The face of Manchuria, Korea, & Russian Turkestan

Preface

I ESS than three years ago I made a journey with a friend, Miss MacDougall, across the Chinese ^ Empire from north-east to south-west, and while my interests in the changes going on there was intensified, a profound anxiety took possession of my mind as to the effedt these changes would produce in the national life. The European and other Powers who had wrangled over the possibility of commercial and political advantages to be obtained from the Chinese Government (after the Boxer troubles) have withdrawn to a certain extent, but like snarling dogs dragged from their prey, they still keep covetous eyes upon it, and both Russia and Japan continue steadily but silently to strengthen their hold upon its borders. These borders are Manchuria and Korea, and it is in this direction that fresh developments must be expected. I read all the available literature bearing on the subject, but so rapidly had the changes occurred that books were already out of date, and they failed to make me see the country as it now is.

As an instance of this, let me quote Whigham’s (correspondent to the Morning Vost) “ Manchuria and Korea,” published in 1904/ “ One cannot seriously

1 Whigham’s “ Manchuria and Korea,” pp. 117-1 19, 153, 49.

vij believe that Japan vv^ould ever invade Manchuria, unless, indeed, she be caught by the madness with which the gods first visit those whom they wish to destroy ; but if ever her army did occupy Moukden she would only find another Moscow in the ancient capital of the Manchus, and when all is said and done what would be the use ? She could never hope to hold the Liao valley for ever against Russia ; Great Britain might just as well try to hold Normandy again against France. . . . The conclusion is that as far as Manchuria is concerned, Russia is even now more or less invulnerable,” &c. &c. This was published the year the Russo-Japanese war took place.

Taking heart of grace by the kind reception of my former book on China, I determined to visit Manchuria and Korea, and to try and describe them by pen and brush as I had described the Face of China. My former fellow-traveller was willing and eager to repeat our wanderings, so we set out on February ist of this year, 1910, via the Trans-Siberian Railway. Much has been written by various travellers about this part of the journey, but the questions that I wanted answered are mostly ignored by them. Baedeker is wholly inadequate. I begin therefore my tale from the point where we crossed the border into Manchuria, so as to give more continuity to the narrative and avoid repetition. On our return journey across Siberia I give details which may possibly be of service to those who intend travelling on that line, and also the general information about the condition of the country at the

viij present time, which I have gathered from reliable sources since my return.

When we started for our four months’ tour we had no intention of extending it to Turkestan, but finding that a railway line connected it with the one on which we were travelling, and that it could be reached in three days from Samara on the Trans-Siberian line, we decided to include it in our programme and so vary the journey home. It proved to be of extraordinary artistic interest, not to mention its historical importance both as the centre of Moslem learning and of Russian experiments in civilizing Central Asia. Russia looks with a jealous eye upon the traveller, and a special permit has to be obtained in order to travel through Turkestan, even on the railway line. Not only is it necessary to apply for this through the British Embassy at St. Petersburg, but several weeks elapse before a notification can be received that the Russian Government graciously permits the traveller to cross Turkestan. We were informed also that when all these formalities had been duly observed, the traveller was still liable to be stopped by the police on the ground that they (the police) had not received official notice of the traveller’s coming, and in that case he would be ordered to return by the way he came. Despite this discouraging information we determined to try our luck, and in due course received a ‘‘note verbale ” from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at St. Petersburg, addressed to the British Embassy, permitting us to visit Tashkent, Samarkand,

ix and Bokhara. In point of faft our difficulty proved to be not that of getting but that of getting out of Russian territory, as will be seen later on.

Despite the difficulties, Russian Turkestan is well worth visiting, and had the scope of this book permitted, I should like to have added further illustrations of Samarkand. All the illustrations suffer from lack of time, and the earlier ones from the inclemency of the weather, but they are an attempt to show as accurately as possible what the countries and people are like, and especially to give correct colouring, in this way supplementing the photographs with which many previous works on these countries have been illustrated.

