The women never did obey, and none but a few could be induced by missionaries or reformers to avoid crippling their children, until the educa¬ tional reforms of 1904 were introduced by the Empress Dowager. The wearing of the queue was not only unsanitary, but, viewed historically, it was a badge of subjection, and there¬ fore offensive to men who were struggling to destroy Manchu supremacy. Much oratory was expended in sup¬ port of the bill mentioned, and few members of the As¬ sembly ventured to oppose it. Among the latter was an old gentleman who closed a rather vehement speech with the remark : “ I had rather lose my head than my queue. ’ ’ He sat down. The ballot was taken and the bill was car¬ ried by a large majority. The old gentleman then arose in a very dignified manner, gathered up his papers and stalked out of the house in indignant protest. As he passed down the aisle I noticed that his head was bald save for a short, thin queue six or eight inches long, hanging just above his neck. But the locks of Samson were not more dear to that hero than this little wisp of hair to this loyal subject of the Son-of -Heaven. Another topic which came up for discussion much later was that of official dress. Manchu law prescribed Jn minutest detail the official dress of every man and woman according to their class. Now that China was being modernized it was perhaps not unnatural that the intro¬ duction of Western political institutions should be accom¬ panied by Western costumes. So a bill was submitted and carried prescribing the sort of dress to be worn by officers of the government — the business suit, the morning frock coat, the informal dinner jacket and the swallow-tail; starched shirts, collars, neckties, silk hats, bowler hats and shoes. Patterns for all these were supplied. The change 480 Setting up the Republic in the appearance of the Assembly was startling. The members of the National Assembly in 1911 and 1912 were clothed in silk and satin robes of brilliant colors. They presented a very attractive picture. The parliament of 1913 appeared in the new Western costume, black frock coats and dark trousers, a solemn and depressing sight. The change was the more distressing because the patterns were not understood by some of the tailors in the interior cities. Trousers of black satin and frock coats that touched the ankles seemed ludicrous to Western eyes, although to a man from Mars probably they would appear no uglier than those that copied the fashion plates. A similar tendency to abandon old customs for new is seen in all the relations and activities of life in China. It is seen, too, in other lands. The picturesque is being exchanged for the commonplace and ugly. The beauty of Peking is being marred by European architecture, and the dignity and gentleness of the passing generation is being replaced by a rude counterfeit of European manners. Why should the world be of one costume, creed and custom? It is an aid to commercialism, to be sure, to standardize our clothing, furniture and architecture, our political in¬ stitutions and our social and religious rites. But commer¬ cialism needs to be checked, not encouraged. This dull uniformity adds nothing to the beauty of the world or the joy of life. On the contrary it greatly lessens these. There ought to be a society for the preservation of native cultures to offset this drift toward a deadly sameness. We are all idolaters, and bow down to the gods of use and wont. What is strange to us we consider barbaric, and we think ours the only right way of doing things. But, to quote the moral of Kipling’s poem, There are nine and sixty ways Of constructing tribal lays, And every single one of them is right. Fortunately the resolutions of the parliament have had but little effect on the country generally. A reaction, it is Setting up the Republic 481 hoped, will some day set in, and the best things of the old civilization be preserved. A more thrilling episode in the legislation of the National Assembly was one impeaching the Minister of Communica¬ tions for his denial of justice to the Szechuen Railway Company. His death was demanded by the Assembly, but he found refuge in one of the Legations, and was aided by foreign friends in escaping to Tientsin and Tsingtao. When the new premier, Yuan Shih-k’ai, arrived in Peking he called at the various legations. He was in robust health and apparently in the best of spirits. He wore the usual dress of a Chinese civil official; satin gown and jacket, court beads and peacock plumes. In his conversa¬ tion at the American Legation he was very frank, giving it as his opinion that a limited monarchy was better suited to China’s condition than a republic. In the light of sub¬ sequent events this statement became important. While he was speaking the Military Attache of the Legation came in wearing his uniform. Yuan, who had known him for some years, shook his hand and said: “I like to see a man in military uniform. You can believe everything a man says in that dress, but in this costume,” pointing to his own Chinese gown, “you can’t believe anything one says.” He left Peking almost immediately to take command of the imperial army near Hankow. That city was recaptured after some severe fighting, and Hanyang, separated from Hankow by the Han River, was taken shortly afterwards. General Huang Hsing was in command of the revolutionists in the latter city, but, according to reports received in Peking, ran away before the attack began. His subsequent record at Nanking justifies the belief that the report was correct. The capture of these two cities by the imperialists was offset by the loss of Nanking at about the same time. ABDICATION OF THE MANCHUS Leaving his forces in possession of Hankow and Han¬ yang, Yuan returned to Peking and demanded additional 482 Setting up the Republic funds for the prosecution of the war. They were not to be had. The Chinese Government then sought a foreign loan. The American Government suggested to that of Great Britain that the bankers of the two countries be advised not to make such a loan. None was available. Yuan then advised the Court that it would be necessary to negotiate a peace with the revolutionists. Tong Shao-yi left Peking on December 9th to represent the Imperial Government in such negotiations. He went first to Han¬ kow, and on the 13th had an interview with Li Yuan-hung in Wuchang, where the latter served as President of a federation of several provinces. From Wuchang, Tong went to Shanghai, and there on the 18th met certain repre¬ sentatives of other revolting provinces, among them Dr. Wu T’ing-fang, formerly the Chinese Minister in the United States. Tong and Wu were both Cantonese. The revolutionists presented their proposals, which were to the effect that there should be an armistice and that the im¬ perial troops should withdraw 100 li, that the Emperor should abdicate, that a republic should be established, and that an annual pension should be paid to the imperial family. Tong was reported as favoring the acceptance of these terms. He telegraphed them to Peking but secured no response, and on the 23d of December the conference adjourned. Yuan presented his resignation to the Throne on December 28th but it was not accepted. He then advo¬ cated the abdication of the dynasty. Dr. Sun Yat-sen, returning from abroad, arrived in Shanghai on the 27th of December, and on the 29th was elected President by representatives of the revolting provinces, except Chekiang, which protested. On New Year’s Day, 1912, he took the oath of office at Nanking, at the tomb of Hung-wu, the founder of the Ming Dynasty. It was rather strange to find a republican President taking his oath at the tomb of an emperor ; but the Mings were the latest Chinese rulers of China, and the Chinese had again come into their own. It had been proposed on December 28th, in a decree of the Emperor, that the form of government should be left to a national assembly to be elected later. This had been 483 Setting up the Republic accepted by the republicans on the 29th of December. But, with the election of Sun as President of a republic in the south, the country for a short period was divided. The southern provinces set up their capital at Nanking, adopted the Western calendar, and drew up a provisional constitu¬ tion, under which, in fact, the republic of to-day still functions. On January 17th we were startled by the report that Yuan had been assassinated. He was attacked as he was returning home from the palace. Two bombs were thrown, one of which killed the captain of his guard and wounded several cavalrymen. One of Yuan’s carriage horses also was killed, but he himself escaped unhurt. Opinions dif¬ fered as to the meaning of the attack. Some thought the bomb had been thrown by revolutionists; others believed the monarchists were responsible, for the monarchists were charging Yuan with treachery to the dynasty. Yuan con¬ tinued to negotiate with the southern government, and finally came to an agreement with them on February 7th, 1912. In accordance with this arrangement the Empress Lungyii, Regent and foster-mother of the boy Emperor, abdicated the throne on February 12th. At the same time she commissioned Yuan Shih-kai to establish a republic. She gave as a reason for this surrender of the throne the desire to avoid further bloodshed. The agreement with the republicans provided that the Emperor should retain his title as long as he lived, and should receive a pension of four million taels a year. This generous treatment of the imperial family was well de¬ served, seeing that by far the larger part of the empire was still loyal to the Manchus. The Chinese, however, have always treated with honor their fallen imperial houses, out of respect for the great men and wise rulers that they have produced. In Peking there is a temple erected by the Manchus to the virtuous rulers of former dynasties. The lineal descendant and representative of the emperors of the Sung Dynasty (A.D. 960-1278) lives in Kuangtung Province and still worships there the spirits of his an¬ cestors. His brother, a graduate of Columbia University, 484 Setting up the Republic is the well-known president of a technical college. The representative of the Mongol Dynasty (A.D. 1260-1368), a duke who is descended from the great Kublai Khan, lives in Peking, as does also the Marquis Chu who represents the Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1368-1644), and keeps up the worship at the celebrated tombs north of the capital. BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC Other conditions of the agreement between Peking and Nanking were of considerable interest. Yuan was to be chosen President, and the southern government, with Sun at its head, was to withdraw. The Emperor, although retaining his own title, was not to grant any new titles of nobility, but those having titles were permitted to retain them. Under the Manchus the imperial family consisted of four ranks of princes, four grades of imperial dukes, and four of imperial nobles. These titles diminished by one degree as they passed from father to son, so that after twelve generations the descendants of a prince became com¬ moners, unless by their own services to the state any of them should have merited promotion. Outside the imperial clan there were eight families of iron-crowned princes, whose titles of prince were perpetual and did not diminish in degree from one generation to another. These were descendants of those Manchu princes who assisted in the conquest of China. The family of Confucius and the descendants of the Taoist Pope also transmit their titles without change. In addition to the nobles of the imperial clan and the eight princely families, there were nine ranks of nobility composed of distinguished men and their descendants, upon whom titles were conferred for services to the state. Some of these descended unchanged for a number of generations mentioned in the patent, but all eventually diminished by one degree as they passed from father to son, unless such son earned promotion by his own services. Usually the first five of these nine titles are translated by the five Setting up the Republic 485 titles known in European heraldry; duke, marquis, earl, viscount, and baron. It is evident from what has been said that, since no new titles are to be granted, the titled nobility of China will gradually disappear, with the excep¬ tion of those whose rank is hereditary forever. The greatest sufferers by the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty are certain Manchu commoners, the bannermen, who, born to the profession of arms and the inheritance of a pension, have had no profession or calling upon which to depend for a livelihood. There were eight banners, distinguished by their colors. The highest in rank was the yellow banner with the white border, the second the plain yellow, the third the plain white, the fourth the white with red border, the fifth the plain red, the sixth the red with white border, the seventh the plain blue, and the eighth the blue with white border. Each banner con¬ tained three divisions ; Manchu, Mongol, and Chinese. The Chinese bannermen were descendants of those who aided the Manchus in the conquest for their country. The pen¬ sions paid these bannermen varied according to rank from a tael (about seventy cents) a month and a dole of rice, for a private, to Tls. 10,000 and something more than ten thousand bushels of rice each year to a prince of the first rank.4 There were allowances also to cavalrymen for their horses, and special pensions for widows and spinsters, as well as allowances for weddings and funerals. The banner- men were also provided with houses, and in some of the colonies located at various strategic points they were pro¬ vided with land. When the monthly stipend in silver and the rations of rice were stopped by the revolution many were left in danger of starvation. One of the first subjects discussed by the republican parliament was the measures to be taken for the relief of these people. THE PROVISIONAL. GOVERNMENT It was the intention of the republicans at Nanking to make that city the capital, and they requested Yuan to * Ta Ch’ing Hui Tien, Book 249. 486 Setting up the Republic come there to take the oath of office. A deputation was sent to Peking to convey the request, and arrived there on February 26th. They were received with great honor, and escorted by Yuan’s representatives to their quarters in the Nobles’ College. On passing from the station into the Tartar City they were driven through the central gate of the curtain wall of the Ch’ien Men, a gate previously used only by the Emperor. Since they were representatives of the sovereign people it seemed proper for them to use the sovereign’s gate, but superstition declared that such a profanation of the sacred structure would bring bad luck to the city. The circulation of such a warning prepared the city for the fulfillment on February 29th. That even¬ ing the Premier, Yuan Shih-k’ai, entertained the leaders of the southern delegation at dinner in the Foreign Office. Suddenly in the midst of the feast the sound of a gun was heard. Instantly the soldiers on guard around the building fired their rifles in a mutinous riot. The electric lights went out and the guests were left in darkness. The first place attacked by the soldiers was the Nobles’ College. The members of the delegation who were not at the dinner scrambled over the back wall of the compound into the grounds of the Young Men’s Christian Association, where they were safe. Then there began a systematic looting of the banks, silk-shops, and other large commercial establish¬ ments. Fires broke out in various parts of the city, and for three days Peking was in a panic. The signal gun that was fired sent a shell over the city, which passed between the home of the American Minister and that of the surgeon of the American Guard, struck the ground sidewise, and glanced upward through a tent occupied by several American marines, hit the ceiling of the verandah of the guard barracks, and fell sidewise upon the floor without exploding. Luckily no one was hurt. In two minutes our guard was in possession of the tower over the Ch’ien Men, the principal gate of the city, and held it during the troubled times that followed for two years or more. The Chinese authorities requested the diplomatic corps to take charge of the capital and restore order. The AUTOGRAPHED PHOTOGRAPH OF TUAN-FANG, VICE- YUAN SH I H-K'AI — FIRST PRESIDENT OF ALL CHINA. ROY AT NANKING. MURDERED BY HIS TROOPS, 1911. . Vu . ' ' Setting up the Republic 487 guards of the various legations totaled 2000 or more. In addition to these there were foreign railway guards at Tientsin and other points between Peking and the sea. But the ministers of the various powers declined to assume responsibility for order. They did, however, permit the guards to march to and fro through the streets. This had a quieting effect and helped to relieve the fears of the people. A portion of the 16th U. S. Infantry at Tientsin was brought up to strengthen our guard and to give pro¬ tection to the various American missions in different parts of the city. The soldiers engaged in pillage belonged to the 3d Divi¬ sion. They looted very thoroughly, and on the evening of the second day seized three trains on the Peking-Hankow Railway and departed with their treasure. The third day a number of innocent people, poking in the ashes of the burned shops, picked up various articles that had escaped destruction. These unfortunates were promptly arrested and executed. The republicans in the south were disposed to charge Yuan with having staged the mutiny for his own purposes. At any rate the delegation was convinced that it would be necessary to retain Peking as capital in order to keep the north quiet. It was agreed therefore that Yuan should take the oath of office in Peking as provisional Presi¬ dent on March 10th. The ceremony was a simple one, held in the banquet hall of the Foreign Office. The guests were arranged around three sides of the hall. The Presi¬ dent elect was escorted into the room by a few military officers, and took his place on the vacant north side. He was in the uniform of a general. He removed his cap, read his oath, and handed the document to the head of the Nanking delegation. He then received representatives of all branches of the government and of the non-Chinese citizens of the Republic. The most picturesque were the Tibetans, in purple gowns and yellow jackets with official hats. To them the President gave brilliant scarfs, in ac¬ cordance with Tibetan custom. 488 Setting up the Republic THE PARLIAMENT The reunion of the north and south under a republican government was followed immediately by the election of a new National Assembly. This, too, was of a provisional character. It met at Peking on the 29th of April. On May 7th it was decided that the permanent parliament should consist of two houses; a senate representing the provinces, dependencies and certain institutions, and the house of representatives, to be chosen from districts smaller than the provinces, much as the American House of Repre¬ sentatives is chosen. This two-chamber parliament was duly elected, and met in the spring of 1913. THE REORGANIZATION LOAN In the meantime the new government was struggling with financial problems. It was estimated that the two armies north and south, still under arms, totaled about a million men. It was very desirable to reduce this force as soon as possible, and the cabinet hoped to get rid of the expense of supporting some 700,000 men. This could not be done until the soldiers were paid, and there would be no paying until a loan was negotiated. Application was made to the four-power group of bankers shortly after the abdication of the Manchus, and advances were made to meet immediate needs. The day before his inauguration Yuan had given these bankers a firm option on the require¬ ments of the government for the succeeding four months and an option on the reorganization loan, if offered at terms as favorable as could be obtained elsewhere. Yet four days after his inauguration the premier Tong Shao-yi had made a loan contract with an outside group. The real reason for this breach of contract undoubtedly was the unwilling¬ ness of the Chinese to submit to supervision by representa¬ tives of the lenders in the expenditure of the loan. There Setting up the Republic 489 was strong opposition, too, to the demand of the bankers for the reorganization, under foreign management, of the salt gabelle, which was to be security for the reorganization loan. The outside group of bankers was no doubt en¬ couraged by the Russian Government, which wanted repre¬ sentation for its bankers in the proposed reorganization loan. Japan also was pressing for admission. The result was that Russian, and Japanese interests were admitted on June 21st, when the four-power became a six-power group. There were many difficulties encountered, and the negotia¬ tions dragged through all of 1912 and the spring of 1913 before the loan agreement was finally signed. In the mean time the Republican administration at Washington, which had inaugurated “Dollar Diplomacy,” was replaced on March 4th, 1913, by a Democratic Government. The Ameri¬ can Group asked the new administration whether it desired to continue the policy of the Taft administration with regard to this loan. The American bankers, it should be remembered, had declined the invitation of British and French bankers to join in the loan for the Canton-Hankow Railway when it was first under consideration, and they had subsequently joined in forming the four-power group at the request of the American Government. They were unwilling to continue in the six-power group unless the new administration would request it. This, on March 13th, 1913, President Wilson declined to do. The Americans therefore withdrew, and the loan, as finally negotiated, was made by a five-power group. This withdrawal of the Americans was regretted by the Chinese, several of whose high officials expressed the opinion that the presence of the Americans in the group was on the whole favorable to Chinese interests. The action of the Washington Gov¬ ernment was apparently based upon misinformation. Five years later President Wilson reversed his policy, and in¬ vited the members of the original American group, together with certain other banks, to undertake the formation of a new international consortium to undertake loans in aid of China. This new consortium is still laboring with the Chinese problem, but has as yet made no important loan. 490 Setting up the Republic Before the conclusion of the loan negotiations, on Feb¬ ruary 22d, 1913, the Chinese capital was startled to find the flag over the entrance to the Forbidden City flying at half-mast. Public interest for months had been concerned with the problems of the new republic, and the rivalries and jealousies of foreign powers shown in the loan negotia¬ tions. The inhabitants of the palace had been well-nigh forgotten. The Empress Lungyii, after signing the edict of abdication, had shut herself up and spent her days in sorrow and tears. Her heart was broken. Her health had given way and death had come, no doubt, as relief. Dur¬ ing the remainder of February and throughout the month of March the palace was in deep mourning. The city generally shared in this mourning. Three days, March 18th, 19th, and 20th, were set aside for public obsequies. An altar supporting the portrait of the dead empress was erected in the gateway of the T’ai Ho Court, before which the people of Peking paid their respects. During these three days from early morning until night the inhabitants of the capital passed in and out of the gates, in solemn, orderly procession, to show their reverence for one who, though so unhappy herself, had done so much to promote the peace and happiness of the country. On April 3d her coffin, covered by a richly embroidered canopy, was carried through the city, followed by a long funeral train composed of men carrying honorary umbrellas and others bearing trays of rich gifts. There were camels and horses, too, laden with furs, silks, and other tribute offerings to the spirit of the dead. A special railway car had been pre¬ pared, which carried the remains and the funeral offerings to the Western Imperial Cemetery, to the tomb which was being completed there for her late husband. It is a wonderfully beautiful valley in which the Western Cemetery is located. The inclosure is ten miles north and south and five miles east and west, guarded on the north by a lofty, precipitous mountain range that slopes gradu¬ ally down in a horse-shoe curve on the east and west. The valley lies open to the warm influences of the south, as required by geomantic rules, and is shaded by ash and 491 Setting up the Republic oak and elm, with groves of dark cypress around the tombs and temples. The crimson walls and golden colored tiles of the mausolea in the midst of these groves make a beau¬ tiful picture. As I stood on a slight elevation one autumn afternoon, and saw the purple mountains in the distance, and the mellow light of the sun streaming through the hazy atmosphere, shedding a halo of glory on the tomb of Yungcheng, the first of the emperors buried there, there came to my mind these lines of Shirley ’s hymn : The glories of our earthly state Are shadows, not substantial things. There is no armor against fate; Death lays his icy hand on kings. Sceptre and crown must tumble down, And in the dust be equal made With the poor crooked scythe and spade. In the midst of all this beauty sleeps the ill-starred mon¬ arch Kuanghsu, and beside him his unhappy Empress Lungyii. Yet all this grandeur can do nothing to lighten their grief, nor can it diminish by a single jot the deep and lasting ignominy of a reign that lost an empire. RECOGNITION OF THE REPUBLIC Although the Chinese Government regretted the with¬ drawal of the American group from the loan negotiations, the motives animating the American Government were greatly appreciated. President Wilson had spoken of the terms of the loan as “touching very nearly the adminis¬ trative independence of China. ” He had objected, too, to the pledging of particular taxes, “some of them anti¬ quated and burdensome, ’ ’ and their administration by foreign agents. The Chinese saw in these expressions an evidence of American friendship. The Minister of Foreign Affairs telegraphed to Washington expressing the hope that the United States would give the Chinese Republic early recognition. It had fallen to the author in February again to take charge of the legation, and under all the cir- 492 Setting up the Republic cumstances it seemed to him that such recognition would be a good thing. The legation therefore recommended it. On April 7th we were instructed that, when the National As¬ sembly had been convened with a quorum, and had or¬ ganized for business by the election of officers, we should deliver to President Yuan a message from President Wil¬ son recognizing the new republic. The new parliament met on April 8th, and the organization of the two houses was completed on April 30th. On May 2d President Yuan arranged a rather elaborate ceremony for the reception of President Wilson’s message. The city was decorated with flags and there was great rejoicing. May 8th was set aside as a national holiday in celebration of the event, and on that day representatives of the National Chamber of Com¬ merce, the guilds of Peking, and the universities and public schools formed a procession, each person carrying in one hand a Chinese flag and in the other an American flag, and came to the legation to express the gratitude of the people for the recognition given by the United States. CONSTITUTION MAKING One of the first tasks performed by the parliament was the selection of a committee to draft a permanent constitu¬ tion. This committee chose as its place of meeting the Cln’i Nien Tien , the pavilion at the Temple of Heaven where prayer was made by the emperors of old for a fruit¬ ful year. It is the circular building with a triple roof of blue tiles erected on the uppermost of the three terraces that form the marble altar in the northern section of the Temple of Heaven. Without doubt it is the most beautiful building in Peking, and its holy associations made it a fitting place for the deliberations of the committee. But the work of the committee was never completed. Almost at the beginning it was seen that the views of the President and those of the majority party in the parliament were at variance. The committee wanted to make the presidency an office simply for the execution of the will of the parlia- Setting up the Republic 493 ment, a position similar to that of the French President. The cabinet was to be headed by a premier responsible to the parliament. The provinces, too, were to have a large measure of autonomy. President Yuan, on the other hand, wanted a strongly centralized form of government, and was determined not to be a mere figure-head. He wanted all the powers of the American President, together with the right to appoint the governors of the provinces. Yuan had been outwitted in the elections, but would not submit to the rule of the majority. His attempts to bribe and coerce led the more radical members of parliament to plot insur¬ rection. This broke out in the early summer in the Yangtze Valley, but was put down by Yuan without much difficulty. His resort to martial law in Peking, and to secret tribunals and summary executions, terrorized many of his opponents and for a time silenced them. It was finally agreed that the articles of the constitution dealing with the election of a President should first be adopted, and such an election held without delay, after which other articles could be taken up and dealt with more leisurely. One reason for adopting this arrangement was that the European powers would not recognize the Republic until a President had been duly elected. ELECTION AND INAUGURATION On October 6th the parliament met to elect a President. There was a good deal of disorder, and attempts were made by Yuan’s supporters to intimidate the opposition. Soldiers in civilian dress surrounded the parliament house, hustled and threatened the members, while detectives at the doors prevented any attempts to leave the house and break up the quorum. The session lasted from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and finally on the third ballot Yuan was elected. The following day Li Yuan-hung was elected Vice President. The in¬ auguration ceremonies were held in the T’ai Ho Tien, the largest hall in the old imperial palace. It is built in the center of an enormous courtyard, where at New Year’s receptions under the imperial regime the princes and nobles 494 Setting up the Republic of all ranks gathered to kotow to the Emperor. The hall itself is about 200 feet long, 100 feet wide, and 100 feet high, erected on a white marble terrace. The walls are vermilion, the windows covered with carved lattices, and the bracket cornices painted in the five Chinese colors. The tiles are of golden color and glazed. The ceiling, sup¬ ported by huge pillars of teak covered with red lacquer and gold, is paneled, and each panel decorated with the imperial arms. In this old hall, which once echoed to the tread of emperors, where even imperial princes prostrated themselves before the august Son of Heaven, there, stand¬ ing upon the dais before which in other days he was wont to kotow, Yuan Shih-kai took the solemn oath to administer the government of the republic in accordance with the constitution. It is regrettable to be compelled to say that he did not keep that oath. CHAPTER XXIII THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY Heaven hears and sees as the people hear and see. Kao-yao, B.C. 2255. These are the ends fo,r which the associated peoples of the world are fighting and which must be conceded them before there can be peace. . . . (2) The settlement of every question, whether of terri¬ tory, of sovereignty, of economic arrangement, or of political rela¬ tionship upon the basis of the free acceptance of that settlement by the people immediately concerned. — Woodrow Wilson. Immediately after his inauguration as President, Yuan Shih-k’ai set to work systematically to destroy the parlia¬ ment. Charges were made against many of the leaders of the liberal party that they had been involved in the insurrection of the preceding summer. Orders were issued for their arrest. Many, remembering the