Chun Ti-kung: his life and adventures. A novel

Front matter

1Rew Sij Shilling iflovels. Illumination. By Harold Frederic. The Dancer in Yellow. By W. E. Norris. The Folly of Eustace. By Robert Hichens. Embarrassments. By Henry James. The Island of Doctor Moreau. By H. G. Wells. The Eleventh Commandment. By Halliwell Sutcliffe. Without Sin. By Martin J. Pritchard. The World and a Man. By Z. Z. Stories for Ninon. By Emile Zola. With a portrait by Will Rothenstein. A Comedy of Sentiment. By Max Nordau. A Superfluous Woman. By E. F. Brooke. Transition. By E. F. Brooke. Sentimental Studies. By H. Crackanthorpe. London : WM. HEINEMANN, 21 Bedford St., W.C. His Life and Adventures A Novel By Claude A. Rees London William Heinemann Ail fights reserved CONTENTS

Part I

Chapter Page I The Ancestral Coffin-shop 3 II Country Mouse and Town Mouse ... 12 III Bridegroom and Sing-Song Girl ... 27 IV From Shanghai to Hoochow .... 36 V His Uncle the Tao-tai 45 VI A Son to worship at his Grave ... 49 VII Work and Play 55 VIII The Tao-tai tells Tales 61 IX In pursuit of Pirates 73 X A Bloodless Victory 81 XI Muh Wang's Treasure 92 XII Uncle and Nephew 98 XIII The Tao-tai adopts Chun 104 XIV Murder and Suicide m XV Glory and Honour 119 XVI Welcome and Farewell 125 XVII Over the Western Seas CONTENTS VI

Part II

Chapter Page I An English Maid 139 II The East woos the West 151 III A perilous Marriage 164 IV First Misgivings 175 V Disillusion 1*85 VI The Fulfords 195 VII The Clouds gather 205 VIII An ill-fated Babe 216 IX The Blow Falls 229 X Chun's unfortunate Delay 235 XI Death the Helper 243 XII Sorrow and Exile

PART I

B

PART I CHAPTER

I THE ANCESTRAL COFFIN-SHOP Chun Ti-ktjng's father, Chun Se-fei, kept one of the most popular coffin-shops in a good-sized village called Pa-li Kiao, not far from the Foo City of Chow shing in the Province of Chekiang. Pa-li Kiao, being interpreted, means a bridge eight li distant from some more important town. Chun Ti-kung's father had been for years gradually putting by coin from his system of investing largely in planks of wood when cheap, and these in almost every year gave him a good return when they were converted into coffins ; the price of a coffin for moderately rich people often amounting to £100 or even £150 sterling. In the periodical famine years, and in the years 1862 and 1863, when the Taiping rebellion had devastated the country for miles around, and corpses were con stantly being brought down for some sort of interment, his business increased to such an extent that his stock of boards was considerably reduced, and he found him self a well-to-do man.

Many of the corpses belonged to the poorer classes whose neighbours and friends could only raise funds for the most unpretentious of burials ; but every now and then the head of a rich family required his services and a large profit was made. In these years it was at first a great disappointment to find that many could not even raise the lowest price that Chun Se-fei could make up his mind to accept for the commonest shell, but had to bury their dead in rags ; although, when his planks were becoming reduced in stock, he had reason to congratulate himself, as he found it practicable to increase the price in proportion to the demand. It is astonishing to what a degree of inconvenience the Chinese will put themselves to bury their dead decently, often leaving the family heavily in debt. In 1876 his wood-yard was again well filled.

After good crops and the disaster of a sharp cholera epidemic, the demand for coffins was enormous, and the elder Chun found himself rich as riches in China are esti mated : he was worth in our money about £40,000. \ Coffin-shop may seem a strange term to European ears, but to call the owner an undertaker would be mis leading, as in China the buying of a coffin is a simple business proceeding. When the bargain is made the transaction finishes. Priests superintend the obsequies and interment, aided by the professors of that most mysterious doctrine " Feng shuy," who have to choose the site of the grave, just as in building they have to choose the site of a new house, and the position of its doors and windows. Many people buy their coffins years before there is any prospect of their being required, and will often show them to you with pride, resting in one of their halls or back rooms, in readiness.

