A cycle of Cathay; or, China, south and north. With personal reminiscences

Front matter

OR

CHINA, SOUTH AND NORTH WITH PERSONAL REMINISCENCES

BY

Preface

FROM the prelude to China's first war with England to the present date is, roughly speaking, about sixty years — the length of a Chinese cycle, though for all I know Tennyson may have thought of it as a thousand years. To this period the following pages principally relate. During three fourths of it I was domiciled in China, dividing my life between South and North, and adding to the experiences of a missionary those of an employee of the Chinese government. For two years I served my own country at a critical epoch, when the treaties were negotiated which led to the opening of Peking.

My position in a college closely connected with the Board of Foreign Affairs gave me exceptional opportunities for observing the course of diplomacy in the Chinese capital for nearly thirty years. Yet my object is not so much to write a history of events as to exhibit the Chinese as I have seen them, in their social and political life. To some the personal element will add interest ; to all, I would fain hope, it will add confidence.

Should the volume fall into the hands of any of my old students, they will, I trust, find in it the same sympathetic i appreciation of their country and the same candor of criticism which, I am sure, they have learned to expect.

Audubon Park, New York City.

The Cycle of Cathay.

The Chinese Cycle consists of sixty years, each with a separate name. Their names are here ranged in the outer circle, and read from the top towards the left hand. The present year (1896) is the 32d of the 76th Cycle from the beginning of the Cyclic era. The figures in the mner space are the dual forces, Yin and Yang, symbolized by darkness and light, which form the starting point of Chinese philosophy.

Part I Life In South China

PAGE

CHAP. I. First Glimpses of China: Policy of seclusion— Opium war — Hong Kong — Canton — Foot-binding — Macao — The coolie-trade — The " term question " 17

CHAP. II. Voyage up the Coast: Amoy— Opening of a new church — Fuchau — Buddhism — Civil-service examinations — Ftingshiii, or geomancy — Missions — A glance at the map 36

CHAP. III. Learning the Language: Two forms and many dialects — Musical tones — Reducing a dialect to writing — Classical studies— " Pidgin-English " 51

CHAP. IV. Scenes in Ningpo : The new church— Natives seeking a lost soul — Well-disposed; why? — Study of Mandarin— Tried converts — Chapel preaching — Casting out a devil — Idol processions-Theatricals for the gods— The Chinese drama— Eyeless deities — Releasing a prisoner — Military antics 65

CHAP. V. Scenes and Incidents: A liberal Buddhist— Cunning beggars— Invocation of devils— Imprecations and curses— Curious commemorations — Women at a temple — Avatar of rain-god —Chasing the flood-fiend — Evils of opium 77

CHAP. VI. Scenes and Incidents {Continued): A model riot- Portuguese violence and Chinese revenge— Bull-fights — Passion for gambling— Mixed marriages— 1 he palace of ceremony- Honors to a laureate— An earthquake, and its effects— Taoist and Taoism 91

8 CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAP. VII. Excursions in the Province: A fair valley and a foul crime — The baby-tower — Preaching in Examination Hall — Brownsville and exogamy — A stage for a pulpit — Country hospitality — Village feuds — The provincial capital — A Chinese Venice — Tomb of an emperor — The flood in China — Stupid models — Clever lawyers 107

CHAP. VIII. Visits to the Islands: Chusan— Queer ways of fishing — Puto — Priests, temples, and human sacrifices — Pirates

— Experience as a prisoner 117

CHAP. IX. The Taiping Rebellion: On the Great River— A modern Mohammed — Mixed Christianity — Foreign opposition —A questionable policy 127

CHAP. X. The "Arrow" War: Expedition to the North- Fruitless negotiations — Capture of Taku 143

CHAP. XL Tientsin and the Treaties: Tartar plenipotentiaries

— Pourparlers and signature —Episodes, tragic and comic— The whole a mirage 165

CHAP. XII. The War Renewed : Repulse of Allies at Taku— Mr. Ward's visit to Peking — Reception by the viceroy — Journey overland — Ascent of Peiho — Scurvy treatment — Refusal of koto

