CHrNA 
 
 UNDER TftK 
 
 SEARCH 
 
 LICttT 
 
 WILLIAM 
 
 ARTHUR 
 
 COR NAB Y 
 
lis 110 
 
 OJatncU lllmneraitg ffiibrarg 
 
 3tifaca, ^tm Qnrk 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 CLASS OF 1876 
 
 1918 
 

 Date Due 
 
 
 tTffiH horicnM- 
 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 
 
 t^KuJ-^n^fn 
 
 1 
 
 
 .ILIM4^ 
 
 Q?%-i 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 (Mi 
 
 Z3233G 
 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 DS 710.C81 
 
 China under the search-liaht / 
 
 3 1924 023 236 965 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023236965 
 
CHINA UNDEE THE SEAECH-LIGHT 
 
BOOKS ON THE CHINESE PROBLEM. 
 
 The Peoples and Politics of the Far East. 
 
 By Heney Norman, B.A. Fourth Thousand. 
 Profusely Illustrated. SmaU demy 8vo, 
 cloth, 78. 6d. 
 
 As the Chinese See Us. 
 
 By T. G, Sblby. Crown 8vo, cloth, 6s. 
 
 How to Read the Chinese War News : 
 
 A Vade-meoum of Notes and Hints to Readers 
 of Despatches and Others. With a Glossary 
 of Military and Technical Terms. Is. 
 
 LONDOH : T. PisHEE Unwin, Patbbnosteb Sqxjaee. 
 
CHINA UNDER THE 
 SEARCH-LIGHT By 
 
 Wm. Arthur Cornaby, Editor 
 of the Chung-si-chiao-hui-pao, Author of 
 " A String of Chinese Peach-Stones," etc. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 
 1901 
 
 & 
 
 ;'0 ilft4! 
 
(••pdOMSM sji/i5m uy) 
 
 V)t%^ 
 
 VA"D 
 
■NOiivaiwav 
 
 aivNOiioaiiav inv ni 
 
 aaivoiaaa aav saaiJVHO asaHU 
 
 ,,'soiisiaaiovavHO asaNiHO,, ao aoHiav 
 
 'HMHS 'H aQHiaV 
 
 03^ 
 
gijt Moj./ pgfuufsA nv x; pun nA-ii SM}4vtio 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 INTBODVCTOBY CHAPTEB. 
 
 Beadiness to write about China decreases with residence — 
 Travel and residence contrasted — Essential conditions 
 of familiarity with national characteristics — Sources 
 of reliable information — Also of unreliable information 
 — The latter illustrated by the Chinese national 
 banner — Plan of the present work — A few familiar 
 sights as topics — First impressions of Shanghai 
 
 (Quotations from Max Miiller, Confucius, Herbert 
 Spencer, George Eliot, Henry Korman.) 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 OVBB-CBOWDING. 
 
 The Yellow Peril discussed — China's millions graphically 
 represented — Density of population local and arising 
 from want of distribution — But a fact in regions 
 familiar to residents — And most evident in country 
 places — The remarkable fertility of the soil — National 
 characteristics fostered by over-crowding — The struggle 
 for life — ^Development of utilitarian instincts — Poverty 
 of the masses — Religion a mere "luck-pidgin" — 
 Confession of a Buddhist monk — Keen perception of 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 character — Survival of the fittest — Such fitness often 
 means adeptness in artifice . . . .IS 
 
 (Quotations from History of the ContenMng States, 
 
 Sylvester Whitehead, Sir Robert Hart, Ernst Faber, 
 
 Adam Smith.) 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 80LIDABITY. 
 
 Its relation to over-crowding — Three fostering influences 
 — The Far Eastern Europe of the Confucian era — 
 Necessity for local combination — Confucian consoli- 
 dation of the family — ^Individuals regarded as fractions 
 of the family unit — ^Neighbours half relatives — The 
 brotherhood of man a Chinese sentiment — " Celestial 
 Empire " a mistranslation — We are Celestials if the 
 Chinese are . . . . . .31 
 
 (Quotations from Edmund DemouUns, King Hsien-ho, 
 Merle D'Aubigne, Lieh Tzii.) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 HUMANITY IN BUNDLES. 
 
 Clannish consolidation — Evolution of Chinese politeness — 
 Imperial recognition of personal responsibility — ^Ijegal 
 enforcement of mutual responsibility — Its application 
 to yamfen underlings and thieves — Utility of the 
 system — Its local limitations — Absence of a wider 
 patriotism — But possibilities of combination against 
 a common foe — Patriotic darmibalism — ^Patriotism 
 resembling our own existent among reformers — But 
 has to be imported . . . , .47 
 
 (Quotations from J'osiah Strong, Native newspaper, 
 Marion Crawford, I. T. Headland.) 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DEAD -LEVELS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Huddling together inimical to individual development — 
 China's creative age — Decadent generations — How 
 ancestral worship becomes the death-knell of progress 
 — Resultant stagnation and superstition — Evolution of 
 fatalism — Its general acceptation — Discontent with 
 dead-levels — Nirvana anything but an ideal — Absolute 
 need of recreation — Samshoo and opium — A higher 
 quest — Studious drudgery — Classical literature charac- 
 terised — Rise of the essayists — Literary art-copyists — 
 GuUiver's travels . . . . .59 
 
 (Quotations from Blackwood, Carlyle, National 
 Gallery inscription.) 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BUTS. 
 
 Classification of mankind — Country simplicity and town 
 sharpness—" Foreign inventions should be despised " 
 — Foreign mastery the real objection — " China's birth- 
 right to rule " — Those who admire foreign things, but 
 not the foreigner's religion or want of it — The magic 
 word " Western " — The Emperor Kuang Hsii — Imita- 
 tion the first principle of progress . . .75 
 
 (Quotations from Herbert Spencer, Pope, Johnson, 
 
 P'eng Yii-lin, Hung Wu, Chinese newspaper, J. T. 
 
 Headland, Winwood Beade.) 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE "NATIVE FOBEIGNEB." 
 
 The term explained — Missionary criticism — Why need mis- 
 sionaries come at all? — Is the Gospel adapted to the 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 FAOE 
 
 Far East ? — How does it fit in with Confucian ethics ? 
 — What has been its suooesa? — What methods have 
 been adopted? — National questions — Entanglement 
 in politics — How far are missionaries responsible for 
 disturbances? — Nutshell statement of the Boxer 
 tragedy . . . . . . .89 
 
 (Quotations from Winwood Beade, Charming, An 
 
 Ancient Divine, Heinrich Heine, St. Patrick, Chang 
 
 Chih-tung, Prof. Drummond, Li Hung-chang, M. 
 
 Pichon, Lord Salisbury.) 
 
 CHAPTER Vni. 
 
 SOME AGTOBS IN TEE TRAGEDY OF 1900. 
 
 How an adventuress became Empress Dowager — Rise of 
 Li Hung-chang — The Tientsin massacre of 1870— 
 "Missionaries and merchants do not count," nor 
 officials much — A night surprise and its sequel — 
 Murder of Consul Margary — Disturbances of 1891 — 
 Attitude of the Western press — Yung Lu introduces 
 himself — Betrayal of the Emperor — The Manchu 
 Gunpowder Plot — Edict of extermination — Its partial 
 success — Two statesmen-martyrs — How a nation has 
 mourned for them ..... Ill 
 
 (Quotations from various documents, the Japan Mail, 
 Mr. Brodrick, etc.) 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 MANDABINDOM. 
 
 Western civilisation and the incongruities of mandarindom 
 — Starvation salaries — Thrioe-paid taxes — Cost of de- 
 capitation cases — The sufEooated conscience — Judean 
 parallels — Why China has lasted — Utilisation of the 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Three Beligions— No place for Western civilisation— 
 The final alternative ..... 149 
 
 (Quotations from Johnson, Chesterfield, Confucius, 
 
 Empress Dovrager, Dryden, Han Yii, Duo d'AudifEret- 
 
 Pasquier, Marquis Tstog, Wau Sing.) 
 
 CHAPTEB. X. 
 
 THE LAND OF ESTHETIC TRADITIONS. 
 
 The true "Land of the Pigtail" — How Buddhism 
 prospered in China — The two gates in the Great 
 Wall — Artistic composition in Chinese caligraphy — 
 And in the language itself — "Maps" — Turner a 
 photographer I — " Consider the Temple " — Must it 
 pass away ?....., 161 
 
 (Quotations from Pressense, Geo. Matheson, Sir 
 
 WiUiam Fairfax, Marquis Ts6ng, Chinese author 
 
 translated by Prof. Giles, the Standard, Buskin.) 
 
 CHAPTEB XI. 
 
 TEE TRIPLE LANGUAGE OF CHINA. 
 
 Is Chinese difficult? — The " tones " explained — Simplicity 
 of Chinese to children — The Mandarin dialect — 
 Hieroglyphics, and how to recognise them — Harmonic 
 literature — Fifty words expressed by five — Miltonic 
 parallels — Dress - coats — Crystals in the mosaic — 
 Dualism — Anthem-prose — Convocation of moralists 
 — Novelists avaunt I .... . 175 
 
 (Quotations from Alfred Lister, Joseph H. Choate, 
 Dr. Martin, Chinese newspaper.) 
 
xii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 A CHINESE BOOKSTALL. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A motto-aneodote — Ballads and plays — How to make an 
 historical novel — Smuggling a Son o£ Heaven across 
 the sea — A modern novel of a million characters — 
 Detective knights — Jekyll and Hyde explained — A 
 drunken demigod — Love tales — The Dream of the 
 Bedchamber . . . . . .195 
 
 (Quotations from Aubrey, Spenser, 3. 3. Bousseau, Sir 
 
 John Lubbock, A Modern Taoist, W. F. Mayers, 
 
 Alban Butler, Baring Gould.) 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A DAILY NEWSPAPER. 
 
 Newspapers dangerous and editors disreputable — Mrs. 
 Partington — Genesis of a leading Chinese daily — Its 
 advertisement sheet and contents — Suggested tax on 
 opium-lamps — A specimen of patriotic rage — General 
 outlook — Birth-throes rather than break up . . 227 
 
 (Quotations from Confucius, North Chma Herald, A 
 Chinese leading article.) 
 
An extraordinary feature in the history' of manners ia 
 the utter disability of people to judge of the 
 manners of other nations . . . with fairness and 
 common sense. An EngUsh lady turns away her 
 face with disgust when she sees Oriental women 
 with bare feet and legs ; while the Eastern ladies 
 are horrified at the idea of women in Egypt 
 walking about bare-faced. Admirers of Goethe 
 may get over the idea that this great poet 
 certainly ate fish with a knife ; but when we are 
 told that Beatrice never used a fork, and that 
 Dante never changed his linen for weeks, some 
 of our illusions are rudely disturbed. — Max 
 Muller, " CMps." 
 
 All within the four seas are brethren. — Ancient 
 proverb, cited by Confiicius (651-479 B.C.). 
 
INTEODUCTORY CHAPTER 
 
 In his Study of Sociology Herbert Spencer 
 tells a tale of a Frenchman " who, having 
 been three weeks in England, proposed to 
 write a book on English characteristics, 
 who after three months found that he was 
 not quite ready, and who, after three years, 
 concluded that he knew nothing about it." 
 We can vouch for the accuracy of the tale, 
 except that the hero did not happen to be 
 a Frenchman visiting England, but was an 
 Englishman or American visiting China. 
 We have known him well. He went there 
 as globe-trotter, remained awhile as visitor, 
 and lastly made up his mind to become a 
 resident of the Far Eastern paradise of 
 puzzles and problems. 
 
4 CHINA VNDEB THE 8EAB0HLIGHT 
 
 Let us study him awhile and inquire how 
 it came to pass that his enthusiasm for 
 printer's ink met with such a remarkable 
 collapse. 
 
 The explanation is that travel reveals the 
 differences between one race and another — 
 differences which are chiefly external and 
 concern such things as Carlyle would 
 sum up in the one word clothes. While 
 residence reveals , the similarities beneath 
 all externals — the essential human cha- 
 racteristics common to mankind the wide 
 world over. Add to this that Far Eastern 
 races produce the illusion of similarity of 
 feature in the traveller's mind, whose most 
 frequent remark is that " the Chinese are 
 all alike." This being so, the external 
 strangeness as compared with his own land 
 invites the snap-shotter, and the apparent 
 sameness of feature and disposition among 
 the natives themselves provokes his faculties 
 of generalisation. Thus he is apt to rush 
 into print. 
 
INTBODUGTOBY CHAPTEB 5 
 
 But as he lengthens his stay and 
 becomes a resident, the common human 
 nature of the Chinese race impresses him, 
 and a great divergency of feature and 
 disposition becomes apparent between one 
 native and another. The first item tends 
 to overpower his initial sense of national 
 difierence, while the personal divergencies 
 of character among his native acquaint- 
 ances make it more and more difficult to 
 generalise upon them. He cannot see the 
 wood for the trees. 
 
 In dealing with the Chinese, moreover, 
 he is dealing with the inhabitants of a 
 continent rather than of a country. The 
 men of Shantung and Shansi in the north 
 may difier widely from those of more 
 central China, and these again may difier 
 in character as much as they do in speech 
 from the Cantonese. To the careful ob- 
 server, indeed, the features of a Hunanese 
 will be seen to difier in a marked manner 
 from those of a man from Szchuan in the 
 
6 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABOH-LIOHT 
 
 west, SO much so that he may generally 
 identify the natives of either province from 
 a mere glance at their faces. 
 
 Then the Chinese naturally divide them- 
 selves into the four classes of scholars, 
 farmers, artizans, and traders — naturally, 
 not only from their differing occupations, 
 but also from their differing characteristics 
 of disposition. The literati, for instance, 
 are trained to an outward suavity of 
 bearing, to the wearing of a conventional 
 mask, which the rest have hardly learned 
 to assume with any constancy of habit. 
 
 Thus, to sum up, it may often be easy 
 to gain totally different answers to many a 
 simple question about China: concerning 
 the climate, for one part lies within the 
 tropics and another is subject to the 
 severest winters; concerning the food of 
 the people, for in the north flour rather 
 than rice is the chief item of daily cookery ; 
 concerning modes of transit, for there are 
 comparatively broad roads in northern 
 
INTBODUCTOBY CEAPTEB, 7 
 
 China where one may hire a cart or even 
 a camel, while the "roads" of Mid-China 
 differ little from field-paths, and the barrow 
 and sedan-chair are the only vehicles 
 obtainable by the traveller. The men of 
 China may be correctly described as adepts 
 at artifice, and also with almost equal 
 correctness as of comparatively transparent 
 dispositions (the latter being true of many 
 a countryman) ; as buying and selling only 
 after a prolonged process of haggling over 
 prices, and of having but one price for all 
 alike (as in the case of many a merchant 
 and larger shop-keeper). The women may 
 be described as universally binding their 
 feet (as in several provinces), or of reserving 
 that genteel mode of early torture for the 
 more fashionable and wealthy (as in some 
 southern provinces). It may also be 
 affirmed that the idols of China out- 
 number the inhabitants (in certain parts), 
 and also that in a score of households 
 hardly one idol is to be found (in other 
 
8 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 regions). So that reliable generalisations 
 may be exceedingly difficult to make on 
 many a point which seems so obvious to 
 the chance visitor to any one given region. 
 
 But should certain events transpire, such 
 as an anti-foreign rising, which will throw 
 up the national characteristics into con- 
 trast with those of the West, affording the 
 resident a certain amount of aloofness, and 
 placing him at a mental distance sufficient 
 to gain a true perspective of the whole, 
 then all the varied items of information 
 which his familiarity with Chinese life and 
 thought has placed at his disposal will be 
 a help and not a hindrance to an attempt 
 at national portraiture. 
 
 And what, we may ask, are the essential 
 conditions of familiarity (say) with British 
 characteristics on the part of a Frenchman ? 
 Surely a grasp of the language, so that he 
 can speak it, think in it, read and write it 
 with more or less ease, and residence in the 
 country until he ceases to be known as 
 
INTBODUCTOBY OEAPTEB 9 
 
 "that foreigner," but becomes known by 
 name as Monsieur So-and-So. 
 
 Eead China instead of England, and 
 Hsien-sheng (Signer) instead of Monsieur, 
 and we have some of the essential condi- 
 tions of familiarity with China. To which 
 maybe added the eschewing of "foreign" 
 steamers and the adoption of small native 
 boats or of travel on foot in company with 
 a native friend, until stress of experiences 
 common to both men shall result in much 
 community of feeling. 
 
 As sources of reliable information on 
 popular manners may be mentioned country 
 folk, merchants, native Christians, tale- 
 books, and the National Eecords. And as 
 sources of most unreliable information — 
 highly commended to those who merely 
 wish to retain their preconceived notions — 
 Chinese guests on their society behaviour, 
 and above all mandarins, especially those 
 connected with the Court, whose profession 
 it is to put the unwary foreigner ofi the 
 
10 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIQST 
 
 scent. These latter Chinese or Manchu 
 gentry might, with the sole alteration of 
 the one word in brackets, adopt as their 
 motto the confession of Nello the barber in 
 George Eliot's Bomola : " We (Florentines) 
 have liberal ideas about speech, and con- 
 sider that an instrument which can flatter 
 and promise so cleverly as the tongue must 
 have been partly made for the purpose ; 
 and that truth is a riddle for eyes and wits 
 to discover, which it were a mere spoiling 
 of sport for the tongue to betray." 
 
 Over the whole of Chinese officialdom 
 floats the yellow banner, whose device 
 represents the dragon in the act of swallow- 
 ing the Japanese sun, which is "quartered" 
 on the flag just as the crosses of St. Andrew 
 and St. Patrick are incorporated in the 
 Union Jack. Some centuries ago the 
 Chinese dragon fully intended to swallow 
 the Japanese sun. The attempt was 
 markedly unsuccessful, but that is a mere 
 detail, and the national banner was hence- 
 
INTBODUCTOBY CEAPTEB 11 
 
 forth modified as though the deed had been 
 done. Which thing is suggestive of much. 
 
 In the following chapters it is proposed 
 to start with a few sights which will be 
 familiar to the most hurried visitor to 
 Shanghai — such as a dense population, a 
 countryman staring at some Western won- 
 der, a Chinese urchin smoking a cigarette, 
 a missionary in Chinese dress, a mandarin 
 and his retinue, an elegant Chinese sign- 
 board, a bookstall and a native newspaper — 
 to start with such familiar sights, and to 
 throw the searching light of careful study 
 upon the facts and problems behind each 
 of them. 
 
 For the benefit of the many readers who 
 have not taken a trip to Shanghai a descrip- 
 tion of that "model settlement" may be 
 given here. The picture has been drawn 
 by a distinguished author and critic so 
 graphically as to save the resident the 
 trouble of endeavouring to revive his first 
 
12 CHINA UNBEB THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 impressions in order to attempt a picture 
 of his own. 
 
 "Among the many surprises of a journey 
 to the Far East," says Henry Norman, 
 "one of the greatest is certainly the first 
 sight of Shanghai. ... I could hardly 
 believe my eyes. There lay a magnificent 
 European city surrounding a broad and 
 crowded river. True, the magnificence is 
 only skin-deep ; aU the architectural beauty 
 and solidity of Shanghai being along the 
 river ; but I am speaking of the first 
 impressions of Shanghai, and in this re- 
 spect it is superior to New York, far ahead 
 of San Francisco, and almost as imposing 
 for the moment as Liverpool itself. A 
 broad and beautifully kept boulevard, 
 called, of course, ' The Bund,' runs round 
 the river, with rows of well-grown trees 
 and a broad grass-plat at the water's edge, 
 and this Bund is lined on the other side 
 from one end to the other with mercantile 
 buildings second to none of their kind in 
 
INTBODUCTORY CHAPTER 13 
 
 the world. ... At the upper end of the 
 Bund a large patch of green shows the 
 Public Gardens, where the band plays on 
 summer evenings. All night all Shanghai 
 is bright with the electric light, and its 
 telegraph poles remind you of Chicago. . . . 
 And the needed touch of colour is added to 
 the scene as you look at it from on deck, 
 by the gay flags of the steamers and the 
 Consular bunting floating over the town." 
 
The Prince of the State of Ch'i sent a courtier with 
 a missive to the Queen Dowager of Chao, who, 
 without breaking the seal, inquired, saying : 
 "Have the crops been good? And are the 
 populace well ? And is the Prince well ? " 
 Whereat the messenger was not pleased, and 
 said, "Your Majesty asks not after the Prince, 
 but first after the crops and the people ! Is 
 that not placing the mean first and the honour- 
 able last?" But the Queen replied, "Not so, 
 for were there no crops, how could there be 
 any populace? And were there no populace, 
 how could there be any Prince ? '' — History of 
 the Contending States, (Anon.), 3rd Century b.c. 
 
CHAPTEE II 
 
 OVBECEOWDING 
 
 The over-density of China's populations is 
 sure to be one of the first facts which strike 
 the traveller, and the words " Yellow 
 Peril " to form the first jotting in his 
 notebook. From his earliest days, he has 
 been taught to realise that " if the in- 
 habitants of China could be made to march 
 before us at the rate of sixty per minute 
 every day and night, under the sunlight 
 and the solemn stars, the endless procession 
 would move on for twelve years and eight 
 months," and that the fact of the Chinese 
 nation being estimated at four hundred 
 millions involves a death-rate of a million 
 per month. And here he sees it all before 
 
 15 
 
16 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 him in sample, and instinctively recalls a 
 picture of "Over-population" in Cruik- 
 shank's Comic Almanac. But being of a 
 thoughtful turn of mind, it is not the 
 comicality of the scene before him, but 
 the peril of it all to the world in years 
 to come which impresses him. He can 
 well believe that the Chinese are likely to 
 overrun the world in time, that " twenty 
 millions or more of Boxers . . . will make 
 residence in China impossible for foreigners 
 . . . and will carry the Chinese flag and 
 Chinese arms into many a place that even 
 fancy will not suggest to-day, thus pre- 
 paring for the future upheavals and dis- 
 asters never even dreamt of." And he 
 shudders for his grandchildren, whom he 
 pictures as swept away by such tremendous 
 centrifugal forces. 
 
 And all this seems easily feasible. But 
 the question arises as to whether the open- 
 ing up of China will not rather mean the 
 birth of a centripetal force, which will check 
 
OVEBCBOWDING 17 
 
 the tendency toward emigration (except 
 among inhabitants of China's coasts), 
 especially among a people who are naturally 
 home-staying, and who are not addicted, 
 as their proverb has it, to "reject the near 
 for the distant " when the means of liveli- 
 hood are to be found close at hand. 
 
 And in this connection some remarkable 
 statistics and inferences by that most 
 accurate and accomplished sinologue. Dr. 
 Ernst Faber, may serve to mitigate many 
 a fear. He points out that it is only the 
 river-basins that are over-populated; that 
 the average population of Germany is three 
 times denser than the average population of 
 China, and that the Chinese Empire ought 
 to be able comfortably to support at least 
 five times its present inhabitants. 
 
 The more intricate question of the Boxers 
 will be dealt with at length from its histori- 
 cal side in Chapter viii., and the reader may 
 well pluck heart from the consideration that 
 under the most diligent fostering from the 
 
18 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 Manchu Court, the movement which has 
 given us the term " Boxer " only infested a 
 mere tenth of China Proper. Such foster- 
 ing forces will thus have to be multiplied by 
 ten and become continuous for at least two 
 years, as in the genesis of the Boxers, in 
 order to bring about a really national 
 movement for the extermination of the 
 foreigner. 
 
 As a factor in the evolution of national 
 character, the density of the population 
 deserves a more extended notice. It is a 
 leading element in nearly all regions of 
 China where the merchant and missionary 
 have penetrated. And, strange as it may 
 seem, it is in the country places, rather than 
 the towns and cities, that the overcrowding 
 is most apparent. Take an average tract of 
 farm land in England as seen from the 
 windows of a railway carriage, and compare 
 it with an average tract of farm land in 
 China, up-country, a score of miles from 
 
 ■\T i ^ 
 
OVEBCBOWDIN& 19 
 
 and we find that in place of the solitary 
 English homestead China exhibits a dozen 
 little hamlets, which were indeed solitary 
 homesteads once, but which have grown 
 with the growth of the family or clan 
 through the years into clusters of ten or 
 more cottages. Thus if a walk through 
 any Chinese town calls forth the question, 
 " How do all these folks manage to live ? " 
 a ramble through such country parts can 
 but emphasise the question. 
 
 The immediate explanation is supplied by 
 the fact that where the best farm land of 
 England yields but one crop a year, and 
 may have to lie fallow every now and then, 
 the Chinese farmer expects at least two 
 crops, and in well-watered regions three 
 crops, from his, and no more feels the 
 necessity of letting the land lie fallow than 
 he does personally of resting from drudgery 
 one day in seven. He has no word in his 
 vocabulary for fallow ground, and no 
 amount of explanation will sufi&ce to im- 
 
20 CHINA UNDEB THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 press upon a Chinese farmer the rationale 
 of the process. Every available scrap of 
 decaying vegetable or animal produce is 
 thrown upon the land ; and probably the 
 vigour of the Chinese sun serves with these 
 aids to renew the stock of microbes in the 
 soil, which turn the absorbed nitrogen of 
 the air into food for the crops, in accord 
 with the modern theory of fertilisation. 
 And what the Chinese farmer neglects to do 
 voluntarily, probably Nature does for him 
 forcibly in the occasional years of flood or 
 drought — causing the land, enriched with 
 vegetable matter in the form of half-grown 
 crops, to lie fallow for a season now and 
 then. 
 
 But, spite of all such considerations, the 
 density of China's population is an obvious 
 fact which, with the stationary habits of its 
 peoples for many centuries, has largely 
 influenced the development of national 
 characteristics. 
 
OVERCROWDING 21 
 
 population has been the struggle for life 
 which is everywhere apparent, and a vast 
 development of the utilitarian instincts of 
 the Chinese — a large proportion of whom 
 live on year by year in a hand-to-mouth 
 fashion. 
 
 One of the commonest elements of social 
 intercourse, when a resident receives native 
 guests in his own house, is the fact that 
 rich and poor alike are sure not only to 
 admire the various appurtenances of his 
 home, but to ask, " What is the use of 
 this ? " and especially, " What may have 
 been the price of that?" Such a visit 
 presents a golden opportunity for inquiring 
 what they have long thirsted to know — 
 "What is the precise use of your stiff 
 collar and cuffs? And how much did the 
 material of your coat and underclothing 
 cost per foot ? " And from your wedding 
 presents down to the latest newspaper lying 
 on your table, the great point is, " What 
 did everything cost?" 
 
22 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 A journey into the country, when a 
 countryman or two are pretty sure to ask 
 for the privilege of going " one road" with 
 you, yields the same result. It is no use 
 trying to avoid the question by saying that 
 you are not a hat-merchant or second-hand 
 clothes dealer, or that you prefer not to sell 
 your boots just now, as you may need them 
 later on. The question of questions is re- 
 iterated until you begin to adopt the 
 method of making your companion guess 
 for himself. " Well," he replies, " those 
 leather boots cost a dollar at least, I should 
 think" — note the bargaining instinct here 
 — "but what did thej realli/ come to?" 
 And your reply raises you in his estimation 
 to a definite place in the category of beings 
 human, for in your statement of the appar- 
 ently fabulous sum you gave for each, your 
 Chinese companion will see the bargaining 
 instinct to be well developed in your case 
 no less than in his, and will respect you for 
 being so much like himself after alj. 
 
OVEBCBOWDING 23 
 
 One side-consideration from the above is 
 that missionaries who go far inland may be 
 almost forced to adopt the native dress, if 
 for no other reason than that their whole 
 time might otherwise be taken up in 
 answering questions concerning their 
 strangely concocted and fabulously ex- 
 pensive attire. But the main considera- 
 tion forced upon us is the poverty of the 
 masses, who mostly regard five cents, (or 
 one penny farthing) as an ample outlay for 
 daily rice, and who may be accustomed to 
 substitute bran for rice during some months 
 of a poor year. 
 
 The utilitarian instincts fostered by pres- 
 sure of circumstances are responsible on the 
 one hand for the simplicity of methods so 
 characteristic among all classes of Chinese 
 artizans, and on the other hand have 
 brought down what stands in place of 
 religion to a matter of " luck-pidgin " and 
 little more. 
 
 The farmer or shop-keeper worships an 
 
24 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 idol if he should be extravagant enough to 
 afford one, or bows before a slip of dis- 
 coloured red paper marked "Heaven, Earth, 
 Sovereign, Parents, Teachers," or before an 
 ancestral tablet, with just the " Three 
 Manys " in mind (many riches, many sons, 
 many years of life), and with a special 
 reference to the first of the three. It will 
 cause no ofienoe whatever, only provoke an 
 assenting smile, to tell a shop-keeper in 
 Mid-China that he looks upon his idol as a 
 cheap shop-assistant, who for a very low 
 wage, expended on incense, crackers, and 
 candles, is supposed to bring him many 
 customers and much gain. And in country 
 places, during times of drought, the farmers 
 have been known to scold their idols, then 
 curse them, then abandon them to the sun- 
 rays till paint and varnish are blistered, as 
 a punishment for not having fulfilled the 
 one purpose for which they were bought 
 (for a well-remembered sum) and nourished 
 (with so much incense, at a certain known 
 
OVEBCBOWDING 25 
 
 rate per month). Truly, as a writer has 
 said of degenerate Israel during a par- 
 ticular epoch, " They employ, not worship, 
 their gods." 
 