summary execu¬ tions of the summer, fled from Peking. A quorum was wanting in either house, and after some weeks of waiting the members dispersed. The President then organized a new national assembly, or Council of State, whose member¬ ship was entirely within the control of himself and those attached to his fortunes. Then there began a skillfully conducted propaganda to make it appear that the people of China were calling upon Yuan to make himself emperor. With feigned indignation he put the prize away from him, until after repeated entreaties, all concocted by his sub¬ ordinates, with pretended reluctance he consented to accept the crown. It was duly announced that the empire would be proclaimed upon the first of January, 1916. A few weeks in advance of that date the imperial Japanese Gov¬ ernment, which, it might be supposed, would be the last to defend the republic, gave warning to Yuan that he could not be allowed to make himself emperor. That was 495 / 496 The Struggle for Democracy a staggering blow. To yield to the threat was to lose face. To proceed with his plans was to bring disaster upon himself and the country. To add to his confusion the southern provinces, which had for a time sullenly submitted to the usurper, suddenly rose in insurrection. The anxiety of Yuan brought on the return of an old disease and this, added to chagrin, caused his death in June, 1916. The real reason, of course, for Japan’s oppo¬ sition to Yuan’s ambition, was not love of the republic but hostility to Yuan, whose work in Korea in opposition to Japan’s plans in 1883-94 had never been forgotten nor forgiven. Yuan Shih-k’ai had many admirable traits of character. Where his judgment was not clouded by personal interests he was a man of clear vision and swift decision — a man with the courage of his convictions. He was loyal to his friends and generous to a fault in his treatment of them, but he was remorselessly cruel in his punishment of his enemies. He admired strength, and believed that a strong government was necessary to the peace of China. It was in part, perhaps, the strength of character shown by the Empress Dowager that caused him to prefer her to the weak Emperor, Kuanghsii. Yet his sympathies, as shown by his course as Governor and Viceroy, were with progress rather than reaction, and he did not hesitate to resist the Boxer folly, even though he risked the favor of the Dow¬ ager Empress in so doing. As has been shown already, he was not at all scrupulous as to the methods employed to attain his ends, but in his last great offense he permitted his ambition to blind him to the real situation. He laid his hand upon the ark of liberty and perished. Whether he intended, when first chosen President, to play the part of a Napoleon and make himself emperor, is doubted by some, who think he was pushed on by his family and friends. As he lay in his coffin his old-time friend and companion, Hsu Shih-ch’ang, recently President of China, turned to the son of the dead man, it is reported, and said: “You see what you have done to your father.” But Yuan was too strong a character to be warped from his 1 The Struggle for Democracy 497 chosen path by the entreaties of others. It must be be¬ lieved, rather, that the entreaties merely reinforced his own secret desires. Among Americans and Europeans in China there were many who admired him, and who still share his belief that the government of the strong man is what China needs. He was succeeded in the presidency by Li Yuan-hung, the Vice President, a loyal republican who had refused to be bribed by a princely title to support the ambitious plans of his predecessor. THE SHANTUNG QUESTION In 1914, while Yuan Shih-k’ai was still President, the Great World War had broken out. The American Gov¬ ernment at once consulted with the belligerents, propos¬ ing that arrangements be made to circumscribe the area of hostilities in the Far East. China, on August 3, 1914, asked the belligerents to undertake not to engage in hos¬ tilities, either in Chinese territory and marginal waters, or in the adjacent leased territories. These measures were justified by the fact that the powers holding these leases were at war, one with another, and by the existence in the treaty ports of China of various foreign settlements, some under international control and others governed exclusively by one or another of the bel¬ ligerents. Both Great Britain and Germany replied to the overtures of the American Government, expressing a willingness to maintain the status quo in the Far East. Germany offered to engage not to attack British colonies or warships or commerce in the Far East, in return for cor¬ responding promises on the part of Great Britain. But before the arrangement could be completed Japan had decided to act. Early in August, Japan had offered to come to the assistance of Great Britain, but Great Britain declined the offer, since she was looking forward to some such arrangement as that contemplated by the American plan, and was desirous of keeping the war out of the Far East. Japan, on August 13, 1914, expressed to 498 The Struggle for Democracy China her displeasure at the latter’s appeal to the good offices of the United States in support of her request for the neutralization of her coast. Japan by that date had already informed the British Government of her intention to join in the war against Germany, and had given assur¬ ance that she would respect the neutrality and territorial integrity of China. China at the beginning of the war had at once taken up with Germany the question of the return of the Kiaochow leased territory, but before these negotiations were completed Japan had issued her ultimatum to Germany. A member of President Yuan’s cabinet is reported to have stated that China then offered to join Japan in the recovery of the territory, but was rebuffed by Japan. This seems improbable, but, if true, China showed great weakness in not insisting upon joint action. The British Government did insist on participa¬ tion in the attack. Japan’s fleet was mobilized on August 12th. Pier ultimatum to Germany was issued on the 15th. Germany made no reply, and on August 23d Japan de¬ clared war. Shortly thereafter, Japan notified China that military necessity required the occupation of Chinese dis¬ tricts outside the leased territory of Kiaochow. Great Britain, however, recognized no such necessity, and landed her force at Laoshan Bay, inside the leased territory out of reach of the guns of the German forts. Japan proceeded to Lungkou, on the north side of the Shantung Peninsula, about 100 miles from the nearest point in the leased ter¬ ritory, landed troops, seized the post and telegraph offices, constructed a military railway from Lungkou to Weihsien on the Shantung Railway, a distance of about 75 miles and billeted her troops upon the Chinese peasants. Sup¬ plies for the army were seized for which the Japanese paid in military notes. They were charged by the Chinese with showing great harshness and cruelty in their treatment of the peasants. These charges were confirmed by reports of American residents in Shantung. The Struggle for Democracy 499 china’s protest The Chinese Government at that time was at peace with all the belligerents, and protested against the violation of its neutrality. The protest was unheeded. On September 3d, following a precedent set in 1904 during the Russo- Japanese war in an analogous situation in Manchuria, the Chinese Government established a zone of belligerency between Lungkou and Kiaoehow leased territory. Japan paid no attention to the boundaries of this zone, but pro- ceded to Weihsien and seized the railway station there. China protested again, and pointed out that the railway had not been in German military occupation, but under the protection of China. Japan gave no heed to this protest, but moved her troops over the railway to Tsinan, the capital of Shantung, 254 miles from the port of Tsing- tao, and took possession of the whole length of the railway, which has been operated by them ever since. China made another protest on September 30th, which also went un¬ heeded. The forts at Tsingtao surrendered on November 7, 1914, to the Japanese and British forces, and on the 16th of that month the victorious armies entered the city. There being no further need for the occupation by Japan of districts outside the leased territory, China, in December, 1914, took up with Japan the matter of withdrawing her troops from those districts, and that of the abolition of the zone of belligerency. Japan objected, although she had not limited her military operations to that zone. On January 7, 1915, China gave official notice to Great Britain and Japan that the zone was abolished. Japan replied protesting that this was an unfriendly action, since China had not waited for Japan’s reply to her request made in December for the withdrawal of her troops. The Japanese not£ added : We cannot acquiesce therein under any circumstances. The Imperial Government deems it necessary to declare that, even if your Government actually cancels the communications concerning the creation of a war zone, the Imperial Government would not 500 The Struggle for Democracy permit the movement and actions of their troops within a neces¬ sary period to be affected or restricted by such act of cancella¬ tion.1 THE TWENTY-ONE DEMANDS On January 18, 1915, Japan followed up the protest by a presentation of the Twenty-one Demands. These de¬ mands were divided into five groups. The first related to the province of Shantung, in which the territory form¬ erly leased to Germany is situated. It required China to assent to any arrangement which Japan might thereafter make with Germany respecting the disposition of the former German rights in Shantung. It also required China to promise not to cede or lease any territory in Shantung, or islands along its coast, to a third power, and asked the right to build a railway from Chefoo or Lungkou to con¬ nect with the Shantung Railway, which had just been seized by Japan. More cities in Shantung were to be opened to foreign residence and trade. The second group demanded that China acknowledge Japan’s predominant position in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia, and required China to extend the lease of the Kuantung Peninsula, which by the original agreement with Russia was to expire in 1923, to a ninety- nine year period, to end in 1997, and that of the South Manchurian Railway from 1928 to 2002. It also required China to extend the fifteen-year lease of the Mukden- Antung line to ninety-nine years, to end in 2007, and to • give a ninety-nine year lease to the Kirin-Ch’angch’un line. Japanese were to have a right to own or lease land in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia, both for commercial and agricultural purposes. Demand was made also for certain mining privileges, and China was to ask and obtain Japan’s consent before granting to a third power the right to build a railway, or to make a loan to build a railway, in either region mentioned, or to make i MacMurray ’s Treaties and Agreements with and Concerning China, Vol. ii, p. 1158. The Struggle for Democracy 501 any loan whatever secured upon the taxes of Eastern Inner Mongolia or South Manchuria. The Japanese were also to be first consulted in case any political, financial, or military advisers or instructors were to be engaged for either of the districts mentioned. The third group required China to consent to the con¬ version of its greatest iron mining and smelting concern, the Han-Yeh-P’ing Company, into a joint Sino-Japanese enterprise, and aimed to pledge China not to allow the company to dispose of any interest in this property with¬ out Japan’s consent, and not to permit any mines in the neighborhood of those owned by the company to be worked by any other persons. The fourth group pledged the Chinese Government not to cede or lease to a third power any harbor, bay or island along the coast of China. The fifth demanded that China employ Japanese as advisers to the central government in political, financial, and military affairs. This was the course taken by Japan in Korea when preparing for the establishment of a pro¬ tectorate over that country. Japanese hospitals, churches and schools were to have the right to own land in the interior of China. This group also demanded police rights in China for Japanese in certain districts, and pledged China either to buy fifty per cent or more of her muni¬ tions from Japan, or to establish a Sino-Japanese arsenal which was to use Japanese material and employ Japanese technical experts. It also asked certain railway privileges, and sought to prevent any contracts for industrial enter¬ prise in Fukien Province with foreign capital without Japan’s consent.2 Most of the demands, as is easily seen, were an encroach¬ ment upon the sovereignty of China. No sovereign in¬ dependent state, except after humiliating defeat in war, will allow another power to dictate to it in such matters as those concerned in these demands. Yet these demands were made of China, not after an armed conflict but in 2 For the official text of the demands see MacMurray’s Treaties and Agreements with and concerning Chiua, Vol. II, pp. 1231-1234. 502 The Struggle for Democracy a time of peace between the two countries. It was, how¬ ever, a time of war in Europe, when the world’s eyes were directed elsewhere, and the nations were, most of them, too busy to protest. It was, as a Japanese publicist said: ‘‘the opportunity of a thousand years.” The presentation of the demands was made in an un¬ usual manner. Instead of handing them to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Japanese Minister at Peking placed them directly in the hands of President Yuan Shih-k’ai, which emphasized the affront; and, in so doing, Minister Hioki warned the President against making the demands known to other powers, on pain of serious consequences to China. At the same time Yuan was reminded that Japan was not favorable to his government but could be made so by proper action. Notwithstanding the effort of Japan to keep the demands secret, they quickly became known. On February 3, 1915, the Japanese Foreign Office issued an authoritative statement, declaring that the demands involved no violation of the territorial integrity of China and no impairment of foreign rights there. On the 11th of the same month, the representative of the Associated Press in Peking telegraphed to New York a trans¬ lation of the demands which was almost literally correct. The Associated Press refused to publish them because the Japanese Embassy denied the truth of the report. The correspondent was asked to confirm his report. He was so indignant that he offered his resignation and was replaced. Prior to this, on February 8th, the Japanese Government had communicated to the powers interested in the Far East a memorandum, purporting to give the list of the demands, but in reality one containing merely a brief outline of eleven of the first fourteen, and omitting altogether those of Group Y. Even of the eleven communicated those which were of most concern to other nations were so modified as to conceal their most offensive features. In view of the dispute as to the character of these de¬ mands the Chinese Government, on February 17th, made known the complete text. This led Japan, on February 503 The Struggle for Democracy 22d, to issue a supplementary statement containing seven of the missing ten demands, and to explain that these were not demands but requests. In presenting them to President Yuan, however, Minister Hioki made no such distinction, and as late as April 2, 1915, the Japanese Legation at Peking officially informed the Chinese Foreign Office that the Japanese Government recognized no such distinction, and would insist upon Group V equally with the others. The negotiations dragged along for five months. On April 26th, the Japanese submitted a revised list, number¬ ing twenty-four demands instead of twenty-one, but less offensive in some respects than the original twenty-one. The increase to twenty-four was made by separating those relating to South Manchuria from those concerned with Eastern Inner Mongolia. The last-mentioned region was one in which it was more difficult than in South Manchuria to grant the privileges asked. In presenting the revised demands, the Japanese Minister stated that, if the Chinese Government would agree to the revised list without mod¬ ification, Japan would promise to restore the Kiaochow Leased Territory to China at an opportune time in the future. With respect to some of the demands China had yielded during the progress of the negotiations, but on May 1st seemed less disposed than ever to agree to others, and even made counter demands upon Japan. Briefly they were as follows : 1. Unconditional restitution to China of the leased ter¬ ritory of Kiachow. 2. Agreement by Japan to the participation of China in the peace conference between Japan and Germany. 3. The Japanese Government to bear the damages inci¬ dent to hostilities in China between Japan and Germany. 4. Immediate removal of all the Japanese military estab¬ lishments connected with hostilities between Germany and Japan, and the prompt withdrawal of Japanese troops from within China’s neutral territory. The courage shown in making these demands was ad¬ mirable; one may question the wisdom. Japan replied on 504 The Struggle for Democracy May 7th with an ultimatum, requiring China" within fifty- one hours to agree to the amended articles of the first four groups and one article of the amended Group V, failing which Japan would take such action as she might deem necessary to meet the situation. At the same time J apanese reservists in Mukden were ordered to report at their sta¬ tions, and Japanese residents at Peking, Hankow and Canton instructed to seek places of safety. A Japanese war ship was sent to Chingwantao. The note embodying the ultimatum agreed to withdraw and reserve for future consideration all the demands of Group V except the one relating to Fukien Province. The promise to return Kiaochow Leased Territory still held good. China for centuries had been taught the foolishness of war. The military art had been neglected. Military of¬ ficers were despised by civil officials. The Confucian classics taught in the schools emphasized the doctrine that if the government is just it will meet with just treatment. But here was a situation for which such teaching made no provision. China was helpless and had to submit. On May 25th, two treaties were signed. That relating to the province of Shantung yielded the demands, except that the item relating to the alienation of territory was em¬ bodied in an exchange of notes, and provided that no territory or island along the coast would be leased or ceded “to any foreign power” — not merely to a “third power.” This treaty was accompanied also by another exchange of notes, which provided that when the territory of Kiaochow at the close of the war should be left to the free disposal of Japan, this power would restore it to China upon four conditions: 1. The whole bay to be open to foreign residence and trade. 2. A concession under the exclusive jurisdiction of Japan to be established at some place there to be chosen by Japan. 3. Another settlement, if desired, to be set aside for other foreign residents. The Struggle for Democracy 505 4. Disposition of public properties to be arranged by China and Japan. The second treaty, relating to South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia, omitted the preamble of the draft which was to recognize Japan’s predominant position in those regions. It granted practically all that was asked respecting South Manchuria, except the lease of the Kirin- Ch’angch’un Railway for ninety-nine years. Instead China agreed to revise the then existing agreement relating to the loan for that line. This was done on October 12, 1917. The loan is to run for thirty years, and during that period the South Manchurian Railway Company is to operate the line. In the phraseology finally adopted the notes relating to loans for railway building and other purposes, and the employment of advisers, are made per¬ missive, not mandatory; but this counts for little where a weak power is being coerced by a strong one. With respect to Eastern Inner Mongolia nothing was granted, save that China agreed to open certain cities and towns to foreign residence and trade, and promised that, if any foreign capital should be needed for railways there, or any foreign capital borrowed on the security of the taxes of that region, negotiations would be opened first with Japanese capitalists. The demands of Group III were divested in the main of those features to which China and other powers had objected. China was pledged not to object to the cooper¬ ation of Japanese capitalists in the Han-Yeh-P’ing enter¬ prise, and promised not to confiscate the property nor convert it into a state enterprise without Japan’s consent. Japan’s claim to such pledges is based upon the existence of a large loan to the company by Japanese capitalists. The demands of Group IV, pledging China not to alien¬ ate to any other power than Japan any harbor or island along the coast of China was not mentioned in the treaty. To have done so would have given Japan as a sphere of interest the whole coast of China, if precedents set in 1898 were to be followed. All the items of Group V were 506 The Struggle for Democracy reserved for later negotiations, except number 6, which in the revised form required China to promise that no nation would be permitted to construct a dockyard, a coaling station, or a naval base on the coast of Fukien. China was herself forbidden to construct such works for her own defense with any foreign capital other than Japanese. The demand was complied with in an exchange of notes. This demand was no doubt due in part to a rumor that the Bethlehem Steel Corporation had entered into a contract with the Chinese Government to construct such a naval station at Mamoi on the Fukien coast. No such contract existed,3 but the rumor, coupled with the enquiry made by Secretary Hay in 1900, asking Japan’s consent to the establishment on that coast of an American coaling station, not unnaturally created some anxiety in Japan.4 AMERICAN INTERESTS IN THE TWENTY-ONE DEMANDS The demands as finally revised and agreed to were less serious than they were as originally presented. This will be seen from the review just made. Nevertheless the agreements embodied in the treaties and notes signed on May 25, 1915, seemed to affect rather gravely the sover¬ eignty and administrative integrity of China, and to im¬ pair the treaty rights of other powers. The American Government, on March 13, 1915, presented to the Japanese Ambassador a memorandum reviewing American policy in the Far East, and the pledges given by Japan and other powers to maintain the Open Door in China. The Secretary of State pointed out the conflict between American treaty rights and the privileges which Japan was seeking for herself. Again on May 13th, shortly before the signing of the treaties, the American Govern¬ ment addressed identical notes to China and Japan, refus¬ ing to recognize any agreement or undertaking impairing the treaty rights of the United States and its citizens in 3 See MacMurray, op. cit., p. 1236. 4 See Chapter XX ante. FORTIFICATION AT ENTRANCE TO BRITISH LEGATION. AMERICAN MINISTER’S RESIDENCE. The Struggle for Democracy 507 China, the political or territorial integrity of the Republic of China, or the Open Door Policy.5 THE SECRET TREATIES OF 1917 AND 1918 Examination of the treaty of May 25, 1915, relating to Shantung, and of the notes attached to it, will show that while Japan promised to return the leased territory to China, no mention was made of any intent to return the Shantung Railway. This important railway, whose port facilities are the finest in north China, and whose extensions as planned will make it one of the most important channels of communication in China, has been ever since the seizure by Japan the item most difficult of adjustment in the nego¬ tiations between China and Japan for the settlement of the Shantung question. Based upon the fiction that Ger¬ many had held the railway in military occupation — a state¬ ment which seems to be contrary to fact — the Japanese occupied the whole line with their troops. The Chinese protested in vain, as has been shown. Their efforts to have the troops withdrawn resulted in their own humiliation by the treaties which they were forced to sign on May 25, 1915. Military occupation led to an attempt by the Jap¬ anese to establish a civil administration along the railway. On October 1, 1917, an imperial ordinance was promul¬ gated establishing such civil administration for the leased territory and the “railway zone.” The existence of a railway zone in Shantung was another convenient fiction. No such zone was known to the agreements with Germany. One article of the Convention of March 6, 1898, concern¬ ing the lease of Kiaochow Bay stipulated that German subjects might develop mines within 30 li (ten miles) on either side of the railway, but this concession did not carry with it any jurisdiction over the territory concerned, and the right to mine in such territory was expressly sur¬ rendered in 1911, in exchange for the grant of specific mining areas in four districts. e MacMnrray, op. cit., p. 1236. 508 The Struggle for Democracy The Chinese Government promptly protested against the encroachment upon its sovereignty. The American Gov¬ ernment, in December, 1917, communicated with Japan, making enquiry concerning the reported establishment of civil government, saying it was loath to believe that such aggression had taken place. Japan replied that there had been a misapprehension — that the phrase “ civil adminis¬ tration ” did not imply domestic administration. This statement seemed to be somewhat disingenuous. This civil administration in the spring of 1918 attempted to take a census of American missionaries, who declined to ac¬ knowledge its authority. Despite China’s protest the civil administration continued to function until the autumn of 1918. In order to quiet the agitation of the people of Shantung China signed a secret treaty with Japan on September 24th of that year, agreeing to surrender the whole railway line to a Sino-Japanese company still to be formed, and which was to police the line with Chinese police under Japanese officers, in return for which con¬ cession Japan was to withdraw her troops, except a con¬ sular guard at Tsinan, and abolish the civil administra¬ tion. Before the establishment of the civil administration along the railway, Japan had taken certain other measures designed to strengthen her position in Shantung. In Janu¬ ary, 1917, the under-sea warfare had become more and more severe. Both Great Britain and Prance were nego¬ tiating with Japan in an endeavor to obtain the assistance of the Japanese navy in removing this menace. Japan was willing to give this assistance provided her allies would agree to support her claims at the Peace Conference to the former German rights in Shantung and the islands in the Pacific, north of the equator which had formerly be¬ longed to Germany. The situation became still more critical when Germany, on January 31, 1917, notified the American Government that after February 1st of that year, all vessels, neutral as well as belligerent, found within a defined zone around Great Britain, France and Italy and in the eastern Mediter- The Struggle for Democracy 509 ranean would be sunk. To obtain the assistance needed to overcome this menace Great Britain, in an exchange of notes with Japan, dated February 16, 1917, agreed as requested to support Japan’s claims. However, the quid pro quo mentioned in the notes was not naval assistance, but a support by Japan of British claims to the former German islands south of the equator. For some reason it was not thought desirable to have it appear that the naval assistance of an ally could be had only upon the terms mentioned. That the real quid pro quo was the sorely needed naval assistance was disclosed to the American delegation to the Peace Conference on January 18, 1919, by a member of the British delegation. This was con¬ firmed later by the British Premier, Lloyd George, at a meeting of the Council of Three on April 22d, when he explained that Great Britain was bound to support the claims of Japan, saying that when this engagement was made the submarine campaign was very formidable, that there was a shortage of torpedo boat destroyers in the Mediterranean, that Japanese help was urgently required, and that the Japanese had asked for this arrangement to be made. Great Britain was hard pressed and had agreed. France also exchanged secret notes with Japan, dated March 1, 1917, promising her support, in return for which Japan was to give support to an effort to induce China to break off diplomatic relations with Germany, deport Germans from China, and sequestrate their property. Japan, it was alleged in Peking,6 had for two years op¬ posed the efforts of Great Britain and France to induce China to enter the war, on the side of the allies. This, if true, explains the insertion in the exchange of notes with France, of the clause just mentioned. Russia gave her promise to support Japan’s claims in another secret note, dated March 5th and Italy subsequently bound herself by an oral promise. All these secret agreements were kept from the knowledge of the United States, even after its entrance into the war, and were not disclosed until the a Putnam Weale’a “The Fight for the Republic in China, M pp. 231-239. 510 The Struggle for Democracy meeting of the Peace Conference. Having secured the support of Great Britain, France, Russia and Italy, the Government of Japan next sought to obtain from the United States such a recognition of its special interests in China as would weaken American opposition to Japan’s ambitions in Shantung and Manchuria, and perhaps pave the way to support of them by the United States at the Peace Conference. Such recognition was obtained in the Lansing-Ishii notes of November 2, 1917, already discussed elsewhere.7 These notes obtained from the American Gov¬ ernment a recognition of Japan’s special interest in China, particularly in the regions contiguous to Japanese territory. CHINA IN THE WAR The American Government having received Germany’s note of January 31, 1917, threatening destruction to all vessels, neutral or belligerent, found after February 1st within certain zones, Secretary Lansing, on February 3d at the direction of the President announced the severance of all diplomatic relations with Germany, and the following day urged the other neutral nations of the world to take similar action. China responded promptly on February 9th by sending a warning to Germany of her intention to sever relations if Germany should carry out her threat against neutral commerce. At the same time the Chinese Government assured the United States of her sympathy with our government in the action taken. Germany did not reply to China until March 10th, the very day on which the President of China recommended to Parliament the severance of relations. This action was directly due to the sinking a few days earlier of the French steamship Athos, with the loss of the lives of 500 Chinese who were on their way to France as a labor battalion. The Chinese Parliament responded promptly on March 12th to the suggestion of President Li, by a vote approving the proposed breaking off of diplomatic relations with 7 See Chapter XX. The Struggle for Democracy 511 Germany. This was done on March 14th. Then there commenced a strange contest. The Premier, Tnan Chi-Jui, who was also Minister of War, was for an immediate dec¬ laration of war, but a large party in parliament believed it unnecessary to go to war, particularly since China was in a very poor state of defense. A more potent reason for withholding the declaration of war was the fear that the premier was bent on building up a strong army to overawe parliament, rather than to make war on Germany. This fear was due to the known attitude of Premier Tuan, who held the view that China needed a strong central govern¬ ment, and who did not sympathize with the ruling party in parliament, whose draft of a constitution, almost com¬ pleted, provided a very large measure of autonomy for the provinces. The suspicion concerning the premier’s aims was strengthened by the appearance of Japanese agents who were reported to be making a large loan to the premier and his party. The President, Li Yuan-hung, was in favor of an immediate declaration of war, but he sympathized with the views of the majority party in parliament in the matter of the constitution. The party opposed to the war was supported by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who addressed a telegram to Lloyd George, protesting against the effort being made to induce China to declare war on Germany. Dr. Sun was born abroad and had spent most of his life outside of China, and he showed in this telegram how far he was from understanding the real feel¬ ings of the Chinese people. The premier was supported by the military governors of the northern provinces, who met in Peking and adopted a resolution advocating the immediate declaration of war. While parliament was still debating the question, on May 10, 1917, a great mob sur¬ rounded the chamber of the House of Representatives, hustled the members as they passed in, hooted and jeered and yelled for war. It was soon discovered that the greater part of the mob was composed of soldiers disguised in civilian dress and sent there by the premier. After some hours the President obtained a troop of cavalry which dispersed the rioters. Parliament refused to be coerced. 