Sketches of China; partly during an inland journey of four months, between Peking, Nanking, and Canton; with notices and observations relative to the present war

Chapter I

China one great anomaly — obstacles to its solution — the author sets out for Peking by sea — description of Hong-kong — portrait-sketching a difficult pursuit at that place — singular mode of fishing — good news from Peking — hydrography of the coast — casualty at sea— coast of Fokien — island of Formosa — objection to its military occupation — rice and tea trade always prohibited by sea — rice admitted in ships at Canton — consequences -of blockade — Chusan and its neighbourhood — digression concerning Japan and Loochoo — recent visits of Mr. Gutzlaff to those countries ...... Page 1

Chapter II

Promontory of Shantong — Yellow sea and its shoal waters — visit of mandarins to the squadron — appointment of a Kinchae to receive the mission — consternation produced by a portrait of the Emperor — everything good manufactured at Canton — Chinese hospitality on shore — reception of Grandees on board the frigate — preparation for landing at the Peiho — junks laden with baggage — landing and first interview with Imperial Commissioner — description of accommodation barges— infliction of summary punishment — marshy shores of the Peiho — approach to Tien-tsin — reflections on Tartar ceremony CONTENTS. X

Chapter III

Immense crowds at Tien-tsin — appearance and arms of military — word valour oddly placed — visits to and from the Kinchae — precedence of the left and right — unfavourable symptoms — a recognition — procession to Imperial entertainment — preliminary discussion — Chinese veracity — bows substituted for ko-tow — feast and theatrical performance — scene from a Chinese comedy quoted . p. 58

Chapter IV

Imperial liberality — distance of Peking from the sea — a difficult country — Chinese Mahometans — pork and beef points of conscience — immense numbers of grain junks — Imperial Commissioners described — importance attached to names — Emperor's caprice — a scene with the Chinese Commissioners — arms and accoutrements of soldiers — abrupt conduct of the legates — bye-play in diplomacy — " a foolish officer"- — dangers of starvation — a Chinese hero — arrival at Tungchow — fruitless negociations . p. 75

Chapter V

An inroad of Tartars — successfully repelled — the Emperor has long ears — visit to Tungchow — haughty reception - — reply to the same — letter to Emperor returned — programme of intended audience at Peking — unfavourable symptoms — attack from an unexpected quarter — increased restraints — passports demanded — Chinese become civil — a conference proposed . . p. CONTENTS. XI

Chapter VI

Altered conduct of Duke Ho — consequent deliberation and its result — hurried proceedings of the Chinese — departure for Peking — Chinese team in London harness — description of the journey — city of Peking — one-horse carts — arrival at Yuenmingyuen — strange occurrences at the palace — abrupt rejection of mission — night journey to Tungchow — exchange of presents proposed by Emperor — historical account of an ambassador's fate . p. 134

Chapter VII

Preparations to travel south — character of conducting mandarins — King and Queen's pictures — Chinese fortune-tellers — neglect of sepulture in accidental cases — limited extent of infanticide — late occurrences at Peking explained — inequality of climate — Chinese gymnastics — superstitions — a man of general knowledge — tortoises sacred animals — similarity of the Chinese in the north and south — quit the Peiho towards the canal — importance of Tien-tsin in a war — -promotion of conducting mandarin, and reasons — his good-breeding — noisy boatmen — alluvial country — music described — building dedicated to summer solstice — town of Tsinghien- — song of the husbandmen — accident at Nanpehien — document from Emperor — enter Shantung province . p. 166

Chapter VIII

Change of mandarin attendants — city of Techow, and respectful behaviour of some mandarins — improved appearances to the southward — words strength and valour CONTENTS. written on soldiers' dresses — reach Lintsingchow, where canal commences — pagoda in honour of relics — religious freedom on certain conditions — Stoics, Pythagoreans, and Epicureans of China — subscriptions for books of morality — Book of Rewards and Punishments . p. 209