 Thus it is a distinctly foreign idea, 
 imported with difficulty, and subject to 
 heavy Customs dues, that anywhere in 
 the world there can be any sort of 
 godliness which is not so much gain- 
 seeking, A Mission hospital is admired 
 with the exclamation, "What merit you 
 are accumulating ! " — for reward in this 
 life. And every native who joins the 
 Christian Church is asked, *' How much 
 does the foreigner give you month by 
 month ? " though the man in question 
 may have subscribed liberally toward 
 Mission expenses. And all this is quite 
 natural to the average Chinese, given his 
 small stock of ideas, collected in a narrow 
 area of space, and not added to by records 
 extending through time. For a Confucian 
 expects to make his living by his studies, 
 
26 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIQET 
 
 if only as schoolmaster, and Taoist and 
 Buddhist priest-monks are fed by the 
 patrons of their respective temples. 
 
 Said a Buddhist monk to me once, "I 
 don't worship idols any more than you do, 
 Mr. Foreigner ! " 
 
 " Why are you here in this temple, you 
 rogue, then ? " asked the crowd. 
 
 " To bang the drum, and pummel the 
 bell, and spread the mat, and light the 
 incense for you folks. A man must live, 
 mustn't he?" was the unabashed reply. 
 
 Another indirect result of the density of 
 the population is the development of that 
 keen perception of character for which the 
 Chinese are famous. An all-important 
 question in the mind of a buyer toward a 
 snaall salesman is, "Is he a deceiver or 
 not ? " And an equally important question 
 of the salesman toward the buyer is, " Is he 
 deceivable or not?" — until the two ques- 
 tions have come to form part of the daily 
 catechism of China's millions, and have 
 
OVEBGBOWDING 27 
 
 assumed national proportions in China's 
 intercourse with Western Powers. The 
 education of the Chinese in artifice and 
 diplomacy, based on a recognition of 
 degrees of deoeivableness in others, has 
 been going on for ages. It had its genesis 
 in a prehistoric visit of a pedlar to some 
 old-world Chinese village. 
 
 Another outcome of the conditions 
 brought about by the local density of 
 the population in China is the undoubted 
 operation of the law of Survival of the 
 Fittest. The tendency has been for 
 weaklings to perish in infancy, sometimes 
 by infanticide, commonly from natural 
 causes aided by such facts as the customary 
 suckhng of infants for three years, and 
 the chaotic condition of Chinese medical 
 science and practice. It is a general idea, 
 for instance, that smallpox is one of the 
 unavoidable ills to which infantile flesh is 
 heir. '* They all get it " is a frequent 
 remark, in deprecation of the inordinate 
 
28 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 " fuss " that Western residents seem to 
 make about the matter. "Yes, and many- 
 die, but who can help that ? " is the reply 
 to further questioning. In country places 
 there are absolutely no precautionary 
 measures adopted in the case of infectious 
 diseases, and even the isolation of patients 
 is undreamt of. Over the corpse of a 
 relative, senior or junior, who has departed 
 this life by means of some infectious malady, 
 a woman may be seen kneeling and wailing, 
 her face every now and then touching the 
 body or its clothing, with little ones tugging 
 at her jacket for their overdue mother's 
 milk. 
 
 A certain standard of robustness is there- 
 fore necessary for the survival of the 
 children of the populace, and a certain 
 amount of smartness is needed for the 
 townsman who would make a living. 
 Hence the " fitness " of the survivors is 
 of two kinds — it is either strength of 
 muscle, or adeptness in artifice. The 
 
OVEBGBOWDING 29 
 
 former seems to predominate among the 
 masses, while the latter becomes charac- 
 teristic of the hucksters of the street, 
 and also of the literati generally, not 
 excepting the mandarins, or literati in 
 office. And that the phenomenon of 
 " ways that are dark, and tricks that are 
 vain" has been largely fostered by the 
 general struggle for life, seems to be 
 evidenced by the fact that among the 
 bigger shop-keepers and merchants, whose 
 flourishing trade lifts them above the 
 ordinary level of struggling Chinese 
 humanity, there seems to be little or no 
 tendency toward anything other than 
 straightforwardness and commercial in- 
 tegrity. 
 
Societies of a communistic formation are characterised 
 by a tendency to rely, not on self, but on the 
 community, on the group, family, tribe, clan, 
 public powers, &c. The populations of the East 
 are the most striking representatives of this type. 
 — Ed. DemouUns, " Anglo-Saxon Superiority," 
 p. 50. 
 
 Our (Confucian) religion well knows Heaven's wUl ; it 
 looks on all under heaven as one family, great 
 rulers as elder branches in their parents' clan, 
 great ministers as chief oflScers of this clan, and 
 the people at large as brothers of the same 
 parents ; and it holds that all things should be 
 enjoyed in common. — King Hsien-ho, at the 
 World's Parliament of Beligions. 
 
CHAPTEE III 
 
 SOLIDARITY 
 
 The communistic basis of Chinese life seems 
 closely related to the subject of the previous 
 chapter. For let any kind of yielding and 
 cohesive substances be compressed together, 
 and the result will be either one solid lump, 
 or a number of smaller lumps fitting into 
 one another. Which latter is the case 
 among the populations of China. 
 
 It is not claimed that the literal com- 
 pression of overcrowding is in itself alone 
 responsible for the peculiar form of solidarity 
 to be found in China. That phenomenon 
 seems to have been brought about by three 
 kinds of compression. First there has been 
 through the ages a social compression 
 
 31 
 
32 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCE-LIGHT 
 
 together of larger or smaller communities 
 for common defence. Then there has been 
 the political compression together of family 
 groups by the adoption of the poUcy 
 advocated by Confucius. And lastly, the 
 literal compression which we have already 
 noted. 
 
 Our earliest authentic picture of China is 
 that of a ruling tribe, geographically settled 
 down in the midst of semi-Chinese and more 
 or less aboriginal tribes. This ruling State 
 occupied the north of the present province 
 of Honan, and from its position among 
 semi-dependent States, was naturally called 
 the Middle Eealm, a term which afterwards 
 came to be applied to the whole region 
 controlled by that State, hence the modern 
 phrase " Middle Kingdom." 
 
 The inter-relatedness of these various 
 States, commonly quoted as eighteen in 
 number, seems at first to have been little 
 more than that of inter-marriage among 
 various chieftains, following their subju- 
 
SOLIDABITY 33 
 
 gation by the ruling tribe. By and by, 
 however, owing to the prosperity of any 
 one tribe disturbing " the balance of p6wer," 
 the unifying policy of inter-marriage was 
 supplemented by numerous blood-covenants 
 and even Peace Congresses — whose sequel 
 might well serve to establish the fact that 
 human nature remains practically the same 
 through the centuries. 
 
 Speaking roughly, we have, in and Ground 
 the times of Confucius, a Far Eastern 
 Europe. The recurring situations are 
 remarkably similar to those of modern 
 Europe, although the methods of dealing 
 with those situations were distinctively 
 Chinese. On which latter point it may 
 be affirmed in passing, that modern Chinese 
 statesmen, who are supposed to learn their 
 morals from Confucius, do as a fact find 
 rather in the history of the times around 
 that of Confucius, a liberal education in arti- 
 fice requisite to deal with Western Powers. 
 Western governments might do worse 
 
34 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 than make it a sine quA non of Consulship, 
 and perhaps of Ministerial office, that each 
 candidate should gain a familiarity with 
 that all-important period of Chinese history. 
 For hardly a trick of trade but may be found 
 there in specimen, unless it be that un- 
 precedented stroke of genius of the Empress 
 Dowager in the year a.d. 1900, in formulating 
 a plan of slaughtering all Foreign Ministers, 
 and of issuing an edict commanding aU 
 Viceroys and Grovernors to " destroy by 
 fire every foreign building, and painfuUy- 
 exterminate every foreign official, merchant, 
 missionary, and the like" — so the Chinese 
 text ran — ^throughout the land ! Most rules 
 have exceptions, and perhaps such an ex- 
 ception as this may not be claimed to 
 invalidate the above description of the 
 Chinese statesman's Text-book of Diplo- 
 macy, the history of the Chou dynasty, 
 B.C. 1122-221. 
 
 To return to our main argument, the 
 " Divided States " of that epoch may be 
 
80LIDAEITY 35 
 
 taken as a Chinese edition of Europe, but 
 as far as their lessening allegiance to the 
 nominal Son of Heaven is concerned, to 
 Europe from the Middle Ages onwards, 
 where a common allegiance to the Pope 
 of Eome furnishes a parallel to the one 
 link of connection which existed in ancient 
 China prior to the advent of that Emperor 
 of unscrupulous daring, who brought about 
 a comparative unification of the land in the 
 year b.c. 221. And from what glimpses of 
 the populace which we gain between the 
 lines of the very eventful history of those 
 times, we also gather that their want of 
 cohesiveness was much like that of medieval 
 Germany as described by Merle D'Aubigne — 
 " a people to be taken separately and singly 
 [that is, in families] ; they have seldom or 
 never hitherto formed into groups and 
 parties." Except, as we gather from other 
 writers, by Trade Guilds similar to those 
 established among our Anglo-Saxon fore- 
 fathers from time immemorial. 
 
36 CHINA UNDER THE 8EABCE-LIGET 
 
 The disturbed state of China in those 
 early days and the frequent revolutions ever 
 since would naturally tend towards com- 
 bination among blood-relations. The lesson 
 learned in times of disturbance — that no 
 man can afford to stand alone — would be 
 so ingrained in the national consciousness 
 as to become an axiom persisting in the 
 popular mind during times of comparative 
 peace. And as a fact it has impressed itself 
 on the national literature in the form of a 
 score of stock phrases descriptive of the 
 supreme value of united energy. While, on 
 the other hand, the man who has to stand 
 alone is depicted under the metaphor of 
 "a house supported by a single pillar," 
 rather than upon the customary framework 
 to which the walls are afterwards added as 
 mere after-thoughts, as in Chinese buildings. 
 
 Eealising these early conditions of 
 existence, we may well admire the con- 
 summate wisdom of Confucius in throwing 
 his whole energy into the strengthening of 
 
80LIDABITY 87 
 
 existing family ties, especially those con- 
 nected with parents and seniors generally. 
 He lived in an age of disintegration when 
 " even in his own State the obligations 
 between prince and subject were forgotten ; 
 when charity and duty to one's neighbour 
 were fast passing away; and right feeling 
 all but gone." And his view of the case 
 may be paraphrased in the words : " If only 
 the family rather than the individual were 
 the unit ; if only the supreme duty of life 
 were unquestioning devotion to parents, and 
 the local ruler or distant sovereign were 
 regarded as the ' parent of the people ' — as 
 he was literally when the realm was but a 
 clan — then would government be easy 
 indeed. And, moreover, if to the practice 
 of filial duties could be coupled obedience 
 to elder brothers, and ' all within the four 
 seas ' were realised to be brethren — as they 
 were when the original Chinese clan took 
 up its residence within the circle of four 
 lakes once — then neighbourly habits would 
 
38 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 prevail." Such seem to have been the 
 thoughts which moulded the pohtioo-moral 
 philosophy of him whom the Chinese call 
 the Master. 
 
 That in the energy of his one purpose he 
 coupled the worship of ancestors with the 
 worship of the Supreme (Shang Ti), now 
 depersonified and attenuated into luminous 
 mist ; and that he taught that " an upright 
 son should conceal his father's dishonesty," 
 must be fully admitted ; but from his stand- 
 point as magistrate or counsellor of Princes, 
 with the consolidation of the realm as his 
 one consideration, what could have been 
 wiser than such a policy as his ? 
 
 Thus, partly through the exigencies of 
 lawless times, partly through the influence 
 of Confucian tenets, and partly by me- 
 chanical modes of compression, it comes 
 to pass that the family is the unit in China, 
 and that the individual is commonly re- 
 garded as a mere fraction of that unit. 
 
 As an extension of the principle, near 
 
SOLIDABITY 39 
 
 neighbours too, who in country places would 
 be more or less related to the clan, are 
 regarded very much as semi-relatives in 
 towns and cities. In old Judaea the word 
 neighbour seems to have implied some sort 
 of relationship, and so it is in China to-day. 
 Where, indeed, the privilege of local option 
 is still extant, and two or three neighbours 
 may be requisitioned by authorities to veto 
 the purchase of land by a foreigner, should 
 he wish to settle near. 
 
 The solidarity of the Chinese, then, seems 
 to stop short at the family or cluster of 
 neighbours, but within those narrow limits 
 is a matter of daily observation. Is there 
 a male birth, the women-folk scream their 
 congratulations; is there a marriage, the 
 whole neighbourhood is aroused by the 
 clamour ; is there a death, the whole neigh- 
 bourhood is made dismal with heartrending 
 wails of despair. The Scriptural require- 
 ment, " Eejoice with them that do rejoice, 
 and weep with them that weep," is not so 
 
40 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIQHT 
 
 much quoted as enforced in China. The 
 Chinese hurl their joys at one another, and 
 deluge one another with their woes. And 
 should a neighbour be writhing under some 
 real or fancied wrong, what " tongue- 
 batteries" are brought into requisition for 
 the bombardment of a whole district! 
 
 Two facts, small in themselves but illus- 
 trative of much, are, first, that the whole 
 family at meals dip their chop-sticks or 
 gravy-spoons into the common bowls of 
 fish or eggs or vegetables ; and, second, 
 that the main room of a dwelling-house is 
 open to all comers from the threshing-floor 
 of the village or the street of the town. It 
 is regarded as a sort of annex to threshing- 
 floor or street. In a word, except at night, 
 it is practically the common property of 
 the neighbourhood. 
 
 To Western folk, especially to insular 
 English folk, whose closed street-doors are 
 symbols of respectability in which there is 
 a considerable percentage of aloofness, and 
 
SOLIDARITY 41 
 
 whose houses are their castles, suggesting 
 a survival of feudal barony, all this seems 
 intrusive, abnormal, unbearable. But to 
 the Chinese themselves Jt is a genial 
 expression of a truth which was universally 
 acknowledged in the good old days of yore 
 — the brotherhood of man. And one or 
 two of the dwelling-houses in any given 
 district are pretty sure to have as an adorn- 
 ment of the "main door" a strip of red 
 paper inscribed with hieroglyphs to the 
 effect that " all below the skies are one 
 family," the very sentiment which, in the 
 West, embodied in the phrase " the federa- 
 tion of man," is regarded as an ideal goal 
 of sociological progress. Only, with such 
 large words as a motto, the Chinese, as 
 we have seen, stop short at the clan or 
 the neighbourhood, and exemplify their 
 axiom in a very clannish and local manner. 
 In the country they often regard a man 
 of another surname with suspicion, and in 
 the towns a man from another part as an 
 
42 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGET 
 
 alien. A man from a distant province, 
 whose dialect differs from their own, is 
 regarded as practically a foreigner ; and an 
 actual foreigner, until he has become well 
 known, as an " ocean fiend." * Like many 
 a sentiment, then, that of universal brother- 
 hood in China, however broad in theory, is 
 exceedingly contracted in practice. But 
 with such sentiments ingrained into the 
 local consciousness, it but requires time, 
 and intercourse with the rest of the country 
 and the world at large, in order to worthily 
 extend the scope of maxims which in them- 
 selves are limitless and universal. 
 
 * " Foreign devil " is literally " ocean fiend," and 
 seems to be the Chinese way of spelling pirate. As 
 applied to foreigners, it may be traced back to the 
 sixteenth century, when, as Sir Eutherford Alcock 
 relates, " Simon Andrade and Fernando Mendez Pinto 
 sailed up the China coast with their fleet of thirty- 
 seven vessels, plundering the tombs of seventeen 
 kings of an ancient dynasty, in which treasure had 
 been buried, making many piratical expeditions from 
 Ningpo as a base of operations, and drawing down 
 upon themselves the vengeance of the surrounding 
 population, about 1515." {Parliamentary Papers.) 
 
SOLIDABITY 43 
 
 And here, perhaps, it is only fair to the 
 Chinese to say that they have never claimed 
 to be " Celestials " or subjects of a "Celes- 
 tial Empire." This strange Western blun- 
 der will doubtless be as difficult to correct 
 as any wild notion held by the Chinese 
 about foreigners has proved to be. But 
 the attempt should be made nevertheless. 
 
 Our mistake arose from a mistranslation 
 on early diplomatic documents of the term 
 " Celestial Court," a term applied to the 
 Imperial palace to mark out the one 
 "Celestial" in China — the Son of Heaven 
 — in contradistinction from the millions of 
 " Terrestrials " whom he governs. True, 
 everything connected with him is more or 
 less " Celestial." Being himself " Heaven's 
 Son," his bodyguard are called " Heaven- 
 soldiers," and his couriers "Heaven-mes- 
 sengers," but " Heavenly " always means 
 Imperial, and the Empire itself is described 
 in the phrase " (all) below the skies," or the 
 Terrestrial Empire. 
 
44 CHINA UNDEB THE 8EABCH-LIQET 
 
 The assumption involved in the term is 
 similar to that behind the old Eoman 
 phrase orbis terrarum, or " all the world." 
 The Eomans applied the term to their 
 empire as comprising all the world that 
 was worth counting, and the Chinese term 
 has a precisely similar meaning. And now- 
 adays, finding that there are Western 
 nations counting, the Chinese, many of 
 them, give the phrase its full breadth and 
 use it of the mundane universe. Or, retain- 
 ing its ancient significance as synonymous 
 with empire, they have even asked, " How 
 long did your Empress (Victoria) rule over 
 ' all below the skies ' ? " Thus, whatever 
 the term may mean, they are generally 
 willing to share it with us, or even to 
 apply it specially to a Western Empire 
 such as the British. So that if we persist 
 in translating " all below the skies " as 
 " celestial " rather than " terrestrial," we 
 must prepare to dub ourselves " Celestials " 
 forthwith. 
 
A low form of individualism with little or no organi- 
 sation marks the savage. A low form of indivi- 
 dualism with a degree more of social organisation 
 characterises the barbarian. The sacrifice of 
 individuality to an extended and comparatively 
 high social organisation results in a civilisation 
 like that of ancient Egypt, Assyria, India, and 
 China. There is a good deal of permanence, but 
 with it much stagnation. — Josiah Strong, " The 
 New Era," p. 22. 
 
 46 
 
CHAPTEE IV 
 
 HUMANITY IN BUNDLES 
 
 Chinese solidarity is chiefly clannish or 
 local, but within those limits is as patent 
 a fact as a rope-tied faggot or bundle of 
 firewood. In social intercourse within the 
 clan itself every efiort is made to preserve 
 a secular edition of the unity of the spirit 
 in the bond of peace ; and a conciliatory 
 attitude is adopted toward every friendly 
 visitor who represents another clan or circle, 
 and who may perhaps bring the whole re- 
 sources of that other bundle of humanity to 
 bear upon any real or imaginary affront. 
 There is always a lurking suspicion that 
 an outsider may be a possible foe at some 
 time or other. He is therefore treated 
 
48 CHINA UNDEB TEE SEABCE-LIGHT 
 
 with a consideration which is half depre- 
 catory, and with a politeness that consists 
 largely in what may be termed the bribery 
 of flattery, which bribery he on his own 
 part returns with interest. Is his host 
 "humble" and his visitor "honourable," 
 the visitor himself will describe himself 
 as " abject" and his host "opulent." But 
 the reason of it all is obvious from the 
 above considerations. 
 
 It is thus, surely, that the fine art of 
 Chinese guest-receiving has attained to its 
 present developments. It answers a similar 
 purpose to that of the buffer between 
 loosely-chained railway carriages, prevent- 
 ing a necessary contact from becoming an 
 unpleasant collision. Thus viewed, some 
 of its apparent absurdities will disappear 
 and many of its utilities will become readily 
 apparent. 
 
 By the long-enforced decrees of national 
 custom, the clan or locality is bound up in 
 a bundle that no efforts may divide, and 
 
HUMANITY IN BUNDLES 49 
 
 Confucius, as we have seen, did his utmost 
 to convert the whole Empire into a vast 
 clan-unit. The rulers of China have long 
 since agreed to regard it as such, and have 
 accepted the theory of personal responsi- 
 bility for the whole empire-clan, represent- 
 ing national calamities as resultant from 
 Imperial sins against heaven. Thus on 
 an inundation of the Yellow Eiver or the 
 occurrence of drought, the Son of Heaven 
 has proceeded to the Temple of Heaven and 
 made humble confession of personal delin- 
 quencies, which he afterwards confesses 
 also in an Imperial edict published in the 
 various prefectures and counties throughout 
 the Empire. But having set the example 
 in theory he enforces its observance in 
 practice, by recognising a very real clan- 
 responsibility as being shared by every 
 member of the multitudinous clan-circles 
 everywhere. "Each subject has not only 
 to consider his own individual responsibility 
 for his personal acts or lesions, but he 
 
50 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 knows full well that his father, mother, 
 grandparents, children, grandchildren, 
 brothers, and sisters, down to the remotest 
 links of the family chain, may have to suffer 
 if he merits punishment." Nor is any rank 
 of life in China exempted from the opera- 
 tion of this system of mutual responsibility. 
 It runs in a regular gamut from the elder 
 of the family to the head-man of the village, 
 from the head-man to the local constable, 
 from the constable to the inferior mandarin, 
 and thence in regular succession to the 
 county mandarin, the prefect, provincial 
 Judge, Treasurer, Governor, and Viceroy. 
 In some respects it is a terrible system, 
 but the very reality of its awe-inspiring 
 inevitabilities makes it an exceedingly 
 useful system in the prevention of crime, 
 or the capture of the criminal. 
 
 And on this latter point it may be added 
 that the villainous-looking underhngs of the 
 mandarin we met in the streets of Shanghai 
 are technically regarded, and not without 
 
HUMANITY IN BUNDLES 51 
 
 reason, as, at any rate, " sleeping partners " 
 in every local thief-gang. They themselves 
 are held responsible for each robbery if the 
 thief is not forthcoming, and, failing to 
 arrest him, may themselves be put under 
 arrest and punished with a fair amount 
 of severity — always provided that their lord 
 and master is really in earnest in putting 
 the case through. For such things as 
 "presents" are not entirely unknown in 
 mandarindom. 
 
 Such is the Chinese system, then, and 
 a very cleverly-devised one from the point 
 of view of the government of Cathay. It 
 was intended to fuse the Empire into one 
 great whole, but the fusion has stopped 
 short at the molecule. The result is com- 
 parable to a block of loose red sandstone 
 rather than the intended granite — a sand- 
 stone block which has been considerably 
 weather-worn by those national storms 
 known as insurrections, rebellions, and 
 revolutions, but which seems to retain its 
 general shape nevertheless. 
 
52 CHINA UNDEB THE 8EAB0H-LIGHT 
 
 The Chinese instinct of solidarity is so 
 forcibly absorbed by the system of local 
 responsibility that it seems to have no over- 
 plus of energy toward a wider patriotism. 
 Besides, China is so big, and its bigness 
 is the more impressed on the Chinese mind 
 owing to the crude native system of 
 transport and locomotion. Our Western 
 patriotism is not so contracted. An 
 American finds his heart large enough to 
 embrace the whole of the States, and, 
 indeed, feeds his patriotism upon their very 
 bigness. But each Chinese is a fraction of 
 a unit inhabiting a continent, which he has 
 been taught to regard as " all below the 
 skies " ; and what Englishman or European 
 generally finds room in his bosom for 
 stirring emotions which shaU embrace the 
 whole Continent of Europe? 
 
 The sole contingency which would tend 
 to bring about that result would be some 
 government, as that of the Manchu, 
 arraying itself against the whole of Europe 
 
HUMANITY IN BUNDLES 53 
 
 — a state of things approximately brought 
 about by the imperially-instigated enor- 
 mities of 1900. And so, in China, while 
 combination on behalf of one's own Empire 
 seems too large an order to be executed, 
 combination against a common foe, real or 
 imagined, may be within the bounds of 
 possibility, especially if that foe be repre- 
 sented to have dire intent upon the Chinese 
 equivalents for hearths and homes and local 
 interests everywhere ; if, in short, that foe 
 be an invader. 
 
 Now, from of old the Chinese in country 
 districts have been wont to regard every 
 visitor from afar as an invader. And not 
 without cause, for every autumn has 
 witnessed the invasion of Mandarin So-and- 
 So's grasp-all-you-can tax-collectors of evil 
 visage. And it only requires a given 
 amount of filthy slander (as in Hunan 
 placards. Death-blow to Corrupt Doctrines, 
 and such publications) to be freely circu- 
 lated about the towns, and to be enlarged 
 
54 CHINA UNDMB THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 upon in the village tea-shops, to bring about 
 a fairly universal cry of " Ocean fiend," and 
 to stir up inflammable emotions to ignition 
 point on special occasions. Thus doubly 
 have the Chinese authorities utilised ex- 
 isting instincts in the minds of a clannish 
 people ; first, by the raids of their underling 
 extortioners, and secondly, by the assisted 
 diffusion of such atrocious slanders as 
 charges of eye-scooping for the concoction 
 of medicine, and the alleged practice of 
 customs too bestial to be described in 
 English type — but for which the " sacred 
 characters of the Holy Sage" have been 
 so freely brought into requisition. Thus, 
 through the reiterated efforts of a decade 
 have " patriotic " rioters been manufactured 
 from the riff-raff, and crimes against the 
 more unoffending harbingers of civilisation 
 committed either by the professed disciples 
 of Confucius, high in office, or by a 
 maddened populace whom they, during the 
 space of ten years, systematically and 
 
HUMANITY IN BUNDLES 55 
 
 designedly goaded on to madness. And 
 thus it comes that a native Shanghai editor, 
 who owes his very existence to the segis 
 of foreign protection (for all native news- 
 papers were drastically "suppressed" by 
 " Imperial Edict," October 8, 1898), calmly 
 states in a leader of August 17, 1900, that 
 " Ever since China established treaties of 
 commerce (with the West), there is not a 
 man claiming to be truly and bravely 
 patriotic who has spent a single day without 
 longing to get hold of the foreigner's flesh 
 and eat it " — in savage satisfaction and 
 cannibal revenge ! But if this last item be 
 fact, had we not better pause and sound an 
 alarm ? 
 
 Behold, ye nations of the earth, and 
 tremble as ye gaze ! Chinese Patriotism 
 has awakened from an age-long sleep, and 
 stands with hungry eye, lighting the fires 
 of a cannibal oven, prepared for your 
 reception. For the cupboard is bare, and 
 the giant has nothing else to feed himself 
 
56 CBINA UNDER T3E SMABCB-LlGBT 
 
 upon but your shrinking flesh. And know, 
 ye peoples, that not fairy-tales but 
 prophecies were the stories with which ye 
 amused your early days of innocency. 
 
 " Pe fi fo fum ; 
 I smell the blood of an Englishman ! ' 
 
 The giant's cry is no fiction, but became 
 literal fact in the closing months of the 
 nineteenth century anno domini ! 
 
 A leading novelist makes one of his 
 characters say, " A foreign land will make 
 old bones of a man without the aid of 
 years," but amid the untold horrors of 1900 
 here was an element which made us feel 
 young once more. We were children again 
 by the old fireside, asking, " Mother, is that 
 all true ? Was the giant real ? And did 
 he really and truly talk like that? " Thus 
 did an extravagant sentence in Chinese 
 type awaken memories of an old home, 
 which home, in its turn, aroused emotions 
 
aVMANlTY IN BUNDLES 57 
 
 in connection with the home-land — emotions 
 which we recognise by the word patriotic. 
 
 The question remains as to whether the 
 Chinese may not by any process of educa- 
 tion become patriotic in the sense that we 
 claim to be. A partial answer is given by 
 I. T. Headland, who says, "It is one 
 characteristic of the young reformers of 
 China that they develop a patriotism which 
 is akin to that of the West." Accepting that 
 as a fact, let us ask whence young China 
 learnt its reform principles and attendant 
 patriotism. Surely from the "West. And 
 so the whole answer to our question is Just 
 this : " The Chinese may in time adopt 
 true patriotic sentiments, but such Chinese 
 patriotism must be imported from abroad." 
 
To us the life (of the Middle Ages) seems dull, and we 
 can hardly realise getting through the wet days. 
 . . . But it had the great advantage of making 
 the men who were born to it accept existence 
 with the acquiescence of a sluggish philosophy. 
 It made them welcome, as excitements they 
 might almost be grateful for, what we are in 
 the habit of regarding as the " horrors " of those 
 times. — Blackwood's Magazine, 1879. 
 
 ss 
 
CHAPTEE V 
 
 DEAD-LEVELS 
 
 The process of huddling together is, in 
 the long run, inimical to individual 
 development, though it may be a necessary 
 condition during certain incipient stages — 
 which apothegm may be illustrated by 
 reference to the common practice of rice- 
 cultivation in China. 
 