Chun Se-fei, the father, had a younger brother, Chun Yu-tai, who, having been rather a wild youth when the Taiping rebellion was at its height, ran away from home and joined the Imperialist army; in which, for un doubted pluck, he was promoted from rank to rank, as engagement followed engagement, untd he soon found himself commander of one thousand men, and received from the Peking Government, at the particular request of Li-hung-chang, the Hwang Ma-kiua (or yellow riding jacket), a decoration much coveted by the military in China. A year after the taking of Soochow, and the virtual suppression of the Taipings, Chun Yu-tai peti tioned for a post as a small mandarin, and having Li's good-fellowship, and also having gained the reputation of not being a greedy man after money (an unusual and greatly-to-be-encouraged character in the eyes of the Peking high officials), he had gradually advanced in favour, so that after gaining good opinions at all the posts to which he was raised, he was finally appointed Tao-tai of Hoochow-foo.

Chun Yu-tai had been married for some years, and to several wives, but was at the time at which our story begins still childless, and bethinking himself of the imperative necessity of having an heir, to sacrifice at his tomb and to carry out the yearly celebration to the dead father and ancestors, he was troubled in his mind. The thought of his elder brother Chun Se-fei occurred to him, and although no correspondence had passed between them for years, he was well informed that Chun Se-fei's family consisted of four sons and a daughter, and after much consideration he determined to make proposals for the adoption of one of his nephews. The letter had to be carefully worded, pointing out that he should do his best to push his nephew in the career of the literati, and admitting that his own fortune would have been better worked out if he had had more education.

" My most superior Brother," he wrote, " and one who must always wish to have the dignity of promoting the fame of the family, will you condescend to attend to the solicitations of your small unfortunate brother to whom Providence has denied a son, and allow the transfer of one of my worthy nephews, to be as it were blood of my blood' and flesh of my flesh ? I think that I can push his career upwards, and as too much in a granary is liable to rot, to part with one of your off spring for a time might be well, and I hope I shall approve of him for my heir." When the letter reached Pa-li Kiao it caused much excitement, brought as it was by a Tao-tai's runner on ponyback, in itself a great honour. At first Chun Se-fei had serious qualms that it was simply a requisition from the Tao-tai of his district for dollars, and felt no eagerness to acknowledge his own identity, but ascertaining that the messenger came from his own brother, the letter was opened, and it was seen that it would need serious consideration, and an early reply.

The runner was therefore shown where to take up his quarters and obtain his meals, being told that next day an answer would be in readiness. Chun Yu-tai was known to have obtained promotion, but his brother had not heard that he had risen so high O He had always been looked upon and talked about as a relation who was more or less of a disgrace, for having chosen the low profession of arms (than which there is none lower in China excepting that of priests and actors). The proposal was therefore very much a surprise. That evening the grandmother, Chun Se-fei, the eldest son, and the second son (also in the coffin business), held council far into the small hours, when a unanimous decision was arrived at that Chun Ti-kung, our hero, should be offered as the candidate for adop tion. The reasons for this choice were, that as Chun Se-fei was well off and elderly, the eldest son, who was married and a father, was wanted at home for the sake of the business, and the second son was the father's favourite.

All three were keen men of business, delighting to carouse together at China New Year, or in fact whenever a feast or holiday gave them an excuse to shut the shop, so that the duty of attending on their uncle's whims was readily relegated to the third son, Chun Ti-kung. Chun Ti-kung was quite a different being from the other members of the family. Chinese women's lives are so suppressed, monotonous, and, as we may almost conclude, devoid of thought, that it is difficult not to think that Chun had derived his proclivities rather from his mother's father than directly from his mother herself. This grandfather of Chun Ti kung's had been very fond of books, and might have become a great scholar had he not died young. . From the early age of six Chun Ti-kung had shown similar tastes, and now, having reached his nineteenth year, he had already passed his three preliminary examin ations at Hangchow, enabling him to compete for further honours.

His advancement in life depended on these successes, and was by no means secure, as his papers might be sent in for examination after examination, and year after year, until he had reached his dotage, with out result. Chun Ti-kung was somewhat of a dreamer ; he loved the hills and waterfalls that abound near Pa-li Kiao, and would wander about them trying to imitate the odes of the best Chinese writers, or making sonnets to a lady's eyebrow. To his love of books and writing was added a great admiration for all the ancient, well-preserved records of the ceremonies of former centuries. The proper conduct during times of mourn ing or rejoicing, in the worship of ancestors, in the celebration of the spring and autumn birthdays, even in shaving, was of serious import to his mind. In fact, he was a follower of the doctrines of Confucius, which, with the many additions of superstition tacked on by Buddhist and Taoist priests, forms the religion of China.

The day after Tao-tai Chun Yu-tai's letter had been received the runner was summoned after the mid-day meal, and was entrusted with a handsome folded dispatch. With some " cumshaws " (gifts) and good wishes for a prosperous ride he was sent on his course. The dispatch set forth in carefully selected characters, that a fortnight from date the small and worthless third son of Chun Se-fei would be sent to pay his bene volent and much-to-be-honoured uncle a submissive visit for the purpose of re-connecting friendship and cementing family ties; concerns always to be held in remembrance. On the same morning, little anticipating how much business of serious import to himself had been settled during the hours that he slumbered, Chun Ti-kung was naturally surprised at receiving a written and formal request to present himself before his father at two o'clock in the afternoon, in the big room of the house where all feasts were given, and the rites to ancestors paid, at China New Year and birthday festivals.

He of course donned his long gown and ceremonial hat, and on presenting himself, found his grandmother, father, mother, and elder brothers all in readiness for his appearance and anxious to communicate to him the great good fortune that had been decided on for him, whether he liked it or not. As a matter of fact, the offer with all its possible opportunities was just what Chun Ti-kung would have wished for himself: the proposal was quite unexpected from the quarter whence it came ; and to be able to continue his studies and to gain a name for scholarship was his great ambition. It was therefore with an excessive affectation of indifference that he expressed his dutiful submission to his parents' wishes, the ex aggerated display of any feeling among the Chinese generally indicating the opposite of what they pretend.

" One further remark of importance," said Chun the father, " which is that we think it only right that your marriage should be celebrated before your departure, for often when fully occupied, the days and months roll by, and we take no count of them. You might follow in the steps of your uncle, and have no son to continue the name after you." Chun Ti-kung had, almost as a matter of course, been betrothed to a neighbour's daughter about a year before, but as he had never seen his betrothed, and felt no inclination for marriage, he shrugged his shoulders at this remark. For this unseemly conduct he was severely rebuked by his mother : and knowing that his clear duty under the circumstances was to complete the arrangement, he changed his tone, or rather his attitude ; and proceeded to ask his father and mother to make all arrangements for the happy event to come off as quickly as possible.

In China the bride and bridegroom have not much trouble about their marriage, all being arranged by their respective fathers and mothers, and in most cases through a third party, who is called in to make the proposals. Marriage resolves itself into a matter of bargain. The bride's father, if in equal circumstances, generally gives more than the son's father, which seems reasonable, as the girl and her children belong to the other family, which is in future responsible for their maintenance. The exchange of presents, clothes, jewels, and furniture, is all done by the seniors through the go-between, and, until the marriage-day, the bridegroom, at any rate, can do pretty much as he likes. A lucky day was accordingly chosen from the Chinese calendar, by the priest's advice, and the exchange of presents and visits having been completed, the bride was brought home to her father-in-law's house in the prosperity-and-happiness-giving red chair belonging to the village.

The priests attended, the mystic silk strings were exchanged, the wine from the same cup was drunk by bride and bridegroom, and Chun Ti-kung became a married man by all the laws and customs of the Empire. On the wedding-day, and the day after, the bride groom was hard worked, what with having to entertain the guests, and having to eat and drink a great deal too much. But ye ladies ! what a time had the bride ! For five or six days, dressed up in state, she had to stand and bow to all the guests introduced to her : her poor head crowned with ornaments weighing seven or eight pounds, and the other clothes almost equally un comfortable ; and this ceremony lasting each day from noon to seven o'clock. Chun Ti-kung's father had naturally foreseen that the necessarily long-drawn-out preliminaries to Chun's departure would take a week longer than the period mentioned in the letter to Chun Yu-tai. "For other wise," as the father said, " would it have looked well to force off one's son on to the hospitality of his uncle in unusual haste ? "

Chapter II Country Mouse And Town Mouse

All things now having been arranged, and five days having elapsed since the wedding took place, Chun Ti kung and his belongings (which his father had been far from niggardly in furnishing) were put on board a native boat which, with the exception of a few li of land carriage, would bring him to Ningpo. The wife remained with her father and mother-in law. The Chinese are emphatically a stay-at-home race, and few of them travel beyond the limits of their own or the next adjacent parish, with perhaps one or two visits to their Foo City, during their life-time. Chun Ti-kung, as will have been noted, had been as far as Hangchow for his examinations, and had spent some days there, but beyond this, nowhere ; so the route before him, first to Ningpo, then by foreign steamer to Shanghai, and thence again in native craft to Hoo chow, appeared a serious undertaking.

Some rapids on the way down from Pa-li Kiao, and the shouting and excitement of the crew, greatly astonished him, but in spite of apparent danger he arrived at Ningpo without mishap, where for the first time he was to come into contact with the " foreign devil ; " the only words that really express the Chinese feeling towards foreigners, even after years of associ ation. It is possible, I suppose, that there are out-of-the-way places in Europe where inhabitants may exist who have not heard of railways, and who do not understand the meaning of the posts with wires. If so, they must surely be people who have not learned to read and who lack intelligence. In Chun's case there was no lack of intelligence or knowledge of Chinese books : but there were no links, no intermediate steps, to convey to his mind the myriad experiments that have resulted in the marvels of modern invention; and it must be a great shock of surprise that first assails a person in Chun's position.

The only information that is given to a Chinaman is that the steamer is a " Ho-lun Chuen," something to do with fire, wheels, and a boat. " The superior man " however, as Confucius says, " is not an utensil." He has still room for endless observing and learning. And Chun, after hearing the explanation from the friendly banker in Ningpo to whom he had been sent by his father, with trepidation in his heart but calmness on his features, was next day conducted on board the s.s. Tun sin, and wished good luck in a glass of samshu, while fire-crackers were let off on the wharf to cheer his spirits. The steamer had a good number of passengers, but though many of his fellow-countrymen with whom Chun talked had often made the trip, to his disappointment none of them had any clear notion how the power of moving through the water was obtained.

A fireman whom he had recognized as hailing from his own village, and with whom he began a friendly talk while the steamer was still at anchor, showed him the boilers, the coal bunkers, and the engines, through the skylight, but as the fireman's ideas of how the engines were made to work were far from either theo retical or practical correctness, little enlightenment was obtained. After the steamer had started, Chun tried to make a few observations on his own account, but his hopes were dashed, and his feelings hurt, when, on trying' to peer in at the door of the engine-room, he found himself unceremoniously pushed back by a greasy arm thrust through a dirty shirt-sleeve, with a phrase he did not understand, "Get out of this, you d — d Chinee." The twelve hours' passage was enlivened by Chun's making the acquaintance of the son of a Shanghai foreign bank comprador, a specimen of the native gilded youth of that place.

This young man, anticipating some fun from Chun's evident greenness, began the conversation : made himself very agreeable to win Chun's confidence; and succeeded in so far that Chun agreed to put up at the hotel which this young gentleman Pei recommended. Chun at the same time insisted that Pei should see him through dinner on his first evening in Shanghai, to which Pei only too readily agreed. Chun arrived at Shanghai at seven o'clock in the morning, and after being pushed and dragged hither and thither by the hotel touts, finally, with Pei's welldirected efforts, found himself at the Guest House Chang Chun leu (or Everlasting Spring), where he was taken to what seemed to him a luxurious apart ment. Shanghai has many native hotels pure and simple, but the Chang Chun leu was one of a few old foreign "hongs" which have been converted to this use by enter prising proprietors, and although dirty and ill-managed, the facts that visitors could here experience the novelty of tasting foreign " chow chow " if they liked it, and that " coal-fume " or gas is laid on, generally keep them full, and Chun was lucky to find himself so easily accom modated.

He ordered breakfast for himself and Pei, after which that young man had to leave to report himself to his father, and Chun, after washing his hands and changing his clothes, began to consider what he should do. His arrival at the wharf, the scrambling and jostling for himself and his baggage, and the rapidity with which some big foreigners, with few disputes, had cleared the steamer of its passengers, had greatly bewildered him. It was so different from his experience at Hang chow, where with his three hundred fellow students, there had been endless delay in identifying the com petitors, and allotting to them their respective cells in the Examination Hall, although they only arrived in comparatively small parties. In walking to the hotel he had only vaguely taken notice of very wide streets, and such tall houses as he had never before seen, his mind being in fact harassed by the total dis appearance of his baggage, which Pei, after having it pointed out, had sent to its proper destination.

Qualms seized him, after observing Pei's strikingly handsome silk costume, that his own clothes were not good enough ; and then, seeing people looked so busy, he felt uneasy about choosing the right time to call on the banker to whom he had letters of introduction. Finally he settled to leave these matters to be discussed with Pei at dinner, and asked his host how best to employ his time till then. " My worthy host," said Chun while eating his mid day meal, " what way do you recommend as being most appropriate to your humble guest for filling a few spare hours?" The host, with a view to the largest " squeeze," at first suggested a horse carriage, but finding that Chun thought this extravagant, proposed that he should take a " Tung yang Choi " for a ride down the Bund and over to Hongkew. Chun was perplexed and silent : here was a carriage of some sort apparently without horses, and bearing the curious name of " East foreign," whereas Chun had attributed all these kind of changes to West foreigners.

Seeing, however, that his host waited, and not wishing to appear inex perienced, he gave his consent, and in a few moments was told that the carriage was at the door. He put on his hat and went down, nervous but determined, and was agreeably surprised to find what a far from formidable-looking vehicle a jinrikshaw is. On moving off he remarked to himself, " Verily this is better than a wheelbarrow and quicker than a sedan-chair." His ride through the settlement filled Chun with wonder. One of his first acts was to stop the rikshaw, alight, and, to the astonishment of the bystanders, gather together some of the dust of the road. Never before had he seen a road made of granite chips, and it was not till long after that he found out how the smooth surface was accomplished. In a letter of this time that he wrote to his father, he described the roads of Shanghai as " smooth, cut out of solid stone."

Chun in his rikshaw went down the Bund enjoying the really pretty picture. On each side of the road were trees just then putting on their bright green coats, beyond them on the right the handsome river was crowded with boats of all descriptions, from the sampan riding lightly like a duck on the water, to a high Tientsin junk, from the steam launch to the man-of-war and grand mail steamers ; on the left, houses higher and bigger than any palace, finer than it had entered into his heart to conceive. At first he was inclined to believe the houses were built of stone, but finding one of red brick he supposed that the others might also be made of brick and covered with plaster, like the Loongfung Pagoda on the Sehoo (Western Lake). Still, the glass windows, the absence of dirt, the number of the houses !

Wonderful ! A cart passed him, and all at once sprinkled his wheel, and the rikshaw coolie's legs, with sparkling drops of water, astonishing to see; but what diverted his attention and upset his equanimity was the number of horse carriages, constantly driving to and fro, sometimes at such close quarters to his rikshaw wheels, that he made a start to jump out on the other side, so that on one or two occasions he almost destroyed the equili brium of his carriage and draughtman, the latter at intervals turning round to remonstrate. Chun had read of horse carriages at Peking, but c never had thought of their going fast or without being led, and when he began to piece together in his mind the number of foot passengers, the horse carriages, and rikshaws and wheelbarrows that he had seen, he drew the conclusion that some great fete or fair must be going on, the cause of which he must ask Pei in the evening.