512 The Struggle for Democracy The cabinet, disgusted with the premier’s action, resigned. On May 19th parliament refused to declare war until the cabinet was reorganized. Premier Tuan was forced to re¬ sign. The military governors of the northern provinces met at Tientsin, on June 1st, and again attempted to coerce the government into a declaration of war. The President tried to obtain military support for himself and for the protection of parliament. He purchased a supply of arms which were allowed to fall into the hands of the opposing party. In his extremity the President turned to a military officer of the old Manchu regime, General Chang Hsiin, who was stationed midway between Tientsin and Nanking with some 40,000 troops under his command. Since the downfall of the Manchu Dynasty he had been supporting the Republic, but chiefly because of his devotion to his former chief, Yuan Shih-k’ai. He was not identified with either party to the dispute concerning the provisions of the proposed constitution or that relating to the declara¬ tion of war. Presumably President Li thought that, being unprejudiced, General Chang would be able to serve as mediator in the dispute and find a satisfactory solution of the difficulty. The solution he found was far from being what was expected, but it did for a moment bring the opposing forces into harmony in a most unexpected and dramatic fashion. He compelled the President to dissolve parliament, although the President, under the provisional constitution then in force, had no such authority. A majority of the parliament fled to Canton and set up a government there, claiming to be the only lawful govern¬ ment of China. General Chang entered Peking with a small force of troops on July 1st, but instead of attempting to compose the dispute between the factions for and against war, issued a forged proclamation in the name of the President, re¬ establishing the Manchu monarchy. In the middle of the night he dragged the little boy emperor out of his bed and set him upon the throne of his ancestors. The effect next morning was magical. All factions throughout the coun¬ try at once united against Chang and the Manchus. The The Struggle for Democracy 513 ex-premier himself headed the forces against Peking. The restored empire was never recognized anywhere outside the walls of Peking, and in six days it had surrendered again to the Republic. President Li, however, was so chagrined by the result of his efforts that he resigned, and was succeeded by the Vice-President, Feng Kuo-chang. Gen¬ eral Tuan Chi-Jui was restored to the premiership, and on August 14 the Peking Government declared war upon Germany and Austria. There was no parliament in the north to approve or disapprove, but the exiled parlia¬ ment at Canton was not to be outdone by Peking, and also declared war. There was, therefore, no real division of sentiment between north and south on the question of republicanism versus monarchism, nor on that of war against the Central European powers. China’s part in the war was not of great importance, it is true, but it enabled the allied and associated powers to rid the Far East of German intrigue and to cut off from Germany certain supplies. German and Austrian subjects were expelled from China and repatriated. Ger¬ man and Austrian vessels interned in Chinese ports were seized and chartered to several of the powers at war with Germany. The United States obtained two of them, and also entered into a contract with the Chinese Government dockyard at Shanghai to build four vessels for the Amer¬ ican shipping board. The vessels were built and delivered according to contract. China’s action also aided in the control of the situation in Siberia and the check upon German intrigue there with the Russian Federated Soviet Republic. CHINA AT THE PEACE CONFERENCE China, being one of the belligerents, appointed a dele¬ gation to attend the Peace Conference at Paris. Great wisdom was shown in the selection of the delegation, for, although the struggle between the northern and southern provinces over the constitutional question was still going on, the newly elected President, Hsii Shih-ch’ang deter- 514 The Struggle for Democracy mined to have both parties represented at Paris, and ap¬ pointed members of the Canton Government as well as of the recognized Government at Peking. One of the first subjects that came before the Confer¬ ence was the disposition to be made of the former German colonies. This brought the Shantung question immediately to the front. On January 27, 1919, the Japanese delega¬ tion laid before the Council of Ten Japan’s claim to the transfer direct to her of all the rights formerly enjoyed by Germany in the province of Shantung, as well as the ownership of the islands in the Pacific north of the equator formerly belonging to Germany. China, as a bel¬ ligerent and the possessor of the sovereignty of Shantung, objected, stating that in her declaration of war against Germany she had abrogated all treaties and conventions between Germany and herself, and had extinguished all German rights in Shantung. The Japanese quoted the treaties of 1915 between the Chinese and themselves. China pointed out that these treaties had been extorted from her by force. The discussion came up several times in the Council during the spring of 1919, but without decision. Telegrams poured in from China protesting against the attitude of Japan. Among these were tele¬ grams addressed to the American delegation from the provincial assembly of Shantung, from the provincial chamber of commerce of that province, from the provincial educational association, and from prominent citizens of the province headed by Duke Yen, the lineal descendant of Confucius and the representative of that family. They had a show of right to make this appeal to the United States, inasmuch as the treaty between the United States and China of 1858 provides that “If any other nation should act unjustly or oppressively the United States will exert their good offices, on being informed of the case, to bring about an amicable ari^ngement of the question.” The American delegation did exert itself to bring about an amicable adjustment of the question. At one of the meetings of the Council Baron Makino, for the Japanese delegation, had said that Japan was in actual possession The Struggle for Democracy 515 of the leased territory, that it had been taken from Ger- many by conquest, and that before returning it to China it was necessary that Japan should obtain the right of free disposal from Germany. President Wilson in reply pointed out that the Council was dealing with territories formerly German without consulting Germany at all. The situation became more acute after the discussion of Italian claims along the Dalmatian coast. In that discussion President Wilson took the position that the private under¬ standing between Italy on the one hand and Great Britain and France on the other, known as the Pact of London, was no longer applicable to the situation, since other powers had subsequently been brought into the war with no knowledge of that pact, and since the Austro-Hungarian Empire, at whose expense the pact was to be kept, was no longer in existence. He appealed in a public letter to the people of Italy to take a more generous attitude towards the people of the new state on the eastern shore of the Adriatic. The Italian delegation in protest left the Con¬ ference and went home, where their attitude was indorsed by the Italian people. There was discontent, too, in other quarters, and the Japanese intimated that if the former German rights in Shantung were not transferred to them they would refuse to sign, the treaty of peace. The situa¬ tion was critical. President Wilson, in regard to the treaties extorted from China in 1915 by Japan, took a posi¬ tion similar to that which he had taken toward the Pact of London. Lloyd George stated that Great Britain was bound in regard to the Japanese claim in the same way as toward the Italian claim. President Wilson tried re¬ peatedly, but in vain, to persuade the Japanese to modify their attitude. He proposed that all these rights be trans¬ ferred to the Five Powers as trustees, to be subsequently returned by them to China. But to this also the Japanese were unwilling to agree. On April 22d, it was agreed to refer to the experts on Far Eastern matters the question whether it would be better for China to have the provisions of the treaty of 1915 respecting Shantung carried out, or simply to have 516 The Struggle for Democracy transferred to Japan the rights formerly enjoyed by Ger¬ many in the province of Shantung. The experts reported that either alternative presented serious disadvantages for China, but that of the two the least objectionable was to have Japan succeed simply to the rights formerly enjoyed by Germany. The author, who was a member of the committee that made this report, supplemented it with a letter addressed to President Wilson, in which he stated his objections to the adoption of either course. The Council of Three actually adopted the alternative reported by the committee to be the less objectionable of the two proposed. The Chinese delegation protested, and refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles. Subsequently they signed the treaty of peace with Austria, and by virtue of that act, which was ratified by the Chinese Government, China became a member of the League of Nations. CHINA AT THE WASHINGTON CONFERENCE The Shantung question, however, remained unsettled. The action of the Chinese delegation in refusing to sign the Treaty of Versailles was universally approved in China. The students and merchants there inaugurated a boycott of Japanese trade, as a concrete expression of their hostility to Japan’s course of action. This resulted in con¬ siderable loss to Japanese merchants. The Japanese made repeated efforts to negotiate the Shantung Question with China. China consistently refused, insisting that the way to restore Kiaochow Leased Territory was to withdraw Japanese forces. In 1921 the representatives of British dominions met in London in the early summer, in a Council of the Empire. The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Alliance was about to ex¬ pire, and the question of its renewal was brought under consideration. There was a divergence of opinion as to the advisability of renewing it. One argument against the renewal was that American opinion was hostile to it. As The Struggle for Democracy 517 revised at the close of the Russo-Japanese war, in August, 1905, it provided that: If by reason of unprovoked attack or aggressive action, wher¬ ever arising, on the part of any other power or powers, either Contracting Party should be involved in war in defense of its territorial rights or special interests . . . the other Contracting Party will at once come to the assistance of its ally, and will conduct the war in common and make peace in mutual agreement with it. This meant that, if unhappily war should break out be¬ tween Japan and the United States, Great Britain would be bound to join Japan, unthinkable as that may be, be¬ cause when nations go to war it is almost invariably claimed by both parties to the conflict that the attack was “unprovoked.” In 1911 the British Government obtained a revision of the treaty of alliance, by adding a provision relieving either Contracting Party of the obligation to go to war with a country with wdiich it had entered into a treaty of general arbitration. Following up this arrangement a treaty of arbitration with the United States was negotiated, but the Senate of the United States failed to ratify it. In 1916 a treaty providing a method of investigating any questions that might arise between the two countries, and stipulating for a period of delay before appeal to arms, was entered into by the United States and Great Britain; but it is not a treaty of general arbitration. The Anglo- Japanese Alliance therefore remained, in the eyes of many Americans, “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.” The Council of the Empire, it was reported, had decided that a conference of the three powers; Great Britain, the United States, and Japan, upon Far Eastern matters, ought to be held at London; and the British Government was considering the matter of issuing invitations for such a conference, when the American Government, which had decided to propose a conference of the five principal mili¬ tary powers of the world on Limitation of Armament, learned of the British proposal, and modified its own plans to include the subject of Far Eastern Affairs. This was 518 The Struggle for Democracy the more necessary since the questions are so closely re¬ lated. Four other powers, all interested in Far Eastern matters, were then added to the list of the invited. This Conference met at Washington on November 12, 1921, and concluded its labors on February 6, 1922. The Shantung Question could not be brought directly before this Conference with any hope of settling it, because, of the nine powers represented there, seven were bound by the Treaty of Versailles. But Japan and China arranged that their delegates to the Washington Conference should at the same time confer together upon this subject. The American and British Governments appointed each an observer, to sit in these meetings and employ their good offices in endeavors to adjust any differences that might arise. The negotiations lasted nearly ten weeks, the results being reported from time to time at the plenary sessions of the Conference. These negotiations resulted in a treaty between the two powers, signed on February 4, 1922, which, although not formally acknowledged to be the work of the Conference was nevertheless one of its most noteworthy achievements. The treaty in brief provided that within certain stated periods after ratification, the leased territory on the one hand, and the railway on the other, were to be returned to the administration of China; that the option formerly held by Germany on public works in the province of Shantung was to be given up by Japan, that the mines were to become a joint Sino- Japanese concern, that the port of Tsingtao was to be open to foreign residence and trade and be governed by China, alone, and not by a for¬ eign municipality, as is the case at Shanghai and other treaty ports, and that all vested interests were to be re¬ spected. With regard to vested interests, it is to be noted that the leasing of the territory to Germany did not dispossess the owners of private property except as expropriated by the German Government or voluntarily sold by the pro¬ prietors. The city of Tsingtao covered 4650 acres while under German administration, and of this area only 310 The Struggle for Democracy 519 acres were privately owned. The remainder was held by the German Government after expropriation and leased by that Government to lot holders. The Japanese, after taking possession, expropriated an additional 852 acres lying north of the city and disposed of this in part to their own people. They also disposed by public sale of the government lands in the city, nearly all of which was taken by Japanese. The Japanese will therefore retain their commercial interests in Tsingtao, which during their occupation have become very large. Among other vested interests must be classed the manufacture of salt, which the Japanese have developed very extensively. The salt industry, however, is a government monopoly in China, and by engaging in this business the Japanese were en¬ croaching upon the rights of China and depriving that Government of a portion of its revenue. In the settlement made it is stipulated that China shall purchase these Jap¬ anese interests for a fair compensation, and shall permit an export of salt to Japan upon reasonable terms. The Shantung salt is more highly prized in China than any other because of its purity. The cables from Tsingtao which had been given to Japan by the Treaty of Versailles are acknowledged to belong to China, with the exception of those portions which have been taken to connect Tsingtao with Sasebo. This cable will go to Japan. Agreement upon the several articles of the Treaty was reached without much difficulty except in the case of those dealing with the Shantung Railway. In 1918 China had agreed in a secret treaty with Japan that the railway should become the property of a Sino- Japanese company, but the agreement was never ratified by the Chinese parlia¬ ment, The Treaty of Versailles gave the line entirely to Japan, and Japan was debited with some fifty-four million marks (gold) on her claim against Germany, this being its value at the time of its seizure as estimated by the reparations commission. China, however, never signed the Versailles Treaty, so that the disposition of the line lacked validity. 520 The Struggle for Democracy The Japanese at Washington urged that the arrangement of 1918 be carried out, that is to say, that the line become a Sino- Japanese concern, but China refused to consent, asking instead that it be recognized as belonging to her and that she be allowed to compensate Japan for the trans¬ fer. After much discussion, Japan agreed to sell out to China, the latter to pay the amount estimated by the rep¬ arations commission as the value of the railway when seized, plus such amounts as Japan had expended for extensions and permanent improvements. This was agreed to, but, when China offered to pay cash, Japan declined to accept it, and insisted that China borrow from Japanese bankers the sum needed for the redemption of the line and allow the loan to run for several decades. The properties of the railway and its revenues were to be security for the loan, and during its continuance a Japanese was to be Traffic Manager. A traffic manager in China is a very important person ; he wields great power. He can control the policy of the railway to a great extent and, if he so desires, he can by manipulation of rates and by assign¬ ment of cars discriminate in favor of the trade of his own countrymen. Such discrimination in the matter of freight shipments is not unknown in China. To have a loan secured by the railway, running for a long term of years during which the lenders might to a con¬ siderable degree control the line in their own inter¬ est, did not seem an acceptable arrangement to the Chinese delegation. After weeks of debate a solution of the difficulty was found. It was agreed that China should give treasury notes in payment, secured upon the railway and its rev¬ enues, and running for fifteen years. China is to have the option of paying all or any part after five years, and pending the payment of the loan in full the Chinese Gov¬ ernment is to select and appoint a Japanese as Traffic Manager and another Japanese as Associate Chief Ac¬ countant, both of whom shall be under the control of a Chinese Managing Director and removable by him for cause. The Struggle for Democracy 521 Since the Japanese so readily agreed upon other matters, it is rather unfortunate that they did not continue to manifest a magnanimous spirit by accepting payment at once in cash, and thus end without further delay their lien upon the province. As it is, five years must pass before China will be permitted to pay any part of the debt to Japan. The stipulations of the Treaty respecting the Leased Territory, the mines and public property, have been al¬ ready carried out. The Leased Territory of Kiaochow was transferred to China on December 5, 1922. Other matters concerning China dealt with by the Con¬ ference were embodied in a treaty signed by the represent¬ atives of the nine powers.74 Mention has already been made of the manner in which this Conference dealt with the questions of “Spheres of Interest” and “Spheres of In¬ fluence. ’ ’ 8 Among other questions dealt with by the Conference is that of Tariff Revision. Although in the First Article of the Nine-Power Treaty the powers other than China solemnly agreed to respect the “sovereignty, the independ¬ ence, and the territorial and administrative integrity of China,” they were unwilling in the Treaty on Tariff Re¬ vision to restore to China her tariff autonomy. The in¬ consistency was recognized by Senator Underwood, the American Commissioner, who reported to the Conference the work of the sub-committee. ‘ ‘ It may seem an anomaly to the people of the world,” he said, “that this Conference, after declaring that they recognize the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China, should engage in a compact with China about a domestic matter that is a part of her sovereignty.” Since the close of the first war with Great Britain, in 1842, China, beaten in that conflict, has been compelled by treaty to limit her duties on imports and exports to five per cent ad valorem. These duties had been made specific by agreements with the several powers. Since 7“ Not yet ratified (1923) by some of tfie signatories, s gee Chapter XX. 522 The Struggle for Democracy prices vary continually the specific duties were no longer as much as five per cent, and the Treaty provided for a commission to revise the schedule and bring them up to an effective five per cent. China, however, pointed out that the rate, five per cent ad valorem, is too low and asked that it be raised. The question was brought up during the negotiations of the American, British, and Japanese commercial treaties in 1902 and 1903, and in these treaties it was stipulated that the duty on imports and exports might be increased provided that China would abolish likin. Likin is a duty on internal transit, first introduced during the Taiping Rebellion (1853-1866) to finance the operations of the Imperial Government for the suppression of that disturb¬ ance. It has been retained and extended as a profitable source of revenue for provincial treasuries, but it is a serious obstacle to trade. The word likin. means one per mille, but the tax in these days amounts on an average to about two and a half per cent. Foreign merchants avoid its collection by a payment at the port of a commutation transit tax of two and one-half per cent, but goods not provided with certificates to this effect are levied upon repeatedly as they are shipped from province to province, and, even when provided with certificates, the goods are held for examination, causing many vexatious delays. The opening of packages at various stations is also apt to result in damage and sometimes in loss. It has been the urgent desire of merchants, both Chinese and foreign, that this hindrance to the free movement of goods should be removed. The British and American treaties of 1902 and 1903 respectively agreed that in lieu of likin a surtax might be levied upon imports and exports. The surtax on im¬ ports was to be seven and one-half per cent, making the total tax twelve and a half per cent ad valorem. The duty upon exports was to be raised to seven and a half per cent by a surtax of two and a half per cent. The Japanese treaty specified no definite rate of increase. The arrangement was never consummated, however, because The Struggle for Democracy 523 certain other powers were unwilling to agree to the sur¬ taxes unless compensated therefor by the grant of special favors. THE SPECIAL CONFERENCE But a better spirit seems to prevail to-day, and the nine powers represented at Washington have agreed that within three months after the Tariff Treaty comes into force 8a a Special Conference shall meet in China to prepare the way for the abolition of likin and the fulfillment of the other conditions stipulated in the treaties of 1902 and 1903, so that an increased duty may be levied both upon imports and exports. The calling of a Special Conference for this purpose seems to be required by the present disturbed condition of China. It is not certain that the Peking Government can abolish likin throughout the country at once, since its authority is disputed in several provinces. An investiga¬ tion, therefore, must be made and a course of procedure outlined. The Special Conference is to be authorized not only to prepare for the abolition of likin and the increase thereafter of the rate of duty to be levied, but also to grant an immediate surtax upon imports of two and one- half per cent on ordinary goods and five per cent upon luxuries, which will enable China to collect seven and a half per cent upon the necessaries and ten per cent upon luxuries even before the likin is abolished. This of itself will give China a very considerable increase in revenue. An attempt was made to earmark this expected increase for the repayment of foreign loans not otherwise secured. To this China strenuously objected that, as a sovereign state, she could not permit others to dictate how she should use her revenues. Eventually, however, the Chinese delegates agreed that the Special Conference might decide the purposes for which and the conditions under which the surtax might be levied, but the repayment of foreign loans was not definitely stated to be one of the purposes. The word i ‘ conditions ’ ’ was another euphemism to cover 8a Not yet ratified (1923) by some of the signatories. 5U The Struggle for Democracy a demand by certain delegates that the surtax should be granted on condition that the proceeds be deposited in banks of more than one nationality and not, as the cus¬ toms receipts are now placed, entirely with the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, a British institution. UNIFORMITY OF DUTIES An important change to be wrought by the Tariff Treaty is the abolition of the reduction heretofore allowed in duties on imports and exports carried over the land fron¬ tiers. This reduction has amounted to one-third in most instances, but has varied somewhat on different frontiers. On the Burmese boundary the duty on imports into China was reduced by three-tenths and that on exports from China by four-tenths. The practice was first sanctioned in the treaty of 1881 between China and Russia. The overland trade between the two countries was very large, and there being no Trans- Siberian Railway at that time, the trade was handicapped by the expense of transportation by camels across Mongolia and by cart and boat through Siberia. The reduction was intended to lessen in some degree the disadvantages of the land trade as compared with the sea-borne commerce. The precedent was used by Great Britain, France and Japan to obtain similar reductions over their frontiers that touch China. But the building of railways has greatly changed conditions, and, although some opposition was manifested, the Washington Conference finally agreed that these re¬ ductions should be abolished. On the whole the Tariff Treaty, although inconsistently withholding assent to China’s reasonable request for tariff autonomy, is distinctly advantageous to that country. The Conference agreed also to a withdrawal of their post-offices from China in January, 1923, for the sale to China of wireless stations there, with certain exceptions, and for an investigation of the new Chinese codes and courts with a view to the eventual surrender to China of the extraterritorial privileges of foreign residents. The Struggle for Democracy 525 The Chinese delegation requested that the treaties and notes growing out of the Twenty-one Demands be con¬ sidered, pleading that since they were signed under duress they ought to be canceled. Baron Shidehara’s reply to the Chinese request has already been quoted.9 The de¬ mand, he said, would establish a dangerous precedent affecting the stability of international relations every¬ where. Unanimity being indispensable, as a rule, in inter¬ national decisions, it was impossible for the Conference to deal with this question. But the Japanese announced that they would abandon their option on loans for railway building and other purposes in South Manchuria and Eastern Inner Mongolia, and would no longer insist upon the preference granted in favor of the appointment of Japanese as advisers. They also withdrew from further con¬ sideration the demands under Group V, which in 1915 had been reserved for future negotiation. These were the demands most seriously affecting the sovereignty of China. This renunciation of acquired rights was a fine action, and won well deserved praise for the delegation. The question of the Twenty-one Demands has since been raised in a more acute form by the resolution of the Chinese House of Representatives, adopted November 1, 1922, unanimously requesting the Government to secure an abro¬ gation of the treaties growing out of these Demands. To a foreign observer the time seems most inopportune to raise such a question, when China is torn by internal dis¬ sension, and is too weak in a military sense to defend her¬ self in case such provocative action were to lead to a conflict of arms. But the reason for introducing the resolution was, no doubt, that under the original agree¬ ment with Russia the lease of the ports of Dairen and Port Arthur was to expire in 1923. The extension which Japan has obtained was secured by the threat implied in the ultimatum of 1915. » See Chapter I. 526 The Struggle for Democracy PRESENT CONDITIONS IN CHINA The internal condition of China is a most unhappy one and very discouraging to her friends. Military Governors, each with an army under his command, are in possession of various districts upon which they have fastened them¬ selves like leeches, draining the revenues for their own enrichment and the support of their troops. Peking, de¬ prived of the financial support of the provinces, is unable to meet its obligations, and is being pressed by foreign creditors. It is able to function only as it yields to the demands of the war lord nearest to hand. The original dispute between the northern and southern parties was a constitutional one. The more democratic south wanted local autonomy and a loose federation of provinces. The north, more accustomed to imperialism, wanted a centralized government. To this original dispute was added that relating to the status of the exiled parlia¬ ment at Canton, and the legitimacy of the Government at Peking elected by the new parliament chosen in 1918. The President elected by the last-mentioned parliament was Hsu Shih-ch’ang, a typical Chinese gentleman of the old school. Amiable and conciliatory, he strove to recon¬ cile the opposing parties but failed. Among the military leaders there were two of more than ordinary ability, and seemingly possessed of real patriotic motives. These were General Wu Pei-fu, with head¬ quarters in Honan, and his subordinate, General Feng, who claims to be a Christian. In 1921 the former proposed a conference of both sides, which was to agree on a plan of settlement. He and his subordinate, General Feng, are reported still to be aiming to bring a reunion of the prov¬ inces. The two obstructionists are Chang Tso-lin and Sun Yat- sen. The former is military governor of Manchuria and an ex-brigand. He is regarded as an unscrupulous person bent on his own advancement. The latter seems to be a misguided liberal, whose life has been that of a rebellious The Struggle for Democracy 627 agitator who has never shown any constructive ability. Both oppose the Peking Government and the plans of Wu Pei-fu for union. Although Chang is in the north he is not to be considered as a champion of the north against the south on the question which originally divided the prov¬ inces. His contest is simply one for personal aggrandize¬ ment. At times he and Sun Yat-sen have joined hands and worked together, much as an ass and a bull calf are sometimes seen yoked together to pull a Chinese plow, for they apparently have nothing in common save hostility to General Wu. The latter was forced into conflict last year by Chang. He gave the Manchurian war lord a well-deserved beating. Dr. Sun, in 1922, lost the support of his principal military officer, Ch’en Ch’iung-min, who was won to the support of General Wu’s conciliatory pro¬ gramme. The Canton Government disappeared. For a brief period the skies brightened, and friends of China looked for a peaceful settlement of the controversy. But subsequently Dr. Sun was in Fukien Province aiding a for¬ mer foe and disreputable politician, General Hsu, better known as ‘ 1 Little Hsu, ’ ’ to stir up another rebellion. Accord¬ ing to a statement made by General Wu Pei-fu it will take another two years to affect a settlement. But in the mean¬ time what will be the attitude of the foreign powers whose interests are adversely affected? The presence of con¬ tending armies in various provinces encourages disorder. Brigandage is common in certain regions. Recently some of the disgruntled leaders have taken to kidnaping for¬ eign residents, with a view to forcing from the Peking Government a recognition of their claims. All this certainly is distressing. Yet it is necessary to remember that this sort of thing has happened in the past at the overthrow of every dynasty that has lost its throne in China. The Chinese people are still there. They are the real strength of the country. They are industrious and aim to be law-abiding. The wealth of the country is not destroyed, however great the debts of the government may become. These patient, law-abiding citizens for the most part go about their business as usual. While there 528 The Struggle for Democracy are disturbances here and there in the vast territory of China, yet in most places life is still peaceful. The trav¬ eler generally pursues his journey unmolested, and American missionaries, even women, unarmed and unescorted, go from village to village and carry on their work without inter¬ ruption. It is this that makes one hopeful. Eventually the common sense of the common people will bring to an end the foolish factional strife that is going on, and national welfare will supplant personal ambitions. CHAPTER XXIV FOREIGN TRADE Speed on the ship, but let her bear No merchandise of sin, No groaning cargo of despair, Her roomy hold within; No Lethean drug for eastern lands, No poison draught for ours, But honest fruits of toiling hands And Nature’s sun and showers. Whittier. Reference has been made elsewhere to the early trade of China with the West. China’s exports to Rome via Parthia were chiefly silk, iron, furs, skins and hides. The imports from Rome were bright-colored textiles, precious stones and jewelry, drugs and glass. Some of the last- mentioned appears to have been in the form of imitation jewels, in the manufacture of which the Syrians seem to have been very skillful.1 Glass making was not introduced into China until the 5th century A.D.2 and prior to that date vessels of glass were considered very precious. Even at a later period the celebrated poet, Li Po (A.D. 702), as quoted by Hirtli, represents the fairy princess, T’ai Chen, as drinking from a glass cup, implying that glass was a very precious article.8 But long before China’s trade with Rome, in the 12th century B.C., she was trading in such articles as silk, furs, linen,4 skins, silver, copper and iron, precious stones, pearls, ivory and gold.5 Iron manufacturing became a government monopoly in iHirth: 11 China and the Roman Orient,” p. 237. 