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diff --git a/old/clchi10.txt b/old/clchi10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..93a1db8 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/clchi10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8284 @@ +*******The Project Gutenberg Etext of Court Life in China******* +#2 in our series by Isaac Taylor Headland + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +Scanned by Charles Keller for Sarah with OmniPage Professional +OCR software donated by Caere Corporation, 1-800-535-7226. +Contact Mike Lough <Mikel@caere.com> + +ISAAC TAYLOR HEADLAND'S THREE BOOKS THAT "LINK EAST AND WEST" + +Court Life in China: The Capital Its Officials and People. + +The Chinese Boy and Girl + +Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes + + + +COURT LIFE IN CHINA +THE CAPITAL +ITS OFFICIALS AND PEOPLE + +By ISAAC TAYLOR HEADLAND Professor in the Peking University + + + + +PREFACE + +Until within the past ten years a study of Chinese court life +would have been an impossibility. The Emperor, the Empress +Dowager, and the court ladies were shut up within the Forbidden +City, away from a world they were anxious to see, and which was +equally anxious to see them. Then the Emperor instituted reform, +the Empress Dowager came out from behind the screen, and the +court entered into social relations with Europeans. + +For twenty years and more Mrs. Headland has been physician to the +family of the Empress Dowager's mother, the Empress' sister, and +many of the princesses and high official ladies in Peking. She +has visited them in a social as well as a professional way, has +taken with her her friends, to whom the princesses have shown +many favours, and they have themselves been constant callers at +our home. It is to my wife, therefore, that I am indebted for +much of the information contained in this book. + +There are many who have thought that the Empress Dowager has been +misrepresented. The world has based its judgment of her character +upon her greatest mistake, her participation in the Boxer +movement, which seems unjust, and has closed its eyes to the +tremendous reforms which only her mind could conceive and her +hand carry out. The great Chinese officials to a man recognized +in her a mistress of every situation; the foreigners who have +come into most intimate contact with her, voice her praise; while +her hostile critics are confined for the most part to those who +have never known her. It was for this reason that a more thorough +study of her life was undertaken. + +It has also been thought that the Emperor has been misunderstood, +being overestimated by some, and underestimated by others, and +this because of his peculiar type of mind and character. That he +was unusual, no one will deny; that he was the originator of many +of China's greatest reform measures, is equally true; but that he +lacked the power to execute what he conceived, and the ability to +select great statesmen to assist him, seems to have been his +chief shortcoming. + +To my wife for her help in the preparation of this volume, and to +my father-in-law, Mr. William Sinclair, M. A., for his +suggestions, I am under many obligations. + + I. T. H. + + + +CONTENTS + +I. THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--HER EARLY LIFE +II. THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--HER YEARS OF TRAINING +III. THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--AS A RULER +IV. THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--AS A REACTIONIST +V. THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--AS A REFORMER +VI. THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--AS AN ARTIST +VII. THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--AS A WOMAN +VIII. KUANG HSU--HIS SELF DEVELOPMENT +IX. KUANG HSU--AS EMPEROR AND REFORMER +X. KUANG HSU--AS A PRISONER +XI. PRINCE CHUN--THE REGENT +XII. THE HOME OF THE COURT--THE FORBIDDEN CITY +XIII. THE LADIES OF THE COURT +XIV. THE PRINCESSES--THEIR SCHOOLS +XV. THE CHINESE LADIES OF RANK +XVI. THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE CHINESE WOMAN +XVII. THE CHINESE LADIES--THEIR ILLS +XVIII. THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF A DOWAGER PRINCESS +XIX. CHINESE PRINCES AND OFFICIALS +XX. PEKING--THE CITY OF THE COURT +XXI. THE DEATH OF KUANG HSU AND THE EMPRESS DOWAGER +XXII. THE COURT AND THE NEW EDUCATION + + + +I + +The Empress Dowager-Her Early Life + +All the period since 1861 should be rightly recorded as the reign +of Tze Hsi An, a more eventful period than all the two hundred +and forty-four reigns that had preceded her three usurpations. It +began after a conquering army had made terms of peace in her +capital, and with the Tai-ping rebellion in full swing of +success. . . . + +Those few who have looked upon the countenance of the Dowager +describe her as a tall, erect, fine-looking woman of +distinguished and imperious bearing, with pronounced Tartar +features, the eye of an eagle, and the voice of determined +authority and absolute command. --Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore in +"China, The Long-Lived Empire." + + +I + +THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--HER EARLY LIFE + +One day when one of the princesses was calling at our home in +Peking, I inquired of her where the Empress Dowager was born. She +gazed at me for a moment with a queer expression wreathing her +features, as she finally said with just the faintest shadow of a +smile: "We never talk about the early history of Her Majesty." I +smiled in return and continued: "I have been told that she was +born in a small house, in a narrow street inside of the east gate +of the Tartar city--the gate blown up by the Japanese when they +entered Peking in 1900." The princess nodded. "I have also heard +that her father's name was Chao, and that he was a small military +official (she nodded again) who was afterwards beheaded for some +neglect of duty." To this the visitor also nodded assent. + +A few days later several well-educated young Chinese ladies, +daughters of one of the most distinguished scholars in Peking, +were calling on my wife, and again I pursued my inquiries. "Do +you know anything about the early life of the Empress Dowager?" I +asked of the eldest. She hesitated a moment, with that same blank +expression I had seen on the face of the princess, and then +answered very deliberately,--"Yes, everybody knows, but nobody +talks about it." And this is, no doubt, the reason why the early +life of the greatest woman of the Mongol race, and, as some who +knew her best think, the most remarkable woman of the nineteenth +century, has ever been shrouded in mystery. Whether the Empress +desired thus to efface all knowledge of her childhood by refusing +to allow it to be talked about, I do not know, but I said to +myself: "What everybody knows, I can know," and I proceeded to +find out. + +I discovered that she was one of a family of several brothers and +sisters and born about 1834; that the financial condition of her +parents was such that when a child she had to help in caring for +the younger children, carrying them on her back, as girls do in +China, and amusing them with such simple toys as are hawked about +the streets or sold in the shops for a cash or two apiece; that +she and her brothers and little sisters amused themselves with +such games as blind man's buff, prisoner's base, kicking marbles +and flying kites in company with the other children of their +neighbourhood. During these early years she was as fond of the +puppet plays, trained mice shows, bear shows, and "Punch and +Judy" as she was in later years of the theatrical performances +with which she entertained her visitors at the palace. She was +compelled to run errands for her mother, going to the shops, as +occasion required, for the daily supply of oils, onions, garlic, +and other vegetables that constituted the larger portion of their +food. I found out also that there is not the slightest foundation +for the story that in her childhood she was sold as a slave and +taken to the south of China. + +The outdoor life she led, the games she played, and the work she +was forced to do in the absence of household servants, gave to +the little girl a well-developed body, a strong constitution and +a fund of experience and information which can be obtained in no +other way. She was one of the great middle class. She knew the +troubles and trials of the poor. She had felt the pangs of +hunger. She could sympathize with the millions of ambitious girls +struggling to be freed from the trammels of ignorance and the +age-old customs of the past--a combat which was the more real +because it must be carried on in silence. And who can say that it +was not the struggles and privations of her own childhood which +led to the wish in her last years that "the girls of my empire +may be educated"? + +When little Miss Chao had reached the age of fourteen or fifteen +she was taken by her parents to an office in the northern part of +the imperial city of Peking where her name, age, personal +appearance, and estimated degree of intelligence and potential +ability were registered, as is done in the case of all the +daughters of the Manchu people. The reason for this singular +proceeding is that when the time comes for the selection of a +wife or a concubine for the Emperor, or the choosing of serving +girls for the palace, those in charge of these matters will know +where they can be obtained. + +This custom is not considered an unalloyed blessing by the Manchu +people, and many of them would gladly avoid registering their +daughters if only they dared. But the rule is compulsory, and +every one belonging to the eight Banners or companies into which +the Manchus are divided must have their daughters registered. +Their aversion to this custom is well illustrated in the +following incident: + +In one of the girls' schools in Peking there was a beautiful +child, the daughter of a Manchu woman whose husband was dead. One +day this widow came to the principal of the school and said: "A +summons has come from the court for the girls of our clan to +appear before the officials that a certain number may be chosen +and sent into the palace as serving girls." "When is she to +appear?" inquired the teacher. "On the sixteenth," answered the +mother. "I suppose you are anxious that she should be one of the +fortunate ones," said the teacher, "though I should be sorry to +lose her from the school." "On the contrary," said the mother, "I +should be distressed if she were chosen, and have come to consult +with you as to whether we might not hire a substitute." The +teacher expressed surprise and asked her why. "When our daughters +are taken into the palace," answered the mother, "they are dead +to us until they are twenty-five, when they are allowed to return +home. If they are incompetent or dull they are often severely +punished. They may contract disease and die, and their death is +not even announced to us; while if they prove themselves +efficient and win the approval of the authorities they are +retained in the palace and we may never see them or hear from +them again." + +At first the teacher was inclined to favour the hiring of a +substitute, but on further consideration concluded that it would +be contrary to the law, and advised that the girl be allowed to +go. The mother, however, was so anxious to prevent her being +chosen that she sent her with uncombed hair, soiled clothes and a +dirty face, that she might appear as unattractive as possible. + +The prospects for a concubine are even less promising than for a +serving maid, as when she once enters the palace she has little +if any hope of ever leaving it. She is neither mistress nor +servant, wife nor slave, she is but one of a hundred buds in a +garden of roses which have little if any prospect of ever +blooming or being plucked for the court bouquet. When, therefore, +the gates of the Forbidden City close behind the young girls who +are taken in as concubines of an emperor they shut out an +attractive, busy, beautiful world, filled with men and women, +boys and girls, homes and children, green fields and rich +harvests, and confine them within the narrow limits of one square +mile of brick-paved earth, surrounded by a wall twenty-five feet +high and thirty feet thick, in which there is but one solitary +man who is neither father, brother, husband nor friend to them, +and whom they may never even see. + +When therefore the time came for the selection of concubines for +the Emperor Hsien Feng, and our little Miss Chao was taken into +the palace, her parents, like many others, had every reason to +consider it a piece of ill-fortune which had visited their home. +The future was veiled from them. The Forbidden City, surrounded +by its great crenelated wall, may have seemed more like a prison +than like a palace. True, they had other children, and she was +"only a girl, but even girls are a small blessing," as they tell +us in their proverbs. She had grown old enough to be useful in +the home, and they no doubt had cherished plans of betrothing her +to the son of some merchant or official who would add wealth or +honour to their family. Neither father nor mother, brother nor +sister, could have conceived of the potential power, honour and +even glory, that were wrapped up in that girl, and that were +finally to come to them as a family, as well as to many of them +as individuals. Their wildest dreams at that time could not have +pictured themselves dukes and princesses, with their daughters as +empresses, duchesses, or ladies-in-waiting in the palace. But +such it proved to be. + + + +II + +The Empress Dowager--Her Years of Training + +The kindness of the Empress is as boundless as the sea. +Her person too is holy, she is like a deity. +With boldness, from seclusion, she ascends the Dragon Throne, +And saves her suffering country from a fate we dare not own. + + --"Yuan Fan," Translated by I. T. C. + + + +II + +THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--HER YEARS OF TRAINING + +The year our little Miss Chao entered the palace was a memorable +one in the history of China. The Tai-ping rebellion, which had +begun in the south some three years earlier (1850), had +established its capital at Nanking, on the Yangtse River, and had +sent its "long-haired" rebels north on an expedition of conquest, +the ultimate aim of which was Peking. By the end of the year 1853 +they had arrived within one hundred miles of the capital, +conquering everything before them, and leaving devastation and +destruction in their wake. + +Their success had been extraordinary. Starting in the southwest +with an army of ten thousand men they had eighty thousand when +they arrived before the walls of Nanking. They were an +undisciplined horde, without commissariat, without drilled +military leaders, but with such reckless daring and bravery that +the imperial troops were paralyzed with fear and never dared to +meet them in the open field. Thousands of common thieves and +robbers flocked to their standards with every new conquest, +impelled by no higher motive than that of pillage and gain. +Rumours became rife in every village and hamlet, and as they +neared the capital the wildest tales were told in every nook and +corner of the city, from the palace of the young Emperor in the +Forbidden City to the mat shed of the meanest beggar beneath the +city wall. + +My wife says: "I remember just after going to China, sitting one +evening on a kang, or brick bed, with Yin-ma, an old nurse, our +only light being a wick floating in a dish of oil. Yin-ma was +about the age of the Empress Dowager, but, unlike Her Majesty, +her locks were snow-white. When I entered the dimly lighted room +she was sitting in the midst of a group of women and +girls--patients in the hospital--who listened with bated breath +as she told them of the horrors of the Tai-ping rebellion. + +" 'Why!' said the old nurse, 'all that the rebels had to do on +their way to Peking, was to cut out as many paper soldiers as +they wanted, put them in boxes, and breathe upon them when they +met the imperial troops, and they were transformed into such +fierce warriors that no one was able to withstand them. Then when +the battle was over and they had come off victors they only +needed to breathe upon them again, when they were changed into +paper images and packed in their boxes, requiring neither food +nor clothing. Indeed the spirits of the rebels were everywhere, +and no matter who cut out paper troops they could change them +into real soldiers.' + +" 'But, Yin-ma, you do not believe those superstitions, do you?' + +" 'These are not superstitions, doctor, these are facts, which +everybody believed in those days, and it was not safe for a woman +to be seen with scissors and paper, lest her neighbours report +that she was cutting out troops for the rebels. The country was +filled with all kinds of rumours, and every one had to be very +careful of all their conduct, and of everything they said, lest +they be arrested for sympathizing with the enemy.' + +" 'But, Yin-ma, did you ever see any of these paper images +transformed into soldiers?' + +" 'No, I never did myself, but there was an old woman lived near +our place, who was said to be in sympathy with the rebels. One +night my father saw soldiers going into her house and when he had +followed them he could find nothing but paper images. You may not +have anything of this kind happen in America, but very many +people saw them in those terrible days of pillage and bloodshed +here.' " + +Such stories are common in all parts of China during every period +of rebellion, war, riot or disturbance of any kind. The people go +about with fear on their faces, and horror in their voices, +telling each other in undertones of what some one, somewhere, is +said to have seen or heard. Nor are these superstitions confined +to the common people. Many of the better classes believe them and +are filled with fear. + +As the Tai-ping rebellion broke out when Miss Chao was about +fifteen or sixteen years of age, she would hear these stories for +two or three years before she entered the palace. After she had +been taken into the Forbidden City she would continue to hear +them, brought in by the eunuchs and circulated not only among all +the women of the palace, but among their own associates as well, +and here they would take on a more mysterious and alarming aspect +to these people shut away from the world, as ghost stories become +more terrifying when told in the dim twilight. May this not +account in some measure for the attitude assumed by the Empress +Dowager towards the Boxer superstitions of 1900, and their +pretentions to be able at will to call to their aid legions of +spirit-soldiers, while at the same time they were themselves +invulnerable to the bullets of their enemies? + +It was when Miss Chao was ten years old that the conflict known +as the Opium War was brought to an end. It has been said that +when the Emperor was asked to sanction the importation of opium, +he answered, "I will never legalize a traffic that will be an +injury to my people," but whether this be true or not, it is +admitted by all that the central government was strongly opposed +to the sale and use of the drug within its domains. It is +unfortunate, to say the least, that the first time the Chinese +came into collision with European governments was over a matter +of this kind, and it is to the credit of the Chinese commissioner +when the twenty thousand chests of opium, over which the dispute +arose, were handed over to him, he mixed it with quicklime in +huge vats that it might be utterly destroyed rather than be an +injury to his people. They may have exhibited an ignorance of +international law, they may have manifested an unwise contempt +for the foreigner, but it remains a fact of history that they +were ready to suffer great financial loss rather than get revenue +from the ruin of their subjects, and that England went to war for +the purpose of securing indemnity for the opium destroyed. + +The common name for opium among the Chinese is yang yen--foreign +tobacco, and my wife says: "When calling at the Chinese homes, I +have frequently been offered the opium-pipe, and when I refused +it the ladies expressed surprise, saying that they were under the +impression that all foreigners used it." + +What now were the results of the Opium War as viewed from the +standpoint of the Chinese people, and what impression would it +make upon them as a whole? Great Britain demanded an indemnity of +$21,000,000, the cession to them of Hongkong, an island on the +southern coast, and the opening of five ports to British trade. +China lost her standing as suzerain among the peoples of the +Orient and got her first glimpse of the White Peril from the +West. + +Although the Empress Dowager was but a child of ten at this time +she would receive her first impression of the foreigner, which +was that he was a pirate who had come to carry away their wealth, +to filch from them their land, and to overrun their country. He +became a veritable bugaboo to men, women and children alike, and +this impression was crystallized in the expression yang huei, +"foreign devil," which is the only term among a large proportion +of the Chinese by which the foreigner is known. One day when +walking on the street in Peking I met a woman with a child of two +years in her arms, and as I passed them, the child patted its +mother on the cheek and said in an undertone,--"The foreign +devil's coming," which led the frightened mother to cover its +eyes with her hand that it might not be injured by the sight. + +On one occasion a friend was travelling through the country when +a Chinese gentleman, dressed in silk and wearing an official hat, +called on him at the inn where he was stopping and with a +profound bow addressed him as "Old Mr. Foreign Devil." + +My wife says that: "Not infrequently when I have been called for +the first time to the homes of the better classes I have seen the +children run into the house from the outer court exclaiming, +--'The devil doctor's coming.' Indeed, I have heard the women use +this term in speaking of me to my assistant until I objected, +when they asked with surprise,--'Doesn't she like to be called +foreign devil?' " And so the Empress Dowager's first impression +of the foreigner would be that of a devil. + +Colonel Denby tells us that "A Frenchman and his wife were +carried off from Tonquin by bandits who took refuge in China. The +Chinese government was asked to rescue these prisoners and +restore them to liberty. China sent a brigade of troops, who +pursued the bandits to their den and recovered the prisoners. The +French government thanked the Chinese government for its +assistance, and bestowed the decoration of the Legion of Honour +on the brigade commander, and then shortly afterwards demanded +the payment of an enormous indemnity for the outrage on the +ground that China had delayed to effect the rescue. The Chinese +were aghast, but they paid the money." + +This incident does not stand alone, but is one of a number of +similar experiences which the Chinese government had in her +relation with the powers of Europe, and which have been reported +by such writers as Holcomb, Beresford, Gorst Colquhoun and others +in trying to account for the feelings the Chinese have towards +us, all of which was embodied in the years of training of our +little concubine. + +It should be remembered that many concubines are selected whom +the Emperor never takes the trouble to see. After being taken in, +their temper and disposition are carefully noted, their +faithfulness in the duties assigned them, their diligence in the +performance of their tasks, their kindness to their inferiors, +their treatment of their equals, and their politeness and +obedience to their superiors, and upon all these things, with +many others, as we shall see, their promotion will finally +depend. + +When Miss Chao entered the palace, like most girls of her class +or station in life, she was uneducated. She may have studied the +small "Classic for Girls" in which she learned: + +"You should rise from bed as early in the morning as the sun, +Nor retire at evening's closing till your work is wholly done." + +Or, further, she may have been told, + +When the wheel of life's at fifteen, +Or when twenty years have passed, +As a girl with home and kindred these will surely be your last; +While expert in all employments that compose a woman's life, +You should study as a daughter all the duties of a wife." + +Or she may have read the "Filial Piety Classic for Girls" in +which she learned the importance of the attitude she assumed +towards those who were in authority over her, but certain it is +she was not educated. + +She had, however, what was better than education--a disposition +to learn. And so when she had the good fortune,--or shall we say +misfortune,-- for as we have seen it is variously regarded by +Chinese parents to be taken into the palace, she found there +educated eunuchs who were set aside as teachers of the imperial +harem. She was bright, attractive, and I think I may add without +fear of contradiction, very ambitious, and this in no bad sense. +She devoted herself to her studies with such energy and diligence +as not only to attract the attention of the teacher, but to make +herself a fair scholar, a good penman, and an exceptional +painter, and it was not long until, from among all the +concubines, she had gained the attention and won the +admiration--and shall we say affection--not only of the Empress, +but of the Emperor himself, and she was selected as the first +concubine or kuei fei, and from that time until the death of the +Empress the two women were the staunchest of friends. + +The new favourite had been a healthy and vigorous girl, with +plenty of outdoor life in childhood, and it was not long before +she became the happy mother of Hsien Feng's only son. She was +thenceforward known as the Empress-mother. In a short time she +was raised to the position of wife, and given the title of +Western Empress, as the other was known as the Eastern, from +which time the two women were equal in rank, and, in the eyes of +the world, equal in power. + +The first Empress was a pampered daughter of wealth, neither +vigorous of body nor strong of mind, caring nothing for political +power if only she might have ease and comfort, and there is +nothing that exhibits the Empress Dowager's real greatness more +convincingly than the fact that she was able to live for thirty +years the more fortunate mother of her country's ruler, and, in +power, the mistress of her superior, without arousing the +latter's envy, jealousy, anger, or enmity. Let any woman who +reads this imagine, if she can, herself placed in the position of +either of these ladies without being inclined to despise the less +fortunate, ease-loving Empress if she be the dowager, or hating +the more powerful dowager if she be the Empress. Such a state of +affairs as these two women lived in for more than a quarter of a +century is almost if not entirely unique in history. + +Perhaps the incident which made most impression upon her was one +which happened in 1860 and is recorded in history as the Arrow +War. A few years before a number of Chinese, who owned a boat +called the Arrow, had it registered in Hongkong and hence were +allowed to sail under the British flag. There is no question I +think but that these Chinese were committing acts of piracy, and +as this was one of the causes of disturbance on that southern +coast for centuries past, the viceroy decided to rid the country +of this pest. Nine days after the time for which the boat had +been registered, but while it continued unlawfully to float the +British colours, the viceroy seized the boat, imprisoned all her +crew, and dragged down the British flag. This was an insult which +Great Britain could not or would not brook and so the viceroy was +ordered to release the prisoners, all of whom were Chinese +subjects, on penalty of being blown up in his own yamen if he +refused. + +Frightened at the threat, and remembering the result of the +former war, the viceroy sent the prisoners to the consulate in +chains without proper apologies for his insult to the flag. This +angered the consul and he returned them to the viceroy, who +promptly cut off their heads without so much as the semblance of +a trial, and Britain, anxious, as she was, to have every door of +the Chinese empire opened to foreign trade, found in this another +pretext for war. We do not pretend to argue that this was not the +best thing for China and for the world, but it can only be +considered so from the bitter medicine, and corporal punishment +point of view, neither of which are agreeable to either the +patient or the pupil. + +Britain went to war. The viceroy was taken a prisoner to India, +whence he never returned. As though ashamed to enter upon a +second unprovoked and unjust war alone, she invited France, +Russia, and America to join her. France was quite ready to do so +in the hope of strengthening her position in Indo-China, and with +nothing more than the murder of a missionary in Kuangsi as a +pretext she put a body of troops in the field large enough to +enable her to checkmate England, or humiliate China as the +exigencies of the occasion, and her own interests, might demand. +America and Russia having no cause for war, no wrongs to redress, +and no desire for territory, refused to join her in sending +troops, but gave her such sympathy and support as would enable +her to bring about a more satisfactory arrangement of China's +foreign relations--that is more satisfactory to themselves +regardless of the wishes, though not perhaps the interests, of +China. + +We know how the British and French marched upon Peking in 1860; +how the summer palace was left a heap of ruins as a punishment +for the murder of a company of men under a flag of truce; and how +the Emperor Hsien Feng, with his wife, and the mother of his only +son, our Empress Dowager, were compelled to flee for the first +time before a foreign invader. Their refuge was Jehol, a +fortified town, in a wild and rugged mountain pass, on the +borders of China and Tartary, a hundred miles northeast of +Peking. At this place the Emperor died, whether of disease, +chagrin, or of a broken heart--or of all combined, it is +impossible to say, and the Empress-mother was left AN EXILE AND A +WIDOW, with the capital and the throne for the first time at the +mercy of the Western barbarian. + +This was the beginning of two important phases of the Empress +Dowager's life--her affliction and her power, and her greatness +is exhibited as well by the way in which she bore the one as by +the way in which she wielded the other. In most cases a woman +would have been so overcome by sorrow at the loss of her husband, +as to have forgotten the affairs of state, or to have placed them +for the time in the hands of others. Not so with this great +woman. Prince Kung the brother of Hsien Feng, had been left in +Peking to arrange a treaty with the Europeans, which he succeeded +in doing to the satisfaction of both the Chinese and the +foreigners. + +On the death of the Emperor, a regency was organized by two of +the princes, which did not include Prince Kung, and disregarded +both of the dowagers, and it seemed as though Prince Kung was +doomed. His father-in-law, however, the old statesman who had +signed the treaties, urged him to be the first to get the ear of +the two women on their return to the capital. This he did, and as +it seemed evident that the regency and the council had been +organized for the express purpose of tyrannizing over the +Empresses and the child, they were at once arrested, the leader +beheaded, and the others condemned to exile or to suicide. The +child had been placed upon the throne as "good-luck," but now a +new regency was formed, consisting of the two dowagers, with +Prince Kung as joint regent, and the title of the reign was +changed to Tung Chih or "joint government." Thus ended the +Empress Dowager's years of training. + + + +III + +The Empress Dowager--As a Ruler + +That a Manchu woman who had had such narrow opportunities of +obtaining a knowledge of things as they really are, in +distinction from the tissue of shams which constitute the warp +and the woof of an Oriental Palace, should have been able to hold +her own in every situation, and never be crushed by the opposing +forces about her, is a phenomenon in itself only to be explained +by due recognition of the influence of individual qualities in a +ruler even in the semi-absolutism of China. +--Arthur H. Smith in "China in Convulsion." + + + +III + +THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--AS A RULER + +In considering the policy pursued by the Empress-mother after her +accession to the regency, one cannot but feel that she was fully +aware of the fact that she had been the wife of an emperor, and +was the mother of the heir, of a decaying house. Of the 218 years +that her dynasty had been in power, 120 had been occupied by the +reigns of two emperors, and only seven monarchs had sat upon the +throne, a smaller number than ever ruled during the same period +in all Chinese history. These two Emperors, Kang Hsi and Chien +Lung, the second and fourth, had each reigned for sixty years, +the most brilliant period of the "Great Pure Dynasty," unless we +except the last six years of the Empress Dowager's regency. The +other ninety-eight years saw five rulers rise and pass away, +each one becoming weaker than his predecessor both in character +and in physique, until with the death of her son, Tung Chih, the +dynasty was left without a direct heir. + +The decay of the imperial house, the encroachments of the +foreigner, and the opposition of the native Chinese to the rule +of the Manchus, awoke the Empress Dowager to a realization of the +fact that a stronger hand than that of her husband must be at the +helm if the dynasty of her people were to be preserved. "It may +be said with emphasis," says Colonel Denby, who was for thirteen +years minister to China, "that the Empress Dowager has been the +first of her race to apprehend the problem of the relation of +China to the outer world, and to make use of this relation to +strengthen her dynasty and to promote material progress." She was +fortunate in having Prince Kung associated with her in the +regency, a man tall, handsome and dignified, and the greatest +statesman that has come from the royal house since the time of +Chien Lung. + +Here appears one of the chief characteristics of the Empress +Dowager as a ruler--her ability to choose the greatest statesmen, +the wisest advisers, the safest leaders, and the best guides, +from the great mass of Chinese officials, whether progressive or +conservative. Prince Kung was for forty years the leading figure +of the Chinese capital outside of the Forbidden City. He appeared +first, at the age of twenty-six, as a member of the commission +that tried the minister who failed to make good his promise to +induce Lord Elgin and his men-of-war to withdraw from Tientsin in +1858. The following year he was made a member of the Colonial +Board that controlled the affairs of the "outer Barbarians," and +a year later was left in Peking, when the court fled, to arrange +a treaty of peace with the victorious British and French after +they had taken the capital. "In these trying circumstances," says +Professor Giles, "the tact and resource of Prince Kung won the +admiration of his opponents," and when the Foreign Office was +formed in 1861, it began with the Prince as its first president, +a position which he continued to hold for many years. + +It was he, as we have seen, who succeeded in outwitting and +overthrowing the self-constituted regency on the death of his +brother Hsien Feng, and, with the Empress Dowager, seated her +infant son upon the throne, with the two Empresses and himself as +joint regents. This condition continued for some years, with the +senior Empress exercising no authority, and Prince Kung +continually growing in power. The arrangement seemed satisfactory +to all but one--the Empress-mother. To her it appeared as though +he were fast becoming the government, and she and the Empress +were as rapidly receding into the background, while in reality +the design had been to make him "joint regent" with them. In all +the receptions of the officials by the court, Prince Kung alone +could see them face to face, while the ladies were compelled to +remain behind a screen, listening to the deliberations but +without taking any part therein, other than by such suggestions +as they might make. + +Being the visible head of the government, and the only avenue to +positions of preferment, he would naturally be flattered by the +Chinese officials. This led him to assume an air of importance +which consciously or unconsciously he carried into the presence +of their Majesties, and one morning he awoke to find himself +stripped of all his rank and power, and confined and guarded a +prisoner in his palace, by a joint decree from the two Empresses +accusing him of "lack of respect for their Majesties." The +deposed Prince at once begged their forgiveness, whereupon all +his honours were restored with their accompanying dignities, but +none of his former power as joint regent, and thus the first +obstacle to her reestablishment of the dynasty was eliminated by +the Empress-mother. To show Prince Kung, however, that they bore +him no ill will, the Empresses adopted his daughter as their own, +raising her to the rank of an imperial princess, and though the +Prince has long since passed away his daughter still lives, and +next to the Empress Dowager has been the leading figure in court +circles during the past ten years' association with the +foreigners. + +During her son's minority, after the dismissal of Prince Kung as +joint regent, the Empress-mother year by year took a more active +part in the affairs of state, while the Empress as gradually sank +into the background. She was far-sighted. Having but one son, and +knowing the uncertainty of life, she originated a plan to secure +the succession to her family. To this end she arranged for the +marriage of her younger sister to her husband's younger brother +commonly known as the Seventh Prince, in the hope that from this +union there might come a son who would be a worthy occupant of +the dragon throne in case her own son died without issue. She +felt that the country needed a great central figure capable of +inspiring confidence and banishing uncertainty, a strong, +well-balanced, broad-minded, self-abnegating chief executive, +and she proposed to furnish one. Whether she would succeed or not +must be left to the future to reveal, but the one great task set +by destiny for her to accomplish was to prepare the mind of a +worthy successor to meet openly and intelligently the problems +which had been too vast, too new and too complicated for her +predecessors, if not for herself, to solve. + +When her son was seventeen years old he was married to Alute, a +young Manchu lady of one of the best families in Peking and was +nominally given the reins of power, though as a matter of fact +the supreme control of affairs was still in the hands of his more +powerful mother. The ministers of the European countries, +England, France, Germany, Russia and the United States, now +resident at Peking, thought this a good time for bringing up the +matter of an audience with the new ruler, and after a long +discussion with Prince Kung and the Empress-mother, the matter +was arranged without the ceremony of prostration which all +previous rulers had demanded. + +The married life of this young couple was a short one. Three +years after their wedding ceremonies the young monarch contracted +smallpox and died without issue, and was followed shortly +afterwards by his young wife who heeded literally the instruction +of one of their female teachers in her duty to her husband to + +Share his joy as well as sorrow, riches, poverty or guilt, +And in death be buried with him, as in life you shared his guilt. + +That her nearest relatives did not believe, as has often been +suggested, that there was any "foul play" in regard to her death, +is evident from the fact that her father continued to hold office +until the time of the Boxer uprising, at which time he followed +the fleeing court as far as Paotingfu, where having heard that +the capital was in the hands of the hated foreigners, he sent +word back to his family that he would neither eat the foreigners' +bread nor drink their water, but would prefer to die by his own +hand. When his family received this message they commanded their +servants to dig a great pit in their own court in which they all +lay and ordered the coolies to bury them. This they at first +refused to do, but they were finally prevailed upon, and thus +perished all the male members of her father's household except +one child that was rescued and carried away by a faithful nurse. + +When Tung Chih died there was a formidable party in the palace +opposed to the two dowagers, anxious to oust them and their party +and place upon the throne a dissolute son of Prince Kung. But it +would require a master mind from the outside to learn of the +death of her son and select and proclaim a successor quicker than +the Empress Dowager herself could do so from the inside. She +first sent a secret messenger to Li Hung-chang whom she had +appointed viceroy of the metropolitan province at Tientsin eighty +miles away, informing him of the illness of her son and urging +him to come to Peking with his troops post-haste and be ready to +prevent any disturbance in case of his death and the announcement +of a successor. + +When Li Hung-chang received her orders, he began at once to put +them into execution. Taking with him four thousand of his most +reliable Anhui men, all well-armed horse, foot and artillery, he +made a secret forced march to Peking. The distance of eighty +miles was covered in thirty-six hours and he planned to arrive at +midnight. Exactly on the hour Li and his picked guard were +admitted, and in dead silence they marched into the Forbidden +City. Every man had in his mouth a wooden bit to prevent talking, +while the metal trappings of the horses were muffled to deaden +all sound. When they arrived at the forbidden precincts, the +Manchu Bannermen on guard at the various city gates were replaced +by Li's Anhui braves, and as the Empress Dowager had sent eunuchs +to point out the palace troops which were doubtful or that had +openly declared for the conspirators, these were at once +disarmed, bound and sent to prison. The artillery were ordered to +guard the gates of the Forbidden City, the cavalry to patrol the +grounds, and the foot-soldiers to pick up any stray conspirators +that could be found. A strong detachment was stationed so as to +surround the Empress Dowager and the child whom she had selected +as a successor to her son, and when the morning sun rose bright +and clear over the Forbidden City the surprise of the +conspirators who had slept the night away was complete. Of the +disaffected that remained, some were put in prison and others +sent into perpetual exile to the Amoor beyond their native +borders, and when the Empress Dowager announced the death of her +son, she proclaimed the son of her sister, Kuang Hsu, as his +successor, with herself and the Empress as regents during his +minority. When everything was settled, Li folded his tent like +the Arab, and stole away as silently as he had come. + +The wisdom and greatness of the Empress Dowager were thus +manifested in binding to the throne the greatest men not only in +the capital but in the provinces. Li Hung-chang had won his title +to greatness during the Tai-ping rebellion, for his part in the +final extinction of which he was ennobled as an Earl. From this +time onward she placed him in the highest positions of honour and +power within sufficient proximity to the capital to have his +services within easy reach. For twenty-four years he was kept as +viceroy of the metropolitan province of Chihli, with the largest +and best drilled army at his command that China had ever had, and +yet during all this time he realized that he was watched with the +eyes of an eagle lest he manifest any signs of rebellion, while +his nephew was kept in the capital as a hostage for his good +conduct. Once and again when he had reached the zenith of his +power, or had been feted by foreign potentates enough to turn the +head of a bronze Buddha, his yellow jacket and peacock feather +were kindly but firmly removed to remind him that there was a +power in Peking on whom he was dependent. + +Li Hung-chang's greatness made him many enemies. Those whom he +defeated, those whom he would not or could not help, those whom +he punished or put out of office, and those whose enmity was the +result of jealousy. When the war with Japan closed and the +Chinese government sent Chang Yin-huan to negotiate a treaty of +peace, the Japanese refused to accept him, nor were they willing +to take up the matter until "Li Hung-chang was appointed envoy, +chiefly because of his great influence over the government, and +the respect in which he was held by the people." We all know how +he went, how he was shot in the face by a Japanese fanatic, the +ball lodging under the left eye, where it remained a memento +which he carried to the grave. We all know how he recovered from +the wound, and how because of his sufferings he was able to +negotiate a better treaty than he could otherwise have done. Then +he returned home, and only "the friendship of the Empress and his +own personal sufferings saved his life," says Colonel Denby, for +"the new treaty was urgently denounced in China" by carping +critics who would not have been recognized as envoys by their +Japanese enemies. + +In 1896 he was appointed to attend the coronation of the Czar at +Moscow, and thence continued his trip around the world. Never +before nor since has a Chinese statesman or even a prince been +feted as he was in every country through which he passed. When he +was about to start, at his request I had a round fan painted for +him, with a map of the Eastern hemisphere on one side and the +Western on the other, on which all the steamship lines and +railroads over which he was to travel were clearly marked, with +all the ports and cities at which he expected to stop. He was +photographed with Gladstone, and hailed as the "Bismarck of the +East," but when he returned to Peking, for no reason but +jealousy, "he was treated as an extinct volcano." The Empress +Dowager invited him to the Summer Palace where he was shown about +the place by the eunuchs, treated to tea and pipes, and led into +pavilions where only Her Majesty was allowed to enter, and then +denounced to the Board of Punishments who were against him to a +man. And now this Grand Secretary whom kings and courts had +honoured, whom emperors and presidents had feted, and our own +government had spent thirty thousand dollars in entertaining, was +once more stripped of his yellow jacket and peacock feather, and +fined the half of a year's salary as a member of the Foreign +Office, which was the amusing sum of forty-five taels or about +thirty-five dollars gold, and it was said in Peking at the time +that only the intercession of the Empress Dowager saved him from +imprisonment or further disgrace. + +During the whole regency of the Empress Dowager only two men have +occupied the position of President of the Grand Council--Prince +Kung and Prince Ching. While the former was degraded many times +and had his honours all taken from him, the latter "has kept +himself on top of a rolling log for thirty years" without losing +any of the honours which were originally conferred upon him. The +same is true of Chang Chih-tung, Liu Kun-yi and Wang Wen-shao, +three great viceroys and Grand Secretaries whom the Empress +Dowager has never allowed to be without an important office, but +whom she has never degraded. Need we ask the reason why? The +answer is not far to seek. They were the most eminent progressive +officials she had in her empire, but none of them were great +enough to be a menace to her dynasty, and hence need not be +reminded that there was a power above them which by a stroke of +her pen could transfer them from stars in the official firmament +to dandelions in the grass. Not so with Yuan Shih-kai--but we +will speak of him in another chapter. + +All the great officials thus far mentioned have belonged to the +progressive rather than the conservative party, all of them the +favourites of the Empress Dowager, placed in positions of +influence and kept in office by her, all of them working for +progress and reform, and yet she has been constantly spoken of by +European writers as a reactionary. Nothing could be farther from +the truth, as we shall see. Nevertheless she kept some of the +great conservative officials in office either as viceroys or +Grand Secretaries that she might be able to hear both sides of +all important questions. + +One of these conservatives was Jung Lu, the father-in-law of the +present Regent. When she placed Yuan Shih-kai in charge of the +army of north China, she also appointed Jung Lu as +Governor-General of the metropolitan province of Chihli. One was +a progressive, the other a conservative. Neither could make any +important move without the knowledge and consent of the other. +Whether the Empress Dowager foresaw the danger that was likely to +arise, we do not know, but she provided against it. We refer to +the occasion when in 1898 the Emperor ordered Yuan Shih-kai to +bring his troops to Peking, guard the Empress Dowager a prisoner +in the Summer Palace, and protect him in his efforts at reform. +The story belongs in another chapter, but we refer to it here to +show how the Empress Dowager played one official against another, +and one party against another, to prevent any such calamity or +surprise. It would have been impossible for Yuan Shih-kai to have +taken his troops to Peking for any purpose without first +informing his superior officer Jung Lu unless he put him to +death, much less to have gone on such a mission as that of +imprisoning as important a personage as the Empress Dowager, to +whom they were both indebted for their office. + +Another instance of the way in which the Empress Dowager played +one party against another was the appointment of Prince Tuan as a +member of the Foreign Office. After his son had been selected as +the heir-apparent it seemed to the Empress Dowager that for his +own education and development he should be made to come in +contact with the foreigners. Most of the foreigners considered +the appointment objectionable on account of the "Prince's anti- +foreign tendencies. But to my mind," says Sir Robert Hart, "it +was a good one; the Empress Dowager had probably said to the +Prince, 'You and your party pull one way, Prince Ching and his +another--what am I to do between you? You, however, are the +father of the future Emperor, and have your son's interests to +take care of; you are also head of the Boxers and chief of the +Peking Field Force, and ought therefore to