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 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 COLLECTION 
 
 CHINA AND THE CHINESE 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 CHARLES WILLIAM WASON 
 
 CLASS OF 1876 
 
 1918 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DS 709.W76 1901 
 
 China itraveis and Investigations in the 
 
 3 1924 023 226 651 
 
B Cornell University 
 f Library 
 
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 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
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 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
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CHINA 
 
 TRAVELS AND INVESTIGATIONS IN THE 
 
 " MIDDLE KINGDOM "—A STUDY OF ITS 
 
 CIVILIZATION AND POSSIBILITIES 
 
 TOGETHER WITH 
 
 AN ACCOUNT OF THE BOXER WAR 
 
 The Relief of the Legations, and the 
 Re-establishment of Peace 
 
 JAMES HARRISON WILSON 
 
 A. M., LL. D. 
 
 Late Major-General United States Volunteers, and 
 
 Brevet Major-General United States Army 
 
 THIRD EDITION 
 REVISED THROUGHOUT, ENLARGED, AND RESET 
 
 New York 
 
 D, Appleton and Company 
 
 1901 
 
 4 
 
CoPTRiQBT, 1887, 1894, 1901, 
 By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. 
 
TO 
 
 COLONEL LBGRAND B. CANNON, 
 
 OF NEW YOHK, 
 
 A LOYAL CITIZEN, A GOOD SOLDIER, AND A TRUE FRIEND, 
 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED, 
 
 WITH THE AFFECTIONATE REGARDS OF 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION 
 
 While in command of the Department of Matanzas 
 and Santa Clara, in the island of Cuba, with headquarters 
 at the city of Matanzas, early in the month of June, 
 1900, I learned from the American newspapers that a 
 crisis was approaching in the relations of China with 
 the rest of the world. My interest in that far-away 
 country had been kept alive by the war between it and 
 Japan, by the books which of late years have been given 
 to the world in increasing numbers, by the flood of arti- 
 cles in the magazines and newspapers, and above all 
 by an active correspondence with men of intelligence 
 resident in China, and by conferences with travelers and 
 promoters more or less actively engaged in soliciting 
 concessions for railways and mines and in the develop- 
 ment of the resources of the country. 
 
 My former visit to China, coupled with study and re- 
 flection, had revealed to me the fatal weakness of the 
 Government, the impotency of the Emperor, the deca- 
 dence of the dynasty, the poverty and distress of the peo- 
 ple, and the continued encroachment and pressure of the 
 foreign powers for additional concessions, trade privi- 
 leges, and treaty rights. The intrigues and the corrup- 
 tion of the Court, the contention of the family cliques, 
 and the actual struggle of the liberals and conservatives 
 for control of the Throne and its unfortunate occupant, 
 became known to me from time to time as fully as to 
 any one resident in the country. Even the rise of the 
 
vi CHINA 
 
 Boxer organization, and its purposes, had not escaped 
 my observation. All signs and indications, so far as 
 I could see or understand them — and they were abun- 
 dant — pointed with unerring certainty to a collision 
 which would probably involve China most seriously with 
 all the great powers of the world. 
 
 On the supposition, which I early adopted, that force 
 would be necessary for the conservation of our national 
 interests in that quarter and in this contingency, that 
 the information gained during my previous travels and 
 investigations might be of use to the Government, I 
 cabled the adjutant general, offering my services to the 
 War Department, calling special attention to the fact 
 that I had traveled all over the probable theater of 
 operations, and had made the acquaintance of many of 
 the leading Chinamen. This was on the 17th of June, 
 before any actual outbreak had been reported or taken 
 place. It is perhaps noteworthy that I was at that time 
 the only general of&cer of the army who had ever traveled 
 extensively in China or studied its civil and military 
 resources. The march of events thenceforth was quick 
 and dramatic. The capture of the Taku forts by the 
 allied fleets, the severance of railroad communication 
 with Peking, the demand for the withdrawal of the for- 
 eign representatives, the murder of the German min- 
 ister, the organization of a relief column, the attack 
 upon the legations, and, finally, the decision of the prin- 
 cipal treaty powers to send troops for their relief, fol- 
 lowed with startling rapidity. Our Government, like the 
 rest, acted with promptitude and decision. It ordered 
 troops from both Manila and the United States to the 
 scene of disturbance, and after designating that veteran 
 soldier, Brigadier-General Adna E. Chaifee, for chief 
 command, and promoting him to the rank of major gen- 
 eral, it arranged to so increase its expeditionary force as 
 to make the presence of another general officer neces- 
 sary. As soon as this was done, the adjutant general 
 
PREFACE TO THE THIED EDITION yii 
 
 cabled (July 31st) that " the Secretary of "War will send 
 you out as second in command if the detail is agree- 
 able." Without a moment's delay I replied that, hav- 
 ing placed myself unreservedly at the disposal of the 
 Secretary of War on the 17th of June, I should now 
 cheerfully accept any detail he might make. Accord- 
 ingly the next day I received orders merging my depart- 
 ment into that of Havana and Pinar del Eio, directing 
 me to turn it over to the command of General Fitzhugh 
 Lee, and to proceed via New York, with my authorized 
 aides-de-camp, to report to Major-General Chaffee. 
 
 With the help of my very able department staff I 
 closed up all current business, prepared all special and an- 
 nual reports required by existing instructions, issued all 
 the necessary orders, and delivered the command to my 
 successor as directed. On the morning of July 34th I 
 left Matanzas by rail for Havana, and on the afternoon 
 of the same day took steamer for New York. Our horses 
 had been shipped the previous day, and four weeks after 
 our arrival they were delivered to us at Peking by the 
 Quartermaster's Department, unblemished and in good 
 condition. They had traveled nearly twelve thousand 
 miles by steamship, railroad, and highway in something 
 over two months. They were ready for use, and two of 
 them were actually ridden at a review of the American 
 troops within four hours after their arrival at my head- 
 quarters. This may appear to be a trivial circumstance, 
 but it is one which aptly illustrates the high efficiency 
 of our transportation service, as well as the possibilities 
 at the close of the nineteenth century of sending animals 
 for military purposes to the remotest regions of the earth. 
 I arrived at New York with my family and aides-de- 
 camp within four days, and although we were ordered 
 into quarantine, we were, through the interposition of the 
 War Department, promptly released, and were on our 
 way across the continent within thirty-six hours. We 
 reached San Francisco on the night of August 3d, and at 
 
viii CHINA 
 
 noon of the 3d we were steaming across the Pacific, as 
 passengers on the Japanese commercial steamship Amer- 
 ica Maru, at the average rate of fourteen knots per hour. 
 We touched at Honolulu, Yokohama, Kobe, and Naga- 
 saki. At the latter port we transferred to the United 
 States transport Indiana, and on the evening of Septem- 
 ber 1st dropped anchor on the Taku bar. Just thirty- 
 seven days from Matanzas. This is perhaps the quickest 
 trip ever made from Cuba to China. At all events, no 
 time was lost on the road by any fault of ours. My 
 desire to get forward was deepened by the conviction 
 that the foreigners could not hold out indefinitely against 
 the Chinese hordes surrounding them, and still more 
 by the fear that the allied leaders might be so impressed 
 by the show of resistance, and by the real or imaginary 
 obstacles to be overcome, that they might delay their 
 advance till it was too late to relieve the beleaguered 
 legations. 
 
 Notwithstanding the fact that we had received the 
 gratifying but meagre news at Yokohama that the allied 
 forces had captured Peking and rescued the legations, 
 we resolved to push on to the front without delay. Eest- 
 ing only one afternoon and night at Tientsin, which we 
 spent in driving to the Chinese city, traversing the 
 burned districts, and inspecting the battlefield, we took 
 the train the next morning to Yangtsun, which we 
 reached before midday. As the allies had met with con- 
 siderable resistance at this place, we halted long enough 
 to examine the scene of action and to take luncheon 
 with Lieutenant Khodes, who was stationed at that place 
 with a troop of the Sixth United States Cavalry. Having 
 in years gone by traversed the country between Tientsin 
 and Peking six times, the route and the towns along 
 it were familiar to me, and as the entire region, so far 
 as I could learn, was comparatively free from Boxers, we 
 mounted cavalry horses, and, with an escort of only one 
 sergeant and five men, pushed on that night to Ho-si-wu, 
 
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION ix 
 
 the halfway place. The next day I hoped to ride across 
 the country by the old and direct road to Peking, only 
 forty miles away, but upon the representation of the 
 officers commanding the detachments of allies at the mid- 
 way post, that no one had yet gone through by that 
 route, and that it might be dangerous for so small a party, 
 we concluded to follow the river route to Timg Chow, 
 which we reached before sundown. It was a short and 
 easy ride from there to Peking, and we made it by eleven 
 o'clock the next day. 
 
 The entire route, which was identical with that fol- 
 lowed by the allied columns, was marked with ruin. The 
 villages and towns had been burned and looted, the peo- 
 ple had fled, the cattle and poultry had been taken, the 
 crops had been broken down and trampled under foot, 
 while the turbid waters of the Pei-ho were reeking with 
 the stench of floating dead Chinamen. 
 
 Immediately after my arrival at Peking I was as- 
 signed by General Chaffee, who had received me with 
 every courtesy and consideration, to the command of all 
 the American troops, and to the sections of both the 
 Tartar and Chinese cities occupied by them. The neces- 
 sary work of restoring order, policing the streets, and 
 inducing the people to resume their peaceful pursuits, 
 engaged my attention during the two months of my stay 
 at the Chinese capital. I found the American troops, 
 consisting of the Ninth and Fourteenth Infantry, two 
 battalions of marines, four troops of the Sixth Cavalry, 
 and Eiley's battery of artillery in excellent condition, 
 well quartered, and fully supplied with food, clothing, 
 and transportation, but somewhat short of officers. Most 
 of the wounded had already been sent to Tientsin. The 
 health of the command was good, and the hospital ser- 
 vice, although not what it should have been at first, was 
 improving. In every respect the American soldiers com- 
 pared favorably with those of the other powers. The 
 rank and file, it is believed, are superior in intelligence 
 
X CHINA 
 
 and fighting capacity to the soldiers of any modern army. 
 Their armament, equipment, and supplies are fully equal 
 in every respect to the best, while their horses, mules, 
 and wagons are far superior to those of any other coun- 
 try. Withal it must be confessed that in sobriety, smart- 
 ness, and the details of discipline both in camp and on 
 the march, they might well profit by the example of both 
 the Japanese and the Germans. 
 
 It was my good fortune to command the joint expedi- 
 tion of American and British troops, about fifteen hun- 
 dred strong, with four field guns, against the Boxers at 
 the Eight Temples; and while the men of both contin- 
 gents behaved well, performing all the service required 
 of them in a soldierly and creditable manner, it was in the 
 highest degree gratifying to discover that in actual cam- 
 paign the Americans had nothing to learn from their 
 Anglo-Indian comrades. The expedition was in every 
 way successful, and only one incident occurred which 
 gave rise to the slightest difference of opinion between 
 the representative of the British interests and myself. I 
 refer to the destruction of the White Pagoda and the two 
 temples by the British troops, which I strenuously op- 
 posed, but which was carried out under the orders of Sir 
 Claude MacDonald, after the dissolution of the joint com- 
 mand and the withdrawal of the American troops from 
 the scene. 
 
 During my two months' service in Peking with the 
 China Relief Expedition I had ample opportunity to 
 make the acquaintance of the foreign diplomats, the 
 generals, and the leading officers of the line and staff 
 serving with the allied troops. The relations of General 
 Chaffee and myself, as well as of our staff officers, were 
 exceedingly cordial and pleasant with every one. While 
 there was no common authority to which all yielded obe- 
 dience, there was a coromon interest binding the allies 
 together, and it gives me the greatest pleasure to add 
 that it begat a spirit of accommodation which minimized 
 
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION xi 
 
 friction and promoted cordial co-operation in all essential 
 matters. 
 
 This was the first occasion since the dawn of civiliza- 
 tion in which all the civilized powers found themselves 
 united in a common cause, and one in which there was 
 no divergence of interest. All were alike concerned in 
 the relief of the beleaguered legations, and each did its 
 part, according to its capacity, cheerfully and willingly. 
 It is a fortunate and encouraging circumstance that the 
 .final and complete success of the operations was not en- 
 dangered by disagreements or personal ambition, and 
 that the generals who directed them were gentlemen of 
 the highest character and the most distinguished pro- 
 fessional attainments. These officers met frequently in 
 council, and it was my good fortune, as the representative 
 of General Chaffee during his absence, to participate in 
 their deliberations, which were conducted with an open- 
 ness and frankness indicating no purpose of concealment 
 or deception. 
 
 At first, and till the arrival of Field-Marshal Count 
 Von Waldersee, the senior officer present was Lieutenant- 
 General Linieviteh, a sturdy veteran of long service in 
 the Eussian army. In his absence Lieutenant-General 
 Yamagutchi, of the Japanese army, a veteran of the 
 Japan-Chinese war, presided. The British were repre- 
 sented by Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Gaselee and 
 Major-General Barrow, of Her Majesty's Indian army; 
 the French by Major-General Voyron, Brigadier-General 
 Frey, and Colonel Comte. The Austrians, Italians, Span- 
 iards, and Belgians, who had no troops present except a few 
 marines acting as legation guards, were represented by 
 their senior officers, who frequently failed to attend. The 
 Americans were represented by General Chaffee and 
 myself. Many of the officers present spoke English, and 
 nearly all understood French. This, with the assistance 
 of several who seemed to speak nearly all modern lan- 
 guages fluently, made it easy to interchange opiaions and 
 
xii CHINA 
 
 transact business with despatch. The arrival of the Ger- 
 man field marshal after the capture of Peking and the 
 virtual suspension of hostilities, except against the 
 Boxers, placed him in an embarrassing position. His 
 high rank and distinguished character make him the first 
 soldier of his country, if not of all Europe, and accord- 
 ing to all military comity entitled him to chief com- 
 mand of the allied forces; but the war was over, and the 
 different contingents had already begun to act independ- 
 ently for the furtherance of their national interests; so 
 that, instead of an allied army engaged in aggressive 
 warfare, he found only the German contingent fully ready 
 to obey all his orders. Furthermore, he was probably 
 limited in his freedom of action by instructions issued 
 for his guidance upon a condition of affairs far different 
 from that he found actually prevailing in the theater of 
 disturbance. He was accompanied by a numerous and 
 brilliant staff, and was received with every mark of re- 
 spect and consideration from the representatives of the 
 other powers. The Americans, while absolutely inde- 
 pendent of his control except for aggressive co-operative 
 movements, the necessity for which had already passed, 
 established the most agreeable relations with him. I 
 was deeply impressed with his personal and official 
 amenity, intelligence, and experience. He is certainly 
 a wise and masterful man, whose high sense of jus- 
 tice and propriety can not, while reflecting credit upon 
 his own country, fail to be of great benefit to the other 
 powers. His highly trained staff included in its num- 
 ber several very able and rising officers — notably Colo- 
 nel von Yorke, who spoke English perfectly, and was 
 most active in his work, but who unfortunately lost his 
 life, while on an expedition across the Great Wall to 
 Kalgan, by sleeping in a Chinese house with a burning 
 brazier of charcoal in his room. My regret at this un- 
 toward accident is all the more poignant for the reason 
 that my own experience had fully qualified me to speak 
 
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION xiii 
 
 the necessary word of caution, had I thought of it, at a 
 meeting which took place at the field marshal's table just 
 before I left for the United States. 
 
 Li Hung-Chang, who had been recently recalled from 
 Canton and assigned to his old post as Viceroy of the 
 Metropolitan Province, appeared at Peking as plenipo- 
 tentiary to treat for peace, shortly after my arrival. His 
 coming afforded me the opportunity of renewing my ac- 
 quaintance with him, and, in a measure, of gathering a 
 knowledge of his views and purposes as to the re-estab- 
 lishment of order throughout the country, and the re- 
 newal of peaceful relations with the treaty powers. It 
 was apparent at a glapce that the venerable statesman, 
 while still sound in mind and body, was plainly suffer- 
 ing from the effects of advancing years on his capacity 
 to walk. He required the assistance not only of a staff, 
 but of servants; but he seemed cheerful and hopeful, and 
 there was no perceptible diminution of courage or of 
 the lofty self-reliance which had always characterized his 
 bearing. He boldly announced himself as the full rep- 
 resentative of the Government, if not all there was left 
 of the Government itself, and signified at once his wil- 
 lingness to admit its absolute liability for the injury done 
 to the foreign legations, the missionaries, and the Chi- 
 nese converts. He declared it to be the purpose of his 
 government to make proper compensation for the dam- 
 ages they had sustained, and to enter into stipulations for 
 the guarantee of peace and protection, as well as for the 
 prevention of similar outbreaks in the future. So far 
 as I could see, his conduct was open, frank, and states- 
 manlike throughout the trying circumstances by which 
 he was surrounded. He showed no disposition to make 
 delay or to deal unfairly with any question. Neither 
 chicanery nor insincerity could be anywhere detected in 
 words or conduct. On the contrary, he seemed to be 
 profoundly impressed with the gravity of the situation 
 and with the great responsibility resting upon him. In- 
 
xiv CHINA 
 
 deed, I do not doubt he acted throughout on his own 
 initiative, practically without detailed instructions, and 
 that he did so with the perfect certainty that he would 
 have to answer with his life for the results of his nego- 
 tiations. He had nothing to gain from duplicity or dis- 
 honest dealing either from the foreigners or from his 
 own people. He knew full well that both he and his 
 country, to use the phrase of the day, were " up against 
 it," and that neither the arts of the diplomatist nor the 
 trickery of the Oriental politician could avail him aught 
 in making peace or getting rid of the foreign armies. 
 Obviously the gravity of the crisis was too great for any 
 other treatment than that of the most perfect candor and 
 the highest statesmanship. "With the Emperor, the Em- 
 press Dowager, the court, and all the high dignitaries 
 of the Government fugitives from the capital, with the 
 army a meaningless name, and its chiefs discredited and 
 disgraced, there was absolutely nothing left for the Chi- 
 nese but to accept such terms as the foreign governments 
 might offer, with no person to arrange the details but the 
 aged viceroy, who had served his country in its emer- 
 gencies so frequently, if not so successfully, before. 
 
 In this connection it may be well to point out the fact 
 that Prince Ching, who is nominally one of the Chi- 
 nese plenipotentiaries, is without experience or intellec- 
 tual power, and represents nothing except the Manchu 
 dynasty and the effete Imperial family. Under these 
 distressing circumstances Li Hung-Chang may well claim 
 that he is about all of the Chinese Government there is 
 left; that he is more powerful now than ever before; and, 
 finally, that his course for the last twenty-five years as 
 the friend of progress, of order, and of good govern- 
 ment should be received as a guarantee of his capacity 
 and good faith in dealing with the present crisis in the 
 history of his country. 
 
 It was my good fortune also, while in Peking, to meet 
 all the foreign ministers, attaches, and missionaries who 
 
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION xT 
 
 had gone there since my previous visit, and to renew my 
 acquaintance with Sir Eobert Hart, Bishop Favier, Mr. 
 Pethick, Mr. Cheshire, and others more or less closely 
 connected with the stirring events which had recently 
 taken place. It was an agreeable gathering of notable 
 and intelligent people remarkably frank and open in 
 their conversation, and noticeably free from mutual Jeal- 
 ousy and unkindness. Perhaps their common dangers 
 and common sacrifices had drawn them closer to each 
 other and to the officers of the relieving force than they 
 might otherwise have been. Be this as it may, all talked 
 frankly and apparently without reservation with me upon 
 the incidents of the siege, as well as upon the series of 
 events which led to it, and I am under a corresponding 
 obligation to them. I wish it to be understood, how- 
 ever, that I assume the sole responsibility for the state- 
 ments, and for the opinions which I have set forth in 
 the following narrative. 
 
 Before closing these prefatory remarks, I wish to 
 express my acknowledgments to my aide-de-camp. Lieu- 
 tenant Gaston S. Turner, Tenth United States Infantry, 
 for the valuable assistance he has given me in collecting 
 facts, verifying statements, and fixing dates, and also for 
 his intelligent suggestions in reference to the country, 
 the crops, the people, the native Christians, the allied 
 forces, and the missionaries, gained from his own per- 
 sonal observation while accompanying expeditions into 
 the neighboring regions, and especially as acting aide-de- 
 camp to Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Gaselee, com- 
 manding the allied expedition to Pao-ting-fu. 
 
 Having finished the duties assigned to me, and as- 
 sisted in the despatch of such of our troops as were not 
 needed as a part of the legation guard to the Philippine 
 Islands, I was in turn relieved from further duty at 
 Peking and ordered back to the United States. In pur- 
 suance of these orders I left my headquarters at the Tem- 
 ple of Agriculture on the morning of November 3d, with 
 2 
 
xvi CHINA 
 
 a small escort, of cavalry, and proceeded across coxintry 
 by the shortest line to Ho-si-wn and Yangtsun, reaching 
 Taku by the next night, only thirty-six hours from Pe- 
 king. Mine was the first party of foreigners that had 
 followed the old road from Peking to the end of the work- 
 ing section of the railway. We were received everywhere 
 kindly and politely by the natives, and saw no sign of 
 either Boxers or Imperial soldiers. The country was 
 throughout perfectly quiet and orderly, while the people 
 had apparently settled down to their peaceful pursuits. 
 We took passage at Taku on the United States steam 
 transport Sumner, and at Nagasaki transferred to the 
 transport Thomas, on which we arrived at San Francisco 
 on December 1st, without delay or accident. We had 
 been absent from the United States four months, and 
 had traveled about twenty-four thousand miles by land 
 and sea. 
 
 Wilmington, Delaware, February 1, 1901. 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION 
 
 The war now in progress between China and Japan 
 seems to justify a second edition of this work. It is 
 quite as true now in all essential particulars as it was 
 when it was written. The young Emperor, the aged 
 Viceroy, and the progressive Liu Ming-Chu'an, are each 
 a few years older; the Seventh Prince and the Marquis 
 Tseng have died, but China and its institutions, its gov- 
 ernment and its people have undergone no perceptible 
 change. 
 
 The Empress Dowager is perhaps still the most pow- 
 erful personage in the empire, and will doubtless exert 
 the full influence of her vigorous mind upon the course 
 of events and upon the government of her nephew; but 
 the Government itself is yet without an adequate revenue 
 or fiscal system, an adequate army or navy, an adequate 
 civil or military administration, or adequate means of 
 transport for the successful conduct of war by sea or land. 
 It has discharged its most ef&cient foreign officers, and, 
 while it has some troops armed with modern firearms and 
 some fine foreign-built men-of-war, it is but poorly pre- 
 pared to withstand the vigorous advance of a well-dis- 
 ciplined and well-commanded modern army or navy. 
 
 The railroad from Tientsin and Tongku (near Taku) 
 to the Kaiping coal-mines has been extended through 
 the coal fields, in the direction of Manchuria, to Shan- 
 hai-Quan, the point on the Gulf of Pechili from 
 which the Great Wall takes its start. The entire length 
 
xviii CHINA 
 
 of this road is about two hundred miles. Its most impor- 
 tant service is to carry coal to the Chinese fleet and mer- 
 chant steamers, but as it is nowhere more than two days' 
 march, and in many places less than a single day's 
 march, from the sea, it offers an additional objective of 
 great importance to an invading army. 
 
 The resources of the Chinese Empire, and of the eight- 
 een provincial governments of China Proper, in men, are 
 almost illimitable; but without modern organization, a 
 military chest, the means of transport, and even of any 
 high degree of patriotism, it will be difficult, if not almost 
 impossible, for them to utilize these resources in time to 
 prevent national disgrace and humiliation. 
 
 Special attention is called to the character and serv- 
 ices of the Viceroy Li, to the memorials of Liu Ming- 
 chu'an (now the commanding general of the Chinese 
 forces in the field), and of Tso-Tsung-tang in regard to 
 the introduction of railroads; also to the machinery of 
 the Government at Peking, and to its fiscal system, as 
 set forth in the following pages. 
 
 On the other hand, while China has stood still for 
 the last decade, Japan, with a modernized government, 
 under the control of able statesmen; a compact and thor- 
 oughly disciplined army, fully armed and equipped ac- 
 cording to the best European practice; an excellent navy, 
 with a full complement of modern ironclads and gun- 
 boats of the best English and German types, provided 
 with the best high-power gun^ and manned by thoroughly 
 educated officers and well-trained men, has moved for- 
 ward with rapid strides, and seems to be ready at every 
 point for an active aggressive war. 
 
 The struggle is an interesting one. It has its origin 
 primarily in the claim of China to suzerainty over Corea, 
 cojnplicated by the further fact that Japan is separated 
 from that country by a strait only about seventy miles 
 wide, across which the Japanese have gone in great num- 
 bers for the purpose of trading. The Corean Government 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION xix 
 
 and its officials are corrupt and oppressive, and have be- 
 come more so of late; the people of the southern prov- 
 inces have rebelled, and were threatening to march upon 
 the capital. A spirit of lawlessness has spread throughout 
 the country; many acts of violence have been committed 
 against foreigners, and specially against the Japanese. 
 The King's troops naturally sympathized with the reb- 
 els, and this in turn had paralyzed the Government. 
 
 At this juncture the Chinese minister, who is really 
 regarded by his government as a Eesident at Seoul, suc- 
 ceeded in inducing the King to ask for the assistance 
 of Chinese troops, whereupon several thousand were sent 
 into the country. These were followed by others shortly, 
 and as this was regarded by Japan not only as a violation 
 of the treaty existing between the two countries, but as 
 adding to the outrages already inflicted upon her citizens 
 by the Coreans, she proceeded at once, and without formal 
 notice, with a ileet of twenty-eight transports and war- 
 ships, ten thousand soldiers of all arms, three thousand 
 coolies, and all the necessary materiel of war, to effect a 
 landing upon the coast, and to march to Seoul, the capi- 
 tal, which is now completely under her domination. 
 
 What the relative rights of the combatants, the course 
 of events, and the results of the struggle may be, the 
 future alone can reveal, but it is believed that the facts 
 set forth in the following pages will materially help' the 
 reader to form a correct estimate of the condition of the 
 two countries, the habits of their people, and their apti- 
 tude and readiness for war. 
 
 In view of the fact that the two great rival Asiatic 
 powers, Eussia and England, are profoundly interested 
 in the conflict, and that the present Government of China 
 is one of conquest, threatened at all times by rebellion 
 within, it is not impossible that the war now in progress 
 may lead to important and far-reaching changes in the 
 condition of Eastern Asia. 
 
 Wilmington, Delaware, August 16, 1894. 
 
PEEFACE TO THE FIEST EDITION 
 
 Owing to the imiversal depression in trade for the 
 last five years, China has strongly attracted the attention 
 of thenvhole world, and especially of England, Germany, 
 France, and the United States, as the only great eonntry 
 yet remaining to be provided with railroads. In the 
 spring of 1885 I turned my attention in that direction; 
 but, when I sought to obtain specific information as to the 
 actual condition of affairs in respect to railroads and other 
 modern improvements, and the readiness of the Chinese 
 Government and people for their introduction, I could 
 learn nothing whatever upon which it seemed to be safe 
 to base calculations or draw conclusions. After confer- 
 ring with a few friends in New York, who had also been 
 impressed with the same general fact, and were looking 
 about to discover new fields for American skill, enter- 
 prise, and capital, and who also found themselves utterly 
 unable to get trustworthy information, I resolved for our 
 common benefit to visit the countries beyond the Pacific, 
 and see for myself whether they were ready for railroads, 
 whether, if built, railroads would probably pay, and also 
 whether the construction and management of them could 
 be secured for Americans, under such terms and condi- 
 tions as promised fair returns for the skill and capital 
 employed and the risk involved. 
 
 I saw no other means of satisfactorily solving the 
 questions which presented themselves. The correspond- 
 ence of our diplomatic and consular agents was silent on 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xxi 
 
 those points, or unattainable; and, eyen if it had not been, 
 it could not have been expected to contain anything more 
 than the most general statement of facts. Hitherto our 
 diplomatic agents, with a few exceptions, in Oriental 
 countries at least, had imitated the traditionary diplo- 
 matic policy of Europe, and ignored such questions, avoid- 
 ing as far as possible all official notice and discussion of 
 commerce, manufactures, and the multitude of industries 
 and public undertakings usually carried on by associated 
 capital and labor, and which constitute the chief feature 
 of what we call modern progress. An occasional traveler 
 of a more practical turn of mind, or here and there a still 
 more occasional newspaper correspondent, had called at- 
 tention to the absence of railroads, collieries, furnaces, 
 and rolling-mills in China, so that the general fact be- 
 came known; but neither diplomatist, traveler, nor corre- 
 spondent had yet furnished to the public any information, 
 worthy of the name, bearing on the great question herein 
 alluded to. 
 
 Turn which way I might, I could get no adequate ac- 
 count of the real situation in China. I therefore left New 
 York for San Francisco on the 8th of September, 1885, 
 and sailed thence for Yokohama and Shanghai on the 
 19th of the same month, by the Pacific Mail Company's 
 steamship City of Peking, Captain Berry commanding. I 
 had, of course, provided myself with a letter of credit, and 
 such letters of introduction to diplomatic and consular 
 agents, and to American merchants residing in the treaty 
 ports, as I could obtain in the short time left me after I 
 had made up my mind to go. The voyage to Yokohama 
 lasted twenty-two days, and to Shanghai eight days more. 
 
 Without any definite information or prearranged plan, 
 I hoped my travels and investigations would not require 
 more than five or six months at the outside, and, as win- 
 ter was approaching, I hurried forward to Tientsin, the 
 port of Peking and of Northern China, but specially 
 important as the principal residence of Li Hung-Chang, 
 
xxii CHINA 
 
 First Grand Secretary of the Empire, Viceroy of CMhli 
 (the metropolitan province), and, since the suppression 
 of the Taiping rebellion, one of the most conspicuous and 
 influential men in China. Having been received by him 
 with every mark of distinction, and after several confer- 
 ences, during which he imparted his views fully and 
 frankly to me, at his personal request I made journeys 
 to Taku, Kaiping, Peking, the Great "Wall, and finally 
 to the Yellow Eiver and beyond, for the purpose of in- 
 specting its embankments, and also of examining the 
 Grand Canal and the country adjacent to them. During 
 this last-mentioned journey, which was made in midwin- 
 ter, I traveled over fifteen hundred miles on horseback, 
 through J;he provinces of Chihli, Honan, and Shantung. 
 I visited Kaifung-fu, the capital of Honan, and Chinan- 
 fu, the capital of Shantung; and also Kii-fu, celebrated as 
 the home and burial place of Confucius. I climbed Tai- 
 shan, the sacred mountain of China, and passed through 
 many important towns and cities. 
 
 On my return to Tientsin I had several interviews 
 with the Viceroy Li and other high Chinese officials, again 
 visited Peking for two weeks, and, finally, almost imme- 
 diately after the ice broke up in the Pei-ho and navigation 
 was resumed, I sailed for Shanghai. Prom this place I 
 made a trip up the Yang-tse-kiang, during which I visited 
 Chinkiang and Nanking, and had an interview with 
 Tseng Quo-Chu'an, the venerable and distinguished 
 Viceroy of the Kiang provinces. Eeturning to Shanghai, 
 I sailed for Japan, touching again at Nagasaki and 
 Simonoseki, and landing at Kobe. From the latter place 
 I went by rail to Osaka and Kioto, where I remained for 
 several days. Eesuming my journey, I went by rail to 
 Otsu, at the eastern end of Lake Biwa, crossed by steamer 
 to Kagahama and took the railroad again thence to Seki- 
 gahara. Here I employed jinrihishas* or man-power 
 
 * Invented by ah American missionary. 
 
PKBPACB TO THE FIRST EDITION xxiii 
 
 carriages, and continued my travels by the Nakasendo, or 
 the road of the central mountains to Yokogawa and Saki- 
 moto, where I again took rail for Tokio and Yokohama. 
 
 Having spent the whole of May, the loveliest month 
 of the year, in traveling through the most beautiful coun- 
 try in the world, I returned to Shanghai, and at the in- 
 vitation of Liu Ming-Chu'an, the energetic and capable 
 Governor-General of Formosa, I visited that island and 
 spent a week in traveling over its northern end, exam- 
 ining its rivers and harbors, and studying its resources. 
 While there I received an invitation by telegraph to re- 
 visit the Viceroy Li, and accordingly re-embarked on the 
 Chinese steam-transport Way Lee, Captain Danielsen 
 commanding, for Shanghai, where I transferred to an 
 English steamer for Tientsin. I remained at the last- 
 mentioned place for two weeks, and then set out for 
 home by the way of Shanghai, Nagasaki, Kobe, Yoko- 
 hama, and San Francisco. I arrived at New York with- 
 out accident or unusual delay; but, instead of having been 
 gone only six months, as I had hoped, my absence had 
 extended to within three weeks of a year. 
 
 Although my travels had carried me over nearly thirty 
 thousand miles by sea and land, and had taken me to 
 many places out of the usual path of travelers, I doubt 
 if they would of themselves Justify another book on China 
 and Japan; but in view of the important personages I 
 met, the information I obtained, and the class of ques- 
 tions which principally engaged my attention, it seems to 
 me that I am warranted in submitting the following pages 
 to the public, and in requesting its indulgent considera- 
 tion of the same. In this my friends and correspondents 
 at home have expressed their concurrence, and must bear 
 with me the responsibility for any disappointment which 
 they or the public may suffer at my hands. 
 
 It is suggested furthermore that, notwithstanding the 
 great number of books on China, there is at this time 
 room for another, which should briefly tell what China 
 
xxiv CHINA 
 
 and the Chinese were before foreign influences had ma- 
 terially changed them, what foreigners have done for or 
 forced them to do, and what remains for foreigners to do, 
 with the prospect of their doing it. In other words, it 
 should make progress in China its burden and text, and , 
 in the narrative which follows I have kept that text con- 
 stantly in mind, and aimed to give the reader the mate- 
 rials for forming an intelligent opinion in reference to it. 
 If any one wishes to obtain a more comprehensive account 
 of China and the Chinese, within the limits of a single 
 work, he can not possibly do better than to study care- 
 fully and diligently the latest edition of the Middle King- 
 dom, by S. Wells Williams, for many years a leading mis- 
 sionary, and at various times secretary of legation and 
 charge d'affaires for the United States at Peking. These 
 volumes are the adopted standard authority of all for- 
 eigners and foreign legations in China, and are an endur- 
 ing monument to the profound learning and the great 
 application of their author. I have drawn freely upon 
 them, and hereby acknowledge my indebtedness to them. 
 The history of the Chinese Government and the dy- 
 nasties which have controlled it is for the greater part 
 an arid waste of intrigue, anarchy, and violence, varied 
 with an almost endless series of internal and external 
 wars. Here and there a great soldier or an honest and 
 capable ruler emerges from the chaos and confusion, and 
 governs the country wisely and well. He may be a Mon- 
 golian border-man, like the great Genghis or his son 
 Kublai Khan; a native Chinaman, like Hung-Wu; or a 
 Manehu Tartar, like Tienming, the founder of the pres- 
 ent dynasty; but the great rulers of China can be counted 
 on the fingers of one hand, while the essence of their his- 
 tory can be told in a few short chapters. But a full and 
 faithful account of -dynasties and rulers, whether good or 
 bad, can be found in Boulger's China, to which I refer the 
 reader who has the time and inclination to devote to the 
 subject. 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xxv 
 
 There are besides many interesting books of travel, 
 describing with greater or less detail the various parts 
 of the country. At the head of this list stands the story 
 of Marco Polo, edited by Colonel Yule, but candor compels 
 me to say of even this remarkable narrative that the edi- 
 tor's notes are much more interesting and instructive than 
 the text to which they refer. I wish to acknowledge here 
 my indebtedness to both Boulger and Yule, and also to 
 Wilson's Life of Gordon, and various other works of minor 
 importance bearing upon the history of the Taiping re- 
 bellion. I am satisfied, however, that no proper account 
 has yet been written of that important period of modern 
 Chinese history, unless it is contained in the forthcom- 
 ing Life of Li liung-Chang, by William N. Pethick, Esq., 
 United States Vice-consul at Tientsin, to whom I am 
 especially indebted for information upon every topic con- 
 nected with China and the Chinese. His long residence in 
 China and his intimate association with Li Hung-Chang, 
 to whom he has also filled the position of secretary for 
 many years, naturally make him an acknowledged au- 
 thority, at least with Americans, on all Chinese questions. 
 He is, besides, an accomplished scholar of Chinese litera- 
 ture, and both speaks and writes the language with great 
 facility. I am also indebted to Dr. W. A. P. Martin, 
 President of the Tung- Wen College at Peking, and author 
 of the Hanlin Papers, for much valuable information. 
 
 To Colonel Charles Denby, our able and distinguished 
 minister at Peking, I am specially indebted for introduc- 
 tions and presentations, as well as for information and 
 assistance which could not have been obtained from any 
 other source, and without which my mission would have 
 come to a speedy close. It must be as gratifying to 
 every American citizen, without reference to party, to 
 know that his country has never been more ably or credit- 
 ably represented in China than it is now, as it is for me 
 to make this statement. Not only the minister and his 
 family, but his secretaries, Mr. W. W. Kockhill, Mr. 
 
xxvi CHINA 
 
 Charles Denby, Jr., and Mr. F. D. Cheshire, are in every 
 way worthy representatives of the country, and it is a 
 source of unalloyed satisfaction to me to be able to speak 
 of them, conscientiously as I do, in terms of unqualified 
 praise and respect. 
 
 Mnally, I am under many obligations for informa- 
 tion and assistance to the American house of Eussell & 
 Co., and its able and enterprising partners and agencies 
 in all the treaty ports as well as in Formosa, and espe- 
 cially to C. Vincent , Smith, Esq., the senior partner at 
 Shanghai; also to E. J. Smithers, Esq., acting consul-gen- 
 eral at Shanghai; to George T. Bromley, Esq., consul at 
 Tientsin; Richard B. Hubbard, Esq., our minister to 
 Tokio; to Henry W. Denison and Durham W. Stevens, 
 Esqs., advisers to the Japanese Foreign OfBce; and to 
 Thomas and John Walsh, Esqs., of Messrs. Walsh, Hall & 
 Co., Yokohama. 
 
 SiocKFOED, near Wilmington, Delaware, March, IS, 1887. 
 
 Note. — The best general map of China is Keith Johnson's, in 
 one or four sheets. That of Baron Kichthof en is best for geology 
 and topography. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Voyage through the Inland Sea — Mouth of the Yang-tse- 
 kiang — The Wusung River — Shanghai — Foreign and Chi- 
 nese city contrasted — Chinese civilization — Ward and the 
 Taiping rebellion — Li Hung-Chang and Tseng Quo-Pan 
 — Future importance of Shanghai . . . 1 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 Area of China — Reached its greatest extent under Kublai 
 Khan — Almost as great under the late Regent — China's 
 isolated position — Approach of railroads toward western 
 border — Communication by steamships — Civilization dif- 
 ferent from any other — Origin of names of country — • 
 Provinces — Climate — Surface — Hwang-ho, or Yellow 
 River — Delta, or Great Plain — Inundations — Embank- 
 ments — Change of river-bed 8 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 The Yang-tse-kiang — Its navigation — Its various names — Its 
 tributaries — Its floods — Canals and creeks in the delta — 
 Area of its water-shed — The Chnkiang or Pearl River 
 — The Min— The Pei-ho and its tributaries — The Peh- 
 tang — The New-Chwang and the Ta-wen-ho ... 22 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 The surface of the country — Sinian Mountain system — The 
 highlands and hill country — Origin of the loess terraces 
 — The outlying dependencies — Corea, Manchuria, Mon- 
 
 zxvii 
 
xxviii CHINA 
 
 PAGE 
 
 golia, Hi, Turkistan, and Thibet — The Great Plain or 
 delta— Coal, iron, and other minerals — The Kaiping 
 coal-mines and railroad — The first locomotive built in 
 China— The coal-mines of Formosa and Shansi — Coal 
 transported in wheelbarrows— The development of coal 
 and iron receiving Government attention — Foreign ex- 
 perts required — Conservatism of the Government . . 30 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Population of China — No complete census ever taken — The 
 country not overcrowded — Influence of famines, rebel- 
 lions, pestilence, and floods — Reproduction normal and 
 active — Population probably greater than ever before — 
 Country capable of supporting three times as many 
 inhabitants — Origin of the Chinese race — Physical char- 
 acteristics — Compression of feet — Manohus do not prac- 
 tice the custom — Its origin — Failure to practice it looked 
 upon as evidence of abject poverty and distress — Pood of 
 the Chinese people — Domestic animals .... 45 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The houses of the Chinese — The clothing — The great public 
 works — The walled cities — The only crystallized and 
 accumulated labor of the Chinese — The effect of depopu- 
 lation — The common people everywhere poor — No sys- 
 tem of popular education — No conception of or vocab- 
 ulary for science — Diversity of dialects — The classical or 
 literary language of the country— The greater wall of 
 China — Chinese civilization — The characteristics of the 
 race — Arrested development — Future progress . . 57 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Voyage from Shanghai to Tientsin — China Merchants' Steam 
 Navigation Company — American house of Russell and 
 Company put the first steamboats on the Tang-tse — Sold 
 them to the China Merchant^' Company — Coast of Shan- 
 tung — Che-foo — Naval station at Port Arthur badly 
 located — The northern fleet — Board of Admiralty — Com- 
 mand of the northern fleet — Need of educated ofl&cers 
 
CONTENTS xxix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 — The Taku forts and dock-yard — "Heaven-sent bar- 
 riers " — Chinese troops drilled by foreign officers in 
 English — Chinese army badly organized, armed, and ad- 
 ministered — The Pei-ho — Villages on its banks — Grave- 
 mounds, and burial of the dead — Pung-shuy or geo- 
 mancy — Difficulty of laying out railroads without removal 
 of graves — How that can be managed .... 67 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Races at Tientsin — Chinese band playing American airs — No 
 social intercourse between Chinese and foreigners — Re- 
 moval of grave-mounds to make way for the race-course 
 — Political and commercial importance of Tientsin— The 
 foreign settlement — Foreign gunboats — The Viceroy Li 
 Hung-Chang — His American secretary — First call upon 
 the Viceroy — His official residence or Yamen — Subjects 
 discussed — Railroads and canals — Intelligence and inter- 
 est displayed by the Viceroy — Ceremony of leave-taking 
 — " Setting the watch " 85 
 
 Chapter ix 
 
 Li Hung-Chang — His public career — Influence of Generals 
 Ward and Gordon — English misconception of their char- 
 acter—The career of Burgevine — The influence of the 
 war threatened with Russia — Gordon revisited China — 
 The introduction of telegraphs— Messages sent in Eng- 
 lish, or cipher — Memorial of Liu Ming-Chu'an on the 
 introduction of railways— Referred to Li Hung-Chang 
 and Lin K'un-Yi— The memorial of Li Hung-Chang and 
 Lin K'un-Yi— Tso Tsung-Tang's dying memorial on the 
 same subject— No official action yet taken thereupon— 
 The essence of progress and the death-knell of conserv- 
 atism ... 102 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Visit to Peking— The unspeakably filthy city of the world 
 —Its origin and characteristics— No suburbs or villas- 
 Streets not paved— The foreign legations and society 
 Non-intercourse between court and diplomatic corps — 
 
XXX 
 
 CHINA 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The young Emperor— The Empress Dowager— Her un- 
 limited power — The censors — The Emperor worships at 
 the tomb of his ancestors — The influences which control 
 him — He can hardly become a conservative — The diffi- 
 culties o£ his situation — Unprepared lor a foreign war . 151 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Emperor an absolute monarch — The Government patri- 
 archal in form — Liberty unknown — Slavery exists — No 
 hereditary nobility except the imperial clan and heads of 
 the families of Confucius and Koxinga — The literati are 
 the oface-holders — The Imperial Government — The Grand 
 Secretariat — The General Council — The Peking Gazette 
 —The Six Great Boards— The Tsung-li Yamen— The 
 Censorate or all-examining court — The minor courts 
 and boards — The functions of the great boards — Power 
 greatly divided and distributed — The provincial govern- 
 ments — All officers selected, by public examination — 
 Defects of the system — Li Hung-Chang's position some- 
 what like that of the British Premier — Foreign ministers 
 not yet received by the Emperor or Empress Dowager — 
 Much of the foreign business done by provincial gover- 
 nors — The central Government isolated and inaccessible 
 — Difficulty of communicating or transacting business 
 with it .... 169 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 The eyes of the world now turned toward China as a field for 
 investment in public undertakings — Its financial system 
 — No statistics except those of the maritime customs — 
 The revenues collected by ' ' farmers " — The growth of 
 the system — The sources of the imperial Chinese revenue 
 — The land-tax — The salt monopoly — The likin, or inter- 
 nal transit tax — Miscellaneous taxes — Maritime customs 
 duties — Summary — Comparison of Chinese and British 
 Indian revenues — Estimates made by various persons — 
 No correct account can be given of the expenditures of 
 the Chinese Government — Approximate estimate — The 
 funded debt — Fear of the Chinese Government to nego- 
 tiate foreign loans — Its obligations good and negotiable 
 
CONTENTS xxxi 
 
 PAGE 
 
 for 1100,000,000— The Chinese slow to lend to their Gov- 
 ernment — No statistics of private wealth — Thought to 
 be capable of raising $100,000,000, if properly secured — 
 Necessity of measures to promote confidence . . . 190 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Visit to the Great Wall — Decay of the ancient road through 
 the Nankou Pass — Mongolian caravans — Origin, uses, 
 and description of the wall — The return to Nankou — 
 The ride to the Ming tombs — Description of the inclo- 
 sures and buildings — The Avenue of Statuary — The 
 return to Peking 205 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 The Kai-ping coal-mines and railway — The first locomotive- 
 engine built in China — Extension of the railway to Lutai 
 — The Kai-ping coal-measures — Output of the mines . 215 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Trip to the Yellow River — "China's Sorrow" — Organization 
 of the party — The route — The roads — The winter climate 
 — The inns and innkeepers^The old towns — The Grand 
 Canal and its embankments — The sluices — Impractica- 
 bility of keeping the canal open by Chinese methods — 
 Necessity for a railway— The Yellow River and its em- 
 bankments — Worship of the river-god — Change of chan- 
 nel at Lung-mun-Kou in 1853— Views of Dr. Williams 
 and Ney Elias— Error of Abbe Hue- Probable cause of 
 change — Embankments can be maintained — The river 
 can be regulated and controlled by the resources of 
 modern engineering — Railways can be built and main- 
 tained in the delta 219 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Visit to the city of Kai-fung-fu— The immense number of 
 Wheel-barrows on the road — The curiosity of the citizens 
 — DifBculty of securing an inn— Inn-yard invaded by the 
 mob — Visit of the officials from the yamen^Mob finally 
 
xxxii CHINA 
 
 FAOS 
 
 driven out — Respectable merchant compelled to crawl 
 out under the gate — Call of two young officials from the 
 governor's yamen — Tung-ming district — Approach to the 
 Shantung hills — Cross the Grand Canal at Chi-ning-Chou 
 — Visit to Chil-fu, the home and burial-place of Confu- 
 cius — The "Bver-Sacred Duke "and his descendants — 
 The Grand Pavilion and grounds — The avenue — The 
 Confucian cemetery — The tomb of the sage — Burning of 
 the Confucian residence — Singular superstition in regard 
 to it — Visit to Taishan, the sacred mountain of China — 
 Ascent of the mountain — Beautiful scenery — Temples 
 and shrines — Return to the Grand Canal and journey to 
 Chi-nan-fu — American Pregbytorian mission — But few 
 Christian converts — Superiority of technical instruction 
 — Influence of war, commerce, and the missionaries — 
 The city of Chi-nan-fu — The Yellow River again — Navi- 
 gable from Chi-nan-fu to the sea — Chinese are ignorant 
 of science in the work of controlling the floods — Journey 
 back to Tientsin — Old embankments — The country — Mis- 
 sion at Pang-Chia-Chwang — Case of first convert — Chi- 
 nese New- Year — Ancestral worship — New- Year's dinner 
 — Lost in a dust-storm — Dreariness of the Great Plain 
 — Not over-populated — Condition of the people — The 
 Yellow River can be crossed by railroads — Return to 
 Peking — Received by the Tsung-U Yamen . . . 241 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Chinese system of education — Confined to classics, jurispru- 
 dence, and history — Influence upon the governing class 
 and common people — The arrest of development — How 
 China is to be prepared for the higher civilization — 
 Substitution of "Western sciences for the dry husks of 
 their worn-out' philosophy — The earliest communication 
 with the Chinese by the Portuguese — The Spaniards — 
 The French— The Russians— The English— The East 
 India Company — The Americans — The Chinese authori- 
 ties have from the first sought to restrain trade — The 
 period of small ships— The first Protestant missionaries 
 — The attitude of the Chinese officials in reference to 
 trade — The hong-merchants — Lord Napier's refusal to 
 
CONTENTS xxxiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 confer mth them — Action of the English merchants — 
 The discussion at Peking — The opium traffic — The Em- 
 peror's efforts to suppress it — Captain Elliot — The destruc- 
 tion of the opium — The Opium War — The conclusion of 
 peace — The Chinese concessions — The settlement of Hong- 
 Kong — fhe influence of the war 279 
 
 CHAPTEK XVIII 
 
 History of the Taiping rebellion again adverted to — The 
 operation of the treaties — The rapid increase of trade — 
 The establishment of the maritime customs under for- 
 eign management — The infl.uence of Canton and the 
 Cantonese — The affair of the Chinese Icrcha Arrow — The 
 first and only difficulty with Americans — Demands of 
 England, Russia, Prance, and the United States upon 
 the Peking Government — The Emperor and court greatly 
 alarmed — The practice and doctrine of co-operation — 
 The allied fleets proceed to the Pei-ho — Negotiation — 
 Signature of the treaties — Principal concessions — The 
 affairs of the Taku forts — The British repulse — Return 
 of the allies — Capture of the forts and the advance to 
 Peking — Treaties ratified and exchanged — Death of the 
 Emperor Hien-fung — The regency — The influences sur- 
 rounding the present Emperor — The necessity for West- 
 ern education 302 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 The rights of missionaries in China — The Tientsin massacre 
 — The French and Russians indemnified — The influence 
 of the missionaries generally minimized — Ancestral wor- 
 ship and superstition — The practice of fung-shuy — The 
 conservatism of the governing class — The censors — Chi- 
 nese statesmen are progressing — The establishment of the 
 Tung-wen College — The Burlingame mission — The Chi- 
 nese students in America — Their recall — The Emperor 
 all-powerful — Railways wanted by leading statesmen- 
 Difficulties to be overcome — Probable solution of the 
 question — The duty of our own Government — Impos- 
 sible to predict when China will move — Surrounded by 
 
xxxiv CHINA 
 
 PAOB 
 
 great perils — Russia's menacing position — The British 
 Indian Empire — Their permanent interests — But little 
 danger from Germany and Prance — The Chinese may per- 
 ceive their real danger — Not a warlike people — Their true 
 policy — The victories of peace 319 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 New epoch in history of Oriental nations — Japan-Chinese war 
 — Civilization of Japan genuine — Chinese problem differs 
 from Japanese in extent rather than kind — Prediction of 
 Japanese victory over China — Japanese everywhere vic- 
 torious — Chinese astonished and demoralized — Treaty of 
 peace negotiated with help of Americans — Opposed by 
 Empress Dowager, but finally ratified — European powers 
 astonished by collapse of China — Indemnity paid to 
 Japan — Russia leases Port Arthur and Talien-wan — 
 England leases Wei-hai-wei — Treaty between Russia and 
 China — Right of way granted through Manchuria for 
 Trans-Siberian railroad — Germany leases Kiao-Chao Bay 
 — Chinese Government thoroughly alarmed by European 
 demands — Boxer outbreak the crowning misfortune of 
 China ... 335 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Condition of Chinese mind — Mohammedans have improved 
 the conditions of Chinese life — Frequency of Mohamme- 
 dan rebellions — Chinese generally tolerant of outside 
 religions — Chinese poverty increased by recurrence of 
 floods — Chinese not a reading people — Poverty, igno- 
 rance, and superstition go hand in hand — Conspiracies 
 and secret societies abound — Have their origin in pov- 
 erty and distress of the people — The Sacred Harmony 
 Fist or Boxer organization^Grasping and overbearing 
 disposition of foreigners — Chinese belief in witchcraft, 
 geomancy, and "fung-shuy" — Distressing effects of the 
 floods of the Yellow River — Rapid spread of the Boxer 
 movement — The weak and isolated were the first victims 
 — Alarm travels slowly — Honan, Shansi, Chihli, and 
 Shantung involved — Reactionary movement in Forbid- 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XXXV 
 
 den City — Coxip d'etat of the Empress Dowager — Em- 
 peror in duress — Choice of an heir presumptive to the 
 Throne — Tung Puh-siang and the Kansu Braves — Over- 
 throw of the Liberals — TBreatened death of the Emperor 
 — Troubles between Empress Dowager and Prince Tuan 
 — Empress Dowager greatly perplexed .... 344 
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 The Boxer movement — Arrival of marines at Peking — Excite- 
 ment of the people — Incredulity of the Legations — Sey- 
 mour's relief column turned back — Attacked by Boxers — 
 Capture of Siku arsenal — Murder of Japanese chancellor 
 — Incendiary fires — Destruction of Hanlin College and 
 customs compound — Boxers occupy Chinese city of Tien- 
 tsin — Admirals concert measures for capture of Tientsin 
 and Peking — Admiral KempfE's course — Capture of Taku 
 forts — Chinese order legations to withdraw — Murder of 
 Baron Von Ketteler — Great excitement in Peking — Im- 
 perial troops Join the Boxers — Measures for defense — 
 Concentration of missionaries within legation limits — 
 Boxers attack — Burn outlying legations and surrounding 
 buildings — Gallant conduct of Squiers, Pethick, and 
 Meyers — Boxers open with artillery — Imperial soldiers 
 participate in attack — Chinese Government responsible — 
 Creditable conduct of Major Conger and Major Sir Claude 
 Macdonald . . 359 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 Rail and telegraphic communication broken with Peking- 
 Grave apprehensions — Proximity and readiness of Japan 
 —Other powers arranging to send troops— Seymour's 
 relief expedition — Allies capture native city of Tientsin 
 Death of Colonel Liscum — Preparations for the ad- 
 vance on Peking— Affair of Peitsang— Battle of Yang- 
 tsun— Columns reach Tung-Chow— Americans scale the 
 wall of the Chinese City— Chinese defense feeble and 
 inefficient— Allies take possession of Imperial City- 
 Decide not to occupy Forbidden City — Neglected condi- 
 tion of the palaces— Triumphal march through Forbid- 
 
xxxvi CHINA 
 
 PASE 
 
 den City and palaces — Division of Peking into sections 
 occupied by the troops of the different powers — Boxer 
 organizations broken up and scattered — Absence of fric- 
 tion between the allies 375 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 Occupation of Peking — Divided into sections by the allies — 
 Paciiication of the surrounding country — Plundering 
 and looting^Thieves and marauders — Co-operation of 
 Chinese in restoration of order — Presentation of um- 
 brellas — Li Hung-Chang's resumption of control in the 
 province of Chihli — The present more than ever a period 
 of change — Still greater changes must follow — The Chi- 
 nese are a nation of merchants — The opium war — The 
 race now addicted to opium smoking — Decrease in social 
 eJRciency of the Chinese — Denunciation of opium smok- 
 ing by leading Chinamen — The introduction of foreign 
 cotton cloth and thread — The introduction of steamboats 
 and railways — The discontinuance of the use of junks — 
 The lesson of history and experience — The foreigners 
 must either leave China or insist upon the introduction 
 of approved reforms — Publicists will contend that for- 
 eigners cannot withdraw 387 
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 Interests and designs of treaty powers — Attitude of Russia 
 toward Great Britain — Their spheres of influence — Rus- 
 sia independent of other powers — Co-operation of Russia 
 and Prance— Policy of Prance — Situation of Germany- 
 England's desire for expansion and trade— Possibility of 
 British occupancy of the Yang-tse-kiang Valley — Atti- 
 tude of Japan — Interests of other treaty powers — The 
 United States' interests purely commercial — No purpose 
 and no excuse for territorial expansion — Their natural 
 policy the maintenance of the Empire — China's future 
 supremacy in coal and iron trade 397 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 Foreign powers consider the terms of settlement — Arrival of 
 Li Hung-Chang at Peking — Difficulty of communicating 
 
CONTENTS xxxvii 
 
 paqe: 
 ■with the United States and Europe cause of delay — Con- 
 cert of the home governments — Absence of plenipoten- 
 tiaries from Peking — Provisions of the American circular 
 of July 3, 1900 — Its acceptance by the other powers — 
 American special commissioners — Identical note from 
 the foreign plenipotentiaries — Its acceptance by the Chi- 
 nese Government — Adequate punishment of the Empress 
 Dowager, Tung-lu, and Tung-fu-hsiang impracticable — 
 Terms of the identical note respect the integrity of the 
 Chinese Empire — They do not provide for efEective reor- 
 ganization of the Government — Opposition of Chang-ohe- 
 Tung — Impossible to predict ultimate outcome — Ample 
 room for speculation — End 413 
 
Japuiieae Camp 
 
 MAP OF THE CITY OF PEKING, CHINA. 
 
CHINA: 
 
 A STUDY OF ITS CIVILIZATION AND PROGRESS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Voyage through the Inland Sea — Mouth of the Tang-tse-kiang — 
 The Wusung Eiver — Shanghai — Foreign and Chinese city con- 
 trasted — Chinese civilization — "Ward and the Taiping rebellion 
 — Li Hung-Chang and Tseng Quo-Fan — Future importance of 
 Shanghai. 
 
 The voyage across the Pacific, notwithstanding the 
 comfort of the ships and the smoothness of the sea, is a 
 long and dreary one, but that from Yokohama through 
 the Inland Sea, and across the Yellow Sea to Shanghai, 
 fills one with an ever-varying sense of delight. 
 
 The approach to the mouth of the stately Ya-ng-tse- 
 Mang is indicated many miles at sea by the yellow, 
 muddy water which is poured out in such ceaseless 
 abundance by that magnificent river. The first land 
 which the expectant traveler catches sight of is Gutz- 
 lafE, a rocky island rising sheer and bare from the water, 
 and surmounted by a lighthouse, erected and maintained 
 by the Imperial Chinese Maritime Customs. This light is 
 about forty miles from the mainland, which looms upon 
 the sight in a low, flat, unbroken outline, in two or three 
 hours after the light is left behind. As the ship enters 
 the broad and muddy estuary, the shore grows more dis- 
 tinct, but as it rises only a few feet above the water, and 
 is fringed by reeds and low straggling willows along 
 the margin, a feeling of disappointment overcomes the 
 
 1 
 
2 CHINA 
 
 voyager, and this remains with him during all his jour- 
 neyings throughout the delta plains of Eastern China, 
 however extensive his travels may be. 
 
 The first signs of settlement and occupation are met 
 with at the entrance to the Wusung Eiver, where there 
 is a large village and strong and extensive though rudely 
 constructed earthworks, mounting many heavy guns of 
 European make. 
 
 Shanghai, the principal seaport and commercial en- 
 trepot of China, is situated on a great bend of the Wu- 
 sung, twelve miles from its confluence with the Yang-tse. 
 It is divided into the Chinese and foreign cities, the for- 
 mer of which is said to contain a population of a million 
 souls, and the latter less than eight thousand, not count- 
 ing native servants and retainers. 
 
 Nowhere else in the world can Chinese and foreign 
 civilization he more easily compared and contrasted. 
 Here they are seen side by side, separated only by an 
 old city wall of burned brick, built in the middle ages, 
 pierced with gates, surmounted by turrets and crenelated 
 parapets, and surrounded by moats seething with filth 
 and fever. On one side is the native city with its strug- 
 gling and sordid multitudes, living in low, tumble-down, 
 and decaying mud or half-burned brick huts. Its streets 
 are teeming with dust, filth, and slush, as the case may 
 be, and crowded day and night with a ceaseless flow of 
 indigent, but, so far as one can see, contented human 
 beings, all busily engaged in the sordid struggle of life. 
 There is nothing neat, or well built, or permanent. 
 Everything seems stricken by decrepitude and decay, and 
 it is the same everywhere else in China. Nothing except 
 city walls and river embankments is solid, or strong, or 
 durable, and nothing seems ever to have been repaired 
 or cleaned. Whatever is worn out or worthless is thrown 
 into the street along with the offal of the household. 
 Stagnant water stands in ruts and pools, until lapped up 
 by the sun or blown away by drying winds. It is all in- 
 
SHANGHAI 3 
 
 conceivably squalid and offensive to foreign eyes and nos- 
 trils, and fills the foreign soul with a sentiment of un- 
 utterable disgust. 
 
 The landing in front of the native city is lined with 
 junks in countless numbers, and the surface of the turbid 
 water is covered with sampans and house-boats passing 
 to and fro. 
 
 On the hither side of the wall is a small, compact, 
 and well-selected population of Europeans and Ameri- 
 cans, surrounded by every luxury and comfort, and pos- 
 sessing all the elements of the highest civilization and 
 refinement. They are well clad, well mounted, and well 
 housed. Their warehouses, shops, banks, and residences 
 would do credit to New York or Paris. Their streets 
 are well paved and beautifully kept. Cleanliness, order, 
 and propriety prevail, and everything shows that they 
 have come to stay. They have clubs, race-courses, tennis- 
 grounds, gardens, theatres, libraries, and churches. They 
 ride across-country, have dinner and dancing parties, and 
 generally have carried with them to that remote river- 
 side the industry, the thrift, and the enterprise, as well 
 as the luxuries and the elegancies, of a higher and a bet- 
 ter civilization. And, what is more to the purpose, they 
 have paid for all their luxuries and comforts with the 
 money they have earned out of the business of the coun- 
 try in which they have cast their lot. 
 
 The river in front of the foreign city is filled with 
 stately sail and steamships from every port in the world; 
 its shores are furnished with docks, foundries, ship-yards, 
 and factories; and nothing more aptly illustrates the dif- 
 ference between foreign and Chinese civilization than the 
 contrast between the iron steamship of to-day and the 
 wooden junk which constitutes now, as it did a thousand 
 years ago, the Chinaman's sole means of navigating the 
 sea. In the foreign settlement all is bustle, enterprise, 
 and progress. In the native city all is sloth, squalor, and 
 arrested development. The foreigner lives in the present 
 
4 CHINA 
 
 and looks to the future, and is full of vigor and hope; 
 the Chinaman lives in the present, and looks only to the 
 past, and is fully satisfied if his daily wants are supplied. 
 He seems to the casual observer to have no aspiration, 
 and to care for nothing but himself. With him everj-- 
 thing is settled and fixed, and the thought of change 
 fills him with apprehension. But farther on I shall en- 
 deavor to show that appearances are deceptive, and that 
 the Chinaman, after all, is subject to the same natural 
 laws and has the same wants as other members of the 
 human race, and difEers from the others solely by virtue 
 of the isolation under which his civilization was evolved, 
 and by the circumstances under which it now exists. 
 John Stuart Mill once wrote that no one could properly 
 say what is natural to woman till she has been long 
 enough emancipated to show her true instinct and char- 
 acter; and the same may be quite as truthfully predicated 
 of the Chinaman. He is bound and hedged in now, as 
 in the past, by a settled and inelastic system of philosophy 
 and civilization which came down from and is sanctified 
 by antiquity. It regulates and controls every thought 
 and action, from birth to death, and he can no more 
 change it of his own volition than a stone can overcome 
 or annihilate its own weight. And yet change has made 
 its appearance, and nowhere in a more attractive form 
 than at Shanghai, and it will continue to exert itself till 
 China has resumed her natural process of development, 
 and has taken on a higher and a better civilization. 
 Progress has planted her foot firmly on the banks of the 
 Wusung, and, from her safe abiding-place in the foreign 
 city, is sure, slowly but inevitably, to invade and over- 
 come the whole vast empire. 
 
 As Shanghai is situated near the mouth of the Yang- 
 tse-kiang, the great river which divides the country east 
 and west into nearly equal parts, and is navigable for 
 steamships of the largest tonnage nearly a thousand 
 miles, and for steamboats of good size to the heart of 
 
SHANGHAI 5 
 
 the western provinces, it is probable that it will always 
 remain, as it is now, the chief commercial city of the 
 empire. It has been from the date of its foundation and 
 especially within the recent past the center of progressive 
 ideas and influences, and so may be expected to remain 
 indefinitely in the future. It was here that the Taiping 
 rebellion, to which I shall refer more fully hereafter, re- 
 ceived its first serious check at the hands of the foreign 
 merchants, who, on the approach of danger, organized 
 a company of foreign soldiers for their own protection, 
 and put it under the command of Ward, an American 
 sailor. This company was the nucleus of the Ever- Vic- 
 torious Army which, under the leadership, organization, 
 and impulse given it by Ward, and after his death under 
 the command of Gordon, became the most potential factor 
 in suppressing the rebellion and restoring peace and quiet 
 to the empire. The moral and political purpose which 
 lay behind it came from the foreign merchants, who in 
 turn influenced the diplomatic agents of their respec- 
 tive governments, and ultimately controlled their naval 
 and military forces. 
 
 The rebellion broke out in 1850, and continued with 
 varying success till 1864. It swept over nearly two 
 thirds of the empire, and is said to have resulted in 
 the death of twenty million Chinamen. As Hung Tse- 
 Chuen, the leader of the rebellion, was a disciple of an 
 American missionary, claimed to be the younger brother 
 of Christ, and actually practiced a vague and uncer- 
 tain sort of Christianity somewhat like Mormonism, his 
 progress was viewed at first by the foreigners with fa- 
 vor. They knew that the Imperial Government was in- 
 tolerant, illiberal, and corrupt, and felt that any change 
 must be for the better. It was not till the rebels invaded 
 the region round about Shanghai, and actually threatened 
 that place, that the foreign merchants discovered the 
 falsity of Hung Tse-Chuen's Christianity, and the corrup- 
 tion of his government, and became convinced of the su- 
 
6 CHINA 
 
 periority of the existing government at Peking over any 
 that might be established by the rebels on its ruins. Hav- 
 ing made this discovery, they no longer hesitated to lend 
 their countenance and influence to the imperial cause. 
 The war for the suppression of the rebellion took on new- 
 vigor, and it was during this, its closing stage, that the 
 imperial commanders Tseng Quo-Fan and Li Hung- 
 Chang, the former father of Marquis Tseng, the distin- 
 guished Chinese ambassador to Europe, were thrown con- 
 stantly in contact with foreigners, and especially with 
 Gordon, the final commander of the Ever- Victorious 
 Army. And it was the contact with foreigners, and the 
 demonstration of the superiority of foreign arms and or- 
 ganization in actual warfare, which, followed up as it 
 was by years of intimate acquaintance with foreign con- 
 suls, ministers, commissioners, merchants, and men of 
 business, that have made Li Hung-Chang, now and for 
 many years First Grand Secretary of the Empire, Earl of 
 the First Rank, Viceroy of GhihU (the metropolitan prov- 
 ince), and l!Torthern Superintendent of Trade, with 
 many other dignities and honors, the foremost and most 
 progressive statesman and indisputably the most powerful 
 subject of the Chinese throne. 
 
 The primacy and importance of Shanghai as a base of 
 political and progressive ideas, as well as of commerce, 
 should therefore be kept constantly in view by those who 
 would understand the probable course of the newer civili- 
 zation in China. How^ever great its influence has been in 
 the past, it may be confidently expected to become even 
 greater hereafter. It is of course difficult to foretell the 
 future with accuracy; but if Shanghai were situated on 
 the Yang-tse itself, instead of twelve miles away from it, 
 and somewhat farther from the sea than it is, it would 
 certainly become the future political capital of the em- 
 pire, as well as its commercial emporium. And notwith- 
 standing its somewhat eccentric position, and the obvious 
 fact that the old capital of the Ming dynasty, and perhaps 
 
SHANGHAI 7 
 
 other places farther up the Yang-tse, are better situated 
 for defense, it is entirely possible that some internal revo- 
 lution, or requirement of the Treaty powers, if not the 
 operation of purely commercial influences, may cause it 
 to be selected as the seat of government of a native 
 dynasty and of an awakened and progressive empire. 
 But, whatever may be its future, will be due, directly or 
 indirectly, to the guiding impulse given it by the eight 
 thousand souls of the imperial and progressive white race 
 residing in the foreign settlement, rather than to the 
 brute force of the toiling millions of Turanians swarming 
 within the crumbling walls of the Chinese city. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Area of China — Beached its greatest extent under Kublai Khan — 
 Almost as great under the late Regent — China's isolated posi- 
 tion — Approach of railroads toward western border — Commu- 
 nication by steamships — Civilization different from any other 
 — Origin of names of country — Provinces — Climate — Surface — 
 Hwang-ho, or Yellow River — Delta, or Great Plain — Inunda- 
 tions — Embankments — Change of river-bed. 
 
 In" order that a definite conception may be had of 
 China, as it was and is, it should be borne in mind that 
 with the exception of Enssia, and perhaps of ancient 
 Rome, it is the largest continuous empire that has ever 
 existed. It occupies nearly the whole of Eastern and 
 Southeastern Asia, and lies in a regular, compact, and 
 unbroken mass of co-terminous subdivisions and outlying 
 territories. It is composed of the original eighteen prov- 
 inces corresponding to our States, and constituting what 
 is generally described by geographers as China Proper, 
 but sometimes as the " Middle Kingdom," together with 
 the outlying and encircling possessions of Manchuria, 
 Inner and Outer Mongolia, Hi, or Chinese Turkistan, and 
 Thibet. The Government up to a recent period claimed 
 suzerainty over and received tribute more or less regularly 
 from Corea, Anam, Siam, Burmah, and the beautiful and 
 extensive Island of Formosa, or Taiwan. At the begin- 
 ning of the last century it also included the whole of the 
 vast regions now known as Siberia and Transcaspia, with 
 an area of over 13,000,000 square miles. It is subdivided 
 into eighteen provinces, constituting the body of an em- 
 pire the outer boundaries of which yet inclose one third 
 8 
 
 \ 
 
AREA OF THE CHINESE EMPIRE 9 
 
 of the Continent of Asia, or an area of at least 5,000,000 
 square miles. In view of the present condition of geo- 
 graphical knowledge, it is not possible to estimate this 
 enormous extent of territory accurately, but, according 
 to various experts, it contains from' 5,126,000 to 5,600,000 
 square miles, or nearly one tenth of the habitable 
 globe. The eighteen provinces, covering an area of about 
 1,800,000 square miles, are all more or less densely popu- 
 lated by the Chinese, but the outlying dependencies, 
 which are of far greater extent, are mostly arid, elevated 
 table-lands, occupied generally by nomadic and pastoral 
 tribes commonly known as Tartars, and thinly scattered 
 over an almost illimitable succession of plain, desert, and 
 mountain country. 
 
 The empire attained its greatest extent about the year 
 1290 A. D., under Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis, 
 the great conquering Tartar chieftain, and at that, time 
 reached from the borders of the sea westward beyond 
 that vague and impassable region in Central Asia im- 
 pressively designated as the " roof of the world " to the 
 heart of Eussia. Portions of these border-lands of vary- 
 ing width, and extending from Central Eussia in the west, 
 and British India, in the south, to the Arctic Ocean and 
 across the descending slopes of Thibet and Sungaria to 
 the Desert of Gobi, the valley of the Amur, and along the 
 latter to the Sea of Oldiotsk, have from time to time been 
 wrested from the control of the Chinese emperors. In 
 the middle ages these desert wastes were the home of the 
 conquering Turcomans, Tartars, and Manchus, and were 
 either maintained in their independence, or became a 
 part of the Chinese Empire because their chieftains be- 
 came Chinese emperors. In later years, the French on 
 the south, the English on fhe south and west, and the 
 Eussians on the north and northeast, have been pressing 
 forward with ever-increasing persistency, subjugating the 
 dependencies and tribes who were doubtful in their loy- 
 alty, occupying disputed territory, and restraining the 
 4 
 
10 CHINA 
 
 Chinese authority within definite limits. Siam, Anam, 
 and Burmah, have been entirely detached; Turkistan has 
 been divided, and vast tracts in Outer Mongolia and Man- 
 churia have been permanently occupied by the advancing 
 Eussians. The independence of Corea has been finally 
 acknowledged by the Peking Government. In adjusting 
 conflicting interests after the Japan Chinese war Port 
 Arthur and Talienwan, now Dalny, have been leased to 
 the Russians, Wei-hai-wei to the English, and Kaaoehau 
 to the Germans, but withal the integrity of the empire has 
 not yet been materially disturbed. Under the unscrupu- 
 lous but vigorous regency of the Empress Dowager, the 
 throne has been usurped and strengthened, peace estab- 
 lished throughout the country, and the sway of the central 
 power extended to the remotest tribes and dependencies. 
 The limits of the empire' are better defined than ever 
 before, and, notwithstanding the encroachments from 
 without, the imperial authority, up to the late " Boxer " 
 outbreak, was probably stronger and more widely re- 
 spected than at any time since the reign of Kublai Khan. 
 Although a country of such vast extent, China has 
 always been nearly as completely isolated as an undis- 
 covered island. Surrounded as it is or the land-side bj' 
 mountains, deserts, and trackless wastes, hundreds and at 
 places almost thousands of miles wide, no certain or 
 regular communication between it and Europe could be 
 had either for commerce or civilization. Prom the dawn 
 of history down to the beginning of this century, only one 
 great traveler, Marco Polo, ever succeeded in crossing 
 Asia and reaching China, and in giving to the world an 
 intelligible account of what he saw, but even he found 
 it necessary, after eighteen years of wandering, to return 
 to Venice, his native city, by sea. An occasional mer- 
 chant or Jesuit missionary may have preceded him or fol- 
 lowed in his tracks, but they were so few and far between 
 that they prodiiced no perceptible impression upon the 
 Chinese or their civilization. 
 
ISOLATION OP CHINA H 
 
 The utter impassability of the steppes and wastes 
 lying between Southeastern Europe and the thickly-set- 
 tled portions of China, except by the nomadic and semi- 
 barbarous hordes which occupied them, will be still better 
 understood when it is remembered that a line drawn from 
 a point on the sea near the mouth of the Amur Eiver, 
 west-southwest across Asia and Africa, to the coast of 
 the Atlantic Ocean, lies everywhere, throughout its ten 
 thousand miles of length, in an arid and desolate region. 
 It crosses no considerable country of high civilization 
 or which has ever had a high civilization, or has ever ex- 
 erted a dominating influence upon the civilization of any 
 other country, unless Egypt and the valley of the Eu- 
 phrates be excepted. This " boundless contiguity of 
 space " has effectually separated the civilizations of all 
 Southern and Eastern Asia from those of Europe, from 
 the earliest days of the historic period down almost to 
 the present time. Eailways are now being pushed 
 through Siberia and Manchuria and will soon be com- 
 pleted to Vladivostok and Port Arthur; Merv, Bokhara, 
 Tashkend, and Khokand are already in daily communica- 
 tion with Moscow, St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Paris, and 
 by these means the civilization of modern Europe will 
 surely make its way overland into the heart of Asia, and 
 ultimately down the Amur and through China, to the 
 western shores of the Pacific. 
 
 No allusion has yet been made to the isolation of 
 China by sea, but up to the days of navigation by steam it 
 was almost as difficult to reach that distant country by 
 water as by land. It is true that the adventurous Greeks 
 made their way through Asia Minor to the Arabian Sea, 
 and pushed their explorations and conquests eastward 
 along the coast as far as India, but there is no trustwor- 
 thy evidence going to show that there was any inter- 
 communication whatever, by water, between either the 
 Greeks or the Eomans and the Chinese. During the 
 middle ages, as before stated, an occasional merchant. 
 
12 CHINA 
 
 like the Polos, more adventurous than the rest, may 
 have reached or left the Chinese coast in the frail sail- 
 ing-craft of that period; and it is certain that, after 
 navigation became an exact science and sailing-ships of 
 stronger build were introduced, the Portuguese, Spanish, 
 Dutch, and finally the English, made their waj in increas- 
 ing numbers to that remote quarter of the globe, carrying 
 with them many enterprising and adventurous merchants 
 and Jesuits; but it was not till after steamships were in- 
 vented and brought to a high state of perfection that 
 communication with China became frequent and rapid 
 enough to bring us any exact knowledge of the country, 
 or to enable us to exert any influence or to produce any 
 change whatever upon its civilization. 
 
 A moment's consideration of the foregoing facts is 
 sufficient to show why Chinese civilization, which was de- 
 veloped on lines exclusively its own, and entirely free 
 from extraneous influences, should be unlike any other, 
 except in so far as similar causes operating upon human 
 beings, however remotely separated from us, but subject 
 to the same natural wants and laws as ourselves, might 
 produce similar results. The Chinese require shelter and 
 food, like ourselves, and, like ourselves, live in houses, 
 wear manufactured clothing, and eat the products of the 
 earth; but, in nearly everything else, they are as unlike 
 Europeans and Americans as if they came from another 
 planet. As might be naturally supposed, their manners 
 and customs, their philosophy, religion, literature, and 
 habits of thought are entirely different from ours, and 
 these differences, together with the surrounding circum- 
 stances, must be kept in mind, in considering the chances 
 of inducing the Chinese to abandon their own and adopt 
 an alien civilization. 
 
 China proper is called, by its own inhabitants, the 
 Middle Kingdom, or the Central Flowery Land; but by 
 the Eussians and other people of Northern Asia it is 
 called Katai, whence comes the name of Cathay. The 
 
CHAEACTBRISTICS OF THE COUNTRY I3 
 
 Persians designate it as Tsin or Chin, which was the 
 name of the dynasty, B. c. 350, under which the numer- 
 ous feudal states were first consolidated into one em- 
 pire. This word was easily changed by foreigners into 
 China. 
 
 The country, as before stated, is subdivided into 
 eighteen provinces, each presided over by a governor, and 
 sometimes by a viceroy, appointed by the throne, gen- 
 erally for a period of three years. These provinces, be- 
 ginning in the northeast and sweeping westward around 
 the Great Wall, are Chihli, Shansi, Shensi, Kansuh, 
 Sechuen, and Yunnan; then, sweeping back to the east- 
 ward, and along the sea-coast, come Quei-Chow, Quangsi, 
 Quang-tung, Po-kien, Che-kiang, Kiang-su, and Shan- 
 tung. The center is occupied by Plonan, Hoope-hoonan, 
 Kiang-si, and Anhuei. The entire area of these prov- 
 inces is not materially different from that of the States 
 lying east of the Missouri and Mississippi Elvers, with 
 Arkansas and Texas added. It is included between about 
 the same parallels of latitude, and, so far as cold is con- 
 cerned, it has about the same climate; but, the two great 
 rivers of the country running generally eastward to the 
 ocean, have formed an extensive delta of low, alluvial 
 lands nearly seven hundred miles long from north to 
 south, and from three to five hundred miles in width, so 
 that the prevailing south and southeast monsoons com- 
 ing in from the tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean laden 
 with watery vapor find no high ranges of mountains to 
 intercept them, but carry their refreshing rains far inland 
 during the summer months. These rains last from three 
 to four months only, but are frequently excessive, and, 
 when such is the case, the great plains are often swept 
 by devastating floods. But in the fall, winter, and spring, 
 or for two thirds of the year, the prevailing winds are 
 from the north or northwest, and almost constant sun- 
 shine prevails. It hardly ever rains, and still more rarely 
 snows; the atmosphere becomes remarkably dry, the 
 
14 CHINA 
 
 thirsty northern winds drink up the water of the ponds, 
 pulverize the grass and scanty vegetation, and occasion- 
 ally carry clouds of dust from the arid steppes lying be- 
 yond the borders across the eastern provinces, and far 
 out to sea. 
 
 On my first visit to China I arrived in the month of 
 October, and traveled constantly in all parts of the Great 
 Plain and the neighboring hill country till April, and 
 during the whole time it did not rain at all, nor did it 
 snow sulficiently to cover the ground. Throughout the 
 winter the weather was clear and bright, except for three 
 or four days only, when it was cloudy, and for five or six 
 more when violent dust-storms were prevailing. It was, 
 however, quite cold at all times, though, from the lack of 
 moisture in the air, the cold was not so keenly felt as an 
 equally low temperature would have been in the United 
 States. Of course, it is impossible to carry on any out- 
 door occupation during the dust-storms, but, as they 
 rarely ever prevail with violence for more than two days, 
 the winters are remarkably favorable for work, travel, 
 and especially so for military operations, as the roads are 
 dry, hard, and smooth, and the frost makes dormant all 
 kinds of insect life. It is hard to imagine a more bright 
 and bracing winter climate, or one in which life in the 
 open air is more enjoyable. The summer, however, makes 
 up for it, as it is not only hot but wet; the air becomes 
 saturated with water, and the humid heat is almost un- 
 bearable to those who are not accustomed to it. It 
 is almost needless to add that the country and the 
 roads are in this season soft, muddy, and almost im- 
 passable. 
 
 The surface of the country surrounding the Great 
 Plain is divided into a succession of elevated plains, hills, 
 and mountains. The drainage is generally eastward, but 
 the great rivers which rise in the mountains of Thibet are 
 tortuous in the extreme till they are clear of the higher 
 lands and approach sea-level. 
 
THE HWANG-HO, OR YELLOW RIVER 15 
 
 The scope of this work does not warrant a descrip- 
 tion of the Amur, which touches the northern borders 
 of the empire, and from its numerous and important 
 tributaries from the south is in some degree a Chi- 
 nese river, wliich also has its source in the table-lands 
 of Central Asia, and flows eastwardly to the Pacific 
 Ocean. 
 
 In many respects the most remarkable but at the 
 same time the least known river of China, is the Hwang- 
 ho, or Yellow Eiver. It rises in Northern Thibet, be- 
 tween the Shuga and Baj^an-kara Mountains, in latitude 
 35° north and longitude 96° east, and not more than a 
 hundred miles from the sources of the Yang-tse-kiang. 
 It was long considered by the Chinese as entitled to spe- 
 cial reverence, and by some foreign writers as being one 
 of the four sacred rivers of the world, but all efforts to 
 identify it with either of the latter have failed, and even 
 the Chinese themselves have come to consider it rather 
 as a curse and source of sorrow than as a sacred stream, 
 from which blessings and happiness might be expected to 
 flow. Its course from the lakelets in the narrow plains 
 at its head, called by the Chinese the Starry Sea, is at 
 first south, then west, and then north and northeast, for 
 about seven hundred miles, till it reaches the Great Wall, 
 which follows it northwardly for about four hundred 
 miles. It then crosses the Wall, makes a great bend 
 north and eastward around the country of the Ortous 
 Mongols, and impinges against a spur of the Peh-ling 
 Mountains, which turns it again almost due south, in 
 which direction it flows for over five hundred miles be- 
 tween the provinces of Shensi and Shansi. In this part 
 of its course it traverses the loess plains and receives no 
 tributaries worthy of the name. It is also in this part 
 of its course that it changes its character from a clear 
 mountain stream and takes from the loess loam the yel- 
 low color which gives it its name. At the southwestern 
 corner of Shansi, and about 1,850 miles from its source. 
 
16 CHINA 
 
 it receives its greatest affluent, the Wei, and changes its 
 course to the eastward again, in which direction it flows 
 for about two hundred miles, to the vicinity of Kai-fung- 
 fu, the capital of Honan. The place of its confluence with 
 the Wei is about five hundred and fifty miles on the 
 shortest line from the sea, and may be regarded as the 
 head of its delta. From Kai-fung-fu it now flows north- 
 easterly to the southwestern bight of the Gulf of Pe- 
 chili, but in this part of its course through the plains it 
 has had many channels to the sea, though so far as is 
 now known never more than one at a time. Since the 
 beginning of the historic period it is certain, if we may 
 rely upon Chinese chronicles, that it has changed its bed 
 at least six times, but no one can now do more than 
 guess how many times it did the same thing in the 
 countless prehistoric ages, during which, aided by the 
 Yang-tse farther south, it was slowly pushing back the 
 borders of the ocean, and building up the delta plains 
 which constitute so great a portion of the China with 
 which we are now concerned. It is clear, however, that 
 the wanderings of the river were coextensive with its 
 delta, which extends from Shan-hai-quawn, in latitude 
 39.30° north, to the mouth of the Yang-tse, in latitude 
 31° 45' north. 
 
 It is known that it has occupied in succession the beds 
 of what are now called the Pei-ho, the Old Eiver, and 
 the Tatsing-ho, all entering the Gulf of Pechili north of 
 the Shantung promontory, and that prior to 1853 it fol- 
 lowed a former bed to the sea, in latitude 34° north, south 
 of the promontory. The distance between those mouths, 
 measured along the sea-coast, around the Shantung 
 promontory, is about six hundred miles, while the dis- 
 tance from the northernmost limits of the delta to the 
 mouth of the Yang-tse, measured in the same way, is 
 nearly one thousand miles. But the deltas of the 
 Hwang-ho and of the Yang-tse are co-terminous, and 
 not separated by highlands, and the total distance from 
 
THE HWAKG-HO, OR YELLOW RIVER 17 
 
 the northern limits of one to the southern limits of 
 the other, on the sea-coast, is about eleven hundred 
 miles. 
 
 Winding its tortuous course, as it does, for twenty- 
 seven hundred miles, through an arid and treeless re- 
 gion, the Hwang-ho carries, during the dry season and 
 for two thirds of the year, but a small volume of water, 
 compared with that carried by the Yang-tse, or the Ama- 
 zon, or even with the Mississippi. It is so shallow and 
 narrow, and its bed has so great a declivity till after it 
 enters the delta, that it is entirely unfit for navigation. 
 At many places it is broken by rapids, and its current is 
 so swift that it can not be crossed except at considerable 
 risk. Its width, even after it enters the Great Plain, does 
 not generally exceed fifteen hundred feet, though at one 
 or two places along its new bed, where it has not yet ex- 
 cavated a well-defined channel for itself, it spreads out 
 to a width of several thousand feet, and is filled with 
 bars of shifting and treacherous sand. It is navigable to 
 Yushan, near the western border of Shan-tung, for light- 
 draught junks, and steamboats drawing ten feet of water 
 might readily ascend it to Chinan-fu, the capital of that 
 province, and even a hundred miles above, if they were 
 authorized to run, and could get over the bar at its 
 mouth. Generally, the river resembles the Missouri at 
 and above Bismarck, in width, color, and volume of 
 water, and even in the character and appearance of its 
 fore-shores; but, after it enters the delta, unlike the Mis- 
 souri, it has no river-valley, with hill-sides near by, rising 
 to the higher level of the rolling prairies. To the con- 
 trary, its shores are never higher than ten or twelve feet, 
 and at places not more than five feet, even in the driest 
 season. The plains are almost perfectly level, and stretch 
 away in either direction from the river's margin hundreds 
 of miles, without the slightest rise or depression that can 
 be detected by the most practiced eye. They are abso- 
 lutely as level as flowing water. 
 
18 CHINA 
 
 But, however insignificant and harmless this remark- 
 able river may be in the dry season, and for the greater 
 part of the year, its character becomes entirely changed 
 during the rainy season. Its water-shed, which is esti- 
 mated by Williams at 475,000 square miles, is almost 
 entirely bare of trees, and hence the water which falls 
 upon its upper portions in the short rainy season runs 
 rapidly into the main river, and causes the most de- 
 striJctive floods. When there is a concurrence of heavy 
 rains in the delta-plains, with a descending high-water 
 wave from the table-lands, the embankments*, erected 
 with such painful labor, and neglected with such cer- 
 tainty everywhere, are frequently broken and swept 
 away, and whole districts, many miles in width, are laid 
 waste by the devastating and irresistible inundations. 
 Houses are melted down, crops are destroyed, and, at 
 times, thousands of people, with all their flocks, are 
 drowned. Poverty and distress are the result. 
 
 The erection and repair of the embankments are now 
 and have been, from time immemorial, matters of the 
 greatest solicitude to the provincial and imperial govern- 
 ments; but, when the floods have come and gone, and 
 the long dry season is at hand again, the improvident or 
 corrupt officials, and the still more improvident people, 
 seem alike to forget that the embankments can ever be 
 required again, or that there is any necessity for looking 
 after or repairing them. Some of them are laid out and 
 constructed with great care, but many of them are badly 
 located and aligned, and poorly built in every respect. 
 They are generally placed from one to two miles back 
 from the river, and are from twelve to fourteen feet high, 
 twenty to twenty-five wide on top, and have slopes of two 
 base to one perpendicular. They are not habitually pro- 
 tected by willows, reeds, or grasses, and whatever vegeta- 
 tion grows upon them is scrupulously raked off in winter 
 for fuel. They are freely used for roads and paths, and 
 are rarely provided with ramps or suitably constructed 
 
EIVBR EMBANKMENTS 19 
 
 road-crossings. The consequence is, that they are not 
 only injured and weakened at many places, but fre- 
 quently, where the traffic crossing them is considerable, 
 they are cut through to the level of the plain upon which 
 they stand. They are at all times the favorite resort of 
 burrowing animals, and during the dry season the river, 
 wandering from one side to the other of the space in- 
 cluded between, frequently impinges against and under- 
 cuts them. Nothing is ever done beforehand to repair or 
 prevent such injuries, so that when the floods come again 
 the weak spots are found, and the neglected embank- 
 ments, as might be espected, are broken through and 
 swept away, notwithstanding the most strenuous exer- 
 tions at the last moment to prevent it. Large detach- 
 ments of the army are hurried to the spot, and thousands 
 of men, and even women and boys, are gathered in from 
 the neighboring towns and villages, after a break has 
 taken place. Frantic efforts are made and great expenses 
 are incurred for materials and labor with which to repair 
 the embankment, through which a cataract is pouring, 
 and which might have been maintained intact by the ex- 
 ercise of a little timely foresight and the honest expendi- 
 ture of a little money. 
 
 In the middle ages the embankments seem to have 
 been placed closer to the river margins, and to have been 
 given a stronger profile than at present. The practice 
 now, however, is to place them farther back, as before 
 described, but near important towns, where the local cir- 
 cumstances seem to require it, a smaller and lower em- 
 bankment is sometimes constructed close to the river- 
 front. The most remarkable embankment examined by 
 me was one built by the great Emperor Kien-lung, whose 
 long and prosperous reign was contemporaneous with the 
 life of George Washington. It is located on that part of 
 the river near Kai-fung-fu, and extends many miles in 
 either direction. It is from forty to fifty feet high, and 
 from fifty to sixty feet wide on top, has the usual slopes 
 
20 CHINA 
 
 of two base to one perpendicular, and was exceedingly 
 well laid out and constructed. A better idea of its enor- 
 mous dimensions can be had by considering its solid con- 
 tents, which I estimated on the ground to be an average 
 of a million cubic yards per mile, and to have cost, even 
 with the abundant labor of China, fifty thousand dollars 
 per mile. At the place where I crossed it, it was sur- 
 mounted by the walls and gates of a fortified city, and, 
 after two weeks' travel in the dead level of the plains, 
 seemed as it loomed upon the sight from a distance to 
 be a mountain commanding an almost illimitable view of 
 country spread out below it. What is still more curious 
 is, that it was this enormous embankment which was 
 broken through by the extraordinary flood of 1853 at 
 Lung-mun-kou, about thirty miles below, and from which 
 place the river completely abandoned its old bed, and 
 made a new one for itself, across the plain, to the Tat- 
 sing-ho, and thence along that river's bed to the Gulf of 
 Pechili. But no intelligent and thoughtful person can 
 examine the broken embankment and the surrounding 
 country without coming to the conclusion, as I did, that 
 the breach must have been due to negligence, aided by 
 such causes as I have described as being everywhere 
 prevalent. Williams, Martin, and !N"ey Elias, all distin- 
 guished scholars and travelers, together with others of 
 lesser note, have generally cited this incident as a con- 
 clusive argument against the diking of a river's banks to 
 resist floods. The distinguished Jesuit traveler. Abbe 
 Hue, many years before either Martin or Ney Elias had 
 visited the scene of the disaster, predicted that it would 
 certainly break sooner or later. He alleged that the 
 river-bed, in that part of its course, had- become so filled 
 up with silt brought down from the table-lands, as to be 
 higher than the adjacent country; but, having no leveling 
 instruments, and therefore making no exact measure- 
 ments, so far as I have been able to learn, I am persuaded 
 that his statement does not rest upon data of suflicient 
 
EIVER EMBANKMENTS 21 
 
 accuracy to Justify the world, and still less the engineer- 
 ing profession, in receiving it as correct. I shall refer to 
 this subject again in another chapter, and give my own 
 views more fully, as to the present condition of the river- 
 bed and embankments, and of the causes which led to the 
 great breach, the complete change of direction, and the 
 erosion of a new channel to the sea. 
 
CHAPTEE III 
 
 The Yang-tse-kiang — Its navigation — Its various names — Its tribu- 
 taries — Its floods — Canals and creeks in the delta — Area of its 
 water-shed — The Chukiang or Pearl River — The Min — The 
 Pei-ho and its tributaries — The Peh-tang — The New-Ohwang 
 and the Ta-wen-ho. 
 
 Geeat as is the Hwang-ho or Yellow Eiver, it is ex- 
 ceeded in length,' as well as in depth, width, and volume 
 of discharge, by the Yang-tse-kiang, which also rises in 
 the mountains of Thibet, within a hundred miles of its 
 neighbor, and after flowing to the south and southeast- 
 ward through an interminable maze of mountain-gorges 
 and valleys, it crosses China proper from the extreme 
 western border of Sechuen, in a generally east-northeast- 
 wardly direction to the Yellow Sea, which it enters within 
 a hundred and twenty miles of the old mouth of the 
 Yellow Eiver. It, however, traverses a region in which 
 the snows are heavier and the rains more frequent and 
 deeper, and it has in addition a water-shed of much 
 greater area than the Yellow Eiver, and consequently it 
 discharges a much greater volume of water at all seasons 
 of the year. Its discharge has never been measured, but 
 enough of it is known to justify the statement that it is- 
 one of the greatest rivers of the world — a broad, stately 
 stream, navigable to the Great Eapids, nearly a thousand 
 miles from the sea, for ocean-steamers, and for those of 
 the greatest draught to Nanking, while river-steamers 
 can ascend five or six hundred miles farther into the 
 heart of Sechuen. The rapids, which are found just 
 above Ichang, have generally been regarded as impassable 
 2S 
 
THE YANG-TSE-KIANG 23 
 
 by steamers under their own motive power, but it is now 
 known that the current does not exceed, nine miles per 
 hour, and that the channel is sufficiently deep and clear 
 of sunken rocks to admit of navigation by boats having 
 enough power to make head against the current. The 
 rapids are habitually passed by junks, which are warped 
 through them by means of ropes and man-power. It is 
 understood that private companies are ready to build 
 steamboats for navigating them as well as the river above. 
 Under the treaties foreigners are entitled to enter their 
 boats and ply upon all parts of the river without restric- 
 tion, after it has been shown that the rapids can be safely 
 passed. Effective steam communication fully established 
 on this magnificent water-way wherever practicable, will 
 give a new impulse to trade with the central and west- 
 ern provinces, and will enable the G-overnment to trans- 
 port troops and military munitions in either direction 
 from one side of the empire to the other, with much 
 greater speed and safety than have heretofore been pos- 
 sible. The value of this river for such purposes has 
 never been imderstood by the Chinese, and, even if it had 
 been, the Government could not fully utilize it, so long 
 as Junks were the only disposable means of navigation. 
 The day must, however, be near at hand when the river 
 will become a much more important factor in the prob- 
 lem of binding the empire together, protecting it against 
 its enemies, and developing its internal commerce and 
 resources. 
 
 It is not possible to give the exact length of this river, 
 for its course through the mountains of Thibet has never 
 been explored or accurately laid down, much less has it 
 been correctly measured. It, however, approximates 
 three thousand miles, and flows through every variety of 
 land and climate met with in China. Each new province 
 that it waters gives it a new name. The main trunk in 
 Sechuen is called by the natives Kin-sha-kiang, or the 
 Eiver of Golden Sand, until it is joined by the Yalung, 
 
24 CHINA 
 
 after which it is called Ta-kiang, as far as "Wuchang in 
 Hoopeh. Below this point it is designated as the Chang- 
 kiang, or Long Eiver, and finally, in the reach next the 
 sea, as the Yang-tse-kiang. 
 
 Unlike the Hwang-ho, it has many large trihutaries, 
 the most important of which is the Kan-kiang, from the 
 south, in the province of Kiangsi. This affluent drains 
 the water of the Poyang Lake, and continues the naviga- 
 tion of the Grand Canal and the Yang-tse Eiver into the 
 southern part of the empire. There are many other 
 streams flowing from the southern mountains into the 
 river and swelling its enormous flood. The Han-kiang 
 in Hoopeh, draining a rich and populous valley of great 
 extent, is perhaps the largest tributary from the north, 
 and its junction with the main river marks a spot of great 
 commercial and strategic importance known as Han-kow. 
 It is open to foreigners as one of the treaty ports. It 
 is the seat of a modern steel plant, upon which several 
 million dollars have been expended. The Peking, Han- 
 kow and Canton Eailway, one of the great trunk lines 
 intended to connect the north with the south of the 
 empire, will cross the Yang-tse at this place, and in the 
 future development of the country, especially as to rail- 
 roads and manufactures, it will doubtless become one of 
 the greatest centers of activity, if not the greatest city of 
 China. 
 
 The Yang-tse differs from the Hwang-ho in many 
 other respects than those already mentioned. Its outflow 
 is more regular, and this is due as much to the configura- 
 tion of its water-shed, and to the occurrence of lakes like 
 the Poyang and Tung-ting, which hold back the water of 
 the region tributary* to them, as to the meteorological 
 conditions which obtain in that part of China. The 
 fioods are very great, because the annual downfall of rain 
 is also very great, but the river-banks are generally not 
 so low as to be frequently overflowed, even by freshets 
 which rise thirty feet as they sometimes do. The bar 
 
THE YANG-TSE-KIANG 25 
 
 at its mouth permits the passage of large, ocean-going 
 steamers at all times, and although the estuary contains 
 shoals and flats at several places, they do not interpose 
 any serious obstruction to navigation, and when necessity 
 requires it may be deepened. At a distance of about a 
 hundred miles from the sea, the shores although low, ap- 
 proach near enough to each other, and are so broken 
 by detached but commanding hills, that they lend them- 
 selves readily to the defense of the interior by fortifica- 
 tions, a number of which have already been located and 
 constructed. 
 
 The Grand Canal, which has lost much of its utility 
 and importance since the Yellow Kiver changed its bed 
 in 1853, and to which I shall refer more fully in another 
 chapter, enters the Yang-tse from the north, about three 
 miles above Chin-ldang, an important city, admirably, 
 situated on the south bank of the river, one hundred and 
 seventy miles above its mouth. The river is also con- 
 nected at this city with Shanghai, Hang-chow, and many 
 other important cities south of the Great Eiver by a con- 
 tinuation of the Grand Canal, or by other canals, creeks, 
 and rivers, leading out of it. Indeed, the whole region be- 
 tween Chin-kiang and the sea, on either side of the Yang- 
 tse, is a network of canals and creeks with their necessary 
 embankments, which so cut up and divide the land as to 
 make it almost impassable for an invading army. These 
 canals are everywhere the same in general characteristics, 
 and hence the description of the Grand Canal, which will 
 be found farther on, will answer for all. 
 
 The water-shed of the Yang-tse is given by Williams 
 at 548,000 square miles, and by the American Cyclopaedia 
 at 750,000. Various estimates, which, perhaps, are but 
 little better than guesses, have been made by foreigners, 
 of the annual discharge of both the Hwang-ho and the 
 Yang-tse, but none of them is based upon accurate 
 measurements or systematic observations. The Chinese 
 themselves have no conception of the science involved in 
 5 
 
26 CHINA 
 
 such an estimate, or of the use to which the data con- 
 nected therewith could be put, and hence have never 
 spent eitlaer time or money upon it. 
 
 The next great river of China is the Chu-kiang, or 
 Pearl Eiver, which, with its three principal branches, 
 drains a water-shed of about 130,000 square miles, lying 
 south of the Nan-ling or South Mountains. It enters 
 the sea near Canton, and its western branch, rising in 
 Quangsi, drains and afEords communication to nearly all 
 the country on the southern border of the empire. The 
 middle or northern branch heads near the Che-ling pass, 
 on the direct route to the Poyang Lake, and the Yang-tse 
 Eiver at E.iu-kiang, and at no distant day will doubtless 
 be occupied by the railroad line for which a concession 
 has already been granted. 
 
 Both of these and also the eastern branch are navi- 
 gable for steamboats, and are important arteries of trade, 
 as well as noticeable agencies in shaping the topography 
 of the region drained by them. 
 
 There is another considerable river known as the Min, 
 which enters the sea at Foo-Chow, about midway between 
 Canton and the mouth of the Yang-tse, but its water-shed 
 is of much less extent than either of those heretofore 
 mentioned. 
 
 The Pei-ho, which enters the Gulf of Pechili at Taku, 
 is a considerable river, and at times discharges a large vol- 
 ume of water, but it is principally remarkable from the 
 fact that it lies, with all its tributaries, mostly in the 
 Great Plain, and has at widely separated intervals consti- 
 tuted the bed of the Yellow Eiver for many years at a 
 time. It drains a considerable area of mountain and hill 
 country, notably that lying northwest of Peking, west 
 of Pao-ting-fu, and in Southeastern Shansi. It conse- 
 quently has had but little influence in shaping the topog- 
 raphy of the country, but as it is navigable, notwith- 
 standing its great crookedness, for ocean-steamers of ten 
 or twelve feet draught to Tientsin, fifty miles by its wind- 
 
THE PEI-HO 2Y 
 
 ings from its mouth, and prior to the construction of the 
 Talm-Tientsin Eailroad was the principal means of access 
 for both native and foreign officials to Peking, as well as 
 for nearly all the foreign goods consumed in the country 
 north of the Yellow River, it may be fairly regarded as of 
 great importance to the Chinese, in connection with com- 
 merce and also with the national defense. Its southern 
 branch, the "\\'ei-ho, is occupied by the Grand Canal from 
 Tientsin to Lintsing, a distance of about three hundred 
 miles by its tortuous course. Its northern branch is simi- 
 larly occupied for about one hundred and fifty miles be- 
 tween Tientsin and Tung-Chow, fifteen miles east of 
 Peking. Tientsin, situated at the meeting-point of its 
 various branches, is a walled city of half a million in- 
 habitants, and being a treaty port, as well as the port 
 of Peking, it has a flourishing foreign settlement, and is 
 a place of great importance as a center of commercial and 
 political influence. While it is not the capital of the 
 province, it has been the chief seat of the viceroy, Li 
 Hung-Chang, for nearly a quarter of a century, and de- 
 rives great additional importance from that fact. 
 
 The entrance to the Pei-ho is obstructed by a soft, 
 muddy bar, of great width, which efEectually closes the 
 river against steamers except at high tide, and even then 
 they can not enter, drawing more than twelve or thirteen 
 feet, but it is fully within the range of modern engineer- 
 ing skill to remove the bar, and make a port at Taku, just 
 within the mouth of the river, accessible at all times for 
 vessels of twenty or twenty-five feet draught. The river 
 carries but little water into the gulf at any time, except 
 during the rainy season, and as it lies mostly in the Great 
 Plain, and has but little fall, it silts up rapidly, as soon 
 as the outpour of flood-water has ceased, and then even 
 the light-draught ocean-steamers which ply between it 
 and Shanghai have the greatest difficulty in ascending it 
 more than fifteen or twenty miles. It is entirely devoid 
 of rocks, and, there being no forest-trees anywhere on 
 
28 CHINA 
 
 its banks, it is also free from snags and sawyers, such, as 
 used to make the navigation of our Western rivers so 
 difficult; hence steamers suffer no danger and but little 
 inconvenience even from running ashore or getting 
 aground, except from the delay and expense which follow. 
 
