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diff --git a/41878-0.txt b/41878-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e6144a --- /dev/null +++ b/41878-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8572 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41878 *** + +[Illustration: Cover] + + + + + +[Frontispiece: Railway Map of China] + + + + + + CHANGING CHINA + + + BY THE REV. + LORD WILLIAM GASCOYNE-CECIL + + + ASSISTED BY + LADY FLORENCE CECIL + + + + NEW YORK + D. APPLETON AND COMPANY + 1912 + + + + +{iii} + +PREFACE + +Our interest in China was first aroused by a letter from an old +school-fellow, Arthur Polhill, who, with heroic self-denial, has spent +the best part of his life in China as a missionary. Subsequently I +joined the China Emergency Committee, who in 1907 invited us to go out +to the Shanghai Centenary Conference. That visit led naturally to a +tour in China, Korea, and Japan. When we returned we found that great +interest was being felt at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge in +the movement in the Far East; a Committee was formed to study the whole +question, which accepted provisionally the idea of encouraging the +foundation of a Western University. Before finally accepting the idea +it was felt that some one ought to go to the mission centres of China +and find out the opinions of the missionaries working on the field, and +at the same time sound the Chinese Government and see whether it would +be favourable to the scheme. As a result of these deliberations, the +Committee asked us in 1909 to go out again, this time on behalf of the +United Universities Scheme. On our return it was suggested that if we +put our report into the form of a book it might possibly excite +interest in the whole question, especially in the University scheme. +We were deeply impressed with two great facts--the greatness of the +need of Western education from a Christian standpoint and the vital +importance of immediate action. + +{iv} + +Not only did we seek information from English and American but also +from French and Italian missions as occasion offered. We tested and +compared this information by the information we got from that most +enlightened and able body of men who form the consular body in China. +We are especially grateful to Sir John Jordan, by whose great +diplomatic skill both the position of England and the goodwill of the +Chinese are maintained. + +It would be impossible even to record the names of all with whom we +conversed, but our thanks are especially due to the following friends, +not only for their generous hospitality, but also for the patient and +kind way in which they instructed us in the many difficult aspects of +the Chinese problem:-- + +Sir John and Lady Jordan, British Legation, Peking. H.E. the late +Chang-Chih-Tung. H.E. the late Prince Ito. H.E. Tong-Shao-Yi. H.E. +Tuan-Fang. H.E. Liang-Ten-Sen. Sir Robert Hart. Sir Walter and Lady +Hillier. Sir Robert and Lady Breedon. Dr. Aspland of Peking. Dr. and +Mrs. Avison of Seoul. Dr. and Mrs. Baird of Pyeng-Yang. Bishop and +Mrs. Bashford of Peking. Mr. Blair of Pyeng-Yang. M. et Mme. +Boissonnas, French Legation, Peking. Mr. Bondfield of Shanghai. Miss +Bonnell of Shanghai. Mr. and Mrs. Bonsey of Hankow. Dr. and Mrs. +Booth of Hankow. Miss Brierley of Wuchang. Bishop Cassels of West +China. Mr. U. K. Cheng of Nanking. Dr. and Mrs. Christie of Mukden. +Mr. Chun Bing-Hun of Shanghai. Mr. and Mrs. Clarke of Newchwang. Dr. +Cochrane of Peking. Consul-General and Mrs. Cockburn, late of Seoul. +Miss Corbett of Peking. Mr. Deans of Ichang. Mr. and Mrs. Deeming of +Han-Yang. Dr. Du Bose of Soochow. Mr. Ede of Shanghai. Mr. and Mrs. +Arnold Foster of Wuchang. Consul-General and Mrs. Fraser of Hankow. +Mr. and Mrs. Gage of Changsha. Dr. and Mrs. Gibb of Peking. Dr. and +Mrs. Gillieson of Hankow. Dr. Glenton of Wuchang. Bishop and Mrs. +Graves of Jessfield, Shanghai. Dr. and {v} Mrs. Hawks Pott of +Jessfield, Shanghai. Consul and Mrs. Hewlett of Changsha. Mr. +Hollander of Hankow. Mr. and Mrs. Hoste of the C.I.M. Dr. Huntley of +Han-Yang. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson of Wuchang. Monseigneur Jarlin, +Pe-T'ang, Peking. Dr. Griffith John of Hankow. Miss Joynt of +Hangchow. The late Miss Keane of Shanghai. Dr. and Mrs. Keller of +Changsha. Consul and Mrs. King of Nanking. Dr. and Mrs. Lavington +Hart of Tientsin. Mr. M. T. Liang of Mukden. Mr. and Mrs. Littell of +Hankow. Dr. and Mrs. Lowry of Peking. Mr. and Mrs. MacIntosh of +Tientsin. Dr. and Mrs. Macklin of Nanking. Dr. Macleod of Shanghai. +Dr. and Mrs. Main of Hangchow. Consul-General and Miss Mansfield, late +of Canton. Dr. Martin of Peking. Mr. and Mrs. Meigs of Nanking. Miss +Miner of Peking. Archdeacon and Mrs. Moule of Ningpo. Mr. +Mun-Yew-Chung of Shanghai. Dr. and Mrs. Murray of Peking. Mr. Norris +of Peking. Mr. Oberg of Shanghai. Miss Phelps of Hankow. Mr. Arthur +Polhill of the C.I.M. Miss Porter of Peking. Bishop Price of Fukien. +Deaconess Ransome of Peking. M. et Mme. Ratard, French Consulate, +Shanghai. Mr. Ready of Changsha. Dr. and Mrs. Gilbert Reid of +Shanghai. Dr. Timothy Richard of Shanghai. Mr. and Mrs. Ricketts of +Shan-hai-kwan. Mr. and Mrs. Ridgley of Wuchang. Bishop and Mrs. Roots +of Hankow. Dr. and Mrs. Ross of Mukden. Miss Russell of Peking. +Bishop Scott of North China. Mrs. Scranton of Seoul. Mr. and Mrs. +Sedgwick of Tientsin. Mr. Shen-Tun-Lo of Shanghai. Mr. and Mrs. +Sherman of Hankow. Mr. and Mrs. Smalley of Shanghai. Mr. and Mrs. +Sparham of Hankow. Mr. Sprent of Newchwang. Mr. Squire of Ichang. Mr +and Mrs. Stockman of Ichang. Mr. and Mrs. Symons of Shanghai. Taotai +J. C. Tong of Shanghai. Taotai S. T. Tsêng of Nanking. Mr. James +Tsong of Wuchang. Mr. and Mrs. Turley of Mukden. Bishop Turner of +Korea. Mr. and Mrs. Upward of Hankow. Dean and Mrs. Walker of +Shanghai. Miss Wambold of Seoul. Consul-General Sir Pelham and Miss +Warren of Shanghai. Mr. Warren of Changsha. Mr. Watson of Mukden. +Dr. and Mrs. Weir of Chemulpo. Dr. and Mrs. Wells of Pyeng-Yang. +Consul and Mrs. Willis of Mukden. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson of Changsha. +Mr. Yih-Ming-Tsah of Shanghai. Père Recteur of Ziccawei, Shanghai, and +many others. + +{vi} + +The following books were consulted:-- + +Among the Mongols: by James Gilmour, M.A. Annuaire Calendrière pour +1909. Appeal, An: by H. E. T'ang-K'ai-Sun. Buddhism in China: by Rev. +S. Beal. Catholic Church in China, The: by Rev. Bertram Wolferstan, +S.J. Catholic Encyclopædia of Missions. Century of Missions in China: +by D. MacGillivray. China and the Allies: by A. Henry Savage Landor. +China in Transformation: by A. R. Colquhoun. China's Book of Martyrs: +by Luella Miner. China's Only Hope: an Appeal by her greatest Viceroy, +Chang-Chih-Tung. Chin-Chin: by Tcheng-Ki-Tong. Chinese +Characteristics: by Dr. Arthur Smith. Chinese Classics, The: Legge's +Translation. Chinese Empire, The: by Marshall Broomhall. Chinese +Shi-King: by Jennings. Chinese, The: by J. S. Thomson. Development of +Religion in Japan: by Knox. Diplomatic and Consular Reports, +1905-1908. Early Chinese History: by H. J. Allen. Educational +Conquest of the Far East, The: by Lewis. Education in the Far East: by +Thwing. Embassy to China: by Lord M'Cartney. Four Books, The: +Anonymous. Griffith John: by R. Wardlaw Thompson. John Chinaman: by +E. H. Parker. History of China, The: by Boulger. Indiscreet Letters +from Peking: by Putnam Weale. Les Missions Catholiques Françaises aux +XIX. Siècle: by Père J. B. Piolet, S.J. Life and Works of Mencius: by +Legge. Martyred Missionaries of the China Inland Mission, edited by +Marshall Broomhall. Mission in China, A: by Soothill. Mission Methods +in Manchuria: by John Ross, D.D. New China and Old: by Archdeacon +Moule. Original Religion of China: by John Ross, D.D. Pastor Hsi: by +Mrs. Taylor. Railway Enterprise in China: by P. H. Kent. Religions in +China: by Edkins. Religious System of China: by J. J. M. de Groot, +vol. v. Sidelights on Chinese Life: by MacGowan. Taoist Tests. +Things Chinese: by J. Dyer Ball. Troubles de Chine, Les: par Raoul +Allier. Uplift of China, The: by Arthur Smith. + + + + +{vii} + +CONTENTS + + +CHINA IN TRANSITION + +CHAP. PAGE + + I. WHAT HAS AWAKENED CHINA? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 + II. WHAT CHINA MEANS TO THE WORLD . . . . . . . . . . 20 + III. ORIENTAL AND OCCIDENTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 + IV. FOREIGN RELATIONS OF CHINA . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 + V. CHINESE CIVILISATION--ITS WEAK SIDE . . . . . . . 56 + VI. CHINESE CIVILISATION--ITS GOOD SIDE . . . . . . . 70 + VII. RAILWAYS AND RIVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 + VIII. THE CITIES OF CHINA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 + IX. OPIUM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107 + X. THE WOMEN'S QUESTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 + XI. CHINESE ARCHITECTURE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 + + +RELIGIONS OF CHINA AND THE MISSIONARY + + XII. RELIGIONS IN CHINA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 + XIII. CONFUCIAN PHILOSOPHY AND WESTERN CULTURE . . . . . 163 + XIV. INTERVIEW AT NANKING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 + XV. ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN CHINA . . . . . . . . . 183 + XVI. OTHER MISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 + XVII. THE EFFECT OF WESTERN LITERATURE IN CHINA . . . . 207 + XVIII. MEDICAL MISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 + XIX. MOVEMENT IN KOREA AND MANCHURIA . . . . . . . . . 232 + XX. THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA . . . . . . . 242 + + +THE NEW AND THE OLD LEARNING + + XXI. EDUCATION, CHIEFLY MISSIONARY . . . . . . . . . . 253 + XXII. GOVERNMENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . 266 + XXIII. THE SAME IN PRACTICE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 + XXIV. DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF EDUCATION . . . . . . . 293 + XXV. THE NEED OF A UNIVERSITY EXPLAINED . . . . . . . . 305 + XXVI. THE NEED OF A UNIVERSITY EXPLAINED (continued) . . 317 + XXVII. CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 + + +APPENDIX + +WILL RUSSIA BE REPRESENTED ON THE MISSION FIELD? . . . . . 329 + +INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337 + + + + +{3} + +CHINA IN TRANSITION + + + + +CHAPTER I + +WHAT HAS AWAKENED CHINA? + +For centuries China has been the land that never moved. It had a +political history full of wars and bloodshed, of intrigue and murder; +periods of prosperity and enlightenment; periods of darkness and +desolation; but the country remained essentially the same country. +There might be some small alteration in its customs, but China was +distinctly unprogressive. And everybody who knew China ten or fifteen +years ago was prepared to prophesy that it would continue to remain +unprogressive. + +Many a missionary speaks of the China that he used to know as a very +different land from the China of to-day. It used to be a sort of Rip +Van Winkle land that had slept a thousand years, and showed every sign +of remaining asleep for another thousand. Mrs. Arnold Foster told us +that when she first came to Wuchang she used to see the soldiers +dressed mediævally, learning to make faces to inspire terror in the +hearts of the adversary. Monseigneur Jarlin, the head of the French +mission in Peking, described the China of olden times by saying that in +his young days all Chinamen had a rooted contempt for everything +Western. Theirs was the {4} only civilised land. The West was the +land of barbarism. Now, he added, the positions are reversed; every +Chinaman despises China, and is convinced that from the West comes the +light of civilisation. Arch-deacon Moule tells how he sailed out to +China in a sailing ship, and found a land absolutely indifferent to the +existence of the West--more ignorant of the West than the West was of +the East, and that, when he was young, was saying a great deal; and now +he finds himself in a land that has telephones and motor cars and takes +an active interest in flying machines. + +China has fundamentally altered. She used to be absolutely the most +conservative land in the world. Now she is a land which is seeing so +many radical changes, that a missionary said, when I asked him a +question about China, "You must not rely on me, for I left China three +months ago, so that what I say may be out of date." + +China is now progressive; yes, young China believes intensely in +progress, with an optimistic spirit which reminds the onlooker more of +the French pre-Revolution spirit than of anything else. And this +intense belief in progress shows itself at every turn; the Yamen runner +has become a policeman, towns are having the benefit of water-works, +schools are being opened everywhere, railways cover the land. One may +well ask what has accomplished this change, what has awakened China? + +Perhaps, like many other great events in history, {5} this change of +opinion in China should be attributed to more than one cause. There +are two chief causes. One may be small, but it is not insignificant; +the other is certainly great and obvious. The less appreciated factor +that is causing the regeneration of China is Christianity; the larger +and more obvious factor is the new national movement. + +The cause of the new national movement was the sense of humiliation +brought about by political events culminating in the battle of Mukden, +where a flagrant act of insolent contempt for the laws of neutrality +was felt all the more deeply because China had to submit to that which +she was powerless to resist. + +The events of the last few years are so well known that I must ask the +indulgence of the reader in recapitulating them. China, confident in +the number of her people, which reached to a quarter of the world's +population, attempted to assert her rights of suzerainty over Korea +against Japan. She had not realised then that Japan was no longer an +Eastern power, where knights with two-handed swords did deeds of valour +and won for themselves everlasting renown. And when at Ping-yang the +armies met, the Chinese General ascended a hill that he might direct +the armies of the Celestial Empire with a fan. He conceived the battle +to be merely a small affair, where a fan could be seen by all the +officers engaged. The result was, of course, that the German-trained +Japanese army had a very easy victory. The war ended in the taking of +Port Arthur by the Japanese, {6} and China was in the humiliating +position of having to appeal to Western countries to secure her +territory. + +So far, however, the sting of her humiliation gave to China a sense of +resentment against all foreigners, rather than a sense of repentance +for her own shortcomings, and the missionaries found hostility to their +work in every part of China. That hostility resulted in the murder of +two German Roman Catholic missionaries in Shantung. The well-known +action of Germany in demanding a cession of territory as a punishment +for this murder may have been a good stroke of policy, but it has +brought but little honour either to Germany or to Christianity. In +fact it may be regarded as a most regrettable action from a missionary +point of view, for it convinced the Chinese that the missionary was but +a part of the civil administration of a hostile country, and that if +China was to be preserved from the foreigner, missionaries must be +induced to leave the country. A deep feeling of national resentment +spread over the land, which was encouraged by some in authority. The +direct connection between Government patronage of the anti-foreign +movement and the German occupation of Kiauchau can be deduced from the +fact that the Governor who was responsible for the awful murders in +Shansi had been Governor of Shantung when Germany took Kiauchau. + +The result of this bitter feeling was the creation of a secret and +patriotic society which concealed the nature of its propaganda under a +name with a double {7} meaning. The Boxer Society was, as its name +suggests, apparently an athletic society--a society which had for its +object the encouragement of the art of self-defence. But the name had +another signification. Its real object, as a Chinaman explained to me, +was to "knock the heads of the foreigners off." It was a religious as +well as a political movement, however. It had its prophets, who did +wonders or were thought to do them, and its disciples were believed to +be invulnerable to any Western weapon. It protested against the +movement towards Western ideas, which it regarded as immoral; it +condemned and destroyed everything Western, from straw hats and +cigarettes to mission houses and railways; its disciples believed that +the spirits that defend China were angry at the introduction of Western +things, that they were withholding the rain so necessary to the light +loess land of that district, and that the only way they could be +propitiated was by the sacrifice of a Western life or by the +destruction of a Western building. One of the things that precipitated +the siege of Peking was the apparent success of such an action. In +pursuance of their faith, the Boxers set a light to the rail-head +station of the half-made Hankow-Peking railway, a place called +Pao-ting-fu; the station was a mere wooden barrack, and blazed up +merrily with an imposing column of smoke; hardly had the smoke reached +the heavens, when the sky was overcast with heavy thunder-clouds, and +in a short time the thirsty land received the long-wished-for rain, and +the Boxer {8} prophets pointed with sinister effect to the heavenly +confirmation of their doctrine. + +It is necessary to remind the reader of the religious aspect of +Boxerdom, so that he shall realise what its fall meant to many Chinese. +Really their faith in it was wonderful. A Boxer, for instance, at the +siege of Peking walked composedly in front of the Legation, waving his +sword and performing mystic signs; the soldiers first of one then of +another Legation fired on him with no effect; probably his coolness put +out their aim. Another example of their credulity was told me at +Newchwang. The Russians had occupied Newchwang, and, _more suo_, were +pacifying it; they were shooting all the Boxers on whom they could lay +hands, and, I am afraid, a great number who were not Boxers. They +chained one of these fanatics to a stone seat with the intention of +executing him; but they thought they might get some useful information +out of him, so they asked an Englishman who spoke Chinese perfectly to +make inquiries of him, giving him authority to offer a respite as a +reward. He went to the prisoner, and sitting down by him, tried to +induce him to save his life by giving information, but he was met by a +contemptuous refusal; and when he pointed out that the firing party was +there, the misguided man merely said, "I am a Boxer, and their bullets +cannot hurt me." Another minute, of course, proved his error. But his +firmness showed the reality of his conviction. + +Sometimes this fanaticism had curious results. {9} A Boxer prophet +assured the village that no works of the West could hurt him, no bullet +could harm him, no train could crush him. As a railway ran near the +village, he and all the inhabitants adjourned thither to put his +invulnerability to the test. The daily train came puffing along, as +the Boxer, waving his sword, stood right in its path. The driver was a +European, and seeing some one on the line, pulled up his train to avoid +running over him. The Boxer pointed to the train triumphantly, and the +astonished villagers became Boxers. There was, however, a sceptic who +refused to believe, so next day they repaired again to the line, and +the Boxer again made his passes and uttered his charms. Alas for him! +this time the driver was a Chinaman, and he was not going to stop his +master's train because a coolie fellow got in the way, so he put on +full steam and cut him to pieces, and the village deserted the Boxer +faith to a man. + +With the relief of Peking, the Boxer Society fell; but the popular view +was not that Boxer teaching was false, but that the spirits behind +Western religion were stronger than those behind Boxerdom. So one of +the immediate results of the fall of the Boxers was to establish the +spiritual prestige of Christianity; the second result was to inspire +the Chinese with a respect for the military power of the foreigner. +The Boxers had failed, the foreign powers had taken Peking, the Son of +Heaven had become a fugitive; all this was gall and {10} wormwood to +the Chinaman. The sack of Peking was especially felt, both because of +the wanton destruction that was committed--one informant told me he saw +a vase worth £200 smashed into a thousand atoms by a drunken +soldier--and because the enlightened Chinese knew very well that no +civilised city is sacked at the present time, and that they were being +treated as no other race is now treated. + +Yet the old spirit of pride prevented them learning completely the full +truth. The thinking Chinaman was still disposed to attribute the +victory of the West to the superior fighting powers of Western men. A +Chinese gentleman, explaining the fear his people have of Europeans, +said, "They regard you as tigers." The troops who sacked Peking were +to the thinking Chinaman but another example of the well-known truth, +that those nearer the savage state fight better than civilised men, and +really, considering the behaviour of some of the European troops, no +surprise can be felt at this conclusion; it needed another lesson to +make them finally and thoroughly realise the superiority of our +civilisation. + +The bitterness of their next humiliation made them ready to learn as +they had never been before in the whole of their history, and events +provided them with teachers who taught them that the cause of this +humiliation was their refusal to accept Western ideas, and that if they +would maintain {11} their independence they must learn the art of war +from their conquerors. + +After the siege of Peking came the Russo-Japanese war. The Russians +had long been known and feared by the Chinese; they were to the Chinese +mind the embodiment of the warlike and blood-thirsty spirit of the +West; they were hated for their cruelty and feared for their prowess. +The awful story of the massacre of Blagovestchensk in 1900 was still +present to the popular mind. The story was this. The Amur divides +China from Siberia. When the Boxer movement broke out the Russians +required all the Chinese to go to their side of the river; but with +sinister intent, they removed all the boats, so that no one could +cross. The Chinese pointed this out, and the respectable merchants of +the town presented a petition saying they were ready to obey the +Russian Government in everything, but without the boats they could not +do so; but the Russians insisted that boats or no boats, they must +cross the Amur; they protested, but in vain; a half-circle was formed +round them by the soldiery, and the whole Chinese population of the +city was driven into the river at the point of the bayonet. + +The Japanese were also well known to the Chinese; they had been till +lately, when the Western movement had altered everything in Japan, +their pupils in civilisation. The Japanese believed in Confucius, used +Chinese characters, worshipped in Buddhist temples, sacrificed to +ancestors, in fact {12} were in Chinese estimation a civilised race, +though inferior of course to themselves. + +When these two antagonists met in Manchuria, the war could not fail to +make a deep impression on China. To begin with, it was an insult +surpassing that of the sack of Peking to the Chinese _amour propre_, to +have the war carried on in Manchuria. Russia and Japan were disputing +over Korea, and both nations were at peace with China. Russia might +have invaded Japan; Japan might have invaded Russia, or both might have +met in Korea, but what they did was to select a province of a neutral +State and decide that there should be the scene of conflict. What made +this more striking was that they agreed to respect the neutrality of +the rest of China; in fact they selected their battle-ground with the +same equanimity as if China and her national rights did not exist. + +But the deepest impression made on the Chinese was by the victory of +the Eastern over the Western. The Japanese demonstrated that there was +no essential inferiority of the East to the West, and that when an +Eastern race adopted Western military methods it proved itself superior +to the most powerful of the Western races. This was the lesson the +battle of Mukden taught the Chinese, and which convinced the +anti-foreign party in China, that however much they might hate the +foreigner, they must adopt Western methods if they would retain their +independence. The result was that the progressive and {13} +anti-foreign parties found themselves at one. Both agreed that Western +ideas were necessary. The first, because they believed in Western +progress; the second, because they felt that the only way to preserve +China from the hated foreigner was to learn the secret of his military +power. The first thing to be done was to study Western education, and +then they could hope to hold their own against the Western races, as +Japan had more than held her own against the Russians. + +I believe the battle of Mukden will prove one of the turning points in +the history of the world. Few of us have any conception of the +bitterness of the humiliation of China. People speak of Russia as +having been humiliated, but my experience is that the Russians looked +at the whole question as a colonial war in which a bungling Government +embroiled their country--a war which, if it demonstrated the incapacity +of their officers, proved the courage of their soldiers. But the +humiliation of China was intense. When one remembers the position that +the Emperor occupies in China; when one also remembers the reverential +feeling that exists towards ancestors, one realises what it must have +meant to the Chinaman that the site of the tombs of their Emperors +should have been the scene of that titanic struggle between the East +and the West. But the result of that humiliation was to burn in the +lesson that Japan had taken the right course, and that, however hateful +were {14} Western ways, they were a necessity, and that every lover of +China must do his best to introduce them into the Empire. + +Of course there are many Chinamen--nay, I should think a vast +majority--who intend to preserve to China the essential points of the +Confucian civilisation; they mean to accept Western ideas only in so +far as they are necessary to struggle against the West. Some, no +doubt, definitely admire the West, but most are anxious for a +compromise; they want to preserve China with its customs, with its +essential thought, but to strengthen it by foreign knowledge and a +foreign military system. The exact degree of what should be preserved +in China and what should be destroyed and replaced by Western +innovations, differs according to the age and the temperament of the +thinkers, but the principle is most generally accepted--Western thought +must be grafted on to Eastern civilisation. When we remember the size +of China, we may well ask ourselves what effect this policy will have +on the rest of the world. We have at present a period of reflection, +for how long we cannot tell. The task of welding East and West into +one whole is in practice proving difficult, and at present failure is +very often the result; but with Japan as a successful example, and with +the threat of national extinction and foreign domination before them, +the Chinese can never give up the effort; and whatever the exact result +may be, I think one may assert {15} without rashness that not only will +it fundamentally alter the whole of China, but through China affect the +whole world. + +While detailing the causes which have created the national movement +which is now inducing China to make every effort to perfect her +defences against foreign aggressions, we must not forget that the +awakening of China has a higher side, and one which we can attribute +directly and indirectly to Christianity. The influence of Christianity +can be traced back to the seventh century when missions of Nestorian +Christians came to Thibet and China; they left behind them, it is true, +no converts, but their influence was probably felt through the power +that Lamaism had had over a great part of the Eastern world. A learned +Japanese, discussing this subject, said that no one could study Lamaism +and Buddhism without realising how intimately it had been in touch with +some form of Christianity. Later on the great Roman Catholic missions, +initiated by St. Francis Xavier in the thirteenth century, began to +work in China, and have slowly but surely raised up a large population +who have been Christians for many generations. Their missions were +interrupted by persecutions, but with varying and lately increasing +success they have maintained themselves ever since. In 1807 the +pioneer of Protestant missions, Dr. Morrison, began his work and the +translation of the Bible into Chinese. The work increased, his mission +was followed by other missions, which pursued {16} a policy even more +influential in altering the opinion of China; not only did they with +great heroism preach the Gospel in every province of China, but they +took two actions which have affected China in a very special degree. + +First the American missions made the very greatest effort to get hold +of intelligent Chinese men, both Christian and non-Christian, to teach +them Western knowledge, so that they might understand how intimately +Christianity was connected with Christian thought. The result of their +efforts has been that there are a considerable number of enlightened +Chinese gentry who are either Christians or who have a great sympathy +with the Christian side of Western civilisation. Sometimes they +educated these men in China, sometimes they induced them to go to +America for their education; and there they were brought into contact +with the intense, yet rather narrow, New England Christianity. I had +the honour of meeting many of these men in China, and I was convinced +that they have no small part in her awakening. + +The English and American missionaries, under the leadership of Dr. +Williamson, inaugurated a second policy, which has had far-reaching +results in causing the changes in China. The Christian Literature +Society was started to supply the Chinese with translations of the best +Western literature. They were followed by Chinese imitators who were +also Christians, and who founded a Chinese Commercial {17} Press. +These two bodies have given to China a vast amount of Western +literature, the first on philanthropic lines with the definite +intention of spreading Christianity, the second on a commercial basis +but with the intention of presenting to their fellow-countrymen the +purer and more beautiful side of Western thought. The publications of +these two bodies reach, I am told, to every educated man in China. If +the humiliations of public events made the Chinese willing to study +Western civilisation, it was these men who afforded them the means of +studying and understanding the best side of that civilisation. + +But perhaps those who have done most to give the Chinese a proper +conception of Christianity are the Bible Societies, especially the +British and Foreign Bible Society. Ever since, with the optimism of +faith, the translation of the Scriptures by Dr. Morrison was published +in 1814, they have been scattering the Christian Scriptures throughout +the whole of China, from Mongolia to Tonkin, and I am told that those +Scriptures are read by men in the highest positions and with the most +conservative antecedents in the whole empire. It cannot be doubted +that the indirect fruit of their work has been very great indeed. +China has, through the agencies of these bodies, been brought into +close contact with Christian thought, and has at last realised the true +nature of our religion. + +Lastly, there has been the influence of those who {18} died for the +Christian faith during the many persecutions to which Christianity has +been exposed, and which culminated in the Boxer persecution. If +Germany, by her action in Shantung, put before China a false and most +repellent view of Christianity, the heroic sufferings of the martyred +missionaries, both yellow and white, presented Christianity to a +wondering world in its purest aspect. After those thousands of +Christians had suffered in Shan-si, the Home bodies, especially the +China Inland Mission, refused to take any compensation for the blood +that had been shed in the cause of the Gospel. The Chinese were then +convinced that the German presentation of Christianity was not the only +one; if Germany could look on Christianity only as a stalking horse +behind which she could creep up to her prey, the English-speaking races +had a holier ideal to teach and one which was more consonant with the +words of the Founder of our religion. The sufferings of the Christians +were intense, their heroism was great, but the result has been +commensurate with their efforts, and an awakening China looks to our +countries, not solely to teach her the art of war and of killing men, +but also to teach her the great thoughts and the great religion which +has before her very eyes proved capable of producing such noble men and +women. + +The awakening of China has two aspects. From one aspect China is +awakening to the value of the science and the arts of the West; from +the other {19} China is awakening to the fact that there is in the West +a power which comes from goodness, and that goodness has its root in +Christian faith. It is this twofold aspect of the awakening of China +which is so important to bear in mind, for if she is to share in our +civilisation in the future, it is both our duty and our interest to see +that this great world-movement is encouraged to develop on its higher +side. + + + + +{20} + +CHAPTER II + +WHAT CHINA MEANS TO THE WORLD + +The day is past when any one in Europe, whether Christian or +non-Christian, can be indifferent to what is happening in China. The +Christian has indeed been for a long time alive to the importance of +these developments, but the ordinary citizen with no strong religious +views has usually neither displayed nor felt any interest in a country +separated from us by so many miles and by such an untraversable gulf in +thought and language. If the Christian has urged the importance of +Chinese missions, his neighbours have answered by asking him why he +cannot leave the Chinese to themselves and to their own religion. +Whatever justice the opponent of missions in times past may have +thought he had for this view, he cannot now maintain that the Chinese +question is one which may be put on one side by any thoughtful man. +The movements of this vast mass of humanity, amounting to a quarter of +the population of the world, cannot but fail to have a very real and +vital effect on the whole civilised world. + +The revolution that is affecting China brings Europe and America into +close contact with a {21} country equal to Europe in size, and not far +inferior in productive power. A few years ago China was so far away +that except as an outlet for trade it had little interest for people +here. The voyage occupied many months and was esteemed a hazardous +journey, owing to the dangerous coasts and typhoons of the China seas. +Now a train-de-luxe conveys the traveller in a fortnight across Asia to +Peking, and if the accommodation on the Chinese part of the railway is +not altogether luxurious, the traveller remembers that it is far +superior to that on the first railways opened in our own land. The +journey is of course tedious, but the fact that business men in the +north of China are talking of always spending their summer holidays in +England, will show how close China is now to Europe. It is no +exaggeration to say that in reckoning distance by the time it takes to +complete the journey, China is nearer to England than London was to +Scotland in the days of Dr. Johnson, while in point of comfort and +convenience there is no comparison. The journey from London to Peking +is far easier at the present day than the journey from London to +Edinburgh in the days of Johnson's famous trip to the Hebrides. + +If in this way we are getting closer to China, we are still more +growing closer in thought. No longer can we speak of a gulf that +separates us from China. Every year English is becoming more and more +the language of educated men in {22} East; even though we cannot read +their books, they are reading ours either in translations or in the +original. Japan has set the example of having English taught +universally in her high schools, and now China is following her +example. A foreigner, talking about Esperanto, remarked: "What would +be the use of making an universal language? English, at any rate in +the East, is the universal language." That barbarous patois, "pidgin" +or business English, lives still in China. It consists of English +roots, enlarged by the addition of Portuguese words, put into Chinese +idiom and pronounced Chinese fashion. But "pidgin" English is fast +giving way to pure English, spoken most commonly with a marked American +accent. + +If this growing proximity of China compels the attention of the +civilised world, the virgin wealth of her mineral resources and the +cheapness of her labour have excited the cupidity of the Western +capitalist, and it is daily more obvious that China must become the +centre of international politics, therefore the extent to which she +will affect the rest of the world should be a matter for careful +consideration. India, it will be urged, has long been in contact with +Europe, and the effect on Europe is small. Why should there be any +difference when another Oriental race comes in close proximity with +Europe? Putting on one side the fact that India has, both in trade and +in politics, had a very great effect on England, it can be answered +that there is an essential difference between the {23} brown +inhabitants of India and the yellow race. The former are, through +religion or custom, unable to accommodate themselves to the conditions +of Western civilisation; the latter have shown themselves such adepts +at accepting Western life that they have excelled the white man, to his +great annoyance, in his own civilisation. The Chinaman, who is +forbidden to enter America, Australia, and South Africa, is refused +admittance, not because he has been untried or because he has been +tried and found wanting, but because he has been tried in the three +continents and found by all who have tried him eminently efficient--so +efficient that if he were allowed to continue in those countries, he +would soon render the presence of the white settler unnecessary. He +has been tried in three just balances and been found of such value that +the white voter is unanimous in demanding his exclusion. But even the +most aggressive Chinese exclusionist can scarcely hope to exclude him +from his own country, and the Chinaman who stays at home is probably a +better man than the Chinaman who goes abroad. + +Western civilisation may be expected to grow with equal rapidity in +China as it has in Japan. Obviously Japan is the precedent that China +will follow rather than India, whether Hindu or Mohammedan. + +A few years ago a man would have been classed as an eccentric who dared +foretell that Russia would be defeated by Japan. When Japan talked +about going to war with Russia, Russia laughed. Who {24} can tell how +we shall speak of China a few years hence? For Japan after all is only +the same size in population as Great Britain, but China is eight times +as large. + +There are three ways in which China may affect Europe. Militarily, she +may menace her by her enormous armies enlisted from her vast +population. Commercially, she may afford an outlet for our trade far +greater than we possess at the present time, and perhaps be a +competitor in trade and a place where the capital of Europe will be +invested. Morally, she may either depress or elevate our social +morals. Perhaps the reader may be inclined to smile at the idea of +China being in a higher moral condition than Europe, so as to be able +to react on her beneficially, but stranger things have happened; and if +Europe follows the example of France in deterioration, and China +continues to advance with the same rapidity, China might easily excel +Europe in morals. + +Let us first deal with the question from the military point of view. +The military authorities who know the Chinese seem to be equally +divided in opinion; many are confident that they are an unwarlike race, +others maintain and bring evidence to prove that under competent +officers they have great military qualities. + +A few years ago, for instance, the development of the military power of +China was regarded as a possible danger to the world, and especially to +England or Russia. It was pointed out that China might easily {25} +descend with a huge army on to India in the distant future, or she +might turn her arms northward and conquer the wide districts of +Siberia. Now the popular view is the reverse, and the military power +of China is regarded as a thing incapable of great development. A +Japanese diplomatist with whom we discussed the question ridiculed the +idea of the yellow peril and smiled at the suggestion that China could +ever be a nation great in war. Certainly her present military power +can be safely ignored except in Manchuria; whether that power is +capable of development is a moot point. Believers in the war-like +possibilities of China point out that as a matter of fact China is by +right of conquest suzerain to such warlike races as the Tibetans and +the Ghurkas, and that her empire reaches as far as Turkestan. In +answer it is urged that the victors were not the Chinese, but the +conquerors and present rulers of the Chinese, the northern Manchus; +who, till they were absorbed by Chinese civilisation, spoke a different +language and wrote a different character. + +The Manchus are far from being extinct, though through years of sensual +indulgence they have lost their virility; but the discipline of +religion or the call of a national emergency might restore the war-like +qualities of the race. It was only in 1792 that the Chinese, under +Sund Fo, defeated the Ghurkas, and we must allow that a race who could +defeat these gallant soldiers must be skilled and brave in war. On the +other hand I was assured that the Manchus, {26} so far from showing any +courage in the war with Japan, were the first to flee, and that they +differ in nothing from the Chinese except that they are pensioners and +ride horses. Those who disbelieve in the courage of the Chinese say +the Chinese never had any courage except of a passive order; that they +would endure suffering against any race on earth, and that their whole +history tells that tale; that they have been subject in turn to the +Mongols, the Kins, and the Manchus; and that the period of the Ming +dynasty when they were free, was only because the Mongols had reduced +every nation within many thousands of miles to subjection, and then +they themselves had fallen a prey, not to the Chinese arms directly, +but to the enervating and destructive effects of Chinese civilisation +which rendered them absolutely unable to fight. + +Those who argue in this way point to that great feature of Chinese +scenery, the fortified wall. That Great Wall of China, climbing hill +and dale, was built to keep the northern and warlike tribes from +harrying the peace-loving and industrious Chinaman. Behind that wall +lie nothing but fortress after fortress; every city is walled, and +those walls tell their own tale. A warlike race never dwells in walled +cities. When the traveller enters Japan after visiting China, the +first thing which strikes him is the absence of walled cities. The +villages and towns lie along the roads as they do in our own country +instead of clustering behind the tall and gloomy walls of China. {27} +Again, those who say the Chinese will never fight, point out that they +have never been able to reduce two savage races right in their midst, +the Maios and Lolos. One devoted missionary who had spent many years +of his life in the thankless task of attempting to approach these +savage Lolos, gave us an interesting account of the relation between +the Lolos and the Chinese which certainly does not show that the +Chinese have much military skill. The Lolos are a sort of Highland +caterans who live in the mountains in the west of China, and from time +to time raid the peace-loving Chinese villages. The Chinese then +retaliate by organising a large force, who advance on the Lolo country +and burn their villages. The Lolos rarely offer any direct resistance, +as they realise they are hopelessly outnumbered, but take an +opportunity to raid another village and to slaughter hundreds of +defenceless Chinese. If the forces are anything like equal, the Lolos +will fight, and even sometimes when the forces are wholly unequal. On +one occasion seven Lolos and two women put to flight three hundred +Chinese soldiers, killing forty and wounding many more. The Chinese +consequently live in considerable fear of those Highland barbarians, +whose fierce yells and savage onslaught produce absolute panic in their +troops. + +Officers who have commanded Chinese troops seem generally to believe in +their capabilities. Gordon, for instance, spoke in the highest terms +of the soldiers who formed his "ever victorious army," and the {28} +English officers who commanded the Weihaiwei regiment and those who +commanded the Chinese volunteers at the siege of Peking spoke equally +well of their men. It is reported that the Chinese soldiers at the +siege of Tientsin would carry the wounded back out of the range of fire +when no European soldiers could be found ready to perform this +dangerous task, but of this story I could find no first-hand +confirmation. But whether the Chinese in times to come will develop an +efficient army or whether they do not, the most competent judges affirm +that Chinese military greatness will always make for peace; that they +will never wage a war of aggression; and that, so far from being a +menace to the world, they will prove to be a security for the world's +peace in the Far East. In fact it is the continuance of China's +military weakness rather than the growth of her military power which is +most likely to disturb the political atmosphere. China is far too rich +a prize to be safe if unguarded, and the acquisition of her wealth will +always prove a temptation to her needy neighbours. + +The integrity of the Chinese empire is for many reasons a most +desirable thing, and that integrity can best be maintained by an +increase of China's military power. + +One of the reasons why this is so much to be desired is from the +commercial effect which China may have on the rest of the world. If +the vast masses of her singularly excellent workmen are to be exploited +by powers who have no thought for either {29} hers or the world's +welfare; if the sweated den of the alien is a menace to the healthy +conditions of the working man in London; if the policy of such +philanthropists as Lord Shaftesbury has been at all beneficial to the +world at large, the sudden introduction of hundreds of thousands of +ill-paid but efficient working men to the great Western market will +have a deleterious effect on the social conditions of the civilised +world. It is obviously far more simple to bring the factories to China +than to bring the Chinaman to the factories, and this will be freely +done if ever the flag of the foreigner waves over China. The great +advantages that China can offer of cheap labour, cheap coal and cheap +carriage, coupled with the security of a European flag, will have the +effect of attracting to China a very large number of the world's +industries. If this is done gradually, so that the internal market in +China increases proportionally, this will not result in any evil to +other nations. China will share in the wealth of the world, and will +be at once a large producer and a large consumer; but if before Western +civilisation has been assimilated by the working classes Western +factories are extensively started in China the result will be one of +those dislocations of social conditions which we include under the name +of sweating. + +Western conditions of labour in Western countries may be deemed by some +to be hard, but no one can doubt that if Western conditions of labour +were forced on a population which did not understand them, they {30} +would have a tendency to become definitely oppressive. The Chinese +coolie will, I fear, be as little able to maintain his ground against +the foreign contractor supported by the arms of a foreign power, as the +Congo native is to maintain his rights against his Belgian oppressor; +and unless Western powers have the humanity and wisdom to resist those +of their own nations who will clamour to make money out of Chinese +labour, Western dominance in China is not to be desired by Western +wage-earners. + +[Illustration: HANKOW, THE CHICAGO OF CHINA. RIVER AT LOW WATER, 600 +MILES FROM THE SEA. HAN-YANG IRONWORKS] + +One of the most impressive sights in China is the Han-yang Ironworks. +They employ three thousand men, and are owned by a body of Chinese +capitalists. They have found it worth while to triple their plant +within the last two or three years, and one can hardly wonder when one +realises that, though the labourers are paid a very high rate according +to Chinese scale, they only get sixpence a day, and even allowing that +it requires three Chinamen to do the work of one Englishman, which is a +higher proportion than is generally claimed, obviously there is a very +large margin of profit to be made by the owners of the works. It is +worthy of note that the Chinese have been unable at present to produce +any native engineers; sixteen Europeans of various nationalities manage +and control the works, though they are owned by Chinese, but the +skilled work is all done by Chinese. For instance, we saw a man +straightening the rails with a steam hammer; it was very skilled work, +and I was told he was making 7d. or {31} 8d. a day. If any social +reformer, if any one interested in the condition of the working +classes, has time to consider this question and to escape from that +parochial mind which so distorts the importance of things, he will see +that the conditions of the working classes in Europe will depend to a +greater degree on the proper development of the social conditions of +China than on any factor at home. To put it briefly, if the fourth of +the labour of this world is living under sweating conditions, the other +three-fourths may consider themselves lucky if their income is not cut +down by 25 per cent. + +On the other hand, if the development of China is allowed to pursue its +normal course, and education and enlightenment are encouraged to +proceed by equal steps with material well-being, the commercial +conditions of China, so far from being injurious, will prove beneficial +to the world at large. The internal market, for one thing, will tend +to keep pace with China's productions. If China exports, she will also +import; the volume of trade will no doubt be enormously increased, and +that trade will bring prosperity to China and to those other countries +who are trading with her. Her people will gradually grow accustomed to +Western conditions, and, if China maintains her independence, those +conditions will not be allowed to become too onerous to the poorer +classes. The wealth of another country does not injure her neighbours; +it is rather her poverty which injures them. There is always the +danger that the poorer country {32} will drain the capital from the +richer country, and that a rich country becomes harsh to a poor country +in the same way that the creditor is harsh to the debtor; certainly it +would be most undesirable if a sudden industrial expansion in China +paralysed many industrial undertakings in England by depriving them of +the capital they needed for enlargement, and it would be equally +undesirable to have any industrial undertaking in China controlled by a +Board of Directors in London, whose one object was to increase their +dividends, and who were ignorant of and therefore indifferent to the +injury that might be incidentally done to the welfare of thousands of +Chinese who fell under their power. + +And this brings me to the third point of how China may affect the rest +of the world. She may, and most probably will, degrade the moral tone +of Europe. On the other hand, it will be quite possible that she may +act as a moral tonic. We scarcely realise the nature of the chains +that bind one part of our civilisation to another. To hear men talk, +one would suppose that the great factors in the government of mankind +are the laws and regulations made by kings and popular assemblies; but +a deeper inquiry must show that it is only the smaller part of a man's +life that is controlled by law, the greater part is controlled by +custom or fashion which is enforced, to use the technical term, by the +sanction of public opinion. Consider, for instance, the customs of +dress, or of manners, or the hours we keep, or the way we {33} refer to +things, or even our very thoughts--they are all subject to this power; +the State does not generally command any particular dress, yet there is +a large and increasing measure of uniformity in dress. You may go from +Asia to America, from Vancouver to Vladivostock, and you will see +uniformity in the rules of dress. This uniformity is all the more +remarkable, because its laws, instead of being fixed and stationary, +are constantly altered; indeed, in comparison with the power of +fashion, the powers of the greatest autocrat or of the most efficient +public office are as nothing. The autocrat may give an order; the +public office, with its endless clerks and forms, with its miles of +red-tape, may try to see that order carried out; but may quite possibly +fail. But fashion, issuing her capricious orders, has no office, no +clerks, no printed forms that have to be filled up to secure obedience, +yet her subjects yield such willing service that they seek for +information from every quarter as to the nature of her commands, and +when they know them, they count neither money nor comfort to be of +importance compared with obedience to their mistress. The world, while +it wonders at its own submission, enlarges or reduces its clothes, +alters its head-gear, and further, will even change its manners, its +speech, and its thoughts. The latest fashion-book is but the +exaggeration of a world-power; the same power that compels women to +tighten their skirts and widen their hats, makes their husbands talk +about socialism and observe Empire Day. The power of fashion lies in +{34} this, that while every one obeys, no one is conscious of any +difficulty in obeying; the chains with which fashion binds this world +may be so strong that the strongest nature cannot break them, yet they +are so light that the most sensitive natures are not conscious of their +restraint. + +But this great power of fashion has its limits, and those are the +limits of our civilisation. The mandate of the dressmaker may reach +from Siberia to Peru, but it has no power in Mohammedan, Hindu, or +Confucian lands; the Turkish lady still veils her face, the Hindu still +adheres to his caste, the Confucian up to this moment still preserves +his queue and his blue robe, but if China accepts our civilisation this +must change. The modern Chinaman dresses in Western fashion; the loose +flowing garment of China acts as a sort of barometer by which the +extent of European pressure can be tested; up-country they are as loose +as ever, but in Shanghai, wherever Chinese dress is still preserved, it +has grown tight. A change typical of what may happen if the union +between the civilisations takes place without any guidance may now be +seen in the streets of Shanghai; the dress of the women is shaped in +the Chinese fashion, they wear the traditional coat and trousers, but +the cut of those garments offends both East and West alike by their +great exiguity. + +Every one would allow that Western fashions, or, at any rate, men's +fashions, must to a great extent affect China, but there is a deeper +thought beyond; {35} Western fashions will not merely affect Chinese +dress, but they will also affect Chinese thought, and when they have +incorporated Chinese thought into Western civilisation, when the +conquest is complete and China and the West are one, a reaction will +take place, and that which has subdued China to the yoke of Western +fashion will give in its turn power to China to control the Western +world. Without suggesting for a moment that Peking fashions will take +the place of Paris fashions, or that the Englishman will grow a queue, +I do suggest that there are many precedents in history for expecting +that such a moral force as the Chinese reverence for parents, or such +an immoral position as the Chinese contempt for the working-man, will +not be without its effect on the Western world. Again and again it has +been pointed out by both missionary and Government official, that so +great is the power of China, that she brings into subjugation to her +thought any one who is long resident in her country. If it should +happen that the Western world should neglect the Chinaman when it has +the opportunity of teaching and directing him, longing as he is to +learn about Western civilisation, the punishment of the West will be +that she will, in years to come, be influenced for evil by the power of +the great Celestial Empire. If, on the other hand, the East should +turn towards Christianity, and, taught by Christianity, should learn to +live a higher life, the example of her faith and of her morality will +in years to come react beneficially on the Western world. + + + + +{36} + +CHAPTER III + +ORIENTAL AND OCCIDENTAL + +The West cannot either by right or through self-interest ignore the +problem that China has to solve. From being the most conservative +country in the world, she has become a country in which there is rapid +change. The whole civilisation of this vast country of 400,000,000 is +becoming fundamentally altered by the importation into it of ideas and +thoughts which are not native to her, and which have been created by a +system of religion and by a history belonging to nations very different +to herself. The full difficulty does not present itself till after +some thought. The problem is quite different from that which has been +before mankind in other parts of the world. China is trying to accept +Western civilisation, but there is a danger that it will be without +Christianity. I know that many Europeans living in Tientsin and +Shanghai, who give but little thought to the problems before them, +somewhat vaguely hope that in the near future China will become a +European nation; but a little consideration must convince everybody +that this is impossible. We have also already shown that China is +quite determined--in fact, she has no alternative--not to {37} remain +the old conservative country that lives on ancient traditions, that +looks back two thousand years for all teaching in the arts of +government. + +If China, therefore, is neither to become Western nor to remain what +she is, of necessity she will have to blend the two civilisations +together and to take a part from each. The Chinese themselves, with a +sanguineness for which they have no warrant, are quite certain that +this is an easy matter. They tell the inquirer that they have +considered it well, and that they see their way completely through it. +They intend to select from Europe only those things that are +advantageous to the race, and they expect to have no difficulty in +weaving these incongruous elements into their own very complete system +of thought. Statesmen seriously say that three or four months' extra +study will enable the educated Chinaman to learn all that is necessary +of Western civilisation, and then those who have acquired this +knowledge can return to China and teach their fellow-countrymen; and it +is impossible to convince the Chinese that the uniting together of two +different webs of thought is a matter of extreme difficulty, and, it +may be added, of extreme risk. The pleasing dream that you can +arbitrarily select the good points of West and East and weave them into +one is the very reverse of the truth. What naturally happens is the +very opposite. There is a tendency to preserve that which is bad and +not that which is good in two different systems of thought when they +are united into one. The reason {38} probably is that as the bad has +its common origin in the wickedness of human nature, it belongs to both +systems of thought, and therefore both the Chinaman and the Western +meet on common ground when they meet in vice or vileness. On the other +hand, the virtues of both are the result of moral cultivation resting +on authorities which are not recognised by either. Therefore the +tendency is to waive all moral obligations as resting on controverted +grounds. Whatever may be the cause, the result is obvious--the +Westernised Oriental, unless a Christian, is as a rule only one shade +better than the Orientalised Western. + +While the careless thinker hopes generally that good will come out of +the union of the two, he is as a rule terrified lest there should be +any tendency to mingle Western with Eastern thought in any one of whom +he is fond. A leading man at Tientsin, extolling the healthy climate +of the place, related how he had kept his children there ever since +they were born. His friend from home, ignorant of life in a Chinese +port, said in an appreciative way, "How nice it must be for your +children to be able to speak Chinese; I suppose you encourage them to +learn it?" The dweller in China turned on him in anger and said, +"Thank God, my children do not know one word of Chinese; I would send +them home to-morrow if I caught them learning a single sentence." This +enthusiasm for ignorance of the