know what can and what +cannot be done. I therefore appoint you to the yamen; do what you +consider most expedient, and take care that the throne of your +ancestors descends untarnished to your son, and their empire +undiminished! yours is the power,--yours the responsibility--and +yours the chief interests!' I can imagine the Empress Dowager +taking this line with the Prince, and, inasmuch as various +ministers who had been very anti-foreign before entering the +yamen had turned round and behaved very sensibly afterwards, I +felt sure that responsibility and actual personal dealings with +foreigners would be a good experience and a useful education for +this Prince, and that he would eventually be one of the sturdiest +supporters of progress and good relations." + + + +IV + +The Empress Dowager--As a Reactionist + +The most interesting personage in China during the past thirty +years has been and still is without doubt the lady whom we style +the Empress Dowager. The character of the Empress's rule can only +be judged by what it was during the regency, when she was at the +head of every movement that partook of the character of reform. +Foreign diplomacy has failed, for want of a definite centre of +volition and sensation to act upon. It had no fulcrum for its +lever. Hence only force has ever succeeded in China. With a woman +like the Empress might it not be possible really to transact +business? --Blackwood's Magazine. + + + +IV + +THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--AS A REACTIONIST + +It was between November 1, 1897, and April 16, 1898, that +Germany, Russia, France and England wrested from the weak hands +of the Emperor Kuang Hsu the four best ports in the Chinese +empire, leaving China without a place to rendezvous a fleet. The +whole empire was aroused to indignation, and even in our +Christian schools, every essay, oration, dialogue or debate was a +discussion of some phase of the subject, "How to reform and +strengthen China." The students all thought, the young reformers +all thought, and the foreigners all thought that Kuang Hsu had +struck the right track. The great Chinese officials, however, +were in doubt, and it was because of their doubt--progressives as +well as conservatives--that the Empress Dowager was again called +to the throne. + +Now may I request the enemies of the Empress Dowager to ask +themselves what they would have done if they had been placed at +the head of their own government when it was thus being filched +from them? You say she was anti-foreign--would you have been +very much in love with Germany, Russia, France and England under +those circumstances? That she acted unwisely in placing herself +in the hands of the conservatives and allying herself with the +superstitious Boxers, we must all frankly admit. But what would +you have done? Might you not--I do not say you would with your +intelligence--but might you not have been induced to have +clutched at as great a log as the patriotic Boxers seemed to +present, if you had been as near drowning as she was? + +"It is generally supposed," says one of her critics, "that Kang +Yu-wei suggested to the Emperor, that if he would render his own +position secure, he must retire the Empress Dowager, and +decapitate Jung Lu." If that be true, and I think it very +reasonable, the condition must have been desperate, when the +reformers had to begin killing the greatest of their opponents, +and imprisoning those who had given them their power, though +neither of these at that time had raised a hand against them. +Have you noticed how ready we are to forgive those on our side +for doing that for which we would bitterly condemn our opponents? +The same people who condemn the Empress Dowager for beheading the +six young reformers stand ready to forgive Kuang Hsu for ordering +the decapitation of Jung Lu, and the imprisonment of his +foster-mother. + +There were two powerful factions in Peking, the progressives, +headed by Prince Ching; and the conservatives, headed by Jung Lu. +Now the Empress Dowager may have reasoned thus: "The progressives +and reformers have had their day. They have tried their plans and +they have failed. The only result they have secured is peace--but +peace always at the expense of territory. Now I propose to try +another plan. I will part with no more ports, and I will resist +to the death every encroachment." She therefore took up Li +Ping-heng, who had been deposed from the governorship of Shantung +at the time of the murder of the German missionaries, and +appointed him Generalissimo of the forces of the Yangtse, where +he no doubt promised to resist to the last all encroachments of +the foreigners in that part of the empire while Jung Lu was +retained in Peking as head of all the forces of the province of +Chihli and the Northern Squadron. She then appointed Kang Yi, +another conservative, equally as anti-foreign as Li Ping-heng, to +inspect the fortifications and garrisons of the empire, and to +raise an immense sum of money for the depleted treasury. In his +visits to the southern provinces, Kang Yi at this time raised not +less than two million taels, which was no doubt spent in the +purchase of guns and ammunition and other preparations for war. +Yu Hsien, another equally conservative Manchu, she appointed +Governor of Shantung to succeed Li Ping-heng, and it is to him +the whole Boxer uprising is due. Moreover when he, at the +repeated requests of the foreigners, was removed from Shantung, +she received him in audience at Peking, conferred upon him +additional honours and appointed him Governor of the adjoining +province of Shansi, where, and under whose jurisdiction, almost +all the massacres were committed. Indeed Yu Hsien may be +considered the whole Boxer movement, for this seems to have been +his plan for getting rid of the foreigners. + +But while thus allying herself with the conservatives, the +Empress Dowager did not cut herself off from the progressives. Li +Hung-chang was appointed Viceroy of Kuangtung, Yuan Shih-kai +Governor of Shantung and Tuan Fang of Shensi while Liu Kun-yi, +Chang Chih-tung, and Kuei Chun were kept at their posts, so that +she had all the greatest men of both parties once more in her +service. Then she began sending out edicts, retracting those +issued by Kuang Hsu, and what could be more considerate of the +feelings of the Emperor, or more diplomatic as a state paper than +the following, issued in the name of Kuang Hsu, September 26, +1898. + +"Our real desire was to make away with superfluous posts for the +sake of economy: whereas, on the contrary, we find rumours flying +abroad that we intended to change wholesale the customs of the +empire, and, in consequence, innumerable impossible suggestions +of reform have been presented to us. If we allowed this to go on, +none of us would know to what pass matters would come. Hence, +unless we hasten to put our present wishes clearly before all, we +greatly fear that the petty yamen officials and their underlings +will put their own construction on what commands have gone +before, and create a ferment in the midst of the usual calm of +the people. This will indeed be contrary to our desire, and put +our reforms for strengthening and enriching our empire to naught. + +"We therefore hereby command that the Supervisorate of +Instruction and other five minor Courts and Boards, which were +recently abolished by us and their duties amalgamated with other +Boards for the sake of economy, etc., be forthwith restored to +their original state and duties, because we have learned that the +process of amalgamation contains many difficulties and will +require too much labour. We think, therefore, it is best that +these offices be not abolished at all, there being no actual +necessity for doing this. As for the provincial bureaus and +official posts ordered to be abolished, the work in this +connection can go on as usual, and the viceroys and governors are +exhorted to work earnestly and diligently in the above duty. +Again as to the edict ordering the establishment of an official +newspaper, the Chinese Progress, and the privilege granted to all +scholars and commoners to memorialize us on reforms, etc., this +was issued in order that a way might be opened by which we could +come into touch with our subjects, high and low. But as we have +also given extra liberty to our censors and high officers to +report to us on all matters pertaining to the people and their +government, any reforms necessary, suggested by these officers, +will be attended to at once by us. Hence we consider that our +former edict allowing all persons to report to us is, for obvious +reasons, superfluous, with the present legitimate machinery at +hand. And we now command that the privilege be withdrawn, and +only the proper officers be permitted to report to us as to what +is going on in our empire. As for the newspaper Chinese Progress, +it is really of no use to the government, while, on the other +hand, it will excite the masses to evil; hence we command the +said paper to be suppressed. + +"With regard to the proposed Peking University and the middle +schools in the provincial capitals, they may go on as usual, as +they are a nursery for the perfection of true ability and +talents. But with reference to the lower schools in the +sub-prefectures and districts there need be no compulsion, full +liberty being given to the people thereof to do what they please +in this connection. As for the unofficial Buddhist, Taoist, and +memorial temples which were ordered to be turned into district +schools, etc., so long as these institutions have not broken the +laws by any improper conduct of the inmates, or the deities +worshipped in them are not of the seditious kind, they are hereby +excused from the edict above noted. At the present moment, when +the country is undergoing a crisis of danger and difficulty, we +must be careful of what may be done, or what may not, and select +only such measures as may be really of benefit to the empire." + +I submit the above edict to the reader requesting him to study +it, and, if necessary to its understanding, to copy it, and see +if the Empress Dowager has not preserved the best there is in it, +viz., "the Peking University, and the middle schools in the +provincial capitals," "full liberty being given to the people +with reference to the lower schools in the sub-prefectures and +districts to do as they please." How much oil would be cast on +how many troubled waters can only be realized by the unfortunate +priests and dismissed officials and people upon whom "there need +be no compulsion"! + +Three days after the foregoing, on September 29th, she issued +another edict purporting to come from the Emperor, ordering the +punishment of Kang Yu-wei and others of his confreres. Now, if it +is true that Kang Yu-wei advised the Emperor to behead Jung Lu +and imprison the Empress Dowager, for no cause whatsoever, how +would you have been inclined to treat him supposing you had been +in her place? The decree says: + +"All know that we try to rule this empire by our filial piety +towards the Empress Dowager; but Kang Yu-wei's doctrines have +always been opposed to the ancient Confucian tenets. Owing, +however, to the ability shown by the said Kang Yu-wei in modern +and practical matters, we sought to take advantage of it by +appointing him a secretary of the Foreign Office, and +subsequently ordered him to Shanghai to direct the management of +the official newspaper there. Instead of this, however, he dared +to remain in Peking pursuing his nefarious designs against the +dynasty, and had it not been for the protection given by the +spirits of our ancestors he certainly would have succeeded. Kang +Yu-wei is therefore the arch conspirator, and his chief +assistant is Liang Chi-tsao, M. A., and they are both to be +immediately arrested and punished for the crime of rebellion. The +other principal conspirators, namely, the Censor Yang Shen-hsin, +Kang Kuang-jen--the brother of Kang Yu-wei--and the four +secretaries of the Tsungli Yamen, Tan Sze-tung, Liu Hsin, Yang +Jui, and Liu Kuang-ti, we immediately ordered to be arrested and +imprisoned by the Board of Punishments: but fearing that if any +delay ensued in sentencing them they would endeavour to entangle +a number of others, we accordingly commanded yesterday (September +28th) their immediate execution, so as to close the matter +entirely and prevent further troubles." + +This with the execution of one or two other officials is the +greatest crime that can be laid at the door of the Empress +Dowager--great enough in all conscience--yet not to be compared +to those of "good Queen Bess." + +We now come to what is said to have been a secret edict issued by +the Empress Dowager to her viceroys, governors, Tartar generals +and the commanders-in-chief of the provinces, dated November 21, +1899. And this I regard as one of the greatest and most daring +things that great woman ever undertook. + +After the Empress Dowager had taken the throne, Italy, following +the example set by the other powers, demanded the cession of +Sanmen Bay in the province of Chekiang. But she found a different +ruler on the throne, and to her great surprise, as well as that +of every one else, China returned a stubborn refusal. Moreover, +she began to prepare to resist the demand, and it soon became +evident that to obtain it, Italy must go to war. This she had not +the stomach for and so the demand was withdrawn. This explanation +will go far towards helping us to understand the following secret +edict of November 21st, to which I have already referred. + +"Our empire is now labouring under great difficulties which are +becoming daily more and more serious. The various Powers cast +upon us looks of tiger-like voracity, hustling each other in +their endeavours to be the first to seize upon our innermost +territories. They think that China, having neither money nor +troops, would never venture to go to war with them. They fail to +understand, however, that there are certain things that this +empire can never consent to, and that, if hardly pressed upon, we +have no alternative but to rely upon the justice of our cause, +the knowledge of which in our breasts strengthens our resolves +and steels us to present a united front against our aggressors. +No one can guarantee, under such circumstances, who will be the +victor and who the vanquished in the end. But there is an evil +habit which has become almost a custom among our viceroys and +governors which, however, must be eradicated at all costs. For +instance, whenever these high officials have had on their hands +cases of international dispute, all their actions seem to be +guided by the belief in their breasts that such cases would +eventually be 'amicably arranged.' These words seem never to be +out of their thoughts: hence, when matters do come to a crisis, +they, of course, find themselves utterly unprepared to resist any +hostile aggressions on the part of the foreigner. We, indeed, +consider this the most serious failure in the duty which the +highest provincial authorities owe to the throne, and we now find +it incumbent upon ourselves to censure such conduct in the most +severe terms. + +"It is our special command, therefore, that should any high +official find himself so hard pressed by circumstances that +nothing short of war would settle matters, he is expected to set +himself resolutely to work out his duty to this end. Or, perhaps, +it would be that war has already actually been declared; under +such circumstances there is no possible chance of the imperial +government consenting to an immediate conference for the +restoration of peace. It behooves, therefore, that our viceroys, +governors, and commanders-in-chief throughout the whole empire +unite forces and act together without distinction or +particularizing of jurisdictions so as to present a combined +front to the enemy, exhorting and encouraging their officers and +soldiers in person to fight for the preservation of their homes +and native soil from the encroaching footsteps of the foreign +aggressor. Never should the word 'Peace' fall from the mouths of +our high officials, nor should they even allow it to rest for a +moment within their breasts. With such a country as ours, with +her vast area, stretching out several tens of thousands of li, +her immense natural resources, and her hundreds of millions of +inhabitants, if only each and all of you would prove his loyalty +to his Emperor and love of country, what, indeed, is there to +fear from any invader? Let no one think of making peace, but let +each strive to preserve from destruction and spoliation his +ancestral home and graves from the ruthless hands of the +invader." + +One of her critics, referring to the last sentence of the above +edict, asks: "Do not these words throw down the gauntlet?" And we +answer, yes. Did not the thirteen colonies throw down the +gauntlet to England for less cause? Did not Japan throw down the +gauntlet to Russia for less cause than the Empress Dowager had +for desiring that "each strive TO PRESERVE FROM DESTRUCTION AND +SPOLIATION HIS ANCESTRAL HOME AND GRAVES"? It was not for +conquest but for self-preservation the Empress Dowager was ready +to go to war; not for glory but for home; not against a taunting +neighbour, but against a "ruthless invader." Her unwisdom did not +consist in her being ready to go to war, but in allowing herself +to be allied to, and depend upon, the superstitious rabble of +Boxers, and to believe that her "hundreds of millions" of +undisciplined "inhabitants" could withstand the thousands or tens +of thousands of well-drilled, well-led, intelligent soldiers from +the West. + +That she was ready to go to war rather than weakly yield to the +demands for territory from the European powers is further +evidenced by the following edict issued by the Tsungli Yamen to +the viceroys and governors: + +"This yamen has received the special commands of her Imperial +Majesty the Empress Dowager, and his Imperial Majesty the +Emperor, to grant you full power and liberty to resist by force +of arms all aggressions upon your several jurisdictions, +proclaiming a state of war, if necessary, without first asking +instructions from Peking; for this loss of time may be fatal to +your security, and enable the enemy to make good his footing +against your forces." + +In order to strengthen her position she appointed two +commissioners whom she sent to Japan in the hope of forming a +secret defensive alliance with that nation against the White +Peril from the West. For once, however, she made a mistake in the +selection of her men, for these commissioners, unlike what we +usually find the yellow man, revealed too much of the important +mission on which they were bent, and were recalled in disgrace, +and the treaty came to naught. + + + +V + +The Empress Dowager--As a Reformer + +Taught by the failure of a reaction on which she had staked her +life and her throne, the Dowager has become a convert to the +policy of progress. She has, in fact, outstripped her nephew. +"Long may she live!" "Late may she rule us!" During her lifetime +she may be counted on to carry forward the cause she has so +ardently espoused. She grasps the reins with a firm hand; and her +courage is such that she does not hesitate to drive the chariot +of state over many a new and untried road. She knows she can rely +on the support of her viceroys--men of her own appointment. She +knows too that the spirit of reform is abroad in the land, and +that the heart of the people is with her. +--W. A. P. Martin in "The Awakening of China." + + + +V + +THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--AS A REFORMER + +In June, 1902, soon after the return of the court from Hsian to +Peking, a company of ladies from the various legations in Peking +who had received invitations to an audience and a banquet with +the Empress Dowager were asked to meet at one of the legations +for the purpose of consultation. The meeting was unusual. Many of +those who were present had no higher motive than the ordinary +tourist who goes sightseeing. With the exception of one or two +who had been in once before, none of these ladies had ever been +present at an audience. Several of them however had passed +through the Boxer siege of 1900, had witnessed the guns from the +wall of the Imperial City pouring shot and shell into the British +legation, where they were confined during those eight memorable +weeks of June, July and August, and had come out with their +hearts filled with resentment. One of them had received a +decoration from her government for her bravery in standing beside +her husband on the fortifications when buildings were crumbling +and walls falling, and her husband was buried by an exploding +mine, and then vomited out unhurt by a second explosion. Among +the number were several recent arrivals in Peking who had had +none of these bitter experiences, but had heard much of the +Empress Dowager, and above all things else they were anxious to +see her whom they called the "She Dragon." + +The presiding officer had been longest in Peking, and as doyen of +these diplomatic ladies, she acted as chairman of the meeting. +The first question to be decided was the mode of conveyance to +the "Forbidden City." Without much discussion it was decided to +use the sedan chair, as being the most dignified, and used only +by Chinese ladies of rank. The chairman then called for an +expression of opinion as to the method of procedure in +presentation to the throne. One suggested that they have no +ceremony about it, but all go up to the throne together, for in +this way none would take precedence, but all would have an equal +opportunity of satisfying their curiosity and scrutinizing this +female dragon ad libitum. Another said: "It will be broiling hot +on that June day, and it will be better to keep at a safe +distance from her, with plenty of guards to protect us, or we may +be broiled in more senses than one." The chairman looked worried +at these suggestions, but still kept her dignity and her +equilibrium. Then a mild voice suggested that it was customary in +all audiences for those presented to courtesy to the one on the +throne. "Courtesy!" broke in an indignant voice, "it would be +more appropriate for her to prostrate herself at our feet and beg +us to forgive her for trying to shoot us, than for us to courtesy +to her." It was finally decided, however, that the same +formalities be observed as were followed by the ministers when +received at court. I give these incidents to show the temper that +prevailed among the members of some of the legations at Peking at +the time of this first audience. + +"When a few days later we followed the long line of richly-robed +princesses into the audience-hall, all this was changed. As we +looked at the Empress Dowager seated upon her throne on a raised +dais, with the Emperor to her left and members of the Grand +Council kneeling beside her, and these dignified, stately +princesses courtesying until their knees touched the floor, we +forgot the resentful feeling expressed in the meeting a few days +before, and, awed by her majestic bearing and surroundings, we +involuntarily gave the three courtesies required from those +entering the imperial presence. We could not but feel that this +stately woman who sat upon the throne was every inch an empress. +In her hands rested the weal or woe of one-third of the human +race. Her brilliant black eyes seemed to read our thoughts. +Indeed she prides herself upon the fact that at a glance she can +read the character of every one that appears before her." + +After the ladies had taken their position in order of their rank, +the doyen presented their good wishes to Her Majesty, which was +replied to by a few gracious words from the throne. Each lady's +name was then announced and as she was formally presented she +ascended the dais, and as she courtesied, the Empress Dowager +extended her hand which she took, and then passed to the left to +be introduced in a similar way to the Emperor. + +It was thus she began her reforms in the customs of the court, +which up to this time had kept her ever behind the screen, +compelled to wield the sceptre from her place of concealment, +equally shut out from the eyes of the world and blind to the +needs of her people. Up to her time the people and the nation +were the slaves of age-old customs, but before the power of her +personality rites and ceremonies became the servants of the +people. In the words of the poet she seemed to feel that + + "Rules + Are well; but never fear to break + The scaffolding of other souls; + It was not meant for thee to mount, + Though it may serve thee." + + +Without taking away from the Emperor the credit of introducing +the railroad, the telegraph, the telephone, the new system of +education, and many other reforms, we must still admit that it +was the personality, power and statesmanship of the Empress +Dowager that brought about the realization of his dreams. The +movement towards female education as described in another chapter +must ever be placed to the credit of this great woman. From the +time she came from behind the screen, and allowed her portrait to +be painted, the freedom of woman was assured. + +One day when calling at the American legation I was shown two +large photographs of Her Majesty. One some three feet square was +to be sent to President Roosevelt, the other was a gift to Major +Conger. Similar photographs had been sent to all the ministers +and rulers represented at Peking, and I said to myself: "The +Empress Dowager is shrewd. She knows that false pictures of her +have gone forth. She knows that the painted portrait is not a +good likeness, and so she proposes to have genuine pictures in +the possession of all civilized governments." This shrewdness was +not necessarily native on her part, but was engendered by the +arguments that had been used by those who induced her to be the +first Chinese monarch to have her portrait painted by a foreign +artist. + +A few years ago the Empress Dowager had a dream, which, like +every act of hers, was greater than any of those of her brilliant +nephew. This dream was to give a constitution to China. Of +course, if this were done it would have to be by the Manchus, as +the government was theirs, and any radical changes that were made +would have to be made by the people in power. The Empress +Dowager, however, wanted the honour of this move to reflect upon +herself, and hoped to be able to bring it to a successful issue +during her lifetime. + +There was strenuous opposition, and this most vigorous in the +party in which she had placed herself when she dethroned Kuang +Hsu. The conservatives regarded this as the wildest venture that +had yet been made, and were ready to use all their influence to +prevent it; nevertheless the Empress Dowager called to her aid +the greatest and most progressive of the Manchus, the Viceroy +Tuan Fang, and appointed him head of a commission which she +proposed to send on a tour of the world to examine carefully the +various forms of government, with the purpose of advising her, on +their return, as to the possibility of giving a constitution to +China. + +A special train was provided to take the commission from Peking +to Tientsin. It was drawn up at the station just outside the gate +in front of the Emperor's palace. The commission had entered the +car, and the narrow hall or aisle along the side was crowded with +those who had come to see them off, when, BANG, there was an +explosion, the side of the car was blown out, several were +injured, including slight wounds to some of the members of the +commission, and the man carrying the bomb was blown into an +unrecognizable mass. For a few days the city was in an uproar. +Guards were placed at all the gates, especially those leading to +the palace, and every possible effort was made to identify the +nihilist. But as all efforts failed, and nothing further +transpired to indicate that he had accomplices, the commission +separated and departing individually without display, reunited at +Tientsin and started on their tour of inspection. + +This commission was splendidly entertained wherever it went, +given every possible opportunity to examine the constitutions of +the countries through which it passed, and on its return to +Peking the report of the trip was published in one hundred and +twenty volumes, the most important item of which was that a +constitution, modelled after that of Japan, should be given to +China at as early a date as possible. + +The leader of this expedition, His Excellency the Viceroy Tuan +Fang, is one of the greatest, if not the greatest living Manchu +statesman. Like Yuan Shih-kai, during the Boxer uprising, he +protected all the foreigners within his domains. That he +appreciates the work done by Americans in the opening up of China +is evidenced by a statement made in his address at the Waldorf +Astoria, in February, 1906, in which he said: + +"We take pleasure this evening in bearing testimony to the part +taken by American missionaries in promoting the progress of the +Chinese people. They have borne the light of Western civilization +into every nook and corner of the empire. They have rendered +inestimable service to China by the laborious task of translating +into the Chinese language religious and scientific works of the +West. They help us to bring happiness and comfort to the poor and +the suffering, by the establishment of hospitals and schools. The +awakening of China, which now seems to be at hand, may be traced +in no small measure to the influence of the missionary. For this +service you will find China not ungrateful." + +Some may think that this was simply a sentiment expressed on this +particular occasion because he happened to be surrounded by +secretaries and others interested in this cause. That this is not +the case is further indicated by the fact that since that time he +has on two separate occasions attended the commencement exercises +of the Nanking University, on one of which he addressed the +students as follows: + +"This is the second time I have attended the commencement +exercises of your school. I appreciate the good order I find +here. I rejoice at the evidences I see of your knowledge of the +proprieties, the depth of your learning, and the character of the +students of this institution. I am deeply grateful to the +president and faculty for the goodness manifested to these my +people. I have seen evidences of it in every detail. It is my +hope that when these graduates go out into the world, they will +remember the love of their teachers, and will practice that +virtue in their dealing with others. The fundamental principle of +all great teachers whether of the East or the West is love, and +it remains for you, young gentlemen, to practice this virtue. +Thus your knowledge will be practical and your talents useful." + +I have given these quotations as evidences of the breadth of the +man whom the Empress Dowager selected as the head of this +commission. It is not generally known, however, that Duke Tse, +another important member of this commission, is married to a +sister of the young Empress Yehonala, and consequently a niece of +the Empress Dowager. Such relations existed between Her Majesty +and the viceroy, as ruler and subject, that it would be +impossible for him to give her the intimate account of their trip +that a relative could give. It would be equally impossible, with +all her other duties, to wade through a report such as they +published after their return of one hundred and twenty volumes. +But it would be a delight to call in this nephew-in-law, and +have him sit or kneel, and may we not believe she allowed him to +sit? and give her a full and intimate account of the trip and the +countries through which they passed. She was anxious that this +constitution should be given to the people before she passed +away. This, however, could not be. Whether it will be adopted +within the time allotted is a question which the future alone can +answer. + +The next great reform undertaken by the Empress Dowager was her +crusade against opium. The importance of this can only be +estimated when we consider the prevalence of the use of the drug +throughout the empire. The Chinese tell us that thirty to forty +per cent. of the adult population are addicted to the use of the +drug. + +One day while walking along the street in Peking, I passed a +gateway from which there came an odour that was not only +offensive but sickening. I went on a little distance further and +entered one of the best curio shops of the city, and going into +the back room, I found the odour of the street emphasized +tenfold, as one of the employees of the firm had just finished +his smoke. I left this shop and went to another where the +proprietor had entirely ruined his business by his use of the +drug, and it was about this time that the Empress Dowager issued +the following edict: + +"Since the first prohibition of opium, almost the whole of China +has been flooded with the poison. Smokers of opium have wasted +their time, neglected their employment, ruined their +constitutions, and impoverished their households. For several +decades therefore China has presented a spectacle of increasing +poverty and weakness. To merely mention the matter, arouses our +indignation. The court has now determined to make China powerful, +and to this end we urge our people to reformation in this +respect. + +"We, therefore, decree that within a limit of ten years this +injurious filth shall be completely swept away. We further order +the Council of State to consider means of prohibition both of +growing the poppy and smoking the opium." + +The Council of State at once drew up regulations designed to +carry out this decree. They were among others: + +That all opium-smokers be required to report and take out a +license. + +Officials using the drug were divided into two classes. Young men +must be cured of the habit within six months, while for old men +no limit was fixed. But both classes, while under treatment, must +furnish satisfactory substitutes, at their own expense, to attend +to the duties of their office. + +All opium dens must be closed within six months, after which time +no opium-pipes nor lamps may be either made or sold. Though shops +for the sale of the drug may continue for ten years, the limit of +the traffic. + +The government promises to provide medicine for the cure of the +habit, and encourages the formation of anti-opium societies, but +will not allow these societies to discuss other political +matters. + +Next to China Great Britain is the party most affected by this +movement towards reform. When this edict was issued Great Britain +was shipping annually fifty thousand chests of opium to the +Chinese market, but at once agreed that if China was sincere in +her desire for reform, and cut off her own domestic productions +at the rate of ten per cent. per annum, she would decrease her +trade at a similar rate. It is unfortunate that the Empress +Dowager should have died before this reform had been carried to a +successful culmination, but whatever may be the result of the +movement the fact and the credit of its initiation will ever +belong to her. + +Such are some of the special reform measures instituted by the +Empress Dowager, but in addition to these she has seen to it that +the Emperor's efforts to establish a Board of Railroads, a Board +of Mines, educational institutions on the plans of those of the +West, should all be carried out. She has not only done away with +the old system of examinations, but has introduced a new scheme +by which all those who have graduated from American or European +colleges may obtain Chinese degrees and be entitled to hold +office under the government, by passing satisfactory +examinations, not a small part of which is the diploma or +diplomas which they hold. Such an examination has already been +held and a large number of Western graduates, most of them +Christian, were given the Chu-jen or Han-lin degrees. + + + +VI + +The Empress Dowager--As an Artist + +There is no genre that the Chinese artist has not attempted. They +have treated in turn mythological, religious and historical +subjects of every kind; they have painted scenes of daily +familiar life, as well as those inspired by poetry and romance; +sketched still life, landscapes and portraits. Their highest +achievements, perhaps, have been in landscapes, which reveal a +passionate love for nature, and show with how delicate a charm, +how sincere and lively a poetic feeling, they have interpreted +its every aspect. They have excelled too at all periods in the +painting of animals and birds, especially of birds and flying +insects in conjunction with flowers. +--S. W. Bushell in "Chinese Art." + + + +VI + +THE EMPRESS DOWAGER--AS AN ARTIST + +One day the head eunuch from the palace of the Princess Shun +called at our home to ask Mrs. Headland to go and see the +Princess. While sitting in my study and looking at the Chinese +paintings hanging on the wall, two of which were from the brush +of Her Majesty, he remarked: + +"You are fond of Chinese art?" + +"I am indeed fond of it," I answered. + +"I notice you have some pictures painted by the Old Buddha," he +continued, referring to the Empress Dowager by a name by which +she is popularly known in Peking. + +"Yes, I have seven pictures from her brush," I answered. + +"Do you happen to have any from the brush of the Lady Miao, her +painting teacher?" he inquired. + +"I am sorry to say I have not," I replied. "I have tried +repeatedly to secure one, but thus far have failed. I have +inquired at all the best stores on Liu Li Chang, the great curio +street, but they have none, and cannot tell me where I can find +one." + +"No, you cannot get them in the stores; she does not paint for +the trade," he explained. + +"I am sorry," I continued, "for I should like very much to get +one. I am told she is a very good artist." + +"Oh, yes, she paints very well," he went on in a careless way. +"She lives over near our palace. We have a good many of her +paintings. They are very easily gotten." + +"It may be easy for you to get them," I replied, "but it is no +small task for me." + +"If you want some," he volunteered, "I'll get some for you." + +"That would be very kind of you," I answered, "but how would you +undertake to get them?" + +"Oh, I would just steal a few and bring them over to you." + +It is hardly necessary to assure my readers as I did him that I +could not approve of this method of obtaining paintings from the +Lady Miao's brush. However he must have told the Princess of my +desire, for the next time Mrs. Headland called at the palace the +Princess entertained her by showing her a number of paintings by +the Lady Miao, together with others from the brush of the Empress +Dowager. + +"And these are really the work of Her Majesty?" said Mrs. +Headland with a rising inflection. + +"Yes, indeed," replied the Princess. "I watched her at work on +them. They are genuine." + +It was some weeks thereafter that Mrs. Headland was again invited +to call and see the Princess, and to her surprise she was +introduced to the Lady Miao, with whom and the Princess she spent +a very pleasant social hour or two. When she was about to leave, +the Princess, who is the youngest sister of the Empress Yehonala, +brought out a picture of a cock about to catch a beetle, which +she said she had asked Lady Miao to paint, and which she begged +Mrs. Headland to receive as a present from the artist and +herself. + +During the conversation Mrs. Headland remarked that the Empress +Dowager must have begun her study of art many years ago. + +"Yes," said Lady Miao. "We were both young when she began. +Shortly after she was taken into the palace she began the study +of books, and partly as a diversion, but largely out of her love +for art, she took up the brush. She studied the old masters as +they have been reproduced by woodcuts in books, and from the +paintings that have been preserved in the palace collection, and +soon she exhibited rare talent. I was then a young woman, my +brothers were artists, my husband had passed away, and I was +ordered to appear in the palace and work with her." + +"You are a Chinese, are you not, Lady Miao?" + +"Yes," she replied, "and as it has not been customary for Chinese +ladies to appear at court during the present dynasty, I was +allowed to unbind my feet, comb my hair in the Manchu style, and +wear the gowns of her people." + +"And did you go into the palace every day?" + +"When I was young I did. Ten Thousand Years"--another method of +speaking of the Empress Dowager--"was very enthusiastic over her +art work in those days, and often we spent a large part of the +day either with our brushes, or studying the history of art, the +examples in the books, or the works of the old masters in the +gallery. One of her favourite presents to her friends, as you +probably know, is a picture from her own brush, decorated with +the impress of her great jade seal, the date, and an appropriate +poem by one of the members of the College of Inscriptions. And no +presents that she ever gives are prized more highly by the +recipients than these paintings." + +I had seen pictures painted by Her Majesty decorating the walls +of the palaces of several of the princes, as well as the homes of +a number of my official friends. Some of them I thought very +attractive, and they seemed to be well done. They were highly +prized by their owners, but I was anxious to know what the Lady +Miao thought of her ability as an artist, and so I asked: + +"Do you consider the Empress Dowager a good painter?" + +"The Empress Dowager is a great woman," she answered. "Of course, +as an artist, she is an amateur rather than a professional. Had +she devoted herself wholly to art, hers would have been one of +the great names among our artists. She wields her brush with a +power and precision which only genius added to practice can give. +She has a keen appreciation of art, and it is a pity that the +cares of state might not have been borne by others, leaving her +free to develop her instinct for art." + +The Empress Dowager kept eighteen court painters, selected from +among the best artists of the country, and appointed by herself, +whose whole duty it was to paint for her. They were divided into +three groups, and each group of six persons was required to be on +duty ten days of each month. As I was deeply interested in the +study of Chinese art I became intimately acquainted with most of +the court painters and knew the character of their work. The head +of this group was Mr. Kuan. I called on him one day, knowing that +he was not well enough to be on duty in the palace, and I found +him hard at work. Like the small boy who told his mother that he +was too sick to go to school but not sick enough to go to bed, so +he assured me that his troubles were not such as to prevent his +working, but only such as make it impossible for him to appear at +court. Incidentally I learned that the drain on his purse from +the squeezes to the eunuchs aggravated his disease. + +"When Her Majesty excused me from appearing at the palace," he +explained, "she required that I paint for her a minimum of sixty +pictures a year, to be sent in about the time of the leading +feasts. These she decorates with her seals, and with appropriate +sentiments written by members of the College of Inscriptions, and +she gives them, as she gives her own, as presents during the +feasts." Mr. Kuan and I became intimate friends and he painted +three pictures which he presented to me for my collection. + +One day another of the court painters came to call on me and +during the conversation told me that he was painting a picture of +the Empress Dowager as the goddess of mercy. Up to that time I +had not been accustomed to think of her as a goddess of mercy, +but he told me that she not infrequently copied the gospel of +that goddess with her own pen, had her portrait painted in the +form of the goddess which she used as a frontispiece, bound the +whole up in yellow silk or satin and gave it as a present to her +favourite officials. Of course I thought at once of my collection +of paintings, and said: + +"How much I should like to have a picture of the Empress Dowager +as the goddess of mercy!" + +"I'll paint one for you," said he. + +All this conversation I soon discovered was only a diplomatic +preliminary to what he had really come to tell me, which was that +he had been eating fish in the palace a few days before, and had +swallowed a fish-bone which had unfortunately stuck in his +throat. He said that the court physicians had given him medicine +to dissolve the fish-bone, but it had not been effective; he +therefore wondered whether one of the physicians of my honourable +country could remove it. I took him to my friend Dr. Hopkins who +lived near by, and told him of the dilemma. The doctor set him +down in front of the window, had him open his mouth, looked into +his throat where he saw a small red spot, and with a pair of +tweezers removed the offending fish-bone. And had it not been for +this service on the part of Dr. Hopkins, I am afraid I should +never have received the promised picture, for he hesitated as to +the propriety of him, a court painter, doing pictures of Her +Majesty for his friends. However as he often thereafter found it +necessary to call Mrs. Headland to minister to his wife and +children he came to the conclusion that it was proper for him to +do so, and one day he brought me the picture. + +The Empress Dowager not only loved to be painted as the goddess +of mercy, but she clothed herself in the garments suitable to +that deity, dressed certain ladies of the court as her +attendants, with the head eunuch Li Lien-ying as their protector, +ordered the court artists to paint appropriate foreground and +background and then called young Yu, her court photographer, to +snap his camera and allow Old Sol the great artist of the +universe with a pencil of his light to paint her as she was. + +One day while visiting a curio store on Liu Li Chang, the great +book street of Peking, my attention was called by the dealer to +four small paintings of peach blossoms in black and white, from +the brush of the Empress Dowager. These pictures had been in the +panels of the partition between two of the rooms of Her Majesty's +apartments in the Summer Palace, and so I considered myself +fortunate in securing them. + +"You notice," said he, "that each section of these branches must +be drawn by a single stroke of the brush. This is no easy task. +She must be able to ink her brush in such a way as to give a +clear outline of the limb, and at the same time to produce such +shading as she may desire. Should her outline be defective, she +dare not retouch it; should her shading be too heavy or +insufficient, she cannot take from it and she may not add to it, +as this would make it defective in the matter of calligraphy. A +stroke once placed upon her paper, for they are done on paper, is +there forever. This style of work is among the most difficult in +Chinese art." + +After securing these paintings, I showed them to a number of the +best artists of the present day in Peking, and they all +pronounced them good specimens of plum blossom work in +monochrome, and they agreed with Lady Miao, that if the Empress +Dowager had given her whole time to painting she would have +passed into history as one of the great artists of the present +dynasty. + +One day when one of her court painters called I showed him these +pictures. He agreed with all the others as to the quality of her +brush work, but called my attention to a diamond shaped twining +of the branches in one of them. + +"That," said he, "is proof positive that it is her work." + +"Why?" I inquired. + +"Because a professional artist would never twine the twigs in +that fashion." + +"And why not?" + +"They would not do it," he replied. "It is not artistic." + +"And why do not her friends call her attention to this fact?" I +inquired. + +"Who would do it?" was his counter question. + + + +VII + +The Empress Dowager--As a Woman + +The first audience given by Her Imperial Majesty to the seven +ladies of the Diplomatic Corps was sought and urged by the +foreign ministers. After the troubles of 1900 and the return of +the court, Her Majesty assumed a different attitude, and, of her +own accord, issued many invitations for audiences, and these +invitations were accepted. Then followed my tiffin to the court +princesses and their tiffin in return. This opened the way for +other princesses and wives of high officials to call, receive +calls, to entertain and be entertained. In many cases +arrangements were made through our mutual friend Mrs. Headland, +an accepted physician and beloved friend of many of the higher +Chinese families; and through her innate tact, broad thought, and +great love for the good she may do, I have been able to come into +personal touch with many of these Chinese ladies. +--Mrs. E. H. Conger in "Letters from China. + + +VII + +THE EMPRESS DOWAGER-AS A WOMAN + +Although the great Dowager has passed away, it may be interesting +to know something about her life and character as a woman as +those saw her who came in contact with her in public and private +audiences. In order to appreciate how quick she was to adopt +foreign customs, let me give in some detail the difference in her +table decorations at the earlier and later audiences as they have +been related by my wife. + +"At the close of the formalities of our introduction to the +Empress Dowager and the Emperor at one of the first audiences, +we, with the ladies of the court, repaired to the banqueting +hall. After we were seated, each with a princess beside her, the +great Dowager appeared. We rose and remained standing while she +took her place at the head of the table, with the Emperor +standing at her left a little distance behind her. As she sat +down she requested us to be seated, though the princesses and the +Emperor all remained standing, it being improper for them to sit +in the presence of Her Majesty. Long-robed eunuchs then appeared +with an elaborate Chinese banquet, and the one who served the +Empress Dowager always knelt when presenting her with a dish. + +"After we had eaten for some little time, the doyen asked if the +princesses might not be seated. The Empress Dowager first turned +to the Emperor, and said, 'Your Majesty, please be seated'; then +turning to the princesses and waving her hand, she told them to +sit down. They sat down in a timid, rather uncomfortable way on +the edge of the chair, but did not presume to touch any of the +food. + +"The conversation ran upon various topics, and, among others, the +Boxer troubles. One of the ladies wore a badge. The Empress +Dowager noticing it, asked what it meant. + +" 'Your Majesty,' was the reply, 'this was presented to me by my +Emperor because I was wounded in the Boxer insurrection.' + +"The Empress Dowager took the hands of this lady in both her own, +and as the tears stood in her eyes, she said: + +" 'I deeply regret all that occurred during those troublous +times. The Boxers for a time overpowered the government, and even +brought their guns in and placed