 The Peh-tang, which enters the gulf about ten miles 
 farther north, has a deeper channel across its bar than 
 the Pei-ho, and is of some importance from a military 
 point of view on that account. The sea-coast between 
 these two rivers, being only about one hundred and ten 
 miles from Peking by the traveled roads, has been se- 
 lected more than once, notwithstanding the shoal water 
 along it, by foreign powers at war with China, as a land- 
 ing-place and base for hostile operations against the capi- 
 tal, and this circumstance must always cause the Chinese 
 as well as foreign governments to regard both the Pei-ho 
 and the Peh-tang Elvers with peculiar interest. They 
 occupy important positions in connection with both the 
 commerce and defense of the country, and hence have 
 been carefully surveyed by foreigners, and elaborately 
 fortified at their entrance and at various points higher up 
 by the Chinese. In the future development of the coun- 
 try, the entrance to the Pei-ho must necessarily be deep- 
 ened, the dry-docks and other facilities for repairing ships 
 at Taku must be greatly increased. This port has already 
 been connected by a first-class railroad with Tientsin and 
 Peking to the north and west, and with Shan-hai-kwan 
 and Newchwang to the north and east. The forts which 
 guard it were captured by the French and English in 
 1860, and by the allied powers in June, 1900. It is the 
 natural base of operations against Peldng, and must, if 
 the capitol of China remains at that place, become one 
 of the most important seaports of the empire. 
 
 There are many other rivers shown on the maps of 
 the Great Plain, but with the exception of the Liao-ho, in 
 Shinking, and the Ta-wen-ho, which rises in the western 
 part of the Shantung Hills, and supplies the Grand Canal 
 
DRY RIVER-BEDS 29 
 
 south of the Yellow Elver with water, they nearly all dry 
 up during the rainless season, and are indicated generally 
 by a swale in the plain bordered by embankments to re- 
 strain the water during flood-time. I have crossed many 
 of them, so faint in outline and so perfectly dry, that I 
 had great difficulty in locating them at all. 
 
 It should be remembered that the great rivers of the 
 country are the Yang-tse-kiang and the Hwang-ho, 
 which have through countless ages been slowly shaping 
 the surface of the land, cutting down the mountains and 
 loess terraces, and building up the great delta plain, while 
 the Chu-kiang and Min have in a lesser degree been doing 
 the same kind of work upon the southern and eastern 
 slopes of the mountains and borders of the sea south of 
 the Yang-tse. Keeping these facts constantly in mind, 
 the outlines and natural subdivisions of the land will also 
 be easily understood from the description which follows 
 in the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTEE IV 
 
 The surface of the country — Sinian Mountain system — The high- 
 lands and hill country' — Origin of the loess terraces — The out- 
 lying dependencies — Corea, Manchuria, Mongolia, Hi, Tur- 
 kistan, and Thibet — The Great Plain or delta — Coal, iron, and 
 other minerals — The Kaiping coal-mines and railroad — The 
 first locomotive built in China — The coal-mines of Formosa 
 and Shansi — Coal transported in wheelbarrows — The develop- 
 ment of coal and iron receiving Government attention — For- 
 eign experts required — Conservatism of the Government. 
 
 The surface of China is naturally subdivided into 
 mountainous and hilly country, the loess terraces or 
 plains, and the Great Plain or delta of the Hwang-ho and 
 Yang-tse-kiang. 
 
 Beginning in the high mountain-region of Thibet, 
 into which Abbe Hue, Prejvalsky, Eockhill, and Bon- 
 valot have pushed their daring explorations, but which 
 is still a great geographical puzzle, the mountain system 
 of China, buttressed upon the lofty Himalayas, branches 
 off into four principal ranges with many spurs and out- 
 liers, the general trend of which is at first east and west, 
 and afterward, as they pass through Central China and 
 approach the ocean, northeast, and southwest. Eoughly 
 speaking, everywhere in China proper, as well as in For- 
 mosa and Japan, the upheaval is parallel with the direc- 
 tion of the Chinese coast and is designated by the geolo- 
 gists as the Sinian system. Its trend is particularly 
 noticeable in the southeastern provinces, and again in the 
 northern and western part of the northeastern provinces. 
 There is a great congeries of mountains in Southern and 
 30 
 
CHINESE MOUNTAIN SYSTEM 31 
 
 Eastern Thibet, of which the principal drainage is to 
 the southeast into the Mekong and the Yang-tse-kiang. 
 The principal outliers of these mountains, to the east- 
 ward are the Peh-ling or Korth Mountains which sepa- 
 rate the valleys of the Hwang-ho and Yang-tse-kiang by 
 more than four hundred miles, on or near the 105th 
 meridian east of Greenwich. 
 
 The ISTan-ling or the South Mountains, in the south- 
 eastern provinces, seem to be a separate upheaval, and to 
 be broken up into short ranges, which give to all the 
 country, except the delta, south of the Yang-tse a rough 
 if not mountainous surface. The highlands touch the 
 coast everywhere, from Hanchow Bay to Canton, and, 
 being bare of trees, give it a bold but uninviting appear- 
 ance. They also strike the Yang-tse near Chin-kiang, 
 and at many other points along the river to Ichang. 
 There are a few bits of table-land in this hill-region, and 
 two considerable river-valleys containing the Poyang and 
 the Tung-ting Lakes. It is about four hundred miles 
 wide by one thousand miles long, and much of it is cov- 
 ered with trees, and is susceptible of cultivation. On the 
 eastern and southeastern sea-coast the hills are bare and 
 ragged, and look like the uplands of ISTew Mexico rather 
 than those of our Eastern States. 
 
 The region between the Yang-tse and the Yellow 
 Eiver is similar to that just described. Its drainage is 
 almost all toward the Yang-tse, although a considerable 
 river draining the greater part of Shensi, joins the Yel- 
 low Eiver at the southwest corner of Shensi. North of 
 the Peh-ling divide the loess terraces are found; they 
 cover a great part of the two provinces just named, and 
 are noted for their inexhaustible fertility as well as for 
 their occasional drouths and famines. This curious for- 
 mation is also found at the foot of the Shan-tung Hills, 
 and there, as well as elsewhere, has been a puzzle to 
 geologists, some of whom, including Pumpelly, the Amer- 
 ican savant, ascribe its origin to lacustrine or subaqueous 
 
32 CHINA 
 
 deposit. The investigations of Baron Eichthofen, a 
 learned German, sent out by the Shanghai Chamber of 
 Commerce, have led him, however, to formulate the the- 
 ory that it is composed of subaerial dust deposits, which 
 have been laid down through countless ages of the past 
 by the winds which, sweeping over the plains from the 
 northwest, become laden with the dust of the dried-up 
 grasses and vegetation, and of the mineral substances 
 which are broken down and pulverized by the action of 
 frost. This dust is so fine that it sifts through every 
 crack and cranny, and while it settles everywhere in times 
 of calm, it is, of course, almost impossible to detect the 
 slow growth of the earth's surface from that source. 
 Wherever the loess deposits are found, they present the 
 same curious features. They have a uniform yellowish- 
 clay color, very like the soil of Mississippi between Vieks- 
 burg and Jackson, and their surface is nearly level. 
 Where cut into by roads, or by the action of streams, the 
 exposed cut stands vertical and presents a series of col- 
 umnar pipelets of irregular polygonal cross-section, which 
 also stand vertical, are readily cleavable from one an- 
 other, break easily, and are filled with capillary tubes of 
 carbonate of lime. This loess pulverizes quickly in the 
 roads, and the wind blows it away. The consequence is, 
 that the roads are constantly being lowered, and in 
 many places are sunken far below the level of the 
 country. They not infrequently become torrent beds for 
 the outflow of rain-water, and when this is the case they 
 are still more rapidly deepened. The banks of rivers in 
 the loess region also stand vertical, and are found in more 
 than one district several hundred feet high. In such 
 cases the inhabitants burrow into them, and dig out 
 houses more or less commodious, in which they dwell, and 
 excavate granaries, in which they store their crops. 
 
 The capillary tubes mentioned above are almost in- 
 visible, except by the aid of a microscope, and are sup- 
 posed to have been formed by the slow decay of the lower- 
 
THE LOfiSS TERRACES 33 
 
 most grass-rootlets, due in turn to the slow rising of the 
 surface, as the impalpable dust settles upon it, and to the 
 consequent exclusion of light and heat. The tubes serve 
 to bring the moisture of the earth below to the surface, 
 and along with it the salts necessary for the sustenance 
 of the growing crops. The cultiTated lands of the loess 
 region, therefore, withstand drought better than the 
 lands of other regions, and retain or renew their fertility, 
 without the application of artificial manure, in a remark- 
 able manner. It is thought that farms in this region 
 have been producing crops of wheat for thousands of 
 years, practically without rotation, or the assistance of 
 fertilizers of any kind. 
 
 In spite of these interesting facts it is nevertheless 
 true that the plains and terraces of both Shansi and 
 Shensi are subject to droughts and famines from which 
 countless thousands of human beings have died in the 
 past and will continue to die in the future, till the con- 
 struction of railroads renders it possible to relieve them. 
 
 In Shan-tung, the loess terraces are situated next to 
 the foot of the hills, and just above the level of the Great 
 Plain. They present all the characteristics of those in 
 Shansi and Shensi, but are not so wide or thick. The 
 color of the loess substance is brighter than the soil of the 
 Great Plain, but it is easy to see that they might have 
 had a common origin, the difference being that the loess 
 was laid down by the wind and has undergone no change 
 except that produced by the vegetation growing on the 
 surface, while the soil of the Great Plain is alluvial, and 
 was eroded from the loess terraces and table-lands and 
 intermixed with other materials by the action of run- 
 ning water, partly dissolved, held in suspension, trans- 
 ported and finally laid down in salt-water. The first 
 when dry is a bright-yellowish co.lor like ordinary clay, 
 and the second a yellowish-gray color. Either will make 
 sun-dried or burned bricks. 
 
 There is also a range of hills in the eastern and north- 
 
34: CHINA 
 
 em parts of Shansi, ISTorthern Chihli, and ShinMng, 
 which extends to and beyond the Great Wall, and is said 
 to contain rich deposits of coal, iron, and other minerals. 
 They are entirely bare of trees, and when viewed from the 
 plain are ragged and serrated in outline, variegated in 
 color, and full of cliffs, crags, detached bowlders, and 
 broken stone. On the whole, they remind one of the 
 hills of ISTew Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona, and so far 
 as one can now see, were never covered with trees or luxu- 
 riant vegetation. This is doubtless- due in part, if not 
 entirely, to the extreme aridity of the cliinate. 
 
 Outside of China Proper, beyond the sea-coast of 
 Shinking, is Corea, formerly a tributary kingdom; then, 
 proceeding west and northwest, come Liautung, Shin- 
 king, Kirin, and Tsitsihar, constituting Manchuria, from 
 the interior of which came the present dynasty as con- 
 querors. Sweeping farther to the westward, we have 
 Inner and Outer Mongolia, separated from each other 
 by the sandy desert of Shamo or Gobi, and subdi- 
 vided into many Idianates. Beyond, and still farther to 
 the west, in the very heart of Asia, lies Hi, or Chinese 
 Tartary, a vast, cheerless, arid region, divided into Tien- 
 Shan Peh-lu, or Sungaria, and Tien-Shan Xan-Lu, by 
 the Tien-Shan or Celestial Mountains. This region con- 
 tains Barkul, Urum-tsi, and Kuldja, all widely separated, 
 but on the road from China to Europej and celebrated 
 twenty-five years ago as points in the remarkable cam- 
 paign made by the late Tso Tsung-Tang for the purpose 
 of wresting this remote corner of the empire from the 
 Eussians, and reducing it to obedience to the throne. 
 
 The southern part of Hi is known as Eastern Turkis- 
 tan. It contains the cities of Kashgar, Yarkand, Kho- 
 ten, and Kirrea, and is separated from Bod or Thibet by 
 the Kwan-lun Mountains. This last dependency is sub- 
 divided into Ulterior and Anterior Thibet, and is broken 
 up into many smaller districts by the numerous moun- 
 tain-ranges which make it the most inaccessible country 
 
THE OUTLYING EEGIONS 35 
 
 in the world. It is needless to say that these trackless 
 wastes are impassable by modern armies and their impedi- 
 menta, and can never be brought under the subjugation 
 of civilized man except by the aid of railroads. All these 
 outlying regions, and especially Thibet, are thought to 
 be rich in minerals of all kinds, and, although thinly 
 populated by semi-civilized tribes, subsisting mainly on 
 the products of their herds, will, when brought into com- 
 munication with the rest of the world, afford homes and 
 occupation for a population many times larger than they 
 now support. They contain over three million square 
 miles of territory, and while the most of them have been 
 visited and more or less carefully described by European 
 travelers, they yet remain to be scientifically explored, 
 and brought under the domination of modern uses and 
 ideas. So far as I can make out, they are in many re- 
 spects like our own Rocky Mountain regions, arid, inhos- 
 pitable, and barren. Vegetation is everywhere scarce, 
 great tracts are sandy wastes, almost impassable by man, 
 and forsaken even by birds and beasts, but abounding in 
 mineral resources, which may some day give occupation 
 to millions of people. Thibet is said to be specially rich 
 in precious stones, and some idea may be had of the pos- 
 sible extent and variety of its resources when it is remem- 
 bered that it is eighteen hundred miles long from east 
 to west, by nearly nine hundred miles wide.* 
 
 The northern part of Mongolia, bordering on the 
 Amur and its tributaries, is known to contain placer gold- 
 mines of great richness, and many Chinese and Russian 
 miners have found their way into that region. It is not 
 impossible that it may ultimately prove to be as great 
 a source of gold as California was in the first decade after 
 it came under the sway of the Americans. Should this 
 prove to be the case, it will greatly infiuence the con- 
 struction of railroads into that region, from the Trans- 
 
 * See the Travels of Abbe Hue and W. W. BookhiU. 
 
36 CHINA 
 
 Siberian line and from Northern China. The great want 
 now of all the border-regions of China is efficient trans- 
 portation and some idea can be had of the influence of 
 this want upon the spread of civilization, when it is re- 
 membered that the Kuldja expedition, led by Tso-Tsung- 
 tang, starting from the capital of Kansuh, took three 
 years to reach its destination, and was compelled to halt 
 at the proper seasons, and grow and garner the crops 
 which constituted its main source of supply. At present 
 the camel is the sole means of transport, but, as his 
 average burden does not exceed four hundred pounds, 
 and the country affords but a scanty supply of the coars- 
 est forage-plants, the cost of transport by such means is 
 beyond all proportion to its efficiency. Nearly all the tea 
 used in Siberia and Eussia is carried by camels to the 
 nearest railroad and the outlying points of distribution, 
 and, in order that the cost of such carriage may be re- 
 duced to its smallest limit, the tea when properly cured is 
 compressed into solid blocks, from which circumstance it 
 is known as " brick-tea." 
 
 But by far the most interesting part of China is the 
 Great Plain, which consists of the united deltas of the 
 Yang-tse-kiang and Hwang-ho, and extends from Hang- 
 chow in latitude 31° north, to Shan-hai-kwan, in lati- 
 tude 40° north, or a distance of over six hundred and 
 fifty English miles in a right line. Measured on its longer 
 axis from the hills northeast of Peking to the Poyang 
 Lake, the length is about seven hundred miles. It has 
 nearly eleven hundred miles of sea-coast, and its greatest 
 width is nearly five hundred miles, while it averages 
 about three hundred miles. Its superficial area is some- 
 where between one hundred and fifty thousand and one 
 hundred and eighty thousand square miles. It is every- 
 where as level as a floor, and almost entirely bare of trees. 
 A few are found along the margins of the streams, and 
 around the larger fields, or in clumps about the graves of 
 the richer families, but there is no such thing as natural 
 
THE GREAT PLAIN 3Y 
 
 groves or forests. Willow, which is used for roofing-poles, 
 and elm, which is used for the construction of carts and 
 agricultural implements, are by far the most common. 
 The ailantus, persimmon, and the jujube, a tree some- 
 what like the Osage orange, but bearing a fruit which, 
 when dried and preserved in honey, resembles the date, 
 are also common. A few evergreens, such as the pine and 
 the arbor-vitte, are usod to shelter the graves of the richer 
 mandarins, and, as the.se are generally planted in a double 
 row around the gi-avejard, they present an inviting object 
 to the eye of the traveler, weary with gazing upon the 
 dead and unbroken expanse of plain which constantly 
 surrounds him. 
 
 The absence of trees from the plain is natural. Its 
 soil is hard, and frequently so impregnated with salt, and 
 baked by the sun, that trees would find but little encour- 
 agement, even if left free to grow undisturbed by man, 
 but in view of the fact that every vestige of vegetation, 
 even to the roots of the millet-stalks, is raked oS the 
 fields and plains by the people, and burned for fuel dur- 
 ing the winter, it is evident that neither shrub nor tree 
 can escape, unless it has special protection. Grass and 
 reeds are cut and raked up wherever they are found, and 
 all the waste places are invaded, and swept clean of the 
 dried and withered vegetation. Even the leaves and the 
 dead limbs are gathered, and the outer bark of the few 
 trees is in some cases scraped off and scrupulously housed 
 for the winter's use. One of the most characteristic 
 scenes of the plain and hill country, after the cold 
 weather begins, is to see men, women, and boys comb- 
 ing the sere and yellow grass from the surface of the 
 field and roadsides, with ingeniously constructed bam- 
 boo rakes, wherever a blade has made its appearance. 
 I have seen boys far up the craggy sides of the sacred 
 mountain in Shan-tung, hanging over beetling cliffs, 
 and exploring every nook and bench and every stony 
 fissure for dry gorse and grass, with which to cook 
 
38 CHINA 
 
 the scanty meal in the cheerless hut of their parents 
 miles away. 
 
 Williams, in descrildng the hill-country, south of the 
 Yang-tse, says that all the raking and scraping which is 
 practiced there also is followed by burning over the land 
 for the purpose of fertilizing the soil; but my observation 
 tells me that, when the raking and scraping are done, 
 there is nothing left to burn. Of course, there are re- 
 mote and uncultivated regions, either too low or too salt, 
 or too frequently overflowed, or too poorly drained for 
 cultivation, or too far out of the way to be entirely de- 
 spoiled of their coarse reeds and grass, and these are 
 sometimes burned over, but burning is not a common 
 practice anywhere, and it is generally too wasteful in the 
 Chinaman's estimation to be resorted to for the purpose 
 of fertilizing his land. But with the raking and burn- 
 ing, much or little, as the latter may be, the aridity of 
 the climate, and the condition and character of the soil, 
 I doubt if any considerable part of North China has ever 
 been covered by trees, and I am sure the Great Plain has 
 not been since the beginning of the present geological 
 epoch at least, any more than have the prairies of Illinois 
 or the great plains west of the Missouri. 
 
 China proper is sometimes called by the Chinese the 
 Central Flowery Kingdom, and somehow or another 
 many foreigners have an idea, more or less distinct, that 
 it is a land of flowers and shrubbery, if not of sylvan scen- 
 ery, but this is not the case. I have visited the province 
 of Honan, which is regarded as the very heart of the 
 " Central Flowery Land," and the earliest home of the 
 Chinaman, but there is absolutely nothing in its generally 
 flat and cheerless landscape to give the slightest founda- 
 tion to such an idea. There are no farm-houses or farm- 
 yards in all the Great Plain, and absolutely no such thing 
 as hedge-rows or wild flowers, or flower-gardens, so far as 
 I could discover, in over two thousand miles of travel in 
 the interior. Flowers would, of course, grow there, if 
 
COAL AND IRON 39 
 
 cultivated and eared for, but it is not the habit of the 
 Chinese to waste their efforts on such matters, and my 
 judgment is that they do so less than any other people 
 in the world. I do not doubt that the few hundreds of 
 foreigners and missionaries, residing in and near the 
 treaty ports, grow more flowers than do the whole Chi- 
 nese race outside of them, and yet the Chinese, when 
 properly taught, become skillful gardeners and excel espe- 
 cially as florists. 
 
 Coal and iron are found in nearly every Chinese prov- 
 ince, except those lying in the Great Plain, and it is said 
 by Eichthofen that the extent of the workable coal-beds, 
 and the quantity of coal contained in them, are greater 
 than those of any other country of the world. Both an- 
 thracite and bituminous coal abound, in all qualities, 
 from the best Lehigh to the poorest lignite, but the meas- 
 ures are not extensively or systematically worked, al- 
 though they have been opened in the hills near Peking, 
 and also in Shansi, from the time of Marco Polo. There 
 are now several mines in the interior, notably that of 
 Kaiping, about eighty miles east-northeast from Tien- 
 tsin, at the edge of the plain and the foot of the hills, fur- 
 nished with European machinery, and worked under 
 European supervision, and even the former, although it 
 mined and sold several hundred thousand tons of excel- 
 lent bituminous coal last year — perhaps half of it to the 
 steamships visiting the Pei-ho — has not proved to be a 
 great business success. This is due mainly to over-capi- 
 talization, aided by Chinese inexperience and mismanage- 
 ment. It has a most excellent plant, consisting of houses, 
 shafts, hoisting and pumping engines, compressors, and 
 a well-constructed, standard-gauge railroad connecting 
 it with the Pei-ho and with the cities of Tientsin and 
 Peking to the west and north and with Shan-hai-kwan 
 and Kew-Chwang in the east. This railroad, the first 
 one in China, was begun in 1881, and is exceedingly well 
 built. It is laid with eighty-pound steel rails, furnished 
 
40 CHINA 
 
 with broken stone ballast, . and first-class appliances of 
 every sort, including locomotives built in England and 
 America. It also has one, the " Eocket of China," the first 
 ever operated on the road, built at the company's works 
 at Kaiping, out of old materials. Both the road and this 
 engine were commenced and put into operation surrepti- 
 tiously and without proper government warrant or au- 
 thority. The coal-mining company, composed exclusively 
 of Chinese capitalists, was authorized to open its miaes, 
 and to employ foreign experts and foreign methods, in 
 mining and hoisting its coal, but it was never dreamed 
 by them that any other means of transport except those 
 of canal and river would be necessary to get the product 
 to market. The Chinese authorities, and perhaps even 
 the Chinese promoters of the undertaking, assumed that 
 it would be feasible to dig and operate a canal from the 
 company's shaft to the Peh-tang Eiver; but when the for- 
 eign engineers took the levels of the place, and of the 
 uncertain stream in the neighborhood, it was discov- 
 ered at once that the mine-opening was nearly eighty feet 
 above the level of the plain, that a canal was therefore 
 impracticable, and that a tramway or railroad seven miles 
 long would be absolutely necessary. This was made known 
 to the Chinese authorities, who reluctantly authorized a 
 tramway to be substituted for a part of the canal, but 
 the company was specially enjoined to use only horses 
 or mules in hauling the coal to the canal. The English 
 engineers, however, went quietly to work to build a loco- 
 motive, knowing full well that nothing else would answer 
 their purpose. Knowledge of this leaked out through the 
 Chinese mechanics, and reached the ears of the authori- 
 ties shortly afterward. Orders were at once issued to 
 stop work on the " strange machine," and this was done; 
 but after a while, when suspicion had been allayed, work 
 upon it was resumed, and in due time it was finished and 
 put successfully in operation. The railroad being in an 
 out-of-the-way region, and remote from all the principal 
 
THE FIRST RAILROAD 41 
 
 highways, was ignored by the authorities, and no notice 
 was taken of its existence, or of the operation of loco- 
 motives upon it by the Imperial Government for sev- 
 eral years. Curiously enough it was not even visited 
 and inspected by the high Chinese oiScials till it was 
 completed and in operation from the Pei-ho to the coal 
 mines. 
 
 The company has constructed extensive buildings for 
 the accommodation of a school of engineering and min- 
 ing, and another set at either end of the railroad, for the 
 reception and entertainment of distinguished official visit- 
 ors. It employs an unnecessarily large number of useless 
 Chinese servants, and conducts its business in a waste- 
 ful and extravagant manner, subject to the countless 
 squeezes and exactions which characterize all Chinese un- 
 dertakings of a public character. And yet it is said that 
 it has earned and paid handsome dividends from the time 
 it was opened for traffic. The foreign officials are ex- 
 ceedingly capable and clever men, but their functions are 
 strictly technical, and do not in any way involve or con- 
 trol the commercial affairs of the company. 
 
 A coal mine was opened and furnished with a foreign 
 plant near Hankow by the enterprising viceroy Chang 
 Chi-tung several years ago, and the coal is said to be ex- 
 cellent. These mines are now worked in connection with 
 the furnaces and steel mills at Hankow, but it can not 
 yet be said that either is successful. 
 
 The coal from the hills near Peking is an excellent 
 anthracite, but it is understood that the measures are 
 too thin for extensive workings with foreign plant and 
 appliances. The coal of Southern Shansi is of the very 
 finest variety of anthracite, and exists in thick beds of 
 great extent. It is hauled in wheelbarrows to the 
 Hwang-ho, and transported to Kai-fung-fu, and other 
 points farther down the river, in considerable quantities. 
 It is also distributed throughout the surrounding country 
 for several hundred miles in wheelbarrows, each of which 
 
4:2 CHINA 
 
 is directed by a man between the handles, and hauled by 
 one or two donkeys, and carries from three hundred and 
 fifty to four hundred pounds. Notwithstanding the 
 cheapness of labor, and of food for both man and beast, 
 coal transported in this way for any considerable distance 
 becomes a costly luxury, entirely beyond the reach of the 
 common people. It is used in small quantities by the 
 rich, and by the public coots. Coal is also sent to market 
 by water from the mines on the banks of the Yang-tse, 
 and will, of course, bear transportation in that way to 
 much more considerable distances than by land, as above 
 described. 
 
 Notwithstanding the great abundance of coal, and 
 the cheapness with which it can be mined, its consump- 
 tion is in its infancy in China, and nothing but the intro- 
 duction of railroads and modern methods of mining, con- 
 cessions for which were granted to the so-called Peking 
 Syndicate in 1898, can bring it into general use by the 
 people. 
 
 Iron-ores are almost as widely distributed as coal, but 
 little or nothing of their character and economic value 
 is known. ISTo systematic surveys or extensive exploita- 
 tions have been made of the ore-beds, and there are but 
 few modern blast furnaces as yet in the whole empire. 
 What little iron is used by the Chinese is either imported 
 from foreign countries, mostly in the form of nail-rods 
 and old scrap, or is made in the remote districts in the 
 most primitive manner. Other minerals, and especially 
 copper, silver, and gold, exist in various parts of the em- 
 pire, but they have neither been sought for nor worked in 
 any systematic or scientific way. Special exploitations 
 and examinations have been made by foreign experts, 
 and some efforts based thereon have been made to estab- 
 lish smelting-works for the reduction of copper-ores, large 
 quantities of which metal are used for making cash, the 
 only currency of the country, but I have failed to learn 
 that any of the copper-mines or smelting-works have yet 
 
UNDEVELOPED MINERAL RESOURCES 43 
 
 been worked at a profit. Much of the copper used is im- 
 ported from Japan and other foreign countries. 
 
 The fact is tliat China, notwithstanding its abundant 
 supply of ores and coal, and the many applications it has 
 received from foreign promoters for the privilege of ex- 
 ploiting and working them, is behind every other civilized 
 country in mining and metallurgy. She has no native 
 experts, and no scientific knowledge, and has made abso- 
 lutely no progress in respect to these matters for the last 
 five hundred years; but there are some indications that a 
 few of her leading statesmen, and especially Li Hung- 
 Chang, Chang Chi-tung, and such as have visited foreign 
 countries as ministers and consuls, have come to recog- 
 nize the importance of these industries to the commer- 
 cial and manufacturing interests, as well as to the 
 national defense. They at least have begun to grant eon- 
 cessions and to ask Western powers for geologists, min- 
 ing-engineers, metallurgists, and iron-masters, and it is 
 safe to say that large numbers of such men must sooner 
 or later find employment in China. In view, however, of 
 its present disturbed condition it will be many years be- 
 fore that country can seriously begin the development of 
 its mineral resources or the education of* its own youth 
 for such occupations, not only because they have no com- 
 petent teachers or schools, but because the language itself 
 has no scientific nomenclature whatever connected with 
 it. Not only the scientific ideas, but the words them- 
 selves, must be introduced into the Chinese mind and 
 language, and this, in a country where no system of popu- 
 lar education prevails, and no universally spoken dialect 
 exists, is an exceedingly difficult task to accomplish. 
 
 A greater difficulty, however, than that remains to be 
 overcome before any substantial advance can be made in 
 mining or metallurgy, or, in fact, in anything else pro- 
 gressive, and that is, such a reorganization and regenera- 
 tion of the Imperial Government as will make it the 
 leader of the Chinese people in the march of modern 
 
44: CHINA 
 
 progress, instead of the jealous guardian of their con- 
 servatism, self-conceit, ignorance, and superstition, as 
 it has always been, especially under the Empress Dowa- 
 ger. So long as the present condition of affairs prevails, 
 no scientific or professional man should go to China for 
 employment, except under contract with the Government 
 or some properly authorized and responsible official or 
 foreign corporation. The time may soon come when all 
 this may be changed, but it has not come yet. 
 
CHAPTEE V 
 
 Population of China — No complete census ever taken — The coun- 
 try not overcrowded — Iniluence of famines, rebellions, pesti- 
 lence, and floods — Reproduction normal and active — Popula- 
 tion probably greater than ever before — Country capable of 
 supporting three times as many inhabitants — Origin of the 
 Chinese race — Physical characteristics — Compression of feet — 
 Manchus do not practice the custom — Its origin — Failure to 
 practice it looked upon as evidence of abject poverty and dis- 
 tress — Food of the Chinese people — Domestic animals. 
 
 The population of China has never been accurately 
 enumerated, and no such thing as a scientific and com- 
 plete census, such as is now regarded as absolutely neces- 
 sary by all modern governments, has ever been conceived, 
 much less undertaken, by the Imperial Chinese Govern- 
 ment. All statements concerning the population of the 
 country are, therefore, but little better than mere guesses, 
 based upon partial enumerations, for purposes of taxa- 
 tion. All authorities agree in saying that the best one 
 ever made was that of 1813, at which time the eighteen 
 provinces (Formosa, now belonging to Japan, was then 
 included in Fo-kien) of China proper were estimated to 
 contain 362,447,183 souls, or an average of about 200 
 to the square mile. In 1868 the Eussian statistician Vas- 
 silivitch gave the population at 404,946,514; in 1881 the 
 Imperial Maritime Customs reports gave it at 380,000,- 
 000, and it is now understood that Sir Eobert Hart, the 
 Inspector-General of Customs, expresses the opinion that 
 it can not exceed 400,000,000. None of these reports in- 
 cludes any estimate of the population of Manchuria, Mon- 
 golia, Hi, or Thibet, but as they are all thinly settled 
 
 46 
 
46 CHINA 
 
 the actual figures, even if they could be had, would 
 probably not materially change the grand aggregate, 
 while figures obtained by guessing are worse than useless. 
 Withal, some travelers have estimated the entire popu- 
 lation of the empire as high as 500,000,000, while others 
 have placed it as low as 200,000,000. As to the probable 
 correctness of these estimates, and for various interesting 
 details connected therewith, reference should be made to 
 Williams's Middle Kingdom, where they are fully set 
 forth and discussed. I have no data not found in that 
 admirable work, or in other books of travel, but I have 
 a decided conviction, based upon my own observation, 
 that the population of the entire empire can not exceed 
 360,000,000, and may be much less. I have traveled ex- 
 tensively in Northern China, and especially in the Great 
 Plain, which is considered by all authorities as one of 
 the most thickly settled regions of the empire, and yet 
 I saw no evidence whatever of overcrowding, or, indeed, 
 of any extraordinary density of population. The hamlets, 
 villages, and towns, into which the entire population is 
 gathered, are thickly studded over parts of the plain, but 
 they are neither so plentiful nor so large as to convey the 
 idea that there is not room for more, or for greater 
 growth of those which already exist. Besides, there are 
 considerable tracts of unsettled or thinly settled coun- 
 try in which the villages are small and widely separated. 
 In the hill country, much of which is rough and not 
 arable, the population is still thinner, and, notwithstand- 
 ing the fact that with all deductions and allowances, 
 China contains from one sixth to one third of all the 
 people in the world, I do not doubt it could support three 
 times as many as now inhabit it, if all its land were 
 brought under proper cultivation, and it were provided 
 with a properly located system of railroads between the 
 various provinces and outlying dependencies, for the pur- 
 pose of interchanging their different productions one 
 with another. 
 
EECURRENCB OP FAMINES 47 
 
 Frightful famines have occurred frequently in Shansi 
 and Shensi, and in various other parts of the empire, and 
 owing to the peculiar meteorological conditions which 
 prevail, especially in Northern China, are likely to occur 
 again, at intervals, for all time. It is estimated that over 
 ten million people died from starvation a few years ago 
 in Shansi and Shensi alone, while abundance and plenty 
 were prevailing in other parts of the country. Every 
 effort was made, both by the foreigners and by the Im- 
 perial Government, to send food into the stricken region, 
 but owing to the great distances to be traversed, and the 
 entire absence of river and canal navigation, as well as 
 of railroads, but few of the suffering multitude could 
 be reached in time to save their lives. Eeligious and 
 political disturbances and rebellions have always been 
 more or less prevalent in various parts of the empire, 
 especially in the southern, southeastern, and western 
 provinces, and the wars for their suppression have car- 
 ried off many millions of people. As before stated, the 
 Taiping rebellion alone is estimated to have resulted in 
 the death of from ten to twenty million people in the 
 fourteen years of its duration. Pestilence and floods 
 have also aided in the work of destruction; and, besides 
 all these, it is undoubtedly true that in some regions 
 population has crowded close upon the limits of the regu- 
 lar food-supply, and that, with the aid of infanticide, 
 which is prevalent, especially in the south, has strongly 
 tended to prevent any rapid increase of population. At 
 all events, the common impression is, that the population 
 has not materially increased since 1812. How far this 
 impression is well founded I do not undertake to say, but 
 I must add that my own observations would rather dis- 
 credit than sustain it. It seems to me far more likely 
 that neither the census of 1813, nor any other, was accu- 
 rately taken, than that reproduction had been suspended 
 in any degree, or that famine, pestilence, and war, all 
 combined, could have killed faster than the tremendous 
 
48 CHINA 
 
 aggregate force of that instinct in the relatively great 
 population of China could increase the race under any 
 or all circumstances which could possibly exist. It is the 
 settled custom that every male Chinaman must marry 
 soon after he comes of age, and that presupposes at least 
 one wife for every such male. Polygamy is allowed, but 
 not generally practiced among the common people, hence 
 the influence of that institution may be ignored. It is 
 also well understood that every man must have at least 
 one son, either of his own body or by adoption, to rever- 
 ence him while living, and to worship him after death; 
 therefore reproduction is a religious as well as a natural 
 and political duty, and as a matter of fact it seems to 
 flourish as well in China as elsewhere. In all my travels 
 I saw children of both sexes in abundance, and they 
 seemed to be as healthy, happy, and well cared for gen- 
 erally, as in any other country I ever visited. The fact 
 is, that the Chinese not only possess the same instincts 
 which characterize the human race in other countries, 
 but the same virtues and the same vices in about the 
 same degree as other people of the same grade of civiliza- 
 tion. They appear to be naturally fond of children, and 
 to take as good care of them as of themselves; and while 
 it is true that girls are not so highly prized as boys, and 
 are consequently more frequently made away with, there 
 is no scarcity of them, so far as I could perceive, in any 
 region visited by me. 
 
 From all these circumstances I believe that the popu- 
 lation of China, although generally overestimated, is now 
 greater than ever before; that it is steadily, though per- 
 haps not rapidly, increasing; and that, with the introduc- 
 tion of the appliances and varied industries of modem 
 progress, it will increase more rapidly hereafter than ever 
 before. The introduction of railroads, the opening of 
 mines, the construction of furnaces and rolling-mills, and 
 the establishment of manufactories, will be followed by a 
 diversion of agricultural labors to the new occupations, 
 
INFLUENCE OP MODERN IMPROVEMENTS 49 
 
 and a rise in wages, which, in turn, will bring increased 
 comfort in clothing and habitation, as well as an in- 
 creased demand for and a wider and more perfect distri- 
 bution of food of all kinds now grown by the Chinese, 
 and of many kinds produced only by foreign nations. 
 The appliances for the support and conservation of life 
 will become greater and better exactly in the same pro- 
 portion as the progressive movement, after it is once well 
 under way, develops itself. This is the result which has 
 followed in every other country, and there is no reason 
 whatever for supposing that a difEerent one will follow 
 in China. 
 
 I shall not undertake so give the ethnographic history 
 of the Chinese race, further than to say that it belongs 
 to the great Turanian or yellow stock, and it has doubt- 
 less inhabited China from the remotest ages of the past. 
 Some writers believe that it was created or originated on 
 the soil which it now inhabits, and in view of the com- 
 plete isolation by the mountain, sandy, and arid region 
 which surrounds it on the land-side and separates it from 
 Europe, and by the boundless sea which separates it from 
 the rest of the world, there is nothing improbable in this 
 suggestion. It has always seemed to me much more 
 natural that the various branches of the human race 
 should have been evolved in countries perfectly adapted 
 to their wants, than that they should have had a common 
 origin in a remote, inhospitable, and inaccessible region 
 of Central Asia, as is so commonly supposed to have been 
 the case. 
 
 Such writers as believe that the race came into China 
 from the northwest — and the Chinese themselves seem 
 generally to share this belief — contend that its line of 
 progress was down the valley of the Hwang-ho rather 
 than that of the Yang-tse, and that they first took firm 
 root in the rich plains of the province of Honan, from 
 which " Central Flowery Land " they spread over and 
 possessed all of Southeastern Asia. Be this as it may 
 
50 CHINA 
 
 (and there is no trustworthy historical evidence upon 
 which to affirm or deny the theory), the race has certainly 
 displaced or absorbed all others of the land, and seems to 
 be one of great vigor and vitality. The people of the 
 north are in some degree darker, larger, and stronger 
 than those of the south, and this is not inconsistent with 
 a common origin and substantial freedom from adultera- 
 tion. Whatever differentiation has taken place, may have 
 been and doubtless was, due to climatic influences, rather 
 than to intermixture with autocthonous or Maylasian 
 races. 
 
 So far as an observer untrained in ethnological studies 
 can perceive, the Chinese are a remarkably homogeneous 
 people. They differ but little in face or feature, whether 
 they belong to one class or another, or to the same or dif- 
 ferent provinces. They are generally up to the average 
 size of Europeans, and I should say considerably above 
 that of the French. Curiously enough, there is nothing 
 but rank and station to distinguish the Manchu man- 
 darins from the Chinese. They all wear similar cos- 
 tumes in similar grades and stations of hfe, and look as 
 though they might belong to exactly the same stock, al- 
 though the Manchus are a conquering race, or, should I 
 not say, a conquering horde of the same race? Their 
 eyes, hair, and skin are about the same color, and to all 
 casual observers their manners and customs are the same 
 in nearly every respect. The males all shave their heads 
 and wear queues, but this custom is said to have been 
 distinctly Manchurian in its origin, and to have been 
 forced upon the Chinese at the time of the Manchu con- 
 quest, which took place between 1635 and 1644 a. d., as 
 a sign of subjugation and submission. 
 
 There is one notable difference in the customs of the 
 Manchus and the Chinese. The women of the latter, 
 everywhere and in every station of life, rich and poor, 
 mandarin and coolie alike, have their feet compressed, 
 while those of the Manchu women, from the empress 
 
COMPRESSION OF THE FEET 51 
 
 down through the imperial clan, to the wives and daugh- 
 ters of the common soldiers, permit their feet to grow to 
 their natural size. The custom of compressing the feet 
 has prevailed for several hundred years, and is said to 
 have had its origin among the Chinese from the circum- 
 stance that a beautiful princess had club-feet, and that 
 she concealed the fact so completely by the skill with 
 which she disguised her deformity that she was not only 
 greatly admired, but it became the fashion for all the 
 ladies of the court to imitate her in everything, even in 
 the effort to make their feet look small. Tradition has 
 it that compression was resorted to for this purpose, and 
 that the fashion spread to the people, and gradually be- 
 came a confirmed custom. This explanation is the 
 most commonly accepted one, but it is not entirely 
 satisfactory. 
 
 There is also a tradition that the practice was at first 
 resorted to by some cruel and crusty husband for the pur- 
 pose of keeping his wife and daughters from " going 
 a-gadding," and that it was found to work so well that his 
 neighbors also adopted it, and that it spread throughout 
 the country. Finally, it has been suggested that, what- 
 ever may have been the origin of the custom, it is re- 
 tained because the male sex has come to admire the effect 
 of it iTpon the female figure. The physical result of the 
 practice is to reduce and deform the feet down to mere 
 callous points, to diminish the size of the ankle corre- 
 spondingly, and to obliterate the calf of the leg entirely, 
 so that the figure tapers rapidly from the hips to the ends 
 of the toes, and the more completely this is done the more 
 nearly the form approaches the highest Chinese ideal of 
 beauty. 
 
 I have heard it asked if the practice had produced 
 any influence in decreasing the size of the normal Chinese 
 foot, and, while this raises a curious question in heredity 
 and progressive differentiation, I can not say that it can 
 be answered in the affirmative. Both Chinese men and 
 
52 CHINA 
 
 women, in their natural condition, have hands and feet 
 which might be properly called small, but I could not per- 
 ceive that the feet of the men are unusually small, nor 
 do I believe they are so. 
 
 As before observed, the custom of compressing the 
 feet of the girl-children is universal among the people 
 of North China. The common belief among foreigners 
 who have never been in China is, that the custom is con- 
 fined to the better classes, but such is not the fact. It is 
 practiced by every walk and condition of life, from the 
 highest and richest to the lowest and poorest. Occasion- 
 ally, a miserable little houseless and homeless waif may be 
 seen with natural feet, but this is looked upon as the 
 crowning evidence of her abject poverty and friendless- 
 ness. I once heard a most intelligent and sympathetic 
 missionary lady, in the interior of Northern China, de- 
 clare that nothing so moved her pity as to see a Chinese 
 girl so utterly bereft of every human care, so lonely and 
 abject in her poverty and distress, as to have no one in 
 the world who thought enough of her to compress her 
 feet! When I expressed my astonishment at her remark, 
 and asked her if she did not regard the custom as about 
 the worst and most cruel of all Chinese customs, she 
 promptly said: " Oh, yes! it is as bad as it can be, when 
 practiced by a whole people, and, if I were empress, the 
 first edict I would issue would be to abolish it; but so 
 long as it is the custom, I only know one thing worse, and 
 that is not to follow it in the individual case, for that be- 
 tokens a depth of sorrow, loneliness, and poverty, beyond 
 which there is no lower depth possible for even a Chinese 
 child." 
 
 After seeing the Chinese people under all conditions 
 of life, and in many remote and widely separated parts of 
 the empire, I am compelled to say that they seem to me 
 to be remarkably strong, robust, and healthy, and to be 
 specially free from consumption and all other forms of 
 constitutional disease. It is quite true that diseases of 
 
FOOD OP THE CHINESE 53 
 
 the skin and scalp prevail, but they seem to be altogether 
 due to an insufficient use of water and soap, if not to a 
 positive aversion to those hygienic necessities. They also 
 seem everywhere to be well fed and comfortably though 
 cheaply clad. Their food is mostly composed of vege- 
 tables and fish, rice, of course, forming the chief depend- 
 ence, especially in the southern and eastern provinces, 
 where it is grown, and indeed everywhere else, within 
 reach of the means of transportation. Wheat is grown 
 and used extensively in the country adjacent to the Yel- 
 low Eiver, where it matures and is garnered generally 
 before the coming of the summer floods. It is ground 
 into a coarse flour by the primitive means employed in all 
 Oriental countries, and made into unleavened cakes, or 
 into bread, which, owing to the scarcity of fuel, is steamed 
 instead of baked. The loaves, if I may call them loaves, 
 are about the size of apple-dumplings, and look more like 
 them than anything else. They are said to be a good 
 substitute for the bread of the foreigners when sliced and 
 toasted. In out-of-the-way places, where neither rice 
 nor wheat can be had, millet is used, and that is also 
 ground, boiled, mixed with dried fruits, principally the 
 jujube, and sold in slices, cut from the mass as called 
 for. Cabbage of various kinds is grown nearly every- 
 where, and, boiled with sea-weed, in order to increase the 
 volume and season the cabbage with the salt which it 
 contains, enters largely into the diet of the people. 
 Sweet-potatoes are grown and consumed in the greatest 
 abundance. Eadishes and pulse-foods of various sorts 
 are cultivated; persimmons as large as tomatoes are com- 
 mon; but, generally speaking, the country is not rich in 
 fruits. Excellent peaches are grown on the Yang-tse, 
 and both apples and pears are found farther north, but 
 they are of inferior quality. Grapes are also found 
 in the north, and are kept through the winter by bury- 
 ing. There are several varieties of them, two of which 
 are large and luscious. Oranges, prunellos, cumquats. 
 
54 CHINA 
 
 loquats, lychees, and lemons grow in the south, and 
 are carried in small quantities by itinerant fruit-venders 
 to the principal cities of the country. Berries and 
 small fruits are unknown except to the foreigners, for 
 whom they are grown in small quantities near the set- 
 tlements. The extended sea-coast, and the great num- 
 ber of canals, rivers, and ponds, are peculiarly favorable 
 to fish, and they are caught and used in great numbers. 
 The Chinese are skillful, and have many ingenious meth- 
 ods of taking fish. Nothing that lives in water can escape 
 them, or comes amiss when captured. They use every 
 kind and variety of fish, and, what they can not use fresh, 
 they dry and salt for transportation to the interior, so 
 that the average Chinaman's most regular and constant 
 diet is rice and fish. The best fish known to him is the 
 sam-lai, which is identical with our shad. It is highly 
 prized by the mandarins and grandees of Peking. 
 
 Beef is practically unknown, except near the princi- 
 pal foreign settlements. Mutton is much more common, 
 especially in Northern China, where the broad or fat- 
 tailed Mongolian sheep are raised in sufficient numbers 
 to supply the foreigners, and the richer Chinese, who use 
 it sparingly. It is of excellent quality, quite equal when 
 in proper' condition to the best Southdown mutton. Pork 
 is the national flesh-food of the Chinese, and roast suck- 
 ing-pig the piece de resistance of every feast, but as the 
 hog is a natural scavenger, and permitted to roam at 
 large in the dirt and filth of every town and village, the 
 idea of eating pork in China is particularly offensive to 
 most travelers. Ducks and common barn-yard chickens 
 are found everywhere, and enter largely into the food of 
 the people. Eggs can always be had in abundance and 
 good condition. Game-birds, especially pheasants, par- 
 tridges, ducks, and snipe, abound in all parts of the coun- 
 try, and especially along the Yang-tse and its tributaries, 
 and are very good. Venison, hare, pheasants, and an oc- 
 casional bustard, are brought to the Peking market from 
 
THE FOOD OP THE PEOPLE 55 
 
 Mongolia, but such food is reserved for foreigners and 
 wealthy mandarins, and is hardly ever eaten by the com- 
 mon people. But little milk is produced, and that only 
 for the foreigners. Generally speaking, food is cheap and 
 good, and the natives appear to be well fed, while the 
 foreigner can get practically everything he would find in 
 the most favored regions of Europe or America. 
 
 The Chinese keep but few domestic animals. Dogs 
 are found everywhere, and of many kinds, but the com- 
 mon dog of the country is a mongrel of decidedly wolfish 
 characteristics, although he is noisy rather than fierce. 
 He seems to receive but little care, and to be regarded 
 rather with indifference than interest. No one pays 
 much attention to him, and when he flies out, after the 
 manner of dogs in all countries, at the passing stranger, 
 and receives a slashing cut with a riding-whip for his 
 pains, as he frequently did from my party, he yelps with 
 mingled fury and astonishment, but, instead of arousing 
 the sympathy of his owner by his outcry, he generally 
 finds himself laughed at by the by-standers, as though his 
 misfortune were a good joke. 
 
 The most common beast of burden in Central and 
 Southeastern China and Formosa is the water-buffalo, or 
 Bos hubalos, though common domestic cattle are found in 
 small numbers, and without reference to sex are used 
 for plowing and working in carts. Ponies of the Mongo- 
 lian or Tartar type are found nearly everjrwhere; don- 
 keys of excellent breed are still more common, and are 
 used both for riding and draught purposes. Some of 
 them are extremely agile and well broken to the saddle, 
 but they are used only by the common people. Mules are 
 extensively bred in the north, and are as fine as the finest 
 of Kentucky. They are greatly prized in Peking and the 
 other chief cities, where they are used exclusively in the 
 carts of the upper classes. There are no flocks or herds 
 of any kind, all domestic animals being held and cared for 
 in small numbers. I have frequently seen a pair of sheep. 
 
56 CHINA 
 
 or a single cow or donkey, or a couple of geese, watched 
 over, while feeding in the field, by a boy or a grown man, 
 but never more than a half-dozen animals of any kind 
 (except chickens or ducks) at one time or in one place. 
 All the coal brought into Peking, and all the tea and 
 merchandise taken from Central and Western China into 
 Mongolia, is carried on the backs of camels, which are also 
 used in great numbers between Peking, Kalgan, and 
 Eastern Mongolia. 
 
CHAPTEE VI 
 
 The houses of the Chinese — The clothing — The great public works 
 — The walled cities — The only crystallized and accumulated 
 labor of the Chinese — The effect of depopulation — The com- 
 mon people everywhere poor — No system of popular education 
 — No conception of or vocabulary for science — Diversity of 
 dialects — The classical or literary language of the country — 
 The greater wall of China — Chinese civilization — The charac- 
 teristics of the race — Arrested development — Future progress. 
 
 The houses of the common Chinese are nearly every- 
 where built of sun-dried brick, and covered with thatch 
 of millet-stalks resting on rafters of willow poles. In 
 the hill country, where stone can be had, it is used instead, 
 and in the extreme south, bamboos are much used for 
 building purposes. The richer people, who are scarce as 
 compared with the multitude, build of fire-burned bricks, 
 which are generally of a gray color and much larger than 
 the bricks used in foreign countries. When the house is 
 built of burned bricks it is covered with tiles of the same 
 material, laid on a bed of mud mixed with cut straw. 
 But little wood is used in the construction of houses. 
 The doors, sashes, and scanty furniture, are made of 
 boards, but the floors are either of clay smoothed down, 
 or of burned paving-tiles made of the same clay and laid 
 in about the same way as the roofing-tiles. The windows 
 of the common houses are small, and filled with thin 
 white paper, while those of the better class are larger, 
 and occasionally have a single pane of glass in the cen- 
 ter surrounded by paper. There are no fireplaces, but 
 nearly every house is furnished with a Tcang, or a raised, 
 7 S7 
 
58 CHINA 
 
 solid platform, of the same materials as the wall. It ex- 
 tends across one end of the room, and is furnished with a 
 small furnace and flue, for the purpose of heating it dur- 
 ing the night when it is used as a sleeping-place for the 
 family; but I am compelled to say that, in nearly three 
 thousand miles of travel in midwinter, between the Yel- 
 low Eiver and the Great Wall, I never saw one of these 
 kangs which had been warmed up, or in which my serv- 
 ants could even start a fire. Whether there is a kang 
 or not, there is an open furnace in every house, or con- 
 nected with it, and which may either have a flue or a 
 short clay chimney, and this is used for heating water 
 and cooking, but these furnaces and their appurtenances 
 are exceedingly rude, and frequently smoke about as 
 badly as would an open fire built on the floor. Fuel, as 
 before explained, is everywhere scarce, and hence fire is 
 used only for cooking, never for warming the house of 
 even the rich, and this renders it necessary for the peo- 
 ple to keep themselves warm during winter entirely by 
 clothing, although the best houses sometimes have an 
 ■ open basin of charcoal burning in the best room; but even 
 then they are cold and cheerless, for while the walls and 
 roofs are close and tight, the windows and doors are 
 poorly made, loosely fitted, and nearly always left open 
 or on the slam. To add to the general discomfort, noth- 
 ing is ever repaired, so that when decay begins it con- 
 tinues till the ruin is complete, and the discomfort be- 
 comes unbearable even to a Chinaman. 
 
 The clothing of the poor in China is made of cotton, 
 and never anything else. It is nearly always dyed blue, 
 and in winter is wadded and quilted. Occasionally, men 
 whose occupation requires them to live out-of-doors in 
 Northern China, wear sheep-skin overcoats and hoods. 
 Woolen cloth, which is now being imported in small 
 quantities, is but little worn, and never by any except 
 rich people. Silk and furs, from the richest sable and sea 
 otter to the commonest goat and dog, constitute the dress 
 
THE CLOTHING OP THE PEOPLE 59 
 
 of the high officials and mandarins, and also of the well- 
 to-do merchants, compradors and upper servants in pub- 
 lic, or while engaged in receiving visitors or making calls, 
 but it is said that they are laid aside even by the richest 
 for cotton garments as soon as the special occasion which 
 demanded their use has gone by. To people accustomed 
 to the warm and abundant woolen clothing of Europe 
 and America, the mere suggestion of cotton for winter 
 use conveys an idea of chilliness; but, so far as I could 
 ascertain, it proves ample, when wadded and worn in a 
 sufficient number of layers, to keep the Chinese warm and 
 comfortable. 
 
 Cotton is grown in nearly every province of China, 
 but it is of short fiber, and good only for the rougher 
 and coarser fabrics. Every Chinese family in the interior 
 does its own spinning and weaving, and nearly all its 
 own dyeing. But, of later years, cotton sheetings, drills, 
 and jeans, from the United States, and later from India, 
 have come into general favor, and their importation is 
 rapidly on the increase. "With proper enterprise this 
 trade can not only be held but largely extended. The 
 English and Germans are doing everything in their 
 power, even to the imitation of brands and trade-marks, 
 to take it away from the Americans, but a strict adher- 
 ence to the high standards heretofore established, with 
 a close observance of the requirements of the Chinese 
 consumers, by the American manufacturer and merchant, 
 can not fail to keep them in the lead, at least in this line 
 of business. 
 
 While there seems to be but little want or suffering 
 even in the poorer districts of China, except during the 
 prevalence of floods or famine, it is evident to the most 
 casual observer that there is never any great surplus of 
 food or clothing, and that the masses live literally from 
 hand to mouth now, as they have always lived. They 
 are a strictly agricultural people, with the necessary sup- 
 ply of artisans and merchants, while modern mines, fur- 
 
60 CHIXA 
 
 naces, rolling-mills, and manufacturing establishments, 
 and the people for their operation, are practically un- 
 known. They live in poor habitations, and have no grand 
 buildings constructed of stone and iron. Even their larg- 
 est temples and government offices are badly designed, 
 built of perishable materials, and are poorly kept. They 
 have no enduring monuments, and no public works, ex- 
 cept the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, and a few large 
 river embankments. The first is a work of stupendous 
 magnitude, and, although now out of date, must have 
 been, when honestly defended, entirely efBcacious in 
 keeping the northern hordes out of China proper. The 
 Grand Canal, although extending almost from one end 
 of the empire to the other, must have always been a dis- 
 appointment and an expense to the Imperial Govern- 
 ment, if not to the Chinese people, and principally for 
 the reason that, having no locks, and no proper means of 
 regulating and economizing the water-supply, it was 
 necessarily subject to frequent and vexatious interrup- 
 tions and breaks, to the serious detriment of navigation. 
 There is one other form of public work which strikes 
 the traveler with wonder. I refer, of course, to the walls 
 of fire-burned brick which surround every great city 
 throughout the empire. They are generally from 
 thirty to forty feet high, from twenty to forty feet thick, 
 surrounded by wide moats, and surmounted by crenel- 
 ated parapets, broken by towers and buttresses at fre- 
 quent intervals, pierced by arched and carefully fortified 
 gateways, in which strongly framed gates, covered 
 with iron plates and studded with iron spikes, swing 
 heavily every night and morning, now, as they doubtless 
 did a thousand years ago. Some of these walls are as 
 much as forty miles around, and, like those of Peking, 
 Nanking, and Kai-fung-fu, include within them many 
 acres of land upon which there are no buildings whatever. 
 It might be supposed that these walls were all erected 
 during the time corresponding to the feudal period of 
 
CITY WALLS 61 
 
 Europe, and certainly many of them were; but I doubt 
 not more than one has been built in this century, and 
 that if a new capital were selected for any one of the prov- 
 inces, even at this late day, the governor-general would 
 surely surround it with a wall exactly in the style of those 
 built during the reign of Kublai Khan. This is no vague 
 supposition, but is based upon an actual occurrence which 
 took place in Formosa after the close of the last Pranco- 
 Chinese war, and before its cession to Japan. It was 
 found that the old capital of that beautiful and fertile 
 island was too far south, and had too poor a port, to per- 
 mit its being reached readily, and so the Chinese gov- 
 ernor-general was authorized to select a new one farther 
 north. In the exercise of sound judgment, he selected 
 a spot on the open plain near Twatutia, on the Tamsui 
 Eiver, about twelve miles from the sea, named it Tai-pak- 
 fu, and at once surrounded it by a cut-stone wall of full 
 dimensions, over two miles around, built in the style and 
 furnished with all the antiquated glories of the past. The 
 interior is dotted about by the buildings of the governor- 
 general's yamen, but nine tenths of the space inclosed is 
 covered by a paddy-field. 
 
 Whether this wall was erected at the special direction 
 of the Peking Government, or merely by its tacit per- 
 mission, in pursuance of immemorial custom, I could not 
 ascertain; but in view of the fact that it is within a mile 
 of two other cities, either said to contain over a hundred 
 thousand inhabitants, it may be that the governor-gen- 
 eral thought he would be safer, within its enceinte, from 
 insurrection, or a sudden rush of the people, than he 
 would be in either city or in an open camp, and in this 
 he is clearly right, if he can only depend upon the fidehty 
 of his guard. 
 
 The great works just enumerated constitute the only 
 crystallized and accumulated labor of the yellow race, 
 through all the ages of their residence in China; and 
 while they are really great, and represent the toil of 
 
62 CHINA 
 
 many millions of men, they are all of a public character, 
 and bear testimony rather to the slavery of the subject 
 than to the intelligence of the Government. When one 
 considers the unlimited authority of the Chinese Empe- 
 rors, and the countless millions under their control, and 
 which have been under their control for so many gener- 
 ations, the only wonder is that still greater works, of a 
 higher and better class, have not been left as monuments 
 to their vanity and power. As it is, it is hardly too much 
 to say that, if China should become depopulated and 
 remain so for ten years, the traveler could discover but 
 few traces of human occupation anywhere within her 
 far-reaching limits, except the ruins of these great works. 
 Barring its undeveloped mineral resources, and its inex- 
 haustible supply of docile and patient labor, China is 
 an exceedingly poor country. What little wealth it con- 
 tains is in the hands of the merchant, literary, and official 
 class, who are at most only as one in ten thousand. Even 
 the latter are compelled to conceal it as much as pos- 
 sible. They generally live modestly and quietly, avoiding 
 state and display, and put their surplus money into 
 clothing, embroideries, porcelains, notes, mortgages, and 
 such things as do not unduly attract the attention of the 
 tax-gatherer, the imperial or provincial authorities, or of 
 the envious and evil-disposed. 
 
 The common people are everywhere poor, if not in- 
 digent, according to Western standards, and have but 
 little surplus money or property. Whatever may be the 
 case in foreign countries, in these days of railroads and 
 steam-machinery, there is no over-production in China. 
 To the contrary, it could readily buy more, produce more, 
 consume more, and lay up or accumiilate more, if it could 
 only sell more, and had adequate means of sending it to 
 market. It would buy more cotton cloth, more iron, more 
 matches, and needles, and thread; more and better build- 
 ing materials and machinery; more guns, and steamships, 
 and iron-elads; and in the end it would live better, build 
 
NEED OP MODERN IMPROVEMENTS 63 
 
 better houses, erect furnaces and rolling-mills, and lay out 
 and construct railroads, if it could only sell more tea and 
 silk. These articles constitute at present the greater part 
 of what it has to sell; but the Chinese are like the rest 
 of mankind, and may be depended upon, in the long run, 
 to produce whatever they can sell, either at home or 
 abroad, at a profit. They can not be said to want what 
 they have no proper conception of. Ignorance is every- 
 where an effectual bar to aspiration and improvement, 
 and the Chinese are especially ignorant in reference to 
 everything which goes to make up what foreigners call 
 modern progress. The people have no conception of sci- 
 ence, and no vocabulary in which to formulate its prin- 
 ciples, or to make known its wonderful revelations. They 
 have stood absolutely still in knowledge since the middle 
 ages. The discoveries of Galileo, Newton, and Laplace are 
 a sealed book to them. The great masses have but little 
 knowledge of mathematics, and none of chemistry, min- 
 eralogy, and geology. They are entirely ignorant of 
 thermo-dynamies and of mechanics, and almost so of min- 
 ing and metallurgy. They do not pretend to understand 
 political economy as it is taught in Western countries; 
 and, what is worse than all else, they have no system of 
 popular education. According to the best authorities, 
 not over one man in every hundred, nor one woman in 
 every thousand, can read and write; but even if this were 
 not the case, there is no popular or common language 
 which is everywhere understood. Every province has its 
 own dialect, which is not only different from that of every 
 other province, but is still more widely different from the 
 literary language of the country, which is also the lan- 
 guage of Peking and the imperial court. But then, 
 again, the colloquial language of the official class and the 
 literati is entirely different from the written language of 
 the classics, in which every great idea must be clothed 
 and every great man must express himself. So it will be 
 seen that science and religion are alike fettered in this 
 
64 CHINA 
 
 curious country, the civilization of which is as different 
 and distinct from ours as if it had originated in another 
 planet. 
 
 The Great Wall of China was built of earth and stone 
 over two thousand years ago; it has been enlarged, ex- 
 tended, and repaired many times since, but, notwith- 
 standing all this, it has been often broken through by the 
 Tartars in their onward march of conquest and plun- 
 der; but the greater wall of China is its language, which 
 has never, within the historic period, been changed or 
 improved, but stands now as firmly as when it first took 
 form, an inflexible monosyllabic barrier to modern 
 thought and modern progress. It is far more dif&cult 
 for the teacher of modern science to cross effectively, 
 even without opposition, than the wall of stone and earth 
 ever was to the Mongolian or Manchu conqueror, de- 
 fended by the whole Chinese race; and yet the example 
 of Japan, which, forty years ago, was the most exclusive 
 nation in the world, with a language as antiquated and 
 difiicult to master, should encourage us to believe that 
 even this greater wall of China can not stay the march 
 of modern progress much longer, or even turn it from its 
 destined course. 
 
 It is folly to contend that the Chinese, as a people, 
 want any of the things to which I have alluded, for want 
 in this sense presupposes an intelligent understanding of 
 the things wanted, which I have shown to be impossible 
 to the average Chinaman, in the present condition of his 
 language and education; but, as I shall point out more 
 particularly hereafter, he has as great a need of railroads, 
 furnaces, rolling-mills, mines, and factories, and will re- 
 ceive as much benefit from them, as any other human 
 being, and, under the guidance of the enlightened states- 
 men who must now come to the front, will surely yield 
 to the pressure from the outer world and accept them as 
 the greatest blessing ever bestowed upon him or his coun- 
 try. After all, it is true in China, as well as elsewhere. 
 
CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS 65 
 
 that " those who think must govern those who toil "; 
 and, while the multitude can neither think deeply nor see 
 far into the future, there are a few men of sufficient wis- 
 dom to comprehend what is good, and of sufficient height 
 to see over the wall which has so far shut out progress, 
 and kept their country in ignorance, stagnation, and 
 poverty. 
 
 It has been suggested, by more than one thoughtful 
 student of Chinese civilization, that it presents a case of 
 decay from extreme old age; but, while it is indubitably 
 old, though perhaps not so old as it is commonly regarded, 
 I can not perceive that it presents any of the indications 
 of senility. The Chinese race is certainly strong and 
 vigorous, and shows no sign whatever of decay. It is 
 prohfic, frugal, and industrious, but these are the physi- 
 cal virtues which betoken youth rather than declining 
 manhood. It seems to me that, inasmuch as China has 
 never had the higher arts of civilization, either in archi- 
 tecture, engineering, navigation, mining, metallurgy, or 
 manufacturing, or even in warfare, it rather indicates a 
 case of suspended national development or prolonged 
 youth, than of senile decay. The peculiar civilization of 
 the Chinese people is merely an accident, due to isolation 
 and other causes to which I have alluded, and may be con- 
 fidently expected to give place to another and a better civ- 
 ilization whenever the latter can secure opportunity to 
 demonstrate its superiority. The Chinaman's natural in- 
 telligence, although dwarfed and misdirected by a pecul- 
 iar if not pernicious system of social and political gov- 
 ernment, seems to be quite as great as that of other races. 
 He is full of the conceit and prejudice engendered by 
 ignorance and a false system of philosophy, but is no 
 fool, and has never been charged with being one. He is 
 shrewd and bright at whatever he turns his mind, and 
 whenever relieved from the incubus of old custom, and 
 allowed to show his natural tendency and aptitudes, will 
 neither ask nor need favor at the hands of his competitor. 
 
66 CHINA 
 
 no matter who the latter may be. HaTing health and 
 strength in addition, he may be expected, under proper 
 leadership and education, to play his full part in the 
 future history of the world. But I do not share the appre- 
 hension so ably presented by Professor Pearson that he 
 will conquer it either by force of arms or by competition 
 in commerce, for he is far behind it in skill, trained intel- 
 ligence, and even in mere brute force. He may, at no 
 distant day, as time goes, reach the point that the other 
 nations have already attained in the maiteh of progress, 
 but they will meanwhile pass on, and perhaps all the 
 faster, because he is no longer content to stand still, but 
 has been forced by outside pressure to be up and doing, 
 as an active competitor of the rest of the world. 
 
CHAPTEE VII 
 
 Voyage from Shanghai to Tientsin — China Merchants' Steam 
 Navigation Company — American house of Kussell and Com- 
 pany put the first steamboats on the Yang-tse — Sold them to 
 the China Merchants' Company — Coast of Shan-tung — Che-foo 
 — Naval station at Port Arthur badly located — The northern 
 fleet — Board of Admiralty — Command of the northern fleet — 
 Need of educated oiflcers — The Taku forts and dock-yard — 
 ' ' Heaven-sent barriers " — Chinese troops drilled by foreign 
 ofiicers in English — Chinese army badly organized, armed, 
 and administered — The Pei-ho — Villages on its banks — Grave- 
 mounds, and burial of the dead — Pung-shuy or geomancy — 
 Difilculty of laying out railroads without removal of graves — 
 How that can be managed. 
 
 As before stated, it is not my purpose to give a de- 
 tailed account of the manners and customs of the Chinese, 
 nor of their language, literature, philosophy, or religion, 
 for these have been exhaustively considered by the writers 
 to whom reference is made elsewhere. What I wish 
 to bring into view here are rather the broader and more 
 prominent aspects of their country and civilization, and 
 I do not care to deal with even them further than may be 
 necessary to give the reader a clear conception of their 
 past and present condition, together with an insight into 
 the character of their leading men and of their govern- 
 ment; and this I shall endeavor to do in connection with 
 my own travels and observations, rather than by going 
 over ground which has been fully covered by others. 
 
 My first visit to Iforthern China was made in the 
 latter part of October (1885) on the China Merchants' 
 
 67 
 
68 CHINA 
 
 steamship Hae-an, a stout English-built vessel of about 
 1,200 tons burden, commanded by an English captain, 
 with an English first-officer, an American second, and 
 Scotch chief-engineer and assistants. 
 
 The first steamboats used in China were built in the 
 United States for the old American house of Kussell and 
 Company, who ran them successfully many years on the 
 Yang-tse Eiver, and along the Chinese coast between 
 Canton, Shanghai, and Tientsin. In 1863 they organized 
 the Shanghai Navigation Company, and transferred their 
 steamers to it. In 1873 the Chinese G-overnment au- 
 thorized the formation of the China Merchants' Steam 
 Navigation Company, which in 1877 took over all the 
 steamships of the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company, 
 and enlarged their fleet by the purchase of a number of 
 new steamers. Upon the outbreak of the Franco-Chinese 
 War, the China Merchants' Company, fearing the capture 
 of their ships by the French, after much negotiation with 
 various foreign houses, sold them to Messrs. Eussell and 
 Company, who raised the American flag over them, on 
 the 1st of August, 1884, and continued them in the trade 
 for which they had been built. 'Shortly after the declara- 
 tion of peace between the belligerents, Eussell and Com- 
 pany, at the earnest solicitation of the Chinese authori- 
 ties, resold the ships to the China Merchants' Company. 
 That company rehoisted its flag over them on August 1, 
 1885, and operated them on the Yang-tse, and in the 
 various coastwise routes starting from Shanghai, till the 
 outbreak of the Boxer war, when they were again trans- 
 ferred to the American flag. The ships are all of iron, 
 and in excellent condition, well found and managed, but, 
 owing to the competition of various other lines, operated 
 on the same routes by foreign companies, it is doubtful 
 if they have ever been profitable. The business of the 
 company is managed exclusively by Chinese mandarins, 
 designated by the viceroy, Li Hung-Chang, who, in addi- 
 tion to other high offices, holds that of Minister Superin- 
 
STEAM NAVIGATION 69 
 
 tendent of Trade for the ISTorthern Sea-board. The ships 
 are, however, officered exclusively by foreigners, most of 
 whom are English and Americans, and it would be diffi- 
 cult to find, under any flag, a more capable set of men. 
 They are mostly in the prime of life, strong, vigilant, and 
 trustworthy, and in every way show that they belong to 
 the dominating race of the world. The quartermasters 
 are generally old and weather-beaten Manila men, but 
 the stewards, firemen, and sailors are exclusively Chinese. 
 
 My second visit was in the summer of 1900 in the 
 U. S. A. transport Indiana, for the purpose of joining the 
 China Eelief Expedition under the command of Major- 
 Gen. Chaffee. The former visit lasted about nine months 
 and the latter something over two. During both I was 
 constantly engaged in studying questions intimately con- 
 nected with the past, present, and future condition of 
 China and the Chinese people and government. 
 
 On the trip from Shanghai to Tientsin the ship runs 
 out of the yellow water of the Yang-tse, within a hundred 
 and seventy-live miles of its mouth, and continues its 
 voyage in sparkling blue waves and clear, crisp air. 
 The southeast promontory is sighted the second day, and 
 the ship runs between barren, rocky islands and the 
 broken and picturesque coast-line of the Shan-tung prov- 
 ince, with a range of rugged, sierra-like hills in the dis- 
 tance, till she passes into the Gulf of Pechili. The hills 
 are entirely devoid of vegetation, and show scarcely any 
 sign of being cultivated. They have a warm and reddish 
 hue, and look for all the world like the hills of Utah and 
 the Humboldt Valley. After passing through the Straits 
 of Miao-tao, entering the Gulf of Pechili, and taking the 
 course for the Taku bar, she leaves the clear and spar- 
 kling waves of the Yellow Sea and enters the discolored 
 loess-stained waters of the Hwang-ho, which find their 
 way into the gulf at its southwest corner, but, much to 
 my surprise, I was told by the captain that, so far as he 
 knew or could learn, the volume of water discharged, and 
 
70 CHINA 
 
 the effect produced by it, are inconsiderable, except dur- 
 ing floods. Even then they are in no degree comparable 
 to those of the mighty Yang-tse. In view of the fact 
 that the rivers are of nearly the same length, rise in the 
 same region, flow in the same general direction, and are 
 mentioned by geographers, generally on the same page 
 if not in the same paragraph, as among the great rivers 
 of the world, my curiosity was still further stimu- 
 lated, and I determined to flnd out, at some future day, 
 something more of the mysterious Hwang-ho than I 
 had so far been able to gather from books and ship- 
 masters. 
 
 The ships generally stop for a few hours at Chee-fu 
 about midway between the southeast promontory and the 
 straits, to discharge passengers and freight. It is a gray, 
 dirty, uninviting Chinese city, straggling around the 
 shore of a pretty bay, and overlooked by a few outlying 
 hamlets and missionary residences between it and the 
 hill-tops in the distance. In the middle foreground, pro- 
 jecting out into the bay, which is nearly landlocked, is a 
 high, rocky hill, occupied by the foreign consulates, and 
 perhaps a dozen gray-brick and stone houses belonging to 
 merchants or missionaries. There is also a pagoda-like 
 signal-station on the hill. To the left of it are a club- 
 house and several hotels, for the accommodation of sum- 
 mer visitors. The beach is a safe one, the sailing good, 
 and the air comparatively bracing, hence the place is 
 resorted to by foreign ladies and children from Hong- 
 Kong, Shanghai, and Peking during the hot summer 
 months, on which account it is frequently called the N"ew- 
 port of China. Back of the hill and foreign settlement is 
 the Junk-anchorage, custom-house, and Chinese town. 
 The latter, crowded by Junkmen and coolies, dirty and 
 hard-looking, many of them clad in rags, but all good- 
 natured and cheerful, is an interesting but not at all 
 a savory or inviting place. It is important, however, 
 as a distributing point for foreign goods, and the outer 
 
SEAPORTS 71 
 
 harbor is the resort of foreign men-of-war on the Chinese 
 station. 
 
 Chee-fu was at one time considered by the Chinese 
 authorities and their foreign advisers as the possible site 
 of the great naval station for North China, but that honor 
 seems to have gone by it to the far less eligible point 
 of Port Arthur, on the north side, and to Wei-hai-wei on 
 the south side of the Strait of Pechili, where the Govern- 
 ment located and constructed an extensive navy-yard, 
 docks, and fortifications, laid out by German and French 
 engineers and contractors. 
 
 These works were captured by the Japanese during 
 the late Japan-Chinese War and afterward relinquished 
 to the Chinese, who in turn shortly afterward, under 
 pressure, leased the former to Eussia and the latter to 
 England. 
 
 From the fact that these important and costly works 
 lie almost at the extreme northeastern end of the empire, 
 on exposed and easily detached sea-coasts, at the entrance 
 of a gulf at all times open to a hostile fleet, and can 
 not be connected at all with the capital of the country, 
 except by railways running close along the coast for several 
 hundred miles, it is obvious that they will much better 
 serve the purposes of the lessees than of the Chinese Gov- 
 ernment. Many million dollars have already been ex- 
 pended at Port Arthur and Wei-hai-wei, but even if sur- 
 rendered to their rightful owners it is difficult to per- 
 ceive how they can be made useful in times of peace, or 
 defended against any first-class maritime power for a sin- 
 gle day in times of war. 
 
 It is obvious that a much better place than either of 
 those named above is offered by the harbor of Kiao-Chao 
 (lat. 36° north, long. 120° 15' east), on the southern shore 
 of Shan-tung, in a great re-entering angle of the sea- 
 coast, that the depth of water and the configuration of 
 the land are more favorable, and that the situation in 
 respect to its connection with the coal-fields and the in- 
 
12 CHIKA 
 
 terior of the country by rail is altogether superior to any 
 other port north of the Yang-tse Eiver for such purposes. 
 
 All this was pointed out in the former editions of this 
 book, but with the usual fatuity of the Peking Govern- 
 ment it took no apparent interest in the subject till it 
 was too late. After the Eussians had obtained possession 
 of Port Arthur and Talienwan near by, and the English 
 of Wei-hai-wei opposite, the Germans laid claim to Kiao- 
 Chao and cajoled or forced the Chinese to give them a 
 lease of it for a period of years. These leases all have 
 a fixed period, but it is hardly to be doubted that they 
 will remain indefinitely under the control of their re- 
 spective holders as bases of military and commercial op- 
 erations against the country back of them. Already Port 
 Arthur and Dalny have been connected with the interior 
 and the Manchurian line, by a railroad which forms the 
 terminal link of the great Trans-Siberian system. Al- 
 though this link, like those between Shan-hai-kwan, 
 Taku, Tientsin, Peking, and Pao-ting-fu were badly 
 wrecked by the Boxers and Imperial Troops during the 
 late disturbances, it will, like them, soon be repaired and 
 reopened for traffic, and for such other purposes as the 
 victorious powers may choose to dictate. 
 
 On the 13th of October, 1885, an imperial decree was 
 issued, setting forth that a Board of Admiralty would be 
 established, and that Prince Chun, the Seventh Prince, 
 should assume the chief control of naval matters, " the 
 fleets along the coast being placed under his control and 
 at his disposition." The same decree appointed Prince 
 Ch'ing and Li Hung-Chang as coadjutors in the manage- 
 ment of naval afEairs, with Shan-Ch'ing a Lieutenant- 
 . General of the Eed Han-Chun Banner, and Tseng Chitse * 
 .Junior Vice-President of the Board of War, as assistants. 
 It concludes as follows: " The formation of a northern 
 navy being at present in the initiatory stage, we commit 
 
 * Commonly known by foreigners as the Marquis Tseng. 
 
THE NORTHERN FLEET ^3 
 
 the special control thereof to Li Hung-Chang; but all 
 new arrangements that have to be made^ and matters that 
 have to be considered, must receive the careful attention 
 of the above-mentioned princes and high ministers, who 
 will devise systematic plans, and draw up regulations for 
 submission to the Throne, and to be carried out in succes- 
 sive stages." 
 
 Inasmuch as all the princes and ministers named in 
 the decree were residents of Peking, and entirely igno- 
 rant of naval administration, the meaning of this was, 
 that Li Hung-Chang, who was already overburdened 
 with work, was also to become the actual head of the 
 navy. The formal decree in this case, as in many others, 
 followed rather than preceded the march of events, for 
 the Great Viceroy had been practically in control of the 
 naval defense of the Northern sea-board for ten years. 
 He was at first aided by Captain Lang, an officer of the 
 Royal English Navy, but at the outbreak of the Franco- 
 Chinese War that ofBcer resigned or was recalled by his 
 Government, and Captain Siebelin, an under-officer in 
 the United States ISTavy during the late rebellion, but 
 then a captain in the German Navy, was engaged under 
 a three years' contract to act as Admiral and Instructor- 
 General of the fleet. After the conclusion of peace, how- 
 ever, his services were dispensed with, and Captain Lang 
 was reinstated and in turn dispensed with. The latter was 
 an accomplished and experienced officer, and if left free 
 to act, with a proper staff of assistants and instructors, 
 would doubtless have proved himself to be a most valu- 
 able factor in the organization, instruction, and adminis- 
 tration of the Northern fleet. In view, however, of the 
 enormous interests of England in the East, and the con- 
 stant danger of the disruption of peaceful relations be- 
 tween the European powers and China, it is difficult to see 
 upon what grounds of enlightened self-interest the em- 
 ployment of an English naval officer to build up and in- 
 struct a Chinese navy could be justified. To the casual 
 
74 CHINA 
 
 observer, it seemed to be self-evident that the Imperial 
 Government would have done far better to select a Dane, 
 a Hollander, or, better still, an American, for such an im- 
 portant position. By doing so, it could certainly have ob- 
 tained as good an oiScer, and it would have been much 
 less likely to lose his services by the severance of friendly 
 relations with the country of which he was a citizen. 
 
 In this connection I felt justified in the prior editions 
 of this work in pointing out that, while the Chinese 
 Government had bought ships of the very latest design, 
 armed with excellent guns of heavy caliber, and furnished 
 with full complements of men, it was far from having an 
 efficient navy. It had at best but few competent foreign 
 instructors, and scarcely any competent native officers. 
 Contrary to the commonly accepted opinion, the Chinese 
 are by no means bold or adventurous seamen, and al- 
 though the common sailors, like the common soldiers, are 
 a robust and hardy race, they are far from being com- 
 petent to handle an iron-clad without the supervision of 
 well-trained officers. The recent destruction of the Chi- 
 nese fleet by the French iron-clads under Admiral Cour- 
 bet, at Foo-chow, and by the Japanese at the sensational 
 battle of the Yalu, were but fair samples of what should 
 have been expected in case of war with any first-class 
 naval power. The Chinese Government has never been 
 willing to employ competent instructors, in sufficient 
 numbers and with sufficient authority, to educate officers 
 as fast as they are required to man their warships. 
 Neither one foreign captain nor a dozen, however well 
 chosen or competent, can create a navy without this help, 
 and for this no ample provision has ever been made, al- 
 though many years ago a naval school was organized in a 
 small way at Tientsin. 
 
 I refer to this subject somewhat in detail, because 
 the Chinese Government, in the decree above mentioned 
 and in the subsequent steps taken to carry it into effect, 
 went farther in imitation of foreigners than in any other 
 
THE TAKU PORTS 75 
 
 branch of their public business, unless I except that of 
 the maritime customs, which was organized and brought 
 to its present high state of efficiency by Sir Robert Hart 
 and a corps of able assistants, all of whom are foreigners, 
 and to which I shall refer more fully in another chapter. 
 
 On the occasion of my first yisit to China we arrived 
 at the anchorage off Taku the morning after leaving 
 Chee-fu, but, as our ship was drawing fourteen feet aft, 
 and there was only eleven feet of water on the bar at 
 high-tide, we had to discharge into lighters most of our 
 cargo, which was composed of rice, " brick-tea," and 
 copper " cash," before we could enter the Pei-ho. While 
 this was going on, the captain and I, with his gig and a 
 crew of four Chinese sailors, rowed through and around 
 the " ISTorthern fleet " of iron-clads which were lying 
 within four miles of us, looking bright, new, and for- 
 midable. 
 
 Late in the afternoon we weighed anchor and entered 
 the mouth of the river with the flood-tide, between the 
 massive and heavily armed earthworks, famous in history 
 as the Taku forts. The river which separates them is 
 not over four hundred yards wide, and turns and twists 
 its way through the low, marshy land, on either side, to 
 Tientsin, thirty miles above, as the crow flies, but 
 much farther by the windings of the river. The fortiflca- 
 tions then as now were well supplied with Armstrong 
 and Krupp breech-loading rifles, strongly garrisoned by 
 troops partly drilled in foreign tactics by competent Ger- 
 man officers. They were spread out along the river for 
 half or three quarters of a mile, and, to render them still 
 more difficult of assault, they were covered, front and 
 rear, by wide wet ditches. They were taken by the allied 
 French and English forces, August 31st, 1860, who landed 
 at the mouth of the Peh-tang-ho, ten miles farther up 
 the coast, and, after several slight skirmishes with a cov- 
 ering force, entered the works from the rear, much to 
 the disgust of the Chinese commander, while the allied 
 
76 CHINA 
 
 fleet was thundering away at long range in front. It was 
 from a front attacls; upon tiiese same worlcs that the Eng- 
 lish were repulsed with such heavy loss the year before. 
 And it was during this attack that Commodore Tatnall, 
 of our navy, from the deck of a small steamer hired for 
 the occasion, but taking no part in the action, seeing 
 some English sailors struggling in the water, after their 
 ship had been sunk by the Chinese guns, exclaimed, 
 " Blood is thicker than water! " lowered his cutter, and, 
 rowing into the thickest of the firing, rescued the drown- 
 ing men from a watery grave. 
 
 These formidable looking works after a feeble resist- 
 ance, designed more to " save the face " of the Chinese 
 commander than to defeat the assailants, were taken pos- 
 session of on June 17th, 1900, by the allied navies, gath- 
 ered there on account of the Boxer outbreak and the 
 danger which environed the foreign legations at Peking. 
 It is to be observed that the American Admiral, like his 
 predecessor, declined to take part in this attack on the 
 sufficient ground that the United States were not at war 
 with China. It is also to be noted that the attack of 
 the allies marked the epoch at which the Imperial Chi- 
 nese Government threw off the mask behind which it con- 
 cealed its support of the Boxer movement and gave its 
 countenance to the measures for the expulsion of the 
 foreigners. 
 
 Just beyond the fortifications is an excellent dock- 
 yard, and next comes the city of Taku, built entirely 
 of mud-houses and containing a population of perhaps 
 fifty thousand souls. There is plenty of water in the 
 river anchorage in front of the city, and for eight or ten 
 miles farther up, and it is quite evident, from the soft- 
 ness of the mud on the bar and the volume of water dis- 
 charged across it, that the entrance could be readily and 
 inexpensively deepened so as to admit ships drawing 
 twenty feet at all times, and it is also probable that that 
 depth could be maintained without great difficulty. 
 
THE TAKU BARS 77 
 
 There is, however, a prosperous " tug and lighter " com- 
 pany, composed of foreigners, whose business would be 
 ruined by such an improvement, and the Chinese them- 
 selves do not believe much in taking liberties with na- 
 ture. They have hitherto been disposed to regard the 
 bars at the mouths of their rivers, and especially those at 
 Taku and Wu-sung, as " Heaven-sent barriers," specially 
 designed to keep out foreign men-of-war. 
 
 Owing to the absence of beacons and the crookedness 
 of the river, vessels are compelled to lie at anchor within 
 the entrance till daylight. 
 
 Another curious fact which first strikes the attention 
 here is that all military commands to the foreign-drilled 
 Chinese troops are given in English, no matter what the 
 nationality of the drill-master may be. Every drill-master 
 is accompanied by an interpreter, who explains the mean- 
 ing of each command till the troops thoroughly under- 
 stand its significance and foreign sound, and can execute 
 it exactly as required. This is of course a great limitation 
 upon instruction, as the tactics are by no means uni- 
 form, and the discipline far from rigid, it may well be 
 taken for granted that, notwithstanding a number of the 
 troops serving in the maritime provinces are armed with 
 breech-loading fire-arms, they could hardly be expected 
 to stand up before well-disciplined foreign troops, no mat- 
 ter how great the disparity of numbers. 
 
 In my former travels through the interior of China I 
 saw no troops, except a few about Peking, with improved 
 fire-arms. They all had matchlocks of the most primitive 
 pattern, and of every size and length. It is true that I 
 paid no special attention to military matters, but, having 
 had ample experience in them, and kept my eyes open 
 wherever I went, I am perhaps justified in saying that I 
 saw nothing formidable in a military sense anywhere in 
 the empire, and have no hesitation in adding that it is 
 entirely unprepared, in my judgment, either in military 
 administration, organization, or equipment, to resist in- 
 
T8 CHINA 
 
 vasion from any first-class military power, with even an 
 ordinary force. It has neither transport, commissariat, 
 nor an adequate quantity of military munitions, and, bar- 
 ring its inexhaustible population from which to draw 
 fresh soldiers, it is simply a huge boneless giant, which 
 must fall a ready prey to the first great power that at- 
 tacks it in earnest. Some of its great leaders and states- 
 men, like the Viceroy Li and the late Tso Tsung-tang, 
 years ago began to perceive this truth, and have done 
 what they could to arouse the Throne to a realizing sense 
 of its danger. Something has been done, in a small and 
 unsystematic way, toward arming and drilling the troops 
 in foreign style, and more in buying and equipping the 
 Northern fleet, but, withal, scarcely a beginning has yet 
 been made toward putting the country in a position to re- 
 sist attack, and absolutely nothing toward conducting a 
 successful foreign war. 
 
 These observations were made in the first edition of 
 this book thirteen years ago, and also to various leading 
 Chinese statesmen, but they attracted little or no atten- 
 tion at the time. They were later brought to the atten- 
 tion of the Japanese generals through an edition of this 
 book in the Japanese language, and were still later veri- 
 fied in every particular in the war between Japan and 
 China. Whatever was lacking to convince the European 
 governments and military men of their correctness was 
 furnished by the extraordinary victories of the allied forces 
 at Tientsin, Yang-tsun, and in the advance on Peking 
 during the summer of 1900. 
 
 The exact strength and organization of the Chi- 
 nese army can not be given with any degree of cer- 
 tainty, but on paper it may be said to have a peace 
 footing of about 300,000 men, and a war footing of about 
 1,000,000. Some of these troops are armed with breech- 
 loading rifles, but for the most part their arms and ac- 
 couterments are obsolete, even bows, arrows, and spears 
 being carried, and in some cases no arms at all. In fact, 
 
THE CHINESE ARMY 79 
 
 with the exception of the few troops in the maritime 
 provinces, probably not over 33,000, which have received 
 training from foreign instructors, the Chinese army 
 throughout may be said to be poorly armed, undisciplined, 
 and totally untrained. It has no unity of action or co- 
 hesion, no head, and no organization. It is underpaid, 
 underfed, and badly cared for generally, consequently 
 its personnel is composed of only the very lowest class of 
 Chinamen, and of the lazy Tartar clansmen. 
 
 The army of the empire may be divided into three 
 classes — the eight Banners, the national army, and the 
 irregular troops. The Banner forces, so called from their 
 designation by different colored banners, contain Man- 
 chus, Mongolians and Chinese, the latter the descendants 
 of those Chinese of Manchuria and jSTorthern China who 
 cast in their lot with the Manchu invaders. The sol- 
 diers are assigned under these banners according to their 
 nationality, the Manchus under some and the Chinese 
 under others, there being three superior and five inferior 
 banners. In these divisions all male Manchus and all 
 male descendants of the Chinese and Mongolian invaders 
 of military age are enrolled. It is said that the whole 
 male population of the Tartar city in Peking is included 
 under one or another of these organizations. This Ban- 
 ner force contains, according to Chinese reports, 300,000 
 men, but actually on a war footing the number at 
 jnost does not exceed 100,000. It includes also the im- 
 perial guard or Peking field force, 10,000 strong, the 
 organization which is looked upon by the Chinese with 
 as much respect and admiration as was the " Old Guard " 
 by the followers of Napoleon. The national army, or, as 
 it is sometimes designated, the army of the Green flags, 
 is really the militia of the country. It comprises one 
 corps from each of the eighteen provinces under the com- 
 mand of the governor-general of the Province. Its 
 strength is given as 550,000 to 670,000, but as only one 
 third are ever called into active service its number may 
 
80 CHINA 
 
 be given as about 300,000 available men. In this force 
 was the famous Tientsin corps of about 35,000 of the 
 best-trained, disciplined, and equipped soldiers of the 
 empire, stationed at Tientsin, Taku, and the other arsenals 
 and forts in the vicinity. 
 
 The Provincial militia is subdivided into three classes, 
 but as it is necessarily poorly organized, armed, equipped, 
 instructed, and commanded, it is utterly useless as against 
 foreign troops. It should also be remembered that all 
 the Chinese forces, vrhether belonging to national or 
 provincial organizations, are scattered throughout the 
 empire, and with the total lack of adequate transportation 
 it is impossible to concentrate them for effective use 
 against an invading army of foreigners. 
 
 As before stated, the Pei-ho, which has been so fre- 
 quently mentioned in connection with the operations of 
 the allies in the summer of 1900, is about as crooked as it 
 can be. Although it has been the bed of the Hwang-ho 
 at least twice within the historic period, and remained so 
 from fifty to one hundred and fifty years, it narrows down 
 within ten miles of its mouth from four hundred yards, 
 which is about the average width of the Hwang-ho, to 
 scarcely more than as many feet. Were it not for its soft 
 and stoneless sides and bottom, its navigation by steam- 
 ships would be impossible. As it is, it is extremely diffi- 
 cult. The country on either side, as far as the eye can 
 reach, is a perfectly level plain, unbroken by even a high 
 embankment. It is covered next to the river with a con- 
 tinuous succession of vegetable patches and millet-fields. 
 At every turn of the river a village of one-story sun-dried 
 brick houses, all thatched with millet-stalks and straw, 
 presents itself to the view. Here and there is one of 
 greater importance surrounded by walls and guarded by 
 fortifications, overlooking the river and the road; but the 
 most curious sight to the traveler is the great number of 
 hemispherical grave-mounds looking very much in size 
 and color like hay-cocks, which surround every town and 
 
GRAVE-MOUNDS 81 
 
 village immediately outside its limits, and the larger the 
 town the more thickly are the fields next to it covered by 
 the mounds. Some of these are as high as ten feet, and 
 look exactly like hay-stacks from a distance, and it is the 
 same everywhere else in the Great Plain. And yet I 
 think there is some misconception of this subject exist- 
 ing in the minds of people who have obtained their 
 knowledge of China entirely from books. The general 
 impression seems to be that the whole face of the country, 
 wherever you go, is dotted over by graves, and that these 
 graves are regarded with great reverence and maintained 
 with pious care from generation to generation, and such, 
 perhaps, is the theory of the Chinese, but, like many theo- 
 ries even among more highly civilized people, this one is 
 not rigidly adhered to. In the first place, it should be 
 borne in mind that the Chinese do not live in farm-houses 
 on the land, even when they own it, but all classes are 
 gathered together in villages, towns, and cities, and natu- 
 rally the larger these are, the more numerous and thickly 
 placed are the graves about them. Where the country is 
 thinly settled, the graves are infrequent, and they are 
 never scattered about in the open country. In the sec- 
 ond place, there are no common grave-yards devoted ex- 
 clusively to burials; rich families have their own ground, 
 in which they set of! a lot and surround it by ever- 
 greens for the family graves; but the common people bury 
 in the fields, under a license from the owner, for a limited 
 number of years, usually not over three. Such as can not 
 pay for a license, eneofBn their dead and lay them along- 
 side the highway, thinly covered with earth, and some- 
 times only with matting. The result is, that every consid- 
 erable town seems to be surrounded by graves thickly, and 
 sometimes oddly enough, strewn about the fields for a mile 
 or even two miles out; but great as may be the confusion, 
 each grave is laid out with due regard to "fung-shuy," 
 which may be regarded as a system of geomancy or super- 
 stition by which the common people are largely governed 
 
82 CHINA 
 
 in the important transactions of life. In the third place, 
 while the custom of ancestral worship requires that the 
 father's grave should be carefully preserved, in order that 
 his male descendants may worship before it, the graves 
 of the women, unmarried people, and children, are not 
 so well made nor so scrupulously looked after, and, as 
 a matter of fact, not only the graves of this class, but of 
 the heads of families, gradually fall into decay and be- 
 come obliterated. Even in the case of the best-estab- 
 lished families, it must, with the lapse of time, become 
 difficult to say whose duty it is to keep in repair the an- 
 cestral grave, and this fact, together with the additional 
 one that while it is provided by law that families shall 
 neither change their occupation nor place of abode, they 
 do so quite frequently, without let or hindrance, and thus 
 put it out of their power to keep the old graves in order. 
 Besides all of this, the fields around and between the 
 graves, however small the space, are cultivated yearly; 
 and especially throughout the Great Plain where plowing 
 is resorted to, or where the ground is subject to overflow, 
 the grave-mounds are gradually encroached upon, low- 
 ered in height, and ultimately disappear, or are covered 
 up and effaced entirely. In my travels I tried to obtain 
 trustworthy information as to the average duration of 
 common graves, but could not make myself understood 
 sufficiently well, even through my interpreter, to get at 
 anything exact enough to justify me in speaking with 
 confidence about it. My impression is, however, that it 
 can not possibly exceed ten years, and may not exceed five. 
 It has been commonly supposed that the difficulty of 
 laying out railroads without interfering with the graves 
 and violating the sacred customs of the people would 
 prove an insuperable obstacle to the introduction of rail- 
 roads into China, and I am free to confess that if the 
 graves can not be moved, the difficulty will at least com- 
 pel the location of the railroads at considerable distances 
 from the present towns and cities. It would be impossible 
 
GRAVE -MOUNDS 83 
 
 to enter the most of those in the Great Plain without 
 running over or encroaching upon many graves. In the 
 hill-country it is different. The graves are located in 
 such regions on the hill-tops and sides, and the lowlands 
 and valleys, where railroad lines would naturally be lo- 
 cated, are reserved for farms and roads. But, so far as I 
 can learn, there is no reason for supposing that the graves 
 can not be moved, when necessary, if the proper measures 
 are taken to conciliate the people and to compensate them 
 for the damage inflicted upon them. Of course the pri- 
 mary condition to be observed in China, as in other coun- 
 tries, is that no person's private property shall be taken 
 for public or corporate use except by due process of law 
 and with prompt payment for the amount taken. Under 
 this rule, all lands actually set off for railroad use would 
 have to be paid for after valuation by disinterested 
 parties, but in the case under consideration there is more 
 to be provided for than the mere value of the land. The 
 graves should not only be moved, but ground for new 
 ones should be furnished, and all expenses connected with 
 the reinterment should be. paid for by the railroad com- 
 pany on a just and liberal scale. If this is done, and all 
 steps of the business are taken with due deliberation and 
 decorum, as well as a due regard for the customs and pre- 
 judices of the people, there is little doubt that most of 
 the difficulty on this account will rapidly disappear, espe- 
 cially if the Imperial sanction be given to the proceed- 
 ings and some appropriate recognition be extended to the 
 people whose places of sepulture it has been necessary to 
 interfere with for the public good. A simple tablet of 
 wood erected over the remains, or in some neighboring 
 temple, by Imperial decree, would go far toward allaying 
 the prejudices of the most superstitious and obdurate 
 Chinaman. After all, he is not unlike other people, and 
 if he is well and kindly treated and his natural rights are 
 respected, he is easily managed. Besides, there is reason 
 for believing that while reverence for the dead is a part 
 
84 CHINA 
 
 of the Chinaman's daily life, it is not a cult of such great 
 vitality nor of such fixed and unbending rules as to pro- 
 hibit the application of common sense to such cases as 
 may arise affecting it. Later during my travels I made 
 inquiry as to the average cost of coffin, ground, and 
 funeral for the average Chinaman, and learned that it 
 varies in the Great Plain from five to eight dollars. 
 
 The foregoing views, expressed first twelve years ago, 
 have been strikingly confirmed by the experience of those 
 engaged in locating and constructing railroads. Even the 
 suggestion that the presence of graves close to the city 
 gates would result in running the lines and placing the 
 stations at considerable distances from the centers of the 
 towns and cities have been verified. This is specially so 
 at Tientsin, Peking, and Pao-ting-fu, though it is proba- 
 ble that " fung-shuy " has also had considerable influ- 
 ence in those cases. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII 
 
 Races at Tientsin — Chinese band playing American airs — No social 
 intercourse between Chinese and foreigners — Removal of grave- 
 mounds to make way for the race-course — Political and com- 
 mercial importance of Tientsin — The foreign settlement — For- 
 eign gunboats — The Viceroy Li Hung-Chang — His American 
 secretary — First call upon the Viceroy — His of&oial residence 
 or Yamen — Subjects discussed — Railroads and canals — Intel- 
 ligence and interest displayed by the Viceroy — Ceremony of 
 leave-taking — "Setting the watch." 
 
 Almost immediately after my first arrival at Tientsin 
 I was taken to the race-course, where I found nearly 
 every gentleman and lady, and most of the children of 
 the foreign settlement, and a thousand or more Chinamen 
 assembled, all eager and excited over the coming con- 
 tests. The entries were all Mongolian ponies, owned and 
 ridden by foreign gentlemen residing in the settlement, 
 each of whom was dressed in a fancy jockey suit of gayly- 
 colored silk. The ponies were well-trained, hardy little 
 fellows, from twelve to fourteen hands high, and very 
 spunky. They belong to the breed from which the Tartar 
 and Chinese cavalry draw their mounts, and have not yet 
 been improved by crossing with European horses. 
 
 The Viceroy^s band, composed of about thirty musi- 
 cians, clad in gay red uniforms of Chinese cut and con- 
 ducted by a foreign leader, was in attendance, and, much 
 to my surprise and gratification, it played an assortment 
 of familiar American airs, such as Old Blind Joe and 
 Marching through Georgia. It was a gay and animated 
 scene, in which the manners and customs of the old and 
 
 85 
 
86 CHINA 
 
 the new civilization were sharply contrasted. There were 
 many Chinese looking on, but I was at once struck by the 
 fact that there were none taking any part whatever in 
 the races. And it is worthy of note that neither here nor 
 elsewhere is there any social out-door intermingling of 
 natives and foreigners. The English custom of non-in- 
 tercourse with all inferior races prevails here as every- 
 where else in India and China. Occasionally a mandarin 
 invites a distinguished foreigner to dine with him, and 
 the compliment is duly returned, but there all social in- 
 tercourse ends. Most of the foreigners residing in the 
 treaty ports are merchants or missionaries, and neither 
 of these classes has any social standing with the official 
 class in China. They are simply ignored, unless they have 
 private or public business which must be attended to, and 
 even then they are generally required to present it 
 through the consul or minister of the nationality to which 
 they belong. So far is non-intercourse the rule that no 
 Chinaman, however high his rank, is ever invited to enter 
 a foreign club, or permitted to take part in foreign games 
 and sports, and in some cases, as in the settlement at 
 Shanghai, they are even prohibited from entering the 
 grounds and public gardens set apart for foreign use. 
 There is good reason for the statement, however, that 
 they would not accept if invited and permitted, for the 
 reason that the mandarins and gentry regard themselves 
 as superior to the average foreigners, and would lose caste 
 if they did anything in violence to this pleasing delusion. 
 This is in marked contrast to the rule in Japan, where 
 native and foreign gentlemen belong to the same clubs, 
 and treat with each other on all business and social mat- 
 ters on terms of perfect equality. 
 
 I was particularly struck, while on the race-course at 
 Tientsin, with the fact that the track, which is elliptical 
 and about a mile round, occupies a field thickly studded 
 with grave-mounds, many of which must have been re- 
 moved in order to make room for it. At a rough esti- 
 
TIENTSIN 87 
 
 mate I should say that it incloses five thousand graves, 
 and that there are twice as many in sight of it on the 
 outside. Another curious fact is that many of these 
 grave-mounds were occupied by Chinamen irreverently 
 standing on top of them and eagerly straining their necks 
 and eyes to see the sport going on around them. 
 
 I made inquiry as to how the ground covered by the 
 race-course had been disencumbered of its graves, and 
 was told with a smile that " old China hands " know how 
 to manage such matters. And I have no doubt they did 
 it by using common sense and money, and not very much 
 of the latter. 
 
 Tientsin, or the Heavenly Ferry, is a point of great 
 interest, not only on account of its being the port of 
 Peking, eighty miles farther inland, but, as before stated, 
 because it is the principal residence of the Viceroy Li, 
 with and through whom nearly all foreign business has 
 been conducted for over a quarter of a century. It is 
 situated mostly on the south bank of the Pei-ho, just be- 
 low the confluence of its three principal branches, and is 
 said to contain nearly a million inhabitants. Its site is 
 as low, flat, and uninviting as any other in the Great 
 Plain. It is of course subject to overflow, and is in fact 
 almost surrounded by shallow ponds, in which the flood- 
 or rain-water stands all the year round. Close to the 
 river-bank below, on either side the ground is given up en- 
 tirely to gardens, in which cabbage, onions, garlic, sweet- 
 potatoes, and millet are the principal crop. Like Shang- 
 hai, it has a thrifty foreign settlement extending along 
 the river-bank for nearly a mile, and containing a num- 
 ber of flne streets, residences, and warehouses. The set- 
 tlement also contains several churches, a club, a hotel, two 
 hospitals, several banks, and has its own government un- 
 der the consuls of the treaty powers, an excellent police, 
 well-paved streets, and a wharf or bund revetted with cut 
 stone. In short, it presents almost as strong a contrast 
 with everything in the Chinese city above as does the 
 
88 CHINA 
 
 settlement at Shanghai with the Chinese city there. 
 Prior to the opening of the railroad from Taku two 
 hundred and forty or fifty steamships entered and cleared 
 at Tientsin annually, and it is estimated that they car- 
 ried into it at least two hundred thousand tons of freight. 
 The outbound cargoes were much lighter, as the export 
 from this part of the country consists mostly of straw 
 braid, camels' wool, hogs' bristles, and a few other arti- 
 cles of no great moment. 
 
