Chinese, their present and future:

Front matter

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Preface

Since my return to the United States, last spring, I have met many friends, in and out of the medical profession, who have at various times pressed me to write my experiences in China, and my views of the present situation there and future prospects of the country. I have tried in the following pages to present, in the briefest form possible, the answers to questions constantly asked me. The illustrations are all from photographs in my own collection, most of them taken by myself. As I have resided and traveled only in North China, the reader will understand that my descriptions apply to the people living north of Shanghai, unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Robert Coltman, Jr.

411 Pine Stbeet, Philadelphia,

December 1, 1891.

TABLE OF CONTENTS,

Preface,

Introduction,

Interest in the race excited. Commissioned to China. Japan. Nearing Shanghai. Shanghai in summer. Arrival at Chefoo. Disgusted with sights and odors.

Chapter I

Change of name. First lesson in Chinese. A ramble down hill. Diet of resident foreigners. Society of Chefoo. Chinese theatre. Onward.

CHAPTER II. En Route to tiie Interior

Looking for a steamer. On the ocean again. Passenger with cholera. Stuck in the river. How to settle a fare. Tientsin. Waiting for an escort. A house-boat. Up the Grand Canal. Arrival at Ssu Nil Ssu. Overland journey. Donkey-riding. A Chinese inn. Wheelbarrowriding. Mobbed at Yii Cheng. Crossing the flooded farms. Crossing the Yellow River. Arrival at Chiuanfu.

Chapter III

City-gates. Lake in the city. Shop£ on the great street. Exchange of silver. The Governor’s yaraen. Coffins and monuments. Beggars. Population. Chinese Mohammedans. The Pao T‘ou Ch‘uan fair.

Chapter IV

Starting to Chi Yang. Will not hear advice. A head in the basket. A primitive ferry. Two criminals. A mat inn in winter, No seclusion. My pants ridiculed. Arrival at our destination. Sympathy from an old lady. Entertained by Mr. Li. Village life. Change to native costume.

Introduction

For four years I had been reading the journals of the various societies employing medical men as missionaries abroad. Africa, Siam, Korea, India, and China all at first claimed a share of my attention, but at last I became so interested in the latter country that I could not pass a laundry in the city of Philadelphia without stopping to watch the almond-eyed Celestial use his mouth as an atomizer and spray to perfection the shirtfront, destined to be speedily ironed and polished to a degree unattainable by the daughters of Erin, whom he was fast displacing. I used to wonder if the internal construction of his larynx and pharynx corresponded with that of the Caucasian race, with which I was familiar as a student of anatomy. Then I would become absorbed in reflections on the peculiarity of his dress, color of his skin, the shape of his eyes, his apparently guttural dialect, his pertinacity in retaining the queue and native style of wearing-apparel in a foreign country, where it excited so much ridicule, etc., etc., until finally I would meander off, only to stop and go through a second series of similar reflections upon seeing another shop kept by one of this peculiar race. My interest constantly deepening, I determined to read all available literature on the subject, and with that end in

1 (1)

THE CHINESE.

view secured all the works on China I could obtain, and for some time my leisure hours were pleasantly spent in this interesting study ; but early in my quest for information I perceived a lack of detail and meagreness of description, especially in regard to the social state of the people and country at present, which was anything but satisfying. Suddenly one day came the thought, “ Why not go and see them in their own country and make a study of them 1 If it is true, as stated, that they have no properly educated physicians, my medical training and experience could not but be a key to their acquaintance, perhaps friendship, besides being the means of doing much good to the afflicted unable to secure skilled assistance.” After considerable discussion of the pros and cons of this subject, and some opposition at first from my wife, I in the end decided to make application to the American Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions to accept my services as a physician on their staff in China.

The proper credentials were demanded as to my graduation from a recognized medical college, and also as to my standing in the profession and Christian character. These being considered satisfactory, I was notified that I was commissioned a medical missionary physician, and directed to proceed to the station of Chinanfu, the capital city of the province of Shantung, in North China. On April 8, 1885, I received my commission, and on the 21st of May my wife, infant son, and self took passage from San Francisco on the Pacific mail-steamer Rio <le Janeiro , Captain Cobb, for Yokohama, Japan, en route to far Cathay.

The voyage across the Pacific Ocean has been the subject of so many descriptions that I will not weary the

INTRODUCTION.

reader with a repetition ; suffice it to state that we took the southern route, and visited the beautiful Hawaiian (better known as the Sandwich) Islands, and enjoyed the pleasure of spending one delightful day in the tropical city of Honolulu. This was the only day of the entire journey my wife was not seasick. From the Sandwich Islands we sailed north again, and west, arriving at the city of Yokohama on the morning of Friday, June 12th, having been twenty-two days out from San Francisco.

We were, of course, delighted with Japan — everybody is. I have yet to meet a person who was disappointed with the country or its inhabitants. From the moment of landing at Yokohama until the moment of leaving Nagasaki, one is in perpetual change of pleasant scenes. We visited the curio-shops, silk-shops, and temples; bought canes, scrolls, screens, and cuff-buttons in a most reckless fashion, — for, really, you see so many beautiful things, and apparently so cheap, that you will buy as long as your finances stand it. Every one who comes to Japan goes away much poorer, and, of course, the country benefits by visitors who come to spend.

The most striking feature of the people seems to me to be their cleanliness. Everybody is clean ; everything is clean. I saw several pigs in Tokio, and, wonder of wonders ! they were clean. A week passed by like lightning, and only one unpleasant incident in that time, which came in the form of a terrific earthquake that nearly shook us out of bed, on the night of June 14th, at Yokohama. Earthquakes may be pleasant when one gets used to them, but, after living for twenty odd years in the steady, young United States, a person is rather unfitted for the frisky gambols of hoary old Nippon. One short week of respite from the motion of

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the ship, and our steamer is about to leave again. Hotel bills are paid, trunks taken out to the steam-launch in waiting, a run of half a mile in the launch, ascent of companion-way of the Japanese company’s steamer, and again we are moving onward, westward, to the land of Confucius, and to the most populous nation of the earth.

“What is that dark line ahead and to the right'?” I asked. “That, sir, is the coast of China, and if we strike sufficient water on the bar you will be in Shanghai by noon,” replied Captain Walker, of the Japanese Mitsu Bishi steamer, Nagoya Mam, to whom I had addressed my question. We were just a week from Yokohama, Japan, and had met with rough weather all the way, and now, though it had ceased raining, heavy banks of storm-clouds still hung threateningly overhead, and the June air was damp and close. “How far are we from the land?” I ventured again. “Not more than eight miles ; you see, the land is very low here, and Ave cannot see it until we are quite near. Ah ! Doctor, 1 pity you,” continued the captain. “ The idea of a young man like you going into the interior of China to study the natives, and dragging your wife along with you, too, seems to me the height of foolishness. Why don’t you stop in Shanghai or Chefoo ? There are plenty of natives in either of those places to satisfy you ; and all sorts, too. I see enough of them in Shanghai on one trip to satisfy me forever. — the dirty, long-tailed heathen.” “ And, sir,” said the mate, who was standing by, “if you live to come back — which, of course, we hope you will — you will be as yellow as one of those fellows below there (pointing to a small group of Chinese deck-passengers huddled together on the main-deck

INTRODUCTION.

beneath us). We had, a few years ago, a nice young man come out with us as a passenger from the States, who was going with his wife to be a missionary to those heathen wretches ; and when we took him home, two trips back, he was alone ; buried his wife in China with small-pox; and he as yellow as saffron, and looking twenty years older; going home to die.” “Do they all go home looking like that I asked, mentally questioning myself if I had not perhaps made a mistake in my determination to explore China. “ Well, not all, but most of them,” he replied, with a sort of sorrow in his voice. He could not truthfully say they were all brokendown wrecks. I commenced to recover. “Well, perhaps 1 may be one of those who won’t go to pieces,” I said. “ Half-speed ! Heave the lead !” called out the captain. “You see,” he said, turning to me, “in this muddy-looking water we have no great depth, and the bottom is always shifting; so we have to take soundings every time we go in. Now, at Chefoo the vessels can all go in and come out, even large men-of-war, without sounding ; but they have no river there to wash out the mud and silt it up in banks, as here.” A little while later we were in sight of the signal-station of Woosung, anxiously looking with glasses to see if the tide-mark displayed would enable us to cross the bar. As we drew nearer we could see vessels of all nations, some lying inside and some outside the bar. On, on we go, closer and closer to the signal-station ; but still the captain will not say whether he intends going over the bar or not, and all the passengers are becoming impatient, when the mate whispers to me, “This is the ‘old man’s’ hobby. He’d sooner see a lot of impatient passengers than eat a good meal; but you can rest easy, Doctor. I think we will

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cross the bar ; still, as the water is getting low and the tide running out, we will probably not go up more than five miles or so this morning. Then we will anchor, and, if in a hurry, you can take a sampan and go ashore ; if not in a hurry, wait quietly on board until three or four o’clock, and with the incoming tide we will run up to the ‘bund’ (wharf).” It turned out just as the mate said, and in another hour we were dropping anchor about five miles below the wharf of the company, in midstream, as the low tide made farther advance risky. To stay quietly aboard until the tide changed was impossible to one of my temperament ; so, after securing directions from the captain how to proceed, I called a sampan, deposited my wife, child, and valise therein, and pushed away from the Nagoya up stream.

The boatman worked lustily with his scull, heaving a sort of grunt, each time he swayed back and forth, that was not unmusical ; but the tide was running swiftly out, and his utmost exertion made but slow progress. After an hour and a half of this (to foreigners) exasperatingly slow travel, during which we had gone about four miles, we spied some jinrickshaws at a wharf just ahead, and made our boatman pull in to the shore, in spite of his protestations that he was to take us to the steamboatwharf. I paid him what I was told was the fare, — the sum of thirty cents Japanese money, — and he appeared satisfied ; since, even though he had not carried us to the agreed point, he had received his full fare.

W e were now surrounded by a lot of rickshaw-men, one of whom seized my valise, another my little boy, and the rest were crowding around my wife and self, jabbering such a lot of (to me) unmeaning chatter, that I was perfectly bewildered. “ Tell them where you want to go,

INTRODUCTION.

and ask them if they know where it is,” said my clearheaded wife. “ Oh, yes, of course. I say, do you know where No. 18 Peking Hoad is?” I asked the nearest Chinaman, who was trying to pull me toward his rickshaw. lie replied in Chinese very volubly, but, of course, I did not understand a word. “Do you understand English 1” I asked. Again an answer in that incomprehensible tongue. W hat to do was a question. Evidently, none of these men understood a word of English, but they would certainly take us into the European settlement, which we could see a mile away, and perhaps to a hotel, and then, of course, everything would be set straight. So, picking out the three cleanest rickshaws, we took seats therein, and pointed toward the settlement. Their owners at once grasped the miniature shafts, broke into a trot, and soon we were entering what appeared like a civilized country, or, rather, city ; and that, apparently, no small city either, for, as the men passed down the bund or river-front, we obtained some idea of the importance of the place as a business centre from the immense amount of shipping in the river. Ships of all nations, of every style of construction, so filled the river that skillful navigation was required in passing up or down stream. Rapidly passing numerous business houses of five and six stories in height, substantially and sometimes handsomely built, we suddenly turned a corner, our two-legged animals abruptly lowered their pulling end of the cart, and we were supposed to be at our destination. I read the sign, “Astor House,” above the door-way, and concluded it must be a hotel, though it more resembled a large private residence.

Walking in through the door- way, I met a polite clerk, who, upon my informing him of my inability to

THE CHINESE.

make the rickshaw-men understand where to take me, kindly informed them, in what is known as pigeon English, that I desired to go to No. 18 Peking Road. After thanking him for his trouble, we were wheeled around, partly back over the same track, then a turn to the left, and after passing a few blocks farther we were taken into the large yard of the Presbyterian Mission Press, and warmly welcomed by Ur. and Mrs. Farnham, the genial superintendent and his wife.

We were now undoubtedly in China; that is, on Chinese soil ; but Shanghai is, perhaps, the most cosmopolitan city on the face of the globe, for, although the Chinese predominate, the other nations of the earth all have their representatives. Germans, Portuguese, English, French, Americans, Danes, Italians, Parsees, and Ethiopians, — all are here ; and the only man who excites any attention or surprise is some missionary from the interior, who, dressed in the native dress of China, with shaved head and queue, is sure to elicit a surprised and partly contemptuous smile from the native sons of China who pass him. We had evidently arrived at a bad time of the year to get a pleasant impression of Shanghai. The rainy season had commenced, and it was a time of moist heat, exceedingly trying, especially to those unaccustomed to it. It seemed to me as though the atmosphere was perspiring. I had expected to remain several weeks in this far-famed city, but on the second day I was all but exhausted, and hastily secured passage by the China merchant-steamer Pautah , Captain Lancaster, for Cliefoo, to leave next morning at day-break. Once out of the river and on the open sea, the air grew cooler, and each inspiration seemed like a tonic. Ugh ! the beastly climate of Shanghai in summer. All the residents who

INTRODUCTION.

can do so leave in summer for Chefoo or Japan, and return after the rainy season is over.

The China Sea is nearly always choppy, and our voyage up to Chefoo was no exception to the usual rule; so we were very glad to end it by arriving on time, Friday, 9 A.M., June 26th. We anchored a half-mile from shore, and were immediately surrounded by numerous sampans, anxious to secure passengers desiring to go ashore. These were manned by the North Chinamen among: whom I had come to live. What sturdy fellows they seemed ! Larger framed and much darker skinned than the Cantonese or Shanghai natives. While debating how to hire a sampan I was introduced by the captain to a Mr. Seth, an Englishman in the Chinese Customs’ service, who kindly invited us to go ashore in the Customs’ launch, which was about to return to the shore. We gladly accepted this offer, for the Chefoo sampan is a very uninviting boat. The Japanese sampan is always shiningly clean. The Shanghai sampan is comparatively clean, and has a neat cover, giving it some appearance, at least, of shelter; but a Chefoo sampan is generally filthy, leaky, and uncomfortable. If they only had such an ocean pier at Yokohama and Chefoo as there is in Kobe, how much trouble, and also danger, would be saved the poor globe-trotter in his peregrinations !

Thanks to the Customs’ boat, we were soon standing safely on the wharf and could take in the surroundings. These consisted in a range of mountains about three miles away, and a range of coolies (demanding the privilege of carrying our luggage) but three inches away, with a town in between, as we could occasionally see, over the coolies’ heads. Miss Anderson, a fellow-passenger, soon dismissed the coolies by selecting a man for

THE CHINESE.

each valise, telling him where to take it, and how much she would pay him, with a fluency that surprised the coolies as much as it did me. Then she led us to the business-house of Messrs. Cornabe & Co., where we waited, rather impatiently, until sedan-chairs could be procured to carry my wife and Miss Anderson to the residence of Dr. Corbett, a distance of two miles or more from the settlement, to wdiom we bore letters of introduction. In a few moments four coolies arrived with two ordinary matting-chairs placed upon poles, carried by two men each. My wife rather tremulously took her seat in one, Miss Anderson assuring her it was perfectly safe ; but when the men raised her from the ground, she could not suppress a little feminine scream and an appealing look toward me. “ Oh, it’s all right, my dear,” I answered, in an assuring tone, though I confess I did feel quite nervous at the pace at which they moved off, without even a hand on the cross-bar that rested on their necks, depending on their equality of gait to prevent the chair dropping to the ground. But after proceeding a half-mile, seeing they were so sure-footed, I took courage, and became more interested in the scenes about me. I saw at a glance that the foreign portion of Cliefoo, or the settlement as it is called by the English residents, was a very small place, and could no more he compared with Shanghai than a country village could with New York. Only a few stores, a few hotels, a few sailors’ taverns, and three or four warehouses, with the consulates of the various nations doing business at this port, and that was all there was to see. Then, passing out of this locality, which is on a slender neck of land, we came to the native city of Cliefoo, or, rather, Yent‘ai, as it is known to the Chinese, — a city with a dilapidated wall on the west side,

Ruined Temple of the Tung Ta Tz‘s at Tong (’how Fu.

INTRODUCTION.

having a population of about thirty thousand souls. Through the streets of this city we passed without exciting any comment, but on every side of us arose such smells that I became sick at the stomach. Every man, woman, or child who passed was reeking with an odor which I took to be catarrh, but which proved to he due to a certain vegetable they are fond of eating, resembling a leek, and called chin ts‘ai. Then, too, every one’s clothes were filthy, and naked children were playing right in our paths. Women sat in door- ways nursing children from bosoms covered with grimy dirt ; men sat in the shade turning over the waists of their pantaloons looking for the inevitable gray-back louse. The sun shone down hot on the dusty path, and, perspiring from every pore, I arrived, disgusted, weary, and half-sick, at Dr. Corbett’s bungalow. A bungalow is a one-story house built upon a foundation raised about three feet from the ground, and usually having a portico around two or more sides.

Residents in the East become so used to living in one-story houses that they find, on returning to their native lands, that two- or three- story houses are a nuisance not to be endured. Dr. Corbett’s residence was situated half-way down what is known as Temple Hill, and, being elevated considerably above the town and harbor, commanded a beautiful view of both. There was a wide piazza on the front and east side the length of the house, which afforded a delightful promenade even in the rainy season. We were warmly welcomed by the good doctor and his wife, and comfortably installed in a suit of rooms consisting of a study, bed-room, and bath-room. Our baggage had arrived before us, and, though I had feared, from the apparently loose way in which one coolie had

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grabbed a valise and made off, another a parcel, and two or three more a trunk, and so on, that something at least would be stolen, I was agreeably disappointed on finding the packages all there, and all intact. We had only time for a bath and change of linen, when we were summoned to luncheon, and as we ate we discussed with our host and hostess our plans for the future. They assured us we might remain in Chefoo as their guests until autumn without in the least inconveniencing them, and that the doctor would procure a teacher for us and help start us in the language. Thus, deciding that we would not go into the interior until autumn, we settled down comfortably in Chefoo, with the intention of acquiring, as rapidly as possible, the language of North China, the kuan hua, or official language.

Chapter I. First Impressions

The Monday morning after our arrival T was called by Dr. Corbett, to be introduced to the gentleman who was to act as my teacher. I found in waiting a tall, pleasant-looking man, dressed in a long blue-cotton gown, with smoothly-shaven face and head and a shining, black queue of heavy, coarse hair, neatly plaited, reaching from the back of his head to his heels. lie arose on my entrance, and, upon Dr. Corbett’s stating that I was the pupil who required instruction, made me a profound bow, which I awkwardly endeavored to imitate. “ This is your teacher, a Mr. T\an, from near Ching Chow Fu,” said Dr. Corbett. “ He does not understand a word of English, and is not a scholar of marked learning ; but he is a clear speaker and an intelligent man, and I believe you will find him better at first than a more learned man, who would perhaps not be as patient.” “ But if he does not understand any English, how am I to ask him questions, or how understand his answers V1 I ventured. “ You will not need to at first. None of the teachers speak English, and yet we have all acquired the language. But first we must find you a name, for Mr. T‘an has already inquired your name, and I have been obliged to inform him that as yet you have none.” “ What, am I not to be called Dr. Coltman V’ I asked, surprised beyond measure, and not at all pleased at the idea of losing my identity, so to speak. “No; that is impossible,” he replied, with an amused smile at my greenness. “ You see,” he continued, “ the Chinese can

THE CHINESE.