them on the walls of the palace. +Such a thing shall never occur again.' + +"The table was covered with brilliantly coloured oilcloth, and +was without tablecloth or napkins properly so called, but we used +as napkins square, coloured bits of calico about the size of a +large bandana handkerchief. There were no flowers, the table +decorations consisting of large stands of cakes and fruit. I +speak of this because it was all changed at future audiences, +when the table was spread with snow-white cloths, and smiled with +its load of most gorgeous flowers. Especially was this true after +the luncheons given to the princesses and ladies of the court by +Mrs. Conger at the American legation, showing that the eyes of +these ladies were open to receive whatever suggestions might come +to them even in so small a matter as the spreading and decoration +of a table. The banquets thereafter were made up of alternating +courses of Chinese and foreign food. + +"With but one exception, the Empress Dowager thereafter never +appeared at table with her guests. But at the close of the formal +audiences, after descending from the throne, and speaking to +those whom she had formerly met, she requested her guests to +enter the banquet hall and enjoy the feast with the princesses, +saying that the customs of her country forbade their being seated +or partaking of food if she were present. After the banquet, +however, the Empress Dowager always appeared and conversed +cordially with her guests. + +"Her failure to appear at table may have been influenced by the +following incident: One of the leading lady guests, anxious, no +doubt, to obtain a unique curio, requested the Empress Dowager to +present her with the bowl from which Her Majesty was eating--a +bowl which was different from those used by her guests, as the +dishes from which her food was served were never the same as +those used by others at the table! + +"After an instant's hesitation she turned to a eunuch and said: + +" 'We cannot give her one bowl [the Chinese custom being always +to give things in pairs]; go and prepare her two.' + +"Then, turning to her guests, she continued apologetically: + +" 'I should be glad to give bowls to each of you, but the Foreign +Office has requested me not to give presents at this audience.' +It had been her custom to give each of her guests some small gift +with her own hands and afterwards to send presents by her eunuchs +to their homes. + +"On another occasion the lady referred to above took an ornament +from a cabinet and was carrying it away when the person in charge +of these things requested that it be restored, saying that she +was responsible for everything in the room and would be punished +if anything were missing. + +"The above incidents do not stand alone. It was not uncommon for +some of the Continental guests, in the presence of the court +ladies, to make uncomplimentary remarks about the food, which was +Chinese, and often not very palatable to the foreigner. These +remarks, of course, were not supposed to be understood, though +the Empress Dowager always had her own interpreter at table. One +often felt that some of these ladies, in their efforts to see all +and get all, forgot what was due their own country as well as +their imperial hostess. + +"One can understand the enormity of such an offense in a court +the etiquette of which is so exacting that none of her own +subjects ever dared appear in her presence until they had been +properly instructed in court etiquette in the 'Board of Rites,' a +course of instruction which may extend over a period of from a +week to six months. These breaches of politeness on the part of +these foreign ladies may have been overlooked by Her Majesty and +the princesses, but, if so, it was on the old belief that all +outside of China were barbarians. + +"All the ladies who attended these audiences, however, were not +of this character. There were those who realized the importance +of those occasions in the opening up of China, and were +scrupulous in their efforts to conform to the most exacting +customs of the court. And who can doubt that the warm friendship +which the Empress Dowager conceived for Mrs. Conger, the wife of +our American minister, who did more than any other person ever +did, or ever can do, towards the opening up of the Chinese court +to the people of the West, was because of her appreciation of the +fact that Mrs. Conger was anxious to show the Empress Dowager the +honour due to her position. + +"It was in her private audiences that this great woman's tact, +womanliness, fascination and charm as a hostess appeared. Taking +her guest by the hand, she would ask in the most solicitous way +whether we were not tired with our journey to the palace; she +would deplore the heat in summer or the cold in winter; she would +express her anxiety lest the refreshments might not have been to +our taste; she would tell us in the sincerest accents that it was +a propitious fate that had made our paths meet; and she would +charm each of her guests, even though they had been formerly +prejudiced against her, with little separate attentions, which +exhibited her complete power as a hostess. + +"When opportunity offered, she was always anxious to learn of +foreign ways and institutions. On one occasion while in the +theatre, she called me to her side, and, giving me a chair, +inquired at length into the system of female education in +America. + +" 'I have heard,' she said, 'that in your honourable country all +the girls are taught to read.' + +" 'Quite so, Your Majesty.' + +" 'And are they taught the same branches of study as the boys?' + +" 'In the public schools they are.' + +" 'I wish very much that the girls in China might also be taught, +but the people have great difficulty in educating their boys.' + +"I then explained in a few words our public-school system, to +which she replied: + +" 'The taxes in China are so heavy at present that it would be +impossible to add another expense such as this would be.' + +"It was not long thereafter, however, before an edict was issued +commending female education, and at the present time hundreds of +girls' schools have been established by private persons both in +Peking and throughout the empire. + +"On another occasion, while the ladies were having refreshments, +the Empress Dowager requested me to come to her private +apartments, and while we two were alone together, with only a +eunuch standing by fanning with a large peacock-feather fan, she +asked me to tell her about the church. It was apparent from the +beginning of her conversation that she made no distinction +between Roman Catholics and Protestants, calling them all the +Chiao. I explained to her that the object of the church was the +intellectual, moral, and spiritual development of the people, +making them both better sons and better subjects. + +"Few women are more superstitious than the Empress Dowager. Her +whole life was influenced by her belief in fate, charms, good and +evil spirits, gods and demons. + +"When it was first proposed that she have her portrait painted +for the St. Louis Exposition, she was dumfounded. After a long +conversation, however, in which Mrs. Conger explained that +portraits of many of the rulers of Europe would be there, +including a portrait of Queen Victoria, and that such a painting +would in a way counteract the false pictures of her that had gone +abroad, she said that she would consult with Prince Ching about +the matter. This looked very much as though it had been tabled. +Not long thereafter, however, she sent word to Mrs. Conger, +asking that Miss Carl be invited to come to Peking and paint her +portrait. + +"We all know how this portrait had to be begun on an auspicious +day; how a railroad had to be built to the Foreign Office rather +than have the portrait carried out on men's shoulders, as though +she were dead; how she celebrated her seventieth birthday when +she was sixty-nine, to defeat the gods and prevent their bringing +such a calamity during the celebration as had occurred when she +was sixty, when the Japanese war disturbed her festivities. On +her clothes she wore the ideographs for 'Long Life and +'Happiness,' and most of the presents she gave were emblematic of +some good fortune. Her palace was decorated with great plates of +apples, which by a play on words mean 'Peace,' and with plates of +peaches, which mean 'Longevity.' On her person she wore charms, +one of which she took from her neck and placed on the neck of +Mrs. Conger when she was about to leave China, saying that she +hoped it might protect her during her journey across the ocean, +as it had protected herself during her wanderings in 1900, and +she would not allow any one to appear in her presence who had any +semblance of mourning about her clothing. + +"It is a well-known fact that no Manchu woman ever binds her +feet, and the Empress Dowager was as much opposed to foot-binding +as any other living woman. Nevertheless, she would not allow a +subject to presume to suggest to her ways in which she should +interfere in the social customs of the Chinese, as one of her +subjects did. This lady was the wife of a Chinese minister to a +foreign country, and had adopted both for herself and her +daughters the most ultra style of European dress. She one day +said to Her Majesty, 'The bound feet of the Chinese woman make us +the laughing-stock of the world.' + +" 'I have heard,' said the Empress Dowager, 'that the foreigners +have a custom which is not above reproach, and now since there +are no outsiders here, I should like to see what the foreign +ladies use in binding their waist.' + +"The lady was very stout, and had the appearance of an +hour-glass, and turning to her daughter, a tall and slender +maiden, she said: + +" 'Daughter, you show Her Majesty.' + +"The young lady demurred until finally the Empress Dowager said: + +" 'Do you not realize that a request coming from me is the same +as a command?' + +"After having had her curiosity satisfied, she sent for the Grand +Secretary and ordered that proper Manchu outfits be secured for +the lady's daughters, saying: + +" 'It is truly pathetic what foreign women have to endure. They +are bound up with steel bars until they can scarcely breathe. +Pitiable! Pitiable!' + +"The following day this young lady did not appear at court, and +the Empress Dowager asked her mother the reason of her absence. + +" 'She is ill to-day,' the mother replied. + +" 'I am not surprised,' replied Her Majesty, 'for it must require +some time after the bandages have been removed before she can +again compress herself into the same proportions,' indicating +that the Empress Dowager supposed that foreign women slept with +their waists bound, just as the Chinese women do with their +feet." + +The first winter I spent in China, twenty years ago, was one of +great excitement in Peking. The time of the regency of the +Empress Dowager for the boy-emperor had ended. I have explained +how a prince is not allowed to marry a princess because she is +his relative, or even a commoner his cousin for the same reason. +That is the rule. But rules were made to be broken, and when the +time came for Kuang Hsu's betrothal the Empress Dowager decided +to marry this son of her sister to the daughter of her brother. +It mattered not that the young man was opposed to the match and +wanted another for his wife. The Empress Dowager had set her +heart upon this union, and she would not allow her plans to be +frustrated, so an edict was issued that all people should remain +within their homes on a certain night, for the bride was to be +taken in her red chair from her father's home to the palace. So +that in this as in all other things her will was law for all +those about her. + +She was a bit below the average height, but she wore shoes, in +the centre of whose soles there were--heels, shall we call +them?--six inches high. These, together with her Manchu garments, +which hang from the shoulders, gave her a tall and stately +appearance and made her seem, as she was, every inch an empress. +Her figure was perfect, her carriage quick and graceful, and she +lacked nothing physically to make her a splendid type of +womanhood and ruler. Her features were more vivacious and +pleasing than they were really beautiful; her complexion was of +an olive tint, and her face illumined by orbs of jet half hidden +by dark lashes, behind which lurked the smiles of favour or the +lightning flashes of anger. + +When seated upon the throne she was majesty itself, but the +moment she stepped down from the august seat, and took ones hand +in both of hers, saying with the most amiable of smiles: "What a +kind fate it is that has allowed you to come and see me again. I +hope you are not over-weary with the long journey," one felt that +she was, above all, a woman, a companion, a friend--yet for all +that the mistress of every situation, whether diplomatic, +business, or social. + +I wish her mental characteristics could be described as +completely as Japanese and other photographers have given us +pictures of her person. But perhaps if this were possible she +would seem less interesting. And it may be that in the relation +of these few incidents of her career there may have been revealed +something of the patriotism, the statesmanship, the imperious +will, and the ambitions that brought about the reeestablishment +and the continuation of the dynasty of her people. We have seen +how the enemies of her country fell before her sword. Dangerous +statesmen fell before her pen, and if they were fortunate enough +to rise again with all their honour it was to be divested of all +their former power. Every obstacle in her path was overcome +either by diplomacy or by force. + +The Empress Dowager has no double in Chinese history, if indeed +in the history of the world. She not only guided the ship of +state during the last half century, but she guided it well, and +put into operation all the greatest reforms that have ever been +thought of by Chinese statesmen. Compared with her own people, +she stands head and shoulders above any other woman of the Mongol +race. And what shall we say of her compared with the great women +of other races? In strength of character and ability she will +certainly not suffer in any comparison that can be made. We +cannot, therefore, help admiring that young girl, who formerly +ran errands for her mother who, being made the concubine of an +emperor, became the mother of an emperor, the wife of an emperor, +the maker of an emperor, the dethroner of an emperor, and the +ruler of China for nearly half a century--all this in a land +where woman has no standing or power. Is it too much to say that +she was the greatest woman of the last half century? + + +VII + +Kuang Hsu--His Self-Development + + +The Emperor Kuang Hsu is slight and delicate, almost childish in +appearance, of pale olive complexion, and with great, melancholy +eyes. There is a gentleness in his expression that speaks rather +of dreaming than of the power to turn dreams into acts. It is +strange to find a personality so etherial among the descendants +of the Mongol hordes; yet the Emperor Kuaug Hsu might sit as a +model for some Oriental saint on the threshold of the highest +beatitude. --Charles Johnston in "The Crisis in China." + + + +VIII + +KUANG HSU--HIS SELF-DEVELOPMENT + +On the night that the son of the Empress Dowager "ascended upon +the dragon to be a guest on high," two sedan chairs were borne +out of the west gate of the Forbidden City, through the Imperial +City, and into the western part of the Tartar City, in one of +which sat the senior Empress and in the other the Empress-mother. +The streets were dimly lighted, but the chairs, each carried by +four bearers, were preceded and followed by outriders bearing +large silk lanterns in which were tallow-candles, while a heavy +cart with relays of bearers brought up the rear. The errand upon +which they were bent was an important one--the making of an +emperor--for by the death of Tung Chih, the throne, for the first +time in the history of the dynasty, was left without an heir. +Their destination was the home of the Seventh Prince, the younger +brother of their husband, to whom as we have already said the +Empress Dowager had succeeded in marrying her younger sister, who +was at that time the happy mother of two sons. + +She took the elder of these, a not very sturdy boy of three years +and more, from his comfortable bed to make him emperor, and one +can imagine they hear him whining with a half-sleepy yawn: "I +don't want to be emperor. I want to sleep." But she bundled +little Tsai Tien up in comfortable wraps, took him out of a happy +home, from a loving father and mother, and a jolly little baby +brother,--out of a big beautiful world, where he would have +freedom to go and come at will, toys to play with, children to +contend with him in games, and everything in a home of wealth +that is dear to the heart of a child. And for what? She folded +him in her arms, adopted him as her own son, and carried him into +the Forbidden--and no doubt to him forbidding--City, where his +world was one mile square, without freedom, without another child +within its great bare walls, where he was the one lone, solitary +man among thousands of eunuchs and women. The next morning when +the imperial clan assembled to condole with her on the death of +her son, she bore little Tsai Tien into their midst declaring: +"Here is your emperor." + +At that time there were situated on Legation Street, in Peking, +two foreign stores that had been opened without the consent of +the Chinese government, for in those days the capital had not +been opened to foreign trade. As the stores were small, and in +such close proximity to the various legations, the most of whose +supplies they furnished, they seem to have been too unimportant +to attract official attention, though they were destined to have +a mighty influence on the future of China. One of them was kept +by a Dane, who sold foreign toys, notions, dry-goods and +groceries such as might please the Chinese or be of use to the +scanty European population of the great capital. By chance some +of the eunuchs from the imperial palace, wandering about the city +in search of something to please little Tsai Tien, dropped into +this store on Legation Street and bought some of these foreign +toys for his infant Majesty. + +They had already ransacked the city for Chinese toys. They had +gone to every fair, visited every toy-shop, called upon every +private dealer, and paid high prices for samples of their best +work made especially for the royal child. There were crowing +cocks and cackling hens; barking dogs and crying infants; music +balls and music carts; horns, drums, diabolos and tops; there +were gingham dogs and calico cats; camels, elephants and fierce +tigers; and a thousand other toys, if only he had had other +children to share them with him. But none of them pleased him. +They lacked that subtile something which was necessary to +minister to the peculiar genius of the child. + +Among the foreign toys there were some in which there was +concealed a secret spring which seemed to impart life to the +otherwise dead plaything. Wind them up and they would move of +their own energy. This was what the boy needed,--something to +appeal to that machine-loving disposition which nature had given +him, and Budge and Toddy were never more curious to know "what +made the wheels go round" than was little Tsai Tien. He played +with them as toys until overcome by curiosity, when, like many +another child, he tore them apart and discovered the secret +spring. This was as much of a revelation to the eunuchs as to the +child, and they went and bought other toys of a more curious +pattern, and a more intricate design, and it was not long until, +at the instigation of the enterprising Dane, the toy-shops of +Europe were manufacturing playthings specially designed to please +the almond-eyed baby Emperor in the yellow-tiled palace in +Peking. + +As the child grew the business of the Dane shopkeeper increased. +His stock became larger and more varied, and Tsai Tien continued +to be a profitable customer. There were music boxes and music +carts--real music carts, not like those from the Chinese +shops,--trains of cars, wheeled boats, striking clocks and Swiss +watches which, when the stem was pulled, would strike the hour or +half or quarter, and all these were bought in turn by the eunuchs +and taken into the palace. As the Emperor grew to boyhood the +Danish shopkeeper supplied toys suitable to his years from his +inexhaustible shelves, until all the most intricate and wonderful +toys of Europe, suitable for a boy, had passed through the hands +of Kuang Hsu,--"continued brilliancy," as his name implied--and +he seemed to be making good the meaning of his name. + +We would not lead any one to believe that Kuang Hsu was an ideal +child. He was not. If we may credit the reports that came from +the palace in those days, he had a temper of his own. If he were +denied anything he wanted, he would lie down on his baby back on +the dirty ground and kick and scream and literally "raise the +dust" until he got it. My wife tells me that not infrequently +when she called at the Chinese homes, and they set before her a +dish of which she was especially fond, and she had eaten of it as +much as she thought she ought, the ladies would ask in a +good-natured way in reply to some of her remarks about her +voracious appetite, "Shall we get down and knock our heads on the +floor, and beg you not to eat too much, and make yourself sick, +like the eunuchs do to the Emperor?" There is nothing to wonder +at that Kuang Hsu, without parental restraint, and fawned upon by +cringing eunuchs and serving maids, should have been a spoiled +child; the wonder is that he was not worse than he was. + +One day in 1901 while the court was absent at Hsian, and the +front gate of the Forbidden City was guarded by our "boys in +blue," I obtained a pass and visited the imperial palace. The +apartments of the Emperor consisted of a series of one-story +Chinese buildings, with paper windows around a large central pane +of glass, tile roof and brick floor. The east part of the +building appeared to be the living-room, about twenty by +twenty-five feet. The window on the south side extended the +entire length of the room, and was filled with clocks from end to +end. There were clocks of every description from the finest +French cloisonne to the most intricate cuckoo clocks from which a +bird hopped forth to announce the hour, and each ticking its own +time regardless of every other. Tables were placed in various +parts of the room, on each of which were one, two or three +clocks. Swiss watches of the most curious and unique designs hung +about the walls. Two sofas sat back to back in the centre of the +room, and a beautiful little gilt desk on which was the most +wonderful of all his clocks, with several large foreign chairs +upholstered in plush and velvet, completed the furniture. I sat +down in one of these chairs to rest, for it was a hot summer day, +and immediately there proceeded from beneath me sweet strains of +music from a box concealed beneath the cushion. It was not only a +surprise, it was soothing and restful; and I was prepared to see +an electric fan pop out of somewhere and fan me to sleep. It was +really an Oriental fairy tale of an apartment. + +As Kuang Hsu grew to boyhood he heard that out in this great +wonderful world, which he had never seen except with the eyes of +a child, there was a method of sending messages to distant cities +and provinces with the rapidity of a flash of lightning. For +centuries he and his ancestors had been sending their edicts, and +their Peking Gazette or court newspaper--the oldest journal in +the world--by runner, or relays of post horses, and the +possibility of sending them by a lightning flash appealed to him. +He believed in doing things, and, as we shall see later, he +wanted to do them as rapidly as they could be done. He therefore +ordered that a telegraph outfit be secured for him, which he +"played with" as he had done with his most ingenious toys, and +the telegraph was soon established for court use throughout the +empire. + +One day a number of officials came to us at the Peking University +and in the course of a conversation they said: + +"The Emperor has heard that the foreigners have invented a talk +box. Is that true?" + +"Quite true," we replied, "and as we have one in the physical +laboratory of the college we will let you see it." + +We had one of the old Edison phonographs which worked with a +pedal, and looked very much like a sewing-machine, and we took +them to the laboratory, allowed one of them to talk into it, and +then set the machine to repeating what had been told it. The +officials were delighted and it was not long until they again +appeared and insisted on buying it as a present for the Emperor, +for in this way better than any other they might hope to obtain +official recognition and position. + +The Emperor then heard that the foreigners had invented a +"fire-wheel cart," but whether he had ever been informed that +they had built a small railroad at Wu-Sung near Shanghai, and +that the Chinese had bought it, and then torn it up and thrown it +into the river we cannot say. There are many things the officials +and people do which never reach the imperial ears. However that +may be, when Kuang Hsu heard of the railroad and the carts that +were run by fire, he wanted one, and he would not be satisfied +until they had built a narrow gauge railroad along the west shore +of the lotus lake in the Forbidden City, and the factories of +Europe had made two small cars and an engine on which he could +take the court ladies for a ride on this unusual merry-go-round. +The road and the cars and the engine were still there when I +visited the Forbidden City in 1901, but they were carried away to +Europe by some of the allies as precious bits of loot, before the +court returned. + +Not long after he had heard of the railroads, he was told that +the foreigners also had "fire-wheel boats." Of course he wanted +some, and as I crossed the beautiful marble bridge that spans the +lotus lake, I saw anchored near by three small steam launches +which had evidently been used a good deal. I saw similar launches +in the lake at the Summer Palace, and was told that in the play +days of his boyhood, Kuang Hsu would have these launches hitched +to the imperial barges and take the ladies of the court for +pleasure trips about the lake in the cool of the summer evenings, +as the Empress Dowager did her foreign visitors in later times. + +The Emperor in those days was on the lookout for everything +foreign that was of a mechanical nature. Indeed every invention +interested him. In this respect he was diametrically opposite to +the genius of the whole Chinese people. Their faces had ever been +turned backward, and their highest hopes were that they might +approximate the golden ages of the past, and be equal in virtue +to their ancestors. This feeling was so strong that a hundred +years before he mounted the throne, his forefather, Chien Lung, +when he had completed his cycle of sixty years as a ruler, +vacated in favour of his son lest he should reign longer than his +grandfather. Kuang Hsu was therefore the first occupant of the +dragon throne whose face was turned to the future, and whose +chief aim was to possess and to master every method that had +enabled the peoples of the West to humiliate his people. + +When he heard that the foreigners had a method of talking to a +distance of ten, twenty, fifty or five hundred miles, he did not +say like the old farmer is reported to have said,--"It caint be +trew, because my son John kin holler as loud as any man in all +this country, an' he caint be heerd mor'n two miles." Kuang Hsu +believed it, and at once ordered that a telephone be secured for +him. + +In 1894 the Christian women of China decided to present a New +Testament to the Empress Dowager on her sixtieth birthday which +occurred the following year. New type was prepared, the finest +foreign paper secured, and the book was made after the best style +of the printer's art, with gilt borders, gilt edges, and bound in +silver of an embossed bamboo pattern and encased in a silver box. +It was then enclosed in a red plush box,--red being the colour +indicating happiness, --which was in turn encased in a +beautifully carved teak-wood box, and this was enclosed in an +ordinary box and taken by the English and American ministers to +the Foreign Office to be sent in to Her Majesty + +The next day the Emperor sent to the American Bible Society for +copies of the Old and New Testaments, such as were being sold to +his people. A few days thereafter a Chinese friend--a +horticulturist and gardener who went daily to the palace with +flowers and vegetables--came to me in confidence as though +bearing an important secret, and said: + +"Something of unusual importance is taking place in the palace." + +"Indeed?" said I; "what makes you think so?" + +"Heretofore when I have gone into the palace," said he, "the +eunuchs have treated me with indifference. Yesterday they sat +down and talked in a most familiar and friendly way, asking me +all about Christianity. I told them what I could and they +continued their conversation until long after noon. I finally +became so hungry that I arose to come home. They urged me to +stay, bringing in a feast, and inviting me to dine with them, and +they kept me there till evening. One of them told me that the +Emperor is studying the Gospel of Luke." + +"How does he know that?" I inquired. + +"That is what I asked him," he answered, "and he told me that he +is one of the Emperor's private servants, and that His Majesty +has a part of the Gospel copied in large characters on a sheet of +paper each day, which he spreads out on the table before him, and +this eunuch, standing behind his chair, can read what he is +studying." + +On further inquiry I discovered that there was no other way that +the eunuch could have learned about the Gospel, except in the way +indicated. This man was invited to dine with the eunuchs day +after day until he had told them all he knew about Christianity, +after which they requested him to bring in the pastor of the +church of which he was a member, and who was one of my former +pupils, to dine with them and tell them more about the Gospel. +The pastor hesitated to accept the invitation, but as it was +repeated day after day, he finally accompanied the +horticulturist. + +When offered wine at dinner the pastor refused it, at which the +eunuch remarked: "Oh, yes, I have heard that you Christians do +not drink wine," and like a polite host, the wine was put aside +and none was drunk at the dinner. During the afternoon they took +their guests to visit some of the imperial buildings, advanced +the sum of three hundred dollars to the horticulturist to enlarge +his plant, and gave various presents to the pastor. + +It must not be inferred from this that the Emperor was becoming a +Christian. Very far from it, though the interest he took in the +Christian doctrine set the people to studying about it, not only +in Peking but throughout many of the provinces, as was indicated +at the time by the number of Christian books sold. As early as +1891 he issued a strong edict ordering the protection of the +missionaries in which he made the following statement: "The +religions of the West have for their object the inculcation of +virtue, and, though our people become converted, they continue to +be Chinese subjects. There is no reason why there should not be +harmony between the people and the adherents of foreign +religions." The Chinese reported that he sometimes examined the +eunuchs, lining them up in classes and catechising them from the +books read. + +One day three of the eunuchs called on me with this same +horticulturist, for the purpose no doubt of seeing a foreigner, +and to get a glimpse of the home in which he lived. One of them +was younger than the other two and above the average intelligence +of his class. A few days later the horticulturist told me a story +which illustrates a phase of the Emperor's character which we +have already hinted at--his impulsive nature and ungovernable +temper. He had ordered a number of the eunuchs to appear before +him, all of whom except this young man were unable to come, +because engaged in other duties. When the eunuch got down on his +hands and knees to kotow or knock his head to His Majesty, the +latter kicked him in the mouth, cutting his lip and otherwise +injuring him, and my informant added: + +"What kind of a man is that to govern a country, a man who +punishes those who obey his orders?" Indeed there was a good deal +of feeling among the Chinese at that time that the Empress +Dowager ought to punish the Emperor as a good mother does a bad +child, though in the light of all the other things he did, he was +to be pitied more than blamed for a disposition thus inherited +and developed. + +It was about this time he began the study of English. He ordered +that two teachers be appointed, and contrary to all former +customs he allowed them to sit rather than kneel while they +taught him. At the time they were selected I was exchanging +lessons in English for Chinese with the grandson of one of these +teachers, and learned a good deal about the progress the young +man was making. He was in such a hurry to begin that he could not +wait to send to England or America for books, and so the +officials visited the various schools and missions in search of +proper primers for a beginner. When they visited us we made a +thorough search and finally Dr. Marcus L. Taft discovered an +attractively illustrated primer which he had taken to China with +him for his little daughter Frances, and this was sent to Kuang +Hsu. + +One day a eunuch called on me saying that the Emperor had learned +that the various institutions of learning, educational +associations, tract and other societies had published a number of +books in Chinese which they had translated from the European +languages. I was at that time the custodian of two or three of +these societies and had a great variety of Chinese books in my +possession. I therefore sent him copies of our astronomy, +geology, zoology, physiology and various other scientific books +which I was at that time teaching in the university. + +The next day he called again, accompanied by a coolie who brought +me a present of a ham cooked at the imperial kitchen, together +with boxes of fruit and cakes, which, not being a man of large +appetite, I thanked him for, tipped the coolie, and after he had +gone, turned them over to our servants, who assured me that +imperial meat was very palatable. Day after day for six weeks +this eunuch visited me, and would never leave until I had found +some new book for His Majesty. They might be literary, scientific +or religious works, and he made no distinction between the books +of any sect or society, institution or body, but with an equal +zeal he sought them all. I was sometimes reduced to a sheet +tract, and finally I was forced to take my wife's Chinese medical +books out of her private library and send them in to the Emperor. +I learned that other eunuchs were visiting other persons in +charge of other books, and that at this time Kuang Hsu bought +every book that had been translated from any European language +and published in the Chinese. + +One day the eunuch saw my wife's bicycle standing on the veranda +and said: + +"What kind of a cart is that?" + +"That is a self-moving cart," I answered. + +"How do you ride it?" he inquired. + +I took the bicycle off the veranda, rode about the court a time +or two, while he gazed at me with open mouth, and when I stopped +he ejaculated: + +"That's queer; why doesn't it fall down?" + +"When a thing's moving," I answered, "it can't fall down," which +might apply to other things than bicycles. + +The next day when he called he said: + +"The Emperor would like that bicycle," and my wife allowed him to +take it in to Kuang Hsu, and it was not long thereafter until it +was reported that the Emperor had been trying to ride the +bicycle, that his queue had become entangled in the rear wheel, +and that he had had a not very royal tumble, and had given it +up,--as many another one has done. + + + +IX + +Kuang Hsu--As Emperor and Reformer + +In 1891 the present Emperor Kuang Hsu issued a very strong edict +commanding good treatment of the missionaries. He therein made +the following statement: "The religions of the West have for +their object the inculcation of virtue, and, though our people +become converted, they continue to be Chinese subjects. There is +no reason why there should not be harmony between the people and +the adherents of foreign religions." +--Hon. Charles Denby in "China and Her People." + + + +IX + +KUANG HSU--AS EMPEROR AND REFORMER + +AS a man, there are few characters in Chinese history that are +more interesting than Kuang Hsu. He had all the caprices of +genius with their corresponding weakness and strength. He could +wield a pen with the vigour of a Caesar, threaten his greatest +viceroys, dismiss his leading conservative officials, introduce +the most sweeping and far-reaching reforms that have ever been +thought of by the Chinese people, and then run from a woman as +though the very devil was after him. + +He has been variously rated as a genius, an imbecile and a fool. +Let us grant that he was not brilliant. Let us rate him as an +imbecile, and then let us try to account for his having brought +into the palace every ingenious toy and every wonderful and +useful invention and discovery of the past twenty or thirty years +with the exception of the X-rays and liquid air. Let us try to +explain why it was that an imbecile would purchase every book +that had been printed in the Chinese language, concerning foreign +subjects of learning, up to the time when he was dethroned. Let +us tell why it was that an imbecile would study all those foreign +books without help, without an assistant, without a teacher, for +three years, from the time he bought them in 1895 till 1898, +before he began issuing the most remarkable series of edicts that +have ever come from the pen of an Oriental monarch in the same +length of time. And let us explain how it was that an imbecile +could embody in his edicts of two or three months all the +important principles that were necessary to launch the great +reforms of the past ten years. + +I doubt if any Chinese monarch has ever had a more far-reaching +influence over the minds of the young men of the empire than +Kuang Hsu had from 1895 till 1898. The preparation for this +influence had been going on for twenty or thirty years previously +in the educational institutions established by the missions and +the government. From these schools there had gone out a great +number of young men who had taken positions in all departments of +business, and many of the state, and revealed to the officials as +well as to many of the people the power of foreign education. An +imperial college had been established by the customs service for +the special education of young men for diplomatic and other +positions, from which there had gone out young men who were the +representatives of the government as consuls or ministers in the +various countries of Europe and America. + +The fever for reading the same books that Kuang Hsu had read was +so great as to tax to the utmost the presses of the port cities +to supply the demand, and the leaders of some of the publication +societies feared that a condition had arisen for which they were +unprepared. Books written by such men as Drs. Allen, Mateer, +Martin, Williams and Legge were brought out in pirated +photographic reproductions by the bookshops of Shanghai and sold +for one-tenth the cost of the original work. Authors, to protect +themselves, compelled the pirates to deliver over the stereotype +plates they had made on penalty of being brought before the +officials in litigation if they refused. But during the three +years the Emperor had been studying these foreign books, hundreds +of thousands of young scholars all over the empire had been doing +the same, preparing themselves for whatever emergency the studies +of the young Emperor might bring about. + +One day during the early spring a young Chinese reformer came to +me to get a list of the best newspapers and periodicals published +in both England and America. I inquired the reason for this +strange move, and he said: + +"The young Chinese reformers in Peking have organized a Reform +Club. Some of them read and speak English, others French, others +German and still others Russian, and we are providing ourselves +with all the leading periodicals of these various countries that +we may read and study them. We have rented a building, prepared +rooms, and propose to have a club where we can assemble whenever +we have leisure, for conversation, discussion, reading, lectures +or whatever will best contribute to the ends we have in view." + +"And what are those ends?" I inquired. + +"The bringing about of a new regime in China," he answered. "Our +recent defeat by the Japanese has shown us that unless some +radical changes are made we must take a second place among the +peoples of the Orient." + +"This is a new move in Peking, is it not?" + +"New in Peking," he answered, "but not new in the empire. Reform +clubs are being organized in all the great cities and capitals. +In Hsian, books have been purchased by all classes from the +governor of the province down to the humblest scholar, and the +aristocracy have organized classes, and are inviting the +foreigners to lecture to them. Every one, except a few of the +oldest conservative scholars, are discarding their Confucian +theories and reconstructing their ideas in view of present day +problems. There is an intellectual fermentation now going on from +which a new China is certain to be evolved, and we propose to be +ready for it when it comes." + +The leader of this reform party was Kang Yu-wei, a young +Cantonese, who had made a thorough study of the reforms of Peter +the Great in Russia, and the more recent reforms in Japan, the +history of which he had prepared in two volumes which he sent to +the Emperor. He had made a reputation for himself in his native +place as a "Modern Sage and Reformer," was hailed as a "young +Confucius," was appointed a third-class secretary in the Board +of Works, and as the Emperor and he had been studying on the same +lines, Kang, through the influence of the brother of the chief +concubine, was introduced to His Majesty. He had a three hours' +conference with the Foreign Office, in which he urged that China +should imitate Japan, and that the old conservative ministers and +viceroys should be replaced by young men imbued with Western +ideas, who might confer with the Emperor daily in regard to all +kinds of reform measures. + +This interview was reported to Kuang Hsu by Prince Kung and Jung +Lu, who both being old, and one of them the greatest of the +conservatives, could hardly be expected to approve of his +theories. Kang, however, was asked to embody his suggestions in a +memorial, was later given an audience with the Emperor, and +finally called into the palace to assist him in the reforms he +had already undertaken. And if Kang Yu-wei had been as great a +statesman as he was reformer, Kuang Hsu might never have been +deposed. + +The crisis came during the summer of 1898. I had taken my family +to the seashore to spend our summer vacation. A young Chinese +scholar--a Hanlin--who had been studying in the university for +some years, and with whom I was translating a work on psychology, +had gone with me. He took the Peking Gazette, which he read +daily, and commented upon with more or less interest, until June +23d, when an edict was issued abolishing the literary essay of +the old regime as a part of the government examination, and +substituting therefor various branches of the new learning. "We +have been compelled to issue this decree," said the Emperor, +"because our examinations have reached the lowest ebb, and we see +no remedy for these matters except to change entirely the old +methods for a new course of competition." + +"What do you think of that?" I asked the Hanlin. + +"The greatest step that has ever yet been taken," he replied. + +This Hanlin was not a radical reformer, but one of a long line of +officials who were deeply interested in the preservation of their +country which had weathered the storms of so many +centuries,--storms which had wrecked Assyria, Babylonia, Media, +Egypt, Greece and Rome, while China, though growing but little, +had still lived. He was one of those progressive statesmen who +have always been found among a strong minority in the Middle +Kingdom. + +The Peking Gazette continued to come daily bringing with it the +following twenty-seven decrees in a little more than twice that +many days. I will give an epitome of the decrees that the reader +at a glance may see what the Emperor undertook to do. Summarized +they are as follows: + +1. The establishment of a university at Peking. + +2. The sending of imperial clansmen to foreign countries to study +the forms and conditions of European and American government. + +3. The encouragement of the arts, sciences and modern +agriculture. + +4. The Emperor expressed himself as willing to hear the +objections of the conservatives to progress and reform. + +5. Abolished the literary essay as a prominent part of the +governmental examinations. + +6. Censured those who attempted to delay the establishment of the +Peking Imperial University. + +7. Urged that the Lu-Han railway should be prosecuted with more +vigour and expedition. + +8. Advised the adoption of Western arms and drill for all the +Tartar troops. + +9. Ordered the establishment of agricultural schools in all the +provinces to teach the farmers improved methods of agriculture. + +10. Ordered the introduction of patent and copyright laws. + +11. The Board of War and Foreign Office were ordered to report on +the reform of the military examinations. + +12. Special rewards were offered to inventors and authors. + +13. The officials were ordered to encourage trade and assist +merchants. + +14. School boards were ordered established in every city in the +empire. + +15. Bureaus of Mines and Railroads were established. + +16. Journalists were encouraged to write on all political +subjects. + +17. Naval academies and training-ships were ordered. + +18. The ministers and provincial authorities were called upon to +assist--nay, were begged to make some effort to understand what +he was trying to do and help him in his efforts at reform. + +19. Schools were ordered in connection with all the Chinese +legations in foreign countries for the benefit of the children of +Chinese in those places. + +20. Commercial bureaus were ordered in Shanghai for the +encouragement of trade. + +21. Six useless Boards in Peking were abolished. + +22. The right to memorialize the throne in sealed memorials was +granted to all who desired to do so. + +23. Two presidents and four vice-presidents of the Board of Rites +were dismissed for disobeying the Emperor's orders that memorials +should be allowed to come to him unopened. + +24. The governorships of Hupeh, Kuangtung, and Yunnan were +abolished as being a useless expense to the country. + +25. Schools of instruction in the preparation of tea and silk +were ordered established. + +26. The slow courier posts were abolished in favour of the +Imperial Customs Post. + +27. A system of budgets as in Western countries was approved. + +I have given these decrees in this epitomized form so that all +those who are interested in the character of this reform movement +in China may understand something of the influence the young +Emperor's study had had upon him. Grant that they followed one +another in too close proximity, yet still it must be admitted by +every careful student of them, that there is not one that would +not have been of the greatest possible benefit to the country if +they had been put into operation. If the Emperor had been allowed +to proceed, making them all as effective as he did the Imperial +University, and if the ministers and provincial authorities had +responded to his call, and had made "some effort to understand +what he was trying to do," China might have by this time been +close upon the heels of Japan in the adoption of Western ideas. + +As the edicts continued to come out in such quick succession my +Hanlin friend became alarmed. He came to me one day after the +Emperor had censured the officials for trying to delay the +establishment of the Imperial University and said: + +"I must return to Peking." + +"Why return so soon?" I inquired. + +"There is going to be trouble if the Emperor continues his reform +at this rate of speed," he answered. + +It was when the Emperor had issued the sixth of his twenty-seven +decrees that this young Chinese statesman made this observation. +If his most intimate advisers had had the perspicuity to have +foreseen the final outcome of such precipitance might they not +have advised the Emperor to have proceeded more deliberately? +When one remembers how China had been worsted by Japan, how all +her prestige was swept away, how, from having been the parent of +the Oriental family of nations, a desirable friend or a dangerous +enemy, she was stripped of all her glory, and left a helpless +giant with neither strength nor power, one can easily understand +the eagerness of this boy of twenty-seven to restore her to the +pedestal from which she had been ruthlessly torn. + +Another reason for his haste may be found in the seizure of his +territory by the European powers. A few months before he began +his reforms two German priests were murdered by an irresponsible +mob in the province of Shantung. With this as an excuse Germany +landed a battalion of marines at Kiaochou, a port of that +province, which she took with fifty miles of the surrounding +territory. As though this were not enough, she demanded the right +to build all the railroads and open all the mines in the entire +province, and compelled the Chinese to pay an indemnity to the +families of the murdered priests and rebuild the church and +houses the mob had destroyed. China appealed to Russia who had +promised to protect her against all invaders. Instead of coming +to her aid, however, Russia demanded a similar cession of Port +Arthur, Talienwan and the surrounding territory which she had +refused to allow Japan to retain two years before. Not to be +outdone by the others, France demanded and received a similar +strip of territory at Kuang-chou-wan; and England found that +Wei-hai-wei would be indispensable as a kennel from which she +could guard the Russian bear on the opposite shore, but why she +should have found it necessary also to demand from China four +hundred miles of land and water around Hongkong was no doubt +difficult for Kuang Hsu to understand. + +When the Empress Dowager turned over the reins of government to +her nephew she did it very much as a father would place the reins +in the hands of a child whom he was teaching to drive an +important vehicle