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Frontispiece.

A STREET IN THE NORTH OF CHINA.

Page 194.

CHINA.

ROBERT K. DOUGLAS,

it

OP THE BRITISH MUSEUM, AND PROFESSOR OF CHINESE AT KING'S
COLLEGE, LONDON.

WITH MAP.

SECOND EDITION, REVISED.

PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OP THE COMMITTEE

OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION APPOINTED BY THE

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.

rNIVERSITTJ

LONDON:

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE,

NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, CHARING CROSS, W.C. ;

43, queen victoria street, b.c. ;

26, st. George's place, hydb park corner, s.w.

BRIGHTON : 135, north street.

New York : E. & J. B. YOUNG AND CO.

1887.

" i«*7

klStf

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.

The demand for a second edition of this work, the
first being now out of print, has afforded me an
opportunity of revising and supplementing its pages.
The advance which has been made since 1882 in his-
torical and philological researches with regard to the
Chinese has enabled me to affirm statements which
I was then only able to make hypothetically, and
to amend others which were dependent on dates
which have since proved to be untrustworthy. The
record of recent events, also, has been brought down
to the present time, and chapters on Modern Pro-
gress; Manufactures, Coins, and Games; and Chris-
tianity in China, have been added to the original
work.

ROBERT K. DOUGLAS.

King's College, London,
April 12, 1887.

U(*5o7

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER FACE

I. A Sketch of the History of the Chinese

Empire ... ... ... ... ... i

II. Modern Progress ... ... ... ... 56

III. The Government of China ... ... ... 63

IV. Marriage ... ... ... ... ... 83

V. The Nurture and Education of Children ... 101

VI. Food and Dress ... ... ... ... 124

VII. Agriculture ... ... ... ... ... 147

VIII. Medicine ... ... ... ... ... 166

IX. Music... ... ... ... ... #.. 174

X. Architecture ... ... ... ... 186

XI. Manufactures, Coins, and Games ... ... 203

XII. Drawing ... ... ... ... ... 217

XIII. Travelling ... ... ... 224

XIV. Honours ... ... ... ... ... 240

XV. Names ... ... ... ... ... 250

XVI. The Chinese Year ... ... ... 258

. CONTENTS.

CHAPTER

XVII. Superstitions...

XVIII. Funeral Rites

XIX. The Religions of China

XX. Christianity in China

XXI. The Language

XXII. The Literature ...

PAGB
299

316

331

356

36S

389

"J XT I

CHAPTER I.

A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE CHINESE
EMPIRE.

fHE first records which
we have of the Chinese
represent them as a
band of immigrants
settling in the north-
western provinces of
the modern empire of
China, and fighting their way amongst the
aborigines, much as the Jews of old forced
their way into Canaan against the various
tribes which they found in possession of
the land. It is probable that though the
Chinese all entered China by the same route,
they arrived at the threshold of the empire in suc-
cessive bands, one of these, that one which has left

B

2 CHINA.

us the records of its history in the ancient Chinese
books, apparently followed the course of the Hwang-
ho, and, having crossed that river near Tai-yuen,
settled themselves in the fertile districts of the modern
provinces of Shansi and Honan.

The question then arises, where did these people
come from? and the answer which the recent re-
searches of Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie gives to this
question is, from the south of the Caspian Sea. In
the chapter on the language we shall give the philo-
logical reasons which have led to this discovery.
Here we will merely say that, in all probability, the
outbreak in Susiana of some political disturbance, in
about 2283 B.C., drove the Chinese from the land of
their adoption, and that they wandered eastward until
they finally settled in China and the countries south
of it. Such an emigration is by no means unusual in
Asia. We know that the Ottoman Turks originally
had their home in northern Mongolia, and we have a
record of the movement, at the end of last century, of
a body of 600,000 Kalmucks from Russia to the con-
fines of China. It would -appear also that the Chinese
came into China possessed of the resources of Western
Asian culture. They brought with them a know*
ledge of writing and astronomy, as well as of the arts
which primarily minister to the wants and comfort of
mankind. The invention of these civilizing influences
is traditionally attributed to the Emperor Hwang-te,

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 3

who is said to have reigned from 2697-2597 B.G
But the name of this sovereign leads us to suppose
that he never sat on the throne in China. One of his
names, we are told, was Nai, anciently Nak, and in
the Chinese paleographical collection he is described
by a character composed of a group of phonetics
which read Nak-kon-ti. The resemblance between
this name and that of Nakhunte, 1 who, according
to the Susian texts, was the chief of the gods, is
sufficiently striking, and many of the attributes
belonging to him are such as to place him on an
equality with the Susian deity. In exact accordance
also with the system of Babylonian chronology he
established a cycle of twelve years, and fixed the
length of the year at three hundred and sixty days,
composed of twelve months, with an intercalary
month to balance the surplus time. He further, we
are told, built a Ling tai, or observatory, reminding
us of the Babylonian Zigguratu, or house of observa-
tion, " from which to watch the movements of the
heavenly bodies."

The primitive Chinese, like the Babylonians, recog-
nized five planets besides the sun and moon, and,
with one exception, knew them by the same names.
Jupiter, which among the Chaldeans was called " The
planet," appears among the Chinese as " The one."

1 Susian Texts, translated by Dr. J. Oppert, in "The
Records of the Past," vol. vii.

4 CHINA.

To Babylonians, and Chinese also, Mars was " King "
and " Criminal;" and Saturn "King" and " Righteous-
ness," while among the first Venus was known as the
" Queen of the defences of heaven," and among the
latter as "Soldiers waiting." 1 Mercury, in both
countries, was recognized by different names, from
which fact it may possibly be inferred that it was
discovered by both peoples at a comparatively recent
date. The various phases of these planets were
carefully watched, and portents were derived from
every real and imaginary change in their relative
positions and colours. A comparison between the
astrological tablets translated by Professor Sayce
and the astrological chapter (27th) in the She ke y the
earliest of the Dynastic Histories, shows a remarkable
parallelism, not only in the general style of the fore-
casts, but in particular portents which are so con-
trary to Chinese prejudices as a nation, and the train
of thought of the people that they would be at once put
down as of foreign origin, even if they were not found
in the Babylonian records. Such, for example, are
the constant references to the country of the " desert,"
the adverse fortunes of the empire, and the common
occurrence of such expressions as "Soldiers arise."
But the most curious coincidence is the occurrence of

1 Sayce's Astronomy and Astrology of the Babylonians, in
the "Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology ,"
vol. iii.

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 5

the. forecast " Gold is exchanged " in both chronicles.
Professor Sayce, being uncertain as to the exact
translation, adds a query to the rendering just given,
and in the Chinese we have but the words Tui,
" (Coin) is exchanged," and Puh tui, " (Coin) is not
exchanged."

In the reign of Chwan Hu (2513-2435 B.C.), we find,
according to the Chinese records, that the year, as
among the Chaldeans, began with the third month of
the solar year, and a comparison between the ancient
names of the months given in the Urh ya> the oldest
Chinese dictionary, with the Accadian equivalents,
shows, in some instances, an exact identity. For
example, in Chinese, .the fifth month was called Haou,
" bright ; " the ninth month Huen, " dark ; " the tenth
month Yang, "bright," "the sun," "the day;" the
eleventh month Koo, " a crime," " a failure ; " and the
twelfth month Tsu, "heavy dew or rain." Turning
now to the Accadian, we find that these months were
respectively known as Dhe dhegar, "fire making
fire;" Y any anna, "thick clouds ;" Abba suddu, "the
cave of the rising of the sun ; " " the malediction of
rain;" 1 and lastly, "the month of mists," Again,
the artificial features of the two countries bear a
striking similarity, and the following description of
Babylonia as revealed by its ruins, might, without the

1 " Les Origines de THistoire d'apres la Bible." PaT Frangois
Lenormant.

6 CHINA.

alteration of a word, be read for that of China : " The
greatest feature of the country was its agriculture,
which was mainly carried on by artificial irrigation,
the whole country being intersected with canals, some
of them navigable and of a great size, their banks in
some places being from twenty to thirty feet high.
The long deserted lines of mounds which even now
exist in hundreds, marking the lines of these artificial
rivers, form far more remarkable objects than the
ruined cities and palaces. Once these channels
teemed with life and industry, and were lined with
cities containing thousands of people." 1 These
parallelisms, together with a host of others which
might be adduced, all point to the existence of an
early relationship between Chinese and Mesopota-
mian culture ; and, armed with the advantages thus
possessed, the Chinese entered into the empire over
-which they were ultimately to overspread themselves.
But they came among tribes who, though somewhat
inferior to them in general civilization, were by no
means destitute of culture. We learn from the
"Book of History" that the first Chinese rulers
employed men of the Le tribe to calculate the
equinoxes, and a man of the Kwei people to
determine the five notes of music. Remnants of
these Kwei exist to this day in northern Cambodia,

1 " The History of Babylonia." By George Smith.

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 7

and it is interesting to find that they still preserve the
gamut as it was originally arranged.

Among such people, and others of a lower civiliza-
tion, such as the Jungs of the west, and the Teks, the
ancestors of the Tekke Turcomans, in the north, the
Chinese succeeded in establishing themselves. The
Emperor Yaou (2356-2255 B.C.) divided his kingdom
into twelve portions, presided over by as many Pastors,
in exact imitation of the duodenary feudal system of
Susa with their twelve Pastor Princes. To Yaou
succeeded Shun, who carried on the work of his pre-
decessor of consolidating the Chinese power with
energy and success. In his reign the first mention
is made of religious worship. We are told that " he
sacrificed specially, but with the ordinary forms, to
Shang-te ; sacrificed with purity and reverence to the
six Honoured ones ; offered appropriate sacrifices to
the hills and rivers, and extended his worship to the
host of spirits." Much controversy has arisen as to
the interpretation to be put upon the term Shang-te.
By some he is regarded as having held the position
among the ancient Chinese that Jehovah held among
the Jews of old ; and certainly many of his attributes
are the same as those belonging to the Jewish God.
He was believed to exercise a minute and personal
control over the fortunes of the Chinese. It was by
his favour that kings rose to power; and when, in
consequence of their iniquities, he withdrew his aegis

8 CHINA.

from them, they fell to make room for others better
than they. He was the supreme ruler. About the
derivation of the character *$ te 9 there has been as

much difference of opinion as about the meaning of
Shang-te. No satisfactory Chinese etymology has
been found for it, and it is in all probability nothing

more than the eight-pointed star of the Accadians *

meaning "ruler." Combined with the character
Shang, it may be translated supreme ruler, but we find
it like the Accadian character applied also to temporal
rulers among the Chinese. Of the six Honoured ones
Chinese writers have not been able to offer any ex-
planation. In the Susian texts, however, we find that
next in rank to the chief deity were six gods of an
inferior grade.

In Shun's reign occurred the great flood which in-
undated most of the provinces of the existing empire.
The waters, we are told, rose to so great a height,
that the people had to betake themselves to the
mountains to escape death. The disaster arose, as
many similar disasters, though of a less magnitude,
have since arisen, in consequence of the Yellow River
bursting its bounds, and the " Great Yu " was ap-
pointed to lead the waters back to their channel.
With unremitting energy he set about his task, and
in nine years succeeded in bringing the river under
control. During this period, so absorbed was he in

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 9

his work that, we are told, he took heed neither of *"
food nor clothing, and that thrice he passed the door
of his house without once stopping to enter. On the
completion of his labours, he divided the empire into
nine instead of twelve provinces ; and tradition repre-
sents him as having engraved a record of his toils on
the celebrated stone tablet on Mount HGng, in the
province of Hoopih, the characters of which, however,
bear in their forms conclusive evidence that they can-
not have been engraved earlier than the fifth century
B.C. As a reward for the services he had rendered to
the empire, he was invested with the principality of
Hea, and after having occupied the throne conjointly
with Shun for some years, he succeeded that sovereign
on his death in 2208 B.C.

With Yu began the dynasty of Hea, which gave
place, in 1766 B.C., to the Shang Dynasty. The last
sovereign of the Hea line, Kieh kwei, is said to have
been a monster of iniquity, and to have suffered the
just punishment for his crimes at the hands of Tang,
the prince of the State of Shang, who took his throne
from him. In like manner, six hundred and forty
years later, Woo Wang, the Prince of Chow, overthrew
Chow Sin, the last of the Shang Dynasty, and estab-
lished himself as the chief of the sovereign state of
the empire. By empire it must not be supposed that
the empire, as it exists at present, is meant. The
China of the Chow Dynasty lay between the 33rd

io CHINA.

and 38th parallels of latitude, and the 106th and 1 19th
of longitude only, and extended over no more than
portions of the provinces of Pih chih-li, Shanse, Shense,
Hon an, Keang-se, and Shan-tung. Not until the
third century B.C., when the Chinese political power
was in the hands of the Prince of Ts'in, were his
followers permitted to cross the Yang-tsze Keang. 1
This territory was re-arranged by Woo Wang into the
nine principalities established by Yu, and in accord-
ance with his right as sovereign, he appointed over each
a member of his own*familyor following, with the ex-
ception of one, the State of Sung, where a youthful
scion of the Shang Dynasty was allowed to occupy
the throne. Woo is held up in Chinese history as
one of the model monarchs of antiquity. He dwelt,
we are told, with great earnestness on the importance
of having the people taught thoroughly the duties of
the five relations of society, viz., those of (1) ministers
to their sovereign ; (2) children to their parents ;
(3) husband to wife ; (4) brother to brother ; and (5)
friend to friend : of their being well fed, and of the
proper observance of funeral ceremonies and sacrifices.
In his administration of the affairs of the empire he
was ably seconded by his brother, the Duke of Chow,
who, on the death of Woo, divided the government of
the kingdom with the imperial successor, Ching (11 15
B.C.). Under the' next ruler, K'ang (1078-1053 B.C.),
1 Cf. " Cradle of the Shan Race." By Terrien de Lacouperie.

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. n

the empire was consolidated, and the feudal princes
one and all acknowledged their allegiance to the
ruling house of Chow. But under succeeding sove-
reigns, jealousies and strifes broke out among them,
and their loyalty to their liege lord fluctuated with
the power he exercised over them. From all accounts
there speedily occurred a marked degeneracy in the
character of the Chow kings. History tells us little
about them, and that little does not generally redound
to their credit Among the most conspicuous of the
early kings was Muh (1001-947 B.C.), who has rendered
himself notorious for having promulgated a penal
code, under which the redemption of punishments
was made permissible by the payment of fines. The
charge brought against him by historians, that this
enactment first opened the door to the system of
bribery and corruption which has since produced such
evils in China, may possibly be well founded ; but, how-
ever this may be, it, at the time, only added one more
source of evil to the growing disorder of the State.

Already a spirit of lawlessness was spreading far
-and wide among the princes and nobles, and wars
and rumours of wars were creating misery and unrest
throughout the country. But, notwithstanding this,
that literary instinct, which has been a marked
characteristic of the Chinese throughout their long
history, continued as active as ever. At stated inter-
vals, officials, we are told, were sent in "light car-

12 CHINA.

riages " into all parts of the empire to collect words
from the changing dialects of each district ; and at
the time of the royal progresses the official music-
masters and historiographers of each principality pre-
sented to the officials of the sovereign state appointed
for the purpose collections of the odes and songs of
each locality, in order, we are told, that the character
of the rule exercised by their several princes should
be judged from the tone of the poetical and musical
productions of their subjects. The odes and songs
thus collected were carefully preserved in the royal
archives, and it was from these materials that, as is
commonly believed, Confucius compiled the celebrated
She King, or Book of Odes, of which we shall speak
hereafter.

It is obvious that at the period of which we have
been writing, the grQat variety of dialects existing,
both in the states and among the feudatory tribes
outside the frontiers, was giving rise to serious diffi-
culties in the way of administering the kingdom, and
was fostering a tendency to separation among the
various peoples. In addition to this, the ancient cha-
racters of the language had, for reasons which will be
hereafter explained, become to a great extent unin-
telligible. To correct these evils, King Seuen (827-78 1
B.C.) directed a man famous in Chinese history, She
Chow by name, to invent a mode of writing known as
Ta chuen, or the Great Seal characters, in conformity

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 13

with a system of a certain number of strokes, in order
to establish a recognized centre of literary unity in
the use of the written characters. Such an artificial
system could only be made to serve the object pro-
posed under the rule of a succession of supremely
powerful sovereigns, and, as such were denied to China
at that period, it failed entirely.

Far from keeping up even the semblance of the
authority exercised by the earlier Chow sovereigns,
the successors of King Seuen failed to maintain any
order among the subordinate princes. The hand of
every man was against his neighbour, and a constant
state of internecine war succeeded the peace and
prosperity which had existed under the rule of Woo-
wang. In the social relations was reflected the dis-
order into which the political world had fallen. Filial
piety had almost ceased to be, and great laxity in
the marriage relations gave rise to deeds of reckless
licentiousness and atrocious violence. The example
set by the princes of taking with their brides eight
other ladies at once was followed without scruple in
this degenerate age ; and chiefs, bent on the prosecu-
tion of their own ambitious schemes, trod underfoot
the rights of the people, and hesitated not to use up
the lives and property of their subjects in pursuance
of their ends. "A host marches," says Mencius,
speaking of this period, "and stores of provisions
are consumed. The hungry are deprived of their

14 CHINA.

food, and there is no rest for those who are called
to toil. Maledictions are uttered by one to another
with eyes askance, and the people proceed to the
commission of wickedness. Then the royal ordinances
are violated and the people are oppressed, and the
supplies of food and drink flow away like water. The
rulers yield themselves to the current ; or they urge
their way against it ; they are wild ; they are lost . . .
The crime of him who connives at and aids the
wickedness of his ruler is small, but the crime of him
who anticipates and excites that wickedness is great
The great officers of the present day are all guilty of
this latter crime, and I say that they are sinners
against the princes . . . Sage kings do not arise, and
the princes of the states give the reins to their lusts
... In their stalls there are fat beasts, and in their
stables there are fat horses, but their people have the
look of hunger, and in the fields there are those who
have died of famine. This is leading on beasts to
devour men." A story, illustrative of the uncared-for
state of the country and the oppression under which
the people groaned, is told of Confucius. It chanced
that on one occasion, as the Sage was journeying
from the state of Loo to that of Ts'e, he saw a
woman weeping by a tomb at the road-side. Having
compassion on her, he sent his disciple, Tsze-loo, to
ask her the cause of her grief. "You weep," said
Tsze-loo, "as if you had experienced sorrow upon

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 15

sorrow." " I have," said the woman ; " my father-in-
law was killed here by a tiger, and my husband also ;
and now my son has met the same fate." "Why
then do you not remove from this place?" asked
Confucius. "Because here there is no oppressive
government," answered the woman. Turning to his
disciples, Confucius remarked, " My children, remem-
ber this, oppressive government is fiercer than a
tiger."

But in their campaign against the prevailing law-
lessness and violence neither Confucius (550-478 B.C.)
nor Mencius (371-288 B.C.) were able to make any
headway. Their preachings fell on deaf ears, and their
peaceful admonitions were passed unheeded by men
who held their fiefs by the strength of their right
arms, and administered the affairs of their principali-
ties surrounded by the din of war. The main article
of Confucius's political creed was the primary import-
ance of strengthening and rehabilitating the kingdom
of Chow in its supremacy over the surrounding states ;
but the incompetency of its successive rulers levelled
with the ground this castle in the air which he per-
sisted in erecting, and he had scarcely passed away
before it became evident that the sovereign sceptre
of Chow would soon pass with the power which was
rapidly waning to one of the more vigorous states.
As time went on and the disorder increased, super-
natural signs added their testimony to the impending

16 CHINA.

crisis. The brazen vessels upon which Yu had en-
graved the nine divisions of the empire were observed
to shake and totter as though foreshadowing an
approaching change in the political position. Mean-
while Ts'in on the north-west, Ts'oo on the south, and
Tsin on the north, having vanquished all the other
states, engaged in the final struggle for the mastery
over the confederate principalities. The ultimate
victory rested with the state of Ts'in, and in 255 B.C.
Chaou-seang Wang became the acknowledged ruler
over the "black-haired" people. Only four years
were given him to reign supreme, and at the end of
that time he was succeeded by his son, Heaou-wan
Wang, who died almost immediately on ascending
the throne. To him succeeded Chwang-seang Wang,
who was followed in 246 B.C. by Che Hwang-te, the
first Emperor of China. The abolition of feudalism,
which was the first act of Che Hwang-te, raised much
discontent among those to whom the feudal system
had brought power and emoluments, and the counte-
nance which had been given to that system by Confu-
cius and Mencius made it desirable — so thought the
emperor — to demolish once for all their testimony in
favour of that condition of affairs, which he had decreed
should be among the things of the past. With this
object he ordered that the whole existing literature,
with the exception of books on medicine, agriculture,
and divination, should be burned. The decree was

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE.

17

obeyed as faithfully as was possible in the case of so
sweeping an ordinance, and for many years a night of
ignorance rested on the country. The construction
of one gigantic work — the Great Wall of China — has
made the name of this monarch as famous as the de-
struction of the books has made it infamous. Finding

the Heung-nu Tartars were making dangerous inroads
into the empire, he determined with characteristic
thoroughness to build a huge barrier which should
protect the northern frontier of the empire through
all time. In 214 B.G the work was begun under his
personal supervision, and though every endeavour was

C

18 CHINA.

made to hasten its completion, he died (209) leaving
it unfinished. His death was the signal for an out-
break among the dispossessed feudal princes, who,
however, after some years of disorder, were again
reduced to the rank of citizens by a successful leader,
who adopted the title of Kaou-te, and named his
dynasty that of Han (206).

From that day to this, with occasional interregnums,
the empire has been ruled on the lines laid down by
Che Hwang-te. Dynasty has succeeded dynasty, but
the political tradition has remained unchanged, and
though Mongols and Manchoos have at different times
wrested the throne from its legitimate heirs, they have
been engulfed in the homogeneous mass inhabiting
the empire, and instead of impressing their seal on the
country have become but the reflection of the van-
quished. The dynasties from the beginning of the
earlier Han, founded, as stated above, by Kaou-te,
are as follows : — .

B.C

A.D.

The earlier Han Dynasty

206 -

" 25

A.D.

The late Han

n

25 -

- 220

The Wei '

>j

220 -

- 280

The western Tsin

»

265 -

" 317

The eastern Tsin

»

317 "

- 420

The Sung

»

420 -

- 479

V

1 Simultaneously with this dynasty there existed that of the
Minor Han in Sze-chuen in 220-263, and that of Wu 222-277.

HISTORY: OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 19

A.D.

A.D.

The Tse Dynasty

479

— 502

The Leang „

502

— 557

The Ch'in „

557

- 589

Simultaneously with these —

The northern Wei Dynasty

386

— 534

The western Wei

n

535

— 557

The eastern Wei

91

534

— 550

The northern Tse

n

55o

— 577

The northern Chow

**

557

- 589

/ y The Suy

»>

589

— 618

/* The Tang

i)

618

— 907

4m The later Leang
J The later Tang

?>

907

— 923

>>

923

— 936

V The later Tsin

»

936

— 947

<v The later Han

»>

947

— 95i

■i The later Chow

»

95i

- 960

i« The Sung

»

960

— 1 127

\ % The southern Sung

99

1 127

— 1280

t { The Yuen

n

1280

— 1368

. .. The Ming

91

1368

— 1644

4 .. The Tslng

>9

1644

Simultaneously with some of these —

The Leaou Dynasty 907 — 1125

The western Leaou „ 1125 — 1168

The Kin „ 11 15 — 1280

The present Manchoo rulers of China are descen-
dants of the Kin Tartars, and had their original home
in the valley of the Hurka, a river which flows into
the Sungari in about 46 20' N. lat. and 129 50

20 CHINA.

E. long. Under a succession of able leaders the
tribe gained power and territory, and as time went
on even reached the point of carrying on a not
altogether unsuccessful guerilla warfare with the
Ming rulers of China. In an evil moment, being
hardly pressed by rebels in the south, the Chinese
patched up a peace with the Manchoos, and went so
far as to invite their assistance against the southern
rebels. With alacrity the Manchoos responded to
the call, and vanquished the common enemy. But
when requested to withdraw again across the frontier
they refused, and ended by placing the ninth son of
their sovereign, Teen-ming, on the throne of Peking.
The dynasty thus founded was styled the Ts'ing, or
"Pure" dynasty, and the title adopted by the first
emperor of the line was Shun-che. It was during
the reign of this sovereign that Adam Schaal, a
German Jesuit, took up his residence at Peking, and
that the first Russian Embassy (1656 A.D.) visited
the capital. But in those days the Chinese had not
learned to tolerate the idea that a foreigner should
enter the presence of the Son of Heaven unless he
were willing to perform the prostration known as the
Ko-t'ow; and the Russians, not being inclined to
humour any such presumptuous folly, left the capital
without opening negotiations.

In 1 66 1, the Emperor Shunche became a "guest
in heaven," or, in other words, died, and K'ang-he,

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. t 21

his son, reigned in his stead This sovereign is
renowned in modern Chinese history as a model
ruler, a skilful general, and an able author. During
his reign, Tibet was added to the empire, and
the Eleuths were successfully subdued But it is
as a just and considerate ruler that he is best
remembered among the people. Among the most
cherished monuments of his wisdom are the following
" Sixteen Sacred Maxims," which are taught in every
school throughout the empire, and which every can-
didate at the competitive examinations is expected to
know by heart, together with the commentary thereon,
by the imperial author's son and successor : —

1. " Esteem most highly filial piety and brotherly
submission, in order to give due prominence to the
social relations."

2. "Behave with generosity to the branches of
your kindred, in order to illustrate harmony and
benignity."

3. "Cultivate peace and concord in your neigh-
bourhood, in order to prevent quarrels and litigation."

4. "Give importance to husbandry and to the
culture of the mulberry-tree, in order to ensure a
sufficiency of clothing and food."

5. " Show that you prize moderation and economy,
in order to prevent the lavish waste of your means."

6. " Make nyich of the colleges and seminaries, in
order to make correct the practice of the scholars."

22 CHINA.

7. " Discountenance and banish strange doctrines,
in order to exalt the correct doctrine."

8. " Describe and explain the laws, in order to warn
the ignorant and obstinate."

9. " Exhibit clearly propriety and yielding courtesy,
in order that manners and customs may be perfected."

10. " Labour diligently at your proper callings, in
order to give settlement to the aims of the people."

11. "Instruct your sons and younger brothers, in
order to prevent their doing what is wrong."

12. "Put a stop to false accusations, in order to
protect the honest and the good."

13. " Beware lest you shelter deserters, in order that
you may avoid being involved in their punishments."

14. " Pay your taxes promptly and fully, in order
to avoid urgent demands for your quota."

15. "Combine in hundreds and tithings, in order
to put an end to thefts and robbery."

16. " Study to remove resentments and angry feel-
ings, in order to show the importance due to the
person and life."

The support and patronage given to science and
literature by K'ang-he marked the beginning of a
new era in the intellectual life of the people. Under
the guidance of the Jesuit missionaries at Peking, he
studied, and lent his countenance to, the various
European sciences, more especially astronomy. To
the cause of the native literature he devoted years of

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 23

labour and vast sums of money. By his appointment
a commission of scholars compiled a dictionary of
the language, which is the best work of the kind, and
which is called by his name ; and another illustrious
company edited a vast encyclopedia, containing
articles on every known subject, and extracts from all
works of authority dating from the twelfth century
B.C to that time. This huge work, which consists
of five thousand and twenty volumes, is a monu-
ment of industrious research. But as only a hundred
copies of the first imperial edition were printed, all of
which were presented to princes of the blood and
high officials, it is rapidly becoming extremely rare,
and it is not unlikely that before long the copy in
the possession of the trustees of the British Museum
will be the only complete copy existing. A cold,
caught on a hunting excursion in Mongolia, brought
his memorable reign of sixty-one years to a close, and
he was succeeded on the throne by his son, Yung-
ching, in the year 1722.

After an uneventful reign of twelve years, Yung-
ching was gathered to his fathers, having bequeathed
his throne to his son, K'een-lung. This sovereign
possessed many of the great qualities of K'ang-he,
but he lacked his wisdom and moderation. He
carried his armies north, south, and west, but though
he converted Kuldja into a Chinese province, and
fought a successful campaign against the Nepaulese

^ OF TH€

UNIVERSITY

OF

24 CHINA.

Gorkhas, fortune on the whole inclined rather to the
standard of his enemies than to his own. In Burmah,
Cochin China, and Formosa, his troops suffered dis-
comfitures, and even the Meaou-tsze tribes of Kwei-
chow and Kwang-se proved themselves troublesome
antagonists. During his reign, which extended to
sixty years — a full Chinese cycle — the relations of
his government with the East India Company were
extremely unsatisfactory. The English merchants
were compelled to submit to many indignities and
wrongs ; and for the purpose of establishing a better
international understanding, Lord Macartney was sent
by George III. on a special mission to the Court of
Peking. The ambassador was received graciously
by the emperor, who accepted the presents sent him
by the English king ; but, owing to his ignorance of
his own relative position and of the alphabet of inter-
national law, he declined to give those assurances of a
more equitable policy which were demanded of him.
In 1795, at th e a S e °f eighty-five, he abdicated in
favour of his fifteenth son, who ascended the throne
with the title of Kea-K'ing.

During this reign a second English embassy was
sent to Peking (1816), to represent to the emperor
the unsatisfactory position of the English merchants
in China. The envoy, Lord Amherst, was met at the
mouth of the Peiho and conducted to Yuen-ming-yuen,
or summer palace, where the emperor was residing.

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 25

On his arrival he was officially warned that only on
condition of his performing the Ko-t'ow would he be
permitted to behold "the dragon countenance." This,
of course, was impossible, and he consequently left
the palace without having slept a night under its
roof. Meanwhile the internal affairs of the country
were even more disturbed than the foreign relations.
A succession of rebellions broke out in the northern
and western provinces, and the seaboard was ravaged
by pirates. While these disturbing causes were in
full play Kea-k'ing died (1820), and the throne de-
volved upon Taou-kwang, his second son.

Under this monarch both home and foreign affairs
went from bad to worse. A secret league, known
as the Triad Society, which was first formed during
the reign of K'ang-he, now assumed a formidable
bearing, and in many parts of the country, notably
in Honan, Kwang-se, and Formosa, insurrections
broke out at its instigation. At the same time the
mandarins continued to persecute the English mer-
chants, and on the expiry of the East India Company's
monopoly in 1834, the English government sent
Lord Napier to Canton to superintend the foreign
trade at that port. Thwarted at every turn by the
presumptuous obstinacy of the mandarins, Lord
Napier's health gave way under the constant vexa-
tions connected with his post, and he died at Macao,
after a few months' residence in China. The opium

26 CHINA.

trade was now the question of the hour, and at the
urgent demand of Commissioner Lin, Captain Elliot,
the superintendent of trade, agreed that all opium in
the hands of English merchants should be given up
to the authorities ; and more than this, he exacted a
pledge from his countrymen, that they would no
longer deal in the drug. On the 3rd of April, 1839,
20,283 chests of opium were, in accordance with this
agreement, handed over to the mandarins, who burnt
them to ashes. This demand of Lin's, though agreed
to by the superintendent of trade, was considered so
unreasonable by the English government, that in the
following year war was declared against China. The
island of Chusan and the Bogue forts on the Canton
river soon fell into our hands, and Commissioner Lin's
successor sought to purchase peace by the cession of
Hong-kong and the payment of an indemnity of
6,000,000 dollars. This convention was, however,
repudiated by the Peking government, and it was not
until Canton, Amoy, Ningpo, Chapoo, Shanghai, and
Chin-keang-foo had been taken by our troops, that
the emperor at last consented to come to terms.
These, as was only just, were now far more onerous.
By a treaty made by Sir Henry Pottinger in 1842,
the cession of Hong-kong was supplemented by the
opening of the four ports of Amoy, Fuh-chow-foo,
Ningpo, and Shanghai, to foreign trade, and the
indemnity of 6,000,000 dollars was increased to

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 27

21,000,000. Death put an end to Taou-kwang's reign
in 1850, and his fourth son, Heen-fung, assumed rule
over the distracted empire which was bequeathed him
by his father.

There is a popular belief among the Chinese that
two hundred years is the natural life of a dynasty.
This is one of those traditions which are apt to bring
about their own fulfilment, and in the beginning of
the reign of Heen-fung the political air was rife with
rumours that an effort was to be made to restore the
Ming Dynasty to the throne. On such occasions
there are always real or pretended scions of the
required family forthcoming, and when the flames of
rebellion broke out in Kwang-se, a claimant suddenly
appeared under the title of T'een-tih, "heavenly
virtue," to head the movement. But T'een-tih had
not the capacity required to play the necessary part,
and the affair languished and would have died out
altogether, had not a leader, named Hung Sewtseuen
arose, who combined all the qualities required in a
leader of men — energy, enthusiasm, and religious
bigotry. Having been converted to a pseudo-Chris-
tianity, he professed himself shocked at the iniquities
of the pagan rulers of the land, and thus added to the
thousands of restless, discontented spirits who joined
his banner, a larger following gathered from the upper
classes. As soon as he was sufficiently powerful, he
advanced northwards into Hoonan and Hoopih and

28 CHINA.

captured Woo-chang-foo, the capital of the last-named
province, and a city of great commercial and strategi-
cal importance, situated as it is at the junction of the
Han river with the Yang-tsze-keang. Having made
this place secure, he advanced down the river and
made himself master of Gan-ting and the old capital
of the empire, Nanking. Here, in 1852, he established
his throne and proclaimed the commencement of the
Tai-ping Dynasty; For himself he adopted the title
of Teen-wang, or " heavenly king." For a time all
went well with the new dynasty. The Tai-ping
standard was carried northward to the walls of Tien-
tsin, and floated over the towns of Chin-keang-foo
and Soochow-foo.

Meanwhile the imperial authorities had by their
stupidity raised another enemy against themselves.
The outrage on the English flag perpetrated on board
the lorcha Arrow at Canton, in 1857, having been
left unredressed by the mandarins, led to the procla-
mation of war by England. Canton fell to the arms
of General Straubenzee and Sir Michael Seymour in
December of the same year, and in the following
spring the Taku forts at the mouth of the Peiho
having been taken, Lord Elgin, who had in the mean-
time arrived as plenipotentiary, advanced up the
river to Tien-tsin on his way to the capital. At
that city, however, he was met by imperial commis-
sioners, and, yielding to their entreaties, he concluded

HISTORY, OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 29

a treaty with them, which it was arranged should be
ratified at Peking in the following year. But the
evil genius of the Chinese still pursuing them, they
treacherously fired on the fleet accompanying Sir
Frederick Bruce, Lord Elgin's brother, when pro-
ceeding, in i860, to Peking in fulfilment of this agree-
ment This outrage rendered another military
expedition necessary, and, in conjunction with the
French Government, the English Cabinet sent out a
force under the command of Sir Hope Grant with
orders to march to Peking. In the summer of 1861,
the allied forces landed at Peh-tang, a village twelve
miles north of the Taku forts, and, taking these
entrenchments in rear, captured them with but a
trifling loss. This success was so utterly unexpected
by the Chinese, that, leaving T'ien-tsin unprotected,
they retreated rapidly to the neighbourhood of the
capital The allies pushed on after them, and, in
reply to an invitation sent from .the imperial com-
missioners at Tung-chow, a town twelve miles from
Peking, Sir Harry Parkes and Mr. Loch, accom-
panied by an escort and some few friends, went in
advance of the army to make a preliminary conven-
tion. While so engaged they were treacherously
taken prisoners and carried off to Peking. This act
precipitated an engagement, in which the Chinese
were completely routed, and the allies marched on to
Peking. After the usual display of obstinacy, the

30 CHINA.

Chinese yielded to the demand for the surrender of
the An-ting Gate of the city. From this vantage-
point Lord Elgin opened negotiations, and, having
secured the release of Sir Harry Parkes, Mr. Loch, and
the remaining prisoners who had survived the tortures
to which they had been subjected, and having burnt
Yuen-ming-yuen, the summer palace of the emperor,
as a punishment for their treacherous capture and
for the cruelties perpetrated on them, he concluded a
treaty with Prince Kung, the representative of the
emperor. By this instrument the Chinese agreed to
pay a war indemnity of 8,000,000 taels, and to open
the ports of New-chwang, Che-foo, Kiu-keang, Chin-
keang, Hankow, Pak-hoi, Tai-wan in Formosa, and a
port in the island of Hainan, to foreign trade, and to
permit the representatives of the foreign Governments
to reside in Peking.

Having thus relieved themselves from the presence
of a foreign foe, the authorities were able to devote
their attention to the suppression of the Tai-ping
rebellion. Fortunately for themselves, the apparent
friendliness with which they greeted the arrival of
the British Legation at Peking enlisted the sym-
pathies of Sir Frederick Bruce in their favour,
and inclined him to listen to their request for the
services of an English officer in their campaign
against the rebels. At the request of Sir F. Bruce,
General Staveley selected Major Gordon, since gene-
rally known as Chinese Gordon, for this duty. A

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 31

better man, or one more peculiarly fitted for the work,
could not have been found. A numerous force,
known as " the ever-victorious army," partly officered
by foreigners, had for some time been commanded
by an American, named Ward, and after his death
by Burgevine, another American. Over this force
Gordon was placed, and at the head of it he marched,
in conjunction with the Chinese generals, against
the T'ai-pings. With masterly strategy he struck
a succession of rapid and telling blows against the
fortunes of the rebels. City after city fell into his
hands, and at length the leaders of Soochow opened
the gates of the city to him on condition that he would
spare their lives. When, however, these men presented
themselves before Le Hung-chang, the present Viceroy
of Chih-li, to offer their submission to the emperor,
they were, with cruel treachery, seized and beheaded.
On learning how lightly his word had been treated
by the Chinese general, Gordon armed himself, for
the first time during the campaign, with a revolver,
and sought out the Chinese head-quarters, intending to
avenge with his own hand this murder of the Taiping
leaders. But Le Hung-chang, having received timely
notice of the righteous anger he had aroused, took to
flight, and Gordon, thus thwarted in his immediate
object, threw up his command, feeling that it was im-
possible to continue to act with so orientally-minded
a colleague.

32 CHINA.

After considerable negotiation, however, he was
persuaded to return to his command, and soon suc-
ceeded in so completely crippling the power of the
rebels that, in July, 1864, Nanking, their last strong-
hold, fell into the hands of the Imperialists. T'een-
wang was then already dead, and his body was found
within the walls wrapt in imperial yellow. Thus
was crushed out a rebellion which had paralysed
the imperial power in the central provinces of
the empire, and which had for twelve years seriously
threatened the existence of the reigning dynasty.

Meanwhile, in the summer following the conclusion
of the treaty of Peking, the Emperor Heen-fung
breathed his last at Jehol (1861) — an event which
was, in popular belief, foretold by the appearance of
a comet in the early part of the summer — and was
succeeded on the throne by his only son, who adopted
the title of T'ung-che. Being quite a child at the
time of his accession, the administration of affairs
was placed in the hands of the empress and of the
mother of T'ung-che, a lady who had not occupied
the supreme post in the emperor's harem.

Under the direction of these ladies, though the
internal affairs of the empire prospered, the foreign
relations were disturbed by the display of an increas-
ingly hostile spirit towards the Christian missionaries
and their converts, which culminated, in 1870, in the
" T'ien-tsin massacre." In some of the central pro-

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 33

vinces reports had been industriously circulated that
the Roman Catholic missionaries were in the habit of
kidnapping and murdering children, in order to
make medicine from their eyeballs. Ridiculous as
the rumour was, it found ready credence among the
ignorant people, and several outrages were perpe-
trated on the missionaries and their converts in
Keang-se and Sze-chuen. Through the active inter-
ference, however, of the French minister, the agita-
tions were locally suppressed, but only to be renewed
again at T'ien-tsin. Here also the same absurd
rumours were set afloat, and were especially directed
against some sisters of charity who had opened
an orphanage in the city. For some days before
the massacre on the 21st June, reports increasing
in consistency reached the foreign residents that
an outbreak was to be apprehended, and three times
the English consul wrote to Chung How, the super-
intendent of trade for the three northern ports, call-
ing upon him to take measures to subdue the gather-
ing passions of the people, which had been further
dangerously exasperated by an infamous proclamation
issued by the prefect To these communications the
consul did not receive any reply, and on the morning
of the 2 1 st, a day which had apparently been de-
liberately fixed upon for the massacre, the attack
was made. The mob first broke into the French
consulate, and while the consul, M. Fontanier, was

D

34 CHINA.

with Chung How, endeavouring to persuade him to
interfere, M. and Mad. Thomasin, M. and Mad.
Chalmaison, and P&re Chevrien were there murdered.
On his way back to the consulate, M. Fontanier
suffered the same fate. Having thus whetted their
taste for blood, the rioters set fire to the French
cathedral, and afterwards moved on to the orphanage
of the sisters of mercy. In spite of the appeals of these
defenceless ladies for mercy, if not for themselves, at
least for the orphans under their charge, the mob
broke into the hospital, and having " insulted,
stripped, impaled, ripped open, and cut to pieces"
the sisters, smothered from thirty to forty children in
the vaults, and carried off a still larger number of
older persons to the prisons in the city, where " they
were subjected to tortures of which they bore terrible
evidence when their release was at length effected.'*
In addition to these victims, a Russian gentleman,
with his bride and a friend, who were unfortunate
enough to meet the rioters on their way to the
cathedral, were ruthlessly murdered. No other
foreigners were injured, a circumstance due to the
fact that the fury of the mob was primarily directed
against the French Roman Catholics, and also that
the foreign settlement, where all but those engaged
in missionary work resided, is at a distance of a
couple of miles from the city.

When the evil was done, the Chinese authorities

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 35

professed themselves anxious to make reparation, and
Chung How was eventually sent to Paris to offer the
apologies of the Peking cabinet to the French
government. These were ultimately accepted ; and,
it was further arranged that the T'ien-tsin prefect and
district magistrate should be removed from their
posts and degraded, and that twenty of the active
murderers should be executed.

By these retributive measures the emperor's govern-
ment made its peace with the European powers, and
the foreign relations again assumed their former
friendly footing. The Chinese had now leisure to
devote their efforts to the subjugation of the Panthay
rebels, who for some ten or twelve years had held
almost undisputed possession of the province of
Yunnan. The visit of the adopted son of the rebel
leader, the Sultan Suleiman, to England, for the
purpose of attempting to enlist the sympathies of the
English government in the Panthay cause, no doubt
added zest to the action of the mandarins, who, after
a short but vigorous campaign, suppressed the
rebellion and restored the province to the imperial
sway. Peace was thus brought about, and when the
empresses handed over the reins of power to the
emperor, on the occasion of his marriage in 1872,
tranquillity reigned throughout "the eighteen pro-
vinces."

As in every act in the life of a Chinese emperor,

36 CHINA.

the marriage of Tung-che was surrounded with
numerous and complex ceremonies. The bride had
first to be chosen from the daughters of Manchoos
who were enrolled under one of the eight military
banners. About a year before the marriage, all
girls of this class, who were of a specified age,
were ordered to present themselves at the palace.
Between six and seven hundred came, and these
were introduced into the presence of the dowager-
empresses in batches of ten at a time. The result of
this preliminary examination was that about fifty
were chosen, and the rest were sent back to their
homes. A second interview with the empresses ended
in the reduction of the selected number by one-half,
and by a continued process of sifting the candidates
the lady, Ah-lu-t6, was chosen as the "Phoenix"
to mate the "Dragon." While these matters were
proceeding, four young ladies were chosen as "pro-
fessors of matrimony " to instruct the emperor in
the duties of the new relation, and, after much
questioning of the stars, the officers of the Astro-
nomical Board fixed upon the night between the
15th and 16th of October for the supreme cere-
mony. As the time approached, the lady, Ah-lu-t6,
who was the daughter of the only Manchoo who
ever gained the title of Chwang-yuen, the highest
prize to be won at the competitive examinations, and
four other ladies, who were destined to form the

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 37

nucleus of the imperial harem, were lodged in a
palace especially prepared and beautified for them in
the imperial city. The road between this palace
and the imperial abode was carefully levelled and
constantly sprinkled with sand, of the yellow imperial
colour, and each morning long processions of bearers
passed along it carrying the presents destined for the
bride, which poured in from all parts of the empire.
Cabinets, dishes, vases, basins, bowls, chairs, and a
host of gold and silver articles of all kinds were borne
on uncovered trays escorted by mandarins and troops,
forming a daily spectacle for the idlers in the capital.

On the day before the marriage, a tablet of gold
was sent to the bride, on which was inscribed the
edict elevating her to the throne, together with an
imperial sceptre and seal. The next day, another
procession, escorting "the Phoenix Chair," passed
along to the bride's palace. At its head rode a
Manchoo prince, attended by lesser chiefs en grande
tenue, the prince carrying in his hand the jade sceptre
which is constantly held by the emperor. Thirty
white horses followed closely on these imperial in-
signia, and the rest of the cavalcade was made up of
officials carrying banners, triple umbrellas adorned with
embroidered representations of dragons and phoenixes,
fans, and " golden melons " stuck on long poles.

At eleven o'clock the same evening, the same pro*
cession, with the addition of the bride and the golden

38 CHINA.

tablet, the sceptre and the seal, started for the im-
perial palace. Every house was strictly closed along
the route, which was guarded through its whole
length by troops, and at the side of the bridal chair
marched an official of the Astronomical Board carry-
ing a lighted joss-stick, so marked as to indicate
portions of time, by means of which he regulated the
pace of the procession, in order that it might arrive
at the imperial palace at the fortunate moment of two
in the morning. On arriving at the palace, •' the Great
Pure Gate" was thrown open, and Ah-lu-t£ was
carried through the outer courts to the great central
court leading to the throne-room. A herald then
proclaimed, " The orders of His Sacred Majesty are
fulfilled," and forthwith the dowager empresses came
out to receive the bride. In her hands they placed
pieces of uncoined gold and silver, and crossed them
over her breast in such a way as to enable her also to
carry a vase containing wheat, maize, rice, emeralds,
sapphires, rubies, and other articles, to symbolize all
that earth produces. She then stepped from her
sedan on to a small golden saddle, and thus entered
her future home. The remaining ceremonies were
similar in kind to those performed at the marriages
of commoners, and thus Ah-lu-t6 became an empress,
and her father, catching a reflection of his daughter's
greatness, was made a Duke. 1

1 " Meeting the Sun," by William Simpson, F.R.G.S.

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 39

On the day after the wedding, the four ladies
spoken of above, who were destined to become
imperial concubines of the first class, were brought
into the palace, not through " the Great Pure Gate,"
but by a more obscure entrance on the north of the
palace. The Book of Rites of the present dynasty,
which regulates every official observance in China,
ordains that the number of these ladies should be
increased to nine, that twenty-seven other young
ladies should be chosen as concubines of the second
class, and eighty-one as concubines of the third class.
All these are subordinate to the empress, who alone
is entitled to enjoy the society of the emperor at
the time of full moon, and who, in theory at least,
apportions to each of her attendant ladies the special
household duties pertaining to her rank.

The cost of maintaining so large and extravagant
a household is enormous, and the looms of Soochow
and Nanking are barely able to supply the host of
ladies and attendants with the silks and satins required
for their use. In 1877, the Peking Gazette announced
that, during the preceding year, 370 rolls of satin,
500 rolls of brocaded satin, 3400 rolls of silk gauze,
600 large handkerchiefs, 800 catties of sewing silk,
500 catties of white silk, and 3000 pieces of fine calico,
had been furnished by the imperial purveyor at Nan-
king, besides the immense stores which were poured
in from Hang-chow and Soochow. From the imperial

40 CHINA.

porcelain factories at Kin-tih-chin 11,838 articles,
consisting of fish bowls, flower vases, and ornamental
jars of the first quality, were forwarded to the palace
during the same year, in addition to an abundance of
articles of a common kind, and destined for baser
uses.

The formal assumption of power proclaimed by
this marriage was considered by the foreign ministers
a fitting opportunity to insist on the fulfilment of
the article in the treaties which provided for their
reception by the emperor, and after much negotiation
it was finally arranged that the emperor should
receive them on the 29th of June, 1873. "Very
early, therefore, on the morning of that day the
ministers were astir, and were conducted in their
sedan-chairs to the park on the west side of the
palace, where, having dismounted from their sedans,
they were met by some of the ministers of State, who
led them to the " Temple of Prayer for Seasonable
Weather." Here they were kept waiting some time
while tea and confectionery from the imperial kitchen,
by favour of the emperor, were served to them.
They were then conducted to an oblong tent made
of matting on the west side of the Tsze-kwang
Pavilion, where they were met by Prince of Kung and
other ministers. As soon as the emperor reached
the Pavilion, the Japanese ambassador was introduced
into his presence, and when he had retired the other

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 41

foreign ministers entered the audience-chamber in a
body. The emperor was seated, facing southwards.
On either side of his Majesty stood, with the Prince
of Kung, certain princes and high officers ; in all,
four or five persons. When the foreign ministers
reached the centre aisle, they halted and bowed one
and all together ; they then advanced in line a little
further and made a second bow ; and when they had
nearly reached the yellow table — on which their cre-
dentials were, as arranged, to be deposited — they
bowed a third time ; after which they remained erect.
M. Vlangaly, the Russian minister, then read a con-
gratulatory address in French, which was translated by
an interpreter into Chinese, and the ministers, making
another reverence, respectfully laid their letters of
credence on the yellow table. The emperor was
pleased to make a slight inclination of the head
towards them, and the Prince of Kung, advancing
to the left of the throne, and falling upon his knees,
had the honour to be informed in Manchoo that his
Majesty acknowledged the receipt of the letters pre-
sented. The Prince of Kung, with his arms raised
(according to precedent set by Confucius when in
the presence of his sovereign), came down by the
steps on the left of the daYs to the foreign ministers,
and respectfully repeated this in Chinese. After this,
he again prostrated himself, and in like manner re-
ceived and conveyed a message to the effect that

42 CHINA.

his Majesty hoped that all foreign questions would
be satisfactorily disposed of. The ministers then
withdrew, bowing repeatedly until they reached the
entrance." 1

Thus ended the only instance during the present
century of Europeans being received in imperial
audience. Whether under more fortunate circum-
stances the ceremony might have been repeated it is
difficult to say, but in the following year the young
emperor was stricken down with smallpox, or, as
the Peking Gazette expressed it, " enjoyed the felicity
of the heavenly flowers," and finally succumbed to
the disease on the 12th of January, 1875. With
great ceremony the funeral obsequies were performed
over the body of him who had been T'ung-che, and
the coffin was finally laid in the imperial mausoleum
among the eastern hills beside the remains of his pre-
decessors, Shun-che, K'ang-he, Yung-ching, K'een-
lung, Kea-k'ing, Taou-kwang, and Heen-fung.

For the first time in the annals of the Ts'ing
Dynasty the throne was now left without a direct
heir. As it is the office of the son and heir to per-
form regularly the ancestral worship, it is necessary
that, failing a son, the heir should be, if possible, of a
later generation than the deceased. In the present
instance this was impossible, as there was no descen-
dant of a posterior generation. It was necessary
1 Pall Mall Gazette, May 21, 1874-

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 43

therefore, that the lot should fall on one of the
cousins of the late emperor, and Tsai-teen, the son
of the Prince of Chun, a child not quite four years
old, was chosen to fill the vacant throne. Kwang-sii,
or " an inheritance of glory," was the title conferred
upon him, and it remains to be seen whether the
events of his reign will justify so high-sounding a
promise.

Scarcely had the proclamation gone forth of the
assumption of the imperial title by Kwang-sii, when
news reached the English Legation at Peking of the
murder at Manwyne, in the Province of Yunnan, of
Mr. Margary, an officer in the Consular Service, who
had been despatched to meet an expedition sent by
the Indian Government, under the command of
Colonel Horace Browne, to discover a route from
Burmah into the south-western provinces of China.
A more thoroughly competent officer than Mr. Mar-
gary could not have been selected for the under-
taking, and the choice made was fully justified by
the way in which he performed the journey to Bhamo,
in Burmah, in spite of illness and of the many ob-
stacles thrown in his way by the native officials. He
left Shanghai, on his journey westward, on the 23rd
August, 1874, and reached Bhamo, where he met
Colonel Brown's party, on the 17th of the following
January. On the 18th of February, he once more
turned his face eastward, in company with the Indian

44 CHINA.

Expedition. Scarcely, however, had they begun their
march, when rumours reached them that the frontier
Chinese were preparing to bar their progress. After
his recent experience of the friendly disposition
of the mandarins in this part of the country, Margary
declined to attach any importance to these reports,
and, with the concurrence of Colonel Browne, he
started in advance of the party, accompanied only
by his Chinese writer and servant, to ascertain the
real facts of the case. From all accounts, he reached
Manwyne in safety, but, when visiting some hot
springs in the neighbourhood of the town, he was
treacherously knocked off his pony and murdered.

In accordance with conventional practice, the
Chinese Government, on being called to account for
this outrage, attempted to lay it to the charge of
brigands. But the evidence which Sir Thomas Wade
was able to adduce proved too strong to be ignored
even by the Peking mandarins, and, eventually, they
signed a convention in which they practically acknow-
ledged their blood-guiltiness, under the terms of which
some fresh commercial privileges were granted, and an
indemnity, part of which, viz. £10,000, was handed
over to the family of Mr. Margary, was paid to the
English Government At the same time, the "ex-
pectant Vice-President," Kwo Sung-taou, was sent to
England to apologize for this breach of international
amity, and to establish an embassy on a permanent

^ Of THE

UNIVERSITY

Of

n^UFOR^

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE, 45

footing at the Court of St. James's. With the conclu-
sion of fhis agreement the friendly relations between
the two governments, which at one time during the
negotiations were seriously imperilled, were renewed,
and have since been maintained. After two years'
residence in this country, Kwo Sung-taou resigned
his post, and was succeeded by Ts'eng Ta-jin, a son
of the celebrated soldier and statesman Ts'eng kwo-
fan.

The new minister had no sooner landed in Europe
than he found himself immersed in a sea of political
troubles. The dispute between his country and
Russia, which Chung How, his predecessor at St
Petersburg, had attempted to settle by a treaty which
gave Russia the fruitful valley of the Tekke River,
important passes in the T'ienshan, and the city of
Yarkand, besides some enviable mercantile advan-
tages, had arrived at an acute stage in consequence
of the refusal of the Chinese to ratify the ill-advised
document To the Marquis Ts'eng was entrusted the
delicate duty of inducing Russia to tear up the con-
vention which she had extracted from Chung How,
and to substitute another which should be acceptable
at Peking. This he succeeded in doing, and was able
to forward for ratification to Peking a treaty by which
Russia gave up nearly the whole of the contested
territory in Hi in return for the payment of nine
million roubles towards the military expenses incurred

46 CHINA.

by Russia in holding and protecting the province
since 1871. The contrast between these terms and
those proposed by Chung How was great enough
to make them eminently acceptable at Peking, and
on the 19th of August, 1881, the ratifications were
exchanged

While conducting these negotiation? at St. Peters-
burg, news reached the Marquis that the French were
about to put into execution their long-cherished
scheme of occupying Tungking (Tonquin). Against
this invasion he energetically protested, and was met
by an announcement from Gambetta that France
had now determined to enforce the treaty concluded
with the King of Annam in 1874. In furtherance of
this scheme, Captain Rivi&re was, in the beginning
of 1882, despatched from Saigon to insist on the
opening up of the country, and especially of the
opening of the Red River leading to the Chinese
province of Yunnan. On arriving at Hanoi, Rivifere
found the authorities hostile, and to his demands that
all transit dues should be abolished, that free passage
should be given to French ships in the inland waters
of Tungking, and that all Chinese troops should be
withdrawn from the country, they returned decided
negatives. Upon this he presented an ultimatum,
and as the mandarins refused to subscribe to its con-
ditions, he attacked and captured the citadel of Hanoi.
Not content with this achievement, he besieged and

rr .--•' v a

V?

I! :-: ' ' .•"".». sit
HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 47

took the town of Nam Dinh, and was meditating
further victories, when the news that the Black Flags
were becoming aggressively troublesome in the neigh-
bourhood of Hanoi, recalled him to that city. So
threatening was the attitude of the Black Flags that
he deemed it advisable to make a sortie upon them,
and on the 19th of May he sallied forth at the head of
a small force to attack the enemy. At first all went
well, but, falling into an ambush, he and his second in
command were killed on almost identically the same
spot at which Gamier had met his death nine years
before.

The news of this misadventure produced consterna-
tion at Saigon, and General Bouet was sent thence to
take command in Tungking. On the 16th of June, this
officer arrived at Hanoi, and at once began to fortify
his position, and to make preparations for a fresh
campaign. Before long he captured Hai Dzuong and
Phu-Binh, and seriously contemplated an attack on
Sontay. Against this project the Marquis Ts'eng
protested in Paris, warning the government that such
an expedition would be tantamount to a declaration
of war with China. Disregarding this notice, the
French attacked and took Sontay, without entailing
the serious consequence threatened by the Marquis,
who appeared to have been thrown over by his govern-
ment Practically, however, war was already declared
between the two countries. The French invaded

48 CHINA.

the island of Formosa, and occupied Kelung. But
as in Tungking, so their position in Formosa was
one of danger and difficulty. In the engagements
they fought they were not by any means always
successful, and disease was rife among them. The
coal mines, which had been the object of their invasion
of Formosa, had been rendered valueless by having
been purposely flooded by the Chinese, and altogether
their expedition to the island entailed on them more
loss than profit Meanwhile the war dragged on in
Tungking. The French, after several successes, which
were by no means unchequered by disasters, advanced,
in March, 1885, and captured Lang-son, in the neigh-
bourhood of the Chinese frontier. An incautious
advance, however, turned the victory into a serious
defeat, and the French were driven by the Chinese
through and beyond Lang-son, with the loss of their
ammunition, baggage, and prisoners. At sea they
were more fortunate, and in the preceding month
they engaged the Chinese fleet in the neighbour-
hood of Shapoo, and sank a frigate, the Yukwan,
twenty-two guns, and a corvette, the Cheng-king, ten
guns. At Foochow, also, the Chinese suffered a
severe defeat at the hands of the French fleet, which
destroyed the forts and sank the shipping.

Victory, however, did not declare in any sense
emphatically for either side, and both governments,
weary of the war, gladly accepted, in April, 1885,

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 49

proposals made by Sir Robert Hart, the Inspector-
General of Customs, for the re-establishment of peace.
By the terms eventually agreed upon, the protectorate
over Tungking was conceded to France, Formosa was
evacuated, and a commercial treaty favourable to
French interests in Tungking was arranged. By a
certain clause in this treaty the importation of opium
was prohibited. This proviso was originally inserted
in hostility to English commerce, but subsequent ex-
perience of the financial importance of the opium
trade induced the French to desire its repeal, and
they therefore now refuse to ratify the treaty, so long
as it contains this obnoxious clause. The Chinese,
on the other hand, being genuinely anxious to ex-
clude the drug from the province, insist on its being
maintained, and, as neither side is disposed to give
way, the treaty remains practically in abeyance. The
last conspicuous victim to the unhealthy climate of
Tungking has been Paul Bert, the French resident,
who only entered on his duties in the early part of
1886. During the short time he held office he did
much to pacify the country, and by utilizing, as far
as possible, the native administrative machinery, he
soothed the susceptibilities of the officials, and gained
the confidence and respect of the people. That, how-
ever, the present condition of the country is unsatis-
factory, the following letter, which lately (January,
1887) appeared in the Times, is sufficient to testify : —

£

So CHINA.