We were warned before undertaking the journey that great dangers would lie in our path. 1 should indeed regret depriving the arm-chair critic of the pleasure of threatening us with tigers, brigands, Hun Hutzes, and the lowest class of Japanese ruffian, or of his special satisfadlion in shaking his head over the follies of those who run into unnecessary danger ; but in the interest of other travellers I must confess that we met none of these things, though doubtless it would have added to the piquancy of the narrative to have done so. The only striped beasts we saw in the forests were chipmunks, and the only people who were to be feared were the monks in a certain Buddhist monastery.

I cannot omit a word of thanks to the many missionaries who helped to make our journey such a pleasant one, and without whose kindly aid we should have missed a large part of its interest. The Medical Mission work of the Irish and Scotch Presbyterians in Manchuria, and the various branches of work of American and Australian Presbyterians in Korea have been briefly described in this book, but their profound value can only be appreciated by those who have come in personal contadl with them. In the troublous times of the last decade they have proved their worth, and I only hope that the ominous cloud still overhanging the land may be dispersed and a time of prosperous growth succeed the trials which they have triumphantly endured.

As I write these words the June number of World's Work falls into my hands, and I read what Japanese writers have to say upon the Manchurian question. Adachi Kinnosuke points out that, despite theimmense financial strain of the war with Russia, Japan has trebled her army and strengthened her navy to an equal extent during the few years that have elapsed since that struggle, which cost her the lives of 300,000 men. The reason which he assigns for these military preparations is the necessity of being able to face China. At the close of the Russo-Japanese war Baron Komura tried to induce the Chinese Government to open Manchuria to Japanese colonists, but as Manchuria is imperatively needed by China for her own surplus population, which are pouring into it daily by thousands in the early spring, it was only natural that she should resent the proposal, and refuse to grant the desired

xi permission. Hence the present attitude of Japan. “ If you do not allow our people to colonise Manchuria peacefully, there is only one thing for us to do : to enter it anyhow.” Yet the density of population in Japan at the present time is considerably less than that of Great Britain, of Belgium, of Holland, of Saxony, of Alsace Lorraine, of Hesse, of Baden ; not to mention other non-European countries. The new Russo-Japanese Alliance is concerned mainly with their railways, and Japan insists on China relinquishing her projedl of a railway into Mongolia. Now it is an open secret that Russia is to have a railway diredl from Irkutsk to Peking — the inference is obvious. The situation is an interesting one ; but I have neither the knowledge nor the impertinence requisite for prophesying the course of events. My objedt will be attained if I can in any way succeed in describing the condition of affairs at the present moment.

The latest step in advance is the annexation of Korea, the highroad into Manchuria.

Contents

Preface vij

PART I The Face of Manchuria

I. Hulan 3

II. Moukden 1 1

III. Hsin Muntun 34

IV. Liao Yang 42

V. A Visit to the Thousand Peaks 51

VI. From Moukden to Korea 58

XIV. Ashiho 141

(For narrative purposes included in Part II.)

PART II The Face of Korea

VII. Pyong Yang 67

VIII. Sunday at Pyong Yang 74

xiij

PART I

The Face of Manchuria

THE FACE OF MANCHURIA

CHAPTER I Hulan

There is always a thrill of expectation for the genuine traveller on crossing the frontier into an unknown country, which even the sight of the custom-house fails to dispel. In the case of Manchuria we were fortunate enough to escape the custom-house altogether, as having no registered luggage we only received a perfunc^Iory visit from the politest of officials in our railway carriage at about 1 1 p.M. While all the rest of the travellers had to turn out and spend an hour or more in an offensivesmelling office, we comfortably went to bed and awoke next morning to find a glorious, dazzling sun shining on the snowy plain between Manchuria (town) and our terminus, Kharbin. The railway station is in the Russian town, which has been built up round it, and still looks painfully new : it lies on the banks of the great Sungari River, at the jundtion of the Trans- Siberian line with the line to Moukden and Peking. After a night’s rest in the Russian hotel we started

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for Hulan, a Chinese town about sixteen miles to the north of Kharbin.