on a dangerous road --she sat behind him still +holding the reins. Among the things reserved were that he should +kotow to her once every five days whether she were in Peking or +at the Summer Place, and she reserved such seals of office as +made it necessary for all the highest officials to come and +express their obligations to her at the same time they came to +thank the Emperor. While Kuang Hsu may have been reconciled to +the performance of these duties at eighteen, they became irksome +at twenty-seven and he demanded and received full liberty in the +affairs of state. + +We have seen how he used his liberty,--not wisely, perhaps, as a +reformer, and yet the reformation of China can never be written +without giving the credit of its inception to Kuang Hsu. He was +very different from Hsien Feng, the husband of the Empress +Dowager, before whose death we are told "the whole administrative +power was vested in the hands of a council of eight, whilst he +himself spent his time in ways that were by no means consistent +with those that ought to have characterized the ruler of a great +and powerful nation." Whatever else may be said of Kuang Hsu, he +cannot be accused of indolence, extravagance, or indifference to +the welfare of his country or his people. + +Appreciating the difficulty of securing an expression of opinion +from those opposed to his views, and thus getting both sides of +the question, in his fourth edict he requested the conservatives +to send in their objections to his schemes for progress and +reform, and then as if to get the broadest possible expression of +opinion he adopted a Shanghai journal called Chinese Progress as +the official organ of the government. But lest this be +insufficient, in his twenty-second edict he gave the right to all +officials to address the throne in sealed memorials. + +There was at this time a third-class secretary of the Board of +Rites named Wang Chao who sent in a memorial in which he +advocated: + +1. The abolition of the queue. + +2. The changing of the Chinese style of dress to that of the +West. + +3. The adoption of Christianity as a state religion. + +4. A prospective national parliament. + +5. A journey to Japan by the Emperor and Empress Dowager. + +The Board of Rites opened and read this memorial, and, astounded +at its boldness, they summoned the offender before them, and +ordered him to withdraw his paper. This he refused to do and the +two presidents and four vice-presidents of the Board accompanied +it with a counter memorial denouncing him to the Emperor as a man +who was making narrow-minded and wild suggestions to His Majesty. + +Partly because they had opened and read the memorial and partly +because of their effort to prevent freedom of speech, Kuang Hsu +issued another edict explaining why he had invited sealed +memorials, and censuring them for explaining to him what was +narrow-minded and wild, as if he lacked the intelligence to grasp +that feature of the paper. He then turned them all over to the +Board of Civil Office ordering that body to decide upon a +suitable punishment for their offense, and assuring them that if +they made it too mild, his righteous wrath would fall upon them. +The latter decided that they be degraded three steps and removed +to posts befitting their lowered rank, but the Emperor revised +the sentence and dismissed them all from office, and this was the +beginning of his downfall. + +The Empress Dowager had been spending the hot season at the +Summer Palace, and during the two months and more that the +Emperor had been struggling with his reform measures, she gave no +indication, either by word or deed, that she was opposed to +anything that he had done. And I think that all her acts, from +that time till the close of the Boxer insurrection, can be +explained without placing her in opposition to his theories of +progress and reform. + +So long as the Emperor devoted himself to the creation of new +offices he found little active opposition on the part of the +conservatives, while the reformers did everything in their power +to encourage him. The extent of the movement it is not easy to +estimate. It opened up the intensely anti-foreign province of +Hupeh, and transformed it into a section where railroads were to +be built connecting the north with the south. It opened up the +great mining province of Shansi and the lumber regions of +Manchuria. It started railroads which are now lines of trade for +the whole empire. + +When he issued the fifth edict substituting Western science for +the literary essay in the great examinations, letters and +telegrams began to pour in upon us at the Peking University from +all parts of the empire, asking us to reserve room for the +senders in the school. Their tuition was enclosed in their +letters, and among those who came were the grandson of the +Emperor's tutor, graduates of various degrees, men of rank, and +the sons of wealthy gentlemen who had not yet obtained degrees. +Numerous requests came to our graduates to teach English in +official families, one being employed to teach the grandson of Li +Hung-chang, and another the sons of a relative of the royal +family. + +But when his reforms led the Emperor to dispense with useless +offices, as in his twenty-first, twenty-fourth and twenty-sixth +edicts, for the purpose of retrenchment, and to dismiss +recalcitrant officials for disobedience to his commands, a howl +arose which was heard throughout the empire. The six members of +the Board of Rites dismissed in edict twenty-three, with certain +sympathizers to give them face, went to the Empress Dowager at +the Summer Palace, represented to her that the boy whom she had +placed upon the throne was steering the ship of state to certain +destruction, and begged that she would come and once more take +the helm. She listened to them with the attention and deference +for which she has always been famed, and then dismissed them +without any intimation as to what her course would be. + +When the Emperor heard what they were doing, he sent a courier +post-haste to call Yuan Shih-kai for an interview at the palace. +When Yuan came, he ordered him to return to Tien-tsin, dispose +of his superior officer, the Governor-General Jung Lu, and bring +the army corps of 12,500 troops of which he was in charge to +Peking, surround the Summer Palace, preventing any one from going +in or coming out, thus making the Empress Dowager a prisoner, and +allowing him to go on with his work of reform. + +It is just here that we see the difference in the statesmanship +of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. When she appointed these +two officials, one a liberal in charge of the army, she placed +the other, a conservative, as his superior officer, so that one +could not move without the knowledge and consent of the other, +thus forestalling just such an order as this. To obey this order +of the boy Emperor, Yuan must commit two great crimes, murder and +treason, the one on a superior officer, and the other against her +who had appointed him to office and who had been the ruler of the +country for thirty-seven years, either of which would have been +sufficient to have execrated him not only in the eyes of his own +people but of history and of the world. Nay more, had he obeyed +this order, the conservatives would have raised the cry of +rebellion, and an army ten times greater than he could have +mustered, would have crushed Yuan and his little company of +12,500 men, on the plea that he was about to take the throne. + +Yuan then did the only wise thing he could have done. He went to +Jung Lu, without whose consent he had no right to move, showed +him the order, and asked for his commands. Jung Lu told him to +leave the order with him, and as soon as Yuan had departed he +took the train for Peking, called on Prince Ching, and they two +went to the Summer Palace and showed the order to Her Majesty, +suggesting to her that it might be well for her to come into the +city and give him a few lessons in government. + +As the Empress Dowager had been behaving herself so circumspectly +during all the summer months, allowing the Emperor to test +himself as a ruler, one can scarcely blame her for not wanting to +be bottled up in the Summer Palace when she had done nothing to +deserve it. When therefore this second delegation of officials, +consisting of the two highest in rank in the empire, came to +request her to once more take charge of the government, she +called her sedan chair and started for the capital. She went +without an army, but was accompanied by those of her palace +eunuchs on whom she could implicitly depend, and enough of them +to overcome those of the Emperor in case there should be trouble. +That force was necessary is evident from the fact that she +condemned to death a number of his servants after she had taken +the throne. + +When the Emperor heard that she was coming he sent a messenger +with letters urging Kang Yu-wei to flee, and to devise some means +for saving the situation, while he attempted to find refuge for +himself in the foreign legations. This however he failed to do, +but was taken by the Empress Dowager, and his career as a ruler +ended, and his life as a prisoner began. + + + +X + +Kuang Hsu--As a Prisoner + +Kuang Hsu deserves a place in history as the prize iconoclast. He +sent a cold shiver down the spine of the literati by declaring +that a man's fitness for office should not depend upon his +ability to write a poem, or upon the elegance of his penmanship. +This was too much. The literati argued that at the rate at which +the Emperor was going, it might be expected that he would do away +with chop-sticks and dispense with the queue. +--Rounsevelle Wildman in "China's Open Door." + + +X + +KUANG HSU--AS A PRISONER + +The year that Kuang Hsu ascended the throne a great calamity +occurred in Peking. The Temple of Heaven--the greatest of the +imperial temples, the one at which the Emperor announces his +accession, confesses his sins, prays and gives thanks for an +abundant harvest, was struck by lightning and burned to the +ground. When the Emperor worships here it is as the +representative of the people, the high priest of the nation, and +his prayers are offered for his country and not for himself. +There are no idols in this temple, and his prayers go up to +Shang-ti the Supreme Being "by whom kings reign and princes +decree justice." When therefore instead of giving rain Heaven +sent down a fiery bolt to destroy the temple at which the Son of +Heaven prays, the people were struck with dismay. + +The pale faces of the women, the apprehensive noddings of the +men, and the hushed voices of our old Confucian teachers as they +spoke of the matter, indicated the concern with which they viewed +it. Here was a boy who had been placed upon the throne by a +woman; he was the same generation as the Emperor who had preceded +him, and hence could not worship him as his ancestor. It augured +ill both for the Emperor and the empire, and so the boy Emperor +began his reign in the midst of evil forebodings. + +During the nine years that Kuang Hsu had nominal control of +affairs a series of dire calamities befell the empire. Famines as +the result of drought, floods from the overflow of "China's +Sorrow," war with Japan, filching of territory by the European +countries, while editorials appeared daily in the English papers +of the port cities to the effect that China was to be divided up +among the powers. Then too Kuang Hsu was childless and there was +no hope of his giving an heir to the throne. + +Times and seasons have their meanings for the Chinese. Anything +inauspicious happening on New Year's day is indicative of +calamity. Mr. Chen, a friend of mine, had become a Christian +contrary to his mother's wishes. When his first child was born it +was a girl, born on New Year's day. His mother shook her head, +looked distressed, and said that nothing but calamity would come +to his home. His second child was a boy, but the old woman shook +her head again and sighed saying that it would take more than one +boy to avert the calamity of ones first baby being a girl born on +New Year's day, and it was not until he had five boys in +succession that she was finally convinced. + +There was an eclipse of the sun on New Year's day of 1898 which +foreboded calamity to the Emperor. During the summer of this year +he began his great reform, and in September the Empress Dowager +took control of the affairs of state and Kuang Hsu was put in +prison, never again to occupy the throne. His prison was his +winter palace, where, for many months, he was confined in a +gilded cage of a house, on a small island, with the Empress +Dowager's eunuchs to guard him. These were changed daily lest +they might sympathize with their unhappy monarch and devise some +means for his liberation. Each day when the guard was changed, +the drawbridge connecting the island with the mainland was +removed, leaving the Emperor to wander about in the court of his +palace-prison, or sit on the southern terrace where it overlooked +the lotus lake, waiting, hoping and perhaps expecting that his +last appeal to Kang Yu-wei in which he said: "My heart is filled +with a great sorrow which pen and ink cannot describe; you must +go abroad at once and without a moment's delay devise some means +to save me," might bring forth some fruit. + +Whether this confinement interfered with the health of the +Emperor or not it is impossible to say, but from the first he was +made to pose as an invalid. As his failing health was constantly +referred to in the Peking Gazette, the foreigners began to fear +that it was the intention to dispose of the Emperor, and such +pressure was brought to bear on the government as led them to +allow the physician attached to the French legation to enter the +palace and make an examination of His Majesty. He found nothing +that fresh air and exercise would not remedy and assured the +government that there was no cause for alarm, and from that time +we heard nothing more of his precarious condition. + +One day not long after the coup d'etat a eunuch came rushing into +our compound, his face scratched and bleeding, and knocking his +head on the ground before me, begged me to save his life. + +"What is the matter?" I inquired. + +"Oh! let me join the church!" he pleaded. + +"What do you want to join the church for?" I asked. + +"To save my life," he answered. + +"But what is this all about?" I urged, raising him to his feet. + +"You know the eunuch who came to you to buy books," he said. + +I assured him that I knew him. + +"Well," he continued, "I am a friend of his. The Empress Dowager +has banished him, burned all the books he bought for the Emperor, +and I am in danger of losing my head. Let me join the church, and +thus save my life." + +All I could do was to inform him that this was not the business +of the church, and after further conversation he left and I never +saw him again. + +Day after day as the Emperor received the Peking Gazette on his +lonely island he saw one after another of his coveted reforms +vanish like mist before the pen of his august aunt. Nor was this +all, for often the rescinding edicts appeared under his own name, +and by the New Year, when he was brought forth to receive the +foreign ministers accredited to his court, scarcely anything +remained of all his reforms but the Peking University and the +provincial and other schools. It is not to be wondered at +therefore that he was reticent and despondent. What promises of +good behaviour it was necessary for him to make before he was +even allowed this much liberty, it is useless for us to +conjecture. + +Following this audience the Empress Dowager, who up to this time +had been seen by no foreigner except Prince Henry of Prussia, +decided to receive the wives of the foreign ministers. Her +motives for this new move it is impossible to determine. It may +have been to ascertain how the foreign governments would treat +her who had been reported to have calmly ousted "their great and +good friend the Emperor," to whom their ministers were +accredited. Or it may have been that she hoped by this stroke of +diplomacy to gain some measure of recognition as head of the +government. She would at least see how she was regarded. + +The audience was an unqualified success. The seven ladies +received were charmed by the gracious manner of their imperial +hostess, who assured them each as she touched her lips to the tea +which she presented to them that "we are all one family," and up +to that period of her life there was nothing to indicate that she +did not feel that the sentiment she expressed was true. Up to the +time of the coup d'etat, as Dr. Martin says, "she herself was +noted for progressive ideas." "It will not be denied by any one," +says Colonel Denby, "that the improvement and progress" described +in his first volume, "are mainly due to the will and power of the +Empress Regent. To her own people, up to this period in her +career, she was kind and merciful, and to foreigners she was +just." From the time of her return to the capital after their +flight in 1900 till the time of her death she became one of the +greatest reformers, if not the greatest, that has ever sat upon +the dragon throne. One cannot but wish therefore in the interests +of sentiment that it were possible to overlook many things she +did from 1898 to 1900, which in the interests of truth it will be +impossible to disregard. Nevertheless we should remember that she +was driven to these things by the filching of her territory by +the foreigners, and by the false pretentions of the superstitious +Boxers and their leaders, and in the hope of preserving her +country. + +Her first act after imprisoning Kuang Hsu was to offer a large +reward for his adviser Kang Yu-wei either alive or dead. Failing +to get him, "she seized his younger brother Kang Kuang-jen, and +with five other noble and patriotic young men of ability and high +promise, he was beheaded September 28th, while protesting that +though they might easily be slain, multitudes of others would +arise to take their places." One of my young Chinese friends who +watched this procession on its way to the execution grounds told +me that,-- + +"The scene was impossible to describe. These five young +reformers," after expressing the sentiments quoted above from Dr. +Smith, "reviled the Empress Dowager and the conservatives in the +most blood-curdling manner." + +I have already spoken of Wang Chao the secretary of the Board of +Rites who presented the memorial which caused the dismissal of +the six officials of that body, and, indirectly, the fall of the +Emperor. Some time before writing this petition he called at our +home requesting Mrs. Headland to go and see his mother who was +ill. When his mother recovered he sent her to Shanghai, and at +the time of the coup d'etat he failed to get out of the city and +went into hiding. Some days afterwards a closed cart drove up to +our home and to our astonishment he stepped forth. We expressed +our surprise that he was still in Peking, and asked: + +"Has the Empress Dowager ceased prosecuting her search for you +reformers?" + +"Not yet," he answered. + +"And what is she doing?" we inquired. + +"Killing some, banishing others, driving many away from the +capital, while still others are going into self-imposed exile." + +"Does the Emperor know anything about this?" we inquired. + +"No doubt," he replied. "Everybody knows it, why not he?" + +"That will make his imprisonment all the harder to bear," we +suggested. + +"Quite right," he answered. + +"There is general alarm in the city that the Emperor himself will +be disposed of; what do you think about it?" + +"Who can tell? He has not a friend in the palace except the first +concubine, and, I am told, that she like himself is kept in close +confinement. The Empress stands by her aunt, the Empress Dowager, +while the eunuchs now are all her tools. The officials who go +into the palace to audiences are all conservative and hence +against him, though I suppose they never see him." + +"Do you suppose he ever sees the edicts issued in his name?" + +"Not at all. They are made by the conservatives and the Empress +Dowager and issued without his knowledge." + +"And what do you propose to do?" we inquired. + +"I shall leave for Shanghai as soon as I can safely do so," he +replied. + +Before the year had passed the Empress Dowager had been induced +or compelled to select a new Emperor. We cannot believe that she +did it of her own free will, and for several reasons. First, the +child selected was the son and the grandson of ultra conservative +princes, and we cannot but believe that as she had placed herself +in the hands of the conservative party, it was their selection +rather than hers. Second, it must have been a humiliation to her +ever since she discovered that her nephew, whom she had selected +and placed upon the throne in order to keep the succession in her +own family, being the same generation as her son who had died, +could not worship him as his ancestor, and hence could not +legally occupy the throne, though as a matter of fact such a +condition is not unknown in Chinese history. + +But if her humiliation was great, that of our boy-prisoner was +still greater, for he was compelled to witness an edict, +proclaimed in his own name, which made him say that as there was +no hope of his having a child of his own to succeed him, he had +requested the Empress Dowager to select a suitable person who +should be proclaimed as the successor of Tung Chih, his +predecessor, thus turning himself out of the imperial line. That +this could not have been her choice is evidenced, further, by the +fact that just as soon as she had once more regained her power, +she surrounded herself with progressive officials, turned out all +the great conservatives except Jung Lu, and dispossessing the son +of Prince Tuan, at the time of her death selected her sister's +grandchild and proclaimed him successor to her son and heir to +the Emperor Kuang Hsu, in the following edict: + +"Inasmuch as the Emperor Tung Chih had no issue, on the fifth day +of the twelfth moon of that reign (January 12, 1875) an edict was +promulgated to the effect that if the late Emperor Kuang Hsu +should have a son, the said Prince should carry on the succession +as the heir of Tung Chih. But now the late Emperor has ascended +upon the dragon to be a guest on high, leaving no son, and there +is no course open but to appoint Pu I, the son of Tsai Feng, the +Prince Regent, as the successor to Tung Chih, and also as heir to +the Emperor Kuang Hsu," which is quite in keeping with the +conduct and character of the Empress Dowager all her life except +those two bad years. + +During the days and weeks following the dispossession of Kuang +Hsu of the throne, in 1899 many decrees appeared which signified +that at no distant date he would be superseded by the son of +Prince Tuan. The foreign ministers began again to look grave. +They spoke openly of their fear that Kuang Hsu's days were +numbered. They pressed their desire for the usual New Year's +audience, and once more the imprisoned monarch was brought forth +and made to sit upon the throne and receive them. But when the +ladies asked for an audience they were refused, the Empress +Dowager being too busy with affairs of state. She was at that +time seriously considering whether or not the government should +cast in its lot with the Boxers and drive all the foreigners with +all their productions into the eastern sea. + +One of the princesses told Mrs. Headland that before coming to a +decision the Empress Dowager called the hereditary and imperial +princes into the palace to consult with them as to what they +would better do. She met them all face to face, the Emperor and +Prince Tuan standing near the throne. She explained to them the +ravages of the foreigners, how they were gradually taking one +piece after another of Chinese territory. + +"And now," she continued, "we have these patriotic braves who +claim to be impervious to swords and bullets; what shall we do? +Shall we cast in our lot with their millions and drive all these +foreigners out of China or not?" + +Prince Tuan, as father of the heir-apparent, uneducated, +superstitious and ignorant of all foreign affairs, then spoke. He +said: + +"I have seen the Boxers drilling, I have heard their +incantations, and I believe that they will be able to effect this +much desired end. They will either kill the foreigners or drive +them out of the country and no more will dare to come, and thus +we will be rid of them." + +The hereditary princes were then asked for an expression of +opinion. The majority of them knew little of foreigners and +foreign countries, and as Prince Tuan, the father of the future +Emperor, had expressed himself so strongly, they hesitated to +offer an adverse opinion. But when it came to Prince Su, a man of +strong character, widely versed in foreign affairs, and of +independent thought, he opposed the measure most vigorously. + +"Who," he asked, "are these Boxers? Who are their leaders? How +can they, a mere rabble, hope to vanquish the armies of foreign +nations?' + +Prince Tuan answered that "by their incantations they were able +to produce heaven-sent soldiers." + +Prince Su denounced such superstition as childish. But when after +further argument between him and Prince Tuan the Empress Dowager +assured him that she had had them in the palace and had witnessed +their prowess, he said no more. + +The imperial princes were then consulted, but seeing how Prince +Su had fared they were either in favour of the measure or +non-committal. Finally the Empress Dowager appealed to Prince +Ching who, more diplomatic than the younger princes, answered: + +"I consider it a most dangerous undertaking, and I would advise +against it. But if Your Majesty decides to cast in your lot with +the Boxers I will do all in my power to further your wishes." + +It is not a matter of wonder therefore that the Empress Dowager +should be led into such a foolish measure as the Boxer movement, +when the Prince who had been president of the Foreign Office for +twenty-five years could so weakly acquiesce in such an +undertaking. + +"The Emperor," said the Princess, "was not asked for an +expression of his opinion on this occasion, but when he saw that +the Boxer leaders had won the day he burst into tears and left +the room." + +Similar meetings were held in the palace on two other occasions, +when the Emperor implored that they make no attempt to fight all +the foreign nations, for said he, "the foreigners are stronger +than we, both in money and in arms, while their soldiers are much +better drilled and equipped in every way. If we undertake this +and fail as we are sure to do, it will be impossible to make +peace with the foreigners and our country will be divided up +amongst them." His pleadings, however, were disregarded, and +after the meeting was over, he had to return to his little +island, where for eight weeks he was compelled to sit listening +to the rattling guns, booming cannons and bursting firecrackers, +for the Boxers seemed to hope to exterminate the foreigners by +noise. He must have felt from the books he had studied that it +could only result in disaster to his own people. + +When the allies reached Peking and the Boxers capitulated the +Emperor was taken out of his prison and compelled to flee with +the court. + +"What do you think of your bullet-proof Boxers now?" one can +imagine they hear him saying to his august aunt, as he sees her +cutting off her long finger nails, dressing herself in blue +cotton garments, and climbing into a common street cart as an +ordinary servant. "Wouldn't it have been better to have taken my +advice and that of Hsu Ching-cheng and Yuan Chang instead of +having put them to death for endeavouring in their earnestness to +save the country? What about your old conservative friends? Can +they be depended upon as pillars of state?" Or some other +"I-told-you-so" language of this kind. + +From their exile in Hsian decrees continued to be issued in his +name, and when affairs began to be adjusted, and the allies +insisted on setting aside forever the pretentions of the +anti-foreign Prince Tuan and his son, banishing the former to +perpetual exile, our hopes ran high that the Emperor would be +restored to his throne. But to our disappointment the framers of +the Protocol contented themselves with the clause that: "Rational +intercourse shall be permitted with the Emperor as in Western +countries," and with the return of the court in 1902 he was still +a prisoner. + +Every one who has written about audiences with the Empress +Dowager tells how "the Emperor was seated near, though a little +below her," but they never tell why. The reason is not far to +seek. The world must not know that he was a prisoner in the +palace. They must see him near the throne, but they may not speak +to him. The addresses of the ministers were passed to her by her +kneeling statesmen, and it was they who replied. No notice was +taken of the Emperor though he seemed to be in excellent health. +The Empress Dowager however still relieved him of the burdens of +the government, and continued to "teach him how to govern." + +"I have seen the Emperor many times," Mrs. Headland tells me, +"and have spent many hours in his presence, and every time we +were in the palace the Emperor accompanied the Empress +Dowager--not by her side but a few steps behind her. When she +sat, he always remained standing a few paces in the rear, and +never presumed to sit unless asked by her to do so. He was a +lonely person, with his delicate, well-bred features and his +simple dark robes, and in the midst of these fawning eunuchs, +brilliant court ladies, and bejewelled Empress Dowager he was an +inconspicuous figure. No minister of state touched forehead to +floor as he spoke in hushed and trembling voice to him, no +obsequious eunuchs knelt when coming into his presence; but on +the contrary I have again and again seen him crowded against the +wall by these cringing servants of Her Majesty. + +"One day while we were in the palace a pompous eunuch had stepped +before the Emperor quite obliterating him. I saw Kuang Hsu put +his hands on the large man's shoulders, and quietly turn him +around, that he might see before whom he stood. There were no +signs of anger on his face, but rather a gentle, pathetic smile +as he looked up at the big servant. I expected to see him fall +upon his knees before the Emperor, but instead, he only moved a +few inches to the left, and remained still in front of His +Majesty. Never when in the palace have I seen a knee bend to the +Emperor, except that of the foreigner when greeting him or +bidding him farewell. This was the more noticeable as statesmen +and eunuchs alike fell upon their knees every time they spoke to +the Empress Dowager. + +"The first time I saw him his great, pathetic, wistful eyes +followed me for days. I could not forget them, and I determined +that if I ever had opportunity I would say a few words to him +letting him know that the world was resting in hope of his +carrying out the great reforms he had instituted. But he was so +carefully guarded and kept under such strict surveillance that I +never found an opportunity to speak to him. Nor did he ever speak +to the visitors, court ladies, the Empress Dowager, or attendants +during all the hours we remained. + +"One of the ministers told me that one day after an audience, +when the Empress Dowager and the Emperor had stepped down from +the dais, Her Majesty was engaged in conversation with one of his +colleagues, and as the Emperor stood near by, he made some remark +to him. Immediately the Empress Dowager turned from the one to +whom she had been talking and made answer for the Emperor. + +"On one occasion when there were but four of us in the palace, +and we were all comfortably seated, the Emperor standing a few +paces behind the Empress Dowager, she began discussing the Boxer +movement, lamenting the loss of her long finger nails, and +various good-luck gourds of which she was fond. The Emperor, +probably becoming weary of a conversation in which he had no +part, quietly withdrew by a side entrance to the theatre which +was playing at the time. For some moments the Empress Dowager did +not notice his absence, but the instant she discovered he was +gone, a look of anxiety overspread her features, and she turned +to the head eunuch, Li Lien-ying, and in an authoritative tone +asked: 'Where is the Emperor?' There was a scurry among the +eunuchs, and they were sent hither and thither to inquire. After +a few moments they returned, saying that he was in the theatre. +The look of anxiety passed from her face as a cloud passes from +before the sun--and several of the eunuchs remained at the +theatre. + +"I am told that at times the Empress Dowager invites the Emperor +to dine with her, and on such occasions he is forced to kneel at +the table at which she is seated, eating only what she gives him. +It is an honour which he does not covet, but which he dare not +decline for fear of giving offense." + + + +XI + +Prince Chun--The Regent + +Prince Chun the Regent of China gave a remarkable luncheon at the +Winter Palace to-day to the foreign envoys who gathered here to +attend the funeral ceremonies of the late Emperor Kuang Hsu. The +repast was served in foreign style. Among the Chinese present +were Prince Ching, former president of the Board of Foreign +Affairs and now adviser to the Naval Department; Prince Tsai +Chen, a son of Prince Ching, who was at one time president of the +Board of Commerce; Prince Su, chief of the Naval Department; and +Liaing Tung-yen, president of the Board of Foreign Affairs. After +the entertainment the envoys expressed themselves as unusually +impressed with the personality of the Regent. --Daily Press. + + + +XI + +PRINCE CHUN--THE REGENT + +The selection of Prince Chun as Regent for the Chinese empire +during the minority of his son, Pu I, the new Emperor, would seem +to be the wisest choice that could be made at the present time. +In the first place, he is the younger brother of Kuang Hsu, the +late Emperor, and was in sympathy with all the reforms the latter +undertook to introduce in 1898. If Kuang Hsu had chosen his +successor, having no son of his own, there is no reason why he +should not have selected Pu I to occupy the throne, with Prince +Chun as Regent, for there is no other prince in whom he could +have reposed greater confidence of having all his reform measures +carried to a successful issue; and a brother with whom he had +always lived in sympathy would be more likely to continue his +policy than any one else. + +But, in the second place, as we may suppose, Prince Chun was +selected by the Empress Dowager, whatever the edicts issued, and +will thus have the confidence of the party of which she has been +the leader. It is quite wrong to suppose that this is the +conservative party, or even a conservative party. China has both +reform and conservative parties, but, in addition to these, she +has many wise men and great officials who are neither radical +reformers nor ultra-conservatives. It was these men with whom the +Empress Dowager allied herself after the Boxer troubles of 1900. + +These men were Li Hung-chang, Chang Chih-tung, Yuan Shih-kai, +Prince Ching, and others, and it is they who, in ten years, with +the Empress Dowager, put into operation, in a statesmanlike way, +all the reforms that Kuang Hsu, with his hot-headed young radical +advisers, attempted to force upon the country in as many weeks. +There is every reason to believe that Prince Chun, the present +Regent, has the support of all the wiser and better element of +the Reform party, as well as those great men who have been +successful in tiding China over the ten most difficult years of +her history, while the ultra-conservatives at this late date are +too few or too weak to deserve serious consideration. We, +therefore, think that the choice of Pu I as Emperor, with Prince +Chun as Regent, whether by the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, or +both, was, all things considered, the best selection that could +have been made. + +Prince Chun is the son of the Seventh Prince, the nephew of the +Emperor Hsien Feng and the Empress Dowager, and grandson of the +Emperor Tao Kuang. He has a fine face, clear eye, firm mouth, +with a tendency to reticence. He carries himself very straight, +and while below the average in height, is every inch a prince. He +is dignified, intelligent, and, though not loquacious, never at a +loss for a topic of conversation. He is not inclined to small +talk, but when among men of his own rank, he does not hesitate to +indulge in bits of humour. + +This was rather amusingly illustrated at a dinner given by the +late Major Conger, American minister to China. Major and Mrs. +Conger introduced many innovations into the social life of +Peking, and none more important than the dinners and luncheons +given to the princes and high officials, and also to the +princesses and ladies of the court. In 1904, I was invited to +dine with Major Conger and help entertain Prince Chun, Prince Pu +Lun, Prince Ching, Governor Hu, Na T'ung, and a number of other +princes and officials of high rank. I sat between Prince Chun and +Governor Hu. Having met them both on several former occasions, I +was not a stranger to either of them, and as they were well +acquainted with each other, though one was a Manchu prince and +the other a Chinese official, conversation was easy and natural. + +We talked, of course, in Chinese only, of the improvements and +advantages that railroads bring to a country, for Governor Hu, +among other things, was the superintendent of the Imperial +Railways of north China. This led us to speak of the relative +comforts of travel by land and by sea, for Prince Chun had gone +half round the world and back. We listened to the American +minister toasting the young Emperor of China, his princes, and +his subjects; and then to Prince Ching toasting the young +President of the United States, his officials, and his people, in +a most dignified and eloquent manner. And then as the buzz of +conversation went round the table again, and perhaps because of +their having spoken of the YOUNG Emperor and the young President, +I turned to Governor Hu, who had an unusually long, white beard +which reached almost to his waist as he sat at table, and said: + +"Your Excellency, what is your honourable age?" + +"I was seventy years old my last birthday," he replied. + +"And he is still as strong as either of us young men," said I, +turning to Prince Chun. + +"Oh, yes," said the Prince; "he is good for ten years yet, and by +that time he can use his beard as an apron." + +"It is an ill wind that blows no one good," says the proverb, and +this was never more forcibly illustrated than in the case of the +death of the lamented Baron von Kettler. Had it not been for this +unfortunate occurrence, Prince Chun would not have been sent to +Germany to convey the apologies of the Chinese government to the +German Emperor, and he would thus never have had the opportunity +of a trip to Europe; and the world might once more have beheld a +regent on the dragon throne who had never seen anything a hundred +miles from his own capital. + +Prince Chun started on this journey with such a retinue as only +the Chinese government can furnish. He had educated foreign +physicians and interpreters, and, like the great Viceroy Li Hung- +chang, he had a round fan with the Eastern hemisphere painted on +one side and the Western on the other, and the route he was to +travel distinctly outlined on both, with all the places he was to +pass through, or to stop at on the trip, plainly marked. He was +intelligent enough to observe everything of importance in the +ports through which he passed, and it was interesting to hear him +tell of the things he had seen, and his characterization of some +of the people he had visited. + +"What did Your Highness think of the relative characteristics of +the Germans and the French, as you saw them?" I asked him at the +same dinner. + +"The people in Berlin," said he, "get up early in the morning and +go to their business, while the people in Paris get up in the +evening and go to the theatre." + +This may have been a bit exaggerated, but it indicated that the +Prince did not travel, as many do on their first trip, with his +mouth open and his eyes closed. + +After his return to Peking he purchased a brougham, as did most +of the other leading officials and princes at the close of the +Boxer troubles, and driving about in this carriage, he has been a +familiar figure from that time until the present. As straws show +the direction of the wind, these incidents ought to indicate that +Prince Chun will not be a conservative to the detriment of his +government, or to the hindrance of Chinas progress. + +It is a well-known fact that the Empress Dowager, in addition to +her other duties, took charge of the arrangement of the marriages +of all her nieces and nephews. One of her favourite Manchu +officials, and indeed one of the greatest Manchus of recent +years, though very conservative, and hence little associated with +foreigners, was Jung Lu. As the affianced bride of Prince Chun +had drowned herself in a well during the Boxer troubles, the +Empress Dowager engaged him to the daughter of the lady who had +been Jung Lu's first concubine, but who, as his consort was dead, +was raised to the position of wife. + +"This Lady Jung," says Mrs. Headland, "is some forty years of +age, very pretty, talkative, and vivacious, and she told me with +a good deal of pride, on one occasion, of the engagement of her +son to the sixth daughter of Prince Ching. And then with equal +enthusiasm she told me how her daughter had been married to +Prince Chun, 'which of course relates me with the two most +powerful families of the empire.' + +"I have met the Princess Chun on several occasions at the +audiences in the palace, at luncheons with Mrs. Conger, at a +feast with the Imperial Princess, at a tea with the Princess Tsai +Chen, and at the palaces of many of the princesses. She is a very +quiet little woman, and looked almost infantile as she gazed at +one with her big, black eyes. She is very circumspect in her +movements, and with such a mother and father as she had, I should +think may be very brilliant. Naturally she had to be specially +dignified and sedate at these public functions, as she and the +Imperial Princess were the only ones belonging to the old +imperial household, the descendants of Tao Kuang, who were +intimately associated with the Empress Dowager's court. She is +small, but pretty, and, as I have indicated, quiet and reticent. +She was fond of her father, and naturally fond of the Empress +Dowager, who selected her as a wife for her favourite nephew, +Prince Chun, to whom she promised the succession at the time of +their marriage. After her father's death, and while she was in +mourning, she was invited into the palace by the Empress Dowager, +where she appeared wearing blue shoes, the colour used in second +mourning. + +" 'Why do you wear blue shoes?' asked Her Majesty. + +" 'On account of the death of my father,' replied the Princess. + +" 'And do you mourn over your dead father more than you rejoice +over being in the presence of your living ruler?' the Empress +Dowager inquired. + +"It is unnecessary to add that the Princess 'changed the blue +shoes for red ones while she remained in the palace, so careful +has the Empress Dowager always been of the respect due to her +dignity and position." + +Having promised the regency to Prince Chun, we may infer that the +Empress Dowager would do all in her power to prepare him to +occupy the position with credit to himself, and in the hope that +he would continue the policy which she has followed during the +last ten years. Whenever, therefore, opportunity offered for a +prince to represent the government at any public function with +which foreigners were connected, Prince Chun was asked or +appointed to attend. I have said that it was the murder of the +German minister, Baron von Kettler, that gave Prince Chun his +opportunity to see the world. And just here I might add that an +account of the massacre of Von Kettler, sent from Canton, was +published in a New York paper three days before it occurred. This +indicates that his death had been premeditated and ordered by +some high authorities,--perhaps Prince Tuan or Prince Chuang, +Boxer leaders,--because the Germans had taken the port of +Kiaochou, and had compelled the Chinese government to promise to +allow them to open all the mines and build all the railroads in +the province of Shantung. + +After the Boxer troubles were settled, the Germans, at the +expense of the Chinese government, erected a large stone memorial +arch on the spot where Von Kettler fell. At its dedication, +members of the diplomatic corps of all the legations in Peking +were present, including ladies and children, together with a +large number of Chinese officials representing the city, the +government, and the Foreign Office, and Prince Chun was selected +to pour the sacrificial wine. He did it with all the dignity of a +prince, however much he may or may not have enjoyed it. On this +occasion he used one of the ancient, three-legged, sacrificial +wine-cups, which he held in both hands, while Na Tung, President +of the Foreign Office, poured the wine into the cup from a +tankard of a very beautiful and unique design. It is the only +occasion on which I have seen the Prince when he did not seem to +enjoy what he was doing. I ought to add just here that I have +heard the Chinese refer to this arch as the monument erected by +the Chinese government in memory of the man who murdered Baron +von Kettler! + +It is a well-known fact that the Boxers destroyed all buildings +that had any indication of a foreign style of architecture, +whether they belonged to Chinese or foreigner, Christian or +non-Christian, legation, merchant, or missionary. In the +rebuilding of the Peking legations, missions, and educational +institutions, there were naturally a large number of dedicatory +services. Many of the Chinese officials attended them, but I +shall refer to only one or two at which I remember meeting Prince +Chun. I believe it was the design of the Empress Dowager, as soon +as she had decided upon him as the Regent, to give him as liberal +an education in foreign affairs as the facilities in Peking would +allow. + +For many years the Methodist mission had tried to secure funds +from America to erect a hospital and medical school in connection +with the mission and the Peking University. This they found to be +impossible, and finally Dr. N. S. Hopkins of Massachusetts, who +was in charge of that work, consulted with his brother and +brother-in-law, who subscribed the funds and built the +institution. This act of benevolence on the part of Dr. Hopkins +and his friends appealed to the Chinese sense of generosity, and +when the building was completed, a large number of Chinese +officials, together with Prince Chun and Prince Pu Lun, were +present at its dedication. A number of addresses were made by +such men as Major Conger, the American minister, Bishop Moore, Na +Tung, Governor Hu, General Chiang, and others of the older +representatives, in which they expressed their appreciation of +the generosity which prompted a man like Dr. Hopkins to give not +only himself, but his money, for the education of the Chinese +youth and the healing of their poor. And I might add that Dr. +Hopkins is physician to many of the princes and officials in +Peking at the present time. + +During this reconstruction, a number of the colleges of north +China united to form a union educational institution. One part of +this scheme was a union medical college, situated on the Ha- +ta-men great street not a hundred yards north of the Von Kettler +memorial arch. To the erection of this building the wealthy +officials of Peking subscribed liberally, and the Empress Dowager +sent her check for 11,000 taels, equal to $9,000 in American +gold, and appointed Prince Chun to represent the Chinese +government at its dedication. At this meeting Sir Robert Hart +made an address on behalf of the foreigners, and Na Tung on +behalf of the Chinese. Although Prince Chun took no public part +in the exercises, he privately expressed his gratification at +seeing the completion of such an up-to-date hospital and medical +school in the Chinese capital. + +I have given these incidents in the life of Prince Chun to show +that he has had facilities for knowing the world better than any +other Chinese monarch or regent that has ever sat upon the dragon +throne, and that he has grasped the opportunities as they came to +him. He has been intimately associated with the diplomatic life +of the various legations, which is perhaps the most important +knowledge he has acquired in dealing with foreign affairs, as +these ministers are the channels through which he must come in +contact with foreign governments. He has been present at the +dedication of a number of missionary educational institutions, +and hence from personal contact he will have some comprehension +of the animus and work of missions and the character of the men +engaged in that work. He may have as a councillor, if he so +desires, the Prince Pu Lun, who has had a trip around the world, +with the best possible facilities for seeing Japan, America, +Great Britain, Germany, France, and Italy, and who has been in +even more intimate contact with the diplomats and other +foreigners than has Prince Chun himself. My wife and I have dined +with him and the Princess both at the American legation and at +his own palace, and when we left China, they came together in +their brougham to bid us good-bye, a thing which could not have +happened a few years ago, and an indication of how wide open the +doors in China are now standing. + +On the whole, therefore, Prince Chun begins his regency with a +brighter outlook for his foreign relations than any other ruler +China has ever had. What shall we say of his Chinese relations? +Being the brother of Kuang Hsu, and himself a progressive young +man, he ought to have the support of the Reform party, and being +the choice of the Empress Dowager, he will have the support of +the great progressive officials who have had the conduct of +affairs for the last quarter of a century and more, and +especially for the past ten years, since the Emperor Kuang Hsu +was deposed. + + + +XII + +The Home of the Court--The Forbidden City + +The innermost enclosure is the Forbidden City and contains the +palace and its surrounding buildings. The wall is less solid and +high than the city wall, is covered with bright yellow tiles, and +surrounded by a deep, wide moat. Two gates on the east and west +afford access to the interior of this habitation of the Emperor, +as well as the space and rooms appertaining, which furnish +lodgment to the guard defending the approach to the dragon's +throne. --S. Wells Williams in "The Middle Kingdom." + + + +XII + +THE HOME OF THE COURT--THE FORBIDDEN CITY + +During the past ten years, since the dethronement of the late +Emperor Kuang Hsu, I