only pronounce words already existing in their language, and, besides, they have a hundred names which are called the hundred family names, and every foreigner upon arrival in China selects or has selected for him a name from the list of family names, which he is ever afterward known by. It is usual to select a name hearing as nearly as possible some resemblance to the English name formerly owned by the individual. Now, in your case I think the name Kou will he as near Coltman as we can get ; but I will ask Mr. T‘an, as his opinion is better than mine.” Thereupon ensued a dialogue of a few minutes’ duration, during which I could only catch the words Kou, man, and Coltman, repeated at intervals. At its conclusion Ur. Corbett turned to me and said, “ Your teacher is of the opinion that Man is a better name for you than Kou, and if you like it you will be from henceforth Mr. Man, or, as they cannot say Mister , you will be known to the Chinese as Man Hsiensheng, and your name written out will be thus : * But you

will need two characters in the place of

your name of Robert, which is unpronounceable, as the Hsiensheng *1 & is used for all who are entitled

to be called Mister, or teacher.” Then an-

other dialogue took place, which resulted in my being clothed (though hardly, in my right mind) with the name Man Lo Tao, written thus : > M/, jj After this

important decision had been arrived at,

the doctor produced a hook of Chinese and English lessons, the first lesson of which is reproduced here, and said, “ Your teacher will point to each character and pronounce the name of it, which you will repeat ; when you pronounce it correctly he will go on to the next, and so on down to the end of the page. Then he will

FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

recommence at the top and repeat as before until you can remember and correctly pronounce them all.” “ Do I have to remember a page a day'?” I asked, looking helplessly first at the page before me, and then at T’an Hsiensheng’s smiling face, who seemed eager for the fray. “ Ob, suit yourself. When you are tired, dismiss your teacher, who will wait outside in the teachers’ quarters until you want him again. And now I will leave you alone, and wish you a pleasant morning’s study.”

The following page represents the lesson. I seated myself on one side of the table ; Mr. T‘an, or T‘an Iisiensheng, as I shall now call him, bowed and sat down at my side. Then we looked at each other and smiled ; then, pointing to the first character (an ordinary dash), he said “_Ee.” “ Hum ; that’s easy,” thought I ;

“ anybody can say that.” “ Ee,” I repeated. “ Day la,” he said, before passing on to the next. I mentally wondered what “ day la ” meant. Again he points, this time to No. 2, and says “ Erhl.” I looked at him and hesitated. lie repeated it; “ erli ” or “erhl,” I could not tell which. I endeavored to repeat it. Evidently I had not got it right, for he kept repeating it, and each time I answered he muttered, under his breath, “ Bu day, Bu day.” I had a suspicion he was invoking Buddha to help either he or I ; hut finally I must have caught the right tone, for, to my relief, he said “ Day la ” and passed on to the next.

My tongue never seemed so clumsy. Time after time I was obliged to repeat the same character before my patient teacher was satisfied with my pronunciation, and, after finally saying it correctly the first time, I w^as much mortified to find, the second time, I wras as unable to pronounce it as before.

THE CHINESE.

ee

one

gffL

erh

two

san

three

ssu

four wu

five liu

six

*

ch‘i

seven

ball

eight

cliiu

nine

shill

ten bay

one hundred

ch‘ien

thousand

bang

two

ren

man

*

nil

woman

5$.

lai

to come ch‘ii

to go ch‘u

to go out

m

ko

numerative of many things.

hui

to return

FIRST IMPRESSIONS.

For two hours I repeated, poll-parrot fashion, these queer-sounding names, till, worn out, I concluded to take a rest before proceeding farther. I leaned back in my chair and laid down my pencil, looking T‘an Hsiensheng in the lace, to see if possible, from his expression, what he thought of me. He gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling, then at the floor, and finally at me, when, seeing my puzzled expression, he smilingly made some pleasant remark. Then it dawned upon me that I was unable even to dismiss him politely ; so, leaving him sitting alone, I made my way over to Dr. Corbett’s study and requested him to come and tell the gentleman I was tired, and desired to rest. “ That is unnecessary ; you return and simply say ‘ Ch‘ing,’ and he will leave you. When you desire to study again, go to his door and say ‘ Ch‘ing lai,’ which is ‘ Please come,’ and he will at once be at your service. How do you like him 1” “ I have no