2 Ibid., and p. 232. 3 Op. cit., p. 233. 4 Dolichos and boehmeria. 5 << Tribute of Yu. ” 529 530 Foreign Trade the 7th century B.C. and remained for a long time under official control.6 Hirth quotes Ma Tuan-lin as authority for the statement that in 110 B.C. there were forty districts in which government inspectors supervised the manufac¬ ture of iron. Pliny complained that in his day the Romans wasted money on silk and other Asiatic luxuries, with the result that the balance of trade against Rome in her com¬ merce with the Orient amounted to between 55 and 100 million sesterces a year.7 This would amount to from two to five millions of dollars, at a time when the purchasing power of money was much greater than now. MEDIAEVAL TRADE In the 9th and 10th centuries of the Christian Era the foreign trade of China was chiefly sea-borne, and the im¬ ports consisted of ivory, frankincense, tortoise shell, cam¬ phor, rhinoceros horns, copper, coral, amber, pearls, precious stones, ebony, spices, drugs, sapan-wood and colored cotton fabrics. The exports were porcelain, cotton piece goods, silk, gold and silver.8 Tea is mentioned as a common drink in China by the Arab travelers who visited that country in the 9th century, but it does not appear to have figured in the exports at that period.9 The duties paid on imports varied from 10 per cent on pearls and camphor to 30 and 40 per cent on other articles. The duties were paid in kind, and such stores as were not wanted by the Court were placed on the market.10 Marco Polo in his day said that the import duty was 10 per cent as a rule, but that freight charges were from 30 to 44 per cent, so that the merchant had to “pay a good half of the value of his investment” for freight and duty.11 6 Hirth ’s " Ancient History of China,” p. 204. 7 Hirth: “ China and the Roman Orient,” p. 226. 8 See Hirth and Rockhill: “Chau Ju-Kua, ” p. 16-19, and Renaudot ’s translation of ‘ 1 Ancient Accounts of India and China by Two Mohammedan Travellers,” p. 20. 9 Renaudot, op. cit., p. 25. 10 Chau Ju-Kua, pp. 19-21. nCordier’s Yule’s Marco Polo, II, p. 235. Foreign Trade 531 The first British ship to reach China sought a cargo of sugar and ginger, as said in another chapter. Sugar was probably already an article of export in days of the Arab monopoly of trade. It is mentioned by the two Arab travelers, whose accounts Renaudot has translated, as an article of manufacture at that period, i.e., the 9th cen¬ tury A.D. MODERN TRADE From Shaw’s journals we learn that the Europeans in his day had difficulty in selling goods to the Chinese to balance purchases, and had to make up the deficit by pay¬ ments of silver in large quantity.12 Some of the “country vessels” of the British, that is to say vessels owned by British subjects in India and sailing from that country, carried Indian products to the Dutch settlements in the East Indies, and loaded there with spices and block tin for China. These, with opium and cotton from India, to a certain extent replaced the shipments of silver. Shaw, in his report to the Hon. John Jay, Secretary of the United States for Foreign Affairs, dated January, 1787, says :13 The English ships bring out from Europe lead and large quantities of cloth; which latter the company are obliged by their charter to export annually to China, for the encourage¬ ment of the home woolen manufacture. The remainder of their cargoes is made up of supplies for the company’s establishments in India, and such European commodities as will suit the various markets upon the coast. After having disposed of these, they take on board cotton, with which, and their lead, and cloth, they proceed to China. The English derive considerable advan¬ tage from the permission granted to private ships, owned by their subjects in India, to trade with China. These vessels, besides the cotton, sandal-wood, putchoek-root, ebony, opium, shark-fins and birds’-nests they bring from the coast, carry on a smuggling trade with the Dutch settlements in and about Malacca, and with the natives, whom they supply with opium, 12 Shaw’s Journals, pp. 229 and 230. See Morse, “International Relations of the Chinese Empire,’’ I, p. 79. is Shaw’s Journals, pp. 342 and 343. 532 Foreign Trade clothing, fire-arms, etc., in return for which they receive pepper, block-tin and spices. The net proceeds of these, with the silver and other articles they bring from India, are, to the amount of about one third, carried back in such merchandise as will suit the India markets; and the remainder, either in cash or trans¬ fers on the Chinese merchants, is paid into the company’s treasury, for which they receive bills on the company in Eng¬ land, at the exchange of five shillings and sixpence sterling for a dollar, payable twelve months after sight. This fund has for a number of years rendered it unnecessary for the company to export from Europe any specie for carrying on their commerce with the Chinese. With respect, however, to this advantage derived by the Eng¬ lish from their subjects in India, as well as from their credit with the Chinese, it must be observed that both have beeu pushed as far as they would bear. Last year their ships de¬ pended greatly on the latter of these resources for their home¬ ward cargoes, and the company have sent from England the present year upwards of three millions of dollars in specie alone. It was this difficulty in maintaining a favorable trade balance that encouraged opium smuggling from India. V essels of all nations engaged in it to a considerable extent, and in the end it resulted in a draining of silver away from China instead of the former import of treasure into that country. Morse in his “International Relations of the Chinese Empire”14 states that “The English trade was fed to an increasing extent by opium, the proportion rising from one-sixth in 1818 to over one-half in 1833.” Raw cotton from India formed one-fourth and English woolens one-eighth of British imports into China in 1833. Of the exports from China to Great Britain at that time 47 per cent was in tea, about 16 per cent in silk, and 21 per cent in hard cash. Opium smugglers were at a great advantage, since they paid no duty on the import, and in addition received pay¬ ment for the contraband drug in silver. With this they could buy such return cargoes as they liked. After 1858, however, opium was placed on the tariff list. The trade was legalized. Smuggling practically ceased. But produc¬ tion was undertaken in China on a large scale, and steadily 14 Op. cit., pp. 82 and 83. Foreign Trade 533 increased until the reform measures of 1906. Now again opium is contraband. Smuggling is resumed. Foreign production of the drug is increased, and foreign powers, although signatories of the Anti-Opium Convention of 1912 and the Versailles Treaty of 1919, profit by the illicit trade. They shrug their shoulders and disclaim responsibility. Like Pilate of old they wash their hands in token of cleanli¬ ness, but the stains of opium are not easily removed. Despite Major Shaw’s optimistic outlook for a trade in ginseng with which to finance American purchases of silk, tea and nankeens,15 American merchants found it necessary to carry specie to Canton to pay for three-fourths of their return cargoes. From 1830 onwards they substituted bills on London for specie.16 Ginseng is still imported into China to the value of nearly three million taels a year, but more than half of this amount comes from Japan (includ¬ ing Korea). The amount credited to the United States in 1921 is insignificant, although much of the 859,194 taels worth, reported as coming from Hongkong, no doubt originated in our country. During the sixteen years 1818-1833, thirty-seven Ameri¬ can vessels a year, on an average, visited Canton. They carried imports estimated at an average value per annum of $6,100,185, of which $307,875 worth was in opium and $2,161,724 in other goods. The balance, $3,630,586 was in treasure. The average value of the exports each year from China to the United States during that period was $6,453,- 492.17 In other words during that period we sold to China on an average two and a half million dollars worth of goods every year, and bought from China nearly six and a half millions worth. china’s foreign trade to-day The foreign commerce of China has changed considerably during the past century. Tea and silk are still exported is See Chap. XVI. ic Morse, op. cit., I, p. 202. 17 Morse, op. cit., p. 80. 534 Foreign Trade in large quantities, but India and Japan have forged to the front in the tea trade, and there are several rivals competing in the production of silk. The Chinese have lost much of the silk trade by their lack of care in breeding and feeding silk-worms and in their reeling of the silk. Some improvement is now being undertaken in both these matters. The decline of the tea trade is also due to want of care in the growing and manufacture of that article. The dependence of these two trades upon a multitude of small farmers who produce silk and tea of varying qualities has made it difficult to accomplish any general improve¬ ment, but the attention of the government has been drawn to the matter by the merchants interested with the result that some effort is being made to educate the people in the proper care of silk-worms and the better production of silk and tea. Cotton is still grown in China and nankeens are still manufactured, but the power looms of the West have reversed the current of trade, so that to-day cotton piece goods are imported into China in enormous quantities. China, however, is improving the quality of her cotton, and the power loom is being gradually introduced. Some of the factories erected are financed with European and American capital. These mills are supplying in part the demand of China for cotton yarn, and in a small measure the coarser varieties of cotton cloth needed. As greater experience comes in the promotion of corporate enterprise the Chinese themselves will be able to supply a larger and larger proportion of the cotton goods needed. For the present, however, they still find it profitable to establish small factories with cheap hand looms. Other changes in the import and export trade of China are directly traceable to the advancement of the Western world in the physical sciences, particularly in the applica¬ tion of steam and electricity in the invention of labor- saving machinery and the development of the chemical industries. The total number of items in the import list of the Chinese Maritime Customs to-day is 352, and in the export list 303, Many of these items are articles which Foreign Trade 53 5 a hundred years ago were either unknown or but just coming into being. Others, though known, were unknown to the China trade, for in those days China was self- centered, sufficient unto herself and able to supply all her own needs, and Western men were either ignorant of China 5s resources or unable to develop a trade in them. IMPORTS The gross value of China’s import trade in 1921 was $708,966,258 or net $688,653,053. Among the imports to¬ day that were unknown a century ago may be mentioned, aluminum, condensed milk, steam engines and all forms of steam driven and electrical machinery, chemical dyes, gas engines, rubber goods, all railway apparatus, most of the present day scientific apparatus, petroleum and its prod¬ ucts, matches and motor cars. Over a million dollars worth of condensed milk was imported in 1921. Three million dollars worth of matches and match-making materials were imported the same year. The value of all machinery and machine tools imported that year was Tls. 57,804,902, or at the rate of exchange for 1921, $43,931,725 gold. Of this over twenty million dollars worth was in textile machinery. The import of railway materials in 1921 amounted to nearly twenty-seven millions of dollars, including five and a half millions in rails. Of aniline dyes the value imported was six and a half millions, of artificial indigo nearly twelve millions, of electrical materials more than ten mil¬ lions, and in addition a million and a third of telephone and telegraph materials. There was nearly a million and a half of photographic material, and more than that value in rubber goods. The value of scientific apparatus, in¬ cluding surgical and optical instruments, was $840,000, that of kerosene oil forty-four and a half millions, of gaso¬ line, naphtha, etc., two millions, and that of motor cars nearly three millions. But of all the items in the import list that of greatest value is cotton goods of various sorts. The total value in 1921 of such imports was about a 536 Foreign Trade hundred and seventy million dollars, not including raw cotton worth $27,380,457.18 In most of the items mentioned American trade is in¬ terested. The total value of our imports into China in 1921 was given by the Chinese Customs as Tls. 175,789,652, or $133,600,135. Among the important items of the Chinese import trade that have not been mentioned are woolen goods, valued in 1921 at $5,815,000 (including a million in woolen yarn), and metals and minerals in various forms, chiefly copper, iron and steel, worth upwards of forty-one millions, not including rails. Of this total ten millions must be credited to copper. Food-stuffs, not including condensed milk al¬ ready mentioned, were imported in 1921 to the amount of nearly one hundred and fourteen millions, of which thirty-one millions were for rice and fifty-two millions for sugar. Flour, chiefly from the United States, was valued at $2,698,000. It may be of interest to note that imports of arms and munitions of war were valued at no more than $426,573, while foreign books and music amounted to $672,216. The import of candles amounted to $767,224. Carpets valued at $575,398 were brought from abroad, although China is celebrated for her rugs, and, notwithstanding that cement is manufactured in large quantities, it was imported to the value of nearly three million dollars. Nearly twenty millions were spent for cigars and cigarettes and eleven millions more for tobacco. Over five millions were spent in wines, beer and spirits, and a million and a half on perfumery and cosmetics. EXPORTS China’s total export trade in 1921 was valued at Taels 601,255,537, or U. S. $456,954,208. The leading item, as of old, was silk, value $111,352,920, of which three-fourths 18 All the figures are reduced from those given in the report of the Chinese Maritime Customs, the Customs Tael being taken as equivalent to 76 cents U. S. Foreign Trade 537 was raw silk. Nearly one-half of the total was shipped to Hongkong, hut Hongkong is chiefly a port of trans-ship¬ ment. Our share of the Hongkong trade, added to the direct shipments from China to the United States, which were valued at about twenty-five millions, probably gives use the leading place in the list of purchasers. The item occupying second place in the export trade is bean-cake, worth thirty -seven millions, nearly all of which was taken by Japan. Beans follow with a value of twenty-six mil¬ lions, Japan being again the largest purchaser. Cotton goods are tending to recover their ancient importance as exports. Their total value in 1921 was about eighteen millions, of which twelve and a half were in raw cotton, taken chiefly by Japan. Of cotton cloth, nankeens are still the largest item, shipments being mostly to the East Indian ports. Exports of machine-made cloth are increasing from year to year as new mills are put into operation. The same is true of other factory products, such as matches, soap, electric lamps and beer. The total export of factory made goods in 1921 was valued at two million seven hun¬ dred thousand dollars. Next to cotton goods, vegetable oils show the largest value, over fifteen millions. If we add the value of essential oils — cassia and anise-seed, $600,000 — the total is sixteen millions. Then follow skins and hides, ten millions. Add furs and the total is thirteen millions, of which some five millions worth was taken by the United States. Cigarettes, shipped chiefly to the East Indies, amounted to more than ten millions in value, and tobacco about four millions. Wool shipped had a value of ten millions. Most of this was sent to the United States. Coal worth nine millions, and coke, a half million, went mostly to Japan. Tea was valued at nine and a half millions, of which the United States took nearly three and a half mil¬ lions worth. Egg albumen and eggs reached about nine millions each. Wheat flour, shipped chiefly to Japan and Russia, amounted in value to some seven millions. Peanuts, sent chiefly to Japan, were worth five millions. Tin shipped through Hongkong accounted for four and a half millions. 5 3S Foreign Trade Pig iron, most of which was taken by Japan, was set down at about four millions. Another million and a half, sent largely to the same destination, was in iron ware. Over three millions were in bristles, the United States and Great Britain each taking about the same quantity, valued at about a million and a third dollars. Chinaware to the value of three and a half millions was exported, chiefly to the East Indies. Khubarb and certain other medicines account for over three millions. Liquorice, not included in medicines, was worth one and three quarter millions. Camphor, less important than of yore, made up a million more, a large share of these drugs being taken by the United States. Straw braid valued at over two and a half millions was taken chiefly by the United States, Great Britain and France. Other items of importance in the export trade are intestines, human hair, musk, incense, lard, nutgalls, Pekinese rugs, sugar, antimony, insect wax and ginger. AMERICAN SHIPPING As long as commerce depended upon sailing vessels built of wood, Americans could compete very well with the rest of the world in ship building. The forests of Maine and the shipyards of New England supplied all the tonnage we needed for our carrying trade, and the beautiful ‘ 1 clip¬ per” was celebrated throughout the world. But during our Civil War iron steamships became common, the beautiful wooden sailing vessel had to yield place to the ugly but more useful steamer, and the United States with its high- priced labor could not build iron or steel vessels as cheaply as the shipyards of Britain. Thus it has come to pass that, while our commerce with the Far East has greatly in¬ creased during the past century, our interest in the ship¬ ping has greatly declined. In 1833 sixty-one American vessels with a tonnage of 26,621 visited Canton. This was above the average, however, for that period. But by 1852 no less than 47 per cent of all the foreign shipping clearing from Shanghai was American. The British regained the Foreign Trade 539 lead in 1858 and the American portion fell to twenty-five per cent.19 More recent legislation designed to protect American seamen by forbidding the employment on American vessels of men who cannot understand orders given in English failed of its purpose. Many American vessels were trans¬ ferred to other flags. Our shipping engaged in the China trade in 1914 had already dwindled in the number of vessels engaged to less than one and a half per cent of the total number, and in tonnage to a trifle more than one per cent. In 1916, in spite of the opportunities given by the European war, it declined still further to nine-tenths of one per cent of the total tonnage. Our flag had almost entirely disappeared from the Pacific. As the danger of our becoming involved in the war in¬ creased, emergency legislation provided a great increase in our merchant marine, and our proportion of the carry¬ ing trade in the commerce with China increased from 799,913 tons in 1916 to 1,214,921 in 1918, and our per¬ centage of the total rose again to a little more than one and a half per cent.20 The report of the Chinese Maritime Customs for 1921 gives the entries of American vessels at Chinese ports as 5576, with a tonnage of 4,510,901, and the percentage of our tonnage to the whole foreign tonnage as 3.94, practically four per cent. As normal conditions return in the Far East it seems likely that our shipping interests will again decline. Unless some form of subsidy is granted, it appears unlikely that we can maintain an American wage standard and compete with those who employ cheap Oriental labor and, in addi¬ tion, receive subsidies in aid of navigation. Yet the disad¬ vantages of having to depend upon others for shipping in time of war were clearly shown in 1917, and it seems in¬ credible that the American people will consent to return to that condition. American merchants in Shanghai complained during the 19 Morse, ‘ * International Relations of the Chinese Empire, ” Vol. I, pp. 89 and 343. 20 Arnold, Commercial Handbook of China, Vol. I, p. 75. 540 Foreign Trade war that Japanese vessels refused them cargo space, even when such space was available. Presumably this was in¬ tended to further the interests of competing Japanese mer¬ chants. Other complaints were made of the detention of goods in Japan which were of a sort to compete with Japanese cargoes. Such statements are difficult to prove or disprove, but it is quite natural that Japanese should consider Japanese interests as of prime importance. That the Japanese Government is alive to the importance of a good merchant marine is shown by the subsidies granted to Japanese shipping companies. The Japan Year-Book for 1921-22 states that the subsidy allowed at present is granted on five routes : those to Europe, to North America, to South America, to Australia and to Java. The last, however, is exceptional. Generally speaking, a vessel to be eligible for a subsidy must be under fifteen years of age, must be home-built and above 3000 tons gross. Such vessels, moreover, must have a speed of twelve knots or more an hour. For every one thousand miles traveled a qualified vessel receives fifty sen. (25 cents) per ton gross, with an addition of ten per cent for every knot per hour above twelve. The subsidy is decreased for vessels five years old by five per cent for every year above five, until the fifteen-year period is reached, when payment ceases. Foreign-built vessels owned by Japanese may receive one- half the usual subsidy if application for such aid is ap¬ proved by the government. Vessels built to special plans of the government receive twenty-five per cent extra. With two of the lines mentioned American vessels are brought into direct competition, those running to Puget Sound and those entering San Francisco. On these two lines the Japanese maintain regularly nine steamers, six to Puget Sound and three to San Francisco. The former vary in tonnage from 5500 to 12,000, the latter from 12,500 to 13,500 tons. In 1921 Japan paid to lines serving North American Y2, 101, 898, or $1,050,449. The allowance for 1922 was to be increased to Y2, 121, 308, or $1,060,654. Foreign Trade 541 THE OPEN CITIES Although most of the important nations of the world are engaged in commerce with China, their citizens and subjects are permitted by treaty to reside and do business only in a limited number of Chinese cities, known com¬ monly as “open ports/’ or “treaty ports.” There is an exception to this rule; missionaries are allowed to live, travel and propagate their religion in all parts of the coun¬ try. Not all open cities of China are treaty ports. Some were opened by the Chinese Government upon its own initiative. Most, however, have been forced open by the pressure of foreign powers, generally after a war in which China has been defeated. This reluctance upon China’s part to the opening of the country to the residence of foreigners is not without justification. In the early period of foreign intercourse the Chinese segregated the alien merchants in a quarter of Canton where they could be more easily controlled, and where they could follow their outlandish customs without offense to the sensibilities of Chinese aristocrats, who regarded them¬ selves as far superior to the barbarians of the West. A similar arrangement is seen to-day in the zoning ordinances of some of our American cities. After the first war with Great Britain and the establish¬ ment by foreign powers of extraterritorial jurisdiction over their nationals in China, the restriction of foreigners to residence and trade in a few ports became of great im¬ portance. It is evident that if foreigners are not to be subject to the control of the local authorities they should be kept near enough to their own consulates to be under the restraint of their national authorities. Eighty years ago five cities were opened. After the second war with Great Britain eight more were opened, and since that time the number has grown to about one hundred. Many of these, however, are of slight interest to any foreign power except Japan, and Japan apparently is influenced by other than purely commercial motives in asking for the opening 542 Foreign Trade of some of the towns in regions where she claims special interests. It is not necessary here to give the names of all the open cities. A list of the most important, with their location, will be found in the Appendix, together with population and trade statistics. The open cities and towns may be grouped in five classes. The first class includes treaty ports with national settlements, such as Canton, Hankow, Kiukiang, Chinkiang, Tientsin and Newchwang, where one or more foreign powers have each established a separate settlement under the government, either of its consular authorities, or that of the Consul and the national community. Before the recent World War there were five separate foreign municipalities at Hankow and eight at Tientsin. Since the close of the war Germany and Austria have lost their settlements. Such a multiplica¬ tion of municipal governments in communities of a few thousand people is not only wholly unnecessary, but is often a source of friction between the various foreign colonies. The second class is composed of those open ports where there are international settlements governed by municipal councils elected by the foreign residents. Such are Shanghai (except the French Concession) and Amoy. These international governments are in some respects under the supervision of the Consular Corps of the port concerned and of the Diplomatic Representatives at Peking. The regulations adopted by the Council must have the approval of these foreign authorities, and in case of suit against the municipality the Court of Consuls has jurisdiction. The third class may be said to be made up of those ports which have long been open to foreign residence and trade, but where, for various reasons, no separate foreign settle¬ ment has been established. The foreigners may gather in one quarter, usually but not always outside the city walls, but no area has been set aside by the Chinese Government for such residence, and there is therefore no regularly established foreign municipal control. The few Europeans and Americans gathered in such places generally cooperate in matters relating to the safety and comfort of the com- Foreign Trade 543 munity. They assess themselves for such purposes as road¬ building, lighting, street cleaning, and the employment of night watchmen, but the only representatives of foreign jurisdiction are the Consuls located there, some of whom are frequently chosen from among the merchants of the nationalities concerned. Such' ports are Foochow and Chefoo. The fourth class includes the towns which China has of her own volition thrown open to foreign residence and trade. This has generally been done to forestall a demand by some foreign power. The advantage to China in so doing is that the area set aside for foreign residence is retained under the municipal control of the Chinese authori¬ ties. The foreign Consuls located at such places look after the protection of their national interests but do not inter¬ fere in the local government. Such places are Tsinan in Shantung and Yochow in Hunan. The fifth class is composed of ports situated in leased territories, such as Dairen and Port Arthur in Manchuria, Weihaiwei in Shantung, Kuangchowwan in Kuangtung and formerly Tsingtao in Shantung. The last-mentioned is in the territory of Kiaochow, once leased to Germany but recently returned to the government of China by Japan. These ports in leased territories are governed by the lessee power. Other foreign powers are not permitted the exer¬ cise of extraterritorial jurisdiction within the boundaries of such territories. ENTRANCE AND CLEARANCE OF SHIPPING To enter a Chinese port pilotage is not compulsory, but pilots are available. Scales of fees are fixed and easily obtainable.21 Vessels are moored in accordance with the orders of the Harbor Master. Any violation of his orders will prevent loading, unloading or clearance of the vessel until the orders are obeyed. Vessels moored by their own anchors pay no mooring charges, but those made fast to 21 For Shanghai see Arnold, 1 1 Commercial Handbook of China,” Vol. II, p. 152. 