 First of all the seed is sown closely 
 together in a little plot, and soon grows up 
 into a miniature field of dazzling emerald. 
 But were it to remain thus, there would be 
 little individual development among the 
 rice-plants, and therefore a very small 
 sum-total of grain from the whole. If 
 China has become a notable example of 
 
60 CHINA UNDBB THE SEABGH-LIGHT 
 
 arrested development, it has been largely 
 due to the mechanical or social huddling 
 together of the populace inhabiting her 
 riverine neighbourhoods. There are too 
 many to the square mile literally, and the 
 crowds of individuals are much too closely 
 connected socially.. They need planting out. 
 Once, in days of yore, China much re- 
 sembled ancient Greece in all but serrated 
 coastline. Her fourteen larger states, based 
 upon so many original tribes, were separated 
 by rivers and mountains, and developed 
 under the conditions of vigorous rivalry. 
 It was then that China produced her sages, 
 her classics, and her individuals. This was 
 in the period b.c. 1122-221, since which 
 she became a nation, but soon ceased to 
 be a nation of individuals. From that time 
 China, as a whole, has ceased to create, 
 and has devoted her energies to the fine art 
 of imitation. In religious matters she has 
 evolved her Taoism by this method. 
 Taoism is professedly based on the philo- 
 
DHAD-LEVEL8 61 
 
 Sophie musings of the Emerson of ancient 
 China, Lao-tzu, the Venerable Philosopher, 
 but in its later form is really a native 
 modification of the Buddhism imported at 
 various times during the earlier centuries 
 A.D. In literary matters she has expended 
 her energies in polishing and smoothing 
 down existing attainments. And as to the 
 populace, innocent of ideals religious or 
 literary, we are reminded of a small boy 
 with a copy well-written at the top of the 
 page, who first copies it, and then copies 
 his own writing line after line to the bottom 
 of the page. A like phenomenon has been 
 manifested in China on a big scale, and 
 with a like result. 
 
 With us the prayer " Eemember not the 
 offences of our forefathers " is an expression 
 of much that concerns our national life 
 from Monday to Saturday, from January 
 to December, and from generation to genera- 
 tion. It is the progressive instinct em- 
 bodied in a petition. 
 
62 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 The words are not a prayer for ancestors, 
 as many Chinese familiar with the translated 
 Book of Common Prayer somewhat naturally 
 construe them. They indicate, on the one 
 hand, a recognition of that family solidarity 
 now covered by the word heredity ; but, on 
 the other hand, are the outcome of a desire 
 to improve on the generations of the past — a 
 desire which is diametrically opposed to all 
 that is involved in the ancestral worship of 
 China. The Chinese literally worship the 
 preceding generation, and own themselves 
 its inferiors — with a tendency to become 
 such. And thus is ancestral worship, which 
 drew forth such a solemnly eloquent para- 
 graph from Carlyle, and which, as he says, 
 should make audible the pulsings of the 
 worshipper's soul, if he have any soul — thus 
 is ancestral worship the very death-knell of 
 progress. And even if, as some have argued, 
 it were indeed harmless from a religious 
 point of view, its down-dragging tendency 
 is manifestly such as to call for its super- 
 
DEAD-LEVMLS 63 
 
 session from national considerations. No 
 natiort where it is generally practised can 
 be in anything but a down-grade condition. 
 
 To the learned, ancestral worship not only 
 involves reverence for the nearer progenitors 
 of the worshipper, but for the dead past of 
 custom and social condition under which 
 remoter ancestors lived ; and to the com- 
 mon people it means a disclaimer of any 
 effort to rise superior to " the offences of 
 our forefathers." And thus is produced a 
 social and national dead-level of malarious 
 bog-land, where, as evening shades close 
 around, the will-o'-the-wisp fires dangle 
 and dance. Originality is found, not in 
 character and achievement which may rise 
 above the ordinary, but in the superstitions 
 which haunt and flash above the general 
 bog. 
 
 It is amid such dead-levels that the life 
 of China's millions is lived out year by 
 year, until submission to the inevitable 
 has assumed the proportions of a national 
 
64 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 characteristic. With no such hope as that 
 "Whatever is is best," the man's whole 
 environment has become identified with 
 Fate, and the Chinese have become fatalists 
 with a surrender to circumstances which 
 may well surprise a resident from the West. 
 
 A Confucian scholar, engaged as pundit 
 to an Englishman, had a remarkably clever 
 son who had taken his literary degree in his 
 early teens. And the proud father felt, what 
 he would not admit in so many words, that 
 his son would by and by develop into a still 
 more distinguished personage than himself, 
 and would " glorify the ancestral branch " 
 even more than he professed to have done. 
 Already had the youth exceeded his father's 
 fondest hopes, and the outlook was in every 
 way an ideal one. 
 
 But in process of time the young man fell 
 ill. His complaint was readily curable by 
 Western methods, and there was a skilled 
 Western doctor at hand, whose services 
 could have been secured for the asking. 
 
DEAD-LEVELS 66 
 
 After a considerable delay, and with due 
 apologies to his ancestors who had used no 
 such means, the doctor was called in, and 
 prescribed two kinds of medicine which were 
 to be taken at intervals. As a compromise 
 with his ancestors the father administered 
 but one kind, which happened to be the less 
 potent of the two, and for want of the 
 second the patient died. Next morning the 
 father came as usual to give his lesson, and 
 announced his bereavement by saying that 
 the decrees of Fate were inexorable, and 
 that the virtuous man ever submitted to 
 them without a murmur. Otherwise the 
 loss was as keenly felt as it would have 
 been among ourselves. For a month later, 
 when the pundit was asked to copy out a 
 text of Scripture he had never seen before, 
 the words " gave his only begotten Son " 
 were blotted with falling tears. The Con- 
 fucian Stoic was a human being still. 
 
 We have reason to suspect that much 
 of the stoical bearing of the more highly 
 
66 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 trained is assumed with the silken jacket 
 in which the gentry pay their morning calls, 
 and thrown ofi with that Jacket on their 
 return home. For in general matters the 
 literati are sensitive to an extreme ; and 
 their efforts to " consume their own smoke," 
 as Tyndall would have put it, can only 
 increase that habitual sensitiveness. All 
 such theories as seem to Hft them above the 
 passions common to humanity are, as has 
 been hinted, worn outside the personality 
 itself. 
 
 Nor is it in human nature to submit for 
 long together with full acquiescence in such 
 restrictions in general matters as those 
 which form the subject of this chapter. 
 The caged lark, however well domesticated 
 it may seem to be, flutters against the bars 
 now and then. The study of ancient 
 literature, with its possibilities of material 
 rewards to the few who excel, is itself an 
 attempt to soar beyond the dead-levels of 
 life. And the common people seek to 
 
DEAD-LEVELS 67 
 
 escape the monotony of life in various 
 ways. 
 
 A phrase which we can best translate as 
 " noisy excitement " embodies one of the 
 cherished ideals of the populace. And 
 Buddhism had to assume a highly coloured 
 form before it found acceptation to any 
 general extent among the masses of China. 
 And nowadays the Chinese seem quite 
 unaware that the system of Shih-chia- 
 mou-ni (Sakyamuni) ever contained such 
 a dreary condition as that of Nirvana. So 
 far as Nirvana can be regarded as a state 
 to be enjoyed after death (rather than a 
 condition of present possibility — and it 
 seems to have meant both) it has long been 
 replaced by the Western Paradise. And 
 those few who have heard of Nir^an 
 (Nirvana) at all imagine it to be the name 
 of a place in India. 
 
 Nor is Buddha himself the object of much 
 worship. That has long been transferred 
 to Euan-yin, the Virgin goddess who brings 
 
68 CEINA UNDEB THE SEABGH-LIGHT 
 
 sons to her suppliants among the women 
 of China. Both of which innovations, as 
 could be shown at length, being largely 
 helped into being by early Nestorian teach- 
 ings concerning the Christian heaven and 
 the Mother of the Christ, when Nestorian 
 missionaries from the West and Buddhist 
 refugees from northern India met and 
 fraternised in Tibet, previous to their 
 Chinese campaign of the seventh century 
 A.D., and following a general decadence of 
 orthodox Buddhism in China. 
 
 So far from Chinese Buddhism finding 
 its goal in Nirvana, the worship of Kuan- 
 yin on the part of the sonless women of 
 China has for its outlook a hoped-for escape 
 from the Nirvana of nonentity, for a young 
 bride is almost a nonentity until she has 
 fulfilled the one acknowledged purpose of 
 existence and has borne a son. That event 
 alone raises her to the rank of an individual. 
 
 Then as to the Chinese love of excite- 
 ment generally : a rude theatrical stage is 
 
DEAD-LEVELS 69 
 
 erected in some country place, and over 
 distances incredible and narrow field-banks 
 innumerable, troops of tiny-footed women 
 and girls converge in little processions 
 toward the crowded hillock. And even 
 such a small event as that of a relative 
 arriving from a Village a few miles away is 
 often greeted by such excitement that the 
 uninitiated might imagine a riot to be 
 taking place. With the inflammability of 
 long-dried faggots the Chinese populace 
 catch fire on all possible occasions. 
 
 When festive events are scarce and life 
 unendurably stagnant, a pot of the crudest 
 samshoo may be brought into requisition. 
 And the wonder is that the percentage of 
 opium-smokers everywhere is not still larger 
 than observation proves it to be. 
 
 The lad who has the making of a scholar 
 in him is likely to be of finer grain than the 
 rest, and to possess more latent capacities 
 for realising the monotony of existence. 
 And for such instincts Confucian study 
 
70 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 seems to provide an outlet, though that 
 outlet is often -^nore apparent than real. 
 For years of drudgery are necessary before 
 the hieroglyphics of yore are even known by 
 name. Then follows the task of memorising 
 the entire contents of every book which he 
 studies. And only when boyhood is all but 
 gone is there any initiation into the mean- 
 ing of the whole. Nor is the task ended at 
 this stage. It has only begun. For the out- 
 look of classical study is to have at one's 
 fingers' ends an antique style modelled 
 upon that of twenty centuries ago, in a 
 language which the ancients never spoke, 
 and which would never have been under- 
 stood by the disciples of Confucius had the 
 Master conversed in such terse sentences. 
 Imagine the New Testament and English 
 History to be only procurable in a style like 
 that of Latin telegrams, with a Latin com- 
 mentary here and there, and you will gain 
 some idea of the literature of China, apart 
 from the forbidding hieroglyphics. 
 
DEAD-LEVELS 71 
 
 Yet in the hands of a ready writer this 
 apparently impossible dialect has capacities 
 of a style which shall be at once har- 
 monious, delicate, and strenuous. In 
 Chinese phraseology, the ideal essay 
 possesses the complementary elements of 
 " flowers and fire." 
 
 From the days when the Empire became 
 such under the masterful and unscrupulous 
 prowess of an ancient Napoleon of the Far 
 East, some of the archaic ultra-tersities of 
 the classics and historical books disappear, 
 and a band of brilliant essayists enrich the 
 national library to such purpose that the 
 Western student ceases to wonder that 
 Chinese pride finds its chief justification in 
 the literary style of its tissue-paper tomes. 
 
 As on the walls of our own National 
 Gallery, so on the walls of the Chinese 
 Hall of Literature are inscribed the words : 
 " The works of those who have stood the 
 test of ages have a claim to that respect 
 and veneration to which no modern can 
 
72 CHINA UNDEB THE 8EABCH-LI0HT 
 
 pretend." And so the Chinese National 
 Gallery of Literature is daily crowded with 
 copyists who may venture to hope, amid 
 much despondency, to compose and treat 
 old themes for themselves by and by in 
 such a manner as to gain that highest 
 award of complimentary phraseology, " a 
 disciple of antiquity." 
 
 Among the crowd of ignorant and un- 
 learned country-folk, the Confucian scholar, 
 whatever his attainments, must necessarily 
 shine forth a genius of almost superhuman 
 calibre. For is he not a man of nightly 
 converse with the ghostly Sages who forces 
 them to yield up their sublime secrets ? 
 And should his scholarship be solid and the 
 fates propitious, he may tower above the 
 townsmen, too, as a qualified graduate 
 and mandarin, with rulership over five or 
 ten cities as his hardly-earned reward. 
 
 Contrasted with the masses, then, he 
 becomes a GruUiver among the Lilliputians ; 
 but contrasted with the ancients in his 
 
DEAD-LEVELS 78 
 
 mental outlook, he is as Gulliver among 
 the Brobdingnags. He has escaped one 
 dead-level to fall immeasurably below 
 another. 
 
Its immense error lies in the assumption that what 
 was once true is true for ever ; and that a 
 relation of ruler and ruled which was possible 
 and good at one time is possible and good for 
 all time. — Herbert Spencer, "Study of Sociology," 
 p. 36. 
 
 Be not the first by whom the new is tried, 
 Nor yet the last to cast the old aside. 
 
 Pope on " Criticism," line 335. 
 
 74 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 EUTS 
 
 In our initial visit to Shanghai we saw 
 a countryman staring at foreign sights and 
 inventions, and a Chinese urchin smoking 
 a foreign cigarette, and may now proceed 
 to study them as types of two classes, the 
 one somewhat mystified by foreign ways, 
 and the other manifestly " emancipated " 
 and imitative. 
 
 If we follow the advice of the Leviathan 
 of Letters, and 
 
 " Let observation, with extensive view, 
 Survey mankind from China to Peru," 
 
 we shall probably be struck with the fact 
 that humanity is readily divisible into two 
 
 75 
 
76 CHINA UNDEB TEE 8EAB0H-LIGHT 
 
 classes : first, those in a rut, and, second, 
 those not in a rut ; and feel also that the 
 first class is further divisible into two sub- 
 classes : those who wish to be pulled out 
 of the rut, and those who desire no such 
 thing. 
 
 The countryman gazing at yon liberal 
 allowance of telegraph and telephone wires 
 is awaking to the fact that he has lived his 
 life stuck in a rut — a respectable rut doubt- 
 less, by reason of the multitudes stuck 
 therein, but a rut nevertheless. 
 
 Now he is a simple countryman, and 
 ready to acknowledge with his lips what 
 is passing in his mind. And having won- 
 dered awhile whether it is orthodox in a 
 foreign street to cry "Excellent ! " or safe, 
 with that Sikh policeman so near, to cry 
 " Ocean fiend ! " he splits the difference by 
 uttering the monosyllable " Ch'iao ! " which 
 translates into our trisyllable " Marvellous ! " 
 And thus saying, he confesses that he and 
 his have been in a rut for ages. 
 
BUT8 77 
 
 Not SO some smarter men. A native 
 who first saw a steamer at the mouth of 
 the Canton river years ago, refused to 
 express the astonishment he felt, and 
 calmly remarked, " My got plenty more 
 all same inside " — in the interior, that is, 
 before Chinese waters were opened up to 
 Western trade. And that sturdy Hunanese, 
 Admiral P'eng Yii-hn, whose prowess in 
 Mid-China battles with the Taipings brought 
 him to the front, gives us in his work 
 China's Indulgence toward Foreigners quite 
 an elaborate dissertation on the unorig- 
 inality of foreign inventions, in which 
 utterances the (unconscious) humour is 
 almost as delicate as in that sublime 
 fiction of Charles Lamb, A Dissertation 
 on Boast Pig. 
 
 He says: "Our philosopher Mo-stu 
 [fourth and fifth centuries b.c] , who dis- 
 cusses transmutations, is the founder of 
 Chemistry. What our ancient books say 
 of hairs and strings, their weight, &c., is 
 
78 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIQET 
 
 the beginning of the science of Mechanics, 
 What they say about two lights meeting 
 and forming an image on a mirror is the 
 beginning of the science of Optics. Our 
 philosopher Kang Tsang-tzii says water is 
 the refuse of the earth ; vapour is the refuse 
 of water, and therefore is the founder of the 
 science of Steam. Our classic, the I King, 
 says there is a divine force in the earth, 
 and that when wind and thunder arise the 
 * dew ' faUs ; this is the science of Elec- 
 tricity. Moreover, our Kuan Yin-tzu says 
 that fire arises from striking one stone 
 against another ; that thunder and light- 
 ning arise from gases which can be made 
 artificially. Our Huai Nan-tzii [died B.C. 
 122] says that yellow earth, blue crystal, 
 red cinnabar, white jade, and black stone, 
 every year produce quicksilver. What is 
 above the fountain of the earth is cloud, 
 what results from intercourse of the yin 
 and yang principles is thunder; their clash- 
 ing produces lightning. Heat earth and 
 
BUT8 79 
 
 we get wood, heat wood and we get fire, 
 heat fire and we get clouds, heat clouds 
 and we get water, heat the water and we 
 get earth again. Thus we in China dis- 
 cuss electricity very minutely. Now, these 
 intelligent Western scholars took this 
 teaching and developed it, and own that 
 they cannot surpass what is recorded in 
 Chinese books. But Chinese scholars, un- 
 acquainted with their own philosophers of 
 yore, are foolish enough, when they see 
 some strange thing used by foreigners, 
 to think of it as new ! " 
 
 And further on : " Do not think that 
 the foreigner is truly skilled ; it is the 
 Chinese who most excels in these skilful 
 things after all " — the skilful things 
 specially referred to being torpedoes, tele- 
 phones, machinery, and locomotives — 
 "only that he does not care for them.^' 
 Which utterance can only be excelled by 
 a Chinese at Tientsin, some years ago, 
 who, pointing to the telegraph wires, said 
 
80 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 to a missionary, " Have you got these 
 Chinese things in your country?" 
 
 The man in a rut who does not want 
 to be pulled out of his rut, gives as an 
 all-sufficient reason that he was never in 
 a rut at all. It needs some percentage 
 of knowledge to reveal one's own ignor- 
 ance. 
 
 Beading between the lines of that sturdy 
 statesman just quoted, we may see, how- 
 ever, that it is the word " Foreigner " 
 which is the crux of the whole difficulty. 
 P'eng Yii-lin was an undoubted patriot, 
 and there are many in China of all ranks 
 and grades who, though not patriots, yet 
 have sufficient national feeling to say, 
 "Let us be pulled out of our rut by all 
 means, but not by the foreigner." For 
 on a return from any foreign treaty port 
 they quote the foreigner as a somewhat 
 masterful personage, as one who, added to 
 his mastery of the applied sciences and 
 arts, seems to claim a certain amount of 
 
BUTS 81 
 
 mastery over men — "else how did he get 
 his treaty port, and how has he retained 
 it ? Did not the illustrious founder of the 
 Ming dynasty and builder of Nanking say, 
 'It is the birthright of the Chinese to 
 govern foreign peoples, and not for these 
 latter to rule in China ' ? And in his treaty 
 port the foreigner manifestly rules, and 
 feels it Ms birthright to do so." And this 
 difference of opinion, natural on both sides, 
 is the cause of much suppressed heart- 
 burning — suppressed until opportunity 
 comes for utterance, an utterance which 
 may be somewhat explosive at times. 
 
 Even an enlightened official like H. E. 
 Chang Chih-tung (Viceroy of Hupeh and 
 Hunan), who has introduced ironworks, 
 arsenal, cotton and silk mills, who employs 
 foreigners and is in no sense their servant, 
 has had to bear much popular obloquy, and 
 has been nicknamed " Foreigners' Slave " 
 even by neighbours and relatives of thou- 
 sands who gain lucrative employment at 
 
82 CHINA UNDER THE 8EABGH-LIGHT 
 
 these " foreign " works. For there is ever 
 the lurking suspicion that where foreign 
 inventions are the order of the day, the 
 foreigner's rule is not far behind. 
 
 Others see the advantage of foreign in- 
 ventions, but feel that either the foreigner's 
 religion, or his want of it, are inseparably 
 connected with the adoption of such inven- 
 tions. As to the foreigner's religion, the 
 missionaries are proclaiming it everywhere ; 
 and as to his want of religion, a native 
 paper of Shanghai says (July 18, 1900): 
 "Foreigners who come to China completely 
 lose the religion and restraints they re- 
 ceived in their own lands. They walk 
 disorderly without compunction, and ridi- 
 cule everything" — words which are given 
 as one argument out of many why " China 
 cannot be Egyptianised." 
 
 There remains a class of Chinese to 
 whom the word "Western" has undoubted 
 attractions. They quote antiquity in sup- 
 port of their predilection for things from 
 
BUT8 83 
 
 the West. " West " from of old has been 
 a word to conjure with. The character 
 itself is an auspicious one. Its prominence 
 among Chinese characters, and its occur- 
 rence in certain combinations, point to 
 that region as the early home of the race. 
 Confucius is reported to have prophesied 
 the advent of a Sage in the West. Budd- 
 hism was accepted largely owing to the 
 fact that it came from the West. And 
 everywhere where the missionary has pene- 
 trated the fame of Western medicine is 
 great among the populace. So much so, 
 indeed, that a charlatan who puts up a 
 signboard labelled " Chinese and Western 
 Physician," even though, as in one case, 
 he be a runaway water - carrier with a 
 broken injection needle as his sole stock 
 in trade, will succeed for a while in com- 
 manding respect and in earning a living. 
 
 Then, certain advantages of foreign 
 citizenship are duly recognised, as, for in- 
 stance, that foreigners do not have to kneel 
 
84 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 in their courts of law, neither are they as 
 witnesses subject to torture. And so, a 
 few years ago, some clever swindler an- 
 nounced that he had foreign "B.A." 
 buttons (!) for sale at a low figure, which 
 would secure for their purchasers the 
 above - mentioned privileges. And his 
 dupes were many. 
 
 There are popular indications, then, that 
 many would like to be pulled out of their 
 rut, yes, and adopt foreign ways, if there 
 were no foreign control mixed up in the 
 matter. Was not the Emperor Kuang 
 Hsii an illustrious instance of this before 
 the coup d'dtat of 1898 ? 
 
 " The desire for foreign goods, toys, and 
 inventions very early reached the child 
 Kuang Hsii, and became a passion with 
 him. . . . Phonographs, telephones, gramo- 
 phones, graphophones, &c., were purchased 
 for him, presented to him, or bought by 
 him. . . . Then, later, he took up the 
 study of the English language . . . pur- 
 
BUTS 85 
 
 chased copies of both Old and New 
 Testaments and all kinds of foreign books 
 which had been translated into Chinese 
 (eighty-seven, indeed, of the publications 
 of the Christian Literature Society for 
 China). These books embraced such topics 
 as international law, political economy, 
 chemistry, physics, botany, astronomy, 
 mathematics, medicine and kindred topics, 
 together with all phases of Christianity 
 now preached or taught in the Middle 
 Kingdom." He even " borrowed " the 
 medical books of the wife of the writer 
 of the above quotation. And, under an 
 enlightened rule, such liberal-minded in- 
 vestigation would soon become fashionable, 
 as the summer months of 1898 proved, 
 when Eeform was in the air. 
 
 Then there is a class of Chinese who 
 readily take the colour of any new sur- 
 roundings. Their imitative instincts are 
 highly developed. One of the best-known 
 facts about the Chinese is that a tailor 
 
86 CHINA UNDEB THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 will copy a foreigner's coat, patches and 
 all. And many of the Chinese in* the 
 treaty ports learn to clothe themselves in 
 foreign ways, to put on a metaphorical 
 coat copied from the foreigner, patches 
 and all. Yet, as a thoughtful writer has 
 observed, " Imitation is the first principle 
 of progress." The races which are not 
 imitative are fast dying out, while those 
 which have learned to imitate more pro- 
 gressive races, have themselves learned 
 progress — a progress which will not long 
 remain at the imitative stage. 
 
There is a kind of Natural Selection in religion ; the 
 creed which is best adapted to the mental world 
 wUl invariably prevail ; and the mental world is 
 being gradually prepared for the reception of 
 higher and higher forms of religious hfe. — Win- 
 wood Beade, " The Martyrdom of Man." 
 
 The spiritual freedom which Christ came to give 
 consists in moral force, in self-control, in the 
 enlargement of thought and affection, and in the 
 unrestrained action of our best powers. — Ghan- 
 ning, Sermon on " Spiritual Freedom." 
 
CHAPTEE VII 
 
 THE "native FOEEIGNER" 
 
 In our walk along Shanghai Bund, we saw 
 a gentleman whom a new-comer might at 
 first sight mistake for a Chinese, but who 
 on closer inspection proved to be a foreigner 
 in native dress, hence known among the 
 Chinese as the " Native Foreigner." This 
 witty Chinese phrase he is disposed to take 
 as a compliment, indicating as it does his 
 disposition to meet the Chinese half-way, 
 and not to make Westerners of them, 
 though his aim is to see them Christianised. 
 He is of course a missionary. 
 
 All missionaries do not adopt the native 
 dress, but those who do not, yet clothe 
 themselves with those motives which the 
 
90 CHINA UNDBB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 native dress symbolises. And perhaps it 
 is not saying too much to affirm that all 
 missionaries to China have to make up 
 their minds toward a loosening of certain 
 links which bound them to the society of 
 their countrymen. That they have to be 
 geographically severed from home is a 
 condition which they share in common 
 with their other countrymen in the Far 
 Bast, and goes without saying ; but that 
 they will be the subjects of a certain 
 amount of criticism from those fellow- 
 countrymen of theirs, both at home and 
 on the spot, is a certainty which they 
 accept together with the rest of their lot in 
 coming to China. The man before us is a 
 fairly well criticised man. 
 
 Imagining our visit to Shanghai to have 
 been in the late summer of 1900, when the 
 various warships and gunboats were mak- 
 ing the phenomenon of " Jack ashore " one 
 of the commonest elements of the season, 
 we may have overheard a bluejacket (albeit 
 
TEE "NATIVE FOBEIGNEB" 91 
 
 in white) saying to his chum concerning 
 the personage in the long robe and pigtail, 
 " That's the fellow that's been kicking up 
 all this fuss. If it weren't for him we 
 shouldn't be here." A specimen statement, 
 which, like most missionary criticisms, 
 opens up a wide field of inquiry. And as 
 we are now of an inquiring turn of mind, 
 let us try and examine the missionary de 
 novo, carefully eliminating any special 
 pleading for or against the man and his 
 doings. And let us attack the subject in 
 the form of question and answer, utilising 
 in our answers a quotation or two from 
 writers who may strike us as being as free 
 from prejudice as is possible for genus homo, 
 species writer, to be. And, to be more 
 than fair to the other side, let us abstain 
 from citing texts of Scripture which the 
 missionary might quote as his supreme 
 justification. 
 
 The first question is : Why need he be 
 here at all? Let us put that question to 
 
92 CHINA UNDEB TEE SEABGH-LIGHT 
 
 the man himself, under the limitations just 
 laid down. 
 
 He replies, " Because I could not help it." 
 
 How is that ? 
 
 " Because I felt within my life a Power 
 which has changed that life, — a Power so 
 great that I have no doubt that it is 
 adequate to change any number of other 
 lives anywhere, in time. And not only do 
 I as an individual feel that Power, but 
 England has felt it as a whole more or less." 
 
 And he refers us to a scrap of print in 
 his pocket-book, which says that a certain 
 learned divine, preaching before the Univer- 
 sity of Cambridge in 1575, remarks that 
 "before the preaching of the G-ospel in 
 Britain, no church existed but the temple 
 of an idol; no priesthood but that of 
 paganism ; no God but the sun, the moon, 
 or some hideous image. To the savage 
 rites of the Druidical worship succeeded 
 the abominations of a degenerate Eoman 
 idolatry. In Scotland stood the temple of 
 
THE "NATIVE FOBEIGNEB" 93 
 
 Mars ; in Cornwall, the temple of Mercury ; 
 at Bangor, the temple of Minerva ; at 
 Maiden, the temple of Victoria ; at Bath, 
 the temple of Apollo; at Leicester, the 
 temple of Janus ; at York, where St. 
 Peter's now stands, the temple of Bellona ; 
 in London, on the site of St. Paul's 
 Cathedral, the temple of Diana; and at 
 Westminster, where the abbey rears its 
 venerable pile, a temple of Apollo." 
 
 He tells us, moreover, that our question, 
 ''Why need you go at all ? " was doubtless 
 put to St. Augustine and those who pre- 
 ceded him. And as to St. Patrick, we 
 have it in his own words (Confession, §15), 
 " Whence came to me . . . that I should 
 leave country and parents, and many of the 
 gifts which were offered to me with weeping 
 and tears ? It was not my grace, but God 
 who conquered in me . . . ; so that I came 
 to the Irish peoples to preach the G-ospel." 
 
 "And," adds the missionary, "to leave 
 the Chinese where they are, would be to 
 
94 CHINA UNDEB TEE SEABGH-LIGHT 
 
 show a lack of appreciation for the forces 
 which have rescued us from heathenism, 
 and made the difference between Queen 
 Victoria and the Empress Dowager. Until 
 we are prepared to return to the worship 
 of the sun on Sunday, the moon on 
 Monday, Tiu on Tuesday, Woden, Thor, 
 Friga, and the Eoman Saturnus, it is natural 
 that we should try and bring to others the 
 benefits of a Christian civilisation which 
 has made all the difference between us 
 and the Chinese." 
 