 The heart of the Chinese city is surrounded by a 
 high crenelated brick wall of the usual Chinese type, 
 built several hundred years ago, but the suburbs lying 
 about the junction of the Grand Canal or south branch, 
 with the main river, and outside of the wall, are of 
 greater extent than the old city itself. The foreign 
 settlement, suburbs, and the old city are all inclosed, 
 however, by a high earthen embankment of irregular 
 trace, derisively known as Sankolinsin's Folly, built by 
 the Tartar prince of that name, who commanded the im- 
 perial forces confronting the allied French and English 
 in 1860. This great embankment, having a command 
 of about fifteen feet, although laid out without any re- 
 gard to flanking arrangements, would have been a very 
 formidable bar to the advance of the allied forces during 
 the recent campaign had it been properly manned and 
 defended, but, inasmuch as the enemy fled from it without 
 making a single effort to hold it, the allies took possession 
 of it, and found it useful as a fortified base for further 
 operations against the walled city, which was held by the 
 Boxers and the Imperial Chinese troops. It was in the 
 assault of this wall across -the open plain and through 
 the ponds, that the allies, and especially the American and 
 Japanese contingents, lost so many valuable officers and 
 men. It is not within the scope of this book to give a 
 detailed account of the allied operations either in 1860 or 
 1900, but the capture of the city upon both occasions 
 affords ample evidence of the fact that neither the trained 
 
TIENTSIN— PAO-TING-PU 89 
 
 army of the Chinese or insurgents, singly or both together, 
 are able to make war successfully against the troops of 
 the treaty powers, or to defend themselves even with the 
 help of fortifications. 
 
 From the outbreak of the mob which destroyed the 
 French mission and orphan asylum, and massacred the 
 Sisters of Charity at Tientsin, in 1873, until the comple- 
 tion of the railroad from Taku the port — which was occu- 
 pied every winter by foreign gunboats, generally one 
 American, one French, and one English — ^was as orderly 
 and quiet a place as there was in China. It is the seat of 
 the naval administration provided for in the late imperial 
 decree, and of incipient naval and military academies. It 
 is also the headquarters of the imperial telegraph system 
 and the telegraph school, and had two arsenals, managed 
 by foreigners and provided with foreign machinery. 
 Both of these were captured and destroyed by the allies 
 in the late campaign, and it is doubtful if they will be 
 soon rebuilt. While far inferior to Shanghai as a com- 
 mercial city, it is, perhaps, superior to that place, and 
 even to Peking, as a base of operations against the con- 
 servatism and ignorance which control the entire coun- 
 try. Although Pao-ting-fu, about ninety miles west- 
 southwest, is the official capital of the province of Chihli, 
 and Peking, eighty miles northwest, in the same province, 
 is the capital of the empire, it is quite certain that Tien- 
 tsin is the center of all progressive movements which 
 have shown themselves of late years in North China, and 
 this arises solely from the fact that the Viceroy Li makes 
 it his home and principal place of business. It has been 
 his habit to go to Pao-ting-fu whenever the provincial 
 business required it, and to Peking whenever called there 
 by imperial mandate, but his time is passed mostly at 
 Tientsin. 
 
 In addition to being the Governor-General, or Viceroy 
 of the Province, and administering the government of 
 thirty-five million people, he is First Grand Secretary of 
 9 
 
90 CHINA 
 
 the Empire, and for the last thirty years has conducted 
 entirely alone except when assisted by his American sec- 
 retary, Mr. Pethick, all the complicated negotiations 
 of his Government with foreign bankers and promoters, 
 as well as with foreign governments. He was also prac- 
 tically the head of the Northern fleet, or Secretary of the 
 Navy, and is absolutely Minister Superintendent of Trade 
 for the Northern Seaboard. He was, besides, the leading 
 military adviser of the Throne for many years, and it was 
 mainly through his efEorts and those of the foreign offi- 
 cers used by him in organizing and commanding the 
 " Ever- Victorious Army " that the Taiping rebellion was 
 suppressed after it had overrun two thirds of the empire, 
 and cost the lives of twenty million Chinamen. Although 
 he can not speak or read a word of English, he has been 
 for half his life in almost daily contact with foreigners, 
 and especially with Americans and Englishmen, and is 
 familiar with their ideas on all subjects of importance. 
 He received General Grant, during his tour around the 
 world, with every honor and attention, and owing, per- 
 haps, to a certain similarity of tastes and mental qualities, 
 as well as to the fact that each had been the final and 
 successful leader of his countrymen in the suppression of 
 a great rebellion, these two distinguished men came to be 
 intimate personal friends. 
 
 It will be remembered that the Viceroy Li also repre- 
 sented his Government in the late treaty of peace with 
 Japan, and that in this he was ably assisted by General 
 John W. Foster, Secretary of State in the Cabinet of 
 President Harrison. 
 
 The Viceroy's American secretary is a gentleman of 
 rare modesty and attainments, who not only reads and 
 writes literary Chinese as well as it is possible for any 
 one except a native scholar to ever read or write it, but 
 at the same time keeps himself abreast of the world's 
 current thought on all questions. After serving through 
 the rebellion as a private soldier in a New York cavalry 
 
THE VICEROY'S AMERICAN SECRETARY 91 
 
 regiment, he went to China when still a boy, with a letter 
 of introduction from President Lincoln to Mr. Bur- 
 lingame, then our minister at Peking, and has resided in 
 the country ever since, devoting himself conscientiously 
 to its literature and art, and to the furtherance of what- 
 ever promises to improve its material condition. He 
 established intimate social and official relations with the 
 Viceroy and his family, many years ago, and has rendered 
 them much effective and disinterested service, especially 
 in familiarizing them with the foreign way of looking at 
 all questions. He enjoys the Viceroy's personal confidence 
 and friendship to a high degree, and is one of the few 
 men, whether native or foreign, who has access to him at 
 all times. At the present crisis he will have great oppor- 
 tunity to serve not only the Chinese, but the cause of 
 civilization at large, and from his high character and his 
 wide acquaintance with the leading men and true inter- 
 ests of China it may be safely assumed he will improve it 
 to the utmost. 
 
 I made my first call upon the Viceroy on the day after 
 my first arrival at Tientsin, in company with his Ameri- 
 can secretary, and, thanks to my credentials, and also 
 to my services as a soldier and an engineer, with which 
 the Viceroy had been made acquainted beforehand, I was 
 received with every mark of respect and consideration. 
 During that and my subsequent visits to Tientsin and 
 Peldng it was my good fortune to see the Viceroy often, 
 to enjoy his hospitality, and to establish with him an ex- 
 ceedingly pleasant and cordial friendship. 
 
 As the ceremonies and incidents of these visits were 
 novel and interesting to me, I venture to describe the first 
 one as a sample of all, in the hope that it will also prove 
 interesting, and in some degree instructive, to others. 
 
 Custom demands that all ceremonial visits from per- 
 sons of rank should be made in a sedan-chair, covered 
 with blue or green cloth, lined with silk, and borne upon 
 the shoulders of coolies, clad in official costume. If 
 
92 CHINA 
 
 occasion requires it, the chair is preceded and followed 
 by mounted retainers, for the purpose of clearing the way 
 and hearing proper evidence to the rank and consideration 
 of the visitor. In this manner I proceeded from the set- 
 tlement, through the narrow, crooked, and dirty streets of 
 the Chinese city, to the Yamen or official residence of 
 the Viceroy, on the bank of the Grand Canal, three miles 
 away. It is situated in a compound surrounded by a 
 high wall of gray, burned bricks, pierced by a portal with 
 high granite posts and heavy timber doors, opening into 
 an outer court-yard in front of the residence. As my 
 cortege turned into the court-yard, which was by no means 
 cleanly swept, we were met by the secretary, who had 
 arrived before us and given the necessary notice that 
 we were near at hand, so that everything was arranged 
 in order according to the requirements of Chinese eti- 
 quette. I sat for a few minutes in my chair, waiting in 
 front of another pair of large, double doors, gorgeously 
 decorated in red, yellow, and gold, with huge figures, one 
 looking like a herculean king of clubs, and the other like 
 a queen of the same suite. This slight delay gave me 
 time to look about, but I saw nothing particularly strik- 
 ing, except a granite column or tablet to the left, about 
 twelve feet high, three feet wide, and a foot thick, stand- 
 ing on the back of a granite tortoise about five feet long, 
 three feet wide, and two feet thick, half buried, with its 
 head stretched out upon the ground. The face of the 
 tablet was deeply cut with Chinese characters from top 
 to bottom, but their significance I never learned. While 
 engaged in looking at this singular object, many of which 
 I afterward saw near the graves of great men about Pe- 
 king, the great central doors were thrown open with a 
 bang, and my bearers were motioned to advance, which 
 they did for about twenty paces, and then sat me down 
 again. My footman then came forward, lifted out the 
 yellow-silk curtain which closed the front of the chair, 
 and indicated that I was to step out. The secretary 
 
LI HUN&-CHANG 93 
 
 Joined me at once, and then — preceded by an ofEicial of 
 the .Yamen, carrying my Chinese card, a piece of bright- 
 red paper about seven inches long and three and a half 
 wide, containing the Chinese characters which had been 
 selected to represent my name * — we were shown into the 
 reception-room reserved for foreigners. The farther end 
 of it contained a platform or dais, lighted by a window 
 back of it, and furnished with a divan, two seats, and a 
 sort of low table, all covered with red silk. On either side 
 was a row of chairs and small tables, also covered with 
 red silk; back of them were a lot of Chinese screens hung 
 with pictures, and the floor was covered with an English. 
 Brussels carpet. The front of the room was separated 
 from an open corridor by a screen of glass and carved wood, 
 and the ceiling was also of wood, all in its natural color. 
 In one corner of the room was an American coal-stove 
 of the base-burner pattern, made at Troy, Kew York, and 
 in the other a portrait of the Viceroy done in oil, by a, 
 German artist, from a photograph. 
 
 I had hardly taken in these details when the Viceroy 
 made his appearance through the door by which we had 
 entered, bowed with grace and dignity, and then cor- 
 dially shook hands with me in European style. Bowing 
 again, he turned and led the way into a little private 
 office opening into the reception-room, and, seating him- 
 self at the head of a large table, he showed me a chair to 
 his left, the post of honor in China, and the secretary, 
 who was also at the time the American vice-consul and in- 
 terpreter, a chair to the right. A pretty little porcelain 
 tea-cup, containing freshly made tea of excellent quality, 
 was placed in front of each of us; a box of cigars, another 
 of cigarettes, and a box of Austrian matches were put on 
 the table. At the same time a pipe-bearer, with a water- 
 pipe of steel and ebony, took his stand near the Viceroy. 
 By this time I had taken a ^ood look at him, and was 
 
 * See outside cover. 
 
94 CHINA 
 
 pleased with his manly and dignified appearance and his 
 grave bnt benevolent and kindly countenance. 
 
 He is something over six feet high, and strongly built, 
 but by no means fat. His figure is erect, and indicates 
 that, if he had been properly trained when young, he 
 would have been a very strong and active man. His skin 
 has the usual yellowish but somewhat swarthy cast which 
 characterizes the pure Chinese race to which he belongs. 
 His eyes are dark, piercing, and rather small, but they 
 nevertheless show both acuteness and intelligence, and 
 seem to sparkle, with amiability and kindness. His hair 
 is gray, shaved back from his forehead, and plaited into 
 a queue of medium length and thickness, according to 
 the unvarying Chinese fashion. His teeth are somewhat 
 uneven and discolored by tobacco. He has a gray, droop- 
 ing mustache, and rather thin, gray chin-whiskers, or im- 
 perial, which come to Chinamen generally late in life. 
 He was then sixty-six years, counting him a year old 
 at birth, as is the custom in China. He was clad in a 
 gray astrakhan outer garment or surtout, with long, 
 flowing sleeves, into which he could withdraw his hands 
 when cold, loose silken trousers, felt shoes, and a black 
 turban-shaped hat with flaring sides and flat top, sur- 
 mounted by the button of his rank, with a peacock's 
 feather sticking straight out behind. 
 
 We had hardly taken seats before he asked me how 
 old I was. This question is always asked by the Chinese 
 of foreigners, and is fully justified by the rules of their 
 etiquette. When I had answered it satisfactorily, he said, 
 with some surprise: "You must have been quite young 
 in the wars. What position did you hold when you were 
 in the War Department at Washington?" 
 
 Perceiving that he wanted an account of my public 
 services, I replied that I had been chief of the cavalry 
 bureau, charged with the supervision of the organization 
 and equipment of all the cavalry troops, had commanded 
 a cavalry division, and, still later, a cavalry army. I 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG 95 
 
 added that after the restoration of peace I had returned 
 to my legitimate duties as an officer of regular engineers, 
 and taken charge of the improTement of the Mississippi, 
 the Illinois, and the Eock Elvers, and finally had resigned 
 from the army for the purpose of huilding and operating 
 railroads, in which business I had been engaged, in vari- 
 ous parts of the United States, for the last fifteen years. 
 This recital drew from him an expression of surprise at 
 the extent and variety of my services, whereupon I ex- 
 plained to him that, previous to reaching the rank of 
 brigadier-general, I had also served two years on the stafE 
 of General Grant as an engineer officer, and as the in- 
 spector-general of the army under his command, and that 
 the aim of our system of military education at West Point 
 is to teach all sciences useful in the military profession, 
 including drill, tactics, engineering, and the art of war, 
 so thoroughly that the graduate is competent to serve 
 efficiently wherever he may be placed. 
 
 This reference to General Grant drew from the 
 Viceroy an expression of profound sorrow at his untimely 
 death under such sad and distressing circumstances, and 
 that after retiring from his high public employments he 
 should have been drawn into business relations with men 
 who had proved themselves so unworthy of his confidence 
 and had betrayed him in such a shameful way. He ex- 
 pressed the greatest sympathy for Mrs. Grant, coupled 
 with anxious solicitude for her comfort, and the suffi- 
 ciency of her fortune to provide for the wants of herself 
 and family. When I told him of General Grant's struggle 
 during the last year of his life, while suffering under a 
 painful and incurable disease, to write his memoirs for 
 the purpose of providing, by its sale, another fortune for 
 his family, and called attention to the fact that it was, on 
 the whole, the most heroic year of his life, and had been 
 crowned by success as complete as any he had ever gained, 
 the Viceroy expressed his gratification in the highest 
 terms, and said it was a noble ending to a noble career. 
 
96 CHINA 
 
 He then asked me if I knew General Upton, whom he 
 had met during the visit of the latter to China and the 
 other nations of Asia and Europe for the purpose of in- 
 specting and reporting upon their armies, and who had 
 proposed to establish a military academy for the Chinese 
 Grovernment. I explained that I had known him inti- 
 mately from boyhood, that he had commanded a division 
 of cavalry under me during the closing days of the rebel- 
 lion with marked ability, had died only a few years ago 
 under distressing circumstances, and had left behind him 
 a great reputation as a military man. 
 
 After expressing sorrow at the sad ending of a career 
 which promised so much usefulness to his country, the 
 Viceroy then reverted to my own services and varied 
 employments, and said, " With all you have done, you 
 must be very rich." I replied, "No, not rich, and yet 
 not altogether poor," adding that " I had rather striven 
 to do things and accomplish what I had undertaken than 
 to make money out of them, and yet I had made some 
 money." He asked at once, "How much?" It seems 
 that this is quite the question to ask a foreigner, but that 
 it is hardly ever asked of a Chinaman. Not feeling quite 
 like putting a fixed value upon the usual assortment of 
 American assets, I replied, " I have enough to keep the 
 wolf away from the door, and yet not so much but that 
 a man of my age, with wife and children to care for, 
 might properly want more." And this seemed to satisfy 
 him. At all events, he dropped the subject, and asked 
 if I had brought my family with me to China, and how 
 long I intended to stay. This gave me an opportunity, 
 which I availed myself of at once, to explain in a general 
 way the objects which I had in view in visiting China, 
 and that, while I had hoped they would not keep me away 
 from home more than six months, I should stay longer 
 if necessary. I then adverted to the fact that he was not 
 only the first statesman and soldier of China, but also its 
 recognized leader in intelligence and progress, and asked 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG 97 
 
 him to explain the pohcy of the Chinese Government in 
 regard to railroads and other industrial undertakings. 
 He replied, without hesitation, and apparently with per- 
 fect frankness: " China must build railroads, open mines, 
 and put up furnaces and rolling-mills, but the great ques- 
 tion is where to find the money with which to pay for 
 them." I rejoined that I had no doubt the money could 
 be got on reasonable terms if the Chinese Government 
 would ask for it; that its credit was good, that money, 
 and especially silver, were abundant in both Europe and 
 America, and that the times were favorable for get- 
 ting it. I added, I had even heard it stated by a dis- 
 tinguished American statesman that he would be glad to 
 see the silver, which was accumulating in such large quan- 
 tities in our Treasury, used for building railroads in China. 
 This remark excited his interest at once, and he asked 
 eagerly if I could not induce our Government to lend a 
 part of its surplus silver to China for this purpose. I of 
 course told him that such a thing was hardly possible, 
 but added that, being only a private citizen, with no au- 
 thority whatever to discuss a matter of such serious im- 
 portance, I could only express my private opinion about 
 it, and that was that it could not be done directly, al- 
 though it was doubtless possible that our bankers, who 
 had larger deposits than ever before, might make a loan 
 which would indirectly accomplish the same object. His 
 Excellency then asked: " What is your Government going 
 to do with the large quantity of silver accumulating in 
 its Treasury? I understand it amounts to hundreds of 
 millions, and that they have to build new houses of iron 
 and steel to hold it." How he got his information I 
 never learned, but I was struck with its general accuracy, 
 as well as with the question he asked about it. I replied 
 that of course the Government would use so much of it 
 as necessary to pay its current expenses and maturing 
 debts, but had not decided, so far as I knew, upon a defi- 
 nite policy for disposing of its surplus. He smiled, and 
 
98 CHINA 
 
 came back quickly with the remark, " Well, it might get 
 rid of some of it by paying its diplomatic and consular 
 agents in China larger salaries than they now get," and in 
 this I concurred most heartily. 
 
 A pause now occurred in the conference, during which 
 a servant brohght in and opened a bottle of champagne 
 and poured out a glass for each. He then struck a match, 
 with which he lit a twisted paper lighter, and carefully 
 placing the mouth-piece of the water-pipe between the 
 lips of the Viceroy, who had his hands spread out on the 
 table before him, and was looking intently at me, with- 
 out seeing the pipe-stem. As soon as he felt it, how- 
 ever, between his lips, he closed them, took a long, deep 
 pull at it, blew out the smoke, and then took another, 
 still deeper if possible, and exhaled it through his nos- 
 trils. The pipe was then withdrawn, cleared of smoke, 
 recharged, and returned to his mouth in the same delib- 
 erate and careful manner, and he smoked again in the 
 same way. The operation was repeated several times, 
 and then the conversation was resumed by the Viceroy's 
 asking if I knew Colonel Denby, the newly arrived Ameri- 
 can Minister, or had served with him in the rebelhon. 
 Upon my replying in the affirmative, he expressed him- 
 self much pleased with the colonel's distinguished bearing 
 and intelligence, and said he would like to see him ap- 
 pointed as Minister to Corea also, not only as an honor 
 to the colonel, but because it would be a convenience to 
 all parties concerned, and there seems to be but little 
 doubt that such an arrangement, if it were allowed by 
 our Government, would not only be an economy, but it 
 would be productive of excellent results. I explained to 
 his Excellency that Congress controls all such matters, 
 and that neither the President nor the Secretary of State 
 would feel at liberty to do what he had suggested with- 
 out the authority of a law specially authorizing it. I 
 assured him, however, that I would take an early oppor- 
 tunity to make his views known, and this I did by cable. 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG 99 
 
 The conversation then took a wider and less formal 
 range. The champagne, of which the Chinese are very 
 fond, was drunk, and although this is generally the signal 
 for closing an interview, it was not intended as such in the 
 case under consideration. To the contrary, the Viceroy 
 then returned to the subject of railroads and asked many 
 questions as to their use, their probable cost in China, 
 the best system for the Chinese to adopt, and also what 
 would be the relative cost of transportation by railroad 
 and canal. In reference to the last-mentioned subject 
 he said: " General Grant told me when he was in China 
 that transportation by canal was cheaper than by rail- 
 road. How is this? " I gave him my views fully on that 
 subject, and illustrated them by reference to the facts 
 and statistics, which are familiar to all students of the sub- 
 ject and need not be repeated here; but when I told him 
 that even if there were any doubt as to the relative merits 
 of railroads and canals, when speed as well as the actual 
 cost of transportation for freight and passengers were 
 considered, and expressed the opinion that he could surely 
 entertain no doubt as to which was best when he remem- 
 bered the additional and important fact that in a climate 
 like that of Northern China the canal must necessarily 
 freeze up and remain closed for three or four months of 
 the year, while the railroad would remain open all the 
 year round, he frankly admitted that the considerations 
 I had cited were conclusive, and reiterated his declara- 
 tion that China must have railroads. 
 
 He then made some practical suggestions as to the 
 way in which I could most profitably spend my time 
 while in China, pointed out several expeditions which he 
 thought I ought to make in order to get a practical idea 
 of the country, and of the difficulties which would be 
 encountered in building railroads in it, and, after ex- 
 pressing the wish that I should see him often, he indi- 
 cated that the interview was closed. It was now about 
 sunset, and the room had become so dark that lights 
 
100 CHINA 
 
 would have soon been necessary. We accordingly rose to 
 take our leave. The Viceroy was then standing, and, see- 
 ing us ready to start, he turned and passed out into the 
 corridor. I took my place by his side and walked with 
 him toward the main entrance of the Yamen, and during 
 our progress the stillness was broken by a sudden but 
 muffled roll of drums and a blare of brazen trumpets 
 from the court-yard, which was very weird and impres- 
 sive. It continued till we had reached the inner court- 
 yard, where we had left our chairs. The Viceroy stopped 
 at the edge of this court, and, turning toward me, grasped 
 my hand most cordially in foreign style, saying: " You 
 are my friend and I am your friend," and then bade me 
 good-by in a most polite and courtly manner. He did 
 not turn away at once, but stood bowing to me, with his 
 own hands clasped and raised to his chin, until I had re- 
 entered my chair, which I of course did not do till I had 
 turned and recognized his civility as best I could. 
 
 At a subsequent interview, just as I was entering the 
 Yamen, I again heard the roll of the kettle-drum near 
 at hand, but this time, instead of a " flourish," it was 
 the signal for the close of the official day, and " setting the 
 watch" about the premises for the night. On stepping 
 outside the waiting-room, I saw the drummer standing 
 at the right of the door, beating a large sonorous drum 
 like those used in Western orchestras; his hands were 
 flying with the greatest rapidity, but every now and then, 
 with measured regularity, he would strike a heavier blow. 
 Farther out in the dim twilight there were two trumpet- 
 ers clad in white robes, and each playing a long, straight 
 brass trumpet, of the kind depictured in Old Testament 
 scenes. Each raised his instrument in unison with the 
 other, till it was nearly perpendicular, and, while lowering 
 it slowly to the level, blew a long, quavering blast, now 
 soft and low, now loud and strong, but always in harmony 
 with the drum, and always with a strange weird sweetness 
 of tone, which impressed me profoundly. Pausing a mo- 
 
SETTING THE WATCH IQl 
 
 ment, they raised their trumpets as before, repeating the 
 strange, semi-barbaric and yet pleasing music over and 
 over again for perhaps five minutes, after which they let 
 it die away as though they were disappearing in the dis- 
 tance. The drummer, with softening beat, closed the 
 ceremony by giving three measured taps, which, after a 
 short pause, were followed by three strokes of a musical 
 bell. And then the watchmen marched away to their vari- 
 ous posts for the night. This ceremony, I was told, is eon- 
 ducted daily at every provincial Yamen, and at the head- 
 quarters of every army. If a modern musical composer 
 could give it, with proper scenic accessories and instru- 
 mental accompaniment as I heard it, I am sure it would 
 prove to be a striking and interesting entertainment to a 
 Western audience. 
 
 I have since met the Viceroy many times, notably dur- 
 ing his visit to the United States on his way home from 
 Eussia, whither he went to attend the coronation of the 
 Tzar, and during my recent stay in Peking, as com- 
 mander of the American troops, and Governor of the 
 Chinese and Tartar sections of the city occupied by 
 them. He has grown perceptibly older and now uses a 
 cane in walking, but seems strong and healthy. He shows 
 no sign of senility, but having been called back to his 
 old offices and honors, and clothed with full powers to 
 represent the Imperial Government in the treaty of 
 peace and settlement it is now so anxious to make, he 
 carries himself with the confidence and pride befitting his 
 high position. It is evident that he is much gratified 
 by his recall, and feels more fully than ever not only his 
 own power, but the grave responsibility resting on him. 
 So far as I can judge he is acting with wisdom and good 
 faith in his efforts to suppress the Boxer insurrection, to 
 restore order, and to bring the Chinese Government to a 
 realizing sense of the gravity of its present situation. 
 
CHAPTEE IX 
 
 Li Hung-Chang — His public career — Influence of Generals Ward 
 and Gordon — English misconception of their character — The 
 career of Burgevine — The influence of the war threatened with 
 Russia — Gordon revisited China — The introduction of tele- 
 graphs — Messages sent in English, or cipher — Memorial of 
 Liu Ming-Chu'an on the introduction of railways — Referred 
 to Li Hung-Chang and Lin K'un-Yi — The memorial of Li 
 Hung-Chang and Lin K'un-Yi — Tso Tsung-Tang's dying 
 memorial on the same subject — No official action yet taken 
 thereupon — The essence of progress and the death-knell of 
 conservatism. 
 
 Inasmuch as Li Hung-Chang is now more than ever 
 the most conspicuous figure on the Chinese theater of 
 action, a somewhat fuller account than has yet been given 
 to the public seems to be called for at this time. 
 
 He is a pure Chinaman, with no trace of Tartar blood 
 in his veins. He comes of a family, six or seven genera- 
 tions of which have attained high literary rank but only 
 moderate fortune; he was born in the province of An-whei, 
 and early gave promise of decided literary ability, which 
 in China is the only test of fitness for office. Having 
 successfully passed the three public examinations, and 
 obtained in the last one at Peking the highest degree 
 known in the hierarchy of Chinese scholarship, he was 
 made a fellow of the Hanlin College — the most learned 
 body of men in the empire. By the time he had reached 
 middle age he had passed through the various grades and 
 public employments open to men of his attainments. 
 
 It is a noteworthy circumstance that two of the promi- 
 nent characters of our times, Li Hung-Chang and Ulysses 
 103 
 
THE VICEROY'S RESEMBLANCE TO GEX. GRANT 103 
 
 S. Grant, should have been developed in the strife for the 
 maintenance of established government, and in the sup- 
 pression of the greatest rebellions with which history has 
 had to deal. As a reward for his services, each of these 
 soldiers was called to the highest civil oflBce that a sub- 
 ject or a citizen might fill, and after laying down his 
 charge each made the tour of the world, and each was 
 everywhere received with the greatest distinction. It 
 was during General Grant's tour that they met at Tien- 
 tsin. During Li's stay in Kew York he visited the tomb 
 of General Grant and placed upon it a wreath of flowers. 
 
 These eminent men were born in the same year 
 (1822), and it is no disparagement of either to say that 
 each sprang from the great body of the race to which he 
 belonged. Each received the best education within his 
 reach, and, although totally diSerent, the education of 
 each secured for its possessor the opportunity to render 
 the most valuable services to his country and his Gov- 
 ernment. It is also true that, while their fathers were 
 men of acute intellect, and Li's, at least, belonged to the 
 literati of his country, they owed their principal charac- 
 teristics, their sound sense, their deliberate judgment, 
 their steadfast purposes, and their inflexible will, to their 
 mothers. And there is yet another point in which they 
 resemble each other greatly, in the possession of a cer- 
 tain dry wit and good fellowship, which extract whatever 
 fun there is to be had out of the events of daily life as 
 they pass. 
 
 It must not be supposed that Li and Grant were alike 
 in all respects, for such is not the case. They had their 
 contrasts as well as their resemblances. Li is tall and stal- 
 wart, something over six feet in his felt shoes, while 
 Grant was not over five feet eight inches in his boots. Al- 
 though both in their mature life were men of action, Li 
 was as well, a great " scholar of books," while Grant 
 never cared much for books of any kind. The principal 
 diversion of Li is reading the Chinese classics, studying 
 
104 CHINA 
 
 philosophy, and composing apothegms after the manner 
 of Confucius, the great and only model of the Chinese 
 scholar and statesman. Grant's principal amusement was 
 talking with his comrades, driving good horses, and hav- 
 ing a good time generally, with those who were near and 
 dear to him. Each was in his own way a great soldier — 
 Li after the Oriental fashion. Grant after the Western — 
 but unless one knows how totally their environment dif- 
 fered, one can understand but little of the comparison 
 and contrast between their deeds and the steps by which 
 they rose to power as statesmen. War in its essence is 
 pretty much the same all over the world, but statecraft 
 differs as widely in different countries as their civilization 
 and governments differ. 
 
 Shortly after the Taiping rebellion reached his native 
 province, Li was appointed to the staff of the general 
 acting against the rebels, and under the patronage and 
 protection of Tseng Kwo-fan, the leading Chinese states- 
 man of the period, he was engaged in the various opera- 
 tions in the Kiang provinces, from 1853 till the close of 
 the rebellion, during the latter part of which he was in 
 chief command of the imperial forces. In February, 
 1863, he was made Superintendent of Trade for the 
 southern ports. In 1866 he was appointed special com- 
 missioner for the suppression of the Nienfei rebellion, 
 and in 1870 he was directed to settle the dilRculty with 
 the French and Eussians arising from the Tientsin mas- 
 sacre. In 1880 he negotiated the Angell treaty with the 
 United States. He was later special commissioner for 
 the settlement of the Yunnan question, and for read- 
 justing the various treaties and arrangements with for- 
 eign powers, and, in all matters intrusted to him, acquitted 
 himself with such marked ability that the Empress Eegent 
 bestowed upon him, January 9, 1875, the office of Senior 
 Grand Secretary, which is equivalent to saying that he 
 had at that early day come to be the first civilian of the 
 empire. 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG 105 
 
 Chinese custom and law require a public official to re- 
 tire from all public employments for three years upon the 
 death of his mother. Having been appointed Governor- 
 General of Chihli in 1870, on the death of his mother 
 (in 1883) he retired from office, but was ordered to re- 
 turn to his post as Viceroy after the expiration of only 
 one hundred days of mourning. Shortly afterward, at 
 his earnest request, he was allowed to vacate his posts as 
 Grand Secretary and Viceroy, but was again compelled 
 to resume office in August, 1883. 
 
 In this connection it is worthy of note that no Chi- 
 naman can hold office in his native province, nor can 
 any near relative hold office under him. It is also wor- 
 thy of note that in China, as in America, the civil func- 
 tions of government are supposed to be superior to the 
 military functions. The scholar, therefore, looks down 
 upon the soldier, but is frequently called upon to per- 
 form the highest anilitary duty. The governor-general 
 of a province is ex-ofjicio the commander-in-chief of its 
 military forces, and, whenever necessity requires it, is 
 compelled to lead them in the field. In accordance with 
 this rule, Li, who had come to be one of the leading 
 scholars of the country, also became in due time its most 
 conspicuous if not actually its ablest soldier. In the 
 terrible struggle which ensued for the suppression of the 
 rebellion, he had Tso Tsung-tang, Tseng Quo-fan, and 
 Tseng Quo-chu'an as his superiors and coadjutors; but, 
 without disparaging these able men, it is but just to say 
 that he was the superior of either in executive ability 
 and in quickness of perception, and that he received by 
 far the most valuable assistance given to him from the 
 " Ever- Victorious Army," which was organized by the 
 American "Ward, and consisted of native Chinamen, in- 
 structed and led by foreign officers. 
 
 This rebellion, the greatest, most persistent, and most 
 bloody in Chinese history, was organized by one Hung Tse- 
 chuen, the son of a well-to-do farmer living about thirty 
 10 
 
106 CHINA 
 
 miles north of Canton. He was a disappointed scholar, 
 one who never succeeded in passing the provincial exami- 
 nation, although he presented himself frequently. In 
 1837 he fell sick of chagrin, had dreams, saw marvelous 
 visions, and received a call which he believed to be divine. 
 He claimed that " all men were commanded to turn to 
 him and that all treasures should flow toward him," and 
 finally that he was commissioned to become Emperor of 
 China. On his recovery from sickness he became a school 
 teacher, and in 1843 failed again to obtain his degree at 
 Canton. It was about this time that he got some vague 
 notions of Christianity, and developed a certain genius 
 for turning the doctrines and teachings of the Bible to 
 the support of the pretensions he had now begun to put 
 forth. He at first proclaimed his mission and exhorted 
 those around him to accept Christianity. His own family 
 and immediate friends were, as usual in such cases, his 
 first followers. They put away their idols and Confucian 
 tablets, and went through a rude sort of baptism. They 
 believed in the Biblical account of the creation, adopted 
 the Sermon on the Mount, and had some conception of 
 the nature of the atonement, resurrection, and final judg- 
 ment, and by their strange actions and earnest- 
 ness, and their novel ideas about God and happiness, 
 soon began to attract multitudes of people. As the move- 
 ment spread. Hung Tse-chuen and his principal fol- 
 lowers went on preaching and proselyting missions. In 
 1846 the leader made the acquaintance and became the 
 pupil of one Eoberts, an American missionary living at 
 Canton, and by the knowledge of doctrine and missionary 
 work he gained there he acquired increased strength, and 
 gave his mission an increased impetus, but it was not till 
 about 1850 that his movement came to be looked upon by 
 the provincial and imperial authorities as an insurrection. 
 In the zeal of the new sect against idolatry, they began to 
 destroy temples and irritate and abuse the people who dif- 
 fered with them. A body of imperial soldiers was sent to 
 
THE TAIPING REBELLION 107 
 
 arrest Hung Tse-chuen, but was unsuccessful. Efforts 
 were now made to drill and organize the insurgents, and 
 an unusual degree of discipline for Chinamen was estab- 
 lished and maintained. The movement was pushed vigor- 
 ously to the northward, new visions were received and 
 new decrees were issued by the leader, a new government 
 was organized, and five leading chiefs were assigned to the 
 command of as many corps. The provinces of Kwangsi, 
 Kiangsi, and Honan were overrun, the Yang-tse-kiang 
 was reached and crossed, and many cities, including Nan- 
 king, the old capital of the empire, were captured. Here 
 Hung Tse-chuen was hailed by his army as Emperor, and 
 here he assumed the style of royalty. 
 
 The rapid progress made by the rebellion showed alike 
 the weakness and incompetency of the Imperial Govern- 
 ment to deal with such an outbreak, as well as the utter 
 lack of organization and discipline of its troops. It is 
 also said that a national dislike of the Manchu Govern- 
 ment heightened the indifference of the Chinese people to 
 the efforts made for the suppression of the rebellion, and 
 that the sufferings which marked its course were due as 
 much to the savage imperialists as to the " Taipings." 
 
 The war, which had ineffectually expended its 
 strength in the northern movement, now raged with in- 
 creased fury in the country bordering on the lower Yang- 
 tse-kiang, and which, as it threatened Shanghai, the prin- 
 'dpal seaport of Central China, and the seat of the large 
 foreign settlement which had grown up just outside the 
 walls of the old city, aroused a new power which, in 
 making sure of its own safety, was destined to play a 
 decisive part in the suppression of the rebellion and in 
 the pacification of the country. Up to that time the for- 
 eigners, both the officials and the private merchants, and 
 also their employees had looked upon the rebellion rather 
 with, sympathy than disfavor. They knew it had made 
 trade in fire-arms and military munitions active, and they 
 found it easy to believe that the rebel leaders were Chris- 
 
108 CHINA 
 
 tians who sincerely desired to drive out the foreign usurp- 
 ers and reform the administration of the Government. 
 They thought that any change would be an improvement, 
 but now that the insurgents were threatening both the 
 Chinese and foreign settlements at Shanghai, they asked 
 and obtained authority to raise a company of foreigners. 
 
 This work was immediately commenced, and they soon 
 got together the necessary men. It was a motley and 
 heterogeneous crowd, but under the leadership of their 
 captain, Ward, they soon acquired a reasonable amount of 
 discipline, and later developed a high degree of efficiency. 
 Their first noticeable exploit was the capture of the 
 fortifications of Sun-kiang by assault, which opened the 
 way of the imperialists into that city. This success, with 
 the high pay allowed, enabled Ward to add to his force, 
 and ultimately to organize five regiments, of from five 
 hundred to one thousand men each, the non-commis- 
 sioned officers and privates of which were Chinamen, 
 while the commissioned officers were foreigners, mostly 
 English and Americans. 
 
 Within two months after the capture of Nanking and 
 Chinkiang, the rebel authorities became so confident of 
 their ultimate success that they resolved to advance on 
 Peking, and accordingly they sent a column through 
 the province of Honan to Kaifung-fu, the capital, which 
 they besieged, but failed to capture. Here, for the first 
 time, they met with effective resistance from the Manehu 
 and other imperial troops. They were thereby forced to 
 make a detour to the west into southern Shansi; then, 
 flanking the enemy, turned north and northeast into 
 Chihli, finally penetrating to Singhai-hien on the Grand 
 Canal, within twenty miles of Tientsin, and a hundred 
 miles from Peking. Shortly afterward a supporting and 
 co-operating column was sent through the province of 
 Anhwei in the same general direction, but owing to 
 the absence of Hung Tse-chuen, whom nothing could 
 induce to take command in person of his columns and risk 
 
WAKD, THE AMERICAN SAILOR 109 
 
 all in the effort to capture the capital, which would have 
 given him the absolute control of the empire, the cam- 
 paign to the northward gradually lost its momentum, and 
 collapsed. 
 
 Ward, it will be remembered, was killed at the head 
 of his force after an extraordinary career of about three 
 years, in which he showed skill, courage, power to 
 command, and organizing capacity of a high order. 
 He was succeeded by the quartermaster of the force 
 for a short period, and then by Burgevine, another Amer- 
 ican of great bravery, but of bad habits and an ungovern- 
 able temper, which soon brought him into disgrace. The 
 force then fell temporarily under the command of an 
 Englishman, who proved to be incompetent, and was in 
 turn succeeded by Gordon, an officer of the Eoyal British 
 Engineers, who had the qualities of a true soldier, and 
 speedily restored the discipline and prestige of the or- 
 ganization. He adopted the methods of Ward, even in 
 the matter of leading his men into action with a walking- 
 cane or wand in his hand as the sole sign of his authority. 
 By great activity and rigid discipline, combined with a 
 thorough knowledge of the theater of war, gained by 
 actual surveys which he had previously made for the Brit- 
 ish authorities, he soon brought the rebellion to desperate 
 straits. Of course he had the co-operation of the im- 
 perial commanders in all combined undertakings. He 
 was especially subject to the orders of Governor-General 
 Li, and made no campaign except with his consent and 
 under his control. This fact has been too frequently 
 ignored or glossed over by English writers, to the dis- 
 paragement of Ward, who was undeniably an able man, 
 and without Whose untimely death it is more than likely 
 that the English commander, great as were his abilities, 
 would never have become known to history as Chinese 
 Gordon, and also of Li, whose intelligence and sound 
 judgment enabled him to perceive, even at that early day, 
 the vast superiority of foreign organization, discipline. 
 
110 CHINA 
 
 and arms, and, in spite of the prejudice of the Chinese 
 commanders, induced him, in desperate undertakings, to 
 put his main reliance upon the " Ever-Victorious Army." 
 In other words, it was Li who upheld Gordon and gave 
 him the chance to use, with such terrible effect, the or- 
 ganization which had been fashioned to his hand in all 
 essential particulars by "Ward, the intrepid Yankee sailor. 
 Another circumstance in connection with Gordon, fre- 
 quently overlooked, is, that he was not intrusted with the 
 exclusive control of the force, but had a Chinese adlatus, 
 who, nominally at least, had as much to say as himself. 
 How far this was an actual limitation upon the independ- 
 ence of Gordon does not appear in the histories of that 
 period, most of which were written by Englishmen; but 
 there is reason for believing that he was not wholly 
 trusted either by Li or his lieutenants. 
 
 The final surrender of the Taiping chieftains vcas 
 made to Gordon on his assurance that their lives should 
 be spared, but this was an innovation upon Chinese 
 methods of concluding such matters, and it was repu- 
 diated; the prisoners were slain, and a hot feud arose 
 between Gordon and Li in reference to it. Gordon 
 charged Li with bad faith, and is said to have sought 
 for him three days with a revolver, openly avowing tliat 
 he would kill him on sight. Fortunately for China, and 
 probably for himself, his anger was evanescent, and soon 
 friendly if not intimate relations were re-established be- 
 tween him and Li. High honors, including a yellow 
 jacket and a gratuity of ten thousand taels, were be- 
 stowed upon him by the Imperial Government, but he 
 rejected the latter with the plain though perhaps un- 
 necessary intimation that he was no mercenary or soldier 
 of fortune. Still feeling aggrieved at the execution of the 
 Taiping chieftains, and perceiving that the rebellion was 
 over, he resigned his commission and the force was dis- 
 banded. This was perhaps a wise measure, for it had 
 come to regard itself as the only respectable military 
 
THE FATE OP BURGEVINE m 
 
 organization in the empire. Its officers had from the 
 first been more or less inclined to be insolent, and Burge- 
 vine at least had threatened more than once, when he got 
 through with the rebels, to turn the force against the im- 
 perial armies, and, after overthrowing them, to drive out 
 the reigning dynasty at Peking, and make himself master 
 of China. 
 
 The subsequent career of Burgevine was romantic but 
 unfortunate. After being relieved from the command, he 
 went to Peking and protested against the treatment he 
 had received at Li's hands, and so much interested Mr. 
 Burlingame, the American, and Sir Thomas Wade, the 
 British minister, in his case, that, through their inter- 
 cession, the Peking authorities sent him back to Li, with 
 a vague sort of request that he might be restored to com- 
 mand. Li, who doubtless knew him better than his diplo- 
 matic friends, or had some secret understanding with the 
 Government, declined to reinstate him, and after a short 
 time he made his way through the lines and joined the 
 Taiping rebels. They in turn failed to treat him with 
 that consideration which he regarded as his due, or he 
 saw that they could not possibly succeed even with his 
 help, and consequently he left them, making his way back 
 through the imperial lines, probably by consent, to the 
 sea-coast, whence he sailed for Japan. Eemaining in that 
 country for several months, he again became discon- 
 tented, and returned to China, it is said, in violation of a 
 tacit agreement with the imperial authorities, under 
 which he had been permitted to depart from China with- 
 out molestation. At all events, he was speedily appre- 
 hended and sent into the interior under escort. Efforts 
 were made by foreigners, and especially the American 
 consul at Shanghai, to secure his release but, whether by 
 design or accident has never been clearly established, he 
 was drowned by the upsetting of a boat while crossing a 
 river. 
 
 Li's experience with Ward, Burgevine, and Gordon^ 
 
112 CHINA 
 
 and also with the foreign ministers, consuls, and naval 
 officers, during the closing days of the rebellion, was of 
 such character .as to put him somewhat on his guard 
 against foreign influence, which was by no means at all 
 times entirely disinterested; but, nevertheless, it inspired 
 him with a high opinion of foreign skill and ability in 
 military and naval matters. It familiarized him with for- 
 eign methods, and must in some degree have shaken his 
 confidence in those of his own countrymen. As a reward 
 for the craft and discretion displayed in his management 
 of affairs in Che-kiang, he was, as before stated, appointed 
 Governor-General of the metropolitan province of Chihli 
 in 1870, with the enlarged powers of a Viceroy, and the 
 high offices of tutor to the young Emperor, First Grand 
 Secretary, and virtual Minister for Foreign AfEairs. In 
 this position he was thrown more and more into relations 
 with foreigners, by whom he soon came to be regarded 
 as an exceedingly able diplomatist. As special commis- 
 sioner, he negotiated new treaties with most of the treaty 
 powers, and, notwithstanding the fact that he was con- 
 fronted by men of great skill and experience, it is now ap- 
 parent that he was by no means overmatched by them. 
 
 When the difficulties arose with Russia in 1881, in 
 regard to the northern boundary, and war appeared to be 
 imminent, he sent for Gordon, who had been many years 
 in England, and it is said offered him command of the 
 imperial forces. Gordon revisited China, and remained 
 in conference with Li for several months, but finally re- 
 turned to Europe when it was evident that the war-cloud 
 had passed away. There is the best of reason for believ- 
 ing that Gordon, at the time of this visit, had not only 
 entirely forgiven the Viceroy -for putting the Taiping 
 chieftains to death, but wished to put him on the throne, 
 which was doubtless feasible at that time, and was will- 
 ing to undertake for this purpose an adventure in his 
 behalf quite as desperate as any Burgevine had ever con- 
 templated for himself. I mention this circumstance with 
 
CHINESE TELEGRAPH SYSTEM US 
 
 the suggestion that Gordon was not a safe adviser in all 
 things, and that the Viceroy's prudence and loyalty, aided 
 by caution and possibly timidity, were proof against temp- 
 tation, no matter from what quarter it came, nor how 
 great an honor it held out to him. 
 
 It was during this period that the Viceroy memorial- 
 ized the Throne, and obtained permission to erect tele- 
 graph lines to the principal provincial capitals and com- 
 mercial cities of the northern and southern sea-boards. 
 The work was done under the direction of the Danish 
 Cable Company, and the lines were rapidly extended from 
 Tientsin to the capital of Corea, Mukden, the capital of 
 Manchuria and the home of the reigning dynasty. Port 
 Arthur, Shan-hai-kwan, Peking, Taku, Chinan-fu, Che- 
 fu, Chin-kiang, Shanghai, Nanking, Wuchang, Hankow, 
 Hang-chow, Ning-po, Foochow, Amoy, Canton, Kin, 
 and all the provincial capitals of the interior, and also 
 through Mongolia to the Eussian border. Notwithstand- 
 ing this was as great an innovation as anything which 
 could be suggested, and was opposed at first by the con- 
 servatives, it was in no way molested by the common peo- 
 ple. All the operators are Chinese, who have been taught 
 English and telegraphy in America, or in a school estab- 
 lished for that purpose at Tientsin, under the immediate 
 charge of the chief constructors and experts of the system. 
 
 The Chinese written language being a language 
 of idiographs, with a separate character for each word, 
 instead of syllables made up of distinct sounds repre- 
 sented by letters, it is impossible to send by the Morse 
 system a message written in such characters, but the dif- 
 ficulty is overcome by representing each character by 
 a combination of three Arabic numerals, and then send- 
 ing the corresponding figure-message, which the operator 
 at the receiving ofiice immediately transposes into the 
 proper characters, by reference to a key, a copy of which 
 is in the hands of every operator. The system is 
 quite ingenious, and, although it has certain defects, 
 
114 CHINA 
 
 works with as much satisfaction as could be expected. 
 Of course, it is equivalent to putting every Chinese mes- 
 sage into a foreign language, which, in view of the fact 
 that there are something like eight thousand characters 
 in common use, and nearly forty-five thousand in all, 
 each of which must have its equivalent combination of 
 three figures, it is easy to see requires a large key, and 
 much time for the preparation of each message. It is 
 much easier to send an English message, because the tele- 
 graph system is specially adapted to that, and every op- 
 erator is required to know enough English to read the 
 messages fluently, and to write a good plain hand. 
 
 During Li Hung-Chang's long incumbency as Gov- 
 ernor-General, or Viceroy, as he was generally styled by 
 foreigners, he became the open and avowed advocate of 
 the construction of railroads, the purchase of foreign- 
 built ironclads and gunboats, the erection of modern for- 
 tifications, the use of foreign cannon, and the introduc- 
 tion of modern military science, instruction, organization, 
 and fire-arms. 
 
 He also opened and equipped coal mines on the Euro- 
 pean plan, built the first railroad in the empire to carry 
 the product to Tientsin and the fleet, founded a military 
 and naval academy, endowed a modern hospital, fitted 
 up arsenals, machine-shops, and cotton-mills with foreign 
 machinery, and generally did all that he dared do to in- 
 troduce modern appliances and improvements into his 
 own province, and to awaken the Government to the im- 
 portance 'Of introducing them throughout the empire. 
 
 The coronation of the young Emperor and Empress 
 at the ancient capital of all the Eussias was one of the 
 greatest functions of the kind that has taken place in 
 the modern world. Every potentate, Prince, and Presi- 
 dent, as well as the Emperor of China thought it neces- 
 sary to be represented there in person or by proxy. There 
 was no precedent for selecting a prince of the imperial 
 family, and there was no subject except Li Hung-Chang 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG SENT TO RUSSIA 115 
 
 sufficiently well known, or who had filled a station suf- 
 ficiently important, to entitle him to this exalted place; 
 hence, in spite of his advancing years, he was selected. 
 His honors and decorations were given back to him, and, 
 with the title of Earl and the high office of Ambassador, 
 he was sent forth with his son and a great retinue to 
 represent his country and his " august master." 
 
 What his instructions were must remain largely a 
 matter of conjecture, and the conjectures which were 
 given to the world by the journalists and reporters of the 
 day cover every conceivable question that might arise 
 between China and foreign nations. 
 
 So much is certain: he attended the coronation, par- 
 ticipated in its ceremonies, and attracted almost as much 
 attention as the Emperor and Empress whom he went to 
 honor. In carrying out his mission he traveled completely 
 around the earth from east to west, covered something 
 over thirty thousand miles by sea and land, traversed the 
 richest countries of Europe and America, and tarried in 
 their chief cities. He conferred with Emperors, Kings, 
 Presidents, Prime Ministers, Secretaries of State, states- 
 men, warriors, and lesser dignitaries and men of note im- 
 possible to name or enumerate. He was everywhere re- 
 ceived with the greatest respect and consideration. Crack 
 troops and military organizations were passed in review 
 before him, and each European power vied with the 
 other in showing him how potent it is for war and how 
 rich it is in peace. Great Britain, although somewhat 
 tardy in her welcome, did not fail to exhibit a great fieet 
 of ironclads to impress him with the belief that she is still 
 mistress of the seas and the greatest Asiatic power in 
 existence. It is surmised that he talked with his Eussian 
 hosts about the Trans-Siberian Eailroad and its connec- 
 tion with Chinese railroads, if not about the diplomatic 
 and commercial relations of Eussia, China, and Japan. 
 
 It is reported that he asked Lord Salisbury to consent 
 to the increase of the duty on merchandise imported into 
 
116 CHINA 
 
 China from five per cent, as fixed by the present treaties, 
 to ten per cent ad valorem, not as a matter of bargain, 
 but as a matter of right, and that Lord Salisbury declined 
 because no equivalent had been offered to Great Britain 
 in exchange for it. 
 
 European statesmen should not forget that in one of 
 his conversations with Count Ito during the negotiation 
 of the treaty of peace with Japan Li Hung-Chang sug- 
 gested that " the policy which should rule the Asiatic con- 
 tinent is that we should establish an enduring peace in 
 order to prevent the yellow race of Asia from succumbing 
 to the white race of Europe," and Count Ito replied: "I 
 endorse your Excellency's views with all my heart," add- 
 ing a few moments later: " Heaven is impartial and speeds 
 the right. If China will but make an effort, help will come 
 from on high. Let there be the will, and heaven, which 
 cares alike for us all, will not forsake you; thus a nation 
 may control its own destiny! " 
 
 After his return from Eussia the Viceroy was ap- 
 pointed a member of the Tsung li Yamen, but this was a 
 diminution rather than an increase of his honors and 
 power. From being a provincial king, as it were, with 
 almost absolute authority, he became merely one of a 
 numerous board, in which he was outranked and over- 
 shadowed by all the princes and several of the members. 
 He was daily subjected to espionage, and as a matter of 
 fact was regarded as an object of imperial disfavor with 
 whom any one might safely differ in opinion. His influ- 
 ence was but. slight, and after submitting to insults and 
 indignities from even the court eunuchs, he was banished 
 from the imperial capital. Fearing that a public dis- 
 grace of the most widely known subject of the Throne 
 might arouse the antagonism of the people, the real dis- 
 favor into which he had fallen was concealed by his as- 
 signment to duty as Viceroy of Canton, the most southern 
 if not the most remote province of the empire. Here he 
 exerted his influence and authority for the maintenance 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG APPOINTED PLENIPOTENTIARY 117 
 
 of order, and the protection of both native and foreign 
 interests during the organization of the Boxer movement 
 in the northern provinces. That he vs^as successful in 
 this followed as a matter of course, for whatever may 
 have been his private feelings in regard to the foreigners, 
 he has always been a firm ruler, who would tolerate no 
 popular disorder, whatever might be the pretext. While 
 engaged in the multifarious duties of his position, the 
 storm broke in the metropolitan province of Chihli, 
 where he had preserved order for so many years. Jung 
 Lu and Tung Fu-hsiang, having joined the Boxer move- 
 ment with the confident expectation of driving the for- 
 eigners into the sea, soon discovered that they could not 
 make good their promise to the Empress Dowager. They 
 could not even drive the foreigners from the legations in 
 Peking. Their rifle and artillery practice had failed quite 
 as signally as the efliorts to burn them out. In the midst 
 of the chagrin and disappointment of the conservatives, 
 and in face of the dire consequences of their outrage upon 
 the representatives of the foreign powers, it was apparent 
 to the most stupid adviser of the Throne that a fatal 
 blunder had been made, and that effective measures must 
 be resorted to at once to correct it. At this juncture all 
 eyes turned naturally toward the great Viceroy, as they 
 had done in every national emergency for the last forty 
 years. .He and he alone had the experience and knowl- 
 edge which would enable him to deal successfully with 
 the foreign powers, and accordingly, on the 7th of July, 
 he was appointed by imperial decree plenipotentiary to 
 arrange a settlement and to stop the advance of the allied 
 forces from Taku to Tientsin. Time had brought him 
 his opportunity, and he was not slow to seize it. Al- 
 though nearly fourscore years of age, he set about the 
 task assigned him without hesitation or delay, but his 
 path was beset by difficulties. The legations were cut off 
 from communication with the home governments, and, 
 as it afterward became known, they had grown suspicious 
 
118 CHINA 
 
 of all Chinamen — Li Hung-Chang among the rest. Even 
 Mr. Conger and Mr. Pethick, his old secretary, doubted 
 his capacity to control the Chinese, if not his real friend- 
 ship for the foreigners. The admirals and the home 
 governments declined to accept him, at first, as an au- 
 thorized negotiator, nor would they permit him to enter 
 the theater of operations or to pass through the lines 
 tov^rard Peking. It is now apparent that this decision was 
 unjust to the Viceroy, if not injurious to foreign inter- 
 ests, but it is altogether likely that even the strong-willed 
 and imperious old statesman would have been powerless 
 at this stage of the game to arrest the disturbances and 
 secure the safety of the legations. However, this will 
 always remain an unsettled question, as he was not even 
 permitted to try until after the allied forces had occu- 
 pied both Tientsin and Peking and the Government and 
 court had fled. While his entry into the city of his former 
 disgrace was under the escort of the Eussians, and was 
 without any of the pomp and circumstances of which he 
 was so fond, it brought its consolations. None of his old 
 enemies was there to frown upon him. Even his creden- 
 tials were not in form; but there was no doubt that they 
 were genuine and fully justified him in claiming, as he 
 did, that he not only represented all of the government 
 that was left, but that he was now stronger than ever 
 before. 
 
 In view of the important duties which his latest and 
 most responsible office has brought upon him, the real 
 character of Li Hung-Chang and his attitude in regard to 
 the progressive movement in China become more impor- 
 tant than ever. They seem to justify a detailed statement 
 of the part taken by him in reference to the introduction 
 of telegraphs and railroads. 
 
 During the excitement growing out of the probability 
 of a war with Eussia in 1883 it will be remembered that 
 he prepared and submitted to the Throne a remarkable 
 memorial, setting forth at length the reasons favoring the 
 
MEMOKIAL IN FAVOR OP RAILROADS 119 
 
 immediate construction of railroads. This was preceded, 
 however, by a memorial from Liu Ming-Chu'an, at that 
 time a general in the Chinese army, but later Governor- 
 General of the Island of Formosa, and one of the Viceroy 
 Li's most devoted friends and adherents. 
 
 Although I find other allusions to railroads in the 
 Peking Gazette, these memorials are the first formal 
 presentation of the subject to the Throne, and inasmuch 
 as they have been published in the official gazette, for 
 the information of Chinese subjects, I deem it best to set 
 them forth at large herein. They are not only important 
 state papers, but may have great historical value here- 
 after. Moreover, they show how Chinese statesmen com- 
 municate with the Throne, and also the state of knowl- 
 edge existing among them in regard to this most impor- 
 tant subject: 
 
 Memorial of Liu Ming-Chu'an, a general in the Chinese 
 army, in retirement, recommending the immediate in- 
 troduction of railways as a means of augmenting the 
 power of the country * 
 
 "Your Majesties' slave, Liu Ming-Chu'an, etc., etc., 
 upon his knees addresses the Throne. Looking upward, 
 he implores the glances of Your Sacred Majesties upon a 
 memorial, reverently prepared, showing that as the situa- 
 tion of the empire is daily becoming more critical, and 
 as difficulties from without are pressing harder upon us 
 day by day, immediate consideration should be given to 
 the question of introducing railways as a means whereby 
 to augment the power of the empire. 
 
 '•' Your slave's merits sink into insignificance when 
 compared with the abundant favors which have been be- 
 stowed upon him since his withdrawal from the army, 
 in consequence of illness. Your slave, in the retirement 
 
 * It is understood that this memorial was prepared at the in- 
 stance of the Viceroy Li. 
 
120 CHINA 
 
 of his garden home, has always studied the relations be- 
 tween China and foreign countries, with the result that 
 he has often been awaked and brought to his feet in the 
 hours of night to find his eyes streaming with tears from 
 anxiety. He feels mortified at the thought that all his 
 dog- or horse-like * exertions are inadequate to repay 
 one ten-thousandth part of the favors which he has re- 
 ceived. 
 
 " Eecently he had the honor to be summoned by Your 
 Majesties, and in contempt of his sickness came to the 
 capital. On his arrival he was further honored by being 
 summoned into the imperial presence, when he received 
 full and complete instructions, his gratitude and respect 
 for which your slave can not find words to express. 
 
 " Your slave conceives it to be the duty of an officer 
 toward his sovereign to speak when he learns anything 
 that should be known to his master, and, acting on this 
 principle, he feels it his duty, with all diligence, respect- 
 fully to submit to Your Imperial Majesties, the Empress 
 Dowager and the Emperor, that the introduction of 
 changes are matters which are attended with the gravest 
 embarrassments, and the adoption of measures which 
 may result in benefit or in injury to the country are con- 
 siderations of the gravest importance. 
 
 " The troubles which have beset China since she re- 
 moved the bolts and opened her doors to engage in trade 
 with foreign countries are by far more numerous and 
 embarrassing than anything she has had to meet from 
 her enemies since the earliest ages. These foreigners, in 
 their dealings with us, are ever ready, on the smallest pre- 
 text, to create a dispute whereby they may deceive and 
 oppress us, and, when there is a quarrel between any one 
 of them and ourselves, the others press around and eagerly 
 watch for an opportunity. 
 
 *A mode of expression' designed to humble one's self when 
 speaking of favors received. (The dog can watch its master's 
 house, and the horse can draw or carry burdens for him.) 
 
MEMORIAL IN FAVOR OF RAILROADS 121 
 
 " Eussia's southern frontier (in Asia) is very exten- 
 sive; so much so, that it is contiguous to and interloelced 
 with our northern, eastern, and western frontiers; we feel 
 her grip on our throat, and her fist upon our back, and 
 our contact with her is a source of perpetual uneasiness 
 to our hearts and minds. But our long season of weak- 
 ness and inaction disables us from making a show of 
 strength, and our only alternative, therefore, is to pa- 
 tiently bear insult and obloquy. When a quarrel occurs 
 we have to yield to her demands and make a compromise, 
 regardless of money, in order to avert the dangers of war. 
 
 " It must be remembered, however, that a long-endur- 
 ing peace between two countries is a thing that can not 
 be relied upon as a certainty, and that the wealth of a 
 nation is not unbounded. If we make no departure from 
 our present conservatism, what strength can we hope to 
 acquire? 
 
 " There are those who speak thoughtlessly of going 
 to war. In this connection your slave would beg to ob- 
 serve that the essential point before going to war is to 
 ascertain the condition of the enemy's forces. Eussia 
 has built railways which run from Europe to the neigh- 
 borhood of Hao Han, and she purposes to build one from 
 Hai-Shen-Wei to Hui Ch'un, and the reason why she did 
 not proceed to send troops recently, when the quarrel 
 with us commenced, is not that she feared to encounter 
 our soldiers, but that her railways were not quite com- 
 pleted. Your slave foresees that, before ten years are 
 passed, some immeasurable disaster may be looked for 
 from that quarter. 
 
 " Now, Japan is an extremely small country — ^like a 
 pill. Her rulers, however, have adopted Western me- 
 chanical arts; and relying on her possession of railways, 
 she attempts now and again to be arrogant — ^like a mantis 
 when it assumes an air of defiance — and to despise China, 
 and gives us no small amount of trouble on the smallest 
 pretext. 
 
 11 
 
122 CHINA 
 
 " Your slave is much grieved and distressed when he 
 thinks that if the present time is allowed to go past 
 without measures being taken to strengthen our country, 
 how vain it will be to repent when it is too late. 
 
 "Although it is true that the proper way to pro- 
 ceed to strengthen our country is by drilling troops and 
 manufacturing arms, etc., regularly in their turn, yet 
 it must be confessed that the immediate construction 
 of railways will be the main-spring of our country's 
 strength. 
 
 " It would be difRcult to enumerate all the advantages 
 that will be derived from the possession of railways; such, 
 for instance, as facilitating the transportation of the 
 grain-tax, affording prompt and effective communication 
 in the distribution of relief, the extension of commerce, 
 the furtherance of mining operations, the suppression of 
 likin * stations, and the improved system of traveling. 
 But the principal advantage that will be derived from 
 them is the more effective method of transporting troops, 
 and this consideration renders it important that their in- 
 troduction should not be delayed. 
 
 " The area of China's territory is very great. Her 
 northern frontier stretches out to a length of 10,000 K,\ 
 and is co-terminous with the confines of Russia; more- 
 over, there are foreigners of many nationalities resident 
 at the treaty ports, who are engaged in trade with our 
 people. To draw a line on our frontier and guard it 
 against invasion is a matter which, in spite of our desire, 
 we are unable to do. ' Although we ride about on a 
 fleet horse, and do not spare the whip, we are unable to 
 come up in time.' J If railways are built all parts of the 
 country, north, south, east, and west, will be within easy 
 
 * Stations in the interior for the collection of taxes on goods in 
 transit. 
 
 f A K js equal to about one third of an English mile. 
 
 i Metaphor for "Our movements are too slow to guard the vast 
 extent of our country.'' 
 
MEMORIAL IN FAVOR OP RAILROADS 123 
 
 comirmnieation, and in case of war we can form our plans 
 according to our observations of the enemy's movements. 
 It will be easy to come to a given point in a few days, 
 although the distance be 10,000 li, and a million troops 
 can be brought together at one call; and such irregulari- 
 ties as confusion and hurry when troops are ordered to 
 move and obstructions and delays in the transport of 
 materials and supplies, and similar vexatious embarrass- 
 ments will be removed. The strength of an army con- 
 sists in its troops being united, and a state of division 
 means weakness. 
 
 " China numbers eighteen provinces; her troops are 
 not few, nor are her supplies insufficient; but the troops 
 and supplies of each province are under the control of its 
 high provincial officers. The affairs of each province 
 being thus confined to its own limits, the result is the 
 division of interests that should be united in one mutual 
 and common concern. In case of war, each province has 
 barely time to concert its own plans, and when called 
 upon to furnish troops or supplies has not the means 
 wherewith to meet the demand. They are unable, more- 
 over, to com.e forward with the necessary relief in times 
 of adversity, although an edict be issued from the throne 
 visiting the responsible officers with severe punishment. 
 "With the construction of railways the power of the coun- 
 try will be concentrated, its arteries will be unobstructed, 
 the number of soldiers may be diminished, supplies cur- 
 tailed, and several regiments converted into one effective 
 corps. In the protection of our frontiers and sea-board, 
 the necessary materials, such as artillery, etc., can be 
 transported with surpassing rapidity [literally between 
 the dawn and twilight]. Troops garrisoned at different 
 stations can be converted into an effective active battal- 
 ion, and the strength of the eighteen provinces will be 
 brought into one center. One soldier may be made as 
 efScient as ten. Hereafter the army and commissariat 
 will be under t;he control of the central Government, 
 
12i CHINA 
 
 which will become the seat of importance, while the pro- 
 vincial administration will remain auxiliary and second- 
 ary, and the efficiency of the army will not be exposed 
 to be impaired and obstructed by the failures of provin- 
 cial officers. 
 
 " In the present state of our affairs the expenditure 
 required for the defenses of our frontiers makes a sensible 
 diminution in the revenue of the country, the prosperity 
 of the people is fettered by the lekin excise, the wealth 
 of the country is being monopolized by foreign merchants, 
 and the riches of the land are daily diminishing. There 
 are signs portending some great calamity. But if rail- 
 ways are constructed, the profits to be derived from their 
 working will suffice for the maintenance of troops. Some 
 of the lekin stations may be abolished after due consid- 
 eration, and the worries caused by complaints of foreign 
 merchants regarding transit passes, etc., will be avoided. 
 It would be difficult to devise any other plan more emi- 
 nently calculated to benefit the prosperity of the country 
 and to further the happiness of the people. 
 
 " The reasons why Eussia is overbearing in her rela- 
 tions with us, and why Japan underrates us, are to be 
 found in the fact that China has only one corner of her 
 vast possessions protected, is afraid to face difficulties, 
 and is incapable of rousing her energies, because possessed 
 of an inordinately pacific disposition. But the day when 
 an imperial edict is issued sanctioning the construction of 
 railways it will be manifestly our desire to strengthen 
 ourselves, and the life and energy of our country will in- 
 stantly be roused. This intelligence will startle those 
 countries; and while, in the first place, we shall find it 
 easier to agree to the terms of a treaty with Eussia, on 
 the other hand the insidious designs of Japan will insen- 
 sibly disappear. 
 
 " Some time in the current year, the Viceroy, Li 
 Hung-Chang, memorialized the Throne praying for the 
 sanction of a telegraph line to be laid along the coast. 
 
MEMORIAL FAVORING RAILWAYS 125 
 
 Telegraphs are one of the essential requirements in the 
 operations of an army, and if constructed as auxiliaries 
 to and in conjunction with railways, there will be a* large 
 saving in expense, as well as increased facility of super- 
 vision. If any difficulty be encountered in raising the 
 requisite funds for the construction of railways, and 
 doubts arise as to our inability to proceed with the work, 
 your slave thinks that the plan of inviting contributions 
 from the mercantile classes is not unworthy of considera- 
 tion; but if this plan be infeasible in consequence of the 
 wide dispersion of these classes, the contraction of a for- 
 eign loan is the only plan worthy to be considered, if 
 there exists a desire to avail ourselves of the present time 
 for the construction of railways. 
 
 " If the contraction of a foreign loan in aid of the 
 Government be held to be an impossibility, a loan for this 
 purpose may be considered an exception. It is a means 
 whereby a source of profit may be opened up, and the 
 money expended will be represented in the materials 
 and plant. These are considerations which will in- 
 duce the foreign banker to gladly accommodate us with 
 the loan. 
 
 " The Government will have no difficulty in repaying 
 the debt. As the interest asked will be small and the 
 time for repayment ample, it may be liquidated with the 
 profit of the undertaking. The mechanics of the West 
 are expert in manufacturing railways, and are, moveover, 
 eager for an opportunity of displaying their skill in our 
 Celestial country. Your slave believes the present occa- 
 sion is especially opportune, and one that should not be 
 missed. 
 
 " Two lines of railways are urgently needed in China: 
 One to go from Chin-kiang [on the Yang-tse-kiang] 
 through the provinces of Shantung and Chihli, having 
 its terminus at Peking; the other to go from Hankow 
 through Honan to Peking. There should be, besides 
 this, two northern routes, one from Peking running east- 
 
126 CHINA 
 
 ward to Shengking, the other running westward to 
 Kansu. But as it will be difficult to undertake all these 
 lines ^t once, in consequence of the enormous outlay that 
 will be required, your slave would suggest and prays that 
 sanction be given for the construction, first, of the line 
 from Chin-kiang to Peking, to be in connection with the 
 line of telegraph which it is proposed to lay this year. 
 As the provinces of Shantung and Chili cover a large 
 tract of territory through which this railroad will have to 
 pass, and as stories are likely to be current about its in- 
 terference with the family graves and homes of the peo- 
 ple, much opposition to it must be expected from those 
 who are ignorant that the government roads are broad, 
 and that the space required for the permanent way will 
 be little more than ten feet, and that the railway will in 
 no way interfere with their homes and graveyards; but 
 if obstacles do present themselves in the way of the fine, 
 it will be easy to avoid them by a slight detour. 
 
 " Your slave, while engaged in extirpating the rebels 
 in former years, traveled all through the empire, and 
 has frequently traversed the provinces in question. He 
 is therefore perfectly familiar with the condition of the 
 country, and the circumstances of the inhabitants; he 
 would not dare to be careless or reckless in forming his 
 opinions so positively. 
 
 " Should this business, which so closely concerns the 
 efiiciency of the army, and is so intimately connected 
 with the weal or woe of the empire, be honored with 
 the sanction of Your Majesties, your slave would pray 
 that an edict be issued instructing the Board of Foreign 
 Affairs to take the matter into immediate consideration, 
 and to memorialize in reply. If, however, indecision and 
 procrastination prevail, and the business be regarded as a 
 thing that can be put off to a future day, it is much to 
 be feared that, after the treaty with Eussia is signed, the 
 construction of railways will be indefinitely postponed, 
 like the case of the ' man who, wanting to build a house. 
 
MEMORIAL FAVORING RAILWAYS 127 
 
 concerts his plans with passers in the street/ * and also 
 that the lesson taught in ancient history by ' sleeping on 
 straw and tasting the hitter gall ' f will become a vain 
 waste of words, and that the day will never come when 
 an effort to strengthen our country will be made. 
 
 " Your slave has written out the reasons which have 
 prompted him to make this request for the introduction 
 of railways as a means of augmenting the power of the 
 country in a memorial, reverently prepared, which he 
 now submits to the Throne. Prostrate, he prays Your 
 Majesties, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, to 
 cast your sacred glances thereon, and to announce your 
 pleasure regarding the feasibility or otherwise of the rec- 
 ommendations set forth therein." 
 
 This memorial was referred by the Imperial Govern- 
 ment to Li Hung-Chang and Lin K'un-Yi, JSTorthern and 
 Southern Superintendents of Trade, and they supported 
 and supplemented it as follows : 
 
 " Your Majesties' servants, Li Hung-Chang, Northern 
 Superintendent of Trade, and Lin K'un-Yi, Southern Su- 
 perintendent of Trade, upon their knees address the 
 Throne: Looking upward they implore the sacred glances 
 of Your Majesties upon a memorial reverently prepared, 
 showing that, in obedience to an imperial rescript, a satis- 
 factory consultation has been held upon the subject of 
 railways, and that as their construction is a question of 
 the foremost importance in augmenting the power of the 
 country and promoting its prosperity, measures should be 
 
 * That is, does not make up his mind and go to work seriously. 
 
 f An allegory drawn from ancient Chinese history, in which the 
 ruler of a certain state, being overcome by his enemies, slept on 
 straw and tasted the bitter gall to inure himself to hardship, and 
 to foster resentment and a determination for strength to be re- 
 venged, which he was eventually enabled to accomplish by van- 
 quishing his victors. 
 
128 CHIXA 
 
 immediately devised whereby to raise the necessary funds 
 for their construction, and steps taken in the first place 
 to appoint a competent person to make a careful study 
 of the subject. 
 
 " Your servants would humbly state that they had the 
 honor to receive from the Grand Council, who had pri- 
 vately communicated to them, the Imperial Edict of 
 December 3d, as follows: 
 
 " ' Whereas, Liu Ming-Chu'an has memorialized us re- 
 garding the formation of railways, and has recommended 
 that steps be taken for the construction first of a line 
 from Chin-kiang to Peking, to be in connection with the 
 line of telegraph which Li Hung-Chang has asked for 
 permission to establish this year, the purport of the me- 
 morial being to recommend the adoption of measures 
 whereby to augment the power of the country: 
 
 " ' Let Li Hung-Chang and Lin K'un-Yi carefully 
 consider the proposals set forth therein, and let them 
 memorialize the result of their deliberations. 
 
 " ' Let a copy of Liu Ming-Chu'an's memorial be 
 made and forwarded to them. 
 
 "'Eespect this!' 
 
 " Looking upward, your servants behold with un- 
 speakable respect and submission their sacred master's 
 anxiety concerning the present troubles, and his untiring 
 endeavors to devise plans for rousing the energies of the 
 country, and incessant efforts to obtain information on 
 every side. 
 
 " Prostrate, your servants beg to make the following 
 observations: 
 
 " In the earliest ages, when mankind were first cre- 
 ated, the nine divisions of China were subdivided into 
 some ten thousand different states, each of which had 
 its own habits and customs. Although within a few hun- 
 dred li of each other, they were divided and had no inter- 
 course with each other. When the sages came into ex- 
 istence, men learned to scoop out logs of wood and con- 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG'S MEMORIAL 129 
 
 vert them into canoes; wood was hewed into paddles, and 
 with the aid of these paddles and canoes they crossed over 
 to places which were before inaccessible; oxen were yoked 
 to carts and horses were mounted; heavy burdens were 
 dragged to great distances, and thus all parts of the 
 world became benefited. It is over four thousand years 
 from that time to the present, and all parts of the coun- 
 try, north, south, east, and west, have the same doctrine 
 and the same literature; a condition of things that may 
 rightly be styled flourishing. 
 
 " The nations of the West have always studied the 
 arts with minute care, and they all manufacture steam- 
 boats and railways. Although the earth is about ninety 
 thousand li in circumference, they are able to surmount 
 all obstacles, and travel through almost every part of it. 
 They have superseded the boats and chariots bequeathed 
 to us by the old sages, by putting forth new ideas and 
 producing inventions which appear to be Heaven-sent for 
 the benefit of mankind. 
 
 " In these latter years China has derived no small 
 amount of benefit by imitating Western nations, and 
 building steamboats. The human intellect becomes en- 
 lightened after it has been obscure. Eough materials are 
 transformed into utensils for use. Communities get 
 united after being divided. These are the natural results 
 of the laws of Nature, and it is neither wisdom nor force 
 that can restrain them. 
 
 " Railways first had their origin in England, in the 
 working of coal-mines. In the first year of the reign of 
 Tao-Kwang, the tracks, which were to keep the wheels of 
 the cars in control, were first laid down, and from that 
 time the invention gradually improved. They were used 
 in transporting coal and iron to the markets for sale, and 
 the profits realized were very great. Their use was sub- 
 sequently extended to every branch of industry and trade, 
 and England came to be the champion of Europe; France, 
 America, Eussia, Germany, and other great nations then 
 
130 CHINA 
 
 followed sviit, and built railways, and it was only after 
 they possessed them that they were enabled to encroach 
 upon and usurp the land of their neighbors and open up 
 and reclaim wild territory. As the populations of these 
 countries increased, and trade flourished, they had to ex- 
 tend their railways in order to meet the improved cir- 
 cumstances of the times. From that time the two con- 
 tinents of Europe and America became accessible from all 
 points of the compass, as each had constructed some hun- 
 dred thousand U of railroads. Troops ordered to a given 
 point reach their destination in a day, and news and tid- 
 ings travel with the rapidity of the wind. 
 
 " The daily increase in prosperity and strength that 
 has marked the progress of these nations throughout the 
 last forty or fifty years may be ascribed to the fact that 
 they possess steamers that plow through the sea, and 
 railways that make traveling by land exceedingly con- 
 venient. 
 
 " Now, to speak of Japan, she is a small, insignificant 
 country, yet she possesses railways that run across the 
 whole of her country. Her idea is that, by adopting 
 Western mechanical improvements, she will have it in her 
 power to despise China. 
 
 " Eussia has railways that run from Europe to within 
 a short distance of Hao Han, Kiakhta, and neighboring 
 places, and she is about to build a line from Hai Shen 
 Wei to Hui Chun. The frontiers of China and Eussia 
 are coterminous with each other for some ten thousand 
 li. If we build some railways now while it is time, the 
 present force of our army will be amply sufiicient to pro- 
 tect our frontier; but without railways all our endeavors 
 to protect that frontier will be futile, even though we in- 
 crease our troops and supplies. 
 
 " China's isolation in being without railways, when all 
 other nations possess them, may be aptly illustrated by 
 supposing those who lived in the middle ae:es to have 
 discarded the use of the boats and chariots of their time. 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG'S MEMORIAL 13I 
 
 They could not help being behind other men in all their 
 moYements. 
 
 " Your servants estimate that the advantages to be 
 derived by the possession of railways may be classed under 
 about nine principal divisions: 
 
 " 1. The country north of the Yang-tse and Hwai 
 Elvers is rather destitute of water-courses, unlike the 
 southern provinces which abound with rivers and streams, 
 by which all manner of goods are conveyed in different 
 directions. It is owing to this that out of the twenty to 
 thirty million taels of revenue derived yearly from for- 
 eign goods and lekin, the southern provinces provide 
 about nine tenths, while the northern provinces figure 
 for one tenth only; whereas, if railways are gradually 
 built, communication will be established throughout the 
 country like the threads in a loom, commodities can be 
 transported and interchanged between the different prov- 
 inces according to their respective wants. The idle popu- 
 lation of the northern provinces will become industrious; 
 no part of arable land will be allowed to remain unprofit- 
 able, nor the energies of man lie dormant, and the con- 
 dition of the country will gradually become one of afflu- 
 ence. The customary duties and lekin can be levied at 
 the important points of the line, so that the revenue de- 
 rived from these sources will be equally divided between 
 the northern and southern provinces. This is the first 
 advantage that will accrue to the finances of the country. 
 
 " 2. It is a well-known fact that union in an army 
 means strength, and that weakness is the result of dis- 
 union. China's frontier on land and her sea-board are 
 each over ten thousand U in extent. It is not to be sup- 
 posed that defenses are to be built at every place along 
 this line, for not only will our troops and supplies be in- 
 sufficient, but this would be a plan without any sense. 
 Railways are wanted to make military operations success- 
 ful. With their aid, distances like those of Yunnan, 
 Kwei-Chow, Kansu, and Kuldja, can be accomplished in 
 
132 CHINA 
 
 about ten days. The troops garrisoned in the eighteen 
 provinces may be converted into an effective active bat- 
 talion; hereafter the number of soldiers may be dimin- 
 ished, supplies curtailed, and several regiments converted 
 into one effective corps. The army can be summoned at 
 one signal, its discipline and power will be concentrated, 
 and one soldier made as efficient as ten. This is the sec- 
 ond advantage that will result from the possession of rail- 
 ways, in making military operations more successful. 
 
 " 3. Peking, which may be termed the root of our 
 country, is situated in a lonely position in the north of 
 China, at a great distance from its center, and is very dif- 
 ficult to control, nor can help be afforded in time of 
 trouble. During the war which happened in the tenth 
 year of Hsien Fung's reign, several statesmen of that day 
 advised that the capital be transferred to some more suit- 
 able locality, but in view of the gravity of the step it 
 was deemed undesirable to act precipitately on that ad- 
 vice. Moreover, every time a quarrel occurs between for- 
 eign nations and ourselves, they threaten to shatter our 
 capital. If railways are constructed, a distance of ten 
 thousand K may be considered as at one's very threshold, 
 for it can be accomplished in no time, and a hundred mil- 
 lion soldiers can be moved to a given place within a few 
 days. All parts of the country will be in a condition of 
 protection and security, the Government will be peace- 
 able and unmoved as a rock, and in case of danger assist- 
 ance will be readily forthcoming. Officials and mer- 
 chants of every province will be continually traveling to 
 long distances by the railway. Merchandise and govern- 
 ment grain will be transported with surprising rapidity. 
 All will be anxious to travel by this route, and to avail 
 themselves of the railway-depot for the storage of their 
 goods. In time of peace it can not fail to prosper trade 
 and to increase the activity of the multitudes. There 
 will be no further necessity to talk of transferring the 
 capital; moreover, the covetous designs of foreign nations 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG'S MEMORIAL 133 
 
 will be cut short forever, and the foundation of our coun- 
 try will become immovable for a hundred centuries. In 
 this way our capital city will be protected, which is the 
 third advantage to be gained by the possession of rail- 
 ways. 
 
 " 4. A few years since, during the disastrous famine 
 that raged in the provinces of Shansi and Honan, the 
 price of grain in Shansi rose to the exorbitant rate of 
 over forty taels * per picul. Had there been railways to 
 convey it, the price could not have exceeded some seven 
 taels per picul, including the freight from Tientsin. 
 When the country is in possession of railways, if any 
 calamity by drought or inundation should happen in any 
 of the provinces, relief, in the shape of grain or money, 
 can be transported as rapidly as light or sound takes to 
 travel, and the lives of many human beings will be spared. 
 Moreover, goods will flow easily to all parts of the coun- 
 try, and the evils of exorbitant prices and engrossing com- 
 modities in a market will be avoided. This is the fourth 
 advantage that railways will bring by benefiting and pre- 
 serving the lives of the people. 
 
 "5. Since the transportation of the government grain- 
 tax was transferred from the junks to be conveyed over 
 the sea by steamers, several officials have criticised the 
 step, and have ever been anxious that the old custom of 
 conveying it via the Grand Canal should be re-established, 
 in order to forestall the unseen dangers of the sea. 
 When railways are constructed, the transportation of the 
 grain will flow unobstructed like [the blood in] the 
 arteries of the human system, and if on some day the sea- 
 road be rendered dangerous by war, there need be no 
 anxiety that any obstacle will prevent the whole amount 
 (one million piculs) of grain from being transported to its 
 destination. Besides this, munitions of war, such as gun- 
 
 *A tael is worth about one dollar and thirty-three cents in 
 Mexican silver. 
 
134 CHINA 
 
 powder, guns, and weapons, and Government taxes [in 
 kind], will all be conveyed without the slightest impedi- 
 ment. This is the benefit that will result to measures of 
 transportation, and is the fifth advantage to be gained 
 by the possession of railways. 
 
 " 6. The speed of railways is ten times that of the 
 fleetest horse. Henceforth dispatches can be sent with 
 increased rapidity. Government orders and missions for 
 purposes of investigation will travel with greater speed 
 than is now possible by the post-horses. Exclusive of 
 this, letters and parcels will be conveyed rapidly; soldiers 
 sent in pursuit of robbers and malefactors will reach them 
 in a day. Some of the Government post-stations on the 
 main road might be abolished, and the savings appropri- 
 ated to the maintenance of the railway. This is the sixth 
 advantage that will result to the postal department of the 
 Government. 
 
 " 7. The coal and iron mines of the empire are all at 
 a distance from the water-courses. If railways are used 
 in transporting the products of these mines, the cost- 
 price will be small, and their sale abundant, and in pro- 
 portion as the sales increase the mines will prosper and 
 be opened up in large numbers. The expenditure re- 
 quired for constructing the railway will be greatly econo- 
 mized by using the coal and iron of the mines, and the 
 profits that will be derived from their working will be 
 an inexhaustible source of supply for the army. Thus, 
 mining operations will be developed and benefited, 
 and this is the seventh advantage that railways will 
 bring. 
 
 " 8. It is difficult to carry goods to places that are re- 
 mote from the rivers and canals, as^it is difficult to bring 
 native produce thence. With railways merchandise will 
 be conveyed to and from places that are inaccessible to 
 steamers, and traffic will be considerably increased. Thus, 
 steamers and railways will aid each other mutually in 
 transporting goods. This is the eighth advantage that 
 
LI HUXG-CHANG'S MEMORIAL 135 
 
 will inure to the carrying-trade of the China Merchants' 
 Steam Navigation Company. 
 
 " 9. When railways are introduced, all classes of trav- 
 elers, whether ofEeials, commoners, merchants, or soldiers, 
 traveling on private or public business, can go to great 
 distances with surpassing speed (literally one thousand li) 
 in a twinkling. The expenses of the journey will he con- 
 siderably reduced in view of the rapidity with which one 
 travels, there need be no fear of robbers on the road, 
 and the dangers of wind and wave will be avoided. This 
 is the ninth advantage that railways will create by im- 
 proving the system of traveling in the empire. 
 
 "As your servants have shown in the beginning of 
 this memorial, the various nations of the West have sud- 
 denly risen in importance because they have all been care- 
 ful to develop and employ this new invention. It must 
 be remembered, moreover, that the revenue of the state 
 and military tactics are considerations of the foremost im- 
 portance in planning measures for strengthening the 
 country and promoting its prosperity. 
 
 " Your Majesties' confirmation of the purport of Liu 
 Ming-Chu'an's memorial, viz., the recommendation of 
 measures that will augment the power of the country, is 
 in reality what is meant when he says that he foresees 
 the advent of some calamity, and the daily increase of 
 our embarrassments, and while expressing his resentment 
 at the injustice of foreign nations toward us, desires that 
 the energies of the country be immediately roused by the 
 promulgation first of our intention to introduce railways, 
 and thus cause the insidious designs of Eussia and Japan 
 to disappear. 
 
 " The railroads that are urgently needed in China 
 are, two lines in the south, one to go from Chin-kiang, 
 through the provinces of Shantung and Chihli, reaching 
 Peking, the other from Hankow, through Honan, to Pe- 
 king; and two northern lines, one running from Peking 
 eastward to Feng-t'ien, the other running westward to 
 
136 CHINA 
 
 Kansu. These four routes, if constructed, may be termed 
 the root and stem of the railway enterprise. If branch 
 lines are required to go to places of importance distant 
 a few hundred li from the main way, your servants be- 
 lieve that they can easily be formed. The distances being 
 short, and the necessary expenditure small, contributions 
 can be invited from the merchants, who will be glad to 
 respond to them. Thus the smaller lines will shoot ofE 
 from the main way like the branches of a tree, so as 
 to form a regular network, and there need be no anxiety 
 that the railway enterprise will not flourish. 
 
 " As, however, the construction of these four lines will 
 necessitate an enormous outlay, it will be exceedingly 
 difficult to undertake them all at once. The suggestion 
 of Liu Ming-Chu'an, that the line from Chin-kiang to 
 Peking be lirst built in connection with the line of tele- 
 graph which your servant, Li Hung-Chang, proposed to 
 lay this year, is one which, if adopted, will bring two ad- 
 vantages, viz., facility in overseeing the line, and unin- 
 terriipted means of sending telegrams. If the construc- 
 tion first of this line be said to be only a partial benefit 
 to the country, considering its condition and require- 
 ments, it must be remembered that all the nations of the 
 West were similarly situated fifty years ago, and that it is 
 only owing to their determined efforts to construct them 
 and push to the front, for fear of being behind, that they 
 are able to have the influence which they possess to-day. 
 Liu Ming-Chu'an's idea is first to give an example, where- 
 by a start may be made. If the enterprise is pushed on 
 gradually, there need be no fear that it will not some day 
 be in a flourishing condition. 
 
 " If it be argued by some that after railways are con- 
 structed it is to be feared that the road will be used by 
 enemies to invade our country, or, again, that as for- 
 eigners have long been wishing to build railways in 
 China, if she once makes a commencement it may give 
 these foreigners reason to become exceedingly importu- 
 
LI HUNG-CHAKG'S MEMORIAL I37 
 
 nate; * it must be said that such objections can only be 
 made by those who are ignorant that every nation uses 
 its railways in transporting troops to defend the country 
 against its enemies. They have never been known to 
 serve the purposes of an enemy. This will be made 
 plain by remembering that the railway is within our ter- 
 ritory. Every pass on the frontier being guarded, it is 
 not likely that the enemy will find their way through 
 some neglected passage. If, by some extraordinary haz- 
 ard, a danger like this should happen, one portion of the 
 road can be destroyed, and the whole made useless, or if 
 the train be kept out of the enemy's hands, the road will 
 be of no value without it. Other nations have had no 
 reason to be anxious on this point, since railways were 
 built some scores of years ago. It is a condition that may 
 be likened to the convenience of the man at home, and 
 the disadvantage of the stranger abroad. 
 
 " By international law and the treaties, foreign nations 
 are prohibited to build railroads in the territory of an- 
 other power without the authority of that power. If we 
 apprehend that they will rely on their superior strength 
 and violate the treaties, and we do not proceed to con- 
 struct railways ourselves, will our mere apprehensions pre- 
 vent them from presuming on their strength if they de- 
 sire to do so? 
 
 " Foreigners are, moreover, constantly advising us 
 how to benefit China. If we proceed of our own motion 
 to adopt measures that will benefit the country by con- 
 structing this important line, it will be enough to cut 
 short all further officious advice from them. 
 
 " Again, if objections be made to the railway on the 
 score of its interference with the welfare of carters and 
 
 * This fear is never lost sight of by those opposed to the intro- 
 duction of railroads. Under its impulse the railroads between 
 Peking, Pao-ting-Pu, Tientsin, Taku, Shan-hai-kwan, and in Man- 
 churia where they could be reached, were most effectually broken 
 and destroyed during the Boxer war. 
 13 
 
138 CHINA 
 
 other classes of laborers, who, it is apprehended, will have 
 no way of getting their food and clothing, and that dis- 
 turbances must inevitably result in consequence of these 
 poor people having lost their means of sustenance; * to 
 these objections it must be answered that in England, 
 in the early days of the railway, there were similar fears 
 that many poor people would be robbed of their means of 
 support; but before long the number of carts and traffic 
 generally in the important towns on the line of the rail- 
 way became double what it was formerly. Then the rail- 
 way will be on the main road, and can not interfere with 
 the villages and little towns in the by-places, which will 
 continue as before to use carts and men to transport goods 
 and passengers. An increase in the railway-traffic will 
 necessarily produce a corresponding increase in the num- 
 ber of carts and carriers. 
 
 " If the railway enterprise reaches a condition of pros- 
 perity, it will give work to numbers of men, viz., em- 
 ployes to run the train, laborers to make the roads, 
 guardsmen to watch the line, carriers to load and unload 
 merchandise, and menials to attend on the passengers. 
 The monthly allowances to these men will amply sufB.ce 
 them to support their parents and their families, and if 
 any of them have a little surplus means they might open 
 an inn, and, with an increase in their business, take 
 partners, and, without much effort, have a trade with 
 capital and profit. It may, therefore, be reckoned that 
 every ten or twenty li of railroad will support and aSord 
 means of living for not less than some hundred thousand 
 men. 
 
 " Another way in which numbers of men will be em- 
 ployed is in the coal, iron, and other mines, which will 
 be opened in large numbers when railways are con- 
 
 * This argument is constantly used against the introduction of 
 railroads, and doubtless inspired the common people to join cheer- 
 fully in their destruction during the recent invasion of the allied 
 forces. 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG'S MEMORIAL 139 
 
 structed. The numbers of poor miners who live by the 
 sweat of their brow will be incalculably increased, which 
 is positive proof of the benefit that will result to all classes 
 of miners. 
 
 " Finally, some may argue that the railway will inter- 
 fere with the fields, homes, and graves of the people, and 
 that much opposition to it must be expected in conse- 
 quence.* These arguments can only be made in igno- 
 rance of the fact that the Government roads are broad, 
 and that the permanent way will not require much more 
 than ten feet, and therefore can not interfere with the 
 fields, homes, and graves of the people. In places where 
 the Government road is too narrow, a strip of land can be 
 bought and paid for liberally; and if graves do present 
 themselves in the way of the line, they can easily be 
 avoided by a slight detour. Liu Ming-Chu'an traveled all 
 over the empire while engaged in exterminating the 
 rebels in former years, and is thoroughly familiar with 
 the condition of the country and the circumstances of 
 the inhabitants. 
 
 " The introduction of railways, however, being a ques- 
 tion of paramount importance, it behooves us to examine 
 the subject very carefully in the first stages of its man- 
 agement to forestall future evils and have a good model 
 by which to go in the long run. Your servants have been 
 careful to gather much information on this subject, and 
 find that the railways constructed by foreigners are of 
 various kinds; some are strong and last a good while; 
 others, again, are less durable and last only a short 
 time. Their prices also differ very widely; one li of road 
 may cost a few thousand taels, or it may cost ten thousand 
 taels. As the road from Chin-kiang to Peking is an 
 important highway, the line which it is proposed to build 
 
 * This is generally supposed to be the greatest difficulty to be 
 overcome, but the experience of late years shows that it is not at 
 all insuperable. — J. H. W. 
 
140 CHINA 
 
 should be a substantial one, so as to last for a long 
 time. Although it is difficult to estimate in advance 
 what sum will be required, it is certain that it will not 
 be small. 
 
 " The money at the disposal of the Government is 
 very limited at the present time. If the funds required 
 for constructing the railway be called for from the prov- 
 inces, the provincial officers will not know how to raise 
 the money; or if contribution be invited from merchants, 
 it will be difiieult to collect them in consequence of the 
 wide dispersion of these classes. The proposition of Liu 
 Ming-Chu'an, that a foreign loan be negotiated, is the 
 only feasible plan. China has on former occasions fre- 
 quently contracted foreign loans, but some officials, fear- 
 ing that each province would make this a precedent for 
 borrowing money, and become so far involved as to be at 
 the mercy of foreign creditors, the Board of Eevenue 
 memorialized, and the contraction of foreign loans was 
 interdicted. It must be said, however, that a loan for 
 starting a large, profitable undertaking and a loan in aid 
 of the army are two different things. When railways are 
 started, the interest on the loan can be easily repaid by 
 the profits of their working, and the Government will 
 have gained a lasting source of profit. 
 
 " But there are three things in the contractions of for- 
 eign loans that demand great care: 
 
 " 1. As it is to be apprehended that the foreign lend- 
 ers will take the direction of the railway into their own 
 hands and exclude us from being masters in the business, 
 a clause must be inserted, distinctly stating that they may 
 not interfere in the matter. The interest of the money 
 being guaranteed, and the debt being punctually paid up 
 at the specified dates, all matters relating to employing 
 workmen, purchasing materials, and constructing the 
 line, must be left to our management, the foreign creditor 
 being debarred from questioning our actions. If this 
 condition be inadmissible, no foreign loan should be made. 
 
LI HUKG-CHANG'S MEMORIAL 141 
 
 " 2. The next fear is that foreigners will strive unlaw- 
 fully to get the undertaking into their own hands. To 
 prevent this, the regulations of the China Merchants' 
 Steam Navigation Company, which exclude foreigners 
 from becoming shareholders, will have to be followed. 
 When the railway company is formed, its management 
 will be in the hands of Chinese merchants, subject, how- 
 ever, to the supervision of some Government official. 
 Kegulations should be made, after consultation, providing 
 for the repayment of the loan by the said company by in- 
 stallments in different years, till the whole amount, in- 
 terest and capital, be cleared ofE. If there should happen 
 to be failures in paying up, the Government superintend- 
 ent will urge payment; the company will only be allowed 
 to mortgage the railway, but not to transfer it into the 
 hands of the foreign creditors. The repayment of the 
 loan being thus clearly provided for by limitation, all mal- 
 practices will be cut short. A foreign loan should not be 
 contracted unless the foregoing indispensable condition 
 be complied with. 
 
 " 3. The third danger is, that the finances of the 
 country will have to suffer in consequence of the railway 
 loan. Hitherto when foreign loans have been negotiated, 
 the revenue derived from the maritime customs has al- 
 ways been appropriated to repay them. Eecently the 
 customs establishments have been called upon to meet so 
 many demands for money that they are greatly embar- 
 rassed. It should be clearly stipulated that the loan will 
 have no connection with the customs revenue. The Gov- 
 ernment will decide in what way the profits to be derived 
 from the railway enterprise will be successively appropri- 
 ated toward repaying the debt, which will be cleared off 
 at latest within ten or twenty years. No foreign loan 
 should be made without this indispensable condition for 
 the protection of the finances of the state. 
 
 " The foregoing three provisos are important consid- 
 erations in negotiating a foreign loan. 
 
142 CHINA 
 
 "Your servants have learned that foreigners have 
 hitherto been very careful, in making loans, to consider 
 vi^hat the chances are of recovering their money. If the 
 conditions set forth above are rigorously adhered to, it is 
 Hkely they will not be willing to lend; but if they are, 
 then the construction of railways may be proceeded with 
 at once. Instead, however, of proceeding to build them 
 hastily, regardless of evils which a loan on any condi- 
 tion might entail, the business should be deferred to be 
 maturely considered, that there be no reason to repent 
 of errors. Your servants have also learned that none of 
 the railways of other nations have been built without a 
 loan. Their mode of procedure is the following: An en- 
 gineer of reputation makes a survey of the road, and a 
 prospectus is prepared, clearly showing the estimates of 
 the undertaking and the probabilities of its success, 
 which is a means of amply securing the confidence of the 
 people. 
 
 " The road from north to south which it is proposed 
 to build in China will, after it has run some time, bring 
 considerable profit. When the public company is formed, 
 an engineer of intelligence and reputation should be en- 
 gaged to make a careful estimate of the undertaking. 
 His estimate will be carefully considered by the Tsung-li 
 Yamen and your servants, who will prepare a satisfactory 
 and reliable prospectus, on which some wealthy foreign 
 merchants might be induced to accommodate us with 
 the loan. 
 
 " As regards the selecting of materials for construct- 
 ing the railway, estimating how many K of the road are 
 to be built, hiring laborers economically and at the same 
 time to obtain substantial work, all these are matters 
 that should be carefully investigated, so that the essential 
 parts of the business be not overlooked. 
 
 " A high official should ,be specially deputed to super- 
 intend the management of this business, which includes 
 inviting shareholders and raising the loan, measuring the 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG'S MEMORIAL 143 
 
 land, hiring laborers, etc., etc., and is somewhat intricate. 
 Without this step the business can not be expected to 
 work satisfactorily. Your servants beg to state that Liu 
 Ming-Chu'an is a man in the full vigor of life, and pos- 
 sesses a bold and resolute nature; he has gone through 
 great hardships in the service of his country, and is very 
 desirous to undertake the management of this business, 
 since he has seen lately that foreign nations are ill-treat- 
 ing us on all sides, and believes that the country's pres- 
 ent state of helplessness should be changed for an atti- 
 tude of strength. The business, however, being an inno- 
 vation, its management will be difficult, and it will re- 
 quire time before we experience its benefits. If any 
 imminent danger were threatening the empire, and the 
 court were to order Liu Ming-Chu'an to take a com- 
 mand, the consideration of this affair would naturally 
 have to be postponed, but he is now without any occupa- 
 tion, having solicited leave to nurse his health. Should 
 this proposition be honored with the sanction of their 
 sacred master, and Liu Ming-Chu'an be appointed to 
 superintend the management of the railway company, 
 your servants would pray that he be ordered, in the first 
 place, to make a careful study of the important points in 
 this business, and without precipitancy to consult and 
 deliberate thereon. Japan and Eussia will be startled to 
 hear that, in the midst of all her difficulties, China has 
 still strength left to take this step. It will be manifest- 
 ing something on which they did not reckon — a truly 
 admirable way of first giving the sound and following it 
 up with the reality. As Liu Ming-Chu'an is now at lei- 
 siire, he might proceed to invite shareholders and form 
 a company to consider the question of a foreign loan; 
 although it is hard to say whether or not a large sum can 
 be raised, his reputation as a man of loyal merit is more 
 likely to enlist the united assistance of men of all classes, 
 both foreign and native, than any other official. 
 
 " There are over ten thousand men stationed in the 
 
144 CIIIXA 
 
 garrisons of Chili and Kiangsu, who served under Liu 
 Ming-Chu'an in former years. In his study of the rail- 
 way question, it might appear plain to him that an eco- 
 nomical way of proceeding will be to employ the aid of 
 these men in constructing the road, and if the contribu- 
 tions of native merchants be abundant, the surplus can 
 be applied to some other purpose. In each case it will 
 be the duty of your servants to consult with him and 
 manage the business according to the shape it may as- 
 sume. The question of introducing railways having been 
 thus brought before the Throne by Liu Ming-Chu'an, its 
 management from first to last should be intrusted to him. 
 If, for any reason, the business be put o£E ten years, at the 
 end of that time he should still be charged with it; there 
 is no other person on whom he could place the responsi- 
 bility. Should other and more important calls of duty 
 arise after his appointment, he can leave the railway busi- 
 ness, and, in obedience to the orders of the Throne, pro- 
 ceed to his new post of duty. 
 
 " When railways are built in China, she must also 
 open up her coal and iron mines to prevent her treasure 
 from flowing into foreign lands. The coal and iron mines 
 in the neighborhood of Che-chou-fu and Lou-wan-fu, in 
 Shansi, are very rich. It is matter of regret that no mer- 
 chants, with large capital, are to be found to work them. 
 If the capital for constructing railways can be raised, 
 one tenth of the sum obtained might be employed in 
 working the mines after Western methods and with for- 
 eign machinery, and the coal and iron obtained might 
 be used for the railway. Thus the mines will be devel- 
 oped and benefited by the railway, and will, in turn, help 
 to extend the railway enterprise, and the two undertak- 
 ings will bring about a highly desirable result. 
 
 " Your servants forward, with all dispatch, their me- 
 morial in reply, reverently prepared, setting forth the 
 considerations relative to railways as a means of augment- 
 ing the power of the country, and to the necessity of first 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG'S MBMOEIAL 145 
 
 making a careful study of the question. Prostrate they 
 submit their reply to the Throne, and pray Your Majes- 
 ties, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, to cast 
 your sacred glances thereon, and to issue your instruc- 
 tions in the premises." 
 
 Neither the Viceroy Li, nor the Governor-General 
 Liu, in any way changed his opinions upon the important 
 matters discussed in the foregoing memorials, but, to the 
 contrary, they both reiterated them in personal conver- 
 sation with me, and assured me clearly and unequivo- 
 cally, that they intended to have railroads as soon as they 
 could obtain imperial sanction for them. There was al- 
 ways a generous rivalry between them as to who should 
 first get permission. Both showed themselves from the 
 first to be consistent friends of progress, and lost no 
 opportunity to promote the introduction of railroads and 
 other appliances of modern civilization. Chang Chi-tung 
 and other viceroys lent their powerful support in later 
 years to the movement, but to the Viceroy Li more than 
 any other man was due the success which has so far at- 
 tended it. 
 
 Patient, adroit, and thoroughly in earnest, and while 
 by nature far from being disposed to make himself ob- 
 noxious to those in authority over him, or to seriously 
 weaken himself by running counter either to their preju- 
 dices or to the well-established customs of the country, 
 he thoroughly understands the arts of a courtier, as well 
 as those of a statesman, and thus was enabled to silence 
 the opposition and secure the imperial approval of his 
 policy. Gradually throwing aside the principles of rigid 
 conservatism which is the essence of Chinese philosophy 
 and state-craft, he has put himself squarely at the head of 
 the progressive movement. He has never for a moment 
 tried to delude himself or others into the belief that the 
 "Western nations are barbarians and their arts valueless. 
 He has been too long and too intimately associated with 
 
146 CHINA 
 
 foreigners to look down upon them with contempt, or 
 even to treat them with discourtesy. He impressed me 
 from the beginning of our acquaintance as a calm, far- 
 sighted, and enlightened statesman, who, without having 
 a technical understanding of Western arts and sciences, 
 knows their vast superiority to any that the Chinese 
 have, and does not fear to say so whenever occasion re- 
 quires it. 
 
 The Viceroy Li's first great accession to his party, 
 if I may use the word in writing of a country where no 
 such thing as party is known, or can be known for many 
 years, was the late Tso Tsung-tang, who had always been 
 opposed to foreigners and foreign methods in everything. 
 He was a great scholar, and also a great soldier. 
 Throughout a long and useful career he was a bold, reso- 
 lute, and outspoken adviser of the Throne, and was always 
 a hero and favorite with the conservatives. He had mili- 
 tary talents of a high order, and is thought by many to 
 have been the greatest Chinese general of modern times 
 (as Li is indubitably the greatest statesman), but he 
 never undertook to disguise his fierce contempt for the 
 " Western barbarians." He used Krupp guns and im- 
 proved small arms in his Turkistan campaigns, but would 
 never admit that he needed any one to show him how to 
 use them. He was a firm believer in the Chinese system, 
 and, although in some degree a recluse, he did not fail to 
 keep himself informed of what progress was promising to 
 do for his country. He died, full of years and honors, 
 just before my first visit to China, leaving Li with no 
 rival to dispute his supremacy either in war or states- 
 manship, and paying the highest possible tribute, in his 
 dying memorial to the Throne, to the superior wisdom of 
 the great Chinese liberal leader. 
 