— Expulsion from the capital — Exchange of treaty— A strange presentiment 190

CHAP. XIII. Last Views of Ningpo: A Chinese steamer and

its owner— A steamer short of coal— Actors before the curtain. . 204

CHAP. I. Removal to Peking: The capital captured— Scenes at

the hills — Temples and priests 217

CHAP. II. First Years in Peking: War averted— International law introduced — A school opened — Odd notions of natural philosophy— Church and mission— Queer converts 230

CONTENTS 9

PAGE

CHAP. III. The Great Wall and Sacred Places of Peking: Altar of heaven — Lama temple — Bridge in palace grounds — Mosque and pavilion— The Yellow Temple— Great Bell of Peking— Tombs of Ming emperors— Hot Springs— Grand Pass and Great Wall— Sketch of history— The empress dowager .... 242

CHAP. IV. Visit to a Colony of Jews: Rough vehicles — Primitive roads — Alarm-beacons — Hills and minerals — Wretched inns — People and cities— Moslems and Jews 265

CHAP. V. Pilgrimage to the Tomb of Confucius : The Yellow River; its new course; periodic changes — Temple and sepulcher— Outline of Confucianism— The state religion— The three creeds blended — The Grand Canal 280

CHAP. VI. The Tungwen College: Made president— School of Interpreters — Attempt to introduce the telegraph — Opposition to improvements — Ill-starred professors — An eccentric German 293

CHAP. VII. The Tungwen College {Contimted) : Cradleof an empress — Our college press — Two observatories and two astronomies — Opposition to the college — Superstition in high places — Old students — TheemperorlearningEnglish — Official appointments — Introduction of science into examinations for civil service — Translation of books — Medical class and Chinese medicine — Wedded to ceremony — General Grant's visit — Religious impressions. . . . 306

CHAP. VIII. Mandarins and Government — The Tsungli Yamen : Mandarins not a caste — Their grades, their training, their virtues and defects — Independence of the people — Limitations of monarchy — Formation and character of the Yamen — Strange recruits 328

CHAP. IX. Notable Mandarins: A prince of the blood— A Chinese statesman — A Chinese scholar — A Manchu scholar — A Manchu statesman — A Chinese diplomat — A Chinese professor 344

CHAP. X. Early Diplomatic Missions from China to the West: Pin's voyages— The Burlingame embassy— First mission to France— First to England— First to Germany— Chinese students in the United States— Coolies in Cuba— Chunghau's mistakes — Marquis Tseng's successes 371

CHAP. XI. China and her Neighbors : Relations with Russia — With Great Britain — With France — Aims of Germany — The four powers 387 lo CONTENTS

PAGE

CHAP. XII. China AND her Neighbors {Continued): Relations with Japan— Ancient hostility — Recent war — Japan's renovation — Her field for expansion — China's relations with the United States— American influence— American trade 400

CHAP. XIII. Sir Robert Hart and the Customs Service: — His influence not confined to the customs — How he made peace with France — How he has pioneered improvements in China — The service international in membership — Its high character—Its influence not ephemeral— Originating in an accident, integrity has made it permanent— Sir Robert declines to be British minister — He wears the honors of many nations — His literary tastes— A reminiscence of Dr. McCosh 411

CHAP. XIV. Sir Thomas Wade and the Audience Question : His career— His scholarship — His temper — His diplomacy — Attempt at social intercourse with mandarins — The audience ceremony — The spell only half broken 427

I CHAP. XV. The Missionary Question : Retrospect— The age of ^^ persecution — Toleration by edict — Religious liberty by treaty- Right of residence in the interior— The French protectorate of Roman Catholic missions— The recent riots : their cause and cure — The outlook 439

Appendix : Tables of Population, Trade, etc 459

Index « 461

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS*

PAGE

Chinese Women at Home Frontispiece

The Gardener at Work 30

Execution of an Opium-smuggler 35

Wheel of Fate 39

A Common Sedan 40

Irrigating Rice-fields 50

A Canal in Ningpo To face 5 1

The Thunder-god Hurling Death-bolts 71

A Group of Beggars 76

The Watmilung or Bob-tailed Dragon, Fired on by Impious Foreigners 84

Opium-smoker's Progress— Past, Present, Future 87

A Student in his Library Smoking Opium 90

The Palace of Ceremony 99

Raising Money for a Taoist Temple 105

The " Old Philosopher " 106

A Family at Breakfast in

West Lake at Hangchau To face 113

* Most of these illustrations are from drawings by native artists. Their obvious defects, therefore, are not without merit, as illustrative of Chinese art. A few of the larger prints are borrowed by consent of the publishers (Sampson Low & Co.) from a splendid work of Mr. J. Thomson, whom, in 1871, 1 introduced to Prince Kung and the ministers of state, and whom I assisted in procuring photographs connected with the Tsungli Yamen. The dragon on the cover is an imperial emblem, copied from a book of decrees by the Emperor Kanghi. An imperial dragon is always represented as having golden scales and five claws. The cycle on the cover is explained on page 6. — W. A. P. M.