One little occurrence impressed itself very strongly on Chun's mind. His rikshaw collided with another, almost upsetting it, the occupier of which, a merry British tar, felt the necessity of jumping out and proceeding to pummel his coolie's head. Chun drew in his breath, for forth from the side walk, tall, dark, bronzed, with dark -blue clothes and a red turban on his head, strode a Sikh policeman, who laid hands on the obstreperous white man, and telling the rikshaw to follow, marched him away. Chun's reflections formed themselves into this, " Was this a Tung-yang ? " The Se-yangs are evidently white. We have a black god in most of our temples, but what could this creature be? The lamp-posts and the telegraph-posts with wires passing overhead he made a mental note of in his brain to inquire about afterwards.

There is nothing in the structure of the wooden bridge at the end of the Bund to attract the attention of a Chinaman. The streets of Hongkew, beyond it, are for some distance bordered by plainly-built shops, little if any better than may be seen in any China city, so that when the rikshaw coolie — who had early in the engagement, much to his delight, received the order to go slowly — assumed an appearance of exhaustion, and asked, " How many more li do you wish to go ? " Chun, seeing that there were now uninterest ing vacant places between the shops, and tired of novelty and excitement, gave the order to turn and go back to the hotel. On some shops on each side of the way he now for the first time noticed the advertisement of Tung yang goods for sale. Getting down and entering one, he was shown some specimens of Japanese porcelain and tortoise-shell ware which were new to him.

These he admired and could not help wishing to buy, but as he felt the need of economy, he bowed to the shop keeper, and saying that he would return in a few days, left the shop. To the already numerous " wrinkles " in Chun's mind had been added this one, that he had discovered that Tung-y ang (Eastern Ocean) meant Japanese. He came back to the hotel by four o'clock, and as the coolie, backed up by the landlord, charged only twice the amount that was due to him, Chun suffered only a moderate "squeeze." Chun felt very grateful to the host when the latter brought him as a means of passing the next hour a newspaper of the day in Chinese to read. Chun had not known that a daily paper was issued in Shanghai by the Shun-Paou office. Besides the Peking Gazette, which is entirely official, there are no newspapers in China excepting those started as a speculation by foreigners in Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Tientsin, and it was a novel treat to Chun to read the news.

As the daylight was fading, he drew near the window to finish reading the paper, and hearing ship bells ring five, raised his head, and caught sight on the opposite bank of the creek of a small flickering orange spark. Drop ping his paper in surprise, he saw without any apparent assistance the spark become a steady fixed light, in a globe as large and bright as the moon itself. The streets, fading into darkness, now shone brightly illuminated. The shadows, however, had all the darkness of night. Then, too, Chun noticed that other high posts had also become lights. This was his first introduction to electric and gas lamps. " Your honourable guest awaits yrou," announced the proprietor of the Chang Chun leu, and Chun hastened down to meet and welcome his newly-made friend. Pei greeted him gaily.

"My brother," he said, "if you will allow me to have the honour of so addressing you, I have taken the liberty of speaking with this old dormouse of a landlord of yours, and I have suggested, if you agree, that this being your first visit ' beyond the doors,' you should treat yourself and me to a meal served in foreign fashion, washed down with a bottle of foreio-n samshu, which they call ' sham-ping.' In the meantime let us smoke a cigarette." Chun answered, " I shall always be ready to accept any suggestion made by my elder brother, and feel myself bound to be grateful for the efforts you make to enlighten my mind." Cigarettes were brought and smoked — these per nicious luxuries Chun had already seen at Pa-li Kiao and in a quarter of an hour dinner was announced. The requisite bowing and gesticulating as to who should take precedence in entering the dining-room having been properly gone through, Chun finally pushed his friend into the seat of honour on his left hand.