language of a great nation is +extraordinarily difficult to understand until the danger of the mixture +of Eastern and Western thought {39} is realised. Experience has taught +those who have lived in China that it is only a few that can come +unscathed through the terrible trial of having to live in two moral +atmospheres. + +One of the most striking books that has ever been written is +"Indiscreet Letters from Peking." The book is marvellous in the power +it has of bringing before the eyes of its reader those awful scenes +during the siege of Peking, but it is far more wonderful in the +character that it imputes to the hypothetical narrator--a character +typical of a man who is equally at home in England and in China; and in +that character is portrayed a true but curiously unpleasant picture of +the characteristics of both races. The narrator has the courage of a +lion; he is absolutely without any sense of honour. He fires at an +adversary under the flag of truce. He misuses a Manchu woman who in +the horrors of the sack throws herself on his mercy. He connives at +the breaking of a solemnly pledged word of honour by a soldier. The +character is not overdrawn; characters such as these are common in a +mixed world, and it is natural that English people should fear that +their children should grow up so unutterably vile. But if the +Englishman fears for his child, ought he to ignore the welfare of the +country in which he lives, and can we pass over this whole problem as +something that does not concern us; for what he fears for his child +will happen to the whole Chinese nation. + +The blending together of the East and the West {40} may be accomplished +with the ease which the Chinaman expects--but not in the way in which +he or anybody else could wish--it may be accomplished by the +eradication of all that is good in either race, on the common ground of +vice and sin and evil and cruelty; unless, indeed, the efforts of those +who are now labouring to weave together that which is good in both +civilisations are supported. The difficulty of preserving the good +points and high qualities of Chinese thought is only equalled by the +difficulty of introducing the splendid traditions of the West and +grafting them on to the Chinese stock. What success has followed the +efforts of those who are thus labouring is rather to be credited to the +intensity of their efforts, to their single-hearted purpose, to their +ready self-denial, than to the ease or simplicity of their task. + +No man of any feeling or any conscience could pass indifferently by a +single individual eating the berries of a deadly plant, unconscious +that they were poison. What shall be said, then, if we allow, not only +one individual but a fourth of the population of the world, to eat of a +deadly poison which must deprive them of all happiness and of life, +which must condemn them by millions to the misery of the very blackest +darkness, where the only motives known are selfishness, lust, pride, +and cruelty, for this is what certainly will happen to China if she +accepts the materialism of the West. + +Western thought is very powerful. The way it has dominated the forces +of nature gives it a great {41} prestige. As the Chinaman learns about +steam and electricity, about the telephone, the flying machine, radium, +and a thousand more Western inventions, he cannot fail to be impressed, +he must admit that these people have knowledge. Do not for a moment +imagine that, after such an illumination, he will be able to go back to +the works of Confucius and learn again the old maxims, many of which +are antipathetic to Western thought--yes, even more incongruous to +Western than they are to Christian thought. How will he, for instance, +read Confucius' condemnation of war when the Japanese and Germans and +Russians are shouting into his ears, "By war ye shall live and by war +alone." + +In an interview I had with that great statesman, Tong-Shao-Yi, he said, +"We respect Confucius because he has never taught any man to err." +Unlike the teaching of Christianity, Confucius preaches that the test +of truth is worldly success, and therefore by that test his preaching +will be tried and found wanting by the materialist. The materialist +will say, if Confucius never taught men to err, how is it that the +Western nations who are ignorant of his teaching have succeeded, and +that China, who outnumbers them greatly, and who after years of +education and training and of following faithfully his teaching, has +failed? How is it, they will ask, that she is so powerless, that were +it not for European jealousies she could not stand a day before the +least warlike of these Western nations? The Confucian {42} will +answer, "He taught us to despise war, and that is why we are weak." +The materialist will certainly retort, "So he has taught you to err." +Confucianism must fall before Western materialism. I do not speak of +Buddhism, for that is falling so quickly that its influence may be said +to be almost gone. China will be left stripped of religion, robbed of +her old ideas, and not clothed with new ones, wandering into all the +misery and humiliation that vice and sin can bring upon mankind, till +the curse of her millions in misery will go out against the harsh +unfeeling West, who could leave her thus blind and helpless without a +guide. + +The call is great. Those who have knowledge have no right to keep it +to themselves. The Christian and the Confucian agree in this, as they +do in much else, that all knowledge must be shared. One of the +purposes of this book is to arouse my readers to the importance of +taking some action. Had they had an opportunity of going to China and +seeing things for themselves, I would only have asked them to think; +but as there are many who have not had that opportunity, I would try +and show them the transitional condition through which China is +passing, the danger of that condition ending in disaster, a disaster +wide as the world itself. I hope to show them what is being done at +the present time to lead the Chinese empire into safe paths, and to +illuminate her with the highest knowledge of the West. Many efforts +have been made, and there has been much success. I {43} am glad to +testify publicly to the heroic and self-denying character of the +missions, but those who are most successful are those who frankly say +China can never be led by aliens. + +No race loves the alien, and the further away the alien is in blood and +language the less he is loved; therefore the Chinese above all races +are least fitted to be led by the European, as they differ from him in +most racial characteristics. If they are to be led by their own race, +their own race must be fit to lead them. They must have leaders who +understand the whole of Western knowledge, and will be able to take +what is true and leave what is false. A Japanese thinker said the +other day, "Our people have made a great mistake--they have taken the +false and left the true part of Western thought." Let us hope that +China may be preserved from such an error, that she may learn Western +knowledge so thoroughly and so well that she may be able to distinguish +the good from the bad, the beautiful from the vile in our system of +thought. + + + + +{44} + +CHAPTER IV + +FOREIGN RELATIONS OF CHINA + +It is impossible to study any Chinese question and ignore the relations +of China with foreign powers. They are always curious and generally +unique. Certainly any one who goes to China for the purpose of +studying the mission question cannot but be struck at the extraordinary +treaty rights possessed by missionaries. In most countries the teacher +of religion has no peculiar rights. He is, alas! more often bullied +than favoured by the modern State, even if that State should profess +itself well inclined towards religion. Therefore one would naturally +expect in China, where Christianity is reputed to be disliked, that +those who teach it would have to contend with every form of disability +that a hostile State could inflict. + +A feeling of marvel comes over the mind when one realises that in this +land of contradictions the persecuted missionary enjoys quite peculiar +privileges. The ordinary foreigner cannot, for instance, travel in +China except by the courtesy of the Government--a courtesy, indeed, +which is never refused; but a missionary may travel freely. The +ordinary foreigner has no right to stay in any {45} town in China with +the exception of the treaty ports; a missionary may stay where he +likes. The ordinary man cannot buy land; the missionary has a right to +purchase land for the purpose of teaching Christianity. + +So it came about, when we were in China, that His Majesty's Consul, +with all the might of England at his back, was unable to buy a suitable +site to erect a house where he could bring his wife. He was living in +a temple, and temples in China are not very comfortable. I should +explain to the uninitiated that every Buddhist temple has guest-rooms +attached to it--Chinese rooms largely composed of wooden screens; and +these temples are let out as residences by a people whose faith has +less hold upon their affections than their purse. Now, ladies are not +as a rule prepared to live in a house with paper partitions in a +climate where the winters are extremely cold; so the Consul asked a +missionary to buy a piece of land on which he could erect a suitable +house, and he had almost succeeded when the Chinese Government found +out that the land was not to be used for missionary purposes and +refused to allow the sale. This does seem a strange situation when one +remembers that had that Consul resigned his appointment and joined a +missionary body, he could have bought the land and settled his wife +comfortably in four solid stone walls, but because he was England's +representative and not a missionary he had to shiver between wood and +{46} paper screens, and this in a country which is supposed to hate +missionaries. + +The explanation of this curious situation is really twofold. First, +the hatred that the official bears for the missionary is not of such an +intense character as to induce him to offer a very strenuous resistance +to the missionaries who desire to buy land; and secondly, missionaries +have peculiar and special rights secured to them by a series of +treaties among the most curious in the history of diplomacy. + +In 1844 the Americans got by treaty a right to the free exercise of the +Christian religion in the open ports. This right, sufficiently +remarkable in itself, has often been stipulated by a State for its own +nationals resident in a foreign country, but I doubt if it has ever +before been known for a country to insist on the right of preaching a +religion to somebody else's citizens. This was obviously an +interference of the sovereign rights of China. + +It was pushed even further in 1860. The French and English had just +completed the sack of the "Summer Palace," and whatever the justice or +the injustice of the war may have been, China had tasted her first +great lesson of humiliation from the hand of Western powers, and was in +no condition to resist any of their demands. The English and the +French made treaties, most of them concerned with commercial and +military matters with which it is not necessary to trouble the reader, +and the French had a condition which was quite reasonable, that the +{47} Chinese should restore all the buildings that had been destroyed +in the late troubles; the wording of the clause was so vague that it +could be made to apply, and did apply, to any building which had been +destroyed at any previous time in the history of China, but the most +remarkable part of the clause needs further explanation. The French +had as their interpreter a very able Jesuit, Père Delamarre, and as the +French Minister could not read Chinese, he had to trust his interpreter +with regard to the Chinese version, and this man inserted into the +treaty two other provisions, one securing that Christians should have a +right to the free exercise of their religion all over China, and the +other that French missionaries should have the right to rent land in +all the provinces in the empire and to buy and construct houses. When +this pious fraud was discovered, the French Minister thought it would +do no good to denounce his interpreter, and therefore the treaty was +treated by the French as binding and never questioned by the Chinese; +the other powers profited by it under the "most favoured nation" clause. + +The Roman Catholics a few years later pushed the wording of this treaty +to its uttermost. Their missions had been at work for 150 years or +more, and they could prove a great number of confiscations which had to +be made good by the Chinese. Just at that time in France Napoleon III. +was trying to establish a doubtful title by the help of the Pope, {48} +and it was his policy to push in every way the interests of the Roman +Catholics. China had felt the weight of European armies and she was +unable to resist these claims, and so it came about that the very +country which now is the centre of free thought was the means of +forcing Christianity upon the Chinese through fear of her armed power. + +Can you be surprised at the answer I got when I asked a Chinese +statesman, who I knew was sympathetic with the teaching of +Christianity, why China, who had always professed, and to a very great +extent had practised tolerance, should persecute Christianity? His +reply was, the Chinese did not hate Christianity, and were indeed +tolerant of missions, but they still disliked them, because +Christianity is the religion of the military races, and they had a +historical tradition that the advance of Christianity was connected +with war. + +This bad reputation has been intensified by the action of the Germans. +No reasonable man can condemn the Germans for wishing to enlarge and +develop their trade. We can understand the patriotic German saying +that it was the duty of Germany to establish good government in +Shantung, but it is very hard to understand how any one can defend the +taking of Kiauchau on the ground that certain German missionaries had +been murdered. The taking of Kiauchau by the Germans has completed the +work begun by the French. Christianity and the foreign relations of +China are {49} inextricably mixed up, and every Chinaman, believed till +lately that Christianity was the religion which has led foreign nations +to enter his land. "First the missionary, then the trader, lastly the +gunboat," has been too often the order of advance. I am happy to be +able to say that the Americans and the English have made great efforts +to dissociate themselves from this evil, and have tried to avoid any +appearance of such a connection. I was told that in Shansi, owing to +the indemnity for the murders of missionaries being retained to China +and spent on founding a University instead of being accepted by the +missions, Protestant missions are very popular. "You have only to say +you are an English clergyman," said my Chinese informant, "and every +door will be open to you." + +The present aspect of foreign affairs has tended to destroy the +unfortunate connection between Christianity and foreign aggression. +The two great powers whose armies have met in Manchuria have neither of +them any interest in missions. Russia has never had any missions in +China. She forbade them, I understand, because they were likely to +embroil her in unnecessary wars. Japan, of course, has none. The +Germans, who made the murder of missionaries the reason of aggression, +have not many missionaries in China belonging to their nationality. +China, therefore, is coming to look upon Christianity as not quite so +dangerous a thing as it seemed when it was essentially the religion of +the French and of the English {50} whose armies and navies then held +China in fear. Still the political situation cannot but have great +interest to the missionary. Even while he rejoices that the foreign +relations of China and his work are not so intimately connected as they +used to be, he must ask himself, what will the result to my work be, if +in the great world struggle Japan or Russia should dominate? At +present he fears Japan more than Russia; and his fears are shared, but +for other reasons, by the Chinese. + +The wildest and most ambitious schemes are accredited to Japan, I +cannot say with how much truth. Her purse is empty, but she has far +more courage and skill in war than most nations. If she possessed even +one part of China she might add to her wealth to such an extent that no +race could dare to oppose her, while if she governed China, her armies, +supported by the wealth of that mighty empire, might threaten the +stability of Europe. She is reported to have two regiments working as +private individuals in Fukien, and to be prepared to seize the province +in case of any disorder. The fact that there are many Japanese in the +province, and that all the Japanese are trained soldiers, gives some +cloak to this suggestion. The Fukienese speak a different dialect to +the rest of China, and they have a natural geographical frontier, which +would enable the Japanese to maintain themselves there if they were +once established. + +Again, the recent events have shown that they are preparing to exercise +sovereign rights over Chinese {51} territory in Manchuria. On the +other hand, Russia is arming; she is double-tracking the railway from +St. Petersburg to Irkutsk, and she is getting ready again for a +struggle in Manchuria; the gossip among the officers there is that +there is to be a war; the Russians do not for a moment regard +themselves as defeated; they think of the late campaign merely as an +"unfortunate incident." + +But the most important development in Russian policy is the proposed +railway across Mongolia which will give Russia an entrance to the west +of China and into Peking. It is hard to see how, if an advance were +made along that line, Japan could in any way resist Russia; the whole +breadth of China would lie between them. Meanwhile the Germans of the +east have perfected a railway system which converts Kiauchau from being +an out-of-the-way place which no one cared about, to a door into the +very heart of China. In commercial circles in China it is reported +that the Commandant of the Tientsin garrison suggested that the object +of the building of the German Fleet was not so much to conquer England +as to ensure that Germany should be able to maintain her position in +the Far East and make full use of Kiauchau as a way by which her armies +might enter China. When one looks at the map and sees how China is +surrounded by these powers, and how they are pressing upon her, one +realises why the Chinese are feeling that Western education is an +absolute necessity, and that if they are to maintain their {52} +independence they must understand the arts of war. A great Viceroy was +reported to have said that he frankly expected China to be conquered, +and to learn from her conquerors the Western arts which would in turn +enable her to dominate the West; for this has been her history in the +past, that may be her history in the future, and I think that the +nations, who propose to conquer her, will do wisely if they consider +what might be the result of her influence on them. + +China is trying to defend herself by building a navy and creating an +army. The navy is rather an _opéra bouffe_ concern; every now and then +she talks of having ships; the representatives of all the shipbuilders +of the world fly to Peking and try in every way to induce China to buy +a fleet which they offer to provide at the very shortest notice, but at +present she has none. She has, as a practical step, created a training +school of officers. It consists only of some 140 men, and is taught by +two British officers lent her by our navy. They said that there was +the greatest difficulty in getting the Chinese to be practical; they +induced the Government at last to put an old ship at their disposal. +For a long time this was refused, and when it was granted it was +regarded as a most wonderful and original departure. The Chinese way +of training naval officers would have been to have instructed them on +literary subjects, and to encourage them to write essays and poems on +the sea. To take them out on {53} the Yangtsze in a ship and actually +to show them how a ship was managed, was a wholly new idea, but one of +which they approve under the impulse of the modern fashion of doing +things in accordance with Western traditions. + +As to the army, its exterior is certainly not prepossessing; far and +away the most efficient part of it has been created by Yuan-Shi-Kei in +Manchuria, and the Chinese are very anxious to show it to the passing +traveller. Both times when we passed through Manchuria, on every +station were armed guards, and in one case they were inspected by a +General who was travelling in our train. He was saluted by the +officers in charge in Chinese fashion, which is a modified form of a +kow-tow, and consists to all intents and purposes of a curtsey. It had +a distinctly funny appearance to see the officers in charge of the +guards curtseying as we steamed into the stations. Down at Nanking the +army was far less smart--in fact, it had the appearance of being a very +disorderly rabble; I understand when the Empress died it was regarded +as such a danger that those in authority put the broad Yangtsze between +them and a possible mutiny. + +The real danger to China as regards foreign relations is that her bad +finance or her own want of discipline may bring about a state of +internal disorder which may compel the interference of foreign powers. +Last year this nearly did happen. Two regiments mutinied and seized a +town on the {54} Yangtsze; they stopped all communications with the +outside world, and to all intents and purposes were in a fair way to +commence a rebellion. Close by them were several other regiments who +might be expected to throw in their lot with them, and the position was +very critical. The missionaries inside the town were in fear of their +lives, and with difficulty managed to communicate with the British +Consul and to tell him of their plight. He ordered a gunboat to go +down, and the presence of the gunboat intimidated the mutineers. At +the same time the Governor of the city showed remarkable courage in +going round the town pacifying the mob. The authorities were able to +move in two other regiments, who had no sympathy with the mutiny. The +mutineers were disarmed and the incident closed. But such an incident +may occur at any moment. The condition of the country is such that +anywhere a rising may occur, and the fire once alight may be hard to +extinguish; the result of the conflagration must be that the powers +must enter to secure the safety of their nationals. + +Altogether poor China is in a dangerous position in regard to her +foreign relations; all round her echoes the cry, "You must reform or +disappear." Every railway that is made, every loan that is floated, +every trade that is opened up, bring to China increased +responsibilities in her foreign relations. If she by her good +government and readiness to reform can show that she is able to +maintain {55} order in her own land, and to give to foreigners an equal +security to that they have in any other country, her empire may endure +for many hundred years; but if she be found wanting at the present time +and the corruption of her officials renders her unable to maintain +order in her country or to fulfil her financial obligations, a new +phase in Chinese history will be reached, which will, I believe, be of +extraordinary danger to Europe; China will yield to the military might +of the West only to rise again to dominate those who dominated her. + +The missionary who looks at these dark clouds which surround China, the +land of his adoption, feels that there is only one course to take, +namely, the course that he is taking, to try and build up in China a +high tone of morality, founded on religion, which may enable her to +accept necessary reforms and to put herself abreast of other nations. + + + + +{56} + +CHAPTER V + +CHINESE CIVILISATION--ITS WEAK SIDE + +I do not suppose that we can have any conception of the amount of +suffering which goes on at the present time in China. The first time +we were in China I had the honour of meeting a Mr. Ede, who had just +returned from distributing food in a famine-stricken district, and his +description was truly terrible; the young men had walked away and found +work in other districts, but the old people and the children had to +remain. What had caused the famine in this case was characteristic of +unreformed China; "China's sorrow," the river Hoang-ho, had done what +it is ever doing, that is, it had flooded a district. When you pass +over it, it looks most innocuous. It is wholly unable, as a rule, to +fill its own vast bed, which is covered with delightful sands, +reminding one more than anything else of the sea-shore at low tide; but +this sand is what makes it dangerous, for it is not good heavy English +sand, but a light sand which is called "loess," and when the river +comes down in a flood--that is to say, when they have rainy weather in +Thibet or the sun shines unduly on Himalayan snows--this sand is +carried along with the water, {57} and it is asserted indeed that the +river consists more of sand than of water; as the river slackens the +sand is deposited and the bed is filled up, with the result that the +next flood, taking the Chinese unawares, overflows its banks and +reduces a huge district to poverty; they cannot sow their fields +because they cannot see them. Of course the authorities should not be +taken by surprise and the banks should be made up, and canals should be +cut to take away the water in case of a flood; an enlightened Chinese +engineer assured me he had a scheme for raising the level of huge +districts of China by using this peculiar character of the Hoang-ho and +turning its sand and water flood on to bare places, and he asserted +that the results were most wonderfully successful, and that districts +which were unfertile before, when well washed and covered up with this +loess, became fertile. Still, however beneficial a flood may be to the +land in the end, its immediate result is to starve the population who +are flooded out, for they have no reserves of food. + +In the case already referred to, the country was a long time under +water, because a canal which should have drained it away was not kept +clear. The money had been paid, but, as often happens in China, the +work had not been done. The action that the authorities took was +characteristic of Chinese government. China possesses the system of +internal custom-houses--a system which the wildest advocate of Tariff +Reform would hardly like {58} to see introduced into Europe; these +custom-houses are called "Likin," and are a source at once of a great +deal of profit to the provinces and of irritation to all traders. The +Chinese used these custom-houses to engineer a corner in rice by which +the area of scarcity of food was enormously increased and several +officials amassed considerable sums of money; by the law of China it is +illegal to export rice even from one province to another; this law was +put in force, and the rice supply was cut off; at the same time early +in the famine certain rich men bought up rice freely, with the result +that it rose to a very high figure, so that round the area of famine +and desolation there was an area of scarcity and shortage. + +A large amount of food from all parts of the world was sent by the +famine funds, but it was very difficult to induce the officials to +allow the food to enter the famine district. They were filled with all +sorts of scruples. They were afraid, for instance, that the steamers +towing the barges full of food on a canal which had not before been +opened for steamers, might excite the hostility of the population; they +were courteous, they were diplomatic, but they were obstructive; and so +it came about that while there was a famine in one district of China, +in the other districts there was a very heavy surplus, of which they +had difficulty in disposing. All this did not create the slightest +surprise in those who knew China. When the story was told {59} us all +the old Chinese hands merely said, "How like China," or "Just like +them." This was our first insight into what the civilisation of China +means, and therefore for the first time we realised the problem that is +before the world--the problem which missionaries, with great devotion, +are trying to solve. + +Chinese civilisation is not, as many people imagine it to be, a mere +courtesy title for a state in reality only a degree off barbarism. +Many of my humbler parishioners, for instance, when we left for China, +ranked the Chinese as something very near cannibals, and I do not think +they would have been in the least surprised to hear that we had been +roasted and eaten by the natives. The Chinese have perhaps a greater +right to be called civilised than we have on this side of the world; +their civilisation dates from eras we are accustomed to call Biblical. +Confucius and Ezra represent contemporaneous ideas--ideas that are not +wholly different in thought. While on the other side of the globe +civilisation has been handed from nation to nation, and a civilised +race has become barbarous and a barbarous race civilised, the Chinese, +without making any very great advance, have steadily proceeded along a +path of progress, and at the present time they possess a very carefully +organised system of society. On paper the whole thing is perfect: the +Emperor at the top, the Viceroys over each province, under them the +Prefectures, and so down to the village community {60} in the country +or the trade guild in the town. The system of government is so perfect +that they claim that they are able to discover any individual wanted +among those 400,000,000 of Chinese, unless his disguise is very +perfect. When we were chatting over the revolutionaries and talking +about a certain doctor dodging in and out of China at the risk of his +life, I said that I wondered that there was any difficulty at all for a +man who was bred in the country wandering where he liked, and I was +assured that such was the organisation of the Chinese Government that +they could lay hands even in the remotest village on anybody if they +required him, and that the only way a revolutionary could hope to +escape arrest was by a most perfect and complete disguise. + +With this splendid organisation is joined great solidarity. The +Chinese race are essentially one. If it were your duty to look through +reports coming from China, as it has been mine, the first thing that +would strike you would be its essential oneness; you will not find more +difference between different parts of China than there is between +England and Ireland. I do not for a moment mean to say that there are +no differences between the Chinese--that would be untrue; but you will +not find such a difference as one might expect from the diversity of +geographical conditions. The civilisation is essentially similar. It +is a civilisation with great merits. The population is sober, +industrious, and perhaps I might add honest, {61} all lovers of China +will certainly agree; but if you are writing, as I am, to people who +have never been out of England, I think you will have to qualify the +phrase with some such a one as "honest as compared with other +Orientals," or "honest when contrasted with the Japanese." + +They are also extremely obedient; their idea of the respect which +should be paid to authority far exceeds that which prevails on this +side of the globe. I think we may add with truth that great numbers of +them are very loyal to their employers. But when this much has been +said, the dark side of their civilisation must be added--it is +essentially corrupt and cruel; the ideas of honour, purity, mercy are +but too little understood. Missionaries assured us that there was no +word for purity that could be applied to a man, while the same word +stands for honesty and stupidity. + +Yet this nation is in many ways well fitted for the mechanical age in +which we live. What the owner of the factory wants is an industrious, +sober, and obedient man, and he does not want, or at least does not +realise that he wants, an honourable, pure, and merciful man. The +Chinaman will be in his element in the factory; the long hours of +monotonous toil will not be unpleasant to him; he is always sober--in +fact, he is by nature and culture the ideal factory hand; and yet this +is what constitutes his danger. He will tend to introduce into Europe +the vices which are now desolating his own country, unless, indeed, +{62} the European teacher can help him to eradicate those vices. + +I have given you some idea of his corruption by the story told at the +beginning of this chapter, but we heard many others all to the same +effect. We went up the Yangtsze in one of the China Merchants' boats +with an old Swedish captain who liked the Chinese and rather disliked +the missionaries, so his evidence was not biassed by any wish to prove +that our civilisation was more perfect than that of the Chinese. We +asked him why it was that he being a European should be captain of a +ship that was owned by Chinese, and largely used by them. He told us +that the Chinese merchants had once tried to have a Chinese captain, +but the moment the ship reached the first port of the Yangtsze, the +custom officers were on board rummaging here and rummaging there. Very +soon a large amount of contraband was found on the ship, put there with +the knowledge of the captain. The consequence was the ship was fined +and delayed. They tried Chinese captains again and again with the same +result, and so they have been reduced to employ Europeans to secure +honourable officers. He, however, had to confess that the Chinese +distrusted the sobriety of the European officers, and assured us that +the old comprador on board, one of whose duties apparently was to look +after the passengers and take their tickets, was in reality a spy on +them. + +Perhaps the best instance of the corruption of the {63} Chinese is +their action with regard to the currency. In the good old days the +currency of China was the silver shoe or ingot, which had no exact +weight, and had therefore to be weighed at every transaction. Below +that was the copper currency, which had no fixed relation to the silver +currency, but only the relation of copper to silver. A copper cash, +therefore, represented only its actual value in copper. It was +naturally a most unwieldy coin. The old books of travel in China give +lamentable pictures of the traveller riding about with huge strings of +copper cash almost crushing him with their weight. When the whites +began to trade in China they introduced the Mexican dollar with its +subsidiary coinage, and this was the common currency in all the ports +until a few years ago; but when the Chinese began to Westernise they +considered it inconsistent with their dignity not to have a coinage of +their own. Led by the Japanese, and assisted by several firms whose +speciality was the erection of mints and mintage machinery, they +started mints all over the country, and they have kept these mints busy +with the most _funeste_ results. To begin with, they coined a dollar +in imitation of the Mexican dollar, but even in this the mints did not +agree. Some dollars are very light, some slightly below value, and +some are nearly true. The first experience of the traveller is that he +possesses in his pocket a set of coins which no one will accept, except +at a great reduction. But the muddle goes further than that. It was +very profitable coining light coins, {64} but it was still more +profitable to do so in the lower denominations. The Chinese thought, +or chose to think, that it did not matter what the intrinsic value of a +10-cent piece was as long as you wrote on it 10 cents. They have no +bank or post-office where you have a legal right to get a dollar for +ten 10-cent pieces, and the result therefore of recklessly coining the +base 10-cent pieces has been not only to depreciate it with regard to +the dollar, but to make it an uncertain value, so that you must go to +the money exchangers almost every morning and ask for the rate of +exchange between the dollar and the small silver pieces. + +Of course at every step on this downward path the officials concerned +made a great deal of money; their next step was to deal with the copper +coin in the same way, so now there is no fixed relation between the +copper coinage and the silver coinage, nor between the large copper and +the small, and this is still further confusing, as the provinces having +different mints have dollars of different values. And now I hear that +they have begun to make money by debasing the old silver shoe coinage, +which, though it is sold by weight, used to have a certain standard of +purity, and they have issued cash which have no intrinsic value at all, +and that do not represent the fraction of a coin having any intrinsic +value. The result of this currency "Rake's Progress" has been to +produce what corruption always does produce--widespread poverty. +Everybody cheats. The stationmasters {65} along the line assure the +European superintendents that the fares are always paid in the most +debased coinage, and it is very hard to deny the probability of this. +But of course the stationmasters take care if any coin comes to their +hand which is not debased to do a bit of exchange on their own account. + +If Chinese civilisation is corrupt, it is also cruel, not with the wild +tempestuous cruelty of the savage, but with the cruelty of the +civilised man who at once uses human suffering as the best engine for +human government, and never cares to cure it unless he has some +pecuniary object in view. The Chinese are inured to pain, and some +people argue that they do not feel it to the same degree as Western +nations. No doubt the sensation of pain is intensified in people of +highly developed nervous organisation, and the Chinese have a nervous +organisation of a very quiescent kind. I remember, when we first +landed at Hong-Kong, being struck by a Chinaman who had chosen as his +bed for his midday siesta an ordinary piece of granite curbing; and as +you go along in the train every freight car that you pass has some one +sleeping on it to protect it from robbery, and a truck of coals or a +load of stone is obviously regarded as a most comfortable +resting-place. Some of the doctors maintained that this was the case +throughout their nervous system--they were insensitive to pain; others +said that pain, like everything else, is a thing to which you can get +accustomed, and that pain has played so large a part in their lives +that they are {66} accustomed to it, and are not therefore afraid of +it. Take, for instance, the foot-binding of the women; every family in +China must be accustomed to hear the sobs and cries of the little girls +as they are going through the first stages of foot-binding. Or take +again the public flogging; all the working classes of China must be +quite accustomed to the idea that men are flogged for certain offences +till their flesh is of the consistency of a jelly. A doctor, +describing the state in which men are brought into the hospital after +such floggings, said that it was a difficult matter to avoid +mortification setting in, and it was only with very careful treatment +that they could be cured, the whole flesh having to slough away, being +absolutely crushed and battered. + +Yet this strange people are so indifferent to these horrors, that even +those who suffer will laugh amidst their sufferings. We were told the +following tale, whether true or not I cannot say. A man was being +bambooed for an offence, and astonished the officials by laughing all +the time; the more he was flogged the harder he laughed, till at last +those who were punishing him stopped to ask him the reason of his +mirth. "You have got the wrong man," he said. It is always a comfort +to have a keen sense of humour. + +I do not think there is anything more awful than the descriptions one +has as to the indifference to suffering that is displayed by the +average Chinaman. I remember a story told me by a sailor. As a ship +{67} was being loaded, a man, obviously on the verge of death, came and +asked for work, but failed to get it. Shortly after he was seen +hanging about the ship, and at night they found him lying between some +bales. He was turned out, but he constantly crept back, first to one +place, then to another, till at last the sailor came to know his face +quite well. One day, as the sailor went ashore, he was attracted by a +little crowd looking at something, and this proved to be the poor +fellow in his death struggle, lying in a gutter of water. He called +the attention of a Chinese policeman to him. The Chinese policeman +explained that he would move him when he was dead, as he had orders to +remove all corpses, but that he could not move him while he was alive. + +Dr. Macklin of Nanking told us story after story of the way in which +the Chinese would leave people in a dying condition on the road. A +little time ago he had ridden into an old temple, and there he saw a +man apparently asleep, but on looking at him more closely, he saw that +his eyes were wide open and that the flies were walking right across +his eyeballs, showing that he was quite insensitive. He called to one +or two men and asked them to help him to carry this poor sufferer to +some house near, but they could not or would not find a house to keep +him in; and so in the end Dr. Macklin determined to take him straight +back to Nanking, which he did. There he administered a very heavy dose +of quinine hypodermically, with the result that the man soon showed +{68} signs of returning consciousness. It was a case of malignant +malaria, and had he not been found by Dr. Macklin, the man must have +been eaten by wild dogs or have died from the disease; as it was he +recovered, and proved to be a hard-working young farmer who was in +search of work, as his home had been ruined by a local failure of +crops. He had apparently contracted malaria, and owing to his poor and +ill-nourished condition it had gone hardly with him. + +[Illustration: CHINESE CIVILISATION: ITS BAD SIDE--AN OLD BEGGAR. ITS +GOOD SIDE--A GARDEN] + +But story after story was told us always to the same effect--that the +quality of mercy is not highly esteemed by the Chinese. The appeal the +beggar makes to you as he runs after you is the old Buddhist appeal, +which after all is essentially selfish, as he beseeches you "to acquire +merit" by helping him; we must remember that even this reason for mercy +is despised by the gentry and literati of China as essentially +belonging to Buddhism. Perhaps the most lurid stories that we heard +were up river. One came from the country of the Lolos. The Chinese +were going out to fight the Lolos, and the missionary saw them carrying +a handsome young man bound on a plank so that he could not move--so +bound that his head was thrown back. After certain ceremonies they cut +the man's throat, and scattered the blood on the flags; it was a sort +of human sacrifice. Another story we heard from some devoted +Franciscan Sisters up at Ichang. They assured us that if a mother +found her children {69} weakly, and she lost one or two, she would make +up her mind that the reason they were ill was because an evil spirit +had a grudge against her. She would then take one of her remaining +children, and, in the hope of propitiating the evil spirit, she would +burn that child alive. We could not believe this story was true; but +that evening we saw some hard-working Presbyterian ladies, common-sense +efficient Scotchwomen, and they assured us that it was quite true. + + + + +{70} + +CHAPTER VI + +CHINESE CIVILISATION--ITS GOOD SIDE + +It would give a very false idea of the Chinese if great stress were not +laid on the good side of their civilisation. They have many fine +qualities, and in more than one point they are superior to the nominal +Christianity of some Western countries. The first thing perhaps that +strikes a foreigner when he is brought into contact with the Chinese is +their great courtesy; their literati are such gentlefolk. Even the +less cultured people have most refined manners; no one is ever rude; +and one of the things they cannot understand is how we can esteem a +rough, frank, honest man. There is a case when they would not appoint +a certain Englishman to a commercial post, preferring a man of far less +attainments and of much shorter service, because the former was rude. +That was enough. It was no use telling them that his honesty was above +suspicion, that he was a reliable business man, that he was very hard +working, that he had many years of hard service behind him; they +allowed all this freely, but they shrugged their shoulders and said, +"The truth is, he is such a rude fellow, and he will give such very +great offence by his bad manners," so they would not have him. + +{71} + +When a visitor enters a Yamen, he realises that his manners must be +those of a most polished diplomat. Before him walks a servant, holding +aloft his visiting card. One really ought to have special Chinese +cards printed on beautiful sheets of red paper with queer-looking +characters on them setting forth one's rank and name. However, in +these days of admiration of the West, our poor little white cards are +considered adequate. The Viceroy or official meets the visitor, +enthusiastically shaking his own hands--the Chinese salutation--and +bowing low; the particular door at which he meets his guest marks the +amount of respect he wishes to pay him, and is therefore of some +importance. In my case, when my host was favourable to higher +education, I was received in the outer court. At every door there was +a polite contest as to who should go through it first, and at last we +found ourselves in a room where tea, dessert, champagne, and cigarettes +were offered, although of the two latter I was unworthy. Then began +the conversation. I found less stiffness once I had explained that I +came to gather opinions about a scheme for education. After the +stately interview was over there was an equally ceremonious +leave-taking. + +Though the methods of the Chinese in doing business may be exasperating +to a Western whose time is money and who wants them to come to some +immediate decision, they are invariably delightful and courteous in all +their negotiations. This courtesy is all the direct result of +Confucian teaching. Stress is {72} laid there on courteous behaviour, +perhaps even to a degree which may strike the Western traveller as +absurd. This courtesy, I understand, extends even to those of lower +degree. Your servant in speaking to another calls him brother, and +nothing makes the servant despise his master so much as seeing him lose +his temper: it is to his mind a mark of our savagery. + +The Chinese have higher virtues than courtesy. They are essentially +industrious. You have only to look at a Chinaman's garden to realise +the extent to which he possesses this quality. I am certain that those +people who are proud of the culture of their kitchen gardens would be +surprised and ashamed if they could compare them with those of a +Chinaman. One passes garden after garden with rows of plants placed at +even distances and every plant exactly the right distance in those +rows, with never a weed to be seen all over the whole plot. Again in +handicraft there is the same industry; you buy Chinese embroidery for a +song in such a place as Changsha. No one will tell you that Chinamen +ever object to length of hours; they are ideal men for work that needs +care and accuracy. + +Again they are very patient. A monotonous task is not at all +unpleasing to them. An acute French observer used the word +_routinière_ in describing this characteristic. Even in intellectual +work this liking for monotonous repetition will show itself. One of +the doctors told us that he had the very greatest {73} difficulty in +inducing his pupils not to perpetuate his most casual gestures when he +was demonstrating. For instance, when teaching bacteriology, quite +unconsciously he might from time to time put an instrument down on the +table, and just touch it again. Months after he would find one of his +pupils when doing the same experiment repeating every gesture he had +accidentally made with careful imitation. It was clear that the +student had monotonously continued to practice these gestures for no +other reason but that he had seen his master make them. All those +words which our writers on social subjects are so fond of inditing +against the modern factory system have no meaning to the Chinaman. +Those complaints about long hours at mechanical work rendering the +worker little better than a machine are doubtless true of the white +race, but are quite beside the point as applied to the Chinese. If the +Chinaman is well paid in the factory he will prefer rather than +otherwise that the work should be mechanical; he will not mind if the +hours are long. + +Again, he is cheerful and contented under very adverse circumstances. +When we were being rowed in a native boat up the Yangtsze, and the men +were straining every nerve against the current, while they were chilled +by a drizzling rain, there was never a word of discontent; they were +always cheerful and bright, good-tempered and merry. + +Their highest quality is obedience, which is the result of their +Confucian culture. The central virtue {74} of that teaching is +obedience to parents, and they hold that doctrine to a degree which to +the Western mind seems exaggerated. One of the grown-up sons of a +Chinese clergyman did something which he considered unbecoming in a +Christian; to the surprise of the missionary, he did not hesitate to +administer a sound thrashing to his son, which the young man took +without the slightest resistance, and in this action the clergyman was +supported by the public opinion of the congregation. This quality +gives to China its great power, and it is one of the points in which +there is the greatest divergence between the teaching of the West and +of the East. Every Chinaman points out to you how little Westerns care +for their parents. I remember a Chinese gentleman explaining in a +patronising way to the other Chinese that, strange though it seemed, he +knew it as a fact that one of the commandments of our religion really +was that we should honour our parents. + +Were it not for this principle of obedience which is implanted in the +mind of every Chinaman, the government of China would scarcely endure +for a day; but he is taught from his earliest youth to obey his father, +not as we teach in the West because the child is unable to think and +understand, so that obedience to parents is a virtue which must fall +into disuse as knowledge increases, but as an absolute duty, a duty +equally incumbent on a man of forty as on a child of four. This +principle is extended to that of civil government; the local {75} +official is in their quaint phrase "the father and mother of his +people," and the obedience to parents taught in childhood is therefore +extended to those who govern. No Chinaman has any doubt but that the +first duty of man is obedience to authority. Let us hope these +qualities will ever endure. + +What may happen, and, alas, I am afraid, is at the present moment +happening, is that the two civilisations may be so blended together +that the qualities of each may be lost and its peculiar virtues +destroyed while its characteristic vices are preserved. The great +qualities of obedience to parents, of courtesy to strangers, are being +forgotten. The Chinaman educated in the States is rude and abrupt; he +fancies that it is Western and business-like. Every Chinese gentleman +to whom I talked, allowed that one of the worst results of Western +teaching had been that a Westernised Chinaman was less obedient and +respectful to his parents. On the other hand, the Westernised Chinaman +does not acquire the peculiar virtues of the Englishman. + +The superficial Chinese thinker wants China to learn only the material +side of our civilisation, to profit by our mechanical excellence +without learning anything of our ethics. His view is that the West is +immoral but wealthy; he regards Europe as the place where there is no +principle excepting money-worship, and therefore he argues that if you +would Westernise China you must despise morality and seek for money. +Chang-Chih-Tung voiced this thought when he said, {76} "Western +education is practical, Chinese education is moral." If you try to +argue with a thoughtless Chinaman who has perhaps never left China, and +whose only experience of Western life is what he has seen in a treaty +port, you will find that it is hard to convince him that Western +education produces a high moral tone. After all we may, to a certain +extent, be to blame for their want of appreciation of the morality of +the West, for too often we show to the Chinese a very degraded side of +our civilisation; and though I do not think that Shanghai at the +present merits the term that was applied to it fifty years ago of being +a "moral sink," yet undoubtedly the treaty ports, both by their +constitution and by their geographical position, collect very +unpleasant specimens of white civilisation. There are a certain number +of men who spend a great part of their existence being deported from +Shanghai to Hong-Kong, and from Hong-Kong to Shanghai. + +One of the comedies in the tragedy of the extinction of the +independence of Korea is illustrative of this point. The Emperor of +Korea heard that the Western races were far more trustworthy than those +of the East, and so fearing assassination after the murder of the +Queen, he determined to enrol a corps of Europeans as a body-guard; he +sent over officers to Shanghai with orders to enlist Europeans. +Unfortunately for himself he did not take the precaution of sending +with them any Western to help in the selection of the men. To Korean +eyes all Westerns {77} look alike, and as they were offering good pay, +they soon had their corps complete; they returned to Seoul, and the +corps was installed with suitable uniforms, and, alas, rifles and +ammunition. The moment the corps was paid, the greater bulk of them +got drunk, and for the next few hours Seoul was distinctly an +undesirable place of residence, filled with drunken men of all +nationalities shouting and shrieking and firing loaded rifles +recklessly in every direction. The poor Emperor trembled as he looked +from his palace windows at his body-guard out on the drink, and he made +up his mind that it would be better to take a reasonable chance of +assassination by the Japanese than to risk the danger of being guarded +by this inebriate troop of Westerns. With the help of the Consul the +body-guard when sober were returned to Shanghai, and let us trust the +Chinese heard the story and were convinced that in accepting Western +civilisation they must be careful to avoid accepting the vices of the +West. + +At Changsha I heard a similar story, but with a tragic side, which one +felt exonerated the Chinese for being rather incredulous as to the +morality of our civilisation. Changsha, I should explain, is reputed +one of the most bigoted cities in China; even at the present moment +white women are advised not to walk through the streets. The Hunanese +have a bold independent character, which makes them rather hostile to +any foreigner or to foreign ways, and I am afraid that the story I am +going to repeat will have {78} confirmed them in their conviction that +foreigners are undesirable. Two white men belonging to one of the +South European races--Greeks, I think--settled themselves down in +defiance of treaty rights in Changsha, and at once opened a gambling +hell. Very soon they taught the Chinese, who are as a race very +addicted to gambling, new and most pernicious forms of that hateful +vice. The Governor complained to the Consul; the Consul sent his +officer down, accompanied by the police, to arrest the Greeks; the +Private Secretary to the Governor informed the Consul of the tragedy +that followed. The Consular officer warned the Greeks that they must +give up their gambling establishment and go back to Hankow. They said +they would not. He told them that if they refused he would arrest +them, take them to the boat, and send them down by force to Hankow. +They still refused, and he advanced, upon which one of the Greeks shot +the officer dead. The Chinese police after their manner vanished, +while the Governor's Private Secretary, according to his own account, +spent most of the time of the interview under the table. The Greeks, +seeing the coast clear, and realising that vengeance must come, took to +the open country. The Chinese were told to arrest them if they could. +Of course they had no difficulty in finding them, but to arrest them +was a different matter. They mobilised two or three regiments, and +surrounding the house in which the Greeks had taken refuge, they kept +on firing at long range till they judged, from there being no signs of +life, that they {79} must have killed them. They then carried off the +bodies, but thought it better to describe the incident in an official +document as a case of suicide from fear of arrest, lest they should be +held responsible for the death of these murderers. The next Greeks +that came up the river were sent down with a guard of forty men, and so +terrified were the Chinese that they had to put them first-class, as no +Chinese would have dared to have travelled with them. + +There were several other stories told at Changsha to the same effect. +The European that the Chinaman sees in that sort of place is too often +one of those worthless men who has found his own country impossible to +live in, and who hopes that his vices and crimes may escape unnoticed +in distant China. Can one wonder that the Chinese are liable to +misunderstand the West, and were it not for the saintly life of many +missionaries, the high character and strict justice of our +Consuls--yes, and the admirable discipline and management of such great +undertakings as that of Butterfield and Swire--the evil would be +incurable; but though there are many specimens of the bad, there are +also not a few men who by their lives have testified before the Chinese +to the greatness of our social and moral traditions and to the religion +by which they are inspired. + + + + +{80} + +CHAPTER VII + +RAILWAYS AND RIVERS + +The rivers and railways of China form a very marked contrast. The +rivers represent the old means of communication, the railways the new, +and the comparison between the river and the railway enables the +traveller to compare new with old China and to realise the great +changes that are taking place there and the transitional character of +the phase through which the country is now passing. + +Ancient China, as compared to ancient Europe, was a most progressive +country, a very essential point to remember when we have to consider +what will be the attitude of the Chinese with regard to modern +progress. Theoretically they have always been progressive; practically +they have passed through an age of progress and reached the other side. +That age of progress improved very much their means of communication. +China is naturally well endowed with rivers, and those rivers were +infinitely extended by a system of canals. Of these the Grand Canal is +the most perfect example. The traveller cannot sail along the Grand +Canal and look at the masonry walls of that great work, or the high +bridges that span it, without realising that in its time it was one +{81} of the greatest works the world had ever seen. That canal, +typical of modern China, is now in disrepair, but the spirit of the men +who built it is not gone; it is the same spirit that now welcomes +railways all over China. + +The greatest of China's natural waterways is the Yangtsze-Kiang; it +cuts right through the centre of China from the sea to Chungking and +further; it has many important tributaries, which lead through great +lakes and afford a very useful means of communication to vast districts +in Central China. + +Along that great river for six hundred miles, ships of the largest size +can sail in the summer; battleships, though not of the largest class, +can ascend to Hankow. Beyond Hankow the river is much shallower, and +communication with Ichang is often interrupted in the winter by want of +water. A thousand miles from the sea begin those wonderful gorges of +the Yangtsze which are among the greatest wonders of the world. + +Up to Ichang, the Yangtsze is still a big, rather dull yellow river, a +vastly overgrown Thames, a mass of sandbanks, running through almost +consistently uninteresting country; but after that thousand miles, it +develops into a sort of huge Rhine. The river is still yellow, but it +runs through green mountains and grey rocks. At times it swirls along +with an oily surface dented here and there by whirlpools which tell of +some sunken rock; at other times the grey rocks creep closer together +and the yellow {82} Yangtsze foams itself white in its effort to +squeeze through the narrow opening left. In quieter reaches of the +river a house-boat or luban can be rowed or sailed. The rowing is +rather jerky, the sailing delightful, and so the advance of the +traveller is pleasant and uneventful; but when the boat reaches the +rapids, the only way to get her through is by towing. + +There is a temptation always to delay putting men ashore to tow--a +temptation which ended in our house-boat being bumped upon a rock. + +Our captain (we call him "lowdah" in China) had cleverly devised, by +creeping along the side of the river under shelter of projecting rocks +and then by dodging round the points, everybody shrieking and yelling +as they strained at the oar, to avoid the necessity of towing; but a +more malign whirlpool than the rest twisted us round till the oars on +one side of the boat could not row because they were fouled on the +rocks, and then another twisted us sideways on to a submerged rock, and +there the current held us till the police-boat the Chinese Government +supplies to foreign travellers kindly took our rope ashore and we were +hauled