" Although the death of Paul Bert has not entailed
any evil consequences, and counts for nothing with
regard to current events, never was the army of occu-
pation so busily employed. Everywhere there is
fighting, on the borders of Kwangtung, Kwangsi, and
Yunnan, to oppose a regular invasion of bands of
ancient regulars and Chinese irregulars (perhaps even
still in the pay of China). On the upper Black River,
we have constantly to deal with the partisans of the
ancient king of Annam, who, under the ex-Regent,
Thuyet, have been engaged with us so long. Again,
on the southern frontier we have opposed to us the
ex-king himself, at the head of an insurrection in the
province of Than-Hoa. These separate movements
are going on concurrently, and the situation cannot
be termed brilliant. The rebels entice many from
the ranks of our Tonquinese sharpshooters by bribes
of gold, piastres, and titles. Men desert with arms
and ammunition (a gun is worth 21 of., and a packet
of cartridges four, while an officer's head is rewarded
with one and even two bars of gold). Some posts
have been successfully held against the enemy, but it
is only through providential accidents that they have
not fallen into their hands."

In Korea, the large influx of Japanese settlers
consequent on opening the country to foreign trade
produced, in 1 884, much uneasiness and disturbance.
The king's father, who had intrigued against the

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 51

Chinese, was already a prisoner in China ; but in
order still further to preserve order, Le Hungchang,
with the sanction of the Peking Government, de-
spatched an army to the neighbourhood of Seoul,
the capital, and appointed Herr von Mollendorf, Vice-
President of the Board of Foreign Affairs. These
measures did not, however, prevent a revolutionary
outbreak. On the evening of the 4th of December,
1884, a party of rebels rushed into the palace, and
asserting that the Chinese troops had revolted, urged
the king to throw himself on the protection of the
Japanese Minister. This the king refused to do ; and
his partisans, who desired to communicate with the
Chinese commander outside the city, were murdered
when their intention became known. Meanwhile
Japanese troops had arrived for the protection of the
king, whose abdication was proposed by the rebels.
With unaccountable tardiness, the Chinese commander
did not appear upon the scene until the 6th, when he
demanded an audience with the king. This being
denied him, he marched troops into the city, and,
after some fighting, got possession of the person of
the king. The people now turned on the Japanese,
whom they accused, rightly or wrongly, of having
been the cause of the disturbance. They destroyed
the Legation, and drove the minister and his escort
out of the city. With great difficulty the fugitives
made their way to the coast, where they embarked on

52 CHINA.

one of their country's ships. One hundred and fifty
Koreans, nine Chinese, and thirty-eight Japanese, lost
their lives in the itneute.

Under the new rigime y by which negotiations have
been substituted for war, the questions in dispute
were submitted to a conference of Korean, Chinese,
and Japanese Commissioners, who agreed that the
king should apologize to the Japanese Government ;
that the murderers of Captain Nobuyashi, one of the
victims, should be punished; that the king should
pay 1 10,000 yen compensation for wounds and loss of
property; and a further sum of 20,000 yen towards
rebuilding the Legation ; and that barracks for the
Japanese escort should be built near the Legation.
With the conclusion of this arrangement peace was
restored, and the only subsequent event of importance
has been the removal of Herr von Mollendorf from
his post at the Korean Foreign Office, in consequence
of the support he gave to some Russian proposals
which were considered to threaten the integrity of the
country.

The disorganized condition of Burmah, consequent
on the maladministration of Thebaw, which ulti-
mately led to his deposition, forced upon the Chinese,
in 1884, the necessity of making themselves masters
of Bhamo if they were to maintain their trade with
the country. Having once acquired possession of the
town, they resisted all the attacks made upon them

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 53

by the Burmese, and retired from it only on the
advance of our troops after the occupation of Man-
dalay. The fact, however, of their having held a
footing in Burmah, gave them a claim to some com-
pensation at our hands, and the unquestionable
suzerainty which had been held over Burmah, en-
titled them, from their point of view, to a continuation
of the decennial presents from us as successors to
Thebaw. Their first proposal was that Bhamo
should be ceded to them, and the presents be sent as
usual. But it was held by the military authorities
that the position of Bhamo, from a strategical point
of view, made it important that it should remain
Burmese territory. It was agreed, however, that a
frontier should be defined by a commission appointed
for the purpose, and that decennial presents should be
sent to Peking, not by the British, but by the highest
Burmese authority in Mandalay. Unfortunately, the
disturbed state of the country has hitherto prevented
anything being done in the way of delimiting the
frontier. The latest news is, however, more reassuring.
Trading caravans are beginning to arrive at Bhamo
from China, thus indicating that the roads are again
becoming safe ; and there appears, therefore, to be a
prospect of returning peace and prosperity.

The straightforward honesty with which the Eng-
lish Government had carried on the negotiations with
China, with reference to Burmah, was fully appreciated

54 CHINA.

by the Marquis Ts'eng, who, possessing eminent
diplomatic ability, with a high sense of honour, was
always willing to recognize similar qualifications in
those with whom he was brought into contact. The
result was that, at his advice, China agreed to give a
constant support to the British rule in Burmah, and
further consented to open Tibet to British trade from
India. Early in 1886, an expedition was prepared to
enter Tibet, under the direction of Mr. Macauley, but
owing to misunderstandings that arose in consequence
of the military character of the undertaking, the pro-
ject was at the last moment abandoned. Meanwhile,
some Chinese traders, attracted by the advantageous
prospect of a trade with Tibet from the west, arrived
in India with the intention of establishing places of
business as near as possible to the frontier.

The prominence which, as will be seen from the
above, has been given of late to the position of the
countries tributary to China, has induced her states-
men to take into consideration the permanent attitude
which it behoves her to assume toward her dependent
states. The discussion of this subject formed a leading
feature in an article contributed by the Marquis
Ts'eng to the Asiatic Review (January 1, 1887), and if
we may accept his views on the subject as those of his
government, we must expect to see shortly a decided
move made in the direction of drawing more closely
the bonds which bind the feudatories to the sovereign
state.

HISTORY OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE. 55

The only fiscal measure of importance which has
of late been introduced into the otherwise unchang-
ing system of Chinese government, is the opium
convention, which has been arranged through the
instrumentality of Sir Robert Hart For a long time
the collection of the opium duties at the inland custom
houses had been a source of continual annoyance,
both to the foreign merchants and the native traders.
It opened the door on the one hand to extensive
smuggling, and it induced the Chinese authorities on
the other to adopt stringent preventive measures,
such as that which was popularly known as the
"Hong-kong blockade," to secure the collection of
their just dues. By this convention, a fixed lekin
duty of eighty taels per chest, payable at the port of
entry, has been substituted for the irregular taxation
variously imposed at inland barriers.

CHAPTER II.

MODERN PROGRESS.

KK?v HE experiences of our last war with
China, and the very material assist-
ance which the imperial forces re-
ceived from foreign officers and
arms during the Tai-ping rebellion,
first opened the eyes of the Chinese
to the necessity of reforming their
ways if they were to maintain them-
selves as an independent nation.
In the year 1861, while yet our forces were occupy-
ing Tien-tsin, the Chinese Government asked for the
loan of certain English officers to drill their men,
and procured the translation of some of the English
artillery manuals. A year or two later, they made an
abortive attempt to establish a foreign navy, com-
manded by Captain Sherard Osborn, and about the
same time Le Hungchang founded an arsenal at

MODERN PROGRESS. 57

Nanking, under the superintendence of Sir Halliday
Macartney, who from that day to this has been firm
in his support of every measure calculated to promote
the welfare and safety of China. At this arsenal, which
was the first established in China, and which is purely
a military manufactory, the energies of the employis
have been devoted to the production of guns, rifles,
gatlings, Hale rockets, powder, and torpedoes, and
both in quantity and quality the munitions turned
out have been excellent.

At a later day, a dockyard was opened at Foo-
chow, directed by Mons. Giguel, a French naval officer,
of whom it may fairly be said that he accomplished all
that it was within the power of man to do with the
materials at his command. Subsequently, there were
established an arsenal and dockyard at Shanghai,
presided over by Messrs. Hearson and Walker, of the
Royal Navy ; an arsenal at Canton, and another at
T'ien-tsin, to which is attached a naval school and a
school of naval engineering. From all these factories
large supplies of munitions of war have for years been
issued, with the result that both the land and sea
forces are now almost entirely armed with the newest
and best weapons. The experience of the last few
years has, however, shown that the best arms of pre-
cision are comparatively valueless in the hands of
Chinese soldiers as at present drilled and manoeuvred.
During the war with France, with the powerful and

58 CHINA.

heavily armed fleet and numerous torpedo boats at
their disposal, the Chinese commanders did nothing in
opposition to the French ships, and though on land
the possession of rifles made the Chinese troops
somewhat more formidable than in the days when
their most destructive weapon was the gingal, they
did not emphasize the difference in the way in which
it was confidently expected they would have done.

It is, however, in the matter of ships that the
Chinese have made the most appreciable advance.
The old war junk, which until i860 was the only type
of man-of-war carrying the Chinese pennant, has now
become a thing of the past, and the very latest pro-
ductions of the yards of Yarrow and Stettin have
taken their place. (A list of the Chinese navy as it
at present stands, on the authority of Lloyd's " Uni-
versal Register of British and Foreign Shipping,
1887," is given on pages 60, 61.)

But the recent maritime ventures of the Chinese
have not been confined to ships of war, Chinese
merchants have of late invested largely in foreign
steamers, and in the third quarter of 1886, out of
1295 foreign-built ships which entered and cleared at
Shanghai, 337 were Chinese owned. The eager way
in which steamers still continue to be bought up
argues that private owners find them more profitable
than the several native merchant shipping companies
have done. One and all these have been failures,

MODERN PROGRESS. 59

though in some instances they have been supported
by powerful official influence.

With a due regard to the safety of the enhanced
native wealth now sent to sea on the coast of China,
as well as of the enormous fleets of foreign vessels
which annually visit the treaty ports, the imperial
customs authorities have established seventy-nine
lighthouses and lightships along the coast, together
with sixty-two buoys.

In addition to the torpedo boats above mentioned,
there is one now being built at Yarrow, which will
have a speed of twenty-six miles an hour, and will
surpass both in speed and in manoeuvring power the
celebrated English boat, No. 79, which is the finest
and best in the British navy. As a matter of fact,
China will soon have one of the largest torpedo ser-
vices afloat At Port Arthur, a torpedo school has been
established under Commander Reginald Scott Rogers,
R.N., and one of the features of the northern fleet com-
manded by Admiral Lang is the torpedo department.

The rapid adoption of telegraphs in China has
been almost as remarkable as that of foreign-built
ships. The Russian difficulty some years ago first
gave an impetus to their construction, and when once
their value was definitely experienced, it was deter-
mined to lay down lines along the leading thorough-
fares through the country. One of the first to be
made was one for Shanghai, vid Chin-Kiang to

NORTH COAST
Sea-going

Description.

Name.

Material.

Rig.

Where Built.

Date of
Launching.

Barbette (
Ships... \

Turret \
Ships... (

Chen- Yuen

Ting- Yuen

King- Yuen

(Not yet named).
Tsi-Yuen

Steel....
fi ••••

f f • • • »
tt ••••
ff ••••

9
9

a
a

8

Stettin ....

»t ••••
»» • «• .
»» ••••

x88a

1881

x886

Building . .
1883

Cruisers. f 1 Chih Yuen . .
zst class ( I Ching Yuen..

Deck Protected

. lElswick... I 1886.

1 Steel Totped<
Elbingen, 164 feet
1500 T.H.P., and

I 1886

Torpedo

broad, with
speed of as
Stettin, no

Stettin, no feet long, 13 feet broad. andVpeed 1 of ao knots ; a Torpedo Boats,
Boats, built at Elbmgen, 85 feet long, xo feet broad; 4 Torpedo Boats of

Unprotected

Gun Boats.

Alpha...
Beta....
Gamma..
Delta...
Epsilon . .

Zeta

Eta <

Theta....
Iota

Kappa..
Lambda..

Iron ....

a

Schooner

•f ••••

9

ff

if • • • •

9

»»

f i • • • •

9

tt

, , ....

a

!«

f f • • • •

a

ff

„ ....

a

ff

a

Steel....

a

ff

»t • • • ■

9

ff

it • • • •

a

ff

Newcastle.

1876.

x879«

1880.

Cruisers.

•{

Gun Boats

Despatch
Transports

Frigate

Armed Gun)

Boat .... J
Floating )

Batteries)

(Not yet named).

(Not yet named).
(Not yet named).

Chao Yung

Nan Shuin

Nan Ting

Yang-Pao

Yang Wei

Ye-Sin

Chen-Hai

Mei-Yun

Tsing-Yuen

Chao-Yu

Hai-King

Kang-Tsi

Tat Ngan

Teng- Yin-Chen . .
Wan-Niang-Tsing

Way-Yuan

Yuan-Kai

Hai-An....

Tien-Sing..

Nos. x to 6 •

Comp. ..
Steel....
Comp. ..
Wood ..

Comp. .
Wood..
Comp. .
Wood..

Comp. .
Wood..

Wood...

Schooner

Schooner

China

Stettin

L. Walker!
Kiel

Foochow..
L. Walker.
Foochow . .

1869

1877

1875

Paddle Despatch Boats— Hat-

SHANGHAI

Foochow

1884

x88«

Building . .

1880

1883

Building .

187a

7869

187a

1878

1873

1879

1876

187a .
X875.

1883.

Transpprts— Chi-Hai,

Gun Boats— Chen-To, 350 tons, 1 & M. ; Ching-Tsing, 180 tons,

Kua-Sing, 3 guns ; Kuang-An, xao tons, 4 guns ; Ling-Feng, 3 guns ;

160 tons, 4 guns; Tsing-An, xao tons, a guns; Tsing-Po, x8o tons,

SQUADRON.
Armour Clads.

!

Length.

Width.

<§s

Armaments.

8 = breech-loader.

M = muzzle-loader.

T = tons.

5&

1

7,280

7 ,a8o
2,850
a,8 5 o
2,320

Feet.
310*0
3x0*0
370*0
270*0
246*0

Feet.
600
6o'o
40*0
40*0
354

Feet,
ao'o
ao'o
x6*o
160
X5*i

4ia l *37-t.B.2 6 w 4-t. B; ab;aT.
2 8|" xo-t. B. ; 2 6" 4-t. B. ; 4 T. „
2 ^'xo-t. B. ; x 6" 4-t. B ; "

7,600
7,600
4,4«>
4,400
3,000

Tons.
x,ooo

X,O0O

32s

3»5
230

KnoU
«5*4

x6'o
>,
X40

I 250*0 1 38*0 I x5'o I
I 250*0 I 38*0 I „ I

Cruisers.
2,300 I 250*0
2,300 I 250*0

Vessels.

0700 I.H.P., and
knots ; x Torpedo
feet long, 13*5 feet
built at Stettin, 86
smaller sizes, built

Squadron.

xs'o I 3 8" x2-t. B. ; 2 6" 4-t. B.

I 5,5oo I
I 5.500 I

500 I x8'o

speed of 19 knots; x Steel Torpedo Gun Boat, built at
Boat, built at Elbingen, 144*3 feet long, 16*4 feet broad, with
broad, and speed of xo'o knots ; 4 Torpedo Boats, built at
feet long, xo'4 broad, and speed of x8'a knots ; xo Torpedo
at Stettin, and 5 built at Elbingen.

425
440

1 ao'o
xao'a

X25*0

xas*7

27*0

30*0
1,
29*0

7'5
So

9*9

x 10" a6i-t. M..
xx2* V ' 3 8-t M*.!
x xx^s-t. M...

235

40

f,

270

„

50

„

350

80

f,

„

»,

»,

„

450

„

60

1,
»»

ff

Squadron.

2.480

260*0

40*0

15*0

1,300

2x7*0

31 "o

....

1,300

217*0

310

....

1,400

210*0

32'2

x8'o

2,200

2530

36*0

,,

,>

„

it

„

„

»,

*,

#*.4oo

axo'o

32*2

xs'o

2,500

2530

36-0

«5'5

S«o

x6o'o

26*0

105

560

X70*o

20*0

IO'O

580

x6o*o

26*0

xo*5

X,2IO

210*0

30-0

X2'5

1.450

200*0

33"o

„

X,2XO

azo'o

30*0

»,

x,a6o

200*0

33'o

xx*5

„

„

,,

„

x.45o

223*0

300

X30

x,aio

2X0*0

30*0

X2'5

x,a6b

aoo'o

33'o

xx*5

J x xo" 16-t. B. ; x 61" 6-t. B. ;\

\ 66" 4 -t.B i

2 6" 4 -t.B.; S 4rB

2 ic/'as-t. B. ; 4V 4-t- 'b' '.'.'.
a 8," xo-t. B.; 8 4}" B

a8i"xo-t B.; 8 4f"B

2xo"25-t. B. ; 4 4* 4-t. B..

3 84" xo-t. B.; 7 4fB

16 "M.; 5i"B

i6"M.; 24}" M

x6"M.; 44*" M

x 7 "m. ...::

x6|"M.; 44i"M

t 6f""M. ;

44'M.

6 5l"M.,
x 7 *''M..

Tong-Yun and Chang-Sheng.

Flotilla.
2,630

i6fM.^ 4 4"M.

3iOO0

....

3»ooo

....

2,900

350

2,400

....

,,

....

,,

....

2,900

....

2,400

250

480

....

400

....

480

....

750

....

600

....

750

....

600

....

„

....

,,

.. •«

75o

....

600

....

299*0

42*0

20*7

105*0

ao'o

6-5

«35'o

36*0

xx*8

2 81" xo-t. B. ; 20 4f" xt-t. B.. 1,750
x6f"6-t.B 340

3 X2-t. M

Pu Hu, and Way-Riang.

6 guns ; Chun-Tong, 150 tons, 2 guns ; Ken-Che, x8o tons, 5 guns
Ngan-Lan, 350 tons; Peng-Chen-Hai, 600 tons, 4 guns; Sai-Tsing
6 guns ; Tsing-Po, 100 tons, 3 guns.

sing.

95
xo'o

xo*3

15*0

16.8
15.0

*,

1,

x6-5
15-0
xo'o

8*o
xo'o

Xl'O

9*0
XX *o
xo'o
xo'o

9*0
xx'o
xo'o

xa'o
xo'o

62 CHINA.

T'ien-tsin and Peking. On the outbreak of the war
with France, this line was extended to Canton, and
another line was laid to Yunnan Fu. A wire has
also been carried into Manchuria, in the direction of
Kirin, and it is probable that before long the frontier
of Kor6a will be crossed. It is not generally known
that during our occupancy of Port Hamilton, a sub-
marine line was laid from the Saddle Islands to
that station. This wire still lies at the bottom of the
sea, and is ready for the use of whatever power may
ultimately succeed to the possession of the island.

To railways the Chinese appear at present to have
an objection. The only one in existence, beyond the
toy line laid down at T'ien-tsin, is that which connects
the Kai-ping coal-mine with the head of the canal
leading to Pehtang. Short as this railway is, it is
doing excellent service, and will, no doubt, be the
precursor of others so soon as the Chinese are able to
construct them for themselves.

CHAPTER III.

THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA.

HINESE government may be described
as being in theory a patriarchal des-
potism. The Emperor is the father of
his people, and just as in a family the
father's law is supreme, so the emperor
exercises complete control over his sub-
jects, even to the extent of holding,
under certain recognized conditions,
their lives in his hands. But from
time immemorial it has been held by the highest
constitutional authorities, by Confucius and Mencius
among the rest, that the duties existing between the
Emperor and his people are reciprocal, and that,
though it is the duty of the people to render a loyal
and willing obedience to the emperor so long as his
rule is just and beneficent, it is equally incumbent on

64 CHINA.

them to resist his authority, to depose him, and even
to put him to death in case he should desert the
paths of rectitude and virtue.

As a matter of fact, however, it is very difficult to
say what extent of power the Emperor actually wields.
The outside world sees only the imperial bolts, but
how they are forged, or whose is the hand that shoots
them, none can tell. Of course, in the case of un-
usually able men, such as K'ang-he (1661-1722) and
K'een-lung (1735-1795), the second and fourth sove-
reigns of the present dynasty, the ruler's influence is
more felt than when less energetic men hold the
sceptre ; but the throne of China is so hedged in with
ceremonials, and so padded with official etiquette, that
unless its occupant be a man of supreme ability, he
cannot fail to fall under the guidance of his ministers
and favourites. To assist him in the government he
has a council of state : the members of which, five in
number, daily transact the business of the empire in
the imperial presence between the hours of four and
six in the morning. Then there are the Grand Secre-
tariat; the Tsung-le Yamun, or Foreign Office; the
six boards, viz., the Le poo, or Board of Civil Office ;
the Hoo poOy or Board of Revenue ; the Le poo, or
Board of Ceremonies ; the Ping poo, or Board of
War ; the Hing poo, or Board of Punishments ; and
the Kung poo, or Board of Works, and several minor
offices, all charged with the superintendence of the

THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 65

provinces into which the empire is divided. Fifteen
of these provinces are grouped into eight viceroyal-
ties, and the remaining three are administered by
governors. Each province is autonomous, or nearly
so, and the supreme authorities, whether viceroys or
governors, are practically independent so long as they
act in accordance with the very minute regulations
laid down for their guidance. The principal function
of the Peking government is to see that these regula-
tions are carried out, and, in case they should not be,
to call the offending viceroy or governor to account.
Subordinate to the viceroys are the governors of
each province, under whom again are intendants
of circuits, prefects and sub-prefects, next district
magistrates, and after them a whole host of petty
officials. Each viceroy raises his own army and navy,
which he pays, or sometimes, unfortunately, does not
pay, out of the revenues of his government He levies
his own taxes, and, except in particular cases, is the
final court of appeal in all judicial matters within the
limits of his rule. But in return for this latitude
allowed him he is held personally responsible for the
good government of his territory. If by any chance
serious disturbances break out and continue unsup-
pressed, he is called to account as having by his mis-
conduct contributed to them, and he in his turn looks
to his subordinates to maintain order and execute
justice within their jurisdictions. Of himself he has

F

66 CHINA.

no power to remove or punish subordinate officials,
but has to refer all complaints against them to Peking.
The personal responsibility resting upon him of main-
taining order makes him a severe critic on those who
serve under him, and the Peking Gazette bears evidence
to the frequency with which junior officials are im-
peached and punished at the instigation of their chiefs.
The following decree, which appeared in the Peking
Gazette of the 1 3th of September, 1 877, furnishes a good
example of the usual charges and customary punish-
ments brought against and awarded to offending
officers : — " A decree based upon a memorial from Le
Han-chang, viceroy of Hoo Kwang, and Win T'ung-
tsioh, governor of Hoopih, who have solicited the
degradation or compulsory retirement, respectively,
of certain incapable or unworthy officials. In the
case of Shoo Tsaou, department magistrate of Kiun
Chow, declared to be wanting in natural ability and
shallow in acquired knowledge, and of indifferent
reputation — of Le Tsang-yaou, district magistrate of
E-ch'£ng, declared to have set official prescription at
naught in his business arrangements, and to have
made himself unacceptable to the people — and of
Niu Fuh-kea, declared to be inspired with a false and
treacherous disposition, and to have employed deceit-
ful representations in his transaction of affairs ; the
sentence is that the delinquents be forthwith stripped
of their rank and office. Chang Han, sub-prefect of

THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 67

Han-Yang-foo, being decrepit from age, and beyond
the possibility of active exertion, is to be compulsorily
retired."

Other charges, such as of opium-smoking, misap-
propriation of public moneys, and failure to arrest
criminals, meet with like punishments. On the whole,
the conduct of junior officials is carefully watched ;
and though it may not unfrequently happen that they
are unjustly charged with offences, their causes are,
when stich cases become apparent, impartially vindi-
cated, and their accusers, of whatever rank, are brought
to the bar of justice. Not long since, for an offence
of this nature, the lieutenant-governor of the province
of Honan was dismissed from his office, and the
governor was degraded three steps of rank for having
countenanced his proceedings.

As has been already said, the affairs of each pro-
vince are administered by the viceroy or governor
and his subordinates, and, speaking generally, their
rule is as enlightened and as just as could be expected
in an oriental country where public opinion finds only
a very imperfect utterance. Official purity and justice
must be treated as comparative terms in China. The
constitution of the civil service renders it next to
impossible that any office-holder can be clean-handed
in the European sense. The salaries awarded are
low out of all proportion to the necessary expenses
pertaining to the offices to which they are apportioned,

68 CHINA.

and the consequence is, that in some way or other
the officials are compelled to make up the deficiency
from the pockets of those subject to them. Every
legal precaution is taken to prevent this nefarious
system, with the exception of the only one which
might be expected to put a stop to it. All appoint-
ments are tenable for three years only, so that the
holders of office are naturally anxious to gain and
keep the esteem and approval of their superiors, and
so to administer affairs as not to raise audible discon-
tent among the people ; on the other hand, it must
be admitted that this regulation is apt to tempt a
greedy and unscrupulous mandarin to make the most
he can from each district over which he may hold one
of these short terms of office. No mandarin is allowed
to take office in his native province, and no relation,
or even connection, is allowed to serve under him.
How stringent is this rule appears from an edict lately
published in the Peking Gazette, in which the governor
of the province of Kwei-chow was rebuked for not
having reported to the throne that he was about to
connect himself with the family of an intendant of
circuit in the same province by the betrothal of his
third son to the intendant's second daughter, and in
consequence of which proposed alliance the ambitious
intendant was ordered to another province. But all
such regulations are powerless to prevent extortion in
face of a positive necessity, and it would be just as

THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 69

useful to decree that black should be henceforth white,
as that men, whose salaries are insufficient to pay the
wages of their underlings, should hold their hands
when abundance is within their reach.

As a rule, mandarins seldom enter office with
private fortunes, and the wealth therefore which
soothes the declining years of veteran officials may
be fairly assumed to be ill-gotten gain. A remark-
able instance of a fortune thus acquired, and of the
retributive "fleecing" which is not unfrequently in-
flicted on the possessors of such plunder, occurred in
the case of Hang Ke, who was superintendent of
customs at Canton prior to the year 1859, when he
resigned office. This man's salary was 2400 taels, or
about £800 a year ; the necessary expenses of his
yamun or official residence were about 8000 taels per
month, and yet, when he resigned his seals of office, he
retired with a fortune of 300,000 taels, or £100,000.
As is not unusually the case when a high official
retires from his post, more especially if he is believed
to have made money, Hang Ke was ordered to
Peking, and before he had been many days in the
capital one-third of the £100,000 had passed into
the hands of members of the government Well may
we ask, Quis custodiet custodes ? But the old proverb
that one man may steal a horse, and another man
may not look over the fence, is peculiarly true as
regards official extortion in China, as many less

7© CHINA.

discreet men than Hang Ke have found to their cost
Not long since, a district magistrate in the province
of Kwei-chow was put to death by strangulation for
having levied an illegal assessment of 6050 taels
only from certain communes of the Meaou-tsze
aborigines within his district The immunity which
some mandarins enjoy from the just consequences
of their crimes, and the severity with which the law
is vindicated in the cases of others for much lighter
offences, has a sinister aspect But in a system of
which bribery and corruption practically form a part
one need not expect to find purity in any direction,
and it is not too much to say that the whole civil
service is, judged by an English standard, corrupt
to the core. The people, however, are very lightly
taxed, and they readily submit to limited extortion
so long as the rule of the mandarins is otherwise
just and beneficent. But how rarely does a mandarin
earn the respect and affection of the people is obvious
from the great parade which is made on the departure
from their posts of the very occasional officials
who are fortunate enough to have done so. Arch-
deacon Gray states in his " China " that during his
residence of a quarter of a century at Canton he only
met one man who had entitled himself to the regret
of the people at his departure. On his leaving the
city the inhabitants rose en masse to do him honour.
* In the imposing procession which escorted him to

THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 71

the place of embarkation, and which took at least
twenty minutes to pass a given point, were carried
the silk umbrellas which had been presented to him
by the people, and the red boards — of which there
were probably three hundred — upon which high-
sounding titles had been inscribed in honour of the
faithful minister. The route was spanned at fre-
quent intervals by arches. From these banners were
suspended which bore, in large letters, painted or
embroidered, such sentences as ' The Friend of the
People'; 'The Father of the People'; c The Bright
Star of the Province ' ; ' The Benefactor of the Age/
Deputations awaited his arrival at various temples,
and he alighted from his chair to exchange compli-
ments with them, and to partake of the refreshments
provided for the occasion. But the formal arrange-
ments could not speak so clearly to his popularity as
the enthusiasm of the people. The silence generally
observed when a Chinese ruler passes through the
streets was again and again broken by hearty ex-
clamations of 'When will your Excellency come
back to us?' At many points the crowd was so
great as to interrupt the line of march, and the state
chair was frequently in danger of being upset."

A somewhat similar scene occurred at T'ien-tsin in
the year 1861 on the departure of the prefect of that
city. The people accompanied him beyond the gate
on his road to Peking with every token of honour,

72 CHINA.

and finally begged from him his boots, which they
carried back in triumph, and hung up as a memento
of their hero in the temple of the city god. Going to
the opposite extreme it sometimes happens that the
people, goaded into rebellion by a sense of wrong,
rise in arms against some particularly obnoxious
mandarin and drive him from the district. But
Chinamen are essentially unwarlike, and it requires
some act of gross oppression to stir their blood to
fever heat

A potent means of protection against oppression
is granted to the people by the appointment of im-
perial censors throughout the empire, whose duty it
is to report to the throne all cases of misrule, in-
justice, or neglect on the part of the mandarins
which come to their knowledge. The same tolerance
which is shown by the people towards the short-
comings and ill-deeds of the officials, is displayed by
these men in the discharge of their duties. Only
aggravated cases make them take their pens in hand,
but when they do it must be confessed that they show
little mercy. Neither are they respecters of persons ;
their lash falls on all alike, from the emperor on his
throne to the police-runners in magisterial courts.
Nor is their plain speaking more amazing than the
candour with which their memorials affecting the
characters of both great and small are published in
the Peking Gazette. The gravest charges, such as of

THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 73

peculation, neglect of duty, injustice, or incompetence,
are brought against mandarins of all ranks, and are
openly published in the official paper. No doubt it
is intended that the lesson implied by these publica-
tions should have a salutary effect on the official
readers, but their constant recurrence tends to lessen
their value, and thus they probably serve less as warn-
ings against wrong-doing than as hints as to what
particular evil practices to avoid, and especially the
unwisdom of falling out with a censor.

In the administration of justice the same lax
morality as in other branches of government exists,
and bribery is largely resorted to by litigants, more
especially in civil cases. As a rule, money in excess
of the legal fees has, in the first instance, to be paid
to the clerks and secretaries before a case can be
put down for hearing, and the decision of the pre-
siding mandarin is too often influenced by the sums
of money which find their way into his purse from
the pockets of either suitor. But the greatest blot
on Chinese administration is the inhumanity shown
to both culprits and witnesses in criminal procedure.
Tortures of the most painful and revolting kind are
used to extort evidence, and punishments scarcely
more severely cruel are inflicted on the guilty parties.
Flogging with bamboos on the hind part of the
thighs, or between the shoulders, beating the jaws
with thick pieces of leather, or the ankles with a

74

CHINA.

stick, are some of the preliminary tortures applied to
witnesses or culprits who refuse to give the evidence
expected of them. Further refinements of cruelty
are reserved for hardened offenders, by means of
which infinite pain, and often permanent injury, are

inflicted on the knee-joints, fingers, ankles, etc.
Occasionally the tortures pass the limits of en-
durance, and death releases the victim from his
miseries ; but, as a rule, in the " severe question," life
is preserved, but at the expense of crippled limbs.
The Turanians are so obtuse-nerved by nature that

THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 75

they probably do not feel pain as acutely as more
sensitive races, and their nerves survive shocks
which would prove fatal to a more finely organized
people. It is this which enables them to pass
through the horrors of the torture-chamber alive.
It must, of course, be understood that, though these
tortures are unfortunately common, their intensity,
and even their use, vary with the disposition of each
mandarin in whose power it is to inflict them. To
many, no doubt, their employment is as repugnant
as it would be to an English judge, but to have to
look for mercy on the chance of the presiding man-
darin being of a kindly disposition is a poor security
for those who enter a criminal court

It follows, as a natural consequence, that, in a
country where torture is thus resorted to, the punish-
ment inflicted on criminals must be proportionately
cruel. Death, the final punishment, can unfortunately
be inflicted in various ways, and a sliding scale of
capital punishments is used by the Chinese to mark
their sense of the varying heinousness of murderous
crimes. For parricide, matricide, and wholesale
murders, the usual sentence is that of Ling che y or
" ignominious and slow " death. In the carrying out
•of this sentence, the culprit is fastened to a cross,
and cuts, varying in number, at the discretion of the
judge, from eight to a hundred and twenty, are made
first on the face and fleshy parts of the body, next

76 CHINA.

the heart is pierced, and finally, when death has been
thus caused, the limbs are separted from the body
and divided. During the year 1877, ten cases in
which this punishment was inflicted were reported
in the Peking Gazette ; in one of which, shocking to
say, a lunatic was the sufferer, a circumstance which
adds a weird horror to the ghastly scene. In ordinary
cases of capital punishment, execution by beheading
is the common mode. This is a speedy and merciful
death, the skill gained by frequent experience enabling
the executioner in almost every case to perform his
task in one blow. On one occasion, the author saw
thirty-six men beheaded at Canton for robbery with
violence. Two executioners were employed, and
they finished their task in less than two minutes,
neither of them having once failed to sever the head
from the body at the first stroke. The culprits were
brought on to the ground heavily chained and in
baskets, each basket being carried between two men
and slung on a bamboo pole. On arriving at the ap-
pointed spot, the men were more thrown than lifted
out of the baskets, and were placed in a kneeling
position. They were then arranged one behind the
other in two rows, and at a given signal by the pre-
siding mandarin, the executioners, who had taken
up their positions between the rows at each end,
struck right and left.

Another death, which is less horrible to Chinamen,

THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 77

who view any mutilation of the body as an extreme
disgrace, is by strangulation. The privilege of so
passing out of the world is accorded at times to
influential criminals, whose crimes are not of so
heinous a nature as demand their decapitation ; and
occasionally they are even allowed to be their own
executioners. In the year 1861, a prince of the blood
who had been found guilty of treason had this favour
extended to him. The " silken cord " was sent to
him in his cell in the Board of Punishments, and he
was left to consummate his own doom. But his
nerve forsook him, and the jailors were ultimately
compelled to carry out the sentence of the law.

Other and summary extra-judicial executions are
carried out by the people with the silent consent of
the officials in the case of kidnappers and others
taken red-handed, and their nature is to a great
extent moulded by circumstances. If a river should
be close at hand, the probability is that the
criminal would be thrown bound into the water, but
the more common mode of lynching is to bind the
condemned wretch to a cross and to strangle him
with a cord passed through a hole in the cross at
the back of his neck. It is a fortunate provision of
nature that the fear of death diminishes in direct
ratio to the frequency of its probable incidence.
Seasons of war and political disturbance, when the
sword is bare and the executioner's hands are full,

78 CHINA.

are generally times of reckless gaiety and thought-
less living, and so in countries such as China, where
human life possesses, neither in the eyes of the judges
nor of the people, the sacredness with which it is
viewed in Europe, the people, far from being weighed
down with a sense of the possible nearness of death,
learn to look on its imminence with indifference and
to despise its terrors. The uncertainty also which
surrounds the fate of the condemned malefactor is
apt to encourage a hope that fortune may be kinder
to him than the judge, for it by no means follows that
every man upon whom sentence of death is passed
finds his way to the execution-ground. The lists of
condemned criminals are sent at stated times from
all parts of the empire to Peking, and the Emperor,
guided pretty much by chance, marks with a red
pencil the names of a certain proportion on whom
it is his imperial will that the sentence of the law
should be carried out at the approaching jail delivery.
On the morning of the day fixed for the execution,
the jailor enters the prison and reads out the names
of the unfortunate ones, who are then taken before
the judge to be officially identified, after which they
are allowed a meal, which is supplied either by their
friends or the prison authorities, mainly consisting,
as a rule, of some narcotic, and are finally carried
off to the execution-ground. The names of those
left in prison are sent up to Peking with the next

THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. 79

batch, and those who are lucky enough to escape
the vermilion pencil two or three times are generally
sent off into banishment for life. When any great
public work, such, for instance, as the great wall, is
being carried on, criminals of this sort are sent to
labour at it ; but in ordinary times they are banished
beyond the frontiers into either Mongolia or Manchuria.
It maybe that in some cases the indifference with which
criminals leave their cells for the execution-ground is
to be traced to the supreme misery of their prison
life, and to any one who has visited a Chinese prison
this indifference is not surprising. Asiatics are almost
invariably careless about the sufferings of others, and
Chinamen are no exception to the rule. It is almost
impossible to exaggerate the horrors of a Chinese
prison. The filth and dirt of the rooms, the brutality
of the jailors, the miserable diet, and the entire absence
of the commonest sanitary arrangements, make up
a picture which it is too horrible to draw in detail.
During the war of i860, as before stated, two of our
countrymen, Sir Harry Parkes and Mr. Loch, were
treacherously taken prisoners, and were confined in
the prison of the Board of Punishments at Peking.
The extraordinary fortitude of these men and the
horrors of their surroundings may be imagined from
the following passages from Mr. Loch's "Narrative
of Events in China " : — " The discipline of the prison
was not in itself very strict, and had it not been for

80 CHINA.

the starvation, the pain arising from the cramped
position in which the chains and ropes retained the
arms and legs, with the heavy drag of the iron collar
on the bones of the spine, and the creeping vermin
that infested every place, together with the occasional
beatings and tortures which the prisoners were from
time to time taken away for a few hours to endure, —
returning with bleeding legs and bodies, and so weak
as to be scarce able to crawl — there was no very
great hardship to be endured. . . . There is a small
maggot which appears to infest all Chinese prisons ;
the earth at the depth of a few inches swarms with
them ; they are the scourge most dreaded by every
poor prisoner. Few enter a Chinese prison who have
not on their bodies or limbs some wounds, either
inflicted by blows to which they have been subjected,
or caused by the manner in which they have been
bound ; the instinct of the insect to which I allude
appears to lead him direct to these wounds. Bound
and helpless, the poor wretch cannot save himself
from their approach, although he knows full well
that if they once succeed in reaching his lacerated
skin, there is the certainty of a fearful, lingering,
and agonizing death before him." In the provincial
prisons, the condition of the wretched culprits is
even worse than in the Board of Punishments. Those
who were present at the first inspection of the Canton
prisons after the taking of that city in 1859 will

THE GOVERNMENT OF CHINA. St

never forget the sight which met their gaze. In one
foul dark den, men in whom life yet lingered, were
lying by the side of a corpse in an advanced stage
of decomposition, and so pestilential was the atmo-
sphere that it was only possible to endure it for a
moment As the wretched creatures were dragged
out to the light of day, and the full horror of their
condition . became apparent, English soldiers who
were present wept as they had not wept since they
were children, at the sight of such unutterable
suffering. 1 And there is no reason to suppose that
the Canton prisons are not typical of the prisons
throughout the empire ; on the contrary, the gross
neglect and abominable cruelty of magistrates and
jailors which are occasionally shown up in the
Peking Gazette point to the conclusion that other
jails are as foul, and other warders as brutal, as
those of Canton.

Chinese law-givers have distinguished very markedly
between crimes accompanied and unaccompanied
with violence. For offences of the latter description,
punishments of a comparatively light nature are in-
flicted, such as wearing the wooden collar, known
among Europeans as the canque, and piercing the
ears with arrows, to the ends of which are attached
slips of paper on which are inscribed the crime of
which the culprit has been guilty. Frequently the
1 " China," by Wingrove Cooke.

G

*2

CHINA.

criminals, bearing these signs of their disgrace, are
paraded up and down the streets where their offences
were committed, and sometimes, in more serious cases,
they are flogged through the leading thoroughfares
of the city, preceded by a herald, who announces the
nature of their misdemeanours. But to give a list
of Chinese punishments would be to exhaust the
ingenuity of man to torture his fellow-creatures.
The subject is a horrible one, and it is a relief to
turn from the dingy prison gates and the halls of so-
called justice to the family life of the people. i

A PRISONER IN THE CANQUE.

Page 82.

V

CHAPTER IV,

MARRIAGE.

E have said that the government of
the empire is modelled on the gov-
ernment of a household, and at the
root of all family ties, says one of
the Chinese classics, is the relation
of husband and wife, which is as
the relation of heaven and earth.
Chinese historians state that the
rite of marriage was first instituted
by the Emperor Fuh-he, who reigned in the twenty-
eighth century B.C., and who ordained, as a preliminary,
that the intending bridegroom should present his
future bride with a pair of prepared skins as an earnest
of their engagement. But before this period there
is abundant evidence to show that, as amongst all
other peoples, the first form of marriage in China
was by capture. The modern character IB ckii

U CHINA.

meaning to marry, is said to bear in its construc-
tion a reference to this old practice, made up as it is
of an ear If, a hand jj£, and a woman -j^ thus
commemorating the custom of bringing in captives
by the ear, as is still done by Chinese soldiers in time
of war. On the evening of the marriage, according to
the Marchu rite, the Chinese bridegroom either goes
himself or sends a friend to bring his bride to his
house, but always after dark, as if by stealth, and the
ceremony, such as it is, is performed in his house. In
the same way, but in> a more primitive form, we find
the bridegroom among a northern Mongolian tribe
chasing his bride through the compartments of her
father's tent, while old women go through the form
of tripping him up and otherwise hindering him in his
pursuit. And among some central Asiatic tribes the
bridegroom chases his wife on horseback. But whether
the pursuit is in a Siberian tent or on a Central Asiatic
steppe, the result is the same, the bride gives in at
last, and becomes the property of her pursuer. Among
ourselves, no doubt, the practice of a bridegroom going
to take over his bride accompanied by a " best man "
is a survival from the time when men took their
wives by force, and the bridesmaids of the present
day represent the defenders of their fortunate or
unfortunate sister.

But at the present day marriage is probably more
universal in China than in any other civilized country

MARRIAGE.

in the world. It is regarded as something indispens-
able, and few men pass the age of twenty without
taking to themselves a wife. Chinese legislators
have at all times encouraged early marriages as
having a pacifying effect upon the people. A man
who has given " hostages to fortune " in the shape of
a wife and children has a greater inducement to
follow in the paths of steady industry, and is less
likely to throw in his lot with brigands and rebels,
than a man who has but himself to think of, and is
without any immediate ties. But besides 4 this the
Chinese believe, in common with the ancient Greeks,
that " the shades of the unburied - wander restlessly
about without gaining admittance into Hades; so
that non-burial came to be considered the most
deplorable calamity that could befall one, and the
discharge of the last service a most holy duty." * To
die, therefore, without leaving behind a son to perform
the burial rites, and to offer up the fixed periodical
sacrifices at the tomb, is one of the most direful
fates that can overtake a Chinaman, and he seeks to
avoid it by an early marriage. But "the gods, we
are told, bestow not on men all their gifts at once,"
and it sometimes happens that the desired object is
not obtained. As, however, among the ancient Jews
the necessity of securing an heir is of such vital im-
portance that in such cases the first wife has not
* Becker's Gallus.

*6 . CHINA.

■unfrequently to make way for a second, and the
practice of adoption comes to the relief of those to
whom children are hopelessly denied. The Chinese,
however, being monogamists, it is necessary that,
before taking another wife, a man should divorce the
existing one. Nor is this a difficult process, since
any one of the seven pleas for divorce spoken of later
on, would be enough for his purpose.

Like every other rite in China,, that of marriage
is fenced in with a host of ceremonies. In a vast
majority of cases a bridegroom never sees his bride
until the wedding-night, it being considered a grave
breach of etiquette for young men and maidens to
associate together or even to see one another. Of
course it does occasionally happen that either by
stealth or by chance a pair become acquainted ; but
whether they have thus associated or whether they
are perfect strangers, the first formal overture must
of necessity be made by a go-between, who, having
received a commission from the parents of the young
man, proceeds to the house of the lady and makes a
formal proposal on behalf of the would-be bride-
groom's parents. If the young lady's father ap-
proves the proposed alliance, the suitor sends the
lady some presents as an earnest of his intention*
The parents next exchange documents, which set
forth the hour, day, month, and year when the young
people were born,. and the maiden names of their

MARRIAGE. 87

mothers. Astrologers are then called in to cast
the horoscopes, and should these be favourable, the
engagement is formally entered into, but not so
irrevocably that there are not left several orthodox
ways of breaking it off* If, for instance, a china bowl
should be broken, or an article be lost in the house
of either family within three days of the engagement,
the circumstance is considered to be sufficiently un-
lucky to warrant the instant termination of the nego-
tiations. But should things go smoothly the bride-
groom's father writes a formal, letter of agreement
to the lady's father, accompanied by presents, con-
sisting in some cases of sweetmeats and a live pig,
and in others of a goose and gander, which are re-
garded as emblems of conjugal fidelity. At the same
time the bridegroom prepares two large cards, on
which are written the particulars of the engagement
On the outer side of the one which he keepa is pasted
a paper dragon, and on the outside of the other,
which is sent to the lady, appears a phoenix. Each
card is adorned with two pieces of red silk, which
have their origin in the following legend : " In the
time of the T'ang Dynasty — that is to say, about a
thousand years ago — a man named Hwuy Ko while
staying in the town of Sung met an old man reading
a book by the light of the moon. In answer to
Hwuy's inquiring look, the old man said, 'This is the
register of the engagements for all marriages under

OF THf

UNIVERSITY

Of

8* CHINA.

heaven, and in my pocket I have red cords with which
I connect the feet of those who are to become hus-
band and wife. When these cords are once tied,
nothing on earth can change the destiny of the
parties. Your future wife/ added he, ' is the child of
the old woman who sells vegetables in yonder shop in
the north of the town. 9 Upon hearing this, Hwuy
hurried off to the vegetable shop, and found the
woman in charge possessed of such a hideous little
infant of about a year old, that in his despair he hired
a man to kill the child. Years afterwards, the prefect of
the town where Hwuy Ko then lived, gave him in mar-
riage a beautiful young lady whom he affirmed was
his own daughter. Seeing that his bride always wore
an artificial flower over one of her eyebrows, Hwuy,
Ko asked her the reason of her doing so. ' I am the
daughter/ replied she, 'of the prefect's brother who
died at Sung when I was an infant, leaving me to
the care of an old woman who sold vegetables. One
day, when I was out with her in the street, a ruffian
struck me on my forehead, and made such a scar
that I am obliged to wear this flower to hide the
mark/ 11 Hwuy Ko then recognized the immutability
of fate, and from that day to this red silk has
been entwined in the marriage-cards of every pair in
China.

Following on the exchange of these cards, presents
varying according to the rank and fortune of the

MARRIAGE.

*>

suitor are vicariously presented by him to the lady.
Recourse is then again had to astrologers to fix a
fortunate day for the final ceremony, on the evening
of which the bridegroom's best man proceeds to the
house of the lady and conducts her to her future home

in a red sedan chair, accompanied by musicians who
— as in ancient Athens— enliven the procession with
wedding-airs. At the door of the house, the bride
alights from her sedan, and is lifted over a pan of
burning charcoal, or a red-hot coulter, laid on the

9<>

. CHINA.

threshold by two " women of luck," whose husbands
and children must be living. Sir John Lubbock

states that this ceremony of lifting a bride over the
threshold exists in the four continents, and we know

MARRIAGE. 91

that in ancient Rome the bridegroom received his
bride with fire and water, and presented these two
elements to her touch.

No full explanation has been given of this curiously
universal practice, but it may possibly be useful as
conveying a hint to the lady that for the future she
should stay at home and not face the dangers of re-
crossing the threshold.

In the reception-room the bridegroom awaits his
bride on a raised dais, at the foot of which she humbly
prostrates herself. He then descends to her level,
and, removing her veil, gazes on her face for the first
time. Without exchanging a word, they seat them-
selves side by side, and each tries to sit on a part of
the dress of the other, it being considered that the
one who succeeds in so doing will hold rule in the
household. This trial of skill over, the pair pro-
ceed to the hall, and there before the family altar
worship heaven and earth and their ancestors.
They then go to dinner in their apartment, through
the open door of which the guests scrutinize and
make their remarks on the appearance and demeanour
of the bride. This ordeal is the more trying to her
since etiquette forbids her to eat anything — a prohi-
bition which is not shared by the bridegroom, who
enjoys the dainties provided as his appetite may
suggest The attendants next hand to each in turn
a cup of wine, and, having exchanged pledges, the

9* CHINA.

wedding ceremonies come to an end. In some parts
of the country it is customary for the bride to sit
up late into the night answering riddles which are
propounded to her by the guests ; in other parts it
is usual for her to show herself for a time in the
hall, whither her husband does not accompany her,
as it is contrary to etiquette for a husband and
wife ever to appear together in public. For the same
reason she goes to pay the customary visit to her
parents on the third day after the wedding alone,
and for the rest of her wedded life she enjoys the
society of her husband only in the privacy of her
apartments.

The lives of women in China, and especially of
married women, are such as to justify the wish, often
expressed by the fair followers of Buddha, that in
their next state of existence they may be born men.
Even if in their baby days they escape the infanti-
cidal tendencies of their parents — and this they will
certainly do unless the household is hard pressed by
poverty, and even then the chances are greatly in
favour of their surviving — they are regarded as secon-
dary considerations compared with their brothers.
The philosophers, from Confucius downwards, have
all agreed in assigning them an inferior place to men*
"Of all people," said Confucius, u women are the
most difficult to manage. If you are familiar with
them they become forward, and if you keep them at

MARRIAGE. 93

a distance they become discontented." When the
time comes for them to many, custom requires them,
in nine cases out of ten to take, as we have seen, a
leap in the dark, and that wife is fortunate who finds
in her husband a congenial and faithful companion.
If the reverse should be the case, the probability is
that her career will be one of great unhappiness.
Though society looks with a certain amount of dis-
favour upon the practice of concubinage, except in
case of the wife being childless, it still frequently
obtains, and gives rise to much misery and heart*
burnings in households. A concubine is generally
bought, or occasionally is received as a present She
occupies in the family an inferior position to the wife,
and her children, if she has any, belong by law to the
wife. The lawgivers, accepting the general view of
the inferiority of women, which is sufficiently indi-
cated by the fact that they are marketable com-
modities, have provided that a husband may divorce
his wife for any one of the following seven faults :—

(1) Disobedience to father-in-law or mother-in-law,

(2) Barrenness, (3) Lewdness, (4) Jealousy, (5) Lep-
rosy, (6) Garrulousness, and (7) Stealing. On the
other hand, no offence, of whatever kind, on the
part of the husband gives a woman any right to
claim a divorce from him. The result of this very
one-sided legislation is, no doubt, to promote that
courteous, humble, and conciliatory address and

94 CHINA. .

manner which moralists say should mark a wife's
conduct towards her husband ; and the same autho-
rities hold that in no case should she do more than
gently remonstrate with him on any departure from
"right principles," and never so as to annoy or irritate
him.

So many are the disabilities of married women,
that many girls prefer going into Buddhist or Taouist
nunneries, or even committing suicide, to trusting
their future to men of whom they can know nothing
but from the interested reports of the go-betweens.
Archdeacon Gray, in his work on China, states that,
in 1873, eight young girls, residing near Canton, "who
had been affianced, drowned themselves in order to
avoid marriage. They clothed themselves in their
best attire, and at eleven o'clock, in the darkness of
the night, having bound themselves together, they
threw themselves into a tributary stream of the
Canton river."

The re-marriage of widows is regarded as an im-
propriety, and in wealthy families is seldom practised.
But among the poorer classes necessity often compels
a widow to seek another bread-winner. The leading
paraphernalia of the first marriage is, however, denied
her. Instead of the red wedding sedan, borne by
four or more men, she has to go to her new home in
a common, small, black or blue chair, carried by two
bearers, and unaccompanied by the music which

MARRIAGE. 95

cheered her on her first journey on a similar errand.
Some, however, having been possibly unfortunate in
their first matrimonial venture, refuse to listen to any
proposal for a re-marriage, and, like the young girls
mentioned above, seek to escape by death from the
importunities of relatives who desire to get them off
their hands.

A reverse view of matrimonial experiences is sug-
gested by the practice of wives refusing to survive
their husbands, and, like the victims of suttee in
India, putting a voluntary end to their existence
rather than live to mourn their loss. Such devotion
is regarded by the people with great approbation,
and the deed of suicide is generally performed in
public, and with great punctiliousness. The follow-
ing account of one such suicide at Fuhchow is taken
from the Hong-kong Daily Press of January 20th,
1861 :—

u A few days since," says the writer, "I met a Chinese
procession passing through the foreign settlement,
escorting a young person in scarlet and gold in a
richly decorated chair ; the object of which, I found,
was to invite the public to come and see her hang
herself, a step she had resolved to take in conse-
quence of the death of her husband, by which she
had been left a childless widow. Both being orphans,
this event had severed her dearest earthly ties, and
she hoped by this sacrifice to secure herself eternal

96 CHINA.

happiness, and a meeting with her husband in the
next world. Availing myself of the general invi-
tation, I repaired on the day appointed to the indi-
cated spot We had scarcely arrived, when the same
procession was seen advancing from the Joss house
of the woman's native village towards a scaffold or
gallows erected in an adjacent field, and surrounded
by hundreds of natives of both sexes; the female
portion, attired in gayest holiday costume, was very
numerous. I and a friend obtained a bench for a
consideration, which, being placed within a few yards
of the scaffold, gave us a good view of the perform-
ance. The procession having reached the foot of
the scaffold, the lady was assisted to ascend by her
male attendant, and, after having welcomed the
crowd, partook with some female relatives of a repast
prepared for her on a table on the scaffold, which she
appeared to appreciate extremely. A child in arms
was then placed upon the table, whom she caressed
and adorned with a necklace which she had worn
herself. She then took an ornamented basket con-
taining rice, herbs, and flowers, and, whilst scattering
them amongst the crowd, delivered a short address,
thanking them for their attendance, and upholding
the motives which urged her to the step she was
about to take. This done, a salute of bombards
announced the arrival of the time for the perform-
ance of the last act of her existence, when a delay

MARRIAGE. 97

was occasioned by the discovery of the absence of a
reluctant brother, pending whose arrival let me de-
scribe the means of extermination. The gallows was
formed by an upright timber on each side of the
scaffold supporting a stout bamboo, from the centre
of which was suspended a loop of cord with a
small wooden ring embracing both parts of it, which
was covered by a red silk handkerchief, the whole
being surrounded by an awning.

" The missing brother having been induced to ap-
pear, the widow now proceeded to mount on a chair
placed under the noose, and, to ascertain its fitness for
her reception, deliberately placed her head in it ; them
withdrawing her head, she waved a final adieu to the
admiring spectators, and committed herself to its
embrace for the* last time, throwing the red handker-
chief over her head. Her supports were now about
to be withdrawn, when she was reminded by several
voices in the crowd that she had omitted to draw
down the ring which should tighten the cord round
her neck; smiling in acknowledgment of the re-
minder, she adjusted the ring, and, motioning away
her supports, was left hanging in mid-air — a suicide.
With extraordinary self-possession she now placed
her hands before her, and continued to perform the
manual chin-chin, until the convulsions of strangu-
lation separated them and she was dead. The body
was left hanging about half an hour, and then taken

H

98 CHINA.

down by her male attendants, one of whom imme-
diately took possession of the halter, and was about
to sever it for the purpose of appropriating a portion,
when a struggle ensued, of which I took advantage
to attach myself to the chair in which the body was
now being removed to the Joss house, in order to
obtain ocular proof of her demise. Arrived at the
Joss house, the body was placed on a couch, and the
handkerchief withdrawn from the face disclosed un-
mistakable proofs of death. This is the third instance
of suicide of this sort within as many weeks. The
authorities are quite unable to prevent it, and a
monument is invariably erected to the memory of the
devoted widow."

Formerly these stately suicides were not unfre-
quently presided over by some of the local authorities.
But it is said that on one such occasion the lady made
an excuse for leaving the scaffold, and never returned,
since which misadventure no mandarin has been
found bold enough to risk becoming the victim of the
repetition of so annoying a hoax. The monuments
generally raised to these suicides consist either of a
tablet in one of the neighbouring temples, or an
archway built across the street in which the victim
lived. Monuments of a similar kind are earned by
widows who have remained widows indeed, for forty
or fifty years, and for such the imperial approbation
is generally sought for and obtained, the edict an-

MARRIAGE. 99

nouncing the gracious answer of the Emperor always
appearing in the Peking Gazette. The only ancient
bar to marriage in China was consanguinity, as
evidenced by the possession of identical surnames,
but later legislation has declared marriages with a
cousin on the mother's side, or a step-daughter, or a
mother's sister, illegal, and, strictly speaking, punish-
able with death by strangulation.

The picture here given of married life in China has
been necessarily darkly shaded, since it is as a rule
only in its unfortunate phases that it affords oppor-
tunity for remark. As has been said of an empire,
that household is fortunate which has no history,
and without doubt there are many hundreds of
thousands of families in China which are in that
happy condition. The placid natures of Chinamen
make them comparatively safe depositories of power
in domestic life.. A man who has been accustomed
from his youth up to perform every little duty with
a punctilious regard to the ceremonies which are
proper to it, to regulate every motion of his body
by fixed rules, and to consider every breach of the
elaborate etiquette which surrounds his daily life as
a stain upon his character, is less likely to be actively
cruel and violent than more unceremonious and
warlike people ; and Chinese wives doubtless benefit
by the peaceful tendencies of those observances.
Happiness is, after all, a relative term, and Chinese

IOO

CHINA.

women, knowing no higher status, are, as a rule,
content to run the risk of wrongs which would be
unendurable to an English woman, and to find hap-
piness under conditions which are fortunately un-
known in western countries.

CHAPTER V.

THE NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN.

HE main object of marriage being, as
has been said, to obtain descend- »
ants, the accomplishment of the
desire is attended with rejoicing,
and with a multiplicity of strange
observances. Even before the in-
fant appears on the world's stage it
is the object of superstitious rites.
It is currently believed that every
woman is represented in the other world by a tree or
flower, and that consequently, just as grafting adds to
the productiveness of trees, so adopting a child is
likely to encourage a growth of olive branches. But
if this method fails, it is held that the soil round the
roots of the tree in the unseen region requires
changing, and a sorceress is hired to proceed thither
to change the earth. Another method of securing

102 CHINA.

the longed-for blessing of children is * to obtain from
the temple of the goddess of children a shoe which
has been worn by her. This is taken home, and
being placed beside the image or tablet of the
goddess, receives equal worship ; and should the
desired object be attained, a pair of shoes exactly
resembling the one obtained must be returned to the
temple." On becoming satisfied of the probable ful-
filment of her wishes, the expectant mother's next
desire is to discover of which sex her child will be.
And to gain this knowledge, she adopts the simple
expedient of adding to the number of the years of her
age that of the month, day, and hour on which she was
born. Thus, if twenty years old, and she was born in
the sixth hour of the third day of the second month,
she would have a total of thirty-one. She then takes
a series of pictures of the thirty-six assistants of the
goddess of children, sold for fortune-telling purposes,
and, according to the sex of the child in the arms
of the thirty-first, concludes that her child will be a
boy or a girl. If the number of her age, etc, exceeds
thirty-six, she commences to count the first picture
as number thirty-seven, and so on.