12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

The Night Patrol ii8

A Buddhist Monk Beating a Wooden Drum 126

The God of War 142

Chinese Portrait-painter 147

Batteries at the Mouth of the Peiho 149

Meeting of the United States Minister and the Viceroy

Tan To face 1 50

Gunboats IN THE Grand Canal; TaoistTempleattheJunction 166

Joint Card of Kweiliang and Hwashana 167

Wine for the Minister 177

KwEi AND HwA Sending a Despatch to the Emperor 185

A Street in Tientsin To face 189

United States Embassy on the Peiho To face 197

The Embassy on the Road to Peking 203

A Gate of Peking (One of the sixteen double gates in the outer

wall) 216

Buddhist Trinity and Worshipers To face 227

A Buddhist Abbot 228

House of the Man who had Six Wives To face 230

A Schoolmaster; One Pupil Reciting with Back to the

Table and One Doing Penance 237

The Peking Waterworks 241

The Emperor at the Plow 243

The Island Bridge and Hill of Longevity To face 244

Lama Priest, Prayer Wheel, and Idols 248

The Great Wall at Nankow Pass To face 251

Temple Attached to the Altar of Heaven 264

Police Station 267

My Bedstead 269

A Portable Kitchen 270

A Suburb of Peking 279

Confucius Giving a Lecture 287

Colossal Images — Ming Tombs 292

Dr. Martin, First President of the Tungwen College. . To face 293

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 13

PAGE

Printing with Block and Brush 305

Barber Shaving Student's Head 307

Professor Li and his Mathematical Class 312

Mr. Chang Toyi, English Tutor to the Emperor (Summer

Dress) 316

Mr. Shen Toh, English Tutor to the Emperor (Winter

Dress) 318

Mr. Tching, Wife, and Child 326

Altar of Heaven 327

Tsungli Yamen and Ministers of State To face 338

A Street Show in Peking 343

Li Hung Chang at Fifty 348

Fan Presented to Dr. Martin by the Marquis Tseng. To face 364

The Marquis Tseng in Summer Dress 365

The Bridal Pair Worshiping a Tablet Inscribed with

THE Five Objects of Veneration 367

The Bridal Pair ("Joy" in Huge Letters above their

Heads) To face 368

The Bride in the Flowery Chair Arriving at her New

Home 368

Ministers of the First Four Treaty Powers: Berthemy,

Vlangali, Bruce, Burlingame 379

The Marquis Tseng in Winter Dress 385

Blind Musician, by Profession a Fortune-teller 399

Sir Robert Hart, Baronet 412

Midway Arch in Pass at the Great Wall 426

Hall of the Stone Classics To face 447

Map To follow 464

PART I

LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA

LIFE IN SOUTH CHINA

Chapter I

Policy of seclusion — Opium war — Hong Kong — Canton — Foot-binding — Macao — The coolie-trade — The " term question"

EARLY in the morning of April lo, 1850, we* were startled by the cry of " Pirate! pirate!" from our Dutch cabin-boy ; but instead of those freebooters, so dreaded in the China seas, we were boarded by a pilot, who soon brought the good ship ** Lantao " to anchor in the harbor of Hong Kong, after a voyage of one hundred and thirty-four days from Boston — a voyage which may now be made in one fifth of the time. None but those who have worn out a considerable portion of their hves in doubling capes and contending with head winds, or with still more vexatious calms, can properly appreciate what steam has done to bring the ends of the earth together. The transformation may be said to realize the dream

* There were six of us, namely, Rev. Justus Doolittle, of the American Board, author of a well-known book on the " Social Life of the Chinese " ; my brother. Rev. S. N. D. Martin, myself, and our wives, of the Presbyterian Board.