 The missionary's explanation will pro- 
 bably be accepted, though perhaps with a 
 slight reservation as regards his last phrase. 
 He seems to ignore various racial charac- 
 teristics. Some Western lands, moreover, 
 have been marked by certain geographical 
 conditions inviting men sea-wards, and 
 thus tending to bring about interchange 
 of thought among various nations. So 
 that they could not utterly stagnate, even 
 if they had wanted to do so. 
 
THE "NATIVE FOBEIGNEB" 95 
 
 To which the missionary replies that this 
 too was providential, and gave to such 
 nations as the British not only the heri- 
 tage of the seas, but a mission to break in 
 upon the stagnation of sleepy nations 
 beyond the seas. And as to the supreme 
 means of dealing with that stagnation, he 
 bids us remember the triple cross upon 
 our Union Jack, which should never become 
 a mere pictorial delusion like that of the 
 Japanese sun upon the yellow banner of 
 China. 
 
 He also quotes Heinrich Heine as say- 
 ing : ''Why do the British gain foothold 
 in so many lands ? They are demanding, 
 they are founding the great kingdom of 
 the spirit, the kingdom of religious emotions 
 and the love of humanity, of purity, of true 
 morality, which cannot be taught by dog- 
 matic formulas, but by parable and example 
 such as are contained in that beautiful, 
 sacred, educational Book for young and 
 old— the Bible." 
 
96 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 But "east is east and west is west," 
 and it does not necessarily follow that a 
 Gospel which suits the West should also 
 meet the precise needs of the Orient, 
 does it ? 
 
 There is a good-humoured twinkle in the 
 missionary's eye as he listens to our logic. 
 We have obviously forgotten a fact which 
 he himself has had forced upon his memory 
 by his dealings with the Chinese, namely, 
 that the manners and customs of the Bible 
 are Asiatic, that our Lord and His apostles 
 were Asiatics, and that it was an after- 
 thought, and regarded by some as an 
 audacious one, that a certain apostle should 
 set out to evangelise Europe with the same 
 Asiatic G-ospel. And the argument is that 
 what has so acclimatised itself in the West, 
 to the extent that its Oriental origin may 
 be forgotten for fifty-one Sundays out of 
 the fifty-two, may well be expected to be 
 accepted by an Oriental nation after a 
 reasonable " length of time, proper scope 
 
TBE "NATIVE FOBEIGNEB"^ 97 
 
 and opportunities " — to use a phrase of 
 Bishop Butler's. 
 
 But how does it fit in with Confucian 
 ethics ? 
 
 And here the missionary is ready with a 
 reply. He tells us that while no Grospel 
 will fit in with the modern " Confucianism " 
 of conscienceless mandarindom, the points 
 of contact between the Christian Gospel 
 and the general system of Confucian ethics 
 are many ; that the Moral Philosophy 
 taught in our theological colleges is prac- 
 tically Confucian, having for its broad basis 
 the fulfilment of the relations subsisting 
 between man and man — between "prince 
 and statesman, father and son, elder and 
 younger brother, husband and wife, friend 
 and companion," to quote the list as given 
 in the Confucian books. 
 
 He explains that Christianity supplies 
 the sky to the Confucian landscape, and 
 the motive-force to the Confucian me- 
 chanism ; that the Divine forces appro- 
 
 8 
 
98 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIQHT 
 
 priated by penitent faith and constant 
 prayer furnish the necessary impulse and 
 working energy for the whole; providing 
 for the destruction of the bias toward the 
 bad, and the attainment of all things true 
 and noble. 
 
 He tells us that some sort of a Supreme 
 was once recognised in China, and that in 
 China's most ancient dictionary — which is 
 made up of quotations from stiU more 
 ancient authorities — this Supreme is 
 affirmed to be "the producer of all 
 things," and also in a classic already old 
 in the days of Confucius, "the alone 
 Imperial Supreme, Parent of the people." 
 So that the way is prepared for the pro- 
 clamation of the truth that the Supreme 
 is our Heavenly Father. And that when 
 once this truth is accepted by the Chinese, 
 he gains a leverage such as would hardly 
 be available in the West. For in both 
 ancient writings and modern conversation 
 among the Chinese, the two terms filial 
 
TBE "NATIVE FOBEIGNEB" 99 
 
 duty and brotherliness are most prominent 
 ideals and the sine qud non of all things 
 admirable in character and conduct. So 
 that these two terms, so deeply engraven 
 on the Chinese conscience, have only to 
 be lifted (on the one hand) to include the 
 obligations to a Heavenly as well as an 
 earthly parent, and broadened (on the 
 other) into a benevolent interest in the 
 welfare of brother-man, in order that the 
 two prominent elements in the Christian 
 system may flash out as peculiarly Chinese 
 obligations. Thus viewed, Christianity 
 furnishes the acknowledged supplement 
 to the great duties proclaimed by Con- 
 fucius, and, by means of its spiritual 
 energy, not only makes such duties a 
 possibility, but transforms the duty into 
 a joy — as in the every-day life of many 
 a Chinese convert. 
 
 With what success, then, has his Gospel 
 been attended {say) in comparison with 
 Buddhism and Taoism? 
 
100 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 Let H. E. Chang Chih-tung (Viceroy of 
 Hupeh and Hunan) reply. In a book 
 published in 1898, for the perusal of the 
 literati, he says, "The Western religion 
 is daily flourishing; while the two cults 
 (Buddhism and Taoism) are daily declining, 
 and cannot last long. For Buddhism is on 
 its last legs, and Taoism is discouraged 
 because its demons are spiritless." 
 
 What methods has he used then ? 
 
 Preaching, whether in halls or streets or 
 country places ; Healing, whether in well- 
 furnished hospitals or local dispensaries ; 
 Education, whether in colleges or elemen- 
 tary schools; Literature, whether on 
 national subjects for the eyes of the 
 literati, or Scripture translations and 
 Christian booklets generally in language 
 adapted to the populace at large. 
 
 He has dealt, then, with broad national 
 questions ? 
 
 Yes, as Professor Henry Drummond says, 
 " There are two ways in which men who offer 
 
THE "NATIVE FOBEIGNEB" 101 
 
 their lives to their fellow-men may regard 
 the world. The first view is that the world 
 is lost and must be saved; the second, 
 that the world is sunken and must be 
 raised." He sympathises with both views, 
 but his immediate purpose being to repre- 
 sent the latter, he quotes China as "an 
 instance of arrested development. On a 
 fair way to become a higher vertebrate, 
 it has stopped short at the crustacean. . . . 
 The Christianising of such a nation as 
 China is an intricate, ethical, philosophical 
 and social as well as a Christian problem." 
 And so among Chinese missionaries, there 
 are, in his words, " a few Eabbis who will 
 quietly reconnoitre the whole situation, 
 and shape the teaching of the country 
 along well-considered lines. . . . Such is 
 the direct policy of many missionaries, and 
 even of whole societies." Then, urging 
 the need for more of this class, he says, 
 " The missionary who has some philo- 
 sophical training, who knows something of 
 
102 CHINA VNDEB THE SEABCH-LIQHT 
 
 sociology and political economy, and wb 
 will apply these in Christian forms to China 
 is (in addition to existing workers) the mai 
 most needed at the present hour. For i 
 is to be remembered that this is a case c 
 arrested motion, and that the most natura 
 development, certainly the only permanen 
 one, will be one which is a continuation c 
 that already begun, rather than one entire! 
 abnormal and foreign." 
 
 But, what you call sociological question 
 apart, have not the missionaries entangle 
 themselves far too much in political matters 
 Li Hung-chang, for instance, is reported t 
 have said that the raising of the Eoma 
 Catholic missionaries to the grade of of&cial 
 is responsible for the Boxer outbreak. 
 
 As a fact, the Jesuits and the Protestar 
 missionaries in China are two distinc 
 classes, as indeed they are in the West, an 
 would naturally be everywhere. And as the 
 took different ground on the subject ( 
 "official status for missionaries," so the 
 
THE "NATIVE FOBEIGNEB" 103 
 
 adopt different standpoints generally, though 
 happily with little personal feeling on per- 
 haps either side. For in China a man's 
 sympathies must either broaden or shrivel 
 up, and a healthy broadening of sympathy, 
 a cosmopolitan view of things, which need 
 involve no sacrifice of principle, seems to be 
 prevalent. 
 
 The difiering relations which the two 
 orders of missionaries sustain toward their 
 respective governments will be readily in- 
 ferred from two utterances from those best 
 qualified to speak on the subject. 
 
 M. Pichon, as a deputy, was a Eadical 
 and a strong anti-clerical ; as a Minister in 
 China he has been the best friend of the 
 clericals, declaring that "our missionaries 
 in China are the best workers for the influ- 
 ence of France" (North China Herald, 13th 
 October, 1900). Whereas Lord Salisbury, in 
 his classical utterance on Protestant mis- 
 sions, says : " Missionaries are not popular 
 at the Foreign Office." And the Chinese 
 
104 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 everywhere are shrewd enough to have 
 found out that the relation of Jesuit or 
 other Father in China is much nearer than 
 that of any Protestant missionary to the 
 government of his native land. 
 
 And now for a burning question of the 
 day, and of many a day to come : What 
 share had the missionary in the great upset 
 of 1900? 
 
 The answer in brief is that he is both a 
 reformer and a foreigner, and obnoxious to 
 the ruling Manohu clique on both these 
 counts. This reply will be the clearer on 
 consideration of a brief statement of the 
 inner history of the tragedy of 1900, which 
 cannot be considered a national movement 
 so much as a plot of the ruling Manchu, the 
 young Emperor excepted. 
 
 China is an ambiguous term which 
 includes three distinct elements: (1) the 
 Manchu Government; (2) the Mandarins; 
 (3) the Chinese populace. 
 
 (1) The Manchu Government is foreign. 
 
TEE "NATIVE FOBEIONEB" 105 
 
 and universally recognised by the Chinese 
 as such. This is illustrated by a prohibited 
 book, widely circulated in manuscript, en- 
 titled Push Him Out! The basis of the 
 work is a series of picture prophecies pro- 
 fessing to date from a.d. 643, which are 
 interpreted with modern applications. And 
 one of these pictures, in modern editions of 
 the work, represents a Chinese lad (young 
 China) pushing out a Manohu warrior. The 
 situation would be paralleled if we could 
 imagine Eussia to be ruled by Finland. 
 
 This foreign Government is jealous of 
 both Native Eeform and of Western in- 
 fluence generally — in all of which it sees its 
 own existence menaced. Its leading spirit 
 has been the Empress Dowager, an adven- 
 turess of genius, who, in September, 1898, 
 set aside the young Emperor, killed many of 
 his friends the Chinese Eeformers, and then, 
 on November 5th of the same year, issued an 
 edict for the formation of Volunteer Corps 
 (as the "Boxers" have always been officially 
 
106 CHINA UNDEB THE SBABCH-LIGHT 
 
 termed) in all parts of the Empire, " to turn 
 the whole realm into an armed camp in 
 case of need." This edict was only taken 
 seriously in the northern provinces, among 
 existing Volunteer Leagues (described at 
 length by a writer in The Chinese Becorder 
 some years before). They were anti-Man- 
 ohu, but were bought over and vigorously 
 fostered by Manchu officials in high places, 
 who had been substituted for Chinese man- 
 darins for that very purpose. 
 
 These preparations having been effected, 
 an edict was issued, June 17, 1900, order- 
 ing the destruction of all foreign property 
 by fire, and the extermination of all Western 
 foreigners and their Christian adherents by 
 torture. This had been suggested by a 
 Manchu adventurer named Yung Lu, in 
 writing, early in the year. Two Chinese 
 patriots at Court, since executed as traitors 
 by being sawn asunder at the waist, made 
 bold to reverse certain words of the edict to 
 "strenuously protect," before sending copies 
 
9q(j JO aouongui aqfj uaeq s-Bq Suojijs og 
 
 •OiST JO 
 eio'BSS'Bin nis!^u9ij, aq:} eonis j9A8 'aonepiA 
 o<\ Suuji!|s ui pepeaoons neqi^ pn'B m.ou ii9A9 
 S'Bq 'sSutpgpnn jraq!^ pn'B suu'Bpu'Bni 9q!j 
 ■qSnojq!:^ '!jn9nrai9A0-9 ni{on'Bj\[ 9q!^ qoiq^w 
 !}n9ni9|9 u'B — 9J!^n90 qSxbi iCi9A9 UI spuoq 
 --bSba pu'e sgipAioj Suiurecfnoo i^nq '90'B9d 
 ut p99J[q pn'B p99j 0^ Sxiuisap pn'B 'soi(^ipd 
 JO J Ql'\m Snii'BO 'go-BpiJod asgniqQ qx{j^ (g) 
 
 ■aauSraioj uj[9!}S9^ 9q!j 
 JO noi!f'Bt[iTnJ9p9 QX['\ jcoj J9uSi9ioj-nqon'Bj\[ 
 9q!^ JO etcrgqos 9q!} dn 95['B!^ O!} p9!^09tS9U 9A'Bq 
 (s!^oip9 P9SJ9A9I 9q!^ yfq p9dpq) pn'B ''BntqQ 
 JO 90'B9d aq!^ JOj snx[% pn'B 'noi!^nqiJ!^9j; nj9 
 
 -!^S97^ mOJJ ^!^9J'BS UM.0 XIQ^^ JOJ p9:jO'B 9A'Bq 
 
 tfi-Bd j9!}'B9jS 9q!^ joj pn'B '9S9niqQ iiCjijsoni 9J'B 
 9S9qj, "s^!^'BI!^SIS■B^I xo '8nu'Bpn'B|\[ 9qj| (5) 
 
 •S!J0ip9 
 
 p9J9(q'Bnn 9S9q:^ o'\ 9on9i:p9qo !^09Jip ui 
 p9!j'Bi!}9dj9d nagq gA-eq ^9q!^ 'paiinooo 9A'Bq 
 
 S9T!J100I!^'B 9J9q^ -019^!^ JO 9!}lds Ut p9I9!J|'B 
 
 -nn qSnojq!^ p9SS'Bd q!}ion 9q!} aoj s9idoo 
 <dX['\ {^ng "BUiqQ jo q:jnos pn'B 9J!^n90 aq!^ 0% 
 
 LQl ^nERDmEOd SAIXVN „ SEJ^ 
 
108 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABGH-LIGHT 
 
 Manchu Court indeed, as proved by the 
 various anti-foreign edicts which have come 
 to light, that one marvels at the compara- 
 tive uninflammability of the populace, in 
 not having enacted more tragedies than 
 have already taken place. And one can 
 only guess how few those uprisings against 
 the available foreigner (the missionary far 
 away from gunboat protection) would have 
 been apart from such pressure from high 
 authority. 
 
 But let us content ourselves with the 
 easily proven answer to our question : — The 
 missionaries have had a share in bringing 
 about the upset of 1900, for the reason that 
 they could not but be obnoxious to a Manchu 
 clique which stopped not short at the mur- 
 der of some of the finest men of Mght and 
 leading among the Chinese, and would even 
 depose a Manchu Emperor when he had 
 thrown in his lot with the native reformer 
 and with the missionary from afar — as 
 much of the unpublished history of 1898 
 proves him to have done. 
 
In the German Benaissance designs of the sixteenth 
 century, a not infrequent design is Aristotle 
 ridden by Phillis, whip in hand. And quite 
 commonly in Nuremburg work, a long-bearded 
 man appears ridden by a young woman. — Art 
 Workmanship, vol. i. part 2. 
 
 Eating deadly poison, so as to poison the tiger (whose 
 jaws are feared). — Chinese Proverb, 
 
 no 
 
CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 SOME AOTOES IN THE TEAGEDY OF 1900. 
 
 The condensed statement of the causes of 
 the upset of 1900 with which the previous 
 chapter ended, would seem to invite ex- 
 pansion, especially as the whole series of 
 facts forms a drama as thrilling as any that 
 have been acted during recent centuries 
 upon the great stage whereon all are 
 actors. 
 
 The first scene opens with the introduc- 
 tion of a Manchu girl (born 1835), as 
 imperial attendant into the dissolute Court 
 of the throned debauchee, Hsien F6ng, 
 somewhere in the fifties. The half deified 
 weakling who became her master — but 
 
 whom she was to dominate in the end — 
 
 m 
 
112 CHINA UNDEB TEE SEABCH-LIGET 
 
 is described by contemporary writers as 
 "tottering to his grave, a decrepit, worn- 
 out man of barely thirty years of age " in 
 1861. Yet did not his life stand out in 
 glaring contrast to his environment, for it 
 is generally understood that he had a Court 
 to match. 
 
 During the year of his enthronement 
 began the Taiping rebellion, and his death 
 did not see the end of it ; although in 1855, 
 nine years before its close, this same weak 
 monarch, feeling that the situation was 
 getting desperate, issued an edict declaring 
 that a certain hero of the third century, 
 and one who had been half deified in 1594, 
 had appeared in visible form, had crushed 
 the Taipings, and was therefore to be 
 worshipped as a god indeed throughout 
 the length and breadth of the land. And 
 thus it came to pass China lavished fresh 
 epithets upon her pseudo saviour, applying 
 to him the term most used by Christians 
 of all kinds for the Holy Spirit. Neither 
 
SOME ACTOBS IN THE TBAGEDY OF 1900 113 
 
 was all this in contrast to the times, for 
 the alleged successes of China's " god of 
 war " with the Taipings were on a par with 
 those of his patron, the Son of Heaven, in 
 governing the Empire. 
 
 Measuring her man, the wily slave-girl 
 wormed herself into his good graces, and 
 became the mother of a son whom he 
 nominated as his heir. 
 
 Meanwhile, the insolence and treachery 
 of a certain Imperial Commissioner named 
 Yeh provoked a fresh Western war with 
 China, and in 1860 the combined forces 
 of England and France were thundering 
 at the gates of Peking. The Emperor 
 Hsien Feng fled with his wives and slaves 
 to Jehol in Manchuria, and utterly refused 
 to treat with the " outer barbarians." But 
 a brother of his, one Prince Kung, came to 
 the front, and conducted negotiations with 
 considerable ability and success. 
 
 The Emperor died in exile during the 
 next year (1861), and eight Eegents were 
 
114 CEINA VNDEB T3B SEABCB-LIGHT 
 
 appointed during the minority of the son of 
 the slave-girl. But intrigue and jealousy 
 were rife. They were killed, and the 
 mother of the child made Eegent in their 
 place. And it soon became a proverb at 
 Court that it was no use resisting the 
 young upstart, for she invariably succeeded 
 in everything upon which she set her mind. 
 Her various critics were fain to hold their 
 peace of set purpose, or were constrained 
 to do so by such gentle persuasives as the 
 lictor's rod, the silken cord, or the heads- 
 man's axe. And all the courtiers thought 
 her wise — wise with that particular kind of 
 wisdom in vogue at the Dragon Court. 
 
 In 1864, a certain Governor of Kiangsu 
 (the province in which Shanghai is situ- 
 ated), one Li Hung-chang, who had 
 " employed some foreigners " in connection 
 with the Taiping rebellion in those parts, 
 claimed the credit of General Gordon's 
 successes, and the Empress Dowager 
 reaped the benefits thereof. It was her 
 
SOME ACTORS IN THE TBAGEDY OF 1900 115 
 
 position which the " ever invincible army " 
 of the foreigner made secure. 
 
 The next event of note was the murder 
 of the French Consul, one or two priests, 
 and nearly a score of sisters of the Eomish 
 Foundling Home, Tientsin, which building 
 was burnt by a mob (June 20, 1870). 
 
 Two accounts are given of the occur- 
 rence. A high Chinese statesman (P'eng 
 Yii-lin) says, " In the reign of Hsien F6ng, 
 the French sent missionaries to travel in 
 all directions and to establish churches ; 
 then bad people, under pretext of believing 
 the new doctrine, entered the Church to 
 obtain protection, cheated the country 
 people, tyrannised over the orphans and 
 the weak, debauched men's wives, robbed 
 men of their property; and even when 
 found out, the French missionaries secretly 
 protected them, hid them in their churches, 
 or sent them abroad to foreign countries. 
 The people became highly indignant, rose 
 up en masse, bent on revenge, burnt the 
 
116 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 churches and beat the missionaries (at 
 Nanking and Yangchou), and the Tientsin 
 massacre followed. . . . All this is the 
 fault of one Church — the Eoman Catholics. 
 France alone is bent on Missions. . . . 
 The Franco-German war really began with 
 their religion. Spain says that France has 
 a bad reputation. She has brought it on 
 herself; who else can she blame?" 
 
 For the Tientsin massacre, France and 
 other nations blamed a certain ex-Taiping 
 rebel, Ch'en Kuo-jui, then Imperial general. 
 He was a favourite of Li Hung-ehang and 
 a hater of foreigners. And it happened 
 that the lesser disturbances at Nanking and 
 Yangchou, and the massacre at Tientsin, 
 took place during his residence at the three 
 places. Prince Kung excused him by 
 sajdng, "It was by accident that the 
 General Ch'en Kuo-jui was present at 
 Tientsin. He was sick and on a voyage; 
 he had nothing to do with what took place." 
 But Ch'en boasted that he had very much 
 
SOME ACT0B8 IN THE TBAGEDY OF 1900 117 
 
 indeed to do with the occurrence. And at 
 length the Tsungli Yamfin admitted that he 
 had used " some idle words " Just about 
 the time it took place. Which amounts 
 to a full confession of his share in the 
 deed. 
 
 There was also another actor, one Chung 
 Hou ; his office, Foreign Negotiator (Tao- 
 t'ai, ranking next the Governor of the 
 province); his official salary, £100 per 
 annum; his acknowledged income from 
 bribes and extortions, over £100,000 per 
 annum. And as the Ambassadors pressed 
 for his degradation, he was removed — to a 
 higher office elsewhere. Which has become 
 the custom after later riots. 
 
 When urged to say whether he thought 
 dismissal was a sufficient punishment for 
 those responsible for the lives of some 
 twenty foreigners, Li Hung-chang, who had 
 just been made Viceroy of the province, at 
 length admitted that they were worthy of 
 punishment, but only because a foreign 
 
118 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIQET 
 
 consul had been hilled, not if the sufferers 
 had only been missionaries or traders.* 
 
 As a consul had been killed in this case, 
 what was the punishment meted out to the 
 General Ch'en Kuo-jui, who had boasted 
 that the deed was chiefly his own ? He 
 was received in audience by the Imperial 
 son of the Empress Dowager, and returned 
 to Tientsin as the friend of Li Hung-chang. 
 
 And immediately after, the fan-shops were 
 requisitioned to provide a novel form of 
 comfort for the ensuing summer — to manu- 
 facture thousands of fans whose device was 
 a foreign building in flames, foreigners 
 being killed, and a Chinese mandarin rising 
 from his chair and urging the people on to 
 take their part in the work of merit. (For 
 a reduced facsimile of one of these fans, see 
 The Graphic, November 26, 1870.) The 
 
 * This corresponds with what Li Hung-ohang said 
 in August, 1900, of those imprisoned in the Legation 
 buildings in Peking : " The rest (besides the 
 Ambassadors) do not count — do not count at all." 
 
SOME ACTOBS IN THE TBAGEDY OF 1900 119 
 
 sales were enormous, and a general 
 massacre of foreigners throughout the 
 Empire seemed imminent. 
 
 France was now entangled in the war 
 with Grermany ; and as to the other Powers, 
 " the system of trifling with foreign 
 Ministers " was so successful, that only 
 after a long time were these fans nominally 
 suppressed. 
 
 The Empress Dowager thus learnt an 
 important lesson, namely, that under certain 
 circumstances, foreigners and even foreign 
 officials might be murdered by an officially- 
 stirred mob, and little besides verbal pro- 
 tests would result — a lesson which she 
 treasured up in her heart. And why, after 
 all, should foreigners have more immunity 
 from death than eight Eegents, and others 
 whose slaughter was to follow ? 
 
 In 1874 a party arose whose purpose was 
 to break the power of the Empress Dowager 
 whom they called an outsider, and to raise 
 the son of Prince Kung to the throne. 
 
120 CHINA UNDEB THE 8EABCH-LI0HT 
 
 Prince Kung being brother to the deceased 
 Hsien Feng, and a man of great ability, it 
 was argued that his son had, at any rate, 
 as good a claim to the throne as had 
 the son of the ex-slave girl, especially as 
 her son inherited many of the weaknesses, 
 if not all the vices, of his father. 
 
 Li Hung-chang was now Viceroy at 
 Tientsin, and to him the Empress Dowager 
 appealed. He accordingly made a secret 
 forced march on Peking with four thousand 
 men, was admitted into the outer gates of 
 the city at midnight, and then into the 
 Forbidden City, as arranged. All the 
 palace guards on duty were disposed of 
 and replaced by Li's men. And in the 
 morning, the friends of Prince Kung's son 
 were surprised, disarmed, and sent away to 
 death or exile; And again was the Empress 
 Dowager mistress of the situation. 
 
 Her son, the nominal Emperor Tung 
 Chih (United Rule), died on January 12, 
 1875 ; but his death was not announced- 
 
SOME ACT0B8 IN THE TBAQED7 OF 1900 121 
 
 till some time afterwards. Instead, nine 
 days after he had died, the Imperial Gazette 
 (Jan. 21) stated that in token of rejoicing 
 at his convalescence, his Majesty conferred 
 various dignities and donations and showed 
 forth his Imperial clemency in many ways. 
 And why, forsooth, should foreigners have 
 more immunity from deception in China 
 than the whole Chinese nation itself at 
 this and other times ? 
 
 On March 27th the widow of Tung Chih 
 died. The Imperial Gazette of that date 
 accounts for her death by saying that 
 "When called upon to lament the departure 
 of His Majesty the late Emperor to be a 
 guest on high, her grief was so excessive 
 that it took the proportions of a fatal 
 illness." But the facts were that the 
 expectant mother happened to drink a cup 
 of wine in which poison was mingled, and 
 died in agony therefrom. And all China 
 is persuaded that the Empress Dowager 
 on that day murdered her own daughter-in- 
 
122 CHINA UNDEB THE 8EABCH-LIGHT 
 
 law and the child she feared that daughter- 
 in-law would bear. And, again, is it within 
 reason, that foreigners alone of all folks that 
 stood in her way should be preserved alive ? 
 
 The Empress Dowager now nominated 
 her nephew, Tsai-t'ien (Kuang Hsii), a 
 child of four, as puppet Emperor, whose 
 strings she could pull at wiU. 
 
 The new chapter, which we may call 
 Act III., opened by the treacherous murder 
 of H.B.M. Consul Margary by Chinese 
 troops on February 20, 1875, while in the 
 province of Yunnan on an expedition which 
 had been fully sanctioned by the Manchu 
 Court. For months the Tsung-li-Yamen 
 prevaricated and delayed, on the ground 
 that they had received no official report 
 of the murder. And although a mediator 
 was appointed in the month of August, and 
 the matter discussed in the Chefoo Conven- 
 tion of September 13th, no official settle- 
 ment of the case took place till October, 
 1876. 
 
SOME ACT0B8 IN THE TBAGEDY OF 1900 123 
 
 And about this time were issued, under 
 official patronage, several inflammatory 
 works, three in particular accusing foreigners 
 of such practices as eye-scooping for the 
 purpose of obtaining eight pounds of silver 
 from every hundred pounds of Chinese lead, 
 explaining that "the eyes of foreigners are 
 of no use for this purpose ; they must be 
 Chinese eyes." Also that "every seventh 
 day all Christian foreigners assemble in a 
 church, and when the ceremonies are over 
 give themselves up to debauchery," and 
 many like words. And over a million copies 
 of one of these works were circulated free. 
 
 Then later arose one Chou Han, in the 
 Hunan province, whose pictorial descrip- 
 tions of the "ocean fiends" and their 
 atrocities were also circulated by the million. 
 And as this same Chou Han was not in any 
 remunerative office, the expenses had to 
 come out of official funds. 
 
 And so, in 1891, various foreign property 
 was destroyed at various places along the 
 
124 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 Yangtse, and two foreigners — one not a 
 missionary, and the other not known to 
 be a missionary — were murdered in a riot, 
 and the mandarins of the place did nothing 
 to save them, but rather were the ring- 
 leaders of the riot none other than the 
 mandarins' underlings. 
 
 And so Chou Han issued a new placard, 
 representing these two foreigners as being 
 exterminated by soldiers of the Government. 
 
 The young Emperor Kuang Hsii, having 
 come of age, issued an edict of surprised 
 remonstrance at these riots and murders. 
 But the Empress Dowager sent to the 
 various viceroys secret commands which 
 made the edict null and void. And so 
 there were more riots and massacres during 
 the years which followed. 
 