If, however, she desires to make sure that her child
will be a son, she gets up one morning at dawn, and,
having put on her husband's clothes and cap, goes to
the nearest well, and walks round it three times,
always towards the left hand, and while so doing

NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 103

watches her shadow in the water. If she gets back
to the house without having been seen, and without
any one having known of her mission, the desire of
her heart, so says the current belief, will be gratified.
The day and hour on which the baby is born are
considered as portentous for the future good or evil
of the child, as among our own north-country folks.
A child born on the fifth day of a month, and more
certainly if on the fifth of the fifth month, will either
commit suicide in after-life, or will murder his parents.
But apart from these and some other ill-omened
days, a child born at noon is believed to be a sure
inheritor of wealth and honour, and he who first sees
the light between nine and eleven will have a hard
lot at first and afterwards great riches ; while the un-
fortunate infant who appears between three and five
is doomed to poverty and woe. As has been said
by Mr. Dennys, in his " Folk-lore of China," " if the
Chinese lay great stress on the hour of birth, we
no less attribute to the day a talismanic influence
over the future of the new-born child ; as witness the
good-wives' rhyme —

" ' Monday's child is fair of face,
Tuesday's child is full of grace,
Wednesday's child is full of woe,
Thursday's child has far to go,
Friday's child is loving and giving,
Saturday's child works hard for its living,
But the child which is born on the Sabbath-day,
Is blithe and bonnie, and good and gay.'"

io4 CHINA.

The cries and movements of babies are carefully
watched by the light of the regulations laid down
by physiognomists, who say that if a baby cries long,
he will live to be old ; but that if his cries are con-
stantly intermittent, his life is precarious. Babies
whose cries die out, or the tone of whose crying is
deep, or who open their own eyes, or who constantly
move their hands and feet, are doomed by the same
authorities to early death ; while a child who walks,
teeths, and speaks early, has a bad disposition, and
will turn out to be unlovable.

Swaddling clothes for babies are essential for the
purpose of preventing contact with any evil influence
which may interfere with the all-pervading principle
of the season. For instance, should the time of year
be spring and summer, then the life-producing prin-
ciple is abroad, and it is of the utmost importance
that the baby should be protected from the touch of
anything that would counteract that principle existing
in it. In the same way, in autumn and winter the
gathering-in principle is prevailing, and care must be
taken to ward off all contact with everything hostile
to it. The first clothes worn by the infant should be
made out of the coat and trousers of some old man
of seventy or eighty years, to ensure a like length of
life to the wearer. But to return to the pre-clothes
period : on the third day after its birth the baby is
washed for the first time. The occasion is one of

NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN 105

great moment, and the relations and friends are in-
vited to take part in the ceremony. Each guest
brings with him or her, as the case may be, an onion
and some cash — emblems of keen-wittedness and
wealth — which they present to the child. Water, in
which scented herbs and leaves have been fused, is
used in the ablutions, and when the process is over
all present join in offering sacrifices to the goddess
of children for the mercy she has vouchsafed.

At the end of a month the mother leaves her
room for the first time, and the ceremonies of naming
the baby, and of shaving its head, whether girl or
boy, are gone through on the occasion. In contra-
distinction to this rational and civilized regard for the
mother, the aborigines in the Province of Kwei-chow
preserve the curious custom, known as couvade, which
is, or was, also practised by the Basques among other
peoples. The mother among these tribes gets up
immediately after the birth of the child, and goes
about her ordinary duties, while the father goes to
bed with the infant for a month ; the idea being that
the life of the father and child is one, and that any
harm happening to the father will affect injuriously
the well-being of the infant. For a hundred days
the Chinese mother remains in the house, and at the
end of that time goes with her infant to the temple
of Kwan-yin — the goddess of matrons — to return
thanks for the possession of a child. On its first

io6 CHINA.

birthday, if the child be a boy, he is seated in a large
sieve, in which are placed round him a set of money-
scales, a pair of shears, a foot measure, a brass mirror,
a pencil, ink, paper, ink-slab, a book or two, an
abacus, and other implements and ornaments ; and
the assembled friends watch to see which object he
first handles, in order to gain an indication of his
future career. The brightest hopes are entertained
of his scholarship should he take up a book or pencil.
To see him handle the money-scales is the next
ambition of his parents, and the probability is that
devices are not wanting to direct his attention to
the objects which it is particularly desired he should
touch.

The power of a Chinese father over his children is
as full as that possessed by the Roman father, and
stops short only with life. The practice of selling
children is common, and, though the law makes it a
punishable offence should the sale be effected against
the will of the children, the prohibition is practically
ignored. In the same way a law exists in the statute-
book making infanticide a crime, but as a matter of
fact it is never acted upon ; and in some parts of the
country, more especially in the provinces of Keang-se
and Fuh-keen, this most unnatural offence prevails
among the poorer classes to an alarming extent.
Not only do the people acknowledge the existence
of the practice, but they even go the length of de-

NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 107

fending it. What, they say, is the good of rearing
daughters; when they are young they are only an
expense, and when they reach an age when they
might be able to earn a living, they marry and leave
us. Periodically the mandarins inveigh against the
inhumanity of the offence, and appeal to the better
instincts of the people to put a stop to it ; but a stone
which stands near a pool outside the city of Fuhchow,
bearing the inscription, " girls may not be drowned
here," testifies with terrible emphasis to the futility of
their praiseworthy endeavours. It is only, however,
abject poverty which drives parents to this dreadful
expedient, and in the more prosperous and wealthy
districts the crime is almost unknown.

The complete subjection of children to their parents
puts into the hands of these latter a power which is
occasionally exercised with cruelty, as is implied by
the existence of the laws which provide that a father
who chastises his son to death, shall receive a hundred
blows with the bamboo, and that sixty blows and a
year's banishment shall be the punishment inflicted
for the murder of a disobedient child or grandchild.
So firmly is respect to parents imbued in the minds
of every Chinese boy and youth, that resistance to
the infliction of cruel and even unmerited punish-
ment is seldom or ever offered, and full-grown men
submit meekly to be flogged without raising their
hands. The law steps in on every occasion in sup*

io8 CHINA.

port of parental authority, and prison doors are readily
opened at the request of parents for the reception of
disobedient sons, with one curious exception, viz., a
father cannot send his son for perpetual imprison-
ment against the wishes of his son's wife. Over the
property of sons the father's authority is as complete
as over their liberty; he is, however, occasionally
called upon to pay debts incurred by his son, and
contrarywise the son, if by any means possessed of
property, is obliged to pay his father's debts.

Filial piety is the leading principle in Chinese
ethics. It is the point upon which every teacher,
from Confucius downwards, has most strongly in-
sisted, and its almost universal practice affords ground
for the belief held by some that in the long con-
tinuance of the empire the Chinese are reaping the
reward held out in the fifth commandment of the
Mosaic decalogue. "Filial piety," said Confucius,
" consists in obedience ; in serving one's parents when
alive according to propriety ; in burying them when
dead according to propriety; and in sacrificing to
them according to propriety." In the "Book of
Rites," it is laid down that " during the lifetime of
his parents a son should not go abroad ; or, if he do
so, then to a fixed place. When at home he should
rise with the first cock-crow, and having washed and
dressed himself carefully, should inquire what the
wishes of his parents are as to the food they would

NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 109

eat and drink. He should not enter a room unless
invited by his father, nor retire without permission ;
neither should he speak unless spoken to." l These
are not unheeded precepts, but are to this day ob-
served, if not strictly to the letter, at least in the
spirit.

The only exception to the exercise of immediate
parental control is when a son takes office. The
Emperor then stands to him in loco parentis, and
though he is bound to conform to the recognized
national customs with regard to parents, he is eman-
cipated from their jurisdiction. When either of them
dies he is compelled to retire from office for three
years, which in practice is by a fiction reduced to
twenty-seven months. But in private life, so long as
his parents live, he holds himself at their disposal,
and is guided by them in the choice of his occupations
and in every concern of life.

School-life begins at the age of six, and among
the wealthier classes great care is shown in the choice
of a master. His excellences must be moral as well
as mental, and his power of teaching must be unques-
tioned. The selection of a lucky day for beginning work
is confided to astrologers, who avoid above all other
days those upon which Confucius and Ts'ang Hieh,
the reputed inventor of writing, died and were buried.
The stars having indicated a propitious day, the boy
1 " Confucianism and Taouism." [S.P.C.K.]

no

CHINA.

presents himself at the school, bringing with him two
small candles, some sticks of incense, and some paper-
money, which are burnt at the shrine of Confucius,
before which also the little fellow prostrates himself
three times. There being no alphabet in Chinese,

tr $ c *>fj\ ;

the pupil has to plunge at once in medias res and
begins by learning to read the San tsze king, a
work written in sentences of three characters,
each containing a scrap of elementary knowledge.
Having mastered the mysteries of this book he is

NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN, in

taught the Ts'een tsze king, or the thousand character
classic, which deals with somewhat more advanced
subjects. The next step is to the " Four Books,"
known as the Lun yu, or Confucian Analects ; the
Ta heS, or the Great Learning ; the Chung yung, or

v .%*s» ; tet ^

the Golden Medium ; and the M&ng tsze, or Sayings
of Mencius. Then follow the five classics, viz., the
Yih king, or Book of Changes ; the Shoo king, or Book
of History ; the CKun ts'ew, or Spring and Autumn
Annals ; " the She king, or Book of Odes ; and the

U2 CHINA,

Le ke 9 or Book of Rites. This is the ultima thule
of Chinese learning. A full comprehension of these
four books and five classics, together with the com-
mentaries upon them, and the power of turning this
knowledge to account in the shape of essay-writing
and verse-making is nearly all that is required at the
highest examinations in the empire. Year after year
these form the subjects of study of every aspiring
scholar until every character and every phrase is, or
should be, indelibly engraved on the memory. This
course of instruction has been exactly followed in every
school in the empire for many centuries, and the result
is that there are annually turned out a vast number
of lads all cast in the same mould, all possessed of a
certain amount of ready-made knowledge, and with
their memories unduly exercised at the expense of
their thinking powers. The choice of a future calling,
which is often so perplexing to English lads and
their parents, is simplified in China by the fact of
there being but two pursuits which a man of respect-
ability and education can follow, namely, the man-
darinate and trade. The liberal professions, as we
understand them, are unknown in China. The judicial
system forbids the existence of the legal professions,
except in the case of official secretaries attached to
the mandarins' yamuns ; and medicine is, with a few
exceptions, represented by charlatans, who prey on
the follies of their fellow-men, and dispense such

NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 113

monstrous nostrums as ground tigers' teeth, snakes'
skins, etc., in lieu of drugs. A lad, or his parents for
him, has, therefore, practically to consider whether the
position he has held at school is sufficiently good to
justify his attempting to compete at the general
competitive examinations to qualify him for office,
or whether he should embark in one of the numerous
mercantile concerns which abound among the money-
making and thrifty Chinese.

Should he prefer winning fame and gaining official
rank, he loses no time in perfecting himself in the
books he studied at school, and in practising the art
of writing essays, and penning verses. So soon as he
considers himself sufficiently prepared to undergo the
first ordeal, he presents himself before the secretary
of the magistrate of the district in which he lives,
armed with a paper stating his name, age, place of
residence, the names of his father, mother, grand-
parents, and great-grandparents, and giving a descrip-
tion of his appearance, and especially the colour of
his complexion. In return, his name is entered as a
candidate for the next examination, and he pays his
fee in the shape of the purchase he is expected to make
of paper for the examination. On a day appointed
by the magistrate, the candidates, who frequently
number two or more thousands, according to the size
of the district, go at daylight to the K'aou-pung-tsze,
or examination-hall, in the magistrate's yamun.

I

ii4 CHINA.

When all are assembled — the magistrate having
taken his seat at a table covered with red cloth
at the upper end of the hall — a notice-board is dis-
played, on which appear three passages from the
four books, on which the students are expected to
write two essays and a poem. This constitutes the
preliminary trial, and after a few days a list of the
names of those who have passed is posted up at
the yamun gate. The names of those who have
done best are arranged in a centrifugal circle at the
head of the list, while the rest are written side by
side perpendicularly. The next examination, which
lasts five days, takes place after only a short interval.
The compulsory work on each of the first four days
consists of an essay on a text from the four books
and a poem, but on the third day an extra ode is
optional, and so also on the fourth day are additional
poems. On the fifth day, part of an essay (which is
purposely left incomplete) on a text from the same
source is required.

Again a list of the successful candidates is pub-
lished, and to these the magistrate gives a congra-
tulatory feast. The scene is next changed to the
literary chancellor's yamun in the prefectural city,
where those who have dined with the magistrate
appear before the prefect as a preliminary to a final
examination by the chancellor. This test also lasts
five days, and is conducted exactly as those at the

NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN 115

magistrate's yamun, the subjects being taken from
the same books. In the same way it is customary
for the prefect to entertain those who pass best at a
dinner, and with this feast his part in the examina-
tion ceases. The literary chancellor next examines
those whose numbers — for he is not supposed to
know their names — have been sent him by the
prefect, and from them he selects the best men to
the number laid down by law. These meet on a
given day the successful competitors at the other
district-examinations in the prefectures, when they
are expected to write from memory one of the six-
teen edicts of the Emperor K'ang-he, with the com-
mentary thereon by his son, Yung-ching. This
completes the examination, and on those who have
survived the various tests is conferred the degree of
Siu-ts'ai, or "Elegant Scholarship," which may be
said to be the equivalent of our degree of Bachelor
of Arts. Having donned the dress proper to their
rank, the new graduates go in a body to pay their
respects to the literary chancellor, before whom, at
a word of command from the masters of ceremonies,
they perform the Ko-t'ow three times. Subsequently
they pay the same honour to the' prefect, and they
then disperse to their various homes.

The examination for the next degree of Kii-jin is
held in each provincial capital by two commissioners,
especially sent for the purpose from Peking. These

n6 CHINA.

officials generally arrive a day or two before the date
fixed for the examination, and take up their quarters
in residences prepared for them in the city, the doors
of which are immediately sealed up so as to prevent
any contaminating influences from reaching them.
On the day before the examination begins, they
move into yamuns set apart for their use within the
precincts of the "schools," accompanied by the
governor of the province. During the night pre-
ceding the examination, or very early on the morning
of the day, the graduates, who generally number
from six to eight thousand, enter the hall, and each
takes possession of the cell set apart for him, and
which bears a number corresponding to that on- his
roll of examination-paper. The cells are built in
rows, and are about three feet wide, three and a half
deep, and about six feet high. They have neither
doors nor windows, and the furniture of each consists
only of three or four pieces of wide board, which
serve as bench and table during the day and a bed-
stead by night. Each competitor brings with him
food for two days, and on entering is rigorously
searched to see that he has no "cribs" with him.
So soon as all are assembled, the doors are locked
and sealed, and the examiners having vowed before
Heaven that they will act justly, and without fear or
favour, in the approaching ordeal, the work begins
by the issuing to each student of four texts from the

NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 117

" Four Books," upon which he is expected to write
three essays and a poem. Two days are given for
the completion of these tasks, and at the end of
that time the doors are thrown open, and those
who have finished their work pass out under a salute
of three guns and the beating of drums. Those
who are not ready are allowed a few hours' additional
time.

Meanwhile, each essay, as it is completed, is carried
to the assistant-examiners, who, if they find any
infringement of the canonical laws of composition,
cast it aside at once; on the other hand, if they
approve its contents, they mark it with a red circle,
and forward a copy of it to the prefect, who, on
receiving it, beats the "recommending drum" sus-
pended at his office. The original manuscript is in
each case handed over to the custody of the governor,
the copy only coming before the commissioners, in
order to prevent the possibility of their recognizing
the handwriting of any possibly favoured competitors.
After a day's interval, the students reassemble, and
with the same formalities write four essays and a
poem on five texts from the " Five Classics." Again
they disperse for twenty-four hours, and a third time
take their seats, or at least those of them whose
papers have not been thrown out, for the final ordeal.
This time they are given six texts on miscellaneous
subjects, on which they have to write five essays and

n8 CHINA.

a poem. This completes the examination, and the
doors having been opened for the last time, the com-
petitors, together with the three or four thousand
officials and servants who are employed by the govern-
ment for the regulation and service of the hall, pour
out into, the city. So soon as the commissioners
have satisfied themselves on the relative merits of the
papers, they issue a list of the names of those to
whom they award the degree of Kii-jin, or Master of
Arts.

To the new Kii-jin the governors of each province
offer dubious hospitality in the shape of a feast, known
as Luh ming, or Belling of the Deer, a name given
to it from the fact, that an ode from the book of
poetry bearing that name is chanted on the occa-
sion. The elaborate pretensions of this festival are
in inverse ratio to its merit, but in exchange for the
honour done them, the graduates, at a given signal
from the master of ceremonies, bow their heads to
the ground three times before their host Visits
are afterwards made to the literary chancellor and
other officials connected with the examinations.
Immediately on winning their degrees, each graduate
receives from the Emperor, at the hands of the pro-
vincial treasurer, a suit of clothes and a pair of boots.
But these, like the governor's feast, are mere shadows
of what they purport to be, and the difference
between the value of really good articles and of the

NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN 119

trash sent to the graduates remains in the treasurers'
pocket. In the same way the money actually spent
on conducting the examinations bears no proportion
whatever to the amount charged on the imperial
exchequer, but not a coin of the unexpended balance
ever finds its way back to the treasury.

The successful candidates, on returning to their
homes, are received with every mark of honour, and
the parents-in-law of each give a grand entertainment
in commemoration of the event The honour attach-
ing to literary degrees is so great, and the desire to
possess them is so universal, that to suppose that the
examinations are, unlike every other institution in
China, free from bribery and corruption, is to mis-
judge the tendencies of fallen human nature. It is a
well-known fact that the officials of all grades con-
nected with the examinations are not unfrequently
susceptible to the claims of friendship and the weighty
persuasions of golden arguments. However elaborate
may be the arrangements for the prevention of any
underhand dealings, there may always be found
means by which the essays of certain favoured indi-
viduals find their way to the examiner who is in-
terested in the success of the writers. Sometimes
again, a candidate, distrustful of his abilities, suc-
ceeds, with the connivance of the necessary officials,
in passing in a clever writer as a substitute to win
honour for him. If such practices are discovered, the

120 CHINA.

perpetrators are immediately punished ; but the crime
mainly consists in being found out

The examination for the next degree, of Tsin-sze,
is held at Peking, in the spring of the year following
Aat of the Kii-jin degree, and is presided over by a
minister of state, an imperial prince, and three other
examiners. The Kii-jin assemble to the number of
about six thousand, from among whom only about
three hundred and fifty are ultimately chosen for the
higher honour. These candidates have to undergo
a test-examination, known as Fu she, before being
allowed to enter at the Hwuy site, or metropolitan
competition. Those who are successful in this last
trial obtain the provisional title of Rung sze, until the
time arrives for the Teen she, or palace-examination.
On this occasion texts from the " Four Books " and
" Five Classics " are given out, as at the provincial ex-
amination, and the essays are examined by a special
commission of imperial revisers. The candidate who
passes first at this examination receives the title of
Chwang-yuen and a post in the Han lin yuen, or
" College of the Forest of Pencils," the highest literary
body in the empire. The news of his success is carried
with all speed to his native place, where the announce-
ment is received with universal rejoicing, as conferring
a lasting honour on the district The second man
receives the title of Pang-yen, or " Eye of the List," a
name derived from the idea that he is second to the

NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 121

Ckwang-yuen, as the eye is below the forehead. The
third is entitled T'an-hwa, or " searcher for a sprig of
the olea fragrans," a plant which is held to symbolize
literary success.

Of the remaining successful candidates about one
in three are admitted to the Han-lin College, and
the remainder receive the degree of Tsin-sze. Sub-»
sequently a final examination, known as the CKaou
JC'aou, or Court-examination, is held in the palace, at
which a theme chosen by the Emperor is given out to
the competitors. Finally, the graduates are admitted
to an audience by the Emperor, who entertains them
at a feast. Those Tsin-sze who are not admitted to
the Han-lin College receive appointments either to
provincial offices, or to posts in connection with the
six Boards.

These examinations are open to every man in the
empire, of whatever grade, unless he belong to one
of the following four classes, or be a descendant of
one such within three generations : 1st, Prostitutes ;
2nd, Actors ; 3rd, Executioners, and the servants of
mandarins ; and 4th, Jailors. The theory with regard
to these people is, that prostitutes and actors being
devoid of all shame, and executioners and jailors
having become hardened by the cruel nature of their
offices, are unfit, in their own persons, or as repre-
sented by their descendants, to win posts of honour by
means of the examinations. Not long since, an edict

122 CHINA.

appeared in the Peking Gazette, ordering the instant
removal from the rank of Kii-jin of a man named
Nin Kwang-to, on its being discovered that his father
had been a gate-keeper in the yamun of a district
magistrate in Kwang-se. * It is contrary to law/'
said the edict, " that a low official underling should
obtain registration in a district other than his own,
and thus fraudulently gain access to the privilege of
examination ; and it is most necessary that severe
punishment should be meted out in this case." If
no reward beyond the possession of the degrees
attached to success at the competitions, the probability
is that no great stress would be laid on the enforce-
ment of this regulation ; but the fact that the ex-
amination-hall is the only legitimate door to the
mandarin's yamun makes it imperative, in the eyes
of the law, that shameless and cruel persons should
not be allowed to exercise rule over their fellow-men.
The military examinations are held separately, and
though the literary calibre of the candidates is tested
much in the same way as at the civil examinations,
the same high standard of knowledge is not required ;
but, in addition, skill in archery and in the use of
warlike weapons is essential.

At the first examination, which is held by the
magistrates of each district, the candidates are ex-
pected to show their proficiency in the use of the bow
and arrow on foot Those who succeed in passing

NURTURE AND EDUCATION OF CHILDREN. 123

successfully through this ordeal are required to shoot,
still with a bow, from the back of a horse galloping
at full speed. Three arrows are all that are allowed
to the candidate on each occasion. At the third
examination, their skill in the use of swords, weighing
from a hundred to a hundred and eighty pounds, is
put to the test, and their strength is further tried by
having to lift heavy weights and to draw stiff bows. It
is illustrative of the backwardness of the Chinese in
warlike matters that, though they have been acquainted
with the use of gunpowder for some centuries, they
revert, in the examination of military candidates, to
the weapons of the ancients, and that while theoreti-
cally they are great strategists, strength and skill in
the use of these same weapons are the only tests re-
quired for commissions.

CHAPTER VI.

FOOD AND DRESS.

£&k

N a country covering so large an area
as China, with every variety both of
climate and soil, it is difficult to
generalize on such a subject as the
food of the people. And yet in
China, owing to the homogeneousness
of the inhabitants, there is less differ-
ence in this respect than might be ex-
pected. To begin with, the staff of
life in China is rice. It is eaten and
always eaten, from north to south and from east to west,
except among the very poor people in some of the
northern non-rice-producing provinces, where millet
takes its place. In all other parts, the big bowl of
rice forms the staple of the meals eaten by the people,
and is accompanied by vegetables, fish, or meat,
according to the circumstances of the household.

FOOD AND DRESS. 125

Among some people there is a disinclination to eat
meat owing to the influence of Buddhism, which
teaches the doctrine of the transmigration of souls,
and devout followers of that sect naturally avoid
partaking of the flesh of any animal, which might
possibly have been their dearest deceased friend or
relation in another form of existence. But the more
general reason for the preference of vegetables to
meat is that they are cheaper. Immense quantities
of cabbages, onions, garlic, carrots, cucumbers, toma-
toes, and other kinds of vegetables are grown all over
the southern provinces of the empire, and there are
few families so poor as not to be able to give a relish
to their meals by the use of some one or more of
these.

At the cottage meal, a basin about the size of a
small breakfast-slop-basin is placed opposite each
person, and by the side a pair of chop-sticks, while in
the middle of the table stands a big bowl of steaming
rice.. Each person fills his basin from this bowl, and,
holding it up to his chin with his left hand, he shovels
its contents into his mouth with his chop-sticks with
astonishing rapidity. The chop-sticks are held between
the first and second, and the second and third fingers ;
and constant practice enables a Chinaman to lift up
and hold the minutest atoms of food, oily and slippery
as they often are, with the greatest ease. To most
foreigners their skilful use is well nigh impossible,

126 CHINA.

and at the houses of officials and others who are in
the habit of entertaining " foreign devils," it has ribw
become the practice, in deference to our awkwardness,
to furnish us with knives and forks. But to return to
the small cottage dinner. Dotted about on the table
are small bowls containing vegetables, or fish, or
meats, as the case may be, chopped up fine, and
seasoned with soy and other sauces. Each diner
helps himself as he is inclined from these common
dishes with his chop-sticks between his mouthfuls of
rice, and washes all down either with tea or warm
water. Cold water is never drunk, as it is considered
to be unwholesome.

The meats most commonly eaten are pork, mutton,
goats' flesh, and beef, besides fowls, ducks, and
pheasants, and, in the north, deer and hares. But in
some parts of the country it must be confessed that
less savoury viands find their places on the dinner-
table. In Canton, for example, dried rats have a
recognized place in the poulterers' shops, and find
a ready market, not only among those who have a
taste for them, but also among people who have a
tendency to baldness, the flesh of rats being con-
sidered an effectual "hair-restorer." Horse-flesh is
also exposed for sale, and there are even to be found
dog and cat restaurants. Describing from personal
acquaintance one of these establishments, Archdeacon
Gray says in his "China," "The flesh is cut into

FOOD AND DRESS. 127

small pieces, and fried with water-chestnuts and
garlic in oil. In the window of the restaurant, dogs'
carcasses are suspended, for the purpose, I suppose, of
attracting the attention of passengers. Placards are
sometimes placed above the door, setting forth that
the flesh of black dogs and cats can be served up at
a moment's notice. On the walls of the dining-room
there are bills of fare. The following is a translation
of one : —

Cat's flesh, one basin 10 cents.

Black cat's flesh, one small basin ... 5 „

Wine, one bottle 3 „

Wine, one small bottle .. 1} „

Congee, one basin 2 cash.

Ketchup, one basin 3 „

Black dog's grease, 1 tael 4 cents.

Black cat's eyes, one pair 4 „

All guests dining at this restaurant are requested to be
punctual in their payments."

The flesh of black dogs and cats, and notably the
former, are preferred as being especially nutritive ;
and on a certain day in the beginning of summer it
is customary, in the south of China, for people to
partake of dog's flesh to fortify themselves against
the coming heat, and as a preventative against dis-
ease. In the province of Shantung, dog-hams are
cured and exported. But the price of these makes
their general use prohibitory, and places them within
the reach only of wealthy gourmets, who have a taste

128 CHINA.

for this particular food. In the immense encyclo-
paedia compiled under the direction of the Emperor
K'ang-he there is a receipt for hashed dog, which, by
the number of condiments, the quantity of wine, and
profusion of adjuncts which are prescribed, indicates
that it was made by some one who liked a good dish,
and disliked the taste of dog.

Among the wealthier classes the use of rice is
diminished in proportion to the increased quantity of
meat or fish eaten, and at a dinner-party of the better
kind it scarcely finds a place. On such an occasion
the table is spread with what in Russia would be
called Zakuska, or dinette^ consisting of numbers of
small dishes containing fruits — fresh, dried, and can-
died ; chopped eggs ; ham, and other tasty morsels.
The feast begins by the host pouring out a libation,
and then taking wine generally with his guests, who
raise the small wine-cups, which are not much bigger
than thimbles, to their lips with the right hand,
touching them with the left, and drink off the con-
tents. Next follows a succession of courses, each
consisting of a single dish, between each of which
pipes are handed round and a few whiffs enjoyed.
Frequently the dinner is enlivened by the presence
of singing-girls, or a play is performed for the amuse-
ment of the guests. In the absence, however, of all
such attractions the game of Ch'ai-mei, the Italian
Mora, sometimes serves to make the interval between

FOOD AND DRESS. 129

the courses seem shorter. Mr. Giles, in his " Chinese
Sketches," gives the following menu of a dinner which
gives a good idea of the sort of viands offered by a
Chinese gentleman to his guests : —

" Sharks' fins, with crab sauce.
Pigeons' eggs stewed with mushrooms.
Sliced sea-slugs in chicken broth, with ham.
Wild duck and Shantung cabbage.
Fried fish.

Lumps of pork fat fried in rice-flour.
Stewed lily-roots.

Chicken mashed to pulp, with ham.
Stewed bamboo-shoots.
Stewed shell-fish.
Fried slices of pheasant.
Mushroom broth.

Remove — Two dishes of fried pudding — one sweet, the other
salt
Sweetened duck.

Strips of boned chicken fried in oil.
Boiled fish, with soy.
Lumps, of parboiled mutton fried in pork fat."

Frogs form a common dish among poor people,
and are, it is needless to say, very good eating. They
are caught with a rod and line, with a young live
frog lately emerged from the tadpole stage, as bait
The young frog which is tied on to the line, is bobbed
up and down in the water, and it is as a result of
their snapping at it, that its elders are jerked out on
to the bank. In some parts of the country locusts
and grasshoppers are eaten. At T'ien-tsin, men may
commonly be seen standing ~at the corners of the

K

i3o CHINA.

streets frying locusts over portable fires, just as among
ourselves chestnuts are cooked at the curbstone.
Ground-grubs, silkworms, and water-snakes are also
occasionally treated as food.

The sea, lakes, and rivers, abound in fish, which
are caught in almost as many ways as there are
found different species. Cod, mackerel, soles, shark,
herring, shad, mullet, crabs, tortoises, turtles, prawns,
craw-fish, shrimps, etc., are yielded up by the ocean,
while the lakes, ponds, and rivers swarm with carp,
tench, eels, perch, bream, and other kinds. As fish
forms a staple food of the people, there is every
inducement to perfect the fisherman's art, and the
natural ingenuity of Chinamen has enabled them to
secure the greatest quantity of fish with the least
possible trouble. The net and line are generally
used ; but in places where it is difficult to drag a net,
or where the fish do not easily yield themselves up as
victims to the line, they bring other agencies to bear.
On some rivers and lakes, cormorants are the chosen
instruments for landing the prey. The fisherman
launches his raft, which is about two and a half feet
wide and about twenty feet long, carrying on it three
or four cormorants and a basket for the fish. Each
cormorant has a ring loosely fastened round its neck,
and when the man has paddled the raft into a likely
spot he gently pushes one of the birds into the water.
The bird instantly dives, and, having caught its prey,

FOOD AND DRESS. 131

rises to the surface and swims towards the raft. As
it approaches, the man throws a landing-net over
both the bird and the fish, and lifts them on the raft.
Great pains are taken in training the cormorants,
and it is seldom that they refuse to obey their master.
Occasionally they show considerable intelligence, and
two or three have been known to help to secure fish
too large for a single bird.

On some rivers, fishermen use at night a long, low
boat, having a white varnished board inclining from
the side to the water. As the boat is propelled along
in the moonlight, a stone which is towed alongside,
of course below the surface, makes a rushing noise
which so alarms the fish that, attracted by the
varnished board, they spring at it, and generally
over it into the boat The fear felt by fish at noise
and the attraction they feel for light are well known,
and trading on these peculiarities, Chinamen drive
them, by beating the water, into nets set for their
reception. Sometimes, at night, a circular net is
thrown off from boats. In the centre, a boat is sta-
tioned, on the bows of which a bright fire is kept
burning. The other boats surround the outside of the
circle at some little distance, and their occupants beat
the water with bamboo poles. The fish, frightened
by the noise, and attracted by the fire, swim into
the net, and their fate is sealed. Spearing fish
with tridents is also common, and sharp, unbaited

132 CHINA.

hooks, attached to lines fastened to floating buoys,
are thrown into lakes and rivers, so as to catch any
fish which may swim against them.

All fishing-boats of any size have tanks of water
on board, into which the fish are thrown the instant
they are caught, and are thus carried fresh to market,
where the same care is generally taken to keep them
alive until they find purchasers. But Chinamen are
not content to depend entirely on the open water for
their supply of fish. They breed large quantities
themselves. The spring tides bring up the rivers
fish, which deposit their spawn among the grass and
rushes growing at the edge of the water. So soon
as the young fish appear, they are caught in nets,
and put into tanks in boats, where they are most
carefully fed and tended until they are large enough
to be transferred to the ponds prepared for them.
Here they are fed with paste and the yolks of hard*
boiled eggs, until they are drawn out to repay
their nurses for the trouble they have had in rearing
them.

Oysters and cockles are also regularly fished for,
and form a common article of food, and so with
mussels, which, however, are sometimes turned into
another source of gain. When fresh caught, minute
images of Buddha are put into the shells, and the
mussels are thrown into ponds, where they are
allowed to remain for some time. On being fished

POOD AND DRESS. 133

up again and opened, the little images are found
covered with a coating of mother-of-pearl, and, in
this state, have a ready sale among the superstitious.
In the same way artificial pearls are produced.

The same care in the production of fish is extended
to that of ducks and poultry. Not only are ducks
bred in great quantities in the usual way, but eggs
are artificially hatched in immense numbers. As
soon as the ducklings make their appearance, they
are sold to men who make it their business to rear
them and prepare them for the market Many
thousands are often to be seen in the establishments
of these traders. Sometimes the purchaser is owner
of a duck-boat, on which he keeps his numerous
broods. Once or twice a day he lands them on the
river-bank to feed, and they soon learn to walk with-
out hesitation along a plank between the boat and
the shore. Immense quantities are thus reared on the
rivers in China, as an instance of which Archdeacon
Gray mentions that, after a severe typhoon at Canton
in 1862, during which a number of duck-boats were
upset, the ducks released from captivity were so
numerous, "that for upwards of a mile the surface
of the Canton river was crowded with them."
Poultry-farms are also numerous and large. The
eggs are never eaten as among ourselves, but, when
intended for the table, are boiled hard and preserved
by one of several processes until they are six weeks

134 CHINA.

or two months old, when they are considered ready
for use.

No use whatever is made of cow's milk by the
Chinese, though, occasionally, human milk is given to
old people as a restorative. The Mongolians, how-
ever, drink it freely, and also make a kind of rancid
butter from it of which they are very fond, a con-
clusive proof of the wide gulf which separates their
tastes from ours.

In matters of dress, with one or two exceptions,
the Chinese must be acknowledged to have used
a wise discretion. They wear nothing that is tight-
fitting, and make a greater difference between their
summer and winter-clothing than is customary among
ourselves. The usual dress in summer of a coolie
is a loose-fitting pair of cotton trousers, and an
equally loose jacket ; but the same man in winter
will be seen wearing quilted cotton clothes, or, if he
should be an inhabitant of the northern provinces,
a sheepskin robe, superadded to an abundance of
warm clothing intermediate between it and his shirt
By the wealthier classes, silk, linen, and silk gauze
are much worn in the summer, and woollen or more
or less handsome fur clothes in the winter. Among
such people it is customary, except in the seclusion
of their homes, to wear, both in summer and winter,
long tunics coming down to the ankles. Often these
are fastened round the waist by a belt, to which are

FOOD AND DRESS. 13$

attached a number of ornamental appendages, such
as a purse, snuff-bottle, tobacco-pouch, etc. The
sleeves of the tunics are made long enough to cover
the hands, and partly serve the purpose of pockets.
The expression -"a sleeve-full of snuff" is not at all
uncommon in Chinese poetry, and small editions of
books, especially of the classics, are called " sleeve-
editions," in reference probably to the practice, com-
mon to candidates at the examinations, of concealing
" cribs " in their sleeves.

In summer, non-official Chinamen leave their heads
uncovered, and, though thus unprotected from the
effects of the sun, do not seem to suffer any incon-
venience from the great heat Occasionally coolies
doing heavy work, fasten a fan so as to ward off the
sun's rays by means of their queues, which are then
wound round their heads, instead of being allowed to
hang down the back in the ordinary way.

The dress of the mandarins is strictly defined by
sumptuary laws, and their ranks are distinguished by
badges worn on the breast and back of their robes,
and by the knobs or buttons fixed on the tops of their
caps. The civilian badges are representations of birds ;
while those worn by military men, as indicating the
fierceness of their nature, are likenesses of beasts.
Thus the first of the ten civilian ranks wears a Man*
churian crane ; the second, a golden pheasant ; the
third, a peacock ; the fourth, a wild goose ; the fifth,

136 CHINA.

a silver pheasant ; the sixth, a lesser eyret ; the
seventh, a mandarin duck ; the eighth, a quail ; the
ninth, a long-tailed jay ; and the tenth, an oriole
The military officers have only nine insignia, which
are as follows : — First, the unicorn ; second, the lion ;
third, the leopard ; fourth, the tiger ; fifth, the black
bear ; sixth, the mottled bear or tiger cat ; seventh,
the tiger cat ; eighth, the seal ; and ninth, the
rhinoceros.

Since the establishment of the present dynasty,
distinguishing buttons have been added to the caps
of both civil and military mandarins, and these
are distributed among the nine ranks in the follow-
ing order : — The first two, red coral ; the third, clear
blue; the fourth, lapis lazuli; the fifth, quartz crystal ;
the sixth, opaque white stone ; and the last three,
gilt. In cases where the same coloured stone is
worn by two ranks, that on the cap of the inferior
one is carved, the Chinaman having the taste to
consider the plain stone the most distinguished. In
the same way, the Emperor wears a pearl on his cap,
and this, together with the remainder of his attire,
is quite plain and unadorned. On the approach of
summer an edict is issued fixing the day upon which
the summer costume is to be adopted throughout
the empire, and again, as winter draws near, the time
for putting on the winter-dress is announced in the
same formal manner. Fine straw or bamboo forms

FOOD AND DRESS. 137

the material of the summer-hat, the outside of which is
covered with fine silk, over which again falls a tassel of
red silk cords from the top. At this season also the
thick silk robes and heavy padded jackets worn in
winter are exchanged for light silk or satin tunics.
The winter-cap has a turned-up brim, and is covered
with satin, with a black cloth lining, and, as in the
case of the summer-cap, a tassel of red silk covers
the entire crown.

The wives of mandarins wear the same embroidered
insignia on their dresses as their husbands, and their
style of dress, as well as that of Chinese women
generally, bears a resemblance to the attire of the
men. They wear a loose-fitting tunic which reaches
below the knee, and trousers which are drawn in at
the ankle after the bloomer fashion. On state occa-
sions they wear a richly embroidered petticoat coming
down to the feet, which hangs square both before and
behind, and is plaited at the sides like a Highlander's
kilt The mode of doing the hair varies in almost
every province. At Canton, the women of the people
plaster their back-hair with a kind of bandoline into
the shape of a teapot handle, and adorn the sides
with pins and ornaments, while the young girls pro-
claim their unmarried state by cutting their hair in
a fringe across their foreheads after a fashion not
unknown among ourselves. In most parts of the
country^ flowers, natural when obtainable, and arti-

138

CHINA.

ficial when not so, are largely used to deck out the
head-dresses, and considerable taste is shown in the
choice of colours and the manner in which they are
arranged. Thus far there is nothing to find fault

TYPES OF CHINESE GIRLS.

with in female fashion in China, but the same cannot
be said of the way in which they treat their faces
and feet In many countries the secret art of remov-
ing traces of the ravages of time with the paint-brush

FOOD AND DRESS. 139

has been and is practised ; but by an extravagant,
and to European eyes hideous, use of pigments and
cosmetics, Chinese girls not only conceal the fresh
complexion of youth, but produce those very dis-
figurements which furnish the only possible excuse
for artificial complexions. Their poets also have
declared that a woman's eyebrows should be arched
like a rainbow or shaped like a willow-leaf, and the
consequence is that, wishing to act up to the ideal
thus pictured, Chinawomen, with the help of tweezers,
remove all the hairs of their eyebrows which straggle
the least out of the required line, and when the task
becomes impossible even with the help of these
instruments, the paint-brush or a stick of charcoal is
brought into requisition. Altogether the face of a
bedizened Chinese lady is a miserable sight The
ghastly white of the plastered complexion, the
ruddled cheeks, the artificial eyebrows, and the bril-
liantly painted lips may, as the abstract picture of
a poet's brain, be admirable, but when seen in the
concrete, can in no sense be called other than repul-
sive. A comparison of one such painted lily with the
natural, healthy complexion, bright eyes, laughing
lips, and dimpled cheeks of a Canton boat-girl, for
example, is enough to vindicate nature's claim to
superiority over art a thousandfold.

But the chief offence of Chinese women is in the
matter of their feet Even on the score of fashion

140

CHINA. .

it is difficult to excuse a practice which in the first
instance causes great and continued pain, and affects
injuriously the physique of the victims during the
whole of their lives. Various explanations are
current as to the origin of the custom of deforming

the women's feet Some say that it is an attempt
servilely to imitate the peculiarly shaped foot of a
certain beautiful empress; others that it is a device
intended to act as a restraint on the gadding-about
tendencies of women. But, however that may be,

FOOD AND DRESS.

141

the practice is universal, except among the Manchoos
and the Hakka population at Canton. The feet are
first bound when the child is about five years old;
The four smaller toes are bent under the foot, and
the instep is forced upwards and backwards. At the

same time, the shoes worn having high heels, the foot
becomes as it were clubbed and loses all elasticity.
The consequence is that the women walk as on pegs,
and the calf of the leg, having no exercise, shrivels up.
The degree of severity, however, with which the feet

H2 CHINA.

are bound, differs widely in the various ranks of
society, and women in the humbler walks of life are
often able to move about with ease. Most ladies,
on the other hand, are practically debarred from
walking at all, and are dependent on their sedan-
chairs, and sometimes even on the backs of their at-
tendants, for all locomotion beyond their own doors.
But even in this case habit becomes a second nature,
and fashion triumphs over sense. No mother, how-
ever keen may be her recollection of her sufferings
as a child, or however conscious she may be of the
inconveniences and ills arising from her deformed
feet, would ever dream of saving her own child from
like immediate torture and permanent evil. Further,
there is probably less excuse for such a practice in
China than in any other country, for the hands and
feet of both men and women are naturally small
and finely shaped. But there is no idol which it is
more difficult to overthrow than established custom,
and there must needs be a complete revolution in the
national tastes and ideas before the much-persecuted
Chinese women will be allowed free use of the very
pretty feet with which nature has endowed them.

The male analogue of the women's compressed
feet is the shaven forepart of the head and the plaited
queue. The custom of thus treating the hair was
imposed on the people by the first emperor of the
present dynasty (1644). Up to that time the Chinese

-F00Z) ^Atf? DIZESS. 143

had allowed the hair to grow long, and were in the
habit of drawing it up into a tuft on the top of the
head. The introduction of the queue at the bidding
of the Manchurian conqueror was intended as a
badge of conquest, and as such was at first unwillingly
accepted by the people. For nearly a century the
natives of outlying parts of the empire refused to
submit their heads to the razor, and in many districts
the authorities rewarded converts to the new way by
presents .of money. As the custom spread, these
bribes were discontinued, and the converse action
of treating those who refused to conform with severity,
completed the conversion of the empire. At the
present day every Chinaman who is not in open
rebellion to the throne shaves his head, with the
exception of the crown, where the hair is allowed to
grow to its full length. This hair is carefully plaited,
and falls down the back, forming what is commonly
known as the " pig-tail." Great pride is taken, espe-
cially in the south, in having as long and as thick
a queue as possible, and when nature has been
niggardly in her supply of natural growth, the de-
ficiency is supplemented by the insertion of silk in the
plait The northerners are less given to this form
of vanity than their southern brethren, and are as
a rule content only to tie the ends of the queue plaits
with a piece of silk. But among all classes great
value is attached to the possession of the queue, and

144

CHINA.

in the commonest forms of abuse there is generally
claimed for the object of opprobrium an additional
title to infamy in the assertion that he is woo peen,
" tail-less."
As a general rule the head is shaved about once in

ten days, though men who are particular as to their
appearance do not allow their hair to grow half that
time. As it is impossible for a man to shave his own
head, the barber's trade is a large and flourishing one,
and is carried on in shops, and in the streets by

FOOD AND DRESS.

H5

itinerant barbers, who carry suspended at the two
ends of bamboos slung on their shoulders, all the
implements of their calling, together with stools for
the customers to sit upon during the operation.
Among the rich it is customary to summon a barber
to their houses, and to most large yamuns there is a

member of the fraternity attached, who gains his
livelihood by keeping the heads of the occupants in
order. The Chinese razor consists of a short blade,
somewhat in the shape of a rounded isosceles triangle,
the long side being the edge. Hot water instead of
soap is used to facilitate the operation of shaving,

L

146

CHINA.

which is extended to the down on the cheeks. A
Chinaman's face is singularly devoid of hair. Whiskers
are very seldom seen, and the moustache is only
allowed to grow after a man has arrived at the age
of forty or upwards. On the occasion of the death
of a near relative, it is customary to neglect shaving
the hair for three months as a sign of mental dis-
traction, and on the death of an emperor an edict is
usually issued forbidding barbers to ply their trade
for a space of a hundred days.

CHAPTER VII.

AGRICULTURE.

( UT though trade practically holds its place
as next in estimation to the mandarinate,
in theory it should follow both hus-
bandry and the mechanical arts. From
time immemorial the Chinese have held
agriculture in the highest esteem as
being the means by which the soil has
been induced to supply the primary
want of the people of the empire —
food. All land is held in freehold from the Govern-
ment, and principally by clans, or families, who pay
an annual tax to the Crown amounting to about one-
tenth of the produce. On the death of the proprietor
of a property, it descends to his eldest son, but his
succession is hampered by the law, which permits all
his younger brothers and their families to settle on
parts of the inheritance. Very often an arrangement

148 CHINA.

is arrived at by which the cadets are bought off, but
otherwise the heir has to submit, nolens volens, to their
presence. On the occasion of a property changing
hands, the fact has to be registered at the office of
the district magistrate, and the new owner becomes
responsible for the payment of the Crown-tax. So
long as this tax is paid regularly, the owner is never
dispossessed, and a property thus remains in the hands
of a clan and family for many generations.

In order to see that farming-operations are pro-
perly conducted, agricultural boards are established
in almost every district, consisting of old men learned
in agriculture. By these veterans a careful watch is
kept over the work done by the neighbouring farmers,
and in case of any dereliction of duty, or neglect
of the prescribed modes of farming, the offender is
summoned before the district magistrate, who inflicts
the punishment which he considers proportionate to
the offence. It is illustrative of the mechanical in-
genuity of the Chinese, as well as of their absence of
scientific knowledge, that their appliances for irrigating
the fields and winnowing the corn are excellent,
while those for getting the most out of the land are
of a rude and primitive kind. The plough, which is
generally drawn by a buffalo or ox, does scarcely
more than scratch the surface, and even this is only
used in the large fields, the farmers of small en-
closures being content to break up the soil with

AGRICULTURE. 149

their hoes. Spades find no place among the weapons
of farmers and gardeners, who know also nothing
of wheelbarrows for agricultural purposes. A small
harrow is used to break up the clods left by the
plough or hoe, and a reaping-hook gathers in the
crops which grow up from the scarcely turned soil.
The absence of good farming in this respect naturally
necessitates, in most parts, the constant employment
of manure, which is applied frequently and in great
quantities. The varieties are endless, being not only
those of the kinds employed among ourselves, but
consist also of the sweepings from the streets, feathers
of birds, the refuse hair from barbers' shops, the
remnants of exploded crackers, etc

Of course, the climate and the nature of a district
determine the kind of farming appropriate to it
Agriculturally, China may be said to be divided into
two parts by the Yang-tsze Keang. South of that
river, speaking generally, the soil and climate point to
rice as the appropriate crop, while to the north lie vast
plains which as clearly are best designed for growing
corn. Over the huge tract of loess country in northern
China, little or no cultivation is necessary, neither is
the use of manure required. A sufficient scratching
of the light friable soil to enable the farmer to sow
his seed is all that is needed in favourable years to
secure a good crop. But throughout nature there
are always disadvantageous circumstances, or con tin-

15© CHINA.

gencies, attached to otherwise exceptionally favoured
spots. And this "Garden of China" is dependent
for its fruits on the fall of frequent showers. Water
runs so quickly through the soil, that all traces and
effects of the heaviest rains soon disappear, and a
constant succession of temperate downfalls forms,
therefore, the kind of moisture best suited to it
When these fail, the crops fall off, and after dry
seasons famine necessarily follows. The surface being
far above the water-level, irrigation is next to im-
possible, and the soil, dried to a fine powder, blows
away, leaving the seeds exposed to the destructive
influences of the sun and wind. On the alluvial
plain of Chih-li the crops are not as large as those
gathered on the loess in a good year, but on the
other hand they are not liable to the same extreme
Vicissitudes. Droughts are as severe in Chih-li as in
Shanse, but the extremity of want occasioned by them
is much more severely felt in the latter province, and
in those others covered with loess, than in Chih-li.
Millet and Indian corn are largely grown in the
northern half of the empire as well as wheat and
barley.

An entirely different system of agriculture is pur-
sued in the cultivation of rice. The rice-fields are
fenced in with low banks, the surface of soil being
kept as much on a level as possible. Manure in
large quantities is first of all strewn over the fields,

AGRICULTURE. 151

which are then flooded with water. When in this
condition the farmer wades on to the ground with
his plough and buffalo, and turns up the slush and
mud until the manure has become thoroughly mixed
with the soil. His next object is to discover, by
means of his almanac, or by the advice of a fortune-
teller, a propitious day for sowing his seed. This is
not sown generally over the field, but in one corner
of it, and the plants, as soon as they have grown
to a sufficient size, are transplanted out in straight
rows.

The necessity for a copious supply of water con-
tinues during the early growth of the plant, and as
this supply is not by any means always obtainable
from the usual resources of nature, artificial irriga-
tion is largely resorted to. In securing the constant
supply of water thus needed, the mechanical genius
of the people has full play, and the contrivances
invented and employed by them are ingenious and
effective. If the difference of level between the supply
of water, be it either a river or a pond, and the field
to be irrigated, is but slight, a bucket held between two
men, by ropes attached to its side, is commonly used.
The men stand on the bank of the field, and by a
constantly swinging motion fill the bucket and empty
it on to the soil. When the difference of level is such
as to make this plan impossible, a water-wheel and
an endless chain-pump are used. This ingenious

*$2 CHINA.

contrivance is thus described by Mr. Doolittle : —
" One end of the box in which the chain, or rather
rope, and its buckets pass, is placed at an angle of
forty-five degrees, more or less, with the river, canal,
or pond, whence the water is to be brought upon the
neighbouring fields. This box is open at the top
and both ends, and made very strong and light, one
man carrying the whole apparatus with ease on his
shoulders. The chain, with its buckets, passes over a
horizontal shaft, which is supported by two perpen-
dicular posts. One or more persons, steadying them-
selves by leaning upon a horizontal pole four or five
feet higher than the shaft, and by walking or stepping
briskly on short radiating arms, cause it to revolve
on its axis, bringing up the water, which pours out of
the upper end of the box. The faster the men
walk or step, the greater the quantity of water
pumped up."

In some parts of the country, oxen or donkeys are
employed to turn the water-wheels, by means of
horizontal cogged wheels which turn the shaft over
which the buckets pass. Occasionally, when prac-
ticable, a stream supplies the motive-power, which
transports a portion of itself to the field above.
When the supply of water has to be drawn from a
well, an upright post, some ten or twelve feet high, is
fixed near it, on which a long cross-beam is balanced.
From one end of this beam hangs a bucket, while

AGRICULTURE. 1 53

on the other extremity is fastened a weight, generally
a large stone, which is so regulated, that the only
exertion required is to lower the bucket into the
welL The stone at the end of the beam brings the
bucket to the surface by its weight, and the water
is then emptied into a conduit which carries it to
the field or garden where it is required.

The crop of rice is generally fit to cut in a hundred
days after the seed is put in. When it is cut, as it
generally is, close to the ground, a sickle is used, and
the sheaves are bound up and put into shocks, as corn
is among ourselves ; but in some parts of the country
only the ears are reaped, and when this is the case,
the reaper drags after him a basket on a small
wheeled truck, into which he throws the ears as he
severs them with a knife.

The act of threshing is performed in different ways,
in different parts of the country. Sometimes the
thresher takes a double handful of the corn, and
strikes it against the bars of an open frame in such a
way that the grain falls through to the ground ; some-
times, instead of an open frame, a tub is used, against
the inside of which the corn is struck. In other
places the corn is carried to a carefully swept
threshing-floor, and is then threshed out with
flails. Not unfrequently, also, the corn is trodden
out by buffaloes, mules, or ponies, or is separated
from the ear by means of rollers drawn by beasts of

154 CHINA.

draught Winnowing, in its most primitive form, is
practised by many of the smaller farmers. A windy
day is chosen to throw the grain and husks up in the
air from the threshing-floor, with the usual result.
But quite as generally, machines, not unlike those in
use among ourselves are used. Most of these are
turned by hand, but others' draw their motive power
either from water-wheels, or from oxen or donkeys.
The mills for grinding the corn are worked by the
same agencies. Tobacco, beans, tea-oil, sweet pota-
toes, turnips, onions, fruits, and tea, are among the
best-known products of Southern China.

The tea-plant, which resembles a whortleberry, is
grown from seed which is gathered in the winter
months, and dried in the sun. In the beginning of
the following spring the seeds are moistened and
dried again, until they begin to sprout, when they are
lightly covered with earth. So soon as the plants
have grown four or five inches in height they are trans-
planted to the plantations, where they are arranged
in rows at a distance of two or three feet apart. No
manure is used in the cultivation, but great care is
taken to keep the ground clear from weeds. The
blossom is white, and is not unlike the orange-flower,
and blooms in November. The plant itself, which
is an evergreen, is allowed to grow to heights varying
with the necessities of the plantations. In high and
exposed positions, the plant is kept low, that it may

AGRICULTURE. 155

avoid injury from storms and wind, while in more
sheltered places it reaches the height of six or eight
feet. The first crop of leaves is gathered from it at
the end of the third year, but care is taken not to
exhaust the plant by stripping it too closely. Thrice
in the year the leaves are picked, in the third, fifth,
and eighth months. The best leaves are the young
ones, and, as the youngest are first picked, the earliest
gathering is the best. Women and children are
mainly employed in this work. Having been first
dried in the sun, the leaves are then trodden out by
n^ked-footed labourers, in order to break the fibres
and extract the moisture. This done, they are heaped
up and allowed to heat for some hours, until they
have become a reddish-brown colour. They are next
rolled up by the hand, and are afterwards again
exposed to the sun should the weather be propi-
tious, but, if not, they are slowly baked over charcoal
fires.

With this process their preparation for the market
is complete, and they pass from the hands of the
growers to those of the native merchants. By these
purchasers they are carefully sifted, the leaves of dif-
ferent sizes and ages are separated, and the stems
and damaged leaves are removed. They are then
thoroughly dried in iron pans over slow fires, and are
shipped to Europe and America. These processes
differ slightly in the case of some teas, but they are

i 5 6

CHINA.

all dried, trodden on, baked, and rolled, excepting
green tea, which is not dried in the sun, but is fired,
and is rubbed with the hands instead of being trodden
on. The principal kinds of tea exported are Congou,
which is grown in the provinces of Hoonan and
Kwang-tung ; Souchong, the best of which is pro-

duced in the north-eastern part of the province of
Fuh-keen ; Flowery Pekoe and Oolong, or " Black
Dragon," which also come from Fuh-keen ; scented
Orange Pekoe and scented capers from Kwang-tung
and Fuh-keen ; and green tea from the neighbourhood

AGRICULTURE.

157

of Wooyuen in Gan-hwuy. Tea is drunk universally
throughout the empire by all except those who are too
poor to buy it ; but this was not always the case. In

?"■ *MW

some places, as at Hang-chow, for example, wine-
shops used to be as numerous as tea-shops are now.
To the honour of the temperance of the people it is to

158 CHINA,

be said, that when tea-shops were first introduced,
they were received with such favour, that the publi-
cans had to shut up their establishments. The price
of teas in the country varies enormously, the common
kinds being very cheap, while some of the choicest
sorts fetch among native epicures such prices as make
the export of them impossible. The orthodox way
of making tea is to put a pinch of the leaves into a
cup and to pour boiling water on them, the drinker
being protected from swallowing the leaves by an
inverted saucer, which covers the cup, and which is so
held as to keep back the leaves during the act of
drinking. Among servants and, the poorer classes,
however, when tea has to be made for a number of
persons, tea-pots are used, and the landlords of way-
side inns, and charitable people who seek to win for
themselves a happy future, by attending to the com-
forts of travellers here on earth, provide at stations
along the high-road brews of the compound in large
vessels.

In point of antiquity the use of tea cannot com-
pare with the cultivation of silk. History tells us that
Se-ling-she, the wife of Shin-nung (2737-2697 B.C.), was
the first spinner of silk and weaver of cloth, for which
discovery she has been canonized, and is annually
worshipped on a certain day in the ninth month. On
that occasion the empress and her ladies worship at
her shrine, and just as the emperor sets an example

AGRICULTURE. 159

of industry to the agriculturists throughout the
empire, by ploughing a piece of land at the opening
of spring, so the empress and her court stimulate the
busy fingers of Chinese housewives, by going through
the form of collecting mulberry-leaves, feeding the
palace silk-worms, and winding off some cocoons of
silk.

The eastern central and southern provinces of the
empire are the home of the silk industry. There the
mulberry-trees flourish, and there the climate best
suits the insects. Great care is taken by the breeders
in the choice and matching of the cocoons, and un-
healthy or in any way deformed moths are destroyed
so soon as they free themselves from their shells.
"The number of eggs which one moth lays," says
Archdeacon Gray, "is generally five hundred, and
the period required for her to perform so great a
labour is, I believe, about seventy-four hours. The
females often die almost immediately after they have
laid their eggs, and the 'males do not long survive
them. The egg of the silk-worm, which is of a
whitish or pale ash-colour, is not larger than a grain
of mustard-seed. When eighteen days old the eggs
are carefully washed with spring-water. The sheet
of coarse paper or piece of cloth on which they are
laid, and to which they adhere, is very gently drawn
through spring-water contained in a wooden or
earthenware bowl. During the autumnal months

160 CHINA.

the eggs are carefully kept in a cool chamber, the
sheets of paper or pieces of cloth being suspended
back to back from bamboo-rods, placed in a hori-
zontal position. In the tenth month of the Chinese
year . . . the sheets are rolled up, and then de-
posited in a room, which is well swept, and free from
all noxious influences. On the third day of the
twelfth month the eggs are again washed, and then
exposed in the air to dry. In the spring of the year,
the eggs being now ready to be brought forth, the
sheets are placed on mats, and each mat placed on a
bamboo shelf, in a well-swept, and well-warmed
chamber, containing a series of shelves arranged
along the walls. The shelves are almost invariably
made of bamboo, the wood of which emits no
fragrance, aromatic wood being especially avoided
as unsuitable for the purpose."

As soon as the worms are hatched they are carefully
tended and fed. Twice every hour during the first
few days of their existence, they are given chopped
mulberry-leaves. Gradually this number of meals is
reduced to three or four in the day, when occasionally
green-pea, black-bean, or rice-flour is mixed with
their staple food. On the fourth or fifth day of their
lives they fall into a sleep known among the Chinese
as the " hair sleep," which lasts for twenty-four hours.
Twice again, after similar periods, they enjoy long
slumbers, and on the twenty-second day a deep sleep

AGRICULTURE. 161

of still longer duration overtakes them. During these
periods of rest the worms cast their skins, and finally
reach their full size at the end of a month, when they
appear of a deep yellow colour, and about the thick-
ness of a man's little finger. After arriving at
maturity the worms cease to eat, and begin to spin.
As the silk issues from their mouths they move
their heads from side to side, and thus envelop
themselves in cocoons. When completely enclosed
they fall into a state of coma, and become chrysalides.
The shelves on which they are arranged are then
placed near a fire to kill the chrysalides, which, when
accomplished, the silk is unwound and the chrysalides
ar6 eaten.