No Chinese vehicle is allowed in the Russian quarter, so we were obliged to take a droshky to the Chinese town, about a half mile distant, where our belongings were transferred to the sleigh, which was the only possible vehicle for crossing the open country. It was of a most primitive description, a sort of raft on runners, with a little straw on it covered with a rug. Our luggage was somewhat insecurely corded on, and we seated ourselves in the midst of it, only too soon to become acutely aware of the extraordinary number of corners which it possessed. Between the shafts, which consisted of two sapling birches denuded of their branches, was a shaggy pony, and another little pony ran alongside to give what further assistance he could, both animals having a miscellaneous harness of bits of old cord, which looked incapable of enduring any strain, though the event proved quite the contrary. We passed through the old town, which was gay with New Year decorations, the doors all bright with tutelary deities, freshly pasted up. Already the streets were filled with traffic, heavily-laden waggons of corn drawn by teams varying from four to eight, stacks of straw on rafts, fitted with runners similar to those of the one we were on, and all the various equipages likely to befound in such a nondescript place. The drollest of all was a little wooden house on runners, with a tall chimney, which we supposed to be on its way to some other permanent position. This, however, proved to be the ch. i Hulan

bus plying daily between Kharbin and Hulan, the place of our destination. It contained eleven passengers inside, and a stove. Outside was a heap of bedding on a wooden box tied on a narrow ledge at the back, upon which lounged another passenger.

It was desperately cold and almost impossible to keep one’s extremities warm, but the Chinese cope successfully with this difficulty. Nearly every one wears ear muffs (some of them beautifully embroidered and fur-lined), or big turned-up collars as high as their heads, or caps coming over the ears, and at the other extremity large felt boots. Passing through the busy town we plunged down into the river-bed of the Sungari, a most perilous descent, as the sledges slither away and sometimes turn completely round, unless the driver dexterously contrives to push them into a convenient rut. We passed one heavy cart that had turned completely on to its side, while yet another was being dug out of a rut with a pickaxe. The ponies show their mettle, and though they have the worst of tempers, and not infrequently give a sudden bite to the passers-by, they work with a will to drag their often too heavy loads over the difficult ground. We passed the landing-stage, whence in summer the steamers ply daily up to Hulan.

After struggling up the farther bank we passed over a bumpy plain for several hours, with various incidents to mark the road. Our umbrellas soon disappeared, then a collision sent a basket flying. Sometimes we were in imminent peril as some passing vehicle would

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skid violently ; once I thought escape was impossible, as a large cart crashed into our side, missing my arm by a hair’s-breadth, but we strove — I hope not unsuccessfully— to imitate the Chinese imperturbability of appearance. During one of our halts for repairs we were overtaken by the above-mentioned bus, and, behold ! there was the Chinaman still on the back of it, trying to take a nap. We passed and repassed the vehicle, and he was always in the aft of trying to sleep in some different attitude, but apparently never succeeding— the only Chinaman I have ever met who failed to sleep in any attitude whatever !

These plains are very fertile, and as soon as spring comes there is a steady stream of workers to be seen arriving from China proper, especially from the province of Shantung, to which they return when the harvest is ended. Many come to accumulate enough money during eight or nine years to buy land and bring their families up to live here. In faft we met some emigrants already arriving with all their scanty possessions. The Chinese Government is now waking up to the importance of colonisation on the borders of the empire, in order to check the sure and steady pressure of the Russians from without.

As we approached Hulan we came to another river to be crossed, but not nearly so large a one as the Sungari. Few foreigners come to such an out-of-theway corner of the empire, so people came hurrying out to see us, calling to one another, “Come and see the shaggy women ! ” “ These shaggy women ch. i Hulun

are tip-top ! The expression “ shaggy ” seems to have been first applied to the Russians, who wear their hair somewhat loose and long, but it is now the common designation for foreigners of all nationalities.