 And when these riots had taken place 
 and foreigners had been killed, the Western 
 press is said (by a Far Eastern secular 
 paper) to have argued in the following 
 strain : — 
 
SOME ACTOBS IN THE TRAGEDY OF 1900 125 
 
 " Seizure of territory by foreign govern- 
 ments, forced railway and mining conces- 
 sions, disturbing ancestral tombs and 
 temples, opium importation under protest, 
 and other forced aggressions upon the 
 Chinaman, are things he rather likes. You 
 see, that is what he is there for, and so he 
 has long realised that his wealth and 
 resources are for the foreigner to exploit. 
 But missionaries are a continual menace 
 to the Empire. They come along and dis- 
 tribute themselves throughout the country, 
 say about one in two hundred thousand 
 natives, and begin to translate Bibles and 
 text-books, preach and proselyte, build 
 schools and hospitals with abominable 
 foreign money, teach foreign languages, 
 foreign science, foreign religion, and foreign 
 medicine. This is too much for the China- 
 man, and so he rises up in his wrath, and, 
 of course, in his unreasoning madness, he 
 makes all foreigners suffer alike. 
 
 " If only the abominable missionary 
 
126 CHINA UNDER TEE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 could be driven out, and the other peace- 
 able foreigners left to their railroads and 
 mines, justice would be perfected." 
 
 And all this reasoning was very welcome 
 to the Empress Dowager and her party, 
 and might be of immense aid to her in 
 case of any great move. For all would 
 then say that the movement was only 
 against the missionaries. 
 
 And now, as the drama was enacted in 
 China, we may allow a new character to 
 appear and describe himself as Chinese 
 actors do. And this is his speech : — 
 
 " I am of about the same age as the 
 Empress Dowager, and, like her, I am 
 an adventurer. Seeing how she had risen, 
 I too cherished the ambition to rise — ay, 
 to rise above her in the end. My name 
 is Yung Lu, and from a humble Manchu 
 home I worked my way up in the graces 
 of the Empress Dowager until she conferred 
 upon me the three highest military offices 
 
SOME ACTOBS IN THE TRAGEDY OF 1900 127 
 
 in the capital. But I was proud, and 
 bowed not to Li Hung-chang, and was 
 insolent to others, until I lost office. Yet 
 I soon began to rise once more, and am 
 very retiring now, letting others hatch my 
 plots and bear the brunt of them. And as 
 the drama progresses, you will see how I 
 can dethrone an Emperor, who knew I 
 was aspiring to the throne, and how I can 
 involve the Empress Dowager and my 
 rivals in power, Prince Tuan and the 
 rest, in sore disgrace with the foreigners. 
 They will never suspect me — unless one 
 of them who has friends in the palace 
 gather all the facts and verify them." 
 
 An interesting actor this ! Let us watch 
 him; for all that he has prophesied may 
 come true- — even the last item. 
 
 In the year 1898 the young Emperor, 
 whom the Empress Dowager had at last 
 allowed to rule, surrounded himself with 
 those who sought the welfare of the realm, 
 who saw its needs, and determined to meet 
 
128 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 them. But as Yung Lu was proved to 
 harbour treacherous designs, it became 
 necessary for the Imperial safety to remove 
 him. Averse as the young Emperor was 
 to bloodshed, he entrusted a warrant for 
 the execution of Yung Lu to the young 
 patriot Tan Tze-tung, to deliver in secret 
 to the general Yuan Shih-kai, who seemed 
 faithful, but who was reaUy a sycophant of 
 Yung Lu just then. He betrayed his 
 Emperor to Yung Lu, who betrayed him 
 to the Empress Dowager. Then did the 
 Empress Dowager upbraid the Emperor to 
 his face and confine him to his rooms for 
 some days ; during which time all the 
 Keform edicts were reversed and the 
 Emperor's co-patriots killed. And as the 
 patriot Tan Tze-tung went to execution 
 he cried, " They may kill my body, but 
 for each man killed there will be a thousand 
 others in whom my spirit shall live." And 
 those who heard the words treasured them 
 up, and wondered whether the prophecy 
 would ever come true. 
 
SOME ACTORS IN THE TBAQEDT OF 1900 129 
 
 Then the eunuchs and others who were 
 favourable to the Emperor were beaten to 
 death, for the custom of the Manchus 
 forbids that any one should use swords 
 within the palace itself. And the Emperor, 
 being in danger of his life, appealed to the 
 British Embassy to protect him. For he 
 had one left who could deliver a message 
 faithfully. And that messenger was re- 
 pulsed and told to hold his peace. . . . 
 
 Just forty days after that fatal 26th of 
 September (the date of the coup d'etat) 
 began a Gunpowder Plot which was to 
 shake the world eventually, though none 
 knew what it would mean in the end just 
 then. On November 5, 1898, the Empress 
 Dowager issued the edict ordering the 
 formation of "Volunteer Corps" (otherwise 
 translated "Bighteous Harmony Leagues," 
 which foreigners have called " Boxers ") 
 " to turn the whole nation into an armed 
 camp in case of need." 
 
 Also, within a few weeks of the coup 
 
 10 
 
130 CHINA UNDEB TEE SEABCH-LIGET 
 
 d'itat, Tung Fu-hsiang boasted publicly 
 that the object of the great military pre- 
 parations which were then starting was 
 " to drive all foreigners into the Yellow 
 Sea." 
 
 Then, on November 21st, the Empress 
 Dowager issued instructions to the Viceroys 
 with regard to dealings with foreigners, and 
 said, "Never should the word 'Peace' fall 
 from the mouths of our high officials, nor 
 should they even allow it to rest for a 
 moment within their breasts." 
 
 In May and June, 1899, " the Lord High 
 Extortioner," Kang Yi, started on his tour, 
 carrying the Empress Dowager's renewed 
 instructions ordering the Viceroys every- 
 where to form Volunteer ("Boxer") forces 
 in their respective provinces, and collected 
 about a million ounces of silver to aid the 
 Boxers of the North. But though the 
 Viceroys of the Yangtse could not but 
 subscribe to the fund, they memorialised 
 the Empress Dowager, protesting against 
 
SOME AGTOBS IN THE TRAGEDY OF 1900 I3l 
 
 the Court patronage of these same Northern 
 Boxers. 
 
 Yii Hsien was now Governor of Shantung, 
 and his under-offioials were so oppressive 
 that on July 13th " certain of the country 
 people banded themselves together for 
 defence." These are the facts, but in an 
 edict which these facts called forth, their 
 action is described as "brow-beating the 
 authorities." 
 
 To the Empress Dowager's own "loyal 
 Boxers " Yii Hsien distributed arms, and 
 on December 27th proclaimed that " they 
 might loot, plunder, burn (any foreign 
 premises), but they must not take life," 
 But on December 31st they went beyond 
 their instructions, and took the life of Mr. 
 S. M. Brooke. The British G-overnment 
 accordingly asked for the degradation of 
 the Governor Yii Hsien, as both treaty 
 clauses and passport regulations had been 
 openly violated. He was " degraded " to 
 a higher post. From Governor (the rank 
 
132 CHINA UNDER THE SEABGH-LIGHT 
 
 below a Viceroy) he was made Viceroy in 
 Shansi. And on the way he was received 
 by the Empress Dowager " with every mark 
 of favour, for she gave him a breastplate on 
 which she herself had embroidered the word 
 ' Happiness.' " And his place in Shantung 
 was filled by Yuan Shih-Kai, who had 
 betrayed his Emperor to Yung Lu (Sep- 
 tember, 1898), as a reward of merit on that 
 former occasion. And the Foreign Ambas- 
 sadors saw these things, and protested not. 
 And missionaries made representations, but 
 they were unheeded by the Legations. For 
 there was no place in China in which 
 missionary criticism was so rife, as in 
 these Legations, and " every one knew 
 that the movement was a purely anti- 
 missionary affair." 
 
 And now, as the final act of the drama 
 opens, Yung Lu saw his chance. He saw 
 that the Empress Dowager had exasperated 
 those who loved their land, by issuing a 
 decree (January 24, 1900), ignoring the 
 
SOME ACTOBS IN THE TBAGEDY OF 1900 133 
 
 Emperor Kuang Hsti, and nominating (as 
 the heir of her deceased son Tung Ohih) 
 a Manchu lad of nine years of age, who 
 could neither write nor speak Chinese, 
 namely Pu-chun, son of Prince Tuan — 
 whereat, from Shanghai alone came a 
 remonstrance from 1,231 Chinese citizens, 
 also like remonstrances from other parts ; 
 and from Siam a memorial from 80,000 
 Chinese, threatening to come with armed 
 force and fight the cause of their deposed 
 Emperor; and like memorials from other 
 places beyond seas. He saw that the 
 Emperor Kuang Hsii, being denied the 
 aid of England when his life was en- 
 dangered in 1898, had lately written to 
 the Emperor of Japan, calling him brother, 
 and praying to be rescued. And that the 
 Empress Dowager was mad with anger at 
 such subjects, at the Emperor, and all men 
 beyond the sea who favoured the Emperor. 
 And so Yung Lu prepared his scheme for 
 her overthrow and his own succession to 
 the Dragon throne. 
 
134 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 Direct audience was difficult to gain, 
 especially in secret, for the young Emperor 
 still had a few friends unslain at Court, and 
 thus it came that Yung Lu's plot was put 
 in writing (and that the plot was proved to 
 have heen his own). And this was the 
 scheme thus propounded while yet the year 
 was young, namely: taking advantage of 
 the fact that the Ambassadors had quoted 
 the Boxers as only anti-missionary, to sur- 
 prise, imprison, and kill them every one, 
 and then to have all foreigners throughout 
 the Empire killed also. He urged that 
 besides Her Majesty's "Tiger troops" there 
 were the " Volunteers " whom Yu Hsien 
 had armed, and were these "Volunteers" 
 yet more encouraged, everything would be 
 ready for the great undertaking by the 
 ninth day of the ninth moon (October 
 31st). This was the ancient Feast of the 
 Moon (when cakes were made to the Queen 
 of Heaven, as in Jer. vii. 18), called in 
 the Chinese the Festival of Ch'ung-yang, 
 
SOME ACT0B8 IN THE TBAGEDY OF 1900 135 
 
 Eenewal of the Virile Principle of Nature, 
 but now by a pun, " the expulsion of the 
 foreigners." 
 
 Later on, however, it was concluded that 
 the nation would not consent to such a 
 deed upon a joyous festival, and so the 
 fifteenth day of an inauspicious intercalary 
 month (the eighth moon) was the day ap- 
 pointed, for the reason that on that day of 
 ill omen the nerves of a superstitious nation 
 would be at their weakest, and all would he 
 fearing some calamity. 
 
 But so liberally were the "Volunteers" 
 nourished from the national funds (as their 
 receipted documents discovered at Tientsin 
 attest), and so rampant did they grow 
 under such nourishment, that they soon 
 began to precipitate matters. So that the 
 date of the general massacre would have 
 to be altered for one much earlier. Which 
 was deemed unfortunate, as all the prepara- 
 tions had not yet been completed. But 
 Yung Lu sorrowed not. His plot against 
 the Empress Dowager was working ! 
 
136 CHINA UNDER TEE 8EABCE-LIGET 
 
 Anon the Ambassadors began to inquire 
 drowsily whether everything was, after all, 
 so purely anti - missionary as they had 
 dreamed ; and on May 22nd remonstrated 
 with the Tsungli Yam6n, and threatened to 
 bring military guards up to Peking. On 
 May 31st those foreign guards started. 
 There was no opposition, for the time 
 of arousal was not meant to be yet. But 
 the Boxers grew more and more rampant, 
 killing a few foreigners. And the " great 
 undertaking " must be inaugurated very 
 soon if at aU. 
 
 So on June 17th Prince Tuan put into 
 shape the suggestion of Yung Lu, and 
 drafted an edict for the Empress Dowager's 
 approval, and it was worded thus : 
 
 " To the Viceroys and Governors of the 
 provinces. . . . Whether foreign dwellings 
 or doctrine-halls, all are to be consumed by 
 fire; whether foreign official or merchant, 
 missionary or convert and the like, all are 
 to be destroyed by torture. There is to be 
 
SOME ACTORS IN THE TBAGEDY OF 1900 137 
 
 no pity shown, as that would spoil the great 
 undertaking." 
 
 The Empress Dowager agreed, and, as in 
 the Book of Esther, there was written unto 
 all the lieutenants and to the governors that 
 were over every province, according to the 
 writing thereof : in the name of the Empress 
 Dowager was it written, and sealed with 
 her seal. And the letters were sent to all 
 the northern provinces, to destroy, to kill, 
 and to cause to perish by torture, all 
 foreigners and all believers of the foreign 
 teaching, both young and old, little chil- 
 dren and women, and to leave none alive. 
 
 And so, in these northern provinces, (say) 
 three hundred foreigners who were mis- 
 sionaries besides many who were not called 
 by that name, and (say) fifteen thousand 
 native converts perished. And the Ambas- 
 sadors themselves were imprisoned for the 
 space of two months, and one of their 
 number was killed by the soldiers, and the 
 rest were rescued with great difficulty by 
 
138 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCE-LI6HT 
 
 the bravery of many troops and the loss 
 of many brave lives. 
 
 For, as a British statesman showed in 
 the House of Commons (August 2nd) : 
 " Since 1895, firms in this country had 
 supplied the Chinese Government with 74 
 guns of position and 11,740 rounds of 
 ammunition ; 123 field - guns and 40,000 
 rounds ; and 297 machine-guns with over 
 40,000,000 rounds. And Germany had 
 supplied nearly half a million Mauser 
 rifles with 3,000,000 rounds." But these 
 figures, as he said, did not pretend to be 
 exhaustive. And both countries had sup- 
 plied military instructors, and instructors 
 to build arsenals in which the Manchu 
 Government of China might manufacture 
 enormous quantities of large guns and 
 Mauser rifles on the spot, ever since 1895, 
 following the visit of Li Hung-chang to 
 the West, who left England saying that 
 the British were " a frank and simple 
 people," words which in Chinese mean, 
 
SOME ACTORS IN THE TBAGEDY OF 1900 139 
 
 "those of whom the wily may take advan- 
 tage." 
 
 And now did the Empress Dowager flee 
 to the westward, taking her Imperial 
 nephew with her, and continued to urge 
 the Viceroys and Governors at all costs 
 to resist the foreigners. And on Novem- 
 ber 19, 1900, Li Hung-chang, having been 
 appointed Peace Commissioner, sent a 
 secret message to the Viceroys and 
 Governors, written in his own name and 
 worded : " Peace affairs hard to settle. 
 Prepare war ! " And this same message 
 was shown by one of the Viceroys to the 
 Lord High Commissioner of the Yangtse, 
 Pelham Warren, and to Admiral Seymour 
 in the city of Wuchang (November 26th). 
 
 And, apart from the brave words and 
 deeds of Tan Tze-tung in the capital 
 before his execution, is there nothing in 
 the whole drama for the audience to ap- 
 plaud — nothing besides the intrigues of a 
 
140 CHINA UNDBB THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 corrupt Oriental Court, among high-climb- 
 ing adventurers who had dropped their 
 consciences to climb aloft upon a pile of 
 human corpses, and who would risk a 
 nation's ruin to gain their own selfish 
 ends ? Verily there is ; one scene remains, 
 and we who look on and judge shall indeed 
 be judged as heartless if it stirs no deep 
 emotions within us. 
 
 The edict of extermination had gone to 
 the northern provinces, but when a mis- 
 creant named Li Ping-h^ng, who had been 
 made Admiral of the Yangtse, returned to 
 the capital towards the end of June — ^his 
 path from the Grand Canal to the capital 
 being marked by burnt Mission stations 
 and the corpses of Chinese converts — ^his 
 Mistress questioned him as to what the 
 Yangtse viceroys were doing toward the 
 great undertaking which she had com- 
 manded. And he told her that instead 
 of exterminating the " ocean fiends " they 
 were protecting them ! Then she called 
 
SOME ACTOBS IN THE TBAGEDY OF 1900 141 
 
 for the two high statesmen to whom she 
 had entrusted her edict of extermination, to 
 know if they had indeed sent it to the 
 centre and south of the land. 
 
 Now it had come to pass, earlier in the 
 month, when these two high statesmen, 
 Hsii Ching-ohen and Yuan Ch'ang had 
 received the edict to forward to the centre 
 and south of China, that ihey saw its 
 execution would entail untold calamities on 
 the realm ; and feeling that appeal on that 
 point was useless — for they had been thrice 
 repulsed before — they altered the words 
 "consume by fire . . . destroy by torture " 
 to "strenuously protect," and forwarded 
 the altered edict to the centre and south 
 provinces, where it was posted for all to 
 see. Then, knowing that their lives were 
 endangered, they sent away their wives 
 and dependents from the capital, lest they 
 too should suffer from the fury of the 
 Empress Dowager. 
 
 But one faithful dependent of the states- 
 
142 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 man Yuan, his private secretary, who knew 
 all about the altered edict, refused to leave 
 his master, and arranged to remain in 
 Peking at the house of a merchant who was 
 trusty, so that he might receive letters and 
 forward them, and watch as to what 
 became of his master. And he was glad 
 at heart, for nothing happened — until the 
 return of Li Ping-heng. . . . 
 
 The two statesmen being called into the 
 inner palace, the Empress Dowager asked 
 them to account for the state of things which 
 the Admiral of the Yangtse had described. 
 
 Bowing to the ground, the two men said 
 with tears, " Your ministers felt they must 
 save both Court and populace, and secure 
 the realm from calamity; and for that 
 reason dared to alter certain words in the 
 decree. They know that their lives are 
 forfeit for the ofience, and only supplicate 
 that their households may not suffer the 
 death-penalty too. This they will deem 
 an act of clemency indeed." 
 
SOME AGTOBS IN THE TRAGEDY OF 1900 143 
 
 The Empress Dowager, with that won- 
 derful command of countenance for which 
 she is famous, heard their confession 
 without moving a muscle. But Prince 
 Tuan and Li Ping-heng reviled the two 
 statesmen in a loud voice, and knelt and 
 prayed that the two traitors be destroyed 
 from beneath the spreading heavens. Then 
 the Empress smiled that " cold smile," so 
 dreaded at Court, and commanded that 
 they be executed forthwith by being placed 
 in the instrument called the " rotary 
 barrel," which is reserved for those guilty 
 of high treason, and cut in sunder at the 
 waist. 
 
 And it was done. 
 
 Then, on the 28th of June, a fresh edict 
 was sent to the centre and south of 
 China, recounting the victories of the 
 " Volunteers co-operating with the Imperial 
 troops throughout the province of Chih-li;" 
 praising the bravery of " these loyal sub- 
 jects," who were surely to be found every- 
 
144 CHINA UNDER TEE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 where throughout the Empire, calling upon 
 all Viceroys and Governors to raise forces 
 from their number, and requiring the 
 Yangtse Viceroys " to use their most 
 strenuous endeavours to put these in- 
 structions into effect. " But they (having 
 so lately received an edict to protect 
 " foreign dwellings and doctrine-halls, 
 missionaries, converts, foreign officials, and 
 merchants ") quoted this second edict as 
 coming from Prince Tuan, whom they 
 considered as "a rebel. And decided not 
 to obey these decrees from Peking." (See 
 China Blue-book, No. 3, 1900, p. 93.) 
 
 Eeader, have you any friends, men, 
 women, or little children, left alive from 
 the year 1900 in the realms of the Empress 
 Dowager ? If so, tell your own little ones, 
 and weep perhaps as you tell them, how it 
 comes to pass, under G-od, that those 
 friends are yet alive. . . . 
 
 The severed bodies of the two heroes 
 were gathered up lovingly by their friends 
 
SOME ACT0B8 IN THE TBA&EDY OF 1900 145 
 
 whom they had made at Court, and in 
 process of time sent to the native place of 
 the two men, near Hangchou, in the Cheh- 
 kiang province, among the most famous hill 
 and lake scenery of China. 
 
 And on the 4th of November the gentry 
 of Hangchou gathered to pay their last 
 respects to the two who had loved the 
 country which the others despised. Crowds 
 were present, and among them some 
 Western sympathisers. And the fact that 
 these two statesmen, and not the Court 
 intriguers, represent the nobler public 
 feeling of the nation, is embodied in the 
 elegy which was recited on that occasion. 
 This, being published in the native papers, 
 has gone into many provinces, and nowhere 
 without evoking keenest sympathy. Ee- 
 produced in humble translation, the reader 
 will feel that the lines represent not so 
 much the skill of the Chinese elegist, as the 
 deep feeling of the human heart when con- 
 fronted by such nobility of character as 
 
 n 
 
146 CHINA UNDEB TEE SEABCH-LiaHT 
 
 may well be celebrated throughout the wide 
 world. 
 
 THE ELEGY. 
 
 So firm of purpose that we thought, alas, 
 
 "Two hearts in one could snap the bars of brass." 
 
 All undismayed at each successive ill, 
 
 Ye swore to save the Eealm — ah, dauntless will! 
 
 The Eealm whose steps were tott'ring as ye knew. 
 
 For not in book-lore versed alone, your view 
 
 Comprised the many perils of the State; 
 
 Ye saw the times were troublous, full of fate, 
 
 Yet made your venture, rowed against the tide — 
 
 That storm-swept torrent that ye had not tried. 
 
 Thrice, weeping tears of blood, ye prayed and 
 
 warned, 
 "True words offend the ear," your words were 
 
 scorned. 
 And so ye died, died leaving legacy 
 Of heart-ache sore, at martyred loyalty. 
 Sincere of soul, ye fell ; the pit was deep ; 
 Your feet were snared — and it is ours to weep. 
 Yet, far beyond the gates of cruel Peking, 
 Your matchless courage shall a nation sing. 
 Ye dared to speak your mind, to do your deed. 
 With simple probity as Ufe-long creed; 
 And e'en in death, oh surely, do ye gain 
 A worthy goal for lives so free from stain. 
 Of tireless vig'lance, trusty to the core, 
 Your fame, enshrined within a nation's lore. 
 
SOME ACTOBS IN THE TBAQEDY OF 1900 147 
 
 Shall stand, as stand the hills around your home — 
 The far-famed hills, now famous for your tomb ; 
 Entwined in hearts, like eddies on the mere — 
 Whose bowing sedges drop the trembling tear. 
 
 Ye left us but a hundred days ago, 
 
 And ye are gone indeed! Those days must grow 
 
 To thousand autumns ere ye come once more. 
 
 We bow a last farewell, and humbly pour 
 
 Our cup of simple wine before the bier — 
 
 The ancient pledge of fellowship most dear — 
 
 Eecalling all the converse of the past : 
 
 The genial words and smiles from first to last. 
 
 Now, merged with glist'ring stars will ye remain ; 
 While we, alas, grope on 'mid storm and rain. 
 
Why should not judges get riches, as well as those 
 who deserve them less? — Sanmel Johnson, Bos- 
 well's •• Life," 1857, -p. 24:5. 
 
 Gentleness of manners, an engaging address, and an 
 insinuating behaviour, are real and solid advan- 
 tages, and none but those who do not know the 
 world treat them as trifles. — Lord Chesterfield's 
 "Letters," oxv. 
 
 Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom 
 associated with true virtue. — Confucius, "Ana- 
 lects," Book I., chap. iii. 
 
 14a 
 
CHAPTBE IX 
 
 MANDABINDOM 
 
 We have now to consider that "lord 
 mayor's show " of urchins with red boards, 
 an umbrella-bearer or two, evil-visaged 
 lictors ad lib., and the great sedan-chair, 
 which we saw, in glaring incongruity to all 
 surroundings, passing along the Shanghai 
 Bund. Had we met it in the streets of 
 any Chinese city, it might have appealed 
 to us as containing some elements of bar- 
 baric splendour, albeit of a shabby-genteel 
 kind, and we can imagine that amid such 
 surroundings, and to Chinese eyes, it might 
 appear quite imposing. But here, along a 
 macadamised road, with trees on one side 
 and three-storied edifices on the other. 
 
 149 
 
150 CEINA UNDER TEE SEABCH-LIGBT 
 
 amid 'rickshas, carriages, and well-drilled 
 police, it was manifestly barbaric with the 
 splendour left out. Which means — and a 
 significant fact this — ^that Western civilisa- 
 tion reveals the incongruities of man- 
 darindom. 
 
 One authority on China has hardly 
 been quoted in these pages, the Empress 
 Dowager. It would only be gallant to 
 allow a lady of such dignity to have her 
 say on a subject which she has made a 
 life-long study. 
 
 On the general subject of the old 
 economy, including the institution of man- 
 darindom, she said (Imperial Decree, 
 November 13, 1898): "As the Empire 
 has always prospered under the old rdgime, 
 and the methods of old — inaugurated and 
 sanctioned by the sacred ancestors of our 
 dynasty — have attained the acme of excel- 
 lence, there is no necessity for making any 
 changes. ..." While with regard to the 
 case of individual mandarins, she said 
 
MANDABINDOM 15X 
 
 (July 18, 1899) : " Bearing in mind the 
 corrupt and dishonest conduct of officials, 
 which . . . has lasted for years, ... we 
 repeatedly urged upon our Viceroys and 
 Governors the duty of exercising prudence 
 and care in the selection of honest and 
 proper men as sub-prefects and district 
 magistrates, who would earnestly strive to 
 cleanse the dishonesty and corruption pre- 
 valent in the yamtns. . . . We now remind 
 them of their duty to be continually on the 
 watch to prevent dishonesty and extortion 
 within their jurisdictions. ..." 
 
 From this we should gather that, though 
 the mandarin system is excellent, many in- 
 dividual mandarins do not in their general 
 conduct exemplify the excellences of the 
 system ; though even the latter point seems 
 to be debated by Chester Holcombe (The 
 Beal Chinaman, 1895, chap. x.). Must we 
 venture to differ, and with most Europeans, 
 and with, perhaps, three hundred million 
 Chinese to support our verdict, say that 
 
162 CHINA UNDEB THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 although mandarindom is about as corrupt 
 an institution as can be, various individual 
 maadarins are exceedingly respectable and 
 highly-respected men ? 
 
 There lies before me on the table an 
 annual land-tax paper, which had to do 
 with one's own premises in China. It is 
 marked in the plainest figures (an equi- 
 valent of) 30 cents Mex., and was bought 
 as a receipt from the collector for one 
 dollar thirty cents ! The collector was an 
 unsalaried financier, who needed what pro- 
 portion he could retain from hungry yamSn 
 underlings of the odd thirty cents, and the 
 difference between the remaining dollar and 
 the thirty cents marked on the paper would 
 go to the county mandarin, who is practi- 
 cally an unsalaried man, having for his 
 recognised stipend a sum comparable to 
 that claimed in Shanghai by an average 
 house-boy, a sum which would not cover 
 the salary of the mandarin's secretary, not 
 to mention the hundred and one paid or 
 
MANBABINDOM 153 
 
 unpaid attaches of his yam&n. Besides 
 this, however, a county mandarin is allowed 
 about ^eiOO per annum, as a " save-faoe " or 
 anti-extortion sum. But even thus, in the 
 book of the law of mundane necessity it is 
 written, " Mandarindom doth not , live by 
 taxes alone," even though a county man- 
 darin may, as a matter of custom, pocket 
 twice the amount he hands on to his 
 superior the prefect, who of course makes 
 like deductions before he hands the rest on 
 to the next higher official — who does the 
 same. The Chinese phrase for an upright 
 mandarin is one who does not drink the 
 well-water of the district without paying 
 the populace for it. But how can the man 
 live? His proclivities for a neighbouring 
 well may not be very pronounced, especially 
 if he has read up any translated work on 
 zymotic diseases and sewage contamina- 
 tion. But however upright his intentions, 
 he must get a living somehow or other. 
 And as he has expended a large sum in 
 
154 CHINA UNDEB THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 what we should vulgarly describe as buying 
 his preferment — a sum probably loaned by 
 various friends — he must make money, at 
 any rate to the extent of that amount. 
 Then, his expenses with superior mandarins 
 are great. Apart from all ceremonial 
 presents, every case of a criminal con- 
 demned to death, being handed on from 
 the county court to the prefectural yamen 
 and upwards, costs the county mandarin 
 over $1,000, or £100, in "stationery ex- 
 penses" alone. So that, if some criminal 
 cases are a great expense, he must do his 
 best to make money out of civil cases, and 
 accept at least the proffered " presents " 
 from both plaintiff and defendant. 
 
 A Chinese scholar enters the toils of 
 mandarindom with some respect for the 
 conscience-stirring maxims of Confucius, 
 but how can he possibly work out those 
 maxims in practice ? Daniel might remain 
 alive for some hours in a den of unfed lions, 
 but we can hardly imagine him taking up 
 
MANDABINDOM 155 
 
 his permanent abode there, and for the 
 miracle to be prolonged indefinitely. His 
 bones would surely be picked clean before 
 many days had passed. And they are few 
 whose Confucian conscience can remain 
 alive and robust year after year in the 
 lions' den of mandarindom. It has been 
 affirmed that no mandarin in office could 
 well be a Christian. Is there not also a 
 mutual exclusiveness between the moral 
 (as distinct from the political) system of 
 Confucius and mandarindom? 
 