off without apparently having suffered any damage. + +These police-boats, or "red boats," are a great feature in travelling +on the Yangtsze. They add enormously, to begin with, to the artistic +effect, as they are furnished with an art-blue sail, which would +rejoice the heart of an artist, but the nervous traveller {83} regards +them with feelings of a warmer nature than those their æsthetic effect +would arouse. They guarantee, if not the safety of boats and goods, at +least the safety of his person amidst the terrible rapids of the river. +If his boat should be wrecked and his goods become the property of the +fishes, he knows that the "red boat" will dart into the rapids, and +owing to its peculiar construction and the skill of the boatmen, will +be able to rescue and return him, a washed and grateful traveller, to +Ichang. + +The excitement of passing the rapids is intense. It is a pleasurable +sensation when you watch from the shore some one else passing through +them; it is more exciting but less pleasurable to be on the boat itself +at that moment. The excitement is largely a question of the size of +the boat, whence the wisdom of taking a small boat even if it is less +comfortable. To watch an eighty-ton junk being hauled through a narrow +passage of foaming water is intensely thrilling. It is a matter of +great difficulty owing to the rocky nature both of the channel and the +shore. + +The Yangtsze rises and falls some hundreds of feet in the year, and at +low water the banks are a mass of rough rocks which remind one more of +the sea than of a river. The men who tow are called trackers, and they +have to climb over these rocks tugging and straining at the rope while +a certain number of them, stripped to nudity, try to keep the rope +clear of the rocks which constantly entangle it both on shore and in +the water. It is splendid to {84} watch these men as they bound from +rock to rock to disengage the rope from some projecting point, or as, +leaping into the stream, they swim across to isolated rocks and +extricate it from all sorts of impossible situations. Meanwhile the +junk creeps up inch by inch, at times standing almost still while the +water surges past her and makes a wave at her bow which would not +misbecome a torpedo-destroyer in full steam. Woe betide the junk if +the rope should foul and break in spite of the efforts of these men, +for then she would be at the mercy of the current, and if it should so +happen that there was no wind, the mariners on board have no command +over her, and she must drift as chance will guide her till quieter +water is reached. Of course if there is a wind they can haul up their +sail, and then, though they will descend backwards down the stream, +they will do it with dignity and safety. We passed a junk doing this. +Her rope had apparently broken, her huge sails were set to a stiff +breeze; as you watched her by the water she seemed to be sailing at a +good rate forwards; as you watched her by the land she was travelling a +good steady pace down stream. If she cannot hoist her sail because the +wind is unfavourable, then she will rush back, inadequately guided by +three huge strange-looking oars. The one at the bow, worked by six +men, can twist her round like a teetotum, so that as she dashes down +stream, the captain can select which part of her shall bump against the +submerged rocks, which after all is but a poor {85} privilege, when you +remember that eighty tons of woodwork banged against massive granite +rock must be resolved into its constituent boards, whatever part of it +strikes the rock first. The two other oars are even less helpful. +With eight men at each, they can propel the boat at the rate of about +three miles an hour; but what use is that when the stream is bearing +the junk to destruction at twenty miles an hour. If the rope breaks, +it is rather a question of good luck than good guidance. If there is +no rock in the way, the junk happily sails down and is brought up in +the quieter waters below the rapids. If there is a rock in the way, +the junk arrives at the end of the rapid in a condition which would +please firewood collectors but no one else. Those of the crew who can +swim get ashore, and those who cannot are either picked up by the "red +boat," or if there is not one there, they disappear; their bodies are +recovered several days later lower down the river. From a Chinese +point of view this is all a small matter; what is important is that a +junk containing a valuable cargo has been lost. So frequent have been +these losses that five per cent. insurance is demanded for cargoes +going above Ichang. + +[Illustration: GORGES OF THE YANGTSZE: AN AWKWARD MOMENT. JUNK +NEGOTIATING RAPIDS. (Notice coils of bamboo rope)] + +Perhaps I ought to say one word about the rope on which the safety of +the junk depends. It is made of plaited bamboo, which is +extraordinarily light, and does not fray, though it is so stiff that it +behaves like a wire rope. Its great lightness {86} allows of the use +of ropes of enormous length. I do not think it is an exaggeration to +say that some of them are a quarter of a mile long. They are very +strong, and therefore can be of wonderfully narrow diameter, but +apparently they last but a short time, and every boat is furnished with +coil after coil of bamboo rope ready for all emergencies. A horrible +accident happens when owing to bad steering the trackers are pulled +back off the narrow ledges cut into the face of the precipices, which +at times border the river, so that they fall into the rapid. + +They are an attractive body of men, these trackers. They leap over the +most incredible chasms in the rocks, they climb like cats up the +precipices, they pull like devils, while one master encourages them by +beating a drum on board the junk, and another belabours them on shore +with a bit of bamboo rope, which makes an excellent substitute for a +birch rod, and yet withal they are cheerful. When it rains or snows +they are wet through; when the sun is hot--and remember the Yangtsze is +in the same latitude as North Africa--they expose their bent backs to +the scorching sun; yet apparently they never grumble, but they wile +away the hours of their labour with cheerful song. When they row or +pull easily, the song is a weird antiphonal chant--it seems to be +sometimes a solo and a chorus, sometimes two equally balanced choruses; +but when the work becomes hard, the song changes into a wild snarl and +they laugh a savage laugh as they strain and sweat to the {87} +uttermost. I will complete their description by saying that their +views of decency are those of Adam before the Fall, and that they +preserve their strength by a diet of rice and beans with a handful of +cabbages as a relish. At night they sleep on the deck of the junk on +their rough Chinese bedding with only a mat roofing to keep the rain +off them. And as I watched their cheerful demeanour, I felt more +convinced than ever that the natural virtues of the Chinese are of the +very highest order. + +Perhaps I ought to say one word about the beauty of the gorges. I +think in two points they excel. First, in the height of the massive +cliffs, through which the Yangtsze has cut its way like a knife; the +size of the river and the size of the cliffs are so much in proportion +that the eagle circling above the gorge looks like a swallow, and the +crowd of trackers appears as a disturbed ant colony. The other way in +which the gorges excel in beauty is in colouring; at one point +especially it was most remarkable--the rocks were red, the mountains +when we saw them were purple, and the purple and red harmonising with +the fresh green foliage of early summer and the deep yellow of the +river, made a rich combination of tints in the landscape which could +hardly be surpassed. It is typical of the state in which China is at +the present day that a scheme should be on foot for building a railway +which no doubt will render the gorges of the Yangtsze a silent highway, +and, instead of hearing the wild song of the tracker or the savage +beating of the tom-tom, {88} the lonely eagle will circle above a +silent river on which the fisherman's bark alone will sail in the +future. + +For all schemes to tame the wild and fierce Yangtsze are clearly +impossible. The river rises and falls more than a hundred feet with +great rapidity, and no human hand could ever throw a dam across this +mass of surging water. Possibly it might be used as a source of power +for electrical work, but it is far more probable that the smaller +rivers which fall into the Yangtsze will be chosen for that purpose. +This district may be a tourist resort, and dwellers in the plains of +China may seek coolness and beauty on one of the crags that overhang +the river; the modern hotel may perch itself beside the ancient +Buddhist temple; but the days of the river as a great commercial route +of China are numbered as soon as the railway linking far-western +Szechuan to the rest of China is completed. One wild scheme proposes +that the railway should come from Russia straight down from Szechuan, +in which case more than probably Szechuan will fall completely under +the influence of the Russian Government. + +One of the results of Westernising China must be to produce an +industrial revolution. All those men, for instance, who make a living +by leaping from crag to crag, from rock to rock, and swimming, +struggling, rowing in that river Yangtsze will find their living gone. +But not only will the railway make many poor who had a competence, but +it must make many rich {89} who before were poor. In this case, for +instance, all those commodities which are now extremely dear in +Szechuan, because of the cost of transit, will fall in price, and there +will be a period when there will be a wide margin of profit between the +cost of importation and the conventional price the people are used to +pay, and those who live by trade will grow rich. + +What has happened in the West must also happen in the East. The +introduction of steam did not make the official classes or even the +working classes immediately rich. The people who immediately profited +by improved means of production and communication were the great middle +class; afterwards as the working class realised that the margin of +profit would allow of larger wages, they compelled the masters to share +these advantages with them. So it will probably happen in China. With +the railway will come a rich middle class who will be a factor of +growing importance in future China. + +A great contrast between the Yangtsze and its wild gorges is the great +trunk line from Peking to Canton which runs at right angles through the +Yangtsze north and south, and must make Hankow, the place where it +crosses the Yangtsze, one of the greatest cities in the whole world. +The railway is only completed as far as Hankow. It runs from Peking +right across the plains of China, which are so desolate in the spring +and so fertile in the summer, and which depend for their fertility on +the July rains. At every station a great Chinese inn is erected--that +{90} is to say, a big courtyard with rooms round. At first, of course, +trade was small; the Chinese village community has but little that it +wants either to buy or sell; each community is to a great extent +self-supporting. A farmer reckoned, I was told by a Chinese official, +that if he had made 30s. a year, he had done well. That does not mean +that he lived on 30s. a year, though in a country where men are paid +threepence a day, one would almost have been ready to believe it; but +it means that he had fifteen dollars a year to spend on things outside +his daily food. His farm supplies him with food and drink and his +vicious luxury, opium; his women make his clothes; it only remains for +him to buy material for the clothes and the little extras that they +cannot make, besides salt. He pays for the few things that he has +bought, probably with the opium he produces, or in Manchuria with +beans; but the trade has been of microscopical dimensions owing to the +difficulties of transit. + +When the railway is made he finds at the railway inn the Chinese +merchant ready to buy and sell anything that he on his part is ready to +trade. At first, such things as sewing cotton and cigarettes are the +things that are traded against silk or opium, and then comes Chinese +medicine and mineral oil, and so trade begins, and soon the Chinese inn +becomes a market-place, and the railways begin carrying goods. + +Of course the full development of the railway system must depend on the +feeding lines and in what {91} we had in Europe before the railway +system, and what the Chinese have not got, the feeding roads. In +Manchuria--for China, like England, is more go-ahead in the north than +in the south--they are already moving in this direction. The Russian +railways, possessed now by the Japanese, are very busy carrying beans +to Dalny, and soon the Japanese lines from Mukden to Antung will be +equally busy, and the line from Mukden to Tientsin also will carry this +crop. What they are now considering at Mukden is how they can arrange +a feeding system of light railways, by which a bigger area of ground +can be brought within reach of the railway system. To give some idea +of the energy and progressive character of the officials in those +parts, I may mention that they are already making inquiries as to the +mono-rail system for such railways. + +The Chinese have made up their minds to welcome railways, and though +they would far prefer railways to be built with Chinese capital, they +are of necessity compelled to accept European capital, since their +fellow-countrymen want very high interest for their money. The Germans +have taken very full advantage of the Chinese desire for railways, and +have linked Kiauchau with the railway system of China. + +The effect of all this must be very far reaching. To begin with, it +will alter the influence of foreign powers. As the railway service is +completed, Kiauchau will become a very much more important centre than +it is now. If a railway that links Peking to Nanking, {92} or, to be +accurate, to a town on the Yangtsze opposite to Nanking, is cut by a +railway from Kiauchau, the result will be that Kiauchau will become the +nearest ice-free port for an enormous district of China. This cannot +fail to strengthen the German influence, and the German influence is +connected, as we have already explained, too much with that political +side of missions which has caused them to be distrusted by peace-loving +Chinese. The Chinese will ask themselves, will there not soon be a +missionary incident which will justify a further aggression by Germany +along the railway, which lies so handy for a military advance, and they +will be suspicious of any German missionary effort in that quarter. + +But the effect of the railways is much more far reaching than any +casual advantage that it may give to various powers, whether it be to +Germany in Shantung, or to Russia or Japan in Manchuria, or to France +in Yunnan, or to Russia in Szechuan. It will have two main effects. +First and foremost it must place the whole of China in the same +position that Shanghai and Tientsin occupy at the present moment--that +is, it must make the whole of China a mixture of Eastern and Western +civilisation. It may be urged that the rivers of China have already +been the means of bringing East and West into close contact with one +another, and yet that China remains still a separate and different +country to the treaty ports. + +{93} + +The answer is, firstly, that it is comparatively only a short time +since the river has been opened to foreign trade, and that a great +advance has been made in the treaty ports, so much so that a man in the +customs service living by the gorges of the Yangtsze described the +difference between the treaty ports and the rest of China by saying, "A +man who has only seen Shanghai and Hankow has never seen China." +Secondly, a railway has a great educational effect. When a railway is +first opened the Chinese crowd to see it; they get in the way of the +engine, they are run over, they accuse it of malign powers, and then +they come to the conclusion that it is after all only a machine, and +they take readily to travelling by rail. + +For instance, the railway from Tientsin up to Manchuria has already +completely altered the conditions of culture in the north. It has +enabled a large number of labourers to migrate every year to cultivate +the fertile but icy districts of Manchuria, so that it is quite a sight +to see truck-load after truck-load of farm labourers travelling like +cattle, going up from the south to the districts of the north at the +rate of three dollars for a twenty-two hours' journey. + +Not only does the railway carry the Tientsin labourer in a truck to the +Manchurian beanfield, but it also carries first-class the Chinese +merchant who will buy the crop of beans to the advantage of the farmer +and to his own greater advantage. The {94} Chinese are rich in +traders, and such an opportunity would never be allowed to pass. Every +year will produce a greater number of wealthy Chinese merchants, many +of them very ignorant both of Western and Eastern knowledge, but +probably some of them owning a respect for that knowledge whose lack +they have felt in proportion to their own ignorance, for there is no +man more inclined as a class to endow educational institutions than he +who in his youth has felt the need of them. + +China now needs help to found a University teaching Western knowledge. +Once it is formed, there is every reason to believe that it will be +endowed by the same class that has endowed similar institutions in our +own country. + + + + +{95} + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE CITIES Of CHINA + +Nowhere is the transitional period through which China is passing more +obvious than in the cities of China; many towns are still completely +Chinese, but as you approach the ports you find more and more Western +development. The contrast between towns is extremely marked. Shanghai +or Tientsin are Western towns and centres of civilisation; the +difference between them and such towns as Hangchow or Ichang is very +great. The true Chinese city is not without its beauty--in fact, in +many ways it is a beautiful and wonderful place. But to appreciate it +eyes only are wanted, and a nose is a misfortune. The streets are +extremely narrow passages, which are bordered on either side by most +attractive shops, particularly in the main street. The stranger longs +to stop and buy things as he goes along, but the difficulty is that it +takes so much time; he must either be prepared to pay twice the value +of the things he wants, or to spend hours in negotiation. There is one +curious exception to this rule; the silk guild at Shanghai does not +allow its members to bargain, and therefore in the silk shop the real +price is told at once. + +{96} + +The shopkeepers are charming, and there are numbers of +salesmen--salesmen who do not mind taking any amount of trouble to +please. It is delightful, if insidious, to go into those shops; and +one can well believe that if a Chinese silk shop were opened in London, +and silk sold at Chinese prices, the shop would have plenty of +customers. The quality of Chinese silk far exceeds that of the silks +of the West. A Chinese gentleman mentioned as an example of this +superiority that one of his gowns was made of French silk, and that it +was torn and spoilt after two or three years; but that he had had gowns +of Chinese silk for twenty years or more which were quite as good as on +the day he bought them, and that he had only put them on one side +because the fashions in men's garments change in China as they do +elsewhere for ladies. The same gentleman related many interesting +things about the silk trade. The quality of the silk is determined by +the silk guild. This is much more like the guilds in mediæval Europe +than anything that we have nowadays, and that is why China is not +exporting more silk than she is at present. These silk guilds to a +certain extent prevent the Chinese catering for European customers, as +they will not allow or at any rate encourage the production of silks +that would take on the European market. The West has many faults as +well as many virtues, and one of its faults is that it no longer cares +for articles of sterling value, which last long and for which a high +price must be paid, {97} but it delights in attractive articles of poor +quality at a low price. It is to be feared that the West may spoil +some of China's great products as she has spoilt the great arts and +productions of India. + +But to return to Chinese streets. Next the silk shop will be the +silver shop. Here again the work is admirable. At such a place as +Kiukiang you can spend an hour or more bargaining, and watching the +wonderful skill of the silversmiths as they turn out beautiful silver +ornaments. It is pleasant to wander along and to look into the shops +and see the strange things that are for sale--fish of many kinds in one +shop, rice and grain in another, strange vegetables, little bits of +pork, flattened ducks; or to glance at the clothes and the coats hung +out, many of them of brilliant colours. The signs over the shops and +the names of the merchants are a feature in themselves, illuminated as +they are in vivid hues of red and gold, in those wonderful characters +so full of mystery to the foreigner. + +In a native city up-country the traveller is practically forced to go +through the city in a chair. There are no wheel conveyances except +wheelbarrows, and, except where there are Manchus, horses are quite +unknown. Walking is profoundly unpleasant for a European, for as he +walks along he is constantly jostled by porters carrying loads of goods +on a bamboo across their shoulders; or cries are heard, and a Chinese +Mandarin is carried past shoulder high, leaning forward looking out of +his {98} chair perhaps with a smile, of contempt for the foreigner who +can so demean himself as to go on foot like a common coolie; or perhaps +it is a lady with her chair closely covered in and only a glimpse to be +seen of a rouged and powdered face, for the Chinese women paint to +excess, as part of their ordinary toilette. Next comes the +water-carrier hurrying past with his two buckets of water; or perhaps +it is some malodorous burden which makes a Western long to be deprived +of the sense of smell. But in a chair a ride through a Chinese town is +delightful; the chair-coolies push past foot-passengers who accept +their buffets with the greatest equanimity, and from a comparatively +elevated position the traveller can look down on the crowd. + +But when the Chinese city is near a port, all this begins to change. +The chair is replaced by the ricksha, and though in many ways it is +less comfortable than a chair, the ricksha is after all the beginning +of the rule of the West, being a labour-saving machine. One coolie or +two at the most can drag a man quickly and easily where with a chair +three or four bearers would be needed. Outside the old town will be +built the new native town, and the new native town is built on European +lines, with comparatively wide streets. In a treaty port the completed +specimen of the transitional stage through which all China is passing +is to be seen. Shanghai is a most delightful town, although it seems +commonplace to those who live there, but {99} to a stranger it is a +place full of contradictions and eccentricities. The first thing that +strikes one in Shanghai is that none of the natives know any of the +names of the streets. It is true they are written up in large letters +both in English and in Chinese; but as not one of the coolies can read, +they have not the very slightest idea that that is the name of the +street--they call it quite a different name; and as they speak a +different language both to that of the educated Chinaman and to the +Englishman, there is no reason why they should ever learn the names +given by them. The habitual way of directing a ricksha coolie is by a +sort of pantomime, and there is always a great element of uncertainty +as to whether he will get to his destination even with the oldest +resident unless he knows the way himself. I arrived at Tientsin and +tried to go and see Dr. Lavington Hart, whose college is known all over +China, I may say all over the world, but the Chinese porter was quite +unable to make the coolie understand where it was, and so we wandered +about for some time till the coolie got tired and put me down opposite +what fortunately turned out to be the house of a Japanese gentleman. I +entered the house, and was surprised that the Chinese servant who met +me did not altogether seem to expect me; but as he could not speak +English and I could not speak Chinese, it was impossible to inquire if +anything was wrong. I was just wondering why Dr. Hart should live in a +Japanese house, {100} when the door opened and a Japanese gentleman +walked in. Fortunately for me he spoke both Chinese and English well; +so after explanations I was again sent on my road, and found Dr. +Lavington Hart waiting dinner for me, and wondering how I had got lost. +He then told me that I should have asked not for his college but for +the hospital opposite, and that I should have asked not for the street +but for the Chinese name of the doctor of the hospital who had been +dead ten or fifteen years. + +There is a moral in all this: it shows the state of confusion that +exists in small as well as in large things. I asked several Englishmen +why they did not accept the native names of the streets; their answer +was that the coolies could not read them; and when I suggested that +common sense would expect that the coolies' names should be taken for +the streets, for after all that is how most of the streets in England +were originally named, the suggestion met with no approval. These +small matters show what a great gulf there is between the thoughts of +the two races. If the coolies had been Italians or Germans or +Russians, their names would have been accepted, or they would have been +compelled to learn the new names. + +Another example of the difficulty of carrying on the details of city +life is afforded by a common spectacle at Shanghai. In the crowded +streets you see a little crowd of policemen. The group consists of +three splendid men, typical of three different {101} civilisations. +First there is the English policeman; next to him is a black-bearded +man, bigger than the first, a Sikh, every gesture and action revealing +the martial characteristics of his race; then a Chinaman completes the +group, blue-coated and wearing a queue and a round Chinese hat as a +sign of office. The traveller wonders why this trio is needed till he +sees them in action. A motor car rushes down one road, a ricksha comes +down another, and a Chinese wheelbarrow with six women sitting on it +slowly progresses down a third. All three conveyances are controlled +by Chinamen, and when they meet, all shout and shriek at the top of +their voices; no one keeps the rule of the road, with the probable +result that the wheelbarrow is upset, the ricksha is forced against the +wall, and the motor car pulled up dead. Then the police force comes +into action. The Chinese policeman objurgates vociferously and makes +signals indifferently to everybody; the Sikh policeman at once begins +to thrash the Chinese coolie; meanwhile the English policeman at last +gets the traffic on the right side of the road, quiets his +subordinates, sees justice done, and restores order. Possibly if the +matter had been left to the Chinese policeman, he would have arranged +it in the end; the traffic in Peking was controlled entirely by Chinese +policemen and was fairly well managed. + +There is an extraordinary example of the want of consideration for the +feelings of the Chinese to {102} be seen in the public gardens at +Shanghai. There stands a notice which contains, among several +regulations, first, that "no dogs or bicycles shall be admitted"; +secondly, that "no Chinese shall be admitted except servants in +attendance on foreigners." Considering that the land is Chinese soil, +one cannot but wonder that any one who had dealings with the Chinese +should allow so ill-mannered a notice to be put up. No Chinese +gentleman would object for a moment if the notice had been to the +effect that unclean persons and beggars should be excluded from the +gardens; but to exclude the cultured Chinese merchant who is every whit +as clean as his Western neighbour, or to exclude the respectable people +of the middle class whose orderly behaviour is beyond suspicion, is as +unreasonable as it is regrettable. + +Again, the Shanghai municipality has no Chinese representatives upon +it, though the great bulk of the population is Chinese, with the result +that from time to time they come across Chinese prejudices and quite +unnecessarily irritate the population which they govern. The Chinese +have a principle that a woman shall be publicly punished only for +adultery and open shameless theft; her "face" or dignity must be +preserved; and therefore she should never be made to answer for her +offences in open court, her husband or her father being held +responsible for her behaviour and for her punishment. The right way of +dealing with any woman who is charged with an offence is to do as we do +in England with regard to children, to summon {103} not her but those +responsible for her behaviour. I was assured by a Chinese official +that the trouble which culminated in the Shanghai riots originated from +disregard of this principle. The refusal of the Shanghai municipality +to have Chinese representatives upon it is the more remarkable, as I +was informed at Hong-Kong that they have such representatives, and find +them most useful in assisting in the government of the Chinese. It is +not surprising that Shanghai is a town to which it is diplomatic to +make no reference in conversation with a Chinese gentleman. + +There is more to be said for the mistrust of the Chinese Post-office +and for the continuation of the curious system by which each nation has +its own post-office. Nothing is more annoying to the traveller in +Shanghai than the trouble he has to get his letters. If it should so +happen that he has correspondents in many countries, he has to go to +every one of the many post-offices in Shanghai, and they are situated +in different parts of the town and in places very difficult to find. +There is the Imperial Chinese Post-office, to which he first repairs, +and where he will find letters from any correspondent in China; then +with the greatest difficulty he reaches the English Post-office; after +which he remembers that some of his friends may be on a holiday in +France, therefore he must go to the French Post-office, and so on. +When he asks why the Chinese Post-office cannot be trusted, he is told +that the Chinese themselves will not trust their {104} post-office +unless there be a European official in control, and that the old +Chinese system by which letters are forwarded by private companies +still continues in many parts of China, although they possess branches +of the Imperial Chinese Post-office. Still the traveller wearily +thinks at the end of his day's journey that without undue trust in +another nationality, or any loss of national prestige, an International +Post-office might be arranged in a town like Shanghai, with its vast +travelling population. + +Shanghai with its mixture of races, with its national antipathies and +jealousies, is indeed one of the most attractive but strangest towns in +the whole world. Every race meets there; and as one wanders down the +Nanking road, one never tires of watching the nationalities which +throng that thoroughfare. There walks a tall bearded Russian, a fat +German, jostling perhaps a tiny Japanese officer, whose whole air shows +that he regards himself as a member of the conquering race that has +checkmated the vast power of Europe; there are sleek Chinese in Western +carriages, and there are thin Americans in Eastern rickshas; the motor +cycle rushes past, nearly colliding with a closely-curtained chair +bearing a Chinese lady of rank, or a splendid Indian in a yellow silk +coat is struck in the face by the hat of a Frenchman, who finds the +pavements of Shanghai too narrow for his sweeping salute; one hears +guttural German alternating with Cockney slang; Parisian toilettes are +seen next half-naked coolies; a couple of sailors on {105} a tandem +cycle almost upset two Japanese beauties as they shuffle along with +their toes turned in; a grey gowned Buddhist priest elbows a bearded +Roman missionary; a Russian shop where patriotism rather than love of +gain induces the owners to conceal the nature of their wares by +employing the Russian alphabet overhead, stands opposite a Japanese +shop which, in not too perfect English, assures the wide world that +their heads can be cut cheaply; an English lady looks askance at the +tightness of her Chinese sister's nether garments, while the Chinese +sister wonders how the white race can tolerate the indecency that +allows a woman to show her shape and wear transparent sleeves. + +Yes, Shanghai on a spring afternoon is a most interesting place; and +yet as you turn your eyes to the river and catch sight of the dark grey +warship, you realise that beneath all this peace and busy commerce lies +the fear of the grim realities of war. China may assimilate the +adjuncts of Western life, but she will never welcome the Western. The +racial gulf that divides them is far too deep. It may be temporarily +bridged by the heroism of a missionary; the enthusiasm of Christianity +may make those who embrace it brothers; but the feeling of love will +not extend one inch beyond the influence of religion; and those who +ponder on the future as they watch the many-hued crowd that passes must +grow more and more sure that the future of China lies with the Chinese +alone; and however much as a race they may {106} be willing to learn +from the West, they will as a race be led only by their own people. +The Westerner may be employed; Western teaching may be learnt; Western +garments may be worn; but, as a Chinese professor said, "The wearer +will be a Chinaman all the same." + + + + +{107} + +CHAPTER IX + +OPIUM + +There was one marked difference in the cities of China as we saw them +in our two visits, and this was the change that had taken place in the +matter of opium-smoking. Opium-smoking in 1907 was such a common vice +that you could see men smoking it at the doors of their houses. In +1909 opium-smoking hid itself, and those that smoked, smoked secretly, +or at any rate less ostentatiously. I doubt whether so great an +alteration has taken place in any country, certainly not of late years. + +Each race has its peculiar vice; in fact, we may go further than that, +we may say that it is a remarkable fact that the great bulk of mankind +insists on taking some form of poison; in fact, it is only a minute +minority which wholly abstains from this practice. The poisons used by +mankind have different effects and have a different degree of toxic +power, but the reason they are used is because in some way they +stimulate or soothe the nervous system. Opium, alcohol, tobacco, tea, +coffee, hashish, are examples of this widespread habit of humanity; but +these different drugs have the most different effects on the welfare of +man. Some seem to be wholly {108} innocuous if not beneficial, and +others seem to be absolutely pernicious and to do nothing but evil; and +further than that, one may say that a different preparation of the same +drug or a different way of taking it produces differing results. A +still more curious thing is that though all mankind is agreed in taking +some poison, there is a marked, racial tendency to accept one +particular poison and to detest others, and at times it seems as if the +habit of taking one was sufficient to prevent another having any +attraction. + +As we went to China we passed through the Suez Canal, and heard what a +curse hashish was in Egypt, and how the Egyptian Government had +endeavoured to secure total prohibition of the use of this obnoxious +drug, a course which was impossible owing to the great amount of +smuggling that was facilitated by the wide deserts that surround Egypt. + +When we arrived at Saigon (we were travelling by the French mail) we +first came in contact with the terrible vice of the Chinese. A French +lady was pointed out to us by a doctor, and he asked us to observe the +odd glassy look of her eyes, the intense suavity of her manner and the +contempt which she evinced for truth, and he told us that these were +all symptoms of the vice of opium-smoking that she had contracted from +association with the Annamites. The French for some mysterious reason +seem more prone to acquire this vice than do our own countrymen, for +though in 1907 it was rife in South China, {109} no one ever suggested +that any English smoked opium at Hong-Kong. + +As we went up to Canton crowds of people were smoking opium on the +Chinese deck, and when we wandered round they had no objection to our +standing watching the lazy process of dipping the needle into the +treacle-like mixture, turning it round till a bead was formed, then +putting it into the lamp to light and thence transferring it to the +opium pipe, when after three whiffs or so the process had to be begun +again. + +The first effect of opium-smoking is to make a man intelligent and +amiable. It is for this reason that opium-smoking--so the Chinese +explained to us--is used largely in business. When business is +difficult, and you cannot get three or four men to agree, the opium +pipe is brought out, and after two or three whiffs the cantankerous +people are reasonable, and the people whose dignity is hurt are +forgiving, and business is easily and rapidly transacted. The next +stage of smoking is stupidity. As you watch an opium-smoker in that +condition he nods amiably at you with a rather imbecile look. The last +stage is one of heavy senseless sleep. The habitual opium-smoker +rarely passes the first stage, and its apparently beneficial influence +constitutes its danger. Each man says to himself: "I will never take +it to excess; I will merely use it and not abuse it; it makes life +sweet to me and business easy." + +I have always thought that those who condemn {110} opium have a +tendency to prove too much in their argument. If it could be shown +that the effects of opium-taking were invariably pernicious, it would +be very hard to see how the vice could take such a hold as it has taken +on the Chinese race; if the young men regularly saw that the older men +were brought to inanity and death by the use of opium, they would +themselves be terrified of contracting the vice, and it would not have +spread as rapidly as it has done. The vice is essentially modern. +Opium has only been grown in China for about seventy or eighty years, +and it has only been imported in large quantities for a scarcely longer +period of time. An inhabitant of Shansi told us that though every one +smoked opium, and it was a terrible curse, his father remembered its +introduction. Opium is certainly deleterious to the moral fibre of a +race, and in many cases it produces death and misery; but there are a +certain number of cases where no obvious evil effects follow from its +consumption--cases when as a rule a man is well-nourished, for it acts +most deleteriously on a man's powers of digestion. Men who have good +food can better tolerate the effects of the drug, so a mission doctor +explained, and their comparative immunity tempts others to follow their +example. Men do not see at once the evil that will result, and so its +use has spread by leaps and bounds. The Chinese Government have always +theoretically resisted it, but their action has been hampered by their +not being permitted to {111} prohibit its importation. For many years +the pro-opium party in China used those treaty obligations by which +China was bound to permit the importation of opium as a reason for +stopping any efforts to extirpate the vice in the country. Not only +were there always a great number of people in high places addicted to +the vice, who were naturally unwilling to remove from themselves the +opportunity of its gratification, but also there was a vast number of +people who rapidly acquired a great pecuniary interest both in the +maintenance and extension of this trade. + +Unfortunately for humanity, opium was not only very injurious but +extremely portable, and it therefore formed in a country where means of +communication are bad a very useful article of exchange. The peasant +farmer will grow most things on his little farm which he and his family +consume--in most respects they will be a self-supporting community--but +there must be a certain number of things which they will need to buy, +and for which they must give something in exchange; that something must +be portable. In many cases the only way of bringing your goods to the +market is by carrying them on your own back. Opium, alas, forms, in +soils which it suits, a most remunerative crop. The whole product of +several fields can be carried quite easily on a man's back and can be +sent down to the market, where it will find a ready sale, and the +result of that sale will be invested in articles of which the farmer +and his family have need. + +{112} + +Not only the farmer, but the trader, both Chinese and European, find it +a most profitable source of trade. It was hard, and it is hard, to +persuade the European trader that it is injurious to China, and to +understand the reason we must turn back to the thought which was +suggested at the beginning of the chapter, namely, that it is very +doubtful whether the English race has any natural desire for the vice, +while it is most patent that the Chinese have a peculiar national +tendency towards this form of dissipation. When people have no desire +for an intoxicant themselves, it is hard to persuade them that others +may have a desire which may be beyond all power of restraint. The +trading class mixes but little socially with the Chinese, and the +people with whom they are brought in contact are very generally +pecuniarily interested in the opium trade, and therefore they have +neither the evidence of the Chinese nor of their own temptation to +convince them of the insidious and dangerous character of this vice to +the Chinese race. + +The English race has long been conversant with opium. In the form of +laudanum it used to be sold freely in the eastern counties. I have +heard people describe years ago how the old women from the fen round +Lowestoffe, or the marshes as they are there called, would call on +market day at the chemist for their regular supply of laudanum, which +they would take in quantities sufficient to make any ordinary person go +fast asleep. It was used there, as it is used in many {113} countries, +as a prophylactic against ague. The doctors now deny that it has any +beneficial effect, but the people in the eastern counties used to think +differently. But when I was a curate at Yarmouth I could find no +traces of this vice; it had apparently been exterminated not by any +social reform or moral movement, but by the superior attraction of +alcohol; and in my day Yarmouth and the district round was terribly +addicted to the national vice of intemperance. I noticed the same +thing in Shanghai. The English know opium; most of them have out of +curiosity tried a pipe; and they describe the effects as trifling or +very unpleasant. One man said that he felt as if all his bones were a +jelly; another that he felt as if he was floating between heaven and +earth; a third that he found no pleasure in it at all, but that he had +a "filthy headache" next day. On the other hand, if you go into the +Shanghai Club you can see at once what is the attractive vice to the +European at Shanghai; the whole of one side of the entrance hall was +nothing more than the bar of an overgrown public-house. You will hear +story after story which tells the same old tale that alcohol, +especially in its strongest form, is the greatest pleasure and the +worst danger to the Englishman abroad as at home. + +If opium is unattractive to the white man, on the other hand alcohol is +equally unattractive to the yellow man; in fact, their relative +position is much the same. The yellow man has known of alcohol from +the very earliest ages. Dr. Ross quotes the {114} second ode of the +Book of Poetry as showing how well known drunkenness was to the +Chinese: "Before they drank too much, they were dignified and grave; +but with too much drink their dignity changed to indecency, their +gravity to rudeness; the fact is, that when they have become drunk they +lose all sense of order. When the guests have drunk too much, they +shout, they brawl, they upset the orderly arrangement of the dishes, +they dance about unsteadily, their caps are set awry and threaten to +fall off, they dance about and do not know when to stop. Had they gone +out before drinking so deeply, both host and guest would have been +happier. Drinking gives real happiness only when it is taken in +moderation according to propriety." + +Drunkenness seems to have been extirpated from China by the same +process that laudanum-taking was from the eastern counties, namely, it +has given way before the more entrancing vice of opium-smoking. I was +assured that the Tibetans do not share with the Chinese this preference +for opium, and this is all the more remarkable because from their +geographical position they have always been in close contact with +India, which is apparently the home of the opium vice, but they have +adhered steadily to the vice of drunkenness. The Chinese have free +trade in drink; they have no licensing laws; any one may sell alcohol +at any time of the day, in any place they like; and yet alcohol has so +few votaries that you will scarcely see a drunken man from one end of +China to another. + +{115} + +If the English commercial world is incredulous to the danger of opium +to the Chinaman, not so the Chinese world. People will tell you that +Orientals love to agree with you in whatever you say, but I heard a +British Vice-consul flatly contradicted by a Chinese official when the +Vice-consul expressed a doubt as to the danger of the vice, and I must +say the Chinese disputant supported his contradiction with an argument +which seemed to me perfectly unanswerable. He said: "Look at the +Japanese; they are impartial spectators of the vice of alcoholism and +opium-smoking; they are conversant with the worst forms of alcoholism +that white men can show them. It is well known that white sailors are +great offenders in this respect. Every port in Japan knows what it is +to see a drunken sailor finding his way to his ship. They are equally +conversant with the vice of opium-smoking. They have intimate contact +with the Chinese; they know both the recent origin of this vice and its +terrible ravages; and what do they do? Do they forbid both vices +equally? No; they are so convinced that opium is so much more +dangerous than alcohol, that they will not allow it to be introduced +into their country for smoking purposes, and the smuggler is liable to +five years' penal servitude. But the vice of alcoholism they treat as +something which, though harmful, can never threaten their national +existence." + +Perhaps we who have suffered much more from the vice of alcoholism than +of opium-smoking may be {116} inclined to think that while the Japanese +are right in the opium question, they are acting imprudently in +allowing alcoholism to gain such a hold on their people; but whether +they are right or wrong, there can be no doubt that the Chinese +official had justice on his side when he pointed out that to the +Japanese mind the evils that opium-smoking had done to China were of a +most serious character. + +His Excellency Tang-K'ai-Sun spoke the Chinese mind when, in an +eloquent speech at the Shanghai Conference, he told of the awful +desolation that opium was bringing to his land. But it is unnecessary +to quote the opinion of individual Chinamen; they are practically +unanimous on this subject. One has only got to point to what China has +done to show two things. First, that the curse of opium-smoking was +far greater and more horrible than anything that we have experienced on +this side of the globe; next, that there is latent in the Chinese +character a vigour and an energy which, when it is called into action, +despises all obstacles and acts so efficiently as to leave the world +lost in astonishment. Realise what China has done. China is addicted +to a vice which has a far greater hold upon her than alcoholism has +upon us; she determines that within ten years that vice is to cease. +The production of the poppy is to be diminished till none is produced; +opium-smokers are to be held up to public scorn; opium dens--which are +really the equivalent of our public-houses--are to be closed; all +officials who take {117} opium are to be turned out of Government +employ; the only exception that is made is for old men, and that +exception was quite unavoidable. So vigorous was the action of the +Government that men who have for forty or fifty years of their lives +taken opium, tried to give it up; the result was in several cases that +they were unable to support the physical strain; a great illness, even +death, ensued; and so the edict was relaxed; men over sixty were +allowed to continue smoking. When all this was published, every one +smiled. They argued that China was trying to do the impossible. A +vice like opium-smoking may be extirpated, but only after years of +struggle. A generation must come and a generation must go before opium +or any similar vice shows appreciable diminution. + +We ourselves have not been unsuccessful in struggling against the vice +of alcoholism; but consider the number of years since Father Mathew +first spoke against drink. England may be growing sober, but it is by +slow if steady degrees. But China hopes to accomplish in ten years +what has taken England so many patient years of toil to effect +partially. The idea that China could do this was regarded by most +Westerns as almost laughable. In 1907, when the edict was first put +forth, all those we met in China held this view; even missionaries, +while they gave every credit to the Government for what it intended, +shook their heads and foretold disappointment. We noticed as we passed +along that {118} wonderful line that links Hankow to Peking and Peking +to Harbin in 1907 that the country was beautiful with the white and +pink crops of poppy, till at times one might imagine that the +transformation scene of a London theatre was before us rather than the +land of China, and remembering what we had been told, we also +confidently expected failure to the edict which requires the +destruction of so many miles of this pernicious if beautiful crop. + +In 1909, when we again traversed the same country, we could not see a +single poppy flower; not only so, but we made every effort to see if we +could find a field. We went for a twenty mile walk at Ichang through +the country, where no one could have expected a foreigner to come, and +we only found one tiny patch of poppy, and one in which the ruthless +hand of the law had rooted up the growing crop. As we went up the +Gorges of the Yangtsze we scanned with a strong glass the hillside, and +never once on those glorious mountains did we see any sign of opium +cultivation. We asked about the officials; not only was the Government +enforcing the law that officials must give up opium-smoking, but they +were taking a more effectual action; they were requiring all those who +were going to be officials to spend some time under supervision, to +ensure that they should not be opium-smokers. Could any Western power +hope to accomplish such a feat? Would the most extreme temperance +reformer suggest that all public-houses should be closed, that the +amount of barley {119} should be diminished every year till within ten +years none should be grown, and that all the Government officials, from +the Prime Minister downwards, should become total abstainers within +that period? The reason of this vigorous action of China and its +present success is to be attributed to two things: first, to the +terrible and very real national fear that this vice will destroy the +nation, as it has destroyed countless families and individuals; +secondly, to the vast store of energy which enables China to accept new +ideas and act vigorously on them. + +The great revolution of thought that is going on has called forth this +vigour. The China of yesterday was _fainéant_ and unprogressive. The +China that is emerging out of this revolution of thought is energetic, +though possibly unpractical. The old traditions of Government are not +lost, and they wait but for the man and the hour to enable China to act +as vigorously as she has done in time past. Her action in this opium +question may be ill-considered in some details; it may even fail; but +it has shown the world that China is in earnest, and that she can act +with a vigour which will cause wonder and envy on this side of the +world. Every missionary reports that even high officials are coming +asking to be cured of the opium habit. The missionaries have founded +refuges where they receive and cure those who are ready to submit to +the terrible ordeal, for their suffering is intense. Many quack cures +are advertised. Some are definitely pernicious; for instance, the +{120} morphia syringe has become a common article for sale in some +parts of China. Some few may be beneficial. There is no doubt that +the movement against opium is a great national movement, and is not the +result of the action of any small or fanatical party. What China has +done proves that this is so. + +Let me close the chapter by a quotation from the ablest of the foreign +representatives at Peking, Sir John Jordan. Writing to Sir Edward +Grey, he says: "It is true that the Chinese Government have in recent +years effected some far-reaching changes, of which the abolition of the +old examination system is perhaps the most striking instance; but to +sweep away in a decade habits which have been the growth of at least a +century, and which have gained a firm hold upon 8,000,000 of the adult +population of the empire, is a task which has, I imagine, been rarely +attempted with success in the course of history; and the attempt, it +must be remembered, is to be made at a time when the Central Government +has largely lost the power to impose its will upon the provinces. The +authors of the movement are, however, confident of success, and China +will deserve and doubtless receive much sympathy in any serious effort +she may make to stamp out the evil." + + + + +{121} + +CHAPTER X + +THE WOMEN'S QUESTION + +The desire for radical change is never so much to be dreaded as when it +attacks the home life of a nation. That quiet life so often hidden +away because of its very sacredness by the Eastern races is like +everything else in China disturbed by the introduction of Western +civilisation, and in no other part of human life will its two different +sides be more apparent. Western civilisation without Christianity will +destroy the home life as it destroys most Eastern things it touches, +and will do little to construct a new life to take the place of the one +it destroys. The Japanese complain that Western civilisation has +destroyed both the modesty and the religion of their women, and +Christianity has not yet been able to any great extent to reconstruct +on the basis of true religion new ideals of feminine life. Therefore +the Chinese, with all their enthusiasm for Western culture, are looking +a little nervously at what they see has happened in Japan. They say +that their home life is not now unbeautiful; even those who are +disposed to admit that the life of the Western woman is founded on +higher ideals than their own will not allow that their national home +life deserves unmixed {122} condemnation. Everybody agrees that the +wanton destruction of the laws which govern women's life in China may +have a terrible result when Western civilisation is unwisely +introduced, especially if it is made to appear to be a civilisation +without religion. The missionaries see in this crisis the necessity +for vigorous action; while thankful for the movement, they realise the +responsibility it puts upon Christians to see that that movement is +wisely directed. In the memorial from the Centenary Conference at +Shanghai in 1907 to the Home Churches, they say:-- + +"The changed attitude of China towards female education and the place +of woman, lays upon us great responsibilities. The uplifting of woman +is a first need in the moral regeneration of a people, and one of the +things in which Christianity has a totally different ideal from that +which the religions of China have encouraged. The present change of +national sentiment on the subject is one of the indirect but none the +less striking changes that the slow but steady dissemination of +Christian ideas in China during the past century has led to. Let it be +remembered, however, that it requires the Christian motive power to +make it successful and fruitful." + +It is somewhat difficult to obtain information from the Chinese +themselves as to the position of women. They are very averse to +discussing the subject; in fact, it is not even regarded as good +manners for a man to ask after the health of his most intimate friend's +wife; and all the information that we could {123} get had for the most +part to be obtained by Lady Florence Cecil through feminine sources. +We may generally state, however, that the position of women in China is +neither so low as that which they occupy in India or among the +Mohammedans, neither is it in any degree so high as the position of +women in Western lands. The woman is completely subject to the man; +till she marries she is subject to her father, when she is married she +is subject to her husband, and if her husband dies she is then subject +to her son, and rarely re-marries. These are called the three +obediences. She is not educated as a rule, because both public opinion +and Chinese philosophy regard her as mentally far inferior to the man. +We shall explain later on how in Chinese thought everything is divided +into a good and an evil principle--a Yang and a Yin. The woman is +distinctly Yin. She is therefore necessary to man, but at the same +time inferior. + +Again, with regard to the question of polygamy, her position is an +intermediate one between the avowed polygamy of Moslem countries and +the ill-maintained monogamy of many a Latin country. In Hong-Kong the +position was explained by a Chinaman to me thus: that when a woman grew +old it was regarded as her duty to provide a secondary wife for her +husband's pleasure and as a companion for herself--a companion with a +sense of servitude in it. If this was done in an orderly manner, it +was absolutely approved by Chinese public opinion. If, {124} on the +other hand, the husband, ignoring the wife's rights, should choose a +secondary wife for himself and set her up in another house, his +attitude would be regarded as distinctly doubtful by the respectable +Chinese. In the same way if an official were appointed to a distant +post he would probably not think of imposing upon his wife with her +deformed feet the pain and discomfort of a long journey; he would most +likely take a natural-footed woman, who will be for that reason a +slave; in fact, one gentleman went so far as to say that he thought +that the squeezed feet had a great deal to do with this institution of +a secondary wife, because he noted that the secondary wives of all the +officials when they were travelling were natural-footed women. + +The secondary wife would be rarely a woman of good class; it is allowed +to be an inferior position. On the other hand, if she bears her +husband a son, and that son is recognised, all that son's relations, +and therefore all his mother's relations, become relations of the +father. + +The curious tangle which such a position begets when brought into +contact with the Christian idea is exemplified in this story. A rich +Chinaman had three wives. By his lawful wife he had nine children; by +the other two he had none; but his second wife was a woman of very +strong character, and she was brought in touch with the missionaries by +the Chinese wife of a European. She apparently ruled the house with a +kindly rule to which all the others {125} bowed. She did everything in +an energetic and vigorous way, and she studied Christianity till she +was convinced of its truth, and then she demanded baptism. There was a +great difficulty; she must leave her husband before she could be +baptized. After considerable delay she accepted the condition, but +resistance came, not alone from the man, but from the other two wives. +They could not possibly get on without her; they were like sisters; and +she must be allowed to return to the house. She refused, though the +pressure was extreme. The man said that he had promised his ancestors +that none of his children should be Christians, and that his own mother +would not forgive him; but the woman held firm, and at last she was +baptized. Her face was beautiful to behold while she was accepting +Christianity and renouncing all that made life sweet to her. The +husband was so moved by her fortitude that he signed a paper promising +not to molest her, and yet to support her apart, so that she should not +be in any need. + +At the Shanghai Conference there were, curious to relate, many women +who wished the Christian body to recognise existing polygamy among the +Chinese. A sentence of the resolution proposed was that "secondary +wives may be admitted to membership if obviously true Christians." Mr. +Arnold Foster resisted the inclusion of these words, and they were +lost. No doubt the Conference was wise in taking this line. It is +most essential to maintain the purity {126} of the home life, and the +difficulty that arises from secondary wives desiring to join the +Christian Church can never be a very important one, as the vast +majority of Chinese are monogamous. + +A serious evil this custom creates is that of female slavery. Both in +Japan and China one of the awful penalties of poverty is that a man is +sometimes forced to sell his female children. These little girls are +bought by prudent Chinamen, first to be servants to their own wives and +then to act as secondary wives to their sons to prevent them going +elsewhere. Sometimes they are kidnapped by men who make a regular +business of this cruel traffic. Stories are told of boat-loads of +these children being brought down the Yangtsze, concealed below the +deck and terrorised to keep them quiet by one of their number being +killed before their eyes. On one occasion a missionary suddenly saw a +hand thrust through the planks of the deck, and on investigation he +discovered a dozen children hidden below, and as it turned out they had +been kidnapped, not bought, he was able to get them released. These +slaves are the absolute property of their owners, and many are the +tales told of the cruel and neglectful treatment to which they are +subjected. In Shanghai the Chinese police will report such cases, and +in consequence the ladies of the settlement have founded an admirable +institution to which they can be brought. The Slave Refuge deserves +all support. There the little girls are taught and cared for, and +helped to {127} forget the terrible experiences some of them have gone +through. Sad to relate, many of them have to be taken first to the +hospital to be cured from the effects of the ill-treatment they have +received. One poor little thing went into convulsions when a fire was +lit in the ward; it was difficult to understand the reason, but when it +happened again and the poor child uttered incoherent appeals for mercy, +it was discovered that she thought the fire was lit to heat opium +needles with which to torture her. Her system was too shattered for +recovery, but many others get quite well and form a pleasing sight at +work and play in the bright cheerful Refuge, with the happy elasticity +of youth forgetting the injuries which in some cases have left on them +permanent scars. But I fear the system of slavery continues very +commonly all over China, and such a philanthropic effort as the +Shanghai Slave Refuge can touch but a very small proportion of them. +Probably when the little slaves are destined to be wives to their +mistresses' sons they are treated less cruelly, and though employed as +household drudges, do not live actively unhappy lives. + +Without stating that women as a whole are miserable, I think it would +be no exaggeration to say that they are infinitely less happy than +their Western sisters. Many of the national customs militate against +their happiness. The custom of child betrothal, for instance, condemns +a woman to live completely subject to a man for whom she perhaps {128} +has the greatest natural antipathy. Stories are told of brides +committing suicide rather than leave their father's house to be married +to men for whom they feel no affection; yet as a whole they accept +their position, and a Chinese woman has neither the will nor the power +to be untrue to her husband. + +Again, the rule of the husband's mother is very often extremely harsh; +the child-wife is little better than her drudge. On the other hand, +when a woman grows older, her position is one of considerable strength. +I was assured that they take a keen interest in the management of their +husbands' properties, and often show themselves excellent business +women. The position which the late Empress of China acquired shows +that women's position is the very reverse of inferior when dignified by +age. + +And now before all this woman's world glitters Western civilisation; +the greater dignity which is accorded therein to women is envied and +the laws which restrain her are misunderstood. The Chinese women hear +stories of Western life. At first such strange perversions are +believed as that in the West women rule. One missionary explained that +this absurd figment came from the rule of the late Queen; another +attributed it to the custom men have when travelling in China of +walking while their wives remained in the carrying chair. To the +Chinaman such a course admits of but one explanation: the {129} woman +must be greater than the man because she is carried while he walks. + +Again, in Western China they learnt through their local press that +girls and boys received a similar education in England, and they +concluded that the dress must be also similar, and the missionaries +were more amused than scandalised at seeing a Government girls' school +turned out in boys' clothes. It was explained to us that this was far +from being an uncommon custom in China; slave-girls who have been +brought up with natural feet are habitually dressed as boys, and it is +common now for fathers of small daughters with unbound feet to avoid +the unpleasant taunts of the ignorant by allowing their daughters while +they are children to wear boys' clothes. + +Still on the whole the desire for imitation of the West has been very +beneficial to the women of China, especially in this matter of +foot-binding. This disgusting custom is going out of fashion among the +enlightened and educated classes; two or three Chinese gentlemen +assured us that this was so; and in a place like Shanghai, where the +Western movement is very strong, the number of women with unbound feet +is quite remarkable; the greater number of them naturally have had +their feet bound, and as feet bound from infancy never become quite +normal, they still have something of the tottering walk which used to +be the admiration of every Chinaman; in fact, this tottering walk is +preserved as a piece of {130} affectation. A lady told us that even +her Christian girls' school was not above such a feminine weakness. As +they walked to Church they would step out with the swinging stride that +regular gymnastic exercises and a most comfortable dress have +encouraged; suddenly the lady would see the whole of her school struck +with a sort of paralysis which made them exchange their easy gait for +the "tottering-lily" walk of the Chinese small-footed women. The cause +is that the boys' school has just come into sight. I fear it must be +admitted that foot-binding continues to be practised in the interior +amongst the poorer women, who cling to the custom for fear of ridicule. + +The most beneficial effect of the admiration of the West is the earnest +desire that it has given to Chinese women for education. So keen is +this desire that even married women will become children again and take +their position in the class. Husbands who have received Western +education are most anxious that their wives should share somewhat in +their interests. + +Lady Florence could see over girls' schools where a man's visit would +not have been acceptable, so she visited many of all varieties, +including two at Peking of a rather unusual description. One of them +was carried on by a Manchu lady of high position, connected with a +great Manchu prince. Her attitude generally towards the forward +women's movement offends her family, as she lectures publicly on topics +of the time. {131} Her school is small, and, alas, not very efficient, +she having fallen into the usual fallacy amongst the Chinese of +believing that a Japanese instructress must of necessity be efficient. +Still her desire to give education to the children of the poor is +worthy of nothing but commendation. She looked most impressive, being +a fine big handsome woman, attired in the Manchu long robe with the +ornate Manchu head-dress. The second school my wife saw was managed by +another Manchu lady, and it seemed more orderly and more successful +than the other. These two schools testified to a desire to improve the +status of women. My wife visited many other schools, some belonging to +missions of various denominations, which attracted the daughters and +even the wives of upper-class men, who mixed quite happily with girls +of lower degree, being all united in a fervent desire for education, +the ruling desire now in China among women of all classes. + +This desire for education is a great opportunity for the missionaries, +and they appeal most eloquently in the message from which we have +already quoted for help from their sisters in England. "We need more +schools for girls and more consecrated and highly trained women +competent to conduct such schools and gradually to give higher and +higher instruction in them. We need more training schools, also, for +Chinese women, to fit them to work among their sisters, and we need +educated Christian ladies from our homelands for Zenana work in the +houses of the {132} well-to-do. Such work would have been impossible a +few years ago; now the visits of such workers would in many cases be +cordially welcomed by Chinese ladies, and frequently they would be +returned, for the seclusion of women in China is not at all as strict +as it is in India. This, so far, has been a comparatively unworked +sphere of usefulness in China, but it is one full of promise and of +gracious opportunity in the present." + +The difficulty of education is in one way increased and in another way +decreased by the ignorance which many women have of reading the Chinese +characters. A new system has been invented by which Chinese can be +written in our letters as pronounced. This is called by the rather +uncouth name of "Romanised." At the Shanghai Conference we were told +wonderful stories of the incredibly short space of time in which women +learnt to read by this system. A woman of sixty-seven learnt in two +months; while one lady asserted that she had taught a boy to read +between Friday and Wednesday, I may add inclusive. This extraordinary +achievement is not quite so impossible as it would be with our more +complicated languages. The Chinese have extremely few sounds, and +their language is monosyllabic in formation. However, we do not ask +our readers to accept this as the normal rate of education; still the +thing is worth mentioning, because it is possibly the beginning of a +great movement which may alter the whole of education in the Far East. +The extreme ease with {133} which Chinese can be written in our letters +may induce some daring spirit to advocate it as a system fitted for the +education of the poor, though this is at present quite improbable. + +A far darker side to the introduction of Western ways is the gradual +naturalisation of the social evils of the West. Lady Florence had the +privilege of seeing some of the rescue work undertaken by devoted +missionary ladies in Shanghai. Being an open port, this town, in +common, I believe, with the other semi-Westernised ports in China, +bears a very bad character as regards purity of morals. The advent of +the foreigner has done nothing but harm in this respect. Wonderful and +horrible though it may seem, the vice-mart exists in the ports mainly +in connection with the foreigners, who appear to have shown the way to +the Chinese. There is a street in Shanghai, the Foochow Road, where +terrible scandals occur almost openly; signs whose intention is veiled +to the outsider by his ignorance of Chinese characters, boldly +advertise the merits of various houses and their inmates. Formerly +these wretched girls were even paraded in open chairs, but this has +been stopped, though they are still carried about in closed chairs. +The scenes in this street as night falls are a sad witness to the ill +effect of Western ideas without Christianity. It must never be +forgotten that the victims of this condition of things are literally +victims. They have no choice in the matter. They are sold by their +parents, even by their husbands, {134} into their terrible position; +and though some may live a life of luxury, most of them are cruelly +treated, beaten, tortured to prevent flight, and, as is proved by their +subsequent conduct, they regard the life with absolute loathing. + +Inspired by profound pity for these poor creatures, these excellent +ladies started a Refuge for them with a receiving-house in the very +midst of this locality of ill-fame. To this haven the poor things +often flee even in the middle of the night, facing the unknown, +undeterred by rumours of the evil intentions of the foreigners put +about by their owners, rather than endure longer the life of +degradation and misery to which they have been condemned. The +missionaries receive them and pass them on to the "Door of Hope," the +appropriately named Refuge, which restores them to hope and peace and +happiness. There were to be seen some eighty young women living a +hard-working simple life, contented and merry, and apparently never +regretting for one moment the fine clothes and lazy luxury which many +of them had renounced. The ladies teach them useful arts, instruct +them in Christianity, and fit them for wives to Chinese Christians who +will be good to them, and, understanding well that their former life +was involuntary, are glad to have wives with a modicum of education. +The ladies will allow non-Christians to mate with non-Christians, if of +good character; but they will not permit any of their rescued flock to +become secondary wives. {135} Two things are remarkable in this work +of almost divine compassion--a relapse is practically unknown; and it +is the Chinese who are most helpful in encouraging it--more so than +foreigners; the Chinese often themselves suggest the "Door of Hope" to +these girls, and help in police cases to save them from their brutal +owners. + +The risk that China runs at this moment in the home-life is the same as +the risk that she is running in every other department of her national +existence. If the materialist side of Western civilisation is the one +that is the most apparent, it is scarcely possible that it will fail to +do great damage to her home-life. A thoughtful Chinaman, talking about +the whole question, argued in favour of a complete acceptance of +Western ideas. He was afraid of a half measure. He said that there +was no question that women in the West are restrained by a mass of +conventions of whose value they are perhaps unconscious, but which are +very apparent to those who have been brought up in a different +civilisation. It is the existence of these conventions that makes +their liberty possible. If the Chinese are to accept Western +civilisation for their women, and he regarded this as inevitable, they +must learn the conventions; and therefore his solution to the problem +was that Chinese girls should be brought to England and brought up as +English girls. + +But many missionaries plead for the opposite policy. They say: "Let us +preserve what is good in the Chinese home-life, let Christianity +permeate {136} that life and make it beautiful, but do not destroy it. +The Chinese home-life fits the Chinese race. The Westernised +Chinawoman will combine the errors of both civilisations and the +virtues of neither." + +Without giving an opinion on this very vexed question, we may express a +hope that a policy of prudence and moderation will govern the action of +those who are concerned with women's education, for the degree of +alteration which may be necessary in women's life to make them fitted +to receive Western civilisation will be a matter rather of experiment +than of theory. At any rate let Christianity precede any large +alterations, for Christianity alone can make the life of a Western +woman intelligible and consistent to her Eastern sister. + + + + +{137} + +CHAPTER XI + +CHINESE ARCHITECTURE + +Among the many ways a nation has of expressing its thoughts and of +showing its individuality, none is more valuable to mankind in general +than its art. + +Perhaps it can be said that every civilised nation has contributed to +the common stock of art, and certainly China has done her share. The +porcelain which is called after her name testifies to her pre-eminence +in ceramic art, and should make Westerns cautious in expressing their +contempt for a race which is generally acknowledged to be the +originator of this industry. I will not attempt to express an opinion +about the mysteries of this art, except to regret that the name of the +country should be so attached to this product of her skill as +constantly to cause confusion. When my friend Archdeacon Moule +published his interesting book on "New China and Old," a lady wrote to +him to say that she did not care for new china, but as she was a +collector of old china, she would much like to read his book. + +China has contributed to other forms of art as well. Her embroideries +and her lacquer work are well known; her ivory carving and silver work +have found a place in every collection. Her art, as we {138} might +expect from a race which has been under artificial conditions of +civilisation for many years, is distinctly artificial. In it you can +see the spirit of a race who for many centuries have been taught to +control themselves and to avoid the natural expression of their +feelings. If it is artificial in form, it is pleasing in colour and +superb in workmanship. There are few who will not agree that every +effort should be made to preserve these arts from being injured by a +false admiration of Western models. The only possible exception being +modern embroideries, which might be considerably improved if more +harmonious colours were blended together. + +China excels in another art, though her excellence is not admitted +either by the foreign resident or even by the native student. In +certain forms of architecture she is unequalled. Yet when the +Westerner comes to China he glories in bringing with him Western +architecture, indifferent as to whether it is suited to the climatic +conditions or is in itself beautiful. Take, for instance, the English +churches of China. Could any form of architecture be less suited to a +country like China, where the sun is frequently oppressively hot, than +Gothic architecture? The large windows, the pointed arch, and the +weak, open, high-pitched roof may be suitable in a country like ours +which has little sunlight, and where a wet drifting snow will often +force an entrance into the best-designed roof; but in a country like +China, where the sun is the chief difficulty, some construction {139} +should be preferred which renders a heavy and heat-proof roof possible. +If antipathy to the Chinese necessitated a Western type of building, +Italian or even Romanesque architecture might be selected, and a +building with a massive roof supported on solid arches might resist the +rays of the sun. But why not accept the Chinese architecture as +eminently fitted for the climate? + +If Christianity is to be assimilated by China and become part of their +national existence, the buildings in which it is proclaimed should be +essentially national. The intention of the Christian should be written +clearly on the face of every landscape where the new and beautiful +Chinese building rises up for the religion which is, as we maintain, as +essentially fitted for the Chinese as it is for the English. We do not +worship in a Roman basilica, but in the buildings that the northern +architects have devised as suitable, both for Christian worship and for +our climate. The new Chinese churches need not be replicas of the +Chinese temples; the object of the building is different, therefore the +building should differ, but there are many other forms in which it is +possible for the architect to express in Chinese architecture the +eternal truths of Christianity. + +Again, why are all the schools and colleges erected on Western +patterns. The Chinese are used to and prefer their own architecture, +and from a sanitary point of view I hardly think it is inferior. The +average Westerner in China has but one idea, and {140} that is that the +Chinese must become like a Western nation or must remain untouched by +Western civilisation. He absolutely refuses the suggestion that the +architecture of China can be altered to suit modern conditions. + +It is said that the thoughts of all nations are written in their +architecture; that you can see the nobility of the Middle Ages in the +Gothic cathedral, or the fulness of the thought of the Renaissance in +the Palladian facade; certainly on the modern Chinese town the story of +their change of thought is being rapidly written, perhaps with truth, +but certainly not with beauty. The Western man absolutely despising +all things Chinese refuses to erect any building which preserves even a +detail of the national architecture; the Westernising Chinaman in +faithful imitation erects Western buildings, but with this difference; +whereas the buildings of the Western have some beauty--for instance, +the cathedral at Shanghai is a noble building and the Pe-T'ang at +Peking would not disgrace an Italian town, even the bankers' palaces at +Hankow are not unworthy dwellings for merchant princes--the Chinese +imitations of these Western buildings have but little beauty to commend +them, and as far as I could understand they are really less serviceable +than a true Chinese building. + +No European resident in China will ever allow that Chinese buildings +are either beautiful or useful, and if any one suggests that a Western +house shall {141} be built in the Chinese style the suggestion is +scouted as absurd; yet the British Legation at Peking is an old Chinese +palace, and no one who has seen it ever doubts that it is one of the +most beautiful buildings in the whole of China, and if this building +has been found fitting for His Majesty's Representative, surely some +such building might serve for others of less high station. + +As to the spiritual ideals in Chinese architecture, who can doubt them +when they look at some of the pagodas that the reverence of Buddhism +has produced. These pagodas tell in every line of a nation that would +reach up above mere utilitarianism to higher thoughts. The uselessness +of the pagoda which so often annoys the practical Englishman is one of +its chief merits. It stands there in all its beauty pleading with +mankind for a love of beauty for its own sake and a belief in a +beautiful spirit world. The whole of Buddhist thought is intimately +connected with the love of beauty. When a Chinese gentleman was asked +if the Chinese had any love of beauty, he said: "You will notice that +their temples are always built in beautiful spots, so that they who +worship in them should satisfy their love of beauty." + +Even if the pagoda is merely regarded as a thing to bring luck to a +town, it still merits admiration, for there must be something fine in a +race that believes a beautiful thing can bring the blessing of the +heavenly bodies on the earth. No one can {142} study the details of +any of these pagodas without being confident that those who erected +them had as their main object the erection of a beautiful building. + +Or again, take the Temple of Heaven. Is there any monument in the +whole world that has more feeling of beauty about it? The white altar +lying uncovered testifies to the fundamental faith of the Chinese that +there is a God in heaven who dwelleth not in temples made with hands, +while the detail of the carving, though showing a certain sameness, yet +indicates their belief that God must love beauty. To see the white +Altar of Heaven together with the blue-roofed Temple beyond on some +sunny day when the flowers are blooming and the dark green of the pine +grove is in strong contrast with the light green of the spring herbage, +is one of those visions of beauty which make a man dream and dream +again of the noble future that may be before a race which has its +holiest places in such lovely surroundings. + +As most of the readers of this book may never have seen a Chinese +building, perhaps it should be described. The architecture of the +Chinese differs from that of the West in almost every detail. A +Chinese town is a town without chimneys, and yet the absence of those +chimneys which Renaissance architects made such a feature of domestic +architecture is never missed, for Chinese roofs are curved and +decorated with quaint figures; they are often {143} coloured, bright +yellow if the building is an imperial building, or bright blue or blue +and green with yellow lines, as taste may direct. Common houses have +not such ornate roofs, but I am speaking of the houses which have some +claim to architectural excellence. This great roof is carried directly +on pillars, so that it is possible to have a Chinese house without +walls, and these wall-less houses are most suitable to a country where +the summer is hot. The massive character of the roof prevents the heat +of the sun penetrating, and the absence of walls allows of a free +current of air; if there are walls they are generally wooden screens +filled in with paper, and the effect in some old Chinese houses is very +lovely. + +For winter weather these houses seem cold to us, but the Chinese have +always believed in the open-air policy. They never heat their houses; +they rely either on warm clothing or on a flue-heated bed at night; and +as they are as a race very subject to consumption, probably this policy +is one which is best suited to their constitutions. At any rate it +seems strange that while we in England are advocating open-air schools, +open-air cures, and sleeping with the window open, in China Western +influence should be destroying the admiration for a splendid form of +architecture, the characteristic of which was that while it was of +great beauty, it also shielded the inmates from the intense heat of +summer and gave them ample fresh air. + +When some Chinese literati were questioned {144} about this +architecture they freely confessed that they preferred their native +buildings, but they seemed to think that a Western school could not be +efficient unless it was held in a Western building. Missionaries and +others being questioned on this point maintained that Western houses +were in the end the cheapest, but the Chinese would not allow this. +They said that a Chinese house would cost far more than a Western house +if it were beautifully adorned with carving, but if it was built simply +it would work out at less cost. + +Chinese architecture is obviously a construction which lends itself to +the use of iron. A Chinese building with iron substituted for wood +would look as well, for they always paint their wood; this ought to be +a very cheap form of construction in a land which is going to produce +iron at a very low rate. The truth is that it is neither a question of +cost nor of efficiency which makes the Chinese architecture despised; +it is part of the great movement which expresses itself in stone and +brick--a movement which is tending to bring the Eastern countries into +misery--a movement which is planting in the East all that is +commonplace, all that is hideous in the West, and that is destroying +all that is beautiful in the East both in thought and colour and form. +It is the counterpart of the movement which is destroying the faith of +the Eastern nations and is only substituting the materialism which has +degraded the West. + + + + +{147} + +RELIGIONS OF CHINA AND THE MISSIONARY + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +RELIGIONS IN CHINA + +The real power of a race lies in its religion; other motives inevitably +tend to egotism, disorganisation, and national death, and China is no +exception to the rule; the strength and the weakness of China lies in +her religion and in its absence. There are few nations who set less +store by the outward observance of religion and yet there are few +nations with a greater belief in the supernatural. On the one hand, +the temples are deserted or turned into schools, and the Chinese are +believed to have no other motives than self-interest. On the other +hand, the whole of Chinese life turns round the relation of man to the +spirit of his ancestors and to the spiritual world, and the Chinaman +obviously believes that a man's soul is immortal and that its welfare +has the very closest connection with the welfare of his descendant. + +The commercial man will tell you that the Chinese are +materialists--people who have no faith; and yet with glorious +inconsistency he will explain that the difficulty of using Chinese +labour abroad is that even the commonest coolie demands that his body +shall be repatriated and shall lie in some place which will not hinder +his son doing filial {148} worship to his spirit. The whole question +of what the race believes is rendered more difficult of comprehension +to a Westerner by the confused nature of that belief, and is +complicated by the characteristic of the Chinese of mixing all +religions together regardless of their natural incongruity. It is +hoped that the reader will bear this in mind during the following +explanation. + +The religions of China are usually classed as three. Not three +well-marked religions in our sense of the word, but three elements +which tend to merge into a common religion. There are separate +religions. A large number of Chinese, for instance, are Mohammedan, +and they neither marry nor are given in marriage to the other Chinese; +there is a very small Jewish community; and there is also a native +Greek Christian village still tolerated by the Chinese, which was +transplanted from Siberia as the result of a Chinese conquest in the +days of Peter the Great; there are a quarter of a million Christians +converted by non-Roman missions, besides a million belonging to the +Roman Catholic Communion. But Christianity, Judaism, and Mohammedanism +put all together, form but a small part of the Chinese community, and +the greater part of China believes, according to all orthodox +expositors, in three religions--Buddhism, Taoism, and what is termed +Confucianism. + +This conglomerate of three religions consists in its turn of composite +faiths. Buddhism in China is not like the Buddhism of Ceylon with its +agnostic {149} teaching. Buddhism is divided into two great +divisions--the "greater vehicle" and the "lesser vehicle." The "lesser +vehicle" is known to the world as pure Buddhism; the "greater vehicle" +contains many sects, all of which claim that the revelation extended to +Gautama was only a partial revelation, and that the truth has been more +fully revealed to those who succeeded him. This is called Lamaism, and +in China has incorporated much of the idolatry which it supplanted and +perhaps some of the Nestorian Christianity which succeeded it; in fact, +the Buddhist temple in China is nothing more than an idol temple. +Buddha of Gautama is always the principal idol; he is represented calm +and without thought or trouble; he sits, the embodiment of peace and +rest; but though he may be the first in the Buddhist temple, he is far +from being alone; close behind him in popular estimation come two other +deities, Amita and Kwannin. Amita, Amitobha or O-mi-to, is held by +some to be the father of Kwannin, and is at once a guardian of the +Western Paradise and the personification of purity; to this wholly +mythical personage is attributed such virtue that the mere repetition +of his name will secure salvation. In Japan a sect holds that every +Buddhist law can be broken with immunity as long as there is faith in +Amita. In China such statements are made as this: to follow the strict +law of Buddhism is to climb to heaven as a fly crawls up the wall, but +to attain Salvation by repeating {150} the name O-mi-to is like sailing +heavenwards in a boat with wind and tide behind, at the pace of a +hundred li an hour. There is a general agreement that adherence to the +strict Buddhist law of chastity, honesty, truth, temperance, abstinence +from anger and serenity of mind, is an ideal which is impossible at any +rate for the laity. But the exact method of escaping this burden +differs in various sects. The most popular is by a "saving faith" in +Amita. + +If the origin of this deity can be attributed to the personification of +a spirit of purity, the origin of the next, Kwannin, is probably from +some source outside Buddhism. She is the goddess of mercy, but +whatever her origin, she at present represents the remnants of either +the Nestorian or the mediæval Roman teaching. In Peking they have a +curious image of her which any one might mistake for a Madonna, the +truth being that there was at one time an intimate contact between +Christianity and Buddhism, when many of the externals of the Christian +religion and some of its doctrines were transplanted. The Buddhist +temple with its altar in the centre looks strangely like a Christian +church, and the Buddhist monks and nuns, with their rosaries and their +regular hours for chanting and service, recall the Roman Catholic +services; the picture of the Buddhist hell which stands in the great +Mongol temple at Peking reminds one of a scene from Dante's Inferno, +and among the many things the Buddhists borrow from Christian sources +{151} are these two ideas, embodied in two idols, the goddess of mercy +who intercedes for mankind, and the god of faith in whom the worshipper +should put all trust and confidence. Besides these gods there are the +god of war and the god of good-fellowship, probably taken from old +heathen sources. Again, there are hundreds of Buddhas, or as we should +call them, "saints," whose position is somewhere between human and +divine, much the same position that the saints occupy in the mind of a +Neapolitan peasant. + +After Buddhism comes Taoism. Taoism is again a conglomerate faith. +Technically it is the faith of Laotze, who was an opponent and a +contemporary of Confucius. He taught a dualism which reminds the +Westerner of the doctrine of the Manichees. Again, Western and Eastern +thought have been confused; Manichees are known to have existed in +China, and whether Manichæism originally came from the East or whether +subsequently Chinese thought has been affected by Manichæism is hard to +decide. At any rate, Laotze did not claim that his teaching was +original; he was merely the prophet of an established school of +thought. The greater part of China follows his rival and despises +Laotze's teaching, yet the dualism that he taught is part of the +essential faith of China, and a part which is most opposed to all that +is good. He taught that good and evil were essentially divided, were +halves, as it were, of one whole. He called them the "Yang" and the +"Yin"--terms {152} which are in no way confined to the few disciples +who now follow him. This division between good and evil makes up the +mystery of the world--light and darkness, heaven and earth, male and +female, each couple makes up one whole divided between good and evil; +and so the world beyond is peopled with good and evil spirits, the +"Yang" and the "Yin." Obviously such a faith has all the evil which we +recognise in Manichæism, and its practical disadvantages are very +great. For instance, the inferior position of women is defended as +inevitable; they are "Yin." No mine must be sunk or cutting made for +fear of angering the earth spirits, for as man is as essentially a part +of the world as the earth, those earth spirits will avenge themselves +upon him. Even such great men and such good Confucianists as His +Excellency the late Chang-Chih-Tung are not insensitive to such a +superstition. The town over which he ruled was divided by a steep +gravel hill. A Western engineer recommended that this hill should be +cut through to facilitate access from one part of the town to the +other, and the Viceroy, ever ready to accept new and Western ideas of +practical advantage, immediately ordered the suggestion to be carried +out. Shortly afterwards a large wen developed on his neck, and, +arguing that an evil spirit of the earth, who had originally made the +gravel hill, was so angered at the destruction of it that he determined +to re-make it on the neck of the offender, the Governor had the cutting +filled up, and there it stands to this very day, a {153} witness of the +evil influence that an evil religion can have on the greatest men of a +nation. Taoism has now but few adherents, and yet there are many +Taoist priests, since these priests are regarded as particularly +efficient in dealing with the evil spirits in whom Taoism believes so +fully. + +The third religion is generally called Confucianism, and this may +easily lead to a great misunderstanding, for under the term +Confucianism two very different things are included. First, a belief +in the philosophy of Confucius. This for the most part is outside what +we are accustomed to call religion, and we shall have occasion to deal +with it later on. Secondly, and more commonly, the spiritual beliefs +of those who call themselves Confucians, and who, owing to his silence +on religion, have to find other authorities for their faith. Sometimes +they claim that their faith was the same as the faith of Confucius, +that the background of his philosophy was the religion that they +believe, but more commonly they accept it without any question. This +religion is commonly mixed up both with Buddhism and with Taoism, but +its essential doctrine is very distinct and has great weight in China, +namely, that the spirits of men who are dead live and have influence +over the lives of their descendants. I was told by a Chinese Christian +that a religious Chinaman of the lower class never goes out without +burning a stick of incense to the tablet of his father, and no one can +go through Chinese towns without being impressed by the number of +people who in that {154} poor country are kept hard at work +manufacturing mock money to be burnt for the use of parents and +ancestors. + +The missionaries find that this doctrine is the hardest doctrine for +Christianity to assail; and there are not a few who, despairing of +success, suggest that the position must be turned, and ancestor worship +must be Christianised and accepted as an essential part of a man's +belief. The logical Western mind immediately wants to know what is +behind the ancestor; if an ancestor is to have power he can only have +it, says the logical Westerner, by being in contact with some higher +power. One of the greatest missionaries that China possesses answers +this difficulty by saying that the Chinese mind is not the Western +mind; that he does not concern himself very much with remote +speculation; he has not that itching longing to use the word "why," +which is at once the glory and the difficulty of the Western mind, and +therefore he looks at the spiritual world much as he looks at the +earthly world; the man immediately over him in the town is the +magistrate, and, to use the Chinese phrase, "is the father and mother +of his people," and so over him in spiritual things is his father and +grandfather. Behind the magistrate there is in his distant thought the +prefect--the head of the prefecture or Fu town--a being who only comes +into his village life when there is trouble and difficulty; he comes to +punish, rarely to reward, and so behind his father and grandfather in +{155} the spiritual world are the great clan leaders whom he worships +at regular intervals with the rest of his clan. In civil government +there are in a distant background a Viceroy with awful powers and awful +majesty, and an Emperor whose very name is so divine that he scarcely +likes to use it; and behind the clan leaders are many beings borrowed +from Buddhism, relics of old idolatry, muddled up with Taoism; and in +the dim and distant background is the Supreme Being--the Supreme Being +Who rewards the just and punishes the unjust, Who can in no way be +deceived, Who refuses the rain to the sinner and makes the land +desolate, Who has power to dethrone the earthly Emperor and to place +China under a foreign domination. This great and awful power is, +however, so far distant that the average Chinaman thinks but little +about Him. + +The Temple of Heaven at Peking is the beautiful shrine of this Supreme +Being. Here once a year, after spending a night fasting, the Emperor, +as the father of his nation, worships the great God who made heaven and +earth. The chief feature of this worship is that it is performed in +the open air on a beautiful marble dais. No place in China is quite so +lovely; it is the fitting shrine of the beautiful faith of China's most +glorious days, a faith which though dormant is not dead. The traveller +who stands there should remember that the worship which is here +performed is as old as the date of the patriarchs and not un-akin to +their religious {156} ideals; and if there are some things which are +not sympathetic to the Christian idea, they are subordinate. In the +main it is the worship of the One True Being. + +This faith has no right to be called Confucian. There is great doubt +about the faith of Confucius. He is silent about religion, or he +refers to it only indirectly; it is no part of his teaching; but his +indirect references to it apparently express a belief in a Supreme +Being whom he calls "Heaven," a Supreme Being who has an influence on +human affairs. He also recognises ancestor worship, but with such a +dubious phrase that many Chinese and English scholars have doubted his +meaning. Neither is this the faith of all the leading Confucianists in +China, many of whom are professedly agnostics in matters of religion, +and follow the teaching of Chu; but it is the faith, the ill-understood +faith, of the great multitude of thinking and non-thinking Chinamen, +and it is looked upon as the State religion of China. Its power over +China is universal and yet insecure. + +Many ages ago it was partially defeated by the more logical and more +sympathetic faith of Buddhism. The fight was bitter, the persecutions +were cruel, but Buddhism conquered. Now Buddhism fails. With its +failure a vast mass of superstition, kept alive by the sacrifice to the +ancestor, once more rises up and stands right in the path of +progress--right in the way of civilisation. It was superstition that +moved the Boxer, and this it was that lost credit when {157} Boxerdom +failed. Story after story is told of the influence of this incoherent +but vital mass of religion. The junk will dart across the bows of your +steamer; there will be much whistling, reversing of engines, peremptory +commands in English, abuse in Chinese; and when you inquire why the +lowdah of the junk risked his cargo, perhaps his life, and put the +steamer and its passengers in a state of excitement, if not in +jeopardy, the answer is that every junk lowdah is afraid of the evil +spirit that is following him, and if he crosses the steamer's bow he +expects that the evil spirit, seeing a more worthy quarry, will neglect +him and follow the steamer. The head of the Shanghai Telephone Company +tells how he is not uncommonly met by some sleek well-to-do Chinaman +who is most distressed because the shadow of a telephone pole falls +over his door, so that as he goes out he passes beneath it, and that +will bring bad luck. The houses in China stand unconformably with the +road, because a certain aspect is lucky; a cracker is exploded to +frighten the evil spirits away, and so on through tales innumerable. + +The world around is full of evil spirits to the Chinaman. Every +village has the witch doctor who is learned in the ways of these evil +spirits. Diabolical possession is as present with them as ever it was +in Bible times. Your hard-headed commercial man smiles when he relates +these stories, incredulous that there can be any foundation for them; +but those who have dwelt among the Chinese take much the same line +{158} about these stories as we do about spiritualism. Much is folly, +more is fraud; but behind both the folly and the fraud there is a +mysterious reality. The faith of the masses of China in the spiritual +world has never been encouraged by its philosophers. It owes its +vitality to the fact that, as with us, so with them, manifestations of +powers beyond this world are real if ill-comprehended, and connected +too often with man's evil side. The Psychical Research Society will do +well to inquire closely into many of these phenomena. Nothing +convinced me of the reality of this belief more than the line that was +taken by one of our English missionaries. He was speaking of +diabolical possession, and he related the same story which one has +heard so often that a man suddenly spoke as another personality; and +then he added, "I realised that it was not he who was speaking to me, +but the evil spirit within him;" and he went on, "I was afraid to speak +to him, because if you speak to those who are possessed with an evil +spirit, the evil spirit will take possession of you." It was strange +to hear such a testimony to the reality of diabolical possession from +an Englishman, but you will hear it from every Chinaman. Those who +have read "Pastor Hsi" will remember how firm was his belief in such +possession. + +Against all this mass of the evil world the Chinaman has but one +defence: his father and his ancestor belong to that world and they will +defend him; and so the ancestor cult is intimately connected with this +{159} belief in evil spirits. If the father does not bestir himself +the son may come to harm--in fact, the main part of a Chinaman's +religious idea centres round ancestor worship; and there is no such +awful moment in a Christian convert's life as when he is required to +destroy the tablet of his ancestors. A Confucianist cannot understand +the missionary position; to his mind contempt for the ancestor only +means a deep and spiritual scepticism, an absence of all faith in the +supernatural, a negation of all sense of duty. A missionary recounted +a story illustrative of this difficulty. He was travelling up-country +in China, and his road lay along the same way down which a well-to-do +merchant was travelling, and as they journeyed on side by side and met +every night at the inns at which they put up, he noticed that the +Chinaman eyed him askance; but as the missionary spoke Chinese well, +and as travellers have many little wants which another traveller can +supply, it was not unnatural that in spite of the mistrust manifested +by the Chinaman they should fall gradually into more intimate converse. +One night as they were sitting at an inn the Chinaman said to the +missionary, "Do you know I thought you were a Christian, but I see you +are a good fellow." The missionary assured him that he was a +Christian, and did not deny that he was a good fellow. He felt, +however, that there was some obstacle in the Chinaman's mind that kept +them still apart, and as they journeyed on from day to day and had +grown more intimate, the Chinaman said, "You know {160} people do tell +such lies that one cannot believe a word they say." The missionary +assented to this general proposition as true of all the world, but +asked for a more immediate application. The Chinaman continued: "Well, +I hope you will not be offended if I tell you the lies they tell about +you--lies that I am afraid I believed till I met you and could see what +a good fellow you are. They say--" but he broke off. "Pardon me, it +is such a horrible accusation that I do not like to repeat it, even +though I know that it is untrue." The missionary pressed him to tell +what this accusation was, and the Chinaman continued apologetically, "I +know that it is such a lie that I am ashamed that my people should tell +such lies, but they do say that you Christians actually teach men to +break up the tablet on which their father's name is written;" and the +missionary realised all at once the depth of the conviction of the +Chinaman and the wide gulf that separated him from Christianity. And +so many and many a person who knows China best confidently asserts that +Christianity will never become the religion of China till it permits +and recognises this ancestral worship. + +But now a new factor has entered into this problem. Western +materialism is spreading its malign influence over China; the educated +classes of Japan boldly profess that they have long since ceased to +believe in any religion, and they are calling upon China with great +effect to follow their example, and so the position changes altogether. +Ancestor worship, {161} with all its accompanying superstition, tends +to disappear where Western knowledge is taught. The Boxers were not +untrue prophets when they told their people that they or Western +civilisation, as they knew it, must leave China, and that they could +not co-exist. The position is surely one that must excite the very +deepest interest. It is scarcely conceivable that a race so deeply +convinced of the realities of the spiritual world will, as a whole, +accept the belief that there are no spirits. It is equally +inconceivable that with modern Western education the people shall +believe in the spirit that follows the junk, or in the spirit that is +angered by a mining operation. The religious sentiment of China will, +as it were, be turned out of doors by Western knowledge. There will be +a terrible moment when, with all the insolence of youth, the young man +refuses to believe in God or in a devil, and rushes into every wild +anarchical and socialistic scheme to satisfy his craving for action. + +It is a terrible moment, and one which one sees rapidly developing in +Japan and among the Westernised Chinese; but beyond that terrible +period there dawns a brighter day when China will reassert its natural +sentiment and will accept Christianity as the only reasonable religion +that is consonant with modern science and a belief in the spiritual +world. The question of policy that needs solving is whether it is wise +in the face of this great Western unbelieving movement to treat respect +for {162} ancestors too drastically. Western education must remove its +objectionable features and Christianity might accept the modified form +of this belief which is not wholly inconsistent with the doctrine of +the resurrection of the dead. + + + + +{163} + +CHAPTER XIII + +CONFUCIAN PHILOSOPHY AND WESTERN CULTURE + +It is not realised in the West how much the modern movement in Japan +owes its power and vitality to a native movement which welcomed change. +In Japan Buddhism had failed, the one school of Confucianism which +believed in change was dominant, and therefore it was a comparatively +easy matter to introduce the extensive changes of Western civilisation. +There was no religion with roots deeply entwined in the hearts of the +people to oppose such a change. Shintoism had not yet been +rediscovered and established, and it consisted merely of a mass of +superstition, without any literature or organisation. Thus it was the +combination of these facts, with the threatening attitude of Western +powers, which made all the prophecies of men who knew the East untrue. +No one understood the vital power of the movement in Japan. If, thirty +years ago, some one had written a book to prove that Japan would one +day defeat Russia, people would have laughed at the suggestion, and the +authority of people who had lived in the East all their lives would +have been quoted to prove that an Eastern race could never fully accept +Western civilisation. The prophets were misled by {164} the precedent +of India and Turkey. The Western civilisation is met there by +religions whose tenets are opposed to Western thought, and as long as +those religions hold, Western views will make but small progress; but +in Japan there was no such religion, and in China to-day there is no +such religion. The Buddhism of China, like the Buddhism of Japan, may +satisfy the cravings for spiritual religion of the uneducated and the +ignorant; but the thinkers of both races--the statesmen, the writers, +the leaders--are uninfluenced by Buddhism. Taoism has contributed to +the thought and superstition of China, but is in no way now an +important factor in her development; the philosophy of Confucius is the +one vital force in the land. + +Its doctrines are in no way opposed to our civilisation; it teaches +mainly that a man must be sincere to his own higher nature; it has a +profound belief in the greatness of human nature, and a very inadequate +explanation, therefore, of the failures of that nature. That man must +be sincere, so that the full beauty of his nature may appear, is one of +its main tenets, and that this beautiful thing must be decorated with +knowledge is a natural corollary. It undertakes the reform of the +world, by convincing the ruler of his duty, and through him compelling +the ruled to tread the right path, contrasting here very strongly with +the religion of our Bible, though perhaps not with political +Christianity. All through its teaching there is an underlying +suggestion that {165} subjects will obey their rulers not only +outwardly but also inwardly in their opinions and convictions. + +Confucianism does not believe in government by the people, of the +people, for the people; but it believes very strongly in government for +the people by the rulers. Many of its maxims might be cut out as +texts, and hung up in the House of Commons with great appropriateness. +It constantly pictures a well-ordered peaceful state, in which the +dignity of government is well maintained, and where the working-man +shall profit by his work through justice and peace, and the trader grow +rich in confident security. In all this teaching it is not opposed to +Western civilisation. Confucius advocates the reform of society by the +action of the State. Thus the sanitary laws, the education laws, the +temperance laws of the West are thoroughly consistent with the teaching +of Confucius. Where that teaching differs from the West is that it +disbelieves in democracy. Yet Confucianism cares nothing for a man's +birth: all men are born equal to the Confucianist as to the Christian; +and so Confucianism has, for many centuries, welcomed people of the +lowest birth as Governors, if they could pass the requisite +examinations, and, having given every opportunity to men of all classes +to become officials, it entrusts them and not the people with the +government of the country. + +In another way Confucianism is opposed to Western civilisation. +Confucianism believes intensely in the dignity of government; their +classics are full {166} of examples of people who, at the risk of their +lives, defied kings and maintained the dignity of their positions; and +this doctrine of dignity is consequently very deeply ingrained in +Chinese thought; it is in reality the base of that curious doctrine of +"face" by which a man will do anything rather than confess that he is +wrong. A great missionary recounts how his wonderful work at Tientsin +was once threatened with destruction because a boy from the south of +China knocked a boy from the north off his bicycle, with the result +that the college was soon divided into two factions on the question as +to who should pay for the injured bicycle. The matter was only with +difficulty arranged by the President paying for the bicycle and +charging it to the guilty boy; but the boy did not mind paying--he +minded confessing that he was wrong. There was another case in this +same college where a boy had been induced to confess privately his +sorrow that he had wilfully insulted a master. He was prepared to +suffer expulsion rather than confess his fault openly. He was +miserable at the prospect of leaving the college, and when a great +appeal was made to his better feelings to say that he was sorry, he +shook his head sadly. At last he was asked, "Have you never allowed +you were wrong in your whole life?" "No," he said, with a look of +pride, "_never_." Odious and detestable as this doctrine is in private +life, I think I have the authority of St. Augustine for saying that it +is a maxim of good government that however wrong an {167} order may be, +a superior should not confess his error, so necessary is this doctrine +of dignity to government. Thus the Chinese expression "face" has been +commonly accepted as a good English expression when speaking about +governments. + +No doubt it is this sense of dignity which gives such authority to the +Chinese official. In many ways it may be an element of weakness. I +was surprised to learn that the officials in the Yamen had never been +in the shops of the city; it is beneath their dignity. Goods are +brought to them and they buy in their own houses. For instance we were +told how in Changsha two patriotic bas-reliefs were put up in a shop, +one of them representing the Westerns bringing tribute to the Emperor +of China, and the other depicting a Western woman, chained and +dishevelled, being led in as a slave. Of course our very excellent and +most efficient representative, Consul Hewlett, made instant +representation to the Governor and the objectionable figures were +removed; but the Chinese officials claimed that they were completely +ignorant of what was happening in the shops of the town, because they +never went there. + +It is obvious that this high estimation of dignity makes much of +Western government antipathetic to a Chinaman; he cannot sympathise +with a civilisation which admires government by noisy agitation, vulgar +posters, indecent journalism. Such an agitation as that in favour of +women's suffrage is inconceivable and disgusting beyond words to the +mind of {168} a Chinese thinker; that women, whose dignity is such that +they should never be tried in a public court; that educated ladies, +whose names, in China, must scarcely be mentioned owing to their +exalted position, should wrestle in a public crowd and be arrested, is +one of those mysteries in Western government that the dignified Eastern +mind can never hope to understand. + +Confucianism, considered by itself, is not unfavourable to Western +civilisation, and its great influence in China will no doubt largely +accelerate the Westernisation of that vast empire. For instance, the +policy of education is one which has been followed by China for many a +long year; all that the Chinese are doing is to alter the object of +that education. It used to aim at giving men a complete knowledge of +the Chinese classics; now it aims at giving them in addition a +knowledge of the West and of natural sciences; and so such an eminent +Confucian scholar and such an ardent Conservative as the late +Chang-Chih-Tung was the foremost advocate for a Western education. + +Again the development of the Press on Western lines takes place rapidly +in China, where newspapers have long been known, and which boasts of +being a country possessing the oldest newspaper in the world, the +_Peking Gazette_. Translations of Western literature issued by the +Christian Literature Society are read with avidity by a race that +esteems literature highly, no matter with what subject it deals, {169} +and who has no worse an epithet for one of its emperors than +"book-burner." + +Though Confucianism is not antipathetic to Western civilisation as a +whole, and by its philosophy and literature encourages education in +Western ideas, yet those ideas will, I fear, be fatal to that mighty +system of ethics that has kept China together, and has enabled her to +conquer her conquerors so many times. The countries that have never +known Confucius are succeeding far better than the countries that have +been taught by him. The fact that he always claimed that any race who +followed his teaching would be prosperous, coupled with the fact that +China, with her splendid resources and immense population, is far +poorer and weaker than nations who know nothing of his teaching, is +sufficient to bring its own condemnation to this philosophy. There is +a marked difference in the teaching of Christianity and Confucianism in +this respect. Christianity, by the example of its founder, teaches +that the world must be reformed through the individual; and that the +destruction of a State, whether it be Jerusalem or Rome, is only a +painful incident in the upward advance of mankind. If every Western +State were destroyed, the true Christian would only pause longer over +his reading of the prophet Jeremiah; but when China, the home of +Confucianism, realises her powerlessness in the face of the West, in +sorrow and regret she will close the books of Confucius, as the books +that guided the {170} State to destruction, even though that teaching +was pleasant and beautiful. + +A great Chinaman realised that this was the position of Japan, and told +me that he did not believe that in Japan any one really believed in +Buddhism or in Confucianism or in the new-found Shintoism; and that, as +they had not yet accepted Christianity, they were in a state, odious to +the Western and Eastern alike, of being without moral guidance in this +world. The position of Japan to-day will, in all probability, be, both +in regard to the constructive and destructive effects of Western +civilisation, the condition of China to-morrow, unless indeed +Christianity can fill the vacant place in Chinese thought. Never +before has such an opportunity been presented to the Christian world as +this vast mass of population included under the name of China, left +homeless by the action of world thought. + +Those millions of people, for instance, who yearn for a spiritual +religion, and who have found in times past some comfort in the confused +and corrupt faith of Chinese Buddhism, are now ready with open ears to +listen to any one who is prepared to teach them a higher and more +spiritual religion. The Confucian scholar who realises the debt that +China owes to the teaching of the sage, and yet who feels that Western +civilisation is sapping his authority and leaving China without a moral +guide, welcomes readily the teaching of the moral philosopher who is +prepared to show that Confucianism is essentially {171} right and has +evidence of Divine truth within it, but that it only errs in not +realising that the complete salvation of man can only be accomplished +by those who appeal to his spiritual nature as well as to his moral +sentiments. + +If Christianity conquers China, one of her first actions will be to +reinstate Confucius in the position from which Western materialism has +dethroned him; but the task would be infinitely easier if Christians +could take effective action at once. Every day that passes makes the +position more difficult. Every Confucian scholar who shuts up his +books and opens the books of the materialistic philosopher of the West, +will prove an additional obstacle in the way of the Christianisation of +China. The great danger is that the West, ignorant of what is +happening in the East, will let this opportunity pass and allow Western +materialism to establish itself as a force in China, as it has +established itself as a force in Japan. The world is full of examples +of lost opportunities; let