 This pathetic document, evidently prepared with the 
 last remnant of the writer's strength, was translated for 
 the North China Herald of October 7, 1885, and runs as 
 follows: 
 
TSO TSUNG-TANG'S MEMORIAL , 147 
 
 " May it please Your Majesties! Tour Majesties' gra- 
 cious favor unrequited. Your servant sick, unto death, 
 utters these valedictory words, and implores that the 
 sacred glance may deign to rest thereon. 
 
 " Your servant, finding his bodily ailments increasing 
 daily, besought an extension of furlough, for the purpose 
 of restoring his health. This was granted him on the 
 25th of the seventh moon, and he prepared forthwith a 
 memorial of thanks, at the same time handing over to 
 Yang Chang-Chun his imperial commissioner's seal, and 
 the business connected with the various military depart- 
 ments under his control. Then he would have started 
 upon his homeward journey, but, within a couple of days 
 or so, severe pains in the loins came on, making it trouble- 
 some for him either to sit or stand. His hands and feet 
 were numbed; hot phlegm rose in his throat; he knew that 
 the end was come! 
 
 " Your servant, a poor scholar of books, first attracted 
 the attention of His G-racious Majesty the Emperor 
 Hsien-Feng, and has held important posts under three 
 successive reigns. He has assisted at the deliberations of 
 the Privy Council; he has been commander-in-chief of the 
 army. And, were his corpse to be rolled into a horse's 
 skin, he could not complain that he had not received his 
 due. But now, when peace or war in Annam means the 
 weakness or strength of China, and when your servant, 
 traveling southward, has to this date not once engaged 
 in conflict with the foe, and made manifest the might of 
 our arms, he feels a grief in life that will prevent his 
 closing his eyes in death. 
 
 " Overwhelmed with imperial kindness, it is but a year 
 since your servant took leave of Your Majesties. And 
 now he can never again set eyes upon the divine counte- 
 nance, but must wait until, as a dog or a horse, he may 
 discharge his debt in the life to come. Now he is but a 
 bird that sings a sadder strain as death draws near. 
 
 " At present, when peace has just been made in the 
 
148 CHINA 
 
 regions of the west (Annam), Japan is seeking to thrust 
 herself upon us, and the various nations of the earth 
 watch round us like glaring beasts. Unless we make a 
 great and united effort to close the stable ere the steed be 
 gone; unless we keep our mugivort * on hand ready for 
 use, in the event of further trouble, we shall become 
 weaker and weaker, and less able to make an effort, until 
 at length we shall not even be able to attain the point at 
 which we are to-day. 
 
 " Therefore, let Your Majesties, out of the delibera- 
 tions of the high offices on the matter of the coast-defense, 
 come rapidly to a decision. Let railways and mines and 
 the construction of ships and guns be undertaken at once, 
 as a means of insuring our national prosperity and 
 strength. At the same time, as understanding is at the 
 root of all undertakings, let Your Majesty the Emperor 
 attend with more and more diligence to the study of our 
 sacred books. Be not remiss even in the smallest matter. 
 Daily associate with men of principle, and listen to their 
 counsels. Take what is not absolutely necessary to be 
 spent at the moment, and apply it to the wants of na- 
 tional defense. Be sparing in every-day life, that there 
 may be a fund for circumstances unforeseen. Let the 
 Emperor and his ministers strive with one accord in what 
 is right, to procure what is right, and your servant will 
 seem in the day of his death to be born again into life. 
 
 " With gasping breath and flowing tears your servant 
 humbly speaks these words, which are copied down to be 
 submitted to careful consideration under Your Majesty's 
 mirror-like glance." 
 
 No official action was predicated exclusively upon this 
 remarkable memorial, but there is abundant evidence 
 that it has made a profound impression upon the literary 
 and official class throughout the Empire, as well as upon 
 
 * For purposes of cauterization. 
 
IMPORTANCE OP TSO TSUNG-TANG'S MEMORIAL 149 
 
 the foreigners residing within its borders. The simple 
 fact that it was not suppressed by the Empress Eegent 
 would alone go to prove that she was not then inimical 
 to the introduction of railroads; but it is well known that 
 she approved them at that time, and expressed herself in 
 favor of their early construction. In China, as in every 
 other country, the Throne has its courtiers and attend- 
 ants, who are loud in the declaration that it can do no 
 wrong, and is the unfailing source of wisdom and virtue. 
 But until it had spoken in an authoritative manner, the 
 utterances of such men as Li and Tso, however great their 
 wisdom or exalted their patriotism, could do no more than 
 familiarize the official class with the great ideas which 
 underlie modern progress. The adherence of so great and 
 conservative a statesman as Tso Tsung-tang to these 
 ideas, although he limited their application to the na- 
 tional defense, was a great event, and was properly con- 
 sidered the sure precursor of a wide-spread though tardy 
 acceptance of the policy which they foreshadowed. In 
 every line of the dying memorial the surrender of life- 
 long prejudices is written. Sadly and pathetically the 
 " poor scholar of books " confesses that Chinese learning 
 and Chinese arts, whether of peace or war, are alike un- 
 able to save China from conquest and dismemberment, 
 and implores his imperial master to " let railways, and 
 mines, and the construction of ships and guns be under- 
 taken." This is the very essence of progress and the 
 death-knell of conservatism, and indorsing, as it does, 
 the memorial of the Viceroy Li, it did more to increase 
 his influence and popularity than any event which up to 
 that time had ever happened in China. It hastened the 
 construction of the initial railroad, and may justly be re- 
 garded as marking the turning point in the struggle be- 
 tween conservatism and progress, and, indeed, as the in- 
 auguration of the golden age of China. 
 
 It must be added, however, that notwithstanding the 
 conclusive arguments contained in the foregoing re- 
 
150 CHINA 
 
 markable memorials, and the great strides which were 
 made during the succeeding decades in the movement 
 so hopefully inaugurated by them, the ignorant and 
 conservative censors and many of the high officials held 
 stubbornly to their own views, defending them step by step 
 and year after year by all the means in their power. Hav- 
 ing the right and opportunity of memorializing the 
 Throne at all times, they were finally enabled to over- 
 throw both Li and his progressive allies. They forced 
 the Throne not only to deprive the former of his honors 
 and dignities, but even to depose the Emperor, to execute 
 or banish all who had dared to give the enlightened views 
 which he had adopted, their support, and as the crown of 
 all to adopt the Boxer policy for the extermination of 
 all foreigners, and for the re-establishment of the ancient 
 regime. It was in pursuance of this purpose as much as 
 to punish him for the concessions he was forced to grant 
 to Japan in the treaty of Simonesaki that the aged 
 Viceroy was sent to represent the Emperor at the corona- 
 tion of the Tzar of Eussia, and on his return was dis- 
 missed from his vice-regal functions and assigned to 
 nominal duty in the Tsung-li Yamen. Owing to his great 
 popularity and influence throughout the empire they 
 feared to kill or degrade him entirely, but in order to 
 get him as far away from Peking as possible they ap- 
 pointed him Viceroy of the Province of Kwang-tung, 
 and only recalled him when the victorious allies had scat- 
 tered the Boxers, put the imperial army to flight, and 
 forced the court to seek refuge in a distant province. It 
 is the irony of fate that this remarkable man should now 
 be the chief dependence and defense of the empire, and 
 hold the fate of the dynasty in his hands. 
 
CHAPTEE X 
 
 Visit to Peking — The unspeakably filthy city of the world — Its 
 origin and characteristics — No suburbs or villas — Streets not 
 paved — The foreign legations and society — Non-intercourse 
 between court and diplomatip corps — The young Emperor — 
 The Empress Dowager — Her unlimited power — The censors — ■ 
 The Emperor worships at the tomb of his ancestors — The in- 
 fluences which control him — He can hardly become a con- 
 servative — The difficulties o£ his situation — Unprepared for a 
 foreign war. 
 
 Of course, no foreigner visits Northern China with- 
 out going to Peking, and ultimately to the Great Wall, 
 and I am no exception to the rule. The distance from 
 Tientsin to Peking is eighty miles; the wall lies about 
 forty-five miles farther north, and the journey may be 
 made in either of three ways. The most common and 
 perhaps the most comfortable way, before the railroad 
 was built and during the period of its disablement and 
 the suspension of its train service, was by houseboat, a 
 sort of scow, about thirty feet long and six feet wide, with 
 a small house built in the middle for the protection of 
 the occupant. The boat is propelled by sails, poles, or by 
 the old-fashioned method known in America as the cor- 
 delle, and generally goes no farther than Tung-chow, a 
 city fifteen miles from Peking, on the west bank of the 
 northern branch of the Pei-ho, where the Grand Canal 
 leaves it. Another way is by cart, and the Peking cart is 
 an institution peculiar to Korth China. It is an exceed- 
 ingly rude, springless vehicle, which fairly illustrates at 
 the same time the condition of the mechanic arts and of 
 
 151 
 
152 CHIXA 
 
 transportation in rural China. It looks like a large Sara- 
 toga trunk on a pair of baggage-skids, balanced on a pair 
 of wheels, and drawn by two mules driven tandem. 
 Finally, one may go on the back of a pony, breaking the 
 journey into two stages, and riding the same pony all 
 the way through, or by a relay of ponies, which enables 
 one to make the trip in a single day. 
 
 When I visited it first I chose the third method, as the 
 one requiring the least preparation, but sent my baggage 
 and servant through by cart. The country is absolutely 
 level, devoid of trees, and uninteresting, but it is under 
 the closest cultivation. The road is distinct enough for 
 about ten miles, throughotit which it occupies the river- 
 embankment, but for the most of the distance it wanders 
 about in a very indefinite and uncertain way. It shows 
 no evidence whatever of having ever been laid out or 
 worked, and it certainly has never been paved or macad- 
 amized. As there are no fences, hedges, or ditches about 
 the farms, and no farm-houses, there is nothing to desig- 
 nate even the general direction except the telegraph- 
 poles, and as they occupy the river-embankment, which is 
 very crooked, one would have to travel much farther than 
 necessary if he followed them. As a consequence, a for- 
 eigner who goes horseback requires a guide, and should be 
 sure before starting that his mafoo, or horse-boy, knows 
 the way and the stopping-places. I have made the trip 
 several times. Upon the last occasion I went both ways 
 in a light army spring wagon, accompanied by a small es- 
 cort and was thirty-six hours on the road. 
 
 Peking is the unspeakably filthy place of the world. 
 It is dirtier than Constantinople, and, although it is the 
 capital, it is even nastier than any other Chinese city, and 
 nothing worse can be said of it. No correct census has 
 ever been taken, but it is claimed that it contains a popu- 
 lation of a million souls; biit this is surely an overesti- 
 mate. The actual number is probably not over seven hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand, and may not be more than five 
 
VISIT TO PEKING 153 
 
 hundred thousand. It is surrounded by a stately gray 
 brick wall, forty-five feet high, surmounted by a crenel- 
 ated parapet with flanking towers at proper intervals. It 
 is penetrated by arched gateways, and encircled by a 
 moat, nearly always dry, which constitutes the beginning 
 and the end of the Grand Canal. 
 
 Its origin is lost to history, but it is evident that it 
 v.-as selected as a central point from which to defend the 
 northern frontier. It was at first a fortified camp, and 
 has never been much more. Here, in the olden days, 
 were gathered the forces which were expected to defend 
 the Great Plain from the ravages of the Tartars, and 
 hence it was against this point that they directed their 
 first attacks. Having captured it under Kuhlai Khan 
 in 1364 A. D., and probably many times before, they made 
 it their own capital, not only because it gave them a 
 safe base for further operations, but also because it cov- 
 ers the road which leads back into the fastnesses of Mon- 
 golia. It was visited by Marco Polo during the reign of 
 Kublai, and called by him Kambaluc, or Khan-baligh, 
 that is to say, the City of the Khan. It had already had 
 several other names, and gone through many vicissitudes. 
 After remaining the capital throughout the reign of 
 Kublai's descendants, it was wrested from their weak and 
 enfeebled hands by Hung Wu, the great Chinese soldier, 
 who drove out the conquerors, and founded the strictly 
 Chinese dynasty of the Mings. He, however, restored 
 the capital to the much more eligible city of Nanking, 
 where it remained till his son, Yung-loh, established it 
 again at Peking. The descendants of the latter held it 
 till 1644, when it was captured by the Manchus, and has 
 ever since been retained by them as the seat of their 
 dynasty and the capital of the whole empire. It is divided 
 into three parts, the Chinese City, the Tartar City, and 
 the " Purple Prohibited City," commonly called the " For- 
 bidden City," because it is inhabited by the Emperor and 
 his court, and Europeans are excluded therefrom. The 
 13 
 
154 CHIXA 
 
 parts are divided from each otlier by separate inelosures or 
 cross-walls, and while they are traversed by broad, 
 straight streets, crossing each other at right angles, they 
 are equally dirty and uninviting. There are but few 
 sewers and no police regulations. Dirt and dilapidation 
 reign supreme, and, what is worse, the people seem to 
 live almost in a state of nature, and to have no sense 
 of shame or decency. It is claimed that Peking was much 
 larger and iiner than now, during the reigns of Yung-loh 
 and Kien-Lung, but this may well be doubted. There 
 is abundant evidence that some of the roads entering it, 
 notably those from Kalgan and Tung-chow, were once 
 paved with large slabs of granite, and kept in passable 
 condition, but they have long since fallen into dilapida- 
 tion and disuse. Like everything else in China, they seem 
 to have been stricken by decrepitude. The houses, ya- 
 mens, and compounds are generally built of fire-burned 
 brick, but here, as elsewhere, disorder reigns supreme, and 
 no one ever thinks of repairing or cleaning anything. 
 Eoads, city walls, temples, houses, and streets alike, be- 
 token an inefficient administration. Dust and dirt give a 
 dingy appearance even to the highly glazed yellow and 
 green tiles, which cover the pavilions of the Forbidden 
 City. The palaces, if such a word can be appropriately 
 used, are of gray brick, but only one story high, and they 
 are as dirty, open, draughty, and uncomfortable as if they 
 were the residence of ordinary, well-to-do Chinamen, in- 
 stead of the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and their 
 immediate family and dependents. 
 
 Peking is peculiar in having no surrounding villas nor 
 pretty suburbs. It stands solitary and alone within its 
 massive walls, on a wide expanse of cultivated plain, like 
 an island in the sea, frequently buried in clouds of dust, 
 like banks of fog; withal it is an interesting place, and as 
 the capital of a far-reaching empire it is visited by many 
 curious people. Its streets in times of peace are filled by 
 hurrying crowds of officials, soldiers, and common Chi- 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OP PEKmG 155 
 
 nese, and present to the European many strange if not 
 inviting sights and sounds. Here camels are first seen in 
 large caravans, transporting Mongolian products to mar- 
 ket, and returning laden with tea, cloth, and other manu- 
 factured articles, suited to the wants of the Tartars living 
 heyond the Great Wall. They also carry all the coal 
 used in Peking from the Western Hills, a few miles 
 away. Mongolians, Thibetans, and Coreans abound, and 
 all seem to be civil and well-behaved. It is plain to 
 see, whatever outsiders may say, that these people, one 
 and all, are proud of their capital, and regard them- 
 selves as fortunate in being the subjects of the Chinese 
 Emperor. 
 
 Mud and dust in their turn render communication 
 exceedingly disagreeable if not difficult. The streets are 
 unpaved, and there are no sidewalks. Of course there 
 are no street-railways, nor gas-mains, nor water-pipes, but 
 they are all sadly needed, and there can be but little 
 doubt that the first of them would pay a handsome re- 
 turn on the capital invested from the start. 
 
 Peking being an inland city, and not a treaty port. 
 Las no foreign settlement in or near it; neither foreign 
 merchants nor bankers are permitted to reside nor even 
 to visit there without a passport, which must be arranged 
 for through the consul at Tientsin. Foreign ministers 
 and attaches live in legations, generally belonging to their 
 own governments. They are nearly all situated on one 
 street close to each other, and each is surrounded by its 
 own high brick wall or compound. The street connecting 
 them is broad, and thanks to the action and public spirit 
 of the ministers and their governments, it is well macad- 
 amized, and well kept. A movement has recently been 
 set on foot to secure its cession to them, and to set apart 
 that section of the Tartar city for the enlargement and 
 exclusive use of the legations and such foreigners as 
 may hereafter make their residence in Peking. The sin- 
 gle foreign hotel was greatly damaged during the recent 
 
156 CHINA 
 
 siege of the legations, and has been temporarily leased 
 to the French legation. 
 
 The foreign society at Peking, composed as it is en- 
 tirely of diplomatic and customs officers, and of the for- 
 eign professors in the Tung-wen College and their fami- 
 lies, is most attractive and charming.* It leads a gay and 
 happy life; tiffin, riding, and dancing parties follow each 
 other in rapid succession during the winter season, and in 
 the summer most of the families retire to the hills, where 
 they live in Buddhist temples hired for the purpose. 
 
 The diplomatic corps have no relations with the Em- 
 peror, the Empress Dowager, or the court, and never see 
 any one connected with them, except the prince and min- 
 isters of the Tsung-li Yamen, or Board of Foreign Affairs. 
 This board is a modern one, and has no administrative or 
 independent powers. Its sole duty is to receive and enter- 
 tain the foreign ministers and such distinguished 
 strangers as may be presented by them, and to forward to 
 the Throne, or to the appropriate boards, such com- 
 munications as may be lodged with it. In view of the 
 fact that none of the members of the board understands 
 English or any other foreign language, and none of the 
 foreign ministers speaks Chinese, all conversation must 
 be carried on through the intervention of official inter- 
 preters, and to prevent mistakes all official communica- 
 tions must be in writing, translated into the court dia- 
 lect, or literary language of the country. As this lan- 
 guage is an almost insuperable obstacle to the general 
 dissemination of Western knowledge, and as there is no 
 social intercourse whatever between foreigners and the 
 conservative Chinese officials, or their families, it will 
 readily be seen that there can not be a very active inter- 
 change of ideas between them. 
 
 * There are quite a large number of missionaries residing at 
 Pelting, but here as well as elsewhere there is but little social inter- 
 course between them and the diplomatic corps or other foreign 
 oflicials. 
 
EMPEROR'S RECEPTION OP FOREIGN MINISTERS 157 
 
 Shortly after the Emperor, Kwang Hsu, reached his 
 majority and assumed personal direction of affairs, one of 
 the first duties required of him under the treaties was to 
 receive the foreign ministers accredited to his Govern- 
 ment; and this, although the reception was a perfunctory 
 one, marked an epoch in the history of China, inasmuch 
 as it led to the breaking down of that exclusiveness 
 which had hitherto so effectually shut out modern ideas. 
 It was followed by others at stated intervals, and finally 
 by the construction of a Decauville railroad in the private 
 grounds of the Emperor, and the appointment of Chi- 
 nese teachers who taught him English and opened his 
 mind in some degree to the ideas of the modern civilized 
 world. His predecessor, Tung Chi, gave audience to the 
 foreign ministers only once, and the regulation of the de- 
 tails, and especially the omission of the Tcotow, which the 
 foreigners insisted upon, gave rise to protracted and de- 
 liberate negotiation, which ended in the relinquishment 
 of that absurd requirement. 
 
 The present Emperor was born August 15, 1871, 
 and, counting him a year old at birth, according to Chi- 
 nese custom, is now twenty-nine. His personal name 
 is Tsaitien, but he is ofScially designated as Kwang 
 Hsu, which is really the title of his reign. He is the 
 ninth of the Mancliu or Tsing dynasty; and Tsing, 
 which means pure, was chosen by the founder of tho 
 dynasty to indicate the purity and justice with which 
 he and his descendants proposed to administer the 
 affairs of the empire which they had captured. The sur- 
 name of this family is Gioro, or Golden, after Aisin Gioro, 
 a brave and aggressive but petty Manchurian chief, who 
 was its progenitor, and whose great descendant, Hien-tsu, 
 actually led its followers to the conquest of Peking, in 
 1644-'50. Kwang Hsu is not the son, but the first cousin, 
 of the late Emperor, Tung Chi, who died without issue 
 shortly after he had ascended the throne. A council of 
 princes, led by the mother of the deceased Emperor, who 
 
158 CHINA 
 
 was Empress Dowager during his nonage, and her sister, 
 who was the first wife of the Emperor Hienfung, and con- 
 sequently the aunt of Kwang Hsu, adopted him as heir 
 to the throne. He is the son of Prince Chun, seventh 
 brother of the Emperor Hienfung, and hence commonly- 
 designated as the Seventh Prince. Exactly why or how 
 the son of the latter was selected, instead of some other 
 of the same generation, is not clearly understood by out- 
 siders, though it was probably due to the fact that his 
 mother was also sister to the Empress Dowager. When 
 it is remembered, however, that the Chinese Emperor has 
 always exercised the right of designating which of his 
 sons should succeed him, in spite of primogeniture, and 
 that if a man, as head of a family, has no son of his own 
 body, he may adopt one, it will be seen how the Em- 
 presses Eegent, in the exercise of this right for the de- 
 ceased Emperor, may have been able to control the family 
 council in behalf of their own favorite without serious 
 trouble. At all events, the selection was made and ac- 
 quiesced in, and the little boy was duly installed on Janu- 
 ary 12, 1875, as heir to the throne. It is true that a cabal 
 within the imperial clan undertook to control the Em- 
 presses Eegent and the young Emperor, and through 
 them the administration of the Government, but this was 
 promptly frustrated by aid of Prince Kung, the eldest sur- 
 viving brother of the Emperor Hien-fung, and also of 
 Prince Chun, the young Emperor's father. 
 
 The two sisters, as co-regents, carried on the govern- 
 ment with unusual vigor and success till the 4th of April, 
 1881, at which time the first one, commonly called the 
 " Empress of the Eastern Palace," died, leaving the sole 
 power in the hands of her sister, Tz'-u Hsi, " Empress of 
 the Western Palace," and the present Empress Dowager. 
 The latter is a woman of strong character, and it is as- 
 serted by the best-informed foreigners in Peking has 
 proved herself to be the ablest ruler of China since the 
 days of Kienlung, whose reign was one of th^ longest of 
 
THJE EMPRESS DOWAGEE 159 
 
 modern times. She is sixty-six or sixty-seven years of 
 age, and is said to give tiie closest personal attention to 
 public business. She has received the ladies of the lega- 
 tions once, but has never seen or been seen by a foreign 
 official, and, so far as known, takes no notice or account 
 of their doings, and yet up to 1898 she was supposed to 
 be a liberal, or to incline toward liberalism and progress 
 in her ideas. She had seen the entire country restored to 
 peace and comparative prosperity under her rule, and her 
 dominion at the nominal surrender of it to her ward on 
 the 5th of February, 1887, was undisputed to the very 
 outermost limits of the empire. As the mother or guar- 
 dian of the young Emperor, she doubtless looked carefully 
 after his welfare according to her lights, but he had no 
 foreign teachers, and never learned enough English to 
 pursue any particular line of reading or study in the 
 Western arts and sciences. His real education was neces- 
 sarily in the language, literature, philosophy, and religion 
 of his own country. Of course, in a country where every- 
 thing is regulated by custom and a code, all the details 
 of his daily occupation were strictly laid out and con- 
 ducted; but without a strong mind and an imperious will, 
 neither of which he possessed, it was certain from the 
 start that the result must inevitably be wholly Chinese. 
 
 The Empress Dowager is said to be well educated 
 according to the Chinese system; but, inasmuch as even 
 the princes and great dignitaries of the empire have not 
 been permitted to see her familiarly, or communicate 
 freely with her, she has been left largely to the guidance 
 of the great boards of Government and her favorites in 
 the transaction of public business. During her regency 
 she has been for all practical purposes an absolute mon- 
 arch, but, according to the theory of the Chinese Consti- 
 tution — if I may use the word where the thing itself has 
 not yet passed beyond the rudimentary stage — she was 
 compelled to govern according to precedent and the prin- 
 ciples of the code. The censors might remonstrate and 
 
160 CHIXA 
 
 the grand secretaries and the boards might " advise and 
 consent," but, after all, there was no earthly power which 
 could control her against her will when she had once 
 made up her mind. The process of making up her mind 
 was therefore of the greatest importance, especially in 
 connection with new matters, or such as did not come 
 within the range of precedent or of the code. 
 
 Like all human beings, the occupant of the Chinese 
 throne is more or less under the influence of the people 
 who immediately surround his person and minister to 
 his wants, and these are of course servants of one grade 
 or another. They can unconsciously give his mind a 
 bias or twist, no matter how self-poised or independent 
 he may be; and when it is remembered that they are also 
 strictly Chinese, and that many of them belong to an un- 
 fortunate class peculiar to Oriental countries, it will be 
 seen that he is much more likely to be influenced by 
 ignorance and prejudice than by enlightened and progres- 
 sive ideas. Under such influences, he would naturally 
 be inclined to let well enough alone, and to set his face 
 against change; and so, if change comes, it must be un- 
 der the pressure of some force great enough to break 
 down the opposition of the ignorant and unfortunate, 
 and command attention, whether the case in hand comes 
 within the ordinary rules or not. Under the pressure of 
 war or some great emergency, or in the face of some great 
 public necessity, the voice of the statesman, even though 
 he be but " a poor scholar of books," may penetrate to 
 the innermost recesses of the palace; but, even when in- 
 vited, he may not speak except when lying prostrate in 
 " the divine presence." The common method of advis- 
 ing the Throne is by memorial, which must be most care- 
 fully expressed in the classic literary style; and I have 
 been told that no verbal explanations may be offered, ex- 
 cept in response to a direct question from His Majesty. 
 The Peking Gazette is full of cases where the memorial- 
 ist has been reprimanded, or handed over to the Board of 
 
VriLE CENSORS MAY MEMORIALIZE THE THRONE 161 
 
 Punisliments for the determination of a proper penalty 
 for the use of a careless or inelegant word or phrase. 
 
 Theoretically the censors, whose functions I will ex- 
 plain more fully hereafter, may memorialize the Throne, 
 either affirmatively or negatively, upon any subject, and 
 the memorial must go upon the record, and even the offi- 
 cial historiographer may comment as he chooses upon the 
 acts of the Emperor; but both must be careful to adhere 
 closely to the truth, and to guard their language and 
 motives against the charge of impertinence, misrepresen- 
 tation, and malice. Practically the post of censor is a 
 dangerous as well as a powerful one. Only a few years 
 ago a new decree was issued enlarging the duties of 
 censors, encouraging them to make suggestions freely and 
 loyally, and to be guided by " considerations of time and 
 circumstance in what they say "; but to " avoid every- 
 thing like bias or private prejudice." It also admonished 
 them that " to offer improper suggestions to the Throne 
 from motives of private animosity, and to vilify and abuse 
 the object of attack at will," is not only irreverent to the 
 Emperor, but injurious both to morals and good govern- 
 ment. After quoting several decrees issued in past reigns 
 severely condemning " the practice of indulging in slan- 
 derous accusations based upon private spite," the decree 
 gives emphasis to the policy laid down in it by ordering 
 that a censor who had the year before called one of the 
 grand secretaries " a traitor to his country," and a histo- 
 riographer of the Han Lin College, who had attacked the 
 Grand Secretary Li Plung-Chang " on various counts, and 
 in involved and ornate language had hinted that he ought 
 to be put to death, to be both of them committed to the 
 board for the determination of a severe penalty, as an ex- 
 ample to others who would carry vilification of ministers 
 in high place to such extreme limits." 
 
 Although the Empress Dowager was for so many 
 years both before and after the Emperor's nominal as- 
 sumption of poweT the absolute if not the legal head of 
 
162 CHINA 
 
 the Government, in violation of law and precedent, this 
 was perhaps natural. It will he remembered that he was 
 not only the son of her husband's brother, but of her own 
 sister, and owed his elevation mainly to her favor. As 
 the legal mother of the adolescent Emperor, she had a 
 most important duty to perform for him, and that was to 
 select his wife or wives, conduct the wedding ceremonies, 
 and to see that he worshiped at the tomb of his ancestors 
 both before and after marriage. 
 
 This religious duty was duly performed in the early 
 spring of 1875, at which time the young Emperor, ac- 
 companied by the Empress Dowager; his father the Sev- 
 enth Prince; the Viceroy Li Hung-Chang; and many of 
 the grand dignitaries and members of the imperial clan, 
 made his pilgrimage in state to the Eastern Tombs, and 
 went successfully and, it is to be presumed, reverently 
 through the solemn ceremony which had been arranged 
 for the occasion. A new road something over a hundred 
 miles long, with proper pavilions and stopping-places, had 
 been built beforehand, and every effort known to the Chi- 
 nese was resorted to for the purpose of making the proces- 
 sion imposing. The Emperor and the Empress Dowager 
 were carried in sedan-chairs, and were escorted by soldiers 
 and retainers all clad in their best; but withal the pageant 
 was described as disappointing. The trappings and out- 
 fit were neither new nor fresh-looking, and as the column 
 moved before daylight, and every precaution was taken 
 to keep the streets and roads near its line of march clear 
 of spectators, and especially of foreigners, none of the lat- 
 ter, except one who occupied a place of concealment in a 
 Chinese house, obtained a sight of the procession. The 
 spring rains had not yet begun, and the road, although 
 quite new, and of course unused by profane feet, was 
 very dusty. It was sprinkled by an advanced guard of 
 soldiers, each of whom was equipped with a small wicker 
 scoop or basket, painted pink, and which he used for dip- 
 ping water from the ditches alongside. 
 
CHARACTERISTICS OP KWANG-HSU 163 
 
 it was of course impossible for any foreigner to wit- 
 ness the ceremony at the tombs, though it probably con- 
 sisted of nothing more than the burning of incense, to- 
 gether with gold and silver paper representing money. 
 The young Emperor doubtless prostrated himself, and 
 knocked his head against the floor or ground in front of 
 the tomb of the late Emperor, as any other young China- 
 man would have done before the tomb of his father; and 
 this may have been repeated before the various tombs of 
 the dynasty, back to that of its founder if buried there. 
 So far as I have seen or can learn, the ceremony, whether 
 performed by Emperor or coolie, is a perfunctory one, and 
 generally entered into in obedience to a time-honored 
 custom rather than to the dictates of a deep religious 
 feeling. 
 
 The young Emperor was described at that time by one 
 who claims to have got a good look at him as a rather 
 frail, sallow, and undersized youth, showing no external 
 signs of extraordinary vitality or ability. It was under- 
 stood from the first among the Chinese that he was 
 petulant and unsteady in his temper, and showed but 
 little persistency in his studies. It was stated from the 
 first that he had neither the mental nor physical consti- 
 tution of a reformer. It was hoped, however, that his 
 father, who was thought to be a man of resolution and 
 vigor, would be an important factor in the control of 
 affairs, although it would be necessary for him, as well 
 as the Empress Dowager, to retire when the young Em- 
 peror assumed personal charge of the Government. This 
 was necessary, because the law and custom of the country 
 are such that no subject can approach the Emperor with- 
 out prostrating himself, while the higher law of the land 
 requires that children, whether actual or adopted, shall 
 bow down before their parents. It was said, however, 
 that the Empress Dowager might issue a decree before 
 retiring, giving herself and the Seventh Prince a dispensa- 
 tion against the strict letter of the law, and authorizing 
 
164 CHINA 
 
 them, in view of his youth and inexperience, to have 
 audience with the Emperor on pubhc and family affairs 
 without going through the Icotow in his presence. While 
 this may seem quite simple to foreigners, it is really a 
 serious and complex matter to the Chinese. It must 
 be borne in mind that the direct male line of the pres- 
 ent dynasty has never before failed, and it has held the 
 throne two hundred and fifty years. Precedents are 
 therefore very old and scarce, and it is possible that there 
 are none at all. So far as foreigners know, the laws may 
 be silent in reference to such a case. At all events, even 
 the most learned Chinese did not speak with any confi- 
 dence as to what would be done in the emergency which 
 they would have to meet. So far as I have been able to 
 learn, no such dispensation was ever issued, but the dif- 
 ficulty was partly removed by the restoration of Prince 
 Kung, the senior uncle of the Emperor, to favor. He was 
 an experienced and progressive statesman, and his in- 
 fluence during the remainder of his life, whenever he was 
 permitted to exert it, proved beneficial to the empire, 
 but in spite of the difEculties in her way the Empress 
 Dowager has remained the controlling factor in all mat- 
 ters pertaining to the administration of government af- 
 fairs down to the present time. 
 
 Having conducted the young Emperor safely to the 
 Eastern Tombs and back, and selected her favorite niece, 
 the daughter of her brother the Duke Chow, for his first 
 wife, she showed by unmistakable signs that she did 
 not intend to leave the young couple to their own re- 
 sources. As his mother by adoption, it was her right 
 and duty to select such other wives and concubines from 
 time to time as she thought the Emperor ought to have, 
 and it is certain she had many of the eligible young 
 women of the country sent to Peking for inspection. 
 These were, of course, only the daughters of the Chinese 
 grandees and of the members of the imperial clan; but 
 as it is deemed a great honor to have even this sort of 
 
THE EMPEROE A WBAKLINW 165 
 
 a connection with the Emperor and his court, the right 
 of selection gave her an additional influence throughout 
 the whole empire, the importance of which can hardly 
 be OYerestimated. It soon became apparent that the hope 
 entertained by some, that the young Emperor and his wife 
 or wives might develop such independent character as to 
 throw off all family domination, and thus get rid of both 
 father and aunt at the same time, was destined to disap- 
 pointment. The simple and unfortunate fact soon became 
 apparent that the Emperor was a weakling, utterly un- 
 able to cope with the selfish, ignorant, and unprincipled 
 set which surrounded him. Had he been otherwise, with 
 the tremendous power inherent in the Throne, and which 
 a strong man might have wielded, he might have signal- 
 ized his reign as none of his predecessors had done. He 
 found the empire united and at peace from the center to 
 the remotest boundary, as well as with all outside nations; 
 but also closely watched and crowded on all sides by Eus- 
 sia, England, France, and Germany, all anxious to send 
 promoters, syndicates, engineers, and contractors to de- 
 velop its resources. Each of the great powers named was 
 keenly alive to the fact that the trade and the internal 
 improvements of a country comprising one tenth of the 
 habitable globe, and containing from one fifth to one 
 third of all the people in the world, is a tremendous prize, 
 and that no sacrifice or exertion was too great to make 
 for it. They were all represented by able and experienced 
 diplomatists, who not only watched one another, but 
 watched and reported everything going on within the em- 
 pire. Not a ship or a gun was wanted but all were ready 
 to compete for it. Not a military or naval review could 
 be held but their attaches were present to witness it. And 
 what was still more curious was the fact that not a 
 stranger from America or elsewhere could arrive at a 
 treaty port, or the capital, but his rivals were there to 
 discover his business, and, if need be, to frustrate it. 
 Intrigue and bribery were rampant, deception, trickery. 
 
166 CHINA 
 
 and corruption were the rule, in the provincial capitals, as 
 well as at Peking. 
 
 In the midst of all this rascality and misrule the 
 young Emperor and his advisers had a difficult task to 
 maintain their country's rights and to keep the peace; 
 they needed not only great diplomatic skill and knowl- 
 edge, but a great show of organization and power, which 
 they could not make. They bought a few excellent iron- 
 clads and cruisers, and employed a few good instructors; 
 but the results of the wars with France and Japan showed 
 that neither their ships nor their crews could stand against 
 those of the foreigners. They had a considerable armed 
 force and many improved field-pieces and breech-loading 
 fire-arms, but no organization adequate to the require- 
 ments of a war with even the least of the European pow- 
 ers. They have unlimited numbers from which to draw 
 recruits; but the more of such undisciplined men they 
 put into the field without commissariat, supplies, or trans- 
 portation, against a well-commanded Anglo-Indian or 
 Russian army, the greater will be the number slain and 
 the more overwhelming the disaster. They had some 
 fortifications, but they were rudely constructed, and in 
 many eases badly placed; moreover, even if this were 
 not the case, like all fortifications, such as they had, they 
 were powerless to inflict damage upon an enemy unless 
 they were well defended when assailed, and there were 
 none which could not be easily turned. I pointed out 
 this in the earlier editions of this book and called at- 
 tention to the fact that without railroads and interior 
 lines of water communications suitable for military pur- 
 poses the Chinese were absolutely powerless to concen- 
 trate, move, or supply an army capable of making head 
 against a properly organized and equipped European 
 invasion, even if they could find or create such an 
 army in their own dominions and out of their own 
 materials. 
 
 I call particular attention to the following, which I 
 
WAR IS ALWAYS POSSIBLE 16Y 
 
 quote just as it was first printed, in the previous issues of 
 this book: 
 
 " War is always possible; it generally comes when least 
 expected, and may come in that way, as heretofore, upon 
 China. Should it come soon, or even within the next 
 decade, it can have but one result, and that will be the 
 defeat and humiliation of the Chinese army. It will be 
 impossible for it to defend even the capital, and it is 
 more than probable that the Emperor and his court will 
 have to flee into Manchuria, as did their predecessors 
 before the allied French and English armies. This pre- 
 supposes an invasion from the sea-coast; but it is now or 
 soon will be possible for the Eussians, whose railroad has 
 already penetrated to within a few hundred miles of the 
 Chinese boundary, and whose settlements in the Amur 
 Valley are growing with surprising rapidity, to make a 
 descent upon Peking from the north, as did Kublai 
 Khan and the founder of the present dynasty. In that 
 case the Emperor and court will have to flee toward the 
 Yang-tse or the interior of the empire; and, while this 
 may enable them to continue the war longer, the result 
 will in the end be the same. Defeat must follow, and 
 there will be nothing left for them but to accept such 
 terms as the conquerors may consent to grant. It is 
 hardly to be doubted that an army of fifty thousand Euro- 
 peans, with the usual proportion of artillery and infantry 
 and a preponderance of cavalry, well organized, supplied, 
 and commanded, can go anywhere in China, and, if so dis- 
 posed, it can overrun and dismember the empire. Should 
 such an invasion take place and meet with success, is it 
 safe for the Hlmperor or his advisers to assume, or even 
 to hope, that the terms extended to them will ever again 
 be as favorable as those granted by the English and 
 French allies? It has been said that the French, upon 
 the occasion alluded to, proposed a partition of the coun- 
 try along the line of the Yang-tse-kiang, and that both 
 French and English have more than once since, in con- 
 
168 CHINA 
 
 templating ' their opportunities/ been ' astounded at 
 their moderation.' If either should find it necessary to 
 go to war with China again in earnest, it will doubtless 
 go alone, and thus be free to act according to its own 
 judgment." 
 
 No one could foresee or anticipate the Boxer out- 
 break, the usurpation of the Empress Dowager, or the 
 movement to exterminate the foreigners, but enough of 
 the truths pointed out above have been realized in the 
 last six months to arouse the attention of the world and 
 to justify a more careful study of Chinese civilization and 
 the Chinese machinery of government than they have yet 
 received, especially if such a study should result in im- 
 pelling the representatives of the treaty powers to de- 
 mand such modifications and reforms as would give the 
 Chinese people the benefits of a workable government in 
 harmony with modern ideas and practice. 
 
 Note. — The Seventh Prince died in December, 1887, and his 
 place as a state adviser was at once filled by his brother, the Fifth 
 Prince, who was in turn succeeded by his son Prince Tuan. — 
 J. H. W. 
 
CHAPTEE XI 
 
 The fimperor an absolute monarch — The Government patriarchal 
 m form — Liberty unknown — Slavery exists- — No hereditary 
 nobility except the imperial clan and heads of the families of 
 Confucius and Koxinga — The literati are the oflloe-holders — 
 The Imperial Government — The Grand Secretariat — The Gen- 
 eral Council — The Peking Gazette — The Six Great Boards 
 — The Tsung-li Yamen — The Censorate or all-examining court 
 — The minor courts and boards — The functions of the great 
 boards — Power greatly divided and distributed — The provin- 
 cial governments — All officers selected by public examination 
 — Defects of the system — Li Hung-Chang's position somewhat 
 like that of the British Premier — Foreign ministers not yet 
 received by the Emperor or Empress Dowager — Much of the 
 foreign business done by provincial governors — The central 
 Government isolated and inaccessible — Difficulty of communi- 
 cating or transacting business with it. 
 
 Although the Emperor of China is in theory an ab- 
 solute monarch, who may do almost as he pleases in any 
 specific case, the machinery by which he carries on the 
 government is complex and ponderous to an unusual de- 
 gree. It is patriarchal in form and arbitrary in character, 
 and yet there is a vein of high moral ethics underlying 
 and pervading its operations. With an able and well-in- 
 structed monarch to run it, he might not only be entirely 
 independent of restrictions, but he could hardly fail to 
 make it a source of great blessing to his subjects. It has 
 no constitutional limitations, but comprehends all sub- 
 jects, and is the source of all power, mercy, and Justice. 
 No government in modern times is similar to it. It has 
 14 169 
 
lYO CHINA 
 
 no cabinet of responsible ministers, as in Europe and 
 America, each presiding over an executive department, 
 v^ith well-defined powers and duties, and in a greater or 
 less degree independent of the chief of state; but, instead, 
 its current operations are conducted by a series of great 
 boards and courts, composed of many members, none of 
 whom have power individually to originate measures, or 
 to take action upon them. There is nothing elective, 
 and no element of popularity to be found anywhere in its 
 machinery. It is in no degree the servant of the people, 
 but belongs exclusively to the Emperor, and exists solely 
 for his convenience. He is head and front of all its 
 boards and departments, the actuating and controlling 
 force of all its branches. The whole body of the people 
 is under him, and, like a great family in the patriarchal 
 days, bound implicitly to obey his will. The members 
 of this family have no rights or property of their own; 
 in fact, " they have nothing but what has been derived 
 from and may at any time be reclaimed by him." * It 
 follows, as a matter of course, that he holds the fee sim- 
 ple of all the land, and may, if so minded, dispose of it 
 without let or hindrance. Commonly, however, he does 
 not interfere with titles so long as taxes are promptly 
 paid. The great number of his subjects, and the wide ex- 
 tent of the aggregate possessions, are their surest pro- 
 tection. 
 
 Liberty is unknown among them, and it is said that 
 there is not even a word in the Chinese language which 
 accurately expresses its significance. Slavery exists, and 
 is fully protected by the laws, and to all external appear- 
 ances the slaves are just like their masters in race and 
 color, if not in condition. There is no Bill of Rights by 
 which the freeman is protected, nor any other form of 
 acknowledgment on the part of the Emperor that the 
 plain people have any rights which he is bound to re- 
 
 * The Middle Kingdom, p. 411, ei seq. 
 
LIBERTY UNKNOWN AMONG THE CHINESE 171 
 
 spect. He is their sovereign lord, the son of Heaven, and 
 reigns over them by divine right pure and simple. There 
 are no hereditary nobility nor feudal lords, except the 
 heads of the family of Confucius and Koxinga, and the 
 members of the imperial clan; consequently, there has 
 never been any meeting in China, like that of the English 
 barons at Eunnymede, to teach an overbearing monarch 
 that there is an earthly power greater than his own. 
 Neither is there any hereditary official class. The literati 
 are the office-holders, and theoretically there is no pos- 
 sible road into that class, except that of learning, as tested 
 by the public examinations. Every man's son, no matter 
 how humble his origin, may present himself for examina- 
 tion, and, as the latter is so conducted that the examiners 
 do not know the names or station of the persons they are 
 examining, it is hardly possible that favoritism should 
 work injustice. The system is strictly democratic and 
 popular. Most of the defects in it are due to the fact 
 that it has to deal with human nature, through human 
 agencies and imperfect knowledge, and takes no cog- 
 nizance whatever of science. There is no system of 
 popular education, and therefore no general diffusion of 
 knowledge. Contrary to the common belief, it is now 
 pretty well established that not more than one man in 
 a hundred, nor one woman in a thousand, can read and 
 write as Europeans and Americans do, and hence there is 
 no such thing as popular opinion to guide or uphold the 
 Government. In all matters, therefore, which come 
 within the functions of the Government, the country re- 
 lies absolutely upon the Throne, and, when that fails, 
 everything fails. It is strong in small matters, but weak 
 in great ones. It is strong in dealing with business that 
 is settled by custom, but weak when business arises for 
 which there is no precedent, and in regard to which the 
 code is silent. 
 
 The first great branch of the Government is known 
 as the Grand Secretariat. It consists of four principal 
 
172 CHINA 
 
 chancellors, two assistants, and ten sub-assistants, half of 
 whom in each grade are Manehus and half Chinese. Its 
 duties are to receive and transmit edicts and decrees, pre- 
 sent memorials, lay before the Emperor the business of 
 the day, receive his instructions thereon, and forward 
 them to the appropriate office to be copied and promul- 
 gated. The officers of the Grand Secretariat also belong 
 to other boards and bureaus, and individually have many 
 other duties to perform. They are the keepers of the 
 twenty-five seals of state, each of which has its own pe- 
 culiar form, and is used for a special purpose. 
 
 The General Council, or Council of State, which was 
 organized about 1730, although nominally second, has be- 
 come, perhaps, the most influential body in the Govern- 
 ment.* It is composed of an indefinite number of princes 
 of the blood, grand secretaries, chancellors, presidents and 
 vice-presidents of the six boards, selected by the Emperor 
 at his pleasure. "Its duties are to write imperial edicts 
 and decisions, and determine such things as are of im- 
 portance to the army and nation, in order to aid the sov- 
 ereign in regulating the machinery of affairs." It meets 
 daily between five and six in the morning, and at such 
 other times as may be necessary, either in the immediate 
 or assumed presence of the Emperor, and takes cognizance 
 of whatever business is brought before it. It keeps the 
 lists of officers entitled to promotion, and of persons to 
 fill vacancies; supervises and correlates the action of the 
 various branches of Government, not only in the capital 
 but throughout the country, and generally keeps the Em- 
 peror informed of such matters as should have his per- 
 sonal attention. 
 
 The line of demarkation between the Grand Secre- 
 tariat and the General Council does not seem to be well 
 defined, and as each is composed of both Chinese and 
 Manehus in nearly equal numbers, there is a certain 
 
 * Middle Ivingdom, toI. i, p. 418. 
 
THE GRAND SECRETARIAT 173 
 
 amount of dislike and rivalry between them, which doubt- 
 less causes some trouble to the Emperor, but is supposed 
 to have a compensating advantage in enabling him the 
 more easily to discover and thwart intrigues and con- 
 spiracies. 
 
 The common method of procedure for each of these 
 bodies is to present its views and recommendations, in 
 regard to such memorials as come before it, to the Em- 
 peror, upon a piece of paper attached, indicating the ac- 
 tion to be taken, or upon more than one if alternative 
 recommendations are made, and the Emperor signifies 
 his approval or disapproval with the vermilion pencil 
 which is furnished to him for that purpose, or he may 
 write a separate opinion or decree of his own, if he is so 
 minded. 
 
 The Peking Gazette, which has been published daily, 
 it is said, for eight hundred years, except during the 
 periods of enforced absence of the Emperor and court 
 from the Capitol, is the official organ of the Government. 
 It is made up of memorials, edicts, decrees, and rescripts, 
 which have been presented to and acted upon by the 
 Grand Secretariat or the General Council and the Em- 
 peror. It is sent to all parts of the country, and con- 
 stitutes almost the only source of information open to 
 the provincial authorities and the people as to what is 
 going on in the capital and throughout the empire. Cer- 
 tain persons may also copy and print these documents, 
 and abridge the same, but no one is permitted to make 
 editorial notes, comments, or explanations. The Ga- 
 zette is translated by the official interpreters for the 
 various legations, and also by one of them for the North 
 China Herald, which publishes it entire or in part for its 
 readers, according to its interest, and collects it year by 
 year into separate volumes for sale to the world at large. 
 It afEords the best and only attainable means of ascertain- 
 ing how the daily operations of the Chinese Government 
 are carried on, and, although much of it is exceedingly 
 
174 CHINA 
 
 dry reading, it also contains many interesting and instruc- 
 tive papers. 
 
 I have examined the numbers for the last three years 
 with great care and find them to contain abundant evi- 
 dence of the intrigues of the various court factions 
 against each other, the rascality and corruption of both 
 civil and military oificials, and the general and wide- 
 spread decay of public and private morals. 
 
 While the Government evidently selects the matter 
 to be published, and can of course suppress whatever it 
 chooses, it does not seem to screen rascahty or malfeas- 
 ance in office, nor to conceal in any degree the short- 
 comings of the official class. To the contrary, it is quite 
 as free in exposing crime, disaster, famine, and misfor- 
 tune, as the daily press of our own country. Whatever 
 comes before the Government seems to be openly exposed 
 to the people; and no moralist could deal with bribery and 
 corruption in a more straightforward manner, or give ut- 
 terance to admonitions and precepts of a higher or more 
 exemplary character. All public business requiring fur- 
 ther investigation and report, is distributed by the Grand 
 Secretariat or the Grand Council, as the case may be, to 
 whichever of the Six Great Boards can most appropriately 
 take cognizance of the business in question. These 
 boards are as follows: 
 
 1. Hu-Pu, or Board of Eevenue. 
 
 2. Li-Pu, or Board of Civil Office. 
 
 3. Li-Pu, or Board of Eites. 
 
 4. Ping-Pu, or Board of War. 
 
 5. Hing-Pu, or Board of Punishments. 
 
 6. Kung-Pu, or Board of Works. 
 
 Each of these boards has two presidents, four vice- 
 presidents, and from six to eight directors; several have 
 superintendents, and all have secretaries, under-secre- 
 taries, comptrollers, clerks, writers, and servants, in suffi- 
 cient numbers to carry on the business according to cus- 
 tom. The upper officers are equally divided between 
 
ORGANIZATION OF BOARDS OP GOVERNMENT 175 
 
 Manchus and Chinese, the theory being that, while they 
 are alike subjects of the Throne, each will watch the 
 other closely, and thus secure the very best results to the 
 state. The boards are also divided into appropriate bu- 
 reaus for the transaction of the various kinds of business 
 with which they have to deal. They perform their public 
 duties mostly within the Forbidden city, entirely beyond 
 the sight and influence of foreigners, and both officers 
 and members are almost absolutely unknown to the diplo- 
 matic corps residing at Peking. There are no social or 
 official relations between them and the foreign ministers; 
 and, this combined with the barrier interposed by the lan- 
 guage of the country, conceals the daily working of the 
 Government to a degree that an outsider can hardly un- 
 derstand. 
 
 There is also another board, known as the Tsung-li 
 Yamen, or Board of Foreign Aifairs, organized shortly 
 after the capture of Peking by the allied English and 
 French armies in 1860, apparently for the sole purpose 
 of receiving foreign diplomatic agents, and listening to 
 what they may have to say. It is composed of a Manchu 
 prince, and four or six ministers, who are at the same time 
 members of other boards. This board seems to have no 
 authority whatever, except to listen to what the foreign 
 ministers have to say, and to report to the Throne, or to 
 the councils and other boards. It can not take conclu- 
 sive action on any subject, but stands, as it were, a sort 
 of advanced guard on the borders of the Forbidden city, 
 to report to the Government within what may be going on 
 among the foreigners. The prince and ministers are ex- 
 ceedingly civil and courteous to the foreign ministers, and 
 at every interview entertain them with a formal feast of 
 sweetmeats, tea, and hot samschu. When I was at Pe- 
 king in 1885, several of the foreign ministers were con- 
 sidering the advisability of inviting the members of the 
 Yamen to dine with them at their legations in foreign 
 style, and it was understood that the ministers at least 
 
176 CHINA 
 
 would accept, though the prince could not be induced to 
 commit himself. As a consequence, this suggestion was 
 never carried into effect to any extent. The prejudices of 
 the court circle and the conservatism of the officials 
 proved to be too strong for the introduction of this sen- 
 sible and hopeful innovation. 
 
 In addition to the foregoing, there are several other 
 important branches of the Government, such as the Li 
 Fan Yuen, commonly called the Colonial Office; the Tu- 
 chah Yuen, or Censorate; the Tung-ching Tse, or Court 
 of Transmission; the Ta-li Tse, or Court of Judicature 
 and Eevision; and the Han-lin Yuen, or Imperial Acad- 
 emy. Besides these, there are a number of minor courts 
 and departments, among which are the Tai-chang Tse, or 
 Sacrificial Court; the Hunglu Tse, or Ceremonial Court; 
 the Tai-puh Tse, or Horse Department; the Kwanglu 
 Tse, or Banqueting-House; the Kwoh-Tse Kien, or Na- 
 tional College; and the Kin-Tien Kien, or Imperial As- 
 tronomical College, which prepares the almanac and se- 
 lects the lucky days of the year for all the important acts 
 of life. 
 
 Although the functions of the Six Great Boards and 
 Censorate are indicated in some degree by their names, it 
 will give a better idea of the workings of the Chinese sys- 
 tem of government, and especially of its complexity, if I 
 define them more fully. 
 
 The Board of Eevenue has cognizance of the census 
 and the admeasurement of the lands, levying and collect- 
 ing taxes and duties, paying salaries and allowances, and 
 the regulation of transportation by land and water. It 
 superintends the mint in each province, makes conscrip- 
 tions for the army, prepares lists of Manchu girls eligible 
 for the imperial harem, and determines the latitude and 
 longitude of places. It is also a court of appeals in cases 
 concerning property. It is subdivided into fourteen or 
 more subordinate departments, which correspond with 
 and control the agents for collecting the revenue in vari- 
 
ORGANIZATION OP BOARDS OF GOVERNMENT 177 
 
 ous parts of the empire; and, as this is paid in money, 
 grain, silk, porcelain, and other manufactured products, 
 a great number of subordinates is required. One of the 
 bureaus of this board has charge of the " Three Treas- 
 uries," one for metals, one for silk and dye-stuffs, and one 
 for stationery. 
 
 From the fact that this board controls the receipts 
 and disbursements, it has great influence over all branches 
 of the public business, and especially in regard to such 
 new matters as may necessitate additional expenditures 
 on the part of the Government. Like all persons and 
 corporations which have to do with money, it is naturally 
 conservative, and with the possible exception of the 
 Censorate, has more influence than any other board. 
 It must be said, however, that it has never taken an 
 exact census, nor made an accurate survey of the lands or 
 other elements afEecting the revenues and expenditures 
 of the Government. The theories upon which it proceeds 
 are antiquated and crude in many respects; and yet, if 
 the machinery for carrying them into effect were properly 
 organized and honestly administered, the results attained 
 would be in every respect better than they are now or 
 have ever been. 
 
 One of the great difficulties in the way of real 
 progress in China is the poverty of the Government, 
 and this is due in a great measure to the disorder of 
 its fiscal system. Under a capable administration, an 
 accurate and exhaustive census would be taken without 
 delay. The country would be correctly surveyed, and the 
 lands properly measured and classified. With this done, 
 it would be practicable to assess the taxes fairly and to 
 collect them honestly. It is no discredit to the Chinese 
 as a nation to say that they do not appear to understand 
 the science of political economy, as applied to levying, 
 collecting, and disbursing the public revenues, or that in 
 this branch of their business they have great need of for- 
 eign advice and assistance. If they could be induced by 
 
178 CHINA 
 
 any means to employ a competent European or American 
 expert to advise them in reference to the revision of their 
 financial system and the reorganization of the machinery 
 for collecting and disbursing their revenues, they would 
 take a step which could not fail to benefit them greatly, 
 no matter what it cost them in the way of salaries paid 
 and honors conferred. 
 
 The Board of Civil Office is subdivided into four bu- 
 reaus, and has charge of all the officers in the civil service 
 of the empire. The first bureau attends to the selection, 
 promotion, and precedence of officers. The second in- 
 vestigates and records their merit and demerit, and pre- 
 scribes their furloughs. The third regulates retirement 
 from office on account of filial duties and mourning. The 
 fourth regulates the distribution of titles, patents, and 
 posthumous honors. Civilians are presented to the Em- 
 peror, and all civil and literary ofS.cers are assigned and 
 distributed by this board. 
 
 The Board of Eites has charge of all kinds of ritual 
 observances and ceremonial forms, and of the rules and 
 proclamations in regard thereto. It prescribes the regu- 
 lations for determining precedence and literary distinc- 
 tion, maintaining religious honor and fidelity, giving 
 banquets, and fixing the etiquette to be observed at 
 court, and in the performance of official duties. It 
 also prescribes the cut, style, color, fabric, ornaments, 
 and insignia of official dress and accoutrements, fixes 
 the number of followers, and defines the number of bows 
 upon ceremonial occasions, and the degree of attention 
 which high officials and nobles must pay to one another. 
 It also directs the forms of written official communica- 
 tions, and has charge of the literary examinations, the 
 number, privileges, and distinction of the graduates, and 
 the establishment of government schools and academies. 
 It superintends the rites to be observed in worshiping 
 the gods, as well as the spirits of departed monarchs, 
 sages, and philosophers; and saves the sun and moon when 
 
THE BOARDS OP GOVERNMENT 179 
 
 they are eclipsed. It looks after tribute and tribute- 
 bearers, and also after all embassies sent abroad. It sup- 
 plies food for banquets and sacrifices, studies the princi- 
 ples of music, selects and composes musical pieces, and 
 fixes the form and number of instruments to play them. 
 
 The Board of "War has charge of all the military and 
 naval affairs of the empire, and also of the transmission 
 of mails, both official and private; but the postal system 
 is very inefficient, except that part of it conducted by 
 the Inspector-General of the Imperial Maritime Customs 
 for the benefit of foreigners, and of his own business. 
 
 This board has four bureaus, which have charge of 
 promotions, issuing general orders, inspecting the troops, 
 and distributing rewards and punishments; supplying 
 and distributing cavalry horses; and, finally, selecting 
 candidates, preparing rosters and estimates, and supply- 
 ing equipments and ammunition. It does not, however, 
 control the household troops, nor the bannermen, which 
 are commanded by captains-general appointed by the 
 Throne, one to every banner of each race. It must also 
 be remembered that the land-forces are largely under the 
 command of the governors-general of the provinces in 
 which they are serving. Until the establishment of the 
 Naval Board, as previously described, for the organiza- 
 tion of the northern fleet, the naval forces were eon- 
 trolled in the same way, so that as at present organized 
 the Board of "War has but little control over the military 
 and naval forces of the empire, and it will be seen at a 
 glance that its organization is entirely unequal to the 
 efficient and economical management of the public de- 
 fense. Its greatest lack is that of a responsible head, and 
 a competent and well-organized scientific and military 
 staff. It has neither engineer nor ordnance officers, and 
 its artillerists are comparatively untrained; it has no 
 quartermaster-general, no regular system of transport, no 
 commissariat, and no surgeon-general or medical depart- 
 ment. A young surgeon, who had had experience in the 
 
180 CHINA 
 
 American army, went to Peking a few years ago, and 
 submitted a proposition to establish a medical department 
 for the Chinese army, but he could not even obtain a 
 hearing. He was given to understand, however, that the 
 Board of War not only felt no interest in the subject, but 
 held that it was cheaper to obtain new recruits, with 
 which to replace their sick and wounded, than to organize 
 a department for curing them. 
 
 The Board of Punishments has the control and 
 direction of punishments throughout the empire, and 
 partakes of the nature of both a criminal and a civil 
 court. In connection with the Censorate and the Court 
 of Judicature and Eevision, it constitutes the " Three 
 Law Chambers," which decide upon capital cases brought 
 before them. These three, uniting with members from 
 six other courts, constitute a Court of Errors, which re- 
 vises the decision of provincial judges before transmit- 
 ting them to the Emperor, without whose approval, ex- 
 pressed or implied, no man's life can be taken. An officer 
 of this board superintends the publication of the code, 
 with all its alterations and additions; another has charge 
 of jails and jailers; another of fines levied in commuta- 
 tion of punishments; and still another registers the re- 
 ceipts and expenditures of the board. 
 
 The Board of Works has charge and direction of all 
 the public works throughout the empire, together with 
 the expenditures for the same. It takes cognizance of all 
 city walls, palaces, and public structures, including for- 
 tifications; it furnishes tents for the Emperor's journeys, 
 ship-timber, pottery, and glassware, and sits as a prize 
 court; it attends to the manufacture of military muni- 
 tions and implements; has charge of arsenals, stores, and 
 camp equipage; regulates weights and measures, sorts 
 pearls according to value, and furnishes death-warrants; 
 it repairs and digs canals, and has charge of water-ways 
 and their embankments; it builds bridges and vessels of 
 war, mends roads, collects tolls, preserves ice, makes 
 
THE BOAKDS OF GOVERXJXEXT 181 
 
 book-cases, and takes care of the silk sent in as taxes; it 
 has charge of the imperial tombs, pavilions, palaces, and 
 temples, and of the erection of monuments and tablets 
 to such great men as are buried at the public expense. 
 
 Two of its great ministers have charge of manufac- 
 turing gunpowder, and two of its vice-presidents look 
 after the mints. It has a multitude of duties and em- 
 ployes, and might, if properly organized and adminis- 
 tered, be of immense advantage to the country. I am 
 compelled to say, however, that none of its duties seem to 
 be well or economically performed, except, possibly, the 
 work done at the public arsenals, of which there is one 
 at nearly every provincial capital and important seaport. 
 They are all constructed on foreign plans, furnished with 
 foreign machinery, and run by foreign superintendents 
 and experts. The greater part of the work done at them, 
 however, is turned out by native workmen, who have been 
 instructed by foreign mechanics. 
 
 The forts, canals, embankments, roads, and, indeed, 
 all public structures throughout the empire, so far as I 
 have seen, are badly designed and constructed, and in bad 
 repair. They show clearly and unmistakably, not only a 
 bad system of organization, but the absence of all proper 
 supervision and responsibility. 
 
 The Colonial Office has charge of all the wandering 
 and settled tribes in Mongolia, Hi, and Turkistan, and 
 generally exercises control over all their affairs, civil, 
 military, and religious. It collects taxes and tribute, 
 makes rewards, pays salaries, and maintains discipline. 
 Its Jurisdiction extends over vast regions, and of late years 
 has been directed specially to reducing the influence of 
 the Begs, Khans, and Lamas, and the settlement of the 
 people in permanent homes, as owners and cultivators of 
 the soil. 
 
 The Censorate, or All-Examining Court, is, perhaps, 
 the most powerful branch of the Government. It con- 
 sists of two censors and four deputy-censors. Besides, 
 
182 CHINA 
 
 all governors and lieutenant-governors, as well as the 
 superintendents of rivers and inland navigation, are ex- 
 officio deputy-censors, and generally, wherever two or 
 three Chinese officials are collected together, one of them 
 is sure to be connected with the Censorate, and to keep it 
 informed of all their doings. A class of censors is placed 
 over each of the Six Boards, to supervise its acts, and to 
 receive and distribute all memorials and public docu- 
 ments. The censors have access to all public offices and 
 courts, and to all documents pertaining to the archives 
 and records. They are charged with the investigation of 
 all branches of the public service, and the privilege of re- 
 proving all public officers, from the Emperor down to the 
 lowest, is given to them by law, and Chinese history 
 abounds in cases where the privilege with reference to 
 the Emperor has been openly and freely exercised. The 
 Emperor is, however, absolute, and may suspend or dis- 
 grace a censor at will, and hence it may well be imagined 
 that only the honest and resolute members of the body 
 ever criticise the imperial acts, or even those of the great 
 dignitaries of the empire. 
 
 The system is far-reaching in its organization and 
 powers, and holding as it does a position next to the 
 Throne, it is always first to make itself felt, and it fre- 
 quently exerts a controlling influence in important cases. 
 It is from its very nature exceedingly conservative, and, 
 having the privilege of memorializing the Throne upon 
 all subjects, and especially upon such as do not come 
 within the range of precedents or the code, it has been 
 potential at times, and especially of late, in thwarting 
 the plans of the Emperor and staying the march of 
 progress. 
 
 From the foregoing sketch it vnW be seen that the 
 Government of China, although it has an absolute mon- 
 arch at its head, is, from the very magnitude of the em- 
 pire, and the multiplicity of interests with which it has 
 to deal, a Government of boards and courts, which so 
 
THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS 183 
 
 divide responsibility and distribute power as in many 
 cases to defeat the ends for which they were created. It 
 is a great, complex, cumbersome machine, which could 
 not exist a day in any foreign country. Espionage and 
 surveillance prevail everywhere. Concealment and dis- 
 honesty, accompanied by conservatism and timidity, are 
 the rule in all branches of the public service, and the 
 truth of this is abundantly attested by the Peking Ga- 
 zette. There is neither change nor progress, except in 
 the treaty ports and maritime provinces, where there is a 
 limited class which comes in contact with foreigners and 
 foreign ideas, and also except in the minds of such great 
 statesmen as Li Hung-Chang and Chang Chi-tung. 
 
 The eighteen provincial governments are like the Im- 
 perial Government in their general features. The sons 
 and relatives of the Emperor are excluded from holding 
 civil office in the provinces, and no Chinaman can hold 
 any civil ofiSce in his native province, nor can he marry 
 or own land in the jurisdiction, nor can his brother, 
 son, or near relative hold office under him or in the 
 same province with him. The governors and governors- 
 general are appointed by the Throne subject to these 
 limitations, and nominally for only three or four years, 
 but in many cases this period is overrun. It should be 
 observed, however, that when this is done, it is generally 
 due to some great consideration of state, although re- 
 moteness from Peking, or the apathy of the Imperial 
 Government, or the difficulty of communicating with the 
 distant ports of the empire, has in more than one case 
 caused the period of a governor-general to be extended 
 indefinitely. In such cases the actual powers exercised by 
 him are almost as unlimited within the province and over 
 the inhabitants of it as are those of the Emperor within 
 the empire. In such cases it has become the custom of 
 foreigners to designate the governor-general as a Viceroy, 
 although nominally and legally he has no higher title 
 than any other governor. 
 
184 CHINA 
 
 The duties of the governor-general consist in the con- 
 trol of all civil and military affairs in the region under 
 his iurisdietion, but, like the Emperor, he is supposed to 
 govern according to the code and the precedents, or in 
 accordance with specific instruction from the Throne. 
 
 The functions of provincial government are comprised 
 under a number of different heads, the principal of which 
 are territorial, financial, and judicial, but the details of 
 organization and administration vary considerably in the 
 different provinces. The governor-general is assisted by 
 a treasurer, a criminal judge, a literary chancellor, and 
 by commissioners and superintendents, prefects, and dis- 
 trict magistrates; also, by a commander-in-chief, generals, 
 and such other high civil and military officers as the 
 peculiarities of his situation require — the relative rank 
 and precedence of which are rigidly and clearly defined — 
 subject to the general rule that civilians always take pre- 
 cedence over mihtary officers of the same or correspond- 
 ing grade. 
 
 The authority of the governor-general extends, in ex- 
 treme or urgent cases, to life and death; to the temporary 
 filling of all official vacancies; to the absolute control of 
 the troops; and to the issuance of such laws and the adop- 
 tion of such measures as he thinks necessary from time to 
 time to secure the peace and safety of his province. His 
 higher officers constitute a council or cabinet, with whom 
 he may confer whenever he thinks best, and he is always 
 subject to regulation, removal and discipline by the 
 Throne. Any censor may report upon or denounce his 
 administration, and altogether his place is a difficult one 
 to fill acceptably. Each official is assisted by a multitude 
 of subordinates, and the result is that the common peo- 
 ple are frequently oppressed and fleeced in a shameful 
 manner. 
 
 Theoretically, all officers are selected by public exami- 
 nation for the ascertainment of their literary acquire- 
 ments, and this department is conducted by the literary 
 
THE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS 185 
 
 chancellor, who is appointed directly by the Emperor, 
 and takes rank next to the governor. He is assisted by 
 head-teachers residing in the chief towns, and exercis- 
 ing a greater or less control over the colleges and acad- 
 emies, as well as over the studies of the students attending 
 them. He personally makes an annual circuit through 
 the province, and holds examinations in the chief towns 
 of each department, at which any student may present 
 himself. Those who are successful may present them- 
 selves at the provincial examination, and, if again suc- 
 cessful, they may attend the grand triennial examina- 
 tion at Peking. Many of the students by the time they 
 reach Peking are middle-aged men, and, as rejection does 
 not disqualify them from trying again, old men are not 
 unfrequently found in the student stall, struggling for 
 the highest degree. These examinations are conducted, 
 as before stated, in writing, which must be done in seclu- 
 sion from the outside world, and upon subjects given out 
 after the students have entered the stalls, and all connec- 
 tion with books and friends has been cut off. The ex- 
 amination papers are sealed and numbered, so that no one 
 can tell who the writer is till after it has been pronounced 
 satisfactory. Every precaution is taken to prevent fraud, 
 and to secure absolute honesty in carrying out the system, 
 and yet it is quite certain that means have been success- 
 fully resorted to time and again, by which unworthy men 
 have secured degrees to which they were not entitled, and 
 which they never could have got by honest methods. 
 
 It is a curious circumstance that the highest degree 
 granted to a Chinese subject, when literally translated, 
 means simply " fit for office," and not doctor of laws, as 
 with us. 
 
 The system, it will be observed, takes but little ac- 
 count of character, and deals only with Chinese classics. 
 It takes no cognizance whatever of Western learning and 
 sciences, and hence, however honestly it is administered, 
 can not possibly produce satisfactory results, as viewed 
 15 
 
186 CHINA 
 
 from a Western standpoint. It is well understood that, 
 notwithstanding this seemingly admirable method of se- 
 lecting officials, the civil service of China is as bad as any 
 in the world, and worse than that of the poorest European 
 nation. It is not, however, entirely devoid of honest, able, 
 and efficient administrators of every grade; and, indeed, 
 this is to be expected, since no plan yet devised can any 
 more certainly select and make all officials bad than it 
 can select or make them all good. I am inclined to be- 
 lieve that for the present, and, indeed, for many years yet 
 to come, the system, if honestly administered, will prove 
 itself to be as good as any which could be substituted for 
 it. If Western sciences and learning be gradually intro- 
 duced into the empire, and be made prerequisites along 
 with the Chinese classics, the latter in smaller and smaller 
 quantities, for the degrees granted at the public examina- 
 tions, and if to this be added the qualifications of honor, 
 honesty, and good moral character, before even the high- 
 est gradtiates can be assigned to public office, the civil 
 service of China can be steadily improved. It would, of 
 course, be still further elevated, if a system could be de- 
 vised for more certainly punishing malfeasance and cor- 
 ruption in office, and for turning the rascals out when 
 once they are discovered. 
 
 It came to be the custom, after the close of the Tai- 
 ping rebellion, to refer nearly all new, difficult, or em- 
 barrassing questions presented by foreigners, or growing 
 out of their presence in China, to Li Hung-Chang, who, 
 as the First Grand Secretary of the Empire, holds a place 
 somewhat like that of the Premier of the British Cabinet, 
 or the Chancellor and chief adviser of the German Em- 
 peror. He does not habitually reside at Peking, nor 
 visit it often, but, as Governor-General or Viceroy, he 
 makes his principal place of business at the treaty port 
 of Tientsin, eighty miles away. Here he receives and 
 calls upon all diplomatic agents who enter the country, 
 even before they present themselves to the Government 
 
THE PBOVmciAL GOVEENMENTS 187 
 
 at Peking, but he does not generally see their creden- 
 tials, which are addressed to the Emperor, and can not, 
 of course, be presented to any subordinate, however high 
 his rank or exalted his position. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that no foreign minister pre- 
 vious to his accession had been received by the present 
 Emperor or Empress Dowager, and that the credentials 
 of the entire diplomatic corps at Peking lay safely locked 
 up in the strong boxes of the respective legations for years. 
 
 Much of the foreign business of the Government has 
 heretofore been done by the provincial governors, or by 
 special commissioners, and in the purchase of arms, heavy 
 guns, and machinery, this must continue for some time 
 to be the practice. The telegraphs have been built under 
 the supervision of an imperial commissioner by foreigners 
 specially employed for the purpose. Naval vessels have 
 been bought, manned, and armed heretofore by the gov- 
 ernors of the maritime provinces, but all such business 
 has of late years passed under the control of the Admiral- 
 ty Board heretofore mentioned, although it must neces- 
 sarily continue to be managed by the Viceroy Li and 
 his successor and assistants in all its practical details. 
 
 Prom the foregoing sketch it is apparent that the 
 Chinese Government is so isolated, vague, and inacces- 
 sible, as to render it almost impossible for foreigners to 
 reach, influence, or move it, while it is peculiarly subject 
 to the control of conservatism and prejudice operating 
 upon it through the Censorate, or through the large num- 
 ber of old and timid men, who constitute the majority 
 of the Great Boards and Councils, and who are naturally 
 sorry to see any innovation introduced, for fear it may 
 put their own order in jeopardy. 
 
 In mere matters of trade a foreigner has no difficulty, 
 for he conducts all his buying and selling through Chi- 
 nese agents or compradors, and rarely if ever has occasion 
 to see the people with whom he is dealing; but, when it 
 comes to negotiations of any sort with the Government, 
 
188 CHINA 
 
 they must be conducted in person, and generally through, 
 high oflicials who have but little independent power, who 
 hedge themselves about with ceremony, and who can not 
 be seen at all, unless the person desiring the interview 
 also has high diplomatic or military rank, or has such 
 letters of introduction as will secure the kind assistance 
 of his minister or consul. Unless he can obtain these, 
 he had better stay at home, no matter how important or 
 pressing his business may be. 
 
 It will not escape the observation of the careful reader 
 that there is no provision in this system of government 
 for the failure of the direct male line in the imperial 
 family, the selection of a successor, the establishment of 
 a regency, nor the conduct of an Empress Dowager. The 
 death of the late Emperor without issue brought all these 
 contingencies to the front, and must have been followed 
 by confusion and possibly by revolution but for the 
 prompt and vigorous action of the two Empresses and 
 their friends of the imperial clan. They were without 
 precedent and had to fall back upon common sense and 
 the principles of family government as prescribed by the 
 Confucian code. This required that every man, whether 
 Emperor or peasant, must have a son of his body or by 
 adoption, as his heir to reverence him during life and to 
 worship him after death. And as the Emperor had no 
 nephews in the next generation it was necessary to 
 select an heir from among his cousins, which in turn 
 made it necessary for the person selected to have a post- 
 humous adoption from the preceding Emperor. The situa- 
 tion was one full of difficulties, not the least of which were 
 connected with family and court ceremonial, but the two 
 Empresses at first, and the survivor Tsi An, afterward 
 proved equal to every emergency. Their only mistake 
 seems to have been in selecting a weak and puny boy to 
 bear the burdens of a strong man. It is likely that they 
 could not do better, for the dynasty was certainly effete 
 and destined to early extinction. In spite of an intelligent 
 
CHILDLESSNESS OP THE EMPEROR 189 
 
 and progressive mind the boy selected grew up without 
 force of character sufficient to enable him to stand alone 
 and maintain the independence and dignity of his high 
 position. To crown all his misfortunes, although married 
 for twelve years he is childless and hopeless, and this in the 
 Chinese eyes is an unpardonable misfortune, which makes 
 it certain that if he is restored to power, an heir and a suc- 
 cessor will in the end have to be chosen for him. 
 
CHAPTEE XII 
 
 The eyes of the world now turned toward China as a field for in- 
 vestment in public undertakings — Its financial system — No 
 statistics except those of the maritime customs — The revenues 
 collected by "farmers" — The growth of the system — The 
 sources of the imperial Chinese revenue — The land-tax — The 
 salt monopoly — The likin, or internal transit tax — Miscellane- 
 ous taxes — Maritime customs duties — Summary — Comparison 
 of Chinese and British Indian revenues — Estimates made by 
 various persons — Ko correct account can be given of the ex- 
 penditures of the Chinese Government — Approximate estimate 
 — The funded debt — Fear of the Chinese Government to nego- 
 tiate foreign loans — Its obligations good and negotiable for 
 8100,000,000— The Chinese slow to lend to their Government 
 — No statistics of private wealth — Thought to be capable of 
 raising $100,000,000, if properly secured — Necessity of meas- 
 ures to promote confidence. 
 
 In view of the present extraordinary crisis and the 
 fact that the eyes of the world for the last decade turned 
 toward China as a field for railway-building and for the 
 opening of mines, the erection of furnaces and rolling- 
 mills, and the establishment of manufactures which shall 
 utilize its boundless supply of labor, develop its hidden 
 resources, and increase its income, it is important that 
 some account should be given of the financial system, 
 revenues, and expenditures of the Imperial Chinese Gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 It must be mentioned at the outset that no statistics, 
 
 as the word is understood among foreigners, except those 
 
 of the maritime customs, exist, or at least can be got at 
 
 by outsiders. It must also be mentioned that all rev- 
 
 190 
 
INSUFFICIENCY OF OFFICIAL SALARIES 191 
 
 enues, whether for imperial, provincial, or municipal pur- 
 poses, are levied, collected, and disbursed under the orders 
 or sanction of the Imperial Government. 
 
 In what follows, no effort will be made to account for 
 any but the imperial revenues, for the simple reason that, 
 while the provincial authorities collect all the revenues 
 except the maritime customs, and, after paying the pro- 
 vincial expenses of every sort, they send the balance to 
 the imperial treasury, or rather they send what they ab- 
 solutely must to the treasury, and retain the " balance " 
 for provincial uses. 
 
 All official salaries in China are small — in most cases 
 totally inadequate to the requirements and expenses of 
 the official, and it has therefore become a part of the 
 national system that all officers, high as well as low, who 
 handle money, are expected secretly, if not openly, to re- 
 tain a part of it for their own use. The collectors of the 
 revenue are, in fact, " farmers," who must furnish the 
 sum demanded of them by the Board of Eevenue at Pe- 
 king, but are permitted by custom (and this has been or 
 is the practice in nearly all Asiatic countries, as it was 
 formerly in Europe) to retain all they can collect over and 
 above the amount they are called upon to account for. In 
 China it is said that this system grew out of the practice 
 of holding the collectors responsible for the return of a 
 minimum sum, and compelling them to make good any 
 deficit in the collections out of their own pockets. The 
 Peking Gazette affords abundant evidence that there is 
 a continual struggle between the imperial and provin- 
 cial authorities about money and its application, and that 
 the Censorate has frequent cause of complaint against 
 those who have to collect and disburse it. 
 
 The books on China, and especially Williams's The 
 Middle Kingdom, give full accounts of the system and its 
 origin, but their figures are not altogether trustworthy. 
 
 The most authentic statement of the Chinese revenue, 
 of which I have any knowledge, is contained in a series of 
 
192 CHINA 
 
 articles which originally appeared in the China Mail, and 
 were reprinted in pamphlet form at Hong-Kong in 1885. 
 What follows is summarized mainly therefrom. 
 
 The sources of the imperial revenue may be given as 
 follows: 1. The land-tax. 2. The salt monopoly. 3. 
 The transit duties collected on inland commerce, known 
 as the likin. 4. Miscellaneous, including the revenues 
 arising from " contributions," " assessments," and " sub- 
 scriptions," and from the sale of official rank and titles. 
 5. The maritime customs. 
 
 LAXD-TAX 
 
 In China, as in all other Oriental countries, the land- 
 tax is one of the principal sources of revenue. It is col- 
 lected by the district magistrates, and in the offices of aU 
 such magistrates there is a registry wherein the name of 
 every landholder, every transfer of land, and the amount 
 of tax levied on each tract of land, is required to be re- 
 corded. As a matter of fact, this is not always done, and 
 it is said that great confusion prevails in some districts, 
 both as to the amounts of the levy and the persons from 
 whom it should be collected. Be this as it may, the rev- 
 enue from this source has fallen off greatly of late years; 
 and, although it is said that a part of this falling off is 
 due to the devastations of the Taiping and Mohammedan 
 rebellions, and of the war with Japan, part to floods, and 
 part to famine, it is quite certain that the land-tax is not 
 now over one third of what it was in the days of Kienlung. 
 
 The practical labor of collection is performed by un- 
 derlings, known as tepaos, and years-men, but it is wor- 
 thy of note that there is no class of middle-men, like the 
 zemindars of India. The yield of this tax for all the 
 provinces, as given in the Red-Book, should amount to 
 32,845,474 taels in silver (a tael is equal to a dollar and 
 thirty-three cents in Mexican silver, and is worth now 
 about seventy cents in gold); to 4,356,383 piculs of rice, or 
 to about 40,000,000 taels in all; but this assessment was 
 
GOVERNMEXT REVENUES 193 
 
 fixed at about the beginning of the century, and is con- 
 siderably in excess of the amount actually collected. 
 From reports of reassessments made in the provinces 
 which have suffered from rebellion, famine, floods, and 
 other causes, it is assumed — and the assumption appears 
 to be altogether reasonable — that the amount collected in 
 silver of late years does not average over 20,000,000 taels 
 yearly. 
 
 That part of the land-tax paid in kind is comprised 
 
 (1) of grain (mostly rice), sent annually to Peking, and 
 
 (2) rice, beans, straw, etc., levied for the maintenance of 
 the provincial army. The first was originally levied only 
 on eight provinces, namely, those south of the Yellow 
 River and along the Lower Yang-tse, but four of the 
 eight have, since the Taiping rebellion, been permitted to 
 commute their grain-tribute into a money payment. In 
 1813 the whole of this tribute was estimated at 3,000,000 
 piculs; a few years later it is said to have amounted to 
 4,000,000. It is now estimated at about 1,900,000 piculs, 
 including that which is commuted into money. The total 
 value of this may therefore be put down at 2,800,000 
 taels. The present yield of the second part of this tax is 
 now thought to be about 3,000,000 piculs, valued at 4,500,- 
 000 taels, and the entire yield of the taxes in kind is there- 
 fore about 7,500,000 taels. Much more is said to be 
 taken from the people, and it seems to be quite certain 
 that, with a proper registration of the land as required 
 by the theory of the Government, and a rigid system of 
 accountability and collection, a very much greater rev- 
 enue could be secured from this source. 
 
 The area of the eighteen provinces of the empire is 
 about 1,300,000 square miles, and of the nine provinces 
 in or near the Great Plain, the greater part of which is a 
 highly fertile region, is about 500,000 square miles. 
 Throwing out one half of the whole, and counting the 
 rest, or 650,000 square miles, equal to 416,000,000 acres, 
 as under cultivation; and, allowing that it should pay a 
 
194 CHINA 
 
 tax of only a quarter of a tael per acre per year, it will 
 be seen that the Imperial Government could raise an 
 annual income from this source alone of 104,000,000 taels, 
 as against the present collections, amounting to only 37,- 
 500,000 taels. 
 
 THE SALT MONOPOLY 
 
 The profit and tax derived from the monopoly of the 
 trade in salt have always constituted an important part 
 of the imperial revenue. For the purpose of distributing 
 the salt and collecting the taxes, the country is divided 
 into seven naain circuits, the boundaries of which are care- 
 fully defined, and the salt produced in one is not, under 
 ordinary circumstances, permitted to be transported to 
 or sold in another. The administration is nearly the same 
 in each circuit. The salt is made from sea-watei' around 
 the coast and from brine inland, and there is no restric- 
 tion upon the amount produced; but the Government 
 requires that it shall all be sold at fixed rates to 
 the Government agents, who establish depots near the 
 salt-works. 
 
 The sale and distribution of the salt is managed by 
 salt-merchants licensed by the salt commissioner in charge 
 of the circuit. The quantity of salt required in each cir- 
 cuit is roughly estimated each year, and enough licenses 
 are issued to cover that amount, and each license is sup- 
 posed to be used every year. Each license entitles the 
 holder to buy 500 yin, or 3,760 piculs, at a time, and, as 
 it is perpetual, and may be handed down from father to 
 son, it is worth, in a good district, from 10,000 to 13,000 
 taels. Having paid for his salt at the fixed rate, the mer- 
 chant may carry it to any part of the circuit; but, having 
 chosen his market, he must deposit his salt in a sort of 
 bonded warehouse, which is established for that purpose 
 in every considerable town, and enter his name in the 
 book of the warehouse. The salt is sold in the order it is 
 entered, and at the price fixed by the Government for all. 
 
THE GOVERNMENT REVENUES 195 
 
 so that the only advantage one merchant can get over 
 another is in choosing a good market. 
 
 The Government maltes a profit on the original sale, 
 and taxes the salt at a fixed rate per picul; and this tax, 
 which is collected at the time of the sale, is also known as 
 likin. When trade is brisk, and each license can be used 
 once a year, the profits are from twenty to twenty-five 
 per cent to the merchant. The retail dealer is not taxed, 
 and, after the salt reaches his hands, its sale is unre- 
 stricted. The profits on sales and the tax assessed thereon 
 are stated at 9,680,000 taels per year; but here, as in the 
 land-tax, there is room for a very large increase of rev- 
 enue by a more careful system of administration and ac- 
 countability. It is believed by close observers that the 
 Government might thereby, and without increasing the 
 cost of salt to the consumer, secure a revenue of 20,000,- 
 000 taels, or at least double the amount that now finds 
 its way into the imperial treasury. 
 
 THE LIKIN 
 
 This is a tax upon internal commerce in transit, and 
 is frequently regarded by foreigners as illegal; but, as it 
 is imposed by imperial decree, the highest form of law 
 known in China, it is hardly illegal, however disagreeable 
 it may be to foreign merchants. By the Anglo-Chinese 
 Treaty of Nanking, it was agreed that no further inland 
 duties should be levied upon foreign goods, whether in 
 British or native hands, than were then authorized. This 
 clear stipiilation was, however, modified by the Treaty of 
 Tientsin, and, since that was ratified, there has been a 
 dispute about it, but the Chinese have continued to levy 
 and collect the tax. 
 
 The likin, as now levied, is a modern form of taxation, 
 having first come to the knowledge of foreigners about 
 1853, and became universal during the latter days of the 
 Taiping rebellion, when the Imperial Government was 
 forced to resort to every known means of raising money. 
 
196 CHINA 
 
 It is levied on all classes of goods in transit, internal 
 eustom-liouses, commonly designated by foreigners as 
 " squeeze "-stations, for its collection being established on 
 all trade routes. It is a specific and not an ad-valorem 
 duty, assessed upon each bale, box, piece, or picul. The 
 word is compounded of Mn or Tcinen, " contribution," and 
 li, nominally the thousandth part of the value. 
 
 The details of the collection and the designation of 
 the stations along the trade routes are regulated by the 
 provincial authorities according to the amount of trade 
 and the frequency with which it will stand taxing. The 
 amount collected at each station is inconsiderable, but, if 
 the goods have to go any great distance, the tax becomes 
 an intolerable one, and exerts a most powerful influence 
 upon the repression of trade. There is, of course, no 
 check upon the accounts, and it is generally believed that 
 only a small part of the collections find their way into the 
 public treasury. Fortunately, there is quite an array of 
 testimony as to the amount of money from this source 
 reaching the treasury. Without giving it in detail, it is 
 sufficient for my purpose to say that the Board of Reve- 
 nue states that the collections from the whole eight- 
 een provinces amount to "17,000,000 or 18,000,000 
 taels." 
 
 Likin is levied and accounted for under the three 
 heads of salt, opium, and miscellaneous goods, and the 
 figures quoted above include the revenue from all these 
 sources; but in the estimate of the revenue derived 
 from the salt monopoly the part collected from the likin- 
 tax is included and it is estimated that of the whole 
 amount nearly one third is profit on sales, while over 
 two thirds, or nearly 7,000,000 taels, are derived from 
 likin. 
 
 The likin on foreign opium, amounting to about 
 1,000,000 taels, is included in the statement above, but 
 this is accounted for in the maritime customs returns. 
 Hence to get at the real amount yielded by the likin. 
 
THE GOVERNMENT REVENUES 197 
 
 these two sums, aggregating a total of say 8,000,000 taels, 
 must be deducted from the 17,000,000 or 18,000,000 taels 
 given by the Board of Eeyenue, and this leaves from 
 9,000,000 to 10,000,000 taels collected on miscellaneous 
 goods. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS TAXES 
 
 These taxes are levied (1) on sales of land and houses, 
 at the rate of three per cent on the amounts involved; 
 (3) on marshy lands along the Yang-tse River which are 
 too low to be cultivated, but yield enormous quantities of 
 reeds, used for fuel and thatching houses; (3) on mines, 
 of which there are but few; (4) on merchandise at the 
 place of consumption or upon produce at the place of 
 production, including tea and silk in some districts; (5) 
 for licenses to brokers, merchants, and pawnbrokers; and, 
 finally (6), on the sales of honors and titles. These vari- 
 ous tases, properly levied, collected, and accounted for, 
 should yield a large sum, perhaps ten times as much as 
 they do now. The actual yield is placed at only 1,500,000 
 taels, but this is a mere guess. 
 
 MAEITIME CUSTOMS DUTIES 
 
 Prior to the coming of foreigners and modern trade, 
 the duties levied at the various custom-houses situated at 
 the principal seaports and at a few important inland sta- 
 tions did not amount to much, but since then they have 
 grown into great importance. They are collected under 
 the immediate orders of the Imperial Government, sent 
 direct to Peking, and constitute one of the largest items 
 in the imperial revenues. 
 
 The maritime customs arise from a duty of five per 
 cent ad valorem in silver on all foreign merchandise col- 
 lected under foreign supervision, with Sir Robert Hart as 
 inspector-general. He has organized a corps of customs 
 officials composed of nearly all nationalities, and has 
 brought the service to a high state of efficiency. Under 
 
198 CHINA 
 
 his management the annual receipts have grown from 
 about 4,000,000 taels to an average of something over 22,- 
 000,000 taels net, after paying all costs of collection. Be- 
 sides this, a further sum, estimated at 5,000,000 taels, is 
 collected at native maritime and inland custom-houses, a 
 large part of which is from foreign opium. 
 
 SUMMAEY OF EEVBNTJES 
 
 1. Land-tax, payable in silver, taels 20,000,000 
 
 2. Land-tax, payable in rioe-tribute, sent to Peking 
 
 at taels, 1.50 per pioul, and rice levy commuted 
 
 in silver 7,000,000 
 
 3. Salt-tax and likln on salt 9,500,000 
 
 4. Likin on miscellaneous goods and opium 9,500,000 
 
 5. Miscellaneous 1,500,000 
 
 6. Maritime customs under foreign supervision 22,000,000 
 
 7. Native maritime and inland customs 5,000,000 
 
 Total taels 73,500,000 
 
 Or in gold $51,450,000 
 
 This money does not all go directly to the imperial 
 treasury at Peking, but an arbitrary part, according to 
 the budget drawn up by the Board of Eevenue for the 
 whole empire, is assigned and set apart for provincial 
 uses, and goes into or is retained in the provincial treas- 
 uries, and drawn out as required. With the increase of 
 importations which is steadily going on, and an increase 
 of duty to say fifteen per cent ad valorem in gold, to enable 
 the Chinese Government to indemnify the foreigners for 
 their losses in the Boxer war, the customs receipts could 
 be increased to 120,000,000 in gold at an early day. 
 Without going further into details, it is safe to assert that 
 the entire system of Chinese finance, except the maritime 
 customs, is antiquated, cumbrous, and inelastic, and 
 therefore poorly adapted to meet the emergencies of war, 
 famine, and flood, as they arise. It is also abundantly evi- 
 dent that, bad as the system is, its administration is worse. 
 
THE GOVERNMENT REVENUES 199 
 
 It is apparent to the most casual observer that there is 
 here a vast field for revenue reform, and the possibili- 
 ties in that direction are suggested by comparing the 
 Chinese revenue with that of British India on the fol- 
 lowing taxes: 
 
 India, land-tax . . . £31,000,000 China, taels 20,000,000 
 
 India, salt 7,000,000 China, taels 9,500,000 
 
 India, opium 10,000,000 China, taels 5,000,000 
 
 Total £38,000,000 China, taels 34,500,000 
 
 China has a larger population, a greater area, and a 
 better soil, and also a great advantage in the export of 
 tea and silk; and yet, if the foregoing figures are cor- 
 rect, the Chinese revenue is not above one fourth of the 
 Indian. 
 
 It is not infrequently the case that the provinces are 
 compelled to borrow money to tide them over till the new 
 taxes come in, and this is done by the governor-general, 
 usually on the credit of his province and the faith which 
 the lender has in his character, and sometimes such loans 
 are approved by an imperial edict. They have always 
 been repaid, both principal and interest, promptly on 
 time, and it is quite certain that either the Imperial or 
 Provincial Governments are good even now for any reason- 
 able sum they will consent to borrow. 
 
 As the Imperial Government does not publish the 
 budget prepared by the Board of Eevenue, there is, of 
 course, no sufficient data of any kind upon which to 
 base a complete statement of its receipts and disburse- 
 ments. The statement of revenue given herein is as 
 nearly correct as it can be made, and yet it is merely 
 an approximation which may be $10,000,000 out of 
 the way. 
 
 In connection with this subject, the following esti- 
 mates, made at various times and by various persons, are 
 interesting. Besides, they show in a most striking man- 
 ner in what great uncertainty the whole subject is in- 
 
200 CHINA 
 
 volved. For convenience of comparison, those given 
 originally in taels are now stated in dollars: 
 
 1587, Trigault, a French missionary $26,600,000 
 
 1655, Ninhoff 144,000,000 
 
 1667, Magalhaens 50,433,962 
 
 1667, Le Comte 52,000,000 
 
 1777, De Guignes 119,617,360 
 
 1796, Barrow 264,000,000 
 
 1796 (?), Staunton 330,000,000 
 
 1838 (?), Medhurst 200,958,694 
 
 1823, a Chinese graduate, estimate translated by 
 
 P. P. Thomas 98,482,544 
 
 1840, Chinese Red-Book 77,462,000 
 
 1883, Chinese customs service 106,000,000 
 
 1886, China Mail and other sources 87,333,000 
 
 1900, On the best attainable evidence 51,450,000 
 
 It is believed that with a resurvey and reassessment 
 of the taxable lands, the increase of the tariff on foreign 
 goods to fifteen per cent ad valorem in gold, and the 
 abolition of the likin, which greatly retards internal trade 
 and has always been earnestly objected to by both native 
 and foreign merchants, the available revenues of the Im- 
 perial Government could be increased under the manage- 
 ment of a competent foreign administrator to the fol- 
 lowing figures: 
 
 1. Land-tax, payable in silver taels 104,000,000 
 
 2. Salt-tax, payable in silver taels 10,000,000 
 
 3. Miscellaneous, payable in silver taels 2,500,000 
 
 116,500,000 
 Equivalent in American gold to 181,550,000 
 
 4. Add receipts from maritime customs, in gold. . 75,000,000 
 
 Total $156,550,000 
 
 It will be observed that while the foregoing figures are 
 hypothetical and may have to be materially modified in 
 practice, there is at least a probability that they can be 
 realized if an honest effort is made to that end. On the 
 
THE GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURES 201 
 
 supposition that the expenses of the Government, by the 
 adoption of such administrative reforms as might be 
 properly required, could be kept at their present figures, 
 or say $51,500,000 gold, it would leave $100,000,000 per 
 year with which to meet unforeseen expenses, and pay 
 interest and indemnities for injuries and damages to for- 
 eigners. 
 
 EXPENDITtTEES 
 
 No correct account can be given of the expenditures 
 of the Chinese Government, or, at least, none is within 
 reach. It is known, however, that considerable sums 
 have been spent of late years on ironclads, fortifications, 
 heavy guns, dock-yards, railroads, and also upon artillery 
 and small-arms for the army, and that nearly every year 
 extraordinary floods and disasters on the Yellow Eiver 
 entail heavy expenses, not only upon the provincial, but 
 upon the imperial treasury. It is to the credit of the Im- 
 perial Government that it generally pays as it goes, and 
 even in the hardest times has succeeded in avoiding the 
 luxury of any considerable public debt. It has borrowed 
 money from time to time, to meet unexpected claims, and 
 later the large sum of 330,000,000 taels with which to 
 pay the Japanese war indemnity; but having always met 
 its money obligations with promptitude and in scrupu- 
 lously good faith, it ought, even in the present emergency, 
 under proper guaranties and pledges, to be able to bor- 
 row such reasonable sums as it may require. 
 
 It is known that the expenditures even under normal 
 conditions frequently exceed the revenue, but how the 
 deficit is made up is by no means clear. It is probable, 
 however, that this has been done at times by debasing 
 the currency, by the sale of offices and titles, by the re- 
 duction of salaries, and by assessments, subscriptions, and 
 contributions, all in the nature of forced loans. 
 
 At present, although trade is disturbed, and great loss 
 has been incurred by all Oriental countries, through the 
 16 
 
202 CHINA 
 
 fall in the price of silver, it is believed that the revenues 
 are equal to the expenditures, and that the Imperial Gov- 
 ernment has fully adopted the general rule of making no 
 foreign loans, beyond what may be necessary, from time to 
 time, to pay off such part of its maturing debt as it may 
 not be able to meet from current receipts. 
 
 The following tabulated statement, prepared some 
 years ago and published in the new edition of The Mid- 
 dle Kingdom, gives an approximation to the average 
 annual expense for the various items specified: 
 
 SUMMARY OF EXPBNDITTJEES 
 
 Salary of civil and military officers $10,364,600 
 
 Pay of 600,000 infantry, at $4 per month 24,000,000 
 
 Pay of 243,000 cavalry', at $5.33 per month 13,900,000 
 
 Remounts for cavalry, at $36.66 each 5,853,000 
 
 Uniforms for cavalry and infantry, at $5.33 each . . 4,490,600 
 
 Small-arms and ammunition 1,133,000 
 
 Fortifications, artillery, and ammunition 5.066,600 
 
 Ships-of-war and revenue cutters 18,000,000 
 
 Canals and transportation 5,330,000 
 
 Total $87,135,800 
 
 To the above should be added lor interest on the public debt, 
 say $13,500,000. 
 
 It will be observed that these figures are in excess of 
 the latest estimates of revenue, but this is a coincidence 
 of no great value, as all these amounts, except interest, 
 are payable in copper, cash, and silver, and if the treasury 
 does not have the money on hand the expenses are cut 
 down or not incurred. 
 
 FUNDED DEBT 
 
 The funded debt of China, which is held nearly alto- 
 gether abroad, can not be given exactly. It is approxi- 
 mately $250,000,000. The bonds bear interest at five per 
 cent, which has always been promptly paid. 
 
FUNDED DEBT 203 
 
 It is worthy of remark that the leading Chinese states- 
 men have always advised against borrowing any great 
 amount of money from foreign banks for fear that it 
 would be the sure precursor of foreign interference in the 
 internal affairs of China. They are now face to face with 
 the certainty that their fears were well founded, but un- 
 der the inexorable necessities of their situation must meet 
 the danger at any cost, as the only means of avoiding the 
 partition of the empire. 
 
 In view of the conservatism of the Chinese Govern- 
 ment, and also of its promptitude and good faith in meet- 
 ing its agreements, it is the opinion of those who are best 
 acquainted with its resources and claims to public credit, 
 that its obligations would be good for $1,000,000,000. 
 Under good management that sum would not only pay the 
 indemnities which will be exacted by the foreign govern- 
 ments, but supply it with the framework of a railroad sys- 
 tem which would earn enough net from the start to pay 
 interest upon its cost, and leave a handsome surplus for 
 the public treasury. 
 
 In connection with this subject, the amount of accu- 
 mulated capital in the hands of private individuals is a 
 matter of great interest, but unfortunately there are no 
 statistics whatever bearing upon it. Generally speaking, 
 China is a poor country, and there is but little wealth 
 per capita among the people at large; but in the aggre- 
 gate, the wealth of the country, in the hands of mer- 
 chants, bankers, and rich mandarins, if it could only be 
 got at, or induced to seek investment in Government loans 
 or in railroads, mines, furnaces, and manufactories, would 
 doubtless prove sufficient for all present needs. 
 
 The enterprise, shrewdness, and frugality of the Chi- 
 nese mercantile class are proverbial throughout the East, 
 and it is well known that many of that class in the mari- 
 time provinces, and especially in the treaty ports, have 
 amassed large fortunes. But they are naturally suspicious, 
 and especially so of one another, and it is likely that they 
 
204 CHINA 
 
 will be slow to lend money in large amounts to their own 
 Government, or to invest it in joint-stock companies under 
 the exclusive management of their own countrymen. 
 Education and confidence in such matters are of slow 
 growth at best, and it is of prime importance to the world 
 at large as well as to China that the measures which are 
 adopted to rescue her from the present desperate straits, 
 develop her resources, and place her Government on a 
 solvent and stable footing should receive the careful con- 
 sideration not only of her own statesmen and rulers, but 
 of those representing the foreign powers and peoples 
 concerned in her welfare. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Visit to the Great Wall — Decay of the ancient road through the 
 Nankou Pass — Mongolian caravans — Origin, uses, and de- 
 scription of the wall — The return to Nankou — The ride to the 
 Ming tombs — Description of the inclosures and buildings — 
 The Avenue of Statuary — The return to Peking. 
 
 As Peking is the capital and therefore the best place 
 to study the Government of China, so the Great Wall, 
 which was for over two thousand years its chief defense, 
 and to this day the greatest work ever raised by Chinese 
 hands, is the best place to get an idea of their capacity 
 to overcome physical difficulties and to study what they 
 may do when once they have resolved to put forth their 
 real strength and to develop their own resources. Ac- 
 cordingly, I concluded to see the wall, and did so with 
 two friends during my first visit to China. 
 
 With a cook, an assistant, and two horse-boys or 
 niafoos, two carts, each drawn by two stout mules, and 
 a liberal outfit of bedding, provisions, and cooking-uten- 
 sils, we started on a bright but blustering Monday morn- 
 ing, by the road leading through the north gate of the 
 city to the Nankou, or South Pass in the ISTorthern Hills. 
 The north wind was blowing a gale, and, in addition to 
 raising a blinding cloud of dust, it cut our faces like a 
 razor. As such gales rarely last longer than a day, we 
 pushed on through the sear and treeless plain by a broad 
 road, the surface of which was sunken twelve or fifteen 
 feet below the level of the surrounding country, and 
 looked as though it might have been the bottom of an old 
 
 205 
 
206 CHINA 
 
 canal, but it had really been excavated by the combined 
 action of centuries of travel along it, pulverizing the soil 
 into dust for the high winter wind to blow away. The 
 country and villages through which we passed were cheer- 
 less and uninviting. Here, as everywhere else in the 
 Great Plain, there are no hedge-rows, no fences, no farm- 
 houses, and but few straggling and wind-wrenched trees; 
 the villages are built mostly of sun-dried bricks, and seem 
 the very home of dirt, dilapidation, and discomfort. The 
 prospect was enlivened, however, by the distant hills, ris- 
 ing bare and ragged from the edge of the plain, and 
 -sweeping around us in a great circle as far as the eye could 
 reach. It was made still more interesting by the many 
 Mongolian caravans with from twenty to a hundred and 
 .twenty camels in each, all laden with grain, sheep-skins, 
 peltries, honey, or game, going to Peking, and returning 
 laden with brick-tea for Kalgan, Mongolia, and Eussia. 
 The Mongolian men and women, mounted on the tops 
 of their packs, riding astride, and clad alike in sheep- 
 skin cloaks and hoods, looked as dirty and bronzed as 
 our wild Indians, of which their race are no doubt the 
 progenitors; but they were exceedingly good-natured, 
 and it was amusing to witness their amazed but gratified 
 looks as they heard themselves saluted by our little party 
 of foreigners with "Mundo!" which means in their na- 
 tive dialect, " How do you do? " As soon as they realized 
 that they had been politely accosted, they replied one 
 after the other down the line, " Mundo " — " Mundo-o " — 
 "Mundo-o-o-o!" 
 