We travelled slowly, though occasionally our little ponies would break into a trot ; then the driver would leap into the air, fold his legs beneath him and alight seated cross-legged on the cart, with a solid thud, like some gigantic frog. Hulan is quite a Chinese town, and indeed Manchuria is rapidly becoming populated with the Chinese, for whom its fertile plains offer an excellent home. The old Manchu towns are in a decadent condition, and can only hope for a fresh lease of life by new blood being introduced from the south. No wonder the Japanese cast covetous eyes on the land where crops produce an increase of loo per cent. The crops are mainly wheat and beans, both of which are being largely exported to Britain. Great quantities of oil are obtained from the beans, and the refuse is made into large flat cakes, nearly as big as cart wheels, which form excellent fuel. The price of beans in the north is three times as great as it was a year ago, and the people in Manchuria are on the whole more prosperous than elsewhere in the Chinese Empire.

On Sunday morning we attended service in the Mission Hall, and received a warm welcome from the people, to whom we were formally presented at the conclusion of the service. The Mission is still in its infancy, but promises well, and when the medical

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side is started will make more rapid progress. The next day ‘‘ the faithful of Hulan ” sent us gifts of cakes, and asked when we were leaving, that they might speed us on our way. We left too early, however, to go and thank them in person, as we had a four hours’ sleigh ride in order to catch the express at Kharbin, which only goes twice a week dired: to Moukden. Unfortunately we had mistaken the day, and we doubly regretted that we had not waited to return the courtesies shown to us.

The first seftion of the railway line running southwards is still in the hands of Russia, and one’s attention is continually arrested by the large numbers of soldiers who are kept all along the line to guard it. Kwan-cheng-tze is the terminus of the Russian line : it is not quite half-way from Kharbin to Moukden. The Japanese call their station at Kwan-cheng-tze Changchun, which is rather puzzling to the traveller who is unaware that the place boasts two names. All passengers have to change trains here.

We had a leisurely journey across the plains, and arrived at Kwan-cheng-tze about 8.30, our halting-place for the night. It boasts a brand new Japanese hotel just opposite the station, which was radiantly clean and fresh, such a contrast to the Russian one at Kharbin. There was no lack of attention, for the Chinese boys flew to do our bidding, and fetched us tea unbidden. In the morning we started at 8.30 on the Japanese seftion of the line. The cars are long open corridor ones, and kept admirably clean, but one ch. i Hulan

misses the privacy so dear to the Englishman. All day long we slowly wended our way southward, stopping at many stations of a mushroom growth : it requires no imagination to fancy yourself back in Europe as far as the houses are concerned, but the people are quite out of keeping with them. The train had a sonorous bell attached to the engine, absolutely like that of a church, which heralded our approach to the stations. At almost every station there is a little house where hot water is to be obtained ; the moment the train stops out dash numbers of Chinese, carrying their teapots, which they get replenished. We had no need to bestir ourselves, as the conduftor was most attentive and kept us well supplied. The trains always have Japanese military officials on board, who usually go only short stages, being replaced by others whenever they get out. The trains are very crowded, and in the third class they are packed like monkeys in cages : some of the carriages have three shelves one above the other, on which the passengers lie, and as they are lighted at the top by a single dim candle, at night the top man certainly has the best of it.

At 6 p.M. we steamed into Moukden pundtual to the minute, and found a deafening crowd ready to lay hold of the passengers. We were greeted by a man possessing a few words of English, and able to understand where we wanted to go, so we were glad to entrust ourselves to his care. He even satisfied any curiosity we might have had as to the personal

The Face of Manchuria ch. i

appearance of our host, whose main feature, judging from the description, was a huge moustache. The drive was thrilling, and the five miles were none too long ; it was the New Year festival, and all sorts of things were to be seen in the thronged streets. Brilliant moonlight illuminated the city from above, and lanterns and fireworks lit it up intermittently from within. A short drive brought us near a thoroughly Burmese dagoba of old times, and then through a horrible iron archway of the worst type of modern times. Farther on we passed through the gloomy gateway in the big city wall, and found an almost impenetrable throng of sightseers. Our driver had no longer a chance of pointing out interesting buildings, and giving us details of his faith, &c., with which he had varied the earlier part of the drive, for he was obliged to keep up a monotonous shout of “ hech ! hech ! hech ! ’’ only varied by what sounded like “ hurry on, hurry on ! a much needed injunction to his steed. After about an hour’s drive we reached the group of Mission buildings, hospitals, schools, and dwelling-houses situated on the river bank, which is radiant with lotus blossom in the summer-time. But I must not begin describing the charms of Moukden at the end of a chapter : it demands one to itself. As the relation of Manchuria to China is but little known, it may be of interest to the reader to have the brief account which forms the beginning of the next chapter, but after this warning it is easy for those who are not interested to skip the next four pages.

CHAPTER II Moukden

The story of the rise of the Manchu dynasty is like a romance, and no parallel to it is to be found in the pages of history. In the middle of the sixteenth century there was no Manchu Empire, and the Manchus themselves were wild, uncultured barbarians without any written language, . living in caves which they hollowed in the earth, and engaged in constant warfare with other tribes living like themselves in the northern part of that country which we call Manchuria, the central and southern part being inhabited by the Chinese. In the year 1559 Noorhachu was born, with the prospect of becoming ruler over six little hamlets ; by the year 1616 he had conquered all the adjacent tribes and founded the Manchu kingdom, receiving from the great Ministers ” the title of Ying Ming — “ brave and illustrious.” Noorhachu’s military conquests and singular political sagacity alarmed the Chinese, whose frequent attacks and whose murder of his father and grandfather had roused his deep-seated enmity. He prepared an army of picked men, and drew up a paper of “ seven hates,” addressed to the Emperor of China.

Instead of despatching it to the Emperor, he addressed it to Heaven, burning the document with full sacrificial rites, after which he started his campaign (1617) by attacking the Chinese in the territory east of Moukden. In the midst of this campaign he was recalled to his capital, Hingking, by the news that a Chinese army of 200,000 men was approaching. On reaching Moukden this force divided into four armies of equal size : they were all in turn defeated by the smaller forces of Noorhachu within the space of five days, the number of killed being computed at 45,000. After one month’s rest he led his victorious troops to the conquest of Moukden and Liao Yang, and at the latter place he built a palace for himself and made it the seat of government.

N oorhachu, or as he was afterwards styled, Taidsoo = the Great Ancestor, was far-sighted enough to recognise that his only means of holding the large territory which he had won was by wise and good administration, and in this he was successful. In 1 625 he retired to Moukden and made it his capital ; in the following year he died there, after an unsuccessful campaign against the Chinese. They were led by a determined general who brought (for the first time) “ terrific western cannon ” against him, which had been cast by Jesuit missionaries.

Noorhachu was buried in the Foo Ling tomb, east of Moukden, a fitting resting-place for the great founder of the Manchu dynasty. It was during his son’s reign that the Manchu dynasty was firmly placed

FOO LING TOMB, .MONKDEN upon the throne of China in the person of Noorhachu’s grandson, a boy of five years old (1644). His father had been summoned by the Chinese to aid them against several hordes of rebels who had devastated the empire, and he sent a powerful army led by his brother. The Manchus, after defeating the rebel army, marched on Peking, where Li Dsuchung, the most noted rebel leader, had entrenched himself, and where the last of the Ming Emperors had in consequence committed suicide. Li Dsuchung had indeed proclaimed himself Emperor in his stead, but after a feign of one day he fled from the city at the approach of the Manchus, was pursued by them, and severely defeated. The Manchu general at once sent for his nephew — the ninth son of the reigning monarch, a child of five yearsold — and placed himupon thethrone, himself adling as Regent. The new Emperor received the title of Ta-tsing, or “Great Pure’’ — the name of the present dynasty. The Regent was an able ruler, and soon succeeded in dispersing the rebels and restoring order throughout the empire. At the end of six monthscomparative peace had been established, and the Regent issued a proclamation that all who submitted to the new rule would enjoy the same rank, position, and emoluments, as they had done under the Ming dynasty.^ He ordered sacrifices to be offered at the Ming tombs, and that a tomb should be erefted