us hope that China will not have to be added +to that sad category. + + + + +{172} + +CHAPTER XIV + +INTERVIEW AT NANKING + +The best view of the religion of China is to be obtained from the +enlightened Chinese themselves, and their views will probably be of +interest to our readers. It should be explained that one of the +objects of our second visit to China was to inquire whether the Chinese +officials would welcome the foundation of Universities in which Western +knowledge could be taught, and whose atmosphere should be Christian. +When the matter was first discussed in England it crept into the +newspapers, and I immediately received an invitation from the Director +of Chinese Students in London to discuss the subject with him. I had +two interviews with him. What surprised me was that against all the +opinion of the average Englishman who is conversant with China he did +not regard the Christian character of the University as a deterrent, +but he asked one question on which he apparently laid the very greatest +stress. He inquired, "If a University is started in China on such +lines as you propose, will you guarantee that the teachers are +efficient?" I immediately assured him that the learned committees who +were considering the question at both Universities would, whatever +{173} else they did, never allow any one to go out as teacher unless he +was most fully qualified. He then assured me that he had no doubt the +scheme would meet with very great sympathy in China, and that he would +give me letters of introduction to various people who would give the +very fullest information on the subject. Among these was one to that +most eminent man, Tuan-Fang, Viceroy of Nanking. + +When I arrived at Nanking I presented my letter of introduction through +the Consul, and the Viceroy most cordially invited me to tiffin at the +Yamen. With further courtesy he sent his carriage to fetch me. We had +a most sumptuous repast, at which about twenty officials were present, +and in consideration of my being a foreigner some European food was +provided. They appeared much pleased when I assured them that I +appreciated Chinese quite as much as European food. We had a most +pleasant luncheon, at which we discussed all manner of topics. I was +asked to explain exactly the position of Oxford and Cambridge, and when +I mentioned that Oxford was over a thousand years old, I had evidently +established the reputation of my University far above that of all +competitors. The Viceroy then admired the school system of England. +He said the schools were "like a forest," and he assured me that he +took the very greatest interest in education, and promised after +luncheon to show me some of his schools. I expressed admiration of +Chinese learning, and he told me it was divided into four {174} +heads--morals, elegancy of style, philosophy, and manners. The respect +that His Excellency had for Confucius did not prevent him from admiring +other philosophers, especially Mih-Tieh, the philosopher who taught the +doctrine of universal love. This was the more remarkable, because at +Hankow the very same point had been discussed with some Chinese clergy +over Sunday supper, and they had referred to this philosopher's works +with considerable admiration, and had declared that his doctrine was +much more consonant with Christianity than that of any other Chinese +philosopher. + +His Excellency then discussed the danger of a modern education. He +quite realised the obvious evils that resulted from rashly encouraging +Western education without an ethical basis. He said they had observed +that those who returned from the West were less dutiful to parents than +those who had remained in China. Then we had a long talk as to whether +it was possible to assimilate the two and to give a man a perfect +foreign and a perfect Chinese education. The difficulty felt was that +men with a perfect foreign education were too often unable to write +Chinese with sufficient elegance to satisfy the fastidious taste of the +cultivated Chinese scholar. All this conversation was carried on at +the dinner-table, chiefly through interpreters, with a crowd of Chinese +servants, excluded from the room, but looking through a window to watch +when our needs required their presence. + +{175} + +We discussed after tiffin the scheme for a University and the relations +between Confucianism and Christianity. His Excellency was much pleased +that I should take such interest in things Chinese, and immediately +said that as I had come all the way to China to inquire into these +things, I ought to receive every information. Turning to his +secretaries, he told them that on the next day they were to provide +scholars learned in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism to give me all +the information that I required, and arranged that the Consul and I +should return next day. He then suggested that we should go and +inspect the school that was next his palace, and in which his own +daughter was being educated. + +The school was for children of the highest class, and contained only +about thirty boys and thirty girls. He conducted a sort of informal +examination which I should have thought must have been extremely trying +for the children. His Excellency and myself came first, then two +interpreters, and then about twenty officials. When the scholars were +examined in Western knowledge, we were asked to put a question or to +look at a copy-book; when they were examined in Confucian knowledge, +His Excellency put the question, and the interpreters translated to me +both the question and the answer. The intelligence of the children was +of a very high order, and they were very attractive. The uniform of +the boys resembled that of a French schoolboy, though the cut of the +trousers showed that the {176} costume had been made by a Chinese +tailor, probably after a Japanese model. The girls were dressed in +grey coats and trousers and had natural feet; this was perhaps not +quite so remarkable as it at first appeared when one remembers that the +Viceroy is a Manchu, and the Manchus have never admired the distorted +foot of a Chinese woman; but as they went through their musical drill +one could not help thinking that the neat coat buttoned across and +reaching to the knees over loose trousers was about as ideal a dress as +has ever been invented for women. His Excellency did not fail to make +his own daughter stand up, and asked her many difficult questions, +which she answered very well in a calm and collected manner. After +showing us these schools His Excellency said that we must stop a third +day and see many of the other schools in Nanking. + +Next morning I was most distressed to find that my friend Mr. King, His +Majesty's Consul, was too unwell to attend the interview which I was to +have with the learned men of Nanking, and so with some trepidation lest +I should make sad faults in my manners without his kindly guidance, I +drove up to the Yamen. There I was received by a crowd of officials, +among whom were two great Confucian scholars with the Hanlin Degree, an +authority on Buddhism and an authority on Taoism, whose knowledge +subsequently proved to be extremely small. + +The courtesy of the Chinese officials, the charm of their manner, the +mixture of dignity and good nature {177} which is such a characteristic +of their behaviour, makes controversy with them delightful. I do not +think any one who has known them can be but greatly attracted by their +courtesy and kindness. All Chinese are courteous, but the Chinese +literati, perhaps naturally, greatly excel their fellow-countrymen in +this charming characteristic. I should add that the two interpreters +who were provided were men whose mastery of English was only equalled +by their wide learning and pleasant address. One of them had been in +England and was indeed a great traveller; he had ridden all through the +passes which separate India from Chinese Turkestan; he belonged to a +very great family, and traced his descent from one of the leading +pupils of Confucius. + +We discussed Confucianism first. I set the ball rolling by asking what +was meant by the phrase "superior man." The position was a pleasant +one; I was there to be instructed, and could therefore ask as many +questions as I chose. The "superior man" is a translation of a phrase +in the Chinese classics which perhaps might be better translated "ideal +man"; at least so I gathered from these gentlemen; and that in the +works of Confucius and Mencius his qualities are fully described. With +great joy the whole party fell upon the question, and next minute they +were engaged in a courteous polemic as to how exactly they should +describe the "superior man," and the answer came that he must be a +conscientious man, a man very true to himself, charitable, just and +{178} truthful. When they were pressed as to whether wealth was at all +necessary to the "ideal man," they indignantly repudiated the +suggestion; the "superior man" might equally be a beggar sitting by the +roadside or a Viceroy sitting in his palace. It was more interesting +when they were asked whether he need be a learned man. There was some +doubt and hesitation in the answers; the doctors again consulted with +one another, and the answer came, "No, learning was not at all +necessary." I asked whether the "ideal man" might be a non-Chinaman, +and it was held that he might belong to any race. But the next +question was far more difficult for them to answer. Nothing that they +had said prevented the "superior man" being a Christian; a Christian +might be true and conscientious and charitable. I quoted the case of a +foreign doctor living in their city, and asked how he failed to come +within their definition of the "superior man," but the Hanlin scholars +could not agree; no Christian, in their opinion, could be a "superior +man." But my interpreter added that he himself did not endorse this; +to his mind any man who fulfilled the requirements should be classed as +a "superior man." + +We then changed the conversation to the question of "whether Confucius +believed in God or not?" I had been instructed in this controversy by +one of the most learned missionaries in China, Dr. Ross of Mukden. +They maintained, as he told me they would maintain, that the Heaven of +Confucius meant Reason. {179} But Reason cannot possibly punish the +guilty, though the guilty might be punished by their want of Reason. +And as Confucius refers in several places to Heaven as a power that +punishes, the definition is obviously incorrect. It dates from a +philosopher called Chu. Again the learned men were absorbed in +controversy, every one enjoying such a discussion. The greatest number +still held to the doctrine that Heaven meant Reason, but a certain +number held that it meant a personal God. It ended in the controversy +becoming quite heated, and in a copy of Dr. Legge's translation of the +Chinese classics being fetched, so that I might fully understand their +different points of view. In the end we agreed that there was a +considerable force in the argument that Confucius believed in a +personal God. + +When I further asked how Reason could possibly punish a bad man when he +was dead, and how it was that many a bad man, as we all know, died in +wealth and prosperity, they answered that after death his memory was +punished by his bad deeds coming to light. I suggested that if a man +was dead this did not matter to him, and that Confucius' assertion that +punishment followed sin implied a future life. When they were further +asked whether Confucius taught that all secret sin should one day be +made public, there was an eloquent silence, and we dropped the subject. + +We then went on to discuss Buddhism, and a pleasant old gentleman +leaning on a stick was {180} brought up to instruct me in the doctrine +of Buddhism. It was obvious from the jocose and pleasant way the +matter was treated, that this was very different ground to the +philosophy of Confucius. Then, though everybody was courteous, +everybody was keenly and seriously interested, but Buddhism was +regarded as a most amusing topic; I was assured that only a few women +believed in it, and that none of those in the room gave it the +slightest credence. They explained to me why the Dalai Lama came to +Peking. Two of the disciples of Buddha had been reincarnated, and the +greatest of those two was the Dalai Lama, but it was impossible to tell +in which baby the reincarnation took place without coming to the Mongol +Temple at Peking; then lots were cast and the matter was settled. I +had my doubts whether the old gentleman was accurate, but clearly no +one else in the room had the smallest acquaintance with the subject; +they made a marked difference between the Buddhism of the Lama Temple +at Peking and that of the Monastery at Hangchow, which they called +Indian Buddhism, and said the district was often named Little India; +but when I tried to discover how many sects of Buddhists there were in +China, or what was the nature of their tenets, I could get no +information from these gentlemen. + +His Excellency Tuan-Fang joined us at this moment and asked whether I +could possibly read a Sanscrit manuscript that he had discovered, and +{181} which, from the Chinese notes appended to it, he gathered +referred to Buddhism. He also wished to discuss the origin of Chinese +characters; he had a theory that they came from Egypt, and he showed +many rubbings of hieroglyphics which he had had made from monuments in +Egypt to prove his point. + +But I wanted to ask some questions about Taoism. I had tried to +understand Taoism and had found it extremely difficult, and I thought +these cultured literati could give me some assistance. I was soon +undeceived. Nobody believed in Taoism, and they knew nothing of its +doctrine or of its worship. They suggested that the Taoist priests +were often to be found in a Buddhist temple, but one scholar said that +that was only because the Taoist priest liked to make a little money by +selling incense sticks. + +Then His Excellency turned the tables and began asking questions about +Christianity. The thing that troubled him was that the Bible which he +had read was in such poor style. He wanted to know whether I thought +our Blessed Saviour habitually wrote in good style or not. I explained +that He had originally spoken in Aramaic, which had been translated +into Greek, and from the Greek into English, and then had been +retranslated by Englishmen into Chinese, so naturally the Chinese +version could but inadequately represent the full beauty of His words. +It is worthy of notice how much the Chinese mind is attracted by all +purely literary subjects, and how {182} little they care about physical +science. For instance, when the Viceroy asked me about the sun +standing still in the Book of Joshua, which led us into natural +science, it was immediately obvious that this was a subject in which +these gentlemen took no interest. + +We then repaired to a sumptuous luncheon prepared entirely in Chinese +fashion. The viands were exquisitely cooked, and comprised bird's-nest +soup, shark's fins, white fungus, and all the usual Chinese delicacies. +The hospitality of my host made me regret that the capacity of a human +body is limited, and if it were not for the excellency of the Chinese +cooking, dyspepsia must have been the result. Over luncheon we +discussed all manner of topics, and I noticed how extremely sensitive +my hosts were to the slightest want of manners. They referred to a +mutual friend, a European, in the severest terms because he lacked in +courtesy. They discussed also the question of foot-binding. They were +convinced that the habit is being given up, and they assured me that it +did cause girls excruciating agony. They said the younger generation +of Chinese gentlemen would not marry women with deformed feet. + +I left the Yamen a great admirer of the culture that could make men so +pleasant. If they lacked directness as controversialists, they were +most agreeable in their extreme civility and their imperturbable good +humour. I shall always look back to my days at Nanking as some of the +pleasantest of my life. + + + + +{183} + +CHAPTER XV + +ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS IN CHINA + +It is only just to put in the forefront of the influences that are +Christianising and changing China the French, Italian, and other +missions of the Roman Catholic Communion. Our first contact with the +wonderful work which these missions are accomplishing was in French +China, at that very interesting but most pestilential locality, Saigon. +We were received with the greatest kindness by the Sous-Gouverneur at +the French Government House, a palatial residence worthy rather of an +emperor than a governor, compared to which Government House at +Hong-Kong seemed but a cottage. Yet even there life was hardly +bearable even under an electric fan. The heat was stifling. It had +been impossible to drive out except in the middle of the night, and so +we were entertained by being taken by night to see our first glimpse of +Chinese civilisation, for the Chinese once dominated this country, and +have left their civilisation behind them. + +Driving back, our French host regaled us with stories of the people, +and incidentally mentioned the great power which Christianity has in +these colonies. We were much impressed by his {184} testimony to the +efficiency of mission work, for the French official is far from +favourable to the Roman Catholic Church. He told us not only was a +large part of the country round Saigon Christian, but Christianity was +such a vital thing that the Church had no difficulty in getting +sufficient money to build splendid churches. Next day I called on the +Bishop. He was a splendid type of Roman Catholic missionary, with his +white beard and his courtly manners. We found several such in our +wanderings, for Catholic missions are spread all over China, and have +been founded many years. He spoke of the great success of the work, +and thought that the hostility of the French Government was in some +ways preferable to their patronage, for the personal lives of many of +the officials are far from admirable. Their morality would better +befit our Restoration Period than the twentieth century. A Governor's +mistress was a person recognised and courted by official society, and +it was perhaps to the advantage of the mission that in the native mind +Christianity was dissociated from such evil doings. + +I asked him how he supported the climate, which we had found barely +endurable for two days. He replied that the climate was quite cool to +the missionary who lived a chaste and temperate life, but that the +Government found it terrible for their officials. This may be quite +true, but still I think chaste and temperate Englishmen would find the +climate of Saigon intolerable. We do not make {185} sufficient +allowance in speaking of a healthy or unhealthy climate for the origin +of the missionary. If he comes from Marseilles in the South of France, +it is not perhaps wonderful that he should find the countries which are +not hotter than his native land in the summer quite tolerable. + +The history of Catholic missions is apparently to be divided into three +periods. The first period terminates in 1742 and commences with the +first mission of the Jesuits under Father Ricci in 1584. During this +period the Roman Catholic missions, directed by a series of men of +extreme ability, endeavoured and nearly succeeded in converting China +from the "top downwards," for, owing to their wonderful scientific +attainments, the missionaries received important posts under the +Chinese Government. The fall of the Ming dynasty and the conquest of +China by the Manchus only served to improve their position; they +directed not only the Government astronomical observatory, but they +even superintended the arsenal and became the cartographers of the +empire. They had many adherents chiefly among the learned. +Christianity, like Confucianism, had commended itself to the intellect +of the country. In pursuit of this policy they endeavoured to +harmonise Christianity with the thought of the literati of China; such +a process was no doubt extremely dangerous, but they thought that it +was possible to tolerate ancestor worship and the adoration of +Confucius; whether they were right or {186} whether they were wrong, +while they did it Christianity had many educated adherents. + +Another kind of missionary next appeared in China, the Dominicans, who +made up in fanaticism for what they lacked in wisdom. These men +offended every prejudice of the Chinese; they taught the harshest and +narrowest form of the Roman Catholic doctrine. The foot was to be made +to fit the shoe, and not the shoe to fit the foot. There were riots +and troubles, and the Dominicans blamed the highly placed Jesuits and +freely accused them of having denied the faith and of having accepted +high office as the reward for unfaithfulness. Appeals were made to +Rome. Rome, many thousands of miles away, wavered, unable probably to +understand either the controversy or its importance. The heroism of +missionaries travelling over miles of sea and being shipwrecked in +their endeavours to reach Rome reads like a romance. But in 1742 the +matter was finally settled by Benedict XIV. in a Bull "Ex quo +singulari," and the Jesuits were defeated--a defeat which was completed +by their suppression in China in 1773. + +With their defeat the Roman missions entered on the second period of +their history. They were no longer directed by very able men, and they +became rather the Church of the poor than of the rich. They +experienced constant persecution, and, to gain weight and position, +they finally accepted the French, who were then in the zenith of their +power, as their {187} patrons. Such a course necessarily involved that +they must do all they could to further the French interests, and the +Roman Catholic missions became more and more an adjunct of French +diplomacy, defended by France and on their side advancing the interests +of the French. It is impossible to say exactly when this policy began. +Louis XIV. had sent large gifts to the Emperor of China, but he does +not seem to have had any intentions beyond giving countenance and +weight to the Roman Catholic missions. Some one pointed out to +Napoleon I. the great value of China, and the man of great ideas, +always dreaming of that Empire in the East which he was never to found, +clearly thought there was something to be made of this. He helped the +missionary societies with funds--it is curious to think of Napoleon I. +as the supporter of foreign missions. This act came, like most other +French secrets of the time, to the ears of Pitt; and he managed that +the information should reach the Emperor of China, and sent through a +safe channel advice that the Emperor of China should look upon the +Roman missions as dangerous and France as a "wicked power." Whether +this advice would have been taken to heart or not is doubtful. Roman +missions were unpopular in China; still they had powerful friends; but +the discovery of one of their missionaries with maps of China intended +for the use of foreign countries convinced her of the truth of the +English suggestion, and Roman missions were put {188} down at the +beginning of the nineteenth century with a relentless hand. In 1840 +there broke out the first foreign war between China and the West, and +after this Catholic missions became more and more an appanage of French +policy. Whether the French had distantly intended the conquest of +China, or whether they merely looked upon China as an outlet for her +trade, they used the Catholic missions as a means whereby French +interests should be pushed. Certainly the author of _Les Missions +Catholiques Françaises_ does not hesitate to suggest that France was +rewarded for the protection of missions by an increased trade. + +In 1842, as the result of a war, a treaty was signed to which we have +before referred, and in 1860 it was followed by another. Both gave +missionaries extensive rights. Can you wonder that the peace-loving +Chinaman, looking back on history, finds it difficult to understand why +the preachers of the gospel of love should have been so often followed +by the armies and fleets of the military races of the West? The coping +stone to this policy of propagating Christianity by the power and +influence of a foreign nation was placed by an edict which just +preceded the Boxer movement. That edict astonished even the Roman +Catholics, for the author of _Les Missions Catholiques Françaises au +XIX. Siècle_ speaks of the extraordinary surprise it was to the Roman +Catholic body. This edict ordained that bishops and priests should +have official rank in China; that the bishops {189} should be equal in +rank to viceroys and governors, and the vicars-general and the +arch-priests should be equal to treasurers and judges, while the other +priests should be equal to prefects of the first and second class; and +that if any question of importance arose in connection with the +missions, the bishop or missionaries should call in the intervention of +the Minister or Consul to whom the Pope had confided the protection of +the Catholics. The edict closes with three injunctions. First, that +the people in general were to live at peace with the Catholics; +secondly, that the bishops should instruct the Catholics to live at +peace with the rest of the world; and lastly, that the judges should +judge fairly between Catholics and non-Catholics. + +This edict can perhaps be regarded rather as a victory of French +diplomacy than of the Roman Church. French diplomacy had converted the +whole of the Roman Catholic work into an agency for the national +aggrandisement of France; the Roman Catholic Church had sold herself to +the French Government; her old traditional policy of employing the +powers of this world to propagate Christianity had involved her in this +position; and she had presented Christianity to her converts as +something which, however great its spiritual gain, had also very real +temporal advantages. The Church was a great society which would defend +you in this world just as it would give you promises of security in the +world to come. So she had instituted a regular system by which her +adherents were defended in any lawsuit or attack. {190} This +interference in lawsuits was, however, not peculiar to the Roman +Catholics. It is an old Chinese custom--a custom in which both Romans +and other denominations have acquiesced; still it was exaggerated by +the Roman Catholic Church till it brought down upon her the anger of +the Chinese official world. + +It is hard for a Westerner, with his ideas of an independent court of +justice, to comprehend the system. A lawsuit is not regarded in China +as a thing to be settled simply on its merits. They are only a factor +in the decision. The general desire is that, if all things are equal, +justice shall be done; but together with justice the judge has to +consider the social position of the litigants and their power of +vengeance or of reward. The best analogy to a Chinese lawsuit is an +English election. If you read the speeches and addresses you will +conceive that the whole desire of a candidate engaged in an English +election is that justice should be done, but in practice you soon +discover that the influence of individuals has to be considered as +well. A candidate who always disregards justice is universally +condemned; but a candidate who wilfully offends powerful people, who is +not prepared to give and take, to sacrifice a conviction here, to push +forward a little beyond the line of justice there, is equally unable to +gain the suffrages of the voters; and in China the judge stands in the +same position as the candidate does in England. If he is convinced +that a certain {191} cause is backed by very powerful people who can +secure him a better appointment and a higher salary, or who if angered +might even succeed in getting him dismissed from his post, he decides +the case in that litigant's favour. If, on the other hand, the parties +are about equally matched in influence and power, like the English +candidate he then considers the justice of the case; and therefore the +first thing a litigant does is to try and secure all the influential +support within his reach. Chinese officials told me that they have to +have their cards printed with "for visiting purposes only" written on +them, otherwise they are stolen and used without their knowledge in the +furtherance of some lawsuit, and English Protestant missionaries +confirmed the story. + +Though this interference in lawsuits is a universal custom, its extreme +use is peculiar to the Roman Catholics. To attack a Roman Catholic was +to bring the whole strength of his mission, with the diplomacy of +France behind it, against you. It was in furtherance of this policy +that the Roman Catholics were anxious to hold official rank. An +official will not speak to any one below his rank; the missionary finds +access to the Viceroys very difficult; but if the Roman Hierarchy had +this high official rank, the Bishop had only to pay a visit in his +green official chair, when, by the strict etiquette of China, he must +be received with all politeness, and his visit must be returned. To +procure these privileges the Roman Catholics were prepared to sell to +France the large {192} and undoubted influence they had among many +thousands in China. There is a certain poetic justice in the Roman +Catholic Church suffering from the actions of the French Government at +home. + +Still justice compels us to remember that they have not been alone in +this policy. Missionaries of other faiths and other lands have both +relied on the defence of foreign powers and have interfered with the +lawsuits of their converts. A Protestant missionary from the Southern +States of America frankly defended the system. He boldly asserted that +non-interference in a lawsuit would be simply misunderstood by the +Chinese. When he was young he had absolutely refused to interfere in a +case where a widow was being oppressed, and a non-Christian Chinese +gentleman had interviewed him, and after some circumlocution, had +remonstrated with him on his hardness of heart, that he, a teacher of +the religion of love, should neglect the widow in her necessity. +Still, the Roman Church, as in Ireland, as in France, as in Italy, is +an institution which is essentially political; and the traditional +policy of the Roman Church has been followed in China with the +invariable result, first, that when the power of the State is used to +promote her tenets she grows strong, and next when that power is +withdrawn or becomes hostile she feels the loss of the earthly support +on which she has relied and apparently grows weaker. This is, however, +only transitory; the Roman Church, for instance, is growing stronger, +not weaker, now {193} that she has lost the support of French +diplomacy, and the missions have entered upon their third epoch when +they are preaching Christianity without any special support of a +foreign government and are succeeding. For there are few bodies of +people in this world who are more heroic and devoted than the Roman +missionaries; they have died by fever, have been massacred, they live +on a miserable pittance; I was told that one enlightened missionary, +once a Professor in Paris University, lived on £12 a year; and their +heroism and self-denial reaps a large reward. + +Their most beautiful and most successful works are the orphanages which +they maintain. They accept any of those children whom the Chinese +mothers cast out to die, either because of their poverty or because +they are girls. These children are brought up with infinite care and +kindness, and are taught embroidery, lace-making, and other trades. No +more beautiful sight can be seen than one of these orphanages, with the +happy children hard at work and rejoicing as only Chinese rejoice in +pleasant labour. When these children grow up they are married to +Christians, and from them springs a native Christian population, which +has never known any of the horrors of heathenism. As a rule they live +in small societies. I believe there is an island on the Yangtsze which +is entirely peopled by Christians. The work may be great, but the cost +is great too. Many a life has been laid down so that these children +might be Christians. + +{194} + +I recall one scene at Ichang. There rises near the town a great +orphanage, and when we visited it, we found the French sisters looking +weary and whiter than their white robes. An epidemic of smallpox had +broken out in the orphanage, and out of 140 orphans, 28 had died of +small-pox, besides which the sisters had suffered themselves from +malaria. One could but admire the devotion of these women living far +off from their own country, tending children whom no one else would +tend, and gaining as their reward hatred and misunderstanding from the +Chinese. A Bishop belonging to this mission had been murdered, and a +lay brother told me that it was because they were accused of stealing +children to make Western medicine out of their eyes. This strange +slander arises apparently from the desire, which is not understood by +the Chinese, to save and preserve the lives of other people's children. +Chinese ethics have no place for such altruism. Your duty never +extends beyond your own relations, either by blood or from official +position. There is another reason, however, for this notion. The +Roman Catholics have a system of native agents who are prepared to +baptize any child, whether of heathen or Christian parents, who is +dying. This system is very well organised. Some of these agents +perambulate districts and some remain at fixed points. Perhaps not +unnaturally the Chinese cannot understand this methodical search for +dying children, and as a reason must be found, and as the reason that +seems most probable to the Chinese {195} mind is some form of personal +gain, they have invented this slander. + +Whether we approve or disapprove the general action of the Roman +Catholics--and our feelings are probably very mixed on this subject--we +must recognise that they are a very great factor in the change that is +coming over China. For centuries they have stood before the Chinese as +associating with Christianity the science and the knowledge the Chinese +have always admired. The wonderful work done by the Jesuits of the +eighteenth century has established a tradition of excellent scientific +work which is well maintained by the learned brothers of the Ziccawei +Observatory. Many hundreds of lives have been saved at sea by the +splendid meteorological service they have organised, and the sailor who +cares nothing for Roman or for Protestant walks down on the Bund to see +what the Ziccawei brothers can tell him about the probability of a +typhoon. The benefit of their service, though great, is not limited to +the number of lives of mariners that their science preserves; their +science is an object-lesson to the Chinese--an object-lesson especially +useful at a time when materialism is taunting Christianity with +obscurantism. + +Missionaries in the field do not entirely recognise the connection that +exists between their own work and the work of other denominations. The +man on the mission field sees his bit of work, and realises that it is +a failure or that it is a success, but he does not {196} realise how +intimately associated that success or failure is with world movements +over which he has but the very slightest control. These world +movements are dependent on many factors that must be beyond his direct +knowledge, and one of the factors that influence the success of +Protestant missions is the wide influence of Catholic work. Conversely +every new Protestant mission that opens the door of a school or a +college probably tends to augment the number of Roman Catholics in +China. The question put to the Chinaman is not, "Will you be Roman or +Protestant?" That was the question that was put to the European in the +sixteenth century. The question is, "Will you become a materialist or +a Christian?" And the answer he makes must be largely affected by his +experience of the intellectual efficiency and high moral tone of those +he calls Christians. I despair of persuading my Protestant friends +that the reputation of the Ziccawei brothers is a valuable asset in +evangelical work, and I equally despair of persuading the Roman +Catholic that the splendid educational establishments of American +Protestantism is one of the reasons why their numbers are increasing by +leaps and bounds; but the Chinaman would probably think the remark +self-obvious. + +How small the differences appear that we think so profound was first +brought home to me as we passed through the Red Sea on the French mail +in company with a body of Coptic schoolmasters who were going to +civilise Menelik's subjects in Abyssinia. {197} As it was Sunday +morning these young men came up to me to ask an explanation of the +ceremony of ship inspection which is performed with some pomp by the +French captain on that day. With a wholly exaggerated idea as to the +religiosity of the French they had concluded that this was a Christian +ceremony, and when I had explained to them that on a French ship it was +illegal to have a service, they were distressed, for they explained +that though they had been educated in many different quarters, they +were all in agreement on religious matters. One had been educated in +the Protestant College in Beyrout, and another had been educated in the +Jesuit College at Cairo, which, he added in explanation, is practically +the same thing. This statement would be regarded as accurate by the +average Chinaman. + +At any rate, no one can doubt the importance of Roman Catholic work in +China. They now claim to have over a million of adherents, served by +nearly two thousand priests, and when one reads that they declare that +they have made in Peking alone thirty-three thousand converts in one +year, one realises what a power they are in the Christianisation of +China. In the West such figures would mean the downfall of +Protestantism, but in China such figures mean the growth of a common +Christianity which all denominations can influence and in which all +denominations can have a share. Remember, though a million Christians +sounds a vast number, it is small compared with the four hundred +millions who now form the population of China. + + + + +{198} + +CHAPTER XVI + +OTHER MISSIONS + +Though the Roman Catholic missions were first in the field by several +centuries, it must not be supposed that they are now the only Christian +influence at work. The work of other bodies is extensive and very +important. The pioneer society was the London Mission, which began +work under Dr. Morrison in 1807. Very soon after them the British and +Foreign Bible Society began work in 1812. But no great mission work +was undertaken till after the treaty of 1842. Then society after +society sprang up. One of the earliest was the Church of England +Missionary Society, which has a very extensive work, especially in +Eastern China. Among the earliest of its missionaries were the two +veteran brothers, Bishop Moule and Archdeacon Moule, who have for half +a century ordered its ranks with courage and self-denial. The +Presbyterian Mission was not long behind them, and the American +Methodist Missions began work practically at the same time; and so +missions have gone on increasing till there are over sixty missions, +over and above the Roman Catholic Missions, at work in China, with a +staff of over three thousand five hundred white workers and a {199} +body of converts numbering over a quarter of a million. + +The people who are opposed to missions will immediately say what a +regrettable thing it is that Christianity should present such a picture +of division to the heathen, and they will probably find a great number +of people who are sympathetically inclined to missions and who +cordially agree with them. There can be no doubt that it would be far +better if the Christian Church presented a picture of unity to the +whole world. It would be far better that we should all think alike; +but if we cannot think alike, it would be a great mistake to seek for +unity by encouraging people to suppress their convictions. Unity is +very valuable, but it can never be so valuable as are truth and +honesty. Far better to accept the truth and say that there is a +difference of opinion rather than by denying the truth and concealing +the divisions that really exist to give a false appearance of unity. +If this is true of other parts of the world, it is even more true of +China. Her national tendency is to regard conviction as of little +importance, and on the other hand to lay great stress on uniformity. +Perhaps one should say that this is the natural result of an autocratic +government. Autocratic government naturally encourages the doctrine +that everybody should agree with the autocrat. Now the advance of the +West has been accomplished by encouraging liberty of opinion, therefore +the people who are to expound the great doctrines of Western +civilisation rightly appear before {200} the Chinese world showing a +great diversity of view. + +It is most regrettable when liberty is exchanged for tyranny, when the +acceptance of one opinion involves the persecution of another, when +Christians not only differ but persecute and thwart each other's +efforts. This may be an evil in our own land, an evil which we hope +will soon pass away, but in China that evil does not exist except +between the Roman and the non-Roman bodies. + +There are great differences of opinion. The extreme Ritualist position +is ably represented in China, the ultra-Protestant position has equally +able representatives, and I have seen them uniting in the Shanghai +Conference in defence of the Apostles' Creed against a Latitudinarian +attack. To the Chinese I think they present not the aspect of +different bodies opposing one another, but rather different regiments +of the same army intent on overthrowing the same enemy; and though they +are clothed in a different uniform and use different weapons they serve +under the same general. + +[Illustration: TRAVELLING IN CHINA--OLD STYLE. A RAILWAY STATION--NEW +STYLE] + +The American bodies are far the richest. Whether it is that the United +States is a richer country than England, or whether it is that they are +more liberal in their gifts to missions, or whether it is that they are +more inclined to spend their money on Chinese missions, the result is +certain, the American missions have every advantage that money can +give. Their splendid educational establishments are a feature in {201} +many towns. If the American missions have the advantage of the English +missions in money, both British and American missions have an equal +right to claim that they have as representatives in China a body of +self-denying and enthusiastic men. It would be invidious to make any +reference to the excellence of any special mission. Among the British +missions, the London Mission claims indeed the greatest number of +converts, though the Church Missionary Society does not come far behind +it. Again, the Presbyterian Missions and the China Inland Mission have +a large and growing work. The latter is a most curious development of +missionary policy. The missionaries, differing in many doctrinal +particulars, have agreed to co-operate under the name of China Inland +Missions in the west of China; they have agreed not to oppose each +other in any way, and to give each other mutual support. They are +under the head of a director who organises and arranges their separate +provinces. A great feature of this scheme is that they effect a large +saving in the expenses of mission work by co-operation. A white man +cannot live in many districts in China without a supply of medicines +and some Western comforts; they arrange for the forwarding of these +things, and help the missionaries in their journeys. + +Bishop Cassels is at once a member of this mission and of the C.M.S. +He is a splendid example of the courage that is necessary for +missionary work. He has been through the Gorges of the Yangtsze twenty +{202} times. Once he was unwise enough to forsake the small native +boat in which he habitually travels and to entrust himself to a +steamer, which, under the pilotage of a German captain, was going to +attempt the rapids. They did very well till they happened to bump on a +rock, when the captain lost his head, and instead of beaching her, he +tried to anchor. The water surged in and soon put out his fires, thus +preventing him from raising his anchor, with the result that the ship +gradually filled and sank and the passengers had to swim for their +lives. + +The S.P.G. Mission is excellently manned, but suffers much from want of +pecuniary support. I cannot help feeling that if it was but once +realised how important it is that the capital of China, whither resort +all the intellectual and ambitious men of China, should thoroughly +understand the logical position and the reverent worship of the Church +of England, that the necessary funds would be forthcoming. It is most +desirable that China should understand that there is a _via media_ +between Rome and Protestantism. + +Without wishing in any way to detract from the necessity for missions +to other parts of the world, we may point out that China has at this +moment a very special claim. No one would say that the mission work in +India or in Africa demands within the next few years that the +intellectual side of Christianity should be thoroughly explained, but +this is actually the case in China. The intellectual men of {203} +China who gather together at Peking are now demanding to know what +truth there is in Christianity. They must be answered by men as +intellectual as themselves, who will be able with courtesy and force to +convince them that Christianity is a religion that is thoroughly +consistent both with modern science and with the intellectual progress +of the world. + +No better mission to undertake that work can be conceived than the +North China Mission of the Church of England. This mission, under the +leadership of Bishop Scott, represents with dignity the tolerant and +reverential attitude of the Church of England. One cannot help +thinking that if he had a sufficiently liberal support, so that he +could have a college where he could undertake the education of some of +those future statesmen of China who are desiring to understand Western +things, that his mission might be the means of encouraging a movement +towards Christianity among the scholars and statesmen of China. That +distinguished Baptist missionary, Dr. Timothy Richard, told me that he +thought that the dignity of the Church of England, especially as so +ably represented by Bishop Scott, might be a great asset in convincing +the Chinese literati that Christianity was a religion which would +harmonise with their love of order and dignity. + +Of missions of other nations we saw one or two examples, but they are +few in number if you except the Roman Catholic Missions. It is rather +a pity that the Scandinavian Missions do not throw all their {204} +effort into work in Manchuria; few races would endure the bitter cold +of Manchuria better than they, and Manchuria is readier to accept +Western ideas than perhaps any other part of China. She has felt and +realised the pressure of the West, she has suffered under the burden of +Russian domination, she has seen the Westernised armies of conquering +Japan put to flight the northern invader. As we stood on the 203 Metre +Hill and realised on that shattered hill-top how Manchuria has seen the +full force of the destructive power of Western civilisation; as we +counted the wrecks that then lay at the mouth of the harbour; as we +looked at each shattered homestead, yes, and at the bones that were +still unburied, we felt that the great land of Manchuria has a special +need that some one should show her that Western civilisation can indeed +produce something more lovely than shells and bayonets. + +I am happy to be able to say that a splendid work is being carried on +by the Presbyterian Missions; they have shown to the Northern Chinese +another form of courage than that which was shown by the warriors of +Russia and Japan. Two stories remain in my mind among many. First a +story of the old days before Russia had made the Trans-Siberian +Railway, before the Japanese had for the first time taken Port Arthur. +A British mission doctor was at work. The Chinese, _more suo_, had +determined to get rid of this example of the mercy of Western +civilisation. They did not dare to kill him openly, so they sent a +{205} messenger who feigned to have come from a sick man out in the +country. The doctor and his Chinese dresser, unconscious of the plot, +readily obeyed the summons. They noticed that a child followed them, +and they did their best to induce him to go home, but he would not. +When they arrived at the village inn they discovered that the sick man +did not exist. They were in doubt what to do, when suddenly the door +was thrown open and several of the soldiers of the Viceroy's bodyguard +rushed in, and seizing the two, they declared that they had stolen a +child to make medicine out of his eyes. They then proceeded to torture +the doctor by tying his hands behind his back and suspending him by +them to the roof. Such was the agony that the doctor lost +consciousness. They then took him down, and he was put into a +loathsome Chinese prison, where he was exposed to mental torture as +severe as the physical torture which he had already endured. He was +told that he would be beheaded, and every preparation was made, and +then at the last moment he was taken back to the prison. This was +repeated till they thought they had shattered his nerve, and then he +was allowed to go free. With that calm courage which has so often +characterised the action of the members of the missionary body he +returned to his work fearless of death and torture. + +Another story, which has its humorous side, was also told us. At the +time of the Russian occupation of Newchwang, the Russians had, as we +have {206} described above, been "pacifying" the town, and a crowd of +terrified Chinese had taken refuge in the Presbyterian Mission +compound, where there was only one lady. She, however, came from +Belfast, and had all the courage of the Northern Irish in her veins. A +body of Russian soldiers came towards the mission with the intention of +shooting the Chinese. She took a horsewhip in her hand, and regardless +of the loaded rifle or the bloody bayonet, commenced to belabour the +soldiers with it. There are some things which are understood by all +nations, and the use of the horse-whip was at once appreciated by the +Russians, who fled before her, leaving her a victor and the saviour of +her Chinese friends. + +I know people say that women should not be exposed to the risks of a +missionary's life, but the answer is that were women not employed, half +the mission work would be left undone and the heroism with which women +have endured death and danger has been no small factor in the spread of +Christianity and in producing the change in China. + + + + +{207} + +CHAPTER XVII + +THE EFFECT OF WESTERN LITERATURE IN CHINA + +Among the influences that have awakened China, outside the great lesson +of political events, none has been more influential than literature in +its many branches. The Chinese have always been a literary race. They +invented printing about the same time that the savage Saxons welcomed +the first book written by the Venerable Bede, and the influence of +literature has therefore held sway many hundred years in China. But +for the last six hundred years there have not been many works of +original thought produced in native literature. Most of their writings +have been commentaries on the Classics following along the beaten +paths, or works of poetry full of references to the Shi-King or the +classic poetry of the Chinese. The literature of China is +characteristic of her civilisation. It is confined by an artificiality +which has its origin in an inordinate respect for the past and an +absolute distrust of the future. Every book looks backward to the +period when China's thought was pure and great. + +This period continued till the Anglo-Saxon influence made itself felt +through its missions. Very early in the history of Protestant missions +it was {208} perceived that in a country like China some other appeal +must be made than could be made by the white missionary. A nation +reverencing the printed page to such a degree that men will carefully +pick up a piece of paper and put it on one side rather than trample it +heedlessly, for fear lest that piece of paper should contain words of +wisdom, is obviously a nation that can best be reached through printed +matter, and so Dr. Morrison, the pioneer of Protestant missions, +devoted the greater part of his missionary life to translating the Holy +Scriptures. The matter was not so simple as might appear to those who +are only conversant with the civilisation of younger and less +artificial races than the Chinese. It is not enough to translate a +work into Chinese; the spoken language is nowhere used for literature. +The literary language commonly called Wenli probably never was spoken, +and is so full of artificial rules of construction that it is only +after many years that a man can hope to write it efficiently. +Chang-Chih-Tung says that it requires ten years for a Chinaman to +become an efficient translator. That does not mean that it takes ten +years for a Chinaman to learn English, but ten years for a man to be +able to put into good Chinese the thoughts that he has learned from the +West. + +The written language of China, it should be remembered, is not a +language in which sounds are portrayed by means of signs as it is with +Western languages. Each character represents an idea, the only analogy +in our language being the numerals and {209} some few signs we have for +simple words such as "cross" or "and." Therefore when new ideas are +developed new signs are required. These can be created out of old +signs. For instance, I understand that a railway engine is called a +fire carriage. This, by the way, caused great confusion of mind in a +certain district to the Christian converts who were conversant with the +story of Elijah, for some of them erroneously concluded that Elijah +left this earth in a railway train. + +Another instance of the difficulty of expressing new things was +afforded when a certain mission started work in China. They were in +some perplexity as to the title that they should choose for their +society. They wanted to convey to the Chinese that their denomination +claimed especially to feed the souls of men. They explained all this +to an educated Chinaman, and quoted some well-known texts. He +immediately wrote down two characters, and assured them that they +represented what they had said about the spiritual food that they +provided, and would also be very popular with the Chinese, as indeed it +proved. The moment they opened the door of the chapel they were +besieged by hundreds of Chinese of the poorer class, who, after +listening for a short time, went away discontentedly. The missionaries +found out afterwards that the title they had been given literally +translated was "Health-giving Free Restaurant," a most attractive title +to the hungry Chinaman. + +There is indeed another way of representing new {210} words. The word +can be borrowed bodily from another language and pronounced in a +Chinese way, and the word-signs which best represent the sounds can +then be employed. This is often done with proper names. For instance, +a great Chinese statesman told me that he referred to Sir Edward Grey +in his despatches to China by three signs which had the three sounds Ga +La Hay, but this system is obviously open to misconstruction, because +the reader might be tempted to give the words their normal meaning. I +believe that such terms as X-rays and ultimatum have been so adopted +bodily into the Chinese language. Ninety per cent., however, of the +new word-signs which go to make up what the Chinese call modern style +are new combinations of ancient ideographs. + +One of the pioneers in this translation work said at the Shanghai +Conference that the first thing a missionary had to do before he could +convert the people was to convert the language. Until he had invented +a new set of word-sounds to convey Christian ideas, the preaching of +Christianity laboured under the very greatest disadvantage. The "term +controversy," that is, the controversy as to what sign should be chosen +to signify the Christian's God, was an example of this. It arose first +in the Roman Communion and afterwards gave great trouble to other +Communions. The choice lay between three terms--one signifying +originally "Supreme Ruler," one "Heaven," and the last "Spirit," none +of which quite {211} expressed our idea of God. What Christians felt +was felt by other translators also, and one of the great causes of +advance in China has been the formation of a language which can now +thoroughly express all the ideas that are characteristic of the West. +Many of these word-signs come from Japan. Japan, using the same +written script as China, and having accepted Western thought, is more +easily able to compose the word-sign necessary for its expression, and +it is in this way among many others that the influence of Japan will be +very important if not paramount in far Eastern countries. + +Every missionary body has tried to produce Christian literature; the +great difficulty has been to get the translator. The method usually +employed is to get a Chinese graduate, too often not a Christian, and +to make him, under careful supervision, write down the phrases rendered +by the missionary into Chinese. Even so the difficulties are very +great. The object of literature is differently understood in the West +and in the East. A Chinese scholar who was very conversant with both +languages explained the difficulties by the following anecdote. +Engrossed in the study of Western knowledge he had neglected his +Chinese literature, and was in imminent danger of failing in his +examination. Happily for him the night before his examination he read +a classical author much admired by connoisseurs but not much read owing +to his great obscurity of expression. A particularly recondite {212} +phrase dwelt in his memory because it had cost him so much trouble to +discover its meaning. Next day he used the phrase in his paper, and +when his paper was returned to him with the marks of the examiner upon +it, it was obvious that it was this phrase, surrounded on all sides by +the marks of his examiner's approbation, which had been the means of +his passing that examination. Subsequently he went to Chicago +University. "There," he said, with the quiet humour of a Chinaman, "I +learnt that the object of an essay was to convey an idea in as simple a +manner as possible. This is not the Chinese plan." + +One of the pioneers in this work was the body which is now called the +Christian Literature Society for China. Assisted by a brilliant staff, +Dr. Timothy Richard has produced a great mass of excellent work which +has profound influence on thought in China. No better test can be +found of the wonderful work that they have done than the fact that the +greatest statesman that China possessed, and also her greatest +Confucianist scholar, should refer to one of their publications, _The +Review of the Times_, as one of the causes of China's enlightenment. +The Christian Literature Society has not, however, been the only +labourer in the field. Good work has been done by the Religious Tract +Society, which has depôts in various parts of China for the sale of +good literature; and there have been other societies which have also +published books, including the Mission Press, belonging {213} to the +Roman Catholics, which is situated at Hong-Kong. + +But in speaking of Christian literature we must not forget the various +Bible Societies which have done such varied and excellent work in +China, chief among which has been the British and Foreign Bible +Society. Far beyond where the white missionary could reach, the +productions of this Society have penetrated; even right across the +deserts of Mongolia have their colporteurs carried their wares. Of the +conversations which I had with various Chinese gentlemen one was +especially remarkable as a testimony to their activity. My +interlocutor was one of those fat lazy men who enjoy the good things of +life and care but little for serious matters, and yet I was surprised +to find that he was obviously acquainted with, at any rate, some of the +tenets of the Christian faith, and I wondered how this indolent man had +obtained such knowledge. I felt certain that his dignity would never +have permitted him to have talked to a Christian missionary, much less +to have listened to a Christian sermon. At last he incidentally +mentioned that though a Confucianist he was well acquainted with the +Gospel of St. Mark. I could not well ask him how he had obtained it, +but no doubt it had come to him through the means of the British and +Foreign Bible Society. + +We happened upon another example of the influence of the Bible Society. +We were coming down on the boat from Canton, and, walking on the +Chinese {214} deck, I saw a man smoking opium and reading an English +book. As I saw he knew English, I addressed him; under the influence +of opium, he was wonderfully communicative. The book turned out to be +St. John's Gospel, and he was reading about our Lord's Crucifixion. He +had only picked it up because he wanted to improve his English, but he +was deeply impressed by it, and his comments were most interesting. He +asked me whether it was true that when our Lord was crucified He had +stood alone against all the power of the Jews and the Romans, and when +he received an answer in the affirmative, he added, "Then He must have +been Divine, for no man who was not Divine could have stood alone." To +the Chinese mind, which is incapable of any separate action, which is +powerless unless it has the moral support of the Government, of a +Guild, or even of a secret society, the story of the Crucifixion +appeals most strongly as an example of Divine