 Should we not have more than a shadowy 
 parallel between modern China, were he 
 whom the Chinese call the Master to 
 suddenly appear in the flesh, and old 
 Judaea, when He whom we call Lord did 
 appear in the flesh ? For the mandarin is 
 Pharisee in ceremony (Sadducee in creed), 
 and Publican in practice, rolled into one. 
 And there is little doubt as to the treat- 
 ment that mandarindom would mete out 
 to Confucius, were he to revisit his old 
 haunts in northern China once more. 
 
156 CHINA UNDEB THE SEAECH-LIGHT 
 
 " But 'tis their duty, all the learned think, 
 T' espouse his cause by whom they eat and drink,' 
 
 as Dry den reminds us. 
 
 While we agree with the celebrated Han 
 Yii, of the T'ang dynasty (a.d. 764-824), 
 that "were it not for the Sages, (Chinese) 
 mankind would have perished long ago " — 
 perished, at any rate, in regard to things 
 admirable — our wonder is that, with the 
 cancer of mandarindom preying upon the 
 body politic, China has not perished long 
 ago. 
 
 The explanation is simple, however. 
 The nation has lasted under numerous 
 modifications for the reason that its 
 millions of populace have lasted, and 
 because there has been no nation near at 
 hand which has been big enough to absorb 
 China. But its " break-up " under rival 
 rulerships has happened, for a while at 
 least, not once but often. Changeless 
 China ! It has changed mightily in poli- 
 
MANDABINDOM 157 
 
 tical aspect every second or third century 
 since the days of Confucius. Yet, as a 
 French statesman quoted by Herbert 
 Spencer says, "Empires fall, Ministries 
 pass away, but the Bureaux remain." 
 That has been the one changeless element. 
 
 But just as the bulk of a Chinese city 
 may often be found outside the city walls, 
 so the chief part of the actual government 
 of China is carried on outside the man- 
 darin's yamen. And it is the unoflfioial 
 government in the little clan-circles, by 
 the village head-man, or the local school- 
 master, arbitrators and peacemakers — the 
 latter appearing in couples at every quarrel 
 — ^which has been the prop of every dynasty 
 and the saving of the nation. Although, 
 on the other hand, mandarindom is largely 
 responsible for that love of peace which is 
 ingrained into the Chinese nature, for liti- 
 gation may often spell ruination, perhaps 
 to both parties. 
 
 While the mandarin gains his position 
 
158 CHINA UNBBB THE SBABCH-LIGHT 
 
 from a literary style based upon the 
 Confucian writings, and therefore utilises 
 Confucianism, and also feels that "those 
 systems which teach about heaven and hell 
 (Buddhism and Taoism) are a help to 
 governing, and make up for the lack in the 
 efficiency of the rewards and punishments " 
 (vide Diary of Marquis Tstog), and there- 
 fore utilises these also, what is there in 
 Western civilisation or intercourse that 
 mandarindom can possibly utilise ? The 
 people have rebelled times without number 
 against the extortions of mandarindom, and 
 will any sort of education, imported from 
 lands where mandarindom is unknown, 
 make the populace more submissive to 
 extortion, however much the missionary 
 may exhort his converts to be good citizens 
 and respect the powers that be ? 
 
 As Wau Sing, a Chinese banker in 
 Chicago, once said to a reporter, " The 
 advance of the so-called civihsation ! I 
 hate every step of it ! " so mandarindom 
 
MANDABINDOM 159 
 
 is groaning all the time. For the "rise 
 of the people" and its own continued ex- 
 istence are manifestly incompatible; it 
 means their rising before long once and 
 for all against mandarindom. The one 
 man who may very reasonably be scared 
 at the Yellow Peril is surely the mandarin. 
 
 "For should Western influence spread 
 through China, as a ride in our sedan-chair 
 along the Shanghai Bund assures us to be 
 highly probable, then are our days num- 
 bered. And what of our vested interests? 
 
 " Then that great red-brick Customs 
 building in the centre of the Bund for all 
 to see, representing a conspiracy of the 
 Westerners whereby, on receipt of a definite 
 salary, the whole of the proceeds go out of 
 our mandarior cash-boxes to the Imperial 
 Government ! — shall we in time have to bow 
 to the popular demand and learn from the 
 barbarians, so as to come down to that ? " 
 
 And a voice from the blue makes answer, 
 "Yes, or ^0./" 
 
At Rome especially, the national religion was simply 
 and solely self-adoration. This was the idol 
 which received more incense than all the gods 
 of Greece. — Pressensi. 
 
 The Chinese Empire, with its feudal ranks and its 
 conservative institutions, is itself the object of 
 Chinese worship. — Geo. Matheson. 
 
 160 
 
CHAPTEE X 
 
 THE LAND OF ESTHETIC TEADITIONS 
 
 It is not impossible that the title of the 
 present chapter may evoke a mental con- 
 versation between certain readers and the 
 author, as follows : — 
 
 " Esthetic pigtails ! " 
 
 "Nay. Eather the land where the pig- 
 tail is objected to on aesthetic grounds," 
 
 " Then you do not refer to ' The Land 
 of the Pigtail ? '" 
 
 " Strictly speaking, no." 
 
 " Thought you meant China." 
 
 "I do." 
 
 In China the truth always lies a foot 
 below the surface. One must never gene- 
 ralise on the obvious there. " The Land 
 
 12 161 
 
162 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 of the Pigtail " is a traveller's generalisa- 
 tion. There was once a land to which the 
 epithet might have been more safely applied. 
 It was the land in which a distinguished 
 gentleman once exclaimed, *' When a man 
 loses his queue, his head should go with 
 it " — a sentence emphasised with an oath 
 which was considered to be neither im- 
 proper nor impolite in those days. In that 
 land the pigtail was once adopted as an 
 aesthetic adornment, and to this day is 
 enshrined in the national art. The speaker 
 was Sir WiUiam Fairfax, father of the 
 famous mathematician, Mary Somerville. 
 The phrase " Land of the Pigtail," 
 stripped of all porcine suggestions, would 
 properly indicate Manchuria. And not a 
 few Chinese, watching the rapidly revolving 
 kaleidoscope of events, have begun to 
 prophesy the passing away of the Manchu 
 dynasty, and to look upon their cranial 
 appendages as a mere fashion of the day. 
 For two hundred and fifty years, following 
 
THE LAND OF M8THETIC TRADITIONS 163 
 
 the anarchy of eight rebel armies, has the 
 pigtail been forced upon the Chinese nation, 
 to hide from the conquered the fewness of 
 their conquerors. But two and a half 
 centuries count little in a land whose 
 definite history goes back nearly three 
 thousand years, and where time is regarded 
 much as we regard space in this age of 
 steam and electricity. 
 
 In not a few homes there are cherished 
 histories of the fidelity of ancestors who, 
 in their attachment to distinctively Chinese 
 modes of dress, chose to suffer the loss of 
 their heads rather than submit to the behest 
 of the Manchu innovator. The Taiping 
 rebellion of reversion to type is not such 
 a very distant event ; and then the queue 
 was discarded by millions. 
 
 On aesthetic grounds the literati all object 
 to the queue. It is found in no painted 
 portrait or work of art. Barbers are not 
 allowed to compete for degrees until the 
 third and fourth generation, and are thus 
 
164 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCE-LIGET 
 
 classified with the degraded classes in 
 company with rascaldom of the most pro- 
 nounced type. Doubtless political reasons 
 have weighed much in bringing this about, 
 but the ruling instinct among the literati 
 as such has been the aesthetic , And this 
 has affected the importation of many a 
 custom from abroad. 
 
 Buddhism has prospered in China, ac- 
 cording to Marquis Ts^ng, owing to the 
 fact that "the works on Buddhism trans- 
 lated into Chinese, from the excellency of 
 their literary style, appealed to the educated 
 section of the community." He forgets 
 that Buddhism was opposed by the literati 
 for a full thousand years, and at the end 
 of that time had hardly the hold upon 
 China that Christianity has gained after 
 a mere half-century. But it is a fact that 
 not until the gleaming hill-top temple and 
 its vesper bell had entered into the poems 
 of the nation did Buddhism gain a real 
 hold upon the educated section of the 
 
THE LAND OF ESTHETIC TBADITI0N8 165 
 
 community. And toward this result the 
 Buddhist adoption of the most aesthetic 
 flower of China doubtless helped. " My 
 favourite flower is the lotus," wrote a 
 scholar of the eleventh century. " How 
 stainless it rises from its slimy bed ! How 
 modestly it reposes on the clear pool — an 
 emblem of purity and truth. Symmetri- 
 cally perfect, its subtle perfume is wafted 
 far and wide ; while there it rests in 
 spotless state, something to be regarded 
 reverently from a distance, and not to be 
 profaned by familiar approach." 
 
 From of old there have been two gates 
 in the great wall of Chinese exolusiveness. 
 One is called Utilitarianism ; the other and 
 grander is called -^stheticism. And China 
 through the ages has been ruled by scholars 
 whose whole bias (apart from the vulgar 
 utilitarianism of £ s. d.) has been on 
 aesthetic lines. The chief value of the 
 Confucian writings, did scholars express 
 what they feel, lies nowadays in the highly 
 
166 CHINA UNDEE THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 aesthetic manner in which the sage and his 
 disciples have expressed themselves, and in 
 the fact that by studying and approaching 
 the same aesthetic style, the gates of man- 
 darindom are supposed to open to every 
 poor scholar. 
 
 The written characters of the "sacred 
 sage " are in themselves works of art, and 
 that on lines of composition which every 
 Western artist would accept. Making a 
 picture may be the popular conception of 
 the artist's task ; but the cestTietic grouping 
 of given elements is the higher principle in 
 the artist's mind. And studying any fine 
 specimen of Chinese caligraphy from his 
 own standpoint, a British artist'ivould find 
 all his unwritten rules of mass-grouping 
 illustrated. It is no necessary reflection 
 on Chinese pictorial art which ranks a 
 well-written inscription higher than any 
 but the finest pictures of China. There 
 are reasons ^for it which are most apparent 
 to those most fully initiated in universal 
 principles of art. 
 
THE LAND OF ESTHETIC TRADITIONS 167 
 
 From the characters themselves it is an 
 easy stage to the grouping of characters 
 into harmoniously balanced sentences. 
 " Tell us a tale " is the popular appeal 
 to the artist everywhere. "Let it be 
 a true tale" add some. "Let it be a 
 thrilling tale" say others. But the artist 
 feels that he is first and last an artist. 
 " Art for its own sake " is his motto, 
 and all else must remain a distinctively 
 secondary consideration. If his art lie in 
 the region of written narration, one set of 
 readers may vote him dull, and another 
 set may vote him a liar. He cares for 
 none of these things ; his narrative is high 
 art, and art-wisdom is justified of her 
 children. 
 
 A Chinese scholar once brought me a 
 wonderful series of maps of the province 
 of Kiangsi. The map-drawer had gone on 
 a special pilgrimage through every county 
 in the province, and had drawn these 
 valuable maps from actual survey. That 
 
168 CHINA UNDEB TEE SEABCS-LIGHT 
 
 seemed promising, although the price asked 
 would have strained the resources of any 
 but the wealthy. With almost reverent 
 care the precious bundle was unrolled, 
 and though prepared for something very 
 Chinese, the result might well surprise 
 any one accustomed to Western map-work. 
 With the fine touches of a miniature paint- 
 ing, the artist had drawn a bird's-eye view 
 of each county upon a separate square of 
 white silk, lining out the mountains in 
 delicate gold tracery. Each square was 
 a treasure ; no lover of the beautiful in 
 decorative landscape but would prize such 
 artistic creations. But they were land- 
 scapes in poem, not maps. As well mis- 
 take a Turner painting of any given scene 
 for an accurately proportioned coloured 
 photograph of the actual place as call one 
 of these a map. And so with the Chinese 
 official narrative of any given political 
 event. Who could make such a mistake, 
 except an unsophisticated Western journa- 
 
THE LAND OF ESTHETIC TRADITIONS 169 
 
 list (if such a being is to be found in this 
 twentieth century) ? Whatever be the accu- 
 rate account (say) of the tragedy of 1900, 
 or anything else in which "foreigners" 
 are concerned, be sure the official account 
 of that occurrence does not embody it. 
 Turner the glorious a mere photographer ! 
 Shades of Euskin, the thought is barbaric ! 
 As the classics of China have given such 
 a high place to the aesthetic proprieties, 
 those proprieties have long since been 
 regarded as belonging to the highest realm 
 of things sacred — as sacred to the literati 
 of China as was the Temple to the Jews. 
 True, there may be no Shekinah glow 
 within, but " consider the Temple, how it 
 is adorned with goodly stones and offer- 
 ings." The scholar's national pride and 
 the mandarin's vested interests gather 
 around that Temple. "Is the Temple for- 
 sooth to be trodden underfoot of the Gentile 
 foreigners? Is it to be dismantled until 
 there shall not be left one stone upon 
 
170 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 another? Missionaries do reverence Con- 
 fucius, employ Confucian scribes, and with 
 their aid produce books in whose verbiage 
 the aesthetic proprieties are observed. But 
 the mine-prospeotor and railway engineer 
 are different. They do not even learn the 
 colloquial language ! " And partly from 
 these considerations it comes to pass that 
 (as the Tientsin correspondent of The 
 Standard once pointed out) "the only rail- 
 way in (north) China — the Peking-Taku 
 line — runs over a road worked by mission- 
 aries for twenty years before it was found 
 possible to build it; and directly it was 
 attempted to make lines where the mis- 
 sionary had not paved the way there 
 was trouble, and the railway stations were 
 the first things destroyed." And the 
 stations referred to were destroyed at the 
 behest of the aesthetic mandarin. 
 
 Much further education of the utilitarian 
 instinct must take place, or else force from 
 afar must be applied, before such a desecra- 
 
THE LAND OF ESTHETIC TRADITIONS 171 
 
 of the national Temple can be endured. 
 The Jews, with all their traffic in the 
 Temple courts, would have been humbled 
 exceedingly before they would have allowed 
 a subway to a railway station to have been 
 constructed within the Temple enclosure. 
 
 As it is, the one point of appeal which 
 the missionary has (apart from the renova- 
 tion of popular manners) is that a Christian 
 civilsation is the sole means of escape from 
 the tangled net of China's national sorrows. 
 And this, indeed, was the last message of 
 the heroic Tan Tze-tung to a mandarin 
 friend before he went up to the capital to 
 die in 1898. But as for the literati 
 generally, their Confucian training has 
 lifted their heads too high for them to 
 see the needs of personal salvation ; the 
 long-established system of mandarindom 
 has made bribery and corruption in the 
 law-courts to seem almost Confucian; and 
 conscience is bound into the benumbed 
 condition of the women's " golden lilies." 
 
172 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 But bringing as it does a higher utili- 
 tarianism for the realm at large, many a 
 Chinese scholar is turning to Christianity 
 with half-glances of admiration on that 
 account — inviting it into the courtyard. 
 As a preliminary, the missionary is assured, 
 to its taking possession of the inner shrine 
 of personality and character. 
 
 In his Stones of Venice Euskin depicts 
 the attitude of the lovers of the old ways 
 towards the new and vigorously growing 
 Protestantism. This on the one hand, and 
 " on the other stood or seemed to stand all 
 beloved custom and believed legend; all 
 that for centuries had become closest to the 
 hearts of men . . . long trusted legend, 
 long reverenced power" — in which long 
 vested interests may perchance have been 
 incorporated. And thus stands the Chinese 
 scholar of to-day at the parting of the ways. 
 He would like to pull back the clock-hands 
 of the centuries, but sees how the Manchu 
 Court failed to do so in 1900 — a more 
 
THE LAND OF ESTHETIC TRADITIONS 173 
 
 tragic year for Manchu prestige than for 
 Western lives. He dare not try and repeat 
 the experiment, even were he ferociously 
 inclined towards the "ocean men." He 
 sees that the times are moving, and that 
 if he himself may not have to move much, 
 his sons must. Necessity compels and 
 utilitarian considerations invite. But alas 
 for the unique sestheticism to which he 
 has so long been wedded! 
 
Proud land ! what eye can trace thy mystic lore, 
 Lock'd up in characters as dark as night ? 
 
 174 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE TRIPLE LANGUAGE OP CHINA 
 
 The unique difficulties of the Chinese 
 language has been a theme for many a 
 writer. And on the other side there is an 
 article in existence " On the supposed 
 difficulty of Chinese," in which the writer 
 (Alfred Lister) .makes bold to say, " I 
 maintain that, all things considered, it is 
 an easy language, easier than French, 
 Grerman, or any other. European language, 
 and that it can be spoken fluently after 
 a shorter period of study." 
 
 The bewildered novice may naturally ask 
 which view is the correct one. And the 
 answer is, Both. Let us explain this at 
 length. 
 
 17S 
 
176 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 The term " Chinese language " may 
 refer to either or all of three things : 
 (1) Colloquial Chinese ; (2) a written dialect 
 based upon that colloquial ; (3) the Hterary 
 language of China. And the last-named 
 is exceedingly difficult to master. 
 
 Mr. Lister's remarks were made upon 
 the colloquial language. And they would 
 seem to be justified from the fact that 
 missionaries are in the habit of preaching 
 and teaching within a year of their arrival 
 in the country ; while some have launched 
 forth as public speakers at the end of seven 
 or eight months. And these early effusions 
 are readily understanded of the people, 
 although the vocabulary of the speaker 
 will necessarily be somewhat meagre. 
 
 What difficulties colloquial Chinese 
 presents, apart from its unrelatedness to 
 any Western language, lie chiefly in the 
 fact that each word should properly be 
 uttered in a certain fixed tone. We 
 are accustomed, for instance, to utter 
 
THE TRIPLE LANGUAGE OF CHINA 177 
 
 the last syllable of a question in a rising 
 tone. But to do so in speaking Chinese, 
 might turn the final word of a sentence 
 into something quite different from what 
 we intended. 
 
 Taking the " tones " of Mid-China for the 
 moment — and they vary in different parts — 
 let us imagine ourselves listeners to the 
 following conversation (with due apologies 
 to the Japanese nation) : 
 
 " Hi ! Are you a Jap ? " 
 
 " A Jap ! " 
 
 " I mean a Japanese gentleman." 
 
 " I am." 
 
 The exclamation " Hi ! " would naturally 
 be uttered in a high even tone, which gives 
 us Tone 1. The querying word " Jap " 
 would be uttered in an ascending tone, 
 which gives us Tone 4. The shocked 
 re joiner would naturally be uttered in a low 
 and slightly ascending tone, which gives 
 us Tone 2, and not to draw too fine 
 distinctions, Tone 5 also. And in the 
 
 18 
 
178 CHINA UNDEB THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 final reply, the word " am " would be 
 uttered in a firm descending tone of 
 voice, which gives us Tone 3. 
 
 Now the word for "smoke" has by 
 rights to be always uttered in a high even 
 tone (number 1), and " salt " should always 
 be mentioned in a low tone (number 2) ; 
 " eye " should be uttered in a firm descend- 
 ing tone (number 3); and "satiated" in 
 a fairly high ascending tone (number 4), 
 although in English all four words would 
 be simply written yen. 
 
 This at first looks sufficiently forbidding. 
 But in practice, most of these monosyllabic 
 words are coupled with others which, apart 
 from the correctness of "tone," effectually 
 prevent misunderstanding. Thus "water- 
 yen" or "drj-yen" can only refer to 
 tobacco as smoked in the water-pipes or 
 dry-pipes ; " yen-iris " can only refer to 
 the eye ; and " 2/e7i-reject " can only refer 
 to satiety or nausea. 
 
 As a fact, fewer ridiculous mistakes are 
 
TEE TEIPLE LANGUAGE OF CHINA 179 
 
 made in colloquial Chinese by the learner 
 than in any other language. If he give the 
 wrong tone — and some never master the 
 right ones — the impression conveyed is that 
 he is from another part of China, where the 
 tones differ or may even be almost reversed. 
 So that the tone element need form no 
 formidable barrier to the learner, however 
 wanting in musical " ear " he may be. 
 
 To the question as to why the Chinese 
 should differ from all other nations in 
 requiring fixity of tone with every syllable, 
 the reply is that apart from such a method 
 of ekeing out the actual sounds of the 
 language, the extreme paucity of such 
 sounds would create a great difficulty, 
 there being hardly more than four hundred 
 differing sounds in use anywhere, and in 
 the region of Hankow hardly more than 
 three hundred. 
 
 Apart from the tones, the simplicity of 
 the language will be readily apparent when 
 it has been explained that there are no 
 
180 CHINA UNDEB TEE SEABCH-LIQHT 
 
 inflections, hardly any plural distinctions, 
 and that as a fact the most illiterate native 
 never makes a grammatical blunder, there 
 being no grammatical rules which he could 
 break. Of course this extreme simplicity 
 may itself be a hindrance to the learner, 
 but by entering the kingdom of Chinese 
 as painters have (emotionally at any rate) 
 to enter the kingdom of art, and versifiers 
 the kingdom of poesy — " as a little child," 
 the simplicity of the language becomes an 
 undoubted element of ease in the acquire- 
 ment of Chinese colloquial. Most Chinese 
 sounds are at one time or another uttered 
 by infants the wide world over. And little 
 children just learning to speak wiU imitate 
 not only the sounds but the tones also of 
 words given them to repeat. So that 
 Chinese, especially in the softened syllables 
 of what are called the "mandarin speak- 
 ing" districts, is indeed most literally 
 
 " the simplest form of speech 
 That infant lips can try ; " 
 
THE TBIPLE LAN&UAQE OF CHINA 181 
 
 and becomes simple and easy to the learner 
 as he learns to unlearn, and to renew his 
 youth once more. 
 
 What is called " Mandarin " Chinese (or 
 the Court dialect) is spoken with little 
 variation by three-fourths of the Chinese 
 nation, and by all mandarins wherever 
 they may be stationed. It is the language 
 of China, with the exception of the 
 southern coast provinces from Shanghai 
 eastward to the borders of Annam. These 
 southern dialects, however, represent the 
 more ancient sounds of the Chinese 
 language : the purely Chinese populace 
 having been driven southwards by succes- 
 sive inroads of the Huns and Tartars, just 
 as the Britons were anciently driven by suc- 
 cessive invasions to the west of England. 
 
 Three hundred millions of the Chinese 
 will understand each other's speech with 
 little difficulty, but meeting a man belong- 
 ing to the remaining hundred millions of 
 the south, they will be dealing with a semi- 
 
182 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 foreigner, and have the same difficulty in 
 understanding him as a modern Spaniard 
 might be presumed to have in deahng with 
 an old Koman. 
 
 So much for the spoken language of 
 China. The remaining divisions of the 
 subject concern the written language, 
 whether based upon the colloquial of any 
 given part, or common to the whole of 
 educated China in a literary style based 
 on the ancient classics. 
 
 The Chinese characters are veritable 
 hieroglyphics, being originally so many 
 picture signs engraven on stone, and still 
 redolent with much saoredness in the 
 Chinese estimation. The original signs 
 for sun, moon, mountain, water, and others 
 are very identical with those of Egypt, and 
 the earliest signs for horse, ox, sheep, deer, 
 tree, grass, fish, boat, carriage, differ from 
 the hieroglyphics of Egypt merely in 
 subject and not in kind. 
 
 It may be naturally objected that in no 
 
THE TBIPLE LANGUAGE OF CHINA 183 
 
 modem Chinese character can be found 
 a likeness of anything in the heaven above 
 or in the earth beneath. The explana- 
 tion is that while originally composed of 
 graceful curves, the Chinese hieroglyphics 
 became early engraved upon thin slips of 
 bamboo, where the grain would be exceed- 
 ingly unsuitable for circular strokes but 
 ^ery suitable for angular gashes, and that 
 the ancient ideographs became thus 
 modified to suit the new conditions of 
 engraving. Then when the brush-pen was 
 introduced in the third century B.C., with 
 silk in place of bamboo, and paper following 
 silk, the brush-pen still held the traditions, 
 and imitated the strokes found in the 
 bamboo records. 
 
 To understand the difficulty of learning 
 the Chinese characters, imagine yourself in 
 the midst of a community of two thousand 
 folks to whom it is your duty to be intro- 
 duced, and after introduction to remember 
 the name and status of each for ever after- 
 
184 CHINA UNDER THE 8EABCH-LIGHT 
 
 wards, and you have the requirements for 
 reading the simplest book in the Chinese 
 language fairly represented. For Chinese 
 characters are like men's faces in conveying 
 little or no hint as to their names. Having 
 learned to recognise a few to start with, 
 the manifest family likenesses may help 
 the learner to make guesses now and then. 
 But only to guess — and often the guess, 
 however ingenious, may be very wide of the 
 mark. The only available plan is repeated 
 introduction till the name seems to look out 
 of the face in question, and one instinctively 
 knows this person or this character to be 
 called White or Black, Brown or Green, 
 Hill or Field, and so on. 
 
 But even then the difficulty is not over, 
 for certain Chinese characters, like certain 
 human characters, have one or more aliases. 
 " One man in his turn plays many parts." 
 Gladstone may be statesman and Homeric 
 scholar, theological apologist and wood- 
 cutter all in one. And so with many a 
 
THE TRIPLE LANGUAGE OF CHINA 185 
 
 Chinese ideograph according to circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Two thousand characters is, of course, a 
 minimum estimate, although a full know- 
 ledge of that number will form a passable 
 stock-in-trade for a start. The translated 
 New Testament contains 2,713 different 
 characters, the whole library of the thirteen 
 classics, 6,544 ; while the sum total of 
 orthodox characters in the Chinese language 
 amounts to 40,919. It is refreshing to 
 learn that no Chinese brain has grasped 
 them all, and that when one of the finest 
 scholars in the realm was complimented 
 upon his wonderful prowess in hieroglyphic 
 lore, he replied with much sincerity — 
 
 "Not many I know, 'tis true, 
 But I know how to use those few." 
 
 In the Nineteenth Century of February, 
 1900, Mr. Joseph H. Choate propounded 
 " a new and startling proposition " under 
 the name of " Harmonic Literature," by 
 
186 CHINA UNBEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 the application of which each word should 
 give or suggest a chord of meaning, as in 
 musical score. And his paper, with little 
 adaptation, might pass for an able descrip- 
 tion of literary Chinese and its effects upon 
 the reader's mind. 
 
 Dr. Martin, of Peking, has described 
 Chinese as " a language of stepping-stones," 
 affording scope for the leaping imagination. 
 And no greater contrast to the exceeding 
 terseness of literary Chinese than some 
 passages in early Hebrew literature could 
 well be imagined. Whatever date Higher 
 Critics may ascribe to such a paragraph as 
 that of Numb. ix. 21-23, where fifty words 
 are used in the Hebrew Bible to explain 
 that the movement of the tabernacle 
 followed the commandment of the Lord, 
 every one must agree that the clause in 
 question was produced when writing 
 materials were cheap, and probably by a 
 people familiar with the use of papyrus, or 
 at any rate parchment. 
 
THE TBIPLE LANGUAGE OF CHINA 187 
 
 But in China the gist of the whole would 
 be expressed by jS.ve characters : " Tent 
 following command moved stopped." 
 And some of these five characters would 
 furnish a " chord " in themselves ; as, for 
 instance, the sign for command, which 
 consists of a stroke and a man (one person), 
 a seal and a mouth (the signed and sealed 
 utterance of one person proclaimed vocally). 
 
 Then to later literary Chinese must be 
 added the element of allusiveness. In 
 poetry especially it assumes the reader's 
 intimate acquaintance with ' numberless 
 classical sentences and historical occurrences. 
 In this respect it may be paralleled by one 
 or two lines of Milton, if written without 
 capitals or line-divisions : " In hesebon and 
 horonaim seon's realm beyond the fllowry 
 dale of sibma clad in vines and ealeale to 
 the asphaltic pool." But even thus its 
 obscurity to the uninitiated is hardly re- 
 presented, for we at once guess which words 
 are names of places, as we might not were 
 
188 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 we to read : " In stronghold and in double 
 caves fortress realm," and so on. 
 
 Yet such is the only literature recognised 
 by the literati of China. And just as 
 every guest who calls upon a mandarin 
 must do so in dress-coat and a sedan-chair, 
 so every guest for the literary faculties 
 must appear in the approved fashion, or be 
 regarded as intentionally insulting, like the 
 man at the Oriental marriage feast who 
 appeared among the guests without the 
 wedding garment. 
 
 The absence of punctuation marks has 
 already been alluded to, and is felt to be 
 a difficulty at times to the most accom- 
 plished native student. But instead of 
 commas and full-stops there are a number 
 of characters introduced into the text itself. 
 These are called " particles," and supply a 
 sort of internal punctuation. They are like 
 the sergeants and corporals which, though 
 taking their places at intervals in the line, 
 do to the careful observer divide up that 
 line into sections. 
 