544 Foreign Trade fixed moorings pay a small fee. All vessels pay wharfage dues, which in Shanghai are 2 per cent of the duty. Every harbor has its own special regulations to prevent obstruct tion of the channel, the disposal of garbage and refuse, the landing of explosives and other dangerous goods, the use of whistles and sirens, and other matters affecting the wel¬ fare of the port. In China, as in other foreign countries, the master of an American vessel, on arriving in port, deposits his ship’s papers with his Consul, and when evidence is presented to show that all disputes between Master and crew have been settled, all dues and duties paid, and other port regulations complied with, clearance is granted and the ship’s papers returned to its master. The tonnage dues payable to the Chinese Government22 vary from one mace per ton register, for vessels under 150 tons, to four mace per ton for those over that limit. A mace, in 1921, was equivalent to U. S. $0,076. In addition to the tonnage dues special taxes are levied in certain ports to cover the cost of harbor improvements. In Shanghai three per cent of the customs duty on cargo is added for the support of the river conservancy work. In Tientsin, to pay for the dredging of the Taku Bar, a tax is levied of four per cent of the customs duties on cargo, and an additional tax of ten taels cents a ton on the shipping that crosses the bar. On the tonnage of ships that remain out¬ side five tael cents a ton is levied, or ten tael cents a ton on all cargo discharged or loaded.23 At various other ports similar surtaxes are levied for the support of conservancy work. THE TARIFF The Chinese Government levies duties on exports as well as imports. The rate has been fixed by treaty at five per cent ad valorem, as stated elsewhere.24 A number of articles 22 Ibid., Yol. II, p. 151. 23 Arnold, “Commercial Handbook of China,’ ’ Vol. II, p. 314. 24 Chapters XYII and XXIII. Foreign Trade 545 are placed on the free list. Of imports food-stuffs, gold and silver, whether in bullion or coin, books, charts, maps and periodicals are free. The import of certain articles is prohibited. Among these are opium, morphia — except when certified to be for medical purposes — and salt. The import of arms and munitions of war of all descriptions is forbidden, except at the requisition of the Chinese Goverm ment or for sale to persons duly authorized by the Gov¬ ernment. The regulation covers sporting arms and am¬ munition, but reputable persons can usually obtain the necessary permit from the Chinese authorities. Goods imported at one port which have paid duty may be shipped to another open port without additional pay¬ ment of duty, provided they are accompanied by an ex¬ emption certificate which will be issued upon application by the Customs. Goods re-exported after payment of import duty, if shipped within three years in their original packages and with original markings, may claim a refund of the customs duties paid. If the original packing is destroyed no refund can be claimed, but the goods may be exported free of export duty.25 Goods shipped from the port of entry to any place other than a treaty port, and goods brought from the interior to a treaty port are liable to the payment of likin, which, as said elsewhere, is a tax on goods in transit. This ob¬ struction to free trade in the interior of China has been the source of much complaint. The annoyance caused by detention and examination of goods and frequent collections of likin is avoidable to some extent by the payment of a commutation transit tax. For imports going inland the commutation tax amounts to a half import duty on duti¬ able goods and two and one-half per cent ad valorem on duty free goods. This payment is made at the place of import, and a transit pass is issued which accompanies the goods to destination. For exports the properly certified foreign firm obtains at the Custom House a blank pass, which is sent with his agent into the interior. In accord- 25 Arnold, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 87. 546 Foreign Trade ance with its terms the buyer is enabled to bring goods to the port of shipment without payment of likin. Before shipment abroad the half duty and export duty are paid at the port. Foreign governments usually hold that the payment of the commutation transit tax should exempt the goods from all other taxation after reaching destination, but the Chinese local authorities frequently levy octroi at the city gates or impose a destination tax in some other form. The text of Article XI of the Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1896 provides as follows: It shall be at the option of any Japanese subject desiring to convey duly imported articles to an inland market to clear his goods of all transit duties by payment of a commutation transit tax or duty equal to one-half of the import duty in respect of dutiable articles and two and one-half per cent upon the value in respect of duty free articles; and on payment thereof a cer¬ tificate shall be issued which shall exempt the goods from all further inland charges whatsoever. The phrase “All further inland charges whatsoever” would seem at first glance to sustain the contention of foreigners, but the Chinese hold with considerable show of reason that the likin from which exemption is claimed is a tax on goods in transit, and that nothing else was under consideration in the drafting of the article, so that the exemption cannot be made to apply to taxes levied after the arrival of goods at destination. TARIFF REVISION Although the tariff is fixed at five per cent ad valorem, the duties in the schedule have as a rule been converted into specific duties. Since prices are continually changing the specific duty occasionally represents a rate quite other than five per cent. For this reason the schedule has several times been revised. The first occasion was in 1858. The export duties have remained practically unchanged since that date. Many Chinese statesmen recognize the unwisdom of a tax upon exports, but, since the Powers deny tariff Foreign Trade 547 autonomy to China, and since she is therefore unable to raise needed revenues from imports, the duty on exports is still levied. Japan in 1858 adopted a similar practice, but the export duty there was abandoned in 1878. In 1901, after the Boxer troubles, which placed a heavy indemnity upon China, the treaty powers agreed to another revision of the import duties in order to bring them up to an effective five per cent ad valorem. This revision was accomplished in 1902, and the new specific schedule was appended to our revised treaty of 1903. By 1917 prices again had so far altered that another revision was made, and, since many powers were then at war and prices ab¬ normal, it was agreed that a further revision should be had two years after the close of the War. In 1921, however, the Washington Conference was called to consider Pacific and Far Eastern Questions, as well as those relating to Limitation of Armament. The revision was, therefore, post¬ poned. At the Washington Conference China urged her claims to tariff autonomy and asked that, if the powers there represented would not agree to an immediate restora¬ tion of tariff autonomy, arrangements might be made for such return to her of her sovereign right at some definite date in the future. But China was in a disturbed con¬ dition, and the commercial powers of the West were selfish. The request was not granted, but a treaty dealing with the tariff was signed by all the nine powers represented. That treaty promised an immediate revision of the tariff schedule to make the duties correspond to the requirements of the earlier treaties, and held out the hope of an increase in the rate, the abolition of likin, and the abolition of the reduction allowed in duties on goods imported over the land frontiers. The revision to bring the duties up to an effective five per cent ad valorem has already been com¬ pleted. The new schedule went into effect January 17, 1923. This could be done without waiting for the ratifica¬ tion of the Washington Treaty, since the old treaties have fixed that rate. But the more important provisions of the Washington Treaty cannot be carried out until all the powers signatory shall have ratified it. Foreign Trade 548 CONSULAR FUNCTIONS Goods shipped to the United States, whether from China or elsewhere, must be accompanied by an invoice certified by the consul at the port of shipment. This is necessary to enable the customs authorities in the United States to keep informed as to the prices of articles imported, and thus make a correct estimate of the duty. Only shipments of less than one hundred dollars value, or personal effects accompanying a passenger, are exempt from this require¬ ment. The certifying of invoices is, therefore, one of the most important functions of the consul. He must keep himself acquainted with the state of the market, the fluc¬ tuations of prices and exchange. In the case of certain kinds of goods he is required, moreover, to see that they are disinfected and certify to that fact. He must know, too, that the vessel departing for an American port is in proper sanitary condition and grant it a bill of health. When epidemics occur these must be promptly reported to the American Government and, if quarantine regulations are in force, he must see that they are observed by Ameri¬ can vessels or those departing for the United States. All Americans in China are registered at the consulates. Marriages, births and deaths are recorded, passports issued, and certificates granted to Chinese students, merchants, travelers and officials departing for the United States, to assure our immigration authorities that such persons do not belong to the classes of Chinese excluded from the United States. The consul must also report regularly to the Department of State upon the condition of trade in his district. The United States has seventeen consulates in China, not including that at Hongkong, which is a British Crown Colony. All China is divided into districts. Each district, with all Americans and American interests therein, is under the supervision of one of the consulates. Owing to the enjoyment by the United States of extra¬ territorial jurisdiction over American citizens in China, Foreign Trade 549 the consuls there are charged with judicial functions. All case of a criminal character involving offenses which under American law are punishable with a fine of one hundred dollars, or imprisonment for sixty days, or both, are tried by the consul. More serious cases are tried by the United States Court for China, and even in the cases of less im¬ portance appeals lie from the consular courts to the United States Court for China. From the decisions of the latter appeals lie to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals of the Ninth Judicial Circuit — California. Cases of Americans against Chinese are tried in Chinese courts by Chinese law, but the American Government is represented by a consular officer who sits as an assessor, with the right to question and cross-question witnesses and to protest if need be against the procedure or decision of the court. Appeals lie to the higher authorities of China, who review the case in conference with the superior con¬ sular authorities. TRADE-MARKS, COPYRIGHTS AND PATENTS Various unsuccessful attempts have been made in the past by American and other foreign representatives in China to obtain protection there for trade-marks, copy¬ rights and patents. The importance of such protection is easily seen. In our treaty of 1903 China agreed to give the protection needed, except that in the case of copyrights the protection is granted only to books, maps, prints and engravings especially prepared for the use and education of the Chinese people. The regulations for the protection of trade-marks were published in the autumn of 1904, but inasmuch as several European powers objected to certain of the requirements, they were rescinded after remaining in force but three days. Attempts have since been made to draft a set of rules to which all would agree, but thus far these attempts have failed, and the failure to agree in the matter of trade¬ marks has prevented the adoption of regulations relating to copyrights and patents. Laws relating to copyrights have been promulgated, but have not been accepted by the Powers as fulfilling the provisions of the treaties. 550 Foreign Trade In practice, however, a degree of protection is secured by arrangement with local Chinese authorities, who issue proclamations in accordance with the terms of our treaty warning against infringement. Chinese who are thereafter found guilty of infringement of trade-marks, copyrights or patents are tried and punished by the Chinese authori¬ ties. Preliminary to the issue of the proclamation regis¬ tration should be made with the Maritime Customs authori¬ ties at Shanghai and Tientsin. Such registration can be made through the consulates at those ports. This arrange¬ ment, of course, does not protect such industrial property against infringement in China by non-Chinese. To secure such protection the American Government has entered into a number of treaties with other powers to give mutual pro¬ tection in their extraterritorial courts in China to trade¬ marks, copyrights and patents.26 THE CHINA TRADE ACT OF 1922 Heretofore American merchants in China have been handicapped to a degree by the want of any federal in¬ corporation law, and by the exemption from income taxes enjoyed by their competitors in trade. This handicap has now been removed by the China Trade Act, approved Sep¬ tember 19th, 1922. This provides for the appointment of a Registrar, who must be an officer of the Department of Commerce and whose office shall be in China. Companies incorporated under this act have their head offices in the District of Columbia. A majority of the incorporators and directors must be American citizens, and one must be a resident of the District of Columbia. The duration of the corporation is not to exceed twenty-five years, but may be extended from one period to another by the Secretary of Commerce. Such companies may engage in general trade and other forms of business enterprise except banking and insurance. 26 Such treaties exist between the United States and the follow¬ ing countries: Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia and Sweden. Russia and Germany, however, no longer enjoy extraterritorial jurisdiction. Foreign Trade 551 An important provision amends the Revenue Act of 1921 so as to exempt from income tax “an amount equal to the proportion of the net income derived from sources within China which the par value of the shares of stock of the Corporation owned on the last day of the taxable year by individual citizens of the United States or China, resi¬ dent in China, bears to the par value of the whole number of the shares of stock of the corporation outstanding on such date.”27 This Act, the writer believes, will take rank with that of 1906 creating the U. S. Court for China, in the importance which it has for the advancement of American interests for China. MINING AND MANUFACTURING The investment of foreign capital in mining and manu¬ facturing enterprises in China is provided for by treaty and by Chinese legislation, but the mining regulations adopted by the Chinese Government are not of a character to encourage such investment. With a very natural desire to protect her own interests China forbids the holding by foreigners of more than fifty per cent of the shares of any mining corporation. 27 The Act further provides that the amount exempted shall not exceed the amount of a special dividend certified under another paragraph which reads as follows: ‘ ‘ Such credit shall not be allowed unless the Secretary of Com’ merce has certified to the Commissioner (1) the amount which, during the year ending on the date of filing the return, the cor¬ poration has distributed as a special dividend to or for the benefit of such individuals as on the last day of the taxable year were citizens of the United States or China, resident in China, and owned shares of stock of the corporation, (2) that such special dividend was in addition to all other amounts, payable or to be payable to such individuals or for their benefit, by reason of their interest in the corporation, and (3) that such distribution has been made to or for the benefit of such individuals in proportion to the par value of the shares of stock of the corporation owned by each; except that if the corporation has more than one class of stock, the cer¬ tificate shall contain a statement that the articles of incorporation provide a method for the apportionment of such special dividend among such individuals, and that the amount certified has been distributed in accordance with the method so provided. ’ ’ 552 Foreign Trade Such corporations are placed under the control of the Provincial Industrial Bureau of the province concerned.28 These provisions are not of a sort to induce foreign capi¬ talists to invest in large amounts except in places where special mining grants have been made by treaties upon terms not affected by these regulations. Investment of foreign capital in manufacturing, how¬ ever, does not suffer from any such restriction. Although manufacturing in a small way, with steam driven machinery, was begun by foreigners in China soon after the opening of the free ports in 1842, it was not until 1895 that express permission to do so was granted by treaty. The Peace Treaty between China and Japan of that year provides in Article XI that Japanese subjects shall be free to engage in all kinds of manufacturing industries in all the open cities, towns and ports of China, and shall be at liberty to import into China all kinds of machinery, paying only the stipulated import duty thereon. This provision was expanded the following year in a pro¬ tocol appended to the Japanese Commercial Treaty of 1896. Article III of that protocol says : The Government of Japan concedes the right of the Chinese Government to impose upon articles manufactured by Japanese subjects in China such a tax as may seem expedient, provided that the said tax shall not differ from or exceed the tax paid by Chinese subjects; and provided that the Chinese Government shall, when the Japanese Government so desires, immediately provide sites for the formation of special Japanese settlements in Shanghai, Tientsin, Amoy and Hankow. Under this provision the building of factories and the use of steam driven machinery received quite an impetus. Other countries than Japan claimed favored nation treat¬ ment. But it was after the settlement of the Boxer troubles that foreign enterprise in this direction became most notice¬ able. The British Commercial Treaty of 1902 and our own 28 China Year Book, 1922-23, p. 131. Foreign Trade 553 of 1903, containing substantially the same provisions re¬ lating to the subject, sought to obtain in exchange for a surtax on import duties, still more favorable treatment for “products of foreign type turned out by machinery in China. ’ ’ Such goods, whether manufactured by foreigners or by Chinese, were to be granted a rebate of the import duty and of two-thirds of the surtax on raw materials brought from abroad used in such manufacture, and of all duties paid on Chinese raw material used, and be free of all export duty, coast trade duty and export surtax. But these provisions have never gone into effect, because the treaty powers, other than the United States, Great Britain and Japan, have never agreed to the increase in duties on imports. The investment of foreign and Chinese capital in such enterprises, however, has not needed the proposed addi¬ tional encouragement. China is a great reservoir of cheap and fairly efficient labor. The Chinese workman soon learns to use foreign machinery, and bids fair to become a dangerous rival of the "Western operative. The transformation that is thus taking place in China is not advantageous to American trade. For a time there will be a demand for foreign machinery, and manufac¬ turers of machinery will profit thereby, but the use of such machinery must in the long run reduce our export of articles of the type being manufactured by it. It is bring¬ ing cheap oriental labor into competition with our own more highly paid labor. As stated above, the competition at present is to be found only in coarser types of products, but as skill increases it is likely to affect the finer sorts. It is not alone the foreigner in China who is investing funds in these enterprises; many of the share-holders in foreign companies are Chinese. It will be noted that our Trade Act of 1922 specifically provides for such share¬ holders in American companies. There are also a number of large enterprises that are entirely Chinese.29 The change which China is undergoing through the sub- 29 For statistics of factories see China Year Book, 1921-22, ck. XXV. 554 Foreign Trade stitution of machinery for handicraft is one which was bound to come, and China, with a territory as large as our own and with national resources similar to our own in quantity and kind, is likely in the future to become one of our chief competitors in the markets of the world. But that future is still in the far distance. I IMPORTANT DATES IN CHINESE HISTORY b.c. 2356. 2205. 1766. 1122. 841. 605. 551. 479. 372. 249. 212. 204. A.D. 65. 618. 635. 1275. 1516. 1552. 1557. 1601. 1637. 1644. 1644. 1689. 1689. 1720. 1729. 1733. 1784. 1793. 1796. 1800. 1807. 1836. 1834. Probable date of accession of Yao, the first ruler mentioned in the Book of History. Traditional date of the founding of the Hsia Dynasty. Founding of the Shang Dynasty. Founding of the Chou Dynasty. Historical period commences. Traditional date of birth of Lao Tzu. Birth of Confucius. Death of Confucius. Birth of Mencius. End of the Chou Djmasty. Confueian classics' burned. Great Wall completed. Buddhism introduced. Mohammedanism introduced. First Christian missionaries (Nestorian) arrived at the capital. Marco Polo reached Peking. Portuguese first arrived in China. St. Francis Xavier died at St. John’s Island. Portuguese settle at Macao. Ricci reaches Peking. First British vessel arrives at Canton. Russians first enter the valley of the Amur. Manchus capture Peking. First Treaty between Russia and China. British establish a trading post at Canton. Chinese Co-hong (Monopoly) organized at Canton. First edict against opium smoking. Chinese send embassy to St. Petersburg. August 28, first American vessel, “Empress of China,” arrives at Canton. Macartney’s Embassy (British) arrives at Peking. Edict against opium smoking. Edict forbids import of opium. Robert Morrison, first Protestant missionary, reaches Canton. Amherst embassy arrives at Peking. British East India Company’s monopoly ended. 555 Important Dates in Chinese History 1839. Commissioner Lin seizes and destroys opium at Canton. 1840. British blockade Canton. 1842. Anglo-Chinese Treaty of Nanking signed, August 29. 1843. British Commercial Treaty signed, October 8. 1843. Shanghai opened, November 17. 1844. First American Treaty with China, signed July 3. 1849. Portuguese expelled Chinese Customs from Macao, March 5. 1849. Governor Amaral assassinated, August 22. 1851. Taiping Rebellion began. 1853. Nanking captured by Taipings. 1854. Agreement for foreign administration of Customs at Shanghai, June 29. 1856. Affair of the lorcha “Arrow” at Canton, October 8. 1857. Canton captured by British and French, December 29. 1858. Tientsin Treaties, American, British, French and Russian, signed in June. 1859. Americans and Russians ratify treaties of 1858. 1859. British and French suffer defeat at Taku, June 25. 1859. Frederick T. Ward enters service of the Chinese against the Taipings. 1860. British and French take Peking, October 13. 1860. British Convention signed at Peking, October 24, French, October 25. 1860. Ward captures Sungkiang, July 17. 1861. Robert Hart in temporary charge of Customs, June 30. 1862. Ward killed in battle at Tzuchi, September 21. 1863. Robert Hart appointed Inspector General of Cus¬ toms. 1863. Colonel Gordon assumed command of Ward’s army, March 25. 1864. Gordon disbands his forces, May 31. 1864. Nanking recovered by Imperial army and Taipings dispersed 1866. Mohammedan rebellion in Ili. 1867. General Tso opens campaign against rebels. 1867. American war ship visits Korea in January. 1867. French annex three provinces’ of Cochin China, in June. 1867. Burlingame commissioned by China as envoy to western powers, December 31. 1868. Burlingame Treaty in re Chinese Immigration signed, Washington, July 28. 1868. American war ship visits Korea. 1870. Burlingame died at St. Petersburg, February 23. 1870. Tientsin Massacre, June 21. Important Dates in Chinese History 557 1871. Russians occupy Ivuldja. 1871. American naval expedition to Korea, May- July. 1871. Cable to Shanghai opened, June 3. 1873. Diplomatic Corps received in audience for first time, June 29. 1875. January 12, Kuanghsii proclaimed emperor. 1875. Augustus R. Margary, British diplomatic officer, murdered in Yunnan by Chinese, February 21. 1875. Coolie traffic at Macao suppressed. 1876. Japanese naval expedition to Korea in January. 1876. Japanese-Korean Treaty signed, February 26. 1876. Great famine begins in Shansi. 1876. Chef oo Treaty (British) signed September 13. 1876. Railway between Shanghai and Woosung begun. 1876. Chinese protest against building of the railway. 1877. Chinese purchase and destroy the railway. 1877. First Chinese envoy sent to London. 1878. Mohammedan rebellion suppressed, January 2. 1878. First Chinese envoy to the United States received, October 28. 1878. Kaiping coal mine opened. 1878. Russia asked to restore Kuldja to China, July. 1878. Customs Post Office established, December. 1880. American-Chinese Immigration Treaty, signed No¬ vember 17. 1880. American Commercial Treaty, signed November 17. 1880. Telegraph land lines sanctioned, November. 1881. Russia surrenders Kuldja and Hi, Treaty signed February 24. 1881. The “Chinese Rocket” (locomotive) made first trip, June 9, from Kaiping Colliery to canal. 1881. Shanghai-Tientsin telegraph opened, December 1. 1882. American Treaty with Korea signed, May 22. 1883. Annam becomes French protectorate, August 25. 1884. Franco-Chinese war over Annam. 1884. Chinese and Japanese troops fight in streets of Seoul, December 5. 1885. Chinese- Japanese Convention regarding Korea signed at Tientsin, April 18. 1885. Franco-Chinese Treaty of Peace signed at Tientsin, June 9. 1886. Franco-Chinese Convention in re frontier trade, signed April 25. 1886. Anglo-Chinese Convention in re Burmah and Tibet, signed July 24. 1887. New Franco-Chinese Convention in re frontier trade, June 26. Important Dates in Chinese History 1887. Portuguese-Chinese Treaty, yields Macao to Portugal, December 1. 1888. Railway opened from Tongshan to Tientsin, August. 1890. Anglo-Chinese Convention concerning Sikkim and Tibet, March 17. 1890. Hanyang Iron Works opened, November 27. 1891. Anti-Missionary Riots in Yangtze Valley, May-June. 1894. Anglo-Chinese Convention in re Burmah and Tibet, March 1. 1894. American-Chinese Treaty prohibiting immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years, March 17. 1894. Tonghak Rebellion in Korea, March-May. 1894. China and Japan declare war, August 1. 1894. Battle of the Yalu, September 17. 1895. Li Hung-chang arrives at Shimonoseki to negotiate peace. 1895. Peace Treaty with Japan signed, April 17. 1895. Franco-Chinese Convention regarding frontier trade, June 20. 1895. Russia, France and Germany advise Japan to retro¬ cede the Liaotung Peninsula, April. 1896. Russo-Chinese Agreement regarding the Chinese Eastern Railway, September 8. 1897. Declaration as to non-alienation of Hainan, March 15. 1897. Two German missionaries murdered in Shantung, November 1. 1897. Germans seize Tsingtao, November 14. 1898. Declaration as to non-alienation of Yangtze Valley, February 11. 1898. Promise to Great Britain as to Inspectorate General of Customs, February 13. 1898. Lease of Kiaochow to Germany for ninety-nine years, March 6. 1898. Lease of Kuantung Peninsula to Russia for twenty- five years, March 27. 1898. Declaration as to non-alienation of southern prov¬ inces. 1898. American contract for Hankow-Canton Railway. 1898. French seize Kuangchouwan, April 22. 1898. Declaration as to non-alienation of Fukien, April 26. 1898. Anglo-Chinese Convention for lease of Kowloon hinterland, June 9. 1898. Anglo-Chinese Convention for lease of Weihaiwei, July 1. 1898. Empress Dowager seizes government, imprisons Em¬ peror, September 22. Important Dates in Chinese History 559 1899. Anglo-Russian agreement as to interests in Man¬ churia and the Yangtze region, April 29. 1899. Boxer Society organized in May. 1899. Secretary Hay sends out notes on Open Door, Sep¬ tember 6. 1900. Legation Guards sent to Peking, May 31. 1900. Admiral Seymour leaves Tientsin for Peking, June 10. 1900. Japanese Secretary Sugiyama murdered, June 11. 1900. Forts at Taku captured by allied forces, June 17. 1900. China declares war, June 20. 1900. Baron von Ketteler murdered, June 20. 1900. Allied forces enter Peking, August 14. 1901. Peace signed at Peking, September 7. 1902. Court returns to Peking, January 7. 1902. Anglo- Japanese Alliance signed January 30. 1902. British Commercial Treaty, September 5. 1903. American and Japanese commercial treaties signed, October 8. 1903. Great Britain sends expedition to Tibet, July. 1904. Japan declares war on Russia, February 8. 1904. China denounces Immigration Treaty with the United States. 1904. British forces enter Lhasa, August 3. 1905. President Roosevelt suggests that Russia and Japan make peace, June 8. 1905. Anglo- Japanese Treaty of Alliance revised, August 12. 1905. Russia and Japan sign peace treaty at Portsmouth, N. H., September 5. 1905. China accedes to transfer to Japan of Russian rights in Manchuria, December 22. 1906. Anglo-Chinese Treaty concerning Tibet, April 27. 1906. Imperial Edict in preparation for constitutional government, September 1. 1906. Imperial Edict introducing anti-opium reform, No¬ vember 21. 1906. Edict raises rank of Confucius in pantheon, Decem¬ ber 30. 1907. First municipal elections under new order. 1907. Anglo-Russian agreement touching Tibet, August 31. 1908. Death of the Emperor, Kuanghsii, November 14. 1908. Death of the Empress Dowager, Tzu-hsi, November 15. 1909. Opium Commission meets at Shanghai, January 1. 1909. Provincial assemblies meet in October. 1910. Provisional National Assembly meets, October 3. 560 Important Dates in Chinese History 1911. Four-Power Group signs contract for Hukuang Railways, May 20. 1911. October 10, Outbreak of Revolution at Wuchang. 1911. Outer Mongolia declares independence, Hutukhtu crowned Emperor, December 28. 1912. Sun Yat-sen inaugurated President of southern provinces, January 1. 1912. Manchus abdicate, February 12. 1912. Yiian Shih-kai inaugurated Provisional President of China, March 10. 1913. Empress Lungyii dies, February 21. 1913. The United States recognizes the Chinese Republic, May 2. 1913. Yiian Shih-kai inaugurated President of China, October 10. 1914. Japan demands from Germany surrender of Kiao- chow, August 15. 1914. Japan and Great Britain capture Tsingtao, Novem¬ ber 7. 1915. Japan presents to China Twenty-one Demands, Janu¬ ary 18. 1915. China signs Treaties growing out of twenty-one de¬ mands, May 25. 1915. Yiian plans to make himself an emperor; Japan objects, December. 1916. Insurrection in southern provinces; Yiian dies, June 6. 1917. The American Government invites China to break relations with Germany, February 4. 1917. China agrees to American proposal, February 9. 1917. Secret agreement between Japan and Great Britain concerning Shantung, February 16. 1917. Secret agreement with France as to same, March 1. 1917. Secret agreement with Russia as to same, March 5. 1917. China breaks relations with Germany, March 14. 1917. China declares war on Germany, August 14. 1917. The Lansing-Ishii Notes signed, November 2. 1918. Secret agreements between China and Japan relating to Shantung, signed September 24 and 28. 1919. Chinese Delegation to Peace Conference declines to sign Treaty of Versailles, June 28. 1922. Treaty between China and Japan relating to Shan¬ tung signed at Washington, February 4. 