strength of purpose. +This strange contrast between the opium-smoker and the Bible was +typical of China. The forces of good and evil were wrestling together +for the possession of that man's life; the forces of good having been +put into his hands no doubt by the instrumentality of some Bible +Society. + +But the good work that has been directly done by all these societies +has been greatly augmented by the good work that they have done +indirectly through the medium of some of their converts. A body of +Christian young men determined to start {215} a publishing house on +their own account, the object of which should be that the published +books, both translations and original works, should best convey to the +Chinese mind lofty and noble ideas in Western thought. If these books +were not intended to be definitely propagandist they were at least +calculated to teach the ethical system of Christianity. The work of +the Shanghai Commercial Press has had a great influence on the thought +of China; from thence has issued forth a mass of literature both for +schools and for the general public which has introduced Western thought +to the Chinese. Many of our standard authors have been translated, and +the Chinaman, moved by his love of literature, is now becoming +intimately acquainted with every literary activity of our civilisation. +When one looks at those strange word-signs it seems hard to believe +that any one could read them with ease and rapidity; yet Chinamen say, +though writing is a matter of great difficulty and requires much time, +reading the characters is quicker than reading our system of printing, +each idea being conveyed by one sign, instead of, as in our language, +by many letters. + +These signs are apparently things to which sentiment attaches. We +heard a most interesting debate at the Conference of the Anglican +Church at Shanghai as to the title by which the Anglican body should be +generally known, and it was instructive to watch the differences +between the views of the English and the Chinese minds on the question, +as the debate {216} was translated by a most able interpreter, Mr. +Tsen. We began with what threatened to be a rather dreary Anglo-Saxon +debate between the High and the Low Church. One felt the old +atmosphere of the sixteenth and seventeenth century of English history +very present in the room. The debate was on the question as to whether +the word "Catholic" should form part of the title. I need not detail +the arguments that were advanced on both sides; they are too well +known. Then we turned to the Chinese translation, and at once the +fires of Smithfield and the thunders of the Reformation disappeared as +by magic, and the blue-robed men from all parts of China woke up to an +interest that was as extraordinary as it was instructive. We gathered, +by means of our interpreter, two or three most interesting facts. +First, there was unanimity in the room that the title should not in any +way, indirectly or by allusion, convey the idea that the Anglican +Church had anything to do with England. The view of China for the +Chinese obviously commanded the assent of all in the room; even those +who had been influenced the other way by their teachers, had to allow +that the word Anglican would be fatal to the popularity of the Church. +When "The Holy Catholic Church of China" was proposed as a title, it +was suggested by the white men that it savoured of insolence, as +implying that the other communions did not belong to it. This met with +no favour from the Chinese. Their argument was simple; we are {217} +all going to be one body in a short time, so the others can share in +our title if it is a good one, and if it is not, we can share theirs. +Then there was this feeling, which it was impossible for a stranger to +appreciate, that each ideograph had a sentiment attached to it, and +that therefore the title must be composed of ideographs which had not +merely a suitable meaning but also a beautiful association. In the end +they adopted for their title the ideographs that are used in the Creed +for the Holy Catholic Church, not meaning thereby that they were the +only branch of the Catholic Church in China, but that they were a true +branch of the Catholic Church. There was another point made obvious to +the onlooker, a point which will be dealt with further on in this book, +namely, that owing to the different policies of the missions, the +American body dominated in debate because they were represented by an +extremely able body of Chinamen, while the English missions had as +Chinese representatives only men of ordinary education. + +But to return to the question of literature. Though literature has +been instrumental in disseminating both the truths of Christianity and +the noble ethical teaching of the West, it has also been instrumental +in disseminating much that is evil and corrupt in Western literature. +Perhaps it is not extraordinary that the Japanese bookseller finds that +the erotic novel from Paris sells more freely when translated than the +English story whose whole {218} motive depends on a proper +comprehension of the Christian ethical position. _The Dame aux +Camélias_, by Dumas, is the most popular of the Western works, and one +cannot but tremble to think what incalculable injury such stories will +do to a nation which does not understand the relative positions in +which those works are held by men of high character in the West. +Chang-Chih-Tung refers in one of his works to the apparent immorality +of Western thought; and if we grant that books like these are typical +of Western thought, we shall not be able to wonder at his conclusion. +Through the distorted medium of such translations Western civilisation +must seem wholly detestable. The Chinaman will naturally say, "Your +boasted morality is merely a hypocritical covering for a profligacy +which we should never permit in our land." + +Not only are French novels translated, but all the works which Western +thought has produced against the Christian faith. Haeckel's "Riddle of +the Universe" is a typical example. In literature, as in every other +department of life in China, two elements of Western civilisation +strive for mastery. On one side there are arrayed the powers of +Christianity and the interpretation of Western civilisation as a +product of Christian thought; on the other side lies materialism, and +the explanation of Western civilisation as a natural result of +evolution which is developing an irreligious but most comfortable +world. If China listens to the first, she will become like other {219} +nations, a great power, not only rich, but honourable, true, and +merciful, the result of the teaching of Christian faith and ethics. If +she listens to the second, the efficiency of China will be rendered +terrible by a low morality, which will not only desolate and depress +many millions, but even have a deleterious effect on the West which so +mistaught her. + + + + +{220} + +CHAPTER XVIII + +MEDICAL MISSIONS + +After literature perhaps we should place medical missions as one of the +most effective ways of placing before the Chinese the difference +between our civilisations and of showing them the truth and beauty of +Christianity. There are three or possibly four reasons why medical +missions are a right and effective way of conducting the Christian +propaganda. First, they are an object-lesson of the love which +Christianity inculcates. In school teaching we find that the +object-lesson is the most efficient and easiest way of getting the +human mind to understand a quite new idea; medical missions are +object-lessons of the essential character of Christian teaching. +Chinese ethics are very distinct in limiting the duty of man to certain +well-known relations. They are five in number: the relation of the +sovereign and minister, of the husband and wife, of the father and son, +of the elder and younger brother, and of friends. No Confucian +recognises the universal brotherhood of man; that is solely a Christian +doctrine. Thus Confucius reproves the man who wishes to offer +sacrifices to some one else's forefathers; that appears to him to be as +officious as the duty of {221} offering sacrifices to his own ancestors +is important; a man has no obligations to any one else but to those who +stand to him in one of these five relations. Very different is the +tone of the Apocrypha, which is not of very different date, and which +puts burial of the dead among one of the first duties of man without +specifying the necessity of any close relationship. + +The action of missionaries in coming to China was therefore wholly +misunderstood by the Chinese. They were regarded as merely the +emissaries of foreign powers, sent to spy out the land. Considering +the way in which the Roman Catholic missions did as a fact identify +themselves with the foreign policy of France, one cannot altogether +wonder that the Chinese attributed to their mission the selfish +principles they themselves would have followed. The first purpose, +therefore, served by medical missions is to demonstrate to the Chinese +that Christianity has higher ideals than Confucianism. + +Their second great object is one that must appeal to the heart of +everybody who has been in China. It is impossible to work among the +Chinese without being rendered miserable by the appalling amount of +suffering and misery that exists at the present day. The poverty of +England cannot be spoken of in the same breath nor can in any way be +compared with the poverty of China. Deplorable as is the condition of +many individuals in England, harsh as is the action of some of our +casual wards, {222} any one who has studied both will freely allow that +the poor in England are rich compared to the poor in China. Among the +vast crowd that wanders along the North Road to London, you will +scarcely see one without boots; there is scarcely one who does not get +a piece of bread to eat when he is hungry; there are none who are +suffering from untended wounds or unalleviated sickness. The workhouse +infirmary will always open its doors, however harsh the Guardians, to +those who are absolutely ill. But in China, starvation is quite +common. Missionaries tell you how at certain junctures they have +travelled along a road, passing man after man lying at the point of +death, and those who are sick have too often no resource but to wait +with patience the pain and death they foresee as their fate. The +missionary feels, as he preaches the doctrine of love, that he cannot +consistently ignore these suffering multitudes. + +The third reason why medical missions are maintained is because they +are a means of approaching people who otherwise would not hear the +Christian truth. The man who has successfully healed the body has some +reasonable hope to expect that the patient will accept that medicine +that he offers to cure the soul. So medical missions have been started +in every place. We visited many excellent medical missions, from +chilly Mukden to torrid Canton. There are many stories told how in the +days when the Chinese would not listen to {223} missionaries, the +medical missionary obtained that hearing which was refused to his +clerical brothers. I was told one medical missionary found that the +moment that he was extracting teeth was the moment when he could best +advance his teaching. I have never heard the story substantiated; +unless the Chinese are very different from us, one would have thought +that the teaching would have had a distinctly painful association. +Perhaps he took as his thesis the extraction of sin from the character. +His success was equalled by that non-medical missionary who had the +advantage of having a set of false teeth; these he used to take out +before the astonished coolies and replace them; then having attracted +their attention by this manoeuvre, he took up his parable on the need +for taking away their sins from them and for putting new life into them. + +The Chinese coolie loves a jest, and once he is on the laugh he will, +unlike his English brother, be much more inclined to attend to serious +teaching. One of the missionaries who understands this trait of the +Chinese best is Dr. Duncan Main of Hangchow, where we spent two most +interesting days seeing his hospitals and work and visiting his +patients. + +There is no better testimony to his great work than his obvious +popularity. Wherever he goes there are smiles and greetings. He +explains as we walk who are the individuals who salute him. That great +fat man who stands bowing and smiling is a {224} merchant of some +wealth; his wife has been in the hospital; she has been tended by Dr. +Main and by his skill has been cured. That old woman who stands by him +smiling is another ex-patient. That young man with an intellectual +face and a dark robe is an old medical student, now a doctor himself +with a large practice, and he has settled near Dr. Main's hospital. +And so his work increases and grows and the good he does must live +after him. He takes us into the out-patients' room; they are a motley +crowd, with strappings and bandages on various parts of their persons. +While they are sitting there a lay-reader expounds to them the elements +of Christian teaching. What a contrast to their minds must be the +plain forcible teaching and the simple effective remedies and medicines +of the Christians to the incantations and nauseous compounds of their +native doctors. There is a great doubt as to what is the nature of +many of the Chinese drugs. They always prescribe a vast number, many +of which are apparently innocuous in their effect; they always give +them in large quantities, and do not in any way attempt to isolate and +extract the active properties of the things they use. You see a man +eating a large bowl of some nauseous compound and you are told he is +taking Chinese medicine. You ask a captain what his cargo consists of, +and he tells you that it is largely made up of Chinese medicine. Some +of the medicine seems to be prescribed on the principle of our old +herbals; that is, there is a fancied resemblance between the plant and +the disease. Others seem to {225} come from well-known remedies +administered in various ways; ground-up deer's horns from the mountains +of Siberia has probably much the same effect as chalk has in our +pharmacopoeia. But there also seems to be some possibility that the +Chinese doctors have certain useful remedies which are unknown to +Western medicine. + +There is a strange story told in Shanghai about a certain remedy for a +horrible disease called "sprue." The story is well known to every +resident in Shanghai, still it will bear repetition. A certain quack +called "French Peter"--I do not know his proper name--habitually cured +sprue. Cases which English doctors had absolutely failed to cure, and +which threatened ruining a career or loss of life, he cured in a few +weeks. He had two remedies--a white powder and a black draught. He +himself was a most unattractive-looking man. My informant told me that +his career was being threatened by this horrible disease, and that he +was expecting to leave China in a week or two, when some one suggested +that he should try "French Peter." When they met, "French Peter's" +appearance was so unprepossessing that the sick man's courage nearly +failed him. He had been for weeks on a milk diet, and the first thing +that the man said to him was, "Look here, take these medicines and go +and have a good beefsteak for luncheon." He decided to try them. He +ate his beefsteak, he took the white powder and the black draught, and +I think within three weeks was quite well. "French Peter" would {226} +never tell his secret or where he got his remedies; at least he used to +give different accounts to different people. I believe he is now dead, +but on talking the matter over with some Chinese friends they assured +me that the remedies were well known to Chinese doctors, and that +"French Peter" had got them from one of their compatriots. + +Dr. Main deals with his patients in the same cheery way that he +addresses every one; a word or two suffices to discover the nature of +their ailment. If the case is very serious, the patient is detained +for further examination; if it is trivial, it is attended to at once by +a native dresser. For the rest he himself prescribes. + +Then he takes us up to the wards, and explains that the great +difficulty is to get the Chinese to care for cleanliness. That is the +same story in every hospital; they cannot believe it matters very much +whether the thing is kept clean or not. The medical students will +proceed to handle anything after they have washed their hands and think +that the previous washing insures asepticism, regardless of the fact +that they have touched many septic things. + +Dr. Main's hospital is typical of mission hospitals--Dr. Christie's +hospital at Mukden, Dr. Gillison's at Hankow, Dr. Cochrane's at Peking, +and many others. There are also hospitals for women. We saw many; the +first we visited, the Presbyterian Hospital at Canton, was a good +example, impressing us not only by its efficiency, but also by the +great service it performed to the suffering {227} masses of China by +training women doctors, who are permitted to minister to their sisters +when etiquette does not permit of male medical attendance. The lady +who showed us round the hospital spoke English fluently; she was +dressed in the dress of the Cantonese woman, which suited her +profession admirably, as it consisted of a long black coat and +trousers. Some hospitals are reserved for the very poor; at Nanking, +for instance, Dr. Macklin showed us over his beggar hospital. He +follows the parable of the Good Samaritan most literally, and wherever +he finds a poor, starving, dying man, he brings him in. Clearly he +cannot afford anything but a limited accommodation for these poor +creatures, but he is on the whole most successful, and there is many a +man whom poverty had brought near to death whose life he has saved. As +one looked at those types of suffering humanity and realised the good +that Dr. Macklin was doing, one felt that the days of saintly service +were not over yet. + +Another beautiful work is Dr. Main's leper hospital at Hangchow. It +was a weird and strange experience to hear those lepers singing our old +English hymns. Leprosy, as my readers doubtless know, does not often +leave open sores; it slowly eats away the body while it leaves the skin +intact; and so you see men without hands and arms yet with finger nails +upon the stump, blind men without noses, and very commonly men whose +voices are cracked and broken. These lepers are housed in an old +temple, in one of the most beautiful situations in China--a {228} +situation which is supposed to be the original of the landscape on the +old willow pattern plates; and the beauty of their surroundings +contrasts strangely with their hideous forms and harsh voices. There +was an infinite pathos when by that blue lake and purple mountain, +those harsh but plaintive voices sang the old tune of "Jesu, lover of +my soul"; and though we could not follow the Chinese words, the faces +of these poor sufferers were eloquent in expressing how fully they felt +the meaning of that hymn. + +But above all we should mention the great work that is being carried on +by Dr. Cochrane at Peking. He has managed to induce all the medical +missions in Peking to unite in founding a great hospital--a hospital +which has received the approval of Government. This successful example +of federation has solved a difficult problem. No doubt the efficiency +of medical missions in many a town is impeded by their want of unity. +A mission body will open a medical mission, and will send out a doctor +or even two in charge; one doctor must go on his furlough, another is +perhaps ill, and the result is that the mission is closed. The +commercial community are rather ready to point out that the mission +hospital is closed in the summer when there is the greatest need for +it. The answer to the taunt is the policy of federation. While it is +next to impossible to keep open the mission hospitals in an unhealthy +climate with a limited staff, it is perfectly possible to do it if the +staff is increased. Every doctor in Central and Southern China must +{229} have a certain period of rest, otherwise he will not be able to +stand the enervating effects of a semi-tropical climate; and however +possible it is to keep white men at work for three or four years +without a holiday, and I know commercial people claim that this has +been done in certain individual instances, it is in reality the very +poorest economy. The mission doctor is far too valuable a person to +have his life cast away by such a foolish policy of extravagance. He +must have his rest every year and his furlough every seven years. But +it is not necessary that the hospitals should be closed if the staff is +big enough; a certain number of the hospital staff can go on leave, and +when they are rested, can come back and allow others to go in their +turn. Dr. Cochrane has shown at Peking that such federation is +possible, and the China Emergency Committee is making every effort to +encourage a similar federation in other parts of China. Medical +missions are splendid examples of Christian charity and love, but they +are rather sad examples of the lack of unity among Christian men. + +Analogous to the medical mission are the missions to the blind and the +deaf. The blind are a striking example of how Christianity alleviates +misery, for the blind in China learn to read more quickly than those +who have sight. The teachers of the blind have invented a system of +raised type by which the Chinaman can read every word that is +pronounced in Chinese. It is not our letter system, which they {230} +would find difficult to understand, but something after the nature of +the Japanese system. Each syllable is represented by a sign; so, +strange as it may appear, the blind man not having to study the +character learns to read more quickly than the man with normal sight. +There is an excellent school for the blind at Peking, under Dr. +Murray's superintendence. There is another at Hankow, where we saw a +most striking instance of the beauty of holiness. One of the masters +at this blind school was a blind man himself; he was a most ardent +Christian; he had been taught to play the organ, which, indeed, is a +speciality at that school, many of the organists in the mission +churches in Hankow coming from it, and one could not look upon his face +without feeling a conviction that his spiritual vision was as clear as +his physical sight was dark. + +There is a fourth reason, and one which applies as much to educational +missions as to medical missions, why both are fitting and proper ways +to teach Christianity. Christianity claims to and does benefit the +whole of man, not merely his spiritual side. Mankind cannot properly +be cut up and divided into spirit, mind, and body. He is essentially +one, and it is most necessary that those who are learning about our +religion, should understand that while we claim every benefit should +come from the spiritual part of our nature, we are prepared to show +that we in no wise despise the body, which needs religious care as much +as the soul. Neither are we careless about the {231} mind. So the +three parts of mission work go hand in hand, for preaching and prayer +will heal the ills of the soul, the medical mission deals with the ills +of the body, and the educational mission makes the mind healthy and +strong. We shall deal with the educational side of mission work later +on. + + + + +{232} + +CHAPTER XIX + +MOVEMENT IN KOREA AND MANCHURIA + +One of the movements which will affect Christianity all over the East +has had its origin in Korea. Just as the suffering and miserable heart +of the individual man is that which Christianity finds most suitable +for its home, so it is with a nation. It is at the moment of national +adversity and humiliation that religious movements most readily rise. +Korea had looked upon herself as the equal of Japan. From Korea came +much of the civilisation which adorned Japan before the great Western +movement. When Prince Ito with the eyes of a statesman was realising +that Japan must either accept the domination of the West or its +civilisation, Korea was immovably entrenched in her belief in her +national greatness and in her contempt for the Western world. So +Westernised Japan has overcome her ancient rival and teacher, and Korea +is humbled to the very dust. + +In many ways that humiliation is rendered more poignant owing to the +lack of sympathy between the races. Though they both have taken their +civilisation from China and have a common classical literature, they +are diametrically opposed in many things. The Japanese are essentially +a clean race. {233} They wash constantly; they will not enter a house +with their shoes on their feet. No one who knows them will accuse the +Koreans of excess in cleanliness. On the other hand, the Japanese very +frequently lack modesty. Many are the stories that residents will +tell; and we have seen the Japanese women clothed in the garb of Eve +appear in the public bath and even in the street. On the other hand, +the Koreans may be corrupt and immoral, but they are modest. The women +of Seoul as they walk through the streets cover their faces with their +green cloaks, till one almost thinks one must be in a Mohammedan land. +Those green cloaks are a perpetual reminder of the ancient hostility +between the races. + +The picturesque story is worth telling. The Japanese, knowing of the +absence of the Korean armies, determined to surprise Seoul. They +thought they had succeeded, when to their amazement they saw the walls +of Seoul covered with what they took for warlike Koreans. The ready +wit of the women had saved their town. They had dressed themselves in +their husbands' clothes and so deceived their hereditary foes. The +Emperor rewarded them by giving them the right to wear the man's green +coat, which they wear not in coat fashion, but over their heads, the +sleeves partially veiling their faces; and as one wanders down the main +street of Seoul and watches the modest but gaily-dressed crowd of +Koreans--the women in their green coats with red ribbons, the men in +white garments wearing their curious top-knots {234} and quaint +hats--one understands the antipathy they must feel for the short, +muscular, soberly-dressed Japanese who by his courage and daring has +subdued them and now tramples on their national susceptibilities and +ignores their national rights. + +There are several missions in Korea, but there is one which, _primâ +facie_, would call for no special remark. It ministers to the +white-robed Koreans in the same way that many another mission ministers +to these Eastern peoples--teaching and preaching. Externally there is +nothing exceptional about the missionaries. I will not say that their +mission is uninteresting, but it is unexciting. They are Americans by +nationality and Scotch by name and blood, and they follow the national +Presbyterian faith with all its cautious teaching, with all its prim +simplicity. No one would regard them as the mission that was likely to +create a great excitement or raise a great enthusiasm, neither indeed +do they so regard themselves. Their conception of mission work was the +sensible and reasonable plan of converting a sufficient number to make +them teachers and preachers, and then having educated them, to send +them out to convert their own fellow-countrymen. In 1906 and the +beginning of 1907 they were filled with dark forebodings for the future +of Korea. The temporary occupation of Korea by the Japanese was +obviously going to be changed into a permanency. The murder of the +Queen had shown what the Japanese would do, and the victory over Russia +had shown what they {235} could do. Korea was at their mercy. Subdued +yet not conquered in spirit, the missionaries, knowing their people +well, foresaw that a bitter friction must arise between the two races; +that rebellions and the consequent fierce repression must bring to +their infant church a time of great trouble; and so, like the wise +Christian men that they were, they took themselves to the Christian's +weapon, namely, prayer. They earnestly prayed that in some way a great +blessing should fall on their converts. That prayer was seemingly +unanswered, the grasp of Japan was not relaxed. Except for the wisdom +and gentleness of the great Prince Ito, there was nothing but +oppression and sufferings for the Koreans. The Japanese army had +learnt not only their military art but their statecraft in Germany, and +the latter is traditionally harsh. Break, crush, and bully are the +maxims which find general acceptance in the Prussian Court. Prince +Ito, however, was a great admirer of English imperial policy with its +maxims of justice to the weak, mercy to the conquered, and reverence +for all national traditions; but Prince Ito could not control the +Japanese soldiers, and the moans of the oppressed Koreans echoed +throughout her land. + +In the spring of 1907 the Presbyterian Mission held what is called its +country class--that is to say, that the men who had been converted were +summoned from all the country villages to the town of Pyeng-Yang, and +there they attended for several days' instructions in the Christian +faith. This {236} excellent rule enables Christians who believe but +who are ignorant to acquire a more ultimate knowledge of the truths of +Christianity. These meetings are wholly unemotional; they are in no +sense revival meetings, nor even devotional; they are essentially +educational. Their object is to teach and not to excite. For the +Scottish-American has a double national tradition that knowledge is +strength. These meetings had been held one or two days; they had +followed their usual uneventful if beneficial course, and showed every +probability of ending as they had begun, when one of the Koreans rose +from the centre of the room and interrupted the ordinary course of the +meeting by asking leave to speak. As he insisted, permission was given +him. He declared that he had a sin on his conscience that forbade him +listening to the teaching of the missionaries in peace, and that +further he must declare this sin. The Presbyterian missionaries do not +encourage this kind of open confession of sin, but still to get on with +the meeting and to quiet him they gave him leave to speak. He then +declared that he had felt some months ago a feeling of bitterness +towards one of the missionaries, a Mr. Blair, who was our informant. +Mr. Blair assured him that so far from feeling that there was any need +for this confession he regarded the matter as trivial, and hoping again +to bring the meeting back to the point he suggested that they should +say the Lord's Prayer. Hardly had he uttered in Korean the words "Our +Father," when {237} a sudden emotion seemed to rush over all those who +were there present. The missionaries described it as at once one of +the most awful and one of the most mysterious moments of their lives. +They were not revivalists; they had not encouraged it; they did not +believe in it; they disliked an emotional religion with which they had +no sympathy; and here they were in the face of a movement which was +beyond, not only their experience, but that of the greatest +revivalists. They tried to stop it, but unavailingly. The Koreans, +unlike the Chinese, always sit upon the floor, and as the missionaries +looked out over the meeting from the platform on which they stood, they +saw the faces of their converts racked with every form of mental +anguish. Some were swinging themselves forward striking their heads on +the ground, hoping, as it were, to obtain by insensibility peace from +their torturing thoughts; some were in the presence of an awful terror; +some were leaping up demanding to be heard, longing to free their souls +from the weight they felt would crush them; others with set faces were +resolutely determined not to yield to the inspiration of the spirit +which suggested that they should gain relief by frank confession. The +missionaries having failed to bring the meeting to a close, submitted +to what they felt was the will of a higher Being, and the meeting went +on till fatigue produced a temporary and a partial rest. Though the +meeting was closed, the missionaries learnt afterwards that many {238} +Koreans went on all through the night in agonised prayer. + +The next day they hoped the thing was over, and that the incident might +be reckoned among those strange experiences which workers in the +mission field must occasionally expect to encounter; but not so--the +meeting next night was the same as its predecessor. They noticed +several interesting facts. One, for instance, was, that the women were +far less affected than the men. The movement did not reach them till +later, and never so fully. Another remarkable thing about this +movement was that though the Methodists are by tradition a revivalist +body, and though they have a vigorous mission working in that town, yet +the revival only spread to their converts after many days, and then +neither with the spontaneity nor the fire with which it had been +manifested in the Presbyterian Mission. + +Of the reality of the confession of sin there could be no doubt. One +man, for instance, confessed to having stolen gold from a local +gold-mining company, and produced the wedge of gold which he had +stolen, and asked them to treat him as he deserved. The manager of the +company luckily was a European, who wisely refused to punish a man who +had so spontaneously confessed his theft. Many of the sins that were +confessed would not bear repetition. Some confessed even to such awful +sins as that of murder of parents. One man in particular, a trusted +servant of the mission, resisted confession, and day by day {239} +became more and more racked with mental agony, till the missionaries +feared that his health would not endure the terrible strain of such +mental anguish, and they advised him to make a free confession of his +sins. At last he came to them with a sum of money in his hand; he had +raised it by selling some houses which he had bought as a provision for +his old age, and he confessed to the sin that was torturing him. He +had done what is constantly done in the East--he had peculated. His +position had been that of an agent whom the missionaries employ to make +many of their small payments, and out of each of these payments he had +taken "a squeeze." With these he had bought the houses which now he +had sold. He left the missionaries happy in heart though empty in +pocket. + +This movement spread more or less over the Presbyterian missions in +Korea, but never with such intensity as manifested at Pyeng-Yang. We +heard it spoken of by a non-Christian Korean, a member of the Court of +the Emperor of Korea. He had heard of it, and said men were saying +this movement is a wonderful thing, for under its influence men +confessed crimes of which even torture would not have induced them to +own themselves guilty. A Chinese merchant also heard of it in +Manchuria. The man came down to Pyeng-Yang, and happened to stop with +the Chinese merchants. He mentioned that there were Christians in +Manchuria, and the Chinese merchants immediately took an interest. +When he asked what {240} they knew of the Christians, they answered, +"Good men, good men." One of them was owed by a Korean twenty dollars, +who would only allow that he owed ten, and the merchant having no means +of redress, had written off the debt; but when this revival took place, +the Korean came with the other ten dollars together with interest, and +what of course would appeal even more to the Eastern mind, with the +frank confession that he had lied. This practical illustration of the +effects of Christianity greatly impressed the Chinese. + +When we arrived at Pyeng-Yang the movement was over. We went to some +of their meetings. They were very common-place ordinary meetings. All +that struck us was that there was a tone of reverence, a sense of +reality, which made one feel that Christianity was as sincere in Korea +as it is in our own land. + +The movement has spread from Korea to Manchuria. In Manchuria the +movement had not quite the same spontaneity that it had in Korea; it +savoured more of the revival meetings of the West. It needed the +stirring words of a great preacher, Mr. Goforth, to start it, yet there +were one or two curious manifestations of power. One is worth telling. +One brother was heard expostulating with another; he was asking why his +brother had, forgetful of his family dignity or "face," confessed to +sins which brought not only himself but his family into disrespect. +The other answered, "When the Spirit of God takes hold of a man, he +cannot help speaking." {241} Two still more curious instances are worth +recording: one in which two soldiers who were not Christians were so +moved that they confessed their sins; another which seems to prove the +presence of a force exterior to human influence or to the emotions +caused by eloquence or moving hymns. An elder of the Church had +forgotten or been detained from going to one of these meetings; when +the speakers went to inquire next day why he had not been there, he +asked them in return to tell him what they had done at the meeting, and +they told him that many people had confessed their sins. He was deeply +interested, and said: "I was sitting in my house at the hour of your +meeting; I suddenly felt as if all my sins were laid before me, and I +realised as I had never done before my many shortcomings." + +And so the movement has spread through Manchuria to China. If it has +lost something of its freshness, something of its force, it still +remains a movement that may accomplish great things. No one who has +read the history of the Wesleyan movement, and of the wonderful +manifestations that accompanied its commencement, will look without +interest and expectation for the work which this movement may +accomplish. Let us hope that it will bring to China a sense of reality +in spiritual things which the present materialist teaching threatens to +eliminate from her national life. + + + + +{242} + +CHAPTER XX + +THE FUTURE OF CHRISTIANITY IN CHINA + +At the great Shanghai Conference we always spoke of the "Church in +China," implying thereby that there was to be one Christian body in the +Chinese empire. This ideal is lofty and not impossible. There is a +reasonable expectation that the great intellectual movement in China +will render the Chinese very ready to accept new ideas, and the rate of +conversion in China gives one reasonable hope that the new ideas may be +Christian and not those of Western materialism. If China becomes +Christian there will no doubt be a great tendency to accept the unity +of Christianity as an essential doctrine. As a race they clearly tend +towards union as much as the Anglo-Saxon race tends towards disunion. +The British empire has been held together by its fear of its enemies; +the Chinese empire has been held together through their natural love of +union, which is the dominant characteristic of the race. Remove the +enemies of the British empire and she will naturally divide, but force +the Chinese empire apart and she will naturally return to one body. +Chinese Christianity will, if it is truly Chinese, tend to one body. +This truth, which I think would have been {243} allowed by the whole +Shanghai Conference, opens up a train of thought which is full of +foreboding and yet of hope. + +One obvious criticism of what was said of the Church in China was kept +largely out of sight at the Shanghai Conference, namely, that as the +Roman Communion far outnumbers the whole of the non-Roman Communions +put together, the Church in China, therefore, if it is to consist of +all Christians, will be something very different to what the majority +of those present at that Conference would like. Some men maintain that +the Chinese love of unity will not go so far as to compel the union +between Protestant and Catholic, and that in China the schism which has +rent Christianity in twain in Europe will be continued. I would ask +those who think thus if they think this is desirable even if it is +possible. Once foreign influence and support has been removed, would +not such a division soon produce a state of great friction, resulting +probably in the destruction of the smaller body. But it is most +improbable; a race which has habitually put together Taoism, Buddhism, +and Confucianism will have no difficulty at all in uniting Romanism and +Protestantism. I do not mean to say that Rome will conquer; it does +not seem likely. The power of the Romans is great when they are +preaching our common Christianity, but their peculiar doctrine of the +pre-eminence of Rome is most unattractive to the Chinaman. After all, +Rome is a very small place to a man who lives in China. Think how +little {244} we know of ancient Chinese history, and realise how little +China knows of the history of our civilisation. Home at the present +day is to the Chinaman merely the capital of Germany's weakest ally. +The reasoning of the universality of the Roman Church, always faulty, +seems almost ridiculous in China. The Chinaman on one side is +conversant with America, on the other side she is in touch with India, +while on the north she has a frontier which stretches for thousands and +thousands of miles between her and the great Orthodox Church of Russia. +One's eyes naturally turn to this immense line of frontier between +Confucianism and Christianity, and one wonders how any Chinaman can +possibly think of Rome as the one Catholic Church. If the Roman +Church, with its foreign domination and its tacit acceptance of the +fact that only members of the Italian nation can receive Divine +authority to guide the Church on earth, is unattractive to the mind of +the man who lives in the Far East, on the other hand its ornate and +dignified services must be most attractive to a race whose national +philosophy puts pre-eminent weight on dignity and decorum in dress and +demeanour. If the Roman Church could give up her Latin services, could +frankly become a national Church which owed no obedience to any Pontiff +outside China, one would regret the possibility but one would have to +allow the probability of her complete domination over the Chinese +empire. Again one's eyes turn to the northern frontier, and one asks +oneself {245} whether that great Orthodox Church, the dignity of whose +services is without parallel, and which frankly accepts the national +Church as a reasonable Christian position, will not one day be a large +factor in the future missionary work in China. After what we had seen +and heard at the Centenary Conference, and after we had realised the +great extent of the Roman work, we felt that till one understood why +the Russian Church conducted no missionary work one could not +understand the whole missionary problem; for when the Russian Church +does undertake such work, her geographical position must render her +important. + +The whole of this question is of the greatest interest to the student +of missions, but especially to an Anglican. The great value of the +Anglican position has always seemed that, to use an election phrase, we +offer a platform on which all those who call themselves Christian might +possibly unite. The great rent which divides Protestant from Catholic +seems not only to make it impossible for Latin Christians to unite with +the Teuton Protestant Churches, but also renders it hard for the latter +to unite with the great Churches of Eastern Europe. Of course all this +has only an academic interest in England, but in China with its rapidly +growing Christianity and an intellectual revolution surging forward to +unknown possibilities, all this is of vital interest. What will +Chinese Christianity be? Is it to be an ornate Christianity to which +the converts {246} of Rome and possibly the converts of the Orthodox +Church will adhere, an ornate Church sullied no doubt with the faults +of her parents, a Church possibly attractive to the Buddhist, for he +will not need to traverse any great distance in thought to enter her +portals; or is it to be a great Protestant Church, cold and bare, +vigorous and energetic, a Church in which the uniform of the Teuton +mind will sit badly on the Chinese convert, a Church which may in many +things represent truly the will of our mutual Master, but a Church +which leaves the Oriental cold and miserable, while it practically +tears from our Bible those endless chapters on the decoration of Temple +and Tabernacle, those constant commands to an exact and ordered ritual. + +I write with what the Germans call "objectivity"; the Teuton within me +dislikes ritual; but the Chinaman is no Teuton, and the Chinaman loves +ritual as much as any man on earth. No one who has been received by a +Chinese Viceroy in his Yamen can have the very slightest doubt on this +subject. If the Protestant bodies hope to force on the Chinese a +non-ornate form of Christianity, they will be doing exactly what the +Italian Church did to the Northern races, and which produced the great +upheaval of the Reformation. The Reformation was essentially the +rebellion of the Teuton mind against a forced acceptance of the Italian +view of Christianity. To force on the Chinese converts a Christianity +shorn of all ritual and display will produce in years to come some +similar upheaval. {247} There is yet a third possibility. The +Anglican position affords the means of avoiding such an upheaval, and +of permitting a union of all Christians on the basis of an ornate +service and evangelical Christianity. For while it permits a service +equal in dignity to that of Rome or of Russia, it insists equally with +the bodies who pride themselves on the name of Protestant on the +supreme value of the Bible. + +The very hope I have that Christianity will conquer China makes me +fearful for the future. The age of persecution is past, the blood of +the martyrs has been shed, and the seed of a Church freely sown. But +after the age of persecution comes the age of heresy, and to preserve +Christianity in China from future dangers, not only is union necessary, +but a well-ordered Church bound by creeds, respecting tradition, which +shall embrace all those Christians by whomsoever they have been +converted who love the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The great danger +I fear for the future Church in China is one of Eastern and not Western +origin. I do not fear the domination of Rome. I doubt that the +Protestant Communions will succeed in ultimately persuading the Chinese +to worship God in a bare building and without vestments. + +China and Japan will, if they are conquered by Christianity, be neither +Protestant nor Catholic any more than we are Nestorian or Eutychian. +Their divisions, their dangers, their struggles, will arise from a +wholly different set of circumstances. I fear {248} the dangers will +come from an effort to incorporate Buddhism and Christianity in one +religion. This is all the more probable as it has doubtless happened +before. Nestorianism and Buddhism are the probable parents of the +present Chinese Lamaism. It is, however, not given for us to see into +the future, but we can look back into the past, and we can see that our +predecessors in the faith nearly invariably made the mistake of +supposing that the old dangers were going to recur, and of therefore +depending on the old measures of defence. + +The future Church in the Far East must fight her own battles. She must +solve her own problems. All we can do is to hand over to her the truth +in all its fulness, and teach her to look for divine guidance, to +forget such words as Protestant, Roman Catholic, Nonconformist, and +Anglican; to learn merely the word "Christian" and the word "Love." If +Far Eastern Christianity will have its battles to fight, it will have +also its message to give to the West, "that they without us should not +be made perfect." It may be that the message of the East to the West +will be that as God is One, so must His followers be; that strong and +mighty as is the West, there is in her an element of the very greatest +weakness; that the discord that reigns between Christian and Christian, +between race and race, between class and class, is not the will of the +Creator, but is the result of the national sins of the white races. +The Far East, with its greater power of unity, {249} may illumine the +West with a higher conception of this great virtue, and the world may +be a far holier and happier place when the yellow race has preached to +the world the great doctrine of peace on earth and goodwill to men. + + + + +{253} + +THE NEW AND THE OLD LEARNING + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +EDUCATION, CHIEFLY MISSIONARY + +I have before had occasion to refer to the great influence education +has had on the awakening of China, and I think the Americans can fairly +claim to have been the greatest workers in this field. The Roman +Catholics have from time immemorial been most careful to train children +in Christian truth, and they have wonderful institutions for this +purpose. In 1852 the Jesuits founded the College of St. Ignatius for +the education of native priests, and since that day they have founded +many educational institutions. They have besides a very large number +of primary schools, intended originally merely to preserve their +converts from too intimate contact with the heathen world, and they +have also many higher schools. In those schools they teach modern +knowledge, making a speciality of teaching French, which they can do +with great efficiency, as many of their number belong to the French +nation. In the German sphere of influence there are Catholic schools +where German is taught; but though the work is excellent, it cannot be +compared with the work of the Americans, who were really the pioneers +of higher education in China. + +{254} + +When the American missionaries began to arrive, a new departure was +inaugurated in education. The school and college were no longer places +where Christians were simply educated; they were places where +Christians, confident in the truth of their teaching, gave away to +heathen and Christian alike all the knowledge that the West possessed. +The conception was bold; it was grand. It showed a statesmanlike grip +of the situation and a courage which can only come from a consciousness +of the strength of the Christian position, that Christianity was not a +narrow religion fearing free inquiry. Christianity, on the contrary, +was a religion which could only be appreciated by those who had the +very fullest knowledge. These teachers boldly declared that ignorance +was the mother of religious error, and therefore the duty of every +Christian was at once to remove ignorance and to share with every one +the knowledge that can alone make the world capable of truly +appreciating God's power as manifested in every department of science. + +So these schools and colleges grew up. Those who believed in this +policy did not belong to any one denomination, though they did belong +to one nation--America. There were many opponents to this policy. It +was argued that the duty of the mission bodies was to preach the +Gospel, and that however advantageous education might be, it was not +the business of the Christian to give it; but whatever doubt there was +then, facts have been too strong for those who {255} opposed the +educational policy, and any one travelling through China realises more +and more how the Mission that has spent money on education is the +Mission that has the power of expansion. The Mission that has no +educational system is always cabined and confined for want of money and +men. They are always writing home to ask that another man shall be +sent out; some one has broken down or some new opportunity for work has +been opened, and so "they must press upon the Home Board the great +importance of sending out at as early a date as possible one or more +helpers." The Home Board is always answering those letters, expressing +"every sympathy with their anxiety," but in reality pouring cold water +on their enthusiasm, and pointing out that the supply of men is limited +and that the supply of money is yet more limited. Thus the opportunity +passes and the mission cannot expand. The same little church stands +filled with converts; the same mission building houses the tired out +and climate-stricken white missionaries. Such a mission, while +inspiring the greatest respect for the heroism of the missionaries, +arouses also a feeling of despair. How is it possible that a mission +like this can really solve the problem of making Christianity a +national religion? How can spiritual ministrations be performed by +aliens, supported by alien money collected from a possibly hostile race? + +A very different effect is made on the mind of the onlooker when he +comes upon some mission that {256} has made education a speciality. +There all is life, vigour and success. One of the most successful of +the American missionaries, Bishop Roots, of the Episcopal Church of +America, explained the system by which he is succeeding in making +Christianity an indigenous religion. At his large college, presided +over by Mr. Jackson, many are heathen. Some go through the college and +imbibe a certain respect for Christian ethics, which will not only make +them a benefit to China but will make an intellectual atmosphere +sympathetic to Christian teaching. Some, however, will become +Christians who will mostly go out into the world and take their place, +and a high place too, in the leadership of the future China, as much +owing to the excellence of the teaching that they have received as to +the high morality which is produced by their Christian faith. Then +there will be a few who will feel a distinct call to go out as +missionaries to their own people. These men will have no temptation to +become Christians for the loaves and fishes, because, owing to the +excellence of the education that they have received and the great +prosperity that is dawning over China, they could command a large +salary in the open market. These highly-educated clergy are able to go +out and put Christianity to the Chinese in a manner which no white man +could hope to equal. + +What Bishop Roots told me can be well illustrated by two little +incidents. In Hankow, where his work is increasing by leaps and +bounds, the Lutheran {257} Mission failed, and therefore it resigned +the chapel to him. He accepted readily, and soon his Chinese clergy +were preaching to crowded congregations. The second incident was this: +I expressed a wish to make a present to one of these Christian +scholars, and I asked what books he would like to receive. I was told +that such books as Balfour's "Defence of Philosophic Doubt" and +Haldane's "Pathway to Reality" were the kind that would appeal to such +young men. Not only will these men carry the Gospel to their +fellow-countrymen far more efficiently than can the alien, but they +will to a great extent be able to live on the subscriptions of their +congregations, and so the communion to which they belong will become +not only self-propagating but self-supporting. + +To understand the importance of this controversy the various aims of +missionary education must be realised, and it is because those aims are +different that the controversy has been confused and the value of +education as an assistance to missionary effort in China misunderstood. +There are really seven aims: three which are common to all missionary +effort in all lands, and four which especially apply to countries like +China which are passing through a transitional period of thought. The +three which are common to all missionary effort are (1) evangelisation; +(2) edification of the Christian body; (3) education of preachers and +teachers. The four that are peculiar to China in her present +transitional condition are (4) preparation of secular leaders; (5) +leavening of the whole public opinion; (6) opposition {258} to Western +materialism; (7) association of Christianity with learning. + +The arguments for the first three are applicable to every land. +Evangelisation can no doubt be carried on most efficiently before the +mind has received any intellectual bias. The Jesuit priest is reported +to have said, "If I have the child till he is ten, I do not care who +has him afterwards;" and therefore, as in all the world so in China, +the Roman Catholics have always made a great effort to educate +children. They have preferred those who have had no home-ties, orphans +and waifs, and have by this policy built up a huge Christian population +numbering over a million. This population is thoroughly Christian in +sentiment; they have never known an idolatrous atmosphere, and they +live to a great extent by themselves in communities. While they are +thoroughly Christian, they are also absolutely Chinese; no effort is +made to Westernise the children in any way. From this great Christian +body Catholic priests are drawn, and I believe so completely Christian +are they, that no difference is made between them and white men by such +an important body as the Jesuits. When other Christian bodies began +missionary work in China they also started schools, but the difference +of their schools was that they aimed much more at the second than at +the first object. The school was not merely a place to attract +homeless children and bring them up as Christians; it was also intended +to edify and adorn with knowledge the children of Christians. {259} +Non-Christians were largely admitted, but I think that I am right in +stating that the object was much more edification than evangelisation. +In a corrupt society like China, where all knowledge is intermingled +with vice, it is inevitable that Christian schools should be erected +for the Christian body, and it is equally inevitable that those who are +non-Christians but who admire the schools greatly should try and enter +them. The feature of these schools for the most part, though not +invariably, in contrast to the earlier Roman Catholic schools, is that +Western education is to a certain extent, varying in each mission, +superadded to Chinese learning; and therefore, though the school is +essentially a school for Chinese learning, the children as a rule learn +something also of Western knowledge. + +Out of these schools naturally arise others which have the third aim of +missionary education as their object, namely, the preparation of +preachers and teachers who in the future shall be the real missionary +body of China. Every thinking man realises that the alien missionary +can only exist in a brief transitional period. The true teachers of a +race must be those who are linked to it by ties of blood and tradition, +and nearly every mission has therefore set to work to create a native +ministry which is sooner or later to take over the task of the +conversion of China. This is regarded by many, nay, by most, as the +great aim of missionary educational work. The degree of preparation, +however, differs widely in different missions. {260} Some missions, +drawing their teachers from the lower ranks of society, are quite +content to give them an education which will enable them to lead and +teach the lower class among whom they move; other missions held that +the Christian teacher must not merely he able to lead the ignorant but +must be able also to meet in controversy those who may be well equipped +with Western knowledge; and therefore while in some missions the +education of native pastors is conducted solely in Chinese, in others +the teaching is in English, to enable the teachers and preachers to +keep abreast with the thought of Western countries and to defend their +land by pen and sermon as much against the errors of the West as +against the superstition of the East. + +It is in the preparation of these highly educated men that an +opportunity is given for the fourth aim of missionary education in +China: one which would not be applicable in every country, but which is +vitally important in China, namely, the preparation of secular leaders +in China. To understand the importance of this we must be always +reminding our readers that China is in the midst of an intellectual +revolution. She is passing through a period which is in some way +comparable to the period of the Renaissance in Europe, but which +exceeds it both in importance and in danger, because in Europe, as the +name shows, it was essentially a reintroduction of forgotten but not +new knowledge with its subsequent enlargement and development. In +China {261} the revolution is caused by the introduction of foreign +knowledge, which is absolutely inharmonious and in many ways opposed to +native thought. In Europe the foundations of knowledge were always +secure; it was only the superstructure that was altered. In China the +very foundations are being uprooted; the result is that China is at the +present without leaders, except for a narrow band of men, who owing to +the foresight of some Christians in the past have received a Western +education. There are plenty of old-fashioned leaders, who have led or +failed to lead the sleepy China of years ago--men of considerable +ability but in a state of great mental confusion, owing to their +powerlessness to comprehend the many aspects of the civilisation which +is being forced upon them and which is unnatural to them. They cannot +understand our currency questions, our financial operations; they only +dimly realise the possibilities and problems connected with military +and naval armaments. They yearn for the years gone by, but an +inexorable fate urges their country forward into new positions, which +bring with them new responsibilities, new powers and new dangers. +China demands men to lead her through this terrible state of confusion +and change, and she turns round to find the men who understand Western +civilisation, who have the character and the knowledge necessary to +deal with all these problems. Just at this moment, any man of ability +who has an intimate knowledge of Western things stands a chance of high +{262} preferment. It may be that this demand will be satisfied by the +number of students China has sent abroad to be educated, but the size +of China and the great demand for men skilled in Western learning make +many of those having a most intimate