Chapter IX

Enter the Canal — extends seven degrees of latitude — dragon robes — military features — flood-gates — highest point of Canal — the dragon king — town of Tse-ningchow — unhealthy tract — immense inundations — enter Keangnan — improvement of country — preparation for sacrifice — crossing the Yellow river — frozen in winter — shooting the sluices — Chinese horses — temple to empress-mother — curious maxims of government — boats lashed in pairs — a city below the Canal — Paou-yinghien and lake — fishing-birds — the lofty and bright temple — change of boats — sacred fish — winter cap adopted by Kinchae ..... p. 245

Chapter X

A man drowned — inhumanity of the crew — indiscriminate law of homicide — tale of the Poor Scholar in illustration — a misfortune remedied— a calamity — measures of concealment — the doctor called — fails to come — a slave punished— his revenge — the scholar accused— evidence against him — forced admission of guilt — a ghost — the dead alive — a scheme of villany disclosed— the accused acquitted — conclusion of the tale . . p. TO ALGERNON LORD PRUDHOE, THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED.

ADVERTISEMENT.

. To the deep and growing interest which the present crisis in our relations with China has excited in the public mind, the following work owes its publication. Whatever may be the ultimate result of our armed measures to wards the government of that country — whether one of renewed and more intimate inter course, or of exclusive and lasting hostility — this account of the internal features, physical and moral, of the empire, may in either case be useful : in the first, as an introduction to more extended and familiar knowledge of the subject; in the last, as an improvement of opportunities not likely very soon to recur. Hollywood, Gloucestershire, February 25, 1841. %* The map having been generally constructed from that of the Jesuits, some little differences occur in the names of places as spelt in this work, but the variations in orthography are slight. SKETCHES OP CHINA.

Chapter I

China one great anomaly — obstacles to its solution — the author sets out for Peking by sea — description of Hong-kong — portrait-sketching a difficult pursuit at that place — singular mode of fishing — good news from Peking — hydrography ofthe coast — casualty at sea — coast of Fokien — island oi Formosa — objection to its military occupation — rice and tea trade always prohibited by sea — rice admitted in ships at Canton — consequences of blockade — Chusan and its neighbourhood — digression concerning Japan and Loochoo — recent visits of Mr. Gutzlaff to those countries. In a new work on Political Philosophy, attributed generally to a personage of high literary and social rank, there is a rapid view of the Chinese institutions, in a chapter exclusively devoted to that subject. This chapter com mences by a brief and striking summary of the VOL. I. B marvels and apparent inconsistencies which China presents to the eye of the commonest observer, as well as to the keener inspection of the political reasoner.

" A territory of enormous extent, stretching fourteen hundred miles from east to west, and as many from north to south, peopled by above three hundred millions of persons, all living under one sovereign — preserving their customs for a period far beyond the beginning of authentic history elsewhere — civilised when Europe was sunk in barbarism — possessed many centuries before ourselves of the arts which we deem the principal triumphs of civilisation, and even yet not equalled by the industry and enterprise of the West in the prodigious extent of their public works — with a huge wall of fifteen hundred miles in length, built two thousand years ago, and a canal of seven hundred, four centuries before any canal had ever been known in Europe, — the sight of such a country and such a nation is mightily calculated to fix the atten tion of the most careless observer, and to warm the fancy of the most indifferent.

ONE GREAT ANOMALY. " But there are yet more strange things un folded in the same quarter to the eye of the political philosopher.