THE ;rBIPLE LANGUAGE OF CHINA 189 
 
 These sections are properly short ones. 
 In literary Chinese, as in social feasts, 
 everything is cut up into easy mouthfuls. 
 The basis of the Chinese sentence is usually 
 four characters. Thousands of choice four- 
 character phrases may be culled from early 
 writers, to lend a touch of literary piquancy 
 to a modern composition. And one of the 
 arts of the modern essayist is to introduce 
 as many as possible of these gem-like 
 crystals into his mosaic-work. Thus 
 describing an impracticable enthusiast, the 
 hyperbole " feeding on clouds, sleeping in 
 the moon " might be employed, and for the 
 utterly besotted or thoughtless the phrase, 
 " Living in intoxication, dying in a dream " 
 would be appropriate. 
 
 Another characteristic which the above 
 specimens introduce is that of parallelism. 
 The genius of the Chinese language and 
 thought is that of a broad dualism. Some- 
 thing hanging on each side, " to make the 
 balance true," is a felt want among all 
 
190 CHINA UNDBB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 classes, from the burden-bearer with his 
 pole to the sentence-moulder and the 
 philosopher. In matters religious it rather 
 assists the Chinese imagination than other- 
 wise to have two sets of idols — one Western 
 (Buddhist) and another native (Taoist), 
 and for the votaries of both cults to hope 
 to find their way, on the one hand to the 
 " Western Paradise," and on the other to 
 the " Nine-storied Heavens " immediately 
 overhead. In regions aesthetic this instinct 
 lies at the basis of our musical " harmony " 
 and "counterpoint." And whatever rules 
 of pictorial art are now out of date with us, 
 such as the " three-light " rule observable 
 in many of the older masterpieces of land- 
 scape painting, or the " pyramid composi- 
 tion " so plainly exhibited in such paintings 
 as Wilkie's Blind Fiddler, the element of 
 subtle parallelism remains and will always 
 remain. It is found in nearly all ancient 
 literature, and seems to be based upon a 
 law of aesthetics rather than the rule of any 
 
TEE TBIPLE LANQUAQE OF CHINA 191 
 
 passing fashion. Well-poised parallelism is 
 the germ of a Chinese poetic style, and 
 there is little literary Chinese prose which 
 is innocent of this adornment. 
 
 The final characteristic of Chinese style 
 .with which the patient reader will be 
 troubled is that of rhythm. A sentence in 
 the first Hebrew Psalm reads literally: 
 " And in His law doth he hum day and 
 night." For whereas we are accustomed to 
 peruse our books in silence, the Orientals 
 hum or chant theirs, as every resident in 
 China is aware — sometimes only too pain- 
 fully. This requires that literary Chinese 
 should consist of rhythmic prose adapted 
 to chanting, like the clauses of our own 
 anthem-prose. 
 
 If in style, so in subject-matter, Chinese 
 literature must resemble the classics. 
 These to the Chinese mind are crammed 
 with ideal moral philosophy. And although 
 sesthetic musings upon Nature and social 
 intercourse, the higher emotions of friend- 
 
192 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 ship and the exhilarations of the wine-cup 
 are stock themes for poetry, all literary 
 prose naust have a professedly high moral 
 purpose. Every one of the literati must be 
 a moral philosopher, whether, in the words 
 of the Sage, he is " bom so, or has learned 
 to be such, or has laboriously struggled into 
 the ranks of the learners." 
 
 From the above considerations it will be 
 obvious that there is no opening for the 
 writer of light literature in the realm of 
 Chinese prose as generally defined. For 
 in that realm all are in "holy orders" 
 assembled in Convocation with solemnised 
 hearts. Fiction of the purest nature, and 
 written with undoubted genius, is summed 
 up in the one phrase " trifling talk," which 
 being adequately translated, means trash. 
 " A celebrated Western writer of trash has 
 fallen iU, and Western Emperors have sent 
 their condolences," was the Chinese news- 
 paper account of the illness of Eudyard 
 Kipling in 1899. 
 
 Before the Chinese HaU of Moral Litera- 
 
ISE TBIPLE LANGUAGE OF CHINA 193 
 
 ture hang boards bearing the legend, " No 
 idlers admitted," and every novelist is re- 
 garded as an idler in this Eealm of Lofty 
 Purpose. Cant may and does enter the Sacred 
 Convocation, and priggishness is everywhere 
 found therein, but novelists — avaunt ! 
 
 Not that the literati do not purchase and 
 devour the works of their various novelists, 
 even those which are written in the semi- 
 colloquial style, but these things are done 
 on the sly. Yet as bookstalls are on the 
 increase in all the large centres of modern 
 China, we may devote a chapter to ex- 
 amining their contents, merely adding here 
 that as Chaucer unfolded some of the 
 possibilities of the English language, so 
 there have been novelists in China, some 
 of them almost comparable to Chaucer in 
 the matter of dramatic portraiture, who 
 have helped to develop a popular-literary 
 dialect, based upon the "mandarin," which 
 shall be understandable by natives of most 
 of the eighteen provinces. 
 
William of Malmesbury picked up his history, from 
 the time of Venerable Bede to his own time, out 
 of old songs. — Aubrey. 
 
 Nought is more honourable to a knight, 
 No better doth beseem brave chivalry. 
 Than to defend the feeble in their right. 
 
 Spemer. 
 
 Men will always be what women make them; if, 
 therefore, you wotdd have men great and vir- 
 tuous, impress on the minds of women what 
 greatness and virtue are. — Bousseau. 
 
CHAPTEE XII 
 
 A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 
 
 Theee is a Chinese work of two centuries 
 ago, known as The Household Treasure, 
 consisting of twenty -four volumes of 
 double-disfcilled goody-goodiness. Within 
 its covers, however, is a little section 
 devoted to humorous tales and tales which 
 are meant to be humorous, from which we 
 will quote a motto-anecdote for the present 
 chapter. 
 
 A certain musician once went into the 
 street carrying his harpsichord of delicately 
 sweet sound, and commenced to play 
 thereon. Thinking they heard a lute, of 
 somewhat questionable associations, a large 
 crowd gathered to listen ; but, finding that 
 
 195 
 
196 CHINA UNDER TEE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 the instrument was the aesthetic harp- 
 sichord, they quickly dispersed. One man 
 alone remained, and the musician com- 
 forted himself, saying, " At any rate I 
 have one appreciative listener." But the 
 man to whom he referred dashed his fond 
 hopes by exclaiming, '• That's my table you 
 are using ! You don't suppose I should 
 stay if it weren't, do you ? " 
 
 The obvious moral is that while vested 
 interests may account for apparent absorp- 
 tion in the higher refinements of Confucian 
 proprieties — see previous chapter — some- 
 thing more piquant must be devised to 
 tickle the attention of the masses. 
 
 At the very bottom of the list of popular 
 Chinese works, we must notice the ballad 
 booklets, cheap and nasty as regards paper 
 and printing, and containing subject-matter 
 to correspond. Their undoubtedly vicious 
 influence, however, lies in their suggestive- 
 ness to the Chinese mind, for the few 
 specimens examined contained anything but 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 197 
 
 realistic portrayal of badness. Whether 
 a more extensive study of these booklets 
 would modify one's verdict is hard to say, 
 for although Lord Macaulay in one of his 
 essays urges that no literature which has 
 influenced the manners of a given genera- 
 tion is beneath the attention of the student, 
 we beg to be excused such a research in the 
 case of ballads which every decent Chinese 
 is ashamed to be caught reading. 
 
 Booklets which from their outward 
 appearance might easily be mistaken for 
 those Just mentioned, contain the standard 
 plays of China, and may be bought and 
 studied with interest. Their composition 
 dates from the tenth century onwards, and 
 they deal with historical events which were 
 ancient in those far-ofif times. To some 
 Western readers of Chinese they may 
 appear dull and worthless. The reason 
 may be the lack of "a certain art in 
 reading " them. As Lubbock says of 
 reading generally, "we must endeavour to 
 
198 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIQHT 
 
 realise the scenes described " — in this case 
 so meagrely — " and the persons who are 
 mentioned, to picture them in the Gallery 
 of the Imagination." Especially may this 
 art be acquired when some of these 
 meagrely- worded plays, when acted, draw 
 sincerest tears from the eyes of the crowd 
 around the rough platform-stage. 
 
 One of them, abounding in pathos, is 
 published in quarto, from the translation 
 of Sir John Davis, under the name of The 
 Sorrows of Han. It describes how a very 
 lovely maiden, whom the Emperor first saw 
 in a dream, was at length discovered and 
 brought to the palace, in spite of the wiles 
 of a faithless Minister; then the wedded 
 bliss of the Emperor (Yuan Ti, e.g. 42) 
 and his consort, until, by the traitorous 
 efforts of the same faithless Minister, she 
 was demanded and carried off by a Prince 
 of the Huns, but cast herself into the Heh- 
 lung river rather than pass the limits of her 
 native land. 
 
A CBINE8E BOOKSTALL 199 
 
 A popular amplification of the story is 
 current, which seeks to compensate for the 
 tragic end of the real story by representing 
 a younger sister of the victim, and her 
 counterpart in beauty and virtue, becoming 
 the Imperial consort in due course. With- 
 out being maudlin in sentiment, this latter 
 version of the story contains over fifty 
 synonyms for weeping or wailing ! 
 
 Another pathetic story which has been 
 dramatised is that of The Statesman and 
 the Woodcutter, a favourite story indeed in 
 Mid-China where it is located, and " a story 
 to shed tears over," as some of the readers 
 of the English translation have remarked. 
 Such a translation forms a chapter in my 
 Strmg of Chinese Peach-Stones, and, as was 
 afterwards discovered, had been already 
 rendered into English by " L. M. F.," under 
 the title of " The Broken Lute," in The 
 Far East, 1877. On making a pilgrimage 
 to the grave of the woodcutter in whom 
 the high statesman recognised a soul-fellow, 
 
200 CSINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 the writer confesses to have felt such 
 emotions as would have been called forth 
 had the wild roses that were plucked there- 
 from grown upon the grave-mound of a 
 personal friend. And one of the foremost 
 musicians of England has expressed the 
 emotions which the story evokes in no 
 measured strain. 
 
 The Chinese themselves have kept that 
 lowly hill-side grave in repair for nearly 
 twenty-five centuries, and have enshrined 
 the memory of the- woodcutter youth in 
 their poems and phraseology the wide 
 empire over. Every use of the expressions 
 " sound -knower " and " heart -knower," 
 which we have rendered into English as 
 soul-fellow, is an understood reference to 
 this humble hero, whose intelligent appre- 
 ciation of sweet music commended him to 
 the statesman-musician, until the twain 
 became "weddyd brethren," as the old 
 English phrase has it. 
 
 A still earlier story, dating back to 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 201 
 
 Davidio days, forms the subject of a play 
 entitled The Prince SeeJcing a Counsellor. 
 And a much-read expansion of the story, 
 The Making of the Gods, was written by 
 a scholar of the former half of the seven- 
 teenth century, to provide the wherewithal 
 for a dowry for his second daughter. 
 A certain philosopher, who proves to be 
 an utter failure as street huckster and no 
 better as angler — for his rod had a straight 
 needle at the end and was held above the 
 water — being discovered pursuing the latter 
 occupation, formed a cunning counsellor to 
 a noble Prince at a time when the nation 
 was groaning under the misrule of Neroic 
 savagery. But, having slain his country's 
 foes, this counsellor endeavoured to appease 
 their ghosts by making so many deities of 
 them, and they have held rank, according 
 to Taoist mythology, as spiritual protectors 
 of the realm, ever since. Truly a choice 
 specimen of mental topsy-turvydom this ! 
 A Chinese speaker at the Chicago Par- 
 
202 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 liament of Keligions made bold to say: 
 " The pity is that Western people only 
 follow Protestantism and Eoman Catholi- 
 cism and have no true teacher of Taoism," 
 and the decadent religion which he advo- 
 cates is fain to find its deities among the 
 underlings of the worst tyrant that China 
 has ever seen ! 
 
 For the popularity of such objects of 
 worship, The Making of the Gods seems to 
 be largely responsible. Truly the novelist 
 is, after all, a national factor in China ! 
 
 With a passing note of appreciation of 
 the many excellences of a work called 
 The Divided Kingdoms, a popular expan- 
 sion of the national records of the centuries 
 around that of Confucius, we may next 
 notice a semi-veracious chronicle of a cen- 
 tury of anarchy and confusion — the Chinese 
 Wars of the Eoses — in the second and third 
 centuries of our era. This work, in twenty 
 volumes, known as The Three Kingdoms, 
 with nine other works current in the earlier 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 203 
 
 seventeenth century, was singled out by a 
 celebrated editor and critic and dignified 
 with the epithet, " Work of Genius." 
 
 As to its make-up, and that of lesser 
 works since, W. F. Mayers says : " In 
 every historical novel we recognise one 
 unfaihng round of personages — the wily 
 and favoured counsellor, the plain-spoken 
 but unvalued minister, the sovereign, either 
 founding a dynasty by martial virtues or 
 losing a throne by effeminacy and weakness, 
 the priest with flowing robes concealing a 
 repertory of magic arts, and, finally, the 
 truculent champion, a compound of Her- 
 cules and Bombastes, who brandishes sword 
 and lance and club, all of enormous size 
 and weight, like playthings, occupying half 
 the work with his challenges and en- 
 counters. ... To these ingredients add 
 legendary marvels ad libitum, miraculous 
 appearances of the gods in times of need, 
 tricks, treacheries, murders, and banquets, 
 and the romance is ready made to hand." 
 
204 CHINA UNDER THE 8EABCH-LIGHT 
 
 The T'ang dynasty (618-907) next fur- 
 nishes quite a small library of romances, all 
 apparently written some centuries ago. No 
 traces of genius may be discerned in their 
 pages, but of their immense popularity as 
 text-books for tea-shop orators much might 
 be said. And it is from this functionary of 
 the Chinese " public-house " that the masses 
 learn the history of China. No ancient 
 sage and no modern statesman is so well 
 known to the masses as one or two of the 
 heroes of these romances. 
 
 Test the matter by catechising a coolie 
 on the subject. Ask him, " Who was Hsieh 
 Jen-kuei ? How much could he eat ? How 
 much could he lift?" and so on; and, 
 astonished that a foreigner has really dis- 
 covered the obvious A B C of historical 
 biography, a bright thought will flash 
 across his intellect. He concludes that 
 you, like himself, have heard that name 
 from your babyhood, and exclaims, "Yes, 
 of course, he went to your foreign parts, did 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 205 
 
 he not ? " And we begin to wonder whether 
 English history of the middle of the seventh 
 century may not, after all, be somewhat frag- 
 mentary, omitting as it does a visit from 
 the most illustrious of ancient Chinese 
 heroes to our humble shores. 
 
 But memory comes to our rescue, and 
 we recall the precise facts of the case — 
 according to the Coolie History of China 
 (Authorised Version). Having received an 
 insult from Korea, not England, the Em- 
 peror (Kao Chung, r. 650-684) burned to 
 avenge it in person, but the land route to 
 Korea being then unknown — to the novelist 
 — and the Emperor being mortally afraid of 
 sea-sickness, might have merely vented his 
 rage upon his cooks or housemaids or his 
 statesmen or a wife or two, had he not been 
 smuggled into Korea without knowing it ! 
 
 Problem for Scott, Jules Verne, and 
 Punch — How to convey an Emperor and 
 his army from Cheefoo to Korea, without 
 the Emperor knowing that he was travel- 
 
206 CHINA UNDEB THE 8EAB0H-LIGHT 
 
 ling at all, still less that he was travelling 
 across the briny deep! Could Western 
 genius successfully grapple with such a diffi- 
 culty ? I trow not. Yet the novelist makes 
 light work of it — on paper. For at the 
 suggestion of the immortal Hsieh, a wooden 
 city was constructed upon a gigantic raft, 
 the Emperor invited on board, and although 
 particulars of navigation are wanting, he 
 did thus actually get to Korea without 
 knowing it, as every coolie in China knows, 
 if we do not ! 
 
 The Southern Sung dynasty (1127-1280) 
 gives rise to one or two unimportant works 
 of fiction. And the founding of the Ming 
 dynasty (1368) has furnished us with an in- 
 teresting account of the illustrious Emperor 
 Hung Wu, who rebuilt the city of Nanking 
 on such a grand scale, with walls thirty 
 miles round, whose gates have no need to "lift 
 up their heads," however high the banners 
 of the entering hosts may wave. The story 
 is only slightly mythical, and agrees with 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 207 
 
 the orthodox historical records in tracing 
 the rise of the hero from a famine-stricken 
 childhood, then cow-boy, then Buddhist 
 novice, then leader of a band of young dare- 
 devils, then commander of the insurrec- 
 tionary forces, until success makes the 
 insurrection a revolution, and Hung Wu 
 ascends the Dragon Throne and founds the 
 Ming (or Eesplendent) dynasty. 
 
 But matters do not stop here, and the 
 dismal sequel has to be chronicled. The 
 woes of his grandson and the fermenting 
 germs of dissolution fill the concluding 
 chapters of the book. 
 
 This brings us to the Manchu conquest of 
 China (1644), which, together with the 
 prowess of Wu San-kuei, a faithful general 
 who did his utmost to preserve China for 
 the Chinese, although he had to call in a 
 Manchu tribe for that purpose, and so failed,- 
 has also given rise to a work, which, however, 
 is tawdry in execution and unworthy of the 
 occasion. 
 
208 CHINA UNDER TEM SEABCE-LIGHT 
 
 Such is a fairly complete list of the his- 
 torical romance literature of past centuries 
 in China. But the last decade of the nine- 
 teenth century has produced a work of 
 fiction which for bulk and quality may bear 
 comparison with any previous specimen of 
 light literature. An exhaustive analysis of 
 its contents will be excused when it is 
 explained that it contains a fuU million 
 characters, while the English Bible contains 
 but 773,746 words, and the Chinese literary- 
 style Bible but 676,827 characters. Which 
 says much for its quality and fascination, 
 else what publisher would have accepted 
 it? 
 
 In point of style it may be said to 
 well-nigh exhaust the possibilities of the 
 " popular rliterary " language, and in general 
 tone it is as robust and healthy as some 
 Chinese novels are the reverse. Its writer 
 is both a genius and a gentleman. 
 
 The title of the work may be rendered 
 A Noble Brotherhood, and the heroes which 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 209 
 
 e it such a name form a class of knight- 
 antry unknown in Western literature, 
 r they combine the qualities of detectives 
 }h those of a very chivalrous knighthood, 
 ey may often appear in the guise of 
 ) " night-scouting thief," and were they 
 /oid of the virtues they happily possess, 
 uld be formidable pests to the community 
 large. But possessing all the capacities 
 the most skilful burglar, being adepts at 
 U-scaling on dark nights and the like, 
 jy become, in all their fertility of strata- 
 n, veritable warrior angels for the succour 
 the oppressed, as they are a roving 
 mesis for the oppressor. 
 The book abounds in elaborate stories of 
 s Sherlock Holmes order, and even Conan 
 yle might not scruple to recognise the 
 3hor as a companion genius in that parti- 
 ar form of literature. And to come to 
 i climax of one section of the work, what 
 5stern novelist would first amalgamate 
 I knight and the detective in one, and set 
 
 15 
 
210 CHINA UNDER TH^ SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 him at work to steal the most sacred item 
 of the crown jewels from the forbidden 
 precincts of the imperial palace, and by 
 a complicated scheme of personification 
 secrete them in the house of a highly con- 
 nected villain, then get a junior accomplice 
 to come forward and declare through thick 
 and thin, before the severest and keenest- 
 witted judge that China has seen, that it 
 was indeed stolen three years before by the 
 keeper of the regalia, and that he saw it 
 brought to the house where it was found; 
 and yet through all the trickery and per- 
 jury involved in the scheme, to conserve 
 the higher requirements of that truthfulness 
 to inner fact which far transcends the mere 
 truth in word — to smash the shell, and yet 
 preserve the delicate kernel intact? 
 
 Two specimens of miscellaneous literature 
 may next be noticed as being procurable 
 in every Chinese bookshop. The Liao-chai 
 book of marvels, with which the Enghsh 
 reader may become familiarised in the form 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 211 
 
 Prof. Giles' Strange Tales, is the first 
 its class in poijit of style and also of 
 B. It is a chosen recreation for literary 
 jrs of the weird. And another mode of 
 ipe from the rutty high-road of Con- 
 ian admonition is found in a collection 
 ghostly and ghastly tales entitled, WJiat 
 Master did not talk about — meaning 
 Ixtraordinary things . . . and spiritual 
 
 QgS." 
 
 L Jekyll and Hyde story within its covers 
 jht well have suggested that piece of 
 glish literature, had E. L. Stevenson been 
 ;!hinese student as well as the novelist 
 was. Moreover, the story is accompanied 
 h an explanation that is logical enough 
 in the Chinese point of view. The 
 inese Jekyll (a resuscitated corpse as it 
 )pens) was in possession of both his 
 her soul (psyche) and his lower animal 
 fit (which we may for the moment call 
 animus), the latter being under due con- 
 1 from the former. But as the " dead 
 
212 CHINA UNDER TEE SEABOH-LIGHT 
 
 man" continued talking to his friend, his 
 psyche gradually evaporated, and his residual 
 animus became a criminal animosity which 
 sought to murder his friend. And only a 
 speedy flight and the leaping of a low wall 
 averted the tragedy. 
 
 Thus Jekyll is seen to be psyche plus 
 animus, and Hyde to be animus minus 
 psyche. Which simplifies matters wonder- 
 fully; and also explains why Chinese mothers 
 so often stand at the door of an evening 
 and call to the spirit of their little one, who 
 has evidently lost it — being "not himself 
 at all." If "not himself," what is he? 
 Why, anvmus minus psyche, of course ! 
 
 A popular work may next be mentioned 
 as casting all conventionality to the winds, 
 and exhibiting the spirit of higher mo- 
 rality in one who was notorious for neglect- 
 ing the letter of the laws of decorum. It 
 is known as The Drunken Demigod, and 
 deals with the career of a high-born youth 
 who happens to be a re-incarnate Lohan 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 218 
 
 (arJiat or Buddhist saint), and who by and 
 by awoke to self -consciousness. Eefractory 
 as a novice, he becomes an apparently mad 
 monk and a winebibber, and acts in the 
 wildest and most questionable manner. 
 There is, however, a divine method in his 
 madness, and his inner motives and out- 
 ward achievements furnish an adequate 
 reply to all questionings. Things are not 
 what they seem, and his saintship becomes 
 fully recognised at last. 
 
 His vagaries recall to mind a certain St. 
 Symeon Salos whose history is given by 
 Baring Gould. Symeon's claims to canon- 
 isation, however, are on a par with those 
 of Nero to fame as a benevolent personage. 
 Young Nero wept as he signed his first 
 death-warrant, and Symeon began well — so 
 well, indeed, that the perusal of the first 
 chapter of his life-story decided the saint- 
 seeking readers to recommend him to the 
 Holy Pontiff, Accidents will happen ! and 
 he whose day of homage is July 1, and 
 
214 CHINA UNDEB TEE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 whose full history might better suit Chinese 
 print than English, is dismissed by the 
 orthodox hagiologist, Alban Butler, as follows 
 (the comments being those of Baring 
 Gould): "Although we are not obliged in 
 every instance to imitate St. Symeon, and 
 although it would be rash to attempt it 
 without a special call; yet his example 
 ought to make us blush" — we should think 
 so, indeed — "when we consider" — ah! — 
 "with what ill-will we suffer the least things 
 to hurt our pride." Of the two, we ourselves 
 are inclined to prefer the drunken demigod, 
 for he always stopped short within an inch 
 of transgression, other than drunkenness. 
 
 Then we have one or two collections of 
 short stories, the best of which are included 
 under the title of Wondrous Narratives. 
 The story of The Statesman and the Wood- 
 cutter, contained therein, has been already 
 noticed. Another story in this collection 
 is that entitled, Fanning the Grave. It 
 is given by Goldsmith in his Citizen of 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 215 
 
 the World, 1763 ; in Davis's Chinese, 1846; 
 and in Professor Douglas's Chinese Stories, 
 1893. 
 
 It now remains to notice the love-tales 
 of China, in which the human heart has 
 to grapple with the limitations of Chinese 
 custom, as well as with the problems that ■ 
 oppress true lovers in Western regions. 
 In all of them, Cupid calls one way and 
 parental arrangement or social circum- 
 stances the other. 
 
 The earliest of Chinese romantic novels 
 dates back to the fourteenth century, and 
 as the lighter literature of China was 
 then to be found in dramatic form, that 
 form is assumed in the work before us, an 
 operatic love-tale known as The Western 
 Annex. A widow and her lovely daughter 
 take up their lodgment with a rogueish 
 waiting-maid and serving-lad in the un- 
 occupied western wing of a large temple. 
 A young graduate enters the temple 
 grounds, and decides from a glimpse of 
 
216 CHINA UNDER TEE 8EABCE-LIGHT 
 
 one of its inmates to lodge there also, in 
 another set of apartments. His emotions 
 do not diminish thus. And it is quite a 
 privilege for him to have the honour of 
 rescuing the others from an attack of 
 brigands ; in reward for which services he 
 receives the promise of the maiden's hand. 
 The danger over, however, mamma re- 
 members to forget him, and only through 
 the waiting-maid can he send his literary 
 and verbal effusions to his true love. At 
 length an interview is arranged, where- 
 upon mamma waxes wroth, and sends him 
 off to the capital to take the highest 
 degree if he can, which being acquired, 
 she consents to the ratification of his 
 secret marriage. 
 
 Such is the plot of a little drama which 
 has been included among the ten "Works 
 of Genius," and is now issued with a 
 lengthy introduction and copious laudatory 
 commentary by its scholarly editor of the 
 seventeenth century. That it shocked the 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 217 
 
 taste of many is evident from a sen- 
 tence in the preface, " Some have come 
 and said that The Western Annex is a bad 
 book. Such slanderers shall assuredly be 
 hurled into the tongue-cutting hell. . . . 
 It is an inspired work of genius. ... To 
 the bad it will appear bad ; to the pure 
 it will prove itself an inspiration." 
 
 Another poetical romance has been 
 rendered in lineal translation by P. P. 
 Thorns at Macao, 1824 ; partially tran- 
 scribed in verse by Dr. Chalmers, 1867 ; 
 and wholly in prose, with copious notes, 
 by Sir John Bowring, 1868; the latter 
 under the name of The Flowery Scroll. 
 It describes how a brave young man is be- 
 trothed to a maiden he has never seen, 
 and in love with another whose charms 
 he knows better. He goes off to the wars, 
 and is "killed." Whereupon his faithful 
 affiancee calls herself a widow, and "commits 
 suicide by drowning." This is sufficiently 
 tragic, but we rigjitly suspect that neither,' 
 
218 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGET 
 
 of the two may be quite so dead as they 
 are reported to be, and anon find the hero 
 returning from the wars with glory. And 
 now, as his betrothed is " dead," he, with 
 the Emperor for match-maker, marries the 
 other one. When lo ! his dead betrothed 
 appears on the scene. 
 
 Would any Western novelist bring such 
 a complication to a satisfactory end ? 
 The Chinese author does so very easily, 
 by making the hero marry both — and more 
 wonderful still, by making all three Uve 
 happily ever after. 
 
 Another such double marriage forms the 
 climax of another work, translated by 
 Professor Julien as Les Deux Cousines, 
 which can be read in English on reference 
 to The China Beview, vol. i., in a lecture 
 entitled, " An Hour with a Chinese 
 Eomance," by Alfred Lister, who describes 
 the work as "the best, all things con- 
 sidered, that I know." 
 
 Another novel, also of the seventeenth 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 219 
 
 or eighteenth century, is that known as 
 The Fortunate Union, translated by Sir 
 John Davis, but having previously been 
 rendered into French as early as 1766. 
 And another, translated by Professor Julien 
 as Les Deux Jeunes Filles Lettrdes, in 
 which two pedantic young ladies and two 
 scholarly youths rival one another in 
 producing elegant pieces of prose and 
 poetry. 
 
 Of more general interest is The Galaxy 
 of Heroes. The little son of one oflBcial 
 family is betrothed to the infant daughter 
 of another, and having reached a marriage- 
 able ag^, is despatched to claim his bride 
 from her father, now Governor of Shan- 
 tung. On the journey thither, however, 
 his treacherous servant robs him and leaves 
 him apparently dead, then proceeds on his 
 journey to personate him before the 
 Governor of Shantung. 
 
 Our hero meanwhile is discovered by a 
 gallant young hunter, and slowly recovers. 
 
220 CHINA UNDER THE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 Meanwhile the young lady, finding that 
 the suitor is of low and mean disposition, 
 refuses to marry him, and feeling assured 
 that he is an impostor, disguises herself 
 in male attire, and, with a faithful atten- 
 dant, flees to Wuchang to make inquiries 
 of her suitor's mother. 
 
 Finding that his daughter has fled, the 
 Governor resolves to hush up the matter, 
 and palm off an ugly waiting-maid upon 
 the false suitor, who is paid out as he 
 deserves. And the right couple get married 
 at last, after a due amount of adventure. 
 