l8 A CYCLE OF CATHAY

of an ancient Chinese fabulist, who represents an imperial traveler as receiving from the gods a whip, whose blows had the effect of causing the earth to shrink to small dimensions.*

PoHtically, the place we saw before us was not China ; the little rocky islet having been ceded to Great Britain in 1843, after the close of the war. The conquering power might as easily have annexed a province, or a larger island farther up the coast ; but with the instinct of a maritime empire, which has led her to pick up such rocks as Gibraltar and Malta, Aden and Singapore, she chose to retain none of her conquests save this sea-girt mountain. Hong Kong possesses a m.agnificent harbor, easy to fortify, and commands not merely the approaches to Canton, but the whole commerce of the China coast, and, to some extent, that of Japan. From a mere fishing-village it had already grown to be a thriving town ; and now it is a great city of two or three hundred thousand inhabitants. The Peak of Victoria, which we then saw rising before us in rugged majesty, is to-day crowned with magnificent buildings, to which the occupants are lifted by steam ; and the sides of the mountain, then clad with tropical jungle, are now adorned by gay streets gleaming like golden bands on the shoulders of a naval Atlas.

One morning shortly after our arrival I set out for the summit of the Peak, nearly two thousand feet above the sea, saying that I would be home for early breakfast. Soon, however, the grassy carpet that seemed to extend to the top resolved itself into a network of creepers, overlying huge fragments of stone, and concealing cliffs which I had to scale in my stocking-feet. It was high noon when I reached the goal, and then I discovered a beaten path, which, had I known of it, would have saved me all that trouble and danger. I resolved thence-

* The traveler, an historical character, was the Emperor Muh, who reigned 1000 B.C. The fiction, founded on his travels, is as old as the era of the Punic Wars.

forth not to attack a difficulty until I had surveyed it on all sides.

We were kindly lodged at the house of the Rev. Mr. Johnson, of the American Baptist Mission, who made us feel at home by permitting us to pay our proportion of his family expenses — an arrangement indispensable for those missionaries who, living on grand routes of travel, keep open house for all comers.

My brother proceeded to the North in the *' Lady Mary Wood," the only steamer then plying on a coast where there are now literally thousands, large and small. The rate of passage to Shanghai was exorbitant (about two hundred dollars in gold) ; and to save expense, as well as to get a view of several seaports on the way, my wife and I preferred to join a party in chartering a Portuguese schooner, or lorcha. Before going to bed on the day of our arrival — my birthday as well as my entrance on a new life — I wrote in my journal a long series of good resolutions. Luckily they were lost at sea, otherwise the contrast between purpose and attainment might now have been too humiHating. A retrospect is here required as a key to the situation.

My interest in China was first awakened in 1839 by the boom of British cannon battering down her outer walls. In the case of China, as in that of Japan, the pohcy of seclusion was recent, and was adopted by both for the same reason. China had always prided herself on having distant nations knock at her doors ; and she encouraged them to come in by allowing their tribute missions to carry on trade duty-free. But a change of policy came with the discovery of a new route to the East by the Cape of Good Hope. When she saw Europeans arrive with stronger ships and better artillery than her own, her fears began to be excited. When she observed them pocketing the islands of the Eastern seas, and contending for fragments of the empire of her kinsman, the Great Mogul, she deemed it prudent to close her ports, leaving the

V gates ajar at one point only, namely, Canton, the emporium of the South.

The impression made by the unscrupulous aggressions of European adventurers is well set forth in a fictitious narrative called "The Magic Carpet," written by a Chinese author two centuries ago. " In the days of the Ming dynasty," says this Oriental apologue, " a ship of the red-haired barbarians came to one of oiu: southern seaports and requested permission to trade. This being refused, the strangers begged to be allowed the use of so much ground as they could cover with a carpet, for the purpose of drying their goods. Their petition was granted ; and, taking the carpet by the corners, they stretched it until there was room for a large body of men, who, drawing their swords, took possession of the city."