have often been asked by Europeans visiting +Peking: + +"What would happen if the Emperor should die?" + +"They would put a new Emperor on the throne," was my invariable +answer. They usually followed this with another question: + +"What would happen if the Empress Dowager should die?" + +"In that case the Emperor, of course, would again resume the +throne," I always replied without hesitation. But during those +ten years, not one of my friends ever thought to propound the +question, nor did I have the wit to ask myself: + +"What would happen if the Emperor and the Empress Dowager should +both suddenly snap the frail cord of life at or about the same +time?" + +Had such a question come to me, I confess I should not have known +how to answer it. It is a problem that probably never presented +itself to any one outside of that mysterious Forbidden City, or +the equally mysterious spectres that come and go through its +half-open gates in the darkness of the early morning. There are +three parties to whom it may have come again and again, and to +whom we may perhaps be indebted both for the problem and the +solution. + +When the deaths of both of their Imperial Majesties were +announced at the same time, the news also came that the Japanese +suspected that there had been foul play. With them, however, it +was only suspicion; none of them, so far as I know, ever +undertook to analyze the matter or unravel the mystery. There is +no doubt a reasonable explanation, but we must go for it to the +Forbidden City, the most mysterious royal dwelling in the world, +where white men have never gone except by invitation from the +throne, save on one occasion. + +In 1901, while the court was in hiding at Hsianfu, the city to +which they fled when the allies entered Peking, the western half +of the Forbidden City was thrown open to the public, the only +condition being that said public have a certificate which would +serve as a pass to the American boys in blue who guarded the Wu +men, or front gate. I was fortunate enough to have that pass. + +My first move was to get a Chinese photographer--the best I +could find in the city--to go with me and take pictures of +everything I wanted as well as anything else that suited his +fancy. + +The city of Peking is regularly laid out. Towards the south is +the Chinese city, fifteen miles in circumference. To the north is +a square, four miles on each side, and containing sixteen square +miles. In the centre of this square, enclosed by a beautifully +crenelated wall thirty feet thick at the bottom, twenty feet +thick at the top and twenty-five feet high, surrounded by a moat +one hundred feet wide, is the Forbidden City, occupying less than +one-half a square mile. In this city there dwells but one male +human being, the Emperor, who is called the "solitary man." + +There is a gate in the centre of each of the four sides, that on +the south, the Wu men, being the front gate, through which the +Emperor alone is allowed to pass. The back gate, guarded by the +Japanese during the occupation, is for the Empress Dowager, the +Empress and the women of the court, while the side gates are for +the officials, merchants or others who may have business in the +palace. + +Through the centre of this city, from south to north, is a +passageway about three hundred feet wide, across which, at +intervals of two hundred yards, they have erected large +buildings, such as the imperial examination hall, the hall in +which the Emperor receives his bride, the imperial library, the +imperial kitchen, and others of a like nature, all covered with +yellow titles, and known to tourists, who see them from the +Tartar City wall, as the palace buildings. These, however, are +not the buildings in which the royal family live. They are the +places where for the past five hundred years all those great +diplomatic measures--and dark deeds--of the Chinese emperors and +their great officials have been transacted between midnight and +daylight. + +If you will go with me at midnight to the great gate which leads +from the Tartar to the Chinese city--the Chien men--you will hear +the wailing creak of its hinges as it swings open, and in a few +moments the air will be filled with the rumbling of carts and the +clatter of the feet of the mules on the stone pavement, as they +take the officials into the audiences with their ruler. If you +will remain with me there till a little before daylight you will +see them, like silent spectres, sitting tailor-fashion on the +bottom of their springless carts, returning to their homes, but +you will ask in vain for any information as to the business they +have transacted. "They love darkness rather than light," not +perhaps "because their deeds are evil," but because it has been +the custom of the country from time immemorial. + +Immediately to the north of this row of imperial palace +buildings, and just outside the north gate, there is an +artificial mound called Coal Hill, made of the dirt which was +removed to make the Lotus Lakes. It is said that in this hill +there is buried coal enough to last the city in time of siege. +This, however, was not the primary design of the hill. It has a +more mysterious meaning. There have always been spirits in the +earth, in the air, in every tree and well and stream. And in +China it has ever been found necessary to locate a house, a city +or even a cemetery in such surroundings as to protect them from +the entrance of evil spirits. "Coal Hill," therefore, was placed +to the north of these imperial palace buildings to protect them +from the evil spirits of the cold, bleak north. + +Just inside of that north gate there is a beautiful garden, with +rockeries and arbours, flowering plants and limpid artificial +streams gurgling over equally artificial pebbles, though withal +making a beautiful sight and a cool shade in the hot summer days. +In the east side of this garden there is a small imperial shrine +having four doors at the four points of the compass. In front of +each of these doors there is a large cypress-tree, some of them +five hundred years old, which were split up from the root some +seven or eight feet, and planted with the two halves three feet +apart, making a living arch through which the worshipper must +pass as he enters the temple. To the north of the garden and east +of the back gate there is a most beautiful Buddhist temple, in +which only the members of the imperial family are allowed to +worship, in front of which there is also a living arch like those +described above, as may also be found before the imperial temples +in the Summer Palace. This is one of the most unique and +mysterious features of temple worship I have found anywhere in +China, and no amount of questioning ever brought me any +explanation of its meaning. + +Now if you will go with me to the top of Coal Hill I will point +out to you the buildings in which their Majesties have lived. +There are six parallel rows of buildings, facing the south, each +behind the other, in the northwest quarter of this Forbidden +City, protected from the evil spirits of the north by the dagoba +on Prospect Hill. + +Perhaps you would like to go with me into these homes of their +Majesties--or, as a woman's home is always more interesting than +the den of a man, let me take you through the private apartments +of the greatest woman of her race--the late Empress Dowager. She +occupied three of these rows of buildings. The first was her +drawing-room and library, the second her dining-room and +sleeping apartments, and the third her kitchen. + +One was strangely impressed by what he saw here. There was no +gorgeous display of Oriental colouring, but there was beauty of a +peculiarly penetrating quality--and yet a homelike beauty. + +No description that can be written of it will ever do it justice. +Not until one can see and appreciate the paintings of the old +Chinese masters of five hundred years ago hanging upon the walls, +the beautiful pieces of the best porcelain of the time of Kang +Hsi and Chien Lung, made especially for the palace, arranged in +their natural surroundings, on exquisitely carved Chinese tables +and brackets, the gorgeously embroided silk portieres over the +doorways, and the matchless tapestries which only the Chinese +could weave for their greatest rulers, can we appreciate the +beauty, the richness, and the refined elegance of the private +apartments of the great Dowager. + +I went into her sleeping apartments. Others also entered there, +sat upon her couch, and had their friends photograph them. I +could not allow myself to do so. I stood silent, with head +uncovered as I gazed with wonder and admiration at the bed, with +its magnificently embroidered curtains hanging from the ceiling +to the floor, its yellow-satin mattress ten feet in length and +its great round, hard pillow, with the delicate silk spreads +turned back as though it were prepared for Her Majesty's return. +On the opposite side of the room there was a brick kang bed, such +as we find in the homes of all the Chinese of the north, where +her maids slept, or sat like silent ghosts while the only woman +that ever ruled over one-third of the human race took her rest. +The furnishings were rich but simple. No plants, no intricate +carvings to catch the dust, nothing but the two beds and a small +table, with a few simple and soothing wall decorations, and the +monotonous tick-tock of a great clock to lull her to sleep. + +If Shakespeare could say with an English monarch in his mind, +"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," we might repeat it +with added emphasis of Tze Hsi. For forty years she had to rise +at midnight, winter as well as summer, and go into the dark, +dreary, cold halls of the palace, lighted much of the time with +nothing but tallow dips, and heated only with brass braziers +filled with charcoal, and there sit behind a screen where she +could see no one, and no one could see her, and listen to the +reports of those who came to these dark audiences. Then she must, +in conjunction with them, compose edicts which were sent out to +the Peking Gazette, the oldest and poorest newspaper in the +world, to be carved on blocks, and printed, and then sent by +courier to every official in the empire. Ruling over a conquered +race, she must always be watching out for signs of discontent and +rebellion; being herself the daughter of a poor man, and +beginning as only the concubine of an emperor, and he but a weak +character, she must be alert for dissatisfaction on the part of +the princes who might have some title to the throne. She must +watch the governors in the distant provinces and the viceroys who +are in charge of great armies, that they do not direct them +against instead of in defense of the throne. + +When her husband died while a fugitive two hundred miles from her +palace, she must see to it that her three-year-old child was +placed upon the throne with her own hand at the helm, and when he +died she must also be ready with a successor, who would give her +another lease of office. Even when he became of age and took the +throne she must watch over him like a guardian, to prevent his +bringing down upon their own heads the structure which she had +builded. Nay, more, when it became necessary for her to dethrone +him and rule in his name, banishing his friends and pacifying his +enemies, keeping him a prisoner in his palace, it required a +courage that was titanic to do so. But she never flinched, though +we may suppose that many of her poorest subjects, who could sleep +from dark till daylight with nothing but a brick for a pillow, +might have rested more peacefully than she. + +She had a myriad of other duties to perform. She was the +mother-in-law of that imperial household, with the Emperor, the +Empress, sixty concubines, two thousand eunuchs, and any number +of court ladies and maid-servants. Their expenses were enormous +and she must keep her eye on every detail. The food they ate was +similar to that used by all the Chinese people. I happen to know +this, because one of her eunuchs who visited me frequently to ask +my assistance in a matter which he had undertaken for the +Emperor, often brought me various kinds of meat, or other +delicacies of a like nature, from the imperial kitchens. + +I want you to visit three of the imperial temples in these +beautiful palace grounds. The first is a tall, three-story +building at the head of that magnificent Lotus Lake. In it there +stands a Buddhist deity with one thousand heads and one thousand +arms and hands. Standing upon the ground floor its head reaches +almost to the roof. Its body, face and arms are as white as snow. +There is nothing else in the building--nothing but this +mild-faced Buddhist divinity for that brilliant, black-eyed ruler +of Chinas millions to worship. + +Standing near by is another building of far greater beauty. It is +faced all over with encaustic tiles, each made at the kiln a +thousand miles away, for the particular place it was to occupy. +Each one fits without a flaw, a suggestion to American architects +on Chinese architecture. + +The second of these temples stands to the west of the Coal Hill, +immediately to the north of the homes of their Majesties. One day +while passing through the forbidden grounds I came upon this +temple from the rear. In the dome of one of the buildings is a +circular space some ten feet in diameter, carved and gilded in +the form of two magnificent dragons after the fabled pearl. It is +to this place the Emperor goes in time of drought to confess his +sins, for he confesses to the gods that the drought is all his +doing, and to pray for forgiveness, and for rain to enrich the +thirsty land. The towers on the corners of the wall of the +Forbidden City are the same style of architecture as the small +pavilion in the front court of this temple. + +Now as the buds of spring are bursting and the eaves on the +mulberry-trees are beginning to develop, will you go with the +Empress Dowager or the Empress into a temple on Prospect Hill, +between the Coal Hill and the Lotus Lake, where she offers +sacrifices to the god of the silkworm and prays for a prosperous +year on the work of that little insect? Above it stands one of +the most hideous bronze deities I have ever seen--male and +naked--in a beautiful little shrine, every tile of which is made +in the form of a Buddha's head. During the occupation tourists +were allowed to visit this place freely, and their desire for +curios overcoming their discretion, they knocked the heads off +these tiles until, when the place was closed, there was not a +single tile which had not been defaced. + +One other building in the Forbidden City is worthy of our +attention. It is the art gallery. It is not generally known that +China is the parent of all Oriental art. We know something of the +art of Japan but little about that of China. And yet the best +Japanese artists have never hoped for anything better than to +equal their Chinese teacher. In this art gallery there are stored +away the finest specimens of the old masters for ten centuries or +more, together with portraits of all the noted emperors. Among +these portraits we may now find two of the Empress Dowager, one +painted by Miss Carl, and another by Mr. Vos, a well-known +American portrait painter. + + + +XIII + +The Ladies of the Court + +I love to talk with my people of their Majesties, the princesses, +and the Chinese ladies, as I have seen and known them. Your +friendship I will always remember. Her Majesty, your imperial +sister, found a warm place in my heart and is treasured there. +Please extend to the Imperial Princess my cordial greetings and +to the other princesses my best of good wishes. +--Mrs. E. H. Conger, in a letter to the Princess Shun. + + + +XIII + +THE LADIES OF THE COURT + +The leading figure of the court is Yehonala, wife of the late +Emperor Kuang Hsu. She has always been called the Young Empress, +but is now the Empress Dowager. After the great Dowager was made +the concubine of Hsien Feng, she succeeded in arranging a +marriage, as we have seen, between her younger sister and the +younger brother of her husband, the Seventh Prince, as he was +called, father of Kuang Hsu and the present regent. + +The world knows how, in order to keep the succession in her own +family, she took the son of this younger sister, when her own son +the Emperor Tung Chih died, and made him the Emperor Kuang Hsu +when he was but little more than three years of age. When the +time came for him to wed, she arranged that he should marry his +cousin, Yehonala, the daughter of her favourite brother, Duke +Kuei. This Kuang Hsu was not inclined to do, as his affections +seem to have been centred on another. The great Dowager, however, +insisted upon it, and he finally made her Empress, and to +satisfy,--or shall we say appease him?--she allowed him to take +as his first concubine the lady he wanted as his wife; and it was +currently reported in court circles that when Yehonala came into +his presence he not infrequently kicked off his shoe at her, a +bit of conduct that is quite in keeping with the temper usually +attributed to Kuang Hsu during those early years. This may +perhaps explain why she stood by the great Dowager through all +the troublous times of 1898 and 1900, in spite of the fact that +her imperial aunt had taken her husband's throne. + +Mrs. Headland tells me that "Yehonala is not at all beautiful, +though she has a sad, gentle face. She is rather stooped, +extremely thin, her face long and sallow, and her teeth very much +decayed. Gentle in disposition, she is without self-assertion, +and if at any of the audiences we were to greet her she would +return the greeting, but would never venture a remark. At the +audiences given to the ladies she was always present, but never +in the immediate vicinity of either the Empress Dowager or the +Emperor. She would sometimes come inside the great hall where +they were, but she always stood in some inconspicuous place in +the rear, with her waiting women about her, and as soon as she +could do so without attracting attention, she would withdraw into +the court or to some other room. In the summer-time we sometimes +saw her with her servants wandering aimlessly about the court. +She had the appearance of a gentle, quiet, kindly person who was +always afraid of intruding and had no place or part in anything. +And now she is the Empress Dowager! It seems a travesty on the +English language to call this kindly, gentle soul by the same +title that we have been accustomed to use in speaking of the +woman who has just passed away." + +My wife tells me that,--"A number of years ago I was called to +see Mrs. Chang Hsu who was suffering from a nervous breakdown due +to worry and sleeplessness. On inquiry I discovered that her two +daughters had been taken into the palace as concubines of the +Emperor Kuang Hsu. Her friends feared a mental breakdown, and +begged me to do all I could for her. She took me by the hand, +pulled me down on the brick bed beside her, and told me in a +pathetic way how both of her daughters had been taken from her in +a single day. + +" 'But they have been taken into the palace,' I urged, to try to +comfort her, 'and I have heard that the Emperor is very fond of +your eldest daughter, and wanted to make her his empress.' + +" 'Quite right,' she replied, 'but what consolation is there in +that? They are only concubines, and once in the palace they are +dead to me. No matter what they suffer, I can never see them or +offer them a word of comfort. I am afraid of the court intrigues, +and they are only children and cannot understand the duplicity of +court life--I fear for them, I fear for them,' and she swayed +back and forth on her brick bed. + +"Time, however, the great healer with a little medicine and +sympathy to quiet her nerves, brought about a speedy recovery, +though in the end her fears proved all too true." + +In 1897 the brother of this first concubine met Kang Yu-wei in +the south, and became one of his disciples. Upon his return to +Peking, knowing of the Emperor's desire for reform, and his +affection for his sister, he found means of communicating with +her about the young reformer. + +At the time of the coup d'etat, and the imprisonment of the +Emperor, this first concubine was degraded and imprisoned on the +ground of having been the means of introducing Kang Yu-wei to the +notice of the Emperor, and thus interfering in state affairs. She +continued in solitary confinement from that time until the flight +of the court in 1900 when in their haste to get away from the +allies she was overlooked and left in the palace. When she +discovered that she was alone with the eunuchs, fearing that she +might become a victim to the foreign soldiers, she took her life +by jumping into a well. On the return of the court in 1902, the +Empress Dowager bestowed upon her posthumous honours, in +recognition of her conduct in thus taking her life and protecting +her virtue. + +Some conception of the haste and disorder with which the court +left the capital on that memorable August morning may be gleaned +from the fact that her sister was also overlooked and with a +eunuch fled on foot in the wake of the departing court. She was +overtaken by Prince Chuang who was returning in his chair from +the palace, where, with Prince Ching, he had been to inform their +Majesties that the allies were in possession of the city. The +eunuch, recognizing him, called his attention to the fleeing +concubine, who, when he had alighted and greeted her, begged him +to find her a cart that she might follow the court. Presently a +dilapidated vehicle came by in which sat an old man. The Prince +ordered him to give the cart to the concubine and sent her to his +palace where a proper conveyance was secured, and she overtook +the court at the Nankow pass. + +At the audiences, this concubine was always in company with the +Empress Yehonala, standing at her left. She, however, lacked both +the beauty and intelligence of her sister. + +The ladies of the court, who were constantly associated with the +Empress Dowager as her ladies in waiting, are first, the Imperial +Princess, the daughter of the late Prince Kung, the sixth brother +of the Empress Dowager's husband. Out of friendship for her +father, the Empress Dowagers adopted her as their daughter, +giving her all the rights, privileges and titles of the daughter +of an empress. She is the only one in the empire who is entitled +to ride in a yellow chair such as is used by the Empress Dowager, +the Emperor or Empress. The highest of the princes--even Prince +Ching himself--has to descend from his chair if he meet her. Yet +when this lady is in the palace, no matter how she may be +suffering, she dare not sit down in the presence of Her Majesty. + +"One day when we were in the palace," says Mrs. Headland, "the +Imperial Princess was suffering from such a severe attack of +lumbago, that she could scarcely stand. I suggested to her that +she retire to the rear of the room, behind some of the pillars +and rest a while. + +" 'I dare not do that,' she replied; 'we have no such a custom in +China.' " + +She is austere in manner, plain in appearance, dignified in +bearing, about sixty-five years of age, and is noted for her +accomplishment in making the most graceful courtesy of any lady +in the court. + +During the Boxer troubles and the occupation, her palace was +plundered and very much injured, and she escaped in her stocking +feet through a side door. At the first luncheon given at her +palace thereafter, she apologized for its desolate appearance, +saying that it had been looted by the Boxers, though we knew it +had been looted by the allies. At later luncheons, however, she +had procured such ornaments as restored in some measure its +original beauty and grandeur, though none of these dismantled +palaces will regain their former splendour for many years to +come. + +Next to the Imperial Princess are the two sisters of Yehonala, +one of whom is married to Duke Tse, who was head of the +commission that made the tour of the world to inquire as to the +best form of government to be adopted by China in her efforts at +renovation and reform. It is not too much to suppose that it was +because the Duke was married to the Empress Dowager's niece that +he was made the head of this commission, which after its return +advised the adoption of a constitution. The other sister is the +wife of Prince Shun, and is the opposite of the Empress. She is +stout, but beautiful. She has always been the favourite niece of +the Empress Dowager, appeared at all the functions, and though +very sedate when foreign ladies were present at an audience, I +was told by the Chinese that when the imperial family were alone +together she was the life of the company. She would even stand +behind the Empress Dowager's chair "making such grimaces," the +Chinese expressed it, as to make it almost impossible for the +others to retain their equilibrium. As she was the youngest of +the three sisters, and because of her happy disposition, the +Chinese nicknamed her hsiao kuniang, "the little girl." These +three sisters are all childless. + +The Princess Shun and Princess Tsai Chen, only daughter-in-law of +Prince Ching, herself the daughter of a viceroy, were very +congenial, and the most intimate friends of all those in court +circles. The latter is beautiful, brilliant, quick, tactful, and +graceful. Of all the ladies of the court she is the most witty +and, with Princess Shun, the most interesting. These two more +than any others made the court ladies easy to entertain at all +public functions, for they were full of enthusiasm and tried to +help things along. They seemed to feel that they were personally +responsible for the success of the audience or the luncheon as a +social undertaking. + +Lady Yuan is one of two of these court ladies who dwelt with the +Empress Dowager in the palace, the other being Prince Ching's +fourth daughter. She is a niece by marriage of the Empress +Dowager, though she really was never married. The nephew of the +Empress Dowager, to whom she was engaged, though she had never +seen him, died before they were married. After his death, but +before his funeral, she dressed herself as a widow, and in a +chair covered with white sackcloth went to his home, where she +performed the ceremonies proper for a widow, which entitled her +to take her position as his wife. Such an act is regarded as very +meritorious in the eyes of the Chinese, and no women are more +highly honoured than those who have given themselves in this way +to a life of chastity. + +The second of these ladies who remained in the palace with the +Empress Dowager is the fourth daughter of Prince Ching. Married +to the son of a viceroy, their wedded life lasted only a few +months. She was taken into the palace, and being a widow, she +neither wears bright colours nor uses cosmetics. She is a fine +scholar, very devout, and spends much of her time in studying the +Buddhist classics. She is considered the most beautiful of the +court ladies. + +The Empress Dowager took charge of most of the domestic matters +of all her relatives, taking into the palace and associating with +her as court ladies some who were widowed in their youth, and +keeping constantly with her only those whom she has elevated to +positions of rank, or members of her own family. Nor was she too +busy with state affairs to stop and settle domestic quarrels. + +Among the court ladies there was one who was married to a prince +of the second order. Her husband is still living, but as they +were not congenial in their wedded life, the Empress Dowager made +herself a kind of foster-mother to the Princess and banished her +husband to Mongolia, an incident which reveals to us another +phase of the great Dowager's character--that of dealing with +fractious husbands. + + + +XIV + +The Princesses--Their Schools + +The position accorded to woman in Chinese society is strictly a +domestic one, and, as is the case in other Eastern countries, she +is denied the liberty which threatens to attain such amazing +proportions in the West. There is no reason to suppose that woman +in China is treated worse than elsewhere; but people can of +course paint her condition just as fancy seizes them. They are +rarely admitted into the domestic surroundings of Chinese homes, +therefore there is nothing to curb the imagination. The truth is +that just as much may be said on one side as on the other. +Domestic happiness is in China--as everywhere else the world +over--a lottery. The parents invariably select partners in +marriage for their sons and daughters, and sometimes make as +great blunders as the young people would if left to themselves. + --Harold E. Gorst in "China." + + + +XIV + +THE PRINCESSES--THEIR SCHOOLS[1] + +[1] Taken from Mrs. Headland's note-book. + +One day while making a professional call on the Princess Su our +conversation turned to female education in China. I was deeply +interested in the subject, and was aware that the Prince had +established a school for the education of his daughters and the +women of his palace, and was naturally pleased when the Princess +asked: + +"Would you care to visit our school when it is in session?" + +"Nothing would please me more," I answered. "When may I do so?" + +"Could you come to-morrow morning?" she inquired. + +"With pleasure; at what time?" + +"I will send my cart for you." + +The following morning the Prince's cart appeared. It was lined +with fur, upholstered in satin, furnished with cushions, and +encircled by a red band which indicated the rank of its owner. A +venerable eunuch, the head of the palace servants, preceded it as +an outrider, and assisted me in mounting and dismounting, while +the driver in red-tasselled hat walked decorously by the side. + +The school occupies a large court in the palace grounds. Another +evidence of Western influence in the same court is a large +two-story house of foreign architecture where the Prince receives +his guests. Prince Su was the first to have this foreign +reception hall, but he has been followed in this respect by other +officials and princes as well as by the Empress Dowager. + +"This is not unlike our foreign compounds," I remarked to the +Princess as we entered the court. + +"Yes," she replied, "the Prince does not care to have the court +paved, but prefers to have it sodded and filled with flowers and +shrubs." + +The school building was evidently designed for that purpose, +being light and airy with the whole southern exposure made into +windows, and covered with a thin white paper which gives a soft, +restful light and shuts out the glare of the sun. The floor is +covered with a heavy rope matting while the walls are hung with +botanical, zoological and other charts. Besides the usual +furniture for a well-equipped schoolroom, it was heated with a +foreign stove, had glass cases for their embroidery and drawing +materials, and a good American organ to direct them in singing, +dancing and calisthenics. + +I arrived at recess. The Princess took me into the teacher's den, +which was cut off from the main room by a beautifully carved +screen. Here I was introduced to the Japanese lady teacher and +served with tea. She spoke no English and but little Chinese, and +the embarrassment of our effort to converse was only relieved by +the ringing of the bell for school. The pupils, consisting of the +secondary wives and daughters of the Prince, his son's wife, and +the wives and daughters of his dead brother who make their home +with him, entered in an orderly way and took their seats. When +the teacher came into the room the ladies all arose and remained +standing until she took her place before her desk and made a low +bow to which they all responded in unison. This is the custom in +all of the schools I have visited. Even where the superintendent +is Chinese, the pupils stand and make a low Japanese bow at the +beginning and close of each recitation. + +"How long has the school been in session?" I asked the Princess. + +"Three and a half months," she replied. + +"And they have done all this embroidery and painting in that +time?" + +"They have, and in addition have pursued their Western studies," +she explained. + +In arithmetic the teacher placed the examples on the board, the +pupils worked them on their slates, after which each was called +upon for an explanation, which she gave in Japanese. While this +class was reciting the Prince came in and asked if we might not +have calisthenics, evidently thinking that I would enjoy the +drill more than the mathematics. It was interesting to see those +Manchu ladies stand and go through a thorough physical drill to +the tune of a lively march on a foreign organ. The Japanese are +masters in matters of physical drill, and in the schools I have +visited I have been pleased at the quiet dignity, and the reserve +force and sweetness of their Japanese teachers. The precision and +unanimity with which orders were executed both surprised and +delighted me. Everything about these schools was good except the +singing, which was excruciatingly poor. The Chinese have +naturally clear, sweet voices, with a tendency to a minor tone, +which, with proper training, admit of fair development. But the +Japanese teacher dragged and sang in a nasal tone, in which the +pupils followed her, evidently thinking it was proper Western +music. I was rather amused to see the younger pupils go through a +dignified dance or march to the familiar strains of "Shall we +gather at the river," which the eldest daughter played on the +organ. + +"The young ladies do not comb their hair in the regular Manchu +style," I observed to the Princess. + +"No," she answered, "we do not think that best. It is not very +convenient, and so we have them dress it in the small coil on top +of the head as you see. Neither do we allow them to wear flowers +in their hair, nor to paint or powder, or wear shoes with centre +elevations on the soles. We try to give them the greatest +possible convenience and comfort." + +They were proud of their bits of crocheting and embroidery, each +of which was marked with the name of the person who did it and +the date when it was completed. Many of them were made of pretty +silk thread in a very intricate pattern, though I admired their +drawing and painting still more. + +"Of what does their course of study consist?" I asked the +Princess. + +She went to the wall and took down a neat gilt frame which +contained their curriculum, and which she asked her eldest +daughter to copy for me. They had five studies each day, six days +of the week, Sunday being a holiday. They began with arithmetic, +followed it up with Japanese language, needlework, music and +calisthenics, then took Chinese language, drawing, and Chinese +history with the writing of the ideographs of their own language, +which was one of the most difficult tasks they had to perform. +The dignified way in which the pupils conducted themselves, the +respect which they showed their teacher, and the way in which +they went about their work, delighted me. The discipline it gave +them, the self-respect it engendered, and the power of +acquisition that came with it were worth more perhaps than the +knowledge they acquired, useful as that information must have +been. + +The Princess Ka-la-chin, the fifth sister of Prince Su, is +married to the Mongolian Prince Ka-la. It is a rule among the +Manchus that no prince can marry a princess of their own people, +but like the Emperor himself, must seek their wives from among +the untitled. These ladies after their marriage are raised to the +rank of their husbands. It is the same with the daughters of a +prince. Their husbands must come from among the people, but +unlike the princes they cannot raise them to their own rank, and +so their children have no place in the imperial clan. Many of the +princesses therefore prefer to marry Mongolian princes, by which +they retain their rank as well as that of their children. + +Naturally a marriage of this kind brings changes into the life of +the princess. She has been brought up in a palace in the capital, +lives on Chinese food, and is not inured to hardships. When she +marries a Mongol prince, she is taken to the Mongolian plains, is +not infrequently compelled to live in a tent, and her food +consists largely of milk, butter, cheese and meat, most of which +are an abomination to the Chinese. They especially loathe butter +and cheese, and not infrequently speak of the foreigner smelling +like the Mongol--an odour which they say is the result of these +two articles of diet. + +Prince Su's fifth sister was fortunate in being married to a +Mongol prince who was not a nomad. He had established a sort of +village capital of his possessions, the chief feature of which +was his own palace. Here he lives during the summers and part of +the winters; though once in three years he is compelled to spend +at least three months in his palace in Peking when he comes to do +homage to the Emperor. + +During one of these visits to Peking the Princess sent for me to +come to her palace. I naturally supposed she was ill, and so took +with me my medical outfit, but her first greeting was: + +"I am not ill, nor is any member of my family, but I wanted to +see you to have a talk with you about foreign countries." + +She had prepared elaborate refreshments, and while we sat eating, +she directed the conversation towards mines and mining, and then +said: + +"My husband, the Prince, is very much interested in this subject, +and believes that there are rich stores of ore on his +principality in Mongolia." + +"Indeed, that is very interesting," I answered. + +"You know, of course, it is a rule," she went on to say, "that no +prince of the realm is allowed to go more than a few miles from +the capital without special permission from the throne." + +"No, I was not aware of that fact." + +She then went on to say that her husband was anxious to attend +the St. Louis Exposition, and study this subject in America, but +so long as these hindrances remained it was impossible for him to +do so. She then said: + +"I am very much interested in the educational system of your +honourable country, and especially in your method of conducting +girls' schools." + +"Would you not like to come and visit our girls' high school?" I +asked. + +"I should be delighted," she replied. + +This she did, and before leaving the capital she sent for a +Japanese lady teacher whom she took with her to her Mongolian +home, where she established a school for Mongolian girls. + +In this school she had a regular system of rules, which did not +tally with the undisciplined methods of the Mongolians, and it +was amusing to hear her tell how it was often necessary for the +Prince to go about in the morning and wake up the girls in order +to get them into school at nine o'clock. + +The next time she came to Peking she brought with her seventeen +of her brightest girls to see the sights of the city and visit +some of the girls' schools, both Christian and non-Christian. +Everything was new to them and it was interesting to hear their +remarks as I showed them through our home and our high school. +When the Princess returned to Mongolia she took with her a +cultured young Chinese lady of unusual literary attainments to +teach the Chinese classics in the school. This is the only school +I have known that was established by a Manchu princess, for +Mongolian girls, and taught by Chinese and Japanese teachers. +This young lady was the daughter of the president of the Board of +Rites, head examiner for literary degrees for all China, and was +himself a chuang yuan, or graduate of the highest standing. +Before going, this Chinese teacher had small bound feet, but she +had not been long on the plains before she unbound her feet, +dressed herself in suitable clothing, and went with the Princess +and the Japanese teacher for a horseback ride across the plains +in the early morning, a thing which a Chinese lady, under +ordinary circumstances, is never known to do. The school is still +growing in size and usefulness. + +Prince Su's third sister is married to a commoner, but as is +usual with these ladies who marry beneath their own rank, she +retains her maiden title of Third Princess, by which she is +always addressed. + +"How did you obtain your education?" I once asked her. + +"During my childhood," she answered, "my mother was opposed to +having her daughters learn to read, but like most wealthy +families, she had old men come into the palace to read stories or +recite poetry for our entertainment. I not infrequently followed +the old men out, bought the books from which they read, and then +bribed some of the eunuchs to teach me to read them. In this way +I obtained a fair knowledge of the Chinese character." + +She is as deeply interested in the new educational movement among +girls as is her sister. When this desire for Western education +began, she organized a school, in which she has eighty girls or +more, taken from various grades of society, whom she and some of +her friends, in addition to employing teachers and providing the +school-rooms, gave a good part of their time to teaching the +Chinese classics, while a Japanese lady taught them calisthenics +and the rudiments of Western mathematics. + +She is aggressively pro-foreign, and is ready to do anything that +will contribute to the success of the new educational movement, +and the freedom of the Chinese woman. On one occasion when the +Chinese in Peking undertook to raise a fund for famine relief, +they called a large public meeting to which men and women were +alike invited, the first meeting of the kind ever held in Peking. +Such a gathering could not have occurred before the Boxer +rebellion. The Third Princess, having promised to help provide +the programme, took a number of her girls, and on a large +rostrum, had them go through their calisthenic exercises for the +entertainment of the audience. On another occasion she took all +her girls to a private box at a Chinese circus, where men and +women acrobats and horseback riders performed in a ring not +unlike that of our own circus riders. In this circus small-footed +women rode horseback as well as the women in our own circus, and +one woman with bound feet lay down on her back, balanced a +cart-wheel, weighing at least a hundred pounds, on her feet, +whirling it rapidly all the time, and then after it stopped she +continued to hold it while two women and a child climbed on top. +The Princess was determined to allow her girls to have all the +advantages the city afforded. + +At the school of this Third Princess I once attended a unique +memorial service. A lady of Hang Chou, finding it impossible to +secure sufficient money by ordinary methods for the support of a +school that she had established, cut a deep gash in her arm and +then sat in the temple court during the day of the fair, with a +board beside her on which was inscribed the explanation of her +unusual conduct. This brought her in some three hundred ounces of +silver with which she provided for her school the first year. +When it was exhausted and she could get no more, she wrote +letters to the officials of her province, in which she asked for +subscriptions and urged the importance of female education, to +which she said she was willing to give her life. To her appeal +the officials paid no heed, and she finally wrote other letters +renewing her request for help to establish the school, after +which she committed suicide. The letters were sent, and later +published in the local and general newspapers. Memorial services +were held in various parts of the empire at all of which funds +were gathered not only for her school but for establishing other +schools throughout the provinces. + +The school of the Third Princess at which this service was held +was profusely decorated. Chinese flags floated over the gates and +door-ways. Beautifully written scrolls, telling the reason for +the service and lauding the virtues of the lady, covered the +walls of the schoolroom. At the second entrance there was a table +at which sat a scribe who took our name and address and gave us a +copy of the "order of exercises." Here we were met by the Third +Princess, who conducted us into the main hall. Opposite the +doorway was hung a portrait of the lady, wreathed in artificial +flowers, and painted by a Chinese artist. A table stood before it +on which was a plate of fragrant quinces, candles, and burning +incense, giving it the appearance of a shrine. Pots of flowers +were arranged about the room, which was unusually clean and +beautiful. The Chinese guests bowed three times before the +picture on entering the room, which I thought a very pretty +ceremony. + +The girls of this school, to the number of about sixty, appeared +in blue uniform, courtesying to the guests. Sixteen other girls' +schools of Peking were represented either by teachers or pupils +or both. One of the boys' schools came en masse, dressed in +military uniform, led by a band, and a drillmaster with a sword +dangling at his side. Addresses were made by both ladies and +gentlemen, chief among whom were the Third Princess and the +editress of the Woman's Daily Newspaper, the only woman's daily +at that time in the world, who urged the importance of the +establishment and endowment of schools for the education of girls +throughout the empire. + + +XV + +The Chinese Ladies of Rank + +Though your husband may be wealthy, +You should never be profuse; +There should always be a limit +To the things you eat and use. +If your husband should be needy, +You should gladly share the same, +And be diligent and thrifty, +And no other people blame. +--"The Primer for Girls," Translated by I. T. H. + + +XV + +THE CHINESE LADIES OF RANK[2] + +[2] Taken from Mrs. Headland's note-book. + +The Manchu lady's ideal of beauty is dignity, and to this both +her deportment and her costume contribute in a well-nigh equal +degree. Her hair, put up on silver or jade jewelled hairpins, +decorated with many flowers, is very heavy, and easily tilted to +one side or the other if not carried with the utmost sedateness. +Her long garments, reaching from her shoulders to the floor, give +to her tall figure an added height, and the central elevation of +from four to six inches to the soles of her daintily embroidered +slippers, compel her to stand erect and walk slowly and +majestically. She laughs but little, seldom jests, but preserves +a serious air in whatever she does. + +The Chinese lady, on the contrary, aspires to be petite, winsome, +affable and helpless. She laughs much, enjoys a joke, and is +always good-natured and chatty. + +One of their poets thus describes a noted beauty: + +"At one moment with tears her bright eyes would be swimming, +The next with mischief and fun they'd be brimming. +Thousands of sonnets were written in praise of them, +Li Po wrote a song for each separate phase of them. + + "Bashfully, swimmingly, pleadingly, scoffingly, + Temptingly, languidly, lovingly, laughingly, + Witchingly, roguishly, playfully, naughtily, + Willfully, waywardly, meltingly, haughtily, + Gleamed the eyes of Yang Kuei Fei. + + "Her ruby lips and peach-bloom cheeks, + + Would match the rose in hue, + If one were kissed the other speaks, + With blushes, kiss me too." + + +She combs her hair in a neat coil on the back of her head, uses +few flowers, but instead prefers profuse decorations of pearls. +Her upper garment extends but little below her knees, and her +lower garment is an accordion-plaited skirt, from beneath which +the pointed toes of her small bound feet appear as she walks or +sways on her "golden lilies," as if she were a flower blown by +the wind, to which the Chinese love to compare her. Her waist is +a "willow waist" in poetry, and her "golden lilies," as her tiny +feet are often called, are not more than two or three inches +long--so small that it not infrequently requires the assistance +of a servant or two to help her to walk at all. And though she +may not need them she affects to be so helpless as to require +their aid. + +Until very recently education was discouraged rather than sought +by the Manchu lady. Many of the princesses could not read the +simplest book nor write a letter to a friend, but depended upon +educated eunuchs to perform these services for them. The Chinese +lady on the contrary can usually read and write with ease, and +the education of some of them is equal to that of a Hanlin. + +Socially the ladies of these two classes never meet. Their +husbands may be of equal rank and well known to each other in +official life, but the ladies have no wish to meet each other. +One day while the granddaughter of one of the Chinese Grand +Secretaries was calling upon me, the sisters of Prince Ching and +Prince Su were announced. When they entered I introduced them. +The dignity of the two princesses when presented led me to fear +that we would have a cold time together. I explained who my +Chinese lady friend was, and they answered in a formal way (wai t +ou tou jen te, li to'u k'e pu jen te) "the gentlemen of our +respective households are well acquainted, not so the ladies," +but the ice did not melt. For a time I did my best to find a +topic of mutual interest, but it was like trying to mix oil and +water. I was about to give up in despair when my little Chinese +friend, observing the dilemma in which I was placed, and the +effort I was making to relieve the situation, threw herself into +the conversation with such vigour and vivacity, and suggested +topics of such interest to the others as to charm these reserved +princesses, and it was not long until they were talking together +in a most animated way. + +One of the Manchu ladies expressed regret at the falling of her +hair and the fact that she was getting bald. "Why," said my +little Chinese friend, "after a severe illness not long since, I +lost all my hair, but I received a prescription from a friend +which restored it all, and just look at the result," she +continued turning her pretty head with its great coils of shiny +black hair. "I will be delighted to let you have it." The Manchu +princesses finally rose to depart, and in their leave-taking, +they were as cordial to my little Chinese friend, who had made +herself so agreeable, as they were to me, for which I shall ever +be grateful. + +After they had gone I asked: + +"Why is it that the Manchu and Chinese ladies do not intermingle +in a social way?" + +"The cause dates back to the beginning of the Manchu dynasty," +she responded. "When the Chinese men adopted the Manchu style of +wearing the queue, it was stipulated that they should not +interfere with the style of the woman's dress, and that no +Chinese should be taken to the palace as concubines or slaves to +the Emperor. We have therefore always held ourselves aloof from +the Manchus. Our men did this to protect us, and as a result no +Chinese lady has ever been received at court, except, of course, +the painting teacher of the Empress Dowager, who, before she +could enter the palace, was compelled to unbind her feet, adopt +the Manchu style of dress and take a Manchu name." + +"Is not the Empress Dowager very much opposed to foot-binding? +Why has she not forbidden it?" + +"She has issued edicts recommending them to give it up, but to +forbid it is beyond her power. That would be interfering with the +Chinese ladies' dress." + +"Do the Manchus consider themselves superior to the Chinese?" + +"It is a poor rule that will not work both ways. Have you never +noticed that in his edicts the Emperor speaks of his Manchu +slaves and his Chinese subjects?" + +Among my lady friends is one whose father died when she was a +child, and she was brought up in the home of her grandfather who +was himself a viceroy. She had always been accustomed to every +luxury that wealth could buy. Clothed in the richest embroidered +silks and satins, decorated with the rarest pearls and precious +stones, she had serving women and slave girls to wait upon her, +and humour her every whim. One day when we were talking of the +Boxer insurrection she told me the following story: + +"Some years ago," she said, "my steward brought me a slave girl +whom he had bought from her father on the street. She was a +bright intelligent and obedient little girl, and I soon became +very fond of her. She told me one day that her grandmother was a +Christian, and that she had been baptized and attended a +Christian school. Her father, however, was an opium-smoker, and +had pawned everything he had, and finally when her grandmother +was absent had taken her and sold her to get money to buy opium. +She asked me to send a messenger to her grandmother and tell her +that she had a good home. + +"I was delighted to do so for I knew the old woman would be +distressed lest the child had been sold to a life of shame, or +had found a cruel mistress. Unfortunately, however, my messenger +could find no trace of the grandmother, as the neighbours +informed him that she had left shortly after the disappearance of +the child. + +"As the years passed the child grew into womanhood. She was very +capable, kind and thoughtful for others and I learned to depend +upon her in many ways. She was very devoted to me, and sought to +please me in every way she could. She always spoke of herself as +a Christian and refused to worship our gods. When the Boxer +troubles began I took my house-servants and went to my +grandfather's home thinking that the Boxers would not dare +disturb the households of such great officials as the viceroys. +But I soon found that they respected no one who had liberal +tendencies. + +"One day there was a proclamation posted to the effect that all +Christians were to be turned over to them, and that any one found +concealing a Christian would themselves be put to death. My +grandmother came to my apartments and wanted me to send my slave +girl to the Boxers. We talked about it for some time but I +steadfastly refused. When the Boxers had procured all they could +by that method they announced that they were about to make a +house-to-house search, and any household harbouring Christians +would be annihilated." + +"But how would they know that your slave was a Christian?" I +inquired. + +"Have you not heard," she asked, "that the Boxers claimed that +after going through certain incantations, they could see a cross +upon the forehead of any who had been baptized?" + +"And did you believe they could?" + +"I did then but I do not now. Indeed we all did. My grandmother +came to me and positively forbade me to keep the slave in her +home. After she had gone the girl came and knelt at my feet and +begged me to save her! How could I send her out to death when she +had been so kind and faithful to me? I finally decided upon a +plan to save her. I determined to flee with her to the home of an +uncle who lived in a town a hundred miles or more from Peking, +where I hoped the Boxers were less powerful than they were at the +capital. + +"This uncle was the lieutenant-governor of the province and had +always been very fond of me, and I knew if I could reach him I +should win his sympathy and his aid. But how was this to be done? +All travellers were suspected, searched and examined. For two +women to be travelling alone, when the country was in such a +state of unrest, could not but bring upon themselves suspicion, +and should we be searched, the cross upon the forehead would +surely be found, and we would be condemned to the cruel tortures +in which the Boxers were said to delight. + +"After much thought and planning the only possible method seemed +to be to flee as beggars. You know women beggars are found upon +the roads at all times and they excite little suspicion. Then in +the hot summer it is not uncommon for them to wrap their head and +forehead in a piece of cloth to protect them from the fierce rays +of the sun. In this way I hoped to conceal the cross from +observation in case we came into the presence of the Boxers. We +confided our plans to a couple of the women servants whom we +could trust, and asked them to procure proper outfits for us. +They did so, and oh! what dirty old rags they were. The servants +wept as they took off and folded up my silk garments and clad me +in this beggar's garb." + +"But your skin is so soft and fair, not at all like the skin of a +woman exposed to the sun; and your black, shiny hair is not at +all rusty and dirty like the hair of a beggar woman. I should +think these facts would have caused your detection," I urged. + +"That was easily remedied. We stained our faces, necks, hands and +arms, and we took down our hair and literally rolled it in dust +which the servants brought from the street. Oh! but it was nasty! +such an odour! It was only the saving of the life of that +faithful slave that could have induced me to do it. I had to take +off my little slippers and wrap my feet in dirty rags such as +beggars wear. We could take but a little copper cash with us. To +be seen with silver or gold would have at once brought suspicion +upon us, while bank-notes were useless in those days. + +"In the early morning, before any one was astir we were let out +of a back gate. It was the first time I had ever walked on the +street. I had always been accustomed to going in my closed cart +with outriders and servants. I shrank from staring eyes, and +thought every glance was suspicious. My slave was more timid than +I and so I must take the initiative. I had been accustomed to +seeing street beggars from behind the screened windows of my cart +ever since I was a child and so I knew how I ought to act, but at +first it was difficult indeed. Soon, however, we learned to play +our part, though it seems now like a hideous dream. We kept on +towards the great gate through which we passed out of the city on +to the highway which led to our destination. + +"The first time we met a Boxer procession my knees knocked +together in my fear of detection but they passed by without +giving us a glance. We met them often after this, and before we +finished our journey I learned to doubt their claim to detect +Christians by the sign of the cross. + +"We ate at the roadside booths, slept often in a gateway or by +the side of a wall under the open sky, and after several days' +wandering, we reached the yamen of my uncle. But we dare not +enter and reveal our identity, lest we implicate them, for we +found the Boxers strong everywhere, and even the officials feared +their prowess. We hung about the yamen begging in such a way as +not to arouse suspicion, until an old servant who had been in the +family for many years, and whom I knew well, came upon the +street. I followed him begging until we were out of earshot of +others, and then told him in a singsong, whining tone, such as +beggars use, who I was and why I was there, and asked him to let +my uncle know, and said that if they would open the small gate in +the evening we would be near and could enter unobserved. + +"At first he could not believe it was I, for by this time we +indeed looked like veritable beggars, but he was finally +convinced and promised to tell my uncle. After nightfall he +opened the gate and led us in by a back passage to my aunt's +apartments where she and my uncle were waiting for me. They both +burst into tears as they beheld my plight. Two old serving women, +who had been many years in the family, helped us to change our +clothes and gave us a bath and food. My feet had suffered the +most. They were swollen and ulcerated and the dirty rags and dust +adhering to the sores had left them in a wretched condition. It +took many baths before we were clean, and weeks before my feet +were healed. + +"We remained with my uncle until the close of the Boxer trouble, +and until my grandfather's return from Hsian where he had gone +with the Empress Dowager and the court, and then I came back to +Peking." + +"Your grandmother must have felt ashamed when she heard how hard +it had gone with you," I remarked. + +"We never mentioned the matter when talking together. That was a +time when every one was for himself. Death stared us all in the +face." + +"Where is your slave girl now? I should like to see her," I +remarked. + +"After the troubles were over I married her to a young man of my +uncle's household. I will send for her and bring her to see you." + +She did so. I found she had forgotten much of what she had +learned of Christianity, but she remembered that there was but +one God and that Jesus Christ was His Son to whom alone she +should pray. She also remembered that as a small child she had +been baptized, and that in school she had been taught that "we +should love one another"; this was about the extent of her +Gospel, but it had touched the heart of her charming little +mistress and had saved her life. + +There were sometimes amusing things happened when these Chinese +ladies called. My husband among other things taught astronomy in +the university. He had a small telescope with which he and the +students often examined the planets, and they were especially +interested in Jupiter and his moons. One evening, contrary to her +custom, this same friend was calling after dark, and when the +students had finished with Jupiter and his moons, my husband +invited us to view them, as they were especially clear on that +particular evening. + +After she had looked at them for a while, and as my husband was +closing up the telescope, she exclaimed: "That is the kind of an +instrument that some foreigners sent as a present to my +grandfather while he was viceroy, but it was larger than this +one." + +"And did he use it?" asked my husband. + +"No, we did not know what it was for. Besides my grandfather was +too busy with the affairs of the government to try to understand +it." + +"And where is it now?" asked Mr. Headland, thinking that the +viceroy might be willing to donate it to the college. + +"I do not know," she answered. "The servants thought it was a +pump and tried to pump water with it, but it would not work. It +is probably among the junk in some of the back rooms." + +"I wonder if we could not find it and fix it up," my husband +persisted. + +"I am afraid not," she answered. "The last I saw of it, the +servants had taken the glass out of the small end and were using +it to look at insects on the bed." + +One day when one of my friends came to call I said to her: "It is +a long time since I have seen you. Have you been out of the +city?" + +"Yes, I have been spending some months with my father-in-law, the +viceroy of the Canton provinces. His wife has died, and I have +returned to Peking to get him a concubine." + +"How old is he?" I inquired. + +"Seventy-two years," she replied. + +"And how will you undertake to secure a concubine for such an old +man?" + +"I shall probably buy one." + +A few weeks afterwards she called again having with her a +good-looking young woman of about seventeen, her hair beautifully +combed, her face powdered and painted, and clothed in rich silk +and satin garments, whom she introduced as the young lady +procured for her father-in-law. She explained that she had +bought her from a poor country family for three hundred and fifty +ounces of silver. + +"Don't you think it is cruel for parents to sell their daughters +in this way?" I asked. + +"Perhaps," she answered. "But with the money they received for +her, they can buy land enough to furnish them a good support all +their life. She will always have rich food, fine clothing and an +easy time, with nothing to do but enjoy herself, while if she had +remained at home she must have married some poor man who might or +might not have treated her well, and for whom she would have to +work like a slave. Now she is nominally a slave with nothing to +do and with every comfort, in addition to what she has done for +her family." + +While we were having tea she asked to see Mr. Headland, as many +of the older of my friends did. I invited him in, and as he +entered the dining-room the young woman stepped out into the +hall. + +My friend greeted my husband, and with a mysterious nod of her +head in the direction of the young woman she said: "Chiu shih na +ke,--that's it." + + + +XVI + +The Social Life of the Chinese Woman + +The manners and customs of the Chinese, and their social +characteristics, have employed many pens and many tongues, and +will continue to furnish all inexhaustible field for students of +sociology, of religion, of philosophy, of civilization, for +centuries to come. Such studies, however, scarcely touch the +province of the practical, at least as yet, for one principal +reason--that the subject is so vast, the data are so infinite, as +to overwhelm the student rather than assist him in sound +generalizations. +--A. R. Colquhoun in "China in Transformation." + + +XVI + +THE SOCIAL LIFE OF THE CHINESE WOMAN + +The home life of a people is too sacred to be touched except by +the hand of friendship. Our doors are closed to strangers, locked +to enemies, and opened only to those of our own race who are in +harmony and sympathy with us. What then shall we say when people +of an alien race come seeking admission? They must bring some +social distinction,--letters of introduction, or an ability to +help us in ways in which we cannot help ourselves. + +In the case of a people as exclusive as the Chinese this is +especially true, so that with the exception of one or two women +physicians and the wife of one of our diplomats no one has ever +been admitted in a social as well as professional way to the +women's apartments of the homes of the better class of the +Chinese people. + +A Chinese home is different from our own. It is composed of many +one-story buildings, around open courts, one behind the other, +and sometimes covers several acres of ground. Then it is divided +into men's and women's apartments, the men receiving their +friends in theirs and the women likewise receiving their friends +by a side gate in their own apartments, which are at the rear of +the dwelling. A wealthy man usually, in addition to his wife, has +one or more concubines, and each of these ladies has an apartment +of her own for herself and her children,--though all the children +of all the concubines reckon as belonging to the first wife. + +I have heard Sir Robert Hart tell an amusing incident which +occurred in Peking. He said that the Chinese minister appointed +to the court of Saint James came to call on him before setting +out upon his journey. After conversing for some time he said: + +"I should be glad to see Lady Hart. I believe it is customary in +calling on a foreign gentleman to see his lady, is it not?" + +"It is," said Sir Robert, "and I should be delighted to have you +see her, but Lady Hart is in England with our children, and has +not been here for twenty years." + +"Ah, indeed, then perhaps I might see your second wife." + +"That you might, if I had one. But the customs of our country do +not allow us to have a second wife. Indeed they would imprison us +if we were to have two wives." + +"How singular," said the official with a nod of his head. "You do +not appreciate the advantages of this custom of ours." + +That there are advantages in this custom from the Chinese point +of view, I have no doubt. But from certain things I have heard I +fear there are disadvantages as well. One day the head eunuch +from the palace of one of the leading princes in Peking came to +ask my wife, who was their physician, to go to see some of the +women or children who were ill. It was drawing near to the New +Year festival and, of course, they had their own absorbing topics +of conversation in the servants' courts. I said to him: + +"The Prince has a good many children, has he not?" + +"Twenty-three," he answered. + +"How many concubines has he?" I inquired. + +"Three," he replied, "but he expects to take on two more after +the holidays." + +"Doesn't it cause trouble in a family for a man to have so many +women about? I should think they would be jealous of each other." + +"Ah," said he, with a wave of his hand and a shake of his head, +"that is a topic that is difficult to discuss. Naturally if this +woman sees him taking to that woman, this one is going to eat +vinegar." + +They do "eat vinegar," but perhaps as little of it as any people +who live in the way in which they live, for the Chinese have +organized their home life as nearly on a governmental basis as +any people in the world. + +In addition to the wife and concubines, each son when he marries +brings his wife home to a parental court, and all these +sisters-in-law, or daughters-in-law add so much to the +complications of living, for each must have her own retinue of +servants. + +Young people in China are all engaged by their parents without +their knowledge or consent. This was very unsatisfactory to the +young people of the old regime, and it is being modified in the +new. One day one of my students in discussing this matter said to +me: + +"Our method of getting a wife is very much better than either the +old Chinese method or your foreign method." + +"How is that?" I asked. + +"Well," said he, "according to the old Chinese custom a man could +never see his wife until she was brought to his house. But we can +see the girls in public meetings, we have sisters in the girls' +school, they have brothers in the college, and when we go home +during vacation we can learn all about each other." + +"But how do you consider it better than our method?" I persisted. + +"Why, you see, when you have found the girl you want, you have to +go and get her yourself, while we can send a middleman to do it +for us." + +I still argued that by our method we could become better +acquainted with the young lady. + +"Yes," he said, "that is true; but doesn't it make you awfully +mad if you ask a lady to marry you and she refuses?" and it must +be confessed that this was a difficult question to answer without +compromising one's self. + +The rigour of the old regime was apparently modified by giving +the young lady a chance to refuse. About ten days before the +marriage, two ladies are selected by the mother of the young man +to carry a peculiar ornament made of ebony and jade, or jade +alone, or red lacquer, to the home of the prospective bride. This +ornament is called the ju yi, which means "According to my +wishes." If the lady receives it into her own hands it signifies +her willingness to become his bride; if she rejects it, the +negotiations are at an end, though I have never heard of a girl +who refused the ju yi.[3] + + +[3] The remainder of the chapter is from Mrs. Headland's +note-book. + + +Very erroneous ideas of the life and occupations of the Chinese +ladies of the noble and official classes are held by those not +conversant with their home life. The Chinese woman is commonly +regarded as little better than a secluded slave, who whiles away +the tedious hours at an embroidery frame, where with her needle +she works those delicate and intricate pieces of embroidery for +which she is famous throughout the world. In reality, a Chinese +lady has little time to give to such work. Her life is full of +the most exacting social duties. Few American ladies in the whirl +of society in Washington or New York have more social functions +to attend or duties to perform. I have often been present in the +evening when the head eunuch brought to the ruling lady of the +home (and the head of the home in China is the woman, not the +man) an ebony tablet on which was written in red ink the list of +social functions the ladies were to attend the following day. + +She would select from the list such as she and her unmarried +daughters could attend,--the daughters always going with their +mother and not with their sisters-in-law,--then she would +apportion the other engagements to her daughters-in-law, who +would attend them in her stead. + +The Chinese lady in Peking sleeps upon a brick bed, one half of +the room being built up a foot and a half above the floor, with +flues running through it; and in the winter a fire is built under +the bed, so that, instead of having one hot brick in her bed, she +has a hundred. She rises about eight. She has a large number of +women servants, a few slave girls, and if she belongs to the +family of a prince, she has several eunuchs, these latter to do +the heavy work about the household. Each servant has her own +special duties, and resents being asked to perform those of +another. When my lady awakes a servant brings her a cup of hot +tea and a cake made of wheat or rice flour. After eating this a +slave girl presents her with a tiny pipe with a long stem from +which she takes a few whiffs. Two servants then appear with a +large polished brass basin of very hot water, towels, soaps, +preparations of honey to be used on her face and hands while they +are still warm and moist from the bathing. After the bath they +remove the things and disappear, and two other women take their +places, with a tray on which are combs, brushes, hair-pomades, +and the framework and accessories needed for combing her hair. +Then begins a long and tedious operation that may continue for +two hours. Finally the hair is ready for the ornaments, jewels +and flowers which are brought by another servant on a large tray. +The mistress selects the ones she wishes, placing them in her +hair with her own hands. + +Some of these flowers are exquisite. The Chinese are expert at +making artificial flowers which are true to nature in every +detail. Often above the flower a beautiful butterfly is poised on +a delicate spring, and looks so natural that it is easy to be +deceived into believing it to be alive. When the jasmine is in +bloom beautiful creations are made of these tiny flowers by means +of standards from which protrude fine wires on which the flowers +are strung in the shape of butterflies or other symbols, and the +flowers massed in this way make a very effective ornament. With +the exception of the jasmine the flowers used in the hair are all +artificial, though natural flowers are worn in season--roses in +summer, orchids in late summer, and chrysanthemums in autumn. + +The prevailing idea with the Chinese ladies is that the foreign +woman does not comb her hair. I have often heard my friends +apologizing to ladies whom they have brought to see me for the +first time, and on whom they wanted me to make a good impression, +by saying: + +"You must not mind her hair; she is really so busy she has no +time to comb it. All her time is spent in acts of benevolence." + +At the first audience when the Empress Dowager received the +foreign ladies, she presented each of them with two boxes of +combs, one ivory inlaid with gold, the other ordinary hard wood, +and the set was complete even to the fine comb. One cannot but +wonder if Her Majesty had not heard of the untidy locks of the +foreign woman, which she attributed to a lack of proper combs. + +After the hair has been properly combed and ornamented, cosmetics +of white and carmine are brought for the face and neck. The +Manchu lady uses these in great profusion, her Chinese sister +more sparingly. No Chinese lady, unless a widow or a woman past +sixty, is supposed to appear in the presence of her family +without a full coating of powder and paint. A lady one day +complained to me of difficulty in lifting her eyelids, and +consulted me as to the reason. + +"Perhaps," said I, "they are partially paralyzed by the lead in +your cosmetics. Wash off the paint and see if the nerves do not +recover their tone." + +"But," said she, "I would not dare appear in the presence of my +husband or family without paint and powder; it would not be +respectable." + +The final touch to the face is the deep carmine spot on the lower +lip. + +The robing then begins. And what beautiful robes they are! the +softest silks, over which are worn in summer the most delicate of +embroidered grenadines, or in winter, rich satins lined with +costly furs, each season calling for a certain number and kind. +She then decorates herself with her jewels,--earrings, +bracelets, beads, rings, charms, embroidered bags holding the +betel-nut, and the tiny mirror in its embroidered case with silk +tassels. When these are hung on the buttons of her dress her +outfit is complete, and she arises from her couch a wonderful +creation, from her glossy head, with every hair in place, to the +toe of her tiny embroidered slipper. But it has taken the time of +a half-dozen servants for three hours to get these results. + +To one accustomed to the Chinese or Manchu mode of dress, she +appears very beautiful. The rich array of colours, the +embroidered gowns, and the bright head-dress, make a striking +picture. Often as the ladies of a home or palace came out on the +veranda to greet me, or bid me adieu, I have been impressed with +their wonderful beauty, to which our own dull colours, and cloth +goods, suffer greatly in comparison, and I could not blame these +good ladies for looking upon our toilets with more or less +disdain. + +It is now after eleven o'clock and her breakfast is ready to be +served in another room. Word that the leading lady of the +household is about to appear is sent to the other apartments. +Hurried finishing touches are given to toilets, for all +daughters, daughters-in-law and grandchildren must be ready to +receive her in the outer room when she appears leaning on the +arms of two eunuchs if she is a princess, or on two stout serving +women if a Chinese. + +According to her rank, each one in turn takes a step towards her +and gives a low courtesy in which the left knee touches the +floor. Even the children go through this same formality. All are +gaily dressed, with hair bedecked and faces painted like her own. +She inclines her head but slightly. These are the members of her +household over whom she has sway--her little realm. While her +mother-in-law lived she was under the same rigorous rule. + +In China where there are so many women in the home it is +necessary to have a head--one who without dispute rules with +autocratic sway. This is the mother-in-law. When she dies the +first wife takes her place as head of the family. A concubine may +be the favourite of the husband. He may give her fine apartments +to live in, many servants to wait on her, and every luxury he can +afford; but there his power ends. The first wife is head of the +household, is legally mother of all the children born to any or +all of the concubines her husband possesses. The children all +call her mother, and the inferior wives recognize her as their +mistress. She and her daughters, and daughters-in-law, attend +social functions, receive friends, extend hospitality; but the +concubines have no place in this, unless by her permission. When +the time comes for selecting wives for her sons, it is the first +wife who does it, although she may be childless herself. It is to +her the brides of these sons are brought, and to her all +deference is due. In rare cases, where the concubine has had the +good fortune to supply the heir to the throne or to a princely +family, she is raised to the position of empress or princess. But +this is seldom done, and is usually remembered against the woman. +She is never received with the same feeling as if she had been +first wife. + +One day I was asked to go to a palace to see a concubine who was +ill. In such cases I always went directly to the Princess, and +she took me to see the sick one. As we entered the room there was +a nurse standing with a child in her arms, and the Princess +called my attention to a blemish on its face. + +"Can it be removed?" she asked. + +I looked at it and, seeing that it would require but a minor +operation, told her it could. + +While attending to the patient, the nurse, fearing that the child +would be hurt, left the room and another entered with another +child. + +"Now," said the Princess when we had finished with the patient, +"we will attend to the child." And she called the woman to her. + +"But," said the woman, "this is not the child." + +"There," said the Princess, "you see I do not know my own +children." + +But I left our friend receiving the morning salutations of her +household. These over, she dismisses them to their own +apartments, where each mother sits down with her own children to +her morning meal, waited on by her own servants. If there are +still unmarried daughters, they remain with their mother; if +none, she eats alone. + +Since Peking is in the same latitude as Philadelphia my lady has +the same kinds of fruit--apples, peaches, pears, apricots, the +most delicious grapes, and persimmons as large as the biggest +tomato you ever saw; indeed, the Chinese call the tomato the +western red persimmon. She has mutton from the Mongolian sheep +(the finest I have ever eaten), beef, pork or lamb; chicken, +goose or duck; hare, pheasant or deer, or fish of whatever kind +she may choose. Of course these are all prepared after the +Chinese style, and be it said to the credit of their cooks that +our children are always ready to leave our own table to partake +of Chinese food. + +After her meal she lingers for a few minutes over her cup of tea +and her pipe. In the meantime her cart or sedan chair is +prepared. Her outriders are ready with their horses; the eunuchs, +women and slave girls who are to attend her, don their proper +clothing and prepare the changes of raiment needed for the +various functions of the day. One takes a basin and towels, +another powder and rouge-boxes, another the pipe and embroidered +tobacco pouch, not even forgetting the silver cuspidor, all of +which will be needed. When she eats, a servant gives her a napkin +to spread over her gown; after she has finished, another brings a +basin of hot water, from which a towel is wrung with which she +gently wipes her mouth and hands. Another brings her a glass of +water, or she washes out her mouth with tea, and finally with the +little mirror and rouge-box, while she still sits at table, she +touches up her face with powder and she puts the paint upon her +lip if it has disappeared. + +When ready to start, her cart or chair is drawn up as close as +possible to the gate of the women's apartments. A screen of blue +silk eighteen or twenty feet long and six feet high, fastened to +two wooden standards, is held by eunuchs to screen her while she +enters the cart. The chair can be used only by princesses or +wives of viceroys or members of the Grand Council. But whether +chair or cart it is lined and cushioned with scarlet satin in +summer, and in winter with fur. It is an accomplishment to enter +a cart gracefully, but years of practice enable her to do so, and +as soon as she is seated in Buddhist fashion, the curtain is +dropped; her attendant seats herself cross-legged in front; +several male servants rush up, seize the shafts of the cart, +place the mule between them, fasten the buckles (it reminds one +of the fire department), the driver takes his place at the lines, +two other male servants take hold of the sides of the mule's +bridle, and all is in readiness to start. Female servants and +slave girls crowd into other carts, outriders mount their mules, +and the cavalcade starts with my lady's cart ahead. + +As they pass along the streets they are remarked upon by all +foot-passengers, and as they near their destination, a courier on +horseback spurs up his steed, makes a wild dash forward, leaps +from his horse, and announces to the gate-keeper that the +Princess will soon arrive. The news is at once taken to the +servants of the women's apartments, where the name is given to a +eunuch, who bears it to his mistress. + +In the meantime the party has arrived. The mule is unhitched, +cart drawn to the gate, screen spread, servant descends from +front, and the Princess with the help of a couple of eunuchs is +escorted through a long covered walk into the court, where the +ladies of the household are waiting on the veranda to receive +her. As she enters the gateway the hostess begins slowly to +descend the steps. The others follow, and they meet in the centre +of the court. Low courtesies are made by each and formal +inquiries as to each other's health. There is a short stop and +certain formalities before the guest will ascend the steps ahead +of the hostess. The same occurs again on entering the reception +hall, and taking the seat of honour. The luckless foreigner +sometimes makes the mistake of conceding to her guest's modesty +and allows her to take a lower seat, which is a grievous offense, +and she is only pardoned on the plea that she is an outside +barbarian, and does not understand the rules of polite society. + +After she is seated tea is served, and servants bring in trays of +sweetmeats, fruit, nuts, dried melon seeds, candied fruits and +small cakes. One of these nuts is unique. It is an "English +walnut" in which, after the outer hull is removed, the shell is +self-cracked, and folds back in places so that the kernel +appears. While partaking of these delicacies the object of the +visit is announced, which is that her son is to be married on a +certain date. Of course official announcements will be sent +later, but she wishes to ask if her hostess will act as one of +her representatives to carry the ju yi to the young lady's home. + +After the ladies have chatted for a time about the latest +official appointments, some court gossip, the latest fashion in +robe ornamentation, and the newspaper news at home and +abroad--for the Chinese have ten or a dozen newspapers in Peking, +among which is the first woman's daily in the world--the hostess +invites her guest to see her garden. They pass through a gateway +into a court in which are great trees, shrubbery, fish-ponds +spanned by marble bridges, covered walks, beautiful rockeries, +wisteria vines laden with long clusters of blossoms, +summer-houses, miniature mountains, and flowers of all kinds--a +dream of beauty and loveliness. After returning to the house +another cup of tea is served, and the guest rises to leave. But +before doing so her servants bring in a bundle of clothing, and +there in the presence of her hostess her outer robes are changed +for others of a more official character. + +Her next call is at the birthday celebration of the mother of one +of the highest officials in the capital. I was present when she +arrived. Instead of entering by the front gate, she went by a +private entrance directly to the apartments of her hostess. Many +guests (all gentlemen) were assembled in the front court, which +was covered by a mat pavilion and converted into a theatre. The +court was several feet lower than the adjoining house, the front +windows of which were all removed and it was used for the +accommodation of the lady guests. On the walls of the temporary +structure hung red satin and silk banners on which were pinned +ideographs cut out of gold foil or black velvet, expressive of +beautiful sentiments and good wishes for many happy returns of +the day. The Emperor, wishing to do this official honour, has +informed him that on his mother's birthday an imperial present +will be sent her which is a greater compliment than if sent to +the official himself. + +It was a gala scene. Fresh guests arrived every minute. The +ladies in their most graceful and dignified courtesies were +constantly bending as other guests were announced, while the +gentlemen, with low bows and each shaking his own hands, received +their friends. The clothes of the men, though of a more sombre +hue, were richer in texture than those of the women. Heavy silks +and satins, embroidered with dragons in gold thread, indicated +that this one was a member of the imperial clan, while others +equally rich were worn by the other gentlemen, each embroidered +with the insignia of his rank. Hats adorned with red tassels, +peacock feathers in jade holders, and the button denoting the +rank of the wearer, were worn by all, as it would be a breach of +etiquette to remove the hat in the presence of one's host. + +It would also be bad form for the gentlemen to raise their eyes +to where the ladies were seated; just as the latter, who must +look over the heads of the men to view the theatre, would not be +caught allowing their eyes to dwell upon any one. But no doubt +these gentle little ladies have their own curiosity, and some +means of finding out who's who among that court full of dragon- +draped pillars of state; for I have never failed to receive a +ready answer when I inquired as to the name of some handsome or +distinguished-looking guest whose identity I wished to learn. + +The theatre goes on interminably. Like my lady, they change their +clothes, and the scenery, in full view of the audience. The plays +are mostly historical, the women's parts being taken by men, as +women are not allowed to go on the stage. One daring company, in +imitation of the foreign custom, had a woman take one of the +parts; but a special order from the viceroy put the company out +of commission, and the leader in prison. + +The guests were not expected to sit quietly watching the play, +but moved about greeting each other and chatting at will. +Servants brought tea and sweetmeats and finally a banquet was +served. Near the close of the feast it was announced that the +imperial present was coming, and the members of the household +disappeared. The deep boom of the drums and the honk of the great +horns were heard distinctly as they entered the street, and soon +the yellow imperial chair, with its thirty-six bearers in the +royal livery, moved slowly towards us between two rows of the +male members of the household who had gone out and were kneeling +on both sides of the street, knocking their heads as the chair +passed them. The great gates were thrown open and there in the +gateway the female members of the family knelt and kotowed as the +chair passed by. + +The presents were taken into a room specially prepared for their +reception. The head imperial eunuch placed them in position, and, +with a low obeisance, departed, the richer by several hundred +ounces of silver. The gentlemen guests were first invited to view +these tokens of imperial favour. In order of their rank they +entered, prostrating themselves before them. Later we ladies were +invited into the room, where the Chinese all kotowed. What now +were these wonderful gifts before which these men and women of +rank and noble birth were falling upon their faces? + +They were two squares of red paper, eighteen inches across, +printed in outline of the imperial dragon, on which the +characters for long life and happiness were written with the +imperial pen; and a small yellow satin box in which sat a little +gold Buddha not more than an inch in height! It was the thought, +not the value, which elicited all this appreciation. + +Shall we go with this busy little princess to another festal +occasion? I was with her again. It was at the home of the sister +of one of the sweetest little princesses in the whole empire. Her +baby was a month old and she was celebrating what they call the +full month feast. Instead, however, of having the usual feasting +and theatricals, the mother, who, for days after her child was +born, lay at death's door, sent out invitations to her friends to +come and fast and give thanks to the gods for sparing her life. + +Though the child was a month old the mother was too wan and weak +to leave her couch. She was dressed, however, in festal robes, +and received her guests with many gracious words and apologies. +Of course only ladies were present. The great covered court was +converted into a large shrine. One could imagine they were +looking into the main hall of a temple, only that everything was +so clean and beautiful. From the centre of the shrine a Goddess +of Mercy looked down complacently upon the array of fruit, nuts, +sweetmeats and cakes spread out before her. Many candles in their +tall candlesticks were burning on every side. Before her was a +great bronze incense-burner, from which many sticks of incense +sent out their fragrant odour on the air. As each guest passed +through the court, she took a stick from the pile, lit it, and, +with a word of prayer, added it to the number. + +After the guests had all arrived a princess--sister of the +hostess--accompanied by two of the leading guests, descended into +the paved court and took her place before the altar. Deep-toned +bells were touched by small boys whose shaven heads and priestly +robes denoted that they, like little Samuel, were being brought +up within the courts of the temple. The Princess took a great +bunch of incense in her two hands, one of her attendants lit it +with a torch prepared for that purpose, the flame and smoke +ascended amid the deep tones of the bells, as she prostrated +herself before the goddess. She looked like a beautiful fairy +herself as she stood with the flaming bunch of incense held high +above her head. Three times she prostrated herself and nine times +she bent forward, fulfilling all the requirements of the law. + +At the close of this ceremony the ladies were invited to partake +of a feast prepared wholly of vegetables and vegetable oils. It +requires much more skill to prepare such a feast than when meat +and animal oils are used. The food furnished interesting topics +for discussion. Most of it was prepared by various temples, each +being celebrated for some particular dish, which it was asked to +provide for the occasion. + +It is not uncommon for a Chinese lady to take upon herself a vow +in which she promises the gods to observe certain days of each +month as fast days, on condition that they restore to health a +mother, father, husband or child. No matter what banquet she +attends she need only mention to her hostess that she has a vow +and she is made the chief guest, helping others but eating +nothing herself. After this full month feast the baby was seen, +its presents admired, the last cup of tea drunk, the farewells +said, and we all returned home. + + + +XVII + +The Chinese Ladies--Their Ills + +My home is girdled by a limpid stream, +And there in summer days life's movements pause, +Save where some swallow flits from beam to beam, +And the wild sea-gull near and nearer draws. + +The good wife rules a paper board for chess; +The children beat a fish-hook out of wire; +My ailments call for physic more or less, +What else should this poor frame of mine require? +--"Tu Fu," Translated. + + + +XVII + +THE CHINESE LADIES--THEIR ILLS[4] + +[4] Taken from Mrs. Headland's note-book. + +One day a eunuch dashed into the back gate of our compound in +Peking, rode up to the door of the library, dismounted from his +horse, and handed a letter in a red envelope to the house servant +who met him on the steps. + +"What is the matter?" asked the boy. + +"The Princess is ill," replied the servant. + +"What Princess?" further inquired the boy. + +"Our Princess," was the reply. + +"Oh, you are from the palace near the west gate?" + +"Yes," and the boy and the servant continued their conversation +until the former had learned all that the letter contained, +whereupon he brought me the message. + +I opened the letter, written in the Chinese ideographs, and +called the messenger in. + +"Is the Princess very ill?" I inquired. + +"Not very," he answered, "but she has been indisposed for several +days." + +"When does she want me to go?" I inquired, for I had long ago +learned that a few inquiries often brought out interesting and +valuable information. + +"At once," he answered; "the cart will be here in a few minutes." + +By the time I had made ready my medical outfit the cart had +arrived. It was very much like a great Saratoga trunk on two +wheels. It was without seat and without springs, but filled with +thick cushions, and as I had learned to sit tailor fashion it was +not entirely uncomfortable to ride in. It had gauze curtains in +summer, and was lined with quilted silk or fur in winter, and was +a comfortable conveyance. + +When I reached the palace I was met by the head eunuch, who +conducted me at once to the apartments of the Princess. Her +reception room was handsomely furnished with rich, carved, +teak-wood furniture after the Manchu fashion, with one or two +large, comfortable, leather-covered easy chairs of foreign make. +Clocks sat upon the tables and window-sills, and fine Swiss +watches hung on the walls. Beautiful jade and other rich Chinese +ornaments were arranged in a tasteful way about the room. On the +wall hung a picture painted by the Empress Dowager, a gift to the +Prince on his birthday. + +After a moment's waiting the Princess appeared attended by her +women and slave girls. + +"I beg your pardon for not having my hair properly dressed," she +said, as she took my hands in hers, the custom of these Manchu +princesses and even the Empress Dowager herself, in greeting +foreign ladies. "I welcome you back to Peking after your summer +vacation." + +When the usual salutations had been passed she told me her +trouble and I gave her the proper medicine, with minute +instructions as to how to take it, which I also repeated to her +women. + +"The cause of my illness," she explained, "is over-fatigue. I had +to be present at court on the eighth of the eighth month and I +became very tired from standing all day." + +"But could you not sit down?" I asked. + +"Not in the presence of the Empress Dowager," she replied. + +"Of course, I know you could not sit down in the presence of Her +Majesty, but could you not withdraw and rest a while?" I +inquired. + +"Not that day. It was a busy and tiresome day for us all," she +replied. + +While we were talking the young Princess, her son's wife, came in +and greeted her mother-in-law in a formal but kindly way, and +gave her hands to me just as the Princess had done. She remained +standing all the time she was in the room, as did four of the +secondary princesses or wives of her husband. They were all +beautifully dressed, but they are beneath the Princess in rank, +and so must stand in her presence. If the Prince's mother had +come in, as she often did when I was there, the Princess would +have to stand and wait on her. All Manchu families are very +particular in this respect. + +"You will be interested," said the Princess, "in one phase of our +visit to the palace." Then turning to one of her women she said: +"Bring me those two pairs of shoes." + +"These," she explained, "are like some made by my mother-in-law +and myself as presents for the Empress Dowager. On the eighth of +the eighth month we have a feast, when the ladies of the royal +household are invited into the palace, and our custom is for each +of us to present Her Majesty with a pair of shoes." + +The shoes were daintily embroidered, though not so pretty as some +I have seen the Empress Dowager wear. Some of her shoes are +decorated with beautiful pearls and others are covered with +precious stones. + +"The Empress Dowager," continued the Princess, "is very vain of +her small feet; though," she continued, as she put her own foot +out, encased in the daintiest little embroidered slipper of +light-blue satin, "it is not so small as my own." + +It seemed very human to hear this delicate little Princess make a +remark of this kind. Of course, both she and the Empress Dowager +have natural feet. + +It was late in the afternoon, some months after my visit to the +Princess, that a very different call came for my services. + +The boy came in and told me that a man wanted me to go to see his +wife, who lived in the southern city outside the Ha-ta gate. It +has always been my custom never to refuse any one whether they be +rich or poor, and so I told him to call a cart. + +It was in midwinter and a bitter cold night, the room was without +fire and yet there was a child of three or four toddling about +upon the kang or brick bed whose only garment was a long coat. + +"You should put a pair of trousers on that child," I said, "or it +will catch cold and I will soon have to come again." + +"Yes," they said, "we will put trousers on it." + +"You had better do it at once," I insisted. + +"Yes," they continued, "we will see that it is dressed." + +After attending to the woman, and again urging them to dress the +child, I wrapped my warm cloak around me and started home, though +I could not forget the child. + +"It is a cold night," I said to the driver as we started on our +way. + +"Yes," he answered, "there will be some uncomfortable people in +the city to-night." + +"In that house we just left," I continued, for I could not banish +the child from my thoughts, "there was a little child playing on +the bed without a shred of trousers on." + +"Quite right," said he; "they pawned the trousers of that child +to get money to pay me for taking you to see the sick woman." + +"To pay you!" said I, with indignation, and yet with admiration +for the character of the people for whom I was giving my +services--"to pay you! Then drive right back and give them their +money and tell them to go and redeem those trousers and put them +on the child!" + +"The city gate will be closed before we can reach it if I +return," said he, "and we will not be able to get in to-night." + +"No matter about that," I insisted, "go back and give them the +money." + +He turned around with many mutterings, lashed up his mule at the +top of his speed, gave them the money, and then started on a +gallop for the city gate. It was a rough ride in that springless +cart over the rutty roads. But my house seemed warmer that night +and my bed seemed softer after I had paid the carter myself. + +Among my friends and patients none are more interesting than the +Misses Hsu. They are very intelligent, and after I had become +well acquainted with them I said to them one day: + +"How is it that you have done such wide reading?" + +"You know, of course," they said, "that our father is a chuang +yuan." + +I asked them the meaning of a chuang yuan. Then I learned that +under the Chinese system a great many students enter the +examinations, and those who secure their degree are called hsiu +tsai; a year or two later these are examined again, and those who +pass are given the degree of chu jen; once more these latter are +examined and the successful candidates are called chin shih, and +are then ready for official position. They continue to study, +however, and are allowed to go into the palace, where they are +examined in the presence of the Emperor, and those who pass are +called han lin, or forest of pencils. Once in three years these +han lins are examined and one is allowed to obtain a degree--he +is a chuang yuan. + +Out of four hundred million people but one is allowed this