All this vast empire under a single head, its countless myriads of people yielding an obedience so regular and so mechanical that the government is exercised as if the control were over animals, or masses of inert matter; the military force at the ruler's disposal so insignificant that the mere physical pressure of the crowd must instantly destroy it were the least resistance attempted ; the people all this while not only not plunged in rude ignorance, but actually more generally possessed of knowledge to a certain extent, and more highly prizing it than any other nation in the world ; the institutions of the country established for much above five-and-twenty centuries, and never changing or varying (in principle at least) during that vast period of time; the inhabit ants, with all their refinement and their early progress in knowledge and in the arts, never passing a certain low point ; so that they exhibit the only instance in the history of our species of improvement being permanently arrested in b2 its progress; the resources of this civilised state incalculable, yet not able to prevent two complete conquests by a horde of barbarians, or to chastise the piracies of a neighbouring island,* or to subdue a petty tribes existing, troublesome and independent, in the centre of a monarchy which seems as if it could crush them by a single movement of its body ; the police of the state all powerful in certain directions, and in others so weak as to habitually give way for fear of being defeated ; the policy of the state an unexampled mixture of wisdom and folly — profound views and superficial errors — patronage of art and of science, combined with prohibition of foreign improvements — encouragement of domestic industry, with exclusion of external commerce — promotion of inland manufactures and trade, without employing the precious metals as a medium of exchange — suffering perpetually from the population encroach ing upon the means of subsistence, and yet systematically stimulating the increase of its numbers, removing every check which might * Japan. t Meaou-tse.

OBSTACLES TO ITS SOLUTION. mitigate the evil, and closing every outlet for the redundancy." These things are certainly calculated to puzzle us of the west ; but fully proportionate to the interest of the subject has been the difficulty, to Europeans, of obtaining that full and accu rate information which alone can afford data for our reasonings, or a clue to the explanation of the several anomalies above stated. Our two most effectual means of inquiry have been a knowledge of the language, and the openings afforded by the royal missions to Peking. It was the good fortune of the writer of this to be officially attached to an embassy from the court of London to the Emperor of China, or Great Cham of Tartary, as the older books have it. This was an event (seeing that such English visits to Pekirg have been of the rarest occurrence) worthy to form an era in any man's life, but to himself it derived an additional value from peculiar circumstances.

At the early age of eighteen he had devoted himself to the in vestigation of all that could by any possibility be learned of that real " terra incognita" to which the mission in question was destined ; and about two years' close attention to the subject (including the language especially) was followed by the altogether unsolicited boon — sufficiently prized by the favored few to whose lot it fell — of proceeding in person, under the high auspices and introduction of a public embassy, to read the sealed book. The squadron of two ships, two surveying vessels, and a brig-of-war, came to an anchor on the evening of the 10th July off Hong-kong* an island about thirty-five miles due east of Macao, and lately celebrated as the rendezvous of our large fleet of merchant vessels, during the suspension of trade arising out of the out rageous exploits of Commissioner Lin at Canton.

A fine torrent of water, falling in a cascade from a considerable cliff, and then flowing across the beach strewn with rocks into the sea, offers great advantages to ships in watering, and we accordingly took occasion to " fill up" at this place. The short delay caused by this indis- * The name Hong-kong is a provincial corruption of Hoong-keang, " the red torrent," from the colour of the soil through which the stream flows previous to its fall over the cliff. PORTRAIT-SKETCHING. pensable operation gave occasion to several visits to the land, being to most of those on board the squadron their first introduction to the celestial regions. The two gentlemen who acted in the several capacities of naturalist and artist to the mission went on shore, the one with his scientific apparatus, the other with his pencils and sketch-book.

The first pronounced the rocks to be partly of trap or volcanic origin (the only specimen discovered on that part of the coast) ; the last attempted to seize with his pencil the various groups of the natives, as these crowded round him in all the eagerness of insatiable curiosity. This however was no easy task, for as each saw the eye of the limner fixed earnestly upon himself, he suddenly wheeled round to the rear to look over the artist's shoulder and observe progress; and as our excellent draughtsman was not the most patient of his profession, the effect became rather ridiculous. The sight of Europeans was to these people, mostly fishermen, a novel one, for until then the spot had been seldom visited, and to such of the embassy as were accustomed to the impertinence of the Canton people their behaviour appeared very quiet and civil.