^ This wise policy has been consistently carried out ever since. In 1878 there was not a single Manchu governor or viceroy of any of the eighteen provinces of China. (Ross, p. 566.)

for the last of them, where sacrifices should also be offered. He postponed the enforcement of the humiliating law requiring change of dress, the shaving of the head, and wearing of the queue and Manchu cap, and he promised those who complained of the negledt of etiquette and music among officials, that proper attention should be given to this matter as soon as war was at an end. It is an interesting fadt that the Manchus should afterwards have so completely succeeded in imposing their dress on the Chinaman, the wearing of the queue becoming universal ; but equally interesting is it to observe that the women never could be madetoadopt it. The Manchu woman’s dress is to this day quite different from the Chinese, from its wonderful wing-like head-dress down to its largeshoes. The Chinesewoman refused to unbind her feet, and was in consequence never admitted within the precindls of the palace at Peking. In fadf it may be stated that whereas it is impossible to distinguish between a Chinaman and a Manchu, there is no part of a Chinese woman’s dress which is quite the same as a Manchu’s. The latter have different styles of arranging their hair from the spreadeagle style, so commonly seen in Peking, to the curious one shown in the sketch (see next chapter), and also wear different kinds of shoes — some with a heel attached to the centre of the sole, others with a flat white sole some two inches thick.

The foregoing historical details are mainly drawn from Dr. Ross’s book,“The Manchus,or the Reigning Dynasty of China.” The uniqueness of the story lies in the fa6t that when the Manchus conquered China they were merely a horde of savages attacking a highly educated people, infinitely their superiors in number and resources. They not only conquered them, but for centuries they imposed their yoke upon them, always hated, yet always obeyed. As the centuries elapsed the Manchus grew weaker in their own country, and never fused with the conquered race. In China proper they still live apart ; walled Manchu cities may be found within many walled Chinese cities ; and it is only last year that the stringent rule forbidding Manchu women to marry Chinese husbands has been rescinded. It needs no explanation to see 'why the opposite rule held with regard to Manchu men marrying Chinese wives, who, ipso facto^ lost their nationality.

I have tried to show in the foregoing pages how the Manchus won their position in China, and also how the southern part of Manchuria, including Moukden, was originally Chinese. Those who wish to wrest it from China are seeking to take an integral part of the empire. No one who visits Moukden can fail to see that it is a thoroughly Chinese city, with its magnificent walls and gateways, and the big drum tower and bell, like the one at Peking. Alas for the modern utilitarian spirit ! Already they are beginning to pull down the fine old gateways, and to replace the inimitable shop fronts with shabby imitations of European ones.

It was cold weather when we walked through those fascinating streets, and in the fish shops we saw quantities of frozen as well as dried comestibles. Game was plentiful and cheap, and the frozen deer had quite a life-like appearance, standing waiting for a customer. In one street nothing but boots was being sold, and the fadt was evident from afar, for outside the shops were hung gaily painted effigies of boots, some two feet in length. Above some shops were dragons, over others tigers, or the phoenix, or lotus blossoms all painted in every colour of the rainbow, and hanging from them signboards bearing the name of the shopkeepers. The cash shops have almost a screen of strings of gigantic cash dependent from the eaves. The curio shops still contain things to charm the soul of the artist, though every day sees their treasures diminishing, to be replaced by modern imitations. The glorious jade that used to be obtainable is scarcely to be found, and the bronzes have mostly been carried off to the West ; still one hopes for the best, and carries off a few things, which if not so old as they boast to be, have at least an air of antiquity and some noble suggestion of the glory of the art of the Ming dynasty.