degree +once in three years. + +"Your father must be a very great scholar," I remarked. + +"He has always been a diligent student," they answered, modestly. + +"What is his given name?" I inquired, one day. + +"If you will give me a pencil I will write it for you; we never +speak the given name of our father in China," said the eldest, +and she wrote it down. + +"How many sisters are there in your family--eight, are there +not?" + +"Yes. You know, of course, that number five was engaged when a +child of six to the son of Li Hung-chang." + +"No, I was not aware of the fact; and were they married?" + +"No, they were never married. The young man died before they were +old enough to wed. When word of his death was brought to her, +child that she was, she went to our mother and told her she must +never engage her to any one else, as she meant to live and die +the widow of this boy." + +"And did she go to Li Hung-chang's home?" + +"No, the old Viceroy wanted to take her to his home, build a +suite of rooms for her, and treat her as his daughter-in-law, but +our parents objected because she was so young. The Viceroy loved +her very much, and his eyes often filled with tears as he spoke +of her and the son who had passed away. When the Viceroy died she +wanted to go and kotow at his funeral, and all his family except +the eldest son were anxious to have her do so, and thus be +recognized as one of the family. But this son objected, and +though Lady Li knocked her head on the coffin until it bled he +would not yield, lest she might want her portion." + +"And what has become of your sister? How is it that I have never +seen her?" + +"She withdrew to a small court, where she has lived with none but +her women servants, not even seeing our father or brothers, and +not allowing a male servant to go near her. And she will not +permit the word Li to be spoken in her presence." + +"And what does she do?" I asked. "How does she employ herself?" + +"Studying, reading, painting, and embroidery. When young Li +refused to allow her to attend his father's funeral her sense of +self-respect was outraged and she cut off her hair and threatened +to commit suicide. She often fasts for a week, and has tried on +several occasions to take her own life." + +I asked them if they did not fear that she might succeed finally +in this attempt to kill herself. + +"Yes, we have constant apprehensions. But then, what if she did? +It would only emphasize her virtue." + +It was some months after the young ladies told me what I have +just related that they called, for they had taken up the study of +English and I had agreed to help them a bit. + +"How is your sister?" I inquired, for the sad fate of this young +girl weighed like a burden on my heart. + +"She fasted more than usual during the early summer, but she +bathed daily and changed her clothes, dressing herself in her +most beautiful garments. She had not been sleeping well for some +time, and one day she ordered her women to leave her and not +return until they were called. They remained away until a married +sister and a sister-in-law-a niece of Li Hung-chang--called and +wanted to see her. We went to her room but found it locked. We +knocked but received no answer. We finally punched a hole through +the paper window and saw her sitting on her brick bed, her head +bolstered up with cushions and her eyes closed. We supposed she +was sleeping, but on forcing open the door we found that she had +gone to join her boy husband, though her colour and appearance +was that of a living person." + +"And are you sure she had not swooned?" + +"She remained in this condition for twenty-two hours without +pulse or heart beat, and so we put her in her casket." + +I could not but feel sad that I had not been in the city, and had +had an opportunity to help them to ascertain whether her life had +really gone out. But the girls seemed proud of the distinction of +having had a sister of such consummate virtue. Numerous +embroidered scrolls and laudatory inscriptions were sent her from +friends of the Li family as well as of their own, and it is +expected that the throne will order a memorial arch erected to +her memory. + +On another occasion I was requested to go to the palace of one of +the princes. The fourth Princess, a beautiful little child of +five, was ill with diphtheria, and the first greeting of the +mother as I went in was that she "was homesick to see me." The +child had been ill for several days before they sent for me, and +I told them at once that the case was dangerous. I wanted to do +all I could for them and at the same time protect my own children +from the danger of infection. After the first treatment with +antitoxin she seemed to rally, her throat cleared up, but I soon +found that the poison had pervaded her entire system, and so I +stayed with her day and night. + +I found that the child had contracted the disease from another +about her own age, who was both her playmate and her slave. It is +the custom among the wealthy to purchase for each daughter a +companion who plays with her as a child, becomes a companion in +youth and her maid when she marries. These slaves are usually +treated well, and when this one became ill the members of the +family visited her often, taking her such dainties as might tempt +her appetite. As a result I had to administer antitoxin to eight +of the younger members of the household, so careless had they +been about the spread of this disease; indeed I have found that +the isolation of patients suffering from contagious diseases is +wholly unknown in China. + +One of the most attractive of all my Chinese lady friends and +patients is the niece of the great Viceroy, Li Hung-chang, the +daughter of his brother, Li Han-chang, who is himself a viceroy. +I have been her physician for eighteen years or more and hence +have become intimately acquainted with her. She has visited me +very often in my home and, of all the women I have ever known, of +any race or people, I have never met one whom I thought more +cultured or refined than she. This may seem a strange statement, +but the quiet dignity that she manifested on all occasions and +her charming manners are not often met with. I have never felt on +entering a drawing-room such an atmosphere of refinement as +seemed to surround her. + +That the Chinese take very kindly to foreign medicine there is no +doubt, though it is sometimes amusing how they go back to their +own native methods. + +One day my husband brought home a physiological chart about the +size of an ordinary man. It was covered with black spots and I +asked him the reason for them. + +"That is what I asked the dealer from whom I bought it," he +replied, "and he told me that those spots indicate where the +needle can be inserted in treatment by acupuncture without +killing the patient." + +When a Chinese is ill the doctor generally concludes that the +only way to cure him is to stick a long needle into him and let +out the pain or set up counter irritation. If the patient dies it +is evident he stuck the needle into the wrong spot. And this +chart has been made up from millions of experiments during the +past two or three thousand years from patients who have died or +recovered. + +This was practically illustrated by a woman who was brought to +the hospital. Having had pain in the knee she sent for a Chinese +physician who concluded that the only method of relieving her was +by acupuncture. He therefore inserted a needle which +unfortunately pierced the synovial sac causing inflammation which +finally resulted in complete destruction of the joint. Such cases +are not infrequent both among adults and children in all grades +of society, due to this method of treatment. + +One day I was called to see a lady who was in immediate need of +surgical treatment. She had three sons who were in high official +positions in the palace, and if their mother died they would have +to withdraw from official life and go into mourning for three +years. When men are thus compelled to resign the new incumbent is +not inclined to restore the office when the period of mourning is +over. They were therefore doubly anxious to have their mother +recover. They had tried all kinds of Chinese physicians and +finally sent for me. + +I explained the nature of the operation necessary, and gave them +every reason to hope for a speedy recovery, while without +surgical treatment she must surely die. They consented and the +operation was successful. She recovered rapidly for a few days +until I regarded her as practically out of danger. But one day +when I called I found her bathed in perspiration, shaking with +fear, weeping and depressed. Her wound was in an excellent +condition and I could find no reason for her despondency. I +cheered her up, laughed and talked with her, gave her such +articles of diet as she craved, and left her happy. The next day +I again found her in the same nervous condition. + +"Something is wrong with your mother of which you have not told +me," I said to her son. + +"Before we sent for you," he said, "we had called a spirit +doctor, who went into a sort of trance, claimed to have descended +into the spirit world where he saw them making a coffin which he +said my mother would occupy before the fifteenth of the month. It +is because that time is approaching that she is filled with +fear." + +I talked with the lady, showed her how her wound was healing, +encouraged her to rest easy until the fifteenth, when I would +spend the day with her, after which she immediately began gaining +strength and soon recovered. + +At another time I was called to see the wife of the president of +the Board of Punishments. I found an operation necessary. The +next day I found the patient delirious with a fever, and asked +the husband if my directions had been followed. + +"I assure you they have," he answered. "But the cause of the +fever is this: Last evening while the servants were taking their +meal she was left alone for a short time. While they were absent, +her sister who lived on this street, a short distance from here, +committed suicide. When the servant discovered it she ran +directly to my wife's room, and told her of the tragedy. My wife +began to tremble, had a severe chill, and soon became delirious. +I suspect that her sister's spirit accompanied the servant and +entered my wife." + +In spite of this explanation I cleaned and dressed the wound and +left her more comfortable. The next morning she was somewhat +better, without fever and in her right mind. + +"What kind of a night did she have?" I asked her husband. + +"Oh, very good," he answered. "I managed to get the spirit out of +her." + +"How did you do it?" I inquired. + +"Soon after you left yesterday, I dressed myself in my official +garments, came into my wife's apartments, and asked the spirit if +it would not like to go with me to the yamen, adding that we +would have some interesting cases to settle. I felt a strange +sensation come over me and I knew the spirit had entered me. I +got into my cart, drove down to the home of my sister-in-law, +went in where the corpse lay, and told the spirit that it would +be a disgrace to have a woman at the Board of Punishments. 'This +is your place,' I said, in an angry voice; 'get out of me and +stay where you belong.' I felt the spirit leaving me, my fingers +became stiff and I felt faint. I had only been at the Board a +short time when they sent a servant to tell me that my wife was +quiet and sleeping. When I returned in the evening the fever was +gone and she was rational." + + + +XVIII + +The Funeral Ceremonies of a Dowager Princess + +There are five degrees of mourning, as follows:--For parents, +grandparents and great-grandparents; for brothers and sisters; +for uncles and aunts; and for distant relatives. In the first +sackcloth without hem or border; in the second with hem or +border; in the third, fourth and fifth, pieces of sackcloth on +parts of the dress. When sackcloth is worn, after the third +interval of seven days is over the mourners can cast it off, and +wear plain colours, such as white, gray, black and blue. For a +parent the period is nominally three years, but really +twenty-seven months, during all which time no silk can be worn; +during this time officials have to resign their appointments, and +retire from public life. --Dyer Ball in "Things Chinese." + + +XVIII + +THE FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF A DOWAGER PRINCESS[5] + +[5] Taken from Mrs. Headland's note-book. + + +One day I received a large sheet of white paper on which was +written in Chinese characters the announcement of the death of +the Dowager Princess Su, and inviting me to the "third-day +exercises." The real meaning of this "chieh san" I did not +comprehend, but I knew that those who were invited sent presents +of cakes or fruit, or baskets of paper flowers, incense, gold and +silver ingots made of paper, or rolls of paper silk, all of which +were intended for the use of the spirit of the departed. The +paper presents were all burned on the evening of the third day, +while the spirit feasted upon the flavour of the fruit and cakes. + +As I did not feel that it was appropriate for me to send these +things, I had a beautiful wreath of white chrysanthemum flowers +made, and sent that instead. While I appreciated the invitation, +I thought it was probably given only as a matter of form, and +that I was not expected to attend the exercises, and so I sent my +Chinese maid with the wreath, saying that as I did not understand +their customs I would not go. + +It was not long until the maid returned saying that they were +anxious to have me come, that under no circumstances must I +refuse, as they wished me to see their funeral ceremonies. The +Princess sent her cart for me, and according to the Chinese +custom, I took my maid seated upon the front, and set out for +Prince Su's palace. As we neared our destination we passed +numerous carts and chairs of princes who had been at the palace +to pay their respects. The street leading off the great +thoroughfare was filled with carts, chairs, servants and +outriders, but the utmost order prevailed. There were scores of +soldiers and special police, the latter dressed in long garments +of gray with a short jacket of white on the breast of which was +his number in black. These gray and white uniforms were mourning +colours, and were given by the Prince. + +As we entered the gate we saw white-robed servants everywhere, +each with a sober face and a dignified bearing, waiting to be of +use. My name was announced and two servants stepped out from the +crowd, clothed from head to feet in white sackcloth, one +presenting his arm to help me through the court, as though I were +a bound-footed woman, and the other led the way. We were taken +by a roundabout path, through numerous courts and passages, the +front being reserved for the male guests, and were finally +ushered into a room filled with white-robed women servants, who +with one accord bent their knee in a low courtesy. + +We were there met by the first and third Princesses, daughters of +the Dowager who had just passed away. They were dressed in white, +their hair being put up in the Manchu fashion. Instead of the +jewels and bright flowers, however, it was crossed and recrossed +with bands of white folded sackcloth. As these two ladies were +married daughters, and had left this home, their sackcloth was +not so coarse as that of the daughters-in-law and granddaughters +who dwelt in the palace. It was they who received the guests and +conducted them into the room where the mourners were kneeling. + +As the white door screen was raised I saw two rows of white-robed +figures kneeling on the floor, and as I entered they all bent +forward and touched their head to the ground, giving forth as +they did it a low, wailing chant. + +Not knowing their customs I went up and stooped over, speaking +first to the Princess and then to the ladies as best I could. I +afterwards watched the other lady visitors and saw that they put +their right hand up near their head as our soldiers salute, and +courtesied to the Princess, her daughter-in-law and her eldest +daughter. They then went over to a little table on which was a +silver sacrificial set, consisting of a wine tankard, a great +bowl, and a number of tiny cups holding but two tablespoonfuls. +They took the cup in its little saucer, and, facing the beautiful +canopied catafalque where the Dowager Princess was lying in +state, they raised the cup as high as their head three times, +emptying and refilling it each time. The mourners prostrated +themselves and gave forth a mournful wail each time the cup was +poured, after which the visitor arose and came over to where we +were, and the ceremony was over. + +The third daughter of the late Dowager seemed to regard me as her +special friend and guest, and insisted on my coming over to a +white curtain that separated us from the view of the gentlemen, +and from there I watched the proceedings of princes and officials +who went through a similar ceremony. There was this difference +with them, however, as they entered through the great canopied +court, they were conducted by white-robed servants directly to +the altar, and there kneeling, they made their obeisance to the +spirit of the departed, after which they went into the room where +the Prince and the other male descendants of the dead Dowager +were kneeling and prostrating themselves. + +There was a heavy yellow curtain over the door that led into the +sacrificial hall, and when the servants from without announced a +visitor, this curtain was drawn aside, and as the guest and a +flood of light entered, the mourners began their wailing which +they continued until he had departed. These visitors remained but +a moment, while the ladies who were there were all near +relatives, and were dressed either entirely or partially in +sackcloth. + +The room in which these ladies knelt was draped in white. The +cushions were all covered with white, and all porcelain and other +decorations had been removed. The floor was covered with a heavy +rope matting, on which the ladies knelt--all except the Princess, +for whom was prepared a small dark blue felt cushion. The +Princess knelt at the northwest corner of the room, directly in +front of the curtain which separated them from the sacrificial +hall. Several of the very near male relatives entered and gave +the low Manchu courtesy to the Princess, the son's wife, and the +eldest daughter, though none of the other kneeling ladies were +recognized. They left immediately without, so far as I noticed, +raising their eyes. + +The Prince, his sons and the other mourners in the men's room +were clothed in white fur, and the servants too, who stood in the +sacrificial hall, and at intervals along the way towards the +hall, wore white fur coats instead of sackcloth. + +To the left of the Princess there knelt in succession all the +secondary wives of Prince Su, and if I mistake not there were +five of these concubines. Behind the Princess knelt her son's +wife--the future Princess Su, and on her left, the daughters and +granddaughters of the Prince knelt in succession. The Princess +and secondary princesses had bands of sackcloth wound around +their heads, though their hair hung down their backs in two long +braids, and as I had never seen these princesses except when +clothed in beautifully embroidered satin garments, with hair put +up in elaborate coiffures, decked with jewels and flowers, and +faces painted and powdered in the proper Manchu fashion, it was +not easy to recognize them in these white-robed, yellow-faced +women, with hair hanging down their backs. + +The grandson's wife and granddaughters, on the other hand, had +their hair combed, but the long hairpin was of silver instead of +jade or gold, and instead of being decorated with jewels and +flowers, and a red cord, it was crossed and recrossed with bands +of folded sackcloth an inch and a half in width. It was neat and +very effective--the black hair and white cloth making a pretty +contrast to the Western eye, though it would probably not be so +considered by the Chinese. + +After I had watched them for a few moments I said to the princess +who accompanied me: + +"I must not intrude upon your time longer; you have been very +kind to allow me to witness all these interesting customs." + +"Oh, but you must not go now," she insisted; "you must remain and +see the arrival of the priests, and the burning of the paper +houses, goods, chattels, and images on the great street. I want +you to understand all our customs, and this is the greatest and +most interesting day of the funeral ceremonies." + +I urged that I ought not to intrude myself upon them at this +time. + +"No, no," she said, "you must not say that. It is not intrusion; +you must stay and dine with us this evening." + +When I still insisted upon going she said that if I went they +would feel that I did not care for them, and she was so +persistent that I consented to remain if the maid might be sent +home to the children, which they at once arranged for. + +In the interval between the arrival of male guests, the ladies +took me out into a large canopied court to see the decorations, +and into the sacrificial hall. These ceremonies were all +conducted in the house and court which the Dowager Princess had +occupied, and where I had often gone to see her when she wanted +to thank me for some medical attention I had given her children +or grandchildren. + +As we passed through the great gate, I noticed that the court was +covered with a mat pavilion making a room about one hundred and +fifty feet square, lighted by great squares of glass near the +top, and decorated with banners of rich brocade silks or satins, +of sober colours, blue, gray or white, on which were texts +extolling the virtues of the late Dowager or her family. These +were the gifts of friends, who had been coming and would continue +to come for days if not weeks. + +At the north end as one came in at the gate was a gallery running +the whole length of the northern court, fitted up with special +hangings which separated it into different compartments. Many +elegant banners and decorations gave it a striking effect. This +was the place where the priests, who had not yet arrived, were to +say their prayers day and night until the funeral ceremonies were +over. + +Directly in front of the catafalque, in the gallery, there was a +table on which I afterwards saw the priests place a silver vessel +which the head priest carried, and the others regarded with much +solemnity. + +From the gateway leading into the sacrificial hall the floor of +the court had been raised even with the door of the house and the +gate, a height of about five feet, and forty feet wide, and was +covered with the same kind of rope matting that was on the +floors. On the canopied verandas there were stacks of cakes, +incense, fruit and money. These were the most novel sights I have +ever seen in China. They were ten or twelve feet high. They were +a very pretty sight, and it required some scrutiny to discover +that they were made of cakes and fruit. How they were able to +build them thus, tier upon tier, and prevent their falling when +they were touched is beyond my comprehension. What magic there is +in it I do not know. + +As one entered the door of the sacrificial hall, towering above +everything else, was the great catafalque, draped in cloth of +gold, and in front of it were stacks of these sacrificial cakes. +Near them there was a table on which there were great white, +square candles, five inches or more in diameter, the four sides +of which were stamped with figures of fairies and immortals. On +this table there were also various savoury dishes, together with +cakes and fruit, prepared to feed the spirit of the dead. In +front of this table again there was another about a foot high on +which were placed the sacrificial wine vessels, and before which +the guests knelt. As we entered I saw the gentlemen kneeling to +the left, while the ladies, separated from them by white +curtains, were kneeling to the right. + +After we had seen the various customs without, I was taken into +the dining-room, where I sat down with the young Princess and her +two aunts, daughters of the Dowager. They were very kind and +polite, and did all in their power to make me feel at home. We +were attended by white-robed eunuchs, who knelt when they spoke +to the Princess. There was such a lot of them. + +"How many servants do you use ordinarily?" I asked the eldest +daughter. + +"About four hundred," she replied. + +I thought of the task of robing four hundred servants in new +white sackcloth, and attending to all the other things that I had +seen, in the forty-eight hours since the death of the Dowager +Princess. Even the bread, instead of being dotted with red as it +is ordinarily, was dotted with black! + +As we were finishing our supper we heard the horns of the priests +and went to see them arrive. Prince Su, and the other male +members of the family, went out to the door to receive them, but +we remained within. They first went to the gallery, then the head +priest came down into the sacrificial hall and made nine +prostrations before the catafalque, without, however, pouring or +offering wine. After each third prostration he stood up and +raised his clasped hands to a level with his eyes. They then +began their weird music, standing on the two sides of the raised +platform between the gate and the house, thus allowing a +passageway between them for the guests. + +The Princess told me that they were about to form a procession to +go to the great street. I therefore took my leave in order that I +might precede them and see the procession arrive, and witness the +burning of the presents for the spirit. + +When I arrived on the great street I there beheld a paper cart +and horses which were intended to transport the spirit to the +eastern heaven. There was a sedan chair for her use after her +arrival, numerous servants, money, silk, and a beautiful, big +house for her to dwell in, all made of paper. I had not long to +wait for the procession, which was headed by the priests playing +mournful, wailing music on large and small horns and drums. The +priests were followed by the mourners and their friends. When +they arrived at the place of the burning, the mourners prostrated +themselves upon white cushions before the paper furnishings amid +the shrieks of the instruments, the wailing of the hired +mourners, and the petitions of the priests for the spirits to +assist the departed on her way. + +While this was going on, fire was applied to various parts of the +paper pile, and in a moment a great flame sprang up into the +air--a flame that could be seen from miles around, and in less +time than it takes to tell it the whole was a heap of glowing +ashes, the mourners had departed, and the little street children +were stirring it up with long sticks. + +The first three days after death, the spirit is supposed to visit +the different temples, going, as it were, from official court to +official court receiving judgment, and cards of merit or demerit +to take with it, for the deeds done in the body. On the third day +it returns to say farewell to the home, and then leaves for its +long journey, and all this paper furniture is sent on ahead. + +They continue forty-nine days of prayers by the priests, +alternating three days by the Buddhists, three by the Lamas, and +three by the Taoists, after which the Buddhists take their turn +again. Everything else remains much as I have described it. The +family, servants, everybody in mourning, and all business put +aside to make way for this ceremony of mourning, mourning, +mourning, when they ought to be rejoicing, for the poor old +Princess had been a paralytic for years and was far better out of +her misery. + +The Princess frequently sent her cart for me during these days. +Once when I was going through the court where there were vast +quantities of things to be burned for the spirit, all made of +paper, I noticed some that were so natural that I was unable to +distinguish between them and the real things. Especially was this +true of the furniture and flowers like that which had been in her +apartments. There were great ebony chairs with fantastically +marked marble seats, cabinets, and all the furniture necessary +for her use. Among these things I noticed on the table a pack of +cards and a set of dice, of which she had been very fond, and a +chair like the one in which the eunuchs had carried the crippled +old Princess about the court, and I said to the young Princess +who accompanied me: + +"You do not think your grandmother will require these things in +the spirit world, do you?" + +"Perhaps not," she replied, "but she enjoyed her cards and dice, +and the chair was such a necessity, that, whether she needs them +or not, it is a comfort to us to get and send her everything she +liked while she lived, and it helps us bear our sorrows." + + +XIX + +Chinese Princes and Officials + +In any estimate of the forces which lead and control public +opinion in China, everywhere from the knot of peasants in the +hamlet to the highest officers of state and the Emperor himself, +the literati, or educated class, must be given a prominent +position. They form an immense body, increased each year by the +government examinations. They are at the head of the social +order. Every civil officer in the empire must be chosen from +their number. They constitute the basis of an elaborate system of +civil service, well equipped with checks and balances which, if +corrected and brought into touch with modern life and thought, +would easily command the admiration of the world. +--Chester Holcomb in "The Real Chinese Question." + + +XIX + +CHINESE PRINCES AND OFFICIALS + +One day while the head eunuch from the palace of one of the +leading princes in Peking was sitting in my study he said: + +"It is drawing near to the New Year. Do you celebrate the New +Year in your honourable country?" + +"Yes," I replied, "though not quite the same as you do here." + +"Do you fire off crackers?" + +"Yes, in the matter of firecrackers, we celebrate very much the +same as you do." + +"And do you settle up all your debts as we do here?" + +"I am afraid we do not. That is not a part of our New Year +celebration." + +"Our Prince is going to take on two more concubines this New +Year," he volunteered. + +"Ah, indeed, I thought he had three concubines already." + +"So he does, but he is entitled to five." + +"I should think it would make trouble in a family for one man to +have so many women," I ventured. + +He waved his hand in that peculiar way the Chinese have of +saying, don't mention it, as he answered: + +"That is a difficult matter to discuss. Naturally if this woman +sees the Prince talking to that one, this one is going to eat +vinegar," which gives us a glimpse of some of the domestic +difficulties in Chinese high life. However it is a fact worth +remembering that the Manchu prince does not receive his full +stipend from the government until he has five concubines, each of +whom is the mother of a son. + +The leading princes of the new regime are Ching, Su, and Pu-lun. +Prince Ching has been the leader of the Manchus ever since the +downfall of Prince Kung. He has held almost every office it was +in the power of the Empress Dowager to give, "though disliked by +the Emperor." He was made president of the Tsung-li Yamen in +1884, and from that time until the present has never been +degraded, or in any way lost the imperial favour. He is small in +stature, has none of the elements of the great man that +characterized Li Hung-chang and Chang Chih-tung, or Prince Kung, +but he has always been characterized by that diplomacy which has +kept him one of the most useful officials in close connection +with the Empress Dowager. It is to his credit moreover that the +legations were preserved from the Boxers in the siege of 1900. + +Prince Su is the only one of the eight hereditary princes who +holds any office that brings him into intimate contact with the +foreigners. During the Boxer siege he gave his palace for the use +of the native Christians, and at the close was made collector of +the customs duties (octoroi) at the city gates. Never had there +been any one in charge of this post who turned in as large +proportion of the total collections as he. This excited the +jealousy of the other officials, and they said to each other: "If +Prince Su is allowed to hold this position for any length of time +there will never be anything in it for any one else." They +therefore sought for a ground of accusation, and they found it, +in the eyes of the conservatives, in the fact that he rode in a +foreign carriage, built himself a house after the foreign style +of architecture, furnished it with foreign furniture, employed an +Englishman to teach his boys, and as we have seen opened a school +for the women and girls of his family. He therefore lost his +position, but it is to the credit of Prince Chun, the new Regent, +and his progressive policy, that Prince Su has been made chief of +the naval department, of which Prince Ching is only an adviser. + +The most important person among either princes or officials that +has been connected with the new regime is Yuan Shih-kai. He was +born in the province of Honan, that province south of the Yellow +River which is almost annually flooded by that great muddy stream +which is called "China's Sorrow." As a boy he was a diligent +student of the Chinese classics and of such foreign books as had +been translated into the Chinese language, but he has never +studied a foreign tongue nor visited a foreign country. Here then +rests the first element of his greatness--that without any +knowledge of foreign language, foreign law, foreign literature, +science of government, or the history of progress and of +civilization, he has occupied the highest and most responsible +positions in the gift of the empire, has steered the ship of +state on a straight course between the shoals of conservatism on +the one hand and radical reform on the other until he has brought +her near to the harbour of a safe progressive policy. + +He has always been what the Chinese call the tu-ti or pupil of Li +Hung-chang, and it may be that it was from him he learned his +statecraft. Certain it is that he always basked in the favour of +the great Viceroy, and it may be that he had more or less +influence with him in his earlier appointments, for he rose +rapidly and in spite of all other officials. + +On his return from Korea he was made a judge. He was then put in +charge of the army of the metropolitan province, and with the +assistance of German officers he succeeded in drilling 12,500 +troops after the European fashion. + +It was about this time that the Emperor conceived the plan of +instituting and carrying out one of the most stupendous reforms +that has ever been undertaken in human government--that of +transforming four thousand years of conservatism of four hundred +millions of people in the short space of a few months. + +Given: A people who cannot make a nail, to build a railroad. + +Given: A people who dare not plow a deep furrow for fear of +disturbing the spirits of the place, to open gold, silver, iron +and coal mines. + +Given: A people who in 4,000 years did not have the genius to +develop a decent high school, to open a university in the capital +of every province. + +These are three of the score or more of equally difficult +problems that the Emperor undertook to solve in twice as many +days. In order to the solution of these problems there was +organized in Peking a Reform Party of hot-headed, radical young +scholars not one of whom has ever turned out to be a statesman. +They were brilliant young men, many of them, but they so lost +their heads in their enthusiasm for reform that they forgot that +their government was in the hands of the same old conservative +leaders under whom it had been for forty centuries. + +They introduced into the palace as the private adviser of the +Emperor, Kang Yu-wei, as we have already shown, to whom was thus +offered one of the greatest opportunities that was ever given to +a human being--that of being the leader in this great reform. He +was hailed as a young Confucius, but his popularity was +short-lived, for he so lacked all statesmanship as to allow the +young Emperor to issue twenty-seven edicts, disposing of +twenty-seven difficult problems such as I have given above in +about twice that many days, and it is this hot-headed and +unstatesman-like young "Confucius" who now calls Yuan Shih-kai +an opportunist and a traitor because he did not enter into the +following plot. + +After the Emperor had dismissed two conservative vice-presidents +of a Board, two governors of provinces, and a half dozen other +useless conservative leaders, they plotted to overthrow him by +appealing to the ambition of the Empress Dowager and induce her +to dethrone him and again assume the reins of government. They +argued that "he was her adopted son, it was she who had placed +him on the throne, and she was therefore responsible for his +mistakes." They complimented her on "the wisdom which she had +manifested, and the statesmanship she had exhibited" during the +thirty years and more of her regency. To all which she listened +with a greedy ear, but still she made no move. + +During this time were the Emperor and his young "Confucius" idle? +By no means. They had hatched a counterplot, and had decided that +what they could not do by moral suasion and statesmanship they +would do by force, and so they sent an order to Yuan Shih-kai, +who as we have said had drilled and was in charge of 12,500 of +the best troops in the empire, urging him to "hasten to the +capital at once, place the Empress Dowager under guard in the +Summer Palace so that she may not be allowed to interfere in the +affairs of the government, and protect him in his reform +measures." + +The Emperor knew that nothing could be done without the command +of the army which was largely in the hands of a great +conservative friend of the Empress Dowager (Jung Lu) the +father-in-law of the present Regent. Yuan was in charge of an +army corps of 12,500 troops, but for him to have taken them even +at the command of the Emperor, without informing his superior +officer, would have meant the loss of his head at once. The first +thing then for him to do was to take this order to Jung Lu. Yuan +was in favour of reform, though he may not have approved of the +Emperor's methods. Jung Lu hastened to Prince Ching and they two +sped to the Empress Dowager in the Summer Palace where they laid +the whole matter before her. She hurried to Peking, boldly faced +and denounced the Emperor, took from him his seal of state, and +confined him a prisoner in the Winter Palace. Kang Yu-wei, the +young "Confucius," fled, but the Empress Dowager seized his +brother and five other patriotic young reformers, and ordered +them beheaded on the public execution grounds in Peking. + +Naturally the Empress Dowager approved of the "wise and +statesmanlike methods" of Yuan in thus protecting instead of +imprisoning her, and thus placing the reins of government once +more in her hands, and she appointed him Junior Vice-President of +the Board of Works, and when she was compelled to remove the +Governor of Shantung who had organized the Boxer Society, she +appointed Yuan Acting Governor in his stead. "Yuan," says Arthur +H. Smith, was "a man of a wholly different stripe" from the one +removed, and "if left to himself he would speedily have +exterminated the whole Boxer brood, but being hampered by +'confidential instructions' from the palace, he could do little +but issue poetical proclamations, and revile his subordinates for +failure to do their duty." + +When Yuan was made Governor of Shantung a number of the Boxer +leaders called upon him expecting to find in him a sympathizer +worthy of his predecessor. They told him of their great powers +and possibilities, and of how they were proof against the spears, +swords and bullets of their enemies. Yuan listened to them with +patience and interest, and invited them to dine with him and +other official friends in the near future. + +During the dinner the Governor directed the conversation towards +the Boxer leaders and their prowess, and led them once more to +relate to all his friends their powers of resistance. He fed them +well, and after the dinner was over he suggested that they give +an exhibition of their wonderful powers to the friends whom he +had invited. This they could not well refuse to do after the +braggadocio way in which they had talked, and so the Governor +lined them up, called forth a number of his best marksmen, and +proceeded with the exhibition, and it is unnecessary to add that +if the Empress Dowager had invited Yuan to the meeting with the +princes when they discussed the advisability of joining the +Boxers on account of a belief in their supernatural powers, she +might have been spared the humiliation of 1900. + +We shall soon see that Yuan cared no more for the "confidential +instructions" of the Empress Dowager, when his statesmanship was +involved, than for the orders of the Emperor. His business was to +govern and protect the people of his province, and thanks to his +wise statesmanship and strong character "there was not only no +foreigner killed during the troubled season of anxiety and +flight" of 1900, and "comparatively little of the suffering +elsewhere so common." + +And now we come to another plot which indicates the character of +Yuan and two other great viceroys, Chang Chih-tung, now Grand +Secretary, and Liu Kun-yi, Viceroy of the Yangtse-kiang +provinces. It is a well-known fact that during the Boxer +rebellion the Empress Dowager was so influenced by the promises +of the Boxers to drive out all the foreigners that she sent out +some very unwise edicts that they should be massacred in the +provinces. Yuan and his two confreres secretly stipulated that if +the foreign men of war would keep away from the ports of their +provinces they would maintain peace and protect the foreigners no +matter what orders came from the throne. So that when these +confidential instructions came from the palace to massacre the +foreigners, in order to gain time they pretended to believe that +no such orders could have come from the throne. They must be +forgeries of the Boxers. They therefore refused to believe them +until they had sent their own special messenger all the way to +Peking to get the edict from the hands of Her Majesty and bring +it to them in their provinces. This messenger was also secretly +instructed to find out what the contents of the edict were, and +if it was contrary to the desires of the Governor, he was to +dilly-dally on the way home until the Boxer trouble was ended or +until the foreigners had all been removed from the territory. And +it was such conduct as this on the part of three Chinese and one +Manchu viceroys that saved China from being divided up among the +Powers in 1900, a fact which the Empress Dowager was not slow to +understand and reward. + +In 1900 Yuan was made Governor of the Shantung province, and the +court was compelled to flee to Hsian. It was while the court was +thus in hiding that an incident occurred which indicates the +fertility of the Empress Dowager and the elasticity of all +Chinese social customs. Governor Yuan's mother died. In a case of +this kind customs dictate, and the rules of filial affection +demand, that a man shall resign all his official positions and go +into mourning for a period of three years. Yuan therefore sent +his resignation to the Empress Dowager, while "weeping tears of +blood." + +The country was of course in desperate straits and could ill +afford to lose, for three years, for a mere sentiment, the +services of one of her greatest and most powerful statesmen. +However much he may have regretted to give up such a brilliant +career which was just well begun, Yuan no doubt expected to do +so. What was his surprise therefore to receive from Her Majesty a +message of condolence in which she praised his mother in the +highest terms for having given the world such a brilliant and +able son. Under the circumstances, however, it would be +impossible to accept his resignation as his services to the +country just at this juncture were indispensable. She would, +however, appoint a substitute to go into mourning for him, and +this with the knowledge that she had borne a son whose services +were so necessary to the safety of the government and the +country, would be a sufficient comfort to the spirit of his +departed mother, and Yuan was forced to continue in his official +position as Governor of the province without the intermission of +a single day of mourning. Such is the elasticity and adaptability +of the unchanging laws and customs of the Oriental when in the +hands of a master--or a mistress--like Her Majesty the Empress +Dowager. + +One can imagine that in proportion as the Empress Dowager was +pleased with the statesmanship manifested by Yuan Shih-kai in +unintentionally reseating her upon the throne, in a like +proportion the Emperor would be dissatisfied with it as being the +cause of his dethronement. This was not, however, against Yuan +alone but against the father-in-law of the present Regent and +even Prince Ching as well. During the whole ten years, from 1898 +until his death, while he was a prisoner "his heart boiled with +wrath" against those who had been the cause of his downfall. + +It was not until the Boxer troubles of 1900 were over, and Yuan, +by the masterly way in which he had disregarded the imperial +edicts, had protected and preserved the lives of all the +foreigners in his province, keeping peace the while, that honours +began to be heaped upon him. And this not without reason as we +shall proceed to show. + +In 1901 he was made Governor-General of the metropolitan +province, and Junior Guardian of the Heir Apparent. In 1902 he +was decorated with the Yellow Jacket, placed in charge of the +affairs of the Northern Railway, and consulting minister to +counsel the government. Wherever he was he gave as much attention +to the city government as to that of the province or the nation, +and in spite of his having no foreign education himself, he began +building up a system of public schools in his province like which +there is nothing else in the whole of China. Let us remember also +that during ail this time there was suspended over his head, from +the palace, a sword of Damocles which was liable to fall at any +time. But we will explain that further on as it is the last act +of the drama. + +When Yuan went to Tientsin as Viceroy of the metropolitan +province he found there Dr. C. D. Tenny, the president of the +Tientsin University which had been begun by Li Hung-chang some +ten or a dozen years before. It had a good course of study and +was turning out a large number of young graduates for whom there +ought to be a better future than that of interpreters in the +various business houses of that and other cities. He therefore +called Dr. Tenny to him and inquired particularly about the +system of public school education throughout the United States. + +"What is to prevent our putting into operation such a system +throughout this province?" asked the Viceroy. + +"Nothing," answered Dr. Tenny, "except to be willing to submit to +the conditions." + +"And what are those conditions?" asked His Excellency. + +"They are that you open schools in every important town, place in +them well-educated, competent teachers, whom you are willing to +pay a salary equal to what they may reasonably expect to get if +they enter business." + +"May I ask if you would be willing to undertake the development +of such a system?" he asked further. + +"On one condition," answered Dr. Tenny. + +"And what is that?" + +"That you allow me to open a school wherever I think there should +be one, call my teachers from whatsoever source I please to call +them, pay them whatever salary I think they deserve, sending all +the bills to Your Excellency, and you pay them without question." + +The Viceroy had known Dr. Tenny for years, had always had the +most implicit confidence both in his ability and his honesty, and +so, lightening up his duties in the Tientsin and Paotingfu Uni- +versities, he commissioned him to establish what may be termed +the first public school system of education on modern lines in +the whole empire. This one act, if he had done no other, was +reason enough for a wise regent to have continued him in office +even though he "had rheumatism of the leg." But it may be that +there are extenuating circumstances in this act of the Regent as +we shall point out later. + +There is one phase of the Boxer uprising that I have never yet +seen properly represented in any book or magazine. We all know +how the ministers of the various European governments with their +wives and children, the customs officials, missionaries, business +men, and tourists who happened to be in Peking at the time, with +all the Chinese Christians, were confined in the British legation +and Prince Su's palace. We know how they barricaded their +defense. We know how they were fired upon day and night for six +weeks by the Boxer leaders and the army of the conservatives +under the leadership of their general, Tung Fu-hsiang. But the +thing which we do not know, or at least which has not been +adequately told, is the most interesting secret plot of the +liberal progressives, under the leadership of "Prince Ching and +others," to thwart the Empress Dowager and the Boxer leaders, the +conservatives and their army, and protect the most noted company +of prisoners that have ever been confined in a legation quarter. +The plot was this: + +When Prince Ching and his progressive associates in Peking +discovered that they could not vote down the Boxer princes, they +dared not openly oppose them, but they secretly decided that the +representatives of the Powers must not be massacred else the doom +of China was sealed. When they discovered that Yuan Shih-kai and +the other great viceroys had decided by stratagem to foil the +Boxers even though they must set all the imperial edicts at +naught, they decided, for the sake of the protection of the +legations and the preservation of the empire, that they would do +the same. They secretly sent supplies of food to the besieged, +which the latter feared to use lest they be poisoned. But more +than that they kept their own armies in Peking as a guard and as +a final resort in case there was danger of the legation being +overcome, and as a matter of fact there were regular pitched +battles between the troops of Prince Ching and his associates and +those of the Boxer leader, Tung Fu-hsiang. Had the Boxers finally +succeeded, Yuan Shih-kai and Prince Ching and their associates +would have lost their heads, but as the Boxers failed it was they +who went to their graves by the short process of the +executioner's knife. + +So Yuan was between two fires. He had disobeyed the commands of +the Emperor in not coming to Peking and had therefore incurred +his displeasure and caused his downfall. He had disobeyed the +Empress Dowager in not putting to death the foreigners