 We camped the first night at Sha-ho or Sandy Eiver, 
 a poor but considerable walled town of the usual descrip- 
 tion about twenty-five miles north of Peking, on the 
 banks of the only stream of clear running water I had 
 yet seen in China. Our cook soon had dinner for us, and 
 almost immediately after we went to bed to keep warm. 
 At five o'clock, next morning, we were up, and at six 
 we were mounted and of? for Nankou, a very dilapidated 
 
VISIT TO THE GREAT WALL 207 
 
 village, at the entrance to the pass leading to the Great 
 Wall. Leaving the carts and servants at an inn, we ex- 
 changed our ponies for donkeys, and by half-past nine 
 were again on the way through the pass. Our donkeys were 
 small but agile, and would have carried us well enough 
 but for the fact that they were provided with rope hal- 
 ters without bits, instead of bridles, and bags of millet 
 instead of saddles. A pair of iron stirrups, tied together 
 at the opposite ends of a rotten old rope, were thrown 
 across each donkey, and as they were not fastened in any 
 way to the bag which served as a saddle, the riding soon 
 became more difficult and painful than walking. In fact, 
 it required about as much skill to keep one's seat on the 
 back of one of those donkeys and his archaic trappings 
 as to walk a tight-rope without a balancing-pole, and 
 as the road was nothing but a rugged ravine for much 
 of the distance, the bed of a torrent, filled by bowlders 
 of granite and porphyry worn smooth as glass by the 
 pad-like feet of camels which have been going through 
 that pass in countless numbers since the days of Adam, 
 we soon found it much safer and more comfortable to 
 walk than to ride. 
 
 I never saw a worse or harder road to travel, and, 
 whether riding or walking, it was equally dangerous. 
 Each of us got a fall, but fortunately none of us was 
 seriously hurt. Originally the gorge had been occupied 
 by a grand highway twenty-five feet wide, paved with 
 granite slabs six feet long, three feet wide, and a foot 
 thick; but nearly every vestige of this road had long since 
 been swept away by the torrents of the rainy season, or 
 worn out by the ceaseless travel of caravans along it. 
 
 About two thirds of the way through the pass we 
 caught sight of the Great Wall on the hill-tops, a thou- 
 sand or fifteen hundred feet above us. Once seen, it can 
 never be forgotten. Here we passed through a curious 
 arched gateway, which spans the road, and carries a loop 
 of the main wall — a sort of inner defense, as it were — 
 
208 CHINA 
 
 which crosses the valley at this place. This arch was 
 erected in 1345, and on its interior face is a curious Bud- 
 dhist inscription in six different languages — Chinese, Mon- 
 golian, Oigour, Devanagari, Niu-Chih, and Thibetan. It 
 is, of course, hoary with age, and, like everything else, 
 whether new or old, in China, seems hastening toward ruin 
 and decay. From this point to the Great Wall itself the 
 gorge rises rapidly, becomes rougher and rougher, and is 
 overlooked on either side by tablets and shrines, erected 
 by travelers in years gone by to commemorate their piety 
 or the safe arrival at the gateway of Cambaluc — the capi- 
 tal and Mecca of all Eastern Asia. 
 
 After much hard scrambling, during which we could 
 scarcely realize that we had not lost our way, but were on 
 a national highway — one of the great historic roads of the 
 world, by which primeval tribes had from the earliest ages 
 descended into the Great Plain, and an almost boundless 
 empire had been conquered — we reached the summit of 
 the pass and the portal of the wall shortly after noon; but 
 we were amply repaid for all the trouble we had gone 
 through in getting there by the wonderful work before us. 
 
 The Great Wall was evidently an effective national 
 barrier, built at a time when the wild tribes of North- 
 eastern Asia were pressing forward into the richer low- 
 lands, whither their kinsmen had gone centuries before; 
 but it may well be doubted that it was conceived and com- 
 pleted, as it is now, by a single mind, or as a single under- 
 taking. It most probably consisted originally of a line 
 of detached earthworks, which some able ruler or cap- 
 tain strengthened and connected so as to present an un- 
 broken line to the public enemy. 
 
 It is said to have been finished two hundred and five 
 years before Christ by Tsin Chi-Hwangti, and to be nearly 
 1,600 miles long. The Chinese call it the " Ten-thou- 
 sand-Zi wall "; and, if it really had any such length, it 
 would be something over 3,350 miles long. That part 
 of it which we visited has evidently been rebuilt within 
 
THE GREAT WALL OP CHINA 209 
 
 the last three or four hundred years, and, while it looks 
 old and at places is in ruins, it has something of a modern 
 appearance. It is from twenty-five to thirty feet high, 
 fifteen to twenty feet thick, and revetted, outside and in, 
 with cut-granite masonry laid in regular courses with an 
 excellent mortar of lime and sand. It is surmounted by 
 a parapet or battlement of gray burned brick eighteen or 
 twenty inches thick, covered with moss, and pierced with 
 crenelated openings for the defenders, whether archers or 
 matchlock men, to fire through. The rear or inner revet- 
 ment wall is also furnished with a lower parapet, but it is 
 not crenelated. The top is paved with a double layer of 
 brick about a foot square. The interior of the wall is 
 made of earth and loose stone well rammed in. Every 
 two or three hundred yards there is a flanking turret 
 thirty-five or forty feet high, projecting beyond and over- 
 looking the face of the wall in both directions, and near 
 each turret is a paved ramp or stone staircase leading 
 down between the walls to a door opening upon the 
 ground to the rear. 
 
 The most astonishing thing about it is, however, that 
 it climbs straight up the steepest and most rugged moun- 
 tain-sides, courses along their summits, descends into 
 gorges and ravines, and, rising again, skirts the face of 
 almost inaccessible crags, crosses rivers, valleys, and 
 plains in endless succession from one end of the empire 
 to the other — from the sea-shore on the Gulf of Pechili 
 to the desert wastes of Turkistan* Ko spot is left un- 
 guarded or uncovered, and, no matter how fierce and 
 active were the wild tribesmen who assailed it, or how 
 innumerable were their armies, it is evident that it could, 
 if well defended, even by men armed with nothing better 
 than stones, defy the world up to the day of gunpowder 
 and artillery. Indeed, it is almost impossible to con- 
 ceive of its capture except through treachery or gross 
 neglect on the part of those whose duty it should be to 
 defend it. It is laid out in total defiance of the rules of 
 
210 CHINA 
 
 military engineering, and yet the walls are so solid and 
 inaccessible, and the gates so well arranged and defended, 
 that it would puzzle a modern army with a first-class 
 siege-train to get through it if any effort whatever were 
 made for its defense. 
 
 One can form no adequate idea of the amount of labor 
 or materials expended upon this great work unless he has 
 seen and measured it. The simple problem of cutting the 
 stone, making the brick, and transporting them to the 
 wall, must have been a sore puzzle to those who had it in 
 hand, and it is almost impossible to conceive the means 
 by which the water used in making mortar could be car- 
 ried to the mountain-tops across such a rough and arid 
 country. 
 
 It is of course known that the movement which crys- 
 tallized itself in that way was a national if not a popular 
 one, and that it was carried through by contingents of 
 men from the various provinces, the men being paid and 
 subsisted by the province to which they belonged till they 
 had finished the task assigned them. The road from Mon- 
 golia, which lies just outside the wall, enters it by an 
 immense postern-gate, which is defended by a sort of 
 square bastion and turrets so arranged as to command 
 and bar all approaches. At the point where we climbed 
 to the top of the wall, and sheltered ourselves from the 
 wind in a corner between a turret and the parapet, the 
 elevation above Peking, as shown by my aneroid, is 3,150 
 feet, but within half a mile it is at least 600 feet higher. 
 There is a strange fascination in the grandeur and bar- 
 baric strength of this wall, as well as in the wild and 
 desolate scenery surrounding it, which holds the most 
 prosaic traveler firmly in its grasp. We lingered till our 
 guides said we must go, or it would be impossible to re- 
 join our carts and servants that night. So, with our faces 
 once turned toward Nankou, we hurried back, as fast as 
 the execrable road, or rather the wild, bowlder-strewn 
 gorge, would allow; but, with all we could do, riding and 
 
THE GEBAT WALL OP CHINA 211 
 
 walking in turn, darkness overtook us, and it was eight 
 o'clock before we reached our inn. Here the scene 
 changed. Our sitting-room was well lighted, and the 
 table was spread for dinner, which was ready. It con- 
 sisted of pea-soup, broiled beefsteaks, and excellent chops 
 of Mongolian fat-tailed mutton, Boston baked beans, 
 canned corn, and pancakes, with claret, port, tea, and 
 cofEee; and it was all just as good as if it had been served 
 at Delmonico's. 
 
 As soon as dinner was over, we went to bed, and al- 
 most immediately to sleep. We had done about forty 
 miles that day, thirty of them over the worst road I ever 
 saw, and were consequently tired. Kecollecting the ex- 
 periences of my campaigning days, I had furnished myself 
 with an India-rubber air-mattress before leaving home, 
 and I found it upon this occasion, and during all my 
 subsequent travels in China, a source of unalloyed 
 comfort. 
 
 The next day we were up and off before dawn. Our 
 route lay to the eastward along the foot-hills, which were 
 as bare, sharp, and clear in the brilliant light of the full 
 moon as the hills of New Mexico in the transparent at- 
 mosphere of that distant region. The morning was 
 sparkling with frost, but not a breath of air was stirring. 
 The country was everywhere still and deserted; no trav- 
 elers were abroad, no lowing herds were heard, and no 
 sounds arose, except the music of our ponies' feet as they 
 clinked against the gravel of the stony hill-sides and 
 ravines, to break the solemn stillness of the invigorating 
 air. After an hour's sharp trot, the faint gray light of 
 dawn appeared in the distant east. The edge of the hori- 
 zon shone with a deep pearly blue, shading off into gray, 
 and that again into a beautiful glow of pink upper lights, 
 which covered the awakening landscape with an inde- 
 scribable charm. In another half-hour the sun rose clear 
 and red in a cloudless sky, and the day was glorious with 
 sunshine and beautiful scenery. 
 
212 CHINA 
 
 Our route lay still along the foot-hills, with persim- 
 mon-groves to the right and left of us, but no other trees 
 anywhere to be seen. In another hour we had arrived at 
 the edge of a broad, park-like amphitheater, formed by 
 the main ridge of mountains and a line of detached iso- 
 lated hills rising from the plain. This charming spot had 
 been selected several hundred years before by the Ming 
 Emperor Yungloh for the burial-place of the dynasty 
 (1318-1644), and here their celebrated tombs are placed 
 at intervals around the amphitheater, which is from three 
 and a half to four miles across. Standing at the entrance 
 to the park, it seemed to be perfectly level. The hills 
 themselves were bare, but beautiful in outline and the 
 color of their stratified rocks. Here and there on the 
 foot-hills were clumps of evergreens and deciduous 
 trees inclosing a compound, above the walls of which 
 could be seen the red eaves and yellow-tiled roofs which 
 betoken an imperial burial-place. Selecting what seemed 
 to be the largest one, we rode straight across-country 
 toward it; but, instead of finding a plain all the way, we 
 soon came to a deep, wide ravine, across which at one time 
 there had been a broad paved road and two splendid gray- 
 marble bridges of six or seven arches each. One of these 
 had been partly carried away by a torrent, which was now 
 dry, but the other was standing solitary and alone, and 
 looked as though it had not been used for centuries, which 
 is probably the case, for the Mings were pure Chinese, and 
 their descendants have entirely disappeared. The present 
 dynasty, it must be remembered, are Manchus, and, while 
 they publicly reverence their predecessors, although of 
 another race, they really never worship at their tombs. 
 There is a public keeper appointed, and a small allowance 
 made for their maintenance; but, so far as I could see, no 
 evidence whatever of care or attention. We soon reached 
 the first tomb, which we found in a grove surrounded by 
 a high brick wall, the gates of which were barred and 
 locked. After calling loudly, but in vain, for the gate- 
 
THE MING TOMBS 213 
 
 keeper, we turned to the left, and went on about a mile to 
 a still larger inclosure. It was embowered in a grove of 
 stately arbor-vita, built like the other of bricks, faced 
 with red stucco, and entered from the front by a splendid 
 pailow-\ike gate, covered with green and yellow imperial 
 tiles of perfect glaze and workmanship. Here we soon 
 found the gate-keeper, and for a Mexican dollar induced 
 him to open the ponderous wooden doors and act as our 
 guide. The first building we passed through was a great 
 open shed, with the peculiar Chinese ridge-pole, eaves, 
 and roof covered with yellow tiles. A hundred and fifty 
 feet farther on we came to a stately pavilion on a raised 
 platform, surrounded by three low, narrow terraces, over- 
 grown with bushes, and divided from each other by beau- 
 tiful white-marble balustrades. The whole floor of the 
 pavilion is occupied by a hall two hundred feet long by 
 eighty feet wide, the vaulted ceiling of which is supported 
 upon lofty wooden columns, which are unvarnished and 
 perfectly plain. It is entirely empty, except that it has 
 in the center a wooden cabinet containing a small painted 
 tablet, on which are inscribed the name of the Great 
 Yungloh, in whose memory it was erected. Near the 
 cabinet is an altar, or rather a large table, on which the 
 faithful are supposed to burn incense and in front of 
 which they offer their prayers to the spirit of the dead 
 Emperor. The place is certainly not used as a sanctuary 
 at present, for every nook and cranny of it is covered 
 with dust, and all its surroundings indicate that it has 
 been absolutely deserted and neglected for cycles, if not 
 for centuries. Back of this hall, two hundred feet far- 
 ther, is a brick pagoda of two stories, about thirty feet 
 square and forty feet high, in the base of which Yungloh 
 lies buried. It is a solid structure, and abuts against the 
 hill-side, which is covered by arbor-vitse, young oaks, and 
 underbrush, all entirely neglected. Vigorous saplings are 
 growing out of the walls at several places, and gradually 
 pushing them over. 
 
214 CHIXA 
 
 These buildings, which might well have been called 
 splendid in their day, are over three hundred years old, 
 and going rapidly to wreck and ruin. The roof-timbers 
 are rotting, the beautiful tiles are dropping to the ground, 
 the balustrades are tumbling over, and in a few years 
 more the place will surely become only a study for an- 
 tiquarians. No one can see it without being impressed 
 with the reflection that the worship of parents and em- 
 perors alike is no longer an active cult in China; and even 
 to the tombs of nionarchs, who claim to be sons of 
 Heaven, there comes a time when no human soul is left 
 to offer its prayers before it, nor any human hands to 
 preserve it from ruin and desolation. 
 
 After wandering about the place for a couple of hours, 
 we started on our return trip to Peking. Within four 
 miles we came to the Avenue of Statuary, a mile long, 
 and ending at a marble gate, or pailow, which is by far the 
 most stately and beautiful structure of the kind in China. 
 The statuary is herculean, and consists of four pairs of 
 civilians, two pairs of warriors, a pair of horses standing, 
 a pair lying down, a pair of elephants standing and a pair 
 lying down; and also of camels, lions, and tigers in pairs, 
 all arranged at intervals on opposite sides of the paved 
 but untraveled and grass-grown road, leading from the 
 gate toward the tombs. The effect of these stately and 
 solemn monoliths standing in the edge of the cultivated 
 fields is exceedingly impressive. They bear witness to 
 the glory of a great dynasty, as well as to a period when 
 China seems to have been more prosperous than it is at 
 present. They are well worth visiting even in the winter- 
 time. We reached the city before sundown, having en- 
 joyed every minute of our absence. The cold, exposure, 
 and hardship which we underwent were just enough to 
 give value to what we saw, and heighten the pleasure of 
 our trip. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV 
 
 The Kai-ping coal-mines and railway— The first locomotive-engine 
 built in China— Extension of the railway to Lutai— The Kai- 
 ping coal-measures — Output of the mines. 
 
 Shoetlt after returning to Tientsin I made a horse- 
 back trip of seventy-five miles across the eonntry to the 
 Kai-ping coal-mines, which are situated at the northeast- 
 ern edge of the Great Plain. They are worked by an ex- 
 cellent but costly European plant, and use the railroad 
 for carrying their output to market. This road was built 
 surreptitiously, but is now a link in the Tientsin Manchu- 
 rian line. It was the first one in China except that laid 
 down in 1874, from Shanghai to Wusung. Although the 
 latter did not run to a place of any commercial signifi- 
 cance, and was a hastily constructed, narrow-gauge afEair, 
 it paid from the start. Its principal business was in car- 
 rying Chinese passengers, who traveled on it merely to 
 gratify their curiosity. It was built, however, without 
 any guarantee that it should become a permanent road; 
 and, inasmuch as it could never become a link in any 
 great line, and the country was not ready for the general 
 introduction of railways, the Chinese Government bought 
 the road at a fair advance on its cost, tore it up, and 
 stored the rails and fixtures. 
 
 The original intention of the Chinese Engineering 
 and Mining Company, which built the Kai-ping road, was 
 to connect the colliery with the town of Peh-tang, near 
 the mouth of the Peh-tang Eiver; and this would have 
 required a line forty miles long. English engineers were 
 
 215 
 
216 CHINA 
 
 employed, instruments for the surveys were ordered in 
 August, 1878, and work was commenced shortly after- 
 ward; but in October the Chinese authorities notified 
 the directors that no railway construction would be per- 
 mitted. 
 
 The management then ordered the survey of the 
 Ciang-ho, a small stream running past the mines to the 
 sea, but it was found quite impassable for boats carrying 
 over three tons. 
 
 In November, 1879, surveying for a canal system was 
 begun, and in October of the following year the work of 
 excavating a canal to connect the colliery with the nearest 
 point on the Peh-tang Kiver was started; but it was found 
 that it would be impossible to bring the canal nearer than 
 seven miles of the colliery, so the directors told the Provin- 
 cial Government that, unless permission were granted to 
 build a railway to connect the colliery with the head of 
 the canal, the company would be forced to stop work. 
 But not till April, 1881, would the Government listen to 
 any appeal, and then permission was given to put down a 
 line from the colliery to the head of the canal on condi- 
 tion that only horses or mules should be used as the mo- 
 tive-power, and that it should be called a tramway. 
 
 In the mean time the engineers had been quietly con- 
 structing a locomotive in the shops, out of such odds and 
 ends as were obtainable, and the use of the men and 
 materials for this purpose was kept a secret, for fear that 
 it would become known to the Government that they 
 were building a " locomotive." The machine was tested, 
 with twenty pounds of steam, on the 24th of March, 1881, 
 and worked well; but on the 7th of April, all further work 
 on it was stopped by order of the managing director, and 
 on the 9th all the rails on which it had been run in the 
 yard were pulled up, and on the 5th of May it was shunted 
 into a shed, presumably to let it rust out. 
 
 Work was, however, again begun on it, and at last, 
 in spite of all obstacles, the engine was finally completed. 
 
CHINESE RAILWAYS 217 
 
 at small expense, though in the roughest manner, owing 
 to want of facilities in the shops, and was run in the yard 
 on the centenary of George Stephenson's birth for the 
 first time; whence it was not inappropriately christened 
 " The Eocket of China." 
 
 The first trial on the main line was made on the 8th 
 of November of the same year, and since then the en- 
 gine has done good service, supplying all requirements till 
 locomotives could be got out from England and the United 
 States. 
 
 The railroad after passing through many crises of Chi- 
 nese conservatism gradually made its way under the 
 patronage of Li Hung-Chang, and the guidance of Mr. 
 Kinder, its English chief engineer, into official if not 
 imperial favor. It has been extended by successive steps, 
 northeastward to Shan-hai-kwan, where it connects with 
 another road, which in turn connects it with the Eussian 
 road from Port Arthur through Moukden to a junction 
 with the Manchurian section of the Trans-Siberian Eail- 
 road. It was also extended southwestward to Tientsin, 
 then northwestward to Peking, and finally southwestward 
 to Paoting-fu, in the direction of Hankow. About 460 
 miles were completed and in operation at the time of the 
 Boxer outbreak, when the various sections and all the 
 principal bridges were so badly broken and disabled as to 
 require several months for their reconstruction. The 
 girders were in most cases thrown into the rivers, the 
 sleepers were carried away and burned. Many of the rails 
 and fastenings were buried, and, after the rains had 
 smoothed over the ground, could not be found. So 
 effectually was the work of destruction carried out that 
 it has produced the conviction in the minds of ex- 
 perts that it must have been directed by foreign en- 
 gineers and mechanics. Be this as it may, it is certain 
 that the repair of the damage has taxed the resources 
 of both the Eussians and English, aided by the Japanese, 
 to the utmost. The extensions of the original Kai-ping 
 17 
 
218 CHINA 
 
 coal road were made by the Imperial Chinese Railroad 
 Company with capital borrowed mainly on the credit of 
 the Chinese Government. They are said to have earned 
 satisfactory dividends from the start; but it is not within 
 the scope of this book to give the details of capitalization 
 and construction. The cost is known to have been un- 
 necessarily heavy, and it is certain that the bill for repairs 
 will be relatively enormous, but withal the experience 
 gained seems to make it reasonably certain that the Pe- 
 king-Hankow-Canton and the Tientsin- Chingkiang- 
 Shanghai trunk lines will pay handsomely on any reason- 
 able cost, if the concessions already granted for them can 
 be modified upon fair terms and with proper guaranties for 
 the protection of the property and the rights of the stock 
 and bondholders. 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 Trip to the Yellow River — "China's Sorrow" — Organization of 
 the party — The route — The roads — The winter climate — The 
 inns and innkeepers — The old towns — The Grand Canal and 
 its embankments — The sluices — Impracticability of keeping 
 the canal open by Chinese methods — Necessity for a railway— 
 The Yellow River and its embankments — Worship of the river- 
 god — Change of channel at Lung-mun-Kou in 1853 — ^Views of 
 Dr. Williams and Ney Elias — Error of Abbe Hue — Probable 
 cause of change — Embankments can be maintained — The river 
 can be regulated and controlled by the resources of modern en- 
 gineering — Railways can be built and maintained in the delta. 
 
 Having seen everything of interest in the region be- 
 tween Tientsin, Peking, and the Great Wall, I determined 
 to visit the country to the southward, along the Grand 
 Canal and the Yellow Eiver. I had often read of the 
 canal as " the great internal highway " of Chinese com- 
 merce, and of the Yellow River — the " Hoang-ho " of 
 our earlier geographies — as the cause of unnumbered 
 woes to the inhabitants of the Great Plain, and hence 
 known to the natives as " China's Sorrow "; but, curi- 
 ously enough, notwithstanding I had been in China for 
 three months, I could find no one who could give me much 
 definite information about them. The books of travel are 
 vague and uncertain in their descriptions. The Peking 
 Gazette mentions both the canal and the river frequently, 
 but the former generally in connection with the difficulty 
 of keeping it open long enough to bring the "tribute- 
 rice " of the southern provinces through it to Peking; and 
 the latter in connection with the futility of all efforts 
 
 219 
 
220 CHINA 
 
 heretofore made to protect the adjacent country from its 
 devastating floods. In order to understand the reason for 
 all this, 1 resolved to see both the canal and river, and 
 to study them from my own observations, in spite of the 
 fact that it would require a journey in midwinter of about 
 fifteen hundred miles through remote and unfrequented 
 regions. 
 
 My route lay along the general course of the canal 
 and Yellow Eiver to Kai-fung-fu, the capital of the prov- 
 ince of Honan; thence eastward to Lung-mun-Kou, the 
 point at which the river left its old bed in 1853-54, 
 and thence to Tung Ming, where a disastrous breach oc- 
 curred in its southern embankment a few years ago. 
 From this point, there being no inns near the river, I 
 struck across the country to Chining-Chou on the canal, 
 and from there made a visit to Chu-fu, the home and 
 burial-place of Confucius, and also to Tai-Shan, the 
 sacred mountain of China. Eetracing my path, I re- 
 turned to the canal at Nan-Shan, and turning north fol- 
 lowed it back to the Yellow Eiver at Shih-li-pu. From 
 this point I skirted the river as closely as possible, going 
 northeastward through Ping-yin and Chang-Ching to 
 Chi-nan-fu, the capital of Shantung. After examining 
 the embankments near the city, I recrossed the river at 
 Chi-ho, and returned through Ter-Chou (at which place 
 I intersected our route to the southward) to Tientsin, 
 having been gone forty-five days, and traveled something 
 over fourteen hundred miles. 
 
 The roads were found to be in excellent condition for 
 China, dry, hard, and dusty, but very crooked, as is gen- 
 erally the case throughout this country. There being no 
 fences, no hedge-rows, or ditches to mark the boundaries 
 of farms or gardens, and apparently no work done upon 
 the roads either in their original construction or for their 
 maintenance, every traveler feels at liberty to mark out a 
 road for himself, and this is a liberty of which every one 
 is compelled to avail himself in the rainy season, when 
 
CHINA'S SORROW 221 
 
 the alluvial soil of the plains becomes a sea of mud. The 
 consequence is, that it is no infrequent occurrence to see 
 a road go around three sides of a field instead of along the 
 fourth side, or run zigzag like a ship tacking against a 
 head-wind. Even the roads laid down on the maps as 
 imperial highways are unnecessarily crooked. They are 
 neither paved nor graveled, even where the materials can 
 be had, and macadamizing seems to be entirely unknown. 
 Indeed, it is not too much to say that roads in China are 
 never worked, and could be hardly worse in the rainy 
 season. 
 
 During my entire journey I saw only one stretch 
 of road, about ten miles long, which showed that it had 
 been laid out, heaped up in the middle and ditched, and 
 that was through an unusually low and desolate -portion 
 of the plains,' which would have been otherwise impass- 
 able for most of the year. Judging from the crookedness 
 of the canal embankments, as well as of the roads, it is 
 difficult to believe that the Chinese who laid them out 
 ever had the slightest conception of the fact that a right 
 line is the shortest distance between two points. There are 
 few running streams, and no mud in winter, and, as the 
 plains are everywhere as flat and smooth as any floor, 
 wheeled vehicles can drive indefinitely in any direction. 
 It is curious that the Chinese never put springs in their 
 carts, and, in fact, seem to be ignorant of their existence 
 or of the use which is made of them in other countries. 
 
 The winter climate of this region is quite remarkable. 
 Throughout our journey there were only three days when 
 I did not see the sun, and most of the time it shone clearly 
 and brightly from morning till evening. The nights were 
 also clear and bright, but generally very cold. One day 
 there was a slight fall of frozen mist, and the next morn- 
 ing the neighboring hills were barely covered with snow 
 or heavy frost, which was all gone long before noon. 
 The only interruption to the most perfect weather is an 
 occasional dust-storm from the north, which blows with 
 
222 CHINA 
 
 fury for several hours, sometimes a whole day, or eTen 
 longer. It never rains here in winter, but makes up for 
 it in June, July, and August, when the winds blow steadily 
 from the south and southeast, and are heavily laden with 
 moisture. It is these winds, therefore, which cause the 
 floods of the Yellow Eiver; the clouds which are brought 
 in by them break over the land in torrents as far as 
 Kuldja and the northern limits of the Desert of Gobi; 
 the streams are taxed to their fullest capacity; the Yellow 
 River becomes charged to its brink, and, when it reaches 
 the plain, its flood is piled up and frequently augmented 
 by a downfall of rain to the depth of many inches in a 
 single day. 
 
 My journey was made in stages of from seventy-five 
 to one hundred and twenty li, or from twenty-five to forty 
 miles per day, and in several instances to forty-five miles 
 per day, the practice being to start at dawn, or shortly 
 after, and travel fifteen or twenty miles at the rate of 
 three and a half or four miles per hour, according to the 
 roads, after which I halted for an hour and a half to 
 feed the animals and take luncheon. This done, I re- 
 sumed the march, and, after making a similar stage, se- 
 lected an inn, if one could be found, and put up for the 
 night. 
 
 Inns are generally found at the larger towns, and 
 are of various grades, but all constructed on the same 
 plan. They consist of a compound, ihe wall of sun-dried 
 brick — rarely of fire-burned brick — the entrance to which 
 is through a pair of large doors, which may be closed and 
 barred. Sometimes there is an inner yard or court. The 
 principal guest-rooms are in a low, single-storied house 
 opposite the entrance. I saw one, and only one, two- 
 storied guest-house on the trip. The house is divided in 
 the better inns into two and sometimes three rooms, the 
 middle one containing a square table and two chairs, or 
 benches, and the end ones containing a kang, or two tres- 
 tles, covered with coarse mats, upon which the guest's 
 
INNS AND INNKEEPERS 223 
 
 own bedding is spread by his own servants. The smaller 
 houses have only a single room, in one end of which is 
 the kang, or trestle, and in the other the table and chairs. 
 The rooms are lighted from the front by square windows, 
 with paper panes, and heated, if heat is required, by a pan 
 of charcoal burning in the middle of the floor, which is 
 sometimes of brick, but generally of clay. 
 
 The kang is a raised platform across the end of the 
 room, of the same kind of material that the house itself is 
 built of, which, as before stated, is generally of sun-dried 
 brick. In theory, it is supposed to be provided with a_ 
 furnace and a flue connecting with the open air, for the 
 purpose of burning millet-stalks or grass, and thus heat- 
 ing the body of the kang; but, in practice, the furnace 
 is rarely found, and when found it is generally impossible 
 to use it. During all our travels south of the Yellow Eiver 
 we saw only one kang, trestles being used instead as a plat- 
 form for the beds. 
 
 On either side of the compound are the rooms for 
 servants and carters, and also for guests who do not ab- 
 solutely require the .best. The carts are placed in front 
 of the rooms, and the mules and horses are fed in mova- 
 ble troughs which stand in the open court, or under the 
 sheds which are sometimes provided for shelter. The 
 innkeeper furnishes hot water, charcoal, and Chinese 
 meals for such guests as want them, and provides for the 
 animals, and all at reasonable rates. During the night a 
 watchman goes around the premises frequently, beating a 
 piece of hollow wood with a small stick in a peculiar 
 rhythmical manner, which is everywhere the same, and is 
 sometimes quite annoying. 
 
 The scene presented by an inn-yard full of carts, 
 horses, and mules is quite animated, but by no means 
 suggestive of extraordinary comfort or cleanliness. The 
 inns themselves in the winter are generally dirty and 
 cheerless, and always cold and damp, so that the traveler's 
 only refuge is to go to bed as soon as he gets his supper. 
 
224r CHINA 
 
 The best and. neatest inns are everywhere kept by the 
 Mohammedans; but, as they do not serve pork in any 
 form, the Chinese carters and mafoos will not patronize 
 them if they can find any other inns open. As we had 
 our own cook along, and ate no Chinese food, except mut- 
 ton, poultry, eggs, and vegetables, it made but little dif- 
 ference whether the inns at which we stopped were Mo- 
 hammedan or Buddhist. We, however, had the good 
 fortune to stop at a Mohammedan inn, on Christmas-day, 
 at the town of Chieh-ti, nearly one hundred miles south 
 of Tientsin, and had a most excellent Christmas dinner, 
 the principal articles of which had been furnished by kind 
 friends before we started. 
 
 The next point of importance on our route was Ter- 
 Chou, an old, dilapidated city, surrounded by a crenelated 
 brick wall, which looked as though it had defied the 
 storms of a thousand winters. Its turrets and buttresses 
 were crumbling, its gates were rotting down, its moats 
 were filled with broken bricks which had slipped from the 
 walls and foundations, and everjrthing about it, both in- 
 side and out, was fast falling into decay. 
 
 This city is situated on the bank of the Grand Canal, 
 which once doubtless brought a large business to it, but 
 its glory has departed along with that of the canal. Its 
 only significance now is that it is the first station on the 
 imperial telegraph-line south of Tientsin. 
 
 After tarrying there only long enough to send a mes- 
 sage to our friends, we crossed to the west side of the 
 canal, which here follows the bed of the river, and pushed 
 on toward Lin-ching, where we arrived the tiext night 
 after a ride of almost interminable length. This city is 
 much larger than Ter-Chou, and, although it presents by 
 no means a flourishing exterior, it appears to be a place 
 of some business importance. 
 
 The Grand Canal at this point leaves the bed of the 
 "Wei-ho (the main southern affluent of the Pei-ho), which 
 it follows from Tientsin, and winds its way by a very de- 
 
THE GRAND CANAL 225 
 
 vious course across the plains to Jung-chang-fu and the 
 Yellow Kiver, a distance of about seventy miles by the 
 road, but over a hundred by the canal. From the great 
 amount of curvature there is no doubt it follows the beds 
 of one or more old creeks or rivers in this part of its 
 course also. 
 
 We rode along the embankment, and found it to be of 
 very irregular section, of varying height and thickness, 
 sometimes very wide and strong, in some places in excel- 
 lent repair, and in others greatly decayed, or totally miss- 
 ing. The telegraph-line follows its general direction, and 
 it is said that the Chinese officials have proposed to lay a 
 railroad upon it. This is possible, by adding to it where 
 it is not wide enough, and by cutting off the corners and 
 bends where they are too sharp, but the road would still 
 be very crooked, and it would be unnecessarily expensive 
 to construct and operate. 
 
 Lin-ching is stated by some writers to be at the sum- 
 mit of the canal, but this is not the case; the real summit 
 is at Lung-Wang Miao, the junction of the canal with the 
 Ta-AYen-ho, which rises in the hills of Shantung, and 
 after flowing westward for many miles divides into two 
 branches, one of which, bringing with it an abundant sup- 
 ply of sand, which is very scarce in the Great Plain, falls 
 into the canal, and the other into the Yellow Eiver oppo- 
 site Yu-Shan. 
 
 Before the latter river left its old bed, the canal 
 crossed it at Chin-Chiang-pu, about one hundred miles 
 north of the Yang-tse-kiang, leaving a reach of over four 
 hundred miles of canal north of the crossing, which was 
 supplied with water mainly from the Ta-Wen-ho, and 
 although this water was not and could not be properly 
 utilized, because the canal was not furnished with locks, 
 it afforded fair navigation, except when interfered with 
 by excessive drought or floods from Chin-kiang to the 
 Wei-ho, or rather from the Yang-tse to Peking. 
 
 It would give a false impression to leave the subject 
 
226 CHINA 
 
 without further reference to the regulation of the flow of 
 water in the canal, the necessity for which was apparent 
 even to the Chinese; and to accomplish this they con- 
 structed sluices at many places along the canal, so as to 
 divide it up into reaches or sections varying from a mile 
 to ten and twenty miles in length. These sluices have 
 vertical walls, built parallel with and facing each other, 
 about twenty feet apart in the bed of the canal, and con- 
 nected with the shores and embankments by wing-walls 
 of the same kind of masonry. The faces of the wall are 
 slotted vertically, so as to permit the ends of cross-timbers 
 to slip or drop into them, and thus form a bulkhead across 
 the twenty-feet opening left between the walls. Stone 
 davits and snubbing-posts are provided to facilitate the 
 lowering or raising of the timbers and the passage of 
 boats, which, against a strong head of water, is, of course, 
 more or less difficult. The masonry of these sluices is 
 excellent, and is still in good condition. 
 
 After the change of the Yellow Eiver to its new bed 
 the canal was practically cut in the middle, and the new 
 river, carrying for the time a much larger volume of water 
 to sea-level, not only excavated a channel for itself much 
 deeper than the canal, but swept away the canal embank- 
 ments and filled up its bed, completely obliterating it for 
 three or four miles on the north, and nearly as many on 
 the south side of the crossing. As the river-bed gradually 
 deepened, the surface of the water also subsided, until 
 now at low water it is about ten feet below the bottom of 
 the canal; and, as there are no locks on either side, but 
 a simple embankment or sluice thrown across the canal, 
 it is impossible for boats to pass from the river to the 
 canal, or from the canal to the river, except during high- 
 water, and even then only after the embankment has been 
 cut, the sluice opened, and the canal-bed cleaned out and 
 deepened. 
 
 Notwithstanding this state of affairs, and the danger 
 of flooding the entire country in the vicinity, the Chinese 
 
THE GRAND CANAL 227 
 
 GoTernment, in pursuance of a custom as old as the 
 canal itself, has made the most strenuous efforts every 
 year to clean it out and bring the tribute-rice from the 
 southern provinces through it to Peking. The junks ne- 
 cessary to carry that part of the rice sent by this route 
 number six or seven hundred. Some seasons they all get 
 through, some seasons only a part of them, and occa- 
 sionally none; but it is apparent that the money expended 
 in opening *the canal, crossing the river, and paying the 
 freight, which De Guignes estimates at four million dol- 
 lars, must amount to considerably more every year than 
 the value of the rice. 
 
 The use of this canal has been considered by Chinese 
 statesmen as a matter of national importance at all times, 
 but especially so in case of war with foreign powers. 
 During the last war with France every effort was made to 
 put it into efficient condition, but, as usual, with but 
 little success. It should be remembered that the canal 
 really extends from the moats of Peking to the Yang-tse- 
 Mang, and that if it were in good condition it would 
 afford a most valuable line of internal communication for 
 food and military supplies between the capital, the south- 
 ern, and the* central provinces. The Imperial Govern- 
 ment has frequently called upon its ablest statesmen and 
 military commanders to take it in hand, but never yet 
 upon competent foreign engineers. It is, of course, fully 
 within the resources of modern science and skill to open 
 and keep it open at all times except when frozen, but the 
 cost would doubtless be large; and, even after the work 
 had been done, the canal would be useless for purposes of 
 national defense, and would necessarily be frozen during 
 the winter. 
 
 At Lin-ching there are about three feet of water in the 
 canal, but it gradually shoals till the Yellow Eiver is 
 reached, where its bed is entirely dry. Its width at 
 water-surface is from twenty-five to forty feet, and it is 
 badly silted up at several points both north and south 
 
228 CHINA 
 
 of the river. We had considerable difficulty in getting at 
 the condition of the canal and the relative location of the 
 towns near the crossing, until we had made a sketch-map 
 from our own observations. After riding all one day and 
 part of the next, we found that the canal south of Pa-li- 
 Miao to the river-bank had been entirely obliterated, and 
 that the plain through which the river runs had been 
 raised by the deposit of silt from the flood four, five, and 
 in places as much as six feet. One sluice of the Chang- 
 Wang Canal, also obliterated, had been buried, and noth- 
 ing was left to mark its site, except the tops of the stone 
 davits, which were sticking out of the ground about two 
 feet. Even the miao, a small temple, one of which is 
 always erected at or near a canal-sluice, was in ruins, and 
 more than half buried in the silt. Owing to this fact, and 
 the impossibility of making a straight crossing of the 
 river, a new canal, seven miles long, has been constructed 
 from Ur-Cheng-Cha, ten miles north of the old river- 
 crossing, to a point farther down the river. There is a 
 good landing at the last-mentioned point, and the river 
 has there a deep, well-defined bed skirting the foot-hills 
 of Shantung at a distance of three or four miles from 
 them, all the way from the vicinity of Shih^li-pu to the 
 vicinity of Chi-nan-fu. 
 
 Chang-Chin-Chun was once a place of large popula- 
 tion and great wealth, abounding in fine temples and 
 buildings, and surrounded by a wall, all of fire-burned 
 brick; but its glory has also departed. It is now by all 
 odds the most dilapidated-looking place visited by us in 
 all the delta country. This is doubtless due to the fact 
 that it is situated south of the junction of the new canal, 
 and is left high and dry by what little commerce there is 
 yet remaining on the canal. Pa-li Miao and Shih-li-pu 
 are also in a state of utter desolation and ruin, and tell the 
 story of the decay of commerce on the canal and the 
 devastating effect of the Yellow Eiver floods more elo- 
 quently than any description can possibly do it. 
 
THE GRAND CANAL 229 
 
 Li Hung-Chang, in a memorial to the Throne, says it 
 is clear that, so long as the Yellow Eiver follows its pres- 
 ent course to the sea, navigation can be had through the 
 canal, accompanied by constant danger of inundations 
 from the river; while, if the river were restored to its old 
 channel, emptying into the sea south of the Shantung 
 province, comparative security from floods would be had, 
 but the navigation of the canal would become still more 
 difficult. He adds that the suggestion which has been 
 " made in regard to turning the river back into its old bed 
 is but a figment of the mind," as he regards such a feat as 
 impossible. He may be right in the first conclusion, as 
 he certainly is in the last, but, as the last can not be ac- 
 complished, the great problem still remains of how to 
 regulate and control the Yellow Eiver, and maintain a 
 line of internal communication between the imperial capi- 
 tal and the Yang-tse provinces. 
 
 The solution of these problems is clearly within the 
 resources of modern engineering; but the imperial au- 
 thorities have always been too short-sighted to call in 
 foreign help, or to adopt the conclusions which may be 
 arrived at by a proper consideration of the facts pertaining 
 to each case. There is no doubt that, for the present, and 
 under the plans now existing and the system of adminis- 
 tration now practiced by the Chinese, every dollar ex- 
 pended upon the Grand Canal, except for strictly local 
 purposes, is wasted. 
 
 On the other hand, it is certain that the only way in 
 which they can secure a line of internal communication, 
 equal at the same time to the demands of the enormous 
 commerce which would be secured by it and to the re- 
 quirements of the national defense, is by building a first- 
 class railroad from Peking to the Yang-tse-kiang, and 
 from the Yang-tse to Canton, with branches to certain 
 important mining, commercial, and political centers more 
 or less remote from the trunk line. Such a railroad, in- 
 cluding a bridge over the Yellow Eiver, can be built at 
 
230 CHINA 
 
 a reasonable cost; and, what is more, it can be main- 
 tained against the floods of the Yellow Eiver, and under 
 foreign management will pay the interest upon its proper 
 cost and a reasonable profit besides, from the day that 
 it is opened for traffic. Its construction has been author- 
 ized, and the section between Peking and Paoting-fu has 
 been finished. Work was progressing favorably on the 
 rest, till suspended by the " Boxer " outbreak. 
 
 From Chang-Chin-Chun we rode along the embank- 
 ment on the north side of the Yellow Eiver for a distance 
 of about eighty miles to a point in the plain a short dis- 
 tance beyond the village of S'zma, where the embankment 
 abruptly came to an end. Thinking that there might be 
 some mistake about this, or that there were some local 
 features which rendered an embankment unnecessary, we 
 rode at once to the river, some three miles south; but we 
 found the latter here, as elsewhere, occupying a well-de- 
 fined bed, in a perfectly level plain, the surface of which 
 was, by actual measurement, only an average of five feet 
 above the surface of the water. We also ascertained, by 
 carefully questioning both boatmen and natives, that the 
 water was from eight to ten feet deep in the channel, and 
 had frequently risen as much as ten or more feet, over- 
 flowing the plain and spreading through the country to 
 the Grand Canal, to a depth varying from two to six feet. 
 
 We then found, by riding straight back into the coun- 
 try twenty miles, that there never had been any embank- 
 ment to this part of the river since it had left its old bed 
 over thirty years ago; but all our efforts to obtain a satis- 
 factory reason, or even an unsatisfactory one, for the 
 omission, have been so far unavailing. 
 
 The embankment along which we had ridden was 
 found by frequent measurement to be from twelve to 
 fourteen feet high, from twenty to thirty feet wide on top, 
 and to have outside and inside slopes of two base to one 
 perpendicular. In many places and for considerable 
 stretches it was well laid out, admirably constructed. 
 
THE GRAND CANAL 231 
 
 and in excellent condition, but at others it was not only 
 .crooked, but of insufScient height and width, and 
 was in bad condition generally. It was frequently culti- 
 vated on the top and sides, cut through by road-cross- 
 ings, and burrowed into by animals, and of course all 
 these are points of danger during floods. The same 
 thing may be said of the embankments wherever we 
 came to them. 
 
 Between Tao-chung-fu, at the junction of the present 
 canal with the Yellow Elver, and Chang-Chin-Chun there 
 is an excellent embankment; but at the latter place it 
 joins an embankment of the old canal, which is in a state 
 of dilapidation; and, while the river embankment turned 
 the water last year admirably, the canal embankment was 
 overflowed, and all the country between the two flooded 
 to a depth of from four to six feet. 
 
 From the end of the embankment above referred to, 
 we proceeded through several old walled towns in the 
 interior to Kai-fung-fu, the capital of the province of 
 Honan, about six miles south of the Yellow Eiver. Be- 
 fore reaching the latter, we came to an enormous em- 
 bankment, about four miles from the ferry, which was 
 built by the Emperor Kien-lung over a hundred years 
 ago. We saw it from a great distance across the plain, 
 looming upon the edge of the horizon like a well-de- 
 fined hill of considerable height. On a nearer approach 
 it grew in size, and was seen to be surmounted by 
 crenelated walls and city-gates. On measuring it, we 
 found it to be forty feet high and fifty feet wide on top, 
 with the usual slopes of one on two, and to contain about 
 a million cubic yards of earth for each mile in length. 
 Doubtless it was built by that magnificent monarch to 
 show how, according to his ideas, a wall should be built, 
 and was left to take care of itself, with the firm conviction 
 that it would restrain the floods of the river forever. How 
 far it extends, we could not ascertain; but were informed 
 that it runs to the westward or up the valley of the 
 
232 CHINA 
 
 river only a few miles, but eastward along the bed 
 of the old river indefinitely. We afterward ascertained 
 that it was an extension of this enormous embankment 
 through which the river broke when it changed its bed 
 the last time. 
 
 Before crossing the river, we made observations and 
 measurements with sextant and tape-line, from which it 
 was found to be fifteen hundred feet wide and six or seven 
 feet deep on the north side, but quite shoal on the other 
 side, till a reverse bend three or four miles farther down 
 was reached. 
 
 Before going on the boat, our attendants and servants 
 offered their devotions to the " river-god," lighting can- 
 dles, burning incense and gilt and silver paper supposed 
 to represent gold and silver money, prostrating them- 
 selves, and knocking their heads reverently and solemnly 
 against the ground three times. 
 
 Having done all that was required by custom to secure 
 the smiles of the god and dispose him to vouchsafe us a 
 safe passage, we crowded our whole party — carts, horses, 
 mules, and servants — into a junk about fifty feet long 
 and fifteen or sixteen feet wide, and, casting loose from 
 the north shore, the top of which was then only five feet 
 above the surface of the water, in an hour and a quarter 
 we were safely landed against the southern bank, which 
 was found to be fourteen feet high. In the passage we 
 simply floated with the current, which was of moderate 
 velocity, the boatmen guiding the Junk by poles and by 
 dropping their anchor and " clubbing " whenever neces- 
 sary. Our junk struck against sand-bars several times, 
 but by skillful use of the poles and anchor she was guided 
 safely along without stopping. 
 
 Williams, in the Middle Kingdom, states that the 
 bed of the river near Kai-fung-fu is so silted up, that the 
 surface of the water is higher than the country outside; 
 but this can hardly be the case, for, if it were, we should 
 have probably found back-water or marshes between the 
 
THE YELLOW RIVER AND ITS EMBANKMENTS 233 
 
 river-brinks and the embankments and possibly outside 
 of them also; but no such marshes were seen or crossed 
 by us. Nor were there any other indications that either 
 the bed of the river or the water in it is now or ever has 
 been, except during freshets, higher than the surround- 
 ing country. Of course, it would require a careful set 
 of cross-sections, made with good levels by competent en- 
 gineers, at this and other places, to ascertain the exact 
 facts, but there is no evidence which we could discover 
 going to show that they are as stated by Dr. Williams. 
 To the contrary, so far as any one could see, the ground 
 from the northern embankment to the river was level, 
 and that from the river to the southern embankments, of 
 which there are two, gradually rises on the road to the 
 city walls. 
 
 At Lung-mun-Kou, about twenty tniles east of Kai- 
 fung-fu, the river burst through its southern embank- 
 ment in 1853. It was, according to tradition, higher 
 then than ever known before or since; but just how or 
 why this disaster occurred has never been satisfactorily 
 explained. 
 
 The most commonly received theory is that the bed 
 of the river was here silted up to a higher level than that 
 of the adjacent plains outside the embankments, which 
 were found • to be of enormous dimensions, as at Kai- 
 fung-fu, but this is by no means proved. Careful observa- 
 tions made by us show that while the river has here turned 
 abruptly to the north, leaving the old bed along which 
 we rode for about ten miles, and all of which, including 
 the sides and tops of the old embankments, is now under a 
 high state of cultivation, at a considerably higher level 
 than the new bed, they failed to show that the old bed 
 is higher than the country outside of it. We found from 
 actual measurements that the bottom of the old river-bed 
 was on the 10th of January, 1866, nearly twelve feet 
 above the surface of the water in the new river-bed, just 
 abreast of it, and only a short distance away; that the top 
 18 
 
234 CHINA 
 
 of the old river bank, or plain inside of the old embank- 
 ments, was twenty-two feet six inches above the water- 
 suifaee, and that the top of the old embankment, now 
 covered by the town of Lung-mun-Kou, has been some- 
 what changed, but where it is cut squarely through by the 
 river in its new course it is fifty-five feet six inches above 
 the water-surface. 
 
 On their face these figures seem to suggest a probabil- 
 ity that the river had silted up its bed to a higher level 
 than the country near by, but the appearances of the 
 country, inside and outside, indicate more strongly that 
 this is not the ease. Nothing but a careful set of sections 
 made at frequent intervals across and along the old and 
 the new river-beds, both above and below the breach, at 
 points where the condition of the surfaces has not un- 
 dergone material change since the disaster occurred can 
 set this question satisfactorily at rest. 
 
 Mr. Ney Elias, Jr., F. E. G. S., an English merchant 
 of scientific education, then living at Shanghai, visited 
 this point in the fall of 1868, and a full report of his ob- 
 servations is found in the Journal of the North China 
 Branch of the Eoyal Asiatic Society for that year. He 
 states that the course of the low-water channel " was not 
 always parallel to the flood-banks, but made a winding, 
 tortuous line between them, apparently like a natural 
 river, and the point where the breach now is was one 
 where the current impinged upon the north bank." He 
 also states that " the river had so diminished the capacity 
 of its bed, by depositing the alluvium with which its 
 waters were charged, that the main pressure during the 
 flood-season had come to bear on the upper or weaker 
 part of the embankments, and, no measures having been 
 taken to strengthen these or deepen the channel, the 
 great catastrophe happened, which, with its consequences, 
 had been predicted by Abbe Hue some years before," but 
 he gives no proof except that of " mere cursory inspec- 
 tion " that the bed of the river at the point under consid- 
 
THE YELLOW RIVER AND ITS EJIBANKMENTS 235 
 
 eration had come to be higher than the " general level 
 of the neighboring country." 
 
 Abbe Hue distinctly states that " the actual bed of 
 the Yellow Eiver in the provinces of Honan and Kiang- 
 su, for more than two hundred leagues, is higher than 
 nearly all the immense plain which forms its valley," but 
 he also fails to say that he carried surveying-instruments 
 with him, or to give the observations and facts upon 
 which this statement is made. I therefore take the lib- 
 erty of suggesting that its truth must not be taken for 
 granted. It seems to be more likely that, then as now, 
 the river-embankments were sadly neglected, that the 
 enormous one in which the breach occurred was regarded 
 as so safe that it need not be looked after, and that roads 
 were cut through it, or animals had burrowed in it, or 
 that, where " the water impinged upon it," it had per- 
 haps for years been cutting its way at low stages through 
 the plain to the foot of the embankment, so that the full 
 volume of the great flood had nothing to do at that point 
 but to continue the undercutting till the whole embank- 
 ment was so undermined and weakened as to make it 
 yield readily to the pressure. It is certain, at all events, 
 that if the bank had been undermined here, as described, 
 it would have broken then or at some other time, whether 
 the river-bed was or was not higher than the neighboring 
 country. In other words, it is not necessary to assume 
 that the river-bed had silted up, as claimed by ISTey Elias 
 and Abbe Hue, to account for the breach in its em- 
 bankment. 
 
 It may be naturally asked, if this assumption is not 
 proved, why the river did not return to its old bed after 
 the flood subsided, but, on the contrary, continued to 
 pour through the breach, and made a new bed for itself 
 on its way to the sea. The answer to this is obvious. As 
 the great volume of water poured through the breach 
 from the top of the flood to the level of the plains below, 
 it acquired a high velocity due to the difference of level. 
 
236 CHINA 
 
 probably as much as fifteen or even twenty feet, and rap- 
 idly cut out a new channel, deepest where the velocity 
 was greatest. As Confucius might have said, it is the 
 nature of water to flow in devious lines, and also to run 
 down-hill, and hence, once outside of the great embank- 
 ment, on a plain sloping gently down to sea-level, it was 
 impossible for it to turn back into its old bed till after 
 the flood had subsided; on the contrary, all that had got 
 outside was forced to flow onward, and in doing so to 
 find the line of steepest declivity open to it. As might 
 naturally have been supposed, in doing this it also found 
 the shortest line from the breach to sea-level, which 
 chanced to be at the mouth of the Ta-Ching-ho, on the 
 Gulf of Pechili, two hundred and forty miles north by 
 west in a right line from the old mouth, and six hundred 
 miles by the coast-line. 
 
 The distance by the new course of the river to the 
 sea is about two hundred and fifty miles, while by the 
 old bed it is about three hundred miles. It is also ob- 
 vious that the water pouring out through the breach 
 found the deepest natural depression in the surface cov- 
 ered by it, and this depression, also having a steeper de- 
 cline toward the river, induced a more rapid current not 
 only throughout its course, but also in that part of the 
 old river just above and next to the breach, and conse- 
 quently eroded that part of its bed to a greater depth 
 than it had ever had before. When the water subsided 
 to its low-water stage, its surface was found to be lower 
 than the bottom of the old bed below or east of the 
 breach. After that it was obviously impossible for it to 
 resume its old channel. 
 
 The river at the breach is wider and more filled with 
 sand-bars than anywhere else we saw it. It was a misty, 
 dusty morning the day we were there, and hence we could 
 neither see across nor measure it, but an intelligent citi- 
 zen told us that the old embankment had been carried 
 away for a distance of 16,960 Chinese feet, or about three 
 
THE YELLOW RIVER AND ITS EMBANKMENTS 237 
 
 and a half miles, English. There is no doubt that the 
 water could be easily concentrated into one channel, or 
 that such concentration would so deepen it as to make 
 good navigation for light-draught steamers of the class 
 used on the Western rivers of the United States. Indeed, 
 the Yellow Eiver is very much such a stream as our upper 
 Missouri, only not generally so wide, and perhaps not car- 
 rying so large a volume of water to the sea. Its water 
 has about the same color, and it seems to hold for the 
 same velocities about the same amount of sediment, hut 
 the sediment is more muddy or less sandy than that of 
 the Missouri. 
 
 Our measurements showed the river to be only 983 
 feet at Shih-li-pu, 1,656 feet at Yu-shan, and 1,092 at 
 Chi-ho, or counting the measurement at Kai-fung-fu, an 
 average of say 1,400 feet, or 466 yards. It should also be 
 mentioned that for six or eight miles from Lung-mun- 
 Kou, and, indeed, nearly all the way back to Kai-fung-fu, 
 or about thirty miles, there is a marked tendency, not oh- 
 served by us anywhere else in the delta plains, for the dust 
 or fine sand to gather into sand-dunes, those next to the 
 city reaching almost to the top of the city walls, or from 
 twenty-five to thirty feet high. There was no reason 
 which we could discover why this tendency should show 
 itself here rather than at other places, but the fact is as 
 stated. It is also barely possible that the soil in this par- 
 ticular region is somewhat more arenaceous than else- 
 where, and that the embankments built out of it are not 
 quite so solid as they are on other sections of the river; 
 but we could not discern that the soil actually used was 
 in 'any way different from that used above or below, nor 
 do I believe that such was the case. 
 
 After careful consideration of all the facts observed 
 there and elsewhere, and especially the lack of intelligent 
 and responsible supervision of the embankments, the 
 neglect of all ordinary precautions for their maintenance, 
 the reckless manner in which they are cut through by 
 
238 CHINA 
 
 roads, the persistency with which they are cultivated, 
 and with which every vestige of grass and herbage and 
 osier-twig is raked and cut from their top and slopes, 
 there is no need to look further for an explanation of the 
 great breach of Lung-mun-Kou, or of those which have 
 occurred at other points year after year, both before and 
 since the river changed its course to the sea. 
 
 A great deal of excellent embankment has been 
 built, and also much which is badly located and in bad 
 condition; but with a watchful supervision and honest 
 administration under one responsible head, together with 
 the construction of such new embankment and such ad- 
 ditions to the old, as any fairly intelligent man could 
 point out as being necessary, it is quite certain that com- 
 parative immunity from devastating floods could be ob- 
 tained at least till the whole question of regulation 
 and control could be studied from data obtained by care- 
 ful surveys 'and a general system devised in compli- 
 ance with the requirements of the vast interests in- 
 volved, and in harmony with the principles of modern 
 engineering. 
 
 It may be said of a river embankment, as of a chain, 
 that it is no stronger than its weakest part, and hence 
 special and immediate attention should be directed to 
 the discovery of all such points, and to the application 
 of the necessary remedy. It is a truism which none will 
 dispute, in this case at least, that an ounce of prevention 
 is worth many pounds of cure. But whether this ounce 
 of prevention will be applied, or the great river, which is 
 so appropriately called " China's Sorrow," be allowed to 
 break its embankments through criminal neglect or offi- 
 cial incompetence and peculation, and sweep off hundreds 
 and even thousands of lives hereafter, as it has done so 
 frequently in the past, it is, of course, impossible to tell. 
 There are some indications that the Board of Public 
 Works and various officials of importance in Peking are 
 giving the question careful consideration. Acting on a 
 
THE YELLOW RIVER AND ITS EMBANKMENTS 239 
 
 petition from a member of the Board of Sacrificial Wor- 
 ship, the Grovernment has recently detailed a general, who 
 has distinguished himself by compelling his idle soldiers 
 to clean out the filthy moats of Peking, to make a com- 
 plete inspection and report of the river and its embank- 
 ments. It is understood that this officer protests most 
 earnestly against the order, and declares, perhaps truth- 
 fully enough, that he knows absolutely nothing in regard 
 to river-works or any other kind of engineering. The 
 probabilities are that he is perfectly honest in this, though 
 it is also possible that his merit may be even greater 
 than his modesty. Be this as it may, this is a move in 
 the right direction, since it sends one man to take a 
 comprehensive view of the whole situation, the result 
 of which must be in some degree better that what has 
 gone before. 
 
 At the time of my visit to the river, which was during 
 the season of the lowest water, instead of finding it spread 
 out over the plains, and having no well-defined bed be- 
 tween Lung-mun-Kou and Yu-shan, as was reported to be 
 the case by Mr. Key Elias, and as has been shown for 
 many years on all the principal maps, I found that it 
 had gradually made for itself a new channel with shores 
 from five to ten feet in height, and that it was otherwise 
 assuming the characteristics throughout that portion of 
 its course which it has above and below. 
 
 I have not seen the river during flood, but can well 
 imagine that it appears altogether different at such times, 
 and yet I do not doubt that it can be bridged and crossed 
 by a railroad at almost any point, or that the railroad can 
 be maintained without any extraordinary trouble or ex- 
 pense. There are several places in the province of Shan- 
 tung where natural abutments may be had, and which 
 are otherwise favorable for bridging, and also for obtain- 
 ing an abundant supply of stone for riprapping or paving 
 the approaches, so as to protect them from the action of 
 the water. 
 
240 CHINA 
 
 A great flood, devastating a wide extent of country 
 near Kai-fung-fu, in the province of Honan, took place 
 during the rainy season of 1887. It resulted in another 
 change of the river from its old bed, but this time to the 
 southward. The breach in its embankment was repaired 
 after incredible effort and expense, and the river was thus 
 compelled to resume its former bed to the sea. 
 
CHAPTEE XVI 
 
 Visit to the city of Kai-fung-f u — The immense number of wheel- 
 barrows on the road — The curiosity of the citizens — DifBculty 
 of securing an inn — Inn-yard invaded by the mob — Visit of 
 the ofiicials from the yamen — Mob iinally driven out — Be- 
 spectable merchant compelled to crawl out under the gate — 
 Call of two young officials from the governor's yamen — Tung- 
 ming district — Approach to the Shantung hills — Cross the 
 Grand Canal at Chi-ning-Chou — Visit to Chu-fu, the home 
 and burial-place of Confucius — The ' ' Ever-Sacred Duke " and 
 his descendants — The Grand Pavilion and grounds — The ave- 
 nue — The Confucian cemetery — The tomb of the sage — Burn- 
 ing of the Confucian residence — Singular superstition in regard 
 to it — ^Visit to Taishan, the sacred mountain of China — Ascent 
 of the mountain — Beautiful scenery — Temples and shrines — 
 Return to the Grand Canal and journey to Chi-nan-fu — Amer- 
 ican Presbyterian mission — But few Christian converts — Supe- 
 riority of technical instruction — Influence of war, commerce, 
 and the missionaries — The city of Chi-nan-fu — The Yellow 
 River again — Navigable from Chi-nan-fu to the sea — Chinese 
 are ignorant of science in the work of controlling the floods — 
 Journey back to Tientsin — Old embankments — The country — 
 Mission at Pang-Chia-Chwang — Case of first convert — Chinese 
 New- Year — Ancestral worship — New- Year's dinner — Lost in a 
 dust-storm — Dreariness of the Great Plain — Not over-popu- 
 lated — Condition of the people — The Yellow River can be 
 crossed by railroads — Return to Peking — Received by the 
 Tsung-li Yamen. 
 
 OtTE visit to Kai-ftmg-fu was the first one made by 
 foreigners for many years; as a consequence, we attracted 
 great attention — far too much, in fact, for our own com- 
 fort. The city covers a large area, is surrounded by the 
 
 341 
 
242 CHINA 
 
 usual high brick wall surmounted by a crenelated para- 
 petj and furnished with buttresses, turrets, ponderous 
 gates, moats, and all the appliances of the Chinese middle 
 ages. It also has a thirteen-storied pagoda, built of 
 brown brick, and presents a grand but somewhat barbaric 
 appearance from a distance. On a closer approach, it is 
 seen to be, like other interior Chinese cities, dirty, dilapi- 
 dated, and decaying, and yet it is, perhaps justly, re- 
 garded as a place of great importance. It contains a 
 population estimated at five hundred thousand souls, and 
 is the capital of the province of Honan, which is noted for 
 the roughness of its people and its hostility to everything 
 foreign. 
 
 As we approached it we were struck by the immense 
 number of wheelbarrows we passed on the road carrying 
 coal from the river. Each one of these curious vehicles 
 was drawn by a donkey and pushed by a man, who held 
 the handles and balanced the barrow and its load of three 
 or four hundred pounds by means of a strap passing over 
 his shoulders. We must have seen over a thousand, and 
 all were screeching like a high-pressure steam gauge-cock. 
 It is said that no barrow-man will have or use one of this 
 particular class unless it screeches, and ■ the more un- 
 earthly the sound the better it is liked, as it is supposed to 
 be good fung-shuy. 
 
 We entered the main gate on the north side, but were 
 promptly stopped at the custom- or guard-house, just in- 
 side the wall. Our mandarin, however, dismounted, and, 
 after making the proper explanation and exhibiting our 
 Chinese passports, during which a crowd began to gather 
 and gaze at us, we were permitted to pass on. 
 
 Our route at first lay through a rather thinly settled 
 suburb, if any part of a city within the walls can be called 
 a suburb, but soon led us into one of the principal streets, 
 straight and broad, through which we made our way, 
 somewhat after the manner of the grand entry of a circus 
 into an American town. Our mandarin, wearing his of- 
 
VISIT TO KAI-FUNG-FU 243 
 
 ficial hat, and accompanied by the interpreter, rode 
 ahead, followed by myself. Behind ns came two mounted 
 mafoos, and then the six carts well closed up; but no 
 circus ever had a larger or more curious audience than we 
 soon had. How the news spread it is impossible to say, 
 but spread it certainly did, for in an incredibly short time 
 we had hundreds of men and boys in our train, and the 
 shop-fronts, sidewalks, and door-steps were crowded by 
 people staring at us as we passed. In this manner we 
 threaded our way for over a mile, when we came to an 
 inn, which we turned into; but the landlord, seeing the 
 crowd' following us, and perhaps fearing annoyance, at 
 once told our mandarin that his house was full, and he 
 could not accommodate us. Solicitation was in vain, and 
 there was nothing left for us but to go farther. At the 
 next inn, which was only a short distance beyond, we re- 
 ceived the same answer; but we resolved to stay in the 
 court-yard till our people had found an inn for us, and 
 this we did, the center of a gaping but respectful crowd. 
 Men and boys closed in around our horses and gazed at 
 our boots, trousers, coats, and caps, our gloves, whips, and 
 saddles, one after the other, but all in silent admiration, 
 which we submitted to with pretty nearly as much in- 
 terest as our visitors. 
 
 In the course of ten minutes, our " Number One " 
 mafoo returned with the gratifying intelligence that the 
 interpreter had found an inn which was at our disposal. 
 We therefore resumed our procession through the street, 
 and after a short time entered a cross-street, .where, within 
 a square, we found our quarters; and, turning hastily into 
 them, had the gates closed in the hope that we should 
 thus get rid of the crowd. In this we were partly suc- 
 cessful at first, but, as it was necessary to open the gates 
 for the carts, the crowd, which had now gathered in 
 strength, rushed in, and before the carts could be un- 
 loaded the outer court-yard was filled to overflowing. 
 The servants made an effort to expel the intruders, and 
 
244 CHINA 
 
 succeeded in doing so and closing the gates; but shortly 
 afterward the carters opened the gates again to turn the 
 mules into the street for water and to roll, and as the 
 mules returned the crowd came in with them. Seeing 
 the futility of trying to keep them out of the outer court, 
 the servants retreated to the door of the inner court, 
 and made a determined effort to hold it. In this they 
 were successful for a half-hour. Meanwhile we had sent 
 our passports to the governor-general's yamen, with a 
 message that, if agreeable to him, we should call and pay 
 our respects, and, so far as might be necessary, explain 
 the object of our traveling in that part of Honan. 
 
 We had already been informed by a young mandarin 
 connected with the yamen, who had crossed the river with 
 us, that the governor-general was only temporarily hold- 
 ing the office, that he was not well, and that a new gov- 
 ernor-general was expected soon; hence we anticipated 
 that it might not be convenient for him to receive us, and 
 instructed our messenger to say, in that ease, that we were 
 examining the Yellow River and its embankments, and 
 would like to have a safeguard through Honan into the 
 province of Shangtung, together with a detachment of 
 policemen or soldiers to protect our inn and relieve us of 
 the unwelcome attentions of the crowd of men and boys 
 who were gathering there. 
 
 During the absence of our messenger the people con- 
 tinued to collect in the outer court, which was now 
 densely packed, and to press upon the inner gateway. 
 Finally, through the persistency and activity of the boys 
 in front, and of the pressure of the men behind, and per- 
 haps also through the relaxed vigilance of our servants, 
 they succeeded in unhinging the gate and gained admis- 
 sion into the inner court, around the farther end of which 
 ourselves and servants had been assigned to rooms. The 
 first thing which attracted their attention, and seemed in 
 some degree to satisfy their curiosity, was our big Chi- 
 nese cook, with his charcoal-fire and his pots and pans. 
 
VISIT TO KAI-FUXG-PU 245 
 
 preparing dinner. This was evidently a rare treat to them, 
 and enabled our men to hold them in check opposite the 
 kitchen-door, about twelve feet from our own, for perhaps 
 twenty minutes; but during this time the pressure from 
 behind increased, and the inner court-yard, which was 
 only thirty-six feet long by twelve wide, became crowded 
 to suffocation. The three " boys," aided at times by the 
 cook, screamed themselves hoarse and exhausted all their 
 strength in their efforts to expel the intruders without 
 doing them bodily harm. Our visitors had but little to 
 say, but with wide-open eyes and gaping mouths they 
 pressed each other steadily forward, recoiling whenever 
 the servants made a threatening rush at them, and then, 
 as the servants retreated, edging a little farther into the 
 open space just outside of our door, which was closed and 
 covered by a cotton-cloth portiere. At this juncture one 
 of the servants, seeing that they would reach the door and 
 break their way in unless they were turned away, came 
 inside and said that the crowd, who had never seen a for- 
 eigner before, simply wanted to look at us, and that if we 
 would go outside and show ourselves, perhaps they would 
 scatter and go home; whereupon we walked out among 
 them, and, after standing a minute or two to be gazed at, 
 went forward, and by motions and gesticulations, aided 
 by the servants, cleared the inner court-yard and half the 
 outer one. There is no doubt that we should have got 
 them entirely outside, but, just as we had pressed our 
 way through to the street, the mandarin returned from 
 the yamen, and we went back with him to our room 
 to hear his report. The servants, seeing that we had 
 gone in, gave up the struggle, and the crowd again surged 
 in after them. 
 
 The governor-general received our messenger very 
 politely, but said it would not be necessary for us to call, 
 unless we had something important to communicate, and 
 he would not call on us because he had sore eyes, but 
 would send one of his mandarins to give us such assist- 
 
246 CHINA 
 
 ance as we might require. eH also said he would send a 
 guard at once. Shortly afterward a mandarin, wearing 
 the crystal button and peacock's feather, and clad in silk 
 and furs, made his appearance, accompanied by his chair- 
 men and retainers, bearing high umbrellas and spears, and 
 wearing official hats, and all this state was to bring the 
 governor-general's return cards. After leaving them he 
 departed hastily, and the multitude lost no time in press- 
 ing into the inner court and up to our door again. We 
 gathered our servants once more and drove the crowd 
 back, nearly to the street, when we were again stopped 
 in the full tide of victory by the coming of a still more 
 stately mandarin, with banners and umbrellas, and a larger 
 and more showy retinue. It would not comport with 
 Chinese etiquette to be caught out of our quarters or 
 engaged in such an occupation by a distinguished visitor, 
 so we returned to our room and received him with all 
 the state we could assume. On entering he bowed and 
 saluted us politely, in the usual Chinese way, by clasping 
 his hands and raising them to his face, and we returned 
 his greeting in the same manner, after which we showed 
 him to a seat, and a short conversation followed. He told 
 us he had been sent by the governor-general, to ask us 
 what assistance we required. Being a bright and intelli- 
 gent man, he took in the situation at once, apologized 
 for the roughness of the people of Kai-f ung-f u, and said he 
 would explain to them that we meant them no harm, but 
 had come on a friendly mission. He intimated, perhaps 
 by direction of the governor-general, that as soon as we 
 were rested and had got such supplies as we desired, we 
 had better resume our journey. Before taking his leave 
 he directed one of his own attendants to remain with us, 
 and said he would send a guard without delay to drive out 
 our unwelcome visitors and keep order. The single man 
 left with us did his level best to hold the inner gate 
 against the increasing pressure from without, but he was 
 overpowered and pressed back like the rest, and finally 
 
VISIT TO KAI-FUNG-PU 247 
 
 folded his hands in despair. Our servants still stood their 
 ground as best they could, but were at last pressed back 
 against our door. It was now nearly half -past five, and no 
 pohcemen had yet made their appearance. 
 
 The most venturesome of the crowd had gained our 
 windows, and begun poking holes through the paper 
 panes for the purpose of looking in, and thereupon, hav- 
 ing lost all patience, we sallied out for the last time, and 
 went for the " heathen Chinee " in a way they were not 
 slow to understand. Our servants and carters came to our 
 assistance manfully, and even the solitary policeman 
 plucked up courage to pitch in. By dint of pushing, yell- 
 ing, and gesticulating, aided perhaps by fear on the part 
 of the crowd, we gradually pushed those in front back 
 upon those in the rear so vigorously that, in the course 
 of ten minutes, we had got the court-yards nearly clear. 
 In the midst of our most vigorous onset, we found our- 
 selves suddenly re-enforced by a detachment of six or 
 eight policemen, with -the chief of police at their head, 
 and this re-enforcement was less gentle in its treatment 
 of the intruders than we had been; but it was quite notice- 
 able that there was no clubbing, as would have been the 
 case with an American mob that would not " move on." 
 In a few minutes afterward we had the court-yard cleared 
 and the gates barred; but the crowd still remained in 
 the street and made one or two efforts to regain its lost 
 ground, but in vain. In this bloodless contest men lost 
 their hats and shoes, and the boys were knocked over and 
 trampled upon. Several of them cried most lustily, and 
 there was a babel of yelling and shouting, as is generally 
 the ease with a Chinese crowd, but, so far as we could 
 make out, nobody was angry, or inspired by any other 
 motive than that of gratifying an insatiable and ravenous 
 curiosity. 
 
 There seemed to be all sorts and conditions of men in 
 the crowd. Many of them were well-dressed and intelli- 
 gent in appearance, and all appeared to be good-natured 
 
248 CHINA 
 
 and amiable. The last out was eyidently a respectable 
 merchant or shopkeeper, wearing his best hat and new silk 
 gown; but when he got to the gate it was closed and 
 barred, so the chief of police, instead of opening it, made 
 him get down into the dust and crawl under it, much to 
 his disgust, but to the great delight of the crowd outside. 
 
 It was now about six o'clock, and quiet and order 
 reigned at last in our court-yard. The chief of police 
 and his men fraternized at once with our attendants, and 
 assured us we should have no more unbidden visitors. 
 Later in the evening, after we had received cards and a 
 friendly message from the local prefect or magistrate, and 
 all the members of our guard had duly inspected us and 
 our belongings while at dinner, two sub-officials were 
 brought in, bearing with them the paper-seals, half as big 
 as an ordinary newspaper, which they said they were going 
 to paste on our outer gates, as a sure protection from all 
 further annoyance. These two young men were very 
 nicely dressed, and seemed to be quite civil and obliging, 
 but, like the rest, they lingered as long as possible, evi- 
 dently for the purpose of gratifying their own curiosity. 
 We finally got rid of them by giving them all the lumps 
 of cut-loaf sugar we had left on our dinner-table. We 
 had a quiet night, but not caring to repeat the experi- 
 ences we had gone through, and fearing that the indis- 
 cretion of a servant might turn the current of curiosity 
 into one of anger, and thus lead to a real mob, we left at 
 daylight the next morning, with the chief of police as 
 our guide, before the crowd had time to gather again. 
 It would have been impossible for us to go in or out of 
 our inn, or for shopkeepers and curio-dealers to bring 
 their wares to us; and as we had received all the help, 
 and got all the information we wanted from the yamen, 
 we thought it best to resume our journey. 
 
 From Kai-fung-fu we traveled eastward to Lung-mun- 
 Kou, where the Yellow Eiver changed its course in 18.53- 
 '54, and, after inspecting that place and making such 
 
QUICKSANDS OF THE YELLOW RIVER 249 
 
 measurements and observations as the means at our dis- 
 posal would permit, we turned northeastward along the 
 general course of the river to Tung-ming, in the lower 
 part of the province of Chili, where a disastrous breach 
 had recently occurred in the embankment. 
 
 We had no adventures on the way worthy of record, 
 unless we except the fact that I came near being swal- 
 lowed up in the quicksand, or rather the " quick mud " 
 (for their is no sand in this part of the Yellow River), as 
 we were leveling up from the water's edge to the bottom 
 of the old bed of the river. I broke through the frozen 
 crust of an exceedingly soft place and went down " by 
 the run," but, having had some experience in that sort 
 of thing before, struggled on to hard ground without 
 assistance, and indeed without my danger having been 
 discovered until it was all over. 
 
 The breach at Tung-ming had been thoroughly re- 
 paired by the construction of a new and very strong em- 
 bankment, revetted with bundles of millet-stalks laid 
 butt-ends outward, and bound into the earth by ropes 
 fastened to cross-timbers resting against the face of the 
 revetment. This region was further protected by the con- 
 struction of a new embankment a mile or so from the 
 river. It was noticeable not only because it was of full 
 section and good alignment, but particularly because it 
 was finished with the only properly planned road-crossing 
 we saw in all our travels. The country in this region was 
 said to have been infested by robbers, and one of our at- 
 tendants told us that three had been captured, at or near 
 Tung-ming-Chi, and executed, and that he had seen the 
 head of one of them in a cage, hanging on a tree, outside 
 the town. We saw nothing of the kind, and, in fact, noth- 
 ing which indicated the presence of robbers, except two 
 men, one mounted and the other on foot, both armed, and 
 running rapidly as far as we could see them. Our man- 
 darin assured us that they were highwaymen; and, since 
 returning to Tientsin, we have been informed that the 
 19 
 
250 CHINA 
 
 region in question (Tsou-Chou) is one of the most lawless 
 in China, and that soldiers are quartered at various points 
 in it for the purpose of suppressing the robbers and main- 
 taining order. 
 
 Turning almost directly east toward the Grand Canal, 
 we found both roads and inns fairly good; but the coun- 
 try presented the same unbroken dead level, the same 
 mud-built villages, the same endless succession of plowed 
 and fallow fields, broken here and there by scattered 
 graves or by a family burying-ground, surrounded by a 
 grove of yew or cypress trees, till we caught sight of the 
 higher peaks of the western hills of Shantung looming up 
 on the horizon like an island seen from the deck of a ship. 
 
 Our course toward them was like that of a ship 
 beating against a head-wind; and what made the simili- 
 tude still greater was that new islands were seen far away 
 to the south, and afterward the faint outline of a distant 
 coast rising on the horizon showed itself as we continued 
 our western course. The first hill, or island — for it was 
 as much an island in appearance as if it had been sur- 
 rounded by water instead of by plain — ^which we came to 
 w?is a bald, barren mass of stratified limestone two or 
 three hundred feet high, and covered on the western side 
 by a village built of stone, surrounded by a weather-beaten 
 stone wall, with a crenelated parapet on top. 
 
 The wall ran straight up the hill-side and along its 
 summit, and there was something about both wall and 
 village which clearly betokened that some time in the 
 lapse of ages past they had seen better days. The scene 
 was not only picturesque, but in such noticeable contrast 
 with the dead level of the plains we had been traveling 
 over for so long, that we unpacked the camera and took 
 two photographs of it. Farther on, the " coast-line " re- 
 ceded before us, and, sweeping around to the southward 
 and westward, to another hill abreast of the first one, also 
 surmounted by a village and castellated ruins, appeared 
 to inclose a beautiful landlocked bay. 
 
JOURNEY THROUGH SHANTUNG 251 
 
 We continued our march along the foot of the hills to 
 our left, skirting the shore, as it were, and admiring the 
 beautiful scene in the bright sunlight, but in two or three 
 hours the distant coast-line had resolved itself into a 
 series of detached hills, rising sharply up from the level 
 of the plain. Threading our way through them, we 
 reached the Grand Canal beyond them at about two 
 o'clock, and by four had reached Chi-ning-Chou, a city 
 of one hundred and fifty thousand inhabitants. Like all 
 the others, it is surrounded by a brick wall of great height 
 and thickness, surmounted by a crenelated parapet, and 
 furnished with sally-ports, gates, buttresses, and turrets, 
 but all fast going to decay. 
 
 A withering blight seems to have stricken them as 
 well as the business of the city they inclose. This city is 
 situated on the Grand Canal, and was doubtless once the 
 seat of a great commerce, which has decayed as the canal 
 has become more and more difficult to navigate. There 
 is an imperial telegraph-station here, the second on the 
 line south of Tientsin, and about two hundred and forty 
 miles from the first one. Halting here overnight, and 
 sending telegrams to Tientsin and Shanghai to apprise 
 our friends of our safety, and to get the news, we pushed 
 on the next day to Yen-Chou, and the day after to Chii- 
 fu, the home of the Kung family, the descendants of Con- 
 fucius, the "immortal sage and philosopher" of China. 
 On our arrival we selected the best inn we could find, and 
 made preparations to remain several days. 
 
 The city of Kii-fu is the seat of a district magistracy, 
 or Jisien, and is situated near the eastern edge of the Great 
 Plain, in sight of the hills. Like every other Chinese 
 town of its class, it is surrounded by a high brick wall, 
 furnished with a crenelated parapet, buttresses, turrets, 
 moats, and gates, which are closed every night. It con- 
 tains within the walls the ducal residence and the pavil- 
 ions, temples, and tablets sanctified in every Chinaman's 
 eyes, as far as anything can be sanctified, by their associa- 
 
252 CHINA 
 
 tion with the name and worship of Confucius, their great 
 lawgiver and teacher. 
 
 I sent my mandarin immediately after our arrival to 
 the magistrate's yamen with our cards, and the informa- 
 tion that we should call to pay our respects at such hour 
 as would best suit his convenience. He received our mes- 
 senger with great politeness, and explained that he was 
 just starting into the country to be gone till night, but 
 would on his return communicate further with us. 
 
 Early in the evening he sent his cards to us, with the 
 information that he would be glad to receive us at any 
 hour the next day which would best suit our conveni- 
 ence, and would arrange for us to see the Confucian tem- 
 ples, and also, if possible, for an interview with the young 
 Kung, the " Ever-Sacred Duke " of the Chinese, and the 
 seventy-sixth direct lineal male descendant of the sage. 
 This, of course, gives him an authentic genealogy reach- 
 ing further back into the past than any man living, and 
 makes him a great curiosity on that account, if nothing 
 more. It will be remembered that Confucius was born 
 551 years before Christ. Having named ten o'clock for 
 our call upon the magistrate, he sent a mounted escort to 
 conduct us through the streets to the yamen, so that we 
 got there at the appointed time without delay or annoy- 
 ance, and were received at once with every mark of respect 
 and friendly consideration. We found the prefect, or 
 magistrate, a special friend of the Viceroy Li, to be a 
 mandarin of the crystal button, about fifty years of age. 
 He was clad in black silk and furs, and was surrounded 
 by his official servants. He greeted us cordially, after the 
 usual Chinese form, and, after asking our ages and other 
 questions, in accordance with the rules of Chinese eti- 
 quette, he sent our cards to the "Ever-Sacred Duke," 
 with the request that he would grant us an audience. 
 
 While the messenger was gone, the magistrate in- 
 formed us that the present Duke was a boy only fourteen 
 years old, engaged in his studies under the tutorship and 
 
TOMB OF CONFUCIUS 253 
 
 direction of his uncle, and would therefore probably de- 
 cline to grant us an audience. During the absence of the 
 messenger, who was gone about an hour, we conversed 
 with the magistrate in regard to the condition of the canal 
 and of the country in that part of the province. We were 
 somewhat surprised to learn that no silk is grown, and no 
 manufacturing of any kind carried on nearer than Chi- 
 nan-fu. The people devote themselves exclusively to agri- 
 culture, the principal articles of which are wheat and 
 cotton. 
 
 As the magistrate had intimated, the guardian of the 
 young Duke sent word that we could not be received by 
 his ward; but that the temples and grounds would be 
 opened for our visit, and that a member of the family 
 would receive and conduct us through them. We accord- 
 ingly took leave of the magistrate, and, escorted by two 
 of his subordinate of&cers and a squad of mounted and 
 dismounted soldiers, we rode to the northwest quarter of 
 the city, which is separated from the rest of the city by a 
 high brick wall, inclosing the Confucian temples, which 
 occupy the site of the sage's home, academy, well, shade- 
 trees, and favorite walks. We entered the grounds 
 through a high gateway, and walked down an avenue of 
 fine old cypress, fir, and yew trees to the official recep- 
 tion-room, into which a servant showed us, and, after 
 serving tea, left us to await the coming of the Duke's 
 representative. While we were waiting, a crowd of men 
 and boys, who had entered the grounds with us, pushed 
 up to the door and windows, eager to see the foreigners. 
 They were quiet and respectful; but, as they could not all 
 look through the door at one time, some of them punched 
 holes through the paper window-panes, without reference 
 to the fact that they were the private property of the 
 " Ever-Sacred Duke." One big boy took particular de- 
 light, as is the custom the world over, in twigging the 
 ears and queue of a smaller boy in front, and in otherwise 
 annojing. him. The little fellow seemed to take it all as 
 
254 CHINA 
 
 a matter of course, and never once lost his temper, thougli 
 his patience was sorely tried. 
 
 After half or three quarters of an hour, we were in- 
 formed that the mandarin had come, and would receive 
 us at the entrance to the outer pavilion of the main tem- 
 ple, to which place we were led by the official servants of 
 the place, and followed by our own attendants. Our path 
 was through a back and crooked path between houses 
 and walls for three or four hundred feet; but it brought 
 us out in front of a large pavilion, under which we were 
 received by a mandarin of great dignity, elegantly dressed, 
 and wearing on his official hat a blue or amethyst button 
 and peacock's feather. We at first supposed him to be 
 the uncle and guardian of the young Duke, but afterward 
 learned that he was a more distant relative, having charge 
 of the temple, cemetery, and grounds. He received us 
 with urbanity and dignity, saluting us in the usual Chi- 
 nese fashion, and showing us to seats near a table on which 
 tea was served at once. After a short conversation, dur- 
 ing which he told us we were at liberty to take photo- 
 graphs of whatever we pleased, he escorted us through the 
 grounds to the Grand Pavilion, in which is an effigy of 
 Confucius seated on a throne, raised four or five feet above 
 the floor, and draped with beautifully embroidered lam- 
 brequins and curtains of yellow satin. A tablet surmounts 
 the throne inscribed with Chinese characters, which are 
 translated, " The most prescient sage, Confucius, his 
 spirit's resting-place." In front of the throne are two 
 tables, on which are placed several copper vases of elegant 
 design, enameled with blue and green figures on a yellow 
 ground, and also several bronze tripods, urns, and sacri- 
 ficial vases, said to be very old, some of them, it is alleged, 
 dating from eleven hundred to twenty-three hundred 
 years before Christ; but their appearance does not indicate 
 any such antiquity. 
 
 The hall contains statues of the son and grandson of 
 Confucius, besides those of Mencius, with his principal 
 
CONFUCIAN TEMPLES 255 
 
 disciples, and of twelve other worthies distinguished in 
 Chinese story. They are arranged around the wall and 
 across the ends of the grand hall, and look much brighter 
 and fresher than the effigies we had seen in other temples. 
 The hall is a hundred and sixty feet long, eighty-eight 
 feet wide, and seventy-eight feet high, and is paneled in 
 black marble, and brilliantly painted in bright colors and 
 gilding, freshly laid on. 
 
 The roof is supported by stately wooden columns and 
 ceiled with beautiful carved wood, in the center of which 
 is a dragon holding in its mouth a gray ball some two 
 or two and a half inches in diameter, said to represent 
 the exact size and color of a veritable pearl presented to 
 the temple by one of the emperors several hundred years 
 ago. The whole place is much cleaner and in better repair 
 than any other temple we have seen in China; but withal 
 it presents no striking indications that the worship of 
 Confucius is a living cult. There is no doubt that his 
 teachings have had a powerful influence over the Govern- 
 ment of China, and in developing the civilization of the 
 Chinese people, as exemplified by the educated class; but 
 it may well be doubted if the plain people know or care 
 much about the " most prescient sage " or his philosophy. 
 
 The pavilion inclosing the grand hall has an exterior 
 appearance quite like that of the great pavilion at the 
 tomb of Yung-loh. It is surrounded by a veranda twelve 
 or fifteen feet wide, supported by fifty-four monolithic 
 pillars (the only ones I saw in China) twenty-five feet 
 high and three feet in diameter, those in front being elab- 
 orately decorated with the imperial dragon, deeply carved 
 into their surface, and extending from top to bottom. 
 
 A large part of the court in front is occupied by a 
 raised platform of stone, surrounded by a marble balus- 
 trade. The roof is covered with green and yellow tiles, 
 and the exterior of the building, the most of which is 
 wood, is also elaborately painted and carved after the 
 usual Chinese style. The court is flanked on the right 
 
256 CHINA 
 
 and left by long, low pavilions divided ofi into stalls or 
 shrines, each containing a tablet sacred to the memory 
 and virtues of Confucius or of some distinguished dis- 
 ciple. These shrines and tablets were erected by em- 
 perors in times gone by, and indicate that reverence for 
 the sage was formerly a more active sentiment than it is 
 at present. 
 
 We took several photographs of the front of the main 
 pavilion, but, owing to the darkness within, could not 
 get a view of the interior. 
 
 The well of Confucius, walled up with rather fresh- 
 looking brick, and curbed with an annular stone of any- 
 thing but a venerable appearance, was pointed out to us. 
 A decaying tree supported by props was shown us in an- 
 other court, and is said to mark the exact place once 
 occupied by the favorite shade-tree of the sage; and in 
 still another court a wedge-shaped piece of brown, dingy- 
 looking wood at the root of a growing tree was shown as 
 the stump of a cypress, or what was left of it, which was 
 flourishing at the time the sage was alive. We took sepa- 
 rate photographs of the well and of the old tree, with a 
 boy belonging to the Confucian family sitting under and 
 against it holding a book in his hand. 
 
 The entire grounds are thickly planted with cypresses 
 and firs, and covered with pavilions and tablets so close 
 together that it is impossible to get a single view of them. 
 These grounds are adjacent to those of the present Duke, 
 but separated from them by a high brick wall. 
 
 The last pavilions we entered, our amiable conductor 
 informed us, occupied the exact site of the house in which 
 Confucius had his study and taught his disciples; and, 
 after showing us through the lower story, he led us up 
 two flights of very steep stairs to the loft, where, accord- 
 ing to another guide, the school was actually held. In- 
 asmuch as the building is of wood, and does not differ 
 architecturally from other modern Chinese buildings, 
 we concluded that we were not obliged to believe the 
 
BURNING OF CONFUCIAN PALACE 257 
 
 last guide, though he was evidently honest in what 
 he told us. 
 
 All of the buildings seem to have been recently- 
 painted, and were, therefore, brighter looking than any 
 other temples we had seen; but it was evident that the 
 dust and the flocks of birds which roost in and about 
 them, aided by the habitual neglect of the Chinese, would 
 soon deprive them of their brightness. 
 
 After again drinking tea with the amiable mandarin 
 who showed us about, we took leave of him, he having 
 voluntarily offered to call for us in his cart at half-past 
 eight the next morning and go with us to the cemetery, 
 which lies about a mile and a half outside and north 
 of the city wall. During the afternoon the prefect re- 
 turned our call in state, and showed us every polite atten- 
 tion. He sent us several pounds of excellent tea, and a 
 copy of the charcoal rubbings taken from some of the 
 most noted tablets; and we reciprocated his civility by 
 sending him a bottle of Curagoa and a box of cut-loaf 
 sugar, together with a small American gold coin for the 
 Tai-tai, his wife. 
 
 Having spent a comfortable night in a very fair inn, 
 we were up betimes and just ready to start for the ceme- 
 tery, when a messenger arrived from the magistrate with 
 the information that the Confucian mandarin could not 
 Join us, as the house of the young Duke had caught fire, 
 and was then burning. Sending our cards with our re- 
 grets, and offering our help if we could be of any service 
 whatever, we rode at once to the cemetery, which is con- 
 nected with the city by an avenue of noble but sadly 
 neglected yew and cypress trees. Standing on the road- 
 side, with no other trees near them, the northern winds 
 have full sweep at them, and have wrenched and torn 
 them till not one is left with its proper natural shape. 
 Curiously enough, too, the broken trunks and limbs have 
 not been cut off in any instance, but are left standing, to 
 decay and disfigure the trees which might otherwise ap- 
 
258 CHIKA 
 
 pear to great advantage. Unless they are looked after 
 better than they have been so far, it will be but a few 
 years till the avenue falls into complete ruin. 
 
 On the way we passed under or through a beautiful 
 marble pailow spanning the road, and a short distance 
 beyond entered the outer gate, which is connected with 
 the inner gate of the cemetery by a continuation of the 
 avenue, and with a high brick wall on either side. The 
 gates are covered by the usual paviUons, and the ceme- 
 tery itself is inclosed by a brick wall surmounting an 
 earthen embankment. The area inclosed is from forty 
 to fifty acres, thickly planted with Chinese forest-trees, 
 beneath which " heaves the turf in many a moldering 
 heap." This cemetery is strictly reserved for the family, 
 and contains the graves of unnumbered descendants of the 
 Confucian clan. 
 
 The grave of Confucius is within a separate inclosure, 
 the entrance to which is covered by a large pavilion of 
 the usual type, where the descendants of the sage come 
 twice a year to offer sacrifices and worship him. A paved, 
 sunken road, which runs between low retaining-walls on 
 each side, leads to the tomb, which is a simple mound of 
 earth about twenty feet high, overgrown by bushes and 
 forest-trees, including an oak, from which we obtained a 
 pint of acorns which have since been propagated in 
 America. A stone tablet, nearly as high as the mound, a 
 stone table, and an urn or incense-burner stand in front of 
 it. It is flanked by the burial-mounds of the mother, son, 
 and grandson of Confucius, and the whole inclosure is 
 heaped into mounds covering the remains of the successive 
 heads and dignitaries of the family. 
 
 "West of the sage's tomb is a small pavilion erected to 
 the memory of Tze-Kung, a favorite disciple, on the spot 
 where he is said to have mourned for six years, watching 
 the tomb of his dearly beloved master. 
 
 There is no special beauty in the landscape, for, al- 
 though covered with trees, it is left in an entirely uncul- 
 
BURNING OP CONFUCIAN PALACE 259 
 
 tivated state; the ground looks broken, but this arises 
 from the great number of mounds rather than from any 
 natural undulations. There is a large ditch running 
 through the southern part of the inclosure, which is gen- 
 erally dry, but carries water in the rainy season. It is 
 spanned by a marble bridge of rather picturesque design. 
 
 We spent the whole morning in the grounds taking 
 photographs of the tomb, pavilion, and the carved stone 
 figures on either side of the avenue in front of it. These 
 figures are preceded by a pair of stone pillars of octagonal 
 section, after which come a pair of leopards, next a pair 
 of fabulous animals, and, lastly, two heroic statues, sup- 
 posed to represent the ministers of state, who attend upon 
 the distinguished dead. On our way out, we took photo- 
 graphs of the bridge and of the pailow beyond the in- 
 closure. 
 
 During our visit to the tomb, as well as to the temple, 
 we were deeply impressed by the reverence with which 
 our mandarin worshiped before the various tablets of 
 Confucius and his most famous disciples. ,As he came to 
 each and read the inscription, he prostrated himself on 
 hands and knees, face to the floor, and, murmuring a 
 prayer, knocked his forehead against the ground with a 
 reverent and serious air, showing that he was sincere in 
 what he was doing. 
 
 On our return to the inn we sent him to inquire what 
 damage had been done by the fire in the Duke's com- 
 pound, and on "Wang's return he informed us that it had 
 totally destroyed the four principal buildings, together 
 with all their contents, including family relics of great 
 value. He also said that there was great excitement 
 among the citizens about it, owing to the fact that the 
 fire had started in the house occupied by the family of 
 the young Duke's uncle, his mother's brother. It seems 
 that, before his father died, he directed his wife and son 
 never to permit any other persons except the family serv- 
 ants to live within the compound, for the reason that it 
 
260 CHINA 
 
 would increase the risk of burning up the buildings and 
 destroying the family relics and possessions. In spite of 
 this request, and for reasons not explained, the widow 
 invited her brother and family to occupy one of the 
 houses, which he did at once. This was followed by signs 
 and strange portents, and especially by the crowing of the 
 Confucian cocks and hens after nightfall, which was 
 looked upon as the sure precursor of some impending 
 calamity. 
 
 After the fire had completed its work of destruction, 
 and it had become known that the uncle's wife had gone 
 crazy from the excitement and had jumped or fallen into 
 the well, from which she was rescued with great diffi- 
 culty, all these omens were recalled, and were thought to 
 be proof positive that the spirit of the late Duke had set 
 fire to the house for the purpose of punishing his wife 
 and son for their disobedience. It was, perhaps, quite 
 fortunate for us that the townspeople took this view of 
 the matter, for they might, as Li Hung-Chang after- 
 ward told us, just as readily have attributed the fire to the 
 Duke's displeasure at the visitation of the temple and 
 grave of Confucius by the foreigners. 
 
 During our stay, however, in the city, we received no 
 incivility except that of being stared at. Indeed, the 
 people seemed quite civil, but there was nothing in their 
 manners, appearance, houses, or surroundings, different 
 from those of other Chinamen, notwithstanding the fact 
 that many, perhaps the most of them, were descendants 
 of the great sage. 
 
 Even the servants about the reception-room, temple, 
 and cemetery were exactly like those we had seen else- 
 where. They were evidently a chance lot gathered up 
 for the occasion, and therefore a fair sample of the whole. 
 Their regular occupations were doubtless toiling in the 
 fields or at the wheelbarrow, for the scanty living which 
 constitutes the average Chinaman's inevitable portion. 
 
 Having seen all the curiosities and points of interest 
 
THE SACKED MOUNTAIN OP CHINA 261 
 
 in and about Kii-fu, we left the same afternoon for 
 Taian-fu about sixty miles to the northward, for the 
 purpose of visiting the sacred mountain of China. Our 
 route at first lay through the plains, but always in sight 
 of the hills, which on the right were continuous, but on 
 the left stood out in isolated knobs or peaks. 
 
 After crossing the Ta-Wen-ho, a broad, clear, swift- 
 flowing stream, and the only one of the kind we had seen 
 since leaving Tientsin, our road led us for about ten miles 
 through a depression in an outlying limestone ridge, over- 
 laid by beds of loess, peculiar to the hill-regions of China, 
 and, as before explained, supposed by Baron Eichthofen 
 to be a sub-aerial deposit composed of dust from the arid 
 regions of Central Asia. 
 
 We made this part of the ride after night, and had a 
 rough time of it. Our ponies were tired, and, being far 
 from sure-footed, gave us several falls, but fortunately in 
 soft places, so that no bones were endangered. 
 
 Eeaching the cfty at about eight o'clock, we had some 
 difficulty in finding a suitable inn, but, after looking at 
 several, we settled down at the " Lien-Sheng-tien," which 
 we found to be the best one we had seen in all China. It 
 has both an outer and inner court-yard, and is unusually 
 clean; its rooms are paved and neatly papered, and the 
 windows have glass and curtains in them. We soon had a 
 good fire of charcoal, and a lot of boiled chestnuts, which 
 we warmed up on the edge of the charcoal-pan, and found 
 a most excellent substitute for supper, which we knew 
 would come late if at all, as our carts were several hours 
 behind, and had a bad road for night-driving before them. 
 They, however, came at about ten o'clock. Supper and 
 bed soon followed, and made us entirely comfortable. 
 
 Having completed all our arrangements, we made an 
 early start the next morning to climb the sacred moun- 
 tain. Each member of our party was provided with a 
 chair lashed firmly to a hand-barrow, which was borne 
 by two coolies, who travel abreast over all the steep places. 
 
2^2 CHINA 
 
 both going up and coming down. As the chair faces the 
 handle of the barrow, the passenger of course makes the 
 trip sidewise, and this is by no means comfortable or reas- 
 suring at the start, especially if the first experience is in 
 coming down, as it was with me. The chairmen carry 
 most of the weight by means of straps attached to the 
 handles of the barrow and passing over their shoulders, 
 and, as they are very sure-footed and agile, after one has 
 become used to the motion it is pleasant and exhilarating. 
 
 The mountain is known as " Taishan," or " Great 
 Mount," and is the highest peak of a range trending gen- 
 erally east and west through the Shantung promontory. 
 It rises sharply from the plain or broad valley, at the edge 
 of which stands the city of Taian-fu, and is celebrated 
 for its historical and religious associations. It is men- 
 tioned in the classics as a sanctified spot over 3,200 
 years b. c. It is visited by thousands of devotees of all 
 ages and both sexes yearly, but generally of the literary 
 or official class, and is a truly national place of worship, 
 on the top or sides of which every sect has its temples. 
 
 The road leads up a gorge with but few windings or 
 turnings, and is well paved with blocks of undressed 
 granite and porphyry. It is broken into alternate reaches 
 of gently ascending ramps and flights of granite steps, and 
 is furnished with a stone parapet, eighteen or twenty 
 inches high on the outside, and where required on both 
 sides. 
 
 An avenue of beautiful fir, cypress, and yew trees 
 shades the path for the greater distance, and after that a 
 few scattering pines are seen still higher up the moun- 
 tain-side. None of these trees are very old, however, and 
 even the paved roads and temples are of comparatively 
 modern construction. 
 
 At first the flights of steps are short, and the lamps 
 long, but, as the path ascends, the ramps become shorter 
 and the flights of steps higher and higher, till they are 
 almost continuous. The rise is nearly as great as the 
 
THE SACRED MOUNTAIN OP CHINA 263 
 
 tread, and hence the steps are unusually steep and hard 
 to climb. The road, which is from twelve to fifteen feet 
 wide, and crosses from one side of the gorge to the other 
 several times, is exceedingly picturesque. It is carried 
 along the face of crags, which are frequently of great 
 height and beauty, and are everywhere indelibly marked 
 with pious or reverential inscriptions in Chinese charac- 
 ters. Temples, shrines, and pailows occur at frequent in- 
 tervals, and the view of the plain below is not only ex- 
 tensive and beautiful, but can be caught from almost 
 every point, so that the ascending pilgrim or devotee, 
 however great may be his fatigue, or however frequently 
 he may be compelled to halt for breath, can always re- 
 fresh himself with the contemplation of scenery, which of 
 itself amply repays him for his toil. 
 
 The distance from the city to the top of the gorge and 
 the end of the steps is about three miles, possibly four, 
 and took me four hours to climb it. There is at this spot 
 a pavilion, standing on a brick foundation, through which 
 the path runs by an archway, leading into the court of a 
 temple, the elevation of which was found to be 4,600 feet 
 above sea-level, by the aneroid barometer. 
 
 From the temple to the summit of the mountain there 
 is a road winding to the right, along the edge of a cliff, 
 and this road is also lined with shrines and temples, built 
 into the face of the mountain. 
 
 The topmost peak is called Yu-wang-shang-to, and is 
 crowned by a small stone pavilion and tablet, said to have 
 been erected by Kien-lung, from which the whole horizon 
 can be swept, by simply turning on one's own ground. 
 The view is remarkable for its breadth and beauty, taking 
 in, as it does, mountain-tops, valleys, plains, and rivers, 
 spread out below in almost endless succession and variety. 
 The height of this peak was found to be 5,100 feet. 
 
 A short distance away is another eminence, rising 
 from the same mountain-mass, but not so high by about 
 twenty feet. It is crowned by a large temple, partly 
 
264 CHINA 
 
 in ruins, which covers it entirely, and is picturesque in 
 the extreme. 
 
 We spent three hours examining the temples and tak- 
 ing photographs of the most beautiful views, including 
 one of a remarkable inscription cut on the face of the 
 rocks, and another of our servants worshiping at the Lao- 
 mu Miao, or the temple of the "Holy Mother." This 
 temple is mostly visited by women, who go there to pray 
 that children may be granted to them. It contains two 
 magnificent bronze tablets, fourteen feet high, also 
 erected by Kien-lung. 
 
 It is certain that emperors, governors, and high offi- 
 cials of every class, including Confucius himself, have 
 visited this mountain from time immemorial, for the pur- 
 pose of worshiping " the High God of Heaven and 
 Earth "; but, withal, the stones of the pathway leading 
 to it do not indicate, by their smoothness, the passage of 
 untold millions of feet over them. It is probable, rather, 
 that while it is the temple of all the gods, as well as of 
 the highest, it is visited more by the rich and educated 
 than by the masses of the Chinese people. 
 
 The devotions of our attendants were quite interest- 
 ing, although not materially different from the cere- 
 monies they went through in worshiping the river-god 
 near Kai-fung-fu. It consisted of burning incense, and 
 gold and silver paper-money, in presence of the image of 
 the god, and of prostrating themselves and knocking their 
 heads against the floor, while the ionze, or priest, clad in 
 somber-colored robes, stood by and called the attention of 
 the divinity to the presence of the worshipers by strildng 
 a large and sonorous bell with a wooden mallet. 
 
 Our descent from the mountain was made in two 
 hours and a quarter, all of us riding down in the chairs, 
 not only because it was much easier than walking, but 
 more rapid. 
 
 The next morning, after visiting a celebrated temple 
 in the north part of the city, and finding it and its 
 
MISSIONARIES AT CHI-NAX-PU 265 
 
 grounds somewhat more extensive than temples and 
 grounds commonly are, but quite as dirty and decaying as 
 the worst of them, we started on our journey back to the 
 Grand Canal by the valley of the Ta-Wen-ho to Tung- 
 ping. Thence our route lay through An Shan and Tung 
 Ur, skirting the canal to Shih-li-pu and the Yellow Elver 
 to Chi-nan-fu. We passed through several important 
 cities, situated on the loess terraces, between the river and 
 foot-hills. At one of these, called Ping Yin, we were 
 called upon by two missionaries of the Church of Eng- 
 land, working quietly and unobtrusively, and, it is to be 
 feared, without any very encouraging results, among the 
 common people of that remote region. They were, how- 
 ever, deeply in earnest, and seemed hopeful and courage- 
 ous, although they candidly admitted that so far as they 
 knew they had not yet made a single convert. 
 