1922. Nine-power Treaty relating to territorial integrity and independence of China signed at Washington, February 6, BIBLIOGRAPHY Note. — Despite the length of this list, the author has not aimed at making it exhaustive. He has selected the works of various periods, which, in his judgment are likely to furnish the most accurate information upon the subjects touched upon in this volume. Abeel, David, “Journal of Residence in China and the Neighbor¬ ing Countries.” New York, 1836. Abel, Clarke, “Narrative of a Journey in the Interior of China.” London, 1818. Andrews, Roy C., “Camps and Trails in China.” New York, 1919. Arnold, Julean, “Commercial Handbook of China,” two vols. Washington, 1919. Auber, Peter, “China; an Outline of its Government, Laws and Policy.” London, 1834. Baber, E. Colborne, “Travels and Researches in West China.” London, 1882. Baker, Ray Stannard, “Woodrow Wilson and World Settle¬ ment.” New York, 1922. Ball, C. J., “Chinese and Sumerian.” Oxford, 1913. Ball, James Dyer, “Things Chinese.” New York, 1904. - “The Chinese at Home.” London, 1912. Bard, Emile, “Chinese Life in Town and Country,” translated from the French by H. Twitchell. New York, 1905. Barrow, Sir John, “Travels in China.” Philadelphia, 1805. - “Life of the Earl of Macartney.” London, 1807. Bau, Mingciiien Joshua, “The Foreign Relations of China.” Chicago, 1921. Beal, Samuel, “A Catena of Buddhist Scriptures from the Chinese.” London, 1871. - “Buddhism in China. London, 1884. - “The Life of Hiuen Tsiang.” London, 1888. Blakeslee, George H., “China and the Far East,” Clark Uni¬ versity Lectures. New York, 1910. 561 562 Bibliography Blakeslee, George H., “Recent Developments in China/’ Clark University Lectures. New York, 1913. Binyon, Laurence, “The Flight of the Dragon” (Chinese Art). London, 1911. - “Painting in the Far East.” London, 1913. Bland, J. 0. P. and Backhouse, E., “China under the Empress Dowager.” Philadelphia, 1910. - “Annals and Memoirs of the Court of Peking.” London, 1914. Bland, J. 0. P., “Life of Li Hung-ckang.” London, 1917. - “Recent Events and Present Policies in China.” London, 1912. Bredon, Juliet, “Sir Robert Hart.” London, 1909. - “Peking, a historical and intimate description of its chief places of interest.” Shanghai, 1920. Bretschneider, E., “Botanicon Sinicum” in three parts. Shanghai, 1895. - “Archaeological and Historical Researches on Peking and its Environs” (pamphlet). Shanghai, 1876. Bushell, S. W., “Chinese Art,” two volumes. London, 1910. Buss, Kate, “The Chinese Drama.” Boston, 1922. California, State Board of Control of, “California and the Oriental.” Sacramento, 1920. Campbell, Chas. W., “China”; one of the Peace Handbooks, H. M. Stationer’s Office. London, 1920. Carus, Paul, “Lao-Tze’s Tao-Teh-King.” Chicago, 1898. - “Chinese Philosophy.” Chicago, 1902. Chavannes, Edouard, “La Sculpture sur Pierre en Chine.” Paris, 1893. - “Les Memoires Historiques de Se-ma Ts’ien,” five vols. Paris, 1895-1905. - “Mission Archeologique en Chine.” Paris, 1909-13. - “Les Documents Chinois decouverts par Aurel Stein dans les Sables du Turkestan.” Oxford, 1913. Chinese Government, Reports of the Maritime Customs ; Statistical Series, Quarterly Returns and Annual Reports. - Reports of Maritime Customs; Decennial Reports. - Reports of the Maritime Customs; Special Series. - “Opium,” Historical Note by Jos. Edkins, D.D. 1889. - “Medical Reports,” issued at irregular intervals. - “Silk.” 1881. - “Chinese Music.” 1884. ■ - “Medicines Exported from Hankow.” Bibliography 563 Chinese Government, “Tea.” 1888. - “Law of the Organization of the Judiciary” (English trans¬ lation published by Ministry of Justice). - “Provisional Regulations of the High Courts and their Subordinate Courts of the Chinese Republic” (English Translation). - “Regulations of the Arbitration Court of the Chinese Re¬ public” (English Translation). - “Rules for the Government and Administration of Prisons in China” (English Translation). - “Provisional Regulations for the Detention Houses” (English Translation ) . - “Commercial Associations Ordinance of the Chinese Re¬ public” (English Translation). - Ministry of Communications. “Modern Transportation and Communication in China.” - “The China- Japanese Negotiations; Official Statement. Peking, 1915. - “Conversations between Chinese and Japanese Delegations,” Washington, 1923. Clark, Robert S. and Arthur Sowerby, “Through Shen-Kan.” London, 1912. Clements, Paul H., “The Boxer Rebellion.” New York, 1915. Cloud, F. D., “Hangchow, the ‘City of Heaven' ; Soochow ‘the Beautiful.' ” Shanghai, 1906. Colquhoun, A. R., “Amongst the Shans.” New York, 1885. Coltman, Robert, “The Chinese, their Present and Future.” Philadelphia, 1891. Conger, Sarah Pike, “Letters from China.” Chicago, 1909. Cordier, Henri, “Histoire des relations de la Chine avec les puissances occidentals, 1860-1900,” three vols. Paris, 1901. - “Yule’s Travels of Marco Polo,” two vols. New York, 1903. - “Histoire generale de la Chine et de ses relations avec les pays etrangers depuis les temps les plus anciens jusqua le chute de la dynastie Mandchoue,” four vols. Paris, 1920. Cranmer-Byng, “The Book of Odes” (Translation). London, 1920. - “The Lute of Jade” (Translation). New York, 1909. Curtin, Jeremiah, “History of the Mongols.” Boston, 1908. Davis, Sir Jno. F., “China during the War and since the Peace,” two vols. London, 1852. 564 Bibliography Davis, Sir Jno. F., “Chinese Poetry.” London, 1870. Davies, Henry R., “Yunnan the Link between India and the Yangtze.” Cambridge, 1909. De Lacouperie, “The Western Origin of the Early Chinese Civilization.” London, 1894. De Laboulaye, “Les Chemins de Fer de Chine.” Paris, 1911. De Groot, J. J. M., “The Religious System of China,” twelve volumes planned, five completed; publication began Leyden, 1892. Dennett, Tyler, “Americans in Eastern Asia.” New York, 1922. Der Ling, The Princess, “Two Years in the Forbidden City.” New York, 1912. Dewey, John, “China, Japan and the United States of America.” New York, 1921. Dickins and Stanley Lane-Poole, “Life of Sir Harry Parkes.” London and New York, 1894. Doolittle, Justus, “Social Life of the Chinese,” two vols. Douglas, Robt. K., “Society in China.” London, 1901. - “Confucianism and Taouism.” London, 1889. - “Chinese Stories.” London,- 1893. Du Bose, H. C., “Dragon, Image and Demon.” New York, 1887. Du Halde, Jean Baptiste, “Description geographique, his- torique, etc. de I’empire de la Chine.” La ILaye, 1736. Edkins, Joseph, “Chinese Buddhism.” London, 1890. - “Religion in China.” London, 1893. Eitel, Ernest J., “Feng-shui.” Hongkong, 1873. - “Buddhism ; its Historical, Theoretical and Popular As¬ pects.” Hongkong, 1884. Ferguson, Jno. C., “Outlines of Chinese Art.” Chicago, 1919. Fortune, R., “Three Years’ Wanderings in the Northern Prov¬ inces of China.” London, 1847. - “A Journey to the Tea Countries.” London, 1852. Foster, Jno. W., “American Diplomacy in the Orient.” Boston, 1903. Fielde, Adele M., “A Corner of Cathay.” New York, 1894. - “Pagoda Shadows.” New York, 1887. Gaillard, Louis, “Croix et Swastika en Chine.” Shanghai, 1893. Gallagher, Patrick, “America’s Aims and Asia’s Aspirations.” New York, 1920. Giles, Herbert A., “Gems of Chinese Literature.” London, 1884. • - “Chinese Literature.” New York, 1901. Bibliography 565 Giles, Herbert A., “Chinese Poetry.” London, 1898. - “Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio.” London, 1880. - “Chuang Tzu.” London, 1889. - “China and the Manchus.” Cambridge, 1912. - “The Civilization of China.” New York, 1911. Gautier, Judith, “Chinese Lyrics,” translated from French by Jas. Whitall. New York, 1918. Gulland, W., “Chinese Porcelain.” London, 1918. Gundry, Richard S., “China Present and Past.” London, 1895. Gray, John Henry, “China; a History of the Laws, Manners and Customs of the People.” London, 1878. Gutzlaff, Chas., “History of China,” two vols. London, 1834. Gilmour, James, “Among the Mongols.” London, 1888. - “More about the Mongols.” London, ? Headland, Isaac T., “Home Life in China.” New York, 1914. - “Court Life in China.” New York and Chicago, 1909. Henry, B. C., “Ling Nam, or Interior Views of Southern China.” London, 1886. Hertslet, “China Treaties,” two vols. London. Hinckley, Frank E., “American Consular Jurisdiction in the Orient.” Washington, 1906. Hirth, Frederic, “China and the Roman Orient.” Shanghai, 1885. - “Ancient History of China.” New York, 1911. Hirth & Rockhill, “Chau-Ju-kua” (Chinese and Arab Trade in 12th and 13th Centuries). St. Petersburg, 1911. ILoldich, “Tibet the Mysterious.” London, 1906. Hornbeck, Stanley K., “Contemporary Politics in the Far East.” New York, 1916. Hue, M., Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China.” Reprint, Chicago, 1898. - “The Chinese Empire.” London, 1855. Hulbert, H. B., “The Passing of Korea.” New York, 1906. Huntington, Ellsworth, “The Pulse of Asia.” Boston and New York, 1907. - “Civilization and Climate.” New Haven, 1922. Huntington & Visher, “Climatic Changes.” New Haven, 1922. Hosie, Alexander, “Three Years in Western China.” London, 1897. - “Manchuria.” London, 1901. Boston and Tokyo, 1910. - “On the Trail of the Opium Poppy.” London, 1914. Ides, Evert Ysbrandszoon, “Three Years’ Travels from Moscow overland to China.” London, 1706. Bibliography 506 Japanese Government, “Imperial Government Railways Official Guide,” vol. I. “Manchuria and Chosen.” James, Sir Henry E. M., “The Long White Mountain.” London, 1888. Kent, Percy H., “The Passing of the Manchus.” London, 1912. King, F. H., “Farmers of Forty Centuries.” Madison, 1911. Koch, Waldemar, “Die Industrialisierung Chinas.” Berlin, 1910. Ku Hung-ming, “Letters from a Viceroy’s Yamen.” Shanghai, 1901. Landon, Perrceval, “The Opening of Tibet.” New York, 1906. Lanning, George, “Old Forces in New China.” London, 1912. Lansing, Robert, “The Peace Negotiations.” Boston and New York, 1921. Latourette, Kenneth Scott. “The Development of China,” New York, 1917. Laufer, Berthold, “Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty.” Leiden, 1909. Leavenworth, Chas., “The Arrow War with China.” London, 1901. - “The Loochoo Islands.” Shanghai, 1905. Legge, James, “The Chinese Classics” (text and translation), seven vols. London, 1861-1893. - - “The Religions of China.” New York, 1881. - “The Texts of Taoism,” two vols. Oxford, 1891 (Sacred Bks. of East). - “A Record of Buddhistic Kingdoms” (travels of Fa-hien). Oxford, 1886. Leong, V. K. and Tao, L. K., “Village and Town Life in China.” London, 1915. Lesdain, Count de, “From Peking to Sikkim.” London, 1908. Li, Un-bing, “Outlines of Chinese History.” Shanghai, 1914. Little, Alicia II. A. (Mrs. Archibald Little), “Intimate China.” London, 1899. - “The Land of the Blue Gown.” London, 1902. Little, Archibald, J., “Mt Omi and Beyond.” London, 1901. - “Through the Yangtze Gorges.” London, 1898. - “Gleanings from Fifty Years in China.” London, 1910. Lockhart, William, “The Medical Missionary in China.” London, 1861. Macgowan, John, “The Imperial History of China.” Shanghai, 1906. - “Side-lights on Chinese Life.” London, 1907. Bibliography 567 Mac Murray, John V. A., “Treaties and Agreements with and concerning China,” two vols. New York, 1921. Mackenzie, “The Tragedy of Korea.” London, 1908. Margary, Augustus Raymond, “Journey from Shanghai to Bhamo” from his journals. London, 1876. Martens, Frederick H. and Wilhelm, R., “The Chinese Fairy Book.” New York, 1921. Martin, W. A. P., “A Cycle of Cathay.” London, 1896. - “The Lore of Cathay.” New York, 1901. - “The Awakening of China.” New York, 1907. Mayers, William Frederick, “The Chinese Reader’s Manual.” Shanghai, 1874. - “The Chinese Government.” Shanghai, 1897. McCormick, Frederick, “The Tragedy of Russia in Pacific Asia.” New York, 1907, two vols. - “The Flowery Republic.” London, 1913. Michie, Alexander, “The Englishman in China” (Career of Sir R. Alcock). Edinburgh, 1900. Millard, Thomas F., “America and the Far Eastern Question.” New York, 1909. - “Our Eastern Question.” New York, 1915. - “Democracy and the Eastern Question.” New York, 1919. MrssiON Book Co., “China Mission Year Book.” Shanghai. Morrison, George E., “An Australian in China.” London, 1902. Morse, H. B., “The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire.” Shanghai, 1908. - “The Gilds of China.” London, 1909. - “The International Relations of the Chinese Empire,” three vols. London, 1910-1918. Moule, Arthur Evans, “New China and Old.” London, 1892. Munsterberg, “Chinesische Kunst-Geschichte,” two vols. Esslingen, 1910. Nevius, J. L., “China and the Chinese.” New York, 1869. Olearius, A., “The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors, sent by Frederick, Duke of Holstein,” etc. (translated by John Davies). London, 1662. Osbeck, Peter, “A Voyage to China and the East Indies.” London, 1771. Oliphant, Laurence, “A Narrative of the Earl of Elgin’s Mission to China and Japan.” London, 1860. Overlach, T. W., “Foreign Financial Control in China.” New York, 1919. Ossendowski, Ferdinand, “Beasts, Men and Gods.” New York, 1922. 568 Bibliography Parker, E. H., “A Thousand Years of the Tartars.” Shanghai, 1895. - “China Past and Present.” London, 1903. - “Ancient China Simplified.” London, 1908. - “China, Her History, Diplomacy and Commerce,” New Edition. London, 1919. Pelliot, Paul, “Les Grottes de Touen-Houang.” Paris, 1914. Perry- Ayscough & Otter-Barry, “With the Russians in Mon¬ golia.” London, 1914. Piggott, Sir Francis, “Exterritoriality.” London, 1892. Pott, F. L. Hawks, “The Outbreak in China.” New York, 1900. - “A Sketch of Chinese History.” Shanghai, 1903. - “The Emergency in China.” New York, 1913. Pumpelly, Raphael, “Across America and Asia.” New York, 1871. - “Explorations in Turkestan, Expedition of 1904.” Wash¬ ington, 1908. Quincy, Josiah, “The Journals of Major Samuel Shaw.” Boston, 1847. Reinsch, Paul S., “An American Diplomat in China.” New York, 1922. Renaudot, Eusebius, “Ancient Accounts of India and China by Two Mohammedan Travellers, who went to those parts in the 9th Century.” London, 1733. Richard, L., “Comprehensive Geography of China” (translated from the French by M. Kennelly). Shanghai, 1908. Richard, Timothy, “Forty-five Years in China.” New York, 1916. Richthofen, Baron F., “Letters.” Shanghai, Reprint, 1903. - “China.” Berlin, 1912. Rockhill, W. W., “The Land of the Lamas.” New York, 1891. - “The Dalai Lamas of Lhasa and their Relations with the Manchu Emperors of China.” Leyden, 1910. - “Diplomatic Audiences at the Court of China.” London, 1905. - “China’s Intercourse with Korea.” London, 1905. - “The 1910 Census of China.” New York, 1912. - “See Hirth & Rockhill. Ross, E. A., “The Changing Chinese.” London, 1911. Ross, John, “The Manchus.” London, 1880. - “The Origin of the Chinese People.” Edinburgh and London, 1916. Reid, Gilbert, “China Captive and Free.” New York, 1921. Bibliography 569 Rocher, Emilie, “La Province Chinoise du Yunnan,” two vols. Paris, 1880. Russell, Bertrand, “The Problem of China.” New York, 1922. Schoff, Wilfred H., “Parthian Stations by Isidore of Charax.” Philadelphia, 1914. Shigeyosiii, Obata, “The Works of Li Po” (Translation of Li Po’s verses). New York, 1922. Smith, Arthur H., “Chinese Proverbs.” Shanghai, 1888. - “Chinese Characteristics.” Chicago, 1894. - “Village Life in China.” New York, 1899. - “China in Convulsion,” two vols. New York, 1901. Soothill, William Edward, “The Analects of Confucius.” Yokohama, 1910. - “The Three Religions of China.” London, 1913. Spalding, William F., “Eastern Exchange, Currency and Finance.” London, 1917. Staunton, Sir George, “Macartney’s Embassy to China,” three vols. London, 1797. - (Translation of the Penal Code of China) “The Ta Tsing Leu Lee.” London, 1810. Stein, Sir Aurel, “Sand-buried Ruins of Khotan.” London, 1903. - “Ruins of Desert Cathay.” London, 1912. - “Serindia.” Oxford, 1921. Tredwell, Winifred R., “Chinese Art Motives Interpreted.” New York, 1915. Tyau, M. T. Z., “The Legal Obligations arising out of Treaty Relations between China and other States.” New York, 1917. - “China’s New Constitution and International Problems.” New York, 1918. - “China Awakened.” New York, 1922. U. S. Government, “Foreign Relations of the United States.” Washington, Annual vols. - Department of Labor, “Treaty, Laws and Rules governing the Admission of Chinese.” Washington, 1914. - Official Report of the Washington Conference on the Limi¬ tation of Armament and on Pacific and Far Eastern Questions. Washington, 1922. Von Strauss, Victor, “Lao Tse’s Tao Te King.” Leipzig, 1870. Waddell, L. A., “The Buddhism of Tibet.” London, 1895. Waley, Arthur, “A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems.” New York, 1922. 570 Bibliography Waley, Arthur, “More Translations from the Chinese.” New York, 1919. Wagel, S. R., “Chinese Currency and Banking.” Shanghai, 1915. Weale, Putnam (B. S. Simpson), “The Fight for the Republic in China.” New York, 1912. Wieger, Leon, “Folklore Chinois Moderne.” Hochienfu, 1909. - “Bouddhisme Chinois.” Hochienfu, 1910. - “Le Canon Taoiste.” Hochienfu, 1911. - “Les Vies Cliinoisis du Buddha.” Hochienfu, 1909. - “Les Peres du Systeme Taoiste.” Hochienfu, 1913. - “Textes Historiques.” Hochienfu, 1903, three vols. - “Textes Philosopliiques.” Hochienfu, 1906. - “Moral Tenets and Customs in China.” Hochienfu, 1913. Werner, E. T. C., “China of the Chinese.” New York, 1920. - “Descriptive Sociology.” London, 1870. Williams, Fred. W., “Anson Burlingame and the First Chinese Mission to Foreign Powers.” New York, 1912. - “The Life and Letters of Samuel Wells Williams.” New York, 1889. Williams, Rose S., “Keramic Wares of the Sung Dynasty.” New York, 1914. Williams, S. Wells, “The Middle Kingdom,” two vols. New York, 1883. Willis, Bailey with Eliot Blackwelder and R. H. Sargent, “Researches in China.” Washington, 1907-13. Wilson, Ernest H., “A Naturalist in Western China.” London, 1913. Willoughby, W. W., “Foreign Rights and Interests in China.” Baltimore, 1920. - “China at the Conference” (Washington Conference). Baltimore, 1922. Woodbridge, Samuel I., “China’s Only Hope” (translation of Chang Chih-tung’s Hearn’). Chicago, 1900. Woodhead, H. G. W., “The China Year Book.” Tientsin. Annual issue. Yetts, W. Perceval, “Symbolism in Chinese Art.” Leyden, 1912. Younghusband, Sir F., “India and Tibet.” London, 1910. Yule, Henry, “Cathay and the Way Thither.” New Edition by Cordier, London, 1916. - “The Book of Ser Marco Polo.” See Cordier. Zabel, Rudolf, “Deutschland in China.” 1902. APPENDIX China: Area, 4,442,745 square miles. Population, 409,791,000 Capital, Peking; population, 800,000 1 Area, Square Miles Population Capital Provinces: 1 Heilungkiang ’ Tsitsihar Kirin - 460,000 14,000,000 - Kirin Fengtien or Shengking , . Mukden Chihli . 115,830 34,000,000 Tientsin Shansi . . 81,853 11,000,000 Taiyuan2 Shensi . 75,290 9,500,000 Hsian Kansu . 125,483 6,000,000 Lanchow Sinkiang . 550,000 2,491,000 Yarkand Shantung . . 55,984 30,000,000 Tsinan Honan . 67,954 30,000,000 Kaifeng Kiangsu . 38,610 25,000,000 Nanking Anhui . 54,826 20,000,000 Anking Hupei . 71,428 27,000,000 Wuchang Kiangsi . 69,428 15,000,000 Nanchang Hunan . 83,398 28,000,000 Changsha Szechuen . 218,533 49,000,000 Chengtu Chekiang . 36,680 22,000,000 Hangchow Fukien . 46,332 14,000,000 Foochow Kuangtung . 100,000 32,000,000 Canton Kuangsi . 77,220 12,000,000 Nanning Kueichou . 67,182 11,300,000 Kueiyang Yunnan . 146,714 9,000,000 Yunnan Other Territories: Tibet 700,000 6,500,000 Lhasa Kokonor j Mongolia . 1,200,000 2,000,000 Urga Total . 4,442,745 409,791,000 Note. — Estimates of the population of the provinces vary greatly; that of Szechuen, for instance, is given by some as 71,000,000 and by others as no more than 23,000,000. 1 Provinces are listed beginning in the northeast; those in China Proper as nearly as possible in tiers from east to west. 2 The suffix fu is often added to this and many other city names indicating that they are capitals of prefectures. 571 572 Appendix Principal Open Cities and Towns Name Aigun . Sansing 3 . Manchouli . Harbin . Suifenho . Hunchun . Lungchingtsun . Antung . Tatungkow. . . . Dairen . Newchwang... . Chinwangtao. . . Tientsin . Kalgan . Lungkow . Chefoo . Tsingtao . Chungking. . . . Wanhsien . Changsha . Yochow . Ichang . Shasi . Hankow . Kiukiang . Wuhu . Nanking . Chinkiang . Shanghai . Soochow . Hangchow . Ningpo . Wenchow . Santuao . Foochow . Amoy . Swatow . Location Population Total Trade 1921, Taels Heilungkiang . 15,000 4,545,353 2 Kirin . 1,400 6,445,813 Heilungkiang . . 11,300 3,521,612 Kirin . 155,700 18,343,395 Kirin . 4,300 20,704,036 Kirin . 3^800 1,446,886 Kirin . 3,200 3,056,037 Shengking . 90,000 63,304,457 Shengking . 4,900 55,007 Kuantung Leased Ter . 124,000 210,431,265 Shengking . 65,600 57,364,464 Chihli . 5,000 22,447,055 Chihli . 800,000 224,779,202 Chihli . 60,000 10,000,000 (estimated) Shantung . 5,400 5,871,878 Shantung . 54,500 55,575,867 Shantung . 67,800 81,962,027 Szechuen . 497,400 52,115,511 Szechuen . 80,000 7,683,776 Hunan . 535,800 29,545,544 Hunan . 4,500 13,449,540 Hupei . 55,000 4,341,809 Hupei . 105,000 7,780,037 Hupei . 1,468,000 173,546,774 Kiangsi . 36,000 43,457,565 Anhui . 126,900 32,992,971 Kiangsu . 392,100 45,134,492 Kiangsu . 101,600 27,507,564 Kiangsu . 1,500,000 551,774,463 Kiangsu . 500,000 19,376,987 Chekiang . 892,100 22,216,913 Chekiang . 627,700 34,416,836 Chekiang . 200,900 8,859,854 Fukien . 8,000 1,985,869 Fukien . *624,000 33,020,688 Fukien . 114,000 30,970,060 Kuangtung . 85,000 82,121,489 2 The figures are from the Maritime Customs Report of China, a tael being equal to U. S. $0.76. 3 These ports are listed in the same order as in Customs reports beginning with those in northeast Manchuria. Appendix 5 73 Principal Open Cities and Towns — Continued Name Location Population Total Trade 1921, Taels Canton . Kuangtung . . 900,000 165,232,378 Kongmoon .... Kuangtung . 70,000 8,236,251 Samshui . Kuangtung . 7,000 5,965,028 Kiungchow .... Kuangtung (Hainan).. 59,000 7,491,672 Palchoi . Kuangtung . 20,000 4,819,656 Wuchow . Kuangsi . 50,000 15,531,140 Nanning . Kuangsi . 50,000 4,903,334 Lungchow . Kuangsi . 13,000 85,552 Mengtsz . Yunnan . 10,000 18,321,246 Szemao . Y iinnan . 10,200 10,000 301,322 4,946,784 Tengyueh . Yunnan . Railways1 All lines standard gage (4 ft. 8^ in.) and Government Lines unless otherwise stated. Name Mileage 1. Peking-Mukden (Ching-Feng) . 526 Branches : 1. Peking-Tungchow (Tunghsien) .... 2. Fengtai-Lukouchiao . 3. Tangho-Chinwangtao . 4. Lienshan-Hulutao Harbor . 5. Koupangtze-Yingkow (Newchwang) 6. Tientsin-Hsiku . 2. Peking-Hankow Railway . . 755 Branches : 1. Liangsiang-Tuli 2. Liuliho-Choukueichuang 3. Kaoyihsien-Lincheng 4. Kaopeitien-Siling (Imperial Tombs) 5. Paotingfu . 3. Tientsin-Pukow Railway . 627 Northern Section, German-built, 392 miles to Han- chuang. Southern Section, British-built, 237 miles Hanchuang to Pukow. Branches of Northern Section: 1. Chentangchwang-Liangwangchwang . 16 2. Lincheng-Tsaochwang . 19 3. Yenchowfu-Tsiningchow . 19^ i Information regarding railways from China Year Book and Arnold’s Commercial Handbook, to local coal mines 14 4 6 7 57 3 12 10 10 26 3 574 Appendix Name Mileage 4. Lokou-Huangtaichiao . 5 5. Tuliu-Pauto-Techow-Grand Canal . 2 4. Peking-Suiyuan Railway . 4681 Branch: Peking-Mentaokao . 16| 5. Shanghai-Nanking Railway . 194 Branch: Shanghai-Woosung . 10 6. Shanghai-Hangchow-Ningpo Railway . 175 Shanghai-Hangchow, 118 miles Hangchow-Ningpo, 53 miles Branch: Junction with Shanghai-Nanking . 8 7. Cheng-Tai Railway . 151 From Shihchiaochuang on Peking-Hankow line to Taiyuanfu in Shansi (Metre-gage) 8. Taokow-Chinghua Railway (Government) . 93 From coal mines at Chinghuachen in Shansi to Taokow where water connection is made with Tientsin, crosses Peking-Hankow line at Sinsiang. Branch: Yiuchiafen-Taoching . 1 9. Lung-Hai Railway (includes old Pien-Lo line, Kaifengfu to Honanfu, 115 miles) . 345 Planned to extend from Haichow on the sea-coast via Hsuchow in Kiangsu, Kaifeng in Honan and Hsian in Shensi to Lanchow in Kansu (about 345 miles completed between Hsuchow and Honanfu), crosses Peking-Hankow line at Chengchow, Honan. 10. Kirin-Changchun Railway . 80 Operated as a branch of the South Manchuria Rail¬ way. 11. Chuchow-Pinghsiang . 56 From Chuchow, Hunan on Hankow-Canton line to coal mines at Pinghsiang, Kiangsi. 12. Canton-Kowloon . : . Ill The southern section, 22 miles, from Shum Chun to Kowloon is British. 13. Changchow-Amoy . 18 14. Ssupingkai-Taonan . 52 Completed as far as Chengchiatun, operated as branch of S. Manchuria, from Ssupingkai. 15. Canton-Hankow . 400 Northern Section, Government line, 260 miles completed, Wuchang to Chuchow. Southern Section, private, 140 miles completed, Canton to Shiukuan. Will be about 700 miles when complete; about 400 miles completed, leaving a gap of about 300 miles 1 This line was rapidly approaching completion in 1922. Appendix 575 Name Mileage between Shiuchow in Kuangtung and Chuchow in Hunan. 16. Canton-Samshui . 30 17. Yunnan Railway . 288 Metre gage, constructed by French and operated by them in connection with line from Haiphong to Laokai. From this point to Yunnanfu the line is in Chinese territory. Whole line Haiphong to Yunnanfu, 529 miles. 18. Shantung Railway . 256 Built by Germans from Tsingtao to Tsinan, now nominally a Chinese Government line, but Japan still has a claim on it and it has a Japanese Traffic Manager. Branches: 1. Changtien-Poshan . 28 2. Tsaochuang-Taierhcliuang . 26 19. Kiangsi Railway (Kiangsi Provincial Government) .... 80 From Kiukiang to Nanchang. 20. Tsitsihar Light Railway (Heilungkiang Provincial Government) . 17 Metre gage, from Angangki on Chinese Eastern line to Tsitsihar. 21. Chinese Eastern Railway (Leased to Russia but oper¬ ated at present by China) . i. 921 Main line from Manchouli to Suifenho. Branch: Flarbin to Kuanchengtzu (Changchun) . 152 These lines have 5 ft. gage. - Total . 1073 22. South Manchuria Railway (Leased to Japan) . 439 Main line, Kuanchengtzu to Dairen. Branches : а. Kuanchengtzu (Changchun) to Kirin. (See No. 10.) б. Ssupingkai to Chengchiatun. (See 14.) c. Mukden- An tung . 189 d. Suchiatun to Fushun Collieries . 39 e. Tashihchiao to Yingkow (Newchwang) . 13 /. Choushuitzu to Port Arthur . 28 23. Sunning Railway (Private) . 63 From Samkaphoi via Sunning to Kongmoon. 24. Swatow-Chaochowfu (Private) . 26^ 25. Tayeh Mines Railway (Private) . 17 Narrow gage from Huangchou on the Yangtze to the Tayeh iron mines. 26. Tai-Tsao Railway (Private) . 27 From Yihsien coal mines to Taierhehuang on Grand Canal. 576 Appendix Ph 02 S <1 w H 02 W) s 02 w I— I s <1 Ph s o cc 05 £ P * C**0 cs o ^ =0 C3 05 W ^>Q J- 05 S> O H c3 M o3 M c3 05 02 05 m 05 • rH ?-H o • rH *H 05 • rH 05 0 05 0 <• P 03 rP 02 P 05 05 0) c3 o3 -f_5 • rH • rH 0 S a a Ph rR a D • rH J-l • rH 05 Jh m 3,_0r0r03Hr0rP1_3lOj3HrP 5-p-p-p r +3 p h> -+3> -+J £—L«* H • rH • H Oj • rH _i • iH * H »H *H ^pqpqpq^pqQpqpqpqpq p p • rH r— I P h-= P P ♦ rH "p -4-3 72 -M fH o Ph Q) a P £ 72 -S> f-l o Ph P P • rH -P o 3 o o 72 • rH o p p fH Ph P p m o O f-i p pp o f-i CD JP O Ph CD Pi H i bJO P O M 73 P P P (D fn • rH P A 72 -t-s P P -fH o P fn gW P P ’nP o o p -H-3 P a ^ pO H-= P P 73 P P P P P Ph P P f-i HH 72 72 72 3 p * p D O P 13 b£ P S r^ hP “b -P .p p p £ g g D P P J3 m Ph m O fH pq H-3 P D fH o p p D Pi Ph O O - fH fH P 3 3 .SHH o ^ ^ p - p d , D P P P 73 p ‘P rH ?H r^H hSfpOOO 73 p p p ti p p p p 73 p 1— I H-3 72 P H p p • rH -P 72 *3 P P a.g.s p P 9 fH P OO 73 p p p p p H-3 p -fi 73 P fH fH ppQ pq P H-i H-3 3 ip ip •H 0 D rP fH fH ooo p p p p • rH • rH -P Pi oo 71 73 P P P P 72 72 H-3 4i> fH fH o o fin Pin P P P ip D D P P P P fH fH fH fH D D -4-3 • f“H • J“H 73 73 D D 00 <35 O r-c CM CO Tf fO CO r^ 5 77 / 18. Shire Line . Great Britain and China . British 19. John Warrack & Co . British and China ports . British 20. The Green Star SS. Cor . American and China ports . American Note. — This list is not complete, but it is believed that the companies having most frequent sailings are included. Steamship Companies — Continued II. Other Lines — Continued 578 Appendix faJO P & CO H-3 t-t O Ph © S c3 £ CO T3 a rPrP P .3.313 -+3 H-=> © ■: ^ ^2 -33 to PQPQ © ^ c3 P £3 S3 £3 £3 • pH • rH • rH • pH -£3 -33 -33 -£3 OOOO T3 ^3 T3 T5 P £3 S3 £3 cd vj C3 c3 © P, O © Ph o Sh P © a o sh P HWWW to H-» O o O m 02 ta 3 © P PQ «* s g§ © £3 .a,o • H O © • pH S3 © • H -H=> P . to -ft -i.~> «0 to O c3 9^ X3 rP £3 .2 c3 13 P3 © £ £ Ph cc r-H CO H T5 0) TJ 3 — * O 0> H C<2 02 bQ £ a3 02 -+3 G d> 3 G1 02 O bJD a . r-H > c3 ft 02 a> • rH a (73 ft a o o ft H> HP> c3 ft -h 73 0> "ft a o o o a ai 02 • H A H « H O co e K| e fc, r< -*H> e * ?55 i--n> © Si •c-i co — -i H EQ s. © >5 r— i 8 *<7i e ©5 8 * -to <3 © O CO © • 8 e sa. © o bJO © a a £ b£ © a P £ © © £3 © a c3 £ co a} to o3 rti w .■) VW © P o3 to © £3 © a'E c3 © to © P Ph-3 ftd’d «3 os a © © CQ CO ffl a^3 a « £5 co p © c3 • rt cd fl cd cd •—3 PQ bO c3 rP CO coezi ^ o c3 ^3 to bD £3 PQ • pH P co -t-3 o3 -P to • I-H cd M p © to • pH w rP to CO . I • r-H • i— < Sgt« O ° 02 02 ^ © m fl rH ’Snr© .&Ph mh cj ?a § Ph CZ2 o3 Ph cd • rH P rC © £3 h OCC §002 o O P o m >>£ a rp * a 02 O o° Oo5 .02 ^.a 02^ £3 © O -t-3 cd HH © to ! Jl &.■§ H PQ © to © £3 c3 a & H ^C3 rC3 rd rH to to co H • pH • rH • pH O' -i_> -+s> • pH • pH • pH £< (h h H PQ PQ PQ Q © to © £3 cd a cd H © _ CO -33 © © a g -a a O Oh c3 -33 to a w £3 © to § Sh • rH cd Q 6 ° O 02 02 02 02 c§ o3 O ^ QW T3 £3 c3 £3 O -+-> £3 o3 o c3 b£) © §02 r^3 O bC P P ^ O O HH> P o -D a o O ° .-A o^; 02 02 02 ^ £3 sp oa boO Si H ^ HH I— I © £3 P -33 co o’a £3& 0.8 cd *-p P P -33 o I p > 03 H © to • i— i w M o3 cd M to © to • I— I c3 £3 O H-3 § £3 © • rH • p— ( j *H M (1) bC M £3 °3 o M P co fe © ‘S M © © © bC m in (OH (O © 02 © m P r ' ( Ph • rH 4-2 • pH ft £3 • rH -33 £3 H £3 * ^ ' • pH -33 C-33 • pH H-3 • i— ( £h PQ o O PQ O PQ -33 © £3 © Jh H .02 . 02 6 s § © g o !H H-3 © © > o 02 , co £3 -+^ O £3 H c3 03 ^ S-i © -l-o Sh to © f£o;as © , II 'WrP <^o Jp o8 <<2 o • O oO P 03 *43 ^ Wj02 > a cd c3 _ o3 P O £3 £3 ^ -33 -£3 OO bC £3 ■ pH Sh © © £3 © 'V © P O' • I— I HH cd • pH CO < £3 O bi) bC p P ©.a ^rj.^ » a &> © .Sjg g'j^ 6 6 « H O 5? For this list the author is indebted to the China Year Book. Distances Along the Coast (Nautical Miles) Appendix 579 05 o 05 -P 03 „ CD CO .d » rd r-t CO M S d rO m o 03 P O S- 1 d rd bD d d rd m 2 o a o 5-t bD d o d o -p d d o d o *s a £ o -P d £ CC CO CO IO CO rH > bD d t" 3 & o § 3 z£ s ~o d w 2 > .a • —h d , d tH 05 -d o hb >> & d t°. d tn uo i— i ® IO o • — i rH o iO CO d P T3 d d d a d .d 03 O -d ^4 o o o o ■4— ' -H> • rH d rd bD _ d - d rd m rd bD m d m to 03 CO ^ _ N a '3 . ^ to CO CO t-H t>. 05 o d -p bD m to O O 05 r- d O o -d CO 1> 00 05 rH • rH m H O o CO Tt< O 1>- rH O to CM CO to to CO -P „ 03 ~ 03 P rd o . ■4— 1 • rH m KA O 1§ > • rH T3 CD d bD d oj > £ O O -p -P • rH d rd bD ^ d - d rd m M N rl 03 cO O d IO N bfl d d 03 O .fcj £ d 03 P 55 3 3 d rd -HI bDdJ d d rd U1 cOOOtOOOHO^OJtOCOOl 0. rH tT lO 05 W tJD S3 CT> •a 00 t— I 00 (TO 1— i O (M lOcO be d co iO d ^ CO ■§ ’H H l>* P- NCOtJ< CM iO CO CO co o 03 o 44 o o -a M o3 03 !* c3 S o 03 43 'O 03 be (3 ■a to P- CO 03 Tt< 0° d 0 10 03 000M CM CO CO P- CM bO d d »0OMQ0N03C0 03H ^OCDOOiMNON T— lr I CM CM !>• 00 CM o s2 SS^WOCoOOt^OfM 2cCO OcOiMOiOOOONCO « HH(M(MCO»ONOOCO d COT-jcOOOTtico>.OOqiOI^. 5^03 lOOiOr- 1 CO LO 03 00 CO M " H(N(MCOC0^100003^ 43 ,'H m w p* £ 4) _dCMOOP-CCCOC3rH 35 OOOOimiNON 40 HHCOCONH ® D-~ T3 O 43 -u 3 c3 03 43 +5 m a 3 c3 03 > o 40 c3 03 43 43 4 o Sd 73 03 33 O CO ' IO IO no CM P- IO 33 O 4ol d d £ d 13 § j^H5 *2 c3 £333 - CD too cl 3 -%■ p£ 73 CD CO C3 CM CO 03 00 O CO t— i O CO >0 P- 03 § fee £ bC‘3 .a ^ s £^43 3 O 4-3 73 4^ Cl 03 o 4-3 bC cl • pH 44 S3 <3 pH d d d O O *d #d ’d 43-P > > > bC Cl a: : : : 03 Clh d 03 03 d 03 > o S-i SL fee bC cj d g 4-3 J3 fee bJD G c > o (-1 Oh S3 03 • i-H 44 d Pd 03 03 d • »H > o Jh Ph d - d . d d :d O 03 WfcS 03 9 0.2 O 43 sb d hO 03 OjhP 43 03 •_d 43 43 = o d d o dil ■ S J ^ 1 <£) ^ ccO >h P-i •s £ £ d o 4-3 d d d d d d :d ' 03 03 d • i-H > o Sh 03 03 03 d « •£.g o > 53 D O OA ID d Ph ’§ 4 .d d Ph be44.2 - d fec^ d 03 0^ 3d Pi 43 03,^ I d3 • -j CC 43 43 •5 i d”rt ^ • , i <3 d u fee o ! d-H-o d 43 ] bc-d 44 d 03 £ 'WBS-sjfi 03 o d > O !h P4 d 73 b) d o3 03 C3 d ♦ > O Pd 03 03 d ’£ o S-( O ^ Pd dl d'd I d CdT d 8 03 Pj d d d 03 > d 8*g ^ 2 b£ Pd d wa® d 43 d cO 4h d Pd 43 _ m .2 d d c3 43 d«2 d 43 bD-.„ be > • jd ^ o.9 ' biO'd o MM-p d rHU 44 44 £ o bO d § 9 g 2 d.g.d ^ p£! co 55 m^WOOHEh cc w a o H i— i P3 Ph P4 Eh W O <3 •-s O be d Hongkong (British Colony), Saigon (Indochina), Dairen (Japanese Leased Territory) 1 Peking is not an open city, but by tolerance of China many foreigners are permitted to do business there. Appendix 581 Foreign Population of China (From the Customs Returns for 1921) Nationality Firms Persons American . 