 And now we must notice a famous novel 
 which Mayers declares to be, " beyond 
 possibility of cavil, a work for which genuine 
 admiration may be expressed," that most 
 quoted of Chinese tales, TJie Dream of the 
 Bed Chamber. With Mayers' verdict, how- 
 ever, some have ventured to differ, notably 
 the writer of an altogether unique review 
 of the work, in The Chinese Bepository, 
 1842, who actually mistakes the hero for a 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 221 
 
 " very petulant woman " ! More reliable 
 renderings of the story have appeared 
 from the pen of Mr. Thorn, Sir John Davis, 
 and Dr. Edkins as regards part of the 
 work, and by Mayers and Professor Giles 
 as regards the whole — the latter sketch 
 being still on sale. 
 
 The author is supposed to have been 
 secretary to an hereditary grandee of the 
 eighteenth century. That household was 
 .Manchu, not Chinese, and so undoubtedly 
 are some of the characters and scenes 
 described. The chief character is a spoilt 
 boy, whose disposition is hardly improved 
 by his spending his later teens in the 
 almost exclusive company of his two 
 maiden cousins and their waiting-maids 
 in a sumptuous household. To one of the 
 young ladies he is bound by predestination 
 and by elective affinities. She is of great 
 beauty, but so is her cousin also, and being 
 of delicate health and of a sensitive nature, 
 is constantly driven to despair by the at- 
 
222 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 tentions that the spoilt youth bestows on 
 her good-natured but rather stolid rival. 
 By and by the parental powers that be 
 betroth him to the latter maiden. Where- 
 upon his true love pines away and dies. 
 He marries the other against his will, and 
 on the fortunes of the household col- 
 lapsing he becomes a Buddhist monk. 
 
 Such, in barest outline, is the plot of 
 one of the most remarkable works China 
 has ever produced, and with only that 
 plot before us, we may 
 
 "Grieve for the senseless youth, the hapless maiden's 
 woe." 
 
 And that the author intended to call up 
 such emotions, and perhaps give vent to 
 a pessimistic view of the course of true 
 love, impeded as it is by mundane circum- 
 stances, seems to be implied from the fact 
 that the line of verse above quoted is part 
 of the dream in the " red chamber," during 
 which a fairy instructress endeavours to 
 
A CHINESE BOOKSTALL 223 
 
 initiate the hitherto gay and thoughtless 
 youth into the realities of life; in which 
 task she is seconded by a faithful waiting- 
 maid, who now and then urges upon the 
 youth a course more in keeping with his 
 position than the indolent and effeminate 
 one he was adopting. 
 
 To the student as such, the book abounds 
 in material for his philosophisings ; to the 
 lover of a skilful portrayal of the finer 
 shades of human emotion under ordinary 
 and in abnormal situations, the work is 
 unparalleled in the whole compass of 
 Chinese literature; but to the young 
 Chinese novel-reader, such a book will form 
 anything but wholesome diet. And we can 
 well understand why, apart from the dis- 
 closure of family secrets — and the writer 
 evidently drew from the life^such a work 
 should have been proscribed by the authori- 
 ties for fifty years after its publication ; 
 that it should have been again proscribed 
 in the thirties (when MS. copies sold for 
 
224 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 as much as £7 or £10), and that it should 
 be proscribed at the present moment. 
 With the result that it can be bought 
 everywhere under the innocuous alias of 
 The Stone Records. 
 
16 
 
Let a man of the present age go back to the ways 
 of antiquity; — on the persons of all who do so 
 calamities are sure to fall.— ComfMcwts, "Doctrine 
 of the Mean," xxviii. 1. 
 
CHAPTEB XIII 
 
 A DAILY NEWSPAPEE 
 
 Among the edicts put forth to check the 
 modernisation of China after the coup d'4tat 
 of September, 1898, was one decreeing the 
 abolition of the native newspapers which 
 had sprung into being in the chief Treaty 
 ports of China. Its text may be given as 
 illustrating the attitude of the Manchu 
 Government toward what have come to be 
 considered by us of the West as so many 
 daily necessities, and their editors, well, as 
 fairly respectable men according to our 
 barbarian estimate of things. Let us, how- 
 ever, own our ignorance, and consent to be 
 instructed by one who has ranked higher 
 than any Son of Heaven which the Court 
 
 227 
 
228 OSINA UNDER TEE SEABCH-LIQHT 
 
 of Cathay has produced for some decades. 
 She says: — 
 
 "As newspapers only serve to excite the 
 masses to subvert the present order of 
 things and the editors thereof are composed 
 of the dregs of the literary classes, no good 
 can be served by the continuation of such 
 dangerous instruments, and we hereby com- 
 mand the entire suppression of all news- 
 papers published within the Empire, while 
 the editors connected with them are to be 
 arrested and punished with the utmost 
 rigour of the law" (Imperial decree, October 
 8, 1898). 
 
 On this The North China Herald naturally 
 remarked: "If we may liken the effect of 
 the Japan-Chinese war to a severe electric 
 shock administered to China, we may also 
 , speak of the native Press as a telegraphic 
 system conveying an electric current of new 
 ideas throughout the length and breadth 
 of the land. To cut off this current, 
 to which the nation has now become 
 
A DAILY NEWSPAPEB 229 
 
 habituated, is a crime and a stupidity which 
 is worse than a crime. The Empress 
 Dowager is like Mrs. Partington with her 
 mop; the tide of enlightenment is flowing 
 in China, and if she and her friends at 
 Peking had a little more knowledge of the 
 world, she would know that her edicts 
 cannot possibly stop the rising of the tide." 
 But her helplessness was displayed in a 
 manner which the Western reader, unac- 
 customed to ways and means in China, 
 would hardly guess. For most of the news- 
 papers have continued from that day to 
 this, as though no edict had been issued. 
 There would be two possible ways of 
 achieving this result. One would be to 
 subsidise the mandarins of the neighbour- 
 hood. And the second, which was the 
 method adopted, would be to add a foreign 
 name as proprietor on the front sheet, thus 
 placing the newspaper under foreign pro- 
 tection. And this latter method is in 
 vogue in many another enterprise than that 
 
230 CHINA UNDEB THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 of journalism. The avidity with which 
 many a Chinese capitalist or merchant has 
 availed himself of Western protection 
 against the extortions of the Chinese man- 
 darin system is indeed one of the prominent 
 signs of the times in latter-day China. 
 
 Of the score of Chinese newspapers which 
 survived the drastic edict for their suppres- 
 sion, one of the highest class is that which 
 we may call The Daily Mirror, keeping back 
 its real name for reasons connected with a 
 leading article which we propose to translate 
 later on in the chapter. 
 
 The Daily Mirror arose out of the Eeform 
 Movement. The reformers first started a 
 paper which, out of pure compliment, bore 
 the same title as that of the Christian 
 Literature Society's famous monthly. The 
 Beview of the Times, a magazine dealing 
 with national "questions in the light of 
 Christian civilisation, started in 1868 by Dr. 
 Y. J. Allen, whose name has long since 
 been a household word with most mandarins 
 
A DAILY NEWSPAPER 231 
 
 and leading scholars throughout the Empire. 
 As identical titles would naturally lead to 
 confusion, the native Beview of the Times 
 became Ghinese Progress, and iiourished till 
 the Usurpation. After that coup d'Mat, the 
 editorial staff divided and threw their 
 energies into two rival papers, one published 
 every ten days, the other, the daily paper 
 before us. In order to save itself, it dis- 
 owned the now disgraced K'ang Yu-wei, 
 and trimmed its sails in the approved 
 Chinese fashion. 
 
 It is printed on foreign paper and pub- 
 lished at about a third of a penny, having 
 risen from a farthing, and gives good value 
 for the money. The outside sheets are, of 
 course, a mass of advertisements. Taking 
 up a copy at random, let us first glance over 
 these essentials of a paying daily. 
 
 Under the bold-print title, we find, begin- 
 ning from the right-hand top corner, rates 
 of advertisement, then items of surpassing 
 interest in the current number, then a 
 
232 CHINA VNDEB TEE 8EABCE-LIQHT 
 
 marionette show " patronised by royalty " 
 in Siam, &c. ; edible birds' nests, expensive 
 but of prime quality ; Wuchang Cotton and 
 Silk Mills ; an artist's advertisement ; an 
 advertisement of another artist far superior 
 to the former; life insurance ; fire insurance; 
 fuel ; cigarettes ; weighing machines (illus- 
 trated) ; a Chinese drug-shop where Western 
 medicines may be obtained (as sundry 
 Mission dispensaries have found, for it is a 
 reliable institution) ; and lastly lead type. 
 And the back sheet is in no wise inferior to 
 the front in the number and variety of its 
 advertisements, comprising as it does an 
 illustrated announcement of a circus; 
 Peacock brand cigarettes, also illustrated ; 
 and a host of other delights for the Chinese 
 mind and body. 
 
 On looking within, we cannot but be 
 
 struck with the high Journalistic abihty 
 
 ^ therein displayed, both as regards the wide 
 
 range of reliable news from all provinces 
 
 and many countries, and as regards the 
 
A DAILY NEWSPAPER 233 
 
 vigour of the articles which that news calls 
 forth. 
 
 In the news section, we begin with the 
 latest Imperial decrees, transmitted by 
 telegraph, then translated telegrams from 
 the British press of Shanghai — so that our 
 London telegrams are in the Chinese 
 reader's hands within twenty-four hours, 
 as a rule, after we have read them at our 
 breakfast tables. Such names as Dreyfus, 
 Rhodes, Lord Salisbury, Chamberlain, Lord 
 Roberts, Lord Kitchener, Kruger, De Wet, 
 and others, have been well to the frolit at 
 various times. And all the leading national 
 or diplomatic events are portrayed, togetl^er 
 with condensed reports of our own Parlia- 
 mentary debates on Eastern questions, with 
 an accuracy which leaves little to be desired. 
 
 Russia has never been popular with our 
 editor. He has long prophesied that what- 
 ever events befall, she will be coming out 
 top of the pile, with enlarged territory, at 
 Chinese expense, in the end. 
 
234 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIQHT 
 
 Then as to domestic news, a Chinese 
 statesman or Western ambassador falls ill, 
 and receives a paragraph ; a Consul becomes 
 betrothed to a " female friend," and the 
 date of his marriage is duly reported. The 
 state of the crops, from the borders of Tibet 
 to the opposite extremes of the realm ; the 
 prospects of the silkworm industry; the 
 decline of the tea-trade, and the fact that 
 Ceylon tea may now be bought in Hankow ; 
 the decadence of Chinese art in the potteries, 
 and the like, are duly noted and form topics 
 for articles too. The ravages of opium are 
 dealt with, accompanied with an array of 
 facts and inferences which might well 
 surprise the Opium Commissioners of a few 
 years back. A forbidding tax on opium 
 lamps is proposed in one of these vigorous 
 leaders : statesmen of the first and second 
 grades should be made to pay one thousand 
 taels (ounces of silver), of the third and 
 fourth grades, five hundred taels; of the 
 fifth, sixth, and seventh grades, two hundred 
 
A DAILY NEWSPAPER 235 
 
 taels ; of the eighth grade downwards, fifty 
 taels ; the upper class oiviHans, thirty taels ; 
 the raiddle classes, ten taels ; the lower 
 classes, three taels — an amount which will 
 be appreciated when it is explained that 
 these latter would hardly spend a penny a 
 day on food. The rates for the higher 
 classes are lower in proportion to their 
 income for the reason that when a man can 
 afford to feed well, the effects of the opium- 
 grip may be palliated for a much longer 
 time. And the article ends by quoting a 
 friend of high degree who says: " Such a 
 method needs to be commended to Court to 
 regulate the self-poisoning of the masses, 
 and should such an edict be granted, first 
 taxing and then prohibiting, the populace 
 will be rescued, and in twenty years' time 
 the realm will be free from opium. But 
 will the realm indeed enjoy such a con- 
 summation? Ah!" 
 
 And now it is proposed to translate a 
 political article of some years back, in which 
 
236 CHINA UNDEB THE 8EABCH-LIGHT 
 
 we have the spectacle of enraged patriotism, 
 while yet certain events were fresh. It may 
 be well to say by way of introduction, that 
 while it mirrored the general feeling about 
 the loss of Kiao-chou, certain facts on the 
 other side are understated ; that the 
 translator has no feeling of animosity 
 toward Germany, but the reverse ; that no 
 anti-G-erman article will reappear in The 
 Daily Mirror ; and that in the " holy land " 
 of Shantung — the birthplace of Confucius, 
 the region which contains the sacred T'ai 
 mountain, and is the province where the 
 maximum of friction would be supposed to 
 have been caused — on January 17, 1901, 
 the Governor of the province cordially 
 invited all Protestant missionaries to follow 
 the missionaries of Germany and France, 
 and return to their posts in the interior, 
 officially promising them a military escort if 
 needed, full liberty of worship for their 
 converts, and all the aid in his power 
 toward furthering their own " preaching of 
 
A DAILY NEWSPAPEB 237 
 
 righteousness " — a translation of which 
 document may be found at length in The 
 North China Herald, January 30, 1901. 
 
 With such a preface we may safely quote 
 The Daily Mirror leader of April 19, 1899 : 
 
 " CHINA SHOULD PEBPAEE FOB WAB, AND FIBST 
 FIGHT GEBMANY. 
 
 " Present-day China is like unto a broken {/ 
 tile, or a pile of eggs ready to tumble ! And 
 those who sorrow for her misfortunes moan 
 saying, ' If we fight we are lost, and if we 
 do not fight we are still lost ! ' But to 
 Court and country, I would say, ' Tell me 
 not that in either case we are lost. I will 
 not believe it ! Let us fight if only to wipe 
 out our national disgrace. And we must 
 begin with Germany. Why? Because the 
 ' slicing of the melon ' (partition of the 
 country) began in the mind of Bismarck [!] , 
 and its first violence was marked in the 
 siezure of Kiao-chou. And now Grermany 
 is planning to seize I-chou — fearless of con- 
 
238 CHINA UNDBB THE 8EAB0H-LIGHT 
 
 sequences and careless of every principle of 
 justioe. Thus of all nations, Germany is 
 the most insulting and overbearing. Alas ! 
 alas ! that such seeds of dissolution as 
 these should be sown ; while the Terrestrial 
 Empire looks on with indifference ! Surely 
 
 \^ no Empire worth the name would do so. 
 
 ' Avert dissolution ! Fight ! And begin with 
 Germany. Consider the rights of the case. 
 The German usurpation of Kiao-chou was 
 only made on the grounds that some villains 
 had harmed some missionaries. Did not 
 the German Government know that our 
 Empire has laws against villainy? Must 
 they adopt lynch-law themselves ? Have 
 we no methods of dealing with criminals? 
 Did the case prove that China had none ? 
 They might have been justified if we had no 
 such methods, or if those methods had 
 failed. And all the while our Government 
 has been straitly charging the officials 
 everywhere to put down villainy with vigour, 
 and to protect all strangers within our 
 
A DAILY NEWSPAPER 239 
 
 borders. Why must they use miUtary force 
 and seize our territory ? 
 
 " If China had turned a deaf ear to 
 arbitration, and had cast aside her treaties 
 [As she did in this and other cases. — Teans- 
 latoe], there might have been some excuse. 
 But they must fight a hurried battle and 
 make a military matter of it. They must 
 win ; we must lose, and agree to resign our 
 territory, and that without having violated 
 any treaty whatever ! They just regarded 
 us as Barbarians who own no ruler, and 
 with whom they could do as they pleased, 
 being, as they boast, a civilised nation and a 
 powerful Empire ; and impose upon us as 
 having no freedom like their own ! Thus it 
 was that they could do as they liked, and 
 cast Justice to the winds ! And we tamely 
 submitted ! 
 
 " Germany's usurpature of Kiao-chou was 
 not only an insult to our Parental Emperor, 
 but to the whole realm of Terrestrials ; and 
 not only to the men of the present day but 
 
240 OHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGHT 
 
 our ancient Monarohs, Yao, Shun, Yii, 
 T'ang, and to our diademed Confucius. 
 And our Government and Magistracy can- 
 not ' pillow the lance ' and brook the outrage. 
 Bather must we memorialise the Emperor 
 to collect his troops and avenge the insult, 
 an insult which proves the Imperial reUance 
 (upon Germany's faith) to be unfounded, 
 and which takes advantage of the sorrows 
 of the populace. And if officials and people 
 talk about 'present danger,' 'threatening 
 crises,' and the like, they will indeed prove 
 themselves to be a herd of enslaved 
 Barbarians, who may be hunted and hooked 
 like so many beasts and fishes. Then I too 
 will join in the cry, ' If we fight we are lost, 
 and if we do not fight, we are still lost ! ' 
 
 " But surely we must utter bolder words 
 than these ! Listen, I beseech you. There 
 cannot be more than a thousand German 
 soldiers at Kiao-chou, and in the event of a 
 battle will every one of them escape ? And 
 if they lose but one to a hundred of our 
 
A DAILY NEWSPAPER 241 
 
 troops, or ten in a thousand, or a hundred 
 to a myriad, can they slaughter our whole 
 army? 
 
 " Moreover, their recent doings have be^n 
 an insult to every Terrestrial, and Germany 
 should find in every Terrestrial soldier an 
 enemy. If our four hundred millions rise 
 in opposition to G-ermany, will there be any 
 fear of our failing to conquer the foe ? 
 
 " There are Western methods of warfare, 
 but have we not learnt them ? There is 
 Western discipline, but has no one adopted 
 it ? If the Government will not withhold its 
 treasure for rewarding bravery, are there no 
 heroes who will answer to the call ? We are 
 able to fight then. 
 
 " Can we not make guns and cast cannon, 
 and protect our frontiers from foreign occu- 
 pation ? We are able to protect ourselves. 
 What fear we then? 
 
 "And after this I-chou episode, if we do 
 
 not arm en masse, 'turning our backs on 
 
 home, and Joining as one,' I guarantee that 
 
 17 
 
242 CHINA UNDEB TEE SEABCH-LIGET 
 
 the melon will indeed be sliced. With all 
 our myriads we shall bow our greetings to 
 these guests ; with all our mineral wealth, 
 we shall submit to the conquerors. 
 
 " China must fight, and fight now ! And 
 if the National resources are inadequate, 
 the populace wiU help; civilian house- 
 holds will supply rations to the troops; 
 the mines will supply material for arma- 
 ments. We are able to overcome Germany, 
 I assert for the second time. 
 
 " If we put on a bold front, though the 
 Germans have taken Kiao-chou, we shall be 
 host and they guests, we shall be masters 
 and they servants. And should they want 
 to collect reinforcements of men and 
 weapons, their country is distant ; and if 
 they seek to borrow troops on the spot, what 
 nation will assist them? Our country is 
 broad and large, the united forces of a dozen 
 provinces could be concentrated in one 
 province, and that without undue pressure 
 on the populace, or the expenditure of for- 
 
A DAILY NEWSPAPER 243 
 
 bidding sums of money. We can con- 
 centrate, yes, concentrate the soldiery of a 
 dozen provinces, and oppose this one king- 
 dom. We need not cross the seas to collect 
 the sinews of war as they would have to. 
 
 " When France attacked us, and ' defeated 
 our horse-tails ' at Foochou, were our troops 
 seized with panic ? Did not the provinces 
 of Kwangtung and Chekiang rise to the 
 occasion and prove their prowess ? That is 
 no distant event. Is it utterly forgotten ? 
 And now with Germany, cannot such things 
 be repeated ? We are able to overcome, I 
 assert for the third time. 
 
 " I maintain that at all costs (' body 
 and bones ground to powder'), we should 
 struggle to be free from the slavery- of 
 driven cattle. The Grovernment should not 
 be affrighted at any recent defeat (in the 
 Japan war), but should adopt a policy of 
 lasting victory, by immediately proclaiming 
 throughout the Empire that Shantung must 
 be held in order to secure the safety of the 
 
244 CHINA UNDEB TEE 8EABCE-LIGHT 
 
 remaining provinces. If the military spirit 
 of a myriad mile territory be concentrated 
 there, the Germans will fear and fly without 
 having the nerve to resist. We can thus 
 conquer without fighting ! Bold words these, 
 but as true as they are bold. We are able 
 to overcome G-ermany. Who doubts it ? 
 
 " You may say that China is divided in 
 heart, and if we organise a great army, we 
 shall find the country people scattered like 
 a flock of frightened birds. But will it be 
 so ? The insult to one country in Asia is 
 an omen for all Asia. And we need not 
 debate matters with Westerners. Other 
 nations are willing to help, but cannot till 
 we invite them. But if our Government 
 were to make representations of our 
 national disgrace and ignominy, and ask 
 for aid of our friends the Japanese [!] and 
 others, and Japan and Siam were to realise 
 that China's disgrace was Asia's danger, 
 then every Asiatic power would be likely 
 to unite in a common bond to withstand 
 
A DAILY NEWSPAPER 245 
 
 Germany and escape the tyranny of the 
 "White Eace. Thus the East would join in 
 war against the West, and China would be 
 ruled by its own laws and belong to its own 
 people. And so with each (Asiatic) nation, 
 as justice requires. And with such avail- 
 able help from related nations, Germany 
 would be defeated. China can fight and 
 save herself, and the plan of national 
 salvation is (chiefly) to arouse the literati 
 and populace to feel the shame of the 
 foreign yoke, thus uniting the nation in 
 one, and the Continent in one. But first 
 the nation must be united as one body 
 where every part feels the pain of one 
 part. 
 
 "The literati and populace of the Empire 
 should form one council of war, and call out 
 volunteers to make up for the paucity of 
 regular troops. Eastern Asia should form 
 an Asiatic council of war; every man in 
 every part should exert himself to save 
 his home. 
 
246 CHINA UNBEB TEE SEARCH-LIGHT 
 
 "If our Government but feels anxious 
 for the realm, and our statesmen are 
 but shamed at the national disgrace, the 
 populace will catch their emotions and 
 weep tears of blood. Public spirit will be 
 aroused. Our friends the neighbouring 
 nations will fight for their very existence, 
 and when the conflict comes, there can be 
 no possibility of our not being victorious. 
 
 " Alas, the insurgents (the Germans) are 
 insurgents indeed. How could I remain 
 silent, and not address my country? And 
 doing so, haw could I refrain from speaking 
 plainly, and appeahng to our Far Eastern 
 friends (Japanese and the like)? 
 
 " But, after all, the matter belongs to our 
 Government. If the Government gives the 
 word, the drum-beats will resound through- 
 out the Empire, and reverberate in every 
 manly heart till the martial spirit rises 
 wave upon wave. 
 
 " Otherwise, if we dawdle in our extremity, 
 and are blind to our calamity ; if we delight 
 
. A DAILY NEW8PAPEB 247 
 
 to be destroyed and count our losses gain, 
 then all is lost, all is lost ! China is China 
 no longer. Alas ! Alas ! How can I bear 
 it ! How can I bear it ! " 
 
 A passing thought in the reader's mind 
 may be answered at once. It may be 
 argued on reading the above that if the 
 editor has published articles against the 
 Empress Dowager, couched in such terms 
 as those employed against an episode in the 
 relations of Germany with China, she might 
 well suppress such a newspaper with an 
 easy conscience. But as a constant reader 
 of The Daily Mirror, one is qualified to 
 assert that not even in 1900, when Chinese 
 no less than Western opinion was roused 
 against her treachery, was one disrespectful 
 word or insinuation to be discovered in the 
 leading articles of this paper, although 
 many a well-deserved epithet was hurled 
 at the heads of certain "vile statesmen" 
 who had misadvised her. 
 
248 CHINA UNDEB THE 8EABCH-LIGHT 
 
 Nor, apart from the above article, has 
 our editor published much that could be 
 considered anti-foreign, though he has 
 penned a great deal that we should readil] 
 admit to be the outcome of a very allowable 
 patriotism. And if he should be somewhal 
 critical of such Western manners as are 
 not admirable, he lashes the abuses o: 
 ■ mandarindom with a vigour that is nothing 
 short of courageous, considering that h( 
 has readers among that class of dignitaries 
 And even in the above article he canno' 
 be considered to "excite the masses t( 
 subvert the present order of things," o: 
 even to urge them to attack Germany o: 
 any other Western power, for the simpL 
 reason that his articles, so far from bein^ 
 understanded of the masses, are in th« 
 finest and most allusive literary prose 
 The man in the street could never manag 
 to punctuate an article in The Daily Mirror 
 still less read it. The readers, apart froD 
 the official section thereof, belong to th 
 
A DAILY NEWSPAPEB 249 
 
 ranks of the sedentary student or the 
 educated merchant — both men of peace 
 who would not handle a weapon of warfare 
 for the life of them. So that even this 
 specimen of patriotic rage may well be 
 considered to be as innocent of harm as a 
 resounding volley of blank cartridge. It is 
 a mere artistic beating of the air, and 
 would be chiefly admired on account of its 
 vigorous style. 
 
 No effective advocate of militarism is the 
 native press of China, but its more able 
 publications are in many ways an agency of 
 education in the sorely neglected subject of 
 a healthy patriotism such as it would be 
 to the best interests of both Orient and 
 Occident to foster in China. 
 
 And as most of the higher class dailies 
 gain their facts from Western Journalism, ' 
 and many of their motives from the pub- 
 lications of the Christian Literature Society 
 for China — a society which includes within 
 its membership many of the most intelligent 
 
250 CHINA UNDER THE SEABCH-LIGET 
 
 well-wishers to China, residing either within 
 that empire, or north of the Tweed, or in 
 various cities of England, America, and 
 Germany — ^we may well regard the daily 
 press of Cathay as an important factor in 
 the new China which is coming to birth 
 with the new century. 
 
 And surely we may read the signs of the 
 times as birth-throes rather than break-up. 
 Or as an ancient Aid to Pleasant Discourse 
 relates of Adam in an old Mystery Play, so 
 also with China to-day : "As the curtain 
 \ rose, he was seen crossing" the stage on his 
 way to be created." 
 
THE CEBISTIAN LITEBATVBE SOCIETY 
 FOB CHINA. 
 
 ©Wcera (n Cblna. 
 
 President. 
 
 Sir Robert Hart, Bart., G.C.M.G. 
 
 Vice-Presidenta. 
 
 Cornelius Thome, Esq. J. J. Keswick, Esq. 
 
 George Jamieson, Esq., O.M.G. Eight Eev. G. E. Monle, D.D. 
 
 Honorary Treasu/rer. 
 
 James Buchanan, Esq., Shanghai. 
 
 Honorarry Secretary. 
 Eev. Timothy Eiohard, Shanghai. 
 Ordinary Directors. 
 C. S. Addis, Esq. Eev. Paul Kranz. 
 
 Eev. Y. J. Allen, D.D., LIi.D. Eev. D. M'GiUivray, B.D. 
 
 Eev. W. A. Oornaby. W. H. Poate, Esq. 
 
 Eev. J. EdMna, D.D. Eev. P. L. Pott, B.D. 
 
 Bev. J. C. Ferguson. Eev. W. G. Walshe, B.A. 
 
 A. H. Harris, Esq. Eev. E. T. Williams. 
 
 ©facers in ScotlanD. 
 
 Honorary President. 
 The Eight Honourable Lord Polwarth. 
 Honorary Vice-Presidents. 
 The Eight Hon. Lord Overtoun. Thomas Hanbury, Esq., Italy. 
 W. G. Blackie, Esq., Fh.D., LL.D. James Stephenson, Esq. 
 Eight Hon. James A. Campbell, Eev. Principal G. C. M. Douglas, 
 LL.D., M.P. D.D. 
 
 President. 
 
 Professor A. Crum Brown, P.E.S. 
 
 Honorary Secretaries. 
 
 Eev. J. Cumming Brown. 
 
 William C. Kerr, Esq., LL.B., Edinburgh. 
 
 Eobert A. Moody, Esq., LL.B., Glasgow. 
 
 Xaaies' JiSrancb. 
 
 President. Secretary. 
 
 Mrs. Stalker, Glasgow. Miss Harvie, Glasgow. 
 
 XonDon :fi3rancb. 
 
 Hon. Secretary and Treaswer. 
 Eev. W. Fisher, British and Foreign Bible Society. 
 Committee. 
 Eev. Prebendary Webb-Peploe. Eev. A. E. Buckland. 
 Eev. Canon Fleming. Judge Bompas. 
 
 Eev. Prof. H. 0. G. Moule. T. A. Denny, Esq. 
 
 Eev. Dr. Eichard Glover. John Cory, Esq. 
 
 Bev. Dr. M'Ewan. Eobert Heath, Esq. 
 
 Eev. Dr. Monro Gibson. W. H. D. Bouse, Esq., Bugby School. 
 
 Eev. W. T. A. Barber, Leys School. Christopher Gardner, Esq., C.M.G. 
 Eev. F. B. Meyer. Colin M. Ford, Esq. 
 
 Bev. Alexander Connell. James Johnston, Esq., M.D. 
 
 Bev. John Sharp. A, H. Baynes, Esq. 
 
 Bev, James Thomas, 
 
UHWIN BROTHERS, 
 WOKING AND LONDON.