knowledge of China confident that +this is an opportunity that is still open, that it is still possible to +direct to some degree the minds and thought of those who will lead +China as statesmen, as authors, and as men of learning. The production +of these men can be carried on to great advantage in the same +establishment as that in which the clergy are receiving their +education; the educated clergyman, the future pressmen and statesmen of +China are in this way brought in close contact with one another, and +even from one establishment the good that may come to China is quite +incalculable. + +This brings us to the fifth great aim of education, the leavening of +public opinion in China so that Christianity will find ground prepared +for its sowing. The destruction of superstition, the production of +Western ethics make Christianity a reasonable instead of an +unreasonable religion to those who hear it preached. Clearly to leaven +public opinion influence must be applied to those who will control such +powers as those of the press and the school; the teacher and the writer +are the men who should be especially aimed at; and to attain this aim, +it is necessary to institute and maintain {263} places where higher +knowledge is taught rather than only primary schools. + +But there is another object, the sixth aim for education in China. One +of the unpleasant features in the revolution that is going on in +Chinese thought is the present introduction of Western materialism, +which to judge by the example in Japan, will grow more rankly after +transplantation. The West has a double aspect when seen from the East; +it is a Christian world where women are pure and men are honourable; it +is a rich world where there are no moral obligations. The first aspect +is the one that is represented by the missionary; the second aspect is +too often taught by the sailor and merchant classes; and when the +Chinaman asks what is the thought and the base of Western teaching, the +Japanese materialist, pointing to the example set by many Western +lives, declares that Christianity in Europe is like Buddhism in Japan, +a religion that at one time had many adherents but whose influence is +fast waning, and it is in resisting this materialism that the +Missionary College and University perform perhaps their most important +task. + +The men who are to do this work must be men most highly skilled in +Western knowledge; they must understand science and be able to meet a +follower of Haeckel in debate, they must be competent to discuss +sociology with disciples of Herbert Spencer, and they must not be +afraid to dip into the {264} study of comparative religion; in +addition, they must be qualified to write excellent Chinese and to be +firm in their Christian faith. The production of such men as these +should also satisfy the seventh and last aim of Christian education: it +will associate learning with Christianity in the minds of the Chinese. +The keynote of Chinese thought is its great admiration for learning. +In China there is no caste or class, no division except between the +ignorant and the learned; if Christianity is associated with ignorance, +its influence will be lost, and it is no mean object to make +Christianity and knowledge in the mind of the Chinaman two parts of one +great idea. + +It is obvious that as missionary societies lay weight on one or the +other of these objects, they will support a different kind of school. +If their object is the first, they will seek to educate the orphan and +the waif, and the school and the orphanage will be, as they are in the +Roman Catholic body, intimately joined together. If the object is to +edify the Christian body and to provide it with a suitable pastor, the +missionary body will erect primary schools for Christian children and +theological and normal schools to complete their school system. If, on +the other hand, the missionary body aims at leavening the whole thought +of China, of capturing China for Christ, or if it aims at defending +China against the terrible pest of Western materialism--which will turn +the light that China now has into black darkness and harden her for +ever against Christian teaching--the High School, {265} College, and +the University will be the objects on which the money will be spent. +This last has been the object of the American bodies; and I think China +owes a great debt of gratitude, under God, to the great width of +thought and grasp of the situation that the American mind has exhibited. + + + + +{266} + +CHAPTER XXII + +GOVERNMENT EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM + +One of the highest testimonials to the wisdom of the missionaries in +inaugurating an educational policy has been given by the Chinese +Government. Imitation is the sincerest flattery, and missionary +education has its imitator in no less a body than the Chinese +Government. The Chinese have always loved education, but the education +they admired was the literary education which had for its commencement +the Chinese character and for its end the Chinese Classics; their +system of teaching was different from our own; they were far greater +believers in learning by rote than the most conservative English +schoolmaster who ever set a long repetition lesson to his pupils. It +is a strange sight to see an old-fashioned Chinese school, the boys all +shouting out at the top of their voices the names of the characters +whose meaning they do not understand. An essential part of the +performance is the clamorous shouting; the louder they shout, the +harder they are working and the quicker they think they learn, so when +the visitor surprises a class their voices are not raised above a +pleasant and reasonable elevation, but after he has been {267} +discovered by the class, the shouts increase in volume till the noise +is only to be compared to the paroquets' cage in the Zoological Gardens. + +Another peculiarity of the school is that all the pupils turn their +backs to their master; the doctrine being that if they were allowed to +watch their master, it would be perfectly impossible for him to detect +their many little acts of dishonesty. The missionaries at first +painfully imitated these schools; they felt that it was impossible to +trust the children of their converts to the heathen atmosphere of a +Chinese school, and at the same time they realised what great value and +importance was placed by the Chinese on education. These schools led +on to a sort of middle school called "shu-yuen," which existed in all +big towns, which in its turn led on to four Universities, but they have +been, I believe, for some time in an inefficient condition. Still for +good or for evil the system was there, and long before our own new +departure in education, the Chinese were quite accustomed to the idea +that the boy who had sufficient ability might climb the ladder of +learning, from class to class, from school to school, till at last he +took the coveted Hanlin Degree. So high a value did the Chinese place +on education, that it was possible, and it did indeed happen, that boys +of the very humblest parentage climbed that ladder till they reached +the most exalted positions. + +The first sign of an alteration of this system was {268} the book that +was issued after the Chinese-Japanese war by Chang-Chih-Tung. That +remarkable statesman realised after China's crushing defeat that a +general reform was absolutely necessary if she was to maintain her +place among the free and independent nations of the world, and he wrote +a book entitled "China's Only Hope," in which he strongly advocated the +acceptance in some measure of Western education. His scheme is the one +which practically obtains now in China, that is of making Chinese +learning the foundation on which Western education is to be placed. He +had a great disbelief, like most Chinese, in the difficulty of +acquiring Western education. He writes: "Comparative study of foreign +geography, especially that of Russia, France, Germany, England, Japan, +and America; a cursory survey of the size and distance, capital, +principal ports, climate, defences, wealth, and power of these (the +time required to complete this course ten days)." It is very hard for +the Chinese literati to understand the difficulties of acquiring +Western learning. Chang was a man of no mean intellect, and one of the +reasons why he was so anxious to preserve Chinese learning was because +he realised the destructive effect Western learning has on Oriental +faiths. He hoped to preserve the ethics of Confucianism and to attach +to them the practical knowledge of the West, which he realised was a +necessity for China. He summed up the position by saying, "Western +knowledge is practical, Chinese learning is moral." + +{269} + +The immediate result of this book was absolutely the reverse of what +its author intended. A million copies of the book had been issued, and +it circulated throughout China. It raised a storm of opposition, and +probably was one of the causes which produced the Boxer outbreak; but +the failure of Boxerdom and the Russo-Japanese war convinced China that +Chang-Chih-Tung was right, and his book may now be taken as the book +which best expresses the intellectual position of the moderate reformer. + +He first deals with that very difficult question of finance. He +proposes to finance the schools with a wholesale disendowment of the +two religions in which he does not believe, Buddhism and Taoism. He +writes: "Buddhism is on its last legs, Taoism is discouraged because +its devils have become irresponsive and inefficacious." He then +suggests that seven temples out of ten should be used both as regards +their building and their funds for educational purposes. But he has a +sympathetic way of treating the disendowed clergy of China. He +suggests that they could be comforted by a liberal bestowal of official +distinction upon themselves and upon their relatives. Who can tell if +Welsh Disestablishment would not be popular if all the clergy were to +be made archdeacons and their brothers and fathers knights. But he has +a historical precedent for disendowment--Buddhism has apparently +experienced the process of disendowment three times; but as the last +disendowment was {270} in 846, on our side of the world we should not +regard it as a precedent of much value. + +In establishing schools he adopts five principles. The first is one to +which we have already referred, that the new and the old are to be +woven into one, the Chinese Classics are to be made by some magical +process the foundation of the teaching of Western education. The +second is a very un-Western but possibly a sound way of looking at the +question. He puts forward two objects of education: first, government; +secondly, science. The first includes all knowledge necessary for the +government of mankind--geography, political economy, fiscal science, +the military art, and though he does not mention it, I suppose history. +The second is natural science, and includes mathematics, mining, +therapeutics, sound, light, chemistry, &c. The third principle is one +that we rarely act on in our own country, namely, that the child shall +be only educated in the subjects for which he has a natural aptitude. +The fourth principle is one that applies absolutely to China; it is the +abolition of what is called the three-legged essay, a complicated feat +of archaic and artificial writing which only exists for the purpose of +examination, something analogous to our Latin verses. The fifth +principle shows that China is as far ahead of us in some ways as she is +behind us in others. China has passed beyond the stage of free +education to the stage of universal scholarship; all students are paid, +and this has brought about a great abuse; {271} men study merely to +obtain a living who have no aptitude for learning, and on whom +educational money is really wasted, and so he abolishes payment. + +His Excellency closes his advice with a suggestion that societies for +the promotion of education should be formed. The Chinaman loves these +little social clubs and gatherings. His chess club, his poetry club, +his domino club, are national institutions. Why not, suggests His +Excellency, have an educational club, or as I suppose we should call +it, a mutual improvement society. Thus wrote the great Viceroy who +more than any other man prevented the spread of the Boxer outbreak from +desolating Central and Southern China. During that Boxer rebellion all +advance was impossible, but after that overflowing flood of disorder +was passed, the reforms suggested by Chang-Chih-Tung began to be +seriously considered, and on January 13, 1903, an Imperial Edict was +put forth renovating and organising, at least on paper, the whole +educational system of China. It would not be China if there were not a +great deal of sound sense in that edict; it would not be China if on +paper the organisation did not seem to be perfect; it would not be +China if as a matter of fact the whole scheme were not to a great +extent a failure. + +The scheme was very complete. It began at the bottom and continued +through every grade of education to the top. First there were to be +infant schools; these were to receive children from three to {272} +seven years old, and their object was to give the first idea of right +and to keep the children from the dangers of the street. These schools +were to be succeeded by primary schools of two departments, and +children were to enter the schools as they left the infant school when +they were seven years old, and to continue in them till they were +twelve. The subjects to be taught were morals, Chinese language, +arithmetic, history, geography, physical science and gymnastics. At +present there was to be no compulsory attendance, but that was looked +forward to as the future ideal. The schools were to be free, and the +money was to be produced either by taxes or by a raid on some +endowments, notably endowments of religion or of the theatre--for +theatres in China are endowed. Funds were also to be found by +subscription, and titles and ranks were promised to those who shall +open schools; unlike our own country, where, alas, the spending time on +education for the poor is only rewarded by abuse. These primary +schools would lead into higher schools, and these schools would be the +last on the ladder of education, in which only Chinese subjects were to +be taught. Above them were to be what they call middle schools, and +the subjects to be taught are roughly those which are taught in our +High Schools: the Chinese Classics, Chinese language and literature, +foreign languages (one at least to be obligatory), history, geography, +physics, chemistry, science of government, political economy, drawing, +gymnastics; and after the example of Western schools, singing {273} +would be also taught. These schools lead on to the superior schools in +which higher branches of the same subjects are taught. These schools +were to be divided into three sections. The first section consists of +law, literature, and commerce; the second section of sciences, civil +engineering, and agriculture; the third section of medicine. It is +noteworthy that English is necessary for those who are learning the +first two sections, while German is compulsory for those who are +learning the third section--in either case a third language may be +added; and these superior schools were to lead on to a University, in +which there were to be eight faculties. The first faculty is +essentially a Chinese one, and I suppose would be best expressed to our +thought by "belles-lettres," but it includes such things as rites and +poetry; the second faculty is that of law; the third, history and +geography; the fourth, medicine and pharmacy; the fifth, science; the +sixth, agriculture; the seventh, civil engineering; the eighth, +commerce. + +The University course was to take three years, and there was to be a +University installed in each province. The educational system was to +be perfected by two other institutions--a post-graduate college where +research was to be undertaken, and a normal college which was to be +divided into an inferior and a superior one for the purpose, the one of +preparing schoolmasters for the village schools, the other for higher +education. A far less ambitious scheme for the education of girls has +been added to this by {274} an edict of 1907. If my readers have waded +through this scheme I am afraid that they will have come to the +conclusion that China has nothing to learn from Western powers, but +rather she ought to be able to teach them how to perfect their own +incomplete system of education; but alas, this scheme is only on paper. +In the province where H.E. Yuan-Shih-Kai ruled the schools approach in +some degree to the level of Western efficiency. In every other +province that I visited or heard about, the results of this edict were +markedly disappointing; the only exception being where the Universities +had been organised, not in the form or terms of the edict, but by +Western teachers acting on more or less independent lines. For +instance, there is a splendid University which has been founded by Dr. +Timothy Richard in Shansi. + +That University has a curious history. After the Boxer massacres +compensation was demanded by the Powers both for the buildings that +were destroyed and for the missionaries that were killed. A certain +number of the missionary bodies refused absolutely to take any +compensation. Animated by the spirit of the early Christian Church, +they would not allow that the blood that had been shed for the sacred +cause could be paid for in money. At this juncture there threatened to +be rather an impasse. The Western Government were insisting on +compensation, and it was doubtful and uncertain how that compensation +should be paid. The Chinese Government sent for the Protestant +missionary in whom they had the {275} greatest confidence, Dr. Timothy +Richard, and he made a suggestion which was at once acceptable to both +the Chinese and to the missionary body, that the money should be +devoted to the founding of a great University; for ignorance is the +most common cause of fanaticism, and the terrible massacres enacted in +China would never have taken place had China understood, as +Chang-Chih-Tung did understand, that Western science and enlightenment +were for the benefit of China; so this University was founded. It was +founded under peculiar terms. It is under the government of China, and +yet not completely so. Dr. Timothy Richard is for a certain number of +years one of its governors, and he has for ten years at least the +control of the Western side of the education. He is supported by an +able staff, and the Rev. W. E. Soothill is the existing President. At +the end of the ten years which are just running out, the status of the +University is to be altered, and is, as far as I understand, to return +to the ordinary status of a Government University. I need hardly say +that this University has been highly satisfactory in its teaching, and +lately it has sent many of its students to England to complete their +education. It suffers, however, from the absence of a proper +preparatory course. One of the difficulties that lie right in the way +of Chang-Chih-Tung's compromise is the difficulty of finding time for a +Western preparatory course, and that is only equalled by the difficulty +of finding teachers. Without time and teachers the students {276} +arrive at the University period of their lives with only a very +elementary knowledge of Western subjects. This college can hardly be +cited as a college of high governmental efficiency, but should rather +be regarded as an example of the good that a man like Dr. Timothy +Richard can do if he is only allowed scope. + +Another Western University under Chinese Government control is the one +at Tientsin, the Pei-Yang University. That University has the +advantage of being well supported by efficient Government schools at +Pao-ting-fu. One interesting detail about the Pao-ting-fu school--a +fact indeed which in two or three ways should give us food for +thought--is that it is controlled by a Christian who is allowed by the +Government, against their own regulations, to carry on an active +propaganda. He was the man who, when the missionaries were murdered at +Shansi, at the risk of his life brought down a message from them +written in blood on a piece of stuff. Perhaps it is not extraordinary +to find that such a man is producing excellent work. The Pei-Yang +University, however, falls far short of our ideals of what a University +standard should be. Still, as far as it goes, it is very efficient. +It is taught by a very effective body of professors. It has 150 +students, and teaches law, mining, and engineering. The staff is +American with very few exceptions. One of those exceptions is Mr. +Wang, a Chinese gentleman who received his education in London. Very +little philosophy is taught, {277} only three hours a week are given +for Chinese learning, and the students are expected to acquire a +sufficient knowledge of Chinese subjects before they come to the +University. The American professors, who proved to be a delightful set +of men, allowed that there was no real scientific training given in +this school. They gave the same account of their pupils which you will +hear in every Chinese school. They excelled in algebra, drawing, and +in the most stupendous power of committing formulæ to memory. One of +the difficulties of teaching a Chinese class is that they have so +little difficulty in learning by rote that they much prefer learning +the text-books by heart to trying to understand them. The Law School +in the Pei-Yang University is taught by a man who has no knowledge of +Chinese law. This is one of the small mistakes made by American +educators in China, which I think must be somewhat misleading for China +in the future. To learn nothing but Western law, and to imagine that +that Western law can be applied directly to the Chinese people, is to +make the same mistake that Macaulay so eloquently condemned in the old +East India Company. Such a system of teaching can only make +unreasonable revolutionaries. + +These two examples of teaching institutions carried on under the +Chinese Government by Western teachers are wholly exceptional, and +though excellent in their way are unimportant, and having regard to the +vast mass of the population of China are inconsiderable. What are five +or six {278} hundred students to a population of four hundred millions. + +I must reserve the account of what I saw of the schools under Chinese +management, including the Peking University, to another chapter. + + + + +{279} + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE SAME IN PRACTICE + +Any one who has read the preceding account of the intentions of the +Chinese Government might be pardoned if he supposed that after four or +five years those intentions had borne fruit in an efficient system of +public education. But one who has resided any time in China would only +smile at the suggestion that there should be an intimate relation +between what the Chinese Government professes to do and what the +Chinese Government does. A Manchu Professor whose European education +had enabled him to appreciate rightly the weaknesses of the Chinese +race, said with great candour, "In China we begin things, but we never +finish them." I had the privilege of seeing over some twenty +Government schools in China, and the truth of these words was very +obvious. + +My hospitable host at Nanking, His Excellency Tuan-Fang, hearing that I +took an interest in education, declared that he would be very glad that +I should see his schools. I expressed a regret that my ignorance of +the language would impede me in thoroughly understanding what was being +taught. He most hospitably said that I could myself examine {280} the +pupils who were studying Western subjects, and who therefore spoke +English or French, and that my wife should examine the girls' schools; +that we should be accompanied by two interpreters as well as by the +Director of Education, and that he would examine the schools in any +branch of knowledge that I chose. So we sallied forth, a very imposing +body, and I was asked to select what schools I should like to visit. +Of course I selected the higher grade schools in which Western subjects +were taught. The first school on which we descended was the +Agricultural College. The teachers of Western subjects were two +Japanese and one Chinaman. They were being taught in Chinese, but I +had no difficulty in finding out in the first room we entered what they +were learning, because the illustrations were well known to me, for +they formed part of a book of elementary botany which I had at one time +studied. I suggested to Mr. Tsêng, the interpreter, that the right +course would be to ask the Japanese master to select his best pupils +and that then he should examine them while I should suggest the +questions. It soon became clear that all the Japanese teacher was +doing was to teach them to copy the illustrations in the book and +nothing else. For the first time we noticed what we afterwards +discovered to be the invariable rule, that the Japanese are most +perfect draughtsmen, and that every class taught by the Japanese always +learnt to draw perfectly, though they learnt little else. The Chinese +were rather pleased that the Japanese teacher cut such a sorry figure. +We then {281} went to the next room. Again there was a Japanese +teacher professing to explain the model of a steam-engine; again the +pupils were obviously ignorant; again we bowed and they bowed and we +left the room. + +The next room had quite a different atmosphere. Obviously efficient +work was going on. The men were learning elementary chemistry. The +teacher was a Chinaman who had been trained in London and spoke English +perfectly. He was as straightforward as he was efficient. He frankly +said that the progress that his pupils had made was very limited +because of the short time that they had been at work. We congratulated +him on the efficient way he was managing his class, and were interested +to hear afterwards that he was a Christian. More than once we came +across Christian Chinese, and did not know till later that they were +Christians, but were struck by their efficiency, which sprang doubtless +from a high ideal of work. + +We left the Agricultural College and then proceeded to a High School, +which is the name that is given to a first-grade school that precedes +the University, and which at present stands in its place. We had in +this school much the same experience. A Japanese teacher was teaching +biology and was dissecting a river mussel. This was done in such a +position that only two men could see what was going on. I wondered at +this. Then we found out that he could not speak a word of Chinese. He +dissected the {282} mussel and professed to give a lecture on its +anatomy to a pupil who understood Japanese, and then the pupil +delivered the lecture to the rest of the class. My Chinese +interpreters were of opinion that very little could filter through the +class in this way, but the Director of Education smiled sweetly. He +obviously felt that in some mysterious way Western education was +percolating to the pupils under his charge. As we returned along the +corridor I glanced in. The biological lecture was over; I expect it +was the only one of the session, and the pupils went away with +admirable pictures of the river mussel. If the Japanese teachers only +set up for teachers of drawing, I am certain they would have no equals +in the world. A little further on in the same building there was a +professed teacher of drawing. The class was not a selected class, they +were drawing from a cast of a well-known Greek statue, and the work was +simply admirable. I am confident that, except in an art school, you +would not find better work in Europe. In the next room there was a +science teacher. To impress the Director of Education, he rashly set a +machine for demonstrating the vibration of sound at work. The machine +would not demonstrate anything, much to the joy of my Chinese friends, +solely for the reason that he had not wound it up. + +I should tire my readers if I were to go on describing room after room. +I cannot of course be certain how far these Japanese teachers had +taught science, but at any rate their pupils had not {283} acquired any +knowledge, and I think we may easily be too hard on the Japanese. One +must remember that they have to supply teachers for all their own +schools. Is it likely that they will be either able or willing to send +into other countries efficient teachers of Western education? It is +not as if Western knowledge had been for long taught in Japan. Their +schools are now many and they were few. I suppose no man, no great +number of men at any rate, over thirty-five or forty, are equipped with +an efficient Western education in Japan. One wonders why they allow +their national reputation to be injured by supposing it to be possible +for them to supply these teachers of Western knowledge. Political +motive suggests itself as a reason why a country so proud and so +ambitious as Japan should allow a course that must eventually injure +her reputation as an enlightened power. + +The next school we went over was very interesting. It was what is +called a Law School. The men who are learning in this school will be +the future officials of China; only, following the Chinese custom, they +will rarely or never hold office in the province in which they were +born and educated. They were men of some standing, and it looked +strange to see all these senior men, over sixty in number, sitting like +children at the school desks. They were dressed, in uniform, and were +under a sort of military discipline. The senior pupil gave the word of +command, and at once the class sprang to attention and saluted {284} +us, while we bowed first to the teacher, then to the class, after which +the examination began. They were chiefly taught by Chinese, and, as +one might expect, were well taught in the Chinese Classics. We were +informed that the Japanese teacher was teaching them Western law; but +in answer to an inquiry he explained that he had not yet taught them +any law, but that he was teaching them the Japanese language, since it +was through the Japanese language alone a knowledge of Western law +could be attained. The reason seemed very inconclusive especially when +one remembers that the Japanese know and write Chinese characters, so +that it is easy to get any work that is printed in Japan printed in the +character which every Chinaman can read. I have before explained the +peculiar merit of the Chinese character is that people who speak +different dialects and even languages can read it equally well. I +pointed all this out to my Chinese friends. I think their suspicions +too were aroused. Certainly this experience lends colour to the +suggestion that Japan hopes that the Manchu dynasty will be succeeded, +not by a Chinese dynasty, but by a dynasty from a race whose courage, +energy, and intellect has already humiliated Russia and China, and may +not inconceivably dominate China, should, for instance, Germany and +England go to war. + +We then went to see some classes taught by Americans. Two things +struck me in those classes. First, for some reason I cannot +understand, unless {285} there was jealousy at work, the class was +small compared with the enormous classes which I had seen +elsewhere--thirty, twenty, or even fifteen were the numbers that white +men were teaching. The other thing which struck me was that the +selection of subjects might be improved. For instance, one of the +teachers was teaching Anson's Law of Contract; one could scarcely see +how a knowledge of the English law of contract could be very beneficial +to a resident in China; and on looking over the book that another class +was using, I found that they were being instructed how to buy an +advowson in England. I cannot of course say that the class was +actually taught this interesting information, but it was certainly in +their text-book. Another text-book was a summary of the history of the +world; it was issued by an American firm. On looking up the chapter +which referred to China I found the most extreme expression that an +American democratic feeling could prompt used with regard to the +Emperor of China. I pointed this out to the Chinamen. Apparently no +one had taken the trouble to glance through the books that were being +used. Such action is regrettable, because it inevitably brings Western +education into disrepute, and suggests it to be something essentially +revolutionary. + +Another curious experience was to find a Cantonese Chinaman teaching a +science class in English because he did not know Mandarin. It will be +one of the limitations to the usefulness of the Hong-Kong {286} +University that the bulk of the students who attend it will be +Cantonese-speaking Chinamen, and they will therefore be inefficient as +teachers to the great mass of the Chinese empire. A University which +hopes to produce teachers which shall teach the whole of China must be +a University situated in Mandarin-speaking China. + +It was waxing late after we had seen these schools. We had consumed a +great amount of the day in partaking of a most excellent Chinese +luncheon, where the only mistake I had made--at least the only one of +which I was conscious--was in not being instructed in the nature of the +entertainment. I had yielded to the solicitations of my host and had +partaken largely of the first two or three courses. Later on in the +luncheon I was divided between the desire to be polite and a fear that +the capacity of the human body might be exceeded. Our host was the +Director of Education, and my interpreter whispered to me that he had a +great knowledge of cooking and that "he loved a dry joke." His skill +as a Director of Education, especially of Western subjects, might be +doubted; but as a kindly host and an amusing companion he would have +few equals in our country. This aspect of the Chinese official too +often escapes the Western critic; whether efficient or inefficient, +they are always agreeable men. After luncheon he begged to be excused, +as he had a visit of ceremony to pay; it was the birthday of a dear +friend's mother. {287} His official robes were brought out, and +clothed in them he took his seat in a sedan chair and left us. + +We were taken on, rather unwillingly I fancied, to see the Commercial +School. The hour of the classes was over, but still the school was +really instructive. What was so remarkable about it was the extreme +simplicity of the place where the boys lodged. The school is not +maintained by Government, but by the rich Silk Guild of Nanking. Many +members of this Silk Guild, I was assured, would only be able to read +and write enough to carry on their business. They are a rich and +powerful body, and this school is intended for their sons. The +dormitory was a slate-covered building without any ceiling, and the +beds were arranged like berths on board ship, one on the top of the +other, with narrow passages between them. In this way, of course, a +room was made to hold a perfectly surprising number of individuals. I +could not help remembering the Church Army Lodging-house at home. If +we arranged the beds as they were arranged in that room, though we +should double or treble the number of travellers we could house, we +should incur the wrath of the sanitary authority. + +Very different was the Naval School. Here reigned efficiency, for the +Naval School is under the partial control of two officers lent by His +Majesty's Navy. The limit of their control was the limit of their +efficiency. For instance, the Chinese Government sometimes refused to +let their naval officers be shown an actual ship; their idea was much +the same {288} as that of the lady who forbid her son to bathe until he +had learnt to swim. The difficulty was very great for anything like +practical instruction. Continual representations induced the Chinese +Government to allow the boys to have a trip on the river in an old +ship. The moment this was accomplished there was great +self-congratulation on the part of the Chinese official; from resisting +this reasonable suggestion they changed to self-laudation at the wisdom +of accepting the plan. The efficiency of the teaching was not only +hindered by the want of practical knowledge, which is of course fatal +to naval efficiency, but these officers had also to complain of what so +many other Europeans have to complain--first, that the people whom they +were sent to teach did not know enough English, so that much of their +time was spent in teaching elementary English; secondly, that their +classes were not large enough. Far away the most effective way of +using a Western teacher would be to use them as we saw them used in one +school. The Western teacher was supported by two or three Chinese +assistants; he gave his lecture in English, and the pupils took notes; +then the assistants went round the desks, looked at the notes, and +explained in Chinese all those points that the pupils had not fully +taken in. This plan has another advantage, that it trains these +Chinese teachers to continue the work of a Western teacher, and in some +ways it is a more efficient system than the normal schools. The +Western teacher of course exercises a general {289} supervision over +his class and maintains order and discipline. + +While I had been busy with the boys' schools, my wife had been busy +with the girls' schools. She was taken over the Viceroy's School, the +one already described where the little girls showed such surprising +knowledge of the Chinese Classics. Her experience was less happy than +mine. The children were being drilled by a Japanese instructress who +could hardly play at all; she used a small gem harmonium, and the +drilling was little better than a feeble country dance. The same +instructress was responsible for a singing lesson; she played with one +hand on a harmonium, and allowed the children to bawl as they pleased +without either time or tune. All the pupils at this school were day +scholars. + +The interpreter who conducted Mrs. King, the Consul's wife, and my wife +over this and the following schools had removed his own daughter to a +mission school, thinking she would receive better teaching. As regards +the musical part of the instruction there can be no question but that +he was right. The next school she saw was also for the children of the +gentry, who supported it by subscriptions. There were 140 girls, fifty +of whom were boarders whose parents paid for their board. These fifty +young ladies all slept in one room, and their toilet arrangements +impressed my wife as anything but luxurious; the effect was more like a +steerage cabin on a big liner than an ordinary school dormitory. The +class-rooms {290} were all on the ground floor, leading from courtyard +to courtyard in Chinese house fashion. The instruction seemed to be +mainly Chinese, with attention paid to geography, drawing, and fancy +work, English being taught by a young Chinese teacher in a rather +elementary way. The mistresses appeared in dignified skirts, no doubt +as a symbol of authority. + +The last school she was shown was larger and less exclusive. It was +well organised, the classes being arranged with sense and +discrimination. There were 200 pupils of all ages and ranks, the +school being a public one. They were mostly dressed in black. Ten +lady teachers presided over this school, including a normal class with +a male superintendent; the whole in Chinese buildings. The teaching +comprised Confucian ethics, the Chinese characters, arithmetic, +geography, drawing from flat copies, and English given by a young +Chinese girl who had been educated in a Shanghai mission school. + +The instruction seemed to be good on the whole. About one-fourth of +the scholars boarded at the school. Attached to it was a kindergarten +managed rather sleepily by two Japanese. Again the children's singing +was hardly worthy of the name. My wife was impressed by the +inferiority of the Government girls' schools to the mission girls' +schools in almost every particular. Doubtless they will soon improve, +but at present the Government does not seem able to obtain efficient +teachers, and is much too inclined to spend vast sums on practically +useless {291} apparatus--useless because the instructors do not +understand how to use it. + +Our experiences at Nanking were extremely interesting, but they were +not exceptional. We saw over Government schools at Wuchang, again at +Changsha, and also we saw something of the Peking University. At +Changsha matters were not nearly so far advanced as they were at +Nanking. There were the same Japanese teachers, one of whom taught +English, but I could not get a single copy-book produced to show how +far they had advanced in the knowledge of this language. There were +the same American teachers; good men, but unable to do much owing to +their want of knowledge of Chinese, and owing, as I said before, to a +certain jealousy which prevented them having a sufficient number of +pupils. The very excellent school which is carried on at Shanghai, +under Western management, forms a good contrast to the others. This +school does not profess to teach very advanced subjects, but it teaches +ordinary English subjects most efficiently. The system is this: the +boys are first taught in Chinese, while they are acquiring the +rudiments of Western knowledge and of the English language; they are +then transferred to a class which is taught in English by Chinese; here +they acquire from their own countrymen a very thorough knowledge of +English and a tolerable knowledge of Western subjects. In both these +divisions of the school all explanations are given in Chinese. After +they have acquired a good knowledge of English they are then {292} +advanced to the class which is taught by an Englishman, who has some +knowledge of Chinese; here they perfect their knowledge of English, and +the teacher can if necessary explain a difficulty by the help of a +Chinese word. Lastly, they are taught absolutely in English by an +Englishman who need not know any Chinese, as it is never used. + +At Wuchang the schools were similar to those of Nanking. The only +school which was exceptionally interesting was the School of Languages. +This was managed by a Manchu, who was prompt, exact, and efficient--in +fact, the very greatest contrast to the usual Chinese official. He +spoke French perfectly, as he had been brought up in Paris and spent +some time in the West. In a few words he showed that he understood the +problem of education in China. He told me that his nation would never +succeed in teaching their nationals Western subjects until they +selected teachers who had some experience in the knowledge and in the +art of teaching, and that the habit of regarding all Westerners as +capable of teaching all Western subjects must produce disaster. He +boldly professed himself a Roman Catholic, and was one of several +examples that came under my notice of the wonderful influence that +Christianity has on the formation of a vigorous character. The boys +had been very well taught in English and French, and I gathered in +German and Russian as well. Certainly if China gets such men to lead +her, she need have little fear of the power of the West. + + + + +{293} + +CHAPTER XXIV + +DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF EDUCATION + +The difficulties in the way of education differ in Government schools +and in Mission schools. If the Chinese Government could unite the +Government schools to the Mission schools, they would overcome all +these difficulties, and they would have a most perfect system of +Western education. Of all the difficulties lying in the way of +Government schools, first and foremost is the fundamental weakness of +China, that weakness which is endangering her national existence, a +weakness which I fear she will never completely surmount until she +accepts a higher ideal. For her weakness is the universal greed for +gain. Resident after resident reported the same cause of weakness, +that a Chinaman cannot resist taking his "squeeze"--that is, his +commission. It is not of course so dishonest as it would be on our +side of the globe, because a Chinaman is more or less avowedly paid by +these commissions, and therefore in many ways they are rather +equivalent to the fees paid by an Englishman to a Government office +than to illicit commissions, the acceptance of which in this country is +punishable by law. If it is not as immoral, it is almost as +deleterious to efficiency, because it tends {294} to make officials +unreasonable in their action. To ask the reason why things are done in +China, is always to receive the answer that somebody got a "squeeze" +thereby. + +And so it is with education. As we wandered through room after room +filled with apparatus sufficient to teach thousands of students, and of +such a complicated nature as absolutely to confuse those students when +taught, one longed that a tithe of this expenditure could have been +used for that modicum of apparatus which is necessary to make not a few +mission schools thoroughly efficient. Much of the apparatus has never +got outside its packing cases, and perhaps a great deal had better +permanently remain there, for nothing is so subversive to the proper +teaching of men whose great defect is that they have never handled +things with their hands, as to give them complicated apparatus to +demonstrate the most recondite laws of science. A great scientific +teacher, when consulted about the apparatus necessary for elementary +science, advised plenty of bonnet wire, glass tubes, and one or two +other little things of that sort. When one asks why the Chinese have +been so lavish in their expenditure on apparatus which they cannot and +will not use, the reply is the same old answer--somebody got a +commission. Bui I think beyond that there is a real belief that +education is a matter of expensive apparatus--a belief which is not +altogether unknown on this side of the globe. + +{295} + +This brings me to the second great difficulty in the path of Government +education. They will believe that an efficient education results +rather from having an expensive building than from a competent teacher. +I have before had occasion to refer to the extreme simplicity of the +life of the Chinese. Many of the schools were housed, and very +comfortably housed, in Chinese houses. The Chinese house always looks +out on a courtyard, and courtyard is joined to courtyard by passages. +The rooms are only divided from the courtyard by carved wooden screens +whose interstices are sometimes filled with paper and sometimes not. +They are eminently sanitary--in fact, to a large extent they fulfil the +requirements of the "open-air cure." In one case in the courtyard were +a lot of basins and ewers, and the boys were compelled to have a wash, +which if extensive must, in the winter, have been extremely unpleasant. +For all this I expressed my sincere admiration to my friend the +Director of Education, but he received my compliment much in the same +spirit with which a mother accepts your assertion that her child is far +prettier in her every-day dress with tousled hair than she is in her +Sunday clothes, as with hideous tidiness and pharisaic pomp she wends +her way to church. My compliment was taken almost as an insult. I was +then shown the ideal of China, a huge and hideous building, modelled on +the architecture which white men deem necessary to enable them to +support the tropical heat, to the fatal effects of which they are {296} +so sensitive; massive walls to carry the heavy roof; huge arched +verandahs where white people may get the breath of air they so need. +Of what use are all these to a race who cannot understand what you mean +when you speak of the heat being unhealthy, who, however sensitive to +cold and wet, flourish in the warmth to which they have been accustomed +all their lives? The Chinese do not admire this architecture for its +æsthetic effect; they care little about its heat-resisting qualities. +They like it because it is Western; because Western people are educated +in such buildings; because, I suppose, they expect Western learning to +work in some way through those massive stone walls to the minds of the +pupils; and because they fancy Western ideas would be more easily +understood in these hideous surroundings. + +Thirdly, there is no serious effort made to get good teachers. At one +time, I understand, they had in their service a very remarkable body of +men--men like Professor Martin of Peking--whose knowledge was only +equalled by the sincerity of their purpose. Lately they have been +getting rid of these men as fast as they could, the cry of "China for +the Chinese" being perhaps responsible for this movement; and they have +endeavoured to replace them by Chinese subjects with but little +success. They have therefore fallen back again on foreigners, largely +on Japanese. These men are some of them very able and qualified +teachers; some, on the other hand, have had little or no experience of +teaching, and their inefficiency tends {297} to bring all foreign +teachers into disrepute. Not only must the teacher have a special +knowledge of the art of teaching, but a teacher of a race like the +Chinese, with different traditions to our own, must well understand +those traditions. We can best realise the enormous difficulty a +Chinese student has of learning from a Western teacher by remembering +how impossible it is for any of us to understand something that is put +from a Chinese point of view. + +If the Chinese Government want efficient foreign teachers, they must +not pick up anybody, but they must hold out inducements to young men to +come as teachers, and must give them security of tenure. If, for +instance, the Chinese Government had in their service such an efficient +body of men as could be found in the mission schools, they would have +no difficulty. Another difficulty which stands in the way of the +Chinese schools is their want of discipline. One of the most +remarkable developments in China is the school strike. They have +undoubtedly extraordinary powers of united action, but the school +strike originates as much in the weakness of the teachers as it does in +the remarkable power the Chinese race has of united action; you hear of +it all over China, and it is sometimes ludicrous, sometimes serious. +One school struck because the foreign teachers required the pupils to +pass an examination of efficiency before they would give them a +testimonial. This was deemed most incorrect by the {298} scholars, who +held a doctrine which would be very attractive to our own +undergraduates, that residence alone was a sufficient qualification for +a degree. Many of the strikes take place for most occult reasons. + +And this brings me to mission schools, for strikes take place equally +with them as in Government schools. They occur in boys' and in girls' +schools, and for the most un-understandable reasons. In one school the +strike began because a Chinese teacher caught hold of a boy's queue and +dragged him by it. The boy's "face" was injured, and his companions +made common cause. Another strike took place in a girls' school +because a girl was punished. Of course these strikes do not occur +where there is an efficient and vigorous teacher. It was attempted, +for instance, with Archdeacon Moule, but it only ended in the leaders +being caned. Still, one mission had its school practically ruined by +one of these strikes; it was the result of an intrigue by an +unbelieving teacher who had been employed by mistake. These strikes +are not a very great difficulty to the mission when it is in charge of +efficient and experienced men; a little justice and firmness apparently +soon disposes of any unreasonable resistance to authority, and tact and +knowledge prevent any friction which may result from regulations that +may be offensive to Chinese ideas. + +A far greater difficulty in the mission schools is the question of +finance. The Chinese for the most part pay their scholars; the result +is that the mission school {299} has to compete not only against a free +school, but against a school in which pupils are paid to come, and it +appears as if it would be almost an impossibility for mission schools +to support themselves against such competition. As a matter of fact it +is usually found that so great a value do the Chinese put on the +efficient education that they receive in the mission school that they +are willing to pay a reasonable fee rather than be paid for the useless +education given by the Government school. Still it makes finance a +certain difficulty. Many of the schools are largely self-supporting; +others rely on fees to find board and lodgings for the pupils and the +salaries of the native teachers. So that every school more or less +carries a great financial burden. + +The great difficulty of mission schools at the present time springs +partially from Government action. The ideal of every Chinaman is at +present to be in the service of the Government; we must emphasise that +word "at present," because undoubtedly, owing to the railway +development of China, a wealthy commercial class must arise all over +her land, as it has already risen in the great port towns. This class +will be independent of Government and will be the class that needs +Western education more than any other class, for they will be in +intimate contact with the West. But at present those who seek a higher +education hope for the most part for Government employment. One of the +rules of Government employment is that the officials shall on {300} +certain days repair to the various temples to represent the Emperor, +and it is naturally held that such action is impossible for a +Christian. Besides this, the Government makes it extremely hard if not +impossible for a Christian to go to its University at Peking. All +teachers and pupils in a Government school are required on the +Emperor's birthday to bow down or kow-tow to the tablet of Confucius. +Missionaries hold that such action is not consistent with the Christian +faith, and therefore the mission school is very loath to send its +Christian pupils on to the Government University. + +It must, however, be stated that several Chinese scholars, including a +Christian, have indignantly denied that the kow-towing to the tablet of +Confucius implies anything more than the respect due to the greatest +thinker that China ever possessed. We had the privilege of being shown +over Peking University by an extremely able and pleasant Chinese +gentleman, a Christian. He showed us the tablet of Confucius and +explained to us the ceremony. It must be owned that externally there +was but little that one could associate with the idea of divinity. The +tablet was behind a glass case, and at first it suggested some sort of +educational apparatus. The desks were placed at right angles to it, so +that it did not actually occupy what could be regarded as the chief +place in the room. The gentleman who showed us over strenuously denied +that any of the pupils in Peking Government University could regard +{301} Confucius as God. None were admitted to the University except +those who were already well versed in the Chinese Classics, and they +knew perfectly well that in these Classics Confucius said that he had +no supernatural power; while the leading commentator on Confucius, the +man whose teaching had more than any other influenced modern +Confucianism, was avowedly an agnostic, and therefore, so far from +regarding the tablet as divine, it would be nearer the truth to say +that the greater bulk of the scholars disbelieve in the idea of God +altogether, or at any rate hold an agnostic position with regard to it. +When I put these difficulties to an eminent missionary the answer was, +yes, but by a late edict they have made Confucius equal to heaven and +earth, and so whatever doubts there were before have been resolved, and +the Chinese Government has decreed to Confucius divine honour. I put +this criticism to an able civil servant in the employ of the Chinese +Government, and he answered that that decree was really intended to +have the opposite effect. The Chinese are aware that they are as a +matter of fact relegating Confucius to a secondary place in education, +and they are therefore most anxious to propitiate the Confucian +scholars. They have compromised the matter much on the same system +that we use in the West with regard to some politician whose services +have been valuable, but who is actually a hindrance in the House of +Commons. Confucius has been given divine honours {302} as the worn-out +politician in England is given a peerage; it is a form of honourable +retirement. A very intellectual Chinese, however, expressed himself +quite otherwise, saying that anybody who understood Chinese views would +have grasped the meaning of making Confucius equal to heaven and earth. +As heaven and earth induce the wealth of mankind, so has Confucius done +by his teaching; as heaven and earth can change things and make things +exist that were not, so with Confucius; but that Chinese theology +regards heaven and earth as created by the one God, and therefore +Confucius is put in the position of an exalted but a created being. +What impresses perhaps the Westerner more than this rather recondite +Chinese reasoning is the simple fact that while by the Government edict +it is decreed that the tablet of Confucius shall be honoured by three +bowings and nine knockings, it is also ordained that the schoolmaster +shall be honoured by one bowing or kow-tow and three times knocking the +ground with the head. The similarity of the salute to the schoolmaster +and to the tablet of Confucius rather disposes of the idea that the act +of reverence to the tablet involves worship. On the other hand, it is +pointed out that this is the main ceremony that is observed in what are +called the temples of Confucius; but when this was put to a Chinaman, +his answer was that they were not temples, and if there had been any +worship in those temples, they would have been frequented {303} as much +by the women and children as by the men, but as a matter of fact they +were frequented only by literati. When it was suggested that on +occasion, however, there were sacrifices in these temples, he did not +deny this, but changed the subject. + +But we must not say that the respect and reverence offered to +Confucius, whether it involves idolatry or not, is the only reason why +Christian pupils are advised not to go to the Government Universities. +There are two other great reasons. The first is an extremely practical +one: the education in Government Universities is avowedly imperfect. +The fact that the Government have subscribed to the English University +at Hong-Kong and to the German College in Shantung show that they are +aware of their own shortcomings. The second reason is that the racial +characteristics of Chinamen demand that they should act as a body. An +acute observer asserted that, as far as he was able to judge the +matter, no Chinaman ever acted independently; and that therefore it is +putting a burden greater than the race can bear to ask that Christians +should maintain their Christianity when they are surrounded by an +unbelieving and heathen atmosphere; and that, as a matter of fact, the +result of sending students to Government Universities would, except in +cases of men of very strong character, be to send them to unbelief. +Yet a greater and simpler objection is that these Government +Universities for the most {304} part do not exist, and that it is +impossible for small institutions like that at Peking to take even a +hundredth part of the students who are clamouring for Western +education. But the mission schools have another and a newer +difficulty, one which is causing the greatest heart-searching. This I +must reserve for the next chapter. + + + + +{305} + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE NEED OF A UNIVERSITY EXPLAINED + +The great danger that threatens mission schools, a danger which is +increasing every year, is that the best pupils of these schools have to +go to Universities in search of Western knowledge where they are +exposed to the insidious attacks of Western materialism. + +The teachers have at present no alternative; they have to send the best +and brightest of their pupils somewhere to complete their education. +It would be unfair on a boy to refuse to send him on, and if he is to +receive a higher education, where can he get it but at some place where +the atmosphere is distinctly anti-Christian. + +There is in the East no place with a neutral atmosphere as there is in +the West. In the West most people have had some Christian training, or +at least they comprehend Christian ethics. So in a Western +institution, even if the education be wholly secular, a Christian does +not find everything antipathetic to his faith. But in the East the +vast majority are non-Christian, and consequently the moral and +intellectual atmosphere is hostile and antipathetic to a Christian. +Here if an institution is non-religious it is probably not hostile to +religion. {306} In the East if an institution is non-religious it is +probably anti-Christian. At present the only University in action is +that of Tokio, though we are promised others, and its ill effects have +been so obvious that the Chinese Government have ordered a wholesale +withdrawal of pupils from its unhealthy influence. + +As we have already pointed out, Western civilisation is magnificent but +it is destructive, and when taught without any constructive religious +teaching it inevitably tends to destroy all spiritual ideas and too +often also to pervert the moral ideals of the race. As the pupil goes +through the mission school he learns within its walls to shake himself +free from the haunting fear of demons which besets every Chinaman; he +has slowly realised that God is holy, good and loving, and has either +accepted Christianity or stands on the threshold of the formal +acceptance; he has reached the end of the curriculum of the school or +college and his brilliancy demands a higher education. Attracted by +the reputation of Tokio, he goes to its University, and there he finds +himself in an atmosphere where all the destructive thought of Europe +grows rankly; the good God in whom he has learned to believe in the +mission school follows in the track of the demons of his youth, and he +is left believing in a world founded by blind chance, where ethics are +things of service to restrain your neighbour but folly to follow +yourself. "Eat and drink, for to-morrow we die," is the lesson which +is not perhaps taught in so many words, but {307} which none the less +is forced into his mind; his views become those of Falstaff; all that +is fine, all that is noble, flees from his life; though he no longer +believes in the God of Love, he does not return to the belief in the +demons of his youth; there is nothing in his world beyond getting rich +or gratifying the flesh and laughing at those people who believe in +higher ideals. He has been acquainted with and has learnt to loathe +from his youth up the philosophy of Yang Choo. He has, for instance, +despised such a sentence as this: "The people of high antiquity knew +both the shortness of life and how suddenly and completely it might be +closed by death, and therefore they obeyed every suggestion of the +movements of their hearts, refusing not what was natural for them to +like, nor seeking to avoid any pleasure that occurred to them, they +paid no heed to the incitement of fame; they enjoyed themselves +according to their nature; they did not resist the common tendency of +all things to self-enjoyment; they cared not to be famous after death. +They managed to keep clear of punishment; as to fame and praise, being +first or last, long life or short life, these things did not come into +their calculations." And now he finds that the philosophy of Yang Choo +is as he supposes the newest thought of the great rich successful +Western world; as he returns to his home and spreads abroad the +poisonous doctrines that he has imbibed, the missionary wonders +whether, after all, it would not have been better to have left the man +to his primitive demonology. + +{308} + +The American mission bodies saw this danger from the first, and have +already set up great educational establishments which to a certain +extent supply this need. That great institution Bishop Graves' College +at Jessfield, the Boone College at Wuchang, the British College at +Weihsien, and Methodist Universities at Soochow and Peking, are all +examples of good work. But they do not, any of them, bring the student +up to what we call University standard, or what I understand is called +in America the post-graduate course; what is felt is, that there is +need of an institution in which the highest knowledge shall be taught, +where the true aspect of Western thought shall be shown--not that +aspect which is bringing France to destruction, not that aspect which +makes Belgium unconcerned at the Congo scandals, but the aspect which +both in America and in England we have always admired at least in +theory, and in practice when we have been strong. The fundamental +truth on which our civilisation rests is that God is good, and that +therefore truth and progress are right and possible, and that the +highest expression of the goodness of God is in His incarnation as it +is universally taught by Christians of various views and of many +denominations. The West owes to the East, if there is any common duty +of man to man, to set before it the real truth as to the greatness of +Western civilisation, namely, that it is the result of Christianity. + +But missions are not anxious merely for a University {309} as a means +of defence against the materialistic onslaught which threatens their +work--they need it for many other reasons; for instance, the University +would make it possible for all denominations to have highly educated +native ministers. No student of missions can ever be content to regard +them as an ideal arrangement. The conception of a race being +ministered to spiritually by another race is obviously inadequate; it +is open to many criticisms; there must be a confusion in the mind of +the convert between what is national and what is Christian; one Chinese +regarded Christianity with doubt because he had heard that the German +Emperor is a Christian, and to his mind he is the embodiment of the +fierce piratical Western races. The word which the Chinese use for +robbers means red-bearded men, so associated, alas, is the Western race +in China with war and rapine; it is easy for a member of the Western +races to be misunderstood when he is talking about the religion of +love. Would any English parish like as its Rector a Chinaman, even if +he were saintly and went so far as to cut off his queue? + +Setting aside the associations of the Western race, the Western race +has great difficulty in speaking Chinese without making ridiculous +mistakes. Who among us has not smiled when the Chinaman's inability to +say the letter "r" has caused him to offer us "lice" to eat, but what +must it be to the Chinaman when he hears the Western preacher lost +amidst those mysterious Chinese intonations, and {310} therefore making +some wonderful statement. A Chinese gentleman assured me that he had +listened to a missionary extolling the virtues of a wild pig. +Reverence forbids explaining what was really meant. If the ministers +of religion are to be Chinese, it is obvious that they must be highly +educated Chinese; to have religion taught by ignorant men in a country +like China where learning is reverenced so profoundly, must be to +condemn it as the religion of the coolie. The Chinese minister must be +able to maintain his position, not only against the Confucian scholar, +but against the Western materialist, and must therefore have an equally +good education. Without saying that it is reasonable to expect that +the Western missionary should be withdrawn within the next few years, I +think it is wisdom for every mission body to aim at founding a body of +educated native clergy who can free Christianity from the taunt of +being a foreign religion, and who can, when the foreigner leaves China, +take his place and uphold the faith. + +If to have an educated native ministry is one great object of the +University, another great and only less important object is the +creation of an intellectual Christian laity who shall form and direct +Christian public opinion. The school teacher, the writer, are only one +degree less important, if indeed they are so, than the Christian +minister; and if as China assimilates Western civilisation, she finds +in her midst a body of men conversant {311} with the best side of that +civilisation, able to interpret its mysteries to her, so that it does +not become subversive to all spiritual religion and morality, it is +more than probable that she will take those men and put them in high +positions, and the grain of mustard seed will by their means grow into +a plant which shall overshadow the whole of China. The other day I was +reading how St. Grimaldi and St. Neots founded the University of Oxford +in 886. Theology, grammar and rhetoric, music and arithmetic, geometry +and astronomy, were the subjects taught. After a thousand years we are +in a position to judge of the success of the experiment. Surely every +one will wish to have a hand in founding a similar undertaking. + +The foundation of this University cannot for two or three reasons be +left to one body. In the first place, no one communion will be rich +enough to undertake such a work; secondly, it might cause a certain +narrowness of atmosphere; thirdly and chiefly, co-operation among +Christians would afford an object-lesson to the Chinese of the real +unity there is between them. We are constantly twitted with the fact +that we confuse the heathen by professing the religion of love and then +setting before them a mass of warring sects. If we can unite in the +founding of such a University, we shall show that though we see the +Christian truth in different aspects we have agreed that truth is one, +and have in spite of our divisions a fundamental unity. When {312} +this matter was referred to at the Shanghai Conference, considerable +difficulty was felt among missionaries as to the terms on which such a +University should be founded. It was agreed to refer it to the +Committee on Education, and that Committee of Education has in the year +1909 welcomed the formation of such a University. Dr. Hawks Pott, who +of all men in China can best speak as an authority on education, since +he has organised and maintained that wonderful institution at +Jessfield, warmly advocated its formation. + +No doubt one of the reasons why the missionaries now see their way to +the acceptance of this University is because a neutral body has come +forward to initiate the undertaking. Committees of the Universities of +Oxford and Cambridge have been sitting for many months considering the +question with all the skill and ability which their great learning and +technical knowledge enable them to bring to bear on this subject. +Though of course they have a thorough knowledge of education in all its +aspects, they were aware that they lacked knowledge of China and the +Chinese, so for many months they heard and examined the evidence of any +one who was thoroughly acquainted with China and with the conditions of +missionary work. They devised a scheme which they thought would at +once satisfy the workers in the mission field and be acceptable to the +Chinese. The mere outline of the scheme is that this University should +encourage the formation of denominational hostels, which shall {313} be +under the control of individual missionary bodies, and which shall form +colleges at the University; and while the University alone would +concern itself with giving secular teaching from a neutral standpoint, +the colleges would give Christian teaching to their pupils. In this +way all conflict between missions would be avoided; each mission would +continue to care for the pupils which it had hitherto sheltered and +educated. To the University would accrue the great gain of having a +supply of properly prepared pupils coming into it from the mission +schools, one of the causes of disappointment of ill-considered +University schemes being that there is no proper provision for a supply +of pupils. In the West there are numerous secondary schools, and any +University can easily find a sufficient number of pupils properly +grounded in knowledge. In the East to erect a University without +feeding schools is like building a house in the Chinese fashion roof +first. The Yale University Mission found itself compelled to set up +elementary schools to teach the elementary Western knowledge which was +necessary before even the lowest grade of college work could be +attempted. Western teachers are, as we have before explained, few and +far between outside the mission schools, and therefore mission schools +would both help and be helped by a University. The University +completes the work they have begun, and returns the men to the mission +to carry on its work with honour and efficiency. On the other hand, +the mission supplies the {314} University with pupils, which after all +are the prime necessity of education. + +Another great feature of the Oxford and Cambridge scheme was that the +University should aim to be a native University, and this no doubt was +the side which attracted the Chinese. Instead of using knowledge, the +common heritage of all men, as the means of imposing the domination of +the alien on China, knowledge is offered by this University as +essentially the thing which belongs to China as well as to any other +race. If in the commencement the majority of the professors must +belong to the Western race, it is to be hoped that many of its +professors will soon come from China, and that when the University is +well begun, and Christianity has become as national a religion as it is +in our land, and Western civilisation has lost the right to describe +itself by that epithet, and has become the civilisation of the East as +of the West, then the University whose foundation is now being laid may +be the great light of the future China. + +Perhaps the most important part of the scheme is that which suggests +denominational hostels as the proper solution of the difficulties that +beset union and interdenominational work in the mission field. + +There are obvious difficulties in arranging for a common religious +teaching, and, on the other hand, it is very advantageous for the many +mission bodies at work in China to show a united front against the new +materialism and the ancient superstition. {315} Nothing so shows the +power of Christian love as a union work of this nature. + +We Christians are often taunted with our differences, and we are +assured that many will support any scheme that makes for union and +peace between the different elements of the Christian world. Here is a +scheme which will tend to bring Christians together, and to induce that +mutual respect and toleration which must be the foundation of a closer +union. The baby must walk before he runs, and if the Christians of +China can maintain such a University, their daily intercourse will +greatly assist any further scheme for unity. + +But there is another use in the hostel system which should not be +overlooked. At all times one of the great hindrances to the education +of young men is the tendency that they have to waste their strength in +riot and wantonness. The Chinaman is perhaps more subject to these +temptations than the Westerner. A student said: "We cannot work; we +are too profligate." A Chinese statesman advised against certain towns +as possible sites for a University because of their tendency to entice +men into vicious courses. Far the most efficient way of opposing this +evil is to make some one responsible for the moral welfare of the young +men, and this is done in the hostel system. + +Every hostel would be governed by some person who would make the moral +welfare of the young men his peculiar care and study. The head of the +hostel might or might not be on the teaching staff of the {316} +University; but whether he taught or not, his first duty would be the +care of the moral and spiritual welfare of those committed to his +charge. He would give all his energy to reproduce the highest moral +tone of a Western University. + +This scheme is being tried in Chentu, where a union University is being +started. And I believe it is in every way proving successful. Those +who have not realised the size of China will be perhaps inclined to ask +why not unite the two schemes? The simple answer to those who have +travelled is that the distances are too vast. You might as well talk +of uniting Oxford and Harvard, for those two Universities are about as +far from one another in time as Hankow is from Chentu. Even when the +railway is built the distances will be immense. The enormous distances +of China are also a reason why it was impossible to amalgamate the +Hong-Kong scheme and the Oxford and Cambridge scheme. Hong-Kong is now +ten days to a fortnight away from Hankow, and such a different language +is spoken there that the dwellers in Northern and Central China are +often forced to use English to understand one another. + +The University of Hong-Kong will be very beneficial to the colony, and +is an example of the generosity of the merchants and citizens of that +town; but as a means of naturalising the higher side of our +civilisation it labours under the great disadvantage of not being +either in China nor under the Chinese flag, nor of speaking the +prevailing language. + + + + +{317} + +CHAPTER XXVI + +THE NEED OF A UNIVERSITY EXPLAINED (_continued_) + +The Committees at Oxford and Cambridge had not been without hope that +the missionary world would accept the scheme readily once it was well +understood. + +They had had the advantage of many interviews with missionaries and +others in London at their joint meetings so as to make it a matter of +some certainty that a large portion of the Western educators of China +would agree with them. But they were rather doubtful whether the +scheme would be welcomed by the Chinese official world. + +The commercial world in London that had dealings with China was rather +pessimistic. They held the view that you only had to mention the word +Christian or missionary to a Chinese official and it would have the +same effect that the word rats has on a terrier. But as I have before +related, we were agreeably surprised to find at the very outset that +the Chinese official world were far from hostile, and that we were +given, unasked, letters of introduction, whose contents I did not know +except that they procured for us a welcome in China which was as +surprising as it was delightful. I learnt in China that knowledge +{318} and learning is so loved and respected that those whose object is +its dissemination will ever find a ready welcome, and I learnt also +that whatever may have been their sentiments in the past, in the +present the Chinese have no hatred towards Christianity, but they +regard it as one of the least odious parts of the Western civilisation +which has become for them a necessity. I had also the privilege of +seeing His Excellency Tong-Shao-Yi in London, and he did not discourage +the plan. + +When we arrived at Harbin we found an official ready to receive us who +had been sent to welcome the scheme to China. His instructions were to +accompany us to Kwangchangtzu and to watch over our comfort. As he +only spoke Chinese, conversation was difficult; but with the aid of a +member of the Imperial Customs we gathered the object of his mission. +At Mukden we met with a similar civility. I was invited to dine at the +Yamen. I shall always remember my drive to that dinner. At Mukden no +carrying chairs are used, but a springless cart, in which the +traveller, or more accurately the sufferer, reclines. I was late for +dinner, so the order was given to the charioteer to drive quick, and as +we bounded over the unpaved streets of a Manchurian town I had an +opportunity of realising one of the minor discomforts of Chinese +missionary life. At the Yamen the same civility was shown to the +scheme, and next day Dr. Ross, my kindly host, took me to see a Manchu +noble of high rank. He was more than encouraging. He first sounded +the note {319} that I found vibrating through the whole of China. He +asked why did not the West concern itself with such things as +education, which benefit man, rather than with war, which produces such +endless suffering and misery. + +At Peking I met some great officials who all were favourable, but it +was not till we got south that we encountered what can only be +described as enthusiasm for Western education. One gentleman advised +that such an institution should be started at once, and recommended the +recall of all students studying in Western lands to fill its ranks. +Another who was interpreting was not satisfied with the prudent +official reply I received that the plan was good, but that I must make +inquiries at Peking. He added: "Make inquiries at Peking; but if they +refuse, go on with your scheme all the same." A body of young men who +had been educated at Boone College sent a petition that the scheme +should be forthwith undertaken, but perhaps the most remarkable +experience was that which I had at Shanghai. I was entertained by +thirteen of the gentry who had all received their education in the +West. We discussed every aspect of the plan, and when I pressed upon +them that one of the good results of the University would be that it +would have a healthy moral environment, an old man turned to his +companions and said: "We have ourselves had experience of this. The +environment in which we lived when we were in the West was different +from that in which we found ourselves when we returned {320} to +Shanghai, and did not it largely affect our lives?" After we had +talked some time the question was put plainly to them: "Would they +support such a University?" One of them turned round and said: "Of +course we should. It is obvious that if you will give us in China the +same sort of University as there is in England, if only on the score of +expense, we shall want to send our sons there; besides which no one +likes parting from their children and leaving them in a distant land." + +I discussed the matter with a Chinese statesman in Peking. I asked +whether Peking would not be a good centre, but he was very adverse to +the idea, because he said that Peking had such a bad moral tone that +boys would not be able to do any good work, and that he himself far +preferred that Chinese boys should be sent at ten years old to England +to receive their whole education in our country. When we pointed out +to him how, except in the case of a few rich men, such a course would +be quite impossible, he said: "Then put your University right away in +the western hills out of reach of the immoral influences of a town." +There can be few more eloquent testimonies to the necessity of another +University; nothing but a Christian University could succeed in +creating the moral atmosphere, which this wise man saw was the power of +the West. In the same conversation he gave a further testimony to the +power of Christianity, all the more striking that it was uttered by a +man who was not a Christian. He said: "Yes, {321} I have no doubt that +all that is good in the West comes from Christianity." + +All the officials we interviewed always ended their encomiums on the +suggested scheme by a saving clause to the effect that, before we did +anything, we must ask his Excellency Chang-Chih-Tung. When we passed +through Peking the first time we failed to see him, and it was +therefore with some anxiety I sought an interview with him on our +return journey. + +Chang was a figure in the politics of China whose importance it would +be hard to over-estimate. Not that he had the reputation for being a +peculiarly able man; in fact, some of the Europeans spoke slightingly +of his mentality. His force and influence came rather from his moral +qualities. He was the perfect type of Confucian scholar. + +Wonderfully well versed in all the knowledge of the literati of China, +he was far from despising any form of knowledge; in fact, he was one of +the first of the statesmen of China to recognise the importance of +Western education. When we were discussing with some leading merchants +the want of integrity of many of the officials, they claimed Chang as +an exception with enthusiasm. He had held the highest offices and +still remained comparatively poor. His reputation for clean-handedness +was enhanced by his age. In China the old are greatly reverenced, and +an old, honest, and learned statesman combined three of the qualities +most admired in China. + +It was therefore with some trepidation that I {322} found myself going +to see a man whose moral authority was so great that he could with a +word mar or make the University scheme as far as the power of the +Chinese officials extended, and in his case this was very far. I was +alone, for owing to the rather heated debates that divided the British +and Chinese Governments over the Canton-Wuchang Railway, it was thought +advisable that no member of the Legation should come with me. I drove +down to the north end of the city, and turning down a by-lane, scarcely +wide enough for the carriage to pass, we drew up opposite a very modest +dwelling. I was received by His Excellency's nephew, a man of +extremely courtly manners; and as he conducted me across the yard I was +struck by the simplicity of the house. The room, for instance, into +which I was ushered had a brick floor, and was separated from the +courtyard only by a paper and wood screen. Imagine what the intense +cold must be in a Peking winter when the thermometer is somewhere below +zero! The furniture of the room was equally simple. Two Chinese +chairs of the Chinese guest-room pattern, standing on each side of the +usual Chinese table, were supported on the other side of the room by a +token of the ever-encroaching West in the shape of a common round table +and some mongrel-looking stools, which looked as if they were +productions of Japan palmed off as European. + +As we sat and talked (for I was too early for my interview) my host +told me all about his uncle's {323} family, and the while I wondered at +the austerity of the dwelling of the greatest man in China after those +of royal blood. + +His Excellency was then ready to receive me, and we adjourned to +another equally simple room where the usual table with tea, sweetmeats, +and wine was laid out. Chang during the whole interview smoked a long +pipe, which required all the efforts of what I took to be two boys, but +who really were slave-girls, to keep alight. He wanted to know where +the money was to come from. I assured him that there are many generous +people in England and America who, desiring to leave a good name behind +them, and convinced that education confers on humanity incalculable +benefits, are willing to give largely to such a cause. + +Then he inquired what line we should take with regard to Confucian +learning; I said Christianity and Confucianism need not be opposed, and +we should respect and encourage the teaching of the sage. He clearly +approved, and gave me advice as to the course of study to be +followed--first, Chinese letters, then foreign languages; and he +advised as the site for the University some place near Wuchang and not +Peking. + +He then assured me that I might tell my countrymen that he approved of +the scheme. "Who," said he, "could but approve of such a scheme?" + +As I left he accompanied me across the courtyard, though I protested, +and I felt I had been honoured {324} by this interview with one of +China's greatest men. He was the embodiment of all that was fine in +China. He belonged to an age that is passing away. The Chinese +statesman of the future will learn Western luxury with Western +knowledge. + + + + +{325} + +CHAPTER XXVII + +CONCLUSION + +One word in conclusion. I have tried to show the greatness of the +crisis that is before us. The civilisation which has long been worn by +the white man alone is now being donned by the yellow man, not as the +result only of missionary effort, but as the result of those great +world causes over which puny mankind has no control; and I have tried +to show that all that we can do is to recognise and frankly accept this +great fact, namely, that the members of the human race who are subject +to and governed by our civilisation are to be nearly doubled, and that +the second half will import into that civilisation not only new +traditions, but a new racial personality, which must cause a +fundamental alteration in many of its traditions and customs. We must +not say that the movement will be shortly completed, for it has +scarcely yet begun; but we have seen enough in the success that has +attended the movement both in Japan and in China, to convince us that +it will ultimately dominate the Far East. This movement may be for +good or for evil; it may be for the downfall of the world, for the +perpetual misery of mankind, if that which is evil in both +civilisations is to be perpetuated and {326} that which is good is to +be destroyed; or it may be for the benefit of mankind if, when the +Christian civilisation welcomes the great yellow races, it accepts from +them, as it has accepted from many other races, their characteristic +virtues. Hitherto our civilisation has grown richer; every race it has +conquered has added beauty to its traditions and nobility to its +ideals. We may look forward with hope, if not with confidence, to its +future. But if this momentous change in the history of the world is to +be well directed, it can only be done by men of sincere Christian +faith; and if the civilisation is to augment these benefits to mankind, +it can only be by being more fully endued with the Christian ethics on +which its whole greatness depends. + +For the perpetuation of this ethic, for the education of the future +thinkers of China, we suggest a University is needed; that University +should not be founded by one race alone. Some may differ from us, and +hold that other action is advisable. They may be right, but it behoves +them to formulate their policy, because one thing seems certain--that a +policy of inaction at the present moment is one which is fraught with +risk, if not with disaster. If no one makes any effort to direct the +thought of this vast unit of mankind into the right paths, it is +improbable that good will naturally result. The fitting of Western +thought to an Oriental race, while it must be chiefly left to the race +itself, needs clearly the help of those who are conversant with the +best aspects {327} of that Western thought and of its history. The +missionary has done much, but he himself is the first to say, "I cannot +do all; I must be supported by those who will teach my converts the +fulness of Western knowledge." And so the missionaries have +inaugurated a policy of education which is most successful as far as it +has gone. The question before all well-wishers of China is, shall it +go further; shall we show China the intellectual light by which we are +walking, or shall we leave China to stumble in the darkness till she +falls into deeper error. + +Those who look forward to progress in this world must also look forward +to breaking up the old evil traditions and to founding new ones; the +old tradition, which limited love to citizens of the same State, which +put bounds on charity, so that man did not love man unless he spoke the +same language, or at least had the same coloured skin, is dying fast +though it is dying hard. A new tradition is being founded, and must be +further developed, in which, as in the parable of the Good Samaritan, +the word love is taught as passing and transcending all bounds of race +and language. The cultivation of this new tradition is vital to the +existence of our civilisation. If love cannot bind races together, the +improved arts of war will in time extinguish the civilisation that gave +them birth. If we are to encourage international love, we can best do +it by sharing together in international acts of mercy and generosity. +The great Chinese race has need of the wealth of Western {328} +knowledge. Let Western races join together to give them what they +need, and in so doing they will not merely benefit China, though as +China counts for a quarter of the population of this world, and is +nearly equal to the number of men who have a right to call themselves +civilised, that were no small merit; but they will do more, for they +will by common acts of mercy and love bind each to each so that the +horrid curse of racial hatred shall not be again able to divide them. +The elements of good in one race will be brought in contact with the +similar elements in another race; men will learn to trust men; and that +which the thundering cannon can never compel, or the keenest wit of +statesmen ever compass, will be accomplished by the obedience and +simple faith of the Christian men and women of all races, and the world +will be welded into one solid piece, where men can work without wasting +their efforts in making machines to torture and kill their fellow-men, +and where at last the prophecy shall be fulfilled: "They shall beat +their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks." + + + + +{329} + +APPENDIX + +WILL RUSSIA BE REPRESENTED ON THE MISSION FIELD? + +When it was settled that we should go to China to see what +opportunities there were there for an educational mission emanating +from our English Universities, we decided to go _viâ_ Siberia, and stop +at St. Petersburg and also at Irkutsk on the way. I had previously +found the journey of fifteen days without a break exhausting to myself +and still more so to my wife who accompanied me. The plan had also the +advantage that it gave me an opportunity of trying to find out why the +great Russian Church had never attempted any serious mission work in +China. From a mere inspection of the map one would naturally have +expected that the Christian power which had a frontier with China of +thousands and thousands of miles would have been the most forward in +that country in fulfilling the command of the founder of Christianity +to give His message of happiness to every living man. In our previous +tour we had been surprised to find that the missionary efforts of +Russia were insignificant in China, though, strange to say, they were +fairly vigorous in Japan. When we arrived at St. Petersburg I was +fortunate enough to obtain letters of introduction to the courteous +gentleman who then represented the imperial power in the councils of +the Russian Church, M. Iwolsky, Procurator of the Holy Synod. One +thing became evident; for the time being Russia is so much absorbed in +politics as to be oblivious of other duties. Living in England, we can +little realise the excitement and anxiety that filled the minds of many +who dwelt in the far off villages of Russia, while they waited to hear +whether or not they were to be engulfed in a revolution as dangerous +{330} and as far-reaching as that which more than a hundred years ago +overwhelmed France. + +A lady described to me how she had sat in terror in her country house +when all communication from St. Petersburg had ceased owing to the +strikes, while the smoke of surrounding houses which had been set on +fire by marauding bands told of the fate which might possibly await +her. Now all that is over. The revolution--so they think in +Russia--is a thing of the past; and Russia has entered on a course of +conservative reform to which, if she adheres, will doubtless make her a +prosperous and contented empire. + +I gathered from some of my informants that the reasons why Russia had +been backward in the mission field, and also why she was racked with +revolution, were in reality the same, namely, that the Orthodox Church +was not so vigorous and had not that hold on the consciences of the +people that it ought to have. Not that for one moment Russia is +ceasing to be religious. The attendance at Father John's funeral was +quoted as disproving such a possibility. People of the working and +middle classes came for miles to stand on a bleak cold day for long +hours merely to catch a glimpse of the coffin which contained the +mortal remains of a man who, according to their belief, lived more than +any man in accordance with God's law. Russia is religious to the very +core; but, like all religious nations, our own included, she longs to +express her deep sincerity through diversity and not through +uniformity. Alas! there are people in every nation who want to put us +in one religious uniform and to march us like soldiers at the word of +command straight into heaven's gate. In England this view only makes +some good and narrow-minded people anxious to have such a thing as +religious uniformity in our schools; but in Russia this doctrine has +been more vigorously held, and is doubtless responsible for the waning +power of the Orthodox Church. Mr. Pobiedonosteff, leader of the +reactionary movement, nearly caused a revolution, and certainly {331} +weakened the Church, by insisting on Uniformity and Orthodoxy. He +believed that there could be but one form of religion in the State, and +therefore he discouraged every other form of religious activity. Not +only did he rightly forbid those strange wild immoral sects who +practise and teach mutilation, but even the sober and devout followers +of Lord Radstock were to be silenced. The result of such a policy was +but too obvious. Religion was made odious by the insincerity which +such a policy must foster, and the State became detestable to all +earnest Christians who claimed the inherent right of every living soul +to love and worship his Creator in accordance with his true convictions. + +All this has now passed like a bad dream. People in Russia may believe +what they like and worship God how they like. M. Iwolsky was most +anxious that the world should know that he, the then representative of +temporal power in the councils of the Russian Church, so far from +encouraging the idea that Christ's Church can be controlled by a +temporal power, however great, was most careful to maintain that in +spiritual matters the Church is independent of the State, even if in +temporal matters she submit herself to the authority of Government. +Peter the Great abolished the Patriarchate; he added many, though not +all, of the powers of the Patriarchate to the Crown; and therefore the +Emperor represents the Patriarch in many ways. But it is wholly +misunderstanding his position to say that in spiritual matters he is +supreme. The Russian Church, like all other branches of the Church, is +controlled and governed by councils, both general and provincial. + +But M. Iwolsky had to confess that the power which the State wielded in +the Synod of the Church was still very great. The Crown has three ways +in which it can influence the council. First, though the members of +the council are representatives of the Church, it is the Crown who +decides (with the exception of the Metropolitans) who those +representatives shall be; secondly, the Crown, through the Procurator, +can forbid any action which {332} brings the Synod into conflict with +the laws of the State; lastly, the Procurator, as representative of the +Crown, must always be present at the debates of the Synod, and has +always a right to express his opinion, even on spiritual questions. +Such powers put together clearly give the Crown a control not only in +things temporal, but, if it is desired, an influence in things +spiritual as well. Still it cannot be too widely known that at any +rate in theory the Russian Church is in things spiritual independent of +temporal power. Most Englishmen would think, no doubt, that if the +Church is to hold her rightful place in the hearts of Russians, she can +only do it by relying on the power of preaching rather than on the +power of the sword. Therefore it would be best for both Church and +State if they had less to do with one another. English Churchmen will +be glad to hear that there is some prospect of a Synod of the Orthodox +Church being held, independently of the existing Holy Synod--a council +which may rank as a General Synod of the Greek Communion, if other +branches of the Orthodox Church are invited to join in its +deliberations, of which there is some prospect. The object of this +Synod will be to reform the discipline of the Church, a matter which is +engaging, I understand, the sincere attention of the devout Christians +of Russia. Few things bear truer witness to the weakness of the Church +in Russia than the low moral tone which exists, as all witnesses aver, +in every grade of Russian social life. The outward observance of the +fasts and feasts and ceremonies of the Church, though admirable in +itself, is perfectly consistent with a great deal of scepticism with +regard to the truths of Christianity. It is not uncharitable to +suspect such scepticism when a great profession of Christianity is +accompanied by a low moral tone. The Church has felt her weakness and +has sought the help of the State, and has therefore not succeeded in +her mission. + +Now happier days have opened for Russia which it is hoped may lead on +to happier ones beyond. The State no {333} longer helps the Church by +silencing her critics, by exiling those who cannot agree with her: the +Buddhist who lately at the definite command of the Government had +accepted Christianity has returned to sincerity and open profession of +Buddhism. The Church no longer so supported by the State may feel her +weakness, but she will grow rather than diminish in strength as she +learns to use more and more the real weapon of Christianity, namely, +the sacred truths of our religion published both by writing and by +preaching. Russia is one of the great nations of the world. The +Orthodox Church which dominates Russia is both true and faithful, and +she will guide her people into prosperity and peace when she has +learned to follow her Master's example and to order the sword drawn in +her defence to be returned altogether to its sheath. + +Nothing can be at present expected from the unorthodox bodies who until +lately have been persecuted to such a degree that they have scarcely +been able to exist. In external matters the Orthodox Church commands +the obedience of the nation to a wonderful degree, but in controlling +the deep convictions of the heart she lacks power. Nowhere is this +more obvious than in the moral tone which prevails in Russian society. +Perhaps it is not just or fair to take the capital of Siberia as a +specimen of ordinary moral life in Russia, but one might well say at +Irkutsk that all save the spirit of man is divine. We had been to a +certain extent prepared by our previous tour to disbelieve in the +horrors of the climate of Siberia, but what we saw and heard at Irkutsk +has convinced me that Siberia should rank high among the places that +are reckoned pleasant for human habitation. Siberia, or certainly the +eastern part of Siberia, is not the dreary plain, wind-swept and +miserable, that one read of in one's childhood. On the contrary, it is +a land of constant calms and steady sunshine, a land of lakes and +hills, and though it is cold, the cold seems but trifling in the +glorious sunshine of a Siberian winter. I feel certain that if Lake +Baikal were {334} somewhere within reach of London it would be one of +the most frequented centres for pleasure-seekers. And from the point +of view of wealth it is a most favoured land; a land where there is +gold and where there is coal; a land where there is copper and silver, +and where a hot summer ripens thoroughly all cereal crops. For +sportsmen it seems a veritable paradise. The pheasant (or at least his +brother) with whom we have long been conversant as dying of every +disease in the moist coverts of England, lives wild in this dry and +healthy climate. The wild boar and the wolf, the bear and many forms +of the antelope and deer, are to be found on the borders between +Siberia and China. The rivers are full of salmon and other fish whose +names I cannot attempt to give. + +If an Englishman were asked to choose whether he would live in St. +Petersburg or in exile at Irkutsk, he would, I believe, have no doubt +in deciding in favour of the latter, if--and that is a great if--the +spirit of man were not so human and corrupt. We were told that there +are six hundred women who are divorced in the jurisdiction of Irkutsk. +Such a statement indeed seems incredible, but certainly the morals of +the officers leave much to be desired. Vices go in flocks, therefore +laziness perhaps accounts for the amazing state of things which exists +in Irkutsk. The town is as full of officers as Eton is of boys. +Epaulettes jostle you in the streets, you tumble over swords in the +restaurants, and with all this force at the disposal of the +authorities--for I conclude that some at least of these officers have +soldiers under them--the streets of Irkutsk are unsafe after dark. +Person after person warned us of the danger of being unarmed at night, +at any rate in the by-streets. People are murdered in their own houses +in the suburbs; women have their fur coats torn off their backs. One +is aghast at the incredible slackness of the authorities, who instead +of instituting a reasonable police force such as exists even in Chinese +cities, allow the city to be watched at night by aged Dogberrys in huge +fur coats armed with {335} rattles which they use incessantly. +Certainly, though they may fail to frighten away robbers with this +primitive weapon of protection, they succeed in interrupting the +slumbers of the visitor. In the department of municipal activity the +town is equally badly organised. The streets were under snow, and as +upon a hard-seated sledge we leapt from hole to hole, we had at least +the comfort of realising that in summer their condition must be even +more trying. + +It is unsafe to trust gossip, but I give it for what it is worth. We +were assured that the only reason why the priceless wealth which Russia +possesses in the gold mines of Siberia was not further developed was +because of a similar official incompetence. There is said to be a +great deal of secret digging for gold. Men disappear in the summer and +reappear in the autumn with a pound's weight of pure gold, for the gold +lies only about three metres below the ground. But if this primitive +form of mining came to the knowledge of the Government it would put in +force the mining laws which would then successfully stifle the industry. + +It is needless to add that profligacy and laziness are not the only +vices against which Russian Christianity has to contend. Their people +have another in common with ourselves of which the Church is only too +well aware and which it is making great efforts to suppress, namely, +drunkenness. Actually on our journey we had an example of this vice +which every one regarded as comic, but which might have been tragic. +The train is brought suddenly to a standstill. There is something +wrong. Everybody tumbles out of the carriage to look. A man is lying +in the snow. At first it is thought he has been knocked down by a +previous train. Further examination shows that it is only a man dead +drunk lying right across the line--the result of keeping one of the +festivals of the Church. Every one laughs; he is pulled out of the +way, we climb back into the train, leaving him in the care of a priest, +quite unconscious how near he has been to death. Drunkenness is a +terrible evil in our own land, but its results are far more terrible in +{336} this land of frost-bite. There are numbers of people without +hands and feet begging in the street, and we were told that the general +cause of these injuries was vodka. A man going home falls into a +drunken sleep on the way: he awakes next morning with his hands and +feet frost-bitten, or perhaps he never wakes again: the sleep of +drunkenness merges into the sleep of death. + +As one considers these things one realises why the Buddhist Bouriat and +the Mohammedan Tartar still adhere to their ancient faiths. + +I do not think an Englishman has a right to criticise other nations +when so much remains to be done at home. Still one cannot truthfully +say that, however numerous her churches or well-attended her services, +the Orthodox Church directs Russia while she is powerless to make +headway against these vices. + +The great trials through which Russia has passed hold out every reason +to hope that with liberty, purity of worship will be again established, +and where there is purity of faith there must be mission work. No +doubt the Government has hindered mission work; in fact, they have +forbidden it in China. Christianity was to them so much the handmaid +of the State as to be inconceivable outside the State; but all this is +breaking down. The great mission work conducted in Japan to which I +have before referred has shown that the Orthodox Church grows well on +Eastern soil. The existence of a village preserving the Orthodox +religion in the middle of China which has been spoken of above, has +demonstrated at least the vitality of that faith among the Chinese +nation. When the Russian missionaries cross the frontier they will not +leave their own country weaker, but their work will be a token that +Russia is purifying her faith and is advancing along the road that +leads to holiness. + + + + +{337} + +INDEX + + + Abyssinia, 196 + Accuracy of Chinese, 72 + Agnosticism, 301 + Agricultural College, 280 + Aims of missionary education, 257 _et seq._ + Altar of Heaven, 142, 155 + America, 244, 254, 308 + American Methodist Mission, 198 + American missions, 16, 192, 200, 217 + Americans, 234, 253 _et seq._, 277, 284 + Amita, 149, 150 + Amitobha, 149 + Amur, The, 11 + Ancestor worship, 153 _et seq._, 160, 161 + Ancestral tablet, 159 + Anglican Church Conference, 215 + Anglicans, 216, 245 _et seq._ + Anglo-Saxon race, 242 + Anson's Law of Contract, 285 + Antung, 91 + Apocrypha, 221 + Apostles' Creed, defence of, 200 + Apparatus, 290, 294 + Architecture, 137 _et seq._, 295 + Art, Chinese, 137, 138 + Association of Christianity with learning, 258 _et seq._ + Autocratic government, result of, 199 + + + B + + Baikal Lake, 333 + Balfour's "Defence of Philosophic Doubt," 257 + Bamboo rope, 85 + Bambooing, 66 + Beggar Hospital, 227 + Belgium, 308 + Benedict XIV., 186 + Bible Societies, 17 + Bible Society, British and Foreign, 17, 198, 213 + Bible, style of, 181 + Blagovestchensk, 11 + Blair, Mr., 236 + Blind, Missions to, 201 _et seq._ + Boone College, Wuchang, 308, 319 + Bouriat, Buddhist, 336 + Boxer Movement, 7, 9, 18, 156, 161, 188, 269, 271, 274 + British missions, 201 _et seq._ + Buddha, 149 + Buddhism, 148 _et seq._, 164, 170, 175, 179 _et seq._, 243, + 248, 263, 269, 333 + Buddhist temples, 45, 141 + Bull, Papal, 186 + Butterfield and Swire, 79 + + + C + + Cambridge, 173, 312 + Canton, 113 + Canton Women's Hospital, 226 + Canton-Wuchang Railway, 322 + Cantonese dialect, 286 + Cassels, Bishop, 201 + Centenary Conference, 122, 125, 132, 200, 210, 242 _et seq._ + Chair travelling, 97 + Chang-Chih-Tung, 75, 152, 168, 208, 218, 268 _et seq._, + 321 _et seq._ + Changsha, 77 _et seq._, 167, 291 + Characters, Chinese, 132, 181, 208 _et seq._ + Chentu, 316 + Chicago University, 212 + China Emergency Committee, 229 + China for the Chinese, 216, 296 + China Inland Mission, 201 + China Merchants' boats, 62 + "China's Only Hope," 268 + Chinese clergy, 174, 257, 259 _et seq._, 310 + Chinese-Japanese War, 5, 268 + Christianity in China tolerated, 45 _et seq._ + Christie, Dr., 226 + Chu, 156, 179 + Chungking, 81 + Church of England, 202, 203 + "Church in China," 242 + Church Missionary Society, 201 + Cities, Chinese, 95 _et seq._ + Civilisation, Chinese, 56 _et seq._ + Classics, Chinese, 168, 207, 260, 270, 301 + Cleanliness, difficulty with Chinese, 226 + Clergy, Chinese, 174, 257, 259 _et seq._, 310 + Cochrane, Dr., 226, 228 _et seq._ + Colleges, 254 _et seq._, 303, 308 + Commercial power of China, 29 + Commercial Press, 16, 215 + Commercial School, 287 + Confucian teaching, 73, 156, 159, 163 _et seq._, 321, 323 + Confucianism, 148, 153 _et seq._, 163 _et seq._, 175, 221, 243, 261 + Confucius, 41, 42, 59, 156, 163 _et seq._, 220, 300 _et seq._ + Copts, 196 + Corruption of Chinese, 62, 293 + Courtesy of Chinese, 70 _et seq._ + Cruelty of Chinese, 65 _et seq._ + Currency, 63 _et seq._ + + + D + + Dalai Lama, 180 + Delamarre, Père, 47 + Diabolical possession, 158 + Difficulties of education, 293 _et seq._ + Difficulties of translation, 208 _et seq._ + Director of Chinese students, 172 + Director of education, 280 _et seq._, 295 + Discipline, want of, 297 _et seq._ + Divine honours to Confucius, 301 + Dominicans, 186 + "Door of Hope," 134 + Drugs, Chinese, 224 + Dumas, _Dame aux Camelias_, 218 + Duty to parents, 74, 174 + + + E + + Ede, Mr., 56 + Edict against opium, 117 + Edict, educational, 271 + Edict on Confucius, 302 + Edict on official rank for Roman Catholic missions, 188, 189 + Edification of Christianity, 257 _et seq._ + Education, 253 _et seq._ + Education, Committee of, 312 + Education of preachers, 257 _et seq._ + Educational, 230, 231 + Educational policy in China, 254 _et seq._ + Emperor of China, 187, 275, 300 + Emperor of Korea, 76, 239 + Emperor of Russia, 331 + Emperor, German, 309 + Empress of China, the late, 128 + Episcopal Church of America, 256 + Ethics, Chinese, 70 _et seq._, 220 + Evangelisation, 257 _et seq._ + Ezra, 59 + + + F + + "Face," 166, 167, 240, 298 + Famine in China, 56 + Fashion, power of, 33 + Fashions in China, 34 + Financial difficulties in schools, 298 _et seq._ + Foot-binding, 66, 124, 129, 130, 182 + Foster, Mr. Arnold, 125 + Foster, Mrs. Arnold, 3 + France, foreign policy of, 24, 187, 191, 221, 308 + Franciscan Sisters, 68, 194 + French officials, 184 + "French Peter," 225, 226 + French policy, 188 + French ship, 197 + French, the, 46, 186, 187, 188, 192, 253 + Fukien, 50 + + + G + + Gardens, 72 + Gardens, public, Shanghai, 102 + Gautama, 149 + Geography, 268 + Germans, 253 + Germany, 6, 18, 48, 49 _et seq._, 235 + Ghurkas, 25 + Gillieson, Dr., 226 + Girls' schools, 130 _et seq._, 289 _et seq._, 298 + Goforth, Mr., 240 + Gold in Siberia, 335 + Gorges of Yangtsze, 81 _et seq._, 201 + Gospel, St. Luke's, comments on, 214 + Gospel, St. Mark's, Chinaman's acquaintance with, 213 + Government educational systems, 266 _et seq._ + Grand Canal, 80 + Graves, Bishop, 308 + Greek Church, Chinese, 148, 336 + Green Korean coats, 233 + Grey, Sir Edward, 120, 210 + + + H + + Haeckel's "Riddle of the Universe," 218, 263 + Haldane's "Pathway to Reality," 257 + Hangchow, 223 _et seq._ + Hangchow, monastery at, 180 + Hankow, 78, 81, 89, 140, 174, 226, 229, 316, 319 + Hanlin scholars, 176 _et seq._, 267 + Han-Yang Ironworks, 30 + Harbin, 315 + Hart, Dr. Lavington, 99 + Hashish, 108 + Heat at Saigon, 183, 184 + "Heaven," 156, 178, 179, 210 + Heaven, Temple of, 142 + Hewlett, Consul, 167 + High schools, 281 + Higher schools, 272 + Hoang-ho River, 56, 57 + Home Board, 245 + Home life, Chinese, 135, 136 + Hong-Kong, 76, 103, 109, 183, 213, 283, 303, 316 + Hunan, 77 + + + I + + Ichang, 68, 81, 85, 194 + Ideographs, 217 + Ignatius, College of St., 253 + India, 164, 244 + India, comparison with China, 22, 23 + India, home of opium, 114 + India, Little, 180 + Indian Buddhism, 180 + "Indiscreet Letters from Peking," 39 + Industry, Chinese, 72 + Infant schools, 271 + Inns, Chinese, 89 + Intellectual side of Christianity, 202 + Intonations, Chinese, 309 + Irkutsk, 51, 329, 333 _et seq._ + Ironworks, Han-Yang, 30 + Ito, Prince, 232, 235 + Iwolsky, M., 329 _et seq._ + + + J + + Jackson, Mr., 256 + Japan, 50, 121, 126, 149, 160 _et seq._, 170, 204, 210, 263, + 283, 325, 329, 330 + Japan and Korea, 5, 232 _et seq._ + Japan and Russia, 12, 23, 49 _et seq._ + Japanese, 61 + Japanese, _re_ opium, 115, 116 + Japanese teachers, 131, 280 _et seq._, 295 + Jarlin, Monseigneur, 3 + Jessfield College, 308, 312 + Jesuits, 185, 186, 253, 258 + Jesuits, scientific attainments of, 185, 195 + Jesuits, suppression of, in China, 186 + Jews, Chinese, 148 + John, Father, 330 + Jordan, Sir John, 120 + + + K + + Kiauchau, 6, 48, 51, 91, 92 + King, Consul, 176 + Kins, 26 + Kiukiang, 97 + Korea, 76, 232 _et seq._ + Korea and Japan, 5, 12, 232 _et seq._ + Korean women, 233 + Kow-tow, 300 + Kwangchangtzu, 318 + Kwannin, 149, 150 + + + L + + Lamaism, 15, 149, 248 + Languages, School of, 292 + Laotze, 151 + Laudanum, 112 _et seq._ + Law Schools, 277, 283 + Lawsuits, Chinese, 191, 192 + Lawsuits, interference in, 189 _et seq._ + Leavening of public opinion, 257 _et seq._ + Legation, British, 141 + Legge's, Dr., Chinese Classics, 179 + Leper Hospital, 227 + Likin, 58 + Literati, Chinese, 177, 186, 203, 321 + Literature, effect of Western, 207 _et seq._ + Literature Society, Christian, 16, 168, 212 + Lolos, 27, 68 + London Mission, 198, 201 + Louis XIV., 187 + Lutherans, 256 + + + M + + Macklin, Dr., 67, 227 + Main, Dr. Duncan, 223 _et seq._ + Maios, 27 + Manchu ladies, 130, 131 + Manchuria, 12, 51, 53, 90 _et seq._, 204, 232 _et seq._ + Manohus, 25, 176, 185, 279, 292, 318 + Mandarin-speaking, 285, 286 + Manichæism, 151, 152 + Martin, Professor, 296 + Materialism, Western, 171, 305 _et seq._ + Medical missions, 220 _et seq._ + Mencius, 177 + Methodist colleges, 308 + Methodists, 238 + Middle schools, 272 + Mih-Tieh, 174 + Military power of China, 24, 25 + Ming dynasty, 26, 185 + Mission Press, 212 + Missions, 183 _et seq._, 198 _et seq._, 220 _et seq._, + 253 _et seq._, 305 _et seq._ + Missions Catholiques Françaises, Les, 188 + Modesty, lack of, in Japanese, 233 + Mohammedans, Chinese, 148 + Mongolia, 51, 213 + Mongols, 26 + Monotonous employment, love of, 73 + Moral power of China, 32 + Morrison, Dr., 15, 17, 198, 208 + Moule, Archdeacon, 4, 137, 198, 298 + Moule, Bishop, 198 + Movement in Korea and Manchuria, 232 _et seq._ + Mukden, 91, 226, 318 + Mukden, battle of, 5, 13 + Murray, Dr., 230 + Mutiny, 54 + + + N + + Nanking, 63, 67, 92, 297 _et seq._ + Nanking, hospital at, 227 + Nanking, interviews at, 172 _et seq._ + Napoleon I., 187 + Napoleon III., 47 + Native ministry, 257, 259 _et seq._, 310 + Naval school, 52, 287 + Need of University explained, 305 _et seq._ + Nestorians, 15, 149, 150, 248 + Newchwang, 8, 205 + North China Mission, 203 + + + O + + Obedience of Chinese, 61 + Obedience to parents, 74 + Observatory Ziccawei, 195 + Official rank for Roman Catholic Missions, 188, 189, 191 + Officials, Chinese, 167, 172, 283, 299, 317 + Officials, French, 184 + Old, reverence for the, 321 + O-mi-to, 149 + Opium, 107 _et seq._ + Opium, edict against, 117 + Opposition to Western materialism, 258 _et seq._ + Organisation of Chinese Government, 60 + Orientals, 36 _et seq._, 61 + Orphanages, Roman Catholic, 193, 194, 264 + Orthodox Church of Russia, 244, 245, 330 _et seq._ + Oxford and Cambridge, 173, 312 + + + P + + Pagodas, 141 + Pao-ting-fu, 7, 276 + Pastor Hsi, 158 + Patience of Chinese, 72 + Patriarchate, the, 331 + Pei-Yang University, 276 + Peking, Blind Mission at, 229 + Peking Gazette, 168 + Peking, interviews at, 319 _et seq._ + Peking, Lama Temple at, 180 + Peking, Methodist University, 308 + Peking, missions at, 203 + Peking, Mongol Temple at, 150, 180 + Peking, Roman Catholics at, 197 + Peking, sack of, 10 + Peking to Canton railway, 89 + Peking, Union Hospital at, 226 + Peking University, 291, 300 + Pe-T'ang, the, 140 + Physical science uninteresting to Chinese, 182 + Pidgin English, 22 + Pitt, 187 + Pobiedonosteff, M., 330 + Police, different nationalities of, 101 + Port Arthur, 5, 204 + Post-offices, 103 _et seq._ + Pott, Dr Hawks, 312 + Poverty in China, 221 + Preparation of secular teachers, 257 + Presbyterians and their missions, 69, 198, 201, 204, 235 _et seq._ + Press, the, 168 + Primary schools, 272 + Procurator of Holy Synod, 321 _et seq._ + Pyeng-Yang, 5, 235 _et seq._ + + + Q + + Queen of England, the late, 128 + Queen of Korea, murder of the, 76, 234 + + + R + + Railways, 88 _et seq._ + Rapids of Yangtsze, 82 _et seq._ + "Reason," 178, 179 + Red boat, 82, 85 + Reformation, the, 246 + Religions of China, 147 _et seq._ + Religious Tract Society, 212 + Renaissance, the, 260 + Rescue work, 133 _et seq._ + "Review of the Times," the, 212 + Revival, 236 _et seq._ + Ricci, Father, 185 + Richard, Dr. Timothy, 203, 212, 274 _et seq._ + Rickshas, 98 + Ritual, 246 + Rivers, 80 _et seq._ + Roman Catholic missions, 183 _et seq._, 203 + Roman Catholics, 46, 47, 148, 213, 243, 258, 292 + Roman Church, policy of, 192, 243, 244 + Romanised system of reading, 132 + Rome, appeal to, 186 + Roofs, Chinese, 142, 143 + Roots, Bishop, 256 + Ross, Dr., 113, 178, 318 + Russia and Japan, 23, 49 _et seq._, 163 + Russia in mission field, 329 + Russia, Orthodox Church of, 244, 330 _et seq._ + Russians, 204 _et seq._ + Russo-Japanese War, 11 _et seq._, 163 + + + S + + Saigon, 183, 184 + Saigon, Bishop of, 184 + Saigon, climate of, 184 + St. Augustine, 166 + St. Petersburg, 51, 329, 330 + Sanscrit MS., 180 + Scandinavian Missions, 203 + Scheme, United Universities, 312 _et seq._, 317 _et seq._ + School uniform, 175, 283 + School, Viceroy's, 175 _et seq._ + Schools, 253 _et seq._ + Schools in England, 173 + Schools in Nanking, 173 _et seq._ + Scotch, the, 69, 234 + Scott, Bishop, 203 + Secondary wives, 123 _et seq._ + Seoul, 77, 233 _et seq._ + Shanghai, 36, 76, 95, 105, 113, 126, 129, 133, 140, 225, 291 + Shansi, 6, 18, 49, 110, 274 + Shantung, 6, 18, 92, 303 + Shi-King, 207 + Shintoism, 163, 170 + Shops, Chinese, 96 _et seq._ + Shu-yuen, 261 + Siberia, 25, 148, 329, 333 _et seq._ + Silk Guild, 95, 287 + Slanders against missions, 194 + Slave Refuge, 126 + Slaves, 126 _et seq._, 323 + Solidarity of Chinese, 60 + Songs of trackers, 84 + Soochow, University at, 308 + Soothill, Mr., 275 + Spencer, Herbert, 263 + S.P.G., a _via media_, 202 + S.P.G. Mission, 202 + "Spirit," 210 + Sprue, 225, 226 + Squeeze, 293, 294 + Starvation common, 222 + Streets, Chinese, 97 _et seq._ + Strikes in schools, 297 _et seq._ + Summer Palace, sack of, 46 + Sund Fo, 25 + "Superior man," 177, 178 + Superior schools, 273 + Superstition, 156, 157 _et seq._ + Supreme Being, 155, 156, 220 + Synod of Russian Church, 331 _et seq._ + Szechuan, 88, 92 + + + T + + Tablet of Confucius, 300 _et seq._ + T'ang-K'ai-Sun, His Excellency, 116 + Taoism, 151 _et seq._, 164, 175, 181, 243, 269 + Tartar, Mohammedan, 336 + Temple of Heaven, 142, 155 + Teuton mind, 246 + Theatres, 272 + Tibetans, 25, 114 + Tientsin, 28, 36, 38, 61, 91, 93, 95, 99, 166, 276 + Tokio, 306 + Tong-Shao-Yi, His Excellency, 41, 318 + Tonkin, 17 + Torture of medical missionary, 205 + Trackers on Yangtsze, 83, 86, 87 + Trans-Siberian Railway, 21, 204, 329 + Travelling, comfort in, 21 + Treaties, 46, 47, 188 + Tuan-Fang, His Excellency, 173 _et seq._, 279 + Turkey, 164 + + + U + + Union Hospital, 226 + United States, 200 + United Universities Scheme, 312 _et seq._, 317 _et seq._ + Unity in China, 242 + Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 312 + Universities in Soochow and Peking, 308 + University, Paris Professor, 193 + University, Pei-Yang, 276 + University of Oxford, 311 + University government, 303 + University government system, 273 + University in Chentu, 316 + University in China, 94, 172, 175, 263 + University in Hong-Kong, 286, 303 + University in Peking, 291, 304 + University in Shansi, 274 _et seq._ + University in Tokio, 306 + + + V + + Viceroy of Nanking, 173 _et seq._ + Vices, Chinese, 62 + Virtues, Chinese, 72 + + + W + + Wall, Great, 26 + Wang, Mr., 276 + War in 1840, 188 + Weihsien, 308 + Wenli, 208 + Wesleyan movement, 241 + West and East, 36 _et seq._ + Western civilisation, two elements of, 218, 325 _et seq._ + Wheelbarrows, 101 + Williamson, Dr., 16 + Willow pattern from Hangchow Lake, 228 + Women, Chinese, 102, 121 _et seq._ + Word-signs, 210 _et seq._, 215 + Wuchang, 291, 292, 323 + + + X + + Xavier, St. Francis, 15 + + + Y + + Yale University Mission, 313 + Yamen, 71, 167, 173, 176, 182, 246, 318 + Yang and Yin, 121, 151, 152 + Yang Choo, 307 + Yangtsze, island on, 193 + Yangtsze-Kiang, 53, 54, 62, 73, 81 _et seq._, 118, 126 + Yuan-Shi-Kai, His Excellency, 274 + Yunnan, 92 + + + Z + + Zenana work, 131 + Ziccawei Observatory, 195, 196 + + + + + Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co, + Edinburgh & London + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Changing China, by +William Gascoyne-Cecil and Florence Gascoyne-Cecil + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 41878 *** |