We had occasion, during our stay at the anchorage, to remark their singular mode of fishing. They create a horrible din by their gongs and shout ing, and beat in the most frantic manner the surface of the calm water with oars and large sticks. By this process they appear to bewilder and stun the fish, and to drive them into their nets in considerable numbers. We observed, at least, that great success attended their labours. Indeed, any person, who has verified by expe riment the extraordinary power of conveying sound exhibited by water, need not be surprised at the efficacy of this plan of frightening out of their wits the finny tribes, who would seem to possess the faculty of hearing in a very sen sible degree. Before we left our anchorage at Hong-kong, it was satisfactory to receive from Macao the favourable intelligence that the emperor, on hearing of the approach of the British embassy, had appointed three mandarins of high rank to meet it at Tientsin, expressing at the same time HYDROGRAPHY OF THE COAST. 9 his gratification at the compliment.

The original document was worded in the inflated and absurd style common to these productions ; but the main fact remained the same — the mission was received, and allowed to enter the empire at the point fixed upon by those who sent it. On the 14th of July we passed a conspicuous rock near the coast of the Canton province, called in Portuguese Pedra branca, or the " White Stone," which serves as a useful mark to ships making the coast from the eastward. The whole sea-line of the province has been very accurately laid down, for the purposes of navigation, almost entirely at the expense of the East India Company, whose munificent contri butions to the science of hydrography in the eastern and China seas are not always known or appreciated by those who profit by them. To the north of that province, however, the coast has been so little frequented that our knowledge of it is but scanty, and the consequent risk incurred by any large ship which proceeds to the mouth of the Peiho (north river) b3 in the neighbourhood of Peking renders the greatest care necessary.

As the squadron sailed along with a fine favorable breeze, the beauty of the weather and the stirring scenes in anticipation naturally con tributed to put everybody on board in high spirits. In the midst of our gaiety, however, one of those fatal accidents, which occasionally happen in large ships from the perilous nature of the duty, threw a sudden damp on the general cheerful ness. After dusk in the evening, I chanced to be mounting the poop-ladder, when the fall of something heavy on the starboard hammock nettings suddenly startled me; though I was unable to tell what it was, as the object bounded with great force from the ship's side and fell at once overboard. My first impression, from the sound, led me to conclude that it must be a large block from the rigging, and to congra tulate myself on my narrow escape, as it fell only a few feet from me, — but the speedy cry of " some one overboard" announced at once the fatal truth.

The ship was brought to, and a boat lowered with all possible speed ; though CASUALTY AT SEA. all in vain, for the poor lad, a young midship man, was never again seen. It may easily be imagined that when a large ship is going through the water at the rate of nine or ten knots an hour, the acquired velocity of such a huge moving mass must urge it to the distance even of miles, before its motion can be checked by taking in sail and " bringing the ship's head round." Then, again, this requisite manœuvre of altering the ship's bearings bewilders most of those on board, who naturally look out from the stern of the vessel, while the real place of the unfortunate object of their search may, by this time, be on the larboard or starboard side, or perhaps even a-head. In addition to all this, as the head alone is visible of a person immersed in the water, this presents so small an object for .vision, at even a trifling distance, as to add greatly to the difficulty of discovery on these distressing occasions.

Ingenuity has therefore contrived a life-buoy, to be kept fastened at the sterns of large vessels, and cast off in an in stant when required on any emergency of the foregoing kind. The very act of letting it go strikes a light which guides both the sufferer and those on board during the night; and should the accident happen by day, the life buoy displays a small flag. In three days the squadron was off the coast of Fokien, a maritime province, in the northern part of which is grown the best of the large black-leafed tea, called by us in England bohea, and by the Chinese Ta cha, or " large tea," be cause it is allowed to remain on the tree until the leaves have attained full maturity and size. Being the most bulky, and the least laboured in the manufacture, while at the same time the late period of gathering does but little injury to the health of the plant, bohea is for all these reasons combined the cheapest kind of tea.

We cast a wistful eye from our ships at the Chinese coast, a few miles off, and with the help of a glass could discover a few scattered villages, apparently fishermen's houses. The shore was generally low, with barren hills a little way inland. On our right lay the great island of For mosa, of which the coast facing the main-land ISLAND OF FORMOSA. of Fokien pertains to China, and is included in the government of that province. A chain of mountains divides the island longitudinally, and separates the Chinese colony from the aborigines on the east. Formosa was the last portion of the present Chinese empire that submitted to the Manchow Tartars ; its separa tion by the sea having rendered it for years defencible against the fleets that were sent to subdue it. Placed opposite to the most opulent and commercial maritime provinces, at a distance of little more than twenty leagues, For mosa offers a tempting position to any European power disposed to try the occupation of it, as a means of pushing its trade with the empire.