412 8,230 40 Austrian 1 . Belgian . 27 505 Brazilian . 6 42 British . 703 9,298 547 Danish . 28 Dutch . 31 486 French . 222 2,453 1,255 8 German 1 . 92 Hungarian 1 . . . Italian . 42 587 Japanese . 6,141 144,434 1 Mexican . Norwegian . 12 227 Portuguese . Russian . 152 1,613 7 3,493 68,250 286 Spanish . Swedish . 9 434 Non- treaty Powers . 14 193 Total . 240,769 l Austrians, Germans and Hungarians, after China entered the World War, were ordered to quit the country. Their property was sequestrated and most of them were repatriated. Since peace was established and new treaties signed, they have begun to return, but have not yet recovered their former importance. 582 Appendix Foreign Mission Statistics (Condensed from the China Year Book, 1921-22) I. Protestant Missions Ordained foreigners 1,310 Schools . 6,894 Physicians . 464 Hospitals . 323 Other foreigners . . . 4,862 Communicants . . 345,854 Churches . 6,391 Chinese Force Ordained Chinese . . 1,064 Teachers . 10,848 Evangelists . . . 11,256 Total Chinese em- ployed . . 24,639 Total Christian Constituency, Communicants and Non-Com- municants 618,511. II. Roman Catholic Missions, 1920 Bishops . 52 Christians . 1,994,483 European Priests . . , 1,365 Enquirers under In- Native Priests . 963 struction . 444,598 Total Roman Catholic Chinese Community . 2,439,081 Total Christian Community, Protestant and Catholic. 3,057,592 Educational Statistics, 1916 Government schools, all grades . 129,739 Number of students . 4,294,251 Number of teachers . 198,976 Administrative officers . 130,799 Expenditure during the year . $37,406,212 1 1 A Chinese dollar in 1923 equals U. S. $0.55. Appendix 5 83 Banking in China I. Foreign Banks in China Name Head Office Number of Branches American Express Company . . . American Oriental Banking Corporation . Asia Banking Corporation .... Bank of the Salt Industry . Banca Commerciale Industrial Estremo Oriente . Bank of Chosen . Bank of Taiwan . Banque Beige pour TEtranger . . Banque de lTndo Chine . Banque Industrielle de Chine. . Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China . China Trust Company . Chinese American Bank of Commerce . Chinghua Exchange Bank ..... Credit Foncier d'Extreme Orient Equitable Eastern Banking Corporation . Hongkong and Shanghai Bank¬ ing Corporation . International Banking Cor . Mercantile Bank of India, Ltd. Mitsubishi Bank, Ltd . Mitsui Bank, Ltd . Nederlandsche Handel Maats- chappij . Park Union Foreign Banking Cor . Philippine National Bank . Raven Trust Co . Russo-Asiatic Bank . Sino-Italian Bank . Sino-Scandinavian Bank . Sumitomo Bank, Ltd . Yokohama Specie Bank, Ltd . . . Shanghai . Shanghai . New York . Peking . Rome . Seoul . . Taipeh, Formosa. Brussels . Paris . Paris . London . Shanghai . Peking . Peking . Brussels . New York . Hongkong . New York . London . Tokyo . Tokyo . Amsterdam . New York . Manila . Shanghai . . . Paris . Peking Osaka . Yokohama 4 (Agencies) 2 (Affiliations) 7 8 1 18 8 3 7 11 6 6 12 6 1 9 7 2 1 1 2 1 1 13 3 3 2 13 584 Appendix II. Chinese Banks Name (a) Government Banks : Bank of China . Bank of Communications . (i b)1 Private Banks: Frontier Bank of China . Peking Commercial Bank . Wu Tsu Commercial Bank . Salt Industrial Bank . Sing Hwa Savings Bank . Tung Lu Commercial & Savings Bank . . . Tai Wan Agriculture & Commercial Bank Sing Hung Commercial Bank . Commercial Guarantee Bank of Chihli . . . Industrial Development Bank of China . . . Ta Lung Bank . The National Industrial Bank of China . . . Kincheng Commercial Bank . Tsung Fu Union Bank . The Continental Bank . Ta Sun Bank . Tung Commercial Bank . Fengtien Hsin Yi Bank . Bank of Manchuria . Fu Shang Bank of Harbin . Harbin Savings Bank . Harbin Commercial Bank . National Commercial Bank . Shanghai Commercial & Savings Bank Ningpo Commercial Bank . Yung Hung Banking Cor . Chung Hwa Commercial & Savings Bank . Commercial Bank of China . Kiangsu Bank . Wah Foo Commercial Bank . Tsung Lu Commercial & Savings Bank . . . Ching Feng Bank . Hwa Foong Bank . Modern Citizens’ Bank . Dah Foon Savings Bank . Hui Hai Industrial Bank . Tsung Lee Bank . Head Office Peking < ( ( i 1 1 c i t ( t ( 1 1 1 1 < 1 C l Tientsin i ( ( ( 1 1 ( i Changchun Mukden Harbin C l 1 1 1 1 Shanghai ( t < i i < < i < < l c l ( < « « ( t ( l ( 1 1 ( < ( ( 1 This list is far from complete, but it is believed that all important banks are included. Appendix 585 Banking in China — Continued Name Head Office Soochow Bank . Soochow Tung Lai Bank . Tsingtao Young Brothers Banking Cor . Chungking Ta Chung Bank . “ Tsinan Tung Hui Bank . Tsinan Shantung Bank . “ Industrial & Commercial Bank . “ Chi Lu Bank . “ Neng Ta Commercial & Savings Bank . 11 Agricultural Savings Bank . Weihaiwei Territorial Bank . Hankow The Hunan Bank . “ Wei Fung Commercial Bank . “ Wei Tung Bank . “ Chung Chuin Yuen Bank . u Teh Sing Bank . ‘ ‘ Fu Hua Savings Bank . Changchow Chang Chow Commercial Bank . “ Szeshui “Chung Hwa” Bank . Szeshui Bank of Hunan . Changsha Yii Hsiang Bank . “ Nanchang Chang Shang Bank . Nanchang Bank of Kiangsi . u Chekiang Industrial Bank . Hangchow Taovih Banking Cor . “ Chekiang Chu Feng Bank . “ Bank of Fukien . Foochow Amoy Commercial Bank . Amoy Tai Yau Bank . Hongkong Ming Sun Bank . 11 Soy Kut Bank . . . “ Wui Loong Bank . “ Yut Cheung Bank . “ Bank of Canton . 11 Bank of Kwangsi . Wuchow Fu Tien Bank . Yiinnanfu Feng Yi Bank . Kweisui 586 Appendix The Press in China Noth. — The number of periodical publications in China is very great. There are over eight hundred listed, of which all but a very few are daily newspapers in the vernacular. The following list is believed to include those in which the readers of this volume are likely to be interested. Peking: The Peking Leader (English Daily) (Chinese-owned). The Peking Evening News (English Daily) The Peking Daily News (English) The North China Standard (English Daily) (Owned by Japanese). The Peking Times (English Daily). Le Journal de Pekin (French Daily). Kuang Pao (Chinese Daily). Chinese edition of the Evening News. Shun Tien Shih Pao (Chinese Daily) (Japanese-owned) and 68 other dailies in Chinese in Peking. The Chinese Social and Political Science Review (English Monthly) (Chinese-owned) . La Politique de Pekin (French Weekly). Tsing Hua Journal (English Monthly), and 36 other periodicals; weeklies, fortnightlies and monthlies. Tientsin: The Peking and Tientsin Times (English Daily). The North China Star (English Daily) (American-owned). The China Critic (English Daily). North China Daily Mail (Evening, English Daily). The China Times (English Daily). The China Advertiser (English Daily) (owned by Japanese). The China Tribune (English Weekly). Echo de Tientsin (French Daily). Tientsin Jih Pao (Chinese Daily). Tientsin Daily News (English Daily) (Japanese-owned). China Illustrated Review (English Weekly). U Impartial (French Daily). And ten other daily papers and eighteen weeklies and monthlies in Chinese. Dairen: The Manchuria Daily News (English Daily) (Japanese-owned). The Light of Manchuria (English Monthly) (Japanese-owned). Harbin : Novosti Jisny (Russian Daily). Tung Ya Jih Pao (Chinese Daily). And seven other Chinese dailies and one other Russian daily. Appendix 587 Shanghai: „ North China Daily News (English Daily). North China Herald (Weekly edition of above). Shanghai Mercury (English Daily). Celestial Empire (Weekly edition of above). China Press (English Daily) (American management). Evening Star (English Daily). Shanghai Times (English Daily). Shanghai Gazette (English Daily) (Evening paper, Chinese-owned). L'Echo de Chine (French Daily). Far Eastern Review (English Monthly) (American-owned). The Weekly Review (English Weekly) (American-owned). Chinese Recorder (English Monthly) (American-owned). China and Far East Finance and Commerce (English Weekly). British Chamber of Commerce Journal (English Monthly). Sin Wen Pao (Chinese Daily). Shanghai Journal of Commerce (Chinese Daily). Shun Pao (Chinese Daily). Shih Pao (“Eastern Times”) — (Chinese Daily). The Universal Gazette (Chinese Daily). And seven other Chinese dailies. The Bankers' Weekly (Chinese Weekly). The Eastern Magazine (Chinese Monthly). And fifty-five other publications of varying periodicity. Hankow : Central China Post (English Daily). Hankow Chung Hsi Pao (Chinese Daily). Hankow Sin Wen Pao (Chinese Daily). And eleven other Chinese dailies, and five Chinese weeklies. Canton: The Canton Times (English Daily). Seventy-two Guilds Press (Chinese Daily). And thirty-nine other Chinese dailies, and fifty-hwo other Chinese publications of varying periodicity. Hongkong: Hongkong Daily Press (English Daily). South China Morning Post (English Daily). Hongkong Telegraph (English Daily— Evening). China Mail (English Daily— Evening). 588 Appendix Exchange Fluctuations Note. — The money of China consists of: (1) brass cash, each worth about one-twentieth of a cent, U. S. currency; (2) of copper coins, each worth about a half-cent, and (3) of a silver dollar and its fractions, the dollar being of the weight and fineness of a Mexican dollar and equivalent to about U. S. $0.55 in exchange transactions. There is also a great deal of silver bullion used, whose value is estimated in taels. The tael is not coined, and it varies in weight and fineness in different parts of the country. The customs tael, used in levying and collecting duties on imports and exports, is theoretically of a fineness of 1,000 and a weight of 583 3 grains. There is no such silver in current use, so that it follows that in paying duties the sum due must be converted into the local currency. Generally speaking this is a double process; the customs taels are changed into local taels and these into local dollars, the commonly used currency. Since the Chinese currency is not based upon a gold standard, its value in the currencies of the western world changes from day to day, sometimes with very disastrous results to trade. The following table records the value of the customs tael in the monies of Europe, America and Japan and its relation to the Chinese dollar during the years, 1912-1921. The table is taken from the Maritime Customs Report for 1921. Year Amer¬ ican Money British Money French Money Ger¬ man Money Indian Money Japan¬ ese Money Rus¬ sian Money Mexican, Yuan, i. e. or Chinese Dollars Gold $ s. d. Frc. Mks. Rup. Yen. Roub. $ 1912 0.74 3 Of 3.85 3.12 2.27 1.49 1.45 1.52 1913 0.73 3 01 3.81 3.08 2.25 1.47 1.44 1.51 1914 0.67 2 8i 3.45 2.79 2.04 1.34 1.36 1.47 1915 0.62 2 n 3.39 2.67 1 1.95 1.25 1.63 1 1.41 1916 0.79 3 4.63 3.68 2.46 1.54 2.52 1 1.54 1917 1.03 4 3H 5.94 4.78 1 3.11 1.98 5.08 1 1.63 1918 1.26 5 3tV 7.11 • • • • 3.55 2.37 .... 1.61 1919 1.39 6 4 10.12 • • • • 3.54 2.72 1.68 1920 1.24 6 17.79 • • • • 3.34 2.38 1.58 1921 0.76 3 HiV 10.29 .... 2.92 1.57 • • • • 1.50 1 Shanghai customs’ rate. Other Taels The Shanghai tael contains 565.65 grains of silver and is reckoned as 944 fine 111.40 Shanghai taels are equivalent to 100 Haikuan or customs taels. The Kuping Tael is the treasury tael at Peking, 575.8 grains of silver 1000 fine. Of this money of account it takes 101.642 taels to equal 100 Haikuan taels, and 100 Kuping taels are equivalent to 109.60 Shanghai taels. The Tientsin tael weighs 557.4 grains and is 992 fine. 105.215 Tientsin taels equal 100 Haikuan taels. The Hankow tael weighs 554.7 grains and is 967 fine. Appendix 5 89 Currency Table 10 Hsien = 1 Wei 10 Wei = 1 Hu 10 Hu = 1 Ssu 10 Ssu = 1 Hao 10 Hao = 1 Li (Cash) 10 Li = 1 Fen (Candareen) 10 Fen = 1 Ch’ien (Mace) 10 Ch’ien = 1 Liang (Tael) Table of Chinese Weights 1 Tael or Liang = 583.3 grains (If oz. Avoirdupois) 37.783 grammes. 16 Taels = one Catty (If lbs. Avoirdupois), Chinese name Chin. 100 Catties = one Picul or Tan (133f lbs. Avoirdupois) 60.453 Kilos. Note. — These equivalents are fixed by treaty with foreign powers and are legal in all dealings affecting foreign trade, but they are not generally accepted through¬ out the country. There are many Hang, chin, and tan; even in the same city differ¬ ent trades have different standards. The Manchu Government before its downfall adopted a system of weights and measures which it endeavored to make uniform throughout the empire, but local custom was too powerful. The Republic has not been any more successful, but when China shall have recovered from the present strife and division, it is probable that the standards will be gradually adopted by all sections. Measures of Capacity Measures of capacity vary quite as much as those of weight. The unit is the Shih, which in the measurement of tribute contains 6292 cubic inches. This is divided in Chinese official calculations into a quadrillion parts according to the table, which, like nearly all Chinese tables, is a decimal one. For practical purposes it is necessary only to use the following: 10 Ch’ao = 10 Shao = 10 Ko = 10 Sheng = 10 Tou = 1 Shao 1 Ko 1 Sheng (pint) 1 Tou 1 Shih The sheng approximates an American pint or a French litre* the tou is frequently called a peck by foreigners in China. Measures of Length By treaty the foot is fixed at 14.1 inches English, or 0.358 metre. In common use it varies according to trade; the carpenter’s foot in many places is 12.5 inches English, the tailor’s foot nearly 14 inches. 10 Fen 10 Ts’un 10 Ch’ih 5 Ch’ih 1800 Ch’ih or 360 Pu = 1 Ts’un (inch) = 1 Ch’ih (foot) = 1 Chang = 1 Pu or Kung = 1 Li (f of a mile approximately) 590 Appendix Measures of Area The common unit for the measurement of land is the mou, which varies in different parts of the country, but for rough calculations may be taken as about i of an acre. The mou is divided decimally. 10 Hsien = 1 Wei 10 Wei = 1 Hu 10 Hu = 1 Ssu 10 Ssu = 1 Hao 10 Hao - 1 Li 10 Li = 1 Fen 10 Fen = 1 Mou 100 Mou = 1 Ch’ing 25 square ch’ih (feet) = 1 Square Pu or Kung 240 Square Pu = 1 Mou Holidays Commonly Observed Since the establishment of the Republic the Western Calendar has been made official, but the people generally throughout the country continue to observe the holidays according to the ancient lunar calendar. According to the latter the year begins with the first day of the new moon after the sun enters the constellation of Aquarius. Thus it may fall as early as January 21 and as late as February 19. The Chinese are not acquainted with a weekly division of time except as they have come into contact with western people. In Peking, in the open ports and in some of the provincial capitals Sunday is now observed as a holiday in public offices and in the schools, but shops do not close as a rule. Other holidays are as follows : January 1, Official New Year’s. Old China New Year’s Day, variable, shops close 3 to 15 days. First Moon 15th day, lunar calendar, Feast of Lanterns. March 21, Vernal Equinox, worship of Confucius. Third Moon, 1st to 15th, lunar calendar, Ch’ing Ming Festival. (Worship of ancestors at grave.) Fifth Moon, 5th day, lunar calendar, Dragon Boat Festival. (Accounts to be settled.) Seventh Moon, 7th day, lunar calendar Festival of the Herd Boy and Weaver Girl. Seventh Moon, 15th day, lunar calendar, All Souls Feast. Eighth Moon, 15th day, lunar calendar, Moon’s Birthday. (Settlement of Accounts.) September 21, Autumnal Equinox, Worship of Confucius. October 10, Anniversary of Revolution, National Holiday. Ninth Moon, 9th day, lunar calendar, Ascending the Heights. Winter Solstice, Worship of Ancestors in Temple or Home. Appendix 591 Twelfth Moon, 23rd day, lunar calendar, God of Furnace reports to Heaven. Twelfth Moon, 30th day, lunar calendar, God of Furnace returns, (Settlement of all accounts). Foreign banks and business houses in the ports of China usually observe their several national holidays. Meteorological The Roman Catholic Mission (Society of Jesus) at Shanghai for many decades past has kept a careful record of meteorological phe¬ nomena. By correspondence with observers in other parts of the Far East the station at Shanghai has been able to make a study of Chinese meteorology and publish valuable forecasts of the weather. Among the stations along the coast of Asia are those at Vladivostok, Newchwang, Shanhaikuan, Tientsin, Taku, Chefoo, Weihaiwei, Tsingtao, Tokyo, Hankow, Chinkiang, Woosung, Shanghai, Gutz- laff, Chenhai (Ningpo), Wenchow, Santuao, Foochow, Taihoku (Formosa), Amoy, Swatow, and at various places in Japan. Mean Temperature and Humidity at Shanghai and Hongkong Month Shanghai (Averages of 34 yrs.) Hongkong1 (Averages of 24 yrs.) Tem¬ perature Humid¬ ity Tem¬ perature Maxi¬ mum Humid¬ ity January . 37.4° F. 80 60° F. 79.3 74 February . 39 79 58 79.1 76 March . 46.2 79 62.7 82.1 83 April . 56 80 70.2 88.6 85 May . 64.2 80 76.8 91.5 83 June . 74.8 84 80.7 93.6 83 July . 79.6 84 81.8 94 82 August . 79.5 84 81.3 97 83 September .... 72.3 84 80.4 94 77 October . 63.2 80 76.3 93.8 71 November .... 52 77 69.2 85.6 65 December .... 41.6 76 62.7 81.9 66 Average .... 58.8° F. 80 71.6° F. .... 77 1 The report of the Hongkong Observatory for Hongkong for 35 years varies slightly from this. Noxe. — The highest recorded temperature at Shanghai was 102.9 Far. in 1892 and 1894. During a period of forty years the thermometer at Shanghai reached 100 F. eighteen times and four times reached 102. The above table based upon the reports of the Observatory at Sicawei, Shanghai, is taken from the China Year Book for 1910. 592 Appendix Mean Barometric Pressure* (Reduced to Freezing-point and Sea-level) Month Shang¬ hai Hong¬ kong Foo¬ chow Chung¬ king Chefoo Peking January . 30.33 30.16 30.26 30.22 30 20 30.37 February . 30.28 30.14 30.24 30.12 30 27 30.21 March . 30.17 30.06 30.14 30.06 30 17 30.22 April . 30.00 29.96 30.00 29.96 30 04 30.05 May . 29.87 29.86 29.91 29.81 29 85 29.87 June . 29.74 29.76 29.78 29.69 29 67 29.67 July . 29.69 29.73 29.73 29.64 29 59 29.66 August . 29.73 29.74 29.75 29.72 29 63 29.79 September . 29.91 29.84 29.86 30.00 29 82 29.85 October . 30.11 29.99 30.02 30.10 30 03 30.14 November . 30.24 30.11 30.16 30.19 30 15 30.33 December. . 30.31 30.19 30.26 30.32 30 17 30.35 Average . 30.03 29.96 30.00 29.97 29. 96 30.04 1 Report of Siccawei Observatory, from China Year Book, 1923. The following meteorological tables are from the same year book. Rainfall (Monthly Average) Month Shanghai (1873-1902) Inches Hongkong (1884-1907) Inches Januarv . 2.15 1.41 Februarv . 2.29 1.70 March . 3.21 2.95 April . 3.59 5.66 Mav . 3.60 12.75 (48.84 max.) 16.43 (34.37 max.) 12.37 (28.23 max.) 14.29 (27.86 max.) 9.47 (30.60 max.) 4.53 1.51 1.06 June . 6.66 Julv . 5.10 August . 5.94 September . 4.72 October . 3.31 November . 1.85 December . 1.18 Mean Annual . 43.60 84.13 Appendix Meteorology of Peking, 1921 593 Month Barom eter January .... 30.26 February . . . 30.12 March . 30.04 April . 29.88 May . 29.69 June . 29.61 July . 29.57 August . 29.60 September . . 29.82 October .... 29.96 November . . 30.07 December. . 30.09 •'3 Mean Tempera¬ ture, 0 F. Average Maxi¬ mum, ° F 27.0 37.9 31.8 44.3 40.7 51.5 55.8 66.9 67.9 78.8 74.8 86.4 81.5 90.0 75.9 86.2 70.0 82.6 56.5 68.4 39.1 40.3 29.1 40.6 Average Mini¬ mum, ° F. Rainfall, Inches 17.4 0.02 21.2 30.0 0.16 44.2 0.02 55.6 1.39 63.7 1.75 70.5 3.89 68.5 2.45 59.0 0.35 45.1 0.04 23.9 22.1 Climate of Tientsin Tientsin is the port of Peking, 86 miles distant, on the Hai Ho, about 30 miles from the sea. Its proximity to the region of the Yellow River Valley which suffers from periodical visitations of drought and flood makes the following tables relating to rainfall and temperature of considerable interest. Rainfall The average rain and snow-fall in Tientsin for 30 years has been 19.55 inches. The figures by years are as follows: Year Inches Year Inches Year Inches 1892 21.40 1902 9.99 1912 31.32 1893 22.44 1903 15.95 1913 15.43 1894 30.50 1904 23.61 1914 26.57 1895 14.44 1905 19.48 1915 19.22 1896 23.57 1906 15.64 1916 21.61 1897 24.36 1907 16.25 1917 16.32 1898 15.88 1908 26.30 1918 19.93 1899 12.42 1909 14.65 1919 20.00 1900 12.35 1910 17.81 1920 11.06 1901 23.17 1911 25.71 1921 19.15 594 Appendix Temperature The highest and lowest temperatures (Fahr.) at Tientsin during 20 years beginning in 1902 have been as follows: Year Maximum Minimum 1902 113.0 13.0 1903 102.0 10.0 1904 102.0 8.0 1905 102.0 12.0 1906 105.0 5.0 1907 104.0 12.0 1908 104.0 4.0 1909 107.0 2.0 1910 103.0 2.0 1911 96.0 -4.0 Year Maximum Minimum 1912 100.0 4.0 1913 103.0 2.0 1914 104.0 2 0 1915 100.0 -4.0 1916 104.0 -4.0 1917 105.0 0.0 1918 105.0 7.0 1919 107.0 -4.0 1920 108.0 5.0 1921 102.0 1.0 It will be of interest to compare the meteorological reports from the Yangtze Valley and from South China with that from Peking for 1921. Meteorology of Hankow, 1921 Month Barom¬ eter, Inches Tempera¬ ture, ° F., Maximum Tempera¬ ture, ° F., Minimum Tempera¬ ture, ° F., Mean Rain¬ fall, Inches January . . . 30 . 378 60 15 37.5 0.52 February . . 29.964 83 30 56.5 1.07 March .... 30.037 86 30 58 4.10 April . 30.037 83 38 60.5 14.02 May . 29.817 92 61 76.5 7.45 June . 29 705 98 64 81 18.16 July . 29.723 103 73 88 3.02 August .... 29 . 688 103 67 85 5.92 September. 30.003 88.5 58 73.25 7.74 October . . . 29 . 833 82 52 67 4.35 November . 30 . 145 76 40 58 0.50 December.. 30 . 205 65 34 49.5 0.83 Appendix Meteorology of Chungking, 1921 595 Month Barom¬ eter, Inches Tempera¬ ture, ° F., Maximum Tempera¬ ture, ° F., Minimum Tempera¬ ture, ° F., Mean Rain¬ fall, Inches January . . . 29.96 52.5 43 47.5 0.26 February . . 29.55 59.4 46.4 52 0.42 March .... 29 . 47 64.9 50.5 56.1 2.04 April . 29.27 75.6 61.3 68.7 4.02 May . 29.16 79.3 69.1 73.9 8.23 June . 29.94 83.9 72.7 77.7 11.16 July . 28.77 89.2 77.5 84.7 8.83 August .... 29.08 86.0 75.9 79.3 10.28 September . 29.33 74.5 70.7 74.3 4.45 October . . . 29.47 67.8 62.8 64.6 3.37 November . 29.62 62.6 55.9 59.4 0.93 December.. 29.59 56.9 51.6 53.6 0.93 Meteorology of Canton, 1921 Month Barom¬ eter, Inches Tempera¬ ture, ° F., Maximum Tempera¬ ture, ° F., Minimum Tempera¬ ture, ° F., Mean Rain¬ fall, Inches January . . . 30.27 63 48 54 0.54 February . . 30.16 68 52 59 1.56 March .... 30.05 70.2 57.9 63.3 2.39 April . 30.01 78.7 66.7 71.3 1.45 May . 30.21 86.2 76.3 77.5 16.42 June . 29.63 88.2 75 81.3 9.28 July . 29.79 90.7 77.2 83.1 11.18 August .... 29.69 89.3 78.4 84.2 7.81 September . 29.91 87.4 73.6 77.2 12.67 October . . . 30.03 85.7 67.6 75.6 0.20 November . 30.16 78.4 58.8 66.9 0.54 December.. 30.20 71.4 55.6 62.3 0.39 596 Appendix Mean Annual Barometric Pressure Shanghai Hongkong1 Foochow Chungking Chefoo Peking 30.03 29.96 30 29.97 29.96 30.04 Average Rainfall During 35 Years Shanghai Hongkong 1 Peking 44 . 1 inches 84.13 inches 25 inches 1 The report of the Hongkong Observatory gives for that port as the mean of 35 years barometric pressure, 29.844, rainfall, 83.83. Mortality Statistics (Shanghai) Mortality has ranged from 24.6 per mille in 1891 to 11.2 in 1905 among the foreign residents of Shanghai. Including Chinese and non-residents visiting the port, the figures were 34.6 per mille in 1902 when cholera prevailed to 12.1 in 1906, of which 1.5 were from zymotic diseases. In 1907 the mortality was 17.9 and in 1908, 15.9. INDEX Actors, social status of, 134-135 Agricultural implements, 109-110 Agricultural products, variety of, 7,97-107 Agriculture, importance of, 86 ff., 113-117, 126 Alchemy, origin and spread of, 327-333 All Souls, feast of, 217-219 Almanac, the Chinese, 77, 207-208 Altai Mountain System, the, 19- 20 Altyn Tagh, the, 20 America, beginning of trade rela¬ tions with, 356-360; treaties with, 368-370, 371, 374, 390- 392, 393-394. See United States American Government, attitude of, toward opium trade, 352- 353, 369-370, 374-375, 460-461, 463-464; toward leased terri¬ tory in China, 411-413, 423- 424; toward currency loan, 454-456; toward Shantung question, 497, 506-507, 514- 515, 516 American International Corpora¬ tion, railway construction by, blocked, 425-426 American Presbyterian Mission attacked by mob, 120 American Red Cross, relief ad¬ ministered by, 159-160 Americans in China, regulations concerning, 548-549 Amherst’s mission to China, 363 Amidhism, religion of, 296-297 Ancestor worship, 64-66, 253 ff. Anglo- Japanese Treaty of Alli¬ ance, 425, 509-510, 516-517 Angell, President, commission headed by, 393 Animal resources, 7, 9, 10, 91, 108, 109 Annam, former dependency, 6, 7 Anti-opium reform, 458-464. See Opium Arabs, early trade with, 342-343, 345; Mohammedanism intro¬ duced by, 343, 344, 346; poppy plant introduced by, 351 Army, 445-448; unpreparedness of the, 406-407 Arthur, President, cited on Chinese immigration, 393 Artisan guilds, 189-193, 194 Assemblies, provincial, 469 Atmospheric conditions, 591-592 Ball, Professor C. J., cited on ideographic writing, 36, 40 Bankers’ Guild of Shanghai, the, 194, 195 Banking, 583-585 Banner-men, 456, 485 Bean curd, uses of, 174-175 Beresford, Sir Charles, cited, 4ll Betrothal, customs of, 75-76 Bhutan, former tributary, 2, 6 Bigamy, lawful, 74 Birthday of the Republic, holiday of the, 220-221 Board of Music, 264 Board of Rites, 208, 209, 264 Bodhidharma Sect, 229-301 598 Index Book of Odes, poem quoted from, 81 Boundaries, Treaties of 1907, 1910, and 1912 on, 4 n. Boxer indemnity, return of, by United States Government, 444 Boxer Rising, the, 62, 72, 139, 206, • 363, 368, 369, 394, 414-423, 437, 440, 443, 447, 547, 552 Boycott of American trade, 394- 395 Brass work, industry of, 168 Brigandage, 124, 527, 528 British, arrival of the, in China, 350-353 British and French attack on forts at Taku, 372-373 British Anti-opium Society, 462 British East India Company, 350, 351, 352, 353, 365, 366 British Government, attempts made by, to improve early trade relations, 361 ff. Bronze making, 168 Buddha, story of, 290-293; Greek influence on images of, 340 Buddhism, Chinese, 134, 146, 157- 158, 289; story of founder, 290- 293; ethics of, 293-294; propa¬ ganda, 294-295; Amidhism, 296- 297; worship of Kwanyin, 297- 299; Bodhidharma sect, 299-301; Lamaism, 301-302; transmigration, 302-304; tem¬ ples and services, 304-307; lay membership, 307-308; initia¬ tion into monkhood, 308-310; influence of, in China, 310-312; charities, 157-158, 312-313; re¬ formed sects of, 313-314; atti¬ tude toward militarism, 314- 315; spread of, 343 Buddhist feast of All Souls, 217- 219 Burlingame, Anson, valuable ser¬ vices of, to China, 389-392, 403 Burmah, early dependency, 6 “Bushel Mother,” worship of the, 220 Cables, ownership of, 519 Calendar, the Chinese, 205 ff. Cambodia, early dependency, 6 Canals, 15, 16 Candle making, 173-174 Canton, mentioned, 15-16, 17; celebrated for pottery decora¬ tion, 176; Mohammedan mosque at, 343; British trade in, 350, 351, 353, 361, 365 ff., 371 Capitals of provinces, 571 Cemetery riot of 1898 in Shang¬ hai, 202 Census, taking the, 135 Ceylon, early dependency, 6 Chang Chih-tung, author of “Learn,” 414; commissioner of education, 64, 441 Chang Hsiin, General, 512 Chang Po-hsi, commissioner of education, 64, 441 Chang Tso-lin, 526, 527 Charities, public, 157-160; Buddhist, 157-158, 312-313 Ch’en Ch’iung-min, 527 Ch’ienlung, Emperor, 305, 363 Chihli, province of, 13; farms in, 93 Children, question of guardian¬ ship of Oriental, in the United States, 398 “China,” derivation of name, 50 China, territorial boundaries of, 1 ff.; forced lease of territory in, 3-6, 408-411; former ex¬ tent, 6-7 ; present-day prov¬ inces and dependencies, 7-18; area 7, 12, 571; mountain sys¬ tems, 18-22; sacred mountains, 22; rivers, 22-24; coastline, 24; plains, 24-25; lakes, 25; deserts, 25-26; climate, 26-27; flood and famine, 27-31; earliest in¬ habitants, 32, 51-53; growth of, Index 599 as state, 51-53; aggressive pol¬ icy of Western powers in, 408- 411; at the Peace Conference, 513-516; at the Washington Conference, 516-523; present internal condition in, 526-528; early foreign trade, 341, 344, 352-360, 530-531 China proper, 12 China Trade Act, 550-551 Ch’in Dynasty, mentioned, 50 Chinese, the: pioneers, 36-38; origin, 39-40, 51; traditions, 41- 44; fables and superstitions, 44-48; migrations, 48-51; de¬ velopment of tribes, 51-53; early penal code, 55-56; the family, an institution, 54-69; marriage laws and customs, 70- 85; arrogance, 353, 363-364; exclusion of, 392-395; classes, 456 Chinese civilization introduced into Japan, 343 Chinese Eastern Railway, per¬ mission to build, granted Rus¬ sia, 409 Chinese Exclusion Act, the, 393 Chinese state, growth of the, 51- 53 Ch’ing, Prince, Premier, 394 Ch’inghai, population and govern¬ ment of, 8 Ch’ing Ming, the observance of, 213-214, 258, 260-261 Ch’inling Mountains, the, 21 Chou Dynasty, mentioned, 41, 49-50, 121, 187, 228, 231, 232, 233, 450 Chuang Tzu, Taoist disciple, quoted, 323-326 Ch’un, Prince, 465, 467, 471, 473, 477, 478 Cities, classification, 137-138; walls, 138-140; general appear¬ ance, 140; streets, 141-143; homes, 143-145; recreation grounds, 145; temples, 145-146; sights and sounds, 146-149; street lighting, 149; water sup¬ ply, 149-150; public utilities, 150; volunteer associations, 150-151; government, 151 ff. Civil service examinations, 441- 442 Civil war, 461. See Taiping Re¬ bellion Clan organization, 54, 60, 118 ff. Cleveland, President, cited on Chinese immigration, 394 Climate, 9, 26-27, 591-592 Cloisonne, manufacture of, 166- 167 Coast line, the, 24, 579 Cobbett, quoted on “sphere of influence/’ 430 Co-hong, monopoly of the, 361, 367 College of Astronomy, the, 206- 207, 208 Colleges, establishment of, 443- 445. See Education Collins, Dr., cited on increased poppy cultivation in India, 463 Color, symbolic, 269-270, 271, 272 Colquhoun, Archibald, cited on early tribes, 52 Commerce, 352-360, 538-540 Commission on Juridical Reform, 449 Community guilds, 199-201 Concubinage, 71-74, 458, 466 Conference on Limitation of Ar¬ mament, 1 Confucius: birthplace of, 13; mentioned, 55; quoted, 210, 225, 226, 233, 234, 235, 236, 237, 240, 241, 253; family of, 223- 224; early boyhood, 225; mar¬ riage, 225; character, 226-227; visit to the capital, 227-231; official career, 234-238; exile, 238; literary work, 241-244; death and canonization, 244- 248 Confucianism, religious nature of. 600 Index 249-251; sacred books, 251- 253; private worship, 253-255; ancestral temples, 256-258; rites at the grave, 258-261; worship at winter solstice, 261; evil ef¬ fect of ancestor worship, 261- 262; as a state religion, 263; governing bodies, 264; beings worshiped, 264-265; location of temples and altars, 265-266; times of worship, 266-267; manner of worship, 267-269; sacrifices, 268-269; symbolism, 269-273; music, 272-273; meaning of sacrifice, 273-275; the Temple of Heaven, 275- 282; worship at shrines, 282- 286; attempts to revive, 286- 287 ; ethics, 287-288 Conger, United States Minister, 424 Constitutional reform, 464-465, 492-493 Consular functions, 548-549 Consulates, American, 580 Convents, women of the, 84-85 Coolie traffic, 348, 392 Copyrights, protection of, 549- 550 Coroner, functions of the, 155-157 Coroner’s Guide, the, quoted, 156, 157 Cottage industries, breaking up of, 164 ff. Cotton, cultivation of, and trade in, 165, 180-181, 185, 358, 534 County magistrate, 151 Coup-d’etat of 1898, story of the, 415-418 Court, the Imperial, flight of, in 1898, 434-435; return of, in 1902, 435-438 Court at Peking, hostility of the, 371 Court of Sacrificial Worship, 264, 267 Courts, extraterritorial, 453-454 Courts of law, the village, 127- 128; administrative, 160-162; establishment of new, 452; inadequacy of foreign, 453 Craft guilds, 189-193, 194 Craftsman, the, 164 ff. Criminal code, early, 55-56, 152; revision of, 451-452 Crops, cultivation of, 96-97 Currency, standard, 195-196, 588- 589 Currency loan, negotiations for, 454-456 Currency reform, 454-456 Cushing, Caleb, first American treaty negotiated by, 368, 369 Customs, control of, determined, 387-388; abandonment of old, 478-480 Dalai Lama, the, 8, 301, 302 Dashilumpo Lama, the, 301, 302 Dates in Chinese history, im¬ portant, 555-560 Davies, H. R., quoted on early tribes, 53 Deforestation, 30-31 Democratic tendencies of old in¬ stitutions, 66, 121, 136, 204 Dependencies, government of, 8 Deserts, 25-26 Dhammapada, the, quoted, 293- 294 Diplomatic relations with out¬ side powers, beginnings of, 387, 388 Distances, along the coast, 579; on the Yangtze River, 580; by railway, 580 Divorce, laws of, 82-83 Domestic life, effect of new in¬ dustrialism on, 164 Dragon, the, no longer a popular symbol, 160 Dragon boat festival, the, 214-215 Drama, Chnese, 135 Dress, legislation concerning, 479- 480 Droughts, 27 ff. Index 601 Dust storms, 9 Dutch, relations