 At Chi-nan-fu we found seven American Presbyterian 
 missionaries, all settled and hard at work. These worthy 
 people were encouraged by several hopeful signs that they 
 would ultimately "get the thin e.d^e of the wedge in," 
 and make their mission one of great usefulness to the Chi- 
 nese people. But, in spite of their faithful work and the 
 hopeful signs which they discovered, they were destined 
 to bitter disappointment. These missions suffered the 
 same fate in the Boxer outbreak as that which overtook 
 nearly all others in the interior of China. 
 
 There are only three influences which, so far as I can 
 see, can be successfully exerted upon the Chinese people 
 to awaken them to their real condition as compared with 
 the people of other countries: first, war and diplomacy, 
 which work spasmodically, but very effectively at times; 
 secondly, commerce, which has done and is doing much 
 along the sea-coast; and, thirdly, the missionaries, who 
 push out into the interior armed with the Holy Scriptures 
 and good works. They are truly the advance guard of 
 civilization; and, while they carry its highest and most 
 abstract principles to those who are but little fitted by 
 20 
 
206 CHIKA 
 
 habit or education to receive or understand them, they 
 hoped and believed they might gain the confidence and 
 regard of those among whom they were laboring. Al- 
 though the results of later years have been most discourag- 
 ing, it is believed that the more practical and the less ab- 
 stract their work becomes the more certain it is that good 
 results will flow from it. 
 
 The city of Chi-nan-fu is beautifully situated on the 
 edge of the plains, along the foot of the hills, and is 
 abundantly supplied with pure water by a series of re- 
 markable hot and cold springs which well up from the 
 ground within the city walls, and, after supplying the 
 people fully, fill the moats, and form a large creek, which 
 empties into the Yellow Eiver only a few miles away. 
 The population of the city is estimated at four hundred 
 thousand souls, but what it really is no one knows. 
 
 From here we turned northward, and recrossed the 
 river at Chi-ho, where there was once a stone bridge across 
 the Ta-ehing-ho. When the Yellow Eiver took posses- 
 sion of this channel to the sea, it destroyed this bridge by 
 cutting a new channel around its southern end. The ruins 
 remained for many years, but they are now entirely ob- 
 literated, and there is nothing left to mark their site 
 except the half-buried pailow, which used to span the 
 entrance to the bridge. 
 
 The river at the time we crossed it was frozen hard 
 both above and below the ferry, but as no one seemed to 
 be crossing on the ice, and as the ferry had been kept 
 open, we embarked in two good-sized junks, and were 
 rowed slowly across without accident or delay. Our serv- 
 ants, however, did not consider it necessary to propitiate 
 the river-god as they had in crossing at Kai-fung-fu. 
 
 The elevation of the fore-shores above the surface of 
 the water was nine and a half feet, and the top of the 
 first embankment nineteen feet. The second embank- 
 ment, about two miles farther back, seemed to be much 
 stronger, and had not been recently broken, so far as we 
 
CHINESE RIVER-ENGINEERING 267 
 
 could learn. The site of Chi-ho, and the country between 
 the two embankments, had been overflowed to the depth 
 of four feet the year before, and the country on both sides 
 of the river lower down had suffered greatly from the 
 same cause. 
 
 The river at this place was from a thousand to twelve 
 hundred and fifty feet wide, and, according to the testi- 
 mony of the junkmen, had a navigable depth at that time 
 of at least twelve feet to the bar outside its mouth. It 
 could be readily navigated by good-sized steamboats, espe- 
 cially by such as are used on our Western rivers, certainly 
 as far as Ylishan, and, with slight improvements for con- 
 centrating the channel, perhaps to the great bend in 
 Southwestern Shansi; but, up to this time, much to the 
 detriment of the people, it has been kept exclusively for 
 the junks, and steamboats are not permitted to enter or 
 ply upon it. There is no large city nearer its mouth than 
 Chi-nan-fu, the capital of Shantung, and the country 
 between that place and the sea is not only thinly settled, 
 but quite desolate. 
 
 It is apparent that the whole work of controlling and 
 regulating the river is limited to the building of embank- 
 ments, and the opening of side-channels to facilitate the 
 discharge of flood-water. Those having the subject in 
 hand seem to have no idea of the advantage to be gained 
 by meteorological observations and reports from the coun- 
 try drained by the river, and made no adequate study of 
 the downfall of rain, the volume and rapidity of discharge, 
 the coming of floods, the cross-section and slope of the 
 water-surface, or even of the proper location, construc- 
 tion, and care of the embankments. ISTothing has yet 
 been done to remove obstructions, or to increase the aver- 
 age capacity of the natural channel. Indeed, the whole 
 Chinese system of river-engineering is exceedingly crude. 
 There is no element of science in it, and, while much of 
 their embankment is excellent, it is on the whole so neg- 
 lected that nothing else except failure is possible. 
 
268 CHINA 
 
 In the journey back to Tientsin, which required six 
 and a half days, the distance being not far from two hun- 
 dred and forty miles, we crossed a number of depressions 
 corresponding to lines on the maps representing rivers, 
 but the most of which were dry, and evidently are not 
 running streams except during the rainy season. About 
 fifty miles north of Chi-ho we crossed the Lao-Hwang-ho, 
 which had been occupied by the Yellow Eiver about nine 
 hundred years ago. It is one thousand feet wide by 
 measurement, and contains some water, which has a per- 
 ceptible current. It doubtless connects with and carries 
 ofE water from the Yellow Eiver during freshets, but its 
 most remarkable feature is that the old embankments, 
 built to confine the water when it was occupied by the 
 Yellow River itself, are situated immediately on its shores, 
 and are twenty-two feet high, or about double the height 
 of the embankments built nowadays. They are from 
 fifty to sixty feet wide on top, and three hundred and 
 ninety feet at the base. Another thing worthy of observa- 
 tion is that this river-bed, so far as I could discover, is 
 not silted up at all. This is conclusively shown by the 
 fact that the surface of the water in it was at the time 
 we crossed it about ten feet below the general surface of 
 the country, as measured by the hand-level. At the time 
 these embankments were built, which may have been a 
 thousand or even fifteen hundred years ago, it was evi- 
 dently the practice to locate them close to the river-front, 
 to give them much greater height and thickness, and 
 possibly to watch them much more carefully than is done 
 nowadays. 
 
 It has been recently proposed to cut a canal into this 
 old river-bed and build a series of sluices across it, so that 
 the Yellow Eiver can be relieved at will, by turning its 
 surplus water into it; and the Board of "Works has, ac- 
 cording to the Peking Gazette, approved the project, but 
 as yet has done no work on it. 
 
 The country from a few miles north of the Yellow 
 
MISSION AT PANG-CHIA-CHWANa 269 
 
 Eiver to the neighborhood of Ter-Chou, on the Grand 
 Canal, is apparently drier, better drained, and better cul- 
 tivated than it is farther west, closer to the line of the 
 canal; and this is as it should be. It is farther away 
 from both the river and the canal, and, even if a breach 
 occur in the embankment of either, the flood-water must 
 spread out and get shallower as it approaches the region 
 in question, although its real elevation above sea-level 
 may be no greater than that of the country at the river- 
 bank. The villages in this region are also more flourish- 
 ing in appearance than they are along the canal, but they 
 are all built of sun-dried bricks, and are otherwise like 
 innumerable other villages in the Great Plain. It was in 
 this portion of my travels that I saw men wheeling coal 
 in a barrow two hundred miles from the mines! They 
 were aided by donkeys and small sails, but the toil seemed 
 to be of killing severity. 
 
 There was a flourishing American mission in this re- 
 gion, at a town called Pang-Chia-Chwang, when I passed 
 through it. It has an excellent hospital and school at- 
 tached, and had gained much favor with the simple- 
 minded natives by the success and kindliness of its medical 
 and surgical ministrations, which were, of course, free 
 to all comers. 
 
 I was naturally curious to know how a mission came to 
 be located at such an insignificant country village, far off 
 the highways, and with nothing particular to distinguish 
 it from a thousand other villages just like it; and the fol- 
 lowing is the explanation: It seems that one of the earlier 
 missionaries made a convert among the common people of 
 this region, who by his zeal and intelligence induced the 
 missionary to locate in his native village, where he was 
 head-man. Other missionaries came, then the school, and 
 then the hospital followed. The first convert grew in a 
 worldly way with the mission, if not in grace, and in the 
 course of time came to look upon it as his personal appa- 
 nage. He became a sort of village boss, a great man 
 
270 CHINA 
 
 among his neighbors, and brought many of them into the 
 fold; but, having been the iirst convert, he also claimed to 
 be first in all contracts and business for the mission, and 
 like nearly everybody else, Christian as well as heathen, 
 when he found he had a good thing he grew grasping and 
 avaricious, and it is said " squeezed " the missionaries 
 harder than they thought proper or honest. A contract 
 for hauling brick and sand was given out, and perhaps for 
 other work also, but, instead of the first convert's getting 
 it, it was given to another, who had made a lower bid for 
 it. The first convert claimed it as his " pidgin " (busi- 
 ness) by right, without regard to price, and his neighbors, 
 according to their light, sided with him and against the 
 new man. The missionaries stood firm, however. The 
 villagers then boycotted them and their new man, where- 
 upon they appealed to the district magistrate, and had the 
 first convert arrested and thrown into prison. This made 
 matters worse; the common people could not understand 
 why the first convert should not have the business, which, 
 according to all Chinese custom and precedent, was his. 
 They looked upon his arrest as arbitrary and unjustifiable, 
 and they stood by him to a man. The missionaries then 
 appealed to the American consul at Tientsin; he appealed 
 to the Viceroy Li, and the latter sustained the mission- 
 aries. But that did not end the trouble. The first con.- 
 vert was released, or permitted to go home on a holiday. 
 That night the missionary stable was burned, and, al- 
 though there was no proof, suspicion fell upon him, and 
 he was again arrested. Excitement grew apace, and, when 
 I last heard of the case, the missionaries were calling 
 loudly for the deportation of the first convert as the only 
 way of restoring quiet. Both parties had become unchar- 
 itable and unreasonable. The missionaries seem to have 
 carried the matter too far, and would have done better 
 not to stand out so strongly against the " squeezing " of 
 their first convert; and it is entirely clear that the latter 
 had failed to appreciate the essence of Christianity, and, 
 
CHINESE NEW-YEAE 271 
 
 with all his protestations and apparent zeal, was still a 
 grasping heathen at heart. It is to be feared that most of 
 the Chinese converts experience a change of belief for 
 business rather than spiritual reasons, and come late in 
 life, if ever, to that perfect sincerity of faith " which 
 passeth all understanding." 
 
 The fate of this mission is not definitely known, but it 
 is feared that it has also fallen a sacrifice to the hatred of 
 the Boxers for everything foreign. 
 
 From Ter-Chou north our route was almost identical 
 with the one pursued going south. It was free from inci- 
 dents of special interest, except that we lost our road in 
 the middle of a field on the open plain, while following 
 the imperial highway, and this was in broad dayhght. 
 It was in a region where the roads are particularly soft in 
 the rainy season, and every one is at liberty to select a 
 path for himself. In the dry season they all look alike, 
 and are vague and ill-defined. 
 
 Chinese New- Year, which is the most important hoU- 
 day, overtook us on Februray 4th, while we were jour- 
 neying northward. The people were all out in their best 
 clothes, the shops were shut, and the men and boys were 
 afield in the early morning worshiping at the graves of 
 their ancestors. The women and girls seem to take no 
 part in this ceremony, and it is simple enough for the 
 men and boys. They carry out a sheet or two of gilt and 
 silver paper, with a few incense-sticks, and after making 
 a burnt-offering of them in front of the grave-mound, 
 they prostrate themselves, knock their foreheads against 
 the ground, and then, setting off a bunch of fire-crackers 
 to frighten away the evil spirits, they return home to 
 spend the day in jollification. The whole ceremony lasts 
 but a few minutes, and seems to be gone through with in 
 the most perfunctory manner. 
 
 On that day we made an early halt, and gave the serv- 
 ants the best dinner the country could furnish, with 
 samschu, or millet-wine, in abundance. As soon as din- 
 
272 CHINA 
 
 ner was over, they sent out for a singing-girl, who came 
 dressed in her best, bringing her samisen, a stringed in- 
 strument, something like a banjo, and, seating herself on 
 the kang, sang and played accompaniments all the after- 
 noon in a manner very acceptable to her audience. She 
 seemed to be a modest, well-behaved, obliging girl of good 
 family, who was simply availing herself of the opportunity 
 granted by the custom of the country, to make a little 
 money for her dowry by singing to travelers. 
 
 On the last night of our return journey we were met 
 by Captain Higginson, of the United States gunboat 
 Monocacy, about twenty miles out, with our mail for the 
 last two months. The next morning we made an early 
 start for Tientsin, but the north wind had risen, and was 
 carrying clouds of dust with it. By eight o'clock it was 
 blowing a strong gale, and was intensely cold. The dust 
 soon became so dense as to obscure the sun, and render 
 it impossible for us to see the road. Traveling became 
 almost impracticable, and would have been entirely so but 
 for a pocket compass, which enabled us to keep in the 
 right general direction. Anxious to get in by noon, we 
 pushed on, the wind blowing our fur hoods off, cutting our 
 faces like razors, and every now and then almost lifting 
 us from our saddles. Our calculation was to strike the 
 Taku road east of Tientsin, and thus reach the settle- 
 ment by the shortest route; but we soon lost our road en- 
 tirely in the blinding clouds of dust, and then had to 
 depend entirely upon the compass, which it was difficult 
 to use in the high wind. Knowing that there was a large, 
 shallow pond and marsh, several miles across, south of 
 Tientsin, and fearing that we would strike it, we changed 
 our direction to the westward, and at eleven o'clock found 
 ourselves on a telegraph-road, running nearly north and 
 south. After following it for a while we recognized it as 
 the imperial highway from Tientsin to Ter-chou, five or 
 six miles from the Taku road, which w'e had expected to 
 strike. We knew, however, that it would take us into the 
 
LOST IN CHINESE CITY OF TIENTSIN 273 
 
 suburbs of the Chinese city, and so we puslied on as rap- 
 idly as our jaded ponies could carry us; and after we had 
 entered the postern of the outer earthworks, as we 
 thought, turned to the right to skirt the Chinese city and 
 go to the settlement. The next thing we knew we found 
 ourselves inside the walled Chinese city, where none of 
 us except the interpreter and the mafoos had ever been 
 before; and, as we had already got separated in the dust- 
 storm from the mafoos, and our own party had become 
 divided, it soon dawned upon us that we were lost. The 
 streets were crooked, and the turnings frequent, and, as 
 none of us was conscious of having entered the city gate, 
 our bewilderment was complete. Captain Higginson and 
 I were separated from the rest of the party, and as neither 
 of us could speak a word of Chinese except " Kee Cheng," 
 the Chinese designation of Eussell & Co., and could find 
 no Chinamen who could speak a word of English, or knew 
 what we meant by " Kee Chong," we wandered about in 
 all directions, like lost children, for an hour. Finally, 
 we came across two jinril-cislia men, and made them un- 
 derstand by signs and the free use of " Kee Chong " that 
 we wanted them to guide us to the foreign settlement. 
 Of course, they turned us directly back from the course 
 on which we were traveling, and in twenty minutes led 
 us to the paved road, in the outskirts of the Chinese city, 
 leading to the settlement. We both recognized that at 
 once, and, paying our guides liberally, rode directly to 
 Eussell & Co.'s compound, where we found a hearty wel- 
 come and an excellent tiffin awaiting us. The rest of the 
 party had got there before us, but they had been lost also, 
 although the interpreter soon got himself put on the right 
 road. 
 
 I had been lost before for three hours in the streets 
 of Chinan-fu, and the experience, however natural, was 
 by no means an agreeable one, but to be lost first on the 
 plains, and then in the city, within three miles of the 
 settlement, after traveling over fifteen hundred miles 
 
274 CHINA 
 
 without guides in a country that none of our party had 
 ever seen before, was puzzling, not to say surprising, in the 
 extreme. It was, of course, due entirely to the dust- 
 storm, which prevented our seeing the roads and land- 
 marks, and even hid the city gates and wall where we 
 entered them. 
 
 The things which most impressed me during this trip 
 were the vast extent and dead-level uniformity and dreari- 
 ness of the Great Plain, the homogeneity of the people, 
 and the sameness of their manners, customs, dwellings, 
 and occupation; their healthfulness, and immunity from 
 disease and suffering; their avid curiosity, mingled with 
 kindness and civility to strangers; and their contented 
 and placid disposition. I was surprised at the crooked- 
 ness of the Grand Canal, the bad repair of its embank- 
 ments, and the utter neglect into which they have fallen. 
 The absence of locks for the utilization of its water-sup- 
 ply, and the general crudeness of their engineering works, 
 were by no means unexpected, for nothing else could be 
 looked for in a country entirely unacquainted with sci- 
 ence; and I had been prepared for what I saw, in relation 
 to those matters, by what I had read in the Peking Ga- 
 zette. Neither was I surprised at the number and size 
 of the cities, but I must confess withal that I was not 
 impressed as I expected to be with the density of the 
 population. I saw no evidence whatever of overcrowding, 
 and do not think there is any. To the contrary, I am 
 sure that with proper drainage-works, improved methods 
 of cultivation, varied industries, and a fair supply of rail- 
 roads, a much denser population can be supported than 
 now lives in any part of the Great Plain. This region is 
 the very home of the Chinese, and they live now just ex- 
 actly as they did a thousand years ago. Their occupa- 
 tions, implements, and manners are absolutely unchanged. 
 They never see foreigners, nor do they buy anything of 
 foreign origin except needles, thread, cotton cloth, and 
 kerosene. Foreign arts and civilization have made no 
 
CHABACTBRISTICS OF THE GREAT PLAIN 2T5 
 
 progress, and no changes in their mode of living or think- 
 ing. An occasional wandering missionary had, in a small 
 way, familiarized them with the fact that the foreigner 
 is not necessarily a barbarian, as is the early belief of 
 every nation. Perhaps a dawning sentiment of tolera- 
 tion had begun to make itself felt, and a sense of expecta- 
 tion had been aroused, but it is absolutely certain that 
 there is yet no commercial or intellectual movement 
 among the people anywhere discernible. Life, hope, and 
 aspiration are absolutely stagnant, and nothing can stir 
 them into activity but newer and better education, the 
 building of railroads, and the establishment of new indus- 
 tries. As it is in the Great Plain so it is everywhere in 
 China, except at the treaty ports, and in the country 
 immediately about them. 
 
 But what most amazed me was the insignificance of 
 the Hwang-ho, or Yellow Eiver; the small volume of 
 water it was carrying, the narrowness of its channel, and 
 the insecure and generally neglected condition of its em- 
 bankments. Of course, it presents a very different ap- 
 pearance at flood, during which it must carry an enor- 
 mous volume of water to the sea. Having no valley or 
 border of hills, after it enters the plain it is free to spread 
 itself indefinitely over the neighboring country, when 
 once it has overflowed its banks and broken through the 
 dikes which should confine it. 
 
 There is no place of refuge in the plain except the 
 river embankment, or here and there the site of a village 
 or hamlet, the level of which has been raised from five or 
 six feet for the purpose of keeping out the water. This 
 precaution is not always taken, nor are the villages always 
 surrounded by earthen embankments, as they might be, 
 and it is the absence of such works which makes the far- 
 spreading inundation so destructive to life and property, 
 and fills the minds of the simple people with such a feel- 
 ing of awe and helplessness when once it is upon them. 
 Should it overtake them by night, which it not infre- 
 
276 CHINA 
 
 quently does, and there is no ground near by, above its 
 reach, the first refuge is the top of the house, or the limbs 
 of the trees, if there are any; or, better still, the boat, 
 which is frequently kept even far inland for just such an 
 emergency. 
 
 Withal, I have no doubt that the Yellow River can be 
 bridged wherever it may be desirable to cross it with rail- 
 roads, nor do I doubt that bridges and railroad embank- 
 ments can be built and maintained anywhere in the Great 
 Plain, just as they are in the deltas of the Mississippi and 
 the Danube. 
 
 After my return to Tientsin I had many interesting 
 interviews with the Viceroy Li, during which I gave him 
 my views on the various public works and other important 
 public matters which engaged my attention. He was at 
 all times greatly interested, and while he appeared sympa- 
 thetic, he impressed me with the conviction that he did 
 not feel strong enough to urge these matters persistently 
 upon the attention of the Throne. Like all other China- 
 men, he seemed to be overawed by the exalted and awful 
 dignity of the Imperial Government. Having completed 
 as far as possible my business with him, I again visited Pe- 
 king, where, through the kindness of Colonel Denby, our 
 minister, I was received by the Prince and Ministers of the 
 Tsung-li Yamen, or Board of Foreign Affairs. The in- 
 terview with these distinguished Manchu and Chinese dig- 
 nitaries was quite interesting; many subjects were touched 
 upon and discussed, and, so far as I could see, without 
 prejudice or illiberality on their part. They are evidently 
 men of great natural intelligence and of distinguished at- 
 tainments in Chinese learning, however ignorant they 
 may be in regard to foreign arts and sciences. Prince 
 Ching, the president of the board, belongs to the imperial 
 elan, and is a near relative of the young Emperor. He is 
 of medium stature, and seems to be an exceedingly sen- 
 sible and prudent man, at that time not over fifty years of 
 age. He and his associates (who were older) entertained 
 
VISIT TO NANKING 277 
 
 us handsomely with sweetmeats, fruits, and hot samshu, 
 and seemed to be really pleased to see and converse with 
 us. Their manners were grave and dignified, and would 
 have been considered polite and courtly at the most re- 
 fined capital of Europe. 
 
 After completing my travels in Northern China, I 
 returned to Shanghai and made a trip by steamer up the 
 stately Yang-tse-kiang to the old capital of Nanking, 
 where I was politely entertained by Tseng Quo-ch'uan, 
 brother of Tseng Quo-fan, uncle of the Marquis Tseng, 
 and governor-general of the province of Che-kiang. He 
 was at that time a venerable and able man, who had ren- 
 dered great services to his country, and was regarded as 
 a conservative liberal in reference to Chinese policy. He 
 received me with every mark of respectful consideration, 
 and seemed to be deeply interested in what I had to say 
 touching the important needs of the empire, as did his 
 " deputy for foreign affairs " and his English-speaking 
 and very intelligent secretary. The Tsengs, it may be 
 observed, are one of the most distinguished families of 
 modern China, and although those members of it just 
 mentioned are all dead, it is understood that several of 
 the present generation have been educated abroad, and 
 at least one of them may possibly come to the front in the 
 present crisis of Chinese affairs. 
 
 Immediately after getting back to Shanghai I sailed 
 for Japan, and traveled there for six weeks, at the end 
 of which time I returned to China, for the purpose of 
 making a visit to the Island of Formosa, first made 
 famous by the French impostor, George Psalmanazar, who 
 published a fictitious account of it in 1704, which was so 
 cleverly written that it imposed upon all Europe, almost 
 down to the present day. In the previous editions of 
 this book I gave a full account of my travels and observa- 
 tions in this interesting island, but as it has since been 
 taken over by Japan as a part of the indemnity exacted 
 for the expenses of the war with China, and its future 
 
278 CHINA 
 
 will be identified with that of the Japanese rather than 
 of the Chinese Empire, the chapter is omitted from 
 this edition, with the remark that as the population is 
 altogether Chinese, its progress under the government 
 of the island empire may well be watched by the world 
 for a practical indication of what may be expected of the 
 Chinese race when guided by an honest and progressive 
 administration. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Chinese system of education — Confined to classics, jurisprudence, 
 and history — Influence upon the governing class and common 
 people — The arrest ol development^How China is to be pre- 
 pared for the higher civilization — Substitution of Western 
 sciences for the dry husks of their worn-out philosophy — The 
 earliest communication with the Chinese by the Portuguese — 
 The Spaniards — The French— The Russians— The English— 
 The Bast India Company — The Americans — The Chinese 
 authorities have from the first sought to restrain trade — The 
 period of small ships — The first Protestant missionaries — The 
 attitude of the Chinese officials in reference to trade — The 
 hong-merchants — Lord Napier's refusal to confer with them — 
 Action of the English merchants — The discussion at Peking — 
 The opium trafiic — The Emperor's efforts to suppress it — Cap- 
 tain Elliot — The destruction of the opium — The Opium War — 
 The conclusion of peace — The Chinese concessions — The settle- 
 ment of Hong-Kong — The influence of the war. 
 
 The most noted particular in which the Chinese differ 
 from all other people, and especially from Europeans and 
 Americans, is in respect to education. Up to the time of 
 the Reformation they were abreast, if not in advance, of 
 the rest of the world, in many of the things that con- 
 stitute civilization. Their towns and cities were as well 
 walled and defended; their canal and river navigation 
 was better; their manufactures were in many particulars 
 of a higher order, and their general education, while 
 developed on different lines, was perhaps as far advanced 
 as that of any Western nation. It is not my intention 
 to enter into a discussion of its details, nor even to give 
 its general features, for both are set forth at large in the 
 
 379 
 
280 CHINA 
 
 Middle Kingdom and the cyclopaedias. It is sufficient for 
 my purpose to say that it has always had but one ob- 
 ject and aim, and that was to teach the classics, the 
 jurisprudence, and the history of China. Whatever 
 human thought that could not be brought within this sys- 
 tem has been counted as of little value. The range and 
 ■ methods of instruction have been laid down and estab- 
 lished from time immemorial in the laws and customs of 
 the land, and there is neither material change nor im- 
 provement in them. They are based primarily upon the 
 teachings of Confucius, " the most prescient sage and 
 philosopher,'' and upon the commentaries of his disciples. 
 What he or they may have said upon any subject what- 
 ever is conclusive, and when quoted puts an end to all 
 further discussion. What they have omitted to say is not 
 worth considering. It may be sensible and irrefutable, 
 or it may even have the force and sanction of law, but 
 it is neither classic nor sacred, and can be of no per- 
 manent or binding effect, as against the slightest precept 
 or statement of Confucius which can be arrayed against 
 it. The result has been to arrest all intellectual develop- 
 ment and progress in China, and to mold the Chinese mind 
 entirely upon- one model. Nothing new or spontaneous 
 can come from it, and every individual Chinese soul is 
 bound and circumscribed by it, and is as powerless to 
 escape its thraldom, through any volition of its own, as 
 are the spokes of a carriage-wheel to escape from the rim 
 and tire which surround them. It can not aspire to any- 
 thing better, for it can not imagine or conceive that any- 
 thing can be better. There is no source of doubt or light 
 left open to the great mass of the Chinese people, bound 
 and fettered as they are by tradition, by the isolation of 
 their country, by the poverty and inflexibility of their 
 literary language, and by the settled and narrow limits of 
 their system of instruction. The absence of hereditary 
 nobility, and the equality of condition and rights within 
 the system, render the system itself popular, and tend to 
 
CHINESE SYSTEM OP EDUCATION 281 
 
 disseminate a feeling of contentment. Where all men are 
 poor and ignorant alike, and the lot of each is unalter- 
 able, discontentment with matters under their own con- 
 trol can not prevail to any great extent; and discontent- 
 ment, so far as I can ascertain, does not prevail among 
 the mass of the Chinese people. Neither the face of the 
 country, nor the course of Nature, changes about them. 
 The Government, which is nearly always bad, remains 
 the same from generation to generation. Dynasties rise 
 and fall from the operation of natural causes as the sea- 
 sons come and go, but the laws, and the machinery for 
 their enforcement, remain substantially unchanged from 
 century to century. The Tartar and the Manehu em- 
 perors, no less surely than those of strictly Chinese origin, 
 become subject to the sway of the " most prescient sage " 
 and his teaching; and, like the common people, are bound 
 by the custom which comes down to them sanctified by 
 age, and based upon a system of philosophy which, so far 
 as they know, has never been questioned. 
 
 As China and its people were at the time of Luther, 
 or even of Christ, so they are now in all essential particu- 
 lars. They have as yet had no awakening, and have made 
 no protest. They have had no renaissance and no great 
 teacher to overthrow or to build upon the old philosophy. 
 No great statesman has filled the throne since the days 
 of Arkwright, Watt, Fulton, Stephenson, and Morse, and 
 hence there has been no one in China with power enough 
 to reach out toward or to comprehend the great movement 
 which characterizes what we call modern progress. 
 
 There is, no effective system of common schools, and 
 the machinery of education has undergone no change 
 whatever for two thousand years. It stands just where it 
 did at the beginning of the Christian era. Printing by 
 blocks has been practiced by the Chinese for over eight 
 hundred years, but there is no such thing known in the 
 interior as a newspaper which gives all the news and com- 
 ments upon or criticises it from the standpoint of an inde- 
 21 
 
282 CHINA 
 
 pendent, questioning intelligence. Of course, it should be 
 borne constantly in mind that I am speaking of interior 
 China, and the countless millions inhabiting it, who are 
 powerless to change, or to desire change, and must remain 
 so till they can be brought within the range of the newer 
 thought and thus be prepared for the higher civilization. 
 The great question is: " How is this to be done? Can it 
 be done by missionaries, or by school-teachers, or even by 
 newspapers and books disseminated among and acting di- 
 rectly upon the common people? Can any one or even all 
 of these means be brought to bear efficiently upon the 
 great work of education, without the concurrence of the 
 Government? " I am compelled to answer that they can 
 not. In China, as everywhere else in the world, the toiling 
 millions must first be reached through the thinking few. 
 In short, the Chinese people must be reached through the 
 literary or official class, which governs and controls every- 
 thing, and this must be done in various ways and by vari- 
 ous means which I will endeavor to point out more fully in 
 the closing chapter of this book. It is all summed up, 
 however, in the declaration that they must substitute the 
 Western sciences for the dry husks of their worn-out 
 philosophy, and adopt the Western methods of education 
 and of social and economic development, before they can 
 elevate the Chinese people and put them abreast of the 
 rest of the world. They must adopt Western arts and 
 appliances before they can understand or appreciate at 
 their true value the advantages of Western civilization. 
 They must be led to adopt our ways by showing them that 
 our ways are better than theirs, and this can be done most 
 efficiently by giving them object-lessons on a grand scale. 
 They must be led forward step by step from the concrete 
 to the abstract, their needs must be pointed out to them, 
 and they must be shown how to attain them in the short- 
 est and best way. We must teach them how to utilize 
 their own resources; how to build railroads and operate 
 them; how to open mines, and to work them; how to make 
 
CHINESE MUST ADOPT WESTERN METHODS 283 
 
 iron and steel, and to use them; how to find and extract 
 the precious metals; how to establish manufactories and 
 to conduct them profitably. Some of their leading men 
 may have already learned the value of steamships for com- 
 merce; of ironclads, great guns, and torpedoes, for naval 
 defense; of breech-loaders and Western tactics for the 
 army; and of the telegraph for communicating rapidly 
 with the remote parts of the empire, but the masses in 
 the interior are almost if not entirely ignorant upon all 
 these subjects. 
 
 It is now universally recognized that the greatest in- 
 dustrial movement of all time is the one which has sup- 
 plied and is still supplying the world with steamboats, 
 railroads, telegraphs, and electrical appliances. It has 
 given profitable employment to more capital and labor 
 than ever co-operated with each other before in any period 
 of the world's history. It has made itself felt in every 
 branch of human industry. It has opened mines and 
 quarries, built furnaces, rolling-mills, and machine-shops. 
 It has improved every human appliance, increased the sum 
 of human comfort and happiness more than any other 
 movement in which human beings have ever participated. 
 It has annihilated time and space. It has overcome Na- 
 ture, and brought its beneficent fruits to all nations and 
 races of men. And it is this movement which, having 
 crossed the borders of China, has in a measure revealed its 
 want and distress, and finally aroused the opposition of its 
 united conservatism and ignorance, not only against the 
 missionaries, but against everything foreign. The conflict 
 between the Old and the New has now reached the acute 
 stage, and in view of the fact that the New is backed by 
 the combined powers of the world there can be but one 
 conclusion to the conflict. 
 
 As previously pointed out, communication at rare in- 
 tervals has been had between Europe and China from the 
 time of Marco Polo down to the present era. Friar Odoric, 
 who landed at Canton, and lived in the country from 1286 
 
284 CHINA 
 
 to 1331, describes how the Chinese at that time used cor- 
 morants in fishing, wore long finger-nails, and compressed 
 the feet of their women. He was followed by many Jesuits, 
 who were tolerated and permitted to travel and teach 
 throughout the country. The Portuguese Jesuit, Bene- 
 dict Goes, who went overland from Europe, and died on 
 the frontier at Sechuan, was the first person to point out 
 that Cathay and China are the same country. 
 
 Up to the conquest of the Manchus, trade, travel, and 
 even religion in China seem to have been free to such for- 
 eigners as could reach it overland or otherwise. The Por- 
 tuguese, Eafael Perestrello, was the first man who con- 
 ducted a vessel to China under a European flag. This was 
 in 1516. He was followed the next year by Ferdinand 
 Andrade, and he by his brother Simon. They were both 
 vicious men, and, although they opened trade at Canton 
 and along the coast, their behavior was such as to fill 
 the timid natives with apprehension. Portuguese traders 
 and adventurers followed in goodly numbers, and Macao 
 was settled by them in 1560. 
 
 The Spaniards who had taken possession of the Philip- 
 pines, made their first appearance on the Chinese coast in 
 1575. The Dutch took possession of the Pescadores in 
 1633, and of Formosa in 1634, built forts at Zelandia, 
 Tamsui, and Kelung, founded colonies and trading-sta- 
 tions, sent missions to Peking, and carried on a desultory 
 trade with the mainland, till they were driven out of 
 Formosa by the great Chinese pirate Koxinga in 1663. 
 Afterward they traded at Canton on the same footing 
 with the representatives of other nations till 1863, when 
 their relations with the Chinese were regulated by the 
 Treaty of Tientsin. 
 
 The French Government was among the last to send 
 an embassy to Peking, and to open trade and establish 
 trading-posts on the Chinese coast, but the French Jesuits, 
 who appear to have been permitted to travel and teach 
 without let or hindrance, gave the world more information 
 
RUSSIAN TRADING EXPEDITIONS 285 
 
 about China prior to this century than all other travelers 
 put together. 
 
 The Russians sent many trading expeditions from 
 their frontier settlements to Peking between 1567 and 
 1677. They established relations which were more or 
 less intimate, and by firmness and fair dealing succeeded 
 in making the first treaty which was ever agreed to by the 
 court of Peking. It was signed at Nipchu, on the 37th 
 day of August, 1689, and the ratification of it by the 
 Russian Czar was carried to China by Ysbrandt Ides in 
 1692. The Czar sent Vladislavitch as minister to Pe- 
 king in 1727, and he was permitted to establish there a 
 permanent legation and college for the education of in- 
 terpreters. This legation has been steadily maintained 
 from that time to this, and, barring the friction along the 
 frontier of the two countries, and especially in the valley 
 of the Amur, the relations of China and Russia have been 
 uniformly friendly. The Russians are, however, pressing 
 steadily forward upon the Chinese border from the re- 
 motest corner of Turkistan to the coast of the Pacific 
 Ocean, and there can be but little doubt that this pre- 
 sents the greatest possible danger to the integrity of the 
 Chinese Empire. From this side it can be successfully 
 assailed as soon as the railroad connection between the 
 valley of the Amur and Port Arthur is completed, and, 
 when the policy and interest of Russia in Asia are con- 
 sidered, it will be seen that the danger just alluded to has 
 become an imminent if not a fatal one. Even before the 
 present crisis it was believed by careful observers in China 
 that sooner or later the Russians would regard themselves 
 as compelled to occupy the valley of the Yellow River, 
 and possibly the country south of it, to the divide between 
 it and the Yang-tse-kiang, and thus gain control of the 
 ports on the Yellow Sea which can be reached and kept 
 open at all seasons of the year. This is now the undis- 
 guised policy of the Russian Government, and before I 
 left Peking in jSTovember last the officers of the Russian 
 
286 CHINA 
 
 contingent openly declared that their forces were in the 
 undisputed possession of the whole of Manchuria from the 
 Amur to Port Arthur. 
 
 The first ships bearing the English flag anchored oS 
 Macao in 1635, and, after trading awhile peaceably, got 
 into a difficulty with the natives, and ended by fighting 
 and beating them. They came again in 1644, and visited 
 Amoy in 1677, but did not succeed in gaining a footing 
 at Canton till 1684. In 1699 Catchpool was appointed 
 consul, or king's minister, and attempted to open trade 
 at Ningpo and other points farther north. In 1703 the 
 East India Company farmed out all the English foreign 
 trade at Canton to one man. In 1742 Commodore Anson 
 arrived off the coast with the Centurion, the first English 
 frigate which had ever sailed into Chinese waters, and 
 made an overpowering demonstration of English strength 
 and determination. From that day forward, for about 
 one hundred years, the East India Company practically 
 monopolized the Chinese trade with foreigners. In 1793 
 the English Government sent Earl Macartney with three 
 ships and a brilliant staff on a special mission to Peking. 
 They were received with every mark of respect and at- 
 tention, and, although they gained no great diplomatic 
 advantage or concession, it may be said that they opened 
 China to foreign diplomacy. Lord Amherst was ap- 
 pointed ambassador, and reached Peking in 1816, but he 
 was summarily dismissed because he would not perform 
 the Tcotow, which the Chinese representatives strenuously 
 insisted upon not only then but for fifty years afterward. 
 They abandoned it only when they found that the for- 
 eigners would never consent to it. Trade was carried on, 
 however, for many years thereafter under greater and 
 greater restrictions. The Chinese authorities grew more 
 and more jealous and apprehensive, and finally resolved 
 to put an end to all intercourse whatever with foreigners. 
 
 In 1834 the East India Company's monopoly in China 
 came to an end, and Lord Napier was appointed chief 
 
BRITISH TRADE IN CHINA 287 
 
 superintendent of British trade, and sent to Canton with 
 instructions from Lord Palmerston to protect and foster 
 that trade, and extend it, if practicable, to other parts 
 of the Chinese dominions, but forbidding him to conduct 
 any diplomatic negotiations whatever with the Govern- 
 ment at Peking. 
 
 The first American trading-ship visited China in 1784, 
 and from that time our merchants have done business 
 there on the same footing as those of other nations, sub- 
 ject to the same restrictions, and enjoying the same privi- 
 leges. Our friendly relations have never been interrupted, 
 though, according to Williams, our Government for many 
 years " left the commerce, lives, and property of its citi- 
 zens wholly unprotected and at the mercy of the Chinese 
 laws and rulers," or subject to the conditions obtained by 
 other nations and extended to us under the " most favored 
 nations " clause of the treaties. 
 
 The trade and intercourse of the lesser European na- 
 tions have grown up and been conducted under the exam- 
 ple and leadership of England, and, until late years, have 
 not been characterized by any events of special impor- 
 tance. 
 
 From the foregoing statement it will be seen that 
 commerce between the Chinese and foreigners began, in 
 a small way, by sea in 1516, and was carried on by the 
 Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch in a desultory and pre- 
 daceous manner till the English made their appearance 
 on the scene in 1635. Prom that time down to the pres- 
 ent day the English have not only taken the most promi- 
 nent and active part in it, but have controlled a larger 
 share of the business than all other nations put together. 
 They have never hesitated to ask frankly for what they 
 wanted, but have always been bold, outspoken, and firm 
 in their demands. Their Government has stood ready to 
 back them by diplomacy and, if need be, by arms, and it 
 is but just to say that whatever they have gained for 
 themselves has also been conceded to others, perhaps re- 
 
288 CHINA 
 
 luctantly and grudgingly at times, but always fully and 
 fairly. It can not be denied, and the Chinese should not 
 lose sight of the fact, that, after the danger from Russia, 
 the next greatest peril to the Chinese Empire arises from 
 the juxtaposition of its western and southwestern prov- 
 inces with the Indian possessions of the British crown, 
 and the grasping and aggressive demands of British trade. 
 This truth is fully attested by Chinese experience, and was 
 generally admitted by the rest of the world, till the en- 
 gagements of Britain elsewhere, especially in South Africa, 
 caused her to abandon her traditionary policy in Asia, and 
 formulate her policy of " the open door " with an equal 
 chance for all. 
 
 The Chinese authorities from the first sought to limit 
 trade to Canton, and to hamper it by terms and condi- 
 tions which were extremely onerous. They seem to have 
 entertained a growing apprehension of foreign influence 
 from the accession of the present dynasty to the present 
 day, and to have done all in their power to discourage 
 their own people as well as the foreigners from engaging 
 in commerce with each other. For over two hundred years 
 the trade of foreign merchants was strictly confined to 
 Canton, and was conducted through Chinese or Co-hong 
 merchants, who were specially licensed for that purpose by 
 the Government. Foreigners were not permitted to travel 
 in the country; they were " permitted only to eat, sleep, 
 buy, and sell in the factories"; and even the first 
 Protestant missionary, who reached China in 1807, was 
 confined strictly to the hongs of the foreign merchants. 
 Inasmuch as Chinese merchants have no social or of&cial 
 status with their governing class, in their own country, 
 foreign merchants were put upon the same footing, and 
 the result was that the influence of the latter reached 
 no further than the minds of those through whom they 
 conducted their business. They exerted no influence 
 whatever upon the literary or governing class, and did 
 nothing which could be measured to change either the 
 
BRITISH TRADE IN CHINA 289 
 
 civilization of the Chinese people or the methods of the 
 Chinese Government. 
 
 This was the period of small ships and strictly com- 
 mercial methods, during the whole of which foreigners 
 counted for nothing with the Chinese authorities. " They 
 constituted," says Williams,* who was himself one of the 
 earliest missionaries, "a community by themselves, sub- 
 ject chiefly to their own sense of honor in their mutual 
 dealings, but their relations with the Chinese were like 
 what lawyers call ' a state of nature.' The change of a 
 governor-general, of a collector of customs, or a senior 
 hong-merchant involved a new course of policy, according 
 to the personal character of those functionaries. The 
 Committee of the East India Company had considerable 
 power over British subjects, and could deport them if it 
 pleased; but the consuls of other nations had little or no 
 authority over their countrymen. Trade was left at the 
 same loose ends that politics was, and the want of an ac- 
 knowledged tariff encouraged smuggling and kept up a 
 constant spirit of resistance and dissatisfaction between 
 the native and the foreign merchants, each party en- 
 deavoring to get along as advantageously to itself as pos- 
 sible. Nor was there any acknowledged medium of com- 
 munication between them, for consuls, not being credited 
 by the Chinese Government, came and went, hoisting and 
 lowering their flags, without the slightest notice to or 
 from the authorities. Trade could proceed, perhaps, 
 without involving the nations in war, since, if it were un- 
 profitable, it would cease; but, while it continued on such 
 a precarious footing, national character suffered, and the 
 misrepresentations produced thereby rendered explana- 
 tions difficult, inasmuch as neither party understood or 
 believed the other." 
 
 While, therefore, it is strictly true that foreigners pro- 
 duced no change either in the civilization of the Chinese 
 
 * The Middle Kingdom, vol. ii, p. 453 et seq. 
 
290 CHINA 
 
 people or in the methods of the Chinese Government, it 
 can not be said that they did not make their presence felt 
 by the authorities at Peking during the long period which 
 closed in 1843. The fact is, that, owing to the central- 
 ized character of the Imperial Government, every public 
 act of the foreigners was reported promptly to it, and had 
 its influence in building up the policy of non-intercourse 
 which finally came to be the ruling idea of Chinese diplo- 
 macy. So long as trade was confined to one port, and 
 conducted through the Co-hong merchants under regula- 
 tions laid down by the Peking Government, it was toler- 
 ated; ambassadors and ministers were even received at Pe- 
 king, but it was long contended by the Emperor and 
 his advisers that they came as tribute-bearers from sub- 
 ject nations, and not as the representatives of equal sov- 
 ereignties. The very moment a pretension of this sort, 
 on the part of Lord Napier, was suspected, the governor- 
 general directed him to remain at Macao until he obtained 
 legal permission to go to Canton. This notification was, 
 however, not received in time, and Lord Napier proceeded 
 to Canton as any unofficial foreigner would have done. 
 At that place he ignored the hong-merchants, and sent 
 a letter to the governor-general addressed as from an 
 equal to an equal. When the governor-general heard of 
 his presence at Canton, he issued a proclamation to the 
 hong-merchants, denouncing what he styled an " in- 
 fringement of the established laws," and laying down the 
 principle that " the Celestial Empire appoints officers — 
 civil ones to rule the people, military ones to intimidate 
 the wicked. The petty affairs of commerce are to be di- 
 rected by the merchants themselves; the officers have 
 nothing to hear on the subject." When the letter 
 addressed to him was presented he declined to receive it, 
 because he feared that he would thereby admit the equal- 
 ity of the foreign representative. Both parties stood 
 firm, and a dead-lock resulted. Lord Napier refused to 
 confer with the hong-merchants, and demanded an au- 
 
SUSPENSION OF TRADE 291 
 
 dience, with such treatment as might be "befitting His 
 Majesty's commission and the honor of the British na- 
 tion "; while the governor-general refused to receive any 
 communication which was not framed and addressed as a 
 petition from an inferior to a superior. Messengers were 
 sent from one to the other, and much parleying followed, 
 but in the end trade was suspended, and Lord Napier re- 
 tired to Macao, where he died shortly afterward. There- 
 upon trade was resumed, and the Chinese claimed that 
 they had " driven him out " and " expelled his ships." 
 
 The principles on which they acted throughout this 
 affair are apparent. They feared that if they granted 
 official intercourse by letter they would thereby give up 
 the whole question, that the King of England could no 
 longer be considered as a subject prince; that both he and 
 his people would be released from their allegiance; and, 
 finally, that they would want to enter the borders of China 
 and take possession of her soil. And here, after all, they 
 had a true conception of one of their greatest dangers, 
 which has lost nothing by the lapse of time, but is likely 
 to increase pari-passu with the growth of the British 
 Empire in Southern and Southeastern, and that of the 
 Eussian in Northern and Northeastern Asia. 
 
 The English merchants at Canton now took up the 
 matter, and sent a petition to the King in Council, recom- 
 mending that a commissioner be sent, with a small fleet, 
 to one of the northern ports for the purpose of arranging 
 the manner of conducting future intercourse; but this sen- 
 sible suggestion was not adopted. Whether it would have 
 been successful, no one can tell, but, even if it had failed, 
 it would at least have strengthened the moral position 
 of England. The trade of other nations was suspended, 
 and resumed with that of England. The English Govern- 
 ment in a measure repudiated the course of Lord Napier, 
 and then the English pamphleteers and newspaper writers 
 took up the question. Even the Duke of Wellington par- 
 ticipated in its discussion. Trade went on, however, very 
 
292 CHINA 
 
 much as it did before, and efforts were made to open new 
 ports, but the Chinese officials did not relax their vigi- 
 lance, and it was found to be impossible to penetrate the 
 country against the will of its rulers. The opinion now 
 became wide-spread among them that any increase of 
 foreign trade would bring with it unmitigated evil, be- 
 cause it would also increase the importation and use of 
 opium, which had been first introduced in the ninth cen- 
 tury, and, from the impulse given it by foreign trade, had 
 now come to be looked upon as a national misfortune. On 
 the other hand. Sir George B. Eobinson, who had suc- 
 ceeded Lord Napier, and established his headquarters on 
 an opium-ship, expressed his conviction to the home Gov- 
 ernment that " there was little hope of establishing a 
 proper understanding with the Chinese Government ex- 
 cept by resort to force, and the occupation of an island at 
 the mouth of the Canton Eiver." 
 
 Sir George B. Robinson was in time succeeded by Cap- 
 tain Elliot, who dropped the pretension of corresponding 
 with the governor-general as an equal, removed to Canton, 
 and signified his willingness to " conform in all things to 
 the imperial pleasure." Meanwhile, a discussion sprang 
 up at Peking between members of the governing class, and 
 spread to the provinces, as to the true policy of the Gov- 
 ernment in regard to the opium-trade. One party con- 
 tended that it was impossible to suppress it, and that it 
 should therefore be legalized and regulated, not only for 
 the purpose of stimulating home production, but saving 
 the money annually sent out of the country for the for- 
 eign article. Another party contended strenuously for 
 its total suppression, and supported their views by showing 
 that it was productive of great suffering and distress, and 
 was surely ruining those who used the pernicious drug, 
 in health, mind, and property. 
 
 The foreigners, nearly all of whom were engaged in 
 the trafRc, and were making large sums of money out of 
 it, also joined in the discussion, and, I am sorry to say. 
 
CONTINUANCE OP TRADE 293 
 
 most of them, and especially the English, found excuses 
 of one kind and another for advocating the continuance 
 of the trade; but withal, after due deliberation, the Chi- 
 nese Emperor Taukwang and his advisers decided against 
 legalizing the admission of the drug, because it was in- 
 jurious to the Chinese people. They had right on their 
 side, but were sorely perplexed by the discussion as well 
 as by the evident determination of the English to con- 
 tinue the trade, no matter what might be the amount of 
 harm done by it. The increasing demand for the drug 
 and the large profit realized from smuggling it into the 
 country proved too great a temptation for the foreigners, 
 and while the English took the lead in the business, all 
 nationalities lent a willing hand, according to their op- 
 portunities. 
 
 The Emperor, feeling assured, however, of the support 
 of the leading men throughout the country, redoubled his 
 efforts to suppress the trade. More than one native trader 
 was executed for exporting silver and importing opium; 
 smugglers were seized and tortured, boats were captured 
 and destroyed, consumers were taxed and threatened with 
 death, and every device known to the Chinese authorities 
 was resorted to for the purpose of keeping opium out of 
 China, but all in vain. The Chinese merchants became 
 as much interested in the trade as the foreigners; the cus- 
 toms officials connived at it, and even the son of the Gov- 
 ernor of Canton took part in it. The coast-guard service 
 and the native customs officers became demoralized, and in 
 its desperation the Government finally ordered the execu- 
 tion of a convicted dealer in front of the foreign factories 
 at Canton, hoping thereby to strike terror into the hearts 
 of the foreign merchants and their employes, but the lat- 
 ter sallied out and drove the executioner away. A crowd 
 gathered to see what was going on. The foreigners tried 
 in turn to drive the crowd away; blows followed, and the 
 foreigners were overpowered and driven back into the 
 factories. The district magistrate appeared upon the 
 
294 CHINA 
 
 scene, followed by lictors and a few soldiers, and order 
 was soon restored, but the riot impressed both the Gov- 
 ernment and the people with a feeling of hatred for the 
 foreigners, the majority of whom were engaged in the 
 opium-trade, and all of whom had now come to be looked 
 upon as violators of the law. 
 
 It is impossible to even summarize the events of the 
 five years which followed, but in all of that time the Gov- 
 ernment did not relax its efforts to suppress the trade. 
 It appointed special commissioners, and finally succeeded 
 in getting most of the foreign merchants to sign a paper, 
 pledging themselves not to deal in opium nor to intro- 
 duce it into China, but this pledge was soon broken by 
 most of the parties who had signed it. The Imperial Com- 
 missioner, in despair, next called upon the foreign mer- 
 chants to surrender all the opium they had in order that 
 it might be destroyed, and shortly afterward under the 
 advice and guarantee of Captain Elliot, who exceeded his 
 authority in giving it, the merchants complied. They 
 surrendered 20,291 chests of opium, worth nearly $11,- 
 000,000, and it was all effectually destroyed. Sixteen 
 English, American, and Parsee merchants were banished, 
 and a bond was demanded from those who remained that 
 they would not engage in the illegal traffic. General 
 trade was alternately suspended and resumed, but the 
 opium-ships continued to come and go as before, and 
 the trafiic in that drug never for one moment ceased. 
 When it could not be carried on openly it was carried 
 on by smuggling, and always with such profit that no 
 risk was regarded as too great to be taken in connection 
 with it. 
 
 On December 6, 1839, the Chinese Commissioner is- 
 sued an edict declaring all trade with British merchants at 
 an end, and the close of that year saw the two nations in- 
 volved in difficulties which rendered war inevitable. 
 
 The British Government regarded itself as in duty 
 bound to pay for the opium which its subjects had sur- 
 
EXPEDITION AGAINST TING-HAI 295 
 
 rendered under the advice of its chief superintendent of 
 trade, and the latter recommended that the Government 
 should compel the Chinese to refund its money-value. 
 The question was debated in Parliament, and discussed at 
 length in the newspapers of the day, and finally the 
 British ministry declared war, for the purpose of obtain- 
 ing " reparation for the insults and injuries offered Her 
 Majesty's superintendent and subjects; indemnification 
 for the losses the merchants had sustained under threats 
 of violence; security that persons trading with China 
 should in future be protected from insult and injury; 
 and, lastly, that trade should be maintained upon a 
 proper footing." 
 
 A formidable expedition, consisting of five ships of 
 war, three steamers, and twenty-one transports, made its 
 appearance on the Chinese coast July 4, 1841. The next 
 day a force of three thousand men landed and captured 
 Ting-hai near Ningpo, killing many of the Chinese who 
 endeavored to hold the place, and striking terror into the 
 hearts of those who escaped. Two days later. Admiral 
 Elliot and Captain Elliot, who had been appointed joint 
 plenipotentiaries, arrived at Chusan, and demanded that 
 the authorities at Ningpo and Amoy should forward a 
 letter which they bore from Lord Palmerston, the British 
 Prime Minister, to the Emperor at Peking, but this the 
 authorities declined to do. The Island of Chusan was 
 captured by the British, the Yang-tse and Min Elvers 
 were blockaded, and the Chinese coast was harried and an- 
 noyed by the British forces. The plenipotentiaries, find- 
 ing that they could produce no impression on the south- 
 ern coast, proceeded to the Pei-ho in Northern China, and 
 there opened communication through the Governor of 
 the province of Chihli, with the Peking Government, 
 which resulted, after much argument and some delay, in 
 the appointment of a Chinese plenipotentiary, to meet 
 those of Great Britain at Canton. Meantime the Chi- 
 nese provincial authorities were busy all along the coast 
 
296 CHINA 
 
 in raising troops and making arrangements for defense, 
 but, withal, trade was never entirely suspended. The 
 British were active and persistent; several skirmishes oc- 
 curred; several forts were taken; and in the end the Chi- 
 nese plenipotentiary became convinced that successful 
 resistance was impossible. 
 
 On the 20th of January, 1842, the English plenipo- 
 tentiaries announced that peace had been concluded on 
 the condition that the Chinese should cede the island and 
 harbor of Hong-Kong to the English; pay an indemnity 
 of six million dollars in annual installments; permit the 
 immediate resumption of British trade at Canton; and 
 finally conduct official intercourse thereafter with the 
 British on terms of equality. All other captured ports 
 were to be restored to the Chinese, and all Chinese pris- 
 oners were to be released. It soon, however, became ap- 
 parent that this treaty would not be complied with, and 
 that the Peking Government had resolved "to destroy, 
 wipe clean away, to exterminate and root out the rebel- 
 lious barbarians." Hostilities were renewed, the Bogue 
 forts were all taken, many Chinese were killed, and the 
 British were within five miles of Canton, when the pre- 
 fect, under a flag of truce, met Captain Elliot, and sued 
 for a three days' suspension of hostilities, which was 
 granted. It, however, expired without leading to satis- 
 factory results. The British again advanced, and after 
 taking every fort, raft, battery, stockade, and camp, had 
 the city at their mercy. A second truce was agreed upon, 
 and trade was reopened, but the Chinese steadily pushed 
 their warlike preparations. Seeing that nothing would 
 satisfy them but absolute defeat and the capture of Can- 
 ton, the British resumed their operations, and driving 
 back the Chinese troops, took possession of their last for- 
 tifications. Negotiations were again resumed, and a new 
 treaty was made, which provided for the payment of six 
 million dollars as a ransom for the city, besides addi- 
 tional compensation for the loss of foreign property and 
 
BRITISH CAPTURE AMOY 297 
 
 shipping; and, finally, that the Chinese troops should 
 evacuate the city. 
 
 Shortly afterward. Sir Henry Pottinger and Admiral 
 Sir William Parker arrived from England, and assumed 
 direction of affairs. They approved the last truce, and 
 continued trade at Canton, but in August sailed north- 
 ward with a fleet of nine men-of-war, four steamers, 
 twenty-three transports, and a force of about thirty-five 
 hundred men, captured Amoy, Ting-hai, Chiu-hai, and 
 Ningpo, together with many guns, ammunition, and 
 property, but the Chinese authorities only redoubled their 
 efforts to drive back and destroy the barbarians. T'si-ku 
 and Chapu were also taken, and finally the expedition en- 
 tered the Yang-tse-kiang, captured the works at the 
 mouth of the "Wusung Eiver, and took possession of 
 Shanghai, which they ransomed for $300,000. The 
 Emperor collected large forces at Chin-kiang, Nanking, 
 Suchau, and at Tientsin. The British expedition, re- 
 enforced by a strong detachment under Lord Saltoun, 
 now proceeded up the Yang-tse, for the purpose of break- 
 ing the Grand Canal. After a sanguinary engagement 
 they captured Chin-kiang, took possession of Iching, and 
 invested the old capital of Nanking. So vigorous were 
 their operations, and so helpless had the Chinese showed 
 themselves to be, that there was no longer any doubt, even 
 in their own minds, of their entire overthrow, and the 
 invincibility of the British land and naval forces. Nego- 
 tiations were again opened, and after the exhibition of 
 full powers by the plenipotentiaries of both sides, ac- 
 companied by many ceremonies and formalities, the 
 Opium War was concluded by a treaty which covered the 
 following important points: A lasting peace between the 
 two nations; the opening of Canton, Amoy, Fuchau, 
 Ningpo, and Shanghai, to British trade, under a well-un- 
 derstood tariff; the cession of the Island of Hong-Kong 
 to Her Majesty; the payment of $6,000,000 for the opium 
 destroyed at Canton; $3,000,000 for the debts due the 
 29 
 
298 CHINA 
 
 British merchants; and $13,000,000 for the expenses of 
 the British expedition, the entire amount of $21,000,000 
 to be paid before January 1, 1846; the release of all pris- 
 oners held by the Chinese; the pardon of all Chinese sub- 
 jects who had aided the invaders; the establishment of a 
 regular and fair tariff and transit dues; the conduct of all 
 oifieial correspondence on terms of equality; and the 
 restoration of places held by the British according to pay- 
 ments agreed upon therefor. 
 
 The victory of the British was complete, but it will 
 be observed that the traffic in opium was not even men- 
 tioned in the treaty. It is said, curiously enough, that 
 the Chinese plenipotentiaries declined to discuss the sub- 
 ject until they were assured that it had been brought up 
 by Sir Henry Pottinger merely as a topic for private con- 
 versation; but it is much more likely that the victors 
 would not permit it to be made a subject of negotiation. 
 The trade was evidently too valuable to be given up in a 
 treaty, every provision of which was clearly wrung from 
 the Chinese by the might of British arms. There is 
 abundant evidence for the statement that the Chinese 
 appealed in vain for fair treatment in regard to the im- 
 portation and growth of the drug, which they justly look 
 upon as a curse to the human family. They asked the 
 British to prohibit the cultivation of the poppy, but this 
 they declined to do, under the plea that such action 
 would be inconsistent with British laws, and inefhcacious 
 besides. They claimed that if they did not supply the 
 demand for the drug others would, and even suggested 
 that the Chinese should legalize the traf&c, and thus limit 
 the facilities for smuggling. 
 
 It is not my intention to point out or to dwell upon 
 the immorality of the course adopted by the British in 
 regard to this matter, for, whatever may be the facts of 
 the case, or the consequences flowing therefrom, it is cer- 
 tain that all other nationalities were equally guilty with 
 the British, according to their opportunities, in engaging 
 
RESULTS OF THE OPIUM WAR 299 
 
 in the trade, and that so far no power has made it nnlaw- 
 
 ful by treaty except the United States, and even they 
 have failed to pass laws for the punishment of such as 
 violate the treaty. 
 
 My purpose in summarizing the events of the Opium 
 War is to call attention to the fact that two hundred 
 years of peaceful commerce at Canton had produced no 
 direct effect whatever upon the Chinese people or their 
 Government, except to convince them that the foreigners 
 were all alike, greedy and turbulent. It brought with it 
 no benefit, except the little that flowed from the sale of 
 tea and silk, and the purchase of a few articles of foreign 
 manufacture, and this was offset ten thousand-fold by 
 the opium scourge, which has become a source of never- 
 ending misery to the Chinese people. Indeed, it is ap- 
 parent that commerce alone, conducted, as it was, through 
 factories, trade superintendents, and hong-merchants, 
 could never have in any way changed the manners and 
 customs of the Chinese, much less could it have modified 
 the polity of the Chinese Government, or brought it to 
 realize that the Chinese Emperor was not sovereign lord 
 over all the nations of the earth. Throughout the whole 
 period, from the beginning of foreign trade with the Chi- 
 nese down to the Treaty of Nanking, it is evident that the 
 Chinese literati, as well as the Chinese Government, re- 
 garded all outside nations not only as barbarians but as- 
 subjects of their Emperor. They considered all ambassa- 
 dors and ministers as tribute-bearers, and all presents to 
 their Emperor as an acknowledgment of his sovereignty. 
 
 The Opium "War dispelled this illusion forever, and 
 opened the eyes of the Chinese to the terrible efficiency 
 of modern military enginery. It showed them that their 
 vast numbers were powerless against foreigners in war- 
 fare, and that their Government could not protect them 
 for a moment against the cupidity of the latter, when 
 once it had been aroused. But what is still more impor- 
 tant is, that it resulted not only in the exaction of an 
 
300 CHINA 
 
 enormous indemnity for tiie alleged injuries inflicted, but 
 opened many new ports to foreign trade and settlement, 
 in each of which the Chinese absolutely, though unwit- 
 tingly, yielded the right of the British Government to 
 control the persons and property of its subjects residing 
 therein. The other foreign powers claimed for them- 
 selves and their merchants all the privileges granted to 
 the British, although they had taken no part in the 
 Opium War, and the Chinese yielded without dispute, 
 perhaps without even knowing, at first, that there was 
 any difEerence of nationality whatever between the out- 
 side barbarians. Thus the exercise of exterritorial juris- 
 diction, and the custom of co-operation between foreign 
 nations in China, had their origin, and thus the isolation 
 and pretended supremacy of the Chinese Government 
 were ended forever. Commerce alone had done nothing, 
 but commerce and war together had shown themselves to 
 be invincible. They had secured a firm foothold for for- 
 eigners and foreign civilization upon Chinese soil. Tariff 
 and commercial regulations were now adopted and car- 
 ried into effect, for the government of Chinese trade 
 " with all countries as well as of England. Henceforth, 
 then," says the edict of Ki-ying, the Imperial Commis- 
 sioner, " the weapons of war shall be forever laid aside, 
 and joy and profit shall be the perpetual lot of all." Trade 
 acquired a new impetus at Canton, and was speedily 
 opened at all the other ports. The Americans and French 
 made treaties without delay; and the former, negotiated 
 in 1844, by the late Caleb Gushing, was so clear and dis- 
 tinct in its terms and provisions that it served as a model 
 for all others up to 1860. The Chinese paid the indem- 
 nity of $21,000,000, and notwithstanding the terrible les- 
 son they had received, and the continued activity and 
 baleful effects of the opium-trade, the country seemed to 
 be fairly prosperous and peaceful. There was still some 
 hostility to foreigners, and especially at Canton, where 
 the British had to again resort to force in 1847. They 
 
RESULTS OP THE OPIUM WAR 301 
 
 once more battered down the Bogue forts, and compelled 
 the Chinese, by force rather than by argument, to grant 
 a larger space for residences and warehouses on the south 
 side of Pearl Eiver, and also to consent that the city gates 
 should be opened to foreigners after two years. When the 
 time came around, this agreement was repudiated, and the 
 British wisely forbore to insist upon its enforcement. 
 Activity prevailed in the settlement, and the gates of 
 Canton were not freely opened to the foreigners till 1858. 
 
CHAPTBE XVIII 
 
 History of the Taiping rebellion again adverted to — The operation 
 of the treaties — The rapid increase of trade — The establish- 
 ment of the maritime customs under foreign management — 
 The influence of Canton and the Cantonese — The affair of the 
 Chinese lorcha Arrow — The first and only difficulty with 
 Americans — Demands of England, Russia, Prance, and the 
 United States upon the Peking Government — The Emperor 
 and court greatly alarmed — The practice and doctrine of 
 co-operation — The allied ffeets proceed to the Pei-ho — Negotia- 
 tion — Signature of the treaties — Principal concessions — The 
 affairs of the Taku forts — The British repulse— Return of the 
 allies — Capture of the forts and the advance to Peking — 
 Treaties ratified and exchanged — Death of the Emperor Hien- 
 fung — The regency — The influences surrounding the present 
 Emperor — The necessity for Western education. 
 
 The influence of the Taiping rebellion upon educa- 
 tion, and the introduction of foreign ideas; also its effect 
 upon the Chinese Government and its leading states- 
 men has already been adverted to, and I have specially 
 pointed out how it brought Li Hung-Chang, Tseng Quo- 
 fan, Tseng Quo-chu'an, and Tso Tsung-tang, as well 
 as the thousands of nameless soldiers who took part in 
 it, into daily contact with foreigners, and gave them a 
 better understanding than they could otherwise hare ob- 
 tained of the superiority of foreign arms, organization, 
 and discipline. It is now almost certain that if Hung 
 Tse-chuen, the rebel leader, had adopted true instead of 
 spurious Christianity, and called capable foreign advisers 
 to his assistance, he would most probably have secured the 
 302 
 
THE TAIPING REBELLION 303 
 
 countenance of the foreign powers, and ultimately over- 
 thrown the Imperial Government. But his head was 
 turned by his early successes; he grew insolent and care- 
 less; his pretentions were exposed; foreign sympathy was 
 withdrawn from his cause, and finally foreign skill, cour- 
 age, and arms were combined by the imperial leaders to 
 bring about his overthrow and destruction. The rebel- 
 lion had an inglorious ending; but its influences and les- 
 sons were yet to be disseminated broadcast throughout the 
 empire. Everywhere the story was told of the " foreign 
 devils " who led the " Ever- Victorious Army." Their 
 courage was extolled, the power and destructiveness of 
 their arms were exaggerated, and their marvelous achieve- 
 ments were loudly praised even within the sacred pre- 
 cincts of the Throne. But, what is still more significant, 
 is the fact that the Emperor, in acknowledgment of their 
 extraordinary services, bestowed posthumous honors upon 
 Ward, and granted money, titles, and, above all, the " Yel- 
 low-Jacket" to Gordon, by edicts which were officially 
 promulgated in every province. This put the seal of au- 
 thenticity upon the story which had already penetrated 
 to the remotest corners of the empire. The interest and 
 curiosity of all classes had been profoundly moved; and 
 although, in a country where there is no public press, and 
 intercommunication is necessarily so imperfect, the effect 
 of all this was more or less evanescent, it is certain that a 
 large part of it was radical and permanent, and that, even 
 to a greater extent than ever before in China, War had 
 shown herself to be the most efficient servant of Progress. 
 
 Under its influence commerce was greatly stimulated 
 at the five open ports, and especially at Shanghai. The 
 foreign population increased threefold, steamship com- 
 panies were organized, steamboats were introduced, for- 
 eign settlements grew up, and all the appliances of for- 
 eign civilization were brought into the country. 
 
 Under the operation of the treaties, the relations of 
 the Chinese and foreigners gradually adjusted themselves 
 
30i CHINA 
 
 on a fairly satisfactory basis. The foreigners claimed the 
 right to mark ofE and occupy a separate tract of land ad- 
 joining the native city at each treaty port, and to govern 
 themselves according to their own customs and laws. The 
 Chinese authorities unwittingly conceded this right, and 
 thus grew up what has come to be known as the "for- 
 eign concessions," which are governed by the consuls of 
 the treaty powers, or by local city authorities, deriving 
 their power from the consuls. The English and French 
 carried this right so far that they even claimed absolute 
 jurisdiction over Chinese subjects who were found within 
 the limits of their allotted districts. 
 
 The rapid increase of trade, and the great influx of 
 foreigners, all of whom were entirely ignorant of the Chi- 
 nese language, gave rise to the necessity for many inter- 
 preters, and experienced Chinese traders or compradores, 
 and these were naturally looked for at Canton, where 
 business had been carried on with foreigners for over two 
 hundred years. This accounts for the fact that the Can- 
 tonese hold most of the higher places in the foreign 
 hongs at all the treaty ports. Many of them speak " pid- 
 gin English " (business English), and are shrewd, capable 
 servants of their employers, but withal they do not fail 
 to take care of their own interests at the same time. It 
 is worthy of note that the British and other powers have 
 always been able to employ as many Cantonese as they 
 wanted to assist them in their hostile operations against 
 China, and that for tha-t reason, if for no other, the people 
 of North and Central China are not overfond of the Can- 
 tonese, but are disposed to look upon them rather as for- 
 eigners than natives of their common country. 
 
 Owing to the disturbed condition of affairs which the 
 rebellion brought about at Shanghai in 1853, it became 
 necessary for the native collector of customs to remove 
 the custom-house to the foreign settlement. He had 
 formerly been a hong-merchant at Canton, and as such 
 had acquired confidence in the ability and honesty of the 
 
ORGANIZATION OF THE IMPERIAL CUSTOMS 305 
 
 foreign merchants, and therefore wilUngly entered into 
 an arrangement for putting the collection of foreign du- 
 ties into the hands of three commissioners, to be selected 
 by the English, American, and French consuls respective- 
 ly. The chief duty of organizing the service fell upon Mr. 
 Wade (afterward Sir Thomas Wade), who spoke Chi- 
 nese fluently. He was succeeded by Mr. Lay, of the Eng- 
 lish consulate, and he in turn by Mr. (now Sir Eobert) 
 Hart. This was a wise measure; it has been carried into 
 effect at all the treaty ports, and has led to far-reaching 
 consequences. The service was ably organized and hon- 
 estly administered; it has now over a thousand foreign 
 employes, representing nearly every nationality, and is 
 an ever-present proof to the Imperial Government of the 
 superiority of foreign over native methods of conducting 
 public business. The amount of revenue collected has 
 advanced from about five million to nearly twenty-five 
 million dollars in silver per year, without any increase of 
 the fixed tariff rate of five per cent ad valorem; but what 
 is more important is the fact that the money is all hon- 
 estly collected and paid over to the imperial treasury, and 
 this is the only branch of the Chinese revenue service 
 of which as much can be said. In addition to collecting 
 and accounting for the maritime customs, the department 
 has established lighthouses and buoys at the entrances to 
 the treaty ports, and at many other points along the Chi- 
 nese coast. It has, in later years, established an efficient 
 revenue-cutter service, built a mint, started a postal sys- 
 tem, and begun the work of sounding and surveying the 
 places most dangerous to steam navigation. Moreover, 
 nothing which the Chinese Government has ever done has 
 gone so far toward breaking up the smuggling of opium, 
 and it is safe to say that if it is ever broken up altogether 
 it must be done through the agency of this effective or- 
 ganization. 
 
 Kotwithstanding the large number of Cantonese em- 
 ployed by foreign merchants, and the great amount of 
 
306 CHINA 
 
 business done at the port of Canton, there has always been 
 more friction between the natives and foreigners at that 
 place than at any other in China. As the Taiping rebel- 
 lion approached that city, the foreign merchants who 
 sympathized with them at first made unusual exertions 
 to sell them arms and military supplies. Civil war broke 
 out in the city, and several hundred thousands of lives 
 and many houses were destroyed. The consuls at the set- 
 tlement and at Hong-Kong were powerless to restrain the 
 cupidity of their countrymen, and, to make matters worse, 
 the Chinese governor-general obstinately refused to see 
 any foreign minister. In his blind efforts to suppress 
 smuggling, he was arbitrary and unreasonable toward the 
 foreigners. The British availed themselves of the oppor- 
 tunity to build up and develop the trade of Hong-Kong. 
 They made it a free port, reduced the charges upon ship- 
 ping to almost nothing, and did all in their power to 
 induce Chinese vessels to carry on trade under the Brit- 
 ish flag. An enormous smuggling trade was developed 
 in opium, in spite of the Chinese revenue service to sup- 
 press it. Coolies were kidnapped and sold to the Portu- 
 guese barracoons at Macao, and piracy became common. 
 The Chinese lorcha * Arrow, sailing under a British regis- 
 ter which had expired, was suspected of being engaged 
 in contraband trade, and was seized, and the British en- 
 sign was hauled down. The British consul, Mr. Parkes, 
 and the British governor-general of Hong-Kong, Sir John 
 Bowring, immediately demanded redress; but the Chinese 
 governor-general was obdurate, and could not see that any 
 reparation was due. 
 
 During the complications with the British (in 1856), 
 the Americans for the first and only time became involved 
 in difficulty with the Chinese. An American man-of- 
 war's boat had been fired into by design or mistake at the 
 Barrier forts, and one man had been killed. Commodore 
 
 * A foreign-built hull with Chinese rig. 
 
THE LOECHA WAR 307 
 
 Armstrong, who was lying near by with the San Jacinto, 
 Portsmouth, and Levant, at once attacked and captured 
 the forts, killing several hundred of their defenders, and 
 with that the matter was allowed to drop. Not so with 
 the British. They sent at once to India for re-enforce- 
 ments and to England for instructions. The condition 
 of affairs at Canton was discussed in Parliament, and the 
 British Government resolved, notwithstanding the out- 
 break of the Sepoy rebellion, to follow up the Treaty of 
 Nanking by demanding the reception and residence of 
 a British minister at Peking. France, Eussia, and the 
 United States were invited to co-operate, for the common 
 benefit of Christendom. Special plenipotentiaries of great 
 skill and ability were appointed by the European powers, 
 as well as by the United States, and by the end of the 
 year 1856 they had arrived at Canton in great ships of 
 war, and, after their ultimatum had been delivered, they 
 landed an allied force of about six thousand men and 
 captured the city. The governor-general and all the high 
 officials were taken prisoners, and a new government, com- 
 posed of high Chinese officials under the protection of the 
 allies, was at once set up. Order was promptly restored, 
 and the Cantonese were shown for the first time how just 
 and reasonable the foreigners could be toward them, and 
 yet how firmly they could deal with their rulers. 
 
 The allied ministers now proposed to the American 
 and Eussian plenipotentiaries, who had taken no part in 
 the hostile operations, but had satisfied themselves with 
 playing the part of deeply interested spectators, to join 
 them in laying their demands before the Imperial Govern- 
 ment at Peking. Letters were written by all and duly for- 
 warded; but the Chinese Emperor and his court were 
 greatly alarmed, and could not bring themselves to con- 
 sent to receive the representatives of the hated foreigners 
 at the capital. Such a thing had never been done, and so 
 evasive answers were returned. The powerful fleet of the 
 allies, accompanied by the American and Eussian men- 
 
308 CJIINA 
 
 of-war, proceeded at once to the Pei-ho, forced the bat- 
 teries at its mouth, and sent the ministers forward to 
 Tientsin. Here they were received by two high Chinese 
 commissioners, and negotiations were at once opened. 
 The British minister, Lord Elgin, took the lead in the dis- 
 cussions. The Chinese were overawed, and, " ignorant 
 beyond conception of the gravity of their situation," they 
 granted almost everything that was asked of them; and 
 the treaties thus negotiated, or, perhaps, I should say 
 forced upon the Chinese, became bound into one mass by 
 the favored-nation clause, which they all contained, and 
 by the doctrine of co-operation, which then for the first 
 time was practically carried into effect by the four great 
 powers of the world, although it must not be forgotten that 
 the representatives of the United States and Russia had 
 been specially instructed not to resort to force, and had 
 not been consulted by Lord Elgin. The situation was 
 tersely summed up in the declaration made by him that 
 he " was compelled to treat with persons who yield noth- 
 ing to reason and everything to fear, and who are at the 
 same time profoundly ignorant of the subjects under dis- 
 cussion and of their own real interests." Another British 
 of&cer still more pithily expressed it by saying, " Two 
 powers had China by the throat, while the other two stood 
 by to egg them on, so that all could share the spoil." 
 And, arbitrary as all this was, the obstinacy, exclusive- 
 ness, and folly of the Imperial Government left the for- 
 eigners no other course to pursue. 
 
 By the first week of July, 1858, the four treaties had 
 been signed and ratified by the Emperor Hienfung, and 
 the fleet had left the Pei-ho. The tariff was revised 
 shortly afterward, and through the persistence of the 
 British was made a part of the treaties, the opium-trade 
 was legalized at a low rate of duty, which removed from it 
 alike the necessity for smuggling, and the stigma of im- 
 morality which had hitherto been attached to it. Hang- 
 kow, on the banks of the Yang-tse, a thousand miles from 
 
"BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER" 309 
 
 the sea, was declared a treaty port, and opened to foreign 
 residence and business; missionaries were granted the 
 right to travel throughout the land and preach the gos- 
 pel; and foreign ministers were authorized to reside at 
 Peking; but the four envoys returned home witliout vis- 
 iting that far-famed city. 
 
 The Chinese authorities at once began reconstructing 
 the fortifications at the mouth of the Pei-ho, on what they 
 considered to be foreign plans, and every effort was made 
 to prevent the return of the allies. Peking had been des- 
 ignated as the place for the exchange of the treaties, but 
 the Chinese sent commissioners to Shanghai, and exerted 
 all their arts of diplomacy to get the French and English 
 envoys to go through with the ceremony at that place, but 
 in vain. 
 
 The British endeavored to force their way again (June 
 29, 1859) into the Pei-ho, but they were repulsed, with 
 the loss of eighty-nine killed and three hundred and forty- 
 five wounded. It was during this action that Commo- 
 dore Tatnall lowered his gig, and, with the declaration 
 that " blood is thicker than water," towed boat-loads of 
 British marines into action. 
 
 The American minister and his suite landed at Peh- 
 tang and made their way overland to Peking, but, owing 
 to the difficulty of arriving at a satisfactory agreement 
 in regard to the ceremonies to be observed, did not have 
 audience with the Emperor. The latter waived the re- 
 quirement of the hotow, or prostration in his presence, 
 and suggested the bending of one knee, but as there had 
 been some inadvertent suggestion of a religious signifi- 
 cance to the ceremony, even after it had been shorn of its 
 more objectionable features, Mr. Ward determined to re- 
 turn to Pehtang and exchange the ratifications of the 
 treaty at that place. There was no special violation of 
 right in this, for the American treaty was silent in refer- 
 ence to the place at which the ratification should be ex- 
 changed; but it must be confessed that, having gone to 
 
310 CHINA 
 
 Peking by invitation, his retirement without accomplish- 
 ing the object for which he had gone was justly re- 
 garded by the representatives of the other powers as 
 a sacrifice of dignity more or less injurious and embar- 
 rassing to them. 
 
 The British, smarting under their repulse from the 
 Pei-ho, opened negotiations at once with their allies the 
 French, and the two powers agreed to send back the 
 plenipotentiaries who had negotiated the treaties, at the 
 head of a powerful fleet and a strong land-force. The 
 united fleet and transports contained over two hundred 
 vessels, carrying about twenty thousand men, and pre- 
 sented by far the most formidable array of power that had 
 ever been brought to bear against the Chinese Empire. 
 
 The plenipotentiaries arrived at Chee-fu in July, 1860, 
 and at once made known their demands in no uncertain 
 terms. They required an apology for the repulse of the 
 English at the Pei-ho, the ratification and exchange of 
 the treaties at Peking, and that they should be carried 
 into eft'ect without further delay, and finally that the 
 Chinese should pay the expenses incurred by the allies. 
 The Chinese replied as usual with indirect and evasive 
 language, so there was nothing left for the allies but to 
 make sail for the coast of Chihli, land their troops, and 
 force their way to Peking, and this they proceeded to do. 
 They disembarked at the mouth of the Pehtang, about 
 ten miles north of the Pei-ho, turned the forts at Taku, 
 took them in the rear and captured them. They then 
 marched at once for Tientsin, which, although strongly 
 fortified, was surrendered without a battle. 
 
 The Chinese now offered to treat, but, finding that 
 they were trifling and trying to gain time rather than to 
 comply with what was asked of them, the foreign pleni- 
 potentiaries broke up the conference and resumed their 
 march toward the capital. They had not gone far, how- 
 ever, before they found themselves confronted by a large 
 army; hence they advanced with circumspection and al- 
 
SIR HARRY PARKES TAKEN PRISONER 311 
 
 ways in readiness for battle. The Chinese redoubled their 
 efEorts to stay the approach of the foreigners, and sent 
 out great dignitaries with fair protestations and urgent 
 offers to exchange and ratify the treaties. The allies 
 paused again, and sent forward Mr. (afterward Sir) Harry 
 Parkes, to select a camp and arrange terms. He was 
 received with all external marks of courtesy, hut soon dis- 
 covered that the Chinese generalissimo, Prince Sanko- 
 linsin, was preparing an ambush for the allied army. On 
 endeavoring to make his way back to the latter, he and 
 most of his companions were taken prisoners, hurried ofE 
 to Peking, and treated with great cruelty. The allied 
 commanders discovered the perfidy of the Chinese, and, 
 advancing to the attack, drove them in confusion from the 
 field, captured eighty cannon and burned their camps. 
 Several minor engagements followed, in which the allies 
 were easily victorious. The Emperor and court fled has- 
 tily to Jehol, on the borders of Manchuria, and left Prince 
 Kung, the second brother of the Emperor, to make the 
 best peace he could. Meanwhile the allies advanced with 
 deliberation to the immediate vicinity of Peking, burned 
 and pillaged the Summer Palace and all the neighboring 
 villas as an act of retribution upon the Chinese for their 
 violation of the flag of truce carried by Mr. Parkes, and 
 for the savage treatment inflicted upon him and his com- 
 panions during their imprisonment. The Chinese Gov- 
 ernment was powerless to resist the demands contained 
 in the ultimatum of the allies. The treaties were ratified 
 and exchanged with great pomp inside the imperial city, 
 an additional sum of £100,000 was exacted for the benefit 
 of the prisoners and their families, and another of 8,000,- 
 000 taels to defray the expenses of the victors. Kowlung, 
 on the mainland opposite to Hong-Kong, was ceded to the 
 British; permission was given for the emigration of Chi- 
 nese coolies, either voluntarily or under contract; and the 
 question of the residence of foreign ministers at Peking 
 on terms of equality, and their reception by the Emperor, 
 
312 CHINA 
 
 without the Tcototv or any other form of humiliation, was 
 settled forever. The I'tench as well as the English re- 
 ceived a money indemnity, but, instead of asking for a 
 concession of land, they demanded and received payment 
 at Peking for all the churches, schools, cemeteries, lands, 
 and buildings wrested from the persecuted native Chris- 
 tians throughout the empire in years gone by. 
 
 War and diplomacy were again signally triumphant; 
 they secured for the foreigners all that the plenipoten- 
 tiaries asked for, and they asked for all they thought of; 
 and yet their victory was not complete. The walls of 
 exclusion were broken down in a measure, but the 
 huge, lumbering machinery of the Chinese govern- 
 ment was not exposed or interfered with. The Emperor 
 and most of the court had fled, and the latter did not 
 return till the allied army had departed. They never 
 saw its terrible enginery, nor obtained any adequate 
 conception of its organization, discipline, and power. It 
 is true that the Emperor had signified his willingness to 
 receive the foreign diplomatists, but death intervened at 
 his place of retreat to spare him that humiliation. The 
 allied armies hurried to get out of the country. Peking 
 by some strange oversight ^vas not opened to trade or 
 foreign settlement, and as soon as the Government re- 
 turned to the capital, it shut itself up within the walls of 
 the Forbidden City, and would have nothing to do with 
 the resident diplomatists that could be avoided. As far as 
 possible they ignored the occurrences of the last year, and 
 resumed their usual sway over their distressed and im- 
 poverished country. Had the successful plenipotentiaries 
 and the allied army remained long enough to hale the 
 Government from the Forbidden City and compel it to 
 conduct its operations in the light of day, and to treat 
 with foreign ministers, without unnecessary or vexatious 
 restrictions, through the members of the regency, they 
 would have greatly facilitated the progress of modern 
 ideas and that enlightenment of the governing class 
 
DEATH OF THE BMPEitOR HIENPUNa 313 
 
 without which it is impossible to secure an intelligent 
 administration of the government. 
 
 The Emperor Hienfung died August 17, 1861, leaving 
 the throne to his son, then only six years old. The G-ov- 
 ernment passed under the administration of a regency 
 conducted by Prince Kung, the uncle of the infant Em- 
 peror, and it was during his ascendency that Mr. Bur- 
 lingame, the American minister, was induced to accept 
 the position of Chinese ambassador to the Western na- 
 tions. A more liberal policy was adopted, new treaties de- 
 signed to bring China into the family of nations were 
 negotiated, and a number of young men were sent to the 
 United States to be educated in Western sciences. The 
 country had been pacified throughout its extent, and 
 a fair degree of prosperity had returned to it. The 
 question of the reception of the foreign ministers now 
 came up again, and after a long and careful discussion was 
 settled to their satisfaction. The Icotow was dispensed 
 with, and the ceremony, as finally carried into effect, was 
 not accompanied by any extraordinary circumstance to 
 mark its significance. The young Emperor was a puppet 
 in the hands of his family, and fortunately for himself, if 
 not for his country, he died on January 9, 1875. The 
 Government again passed under the control of a regency, 
 and remained there down to February 7, 1886. 
 
 As stated in a previous chapter, the Empress of the 
 Eastern Palace, the senior co-regent, died on the 4th of 
 April, 1881, and left the Government to the sole control 
 of her sister. During the two regencies, a period of over 
 twenty years, the dowagers remained in absolute seclu- 
 sion. No foreign minister or official, and no foreigner 
 of any rank, was permitted to have audience with either 
 of them; so that although the for^gn ministers were com- 
 fortably settled in Peking, and were in no way molested 
 by the people or the Government, they were practically 
 ignored, and exerted little or no influence for good. Most 
 of the questions which they ought to have considered with 
 23 
 
314 CHINA 
 
 the Chinese Government were referred to the First Grand 
 Secretary, Li Hung-Chang, for such settlement as he 
 might be willing to asume the responsibility of making, 
 or to some foreign consul, for investigation and report. 
 They could not reach any member or department of the 
 Government which had power to act. The walls of the 
 Forbidden City, within which the court and most of the 
 great dignitaries resided, were completely shut to them. 
 They were at liberty to go to the Tsung-li Yamen, or 
 Board of Foreign Alfairs, but, as before explained, that 
 board, like all the others, had advisory powers only, and 
 could not act except by command of the Emperor. 
 
 Early in the regency Prince Kung was deposed, the 
 students sent abroad were recalled before they had fin- 
 ished their studies, and the conservatives, by means little 
 known to foreigners, regained complete control of the 
 Government. 
 
 After the young Emperor assumed personal charge, the 
 foreign ministers again claimed audience, and it was 
 granted; but it was a meaningless ceremony and nothing 
 came of it. It was supposed by some that the Em- 
 peror's father, or his father's elder brother Prince Kung, 
 would have a potential influence in shaping the policy 
 of the Emperor, and that, owing to the youth and inex- 
 perience of the latter, one or the other, instead of the 
 Empress Dowager, might become the power behind the 
 Throne. But this was all conjecture. In any other country 
 it might readily have been as suggested, but in China tradi- 
 tion, old custom, and the code determine everything; and 
 those who hold the reins of power are the judges. It was 
 pointed out in previous editions of this book that a regent 
 who had had supreme control of the country for nearly 
 a quarter of a century, and was still in the full vigor of 
 life, would not voluntarily lay down all her influence even 
 if she should go into absolute retirement. It was not 
 deemed likely that she would no longer seek to con- 
 trol the conduct of the Emperor whom she had selected. 
 
INFLUENCE OF THE EMPRESS DOWAGER 315 
 
 or to direct the Government over which she had so long 
 been an absolute Empress. She had shown herself to be 
 a strong, vigorous woman, and altogether the wisest 
 and best ruler the country had had since the death of 
 Kienlung; and whether she retained the substance or only 
 the semblance of power, would probably depend alto- 
 gether upon herself. The most natural solution of the 
 difficulty was thought to be that she and the Seventh 
 Prince would remain for many years the principal ad- 
 visers of the Emperor, notwithstanding the absurd cus- 
 toms in the way of their free intercourse. And hence 
 the great question with foreigners was. How to reach 
 and influence those two great personalities? From the 
 first only one of them ever showed the shghtest disposi- 
 tion to go within the reach of foreign ideas, and that only 
 to a limited degree. During a visit of the Seventh Prince 
 to Tientsin, Taku, Port Arthur, and Chee-fu, made 
 shortly after his son's majority, he saw foreign-built ships 
 and heavy guns, and met foreign consuls, for the first 
 time. He was the intimate friend of Li Hung-Chang, 
 and it was certain that he would see much of that astute 
 statesman in the Admiralty Board, of which they were 
 both members. It was also said that he was on most excel- 
 lent terms with the Empress Dowager, and that both fre- 
 quently expressed themselves in favor of railroads, as well 
 as of steamboats and telegraphs. What little was known 
 of the two favored this statement; but death put an end 
 to the influence of the Seventh Prince in 1887 and left 
 the Empress Dowager in supreme control. The hopes 
 of those who were watching the course of events and wish- 
 ing that China might under her sway begin in earnest the 
 adjustment of its internal affairs in harmony with those 
 of other nations, were destined to disappointment. "What- 
 ever may have been her true character and her real ca- 
 pacity for government, she showed herself from the first 
 to be capricious and uncertain in thought, arbitrary in 
 action, intolerant toward foreign ideas, and suspicious of 
 
316 CHIXA 
 
 all who appeared to be acceptable to the Emperor. The 
 Japanese war, with its tremendous defeat and humilia- 
 tion, increased her troubles as well as her animosity to 
 the foreigners and their plans. She at first opposed the 
 ratification of the treaty of peace, but when she found 
 that it could not safely be rejected, she yielded reluctantly, 
 and in a spirit of anger proceeded to take vengeance on Li 
 Hung-Chang, who had negotiated it. She caused him to 
 be relieved of his vice-regal functions and his honors, 
 and assigned him to duty as a member of the Tsung-li 
 Yamen. 
 
 Up to this time her interest in imperial matters ap- 
 pears to have been fitful and irregular. Routine business 
 was left to the boards and high officials, and there is but 
 little reason to suppose that she undertook to interfere 
 with commercial, military, or naval affairs, or even with 
 the extension of railroads or the exploitation of the natu- 
 ral resources of the country. AVhether this was because 
 she regarded such matters as beyond her understanding, 
 or whether she was favorable or unfavorable to them, or 
 merely willing to leave them to be disposed of by the con- 
 servative officials in authority, is a mere matter of con- 
 jecture. It was from the first hoped and believed by some 
 that she was really progressive in her tendencies, and 
 would support progressive measures; but looking back over 
 the events of the last decade, it seems more probable that 
 she had no earnest convictiojis either way, but was merely 
 indifferent. It is certain, however, that she was deeply 
 concerned in family and dynastic affairs, and that the ab- 
 sence of a son to the Emperor and heir to the throne was 
 a constant source of regret and embarrassment to her and 
 of portentous importance to the Emperor himself. As it 
 became more and more unlikely that a son was to be 
 expected, and that the Emperor was not only impotent, 
 but incompetent to manage the affairs of state, it became 
 evident to the court and imperial clan that the Em- 
 press Dowager had made a fatal mistake in selecting him 
 
DUTIES OP THE EMPRESS DOWAGER 317 
 
 for the succession. It will be remembered that he was 
 weak and puny from childhood, and had not grown 
 out of that condition when he reached man's estate. Al- 
 though he showed at times an enlightened and progressive 
 mind, it is now apparent to all that he is not only a physi- 
 cal weakling, but that he has a vacillating and irresolute 
 character, utterly unable and incompetent to stand alone, 
 much less to guide the empire through the perils which 
 surround it. Under these circumstances it is but natural 
 that he should lean upon such persons as offered their 
 support, identifying himself first with one faction and 
 then with the other, as whim or conviction might dic- 
 tate. As the Empress had selected him for the throne, 
 guided him through childhood, and chosen his wives and 
 concubines, it was hardly to be expected that she would 
 lose control of him in the real emergencies of life. She 
 was by virtue of her position as well as by Chinese custom 
 head of the Imperial family, and it was not only her 
 right but her duty to take care of the family interests. 
 However grave her faults or violent her usurpations, 
 she was in this clearly within her natural if not her 
 official right, and in the course of events found herself 
 face to face with problems of the gravest importance, 
 affecting not only the fate of the dynasty but of the em- 
 pire itself. 
 
 One of the most difficult and pressing questions 
 which claimed the attention of the Government was 
 that of the missionaries. Belonging to every nationality 
 and sect, and scattered throughout the empire to the 
 number of fifteen hundred or two thousand, with many 
 stations, churches, hospitals, schools, converts, patients, 
 and pupils, they were continually engaged in raising new 
 points and controversies, the settlement of which gave 
 much trouble to both provincial and imperial authorities. 
 It is confidently believed that the secular interests of 
 these people gave rise to more friction, and to more 
 cases demanding official attention and decision, than 
 
318 CHINA 
 
 were presented by all other foreign interests together. 
 While it is not possible to give the multifarious details 
 of this important subject, an attempt will be made in the 
 next chapter to summarize its principal points so that its 
 relation to the progress of China, and especially to the 
 present crisis, will be understood. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 The rights of missionaries in China — The Tientsin massacre — The 
 French and Russians indemnified — The influence of the mis- 
 sionaries generally minimized — Ancestral worship and super- 
 stition — The practice of fung-shuy — The conservatism of the 
 governing class — The censors — Chinese statesmen are progress- 
 ing — The establishment of the Tung-wen College — The Burlin- 
 game mission — The Chinese students in America — Their recall 
 — The Emperor all-powerful — Railways wanted by leading 
 statesmen — Difficulties to be overcome — Probable solution of 
 the question — The duty of our own Government — Impossible 
 to predict when China will move — Surrounded by great perils 
 — Russia's menacing position — The British Indian Empire — 
 Their permanent interests — But little danger from Germany 
 and Prance — The Chinese may perceive their real danger- — Not 
 a warlike people — Their true policy — The victories of peace. 
 
 Amoitg the results of war, secured by the demands of 
 diplomacy, there is none more important than the right 
 of the missionaries of all nations to travel and teach in 
 China. This right was finally accorded by the treaties of 
 Tientsin, but it was not generally used till 1861, nor were 
 the missionaries and their native converts fully guaran- 
 teed exemption and immunity from violence and outrage, 
 by the treaties, till 1864. Since then men and women of 
 every Christian denomination have traveled and resided in 
 every province of the widely-extended empire. They have 
 generally been received with nothing worse than indiffer- 
 ence, although occasional instances of rudeness and even 
 of outrage upon them have been reported from the interior 
 districts. The Jesuits have reclaimed their old churches 
 
 319 
 
320 CHINA 
 
 and property, in many cases where they had been ont of 
 their possession for nearly two hundred years, and the 
 Protestant denominations have established permanent 
 missions, schools, and hospitals, at all the treaty ports, 
 in Peking, and at many of the provincial towns and cities. 
 The outbreak against the Jesuits and Sisters of Char- 
 ity at Tientsin, which occurred on the 21st of June, 1870, 
 resulted in the massacre of twenty French and Eussians, 
 and the destruction of the French consulate, cathedral, 
 and orphanage. It was based upon the report which was 
 widely circulated and believed that the Sisters were gath- 
 ering up little children for the purpose of killing them 
 and using their eyes and hearts for the concoction of 
 medicines and charms. This absurd story was invented 
 and spread abroad by ignorance and superstition, and 
 the consequences which followed were attended by cir- 
 cumstances of great atrocity. They were investigated 
 somewhat tardily by the Peking Government, but as the 
 latter failed to bring the instigators promptly to trial, 
 foreign men-of-war were assembled in a few weeks; the 
 guilty, so far as they could be found, were punished; the 
 sum of four hundred thousand taels was paid to the 
 PaEnch; indemnity was also given to the Eussians; the 
 premises destroyed were rebuilt; and generally the Chi- 
 nese authorities did as much as could reasonably be ex- 
 pected of them in restoring order, repairing the damage 
 done, and in taking precautions for the prevention of 
 similar outbreaks elsewhere. This unfortunate incident 
 was not without its benefits to the missionaries of all 
 denominations. It made them more circumspect, and 
 the natives everyvirhere for a while more tolerant and 
 unsuspicious. The authorities were fearful that all the 
 foreign powers would become aroused, and would unite 
 in demanding further guarantees, hence they volun- 
 tarily laid do\\'n a set of rules for the government of 
 officials everywhere, and for the promotion of the safety 
 of all foreigners traveling under passport beyond the lim- 
 
THE ADVANCE-GUARD OP CIVILIZATION 321 
 
 its of the settlements; and it may be said — whether 
 through the effect of these rales, or the natural mildness 
 of the natives, is immaterial — that missionaries of both 
 sexes were allowed to penetrate into the remotest districts 
 of the empire in almost perfect safety. The people, as 
 might have been expected, were everywhere full of curi- 
 osity, but acts of violence and outrage were rare even in 
 the remoter and more unfrequented regions. The mis- 
 sionaries were nominally required to have passports, but 
 it is claimed by the Chinese that this is rather for keeping 
 track of and protecting them, than for the purpose of put- 
 ting any restrictions upon their right to come and go 
 without let or hindrance. 
 
 It is quite the custom of merchants and secular people 
 generally to minimize the services and utility of the mis- 
 sionaries in China, and, so far as the making of intelligent 
 and genuine converts to Christianity is concerned, it must 
 be admitted that the results are somewhat discouraging; 
 but when it is considered that the brave men and women of 
 all denominations, who are carrying the gospel to every 
 town and district in the empire, are the advance-guard of a 
 higher and better civilization, and are gradually teaching 
 the Chinese that the foreigners are not " devils " but in- 
 telligent and kindly people, striving to do them good and 
 not evil, and that many of them not only understand the 
 precepts of " the sages and philosophers," but teach even 
 a higher form of humanity, it will be seen that their labors 
 are far from wasted. If, in addition to the hospitals and 
 primary schools, which constitute so large a part of the 
 working machinery of the missionaries, they could have 
 a system of technological schools, or at least a series of 
 lectures upon science and mechanics, with apparatus and 
 machinery established in the larger cities, and made free 
 for all to attend, the aim being to show that the arts and 
 sciences of foreigners are better than those known to the 
 Chinese, I do not doubt that in the end Christian truth 
 and morals would find a much more ready lodgment than 
 
322 CHINA 
 
 they now find in the native mind. Up to the present time 
 no Chinaman belonging to the literary class could be in- 
 duced to openly attend a Christian meeting or listen to a 
 Christian teacher. Serene in the conviction that there 
 never was a greater sage and philosopher than Confucius, 
 with the writings of whom he is well acquainted, he thinks 
 it absurd to waste time with any one who claims to bring 
 him " good tidings of great joy," whether they come from 
 Christ or Buddha. Nominally the religion of the latter is 
 adopted and practiced by many people in China, but so far 
 as I could see it is not a living cult, nor are the Chinese 
 a religious people in any sense whatever. 
 
 Ancestral worship is perhaps the most vital cult among 
 them, and that, although based upon immemorial custom, 
 needs the strong hand of the Imperial Government to keep 
 it alive. It can hardly be called a religion, but even if it 
 is, it should not be forgotten that it is in accordance with 
 the Christian injunction, " Honor thy father and thy 
 mother, that thy days may be long in the land which the 
 Lord thy God giveth thee." Surely obedience to this com- 
 mandment can not be unpleasing in the sight of the Chris- 
 tian God, and might have been tolerated till brought 
 within the bounds of proper practice; but unfortunately it 
 has been condemned by all the churches alike, with an in- 
 tolerance which to the minds of practical men savors 
 strongly of folly. As a consequence, the Chinese every- 
 where advance the argument that it shows the Christians 
 to be immoral people, and their religion an outrage on the 
 tenderest sentiments of humanity. Some of the wisest 
 bishops of the Koman Catholic Church, and many of the 
 leading Protestant missionaries, favored the more liberal 
 and lenient view, but the Pope and the higher ecclesiastical 
 authorities have spoken. The question is settled for good 
 and all against any compromise with ancestral worship, 
 and the battle must be fought through to the bitter end on 
 that decision, though many close observers believe it might 
 have been easily won on the basis of a tolerant accommo- 
 
BELIGIOUS TOLERATION OF THE CHINESE 323 
 
 dation. It is claimed that the Chinese are not bigoted or 
 illiberal in religion; that they tolerate Confucianism, Tao- 
 ism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and have blended them 
 into one system of belief and practice. It is also contended 
 that for many years they were disposed to accept and toler- 
 ate Christianity as well, but were gradually forced by the 
 intolerance of the Christian emissaries into a position of 
 hostility against them and their doctrines. Be this all as 
 it may, it is too late for the Chinese Government to draw 
 back. It has signed the treaties allowing missionaries to 
 preach the gospel and make proselytes, and guaranteeing 
 them and their converts immunity from all interference in 
 the peaceful enjoyment of equal religious and civil rights 
 with the rest of the people throughout the empire. But, 
 as before stated, the Chinese are not a religious people, 
 nor is Confucianism or Taoism a religion. The former is 
 a system of personal and national ethics, or at the highest 
 a system of philosophy; while the latter is merely a sur- 
 vival of the worship of Nature, in which superstition, or 
 the science of good and bad luck — if I may coin a phrase, 
 the meaning of which neither the words geomancy nor 
 fortune-telling properly conveys, and which the Chinese 
 comprehend under the words " f ung-shuy," literally, 
 " wind and water " — constitutes by far the most potential 
 factor in the daily conduct of the average Chinaman's 
 life. It regulates all his important transactions, and the 
 fung-shuy man is his counselor and guide in youth, man- 
 hood, and old age. He tells what day is lucky for start- 
 ing on a Journey, or marrying, or for beginning business; 
 what place is lucky; and how the house or the grave 
 should face in order to insure the happiness of its occu- 
 pant. He finds lost or hidden property, tells fortunes, 
 and directs in all difficult matters. He is paid according 
 to the importance of the occasion and the wealth of the 
 man or the family he is serving; and if he is not formally 
 employed, he makes himself disagreeable by commenting 
 unfavorably, by predicting misfortune and disaster, or 
 
324 CHINA 
 
 even by stirring up the prejudices of the vicious and igno- 
 rant against those wlio think they can get on without him. 
 The practice of fung-shuy is an occult trade, in which 
 humbug is the principal art, and of which credulity and 
 ignorance are the surest support. The practitioners are 
 of course venal, and if properly approached can be re- 
 tained for or against any given measure or on any side 
 of any possible question. In all great or novel under- 
 takings, where the common people can exert any influ- 
 ence or make any trouble, and especially where foreigners 
 are concerned, it would be well for the person having the 
 matter in hand to bear this statement in mind, and take 
 timely measures to get the fung-shuy men on his side. 
 Liberality in compensating them may lead to great saving 
 in the end. Of course, an ignorant or unaided foreigner 
 could not manage such a guild, but would be compelled to 
 rely upon good interpreters and skillful assistants who 
 understood the Chinese character perfectly. I may re- 
 mark here that foreign influence, and the progress which 
 has already been developed in China, have shaken the 
 faith of many in " the fung-shuy pidgin," at the treaty 
 ports, and there is reason for believing that it is sensibly 
 on the wane even in the interior of the country, and espe- 
 cially at Peking. 
 