The Dutch, indeed, had a settlement and forts on the south-west coast previous to the Man chow Tartar conquest ; but the multitudes of Chinese who sought shelter there from the Tartar dominion, soon led to its almost entire colonisation by that people. The commander of a large squadron of junks, by name Koshinga, who had long defied the Manchows, entered into a correspondence with his countrymen on shore, and preparations were at length made for attacking Fort Zealand, and driving out the Dutch, in order to obtain the dominion of the island. After a gallant defence by the garrison, the superior numbers and arts of the Chinese succeeded in expelling the Hollanders, and making Koshinga independent sovereign of the island, in 1662. The English entered into a commercial treaty with this "King of Tay wan," as the old records call him.

They were even more hardly treated than at Canton, being obliged to deliver up their guns and ammunition before they were permitted to trade ; and the vexations experienced here at length led to the abandonment of all inter course. Formosa continued independent for about twenty years, until it was surrendered by the grandson of Koshinga to the Tartar- Chinese Emperor. The great size of this island, which measures at least 200 miles in length, is the chief objec tion to its occupation, besides the want of good harbours. As it is known to supply a con siderable quantity of rice for the consumption TEA-TRADE PROHIBITED BY SEA. of the empire, the interception of this might be found an object in the prosecution of hos tilities by sea. But the policy of the Chinese in the construction of their grand canal, and the confinement of the trade in grain to inland navigation almost exclusively, renders them singularly exempt from this species of annoyance, which could only be effectually exercised by blockading the southern part of the canal, where it crosses the great river Keang, near its mouth.

With the same jealous regard for another chief article of consumption, the trans port of tea by sea-vessels coastwise has long been prohibited ; a circumstance which mili tates against the chance of a smuggling trade in tea to any extent. The small bulk of opium, in proportion to its cost, is one of the principal causes which has rendered the "black commodity" — or, to use another of their slang terms, the "foreign smoke" — the only article of trade on the coasts to the eastward of Can ton. This circumstance of small bulk as an ingredient in smuggling must not be lost sight of, even when we take into full account the unconquerable passion for opium, which leads the people to use it until the emaciation consequent thereon makes them resemble " a paddy bird in figure, and a pigeon in the face," — to use their own expression.

As regards a supply of rice, it may be remarked that one vulnerable point has been created, (in the single instance of the Canton province,) by the policy of the local government since the year 1825, in offering very powerful encouragements to European vessels to import that necessary of life from Manilla and else where. The exemption of rice ships from the heavy port-charges has led to a large importa tion of late years, to the prejudice of other foreign commodities. The sudden cutting off of so considerable a supply of rice by blockade, at the same time that the population of Canton are deprived of their usual means of livelihood, resulting from the European trade, can scarcely fail of producing very serious effects to that province at least.* * The expenses alone of a war with England must be unwelcome to the Peking government, at a period when ISLAND OF CHUSAN. 17 On getting clear of the Strait of Formosa, our squadron steered north by east, with the wind right aft, and on the morning of the 19th we found ourselves abreast of Chusan,* a large island about fifty miles to the eastward of Ningpo, the former seat of European trade, from which the jealousy of the present Tartar rulers of China banished it to Canton, the point most distant from Peking.

In the de lightful climate which prevails in this vicinity of the sea-coast, from the 30th to the 32nd degree of latitude, are centered a large portion of the riches and pleasures of the Chinese Empire. They have a common saying, " Shang the necessary outlay of the empire has for some years exceeded the annual income to a serious amount. About the year 1833, the defalcation amounted to as much as thirty millions of tales, or ten millions sterling. In a country where funding has never been fallen upon, and where great difficulties exist to the imposition of direct taxes, some embarrassment must arise from unlooked-for sources of heavy expenditure. — See ' Chinese,' Vol. II. p. 421, large edition. * The excellent harbours of this island and its neigh bourhood render it a very advantageous station for a naval squadron. -^ yew T'hien-thang — Hea yew Soo-Hang." — " Above is Paradise (heaven's hall) ; below are Soochow and Hangchow."