in his +province, and if the Boxers were successful he would surely lose +his head on that account. The Boxers, however, were not +successful and as his disobedience had helped to save the empire, +Yuan, so long as the Dowager remained in power, was safe. + +But a day of reckoning must inevitably come. The Empress Dowager +was an old woman, the Emperor was a young man. In all human +probabilities she would be the first to die, while his only hope +was in her outliving the Emperor, who had sworn vengeance on all +those who had been instrumental in his imprisonment. + +I have a friend in Peking who is also a friend of one of the +greatest Chinese officials. This official has gone into the +palace daily for a dozen years past and knows every plot and +counterplot that has been hatched in that nest of seclusion +during all that time, though he has been implicated in none of +them. He has held the highest positions in the gift of the empire +without ever once having been degraded. One day when he was in +the palace the Emperor unburdened his heart to him, thinking that +what he said would never reach the ears of his enemies. + +"You have no idea," said the Emperor, "what I suffer here." + +"Indeed?" was the only reply of the official. + +"Yes," continued the Emperor, "I am not allowed to speak to any +one from outside. I am without power, without companions, and +even the eunuchs act as though they are under no obligations to +respect me. The position of the lowest servant in the palace is +more desirable than mine." Then lowering his voice he continued, +"But there is a day of reckoning to come. The Empress Dowager +cannot live forever, and if ever I get my throne again I will see +to it that those who put me here will suffer as I have done." + +It is not unlikely that this conversation of the Emperor reached +the ears of Yuan Shih-kai. Walls have ears in China. Everything +has ears, and every part of nature has a tongue. If so, here was +the occasion for the last plot in the drama of the Emperor's +life, and next to the last in the official life of Yuan Shih-kai. + +The problem is to so manipulate the laws of nature as to prevent +the Emperor outliving the Empress Dowager, and not allow the +world to know that you have been trifling with occult forces. He +must die a natural death, a death which is above suspicion. He +must not die one day after the Empress Dowager as that would +create talk. And he ought to die some time before her. The death +fuse is one which often burns very much longer than we expect-- +was it not one of the English kings who said "I fear I am a very +long time a-dying, gentlemen" --and sometimes it burns out sooner +than is intended. There were two imperial death fuses burning at +the same time in that Forbidden City of Peking. The Empress +Dowager had "had a stroke." Hers was undoubtedly nature's own +work. But the enemies of Yuan Shih-kai tell us that the Emperor +had "had a Chinese doctor," to whom the great Viceroy paid +$33,000 for his services. We are told that the Empress Dowager in +reality died first and then the Emperor, though the Emperor's +death was first announced, and the next day that of the Dowager. + +What then are we to infer? That the Emperor was poisoned? Let it +be so. That is what the Japanese believed at the time. But who +did it? Most assuredly no one man. One might have employed a +Chinese physician for him, but the last man whose physician the +Emperor would have accepted would have been Yuan Shih-kai's. Had +you or I been ill would we have allowed the man who was the cause +of our fall to select our physician? But granted that Yuan +Shih-kai did employ his physician, and that his death was the +result of slow poisoning, could Yuan Shih-kai have so manipulated +Prince Ching, the Regent (who is the late Emperor's brother), the +ladies of the court, and all those thousands of eunuchs, to +remain silent as to the death of the Empress Dowager until he had +completed the slow process on His Majesty? No! If the Emperor was +poisoned--and the world believes he was--there are a number of +others whose skirts are as badly stained as those of the great +Viceroy, or long ere this his body would have been sent home a +headless corpse instead of with "rheumatism of the leg." + +What then is the explanation? It may be this, that the court, and +the officials as a whole, felt that the Emperor was an unsafe +person to resume the throne, and that it were better that one man +should perish than that the whole regime should be upset. They +even refused to allow a foreign physician to go in to see him, +saying that of his own free will he had turned again to the +Chinese, all of which indicates that it was not the plot of any +one man. + +Why then should Yuan Shih-kai have been made the scapegoat of the +court and the officials, and branded as a murderer in the face of +the whole world? That may be another plot. The radical reformers, +followers of Kang Yu-wei, have been making such a hubbub about +the matter ever since the death of the Emperor and the Empress +Dowager that somebody had to be punished. They said that Yuan had +been a traitor to the cause of reform, that he had not only +betrayed his sovereign in 1898, but that now he had encompassed +his death. + +Now to satisfy these enemies, the Prince Regent may have decided +that the best thing to do was to dismiss Yuan for a time. I think +that the trivial excuse he gives for doing so favours my +theory--with "rheumatism of the leg," to which is added, "Thus +our clemency is manifest"--a sentence which may be severe or may +mean nothing, and when the storm has blown over and the sky is +clear again, Yuan may be once more brought to the front as Li +Hung-chang and others have been in the past. Which is a +consummation, I think, devoutly to be wished. + + + +XX + +Peking--The City of the Court + +The position of Peking at the present time is one of peculiar +interest, for all the different forces that are now at work to +make or mar China issue from, or converge towards, the capital. +There, on the dragon throne, beside, or rather above, the +powerless and unhappy Emperor, the father of his people and their +god, sits the astute and ever-watchful lady whose word is law to +Emperor, minister and clown alike. There dwell the heads of the +government boards, the leaders of the Manchu aristocracy, and the +great political parties, the drafters of new constitutions and +imperial decrees, and the keen-witted diplomatists who know so +well how to play against European antagonists the great game of +international chess. +--R. F. Johnston in "From Peking to Mandelay." + + +XX + +PEKING--THE CITY OF THE COURT + +In the place where Peking now stands there has been a city for +three thousand years. Five centuries before Christ it was the +capital of a small state, but was destroyed three centuries later +by the builder of the great wall. It was soon rebuilt, however, +and has continued from that time until the present, with varied +fortunes, as the capital of a state, the chief city of a +department, or the dwelling-place of the court. + +It is the greatest and best preserved walled city in the empire, +if not in the world. The Tartar City is sixteen miles in +circumference, surrounded by a wall sixty feet thick at the +bottom, fifty feet thick at the top and forty feet high, with six +feet of balustrade on the outside, beautifully crenelated and +loopholed, and in a good state of preservation. The streets are +sixty feet wide,--or even more in places,--well macadamized, and +lit with electric light. The chief mode of conveyance is the +'ricksha, though carriages may be hired by the week, day or hour +at various livery stables in proximity to the hotels, which, by +the way, furnish as good accommodation to their guests as the +hotels of other Oriental cities. + +In the centre of the Tartar City is the Imperial City, eight +miles in circumference, encircled by a wall six feet thick and +fifteen feet high, pierced by four gates at the points of the +compass; and in the centre of this again is the Forbidden City, +occupying less than half a square mile, the home of the court. + +Fairs are held, at various temples, fourteen days of every month, +distributed in such a way as to bring them almost on alternate +days, while at certain times there are two fairs on the same day. +It is a mistake to suppose that the Chinese women in the capital +are very much secluded. They may be seen on the streets at almost +any time, while the temple courts and adjacent streets, on fair +days, are crowded with women and girls, dressed in the most +gorgeous colours, their hair decorated with all kinds of +artificial flowers, followed by little boys and girls as gaily +dressed as themselves. Here they find all kinds of toys, curios, +and articles of general use, from a top to a broom, from bits of +jade or other precious stones, to a snuff bottle hollowed out of +a solid quartz crystal, or a market basket or a dust-pan made of +reeds. + +Peking being the city of the court, and the headquarters of many +of the greatest officials, is the receptacle of the finest +products of the oldest and greatest non-Christian people the +world has ever known. China easily leads the world in the making +of porcelain, the best of which has always gone to Peking for use +in the palace, and so we can find here the best products of every +reign from the time of Kang Hsi, as well as those of the former +dynasties, to that of Kuang Hsu and the Empress Dowager. The same +is true of her brass and bronze incense-burners and images, her +wood and ivory carvings, her beautiful embroideries, her +magnificent tapestries, and her paintings by old masters of six +or eight hundred years ago. Here we can find the finest Oriental +rugs, in a good state of preservation, with the "tone' that only +age can give, made long before the time of Washington. + +There is no better market for fine bits of embroidery, mandarin +coats, and all the better products of needle, silk and floss, of +which the Chinese have been masters for centuries, than the city +of the court. The population consists largely of great officials +and their families, whose cast-off clothing, toned down by the +use of years, often without a blemish or a spot, finds its way +into the hands of dealers. The finest furs,--seal, otter, +squirrel, sable and ermine,--are brought from Siberia, Manchuria +and elsewhere, for the officials and the court, and can be +secured for less than half what they would cost in America. +Pearls, of which the Chinese ladies and the court are more fond +than of diamonds, may be found in abundance in all the bazars, +which are many, and judging from the way they are purchased by +tourists, are both cheaper and better than elsewhere. + +The Chinese have little appreciation of diamonds as jewelry. On +one occasion there was offered to me a beautiful ring containing +a large sapphire encircled by twenty diamonds. When I offered the +dealer less than he asked for it, he said: "No, rather than sell +it for that price, I will tear it apart, and sell the diamonds +separately for drill-points to the tinkers who mend dishes. I can +make more from it in that way, only I dislike to spoil the ring." +The Empress Dowager during her late years, and many of the ladies +and gentlemen of the more progressive type, affected, whether +genuinely or not, an appreciation of the diamond as a piece of +jewelry, especially in the form of rings, though coloured stones, +polished, but not cut, have always been more popular with the +Chinese. The turquoise, the emerald, the sapphire, the ruby and +the other precious stones with colour have, therefore, always +graced the tables of the bazars in the capital, while the diamond +until very recently was relegated to the point of the tinker's +drill. + +There is another method of bringing bits of their ancient +handiwork to the capital which most of those living in Peking, +even, know nothing about. A company, whose headquarters is at an +inn, called the Hsing Lung Tien, sends agents all over the +empire, to purchase and bring to them everything in the nature of +a curio, whether porcelain, painting, embroidery, pottery or even +an ancient tile or inkstone, which they then, at public auction, +sell to the dealers. The sale is at noon each day. The first time +I visited it was with a friend from Iowa who was anxious to get +some unique bits of porcelain. The auctioneer does not "cry" the +wares. Neither buyer nor seller says a word. Nobody knows what +anybody else has offered. The goods are passed out of a closed +room from a high window where the crowd can see them, and then +each one wanting them tries to be first in securing the hand of +the auctioneer, which is ensconced in his long sleeve, where, by +squeezing his fingers, they tell him how much they will give for +the particular piece. It is the only real case of "talking in the +sleeve' I have ever seen, and each piece is sold to the first +person offering a fair profit on the money invested, though he +might get much more by allowing them to bid against each other. + +Among the attractive sights in Peking, none are quite so +interesting as the places where His Majesty worships, and of +these the most beautiful in architecture, the grandest in +conception, and the one laid out on the most magnificent scale, +is the Temple of Heaven. + +Think of six hundred and forty acres of valuable city property +being set aside for the grounds of a single temple, as compared +with the way our own great churches are crowded into small city +lots of scarcely as many square feet, and over-shadowed by great +business blocks costing a hundred times as much, and we can get +some conception of the magnificence of the scale on which this +temple is laid out. A large part of the grounds is covered with +cedars, many of which are not less than five hundred years old, +while other parts are used to pasture a flock of black cattle +from which they select the sacrifice for a burnt offering. The +grounds are not well kept like those of our own parks and +churches, but the original conception of a temple on such a large +scale is worthy of a great people. + +The worship at this temple is the most important of all the +religious observances of the empire, and constitutes a most +interesting remnant of the ancient monotheistic cultus which +prevailed in China before the rationalism of Confucius and the +polytheistic superstition of Buddhism predominated among the +people. While the ceremonies of the sacrifices are very +complicated, they are kept with the strictest severity. The chief +of these is at the winter solstice. On December 21st the Emperor +goes in a sedan chair, covered with yellow silk, and carried by +thirty-two men, preceded by a band of musicians, and followed by +an immense retinue of princes and officials on horseback. He +first goes to the tablet-chapel, where he offers incense to +Shang Ti, the God above, and to his ancestors, with three +kneelings and nine prostrations. Then going to the great altar he +inspects the offerings, after which he repairs to the Palace of +Abstinence, where he spends the night in fasting and prayer. The +next morning at 5:45 A. M. he dons his sacrificial robes, +proceeds to the open altar, where he kneels and burns incense, +offers a prayer to Shang Ti, and incense to his ancestors whose +shrines and tablets are arranged on the northeast and northwest +portions of the altar. + +There are two altars in the temple, a quarter of a mile apart, +the covered and the open altar, and this latter is one of the +grandest religious conceptions of the human mind. It is a triple +circular marble terrace, 210 feet wide at the base, 150 feet in +the middle, and ninety feet at the top, ascended at the points of +the compass by three flights of nine steps each. A circular stone +is in the centre of the top, around which are nine stones in the +first circle, eighteen in the second, twenty-seven in the third, +etc., and eighty-one in the ninth, or last circle. The Emperor +kneels on the circular stone, surrounded by the circles of +stones, then by the circles of the terraces, and finally by the +horizon, and thus seems to himself and his retinue to be in the +centre of the universe, his only walls being the skies, and his +only covering, the shining dome. + +There are no images of any kind connected with the temple or the +worship, the only offerings being a bullock, the various +productions of the soil, and a cylindrical piece of jade about a +foot long, formerly used as a symbol of sovereignty. Twelve +bundles of cloth are offered to Heaven, and only one to each of +the emperors, and to the sun and moon. The bullocks must be two +years old, the best of their kind, without blemish, and while +they were formerly killed by the Emperor they are now slaughtered +by an official appointed for that purpose. + +The covered altar is, I think, the most beautiful piece of +architecture in China. It is smaller than the one already +described but has erected upon it a lofty, circular triple-roofed +temple ninety-nine feet in height, roofed with blue tiles, the +eaves painted in brilliant colours and protected from the birds +by a wire netting. In the centre, immediately in front of the +altar, is a circular stone, as in the open altar. The ceiling is +covered with gilded dragons in high relief, and the whole is +supported by immense pillars. It was this building that was +struck by lightning in 1890, but it was restored during the ten +years that followed. Being made the camp of the British during +the occupation of 1900, it received some small injuries from +curio seekers, but none of any consequence. The Sikh soldiers who +died during this period were cremated in the furnace connected +with the open altar. + +The Chinese have been an agricultural people for thirty centuries +or more, and this characteristic is embodied in the Temple of +Agriculture, which occupies a park of not less than three hundred +and twenty acres of city property opposite the Temple of Heaven. +It has four great altars, with their adjacent halls, to the +spirits of Heaven, Earth, the Year, and the Ancestral Husbandman, +Shen Nung, to whom the temple is dedicated. It was used as the +camp of the American soldiers in 1900, and was well cared for. At +one time some of the soldiers upset one of the urns, and when it +was reported to the officer in command, the whole company was +called out and the urn properly replaced, after which the men +were lectured on the matter of injuring any property belonging to +the temple. + +There are several large plots of ground in this enclosure, one of +which the Emperor ploughs, while another is marked "City +Magistrate," another "Prefect," and on these bits of land the +"five kinds of grain" are sown. One cannot view these imperial +temples without being impressed with the potential greatness of a +people who do things on such a magnificent scale. But one, at the +same time, also feels that these temples, and the great Oriental +religions which inspire and support them have failed in a measure +to accomplish their design, which ought to be to educate and +develop the people. This they can hardly be said to have done, +especially if we consider their condition in their lack of all +phases of scientific development, for as the sciences stand +to-day they are all the product of the Christian peoples. + +There are three other imperial temples on the same large scale as +those just described. The Temple of the Sun east of the city, +that of the Moon on the west, and that of the Earth on the north, +though it must be confessed that the worship at these has been +allowed to lapse. In the Tartar City there are two others, the +Lama Temple and the Confucian Temple, in the former of which +there is a statue of Buddha seventy-five feet high, and from +thirteen to fifteen hundred priests who worship daily at his +shrine. This statue is made of stucco, over a framework, and not +of wood as some have told us, and as the guide will assure us at +the present day. One can ascend to a level with its head by +several flights of stairs, where a lamp is lit when the Emperor +visits the temple. In the east wing of this same building is a +prayer-wheel, which reaches up through several successive +stories, and is kept in motion while the Emperor is present. + +In the east side buildings there are a few interesting, though in +some cases very disgusting idols, such for instance as those +illustrating the creation, but over these draperies have been +thrown during recent years, which make them a trifle more +respectable. + +The temple is very imposing. At the entrance there are two large +arches covered with yellow tiles, from which a broad paved court +leads to the front gate, on the two sides of which are the +residences of the Lamas or Mongol priests. At the hour of prayer, +which is about nine o'clock, they may be seen going in crowds, +clothed in yellow robes, to the various halls of worship where +they chant their prayers. + +Very different from this is the Confucian Temple only a quarter +of a mile away. Here we find neither priest nor idol--nothing but +a small board tablet to "Confucius, the teacher of ten thousand +ages" with those of his most faithful and worthy disciples. In +the court on each side are rows of buildings--that on the east +containing the tablets of seventy-eight virtuous men; that on the +west the tablets of fifty-four learned men; eighty-six of these +were pupils of the Sage, while the remainder were men who +accepted his teachings. No Taoists, however learned; no +Buddhists, however pure; no original thinkers, however great may +have been their following, are allowed a place here. It is a +Temple of Fame for Confucianists alone. + +I have been in this temple when a whole bullock, the skin and +entrails having been removed, was kneeling upon a table facing +the tablet of the Sage, while sheep and pigs were similarly +arranged facing the tablets of his disciples. + +For twenty-four centuries China has had Taoism preached within +her dominions; for twenty-three centuries she has worshipped at +the shrine of Confucius; for eighteen centuries she has had +Buddhism, and for twelve centuries Mohammedanism: and during all +this time if we believe the statements of her own people, she has +slept. Does it not therefore seem significant, that less than a +century after the Gospel of Jesus Christ had been preached to her +people, and the Bible circulated freely throughout her dominions, +she opened her court to the world, began to build railroads, open +mines, erect educational institutions, adopt the telegraph and +the telephone, and step into line with the industrial methods of +the most progressive nations of the Western world? + + + +XXI + +The Death of Kuang Hsu and the Empress Dowager + +Who knows whether the Dowager Empress will ever repose in the +magnificent tomb she has built for herself at such a cost, or +whether a new dynasty may not rifle its riches to embellish its +own? Tze-Hsi is growing old! According to nature's immutable law +her faculties must soon fail her; her iron will must bend and her +far-seeing eye grow dim, and after her who will resist the tide +of foreign aggression and stem the torrent of inward revolt? +--Lady Susan Townley in "My Chinese Note Book." + + +XXI + +THE DEATH OF KUANG HSU AND THE EMPRESS DOWAGER + +During mid-November of 1908 the Forbidden City of Peking was a +blind stage before which an expectant world sat as an audience. +It had not long to wait, for on the fifteenth and sixteenth it +learned that Kuang Hsu and the Empress Dowager, less than +twenty-four hours apart, had taken "the fairy ride and ascended +upon the dragon to be guests on high." The world looked on in +awe. It expected a demonstration if not a revolution but nothing +of the kind happened. But on the other hand one of the most +difficult diplomatic problems of her history was solved in a +quiet and peaceable, if not a statesman-like way, by the aged +Dowager and her officials, and China once more had upon her +throne an emperor, though only a child, about whose succession +there was no question. And all this was done with less commotion +than is caused by the election of a mayor in New York or Chicago, +which may or may not be to the credit of an absolute monarchy +over a republican form of government. + +The world has speculated a good deal as to what happened in the +Forbidden City of Peking during the early half of November. Will +the curious world ever know? Whether it will or not remains for +the future to determine. We have, however, the edicts issued to +the foreign legations at Peking and with these at the present we +must be content. From them we learn that it was the Empress +Dowager and not Kuang Hsu who appointed Prince Chun as Regent, +and that this appointment was made--or at least +announced--twenty-four hours before the death of the Emperor. + +On the thirteenth of November the foreign diplomatic +representatives received the following edict from the great +Dowager through the regular channel of the Foreign Office of +which Prince Ching was the president: + + +"It is the excellent will of Tze-hsi-kuan-yu-k'ang- +i-chao-yu-chuang-ch'eng-shou-kung-ch'in-hsien-chung-hsi, the +great Empress Dowager that Tsai Feng, Prince of Chun, be +appointed Prince Regent (She Chang-wang)." + + +The above edict was soon followed by another which stated that +"Pu I, the son of Tsai Feng, should be reared in the palace and +taught in the imperial schoolroom," an indication that he was to +be the next emperor, and that Tsai Feng and not Kuang Hsu was to +occupy the throne, and all this by the "excellent will" of the +Empress Dowager. + +On the morning of the fourteenth the following edict came from +the Emperor himself: + +"From the beginning of August of last year, our health has been +poor. We formerly ordered the Tartar generals, viceroys, and +governors of every province to recommend physicians of ability. +Thereupon the viceroys of Chihli, the Liang Kiang, Hu Kiang, +Kiangsu and Chekiang recommended and sent forward Chen Ping-chun, +Tsao Yuen-wang, Lu Yung-ping, Chow Ching-tao, Tu Chung-chun, +Shih Huan, and Chang Pang-nien, who came to Peking and treated +us. But their prescriptions have given no relief. Now the +negative and positive elements (Yin-Yang) are both failing. There +are ailments both external and internal, and the breath is +stopped up, the stomach rebellious, the back and legs painful, +appetite failing. On moving, the breath fails and there is +coughing and panting. Besides, we have chills and fever, cannot +sleep, and experience a general failure of bodily strength which +is hard to bear. + +"Our heart is very impatient and now the Tartar generals, +viceroys, and governors of every province are ordered to select +capable physicians, regardless of the official rank, and to send +them quickly to Peking to await summons to give medical aid. If +any can show beneficial results he will receive extraordinary +rewards, and the Tartar generals, viceroys, and governors who +recommend them will receive special grace. Let this be +published." + +This was followed on the same day by the following edict: + +"Inasmuch as the Emperor Tung Chih had no issue, on the fifth day +of the twelfth moon of that reign (January 12, 1875) an edict was +promulgated to the effect that if the late Emperor Kuang Hsu +should have a son, the said prince should carry on the succession +as the heir of Tung Chih. But now the late Emperor has ascended +upon the dragon to be a guest on high, leaving no son, and there +is no course open but to appoint Pu I, the son of Tsai Feng, the +Prince Regent, as the successor to Tung Chih and also as heir to +the Emperor Kuang Hsu." + +The next day--the fifteenth--another edict, purporting to come +from little Pu I, but transcribed by Prince Ching, was sent out +to the diplomatic body and to the world. It is as follows: + +"I have the honour to inform Your Excellency that on the 21st day +of the 10th moon [Nov. 14, 1908] at the yu-ke [5-7 P. M.] the +late Emperor ascended on the dragon to be a guest on high. We +have received the command of Tze-hsi, etc., the Great Empress +Dowager to enter on the succession as Emperor. We lamented to +Earth and Heaven. We stretched out our hands, wailing our +insufficiency. Prostrate we reflect on how the late Emperor +occupied the Imperial Throne for thirty-four years, reverently +following the customs of his ancestors, receiving the gracious +instruction of the Empress Dowager, exerting himself to the +utmost, not failing one day to revere Heaven and observe the laws +of his ancestors, devoting himself with diligence to the affairs +of government and loving the people, appointing the virtuous to +office, changing the laws of the land to make the country +powerful, considering new methods of government which arouse the +admiration of both Chinese and foreigners. All who have blood and +breath cannot but mourn and be moved to the extreme point. We +weep tears of blood and beat upon our heart. How can we bear to +express our feelings! + +"But we think upon our heavy responsibility and our weakness, and +we must depend upon the great and small civil and military +officials of Peking and the provinces to show public spirit and +patriotism, and aid in the government. The viceroys and governors +should harmonize the people and arrange carefully methods of +government to comfort the spirit of the late Emperor in heaven. +This is our earnest expectation." + +On the sixteenth day of November, three days after she had +appointed the regent, and two days after she had appointed Pu I, +the diplomatic representatives received the following from Prince +Ching: + +"Your Excellency: + +"I have the honour to inform Your Excellency that we have +reverently received the following testamentary statement of Her +Imperial Majesty Tze-hsi, etc., the Great Empress Dowager: + +" 'Although of scanty merit, I received the command of His +Majesty the Emperor Wen Tsung-hsien (the posthumous title of +Hsien Feng) to occupy a throne prepared for me in the palace. +When the Emperor Mu Tsung I (Tung Chih) as a child succeeded to +the throne, violence and confusion prevailed. It was a critical +period of suppression by force. "Long-hairs" (Tai-ping rebels) +and the "twisted turbans" (Nien Fei) were in rebellion. The +Mohammedans and the aborigines had commenced to make trouble. +There were many disturbances along the seacoast. The people were +destitute. Ulcers and sores met the eye on every side. +Cooperating with the Empress Dowager Hsiao Chen-hsien, I +supported and taught the Emperor and toiled day and night. +According to the instructions contained in the testamentary +counsels of the Emperor Wen Tsung-hsien (Hsien Feng) I urged on +the officials of Peking and the provinces and all the military +commanders, determining the policy to be followed, diligently +searching the right way of governing, choosing the upright for +official positions, rescuing from calamity and pitying the +people, and so obtained the protection of Heaven, gaining peace +and tranquillity instead of distress and danger. Then the Emperor +Mu Tsung I (Tung Chih) departed this life and the late Emperor +succeeded to the throne. The times became still harder and the +people in still greater straits, sorrow within and calamity +without, confusion and noise; I had no recourse but to give +instruction in government once more. + +" 'The year before last the preparatory measures for the +institution of constitutional government were published. This +year the time limits for the measures preparatory to +constitutional government have been promulgated. Attending to +these myriad affairs the strength of my heart has been exhausted. +Fortunately my constitution was originally strong and up to the +present I have stood the strain. Unexpectedly from the summer and +autumn of this year I have been ill and have not been able to +assist in the multitudinous affairs of government with +tranquillity. Appetite and the power to sleep have gone. This has +continued for a long time until my strength is exhausted and I +have not dared to rest for even a day. On the 21st of this moon +[November 14th] came the sorrow of the death of the late Emperor, +and I was unable to control myself, so that my illness increased +till I was unable to rise from my bed. I look back upon our fifty +years of sorrow and trouble. I have been continually in a state +of high tension without a moment's respite. Now a reform in the +method of government has been commenced and there begins to be a +clue to follow. The Emperor now succeeding to the throne is in +his infancy. All depends upon his instruction and guidance. The +Prince Regent and all the officials of Peking and the provinces +should exert themselves to strengthen the foundations of our +empire. Let the Emperor now succeedings to the throne make his +country's affairs of first importance and moderate his sorrow, +diligently attending to his studies so that he may in future +illustrate the instruction which he has received. This is my +devout hope. Let the mourning period be for twenty-seven days +only. Let this be proclaimed to the empire that all may know.' " + +Still one more edict was necessary to complete this remarkable +list, and this was sent to the legations on the 17th of November. +It is as follows: + +"I have the honour to inform Your Excellency that on the 22d of +the moon [November 15, 1908] I reverently received the following +edict: + +"We received in our early childhood the love and care of Tze-hsi, +etc., the Great Empress Dowager. Our gratitude is boundless. We +have received the command to succeed to the throne and we fully +expected that the gentle Empress Dowager would be vigorous and +reach a hundred years so that we might be cherished and made glad +and reverently receive her instructions so that our government +might be established and the state made firm. But her toil by day +and night gradually weakened her. Medicine was constantly +administered in the hope that she might recover. Contrary to our +hopes, on the 21st day of the moon [November 14th] at the wei-k'o +[1-3 P.M.] she took the fairy ride and ascended to the far +country. We cried out and mourned how frantically! We learn from +her testamentary statement that the period of full mourning is to +be limited to twenty-seven days. We certainly cannot be +satisfied with this. Full mourning must be worn for one hundred +days and half mourning for twenty-seven months, by which our +grief may be partly expressed. The order to restrain grief so +that the affairs of the empire may be of first importance we dare +not disregard, as it is her parting command. We will strive to be +temperate so as to comfort the spirit of the late Empress in +Heaven." + +We call attention to the fact that according to the fourth of +these edicts the death of the Emperor is put at from 5 to 7 P. M +on the evening of the 14th of November, while that of the Empress +Dowager is from 1 to 3 P. M. of the same day at least two hours +earlier, and that in her last edict she is made to speak of the +death of Kuang Hsu. Whether these dates have become mixed in +crossing to America we have not been able to ascertain, though we +think it more than likely that her death occurred on November +15th instead of the 14th. + + + +XXII + +The Court and the New Education + +Abolish the eight-legged essay. Let the new learning be the test +of scholarship, but include the classics, history, geography and +government of China in the examinations. The true essay will then +come out. If so desired, the eight-legged essay can be studied at +home; but why trouble the school with them, and at the same time +waste time and strength that can be expended in something more +profitable? --Chang Chih-tung in "Chinas Only Hope," + + + +XXII + +THE COURT AND THE NEW EDUCATION + +The changes in the attitude of the court towards a new +educational system began, as do many great undertakings, in a +very simple way. We have already shown how the eunuchs secured +all kinds of foreign mechanical toys to entertain the baby +Emperor Kuang Hsu; how these were supplemented in his boyhood by +ingenious clocks and watches; how he became interested in the +telegraph, the telephone, steam cars, steamboats, electric light +and steam heat, and how he had them first brought into the palace +and then established throughout the empire: and how he had the +phonograph, graphophone, cinematograph, bicycle, and indeed all +the useful and unique inventions of modern times brought in for +his entertainment. + +He then began the study of English. When in 1894 a New Testament +was sent to the Empress Dowager on the occasion of her sixtieth +birthday, he at once secured from the American Bible Society a +copy of the complete Bible for himself. He began studying the +Gospel of Luke. This gave him a taste for foreign literature and +he sent his eunuchs to the various book depositories and bought +every book that had been translated from the European languages +into the Chinese. To these he bent all his energies and it soon +became noised abroad that the Emperor was studying foreign books +and was about to embrace the Christian faith. This continued from +1894 till 1898, during which time his example was followed by +tens of thousands of young Chinese scholars throughout the +empire, and Chang Chih-tung wrote his epoch-making book "China's +Only Hope" which, being sent to the young Emperor, led him to +enter upon a universal reform, the chief feature of which may be +considered the adoption of a new educational system. + +But now let us notice the animus of Kuang Hsu. He has been +praised without stint for his leaning towards foreign affairs, +when in reality was it not simply an effort on the part of the +young man to make China strong enough to resist the incursions of +the European powers? Germany had taken Kiaochou, Russia had taken +Port Arthur, Japan had taken Formosa, Great Britain had taken +Weihaiwei, France had taken Kuangchouwan, and even Italy was +anxious to have a slice of his territory, while all the English +papers in the port cities were talking of China being divided up +amongst the Powers, and it was these things which led the Emperor +to enter upon his work of reform. + +In the summer of 1898 therefore he sent out an edict to the +effect that: "Our scholars are now without solid and practical +education; our artisans are without scientific instructors; when +compared with other countries WE SOON SEE HOW WEAK WE ARE. DOES +ANY ONE THINK THAT OUR TROOPS ARE AS WELL DRILLED OR AS WELL LED +AS THOSE OF THE FOREIGN ARMIES? OR THAT WE CAN SUCCESSFULLY STAND +AGAINST THEM? Changes must be made to accord with the necessities +of the times. . . . Keeping in mind the morals of the sages and +wise men, we must make them the basis on which to build newer and +better structures. WE MUST SUBSTITUTE MODERN ARMS AND WESTERN +ORGANIZATION FOR OUR OLD REGIME; WE MUST SELECT OUR MILITARY +OFFICERS ACCORDING TO WESTERN METHODS OF MILITARY EDUCATION; we +must establish elementary and high schools, colleges and +universities, in accordance with those of foreign countries; we +must abolish the Wen-chang (literary essay) and obtain a +knowledge of ancient and modern world-history, a right conception +of the present-day state of affairs, with special reference to +the governments and institutions of the countries of the five +great continents; and we must understand their arts and +sciences." + +The effect of this edict was to cause hundreds of thousands of +young aspirants for office to put aside the classics and unite in +establishing reform clubs in many of the provincial capitals, +open ports, and prefectural cities. Book depots were opened for +the sale of the same kind of literature the Emperor had been +studying, magazines and newspapers were issued and circulated in +great numbers, lectures were delivered and libraries established, +and students flocked to the mission schools ready to study +anything the course contained, literary, scientific or religious. +Christians and pastors were even invited into the palace by the +eunuchs to dine with and instruct them. But the matter that gave +the deepest concern to the boy in the palace was: "How can we so +strengthen ourselves that we will be able to resist the White +Peril from Europe?" + +Among the important edicts issued in the establishment of the new +education was the one of June 11, 1898, in which he ordered that +"a great central university be established at Peking," the funds +for which were provided by the government. Among other things he +said: "Let all take advantage of the opportunities for the new +education thus open to them, so that in time we may have many who +will be competent to help us in the stupendous task of putting +our country on a level with the strongest of the western powers." +It was not wisdom the young man was after for the sake of wisdom, +but he wanted knowledge because knowledge was power, and at that +time it was the particular kind of power that was necessary to +save China from utter destruction. + +On the 26th of the same month he censured the princes and +ministers who were lax in reporting upon this edict, and ordered +them to do so at once, and it was not long until a favourable +report was given and, for the first time in the history of the +empire, a great university was launched by the government, +destined, may we not hope, to accomplish the end the ambitious +boy Emperor had in view. + +Kuang Hsu was aware that a single institution was not sufficient +to accomplish that end. On July 10th therefore he ordered that +"schools and colleges be established in all the provincial +capitals, prefectoral, departmental and district cities, and +allowed the viceroys and governors but two months to report upon +the number of colleges and free schools within their provinces," +saying that "all must be changed into practical schools for the +teaching of Chinese literature, and Western learning and become +feeders to the Peking Imperial University." He ordered further +that all memorial and other temples that had been erected by the +people but which were not recorded in the list of the Board of +Rites or of Sacrificial Worship, were to be turned into schools +and colleges for the propagation of Western learning, a thought +which was quite in harmony with that advocated by Chang Chih- +tung. The funds for carrying on this work, and the establishment +of these schools, were to be provided for by the China Merchants' +Steamship Company, the Telegraph Company and the Lottery at +Canton. + +On August 4th he ordered that numerous preparatory schools be +established in Peking as special feeders to the university; and +on the 9th appointed Dr. W. A. P. Martin as Head of the Faculty +and approved the site suggested for the university by Sun +Chia-nai, the president. On the 16th he authorized the +establishment of a Bureau for "translating into Chinese Western +works on science, arts and literature, and textbooks for use in +schools and colleges"; and on the 19th he abolished the "Palace +examinations for Hanlins as useless, superficial and obsolete," +thus severing the last cord that bound them to the old regime. + +What, now, was the Empress Dowager doing while Kuang Hsu was +issuing all these reform edicts, which, we are told, were so +contrary to all her reactionary principles? Why did she not +stretch forth her hand and prevent them? She was spending the hot +months at the Summer Palace, fifteen miles away, without offering +either advice, objection or hindrance, and it was not until two +delegations of officials and princes had appeared before her and +plead with her to come and take control of affairs and thus save +them from being ousted or beheaded, and herself from +imprisonment, did she consent to come. By thus taking the throne +she virtually placed herself in the hands of the conservative +party, and all his reform measures, except that of the Peking +University and provincial schools, were, for the time, +countermanded, and the Boxers were allowed to test their strength +with the allied Powers. + +Passing over the two bad years of the Empress Dowager, which we +have treated in another chapter, we find her again, after the +failure of the Boxer uprising, and the return of the court to +Peking, reissuing the same style of edicts that had gone out from +the pen of Kuang Hsu. On August 29, 1901, she ordered "the +abolition of essays on the Chinese classics in examinations for +literary degrees, and substituted therefor essays and articles on +some phase of modern affairs, Western laws or political economy. +This same procedure is to be followed in examination of +candidates for office." + +And now notice another phase of this same edict. "The old methods +of gaining military degrees by trial of strength with stone +weights, agility with the sword, or marksmanship with the bow on +foot or on horseback, ARE OF NO USE TO MEN IN THE ARMY, WHERE +STRATEGY AND MILITARY SCIENCE ARE THE SINE QUA NON TO OFFICE, and +hence they should be done away with forever." It is, as it was +with Kuang Hsu, the strengthening of the army she has in mind in +her first efforts at reform, that she may be able to back up with +war-ships and cannon, if necessary, her refusal to allow Italy or +any other European power to filch, without reason or excuse, the +territory of her ancestors. + +September 12, 1901, she issued another edict commanding that "all +the colleges in the empire should be turned into schools of +Western learning; each provincial capital should have a +university like that in Peking, whilst all the schools in the +prefectures and districts are to be schools or colleges of the +second or third class," neither more nor less than a restatement +of the edict of July 10, 1898, as issued by the deposed Emperor, +except that she confined it to the schools without taking the +temples. + +September 17, 1901, she ordered "the viceroys and governors of +other provinces to follow the example of Liu Kun-yi of Liang +Kiang, Chang Chih-tung of Hukuang, and Kuei Chun (Manchu) of +Szechuan, in sending young men of scholastic promise abroad to +study any branch of Western science or art best suited to their +tastes, that in time they may return to China and place the +fruits of their knowledge at the service of the empire." Such +were some of the edicts issued by the Emperor and the Empress +Dowager in their efforts to launch this new system of education +which was to transform the old China into a strong and sturdy +youth. What now were the results? + +The Imperial College in Shansi was opened with 300 students all +of whom had already taken the Chinese degree of Bachelor of Arts. +It had both Chinese and foreign departments, and after the +students had completed the first, they were allowed to pass on to +the second, which had six foreign professors who held diplomas +from Western colleges or universities, and a staff of six +translators of university textbooks into Chinese, superintended +by a foreigner. In 1901-2 ten provinces, under the wise +leadership of the Empress Dowager, opened colleges for the +support of which they raised not less than $400,000. + +The following are some of the questions given at the triennial +examinations of these two years in six southern provinces: + +1. "As Chinese and Western laws differ, and Western people will +not submit to Chinese punishments, what ought to be done that +China, like other nations, may be mistress in her own country?" + +2. "What are the Western sources of economic prosperity, and as +China is now so poor, what should she do?" + +3. "According to international law has any one a right to +interfere with the internal affairs of any foreign country?" + +4. "State the advantages of constructing railways in Shantung." + +5. "Of what importance is the study of chemistry to the +agriculturist?" + +While Yuan Shih-kai was Governor of Shantung he induced Dr. W. M. +Hayes to resign the presidency of the Presbyterian College at +Teng Choufu and accept the presidency of the new government +college at Chinanfu the capital of the province. Dr. Hayes drew +up a working plan of grammar and high schools for Shantung which +were to be feeders to this provincial college. This was approved +by the Governor, and embodied in a memorial to the throne, copies +of which the Empress Dowager sent to the governors and viceroys +of all the provinces declaring it to be a law, and ordering the +"viceroys, governors and literary chancellors to see that it was +obeyed." + +Dr. Hayes and Yuan Shih-kai soon split upon a regulation which +the Governor thought it best to introduce, viz., "That the +Chinese professors shall, on the first and fifteenth of each +month, conduct their classes in reverential sacrifice to the Most +Holy Confucius, and to all the former worthies and scholars of +the provinces." Dr. Hayes and his Christian teachers withdrew, +and it was not long until those who professed Christianity were +excused from this rite, while the Christian physicians who taught +in the Peking Imperial University were allowed to dispense with +the queue and wear foreign clothes, as being both more convenient +and more sanitary. + +When Governor Yuan was made viceroy of Chihli, he requested Dr. +C. D. Tenny to draw up and put into operation a similar schedule +for the metropolitan province. This was done on a very much +enlarged scale, and at present (1909) "the Chihli province alone +has nine thousand schools, all of which are aiming at Western +education; while in the empire as a whole there are not less than +forty thousand schools, colleges and universities," representing +one phase of the educational changes that have been brought about +in China during the last dozen years. + +The changes in the new education among women promise to be even +more sweeping than those among men. Dr. Martin, expressing the +sentiments then in vogue, said, as far back as 1877, "that not +one in ten thousand women could read." In 1893 I began studying +the subject, and was led at once to doubt the statement. The +Chinese in an offhand way will agree with Dr. Martin. But I found +that it was a Chinese woman who wrote the first book that was +ever written in any language for the instruction of girls, and +that the Chinese for many years have had "Four Books for Girls" +corresponding to the "Four Books" of the old regime, and that +they were printed in large editions, and have been read by the +better class of people in almost every family. In every company +of women that came to call on my wife from 1894 to 1900, there +was at least one if not more who had read these books, while the +Empress Dowager herself was a brilliant example of what a woman +of the old regime could do. Where the desire for education was so +great among women, that as soon as it became possible to do so, +she launched the first woman's daily newspaper that was published +anywhere in the world, with a woman as an editor, we may be sure +that there was more than one in ten thousand during the old +regime that could read. What therefore may we expect in this new +regime where women are ready to sacrifice their lives rather than +that the school which they are undertaking to establish shall be +a failure? + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Court Life in China + |