 By far the greatest difficulty in moving the Chinese 
 Government arises from the conservatism of the literary 
 or governing class, and this conservatism finds its most 
 efficient agent in the Board of Censors, and the system 
 of espionage of which it is at the head, throughout the 
 empire. The censors, as before indicated, supervise the 
 business of the Great Boards, and are at liberty to memo- 
 rialize the Throne upon all subjects and at all times. 
 They are the guardians of the law and of the customs of 
 the people, and it is their special duty to speak before the 
 public or the empire has been injured. It is true that 
 they must write decorously, temperately, and without 
 prejudice, and may be rebuked for ignorance or willful 
 
FUNCTIOXS OP THE BOARD OF CEXSORS 325 
 
 falsehood; but the " all-examining court " of which they 
 are members is above all other courts and boards, next to 
 the Throne, and can reach it in much less time and with 
 much less trouble than any other court or person. From 
 its jjosition and functions its members may always know 
 what business is likely to come before the Throne, and 
 hence it is easy for them to assail any measure which 
 does not receive their approbation. They are specially 
 on the alert against innovations and foreign schemes, 
 more than one of which — good as well as bad — they have 
 killed or indefinitely postponed before it had received 
 imperial consideration. 
 
 The censors, and almost all other great functionaries 
 of the empire, are old men, who have reached their high 
 positions by a lifetime of laborious study, devoted ex- 
 clusively to Chinese classics and jurisprudence, and so 
 great has been the competition through which they have 
 been compelled to gain their honors, that it would have 
 been impossible for them to devote much time to the 
 study of foreign sciences or history, even if they had de- 
 sired to do so. Having overcome and surpassed the rest 
 of mankind in China at least, they naturally look with 
 contempt upon the world beyond. They can see no good 
 in anything which Confucius did not teach, and a sys- 
 tem which produced them must be perfect, and needs no 
 amendment. Having attained their great altitude, " noth- 
 ing remains for them but to walk in the footsteps of the 
 immortal sages who have gone before them." 
 
 And yet the Chinese statesmen are learning. With 
 them the day of bows and arrows, bamboo-spears, match- 
 locks and gingals, war-junks and wooden ships, has passed 
 away. Ijee-Remington rifles, ironclads, and Krupp guns 
 have been adopted. Arsenals and machinery, dock-yards 
 and heavy fortifications, abound; naval and military acad- 
 emies have been established; schools for the study of 
 Western languages and sciences have been opened at sev- 
 eral of the treaty ports, a.nd what is of still greater im- 
 
326 CHINA 
 
 portance is the fact that the Imperial Government itself 
 has founded and opened the Tung-wen College at the 
 capital, for the instruction of the official class in the 
 W^estern sciences. The memorial which brought the 
 project to the Emperor's attention, and constitutes its 
 charter, was drawn up by Prince Kung, and was concurred 
 in by four ministers of the Board of Foreign Affairs. It 
 sets forth that its object is " to teach mathematics and 
 astronomy, as indispensable to the understanding of 
 machinery and the manufacture of fire-arms," that only 
 the scholars of high grade should be admitted, and that 
 " men from the West shall be invited to give instruction." 
 They declare that the scheme " did not originate in a 
 fondness for novelties, or in admiration for the abstract 
 subtilties of Western sciences; but solely from the con- 
 sideration that the mechanical arts of the West all have 
 their source in the science of mathematics." It points out 
 that if China undertakes to build steamships and machin- 
 ery, and yet declines to borrow instruction from the men 
 of the West, there is danger that, following their own 
 ideas, they " will squander money to no purpose." The 
 writer of this remarkable document, knowing the preju- 
 dices of the class to which he belongs, then says: 
 
 " But, among persons who are unacquainted with this 
 subject, there are some who will censure us as wrong in 
 abandoning the methods of China for those of the West; 
 and some who will even denounce the proposal that Chi- 
 nese should submit to be instructed by the people of the 
 West as shameful in the extreme. Those who urge such 
 objections are ignorant of the demands of the times. 
 
 " In the first place, it is high time that some plan 
 should be devised for infusing new elements of strength 
 into the Government of China. Those who understand 
 the times are of opinion that the only way of effecting 
 this is to introduce the learning and the mechanical arts 
 of Western nations. Provincial governors, such as Tso 
 Tsung-tang and Li Hung-Chang, are firm in this con- 
 
PRINCE KUNG'S MEMORIAL 327 
 
 viction, and constantly presenting it in their addresses to 
 the Throne. . . . Should it be said that the purchase of 
 lire-arms and steamers has been tried and found to be 
 both cheap and convenient, so that we may spare ourselves 
 the trouble and expense of home-production, we reply that 
 it is not merely the manufacture of arms and the con- 
 struction of ships that China needs to learn. But in 
 respect to these two objects, which is the wiser course 
 in view of the future, to content ourselves with pur- 
 chase and leave the source of supply in the hands of 
 others, or to render ourselves independent by making 
 ourselves master of their arts, it is hardly necessary to 
 inquire. 
 
 "As to the imputation that we hereby abandon the 
 methods of China, is it not altogether a fictitious charge? 
 For, on inquiry, it will be found that Western science had 
 its root in the astronomy of China, which Western schol- 
 ars confess themselves to have derived from Eastern lands. 
 They have minds adapted to reasoning and abstruse study, 
 so that they were able to deduce from it new arts which 
 shed a luster on those nations; but in reality the original 
 belonged to China, and Europeans learned them from us. 
 If, therefore, we apply ourselves to those studies, our 
 future progress will be built on our own foundation. 
 Having the root in our possession, we shall not need to 
 look to others for assistance, an advantage which it is im- 
 possible to overestimate." 
 
 After pointing out that the Emperor Kanghe gave his 
 hearty approbation to the science of the West, promoted 
 its teachers, and that "in the olden times yeomen and 
 common soldiers were all acquainted with astronomy," 
 that " mathematics were studied with the classics," and 
 that, according to a Chinese proverb, " A thing unknown 
 is a scholar's shame," he adds: "As to the allegation that 
 it is a shame to learn from the people of the West, this 
 is the absurdest charge of all. For under the whole 
 heaven the deepest disgrace is that of being content to 
 
328 CHINA 
 
 lag in the rear of others. For some tens of years the 
 nations of the West have applied themselves to the study 
 of steam navigation, each imitating the others, and daily 
 producing some new improvement. ... Of the jealous 
 rivalry among the nations of the Western Ocean it is un- 
 necessary to speak; but, when so small a country as Japan 
 is putting forth all its energies, if China alone con- 
 tiaues to tread indolently in the beaten track, without 
 a single effort in the way of improvement, what can be 
 more disgraceful than this? Now, not to be ashamed 
 of our inferiority, but, when a measure is proposed by 
 which we may equal or even surpass our neighbors, to 
 object to the shame of learning from them, and for- 
 ever refusing to learn — to be content with our inferior- 
 ity — is not such meanness of spirit itself an indelible 
 reproach ? 
 
 " If it be said that machinery belongs to artisans, and 
 that scholars should not engage in such employments, in 
 answer to this we have a word to say. Why is it that the 
 book in the Chau-li on the structure of chariots has some 
 thousands of years been a recognized text-book in all the 
 schools? Is it not because, while mechanics do the work, 
 scholars ought to understand the principles ? When prin- 
 ciples are understood, their application will be extended. 
 The object which we propose for study to-day is the prin- 
 ciples of things. To invite educated men to enlarge the 
 sphere of tlieir knowledge, by investigating the laws of 
 Nature, is a very different thing from compelling them to 
 take hold of the tools of the workingman. ... In conclu- 
 sion, we would say that the object of study is utility, and 
 its value must be judged by its adaptation to the wants of 
 the times. Outsiders may vent their doubt and criticism, 
 but the measure is one that calls for decisive action. Your 
 servants have considered it maturely. As the enterprise 
 is a new one, its principles ought to be carefully examined. 
 To stimulate scholars to enter in earnest on the proposed 
 curriculum, they ought to have a liberal allowance from 
 
ORGANIZATION OF TUNG-WEN COLLEGE 329 
 
 the public treasury to defray their current expenses, and 
 have the door of promotion set wide open before them. 
 We have accordingly agreed on six regulations, which we 
 herewith submit to the eye of Your Majesty, and wait 
 reverently for the imperial sanction." * 
 
 Without quoting those regulations, it is enough for 
 my present purpose to say that the Tung-wen College was 
 duly organized under the presidency of Dr. W. A. P. 
 Martin, a distinguished American scholar and divine, and 
 that, assisted by an able corps of professors, he has suc- 
 ceeded in making a permanent place for it, even against 
 the prejudice and covert opposition of the conservatives. 
 I am glad to add that up to the recent outbreak it 
 had more pupils than ever before, and all it could 
 accommodate. 
 
 Dr. Martin, its efficient and vigorous head, many years 
 a resident in China, is perhaps more profoundly learned 
 in Chinese history, literature, and methods of thought, 
 and by his position comes more closely in contact with 
 the leading men of the Chinese Government, than any 
 foreigner. In speaking of the intellectual movement and 
 the renovation of China, he said, in 1880, what, notwith- 
 standing the retirement of Prince Kung, for his progres- 
 sive ideas, is true now: " The present is a minority reign; 
 and the influential men who surround the Throne are lead- 
 ers in the movement to ' infuse new elements of strength 
 into the Government of China.' The Emperor, a lad of 
 thirteen [now a man nearing thirty], may imbibe their 
 spirit and shape his policy on theirs; and in a few years he 
 will receive in person, as by treaty bound, the ambassadors 
 of foreign powers. He will thus have an opportunity 
 for acquiring new ideas such as his forefathers never 
 enjoyed." f 
 
 * Hanlin Papers, by W. A. P. Martin, D. D., LL. D,, President 
 of the Tung-wen College, Peking, London, Triibner & Co., 1880. 
 t Ibid., p. 329. 
 24 
 
330 CHINA 
 
 This hopeful and enhghtened measure seemed for a 
 quarter of a century to be in a fair way of reahzing all 
 that was expected of it. The number of advanced scholars 
 availed themselves of the opportunity to acquire a smat- 
 tering of the Western sciences, literature, and jurispru- 
 dence; text-books and works on international law were 
 translated, and not only adapted to Chinese use but 
 quoted from adroitly as occasion offered. Native advisers 
 imbued with the spirit of new learning were encouraged 
 to mark and bring forward a policy of innovation and 
 progress, and for a while it was believed that not only 
 the Emperor but the Empress Dowager were in active 
 accord with it. Younger and more progressive men were 
 even called by the Emperor to his councils, and for a brief 
 period were permitted to frame his edicts and to manage 
 the public business in conformity with new ideas. Con- 
 suls, envoys, and ambassadors were sent out in increas- 
 ing numbers to represent China in foreign countries. 
 Coolies by the thousand went abroad to seek their for- 
 tune, and each, from the lowest to the highest, on his 
 return home became in some degree a liberal and a 
 teacher of progress to his countrymen. No doubt many 
 of them were looked upon, when they told their won- 
 derful story of the riches and power of the Western 
 nations, as crazy and deluded fools, but it all tended 
 to attract the attention and arouse the animosity of the 
 conservatives, who were neither sleeping nor routed from 
 the field. They were vigilant and alert, and rallied 
 again and again, with courage worthy of a better cause, 
 for the defense of the Old and for the interests of their 
 order. Knowing how to play upon the prejudices and 
 superstitions of the Empress Dowager, they aroused 
 her feeling of pride and resentment, and induced her to 
 reassert her authority as head of the family, drive out and 
 put to death the innovators, and practically depose the 
 weakling from her favor. What is to be the outcome of it 
 all it is impossible to predict in detail, but with the com- 
 
BURLING AME'S MISSION TO WESTERN NATIONS 331 
 
 merce, the missionaries, the armed force, and the diplo- 
 macy of the whole of Europe and America all working to 
 the same end — the advancement of civilization throughout 
 China, and the establishment of peace and good order, 
 with indemnity for the past, and satisfactory assurances of 
 immunity and protection from violence and outrage in 
 the future — the end can neither be uncertain nor long 
 delayed. 
 
 It is a curious and interesting circumstance that one 
 of the most progressive and far-reaching measures ever 
 adopted by the Imperial Government was that of sending 
 the Hon. Anson Burlingame, upon his retirement as 
 United States minister at Peking, in November, 1867, 
 on a general mission to the principal governments of 
 America and Europe. He was accompanied by three im- 
 perial envoys, and a large suite of attaches, clerks, and 
 servants. Just what arguments were used to induce the 
 Government to take this unheard-of step, or what were 
 its real purposes in doing so, is not clearly known, but 
 partly from Mr. Burlingame's enthusiastic representa- 
 tions, and partly through the hopes of the world at large, 
 his mission was everywhere hailed as the sure precursor 
 of an era of progress and prosperity for China. It was 
 considered as the beginning of a new and liberal policy 
 toward foreigners and foreign enterprises, and especially 
 toward railroads and telegraphs, on the part of the Im- 
 perial Government; and, while this was denied, with much 
 unfriendly comment by the foreign merchants, and espe- 
 cially by the English residing in China, the mission made 
 the most satisfactory progress till brought to an untimely 
 end by the death of Mr. Burlingame, at St. Petersburg, 
 in February, 1870. It negotiated and enlarged a number 
 of treaties, but it lost its momentum in losing its head, 
 and speedily returned home, to be dissolved and forgotten. 
 Whatever good effects in the direction of progress might 
 have otherwise resulted from it, were suppressed by the 
 disgrace and retirement of Prince Kung, whose approval 
 
332 CHINA 
 
 and advocacy certainly had much to do in causing it to 
 be sent forth. 
 
 Shortly after the return of this mission a number of 
 Chinese boys, perhaps a hundred and fifty, were sent 
 (early in 1872) to America to be educated; many of them 
 developed talents of a high order, and all made rapid 
 progress in learning our language and receiving our edu- 
 cation. After they had been with us from six to nine 
 years, some one reported to the home Government that 
 the boys were forgetting their own language, and were 
 growing up in ignorance of their own country, its laws, 
 literature, and customs, and should be recalled at once. 
 A censor was sent out to examine and report, and in a 
 short time this promising measure was reconsidered, and 
 all the boys were called home. To make matters worse, 
 they were roughly treated and assigned to uncongenial 
 employments. Some of them had found homes in refined 
 and well-to-do American families, where they had been 
 kindly nurtured and cared for; nearly all had adopted 
 American clothing and customs, and the lot of the least 
 fortunate had been far happier in America than was pos- 
 sible for the richest of them at home, and, of course, they 
 were all more or less distressed by the unexpected change 
 in their lot. I met quite a number of these young men 
 during my travels. They are now from thirty-five to 
 forty-five years old, and are all employed either as teachers 
 of English or the sciences, or are connected with the Gov- 
 ernment service in the provinces as interpreters, telegraph 
 operators, and writers, but the most of them, judging from 
 what I saw, are unhappy and discouraged. They say that 
 there is no chance for them so long as Western learning 
 is looked down upon in China, and the customs of their 
 country remain unchanged. All high offices are given to 
 old men, and they look upon that class as all alike — con- 
 servative, ignorant, and intolerant — and that no true 
 progress can be made so long as they remain in power. 
 This is in some degree true, but it must not be forgotten 
 
POSSIBILITIES OP PROGRESS 333 
 
 that Li Hung-Chang, a mandarin of the old scliool, be- 
 came a liberal, and gained the highest rank and influence 
 ever enjoyed by a Chinese subject. The Marquis Tseng 
 and the late Chang in-hwan, who traveled and held diplo- 
 matic office abroad, were still more pronounced in their 
 liberal sentiments, and so even the young men who were 
 partly educated in America may hope that some of their 
 number will yet reach high rank and wield great influence 
 in the affairs of their country. The opportunity seems to 
 be ripening for them, and if one of them should now at- 
 tract the attention of the Throne or of the representatives 
 of the treaty powers the consequences might not only be 
 immediate but far-reaching. Neither is it impossible that 
 some foreigner of distinction like Lord Cromer, the ad- 
 ministrator of Egypt, some professor of the Tung-wen 
 College, or even some employe of the maritime customs, 
 the navy, the army, or one of the great foreign trad- 
 ing-houses in China, might attract the Emperor's atten- 
 tion or the attention of those around him, as did Mr. Bur- 
 lingame, and thus secure the opportunity, directly or in- 
 directly, to favorably influence his action, and guide the 
 Government upon a course which would end in making 
 China one of the progressive nations of the world. The 
 Emperor is all-powerful when he is free to assert himself. 
 He can control the official class by a simple exercise of the 
 will, and the official class can control the people almost as 
 easily. The inaccessibility of the one, and the small num- 
 ber of the other, are circumstances which encourage the 
 observer to believe that the movement when once deter- 
 mined can be maintained until it is entirely successful. In 
 other words, it is necessary to educate but comparatively 
 few men up to the conviction that Western arts and sci- , 
 enees are better than those of Eastern countries, and that 
 the governmental methods of Western civilization are su- 
 perior to those of China, in order to control and direct the 
 common people, in making China one of the richest and 
 most prosperous nations of the earth, instead of, as she is 
 
334 CHINA 
 
 now, the poorest and weakest. She is rich beyond any 
 other power in labor, while her mineral resources are en- 
 tirely undeveloped, and yet there are good grounds for 
 supposing them to be second to those of no other country 
 under the sun. With intelligence enough on the part of 
 the Government and the official class to control and direct 
 the people in utilizing the resources within their reach, 
 there can be but one result. 
 
CHAPTEE XX 
 
 New epoch in history of Oriental nations — Japan-Chinese war — 
 Civilization of Japan genuine — Chinese problem difEers from 
 Japanese in extent rather than kind — Prediction of Japanese 
 victory over China — Japanese everywhere victorious — Chinese 
 astonished and demoralized — Treaty of peace negotiated with 
 help of Americans — Opposed by Empress Dowager, but finally 
 ratified — European powers astonished by collapse of China — 
 Indemnity paid to Japan — Russia leases Port Arthur and 
 Talien-wan — England leases Wei-hai-wei — Treaty between 
 Russia and China — Right of way granted through Manchuria 
 for Trans-Siberian railroad — Germany leases Kiao Chao Bay — 
 Chinese Government thoroughly alarmed by European de- 
 mands — Boxer outbreak the crowning misfortune of China. 
 
 In the preface to the second edition of this book the 
 cause of the Japan-Chinese war is briefly alluded to, but 
 the course of the campaign and the extraordinary conse- 
 quences of the Japanese victory remain yet to be con- 
 sidered. This victory marks a new epoch in the history 
 of Oriental nations and their relation with the "Western 
 powers. Up to the outbreak of the war it was fashionable 
 throughout the world to regard the progressive movement 
 in Japan as a trivial imitation of the genuine article. It 
 was common for travelers and foreign residents alike to 
 declare that the Japanese had gone too fast, and had 
 adopted the modern institutions, manners, and customs 
 of both peace and war without the capacity to properly 
 understand or assimilate them, and the prediction was 
 freely made that the first real test to which they were 
 subjected would result in ignominious failure. Having 
 
 335 
 
336 CHINA 
 
 traveled extensively in Japan, making the acquaintance 
 of its foreign advisers, leading officials, and rising young 
 men, many of whom were educated in the United States, 
 I had unusual opportunities of familiarizing myself with 
 their hopes and aspirations, and of studying the quality of 
 their work, and did not hesitate to say that the men of all 
 classes, as well as their work, impressed me most favorably. 
 I failed to see anything which appeared to be trivial or 
 slipshod, or which was undertaken without the most thor- 
 ough and painstaking investigation. It seemed to me that 
 they were in many cases too deliberate rather than too 
 rash. And in the previous editions of this book I did not 
 hesitate to express my opinion as follows: " After the most 
 careful consideration, I feel it to be my duty to dissent 
 from the carping, fault-finding disposition which has 
 prompted more than one traveler to say that Japan has 
 progressed too rapidly; that she has adopted the manners 
 and customs of foreigners without understanding them, 
 and has organized armies, laid out fortifications, and built 
 ships of war without needing or knovnng how to use them. 
 The truth is quite different from all this. The civiliza- 
 tion of the Japanese is genuine, and the progress they 
 have made is as real as it is surprising." I pointed out that 
 the actual government was in the hands of the ministers 
 of state, and that they were an unusually clever set of 
 men, most of whom, as well as nearly all of their assist- 
 ants, had been educated in Europe and America; that they 
 did not generally belong to the old nobility, but to the 
 class which had managed the business of the old nobiUty 
 as well as of the country for several hundred years; that 
 they were strong, vigorous, and capable, and seemed to 
 possess as much patriotism and practical business sense 
 as the statesmen of the most progressive countries. After 
 summarizing the measures they had already inaugurated, 
 I called attention in language which I take the liberty of 
 repeating here, to the fact that "humanity is essen- 
 tially the same in all countries, and may be expected to 
 
JAPANESE CIVILIZATION GENUINE 337 
 
 progress in Japan as well as in America toward a higher 
 and a better civilization. At the time of Commodore 
 Perry's visit in 1853 there was no country in the world 
 more adverse to foreigners, or more bitterly opposed to 
 the introduction of foreign arts and civilization than the 
 Japanese. They were satisfied with themselves, and re- 
 garded their own arts and civilization as the best in the 
 world. They wanted no intercourse with other nations, 
 and did all in their power to resist foreign encroachments 
 upon their own exclusiveness and reserve, but the foreign 
 powers would not be turned away. Their steamships and 
 men-of-war could not be withstood. Their diplomacy and 
 their arms broke down the barriers to trade, and with 
 trade new ideas and a new civilization invaded the Japa- 
 nese Islands. These were followed by a new impulse 
 among the governing class. A progressive party sprang 
 up. The conservatives became alarmed and strove with 
 all their might to resist the march of modern progress. 
 A war broke out between the contending parties, and, 
 after the expenditure of much blood and treasure, ended 
 as all such wars have ended in modern times — the con- 
 servatives were beaten and progress became the watch- 
 word of the day. So far, nothing but good has resulted. 
 The nation has surrendered its exclusiveness, laid aside 
 its old customs and prejudices, and taken on a higher 
 civilization." 
 
 This was written fourteen years ago, since which 
 time the progressive movement has continued without a 
 setback, and now the whole world admits that it was 
 genuine from the start. From the similarity of the actual 
 conditions, I argued that similar results might be ex- 
 pected to follow in China whenever the united influences 
 of Europe and America could be brought to bear in a like 
 manner on the Chinese, and I now ask. What valid reason 
 can be urged for doubting the correctness of this conclu- 
 sion? The problems in the two cases differ in extent 
 rather than in kind. The Chinese Empire is more inae- 
 
338 CHINA 
 
 cessible on the land side; it has twenty-five times the 
 superficial area, and from five to ten times the population, 
 of the Japanese Empire, but here the essential differences 
 disappear. The people belong to the same great Turanian 
 stock; they have the same philosophy, the same supersti- 
 tions and religions, and the same classical written lan- 
 guage. They had the same fear of foreigners and for- 
 eign innovations, but the Chinese, if anything, have less 
 independence and courage to withstand foreign aggres- 
 sion. Keasoning from analogy, the end, although longer 
 delayed, must inevitably be the same, and without under- 
 taking here to predict when it will be reached, it may be 
 safely declared that it has been precipitated by the pres- 
 ■ ent crisis. 
 
 After it became evident that war between Japan and 
 China was inevitable, but before it began, I predicted, in 
 the preface to the second edition of this book, that it 
 must result in ignominious defeat for the latter. Shortly 
 afterward I pointed out that it was feasible for the Japa- 
 nese to land an army on the coast of Chihli, between the 
 Pei-ho and the Pei-tang, march upon and capture Tien- 
 tsin and Peking, overthrow the Manchu dynasty, and dic- 
 tate the terms of peace before the European powers, if 
 for any reason they should disapprove, could eSeetually 
 intervene to prevent it. In the space of a few short 
 months this prediction was fully verified, though, partly 
 from a spirit of moderation and partly from a necessity 
 which the Japanese thought themselves to be under to 
 first overcome all opposition in the Corean peninsula, the 
 domination of which was the cause of the war, they did 
 not invade Chihli nor advance on Peking; but, after over- 
 running Corea, and gaining the great naval victory of 
 Yalu, they limited their further operations to the occupa- 
 tion of the peninsula known as the Eegent's Sword, and 
 the fortified seaports of Port Arthur and Wei-hai-wei. 
 
 It is not within the scope of this book to give a detailed 
 account of the military and naval operations of this war. 
 
JAPANESE VICTORIOUS OVER CHINESE 339 
 
 Suffice it to say that they extended throughout the sum- 
 mer and autumn of 1894, and resulted in an unbroken 
 series of victories from the first affair with the Chinese 
 navy near Quelpaert Island to the signal battle of the 
 Yalu, and from the landing of the Japanese troops at 
 Pusan and Chemulpo and their junction at Seoul to the 
 remarkable series of running fights ending in the capture 
 of Port Arthur. To the amazement of the world the Chi- 
 nese were everywhere defeated, the Japanese everywhere 
 victorious. Neither city walls, field fortifications, nor 
 unfordable rivers could stay the onward progress of the 
 Japanese wojen. It was soon apparent that the extent of 
 their conquest would be limited only by their own mod- 
 eration or the bonds set upon them by the foreign powers. 
 The Chinese authorities were astonished and demoralized; 
 they could not credit the news which came upon them 
 after every engagement. Their bravest and most trusted 
 leaders were powerless to stay the tide, or to rally their 
 broken and discouraged divisions. Lui Ming-chuan, a 
 hero of the war against the Tai-ping rebels, and the suc- 
 cessful defender of Formosa against the French, declined 
 the baton of generalissimo. Li Hung-Chang was too old 
 to take the field. Officers and organizations alike failed 
 them, and were powerless to make headway against the 
 fierce little islanders. The Government at Peking — the 
 Empress Dowager and the Tsung-li Yamen — in abject 
 terror besought every foreign legation at Peking in turn 
 to intercede with the enemy, but in vain. In sheer des- 
 peration a commission with insufficient powers or cre- 
 dentials, headed by the liberal Chang Yin-hwan, was sent 
 to Japan to sue for peace, and in turn was sent hack with- 
 out having even been received. Finally, under the guid- 
 ance of Colonel Denby, the American minister at Peking, 
 it was arranged that if Li Hung-Chang, with full and 
 satisfactory powers, were sent, he would be received, and if 
 terms could be agreed upon, a treaty of peace would be 
 entered into; but it was not till Li Hung-Chang had been 
 
340 CHINA 
 
 grievously wounded by a bullet from the pistol of a Japa- 
 nese fanatic, and the settlement of the details had been 
 taken in hand by his American advisers, General John 
 W. Foster and Mr. William N. Pethick, that an armistice 
 wa.s granted and the terms of the treaty were finally 
 arranged. There is excellent authority for the statement 
 that the Japanese plenipotentiary first demanded the re- 
 linquishment of all claims on the part of the Chinese Gov- 
 ernment to sovereignty over Corea, the cession of the 
 Liao Tung peninsula or the Regent's Sword, and the 
 island of Formosa, together with the payment of a money 
 indemnity of 300,000,000 Hai-kwan taels of silver in five 
 equal annual installments. The money indemnity was 
 afterward, partly under the arguments of the viceroy's 
 advisers,, and partly in sympathy for the viceroy's wound 
 and sufferings, reduced to 200,000,000 taels. Certain 
 new ports were opened to foreign trade, and certain factory 
 privileges were granted to the Japanese, and in this form 
 the treaty was negotiated and submitted to the respective 
 monarchs for ratification. This was promptly accorded 
 by the Japanese Emperor, but it met with much opposi- 
 tion at the Chinese court, particularly, it is believed, from 
 the Empress Dowager and her conservative followers. Li 
 Plung-Chang was again charged with selling his country, 
 and it is probable that had it not been for the influence 
 and representations made by the Viceroy's American 
 assistants, the American minister, and the Inspector-Gen- 
 eral of Customs Sir Robert Hart, the treaty would have 
 been rejected. Fortunately, however, it was ratified and 
 duly exchanged, but it was destined to be further modi- 
 fied before it was carried into effect. 
 
 The European powers, who had been carefully watch- 
 ing the course of the war and had been astonished by the 
 complete collapse of China, now began to take sides. Rus- 
 sia, Germany, and France united in the policy of inter- 
 vention to modify and minimize the demands of Japan, 
 and under the diplomatic pressure applied by them. 
 
SECRET TREATY BETWEEN CHINA AND RUSSIA 341 
 
 Japan consented to yield the Eegent's Sword and its sea- 
 ports in excliange for 30,000,000 taels. It was arranged 
 that Corea should remain an independent kingdom, and 
 that all points on the Asiatic mainland should be evacu- 
 ated by the Japanese on the payment of the indemnity 
 agreed upon. The money therefor was lent to the Chi- 
 nese by French and German bankers and duly paid over. 
 The Japanese complied loyally with all the terms exacted 
 of them by China and her allies; but it was not long before 
 Eussia secured a concession for a railroad connection to 
 Port Arthur, which, together with Talien-wan, now 
 Dalny, near by, she had leased for a term of years as ice- 
 free ports, with authority to fortify, garrison, and hold 
 them against all comers. It was said at the time that 
 England, although sympathizing with Japan as against 
 Eussia and Prance, offered to lend China the money with 
 which to pay the Japanese war indemnity, but this offer 
 was declined. Later England insisted upon and forced 
 China to lease her Wei-hai-wei on the south side, as an 
 offset to Port Arthur and Talien-wan, occupied by the 
 Eussians at the end of the Eegent's Sword, on the north 
 side of the entrance to the Gulf of Pechili. The situa- 
 tion was still further complicated by the provisions of a 
 secret treaty with Eussia, said to have been negotiated by 
 Li Hung-Chang during his visit to that country to attend 
 the coronation of the Tzar. The purport of this treaty 
 was slow in leaking out, and the exact terms of it can 
 not be given even now, but it deals mainly with a conces- 
 sion to the Eussians of the right to build a cut-off line 
 from the Siberian railroad at Onon in the Amur Val- 
 ley, across Manchuria through Tsitsihar and Harbin to a 
 junction with the Vladivostok section, near the latter 
 place. This concession is for a period of years, with a 
 final reversion to China, but it carries with it an actual 
 occupancy of the line and adjacent territory by the Eus- 
 sian army, with complete police power, and also the right 
 of free entry for all railroad machinery, materials, and sup- 
 
342 CHINA 
 
 plies. Without seeking for more specific stipulations, if 
 such exist, it has been assumed, and perhaps correctly, 
 that this concession is tantamount to a conveyance to the 
 Eussians of potential if not of actual sovereignty for the 
 present over all Manchuria. Be the ultimate outcome of 
 this what it may, it must be admitted that it is a great 
 step forward for Eussia, and gives her not only right of 
 way to her ice-free ports, but both political and commer- 
 cial precedence over all other nations in a region of 450,- 
 000 square miles, more than 4,000,000 people, and possess- 
 ing resources in forests, mines, and farming lands of un- 
 told value. It sharply aroused the attention of the world, 
 and especially of Great Britain and Japan, who are most 
 deeply interested in staying such encroachments. It has 
 developed a more pronounced tendency on the part of those 
 nations to form a coalition for the purpose of maintain- 
 ing a balance of power in the Par East, and it is believed 
 instigated Germany, which had been in the intervention 
 against Japan, to demand and insist upon having a lease 
 to Kiao-chao Bay and the surrounding country, as a com- 
 mercial and if need be a military base for her future op- 
 erations in China. Even France, the third party in the 
 intervention, which at first received no open or direct con- 
 cession, seems to have later based a claim upon her co- 
 operation for an extension of her sphere of interest in 
 southeastern China. What assurances she may have re- 
 ceived is not known, but it is believed that she is look- 
 ing toward both the provinces of Kwang-tung and 
 Szechuen for accessions to her colonial possessions. 
 
 It is impossible from the outside to state the order 
 or the importance of these events or their results, as they 
 were viewed by the Chinese Government, but nothing can 
 be more certain than that the latter was thoroughly 
 alarmed by them. Its policy seems from the first to have 
 been weak and vacillating. Its strongest and most ex- 
 perienced statesman, Li Hung-Chang, had been dis- 
 credited and deprived of office and honors, and was in 
 
CHINA A BONELESS GIANT 343 
 
 fear of assassination for his treaty with Japan, and he 
 was openly charged with bribery and corruption for his 
 concessions to Eussia. Yet both treaties were dnly rati- 
 fied and carried into effect with the consent of the 
 Throne, and this without reference to whether it was 
 controlled by its actual occupant or the power behind it. 
 The simple fact is that China has shown herself to 
 be " a huge boneless giant," as I had described her years 
 before — without power of defense or offense, surrounded 
 by " glaring beasts " ready to fall upon and rend her limb 
 from limb as opportunity might offer. But this is not 
 the worst. Trouble of a portentous kind was begin- 
 ning to show itself at home. Hitherto the official class 
 had been united with the people in obedience to the 
 Throne, and, barring the distress due to famine and flood, 
 all classes had been fairly satisfied with their condition 
 and indifferent to the machinations of the foreigners and 
 the aggression of their governments. This brings us to 
 the Boxer outbreak and its direful consequences — the 
 crowning misfortune, or may it not prove to be the crown- 
 ing blessing, of the Chinese Empire? 
 
CHAPTEE XXI 
 
 Condition of Chinese mind — Mohammedans have improved the 
 conditions of Chinese life — Frequency of Mohammedan rebel- 
 lions — Chinese generally tolerant of outside religions — Chinese 
 poverty increased by recurrence of floods — Chinese not a 
 reading people — Poverty, ignorance, and superstition go hand 
 in hand — Conspiracies and secret societies abound — Have 
 their origin in poverty and distress of the people — The Sacred 
 Harmony Fist or Boxer organization — Grasping and overbear- 
 ing disposition of foreigners — Chinese belief in witchcraft, 
 geomancy, and "fung-shuy" — Distressing effects of the floods 
 of the Yellow River — Rapid spread of the Boxer movement — 
 The weak and isolated were the first victims — Alarm travels 
 slowly — Honan, Shansi, Chihli, and Shantung involved — Re- 
 actionary movement in Forbidden City — Goup d'etat of the 
 Empress Dowager — Emperor in duress — Choice of an heir pre- 
 sumptive to the Throne — Tung Fuh-siang and the Kansu 
 Braves — Overthrow of the Liberals — Threatened death of the 
 Emperor — Troubles between Empress Dowager and Prince 
 Tuan — Empress Dowager greatly perplexed. 
 
 It has been previously shown that the habitual con- 
 dition of the Chinese mind, under the teaching of Con- 
 fucius and of the various forms of religion practiced by 
 the Chinese people, is that of contentment and conserva- 
 tism, but this is a generalization which is not altogether 
 true. It should be remembered that there are many mil- 
 lion Mohammedans scattered throughout the empire, and 
 that this is an aggressive, proselytizing religion, which be- 
 gets a spirit of unrest and discontentment. Its founder 
 and his disciples were innovators who were always ready 
 to overthrow and drive out the Old, and to establish their 
 344 
 
CHmESE A TOLERANT PEOPLE 345 
 
 own system of religion and government instead. Wher- 
 ever they have established themselves in China they have 
 improved the conditions of life, and the followers of the 
 Prophet are much the best housed, most thrifty, and most 
 cleanly people to be found in the Empire, but they are far 
 from being contented or conservative. Whether it be from 
 the teaching of their religion, its antagonism to Taoism 
 and Buddhism alike, or from the misgovernment or cor- 
 ruptLon of the mandarins, or from the recurrence of the 
 floods and famine in the region occupied by them, they 
 have been frequently dissatisiied, and have engaged in 
 bloody rebellions which have sorely taxed the resources of 
 the empire for their suppression. It may be truthfully 
 said that they are scarcely ever without a Mohammedan 
 insurrection in one part or another of the far-reaching 
 empire. 
 
 On the other hand, the Chinese who possess other re- 
 ligions, or no religions at all, are, as a rule, quiet, tolerant, 
 and contented with their immediate surroundings. They 
 are sober, industrious, and modest in their wants, and 
 when they are ordinarily prosperous they are well satis- 
 fied with their lot in life. However corrupt and offensive 
 the official class, or unjust, arbitrary, and grasping the 
 Government, whether provincial or imperial, may be, the 
 multitude of the common people and the similarity of 
 their condition are the best protection of the average indi- 
 vidual from outrage and spoliation. But the fact has 
 been emphasized time and again that the Chinese people 
 are abjectly poor. The struggle for life is everywhere 
 strenuous and distressing in the extreme, and this strug- 
 gle is made harder and more difficult to bear, especially 
 in the provinces of the Great Plain, by the recurrence of 
 floods which at times have drowned hundreds of thousands 
 of people, laid waste countless towns and villages, and 
 devastated thousands of square miles of growing crops. 
 Many districts in the north and northwestern provinces, 
 although abounding in soil of wonderful fertility, are sub- 
 25 
 
346 CHINA 
 
 ject to the recurrence of wide-spread droughts and fam- 
 ines, such as prevail in India, beyond the reach of relief, 
 which sweep off millions of human lives, and leave still 
 other millions languishing in helpless poverty. 
 
 Unfortunately, the Chinese are not a reading people, 
 and hence they know the past mostly from memory, or 
 from neighborhood tradition and imperial edicts. It is said 
 that the tone of the edict referring to the Japan-Chinese 
 war was such that the people of the interior provinces still 
 believe that the Chinese army was victorious. However, 
 the Chinese everywhere are fully conscious of their im- 
 mediate distress, and it is but natural that human be- 
 ings, however abject their condition, should endeavor to 
 ascertain to what their suffering is due. Feeling keenly 
 their present want, it is but natural that they should 
 think the times are growing harder instead of easier, 
 that the struggle for life is growing more and more des- 
 perate, and that the past was their only period of happi- 
 ness. The more ignorant and the more poverty-stricken 
 they are, the greater will be their superstition and the 
 more certain they will be to ascribe their misfortunes to 
 immediate rather than remote causes; to the works and 
 machinations of man rather than to the operations of the 
 laws of Nature; to a change of luck or fortune rather than 
 to false principles of economy, or to the lack of im- 
 proved methods and appliances, or to the improvident 
 government of a deca3T.ng dynasty. Although patriotism 
 and enlightened altruism are almost unknown, yet hatred 
 of the alien Manchu Government, and rebellions for its 
 overthrow, like that of the Tai-pings, are sufHciently fre- 
 quent and wide-spread to keep the mandarins constantly 
 on the alert. Conspiracies and secret societies having for 
 their object the expulsion of the hated Manehus are plenti- 
 ful and far-reaching in their operations, but through the 
 agency of the censorate, whose spies are everywhere pres- 
 ent where only two or three are gathered together to hatch 
 their schemes of treason, they rarely ever gather sufficient 
 
THE BOXER SOCIETY 347 
 
 head to effect any good results before their plans are dis- 
 covered and stamped out. 
 
 But what I wish to call special attention to is the ob- 
 vious fact that all such rebellious conspiracies and secret 
 societies here and elsewhere have their origin and pri- 
 mary cause in the poverty and distress of the people. 
 They are a direct and poignant outcry and protest 
 against their personal and physical environment; against 
 poverty, hunger, sickness, and misfortune of every sort, 
 rather than against sentimental grievances and preju- 
 dices. 
 
 The I-Ho-Tuan, or the Sacred Harmony Fist, com- 
 monly known as the Boxers, a society having for its osten- 
 sible object the promotion of gymnastic exercises and the 
 cultivation of a patriotic spirit among the people, is es- 
 sentially like its predecessors. It is said to have been first 
 started nearly a century ago, but received a new impetus 
 in the province of Shantung shortly after the Germans 
 took over the bay of Kiao-ehao. There is no evidence 
 that its original tenets were in any way antagonistic to 
 foreigners and Christianity, but the events connected 
 with and following this cession, and especially the wanton 
 killing of several natives by the German soldiers in the 
 neighboring districts, aroused the animosity of the natives, 
 and particularly of the Boxers. Local agitators seized 
 upon the occasion to begin a discussion as to the merits of 
 the case, and this spread to a full consideration of the 
 state of the country from the point of view of the com- 
 mon people. Naturally the conduct of the foreigners 
 everywhere was passed in review. The conduct of the sol- 
 diers, the merchants, the missionaries, and even of the 
 consuls and diplomats was discussed; the innovations in- 
 troduced by them were scrutinized; the influence of the 
 railroads which were already built in the adjoining prov- 
 ince, and which were to be extended through their own 
 and also throughout, the empire, was denounced as a dire 
 calamity to the carters and boatmen, thousands of whom 
 
348 CHINA 
 
 it was claimed had already been ruined by this new and 
 crushing competition. 
 
 The grasping and overbearing disposition which had 
 unfortunately too often characterized the conduct of the 
 foreigners from their first appearance on the Chinese coast 
 down to the present day; the planting of foreign settle- 
 ments at all the treaty ports; the claims of extra-terri- 
 torial jurisdiction and of the right to establish their own 
 municipal governments within the boundaries of the em- 
 pire; the enforcement of every demand and claim by 
 ships of war and armies, followed always by the levy 
 and collection of exorbitant indemnities, were all pointed 
 out by the more intelligent as the unmistakable evidence 
 of a purpose to despoil and subjugate their country. But 
 the common people in the interior, far from the scene of 
 action, could not see or fully understand these things. 
 They heard vaguely and indefinitely of all these larger 
 matters, but the knowledge of murders near by came di- 
 rectly and with startling distinctness to their minds; they 
 saw and had been seeing the missionaries face to face for 
 years, but these, notwithstanding their hospitals, schools, 
 and charitable work, they considered from the first as the 
 paid agents and spies of their home governments. They 
 could not imagine such an anomaly as a voluntary, highly 
 organized, far-reaching movement supported by private 
 contributions, merely for charity and the disinterested 
 love of the stranger. Believing in witchcraft, geomancy, 
 fortune telling, good and bad spirits, beneficent and evil 
 influences, and all the superstitions of ignorance and 
 " fung-shuy,'' they looked upon the spiritual doctrines, 
 the formalities and the mysteries of the Church, as the un- 
 mistakable evidence of its alliance with the malign and 
 the wicked forces of both man and Nature. 
 
 Attention has already been called to the wide-spread 
 belief that the missionary hospitals and asylums and 
 the good work of the Sisters of Charity in gathering up 
 foundlings and orphans, had their common origin not in 
 
ORIGIN OF THE BOXER MOVEMENT 349 
 
 charity and pity for these little ones, nor for the purpose 
 of rearing and educating them for useful lives, but in 
 order to kill them for their eyes and hearts to be used 
 in the concoctions of potions and medicines. It is not 
 to be considered strange if people who could enter- 
 tain such delusions as these should also attribute the 
 shortness of the crops, the coming and the devastation 
 of the floods, the visitation of the famines, the spread 
 of epidemics, the burning of the Confucian palace, the 
 failure of the Emperor to have a son, the general derange- 
 ment of the times, and the uiiiversal disturbance of the 
 " fung-shuy " of the country to the same malevolent 
 influences. 
 
 In this connection it must be remembered that the 
 province of Shantung lies wholly in the Great Plain, and 
 is traversed from its western border by the Yellow Eiver, 
 which here more than elsewhere is truly known as 
 " China's Sorrow," because of the pitiless and wide-spread 
 ruin which follows its floods. It is also crossed by the 
 Grand Canal, which formerly bore the valuable trade of 
 the southern, central, and western provinces to Peking, 
 but is now almost entirely abandoned for the cheaper and 
 more expeditious route by steamship and railroad. The 
 cities and towns which were dotted along its banks have 
 lost their commerce, and are stricken with decay and 
 ruin. Everywhere the people, who were formerly well- 
 to-do and prosperous according to their standard, are now 
 suffering from poverty and growing ignorance. Is it to be 
 wondered at under these distressing circumstances that 
 they should join the Boxers, or any other- party or move- 
 ment which promised them relief? 
 
 At all events, the Boxer movement not only had its 
 origin in this stricken province, and found here its most 
 favorable field, but spread rapidly and grew in inten- 
 sity and definiteness of purpose from the start. Certain 
 it is that new chapters and posts were organized at every 
 village and town. Headquarters were opened at every 
 
360 CHINA 
 
 neighborhood, and at these headquarters altars or shrines 
 were erected, incense was burned, banners were displayed, 
 patriotic addresses were made, uniforms, pikes, swords, 
 matchlocks, gingals, bows, arrows, magazine-crossbows, 
 shields, armor, and every sort of gymnastic or military 
 equipment, were gathered in. Exercises and drills were 
 carried on, and all the artifices known to the agitator, to 
 arouse and fire the mind or to stimulate the patriotism 
 of the members, were resorted to. The members of the 
 society slashed their breasts with distinctive marks, and 
 were encouraged to drill and exercise till they reached the 
 highest degree of efficiency. To crown all, they were 
 taught to believe that their bodies, when brought to the 
 proper state of perfection, like those of the Sioux Indians 
 when covered with their ghost shirts, would become im- 
 pervious to bullets and swords alike. 
 
 Under the conditions as they have been described, it 
 can not be thought strange if the conviction soon became 
 general with both mandarins and common people — ^who 
 stand to each other as one to a thousand — that the 
 Christians were the principal source of their troubles, and 
 that the best and quickest means to rid themselves of 
 their troubles would be to exterminate the Christians. 
 This conclusion once reached, it was both easy and natural 
 to include all native converts and foreigners in the class 
 which had been doomed to destruction. 
 
 As in all such movements, the weak and the isolated 
 were the easiest victims; the native converts and teachers 
 at the outlying stations and in the remote districts were 
 the first to fall; they were the most hated and the most 
 cruelly treated, because it was contended that they should 
 have known better. But as the movement gathered head, 
 the missionaries and their families were killed or driven 
 from the interior, the missions were destroyed, and the 
 places on which they stood were burned over and sowed 
 with salt. 
 
 The alarm, dire and far-reaching as was the danger. 
 
THE BOXER OUTBREAK 351 
 
 ■traveled but slowly; owing to the execrable roads, and 
 the fact that the means of communication, never good, 
 are in times of turbulence almost suspended, letters and 
 even couriers were long delayed and often captured or 
 turned back. But withal, the rising storm was soon dis- 
 cerned, especially by the Eoman Catholic bishop, the 
 Eight Eeverend A. Favier, nearly forty years a resident of 
 Peking, and by the leading and more observant mission- 
 aries of all denominations at the principal cities. The 
 missionary doctors, many of whom were revered and loved 
 for their ministrations to the sick and unfortunate, were 
 among the first to detect the signs and to give warning 
 of the impending danger. But, either from natural in- 
 credulity, or from the fact that false alarms had been 
 raised before, or that complaints from missionaries were 
 of common occurrence, all the foreign consuls and the 
 ministers, doubtful at first, were slow to admit the full 
 extent of the movement, and reluctant to make unusual 
 demands upon their home governments. 
 
 Next, the engineering and surveying parties at Pao- 
 ting-fu were attacked and broken up or slain. Every- 
 where the shout of " Kill the foreigners — the missionaries 
 — -the Christians! " became the war cry of the Boxers. 
 " Slay, burn, destroy," rose daily and nightly upon the 
 air, and as the cry rolled onward toward Peking it. at last 
 became apparent that the leaders, no longer content with 
 the lives of the humble missionaries and converts, were 
 now bent upon having the blood of the rich and powerful 
 ministers and the members of their legations — the chiefs 
 qt the "foreign devils," whom they regarded as most de- 
 serving of death. In the various steps of this carnival 
 of crime neither age nor sex was spared; grown men, 
 young women, and helpless children were assailed with 
 insulting epithets, stricken down with clubs and swords, 
 beheaded and hacked to pieces, stripped naked, dragged by 
 the hair, or bound and carried like pigs through the 
 streets, till death mercifully released them from their 
 
352 CHINA 
 
 cruel and atrocious sufferings. But few who fell into the 
 hands of these human wolves escaped unscathed, though, 
 for the honor of humanity, it must be said that here and 
 there the provincial oificials, especially in the southern 
 and western provinces, gave the missionaries' timely 
 warning, and helped them to make their way to places of 
 safety, but with the admonition never to come back again. 
 It is also said — let us believe truly — that the helpless wives 
 and daughters of the slain were rarely violated, and that in 
 many instances there were bystanders moved by an innate 
 sense of pity to intercede or speak words of sympathy 
 for those innocent victims of prejudice and superstition. 
 
 The Boxer organization having overrun Honan, Shan- 
 si, and Chihli, as well as Shantung, in the short period 
 of eighteen months, at last made its appearance with 
 fire and sword, and its fierce cry of " Kill! kill! kill! " 
 within the walls of Peking itself, its fell purpose and its 
 defiance of law and restraint became known beyond all 
 doubt to the ministers and the diplomatic representatives 
 of the treaty powers, as well as to the high officers of the 
 Chinese Government. All uncertainty was now at an 
 end, and the appalling danger was apparent to those who 
 had been slowest to believe in its existence or to doubt 
 the good faith of the Chinese Government. 
 
 Although it was announced by decree in September, 
 1898, that a reactionary movement had been taking place 
 in the Forbidden City, by which the Emperor had been 
 practically deposed, his liberal advisers had been de- 
 nounced, arrested, and executed, or compelled to flee for 
 their lives, and the Empress Dowager had again graciously 
 consented to assume the actual direction of the Govern- 
 ment, it was not then known or suspected, nor could it be 
 foreseen, that this coup d'etat, although manifestly in the 
 interest of the conservatives, would end in the official in- 
 dorsement of the Boxer movement, and yet that was its 
 logical outcome. It was published far and wide that the 
 Emperor was worn out and ill with the duties of 
 
THE BOXER OUTBREAK 353 
 
 his high office, and that he had besought Her Gra- 
 cious Majesty to again take him and the Throne under 
 her beneficent guidance. Every care was taken to im- 
 pose this view of the case upon the world, but the fact 
 is that tlie Emperor was in as good heaitli as usual, 
 and busily engaged with his liberal and progressive coun- 
 selor Kang Yu-wei in devising measures to carry out 
 the reforms he and they had been perfecting for over 
 a year. By what means he had succeeded in approaching 
 the person or gaining the confidence of the Emperor can 
 not be certainly stated. Perhaps it was as much due to the 
 preoccupation of the Empress Dowager in other matters as 
 to any active interest on the part of the Emperor himself 
 or of place-hunting on the part of this liberal man. Cer- 
 tain it is that the latter had become a trusted adviser, and 
 had induced the Emperor to issue a number of liberal de- 
 crees, notably one modifying the examinations of the man- 
 darinate for office, by the introduction of Western sciences 
 into the curriculum of studies, the general result of which 
 was to give a liberal tone and policy to the Administra- 
 tion, to encourage the foreigners in the belief that the 
 awakening of China had come at last, and to fill the hearts 
 of the conservatives with serious apprehension for their 
 order and its control of public affairs. Foreign ministers, 
 promoters and merchants, and even the missionaries and 
 the native liberals and converts, were confident that the 
 new movement was genuine, and that an era of progress 
 and prosperity had at last dawned on China. But this was 
 too good to be true. The conservatives were not yet 
 ready to abandon the field. They rallied their forces and, 
 profiting by the over-confidence and perhaps the impru- 
 dence of the liberals, who it is alleged could not feel them- 
 selves secure so long as the Empress Dowager was free 
 to combat them, induced her to believe that there was a 
 conspiracy on foot for her imprisonment and possibly her 
 death. In support of this allegation, it is stated that 
 Kang Yu-wei sent one of his most trusted friends to 
 
354 CHINA 
 
 Tientsin for the purpose of inducing the Governor-Gen- 
 eral, who was also thought to be a liberal, to detail a part 
 of his provincial forces to carry the scheme into efEect. 
 Whatever may have been the exact details of this matter, 
 it is certain that the Empress Dowager got timely notice 
 of it and acted with the relentless swiftness of a tigress. 
 She was staying at the time at the Summer Palace, some- 
 thing over ten miles outside of the Forbidden City, and 
 immediately after receiving notice of her danger, which 
 reached her in the night, she gathered her retainers and 
 went rapidly back to the imperial precincts, confronted 
 the hapless Emperor, and wrung from him the decree 
 recalling her, dismissing his liberal advisers, annulling 
 their progressive measures, and condemning Kang Yu- 
 wei and his associates to death. Such as could be caught 
 were executed, but Kang Yu-wei escaped in disguise, and 
 making his way to Kwang-tung, there raised the standard 
 of revolt. A reward of one hundred thousand taels was 
 proclaimed by the Empress Dowager for his head, but so 
 far it remains in his own keeping. 
 
 The sure vouchers for the main features of this story 
 are the decrees and edicts issued by the Empress, as pub- 
 lished in the Peking Gazette. They are framed in the vir- 
 tuous phraseology of an ever-vigilant defender of the pub- 
 lic welfare, and are instinct with the sacred precepts of 
 " the ever-prescient sage " Confucius, but whether all 
 the decrees have been published can not be positively 
 known. Neither can the full and exact details of these 
 stirring and important occurrences be given by any for- 
 eigner, and no native who values his head would dare 
 do so if he knew them. 
 
 It is beheved in Peking that the Emperor was put at 
 once under duress, and a little palace or temple, sur- 
 rounded by a lily pond, in the western part of the impe- 
 rial city, in which he was confined, is now pointed out by 
 the knowing ones to the foreign officers who are curious 
 upon the subject. It was announced that his confinement 
 
COUP D'ETAT OF EMPRESS DOWAGBE 355 
 
 was due to illness from which he could hardly recover, and 
 this, it was declared, made it necessary that his successor 
 should be selected and that his name should be announced 
 without delay. The Emperor being childless, the dif- 
 ficulty which had been met with on the death of his 
 predecessor now presented itself again. There was no 
 boy in the next generation eligible, so it was necessary 
 to select one of the generation to which he belonged. 
 Accordingly a minor son of Prince Tuan, his cousin, was 
 designated, and the fact was duly published to the court 
 and the country. "With all this elaborate preparation for a 
 contingency which might not arise, the suspicion at once 
 grew up that the Emperor had been or soon would be 
 assassinated, and as this spread to all classes of of&cials, 
 regrets and remonstrances, more or less earnest and pro- 
 nounced, were sent in from all quarters. The foreign 
 ministers and several of the more fearless and independ- 
 ent of the provincial governors made it clear that such 
 a disposition of the Emperor would be repugnant to the 
 feelings of the modern world, and could not fail to bring 
 discredit upon the Chinese Government. Unfortunate 
 and incompetent as he doubtless was, the Emperor was 
 liked and pitied by many of the mandarins and common 
 people, while the liberal tendencies and measures indi- 
 cated by his edicts and decrees had aroused the hopes and 
 excited the sympathy of the entire diplomatic body resid- 
 ing at his capital. 
 
 It should not be assumed that these remonstrances ever 
 reached her or in the slightest degree influenced her ac- 
 tion. Just what moved her to adopt one course or the 
 other can not be known to any one but herself. Only this 
 is certain: after making good her position by calling to Pe- 
 king General Tung Fuh-siang, a swashbuckler chief with 
 a division of disorderly and turbulent braves that had 
 been engaged in suppressing a Mohammedan rebellion in 
 the province of Kansu, she gave out that the Emperor 
 had partially recovered, and shortly afterward his title 
 
356 CHINA 
 
 became occasionally associated with her own in the trans- 
 action of public business, and in the publication of edicts 
 and decrees. There was no relaxation, however, in the 
 conservative policy inaugurated by her. Conservative 
 and subservient mandarins were called to all the impor- 
 tant places. The liberals were everywhere turned out 
 of office and held up to pubhc execration as enemies of 
 their country and its sacred customs. Kang Yu-wei was 
 ruthlessly pursued. Chang Yin-huan was degraded and 
 banished to the frontier, where later he was compelled 
 to commit suicide. In short, the liberal and progressive 
 Chinese and their foreign friends were thoroughly dis- 
 couraged, while the conservatives and their bloodthirsty 
 supporters, the Boxers, were correspondingly elated and 
 incited to push their operations to the bitter end. It has 
 been alleged, and it is believed by many, that at this 
 stage the Empress Dowager, encouraged by Tung Fuh- 
 siang and his fierce assurances that he and his braves 
 could kill or drive all the hated foreigners into the sea, 
 gave her protection to the Boxer Society and her ap- 
 proval to their bloody policy; but it seems to be probable 
 that her insane progress toward this act of self-destruc- 
 tion was more gradual, and that she was finally led to the 
 fatal step of openly espousing the Boxer cause by diffi- 
 culties growing out of the settlement of the succession. 
 It has been suggested that on her change of mind in refer- 
 ence to the complete deposition or the early death of the 
 childless Emperor, both of which events were within her 
 control, and the certainty that the delay of either must 
 indefinitely delay the accession of Prince Tuan's son to 
 the Throne, and postpone the Prince's enjoyment of the 
 great power and influence he would surely have as the 
 Emperor's father, caused the latter to regard himself 
 and his family as being trifled with and held up to ridicule 
 before the court and the imperial elan. It has been 
 plausibly said that he told the Empress Dowager that he 
 would not submit to it, and boldly notified her that he 
 
EMPRESS DOWAGER SUPPORTS THE BOXERS 357 
 
 would put himself at the head of the Boxers, and if need 
 be die fighting for the rights of his family. It will be re- 
 membered that his son was, under the laws of primogeni- 
 ture, even closer to the Throne than the actual holder of 
 it. T-hey were both cousins of their common predecessor, 
 but Tuan's son was the son of the Fifth Prince, while 
 the Emperor was son of the Seventh Prince. 
 
 All speculation as to whether this conversation ever 
 took place is useless. It will be conceded that under all 
 the circumstances as they are known to have existed, it 
 would hav%been natural; and inasmuch as Prince Tuan 
 actually did what it is here alleged he had said he would 
 do, the only importance to be attached to the incident 
 grows out of the inquiry as to when and why she first gave 
 her support to the Boxers? Did she do this from the 
 start voluntarily, because she sympathized with and be- 
 lieved in them, or did she do it later because she was 
 coerced against her better judgment by the assurances 
 of Tung Fuh-siang or by the threats of Prince Tuan? 
 Ignorant as she is, she surely can not have believed that 
 the foreign powers would ever forgive her for such a crime 
 against the sanctity and safety of the legations, or that 
 she could conceal it from their detection. Many of the 
 officials in Peking had traveled abroad, or been attached to 
 the Chinese legations in America and Europe, and many 
 of them who had remained at home must have seen the 
 translated works on international law, so there can be no 
 possible excuse for ignorance on her part as to the rights 
 of the legations, or as to the duty of the Imperial Gov- 
 ernment toward them. 
 
 Erom all the circumstances of the case it seems to be 
 more likely that she was coerced by Prince Tuan when 
 she found that he had actually placed himself at the head 
 of the movement, and that it had spread so thoroughly 
 through the ranks of the army that she could not rely 
 upon it to defend her, to protect the legations, or to make 
 head against the hordes of Boxers that had already made 
 
358 CHINA 
 
 their way into the city. In this connection it is well to 
 remember that the successful contestant for an Oriental 
 throne such as this is, in the case of actual war, generally 
 exterminates the defeated aspirant and his entire family, 
 so as to settle the title for good and all in the victor. 
 Had it come to actual blows between the factions, as it 
 might have done but for the presence of an overpowering 
 danger, there can be but little doubt that the precedent 
 would have remained unbroken. 
 
 At best the situation was most complicated, and the 
 way out of it might well have puzzled a wiser and better 
 ruler than the Empress Dowager. She had unbottled the 
 Af rite, and with all her power could not shut it up again. 
 Turn which way she might, its portentous shadow ob- 
 scured her road and left her groping in thick darkness. 
 It is not to be thought strange if, in sheer desperation, 
 with her army overwhelmed and driven back, and the 
 victorious foreigners thundering at the gates of the Im- 
 perial City, she cast in her lot with Prince Tuan, and, 
 under the protection of Tung Fuh-siang, fled with the im- 
 becile Emperor and the panic-stricken court to the in- 
 terior of Shansi. 
 
CHAPTEE XXII 
 
 The Boxer movement — Arrival of marines at Peking — Excitement 
 of the people — Incredulity of the Legations — Seymour's relief 
 column turned back — Attacked by Boxers — Capture of Siku ar- 
 senal — Murder of Japanese chancellor — Incendiary fires — De- 
 struction of Hanlin College and customs compound — Boxers 
 occupy Chinese city of Tientsin — Admirals concert measures 
 for capture of Tientsin and Peking — Admiral KempflE's course 
 — Capture of Taku forts — Chinese order legations to with- 
 draw — -Murder of Baron Von Ketteler — Great excitement in 
 Peking — Imperial troops join the Boxers — Measures for de- 
 fense — Concentration of missionaries within legation limits — 
 Boxers attack — Burn outlying legations and surrounding build- 
 ings — Gallant conduct of Squiers, Pethick, and Meyers — Box- 
 ers open with artillery — Imperial soldiers participate in at- 
 tack — Chinese Government responsible — Creditable conduct of 
 Major Conger and Major Sir Claude Maodonald. 
 
 The rising storm in northeastern China became ap- 
 parent to the ministers early in the spring of 1900, and 
 was then brought to the attention of the home govern- 
 ments, with the request that the guards of the legations 
 should be strengthened without delay. The sense of im- 
 pending danger was deepened by the reports sent to the 
 newspapers pi the world by the missionaries and resident 
 reporters, at least one of whom became convinced early in 
 January, if not before, that the Boxer movement, unless 
 promptly suppressed, would surely end in violence and 
 bloodshed. The home governments heeded the warnings, 
 and at once ordered a concentration of cruisers at Chee-fu 
 and Taku. Late in May detachments of marines were 
 sent from the American, Japanese, English, and Italian 
 
 359 
 
360 CHINA 
 
 ships to their respective legations, and the next day these 
 were followed by Eussian, French, German, and Austrian 
 contingents, all of which reached their destination by 
 rail, without serious objection on the part of the Chinese 
 authorities. But in marching to Ma-shi-pu, the Peking 
 station, a mile and a half outside of the southern wall of 
 the Chinese city, they found the road and principal streets 
 leading to the great south gate of the Tartar city and to 
 the legations densely packed with crowds of sullen but 
 silent Chinamen, in whose faces they read hatred and 
 condemnation so intense as to fill them with alarm at 
 the utter inadequacy of their own strength. The simple 
 fact is that the incredulity of the legations and their 
 confidence in the Imperial authorities had lulled them 
 into a false feeling of security, and that there was really 
 nothing worse to fear than the truculent gangs of loafers 
 and hoodlums which had in years past frequently infested 
 Peking. They believed that this increase of force, al- 
 though trifiing in itself, would be sufficient, with the aid 
 of the Chinese garrison and field force, to hold in check 
 any violence on the part of the Boxers. This view of the 
 matter was strengthened by the attitude of Bishop Favier, 
 who, although alarmed at the evidences of the rising 
 storm, had received such marks of favor for himself, his 
 cathedral, and his school from the Empress Dowager, that 
 he counted hopefully if not with absolute confidence on 
 her continued protection. 
 
 The failure to properly weigh and prepare for the 
 actual danger which confronted them, although natural 
 enough in view of the conditions under whjch all for- 
 eigners live in a country whose language they do not un- 
 derstand, and with whom they have no social relations, 
 was most unfortunate, and specially so because the fleets 
 could have easily sent at first detachments sufficiently 
 large to make the legations impregnable to any force the 
 Chinese could direct against them. This will be admitted 
 when it is recalled that a force of 3,500 men, composed 
 
SEYMOUR'S RELIEF COLUMN 361 
 
 of the various nationalities under command of Admiral 
 Seymour, marelied from Tientsin for Peking on the 10th 
 of June and reached Lang-fang, within twenty miles of 
 Peking, rebuilding as they went the railroad which had 
 been torn up by the Boxers. 
 
 It is worthy of particular remark that this relief force 
 met with but little if any resistance till it turned back, 
 which it did mainly for want of rations and supplies. It 
 is even thought by some members of the legations, and by 
 others who have examined into the question, that it could 
 have gone forward from Lang-fang more easily than it 
 could have returned if it had dropped its work on the rail- 
 road and depended upon the country for provisions. It is 
 also said that while this relief column was looked upon 
 with marked disfavor by the Imperial authorities, the 
 highways had been left open, and instructions had been 
 given to the Chinese troops to interpose no resistance to its 
 advance. Whether this be true or not, it is certain that 
 the retreat, which was mainly along the embankment of 
 the north branch of the Pei-ho, at once aroused the frenzy 
 of the Boxers, who were now swarming in every village. 
 They hastened to block the railroad in rear of the trains, 
 and, having done that effectually, threw themselves 
 upon the retreating column with persistence and annoy- 
 ing activity. Their attacks were made from behind em- 
 bankments and village walls, but lacked the coherence, 
 method, and courage which would have been shown by 
 disciplined soldiers under experienced leaders. While the 
 retreating marines were sorely pressed, they were neither 
 discouraged nor long held at bay. Their losses were heavy, 
 but, in spite of all the difficulties in their route, they suc- 
 ceeded in getting back to within six miles of Tientsin by 
 the 32d, on which day they gallantly assaulted and cap- 
 tured the arsenal of Siku. Here they rested several days, 
 replenishing their wasted ammunition and destroying the 
 arsenal and its immense quantity of stores before return- 
 ing to Tientsin, which they reached on the 36th of June. 
 26 
 
362 CHINA 
 
 The excitement was now rising throughout the prov- 
 ince of Chihli, especially in the vicinity of Tientsin and 
 Peking and the intervening country. The chancellor of 
 the Japanese legation was murdered by Tung Fuh-siang's 
 ruffians outside the walls of Peking; incendiary fires were 
 burning nightly in all directions from the legations; the 
 house of every Chinaman suspected of having business 
 relations with the foreigners was fired, and one whole 
 district of thirty or forty acres, densely covered with Chi- 
 nese houses, just outside of the south wall and to the 
 west of the main street previously mentioned, was totally 
 burned over. The Hanlin College, with its almost price- 
 less library, was totally destroyed. Sir Eobert Hart's com- 
 pound, with the valuable records of the Chinese customs, 
 was wrecked. Nothing except solid and impassable walls 
 stopped the work of destruction; everything foreign, 
 and everything smirched by foreign influence, was 
 wrecked, destroyed, annihilated. 
 
 Eailroad communications with the outer world and 
 the fleet were suspended on the 13th, and the next day the 
 Boxers entered and took possession of the native city of 
 Tientsin. 
 
 Meanwhile the foreign settlement at this city had 
 been occupied by other detachments from the fleet, and 
 the admirals, in concerting measures for such further 
 operations as might become desirable for the relief of 
 the legations and the protection of foreigners, had many 
 meetings. It was obvious to the most casual observer that 
 a safe base at the mouth of the Pei-ho would be neces- 
 sary if any considerable operations should be undertaken, 
 and accordingly it was resolved, with the concurrence of 
 all except the American admiral, that the Taku forts 
 should be taken unless they were voluntarily surrendered. 
 Notice was given to the Chinese commander to that effect, 
 but as he declined to comply with it the lighter ships of 
 the fleet opened fire on the 17th, and after returning the 
 same sufficiently long to " save their face," the Chinese 
 
ALLIES CAPTURE TAKU PORTS 363 
 
 evacuated the forts and left them to be occupied by the 
 alhed foreigners. 
 
 Admiral KempfP, commanding the American fleet, 
 perceiving that an attack upon these forts would consti- 
 tute an act of war against a government with which his 
 own, so far as he knew, was at peace, declined to partici- 
 pate in the operations; but inasmuch as it was certain 
 that free communication between the fleets and the lega- 
 tions had been already suspended by the act of the Chi- 
 nese, for which the Chinese Government was under the 
 rules of international law clearly responsible, it may fairly 
 be contended that the taking of the forts as a necessary 
 preliminary was as fully justified as any of the subsequent 
 operations for the relief of the legations. It was doubt- 
 less considered by the Chinese as tantamount to a general 
 declaration of war, and as such was made the occasion if 
 not the excuse for giving a free hand to the Boxers against 
 the entire foreign colony at Peking. It will be seen, how- 
 ever, from the narrative of events as given herein, that the 
 inability of the Imperial authorities to control the Box- 
 ers, no less than their covert approval of the Boxer out- 
 rages, had already made them fully liable under the 
 treaties, as well as under the provisions of international 
 law, for all the damage inflicted either on the missionaries 
 or the diplomatic representatives of the foreign govern- 
 ments then or afterward. 
 
 At all events, it had by this time become apparent that 
 a grave crisis was at hand, and that the first duty of the 
 treaty powers was to open and maintain free communi- 
 cations with the legations, and to relieve them from siege 
 and peril at all hazards. 
 
 The report of the surrender of the Taku forts reached 
 Peking on the second day after the event, and this shows 
 that all important happenings in this country travel fast 
 even without the aid of proper postal or telegraphic fa- 
 cilities. 
 
 On the afternoon of the 19th of June the Tsung-li 
 
364 CHINA 
 
 Yamen, or Chinese Foreign Office, served notice in writing 
 on each foreign minister, without reference to the partici- 
 pation of his flfeet in the capture of the forts, to leave 
 Peking within twenty-four hours, under the promise of 
 Chinese protection. Several of the ministers were in 
 favor of complying with the notice, short as it was, and 
 began preparation to do so. Full discussion followed, 
 after which it was agreed that it would not be safe to start 
 on a journey of over eighty miles across country in carts 
 under Chinese escort, or on such inadequate notice. When 
 it is considered that there were, including the mission- 
 aries, about five hundred men, women, and children, be- 
 sides a large number of servants and converts whom it 
 would have been wicked to abandon, and that the convic- 
 tion had sunk deeply into the hearts of all that this was 
 merely a ruse to lead the whole party into an ambush 
 from which there would be no escape, it must be admitted 
 that the decision not to go was a wise one. 
 
 If there was the slightest doubt left in the mind of 
 any one as to the soundness of this decision or as to the 
 advisability of asking for more time, it was rudely re- 
 moved the next day by the tragic and untimely death of 
 Baron Von Ketteler, the German minister, who had from 
 the first vehemently opposed compliance with the Chinese 
 notice, and had demanded a personal audience at an early 
 hour the next day. Without waiting for a formal appoint- 
 ment, this gallant gentleman, an ex-officer of the German 
 army, proceeded to the Tsung-li Yamcn with his secretary 
 of legation, whither his colleagues were expecting to fol- 
 low him shortly. Before the time for starting was at hand 
 news came that the baron had been brutally murdered near 
 the Tsung-li Yamen by a Chinaman wearing the insignia 
 of an official. The secretary was badly wounded, but ef- 
 fected his escape. Efforts were made at once by an officer 
 of the legation guard to recover the body of the minister, 
 but without success. They found the street near the 
 scene of the murder blocked by a body of Chinese sol- 
 
IMPERIAL FORCES JOIN THE BOXERS 365 
 
 diei's, through which they did not feel strong enough to 
 force their way. 
 
 This of course terminated all thought of complying 
 with the notice to leave. It confirmed the fear of ambush 
 and murder, and put an end to all idea of visiting the 
 yamen or of friendly communication with it thereafter. 
 
 The entire city at once became wildly excited. The 
 Imperial forces now joined the Boxers, or the latter be- 
 came incorporated with the troops, and all wore the 
 regular uniforms. Firing began in all directions. The 
 ministers and their followers shut themselves up in their 
 legations and set vigorously about the pressing task of 
 preparing their defense. War was now on and the battle 
 had begun in earnest. The missionaries, who had previ- 
 ously gathered in the Methodist compound and had be- 
 gun the work of putting it into a condition of defense, 
 were without loss of time called back into the British lega- 
 tion, which was the largest and was thought to be also the 
 most defensible. Four hundred foreigners, including the 
 families of most of the ministers and their secretaries, as 
 well as of the missionaries, besides one hundred soldiers, 
 found shelter within its walls. The outlying and smaller 
 legations were abandoned, but the rest, especially the 
 American and German, lying between the legation and 
 the south wall of the city, which commanded them all, 
 were held with the tenacity of a dying grip. The Kus- 
 sian, English, Japanese, and French legations, lying on 
 the north side of the street, were also defended step by 
 step, but with varying su.ccess. The French compound 
 was abandoned to the enemy and destroyed, but the Jap- 
 anese, yielding half their ground because they had not 
 men enough to defend it properly, held the remainder to 
 the last day of the siege. 
 
 It is not possible within the limits of this book to set 
 forth the details of this heroic struggle. It constitutes, 
 together with the operations of the allied forces for the 
 relief of the legations, one of the most remarkable episodes 
 
366 CHINA 
 
 of modern history, and it must be so regarded no matter 
 from what point of view it may be considered. 
 
 It must be observed that the arrangements of the 
 Chinese for the attack were incomplete when the murder 
 of Baron Von Ketteler precipitated hostilities. For this 
 reason the opening operations of the enemy were directed 
 to the destruction of the legations by fire, which began 
 first with the neighboring Chinese houses. They had al- 
 ready burned the ISTantang or old Catholic mission a mile 
 to the westward, and were killing the Chinese children, 
 when Mr. Pethick went with a party of marines to the 
 rescue and brought in the survivors. The next fire was 
 set near the Chien-Men, and swept over the entire space 
 between that and the American legation on the south side, 
 and to the Eussian legation on the north side of Legation 
 Street. The Methodist Mission, the Austrian, the Bel- 
 gian, Netherlands, and French legations, and many Chi- 
 nese buildings, were destroyed in turn, but the heroic 
 efforts of the besieged, assisted by the loyal Chinese con- 
 verts, in fighting fire, stayed the progress of the flames, 
 and held the remaining legation intact to the end. In 
 the midst of this pandemonium of ruin the Boxers opened 
 rifle flre on the legation guards wherever they could be 
 seen, but curiously enough they failed to take possession 
 of the city wall overlooking the legation compounds from 
 the south, as they might have done before it was occu- 
 pied by the marines of the American, German, and Rus- 
 sian guards. Foreseeing the danger of this neglect, and 
 the fatal consequences that would follow, Mr. Squiers, the 
 accomplished secretary of the American legation, an ex- 
 officer of fifteen years' service in the Seventh United 
 States Cavalry, assisted by Mr. Pethick, whose interest 
 and intimate connection with Chinese affairs have been 
 previously described, took the lead in directing the Amer- 
 ican marines, under Captain Meyers, on to the wall, 
 where, under the cover of darkness, they tore up the 
 paving bricks and built barricades to resist the coming 
 
GALLANT CONDUCT OP CAPTAIN MEYERS 367 
 
 of the enemy. The Germans did similar work on the wall 
 to the eastward, and thus the entire section in rear of the 
 legations, not eighty yards away, was held with heroic 
 fortitude to the end of the siege. This happy inspiration 
 and piece of good fortune was the salvation of the lega- 
 tions, and the history of warfare presents but few in- 
 stances of greater watchfulness and more unshaken cour- 
 age. The conduct of Captain Meyers with a detachment 
 of fifty-five men — American, Eussian, and British ma- 
 rines — encouraged by the watchful chief of staff, and in- 
 spired by a profound sense of duty in rushing the Chi- 
 nese barricades in the night, killing over fifty of the 
 enemy, driving several hundred out of their cover, and 
 holding the advanced position thus gained, with the loss of 
 two killed, and himself and one British marine wounded, 
 can not be too highly praised. In this splendid dash the 
 foreigners were not one whit behind the gallant Ameri- 
 cans in steadiness, bravery, or determination. So far as 
 the south wall was concerned this was the decisive inci- 
 dent of the siege. The Chinese, with at least three pieces 
 of artillery, held on at the point to which they were 
 driven, and by building a tower to overlook and give them 
 a plunging fire upon the rear of the defenders' position, 
 aided by sinking shafts and driving galleries for planting 
 mines under them, must have won in the end had not 
 relief come at the proper time. The German contingent 
 held the eastern end of the section with the same vigi- 
 lance and constancy; but it must be said in fairness that 
 they were at no time compelled to meet such a steady and 
 determined advance as that directed against the Ameri- 
 cans. Had either failed, the enemy would have been able 
 to get his artillery in position, from which it could have 
 raked all the legations from the rear at close range, and 
 thus speedily brought down the buildings about their 
 heads. Every square foot of the legation grounds would 
 have become at once untenable, and the besieged must 
 have surrendered, or been overpowered and smothered by 
 
368 CHINA 
 
 the mere force of numbers. This danger was imminent 
 from the first week of the hostilities, and had the Chinese 
 been competently led, it must have culminated long before 
 succor from any quarter, except possibly from the Japa- 
 nese Government acting independently, could possibly 
 have reached the scene of the tragedy. 
 
 Artillery fire from other directions was soon turned 
 against the legations, and the most significant fact con- 
 nected with this is that the guns which delivered it occu- 
 pied emplacements erected on the walls of the Imperial 
 City not far from the Imperial palaces. As the walls in 
 question are under the exclusive control of the Imperial 
 authorities, they could not have been used for any such 
 purpose without the overthrow of the Government or its 
 voluntary permission. It must be distinctly stated, how- 
 ever, that no claim has been made by the Chinese that the 
 Government had been overthrown, and inasmuch as the 
 soldiers who manned the guns, as well as those who fired 
 the small arms for the whole period of the siege, were clad 
 in the uniform of the Imperial troops, there is no room 
 whatever left to doubt the complete responsibility of the 
 actual head of the Chinese Government for this cruel 
 outbreak against the foreign legations, and f o]; the shame- 
 less violation of their sacred rights under the provisions 
 of international law and the practice of even the most 
 barbarous nations. History furnishes no parallel for such 
 an outrage, and when it is stated on the authority of the 
 ministers themselves and of every member of the be- 
 leaguered garrison, that there was scarcely an hour be- 
 tween the 17th of June and the 17th of July in which 
 there was not firing on some part of the lines or into some 
 of the legations; that thousands of shells and solid shot 
 took effect; that many of the legation buildings were 
 struck and practically destroyed; that flagstaffs were shot 
 away, gate-houses wrecked, roofs shattered, and walls 
 pitted from top to bottom with hundreds and in some 
 cases with thousands of rifle bullets; that galleries were 
 
DEFENSE OP THE LEGATIONS 369 
 
 driven under the walls and mines exploded, and that 
 every device was resorted to which a cowardly enemy 
 could devise to bring death and ruin upon those lega- 
 tions, it must be conceded that no vengeance which could 
 have been wreaked upon the authors of these works 
 would have too severely punished their wickedness. Hav- 
 ing personally visited and inspected every point of in- 
 terest alluded to in this narrative, not once but many 
 times, I feel it my duty to add my own testimony to 
 that of the participants, that the facts as I have sum- 
 marized them are not overstated. 
 
 Considering all the harrowing circumstances, the won- 
 der is that any one survived till the relief column came, 
 to tell the miraculous tale ! This happy outcome can only 
 be accounted for by considering the cowardice and in- 
 competency of the Chinese, and the never-failing cour- 
 age and resources of the defenders. In this connection it 
 must not be forgotten that Sir Claude Macdonald, the 
 British minister, had been a major of British infantry, 
 while Mr. Conger had served four years as a captain and 
 major in a fighting regiment of Illinois volunteers dur- 
 ing the civil war. It is true that the military service of 
 both had been long since closed, but both showed them- 
 selves under the terrible trial which had come upon 
 tliem to be bold and resolute men, who could not fail to 
 do honor to their race and their high station. The former 
 was chosen for the chief command, and he in turn selected 
 Mr. Squiers, secretary of legation to the latter, as chief 
 of staff, and necessarily gave him large discretion in look- 
 ing after the details of the daily measures for the defense. 
 By common report it is evident that he filled his arduous 
 post with unremitting vigilance, and to the satisfaction 
 of his superiors. 
 
 In the early days of the siege it became evident that 
 the lines of defense would have to be shortened as much 
 as possible, and this was done so as to inclose all the 
 legations except that of the Belgians. After the burning 
 
370 CHINA 
 
 of the Austrian, Netherlands, and Italian legations and 
 the Imperial customs buildings, which followed close upon 
 their abandonment, because they could not be defended, 
 the lini^s were still further shortened so as to exclude 
 them. It was from the start necessary to tear down walls 
 and buildings and to construct barricades and defenses, 
 which made it necessary to have a chief engineer for the 
 supervision of this work. Again the besieged were for- 
 tunate, and found a man among themselves in every way 
 equal to the occasion. This time, however, it was a mis- 
 sionary, the Eev. F. D. Gamewell, of the American Meth- 
 odist Mission, a professor in their college and a graduated 
 civil engineer, who came to the front with practical 
 knowledge, quick perception, great executive ability, un- 
 tiring energy, and never-sleeping resources, to guide and 
 direct all the operations of this department. Not a blow 
 was struck, not a wall was pierced or overturned, not a 
 trench was dug nor a breastwork raised except under his 
 supervision, and so great was the confidence which his high 
 qualities and faultless behavior begot, that his acts were 
 approved and carried through entirely on his own respon- 
 sibility, and frequently without reference even to the 
 chief commander. Todleben, the hero of the defense of 
 Sebastopol, could not have done better with the men and 
 means at hand. Fortunately several hundred Chinese 
 teachers and converts were taken into the besieged lega- 
 tions, and though many of them were unused to the rough 
 work of coolies, they carried through cheerfully and suc- 
 cessfully every plan and all the instructions of their gal- 
 lant and indefatigable chief. 
 
 Colonel Shiba, with a detachment of only twenty men, 
 undertook the defense of the Japanese compound, within 
 whose walls were eight hundred Christian Chinese con- 
 verts, and although he was pressed back step by step from 
 one line of intrenchment to another till half his ground 
 was wrested from him and two thirds of his gallant de- 
 tachment were killed, held on unshaken and unaided, 
 
MISSIONARIES ASSIST IN DEFENSE OF PEKING 371 
 
 yielding only when it was impossible to longer resist, till 
 the coming of the relief column put an end to his struggle. 
 Ifothing finer than the conduct of this admirable officer 
 can be found in the annals of war. And so, without dis- 
 crimination against any, where all did their full duty, it 
 must be admitted that the names of Squiers, Gamewell, 
 Meyer, and Shiba stand pre-eminent as the heroes of that 
 remarkable defense. English, German, and Russian offi- 
 cers and guards did splendidly, but simple justice requires 
 it to be stated that the little group just named led all 
 the rest! 
 
 But the story is not yet complete. The missionaries 
 did their part most nobly in the organization and conduct 
 of the defense. A small detachment of about fifty were 
 armed and did duty as skirmishers when required. The 
 rest were diTided into appropriate committees, one of 
 which took charge of and managed the commissariat. 
 Stores of rice, wheat, and fuel were found within the lines, 
 and were gathered in for common use. These, with the 
 supplies providently laid in by various members of the 
 legations, together with rations of horse and mule meat as 
 needed, furnished a sufficient subsistence to the entire 
 garrison, which consisted of about 450 marines and sol- 
 diers of the legation guards, 473 men, women, and chil- 
 dren of the various legations and missions, besides about 
 3,000 Chinese servants and converts, the whole amount- 
 ing to something over 4,000 souls. It was clearly the 
 policy of the besieged, resisting the whole garrison and 
 population of Peking, inland from the reach of any possi- 
 ble succor one hundred and twenty miles, to maintain a 
 strictly defensive attitude, harboring their ammunition 
 and resources for the death struggle. All offensive opera- 
 tions, except such as those on the wall near the American 
 legation, were to be avoided. Only occasionally was it 
 necessary to make a sortie or to repel an attack. But for 
 nearly sixty days, from the 19th of June to the 15th of 
 July, never-ceasing vigilance was the price of safety. The 
 
372 CHINA 
 
 losses of the besieged were sixty-five killed; died of dis- 
 ease, all children, seven; and one hundred and thirty-five 
 wounded. Five legations, all the missions, besides the 
 post office, the residence of the inspector general of cus- 
 toms, and three banks, were destroyed. 
 
 This narrative would not be complete without a brief 
 reference to the noble and independent defense made by 
 Bishop Favier, of the Eoman Catholic cathedral known 
 as the Peitang, two miles away in the north central part of 
 the Tartar city. A large school and orphanage, a chapter 
 of Sisters of Charity, together with many residences, were 
 also connected with the establishment. Fifteen hundred 
 native Christians had taken refuge within its inclosure. 
 Withdrawal to any other place, if one commodious enough 
 could have been found, was impossible, and there was 
 nothing to be done except to hold and defend the place at 
 all hazards. For this only thirty French and ten Italian 
 sailors, besides a few of the native Christians for whom 
 arms could be obtained, were available. As the cathedral 
 towered far above all the Chinese buildings in view, and 
 was thought to be specially injurious to the " f ung-shuy " 
 of the region, it became the special target of all the guns 
 within range. Shot and shell were poured upon it, many 
 of them taking effect. A gallery was directed toward this 
 stately structure, but could not be got ready in time. An- 
 other was driven under the outer wall of the orphanage, 
 and an enormous mine was exploded beneath one of its 
 buildings, killing and burying one hundred and twenty 
 native Christians, forty-eight of whom were innocent and 
 helpless children. One officer was buried under the ruins 
 of an adjacent building, but rescued alive. During the 
 siege a French officer and ten men were killed and eight 
 were wounded, but withal the heart of this warlike bishop 
 remained unshaken till, as he devoutly says, he and his 
 sorely pressed flock were delivered by " a miracle of the 
 Lord's merciful goodness." When it is remembered that 
 it was throughout the siege impossible for him to com- 
 
SIEGE 01-' THE PEITAXG 373 
 
 municate with the legations or to receive the slightest 
 word from them, his constancy and faith will appear to 
 be all the more remarkable, and his salvation all the more 
 miraculous. 
 
 During the entire siege neither the ministers nor the 
 bishop had any certain communication with the outside 
 world. Chinese messengers were sent out with urgent 
 calls for succor, but they were mostly killed or cut off. 
 The Tsung-li Yamen made no attempt to open a par- 
 ley with the ministers till it had become apparent that 
 they could not be captured, and that all efforts to prevent 
 the coming of a relief column would prove unavailing. 
 Under these conditions it was reasonable to suppose that 
 the Chinese Government had fled, or at least had aban- 
 doned the city to the fury of the fiendish soldiers; but in 
 the words of the American minister, abundant and abso- 
 lute proofs were afterward found " that the Empress 
 Dowager and council remained in the city until just be- 
 fore the arrival of relief, and that the attacks were organ- 
 ized and directed by them, the whole force being under 
 the control and direction of Jung Lu, the commander in 
 chief of the Imperial Army." It is true that until the 
 beginning of the siege the Tsung-li Yamen attributed 
 all the trouble to the mob, the brigands, and " the wicked 
 Boxers." Later they designated them as " people and 
 militia," but from the first the attacks with firearms upon 
 the legations were made by men wearing the uniform and 
 flying the flags of the regular Chinese army. All the 
 guns captured and prisoners taken belonged to the same 
 force, and if there were any Boxers among them they 
 wore the uniform and carried the arms of the Im- 
 perial troops commanded by Jung Lu and Tung Fuh- 
 siang. It was also noted that whenever the Chinese Gov- 
 ernment wished to communicate with the diplomatic 
 corps during the later days of the siege, its messen- 
 gers could always stop the firing and go through the 
 lines, which would have been impossible if those who 
 
374 CHINA 
 
 were shooting had been an irresponsible and ungovern- 
 able mob. 
 
 If any further proof is wanted that the Government 
 and Boxers had made common cause against the for- 
 eigners, it is found in various recent edicts and decrees, 
 from which it appears that the Boxers were organized 
 under the command of an Imperial prince and an 
 ignorant conservative; that they were armed and fed 
 from the Imperial treasury, received a large sum of 
 money from the Empress Dowager herself during the 
 siege, were carried in the returns of the national army, 
 and were under the special protection of Prince Tuan, 
 the uncle of the Emperor and the father of the boy who 
 had been designated as heir to the throne. 
 
 In view of this overwhelming array of evidence there 
 seems to be no room left to doubt the absolute union of 
 the Empress Dowager, Imperial princes, many high oifi- 
 eials, members of the Council and Tsung-li Yamen, and 
 the commanding generals of the regular 'army with the 
 Boxers in the attempt to exterminate the native Christians, 
 the missionaries of all sects, the foreign merchants and 
 business men, and finally the diplomatic representatives of 
 all the treaty powers. It seems to be equally certain that 
 this movement was pressed in the hope and conviction on 
 the part of those directing it that it would certainly re- 
 sult in the death or expulsion of every foreigner from the 
 borders of the empire. The wicked coalition between 
 the elements of Chinese power began to show indications 
 of dissolution when its failure became probable, and this 
 did not occur till it was certain that the relief column 
 gathered from Japan, Manila, America, Cochin China, In- 
 dia, South Africa, Germany, Italy, and Eussia had assem- 
 bled at Taku and begun its victorious march to Tientsin 
 and Peking. 
 
CHAPTEE XXIII 
 
 Rail and telegraphic communication broken with Peking — Grave 
 apprehensions — Proximity and readiness of Japan — Other 
 powers arranging to send troops — Seymour's relief expedition 
 — Allies capture native city of Tientsin — Death of Colonel 
 Lisoum — Preparations for the advance on Peking — Affair of 
 Peitsang — Battle of Yang-tsun — Columns reach Tung-Chow — 
 Americans scale the wall of the Chinese City — Chinese defense 
 feeble and inefficient — Allies take possession of Imperial City 
 — Decide not to occupy Forbidden City — Neglected condition 
 of the palaces — Triumphal march through Forbidden City 
 and palaces — Division of Peking into sections occupied by the 
 troops of the different powers — Boxer organizations broken up 
 and scattered — Absence of friction between the allies. 
 
 Although both rail and telegraphic communication, 
 with Peking had been broken early in June, 1900, and the 
 latter had never been such as to give the outer world a 
 clear understanding of what was going on there, enough 
 had become known to fill the people and the goyernment 
 of every treaty power with the gravest apprehension. Ob- 
 viously the first duty of each was to establish freedom of 
 ingress and egress for its legation. Furthermore, this 
 duty was absolute and independent for each, without ref- 
 erence to the views or the actions which might be taken 
 by the others. In face of the actual and most pressing 
 danger which might naturally have been expected, and 
 which was now becoming evident to the careful observer, 
 the promptest and most decisive action which could pos- 
 sibly be had would be neither too prompt nor too decisive 
 if it could be taken with success. In looking over the 
 
 375 
 
376 CHINA 
 
 entire field, the attention of every practical military man 
 would naturally turn toward Japan, within three short 
 days by steamship from Taku, or from any other point on 
 the Coast of the Gulf of Pechili. That doughty nation 
 had only a few years before conducted a successful war 
 with China, during which she had with surprising ease in- 
 vaded and overcome Corea and Shinking, destroyed the 
 Chinese navy, beaten and scattered the Chinese army, and 
 dictated the terms of peace. It was evident that she had 
 gained all needful laiowledge and experience to carry on 
 war with China, not only successfully but rapidly. Her 
 army was in a high degree of efficiency, and such part of it 
 as might be needed could be mobilized and landed at the 
 point selected for debarkation within a week after the 
 orders were issued. Another week, or at farthest ten days, 
 would have carried it to Peking, and the relief would have 
 been not only certain but immediate. Why was this not 
 done? It is an bpen secret that Japan signified to the 
 powers her readiness to act as early as May, but objections 
 were made, and her generous proposition was lost in the 
 maze of modern diplomacy. Who Vv'as responsible for the 
 opposition, or for the failure to accept this offer, whatever 
 may have been its terms, can not be known till the entire 
 correspondence is published. Possibly it may never be- 
 come known, for diplomats and ministers of state are slow 
 to give the real reasons for their action or for their failure 
 to act. 
 
 Meanwhile all the nations concerned were making 
 their dispositions to bring troops to the scene of action. 
 The Japanese mobilized a division and sent it to Taku 
 early in June. The United States, having an army in 
 the Philippines, sent the Ninth Infantry, two battalions 
 of the Fourteenth Infantry, one light battery, and four 
 batteries of heavy artillery acting as infantry. It also 
 ordered additional troops from this country. These lat- 
 ter, however, never reached China. Eussia, having 
 troops at Port Arthur and Vladivostok, sent a contin- 
 
ALLIES CAPTURE TIENTSIN 377 
 
 gent forward as promptly as possible. France did likewise 
 from Indo-China, while Great Britain sent a few com- 
 panies of white troops and a full division of Sikhs, Ben- 
 galese, Beluchese, and Pathans from Her Majesty's In- 
 dian army. But Germany, which had suffered the great- 
 est injury in the murder of her minister, had nothing 
 except her home army to draw from. Where all did their 
 best, which with all the difficulties to be overcome was 
 extremely well, criticism would be ungracious if not use- 
 less. But withal it was not till July 13th, or over a month 
 from the day communication was broken with Peking, 
 that any land troops whatever, besides marines from the 
 fleet which under Admiral Seymour had been foiled in 
 their effort to relieve the legations, were ready to attack 
 the Boxers, who had meanwhile taken possession of the 
 native city of Tientsin. 
 
 This attack was participated in by the Americans, 
 Japanese, French, and English, and although it was suc- 
 cessful after two days' fighting, it was at the cost of many 
 valuable lives, among which was that of the gallant and 
 experienced Colonel Liscum, commanding the Ninth 
 United States Infantry. This was the first American 
 regiment on the ground and the only one participat- 
 ing in the operations. It had arrived at Tientsin on 
 the 9th, and was assigned to its place in the action by 
 the British General Dorwood, the senior officer present. 
 It appears, however, that the latter had made no ade- 
 quate reconnaissance of the ground or of the enemy^s 
 position. As a consequence, the whole line advancing 
 on the Taku Gate of the walled city found itself not only 
 compelled to wade through ponds, but its right front, 
 formed by the Americans, was enfiladed by a withering 
 rifle fire from a Chinese suburb occupied in force by the 
 Boxers. Manifestly the proper and only thing to be done 
 to meet this emergency was to change front accordingly. 
 Without a moment's doubt or hesitancy the American 
 colonel gave the necessary commands, seized the colors of 
 
378 CHINA 
 
 his regiment from the hands of the sergeant, who had been 
 wounded near by, and bore them aloft till another ser- 
 geant could be called to take them. The regiment, con- 
 forming at once to the orders and inspired by the noble 
 example of its veteran colonel, fronted the storm of battle 
 and rushed forward, through mud and ponds, to within 
 less than a hundred yards of the Boxers' stronghold, where 
 they were stopped by an impassable canal. The colonel, 
 several of his officers, and twenty-three per cent of his 
 men were killed or wounded. The remainder could 
 neither advance nor retire, and re-enforcements found it 
 impossible to reach or to help them. Both the English 
 and the Japanese, more or less favored by this diversion, 
 held on to their original direction, faring somewhat better, 
 but in the end finding themselves also unable to carry the 
 position in front of theni. A detachment of Americans 
 had been sent early in the day across the Pei-ho, by a 
 bridge of boats, to occupy the railway station, but when 
 the general action began the station and grounds were 
 also swept by a well-directed artillery fire from the city 
 walls. The troops suffered considerably, but held their 
 position with steadiness and fortitude. Night, however, 
 closed the action here as well as on the other side of the 
 river without a victory for either combatant. The allies 
 had been foiled, and although they had gained important 
 information as to the difficulties in their way, the pros- 
 pect for the morrow, so far as it could be seen, was rather 
 discouraging. As is frequently the case, the enemy was 
 still more discouraged, and when the action was resumed 
 the next day made but little resistance. The allies, with 
 the plucky Japanese infantry leading, promptly advanced, 
 and were soon in possession of the city, while the Chinese 
 were in full retreat toward Peking. 
 
 The entire allied loss can not be accurately given, but 
 from the best information attainable it was about 550 
 killed and wounded. 
 
 I have described this affair somewhat fully, because 
 
ALLIES ADVANCE ON PBKINa 379 
 
 the Chinese, with an ample force of cavalry maneuvering 
 on the plain outside of the city, artillery well posted on 
 the walls, and infantry behind both walls and embank- 
 ments, or firing through loop-holes, could hardly have 
 been dislodged if they had held on with tenacity. It is 
 conceded by all who participated in the action that it was 
 the best defense made by the enemy during the whole 
 war. Indeed, it was the only one worthy of the name. 
 
 The three following weeks were employed by the allies 
 in bringing forward additional troops and preparing for 
 the advance on Peking, which began on the 4th of August. 
 At a conference of the generals, held about the 1st, it 
 was agreed with only two dissenting votes to begin the 
 onward movement at once. The force available was found 
 to be approximately 19,000 men, including two batteries 
 of light artillery, four heavier siege pieces, and a number 
 of smaller rapid-fire field guns. It was made up of 
 about 8,000 Japanese, Lieutenant-General Yamagutchi 
 commanding; 4,800 Eussians, Lieutenant-General Line- 
 vitch commanding; 3,000 British, Lieutenant-General 
 Gaselee commanding; 2,500 Americans, Major-General 
 Chaffee commanding; and 800 French under Brigadier- 
 General Frey. 
 
 It was found that General Linevitch was senior by 
 date of commission, but in the absence of an agreement 
 between the home governments the most that could be 
 done was to make him chairman and empower him to 
 call conferences, while each commander retained the 
 actual control of his own troops in the execution of such 
 general plans as might be agreed upon. 
 
 The advance began on the 4th of August, the Japa- 
 nese, British, and American forces marching by the road 
 west of the north branch of the Pei-ho, and conforming 
 their strategical movements to plans concerted between 
 their respective generals. Of course, each controlled his 
 own supplies and made his own independent arrangements 
 for sending them forward. The Japanese having the 
 
380 CHINA 
 
 larger force, and having located the enemy by scouts and 
 reconnaissances, with a force of ten or twelve thousand 
 men at a fortiiied position on both sides of the river near 
 Peitsang, took the lead by agreement. They were fol- 
 lowed by the British and Americans, but pressed their ad- 
 vance with such vigor, and the ground in front of the 
 enemy was so contracted, that there was no chance for any 
 except themselves to take part in the skirmish which fol- 
 lowed. The enemy made but little resistance, and, al- 
 though strongly posted, promptly yielded his position to 
 the allies. Peitsang was occupied, and a bridge was at 
 once constructed across the river. The honors of the day 
 were with the Japanese, and they were generously al- 
 lowed precedence for the next day. The British, Ameri- 
 cans, Eussians, and French crossed to the north or east 
 side of the river, while the Japanese continued their 
 march by the west side to Yang-tsun. The enemy had 
 halted at this place and again made a show of resistance. 
 He had several pieces of field artillery in position, and 
 this, together with the intrenchments, village walls, and 
 railway embankments, gave the place a formidable appear- 
 ance. Again, however, the ground over which the attack 
 must be made was too contracted, and some confusion 
 affecting both the British and American forces grew out 
 of this fact. A sharp skirmish followed on this side of the 
 river, in which the loss of the Americans was increased by 
 the slowness of the Indian troops, and by the fire of the 
 British and Eussian batteries rather than by the vigor of 
 the Chinese resistance. The confusion and delay which 
 followed were but temporary, and the enemy was pressed 
 so vigorously by direct attack and turning movement that 
 he soon broke and fled. Meanwhile the Japanese were 
 advancing on the west side with such vigor and such in- 
 telligent knowledge of the ground as to make the enemy's 
 entire position untenable. Again it was evident that he 
 had made no adequate defense, and that it was impossible 
 for him to stand before the allies. 
 
ALLIES ADVANCE TO TUNG-CHOW 381 
 
 As Yang-tsun, twenty miles on the road to Peking, was 
 by agreement the end of the first stage of the campaign, 
 another conference was held, and it was resolved to push 
 on as rapidly as the hot and oppressive weather and the 
 unknown terrain would permit, to Tung-Chow, only 
 fifteen miles from the Imperial City. All the forces 
 crossed to the west side of the river at Yang-tsun, and, as 
 before, the honor of the advance was by common consent 
 conceded to the Japanese, the British, Americans, and 
 Eussians following in the order named. The enemy was 
 not again encountered in force, but every precaution was 
 taken in feeling the way to prevent surprise and to make 
 the march without accident or delay. It was the middle 
 of August, and the weather, with only occasional showers, 
 was intensely hot. The face of the country, level as a 
 barn floor, was covered with growing crops of Indian corn 
 and millet, the latter from twelve to seventeen feet high, 
 on both sides of the road and path, which were narrow 
 and crooked and alternately muddy or dusty. Conse- 
 quently the troops and their flankers were strung out and 
 "woefully distressed" by the heat and frequently by 
 thirst, especially the Americans who were behind the Jap- 
 anese, and could not therefore march in the cool of the 
 morning. 
 
 The columns reached Tung-Chow on the morning of 
 the 12th, but found it deserted. A conference was held 
 that afternoon, and although the Russian commander ad- 
 vised that the next day should be used in resting, it was 
 decided to continue the advance and push reconnoitering 
 parties well up to the front, and this was done without 
 finding the enemy. It seems to have been also agreed that 
 the troops should be advanced as close to the walls of Pe- 
 king as possible on the 14th, after which another confer- 
 ence should be held to determine what the plan of attack 
 should be. All the allies conformed to this except the 
 Eussians, who for some unexplained reason pushed their 
 forces forward on the main Peking road, and made a lodg- 
 
382 CHINA 
 
 ment in the Tong-ping Men or eastern gate, near the 
 corner of the Tartar and Chinese walls. Heavy artillery 
 and rifle fire were heard throughout the night, and it was 
 believed by the Americans, and probably by the other 
 forces, to be the last efforts of the Chinese troops to de- 
 stroy the legations. No one suspected that it was due to 
 the Eussian advance till the next day, when the facts 
 became known. 
 
 In resuming operations in compliance with the under- 
 standing between the commanders, the Americans moving 
 along the south side of the Grand Canal, on the morning 
 of the 15th found themselves near the Tong-ping Men at 
 10 o'clock, but neither seeing nor hearing the Eussians, 
 and still ignorant of their position, two advanced com- 
 panies of the Fourteenth Infantry, with unusual intre- 
 pidity and celerity, scaled the wall of the Chinese City, 
 and were first to plant their colors on the walls of Peking. 
 The first man on top was a musician, and the second a 
 captain. The other officers and men, with the gallant 
 Colonel Daggett, a hero of the civil war followed in a 
 few minutes. They found themselves on the wall over- 
 looking the Chinese City, but, singularly enough, met 
 with no resistance. The place of the escalade was, how- 
 ever, commanded by the -wall of the Tartar City at right 
 angles to it. Without pausing, this little force of two 
 hundred men swept to the right, and within two hundred 
 yards, much to their surprise, found the Eussian force of 
 infantry and artillery stuck in the sally port and its wing- 
 walls, unable to go forward or to bring their guns to bear. 
 Meanwhile Eiley's battery had taken position within good 
 inge, and under its combing fire, directed by General 
 Chaffee in person against the towers and bastions of the 
 south wall of the Tartar City, Daggett descended to the 
 level below, and, directing a sharp fire against the same 
 wall, cleared the way for the Eussians, who seemed to be 
 in inextricable confusion. The Americans, now safely 
 within the Chinese City, pressed forward, with Daggett 
 
AMERICANS FIRST ON WALLS OP PEKING 383 
 
 leading, along the first road and street parallel with the 
 Tartar Wall. A stone bridge near the gate, and every 
 street crossing, were swept by rifle fire from the top of this 
 wall, hence the progress of the advance was slow, till 
 Eiley's battery had also passed through the gate and taken 
 up a new position from which he could effectually rake the 
 enemy's walls. Its practice was perfect and caused great 
 consternation among the enemy, but the distance to the 
 legations was still nearly two miles, and no one knew 
 the proper road to the Water Gate, or even to any other. 
 The advanced companies of the Fourteenth had to feel 
 their way carefully, and while they made good progress 
 they were soon entirely out of ammunition, and lost two 
 hours before they could get a fresh supply. This gave the 
 lead to the British, who had entered the Chinese City later 
 without opposition, at a gate three quarters of a mile 
 farther south. As this was connected with the principal 
 streets of the city by a broad east and west street, which 
 screened them from the Chinese rifle fire and gave them 
 a clear road to the Water Gate, they were the first to reach 
 and enter it. They were also the first to reach the lega- 
 tions, which they did without fighting. 
 
 General Chafllee, ordering the Ninth Infantry and 
 the marines to follow, entered the Imperial City by the 
 same gate with the Fourteenth Infantry at about three 
 o'clock, while Eiley's battery entered by the Chien-Men, 
 which was opened for him by the American and Eussian 
 marines of the legation guard. There had been at attack 
 on the legations the night before, but it, as well as the 
 defense along the city wall, was exceedingly feeble. No- 
 where did it indicate the slightest courage on the part of 
 the Chinese soldiers, whether they were Boxers or regu- 
 lars, nor the slightest military skill or intelligence on the 
 part of their officers. 
 