The two cities here named, being seated in the midst of the beautiful tea and silk districts, and about the confluence of the grand canal with the two great rivers of the empire, at the same time that the neighbourhood of the sea gives them the advantages of maritime com merce, combine within themselves every source of wealth and prosperity, as well as pleasure. The numerous junks which we saw in the neighbourhood of the coast bore evidence to the extensive trade carried on from these cities with Japan, Loochoo, and other places to the eastward, as well as with the maritime pro vinces of the empire. Amidst the dry official details of the famous " Blue Book," printed for the two Houses of Parliament during the last session, an agree able episode occurs in the history of a voyage to Loochoo and Japan in 1837, performed by Mr. Gutzlaff in H.M. ship Raleigh, Captain Quin, accompanied by the ship Morrison.

As VISITS TO LOOCHOO AND JAPAN. 19 the course of our narrative has brought us into the neighbourhood of these rarely-visited countries, it may be as well to give an outline of the latest news concerning them. There is no saying what may result from the progress of the pending hostilities with China, as re gards a repetition of our hitherto fruitless visits to their shores. At Loochoo we have been invariably met with a jealous and timid, though effectual exclusion ; at Japan with uncompro mising and hostile repulse. When Mr. Gutzlaff and his companions landed at Loochoo, they were received by the chiefs with evident reluctance ; but having succeeded in allaying their fears, the visitors proceeded to the city Napakeang. It took them about an hour to walk at a rapid pace through the whole length of the town.

All the houses were surrounded by a stone wall, which also encloses a garden, and the dwellings were mostly built of wood, one story high, with a small verandah in the Japanese style in front. It is strange that the party did not perceive a single shop or any articles offered for sale ; but this surely must have been inci dental to their visit, and the result of an order from the chiefs. A very wretched aspect was presented by the population, if we are to believe this account, and one altogether at variance with the description of Captain Hall, who must have viewed the people in their holiday dress. There were multitudes of beggars in the most squalid condition. But greater sur prise was excited by the miserable look of the women, who are described as "raw-boned, and the very picture of ugliness, with only a scanty covering, and this almost in tatters."

A whole row of these came down from the hills, carrying burdens, in company with some ponies, with whom they seemed to rank on a par. The few acres the visitors passed in their ramble were cultivated with potatoes, pulse, and grains ; but the peasantry seemed a hard-working, ill-requited race. The fishermen are peculiarly hardy and adventurous. They go, in their canoes hol lowed out of a single tree, to a great dis tance from the land, taking only a bucket of water and some potatoes for their subsistence; VISITS TO LOOCHOO AND JAPAN. 21 and upon this they maintain themselves for days together, until they have got a load of fish. They were seen with harpoons in pur suit of sharks and other large fish, able with a blow of their tails to upset the little boats. The Loochooans, ,it seems, do not improve upon a nearer inspection.

Nearly two hundred years ago the Prince of the Japanese princi pality Satzuma (the southernmost, and next to Loochoo) took forcible possession of these islands, and the government accordingly ap proaches to a Japanese despotism, the most truculent on earth. Both China and Japan claim supremacy over Lochoo, but the former is satisfied with an annual embassy, while the latter levies a substantial tribute. Fifteen junks annually trade with Satzuma in Japan, while two are sent to the capital city of Fokien in China. Living, as those poor Loochooans do, between the two most jealous nations in the world, and in the power of either, we cannot be surprised at the consternation which they feel on every European visit. Mr. Gutzlaff gives a formidable account of the warlike resources of Loochoo: "At the fort on the en trance they had stationed seven soldiers with clubs, in order to give something like a mi litary appearance to their harbour."