Japan at this period excluded all but the Dutch and the Chinese ; but the merchants of those favored nations had to submit to be locked up at night like malefactors. China was more impartial, admitting all comers, and treating all with equal indignity and suspicion. Like Japan, she turned the missionaries out of doors and banished or butchered their converts, lest a religious propaganda should pave the way for political encroachment. The merchants she allowed to reside at Canton for only a short time in the year ; and, with a natural prevision, she objected to their bringing their wives, since that indicated a disposition to stay. The first woman to set this restriction at defiance was the wife of an English superintendent of trade, and cannon had to be planted before her door to deter the natives from attempting her expulsion. Foreigners were confined to a suburb, and on no account were they permitted to enter the gates of the city. What is more significant is that native scholars were forbidden to teach them the mysteries of the Chinese written language. A teacher engaged by Dr. Morrison, the first English missionary, always carried poison, so as to be able by suicide to escape the clutches of the mandarins should he fall into their hands on the charge of being guilty of so heinous a crime. The reign of terror was somewhat mitigated when a teacher in the employ of Dr. Williams, one of our earliest American missionaries, was known in his comings and goings to bear in his hand an old shoe, that he might, in an emergency, pass himself off for a cobbler.

The conflict that put an end to this cowardly policy bears the malodorous name of the " opium war " ; conveying an impression that it was waged by England for the sole purpose of compelling the Chinese to keep an open market for that product of her Indian poppy-fields. Nothing could be more erroneous. Grievances had been accumulating such as a self-respecting people cannot endure forever. " For one hundred and fifty years, up to the year 1842," says Dr. Williams, "a leading grievance was that proclamations were annually issued by the government accusing foreigners of horrible crimes." In 1816 a British ambassador had been refused an audience by the emperor because he declined to do homage by performing the Koto, or Nine Prostrations. In 1834 Lord Napier, British superintendent of trade, was not only denied an interview with the governor of Canton, but his letters were rejected because they were not stamped with the word//;/ ("petition "), a word which in Chinese expresses abject inferiority. Either of these indignities— not to enumerate others— might have furnished ground for a just war; and if England had prompdy appealed to arms to prevent violence and vindicate honor, her record would have stood fairer than unhappily it does now. Interest had to combine with indignation before she could be roused to action.

Her opportunity, however, came when the Emperor Taokwang despatched a high commissioner to Canton to fill the office of viceroy and put a stop to the traffic in opium. The drug was already contraband by imperial decree ; England had made no protest ; nor would she have hfted a finger to protect her people in their smuggling trade if Chinese cruisers had driven them from the coast. But when Commissioner Lin issued commands to the Queen as a vassal of China, and treated her subjects with unjustifiable violence, the question entered upon another phase. The opium was stored on ships that layoutside among the islands, but its owners were at Canton. Without taking the trouble to identify them, the commissioner surrounded the factories with a cordon of soldiers and threatened the whole foreign colony with death if their opium was not surrendered by a fixed date. To give them an idea of what they had to expect, a native opium-smuggler had shortly before been put to death in an open spot in front of the factories.

Captain ElHot, the superintendent of trade, who was at Macao, hearing of these high-handed proceedings, hastened to Canton to share the perils of his countrymen. Without himself having the least sympathy with their illicit commerce, he called upon them to deliver their opium to him for the service of the Queen, and then handed it over to the viceroy as a ransom for British lives. Over twenty thousand chests, valued at nine million dollars, were then destroyed by mixing the drug with quicklime and pouring it into the river. This property having been demanded by her representative for her service, the Queen was pledged to see that the owners were indemnified. An order in council authorized reprisals, to compel the Chinese to make amends for their act of spoliation. Thus began a war which was more fortunate for England than that which followed the destruction of her tea in Boston harbor. After many battles, in all of which the Chinese were worsted, it ended in the treaty of 1842, by which the five ports of Canton, Amoy, Fuchau, Ningpo, and Shanghai were opened to British trade. Not a word was inserted in the treaty in favor of the trade in opium ; yet the result was, as foreseen, a complete immunity from interference ; and the traffic flourished beyond measure, the traders having nothing to fear and no duties to pay. Had England, after exacting due reparation, introduced a prohibition clause, there can be no doubt that China might have been freed from a terrible scourge. What a contrast between her opium policy and her antislavery legislation!