As many superstitions surround the cultivation
of silkworms as encumber every other occupation
in China, and, as might be expected, most of
them are founded on natural coincidences. Such are
the beliefs based on the silkworm's love of clean*-
liness, that persons, before entering the room where
they are kept, should be sprinkled "with water in
which mulberry-leaves have been soaked; that no
fish should on any account be brought into the
chamber ; that no woman who is pregnant or who
has lately become a mother should have anything to
do with them ; and that no one smelling of wine,
ginger, garlic, or anything aromatic, should approach
them/ Speaking generally, the male principle is

M

162 CHINA.

believed to be congenial to them, and the female
principle to be the reverse. If this be really so, they
are most unfortunate insects, since they are attended
to almost exclusively by women and girls. They are
said also to be peculiarly susceptible to thunder, and
to all sudden and violent noises.

The looms for weaving the silk are simple in con-
struction, and are similar to the hand looms used in
Europe. The principal seats of the silk manufacture
are Soo-chow, Hang-chow, Nanking, and Canton. The
three first-named places are noted for the beauty of
their silk stuffs, and they are those from which the
imperial palace receives its annual stores of silks and
satins. The number of different qualities and patterns
they produce is marvellous. In a collection recently
made by the Commissioner of Customs at Shanghai,
he succeeded in bringing together four hundred dif-
ferent specimens from the looms of these and other
neighbouring cities. Canton is famous for its gauzes,
and Pak-kow, in the province of Kwang-tung, for its
crape shawls.

Besides the cultivated silkworms, there is, in less
favoured parts of the empire, a kind known as
"the wild silkworm," which feeds as surrounding
circumstances determine, on either the leaves of the
pepper-tree, or the ash, or a particular kind of oak»
This species is far less manageable than its mulberry-
fed relative, and is infinitely more hardy. Much less

AGRICULTURE. 163

trouble is bestowed on the worms by the breeders,
but though the return of silk they yield is consider-
able, it is not to be compared with the other kind,
either for beauty or fineness. In the province of
Shantung, a great quantity of Nankeen silk is made
from the cocoons spun by the " wild silkworms " of
that province, and in Sze-chuen a large trade is
carried on in silk similarly manufactured. Though
inferior in quality to that grown in eastern China,
yet in strength and durability Sze-chuen silk is far
superior, and is able to compete successfully with it
in the market Being purely a Chinese product, silk
was introduced into Europe by its native name (Sze),
which it still retains under a guise sufficiently flimsy
to leave it quite recognizable. The same is the case
with satin (Sze-tun), and tea (T6).

Another product which is peculiar to China is
white insect wax. This curious substance is pro-
duced exclusively in the prefecture of Kea-ting Foo,
in Sze-chuen, the climate of which district appears to
favour the propagation of the disease, which is be-
lieved by the natives to be the cause of the secretion
of the wax. This belief is supported by the fact that,
in the districts where the insects breed, only a small
quantity of wax is made, and experience has there-
fore taught the natives the advantage of breeding
the insects in one district and removing them to
another to produce the wax* The neighbourhood of

164 CHINA.

Keen-chang, in the south of the province, has been
found most suitable for breeding-purposes, and it is
there, therefore, that the breeding-processes are
carried on, on a particular kind of evergreen tree,
with large and ovate leaves. At the end of April, the
breeders start, each with a load of the insects' eggs,
for the district of Kea-ting Foo, a journey which,
when made on foot, occupies about a fortnight The
road between the two districts is very mountainous,
and as exposure to the heat of the sun would hatch
the eggs too rapidly, the men travel only by night
At Kea-ting Foo, the eggs are eagerly bought up,
and are at once put upon the wax-tree. " When the
egg balls are procured," writes Baron Richthofen,
" they are folded up, six or seven together, in a bag
of palm-leaves. These bags are suspended on the
twigs of the trees. This is all the human labour
required. After a few days the insects commence
coming out They spread as a brownish film over
the twigs, but do not touch the leaves. The Chinese
describe them as having neither shape, nor head, nor
eyes, nor feet It is known that the insect is a species
of coccus. Gradually, while the insect is growing,
the surface of the twigs becomes encrusted with
a white wax; this is the wax. No care whatever
is required. The insect has no enemy, and is not
eVen touched by ants. In the latter half of August,
the twigs are cut off and boiled in water, when

AGRICULTURE. 165

the wax rises to the surface. It is then melted and
poured into deep pans. It cools down to a trans-
lucent and highly-crystalline substance. Two taels
weight of eggs produce from two to three catties 1
of wax."

1 A Tael = \\ oz., and a Catty = 16 Taels.

CHAPTER VIII.

MEDICINE.

HE medical art in China has a long
ancestry, and dates back to the time
when Hwang-te is said to have in-
vented music and many other arts
which added to the elegancies and
comforts of life. The prevalence of
disease and death among his sub-
jects so affected him that, it is said,
he wrested from nature a know-
ledge of the operations of her opposing principles, and
of the virtues of herbs and other medical remedies.
The results of these studies he embodied in a work
entitled the Nuy-king % or the " Classic of the Interior,"
which contained such a fund of medical knowledge
that disease lost half its terrors, and the length of
human life was extended.

MEDICINE. 167

Chinese authors assume, with that complete self-
complacency which is common to them, that the
wide medical knowledge which was imparted to the
world by Hwang- te has since been so vastly in-
creased that at the present time the science of
medicine in China has reached its highest develop-
ment An acquaintance, however, with their medical
practice and pharmacopoeia completely dispels this
delusion, and brings us face to face with the fact that
their knowledge of medicine is entirely empirical, and
is based neither on accurate observation nor scientific
research. Of physiology, or of human and compara-
tive anatomy, they know nothing. The functions of
the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and brain are sealed
books to them, and they recognize no distinction
between veins and arteries, and between nerves and
tendons. Their deeply rooted repugnance to the use
of the knife in surgery, or to post-mortem examina-
tions, prevents the possibility of their acquiring any
accurate knowledge of the human frame, and their
notion of the position of the various organs is almost
as wild as their idea of their different functions;
which is saying a good deal, when one recollects that
they consider that from the heart and pit of the
stomach all ideas and delights proceed, and that the
gall-bladder is the seat of courage. So firmly is this
last belief held, and so strange is the perversion of
their ideas on the subject of the processes through

168 CHINA.

which all food has to go, that it is not uncommon for
men desirous of gaining additional courage to devour
the gall of savage beasts, and even of notorious mur-
derers and rebels who have expiated their crimes at
the hand of the executioner.

No Harvey has arisen in China to enlighten his
countrymen on the circulation of the blood, and
beyond having a general notion that it ebbs and
flows, they know nothing of its movements. They
even consider that there is a difference in the pulses
on the two wrists, and not only this, but that there
are differences to be observed in each pulse. And
this they profess to account for by saying that the
different parts of the pulse reflect the condition of
the organs which they represent. For example, the
pulse on the left wrist is believed to discover the
state of the heart, small intestines, liver, gall-bladder,
kidneys, and bladder ; while that on the right wrist
reflects the condition of the lungs, larger intestines,
spleen, stomach, gate of life, and membranes of the
viscera. There are, also, they consider, seven distinct
indications, given by the pulse, of the approach of
death, and each of the seven passions is represented
by pulsations which may be distinguished.

Man's body is believed to be composed of the five
elements — fire, water, metal, wood, and earth — all of
which are mysteriously connected with the five
planets, five tastes, five colours, five metals, and

MEDICINE. 169

five viscera. To keep these five antagonistic prin-
ciples in harmony is the duty of the physician, and
to restore the equilibrium when any one of them is
in excess or deficiency is the main object of his
endeavours.

The medical profession in China is in every sense
an open one. There are no medical colleges, and no
examination-tests exist to worry the minds of the
would-be practitioners. And neither are diplomas
asked for or granted. Any quack or the most igno-
rant bumpkin may become a practising physician,
and by his success or non-success in the profession,
he stands or falls.

Speaking generally, doctors in China may be
divided into three classes — namely, those who have
inherited prescriptions of merit; men who, having
failed at the examinations, have taken to the study
of medicine; and the merest quacks. This classifi-
cation is intelligible when it is remembered that the
practice of medicine is not based on any well-ascer-
tained knowledge, but is simply empirical, and consists
mainly in the use of herbs and vegetable medicines.
Many an old woman in the country districts of
England has as useful a pharmacopoeia as the most
prosperous Chinese doctors, who, however, supple-
ment the more efficacious remedies they possess by
others which have no remedial qualities at all. For
example, among many herbal medicines, which un-

170 CHINA.

doubtedly are more or less tonics, we find that the
same qualities are ascribed to stalactite, fresh tops
of stag-horns, dried red-spotted lizards, silkworm
moths, black and white lead, tortoise-shell, and dog's
flesh. By the same stretch of the imagination the bones
and teeth of dragons, oyster-shells, loadstone, talc,
and gold and silver leaf are regarded as astringents ;
while verdigris, calcareous spar, catechu pearls, bear's
gall, shavings of rhinoceros* horns, and turtle-shell,
are used as purgatives. Elephant's skin and, with a
certain consistency, ivory-shavings are considered to
be antidotes to poison. It has been calculated by
Dr. Henderson, that out of the whole Chinese phar-
macopoeia, three hundred and fourteen remedies are
taken from the vegetable kingdom, about fifty from
the mineral kingdom, and seventy-eight from the
animal kingdom.

All these remedies, good, bad, and indifferent,
are sanctioned by the medical board at Peking,
which has, in the exercise of its wisdom, divided all
diseases into eleven classes ; viz., diseases of the
large blood-vessels and small-pox ; diseases of the
small blood-vessels ; diseases of the skin ; diseases of
the eye ; of the mouth ; of the teeth ; of the throat ;
of women ; of the bones ; and fevers and cases
arising from acupuncture. Fortunately for the people
whose health is at the mercy of these ignorant pro-
fessors of the art of healing, inflammatory diseases,

UNIVERSITY

Of
*£*L\FORH\t

MEDICINE. 171

to which are attributable three-fifths of the mor-
tality in England, are almost unknown in China,
where, however, small-pox, phthisis, dysentery, and
diarrhoea, rage almost unchecked by medical help,
and skin diseases lay a heavy burden on the popula-
tion. Of late, the practice of vaccination has begun
to make way among the people, having been first
introduced to their notice by a pamphlet on the
subject which was translated into Chinese by Sir
George Staunton. Previously, inoculation' by putting
the virus up the nose was employed, as it still is,
by all, except those few who have been shown the
better way by Sir G. Staunton. Cancer is by no
means uncommon, and for this disease human milk
is largely used. At the present time, the empress
dowager is said to be suffering from this frightful
malady, and it is stated that in her case the remedy
referred to has been employed with the most bene-
ficial results.

The scale of doctors' fees is low, being from about
sixpence in the. case of poor people to five shillings
in the case of wealthy persons ; but it will probably
be considered that even this lower sum is more than
an equivalent for the good likely to be gained from
their advice. As a rule, when a lady is the sufferer,
the doctor never sees his patient except in extreme
cases, and is content to form his opinion of her
ailment by feeling the pulses of her wrists, which are

172 CHINA.

allowed to appear beneath the screen behind which
she sits or reclines. One of the most curious and
dangerous extra-medicinal remedies used by the
Chinese is acupuncture. This is generally resorted
to in cases of chronic rheumatism or dyspepsia. For
the first malady, the needle, either hot or cold, is thrust
boldly into the joint or joints affected, and though
valueless as a curative, it is at least less dangerous
than when otherwise applied for dyspepsia. In such
cases it is thrust into the abdomen, regardless of the
injury which it is likely to do to the intestines and
organs. Among people of western nations and
constitutions, this reckless use of the needle would
constantly produce serious if not fatal evils, but
thanks to the phlegmatic temperament of Chinamen,
it does not often lead to dangerous results. Occa-
sionally patients are admitted to the foreign hospitals,
suffering from injuries to intestines and liver inflicted
by the needle, but these do not, as a rule, enter any
more serious category than that of troublesome cases.
Madness is by no means uncommon in China, but
it is less conspicuous than in western lands, owing to
the repressive treatment which the patients receive.
On the first symptom of violence, they are bound
down and kept so until their strength fails them or
death releases them from their bondage. When
harmless, they are allowed to wander about, and
in the northern provinces, where insanity seems to

MEDICINE. 173

■ — ■ — i

prevail more than in the south, the wretched
creatures, clothed or unclothed, may be met with on
the roads and in the streets. On one occasion, the
present writer saw a maniac lying by the way-side, in
the midst of winter, without a particle of clothing
upon him. Lunatic asylums are unknown, and the
malady is so little recognized by the mandarins that
madmen are held responsible to the law for their acts
prompted by mania.

The ignorance prevailing among Chinamen of
chemistry and anatomy makes their occasional post-
mortem examinations valueless, as may be gathered
from the following finding, lately reported in the
Peking Gazette, in the instance of a suspected case
of poisoning. " We find," wrote the coroners, " in the
remains of Koh P'in-leen that there is no reddish
exfoliation on the surface of the skull ; that the
upper and lower bones of the mouth, the teeth, jaw-
bones, hands, feet, fingers, toes, nails, and joints are
all of a yellowish- white colour; • . . through the
remainder of the body the bones of all sizes are of
a yellowish-white, showing no signs of the effects of
poison ; and our verdict is that death in this case
was caused by disease, and not by poison." The
one point, in which, at an early period, the Chinese
were in advance of ourselves was in their knowledge
of the value of mercury.

CHAPTER IX.

MUSIC.

USIC, like some of the other sciences,
is said to have been invented by
the Emperor Fuh-he (2852-2737
B.c). He it was, we are told, who
introduced the She, a sort of lute.
At first this instrument had twenty-
five strings ; but, according to the
legend, the Emperor Hwang-te
was on one occasion made so
melancholy by an air performed by a damsel in his
presence, that he ordered the number of the strings
to be reduced by one-half, in the hope that the de-
pressing effect of the music might be thus minimised.
To Fuh-he belongs also the credit of being the inventor
of the KHn> another form of lute, which stands in
popular estimation at the head of Chinese instruments.
The name which was originally given it of Lung K 'in
points to the fact, which we have abundant evidence

MUSIC. 175

to prove, that the aborigines of China were musicians
before the arrival of the Chinese. The Lung were, a
powerful tribe occupying a portion of south-western
China, and, judging from the name, it is reasonable
to suppose that the knowledge of the K'in was first
brought to the court of Fuh-he by men of that race.
The K'in was known also among the ancients as " a
reminder of distant affairs," which would seem to in-
dicate a geographically remote origin for it. History
further tells us that, during his reign, men of the great
Pung (Fung) tribe, which at that time occupied a
large tract of country south of the Yang-tsze-keang,
arrived at court and made music.

In considering these early chapters of ancient
Chinese history, it is necessary to bear in mind that we
are dealing with the mixed records of the aborigines
and of the Chinese. So far in the history of music
we are plainly in the pre-Chinese stage, but with
the reign of Hwang-te the Chinese element is intro-
duced. The account of Hwang-te's musical efforts
are very interesting, and bear out in a remarkable
degree the supposition that he was one of the rulers
of the race when they had their homes in the south
of the Caspian Sea. We are told that he sent his
minister Ling-lun from the west of Ta hea to a par-
ticular valley in the KwSn-lun mountains, where he
was ordered to make choice of bamboos fitted for
musical pipes. Ta hea we know to have been Bactria,

176 CHINA.

and Hwang-te must therefore have been living to the
west of that country, exactly where we should expect
to find him. Ling-lun did as he was told, and cut
twelve pipes of varying lengths, so arranged as to
emit the twelve demi-tones. These, it is said, he
arrived at by listening to the singing of the Pungs,
the voices of the men giving him, so runs the story,
six demi-tones, and those of the women the remaining
six. Here again it will be observed the help of the
Pungs is called in, and it is worth mentioning that
the descendants of these people and of the Lung and
Kwei tribes, who are still to be found in the south-
western provinces of the empire, retain the same
passion for music and dancing which made them
famous in the time of Fuh-he, and subsequently.

Chwan Hii, the next Emperor but one to Hwang-te,
was born, we are told, at the Jo water in Sze-chuen, and
on reaching the throne, used to recall with pleasure,
the sound made by the wind as it whistled through
the forests of mulberry-trees which grew in his native
district. That he might again listen to such music,
he sent a Fei-lung to the J 6 water to imitate the
sounds of the eight winds. The Fei-lung (Flying
Dragon) tribe was one of the most important in
primitive China. We read of them in the first chapter
of the Yih king, and repeatedly in the earlier historical
works. They were a branch of the great Lung people,
who were divided into the Fei-lung, the Hwo-lung

MUSIC. 177

(Fire Dragons), the Ho-lung (River Dragons), eta
The existence of these prefixes has served to conceal
the fact that the compound expressions represented
tribal names, and has encouraged in their incredulity
those who looked on all mentions of the Lung as
So many myths. But in point of fact, they serve as
confirmations in the opposite sense. In his recent
work of travels in Cambodia, Mons. De-la-porte says
that he encountered in his journeys several sections
of the Kwei tribe, who " se divise en tribus, vou^es
chacune k une profession special e d'ou elle tire son
nom ; il y a par exemple les ' Kouys (kwei) du fer/ " etc.
The Fei-lung who was sent by Chwan Hii on the
difficult mission of reproducing the sounds of the
wind, is said to have been successful. By means of
which instrument he preserved the notes we are not
told, but as the invention of the Pan-pipes is put
down to this period, it is possible that they may
have been used for the purpose by the Fei-lung.

Stringed and reed instruments, such as are used by
the aboriginal tribes of China at the present day, were
the earliest known. Next in order, probably, came
drums, which seem, in the first instance, to have been
used to excite warriors in the battle-field to deeds of
prowess. Of these there are eight kinds, distinguished
by names indicating their size and use. Stone seems
also to have preceded metal as a musical substance.
In the earliest classics we have mention of musical

N

178

CHINA.

stones, which were sixteen in number, and were hung
from a frame by cords. They were cut somewhat in
the shape of a carpenter's square, one side being twice
the length of the other. The stones played upon by
the emperors are said to have been of jade, the use of
which, for this purpose, was forbidden to subjects.

In most parts of the world the trumpet has held
the first place among metal instruments, but in China
the bell had the priority, and at the present day it
still holds its own against the louder-tongued horn,

music: 179

which is used only as a military call, and in pro-
cessions. Bells were originally made of six parts of
copper to one of tin. Tongues were never used, but
sound was emitted by striking with a stick on the
rim, or, in after-times, on the knobs with which the
bell was studded, and which were so arranged as
to give out the different musical notes. The form
of the most ancient bells was square, but in sub-
sequent ages they assumed the round shape, and at
the present day are universally so made. They are
moulded in every size, from the little Fung ling, or
" Wind-bell," which swings on the eaves of pagodas,
to the huge bells which hang in some of the most
notable temples. One of the largest of these is in a
temple at Peking, and forms a wonderful example of
the mechanical ingenuity of the Chinese. It is about
fifteen feet in diameter, twenty feet in height, and
weighs about fifty-three tons. The lower rim is about
a foot thick, and the whole bell is covered inside and
out with the Chinese text of a long Buddhist litur-
gical work. The bell is one of a set of five which
were cast by order of the Emperor Yung-loh (a.D.
1403-1425). One of its companions hangs in the
Drum-Tower at Peking, and, " in the stillness of the
midnight hour, its deep mellow tone is heard at four
miles' distance throughout Peking as it strikes the
watch." In the " Great Bell Tower" at Canton there
is a huge bell, which, however, is never voluntarily

ifc> CHINA.

struck, as it is believed, that if it be sounded, some
misfortune will overtake the city. The capture of
the town by the English and French, in 1857, is said,
by the natives, to have resulted from a shot from one
of the guns of H.M.S. Encounter having struck and
sounded the bell during the bombardment

As musical instruments, bells are principally used
at religious services and in processions. In ancient
times they seem to have been generally sounded with
drums. In the She-king we have constant mention
of bells and drums being used on the occasions of
bringing home brides, or in royal processions. Some-
times we hear of them concerted with other instru-
ments, as when speaking of the expedition of King
Yew to the Hwai the poet says —

" ICin JPin the bells peal on,

And the lutes in the concert we hear.
Deep breathes the organ tone ;

Sounding stones join their notes, rich and clear.
The while through the vessel there ring

The Ya and the Nan which they sing,
And the dancers with flutes now appear." l

They were sounded also at the opening and the
closing of sacrificial rites, and were even attached to
the sacrificial knives. It was customary also to fasten
them to the harness of horses driven by potentates,
and to carriages and banners.

A more popular instrument than the bell is the
1 Legge's She-king.

MUSIC. 181

gong, of which there are three kinds in common use,
the Temple Gong, which, as its name implies, is used
in temples ; the Soochow Gong, which is shaped " like
a boiler;" and the Watch Gong, which is a small
kind used to strike the watches. At rrfigious ser-
vices, on occasions of ceremony, and at theatrical
performances, the gong bears a conspicuous part
But though considered an element of harmony by
men, its sound strikes terror into evil spirits, and it is
consequently used with telling effect on all occasions
when it is considered advisable to get rid of evil in-
fluences. When a vessel puts to sea, when it returns
to harbour, when a house is supposed to be haunted,
or when any unnatural phenomena occur, such as an
eclipse, the gongs are vigorously sounded to dispel
the malign influences which are believed to be present
On the outbreak of a fire they are used as signals,
first of all to indicate what quarter of the town is
threatened; next, by the rapidity of the beats, to
make known the progress and fierceness of the fire,
and again, by tolling, to show that the danger is over.
Cymbals and horns are other metal instruments used
by the Chinese.

Flutes, fifes, clarionets, and conch shells are, with
the "reed organ," the commonest wind-instruments.
This last is made with a gourd, into the upper surface
of which nineteen reed pipes are inserted. These
reeds have holes near the base to prevent their

i$2 CHINA.

emitting sounds, until stopped by the performer. The
mouthpiece, which is not unlike the spout of a kettle,
is inserted in the side of the gourd, and the instru-
ment is played either by drawing in the breath or
by blowing.

But the favourite instruments of the Chinese are
stringed instruments. The She and the /Tin, of
which mention has already been made, are the chief
among these. " The K'in," says Dr. Wells Williams,
in his " China," " is very ancient, and derives its name
from the word K'in, to prohibit, 'because it restrains
and checks evil passions, and corrects the human
heart/ It is a board about four feet in length and
eighteen inches wide, convex above and flat beneath,
where are two holes opening into hollows. There are
seven strings of silk, which pass over a bridge near
the wide end, through the board, and are tightened
by nuts beneath: they are secured on two pegs at
the smaller end. The sounding-board is divided by
thirteen studs, so placed that the length of the
strings is divided, first into two equal parts, then
into three, etc., up to eight, with the omission of the
seventh. The seven strings enclose the compass of
the ninth or two-fifths, the middle one being treated
like A upon the violin — viz. as a middle string, and
each of the outer ones is tuned a fifth from it This
interval is treated like our octave in the violin, for the
compass of the KHn is made up of fifths. Each of

MUSIC. 183

the outer strings is tuned a fourth from the alternate
string within the system, so that there is a major
tone, an interval tone less than a minor third, and a
major tone in the fifth. The Chinese leave the
interval entire, and skip the half-tone, while we
divide it into two unequal parts. It will, therefore,
readily appear, that the mood or character of the
music of the KHn must be very different from that of
western instruments, so that none of them can exactly
do justice to the Chinese airs. One of the pecu-
liarities of performing on the lute is sliding the left-
hand fingers along the string, and the trilling and
other evolutions they are made to execute."

Besides the She and the K'in there are several
kinds of fiddles and guitars, among the best-known
of which are the P'i-P'a, a four-stringed guitar, which
is played with the fingers, the Yueh K'in, or " Moon
K'in," named from the moon-like shape of the sound-
board, which has four strings standing in pairs, tuned
as fifths to each other, and the Su-cAun, or " standard
lute," with twelve strings, yielding exactly the notes
of the twelve Luk or pipes invented by Ling-lun.

Music has at all times held an important part in
the political system of the Chinese. Its influence
for good or evil on the people is regarded as potent,
and, according to a celebrated saying of Confucius,
it gives the finish to the character which has first been
established by the rules of propriety. So marked

MUSIC. 185

has the impression produced by it been held to be,
that Confucius, when on his way to Ts'e, recognized,
in the gait and manner of a boy whom he met
carrying a pitcher, the influence of the Shaou music,
and hurried on to the capital of the state thdt he
might enjoy its excellencies to perfection. On another
occasion, we are told that he perceived with delight,
in the sound of stringed instruments and the singing
at Woo-shing, the effect produced on a people tur-
bulent by nature, by the rule of his disciple, Tsze-
yew. But in this, as in other matters, Confucius
only reproduced the opinions of those who had gone
before him, and from the time that Ling-lun made
the first Pan-pipe, the influence of music on morals
and politics has been an established creed amongst
the Chinese. The purity of the prevailing music
became the test of the virtues of the sovereign, and
one of the gravest charges brought against the disso-
lute Chow Sin, the last emperor of the Yin Dynasty
(1154-1122 B.c.) was that, to gratify his consort, the
notoriously vicious T'an-ke, he substituted licentious
airs for the chaste music of his ancestors. Time has
done little to change the opinions of the Chinese on
this subject, and at the present day a careful watch is
kept over the efforts of composers by the Imperial
Board of Music, whose duty it is to keep alive the
music of the ancients, and to suppress all compositions
which are not in harmony with it.

CHAPTER X.

ARCHITECTURE.

"grab

^pmjj j T is a curious circumstance that in

^^fmfi China, where there exists such a
profound veneration for everything
old, there should not be found
either any ancient buildings or old
ruins. While every other nation
possessing a history has its monu-
ments and remains, China has
nothing which illustrates a past
age, except possibly a few pagodas scattered over
the land. No emperor has sought to hand down his
name to generations yet to come by the erection of
any building, useful or ornamental. It would seem
as though their original nomadic origin haunted them
still, and that the recollection of their old tent-homes
which were pitched to-day and struck to-morrow,
still dominates their ideas of what palaces and houses

ARCHITECTURE. 187

should be. That there is an abundant supply of the
most durable materials for building in the land is
certain, and that for many centuries the Chinese have
been acquainted with the art of brick-making is
well known ; but yet they have reared no building
possessing enduring stability. Neither do they pos-
sess any respect for ancient edifices, even when they
have the odour of sanctity attaching to them. If
any house in the empire should have been preserved,
it should have been Confucius's, and yet we are told
that in the reign of Woo-ti (140-86 B.C.), a prince of
Loo pulled it down to build a larger one in its place.
But not only does the ephemeral nature of the
tent appear in the slender construction of Chinese
houses, but even in shape they assume a tent-like
form. The slope of the roof, and its up-turned
corners, coupled with the absence of upper stories, all
remind one irresistibly of a tent. The main supports,
also, of the roof are the wooden pillars, not the walls,
which only serve to fill up the intervening spaces,
and form no addition to the stability of the building.
As etiquette provides that, in houses of the better
class, a high wall should surround the building, and
that no window should look outwards, streets in the
fashionable parts of cities have a very dreary aspect.
The only breaks in the long line of dismal wall, are
the front-doors, which, however, are generally closed,
or if by any chance they should be left open, movable

188 CHINA.

screens bar the sight of all beyond the doors of the
munshang's or doorkeeper's rooms. If, however, we
pass round one such screen, we find ourselves in
a courtyard, which may possibly be laid out as a
garden, but more frequently is flagged with paving-
stones. On either side are rooms usually occupied
by servants, while in front is a building to which
we have to ascend by two or three steps, and through
which a passage runs, having a room or rooms on
either side. At the other end of the passage, a descent
of two or three steps lands us in another courtyard,
in the rooms surrounding which the family live, and
behind this again are the women's apartments, which
not unfrequently look into a garden at the back.
A passage, either running along the inside of the
courtyards or beyond them, enables servants and
tradespeople to pass to any part of the house without
trespassing on the central way, which is reserved for
their betters. As has been already said, wooden
pillars support the roofs of the building, which are
a reminiscence of the earlier tent, and the intervals
between these are filled up with brickwork, but often
so irregularly, as to point plainly to their being no
integral part of the construction. The window-
frames are wooden, over which is pasted either paper
or calico, or sometimes pieces of talc are substituted,
the better to transmit the light. The doors are
almost invariably folding doors, and turn in wooden

A MANDARIN S YAMUN.

Pate 1 88.

ARCHITECTURE. 189

sockets. The floors of the rooms are generally either
stone or cement, and when laid down with wood, are
so uneven and creaky, as considerably to mitigate its
advantages. Ceilings are not often used, the roof
being the only covering to the rooms. As a rule,
the roof is the most ornamental part of the building.
The woodwork which supports it is intricate and
handsome, the shape is picturesque, and the glazed
tiles which cover it give it a bright aspect A ridge-
and-furrow-like appearance is given to it by putting,
at regular intervals, on the under layer of flat tiles,
lines of semi-circular tiles from the summit to the
eaves. Yellow is the colour commonly used, both
for temples and such houses which, by the sumptuary
laws in force, are entitled to have glazed tiles. At
the Altar of Heaven, at Peking, a magnificent effect
is produced by the use of deep-blue glazed porcelain
tiles, which in hue and brightness make no bad
imitation of the sky above.

Carpets are seldom used, more especially in southern
China, where also stoves for warming purposes are
unknown. In the north, where, in the winter, the
cold is very great, portable charcoal stoves are em-
ployed, in addition to the heated k'angs, and small
chafing-dishes are carried about from room to room.
But the main dependence of the Chinese for personal
warmth is on clothes. As the winter approaches,
garment is added to garment, and furs to quilted

190 CHINA.

vestments, until the wearer assumes an unwieldy and
exaggerated shape. Well-to-do Chinamen seldom
take strong exercise, and they are therefore able to
bear a weight of clothes which to a European would
be unendurable.

Of the personal comfort obtainable in a house
Chinamen are strangely ignorant. Their furniture
is of the hardest and most uncompromising nature.
Chairs, made of a hard, black wood, and of an angular
shape, and equally unyielding divans, covered pos-
sibly with hard, red cushions, are the only seats known
to them. Their beds are scarcely more comfortable,
and their pillows are oblong cubes of bamboo, or
other hard material. For the maintenance of the
existing fashions of female head-dressing, this kind
of pillow is essential to women at least, whose hair,
which is only dressed at intervals of days, and which
is kept in its grotesque shapes by the abundant use
of bandoline, would be crushed and disfigured if lain
upon for a moment Women, therefore, who make
any pretension of following the fashion, are obliged
to sleep at night on their backs, resting the nape of
the neck on the pillow, thus keeping the head and
hair free from contact with anything.

The use of paint in ornamenting the inside of the
roofs and other parts of the house is subject to
sumptuary laws, which regulate not only what shall
be painted, but also what colours shall be used. No

ARCHITECTURE.

let or hindrance, however, Is: placed in the way of in-
ternal ornament, and the wood carvings, representing
flowers and fruits, which not unfrequently adorn the
doorways and walls of the houses of the rich, are
often extremely handsome, combining beauty of
design with wonderful skill in execution. The shapes
of their cabinets and ornamental pieces of furniture
are very tasteful, and the rare beauty of their bronzes
and articles of porcelain-ware, with which they delight
to fill their rooms, are too well known to need men-
tion here. On a hot day, the large reception-hall in
a wealthy Chinaman's house, shaded from every ray
of sun by the wide overhanging roof, lofty and spacious,
is a welcome retreat, while the absence* of carpets,
and "stuff" from the furniture, gives it a refreshingly
cool aspect

Like the country roads, the streets in towns differ
widely in construction in the northern and southern
portions of the empire. In the south, they are
narrow and paved ; in the north, they are wide and
unpaved. Both constructions are suited to the local
wants of the people. The absence of wheel-traffic in
the southern provinces makes wide streets unneces-
sary, while, by contracting their width, the sun's rays
have less chance of beating down on the heads of
passers-by, and are the more easily altogether excluded
by the use of awnings stretched across from roof to
roof. It is true that this is done at the expense of

192

CHINA.

fresh air, but even to do this is a gain. Shops are all
open in front, the counters forming the only barriers

**•& *y^

between the street and their contents. In the more
populous parts of the empire the streets of large

ARCHITECTURE.

193

cities present a very animated appearance. Crowds
of pedestrians, sedan-chairs carrying members of the
wealthy and official classes, horsemen, and coolies
carrying their loads balanced at each end of bamboos
slung across their shoulders, jostle one another in

the narrow thoroughfares, in such close and constant
proximity, that it is due only to the untiring patience
and good-humour of the crowd that any movement is
possible.

This inconvenience is avoided in the wide streets of
the cities in the north, where the necessities of wheel-

O

194 CHINA.

traffic make more room imperative. But in the present
degenerate condition of municipal regulations the wide
streets are not an unmixed good. Though profess-
ing to be macadamized, they are destitute of " metal,"
with the natural consequence that in wet weather
they are sloughs, and in dry seasons they are covered
inches deep in dust. Of the large cities of the north
and south, Peking and Canton may be taken as typical
examples, and certainly, with the exception of the
palace, the walls, and certain imperial temples, the
streets of Peking compare very unfavourably with
those of Canton. The shops have a meaner and less
prosperous look, and there is a general air of dirt and
decay about the city. From the fact of the better
class of houses being enclosed within high blank walls,
the existence of the palaces belonging to the imperial
princes, instead of brightening the aspect of the town,
serves only to add to its dreariness. These palaces,
or " foos " of which there are fifty at Peking, are
given in perpetuity to certain princes of the blood
for signal services, and also to the sons of the Emperor
for their lives and two later generations, the great-
grandson of the original recipient being in each case
obliged to resign the gift again to the sovereign. The
general plan of one of these " foos " is thus described
by Dr. Williamson : " A foo has in front of it two
large stone lions, with a house for musicians and for
gatekeepers. Through a lofty gateway, on which

ARCHITECTURE. 195

are hung tablets inscribed with the prince's titles,
the visitor enters a large square court, with a paved
terrace in the centre, which fronts the principal hall.
Here, on days of ceremony, the slaves and depen-
dents may be ranged in reverential position before the
prince, who sits as master of the household, in the
hall. Behind the principal hall are two other halls,
both facing, like it, the south. These buildings all
have five or seven compartments divided by pillars
which support the roof, and the three or five in the
centre are left open to form one large hall, while the
sides are partitioned off to make rooms. Beyond
the gable there is usually an extension called the
wi-fang, literally, the ear-house, from its resemblance
in position to that organ. On each side of the large
courts fronting the halls is a side-house, ' siang fang/
of one or two stories. The garden of a foo is on the
west side, and it is usually arranged as an ornamental
park, with a lake, wooded mounds, fantastic arbours,
small Buddhist temples, covered passages, and a large
open hall for drinking tea and entertaining guests,
which is called Hwa-ting. Garden and house are
kept private, and effectually guarded from the intru-
sion of strangers by a high wall, and at the doors
by a numerous staff of messengers. The stables are
usually on the east side, and contain stout Mongol
ponies, large Hi horses, and a goodly supply of sleek,
well-kept mules, such as North China furnishes in

196 CHINA.

abundance. A prince or princess has a retinue of
about twenty, mounted on ponies or mules."

As these foos are built on an officially prescribed
plan, there is very little variety among them, and
the same sumptuary laws which regulate their con-
struction, take cognizance also of the country mansions
of the great. These were originally occupied only
by " kung " or dukes, and were built on much the
same model as the foo, except that their grounds
were more extensive, and the detached pavilions and
summer-houses more numerous. The gardens sur-
rounding these and other large country houses are
wonderfully "landscaped." Every inequality of
nature, whether hill or valley, rock or dale, is repre-
sented in them, while artificial water, caverns, and
grotesque bridges complete the microcosm they are
intended to represent.

Every Chinese city is surrounded by a wall, which,
in the present state of the military knowledge of
the people, is often sufficient to turn back the tide
of war. These walls vary in height and state of
repair with the circumstances of each city. Those
surrounding Peking are probably the finest and best
kept in the empire. In height they are about forty
feet, and the same in width. The top, which is
defended by massive battlements, is well paved, and
is kept in excellent order. Over each of the twelve
gates is built a fortified tower between eighty and

A CHINESE GARDEN.

Paft 196.

ARCHITECTURE.

197

ninety feet high, and each portal is further defended
on the outside by a large semicircular enceinte, with
walls of the same dimensions as those of the main
wall. Seen from the wall, the city, like all Chinese
towns, presents an uninteresting appearance. The

dwelling-houses, being both in height and construc-
tion almost identical, the scene is one of curious
monotony, which is broken only by the up-lifted
roofs of temples and palaces.

In every city the temples form a noticeable feature,
and prominent among them are invariably those dedi-
cated to Confucius. The law provides that at least

198 CHINA.

one of these should be built in every city and market-
town throughout the empire, and it is ordained with
equal fixity that it should consist of three court-
yards, built one behind the other, and all facing south.
The entrances should be on the eastern and western
faces of the outer courtyard, and only when a native
of the district has won the highest honour at the
competitive examinations, viz., the title of Chwang-
yuen, is the southern wall, which is always painted
red, pierced for a gateway. Even when this is done,
the right of passing through it is reserved only for
emperors and Chwang-yuens, who alone also have
the right of crossing the bridge which spans the
semicircular pond which occupies part of the lower
end of the courtyard. In the right-hand corner, at
the upper end, is the house where the animals for
sacrifice are kept, and on the opposite side is the
pavilion where the chief worshipper rests when first
entering the temple, and where he dons his official
clothes. Across the northern end of the hall runs a
large hall, in the middle of which is the " Gate of
Great Perfection," and through which, only those who
are privileged to enter the temple by the southern
wall and to cross the bridge are allowed to pass into
the next or principal court. On each side of this are
covered passages, containing the tablets of illustrious
Confucianists, famous for their piety and learning.
Cypresses grow in the intervening space, and here

A CITY CATE.

Pag* 198.

ARCHITECTURE. 199

the worshippers prostrate themselves before the tablet,
or, in some cases, image of the Sage, which rests
on an altar in the " Hall of Great Perfection," which
faces southward. On either side of the high altar
are arranged the tablets and altars of the four prin-
cipal disciples of Confucius, and of the twelve " Wise
Men." In the hindermost court, stands the "Ances-
tral Hall of Exalted Sages," which contains the
tablets of the five ancestors of Confucius, of his half-
brother, of the fathers of his principal disciples, and
of other worthies. The largest Confucian temple at
Peking is a very handsome structure. The roof,
which is painted an azure blue, is elaborately deco-
rated, and rows of cedar-trees, which are said to be
upwards of five hundred years old, adorn the court-
yards. But its most interesting contents are a set of
ten stone drums, on each of which is inscribed a stanza
of poetry. It is currently believed that these drums
were first shaped in the days of Yaou and Shun
(2356-2205 B.C.), but, unfortunately for this theory,
the forms of the characters point to their having been
cut at a considerably later period, probably in about
the seventh or eighth century B.C

The Buddhist temples differ little in general con-
struction from the Confucian temples. Like them
they are built in a succession of courtyards, the
minutiae of which are different, and in the all-impor-
tant point of the objects of worship they are, of

2<x> CHINA.

course, dissimilar. In place of the tablets of Con-
fucius and his four disciples stand images of Buddha,
Past, Present, and Future, and the shrines of the
twelve Wise Men are exchanged for a number of
idols representing the numerous incarnations of
Buddha. In some few of the larger temples stand
Dagobas, containing relics of the founder of the
religion. "On each side," says Archdeacon Gray,
" of the large courtyards, in which the principal halls
of the temple are erected, are rows of cells for the
monks, a visitors' hall, a refectory, and sometimes a
printing-office, where the liturgical services used by
the priests, new works on the tenets of Buddha, and
tracts for general distribution are printed."

Among the most ancient buildings in China are
Buddhist pagodas, which were first built on the
introduction of Buddhism into China from India,
Originally they were designed as depositaries of
relics of Buddha, but in later ages numbers have been
erected to form the tombs of celebrated Buddhist
priests, or as memorials of saintly personages, or
again, to secure beneficial geomantic influences for
the surrounding districts. Pagodas are generally built
of bricks, and are made to consist of an uneven
number of stories ; five, seven, and nine being the
most common numbers. In most cases the walls are
double, and between the inner and outer walls winds
the staircase leading to the summit, from which, by

ARCHITECTURE. 201

means of doorways, access is also obtained to the
chambers on each flat The outer wall, which in-
variably tapers, is usually octagonal, and its surface
is broken by the projecting roofs of tiles which sur-
mount the different stories. These roofs, turned up
at the corners, covered with green glazed tiles, and
hung about with bells, form the most attractive
feature of the building. In some pagodas containing
relics of Buddha, as is the case with one at How-
chow, no stories divide the interior of the pagoda,
but in the centre of the ground-floor rises a marble
pagoda-shaped column, beneath which rests the relic,
and upon the sides of which are carved 10,000 small
images of Buddha.

The most celebrated and magnificent pagoda ever
built in China was the well-known porcelain tower
at Nanking, which was erected by the Emperor
Yung-loh (1403-1425), to commemorate the virtues
of his mother. The outer walls were built of bricks
of the finest white porcelain, and the inner walls of
ordinary bricks encased in richly enamelled yellow
and red tiles. In shape it was an octagon. It con-
sisted of nine stories, and stood about 270 feet in
height. The pinnacle was surmounted by a large
gilt ball fixed to the top of an iron rod, which was
encircled by nine iron rings, and on the roof were
fastened five large pearls for the purpose of protecting
the city from as many evils. Nineteen years and

202

CHINA.

^200,000 were spent in building this unique struc-
ture, which, after standing for about 450 years, was
destroyed by the T'ai-ping rebels in 1856 so com-
pletely, that one brick was not left standing on
another.

CHAPTER XL

MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES.

i HE manufacture which is most com-
monly associated with China, and
which is ordinarily known by the
name of the country, is that of
porcelain. Johnson tells us in his
dictionary that this word " is said to
be derived from pour cent ann/es,
because it was believed by Euro-
peans that the materials of porcelain
were matured under ground one hundred years."
Later authorities have preferred to consider that it is
derived from the Italian forcellana, or cowrie shell,
which takes its name from its resemblance in shape
to a. force/la, or little pig.

The art of manufacturing porcelain is said by the
Chinese to have existed at a very early period. But
according to the most trustworthy authorities it

204 CHINA.

appears to have commenced during the Han dynasty,
that is to say, during the period from 206 B.C.-A.D. 25.
The first kiln was opened at Sinping, in the province
of Honan, but for a considerable period very little
advance was made in the manufacture. Under the
Tsin dynasty (A.D. 265-419) blue seems to have been
the prevailing colour of the pieces produced, and
under the Suy dynasty (A.D. 581-618) green. During
the enlightened rule of the sovereigns of the Tang
dynasty which succeeded the Suy, and during which
literature, science, and art flourished abundantly, much
attention was given to the manufacture of porcelain,
and mention is made of six different kinds as having
been in use at this period. One is said to have re-
sembled jade or ice, another was blue, and two others
were white. 1

In obedience to an order of the Emperor Shih-
tsung (A.D. 954), all porcelain made for his palace was
to be " blue as the sky after rain when seen between
the clouds." This kind was highly valued. But a
further impetus was given to the manufacture during
the Sung dynasty, and especially during the reign of
King-tih (A.D. 1004-1007), when the still celebrated
factories were established at a spot in the province of
Keang-se, which was named King-tih-chin after that
Emperor. Another factory was established at Pien-

1 Franks's introduction to his " Catalogue of Oriental Porce-
lain."

MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 205

leang a few years later, and from both these work-
shops pieces were issued of the moon-white, pale blue,
and dark green colours which were peculiar to this
period. During the Yuen and Ming dynasties the
manufacture flourished, and in the latter epoch four
reigns were especially conspicuous for the beauty of
pieces produced, viz., that of Yung-loh (1403-1425),
Seuen-tih (1426-1436), Ching-hwa (1465-1488), and
Kea-ts'ing (1 522-1 567). The most highly esteemed
kinds during the reign of Hung- woo (1 368-1399) were
blue, black, white, and dark blue with gilt ornaments ;
during the reign of Yung-loh, cups within which were
either painted lions rolling a ball, or a pair of birds,
or flowers ; during the reign of Seuen-tih, vases of a
brilliant red, or with pale blue flowers ; and during
the reign of Ching-tih, pieces coloured with a peculiar
red, and with a very fine blue pigment 1

In the rulers of the present dynasty the manufac-
turers have found patrons as munificent as any of the
most enlightened sovereigns of the preceding periods.
During the long reign of the Emperor K'ang-he
(1661-1722), much attention was paid to improving
and beautifying the articles made, and from that
period to the outbreak of the Taiping rebellion the
works at King-tih-chin and elsewhere were fully em«<
ployed. Unfortunately, in the confusion occasioned
by the Taiping rebellion King-tih-chin was destroyed,
1 Franks's introduction to his " Catalogue."

2o6 CHINA.

the kilns were broken up, and the million workmen
who were said to have been employed in the manu-
facture were dispersed abroad. Gradually, however,
the kilns have been rebuilt, and the factories are now
in full work again.

But King-tih-chin is not by any means the only
factory in China. In thirteen out of the eighteen
provinces porcelain is manufactured. In Honan there
are as many as thirteen places where it is made, in
both Che-keang and Keang-se there are eight, in
Chih-le, Keang-nan, and Shan-se there are fifteen,
five in each, and in the remaining seven provinces
there are thirteen factories. The prevalence of the
manufacture in Honan, Che-keang and Keang-se, is
due to the presence in large quantities of the two
principal materials of which porcelain is made, viz.
Pih-tun-tsze and Kaou-lin. Pih-tun-tsze or "white
clay bricks " is a mixture of felspar and quartz. It
is white in colour, is fusible at a low temperature, and
is obtained by repeated washing of a powder produced
from a pounded rock. The powder thus prepared
is placed between cloths and dried under a slight
pressure. Kaou-lin, which is named after a range of
hills in the neighbourhood of King-tih-chin, is a
hydricated silicate of alumina. It is infusible, and is
prepared in a similar way to the Pih-tun-tsze. For the
purpose of the manufacture these two materials are
kneaded together by the action of either the feet

MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 207

of men or buffaloes, and the paste thus prepared is
then handed on to the potters. When the pieces have
been shaped and the glaze applied they are packed
in clay seggars and placed in the furnace. The fires
are then lighted, the entrance to the furnace is walled
up, and for twenty-four hours the stoves are kept well
supplied with wood fuel. At the end of that time
the furnace is allowed to cool, and the porcelain is
taken out and handed over to the painters for adorn-
ment A second baking process at a low tempera-
ture has then to be gone through, and the work is
complete.

Lacquer ware is also a product mainly of China
and Japan. The varnish is procured from a kind of
sumach, and is collected on summer nights from in-
cisions made in the bark. The foundation of lacquer-
ware is generally deal, which is carefully planed and
covered with lint or paper. The varnish is put on in
successive coats after each has dried, and the last coat
is put on in a dark room, where it is left to dry. The
gilding and painting are subsequent operations.

Cloisonnd wares or enamels are made by soldering
strips of copper which are arranged so as to intersect
one w another, and thus form a number of cells, on
the sides of smooth copper vases. Into these cells
the enamel, which is reduced to a paste, is inserted
by means of brushes and styles, and the pattern
is thus formed. The ingredients of the enamel are

208 CHINA.

kept a profound secret by the artists who prepare
them.

Coinage. — The first idea of money possessed by
the Chinese was, as among all other peoples, any
exchangeable merchandize, but on their arrival in
China they readily adopted,for the sake of convenience,
the currency of the tribes among whom they estab-
lished themselves, and which consisted for the most
part of cowrie shells. Other shells, such as tortoise-
shells and the purple Cyproea shells were used in
states where cowrie shells were difficult to obtain in
sufficient quantities, but these last formed by far the
most universal currency. During the Shang dynasty
(1766-1401 B.C.) pieces of metal known as Tsuen were
introduced as a medium of exchange, but no settled
system was adopted until the establishment of the
Chow dynasty, when the Duke of Tsi, in 1103 B.C.,
ordered the issue of cubes of gold weighing a kin,
copper plates weighed by drachms, and pieces of silk
cloth, two feet two inches wide and forty feet in length.
The next new coinage was introduced about the tenth
century B.C, and consisted of copper Awan, or rings,
weighing six ounces each. These were, however,
soon superseded by coins cast in the shape of agri-
cultural implements, such as spades, bill-hooks, etc.
A wide discretion seems to have been used in the
choice of the implements represented, and when the
commonest shapes were exhausted, bridges, combs,

MANUFACTURES, COftfS, AND GAMES. 2^9

and half-moons were accepted as fitting designs. In
the fourth century, a return was made by King Hwuy-
wan of Ts'in to a ring coinage, but with only partial
success. Meanwhile, in the state of Tsi, the people
of which were notorious for their enterprise, a knife
coinage was issued, and seems, from the legends in-
scribed on the pieces, to have been especially designed
as a medium of exchange between mercantile associa-
tions in the several towns of the principality. In
other and poorer states, "leaf" money of copper and
gold was the common currency. But with the absorp-
tion by Ts'in of the other states, a system of round
copper money with a square hole in the middle was
adopted throughout the Chinese states. This is sub-
stantially the coin of the present day.

Under the Han Dynasty (206 B.G-A.D. 25) a re-
currence was had for a' short time to " leaf" money and
gold weights, but the round money sooil reasserted
itself, and though for some centuries great irregulari-
ties prevailed, they were finally put an end to by the
issue, in A.D. 622, of the Kai yuen tung paou, the
standard coin of the Tang dynasty. From that day
to this the same system of coinage has been main-
tained. Under the present dynasty considerable im-
provement has been made in the uniformity of the
coins, which are now composed of equal parts of copper
and zinc. On the obverse, they bear the name of the
reigning emperor under whom they are issued read

P

2io CHINA.

from top to bottom, and the words fung paou, or
current money, from right to left. 1

Almost all the copper used for the purpose of
making money is brought from the province of
Yunnan, and is converted into coins at twenty mints,
the localities of which are indicated in the following
quatrain, which serves as a memoria technica.

Tung, Fuh, Lin, Tung, Keang,
Suen, Yuen, Soo, Ke, Ch'ang,
Nan, Ho, Ning, Kwang, Cheh,
Tai, Kwei, Shen, Yun, Chang.

These, when written in full, are to be read —
Tung-chow Foo, Fuh-keen, Ling-kwei Foo, Shantung, Keang-
se, Suen-hwa, Tai-yuen, Soocbow, Ki-chow, Wuchang, Hunan,
Honan, Keang-ring, Kwang-tung, Cheh-keang, Formosa, Kwei-
lin, Shen-se, Yunnan, and Chang-chow.

Printing. — According to the best obtainable
authorities, printing appears to have been invented in
the sixth century ; and the first distinct mention which
we have of the art is contained in a decree published
by the Emperor WSn-ti (A.D. 593), ordering the exist-
ing classical texts to be engraved on wood and printed
for circulation among the people. Little mention is,
however, made of the art until the establishment of
the Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1 127), when a blacksmith,
named Pe Ching, rendered himself for ever famous
by introducing a system of movable types. "This
inventor," writes M. Julien, "used to take a paste of
1 " The Coinage of China," by Terrien de Lacouperie.

MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 21 r

fine and glutinous clay, and make of it regular plates
of the thickness of a piece of money, on which he
engraved the characters. For each character he
made a type, which he hardened at the fire. He then :
placed an iron plate on the table, and covered it with
a cement composed of resin, wax, and lime. When
he wanted to print, he took an iron frame, divided by
perpendicular threads of the same metal, and placing
it on the iron plate, ranged his types in it. The
plate was then held near the fire ; and when the
cement was sufficiently melted, a wooden board was
pressed tightly upon it, so as to render the surface
of the type perfectly even." 1

It was not long before a still further improvement
was introduced by the substitution of metal for the
clay type invented by Pe Ching. We have no record
as to when metal type was first adopted in China,
but as we find the Koreans printing with metal type
in the beginning of the fifteenth century, it is safe to
assume that the Chinese, from whom they borrowed
it, were in possession of the art at a considerably earlier
time. Movable type has, however, never superseded
wooden blocks, which are still commonly used, more
especially for the lighter kinds of literature.

GAMES. — Games of chance and of skill are ex-
tremely popular among all classes of Chinamen.
The gambling instinct is innate in them. Not only
1 " Language and Literature of China," by the Author.

212 CHINA.

the rich and idle, but the poor and industrious also
delight in hazarding their fortunes on the throw of
the dice ; and it is by no means uncommon to see
a workman risking his breakfast money at the stall
of an itinerant restaurant keeper on the chance of his
either winning a sumptuous meal or going back
hungry to his work. One of the commonest gam-
bling games is known in the south by the name of Fan
tan % and consists in the players guessing the number
of coins which will remain over after the croupier has
counted out into four equal heaps the handful of
money which he begins by placing under an inverted
bowl. Cards are also much used, and furnish mate-
rials for an infinite variety of games. They are much
narrower than ours, being not more than about an
inch wide, and are more numerous. The best and
most popular games of skill are chess, WH-kH, and
draughts. All three games are spoken of as being
ancient, and stand high in the estimation of the
educated classes. With, however, a modesty un-
usual to them, the Chinese only claim to have in-
vented chess at a period (1120 B.c.) more than a
thousand years after it was known in India, to which
country Europe is indebted for the game, as the
etymology of the word * " chess " shows. In Sanscrit,
it is Chaturanga; in Persian and Arabic, Ska-

1 It is a curious coincidence that the Chinese name for a
chess-man is chetsse.

MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 213

tranj; in Italian, Scaccki; in German, Schach ; and
in French, Echec. The Chinese chess-board is
divided into two equal parts, by u a dividing river,"
on each side of which are thirty-two squares. The
men, thirty-two in all, are round flat pieces, on each
of which is inscribed a name indicating its value.
As these pieces stand on the intersection of the lines,
and not on the squares, there are on the back line
nine, instead of eight, as in European chess. In the
centre stands the general, on either side of whom is
a Sze or counsellor. In the Persian game there is
but one counsellor to each king, who is named Firz.
This word became latinized into Farzia or Fercia, and
was converted by the French into Fierce, Fierge, and
Vierge, hence the idea of a female counsellor, or
queen. In China, the two counsellors are flanked by
two elephants — the Pil and Fil of the Persians and
Arabians, and the Fol or Fou of the French — these by
two horses, and these again by two chariots. In front
of each horse, at an interval of one intersection, is placed
a cannon, and at an interval of two intersections are
arranged five soldiers in front of the chariots, ele-
phants, and general. The moves of the elephants,
horses, and chariots, are somewhat similar to those of
our knights, bishops, and castles. The cannons com-
bine the powers of our knights and castles, and the
soldiers are the equivalent of our pawns. Like our
king, the general cannot be taken, and the game is

214 CHINA.

won by the player who is first able to checkmate his
adversary's general.*

Wei-k'i is even a more complicated game than
chess/ It is played on a board containing 324
squares, and about 300 pieces,, 1 So on each side, take
part in the game. As in the Chinese chess, the
pieces are placed upon the points where the lines of
the squares intersect one another. The object aimed
at by each player is to take possession, by a process
of surrounding, of so many of the 361 points of
intersection as possible.

" For instance, place a white pip (or piece) on any
cross (or intersection) near the middle of the board,
and surround it with four black pips, placed on the
nearest or connecting crosses. White having no move
left, may be taken up, and the space inclosed becomes
the property of black. Black's four pips remaining
in statu quo surround them with eight white pips
placed on the eight crosses immediately connecting
(with black's four pips). As, however, there is still
a vacant cross — i.e. a move in the middle — black is
'alive,' and cannot be taken up by white. But at
white's next move he may put down a pip in that
middle space and take up black, who is now hemmed
in on all sides, and has no move left. The space thus
inclosed becomes the property of white. Nor could
black fill up that middle space with one of his own
pips, as he would be himself cutting off his only

MANUFACTURES, COINS, AND GAMES. 215

claim to existence, and be at once taken up by white.
It is plain, therefore, that such a space inclosed by
only four pips is not safe from an irruption of the
enemy. . . . And now, supposing the board to be so
covered with pips that neither party can play another
move without putting down in the adversary's ground,
where they are sure to be immediately taken up, or
in his own ground, where, if already safe from hostile
inroads, they are of course perfectly useless, then
the game of Wei-k'i is at an end, and it only remains
to see who is the winner. This is effected by counting
the" crosses occupied and inclosed by the pips of
either player." *

Dominoes, which are identical in shape and number
with those in use among ourselves, are very com-
monly played, and supply a ready means of gam-
bling. Fighting crickets and quails also are kept
and trained by the sporting community, who not
unfrequently lose and win as much money on a con-
test between their champions as changes hands at an
English county race-meeting. At feasts, a very
favourite game is cHai tnei, or mora, which consists
in one player showing one or more fingers to the
other and calling out a number, when his opponent
has, at the instant, to show and call out the number
of fingers which make up the difference between the
number first named and ten. For instance, if the

1 " Historic China and other Sketches," by Herbert A. Giles.

216 CHINA.

first player names three, his antagonist must show
. seven fingers, calling the number at the same moment
If hie fails to show and cull the right number, he pays
a forfeit, either by drinking a cup of wine, or in some
other way agreed upon. In Japan, the game used to
be much in vogue among the attendants at the tea-
houses, where the forfeit usually consisted in the
loser taking off an article of clothing. By those who
observed the rigour of the game these forfeits were
carried to the extreme limit

As gymnasts the Chinese are great proficients, and
perform feats on the cross-bar which would win
applause in any gymnasium. It is notable in this
connection that, at the present time (1887), a Chinese
student at Cheltenham College has proved himself
to be the champion gymnast at the public schools'
competition for the year. The power possessed by
their athletes in lifting weights is also remarkable,
but they have no game of active skill which brings
opponents into direct conflict, as in rackets, cricket,
football, etc., unless it may be said that the battledore
and shuttlecock, which is played in the southern
provinces by men who use their feet as battledores,
is a game of the kind.

CHAPTER XII.

DRAWING.

HE art of drawing is held in great
esteem in China, and the works of the
most renowned artists are eagerly-
sought after, and are as carefully
treasured as those of Raffaelle or
Rubens are among ourselves. The
art claims for itself a great anti-
quity, and as is the case with other
arts, it seems to have had its
origin among the aborigines. It is curious also to
observe that Honan, the cradle of much that has since
increased the sum of Chinese civilization, is credited
with having been the home of drawing as well as of
the written character. Fuh-he, who invented the
celebrated eight diagrams, made drawings and plans,
we are told, in imitation of the records he found at
the Jung river in Honan, and Hwang-te is said to

2i8 CHINA.

have obtained a likeness of Ts'ang Hieh, the inventor
of writing, from the Lo river. These and other tradi-
tions appear to prove that the inscriptions drawn on
the banks of the rivers by the aborigines of that part
of China served not only as materials for the forma-
tion of new characters by the Chinese, but also as
patterns for designs.

From that beginning, the art of drawing grew, and
though it cannot be said that the Chinese are an
artistic people, it is equally impossible to deny that
they are possessed of great skill in producing won-
derful effects with a few strokes of the penciL They
have never understood perspective, but at the same
time some of their landscapes are admirable for
their picturesqueness and for their life-like repre-
sentations of nature. Their studies of trees, boughs,
and flowers are exceedingly accurate and tasteful,
and their use of colours is highly effective. But after
all there is a sameness in their drawings which sug-
gests that the art is mechanical, and a study of their
works on drawing fully confirms this suspicion. In
these we find detailed directions for representing
every kind of scenery under all circumstances. In
all such works, mountains and streams are described
as the highest objects for the painter's skill, and
the student is told how to depict their beauties
under every varying circumstance of season and
weather. The ideal mountain should have a cloud

DRAWING. 219

encircling its " waist," which should hide from view
a part of the stream which should pour over rocks
and waterfalls, down its sides. A temple or house,
shaded and half-concealed by a grove, should be
nestled in its embrace, and a high bridge should span
the neighbouring torrent, over which a winding road,
bordered by trees, should lead round the mountain.
At intervals travellers should be seen mounting to
the summit Three sides of a rock, if possible,
should be shown, and water should appear as though
ruffled by wind. A ford is a fitting adjunct to a
precipitous bank, and smoke and trees add to the
picturesqueness of a stretch of water. A large sheet
of water should always be dotted with sails. A
solitary city in the distance and a market town at
the foot of the mountain may be introduced with
advantage.

Houses should always form part of forest scenery,
and an old tree with broken and twisted roots is an
appropriate finish to a rocky cliff. The boughs of
trees having leaves, should be supple, but if bare,
should be stiff. Pine bark should be drawn as fishes'
scales, and cedar bark is always-, it should be remem-
bered, entwining. The branches on the left side of a
tree should be longer than those on the right Rocks
should be heavy above and slight beneath. There
should never be too much of either smoke or cloud,
nor should woods have too many trees. On a snowy

220

CHINA.

day no cloud or smoke should be seen, and when
rain is falling distant mountains should be invisible.
Such are 9ome of the directions given for landscape

drawing, and a glance at Chinese pictures of scenery
is enough to show how closely the rules of the
text-books are followed.

DRAWING. 221

Writers on art advice artists, before beginning to
paint a flower, to examine it carefully from above, so
as to become thoroughly acquainted with its every
aspect ; and, if their subject is a bamboo, to watch the
shadow cast in bright moonlight by a tree of the kind
on a white wall. The different aspects of the clouds
in the four seasons should be carefully noted. In
spring, clouds appear in harmonious concord ; in sum*
mer, they congregate in profusion ; in autumn, they
are intermittent and light ; and in winter, they are
dark and cold.

With the same minuteness every branch of the art
is legislated for, and young artists desiring to make
themselves proficient in any direction will find full
instructions in the manuals published for their
guidance. Admirable, however, as some of the
effects produced are, the result of drawing by rule is
to produce a considerable amount of purely mechan-
ical skill, and to reduce the exercise of the imagina-
tion to a minimum. The birds and flowers, mountains
and streams, which seem to have been struck off in
" a few lines, as the spirit of the artist moved him, are
really the products of patient and repeated imitation,
and the probability is, that the artist whose birds or
flowers we all so much admire, would be quite unable
to draw a dog or a house, if suddenly called upon to
do so. The books enforce the doctrine that there is
no difference between learning to write and learning

222- CHINA.

to draw. It is possible, by constant application, to
learn to write characters correctly and elegantly, and
the same is the case with pictures. This is not art
of a high order, but it produces striking and well-
arranged effects. So skilful was, it is said, a certain
artist of the third century in representing insects, that
having carelessly added the form of a fly to a picture
he had painted for his sovereign, the Emperor, on re-
ceiving the painting, raised his hand to brush the
insect away.

The rules which are laid down for landscape draw-
ing cannot, of course, apply to portrait painting, in
which the artist has to follow a fresh model in every
picture ; and for this reason Chinese portraits are not
generally successful. Occasionally, artists have arisen
who have deservedly won renown in this branch of
the art. One of the earliest of these was Maou Yen-
show, who, in the words of Mr. Mayers, "having been
commissioned by Yuen-te, of the Han dynasty
(48-32 B.C.), to paint the portraits of the beauties of
his harem, is said to have falsified the lineaments of
the lovely Chaou Keun on being denied a bribe ; and
subsequently, on the lady's real beauty being dis-
covered by the emperor, to have fled with her true
portrait to the Khan of the Hiung-nu. The Khan,
fired by the hope of obtaining possession of so peerless
a beauty, invaded China in irresistible force, and only
consented to retire beyond the Wall when the lady

DRAWING.

223

was surrendered to him. She accompanied her
savage captor, bathed in tears, until the banks of the
Amur were reached, when, rather than go beyond
the boundary, she plunged into the waters of the
stream. Her corpse was interred on the banks
of the river, and it is related, that the tumulus
raised above her grave remains covered with un-
dying verdure."

CHAPTER XIII.

TRAVELLING.

RAVELLING in China is slow and
leisurely. Time is of little or no
object to the fortunate inhabitants
of that country, who are content to
be carried for long distances by cart,
boat, sedan-chair, or on horseback,
without the least troubling them-
selves about the pace at which they
journey. The prevailing modes of
conveyance vary in accordance with the nature of the
country. In the north, where the country is level and
open, the existence of broad roads enables the inhabi-
tants to use carts for the conveyance of passengers
and goods. These carts are rude in construction and
extremely uncomfortable. Those used as carriages
consist of the bed of the cart, with a tilted cover and
two wheels. They are entirely destitute of springs,

TRAVELLING. 22$

and the passenger sits cross-legged on the bed of the
cart, exactly above the axle, without any support for
his back. Even on good roads such conveyances
would be uncomfortable; but in China, where the
roads are rarely, if ever, mended, and are either stone
causeways or unmade tracks, they are, to all those
who are not accustomed to them, instruments of tor-
ture. The great art in travelling in them is to sit
bolt upright, and to allow the body to sway to and
fro with the motion of the cart, and to avoid touching
the sides. In Peking and other large cities, the
private carriages of rich men sometimes have the
wheels placed behind the cart, so that the cart itself
is swung, as it were, between the animal drawing it
and the axle. In this way, the severe jolts, which
harass the passenger seated immediately above the
axle, are avoided. Carts for the carriage of goods
generally have only two wheels, though there are also
waggons with four. Mules are generally driven in
private carriages and in the best hack-carts, but other
carts are drawn by ponies, donkeys, or oxen, as the
convenience of the owner dictates.

For riding purposes, also, mules are preferred to
ponies. They are considered to be more manage-
able, and when taught, as they generally are, to
amble, their pace is easy and expeditious. History
tells us that horses are not indigenous to China, and
this statement is borne out by the fact that the

Q

226 CHINA.

hieroglyphic now used for a horse was originally
drawn to represent a donkey, the ears being long out
of all proportion to those of a horse. Messengers
and bearers of official despatches generally ride, but,
as a rule, travellers prefer going long journeys either
by cart or by boat In the province of Shantung,
and in other mountainous districts in northern China,
a kind of horse palanquin is used by travellers. Either
two ponies or two mules are harnessed in the poles,
one in front and one behind, and thus carry the
palanquin between them.

But the most general way of travelling throughout
the empire is by boat. In every direction the
natural " water highways" dissect the country, and
in parts, where these fall short of the wants of the
people, they are supplemented by canals. The boats
are admirably adapted to the people and the cir-
cumstances. They are built rather for comfort
than for speed, and their clean and comfort-
able cabins and easy motion form a most desirable
contrast to the jolting of carts, the monotony of posi-
tion necessary in a sedan-chair, or the fatigue of
riding. The official junks in which mandarins travel
are very like floating houses. They are fitted up
with every convenience, and are manned by an army
of boatmen, who tow, pole, or row the vessel along,
as the case may be, when the wind is adverse. On
all such boats the flag of the mandarin on board is
hoisted on the mast

TRAVELLING.

227

Less distinguished passengers have to put up with
less commodious junks, but what these lack in com-
fort, they make up in superior facilities for travelling.
Unlike the mandarin junks, which are so constructed
that the sail can only be hoisted when the wind is
" right aft," the rig of the smaller passenger-vessels

is such as to enable them to sail as near the wind
as a Portsmouth wherry. They are considerably
lighter also, and are consequently far more easily
towed. The fore-part of such vessels consists of a
flush deck, the boards of which are movable, and
the holds, which these conceal, serve as sleeping-

228

CHINA.

places for the crew. Captain Gill, in his " River of
Golden Sand," thus describes the above-deck arrange-
ments of the boat in which he lived during a part
of his voyage up the Yang-tsze-keang : " The bows,
for a space of twenty feet, were uncovered ; aft of
this, a house about twenty feet long was built right

across the deck, leaving no room to pass round the
sides. There was a small open space aft of the
house, and right over the stern another high building,
where our skipper lived, was piled up to a great
height. The house was about seven feet high, and
was divided into four compartments, giving us a

TRA VELLING. 229

living room and two bedrooms for ourselves, and a
room for the servants."

The sea-going junks are very much larger than
the river craft, and are built on different lines. They
are high at both ends, and are square at bow and
stern. On the latter is painted a phoenix standing
on a rock in the midst of the ocean, and at the bows
two large staring eyes, reminding one, as Mr. Tylor
has pointed out, of the eye of Osiris, which was painted
on the Egyptian funeral-bark that carried the dead
across the lake to the western burial-place. The
Canton-English-speaking Chinese of Hong-kong have
another explanation of the custom, " No have got
eye," they say, " how can see ! no can see, how can
savey ! " All junks of this kind are divided into
water-tight compartments, and are capable of carry-
ing several thousand tons of cargo. They are gene-
rally three-masted, and carry a huge main-sail made,
like the others, of matting. The rudder projects
considerably beyond the stern, and is larger in pro-
portion than those of European vessels, giving the
helmsman immense power of turning the vessel where
he listeth. The choice of felicitous names by which
to christen the junks is a matter of serious considera-
tion to the owners, who love also to adorn the masts
and rudders with mottoes of good omen. Though
possessed of the compass, Chinese sailors are without
the knowledge necessary for taking nautical obser-

230

CHINA.

vations, and consequently they are compelled to hug
the land, or, where that is impossible, to trust them-
selves entirely to the guidance of the compass until
they reach some coast with which they are acquainted.
In these circumstances it may readily be imagined

that the loss of junks and lives on the China coasts
is annually very large. Not only are there the
ordinary difficulties of navigation to be contended
with, but the southern waters are periodically visited
by typhoons, which sweep the seas affected by them

TRAVELLING. 231

of every junk outside the shelter of harbour, and
which, even within these limits, do incalculable
damage. In 1862 and 1871, the neighbourhood of
Canton was devastated by two such storms, and,
says Archdeacon Gray, a these were, if possible, sur-
passed in violence, and in the number of casualties
which attended them, by a typhoon which visited
Hong-kong and Macao in the month of September,
1874. According to the inhabitants, this destructive
cyclone was the greatest calamity which had befallen
Hong-kong and Macao within the memory of man."
It has been reckoned that 20,000 persons perished
in the seas and rivers of the province of Kwangtung
on that occasion.

The immense number of people who live in boats
on the rivers in this part of China render typhoons
especially destructive. For the most part these boat-
people are not of Chinese origin, but are remnants
of the aborigines of the country. They are known
as Tanka, and are possibly related to the Meaou-tsze
of southern and western China. At the present day
there is not much in their appearance to distinguish
them from the Chinese, except that they are more
vivacious in manner, and brighter in countenance ;
and they have so entirely discarded their own lan-
guage in favour of Chinese that their speech in no
way betrays them. They are regarded with an
affectation of contempt by the Cantonese, who have

232 CHINA.

nicknamed them Skwui ke> "Water fowl," or Hoi
cKat> " Sea otters." At various times they have been
much persecuted, and attempts have not been want-
ing to subject them to complete ostracism. Even
now marriages between the Tankas and Cantonese
are rarely celebrated, and their youths are not allowed
to compete at the literary examinations. That the
race has ever survived is a constant wonder, seeing
the hourly and almost momentary danger of drown-
ing, in which the children live on board their boats.
That they do not all fall overboard from the unpro-
tected decks is only another proof that human beings
can adapt themselves to any circumstances. The
only precaution that is ever taken, even in the case
of infants, is to tie an empty gourd between their
shoulders, so that, should they fail into the water,
they may be kept afloat until help arrives. Hardly
a less cause for amazement is the way in which
whole families and large families pack away in
their boats. A space which would appear infinitely
cramped and confined to one of ourselves serves a
father and mother, sometimes a mother-in-law, and
a host of children, for every purpose of life. They
are born in their boats, they marry in their boats,
and die in their boats.

One great advantage of travelling by boat in
China is, that by so doing the traveller avoids the
necessity of going to inns. He carries everything

TRAVELLING.

233

he wants with him. The stove which cooks the
boatmen's dinner cooks his also, and even in the
smallest passenger boats he may sleep comfortably,
protected by a mat-covering from rain and cold.
Compared with the accommodation commonly found
in village inns, boats are clean and commodious.

Except in very large inns, a single courtyard sur-
rounded by mean and dirty rooms is all that is at
the disposal of travellers. The kitchen and offices
adjoin the entrance, and in the four or five other
apartments live the host and his family, and there
also are lodged the travellers who present them-
selves. In the north of China, the most conspicuous

234 CHINA.

object in a room of an inn is the k'ang, or raised
brick bed-place, which generally extends along the
whole side of the chamber. Being built hollow, it
admits, in cold weather, of a fire of brushwood being
lighted inside. The caloric thus communicated quickly
heats the bricks through, and the weary traveller
finds a warm place on which to roll himself in his
bedding. But even when thus comfortably placed
he must be a hardened sleeper who can forget in
slumber the noises which are constantly going on
around him. It is seldom that among the inhabitants
of an inn there is not a guitar and a guitarist, and
/long into the night the melancholy notes of this
instrument, which would be provocative of sleep
were it not for the shrill long drawn-out notes which
diversify Chinese airs, wail through the rooms.
When at last these cease to disturb, the silence
which follows only makes more audible the quarrels
and fights between the ponies and mules which
stand in the stable, or sometimes in the open court-
yard. When towards morning these sounds have
died away the traveller is fortunate if he is not tor-
mented with the crowing of cocks, which not un-
frequently landlords, and those of their guests who
wish to make an early start, tie beneath their beds,
and which, as may be imagined, keep up a shrill
chorus on the approach of day.

One other means of travelling remains to be

A WHEELBARROW WITH SAIL.

P«& 235-

TRAVELLING. 23$

noticed, and one which is peculiar to China, namely
by wheelbarrow. On the plains in the northern
portion of the -empire it is not at all unusual to see
one or two persons seated on a wheelbarrow, which
is propelled by a man or men, whose labours are
lightened when going with the wind by a sail which
is hoisted on a movable mast Dr. Williamson, in
his " Journeys in North China," thus describes these
means of conveyance : " Here we met many of
their extraordinary wheelbarrows moving along on
dry ground with a sail set, each barrow having a
great wheel in the centre, finely balanced. Those
we saw were laden heavily, and had a large sheet of
cloth set on a framework in front ; many of these
sails were so rigged as to be capable of being raised
or reefed at pleasure, the ropes or braces being at-
tached to a hook close to the driver. We have
never seen these wheelbarrows without pity ; the
strain to the men who manage them is enormous ;
indeed, we have never witnessed human beings under
such heavy labour. We met many with fourteen
bean-cakes on one barrow, equal to seven small
donkey-loads ; and often saw six bales of cotton on
one barrow, though two are considered sufficient for
a mule ; but human labour is cheaper than animal.
In many cases there were two men to one barrow,
one dragging and another pushing ; but, in such
cases, the load was increased."

236 CHINA.

Another traveller, writing on this subject, also
speaks of the enormous loads carried on these
barrows : " We saw .a large wheelbarrow so heavily-
laden that, while it required only one man' to guide
and manage it from behind, two men were employed,
one on each side, to steady and force it along, while
a fourth man was engaged in driving two mules and
one ass, which were fastened abreast to the front part
of the vehicle, in order to assist in its progress."

At the present day, however, there are not wanting
signs that before long the " iron horse " will have to
be added to the list of the means of travelling in
China. The knowledge of the material results of
Western civilization which has been gained of late
years by the officials of China, with the example set
by Japan of the practicability of their adoption in
Eastern countries, has stirred the minds of some of
the most powerful men in China on the subject of
introducing railways and telegraphs into the * flowery
land." The advantages of railways also, in a military
sense, will be a powerful argument for their adoption,
and in the physical features of the country few ob-
stacles will be found to their construction. Over the
vast plains of northern China scarcely a gradient
would be necessary, and through the hilly and moun-
tainous districts the routes marked out by the existing
highways would easily yield to the engineer's skill.
Both from their natural aptness, and from the fact

TRAVELLING. zyj

of their striking all the great centres of trade, these
highways will, when the time comes for laying down
the rails, probably direct the course of the lines.

Nothing is more suggestive of the former greatness
of the empire, and of its present degenerate condition,
than its magnificent system of highways, and the
uncared-for, miserable state in which they now are.
From Peking, as the political centre of the " middle
kingdom," four great main-roads radiate. One goes
north to Urga by way of Seuen-hwa Foo, passing
through the great wall at Chang-kea Kow ; another
enters Mongolia through the Koo-pei Kow, and passes
in a north-easterly direction to Fung-ning, where.it
turns north-west and continues on to Dolanor; a
third strikes eastward by way of Tung-chow, Yung-
ping Foo, Shan-hai-kwan, King-chow-Foo, Moukden,
Kirin, Ning-gu-ta, and on to Poissiet, a Russian port
on the eastern coast of the continent ; and a fourth,
which trends in a south-westerly direction to Paou-
ting Foo, Tai-yuen Foo, Tung-kwan, the celebrated
fortress at the point where the Yellow River, after
pursuing a southerly course, turns eastward to the
sea, and Se-ngan Foo in Shen-se. At this point it
bifurcates, one branch turning north-west to Kan-suh
and Tibet, and the -other continuing the original
direction through Sze-chuen to Siam. At Paou-ting
Foo also, two highways diverge from the main-road,
one leading to Nanking and another to Nan-chang

238 CHINA.

Foo on the Po-yang Lake, where travellers embark
on the Kea River for Canton.

The original construction of these roads was as
masterly as their design was magnificent The
bridges by which they cross all but the largest rivers
were all well built and many of them were handsome
structures; the passages through mountain-passes and
hilly districts were in all cases ably executed, often
in spite of great engineering difficulties ; and the
width of the roadways, from seventy to eighty feet,
gave ample room for the passage of camels, carts,
sedan-chairs, and beasts of burden which frequented
them. Many of these roads are planted on each side
with rows of trees, and at every ten Chinese miles
there stands a signal-tower, on which, in bygone
days, when evil threatened, fires were lighted, which
at night gave warning of danger by their flames, and
in the daytime were made to emit dense clouds
of smoke to serve the same purpose. At frequent in-
tervals are the remains of guard-houses, where soldiers
used to be stationed for the protection of travellers,
and wherever it is necessary wells and troughs
are provided for the use of men and their beasts.
Inns and tea-houses repeat themselves constantly
along the lines of route, and post-horses stand ready
prepared in the stables of the frequent post-houses
to relieve at the instant the tired steeds of the official
couriers. In cases of emergency these men are said to

i.r

TRAVELLING. '"~ 239

travel over two hundred English miles a-day. When
on the road, they carry a few hen's feathers fastened to
the top of their lanterns as a signal of their commission,
and their despatches are tied in a parcel on their backs.
The speed with which they travel is illustrated by
the following mention made by Captain Gill, in his
" River of Golden Sand," of a nocturnal visit of one
at a little village in Western China : u The clatter
of an imperial despatch from Peking awoke the
echoes of the slumbering village at three o'clock in
the morning ; a few dogs barked, a cock crowed, but
in less than a minute the rattle of the hoofs was lost
in the distance, and the place lasped into its normal
silence."

CHAPTER XIV.

HONOURS.

HE question of what should be done
to the man whom the king de-
lighteth to honour is one which
receives different answers in almost
every country in the world. In all,
however, some accession of dignity
or insignia of honour are the re-
wards awaiting those who have de-
served well of their country. The
satisfaction arising from popular fame is short-lived,
and some more lasting evidence is therefore demanded
of the favour of the sovereign. In China, the highest
rewards for military services are unlike all other
official honours, which die with the wearer, and are
hereditary. Nine titles of nobility, viz. Kung 9 or
duke, HoWy or marquis, Pih> or earl, Tsze, or viscount,
Nan, or baron, and ICing ch'i Too-yu, ICe Too-yu, Yun

HONOURS. 241

K'e-yii, and Ngan K'e-yii, which may be considered
equivalent to as many degrees of knighthood, are set
apart for military heroes. With the exception of the
last title, all these are hereditary during a specified
number of lives, ranging from twenty-six for a Kung
to one for a Yun Kcyii. They have the peculiarity
also, on occasions, of not only descending to future
generations, but of reverting to the dead, and espe-
cially to those who have been killed in battle.

The system of conferring posthumous honours of
various kinds is, however, very common, and is not
by any means confined to the victims of war. It is
practised in the case of officials who lose their lives at
sea or in the inland waters while travelling on duty, of
virtuous sovereigns, of chaste widows, of filial sons,
and of patriots. Such rewards are often only titles
of honour which are not hereditary, and which may
be either conferred on the meritorious individual in
person, or granted to him posthumously, or may be
bestowed on his wife, or his parents, or his grand-
parents. As in the case of the hereditary patents
mentioned above, these titles are divided into nine
ranks, each of which is subdivided into two grades,
and are as follows : 1 a. Kwang luh ta foo, b. Yung
luh ta foo ; 2 a. Tsze ching ta foo t b. Tung fung ta
foo ; 3 a. Tung e tafoo, b. Chung e tafoo; 4 a. Chung
him tafoo, b. C/iao e tafoo ; 5 a. Fung ching ta foo,
b. Fung chih ta foo ; 6 a. Cliing tih lang, b.foo tin

R

242 CHINA.

lang ; 7 a. W&n lin lang, b. Cliing sze long ; 8 a. Sew
chik lang, b. Sew chih tso lang; 9 a. Tdng sze lang,.
b. Ttfflg- sze tso lang. The wives of officers on whom
these titles are conferred are styled respectively,
1. Yilt fin foo jin, 2. Urh fin foo jin, 3. Shuh Jin,
4. Kungjin, 5. E jin, 6. Ngan jin, 7.J00 jin, 8. Pa
finjoojin, 9. Kiufinjoojin.

These titles are highly prized by those upon whom
they are bestowed, and invariably accompany the
mention of their names in all state papers and family
records, as well as on their funeral cards, ancestral
tablets, and tombstones. "The patents," says Mr.
Mayers, in his " Chinese Government," " are inscribed
on long scrolls of damask silk, woven in five colours,
with figures of the phoenix in relief, upon which the
particulars of the grant are inscribed successively in
the Chinese and Manchu languages." On military
officers, not only are honorary titles, such as Tseang
keun, "General," etc., conferred as rewards for dis-
tinguished services, but articles of clothing, among
which the most coveted is the yellow riding-jacket.
This jacket is supposed only to be worn when in
attendance on the Emperor, and though it is invariably
called " yellow," the colour, as a matter of fact, follows
that of the banner to which the recipient belongs.
Only two Europeans have been granted this dis-
tinction, namely, General Gordon, and M. Giguel, the
Commandant of the Foochow Arsenal.

HONOURS. , 243

To General Gordon also were presented by the
Emperor four " suits " of clothes, the first of which, a
" suit of court clothes " consisted of an embroidered
robe, a heavenly blue satin jacket embroidered with
insignia of office, a moon-coloured camlet coat, a
moon-coloured satin collar, a sea-dragon court-cap, a
purple cap button, a jadite holder for peacock's
feather on cap, a peacock's feather, an untrimmed
court-cap, a purple quartz button, a white jade holder
for peacock's feather, a peacock's feather, a necklace
of golden amber beads, a girdle, a sash-purse, and a
pair of satin boots. The second, or variegated suit,
was made up of a silk robe embroidered with four-
clawed dragons, a heavenly blue Nanking camlet
jacket, a rice-coloured spring camlet robe, a moon-
coloured gauze collar, a floss silk cap, a coral button
of the first rank, a white jade holder for peacock's
feather, a peacock's feather, a peach-stone necklace, a
stone-blue silk girdle, a sash purse, and a pair of satin
boots. The third, or " suit of ordinary clothes," con-
sisted of a pale silver Nanking camlet robe, a heavenly
blue Nanking camlet jacket, a spring gauze robe of
the colour of " lake water," a fringed official summer-
cap, a red coral button of the first rank, a flesh-
coloured holder for peacock's feather, a peacock's
feather, a white jade girdle-clasp, a stone-blue silk
girdle, a small knife, a red snuff-box, a purse, a letter-
case, a fan-case, a large and a small purse, and a pair

244 CHINA.

of satin boots. And the fourth, or " walking-suit,"
consisted of a blue Nanking camlet robe, a yellow
Nanking riding-jacket, a spring camlet robe of the
colour of "lake water," a drab felt fighting-coat, a
" victorious cap," a foreign porcelain button of the first
rank, a long crane-shaped red holder for a peacock's
feather, a peacock's feather, a set of double-forked
sable tails, a stone-blue silk girdle, a waist-knife, a
walking sash-purse, and a pair of satin boots.

Next to the yellow jacket, the peacock's feather is
the imperial reward which is most highly prized, and
of this distinguished decoration there are three ranks,
The highest is the San yen htva-ling, or " three-eyed
peacock's feather," which is conferred only on imperial
princes, or nobles of the highest degree, or for the
most signal military services. The second, the Shwang
yen hwa-ling, or "double-eyed peacock's feather," is
bestowed upon lesser dignitaries, and for less con-
spicuous merit. And the third, the Tan yen hwa-
ling, or " single-eyed . peacock's feather," is given as
a reward for good service, without regard to rank.
Of late years the necessities of the imperial exchequer
have been such as to compel the government to sell
rank in the open market, and among other insignia
of imperial favour "single-eyed peacock's feathers"
have been freely purchased. One other kind of
feather, known as the Lan ling, "blue feather," or
more commonly Laou kwa ling, "crow's feather," is.

HONOURS. 245

reserved for all officials under the sixth rank who
have won their spurs on the battle-field, and, accord-
ing to regulation, it is a distinction which is open
also to the rank and file of the imperial guard. But
more commonly private soldiers receive as a reward
for merit an oblong plate of thin silver, on which is
inscribed the character Skang, " reward."

During the present dynasty a Manchoo title of dis-
tinction has been imported into the Chinese service,
and is now much coveted, both for the honour it brings,
and for the increased allowances which the bearers
of it enjoy when on active service. Ba-foo-roo,
" Brave," is a title which by imperial order is added
to the names of soldiers who have performed acts of
gallantry in the field, and, in cases of more than
ordinary merit, it is supplemented by prefixed epi-
thets, such as " magnanimous," " heroic," etc.

As an additional mark of the imperial appreciation
for military services rendered, it is permitted to cer-
tain officers to ride on horseback a certain distance
within the outer gateways of the palace when bidden
to an audience, instead of being obliged to dismount
at the gates of the "forbidden city," as all officials
now are who do not possess this privilege.

In China, as elsewhere, it is fully recognized that
the same power which grants honours and privileges
may at any time withdraw them, and each and all of
the distinctions mentioned are revocable by imperial

246 CHINA.

decree. » Nor is this power allowed to remain a dead
letter. The Peking Gazette frequently contains edicts
stripping offending officials of their yellow jackets,
their patents of nobility, and their titles of Ba-too~roo,
etc., or reducing the number of eyes in peacock's
feathers, or changing the colours of the buttons worn
by them, either temporarily or permanently.

But the bestowal of imperial honours is by no
means confined to officials of either service, or to
members of the male sex. In every city in the empire
are to be seen Pat low, or " honorary portals," stretch-
ing across the streets, which have been erected by
imperial order to perpetuate the virtues of some
filial daughter or chaste widow. It might be argued
that the existence of these laudatory monuments
points to the rarity of the virtues which they com-
memorate. And this is, to a certain extent, no doubt
true ; but at the same time, the formalities to be gone
through and the expenses incurred in obtaining the
necessary decrees are so burdensome, that doubtless
the friends of many fit candidates for the honour
are fain to allow them to waste their sweetness on the
desert air of obscurity.

As an instance of the merit in such cases demanded,
and of the rewards granted, the following edict in the
Peking Gazette of May 25th, 1877, affords. a good
example. Le Hung-chang, the Viceroy of Chih-li,
there reports the case of a Miss Wang, who, from her

HONOURS. 247

earliest youth, "exhibited a decorous propriety of
conduct and a love of study. She was a diligent
reader of Lew Heang's ' Lives of Virtuous Women/
and the poems of Muh Lan. At the age of thirteen,
it was proposed to betroth her. At the first hint of
this reaching her ears, she retired to her room, and
drew, with a pointed instrument, blood from her arm,
with which she wrote a sentence declaring her inten-
tion to remain single in order to devote herself to the
care of her parents. At the age of eighteen she refused
in like manner; and when, in 1852, the remains of
her father and second brother, who had perished at
the taking of Woo-ch'ang by the rebels, were brought
back to Kao-yeo, she exclaimed, amid her tears, that
since she could not follow her father to the tomb, her
mother being still alive, her blood should at least
serve to varnish his coffin ; so saying she gashed her
arm with a knife, allowing a stream of blood to mingle
with the lacquer of the coffin. She had reached the
age of twenty-six when her father's obsequies were
completed, and her mother and elder brother were
anxious that she should marry ; but she steadfastly
refused to do so, and devoted herself to attending
upon her mother, with whom she shortly afterwards
removed to Choh-chow, on her brother receiving an
appointment at Peking, as a reward for his services.
She allowed no other hands but her own to wait
upon her mother, and when, in 1862, her parent was

248 CHINA.

attacked with a dangerous illness, she cut a piece of
flesh from her left thigh to be administered as a
remedy. In less than a year, a fresh attack of illness
supervened, and she cut a piece of flesh from her
right thigh on this occasion, recovery ensuing as
before. On subsequent occasions, when her parent
was attacked with slight ailments, she applied burn-
ing incense-stick to her arms, and used the calcined
flesh to mingle with the remedies prescribed, with
invariably successful results. After her mother's
death, in 1872, she refused all sustenance during a
period of three days, and was with difficulty per-
suaded at length to take food. Her brother shortly
afterwards died, whereupon she escorted his remains
to the ancestral home at Kao-yeo, and afterwards,
returning thence, performed the same journey once
more in attendance on her mother's coffin. The
devotion and energy she has displayed exceed what
might be expected from one of the opposite sex, and
it is solicited, in view of the wide repute which has
been gained by her virtues at Choh-chow, that a
monument may be erected to her honour under im-
perial sanction. — Granted by rescript."

Similar honours are frequently conferred on young
ladies who, their betrothed having died before mar-
riage, devote themselves to a life of single blessed-
ness, and to the discharge of filial duties towards
the parents of their proposed husbands. Even the

HONOURS.

249

passive virtue of longevity comes within the far-
reaching circle of imperial favours. The Chinese
and especially Chinese women, are not long-lived,
and when, therefore, a case occurs of a lady living to
an unusual age, the circumstance is regarded, in the
words of the usual edict issued, as " conspicuously a
glory to. our reign, and an auspicious omen for our
people," and a tablet, inscribed in obedience to the
order of the Emperor by the Imperial Studio and the
Han-lin College, is the least honour which is conferred
upon her.

CHAPTER XV.

NAMES.

fi ^IKE most institutions in China, sur-
names have a long ancestry. Thou-
sands of years before the Aryan races
adopted the haphazard epithets which
serve them for surnames, the Chinese
had established for themselves tribal
names, which are the true surnames.
History tells us, that the Emperor
Hwang-te (2697 B - c was *h e fi rs *
to introduce sing or surnames. He
had, we are told, a family of twenty-five sons by
four wives. To thirteen of them he gave his own
traditional name of Ke, and to the remaining twelve
he gave eleven sing, namely K'e, Yew, T&ng, Chin,
Jin, Seun, He, Kih, Hw&n, and E. Following the
example thus set, succeeding emperors conferred
names on meritorious subjects, taken either from

NAMES. 251

their native places, countries, or cities, or chosen on
account of epithets attaching to them, or in virtue of
their titles, trades, dwellings, or personal characteristics.
The earliest sing are said to have been derived from
the mother's side, and for this reason, in most of them,
the hieroglyphic for a woman enters into the coim
position of the compound characters which express
them in writing.

It is noticeable that, from the earliest times, the
sing were conferred by the Emperor, and no China-
man has, down to the present day, ever had a right
either to adopt or change a sing without imperial
sanction. So fully is this recognized, and so strictly
tribal are the sing, that an inexorable law forbids a
man from marrying a woman bearing the same sing
as himself. It is not quite clear when this law was first
instituted. It is certain that during the Shang and
earlier dynasties there existed no such bar to inter-
marriage, but we find it in force during the Chow
dynasty, and since that time it has been rigidly
adhered to. As years went on, the list of sing rapidly
increased, until, at the present day, there are, according
to K'ang-he's great encyclopaedia, 3038 single sing,
and 1619 double ones. Wells Williams gives only
1678 and 176 respectively. Legend says that
Hwang-te arranged the sing, which he conferred
on his sons by the notes which he blew from a
jewelled flute. Like many other early Chinese legends,

252 CHINA.

however, it is probable that this one arose from a
misapprehension of the original Ku w&n text, and
that the fact of the number of the musical notes
fixed by Hwang-te agreeing with the number of his
son's sing has given currency to it At the present
day, the surnames in the well-known work on the
Pih sing are, following this tradition, arranged under
the twelve musical notes. The Chinese pride them-
selves much on the possession of surnames, and no
foreigner, not even the countrymen of the reigning
Manchoo sovereigns, are allowed to borrow them, or
even officially to use their own surnames in China.
In the same way, the Annamese flaunt their pos-
session of sing as a badge of superiority over the
Cambodians, who are not so privileged, and who are
thus driven to distinguish each other by names crys-
tallizing either physical or mental characteristics.
At the present day there yet linger traces of the old
tribal associations in China. Such names of places as
Le kea chwang and C/tang kea wan recall the time
when the Le family were in possession of the first-
named village, and the Chang family owned the shores
of the wan or bay where the allied fleets rendezvoused
in i860 before the attack on the Taku forts. In every
town and large village, also, every family has its
ancestral hall, in which are placed the tablets of the
deceased heads of the various households which
constitute the clan, and where the great family re-

NAMES. 253

unions, especially that known as the autumnal sacrifice,
are held.

It is customary for the members of a family estab-
lishing an ancestral hall, to subscribe together a sum
for the purchase of a piece of land, the income of
which is devoted to the maintenance of the hall. This
land, as well as the hall and its furniture, are vested
in the entire family, and can be alienated only by the
unanimous consent of the elders of all the house-
holds interested in them. The first annual festival
of any importance is held on one of the early days
of the first month, when the representatives of the
various households stand in a circle round the tablets
in the principal room, and with joined hands together
bow and worship before the tablets of their ancestors.
After this and other ceremonies have been performed,
the assembled worshippers sit down to a feast. From
the eleventh to the fifteenth of the same month, acts
of worship are performed, and in the second month
the vernal sacrifices, consisting of meats, vegetables,
and fruits, are offered before the shrines of the
deceased. In the seventh month, mock money and
mock clothing are burnt, under the delusion that, by
so doing, the things they represent will pass to the
dead, who will thus be prepared to withstand the
cold of the approaching winter. But the principal
festival is later in the autumn, when the sacrifices
offered and the ceremonies performed are of a more

254 CHINA.

important and formal kind than on other occa-
sions. Describing a particular festival of this kind,
Mr. Doolittle, in his " Social Life of the Chinese,"
says: "A professor of ceremonies was present,
directing the worshippers when to kneel, bow, and
rise up. The faces of these worshippers were turned
towards the tablets. The head person among them
was a lad some six or eight years old, being the
eldest son of the eldest son, etc., of the remote male
ancestor from whom all the Chinese, having his ances-
tral name, living in the city claim to have descended.
He was the chief of the clan, according to the Chinese
law of primogeniture. This lad, instructed by a
professor of ceremonies, took the lead in the worship,
all the rest kneeling down when he knelt, bowing
their heads towards the ground when he bowed his
head, and rising to their feet when he rose. The
head man, at the proper time during the ceremony,
while on his knees, all the rest of the worshippers
being also on their knees, received three cups of
wine, which he poured out, one by one, upon some
straw placed in the bottom of a certain vessel. These
cups were then refilled and replaced on a table
before the tablets, whence they were taken by the
professor of ceremonies. Before the wine was poured
out, he lifted the cups up reverently in front of him,
as though offering them to the spirits supposed to be
in the tablets. Three bowls of vegetables were pre-

NAMES. 255

sented . . • in like manner, and then taken away and
placed upon a table. The professor of ceremonies . . .
knelt down, and read, or rather chanted, a kind of sacri-
ficial prayer to the spirits of the departed ancestors
of the company present They, being all the while
on their knees, then bowed down their heads towards
the ground three times, when several rolls of coarse
silk, or something in imitation of silk, were burnt.
The great drum was beaten. All rose up at the
command of the professor, and left their allotted
places. The cooked provisions intended for the feast
were soon arranged on tables, in the proper . . .
manner at feasts. The representatives of the families
interested in the hall took their seats, and partook of
the feast provided in the presence, as they believed,
of their ancestors. All of them were males, no
female being allowed to be present or participate in
the festivities or solemnities of such occasions. At
the close of the feasting, each representative took
home with him some of the flesh of the pig which
had been offered whole before the tablets." The
flesh thus taken home is highly prized, it being be-
lieved that those who partake of it are likely to
become the parents of sons.

In addition to the sing, every Chinaman possesses
one or more personal names. In his infant days, a
designation known as his " milk name " is conferred
upon him, and subsequently, on his arriving at the

256 CHINA.

age of puberty, a ming, or cognomen, is given him.
In after-life, more especially if he becomes an author,
he takes a tsse, or literary appellation, and it is by
this that he is afterwards best known in every-day life
and in the literary world. Often, again, he adds one
or more Iiaou> pseudonyms, to his other names,
which not unfrcquently he uses on the title-page of
his works, thus considerably adding to the difficulty
of identifying him. The well-known philosopher
Choo He affords an instance of the number of names
which a Chinaman may accumulate. To his sing r
Choo, was added his ming, He. Subsequently he
adopted the tsse, Yuen-hwuy, and Chung-hwuy, and at
different times, afterwards, christened himself with the
pseudonyms Hwuy-gan, " The dark cottage ; " Hwuy
ung, "The obscure gentleman;" Ts'ang-chow t'un
ung, " The concealed gentleman of Ts'ang-chow ; "
Yun kuh laou jin, "The old man of the cloudy
valley ; " and Tsze yang, from the name of his
study.

As a rule, high-sounding or felicitous names arc
chosen for the ming and tsze, and, as generally, the
pseudonyms adopted by authors bear depreciatory"
meanings, or references to their dwellings. For ex-
ample, we meet with such ming as " The fairy guest ; "
" The pacifier of the age ; " * Protracted longevity ; "
or " The shield of the empire," the ming borne by

NAMES.

257

the father of the late Chinese ambassador; and
among pseudonyms we find "The dull scholar ;'*
" The obscure student ; " " The stupid old man ; " as
well as " The western river ; " " The mountain valley,""
and " The five mountain peaks."

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CHINESE YEAR.

„ROM time immemorial, that is to
say, from a date anterior to the
arrival of the " black-haired " race
in China, the Chinese divided their
year into twelve lunar months,
with an occasional intercalary
month to make up the required
number of days for the full year.
The earliest written character for
a year represented a stalk of wheat (ft), which symbol
is still preserved in the modern form of the same
character, now pronounced nien (££). The months
were in those early days called by names the origin
of which has, according to the author of the earliest
Chinese dictionary, the Urh ya, been lost, and, in
default of any intelligible explanation, the lexico-
grapher gives the list without attempting to elucidate

THE CHINESE YEAR. 259

them. The first is T*sow, "The north corner;" the
second Joo, " As, Like ; " the third Ping, " To start
in sleep;" the fourth Yu, "I;" the fifth Haou,
" Bright ; " the sixth Ts'ieA, " Sacrificial Table ; " the
seventh Seang, " To examine, to assert, to watch ; *
the eighth Chwang, " Stout, Strong, Abundant;" the
ninth Hum, " Dark ; " the tenth Yang " Bright," " The
sun," "The day;" the eleventh Koo, "A crime," " A
failure ; " the twelfth Tsoo, u Heavy dew or rain."
But though the source from whence these names
were derived is hidden from the Chinese, the affinity,
as has already been shown, which we now recognize
as existing between early Chinese and Accadian
gives us a clue by means of which some of these
names at least may be explained. In accordance
with the Babylonian custom, also, the year of the
ancient Chinese began with the third month of the
solar year.

The modern year is lunar in its divisions, though
regulated by the sun in so far that New Year's Day
is made to fall on the first new moon after the sun
enters Aquarius. It thus varies between the 21st of
January and the 19th of February, but whenever it
occurs it is the signal for national rejoicing and in-
dividual merry-making. All public offices are closed
for the space of twenty days, and, in like manner, the
doors of warehouses and shops are shut in the faces of
customers. A day or two before the end of the old

260 CHINA.

year a thanksgiving service is performed in each
household, before the shrine of the tutelary deity of
the dwelling, in acknowledgment of the safety and
comfort enjoyed during the past year; and, among
traders of all kinds, extreme anxiety is manifested
to get in outstanding debts, and to provide money
for the payment of sums due. To be a defaulter
on New Year's Day is to lose credit and reputation,
and, rather than begin a new year under such ill-
omened circumstances, shopkeepers often offer their
stocks-in-trade at prices which not only leave them
without a profit, but which are, not unfrequently, less
than cost-price. The last night of the year is de-
voted to preparations for the ceremonies of the
morrow. Before daybreak the members of each
household offer sacrifice, with many genuflections
and prayers, to heaven and earth, and to their
tutelary gods. After each service crackers are dis-
charged in the street or road with so universal a
consent that the morning breaks perfumed with
sulphur and saltpetre. Next to the tutelary gods,
the deceased ancestors of the household, and after
them the living elders of the family, receive homage
from their kinsfolk.

Early in the day the provincial mandarins pay
their respects, when practicable, to the governors and
viceroys of their respective provinces ; and, at the
capital, the male members of the imperial household

THE CHINESE YEAR. 261

and the high officers of state prostrate themselves
before the Emperor, and offer to him their congratu-
lations and good wishes. In theory, this ceremony
should be observed by every official in the empire ; but,
as this is impossible, the mandarins of each city repair
to the Emperor's temple, and there perform the cere-
monies of devotion before a throne made in exact imi-
tation of the Dragon Throne, and on which is placed
a tablet bearing the inscription " May the Emperor
reign ten thousand years, and ten times ten thousand
years." The fact of many hundreds of thousands of
mandarins throughout the empire simultaneously
prostrating themselves in humble adoration before
thrones, each tenanted but by an ascriptive tablet, is
highly suggestive of the power wielded by the
sovereign, and of the extent of the superstitious awe
with which he is surrounded.

In private life, after the morning sacrifices have
been performed, the men of the family go out to pay
complimentary visits to their friends. A more than
usual obsequiousness is required of acquaintances
when meeting in the streets, and an invariable law
makes it obligatory for every one to appear on New
Year's Day in his best attire. On a day of such
importance and ceremony superstition is sure to be
busy. Astrologers have laid it down that it is a
fortunate day for making matrimonial engagements,
marrying, setting out on a journey, ordering new

262 CHINA.

clothes, beginning repairs to a house, or laying the
foundations of one, for entering into business con-
tracts, for sowing, planting, and grinding, and, in fact,
for almost every enterprise. To students of folk-lore
the Chinese superstition of the "first foot" of the
person first seen on New Year's Day will be familiar.
To meet a fair man when first going out is an omen
of good luck, but to meet a woman is only one
degree better than to meet a Buddhist priest, who is
regarded as foreboding the worst possible fortune.
In the same way, on New Year's Night, a person
wishing to peer into the future, places a sieve on an
empty stove, and on the sieve a basin of water and a
looking-glass. Having made these arrangements, he
steals out and listens for the first words spoken by
passers-by, and gathers from them an omen of good
or evil for the coming twelve months.

The leading idea among the Chinese, at New
Year's time, is that with the new year a fresh lease of
life begins. The account of all the thoughts, words,
and deeds of the past year has to be closed, and a
new era breaks upon them with the dawn, in pre-
paration for which they seek to bind fortune to their
chariot-wheels by the. performance of endless super-
stitious observances, and by calling down blessings
on one another. In some parts of the country, boys,
on the last day of the year, shout out in the streets
Mai saou, " I will sell my idle ways," with the osten-

THE CHINESE YEAR. 263

sibly laudable desire of devoting the new year to
busy diligence. On the accession of an emperor,
his reign counts only from the first day of the year
following the decease of his predecessor, who is
regarded as sitting on the throne for the remaining
months of the year in which he died. On each suc-
ceeding New Year's Day the Emperor is re-enthroned,
amidst a display of imperial insignia and the strains
of music. In a pavilion in the palace he then pro-
strates himself before heaven and earth, and after-
wards, as mentioned above, receives the congratula-
tions of his ministers and the members of his
household, and separately the obeisances of the
imperial princesses and the ladies of the court*
A state banquet follows, to which all the high
officers of state, as well as the imperial princes, are
invited.

The evening of New Year's Day by no means
brings to a close the festivities of the season, which
are prolonged until after the fifteenth day. The first
week is spent in paying visits, exchanging presents,
and feasting. Loose-skinned oranges are common
presents in the south of China, at this period, from
the fact of the native name for them having exactly
the same sound as the word meaning "Good for-
tune," 1 and the streets of cities are thronged with

1 The Chinese are very fond of this kind of symbolism ; two
of the commonest instances of which, especially on porcelain,

264 CHINA.

servants carrying sweetmeats and cakes from house
to house. But from superiors to inferiors presents of
a more substantial value pass, and considerable
sums of money are bestowed by the wealthy on
their servants and dependents. Beggars reap a rich
harvest at the houses of the well-to-do, and itinerant
musicians levy a compulsory tax on their rich fellow-
townsmen.

Ladies break through the monotony of their lives
at this season and give themselves up to feasting
and merry-making. From the fourth to the seventh
day they worship at the shrine of the goddess who
presides over marriage, and on the seventh they
go in large numbers to the public gardens, where
they show themselves off in their best attire and in
the full disfigurement of obvious paint and cosmetics.
When paying New Year's visits, it is customary for
ladies to carry with them to their friends sticks of
sugar-cane which, however, as a matter of fact, are
seldom presented, the will being accepted, with com-
mon consent, for the deed.

The evening of the fifteenth day of the first month,
when the Feast of Lanterns is celebrated, is another
ladies' night. For days previously, the lantern-shops
are crowded with purchasers, who indulge in wild
fancies in the choice of the lanterns they buy. . All

are the use of the Bat (Fuk), to signify u happiness," and of the
sonorous stone (King), to emblematize " prosperity."

THE CHINESE YEAR. 265

are highly coloured and are shaped in every con-
ceivable mould. From the ordinary round shape, to
the most grotesque figures of men or animals, the
changes are rung on every variety; and no less
divergent than the forms are the prices asked. The
poorest is sure to find some to suit, his pocket, while
others covered with gauze or silk, and tastefully
painted, are within the reach of the wealthy only.
When the night arrives, the lanterns, which have pre*
viously been hung up, are lighted, and give the signal
for the commencement of the festivities. The viands
which have been placed on the family altar as an
accompanying sacrifice to the worship of the tutelary
deity of the household are transferred to the dining-
table, and with copious supplies of samshu form
the family supper. As the night advances, crowds,
among whom are numbers of ladies, who, on no
other occasion, venture out after dark, throng the
street to gaze at the illuminations and, in some
instances, to guess the riddles which are inscribed on
lanterns hung at the doorways of houses. Prizes,
such as parcels of tea, pencils, fans, etc., are given
to the successful solvers of the rebuses, but these
have little to do with the interest which is shown
in the amusement which, partaking of the nature
of a literary exercise, is well suited to the national
taste.

With the opening of the official tribunals on the

266 CHINA.

twentieth of the month the New Year festivities may
be said to come to a close, and the work of the new
year to begin in earnest Very early on the morning
of that day, the lowest mandarins, both civil and
military, open their seals of office in the presence of
their subordinates. The yamun is brilliantly lighted
on the occasion, and with due ceremony the box
containing the seal is placed on a table in the
tribunal surrounded by burning candles and incense.
The mandarin, then, having performed the kotow
before it, the principal clerk lifts the box reverently
above his head, and offers his congratulation to his
chief. The seal is next taken out of the box and
placed on the table, and again becomes the object of
the kotow on the part of the mandarin. Four im-
pressions of the seal are made on a piece of red
paper bearing an inscription of good omen, which is
hung up at the gate of the yamun. So soon as
these forms have been gone through, the mandarin
goes to the yamun of his next superior, and there
takes part in an identical ceremony. With him
again he goes to the next in rank, and so on until
officials of all grades take part as witnesses in the
opening of the vice-regal seal in the yamun of the
provincial governor-general. In the southern pro-
vinces of the empire discharges of cannon and crackers
announce the opening of the seals ; and, as no busi-
ness is entered upon until the next morning, the latter

THE CHINESE YEAR. 267

part of the day is devoted to complimentary visits
and merry-making.

According to a very ancient tradition, New Year's
Day is called the fowl's day, the second the dog's day,
the third the pig's day, the fourth the sheep's day,
the fifth the cow's day, the sixth the horse's day, and
the seventh man's day. During the first six days the
flesh of all those animals to whom the days are
dedicated are forbidden as food, and the consequence
is that feasters at New Year's time have mainly to
content themselves with such viands as vegetables
and fish. The seventh day is one of great impor-
tance, and, if fine, it is said to presage a plenteous
year, and, if the reverse, scanty harvests and misfor-
tunes. In all parts of the empire it is celebrated
with honour. Figures, intended for the %ods of
happiness, rank, and longevity, cut out and dressed
in many-coloured garments, are hung up at the doors
as omens of good luck, and, in some districts, pic-
tures representing rats contracting marriages with
women are hung up, curiously to relate, with the same
object Generally it is a day devoted to feasting and
merry-making, and in the south, where the climate
admits of outdoor pleasures, picnics are common
among the people. One of -the many customs peculiar
to the day is to put a new cloth bag full of red beans
in a well, and, after allowing it to remain there three
days, to distribute its contents among the household,

268 CHINA.

the men eating seven of the beans each, and the
women fourteen. This is supposed to secure them
against illness during the year.

As stated above, the year is divided into twelve
months, of twenty-nine and thirty days each, and ad
these periods represent with sufficient exactness the
lunar month, it follows that the new moon falls on
the first of every month, and that on the fifteenth the
moon is at its full The month is thus associated
with the moon, and is called by the same name, and
is written with the same hieroglyphic. In an ancient
work, entitled the San fun, part of which was prob-
ably written in the 23rd century B.C., there is
evidence that among some of the aboriginal tribes
of China the year was, as among the Egyptians
and some of the peoples of India, divided into three
periods, known as the grass-springing period, the
tree-reigning period, and the tree-decaying period.
Under the influence of the higher culture of the
Chinese, these divisions disappeared, and the twelve
months became the recognized parts of the year.
The Chinese do, however, divide the year by seasons
as well as by months, and recognize eight main
divisions and sixteen subsidiary ones, " which corre-
spond to the days on which the sun enters the first
and fifteenth degrees of a zodiacal sign ; when an
intercalary month occurs, they are reckoned on as in
other years, but the intercalation is made so that

THE CHINESE YEAR. 269

only one term shall fall in it. Their names and
approximate positions in the foreign year are here
given : —

Feb. 5. Lih ch'un, commencement of spring.

„ 19. Yu shut, rain-water.
March 5. King chth, the torpid insects are excited.

,, 20. Ch'un fun, the vernal equinox.
April 5. TsHng ming 9 clear brightness.

„ 20. Kuhyii, grain rains.
May 5. Lih hea, commencement of summer.

„ 21. Seao mwan, the grain begins to fill.
. June 6. Mang chung y the grain is in ear.

„ 21. Hea che, the summer solstice.
July 7. Seao shoo, slight heat.

„ 23. Ta shoo, great heat.
Aug. 7. Lih ts'iu, commencement of autumn.

„ 23. Cftoo shoo, limit of heat.
Sept. 8. Pih too, white dew.

„ 23. Ts'iu fun, autumn equinox.
Oct. 8. Han loo, cold dew.

„ 23. Seang keang> hoar-frost descends.
Nov. 7. Lih tung, commencement of winter.

„ 22. Seao siiehy little snow.
Dec. 7. Ta stieh, heavy snow.

„ 22. Tung chi, winter solstice.
Jan. 6. Seao kan 9 little cold.

„ 21. Ta han, severe cold." l

It is considered among the Chinese that these
periods very accurately mark the changes in the
atmosphere which directly affect the constitution.
For this reason it is customary for people who have
both wealth and time to devote to such considera-

1 Dr. Wells Williams's " Dictionary."

270 CHINA.

tions to fortify themselves against the evil effects
of atmospheric changes by eating nourishing and
invigorating food. Ginseng soup is largely consumed
on these occasions, and it is said that in the neigh-
bourhood of Canton the flesh of black dogs is sought
after as possessing eminently strengthening properties.
The greatest festival of the year, next to that at
the New Year, occurs at the first great division, the
commencement of spring. Agriculture has always
held a high place in the estimation of the Chinese.
It is said to have been taught to the people by
the Emperor Shin-nung '(2737-2697 B.C.), who has
been canonized as its patron-god, and this imperial
ancestry has entailed on each succeeding emperor
the duty of leading the way for his subjects in the
agricultural year. In obedience to this custom, on
the arrival of Lih cfiun y the Emperor, attended by his
court, goes out of the east gate of the capital to a
temple set apart for the purpose, "to receive the
spring." In like manner, as representatives of their
imperial master, the officials in every provincial capital
head processions, composed of the leading gentry of
the district, accompanied by bands of music and gay
banners, and in this array having marched through
the principal streets, they pass out by the east gates
to the appointed temples. Here the clay and paper
images of oxen, and in some cases men and ploughs,
which have been carried in the procession, are placed

THE CHINESE YEAR. 271

on the altar, and sacrifices are offered up to the god of
spring. This done, the images of the oxen are beaten
with sticks by the officials, and are then destroyed,
those made of paper by fire, and those of clay by
being broken to pieces. These customs vary slightly
in different districts. In some, a young lad is chosen
who must be without spot or blemish, and who,
having been dressed in green clothes, is sent out into
the country through the east gate. After a certain
interval the official procession starts in the same
direction, and meets the lad, whom they worship as
the god of spring, and with whom they return to the
city in triumph. A fine day is earnestly desired for
the Lih cKun procession, and the saying runs that,
" if rain falls on the oxen in the procession, it will be
wet for a hundred days."

Connected with the Lih ctiun is the turning of the
first sod by the Emperor. On the appointed day,
attended by his court and all the high officials of the
capital, the Emperor again goes out of the east gate
to the temple of Earth, in the grounds of which, with
his own hand, he ploughs up nine furrows, while
officials follow at his heels casting seed into the
newly turned earth. As soon as his allotted task is
finished, the imperial princes, holding yellow ploughs,
go through the same formality, and following on these
the attendant high officials perform the like duty, but
with red ploughs in place of those coloured with the
imperial yellow.

272 CHINA.

Similar ceremonies are performed in the provinces,
and Archdeacon Gray gives the following account
of the ceremonies witnessed by him on one such
occasion at Canton: "The governor-general, the
governor, the treasurer, the commissioner of customs,
the literary chancellor, and the criminal judge of that
city repair at an early hour, on the fifth day of the
ploughing season ... to the temple in honour of
Shin-nung, the god of agriculture. This temple is
situated at an English mile beyond the eastern gates
of the city. Its principal shrine is two storeys high.
In the courtyard, enclosed by walls of brick, there
are three chambers, in the first of which certain
implements of husbandry are kept; in the second,
grain for seed and offerings; in the third, stalled
sheep or swine, intended victims in honour of the
god. The officials, having arranged themselves be-
fore the altar, proceed to perform the kotow. The
governor-general then offers to the god, as expiatory
sacrifices, a sheep and a pig. Nine kinds of grain
and vegetables are also presented as thank-offerings.
The kotow is then performed once more, the officials
knocking their heads upon the earth nine times.
Upon rising to their feet, a letter addressed by them to
the idol of the god of agriculture is read aloud in the
hearing of all assembled, the reader looking towards
the idol. The letter, which is written according to a
form prescribed by the Board of Ceremonies, runs

SACRIFICIAL PLOUGHING.

Pagt 273-

THE CHINESE YEAR. 273

thus: 'Upon this auspicious day, we, the principal
officials of this city and province stand, O god, before
thy altar, and render to thee, as is just, heartfelt
homage. We depend upon thee, O god, to grant
speed to the plough, and to give food sufficient for
the wants of the people over whom we rule. As high
as the heaven is above the earth, so great are thy
virtues. The ploughing season has this day begun
and all agriculturists are now prepared to prosecute
their labours with diligence. Nor is his imperial
majesty, the Emperor, though so high in rank, at all
behind in his preparations for the discharge of such
important duties. We therefore, the officials of this
city, pray to thee as in duty bound, to grant us
favourable seasons. Grant us then, we fervently
beseech thee, five days of wind, and afterwards ten
days of rain, so that each stem may bear two ears of
grain. Accept our offerings, and bless us, we pray
thee.' When they have again performed the kotow,
knocking their heads nine times upon the ground,
the officials put off their tunics, and proceed to certain
government lands, which are adjacent to the temple,
for the purpose of ploughing nine furrows each.
Here each official, having been presented with a
whip, is escorted to a plough to which a buffalo is
yoked ; and when the word is given by a conductor
of ceremonies, the ploughs are set in motion. At the
head of each buffalo, to direct its course, a peasant

T

274 CHINA.

is stationed, who is permitted on this occasion to
wear a yellow jacket Behind each of the illustrious
ploughmen walk three or four officers of the civil
service, whose duty it is to sow, at each step, seeds
of grain in the newly made furrows. While the
governor-general and his colleagues are engaged in
ploughing, youths in gay dresses, stationed at each
side of the field, sing, at the very top of their voices,
paeans in praise of the god of agriculture. In a long
line at the south end of the field stand aged husband-
men, wearing gay garments suited to the occasion;
while at the north end are a body of graduates."

At the period Ts'ing ming y which, as stated above,
falls generally at the beginning of April, is performed,
the rite of worshipping at the ancestral tombs. This
is regarded as the most sacred duty, and he who
would wilfully fail in performing it would be looked
upon as an outcast. On the morning of the day in
question the male members of each household repair
to the family graveyard, and, having weeded and
swept the tombs, light incense, and arrange in front
of the grave sacrificial offerings consisting of boiled
pork, fish, poultry, cakes, tea, and wine. The family
representative then performs the kotow in honour of
the deceased, and each in turn follows his example.
Crackers are then fired and paper-money burnt,
on the ashes of which is poured a libation of wine.
A second time the kotow is performed, and this

THE CHINESE YEAR. 275

brings to a close the ancestral worship, which is a
mixture of homage and prayer. It is the universal
belief that the spirits of ancestors watch over and
protect their descendants during life, and that they
pass backwards and forwards between their resting-
places in the graves and the dwellings of their repre-
sentatives. It is obviously important, therefore, that
there should be no let or hindrance to their power of
ingress and egress to and from the tombs, and the
first object of the visitors to the graves is to clear
away all and every obstruction which may have
accumulated during the preceding twelve months.
The kotow and sacrificial offerings satisfy the pre-
vailing idea of homage and prayer, and by their due
observance are supposed to secure the protection and
support of the dead.

Having reached this stage, it is considered necessary,
for the comfort of the spirits, to propitiate the local
deity by the presentation of offerings consisting of
meat, wine, and paper-money. With a strange
mixture of superstition and materialism, they further
follow in imagination the ancestral spirits into Hades,
and picture them seated at table enjoying the viands
presented to them, but subject to annoyance from
the numbers of beggars who haunt the unseen
regions. To relieve the spirits from the importunities
of these unfortunates, they offer to them sacrifices
of cakes, paper clothing, and paper-money. The im-

276 CHINA,

mediate and prospective well-being of the ancestral
spirits having thus been provided for, the living
worshippers seat themselves on the ground, and make
a hearty meal of the sacrificial meats, from which
the spirits are supposed to have extracted only the
essential and immaterial elements.

It is, perhaps, due to the belief in the necessity
of not allowing any obstruction to grow up between
the tomb of an ancestor and the dwelling of his re-
presentative, coupled with a regard for the health of
the inhabitants, that the Chinese never bury within
a city wall. Graveyards are almost invariably made
in the open country, either on the sides of hills or
on plains. The feeling against confining the dead,
even temporarily, within city walls, is so great, that
the relatives of an inhabitant of a city who dies away
from home are not allowed to bring the corpse back
to its former dwelling. As a rule, funeral processions
from houses in cities are bidden by law to take the
most direct route from their starting points to the
nearest city gates, and only in the case of a meri-
torious official who dies in harness is permission
ever given, and then only by a special decree from
the Emperor, for the procession to make a progress
through the principal streets of the city where he
died.

At the Tfing ming festival, as at most high days
and holidays, superstitions connected with the willow

THE CHINESE YEAR. 277

are brought prominently forward. Bunches of willow-
branches are used for sweeping the tombs, and other
branches are hung at the eaves of houses or over
the doorways. Women wear sprigs of it in their
hair, " to keep their eyes clear and to ward off blind-
ness." These customs plainly point to the common
belief that the willow possesses power over demons,
and can drive them off or raise them, as the occasion
demands. Thus, at a wedding, fruits are handed to
the bride and bridegroom on willow plates ; and
spiritualist mediums make use of images carved out
of willow-wood to communicate with the spirit-world.
Of the bunch of willow-branches hung at the eaves
of houses, a more rational explanation is sometimes
offered. It is said by some, that they are placed
there to welcome and attract the swallows which first
arrive about that time. One custom practised by the
Chinese at Tfing ming finds a parallel in the custom,
which is followed in country districts in England, at
nearly the same time of the year. While English
girls and women are observing the time-honoured
institution of " Mothering Sunday," Chinese young
married women "return for rest" to their mother's
roof.

If it were not that Buddha's birthday is commemo-
rated during the fourth month, no distinctive festivals
would mark that period. As it is, the rites are con-
fined to Buddhists, and more especially to the confra-

278 CHINA.

ternities of priests and monks. On the eighth, the day
on which it is said that Buddha was taken from the
side of his mother, the ceremony of " bathing Buddha "
is performed. A small image of the god is placed in
a vessel, partly filled with water, in each temple
devoted to his worship, and on the head of this image
devotees are expected to pour a handful of copper
cash and several ladles of the surrounding water.
These acts are accompanied by adoration and prayer,
and at least have the effect of adding to the revenues
of the temples. On the same day, novices are ad-
mitted to the priesthood, and, as a sign of their new
office, submit to have their heads burnt in the pre-
scribed manner. Dried leaves of the artemisia are
rolled up into small balls, and placed on the head on
the places to be burnt. The balls are then ignited,
and the fire burns away the skin. This ceremony
having been performed, the presiding priest gives
the new brother his credentials as a member of the
priesthood, and from that time forth he enjoys immu-
nity from punishment for past offences against the
law, should he have committed any, and all the
privileges and perquisites of his order.

The fifth month opens with the festival, called by
the Chinese, King, or " Cautious searching," and
which is known among foreigners as the dragon-boat
festival. On the fifth of that month, in the year 298
B.C., a faithful minister, of the State of Ts'oo, named

THE CHINESE YEAR. 279

K'ii Yuen, drowned himself in the Me-lo river, an
affluent of the Yang-tsze-keang, to avoid witnessing
the disasters which he saw were coming upon his
country, and which the fatuity of his sovereign, Hwai-
wang, rendered him powerless to prevent. By the
people his death was regarded as a national calamity,
more especially as the misfortunes which he had
predicted befell the state in rapid succession. With
pious zeal the inhabitants near the spot where he
plunged into the Me-lo offered sacrifices to his manes,
while boatmen traversed the river in search of his
body. With that respect for virtue and reverence for
tradition which characterizes the Chinese, the anni-
versary of his death has since been strictly observed
throughout the empire. On the day in question, on
most rivers, especially in the neighbourhood of large
towns, boatmen traverse the rivers backwards and
forwards, as though in the act of searching, in long
boats which, from their shape, are called dragon-boats.
Each boat holds about twenty rowers, who regulate
the speed of their stroke by the beat of a drum
placed in the centre. At the bow stands a man
waving a flag, who is supposed to be on the look-out
for the body of K'ii Yuen, and throughout its length
the boat is decorated with flags. No doubt, at first,
the progress of the boats was merely a procession ;
but before long the presence of numbers, and the
desire to excel which is instinctive everywhere caused

280 CHINA.

it gradually to develop into a series of races. At the
present time a keen rivalry exists between the owners
of the several boats in a district, more especially
when they are the property of different clans, and
intense interest is excited in the results of the races.
At first starting, the drum is beaten to a slow and
regular beat, but as the men warm to their work the
beat becomes faster, and with an accompaniment of
clashing gongs, deafening shouts, and waving flags,
the men, with their short paddles, send the boats
along at a great rate. Not unfrequently disputes,
arising out of the contests, end in fights, in prepara-
tion for which sticks and stones, as well as gongs and
flags, are shipped before starting.

In cities remote from large rivers, all obvious re-
ference to the origin of the observance has, speaking
generally, disappeared, and the racing alone remains.
At Peking, for example, the day is celebrated by
horse and cart races, which are held in an open space
in the outer city. But throughout the empire the day
is kept as a holiday, and after midday all shops and
places of business are, as a rule, closed.

On this day jails also the beginning of summer,
when it is necessary to take precautions against the
evil influences which accompany the supposed change
of weather, and the insects which begin to abound at
this season. Yellow charm papers, pasted on the
doorposts and bedsteads, and bunches of garlic and

THE CHINESE YEAR. 28*

other herbs hung at the front-doors of houses, are
believed to be efficacious in accomplishing the first
object ; and the sulphurous smoke from a particularly
pungently composed fire-cracker is said, and probably
with good reason, to be a complete antidote against
the plague of obnoxious insects.

The sixth month, like the fourth, is without any
marked observance of interest ; but with the begin-
ning of autumn, in the seventh month, superstition
again proclaims itself in the customs of the people.
On the seventh day is commemorated a curious legend.
A certain star, called by the Chinese " the spinning
damsel," and which is identified as a Lyra in our
system, was, many centuries ago, sent on a mission to
earth. There she fell in love with a cowherd, whom
she ultimately married. Before long, however, she
was recalled to her place in the heavens, and on her
way thither her grief at leaving her husband found
vent in bitter tears, which fell upon the earth as rain.
Unable to bear his separation from his wife, the cow-
herd died of grief, and as a reward from his exemplary
life was transformed into the star j3 Aquila, separated
only by the milky way from his wife. Once a year,
namely, on the seventh day of the seventh month,
magpies have since that time formed themselves into
abridge across the milky way, over which the spinning
damsel passes to the cowherd.

On the evening of this day, Chinese women offer

282 CHINA.

sacrifices, consisting of melons and fruits, to the
spinning damsel, and pray that she would vouchsafe
to them skill in needlework. They then go up to the
upper storey, if there be one, of the house, and thread
seven needles with coloured thread, by the light of
the moon. If they succeed, it is understood as a
favourable omen from the goddess. Water drawn
from wells on this evening is supposed to impart
clearness and purity to the complexion, and is con-
sequently much used by the devotees of the spinning
damsel.

That there is intimate communion between the
dead and the living is a leading article in the Chinese
creed, and at this time of the year a festival is held,
which is known as that of "Feeding the hungry
ghosts," which has for its object the clothing and
feeding of the ghosts of those who have died by mis-
adventure, or have perished friendless and alone, and
who are therefore without those supplies for their
comfort which are furnished to the more fortunate
dead by surviving relatives at the festival of "visiting
the tombs." On this occasion, as on that, paper-
money and clothes are offered up, and burned before
the ancestral tablets, while the members of each
family go through the service of the worship of the
dead. Now, also, substantial viands are placed on
the ancestral altar, to be transferred to the family
dining-table as soon as the "hungry ghosts" have

THE CHINESE YEAR. 283

abstracted their share, in the shape of the immaterial
essence. Meanwhile, at the Buddhist and Taouist
temples a succession of services are said for the repose
of the destitute spirits, and in the evening large boats,
brilliantly lighted, pass up and down the rivers, from
which rice is thrown into the stream, to assuage the
hunger of the ghosts. On board these vessels, priests
chant their liturgies and offer up paper-money and
clothes. The ghosts, or PrStas, for whom this work
of charity is performed, are divided into thirty-six
classes, " and are represented like Titans in size, with
mouths like needles' eyes." Their condition forms
one of the six paths of transmigration, and their
office is that of gaolers in helL No doubt, in the
rites observed on their behalf, there is a desire to
propitiate spirits which might be troublesome if
hostilely inclined, as well as a charitable wish to
satisfy the wants of those who are deprived of their
natural supply of comforts from dutiful descendants.
But, in the main, the idea is a humane one, the very
general observance of which reflects credit on the
national kindliness, though at the expense of the
national intelligence.

Legend says that many centuries ago, on the four-
teenth of the eighth month, a certain doctor was
gathering medicinal herbs on a mountain-side, when
he saw a youth take from a many-coloured bag a
bunch of herbs, which he dipped in dew, and with

284 CHINA.

which he then anointed his eyes. On being asked
his reason for doing so, he explained that it was to
keep his eyes bright Having said this, he disap-
peared and the doctor returned, wondering at what
he had seen and heard. The prescription thus com-
municated was regarded by the people as being
something more than human, and ever since on the
anniversary of this day they anoint their eyes with
dew applied with herbs kept in gaily-coloured bags.
On the same day children's heads are marked with
red paint, known in superstitious language as " Hea-
ven's cauterization," as a preventive against disease.

On the next evening falls the festival of the moon,
which is accompanied with a display of illuminations
second only in brilliancy to the Feast of Lanterns in
the first month. Every house is lighted up, and the
inhabitants crowd on to the upper verandahs and
roofs, to gaze on the object of their adoration. At
intervals they worship before the ancestral altars,
and feast on cakes, some made round to imitate the
moon, and others shaped after all sorts of fantastic
designs, among which representations of pagodas
find a prominent place. Remarking on this custom,
Mr. Dennys says, "The moon, it is well known,
represents the female principle in the female cos-
mogony, and she is further supposed to be inhabited
by a multitude of beautiful females ; the cakes made
in her honour are therefore veritable offerings to this

THE CHINESE YEAR. 285

Queen of the heavens. Now, in a part of Lancashire,
on the banks of the Ribble, there exists a precisely
similar custom of making cakes in honour of the
' Queen of heaven/ — a relic, in all probability, of the
old heathen worship, which was the common fount of
the two customs."

The ninth month is fruitful in curious observances.
It is the end of the autumn, and on the ninth occurs
one of the Tsieh, or divisions of the year, upon which
the Chinese lay such stress. At court, the Emperor,
on this day, opens the hunting season, and goes to
cover dressed in white, driving white horses, and
surrounded with white flags. If he follow the rules
laid down for his guidance in the book of rites, his
meals at this time will consist of a preparation of
hemp and dog's flesh. By his subjects the ninth is
spent on the highest bit of ground or the loftiest
roofs within their reach, and is employed in flying
kites and drinking wine in which the petals of chrys-
anthemums have been soaked. The origin of this
custom has to be sought for nearly a thousand years
ago. Legend has it, that a scholar named Joo Nan
was suddenly warned by a heavenly messenger to
betake himself with his family to a high mountain,
to escape a calamity which was suddenly to overtake
the district in which he lived. On the mountain-top
he was bidden to wear a bag containing bits of
dog-wood, and to drink wine in which the petals of

286

CHINA.

chrysanthemums had been soaked, to ward off all
evil influences. These injunctions he obeyed to the

/ / Jr : J I ^

letter, and was rewarded by escaping from an over-
whelming catastrophe which destroyed his flocks and

THE CHINESE YEAR. 287

herds in the plains below. In memory of this signal
deliverance, people on this day go up the mountains
and hills in imitation of Joo Nan. The kite-flying,
which is now invariably associated with these expe-
ditions, finds no foundation in the original fable, and
was very likely suggested by the combination of
circumstances — a high elevation, and a fresh autumn
breeze. The sight of men of all ages flying kites at
this time of the year is one which is always astonish-
ing to foreigners, who are accustomed to regard such
amusements as childish, and in this instance the
apologists for the custom cannot even find a super-
stitious origin for it The injunction given to Joo
Nan to wear a bag containing pieces of dog-wood is
now generally obeyed by Chinese women, who look
on the charm as a sure safeguard against disease.

The approach of cold weather at the beginning of
the tenth month suggests the necessity of providing
for the dead suitable covering for the coming winter,
and the ancestral tombs again witness assemblies of
survivors eager to pay their respects and to consider
the comfort of the departed. On this occasion paper
clothes are carried to the graves, and burnt before
them, in the belief that through the fire they reach
the dead. Food is also, as at the spring festival,
offered up, and as a matter of fact is, as then, eaten
by the sacrificers.

On the first of the month, in some parts of the

288 CHINA.

country, farmers set free their sheep and cattle. The
origin of this custom seems to be unknown, and its
perpetuation unintelligible. The twelfth of the month
is a day of great festivity in the palace of the Em-
peror. For days beforehand preparations are made
for a great theatrical display, which at the time ap-
pointed keeps the court amused " from morn to dewy
eve." First of all, the high officials of the palace
present themselves before their imperial master dis-
guised as, birds and beasts, and dance and pose in a
somewhat monotonous ballet. This custom probably
owes its existence to the historical references to the
appearance at court of ambassadors of the Lung
(Dragon), Fung (Phoenix), and other tribes of abori-
ginal China, whose names have been treated by his-
torians and commentators as though they actually
stood for the beasts and birds they happen to signify.
In succession to these disguised mandarins come
conjurors, dancers, and acrobats, whose skill is won-
derful, and who, if native records are to be trusted,
realize to the full the extraordinary accounts cur-
rent of the legerdemain and activity of Eastern
magicians.

The winter solstice, which generally falls in the
eleventh month, is one of the most noted sacrificial
periods of the year. The Emperor is supposed to
spend the night before the shortest day in watching
and meditation at " the Hall of Fasting," adjoining the

THE CHINESE YEAR. 28$

sacrificial altar known as the Yuen kiu t or " Round
mound," outside the southern gate of the capital.
The altar, which is of marble, is built in three terraces,
and is ascended by twenty-seven steps. The summit
is paved with marble stones arranged in nine con-
centric circles, in the centre of which is a round stone
upon which the Emperor kneels ; u and thus," as is re*
marked by Dr. Edkins in his account of Peking, "he
is surrounded first by the circles of the terraces and
their enclosing walls, and then by the circle of the
horizon. He thus seems to himself and his court
to be in the centre of the universe . . . Round him,
on the pavement, are the nine circles of as many
heavens, consisting of nine stones, then eighteen,
then twenty-seven, and so on in successive multiples
of nine, till the square of nine, the favourite number
of Chinese philosophy, is reached in the outermost
circle of eighty-one stones."

Very early on the solstitial morning, the Emperor,
who on the previous day has examined the sacrificial
offerings, consisting of a bullock, a sheep, a pig, and
other animals, puts on his sacrificial robes, and, at-
tended by his court, ascends to the second terrace of
the altar, where he kneels in prayer. This is a signal
for setting fire to the burnt sacrifice in honour of
Shang-te, and for the musicians to breathe appropriate
music. The Emperor presently ascends to the summit,
and there again kneels, and burns incense to Shang-te

U

290 CHINA.

and his ancestors. While performing these acts of
adoration he offers up (t bundles of silk, jade cups,
and other gifts." A prayer composed for the occasion
is next read by an official, to which the Emperor listens
on his knees, and emphasizes his approval by bowing
three times to the ground. * At this point," says Dr.
Edkins, " certain officers bring forward what is called
the ' flesh of happiness ' to the front of the tablet
of Shang-te, and hold it up. The Emperor then goes
to the spot for drinking the ' cup of happiness ' and
receiving the * flesh of happiness/ and prostrates him-
self three times, receiving the cup and flesh kneeling."

On his return to his palace the Emperor receives
in audience all the high officials of his court, who con-
gratulate him on their knees on the return of the
winter solstice, and express the wish which has
greeted the ears of Oriental sovereigns through all
time, that he may live for ever. In the provinces a
repetition of the ceremonial which accompanies the
arrival of spring takes place. The mandarins, while
it is yet dark, assemble at the local imperial temples,
and there, in solemn silence, except for the words of
command given by the master of ceremonies, bow the
knee and strike their foreheads on the ground before
the empty throne of the Emperor.

By the people the day is observed by sacrificing to
their ancestors. Offerings of cooked meat, fish, etc.,
are presented before the ancestral tablets in each

THE CHINESE YEAR. 291

house, and each member of the household in order
of seniority bows to the ground in adoration of, and
as an expression of thanks to, his progenitors for the
return of the winter solstice. The offerings having
played their part on the altar are then feasted upon
by the household, and the rest of the day is given
up to merry-making. On this day, also, numerous
minute domestic observances are followed, among
others the occasion is taken of pickling ducks' eggs
for consumption in the following year.

The eighth of the last month in the year is set apart
as a solemn thanksgiving-day for the mercies received
during the year. From time immemorial it has been
customary for the Emperor to proceed in state to an
altar to the south of the capital, and there to offer
up sacrifices and thanksgivings for the mercies vouch-
safed to the empire. An ancient prayer used on
these occasions ran thus : " May the earth remain
at rest, and the rivers return to their beds. May the
myriad insects forget to be harmful, and trees and
shrubs grow only in waste places." Especial honour
used at the same time to be paid to cats for destroy-
ing field-mice, and tigers for keeping down wild
boars. These passages have dropped out of the
modern observance, but with equal exactitude the
Emperor now as then testifies his gratitude to heaven
and earth for the past, and beseeches their protection
and favour for the time to come.

«9« CHINA.

Following the example thus set them, the people
throughout the empire offer sacrifices and thanks-
givings to the gods of the hearth and before the
ancestral tablets. The offerings having been arranged,
accompanied with burning incense, on the family
altar, the head of the family prostrates himself before
it, and returns thanks in the name of the household,
for the food, clothing, and mercies of the past year.
At this time also, in preparation for the new year, rites
are performed for exorcising evil influences. Proces-
sions, formed of the townspeople, divided into com-
panies, and dressed and painted in all kinds of
grotesque disguises, march through the streets of the
cities. The distortions of form and feature thus pro-
duced, coupled with the beatings of drums, the clash-
ing of gongs, and the shouts of the people, are
supposed to frighten away evil demons. By strict
right, the processions should pass through and through
the yamuns, or official residences, to clear them of all
evil, and for the rest it is but considered necessary to
parade the streets. In some places, a paper boat is
carried in the procession, which, at the end of the day,
is carried down to the river's edge, and is launched,
burning, on the water, the idea being that it bears
away the malign influences which have been collected
in it while passing through the streets. Having thus
got rid of the existing evil spirits, care is taken to
prevent their return by pasting up peach-charms over

THE CHINESE YEAR. 293

#

the doorways of the houses. The peach and willow-
trees are supposed to exercise control over spirits,
and it is a common thing, in cases of illness which are
believed to be due to possession by the devil, to have
the bed and furniture of the sick-room beaten with
bunches of peach and willow-twigs, in order to drive
out the arch-fiend. But the peach-charms are but
pieces of paper cut into the shape of peach-leaves, and
bearing on them certain characters designed to protect
the houses at which they are displayed.

The eighth of the last month, being the day upon
which Buddha " perfected his doctrine," is chosen as a
fortunate one on which to shave the heads of children
and to bore the ears of women. What connexion
this last act can have with the saintship of Sakya-
muni it is difficult to say, unless it be that the inflic-
tion of pain on members of the sex, which assailed
him so pertinaciously with temptation, may be con-
sidered pleasing to the saint.

On the twentieth of the month, the ceremony of
sealing up the seals of all the offices is performed.
Unlike the opposite rite, when in the first month the
seals are opened, those of the highest officials are
sealed up first Before daylight all officials inferior
to the highest, in each city, go to the yamun of their
chief, who, dressed in fyll uniform, prostrates himself
before the seal, which stands surrounded with incense
on the official table. The senior secretary next reve-

294 CHINA.

m

rently lifts the seal with both hands, and, kneeling
before his master, wishes him long life and promotion.
The seal is then deposited in a box, which is care-
fully sealed up, and the ceremony is brought to a
close. This done, the yamun of the next highest
dignitary is visited by all his subordinates, who are
called upon to witness the same formality, and thus
with an ever-decreasing crowd the yamuns of every
official are visited, until that of the lowest is reached.
In each instance, before the seal is finally locked up,
several impressions are taken, to be used in cases of
emergency, should such arise, during the closed
month.

Towards the end of the month, generally on the
23rd, the festival in honour of the kitchen-gods is
celebrated. It is the popular belief that these deities
ascend to heaven on this day, to report to the supreme
ruler on the conduct of the households over which
they have presided, and the desire is equally general
to propitiate them on the eve of their departure. To
this intent, sacrificial meats, fruits, and wine are
placed on a table in the kitchen, before a picture of
the particular deity to be worshipped, and are offered
up to him with prayer and thanksgiving. Each
member of the family prostrates himself before the
god, while crackers are exploded to frighten off all
ill-disposed spirits. The ceremony over, the picture
which has done duty during the past year is torn

THE CHINESE YEAR. 295

down and burnt, together with the paper-money
presented to the god, and the toy-horse which is
provided to carry the god heavenwards.

On the following evening a new picture of the deity
is pasted up in the kitchen, and a congratulatory
sacrifice of vegetables is offered up to him. This, it is
thought, will secure his goodwill and favourable coun-
tenance towards the household for the coming year.

But what year? How do the Chinese designate
and compute their years ? Having no fixed starting-
point of chronology, as among ourselves, they are
obliged to point to the individual years by a kind of
circumlocution. To each emperor is given a Neen-
haou y or title, or sometimes two or three in succession,
for his reign, which may be considered in the light of
adopted names, much as a pope, on attaining to the
pontificate, assumes a title other than his patronymic.
These Neen-haou are perfectly known by every one
making any pretence to education, and it is sufficient
therefore to say that such an event occurred in such
and such a year of such and such a Neen-haou, to
enable every Chinaman approximately to arrive at
the date which is referred to. For instance, the
present year is the thirteenth year of the reign of
Kwang-sii, and is known to every Chinaman as
Kwang-sii shih san neen.

Another mode of computing the years is by
reckoning by sexagenary cycles. This system was,

396 CHINA.

according to native historians, introduced by the
Emperor Hwang-te in the sixty-first year of his
reign (2637 B.C.), which was the first year of the first
cycle, and the present year (1887) is therefore the
twenty-fourth of the seventy-sixth cycle. In order to
express the years of the cycle in writing, the plan
was adopted of taking two sets of twelve and ten
characters respectively, and combining them in suc-
cession, by means of which process the two last
characters of the two series are combined to indicate
the last year of the cycle. This will be made plain
by the following table : —

The ten characters, or celestial The twelve characters, or ter-
stems. restrial branches.

1. Keah. 6. Ke. 1. Tsze. 7. Woo.

2. Yueh. 7. Kang. 2. Ch'ow. 8. Wei.

3. Ping. 8. Sin. 3. Yin. 9. Shin.

4. Ting. 9. Jin. 4. Mao. 10. Yew.

5. Woo. ia Kwei. 5. Shin. 11. Suh.

6. Sze. 12. Hai.

The first year of the cycle would therefore be
Keah tsze* the second Yueh cKow> and so on to the
tenth, Kwei yew. But the eleventh would be Keah suh,
the twelfth Yueh hai, the thirteenth Ping tsze, the
fourteenth Ting cKow, the fifteenth Wu yin, the
sixteenth Ke mao, the seventeenth Kang shin, the
eighteenth Sin sze, and so on until we come to the
sixtieth, which is Kwei hai. But these designations
only refer to the years in each cycle, and in no sort

T.^M.

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^

77/£ CHINESE YEAR. 297

of way point to which cycle they belong. To obviate
this difficulty, recourse is again had to the Neen haou,
and any given year is fixed by its cyclical name
preceded by the Neen haou during which it occurred.
As stated above, Kwang-sii is the present Neen kaou,
and, this being the twenty-fourth year of the cycle, it
would be described as Kwang-sii Ting-hai neen, or the
Ting-hat (twenty-fourth) year which occurred during
the reign of Kwang-sii. Within modern times it has
once happened that an emperor has reigned over
sixty years. K'ang-he, who sat on the throne from
1662 to 1723 was this fortunate sovereign. He began
his reign in the cyclical year Jinyin (the thirty-ninth),
and ruled through the whole of the cycle, until, in
1722, the same year (Jin yin) recurred. Both these
years would therefore be, in the natural order of
things, K'ang-he Jinyin neen. But, as it was necessary
that some distinction should be made between them, in
order to avoid confusion, the character yew, meaning
" repeated," or " for the second time," was prefixed to
the cyclical characters referring to the second date,
and 1722 was consequently known as K'ang-he yew
Jin yin neen, u the Jin yin year which occurred for
the second time during the reign of K'ang-he."

The first thirty, or twenty-nine, as the case may
be, of the same cyclical characters are used to denote
the days of the month, and the twelve divisions of the
days are indicated by the twelve M terrestrial branches."

298 CHINA.

The European hour is unknown in China, and its
place is taken by a period which corresponds to
1 20 minutes. In speaking of these periods, however,
the practice, which was originally introduced into
China by the Mongols, of substituting for the twelve
stems the names of the twelve animals which are
held to be symbolical of them, is commonly adopted.
Thus the first period, that between 1 1 p.m. and 1 a.m.,
is known as the Rat, the second as the Ox, the third
as the Tiger, the fourth as the Hare, the fifth as the
Dragon, the sixth as the Serpent, the seventh as
the Horse, the eighth as the Sheep, the ninth as the
Monkey, the tenth as the Cock, the eleventh as the
Dog, and the twelfth as the Boar. The night is
divided into five watches, each of two hours' duration,
beginning with the period of the Dog, 7 to 9 p.m.,
and ending with that of the Tiger, 3 to 5 a. m.

CHAPTER XVII.

SUPERSTITIONS.

UPERSTITIOUS observances are
always found existing among a
people in inverse ratio to the extent
of their scientific knowledge. They
are often, in fact, based on crude
observation of the processes of
nature, or more commonly upon
accidental coincidences. For ex-
ample, the common superstition in
England that it is unlucky to see magpies flying singly
in spring-time, is founded on the fact that in stormy
or cold weather one bird remains in the nest to keep
the eggs warm, while the other goes in search of food,
and the omen, therefore, foretells rain and storms. In
the same way the appearance of sea-gulls inland,
which is rightly interpreted to mean that there is
rough weather at sea, is attributed to their having

mm

^zy*

300 CHINA.

been driven landways by the force of the wind ;
whereas the true explanation is, that during storms
fish leave the surface of the water and go deeper,
and the gulls, being thus deprived of their natural
food, seek on shore to supply its place with worms
and grubs.

There are, however, a host of superstitions, some
of which are met with all over the world, which are
the results of accidental coincidences, and do not
yield to any explanation from natural causes. One
of the most universal of these is the belief in the
malign influences of comets. During the Middle
Ages, and even later, these "broom-tailed stars"
were regarded in Europe as fortelling war and
disaster, and more especially calamities to the ruling
houses. Throughout the East the same belief pre-
vails, and in China it is firmly held by all classes of
the community. It is curious to notice, and cannot
be denied, that occasionally circumstances have justi-
fied its existence. At the same time, it is a belief
which not unfrequently finds its own fulfilment by
suggesting to rebellious and unruly spirits the idea
that the time is favourable for the prosecution of
seditious designs. No such explanation is, however,
to be found for the coincidence, which was much
commented on by the Chinese, of the appearance
of the comet of 1858, and the totally unexpected
outbreak of hostilities between China and the allied

SUPERSTITIONS. 301

forces of England and France in that year, or three
years later, of the appearance of another comet, and
the immediate death from illness of the Emperor,
who up to that time had been in good health.

Similar superstitions exist with regard to the
eclipses of the sun and moon ; and, on rare occasions,
when expected eclipses have either not taken place,
or have been invisible in China, the circumstance has
been regarded as a direct intervention of Heaven in
favour of the Emperor, its sense of whose virtue it
thus signalizes. The popular notion with regard to
an eclipse is that some monster is attacking, and
unless prevented would devour the sun or moon as
the case may be. The danger, therefore, to the em-
pire is great, and the intervention of every official
in the country is called for to save the threatened
luminary. Some months before the expected eclipse,
the Board of Astronomers notifies the exact date of
its appearance to the officials of the Board of Rites,
who in turn announce its approach to the viceroys
and governors of the provinces. These transmit the
message to all their subordinates, so that, when the
time arrives, an army of mandarins stands prepared
to avert the disaster. Their procedure is simple, and
as neither the sun nor moon have ever been devoured,
it is regarded as efficacious. At the appointed time,
the mandarins assemble at the yamun of the senior
official, and arrange themselves before an altar set up

3Q2 CHINA.

in the courtyard, and on which incense is burning.
At a given signal they fall down on their knees and
perform the kotow, after which the attendants, beat
drums and gongs, to frighten away the oppressive
monster, while priests move in a procession round the
altar chanting prayers and formulas. To assist the
mandarins in their patriotic efforts, the people mount
on to the roofs of their houses, and add to the
din which issues from the yamuns, by beating every-
thing which is capable of emitting resounding noises.

The different phases of the planets are watched
with equal solicitude, and portents are derived from
every real or imaginary change in their relative posi-
tions and colours.

In an astrological sense Mars symbolizes fire, and
rules the summer season. It is the author of punish-
ments, and is the producer of sudden confusion.
Saturn represents earth, and, when it meets Jupiter
in the same " house," it portends good fortune to the
empire. If, however, Saturn, with the four other
planets, should appear white and round, mourning
and drought are in store for the country ; if red,
disturbances are to be expected, and troops will take
the field ; if green, floods are to be looked for ; if
black, sickness and death will spread over the land ;
and if yellow, a time of prosperity is at hand. Venus
represents gold, and is deemed a complacent planet ;
but, while in many of its phases it foretells peace and

SUPERSTITIONS. 303

plenty, it at other times presages the movements of
troops, and the disruption of the empire. If it at first
looms large, and afterwards small, the nationajjdrces
will be weak, and if contrarywise, they wiltDe strong.
If it appears large and extended, trouble will fall
upon princes and nobles, and military expeditions
then undertaken will begin fortunately and end
in disaster; but, if it should appear compact and
small, campaigns which begin in misfortune will end
successfully.

Mercury symbolizes water, and when, seemingly,
of a white colour, it forecasts drought ; when yellow,
the crops will be scorched up ; when red, soldiers will
arise; and when black, floods are at hand. If it
appears large and white in the east, troops beyond
the frontier will disperse ; if red, the middle kingdom
will be victorious ; in certain conjunctions with Venus,
it portends great battles in which strangers will be
victorious ; and if it approaches Venus, several tens of
thousands of men will meet in strife, and the men and
ministers of the ruler will die.

Such are some of the innumerable portents which
are based on the movements and appearances of the
planets. But, not content with peering into the
future lying before the nation and its rulers, Chinese
astrologers busy themselves with the fortunes of
individuals, and the Imperial Board of Astronomers
so far gives its sanction to this inquisitorial astrology

3Q4 CHINA.

as to publish annually an almanac, in which are
given the lucky and unlucky days throughout the
year, and the kind of business which may be under-
taken with advantage on those days which are
described as kih, or lucky. For instance, the first day
of the first month is appropriate for sacrificing, begin-
ning to learn, and bathing. The second is an un-
lucky day, and nothing of importance should be
done upon it The third, on the other hand, is
suitable for meeting friends, marrying, taking a con-
cubine, asking names, cutting out clothes, putting
up pillars, trading, opening granaries, and burying.
The fourth is lucky for cutting toe and finger nails,
shaving the head, sending for doctors, taking medi-
cine, receiving appointments, entering on official
posts, starting on journeys, etc. And, just as certain
doings are appropriate to certain lucky days, so other
specified undertakings should on no account be
begun on such days which may not be otherwise
unlucky. The prognostics for each day are carefully
set out, and are eagerly studied by the educated
among the people. Those who have not this in-
valuable source of information ready at hand have
recourse to the professional fortune-tellers, of whom
there is no lack in every city in the empire. Some
of these mystery-men occupy shops, but a great
majority of them are possessed of only a small
portable table and the usual stock-in-trade of their

SUPERSTITIONS. 305

calling. With these " properties n they daily establish
themselves in the outer courtyards of much-frequented
temples, or by the sides of crowded thoroughfares.

Their modes of procedure are various. The most
ancient and approved methods of divining the future,
atid reading the will of the gods, are by means of the
Kwei y or Tortoise, the SJie, or Millfoil, and the She,.
or a kind of Mayweed. The questions put through
the instrumentality of these media are. as multifarious
as are the wants of man. Whether the inquirer
should embark in trade or ho, whether he will be
able to catch the thieves who have left him destitute,
whether he should follow the bent of his wishes in
some matter or not, whether he should take office,
whether he should live in his father's house, whether
his matrimonial project will turn out favourably or
the reverse, whether he will gather in good crops or
not, whether disease will be rife, whether war be at
hand, whether he of whom he has requested an inter-
view will grant it, whether he will be able to find
that which is lost, whether he will be successful in
hunting and fishing, whether he will encounter thieves
on the journey he is about to undertake, these and a
host of other questions, when incense has been duly
burnt, and prayers offered to the god, find their
answers in the attitude of the divining-tortoise. The
direction of the animal's gaze, the extent to which he
stretches his neck, the attitudes which he assumes

X

306 CHINA.

with his feet and toes, and other indications of the
same kind, serve to guide the fortune-teller to sure
and ready answers to the inquiries made.

No less ancient is the system of inquiring into the
future by means of stalks of millfoiL This process
is complicated by an application of the lots to the
.diagrams of Fuh-he, in connection with which, by ob-
serving the various combinations of whole and parts
of lines which they form when cast from the hand,
the diviner finds as certain a response as in the atti-
tude of the tortoise. The mayweed is used in the
same way, but has especial efficacy attaching to it as
coming from the grave of Confucius. The stalks from
the shrubs growing around the tomb of the sage are
gathered and made up into parcels of sixty-four, the
number of Fuh-he's diagrams, and are sold for divina-
tory purposes.

But in modern times, other and readier systems
have come into vogue, and the probability is that an
itinerant fortune-teller would be sorely perplexed if
called upon to interpret the movements of a tortoise.
He finds it easier to dissect written characters, and
to infer from their component parts the future of his
client Those who affect this particular branch of the
profession require only, as their stock-in-trade, a piece
of cloth spread on the ground, on which they arrange
pencil, ink, and paper, and a small box, in which are
placed a number of bits of folded paper, each contain-

SUPERSTITIONS. 307

ing a single written character. The client, after paying
the necessary fee, is required to draw out onp of these
pieces of paper. This the fortune-teller unfolds, and
reads the character contained in it, which he proceeds
to resolve into its component parts. The character
Tih y * to obtain," is generally one of the characters
which finds its place in the box. This, the fortune-
teller points out, is composed of " two men walking,"
" the sun," and " an inch." From the first he assures
his customer that he will agree well with his fellows,
and will mate with a congenial wife. The sun is
life and light bringing; his lot will therefore be to
live to a bright old age. And whereas the character
for " inch " is almost identical with that meaning
4t talented," a brilliant future lies before him, whether
he directs his efforts to acquiring literary fame, or to
gaining wealth by mercantile enterprise. In this kind
of rough-and-ready dissection of characters consider-
able skill, gained by constant practice, is sfrown by
the learned diviner, who enlarges with much fluency
on the meaning of the several parts, and on the inter-
pretations which, in accordance with the rules of his
art, are to be placed upon them.

Another curious way of giving oracular responses

. to seekings after knowledge of futurity is by means

of a bird, which is trained to pick out at random

two out of sixty-four cards which are laid before it.

On each card is drawn either a god, a bird, a beast,

308 CHINA.

br a man, and on the reverse side is written a stanza
of poetry. When all the cards have been spread on
a table, the bird is let out of his cage, and forthwith
picks up two cards, one after the other, and presents
them to his master, who, after studying the pictures
and the poetry, deduces from them an answer to the
inquiry laid before him.

To another class of fortune-tellers the inquirer's own
person supplies the materials from which his horoscope
is cast Not only are the face and head, as among
ourselves, studied to afford answers as to the mental
capacity and leading characteristics of the inquirer,
but from the features of the whole body are deduced
symptoms of the destiny of the individual, as well as
the nature of his disposition. Masters of this art pro-
claim their profession to passers-by by a sign bearing
representations of the human countenance, which
may be seen suspended over stalls in the bye-ways
of cities, as well as outside shops. Books for the
guidance of the professors are numerous, and are
minute in their details. The following gleanings have
been gathered from one of the best-known native
works on this curious subject : —

The face of a man favoured by fortune should be
long and square ; but for the man with a face pointed
at each end, like a date stone, poverty is in store.
High cheek-bones are a sign of a cruel disposition^
and a matron so distinguished is likely to prove a

SUPERSTITIONS. 309

husband-killing wife. A broad chin belongs to a man
born to wealth, and a pointed chin to a man whose
lot it is tQ be poor. A man whose jawbone is so wide
as to be seen from behind the ears has a heart full of
poison. The possessor of a high forehead will be held
in esteem, and will live to old age ; but he whose nose
is long is a man devoid of a fixed purpose. If you
cannot see the ears of a man when meeting him face
to face, ask who he is, for he is a somebody. If you
cannot see the jawbones of a man under like circum-
stances, ask where he comes from, that you may avoid
him. A large face and a small body are signs of
happiness, and the reverse is an omen of evil. He
who has no vestige of hair on the bone above the
neck is unrighteous, and will be destitute of relations.
A man who does not move his head when walking^
nor bend it when sitting, will come to poverty, and
the possessor of a small head and long hair will leave
no traces behind him. A man with a narrow head
and long hair will encounter difficulties, and death
from starvation will overtake him whose hair grows
long down to his ears. He vyhose hair turns white at
an early age will not be fortunate ; but for him whose
hair after turning white should recover its original
colour, great happiness is in store.

History asserts that in antiquity no instance was
known of a man with thick hair, becoming prime-
ipinister. Women with ultramarine-coloured hair,

3io CHINA.

like Buddha's, will marry men of distinction, and she
who is the owner of glistening hair and a round and
sleek face, will enter the Emperor's harem* People
with dimples, both men and women, will marry more
than once. Long hair in the eyebrows indicates long
life, but thick and coarse eyebrows mean poverty ;
while a man who has the misfortune to have eyebrows
which are unruly as well as coarse is a man not to be
spoken of. The possessor of eyebrows widely sepa->
rated will be rich and prosperous ; but if they be thin
and yellow in colour, though he may be fortunate at
first, misfortune is sure to overtake him.

The eyes, we are told, are to the body what the
sun and moon are to the earth. They are also the
resting-places of wandering spirits. Long, deep, and
brilliant eyes belong to men of consideration. A
woman with much white in her eyes will probably
murder her husband, and a boy so disfigured will be
stupid*

Noses are also important features, and are dis-
tinguished as cows' noses, monkeys' noses, dogs'
noses, hawks' noses, etc. A man with a dog's nose
will live long, and the marrow of the heart of the man
will be evil whose nose is like a hawk's beak. The
growth of hair inside the ear holds out a promise of
longevity, and ears broad and large belong to men of
ability and wealth.

The mouth is " the door of the heart, and out of it

SUPERSTITIONS. 31 1

proceed blessings and cursings ; " its shape, therefore,
is an important indicator of the individual* A man-
with a mouth shaped like a horned bow will enjoy the
sweets of office, and he who is blessed with a broad
and full mouth will attain to riches and honour. The
possessor of an evenly shaped mouth with lips which
are neither thick nor thin will have through life enough
to eat and drink, but a man with a horse's mouth will
die of starvation* And among the many animal-like
mouths, possessing peculiar characteristics, is noted
that like a mouse's, which, we are told, belongs to an
envious and jealous man, and is the channel for vili-
fying words which scorch like fire.

Such are some few of the points of feature particu-
larly observed by Chinese physiognomists. The art is
at the present day a very popular one, and though it
cannot claim the sanction of antiquity which belongs
to the practice of divination by the tortoise and the
millfoil, it can boast of an ancestry which, to us, seems
far-reaching. We read, for example, in history, that
on one occasion, Kaou-tsoo, the first emperor of the
Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25), when a young man,
and before he had attained to any eminence, was met
on the road by a physiognomist, who fell on his knees
before him and thus addressed him : " I see by the
expression of your features that you are destined to
ascend the throne, and I offer you in anticipation the
tribute of respect that a subject owes to his sovereign.

Jt2 CHINA.

J have a daughter, the fairest and the wisest in the
empire; take her as your wife." The man's pre-
science was justified by the event, and had its reward.
Kaou-tsoo rapidly acquired fame, and, before long,
the prophet's daughter was proclaimed empress.

Not content, however, with divining by the out-
ward appearance and by external signs, the Chinese,
like some among ourselves, resort to spiritualism,
and in some cases invite the invoked spirit to reveal
the future by writing on a sand-covered table with a
peach-stick. Great care is necessary in the choice
of this stick. It must be bent at the end, and must
be cut from a branch pointing towards the east.
But before cutting it off the following magic formula
has to be pronounced : " Magic pencil most efficacious,
daily possessing subtle strength, now I take thee to
reveal clearly everything," and a mystic character has
to be cut on the tree. The stick having been secured,
is then fastened into a cross-piece of wood, about
six inches long. At the time of the stance, two tables
are prepared ; on one of which are placed sacrificial
wine, fruit, and confectionery, and on the other fine
red sand is strewn. A petition is then written, ad-
dressed to the Great Royal Bodhisattva, informing
him that the sacrifices are prepared, and requesting
that one of the great spirits wandering through the
clouds should be sent to the house of the writer.
This petition is burnt before the shrine of the deity,

SUPERSTITIONS. 313

and the name and address of the petitioner are posted
up outside the door for the information of the spirit.

" Later in the evening, two or three of the company-
assembled go to the door, burn there some gold
paper and make an indefinite number of bows and
prostrations, receiving, as it were, the spirit on entering
the house. Having conducted him into the hall, an
arm-chair is moyed to the table, whilst incense and
candles are lighted. At the same time the medium
approaches, the handle of the magic pencil resting on
the palms of both hands, but so that the end of the
twig touches the surface of the table strewn with sand.
He places his outspread hands near the head of the
table, and, addressing the spirit with becoming re-
verence, says, 'Great spirit, if you have arrived, be
pleased to write the character "arrived " on this table.'
Immediately the magic pencil begins to move, and
the required character appears legibly written on the
sand, whereupon all present request the spirit to sit on
the large arm-chair, whilst the deity, which is supposed
to have conducted him hither, is likewise politely
asked to sit down on another chair. The whole
company now bow and prostrate themselves before
the seats of both spirits, and some pour out wine
and burn gold paper. Then the medium approaches
again with the magic pencil on the palms of his
hands, whilst all assembled say with one voice, ' Great
spirit, what was your august surname, what your

3*4 CHINA.

honourable name, what offices were you invested
with, and under which dynasty did you live on
earth?' Immediately the magic pencil is seen mov-
ing, and answers to these questions appear written
in the sand. After this every one of the assembly-
may put a question one after the other, but each
question is to be written on a slip of paper and
burnt together with some gold paper. As soon as
each paper is fairly consumed by the fire, the magic
pencil writes down the answer to it, generally in
poetical form, and each sentence is followed by the
character, s I have done/ whereupon the pencil ceases
to move. Then all assembled try to read the cha-
racters aloud. If they fail to decipher them, the
pencil moves again and writes the same sentence
more distinctly, until it is intelligible. As soon as one
of the assembly succeeds in deciphering a sentence,
the magic pencil moves again and writes on the
sand the two characters ' That's it.' When a sentence
is finished in this way, the sand on the table has to-
be smoothed again with a bamboo roller, and whilst
this is being done, the whole company address flatter-
ing speeches to the spirit, praising his poetical talents,
to which the magic pencil replies by writing on the
table the characters, 'It's ridiculous/ If any one
present behaves improperly, displaying a want of
reverence, the spirit writes down some sentences
containing a sharp rebuke. The motions of the

SUPERSTITIONS. %\$

pencil are quite extraordinary, and apparently not
produced by the medium on whose open palms the
handle of the pencil rests, and who merely follows
the spontaneous movements of the magic pencil.
In this way conversation is kept up without flagging
until midnight (when the male principle begins to be
active). Then the spirit breaks off the conversation,
and, addressing the whole company, writes on the
table, ' Gentlemen, I am much obliged for your liberal
presents, but now I must beg leave to depart.' To
this, all persons present reply, saying, ' Please, great
spirit, stop a little longer,' but the spirit jots down,
as if in a great hurry, the two characters, ' Excuse
me, I am off.' Then all assembled say, 'If there
was any want of respect or attention, great spirit, we
beseech thee forgive us this sin/ All walk then to
the house-door burning gold paper, and there take
leave of the spirit with many bows and prostrations." l
Clairvoyantism, mesmerism, and palmistry are
commonly practised to discover that which is beyond
the reach of man's ken, and, in fact, it may be said,
that there is no magical art which is not known to
the grossly superstitious people of China.

1 " Notes and Queries on China and Japan. n

CHAPTER XVIII.

FUNERAL RITES.

HE disposal of the dead has never
been a vexed question in China.
From time immemorial they have
buried their dead out of their sight
The grave of the Emperor Fuh-he
(2852-2737 B.C.) is still pointed out
in Honan, and the last resting-places
of his succesors are to this day re-
cognized by tradition. What rites
accompanied funerals in very primitive times we
know not, but we have evidence in the She king
and elsewhere that under the Chow dynasty the
practice of immolating men at the tombs of the de-
parted great was at least occasionally carried out
The probability is that the Chinese adopted the
custom from the aboriginal tribes ; but, however that
may be, we read that at the funeral of Duke Ch'ing,

FUNERAL RITES. 317

in the tenth century B.G, sixty-six persons were
buried alive in his tomb, and even this number was
exceeded on the occasion of the entombment of his
brother, the Duke Muh, when 177 men were immo-
lated at the grave.

The custom never seems to have become a regular
practice, but to have been conformed to at the caprice
of the survivors. It is told of Tsze-k'in, a disciple of
Confucius, that on the death of his brother the widow
and major-domo wished to bury some living persons
with the deceased to serve him in the regions below.
• The thing being referred to Tsze-k'in, he proposed
that the widow and steward should themselves be
the victims of their own affectionate zeal, upon which
the matter was dropped. After many centuries of
disuse, it was, according to Dr. Wells Williams, re-
vived by Shun-che, the first emperor of the present
dynasty (a.d. 1644-1661), who ordered thirty persons
to be immolated at the funeral of his empress. On
a like occasion in the career of his son and successor,
K'ang-he, four persons offered to sacrifice themselves
at the tomb of their imperial mistress. But K'ang-he
forbade it, and since then there has been no recurrence
of the barbarous practice.

Of these living sacrifices the rituals make no men-
tion ; but, according to them, it was the habit among
the ancients to bury suits of clothes with the dead for
their use in the other world, just as the red Indian's

318 CHINA.

horse, canoe, and paddle are made to share his tomb,
that they may serve him in the hunting-grounds of
the blessed. An emperor's trousseau for the next
state of existence was fixed at a hundred and thirty
suits, a prince's at a hundred, a minister's at fifty, and
an official's at thirty. In the same way the mound on
an emperor's tomb was raised thirty feet high, and
surrounded by fir-trees ; that of a prince was not to
be more than fifteen feet, and surrounded by
cypresses ; eight feet were allowed to a minister,
whose resting-place was guarded by Lwan-trees (a
kind of malvaceous tree) ; an official lay under only .
half that height of earth, and under the shadow of
ebony-trees ; while the people were forbidden to
raise any mounds on their graves, and were allowed
only to plant willow-trees at their tombs.

Even the very name of death — the great leveller
— was not, and still is not, common to all. Emperors
p&ngy or " fall as mountains fall ; " princes hung> or
"demise;" ministers tsu/t, or "come to an end;"
officials puJir luhy " resign their dignities ; " while the
common people sse 9 " die." When an emperor " falls,"
the rituals prescribed that the mourners should live
for seven days in huts outside the central door of the
palace, weeping morning and night But courtly
funerals are far too cumbersome in ceremonial and
elaborate in detail to be described here, and even in
the homes of the people the rites are so numerous

FUNERAL RITES, 3*9

that it will be impossible to follow the mourners
through all the observances proper to the twenty-seven
months of mourning.

Great importance is attached by the Chinese to the
presence of the whole family at the death-bed of the
head of the household. His last words are eagerly
listened to, and are written down as they are spoken,
and when the silver cord is loosed and the golden
bowl is broken a loud wail of lamentation is uttered
by all present. On the approach of death, the sufferer
is carried into the principal hall, where subsequently
the processes of washing the corpse and placing it in
the coffin are gone through. The water used for the
washing is "bought" from the nearest river. The
purchaser, who is the chief mourner, goes in proces-
sion, supported by his friends and accompanied by
musicians to the water's edge, whence he throws four
cash, and sometimes also a live fish, into the stream.
The cash is payment for the water taken, and the
fish is supposed to vouch for the receipt to the River
King. The washing being over, the corpse is dressed
in handsome silken robes, three being the number
allowed by the sumptuary laws to officers of the first,
second, or third rank, and two to officers of a lower
jjrade. At the same time, five small valuables, such
as pearls, precious stones, bits of jade or gold, are
placed in the mouth of the deceased. The encoffin-
tnent takes place on the third day after death, in the

326 • CHINA.

presence of the assembled family ; the women stand-
ing on the west side of the coffin, and the men on the
east. Great pains are taken to place the corpse
exactly straight in the coffin, and care is taken that
this position should be maintained by filling in the
empty spaces with clothes, and any object or objects
which may have been personally prized by the
deceased. This is intelligible enough, but it is
difficult to understand the obligation the survivors
are under of placing the combings of his hair and the
parings of his nails in the coffin.

In some parts of the country, two cash are put into
the sleeve of the deceased, and are then shaken out,
to test his satisfaction, or the reverse, at the arrang-
ments made for his future comfort. If the cash fall
with the same side upwards, it is' taken as a sign of
approval ; if not, as a sign that something has been
omitted. The coffin is placed in the centre of the
hall, with the head towards the south, which, in
all houses of any pretensions, is in the direction of
the door. On the right of the coffin, the portrait of
the deceased stands, and by it his clothes, washing-
basin, towels, etc., are arranged as though he were
yet alive. In contradiction, however, to this suppo-
sition, a sedan-chair is transmitted for his use to the
other world by the act of burning a paper effigy of
one in the courtyard.

On the third day, also, the mourners put on their

FUNERAL RITES. 3**

mourning, which consists of coarse white sackcloth,
white shoes, and a strip of sackcloth tied round the
head. The eldest son supplements this attire by
carrying a bamboo staff, on which he leans as though
overcome by sorrow, when mourning for his father,
and a t'ung (elaococca sinensis) staff when mourning
for his mother, the bamboo being symbolical of great
grief, and the t'ung of less overwhelming sorrow. For
a hundred days men allow their hair to grow, and
leave their finger-nails uncut ; and for the whole
period of mourning for a parent — that is, twenty-seven
months, the sons holding official appointments resign
their posts, and such as are candidates for examina-
tions refrain from competing. All scenes of festivity
are avoided, and even the procreation of children is
regarded as a slight on the deceased.

On the seventh day letters announcing the death
are sent round to all relations and friends, who at
once proceed to the house of mourning, bringing
with them presents of money, incense, viands, or other
things likely to be useful on such an occasion. On
entering the house they put on mourning-clothes,
and, approaching the bier, make obeisance before it,
at the same time presenting incense. While thus
paying their respects, the family keep up an accom-
paniment of wailing and stamping with the feet.

Each morning fresh water is poured into the basin
placed by the coffin, and before beginning each meal

322 CHINA.

rice and other viands are put within reach of the bier.
On the same table also are placed smaller quantities
of the same food to propitiate the " little devil " who
is supposed to serve the dead man in the land of
spirits.

As the rites command that the coffin should remain
in the hall for forty-nine days (and as a matter of
fact it is more often than not kept very much longer
above ground), it is necessary that it should be made
both substantial and air-tight The planks, which
are cut from the hardest and most endurable trees,
are from four to five inches thick, and are not only
strongly and accurately morticed together and caulked
on the outside, but are cemented over on the inside.
The coffins of men of high rank are covered with
coatings of red lacquer, while black lacquer is pre-
scribed for mandarins of the lower grades, and, to
the people, lacquer of any kind is forbidden.

The notions which Chinamen entertain concerning
the future life rob death of half its terrors, and lead
them to regard their funeral ceremonies, and the due
performance of the proper rites by their descendants
as the chief factors in their future well-being. Among
other things, the importance of securing a coffin
according to the approved fashion, is duly recognized,
and as men approach their three-score years and ten
this consideration not unfrequently impels them to
buy their own coffins, which they keep carefully by

FUNERAL RITES. 323

them until their time comes. The present of a coffin
is considered a dutiful attention from a son to an aged
father, and in cases where it is inconvenient, from want
of room, to keep it in the house, a resting-place is
willingly given it in the neighbouring temple.

The next event of importance is the choice of a site
for the grave. This has to be determined by a pro-
fessor of the " Fung-shuy " superstition, who, compass
in hand, explores the desired district to find a spot
which combines all the qualities necessary for the
quiet repose of the dead. This should be at the junc-
tion of the two supposed magnetic currents which are
known as the " azure dragon " and the " white tiger,"
whose presence is made known by the configuration
of the ground. It must be perfectly dry, and be free
from white ants and from all such disturbing influences
arising from conflicting heavenly or terrestrial elements
as may interfere with the soul's unrestricted egress
and ingress. When such a favoured spot has been
discovered a Taouist priest is called in to determine
a lucky day for the burial. This is by no means an
easy matter, and it often happens that the dead
remain unburied for months, and even for years, on
account of the difficulties in the way of choosing
either fortunate graves or lucky days. It is probable
that the increased fees demanded by protracted
investigations do not tend to hasten the process.
Another occasional cause of delay is the rule that

324 CHINA.

the funeral should not take place while any lady in
the household is enceinte. Archdeacon Gray men*
tions a case within his own knowledge, where a lady
remained unburied for several years because one or
other of the ladies of the family were constantly in
that condition.

But, as soon as the site is chosen and the other
rites are completed, the chief mourner goes with
workmen to the spot to dig the grave. Before begin-
ning he worships the genii of the mountain, and reads
aloud a notification addressed to those spirits, in
these words: "We, the sons and relatives of such
and such a one, who died on such and such a day,
intend to bury his remains here, and, as now it is our
desire to make ready the tomb, we pray you not only
to grant your sanction to such a proceeding on our
part, but at all times to care for and prosper us.
Moreover, we respectfully beg to present to you
offerings of fruits and wines, which be graciously
pleased to accept." This letter having been sent on
its way, by being burnt to ashes, the work begins,
and, when the requisite depth is attained, the bottom
of the grave is protected from damp by a layer of
lime mixed with charcoal.

Everything being now ready for the interment,
a special service is held before the ancestral tablet of
the deceased, and the following announcement is
made to the spirit : " Perpetuating the rite of removal,

FUNERAL RITES. 325

and the propitious hour no longer delaying, we are
now about to escort the funeral car, and thus reve-
rently to walk in the paths of our ancestors." The
assembled family then prostrate themselves before
the tablet, with tears and loud lamentations.

As the coffin is lifted, the members of the family
rush into the adjoining rooms lest the ghost of the
dead man should, owing to some sin of commission
or omission, strike them, in his wrath, with sickness
or a curse. At the door of the house, the coffin is
placed upon a bier, and the procession, which varies
in length and arrangement according to the wealth
of the mourners and the part of the empire, marches
off in the following order : u Two men bearing large
lanterns, recording the family name, age, and titles of
the deceased ; two men, each bearing a gong, which
they beat loudly at intervals, to give warning of the t
approach of the cavalcade ; and sixteen musicians,
immediately followed by men with flags, and by
others carrying red boards with the titles of the
deceased and of his ancestors inscribed on them in
letters of gold. . . . The ancestral tablets are fol-
lowed by four richly carved and gilded canopies —
carried sometimes by horses, sometimes by men —
under each of which are arranged offerings for the
dead. The portrait of the deceased comes next,
carried in a sedan-chair, and followed by a band of
musicians. Next comes a. sedan-chair, with a wooden

326 CHINA.

tablet inscribed with the names of the deceased.
Then follows a man called Fung-loo-chun-jin, who
scatters, at intervals, pieces of paper supposed to
represent ingots of silver and gold. This mock money
is intended for hungry ghosts, *.*., for the souls of
men who have died at the corners of the streets. . . .
Next come the sons of the deceased," * immediately
in front of the bier, which is followed by the rest
of the relatives, both male and female. The only
living creature which is carried in the procession is
a white cock, which is supposed to be the depository
of one of the three souls with which men are credited.
The argument is, that as cocks are birds of the East,
and as the East is the door of life, they can best con-
tain that part of man which is immortal. At the
brink of the grave the cock is either sacrificed, by
which means the soul is released into the tomb, or it
is made to incline forward three times into the grave,
by each member of the family.

If the distance to the grave is short, the mourners
walk in the procession, with the exception of the small-
footed women, who are, for the most part, carried on
the backs of their female attendants. But, when the
distance is considerable, 'the mourners, both male and
female, travel in sedan-chairs, if in the south of China,
and in carts or on horseback, if in the north. On
arrival at the grave the mourners perform the kotow
1 Archdeacon Gray's " China," vol. i.

FUNERAL RITES. %rj

before the coffin, the men on the left and the women
on the right The coffin is then lowered into the grave,
and the Fung-shuy professor, having satisfied himself
that it is in exactly the right position, proceeds to
burn a quantity of mock money, carriages, and images
of men-servants and maid-servants, for the use of the
deceased in his next existence.

The procession returns to the house in the order in
which it went out, and, the ancestral tablet having
been placed in the position proper to it during the
first hundred days of mourning, the mourners sit
down to the baked meats of the funeral feast. At
the end of a hundred days, the sons and near relatives
shave their heads and exchange their white shoes and
white silken additions to their queues for blue ones,
that colour being the next stage towards a return to
the ordinary colours of everyday life. By a common
fiction the period of three years' mourning is reduced
to twenty-seven months, at the end of which time the
family return to the use of red visiting-cards, and
remove from their dwelling and attire all traces of
their grief. Sons holding official rank return to their
posts, candidates for examination present themselves
before the examiners, and the pent-up ceremonies of
marrying and giving in marriage are entered upon
with alacrity.

On the anniversary of the death of the deceased,
and also in the third month in each year, the family

328 CHINA.

go to the tomb to offer sacrifice at it The tombs,
which are all designed, not according to the taste
of the survivors, but in obedience to recognized
rules, vary in size and in various particulars, ac-
cording to the rank of the deceased and the part of
the empire. In the southern provinces and on the
plains in the north, the tombs and graveyards are
shaped in the form of an Q, which, if it were not
traceable to the requirements of Fung-shuy, might be
supposed to have been adopted from the conven-
tional symbol for the end among the Greeks. A
duke, marquis, or earl, is entitled to a sepulchre one
hundred and thirty yards in circumference, with four
entrances ; officials of the first and second ranks must
be content to lie within a boundary of one hundred
and ten yards long, with only two doors; officials
of the third, fourth, and fifth ranks are reduced to
a hundred yards ; and the still lower grades to sixty
yards.

A sliding-scale is also provided in the matter of
the avenues of stone figures which lead up to the
sepulchres of the great For every one, from a duke
to an official of the second rank, it is decreed that
their tombs may be protected by two stone men, two
horses, two tigers, and two rams, besides two pillars
at the entrance. The figures are generally made life-
size or larger, and of granite. The tombstone, which
records the name and titles of the deceased and the

FUNERAL RITES.

329

dates of his birth and death, stands on the back of
a stone tortoise, and above the inscription is carved
the figure of a weird-looking, hornless dragon. In
Shan-se and other parts of the empire the sepulchral
monuments vary very much in shape. Black glazed

_ j ^^^^s^^^W^^^g^^^

tiles generally cover the tombs in Shan-se, and a not
infrequent form of monument is that of a huge lighted
candle.

The imperial tombs infinitely excel the tombs of
the highest nobles in size and grandeur. The burying-
place of the emperors of the Ming dynasty was in
the neighbourhood of Nanking, while the sovereigns

330 CHINA.

of the present line repose among the mountains to the
north-east of Peking.

But, universal as the practice of burying may be
said to be in China, there are exceptions to it The
Buddhist priests prefer, as a rule, cremation ; and this
custom, which came with the religion they profess
from India, has at times found imitators among the
laity. In Formosa the dead are exposed and dried
in the air, and some of the Meaou-tsze tribes of
central and southern China bury their dead, it is true,
but after an interval of a year or more, having chosen
a lucky day, they disinter them. On such occasions,
they go, accompanied by their friends, to the grave,
and open the tomb. They then take out the bones,
and, after having brushed and washed them carefully,
they return them to their resting-place wrapped in
cloth.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA.

l HE Chinese describe themselves as
possessing three religions, or more
accurately, three sects, namely /iw
keaou y the sect of Scholars; Fuh
keaou, the sect of Buddha ; and
Taau keaou y the sect of Taou. Both
as regards age and origin, the sect
of Scholars, or, as it is generally
called, Confucianism, represents
pre-eminently the religion of China. It has its root in
the worship of Shang-te, a deity which is associated
with the earliest traditions of the Chinese race.
Hwang-te (2697 B.C) erected a temple to his honour
and succeeding emperors worshipped before his shrine.
The very uncertain light that history throws on the
condition of the empire during the Hea dynasty and
the preceding centuries makes it impossible to pre-

332 CHINA.

dicate anything of the relations in which the sove-
reigns and people stood to Shang-te; but with the
rise to power of the Shang dynasty (1766-1401 B.C.),
we find a belief prevailing in the personal interference
of Shang-te in the affairs of man. It was due to
him that, as a reward for virtuous and godly living,
men were raised to the throne, and, contrariwise, his
was the avenging hand which drove into obscurity
those sovereigns who had deserted the paths of recti-
tude. Thus we read in the 'Shoo king that, " moved
with indignation at the crime of King Show, Great
Heaven (*>. Shang-te) charged King Win (the
twelfth century B.C.) to display its majesty, and to
destroy the tyrant"

But, during the troublous times which followed
after the reign of the first few sovereigns of the Chow
dynasty, the belief in a personal deity grew indistinct
and dim, until, when Confucius began his career,
there appeared nothing strange in his atheistic doc-
trines. He never in any way denied the existence
of Shang-te, but he ignored him. His concern was
with man as a member of society, and the object of
his teaching was to lead him into those paths of
rectitude which might best contribute to his own
happiness, and to the well-being of the community
of which he formed part, Man, he held, was born
good, and was endowed with qualities which, when
cultivated and improved by watchfulness and self-

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 333

restraint, might enable him to acquire godlike wisdom
and to become " the equal of Heaven." He divided
mankind into four classes, viz., " those who are born
with the possession of knowledge ; those who learn,
and so readily get possession of knowledge ; those
who are dull and stupid, and yet succeed in learning ;
and, lastly, those who are dull and stupid, and yet do
not learn." To all these, except those of the last
class, the path to the climax reached by the " sage "
is open. Man has only to watch, listen to, under-
stand, and obey the moral sense implanted in him by
Heaven, and the highest perfection is within his
reach. The self-cultivation of each man was the
root of his system which is thus epitomized in the
"Great Learning," by TsSng, one of Confucius's
disciples: "The ancients who wished to illustrate
illustrious virtue throughout the empire, first ordered
well their own states. Wishing to order well their
own states, they first regulated their families. Wishing
to regulate their families, they first cultivated their
persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they
first rectified their hearts. Wishing to rectify their
hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts.
Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first
extended to the utmost their knowledge. Such
extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of
things. When things were investigated, knowledge
became complete. Their knowledge being complete,

334 CHINA.

their thoughts became sincere. Their thoughts being
sincere, their hearts were then rectified. Their hearts
being rectified, their persons were cultivated. Their
persons being cultivated, their families were regu-
lated. Their families being regulated, their states
were rightly governed. Their states being rightly
governed, the whole empire was made tranquil and
happy." Like the widening ripple caused by dropping
a stone into a pool, all these consequences were to
flow from self-cultivation, the effect of which finds
its expression in words and conduct Principally,
however, it is manifested in the exercise of filial
piety, which is the corner-stone of the Confucian
edifice.

But in this system there is no place for a personal
God. The impersonal Heaven, according to Con-
fucius, implants a pure nature in every being at his
birth, but, having done this, there is no further super-
natural interference with the thoughts and deeds of
men. It is in the power of each one to perfect his
nature, but there is no divine influence to restrain
those who take the downward course. Man has his
destiny in his own hands, to make or to mar. Neither
had Confucius any inducement to offer to encourage
men in the practice of virtue, except virtue's self.
He was a matter-of-fact, unimaginative man, who was
quite content to occupy himself with the study of his
fellow-men, and was disinclined to grope into the

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 335

future or to peer upwards. No wonder that his sys-
tem, as he enunciated it, proved a failure. Eagerly
he sought, in the execution of his official duties, to
effect the regeneration of the empire, but beyond
the circle of his personal disciples he found few
followers, and so soon as princes and statesmen had
satisfied their curiosity about him they turned their
backs on his precepts and would have none of his
reproofs.

Succeeding ages, recognizing the loftiness of his
aims, eliminated all that was impracticable and unreal
in his system, and held fast to that part of it that was
true and good. They were content to accept the
logic of events, and to throw overboard the ideal
"sage," and to ignore the supposed potency of his
influence ; but they clung to the doctrines of filial
piety, brotherly love, and virtuous living. It is ad-
miration for the emphasis which he lafd on these and
other virtues which has drawn so many millions of
men unto him ; which has made his tomb at Keo-foo-
heen to be the Mecca of Confucianism, and has adorned
every city of the empire with temples built in his
honour. Twice a year the Emperor goes in state to
the Kwo-tsze-keen temple at Peking, and having
twice knelt and six times bowed his head to the
earth, invokes the presence of the sage in these
words : " Great art thou, O perfect Sage ! Thy
virtue is full; thy doctrine is complete. Among

33* CHWA.

w

mortal men there has not been thine equal All
kings honour thee. Thy statutes and laws have come
gloriously down. Thou art the pattern of this im-
perial school. Reverently have the sacrificial vessels
been set out Full of awe we sound our drums and
bells."

On the same dates, in the spring and autumn, the
officials in every city go to the local temples, and
there imitate the reverence and worship of their im-
perial master. But concurrently with the lapse of
pure Confucianism, and the adoption of those prin-
ciples which find their earliest expression in the pre-
Confucian classics of China, there is observable a
return to the worship of Shang-te. The most mag-
nificent temple in the empire is the Temple of
Heaven at Peking, where the highest object of Chinese
worship is adored with the purest rites. The Em-
peror, as representative of the empire, alone worships
at this sacred shrine, where no trace of idolatry finds
a place. Thrice a year he proceeds in state to this
azure-tiled holy place, as well as on other special
occasions. The evening before the day of sacrifice
he goes in an elephant carriage, and accompanied by
his princes and ministers, to the Palace of Fasting
adjoining the temple, and spends the night in medi-
tation. At dawn of day he ascends the Altar of
Heaven. There he prostrates himself before the
tablet of Shang-te, and, having presented the sacri<-

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 337

fices prescribed in the rituals, he offers up a prayer,
in which he humbles himself before the deity, and
beseeches him to bestow his blessings on the land*
What is popularly known in Europe as Confucianism
is, therefore, Confucianism with the distinctive opinions
of Confucius omitted — the play of Hamlet without the
ghost ; and is far more correctly described by the
Chinese denomination of Joo keaou, or sect of scholars,
since it finds its expression in those ancient classical
works from which alone the scholars of the empire
draw their faith and wisdom.

But this worship of Shang-te is confined only to
the Emperor. The people have no lot or heritage in
the sacred acts of worship at the Altar of Heaven.
Their part in the Joo keaou is to reverence their
parents, to love their brothers, to obey their rulers, to
be content with the knowledge placed within their
reach, to live peaceably with their neighbours, and to
pay their taxes. These are the main points insisted
on in the sixteen Maxims of the Emperor K'ang-he,
and they are the popular outcome of an impossible
system, which appeals only to the intellects of a small
body of sch Mars.

Side by side with the revival of the Joo keaou,
under the influence of Confucius, grew up a system of
a totally different nature, and which, when divested
of its esoteric doctrines, and reduced by the prac-
tically minded Chinaman to a code of morals, was

z

338 CHINA.

destined in future ages to become affiliated with the
teachings of the Sage. This was Taouism, which
was founded by Laou-tsze, who was a contemporary
of Confucius. An air of mystery hangs over the
history of Laou-tsze. Of his parentage we know
nothing, and the historians, in their anxiety to conceal
their ignorance of his earlier years, shelter themselves
behind the legend that he was born an old man. He
certainly first appears on the stage when past middle
age, and in this he affords a marked contrast to his
great rival, about whose birth, childhood, and youth
we have abundant detail. His appearance also was
unusual. His ears were large, his eyebrows were
handsome, he had large eyes, a double-ridged nose,
and a square mouth. These are very un-Chinese
features, and, coupled with the fact that nothing is
known either of his early days nor of his declining
years, they suggest the possibility that he was a
foreigner, or perhaps a member of an aboriginal
frontier tribe. This supposition finds some counte-
nance in the name of Le, which he assumed, that being
the name of one of the most powerful tribes in ancient
China. By some it is said that he was born at the
village of Keuh jin (" oppressed benevolence "), in the
parish of Le ("cruelty"), in the district of K'oo
("bitterness"), in the state of Ts'oo ("suffering").
This K'oo is commonly identified with an ancient
city of that name, which stood near the modern

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 339

Kwei-tih Foo, in the province of Honan. At K'oo- V
yang, which now occupies the same site, a house is
shown in which Laou-tsze is said to have lived, and
his memory is still further preserved there by a
temple which is dedicated to his honour.

This is all that his biographers have to tell us of
him until he appears as Keeper of the Archives at the
Court of Chow, which had its home in a part of the
same province. Here we find him, surrounded by a
band of disciples, teaching a system which embodied
so many of the leading doctrines of the Indian phi-
losophers, that the question suggests itself, whether or
no he might not have become, in some way; imbued
with the tenets of those men. We know that com-
munication with India was open, even at that period,
and it might be that he was either a native of that
country or of one of the intervening states. If this
were so, it would account for the existing ignorance
of his family history, and for his being lost to sight
when he resigned his office at the Court of Chow,
and passed westward through the Han-koo Pass.
The object of his teaching was to induce men, by the
practice of self-abnegation, to arrive at being ab-
sorbed in something which he called Taou> and which
bears a certain resemblance to the Nirv&na of the
Buddhists. The primary meaning of Taou is "the
way," "the path," but in Laou-tsze's philosophy it
was more than the way, it was the way-goer as well.

340 CHINA.

It was an eternal road ; along it all beings and things
walked; it was everything and nothing, and the
cause and effect of all. All things originated from
Taou, conformed to Taou, and to Taou at last re-
turned. " Taou is impalpable. You look at it, and
you cannot see it ; you listen to it, and you cannot
hear it ; you try to touch it, and you cannot reach it ;
you use it, and you cannot exhaust it. It is not to
be expressed in words. It is still and void ; it stands
alone and changes not ; it circulates everywhere and
is not endangered. It is ever inactive, and yet leaves
nothing undone. . . . Formless, it is the cause of
form. ... It is the ethical nature of the good man
and the principle of his action. If, then, we had to
express the meaning of Taou, we should describe it
as the Absolute ; the totality of Being and Things ;
the phenomenal world and its order ; and the ethical
nature of the good man, and the principle of his
action." l

It was absorption into this " Mother of all things "
that Laou-tsze aimed at. And this end was to be
attained to by self-emptiness, and by giving free
scope to the uncontaminated nature which, like Con-
fucius, he taught was given by Heaven to all men.
His was a more radical cure for the evils of the age
than that of his rival. Confucius said that the great
reformation necessary was to rectify names. Laou-
1 " Confucianism and Taouism."

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 341

tsze said, Return to the manners of the time before
vice had made names necessary, before disobedience to
parents had given rise to the expression " filial piety,"
and before family contentions and rudeness had
made men formulate the terms " brotherly love and
propriety." But these subtleties, like the more ab-
struse speculations of Confucius, were suited only to
the taste of the schools. To the common people
they were foolishness, and, before long, the philo-
sophical doctrine of Laou-tsze as to the identity of
existence and non-existence, assumed in their eyes
a warrant for the old Epicurean motto, " Let us eat
and drink, for to-morrow we die." The pleasures of
sense were substituted for the delights of virtue, and
the next step was to desire prolongation of the time
when those pleasures could be enjoyed. Legend
said that Laou-tsze had secured to himself immunity
from death by drinking the elixir of immortality, and
to enjoy the same privilege became the all-absorbing
object of his followers. The demand for elixirs and
charms produced a supply, and Taouism quickly de-
generated into a system of magic. Mountains were
searched for life-giving herbs, and the seas were
swept to discover the " Isles of the Blest." Magicians
and sorcerers occupied high places at the courts of
emperors, and all the unselfish and virtuous teachings
of Laou-tsze were forgotten.
The superstitious credulity of the people almost

344 CHINA.

exceeded belief, but had at last, as far as the elixir of
immortality was concerned, to yield to the stern lope
of facts, and the attempt to avert those ills of life,
disease and poverty, which have pressed so hardly on
humanity thfough all ages, took the place of vain
seekings after perpetual youth. Charms and magical
formula were invented to abolish want and sickness,
and gods were called into being to preside over the
distribution of blessings to mankind. But, while this
was the facet of the many-sided religion which caught
the eye of the vulgar and illiterate, there was shown
to the educated and upper classes an ethical system,
moulded out of the moral sayings of Laou-tsze, which
differed little from the popular aspect of Confucianism.
The concessions thus made were met by correspond-
ing concessions on the part of Confucianists, who
have practically adopted into their cult the worship
of many of the gods which were invented by the
Taouists. W&n cKang te keun, the god of literature,
for example, receives imperial worship twice in each
year, and is universally invoked by competitors at the
literary examinations on behalf of their efforts. The
monopoly which Taouist priests enjoy, as the expo-
nents of the mysteries of nature, make them indispen-
sably necessary to all classes, and the most confirmed
Confucianist does not hesitate to consult the shaven
followers of Laou-tsze on the choice of the site for
his house, the position of his family graveyard, or a

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA.

345

fortunate day for undertaking an enterprise. Apart
from the practice of these magical arts, Taouism has
become assimilated with modern Confucianism, and

is scarcely distinguishable from it But in its more
debased and superstitious form it is as far removed
from Confucianism as Shamanism is from the teach-
ings of Sakyamuni.

$44 CHINA.

The teachings of Laou-tsze having familiarized the
Chinese mind with philosophical doctrines, which,
whatever were their direct sources, bore a marked
resemblance to the musings of Indian sages, served
to prepare the way for the introduction of Buddhism.
The exact date at which the Chinese first became
acquainted with the doctrines of Buddha was, accord-
ing to an author quoted in K'ang-he's Imperial
Encyclopaedia, the thirtieth year of the reign of She
Hwang-te, *>., 2 16 B:C The story this writer tells of
the difficulties which the first missionaries encountered
is curious, and singularly suggestive of the narrative
of St. Peter's imprisonment. The Western Shaman,
Le-fang, with seventeen others, arrived, we are told,
at Loyang, in the year mentioned, bringing with them
original sQtras in Brahma's [Fan] characters. Being
foreigners, they were examined by the officials, and
by the Emperor's orders were thrown into prison as
u strange customers." But Le-fang and his comrades
continued chanting the Mahi PrajnA PAramitA Sfitra,
when suddenly a brilliantly bright and shining light,
accompanied by an auspicious halo, permeated into
and filled the prison. And at the same time appeared
a deity, bright as gold (AY., golden deity), holding in his
hand a sceptre with which, with exceeding majesty,
he struck the prison [walls], which shivered to atoms
at his blow. Le-fang and his companions then came
forth, and the Emperor, alarmed at the miracle, re-

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 345

pented of his sin, and treated his quondam prisoners
with every sign of marked respect

But what became of them we are not told ; pos-
sibly, disgusted with the reception they had met with,
they returned whence they came. At all events,
they left no mark on the minds of the people, and
the next reference to Buddhism, or what is claimed
for Buddhism, is found in the history of the reign of
Woo-te, who in 120 B.C, sent General Ho K'ii-p'ing
with a large force against the Heung-noo Tartars.
This officer, we are told, having crossed the Yen-k'e
Mountains (in Turkestan ?), defeated the enemy, and
carried back with him, as a trophy of his victory, a
golden image which had been the object of the king
Heo-t'u's worship. But, even if the image was that of
Buddha, no instruction in the religion was received
with it, and it was reserved for the Emperor Ming-te,
a hundred and eighty-two years later, to introduce a
knowledge of that system which, in purity and lofti-
ness of aim, takes its place next to Christianity among
the religions of the world. One night, he dreamed
that a monster golden image appeared, and, address-
ing him, said : " Buddha bids you send to the western
countries to search for him, and to get books and
images." Ming-te obeyed, and sent an embassy to
India, which returned after an absence of eleven
years, bringing back images, drawings, and the Stitra
of Forty-two Sections, and, what was more important,

346 CHINA.

the mission was accompanied by the Indian, Kisyapa
Mataftga, who, on his arrival at Loyang, translated
the stitra into Chinese. K&syapa MAtaflga was fol-
lowed by Fa-lan, who brought with him, among other
works, the Dasabhftmi Sfitra and the Lalita Vistara.
These, in conjunction with his fellow-labourer, he
translated into Chinese, and from this time Buddhism
grew and prevailed in the land.

During the next few centuries constant additions
were made to the number of the Indian missionaries,
who were indefatigable in their work as translators.
But in many cases their zeal was greater than the
accuracy of their knowledge of the Chinese language,
and in the beginning of the fifth century it was deter-
mined to have a revised version of the translated
sQtras made. For this purpose KumArajlva, a learned
Indian priest, was invited to the Court of Tsin,
where he was given office, and where, with the help
of eight hundred priests, he revised three hundred
volumes. While this work was in contemplation, a
Chinese Buddhist, Fa-heen by name, started on a
journey to India, to procure the texts of Buddhist
works yet unknown to his countrymen. By a some-
what circuitous route by the Steppes of Tartary,
Khoten, and Afghanistan, he reached the goal of his
desires. With all the zeal of a convert, he visited,
with devotion, the spots made sacred by the presence
of Buddha, never, however, forgetting the main object

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 347

of his journey, and finally returned to China by sea
from Ceylon, after an absence of fourteen years, laden
with books.

But, besides books and images, relics of Buddha
were brought to China, and were received with every
token of honour. The priest, Hiuen-tsang, who
visited India rather more than two centuries later
than Fa-heen, carried back with him a hundred and
fifteen bits taken from Buddha's chain. At other
times, bones of the saint aroused the religious rapture
of the Chinese converts, and even now, in a dim glass
case in a temple on the sacred Mount of Teen-tai,
near Ningpo, there is shown a scrap of the body
of Buddha, which was saved from the burning. To
those devout disciples, who have the mind of Buddha,
this precious relic appears to be of a yellow colour,
but to those of less spiritual discernment no such
golden hue is vouchsafed.

. The literati protested against the worship of the
relics as vehemently as they have d<fne against Chris-
tianity; but the instinct of the nation declared
against them, and they had the mortification of
seeing pagoda after pagoda raised to cover a bone, or
a scrap of the flesh, or, it may chance, a hair of the
head, of Buddha. At the beginning of the sixth century
it is said that there were three thousand Indians in
China, and it was at this time that Bddhidharma, the
first of the six patriarchs, arrived at Canton by sea.

34* CHINA.

By his teaching was first brought to the knowledge
of the Chinese the MahAy&na system, which was the
outcome of the change which Buddhism had under-
gone in India. It was prophesied by Buddha that for
five hundred years the purity of his doctrine would be
maintained, but that a thousand years after his time
men would depart from the true path and wander in
the labyrinths of heresy.

Even before the time foretold by the saint his
professing followers began to weary of the moral
asceticism and active self-denying charity of which
his system consisted, and turned aside in pursuit of
philosophical and abstrusely metaphysical ideas, and
in search of ritualistic emblems and idolatrous sym-
bolism. The non-existence of existence, and the un-
reality of everything beyond the mind, were the texts
on which these men loved to enlarge, and when weary
with disputations they retired to cloistered cells and
mountain-caves, to practise that abstraction of the
mind which aloife they believed would enable them
to suppress lust, to conquer the sensations, and to
attain bliss. For nine years Bddhidharma sat with
his face to a wall at a monastery in Loyang, earn-
ing for himself a high reputation for spirituality by
so doing, and when the time came for him to die he
departed in the full odour of sanctity. " Where are
you going ? " inquired Sung-yun, the traveller, of his
corpse, as it lay in the coffin, holding one shoe in its

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA.

349

hand. "To the western heaven," was the confident
and ghostly reply.

For with the introduction of the MahAyAna system
the mysterious NirvAna had, as a reward for virtue
been supplemented by a "pure land in the West,"

where there is "fulness of life, and no pain nor sorrow
mixed with it, no need to be born again, no Nirv4na
even. . . . There is there a sevenfold row of railings
or balustrades, thirdly a sevenfold row of silken
nets, and lastly a sevenfold row of trees hedging in
the whole country. In the midst of it there are

350 CHINA.

seven precious ponds, the water of which possesses
all the eight qualities which the best water can have,
viz., it is still, it is pure and cold, it is sweet and
agreeable, it is light and soft, it is fresh and rich,
it tranquillizes, it removes hunger and thirst, and
finally it nourishes all roots. The bottom of these
ponds is covered with golden sands, and round about
there are pavements constructed of precious stones
and metals, and many two-storied pavilions built of
richly coloured transparent jewels. On the surface
of the water there are beautiful lotos-flowers floating,
each as large as a carriage-wheel, displaying the most
dazzling colours, and dispersing the most fragrant
aroma. There kre also beautiful birds there, which
make delicious enchanting music, and at every breath
of wind the very trees on which these birds are resting -
join in the chorus, shaking their leaves in trembling
accords of sweetest harmony. . . . This music is
like Lieder ohne Worte ; its melodies speak to the
heart ; but they discourse on Buddha, Dharma, and
Samgha, and wake an echo in every breast, so that all
the immortals that live in this happy land instinctively
join in hymns of praise, devoutly invoking Buddha*
Dharma, and Samgha." l

Such was the blissful region to which B6dhid-
harma declared himself to be marching on, and such
is the heaven which Chinese Buddhists of the present
1 Eitel's " Lectures on Buddhism."

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 351

day hope to reach. But this goal is not to be at-
tained by any effort, however praiseworthy, which
would only contaminate the mind, but is to be won
solely by abstracting the mind from everything beyond
itself, by sitting before a wall, if not actually, as the
first patriarch did, yet mentally, by seeing nothing,
hearing nothing, and thinking of nothing. The in-
vention of this pure region has, no doubt, been of
infinite advantage to the cause of Buddhism in
China, since it presents a practical reward for merit,
and is one that the ordinary Chinaman can realize
But its existence is obviously inconsistent with the
orthodox belief in Nirvana. However much schools
may differ as to what Nirv4na is, they must be all
agreed that it is not a material paradise, such as
the "pure land in the West," which, like Dan and
Beersheba, consecrated by Jeroboam, is presented as
an easily attainable substitute for the Jerusalem of
Nirv4na.

To that school of Buddhists which regards Nirvana
as absolute annihilation, the idea of a paradise into
which neither pain nor sorrow nor death can enter,
where there is perfect happiness and rest, and where
every surrounding is but a note in one harmonious
melody of peace and joy, is a temptation strong
enough to try the orthodoxy of the staunchest Budd-
hists. But in China, as elsewhere, the views held by
Buddhists on the subject of Nirv4na differ widely.

352 CHINA.

There are those who believe in the annihilation
theory, and there are those who hold that the an-
nihilation refers only to the material body of man,
and that when this is extinguished, " like the flame of
a lamp/' the spiritual body enters into a state of
absolute and complete purity, where it is free from
the circles of metempsychosis, and is beyond the
reach of all sin and passion. Some, again, hold that
the "pure land in the West" is but a preliminary stage
on the way to Nirv4na, and that there the righteous
soul is allowed to enjoy ages of happiness before it
has again to enter the circles of metempsychosis, and
by a fresh course of virtue to win its way to the
supreme bliss of Nirvina.

But such a theme admits of the wildest speculations,
and the philosophers of each school have given full rein
to their imaginations in the exercise of their sophistical
casuistry upon it. " The followers of the Mah&y&na
system dissolve every possible proposition on the
subject of Nirvina into a thesis and its antithesis, and
deny both. Thus they say that Nirvdna is not annihi-
lation, and quote a noted saying of Sakyamuni's,
11 the name Nirvana does not imply that it is a state
of annihilation ; " but they also deny its positive
objective reality. According to them, the soul enjoys
in Nirvina neither existence nor non-existence, it is
neither eternal nor non-eternal, neither annihilated
nor non-annihilated. Nirv&na is to them a state of

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA. 353

which nothing can be said, to which no attributes
can be given; it is altogether an abstract, devoid
alike of all positive and negative qualities." l

But, just as it was found necessary to invent a ter-
restrial paradise to suit the material aspiration of the
people, so it was imperative to develop out of the
extreme, transcendentalism of. the Mah&y&na school,
a system which should appeal to their superstitious
materialism. Like the Jews of old, they were eager
after signs, and self-interest made their spiritual
rulers nothing loth to grant them their desire. From
the mountains and monasteries came men who
claimed to possess the elixir of immortality, and pro-
claimed themselves adepts in witchcraft and sorcery.
By magic incantations they exorcised evil spirits, arid
dissipated famine, pestilence, arid disease. By the
exercise of their supernatural powers they rescued
souls from hell, and arrested pain and death. In the
services of the church they added ritual to ritual, and
surrounded with tawdry ceremonial the worship of
their multiplied images. By such means they won
their way among the people, and even sternly
orthodox Confucianists make use of their services to
chant the liturgies of the dead.

But, while that inexorable taskmaster, Superstition,
compels even the wise and the learned to pay their
homage to folly, there is scarcely an educated China-

1 " The Chinese Recorder," vol. iii., No. 1.

2 A

354 CHINA.

man who would not indignantly repudiate the impu-
tation of being a follower of Buddha; and, though
the common people throng the temples to buy-
charms and consult astrology, they yet thoroughly
despise both the priests and the religion they profess.
But Buddhism has after all been a blessing rather
.than a curse in China. It has, to a certain extent,
lifted the mind of the people from the too-exclusive
consideration of mundane affairs to the contempla-
tion of a future state. It has taught them to value
more highly purity of life ; to exercise self-constraint
and to forget self ; and to practise love and charity
towards their neighbours.

From what has been said it will be seen that no
clearly defined line of demarcation separates the
three great sects of China. Each in its turn has
borrowed from the others, until at the present day it
may be doubted whether there are. to be found any
pure Confucianists, pure Buddhists, or pure Taouists in
China. Confucianism has provided the moral basis
on which the national character of the Chinese rests,
and Buddhism and Taouism have supplied the super-
natural elements wanting in that system. Speaking
generally, then, the religion of China is a medley of
the three great sects, which are now so closely inter-
laced that it is impossible either to classify, localize,
or enumerate the members of each creed.

The only other religion of importance in China is

THE RELIGIONS OF CHINA.

355

Mahommedanism, which is confined to the south-
western and north-western provinces of the empire,,
In this faith, also, the process of absorption into the
national pot pourri of beliefs is- making way, and
since the suppression of the Panthay rebellion in
Yunnan, there has been a gradual decline in the
number of the followers of the Prophet.

^3fefc

CHAPTER XX.

JBt

CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA.

E have no record as to the date when
the earliest Christian missionaries
reached China. In the 6th century
of our era we know that Nestorian
monks arrived at Constantinople
from China, but of their mission
in the East we are without any
account, and if it were not for the
. celebrated tablet at Se-ngan Foo,
we should be left without a trace of the early Nes-
torian Church in China. That tablet, which is dated
A.D. 781, and which sets forth the fundamental doc-
trines of Christianity, is signed by "Adam, deacon,
vicar episcopal, and pope of China," and was dis-
covered in 1625, at Se-ngan Foo, in Shense, by a
sympathetic native, who, to rescue it from decay,
had it built into a brick wall outside the city. It has
lately been suggested by Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie

CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. 357

that this stone should be procured for the British
Museum, and negotiations have been set on foot for
the purpose of carrying out this proposal.

That no trace of the Nestorians beyond this in-
scription should be existing is sufficient evidence that
the success of the missionaries was not great ; and
the field was, therefore," practically open to the Roman
Catholic emissaries, when under Pope Nicholas IV.
the proselytizing zeal of the church was at full tide.
By a commission from that pontiff, John Montecorvino
visited the court of Kublai Khan, at the end of the
thirteenth century, and, having been well received by
that monarch, he built a church at Cambaluc, the
capital. For eleven years he carried on his mission
work single-handed, and in that time he baptized six
thousand persons and instructed a hundred and fifty
children in Latin and Greek. At the beginning of the
fourteenth century, the Pope, Clement V., appointed
him archbishop, and sent out seven suffragan bishops
to his aid. For a time the work thus successfully
begun, flourished ; but with the decline of the Mongol
power the imperial countenance which had been given
to the missionaries was withdrawn, and during the
troublous times which preceded and succeeded the
advent of the Ming dynasty to supremacy, their work
was entirely suspended.

But China was never lost sight of, and when the
Ming emperors had fully established themselves on

35« CHINA.

the throne, the Superior of the Jesuits despatched
Michael Ruggiero and Matteo Ricci to gather up the
threads which had been dropped by Monteeorvino's
successors. With some difficulty the two missionaries
succeeded in gaining a footing in Shaou-king, in the
Canton province, but in 1598, Ricci reached Nanking,
and three years later he established himself at Peking.
There he was favourably received by the Emperor,
Wan-leih, under whose benign influence he made
numerous proselytes. Among them was a wealthy
native, named Sii, who assisted Ricci in translating
Euclid into Chinese, and whose daughter, baptized
under the name of Candida, built thirty-nine churches
and printed one hundred and thirty Christian books
in her native tongue. Ricci died in 1610, and was sue*
ceeded by L,ongobardi, who, in many respects, was well
qualified to wear the mantle of his great precursor.
He was not strong enough, however, to withstand
the persecutions which broke out in 16 16, and which
culminated in a decree ordering the missionaries to
leave the country. This mandate was only partially
obeyed, and so industriously did the priests work in
and after their seclusion, that by 1636, they had pub-
lished as many as three hundred and forty treatises
In Chinese on religion, philosophy, and mathematics.
By the exertions of Sii, the decree of 1616 was
reversed in 1622, and Schaal, a German Jesuit, was
received T>y the court at Peking in 1628* But

CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. 359

troublous times were now falling on the country.
The Ming dynasty was approaching its end, and in
1644, Shun-che, the first emperor of the present
Manchoo line, ascended the throne. With this monarch
Schaal found favour, and was appointed by him
President of the Astronomical Board. But, on Shun-
che's death, the enemies of the missionaries, taking
advantage of the division which existed between the
Jesuits and the Franciscans and Dominicans, presented
a memorial to the regents which procured a second
edict ordering the expulsion of the priests. The
disappointment occasioned by this misfortune was
too much for Schaal, who died of grief and suffering
in 1665, at the age of seventy-eight Many of his
companions were imprisoned, and twenty-one Jesuits,
with some of the other sects, were expelled from the
country. Six years later the wheel of fortune again
turned in favour of the missionaries. According to
Magaillans, the revulsion was due to the effect pro-
duced on the Emperor by an earthquake which shook
Peking to its foundations, but it may probably have
been but the expression of the liberal views of the
Emperor K'ang-he, who further released Verbiest, one
of the imprisoned priests, and appointed him Imperial
Astronomer. For thirty years Verbiest resided in
Peking, and during the whole time retained the favour
of the Emperor and the esteem of all with whom he
was brought into contact.

$60 CHINA.

It was during the period of Verbiest's supremacy
that the dispute between the Jesuits and the Fran-
ciscans and Dominicans on the subject of ancestral
worship came to a head. The dictum that this worship
was idolatrous had been pronounced by the Propa-
ganda with the approval of Innocent X. But repre-
sentations made by the Jesuits in China had induced
Alexander VII. to reverse the decree of his pre-
decessor, and the question therefore made a pretty
quarrel as it stood. In this condition of things, the
missionaries appealed to the Emperor, who issued the
somewhat oracular decree, that w Teen meant the true
God, and that the customs of China were political."
This did not advance matters, and so bitter became
the feud between the priests that, notwithstanding
the excellent work done by them in surveying the
country and regulating the calendar, K'ang-he was
ai length, in 171 8, compelled to issue an order for
their banishment from the country. This decree was
followed up by his successor, who published an edict
strictly prohibiting the u religion of the Lord of
Heaven," which he declared to be a mischievous creed,
and from that time to the conclusion of the treaty
of 1858, the missionaries carried on their work with
their lives in their hands and under every condition
of discouragement

The protection given by France under the treaty to
Roman Catholic missionaries of all nationalities, gave

CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. 361

a great impetus to the cause, and in 1870, there were
as many as 254 foreign bishops and missionaries in
China, 138 native priests, and 404,530 converts.
Beneficial as the protection of France proved to be
in time of peace, it became far otherwise when war
broke out between France and Tungking. The hatred
which was then generated towards France, extended
to the Roman Catholic missionaries of whatever
nationality, and the receipt of a letter addressed by
the Pope to the Emperor, pleading for the safety of
his emissaries, suggested a proposal on the part
of the Chinese government, that for the future they
should be represented at Peking by a Papal Nuncio.
This idea was vehemently opposed by the French
government, who saw that its acceptance ' would
materially diminish its influence in China, and after
lengthened negotiations, the Pope was induced to
withdraw his consent to the arrangement, the French
government at the same time agreeing to the removal
of the Pih-t'ang cathedral from the imperial city
to a site beyond the sacred enclosure.

The Protestant missionaries arrived on the scene
at a comparatively late period. It was not until the
beginning of the present century that Dr. Morrison,
the pioneer apostle, arrived in China, and it was still
some time before active measures were taken to
instruct the people. Morrison, and after him Milne^
who reached m Canton in 181 3, devoted themselves

362 CHINA.

to the study of the language, and in the case of
Morrison to the formation of a Chinese and English
dictionary. This work was published between the
years 1815 and 1823, a t the cost of the Directors of
the East India Company and of English merchants
in China, who together contributed £12,000 to the
undertaking. Meanwhile, with the assistance of Dr.
Milne, he published a translation of the Bible and a
number of religious pamphlets. Dr. Morrison died
in 1834, leaving behind him a rich legacy of acquired
knowledge and of systematized work which had
already produced results in the unsympathetic soil in
which it was carried on. In the same year, Dr. Parker,
the first medical missionary, arrived at Canton and
established a hospital. Subsequent experience has
shown that hospitals are most useful auxiliaries to
mission establishments. The desire to be cured of
their bodily ailments has in cases beyond number
brought natives to hospitals who would never other-
wise had entered a mission house, and while there the
influence of the missionaries and of their instructions
has very commonly been the means of converting
idolaters into Christians. This was eminently the case
in the hospitals established by Dr. Lockhart, at Ting-
hai (1840), Shanghai (1844), and Peking in 1861. Dr-
Medhurst paid a visit to China in 1835, and after
working in connexion with the missions there for
twenty-one years and publishing ninety-three works

CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA. 363

in Chinese and English, he retired from the field* Dr.
Legge arrived at Hong-kong in 1841, and in addition
to his mission labours, translated the Chinese classics
into English, besides publishing numberless tracts in
the Chinese language. Without ceasing, every oppor-
tunity was taken by these men and their devoted
fellow-helpers to impart the truths of Christianity to
the Chinese, and immediately on the conclusion of the
treaty of 1858, attempts were made to penetrate into
the interior of the country. A society known as the
China Inland Mission was established with this par-
ticular object, and the members of it, who all wear the
native dress, have already met with considerable suc-
cess. Two years ago (1885), the ranks of these devoted
men were swelled by the arrival of a party of five
Bachelors of Arts from Cambridge and of two young
ex-officers who have determined to consecrate their
lives to the evangelization of the Chinese.

At the present time, at all the treaty ports there
are mission establishments representing the principal
sections of the Protestant Church, together with
hospitals, schools, and in many instances printing
presses. Thousands of Christian tracts and portions
of the Scriptures are published annually, and are dis-
tributed in the interior by colporteurs. One of the
most successful of these agents, Mr. Murray, sold
13,226 copies of parts of the Bible, in 1883, and lately
he has been eminently successful in teaching blind

364 CHIXA.

people in Peking and the neighbourhood to read
books published in the blind alphabet

In 1877, there were 478 foreign Protestant mission-
aries in China ; of this number 242 were British sub-
jects, 210 were American, and 26 were German. In
a country such as China, where the people are well
educated, and where either some form of religion or the
Confucian system of morality exercises most beneficial
influences over the lives of the natives, Christianity
must always have an uphill war to wage. It is far
easier to convert an Australian savage who worships
stocks and stones than to persuade a Chinese Buddhist
or Confuciariist of the truths of Christianity. For the
same reason the missionaries find their most attentive
listeners among the common people, who, when left
alone by their superiors, hear them gladly. Com-
paratively few converts belong to the highly educated
classes, and these will not be reached until they can
be taught that the wisdom in which they have trusted
for so many centuries is foolishness. But, though the
missionaries have had to encounter many and divers
difficulties, they can fairly claim many great and strik-
ing results. Fifty years ago there were scarcely any
Protestant converts in China, and at the present time
there are upwards of a hundred thousand recognized
members of different branches of the Protestant
Church, and twenty-two thousand communicants. 1
1 " Wanderings in China, 1 ' vol. ii. p. 242.

CHAPTER XXI,

THE LANGUAGE.

i T is a curious circumstance that the
Chinese, who have such a respect for
antiquity, and who are so proud of
their writing, should have no clear
account of its origin. As has been
said, there is evidence to show that
the Chinese brought a knowledge of
writing with them into China. If
this were not so, we should expect
to find in China inscriptions in the most primitive
form of writing namely, hieroglyphic But no such
inscriptions exist, showing that the writing had
already passed the purely hieroglyphic stage before
its introdution into the country. But, though the
Chinese brought a knowledge of writing with them,
it is quite possible that they added to their stock of
characters by adapting to their own purposes the

366 CHINA*

rude lines and marks which some of the aborigines
used to express their thoughts* And of this process
we have some traces in the accounts which the
Chinese give of the invention of writing.

The earliest combination of lines of which we hear,
in Chinese works is found in the eight diagrams
which are said to have been drawn by Fuh-he (2852—
2737 B.C.). These figures, which consist alternately
of whole and broken lines, and have been made the
basis of an ancient system of philosophy, suggest a
resemblance to notched sticks, or wands of divination.
But they have never been read* They bear no resem-
blance to Chinese characters, and therefore the state-
ment made in the Tsse heSpeen of the Too shoo tsHk
ching r that " Fuh-he imitated the Kwei writing, and
made the eight diagrams," is worthy of consideration
in lieu of any better derivation of them. But what
was the Kwei writing? In Ts'ai Yung's (a.d. 133-
192) work on the lesser seal characters, he says, in
terms which suggest a faded and restored tradition
of cuneiform characters; "The Kwei writing was
written irregularly and comb-wise, like a dragon's
scales. It hung down like drooping ears of millet,
and was as abstruse as the tangled web of insects*
Whether in combination or not, it was like drops of
rain finely drawn out and freezing as they fall. Seen
from a little distance they look like a flock of getsG
and swans wandering in a continuous line. How-

THE LANGUAGE. 367

ever long it is studied, its intricacies cannot be
reckoned. Seen further off, its divisions cannot be
distinguished."

Such was the writing of the Kwei people, who
were scattered over the district, part of which is now
known as the Province of Honan. This tract of
country is bounded on the north by the Hwang-ho>
Yellow River, or, as it used to be called, Ho, or The
river, and is traversed by the Lo River, which empties*
itself into the Ho. Now, one of the commonest
expressions used in Chinese books, in describing the
origin of writing, is that writing came from the La
(Lo shoo), and drawing from the Ho (Ho t'oo). The
localities from which these were derived are, there-
fore, sufficiently plainly indicated ; the next question
is, Who were their authors ?

By common consent, Chinese writers declare that
Ts'ang Hieh, a minister of Hwang-te (2697-2597 B.cX
invented writing, but we are also told that he imi-
tated the coloured writing of the Kwei of Lo, and
developed from it his characters. This statement
is repeated over and over again in varying forms.
Ts'ang Hieh, we are told, looking up to heaven and
observing the constellations, and down to the earth
and examining the Kwei writing and the footprints
of birds, invented written characters — a statement
which may possibly have reference to cup-marks
which existed at a very early date in China, and to

368 CHINA.

a restoration of the lost system of cuneiform writing.
According to tradition, he was a resident in what
is now Honan, and what more natural, therefore,
that he should have borrowed the rude attempts at
writing carved by the Kwei aborigines on the banks
of the Ho and Lo, and have moulded them into
characters.

The probability is, then, that such was the case,
and very possibly Fu-he's diagrams may have owed
their existence to the same origin. But such characters
merely supplemented the writing which the Chinese
brought with them into China, and we may dismiss,
therefore, as legendary the statement that the writing
ever went through the primitive hieroglyphic stage in
China. That had long been passed, and had been
succeeded by a system of phonetic writing, by which
the component parts of the characters were so
arranged as to give the sounds of the words, which
in those days were as often as not polysyllabic. By
degrees, however, as the Chinese colonies advanced
further and further into the country, and separated
themselves more and more from the head-quarters of
the race, dialects sprung up, differing phonetic values
were given to the characters and their component
parts, and thus things were called by different names
in different parts of the country, and the characters
underwent modifications as the original pronunciation
of their parts suffered change.

THE LANGUAGE. 369

Such was the state of things when She Chow, the
minister of Seuen Wang (827-781 B.C.), attempted
to remodel the system of writing, and for this purpose
invented the " large seal characters," to which he im-
parted more pictorial and symbolical features than
had existed in the earlier script The project, how-
ever, was only partly successful. The inevitable laws
which govern the growth of language were not to be
confined within arbitrary limits, and the same process
of change which had metamorphosed the Koo wan,
or ancient writing, wrought havoc also with the large
seal characters. But this was essentially a period
of change. The feudal system which until then had
prevailed in the country was fast disappearing to
make way for an empire. The right of the sovereigns
of Chow to the supremacy among the states was
openly questioned by feudatories, who sought vi et
armis to usurp their throne. Loyalty had ceased to
exist, and might was made the measure of right.
" The nobles," says Heu Shin, in his preface to the
Shwd wan, " ruled by violence, and ceased to be con-
trolled by the king; they hated rites and music,
and did injury to them. Departing from the canoni-
cal records, they divided the empire into seven states.
They changed the measurements of the arable fields ;
they changed the wheel-gauge of the carriages ; they
changed the code of the statutes and commands ;
they changed the fashions of clothes and caps ; and

2 B

370 CHINA.

they changed the sounds of the words and the forms
of the characters."

On the establishment of the empire under the Ts'in
dynasty, Le Sze attempted again to introduce a
fixed system of writing, and one which should at the
same time be less cumbrous than the large seal
characters. These new characters, which were known
as Seaou chuen, or " small seal " characters, were less
complicated and less square than the older forms.
But as public business and the corresponding neces-
sity for writing increased, the Seaou chuen was voted
too elaborate, and a modified form of character called
Le shoo was introduced in its stead. In the Le shoo
a tendency is observable to convert the curves of
the Seaou chuen into angular strokes, and further the
shapes of some characters, in obedience to the changes
which had taken place in their pronunciation, under-
went modifications. To the Le shoo and Tsaou shoo,
or "running hard," succeeded the K'eae shoo (the
fourth century) of the present day.

Chinamen are ignorant of the science of philology,
and lack that power of critical observation which
might enable them to arrive at the true history of
their written characters. Their tendency has been,
therefore, to deal only with their later forms, and
these they have classified and arranged in the six
following classes: ist. Seang hing> or hieroglyphics,
which are the primitive characters of the language.

THE LANGUAGE, yji

2nd. Cliesze, or characters intended to represent ideas
to the mind by the position of their parts. Thus a
character composed of parts representing the sun
above a straight line stands for the dawn. 3rd.
Hwuy e, or signs formed by writing two or more sig-
nificant characters to suggest a new idea. For in-
stance, the character Sin, "sincere," is made up of
the signs for " a man " and " words," a collocation of
ideas which at least speaks well for the theoretical
morality of the people. Another character in this
class is Ming, " brightness," which is composed of a
combination of the signs for a star and the moon,
and is identical with the modern Turkish imperial
emblem. Chinese writers say that the smaller cha-
racter of the two is that of the sun, but they have
forgotten that in the Koo w&n the characters for sun
and star were identical in form ; and the fact of its
being completely overshadowed by the moon is an
argument against its having been originally intended
for the greater light. 4th. Chuen cltoo, or characters
which, being inverted either in form or sound, assume
different meanings. Thus the character which, when
read L8 means " pleasure," means music when pro-
nounced yd. 5 th. Kea tsieh, or characters having
borrowed meanings. As an illustration of this class,
Chinese writers adduce the character She, an arrow,
which, from the straight course of an arrow, has
come to signify "direct," "right," "a word spoken

372 CHINA.

to the point." 6th. Keae s&ing, or phonetic. The
adoption of these characters was a cardinal feature
in the change effected in the writing by She Chow.
It is seldom in the history of nations that a writing
is found to deteriorate, and nothing proves more
conclusively that the Chinese characters were no
invention of the people themselves than the fact
that the first time they attempted a modification
of them they took a step backwards. Up to the
time of She Chow a well-defined and elaborate
system of syllabic writing had been in vogue, but
in the hands of the Chinese reformer this retro-
graded in the direction of ideographic writing,
and the Keae shing characters were brought into
existence. These, speaking generally, consist of two
parts — a phonetic element and an ideographic cha-
racter. To illustrate this system of formation we
may take the phonetic ^, Ngo, which stands for
the first personal pronoun, and which, by combina-
tion with twenty-seven ideographic characters, pro-
duces as many derivations having the same phonetic
value. In this way — combined with the ideograph
|J^ (originally r>^\ \ "a mountain," it becomes
|i$> ng°>"* high mountain ; " with ^, "a woman,"
#& ngo y "fair," "beautiful;" with )fy (originally
ff) "grass," fg ngo, "a certain herb;" with fc
"a bird," $§, ngo, "a goose," and so on. From
these examples it will be observed that the ideo-

THE LANGUAGE. 373

graphic characters in combination with their phonetics
form an exact parallel with many Egyptian and
Assyrian idiophonetics. I am indebted to the late
Dr. Birch, of the British Museum, for the following
example in Egyptian, showing precisely the same
formation in the composition of the characters and
in the respective value of their parts, as is seen in
the Chinese instance I have just referred to. <g^
Un f means in Egyptian "a hare;" combined with

the ideograph ™JJ lt becomes ^^ Un y " to open ; "

and with this f J, 0*1*% Un, "a mirror."

Speaking of Assyrian hieroglyphics, Sir Henry Raw-
linson says, "Certain classes of words have a sign
prefixed or suffixed to them, more commonly the
former, by which their general character is indicated.
The names of gods, of men, of cities, of tribes, of
wild animals, of domestic animals, of metals, of
months, of the points of the compass, and of dignities
are thus accompanied. The sign prefixed or suffixed
may have originally represented a word ; but, when
used in the way here spoken of, it is believed that
it was not sounded, but served simply to indicate
to the reader the sort of word which was placed
before it"

Marking, then, the forces of the two parts of the
Keae Shing characters, it is easy to imagine the way

374 CHINA.

in -which She Chow set to work to modify existing
characters, and to invent new ones. We may sup-
pose, for instance, that a tree to which he wished to
give a name on paper was known to him colloquially
as Ma. He would then, in the first place, choose a
common phonetic possessing that sound, very pos-
sibly the hieroglyphic ,§| ma, "a horse/ 1 and would
combine with it the ideographic character ^ muh,
meaning "wood." The new character would then
stand thus, ^g, and the reader would at once re-
cognize that it was to be read as ma, and the ideo-
graphic character prefixed would make him aware
that it was either the name of a tree of of something
made of wood.

These ideographic signs, with the addition of some
few others, have been taken by lexicographers as
offering the best means of classifying the characters
of the language. Two hundred and fourteen of such
signs have been chosen (one or more of which enter
into the composition of every character in Chinese),
under which to arrange the 50,000 characters, more
or less, of which the language consists. As the
language is without an alphabet, some such system
was necessary, and this one probably answers as well
as any other. Most of these radicals or determi-
natives, as they have been variously called, being
primitive characters, are hieroglyphics, and include,

THE LANGUAGE. ' 375

as might have been expected, "the most remark-
able objects of nature, such as the sun, moon, a
river, a mountain, fire, water, earth, wood, a stone,
etc.; the chief parts of the human body, as the
head, the heart, the hand, the foot, the eye, the ear,
etc. ; the principal parts of a house, as the roof, the
door, etc. ; domestic animals, such as the sheep, the
cow, the horse, the dog, etc. ; the primary relations of
society, as father, mother, son, daughter, etc. ; qualities,
such as great, small, crooked, high, low, long, etc. ;
and actions, such as to see, to speak, to walk, to run,
to stop, to enter, to follow, etc. They are thus ad-
mirably adapted to form generic terms, and this is
the part they play in composition." In the dictionaries,
the characters are arranged under each radical, in
order of the number of strokes of which the part
combined with the radical is composed. For example,
under the radical jfc muk> " wood," the first character
is 'fa in which only one stroke is added to the radical,
and the last is jj which consists of twenty-two strokes
besides the radical.

That such a cumbersome system of writing should
have remained unimproved argues a strange inability
to advance in the people. And this inability is
noticeable, not only in the writing, but in every
institution and in every branch of knowledge. They
have advanced up to a certain point — a point to

376 CHINA.

which they have been led by others — and beyond
this they are unable to go. On their first arrival in
China, they brought with them a knowledge of the
arts and sciences of the West, but, during all the
centuries they have lived in China, they had added
nothing to the knowledge they thus possessed. If
they have moved either way, it has rather been back-
wards, so that their reverence for the wisdom of the
ancients is a genuine, though melancholy, confession
of their national incompetence.

But though the characters in the language are
numerous beyond all comparison, numbering, as has
been said, 50,000 in all, the sounds they represent are
out of all proportion few. The various dialects differ
in the number of vocables they each possess, but the
richest, that of Canton, contains only about 700
sounds. It follows, therefore, that frequently a num-
ber of objects and ideas are expressed by the voice
by the same sound, though, when written on paper,
they are each represented by a distinct and appro-
priate character. The confusion with which such a
system is fraught is mitigated somewhat by the
constant use in conversation of double-words, in
some cases bearing the same, or nearly the same
meaning, and in others, being, when the , principal
word is a noun substantive, made up of that word
with a classifying term pointing generally to the
1 eading characteristic of the object " These classi-

THE LANGUAGE. 377

fiers bear some resemblance to our expressions
herd, head, fleet, troop .... For example, the word
flj pa, i to grasp with the hand/ is used as a classi-
fier to precede anything which is held in the hand,
such as a knife, a spoon, a hatchet, etc Instead of
expressing a knife by yih taou, which might either
mean a knife, a small boat, or a fringe, the classifier
is introduced to show which taou is meant, and a
speaker would say yiJi pa taou, literally, ' a grasped
knife.' In like manner jfij keen, a ' space,' is used as
a classifier for houses and enclosures ; $8 kan, ' a
root,' for trees, poles, clubs, etc. ; and so on."

It is difficult to point definitely to the origin of the
double-words referred to above. It is possible that
they may be survivals of polysyllabic words which,
owing to phonetic decay, have lost their full expres-
sion in the characters which represent them on paper.
But, whatever their origin, they serve a useful pur-
pose in defining the meaning of the speaker, and in
pointing out which of the many words having the
same sound he intends should be understood. For
instance, if a Chinaman were writing the verb "to
see," he would write J^ keen; but, if he were using
the word in conversation, he would say ^f^
kan keen, which would mean, literally, " to look and
see," and by which combination he indicates that
keen, " to see," is the keen which he means.

378 CHINA.

But there are other combinations of characters,
which unmistakably represent polysyllabic words,
whether native or foreign, and a close examination
of any of the dialects shows that these words bear
no inconsiderable proportion to the entire number
of words. In Pekingese these polysyllabic words
are very numerous, partly owing, no doubt, to
the introduction of Manchoo and Mongolian words
into the vocabulary. But there are, also, quite
enough native polysyllabic words to redeem the
spoken language, at least, from the charge of mono-
syllabism. A study of a few pages of Sir Thomas
Wade's Tsfi erh chi is instructive reading on this
point

. There are, however, other combinations of cha-
racters besides those just mentioned, which often
add considerably to the difficulty of translating
Chinese texts. Such are compound words composed
of two or more characters, having traditionally ac-
quired meanings to which the characters used to
express them afford no clue. For instance, we find
the expression Fu ma, which, translated literally,
would mean either " to help a horse," or " a helping
horse/' but which is invariably used to denote " the
son-in-law of the Emperor." Or, again, the combi-
nation Heuen fang, the first character of which the
dictionaries tell us means " a kind of onion," and the
second "a hall." But together they have acquired

THE LANGUAGE. 379

the signification of * a mother," from the facts that
married women carry about them roots of the Heuen,
under the impression that they promote pregnancy,
and that the hall is the proper place for the mistress
of the house. The same remark applies to a number
of single characters, which, from association of ideas,
have assumed meanings to which their primary sig-
nifications bear no apparent resemblance. Such a
word is yen % " a swallow," which, by a curious coin-
cidence, means also "to swallow." A number of
others might be quoted having " a plurality of signi-
fications which depend upon their combination with
other characters, upon the branch of science of which
the work treats, as also upon the period when the
same was written."

Turning to the language, we find that it bears all
the characteristics of an Ural-Altaic origin. As in all
such languages, so in Chinese the subject in every
sentence comes first, then the verb, which is followed
by the complement direct and the complement in-
direct. In the same way every word which defines
or modifies another invariably precedes it. Thus the
adjective precedes the substantive, the adverb the
verb, the genitive the word which governs it, and
the preposition the word governed by it

But in speaking of the language we must be under-
stood to be speaking of it as we now find it Even
at the present day it is, as has been shown, less

380 CHINA.

purely a monosyllabic language than has generally
been supposed, but in bygone ages there are evi-
dences that it was polysyllabic. We find, for instance,
many words with aspirates in them, which point to
the loss of a syllable. For example, such a word as
K'an leads us to the conclusion that in all probability
it was originally Kalian. And it must be remembered
that while there is no example on record of a mono-
syllabic language, we are surrounded by evidences of
phonetic decay in our own and every other language.

For instance, the g in the German words hagel and
regen disappears in our hail and rain. In Greek also
the a falls out in the genitive of such neuter nouns in
oc as 7£w>c, 7« v£<roc, contracted to ytvovg. Again, in
the Romance language, the elision of d said t is very
common ; eg., French ptre, mere, for pater and mater;
Ipie for espede, etc.

Chinese is, then, a language which, like many
others, has suffered loss through phonetic decay, and,
as we now see it, it is equally poverty-stricken in a
grammatical sense. It is without inflexions or even
agglutination, and there is nothing, therefore, to mark
the grammatical value of a word except its position
in a sentence, since very few words absolutely belong
to one part of speech. The result is that the same
word is often capable of playing the part of a sub-
stantive, an adjective, a verb, or an adverb. But
when this is so, it not unfrequently happens that the

THE LANGUAGE. 381

transitibn from one part of speech to another is
marked by a change of tone in the pronunciation.

To illustrate these rules and this peculiarity we will
take the word jjj Ziaou, which means "to love,"
" good," " excellent," " goodness," " well," etc. If, then,
following the rules laid down above, we find it in such
a connection as the following $j£ J|, rf? |j£ £ jjfi- 7
Kw'ei keen chih kea die haou, we recognize it at once
as a substantive, since, were it an adjective, it would
be followed by a substantive ; were it a verb, it would
be followed by its complement, and also because it
follows the substantive chih kea> to which is added the
particle che f the sign of the possessive case. The sen-
tence should then be translated kw'ei keen, " to peep
and see," chih kea che y " the apartment's," haou, " ex-
cellence." But in the sentence £|j $jf jjfr -gj,
J 00 haou haou sih, we see by the position of the two
haous that the first must be a verb, and that the
second must be an adjective, since it is followed by a
substantive, with which it forms the direct complement
to the verb. The meaning of the sentence then is
J 00, "as when," h&ou, "we love," haou sih, "excellent
beauty." But, in reading this sentence, the dictionaries
tell us that, having recognized the first Jiaau as the
verb "to love," it must be pronounced in a falling
tone of voice, whereas, when it occurs as an adjective,
a substantive, or an adverb, it is sounded in an
ascending tone.

382 CHINA.

These tones, which add so greatly to the difficulty
of learning to speak Chinese, vary in number in
almost every dialect, from the four in Pekingese to
the eight in Cantonese. In his introduction to the
T*& erh cki, Sir Thomas Wade, speaking of the four
tones in use in Peking, says : " In the first tone, the
upper even, it may be enough to observe, the vowel
sound, whether the word be pronounced quickly or
slowly, proceeds without elevation or depression. , . .
In the second tone, the lower even, the voice is
jerked, much as when in English we utter words ex-
pressive of doubt and astonishment In the third
tone, the ascending, the sound becomes nearly as
abrupt, but more resembling what with us would
indicate indignation or denial. In the fourth tone,
the receding, the vowel sound is prolonged, as it
were, regretfully. , . , The sounds of a syllable re-
peated in the above order form a sort pf chime which
can only be learnt by the ear, but which it is not
difficult to learn. , . . We will hazard but one
parallel for better or for worse. Let A, B, C, D be
four persons engaged in conversation, and a question
be put by B, regarding the fate of some one known
to them all. In the four lines below, I have supposed
A to assert his death in the ist tone ; B to express
his apprehension that he has been killed in the 2nd
tone ; C to scout this suspicion in the 3rd ; and D
to confirm it sorrowfully in the 4th.

THE LANGUAGE. 383

1st tone.

A.

Dead.

2nd tone.

B.

Killed ?

3rd tone.

C.

No!

4th tone.

D.

Yes."

In Cantonese, in addition to these tones are four
others having the same " chime," but on a lower scale.
Many explanations have been offered for the existence
of the tones in Chinese, and, though they now un-
doubtedly serve the very useful purpose of distin-
guishing the meanings intended by the speaker when
making use of the same syllable to express different
things, it is impossible to suppose that they were
invented with that object. In no language in the
world has such a refinement ever been attempted ;
and that they are of natural growth and of no arti-
ficial origin is shown by the facts that they vary in
different dialects, that they are constantly changing,
and that they may be said to. follow the fortunes of
the initial and final consonants of the words. The
most reasonable explanation of their being is, then,
that they are the natural compensations necessary
to counterbalance the contractions caused in the
simple and compound vocables of the language by
that muscular sloth which belongs to the Chinese
people and the races in the extreme East more or
less related to them, as well as to some of the African
tribes. It is a noteworthy fact, that wherever tones

384 CHINA.

are found, there exist also obvious signs of phonetic
decay.

In the absence of all inflexion, it is, as may be
imagined, necessary to indicate gender and number
by prefixes or affixes. The word Jin, for example,
is man in its generic sense, and to distinguish man
from woman it is necessary to prefix nan, male, in
the one case, and nii, female, in the other. In the
same way, Kung, " noble " or " superior/' is prefixed
to denote the male of birds, and moo, mother, to
indicate the female. But] number is not so definitely .
marked, and as often as not the context has to
supply the information whether one or more is meant.

The numerals are very simple, seventeen supplying
all the combinations necessary to reckon any number.
They begin with . — yih "one," ^1 urA, "two,"
= san, "three," (flf sze, "four," j£ woo, "five,"
^ luh, "six," A& ts'eih, « seven," /V pa, "eight,"
% hew, "nine," -f* shih, "ten." With these
numerals every number up to a hundred is counted.
Thus -f*— - is " eleven," and so on to twenty, which
is expressed by ZL "f" " two tens," etc. "gf pih y
is " a hundred," =p ts'een, " a thousand," |§ wan,
"ten thousand," >(§£ yih, "one hundred thousand,"
$fc cliaou, "a million," }jf king, "ten millions,"
and £j£ kae, "a hundred millions." The four last
are now very seldom employed.^ The character wan,
as has already been pointed out, derives its numerical

THE LANGUAGE. 385

significance from its original meaning of a " bee,"
the numbers in the swarms of these insects being
past counting.

As in all oriental languages, the complimentary
and self-depreciating style of conversation used in
Chinese leads to the adoption of a vast number of
equivalents for the personal pronouns. In the per-
sonal pronouns themselves no distinction of gender
is made. Colloquially the third person, whether man,
woman, or thing, is spoken of as Ta, Ne is the
second person, and Ngo the first. But in polite con-
versation it would be considered a breach of etiquette
either to address one's interlocutor as Ne, or to speak
of one's self as Ngo. Should your friend not be an
crffice-holder, he must be addressed as " Master," or
"Elder," or "Your Honour." Should he be in the
junior ranks of the mandarinate, custom provides
that he must be addressed as Laou yeh 9 or " Old
Father." If he be above a certain rank, he becomes
Ta laou yeh y " Great Old Father ; " and the title of
Ta jin y " Your Excellency," belongs by right to
officials in the higher grades. Meanwhile, for Ngo
is substituted such humble expressions as "The little
one," " The mean one," " The stupid one," or " The
cheap one." The same kind of phraseology is em-
ployed in the use of the possessive personal pronouns.
All that belongs to another is " Honourable," " Wor-
shipful," or "August." "Where is your honourable

2 c

386 CHINA.

abode?" asks one stranger of another. "My un-
worthy dwelling is at such and such a place/' is the
reply. Another's house is " an illustrious mansion ; "
one's own is " a vile hovel." One's friend's father is
"your honoured noble one," and his mother "your
honoured loving one." But here respect for parents
steps in and prevents the use of any depreciatory
terms being applied to one's own father or mother.-
One of the commonest complimentary questions put
to an acquaintance is, "What is your honourable
age ? " and " I congratulate you on having acquired
wealth," is a usual form of salutation to a passing
stranger on the road regardless of his possible rags
and tatters.

But quite separate and apart from all other forms
of the first personal pronoun, is the expression chin,
which is reserved especially for the Emperor's use,
and has been the imperial " We " since the time of
Che Hwang-te of the Ts'in dynasty (221 B.C.). But
not always does he feel himself entitled to use this
imperial "We." In times of national misfortune he
chooses to believe that his own remissness is the
cause of the evils which have overtaken the country,
and then it is customary for him to designate himself
Kwajin, " The unworthy man." In addressing the
Emperor, the ministers speak of themselves as " slaves,"
or "we who are beneath the steps of the throne,' •
in reference to the position they are accustomed to

THE LANGUAGE. 387

occupy when receiving imperial orders. "Prostrate,
they beseech that the imperial glance may fall " on
their memorials, and Wan suy yek, " Lord of all
ages," is one of the common epithets applied to his
Majesty. In letter and despatch writing compli-
mentary expressions find their fullest development,
and if the recipients of such documents realized the
wishes expressed for their happiness and advantage,
their "abundant prosperity would flourish and in-
crease," "the good fortune which follows on their
footsteps would be increasingly magnified," and
" length of days, riches, and honour would be their
lot."

As the verb in common with every other part of
speech is without inflexion, the force of the past and
future tenses has either to be expressed by the con-
text or by the addition of certain prefixes or suffixes.
For example, in the sentence j^ jjjg^ -f- — £%L
HJc |$jj[ i§l Kaou-tsoo shik yih neen chu CNin-he %
" Kaou-tsoo, in the eleventh year (of his reign), killed
Ch'in-he," the context is sufficient to show that the
verb c/100 is in the past tense, and no prefix or suffix
is necessary. But in the phrase ^ f^ j|jjc ^c {z|
Kin e choo Choo Leu y " Now he has killed Choo Leu,"
the verbal particle e is required to mark that the action
is past, since without it the meaning might be, " Now
he kills, or will kill, Choo Leu." In the literary style,
several other particles are used to express the past

38S CHINA.

tfense, which may be said to resolve themselves in the
colloquial to the suffixes "jf leaau % " to complete," and
)jS Kwo, " to pass over."

In the same way with the future tense ; in such

a passage as fa ,A [^J >& :E >£ $ ecn J 11 ? 1 K u ' a)Z
cJiay wang che, " He who first enters the pass shall
rule over it," the context shows us that wang, " shall
rule," is in the future tense. But when the context
fails to point to the time of the action, the particle
$£ tseang, " to take," is sometimes prefixed to make
the meaning clear, as in the sentence zffc ^ jfj] %,
Ngo tseang wan che, " I will (tseang) ask him." In the
colloquial the verb ^ yaou, " to want," is commonly
prefixed in place of tseang.

By similar devices the different moods are with
more or less distinctness indicated, and though it not
unfrequently happens that, in the absence of added
verbal particles, the mood and tense of the verb may
be a matter of uncertainty, yet, speaking generally,
the meaning of the writer becomes plain to the patient
student. A difficulty of certainly equal importance,
with which he has to contend, is the absence of all
punctuation in most Chinese books. But even here
he is helped by the use of final particles which, either
as signs of affirmation, exclamation, or interrogation,
frequently mark the close of a period.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE LITERATURE.

£h N the literature of a civilized country ,
is reflected the national mind. And
more especially is this the case with
a people so addicted to the use of
pen, ink, and paper, as the Chinese.
In the countless volumes which have
appeared and are appearing from
the many publishing centres, we see
mirrored the temperament of the
people, their excellencies, their deficiencies, and their
peculiarities. Abundant evidence is to be found of
their activity in research and diligence in compilation,
nor are signs wanting which point to the absence
of the faculty of imagination, and to an inability to
rise beyond a certain degree of excellence or know-
ledge, while at the same time we have displayed the
characteristics both of matter and manner which

39<> CHINA.

most highly commend themselves to the national
taste.

As a consequence of the very unplastic nature of
the language, there is wanting in the literature that
grace of diction and varying force of expression which
are found in languages capable of inflexion and of
syntactical motion. The stiff angularity of the written
language, composed as it is of isolated, unassimilat-
ing characters, robs eloquence of its charm, poetry of
its musical rhythm, and works of fancy of half their
power ; but in no way interferes with the relation of
facts, nor the statement of a philosophical argument.
And hence to all but the Chinese mind, which knows
no other model of excellence, the poetical and fanci-
ful works of Chinese authors offer fewer attractions
than their writings on history, science, and philosophy.
Unlike the literatures of other countries, one criticism
applies to the whole career of Chinese letters. It is
difficult to imagine a nation of busy writers pursuing
a course of literature for more than three thousand
years, and yet failing to display greater progress in
thought and style than Chinese authors have done.
That their works vary in quality no one who has read
two Chinese books can doubt ; but the variations are
within limits, and, except perhaps in a few modern
works in which the effect of European influence is
observable, the width of thought and power of ex-
pression have in no wise increased, at least, since the

THE LITERATURE. 39*

revival of letters under the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-
A.D. 25). The fragments which we have of an earlier
literature make it difficult to institute a comparison
with them. We have the nine classics — of which
more anon — the early Taouist literature, and a few
scientific works ; but these are all that remain to us
of the very considerable literature which existed in
what is now China, prior to that period.

If we were to accept the accounts given us by the
people themselves, of the origin of their literature, ^
we should be compelled to believe that it took its rise
from the rock inscriptions cut by the Kwei and Ma
tribes of aborigines on the banks of the Hwang and
Lo rivers, or, as the legend is now understood, from
the inscriptions brought out from the waters of those
rivers on the backs of a tortoise (Kwei) and a horse
(Ma) ; but we may safely assume that the Chinese
not only brought a knowledge of writing with them
into China, but that they brought also books with
them, — and there is internal evidence to support the
assumption that parts of the Yih kin% y or Book of
Changes, the book for which the Chinese claim the
greatest antiquity, was among these writings. That
it belongs to a very early period, is sufficiently proved
by the fact that until now the key to its interpreta-
tion has been entirely lost, and that, though the ablest
native scholars of all ages, including Confucius, have
attempted to explain it, they have one and all failed

392 CHINA,

to offer a satisfactory interpretation of its pages. But
that which Chinese scholars have been unable to do
Dr. Terrien de Lacouperie has accomplished, and it
turns out that this work, instead of being a mysterious
depository of deep divinatory lore, is a collection of
syllabaries such as are common in Accadian literature,
/interspersed with chapters containing astrological for-
mulae and ethnological facts relating to the aboriginal
tribes of the country ; but all taking the form of
vocabularies, and therefore as untranslatable in the
sense in which every commentator, from Confucius
downwards, has attempted to translate them as John-
son's Dictionary would be.

The work consists of sixty-four chapters, at the
head of each of which stands a hexagram composed
of straight, whole, and divided lines, which may very
probably have been derived from the rock inscriptions
of the Kwei and Ma tribes. Following each hexagram
occur a few sentences of the original text, which, how-
ever, have been largely supplemented from the ortho-
dox commentaries upon them. The deviser of the
hexagrams is said to have been Fuh-he (2852-2737 B.C.) ,
to whom also the authorship of the original text is
attributed by some critics. The commentaries which
are now embodied with the text are, by common tra-
dition, believed to have been the work of Wan Wang^
(1231-1135 B.C.), his son Chow Kung, and Confucius.
The Yih king is, then, the oldest book exf? n t j^

THE LITERATURE. 393

the Chinese language ; and in the long interval which
separates it from the Confucian period when most
of the other early canonical works took their present
shape, but few works appeared of which we know
more than the name. Among those, however, which
have maintained an existence from a remote period
are the San fun l " the three records of the emperors
Fuh-he, Shin-nung, and Hwang-te (2852-2597 B.C.), or
rather a portion of it, and the Hea seaou ching, or
" Calendar of the Hea Dynasty," which bears evidence
of having been written about 2000 B.C. The first of
these works throws considerable light on the condition
of the aboriginal tribes at the time of immigration of
the Chinese, and though through a confusion which
has arisen owing to the tribal names being read idio-
graphically instead of phonetically it is generally
regarded both by native and foreign scholars as a
collection of idle legends, it yet supplies much ethno-
logical information of importance. The same remark
applies, though not to the same extent, to the Hea
Calendar; but what is additionally interesting in
this work is the evidence it furnishes of the influence
exercised upon the Chinese language by its contact
with tongues of a different morphology. Nothing, as
has been remarked in the preceding chapter, is more
marked and immutable in Chinese than the construc-
tion of a simple sentence. As in English, the subject
comes first, then the predicate, and, lastly, the object

/ ^ CFTHF r \

(university)

394 CHINA.

But in the Hea Calendar we find the position of the
subject and predicate occasionally reversed, and if
any other evidence were required to point to such an
arrangement being foreign to Chinese, the remarks of
the commentators on such passages would supply it
Among the signs of the ninth month the Hea Calendar
says Te hungyen t literally, " migrate, the wild geese."
This reversal of the recognized order of the words is
so conspicuous that the commentators would fain find
a reason for it ; and they can offer no better explana-
tion than that the act of emigration would probably
produce the first effect upon the mind of the writer,
and afterwards the fact that the emigrants were
geese, and they suggest that the writer's pen would
naturally follow the order of his thoughts !

But though only a few ancient works are extant,
we know from references which they contain that
both the Chinese and the aborigines possessed con-
siderable literatures. We have the titles of a number
of Chinese works which would now be invaluable
aids to clearing up many obscure points in the early
history of the Chinese and their language ; and we
have also mention made of Kwei records, and books
of the Lung, Ma, Pung, Yue-chang, and other ab-
original tribes. On all sides there seems to have been
a certain literary activity. We read, for example,
of officials being sent at regular intervals into dif-
ferent parts of the Chinese states to note and collect

THE LITERATURE, 395

the various dialectical differences as they developed,
and for many centuries it was customary to collect
the popular songs current in the several principalities
for the purpose, as we are told, of judging from them
of the character of the rule exercised by the princes.
In this way three thousand odes were collected in
the royal archives. ( Of these a careful selection
was made either by Confucius, as is very generally
believed, or by one of his contemporaries, whi^h
now, under the title of She king , or " Prmlr nf Qfof" *)~
forms the second of the nine classical works. The
odes, as might be expected from the above account
of their origin, refer principally to local affairs, both
political and social. The picture they draw of the
condition of the states is not unfavourable. They
teach us that side by side with occasional tyranny,
violence, and outrage, there existed political loyalty
and many social virtues, and, in fact, that then, as
now, the Chinese were a patient, industrious, and law-
abiding people. Of their poetical value it is difficult
to speak, owing to the impurity of the text and the
changes which the characters have undergone in
sound. By the Chinese they are regarded with respect-
ful reverence, and endless commentaries manifest the
interest taken in them.

The Sho o kinjr, or " Book of History. " the third of
the classical works, also took its present shape about
the time of Confucius. Like the She king, too, it

396 CHINA.

is a compilation, and shares with that work the re-
putation of having been edited by Confucius. It is
stated in the history of the Suy dynasty, that
'"Confucius inspected the documents in the library
of the state of Chow, and having found the records
of the four dynasties of Yu, Hea, Shang, and Chow
{2356-700 B.C.), he preserved the best among them and
rejected the others. Beginning with Yu and coming
down to Chow, he compiled together a hundred books,
and made a preface to them." Whether this author,
who in the above sentence reproduces a common belief,
was right or wrong in attributing the compilation of
the records to Confucius, his account of their nature
and scope is at least correct. Like everything else in
ancient Chinese history the laws for the compilation
of history were minute and definite. The historians
were court officials, and among them were historians
of the left hand and historians of the right hand.
The former were charged with the duty of recording
imperial charges, ministerial speeches, etc., and the
latter with that of narrating facts. The contents of
the Soo king mark that the compilation was the
work of an historian of the left, since they consist
only of the speeches and charges of the rulers and
their ministers. These, and especially those contained
in the earlier chapters, are extremely interesting, and
throw considerable light on the early history of the
settlement of the Chinese in China, as well as on the

THE LITERATURE. 397

scientific knowledge they possessed and the religious
sentiments they professed.

As has been already pointed out in the case of the
language, we have no traces of an early growth of
either scientific knowledge or religious professions
among the Chinese in China. They step on to the
stage as full-grown scientists and religionists in the
Chinese sense. There is no beginning with the A B
C of knowledge or religion. That was worked out
for them by a people in Western Asia, among whom
they sojourned, and of the results of whose toil they
possessed themselves. If this were not so, it would be

Startling *r>rf>*A } ip tf)ft fircf r1iapt*>r of *h#* ^fryi hiper

the glib utterances of Yaou (2356-2255 B.C.) on the
subject of the equinoxes and the solstices, and the
position of the stars. But scarcely less striking is
the high moral tone which pervades every utterance
of sovereign and minister. No higher system of
morality could possibly be devised than that which
is put into the mouths of these men whom, if we were
to follow the Chinese belief, we should be compelled
to regard as the pioneers of a struggling civilization. J
Such a conjunction is manifestly inconsistent In the
early stages of society elevated sentiments find their
utterance in isolated deeds and inspired expressions,
not in evenly maintained and well-thought-out dis-
courses of a highly moral order.

Imagine, for example, such sentiments as the follow-

398 CHINA.

ing, uttered at the dawn of history of any nation :
" Yu said, ' If the sovereign can realize the difficulty
of his sovereignship, and the minister can realize the
difficulty of his ministry, the government will be well
ordered, and the people will sedulously seek to be
virtuous.' The Emperor said, * Yes ; let this really be
the case, and good words will nowhere lie hidden ; no
man of virtue and talents will be left neglected away
from court; and the myriad states will all enjoy
repose. But to ascertain the views of all, to give up
one's own opinion and follow that of others, to refrain
from oppressing the helpless, and not to neglect the
straitened and poor — it was only the Emperor Yaou
who could attain to this/ " l

Either, then, we must imagine that these speeches

^t were invented for the speakers many centuries after

/ they were supposed to have been uttered, or that the

^ Chinese had re ached the high level which they in-

dicate belore they entered China.

An instance of a work by an historian of the right
hand is furnished by the one work of which we know
Confucius to have been the author, and in which,
under the title of the CKun Ts'ew, or " Spring and
Autu mn Annals " he records the history of his native
"State oT Loo extending over 242 years. This being
the undoubted work of the sage, an unusual interest
at first sight attaches to it, and one's expectations
1 Legge's " Shoo King," Book II.

THE LITERATURE. 399

are certainly not lessened by the statements of the
author, and of contemporary scholars concerning it.
" The world," says Mencius, " was fallen into decay,
and right principles had dwindled away. Perverse
discourses and oppressive deeds were again waxen
rife. Cases were occurring of ministers who murdered
their rulers, and of sons who murdered their fathers.
Confucius was afraid, and made the CKun Ts'ewV 1
So soon as it appeared, we are* told that rebellious
ministers quaked with fear, and undutiful sons were
overcome with terror. " Its righteous decisions," said
Confucius, " I ventured to make,"

Such statements naturally prepare us to expect to
find in the CKun Ts'ew a history in which the narra-
tives of events would be interspersed with sage reflec-
tions and deep-sighted criticisms. We should expect
to find praise and blame distributed with a severely
discriminating pen, and crimes denounced, and good
deeds commended, with impassioned earnestness.
But most of all we should expect to find the history
strictly accurate. On each of these points the reader
will be disappointed. Taking the strictest view of
his duty as an historian of the right hand, Confucius
confined himself entirely to the barest narration of
facts. Absolutely without a remark or reflection, the
events are strung together without any attempt to
point a moral, or to weave them together in a con-
1 Legge's " Chinese Classics," vol. v. part i.

400 CHINA,

nected history. Each chapter consists of a number
of short paragraphs, embodying as many facts, con-
cerning which the reader is left to draw his own
conclusions. The following, which is the first chapter,
may be taken as a specimen of the whole work : —

"[His] first year [began], in the Spring-reigning
first month.

" In the third month the Duke and E-foo of Choo
made a covenant in Meeh.

" In summer, in the fifth month, the Earl of Ch'ing
overcame Twan in Yen.

" In autumn, in the seventh month, the Heavenly
King sent the administrator Heuen with a present of
carriages and horses, for the funerals of Duke Hwuy
and his [wife] Chung-tsze.

" In the ninth month [the Duke] and an officer of
Sung made a covenant in Suh.

" In winter, in the twelfth month, the Earl of Chai
came [to Loo]. Kung-tsze Yih-sze died."

This specimen of the style of the CKun Tseiu
makes further remark on the subject unnecessary,
but something might still be said for it, if it were a
faithful record ; but even here it is found wanting.
Facts are notoriously suppressed and misrepresented.
But notwithstanding this, so great is the faith of the
Chinese in Confucius that it is enshrined among
the classics, and has not even yet ceased to excite
the admiration of his countrymen.

THE LITERATURE. 401

The fifth of the Five King which, with the Four
Shoo, make up the nine classics, is the L^t^ or
" Book of Rites," As in the case of the majority of
the ancient books, its authorship is uncertain, but it
is generally attributed to the Duke of Chow, in the
twelfth century B.C. As its name implies, it deals
with the rites and ceremonies of the nation, and so
minute is it in detail, that it provides not only for
courtly pageants and royal procedure, but for the
every-day social and domestic relations and duties of
the people. At the present day it is still the ultimate
court of appeal in all doubtful ceremonials, and one
of the six governing boards at Peking — the Board of
Rites — is especially charged with the duty of seeing
its precepts carried out throughout the empire.
Speaking of this work, Caljery says : " In ceremonial
is summed up the whole soul of the Chinese, and to
my mind the ' Book of Rites/ is the most exact and
complete monograph that this nation can give of
itself to the rest of the world. Its affections, if it
has any, are satisfied by ceremonial ; its duties are
fulfilled by means of ceremonial Its virtues and
vices are recognized by ceremonial ; the natural rela-
tions of created beings are essentially connected with
ceremonial ; in a word, for it ceremonial is man, the
man moral, the man politic, and the man religious, in
their numberless relations with the family, society,
the state, morality, and religion."

2 D

r

402 CHINA.

Such was the existing literature at the time of
Confucius, and so great was the influence of his
teachings and opinions, that almost immediately
after his death, the Five King, all of which had
received his imprimatur, and one of which, as has
been said, was actually written' by him, were
generally accepted as containing the true basis of
all knowledge and morality. To these were added
four books which were subsequently written by the
disciples and followers of the sage, viz., the Ta heo t
or "Great Learning;" the Chung yung> or "the Doc-
trine of the Mean ; " the Lun yu 9 or " Confucian
Analects;" and the Mang-tsze, or the "Works of
Mencius." The first three directly embody the teach-
ings of Confucius, and the fourth those of his great
successor, Mencius. Through all succeeding ages
these nine works have been regarded as the sum
total of all wisdom; they have been the primary
objects of study of every succeeding generation of
scholars ; their texts have been commented on until
almost every word has been the subject of minute
criticism, and through the many centuries, during
which competitive examinations have/ been in vogue,
they have formed the principal subjects for examina-
tion. /

But, notwithstanding that this foundation of a
national literature had been laid, little of importance
was added to it during the centuries which imme-

THE LITERATURE. 403

diately succeeded the time of Confucius. Literature,
like every other art, requires congenial surroundings,
that it may flourish and grow. Peace and freedom of
thought are as essential to its well-being as turbulence
and political uncertainty are destructive to it. Un-
fortunately, the disorder in and the rivalries between
the Chinese states, which Confucius had striven to
avert, increased in virulence after his death. On all
sides were wars and rumours of wars, government
had ceased to exist, and all rights, whether political
or social, were trodden underfoot by armed men.
At such a time scholars were not likely to gain a
hearing, and beyond some dissertations on the
classics, and commentaries on, and musings con-
sequent on Laou-tsze's Taou tih king, or Stitra of
Reason and Virtue, which appeared probably in the
lifetime of Confucius, little was written which needs
mention.

Even the restoration of peace and the establishment
of an empire under She Hwang-te (221-209 B.C.),
far from advancing the cause of letters, brought about
the greatest calamity that has ever befallen a national
literature. By the advice of his ministers, in order that
he might build up his empire on a tabula rasa, She
Hwang-te decreed the destruction by fire of all books
except those of his native state, as well as works on
medicine and divination. How great was the de-
struction caused by this enactment, we shall never

4Q4 CHINA.

know ; but t as it could only be put in force within
the area of the Chinese principalities, it is probable
that the literature current in the outlying states
escaped the flames; but all the works which had
been collected in the state libraries during the Chow
dynasty relating to the history, science, and art of
the people; all the works on the dialectical dif-
ferences and variations of the language ; and all the
records of and in the Koo w&n perished at the hands
of the executioner.

. But as if every change in the condition of the
empire was to be equally hostile to literature, the
contest which brought about the fall of the short-
lived dynasty of She Hwang-te (221-206 B.C.) ended
with the sack and burning of the capital, at which time
the flames, we are told, raged among the palaces and
public buildings for the space of three months. Thus
the probability is that most of the books which were
exempted from the flames fired by She Hwang-te
perished in the conflagration which heralded the
overthrow of his successor.

But no sooner had Kaou-tsoo, the founder of the
Han dynasty, shown a disposition to encourage
letters than phoenix-like the old literature rose from
its ashes. From the walls of houses, from caves in
the mountains, and even from the beds of rivers, the
people produced their literary treasures which had
been hidden away until the tyranny of She Hwang-te

THE LITERATURE. 4<>S

should be overpassed. What these sources failed
to reproduce, old men came forward to supply from
their well-stored memories, and thus were kept alive
the torches which had been lit by the genius of
bygone writers.

" After the death of Confucius," says the historian
of this period, "there was an end to his exquisite
words; and when his seventy disciples had passed
away, violence began to be done to their meaning.
Thus it came about that there were five different
editions of the " Spring and Autumn Annals," four
of the « Book of Odes," and several of the " Book of
Changes." Amid the disorder and collision of the
warring states (480-221 B.C.), truth and falsehood
were still more in a state of warfare, and a sad
confusion marked the words of the various scholars.
Then came the calamity inflicted under the Ts'in
dynasty, when the literary monuments were de-
stroyed by fire, in order to befool the " black heads "
(*.#. the people). But the Han dynasty arose, and
reversed the ruin wrought by Ts'in, and carefully
gathered together the (bamboo) slips and tablets,
and threw wide open the way for the bringing in
of books. In the time of the Emperor Heaou-woo
(139-86 B.C.), portions of books being wanted and
tablets lost, so that ceremonies and music were
suffering great damage, he was moved to sorrow, and
said, "I am grieved at this;" and forthwith he formed

4©6 CHINA.

a plan of repositories in which the books might be
stored ; and he further appointed officers to tran-
scribe all works of the various scholars, and directed
that the manuscripts thus obtained should be placed
in the repositories. The Emperor Ch'ing (31-6 B.C.),
finding that some of the books were still dispersed
and missing, commissioned Ch'in Nung, the superin-
tendent of guests, to search for undiscovered books
throughout the empire, and by special edict ordered
the chief of the banqueting-house, Lew Heang,
to examine the classics, together with the commen-
taries on them, the writings of the scholars, and all
poetical works ; the guardian of the city gates, Jin
Hwang, to examine the books on the art of war ;
the grand historiographer, Jin Heen, to examine the
books on divination ; and the imperial physician, Le
Ch'u-kwo, to examine the books on medicine. As
soon as a work was completed, Lew Heang arranged
it, indexed it, and made a digest of its contents,
which was presented to the Emperor. While the
undertaking was in progress, Lew Heang died, and
the Emperor Gai (B.C.-A.D.) appointed his son Hin, a
master of the imperial carriage factory, to complete
his father's work. On this, Lew Hin collected the
books, and presented a report of them under seven
categories, viz.: 1st, General R6sum£s; 2nd, the
Six Arts ; 3rd, Philosophical Works ; 4th, Poetry ;
5th, Military Works ; 6th, Mathematics ; and 7th,
Medicine.

THE LITERATURE. 407

In this way were collected 3123 sections on the
classics, 2705 on philosophy, 13 18 on poetry, 790
on military matters, 2528 on mathematics, and 868 on
medicine. Strange stories are told of the way these
treasures were unearthed. The text of four of the
classics, together with a work on filial piety, were
found concealed in the walls of the house which had
been Confucius's. But so long and dark had been
the night which had settled down on the literature
of the country since the time of the sage, that these
recovered works were unintelligible to all but a few
ripe scholars. By these, however, they were tran-
scribed, and were eagerly studied by the people.
The impetus given to literature by these discoveries
was prodigious. It was as though in the long period
of apparent sterility men's minds had been gaining
depth and force preparatory for the first appearance
of spring after the long winter of their discontent
In Sze-ma Tseen, the Herodotus of China, as. he has
been called, and Pan Koo, the historian of the Han
dynasty, history found exponents who have never
been surpassed in China, either before or since, for
arrangement of material and comprehensiveness of
detail. On philosophical subjects the writers of this
period, among whom the names of Kea E, Lew
Gan, Yang Heung, and others, stand conspicuous,
are pre-eminent at the present day ; and in the light
literature of the time was established a style which

408 CHINA.

has been a model for all future ages. Tales of the
imagination then first found their expression on
paper, and in the festive poems of the wine-bibber,
philosopher, and musician, Ts'ai Yung, are fore-
shadowed the wine-extolling poems of Too Foo and
other poets of the Tang dynasty.

From this period the tide of literature has flowed
onward in an ever-increased volume, checked only,
every now and again, by one of those signal calamities
which have from time to time overtaken the imperial
libraries of China. In times of political tumult the
capital for the time being has not once nor twice
been burnt to the ground with its palaces and
libraries; but it is noteworthy that however ruth-
lessly on such occasions these intellectual centres
have been destroyed, one of the first acts of the suc-
cessful founders of succeeding dynasties has been
to restore them to their former completeness and
efficiency.

But though, as has been said, the works of the
ancients were the foundation of all succeeding litera-
ture, and though, therefore, thesame main lines have
been observed through all subsequent ages, certain
prominence has under different dynasties been given
to particular branches of letters. Historical and philo-
sophical research marked the Han period; under
the T'ang dynasty there arose generations of elegant
prose and brilliant verse writers, at the bidding of

THE LITERATURE. 409

whose pencils the angularity of the language yielded
to their well-turned periods, and the short, formal
lines of the earlier poetry were exchanged for more
musical and plastic verses. Under the Sung dynasty
philosophy again held sway, while dramatic writings
distinguished the succeeding Mongol dynasty, and
during the Ming dynasty arose that desire to com-
pile encyclopaedias which has been so marked during
the last four centuries. Of late years, however, there
has been displayed a keenness of research and power
of independent criticism which will give the present
period a prominent place in Chinese literature.

The Chinese divide their literature into four"
divisions, viz., classical, philosophical, historical, and
belles-lettres. Of the nine classics we have already
spoken ; but though they alone are styled King,
or classics, they form but the nucleus of the immense
mass of literature which has gathered round them.
Unfortunately, the immense industry which has
served to produce this huge literature has been too
often mis-directed. The Chinese are singularly
wanting in real critical ability. They will split
hairs about an expression, and find fifty reasons for
supporting an opinion, however absurd it may be ; but
they are incapable of genuine antiquarian research,
and are equally incapable of judging of the true value
of facts. This, coupled with the loss of the original
texts of the classics — for it will be remembered that

410 CHINA.

the latest of the classics was written in a character
which underwent two very marked changes, before it
assumed its present form — has robbed most of that
they have written of any value. In matters on which
history can throw light, the remarks of the commen-
tators are often apposite, but it is obvious that where
the entire text is misunderstood, " from the egg to the
apples," as in the Yih king, or where it is corrupt, as
in the She king, there is abundant room for the career
of any hobby-horse and the flight of any fancy.
Wonderful things have been evolved from the Yili
king; but it has been reserved for a learned China-
man of the present day to see in Confucius's mention
of the Yang and Yin, or the male and female prin-
ciples of nature, a direct reference to positive and
negative electricity.

The historical literature of China is the most im-
portant branch of the national literature. Bearing in
mind that the ancients considered that an historian
of the left hand, to record speeches, charges, etc, and
an historian of the right, to record facts, were all that
were necessary to compile history, writers have
generally confined themselves to the lines thus traced
out for them. Following the example of Confucius
in the Spring and Autumn Annals, they have re-
frained from all reflections, drawn no inferences, and
abstained from even remarks. By so much is the
reader probably benefited, since the historian is not

THE LITERATURE. 4"

tempted to distort events in order to support a
favourite theory, and the student is left to draw his
own inferences from a plain statement of facts. The
She ke % or " Historical Record/' by Sze-ma Ts'een,
and the Han s/ioo, or " History of the Han Dynasty,"
by Pan koo, are the models upon which all future his-
tories have been written. First came the Imperial
Records, which contain the purely political events of
each reign. Then follow sections on chronology,
rites and music, jurisprudence, political economy,
state sacrifices, astronomy, elemental influences, geo-
graphy, literature, biographies, and records of the
neighbouring countries.

On all these subjects the dynastic histories contain
an immense store of valuable and varied information,
and considering that the record of each dynasty is pub-
lished under its successor, they display an impartiality
and absence of bias which is in every sense admirable.
The plan of dividing the histories into sharply defined
sections, while possibly in some instances convenient,
gives a disjointed air to the compilations, and neces-
sitates a considerable amount of repetition, since in
the biographical portions, for example, events have
to be narrated which have already appeared in the
Imperial Records, and in the same way chronology,
astronomy, and literature must frequently trench on
each other's special domains. But notwithstanding
these imperfections, the " Twenty-four Imperial His-

412 CHINA.

tories " of as many dynasties form a worthy monu-
ment of the indefatigable industry of the imperial
historiographers. As to their accuracy, it is very
difficult to speak with any degree of certainty, as the
published authorities, by which it would be possible
to verify the statements they contain, are practically
nil. Large portions of Sze-ma Ts'een's history have
no surer basis than tradition. Much of its contents
deal with a period when written records were of un-
certain value, and which, if existing at the time of
Sze-ma Ts'een, must have been wholly or in part
unintelligible to him. But beginning with Pan Koo's
history of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25) down
to the history of the last, or Ming dynasty, which
came to an end in 1644, the annals have been based
on the imperial records, and though accuracy is not a
virtue generally enjoyed by Chinese authors, they may
fairly be accepted as generally correct

A geographical counterpart to these dynastic his-
tories is found in the topographies which are officially
published of each province, each prefecture, each
department, and each district, throughout the empire.
In these publications, also, a systematized plan of
arrangement is followed, and their contents are, with
exceptions, classified under twenty-four headings,
viz. : — (1) A table of the changes which the district
to be described has undergone during the successive
dynasties, from the Han downwards ; (2) Maps ; (3)

THE LITERATURE. 413

A list of the distances from the various places to the
chief town of the department ; (4) The astronomical
bearings of the district : (5) Its ancient geography ;
{6) Its geographical position and its notable locali-
ties ; (7) The manners and customs of the inhabitants;
(8) Its fortified places ; (9) Its colleges and schools ;
(10) The census of the population ; (1 1) The taxes on
land; (12) Its mountains and rivers ; (13) Its antiqui-
ties ; (14) Its means of defence ; (15) Its bridges ; (16)
Its dykes; (17) Its tombs and monuments; (18) Its
temples and ancestral halls ; (19) Its Buddhist and
Taouist temples; (20) Biographies of patriotic native
officials, from the time of the Han dynasty down-
wards; (21) Celebrated men and things; (22) Illus-
trious women ; (23) Saints and immortals ; and (24)
Products of the soil.

Here, again, the same evils result from the division
•of subjects as has been noticed in the histories.
There is a great assemblage of isolated detail, but no
general view. Dry statistics and bald, unconnected
facts meet one at every turn, but we have no descrip-
tion of the lie or general aspect of the country, or
the appearance of the towns. The power of such
description does not accord with the narrow train of
thought which is the outcome of the Chinese system
of education. Detail is dear to the Chinese mind,
but accurate generalization is beyond it. This is
plainly shown in the inability of Chinamen to draw a

4H CHINA.

map. Set down to draw a town, or a mountain, or
a village, and they may be trusted to do it correctly,
but, if told to draw a map of the tract of country
in which these occur, and to place them in their
true relative positions, they are at once at fault
It is this that makes Chinese maps so untrustworthy,
and renders them valueless as guides to travellers.

Besides these topographies are copious works on
the water-ways of China, the rivers of Manchuria,
Mongolia, and Tibet, as well as the outlying depen-
dencies of China, from the Great Wall to Kuldja and
Kashgaria, and from Szechuen to the frontiers of India.
These possess the same excellencies, and the same
faults, as the topographies.

Biographies form a considerable section under the
general heading of histories. Among the Chinese
there exists the same desire to add that " new terror
to death" which among ourselves is represented by
" Lives." Statesmen of eminence, literary men who
have gained notoriety, Buddhist or Taouist priests
who have died in the odour of sanctity, all leave
behind them those who are eager to make the nation
share their appreciation of the virtues of the dead.

Chronology and catalogues are also favourite themes
with Chinese authors and compilers. Their early know-
ledge of astronomy, and of the sexagenary cycle, has
given them the means of calculating times and seasons
back to a very early date. But, as with the cata-

77Z£ LITERATURE. 415

logues, the chronologies belong to the modern phase of
the literature, when compilation became more general
than original authorship. The Chinese are great
bibliophiles and antiquarians, and in the houses of
the wealthy and educated classes there are often to
be found splendid libraries and museums. The cata-
logues of the most celebrated of these have been
published, and give a good general idea of the literary
and antiquarian treasures existing in the empire. The
largest and most celebrated literary catalogue is that
published by order of the Emperor K'een-lung of
the contents of the imperial library. This work,
which is entitled, K'in ting sze k'oo ts'euen slioo tsung
muk, " A catalogue published by imperial order of all
the books in the four treasuries (i.e. classics, history,
philosophy, and belles-lettres) of literature." In this
work, which consists of two hundred books, there are
appended to the titles of the works short epitomes of
their contents.

The philosophy of China mainly relates to the art
of government, and proceeds, except in the writings
of a few heretics, on the lines laid down by Confucius
and Mencius, Man's nature, according to the ortho-
dox view, is in its origin entirely good, and its natural
course is along the paths of virtue. From these paths
it is only induced to stray by evil example and in-
fluences. In the absence of these seductive lures it
advances in spotless purity, until virtue becomes so

4i6 CHINA.

confirmed a habit that it is proof against all attacks
of evil. The object, therefore, of a ruler should be,
to keep his people in a state of primitive simplicity,
and, by the force of his own example, by the promo-
tion to places of honour only of men of virtuous
lives, and by rigid adherence to the laws of social
order, to cultivate that nature which is the heaven-
sent gift to every man, and by the firm establishment
of which man reaches a secure perfection.

Such were the views of the leading philosophers
of the Han and Sung dynasties, of Ch'ing Haou,
Ch'ing E, and Choo He. But, taking this view of
man's nature, the question naturally suggests itself,
Whence, then, is the source and prevalence of evil ?
To this point Choo He (A.D. 1 130-1200) addressed
himself, and expounded his theories on the subject in
numerous treatises. He opposed himself strenuously
to the theory, held by a school of philosophers led by
Seun, that the nature of man was evil, and adopting
a middle course, between that and the theory of the
orthodox Confucianists, that the nature of man was
perfectly good, he taught that good and evil were
present in the heart of every man, and that, just as
in nature a duality of powers is necessary to the
existence of nature itself, so good and evil are in-
separably present in the heart of every human being.

It is sometimes difficult to understand the systems
of literary classification pursued by the Chinese, and

THE LITERATURE. 417

by what process of reasoning they include encyclo-
paedias and essays with works on agriculture, astro-
nomy, and the arts, under the head of philosophy, it is
impossible to say. Agriculture, being a pursuit which
is regarded with peculiar veneration, as being pro-
ductive of the food of man, has found many exponents
on paper, and imperial authors have not thought it
derogatory to describe the processes of ploughing,
seed-time, and harvest. In two well-known works by
the Emperor K'een-lung, every act of the farmer in
the cultivation of rice, from the time that he first turns
the soil with his buffalo-drawn plough to the time
when he threshes out the grain, and every act in the
cultivation of silk, from the first stage of the silk-
worm to the weaving of pieces of silk, are described
by engravings and verses of poetry.

Astronomy has from time immemorial been a
favourite study with the Chinese, and the literature
on the subject is large. Their knowledge of this
subject, which is of Chaldean origin, is considerable
though not profound. It has enabled them to cal-
culate eclipses and to recognize the precession of
the equinoxes, but it has left them with confused
notions on subjects which are matters of common
knowledge among western peoples. The earth, ac-
cording to their notions, is flat, immovable, and
square, measuring about 1500 miles each way. The
sun, the diameter of which is 333 miles, stands at a

2 E

4i8 CHINA.

distance of 4000 miles above it, but considerably
below the sidereal heaven, the distance of which from
the earth has been found, by " the method of right-
angled triangles/' to be 81,394 le (3 le=i mile),
30 paces, five feet, three inches, and six-tenths of an
inch! The months and seasons are determined by
the revolution of Ursa Major, The tail of the con-
stellation pointing to the east at nightfall announces
the arrival of spring, pointing to the south the arrival
of summer, pointing to the west the arrival of autumn,
and pointing to the north the arrival of winter. This
means of calculating the seasons becomes more in-
telligible, when it is remembered that in ancient
times the Bear was much nearer to the north pole
than now, and revolved round it like the hand of a
clock.

Scarcely inferior in bulk to the literature on astro-
nomy is that on medicine. Here, again, their know-
ledge lacks a scientific basis, and their practice is
purely empirical. Of surgery they know next to
nothing, and their diagnoses of diseases are primitive,
to say the least One of the most celebrated medical
works is the "Golden Mirror of Medicine," which
was published by a commission appointed by the
Emperor K'een-lung. It consists of ninety books,
and contains, besides several entire works of note,
a large assemblage of prescriptions by celebrated
physicians, and full directions for understanding

THE LITERATURE. 419

aright the indications furnished and imagined to be
furnished by the pulse.

On drawing and painting much has been written,
and the books on this subject present a very interest-
ing study. They lay bare the secrets of the art, and
place us en rapport with the feelings and intentions
of the artists. Probably of no country in the world,
with the exception of China and Japan, would it be
possible to say this. But Chinese and Japanese art,
for they are one and the same, is mainly mechanical.
The graceful bamboo sketches which appear to be
traced with such individual freedom, the birds, the
trees, the picturesque landscapes, etc., all of which
seem to be the result of inspiration, are, after all,
drawn according to fixed rules and after long-con-
tinued practice from authorized models. Read by
the light of such works as the Leih tai ming hwa ke,
every Chinese picture is explained, and we are able
to recognize that there is nothing new under the sun
in Chinese drawing and painting.

During the Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1127) Chinese
literature reached its high-water mark. The writings
of authors of that period are distinguished for origi-
nality, research, and elegance. But from that time
there has, until quite lately, been a marked decline.
Men have given up thinking for themselves, and,
instead of seeking new fields of knowledge, they have
studied only how to reproduce the results gained by

420 CHINA.

others. One symptom of such a decline in a nation's
literary career is the appearance of encyclopaedias
of ready-made knowledge. It is always easier to
remember than to think; and the state of mind
which led to the productions of such compendiums
is likely rather to content itself with mastering results,
than to step out on the thorny paths of knowledge.

The first work which really deserves the name
of encyclopaedia is the W&n Jieen fung k'aou, which
was compiled by Ma Twan-lin in the fourteenth
century. It consists of three hundred and forty-eight
books, and contains a rtsutni of the existing know-
ledge on the government, history, literature, religion,
and language, as well as the colonial and tributary
states, of the empire. " One cannot cease to admire,"
says Remusat, "the depth of research which the
author was compelled to make in order to collect
his materials, the sagacity he has shown in the
arrangement of them, and the clearness and pre-
cision with which he has presented this multitude
of objects in every light." With some qualification
this praise is fairly earned by the compiler of this
immense work, but, like most of his confraternity,,
he lacks accuracy. His references are often faulty,
and in all cases it is necessary to turn to the passage
quoted to verify his readings. A century later, the
Emperor Yung-loh determined to signalize his reign
by the publication of an encyclopaedia, which was

THE LITERATURE. 421

intended to throw Ma Twan-lin's undertaking into
the shade. An imperial commission, consisting of
upwards of two thousand members, was appointed
to carry out the work, and at the end of four years
they were able to report to the Emperor the com-
pletion of their labours, which were represented by an
encyclopaedia in 22,937 books. Whether the difficulty
and expense of printing so huge a compilation were
considered to be insurmountable, or whether the
Emperor had grown tired of his project, history does
not tell us, but for some reason the MS. was never sent
to press, and was allowed to lie barren and useless in
the imperial library, where such portions of it as have
not mouldered into dust remain to this day.

Three centuries later, K'ang-he (1612-1723), the
second emperor of the present Manchoo dynasty,
conceived the idea of renewing Yung-loh's project,
and like that Emperor he appointed a commission
to give effect to his design. Their orders were simple,
though their work was colossal. It was required of
them that they should extract from every work of
authority, from the Yih king downwards, all passages
bearing on the 6109 headings, which it was the will
of K'ang-he shduld be illustrated. For forty years
the commissioners toiled. Meanwhile K'ang-he " be-
came a guest on high," and his son, Yung-ching, had
been five years upon the throne when the weary
commissioners were able to write " Finis" on the

422 CHINA.

last page of the 5020th volume of the K'in ting koo
kin too shoo tseih effing, " Imperially ordered complete
collection of ancient and modern literature, with
illustrations." Tradition says that only a hundred
copies of this work were printed. However this may
be, the copies issued were few in number, and were
all distributed as imperial presents among princes
of the blood and the highest officials in the empire*
It was thus many years before a copy found its way
into the market, and it has only been in obedience to
stern pecuniary pressure that of late two or three
copies have been offered for sale at Peking by the
descendants of the original recipients. Fortunately,
through the instrumentality of the late Mr. Mayers,
her Majesty's Chinese Secretary of Legation, one of
these copies was secured for the trustees of the
British Museum, who, when the prevalence in China
of the agencies destructive of libraries — fire, careless-
ness, thieves, and insects — is remembered, may very
probably before many years prove to be the only
possessors of a complete copy of this rare and
valuable work.

In arranging their materials, the commissioners
adopted six general categories, which they sub-
divided into thirty-two sections, as follows: Cate-
gories — (1) The heavens ; (2) The earth ; (3) Man-
kind ; (4) Inanimate nature ; (5) Philosophy ; and
(6) Political economy. Sections — (1) The heavenly

THE LITERATURE. 42$

bodies ; (2) The calendar ; (3) Astronomy and ma-
thematical science ; (4) Astrology ; (5) The earth ;
(6) The dominions of China ; (7) The topography of
the empire ; (8) The frontier nations and foreign
countries ; (9) The imperial court ; (10) The imperial
buildings; (11) Official institutes; (12) Domestic
laws ; (13) Private relationships ; (14) Genealogy
and biography; (15) Mankind; (16) Womankind;
(17) Arts and divination; (18) Religion and pheno-
mena ; (19) The animal kingdom ; (20) The vege-
table kingdom ; (21) Canonical and general literature ;
(22) Education and conduct ; (23) Belles-lettres ;
(24) Etymology ; (25) The official examination sys-
tem ; (26) The system of official appointments ; (27)
Articles of food and commerce ; (28) Ceremonies ;
(29) Music; (30) Military organization; (31) Ad-
ministration of justice; and (32) Handicrafts.

These headings sufficiently describe the scope of
the work, which contains very little original matter,
but consists, as designed by K'ang-he, of literary
extracts bearing on each subject, which are arranged
in chronological order, so that the reader has laid
before him the collective wisdom of every writer of
note on the subject of his study. The accuracy of
the quotations forms a marked contrast to all other
works of a similar kind, and we have therefore col-
lected in one thesaurus a trustworthy and exhaustive
risumi of Chinese literature.

y424

CHINA.

Next to a knowledge of the classics essay-writing
is the most important aim of education in China. It
is by essays that the degrees are mainly determined
at the competitive examinations, and it is as essayists
that men win the highest renown in the field of
literature. According to the cut-and-dried model
upon which every essay should the framed, the writer,
after stating his theme, gives a short " analysis " of it,
and then an " amplification " in general terms. Next
follow an " explanation " with a postscript, the " first
argument," a " reassertion of the theme," the " second
argument," and the "third argument" These last
divisions are more formal than real, and it is difficult
to see any difference in the subject-matter between
the first, second, and third arguments. But the in-
exorable laws of essay-writing, confirmed by centuries
of habit, have made their outward observance indis-
pensable ; and a competitor at an examination would
as soon dream of throwing doubt on the wisdom of
Confucius as of disregarding them. As has already
been said, the themes given at the examinations are
invariably texts taken from the canonical books.
Competitors know, therefore, the style and drift of
the texts on which, they will have to write, but they
find further help in the immense quantity of suc-
cessful essays which are constantly published. These,
with the essays by celebrated writers, which are to
be found in their collected works, form quite a lite-

THE LITERATURE. 425

rature. Unfortunately the circumstances of their
production, and the prejudices which surround their
authors, rob them of that freedom of expression and
breadth of thought which might be expected to give
them point and value.

It is fair to assume, though dates altogether fail to
help us, that as in all other countries so in China
the first literary efforts of the people were in the
shape of poetry. Some of the odes of the She king
carry us back to very remote times, and even before^
these found expression in words, there probably
existed a still earlier stratum of verse. As has
already been explained, it is very difficult to criticise
minutely the merits and measures of these old odes,
owing to the changes which both the sounds and
the characters have undergone. But we find that
the lines for the most part consisted of four charac-
ters each. When the language lost its polysyllabic
character, such a measure was plainly inadequate to
give the rhythm which is necessary for polished versi-
fication, and consequently the common metre was
changed to lines of five characters, and later still to
lines of seven. This last metre was generally adopted
by the poets of the Tang dynasty (A.D. 618-907), the
golden age of poetry, and has since continued the
favourite measure.

But, though it is true that the spoken language is
by no means monosyllabic, the characters do as a

426 CHINA.

rule represent single syllables, and it may therefore
at first sight appear strange that lines of seven mono-
syllabic words can ever be rhythmical. But the laws
of Chinese verse-making are such as to ensure a
pleasing cadence in the lines, and the tones of the
characters give a musical intonation to them. Strict
rules are followed in the arrangement of the cha-
racters, and in verses of seven syllables a caesural
pause occurs after the fourth syllable, which serves
to divide also the grammatical sense of the verse.
Rhymes are observed at the ends of lines, but in
Chinese an element in rhyming exists apart from the
identity of sound which is unknown in European
languages ; and that is, that in order to constitute a
rhyme the similarly sounding syllables must be in
the same tone. For example, J& Fang and ^
Kwang rhyme because they are both pronounced in
the even tone, but a poet who attempted to make
5§? Fang (even tone) and |f| Kwang (rising tone)
rhyme would be scouted as an ignorant fellow.
As a rule, all the lines do not rhyme. More com-
monly than not, alternate lines beginning with the
second are made to rhyme, while no regard is paid
to the sounds, apart from the tones, of the concluding
syllables of the intermediate verses. The following
is an example of a stanza in eight lines, in which it
will be observed that the second, fourth, sixth, and
eighth lines rhyme, while the first, as is often the

THE LITERATURE. 4*7

case, gives the cue to the rhyming syllable. The ode
is by the celebrated poet of the Tang dynasty, Le
Tai-pih, and is entitled " On ascending the Phoenix
tower at Nanking : " —

"Fung hwang tai shang — fung hwang yew
The phoenixes are on the tower — the phoenixes wander.

Fung k'ii t'ai k'ung — keang tsze lew
The male bird goes, the tower is empty— the river alone flows by*

Woo kung hwa tsaou — mai yew king
[So] in Woo's palace the flowers and shrubs — bury the hidden
paths,

Tsin tai e kwan — ch'ing koo kew
[And methinks I see] Tsin dynasty clothes and caps — filling the
ancient hill.

San shan pan loh — ts'ing t'een wai
The three mountains in half separate— and the azure sky is
beyond.

Urh shuy chung fun — pih loo chow
The two streams midway divide— for the white egret's isle.

T'sung wei fow yun — nang pe jih
In all directions are floating clouds — sufficient to obscure the
sun.

Ch'ang-ngan puh keen — she jin ts'ow
Ch'ang-ngan is out of sight — and the envoy is sorrowful.''

In this stanza we have all the leading character-
istics of Chinese poetry. The last syllable of the first
line gives the cue to the rhyme which is followed ii?
the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth lines, by the
words lew, kew, c/taw, and fsow, which are all in the
same tone, the even tone. After the fourth syllable
in each line is a marked caesural pause, by observing
which the rhythmical harmony of the verses is much

428 CHINA.

increased, and which coincides with a break in the
sentence. There is also the parallelism in which
Chinese poets delight We have "the flowers and
shrubs of the Woo Palace," and " the clothes and
caps of the Tsin dynasty;" we have the " three moun-
tains in half separate," and " the two streams midway
divide." But not only is this a good specimen of
the mechanical peculiarities of Chinese poetry, but it
gives a fair idea of the kind of stuff Chinese poetry is
made of. There is nothing striking in thought or
sentiment ; such merits are seldom met with ; the
main object being to conform as closely as possible
to the recognized canons of the art, and to perfect
the diction. But this perfunctory way of manufac-
turing poetry is inevitable in a country where every
student has as a part of his education to learn to
write poetry. By the flood of indifferent verses
which annually inundate the empire the national
taste is destroyed, and the ordinary run of poetry has
been reduced to the level of schoolboys' exercises.
So entirely is this practically recognized, that dic-
tionaries of poetical quotations are as essentially
a part of the poet's literary tools as a Gradus ad
Parnassum is of a fourth-form English schoolboy's
aids to knowledge.

Under the present dynasty poetry as well as other
branches of literature are held to have revived, and
the following quotation has been taken from a collec-

THE LITERATURE. 429

tion as a specimen of the present condition of the
muse in China : —

" Shan kti tsin jih — woo kaou muh ;
She nii k'een lo — foo maou wuh.
Fang ts'aou ch'un she— shin pe mun ;
Yue ming tsze pan— mei hwa suh."

"In the mountains I live all the day— humble and rude is my

lot;
The creepers my maiden entwines— which cover my primitive

cot.
In spring-time the sweet-smelling plants — completely the door

over-creep,
The moon's beams alone fill the sky — while the plum-blossoms

peacefully sleep."

In addition to the regular poetry spoken of above
there are, a kind of poetical composition known as
Foo, which has a metre of four and six feet in alter-
nate lines ; irregular poems, termed Ts'oo tfze, where
the rhyme recurs at the end of lines of various lengths ;
and Ts'se, a kind of roundelay, in the extempore com-
position of which scholars amuse themselves at their
festive gatherings.

The drama received a comparatively late develop-
ment in China, as it was not until the latter end of
the Tang dynasty that a Chinese Thespis arranged
the wild dances and songs, the precursors of the
drama, into connected and orderly plays. From this
period the art of dramatic writing improved until
the time of the Mongol dynasty founded by Jenghiz
Khan, when it may be said to have reached its highest

430 CHINA.

excellence. But even in the most finished works of
the best period there is a want of " those touches of
fancy and that play of imagination which we look
for in the works of European playwrights. No great
author has arisen to teach them to analyze the mo-
tives which sway men in the concerns of every-day
life, and novelists and playwrights, therefore, are con-
tent to make their characters move, act, and converse
at will, without troubling themselves to make a psy-
chological study of the thoughts which influence
them. Thus even in the best plays the characters are
moved about in a somewhat disconnected and arbi-
trary way to suit the designs of the author, too often
in defiance of the probabilities, and with a total dis-
regard of the old-fashioned unities. But, if they are
unable to reach a high standard of dramatic writing,
they show considerable skill in inventing incidents
and in introducing clever and humorous dialogues.
Thus they startle and amuse more than they interest,
and cater for the eye and ear rather than for the
mind." 1

The absence of all scenery on the Chinese stage
necessitates the awkward expedient of putting into
the mouth of each character as he appears on the
stage a monologue explaining who he is, where he is,
and the object of his being there. In the same way

1 " The Chinese Drama," by the Author. See Contemporary
Review, January, 1880.

THE LITERATURE. 431

a change of scene has to be indicated by the actor
announcing, " Now I am at such and such a place."
These interruptions materially mar the literary effect
of a Chinese play, which otherwise is often not with-
out merit The best collection of dramas' is known
as the " Hundred Plays of the Yuen Dynasty." The
tone of these is higher and purer than most of the.
modern dramatic writings, which are too often grossly
indecent, but even in these many of the incidents
introduced would, if judged by a European standard,
be considered coarse. But, though the moral teach-
ing may not be all that could be desired, the audience
are yet taught that a sure Nemesis follows on evil
deeds, and that to live happily one must live vir-
tuously.

The same poverty of imagination which marks the
poetry is observable also in the novels and tales. A
Chinese novelist never attempts to make analyses of
his characters, and there is no interweaving of a subtle
plot in his pages. His canvas is covered with a
succession of incidents more or less isolated, all of
which are depicted in the broadest colours. No
softening lines or gradual shadings mitigate the
villainy of the profligate characters or the supreme
excellence of the virtuous personages. These are as
incapable of doing anything but evil as those are of
doing anything but good. They are all either very
black or very white. The hero, who in every case is an

432 CHINA.

Admirable Crichton, is perfectly virtuous, as strong as
Hercules, as brave as Achilles, and a very Nestor for
wisdom. As the end of all Chinese novels is to pro-
claim the triumph of virtue, it becomes the invariable
rdle of the hero to defend the oppressed, to make
straight the crooked paths of corrupt and vicious
officials, and to redress every wrong that presents
itself to him. At the examinations he takes the
highest honours, and rises to a supreme position in
the state. Imperial favours are lavished on him, or,
if for a moment the wiles of the first villain cloud his
career, the mist is soon cleared away, to his additional
renown and to his enemy's final discomfiture.

The best novel which is translatable is the Haon
K'ew chuen y which has been rendered into English by,
among others, Sir John Davis. In this work the chief
interest centres in a succession of endeavours made
by the villain of the story to prevent the marriage of
the heroine with the hero, and to carry her off as his
own bride. The inevitable result follows ; the villain
is defeated, and the hero and heroine receive at the
hands of the Emperor the reward of their deeds ; and
the work comes to the following gratifying end. In
the words of Sir John Davis's translation, "Teih-
chungyu, his bride, and the assembled court then
bowed down and acknowledged the imperial bounty,
and the hum of joy and gratulation resembled the
distant roll of thunder. The attendants had re-

THE LITERATURE. 433

ceived their orders, and as they filed off in pairs, the
ornamental lanterns in all their radiance, the har-
monious band in full sound, and the marshalled
banners in their variegated splendour, escorted the
renowned and happy couple as they proceeded
homewards, attended by a vast company.

" ' The choicest bud, unblown, exhales no sweets,
No radiance can the untried gem display :
Misfortune, like the winter cold that binds
The embryo fragrance of the flower, doth lend
A fresher charm to fair prosperity.' "

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