of the, with China, 349 Duties, uniformity of, estab¬ lished, 524 Duty, collection of, 388 Dyes, production of, 102, 166, 178-179 Dynasties, respect for former, 483-484. See Ch’in, Chou, Han, Manchu, Ming, Mongol, Shang, Sung, T’ang Eclipses, 208 Economic changes, 164 ff. Edkins, Rev. J., cited on the poppy, 101-102 Education, 89, 133-134; begin¬ ning reform in, 440; old sys¬ tem of, 441-442; new system, 442-445; statistics of, 582 “Eighteen Provinces, ” the, 7-8, 12 Eighth Moon, festival of the, 205, 219-220 Elders, the village, 130, 132, 133, 135, 151 Electric lights, introduction of, 185 Eleventh Moon, festival of the, 001—000 Elgin, Lord, 372, 374 Embroideries, 166 Emigration, early, 36 Emperor, the. See Kuanghsu Empress Dowager. See Tzu-hsi “ Empress of China,” sailing of the, 356 Ethics, Buddhist, 293-294; of Taoism, 320-323, 338 “Ever- Victorious Army,” the, 383, 384, 385 Examinations, old system of, 441- 442; abandonment of, 444 Exchange fluctuations, 588 Exclusion, reasons for, 393, 399- 400; unfairness of law of, 402, 403 Exports, 536-538 Extraterritoriality, 362, 367, 370, 449-454, 548 Fables and superstitions, 44-47 Factories, 164, 185, 358 Fa Hsien, Buddhist monk, 46 Family, institution of the, 54 ff. Family government, 66-67 Fans, exportation of, 173 Farm, a model, 91-92 Farmer, the, 86 ff.; patron saint, 86-87; poverty, 87-88; the country village and, 88-91; land tenure, 92-94; living con¬ ditions, 93-94; taxation, 94-96; water farming, 107-108; poul¬ try raising, 108-109; imple¬ ments, 109-110; market days, 110-113; agricultural distress, 113-117 Feast for Hungry Ghosts, 217-219 Feng, General, 526 Feng Kuo-chang, President, 513 Festivals, 205 ff. Fifth Moon, festival of the, 205, 214 Fire companies, 150 Fire crackers, 175-176 Fish culture, 107-108 Five-Power Group, reorganization loan negotiated with, 489 Flood and famine, 12, 27-31 Flour mills, 165, 185 Foochow, paper mills in, 173 Foot-binding, abandonment of, 443, 479 Forbidden City, the, 141, 265-266 Foreign mission statistics, 582 Foreign trade, 533 ff. Form, symbolism of, 270, 271, 272 Formosa, 6, 408 Foster, J. W., cited, 368 Four-Power Group: railway con¬ tract signed with, 426-427; currency loan negotiated by, 455; railway loan contracted with, 471-472; reorganization 602 Index loan negotiated with, 488; be¬ comes six-power group, 489 Foxes, superstitious fear of, 336 France, spheres of interest of, 6, 17, 410, 431; treaties with, 371, 374; intervention of, in war with Japan, 408; reward de¬ manded by, 410; forced an¬ nexation of territory by, 431; agreement of, with Japan over Shantung, 509 Freight rates, variation in, 428 ff. French Indo China, 6, 431 Fukien Province, general charac¬ ter of, 15, 16; polyandry in, 74- 75; chief tea port, 172; interest of Japan in, 410 Funeral rites, 148, 254, 258-261 Gardens, public, 145 “Gentleman’s Agreement,” the, 396, 398, 403 George, Henry, cited on taxes, 94 George, Lloyd, cited on Shantung Agreement, 509, 511, 515 Germany, aggression of, 13, 409, 411-412, 413-414, 420, 498, 499, 500, 503, 504, 516, 521; intervention of, in war with Japan, 408, 409 Giles, H. A., cited on origin of Chinese people, 40, 41; on Chuang Tzu, 323 Girls, education of, 443 Glass making, introduction of, into China, 529 “Going up on a high place,” fes¬ tival of, 220 Gordon, Major Charles George, Commander of the “Ever- Victorious Army,” 377, 384-385 Government: provincial, 8; mu¬ nicipal, 151 ff.; the guilds and, 201-204; causes for reform of, 414 ff. Graham, A. W., quoted, 52-53 Grand Cgmal, controversy over, 427 . •*. > i Grass cloth, manufacture of, 169- 170 Great Britain: attitude of, toward Tibet, 2; former dependencies of China now belonging to, 2, 6; treaties with, 2, 367, 371, 374; harbor of Weihaiwei to be returned to China by, 13; early trade with, 350-353; open¬ ing up of trade by, 361 ff.; “Opium War” and, 366-367; Hongkong ceded to, 367 ; second war with, 370-374; lease of land demanded by, 410; sphere of interest of, 410 ff.; agreement of, with Russia, respecting spheres of interest, 410-411; forced lease of territory by, 431; sale of morphia by, to Japan, 462; agreement of, with Japan over Shantung, 509; Council of the Empire in, 516, 517 Great Guild of Newchwang, the, 199, 201 Great Wall, the, 13-14, 50 Greece, influence of, 339-341 Guest house, the, 133 Guilds, organization of, 187-188, 204; the craft, 189-193; the merchant, 193-197; provincial, 197-199; community, 199-201; power of the, 201-204 Hague, The, International Anti¬ opium Conference at, 460-461 Hainan, Island of, 17, 410; jewelry made on, 175 Hall, quoted on extraterritoriality, 450 Handicraft, 164 Han Dynasty, mentioned, 51, 171, 245, 330, 334 Hangchow, fans made in, 173 Hankow, great tea port, 172; noted for pewter ware, 173 Hart, Sir Robert, services of, 387— 389 Index 603 Hay, Secretary John, quoted, 412, 413, 423 Hayes, President, immigration bill vetoed by, 393 Hemp, cultivation of, 101 “Herd boy and weaver maid,” folk tale of the, 215-216 Hioki, Japanese Minister at Peking, 502, 503 Hirth, Dr. Frederic, quoted, 39, 40, 41; cited, 529, 530 Holidays, 205 ff. ; 590-591 Homes, description of, 143-145 Hongkong, British colony estab¬ lished at, 6; ceded to Great Britain, 367 Horoscopes, 77-78 Hosie, Alexander, cited on droughts, 27-28; on insect wax, 103 Houses, description of, 140 Hsianfu in Shensi, capital, at, 13 Hsich’ing Mountains, the, 21 Hsienfeng, Emperor, 72, 373, 468 Hsinkiang, province of, 8 Hsiung Nu, the, early invaders, 10 Hstiant’ung, Emperor, 74, 466 Hsiianyuan, Emperor, first band of emigrants led by, 36 Hsu Ching-cheng, heroic action of, in Boxer Rising, 422 Hsu Jung-i, Boxer martyr, 422 Hsu Shih-ch’ang, President, 496, 513, 526 Huang Hsing, General, 474, 481 Huang Ti, Emperor, migrations into China led by, 48-49 Hung Hsiu-ch’tian, Taiping lead¬ er, 377-381, 382 Huntington, Ellsworth, cited, on climatic changes, 28 Hutukhtu, the, Ecclesiastic of Urga, 3, 9, 301; in Peking, 304 Hu Yii-fen, quoted on Peking coup-d’etat, 415 Ideograms, early, 36 I Ho Ch’uan, secret society, 419 I Ho Tuan, secret society, 419 Immigration, early, 49-51, 391, 392, 393-394, 395-397 Immortality, Taoistic belief in, 326, 327 Imperial College of Astronomy, 206, 264, 266 Imperial Maritime Customs, wel¬ fare promoted by, 388 Imports, 535-536 Indemnities, 367, 374, 408, 402, 424, 444 India, increased poppy cultivation in, 463 Individualism, growth of, 62-63, 64-65 Industrial conditions, 7, 164-176, 400-403 Infanticide, 57-58 Inheritance, laws of, 58-60 Ink, manufacture of, 173 Inn, the village, 125, 133 Insect wax, cultivation of, 103- 104 Invoices accompanying American goods, 548 Islands, important, 24 Isles of the Blessed, the, 328-329 Italy, land interest of, 410, 412, 509 Ito, Prince, cited, 404 Jade cutting, 167-168 Japan, assistance offered to Mon¬ gol government by, 3; position of, in Manchuria, 3-4, 5; treaty between Russia and, 4 n., 425; at Washington Conference, 5; arts and institutions of, de¬ rived from China, 7; railways leased to, 12; relations of, with China, 343-344; immigration, 395-397; effect of World War upon, 401-402; war upon China declared by, 404; cause of, 406 ff . ; terms of peace between China and, 407, 408; treaties with, 408, 500-506, 507-510, 519; spheres of interest, 410 ff.; 604 Index interest of, in Fukien Province, 410; special interest of, in China, 429-430; annexation of territory by, 432; opium smug¬ gled into China by, 461-462; Yuan Shih-k’ai’s plans frus¬ trated by, 495-496; occupation of Shantung Peninsula by, dur¬ ing World War, 497 ff.; Twenty- one Demands of, 500 If. ; secret treaties of, 507-510; demands of, at Peace Conference, 514- 516; at Washington Conference, 516-518; signs treaty with China, 518 Japanese Embassy first sent to China, 343 Japanese Government, opium monopoly maintained by, in Formosa and Kiaochow, 462 Jastrow, cited on early inhabi¬ tants, 35 Jenks, Jeremiah W., currency re¬ form recommended by, 454 Jewelry, manufacture of, 175 Jinghiz Khan, early nomad leader, 8 John, Rev. Griffith, opinion of religion of the Taipings cited, 380, 381 Joss-sticks, manufacture of, 174 Jui-cheng, Viceroy of Huknang Provinces flees to Shanghai, 474 Jung-lu, Commander of the prin¬ cipal army of the Empire, 416- 417, 422, 465 Juridical reform, 449 Jute, cultivation of, 101 K’aifengfu in Honan, capital at, 13 K’ang Yu-wei, influence of, on Emperor, 414-415, 418 Kearney, Dennis, agitation against coolie labor by, 393 Kettler, Baron von, death of, 422 Kiangsi Province, pottery making in, 170-172 Kiaochow, German aggression in, 13, 409, 411-412, 413, 414, 420, 498, 499, 503, 504, 516, 521 King, L. W., quoted on early in¬ habitants, 39 Kitchen God, worship of the, 209- 210, 211 Kitchen range, superstition with respect to the, 210 Korea, relations of, with China, 6, 7, 404-405, 406; independence of, won, 407; murder of queen, 407-408; annexed to Japan, 432; Buddhist monk sent to Japan by, 343 Kotow, insistence upon the, in Chinese Court, 362, 363, 364 Kowloon, Peninsula of, ceded to Great Britain, 374, 410 Kuangchou Wan, leased to France, 6, 17, 410 Kuanghsli, Emperor, 72, 74, 414, 435-438, 465, 467, 491 Kuangsi, Province of, 17, 18, 23 Kuangtung, Province of, 6; gen¬ eral character of, 16-17 Kuantung Peninsula, leased to Russia, 409 Kublai Khan, naval expedition of, 343, 344 Kung, Prince, action of, toward British and French prisoners, 373-374 Kwanyin, worship of, 297-299 Labor: farm, 113; conditions of, 184-185, 400-403; Chinese in the United States, 391-392; effect of immigration on, 393, 400 Lace making, 169-170 Lacquer tree, 104 Lacquer work, industry in, 167 Lakes, 25 Lamas, 304 Lama Sect, the, 301-302 Land tenure, 92-94, 187; by Orientals in the United States, 397-399 Index 605 Lansing-Ishii notes, the, 429, 510 Lantern festival, the, 212-213 Lao Tzu, founder of Taoism, 228- 231, 316; political philosophy of, 319-320; ethics of, 320-323 Laufer, cited on pottery, 171 Law schools, establishment of, 452 Lay, Mr. control of customs by, 388 League of Nations, China a mem¬ ber of the, 516 Leases of territory to European powers, forced, 409-414, 420 Legation guards, 139, 420 Legislative power, denied to As¬ sembly, 470-471; granted to Assembly, 476-477 Liang Ch’i-chao, foremost scholar, 64-65, 415, 416, 418; growth of individualism deprecated by, 64-65 Liaotung Peninsula, the, 3, 5, 6, 408 Lien-yuan, Boxer martyr, 422 Lighting, street, 149 Li Hung Chang, commanded to worship serpent, 336; execution of Taiping leaders by, 385; ne¬ gotiations of, between China and Russia, 408-410 Li Ki, the, quoted on relationship, 68-69; on marriage, 70; cited or quoted, 224, 250, 251, 252, 258, 260, 263, 273-274 Likin , steps looking toward the abolishment of, 522-523 Linear unit of the craft guild, 192 Li-shan, Boxer martyr, 422 Literature, increased production and circulation of, 360 Little Sword Society, 382 Li Yuan-hung, Colonel, cited, 474; president of the federa¬ tion of provinces, 476, 482; Vice President of the Republic, 493; President, 497, 510, 511, 512, 513 Loan, reorganization, 488-489 Loochoos, The, dependencies, 6 Loyang, capital at, 13 Lungyii, Empress, 72, 483, 490- 491 Macao, a Portuguese colony, 17, 348, 350, 357, 366 Macartney’s Embassy, 361-362 Macgowan, cited on guilds, 189 n., 190 n., 192 Machinery: introduction of, 164; primitive, 165; first use of steam-driven, 182; evil effects of, 183-185, 193 McLane, American Commissioner, 381 Maclaren, cited on Chinese As¬ sembly, 470 Ma jongg, 129 Makino, Baron, at the Peace Conference, 514-515 Malacca, former dependency, 6 Manchu Dynasty, mentioned, 60, 61, 95, 120, 135, 152, 155, 171, 192, 195, 245, 247, 249, 258, 263, 266, 276, 277, 285, 350, 351, 355, 378, 434, 450, 452, 456, 457, 458, 485; overthrow of, 203, 474, 481-484; restoration, 512 Manchuria, 3-6, 8, 11-12, 93; restored by Japan to China, 408; railway concessions in, granted to Russia, 409-410 Manufacturing, 164 ff., 551-554 Maritime customs, 387-388 Market days, 110-113 Marriage, 70 ff.; religious sanc¬ tion of, 70-71; monogamy and concubinage, 71-74; lawful bigamy, 74; polyandry, 74-75; betrothal, 75-76; horoscope and wedding day, 76-78; wedding day, 78-81; impediments to, 83-84; customs, 253 Match factories, 185 Matting, manufacture of, 176 Measures, standard, 589-590 Mencius, cited, 13, 37, 86 606 Index Merchant guilds, the, 193-197 Migration, early, 32-33, 48-51 Military reform, 445-448 Mineral resources, 2, 7, 9, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18 Ming Dynasty, mentioned, 61, 142, 170, 171, 270, 343, 350, 351, 482, 484 Ming Ti, Emperor, 295 Mining regulations, 551-552 Missionaries: Buddhist, 295, 340; Christian, 344, 348, 359-360, 414, 420, 445 Mission statistics, 582 Miura, Viscount, 407-408 Mohammedanism, introduction of, into China, 343, 344, 346 Mongolia, independent govern¬ ment established in, 2-3; general character of, 8-9 Mongol Dynasty, mentioned, 135, 343, 344, 345, 354, 484 Mongols, the, 355, 370, 456 Monks, initiation of Buddhist, 308-310 Moore, Rev. Aubrey, cited, 323 Morals, 64-66 Morrison, Dr., cited on provincial assemblies, 469 Morrison, Robert, first Protestant missionary, 359 Morse, H. B., cited on opium traffic, 372; quoted, 532 Mortality statistics, 592 Mountains, sacred, 22 Mountain systems, 18-22 Mount T’ai, 13 Mukden-Antung Railway, 5 Municipal election, first, 465 Municipal improvement, 185-186 Music, sacred, 272-273, 281 Nanking, 140, 145 Nanling mountain range, the, 21 Napier, Lord, appointed superin¬ tendent of British trade, 365 Napoleon, cited on Chinese court requirements, 364 National Assembly: meeting of first, 469; legislative power de¬ sired, 470-471; new constitu¬ tion adopted, 476-477; legisla¬ tion regarding old customs, 478-480; impeachment trial in, 481; permanent parliament de¬ cided upon, 488 National Confucian Convention at Ch’iifu, 247 Naturalization laws for Orientals, 397-398, 403 Natural resources, 7; of Mongo¬ lia, 9; of Turkestan, 10; of Manchuria, 11; of the North¬ ern provinces, 13, 14; of the Yangtze Valley, 14; of the Southern provinces, 16; of the Southwestern provinces, 18 Nepaul, former tributary, 2, 6 Nestorians, the, first Christian missionaries, 344 “New Dominion,” the, 8, 10-11 New Era, beginning of, 439 ff. Newspapers, 360, 586-587 New Year: observance of the, 205, 206, 207, 209-212; lama service at, 304 Night watchman, the, 125-126 Nine-power Treaty, cited, 1, 3, 6 Ningpo Guild, the, 202 Ninth Moon, feast of the, 220 Northern provinces, general char¬ acter of the, 12-14 Notes relating to non-alienation of territory, 410-411 Numbers, symbolism of, 270-271, 272 Nuns, Buddhist, 84-85 Oils, vegetable, 174-175 Open cities, 541-543, 572-573 Open Door, policy of the, 412, 413, 424, 425, 428-432 Open ports, 542, 543 Opium poppy, introduction and cultivation of the, 101-102, 351, 458, 463 Index 607 Opium trade, the, 351-353, 366- 367, 370, 371, 372, 374, 458- 464, 532-533 “Opium War,” the, 366-367 Orientals in the United States, restrictions toward, 397-399 Out-castes, class of, 456, 457 Oxenham, E. L., cited on land tenure, 93 Pact of London, the, 515 Pantheon, the Taoist, 334 Pao i, class of retainers, 457 Paper mills, 173, 185 Parkes, Sir Harry, taken prisoner, 373 Parks, 145 Parliament, 2, 8, 9, 488, 492-493 Parthians, early trade through the, 341-342, 529 Patents, protection of, 549-550 Pawn-shops, importance of, 87-88 Peace Conference, 411, 463, 510, 513-516 Peace negotiations, 482-484 Peasants, poverty among, 87-88, 113-117 Peking, 8, 13, 141, 142-143, 145; handicraft in, 165, 166, 167, 168; the Forbidden City in, 141, 265- 266; “Temple of Heaven” in, 270-282; Ta Kao Tien in, 336- 337 Peking Gazette , the, 360 Penal code, old, 55, 61, 161; new, 55, 162 Peoples’ Revolutionary Govern¬ ment, in Urga, 3, 9 Pescadores, taken by Japan, 6, 408 Pewter ware, manufacture of, 173 Philippine Islands, diplomatic questions concerning, 349-350 Phillpotts, Bertha, quoted on clan instinct, 67, 118-119 Philosopher’s stone, the, 326-327 Plains, 24-25 Police, 122-124 Policy of the Open Door. See Open Door Polyandry, 74-75 Pongee, manufacture of, 11, 14, 16, 169 Poppy, cultivation of the, 101- 102, 458, 463 Population, 8, 12, 571, 581 Porcelain, the making of, 170-172, 176 Port Arthur, lease of, to Russia, 410 Ports and cities, opening of, 350, 351, 361 ff., 374 Portugal, relations of, with China, 17, 347-349 Potteries, 170-171, 176 Pottinger, Sir Henry, cited on opium growing, 367 Poultry raising, 108-109 Poverty of the peasants, 87-88 President of the Republic, first election of, 493-494 Press in China, the, 586-587 Prince Regent, the. See Ch’un Prison, the, 162-163 Prison reform, 452 Provinces, 7 ff., 10 ff., 137-138 Provincial guilds, 197-199 Provisional government, the, 485- 487 Publications, 586-587 Public school system, adoption of, 64, 133-134; commission ap¬ pointed to draft, 441; curricu¬ lum, 443; retarded by civil war, 445 Pu-lun, Prince, Manchu Presi¬ dent, 470, 471 Pumpelly, Raphael, cited on early inhabitants, 32, 33, 34, 37 Punishment, vicarious, 61-62 “Purple Cow,” the, 208 Pu-yi, Prince, proclaimed Em¬ peror, 465, 466 Queue, bill introduced in Assembly to abolish the, 478-479 608 Index Railways, development and lease of, 4, 4 n., 5, 12, 15, 17, 18, 203, 409, 410, 411, 426-427, 456, 471- 474, 489, 507-508, 519-520, 573-575, 580 “ Rainbow flag,” introduction of the, 160 Ramie, cultivation of the, 101 Real estate, 151 Rebellion. See Taiping Rebellion Recreation grounds, 145 Reed, William B., treaty nego¬ tiated by, 371-372 Reforms, influence of missionaries on social and political, 359, 360; causes for government, 414 ff. ; beginning of era of, 438; char¬ acter of, 439-440; educational, 440-445; military, 445-448; juridical, 449; extraterritorial¬ ity; 449-451; criminal code, 451-452; prisons, 452; in law schools and courts, 452; cur¬ rency, 454-456; abolition of slavery, 456-458; anti-opium, 458-464; constitutional, 464- 465 Reincarnation, belief in, 302-304 Relationship, 67-69 Religion: village feuds brought about by differences in, 132; freedom of, guaranteed, 374 Republic: birth of the, 482 ff.; recognition of, by the United States, 491-492 Revolution of 1911, 471 ff. Ricci, Christian missionary, 348 Rice growing, 109-110, 165 Richard, Rev. Timothy, cited on land tenure, 93 Riots in railway loan controversy, 473 ff. ‘‘River of Heaven,” myth of the, 215-216 Rivers, 12, 22-23 Roads, 126-127 Roberts, Rev. Issachar, Christian missionary, 378 Rockhill, Hon. W. W., cited on immigration, 394; on Korean controversy, 405; on Boxer set¬ tlement, 424 Rome, early commerce with, 341- 342 Root-Takahira notes, policy in¬ dicated in, 425 Ross, Rev. John, cited on origin of people, 40, 41; on taxes, 94 “Royal Regulations,” the, cited, 37 Rug making, 166 Russia, authority of, in Mongolia, 2-3; evacuation of Manchuria by, 3; treaty between Japan and, 4 n., 425; boundaries of, in Central Asia, 6-7 ; control of railways by, 12; early relations of, with China, 353-356; trea¬ ties of, with China, 353, 371, 372, 374, 375, 409; advance’ of, in Siberia, 354-356, 375; inter¬ vention of, in war with Japan, 408-410; railway concession granted to, 409-410, 411; Kuan- tung Peninsula leased to, 409; agreement between Great Brit¬ ain and, respecting spheres of interest, 410-411; attitude of, toward Open Door Policy in Manchuria, 428; forced lease of territory by, 432; agreement of, with Japan over Shantung, 509 Russian Federated Soviet Repub¬ lic, 3, 9, 513 St. Francis Xavier, 348 Sakatani, Baron, mentioned for post of financial adviser, 456 Salt, Shantung, 519 Samsah Inlet, negotiation con¬ cerning lease of, to United States, 413 Schaal, Adam, Christian mission¬ ary, 348 Schools: in farm villages, 89; the village, 133-134; for girls, 443. See Education Index 609 Scott, Sir George, cited on early inhabitants, 52 Sculpture, influence of Greece upon, 339-341 Secret societies, 382, 418-419 Sericulture, 99-101 Seventh Moon, festivals of the, 215-216, 217-219 Seward, Secretary, cited on im¬ migration, 391, 403 Sewing machine, introduction of the, 182 Seymour, Admiral, cited on Boxer Rising, 421 Shang Dynasty, mentioned, 49- 50 Shanghai, 15; cemetery riot in, 202 Shanghai guilds, control exercised by, 195 Shangs, the, State founded by, 49 Shang Ti Hui, society of the, 378 Shan Hai King, the, ancient rec¬ ord of traditions, 41, 42-48 Shansi, province of, 13 Shansi Bankers’ Guild, 197 Shantung, birthplace of Confucius and Mencius, 13; farms in, 93; handicraft in, 169-170; conces¬ sions in, granted to Germany, 409; to Great Britain, 410 Shantung Question, the 411-412, 497 ff., 514-520 Shantung Railway, disposition of, 519-520 Shaw, Major Samuel, American trade relations opened by, 356- 358; journals quoted from, 531- 532, 533 Shen Chia-pen, appointment of, to Commission on Juridicial Reform, 449 Sheng Hsiian-huai, Minister of Communications, cited on rail¬ way loan, 473 Shennung, Emperor, 87 Shidehara, Baron, quoted on Twenty-one Demands, 5, 525 Shih Huang Ti, Emperor, Great Wall built by, 50 Ships, American merchant, 358- 359, 538-540, 543-544 Shop signs, 146 Shrines, worship at, 282-286 Shun, mythical emperor, 49, 86-87 Siam, a former tributary, 6, 7; early tribes in, 52-53; territorial jurisdiction in, 454 Siamese, progenitors of the, 52 Siberia, advance of Russia in, 354- 356; ceding of, to Russia, 375 Siems and Carey, railway con¬ struction contracted with, 425- 427 Sikkim, former tributary, 2, 6 Silk, cultivation and manufac¬ ture of, 99-101, 177-178, 185, 534 Silver ware, manufacture of, 172 Simla, conference at, in 1913, 2 Six-Power Group, America with¬ drawn from, 489 Slavery, abolition of, 456-458 Smith, Goldwin, cited on morals, 64 Smuggling, 351, 366-367, 461, 531-533 Society of Jesus, missionary work of the, 348-349 Soja bean, use of, 175 Soldiers, the professional, 123-124; under old regime, 446-447 Southern Provinces, general char¬ acter of the, 15-16 South Manchuria Railway, 5 Southwestern Provinces, federa¬ tion of, 476; general character of the, 18 Spain, early relations of, with China, 349-350 Spheres of interest, 4, 410 ff., 424- 433 Ssu-ma Ch’ien, ancient historian, 41 Steam engine, introduction of the, 182-183 610 Index Steamship companies, 576-578 Stein, Sir Aurel, cited on ancient ruins, 35, 340 Sternberg, Ungern von, Russian force in Urga commanded by, 3 Strawbraid, manufacture of, 169 Streets and roads, 126-127, 141- 143, 146-149 Students, Boxer indemnity fund used for, 445 Sulu Archipelago, a former tribu¬ tary, 6 Sumerians, the, 35-36, 39-40 Sun Chia-nai, Chinese President of National Assembly, 470 Sung Dynasty, mentioned, 352, 483 Sun Yat-sen, Dr., 474, 482, 526- 527 Superstitions, 44-47, 335-338 Swatow Guild, the, 200 Symbolism in Confucianism, 269- 273 Szechuen Guild at Peking, 203 Szechuen Railway loan, 472-474 Tael, value of the, 196-197 Taiping Rebellion, the, 376-386 Taipings, the, 379-381, 382, 383 Ta Kao Tien, Taoist temple in Peking, 337 Tang Dynasty, mentioned, 333, 346 Tanneries, 185 T’an Tzu-t’ung, young reformer, 416-418 Taoism, founder of, 228-231; the Tao Te King, 316-318; political philosophy of, 319-320; ethics, 320-323, 338; possible origin, 323; Chuang Tzu, disciple, 323- 326; degeneration of, 326; de¬ velopment of materialism in, 326-327 ; origin of alchemy, 327, 329-333; legend of the Isles of the Blessed, 328-329; as a re¬ ligion, 333-334; the Pantheon, 334; evil effects of, 335-338 Tao Te King, the book of Taoist philosophy, 316-318 Tariff, 367-368, 374, 521-523, 544-547 Tashihlumpo Lama, the, 8 Tatnall, Commander of the Pow¬ hatan, 372 Taxation, 94-96, 136, 154, 361 ff. Tea firing, 172-173 Tea house, the village, 128-130 Tea plant, cultivation of the, 105- 107 Temperature, 591-592 Temple of Heaven, the, 141, 270, 275-282 Temple of Kelaniya, 289-290 Temples: village, 130-132; city, 145-146; ancestral, 256-258; location of, in Peking, 265-266; Buddhist, 304-307 Terra cotta, manufacture of, 172 Territorial boundaries, 1-2 Territorial integrity of China, 390-392, 424-433 Theater, the village, 134-135 “ Three Eastern Provinces,” the, 11-12 Tibet, controversy over, 2; gen¬ eral character of, 8; polyandry in, 74-75; Buddhism in, 301-302 Tien Ning Monastery, the, 141 Tienshan Nan Lu mountain range, the, 20 Tithing, 120-121, 151 Titles, grades of imperial, 484-485 To min, class of pariahs, 457 Tong Shao-yi, loans negotiated by, 482, 488 Tonquin, former tributary, 6 Tools, 109-110, 165 Trade, early foreign, 341-360, 529; opening of, 361 ff.; opposition to, 370-371; supervision of for¬ eign, 388; recognition of right to regulate, 391; modern, 531 ff.; foreign, 533 ff. Trade-marks, protection of, 549- 550 Index Gil Trade routes, control of, 344-346 Trade symbols, 147 Traditions, 41-44 Transmigration, belief in, 302-304 Transportation, 124, 126-127, 149, 150, 177. See Railways Trans-Siberian Railway, 409 Treaties: with Great Britain, 2, 367, 371, 374; with Russia, 353, 371, 374, 375, 406; with Amer¬ ica, 368-370, 371, 372, 374, 390- 392, 393-394, 396-397; com¬ mercial, 549; with France, 371, 374; with Japan, 408, 500-506, 507-510, 519; secret, 507-510; commercial, 552 Treaty : of Portsmouth, 3, 4 n. ; of Nerchinsk, 353, 355; of Nan¬ king, 367, 368, 369-370, 371; of Tientsin, 371, 374, 375, 406, 514; of Aigun, 375; of 1860, 375; of 1868, 390-392; of 1880, 393-394, 395; of 1894, 394; of Commerce and Navigation be¬ tween the United States and Japan, 396-397; of Peace, 407; between China and Japan, re¬ specting Korea, 408; of 1912, 461, 463 Trees, cultivation of, 103, 104 Triad, secret society of the, 382 Tribes, development of, 51-53 Tse, Duke, appointed to commis¬ sion on constitutional reform, 464 Tsing Hua College, 445 Tuan Chi-Jui, Premier, 511, 513 Tuan-fang, Viceroy: education of women advocated by, 443; ap¬ pointment of, to commission on constitutional reform, 464; given command of forces to suppress rebellion, 474-475 T’ungchih, Emperor, 74 T’ungchou, development of, 185- 186 Turkestan, general character of, 10-11 Twenty-one Demands, the, 5, 500 ff.; 525 Tyler, President, letter of, to Em¬ peror, cited, 368-369 Type, introduction of movable metal, 360 Tzu-hsi, Empress Dowager, 72, 133, 246-247, 363, 415 ff., 434- 439, 449, 458, 465, 467-468, 470, 496. See Yi United States, expression of friendly feeling toward China, 374-375; war with Spain, 412; attitude of, toward settlement of Boxer Rising, 423-424; cor¬ respondence with Russia over Manchuria, 428; policy of, in the Far East, 497, 498, 506; entrance of, in the World War, 510 United States consulates, 548; list of, 580 United States Court for China, creation of, 453 United States marines in China, 139 Urga, attack on, by Russian force, 3 Varnish tree, 104 Verbiest, Christian missionary, 348 Village, the country, 88-91 Village elders, responsibilities of, 121-122, 126, 128 Village feuds, 132 Village republic, the, 118 ff. Visher, Stephen Sargent, cited, 28; quoted, 29, 30 Vissering, Mr., appointed finan¬ cial adviser, 455 Volunteer associations, 150 Wages, 164, 192, 400-403 Walls, city, 138-140, 141 Wang Chung-hui, Dr., quoted on law reform, 5, 5Q 612 Index Ward, Gen. Frederick Townsend, assistance rendered China by, 376; shrine of, in China, 376- 377; sketch of life of, 377; ar¬ rest of, 382; success of, 383- 384; honor conferred upon, 384, 386 Ward, Minister J. E., quoted, 364; treaty negotiations undertaken by, 372 Washington Conference, 5, 13, 17, 368, 432-433, 448, 453, 516- 523, 547 Water farming, 107-108 Water supply, city, 149-150 Wax, insect, 103-104 Weaving, 179-180 Webster, Daniel, first American treaty suggested by, 368 Wedding customs, 77, 78-81, 148 Weights and measures, 191-192; tables, 589-590 Weihaiwei, lease of, to Great Britain, 13, 410 Wen Tun-ho, tutor to Emperor, 414 Western inventions, evil effects of, 183-185 Western mountains, region of the, 42-43 West River, the, 15, 23 Wheel-barrow, the, 176-177 Wheel-barrow riot, the, 202-203 Widows, 83-84, 127 Wieger, Dr. Leon, cited on origin of people, 40, 323 Willoughby, W. W., on “spheres of influence/ ’ 430-431 Wilson, President, on reorganiza¬ tion loan, 489; recognition of Republic, 491; Shantung Ques¬ tion, 515 Winter solstice, festival of the, 221-222, 261 Women, status of, 81 ff.; employ¬ ment of, 164; education of, 443, 475 Wood-oil, 104 World War: effect of, on Japan, 401-402; China’s entrance into the, 510, 513 Worship, Confucian: time of, 266- 267; manner of, 267-269; use of music in, 272-273 Wright, Dr. Hamilton, cited on opium reform, 460 Wu, Emperor, great conqueror, 330-331 Wuchang, mutiny at, 474 Wu Pei-fu, General, a present-day leader, 526, 527 Wu T’ing-fang, Dr., quoted on military reform, 445-446; ap¬ pointed head of Commission on Juridical Reform, 449; meeting with Tong Shao-yi, 482 Wylie, cited on Chou Dynasty, 41 Yangtze Kiang, the, 14, 23 Yangtze Valley, general character of the, 14-15; interest of Great Britain in, 410 Yellow River, 12, 23, 24-25, 27, 28, 30, 32, 216, 336 Yen, Duke, lineal descendant of Confucius, 246, 247, 248, 514 Yi, Princess, hostility of, toward foreigners, 373. See Tzu-hsi Yii, the Great, 12, 27 Yiian-chang, heroic action of, in Boxer Rising, 422 Yuan Shih-k’ai, commanded to execute Jung-lu, 416-418; ap¬ pointment of, as governor, 420; opposed to policy of Empress, 422; in return of court to Peking, 438; new prison erected by, 452; first municipal election held in capital of, 465; degradation of, 466-467; return of, to power, 477-478, 481; funds for prose¬ cution of war demanded by, 481-482; commissioned by Em¬ press to establish a republic, Index 613 483, 484; oath of office admin¬ istered to, 485-487 ; on reorgan¬ ization loan, 488; acceptance by, of President Wilson’s mes¬ sage, 492; views of, concerning power to be invested in Presi¬ dent, 492-493; elected first President of the Republic, 493- 494; plans of, to become Em¬ peror, 495; death of, 496 Yii-hsien, missionaries murdered by order of, 420 Yung Ho Kung, lamasery in Peking, 304 ' . ' - ■ - 1 - . ■ \ DATE DUE GAYLORD printed mu s a 21 132' ,BuW»« Jnlugnmk eVotcV^f ru\i«tnik Ru'llnHknyiiS/^ MiouMcJm DoroniosW^ Kon>W Akshaj Jtnro-Zuruohailuj* MujinaUjliin LA PSKOV XK XT HA IT aye »/A ,MipUu>lAw»klJ "’Ofnd?,^ Kultuu 1 Sutrnsdult Si*oVU«'V >->sLa"'nll'r. 'ffMUor Uujaulu/ £ Hi . Erdcnh 'uMukhnlei pbii-jptlanty 'svuc*r . l'etv>utw Ouiignnni Borubui ^Idongiil khombuku.u0 Xlainkhosha Tl‘truHk: Sontshi ’suchi buirut jengc'ila*1 ’ 'Vo rod G Klinnft Abasi‘_ S»mussac ^ngb»l021 xnnfct°’ "inulei ;Bly>iao £j Boy in Kinluk' Snkiir , .Cliolnlr ° ZairaD Kiulnk Rulaug Kluidnin Istiumii" luniinbaF ’iMoyanB' K«angi Borlson , *e«dal ’'oMioh m KiencbiniB ''^I’inpcbnan MS \ T*®! igatala Kuduk \»** l B*S' 'ch'on0"'i ,Ac \dmnD ^stt**"* .n l^.wdBg Sod*1'!, Kind'0'- ■KWa 'aVe Lmotishan >A«n Channel ^*0 ac [nr hoi ry rush mi d/ :n,X jg£hOP8-J?f V xpby'"" lndoi'p^Ynti- ll W°T- gcbcng inJ.‘0,r ,r fco,r LtllchOi Ninglinc,, ©luko Snitechowi Hnicheng Hiinnhslen •- k ionoml lvingynnu GKOtjPd, Moroto ,oKuyiioji ihchoi ;Pijig]inng pfflr/j; Tsingniijgeli Olio W 0 A»hid*ori ^-rc>B°r Cliid.oliow .wn^ Rii’*"- Tnijichow ICan' PELI/vg Mgfag. Jiaanf Hwitebv} NITS. ,<» xJ'SIm. giunfu Chlamtlo Cheng ;/~vCv Ratcma Ml. Mlanhiles ShekicWit HUT*- “ | Tnnghsien VTiigchowfu] •huugfu Ningkinng k,0»iO SuiiKpnr i i.l t itji rAKTJS< Rkiiplng A njvclin; “kT\ / SA«>'> •^CV* . ’Nanrliani’v 'nninghaien’ ji'l li0t,"e'US SoSoonesf-J „s&r T„, ,» ^re'hincho'k] Sa/p^' / r4rho":/>,up] tiAMab I’anhsie; lliunkini -52^4,; ■nngiiBWQvr yVimrod So'11' feb‘‘,u . flowchow Sue 1 Shinnnfu Hofcngcli' Xttifrng . ^lukove iukiaj ^chinjunga 2k7I, | TzeoJiowi f 9 Talrhoir Meoda|Mt. Jb'nipn \ C'liuiiyKiiig' riakc C. £fr(irliowtu y. ^jWho" ?■?“ "eiroi^tricAr pemeka Peak , w*domi PoyantA i’YiingBhi, oYluioK ; Mnpien \y°in,y~^ j I’a.-tMVa /<; f Mienchowfn •ho" 'drbeng _ 5 rTKinW' *"«■ j Dili rang rony ipurho^Ki Snyung '"trtict Kirn"’11'' I enpi®! r'am-i r"iiogf“ '-'Sin'o''1' nhovT Hun i« KicJ"-- T uijvffilij Kiahv Klanfur TwnnplP Bl.aliili" point Paoklngf ■I 1>1 (fra % qCiaaoI- ,rtii roint Kdune >^V SauiUM1 Vi- ,#Glr«n vok-ak’ :*\ c=s V irioM' -Sbaugyiy^ -r~,Knncliow Ki * G Niinnnfn r-ungiu1’ S I u • i k i * • , ^ / oYnngehowfu Kwniynnprhow0 ^ V. ('hrnchow_'_ Tnorbow MlY A*° BinMou i. ^ Tam oYung hiingye® a/»neluii}^^CV»' ’ifChonK^ YuanmoK Wrutung° Suntleno man s«n/nlng° / Yininn nfu AnniUofi VV/: KunyangJ^ ./ ■V«»irnr niigotu chiyro l.unifiianto1 Tsuyungo X. Nanan0 ,iing Singyifn AlWAN-) "ngling irecbih' 'I'unCy'un BP Linplnp how.' i.iu- ii.Vx, , S/rrlnjng TOIBU**10 ft av»» _,SaMA»' ° (KOTO" Yesterday and Today By F.. T. WILLIAMS, University of California Kanlonj Rblhplng (Auiichov lunnkiang' TAiiingo' ~ Isla.vi Vogyi: ‘g\ Pino Silncho« V Ten* Kwrihsim. — /a eKsihwn I BOTOt- ;Sneinno °J the Ganoe* RAND MCNALLY STANDARD MAP OF 8innim William rokpnlX “