In the treaties which followed with France and the United States (1844) the subject of opium was likewise ignored. Had Mr. Gushing at that early date placed the abominable traffic under the ban of the law, and induced France to do likewise, the moral effect could not have failed to be excellent. But when Mr. Angell condemned it in his treaty, nearly forty years later, it was then too late. At the instance of the French minister, the persecuting edicts were withdrawn. Christian exiles were recalled from banishment, and the propagation of the faith was formally sanctioned. Roman Catholic missionaries had never ceased to carry on a secret propaganda, but they now entered the country in greater numbers, and Protestants began to establish themselves in the "open ports." Such was the state of things at the date of my arrival.

While waiting for our vessel we made a visit to Canton. A small steamer carried us across the bay and forty miles up the Pearl River to a landing-place in a suburb of the great city. Our host. Dr. Happer, was there to receive us, and we made our way to his house through a forest of junks, in a small boat sculled by a large-footed woman— a fine specimen of nature undeformed. It was the abode of a family, who crowded themselves into a stern cabin, leaving for the use of passengers the front cabin, which was neatly spread with matting and adorned with flowers. Babies born on these boats are aquatic by early habit, if not by instinct. It is said that they can swim when first thrown into the water ; but, in case of accident, they always have a joint of bamboo strapped on the back, to enable their parents to fish them up. The river population would alone suffice to people a considerable city. It consists of three classes : the crews of junks that come and go ; those who hve and make their Hving on the river ; and those who do business on land but lodge in boats for the want of a pied-a-terre. Among the boats moored to the shore a large number are richly curtained and ornamented with beautiful carvings. These are the so-called " flower-boats," mostly the abode of bedizened Cyprians, who are enrolled by the police and recognized as pursuing a lawful calling. The legal sanction of vice always indicates a low standard of morahty.

As we stepped on shore we were greeted by a hooting crowd, who shouted FcDiqui^ fa7iqid! shato, shato! (" Foreign devils! cut off their heads!"). " Is this," I mused, "the boasted civilization of China? Are these the people for whom I left my home? " But, I reflected, if they were not heathen, why should I have come? They looked as savage and as fierce as cannibals—the junkmen being always half-naked. Not long before this Dr. Ball, an old missionary, being thrown into the water by the overturning of a boat, caught the cable of a junk and called for help. He was soon surrounded by a number of small craft, but not one of their greedy occupants would take him ashore until a promise of twenty dollars had been extorted. Whether that is to be set down to hostility or to cupidity, I leave the reader to decide.

Canton having been held to ransom instead of being taken by British troops in the first war, the native insolence of the people was in no degree abated. They even pretended that their assailants were driven away ; and it is said they erected a monument to commemorate their victory! In the second war, which occurred in 1857, the AUies, now grown wiser, took good care to occupy the city. A great change was visible in the disposition of the inhabitants ; but a generation has passed since then, and they now seem to need another lesson.

I observed that the heads of the men were covered with a coat of short frowzy hair, in striking contrast with the shining scalps we had seen in Hong Kong. The difference was due to the recent death of the Emperor Taokwang, for whom a rigid mourning of a hundred days was exacted of all under the scepter of China. In ordinary times, for a Chinese to let his hair grow is to risk his head ; nor is it less perilous to shave it during a period of mourning. After the death of the Emperor Tungchih, in 1874, an officer in Yunnan was cashiered for calling his barber a few days too soon. The cue and the tonsure are emblems of subjection imposed on the men by their Tartar conquerors two hundred and fifty years ago. They did not, however, interfere with the women, who, uninfluenced by the ladies of the court, persist in compressing their feet and in dressing their hair in a style different from that of the Manchus.

The whimsical fashion which condemns Chinese women to totter on their tiptoes is said in the Kingyuen, or " Mirror of Research," to have originated between 300 and 500 a.d. ; but native scholars generally maintain that the custom sprang from emulation of Lady Yang — a small-footed Cinderella — who bewitched the Emperor Minghuang twelve centuries ago. So light was her step that, Camilla-like, she " skimmed o'er the unbending corn," or, as the Chinese say, " over the tops of golden Hlies ;" but her imitators have since ceased either to run or to dance. The source of many evils and of no good whatever — unless it be that of keeping women at home — this usage surpasses anything we meet with in the West as an example of the tyranny of a perverted taste, the passion for a waspish waist or that for a flattened skull not excepted. These are sporadic or tribal ; the other is national.