 During this entire campaign, as well as that of the 
 Japanese in 1894, and of the allied British and French 
 in 1860, the conduct of the Chinese was pusillanimous 
 
384: CHINA 
 
 in the extreme. In spite of their foreign drill masters, 
 and of the large sums of money expended of late years 
 in arsenals and modern arms, their efforts at defense 
 were pitifully weak. They showed unmistakably that 
 they had learned absolutely nothing in regard to car- 
 rying on war against modern nations. " All's well 
 that ends well," but it is certain that five thousand 
 good troops, with one battery of light artillery, could 
 have easily brushed the Chinese forces out of the 
 way and captured Peking at any time after the begin- 
 ning of the Boxer outbreak. It is now equally certain that 
 the besieged legations owe the preservation of their lives as 
 much to Chinese incompetency and cowardice, as they owe 
 the great peril and privation, which they met with so 
 much heroism and self-reliance, to Chinese ignorance and 
 superstition. 
 
 Eesting for the night, the allies took possession of the 
 Imperial City the next day in the face of sharp resistance; 
 the outer gates were blown open by Eiley's guns, but that 
 gallant of&cer was killed by a rifle bullet at the moment of 
 victory. The Emperor, the Empress Dowager, their high 
 ofB-cials, together with their court and most of the serv- 
 ants, had fled, leaving their precious curios behind them, 
 their altars, burning with incense, their ancestral temples 
 reeking with filth, and their gods covered with dust and 
 birdlime. Tawdry and neglected as the palaces seemed to 
 be, they had not yet met their lowest depth of misfortune. 
 It was but a few days till they had all been ruthlessly 
 despoiled and looted of their valuables; but this was done 
 mostly by Asiatic and European soldiers, much of it with 
 the concurrence and supervision of their officers. The 
 ministers, the secretaries and their families, and all the 
 missionaries were found well, and overflowing with hap- 
 piness at their delivery, after two months of doubt, fear, 
 and hope frequently deferred. The legations were strewn 
 with ruin. Walls were overthrown, while the streets, 
 alleys and entrances were blocked by barricades. Sand- 
 
DEFENSE OP THE LEGATIONS 385 
 
 bags made from pillow-cases, sheets, cloth dress materials, 
 and brocaded curtains topped the walls and closed the 
 passages, and most of the houses which had weathered 
 the storm were riddled with shot and shell, and were 
 pitted from roof to foundation with bullet holes. Huge 
 craters gaped here and there, and unexploded mines 
 were found on all sides of their line of defense. The 
 countenances of all showed the terrible strain through 
 which they had passed, while the wan faces of the children 
 were drawn and emaciated for want of proper food. The 
 signs everywhere present indicated without the possibility 
 of mistake that the legations had been closely besieged 
 from the beginning by a wicked and unrelenting enemy 
 bent upon their extermination. 
 
 While this tragic episode was slowly drawing to its 
 happy conclusion the whole civilized world, confused by 
 false and conflicting reports, waited and looked on in 
 breathless silence, hoping and praying for the delivery of 
 those whose fate was in the balance, and yet fearing that 
 salvation was impossible. When it came, as it did with 
 the complete triumph of the allies, it was decided by the 
 military commanders, against the judgment of the minis- 
 ters, that the Forbidden City, inclosing the Imperial 
 buildings and palaces, should not be occupied, but 
 later the conclusion was reached that the surround- 
 ing grounds, approaches, and gates should be held, 
 and the Americans and Japanese — the latter having en- 
 tered the city by the north and east sides — should be 
 charged with that duty. A triumphal march was made 
 through the Forbidden City by detachments chosen from 
 each of the allied contingents. The generals and their 
 staffs, accompanied by the ministers and their secretaries, 
 walked leisurely from the south to the north gate, through 
 every temple, palace, and hall, and after commenting on 
 their dirty and neglected appearance, as well as on that 
 of the paths and roads which were overgrown with grass 
 and weeds, left with the conviction that China had been 
 
386 CHINA 
 
 imposing upon the world from the first as a strong and 
 enlightened nation, when she was in fact one of the 
 weakest and poorest in existence. 
 
 As soon as it was certain that the Government and all 
 its army had fled to the interior, both the Tartar and 
 Chinese cities were divided into districts and parcelled 
 between the troops of the treaty powers for police, the 
 restoration of order, and the re-establishment of business. 
 In this important work the allies showed their respective 
 aptitudes and methods. Each did well, though it is but 
 repeating the opinion of disinterested observers to say 
 that the Japanese and Americans were the first to bring 
 order out of chaos, and led all the others in gaining the 
 confidence of the native inhabitants. 
 
 The Boxer organizations in the surrounding country 
 were broken up by separate and co-operating movements. 
 Several arsenals and depositories of arms were burned. 
 Pao-ting-fu was occupied, and in a few weeks the most 
 perfect order reigned throughout northeastern China; 
 and" all this was accomplished without the slightest fric- 
 tion between the allies. 
 
CHAPTEE XXIV 
 
 Occupation of Peking — Divided into sections by the allies — Pacifi- 
 cation of the surrounding country — Plundering and looting 
 — ThieTes and marauders — Co-operation of Chinese in restora- 
 tion of order — Presentation of umbrellas — Li Hung-Chang's 
 resumption of control in the province of Chihli — The present 
 more than ever a period of change — Still greater changes must 
 follow — The Chinese are a nation of merchants — The opium 
 war — The race now addicted to opium smoking — Decrease in 
 social efficiency of the Chinese — Denunciation of opium smok- 
 ing by leading Chinamen — The introduction of foreign cotton 
 cloth and thread — The introduction of steamboats and rail- 
 ways — The discontinuance of the use of junks — The lesson of 
 history and experience — The foreigners must either leave China 
 or insist upon the introduction of approved reforms — Pub- 
 licists will contend that foreigners cannot withdraw. 
 
 Aftee the relief of the legations the allied command- 
 ers proceeded to pacify the country within reach of Pe- 
 king. They sent out punitory expeditions, to disperse 
 the Boxers, to restore order among the people, and, in 
 some cases, to secure restitution to the missionaries and 
 their Christian converts. It is not to be forgotten that 
 during the Boxer pandemonium the mission churches, 
 schoolhouses, and hospitals were destroyed wherever they 
 were found, the missionaries were killed or driven out 
 of the country, and the native converts and servants were 
 ruthlessly put to death or compelled to flee for their 
 lives. Whatever may have been the motive — whether 
 poverty, patriotism, fanaticism, a strenuous struggle for 
 life, or an absolute and genuine hatred of the foreigner, 
 his ways, and his religion — ^the work of destruction was 
 
 387 
 
388 CHINA 
 
 well done. The village leader, the Boxer swashbuckler, 
 and the local official vied with each other in making it 
 complete. They spared neither age, sex, nor condition. 
 Men, women, young girls, and babies were alike objects 
 of their vengeance, and were despoiled of all their earthly 
 possessions. But all at once there came a change. The 
 allied forces had arrived, the Boxers had fled, their 
 boasted invulnerability had proved delusive. Tung- 
 fu-lisiang's Kansu braves no less than Jung Lu's Impe- 
 rial troops had found it impossible to face the " foreign 
 devils." All had fled toward the remote recesses of the 
 empire. The Empress Dowager, with the court, the 
 high dignitaries, the women and the servants, had gone 
 oS with scanty escort and insufficient supplies, to escape 
 certain capture and humiliation. 
 
 The city was occupied and parceled into sections by 
 the conquerors, the temples were desecrated, the palaces 
 were despoiled, and the sacred places were occupied as 
 quarters and camps, without the slightest regard to their 
 religious or secular character. For weeks after the com- 
 ing of the allies but little regard was paid to the rights 
 of persons and property. Every Chinaman who was sus- 
 pected of being a Boxer, or was seen across a field with 
 even a hoe handle in his possession, was shot down with- 
 out compunction. Horses, mules, cattle, carts, and pro- 
 visions were taken for the use of the troops wherever 
 found, and without reference to ownership. Diplomats 
 and missionaries, as well as soldiers, helped themselves 
 without hesitation to abandoned property, porcelains, 
 furs, and curios generally. Even those who were un- 
 willing to despoil the innocent for the punishment of the 
 guilty seemed to want a memento, and generally they 
 were not content with one, but took as many as they 
 could get. Some sought restitution for their actual 
 losses, while others took what they or their servants 
 could find, on the theory that if the Chinese had been 
 victorious they would have killed all the foreigners and 
 
GENERAL ORDERS NO. 100 389 
 
 made away with all their property. Having reached the 
 scene of action after most of the looting was over, I saw 
 but little of it; but, from all I could hear, pillage, killing, 
 burning, rapine, and wanton destruction of property, as 
 was the custom of primitive men in times of war, seem to 
 be yet a part of the practice of European and Asiatic 
 armies. They are perhaps mitigated by discipline, and in 
 some degree minimized by custom, but they have by no 
 means disappeared, especially where the vanquished be- 
 longs to a pagan or less highly civilized race. Under 
 General Orders No. 100, prepared by Prof. Francis Lie- 
 ber, in 1863, and issued for the government of the United 
 States army, all such practices are forbidden, and no 
 officer or soldier can acquire a valid title to property 
 taken from the enemy till after it has been turned over 
 to the proper supply department and duly issued or sold, 
 as prescribed by the regulations. As soon as I took 
 command at Peking I reissued this order, and enjoined its 
 rigid observance upon all the officers and men of the com- 
 mand. Such articles as were turned in, and not required 
 for issue, were sold, and the proceeds applied to paying 
 the expenses of the city government instituted in the sec- 
 tions controlled by the Americans. The sum obtained 
 was insignificant, but it was applie'd for the beneiit of 
 the Chinese, and not of the foreigners. 
 
 It must be admitted that the rank and file of every 
 modern army contain thieves and marauders, and that 
 ours is not exempt from this despicable class. ISTeither 
 is it to be denied that such of them as were found in our 
 ranks, whether of the land or marine forces, stole at first 
 whatever they could get their hands on as opportunity 
 offered; but this had been vigorously prohibited by Gen- 
 eral Chaffee and his subordinate commanders before I 
 got there, and it is confidently believed that brutalities, 
 rapine, wanton killing, and unnecessary burning are but 
 seldom, if ever, resorted to by American soldiers. If they 
 are not so highly disciplined in the smaller matters as 
 
390 CHINA 
 
 the best of the European and Asiatic troops, they are 
 certainly equal to them in fighting capacity, and far 
 superior in humanity and regard for the rights of per- 
 sons and property. Without dwelling longer upon this 
 painful subject, which even under the most favorable 
 view of it is profoundly to be regretted, it may be said 
 that the action of the foreign troops did not seem to 
 surprise the Chinese. The men, both of high and 
 low degree, whether in the army or the civil service of 
 the country, generally ran away upon the approach of 
 the foreigners, frequently leaving their women and chil- 
 dren, as well as their property, to fall into the hands 
 of the enemy; and it was no uncommon case for the 
 women to throw themselves into the well, or into the 
 river, to drown themselves for fear of a worse fate. This 
 was especially the case at Tung-Chow, where some of the 
 foreign troops gave unbridled license to their passion 
 for rapine, robbery, and destruction. 
 
 It is a pleasure for me to add that the Chinese rapidly 
 responded to the efforts made by myself and the Jap- 
 anese commander to restore order and to re-establish 
 the customary condition of affairs. Accepting the as- 
 surances contained in the proclamations issued by my 
 direction that all who laid down their arms, returned to 
 their homes and resumed their peaceful pursuits, should 
 have protection without cost, and that any one offering to 
 sell it to them should be punished upon denunciation 
 and conviction, they poured in from both outside and 
 inside of the city in such numbers as to overflow the 
 houses and overcrowd the streets. The shops, markets, 
 granaries, fruit stands, and banks were opened; the 
 street lanterns were relighted, and in a few days the 
 hum and noise of the crowds were as great as before the 
 allies had made their appearance. There was no indi- 
 cation of excitement or distrust. The people were or- 
 derly and well-behaved; they required few police, and 
 gave little trouble to the provost guards or courts. 
 
LI HUNG-CHANG REAPPOINTED VICEROY 391 
 
 On the contrary, they went out of their way to testify 
 their high appreciation of the American officers and 
 their administration, and to present to General Chaf- 
 fee, Major Tillson, and myself rich silk umbrellas, prop- 
 erly inscribed with sentiments of gratitude for the jus- 
 tice and consideration with which we had treated them. 
 Their example was followed later in other quarters, but 
 it is simple justice to say that the Americans and Jap- 
 anese were the first to gain their confidence and to re- 
 ceive their grateful acknowledgments. 
 
 On his reassumption of control as Viceroy of the 
 Province of Chihli, to which he was recalled by the Em- 
 press Dowager after it had become evident that the move- 
 ment to expel the foreigners would be a failure, Li Hung- 
 Chang set about enforcing order, restoring the civil 
 administration, and suppressing the Boxers with a strong 
 hand, which, together with the punitory expeditions of 
 the allies, soon scattered the armed bodies and put an end 
 to every vestige of organized resistance throughout the 
 whole of northeastern China. Some writers and experts, 
 like Sir Eobert Hart, seem to think this is but the calm 
 before a still greater storm — the quiet before another 
 outbreak — and it is possible they may be right; but, so 
 far as I can see, there is absolutely no ground in Chinese 
 precedent for Sir Eobert's suggestion, and no indication 
 that his fears have any other foundation than his own 
 ideas of what the Chinese could do if they were once 
 thoroughly aroused, and organized for operations 
 against the modern world. 
 
 Of course there will be secret and patriotic societies, 
 rebellious outbreaks, and even foreign wars hereafter, as 
 heretofore, in China, because there will continue to be 
 want, suffering, bad government, and foreign aggressions 
 in spite of all efforts, whether internal or external, to in- 
 troduce a better condition of affairs. The present is 
 more than ever a period of transition, and human agen- 
 cies are more or less imperfect. Progress among the 
 
392 CHINA 
 
 people will give rise to friction. Improvement in the 
 conditions of life in China, as well as elsewhere, can come 
 only as a victory over opposition and conservatism, but 
 that it will come seems to be certain. Indeed, the con- 
 flict with the foreign powers in the last analysis is but a 
 step in the process through which China is compelled 
 to adopt a newer if not better civilization; and while it 
 may have been forced upon her in violation of natural 
 law, in open and flagrant disregard of her sovereign right 
 to govern herself and her own people in accordance with 
 her own code of ethics and religion, it is apparently her 
 inevitable fate, and she must submit, as all other races 
 and nations have submitted. " The greater forces," as 
 they are designated by Prof. Goldwin Smith — the moral, 
 commercial, and intellectual tendencies of the age, of 
 which governments and armies are but the unconscious 
 instruments — are directed against her, and with her dis- 
 organization and helplessness there is nothing left for 
 her but to submit, and she must submit to anything and, 
 indeed, everything upon which the intervening powers 
 themselves agree, and which they concur in demanding. 
 In view of the dangers and diverse interests which 
 lie beyond the establishment of peace, the restitution of 
 the Emperor to his rightful functions, the punishment of 
 the guilty, and the prevention of similar outrages in the 
 future, it is to be hoped that the foreign nations will 
 use their powers and their opportunities with such mod- 
 eration and wisdom as to promote the economic, the 
 moral, and the intellectual improvement of the Chinese 
 Government and of the Chinese people. With the best 
 they can do, great changes must follow in the condition 
 and relations of all classes from the introduction of the 
 methods and appliances of modern civilization. It is 
 the part of enlightened statesmanship to see that these 
 changes are introduced conservatively, justly, and hon- 
 estly, and for the good of China and the Chinese as well 
 as in the interest of the rest of the world. Great social 
 
ECONOMIC CHANGES 393 
 
 and economic disturbances have already followed, and 
 must continue to result from the introduction of foreign 
 ideas, foreign articles of commerce, and the appliances of 
 foreign civilization, nearly all of which were in direct con- 
 flict with those of the Chinese, and were opposed in every 
 instance with earnestness and firmness by all the argu- 
 ments and means which were at their disposal. In this 
 connection it is only necessary to recall the wars and con- 
 tentions which have been briefly referred to in this nar- 
 rative. The Chinese are a nation of merchants naturally 
 tolerant of all other merchants, and yet the first efforts 
 of the foreigners to open trade with China gave rise to 
 great commotion, which finally culminated in the opium 
 war, the ignominious defeat of the Chinese, and the un- 
 limited introduction of that pernicious drug. As a con- 
 sequence a large portion of the race has become addicted 
 to opium smoking, which is believed by close observers to 
 have resulted in a material increase of the death-rate and 
 a distract decrease in the social efficiency of the race. 
 Fifteen years ago the Governor-General of Formosa, Liu 
 Miug-Chuan, told me that he regarded it as the greatest 
 curse of China. Since then the Viceroy Chang Chih- 
 Tung has joined in the denunciation, with the declaration 
 that " millions upon millions have been struck down by 
 the scourge. To-day it is running like wildfire, spread- 
 ing devastation everywhere, wrecking the minds and eat- 
 ing away the strength of its victims." While he does not 
 charge that the foreigners were first to teach the Chinese 
 to use opium, or that riots and -outbreaks were directly 
 traceable thereto, it is certain that he, along with other 
 thoughtful Chinamen, regards the British as having made 
 themselves morally responsible for the legalization and 
 extension of the trade, and therefore for the degradation, 
 misery, and discontentment which have been on the in- 
 crease, and which have done indirectly so much of late 
 years to promote outbreaks, especially that of the Boxers 
 against the foreigners. 
 28 
 
394 CHINA 
 
 Curious as it may seem, the introduction of cotton 
 cloth from England and America, and more recently of 
 cotton thread from India and Japan, has also been a po- 
 tential factor in disturbing the settled condition of affairs 
 and in making life more difficult for a large number of 
 Chinese people. This trade has thrown hundreds of thou- 
 sands, perhaps millions, of native men and women out of 
 employment, and, as the business of spinning and weav- 
 ing has been for all time mostly confined to the old and 
 feeble, the resulting distress has been even greater than 
 the numbers involved, large as they are, would indicate. 
 "When it is remembered that nearly all the clothing of the 
 Chinese people is made of cotton, and that nearly every 
 family grew, cleaned, spun, and wove its own supply, the 
 extent of the disturbance and its consequences may be 
 partly imagined. 
 
 The introduction of steamboats and steamships on the 
 great rivers and in the coasting trade has displaced the 
 junks and thrown a countless number of boats and boat- 
 men out of employment. This is a more serious matter 
 than it might appear at first sight. The change, al- 
 though gradual, is a radical one, affecting not only the 
 boating class, but the builders and lumbermen, as well as 
 the men employed in the maintenance of the canals. 
 The Grand Canal, which has been elsewhere fully de- 
 scribed, was formerly the main artery of communication 
 between the Yang-tse-kiang and the Imperial capital. 
 The transportation of the tribute rice to Peking, and of 
 other merchandise between the various towns and cities 
 along its course, gave employment to an innumerable 
 throng of boatmen and tradespeople, who have been 
 forced into other callings by the competition of the 
 steamers. Still others have been driven out by the rail- 
 roads; and as the railroads are extended, as they doubt- 
 less will be, more and more people will be forced to find 
 new occupations, poverty and discontentment will in- 
 crease, temporarily at least, and there will be a growing 
 
ECONOMIC CHANGES 395 
 
 tendency to exaggerate the want and snffering which will 
 be attributed to the foreigners and their innovations. 
 Eailroad building will be followed by the opening of 
 mines, the construction of furnaces and smelting works, 
 the erection of rolling mills, machine shops and fac- 
 tories, and a general change from hand labor to the use 
 of machines and labor-saving appliances. The Chinese 
 system, sanctified by custom as old as the country itself, 
 will be replaced by the system of the modern world, and 
 while it will in the end create new occupations and new 
 wealth, it must give rise to further economic disturbances 
 followed in time by individual and class distress, which 
 the ignorant and superstitious will inevitably attribute 
 to the foreigner and his innovations. It can not be 
 otherwise. The vicious series will be completed by ani- 
 mosity and hatred, and they upon special occasions, such 
 as an unusual flood or a general failure of crops, will 
 develop into outbreaks and violence on the part of the 
 people which nothing can restrain or prevent except an 
 enlightened and benevolent government. This is the les- 
 son of history and experience, and brings us again face to 
 face with the fact that the foreigners must either leave 
 China and the Chinese free to go on indefinitely in the 
 old customs and settled ways, or see to it that their repre- 
 sentatives shall introduce approved reforms of the Chi- 
 nese Government and administration in all its branches, 
 and shall encourage them as far as possible in such man- 
 ner as to minimize their hurtful effects, and magnify 
 their benefits to the Chinese people as well as to the rest 
 of the world. 
 
 It will doubtless be contended by publicists and 
 statesmen, as well as by promoters and business men 
 everywhere, that the outside world has gone too far in its 
 efforts to force its trade, its religion, and its civilization 
 upon China; that the latter has already conceded too 
 much, and that the prospects for future concessions are 
 too alluring to permit the serious consideration of the 
 
396 CHINA 
 
 suggestion that the foreigners should now retire and 
 leave China to its own devices. This would perhaps be 
 in accordance with the golden rule, whether looked at 
 from the Confucian or the Christian point of view; but 
 in this commercial age it will in all human probability 
 be considered as impracticable. Hence,- 1 purpose in the 
 next chapter to consider the actual situation and interests 
 of the various powers in respect to China, and to offer 
 some speculations as to the course they may be expected 
 to follow in the immediate and more remote future. 
 
CHAPTEE XXV 
 
 Interests and designs of treaty powers — Attitude of Russia toward 
 Great Britain — Their spheres of influence — Russia independent 
 of other powers — Co-operation of Russia and Prance — Policy 
 of France — Situation of Germany — England's desire for ex- 
 pansion and trade — Possibility of British occupancy of the 
 Yang-tse-kiang Valley — Attitude of Japan — Interests of other 
 treaty powers — The United States' interests purely commercial 
 — No purpose and no excuse for territorial expansion — Their 
 natural policy the maintenance of the Empire — China's future 
 supremacy in coal and iron trade. 
 
 Much has been written, since the occupation of Pe- 
 king by the allies, in regard to the real interests and de- 
 signs of the various treaty powers in respect to China 
 and their relations with it, but, important as the subject 
 is, it is an exceedingly difficult one to discuss intelligent- 
 ly. Nothing can be known as to the real purposes of the 
 European governments, for it is not their custom to take 
 the public into their confidence on questions of such diffi- 
 culty as those which have grown out of the China trade 
 and the recent Boxer outbreak. Their tendencies and 
 desires may be fairly indicated by the course of events in 
 which they have participated, and their ultimate pur- 
 poses may be inferred therefrom; but it is not always 
 safe to predicate the future from what has taken place 
 in the past. 
 
 If this were a safe rule, we might assert with some 
 degree of positiveness that Russia and Great Britain 
 would surely divide China between them. They are in- 
 dubitably the two great Asiatic powers, and have actu- 
 
 397 
 
398 CHINA 
 
 ally divided or established their paramount influence over 
 almost the whole of that vast continent. Eussia has over- 
 run and annexed all of Korthern Asia, from the Ural 
 Mountains to the Pacific Ocean; while Great Britain has 
 extended her absolute sway over India and Burmah, holds 
 the Isthmus of Suez and the Eed Sea, and has a dominat- 
 ing influence in Asia Minor, Arabia, and Persia, though 
 of late 'years Eussia has shown a disposition to contest 
 the supremacy of England ia Persia, and the two coun- 
 tries have been more than once ia the last decade on the 
 point of actual hostilities as to the boundary between 
 the Eussian dependencies on the one side, and Persia 
 and Afghanistan on the other. 
 
 Ten years ago, in an article entitled Manifest Des- 
 tiny in Asia, I suggested that it was then possible, if not 
 probable, that Great Britain and Eussia would extend 
 their modus vivendi in regard to the Afghan frontier to 
 an agreement which would result in the division of 
 China between them. It seemed feasible at that time, 
 and in view of their unchecked advance in that direction, 
 it appeared to be the inevitable end at which both powers 
 were aiming. But whether it was due to an aroused pub- 
 lic conscience in Great Britain, or to an unwillingness of 
 the great rivals to trust each other, it is certain that the 
 agreement was not made, although certain British jour- 
 nals indicated a softening of the national animosities, and 
 a disposition to favor Eussia's desires for an ice-free port 
 in the North Pacific, and even for an outlet in the Per- 
 sian Gulf. Whatever may have been the difficulty in the 
 way of a complete understanding, it must, for the present 
 at least, remain unknown. They have ceased, indeed, to 
 be important, for the opportunity has either passed en- 
 tirely, or the difficulties in the way of its improvement 
 have become so much more formidable than they were 
 that the danger may now be dismissed as of but slight 
 significance. 
 
 In this connection it may be well to recall the fact 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF RUSSIA 399 
 
 that Eussia, by the construction of the Trans-Siberian 
 railroad, and the acquisition of Manchuria, by tenancy at 
 least, has secured an inexpugnable line of military com- 
 munication with China and the far East, together with a 
 base of operations in IManchuria, that not only make her 
 independent of Great Britain and her sea power, or of 
 any other national combination which might be formed 
 against her, but enable her to concentrate her troops 
 and munitions entirely at leisure, to make her own op- 
 portunity and to choose her own time for such further 
 operations as she may decide upon. 
 
 This is a momentous fact, which must be considered 
 in every aspect and in connection with every suggested 
 solution of the Chinese question. Although Russia is 
 one of the poorest countries in the world, when the per 
 capita value of her productions is considered, she is abso- 
 lutely independent of all the powers of the earth in 
 dealing with China. Neither sea power nor land power 
 can disturb her directly. The nations of Western Eu- 
 rope might combine to attack and cripple her in her 
 European possessions, but they could not assail her any- 
 where in Siberia or along the northern borders of China, 
 nor for a day interrupt her communications with the far 
 East. All the navies of the world united could not dis- 
 turb the concentration or the supply of her troops along 
 the northern borders of China or in Manchuria. She 
 would have only the deserts and barren steppes to cross, 
 but even that she could do by throwing out branch lines 
 from her great railway as circumstances might appear to 
 require. She may therefore take as much or as little of 
 China as she wants, and choose her own time for doing it. 
 So far as the other powers are concerned, they may hold 
 on to what they have already acquired, but they have 
 only the moderation and the poverty of Eussia to depend 
 upon for the present to restrain or moderate her desire 
 for the further extension of her dominion in the far 
 East. 
 
400 CHINA 
 
 The alliance of Russia with France has led to an active 
 co-operation between them in China, and it is altogether 
 likely that there is an understanding which will make one 
 the active support of the other in almost any contingency 
 which can arise in Chinese affairs. It will be remem- 
 bered that Prance has established herself firmly in Co- 
 chin-China, Tonking, Anam, and Cambodia, an extensive 
 region bordering on southern and southeastern China, 
 containing 242,743 square miles of territory, and a popu- 
 lation of 18,000,000 souls. It has been suggested that it 
 is the policy of these powers, in case China is divided, to 
 connect their possessions by an absorption of the inter- 
 vening Chinese provinces, but this seems hardly reason- 
 able. Cochin-China is separated from Manchuria by 
 thirteen provinces of Eastern China, extending over 
 twenty degrees of latitude, and any attempt to absorb 
 these provinces, or to divide them between France and 
 Eussia, would inevitably result in bringing on a conflict 
 with both Germany and England, if not with Japan. 
 The magnitude of the operation, and the strength of the 
 coalition which would necessarily spring into existence 
 to resist it, would seem to be a conclusive argument 
 against the undertaking. 
 
 It must not be overlooked, however, in the considera- 
 tion of the Chinese question, that the situation of France 
 in southeastern Asia, and her policy in regard to the 
 general subject of colonization, is in some degree different 
 from that of any other European power, and will strongly 
 tend to influence her to the adoption of an entirely inde- 
 pendent course. France has about reached her maxi- 
 aum of population and production. The struggle for 
 life is becoming more and more strenuous year by year. 
 Her expenses are generally in excess of her income. She 
 is afflicted by a large parasitic class living upon the Gov- 
 ernment, or the plain people, and hence she is compelled 
 to look abroad for regions which she may rule and exploit, 
 not only to find employment for her adventurous class. 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF FRANCE 40I 
 
 but which she may trade with, in order to bring profit to 
 her commercial and manufacturing classes, and thus 
 ameliorate, however slightly, the condition of those who 
 remain at home. If this is a correct statement of her 
 general condition, it must tend inevitably to strengthen 
 the colonial policy, and ultimately to beget a sentiment 
 in favor of the extension of her sphere of interest, if not 
 her dominion in southeastern Asia. However strongly 
 she may now advocate the maintenance of the integrity 
 of the Chinese Empire and the re-establishment of the 
 Manchu dynasty on the Throne, her interest and her 
 natural cupidity must cause her to view with a spirit of 
 resignation any failure to reach a peaceable settlement 
 on that basis with the Imperial representatives at Peking. 
 In other words, it appears that whatever may be the in- 
 terest and policy of the other powers in the direction indi- 
 cated, France has but little to lose and perhaps much to 
 gain by the outright partition of China, or its subdivision 
 into definite spheres of influence and interest. 
 
 As to Germany, she has secured from China a lease 
 of the excellent port of Kiao-Chao, and the surrounding 
 country in the Province of Shantung, for a base of com- 
 mercial operations, as an offset to the lease of Port Arthur 
 to Eussia, and of Wei-hai-wei to Great Britain. Both 
 France and Eussia have agreed to the arrangements, and 
 this precludes them from asking or expecting her to with- 
 draw at any future time in their favor. Indeed, it 
 strengthens the probability that she would rather insist 
 upon territorial extension, or the enlargement of her 
 sphere of influence to cover the whole of Shantung, Ki- 
 angsu, and Honan, in case China could not for any reason 
 pay the indemnities which will be exacted of her, or give 
 satisfactory assurances against further disturbances and 
 outbreaks. It seems reasonably certain that Germany 
 has made her position in eastern China quite secure, 
 whether her final policy be to stand still or go forward. 
 Her policy of expansion is commercial, if not territorial. 
 
402 CHINA 
 
 and in the event of disagreement in reference to the 
 measures now under consideration, she will surely be 
 able to enforce any reasonable demands which she may 
 choose to make of the Chinese. 
 
 The situation of Great Britain, even with the lease 
 of Wei-hai-wei and the extension of her possessions on 
 the mainland in the neighborhood of Hong-Kong, does 
 not appear to have been relatively strengthened in China. 
 Her preponderance of sea power, however great it may be, 
 it has been shown, is of but little consequence as against 
 Eussia's line of railway communicatioii and her coter- 
 minous boundary with China. Her adoption of the 
 " open door " policy, which is explained as meaning 
 " equal trade privileges for all," is of too recent adop- 
 tion and of too altruistic a character to receive gen- 
 eral acceptance from the nations to which she has 
 always appeared as the most eager for trade and terri- 
 torial expansion. It may be fairly contended in their in- 
 terest that where two go into the same door, one goes 
 behind. There is a homely adage to the effect that 
 " where two ride the same horse, one must ride behind." 
 Both seem to be true in the Orient as well as elsewhere, 
 and those familiar with Oriental trade questions know 
 that, however liberal her policy has been in this respect. 
 Great Britain has managed to hold the bulk of the trade; 
 and that whatever concessions have been secured by other 
 nations, have been conceded by China under the favored 
 nations clause of her treaties, and not as an act of grace 
 from Great Britain. There has never been any difference 
 of opinion as to the favored nations clause, or the ex- 
 tension of equal trade privileges to all the powers by the 
 Chinese Government; and recently the American Gov- 
 ernment has received an unequivocal acknowledgment 
 from all the great powers of their intention to respect and 
 uphold this important principle of international relation- 
 ship. Friendship in such matters counts for nothing. 
 It is the habitual policy of the European powers — Great 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF GREAT BRITAIN 403 
 
 Britain first on the list — while conceding equal trade 
 privileges to the rest as a safe working rule in China, to 
 exert themselves to the utmost to secure not only a 
 majority of the mercantile business, but to carry off the 
 concessions and contracts of every sort for people of their 
 own nationality. Of late years commercial wars are 
 waged quite as sharply in their way, by the European 
 nations, as military or naval wars, and no favor need be 
 expected from any one. Each will hold all it can by its 
 influence over the local authorities and the commercial 
 classes, and where its sovereignty prevails it will gener- 
 ally manage to exclude all alien or foreign merchants, 
 without reference to equality of trade privileges. After 
 that the person or nation which can make the quickest 
 deliveries, the lowest prices, and sell the best quality of 
 goods gets the trade. Great Britain has had many ad- 
 vantages in these respects, but realizing now that those 
 advantages are disappearing, and that the United States, 
 on account of their proximity to China, their capacity to 
 produce better goods, and to deliver them at less cost, are 
 securing the market, British statesmen are putting forth 
 their best arguments to induce the United States to stand 
 with her in opposition to the supposed commercial hos- 
 tility of the other powers. 
 
 Much stress has been laid by Captain Mahan upon the 
 advantages which it is assumed might accrue to the 
 allies from their enormous sea power, in case a coalition 
 could be made between Great Britain, Germany, and 
 France, as against Eussia; but the necessity for such an 
 alliance or the likelihood of its formation is far from 
 apparent. It is certainly not so near at hand as to justify 
 any unusual extension of our own sea power, or any wide 
 departure at present from our traditional policy of 
 "Friendly relations with all nations; entangling alli- 
 ances with none "! When it is considered that our own 
 national expansion should be continental, like that of 
 Eussia, rather than across sea, as that of Great Britain, 
 
404 CHINA 
 
 France, and Germany has been of late years at least, it 
 may well be asked if our natural friendship and alliance 
 in Chinese matters should not be with Eussia, our old- 
 time friend, and not with Great Britain, our old-time 
 enemy? 
 
 Be the answer to this question what it may, its further 
 discussion is not germane to this work. It is not to be 
 disguised, however, that the Oriental policy of Great Brit- 
 ain has undergone a marked change since the days of 
 Olive, Hastings, Wellesley, Sir John Lawrence, and even 
 of Lord Amherst and Lord Elgin. Her capacity to con- 
 quer and absorb seems to have been somewhat overtaxed, 
 especially since the South African war, and this perforce 
 compels her to adopt a more liberal and a more lenient 
 policy toward the Chinese. Fortunately, it is also more 
 just and more conformable to our own, and for this rea- 
 son it should be encouraged by the Government of the 
 United States as well as by the American trade journals; 
 but even with their help it is by no means certain that 
 Great Britain will be able to adhere to it to the end. In 
 the event of any misunderstanding between the powers 
 which prevents the completion of the settlement with 
 China, on the basis now under consideration, or which 
 is followed by the partition of that country, or its sub- 
 division into spheres of interest or influence, as has been 
 so frequently considered in the last decade, it will be 
 necessary, or Great Britain may think herself compelled 
 to conform to the action of the other European powers, 
 and reach out for a share of the decaying empire. It is 
 known that she has already taken steps to secure priority 
 in the Valley of the Yang-tse-kiang, which she claims 
 especially as her sphere of interest. She has secured an 
 admission from the Chinese Government, or some one 
 presuming to represent that Government, that it has not 
 given a prior right to any other power in that region, and 
 on this she bases her pretensions. In other words, she 
 has in a more or less guarded manner filed her claim 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF GREAT BRITAIN 405 
 
 for a pre-emption over that great region, and it is within 
 the range of . possibility that she may find herself com- 
 pelled by the policy of others to make her claim good. 
 Obyionsly she would like to have allies in this contin- 
 gency, and the stronger and more powerful they are at 
 sea the better it will be for her. But is she likely to find 
 such allies? The chances appear to be against it, and yet 
 her straits may not be so desperate as they appear. By 
 her own sea power she may be able to keep her sea route 
 from England to India open, and as she is also a very great 
 Asiatic power — even a greater one, so far as population is 
 concerned, than Eussia — she may base her operations 
 upon India and Burmah, and entering China by the back 
 door, with an Indian army of any strength she chooses 
 to organize, she may occupy the Valley of the Yang-tse- 
 kiang even to its mouth. If two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand are not enough men, she may easily make it five hun- 
 dred thousand, or a million; and while it may be truth- 
 fully contended that these Asiatic soldiers are unable to 
 fight Europeans successfully, enoiigh of them may be 
 arrayed to make good their occupation of the territory 
 which it is desired to hold. Of course, there may not 
 be enough Englishmen to furnish all the ofEcers required 
 to organize and command such a force, and money in 
 abundance will be needed to defray the necessary ex- 
 penses; but good white officers may be had from the fed- 
 erated empire in sufficient numbers, especially from 
 Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, by the Judicious use 
 of titles, with fair pay and allowances, while money in 
 any reasonable quantity could probably be borrowed on 
 the credit of the Imperial British Government. It may 
 be urged that such a programme as this would be fatal, 
 as it might result in arming the Indian people against 
 their rulers. But it is the British Indian Empire which 
 would be imperiled by Eussian aggression, not the United 
 Kingdom; and while there might be danger in arming the 
 Indians, it would probably be less than in standing on 
 
406 CHUSTA 
 
 the defensive, or depending solely upon the cry of 
 " Equal trade privileges for all." A British Indian army, 
 properly organized and well handled, would probably gain 
 enough glory, according to the Asiatic standard, to with- 
 draw its attention from the wrongs of India. While it 
 could hardly hope to overcome a European army, it is 
 quite certain that it could easily defeat any army the 
 Chinese could send against it, and by mere force of 
 numbers it would probably discourage any European 
 power from disputing the theater of influence with it. 
 Additional railroads would be needed for such a move- 
 ment, not only in India and Burmah, but in China, and 
 these would add heavily to the expense, but they would 
 themselves be useful as instruments of commerce, and 
 meanwhile their construction would afford employment 
 to people who would otherwise be discontented. This is 
 but a speculation, and neither time nor the occasion will 
 permit the development of its details; but, improbable as 
 it may now appear, it is within the range of possibility 
 that it may become a reality in no distant era of the 
 world's history. In dealing with the problems of Asia, 
 involving, as they do, half the world's population, every- 
 thing or anything is possible which any man may dream 
 of or suggest. 
 
 The attitude of Japan is one of expectancy. As al- 
 ready pointed out, her victory over China in the late war 
 between them was complete and overwhelming, but she 
 was deprived of the base on the mainland, which she 
 had taken as an indemnity, by the joint action of Eussia, 
 Germany, and Prance. She is, however, within two and 
 a half days' sail by transport from the Chinese coast, and 
 can easily land her forces whenever she may think it 
 desirable to do so. That she is sincerely favorable to the 
 maintenance of the integrity of the Chinese Empire and 
 the continuance of the Manchu dynasty on the Throne, 
 can hardly be doubted. It will be remembered that it 
 was clearly demonstrated by her complete victory over 
 
THE ATTITUDE OP JAPAN 407 
 
 China in 1895, that Peking was within her grasp, that 
 she could easily overthrow the dynasty, and that she 
 could have even placed a new Emperor on the throne be- 
 fore the European powers could intervene to prevent it. 
 These are not after-thoughts, but convictions, which were 
 fully understood by the leading Japanese statesmen and 
 generals of the day. They did not doubt the feasibility 
 of either of these suggestions, but in a spirit of forbear- 
 ance, accentuated, perhaps, by the fear of European in- 
 terference, they confined their operations to Corea, the 
 Eegent's Sword, Wei-hai-wei, and the intervening lands 
 and waters, and, as a result of their victory, took their 
 indemnity mainly in money and commercial privileges. 
 It has been pointed out also that the protocols to the 
 treaty of peace contain a conversation, heretofore cited, 
 between Count Ito and Earl Li, which might well be con- 
 strued as foreshadowing a coalition between the two 
 great branches of the yellow race to resist the encroach- 
 ments of the white race; and there is no doubt that this 
 thought found favor with both Chinese and Japanese 
 statesmen till the utter futility of it was demonstrated 
 by the incapacity exhibited by the Chinese to carry on 
 war successfully against the foreigners. It may be fairly 
 assumed, therefore, that whatever may have been the real 
 intention of these two great Oriental statesmen when it 
 was formulated, it has been abandoned as premature and 
 impracticable. 
 
 Meanwhile, it is certain that while Japan is in full 
 accord with the United States in the policy of forbearance 
 toward China, she would find herself forced to follow the 
 three great European powers in the partition of China, 
 should such a measure for any reason be adopted. In 
 other words, should Eussia, Germany, and France decide 
 upon that course, as it is always possible they may do, 
 Japan would probably concur in it, rather than join Great 
 Britain in opposing it at the risk of a general war. 
 
 From the foregoing it seems to be clear that Eussia, 
 
408 CHINA 
 
 whatever may be her ulterior course or purpose, occupies 
 an impregnable position in northern and eastern Asia, 
 holds an unassailable land line connecting her with 
 China, and may continue to pursue a course of secret or 
 open aggression, or of outright friendship and abstention 
 toward China, with absolute independence of the rest of 
 the world; that France has bound herself to concur in 
 any course which Eussia may adopt, and is rather im- 
 pelled by her necessities at home to adopt a policy of 
 expansion; and, finally, that Germany, while free to Join 
 with or oppose the other two nations, is forced by her 
 position at Kiao-Chao, and by her policy of commer- 
 cial expansion, to concur in any aggressive measures — 
 even the partition of China — her allies may consider it 
 expedient to adopt. 
 
 The other European treaty powers — Spain, Italy, Aus- 
 tria, Belgium, and Holland — have too little present or 
 prospective interest in Chinese trade to justify them in 
 taking an independent part in the settlement of the 
 world's relations with China. They have heretofore 
 concurred in the general policy of the Continental na- 
 tions, and, in any further complications, may be expected 
 to follow the course adopted by them. Belgium and 
 Holland will probably be guided by France, whom they 
 represent in several valuable concessions, while Spain, 
 Italy, and Austria will throw the weight of their influ- 
 ence in whatever direction opportunity seems to favor. 
 
 This brings us to the United States, whose interests 
 are purely commercial. They have always frankly stated 
 them, and as they are free from any taint, discredit, or 
 misrepresentation due to a desire for territorial acquisi- 
 tions or expansion at the expense of China, they can be 
 easily stated and readily understood. Efforts have been 
 made to confuse them by the suggestion that with a se- 
 cure base in the Philippines, the Government could suc- 
 cessfully conduct military operations on the mainland. 
 It has even been stated that a base on the mainland — a 
 
THE ATTITUDE OP THE UNITED STATES 409 
 
 seaport and a coaling station — could be had at Fu-Chau, 
 Han-cliau, or Mng-po, and that the province of Cheh- 
 kiang would fall naturally to the lot of the United States, 
 either as a permanent possession or as a part of the 
 American sphere of interest, should the present plan of 
 settlement come to naught. An ingenious argument in 
 regard to the advantages of sea power, and apparently in 
 favor of an alliance with Great Britain for the main- 
 tenance of the " open door " policy, has been recently 
 put forth, and this argument has been made to support 
 not only such an alliance, but an indefinite increase of the 
 navy. "Without reference to the fact that no nation is 
 now opposing the " open door " policy, and that no 
 amount of sea power can possibly interfere with any ul- 
 terior plans of Eussia, it may be fairly claimed that the 
 argument alluded to, however interesting it may be as 
 applied to Great Britain on one side and the allied Con- 
 tinental powers on the other, has no direct application to 
 the United States, for the good and sufficient reason that 
 the latter have no purpose and no just excuse for the 
 acquisition of a territorial base or a sphere of interest 
 on the mainland of China. Indeed, there is no authority, 
 except in the Congress or the treaty-making power, to 
 acquire such possessions; and in view of the well-known 
 continental policy of the United States, it would be a 
 bold statesman who would avail himself of the accident 
 by which the Philippines fell under their control, or of 
 the specious argument alluded to above, to advocate so 
 wide a departure from the national policy as the acquisi- 
 tion of territorial possessions anywhere on the Continent 
 of Asia would be. Fortunately, no such acquisition is 
 necessary for safeguarding American interests in that 
 quarter of the world, whether they relate to the rights 
 of missionaries or to those of merchants and promoters. 
 In view of the fact that the coal measures of the 
 United Kingdom are becoming exhausted, and the cost of 
 coal is increasing to such an extent that the supremacy of 
 29 
 
410 CHINA 
 
 England in the metal trades has already passed to Amer- 
 ica, and that in turn the time will doubtless come, within 
 a few hundred years at most, when the American coal 
 measures will become exhausted, and her supremacy in 
 the metal trades will pass on to China, whose coal meas- 
 ures and iron deposits are commonly believed to be the 
 most extensive and the most enduring in the world. In- 
 deed, it may be contended that universal empire will have 
 its nucleus and seat in the country which contains these 
 last and greatest deposits of iron and fossil fuel; and the 
 philosophers are already considering whether it will be 
 an empire of white men or of yellow men. Personally, 
 I do not doubt it will be an empire in which white men 
 will everywhere be dominant; but be this as it may, the 
 question is not one which requires an answer from the 
 present generation, nor does it require the people of 
 America to lay out a policy now which will give them a 
 footing in Asia or a potential voice in the solution of its 
 imperial problems. 
 
 Fortunately for the American people, they hold a com- 
 manding continental position, bordering upon and encir- 
 cling the north Pacific Ocean, which will give them for all 
 time an advantage over any European nation in the trade 
 of eastern Asia. It will give them an advantage in the 
 Valley of the Yang-tse-kiang, as well as in the maritime 
 provinces, and with their present treaty stipulations for 
 equal trade privileges unimpaired, it is difficult to per- 
 ceive how any European nation can hope to surpass them 
 in supplying the demand for articles of foreign produc- 
 tion or manufacture. One of the main considerations for 
 the Americans is, to keep the ocean route always open 
 and well supplied with good and economical ships. They 
 should see to it that their merchants are enabled by wise 
 legislation to pay better prices, effect more favorable ex- 
 changes, sell superior goods at lower figures, and to in- 
 sure more prompt and satisfactory deliveries. They 
 should dismiss all commercial calculations based on the 
 
THE ATTITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES 411 
 
 idea of favoritism or friendship on the part of either 
 Europeans or Asiatics, and remembering that they have 
 never sold any wares, made any contracts, or secured any 
 concessions in China except on the basis I have just indi- 
 cated, they should push their trade with spirit, enterprise, 
 and pluck, no matter who their competitors may be. 
 Keeping these principles constantly in view, they can 
 well leave their Government to see that these trade priv- 
 ileges are not curtailed or impaired by any changes of the 
 Chinese Government or administrations which do not 
 affect all foreigners alike. 
 
 So far as can now be foreseen, such changes as may 
 grow out of the Boxer war, however radical. and far- 
 reaching they may be, are likely in the end to be followed 
 by increased commercial activity throughout the Chi- 
 nese Empire, and this is sure to inure more to the ad- 
 vantage of the United States than to that of any other 
 nation. While it is their plain duty, in furtherance of 
 their own commercial interests, as well as in support of 
 the rights of the Chinese, to favor the maintenance of the 
 integrity of the Empire, the re-establishment of the pres- 
 ent Emperor on his throne, the punishment of the persons 
 responsible for the attack upon the legations, and the 
 procurement of proper guarantees against further out- 
 breaks and disturbances, the world may rest assured that 
 anything beyond this, even to the dissolution of the em- 
 pire into its constituent provinces, or its partition be- 
 tween the allied powers, will leave the United States rela- 
 tively better off in respect to trade than any of their 
 competitors. 
 
CHAPTEE XXVI 
 
 Foreign powers consider the terms of settlement — Arrival of Li 
 Hung-Chang at Peking — Difficulty of communicating with the 
 United States and Europe cause of delay — Concert of the home 
 governments — Absence of plenipotentiaries from Peking — Pro- 
 visions of the American circular of July 3, 1900 — Its accept- 
 ance by the other powers — American special commissioners — 
 Identical note from the foreign plenipotentiaries — Its accept- 
 ance by the Chinese Government — Adequate punishment of 
 the Empress Dowager, Tung-lu, and Tung-fu-hsiaug imprac- 
 ticable — Terms of the identical note respect the integrity of 
 the Chinese Empire — They do not provide for effective reor- 
 ganization of the Government — Opposition of Chang-ohe-Tung 
 — Impossible to predict ultimate outcome — Ample room for 
 speculation — End. 
 
 As soon as order was restored and the people in 
 and about Peking had resumed their peaceful occupa- 
 tions, the diplomatic representatives of the foreign 
 powers began to consider among themselves the terms 
 of the settlement which should be made with the Chi- 
 nese Government. The absence, however, of the Gov- 
 ernment itself and its authorized representatives caused 
 much delay, and made all preliminary measures abortive. 
 The arrival of Li Hung-Chang with satisfactory powers 
 as the representative of the Chinese Government afforded 
 the first real opportunity for opening the discussion. 
 As previously stated, his conduct was frank, and his 
 admissions as to the liability of the Chinese Government 
 were so broad that a basis was had at once for negotia- 
 tions. Owing, however, to the irregularity and, at times, 
 413 
 
DELAY OF NEGOTIATIONS 413 
 
 to the impossibility of communication by cable between 
 Peking and the respective capitals of the allied powers, 
 it was exceedingly difficult for the diplomatic representa- 
 tives to obtain instructions from the various ministers 
 of state for foreign affairs, who would necessarily indi- 
 cate the terms which would be demanded by their re- 
 spective governments. The northern line of telegraph 
 through Siberia was under the control of the Russian 
 Government, which naturally gave its own business pre- 
 cedence; besides, its own necessary communications in 
 regard to military matters so overcharged the line that 
 it required frequently as much as two weeks to get a 
 reply to a message from any capital in Europe. The 
 southern line, controlled by a British company, was the 
 main dependence, and that was crowded with the mili- 
 tary and diplomatic business of all the other powers; 
 consequently, the delays by this route were quite as great 
 as by the other. Mail communication was of course out 
 of the question, except as a means of confirming cable 
 dispatches. 
 
 Moreover, from the nature of the case, no negotiations 
 could be had until there had been a concert established 
 between the home governments of the great powers, and 
 such a concert was necessarily dependent upon the views 
 of the various ministers of foreign affairs. Each had 
 to communicate with the other, and in many cases, where 
 precise information as to the exact status of affairs in 
 China was lacking, it was difficult for them to arrive 
 at an agreement. With the best they could do negotia- 
 tions were necessarily slow. It was at first thought that 
 there would be some kind of a convention participated in 
 by representatives of the United States, Great Britain, 
 Germany, France, Eussia, and Japan, which would be 
 held at Washington, or at one of the European capitals, 
 for the purpose of laying down conditions upon which a 
 general settlement could be based. Then, too, several 
 of the ministers formerly stationed at Peking had with- 
 
414 CHINA 
 
 drawn, immediately after the siege, from that city to 
 Tien-tsin, so that meetings of the diplomatic corps at 
 Peking were at first not fully attended. In consequence 
 of these conditions it was several weeks before the nego- 
 tiations could be started, and even then the movement 
 received its first impulse from the steps already taken 
 by the United States. In a circular issued by the Secre- 
 tary of State on July 3, 1900, it was clearly indicated 
 that the object of the American Government in sending 
 troops to China was to open communication with Peking 
 and to rescue the Americans there in danger; to afford 
 protection everywhere throughout China to American 
 life, property, and interests, and to prevent the spread 
 and recurrence of such disorders and disturbances as were 
 then prevailing. This circular also made known the 
 policy of the United States in clear and unmistakable 
 terms, as follows: (a) To seek a solution for the difficul- 
 ties which had prevailed, and to secure permanent peace 
 and safety in China, (b) To preserve the territorial and 
 administrative entity of China, (c) To co-operate in pro- 
 tecting all the rights of friendly powers guaranteed by 
 treaty and international law. (d) To safeguard for the 
 world the principles of equal and impartial trade with 
 all parts of the Chinese Empire, (e) To withdraw all 
 its troops as soon as practicable; but this was accom- 
 panied by a distinct declaration that the end sought 
 requires that the occupation of Peking should continue 
 for the present. (/) And, finally, to maintain the 
 status quo. 
 
 Fortunately for the world, this broad, comprehensive, 
 and at the same time moderate policy received the prompt 
 and unequivocal endorsement of all the other powers. It 
 was also a fortunate circumstance, tending to give to the 
 United States an important if not a directing part in 
 shaping the negotiations and settlement, that, anticipat- 
 ing the possible death of Mr. Conger, its minister in 
 Peking, it early decided to send a special commissioner. 
 
POLICY OF THE UNITED STATES 415 
 
 the Hon. W. W. Rockhill, to report fully upon the situa- 
 tion as he found it. Mr. Rockhill, having been long resi- 
 dent in China as secretary of the United States lega- 
 tion, was intimately acquainted with Chinese affairs and 
 with the leading Chinese .statesmen. His selection was 
 therefore a wise and reassuring one. He arrived in 
 China about the 1st of September, and instead of find- 
 ing Mr. Conger dead, or even in impaired health, he 
 found him not only vigorous and active, but fully im- 
 pressed with the importance of prompt measures for the 
 adjustment of affairs. Through him and Mr. Rockhill 
 the Government in Washington was fully advised, and 
 was thereby enabled to submit suggestions to the other 
 powers, which they generally accepted, and which con- 
 stituted the fundamental principles upon which negotia- 
 tions were begun and carried forward. 
 
 A substantial concert of action was agreed upon. The 
 difficulties of an independent course for any power were 
 manifestly so great that a common policy, if possible, 
 was looked upon as an inevitable necessity. After much 
 discussion with the Chinese commissioners — Li Hung- 
 Chang and Prince Ching — the plenipotentiaries at Pe- 
 king reached the preliminary agreement which was em- 
 bodied in an identical note from each to the Chinese 
 commissioners. This note was dated Peking, December 
 4, 1900, and is substantially as follows: 
 
 " During the months of May, June, July, and August 
 of the current year serious disturbances broke out in the 
 northern provinces of China, in which atrocious crimes 
 unparalleled in history, and outrages against the law of 
 nations, against the laws of humanity, and against civili- 
 zation, were committed under particularly odious cir- 
 cumstances. The principal of these crimes were the fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 "First: On the 20th of June, his Excellency Baron 
 Von Ketteler, while on his way to the Tsung-li Yamen, 
 in the performance of his official functions, was mur- 
 
416 CHINA 
 
 dcred by soldiers of the regular army, acting under orders 
 of their chiefs. 
 
 " Second: On the same day the foreign legations 
 were attacked and besieged. The attacks continued with- 
 out intermission until the 14th of August, on which date 
 the arrival of the foreign forces put an end to them. 
 These attacks were made by the regular troops, who 
 joined the Boxers, and who obeyed the orders of the court 
 emanating from the Imperial Palace. At the same time 
 the Chinese Government officially declared, by its repre- 
 sentatives abroad, that it guaranteed the security of the 
 legations. 
 
 " Third: On the 11th of June Mr. Sujyama, chancel- 
 lor of the legation of Japan, while in the discharge of 
 an official mission, was killed by regulars at the gates 
 of the city. In Peking and in several provinces for- 
 eigners were murdered, tortured, or attacked by the 
 Boxers and the regular troops, and such as escaped 
 death owed their salvation solely to their own deter- 
 mined resistance. Their establishments were looted 
 and destroyed. 
 
 " Fourth: Foreign cemeteries, at Peking especially, 
 were desecrated, the graves opened, and the remains scat- 
 tered abroad. 
 
 " These occurrences necessarily led the foreign 
 powers to dispatch their troops to China to the end of 
 protecting the lives of their representatives and nationals 
 and restoring order. During their march to Peking the 
 allied forces met with resistance from the Chinese army, 
 and had to overcome it by force. 
 
 " Inasmuch as China has recognized her responsi- 
 bility, expressed regret, and evinced a desire to see an end 
 put to the situation created by the aforesaid disturbances, 
 the powers have determined to accede to her request 
 upon the irrevocable conditions enumerated below, which 
 they deem indispensable to expiate the crimes committed 
 and to prevent their recurrence: 
 
THE IDENTICAL NOTE OP THE POWERS 417 
 
 " I. (a) The dispatch to Berlin of an extraordinary 
 mission headed by an imperial prince, in order to express 
 the regrets of His Majesty, the Emperor of China, and of 
 the Chinese Government for the assassination of his 
 Excellency the late Baron Von Ketteler, Minister of 
 Germany. 
 
 " (&) The erection on the spot of the assassination of 
 a commemorative monument, befitting the rank of the 
 deceased, bearing an inscription in the Latin, German, 
 and Chinese languages expressing the regrets of the Em- 
 peror of China for the murder. 
 
 " II. (a) The severest punishment for the persons 
 designated in the Imperial decree of September 35, 1900, 
 and for those whom the representatives of the powers 
 shall subsequently designate. 
 
 " (b) The suspension for five years of all official ex- 
 aminations in all the cities where foreigners have been 
 massacred or have been subjected to cruel treatment. 
 
 " III. Honorable reparation to be made by the Chi- 
 nese Government to the Japanese Government for the 
 murder of Mr. Sujyama. 
 
 " IV. An expiatory monument to be erected by the 
 Imperial Chinese Government in every foreign or inter- 
 national cemetery which has been desecrated, or in which 
 the graves have been destroyed. 
 
 " V. The maintenance, under conditions to be de- 
 termined by the powers, of the interdiction against the 
 importation of arms as well as of materials employed 
 exclusively for the manufacture of arms and ammunition. 
 
 " VI. Equitable indemnities for the governments, 
 societies, companies and individuals, as well as for Chi- 
 nese who, during the late occurrences, have suffered in 
 person or in property in consequence of their being in 
 the service of foreigners. Chipa to adopt financial 
 measures acceptable to the powers for the purpose of 
 guaranteeing the payment of said indemnities and the 
 interest and amortization of the loans. 
 
418 CHINA 
 
 " VII. The right for each power to maintain a per- 
 manent guard for its legation, and to put the diplomatic 
 quarter in a defensible condition, the Chinese having no 
 right to reside in that quarter. 
 
 " VIII. The destruction of the forts which might ob- 
 struct free communication between Peking and the sea. 
 
 " IX. The right to the military occupation of certain 
 points, to be determined by an understanding among the 
 powers, in order to maintain open communication be- 
 tween the capital and the sea. 
 
 " X. The Chinese Government to cause to be pub- 
 lished during two years in all the subprefectures an Im- 
 perial decree: 
 
 " (a) Embodying a perpetual prohibition, under pen- 
 alty of death, of membership in any anti-foreign so- 
 ciety; 
 
 " (&) Enumerating the punishments that shall have 
 been inflicted on the guilty, together with the suspension 
 of all official examinations in the cities where foreigners 
 have been murdered or have been subjected to cruel treat- 
 ment; and 
 
 " (c) Furthermore, an Imperial decree to be issued 
 and published throughout the empire, ordering that the 
 governor-general (viceroys), governors, and all provin- 
 cial or local officials shall be held responsible for the 
 maintenance of order within their respective jurisdic- 
 tions, and that in the event of renewed anti-foreign dis- 
 turbances or any other infractions of treaty occurring 
 and which shall not forthwith be suppressed and the 
 guilty persons punished, they, the said officials, shall be 
 immediately removed and forever disqualified from hold- 
 ing any office or honors. 
 
 " XI. The Chinese Government to undertake to ne- 
 gotiate amendments to the treaties of commerce and 
 navigation considered useful by the foreign powers, and 
 upon other matters pertaining to their commercial rela- 
 tions, with the object of facilitating them. 
 
THE IDENTICAL NOTE OF THE POWERS 419 
 
 " XII. The Chinese Government to determine in what 
 manner to reform the Department of Foreign Affairs, 
 and to modify the court ceremonials concerning the 
 reception of foreign representatives, in the manner to 
 be indicated by the powers. 
 
 " Until the Chinese Government has complied with 
 the above conditions to the satisfaction of the powers 
 the undersigned can hold out no expectation that the 
 occupation of Peking and the Province of Chihli by the 
 general forces can be brought to a conclusion." 
 
 The foregoing terms were promptly accepted by the 
 Chinese plenipotentiaries, and were transmitted to the 
 Imperial Government at Sian-Pu in the province of 
 Shansi, and the Government through the Empress Dow- 
 ager signified its unqualified acceptance of the terms 
 laid down. But a short time subsequently it showed a 
 disposition to ask for the amelioration of some of the 
 terms. This was promptly declined, not only by the for- 
 eign plenipotentiaries, but by their respective Govern- 
 ments. It is to be understood, however, that the Gov- 
 ernment of the United States did not fully coincide with 
 the requirement that capital punishment should be in- 
 flicted upon the high Chinese officials who were clearly 
 beyond the reach or the power of the allies to punish. 
 It had been suggested, and the suggestion was much dis- 
 cussed in unofficial circles at Peking, that the Empress 
 Dowager herself should be deposed and executed; but, 
 inasmuch as she was the representative -of the Throne 
 and the most powerful person in the empire, the con- 
 clusion arrived at was that such a judgment would be 
 unreasonable, or would fail of its purpose because it 
 could not be successfully carried into effect. The dis- 
 missal and punishment of Prince Tuan and the digni- 
 taries designated in the Emperor Kwang Su's decree of 
 September 25th, together with such other officials as the 
 foreign representatives might subsequently designate, 
 was conceded in principle. But when it comes to the 
 
420 CHINA 
 
 practical execution of these dignitaries, especially of 
 Jung Lu, commander-in-chief of the Chinese army, and 
 Tung-fu-hsiang, the commander of the Kansu Braves, it 
 will be perceived that there is a practical difficulty which 
 it would be almost impossible to overcome. Obviously 
 these officials, controlling the military power of the Gov- 
 ernment as they do, will be slow to carry such orders 
 into effect. It may well be doubted that they will ever 
 become their own executioners. 
 
 It will be observed that the terms laid down in the 
 identical note, as above quoted, respect the integrity of 
 the Chinese Empire and its Government. They will 
 probably result in the re-establishment of His Majesty, 
 the Emperor, on the throne, and before the separate 
 treaties are completed may make it necessary for the 
 Empress Dowager to withdraw from any participation 
 in the Government. They do not provide, however, for 
 any effective reorganization of the Chinese Government, 
 or of its administrative machinery, without which the 
 efficient compliance with the terms agreed upon, and 
 especially with such as refer to financial measures, will 
 become exceedingly difficult. The reorganization of the 
 Chinese fiscal system will necessitate the employment of 
 a foreign commissioner, or possibly of a board of foreign 
 commissioners, and the selection of its members wiU be- 
 come a most delicate and difficult matter. Naturally each 
 of the leading powers will want to name the commission- 
 er, and this will in turn be opposed by each of the others. 
 If each of the important powers were to name a commis- 
 sioner, this would relieve a part of the difficulty; but a 
 board of commissioners thus selected would become a 
 more or less ponderous and inefficient instrument for the 
 purpose intended. As has been pointed out, the Chinese 
 Government is largely composed of boards which lack 
 power, and which consist of so many persons of opposing 
 views, and so lacking in initiative and independence, that 
 their work is not only slow but generally inefficient. 
 
VICEROYS OPPOSE BASIS OF TREATY 421 
 
 The recent press dispatches from China seem to iadi- 
 cate a disposition on the part of several of the viceroys, 
 and notably Chang Chi-Tung, to oppose this treaty. 
 They are reported to have advised the Empress Dowager 
 to reject it. But when the utter helplessness of the Gov- 
 ernment is considered, it is altogether probable that this 
 opposition will be withdrawn, and that the Government 
 itself will make haste to accept the terms exactly as they 
 are submitted by the foreign powers. Indeed, it is almost 
 impossible to perceive any ground upon which the Chi- 
 nese could hope to avoid such terms as the foreign powers 
 finally agree among themselves to enforce. 
 
 What will be the ultimate outcome of these complica- 
 tions, or when the foreign powers will find it safe to 
 withdraw their troops from China and leave the latter 
 to work out its own destiny under the treaties which 
 will be exacted from her, it is impossible to state with 
 confidence. But it is obvious to the most casual observer 
 that the recent Boxer outbreak and its endorsement by 
 the Imperial Government have afforded a justification for 
 the invasion of China and the infliction of terms upon 
 her which wUl make it impossible for her to regain con- 
 trol over her own internal affairs, or to resist such fur- 
 ther demands as the foreign powers may formulate. 
 China is no longer a free agent, and because of her dis- 
 organization and lack of effective military power must 
 necessarily yield whatever foreign nations concur in de- 
 manding. On the other hand, it is by no means certain 
 that the foreign nations themselves will continue the 
 concert which they have formed, or that differences and 
 misunderstandings will not arise among them when they 
 pass beyond the initial treaty to settle upon the terms 
 of the individual treaties. 
 
 In the previous editions of this work I stated that it 
 was impossible to predict with certainty when China 
 would move in any specific enterprise, what would be 
 her direction and policy, or what men and nations would 
 
422 CHINA 
 
 become her guide. That she had been moving and would 
 continue to move was pointed out, but what wUl be her 
 course hereafter is almost as great a puzzle now as it 
 was fifteen years ago. The recent crisis has placed a 
 new impulse upon her, and I have endeavored to show 
 that it will be impossible for her to resist the pressure of 
 the allied powers so long as their unity is assured, and the 
 direction in which they wish to move is clearly defined. 
 
 When the reader considers the facts set forth in this 
 book, and especially when he considers the vast territory, 
 the innumerable population, the boundless natural re- 
 sources waiting for development in China, and the great 
 complications which must necessarily result in their de- 
 velopment, he will find ample subject for speculation and 
 prophecy. China is now, as she was at the time of my 
 first visit, surrounded by great perils and confronted by 
 many new and complicated problems for the solution of 
 her statesmen. With all the help they can obtain, and 
 all the wisdom they can bring to bear upon the business 
 which will engage their attention, their task may well 
 be considered one of the most difficult that now con- 
 fronts the civilised world. 
 
 Q.VvVVy ^h:^l,^ 
 
INDEX 
 
 Administration, minor branches of 
 176. 
 
 Allied demands on Imperial Gov- 
 ernment in 1856, 306-S08, 810. 
 
 Allies, advance of, in 1900, 380-386. 
 
 Amur, valley of, 9. 
 river of, 11, 15. 
 
 Anain, 8, 10. 
 
 Ancestral worship, 322. 
 
 Angell, treaty of, 104. 
 
 Anglo-Chinose oomplioations in 
 1856, 306. 
 
 Anhuei, 13. 
 
 Aristocracy, nature of the, 171. 
 
 Armstrong, the American commo- 
 dore. Canton forts attacked by, 
 307. 
 
 Avenue of Statuary, the, 214. 
 
 Barliul, 34. 
 
 Boards, the Six Great, 174-183. 
 
 Bokhara, 11. 
 
 Bonvalot, Mr., 30. 
 
 " Boxers " (see I-Ho-Tuan), history 
 
 of, cause of movement, 346-358. 
 Bowring, Sir John, 306. 
 Brick-tea, 36. 
 British trade, aggressive nature of, 
 
 289. 
 Buddhism, a decadent religion, 322. 
 Buffalo, the water, 55. 
 Burgevine, career of, 111. 
 
 Burial customs, 81-84. 
 Burlingame, Hon. A., his mission to 
 foreign governments, 331. 
 
 Cambaluo, Mecca of Eastern Asia, 
 
 208. 
 Camel transportation, 36. 
 Canton, freely open to foreigners, 300. 
 
 seized by the allied fleet, 306. 
 Cantonese, the, hatred of, by other 
 
 Chinese, 304. 
 Caravans, Mongolian, 206. 
 Censorate, the, its force as a foe of 
 progress, 181, 182. 
 most powerful of all governmental 
 boards, 824, 325. 
 Central Flowery Kingdom, 38. 
 Chaffee, Major-General, U. S. V., 69, 
 
 379. 
 Chang Chi-tung, statesman, 43. 
 Chang-Chin-Chun, 228. 
 Chee-fu, city of, 70, 71. 
 Che-kiang, 13. 
 Chihli, 13. 
 Chi-ho, 266-268. 
 Chi-ning-chou, 251. 
 China, area of, 8, 9. 
 army of, 78-80. 
 canal system of, 25. 
 ceremonial visits in, 91. 
 climate of, 13, 14. 
 
 contraction of, in historic times, 9. 
 433 
 
424 
 
 CHINA 
 
 Cliina, first made aware of superior 
 powers of foreigners by tlie 
 Opium War, 301. 
 
 immense possibilities of, 333. 
 
 isolation of, 10. 
 
 Merchants' Steamship Company, 
 68. 
 
 mental conservatism of, 62, 63. 
 
 mineral wealth of, 34. 
 
 military music in, 85, 100. 
 
 military weakness of, 11, 18. 
 
 navy of, 72-74. 
 
 provinces of, 13. 
 
 topograpliy of, 14. 
 Chi-nan-fu, capital of Shantung, 220, 
 
 265, 266. 
 Chin-Chiang-pu, 225. 
 Chinese authorities refuse to sign 
 treaties at Peking, SOU. 
 
 burial customs, 81-84. 
 
 civilization, 23. 
 
 classics, the knowledge of, sole 
 ground for official appointment, 
 185. 
 
 Engineering and Mining Com- 
 pany, 215. 
 
 navy, difficulty in organizing, 74, 
 75. 
 
 New-Year, 271. 
 
 non-intercourse of foreign mer- 
 chants with, 86. 
 
 race, strength, and health of the, 
 62, 58. 
 
 revenues compared with those of 
 India, 199. 
 
 stagnation, remedies for, 282. 
 
 Tartary, or Hi, 34. 
 
 troops partially foreign drilled, 11. 
 
 written language, 113. 
 Ching, Prinoe, coadjutor in naval 
 
 control, 72, 276. 
 Chow, Dulce, 164. 
 Chil-fu, home and burial place of 
 
 Confucius, 220, 251. 
 Chu-kiang, or Pearl Eiver, descrip- 
 tion of, 26. 
 
 Chun, Prinoe (see Seventh Prince), 
 administrator of navy and coast 
 defense, 72. 
 Ciang-ho, 216. 
 Civil office, board of, 177. 
 Climate of China, 13, 14. 
 Clothing, 58, 59. 
 Coal, 39-42. 
 
 Colliery of Kaiping, 39-41. 
 Colonial office, 181. 
 Commercial morals, 270. 
 Compradores, 304. 
 Compression of the female foot, 50- 
 
 52. 
 Confucius, temples of, 253-257. 
 
 tombs of his family, 258-259. 
 
 descendants of, 252. 
 
 teaching of, the Chinese education, 
 280. 
 Corea, 10, 34. 
 Cotton, 59. 
 
 Council, genera), 172. 
 Curiosity of Chinese mobs, 243-248. 
 
 Daggett, Colonel, 14th U. S. Infan- 
 try, 382. 
 Denby, Colonel, Charles, 276. 
 Diplomatic corps, the, 156. 
 Domestic animals, 55, 
 
 East India Company, 286. 
 Education, absolute need of a change 
 
 in its system, 279-283. 
 Ellas, Mr. Ney, 234. 
 Elliot, Admiral, 295. 
 Elliot, Captain, 294. 
 English Government, its immorality 
 
 in the Opium War, 298. 
 English in China, 286. 
 Ethnography, 49, 50. 
 European communication with 
 
 China, history of, 282. 
 Examination, public, for office, 184, 
 
 185. 
 Expenditures, governmental, 201, 
 
 202. 
 summary of, 202. 
 
INDEX 
 
 425 
 
 Famines, 47, 43. 
 
 Favier, Bishop, 372. 
 
 Financial system, 191-204. 
 
 Fo-kien, 13. 
 
 Food resources, 53-56. 
 
 Foreign loans, dread of, 203. 
 
 Foreign mercliants, agreement not 
 
 to deal in opium, 213. 
 Foreign merchants, influence of, in 
 
 suppressing the Taipings, 5, 6. 
 Foreign powers, alert to control trade 
 
 and internal improvements, 165, 
 
 166. 
 Foreigners in China, 3. 
 Formosa, or Taiwan, 8. 
 Foster, John W., Secretary of State, 
 
 United States, 90. 
 Frey, Brigadier-General, French,379. 
 Funded debt, 202, 203. 
 Fung-shuy, 323, 324. 
 
 Gamewell, Eev. F. D., 370. 
 Gaselee, Lieutenant-General, Eng- 
 lish, 379. 
 " Gazette," Peking, 160, 173, 174. 
 Genghis, 9. 
 Gobi, Desert of, 9. 
 Gordon, 109-112. 
 award of the Yellow Jacket to, 
 and other honors, 203. 
 • Government, absolute character of 
 the, 169-171. 
 Government, organization of,171-184. 
 Governor-general, authority and 
 
 duties of, 184, 185. 
 Grand Canal, 60. 
 locks of, 226. 
 Chinese estimate of its importance, 
 
 227. 
 Iji Hung-Chang's memorial on, 
 
 229. 
 regulation of the waters of, 225, 226. 
 solution of, possible by scientific 
 engineering, 229. 
 Great Plain, area and dimensions of, 
 36, 37. 
 
 30 
 
 Great Plain, appearance of the, 36, 87. 
 character of its inhabitants, 274, 
 275. 
 Great Wall, 205, 207-210. 
 Gutzlaff, 1: 
 
 Hang-chow, 36. 
 Hang-kow, 308. 
 
 Hart, Sir Kobert, head of imperial 
 maritime customs, 46, 75. 
 revenues collected by, 305. 
 " Herald," the North China, 173. 
 Hien-fung, Emperor, 158. 
 
 death of, 318. 
 Hien-tsu, founder of the present 
 
 dynasty, 157. 
 Honan, 18. 
 
 Hong-Kong, cession of, to the Eng- 
 lish, 296, 297. 
 made a free port, 306. 
 Hopp6-hoonan, 13. 
 Hostility to foreigners, reasons for, 
 
 290, 291. 
 Houses and house building, 57, 58. 
 Hue, Abb^, 30. 
 
 his theory of inundation of Yellow 
 Elver, 235. 
 Hung Tse-chuen, Taiping leader, 
 105. 
 possible achievements of, 301- 
 303. 
 Hwang-ho, description of, 15-18. 
 affluents of, 69. 
 embankments of, 275, 276. 
 inundations of, 232-240. 
 
 Ignorance of the masses, 63. 
 Hi, or Chinese Tartary, 84. 
 Industrial development, the future 
 
 of, 833. 
 Inland Sea, 1. 
 I-Ho-Tuan (see Boxers). 
 Inns, a description of, 222, 223. 
 Intellectual development arrested, 
 
 280, 281. 
 Iron, 39-44. 
 
426 
 
 CHINA 
 
 J apan, genuine progress of, 335-337. 
 
 war with China, 338, 339. 
 
 results of war, 339-343. 
 Jung Lu, 373. 
 
 Kai-fung-fu, capital of Honan, 108, 
 
 281. 
 visit to, 241, 242. 
 Kaiping, coal-mines of, 213. 
 
 railway, 216-218. 
 Kang, description of, 228. 
 Kansuh, 13. 
 Kashgar, 84. 
 Khokand, 11. 
 Khoten, 34. 
 Kiang-si, 13. 
 Kiang-su, 18. 
 
 Kiao-Chao, city and harbor of, 71, 72. 
 Kienlung, city of, 159. 
 Kirin, 34. 
 Kirrea, 34. 
 Ki-ying, imperial commissioner, 300. 
 
 proclamation of, 300. 
 Kempft', Admiral, B63. 
 Ketteler, Baron von, murder of, 364. 
 Kowlung, ceded to the British, 311. 
 Kwang Hsu, the Emperor, 157, 158, 
 
 160, 162-166. 
 Kublai Khan, 10, 153. 
 Kii-fu, burial place of Confucius, 
 
 252. 
 Kuldja, expedition of, 36. 
 Kung, Prince, memorial on Western 
 
 arts and sciences, 826-328. 
 negotiator of peace with the allies, 
 
 811. 
 Kwan-lun Mountains, 84. 
 
 Land-tax, 192. 
 
 Lang, Captain, naval assistant to 
 
 Viceroy Li, 78. 
 Language, written, 63, 113. 
 Lao-Hwang-ho, 268. 
 Lao-mu Miao, temple of the Holy 
 
 Mother. 264. 
 Lay, Mr., 305 
 
 Legations, defense of, 359-374. 
 
 relief of, 375-386. 
 Liao-ho, 28. 
 Liautung, 34. 
 Lien-Sheng-tien, a model Chinese 
 
 inn, 261. 
 Li Hung-Chang, author's report of 
 his investigations to, 276. 
 coadjutor in naval control, 72. 
 degradation of, 150. 
 influence of foreigners on. 111, 
 
 112. 
 influence upon construction of rail- 
 roads, 145, 146. 
 interview with, 95-101. 
 memorial by, in favor of railroads, 
 
 127-145. 
 minister superintendent of trade, 
 
 68. 
 most powerful and progressive of 
 
 Chinese statesmen, 6. 
 personal appearance of, 94. 
 public ofiices of, 89, 90. 
 sketch of, 101-105, 112-119. 
 Likin, the, or tax on internal com- 
 merce, 195-197. 
 Linevitch, Lieutenant-General, Eua- 
 
 sian, 379. 
 Lin-Ching, 225, 226. 
 Lin K'un-Yi, memorial in favor of 
 
 railroads, 127-145, 
 Liscum, Colonel, 9th U. S. Infantry, 
 
 877. 
 Literary language, the, a distinct 
 
 tongue, 63. 
 Literati, the, or office-holders, 171. 
 Locomotive, first in China, 215-218. 
 Loess terraces, fertility, nature of, 
 and theories about their origin, 
 32, 33. 
 Liu Ming-Chu'an, late Viceroy of 
 Formosa, 119. 
 memorial of, in favor of railroads, 
 119-127. 
 Lorcha, war of, 306, 307. 
 Lung-mun-Kou, 220, 248. 
 
INDEX 
 
 427 
 
 Macao, 284 
 
 Manohu, caste, distinction from the 
 subject race, 49. 
 
 Manchuria, 10, 11, 34. 
 
 Marco Polo, 10. 
 
 Maritime customs duties, 197, 198. 
 organization of, 305. 
 
 Martin, Dr. W. A. P., 329. 
 
 Macdonald, Sir Claude, British min- 
 ister, 369. 
 
 Merv, 11. 
 
 Metallurgy, difliculties of Chinese 
 progress, 43, 44. 
 
 Meyers, Captain, D. S. Marine Corps, 
 366, 367. 
 
 Miao-tao, Straits of, 69. 
 
 Military helplessness, 166, 167. 
 weakness, 77. 
 
 Mill, John Stuart, 4. 
 
 Min Eiver, location of, 26. 
 
 Ming tombs, 213. 
 
 Missionaries, English and American, 
 269-271. 
 influence of, 319-321. 
 progress of, 319, 320. 
 
 Mongolia, Inner and Outer, 8, 10, 34. 
 
 Mountain system, 30-34. 
 
 Nanking, 60. 
 
 capture of, 107. 
 Napier, Lord, first to protest against 
 otlicial non-intercourse, 290, 291. 
 Navy of China, 72. 
 Navy-yard and docks, 71. 
 
 Odoric, Friar, 283, 284. 
 
 Okhotsk, Sea of, 9. 
 
 Opium, smuggling in, 293-298. 
 
 War, the, 299-301. 
 
 War, treaty which followed it, and 
 trade in, 291-293. 
 
 Pa-li-Miao, 228. 
 Pang-Chia-Chwang, 269-271. 
 Pao-ting-fu, city of, 89, 386. 
 Parker, Admiral Sir William, 297. 
 
 Parkes, Sir Harry, 311. 
 
 Peh-tang, the anxiety of the Govern- 
 ment about, 28. 
 
 Pechili, Gulf of, 69. 
 
 Pei-ho, description of, importance 
 of, for commerce and defense, 
 26-28. 
 batteries attacked by allies, 308. 
 
 Peitsang, battle of, 380. 
 
 Peking, description of, 152-156. 
 capture of, in 1900, 382-384. 
 treaties of peace signed at, 311, 312. 
 
 Pethick, Mr., late secretary to Vice- 
 roy Li, 90. 
 sketch of, 91, 366. 
 
 Ping yin, 265. 
 
 Population, 45, 46. 
 
 Port Artlmr, 10, 11, 71. 
 
 Portuguese in China, 284. 
 
 Pottinger, Sir Henry, 297. 
 
 Poverty, universal, 60. 
 
 Prejvalsky, Mr., 30. 
 
 Provinces of China, 13. 
 
 Provincial governments, the nine- 
 teen, 183, 184. 
 
 Punishment, Board of, 180. 
 
 Quang-si, 13. 
 Quang-tung, 13. 
 Quei-Chow, 13. 
 
 Railroads, pressing need of, 35. 
 a memorial concerning, by Liu 
 
 Ming-Chu'an, 119-127. 
 obstacles to the establishment of, 
 
 83, 84. 
 only practicable method of build- 
 ing, 334. 
 supported by Li Hung-Chang and 
 Lin K'un-Yi, 127-145. 
 Eevenues, Board of, 175, 176. 
 different estimates of, 201. 
 summary of, 198. 
 Eiohthofen, Mr., 39. 
 Eiley, Captain, 5th U. S. Artillery, 
 death of, 384. 
 
428 
 
 CHINA 
 
 Kites, Board of, 177. 
 
 Elvers, engineering crudity of tlie 
 Chinese system, 267, 2tj8. 
 most of the Chinese, dry in the 
 rainless season, 28, 29. 
 
 Robinson, Sir George B., 292. 
 
 Kockhlll, W. W., 80. 
 
 liussell and Company, first steam- 
 boat proprietors, 68. 
 
 Kussia, danger threatening from, 285. 
 
 Salt monopoly, 194, 195. 
 Sankolinsln's Folly, 88. 
 Beohuen, 11. 
 
 Secretariat, the Grand, 172. 
 Seventh Prince, the, father of the 
 
 Emperor (see Prince Chun), 72. 
 Sha-ho, 206. 
 
 Shamo, or Gobi, sandy desert of, 34. 
 Shanghai, description of, 2-5. 
 Navigation Company, 4. 
 location, importance. 6, 7. 
 Shan-hai-quawn, 16, 86. 
 Shansl, 13. 
 Shantung, 13. 
 
 Shensi, 13. -< 
 
 Shiba, Colonel, Japanese, 370. 
 Shih-li-pu, 228. 
 Shinking, 84. 
 Siam, 8, 10. 
 Siebelin, Captain, naval assistant 
 
 to Viceroy Li, 73. 
 Spaniards in China, 284. 
 Squiers, Mr., secretary American 
 
 Legation, 869. 
 Summer Palace burned by the allies, 
 
 311. 
 Sungaria, 9. 
 
 Taian-fu, 262. 
 
 Taiping rebellion, 47, 90. 
 
 account of, 105-111, 802-803. 
 Taishan, 220, 262. 
 
 inscriptions on the rooks of, 264. 
 
 sacred mountain, 281, 264. 
 
 temples on, 280. 
 
 Taku, city of, and vicinity, 76, 77. 
 Taku foits, capture of, by the allies 
 
 in 1860 and 1900, 85-89. 
 Talienwan, now Dalny, 10. 
 Tao-ohung-fu, 231. 
 Tashkend, 11. 
 Tatnall, Commodore, co-operates 
 
 with the allies, 36, 310. 
 Tatsing-ho, 20. 
 Taukwaug, the Emperor first to make 
 
 opium trade illegal, 293. 
 Ta-Wen-ho, 261. 
 
 Taxes, kinds of, amounts of, 192-197. 
 Telegraph system, 113-114. 
 Ter-Chou, description of, 224, 271. 
 Thibet, 9, 80. 
 divisions of, 34. 
 
 probable mineral wealth of, 34, 35. 
 Throne, the difliculties of approach- 
 ing, 160, 161. 
 present powera behind the, 314. 
 Tien- Shan Peh-lu, 34. 
 Tien-Shan or Celestial Mountains, 34. 
 Tien-Shau Nan-Lu, 34. 
 Tientsin, description of, capture of, 
 in 1860 and 1900, 85-89. 
 center of progressive movement, 89. 
 destruction of Fi-ench missions at, 
 
 320. 
 I'aces at, 85. 
 
 residence of Viceroy Li, 87. 
 Tombs of the Ming Dynasty, 212- 
 
 214. 
 Topography of China, 14. 
 Tseng Quo-Chu'an, Viceroy, 277. 
 Tseng Quo-Fan, 6, 104. 
 Tsin Chi-Hwangti, builder of the 
 
 Great Wall, 208. 
 Tsltsihar, 34. 
 Tso Tsung-Tang, 34, 105. 
 
 dying memorial of, 147, 148. 
 Tsung-li Yamen, Board of Foreign 
 Airair.«!, 166. 
 author's report of his investigation 
 
 to, 276. 
 composition of, 175. 
 
INDEX 
 
 429 
 
 Tung Chi, late Emperor, 157. 
 Tung-Chow, 881. 
 Tung Fu-hsiang, 117. 
 Tung-wen College, 156, 326, 329. 
 Tz'-u Hsi, Empress Dowager, 158- 
 160, 314-317. 
 
 United States, the, its true Chinese 
 
 policy, 408. 
 Urum-tsi, 34. 
 
 Vassilivitch, Eussian statistician, 45. 
 Vladivostok, 11. 
 
 Wade, Sir Thomas, 111, 305. 
 Walled cities, 60, 61. 
 War, Board of, 178. 
 Ward, American Minister, 309. 
 Ward, General, organizer of the 
 " Ever- Victorious Army," 5. 
 
 career of, 109, 110. 
 
 receives divine honors after death, 
 803. 
 Wei, 16. 
 
 Wei-hai-wei, 10, 71. 
 
 Wheel-barrow carriages, 262. 
 
 Williams, S. Wells, author of Mid- 
 dle Kingdom, 20, 25, 38, 46, 
 289. 
 
 Works, Board of, 180, 181. 
 
 Wusung, Kivcr of, 2. 
 
 Yalu, battle of, 74. 
 
 Yamagutchi, Lieutenant-General, 
 
 Japanese, 379. 
 Yang-tse-kiang, 1, 2, 4. 
 
 description of, 22-25. 
 
 navigation of, affl uents of, various 
 names of, 70. 
 Yang-tsun, battle of, 380, 381. 
 Yarkand, 34. 
 
 Yellow Kiver. See Hwang-ho. 
 Yellow Sea, 1. 
 Yokohama, 1. 
 
 Yungloh, Ming Emperor, 212. 
 Yunnan, 13. 
 Yushan, 17. 
 Yu-wang-shang-to, 263. 
 
 THE END 
 
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 "Up to the present time there has been no such work published, and if 
 any one wished to inform himself in the matter of clearing houses he had first 
 to collect his materials from various and scattered sources. It is, of course, 
 impossible to do justice to Mr. Cannon's admirable book in the space at our 
 command. It is a complete and remarkably readable exposition of the functions 
 and history of the clearing houses of the United States, Canada, and London. 
 All the details of clearing-house management are fully set forth, and especially 
 of timely interest is Mr. Cannon's exposition of the various rules now in opera- 
 tion for the collection of interior checks." — American Banker. 
 
 "The volume is one to which to turn not only for a complete and accu- 
 rate history of the general subject, but for a variety of special information which 
 the banker of the present day can not afford to be without." — 'Ne'w York 
 Journal of Commerce. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND C01«PANY, NEW YORK. 
 
DR. EGGLESTON'S GREAT HISTORY. 
 The Transit of Civilization 
 
 From England to America in the Seventeenth Century. By 
 Edward Eggleston. Uniform with "The Beginners of a 
 Nation." Small 8vo, gilt top, uncut, cloth, ^1.50. 
 
 All who have read "The Beginners of a Nation" will wel- 
 come this new volume by Mr. Eggleston. Though it is an 
 independent work, it is also the second in the series upon which 
 the author has long been engaged. Its aim is to reveal to the reader 
 the mind of the seventeenth century man — to show where he 
 stood in the intellectual development of the race ; what he knew 
 of science, and how his character was determined by his limi- 
 tations ; his bondage to tradition, his credulity, and the unreality 
 of the world in which he lived, with its witches, its omnipresent 
 devil, its signaturism in plants and animals to guide medical 
 practice, its belief in the virtue of sympathetic powder, weapon 
 ointment, and the fabulous bezoar stone. The standards of con- 
 duct of the age are shown, the educational aims and the evolu- 
 tion of a school system unthought of then. 
 
 The scope of the work may best be explained by the titles 
 of the chapters, which are : 
 
 1 . Medical Outfit of the Early Colonists. 
 
 2. Medical Notions at the Period of Settlement. 
 
 3. Folk Speech and Mother English. 
 
 4. Weights and Measures of Conduct. 
 
 5. The Tradition of Education. 
 
 6. Landholding in the Early Colonies. 
 
 This is no ordinary historical work, but a startling view of 
 life before science. No such account has ever been given of the 
 colonists, and no such view exists of England in the seventeenth 
 century. It may be read in entire independence of any other 
 volume of the series. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
ALASKA AND THE KLONDIKE. 
 
 BY ANGELO HEILPRIN, 
 
 A Journey to the New Eldorado. With Hints to the Traveler 
 and Observations on the Physical History and Geology of the 
 Gold Regions, the Condition of and Methods of Working the 
 Klondike Placers, and the Laws Governing and Regulating Min- 
 ing in the Northwest Territory of Canada. By Angelo Heil- 
 pRiN, Professor of Geology at the Academy of Natural Sciences 
 of Philadelphia, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of Lon- 
 don, Past- President of the Geographical Society of Philadelphia, 
 etc. Fully illustrated from Photographs and with a new Map of 
 the Gold Regions. i2mo. Cloth, ^1.75. 
 
 "Will take and retain immediate rank as a contribution of essential value 
 not only to the literature of travel, but to that of American commercial and 
 political development. . . . Should be in the hands of every person interested 
 either in fact or in prospect in Alaska and the Klondike." — Brooklyn Standard- 
 Union. 
 
 ** For the first time the new gold fields of the North have been dealt with 
 by a scientific man capable of weighing evidence." — Chicago E'vening Post, 
 
 *' Presents for the first time a plain, straightforward story of what he saw, 
 how he saw it, the men and things he met, what the hardships were and how 
 he overcame them. The book is fully illustrated. It is replete with valuable 
 hints and instruction, and students of the gold problem in Alaska ought to ap- 
 preciate it. The entire subject has been developed with extreme care and great 
 thoroughness." — Boston Globe. 
 
 "It is among the practical books, everywhere bearing evidence of its relia- 
 bility. The story of the journey is told with enough of personal incidents and 
 accidents of travel to make every page interesting to the general reader, and it 
 will be found of practical value to those intending to make the hard journey." 
 — Chicago Inter-Ocean. 
 
 "Mr. Heilprin observed Dawson with the eyes of a student of great scien' 
 tific attainments, who had little in common with the crowd of elemental and 
 uncouth men gathered there, or with their life ; and he noted many things 
 which they themselves probably accepted as matters of course, besides writing 
 an important scientific treatise." — Boston Herald. 
 
 **It is noticeably fair-minded in its presentation of facts — the work of a 
 clear-minded and well-trained observer." — Neiv York Outlook. 
 
 "The first adequate presentation of the Klondike gold problem made by a 
 geologist." — New York Mail and Express. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 CLIMBING IN THE HIMALAYAS. By William 
 Martin Conway, M. A., F. R. G. S., Vice-President of the Al- 
 pine Club ; formerly Professor of Art in University College, 
 Liverpool. With 300 Illustrations by A. D. McCormick, and 
 a Map. 8vo. Cloth, $10.00. 
 
 This work contains a minute record of one of the most important and 
 thrilling geographical enterprises of the century — an expedition made in 
 1892, under the auspices of the Royal Geographical Society, the Royal 
 bociety, the British Association, and the Government of India, It included 
 an exploration of the glaciers at the head of the Bagrot Valley and the great 
 peaks in the neighborhood of Rakipushi (25,500 feet) ; an expedition to 
 Hispar, at the foot of the longest glacier in the world outside the polar 
 regions ; the first definitely recorded passage of the Hispar Pass, the longest 
 known pass in the world ; and the ascent of Pioneer Peak (about 23,000 
 feet), the highest ascent yet authentically made. No better man could have 
 been chosen for this important expedition than Mr. Conway, who has spent 
 over twenty years in mountaineering work in the Alps. Already the author 
 of nine published books, he has recorded his discoveries in this volume in the 
 clear, incisive, and thrilhng language of an expert. 
 
 *' It would be hard to say too much in praise of this superb work. As a record of 
 mountaineering it is almost, if not quite, unique. Among records of Himalayan ex- 
 ploration it certainly stands alone. . . . The farther Himalayas . . . have never been 
 so faithfully — in other words, so poetically — presented as in the masterly delicate 
 sketches with which Mr. McCormick has adorned this book," — London Daily News. 
 
 "This stately volume is a worthy record of a splendid journey. . . . The book is 
 not merely the narrative of the best organized and most successful mountaineering ex- 
 pedition as yet made ; it is a most valuable and minute account, based on first-hand 
 evidence, of a most fascinating region of the heaven-soaring Himalayas." — Pall Mall 
 Gazette. 
 
 *' Mr. Conway's volume is a splendid record of a daring and adventurous scientific 
 expedition. . . . What Mr. Whymper did for the Northern Andes, Mr. Conway has 
 done for the Karakorum Himalayas." — London Times. 
 
 ** It would be difficult to say which of the many classes of readers who will welcome 
 the work will find most enjoyment in its fascinating pages. Mr. Conway's pen and Mr. 
 McCormick's pencil have made their countrymen partners in their pleasure." — Loftdon 
 Standard. 
 
 ** . . . In addition to this, Mr. Conway is a man of letters, a student (and a teacher, 
 too) of art, a scholar in several languages; one, too, who knows the Latin names ot 
 plants, and the use of theodolite and plane table. From him, therefore, if from any 
 one, the world had a right to expect a book that should combine accurate observation 
 and intelligible reporting with an original and acute record of impressions; nor will 
 the world have any reason to be disappointed" — London AtJienceuin. 
 
 " With its three hundred illustrations we have seldom seen a volume which speaks 
 to the eye and understanding so pleasantly and expressively on every page. . . . We 
 have an exhaustive panorama of the Himalayan scenery, of the manner in which the 
 rough marching was conducted, of ascents achieved under the most dangerous condi- 
 tions, and of the troubles and humors of the shifting camps where the coolies rested 
 from iheir labors." — London Saturday Revienn. 
 
 •' Perhaps no book of recent date gives a simpler or at the same time more effective 
 
 Picture of the truly wonderful mountain regions lying behind the northern barrier of 
 ndia than Mr. Conway's striking volume." — London Telegraph. 
 
 New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue. 
 
D. APPLETON *AND COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 MILITARY TEXT-BOOKS. 
 PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION IN MINOR 
 
 ■*- TACTrCS AND STRATEGY. For the Use of the Regu- 
 
 lar Army and the Militia. By John P. WissER, First Lieuten- 
 ant, First U. S. Artillery. With Charts and Maps. Approved 
 and authorized as a Text-Book in the U. S. Artillery School. 
 Square 8vo. Cloth, $2.50. 
 
 _ " It is invaluable for the new recruit, and not without value for the man who has 
 drilled and marched, and even commanded for many years." — New Haven Journal 
 and Courier. 
 
 P 
 
 I 
 
 OINTS IN MINOR TACTICS. Compiled and 
 
 arranged in an elementary manner for the Infantry of the 
 
 National Guard of the United States. By Captain Charles A. 
 
 Smylie, Twelfth Infantry, N. G. N. Y. With Illustrations. 
 
 l2mo. Cloth, li.oo. 
 
 ** A work that every member of the National Guard should possess.'' — Army and 
 Navy Journal. 
 
 NSTRUCTIONS IN MILITARY SIGNAL- 
 ING. Prepared by Major Howard A. Giddings, Brigade 
 Signal Officer, Connecticut National Guard. A Condensed and 
 Practical Manual, based on present requirements and conditions, 
 containing complete instructions for all kinds of military signal- 
 ing, use of signal apparatus and equipment ; with appendices 
 and tables. Containing the Myer System of Army and Navy 
 Signaling, the only authorized system for the Military and Naval 
 forces of the United States. For use in the United States Army, 
 National Guard, Naval Militia, Schools, and Colleges. i6mo. 
 Leather, 50 cents. 
 
 TlyTAXIMS FOR TRAINING REMOUNT 
 ■L''-*- HORSES. For Military Purposes. By J. Y. Mason-Blunt, 
 Lieutenant, Fifth U. S. Cavalry. Illustrated. i6mo. Cloth, 
 50 cents. 
 
 JDEGULATIONS OF THE ARMY OF THE 
 
 -'»- UNITED STATES, and General Orders in Force, All 
 Military Law in Force. Revised edition, 1895. 8vo. Cloth, 
 $1.50. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 
 
D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 HTHE STRUGGLE OF THE NATIONS: 
 
 •*■ Egypt, Syria, and Assyria. By Professor Maspero. Edited 
 by the Rev. Professor Sayce. Translated by M. L. McClure, 
 With Map, 3 Colored Plates, and over 400 Illustrations. Uni- 
 form with " The Dawn of Civilization." Quarto. Cloth, $7.50, 
 
 This important work is a companion volume to "The Dawn of Civilization," and 
 carries the history of the ancient peoples of the East from the twenty-fourth to the 
 ninth century before our era. It embraces the sojourn of the Children of Israel in 
 Egypt, and shows the historic connection between Egypt and Syria during the cen- 
 turies immediately following the exodus. The book embodies the latest discoveries in 
 the field of Egyptian and Oriental archaeology, and there is no other work dealing so 
 exhaustively with the period covered. 
 
 T 
 
 HE DAWN OF CIVILIZATION. (Egypt 
 
 AND Chald^a.) By Prof. G. Maspero. Edited by Rev, 
 Prof. A. H. Sayce. Translated by M. L. McClure. Revised 
 and brought up to date by the Author. With Map and over 
 470 Illustrations. Quarto. Cloth, $7.50. 
 
 *' The most sumptuous and elaborate work which has yet appeared on this theme. 
 . . The book should be in every well-equipped Oriental library, as the most com- 
 plete work on the dawn of civilization. Its careful reading and studying will open a 
 world of thought to any diligent student, and very largely broaden and enlarge his 
 views of the grandeur, the stability, and the positive contributions of the civilization of 
 that early day to the life and culture of our own times." — Chicago Siafidard. 
 
 " By all odds the best account of Egyptian and Assyrian theology, or, more properly 
 i.peaking, theosophy, with which we are acquainted. . . . The book will arouse many 
 enthusiams. Its solid learning will enchant the scholar — its brilliancy will charm the 
 Ifeneral reader and tempt him into a region which he may have hesitated to enter."— 
 The Outlook. 
 
 " The most complete reconstruction of that ancient life which has yet appeared in 
 irint. Maspero's great book will remain the standard work for a long time to come." 
 — London Daily News. 
 
 L 
 
 IFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT AND ASSYRIA, 
 
 By G. Maspero, late Director of Archaeology in Egypt, and 
 Member of the Institute of France. Translated by Alice 
 Morton. With 188 Illustrations. i2mo. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 "A lucid sketch, at once popular and learned, of daily life in Egypt at the time of 
 Rameses II, and of Assyria in that of Assurbanipal. ... As an Orientalist, M. Mas- 
 pero stands in the front rank, and his learning is so well digested and so admirably sub- 
 dued to the service of popular exposition, that it nowhere overwhelms and always in- 
 terests the reader." — London Times. 
 
 "Only a writer who had distinguished himself as a student of Egyptian and As- 
 syrian antiquities could have produced this work, which has none of the features of a 
 modem book of travels in the East, but is an attempt to deal with ancient life as if one 
 had been a contemporary with the people whose civilization and social usages are 
 very largely restored." — Boston Herald. 
 
 New York: D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue. 
 
D. APPLETON & CO.'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 /JCTUAL AFRICA; or, The Coming Continent A 
 -^^ Tour of Exploration. By Frank Vincewt, author of "The 
 Land of the White Elephant," etc. With Map and 102 Illus- 
 trations. 8vo. Cloth, $5.00. 
 
 This thorough and comprehensive work furnishes a survey of the entire continent, 
 which this experienced traveler has circumnavigated in addition to his inland explora- 
 tions. The latter have included journeys in northern Africa, Madagascar, southern 
 Africa, and an expedition into the Congo country which has covered fresh ground. His 
 boo'.c has the distinction of presenting a comprehensive summary, instead of offering an 
 account of one special district. It is more elaborately illustrated than any book upon 
 the subject, and contains a large map carefully corrected to date. 
 
 " Mr. Frank Vincent's books of travel meiit to be ranked among the very best, not 
 only for their thoroughness, but for the animation of their narrative, and the skill 
 with which he fastens upon his reader's mind the impression made upon him by his 
 voyagings." — Bostort Saturday Evening Gazette. 
 
 " A new volume from Mr. Frank Vincent is always welcome, for the reading public 
 have learned to regard him as one of the most intelligent and observing of travelers," — 
 Nevj York Tribune, 
 
 A 
 
 ROUND AND ABOUT SOUTH AMERICA: 
 
 Twenty Months of Quest and Query. By Frank Vincent. 
 With Maps, Plans, and 54 full-page Illustrations. 8vo, xxiv + 
 473 pages. Ornamental cloth, $5.00. 
 
 '* South America, with its civilization, its resources, and its charms, is being con- 
 stantly introduced to us, and as constantly surprises us. . . . The Parisian who thinks 
 us all barbarians is probably not denser in his prejudices than most of us are about our 
 Southern continent. We are content not to know, there seeming to be no reason v^hy 
 we should. Fashion has not yet directed her steps there, and there has been nothing 
 to stir us out of our lethargy. . . . Mr. Vincent observes very carefully, is always 
 good-humored, and gives us the best of what he sees. . . . The reader of his book will 
 gain a clear idea of a marvelous country. Maps and illustrations add greatly to the 
 value of this work." — New York Co7ninercial Advertiser. 
 
 "The author's style is unusually simple and straightforward, the printing is re- 
 markably accurate, and the forty-odd illustrations are refreshingly original for the most 
 part." — The Nation. 
 
 **Mr. Vincent has succeeded in giving a most interesting and valuable narrative. 
 His account is made doubly valuable by the exceptionally good illustrations, most of 
 them photographic reproductions. The printing of both text and plates is beyond 
 criticism." — Philadelphia Ftiblic Ledger. 
 
 /'N AND OUT OF CENTRAL AMERICA ; and 
 other Sketches and Sttidies of Travel. By Frank Vincent. 
 With Maps and Illustrations. i2mo. Cloth, $2.00. 
 "Few living travelers have had a literary success equal to Mr. Vincent's."— 
 Harpers Weekly. 
 
 "Mr. Vincent has now seen all the most interesting parts of the world, having 
 traveled, during a total period of eleven years, two hundred and sixty-five thousand 
 miles. His personal knowledge of man and Nature is proljably as varied and complete 
 as that of any person living."— jVei" York Home Journal. 
 
 New York : D. APPLETON & CO., 72 Fifth Avenue. 
 
"THE TRUTH ABOUT THE BOERS." 
 
 By HOWARD C. HILLEGAS. 
 
 Oom Paul's People. 
 
 With Illustrations. lamo. Cloth, $1.50. 
 
 "He [the author] has written a plain, straightforward nar- 
 rative of what he himself saw and learned during his recent visit 
 to South Africa. . . . The only criticism of it will be that 
 which Sam Weller passed on his own love letter, that the reader 
 •will wish there was more of it* — which is the great art of 
 letter- writing and of book- writing. " — New York World. 
 
 " The first systematic and categorical exposition of the 
 merits of the whole case and its origins vsritten by a disinterested 
 observer. . . . An informing book, and a well-written one." — 
 New Tork Mail and Express. 
 
 " Gives precisely the information necessary to those who 
 desire to follow intelligently the progress of events at the present 
 time." — New Tork Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 The Boers in War. 
 
 The True Story of the Burghers in the Field. 
 Elaborately illustrated with Photographs by the 
 Author and Others. Uniform with " Oom Paul's 
 People." i2mo. Cloth, ^1.50. 
 
 " K book of even wider interest than ' Oom Paul's People.' 
 A most novel and curious account of a military form that has. 
 never been duplicated in modern times ; excepdonally interesting. 
 Mr. Hillegas has given us beyond question the best account yet 
 published." — Brooklyn Eagle. 
 
 D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK.